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Heres why three common reactions to the idea of getting therapy are based on mental health myths, says psychology undergraduate ReD.
Every time I tell someone I want to pursue a career in psychology, the conversation follows a script. After the inevitable Ill be your first patient joke, whoever Im talking to will agree that people who are having difficulties should be able to seek treatment if they need it.
Next, theyll cross their arms or make a little hand motion and say, Its just that, well, personally, I would never see a therapist no offense, of course.
I am never offended. Only disappointed.
Mookychick has already discussed the stigmatization surrounding mental illness, and describes how some studies have found that 2/3 people with mental illness will struggle to take steps to seek treatment. While many of us are aware of how the media can influence our perceptions of people, places, and the environment, it can be harder to see how much it affects our attitudes towards mental health. The idea that were less affected than others is called Illusory Superiority and may partly explain our general approach to mental health treatment the notion that mental health treatment is great for other people, just not me.
Here are three of the most common reactions we have to the idea of getting mental health treatment for ourselves. Theyll include generalizations that may not apply to everyone, because mental health is such a vast category, with a variety of states, spectrums and models which can affect anyone
I dont need therapy anyway, all I need is ______
A professor during my undergraduate study delivered a very poignant phrase about mental health:
A friend is someone you see when youre having a bad day. A therapist is someone you see when your life is falling apart.
Going into therapy with the idea that yes, maybe it really can help you if you give it a chance, plays a very real part in getting more out of therapy. Its estimated that expectations about what therapy can do account for 49-70% of the programs success rate. Showing up at the gym every week and exercising when you get there will help your fitness goals even more than showing up at the gym on its own
We get all kinds of unhelpful messages from the media that therapy doesnt work. In The Silver Linings Playbook and The Perks of Being a Wallflower, two recent portrayals of mental health in fiction, the protagonists overcome their mental health difficulties with the aid a support network and a manic pixie dream girl. Dont get me wrong these movies have a positive message thats way better than the alternatives (there is no fix for mental health//I can only be cured through the intervention of a god-like therapist and everything else is a waste of time) but even so, they unintentionally send the message that therapy is a waste of time. Whereas it can be hugely beneficial.
A support network is wonderful, but it may not always give you what you need. Friends, partners or family dont always have the time, money, understanding or energy to help you in the way that a qualified therapise can. What if you feel helpless because you dont want to be a burden, and its hard to communicate how you feel? People might tell you to just snap out of it, but its not as easy to do as it is to say, even when you try your hardest.
Many also have this belief that only truly crazy people need therapy, otherising it, but studies have found that one out of every four people will experience mental health problems throughout their lives.
Its absolutely fine to make an appointment with someone whos trained to help you regain control of your life, and it can really help too.
I wouldnt want to give up my freedom.
If you walk into a mental health clinic or therapists office and say you need help, the receptionist will hand you a clipboard and ask you to fill out a few forms. Unless youre an immediate threat to yourself or others, youll probably be going home the same day with an appointment card.
Mental health hospitals and long-term psychiatric care exist, but theyre not the only form of treatment. Its far more likely that youll be asked to show up at an office or counselling centre once or twice a week. The average duration of mental health treatment in the United States is between 6-10 sessions, although this depends on your personal needs.
Therapists are people too, and you may find theyre surprisingly good at understanding if you are struggling with appointment schedules or the treatment itself. If you feel your treatment isnt offering you what you need, talk to your therapist. They can help come up with new treatment plans. They can also refer you to another therapist. If you decide you want to quit therapy, thats an option too.
I dont want to be stuck in therapy for years.
Though mainstream media is responsible for many of our misinformed attitudes to mental health, I believe general psychology courses are also partly responsible.
Schemata is a fun-to-say word that basically explains how our brain lumps information together. Did you ever make a spider-web organizer for writing essays? You connect the centre to topic-words relating to it. This is a pretty good representation of how brain schemata operate. They help us adapt to our rapidly changing environments, but theyre also responsible for things like stereotyping and bias.
Most Secondary and Post-Secondary educational classes on general psychology cover the history and development of the field. This means spending aeons talking about Freuds couch, dreams, and sexual metaphors. Freud is also responsible for many popular phrases in the English language (they can be really anal about things like that or theyre clearly just projecting!). Even though most people learn about Maslow, Skinner, Horney, and Rodgers, Freud is what really comes to mind when people hear the word therapy, and Freud was famous for years of introspective sessions. Its become part of our schema of therapy.
Therapists generally understand that people dont have the time or money to spend years in therapy and are willing to accommodate your schedule. You can set goals with your therapist for how long you expect therapy to last, and then expect to have check-ins throughout your therapy process to see how youre progressing.
Everyone has different needs. Sometime you may find youll get the most benefit from years of therapy to reach your goals, and thats okay. It is still beneficial treatment, and can be a very important part of your journey. Sometimes you might only need a few weeks. In many cases, short-term therapy is meant to provide a solid foundation for you to build upon.
When should I consider therapy?
With all the myths and gut reactions connected to mental health, deciding when therapys the right choice for you can be tricky. One criteria for any diagnosable mental illness in the DSM-V is that the symptoms must cause significant distress or interruption of daily life.
Listen to your body. If you find yourself getting sick frequently, having a sudden downturn in your sex drive, or are experiencing unexplained headaches or stomach aches, it could be your bodys way of telling you that it is over-stressed and you need some help. If you lose interest in activities that you used to find extremely enjoyable, or your work or school performance is suffering, and everything you try seems to fail, you might want to consider therapy.
If youre in school, check out what resources are available for you through your institution. Many colleges and universities have trained counsellors and therapists available for student use, and they know how busy a students schedule can be. Secondary school students can reach out to their guidance counsellors, who can often refer you to therapists in the community who are trained to work with students and young adults.
If youre employed, check in with your human resources department, or wellness department if your company or organization has one. Some companies have policies that provide therapy and wellness to their employees.
Try talking to your physician. They can often refer you to a mental health clinic or therapist based on your needs.
If you decide to find a qualified therapist, find one who can best serve you. Your mental needs can be challenging enough without all the false perceptions.
May 18, 2016 International Policy On Libya: Arm *Someone* And Hope For The Best by Richard J. C. Galustian The decision on Monday in Vienna to provide 'arms' to a Libyan Government that exists in name only, the GNA, has taken the international communities stance from the sublime to the completely ridiculous.
Exactly what military kit is being supposed to be supplied? This is a critical question which needs a whole article devoted to it and cannot be dealt with herein because of space.
To keep it simple, the West has decided to supply 'arms' to a not yet in existence Government of National Accord (GNA) sometimes referred to as a Unity Government yet its core, the nine-man Presidential Council and its Prime Minister were not at all selected by any Libyan but by a combination of the UN, EU, US and UK. Within the EU the primary mover with the most commercial interests of that side being Italy.
The GNA/PC means seven men (as two dropped out) who are essentially two or three members sometimes available to be seen by visiting dignitaries at a heavily fortified Naval Base a couple of miles away from the Militia controlled Mitega Airport. The PC of seven, if you will can be considered as a quorum for a yet to be selected 90 member government comprising of 30 ministers and 60 deputy ministers. The PC/GNA control no territory, no area of either Tripoli or Libya except for the one naval 'bunker' they can meet people in to maintain the facade that they are legitimate. Its a ' Potemkin Village' lie of epic proportions.
But wait, the best I save till last. Their military component is an assortment of militias of varying shades of extremist mainly from Tripoli, Sabratha, Zuwaia and importantly Misrata. Not forgetting in addition the forces that represent the coalition between former LIFG (read for them an Al Qaeda affiliate) which has aligned itself squarely with the Muslim Brotherhood, best described as the Sinn Fein political wing to IRA terrorists of the 70s.
So as in Syria, the Americans are going to give 'arms' to the 'good' guys but not the 'bad' ones. Good luck with that one!
How will they - the Americans - determine where these weapons will end up. IS have friends amongst the GNA's militias. Can America guarantee such weapons will not end up on IS hands?
When considering the above also consider this; a democratically elected parliament in the East, in Tobruk, selected a Government and appointed a commander of the Libyan Army, General Khalifa Hafter.
In the last 14 days that Army has secured almost if not all oil ports in the East. Hariga; Zeutina, Brega, Ras Lanuf etc and its soldiers are fortifying and holding these positions.
So whatever the puppet GNA say to its oil company based in Tripoli to sign international contracts and sell oil from the east, its not physically possible without the cooperation of the actual Libyan Army who report to their masters in the East. Oh and I forgot to mention the Russians, Egyptians and Emiratis do not recognize the GNA but do recognize the powers that be in the East of Libya. A very revealing detail is that Russia is printing 4B Dinars for the Eastern government, giving Tobruk the option to finance a breakaway state if it chooses.
Yet America and their other puppets, the UN and EU, chose the Tripoli 'Dawn' mishmash leadership of extremists over the Army. Why?
Well one consequence is, for some yet unknown strategic reason, to provoke East Libya to secede and create their own country by a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI).
Another possibility is the newly armed extremist militias of the GNA will by pass fighting IS, who if they have any sense will lie low in Sirte city, and attack their enemy, the Libyan National Army (LNA).
The latter possibility is the most likely.
For this reason alone, it is right to describe the pre-agreed decision to 'arm' on Monday the GNA, literally insane.
The PC/GNA bring absolutely no unity whatsoever to Libya.
Now consider a further problem. There is an enclave, a small city set in a high impenetrable mountain to the West of Tripoli called Zintan. They are well known as fierce highland fighters; they hold Saif Gaddafi; they also control the gas and oil pipelines that flow through valves in their territory which is to the west of Tripoli that pipe to Zawia where the Italians, Norwegians and Spanish have huge oil and gas assets and a port.
The UN, in their wisdom, last week sent their military advisor, a serving Italian general, by plane to Zintan to supposedly negotiate. Barely had the plane touched down when he was almost chased back on to his aircraft to make a hasty retreat. Zintan are loyal to the Libyan National Army.
The final consideration and maybe the most important one is a pragmatic one; that loyalty has a price and eventually if the West conjures sufficient money - Libyan money frozen by the EU and UN - to be received by the PC/GNA and with that they may be able to 'buy', there is no other way to say it, the loyalty of any Libyans in the West or East but that would only be a temporary 'fix'; it wouldn't buy them indefinitely.
So in closing WHY is the International Community persisting with this charade of a GNA?
If as a reader you are expecting an answer, I must regretfully say I have none. It makes no sense whatsoever.
The West's strategy, if one can call it that, reminds me of an old Orwellian type adage that seems the only appropriate explanation:
"Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it"
But to what end is beyond my comprehension.
The Libyan quagmire will inevitably continue. How will they - the Americans - determine where these weapons will end up. IS have friends amongst the GNA's militias. Can America guarantee such weapons will not end up on IS hands?When considering the above also consider this; a democratically elected parliament in the East, in Tobruk, selected a Government and appointed a commander of the Libyan Army, General Khalifa Hafter.In the last 14 days that Army has secured almost if not all oil ports in the East. Hariga; Zeutina, Brega, Ras Lanuf etc and its soldiers are fortifying and holding these positions.So whatever the puppet GNA say to its oil company based in Tripoli to sign international contracts and sell oil from the east, its not physically possible without the cooperation of the actual Libyan Army who report to their masters in the East. Oh and I forgot to mention the Russians, Egyptians and Emiratis do not recognize the GNA but do recognize the powers that be in the East of Libya. A very revealing detail is that Russia is printing 4B Dinars for the Eastern government, giving Tobruk the option to finance a breakaway state if it chooses.Yet America and their other puppets, the UN and EU, chose the Tripoli 'Dawn' mishmash leadership of extremists over the Army. Why?Well one consequence is, for some yet unknown strategic reason, to provoke East Libya to secede and create their own country by a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI).Another possibility is the newly armed extremist militias of the GNA will by pass fighting IS, who if they have any sense will lie low in Sirte city, and attack their enemy, the Libyan National Army (LNA).The latter possibility is the most likely.For this reason alone, it is right to describe the pre-agreed decision to 'arm' on Monday the GNA, literally insane.The PC/GNA bring absolutely no unity whatsoever to Libya.Now consider a further problem. There is an enclave, a small city set in a high impenetrable mountain to the West of Tripoli called Zintan. They are well known as fierce highland fighters; they hold Saif Gaddafi; they also control the gas and oil pipelines that flow through valves in their territory which is to the west of Tripoli that pipe to Zawia where the Italians, Norwegians and Spanish have huge oil and gas assets and a port.The UN, in their wisdom, last week sent their military advisor, a serving Italian general, by plane to Zintan to supposedly negotiate. Barely had the plane touched down when he was almost chased back on to his aircraft to make a hasty retreat. Zintan are loyal to the Libyan National Army.The final consideration and maybe the most important one is a pragmatic one; that loyalty has a price and eventually if the West conjures sufficient money - Libyan money frozen by the EU and UN - to be received by the PC/GNA and with that they may be able to 'buy', there is no other way to say it, the loyalty of any Libyans in the West or East but that would only be a temporary 'fix'; it wouldn't buy them indefinitely.So in closing WHY is the International Community persisting with this charade of a GNA?If as a reader you are expecting an answer, I must regretfully say I have none. It makes no sense whatsoever.The West's strategy, if one can call it that, reminds me of an old Orwellian type adage that seems the only appropriate explanation:"Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it"But to what end is beyond my comprehension.The Libyan quagmire will inevitably continue. (Copied with the author's permission from Times of Oman) --- (b. adds) Confirming the lunacy describe above, today's Washington Post reports that the U.S. military also has no idea who it is supposed to arm in the name of that (non-existing) UN assigned government: Army Gen. David M. Rodriguez, the chief of U.S. Africa Command, told a handful of reporters here that Libyas internal politics still make it difficult to determine which armed groups are aligning themselves with the Government of National Accord, an interim group that has backing from the United Nations.
...
Rodriguez, who was in Brussels to meet with senior European military officials and Marine Gen. Joseph F. DunfordJr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that everybody is waiting to see how the United Nations examines the Libyan request, which must include details about who will receive the weapons. The support for the GNA and how they need it and how they want it, well just have to see how that develops over time, Rodriguez said, speaking of the Libyan government. I am marveling at who is in charge of such crazy policy. Posted by b on May 18, 2016 at 11:12 UTC | Permalink Comments
The Santa Clara County Office of Education has launched a new monthly television series, hosted by County Superintendent Jon R. Gundry to help inform the local community about the latest happenings in K-12 education.
The show can be viewed at youtube.com/watch?v=ry0FSLt43qQ.
Spotlight on SCCOE features Gundry and different guests each month discussing important issues affecting education.
The first episode, The Teacher Pipeline, features Dr. Kip Tellez, an education professor at University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), and Philip Gordillo, Chief Human Resources Officer at the SCCOE, discussing the states rising teacher shortage, particularly in Santa Clara County.
According to Gundry, A few months into the school year, last year, there were almost 4,000 open teaching positions in the State of California. With the combined stresses of less graduating credentialed teachers and an increase in retirees, the number of open positions is climbing.
On June 18, the SCCOE will host an event to provide information for those who might have considered becoming a teacher but are currently in another career.
Spotlight on SCCOE targets community members, parents, and educators alike. Future topics will include the governors proposed budget and fiscal outlook, early ed/strong start, STEAM education and charter schools.
In addition to being available on the SCCOE YouTube page, Spotlight on the SCCOE will air at 6:30 p.m. on Sundays on CreaTV Classrooms, Cable Channel 28 in San Jose and Campbell, and Mondays at 6:30 p.m. on Bay Voice TV, starting Monday, May 23.
New episodes will air each month.
Click here for our coverage of the latest Morningstar Investment Conference UK in our special report: What the Experts Say, on subjects ranging from Brexit and risk management to the cost of funds and the future of advice.
India has overtaken China as the fastest growing global economy and according to Paul Sheard, chief economist at S&P Global India could grow up to 8% annually for the next 30 years.
Speaking at the sixth annual Financial Leaders Forum in Saudi Arabia last week, Sheard was reported to back Indias long term growth potential, thanks in the most part to its favourable demographics.
Being one of the worlds largest importers of oil, India has a net beneficiary of a falling oil price over the past two years, boosting public finances and bringing down living costs in the country.
While the IMF forecasts India's GDP to grow at 7.5% over the next two years, New Delhi's Central Statistics Office expects the country's GDP to climb to 7.6% in 2016, which is an increase of 0.4% than what it achieved in 2014.
Unlike most of its emerging market peers such as Brazil and Russia that are heavily relying on commodity-related exports, India economy is fundamentally driven by emerging middle class consumers in the country.
Political stability is also one of the contributors, thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modis efforts to boost foreign investment and infrastructure. In Mumbai, at the Make in India Week exposition, attended by more than 10,000 government and business delegations from 72 countries, $220 billion of investment was committed, creating jobs and boosting manufacturing, according to Kunal Desai, manager of the Neptune India Fund.
Whilst it is debatable how much investment will materialise, we believe it goes some way to show the intent of policymakers other emerging markets are not approaching foreign companies with this scale and coordination, says Desai.
Desai believes that the most interesting investments in the Indian market exist among mid-cap stocks, where he believes companies to be far more nimble than their baggage-burdened large-cap peers.
James Syme, manager of the Bronze Rated JOHCM Global Emerging Markets Opportunities Fund, agrees, saying India as one of his favourite economies with strong domestic demand.
Which Emerging Market Funds Offer the Greatest India Exposure?
Stewart Investors Global Emerging Markets has 20.6% of exposures to India equities, and the Silver Rated fund has generated 8.1% year to date. The fund has a 3.7% five years annualised return and a 10 -year annualised return of 9.8%. Morningstar analyst Simon Dorricott thinks that the fund remains an impressive offering. First State Stewart has been particularly successful at investing in the emerging markets of India and the stock selection skills was a largest positive, Dorricott adds. The fund charges an annual fee of 1.9%.
JP Morgan Emerging Markets, a Bronze Rated fund holding 23% in India equities has gained 6.5% year to date. Although the approach of co-managers of the fund, Austin Forey and Leon Eidelman, may result in the fund underperforming for short periods if markets are driven by commodities, lower-quality names, or macro and political issues, it has generally not shown significant weakness over more meaningful periods, Dorricott said. The funds ongoing charge is 1.68% which is competitive compared with the median retail share class within the Global Emerging Markets Equity Morningstar Category.
Click here for our coverage of the latest Morningstar Investment Conference UK in our special report: What the Experts Say, on subjects ranging from Brexit and risk management to the cost of funds and the future of advice.
Emma Wall: Hello and welcome to Morningstar. Im Emma Wall and Im joined today by Craig Yeaman, Manager of the Saracen Growth Alpha Fund.
Hello.
Craig Yeaman: Good morning, Emma.
Wall: So your fund at the moment is predominantly invested in small growth style stocks, stocks that have done incredibly well over the last four years. However, we have started to see a resurgence in value orientated stocks taking over in 2016. You are an all cap manager; do you see yourself repositioning the fund to take advantage of that?
Yeaman: No. I dont actually. As you say, I am an all cap manager, at present I have 17% in the large cap with the remaining 83% in small and mid-cap. Youre right in saying there has been a move more towards value, but actually we think much of this is because of the dreaded word that were hearing at the movement, which is Brexit.
So many companies that we are invested in are underperforming. That however gives me the opportunity to top up the holdings because I run a concentrated fund. We will invest between 30 and 45 stocks at any one point in time and at present we only hold 30. So Im very happy with the stocks that we hold. So rather than move the fund more towards value, we will continue to invest where we are and actually top up the positions.
Wall: And when you took over the fund, it was much more [positioned] across the cap scale, wasnt it? I think you said earlier the fund had 55% in larger caps. Why do you find this small cap space so compelling then?
Yeaman: Well, the reason is these companies can grow quicker than the multinationals. And if you actually look at the FTSE 100, its not a very good indication of where the economy is at. Its dominated by financials, its dominated by oil and commodity stocks. If we look further down the market cap scale and the companies Im invested in tend to be overlooked by the market, then we see quicker growth, we see margins are stable and can actually grow. If you look at the FTSE 100, many of these companies are under pressure, both from a margin and a turnover point of view.
Wall: And what sectors are you seeing those opportunities then? You mentioned youre avoiding financials and miners, which make up a lot of the FTSE 100. But smaller down the cap scale, what sort of sectors are you interested in?
Yeaman: Well, actually we are still seeing a lot of value in house builders which may come as a surprise, but if you look at the margins that these companies are earning, theyre actually material. So for example, my largest holding, a company called, M J Gleeson, thats earning 18% operating margins and theyre housing division. If you look further down, we can talk about industrials.
Now industrials is not an area thats doing particularly, but of course, its made up from a number of different companies. So the companies that we are invested in, which could include Avon Rubber, for example, it could include Hill & Smith, they are still earning double digit margins and actually been able to grow that margin.
Wall: And you mentioned the dreaded word Brexit earlier. Yesterday, in a leading national newspaper, 300 business leaders put their names behind the Vote Leave campaign. And they were predominantly small and medium sized businesses, who said that they were being strangled by the red tape of the EU. You invest obviously in small and medium sized businesses, is Brexit or indeed the EU something that you consider when making those business decisions?
Yeaman: No, its not something that I consider, but I think youre right in seeing that is potentially a large impact for small and mid-cap companies, because there is a lot of red tape there. Now if youre a multinational company you have advisers everywhere and its easier to navigate. For small and mid-cap, its not quite as easy. But coming back to the beginning of the conversation, a lot of my stocks which are domestic stocks have been hit on sentiment.
So this has given me the opportunity, as bizarre as it may sound, to actually top up my holdings, because they are being impacted by a potential Vote Leave and although we don't think it's going to happen, the market is obviously nervous. Theres a lot of cash sitting on the sidelines and people arent willing to actually commit.
Wall: And so when the market reverts to norm, following whatever result we get after June, 23rd, youre confident that those stock prices will rise again?
Yeaman: Im very confident the stock prices will rise and we can talk about a number of stocks like that, but the house builders for example, have been hit very hard, the retailers have been hit hard and we are taking this opportunity to actually top up the positions.
Wall: Great. Thank you very much.
Yeaman: Thank you.
Wall: This is Emma Wall for Morningstar. Thank you for watching.
Recent figures indicate that activity in long-time real estate powerhouses Vancouver and Toronto has started leveling off, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).
With Vancouver actually declining by 1 per cent and Toronto seeing virtually no increase in home sales, April 2016 marked the second straight month of relatively weak performance in these traditionally dynamic cities (Vancouver slowed by 0.3 per cent and Toronto number fell by 1.8 per cent on March).
Activity in Greater Vancouver and the GTA appears to have topped out, CREA president Cliff Iverson told The Huffington Post Canada.
These developments have not appeared to impede price growth in any way, however, with the benchmark value shooting up by 25.34 per cent in Vancouver (up to $844,800) and 11.6 per cent in Toronto (to $614,700) on a year-over-year basis in April.
While significant home price gains may entice some homeowners in these markets to list their home for sale, the issue for many is that the decision to move means they would also be looking to buy while competition for scarce listings is fierce, CREA chief economist Gregory Klump explained.
As a result, many homeowners are deciding to stay put and continue accumulating capital gains. Thats keeping listings off the markets at a time when they are already in short supply, Klump added.
In a client note, TD Bank economist Diana Petramala said that these trends point toward diffusion of growth to the peripheries of Canadas two most in-demand cities, which might feed into even stronger numbers for B.C. and Ontario down the line.
The average price for a home has risen by more than $100,000 in Vancouver and Toronto over the last year, putting them increasingly out of reach for the average buyer. As such, we expect demand to continue to spread out into their surrounding areas, Petramala wrote.
Big Brews and Blues for Diabetes, is back! 2016 marks the 7th annual fundraiser, and it is going to be bigger and better than ever. The event features incredible blues music, and dozens of beers to taste. Dayton Most Metro will host one of the booths and will be pouring beers into the night Food Adventures is proud to again be participating in the event.
Chef House, The Big Ragu and Hungry Jax love this event because 100% of the proceeds go to Dayton Diabetes. This is the blues and beer festival you want to support, because of where the money goes and because it is for a great cause.
HERES THE SKINNY:
WHEN: Big Brews and Blues is Saturday May 21st from 5-9 PM with a VIP hour from 4-5pm
WHERE: Five Rivers MetroParks RiverScape Pavillion
WHY: To raise money for Dayton Diabetes while having a great time.
COST: $35 presale
$40 at the door for regular admission
$50 for VIP admission, which gets you in one hour earlier, plus some additional tasting tickets.
Tickets are available on-line at www.bigbrewsandblues.com
THE BLUES:
4p-6pm Jimmy D. Rogers
6:15p-7:15p Micah Kesselring
7:45p-9p Shake n The New Senders
And emceed by Earl Southside Hayes
THE BREWS:
ALL BEERS ARE DRAUGHT BEERS
ALL BEERS ARE AMERICAN CRAFT BEERS
ALL OF THE LOCAL BREWERIES WILL BE REPRESENTED !
There will be multiple CASK BEERS and LIMITED RELEASE BEERS
MUST EATS:
BOSTONS BISTRO and PUB: We have never had anything here we didnt like
BOURBON STREET GRILL: Get the Bourbon Chicken
HEARTS HOT DOGS: The Chicago Style Hot Dog and The Steak Burger
PITA POCKETS: Get the Gyro !
THE ORIGINAL PIZZA FACTORY: Whether you get the Pepperoni or the Deluxe, you will have a nice thick slice on your hands.
Saturdays Big Brews and Blues not enough for you??
Then get your thirsty mug to these related events for
American Craft Beer Week in Dayton (We love Craft Beer)
Tuesday, May 17th : Its Taco Tuesday at Pour Haus. Starts at 5 pm.
Wednesday, May 18th: The American IPA Showcase at The Barrel House. Starts at 5 pm.
Thursday, May 19th: Ohio Beer Spotlight at Dayton Beer Company featuring MadTree, FatHeads, Jackie Os, Dayton Beer Company, and others. Starts at 5 pm.
Friday, May 20th: Big Brews and Blues Pre-party at Bostons Bistro & Pub, featuring Hungarian food. Starts at 6:00pm.
Brew it up with Food Adventures each and every day by liking us on Facebook by clicking here. No rules, no food critics, just serious eats and original photos! We leave no plate unturned!
Pins and Beers
Born in its founders spare bedroom, Midlands The Hennessey Group is set to celebrate its fifth anniversary and an expansion to the Midwest.
Were very excited about the Midwest, said Krisi Hennessey, president of the company that provides extended-stay housing. The Midwest division will be headquartered in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to serve Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and parts of Iowa.
She said the company has hired a national sales manager for the Michigan division and expects to hire more sales representatives in the next few months.
As we grow nationally, were hiring locally, she said, listing a newly hired warehouse manager, business manager, additional sales representatives and the need for more staff for accounting and client services.
Each year the company has grown by double digits and is on track to do $5 million in sales this year, up from $4.2 million in 2015. The goal is to hit $20 million in sales in the next 18 to 24 years, she said.
The Hennessey Group provides short-term housing, whether an apartment or house and then subleasing them for firms that are hiring someone or has a project or a job that will take (the employee) out of their home area for 30 days or more. Most of our clients stay an average 98 days, Hennessey said. She estimates 75 percent of the companys business is leasing an apartment, furnishing it to the clients requests and subletting to that client.
The Hennessey Group was born of her own experience trying to find short-term housing during different work assignments. She recalled thinking This could be a business for someone and finally decided she was that someone.
She was aided by her husband, Monty Hennessey, who worked nights and weekends with her to build the business. Eventually he closed his own Odessa-based business to join her.
In the beginning, they converted a guest bedroom into their first warehouse storing household items. A large closet served as their office.
Eighteen months later we decided we needed a warehouse with small office space for a year to store furniture, kitchen ware, linens and appliances, Hennessey said.
They then moved to a larger warehouse and are now settled 2706 W. Wall St. between NAPA Auto Parts and Enterprise Car Rental.
Each client will find their home-away-from home stocked with furniture, appliances, kitchen items, linens, even artwork. Locally, the company even provides food service.
Hennessey shows off warehouse space containing stacks of dishes, silverware and kitchen items, linens, dining room chairs, rugs, sofas and more.
When you walk into our unit, all you need is your clothes. We want to make it your home away from home, she said.
The acquisition of a competitor in late 2014 gave the company locations in Dallas and Las Vegas along with warehouses in those locations.
Initial clients were oil and gas companies. But the list has grown to include construction companies, even doctors and nurses or patients receiving medical treatment. Hennessey also works with insurance companies, helping house-displaced clients or adjusters working a large-scale event.
The areas large-scale construction projects are beginning to wind down and demand has been affected by the downturn in the oil and gas industry.
But there is still construction going on, traveling nurses, law firms, Monty Hennessey said.
Kristi Hennessey said the companys new Midwest division is working with a technology company relocating 1,000 jobs to the Midwest.
Other clients have included such restaurants as In-and-Out Burger, Cracker Barrel, Outback Steakhouse and Landrys, owner of Saltgrass Steakhouse.
Kayce Hyatt, the companys new business manager, said that the company has also worked with clients moving to the U.S. from Canada.
Hennessey Group will be working with people coming to Midland-Odessa for Octobers Permian Basin International Oil Show.
On an even larger scale, Were working with the Super Bowl coming to Houston next year, finding housing for workers preparing the Super Bowl, she said.
ODESSA, Texas (AP) An Odessa teenager has been indicted on a capital murder charge in the March fatal shooting of his parents at the family's home.
James Gabriel "Gabe" McDonald of Odessa awaits trial as an adult. Ector County District Attorney Bobby Bland said Wednesday that the 17-year-old suspect faces one count for the deaths of two people during the same crime.
In an attempt to intimidate his nephew, Aemond threatened to take out Lucerys' eye and later went after the young prince on dragon's back. The situation escalated to a bad one when Lucerys' dragon Arrax blew fire on Aemond's dragon Vhagar.
Someone should sue the President for ...
California Water Board View Photos
Sacramento, CA California leaders will decide whether to end mandated water conservation measures and let local water districts set their own targets.
Its on the agenda for todays California Water Resources Control Board meeting. The state has been putting in place restrictions during the ongoing drought but this last winter saw near average rain and snowfall throughout much of the state. The Sierra Nevada snowpack on April 1st of 2015 was only around 5% of average, but this April 1st it was 87% of normal.
Max Gomberg of the state water board told the Associated Press that he feels Californians understand the severity of the drought and residents will continue to conserve.
The growth in Central Florida's technology industry may be in areas such as downtown Orlando and the Medical City in Lake Nona, but Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer thinks that could all change in the near future.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer speaks to Osceola County leaders about tech businesses
Osceola leaders hope SunRail, new parkway will bring more business
Dyer traveled to neighboring Osceola County on Tuesday to talk to business leaders there about bridging connections between the two areas.
You may not know that we have the most vibrant modeling simulation and training industry cluster in the entire world right here in Central Florida, Dyer said.
Marcy Theobald, a St. Cloud cleaning service owner and Realtor, said her business depends on growth, and she says brining new technology industries and big businesses will help not just her business but the entire community.
If Orlando knows what St. Cloud has to offer, they are going to start bringing them this way, she said. A lot more people will travel to this area and work here instead of live here and transport somewhere else to work.
With $10 million invested in projects such as SunRail, which is coming to Kissimmee in 2018, and new roadways such as the Poinciana Parkway, both elected officials and area business owners are hoping that will force some big change.
Already in the works is Osceolas big new research center that will develop sensor technology a facility expected to generate about 4,000 jobs. The median income at the project could be about $130,000, according to the County Manager.
But thats just one industry of many Osceola leaders say they will need to overcome the 5.7 percent unemployment rate.
To marry the two (counties) together we have Kissimmee and we have Orlando, we have Lake Nona, we have St. Cloud we need to all be on the same road, Theobald said.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer speaks to Osceola County business leaders Tuesday, May 17, 2016.
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A boat smuggling eight humans and about 26 pounds of marijuana washed ashore Tuesday during the severe weather in Indian River County, deputies said.
Deputies responded to 14255 Highway A1A where a small Boston Whaler washed ashore with drugs and non-U.S. citizens.
Deputies located and detained a female from Cuba, a male from the Dominican Republic, two Hispanic males from Brazil and two males from the Bahamas.
Deputies also located a Duffel Bag containing 26 pounds of marijuana. During interviews with the subjects, deputies learned two other Brazilian males were on board the boat, but they evaded capture during the initial response.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the United States Border Patrol responded to the scene.
Around 10 p.m., reports came in that the two Brazilian men were along A1A. The two were apprehended, deputies said.
The total number of individuals apprehended was eight. Investigators have since learned that the smuggling boat left the Bahamas around midnight May 17 and headed for the United States.
Two of the apprehended Bahamian males coordinated the trip to smuggle drugs and humans into the U.S. All eight were turned over to Border Patrol agents and transported to West Palm Beach for interviews.
Twenty-six pounds of marijuana was also found on the boat. (Indian River County Sheriff's Office)
The 2016 Atlantic hurricane season starts in less than two weeks, and emergency management departments across Central Florida are preparing for whatever Mother Nature has in store.
The hurricane season officially begins June 1 and ends Nov. 30
Emergency officials in Central Florida are conducting hurricane exercises to get prepared
Officials are concerned some people might have hurricane amnesia
Several counties are holding hurricane exercises during the next couple of weeks to make sure emergency management leaders and first responders are ready.
Ray Gray, with the American Red Cross, said he undergoes training to ensure he's equipped to handle anything, especially after enduring the hurricanes that hit Central Florida in 2004.
"(I remember) the carnage, the amount of damage that was done, the flooding," Gray said. "People were really left with no place to go."
However, as emergency management officials get prepared, they are concerned most people will suffer from hurricane amnesia.
"People have gotten (relaxed) because nothing has happened," Gray said. "They forget."
A hurricane hasn't hit Florida in more than a decade.
"It was 2004, and we had a good practice out of three hurricanes, but a lot of those folks are gone and we have a lot of new residents here in Orange County and they may have not been through a storm," said Ron Plummer, who is in charge of Orange County's Office of Emergency Management. "So, we want to make sure that they get themselves prepared, that they receive information and they have a kit for their families."
Orange County's Office of Emergency Management is hosting the 2016 Hurricane Expo on June 4 at the Renaissance Senior Center.
"We just try to get the resources out, pamphlets, we have classes and just to show people that they need to take this seriously, especially in Central Florida," Gray said. "Just because we haven't been hit by a storm in over 10 years, it can happen any day."
One of Orange Countys newest schools opens in Wedgefield this August, and the school district is taking extra precautions to make sure the school has good drinking water.
That is adding to frustration for residents in the community who are trying to get the government to deal with their own drinking water concerns.
Tests show almost a dozen Wedgefield homes have high levels of TTHMs
Pluris, the private company that handles Wedgefield's water, will also handle water for the new school
OCPS is putting in a special filtration system at Wedgefield School
Water tests done at nearly a dozen Wedgefield homes show levels of Total Trihalomethanes are well above the legal limit. TTHMs are a chemical by-product of the chlorination process. Long-term exposure has been linked to certain types of cancers, according to the Florida Department of Health.
OCPS said they were aware of the water concerns related to private company Pluris. At Wedgefield K-8 School, the district is installing its own filtration system, chlorination building and pump, to ensure students have safe drinking water from day one.
That is not a common practice for new schools built in the district.
The quality of the water is of the highest priority for this school, as with any OCPS facility, said OCPS Chief Facilities Officer John Morris. We will take the time to make sure we design and provide the best filtration system for students and staff.
Residents, however, question why they are struggling to get government help for their own water issues when the school district is taking such precautions.
"What about when the kids come home to these homes? said Pamela Dimarzio.
Dimarzio is a single mom to three children, all of whom will be attending Wedgefield School in the fall.
The community, were all super excited about this school," she said. Weve worked really hard, for many, many years to get here. Its about time we have our own community school. This is a long time coming.
Dimarzio moved into Wedgefield 10 years ago, pregnant with her first child. Though water issues price and quality have loomed for years in Wedgefield, construction of the new K-8 school has made them boil over.
The public school is now going to be the biggest customer for Pluris," said Dimarzio.
The residents deserve better," commented Orange County Commissioner Ted Edwards, who represents the area.
Water test results are being forwarded to the State Department of Environmental Protection, who may choose to take action against Pluris. The county has said they have no jurisdiction over Pluris.
Theyre not doing a good enough job at providing the safe drinking water supply to the residents of Wedgefield," said Edwards.
In recent weeks, both Orange County and Pluris re-tested several Wedgefield homes. Those results are still being finalized and will be forwarded to the DEP for evaluation as well.
OCPS said they have not done any of their own testing of the water, and didnt have the figures ready yet for what the enhanced up-filtration system will cost.
The school will accommodate more than 1,000 students. Its being built to relieve overcrowding at two other schools, Corner Lake Middle School and Columbia Elementary School.
VIDEO: Commissioner Ted Edwards on Pluris water investigation
Sanford Burnham, the medical research group that helped create Lake Nona's Medical City, could be leaving the Central Florida area, according to reports from the Orlando Business Journal.
Sanford Burnham could be leaving Orlando
The research facility opened about 10 years ago
The major research facility is reportedly in talks with the University of Florida to possibly take over.
Deborah Robinson, a spokeswoman for Sanford Burnham, issued the following statement:
"The University of Florida and Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute at Lake Nona are discussing a proposal that they believe would allow the University to build upon and grow the research enterprise established by SBP at the Medical City in Lake Nona. Both organizations believe that this is an opportunity to create a scientifically robust operation that capitalizes on SBP at Lake Nona's world-class infrastructure and UF's vision for growth."
Nothing is finalized yet. Sanford Burnham opened about 10 years ago. The nonprofit medical research institute also has a facility in California.
A Seminole County Sheriff's Office detention facility officer in charge of inmate property was arrested Tuesday on credit-card fraud charges.
Luis Rodriguez was detention service officer at Polk Correctional Facility
Rodriguez faces credit-card fraud charges
Rodriguez was seen on video using inmate's credit card, deputies say
Luis Rodriguez, 59, who worked as civilian detention service officer at the Polk Correctional Facility in Sanford, is accused of fraudulently using a credit card stolen from an inmate.
According to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office, which arrested Rodriguez, a woman reported Friday that her credit card was missing and was used while she was in the facility earlier in the week.
Two days after being released, she noticed suspicious activity on her credit card, including one for a transaction at a Deltona gas station while she was in custody. Two other charges were made at a Deltona car wash.
During their investigation, Volusia deputies found video of a man making a transaction at the Deltona car wash that matched Rodriguez's description. The woman reviewed the footage and recognized the man as someone who worked at the correctional facility.
Polk Correctional Facility and Seminole Sheriff's officials also watched the video and identified the man at the car wash as Rodriguez. The vehicles used at the car wash also were registered to him, according to Volusia deputies.
Rodriguez was booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach on Tuesday on $5,000 bond. The Seminole Sheriff's Office also initiated termination of his employment.
Homeowners are speaking out against a proposal to build a new 4,300-home neighborhood on an old U.S. Army bombing range in southeast Orlando.
Vista Park would comprise 4,300 homes
Some Lake Nona-area residents think the development is a bad idea
Developers say they will clear any potentially dangerous bombing range ordnance
Developers said they will find and get rid of every World War II-era bomb on the 1,500 acre Vista Park property.
However, neighbors are appealing the rezoning decision, because they dont think it will be that easy.
John Daly, who lives in the Vista Lakes neighborhood off Lee Vista Boulevard, thinks the current plan to build the 1,576-acre Vista Park neighborhood on part of the old Pinecastle Jeep Range is a bad idea.
The issues have been spelled out," Daly said. "Storm water drainage, traffic, schools the bomb mitigation being obviously a cornerstone of the discussions. The bottom line is that the city needs to take a pause on this, not approve the zoning until some of our concerns are adequately addressed."
Meanwhile, developers said they have a plan to clean up the land between State Road 417 and State Road 528, at an estimated cost of $25 to $30 million.
Their conceptual plan calls for an elementary school, but ever since dozens of old bombs were found in 2007 at nearby Odyssey Middle School, its unclear whether Orange County Public Schools would be willing to build a school there.
Neighbors said you only get one chance to properly plan a large development.
Its not just individuals that are addressing these concerns with the city," Daly said. "Were representing literally 8,000 homeowners that live in the Vista East area."
The City of Orlando released the following statement about the Vista Park development:
"The City is committed to ensuring that development in the City enhances our community.
We have had a long-term vision for the growth of the southeast section of our City and continuing to build on the success of Medical City. This proposed development in this area will help to meet the demand for quality residential and retail development and serve as a pivotal area for the future of southeast Orlando, one of the fastest growing in our community.
The project also proposes to partner with the City to develop the road network and appropriate transportation infrastructure in the area, which is important to support the growing residential and business population in this area. Bordered by two major roadways, SR 417 on the east and SR 528 on the south, this parcel is critical for infrastructure supporting the areas future growth and improving connectivity in the City and County."
However, neighbors think traffic would still be a major issue.
"We recognize theres going to be growth, and we welcome that, but it needs to be in a way that is manageable, reasonable and reduces the impact on existing people that live in Orlando in this area," Daly said.
A quasi-judicial hearing officer will have 45 days to make a rezoning recommendation. That recommendation will then go before the City Council for a public hearing and vote.
May 18, 1946: An election has been ordered for June 1 for voters in Bellview Common School District No. 23 and Plainview ISD to consider consolidation into a larger independent district. Voting will be in the Bellview school house and the PISD business office, south of the courthouse. The Plainview district includes 25 square-miles and Bellview covers almost 32 square-miles.
--Hale Countys third British bride arrived Saturday. She is Mrs. Thomas E. Warren, wife of the Army private first class awaiting court-martial on charges of cruelty to American prisoners. Born in Tamworth, Staffordshire, she is staying with her husbands parents.
--Plainview will put in a bid for the site of the regional Girl Scout headquarters during an area meeting in Lubbock later this week, according to Mrs. J.J. Depp, Plainview Girl Scout commissioner. The regional office will serve a nine-county area. The local delegation at the meeting will include Mrs. Depp, Mayor J.N. Jordan, Vincent Tudor, Dan Castles and Kermit Ashby.
May 18, 1956: The Plainview Grain Exchange, Inc., has been charted for capital stock after previously operating under a non-stock charter. It has been authorized with 100 shares at $100 each. The charter was issued by the Texas Secretary of State Tom Reavley to Harold Hinn, Harry Riggs and Vincent Tudor.
--The boards of trustees of Plainview First Methodist Church and First Baptist Church have formally executed documents transferring the Methodist Church property at Seventh and Baltimore to the Baptist Church for $200,000. The Methodists plan to build on property on West Seventh Street.
--A district assembly of presidents and secretaries-elect of the 40 Rotary Clubs in northwest Texas is being held in Floydada through Wednesday, according to Jim Willson Jr., president of the Floydada club.
May 18, 1966: Wayland announced the sale Tuesday of a 1,311-acre tract in Deaf Smith County to Muleshoe businessmen. The $380,000 proceeds will be used to construct an auditorium on campus named for Mrs. J.L. Harral of Abernathy, who gave the land to Wayland in 1963.
--Mary Jo Adams has been selected head twirler this fall for the West Texas State University Buffalo Band. She has been a twirler for the past three years.
--Dr. Jerry Stirman was elected president of the Hale County Heart Association during a meeting Friday at the Alcove Restaurant. Other officers include Claud Witten, vice president; Mrs. Charles Whippo, secretary; and Mrs. Lillian Collins, treasurer.
May 18, 1986: Lucy Henderson Worrell Kanady, 86, was named as Pioneer Woman of the Plains at the 58th Pioneer Round-Up. She has been a Plainview resident for 82 years.
--Plainview Baptist Academy, an independent Christian school for kindergarten through third grade, will have an open house from 3-5 p.m. today at 1100 W. 32nd St, adjacent to Northside Baptist Church. Pat Hammit is administrator/principal.
--High winds and a heavy overcast kept hot air balloons grounded Saturday morning on the first day of the Pioneer Balloon Festival. Balloonists will try again at 7 a.m. today at Regional Park.
Compiled by Doug McDonough
Toyota Motor Corp. shut down production at its plant on San Antonios South Side on Wednesday after severe overnight storms caused water damage and power outages in some areas of the plant.
The plant halted production and sent workers home at around 1 a.m. Wednesday as the storm system moved through the San Antonio region, Toyota spokesman Mario Lozoya said.
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The Tejano world and San Antonio will honor the life of revered musician Emilio Navaira at a series of services beginning Sunday.
A public visitation and a rosary will be held on Sunday, May 22, inside the Freeman Coliseum, located at 3201 E. Houston St. Navaira's casket will be brought to the visitation, which is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a Rosary starting at 4 p.m., according to Castle Ridge Mortuary.
All floral arrangements and tributes should be directed to Castle Ridge Mortuary. Arrangements should be delivered to the mortuary before 4 p.m., The mortuary is at 8008 W. Military Drive.
Navaira filled the same coliseum with the sturdy voice and infectious onstage presence many grew to love during multiple performances throughout his career.
MORE ON NAVAIRA'S LIFE AND CAREER: Tejano music legend, San Antonio native Emilio Navaira dies at 53 in New Braunfels
A Catholic funeral liturgy will follow on Monday at San Fernando Cathedral, at 115 W. Main Plaza in downtown, starting at 1 p.m and will also be public.
The interment portion of his services will be at San Juan Cemetery Bergs Mill, Monday, and are also public, the mortuary said.
Navaira's legacy of chart-topping Tejano hits garnered years of success and a legion of fans who are now mourning the man who became staple of Texas culture in the 1990's. Navaira died at his New Braunfels home. Officials believe he died of natural causes, but the cause will be determined by a medical examiner.
Since his death, Navaira's life has been celebrated with non-stop playlists of his music on local radio stations, online tributes and community vigils.
RELATED: Tejano celebrities, other Texas notables respond to Emilio Navaira's death on social media
Last week, Tejano radio station, KXTN, and Univision San Antonio organized a vigil in memory of the Alamo City native at Market Square. Rob "the barber" Ferrel, who has gained nationwide popularity for his artistic haircuts and drawings in everything from ketchup to salt, created a portrait of Navaira on a window of Univision's downtown studio.
Thousands watched live Facebook broadcasts of Ferrel completing a piece of the late star wearing his signature outfit a plaid shirt and a cowboy hat.
RELATED: Never-before-seen interview of Emilio Navaira from 2000 published day after his death
Family, friends, fellow members of the Tejano music scene and fans continue to reflect on the 53-year-old's life and memories.
"Spending time with him on a personal level, he had a big heart," Tejano Music Awards Spokeswoman Velia Gonzalez said in a previous report. "He had a big heart for people. He was always happy. He made the best of every situation. He was a happy person."
Express-News staff writer Rene Guzman contributed to this report.
mmendoza@mysa.com
Twitter: @MaddySkye
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The reigning King of Country, George Strait, is celebrating his 64th birthday today.
Born in 1952, just south of San Antonio in Poteet, Strait started his singing career with the Ace in the Hole Band while he worked towards a bachelors degree in agriculture. He graduated from Southwest Texas State University (now known as Texas State University) in 1979, but with a whopping 60 No. 1 hits notched onto his Wrangler belt, livestock and farming took a backseat to music.
RELATED: Miranda Lambert tells George Strait he needs a San Antonio tattoo, says divorce 'sucks right now'
Strait's 35-year discography started with the 1981 release of Strait Country, featuring classic songs like "If You're Thinking You Want a Stranger." Decades later, the Texas boy who played honky tonks in college carries the love of millions from West Virginia down to Tennessee as well as a legendary career.
RELATED: The King of Country, George Strait, is back with a new CD and show dates
In 2013, a record-breaking 73,086 fans packed the Alamodome for Strait's "The Cowboy Rides Away" farewell tour in San Antonio. But, the troubadour has continued his undisputed reign into his sixties with Sin City shows and another album, Cold Beer and Conversation.
RELATED: 25 reasons the world should tell San Antonio 'thank you'
The King launched his Las Vegas concert series on April 22, 2016 before a sold-out crowd of more than 19,000 fans who listened to him perform a 2-hour set, SoundsLikeNashville.com reported. Strait will return to T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Sept. 9-10, Dec. 2-3 and Feb. 17-18, 2017.
Happy Birthday, Mr. Strait! You will always be a fire we can't put out.
mmendoza@mysa.com
Twitter: @MaddySkye
If celebrating cement sounds too much like watching paint dry, then you havent driven on Belknap Place lately. The Monte Vista street was constructed using a patented, two-layer process called Granitoid more than 100 years ago, making it the oldest concrete street in Texas and one of the oldest in the country.
The Cement Council of Texas and the Monte Vista Historical Association invite you to celebrate Saturday when a historical marker is unveiled near Laurel Heights United Methodist Church. The Belknap Place centennial celebration also will feature antique cars from the Model T and Model A car clubs of San Antonio, music by a barbershop quartet and food trucks.
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The federal government is not complying with a judges ruling last year that found family detention centers in Karnes County and Dilley were in violation of a landmark settlement governing the treatment of children in U.S. custody, lawyers representing immigrant rights groups alleged in a court filing this week.
In the latest filing in a California federal lawsuit over the treatment of immigrant children in government custody, lawyers alleged that families are kept for weeks and months at the facilities, despite the fact that theyre not licensed and are closed, meaning detainees are not allowed to leave.
They say they say thats a violation of a 2015 order by U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee. Gee found that the Karnes County and Dilley centers werent complying with a 1997 settlement called the Flores Agreement that sets standards for how the government treats immigrant children. The lawyers also alleged that immigration officials interfered with the detainees ability to meet with pro bono attorneys working at the center.
Defendants unsafe treatment of children continues unabated, according to the motion filed by Peter Schey, an attorney for the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles. The challenged conduct has in no significant way been voluntarily ceased. Rather than signaling a willingness to end their breach of the settlement, defendants have indicated to their private contractors that operate detention facilities a readiness to increase the detention of mothers and their children.
The Department of Homeland Security is appealing Gees 2015 ruling, saying the Flores Agreement applies to unaccompanied children, not those held with their parents. Officials have said that in the meantime, theyre coming into compliance with the ruling and are holding families for about 20 days before releasing them.
DHS is complying with the terms of the agreement and the Court's August order even as we appeal that ruling, DHS spokeswoman Marsha Catron said in an emailed statement. Our response to the motion will be filed expeditiously.
DHS efforts to obtain state licensing for the facilities have been halted by lawsuits filed by an Austin-based advocacy group.
Lawyers representing the detainees also alleged that deplorable conditions at Border Patrol facilities where families are held before being transferred to the detention centers are in violation of Gees order as well.
Theyre asking for a special monitor to oversee the detention centers.
jbuch@express-news.net
Twitter: @jlbuch
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SAN ANTONIO The new Museum of Science and Technology is still working to lock down a definite location in the downtown area, an organizer said Tuesday.
Jeffrey Wyatt, a volunteer working to make this museum a reality, said nothing is finalized in the creation of the museum, but they hope to be opening a location downtown by the end of the year.
The museum aims to highlight San Antonios contributions to technology, as well as inspire children, teens and adults to follow careers in technological fields, he said.
RELATED: Witte museum reveals the hidden world of the Maya
More for you NWS predicts isolated strong, severe storms possibly on Monday
The planned museum will have projects and workshops that will enhance guests understanding of various technologies and topics as part of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines.
Wyatt is principal at The Museum Practice in San Antonio. He works with museums around the world, including current work with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
He said he met with people on May 11 at the Innotech conference at the Henry B. Gonzalez Conference Center who supported the idea of bringing a science and technology museum to the Alamo Citys downtown area.
RELATED: Witte Museum opens doors of $15 million Mays Family Center
Wyatt said San Antonio needs more people in these types of jobs, and he wants the museum to having a lasting impression on those who ultimately visit it.
There is a use for people that can fill those (STEM) roles, Wyatt said in an interview with mySA.com.
The museum will also highlight numerous pieces of old technology, especially items that originated in San Antonio. Those items may include the first cellphone with a camera and the first video conferencing system developed back in the 1960s and 1970s, Wyatt said.
RELATED: Here are 25 of the coolest things to do at the Briscoe Western Art Museum
He said another piece of tech to be featured will be the first laptop with a camera.
The museum will also showcase phones from different eras to show how the device has evolved over centuries of use.
twhite@mysa.com
Twitter: @tylerlwhite
While the number of syphilis cases declined for the third straight year in Bexar County, and the number of congenital syphilis cases where the disease is passed from mother to baby held steady from last year, two other sexually transmitted diseases are on the upswing.
The San Antonio Metropolitan Health District released annual statistics about such diseases Wednesday, showing that chlamydia and gonorrhea are on the increase. There were 13,313 chlamydia cases in 2015, up from 11,127 the year before, with women two times more likely to contract the infection than men.
SAN ANTONIO Texas Department of Public Safety investigators believe the 1993 unsolved slaying of a woman found dead in Caldwell County and the disappearance of her male house guest and his 9-year-old son were the result of a crime of passion.
However, more than 20 years after Latricia White was found shot inside her home two days after Christmas, authorities have yet to pin down the person responsible.
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A 28-year-old high school teacher in Central Texas was arrested Friday for allegedly having an improper relationship with student.
Clarissa Sue McDaniel was charged with two counts of improper relationship between an educator and a student, a second-degree felony, according to a news release issued by Llano Police Department.
RELATED: Police: Texas high school employee accused of playground sex admits to relationship with 2nd student
Administration at Llano High School notified police of the allegations made against McDaniel at about 10 a.m. Friday. The police department, the Llano County Sheriffs Office and the Texas Rangers conducted an investigation, which led to McDaniels arrest on the same day, the release said.
The police report said McDaniel and a student had sexual intercourse sometime between December and January. However, the report did not provide further details into the alleged incident.
RELATED: Central Texas high school teacher arrested on improper relationship with a student charge
Llano ISD Superintendent Casey Callahan said in an interview with mySA.com that McDaniel resigned Friday from her position at Llano High School. Callahan also said Llano ISD sent a letter out to parents regarding the charges and the ongoing investigation.
McDaniel's bond was set at $50,000 and she bonded out the same day she was arrested, according to Heavy.com.
RELATED: Report: Alabama student who wed teacher charged for having sex with her must testify against him
Llano is about 75 miles northwest of Austin.
If convicted, McDaniel faces up to 20 years in prison.
twhite@mysa.com
Twitter: @tylerlwhite
AUSTIN Gov. Greg Abbott is ratcheting up his rhetoric against Barack Obama in the national fight over which restroom should be used by transgender people, belittling the battle by comparing him unfavorably to another Democratic president.
JFK wanted to send a man to the moon. Obama wants to send a man to the women's restroom. We must get our country back on track, Abbott said in a tweet echoing an anti-Obama meme making the rounds.
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SAN ANTONIO National Weather Service forecasters said damaging hail and winds associated with heavy storms that swept through the area on Wednesday morning missed most of Bexar County.
NWS meteorologist Bob Fogarty said the cities of Ingram, Kerrville and portions of Medina County received hail ranging from 2 and a half to 3 inches overnight as storms pushed eastward toward San Antonio.
MORE: 10 inventive tips to battle hail ahead of San Antonio, South Central Texas storms
Fogarty said that by the time the storm system reached San Antonio, the hail threat decreased.
The main issues in Bexar County overnight were caused by flooding from heavy downpours.
Fogarty said up to 3 inches of rain fell across Bexar County and the Hill Country, and caused isolated flash floods and river swells.
RELATED: Woman emerges from overturned, swept away car with baby, holds onto tree until rescuers arrive
As the system moved further to the east, damaging winds developed, Fogarty said.
Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative Outage map
According to the NWS, forecasters have received reports of trees being uprooted in the area.
As of 8:00 a.m., nearly a dozen roads in San Antonio and Bexar County were still closed due to flood waters, including portions of Mauermann Road, Ray Ellison Boulevard and Gibbs Sprawl.
Additionally, more than 4,000 CPS Energy customers were without power as a result of 235 outages across the county.
By 10 a.m., that number had been reduced to 2,660 customers and 206 outages.
Scattered showers and storms are still moving through the region. Forecasters said more strong storms are possible through Thursday, followed by isolated showers until at least Monday.
mdwilson@express-news.net
Twitter: @MDWilsonSA
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Local developer GrayStreet Partners plans to put a retail center in renovated buildings at the corner of South Alamo and St. Marys streets in Southtown, including two restaurants by chef Andrew Weissman.
RELATED: Andrew Weissmans flagship restaurant honored
GrayStreet, a high-profile commercial developer with ambitious plans for downtown, has also leased space in the buildings to Brown Coffee Co. and the San Antonio Credit Union, spokesperson Tomoko Iimura Alavi said in an email.
The project will include about 15,000 square feet of retail, Alavi said. The developer expects to finish leasing space by this summer and to have tenants moving in by the end of the year.
RELATED: GrayStreet buys Houston Street properties
GrayStreet bought the 1.09-acre property that includes the buildings in April 2013, according to the Bexar Appraisal District. Its at a high-traffic intersection across from Rosarios Mexican Cafe Y Cantina. The property includes the former site of the Texas Highway Patrol Museum.
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San Diegos Comic-Con International festival changed the face of pop culture when it launched in 1970, setting a precedent for the ways in which comic book, film, video game, anime and collectible toy fans gather to celebrate their passions as a single community.
Now, similar events can be found all over the United States for those unable to attend the annual West Coast celebration.
One such event, the second Joseph T. Simpson ComiCon, will be held Saturday at the Joseph T. Simpson Public Library, located at 16 N. Walnut St., in Mechanicsburg.
According to library Adult Programming Coordinator Joelene Diana, the event is intended to be a smaller, more accessible alternative to larger events on the convention spectrum.
A big part of the traditional (Comic-Con events) is they are huge, Diana said. They can also be expensive and they are kind of overwhelming for some people. A lot of libraries are actually doing them now, and (they are) a lot more approachable and free, and you dont have to travel. They are also more family-friendly, and that is a big draw. It is just a lot of fun.
Featured activities will include a photo booth complete with a cardboard TARDIS from Doctor Who, Darth Vader and other props; a caricature artist; a Super Smash Bros. tournament; a Magic the Gathering gameplay area; a Jedi knights lightsaber duel; a marketplace featuring posters, games and raffles; and food vendors located in the library parking lot. There will also be an area where attendees can learn to draw manga characters.
The event will also highlight a popular convention tradition: cosplay, or dressing up as a character in a sector of the geek fandom.
We will be having a big cosplay contest, Diana said. Comic-Cons usually feature cosplay. It is a big part of it all. We had entire families that came dressed up last year. There were little kids in strollers that were dressed up. Their parents are the ones that are driving it, so they are including them in their adventures. It is neat to see.
Categories for cosplay judging will include Best Group, Best Child, Best Male (villain or hero), Best Female (villain or hero) and Best Nonhuman.
Additionally, cosplayers will have the chance to learn more about the concept and craft of cosplay through demonstrations and panels featuring studio designers.
Photo opportunities with the Star Wars 501st Storm Troopers, Jedi Knights, Mandalorian Mercs, Central Pennsylvania Avengers and other featured cosplay characters will also be available throughout the event.
I kind of consider (the event) a way of being inclusive to the entire community, Diana said. It is tapping into the creative people and addressing some things that are really popular and not typical in the mainstream. Being able to offer something like that at a library is really unique and fun.
For Diana, hosting the event has also provided a chance to learn more about the convention community in Cumberland County.
I have been surprised how amazing the Comic-Con community is, Diana said. They are so much fun and so inclusive and all artistic people who give a lot. A lot of (the event) is based on volunteering. It is pretty awesome.
The event will begin with at 10 a.m. with the cosplay contest.
Pre-registration will be required for the cosplay contest, the Magic the Gathering gameplay and the Super Smash Bros. tournament.
For additional information contact Diana at 717-766-0171.
COL Richard F. Dennison, US Army (Ret.)
COL Richard (Denny) F. Dennison, US Army (Ret.), age 97, passed away Thursday, May 12, 2016 at the Chapel Pointe Friendship Circle Household in Carlisle.
He was born August 30, 1918 in Baker, Montana to the late Orval Thomas and Annette Mary Leonard Dennison, and was the widower of the late H. Jewell Temple Dennison, who passed away on April 5, 2004.
Many of Dennys early years were spent at his uncles ranch on the plains near Ekalaka, MT, where his mother taught in country school houses. He lived in Great Falls, MT during his high school years. Denny graduated from the University of Montana-Missoula with a business degree, was commissioned in the US Army in 1940 and was posted to a variety of locations in Alaska and the Northwest. In 1943, Denny and Jewell were married in Anchorage, and Denny was then called to duty in New Guinea, the Philippines, and Japan at the end of WWII. Following tours at the Presidio (San Francisco) and Fort Benning (GA), he was sent to combat duty in Korea in 1952, and then returned and completed an MBA at the Univ. of Texas-Austin. Afterward, Denny and family were posted to Germany in 1963, and in 1967, returned to the states and assigned to the Pentagon.
During his service, Denny received the Combat Infantry Badge, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star (three awards, one with Valor), the Army Commendation Ribbon, the Greek War Cross and many theater ribbons. Other post-graduate studies included those at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth KS and at the Industrial College of Armed Forces in Washington, DC. Colonel Dennison retired from the Army in February 1968.
Denny began his civilian career as the Executive Director of the Cumberland County Association for Retarded Citizens (CPARC) in Carlisle and subsequently served as Business Manager of the Loysville Youth Development Center.
Denny was a founder of both the Pennsylvania state chapter of the Alliance for the Mentally Ill and of its local branch, and was Treasurer and board member for many years. In retirement, Denny enjoyed working on the farm outside of Carlisle, spending time with his grandchildren, and visiting family and friends, near and far.
He is survived by a son, Joseph T. (and wife Sue Ellen) Dennison of Carlisle; a sister, Virginia Garrelts of Salina, KS; four grandsons, Thomas, David, James and Michael Dennison; and numerous nieces and nephews. In addition to his parents and wife, Denny was preceded in death by a son, Richard F. Dennison, Jr; three brothers, Philip Dennison, Robert Dennison and William Dennison; and a sister, Joan Dennison Smith.
Celebration of Life services will be held at 4:00 PM on May 22, 2016 at the Henry Chapel at Chapel Pointe Carlisle, 770 S. Hanover St., Carlisle, PA with Rev. Steve Motter officiating. Burial will be private at the convenience of the family at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA. There will be a visitation on Sunday at the Henry Chapel from 3:00 PM until the time of the service.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the PA Chapter of the Alliance for the Mentally Ill at NAMI PA, Cumberland/Perry Counties, P.O. Box 527, Carlisle, PA 17013.
Hoffman Funeral Home & Crematory, 2020 W. Trindle Road, Carlisle, PA is handling the arrangements. To sign the guestbook, please visit www.HoffmanFH.com
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By Laura Layden of the Naples Daily News
Bonita Springs-based Innovative Food Holdings Inc. saw record sales in the first quarter.
The specialty food retailer reported total revenues of $8 million for the quarter, up 22 percent from $6.5 million a year ago, from its continuing operations.
With higher revenues, the company swung to a profit in the quarter. Adjusted earnings increased to more than $380,000, or 1.5 cents a share. That compares with a loss of more than $142,000 last year.
"We continue to see growing demand for our specialty food products offered by our platform. We are pleased with our top line and bottom line growth as they once again exceeded our internal expectations. As shown by the numbers, we have a unique platform, which has the ability to scale and accelerate bottom line margin with sales growth," said Sam Klepfish, the company's CEO, in an earnings call with analysts Monday night.
The company sells its products to consumers and to chefs. It distributes more than 7,000 specialty foods daily to thousands of chefs nationwide, a part of its business that has the potential to grow through its existing partners and new ones, Klepfish said.
In the quarter, he said, the company executed well on the top and bottom line. "We believe that our business has strong opportunities for growth in multiple markets and multiple market segments," Klepfish said.
The company paid off $660,000 of debt in the first quarter, and its inventory turnover continued to improve.
"We continue to focus on further improving our balance sheet and allocating capital to provide the best return for our shareholders," Klepfish said.
The company continues to explore stock buyback opportunities.
"Overall, based on the strength of our business, our working capital position and our improving asset mix, we currently anticipate a further improving balance sheet in 2016," Klepfish said.
Looking ahead, the company sees a strong opportunity for growth in the fast-growing specialty food market.
Shares closed at 53 cents on Tuesday, up 10 cents, on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board.
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Professional Pilot magazine named Naples Municipal Airport the 23rd-best fixed-base operator and the 12th-best independent FBO in the United States in its May issue. An FBO provides fuel, hangar space, parking and other services to private and corporate aircraft and other general aviation operators.
Events
Jaime Casap, Google's chief education evangelist, will deliver the keynote message at the Horizon Council General Membership Meeting at 8:30 a.m. May 27 at Harborside Event Center in downtown Fort Myers. Information: SNewcomb@leegov.com.
New office
BeneCard PBF, a pharmacy benefit manager focused on controlling costs through effective clinical initiatives, opened a new office at 28000 Spanish Wells Drive, Bonita Springs. The office will employ 65 people in executive management, call center staffing, operations and similar positions.
To submit your business news directly online, go to naplesnews.com/BIZwire or email news@naplesnews.com.
Gulf Coast Town Center on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014. (David Albers/Staff)
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By Patricia Borns, The News-Press
Within seconds of a lame opening bid on Lee Countys online auction block, Gulf Coast Town Center went to the bank.
Wells Fargo Bank, which sued the San Carlos Park malls owners last year for defaulting on their $191 million loan, was the high bidder in Wednesdays foreclosure auction as commercial real estate watchers expected.
The bank can bid up to the amount of judgment, and they dont have to write a check, LandQwest broker-owner Steve Cunningham said. If they want it, they can outbid everyone.
The judgment in this case, $212.7 million, is the largest standalone foreclosure in Lee County history.
Add to that a $10 million minimum to secure the asset someone meekly bid $100,000 -- and 48 hours to come up with it, and Southwest Floridas mall wonder is destined for the banks real estate-owned department.
From there, it will likely be spruced up and marketed for sale without delay, Cunningham said.
Anchored by Bass Pro, SuperTarget and a 16-screen Regal Cinema, Gulf Coast Town Center opened its first phase in 2005 and grew to become south Lee County's commercial epicenter with 100 stores.
McKinley of Ann Arbor, Michigan has managed the mall since the court appointed it receiver in 2015. The mall was owned by Richard E. Jacobs group of Cleveland and CBL &Associates Properties Inc. of Chattanooga. CBL is one of the largest mall REITs in the country, but its had a string of defaults, according to media reports.
Lenders took over two CBL malls in South Carolina and one in Ohio in 2014, while this year the company demanded an unsecured $4 million loan from the City of Wausau, Wis., to save Wausau Center mall from foreclosure.
Credit: Patrick Riley/ Staff
By Patrick Riley of the Naples Daily News
Bonita Springs City Council will hear a final presentation on the Bonita Beach Road visioning study, vote on an ordinance that would allow broader speaking rights during public comment for zoning hearings, and discuss hiring outside council to review certain current land use matters. Council is also expected to decide which capital improvement projects should be put on hold.
Follow reporter Patrick Riley for live updates:
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By Joe Landon, Citizen Contributor
I've lived here 27 years and it seems to me that season is lasting a little bit longer each year. There's a group that should probably be given some credit for that. With people usually heading back "up north" by the middle to end of April, some local folks, looking for a way to prolong season, found it with the StayInMay Festival. The event pays dividends to both snowbirds and locals, including students, as it helps Naples come alive culturally.
Formerly known as the ArtsNaples World Festival, Inc., the StayInMay Festival is now in its 5th year, and festival CEO Trey Farmer believes they are "truly making a splash in the local arts scene in what is ordinarily slow shoulder season." Farmer says they combine the best of the arts that Naples has to offer along with what he calls some amazing talent from across the globe. Festival organizers promise that, if you stay in May, they will bring the world to you.
Now, whether you enjoyed one or more of this year's festival happenings, or you read the Harriet Howard Heithaus article about them last month in the Naples Daily News, I'd like to share a little more info about StayInMay with you here today.
There are concerts and events spanning art, chamber music, cinema, culinary arts, dance, orchestra and theatre. To put that into perspective, more than 20 countries are represented in the cultural offerings to the delight of more than 10,000 arts enthusiasts each year.
With a philanthropic organization at its core, the nonprofit StayInMay Festival believes in what they call "the transformative power of the arts," maintaining that arts education improves the lives of young and old alike.
Working with the local education community, the festival sponsors educational programs designed to motivate students while showing them how their lives can be enriched through participation in the arts. They offer free special reserved tickets to students along with master classes and concerts.
"By bringing students and teachers together with visionary and passionate individuals and organizations in the arts, we have an opportunity to inspire and impact the lives of young people," says Claudia Polzin, the StayInMay Festival's director of development. "Our festival also allows underprivileged children to hear and learn from some of the world's most sought-after performers."
The Naples Art Association is the festival's premier partner, and CEO Aimee Schlehr feels their mission, to expand cultural opportunities, broaden education and enrich Naples through the visual arts, aligns perfectly with the festival's mission.
This year the festival ran from April 25 through May 8. The events were as varied as the venues. Here's a list of just a few of them with each providing a pretty good reason to stay in May.
The music of Johann Sebastian Bach was front and center during a Fifth Avenue Chamber Orchestra concert at Sugden Community Theatre. The Belarusian State Chamber Orchestra was welcomed to town for two performances, one at the Trinity by the Cove Episcopal Church and another at the South Regional Branch of the Collier County Library. Lyric Soprano Nancy Peery Marriott, who has delighted audiences around the world including at the Kennedy Center, performed at the Naples Art Association. The William Noll Jazz Orchestra brought its big band sound to the Naples Zoo. Food was in the spotlight on two occasions with a Peruvian cooking demonstration and another featuring Russian cuisine. And, to cap the festival off, there was a Mother's Day Eve chamber music celebration blended with a smattering of local history at the Naples Historical Society's Palm Cottage.
Learn more, if you'd like, by visiting www.stayinmay.com.
- - -
Joe Landon is a communications consultant having retired as executive director of communications for the Collier County School District. Please send suggestions for future columns to JoeLandon@Outlook.com.
FILE - In this Jan. 17, 2016 file photo, Amy Schumer accepts the Critics' Choice MVP award at the 21st annual Critics' Choice Awards in Santa Monica, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
By Oscar Santiago Torres of the Naples Daily News
Comedian Amy Schumers Southwest Florida tour did not include a performance in Naples, but she did go on a banana boat ride. Marcus Russell Price, a photographer for Schumer, posted a video of the comedian on his Instagram account.
Banana boat!, Schumer, 34, said about the same post, which she also posted on her Instagram account.
Warning: Video contains some profanity.
Banana boat! A video posted by @amyschumer on May 15, 2016 at 2:26pm PDT
Schumer performed for a sold-out crowd at Germain Arena in Estero on Saturday night.
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Follow the Naples Daily News on Instagram at instagram.com/naplesnews.
Rossana Lucero, former employee at the Shelter for Abused Women & Children, listens during her plea hearing Tuesday, May 17, 2016 at the Collier County Courthouse in Naples. Lucero, who plead guilty, was accused of stealing from over one-hundred plus women who came to the shelter seeking immigration assistance. (Luke Franke/Staff)
By Greg Stanley of the Naples Daily News
Rossana Lucero, a former victim's advocate at the Shelter for Abused Women & Children, received a six-year prison sentence Tuesday after pleading guilty to bilking tens of thousands of dollars out of the women who sought her help.
Lucero, 53, also must pay $60,118 in restitution to 53 of her victims, $30,000 of which she paid Tuesday before being sentenced.
The former advocate pleaded guilty to felony fraud and had a second felony charge against her dropped. Prosecutors asked Circuit Court Judge Frederick Hardt to hand down the six-year sentence, saying the crime was particularly serious because of who Lucero's victims were.
Lucero apologized to the shelter and the women she took the money from. She said it started when she and her husband were running into health insurance issues and had trouble taking care of their now 24-year-old daughter with life-threatening cystic fibrosis.
"I was emotionally desperate, unable to get her meds," Lucero said.
But Lucero admitted to spending the money on more than medication and health care, including clothes and a trip to Disney World.
"I justified it by telling myself that I was still helping them get their visa," Lucero said. "I guess I had fooled myself. I was greedy. I'm pleading guilty because I am guilty. To those I hurt I can only pray they forgive me."
Over a period of four years, Lucero siphoned money from abused and destitute women who had turned to the shelter as their last hope, said Erik Leontiev, assistant state's attorney.
"She led people to believe that she was on their side, that she liked them and cared about them," Leontiev said. "They had every right to trust the shelter. It was that trust, that vulnerability she took advantage of."
The shelter hired Lucero in August 2005 as an emergency advocate. In 2010, after taking an interest in immigration, Lucero was reassigned as the shelter's immigration advocate.
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From 2010 to 2014, Lucero admitted to taking cash and money orders from her immigrant clients, who thought they were paying fees for special visas.
The majority of her clients qualified for one of two types of visa: the U-visa, which helps victims of a crime who are cooperating with prosecutors, and the VAWA (Violence Against Women Act of 1994) visa, which protects immigrants who are in an abusive marriage with a U.S. citizen.
Most of the victims Lucero was serving shouldn't have had to pay an application fee for those visas because the U.S. Department of Homeland Security allows low-income applicants to receive a fee waiver. Lucero sent in fee waivers for her clients without their knowledge. She then kept the money her clients gave her for the fees, which cost as much as $1,070, while DHS processed the applications for free.
One domestic violence victim testified she gave Lucero a money order for $380 at a time when she was earning less than $600 a month. She had a young son and was trying to get away from an abusive live-in boyfriend.
Lucero processed immigration applications for 491 clients, investigators testified.
While prosecutors identified 53 victims, the shelter's executive director, Linda Oberhaus, said she believes Lucero took a total of more than $200,000 from close to 500 women.
"We know of at least 491," Oberhaus said. "We will reimburse them all fully."
Because many of the women were without immigration status or wanted to avoid the legal system, scheduling interviews with investigators was difficult, Oberhaus said. Once investigators felt they were able to prove that Lucero stole more than $50,000, the threshold to bring felony charges, those interviews stopped.
"We could have scheduled interviews forever," Oberhaus said. "Once that threshold was met we discontinued the interviews."
Christopher Brown, Lucero's attorney, disputed the total number of victims, saying it was nowhere near 491.
"That's assuming every single immigration client gave her money," Brown said. "The deposits just don't reflect that."
Mark Sievers in court for a custody hearing at the Lee County Courthouse, Monday, May 16, 2016. (Photo by Andrew West/News-Press)
By Jacob Carpenter of the Naples Daily News
Lawyers involved in the Lee County murder cases of Mark Sievers and Jimmy Rodgers said Wednesday that they're a long way from trial, with thousands of pages of records still to be shared between the sides.
At a case management conference for the two defendants, prosecutors also said they haven't made a decision about whether to seek the death penalty in the case of Rodgers. They didn't speak to whether a decision has been made in Sievers' case, but no filing has been made.
"I can tell you the state is right now considering all options," Assistant State Attorney Hamid Hunter said. Prosecutors have until mid-June to make a decision.
Sievers is accused of coordinating the killing of his 46-year-old wife, Bonita Springs Dr. Teresa Sievers, with his lifelong friend, Curtis Wayne Wright Jr. Investigators believe Wright and Rodgers traveled from their home state of Missouri and bludgeoned Teresa Sievers to death in her home in June 2015 while Mark Sievers was in Connecticut.
Wright has pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for a 25-year prison sentence. Mark Sievers and Rodgers have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges.
Hunter said more than 43,000 pages of evidence have been shared with lawyers for Rodgers and Sievers, with another large set of cell phone and tower records expected in the coming weeks.
"It's taking a lot of time," Hunter said.
Chief Assistant Public Defender Kathleen Fitzgeorge, who's representing Rodgers, said it's been "slow going" as prosecutors gather and share evidence. The two sides are "not even close" to starting depositions, she said.
"There are no forensic reports. There is a very basic, basic crime scene report. In my opinion, in my experience, there is a lot missing," Fitzgeorge said.
Rodgers hasn't waived his right to a speedy trial. If Rodgers doesn't waive that right, prosecutors could be required to take the case to trial by late August.
Mark Sievers has waived his speedy trial rights.
The next scheduled court dates are June 21 for Rodgers and July 27 for Mark Sievers.
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By Melhor Leonor of the Naples Daily News
At least six Immokalee High students were sent home Wednesday after, district officials say, they were asked by the school administrators to take off shirts bearing the Haitian flag and refused.
For years, students at the school have marked Haitian Flag Day the day the Haitian flag was adopted in 1803 by celebrating on campus during the school day with displays of the flag, national coat of arms and motto.
We had music, danced, displayed our culture, said Cyndie Previlus, who graduated from Immokalee High in 2008. Immokalee is full of Haitians everywhere. Thats the population in Immokalee.
But, school district officials said, the celebrations have been disruptive in the past. An Instagram video of Haitian Flag Day in 2014 shows students wearing Haitian flags running quickly around the schools campus, yelling. This morning, school administrators acted to preempt a similar situation, said district spokesman Greg Turchetta.
Last year we had 200 kids running down the hallways and blaring music, Turchetta said. There are assessments, (Advanced Placement) exams going on at the school. Obviously its imperative that there are no disruptions on that campus today.
Administrators stood behind the districts Student Code of Conduct, which says students are prohibited from wearing or displaying all but four flags on campus: the United States flag, the POW-MIA flag, the State of Florida flag and official school flags.
The wearing or display of flags on our campuses has historically and currently caused dissension along with a potentially unsafe and hostile learning environment for our students, the districts Student Code of Conduct reads.
But the policy does allow national flags on special occasions at the discretion of the schools principal.
Principal Ken Fairbanks denied a request for comment Wednesday.
Sophomore Cassidy Previlus was one of the students sent home Wednesday morning, and says that more than a dozen other classmates were asked to go home to change into different shirts.
I felt discriminated. We werent allowed to wear our own shirts, Cassidy said. I understand them taking bandanas, but a T-shirt?
Cassidy added that while many of her classmates were wearing shirts bearing the Haitian flag, hers merely included the countrys motto and a dark-skinned man with a conch shell.
Previlus, Cassidys older sister, said that despite the district policy on flags, the school may have gone too far.
Shes a sophomore. Shes missing class because of nonsense, Previlus said. Im furious.
The incident resonates with Previlus because, like her sister, she too participated in the student-led celebration throughout high school.
Every year, from my freshman year to when I graduated we did this, said Previlus, who incidentally shares her birthday with Haitian Flag Day.
For Haitians, Flag Day is among the countrys two most celebrated holidays, along with Independence Day. Schools throughout the country posted photos and videos on social media of school-sponsored Flag Day celebrations.
Jesula Pierre said she hoped to celebrate her nationality with her classmates when she was asked Wednesday to change her shirt, a white T-shirt with a Haitian flag on front.
My parents are from Haiti and I was born in Haiti. I should get the right to celebrate, Jesula said.
I missed school and all my classes. I missed all of that for a shirt.
District School Board of Collier County. (Carolina Hidalgo/Staff)
By Maria Perez of the Naples Daily News
A national civil rights advocacy group has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the Collier County school district of denying some immigrant students with limited English skills access to public education and discriminating against them.
The Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center argues in the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Myers that the system violated several federal and state laws by refusing to enroll immigrant teenagers aged 16 and older in high school, instead sending them to English Language adult education programs that don't teach other subjects or provide them a chance to earn credits toward a high school diploma.
School district spokesman Greg Turchetta said Wednesday system leaders do not comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the parents and a guardian of three minors who were denied enrollment in Immokalee High School when they were 15 or 16, according to the complaint, which identifies students by their initials. Lesly Methelus on behalf of Y.M., Rosalba Ortiz, aunt of G.O., and Zoila Lorenzo, mother of M.D.
The lawsuit states that instead of being evaluated and admitted in the high school program for English Language Learners, the students were told to attend an adult English language class at Immokalee Technical College, where they are segregated from their English-speaking peers.
The Southern Poverty Law Center estimates that about 300 immigrant students, ages 16 and 17, who moved into Collier since August 2013 could have been denied access or discriminated against by the county school system.
"Defendants deny these students equal access to educational opportunities offered in high school, the opportunity to earn credits toward a high school diploma, and the opportunity to learn skills and core subject matter that they will need in the future, thereby limiting their educational opportunities, career opportunities, and earning potential," the complaint says.
The students also were denied the benefit of the English Language Learners schools' plan, the complaint states.
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"The Collier County school district is shirking its responsibility to educate these students," said Tania Galloni, Miami-based Southern Poverty Law Center managing attorney. "Let's be clear: An adult English language class is no substitute for a high school education. Collier County has a responsibility under state and federal law to provide these children with a high school education."
The district refused to enroll the students, the complaint says, based on a policy that the school district board approved in February 2013 and put in place on August 1, 2013, as the number of immigrant minors arriving in the U.S. increased.
The system lowered the maximum high school attendance age from 21 to 19, and established a policy that says children 17 and older will not be allowed to enroll in a regular high school program if they are not on track to meet the graduation requirements in the school year when they turn 19.
Since then, school employees have denied enrollment to immigrant students who are 16 or older English language learners, instead of assessing their situation and creating a plan for their education, the complaint argues. By doing that, the system didn't follow the norms established by the school district's English Language Learners plan, which the system has to submit to the Florida Department of Education to show the schools comply with regulations, requiring equal access to educational opportunities, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit seeks to declare the system's policy and practices unlawful, and requests an injunction to end the practice. The lawsuit also asks the system to enroll the minors identified in the complaint and similarly situated students in public schools, and to provide the education necessary for the minors to compensate for instruction they were denied.
Last September, the group sent the district a letter saying the system had violated the rights of two of the students identified by initials in the complaint.
John Fishbane, the school district's attorney, said then the children were not improperly denied enrollment. He said the students didn't meet the requirements for promotion into high school established by Florida law, and that enrolling them in a regular high school program would have set them up for academic failure.
Fishbane said one of the students, identified as G.O., was 16 when he sought to enroll in high school and had a transcript from Guatemala that showed he completed the sixth grade. The second student, M.D. was also 16 and he informed the school he finished sixth grade.
"They certainly were nowhere near a middle school academic level to qualify for entrance into high school," Fishbane's letter to the Southern Poverty Law Center said.
Fishbane said it would have been very problematic for the students to successfully complete four years of English at high school since they lacked three years of middle school English. If the school district had enrolled them in the standard diploma program without knowledge of English, the letter said, or having completed middle school prerequisites, the students would have enrolled in English, mathematics, science, social studies, and electives classes, all conducted in English.
"Your insistence that the district should have nevertheless enrolled them in high school would have set them up for academic failure, with its attendant psychological and social consequences," the letter states.
Fishbane said the most immediate option under Florida Law was to provide an education through the adult education program that could place the students on a path to receive a high school diploma if they wanted.
"There is nothing precluding them from working with a school counselor to develop a program to place them on a path to a high school diploma or an alternative vocational program," the letter said.
The complaint says the school district violated the Equal Educational Opportunities Act, the Civil Rights Act, other federal laws and the Florida Educational Equity Act.
Members of Camp Hills Planning Commission met Tuesday evening to discuss a possible ordinance allowing borough residents to raise chickens.
Were not here to decide whether it will be allowed in the borough, announced Thomas Devling, acting chairperson. But I do think we need pretty strict rules about this, he told fellow commission members and about a dozen others in attendance.
The issue before the commission is a potential revision or amendment to its existing Animal Code or Zoning Code, or both. An organized group of citizens has requested the ability to raise urban chickens using backyard coops, but the Animal Code is particularly restrictive, allowing only residents with at least 40,000-square-foot lots (about 1 acre) or larger to keep poultry within the densely populated borough. But many others object.
I see this predominantly as an issue of potential disease that would impact children, elderly and anyone with immune compromised systems, said resident Beth Burnie during the meetings public comment period. I see it an an issue of nuisance, not just in terms of sound, but mainly in terms of the noxious odor coming from chicken feces.
I just think there needs to be a very tight process in place for managing it, if in fact the chicken coops are approved, added resident Bonnie Betz.
Devling and other members of the commission, along with the borough manager and zoning officer, discussed mimicking similar chicken coop ordinances adopted by similar municipalities, and making alterations as needed for Camp Hill. Among the ordinances reviewed came from Jacobus, York County, and the borough of Edgewood, in western Pennsylvania.
Among ideas that the board discussed recommending to the borough council were limiting the number of chickens to three per home, limiting how many permits could be granted to residents living within a certain distance of each other, requiring screening or fencing around pens, and reducing the minimum size lot for which chickens could be kept.
Were strictly speaking about hens here, no roosters, added Devling.
We are a small urban community, stressed Burnie. We are not a farming community.
Recommendations made by the planning commission are expected to be passed along to the borough council for consideration next month.
FILE - Nick Batos, Mayor of Estero, thanks his wife Wednesday, April 13, 2106 at the Village of Estero Administration building in Estero, Fla. (Corey Perrine/Staff)
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By Maryann Batlle of the Naples Daily News
Estero Village Council meets at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at the village hall. The village is expected to discuss a proposed Florida Forever conservation project known as CREW Headwaters, which would target land just north of what is now CREW to provide further fresh water and wildlife protection in southeast Lee. Mayor Nick Batos included on the agenda a draft letter of support he wrote for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The village is also expected to have a workshop about the draft village center land development code amendments, which impact developments such as Genova.
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Ofelia Dimas, the widow of fallen Deputy Rudy Dimas, comforts the couples daughter Lillian Dimas after the Collier County Sheriff's Office Law Enforcement Memorial commences Tuesday night at East Naples United Methodist Church in East Naples. "Even after all these years it still hurts," Ofelia said. (Luke Franke/Staff)
SHARE Jose Calderon comforts his mother Ofelia Dimas, the widow of fallen Deputy Rudy Dimas, as she lights a candle in his remembrance during the Collier County Sheriff's Office Law Enforcement Memorial Tuesday night at East Naples United Methodist Church in East Naples. Deputy Dimas passed in May of 1999. "Even after all these years it still hurts," said Ofelia. (Luke Franke/Staff) Family members of fallen Collier County Deputy Raul "Rudy" Dimas comfort each other at the commencement of the Collier County Sheriff's Office Law Enforcement Memorial Tuesday night at East Naples United Methodist Church in East Naples. The service was held in remembrance of fallen police officers who have served in Collier Counties' three law enforcement agencies - Collier County Sheriff's Office, Naples Police Department, and Marco Island Police Department. (Luke Franke/Staff) Collier County Sergeant Dan Salls, left, and Officer Jennifer Casciano, center, speak with Bob Zimmerman, right, a member of American Legion 135 before the Law Enforcement Memorial Tuesday night at East Naples United Methodist Church in East Naples. The service was held in remembrance of fallen police officers who have served in Collier Counties' three law enforcement agencies - Collier County Sheriff's Office, Naples Police Department, and Marco Island Police Department. (Luke Franke/Staff) Photos of fallen police officers stand at the front of the room during the CCSO Law Enforcement Memorial Service Tuesday night at East Naples United Methodist Church in East Naples. The service was held in remembrance of fallen police officers who have served in Collier Counties' three law enforcement agencies - Collier County Sheriff's Office, Naples Police Department, and Marco Island Police Department. (Luke Franke/Staff)
By Alexi C. Cardona of the Naples Daily News
Collier County Sheriff's deputy Raul "Rudy" Dimas Sr. was somehow always the first on scene.
He always knew how and where to find the bad guys. His gut never lied.
"He knew law enforcement like the back of his hand, and he was fearless," said Cpl. Efrain Hernandez, who worked with Dimas on patrol in Immokalee from 1989 to 1993. "We sometimes walked into some dangerous situations, but he knew what he was doing and could handle anything."
On May 24, 1999, Dimas was driving west on Immokalee Road when he drifted into the eastbound lane and struck the left rear axle of a flatbed trailer with his marked patrol vehicle and died, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Dimas' life and those of 11 other Collier County law enforcement officers were honored at the Law Enforcement Memorial Service at East Naples United Methodist Church Tuesday night. National Law Enforcement Memorial Week is May 15 through May 21.
More than 100 Collier County Sheriff's deputies, local police officers and family members of those who died in the line of duty gathered at the church to share the stories of the 12 men who died and to light a candle for each of them.
"One of the most important things about tonight is having the families here with us so we can thank them in addition to recognizing their loved ones," Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said. "The second most important is to reaffirm to the community and the nation the sacrifice every law enforcement officer makes."
Since 1928, 10 Sheriff's Office deputies and investigators and two Naples police officers died on the job.
According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, about 146 officers a year have been killed while on duty.
"With the negative portrayals of law enforcement today, we want to recognize the sacrifices made by the people who run toward danger while others run away," said U.S. Coast Guard Chief William Carl, the keynote speaker. "Every one of us puts on a uniform for a reason."
No deputy has died since Dimas. Rambosk credits improvements in law enforcement training and equipment as the reason.
"We have improved bulletproof vests, safer vehicles, more training and better technology to better mobilize law enforcement so they can get to one another quicker and provide support," Rambosk said.
Dimas' family attended the service and lit a candle in his honor.
Raul Dimas III, the deputy's grandson, said he looks up to his grandfather as a role model because of everything he did for the community. He was 2 years old when his grandfather died and relies on his family's stories.
"I didn't get to know him a lot, but I still have a toy he bought for me when I was younger," he said. "It was a Sesame Street toy train with Big Bird on it. It's nice that I still get to have that from him."
Dimas' coworkers also have fond memories.
"He lived in the community he patrolled," said Golden Gate sheriff's substation Lt. J.J. Carroll. "People knew him, respected him and knew not to mess with him. If he told someone that they needed to be at the station in an hour or they'd be in trouble, sure thing, an hour later they'd be there."
The Sheriff's Office, Marco Island Police Department and Naples Police Department honored the following officers who died in the line of duty:
Deputy W.B. Richardson died in December 1928 when his motorcycle struck a bridge while patrolling Tamiami Trail from Paolita Station, the last sheriff's substation before the Miami-Dade County line.
Deputy William Irwin died in January 1929 when his motorcycle was struck head-on by a motorcar in heavy fog while he patrolled from Monroe Station.
Deputy William E. Hutto died on Christmas Eve 1931 of a gunshot wound to the heart while trying to arrest a group of liquor handlers near the Barron River in what is now Everglades City. He was 36.
Deputy Maurice Eugene Anglin suffered a heart attack in December 1972 after arresting a DUI suspect near Goodland. He was 49.
Investigator Arthur Allen Amos died in December 1979 of a gunshot wound to the head while arresting two teenagers who had killed a hog on an Immokalee ranch. A third man, who was hidden nearby, shot Amos. He was 40.
Cpl. Amedicus "Med" Quincy Howell III died in a "volley of gunfire" in March 1983 after an armed robbery and high-speed chase ended in a crash on Lake Trafford Road in Immokalee. He was 33.
Sgt. Roy Arthur Williams died in August 1991 in a single-vehicle crash in Everglades City. He was investigating a suspicious aircraft he believed to be a smuggler when his vehicle left the roadway and struck a tree. He was 43.
Cpl. Mark Caperton was killed by a drunk driver on U.S. 41 in September 1984 while on his way to help a taxi driver who had been assaulted. He was 28.
Sgt. Joe Nathan Jones died in December 1997 after a two-car crash on Oil Well Road. Jones' patrol car struck a tree after being hit by another vehicle. He was 35.
Officer Carl Strickland, the first black police officer to serve in the Naples Police Department, was ambushed, shot and killed in November 1954 by a man he had encountered earlier in the day. He was 50.
Officer Louie Colin Collins was accidentally shot and killed in December 1971 during a training course at the South West Florida Police Academy. A revolver fell on the floor and a bullet struck Collins in the chest. He was 29.
The State Senate and House candidates meet for a forum at Southwest Florida Citizens' Alliance in Marco Island on May 17, 2016. Alexandra Glorioso/Staff
By Alexandra Glorioso of the Naples Daily News
State senate candidates Kathleen Passidomo and Matt Hudson as well as House candidates Lavigne Kirkpatrick, Robert Rommel and Brandon Smith are attending a candidate forum at the Southwest Florida Citizens' Alliance in Marco Island.
Follow reporter Alexandra Glorioso for live updates:
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Baker Park
Donors in Naples will need patience perhaps for two to three more years on where plans for the new Baker Park will end up, but at least they now know the city hasn't forgotten them.
Mayor Bill Barnett has taken the leadership role needed to communicate to project donors where the project stands and implored the Naples City Council on Monday not to start changing park features, as the temptation arose to do so.
A month ago following the March city election, we urged the newly configured council not to start redesigning a park that is now on version H2, which came about in February as a revision to November's Plan H.
"We have been beating this around ... since 2013," Barnett said to council Monday, urging the city keep the current design for the park, east of the intersection of Goodlette-Frank Road and Central Avenue, along the Gordon River.
Last month, we lamented the lack of communication from city leadership about the project's status to donors, some of whom reported they hadn't heard what became of their pledges to pay for certain park amenities that kept getting scaled back.
To his credit, Barnett, reinstated to the mayor's office in March, met the challenge.
He noted Monday that he has sent a letter to donors, from large to small, to provide an update on the project and what's contemplated in Plan H2. That's the level of communication needed now, but also going forward.
A well-known Naples philanthropist who had donated $50,000 recently asked for a refund, Barnett said, noting the money was promised to the city again "when there is a set plan" in the future.
"I have a lot of angst about it," Barnett said of any temptation to change plans again.
If the city wants donors to help pay for the $12.8 million park, which has a $5.4 million funding shortfall, stepped up communication like Barnett's will be essential. That's also the case with an educational campaign if the council follows through, as discussed Monday, with a mail-ballot referendum for voters to authorize a bond to pay for the overall project.
Borrowing the full amount for the project could result in raising city taxes by pennies for every $1,000 of taxable value. The city's current tax rate is $1.18 per $1,000.
If donors ante up, however, the borrowed money could be paid back faster. That's part of what city leaders can communicate in explaining to voters why they are being asked to contribute more tax money while the project is receiving donations.
A mail ballot may occur within a year. An updated timeline for the project presented Monday shows a bridge and boardwalk across the Gordon River being completed in December 2017, but the park itself not until March 2019.
That's where patience will come in, and communicating regularly to voters, taxpayers and donors during that entire time span where the project stands will be essential.
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The Lee County school district administration's cancellation of a contract to purchase an Imperial Parkway tract for a Bonita Springs high school should be viewed as a setback, not a conclusion.
The recent uncovering of records through a state agency showing a diesel fuel spill on the site should be kept in context. District staff, during the typical due diligence period for any property transaction, located documents showing diesel from a Posen Construction fuel tank had leaked onto the ground.
The company built roads in the area and stored heavy equipment on part of the 76-acre property; this spill was on a small portion.
That's where context comes into play. Fuel spills certainly are environmental concerns, but this isn't exactly a Superfund site.
What would it take to clean it up? With a looming deadline to close on the land deal and no answer, the district staff wisely backed away in the past week. Presumably, it needs to be cleaned up for any use of that property when it sells.
"It doesn't mean that site is entirely off the table," Lee schools Superintendent Greg Adkins told the School Board on Tuesday.
Importantly, Adkins also told the board state regulators had confirmed cleanup was completed of asbestos pipes piled on a small part of this tract years ago during Imperial Parkway construction. Neighbors have pointed to that situation in objecting to the site at Imperial Parkway and Shangri-La Road. We consider Adkins' point significant because if the asbestos pipe issue was fully vetted while comparatively regulators were not as concerned about this fuel spill that suggests it might not be that substantial and could be overcome.
Board members praised district staff members for their diligent work in searching for a Bonita Springs high school site. A new campus would give Southwest Florida's third-largest city its own well-deserved signature high school while alleviating overcrowding at Estero and South Fort Myers highs, and reducing busing costs.
We'd also applaud Adkins' team for its approach now in looking at alternatives if this site doesn't work out, though no other option is as appealing for Bonita Springs.
Options include switching gears to open by the 2018-19 academic year another high school in the Lehigh Acres area while enlarging Estero High, or using 70 acres of district-owned land between Interstate 75 and Three Oaks Parkway, but it's north of Corkscrew Road. That's situated too far north of Bonita Springs and is just a mile from Estero High.
Having a high school "in" Bonita Springs for students is what city leaders and most of the citizens seem to want. Having a high school "for" Bonita Springs students is the next best option.
The question, however, is where the best location is "for" Bonita Springs students and residents. Continued long bus rides and not having a high school with a community identity shouldn't be easily accepted as the answers.
There's more homework to do for the creative minds in Bonita Springs.
Another high school
The subject of "new high school" also came up Tuesday at a Collier School Board meeting during a presentation about the current year's budget and looking ahead at next year's spending plan.
Another high school is expected to be needed in Collier County within a decade.
Tuesday's budget discussion by board members hardly reflected all of the criticism Superintendent Kamela Patton's team has heard from the outside about the district's budget. Case in point, a new high school.
The district expects to pay off its current debt within 10 years, board members learned. That's good news for a district that has cut millions from its budget and resumed rebuilding up reserves, which were tapped into during the Great Recession.
But won't the district take on more debt to build a new high school?
Collier School Board members were told the staff has been building that eventual cost into the capital budget. So Patton noted the debt can be retired and the new high school built without having to borrow more money.
That's got to be the envy of the Lee School Board, which is strapped to come up with money for two new high schools, one of which we hope will either be "in" or "for" Bonita Springs.
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Pamela Storrar, Naples
A stretch
David Bolduc's May 30, 2015, letter regarding Medfield, Massachusetts, public schools is almost identical to his most recent letter. Here's the rest of the story I included in my 2015 letter after digging into his claims.
According to Neighborhood Scout, Medfield is a white-collar town with 91.45 percent of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average.
Also, Medfield has more people working in computer- and math-related fields than 95 percent of the places in the U.S. With 65.72 percent of the adults holding four-year college degrees or higher, the town is well above the national average of 21.84 percent for all cities and towns. The town covers 12.6 square miles and has a population of 12,024 (2010 census) with a median home price of $613,500 (2014 Massachusetts Association of Realtors).
Medfield Public Schools are in the midst of an enrollment decline, serving 2,638 students in five school buildings. For 2016, Medfield capital budget priorities will cost $152,000. Low-income students represent 2.8 percent of the student population and 0.6 percent of students are classified as English-language learners (ELL).
Contrast this to Collier County Public Schools, serving 46,000-plus students in 48 school buildings along with 12 alternate school programs and two career/technical centers.
Economically needy students represent 63.9 percent of the student population and 14.34 percent of students are classified as ELL. Collier educates a very diverse population covering a large geographic land area. If you took one high school and one elementary school in Collier, you would have more students than the entire Medfield Public Schools enrollment.
Florida's school districts are organized around county boundaries, not around small towns or townships.
To compare the Collier school district to Medfield Public Schools is a stretch.
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Robert A. Strohaver, Naples
Roots and goals
"I am for socialism, disarmament and ultimately for abolishing the state itself as an instrument of violence and compulsion. I seek the social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class and sole control by those who produce wealth. Communism is, of course, the goal." ACLU founder Roger Baldwin, 1935.
Under Common Core education, we have children praying to Allah as they denounce the Christian faith. Where are those ACLU lawsuits when it comes to the Muslim religion? The Marxist Muslim Brotherhood has assumed power over much of the Middle East and has infected almost every U.S. government agency under President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Valerie Jarrett, Obama's most trusted and influential adviser, was born in Shiraz, Iran, and is the product of communist roots. Declassified FBI files, obtained under Freedom of Information Act by Judicial Watch, reveal that the father, the maternal grandfather, and the father-in-law of Jarrett were hard-core communists under investigation by the U.S. government.
From Chicago radicals Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, who launched Obama's political career, to Jarrett, to his childhood "mentor," Frank Marshall Davis, there are recurring connections to the Communist Party USA.
Davis was a CPUSA member and suspected KGB affiliate.
Obama has made it abundantly clear through his dictator-like actions that his "transformation" of America means destruction. The U.S. has been deliberately crippled by undermining her Constitution, gargantuan debt, consorting with her enemies, flooding her with Muslim "refugees" and stripping her world power.
Meanwhile Congress, the brain-washed electorate and the mostly compliant Fourth Estate dawdles on the sidelines and acquiesces to the perverse agenda of this administration.
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Jacob B. Davis, Naples
The Bar
You have a number of liberal writers who denigrate the intelligence of conservatives with whom they disagree.
I wonder how many of your liberal readers know that the great Hillary Clinton failed the District of Columbia Bar Examination. On the other hand, this stupid conservative got the highest grade on the Maryland Bar Examination in 1962.
This is my second letter to your newspaper in the 20 years I have lived in Naples. I plan to write another letter in another 20 years when I shall attain the age of 100.
In place of its current publication policy, I think the paper should limit its readers to one letter per year.
M. Travis Hayes, a wills, trusts and estates attorney and a partner of Lile & Hayes in Naples, recently presented Estate Administration v.2.0: Probating Digital Assets under the FFADAA at the Collier County Bar Associations annual Estate Planning Symposium.
The Florida Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act was enacted by the Florida Legislature during the 2016 session and deals with a fiduciarys legal authority to access digital assets. The act allows users to choose via an online tool or through their estate planning documents whether internet providers such as Google, Facebook and Apple should disclose digital assets upon the users death or disability.
This law helps individuals designate who should have ownership of emails, photos, posts and other content shared online, Hayes said. Using an online tool to choose whether or not to disclose these assets actually overrides any direction provided in estate documents, so its important for estate planners to understand how the legislation impacts our clients. Digital assets are a timely and significant consideration, given the amount of personal information posted on the internet.
Hayes is a member of the Executive Council for the RPPTL Section and serves as vice chair of both the Probate Law and Procedure Committee and the Digital Assets and Information Study Committee and is the incoming vice chair of the Sections Legislative Committee. He also is the incoming Co-Chair of The Florida Bar Probate Rules Committee. A past chair of the Trusts & Estates section of the Collier County Bar Association, Hayes serves on the board of directors of the CCBA. He was named by Florida Trend as a Top Up & Comer and selected as a Top 40 Under 40 Trusts and Estates Attorneys in Florida by the American Society of Legal Advocates. Hayes previously served as a principal in the Naples office of Cummings & Lockwood, LLC.
Lile & Hayes offers legal counsel on estate- and trust-related matters, including estate planning, estate and trust administration, probate-related litigation and tax matters. The firms office is located at 3033 Riviera Drive, Suite 104, in Naples. For more information, call 239-649-7778 or visit www.Lile-Hayes.com.
Louise Penta, who just last month announced her candidacy for Collier County School Board, has raised $37,000 in endorsements to date. This is a testament to the trust and confidence the community has placed in Penta, the District 2 candidate who was named The Florida Take Stock in Children programs 2015 Mentor of the Year.
Penta is active in the community and serves on the board of directors of the Immokalee Foundation, where she has been instrumental in raising more than $2 million to fund education programs. The Womens Foundation of Collier County named her Woman of Initiative in 2016.
Those skills of governance and Pentas experience in building interpersonal relationships in the community and among its leaders will play a key role in her success as a member of the Collier County School Board. She is confident that being an enlightened observer of mainstream education will bring a fresh perspective to Collier County education, particularly to its children, parents and teachers. She believes that hard work and listening carefully to her constituency is as much a recipe for success as is mentoring children in ethics and education by community role models.
Building the current and future workforce should be the No. 1 issue for all citizens in Collier County, she said. K-12 educators are the foundation for building that workforce. Lets support our teachers and reward them based on merit, not seniority.
The public will have an opportunity to meet the candidate from 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 18 at a forum that will feature Collier County School Board candidates from District 2 and District 4. The event will be held at the Norris Center, 755 8th Ave. S., Naples. Moderator Jeff Lytle, retired Naples Daily News editorial page editor, will present questions to the candidates at the forum.
Louise Penta grew up in the Boston area, where she raised her own family. A full-time resident of Naples since 1999, she has fully invested herself in the community. Through various events in the last six years alone, she has helped raise more than $7 million to fund education programs. The Womens Foundation of Collier County honored her as a Woman of Initiative in 2016. Pentas personal mentoring of a number of local children has resulted in each advancing to the college level. To learn more about Louise Penta, visit www.louisepenta.com.
A Midstate teenager already accused of trying to assist the Islamic State group was charged Wednesday after federal authorities said he tweeted out the names and addresses of military personnel with threats of violence.
Jalil Ibn Ameer Aziz of Harrisburg was charged with solicitation to commit a crime of violence and transmitting a communication containing a threat to injure.
Prosecutors allege he tweeted the names, addresses, photographs and military branches of about 100 service members with statements such as kill them in their own lands, behead them in their own homes, stab them to death as they walk their street thinking that they are safe and Identities of Military personnel that bombed Muslims. Find them, Kill them!
Assistant federal public defender Thomas Thornton said the charges involve a 19-year-old kid tweeting and retweeting from his bedroom.
Aziz pleaded not guilty earlier to trying to help a group designated by the U.S. government as a foreign terrorist organization. Prosecutors said Aziz used Twitter to spread Islamic State propaganda and had concealed a bag loaded with ammunition behind a dryer in his home.
Authorities allege in a criminal complaint that he used 57 different Twitter accounts all traced to the home he shares with his parents to advocate violence, encourage people to fund jihadist groups and express a desire to travel to territory controlled by the Islamic State group.
A defense attorney earlier called the bag as a backpack that contained nothing illegal and said there were no guns in the home when Aziz, who has no criminal history, was arrested.
Local press in Ireland is trusted and is an essential element in the plurality of media required in a properly functioning democracy, according to Irelands digital ambassador Lord David Putnam, key note speaker at the annual conference of the Regional Newspapers and Printers Association of Ireland (RNPAI).
Local press in Ireland is trusted and is an essential element in the plurality of media required in a properly functioning democracy, according to Irelands digital ambassador Lord David Putnam, key note speaker at the annual conference of the Regional Newspapers and Printers Association of Ireland (RNPAI).
Speaking in Rosscarbery, Co. Cork last week, the former film producer of such classic notables as The Mission, The Killing Fields, Local Heroes and Chariots of Fire, made an impassioned plea for local newspapers to take on corruption in their communities and called for stronger editorials to provide the lead in securing sustainable local communities throughout the country.
The conference and annual general meeting was attended by senior management figures representing over 40 local newspapers throughout the 26 counties and was hosted by the Southern Star, celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.
Sean Mahon, President (RNPAI) and Chief Executive Officer, Southern Star, welcomed the first tentative signs of economic recovery in rural Ireland. Referring to the relevance of local press in local communities, he said that the recent intense interaction, both editorially and commercially, between local newspapers and local and national politicians epitomised the importance of local press in informing and influencing local communities on important issues.
Mr. Mahon, whilst acknowledging the recent declines in newspapers circulations worldwide, pointed out that declines in local press were below the average. He emphasised that RNPAI members were now multi-platform media organisations providing content in print, online and mobile and were well positioned for a solid future.
The Regional Newspapers and Printers Association of Ireland, founded in 1919, will be launching a new promotional brand in mid-June.
S.A. Ibrahim, chief executive officer of Radian Group Inc., speaks during the Future of Housing Finance symposium at the Treasury building in Washington, D.C., U.S, on Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2010. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the U.S. government needs to reduce its role in housing markets and ensure Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac won't require future bailouts. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** S.A. Ibrahim Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Radian Group Inc., the second-largest U.S. mortgage insurer, said Chief Executive Officer S.A. Ibrahim will step down at the end of next year after steering the company through the financial crisis as weaker rivals collapsed.
The board has appointed a committee to seek a replacement and hired executive search firm Spencer Stuart, the Philadelphia-based insurer said Tuesday in a statement. Radian will consider both internal and external candidates.
Ibrahim, 64, recapitalized the insurer through a series of share offerings to recover from losses tied to the housing collapse. He also helped prepare the company for tighter capital rules, selling a bond guarantor last year for about $800 million. Mortgage insurers cover losses when homeowners default and foreclosure fails to recoup costs.
"With S.A. at the helm over the past 11 years, Radian has emerged from one of our country's deepest financial crises newly invigorated and focused, while achieving a leadership position in the private mortgage insurance industry," Chairman Herb Wender said in the statement. "His leadership skills will be difficult to replace."
Ibrahim has led the firm since May 2005, after working as CEO at GreenPoint Financial Corp. He was also previously head of the mortgage unit at Chemical Bank.
Radian closed Tuesday at $11.75 in New York trading, compared with $58.59 at the end of 2005. Still, the stock surged from less than $1 a share in 2008. Mounting losses forced rivals including PMI Group Inc. and Triad Guaranty Inc. to stop selling coverage. Ibrahim's company was profitable in both 2014 and 2015 after posting annual losses from 2007 through 2013.
"My time here has been among the most rewarding of my career," Ibrahim said in the statement. "I believe the company is better positioned today to drive long-term value than ever before."
American International Group Inc.'s United Guaranty Corp. is the largest U.S. mortgage insurer. AIG is seeking to take that company public.
The Indianapolis Federal Home Loan Bank rewarded 43 of its members with a $761,000 payout in May for the performance of their mortgages in an aggregated pool.
Its marks the first time the Home Loan bank has made such a payout to its Mortgage Purchase Program participants since it first authorized the creation of aggregate pools in 2006.
The aggregated loan pool was closed in April 2011 and the bank allows a payout after five years if the Loan Risk Account exceeds expected losses on the pool.
"It's great to see FHLBI depository members receiving these payouts," said Dan Green, senior director of the FHLB's Mortgage Purchase Program. "It tells me they're lending well in their communities."
The payouts to the Home Loan bank members ranged from $65 to $112,000 and it is designed to reward members for selling high-quality loans to the Indianapolis FHLB. The bank declined to disclose the size of the aggregate pool, saying it is "confidential" information.
The FHLB frequently distributes LRA funds to individual members that form stand-alone MPP pools, according to Cathy Garrett, an MPP business development manager.
"But this is the first payout of an aggregated pool and we are very excited to see it come to fruition," she said in a press release.
The next MPP aggregate pool payout is expected in November. However, the LRA in that aggregate pool is funded very differently.
The loan loss reserve on the first MPP aggregate pool to achieve a payment was known as a "spread LRA." It was funded over time as the Indianapolis FHLB tapped principal and interest remittances to fund the LRA. But that approach had problems.
The spread LRA resulted in a slow build of reserves while refinancings and "prepayment speeds profoundly impacted" the funding of the reserve, according to the government-sponsored enterprise.
The Indianapolis Home Loan Bank abandoned the spread LRA in November 2010, although certain sellers can still exercise that option under their original master commitments.
Today, the bank mainly funds the LRA upfront at the time the loans are purchased. This approach is called Advantage MPP.
"The bank anticipates making the first LRA payout for an Advantage MPP pool in November," according to the press release.
The Indianapolis Home Loan Bank's Advantage MPP had a "very good year" in 2015 and purchased $2.7 billion in mortgages, up 70% compared to the prior year, according to Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Greg Teare.
"The mortgage market was robust, and for many smaller depositories in Indiana and Michigan, our program is the best execution for their originations business. When you add in the potential for added income, it was an obvious choice," Teare said in a statement.
The FHLB holds $7.7 billion MPP loans in portfolio along with $425 million in Mortgage Partnership Finance loans that it acquired from another FHLB.
The combined MPP and MPF portfolio has a 0.48% serious delinquency rate (90 days or more past due).
This week marked 50 years since an FBI agent who served Cumberland County was killed while searching for a kidnapped teenager.
Families, friends, and FBI agents gathered at the Cumberland County Law Enforcement Memorial for a service dedicated to Special Agent Terry Anderson.
Anderson was killed in the woods of Huntington County while searching for 17-year-old Peggy Ann Bradnick, who had been kidnapped and led into the Shade Gap Mountains. At the time of his death, Anderson was the 15th FBI agent to be killed in the line of duty.
During the emotional ceremony which lasted about an hour, Andersons children recalled their fathers dedication to helping others and his loving spirit.
Some of the most powerful moments of the service came from Peggy Bradnick Jackson. She said Anderson saved her life and is an angel who is always with her.
There has not been one occasion that Terry Anderson hasnt been sitting right here, she said while pointing to her shoulder. Every word I utter is a word Im sure he would be proud of.
Tuesday was only the second time that Jackson had been able to address Andersons family.
Anderson is buried in Iowa, but he has also been honored with a bronze plaque at the FBI office in Philadelphia.
It stands as a symbol and stark reminder of how the Carlisle Indian School had a profound effect on Native American culture.
The farmhouse at 839 Patton Road is one of the only buildings remaining on the campus of Carlisle Barracks where Indian school students slept, ate and attended classes.
With the exception of the Hessian Guard House, it is the oldest Indian school related building on post, wrote Carolyn Tolman, who stayed at the farmhouse while her husband was an Army War College student during the 2010-2011 academic year.
An historian and genealogist, Tolman took an immediate interest in the oldness and eccentricity of the farmhouse that had been converted into a duplex sometime in the 1930s.
The interest became a passion to learn more fueled by word that Carlisle Barracks once had plans to demolish the building. Tolman went to work to document the role this farmhouse played in the agricultural education and the recreation of Carlisle Indian School students.
What she discovered helped to inspire a movement to not only save the farmhouse but to use it in some way to heal the hurt of generations subjected to past policies to assimilate Native Peoples.
Her research found that the farmhouse was built by Daniel Keiffer sometime between 1853 and 1856. It was then sold to Richard Parker in 1860.
Three years later, the Army of Northern Virginia invaded the Cumberland Valley and occupied Carlisle Barracks. It is said a party of Confederate soldiers was fed and sheltered in the farmhouse for one night prior to being redeployed to Adams County where they fought in the Battle of Gettysburg.
When the Indian School was established in 1879, the Parker Farm was rented to provide students hands-on instruction on agriculture. The school then purchased the farm in 1887. Students assigned to temporary farm duty slept and ate at the farmhouse and took classes on farming in one of its room.
The Parker Farm provided food to the school and became a favorite recreation spot for students who went there on field trips or walked there on Sunday afternoons.
With the end of World War I in 1918, the Indian school closed and the War Department reclaimed Carlisle Barracks for use as a hospital for wounded soldiers, Tolman wrote. The Parker Farm was retained to provide the hospital with food and opportunities to rehabilitate the soldiers. By 1920, the number of patients had dwindled to the point where General Hospital Number 31 was replaced by the Medical Field Service School.
The Parker Farm continued to grow crops that were maintained by black soldiers, Tolman wrote. Local tradition holds that during World War II, the farmhouse was used as a social club for segregated African-American officers and enlisted soldiersGradually, the farms decreased in importance as the need for training space outweighed the need for agricultural products.
The result was more of the farmland was occupied by the present-day buildings on post. Sometime in the late 1930s, the farmhouse at 839 Patton Road stopped housing farmers and became officers quarters.
In her research, Tolman mentioned how a plaque outside the farmhouse stated it was remodeled in 1943, 1948 and 1981. She also wrote how the farmhouse had been minimized and forgotten over the years.
In 1961, it was not included when the remaining Carlisle Indian School buildings on post were designated a National Landmark. In 1985, the farmhouse was rejected for placement on the National Historic Register due to its unknown historical significance. In 2010, the decision was made to demolish the building to make way for new housing and because the building was in dire need of renovation.
Lack of funds delayed the demolition until fall 2012 but, by then, a movement was underway to save the farmhouse which is now being considered for renovation into a heritage center.
Groundwork is underway to repurpose an old farmhouse on the edge of the Army War College campus as a heritage center in memory of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.
The Carlisle Farmhouse Coalition has drafted an interpretative plan which it has sent to tribal leaders, school descendants and other interested parties for feedback, said Louellyn White, a coalition member and specialist in Native American studies.
White is preparing a final report on input the coalition received from 124 descendants of Carlisle Indian School students who responded to a survey about the proposed heritage center.
Carlisle Barracks had slated the 19th century brick structure for demolition in October 2012 to make way for modern housing for war college students and their families.
Word of that plan sparked an outcry among descendants of Indian school students, which prompted the Army to reexamine the historical significance of the farmhouse at 839 Patton Road.
Since April 2014 the farmhouse has been removed from a lease agreement Carlisle Barracks had with Balfour Beatty, a private firm which manages housing on post.
An Army Corps of Engineers report has determined the building is worth saving and steps have been taken by Carlisle Barracks to nominate the farmhouse for placement on the National Register of Historical Places, White wrote in a May 11 email.
She added post officials have been very cooperative and though no promises have been made, it is in our favor to pursue the process for a lease agreement for using the farmhouse.
Meanwhile Coalition leaders are working on partnering with the Cumberland County Historical Society, Dickinson Colleges Carlisle Indian School Digitalization Project and the Viola Whitewater Foundation. The hope is to obtain a fiscal sponsor so the coalition could begin fundraising in support of a heritage center, White said.
Its a very slow processbecause we have to abide by government regulations, which entails following the National Historic Preservation Act and consultation with interested parties, namely tribal entities, the email reads.
Established at Carlisle Barracks in 1879, the Carlisle Indian School was the first off-reservation, government-run boarding school in the country. More than 10,000 students attended the school, which was designed to indoctrinate Native American children to the white mans culture. The school closed in 1918.
The farmhouse at 839 Patton Road once played a role in teaching Carlisle Indian School students agriculture as a trade and as a recreational destination for students heading out on a field trip or a Sunday afternoon excursion.
Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed House Bill 805 Wednesday.
The bill would have allowed teachers to be let go by school districts based on merit instead of seniority.
In a letter to the House of Representatives, Wolf wrote, This bill relies heavily on a single score from the teacher evaluation system, as opposed to using the entire method of evaluation. At a time when there is bipartisan agreement that we need to reduce our reliance on high-stakes testing, we should not use high-stake test scores as the benchmark for teacher quality.
Jerry Oleksiak, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, applauded Wolfs veto. Oleksiak said, The governor was right when he decided to veto the bill. Experience matters in public education. With Gov. Wolfs veto, lawmakers can get back to work on what Pennsylvanians really want funding our schools and supporting what really helps kids learn.
Rep. Stephen Bloom (R-Cumberland) introduced the bill and was disappointed with the governors veto. Bloom said, I question whether the governor even took the time to read the legislation before making the hasty decision to rob our kids of the guarantee that they will get to keep their best teachers. His stated reasons for vetoing this commonsense reform reflect grave misapprehensions on his part about what the bill actually does and does not do.
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday (18 May 2016) that NATO Foreign Ministers will take decisions in the next two days which will pave the way to the July Warsaw Summit.
At that Summit, NATO leaders will take the necessary decisions to protect our citizens at home and to project stability beyond our borders, Mr. Stoltenberg said.
Speaking about the ministerial meeting starting in Brussels on Thursday, the NATO Secretary General said that Allied Ministers will welcome Prime Minister ukanovic of Montenegro to sign the Accession Protocol. Following that ceremony, Montenegro will, as of tomorrow, participate in all NATO meetings as an observer, or Invitee. Once all Allies have ratified the Protocol, Montenegro will become the 29th member of the Alliance, Mr. Stoltenberg said.
The Foreign Ministers meeting agenda also includes discussions on projecting stability in the Alliances wider neighbourhood by helping partners strengthen their own forces and secure their own countries. Foreign Ministers will also focus on NATOs support to cut the lines of illegal trafficking and migration in the Mediterranean Sea, on Russia and NATOs policy towards eastern neighbours, on NATO-EU cooperation, and on NATOs future support for Afghanistan.
(As delivered)
Good afternoon.
We will have the Foreign Ministerial meeting taking place tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. And Foreign Ministers will address several issues which are high on the agenda and which are important for our security.
And let me briefly take you through the agenda and share some thoughts about the most important issues which will be addressed under the different agenda points.
First, Montenegro.
Tomorrow, we will welcome Prime Minister Djukanovic to sign the Accession Protocol.
Following that ceremony, Montenegro will as of tomorrow participate in all NATO meetings as an observer, or Invitee.
Once all Allies have ratified the Protocol, Montenegro will become the 29th member of the Alliance.
A clear sign that NATO continues to help build stability and security in the Western Balkans.
Our second meeting will focus on projecting stability in our wider neighbourhood.
This means helping our partners strengthen their own forces, and secure their own countries.
Because this enhances our security here at home as well.
We will discuss what more NATO can do to support Iraq.
We are already training several hundred Iraqi officers in Jordan.
We have received a request from Prime Minister al-Abadi to expand our training mission into Iraq itself. And we will consider this request from Prime Minister al-Abadi.
In the Aegean Sea, NATO ships are helping cut the lines of illegal trafficking and illegal migration.
We are making a real difference, as part of the broader international efforts.
Figures from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees indicate that the average daily arrivals in April were down around 90% from the month before.
And we will explore what more the Alliance could do in the central Mediterranean, in cooperation with the European Union.
We will also talk about Russia, and our policy towards our eastern neighbours.
Our approach to Russia combines strong defence and deterrence with dialogue.
We have already decided to enhance our forward presence in the eastern part of our Alliance.
Our military planners have put forward proposals for several battalions in different countries in the region.
No decision has been taken on the numbers and locations.
But we are now considering the scale and the scope of our presence in the east.
NATO is a defensive Alliance. And we will do what it takes to defend our citizens. In a responsible and proportionate manner. And in accordance with our international obligations.
At the same time, we continue to strive for more transparency in our relationship with Russia on military matters and reduce the risks of incidents or accidents spiralling out of control.
NATO does not seek confrontation. It is in everyones interest to avoid a new arms race.
On Friday, we will focus on NATO-EU cooperation.
The Foreign Ministers of Finland and Sweden, two of NATOs closest partners, will join us.
NATO and the EU face unprecedented security challenges.
To address them, we are working closer together than ever before.
But we need to do more.
We will discuss how to take our cooperation with the EU to a new level at the Warsaw Summit.
This could include a statement expressing our will to work even more closely together on hybrid threats, maritime and cyber cooperation and on other areas; Playbooks for dealing with a range of hybrid warfare scenarios, to help speed up decision making and clarify in advance who does what.
And linked NATO-EU exercises to test our reactions to an emerging hybrid threat.
Finally, we will discuss our future support for Afghanistan.
Including plans for our Resolute Support mission, and continued financial support for the Afghan security forces.
Our Ministerial meeting will begin exactly fifty days before we meet at our Summit in Warsaw.
The decisions we take at this Ministerial meeting will help pave the way to the Summit.
At the Summit, we will take the necessary decisions to protect our citizens at home and to project stability beyond our borders.
And with that I am ready to take your questions.
Oana Lungescu: Okay well start with Wall Street Journal over there.
Q: I wonder if you are in favour of another NATO Russia Council meeting before Warsaw and whether you think the Foreign Ministers will make a decision on such a meeting in the coming days?
Jens Stoltenberg: Our relationship with Russia will be one of the issues we will address at the Foreign Ministerial Meeting. And what I will do is that I will report back, update the ministers on the outcome of the meeting of the NATO Russia Council we just convened a couple of weeks ago. And the reason why well do that is that it was actually the Foreign Ministers in the last meeting that decided that we should take initiative to convene the NATO Russia Council, based on the idea that our approach to Russia is based on this dual track of strength, deterrence and dialogue. And I will report back on the meeting we had telling them that of course we didnt solve all the problems, all the outstanding or different challenges in the relationship between NATO and Russia, but we had a useful meeting. We addressed issues like Ukraine, military activity, transparency, risk reductions and also Afghanistan and we did that in a frank and open way and I think the meeting was useful. This I will inform the ministers about and then based on that we will have a discussion related to convening a new meeting of the NATO Russia Council. So possible further meeting of the NATO Russia Council will be discussed at the Foreign Ministerial Meeting and I think its wrong if I start to prejudge the outcome of that discussion which will then take place tomorrow.
Oana Lungescu: Montenegro Public TV, first row.
Q: You already said that NATO member states tomorrow will sign the protocol of Montenegro succession. So whats your message to Montenegro People today before the signing? And do you think that its also a historic day for the alliance?
Jens Stoltenberg: It is an historic day for the alliance, for Montenegro and for the stability of the western Balkans. Because Montenegro, the enlargement of NATO with Montenegro confirms that NATOs door is open and its one new step in a very successful policy of enlargement of both NATO and the European Union and the enlargement of NATO over many years have contributed to stability, to peace and security in Europe and now Montenegro is going to be part of that. Of course this has to be ratified by all 28 allied parliaments or parliaments in the 28 allied countries but there is a strong support and we sign the accession protocol tomorrow. And from tomorrow Montenegro will participate in all NATO meetings as an observer. So it is an historic date, both for Montenegro and for NATO.
Oana Lungescu: Okay. Reuters, over there.
Q: Thanks, Robin Emmott, Reuters. Secretary General could you give us an update on your thinking about Libya? Is there any consensus on doing defence capacity building in Libya itself? Do you think that will be discussed on Thursday or Friday? And also when it comes to working more with the EU Libya seems like the sort of natural theatre for that, can you give us any update on, beyond what you said in your trip to Washington? Thank you.
Jens Stoltenberg: We will discuss what NATO can do to support the new government in Libya, the Government of National Accord. And NATO has a very clear mandate from our heads of state and government that we should stand ready to support the new Government of National Accord in Libya, if so requested. And we will discuss how we can do that at the Foreign Ministerial Meeting. We are not addressing any potential combat operation or military intervention, what we are addressing and what we are going to discuss at the Foreign Ministerial Meeting is the potential or possible assistance and help when it comes to for instance institution building. Because to have strong defence institutions, structures, plans, security strategies are of great importance and of course the more we are focused on how we can train and help Libya the more important it is also to have the structures and the institutions which these soldiers can work as part of or in support of. So we will look into that. I spoke recently with the Libyan Prime Minister and he is very much aware of the mandate we have in NATO to provide support and we will continue to discuss both among the 28 allies but also with Libya how we can help them. And of course everything NATO does will be in close coordination with the efforts of the European Union, UN and others and it has to add value to the efforts of others.
Oana Lungescu: Commasant (sp?), second row here.
Q: Secretary General one more question about Montenegro and whats your point of view, does the Government of Montenegro, should they organize a referendum on this topic or the decision of the government or the parliament is enough? And second question, the Russian authorities have already mentioned that they are really worried about this enlargement and can take some response measures, for example economical measures. Have you discussed this topic with your Montenegrin colleagues and are they worried about it? Thank you.
Jens Stoltenberg: It is a fundamental principle that every nation, every independent sovereign nation has the right to decide its own path including to decide what kind of security arrangements it wants to be part of. And Montenegro has decided as an independent sovereign nation that they want to be part of NATO and 28 NATO allies has, have decided that they welcome Montenegro into NATO. And therefore I very strongly believe that there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to try to deny Montenegro that right to make their own independent sovereign decisions. And therefore any sanctions or reactions from Russia will be absolutely unjustified because its about respecting the sovereign decision of a sovereign nation, Montenegro, to decide on its own path and that should be respected by everyone. Then on how Montenegro should make the decision, well thats up to Montenegro to decide because Montenegro is an independent sovereign democratic state. So whether they do the, make that decision by decisions in democratic elected parliament or in other ways, thats up to them to decide as long as this is a democratic decision and thats whats going to take place in Montenegro.
Oana Lungescu: DPA, over there, thanks.
Q: Secretary General, Montenegro is going to join NATO. What about Macedonia?
Jens Stoltenberg: When it comes to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia we are following the developments there very closely. And I would like to express concern about what we see related to the political situation and it is important that the minimum condition for normal political democratic life is in place. And we have seen with the enlargement of, the invitation of Montenegro to join the alliance that the door of NATO is still open but it is crucial that if we are going to move further with FYROM then we have to both solve the problems related to the name but also we have to make sure that minimum conditions are put in place for credible elections. And it is also crucial that the countrys leaders address persisting rule of law problems including revoking the recent the presidential pardons, supporting the work of the special prosecutor. So there are reasons to be concerned and we are following the developments of the Former Republic of, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia very closely.
Oana Lungescu: NTV.
Q: Yes Secretary General, [inaudible] from NTV. The security situation in the border between Turkey and Syria is really bad and theres more and more attacks from ISIL and other terrorist organizations towards Turkey. Last December alliance have decided to reinforce the security of Turkey and assist, a bunch of decisions has been taken but there are still shortcomings on that. So to that end will you discuss this situation and call the allies who have pledged some help to Turkey to reinforce the security? And what is your view about the situation, what would be the message of NATO and the allies to the population on site? Thank you.
Jens Stoltenberg: The situation along the border between Turkey and Syria will be discussed and of course we are concerned because we have seen several attacks and we have seen also a high number of civilian casualties, innocent people being killed. And therefore this is of great concern for all of us and NATO stands in solidarity with Turkey and I discussed this difficult and tense situation along the Syrian Turkish border when I recently visited Ankara and met with the Prime Minister, President and several other political leaders. So this is high on our agenda. Underlining the importance of that NATO continues to implement assurance measures for Turkey. We have deployed and decided also to maintain the deployment of Spanish patriot batteries. We have the AWACS flying surveillance over Turkey and we have also the increased the number of port visits, port calls of naval ships or ships from NATO allied countries. We are looking into what more we can do but I think the important message is that the situation along the Syrian Turkish border underlines the importance of the, one of the main topics of the Foreign Ministerial Meeting and that is how can we project stability beyond our border because we see the very close link between stability in our neighbourhood and threats against our countries and our territories and our borders. And therefore everything we can do to support the efforts of the coalition fighting ISIL is also important for Turkey. As I said we are now looking into whether we shall step up, increase our efforts to train Iraqi officers, increasing their capability to fight ISIL and we, we will look into what more we can do in, in providing support for the coalition fighting ISIL.
Oana Lungescu: France Presse.
Q: Secretary General thank you. On the question of the coalition against ISIS there has been a request by the U.S. authorities government for NATO to play on its own role in this coalition. Will this be discussed or will a decision be made during the coming two days? And on the AWACS, there was a decision to do backfilling, has this started and in which countries especially has it started to, the backfilling to the U.S.? There has been talk of the U.S. also requesting a direct deployment of AWACS above Syria and Iraq, is this being considered and will a decision be made? Thank you.
Jens Stoltenberg: As I said one of the main topics of the Foreign Ministerial Meeting and also one of the main topics of the upcoming summit in July will be what we call projecting stability beyond our borders. And that is very much about the fight against ISIL and the main message there is that of course NATO has to be ready and able to deploy large number of combat forces into combat operations also in the future as we have done in the Balkans, in Bosnia Herzegovina, in Kosovo or in Afghanistan. But I think that more and more focus has to be put on how can we enable local forces to fight terrorism themselves, to stabilize their own country and to defend themselves. And thats exactly actually what NATO now is doing in Afghanistan where we are, where we ended our combat mission but we do a large scale train, assist and advise operation to enable the Afghans to fight terrorism themselves. That is what we are now starting to do in Iraq, training Iraqi officers in Jordan and looking into whether we should do also that inside Iraq and that of course is one element in our support to the coalition fighting ISIL. And when we also work with countries like Jordan and Tunisia, stable countries in a region of turmoil and violence, I think thats extremely important to help them now, to help them to maintain the strength and stability to be able to fight ISIL. So for instance we have started to work with Tunisia on special operation forces, on intelligence, thats also part of our efforts to fight ISIL and to fight terrorism. And, and we are also looking into the question of AWACS. It has been some, some dialogue on what kind of needs that there, that the coalition, what kind of support the coalition needs but we have a good dialogue both with the U.S. and the U.S. led coalition looking into the possibility of NATO providing AWACS support for the coalition.
Oana Lungescu: Spiegel, at the back.
Q: Mr. Secretary General one question concerning the troop enlargement in Eastern Europe. You just mentioned it that NATO will certainly go along the international treaties, one of them or one of the important ones for NATO certainly is the Russia NATO Treaty. So Poland repeatedly, I think the last time over the weekend, mentioned that from the Polish point of view this treaty is no longer valid because it was, it has been done before the aggression on Crimea and so on. How does NATO deal, lets say with these different views if the NATO Russia Treaty is still valid or not?
Jens Stoltenberg: We have decided to increase our military presence in the eastern part of the alliance, that decision has already been taken. What we are discussing now is the scale and the scope of that increased military presence in the eastern part of the alliance. We have received advice from our strategic commanders recommending, advising us to have battalions in different countries in the eastern part of the alliance. We have not made any final decisions, we are now looking into those concrete proposals and we will make the final decisions after the summit in July. But we will increase our military presence in the eastern part of the alliance because thats already decided, we are discussing how that is going to happen. Second everything we do is defensive, it is proportionate and its fully in line with our international obligations including the NATO Russia Founding Act. And I think it is important to remember that when the NATO Russia Founding Act refers to substantial combat forces what we are looking into is far below any reasonable definition of substantial combat forces. So even some increased presence of NATO forces in the eastern part of the alliance will be fully in line with our international obligations including the NATO Russia Founding Act. And the Russia Founding, NATO Russia Founding Act is something which we then will also not violate but act in line with.
Oana Lungescu: Right at the back.
Q: [Inaudible] from the Danish newspaper Politiken. On the same subject of enhanced presence in Eastern Europe, could you tell us a little bit more about what are the options on the table now? Ive seen you quoted earlier this month talking about four battalions. How many countries are we talking about and what numbers?
Jens Stoltenberg: Thats a very good question, yeah, but the problem is Im not able to answer it. Because, and actually Im able to answer it but if I answer it that would be a bad answer meaning that its too early for me to give the details. Because we are now in the process of deciding the details and I think that before we have decided the details it will be wrong if I start in a way to go too much into the specifics because that can only create misunderstandings and also make the process inside NATO more difficult. So of course there are concrete proposals on the table, its about the size of the forces in which countries and so on. And they are on the table, they are discussed now but since I would very much like to be able to provide you with a very precise answer later on, either after the Defence Ministerial Meeting in June where I guess that we will be able to be more concrete or at least after the summit in July where we make the final decisions, I have to refrain from being too specific. But what I can confirm is that what we are discussing is the proposal from the strategic commanders to have a battalion sized multinational force in some of the eastern allied countries and I can tell you that some of them, some of them are the Baltic countries and that we are looking into this proposal and the important thing is that, is that it has to be a multinational force because a multinational presence sends a very clear signal that an attack on one ally will be an attack on the whole alliance. So the importance of this forward presence is not that its going to be so very big but the importance that it is a multinational presence sending a clear signal that we stand together united and the forward presence has to be combined or is going to be combined with enhanced ability to reinforce if needed. So you have to also understand that the forward presence is linked to the higher readiness, the high responsiveness of our forces and we have already decided to triple the size of the NATO Response Force and part of that is the new Very High Readiness Joint Task Force or the Spearhead Force, a brigade sized force which can deploy on a very short notice. So forward presence, increased ability to reinforce is delivering the deterrence and the defence which is needed. Add to that that we are also investing in infrastructure, in pre-positioning of equipment, ammunition and that the U.S. is in the process of quadrupling its funding for U.S. presence in Europe, quadrupling the funding for what they call the European Reassurance Initiative, deploying brigades and equipment in Europe which will then also increase both our presence and our ability to reinforce. So this is a big thing altogether, forward presence in the eastern part is just one element of a more comprehensive approach.
Oana Lungescu: Rega (sp?) for Europe, yeah.
Q: Thank you. Mr. Secretary General to what extent is Afghanistan important for NATO at this stage? And what specific financial pledges are you going to make during the ministerial meeting? Thank you.
Jens Stoltenberg: Afghanistan is very important for NATO. Its important for NATO for at least two reasons. It is important for NATO because we know that a stable Afghanistan is also good for our security and we have to remember that the reason why NATO and NATO allies and partners went into Afghanistan more than 13 years ago, more than 10 years ago was a direct response to a terrorist attack on the United States, a NATO ally. So a stable Afghanistan is important for Afghanistan but its also important for us and our security. Second of course Afghanistan is important for NATO because this is our biggest military operation ever and we have been there for many, many years and we have had many, many troops there and we have paid a high price. Casualties, people have paid the highest price and as in all ways this has been a big investment, a huge investment of the alliance in the stability and the security of Afghanistan. We are now going to address the future of the Resolute Support, our training, assist and advise mission. And as I said we, I think the idea of not doing big combat operations but train local forces to defend themselves and to keep their country safe is an idea which we have actually implemented in Afghanistan because we have ended the combat operation, we do train, assist and advise enabling an Afghan National Security Forces of 350,000 soldiers and police to take full responsibility for the security of their own country. I think thats a very good and sustainable approach. We will decide on, later on on the, I should say, the future of the Resolute Support Mission beyond 2016 and we will also make decisions on funding for the Afghan National Army and Security Forces and I think that the importance of that NATO and NATO allies provide funding is extremely important and we will continue to do so.
Oana Lungescu: NPR.
Q: Hi thank you, Teri Schultz with NPR and CBS. In the last week you have upgraded the missile defence capabilities in Romania and Poland which naturally provoked a response from Moscow including the renewed threat to possibly station nuclear warheads in Kaliningrad. Weve also seen increased, I dont know, continued buzzing of Estonian airspace for example. How would you gauge Russias response and if you have any new message to them other than the one that weve heard for years about ballistic missile defence in this case, what would that be? Thanks.
Jens Stoltenberg: What we have seen is that Russia is behaving in a more assertive way in many different theatres and areas. And we have seen for instance the irresponsible and unsafe behaviour of Russian planes coming very close to NATO ships and planes in for instance the Baltic region. For us this just underlines the importance of the dual track approach of NATO in our relationship with Russia. We need strength, we need deterrents and we are delivering on that, we are implementing the biggest military adaptation of NATO since the end of the Cold War. At the same time it underlines the importance of transparency, predictability, dialogue with Russia. And I think that both the downing of the Russian plane over Turkey and the incidents we have seen in the Baltic Sea and the Baltic region with the buzzing of the American ship highlights the importance of that we enhance mechanisms, of risk reduction, transparency, predictability so that we try to avoid that kind of incidents and accidents for happening again. And if they happen make sure that they dont spiral out of control and create really dangerous situations. So it may be that Ive said something similar to this before but its very much the same message because we are confronted with the same kind of Russian behaviour.
Oana Lungescu: Georgian Public Broadcaster.
Q: Georgian Public Broadcaster. Mr. Secretary General as we are waiting and preparing for Warsaw Summit my first question is about meeting in Warsaw. How NATO is going to reconcile the commitment to the open door policy with the political and military policy in which Russia remains? We read statements made by Russian Foreign Affairs Minister, he warns Sweden against NATO membership, he warns Georgia and at the same time some Georgian politicians even Members of Parliament say that open door policy of NATO is increasingly selective and it is not because Georgia is failing to meet expectations.
Jens Stoltenberg: The assigning of the accession treaty for Montenegro tomorrow shows that NATOs door remains open. And we continue to work with Georgia, another aspirant country and I strongly believe that the summit of NATO in July will recognize the progress Georgia is making and will reiterate our strong commitment to both provide strong political support to Georgia but also to provide practical support for Georgia. Working with Georgia to implement reforms, build institutions and to enhance Georgias ability to modernize its armed forces. I participated in the inauguration ceremony of the joint training centre in Georgia some months ago and I have addressed several times with NATO allies the importance of that NATO allies provide practical support assistance to Georgia. So we will continue to work with Georgia, we will continue to defend Georgias rights to make its own decisions and we will continue to work on reforms and help Georgia moving towards NATO membership.
Oana Lungescu: Norwegian Media, lady on the second row.
Q: Hello. Is it correct summing up that now NATO is intensifying the effort to prevent and to fight terrorism, the threat from the south, compared to for instance some time ago in that the threat from the south will take a larger part of the NATOs whole engagement in the year to come?
Jens Stoltenberg: Our challenge is that we have to do two things at the same time. We have to be present in Europe, provide collective defence deterrents in Europe. At the same time we have to address the turmoil, the instability and the threats stemming from the south from ISIL, from terrorist organizations. And this is actually the first time in NATOs history that we have to be so focused on both those tasks at the same time. And thats also the reason why we are now implementing the biggest adaptation of NATO since the end of the Cold War and the reason why we are both reinforcing our collective defence in Europe with more presence in the eastern part of Europe, with more readiness and preparedness of our forces and with more U.S. presence. As I said quadrupling of the U.S. funding for troops, for equipment, for training, for exercises in Europe of U.S. forces is a very strong signal and I welcome that. So we are doing a lot on collective defence in Europe. At the same time we are stepping up our efforts to fight ISIL and terrorism. Partly by continuing our operations in Afghanistan because even if Afghanistan is not always directly linked to ISIL we have to remember that the reason why we are in Afghanistan is to fight terrorism, different kind of terrorist organizations including also some affiliated with ISIL. And then as Ive mentioned several times we are stepping up our efforts to help Iraq, we are looking into what more we can do for direct support to the coalition also with AWACS capabilities and we are working with several countries in the region like Tunisia and Jordan to help them defend themselves and to remain stable countries in the region of a lot of instability. So yes we are stepping up our efforts to fight terrorism but thats not something we are doing on the expense of our efforts addressing the challenges in Europe, we have to do both, our collective defence in Europe, we have to do both at the same time. And theres a 360 degree approach and collective defence is also about threats stemming from the south, for instance Turkey. Turkey is attacked regularly from the south, from Syria, so I think that we have to understand that collective defence is also about the south and stabilizing our neighbour is also about the east when we work with for instance countries like Moldova, Ukraine and other countries in our eastern neighbourhood. So this is a huge challenge but NATO has been able to respond and adapt.
Oana Lungescu: Were going to end with two questions in the first row here. So well start with Ukrainian Media and then with KUNA.
Q: ..your Atlantic cooperation. Secretary General when do you think you will meet with Russia again? Before summit of NATO in Warsaw or any other idea? And the second question, if you will discuss Russian side about Ukraine which message you are going to provide them? And the third one, are you satisfied how the Minsk Agreement is implementating?
Jens Stoltenberg: First when well meet in the NATO Russia Council again, its too early to tell but I would like to underline that I believe that we should meet in the NATO Russia Council because the NATO Russia Council is a platform for political dialogue with Russia. And after the illegal annexation of Crimea back in 2014 NATO decided to suspend practical cooperation but we decided not to suspend political dialogue. And since the NATO Russia Council is part of this political dialogue I believe that we should meet again. Exactly when thats too early to tell but its going to be discussed with the Foreign Ministers tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Second and let me add that dialogue is important but dialogue, transparency, channels for political communication is even more important when tensions are high and when times are difficult as they are now. So I think that the need for political engagement with Russia is even bigger now than it was a couple of years ago because now we really face some challenges and some difficulties in our relationship with Russia. Second, the message, well it depends of course on the different issues we discuss but on Ukraine the message is very clear, that Russia should respect international law, not violate their territorial integrity and the sovereignty of an independent country Ukraine and of course that also Russia should use all its influence and make sure that the Minsk Agreements are fully respected and implemented. You asked me about the Minsk Agreements, then I have to tell you that of course Im concerned. Because oft repeated last year, the beginning of this year where we saw a lull in the fighting or at least that the ceasefire was mostly respected we have seen gradually an increase in the numbers of violations of the ceasefire and that is undermining the whole Minsk Agreement because the Minsk Agreement is based on the ceasefire. So my message is that the ceasefire has to be respected, heavy weapons have to be withdrawn and the international observers have to have full access to the area so they can make sure that the Minsk Agreements are fully implemented.
Oana Lungescu: The very final question to KUNA.
Q: Kuwait News Agency KUNA. Sir will there be any discussions in the meeting on cooperation with the Gulf Countries in the fight against IS? And secondly will there be a discussion on Syria and how to bring a rapid democratic transition in the country? Thank you.
Jens Stoltenberg: It will be a discussion as part of our discussion on projecting stability, how we can work even closer with our partners in the Gulf region. And I recently visited Kuwait and other countries in the Gulf region and it was a very strong message in all my talks with different interlocutors that we need to step up the cooperation between NATO and the Gulf countries including the GCC or the Gulf Cooperation Council. Im really, really looking forward to the opening of a new NATO regional training centre in Kuwait and I visited the site for this new facility, its a big, big building where were going to have different kinds of training, capacity building activities for the region located in Kuwait and I think thats just one example of how we are increasing our cooperation with the Gulf countries. On Syria I think that I have answered questions related to how we will support the efforts of the coalition fighting ISIL and thats of course related to Syria. Its on the border to a NATO ally Turkey and we support Turkey, we provide assurance measures for Turkey and, and let me add that in addition to the deployment of NATO batteries or patriot batteries, port visits of NATO ships and the AWACS flying over Turkey I think its important also to add that several NATO allies, so many NATO allies also provide assurance measures for Turkey on the bilateral basis. So there is a lot of NATO presence in Turkey and Turkey also provide infrastructure for both the assurance measures but also for the fight against ISIL with for instance Incirlik Air Base. So this is a very joint effort of NATO, NATO allies and Turkey in the fight against ISIL and also providing the necessary assurance measures for Turkey all at the same time. But the important message on Syria is that there is no way to peace and stability in Syria without a negotiated agreement. So therefore I fully support, even if its hard, even if its difficult, even if there has been many setbacks and disappointments to, no other alternative than to support the efforts to find a peaceful negotiated solution and I support the efforts by all those that meet in Vienna and Geneva to try to find a political solution to the conflict in Syria.
Oana Lungescu: Thank you very much thats all we have time for today but of course there will be ample opportunities for those who werent able to ask their questions today tomorrow and the day after. Many thanks.
Jens Stoltenberg: Thank you.
High on the hill
Run, Forrest, run!
(NaturalNews) Running and smoking pot might sound like two mutually exclusive activities, but marijuana use among runners has increased over the years. Several athletes claim that eating marijuana edibles beforehand actually enhances the running experience, calling into question whether cannabis is a performance-enhancing drug.For years, scientists believed people experienced what is known as a "runner's high" because their bodies released endorphins, which mitigate pain and stimulate the brain's reward system. Recently, however, researchers realized that endorphins don't cross the bloodbrain barrier.Scientists now recognize that exercise also increases the production of a molecule that acts like a neurotransmitter known as anandamide, which has a structure similar to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive constituent of cannabis. Whenever this molecule crosses the bloodbrain barrier, it activates cannabinoid receptors, which are the same ones activated whe THC is in the bloodstream.Although recreational marijuana use is still illegal in most states, more and more athletes are using it to curb the boredom that usually accompanies long runs, as well as a pain reliever and anti-inflammatory medication following an intense workout.Marijuana use and running may not seem complimentary on the surface, but advances in neurobiology suggest these two activities could be comrades in arms.Dr. Johannes Fuss, a researcher at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, authored a study that, in his own words, "investigated the neurobiological mechanisms that mediate the emotional benefits after acute exercise, often termed as a runner's high.""Some researchers argue that long distance running might have evolved in our ancestors when forests were replaced by open savannas in Africa. This land conversion allowed the chasing of prey by endurance running. Reduced sensation of pain and less anxiety through long-distance running would have been a benefit for running hunters," he added."When volunteers exercise for 30 minutes, the level of the endocannabinoid anandamide in their bloodstream goes up," Gregory Gerdeman, assistant professor of biology at Eckerd College, told. "In one study, we found that the increase of feelings of wellbeing in patients was tightly correlated to levels of anandamide in their bloodstream. So we started talking about anandamide as a neurobiological reward for running. It makes you feel good... And anandamide acts like THC in many ways. It gets its name from ananda, which means bliss in sanskrit," he continued.No conclusive studies have been conducted examining the relationship between marijuana use and long-distance running. Marijuana can help ease mental and physical exhaustion, however, so it is not too much of a stretch to suggest it may be beneficial for long-distance running. As a result, debate wages as to whether marijuana qualifies as a performance-enhancing drug.Although marijuana could complement running, Gerdeman cautions that it probably wouldn't be a good idea for people new to marijuana use or running to meld the two activities."It's conceivable that cannabis could benefit someone who is just starting an exercise routine," he told. "[C]annabis use elevates the heart rate, so for someone who isn't used to exercising, it could make them lightheaded and have a spike in blood pressure. It could be dangerous for someone who is older with emergent cardiovascular disease."
'Treason'
'Overthrow of legal sovereignty'
(NaturalNews) In a recent major foreign policy speech, leading GOP presidential contender Donald Trump decried globalization, and essentially described it as a series of bad deals that have harmed U.S. growth and limited (or eliminated outright) jobs and opportunities for Americans.In pledging to always put "America first" in any future economic and other foreign affairs negotiations, Trump was particularly critical of globalization the integration of cultures and economies, often with less-developed nations describing it as an outsourcing of American jobs, especially in manufacturing.One of the latest efforts to broaden globalization of American ingenuity and jobs, Trump has said, is the Obama administration's push for ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. Last fall, with the race for the Republican presidential nomination still split between scores of candidates, Trump called the deal "insanity," and said that it "should not be supported and it should not be allowed to happen."One undercover reporter unequivocally believes that Trump is right. In fact, he believes that to support the TPP is no less than "treason."In a series of articles published online, Brett Redmayne-Titley who says he scored a coveted press pass and "stakeholder's pass," thanks to some help from activists attended a TPP event in San Diego recently. He says the agreement, which has been negotiated in secret and only shown to U.S. lawmakers by the White House after they signed a non-disclosure agreement, amounts to the largest corporate-inspired deal to ever be considered in Congress.According to Brooke Harper with Global Trade Watch, an organization based in Washington, D.C., this agreement which is really a treaty, and therefore must be ratified by the U.S. Senate is nothing short of a complete sell-out of the American people to corporate interests. Understand that of the corporations based in the United States these days, most are "multinational corporations," meaning they do business with anyone and everyone, and have no real allegiance to any country. Their interest is purely profit, which helps explain why, in Obama's low-to-no growth economy , companies listed on Wall Street are still doing relatively well.And now, they want to do even better, and they don't care who wins or who loses. Americans are no exception, and our president (and far too many in Congress who are co-opted by mega-corporations), are willing to sacrifice our future and that of our children and grandchildren at the altar of the almighty dollar."The concept, inception, and mechanism of the TPP treaty as well as the effort to secretly pass it come, solely, from the Obama administration. In doing so, our one-time constitutional scholar president attempts to create a new, world-wide, corporate dynasty," writes Redmayne-Titley. " TPP effectively allows for the overthrow of the legal sovereignty and national jurisdiction of the United States' courts and political system to a foreign power. This is the very definition of treason."Indeed, the agreement essentially gives mega-corporations legal protections to usurp duly-passed laws and regulations of nation-states, by allowing those corporations to actuallycountries that attempt to enforce rules at odds with provisions of the TPP."Should state, local, or federal governmental agencies attempt to enforce American laws in favor of their citizens that conflict with the wishes of the multi-nationals, a separate corporate court will have supreme jurisdiction and the last say over any American governmental agency," Redmayne-Titley notes. "Ominously called, 'The Tribunal,' it has the power to override any existing American regulation. Absurdly, Federal agencies, State Gov'ts [sic], City authorities, citizen's property rights, and competing American corporate interests will be considered as the Defendant before this tribunal. When brought to the dock, these defendants these nations will be charged, by the plaintiff corporation, with a new crime: 'Technical Barrier to Trade.' Really." Trump is the only viable and electable candidate , at this juncture anyway, who opposes TPP. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., opposes it, too, but he's not likely to beat Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton for their party's nomination, andsupports the agreement (of course).Read the full Redmayne-Titley column here , and check back daily, because this link is to the first in an upcoming series, portions of which will be published daily until the entire essay is online.
Coca growers resist government's aerial glyphosate attacks
Glyphosate is a weapon, destroying our ecosystem and plant-life diversity
(NaturalNews) Colombian officials know exactly where to find chemical weapons when they need them. Glyphosate, the popular plant-killing chemical found in Roundup , has been used by the Colombian government and supported by the U.S. as a means to combat the cultivation of coca. Luis Carlos Villegas, the Colombian defense minister, is sending barrages of glyphosate to crews on the ground, who will be tasked with the eradication of illegal cocaine.For two decades, glyphosate was dropped down from crop dusters onto Colombian fields. In America, glyphosate is sprayed indiscriminately on over 80 percent of genetically modified crops. (GM crops are designed to withstand the chemical attack.) After the World Health Organization declared glyphosate a probable carcinogen, Colombia began phasing out the use of glyphosate, banning its use less than a year ago. Now, Colombian officials are planning to re-deploy glyphosate as a chemical weapon to combat the growth of coca.Hoping that he'll get the clearance, Villegas told, "We'll do it in a way that doesn't contaminate, which is the same way it's applied in any normal agricultural project."For six years straight leading up to 2014, Colombian coca cultivation had been steadily declining. Many officials believed aerial glyphosate spraying would be a good strategy to block coca cultivation. In the past two years, however, coca cultivation skyrocketed, as farmers resisted the attacks, jumping 39 percent in 2014, and another 42 percent in 2015. According to U.S. government statistics, 392,000 new acres of coca have sprung up in the past two years. A UN report finds that in the southern provinces of Putumayo and Caqueta, coca cultivation has recently risen by 78 percent. In recent years, growers have migrated to national parks and other areas where glyphosate spraying is off limits. The increase in coca production is expected to have a ripple effect on the entire cocaine economy around the world.The new strategy is to employ several heavily armed crews on the ground, equipped with glyphosate and work gloves. The eradication crews plan to either pull the plants up by the roots, or to spray them down with glyphosate. The eradication crews will likely face resistance on the ground, as protection groups use land mines and other weapons to defend their crops.In America, where glyphosate spraying is the norm, hardly anyone understands that this chemical is a weapon. The more it is applied year after year, the more its ill effects infiltrate the environment. Over time, this affects natural crops, killing off wild herbs, while also contributing to the rise of invasive super weeds (that have built up increased resistance to survive).In the end, the genetically modified crops that are specifically designed to withstand glyphosate are the dominant, select varieties that we are forced to grow and eat. In the wake of glyphosate GM technology, the natural diversity of seed and plant life is lost, leaving the population with nothing more than chemically-bathed genetically modified food that is a mere shadow (nutritionally-speaking) of its former diverse wholesome lineage.
Some doctors know the truth
Vaccines, nutrition widely ignored in most medical schools
(NaturalNews) Most people like to think that doctors are unquestionable experts in their fields, and that their years of education give them a broad and solid base of knowledge about all aspects of health and medicine. It turns out, however, that medical schools are failing them and the general public time and time again, by glossing over some very important issues, such as vaccines In a startling video posted on YouTube, several doctors admit that they really don't know much about vaccines at all, and that this is not really part of the curriculum in medical school. Perhaps this might help explain why seemingly caring and intelligent doctors are so willing to push vaccines on children, yet it leaves a lot more questions unanswered. Perhaps the biggest question everyone should be asking is: Why aren't medical schools teaching doctors the truth about vaccines The video is entitled "Are Doctors Experts On Vaccines?" and the answer is a resounding NO, as illustrated in the compilation of various clips showing different doctors admitting they know very little about vaccines.Dr. Suzanne Humphries said: "You may not know this, but doctors are not taught about vaccines in medical school. We are not taught what's in vaccines as far as the adjuvants. We are not taught how vaccines are manufactured as far as what kind of animals go into them. We are not taught the potential dangers of vaccination, and we are basically given a piece of paper that says when the vaccines are due and to give them."Several other doctors profiled in the video echo these sentiments, saying they had no idea that vaccines contained mercury , and were not taught such information in medical school. It would appear that many intelligent doctors are actually quite ignorant when it comes to basic health principles. Several examples of seemingly smart doctors being completely unaware of fundamental nutrition and health concepts were outlined in a recent podcast by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger . Like many of us, he asks how the entire medical industry has become focused on the profit model of prolonged sickness instead of health and self-healing.Thankfully, there are a number of doctors who have made a point of seeking out unbiased information on vaccines from independent sources that do not have a financial stake in getting and keeping people sick.Dr. Toni Bark, who appears in the video saying that the schedule of vaccines is taught in medical school but not their ingredients, earned her medical degree at Rush Medical School and completed her Pediatric Residency at the University of Illinois. She is now the Vice President of the American Institute of Homeopathy, and says that the kids who come to her from other practices who are fully vaccinated are the ones who show signs of OCD, asthma, autism, panic disorders and other issues that she does not see in children who were not vaccinated. In addition, she says that she has never seen a child with asthma, food allergies, or autism who was not vaccinated.This lack of education about vaccines goes hand in hand with another failing of the medical school system: the lack of education on nutrition. It's understandable to assume that doctors know all there is to know about nutrition as it relates to health, but the truth is that medical schools do not teach doctors much about nutrition, with some med schools not even requiring a single course on nutrition! In 2010,reported that only a quarter of medical schools offered even the bare minimum recommended hours in nutrition education.It is no wonder, then, that they are so willing to accept the lies that Big Pharma tells them about their medications being effective and safe. As some of the doctors in the video point out, they are also not taught to question research, which is very scary indeed, and does not bode well for the general public.It turns out that nature holds the key to many of the problems people are currently facing, whether it's CBD oil from the marijuana plant, or immune-boosting turmeric . For those who are interested in learning more about this, the Natural Medicine, Healing & Wellness Summit is devoted to these topics.The video closes with some excellent advice: "... So when your doctor starts pushing vaccines on you or your child, ask him what he knows about vaccine ingredients."
Are we being 'dumbed down' deliberately?
The fluoride factor
(NaturalNews) Judging from what one runs across on the internet, it's easy to believe thatmust be dumbing down the populace, as a recentpiece humorously illustrated.Thepublished a Tweet from a mother which involved a math question given to year 2 students one the mom felt was too difficult for children as young as six years old to be expected to solve.Here is the question:"There were some people on a train. 19 people get off the train at the first stop. 17 people get on the train. Now there are 63 people on the train. How many people were on the train to begin with?"Admittedly, this puzzle might be somewhat advanced for an average six-year-old, but it shouldn't be that hard for an adult, since it requires only some very basic addition and subtraction skills.If you guessed the answer to be 65, you are correct!"The correct answer is in fact 65, which you arrive at by subtracting the 17 people who just boarded from the current number of passengers, 63, to get 46. Then you add the 19 passengers who got off to arrive at 65."Now, that wasn't so difficult, was it? Any adult should be able to easily arrive at the correct answer, right?Well, you might be surprised many of the respondents to the Tweet, and even the mother herself, were unable to get it right.Louise Bloxham, the mom, claimed that she found the "right" answer on a Facebook forum for teachers; apparently their answer was 46.It's easy to poke fun at those with less than stellar math skills, but are we really becoming dumbed down as a society?Some experts think so, and that it is being done to us deliberately.From a Global Research report entitled "The Dumbing Down of America By Design:""The most obvious example of how Americans have been dumbed down is through this nation's failed public education system. At one time not that long ago America reigned supreme as a leading model for the rest of the world providing the best quality free public K-12 education system on the planet. But over the last many decades while much of the rest of the world has been passing us by, it seems an insidious federal agenda has been implemented to condition and brainwash a population of mindless, robotic citizenry that simply does what it's told, and of course the brainwashing commences early in America's schools."The report's author, Joachim Hagopian, heavily criticizes the U.S. educational system, but also identifies a number of other factors contributing to America's mental decline, including the consolidation of mass media , drug use (both illicit and legal), alcohol, and even the flicker rates of televisions and computer monitors.But, that's not all that's making us dumber. Pesticides, heavy metals, hormones and numerous other toxins enter our bodies through the foods we eat , the air we breathe and the water we drink.The fluoride added to our drinking water is believed by many to be one of the most significant factors in our loss of mental capacity. At least 50 studies have confirmed a link between fluoride and reduced intelligence.As reported by"As of April 2016, a total of 57 studies have investigated the relationship between fluoride and human intelligence, and a total of 38 studies have investigated the relationship fluoride and learning/memory in animals. Of these investigations, 50 of the 57 human studies have found that elevated fluoride exposure is associated with reduced IQ, while 37 of the 39 animal studies have found that fluoride exposure impairs the learning and/or memory capacity of animals. The human studies, which are based on IQ examinations of over 12,000 children, provide compelling evidence that fluoride exposure during the early years of life can damage a child's developing brain."There are many factors involved in our dumbing down, but avoiding exposure to fluoride may be one of the most important keys to maintaining a healthy, functional brain.
'Triple' damages possible
'Shield individual companies'
(NaturalNews) The state of Washington will seek millions in damages from a major Washington, D.C., grocery lobbyist that represents major food brands, for alleged money laundering and other charges.As reported by the, state Attorney General Bob Ferguson has said that he will not settle the case with the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which worked to defeat a statewide ballot initiative in 2013, which would have required that all genetically modified foods (GMOs) be labeled Ferguson's office alleges that the GMA received $14 million from various food interests, but neglected to reveal which companies gave and how much, a violation of the state's Public Disclosure Act.In recent days, Thurston County Superior Court Judge Anne Hirsch awarded summary judgment to the state, ruling that the GMA indeed violated state disclosure laws. Hirsch cited internal association memos which revealed how the lobbying organization concealed the identities of the big corporate donors who had put up the millions to oppose the narrowly-defeated ballot measure.The purpose of concealing donors, according to one GMA executive, was to "shield individual companies from public disclosure and possible criticism."The Seattle paper also noted that the GMA created a "defense of brands" account, collecting some $14 million in contributions and spending $11 million on a "No on 522" campaign.Under Washington state law, penalties for violations of campaign finance disclosure rules can be as high as an amount equal to the sum of money that was not reported. Also, according to the statute, "If the violation is found to have been intentional, the amount of the judgment, which shall for this purpose include the costs, may be trebled as punitive damages," or triple the amount of the unreported sum.The upcoming trial will decide how much monetary damage will actually be awarded.Hirsch determined that there is still a factual dispute over whether the GMA actually intended to circumvent Washington reporting laws. Also, she did not determine what the penalty would be, ruling that those details would be decided in the upcoming trial.The GMA has defended its actions, claiming in a statement last month, as quoted by the"In the upcoming trial we believe the facts will show that GMA always intended to comply with the law."Ferguson countered, "We look forward to making our case on intentionality and penalties."In February, the reported that, according to Ferguson, documents newly unsealed by the state attorney general's office laid out an "egregious" plot by the GMA to evade campaign disclosure laws, a plot which ranks among "the worst in state history.""It was a detailed scheme over many months to purposely, in their words, shield their donors from public scrutiny, and that's not OK," Ferguson said in an interview.noted that the grocery association's donations were reported as only coming from the GMA, not individual corporations who had put money into the fund, including PepsiCo, Nestle and General Mills.reported further:"Internal GMA documents show the trade group wanted to insulate its individual members from public blowback for opposing food-labeling initiatives. To do that, the group created a special fund, called the Defense of Brand Strategic Account."At a January 2013 board meeting discussing the effort, GMA officials said the fund would 'shield individual companies from public disclosure and possible criticism,' according to minutes cited in a state court motion unsealed this week."The following month, the board authorized the fund's creation, with top officials claiming as one of its advantages "the ability to identify only GMA as the contributor," according to the released documents.Thelisted all of the corporations that donated to the fund, and the amounts:"Donations to the 'defense of brands' account included $2.69 million from Pepsico; $1.75 million from Nestle USA; $1.74 million from Coca-Cola; $996,000 from General Mills; $949,000 from ConAgra; $441,000 from Campbell Soup; $413,000 from the Hershey Co.; $401,000 from J.M. Smucker; and $369,000 from Kellogg."
Medical marijuana sales revenue has been confirmed to be used for helping homeless people.
Aurora, Colorado, the third largest city in the state, announced that $1.5 million generated from a tax on recreational pot will be used to support the homeless people, Huffington Post reports.
In 2015, pot sales revenue was intended to help people in need. According to Denver Post, Aurora city officials had been expecting that marijuana sales will be doubled in 2016.
"We're new into it," budget officer Greg Hays said.
Before the city came up with this decision, it underwent the longer discussion on what to do with $4.5 million over the next two years.
Recreational marijuana has been open in the market in Portland since October 2014. In that time, only a few stores in the state were allowed to sell. By the end of 2015, 12 more marijuana-friendly stores opened and six more are expected to open in 2016.
On Feb 29, 2015, the initial approval to allocate $1.5 million for homeless services from the city's 2017 and 2018 budget was approved by council members during a special study session.
A nonprofit organization, The Colfax Community Network, which started since 1999, will receive $200,000 from the special fund, as reported by Aurora Sentinel. According to the source, the organization educates low-income families living in motels and apartments.
"The Colfax Community Network is in extremely dire straits in that they do not have funds to continue operating," said Nancy Sheffield, director of Aurora neighborhood services.
CCN also provides food, clothing, diapers and hygiene products to the homeless familes in the local hotels. Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan agreed with reservation abou funding CCN.
"I believe there's a value to it beyond just what it does," Hogan said.
"That value is that it's an organization that's been around for years. Organizations that have been around for years tend to catch the eye of funding foundations. The problem with Colfax Community Network is, in my view, there were a lot of well-intentioned people who had no idea how to go out and get money. That's why they're in trouble now. Saving it makes sense to me," he explained.
If you have not heard it yet, air is now a luxury in other countries.
Just recently, World Health Organization reported that 80% of city dwellers are now breathing dangerous levels of polluted air.
And based on the statistics, three million premature deaths occur each year because of the intoxicating air that we breathe.So naturally, business-minded people would think of a way to provide clean air while having something in their pockets.
Below are some of the entrepreneurs who sell fresh air in exchange for money:
Vitality Air
The Chinese-owned company started selling air in can last 2012.
Chen Guangbiao, who is believed to be one of China's richest entrepreneurs sells a can from $ 20-63. The canned air reportedly comes in a variety of flavors.
#Friyay !! Take a look at our #new product ! 3 new flavors of #oxygen - #grape #rootbeer #strawberry ?????? #vitalityair A photo posted by Vitality Air Inc (@vitalityair) on Apr 29, 2016 at 3:50pm PDT
According to Huffington Post, the company sold more than $800 worth of cans on the opening.
Aethaer
A company put up by Leo De Watts, a British national in Hong Kong, Aether claims to have an air of pure essence found only in the clearest of skies.
"Aethear is collected from fresh natural air flowing over a range of prime locations, from fertile lush pastures and wild untouched meadows, to wind-kissed hilltops and heavenly snow-capped mountains," explains Aethear.
The air is sealed in a jar and sold for $115. You can choose from 6 different sources of Great Britain oxygen: Dorest, Somerset, Wales, Wiltshire and Yorkshire. Three months ago, De Watts told Country and Town House that a factory in China has been ordering from them.
Paraside Air
Coming from the land down under is the oxygen from Paradise Air. The company boasts of their bottled air that heals and indulges your bodys with the purest air on earth.
According to their website, they collect air from three of the most remote regions in the world:
Cape Grim, Tasmania, Australia: Cleanest, purest air on Planet Earth South Coast, Australia: Pristine, sun-soaked beach air Remote Blue Mountains, Australia: Crisp, clean mountain-fresh air
Bottled at Altitude
The newest to enter the business is Jakob Aungiers, a german skydiver which sells bottled fresh air that he captures when he skydives.
Mirror UK notes that he is offering bottles at an introductory price of $ 144 but says they will soon shoot up to $ 289.
Scooter, who caught the world's attention after having lived the equivalent of about 136 human years, has died.
The adorable senior cat did not live long enough to enjoy the title of being the world's longest living feline.
According to Mansfield News-Mirror, his owner Gail Floyd of Mansfield confirmed that the Siamese cat who celebrated his birthday last March 26, has already passed away by the time Guinness confirmed its title April 8. However, she declined to talk about the details of Scooter's death.
A Guinness title, before being formally given to a holder needs approval from the office first. Sofia Rocher, who works in the Guinness press office, said it usually takes 12 weeks to confirm evidence, which normally requires a letter from a veterinarian.
Dr. Tricia Latimer, a Mansfield veterinarian, says the normal life expectancy for cats is 12 to 16 years, making Scooter's record impressive.
Scooter loves to travel. In fact, he had been to 45 of the 50 states before passing away.
BBC mentioned in an article that Scooter had always been active and had always loved playing with Floyd. He even created a habit of waking her up at 6:00 a.m., every morning and waiting at the doorstep for her to arrive from work.
Owning any pet is good for one's health. Researchers from University of Minnesota's Stroke Institute in Minneapolis found out through a 10-year-study that cat owners have lower heart attack risk than non-cat owners. The study was presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference in New Orleans in 2008.
The oldest living cat title now returns to Corduroy, a Maine Coon who will turn 27 on August 1. Meanwhile, a cat named Creme Puff who lived to be 38 before dying in 2005 holds the record for oldest cat of all time.
Many Scientists were alarmed in the closed-door, invitation-only meeting of nearly 150 researchers, business leaders and lawyers in the Harvard University last week. The primary goal of the meeting is to discuss the possibility to construct an entire human genome from scratch.
Human genome is the heritable genetic material that is transferred from parent s to children.
The secret meeting itself gathered few criticisms because organizers asked each participant to avoid posting the minutes of meeting in the social media and media was not allowed in the room. But the main goal of "to synthesize a complete human genome in a cell line within a period of 10 years" is what made life scientist worried on their toes.
In a paper, notable scientists Drew Endy and Northwestern University bioethicist Laurie Zoloth elaborated on the problems of the secret meeting and the possible ethical dilemma of synthesizing the entire human genome.
"While we strongly agree that sustained improvements in DNA construction tools are essential for advancing basic biological science and improving public health we are skeptical that synthesizing a human genome is an appropriate demand driver," Endy and Zoloth wrote.
According to a report from Tech Times, the cost of producing each block of genetic code cost roughly $4 in 2003, but just 13 years later, it dramatically decreases to three cents per letter, which means building a human genome with three billion base pairs now costs only $90 million from the astonishing $12 billion in 2014.
If the decrease rate continues, the cost of constructing a synthetic human genome would reach as little as $100.
Even with the availability of modern technologies and surprisingly cheap price, synthesizing human genome will be presented with lots of ethical dilemma.
Many scientists against the production of human genome from scratch argue that the possibility of sequencing and producing genomes of the world's best and brightest people. This may result in series of ethical questions such as how many copies of the same sequence should be produced, and who would be able to obtain them?
Life science researchers strongly believe that all discussions regarding the production of human genome should be open to public and should not occur in closed rooms.
"The creation of new human life is one of the last human-associated processes that have not yet been industrialized or fully commoditized. It remains an act of faith, joy, and hope," Endy and Zoloth concluded.
Female Genital Mutilation is a worldwide practice that is deeply rooted in gender inequality, attempts to control women's sexuality and ideas about purity, modesty and aesthetics.
The most common procedures used in FGM are clitoridectomy and excision. Clitoridectomy is the partial or full removal of the clitoris and/or the prepuce, while excision is the partial of total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora, with or without excision of the labia majora.
According to the report of the World Health Organization (WHO), there are more than 200,000 girls and women in the world living with FGM. Despite its cultural values, FGM provides no health benefits. In fact, FGM poses grave threat to women's health.
Immediate dangers of FGM include severe bleeding and infection that result to sudden death. Long term complications of FGM include recurring urinary tract infections, menstrual problems, reproductive tract infections, PTSD and depression, sexual dysfunction and pain, and chronic genital pain. WHO also noted that FGM can also affect childbirth and increase risk of infant death.
Due to the increasing numbers of girls and women with FGM in the United States caused by migration, WHO releases a new guidelines for health care providers on how to care for patients with FGM.
WHO strongly recommends deinfibulation for women who have their vaginal openings closed to further prevent urologic complications such as recurrent urinary tract infections and urinary retention. Women with FGM showing signs and symptoms anxiety disorders, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) should consider undergoing cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
WHO also urges health care providers to responsibly provide accurate and clear information, education and communication regarding the different types of FGM and their respective immediate and long term health risk.
In the United States, the practice of FGM on any minor younger than 18 years of age has a corresponding federal criminal penalties, including fines and up to five years of imprisonment. It is also against the law to transport a girl younger than 18 years old outside of the country for the sole purpose of FGM.
Scientists have succeeded in creating a clone for the Zika virus, and this could help speed up the development of vaccines and therapeutics against the virus, research says.
The mosquito-borne Zika virus, which is also known to be sexually transmitted, has spread throughout Latin America in the recent months. It has caused an increase in cases of microcephaly, a condition in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains.
Scientists from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston said that they were able to genetically engineer the Zika virus, which makes it possible to create the virus in test tubes and on Petri dishes.
According to lead author of the study Pei-Yong Shi, the man-made Zika could help them study and adapt the virus to develop a vaccine to fight it. It could also be used to test whether or not the vaccines are effective.
During research, the cloned virus was tested on mice, and this gave them neurological diseases. The team also fed mosquitoes with either the parental Zika virus and the clone virus and found that the number of infected mosquitoes were similar.
Researchers claim that by adapting the virus, they could make a safe vaccine enough to make the body ward off the infection without actually causing the disease.
Experts hope that that a candidate will be ready for testing in the coming months. However, it could be years before there can be a safe and effective vaccine that can be offered to the general public.
While several groups of scientists are working on Zika vaccines, this is the first time the actual Zika strain was replicated.
The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has created a trial vaccine for similar viruses that can be used as a starting point in developing a Zika vaccine. Likewise, the Jenner Institute has already conducted tests with mice and is planning to hold clinical trials in 2017.
For villagers living in distant towns in Indonesia, cooking and heating homes can be a problem. And it may take a week before resources like wood and gasoline reach the household.
But villagers in Kalisari village in the island of Java in Indonesia found an alternative source of cheap, renewable energy: tofu.
Around 150 small tofu businesses in Kalisari village started the pioneering green movement of converting wastewater from their production floors into clean-burning biogas. And villagers can access this clean fuel anytime through a switch.
"The advantages are huge, because we produce the gas with waste," Waroh, a tofu producer, told AFP.
While most common renewable energy projects use traditional sources like solar or wind, the Kalisari renewable energy is among those taking a more original approach. Other projects include getting energy from sorghum production or pig waste.
According to experts, harnessing power from unconventional sources like tofu holds enormous potential in Indonesia as this energy-hungry country has been relying on fossil fuels. The local government hopes that the gas will soon power lights in the village as well, as bigger digester tanks are being built to produce more biogas.
Another major benefit of this project is that it keeps the wastewater from tofu production from polluting the environment. Before there were digester tanks, wastewater used to be pumped into the nearby rivers, which contaminates the waterways and the rice fields.
Indonesia is one of the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters. But the Indonesian government has committed to sourcing 25% of the country's energy from renewable sources by 2025.
This is just one of the small-scale initiatives taking place in Indonesia, and though they can't entirely meet the target, they are still making a huge contribution.
Indonesia has thousands of tofu producers. The government says that if this renewable energy project will roll out nationwide, over 56,000 tons of fossil fuels will be replaced by biogas every year.
A fancy corporate job and a house of your own could be enough to make a man happy. But not for Richard East.
He quit his corporate job of 10 years and sold his house to travel around Australia with his pet cat, Willow.
Richard East from Tasmania, Australia has been travelling with Willow for 12 months in his Volkswagen Transporter. He decided he was rather unhappy with his life and wanted a change, he said in an interview with ABC Australia. So in 2014, he left his job in Hobart, Tasmania, sold his house and most of his possessions, crammed his whole life into his van and drove off.
Willow and I having a chat as the sun sets. A photo posted by Rich & Willow (@vancatmeow) on Apr 9, 2016 at 12:46am PDT
Accompanying him was his ex-girlfriend's black rescue cat Willow.
"[She] was living in my house but was no longer wanted so I vowed to look after her for the rest of her days," said East. He said that they adopted Willow from a rescue center at age two.
East documents their journey on their Instagram account VanCatMeow, which has more than 3,200 followers. They have already toured in popular Australian tourists spots like The Big Banana, the Great Barrier Reef and the Whitsunday Islands.
Even though East was the one who left home and took Willow along, he felt that it was the cat that actually saved him.
In a Facebook post he wrote a year after the pair embarked on their journey, he said: "The little black adventure cat... really took a chance when she rescued me."
"We have been very fortunate to have made it through the past year with no more troubles than two flat tyres, 3 stitches on my head, and a sore paw," he said.
The pair has met fellow travelers along their journey, and despite visiting places that are quite remote, East said he always has the safety of the van.
"It's a cozy campervan with everything I need," he said. "All the snacks I need and a cat falling asleep on my chest. That's all I need."
The duo has already made it up the east coast to north Queensland and plans to travel across the Northern Territory.
The republican presidential aspirant has boldly announced that if ever he was elected as the next president of the United States, he will do his best to renegotiate America's role in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, potentially derailing the so-called last stand of man against the reckoning force of nature.
In an interview, Trump told Reuters that all the agreements are all one-sided and bad for the United States.
"I will be looking at that very, very seriously, and at a minimum I will be renegotiating those agreements, at a minimum. And at a maximum I may do something else," said Trump.
The New York real estate mogul also noted that China won't keep in its end of the bargain.
"Not a big fan because other countries don't adhere to it, and China doesn't adhere to it, and China's spewing into the atmosphere," Trump continued.
Trump has been known to deny that climate change is induced by man. He even dubbed global warming as hoax, con job and Chinese plot to overthrow the manufacturing industry of the United States.
The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012
The United States, under the Obama Administration, has pledged to reduce its production of domestic green house gases by 26 to 28 percent until 2025. China, on the other hand, promised to halt the increase of their carbon emissions by 2030.
In previous report, former Alaska governor and huge supporter of Donald Trump, Sarah Palin voices out her own opinions on climate change while lashing out in the credibility of Bill Nye, the Science Guy, as a scientist.
She even endorsed the anti-climate change film "Climate Hustle", a 75-minute film featuring scientists debunking man-made global warming.
The Paris Agreement on Climate Change was developed in hopes to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
For those who wanted to be chauffeured in a Tesla Model S, now is your chance. A high school student by the name of Haydn proposed his city to city Tesla idea to Elon Musk and the tycoon approved of the concept.
"Tesloop" now caters to 15 cities in California in a semi-autonomous interstate driving service using Tesla's Model S electric cars.
Tesloop wanted to offer sustainable travel service for everyone. Instead of taking a bus or flying, you can now hire a Tesla electric vehicle to drive you interstate. According to Autoblog, the service is currently available between Los Angeles and Las Vegas with more routes coming soon.
Tesloop said their service is 'sustainable, convenient and amazing'. That's why the number of people who would like to try Tesloop services is growing rapidly. Tesloop added that this is the new form of mass transit. It enables travel in the least amount of carbon footprint while offering features that will make your journey more convenient like free snacks, drinks, pillows and even free Wi-Fi service
The long-distance car sharing service uses Tesla cars in auto-pilot mode said TechCrunch. The innovator, Haydn (his surname wasn't revealed because he is a minor), started driving a Tesla when he got his driver's license last year. He offered the interstate service to pay for the insurance. During one of Tesla's shareholder meeting, Haydn presented the idea which Musk agreed to right away.
But Tesloop had faced setbacks initially. Because Haydn is a minor, there were problems in securing licenses for this concept. That's why the co-founders and investors took turns in piloting or driving the Tesla to offer their service while Haydn mans the fleet.
Techcrunch added in their report that there are only two Tesla electric cars being used for this purpose. It costs around $100 for a one way trip between Las Vegas and the LA county area.
A car can carry 4 passengers per trip said CEO Rahul Sonnad. Tesloop is hoping that their fleet will grow as more and more people are interested in their city to city transport service.
Tesloop gives Tesla's electric cars more purpose than just serving one owner. With Tesloop, more people can experience the benefits of Tesla's renewable energy powered electric vehicles.
(Photo : Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
Space missions tend to get too risky for men, although men's contribution to space exploration cannot be denied, it is also a fact that robotics can play a big role in space science.
This is why NASA wanted to encourage AI specialists, especially college students, to contribute their robotics knowledge to the agency. In turn, NASA will fund the best concepts to be used in their Journey to Mars.
In the Mars mission, men would need all the help they can get in gathering facts and performing risky activities on the surface of the red planet. And to find the best robotic technology for the mission, NASA launched the 7th Annual NASA Robotic Mining Competition (RMC).
Everyone is part of the Journey to Mars. https://t.co/kNbv7aFkz9 NASA Robotic Mining (@NASARMC) May 13, 2016
The RMC is "set up for college students to design and build a mining robot that can travel over a simulated Martian surface, excavate regolith - or Mars dirt - and deposit as much of it as possible into a bin, all within 10 minutes" said Amanda Griffin of the Kennedy Space Center, in a statement.
In the competition, students can join and present their robotics technology, NASA wanted to see those which can be controlled from a remote distance. NASA also requires that the only line of site between the controller and the robot is a computer screen. A completely autonomous robot is also preferred, which can be programmed with specific commands.
NASA is crowd sourcing ideas from college students to increase their fleet who are bound for Mars. At the same time, they want to give college inventors a chance to present their ideas and eventually receive funding from the agency.
The competition will end on May 20th at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The robotic technology required for the competition should focus on the extraction of consumables, such as oxygen and water, to support human life on Mars. Mining materials is one of the technologies being developed to save on transportation costs.
NASA is surprised on how many robotics technologies are out there waiting to be funded and developed.
"While it takes about one year to fully develop a mining robot in a research lab, RMC showcases 50 Martian mining prototypes in just one week," said Rob Mueller, a senior technologist in the NASA Kennedy Space Center Swamp Works and head judge and co-founder of the Robotic Mining Competition.
Although collecting Martian dirt or regolith is a daunting task, NASA believes that they can improve the winning technology to be chosen.
"The unique physical properties of basaltic regolith on Mars and the reduced, one-third gravity make excavation a difficult technical challenge" added Griffin.
NASA has been benefiting from crowd sourcing ideas ever since. It can lead to further enhancement of current technologies being used by the agency.
"By watching the various wheel and track designs perform, we have been able to determine that, in general, larger diameter and wider wheels are more reliable - and that has been a factor in selecting wheels for our latest prototype, RASSOR 2.0" said Drew Smith, NASA lead design engineer for RASSORA.
Everyone can follow the competition at this website.
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Some people used to think that the idea of alien life is absurd, but today, even professionals agree that the vastness of the galaxies may indeed cater to other life forms aside from our own.
Researchers from Cornell University said that dying red stars are suitable to sustain life that's why they should be searched and identified.
Researchers and scientists are always looking at exoplanets and 'habitable zones' where Earth-like properties are present so that life may thrive. The habitable zone is a region around a star and where there are signs of liquid water on the surface and can be detected by telescopes according to a statement by Cornell University. A planet with a perfect distance from the sun is within the habitable zone, just like the Earth.
"When a star ages and brightens, the habitable zone moves outward and you're basically giving a second wind to a planetary system," said Ramses M. Ramirez, research associate at Cornell's Carl Sagan Institute and lead author of the study.
But today, most of the objects in our solar system are frozen. Researchers Ramirez and Lisa Kaltenegger, associate professor of astronomy and director of the Sagan Institute, conducted a study called "Habitable Zones of Post-Main Sequence Stars".
"Long after our own plain yellow sun expands to become a red giant star and turns Earth into a sizzling hot wasteland, there are still regions in our solar system - and other solar systems as well - where life might thrive," Kaltenegger said.
In a report by Daily Mail in the UK, they said that our sun will be bigger and brighter and as it engulf planets near itself like Earth and Mercury, but it can also thaw icy moons like Enceladus and Europa, and if it happens, these moons might become a habitable zone.
This process can occur with any other stars in the galaxy. Therefore, researchers believe there could be other habitable zones where a planet is thawed and can sustain water because of its perfect distance from the Sun.
To put it simply, when a star or sun gets bigger it will thaw frozen moons and planets. If it happens, they may be able to sustain water and eventually life as well, said Washington Post in an article.
According to the researchers of the study, in order to find habitable planets, they should look at stars of all ages and not just middle-aged ones. Because the older the star, the more likely it can cater to life.
A habitable zone can last up to 9 billion years, the Earth for example has been orbiting the sun for about 4.5 billion years.
"In the far future, such worlds could become habitable around small red suns for billions of years, maybe even starting life, just like Earth. That makes me very optimistic for the chances for life in the long run" added Kaltenegger.
The researchers of this study hopes that because of this paper, scientist will identify red and aging stars and in the future tell habitable zones like Earth's position today. "With our new work, astronomers can compile a list of known red giants and use our model predictions, assuming that the stellar ages are approximately known" Dr. Ramirez said in an interview.
French astrophysicist Andre Brahic, the pioneer in the discovery of planet Neptune's rings, is no more. He passed away at 73 years old on Sunday in Paris.
Brahic was a specialist in the solar system and dispatched a project in 1984, alongside US space expert William Hubbard, which prompted the leap forward.
French President Francois Hollande grieved Brahic's death through an announcement which hailed him as an extraordinary mind "who knew how to make simple the mysteries of the sky".
Hollande likewise portrayed him as an incredible teacher "whose books and comments allowed us to voyage through space".
Brahic was born at the time of the second world war - in a modest family in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1942; Evry Schatzman initiated Brahic into astrophysics; he was considered as the father of the discipline in France.
In the 1980s, Brahic turned into a master in exploring our solar system with the assistance of the NASA Voyager and later US-Europe Cassini unmanned missions, which proceed right up until today.
He was an astrophysicist at the Commission for Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies (CEA) and an educator at the University of Paris.
It was his enthusiasm for Saturn and its rings which drove him to dispatch his Neptune research. Neptune is the eighth and the farthest known planet from the Sun in our solar system.It was discovered on September 23, 1846, by a group of scientists at the Berlin Observatory.
Neptune's furthest ring is partitioned into three circular segments to which Brahic gave the names Liberte, Fraternite and Egalite.
In 1990, an asteroid, number 3488, was named Brahic in his honor.
Enthusiastic about bringing astrophysics to a more extensive open, Brahic wrote a few books.
His last book "Universes Elsewhere; Are We Alone" was distributed a year ago.
His publisher, Odile Jacob, broke the news of his death.
Here, check out some interesting facts about Neptune.
Nearly 30 public water systems in California, including one in the East Bay, have found chemicals in drinking water that have been linked to toxic firefighting foam. The detections came to light after a federal requirement forced large public water systems to test drinking water for perfluorinated compounds, or PFCs.
While the Environmental Protection Agency does not regulate the chemicals in drinking water, the agency classified them as emerging contaminants that require ongoing monitoring. EPA officials have spent considerable time in recent years trying to better understand PFCs, but some critics argue the agency has not moved quickly enough to set appropriate health provisions.
The compounds were historically used in the making of Teflon, Scotchgard and hundreds of other household products. Because the chemicals are resistant to heat, water and oil, PFCs were also used to make foam firefighters spray on airplanes during crash landings.
Local municipalities including the San Jose and San Francisco Fire Departments say they now use environmentally friendly foam. But across the county for decades, foam with toxic PFCs was used at airports, refineries and at military bases, where crews conducted fire and crash training. Now, the government is concerned that the chemicals may have spread into our nations water supply.
The EPA required all large public water systems in the country to test for PFCs from 2013 through 2015. The Investigative Unit analyzed the results and found nearly 200 water systems across the country detected the chemicals at levels above the EPAs testing limit. Twenty eight water supplies in California found PFCs, more than any other state in the nation.
See which cities found elevated levels of PFCs, the location of the states airports and the groundwater basins in California in the map above.
One drinking water well in Pleasanton tested positive in November 2013 and again in June 2014 for a PFC linked to firefighting foam. City officials said the detection could have come from the water in the well at the time or an existing plume that had trace amounts of the chemical.
Dan Martin, the citys utilities superintendent, said the contamination was found at low levels, just above the testing threshold. But the detection surprised him.
When we collect these samples our hope and expectation is that there wont be any contamination in it, Martin said.
He said the well is located in an area that was historically used for agriculture, not industrial manufacturing. With no airport nearby, Martin said the source is a mystery.
Martin said residents should have confidence that their drinking water is safe. He said the citys normal process entails blending water from two different wells before distributing it through the system. He also pointed out that a positive hit for a chemical doesnt necessarily mean that is poses a danger to the public.
We do not feel like this particular contaminant, at levels it was detected at, is something that is an imminent health risk, Martin said.
After the Investigative Unit started asking questions about the detections, the city conducted an additional round of testing. On May 17, the results came back clean.
In an email, city spokeswoman Tracy Dunn said officials are very pleased with the most recent findings and that the city will continue to monitor its drinking water wells.
Manufactures stopped using one toxic PFC nearly 15 years ago and phased out another last year. But the chemicals have been described as virtually indestructible.
Its extraordinarily long-lived. Once it gets out in the environment it almost never breaks down, said Bill Walker, head of the Bay Area office of the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit that has studied PFCs for the past decade. Its persistence, the fact it builds up in your blood and the fact it was so heavily used for so long, means its a big worldwide problem.
Many PFCs have been liked to developmental delays, decreased fertility and changes to the immune system. The EPA is evaluating internal research that suggests some PFCs are likely carcinogenic to humans. Because of this, health experts, scientists and the military are becoming increasingly interested in whether PFCs are getting into the groundwater.
In 2014, researchers who work with the San Francisco Estuary Institute and the states Environmental Chemistry Lab found low levels of PFCs in eight wastewater treatment plants that discharge to the Bay. In a study published in March, they noted that detections in plants near San Francisco International Airport, and Travis Air Force Base, just outside of Fairfield, are likely related to the use of firefighting foam.
Late last year, the Department of Defense began testing groundwater for contamination around more than 650 military bases that historically trained with foam. Eighty five are in California, including Alameda Naval Air Station, Moffett Airfield in Silicon Valley and Treasure Island Naval Station in San Francisco.
85 sites on or near military bases in California where the Department of Defense is checking for PFOA and PFOS drinking water contamination.
Cities and water districts look to regulatory agencies for guidance on safe levels of contaminants in drinking water. Several states have issued their own drinking water standards for PFCs, but California is not one of them.
The EPA issued a provisional health advisory for PFCs in 2009. But the advisory is just a guide. The federal government does not regulate the chemicals in drinking water. The agency said it plans to release an updated health advisory before the summer. Officials said the water testing data will help the EPA decide whether it should develop a national drinking water standard.
This EPA testing is a really good first step just to understand if PFCs are occurring and at what levels, said Vanessa De La Piedra, Santa Clara Valley Water Districts groundwater manager.
She said regulatory agencies face the daunting task of evaluating and narrowing down which of the hundreds of contaminants that exist pose the greatest risk to the public.
I think the EPA is definitely taking action to better understand these, De La Piedra said.
However, Walkers group questions just how detailed the EPAs testing process really is, noting that some labs have the ability to detect PFCs at much more sensitive levels. He also points out that the EPAs testing program leaves out nearly 15 percent of the nations population that gets its water from private wells.
Were very concerned that the testing program was not rigorous enough and they are going to look at their findings and say well, this is not a very serious problem, Walker said. In fact, if they looked harder, we believe they would find more contamination.
If you have a tip for the Investigative Unit, email theunit@nbcbayarea.com or call 888-996-TIPS.
UPDATE Tuesday: This story was updated to reflect that Aiden had undergone surgery.
A 5-year-old boy with cancer who wanted people to send him "super powers" as he prepared for a procedure at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles had a successful surgery, his mother said Tuesday.
Aiden Zea, a 5-year-old with spunk and energy, has stage 4 neuroblastoma.
He has gone through six rounds of chemotherapy, tumor removal, and underwent a double-bone marrow procedure on Tuesday.
"Amazing Aiden" seems to be a real-life superhero, pulling through it all since his diagnosis on Oct. 8.
His friends made a sign for his hospital room window, asking for super powers and good thoughts from the citizens of Los Angeles.
"To see his friends make a sign for him, and then they came out and start dancing outside of his window, it gives him a little boost," Jenny Zea, Aidens mom, said.
Aiden loves superheroes, his mom said, and cant wait to feel better and to play with his 1-year-old brother at home.
Aiden arrived at the hospital Monday, and will remain there for two or three more weeks. Aiden's stem cells, which were taken out and frozen before, were restored so he could recover Tuesday.
His mother was just praying that the critical second part of the procedure means the cancer will be gone for good.
"He needs all the super powers he can get," Zea said.
A drug that helped former President Jimmy Carters cancer disappear is helping many other patients with similar conditions, NBC News reports.
The drug, Keytruda, stops tumor cells from cloaking themselves against the immune systems response.
French researchers tested 655 patients with advanced melanoma for the trial. The patients were already given other cancer treatments.
On average, the patients lived two years, and 40 percent of them are alive three years later. Sixty-one patients stopped taking the drug after their tumors went away virtually all them are still in remission.
Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, is easy to treat if caught early. More than 76,000 Americans will be diagnosed with it this year, and it will kill 10,000, according to the American Cancer Society.
The body of a missing Millbrae man was found in the Sonoma area last week, sources told NBC Bay Area on Tuesday.
Keith Green, 27, who was last seen April 28 at his home, was found dead, and police believe it was a homicide, the sources said. No other information was immediately available.
On the day he went missing, he left home without his wallet or car.
The next morning, his cellphone was found by a hiker in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.
Green, a father of two daughters, was last seen wearing black sweat pants, a white zip-up top and bright-red shoes.
Green's mother, Colleen Cudd, said he loved his culinary classes, his new job and his children.
Police in Dublin are asking the city to spend half a million dollars to boost its surveillance system.
The request comes after police said they saw a more than 100 percent increase in residential burglaries in the month of March.
The Dublin Police Department would like the city to spend $500,000 to install license plate readers at each of the five exits off Interstate 580 into Dublin to help them track who is coming in and out of the East Bay community.
"We were looking for five mobile license plate readers, mobile meaning on vehicles and an unknown amount of license plate readers as well," Dublin Police Lt. Nate Schmidt.
The license plate readers will alert police to vehicles linked to people with police records, whether the car is stolen and other information.
Authorities are also asking to tap into private home surveillance footage of residents who agree to share it with local police.
Residents can register their cameras with the Dublin Police Department. If a crime occurs in a neighborhood where there is a registered camera, police said the surveillance video can help officers during their investigation.
"It's a great idea," Dublin-resident Yvonne King said. "Why does everyone have cameras if it isn't someway to help.
Some residents worry the added cameras would be an invasion of privacy.
"I do value my privacy so I am just a little concerned about that," Dublin-resident Brandon Diesel said.
In the Tri Valley, San Ramon, Pleasanton and Livermore already have license plate readers installed.
The Dublin City Council is expected to vote on whether or not to install the license plate readers on June 21.
All parents have been there. But when San Francisco dad Ben Patterson decided to look after his toddler son so his wife could go out with friends, his brief single-parenting experience involving projectile vomit turned into a nightmare, and then promptly went viral, as these things often do.
Patterson, who describes himself as a sympathetic vomiter, had to pull over on the side of the road after his son threw up in the car on the way home.
The ensuing texts (or cries for help) to his wife are nothing short of hilarious, though Patterson later clarified on Facebook that the part about police arriving was a joke:
"I just pulled over and am trying not to throw up myself."
"Call me."
"I just threw up trying to clean him up."
"It smells SO BAD."
"Im puking on some ladys lawn in Burlingame and she comes out to ask me if Im drunk while driving the kids."
"Im trying to explain that Im a sympathetic vomiter and cant handle the smell."
"This is SO BAD."
And then the cops showed up, he wrote in a text to his wife.
"Because they have nothing better o do in Burlingame."
"And now a breathalyzer."
"YOU OWE ME SO BIG."
"Meanwhile Declan continues to barf."
The next text is perhaps what helped his Facebook post go viral: "WHAT DID HE EAT BECAUSE IT SMELLS LIKE ROTTING WHALE BLUBBER."
"ANSWER YOUR PHONE!!!"
"Trying to drive home with the windows down and breathing through my shirt."
Oh, and in case youre wondering, Patterson says he passed the breathalyzer test. [[379877301, C]]
Police investigating a suspicious package Tuesday afternoon in San Francisco's Yerba Buena neighborhood declared the area safe.
San Francisco police received a call about a suspicious package in the area of Third and Mission streets near the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and closed off streets, police spokesman Officer Albie Esparza said on Twitter. The department's bomb squad later determined the package was not a threat and reopened the streets, Esparza said.
San Francisco Municipal Railway buses were affected by the investigation, according to Muni officials. Inbound Muni buses on the 8-Bayshore line and outbound Muni buses on the 30-Stockton and 45-Union/Stockton lines were affected.
No other details about the incident were immediately available.
Three students at a Manhattan high school specializing in culinary arts locked a classmate in a refrigerator and threatened to kill him, police said Tuesday.
The trio, all 16 years old and students at the Food and Finance High School on West 50th Street, blocked the door to the room to prevent anyone from releasing the victim from the commercial fridge May 6, investigators said. They also draped a T-shirt over the freezer window.
One student tapped on the fridge with knives and threatened to kill the 16-year-old victim, police said.
The teen used his cellphone to call his mother from inside the refrigerator. She immediately called the school.
The victim was in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes.
Students told NBC 4 New York the incident was a prank.
"They were all playing around and thought it was cute, but that's not something you play around with," said Indiana Mirabal.
The three students responsible were each charged with menacing and unlawful imprisonment.
The city Department of Education issued a statement stressing that student safety is a top priority and that the school will punish the three students.
"The school followed protocol in responding to the incident that was reported and the students involved were disciplined appropriately," the statement added.
School officials declined to elaborate on how the students will be disciplined.
UPDATE: Nanny's Motive in Disappearance With Girl Still a Mystery: NYPD
A New York City nanny was arrested and charged after she returned a missing toddler, police said.
The NYPD said Wednesday that 55-year-old Fatima Alexander has been charged with kidnapping, endangering the welfare of a child and unlawful imprisonment.
Police say she took 3-year-old Gabriella Russo, who went missing Tuesday morning, setting off a day-long police search.
[[379896981, C]]
Both Gabriella and Alexander were unharmed and are in good condition, according to police.
The girl left her River Terrace home in Battery Park City with Alexander at about 9:15 a.m. to head to her day care as usual, according to police sources.
When the child didn't show up to her day care, the Preschool of America at 25 Market St., by noon, the school contacted her parents, sources said.
Getty Images
The nanny had been working for the family for about 15 years, according to the girl's aunt.
"She didn't make it to school," Rebecca Russo, Gabriella's aunt, said in tears Tuesday night. "We last saw her on surveillance cameras."
"Just bring her home," Russo pleaded. "You see it happening on the news, and it's happening to us, our family."
Alexander was expected to be arraigned later Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if she had a lawyer.
"A distinct smell of decayed flesh," blood and a bullet hole led detectives to charge a 27-year-old North Texas man with murder in the death of his girlfriend last week, according to a probable cause affidavit released Tuesday.
Jason Michael Lowe, of Richardson, was arrested last Thursday and charged with murder Friday in the death of 27-year-old Jessie Bardwell, a native of Pascagoula, Mississippi, who has been missing since April 29.
Bardwell Family
Richardson police began investigating after Bardwells family asked them to perform a welfare check. According to the affidavit, the family said Bardwell had been out of touch for two weeks. Her father told police on May 8 it was uncharacteristic of Bardwell not to reach out on Mother's Day.
Officers visited the apartment Bardwell shared with Lowe twice that day to question Lowe about his girlfriends whereabouts. Lowe told police Bardwell had left Mothers Day morning in her Acura MDX and had no functioning cellphone because her "pay as you go" plan had expired, according to the affidavit. On a second visit by police later in the day, no one was home.
Police returned May 9 to speak with Lowe and found him covered in mud. Lowe said he had gone out to look for Bardwell near some trails she frequented along the President George Bush Turnpike and got muddy when the dog broke away, according to the affidavit. When officers asked about fresh cuts on his hands, Lowe allegedly said the dog had scratched him.
His car, a black 2010 Audi Q5, was also covered in mud and police said the entire front panel was in the back seat. When officers asked about the damage, Lowe told police he had recently gone "mudding," the affidavit says.
Richardson police have arrested Jason Michael Lowe and charged him with murder. His girlfriend, Jessie Bardwell, disappeared several days ago.
Lowe again said Bardwell left Mother's Day morning and that it wasn't out of the ordinary for them to spend several hours apart as they "lead a lifestyle where they both do their own thing without being co-dependent," according to the affidavit.
Officers searched the Audi and a Dodge Ram pickup truck in Lowes possession. They found two handguns a black Sig Sauer P320 and black Springfield XDS in a black bag on the trucks floorboard, according to the affidavit. Both weapons were clearly visible, police said. Lowe told the officers he owns a gray 2015 Infiniti L37 that was being repaired and that the Dodge Ram pickup truck had been provided by insurance.
Lowe then allowed the officers to walk through the couple's apartment and to check the rental garage at the complex. The officers reported no signs of a struggle and that nothing out of the ordinary was found.
Detectives entered Bardwell's Acura MDX into the LEARN-NVLS National Vehicle Location Service on May 11 in hopes of locating the vehicle. Police tracked the car to a home on Nueces Drive in Garland, where it had stopped on May 2 and May 9. The resident told investigators Lowe and Bardwell had sold him the car April 19, but that Bardwell's father was having trouble with the SUV's title.
Richardson police have arrested Jason Michael Lowe and charged him with murder. His girlfriend, Jason Michael Lowe, disappeared several days ago.
Lowe told police the man had paid $700 for access to the vehicle but insisted Bardwell had taken it on Mother's Day, the affidavit says.
Police asked if crime scene technicians could search the residence and Lowe initially agreed, but hesitated when he learned the garage would be part of that search, according to the affidavit.
Investigators noticed "a distinct smell of decayed flesh" in the garage, according to the affidavit. Detectives spotted spotted a shovel and bullet hole in the wall, along with a bottle of Febreze near Lowe's Audi. When they opened the rear hatch, police "observed standing fluid inside the rear hatch floorboard" said the smell of rotting flesh seemed to be coming from inside the car, the affidavit says.
Crime scene technicians later confirmed the fluid to be blood. Blood evidence was also found on the floor of the rear compartment area, on a storage compartment, on the gear shift, steering wheel and driver's side door handle, according to the affidavit. Muddy boots were located inside the Audi, police said.
"Detectives believe evidence of homicidal violence and possible body disposal was present inside the Audi," police said in the affidavit.
A neighbor told police she saw Lowe standing in the bed of the truck on May 7 cleaning the vehicle. She said she also saw him removing numerous trash bags from a box.
With Bardwell still missing and the evidence found at their shared residence, Lowe was charged with murder and is being held with a recommended bond of $1 million. He also faces drug charges after police found white powder in his apartment and Lowe admitted to having "coke." It wasn't clear if Lowe had an attorney who could speak to the charges.
Lowe has a criminal history in Dallas, police said, including an arrest on May 29, 2015, for aggravated assault, serious bodily injury after being accused of assaulting his then girlfriend, causing her to lose consciousness. Bardwell and Lowe are believed to have started dating sometime before she moved to North Texas in December 2015, though it's not clear if she is the woman in the May 2015 incident.
Jason Michael Lowe - Affidavit of Probable Cause
As Chicagos City Council prepared for a Tuesday committee hearing on house-sharing regulations, Airbnb issued a statement voicing opposition to the measure and asking lawmakers to postpone the vote.
A vote on the house-sharing ordinance was ultimately delayed Tuesday after hundreds of people arrived at City Hall to oppose the measure, the Chicago Tribune reports. The hearing was rescheduled for 1:30 p.m. to accomodate the influx of people, but a committee vote has still yet to take place.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel proposed a 4 percent surcharge from house-sharing businesses to fund services for the citys homeless.
Chicago is a world class city that is committed to growing the new economy and protecting the middle class, Airbnb spokesperson Christopher Nulty said. Unfortunately, this ordinance will hurt the thousands of middles class Chicagoans who rely on Airbnb to make ends meet, severely limit the options visitors have to experience Chicagos neighborhoods, and will fall short of the mayors goal of raising $2 million annually to support homelessness programs.
According to the mayors office, the surcharge would create a dedicated source of revenue to combat homelessness in Chicago. The plan would make Chicago the first city in the nation to use money from house-sharing businesses to improve conditions for its homeless population.
The mayor supports the proposed legislation because it will create the citys first revenue source dedicated solely to supporting homeless services, which will allow us to expand our existing efforts to provide homeless individuals and families with critical services and housing opportunities that they need to get back on their feet, Emanuel spokeswoman Lauren Huffman said in a statement earlier this month.
The proposed ordinance also has regulations on how many units can be rented through Airbnb in specific buildings. The company fears the regulations will affect Chicagoans who depend on the service for income and faults the city for being behind the curve on house-sharing.
Airbnb is asking the city to delay the vote on house-sharing regulations until a more agreeable plan is devised.
On behalf of our community of more than 4,500 hosts in all 50 of the Citys wards, we ask the Mayor and the Council to postpone todays vote until a workable path forward can be identified, Nulty said. We remain committed to working with the city to create fair, sensible rules to regulate home sharing, ensure middle class families can continue to make ends meet and protect quality of life in Chicagos neighborhoods.
Chicago Public Schools officials have been preparing principals for massive budget cuts for the next school year, but on Tuesday, it was revealed those cuts could reach up to 30 percent.
The district said it has been involving principals in the budget process earlier than ever as schools "plan for the worst."
The cuts have been described as devastating, a "financial tsunami," and could result in a number of teacher layoffs.
Given the size and complexity of an average school budget cut of 26 percent, CPS has involved principals in the school budget process earlier than ever, and has begun working with example schools to understand how cuts will affect students," the district said in a statement. "We are also exploring mitigation strategies to lessen classroom impacts. Even as we continue to seek equal funding in Springfield, we must continue to plan for the worst higher class sizes, loss of enrichment activities, and layoffs of teachers and support staff.
In preliminary budget drafts given to principals Tuesday, the student-based budgeting rate, which funds teaching positions, enrichment programs, and after school programs, would be reduced by 39 percent. Individual schools would feel cuts ranging from 20 to 30 percent.
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 earlier this month.
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 Bruce Rauner.
CPS is facing a $1 billion budget deficit and said it is basing budget drafts off a roughly $700 million cut.
The district must pass an overall budget by August.
Mel Reynolds is taking it back.
Despite telling a federal judge earlier this month he plans to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax charges, the former congressman now says he has changed his mind, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
I am not guilty of this charge, Reynolds told U.S. District Judge John Darrah in a hand-written filing entered on the court docket Tuesday. He also wrote that he is sorry for any confusion.
The new filing confirms what Reynolds former lawyer, Richard Kling, first told the Chicago Sun-Times last week. Kling said Reynolds told him in more recent conversations that he still wants to go to trial on charges of failing to file federal tax returns between 2009 and 2012. Kling continues to serve as stand-by counsel in Reynolds case.
However, Reynolds also filed a motion this week accusing federal prosecutors of misconduct, claiming a mistrial must be ordered. He alleged Homeland Security agents have accessed his computer without permission and discussed its contents with a federal prosecutor assigned to his case. He called for an investigation into the prosecutors actions.
Reynolds computer was confiscated when he was arrested at the Atlanta airport upon his return from South Africa in April.
There is no way of knowing the extent of this outrageous violation and conduct by the prosecution, Reynolds wrote.
The former congressman previously said he would plead guilty, claiming he was in protective custody at a detention center in Kankakee and didnt have access to areas of the prison or computers that would allow him to prepare for trial. Prosecutors have retorted that Reynolds himself requested protective custody, and he still has access to the law library and a computer.
Reynolds trial is set for June 20.
More clues surfaced at Wednesday's Chicago City Council meeting that Mayor Rahm Emanuel is experiencing perhaps the toughest period of his tenure.
Votes from aldermen on key issues showed signs of a strong council and a weak mayor, the likes of which Chicago has not seen in years.
Following the Licensing Committee's approval of regulations on house-sharing businesses like Airbnb, Emanuel promised a vote on the floor Wednesday, but that full council vote was delayed after several aldermen requested more time.
The mayor's office had made last-minute changes on the bill up until midnight before the meeting, according to Ald. Brendan Reilly.
Several aldermen also were able to postpone an ordinance involving dog poop. The city wants fines up to $500 for dog owners who don't pick up their dogs' waste, but a parliamentary procedure was used that put off that vote.
City Hall watchers also point to the decision late last week to ditch IPRA, the embattled Independent Police Review Authority. Emanuel initially insisted IPRA would stay, but then he decided a new Community Oversight Agency was needed.
The mayor did see the approval of his neighborhood "share the wealth" plan, by a 45-to-2 vote. Critics call it a "slush fund" as the mayor looks to regain his approval ratings in the South and West sides.
The program charges new downtown developers a fee that will be placed in a fund for the mayor to distribute to needed projects in the neighborhoods.
Emanuel estimates it will generate up to $50 million and views it as a way to solve the criticism of two Chicago's, with the downtown area winning the majority of the developers' interest.
Emanuel came under fire earlier this year for the handling of the police shooting of Chicago teen Laquan McDonald. Following the shooting, Fortune Magazine included Emanuel on its list of the Worlds 19 Most Disappointing Leaders."
More than 4 million U.S. workers will become newly eligible for overtime pay under rules issued Wednesday by the Obama administration.
Under the Labor Department's new regulations, the annual salary threshold at which companies can deny overtime pay will be doubled from $23,660 to nearly $47,500.
In terms of weekly pay, the threshold would rise from $455 a week to $913 a week. That would make 4.2 million more salaried workers eligible for overtime pay. Hourly workers would continue to be mostly guaranteed overtime.
The rules take effect Dec. 1.
The policy changes are intended to counter erosion in overtime protections, which date from the 1930s and require employers to pay 1 times a worker's regular salary for any work past 40 hours a week.
The new rules, which will be revised every three years, aim to increase pay for an estimated 4.2 million workers, including many who work 45, 50 or more hours in a week without extra pay.
Businesses have been on notice about higher overtime costs since last summer, when the government issued proposed regulations. Companies are on the hook not just for time and a-half, but also for higher Social Security and Medicare taxes employers must pay on all of a staffer's compensation. The rules don't cover many employees who are office workers, computer programmers or professionals.
In the fast food and retail industries in particular, many employees are deemed "managers," work long hours, but are barely paid more than the people they supervise.
The White House estimates that the rule change will raise pay by $1.2 billion a year over the next decade. In addition, some companies may instead choose to reduce their employees' hours to avoid paying the extra wages.
"Either way, the worker wins," said Vice President Joe Biden on a conference call with reporters Tuesday afternoon.
Business groups, however, said the changes will increase paperwork and scheduling burdens for small companies and force many businesses to convert salaried workers to hourly ones in order to more closely track working time. Many employees will see as a step down, they said.
"With the stroke of a pen, the Labor Department is demoting millions of workers," David French, a senior vice president for the National Retail Federation, said. "Most of the people impacted by this change will not see any additional pay."
The overtime threshold was last updated in 2004 and now covers just 7 percent of full-time, salaried workers, administration officials said. That's down from 62 percent in 1975.
The higher threshold, which will take effect Dec. 1, will lift that ratio back to 35 percent, Labor Secretary Tom Perez said. Perez has spearheaded the administration's effort and worked on formulating the rule for the past two years.
The new rule is intended to boost earnings for middle- and lower-income workers, Perez said, which have been stagnant since the late 1990s. Overtime pay hasn't gotten as much attention as nationwide efforts to increase the minimum wage, but it could have a broad impact.
"This in essence is a minimum wage increase for the middle class," Judy Conti, federal advocacy coordinator for the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group, said.
Overtime has become a sore point for many managers, assistant managers, and management trainees in the fast food and retail industries.
Despite their titles, they have complained in lawsuits against chains such as Chipotle and Dollar General that they spend the vast majority of 50- or 60-hour weeks working cash registers, mopping floors, or performing other tasks typical of regular employees. Yet they don't get paid time and a half when they clock more than 40 hours in a week.
Still, Tammy McCutchen, a lawyer who represents employers and a former Labor Department official during the George W. Bush administration, said the rule could leave many workers with less flexible schedules. That's because employees eligible for overtime are only paid for the hours they work.
As a result, an hourly worker "who takes an afternoon off to attend a parent-teacher conference will not be paid for that time, but an employee (who is exempt from overtime) will be paid her full guaranteed salary," she said in congressional testimony last week.
Perez said the administration took several steps in the final rule to address business concerns: The threshold was lowered from the original proposal of $50,440; bonus payments can count toward the threshold; and the rule will have a long phase-in before taking effect Dec. 1.
Mara Fortin, president and CEO of seven Nothing Bundt Cakes bakeries in San Diego, said she might give raises to her "superstar" managers to lift their pay above the overtime threshold. But she would have to cut back on end-of-year bonuses she frequently gives to offset the cost.
Fortin has 14 salaried managers and assistant managers among her 110-member staff. The new rule will create problems for managers, some of them newer, who take longer to get their work done, she said. She might have to cut their base pay so they make the same amount as they do now, even including overtime.
"We can't pay you time and a half because you're slow," she said. "This is extremely frustrating for me."
While many have said they plan to flee the country if Donald Trump becomes president, it appears others are preparing for a total apocalypse.
Chicago game company Cards Against Humanity said 10,000 people have purchased their now sold-out Donald Trump Survival Kit, also called the Donald Trump Bug-Out Bag, released Wednesday. Co-creator Max Temkin said the bags sold out in one hour and are expected to ship out to customers in June.
The bag, which cost $25, is described as "a tactical duffle bag filled with survival supplies" including seeds, iodine tablets, currency from Latin American countries and a gas mask.
The bags were part of an effort to promote the companys new Trump Pack featuring 25 new jokes about frightening demagogue Donald Trump.
We feel that it's important for Americans to prepare themselves for survival in the irradiated wasteland that we will all wander after Donald Trump is elected President, Temkin said in a statement. The items in our survival kit such as seeds and a copy of Plato's Republic will help the survivors rebuild society in the future.
Temkin noted the bags were promoted via an email to fans and on social media.
Cards Against Humanity doesn't pay for advertising, he said, noting the company actually lost money on each bag sold.
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has proven to be popular with a wide swath of Republican voters, but his controversial comments about banning Muslims and building a wall to stop immigration from Mexico, among other things, have sparked concern among other members of the GOP, as well as Democrats.
Earlier this year, Internet searches for "move to Canada" hit an all-time high as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump racked up key primary election wins.
The travel website Kayak also ran a sweepstakes giving away 10 one-way tickets to Canada "for those who are debating a move," and a resident of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, launched a website encouraging Americans to relocate there if Trump wins.
In addition, unofficial traffic signs reading "No Trump Anytime" have been spotted across the country, including in Chicago.
Trump has said if he doesn't make it to the White House he will consider his campaign a failure.
"If I don't go all the way and if I don't win, I will consider it to be a total and complete waste of time, energy and money," Trump said during a recent interview with Fox News' Megyn Kelly.
If that's the case, Cards Against Humanity has a message for those that didn't purchase their survival bags.
"When Donald Trump is elected President, you will perish in the wasteland," the company's website read. "Sorry."
NBC5 Responds revealed a nationwide problem of shattering sunroofs back in March of this year. Shortly after it aired, an Indiana viewer reached out to say shed become the latest statistic of the problemand it was about to cost her big money.
Cheryl Wiggins of Griffith, Indiana, first says she couldnt believe her ears. Then, her eyes.
"All I knew was my sunroof was exploding as I was driving, Wiggins said. I'm like- what is happening here?"
A call to her dealership just deepened the mystery.
"They said they'd never heard of anything like that before."
Next, she put in a call to the carmaker to inquire if other 2012 Kia Optimas had experienced the problem. She says Kia flipped the questioned back on to her.
"They questioned me if someone had hit me , or if something could have fell on it?" she said. "No."
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating 2011-2013 Kia Sorentos and has asked four more carmakers including Nissan -- for information on a dozen different models with similar sunroofs. The investigation does not currently include Wiggins model, however.
A spokesperson for Kia told NBC 5 Responds the automaker would deal directly with the customer, and declined to answer any further questions. Wiggins says that direct help from the carmaker quickly translated into a new sunroof at no cost to her.
"That all changed when you got in the picture, she told NBC5 Responds.
Wiggins says she is relieved to have the work done, but still feels somewhat nervous that it could happen again, without warning, like the first time.
I'm not the first person this has happened to and I know I won't be the last," Wiggins said.
NHTSA says it is continuing to look at the shattering sunroof issue, involving a variety of carmakers including Kia.. Kia says it is fully cooperating with NHTSA on the investigation.
The suspect that fled after hitting a man with his van in West Chicago has turned himself in, according to the West Chicago Police Department.
Eulalio Garcia, of West Chicago, arrived at the police station Wednesday and admitted to being the driver of the white minivan that struck 69-year-old Jose "Guadalupe" Ballines on Friday.
The incident occurred around 4:30 p.m. in the 1000 block of Joliet Street. A neighbor's security camera captured the shocking moment the van hit Ballines, who was mowing his lawn in West Chicago, before fleeing the scene of the crash.
It shows him lying on the ground for about three minutes before anybody stopped to help him, said neighbor Lettecia Salinas. I thought it was pretty sad.
The footage shows Ballines appearing to be lifeless, but minutes later, he gets up on his own. Family members took him to the hospital, where doctors say he was treated for a few bruises.
I didnt know anything about me, nothing, nothing, Ballines said in Spanish, with tears in his eyes. I was laying over there. Threw me far. And my shoe landed over there.
Garcia told police that while he was traveling northbound on Joliet Street, he veered off the roadway, causing him to drive over a curb. According to police, Garcia said he was unaware that he had struck a pedestrian.
Authorities said Garcia was cited for failure to render aid or give information regarding a personal injury crash, a misdemeanor.
He faces up to 365 days in jail and up to $1,000 in fines. Garcia is scheduled to appear in DuPage County Court on June 21.
The Bonne Terre Chamber of Commerce held their Annual Fishing Derby over the weekend and there was a large turnout despite the cold weather.
Bonne Terre Chamber Vice President Amy Keller said they had at least 100 youth in attendance. With parents, there were more than 200 people around the pond.
Everything has gone really well and we had some great sponsors this year, said Keller. We gave away some bikes and we feel we definitely improved this event. Every kid left with a bag of goodies that had been donated by local businesses so they all went home with something today.
Keller wanted to thank the volunteers, local people in the community, local business members and their key sponsors.
I want to thank everyone for coming out and our sponsors who made this event possible, said Keller. The conservation department also came out, handed out pamphlets and went around to talk to the children about different things.
Bonne Terre Chamber of Commerce President Bill Cotton said considering how cold it was, they had a great turnout.
This thing gets bigger and bigger every year, said Cotton. Amy has done a wonderful job and the prizes this year are unbelievable. She has really put a lot of work and effort into it and it show with this event. We are going to talk her into doing it again next year and I expect she will help make it grow. We are proud of her for that.
Despite the great attendance, the cold weather and rain they have had this past week may have kept people home.
For where we are at we couldnt expect any better, said Cotton. I think we need to thank the city for getting the grounds here in order on short notice. The park is beautiful and its very well maintained. With all the rain we have had this week, it wasnt an easy task to do.
Cotton added he wanted to thank the Bonne Terre Fire Department for letting them use their barbecue grill on such short notice.
We also want to thank the people for coming out, said Cotton. This is a community event we do every year for the kids and we appreciate doing this for everybody. Im glad we have such a great turnout.
Amy Layton, 9, won a trophy for catching the most fish. She said she had caught eight fish and even had some on a stringer.
I had one bass out of all of them, said Layton. I have come out to do this for the last couple of years. I had five fish last year and hope to catch even more next year. This is like a family tradition. I am here with my grandpa, grandma and Ben.
Ben Tracy of Desloge said he brought his girlfriends daughter out to fish in the derby.
She has been having a lot of fun and that is what its all about, said Tracy. This is my first year coming out for this and I think it nice to get a lot of these kids out here who dont an opportunity to fish. It gets them a day with family and its nice for them.
Bonne Terre resident Greg Stetina brought his two boys out, Carsen, 12, and Collin, 8, to fish. He said at first he was worried because of the wind and how chilly it was.
When we got here I was really surprised by the turnout, said Stetina. The boys are having a good time and they both have caught some fish. It could be raining, it could be worse. I love this. My daughter is 15 now and I used to bring her every year.
Volunteer Kevin Cook was walking around judging and measuring the fish during the event. He said it started off pretty slow, but they ended up having kids who caught seven or eight fish apiece.
Its going really well, the turnout is good for the cooler weather, the sun popped out and everyone was having a great time, said Cook. The biggest fish I saw a 20-inch catfish. Bluegill was the majority caught and there were a few bass and catfish.
The chamber plans to hold the fishing derby the second weekend in May every year.
Ever wanted to see Rob Gronkowski take ballet lessons? Neither did we.
Still, it was hard to look away as the New England Patriots tight end practiced his fancy moves in a new video, from Plie to Arabesque.
"I'm feelin' it," he said, as he practiced. "I'm learning!"
Gronkowski took the ballet lessons from Miami City Ballet's Nathalia Arja as part of his GQ Magazine cover shoot and interview.
And no, he didn't wear a tutu.
You can watch the full GQ video below:
Many police departments in Connecticut believe all-terrain vehicles and dirt bikes that riders are choosing to use on city streets are not only deafening, but also dangerous.
Riders are invading city centers, defying rules and regulations and putting people at risk, according to authorities.
First, you hear them coming.
"It sounds like thunder coming down the street, New Haven Police Officer David Hartman said while discussing the low rumble that grows louder as it rolls into the heart of the Elm City.
Suddenly, they can be all around you, he said.
Dozens of riders -- some even wearing masks -- on dirt bikes and four-wheelers have been seen weaving their way through traffic as they zip down busy city streets.
"They're doing tricks. They're standing on top of the seats. They're doing wheelies, Hartman said.
What is happening in New Haven is happening in cities across the country and Hartman said it is much more than just a nuisance.
"It's dangerous for bystanders. It's dangerous for other motorists. It's dangerous for the officers, Hartman said.
"It's like locusts coming down out of the sky to take over the city, Peter Webster, captain of the Wooster Square Block Watch, said.
Riders are putting themselves and people around his neighborhood at risk, Webster said.
"It's like a show for them, and for us it's very dangerous, Webster said. "It's impossible to chase them because it's too difficult."
Officer Hartman said combatting the problem starts with identifying who the riders are and where the motorized bikes and ATVs are being stored.
Investigators have recently been going undercover, taking surveillance photographs and even tracking online activity to pinpoint and prosecute offenders.
"We've seen postings on social media where people brag about how they were able to do this and that and get away with it, Officer Hartman said.
With recent legislative changes, police departments are taking a harder stance on the issue. No longer are they treating these cases as motor vehicle violations, but instead as criminal activity.
Many departments are even charging people with reckless endangerment.
A conviction could come with a $1,000 fine and possible jail time, according to Hartman.
"We're seeing success in the courts, Hartman said. We're seeing success in apprehensions and we're certainly seeing success in seizures."
The New Haven Police Department acknowledges that it is getting more help from people coming forward with information about where these types of bikes and ATVs are, which is leading to the riders themselves.
Hartman said he hopes the efforts make city streets quieter and safer in the future.
Connecticut law requires that all-terrain vehicles operated in the state to be registered, unless the vehicle is being operated on property owned or leased by the owner of the ATV.
According to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, any Connecticut municipality may regulate the operation of ATVs.
According to the DEEP website, Connecticut does not currently have any public areas open to quads. There are also no state-managed areas open to dirt bikes although the Army Corps of Engineers facility at Thomaston Dam is available for two-wheeled trail bike riding.
A traffic stop in Stratford led police to a drug bust for heroin valued at approximately $1,000,000, state police said.
State troopers pulled over Jose Adorno, 50, of Chicago, Illinois, at 1:30 p.m. after he committed a traffic violation on Route 15 in Stratford, according to police.
During the traffic stop, troopers were alerted that narcotics may be in the car and Trumbull Police responded with its K-9 units.
Police found 11 packages of suspected heroin weighing approximately 28 pounds in the Toyota Camry, Connecticut State Police said.
Connecticut State Police
Adorno is being held on bond and faces charges that include possession of over one kilogram of heroin and intent to sell.
He is expected to appear in court on May 18.
Ever wonder what happened to your stuff that disappeared while traveling?
NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters found that people leave some pretty valuable things at the airport, but surprisingly they never go back for them.
State police said just last year, people left about 800 items behind at Bradley Airport.
For some reason, people do not call, said Trooper Fernando Hernandez, of the Connecticut State police.
Hernandez is in charge of the lost and found at Bradley Airport. When items are left anywhere in the airport, other than on a plane or at TSA, they end up at his office.
NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters noticed many suitcases full of clothes and other items went unclaimed.
They return from their trip and we find that they are left curbside, said Hernandez, while opening a suitcase full of items. They put the kids in the car and maybe get home and realize, I thought you put the bag in there..
Anything from a MacBook Pro and other laptops, a professional quality Sony camera, art work, a motor cycle helmet and more, were all left unclaimed.
A flat screen T.V. was left curbside and no one called looking for it because I imagine they assume it was gone, explained Hernandez. He also said cell phones, laptops and other devices often get left when travelers plug them in to charge then forget to come back.
People traveling from outside of the area may not bother to contact the airport because they dont think there is a way for them to get their items back even if found. Not true, Hernandez said if a person pays for the shipping, they will FedEx items out of state or town to the rightful owner.
When items are found to be abandoned at the airport, Hernandez said first they are sniffed by a K-9 unit to make sure they are safe, then theyre taken to a temporary holding unit for 30 days, where they are logged into inventory.
After that, they can stay in long-term lost and found for up to one year. However, the area gets pretty packed, so some things are stored in an overflow annex out back, or at state police Troop H.
We noticed 1 entry on the log for a wedding dress, Hernandez said that was claimed, but adding, wedding rings often turn up at the lost and found, and never get claimed.
Although they try to find who the items belong to, most things dont have any information that would indicate the owner. Travelers should write their name on electronics and even carry-ons in case they end up leaving them at the airport.
We have had Rolex watches, currency, said Hernandez. We had $650 someone honestly found in an envelope and turned in.
Nobody claimed that either.
Hernandez said when money is unclaimed, it gets taken to the Department of Treasury and the State of Connecticut gets to keep it.
Everything else is auctioned off by the state or donated to charity.
Its one of lifes simple truths. If you don't pay your credit card bills on time, eventually the credit card company will cut you off.
The people who run Dallas County learned that the hard way recently when the credit cards they were late paying were the ones used to fill police and fire vehicles with gas.
The result was nearly three days of frustration and concern as well as a potentially dangerous situation.
Deputies with the Dallas County Sheriffs Office drove miles in search of fuel. Firefighters reached into their own pockets to gas up their trucks and there was a flurry of e-mails between county officials demanding answers for how this could happen.
It all started at the beginning of the Presidents Day weekend in February, when Dallas County sheriffs deputies discovered their county-issued gas cards were being declined all over town.
It's really hard to do your job when your car is not going to go anywhere, said sheriffs union leader Scott Guiselman.
As that long holiday weekend began, Guiselman started hearing from deputies wondering what was happening. Records obtained by NBC 5 Investigates show a flurry of emails from county officials wondering the same thing.
By early Saturday morning a sheriff's sergeant said in an e-mail, "We have been unable to refuel any of the cars that 1st watch had used. Not sure how it will get fixed."
Another sheriff's official emailed to say he called the after-hours number on the fuel card and was told, "The county had over run its credit and we were cut off. Basically they didn't pay the bill."
Were the second largest county in Texas, there's no excuse for this at all, said Guiselman.
With no other way to obtain fuel, deputies scrambled to open up a county service center that normally is closed on weekends. The service center has its own gas pump, but is in Garland many miles from the areas many deputies patrol in the south and west portions of the county. So deputies had to drive a long way to re-fuel three times a day, or at the end of each shift.
You're going to be involved for at least an hour going there and back. So that takes you off the street for an hour, Guiselman said.
Asked if pulling deputies off the street to get fuel creates a safety concern Guiselmen responded, Absolutely. Now there's guys involved for an hour a day going to get fuel instead of working crashes or enforcing laws on the freeways.
As the hours passed, the e-mails show frustration grew.
By Sunday, Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez fired off an e-mail simply telling staff, "Get ahold of the purchasing guy and get them fuel!"
And it was more than just sheriffs deputies affected. Other county vehicles use the same cards, including courtesy patrol trucks that help stranded drivers, Parkland Hospital Police and county fire trucks.
I'm concerned that this happened. It should not have happened, said Dallas County Administrator Darryl Martin.
Martin admits the county got behind on paying the bill.
We had some accounts that they said were delinquent, Martin said. So all of the sudden we got hit and they cut us off.
Martin said part of the problem was that Fuelman -- the countys gas card provider -- recently sold its Dallas operations to another company called FleetCor.
County commissioners still needed to sign off on recognizing FleetCor as a vendor -- before the county could write FleetCor checks.
If they had called, if we had conversations, we would have assured them that payment was going to come, Martin said.
County e-mails show FleetCor did send the county an email saying "Please call regarding past due," four days before the shut off.
By then the county owed more than $100,000.
Still, Martin believes it was irresponsible for FleetCor to cut off a county where emergency responders rely on their cards for fuel.
We take some responsibility, and FleetCor should certainly take some responsibility, Martin said.
In a statement to NBC 5, FleetCor told us the county was cut off "...due to credit limit overages which were set up as a protective security measure. This matter was addressed in a timely manner and no further service disruptions have been reported, the statement said.
But as the hours dragged on that weekend, and deputies crisscrossed the county for fuel, officials worried what might happen if there was a major incident.
Less than two months earlier the county had suffered devastating tornadoes that kept emergency responders running nonstop.
Fortunately nothing did happen, but it could have, Martin said.
By Monday, the President's Day holiday, two and a half days after the cards were cut off, a sheriff's staffer reported in an e-mail, "Fuelman is back on."
A top sheriff's commander responded "Yeah!!"
But Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price chimed in saying, "It's not enough that they are back on, what the hell happened?"
Martin credits quick-thinking sheriffs deputies for averting a crisis along with people like the county firefighters who sent an email reporting a fire captain went ahead and paid for the fuel for his truck out of his own pocket.
God bless those guys, Martin said. They saw how important this was and they're going to get reimbursed.
Martin said the county plans to negotiate a new fuel card contract soon. One that would require much more notice before the card company can cut them off -- especially on a holiday weekend.
Martin said he has also talked to staff about the importance of communicating with vendors if a payment is going to be late in order to avoid any other potentially risky situations.
NBC 5 Investigates checked with other counties in the DFW area to see if their first responders have ever experienced similar problems. Officials in Collin, Denton and Tarrant counties said their first responders typically fuel up at county-owned pumps at the start of their shifts and only use fuel credit cards as a backup in case theyre not close to a county service center.
When a seven-foot alligator crawled out of a pond behind a house in suburban Houston and started eyeing the family dog, it was time to call for help.
They called the "Gator Squad", which specializes in the live capture of alligators.
They say she was acting quite aggressively and had no fear of humans, presumably because people had been feeding her.
After repeated attempts, they were finally able to hook the gator in the pond and pull her into the yard where they taped her mouth shut.
She will now go to a gator farm in El Campo where she can live out the rest of her days with other gators.
Amidst growing concern over delays at airports around the country, some are considering ditching the Transportation Security Administration and using a private security company.
"For us it has worked. One advantage (is) more flexibility to move around staff, but to be honest, we've never had any TSA screeners to compare it to," said Ian Redhead, deputy director at Kansas City International Airport.
In 2002, Redhead's airport was one of five to participate in a pilot project that allowed private contractors to take the place of TSA employees. To date, 22 airports have utilized the Screening Partnership Program, which still requires the staff to operate under federal oversight and follow TSA procedures.
According to Redhead, it's given staff at KCI more flexibility to deal with high demand or issues on the job.
"In terms of workers, if there are injuries, when you have a government worker versus a private worker, private companies have creative ways to use staff," explained Redhead. "They're going to be paying them, so they've developed different ways of using them at different airports."
But Redhead acknowledges the system is not perfect and KCI does still experience wait times. Of the 22 airports utilizing the private option, Kansas City and San Francisco International Airport are the only two major airports on the list. See the full list here.
Following delays at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport that caused hundreds of passengers to miss their flights this week, TSA has been adding staff and resources there and elsewhere.
According to TSA spokeswoman Carrie Harmon, 1.8 percent of passengers at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport have experienced delays of 20 minutes or more. On average, the airport is seeing 3,264 more passengers per day than last year.
"I don't think privatization is a guaranteed success. I think it's an option that others are looking at, but I don't know it's a guaranteed success," said Redhead. "Privatization is an option, and airports should be allowed to do it."
Police are searching for the man accused of stabbing and killing an 11-year-old boy while he was walking home from school in Houston on Tuesday.
Che Lajuan Calhoun, 31, has been charged with murder in the death of Josue Flores. He is not in custody and is wanted by police.
Calhoun is accused of approaching Flores on Tuesday afternoon. Houston police said a citizen flagged down officers around 4:45 p.m. and told them the child had been stabbed. The officers stopped and found Flores lying in the grass.
Investigators said Flores was walking home from school when he was confronted by a strange man, later identified as Calhoun. Witnesses told police they heard screaming and saw the man and boy struggling. Flores then collapsed and the man ran away.
Police said Flores was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where he was treated for multiple stab wounds. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The motive for the attack is unknown.
Police are searching for Calhoun and ask anyone with information to call 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-8477 (TIPS).
After a three-month delay, the Senate is acting on President Barack Obama's request for money to combat the Zika virus.
The Senate is slated to vote Tuesday on three competing plans to battle the virus, with a bipartisan plan that cuts Obama's $1.9 billion request to $1.1 billion having the greatest chance to advance. The procedural vote would pave the way to add funds for the government's response to Zika to an unrelated spending bill.
For pregnant women, Zika can cause a serious birth defect called microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects, as well as eye problems, hearing deficits and impaired growth. Zika is commonly spread by mosquitoes and can also be contracted through sexual contact.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that pregnant women not travel to areas with Zika and that if they live in a Zika area to strictly follow steps to prevent mosquito bites and to prevent sexual transmission.
Zika is expected to spread more widely during the summer mosquito season, but officials say outbreaks in the U.S. are likely to be limited. To date, there have been more than 500 cases of Zika in the continental U.S., all of which so far have been associated with overseas travel.
Obama requested the funding in February and has been forced to tap unspent 2015 funds from the successful battle against Ebola to finance almost $600 million in anti-Zika efforts. They include research on the virus and Zika-related birth defects, response teams to limit Zika's spread, and helping other countries fight the virus.
House Republicans on Monday unveiled their Zika proposal, which would slice Obama's request to $622 million and pair it with offsetting spending cuts to unspent Ebola funding and leftover money at the Department of Health and Human Services. The House measure, slated for a vote as early as Wednesday, will advance as a stand-alone bill and it's unclear how difficult it will be to forge a compromise between the two chambers.
The White House issued a veto threat on the House measure on Tuesday, saying it is "woefully inadequate" and protested that the House measure would only fund the Zika battle through Sept. 30.
"It is woefully insufficient given the significant risk that is posed by Zika," said White House Press secretary Josh Earnest. "The House of Representatives is three months late and more than a billion short."
"We see the people of this country facing a public health threat," said Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who supports the full $1.9 billion Obama request. "Our response should be `Let's deal with it the way that medical experts are saying we need to deal with it."'
The White House and its Democratic allies have been sharply critical of Republicans controlling Congress over delays in providing additional funds, which they say is required for mosquito control, purchasing diagnostic tests and developing and manufacturing a vaccine.
"This funding is critical to stop the spread of Zika, and to protect our most vulnerable people both here at home and abroad. Every child deserves the chance at a full and healthy life, and every mother deserves to see her child thrive," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky.
The bipartisan Senate measure was negotiated by Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Patty Murray, D-Wash. It is relatively close to what the White House has asked for, except it does not pay back very much of the already-tapped Ebola money or give Puerto Rico, a Zika hot spot, help with its Medicaid program. One provision would provide $248 million to combat Zika overseas through mosquito control, maternal and child health programs, and public information campaigns.
"It's a targeted approach that focuses on immediate needs while also providing resources for longer-term goals like a vaccine," said Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who added the compromise "represents a notable departure from our Democratic colleagues' initial position."
McConnell set up a series of votes, first on an alternative Senate plan by Florida Democrat Bill Nelson and his home-state GOP colleague Marco Rubio that largely mirrors Obama's request. It's likely to be killed by a filibuster, as is a GOP proposal by Texas Senator John Cornyn that taps a prevention fund established under the Affordable Care Act to offset the Zika funding.
That would leave the compromise, which Murray called "a bipartisan first step toward protecting families from this virus," as the only alternative left standing.
The administration is urging lawmakers to deliver additional anti-Zika funds before Congress recesses for Memorial Day. A more likely deadline is early to mid-July, when lawmakers leave Washington for a seven-week recess dictated by earlier-than-usual national political conventions.
A 32-year-old man was arrested Tuesday in connection with a series of sexual assaults on elderly women that began in 2015, including two women attacked at the same senior care facility, in the San Fernando Valley area.
The Los Angeles Police Department arrested Danilo Arturo Gonzalez at his North Hollywood residence on suspicion of assault with intent to commit a sexual offense during a burglary.
Police said the assaults began longer than a year ago on March 27, 2015 when a 66-year-old woman was attacked as she walked to her home near Cozycroft Avenue and Mayall Street. Gonzalez was accused of rendering her unconscious before sexually assaulting her.
Months later on July 30, police said Gonzalez sneaked into a senior care facility near Lindley Avenue and Parthenia Street in Northridge through a sliding-glass door. He was accused of sexually assaulting an 81-year-old woman before leaving.
On Sept. 30, a 71-year-old woman was sexually assaulted at her home in the 18600 block of Vintage Street, police said. The accused attacker got into the home through a sliding-glass door, as he did in a previous assault, before assaulting the victim, police said.
The suspect wouldn't strike again until nearly a year later on May 13, police said, when he sneaked into the same senior care home in Northridge through an unsecured sliding glass door. Police said he sexually assaulted an 81-year-old woman and then tried to assault an 87-year-old woman in a different room before taking off.
Detectives investigated the senior care facility and later determined that Gonzalez was the suspected attacker.
He was arrested and held on $2,150,000 bail.
A spokeswoman from the senior home, Pacifica Northridge, released a statement following the arrest:
"Our thoughts and prayers right now are for our resident's well-being and their family. We are pleased that the perpetrator of this crime has been apprehended. We are very thankful and appreciative of the support of the LAPD. We continue to be committed to the happiness and safety of our residents, as we have been over the last eight years of ownership."
Anyone with tips related to the crimes is encouraged to call detectives at (213) 486-6910.
Police were investigating after a baby sitter said a "crazy" looking shirtless man tried to snatch a 4-month-old she was caring for out of a stroller and witnesses held him down until police arrived in San Bernardino Tuesday.
"I think he's crazy," Carmen Perez, the baby sitter, said. "I don't think he knows what he's doing or maybe he wants to scare me and he did."
Perez said Tuesday morning, she had just loaded the baby girl named Chloe into the stroller in the 1400 block of North D Street.
Out of nowhere, she said a man she didn't know ran up and grabbed the stroller, the San Bernardino Police Department confirmed.
"I have to do something. I was scared," Perez said.
Using all of her strength, Perez held onto the stroller, refusing to let it go as the man pushed her to the ground all the while she is screaming and the baby is crying.
She said there was no way she would give up the baby.
The man gave up and ran off, but witness who saw the struggle followed him.
Police said he changed his clothes, trying to alter his identity.
"I followed him down to this area down here, and that's when I told him to have a seat," Martin Aguilar said.
Aguilar is a security guard who works nearby. He said he took action after witnesses told him what had just happened.
Martin struggled with the man before finally pinning him down and handcuffing him.
"Basically, he was pretty mad about it," Aguilar said. "He was just speaking a lot of nonsense. He said it was Christmas last night, and why are we doing this to him."
San Bernardino police identified the suspect as 35-year-old Edgar Valdez, and arrested him on suspicion of attempted kidnapping and child endangerment.
Police called Perez a hero for fighting him off and protecting Chloe.
"I think the assumption was that she was the mother the way she held onto that child and protected it," Lt. Richard Lawhead said.
Perez suffered abrasions to her arm and leg, but most importantly, Chloe wasn't hurt at all.
"I feel like she's my own," Perez said. "She's a really cute happy baby."
Public help was being sought to find a Santa Ana mother who didn't show up to her work at El Pollo Loco earlier this month.
Claudia Lisseth Sanchez Reyes posted a photo on social media May 6, a day before her husband told police he last spoke with her.
"In the report it states he talked to her at 10:30 at night on the seventh and she was going out clubbing with friends," said Anthony Bertagna, a Santa Ana Police Department spokesman.
Reyes was last seen May 6 at the apartment she shared with her husband and son. On May 7, she didn't show up for work at El Pollo Loco.
It was not like her, according to her fellow employees, Bertagna said.
Police said they've responded nine times to the unit and say eight were domestic disturbance calls made by the missing woman.
The husband is not a suspect in her disappearance, Bertagna said.
Two Santa Ana detectives met with a missing woman's husband, and his attorney says he believes they cleared up any suspicion that he is somehow involved in his wife's disappearance.
"For us right now it's trying to figure out why she's missing, how she's missing and where she might be," Bertagna said.
The missing woman does not have family here except for her husband and 4-year-old son.
Police ask that anyone with information call Detective Corporal Mike Judson at (714) 245-8390 or mjudson@santa-ana.org. After hours, please contact the Santa Ana Police Department watch commander at (714) 245-8700 or SAPD dispatch at (714) 834-4211.
Suspected pickpocket thieves using a tactic of distracting the victim as the other one steals wallets were caught on camera in the Tustin area, police said.
Tustin police were trying to track down two men captured on surveillance video at several popular Orange County shopping spots after they were accused of swiping shopper's wallets at TJ Maxx, Costco, Make It Fit and Panera Bread.
All of the stores were near to The Market Place located at 2961 El Camino Real and the District located at 2437 Park Avenue.
One victim who was ripped off at Panera Bread on Jamboree Road said she was stunned.
The suspected thieves reached into her purse, swiped her wallet, and charged $3,000 within the span of 10 minutes.
She was still sitting at the restaurant, and received a fraud alert on her phone.
"I panicked," Sarah Wilson said. "I was just thinking about all the cards I had in my wallet, that they now knew my name, my address. It was just really unnerving."
The surveillance footage shows the accused men perusing the aisles like any other shopper.
Another victim can be seen interacting with the men on surveillance footage. Police said one man distracted her as she got into her car, and the other man snatched her wallet.
"I want to tell them, 'You're going to get caught. Karma will get you,'" Wilson said in a message to the accused thieves.
Police said they preyed on customers who were distracted.
"I'm a little mad at myself for that but I think it's a message to all women to be aware of your surroundings," Wilson said.
There were six victims total since Saturday, police said.
The Tustin Police Department posted tips to its Facebook page, hoping to warn shoppers:
"Some tips for shoppers if possible, keep your purse on your shoulder while shopping. If you put your purse in the child seat, make sure it is zipped and secured with the seat belt. Suspects are looking for easy access. Keep your cart (and purse) in front of you as you peruse the shelves. Pay attention to people loitering around you and your cart make eye contact and smile so you do not appear distracted. Avoid leaving your purse unattended in shopping carts and dressing rooms. If you are a victim, contact your credit card companies as soon as possible to determine if/where your credit cards were used. Notify TPD to take a crime report."
One of the teenagers kidnapped by Boko Haram extremists over two years ago from a school in northeastern Nigeria has been found with a baby and was reunited Wednesday with her mother the first of the Chibok girls to be freed since the mass abduction.
Nigerian hunters found the young woman and baby wandering near the Sambisa Forest and her uncle describes her as traumatized. Earlier reports said the girl was pregnant.
The young woman told her mother that some of the Chibok girls have died in captivity and the others still are held by Boko Haram, according to the family's doctor, Idriss Danladi, who spoke to The Associated Press after a conversation with the mother.
She is the first of the 219 Chibok girls to be seen since the kidnapping grabbed worldwide attention and put a spotlight on the the violence of Nigeria's homegrown Islamic extremists.
Nigeria's military tried to claim her rescue. "This is to confirm that one of the abducted Chibok school girls ... was among the rescued persons by our troops," said a one-line statement from army spokesman Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman.
Hunters took the 19-year-old she was 17 when abducted to her home village of Mbalala, near Chibok, on Tuesday and she reunited with her mother, Danladi said. Her father died while she was held captive, said her uncle Yakubu Nkeki. Mother, daughter and baby have been taken to a military camp in the town of Damboa.
The girl's mother tried to commit suicide some months after her daughter was seized, said Danladi, who is from Chibok and has treated several of the parents. He said the mother "suffered a huge traumatic disorder ... I had to convince her that she just has to stay alive if she really wants her daughter returned home safe and sound."
At least 16 of the girls' parents have died since the kidnapping, he said. Others have ailments they blame on their ongoing trauma.
"I suffered a stroke on Friday, that's why you don't recognize my voice," said the Rev. Enoch Mark, whose two daughters are among the missing girls. He said the escape of the first Chibok girl brings renewed hope.
"I believe that, by the grace of God, our daughters, some of them, will be found if they are still alive."
Other Chibok girls may have been rescued by soldiers hunting down Boko Haram in the remote northeastern Sambisa Forest on Tuesday night, said Chibok community leader Pogu Bitrus. He said he is working with officials to establish their identities.
Boko Haram Islamic extremists stormed and firebombed the Government Girls Secondary School at Chibok on April 14, 2014, and seized 276 girls who were preparing to write science exams. Dozens escaped in the first hours, some hanging on to tree branches from the back of an open truck, but 219 remained missing.
The inability of Nigeria's government and military to rescue them led, in part, to last year's electoral defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan, who was seen as uncaring and not committed to freeing them.
The United States, France and Britain offered help to find the girls, sending drones that flew over the Sambisa Forest, hostage negotiators, intelligence officers and others.
A social media campaign using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls reached to the White House, where U.S. first lady Michelle Obama promised her husband would do all in his power to help. "Our prayers are with the missing Nigerian girls and their families. It's time to #BringBackOurGirls," she tweeted in May 2014.
"God reigns!" one of the founders of the Bring Back Our Girls movement, Oby Ezekwesili, trumpeted on social media Wednesday. "OUR #ChibokGirl ... IS BACK!!!!!!! #218ShallBeBack because #HopeEndures."
It's not known how many thousands of girls, boys and young women have been kidnapped by Boko Haram in a nearly 7-year-old insurgency that has killed some 20,000 people and spread across Nigeria's borders.
The freed young woman may well face a difficult time returning to ordinary life, according to experts.
"Children in this situation typically require medical assistance and psycho-social support to help them cope with what they have been through while they were in captivity," Helene Sandbu Reng, spokeswoman of the U.N. Children's Fund, said in a statement noting the agency could not verify that one of the Chibok girls is free.
"Our experience with children and women who were kidnapped by Boko Haram and freed by the military or escaped shows that they often face mistrust, stigma and rejection when they return to their communities," she said.
Boko Haram held a large swath of northeastern Nigeria where it declared an Islamic caliphate. A multinational force from Nigeria and its neighbors has reduced their territory, reportedly hemming them into the Sambisa Forest. The insurgents have taken to hitting soft targets like markets and mosques with suicide bombers, often girls and young women who are feared to be among their captives.
Now there are fears that Boko Haram is sending fighters to Libya to join the Islamic State group, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a summit about fighting Boko Haram on Saturday. Boko Haram declared itself the West Africa Province of IS last year, and Blinken's suggestion raises fears the two groups could start an extremist push into the vast and lawless lands of the Sahel region.
Oakland is one of the most dangerous places in the world, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump recently told a reporter.
But to its mayor, there's another place that's much more dangerous.
The most dangerous place in America is Donald Trumps mouth, Mayor Libby Schaaf said in a tweet Wednesday.
Trump's views on the 400,000-person city in California's East Bay were documented in a New York Times Magazine article called "Mr. Trump's Wild Ride," published Wednesday. Trump was discussing a bombing in Baghdad when he was asked what he thinks is the most dangerous place in the world he's visited.
There are places in America that are among the most dangerous in the world, Trump told reporter Robert Draper. You go to places like Oakland. Or Ferguson. The crime numbers are worse. Seriously.
Oakland is indeed a crime-ridden city. On the one hand, the final number of homicides investigated by Oakland police in 2015 was 83, according to FBI statistics. The East Bay Times reported 93 homicides in 2015, which was seven more than in 2014. But that figure was still far below the city's high of 175 in 1992, the East Bay Times reported.
And in 2015, Oakland was listed as the country's third most dangerous city in the United States, behind Detroit and Memphis, FBI crime data shows, though the definition for dangerous crime and the parameters of cities used vary. For instance, the Insurance Journal put Oakland in the No. 9 spot for the country's most dangerous cities.
But crime rates do seem to be improving. As Schaff's office pointed out, that as of Monday, violent crime was down 14 percent in Oakland and homicides were down 43 percent.
And in terms of being the most dangerous place in the world? Caracas, Venezuela; San Pedro Sula, Honduras; and San Salvador, El Salvador win the notorious spots 1, 2 and 3.
Oakland's longest serving city councilmember Larry Reid, who called Trump an "idiot," says it's time for Trump to see what the city has to offer.
"Mr. Trump, stop shooting from the hip," Reid said. "Come visit the areas you're talking about and you'll appreciate Oakland like everybody else appreciates Oakland."
NBC Bay Area's Jodi Hernandez contributed to this report.
Bethzaida Campos thought she had found the perfect place to rent when she saw an ad on Craigslist.
"I thought it was a great deal because nowadays renting is super expensive," Campos said.
The two-bedroom apartment was supposed to include everything for $800 a month. The young mother, who lives paycheck to paycheck, withdrew her entire savings to put down a deposit on the apartment to rent. One that she now admits was too good to be true.
"I have a two-year-old and I thought it would be perfect," Campos said.
That's when she first encountered the man who she says disappeared with her money: Julio Melero.
"I told him that I liked it and I was interested," Campos said. "He told me don't think about it too much because I have another person coming already after you to come and look at the apartment."
Campos didn't hesitate. She went to the bank and withdrew all her savings to pay the deposit, but didn't sign a contract or application.
"He wrote me a deposit paper. He even wrote March 13 when I was supposed to move in," she said. "He even asked me if I still wanted the dog that he was offering to me. You know, it seemed so real."
On move-in day, she arrived at the apartment with her belongings and her two-year-old son. But Melero was nowhere to be found.
"There were no signs of him," Campos said.
But others looking to move in were there.
"Another person showed up, and then more people showed up. And it ended up being like a group of seven people looking for him regarding deposits and apartments they never were able to move into," she said.
It was then that she realized she was out money and a home.
"So many other worries, you know, my son. Where I'm supposed to go?" Campos said.
The young mother is one of seven people who called NBC6 Investigators with similar stories claiming that they gave Melero a deposit for the same place. The Miami-Dade Police Department says it found over a dozen similar complaints and is now investigating.
"The common factor in all these victims is that he would ask for a deposit and then he would tell them, once they gave the deposit, he would say, come back, so I can give you the key and, of course, when they came back, he was nowhere to be found," said Det. Alvaro Zabaleta, a spokesperson for Miami-Dade Police.
Melero has been in trouble before, records show. In 2011, he was convicted of fraud, identity theft and grand larceny for stealing thousands from his customers tax returns in Cape Coral.
Melero declined to comment about the allegations pertaining to rental deposits.
"I have nothing to say to you," Melero told NBC 6 Investigators Monday.
Police said they would like to talk to Melero.
"We still haven't made contact with him or located him as of yet. But we do want to talk to him. We want to talk to this individual because of the fact that we want to hear his side of the story," Zabaleta said.
As for Campos, she had to scramble to find a place for her family to live.
"I was able to manage and find a lease of an apartment for now," Campos said. "But it's hard because I don't have much."
You should be suspicious if you are being pressured to give out a deposit without a contract and research the rental rates in the area. If what you're being offered is significantly lower, that could be a red flag.
Two teens charged in the murder of a man in Fort Lauderdale are heading from the juvenile detention center to jail now that they'll be tried as a adults.
Dallas Holston and Sedrick Joseph, both 14, have been charged in the April murder of 52-year-old Gary Martin.
Both remain behind bars without bond, despite efforts by their attorneys to have them released while they wait for trial. Holston's attorney said his client is "a little kid in a man's world with no business being in there right now."
Police said cameras captured the two teens running from the crime scene near Northwest 22nd Street and 24th Avenue. Detectives later found Martin shot to death in his car near the Everglades Heights apartment complex.
Officials haven't given a possible motive for the shooting.
A Miami Beach man is facing charges after police say he kidnapped, beat and raped a tourist who was walking back to her hotel after a fight with her friends at a South Beach club.
Casey Terrell Miller, 25, was arrested Tuesday on charges aggravated battery, armed kidnapping and attempted sexual battery, according to a Miami Beach Police arrest report.
Miller remained behind bars without bond Wednesday. It's unknown if he's hired an attorney.
According to the report, the victim, who is from Georgia, was at Mango's Cafe at 900 Ocean Drive Friday night when she got into a verbal fight with her friends and left.
The woman, who was upset and crying, was walking back to the Fontainebleau Hotel where she was staying when she was approached by Miller, who was driving his car, the report said. The two started talking and the woman agreed to go with Miller to a bar for a drink.
The woman remembered getting a drink at the bar but the next thing she remembered was being inside Miller's apartment, the report said. She said she wanted to leave but Miller blocked the front door and told her she couldn't leave, the report said.
When she tried to run away Miller grabbed her and she hit him in the head with her cell phone several times, the report said. He then slammed her to the ground and beat her on the face repeatedly, choked her and slammed her head into the floor before he raped her, the report said.
The woman said she remembered being in a stairwell then found herself in the Walgreens at 1011 Alton Road, the report said. Walgreens workers called police, who found the woman with severe bruising on her face and neck, a swollen lip and what appeared to be bite marks on her shoulder, the report said.
She was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where she was found to have a fracture to her right forearm.
Police said detectives used the victim's description of the suspect to identify Miller, who lives half a block away from the Walgreens, the report said. She also identified him as the suspect in a photo lineup, the report said.
Miller was taken into custody and invoked his right to an attorney while refusing to provide a statement, the report said.
Venezuelan opposition leaders are rejecting a 60-day state of emergency declared by President Nicolas Maduro.
Maduro declared the state of emergency over the weekend, giving himself decree powers to intervene in the economy and protect national sovereignty. He said the expanded powers were needed to guard against U.S. meddling in the socialist country.
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles called the move unconstitutional Tuesday because Maduro acted unilaterally. Capriles said Venezuelans should reject the decree.
Capriles, a two-time presidential candidate, is expected to lead a march through the streets of Caracas on Wednesday to support calls for a voter referendum on whether to oust Maduro from office.
The opposition has filed a petition with enough signatures to authorize conducting a broader petition drive on holding a recall referendum.
But on Tuesday, Maduro called that initiative "optional." He went on to accuse the opposition of working with the U.S. to orchestrate a coup against him.
Thousands of people tried to march to the electoral body last week, but were turned back by police who used tear gas.
A majority of voters tell pollsters they want to see Maduro gone. They handed the opposition a landslide victory in congressional elections in December, but state institutions have blocked the opposition-controlled congress from passing any legislation.
On Tuesday, Maduro said the congress had lost its legitimacy.
"I don't expect anything good from congress. It's a matter of time before it disappears, because it doesn't represent our national interest," he said.
Venezuelan police in riot gear clashed on Wednesday with thousands of protesters trying to reach the headquarters of the country's electoral body to demand a referendum to recall unpopular President Nicolas Maduro.
The anti-government protest was the third in a week, and came days after the socialist president declared a state of emergency in the economically struggling country. He gave himself decree powers for 60 days.
Thousands of people turned out for the march in downtown Caracas on Wednesday, but police blocked the route. A small group tried to break through and was turned back by tear gas.
On Tuesday, opposition leader Henrique Capriles called on the country to reject the extra powers granted Maduro.
"If Maduro wants to apply this decree, he needs to start preparing tanks and war planes, because he'll have to apply it by force," Capriles said.
The country has seen constant small-scale protests in recent weeks against widespread water and electricity cuts.
The opposition roiled the country with bloody nationwide protests in 2014. But protests have tended to be small and peaceful since then.
A majority of the country wants Maduro out, according to national polls. Venezuelans overwhelmingly voted for the opposition in congressional elections in December, but state institutions have blocked the opposition-controlled congress from passing any legislation.
With congress unable to push through legislation, opposition leaders have begun turning their attention to the streets and the recall referendum as their best option to exert political pressure.
Opponents of the Maduro administration abroad have been asking the Organization of American States to pressure Venezuela to allow the opposition more space in the political arena. Maduro responded by calling OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro a tool of the CIA.
On Wednesday, Almagro responded that the claim was absurd, and said he would not be threatened.
"I am not a CIA agent. And your lie, even if it is repeated a thousand times, will never be true," he wrote in an open letter to Maduro.
The university held its 176th commencement exercises on May 14 at the Lebanon, Ill., campus for those who completed their degree requirements in December 2015, May and July 2016. Graduates at the Kentucky campuses receive their diplomas on June 4. The Class of 2016 includes over 800 graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Business, School of Education, and School of Nursing and Health Professions. They hail from 28 states and five countries.
A former model who claims Bill Cosby sexually abused her at the Playboy Mansion in 2008 has filed a lawsuit against the comedian and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.
The suit filed Monday in Los Angeles by Chloe Goins contends Hefner knew or should have known that Cosby had drugged and sexually abused women and enabled his behavior.
Goins, 26, claims Cosby spiked her drink when she attended a party at the Playboy Mansion sometime in 2008 and then abused her in a bedroom.
Goins' suit says she doesn't know the exact date of the incident. As a result, it's unclear if she was a minor at the time.
The lawsuit says Goins does not remember specifics of the abuse and states that she awoke in a bedroom of the Playboy Mansion with the comedian licking her toes and then pulling up his pants before leaving the room.
She did not immediately contact police because a friend advised against it, the suit states.
Her attorney, Spencer Kuvin, said Tuesday that he hopes to discover the exact date of the abuse now that Hefner is a defendant. The case was filed on Monday, when Goins was 25, to avoid missing a statute of limitations deadline, he said.
Kuvin said Goins is not currently working and is in a safe place with her family.
Prosecutors rejected filing a criminal case over her claims, in part because they couldn't corroborate her account and because that statute of limitations had expired.
Her suit claims Hefner knew, or should have known, that Cosby "over the years had a propensity for intoxicating or drugging young women and taking advantage of them sexually and against their will or while they were unconscious."
Messages left with Playboy spokeswoman Theresa Hennessey seeking comment from Hefner weren't immediately returned Tuesday.
A message sent to Cosby's attorney, Monique Pressley, hasn't been returned.
Cosby is being sued by Goins for battery, gender violence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Hefner is accused of negligent infliction of emotional distress and conspiracy to commit sexual battery.
Goins previously sued Cosby in federal court in Los Angeles in October then withdrew the case in February before the comedian responded to her allegations.
Kuvin said the case was withdrawn so Hefner could be added as a defendant. The case was refiled in state court.
In the initial suit, Goins accused Cosby of abusing her when she was underage.
The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they were sexually abused, but Goins has spoken publicly about her allegations and used her name in the two civil cases she has filed.
Cosby has been charged in Pennsylvania with sexually assaulting a former Temple University employee in 2004.
The case is on appeal while Cosby's lawyers argue their contention that the comedian cannot be prosecuted because he had an immunity deal with a former Montgomery County prosecution official.
Cosby is also being sued by a woman who accuses the comedian of molesting her at the Playboy Mansion around 1974 when she was 15. Her attorneys have said they want to depose Hefner in that case.
A landscaper was stabbed and injured while cutting down a tree in a Queens backyard, police said.
The victim, part of a larger landscaping crew called to cut down the 40-foot tree at a home on Simonson Street in Elmhurst on Tuesday morning, had just started working at the home when an angry next-door neighbor attacked, according to police.
Authorities said that the 33-year-old man was taken to the hospital after the stabbing and is expected to survive a stab wound to the back.
The neighbor and one of his family were both arrested on assault charges at the scene.
Aida Simoes, the woman who hired the landscaping company, said she felt terrible about the violence.
She said she didnt know what led to the angry confrontation and only wanted her tree cut down and turned into mulch.
Oh my god, she cried in Spanish.
She added, I dont understand.
UPDATE: Inferno Sparked Underneath Metro-North Tracks Deemed Accidental: FDNY
A raging fire underneath the elevated Metro-North train tracks in East Harlem brought rail service to a halt during Tuesday's evening rush, officials say.
Fire officials say a fire started inside a garden nursery center underneath the tracks at East 118th Street and Park Avenue at about 6:45 p.m. An explosion at the site was likely caused when flames hit propane and fertilizer.
The blaze was so intense it may have blown bolts off the track, the FDNY said at a news conference Tuesday evening.
A raging fire underneath elevated Metro-North train tracks in East Harlem brought rail service to a halt during Tuesdays evening rush. Grand Central was overflowing with people. Gus Rosendale reports. Photo credit: @iankellyphoto/Twitter
Gov. Cuomo, who visited the scene, said the fire generated a "tremendous amount of heat," so much that it bent the steel girders that support the overpass.
"I would say the fire was five, probably six stories high," said witness Sister Florence Speth. "It was enormous. Absolutely enormous."
"It was blowing up, boom, and the fire was getting bigger," said Raymond Santana.
The FDNY said 168 firefighters responded to the fire, and crews worked to extinguish it into the night. They poured water onto the steel to cool the tracks, and a haz-mat team and the MTA were expected to inspect the tracks.
One firefighter suffered a minor injury when he slipped, but no civilians were hurt.
"That nobody lost their life really is extraordinary," Cuomo said, calling the fire "horrendous."
Ten cars were damaged, and buildings on both sides of the street were evacuated.
Residents told NBC 4 New York they at first feared a building explosion like the one in the area two years ago that killed eight people.
"People were running like crazy," said Speth. "There was a man running with about an 8- or 9-year-old girl. He was carrying her sneaker, he wouldn't let her stop."
"One lady came into the building, she was shaking, she had two little girls and she said, 'I thought it was another explosion, I thought it was another explosion,'" she said.
Metro-North service into and out of Grand Central Terminal was halted due to the fire, and trains were not running on the Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines.
Service is expected to be suspended through the night, and restoration time remains uncertain.
The MTA has brought in repair crews that will work overnight with the "ambitious goal" of getting everything up and running for the morning rush.
Several trains will run over the overpass once it's repaired to make sure it's safe for commuters, Cuomo said.
For now, Metro-North will operate on a Saturday schedule Wednesday and city-bound trains will terminate at Bronx subway connections. In short, a Saturday schedule means trains will be running less often.
Hudson Line trains will terminate at Yankees-E. 153rd Street for connections to B, D and 4 subway lines. Harlem Line trains will terminate at Wakefield for connections to the 2 line. New Haven Line trains terminate at Woodlawn for connections to the 2 and 5 lines.
Commuters are advised to check the Metro-North website for updates. In the meantime, NYC Transit is cross-honoring Metro-North tickets on subways.
Commuters waiting at Grand Central Terminal earlier in the evening at first hoped for a quick resolution as they waited. Crowds grew as train delays turned into total service suspension.
"Lots of frustrated commuters waiting for their trains," wrote Dave Gregorio. "Delays delays delays..."
"No Metro-North trains in either direction. Grand Central is a mess," said Laura Nicolle.
Some eventually gave up and tried to find alternate ways to get to their destination. Susan Hynson of Rye said she was on a Metro-North train when it stopped at 119th Street and returned to Grand Central.
"We went out, we had just come out of the tunnel, and they brought us back in," she said. "I want to try to find an Uber, a bus, whatever to get us back to the suburbs."
Another commuter named Matt was taking a wait-and-see approach.
"Worse comes to worst, I don't know, I got some friends in the Bronx, I can always call them, see if I can just stay with them," he said. "Other than that, when stuff like this happens, you just wait. That's the only thing you can do."
UPDATE: Nanny's Motive in Disappearance With Girl Still a Mystery: NYPD
A New York City nanny was arrested and charged after she returned a missing toddler, police said.
The NYPD said Wednesday that 55-year-old Fatima Alexander has been charged with kidnapping, endangering the welfare of a child and unlawful imprisonment.
Police say she took 3-year-old Gabriella Russo, who went missing Tuesday morning, setting off a day-long police search.
Police are searching for a missing Manhattan toddler and her nanny, who havent been seen since Tuesday morning. Ray Villeda reports.
Both Gabriella and Alexander were unharmed and are in good condition, according to police.
The girl left her River Terrace home in Battery Park City with Alexander at about 9:15 a.m. to head to her day care as usual, according to police sources.
When the child didn't show up to her day care, the Preschool of America at 25 Market St., by noon, the school contacted her parents, sources said.
Getty Images
The nanny had been working for the family for about 15 years, according to the girl's aunt.
"She didn't make it to school," Rebecca Russo, Gabriella's aunt, said in tears Tuesday night. "We last saw her on surveillance cameras."
"Just bring her home," Russo pleaded. "You see it happening on the news, and it's happening to us, our family."
Alexander was expected to be arraigned later Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if she had a lawyer.
A woman whose son's body was found after she said he disappeared at a New Jersey carnival 25 years ago has been found guilty of killing the 5-year-old.
Michelle Lodzinski, formerly of Perth Amboy, was found guilty of first-degree murder Wednesday morning in the death of Timothy Wiltsey, who Lodzinski said went missing while they were at a carnival in Sayreville on May 25, 1991.
She later changed her story and said that Timothy had been kidnapped.
Timothy's body was found in a marshy, remote part of an industrial park in Edison nearly a year later, on April, 23, 1992.
Gasps were heard in the packed courtroom as the verdict was read. It followed several weeks of testimony.
Lodzinski did not speak, but her brother Michael Lodzinski told reporters later, "She was crying and shaking. I feel for her, I do. I love her. I'm sorry it had to happen this way."
But he added, "I think what was right was done, and Timothy did get justice."
"He's a great little boy and this should never happened to him," he said.
Michelle Lodzinski was quickly handcuffed and led away after the vedict. She faces sentencing in August, although her lawyer is expected to appeal.
First-degree murder is punishable by 30 years to life in prison in New Jersey.
Lodzinski was arrested in 2014 in Florida, where she was living, and had denied any role in her son's disappearance or killing.
The mother's arrest came after a cold-case review helped launch a new investigation.
The Middlesex County prosecutor at the time of Tomothys disappearance said following Lodzinski's 2014 arrest that he wasnt surprised and detectives had never stopped working the case.
"We didn't have sufficient evidence at the time to pull the trigger," Alan Rockoff previously told The Associated Press. "There was no direct smoking gun here."
Michael Lodzinski said he'd asked his sister several times over the years what happened to his nephew, "and I got nothing from her."
"We're devastated by this, right from the beginning it was a no-win situation for the family," he said.
When Michelle Lodzinski was led out of court, he shouted to her, "I love you, sis, very, very much."
Police say they're still trying to determine why a New York City nanny took off with a 3-year-old girl Tuesday morning and disappeared for 15 hours.
Fatima Alexander, 55, of Brooklyn, is facing charges including kidnapping after she took off with 3-year-old Gabriella Russo from the child's Battery Park City home shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday, according to police.
"She had no criminal record, so it's a little perplexing why she did this," said NYPD Chief of Detectives Bob Boyce. "She just said she wanted to take the child for a walk."
Alexander was supposed to take Gabriella to her preschool, but the girl never showed up. The school, Preschool of America at 25 Market St., called Gabriella's parents at around noon, setting off a day-long police search.
Alexander had left her phone at the family's River Terrace apartment, and police have been unable to track where she took Gabriella. Investigators said they're looking at other video and talking to bus drivers.
They believe the two spent the day riding mass transit around the city.
Alexander brought Gabriella home late Tuesday night, and family members crowded the nanny for answers as officers handcuffed her, video from The Daily News shows.
When asked by reporters, "Where did you go with Gabriella," Alexander replied, "Nowhere."
The next morning, as she was escorted from a police station after questioning, Alexander refused to comment at all.
Before the girl was returned, her aunt, Rebecca Russo, told NBC 4 New York the family was frantic.
"She didn't make it to school. She didn't make it. I don't know. They saw her leave here on camera and that was it," she said.
The family has known and trusted Alexander for more than a decade, making her actions even more perplexing.
Alexander was expected to be arraigned later Wednesday.
Police have arrested a suspect in the theft of a painting from a church in Manhattan.
Washington Dominguez, 64, was arrested Tuesday and charged with burglary.
Police had been looking for an older man seen in surveillance video sneaking into Saint Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church in Washington Heights.
In the video, the man stealthily makes off with a painting of a religious icon by hiding it under his coat.
It wasn't immediately known if Dominguez had an attorney.
The St. Francois County Commission is seeking bids for a professional masonry preservation/conservation consultant.
St. Francois County Associate Commissioner Patrick Mullins said they have been awarded a grant, but he has been told by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) not to announce that grant yet.
We dont have the main signatures on there. In the meantime, I have been given permission by DNR to maybe do a little bit of leg work and get this thing moving, said Mullins. I was looking at bidding out for a state historical preservation officer and DNR has since contacted me and said Lets change that wording, because in your contract application you were waived.
Mullins said the application process required a preservation architect or historical architect. He added those run in to the tens of thousands of dollars and he wanted to do it without trying to spend so much money.
So DNR waived that, but now the wording has to be professional masonry preservation/conservation consultant, said Mullins. I will be writing the specs up and submitting it to the paper and Im also going to be sending it to Dodge Report. We normally put stuff in the Dodge Report for our bridges, but they actually have a side gig on that to do consultant process. So I would like to put out for bid for a consultant for this courthouse project.
The Dodge Report is a site the county can advertise on that goes out to a lot of contractors.
Mullins said hell be reporting the numbers in the future, if the commission chooses to approve this grant.
Its a Courthouse Round 5 Grant. I applied for the Round 4 grant last year and was turned down, said Mullins. But in Round 5, we were accepted. Basically in a nutshell, DNR is going to give us $68,000 and we are going to spend $25,000.
Mullins spent close to 100 hours working on the application process for the grant. The Courthouse Round 5 grant is a grant match with the county.
Its for the masonry structure on the courthouse, said Mullins. If we dont do something in the next couple of years we are going to be spending a whole lot more money on that structure so Im just looking to see if we can put out the bid for a consultant on this project.
Presiding Commissioner Harold Gallaher clarified that they would get the $68,000 in addition to the $25,000 they will be spending.
They are concentrating on four areas, which was brought to my attention several years ago by St. Francois County Maintenance Supervisor Brian Briley, who I talked to this week, said Mullins. We want to concentrate on some areas at the courthouse, which is the four corners, steps, the columns and some spalling.
Spalling is the cracks below the surface. The concrete is breaking up and the plan is to get it repaired before there is irreparable damage.
We need a consultant, because this consultant will be able to take charge, do all the paperwork, do the walk-around and let them know this is what we do, said Mullins. In the bids I am going to require site visits.
Gallaher said this is a person who knows about the type of stone they have, knows about historical preservation and will tie those altogether to help them maintain the countys courthouse.
An undercover operation by the NYPD resulted in 14 arrests and an additional 21 warrants issued for scammers purporting to sell tickets to the Statue of Liberty and harbor tours.
The operation, dubbed "Tour de Force," was launched after a tourist had his skull fractured for refusing to buy tickets to the Statue of Liberty in February, and number of other complaints about ticket scammers.
The NYPD sent out undercover officers to pose as tourists, who discovered the phony ticket sellers would target foreign tourists. The scammers would approach the tourists, tell them tickets to the Statue of Liberty were sold out, then sell them a fake ticket to another boat.
Many of the hustlers were recent parolees who took jobs at ticket-selling businesses after they got out of jail, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller said Wednesday.
In February, two of the ticket sellers were arrested for assaulting a tourist, knocking him unconscious and fracturing his skull when he refused to buy tickets to the Statue of Liberty.
Robert Andersen, 25, and 19-year-old Teresa Thorson of Brooklyn, were arrested for the alleged attack.
Authorities allege Thorson approached the tourist and tried to sell him fake tickets to the landmark. When the victim refused, police say Andersen punched the man in the face.
The blow knocked the tourist unconscious and caused brain bleeding, police said. The man was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was treated for a fractured skull.
Thorson told NBC 4 New York at the time, "The tourist assaulted me," but declined to elaborate.
Thousands of mourners turned out to the funeral for one of the two Orthodox Jewish leaders from New York who drowned in rip currents at a beach in Miami Tuesday morning.
Men and women lined the street outside the Yetev Lev synagogue in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood Wednesday morning for funeral services for 67-year-old Isack Rosenberg.
Rosenberg and 66-year-old Chaim Parnes both died after they and a third person went swimming in an unguarded section of Miami's Haulover Beach on Tuesday, authorities said.
They began to struggle and were spotted by an off-duty police officer who jumped in the water and helped lifeguards who arrived on scene.
Rosenberg, of Williamsburg, and Parnes, of Kiryas Joel in Orange County, were unconscious when they were pulled from the water. They died a short time later.
The other man was pulled from the water but was OK, officials said.
Rosenberg was a developer and leader at the synagogue where he was memorialized on Wednesday.
Services for Parnes, a diamond dealer, were expected to begin Wednesday afternoon in Orange County.
Isaac Abraham, an Orthodox Jewish community leader in Williamsburg, said in a statement he grew up with the victims and went to school with them. He said he watched them "both grow up to be great leaders and entrepreneurs."
"We all lost a friend, family member, leader," Abraham said.
An Easton Area High School substitute teacher surrendered to authorities Tuesday after being accused of having sex with a student in a cemetery earlier this month.
Police allegedly found 49-year-old Kelly Aldinger having sex with the 17-year-old in a vehicle parked at the Easton Cemetery around 1 p.m. back on May 6.
According to police, Aldinger has known the victim for awhile and began the relationship when the teen, who is a junior at Easton High, was her student about 18 months ago.
The cemetery manager said the property has had issues with vandalism, drugs, and prostitution, but called the most recent case remarkably disturbing. The cemetery has plans to install cameras, along with adding more patrols, to keep the area safe.
Aldinger faces felony sex assault charges.
It was not immediately clear if Aldinger has an attorney.
Firefighters in New Jersey rescued a dog that became stranded on an island of debris in a pond Tuesday after chasing a flock of geese.
Captain Joe Coletta of the Bloomfield Fire Department waded into waist-high water to rescue the pooch from Clarks Pond behind the local middle school.
A video of the rescue shows the dog standing atop floating tree branches and other debris and carefully walking toward Coletta, who climbs out of a rowboat to retrieve the dog.
The dog, named Iggy, had been stranded for about an hour. His owner Carlos Velez told NBC 4 New York he had been walking him next to the school field when Iggy spotted some geese, got free of his leash and chased them all the way into the pond filled with muck and debris.
Velez was frantic.
"The neighbor called the fire department while I was screaming," he said.
Coletta jumped into the water not knowing how deep it was.
"I had a good guy with me, he would have come and got me," he said, shrugging off the danger.
It was shallow enough, and finally Iggy came over to him.
"You could see he was exhausted, it was trudging through. His legs kept getting stuck and I think that's when he kind of said, 'I'm going to give up and come to you,'" he said.
Coletta says he's saved plenty of cats and even ducklings. But this was his first dog rescue.
A feud boiled over early Wednesday leaving Philadelphia Police looking for one 19-year-old as another teenager fought for his life after being shot while investigating a fire set outside his home.
The incident began shortly after midnight when a family living along Lebanon Avenue near 57th Street in the citys Overbrook neighborhood came outside to investigate a folding chair on fire on their front porch.
More than likely the incendiary device was thrown on the front porch that caused the fire and the victim then came out to investigate, said Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small. Thats when he was confronted by the shooter.
The gunman identified by witnesses as a 19-year-old who lives nearby then opened fire at close range, striking the victim three times in the torso, said police.
Police rushed the man to Penn Presbyterian Hospital where he underwent surgery in critical condition overnight.
Small said that investigators believe the arson was to get the attention of the two men and two women inside the home so that he could attack the teen. The victims tried to shut the door but the gunman continued to fire through the front door, leaving three bullet holes in the door.
Investigators didnt identify the suspect as they continued to search for him Wednesday morning. [[379931631, C]]
The shooting/arson was part of a violent night in the city as 41-year-old Angelo Walker was shot and killed along the 3100 block of Clifford Street in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood.
A Wilmington councilman has asked the U.S. Attorney General to investigate the police-involved shooting death of a wheelchair-bound man after state authorities declined to file charges in the case.
Councilman Jea P. Street sent the letter to Loretta Lynch and Charles Oberly, Delaware's U.S. Attorney, on Tuesday asking them to review the state's probe into the death and further investigate. The state released the results of their investigation last week.
Jeremy McDole died after officers opened fire on him during a confrontation last September. The incident was caught on video by bystanders.
Police were called to the scene after a person called 911 to say McDole had fired three shots, and possibly shot himself, along the 1800 block of Tulip Street.
McDole, 28, who was paralyzed from the waist down, was shot three times after officers said he failed to comply with orders to show his hands, according to a state department of justice investigation. Police said they found a handgun in the man's shorts.
The state's investigation found the officers did not break the law, but did say one officer, Senior Corporal Joseph Dellose, exercised extremely poor judgment and should be fired for his role in the shooting.
Dellose was chastised by state investigators for surprising McDole and then only giving him two seconds to comply with his orders before opening fire with his shotgun, according to the state report. State investigators said they would've liked to file assault charges against the officer, but they felt the case wasn't strong enough.
McDole's family has filed a civil lawsuit against the police department.
The councilman included a copy of the state's report along with his letter asking federal authorities to investigate McDole's death.
NBC10 reached out to the U.S. Attorney's Office for comment, but has yet to hear back.
A PetSmart groomer has been arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty after a dog died in his care at a store in San Mateo, California, authorities said.
The dog, a 1-year-old male dachshund named Henry, died Sunday at the PetSmart in the 3500 block of South El Camino Real. Officers responded and spoke with the dog's owner, a 47-year old San Mateo resident who said he brought Henry to the store to be groomed, according to police.
About three minutes later, the groomer, identified as 38-year old Juan Zarate of San Francisco, exited the grooming office holding Henry and told officers the dog was suffering a medical emergency, police said. Henry was bleeding from the mouth and having trouble breathing.
Zarate took Henry to the on-site veterinarian, who took emergency measures to try to save him. The dog died a few minutes later, police said.
A postmortem X-ray determined Henry had suffered two broken ribs and a punctured lung, authorities said.
San Mateo police determined Zarate's deliberate actions contributed to the dog's death. Zarate was arrested at the scene and booked on suspicion of felony animal cruelty. He posted bail Monday and is no longer in custody. It's not clear if he has hired an attorney.
The Humane Society will conduct a necropsy on Henry to determine his cause of death.
PetSmart said in a statement Monday it is "heartbroken over the loss of Henry."
"Nothing is more important than the health and safety of pets, and we take full responsibility for the pets in our care," PetSmart said.
The company said it is conducting an internal investigation, and Zarate is suspended pending the outcome.
"Any incident of animal cruelty goes against everything we believe as a company and as individual pet parents," PetSmart said in the statement. "No words can express our deep sorrow for the family, and we will continue to work with the pet parent during this difficult time."
Hannah Hartman, who said her dog was maimed a couple years ago at another pet store, was devastated to learn of Henry's death but said she wasn't entirely surprised.
"My dog was almost killed and had to have a major hip surgery," she said.
Hartman, who has taken up the cause, said there is no law in California regulating pet groomers. While some are licensed, Hartman said, it's not mandated by the state.
A bill dubbed "Lucy's Law" was proposed in 2012 after a dog was severely injured by a groomer. Lawmakers rejected the measure, and Hartman has been fighting to revive it ever since.
"If the groomer is no longer working in that salon, he could be grooming a mile down the street," she said.
Teri DiMarino, president and founder of the California Professional Pet Groomers Association, said "Lucy's Law" is not the answer.
"Legislation and licensing is not going to do a whole lot of good because as with any licensed industry, there is no standard and no test for carelessness and stupidity, DiMarino said.
Ben & Jerry's wants you to know that democracy is in your hands and the Vermont-based company has launched a new flavor of creamy, chunky goodness churned for the cause.
Empower Mint was introduced in North Carolina Tuesday in conjunction with the launch of the "Democracy Is in Your Hands" campaign to support the NAACPs get out the vote efforts, protest voter suppression laws, and draw attention to dark money in politics.
Ben & Jerry's co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield attended the event in Raleigh along with Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II, president of the North Carolina NAACP.
Cohen and Greenfield said in a press release it chose North Carolina to launch the new flavor mint ice cream with brownie chunks and a fudge swirl because the state is at the epicenter of the fight for voting rights in the U.S.
"Almost immediately following the 2013 Supreme Court decision invalidating a critical section of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, North Carolina passed a package restrictive voting policies that disproportionately impact black, Hispanic, and younger voters," the founders wrote.
The limited edition ice cream is going to be part of the companys year-long effort to register at least 30,000 voters. Participating Ben & Jerry's scoop shops across the country will install kiosks to register voters.
It is also urging customers to demand that Congress reauthorize the landmark civil rights legislation, the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Trucks offering free scoops of Ben & Jerry's will tour North Carolina this summer with information about the campaign and voter registration.
Click here to read more about the campaign.
Click here to find out where you can buy Empower Mint.
In light of the St. Francois County 911 Board self-imposed delay on the purchase of a new Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) system until the project can be re-bid, 911 Director Alan Wells gave board members a report on other action items either recently completed or still in progress.
The report was given by Wells when the 911 board met in regular session May 11 at Desloge City Hall.
At its April meeting, the board had approved a motion to reject all CAD system bids already submitted and authorized the director and staff to send out new Requests for Proposal (RFP). Following the vote, Wells told the board that he and the committee would be open to any new, as well as previous vendors, who can meet the requirements as set out in the new RFP.
On the CAD, that is open at the time for discussion a little bit later here on the agenda, Wells told the board. Well be discussing it in executive session.
Wells provided board members an update on staffing at the 911 center.
Last month we reported that we had a retiree announcement, another who had to go out early on maternity leave/sick leave; and a third who resigned, he said. We have retained four new staff that are in training as we speak and they are progressing rather well. So, we should be back to staff level a good optimum level in probably another month. Theyll start coming out of their training program.
Wells informed the board that the flyovers for the countys Pictometry mapping project have been completed.
Theyre doing a process of quality control reviewing the data and we expect deliverables of that within three weeks, he said. While the deliverables should be in hand, there will still be some training that will be going on with that.
He noted that work on the radio systems is ongoing.
Weve just finished repair of the field units, he said. Its part of that project to help improve the communications initiative.
Wells said the state is doing a study in St. Francois, Madison, Iron and Ste. Genevieve counties.
They want to come to the table with us to look at some share of maybe some towering and so on and so forth to help improve their MOSWIN (Missouri State-Wide Interoperable Radio Network) their statewide initiative, he said. They were scheduled to have that done last week. I have not heard anything from them yet.
Wells added that because of the state and other issues, his goal to have the communications initiative completed by July will most likely be delayed.
But I think its conducive for us to continue that with them to reduce our cost, he said.
Wells reported continued progress on the 911 project.
AT&T has developed their new technology and it is now coming out available, he said. So, were kind of at a stall waiting for that to happen with them, but they are coming along and progressing with that. By the end of the year towards the fall were going to have to sit down and start getting through those negotiations with them on the new 911 systems, whether we stay contracting through them or we go out and contract independently on a 911 system. However, whatever we do has got to tie-in with their infrastructure. They are our primary telephone provider for our jurisdiction. Were limited on what we can do there.
Wells said the new system is called Next Generation 9-1-1 which will allow the 911 center to receive texting and VoIP (Voice over IP), as well as other new technologies when they become available.
As far as the space and building initiative, the director said, Were having communications with architects and I have a prepared RFQ (Request For Qualifications) ready to go out to all the architects Ive been able to locate so far in the state and a couple of them are in the county and then meet with Mark Allens committee and look at those. They are to be returned to us by May 27.
Wells also reported that renovations and painting of the 911 centers antenna tower have been completed.
In the monthly summary of calls for service, the director reported there was an average of 325 calls per day for a total of 9,742 for the month. Of that total there were 3,252 911 calls; 8,999 administrative calls and 194 office calls.
Confusion and outrage continued Tuesday over the death of a dog, allegedly at the hands of a groomer, at a San Mateo PetSmart store.
The dog's owner, identified only as a 47-year-old San Mateo resident, has declined to comment. But the regular groomer for Henry, a 1-year-old Dachshund, said she couldn't understand how such a mild-mannered dog could go in for a nail trim and end up dead.
"He was always submissive, always in a happy mood. ... I'm just devastated," said Adeline Martinez as she held Henry's sister while talking with a reporter. Martinez was feeling guilt-stricken after she and Henry's owner had a minor scheduling conflict Sunday, she said.
Henry died Sunday at the store in the 3500 block of South El Camino Real. Early X-rays showed he suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung. The groomer, 38-year-old Juan Zarate was arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty and subsequently released on bail.
San Mateo police determined Zarate's deliberate actions contributed to the dog's death. It's not clear if Zarate has hired an attorney.
Zarate could not be reached for comment, but friends of his have said he is a gentle man and not capable of violence.
The Humane Society will conduct a necropsy on Henry to determine his cause of death.
PetSmart said in a statement Monday it is "heartbroken over the loss of Henry."
"Nothing is more important than the health and safety of pets, and we take full responsibility for the pets in our care," PetSmart said.
The company said it is conducting an internal investigation, and Zarate is suspended pending the outcome.
"Any incident of animal cruelty goes against everything we believe as a company and as individual pet parents," PetSmart said in the statement. "No words can express our deep sorrow for the family, and we will continue to work with the pet parent during this difficult time."
Other possible cases at the same location have surfaced. Hillary Kerns says she called police April 13 to the same PetSmart store because she brought her dog Macy in for a flea dip, and the dog had been injured.
"The doctor came in, and in fact, (Macy) did get burned at the groomer," Kerns said. "And when they shaved her stomach, they cut her. So, to add insult to injury, they cut her while they were treating her."
Hannah Hartman, who said her dog was maimed a couple years ago at another pet store, was devastated to learn of Henry's death but said she wasn't entirely surprised.
"My dog was almost killed and had to have a major hip surgery," she said.
Hartman, who has taken up the cause, said there is no law in California regulating pet groomers. While some are licensed, Hartman said, it's not mandated by the state.
A bill dubbed "Lucy's Law" was proposed in 2012 after a dog was severely injured by a groomer. Lawmakers rejected the measure, and Hartman has been fighting to revive it ever since.
"If the groomer is no longer working in that salon, he could be grooming a mile down the street," she said.
Teri DiMarino, president and founder of the California Professional Pet Groomers Association, said "Lucy's Law" is not the answer.
"Legislation and licensing is not going to do a whole lot of good because as with any licensed industry, there is no standard and no test for carelessness and stupidity, DiMarino said.
The lone remaining external fuel tank from NASA's space shuttle program arrived early Wednesday in Marina del Rey for the final leg of its journey to the California Science Center.
The rust-colored tank, aka ET-94, was transported on a barge during a month-long sea voyage from a NASA assembly plant in New Orleans. The 15-story, 32 1/2-ton tank was never used and will become part of the Science Center's display that features the retired Endeavour space shuttle which made its own celebrated trip on Los Angeles' streets to Exposition Park after a spectacular Southern California flyover on the back of a jumbo jet.
ET-94 began its journey to Los Angeles on April 10 when it was pulled out of NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana. Two days later, it was tugged into the Gulf of Mexico to begin a sea voyage that took it through the Panama Canal.
The transport crew made headlines during the trip when crew members helped rescue four people who abandoned a sinking sportfishing boat off Baja, California.
A tugboat pulled ET-94 out of San Diego waters Tuesday morning, and the barge floated out of the fog and toward the dock around 6 a.m. Wednesday in Marina Del Rey.
"I think this is awesome, couldn't wait to get down here this morning," said resident Dean Reutter.
The tank will remain at the marina until about midnight Saturday, when it is scheduled to begin a slow, 12-mile journey to the Science Center that will likely continue into Saturday night.
The caravan will travel at about 5 mph down Lincoln and Culver boulevards, to Westchester Parkway, then through Inglewood on Arbor Vitae Street to La Brea Avenue, past the Forum, and north on Vermont Avenue to the museum. It will be joined to Endeavour and, eventually, two booster rockets at the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.
"This will be the only place in the world where a whole space shuttle stack with real hardware will be available," said Science Center President Jeffrey N. Rudolph.
The shuttle stack will be available for viewing next week.
The external tanks, which provided the shuttles with the propellants needed to enter space, were designed to detach from the shuttles and disintegrate as they plummeted back to Earth. ET-94 is actually made up of three tanks: one for oxygen, another for hydrogen and a third collar-like intertank that connects the two others.
The external tank also provided structural support for the shuttles and booster rockets when they were upright on the launch pad.
The ET's skin was coated with polyisocyanurate foam, which protected the tank from heat and helped maintain the proper temperature for the propellants it contained. Its job was done about 8 1/2 minutes after launch when it was jettisoned from the shuttle.
Most of the tank disintegrated in the atmosphere; the rest splashed into the ocean.
NASA used three types of external tanks for the space shuttle program: standard weight, more advanced lightweight tanks and super lightweight tanks. ET-94 is considered a lightweight tank, commonly used throughout the 1990s.
ET-94 was delivered to NASA in January 2001 and, although it was never used in flight, investigators looking into the 2003 Columbia disaster examined the tank in search of possible problems that might have led to the re-entry break-up that killed seven crew members. The team dissected foam coating from parts of the tank, which explains why there are pieces of foam missing from ET-94.
The tank will be restored before it joins Endeavour on display.
Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders will be in San Diego on Saturday, NBC 7 learned Tuesday.
He will hold a rally at Kimball Park at 7 p.m. in National City. Carpooling is encouraged as parking will be limited, according to Sanders' website.
National City Mayor Ron Morrison told NBC 7 the Sanders' campaign team approached them Tuesday about a visit.
The National City Council approved the visit in a meeting Tuesday night.
The city is expecting "thousands" to turn out for the event, he said. There will be heavy security, handled by the Secret Service.
Morrison says National City staff will meet with officials from Sanders' campaign to discuss details Wednesday.
The event is free, but an RSVP is recommended. The event is open starting 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders is already in Southern California, speaking to thousands of supporters at Cal State Dominiguez Hills in Carson.
NBC 7 has also confirmed former President Bill Clinton will be in town this weekend.
The Hillary Clinton Campaign opened up an office in Bankers Hill Tuesday.
Local Clinton supporters Assembly Member Toni Atkins and Councilmember Todd Gloria, along with other elected leaders, hosted organizers and volunteers at the Hillary for America office.
Both Democratic candidates are ramping up their efforts to reach out to supporters ahead of the June 7th primary in California.
Ed. Note: A previous version of this article mentioned an event with President Clinton planned at the Rancho Bernardo Inn. The venue denies there is a scheduled event and has asked us to remove the mention.
A family in the College Area learned the hard way about a little-known law and its now costing them $160 a month to resolve.
A neighbor reported the Tatum family to the citys code enforcement for having a cluttered garage.
Say what?
According to San Diegos municipal code Chapter 14, Article 2, Division 5, regulations require San Diegans to keep their garage open for parking two vehicles.
The family violated code by keeping too many storage items in their garage and were given a warning of a $500 penalty if they didn't declutter their space.
We live an active lifestyle here in San Diego, Susan Tatum said. Weve got boogie boards. Weve got the full array of what families have: sporting equipment, fishing gear, tools.
Tatum said shes baffled by the ordinance.
Theres probably hundreds of thousands, if not more, of people who use their garage for storage, she said.
Apparently the Tatums arent the only rule breakers in the neighborhood.
A city spokesperson admits the cluttered garage violation is a fairly common occurrence, and while code compliance officers arent upping enforcement tactics, they do respond to complaints.
Now, the family must pay $160 a month for a storage locker to keep their odds and ends. But their garage is tidy and open.
Lesson learned, at a price.
The Escondido Police Department is seeking information about a suspicious man who attempted to lure a teen into his car in the 1000 block of E. Washington Avenue on May 9th.
Police say a man, 40-50 years old, driving an older red convertible, attempted to lure a teen-aged girl into his car. He offered her money in exchange for directions. The girl did not get into the car and reported the incident to police.
A witness saw a similar man in a similar car speaking to another girl in the area. That girl did get into the car. The witness followed the car and believes the man noticed because he let the girl out of the car and sped away.
The girl was dropped off unharmed and while police are not linking these incidents to any other attempted abductions, investigators are asking for the publics help.
The Escondido Police Department is asking anyone with information regarding the two incidents, or any other suspicious incidents involving the convertible, to call Detective Elizabeth Hundley at (760) 839-4965.
More than a year after the top cop in Calexico compared his own department and city officials to the New York mafia, the U.S. Department of Justice has released the results of its audit.
Among their findings: Officers were choosing where they would patrol instead of being assigned, there were no cameras or logbook controlling the department's evidence locker and there was no clear policy on use of force options.
Former Calexico Police Chief Mike Bostic was moved to tears in December 2014 when he publicly accused councilmembers and the police union of corruption.
Exactly like the Mafioso in New York. Thats exactly how they are operating, the chief said.
After he was on the job for three or four days, Bostic discovered the investigations unit was not working any active cases. The same was true with the narcotics and internal affairs units.
Bostic called in the FBI just two weeks after he took the office in the small border town east of San Diego.
Calexico Police Chief Mike Bostic, a 34-year veteran of law enforcement, was brought to tears describing how he had to call in the FBI after just two weeks on the job.
The report prepared by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) identified several key findings:
Instability in leadership
A lack of supervision and accountability
Absence of community policing practices
Poorly functioning Internal Affairs
No early intervention practices
Patrol operations lack resources and coordination
No crime analysis and information sharing internally or externally
COPS made 169 recommendations to help the community reestablish trust with its residents.
"The number and severity of the findings in this assessment reflect the need for the Calexico Police Department to overhaul its core operational systems," said COPS Office Director Ronald Davis.
The Hillary Clinton campaign officially opened an organizing office in Bankers Hill Tuesday the first in San Diego.
Local Clinton supporters Assembly Member Toni Atkins and Councilmember Todd Gloria, along with other elected leaders, hosted organizers and volunteers at the Hillary for America office.
San Diego is ready, Atkins said. We are the second largest city in the state. We have a lot to contribute. We know how to do campaignsI think its an exciting time to come together and say why it is we are supporting Hillary.
Atkins said she worries some people in the country might take their right to vote for granted.
In San Diego we have worked really hard, in a grassroots fashion, to make sure that we turn out the vote," she told NBC 7.
Atkins said they would be out fundraising, knocking on doors and making phone calls from the office. Bill Clinton will also be in San Diego on Saturday, Atkins said.
Hillary is the person with the experience, the person who knows how to make things happen for Californians, Atkins explained. Particularly when you look at some of the issues in this campaign it is aboutbuilding bridges, not being divisive and taking positions that tear people apart. And we know that Hillary can do that.
Councilmember Todd Gloria said he thinks the Secretary of State has a plan to solve issues important to many Californians, such as wage inequality and the disappearing middle class.
I think a lot of us have been supporters of Mrs. Clinton for many, many years, and the chance to put her over the top, gain the nomination, then move forward to the White House, I think thats really exciting and historic for California, Gloria said.
Secretary Clinton has a pledged delegate lead of nearly 300 over Senator Bernie Sanders.
The California Democratic primary is on June 7.
Three fishermen stranded on the Coronado Islands in Mexico were rescued Monday in a joint effort by the San Diego Coast Guard and the Mexican Maritime Search and Rescue.
Around 9:30 p.m., a woman reported to the Sector San Diego Joint Harbor Operations Center that her brother and his two friends were stranded after their fishing boat capsized.
The MH-60 Jayhawk entered Mexico airspace after receiving permission while the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Petrel and a team from Mexican Maritime Search and Rescue combed the waters off the coast of Mexico.
The Coast Guard helicopter located the fishermen after spotting a fire on the beach of the Coronado Islands.
The men were flown to Sector San Diego around 11:30 where the U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers as well as EMS evaluated them.
All three are Mexican nationals and were taken into custody to be taken back to Mexico.
Several parents demanded answers Wednesday from Poway Unified School District trustees regarding the inadvertent release of student education records.
"Why cant you talk to the public? This leadership is a joke," Jeff Riley asked the board in the special session. The U.S. Navy veteran was angry when he learned it was 10 days before the district notified parents of the breach in security.
"What was released and what wasnt? We still dont know that," Riley told NBC 7. "Theyre not specifically saying what was put out there."
Parents of PUSD students received an email Monday alerting them that the records were released accidentally.
Associate Superintendent Malliga Tholandi said the records handed over under a California Public Records Request Act included directory information and district-based test scores. No social security numbers were included, she added.
Gabriela Dow, a Poway parent and a member of the Education Technology Advisory Committee, said she wrote the CPRA after months of being denied information by the superintendent and staff.
Dow told the board she has prepared a letter to the governor detailing the events leading up to her CPRA request.
She also said her laptop containing the student education records has been delivered to the District Attorneys Office.
One CD, one laptop doesnt mean the information hasnt already been shared in multiple places for years, Dow said.
the most troubling spreadsheet with 36,444 student records was from a July 2014 email from an outside vendor. Gaby Dow (@GabrielaDow) May 17, 2016
Several other parents demanded the district inform the parents with how they plan to make sure a similar release of data doesn't happen in the future.
My expectation as a parent and someone who is a taxpayer in this community is that there would be a thorough audit on where this information has been released, said Melissa Lazaro.
Following the closed session, the board said it will direct staff to move the handling of CPRA requests in house as of May 18.
The board also wants a detailed description of events that can be released to the community.
A spokesperson said that information "will be forthcoming ASAP."
The next regular board meeting will be Tuesday, May 31 at 6:00 p.m.
The records were released under a California Public Records Act (CPRA) request. By state law, public agencies must provide records on request to anyone who wants to inspect the records during office hours. There are some exceptions to this rule like birth or adoption records or attorney-client discussions.
However, there is also a federal law that protects students education records from being released without a parents written permission.
Nearly all law enforcement agencies in the country are moving toward using body worn cameras, with San Diego Police Department (SDPD) leading the way.
But up until very recently the footage from major incidents was not made available to the public.
Now District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, Sheriff Bill Gore and SDPD Chief Shelley Zimmerman are crafting a policy that involves releasing body camera video of officer-involved shootings to the public as soon after the incident as possible.
Law enforcement leaders say the key is to put the video into context. Often the video will only show one angle and can be misleading.
"Before body camera use was prevalent, we had similar issues with cell video," said Sheriff Bill Gore. "Everybody's got a camera on their hips, it's their iPhone. But frequently what we saw is a confrontation developing between police and an individual, and then right at the moment, a use of force is employed, that's when the person pulls out the smart phone gets a picture that's completely out of context."
Gore says the context the videos will be released with includes witness statements, ballistic reports and other information, possibly surveillance video from other angles.
The agencies are at the forefront of the issue nationally with SDPD being one of the first to implement body camera video but then struggling with public pressure for access to the footage.
Many other police agencies in the U.S. post every video they record.
Some in the community say they still feel their questions are not always heard.
Only a small handful of community members were present at the meeting at Cherokee Point Elementary.
A representative from LAPD also attended the meeting to potentially model some of their policies after the ones being developed in San Diego.
City Attorney candidate Rafael Castellanos attended the town hall as well. The meeting is the second in a series of community meetings designed to receive input from the public.
SDPD Chief Zimmerman said the response from the community to the policy change has been overwhelmingly positive.
"I'm on board with it. I think it's the right thing to do," Zimmerman said. "We want to make sure there's a balance between the rights of the individuals involved in the incidents and some in the public who want to see the video."
Sheriff Bill Gore says there will be not be a set timeline on when videos will be released but the agencies will try to release it as soon as they can. It will also depend on whether there are no criminal charges or civil legal issues invloved. Also, if there is a potential civil issue, then the video will be released when the case is in court.
"Not releasing the body camera video defeats one of its key purposes, which is to build trust between the community and law enforcement," he said.
The family of a local firefighter who took his own life after struggling with PTSD for nearly a year wants to save other families from suffering the same fate.
"I just can't let him go quietly because we lost an angel, Chad Vakilis sister, Laleh Hanks said.
Vakili, 32, was a firefighter for the US Air Force in San Diego and served one tour in the Middle East.
He was diagnosed with PTSD a few years after his tour.
Vakili was getting therapy and was on medication, but both had been postponed a couple weeks ago during a recent move away from San Diego. Vakili died on May 1.
Could I have called him one more time? Should I have brought it up? And there are a lot of people struggling with this, and we just want them to know that it's not a weakness. It's something we can get through together, Hanks said.
She said she wants her brother to have the memorial he deserves. Vakilis family is asking that anyone who is available to please come to the service at The Church At Rancho Bernardo, the funeral procession, or the salute to service on the freeway overpasses on the way to Miramar National Cemetery where Vakili will be buried.
Everyone is welcome to attend the memorial at the cemetery.
"We just want to give him the service that he deserves, and we just ask for support from our neighbors and, you know, citizens. We have to pull together and help our heroes."
She also said she is determined to do more to spread the word about PTSD.
"These men and women have gone to war and obviously seen things that we can't possibly relate to, and they stood in front of us and it's our time to stand behind them, she said.
Hanks said she plans to collect signatures to change how veterans get treatment.
"I do believe that we should demand that therapy as part of their benefit once a week and not just leave it up to the veteran. There needs to be an effort to save these heroes, she said. "I just really think we need to treat this almost like alcoholism. We need to teach coping skills I'm very frustrated that the solution now seems to be medicine.
She said she keeps asking herself what more could we have done? and has decided to start a website what that title.
"I know Chad was our angel, but I know that there's another veteran right now that probably took their life and they were somebody's angel."
The details of the Thursday afternoon service can be found here.
The Naval ship USS Lake Erie will be open to the public at downtown San Diego's Broadway Pier this weekend.
The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser will be available for tours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. All visitors in line by 4 p.m. will be accommodated for a tour.
The USS Lake Erie, homeported in San Diego, is the 24th guided-missile cruiser equipped with the AEGIS weapons system that uses powerful computer and radar technology to track and guide weapons to destroy enemy targets.
The ship was commissioned in July 1993 and was built to perform primarily in a battle force role.
The ship is capable of supporting carrier battle groups, amphibious forces or operating independently and as flagships of surface action groups.
The USS Lake Erie is equipped with long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles and has been outfitted with Ballistic Missile Defense Capability.
Visitors will be boarded on a first-come first-serve basis and may have to wait in line.
There will be a security screening, and its recommended visitors wear comfortable, closed-toe shoes. All visitors over 18 are required to bring a government issued I.D., and people under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
The ship is not handicapped accessible and visitors must be able to move about the ship and up and down steep stairways.
A Southwest Airlines flight bound for Chicago was forced to double back to Boston's Logan Airport on Monday night after hitting turbulence so severe passengers vomited and passed out and four people were injured.
Flight 147 had only been in the air about 10 minutes when the plane hit bad turbulence around 9:20 p.m. ET, flight officials said.
Some of the 133 passengers on board said they felt as if the plane had been falling before it "suddenly stopped." Witnesses told NBC Chicago the impact was so severe, some people on board started throwing up and others fainted, prompting the pilot to ask for help from passengers with medical training.
"I helped one of the flight attendants [then] went back to the seat," said Dr. Nathaniel George, a podiatrist from Chicago. "I think somebody yelled out. Another passenger got nauseous. ... Then they said they had to turn the plane around."
Chicago nurse Sherry Sanchez was among those who jumped in to help.
"There was another girl passed out, there was about four to five people throwing up," Sanchez recalled in an interview with NBC Chicago. "The other flight attendant fell into the side of a chair, hurt his arm, but he didn't break it. ... It was pretty scary for everybody on the plane."
The pilot turned the plane around and landed in Boston just after midnight. According to MassPort, four people suffered minor injuries. Two were taken to a local hospital. The other two refused medical treatment.
"Thankfully, there were a lot of people able to help," said passenger Angela Gordon, a teacher in Chicago. "Everyone came together and supported one another, but we're all exhausted."
Southwest brought in a new flight crew and the plane departed once again for Chicago, according the airline. It landed at Midway Airport around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, about four and a half hours behind schedule.
Dozens of polling locations in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia are at risk of being inaccessible to voters with disabilities.
The polling places could present a variety of hurdles blocking access to people in wheelchairs or with limited range of movement, including heavy doors, steep wheelchair ramps, inoperative doorbells and narrow entranceways.
Though elections officials have been formally notified about some of the problems, not all have been corrected and some might be irreparable before Election Day.
An Office of District of Columbia Auditor report reviewed by the News4 I-Team shows 37 of the citys almost 140 polling precincts suffered from access problems for people with disabilities during the 2014 elections. Though D.C. Board of Elections officials told the I-Team fixes have since been made, an agency memo in 2015 warned the city has no alternative but to use voting locations with accessibility problems.
The I-Team, with the assistance of disability advocates from the University Legal Services and a wheelchair user, checked four D.C. polling sites this month. Each continued to suffer from potential hurdles to voting for people with disabilities.
Outside a polling location at a church in Southeast D.C., the wheelchair user, Ian Watlington, a disability advocacy specialist with the National Disability Rights Network, showed the I-Team the challenges he experienced trying to navigate toward and open an Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible entrance door.
Outside another Southeast D.C. church designated as a polling place, Watlington told the I-Team he experienced challenges trying to ascend a wheelchair ramp. The incline was too steep, he said.
At a prep school in Northeast, Watlington reported traversing a winding path, two city blocks in length to reach an ADA entrance.
Watlington said the obstacles could dissuade people with disabilities from voting.
If people know their polling site and had a bad experience, they just dont vote anymore, he said.
Though (the polling locations) may technically meet the letter of the law, certainly the spirit of ease and equal use is not met in sites like this, Watlington said.
D.C. Board of Elections attorney Terrica Jennings said the agency has made fixes after the 2014 elections to ensure people with disabilities will be able to access polling locations in June. Additional staff will be deployed during Election Day to help assist voters who encounter access problems at entrances, she said.
We do our best to prepare for the elections, but some things are going to happen that are going to be out of our control," Jennings said. She cited doorbells with dead batteries or removed signs as examples of problems that are challenging for the Board of Elections to anticipate.
A December 2015 memo issued by the Board of Elections acknowledged a series of challenges the agency encounters in providing full access to people with disabilities.
The lack of cooperation from managers of certain facilities used as polling places have a direct impact on accessibility at certain polling places, the memo said. The lack of alternative polling place options for relocation requires that the (Board of Elections) continue to use certain facilities despite accessibility issues.
A review of Virginia polling locations by the Disability Law Center of Virginia reported almost 40 of the 200 polling sites reviewed during the 2016 primaries suffered access issued for the disabled. One of those sites, a church in Fairfax County, had a broken entrance button at its ADA entrance. Parking for the disabled was also limited near the entrance. The I-Team found the same hurdles remain, weeks after the voting and the organizations report.
The Maryland State Board of Elections reported at least eight polling sites with accessibility problems as of February 2016, including a public school in Prince Georges County. The report also cited an election site at a hall in Frederick County, in which state investigators reported problems with an entrance ramp.
Reported by Scott MacFarlane, produced by Rick Yarborough, and shot and edited by Jeff Piper.
Two people were hurt when a driver slammed through the front of a grocery store near a senior citizens' community Thursday afternoon in Silver Spring, Maryland.
The car crashed into the Giant store on the 3800 block of International Drive, near the Leisure World homes, a Montgomery County fire department spokesman said.
Video and photos show the car slammed into the store near the checkout lanes, sending cinderblocks and debris raining down.
Leisure World Plaza - no serious injury - car crashed into front of store - no pedestrians or store patrons injured pic.twitter.com/3DFjP3t7DN Pete Piringer (@mcfrsPIO) May 12, 2016
Two people received non-life-threatening injuries.
Information on the cause of the crash was not released immediately.
The store was closed.
Stay with News4 for more details on this developing story.
A House committee approved a bill on Tuesday that would block the District of Columbia government from spending local tax dollars without approval by Congress.
The party-line vote by the House Oversight Committee was not a surprise after Republican leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, characterized the city's so-called "budget autonomy" law as an illegal attempt to take power away from Congress.
The District government has sent its budget to Congress for approval every year since the city was granted home rule in 1973. But this year, city leaders planned to skip that step. City voters approved a referendum granting freedom over the budget to the District, and a judge ruled in the city's favor after the law was challenged in court.
The arcane issue of how and when the city can spend its money is a big deal to local officials and advocates of home rule, who say it's unfair for the city government to be treated like a federal agency. Roughly three-quarters of the city's $13 billion budget comes from local tax dollars rather than federal appropriations. In the past, the city government has been forced to close during federal shutdowns even though it had the money to continue operating.
But Republicans said Congress clearly intended to have the final say over the city budget when it granted home rule.
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat who represents the District in Congress, noted that budget autonomy has garnered plenty of Republican support in the past. She said local control of the local budget is a commonsense principle that saves both time and money.
"This is the most significant abuse of congressional authority since the passage of the Home Rule Act in 1973," Norton said.
Norton said the Senate is unlikely to take up the bill. However, Republicans could ensure its passage by inserting identical language into an appropriations bill or another critical piece of legislation.
One very feisty Virginia woman chose death over voting in this year's presidential election, at least according to her obituary.
"Faced with the prospect of voting for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, Mary Anne Noland of Richmond chose, instead, to pass into the eternal love of God," the obituary reads.
Noland, 68, died Sunday after a long battle with lung cancer, her husband, Jim Noland, told NBC12 in Richmond.
Noland's qurky obituary has been getting a lot of attention, but her family says it wasn't meant to be a political statement. Jim Noland told NBC12 that one of the couple's sons hoped to capture his mother's spirit and sense of humor with the obituary's opening line.
Jim Noland said he's sure his wife is laughing along with them in heaven.
Mary Anne Noland's obituary is not the first to include commentary about this year's heated presidential race.
Last week in Alabama, relatives of 34-year-old Katherine Michelle Hinds, published an obituary that included, "In lieu of flowers, do not vote for Donald Trump.''
Hinds' mother, Susan Pool, said her daughter did not like the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and feared for the future for her three young children if he's elected. Pool never talked to her daughter about the possibility of including an anti-Trump message in her obituary, she said, but knows she would have liked it.
Just before dying earlier this month, Carl Crocetti, of Stoughton, Massachusetts, told his companion he wanted Donald Trump to be president. The Enterprise of Brockton, Massachusetts, reported his family tried to honor that wish by wrapping up his obituary with the request "that people elect NOT to vote for Hillary Clinton in the presidential election in November.''
The Montgomery County, Maryland, Office of Consumer Protections will return clothes to customers after a dry-cleaning business was evicted.
A landlord evicted the owners of Super Cleaners from their Silver Spring storefront after they failed to pay rent for two years, forcing the business to close.
After dozens of customers voiced concerns about getting their clothing back, OCP officials coordinated with the building's landlord to open the store to customers so their clothes aren't placed on the sidewalk, as would happen in a typical eviction. Customers can retrieve their clothing while OCP personnel staff the building May 18-20 from 3-7 p.m. and May 21 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Customers must bring an ID or their dry cleaning receipt to claim their items. Unclaimed items will be donated to charity.
"We greatly appreciate the cooperation of the landlord, Washington REIT, in helping our staff find creative solutions to fulfill our mission of ensuring integrity in our marketplace," said Eric Friedman, director of OCP, in a statement.
OCP advised customers to check their Facebook page for further updates.
What to Know Victim found shot to dead in bed at his Vienna home in July.
Wife indicted Monday on charges of second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
A Virginia woman shot and killed her husband in his bed last summer, according to Fairfax County Police.
Eric LaRocque, 33, was found dead inside his Vienna home July 31.
Kim Pham LaRocque, 35, mourned her husband along with family after his sudden death. Twelve days after he died she updated her Facebook profile picture with a button bearing her husband's initials and reading: Forever in our hearts.
Police discovered a handgun and bullet at the scene, according to a search warrant. They seized computers and cellphones from the home and analyzed the data. They presented their case Monday.
A grand jury indicted Kim LaRocque on charges of second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Police arrested her Monday night as she left her job at Fannie Mae. She is being held without bond.
Police did not comment on a motive for the shooting.
Kim and Eric LaRocque were Virginia Tech graduates with two children. Eric LaRocque was a successful engineer at Dewberry Consultants.
"We find no comfort in these proceedings, but they are important to all who knew and loved Eric," a statement from the victim's family read. "Our focus is on Eric's children."
DEAR HARRIETTE: One of my closest friends recently came out of the closet at 25. I was so happy for him as he began exploring the gay scene in our city, but my joy has slowly turned into concern. He has entered a promiscuous phase, and I am concerned, not just because of sexually transmitted infections, but also because our local scene, especially as people of color, is not so big.
I really want to support my friend in exploring his newfound freedom, but I worry he may not be going about this in the smartest way. Do you think my concerns are legitimate? If so, how can I talk to him about this without sounding judgmental? Any help would be greatly appreciated. -- Drive Slow Homie, Port Chester, New York
DEAR DRIVE SLOW HOMIE: It is hard for people to have perspective when they are caught up in the moment. This means that your friend may not hear you until after the damage is done, but you can try. Ask him to get together. Check in to find out how your friend is doing and where his head is. Remind him of how happy you are for him that he accepted who he is and sought to explore that. Tell him that you are concerned that he is not being responsible to his body or to his reputation by his current behavior. Just go for it. Tell him you know he may get mad, but that you care about him enough to tell him the truth. Suggest that he take a step back to think about what his actions are saying about him and if he believes that the message matches his intention.
DEAR HARRIETTE: I started going out with this beautiful, intelligent and adventurous woman. Things started out well. However, she has one habit that is becoming a growing concern for me. She seems to have this need to incessantly badmouth her ex.
I understand that breakups can be bad, but this is starting to become more than uncomfortable. I've talked to her about this, and she said she would be careful to not talk about him. That lasted about a week. I'm starting to think she's not really over him, and I would hate to waste my time pursuing something she isn't ready for. Do you think I should try to press the issue, or do you think it may be time for me to move along? -- No Focus, Dallas
DEAR NO FOCUS: The next time your girlfriend utters anything about her ex, jump in and tell her that you don't want to know any more about him. Stop her, and make it clear that you care a lot about her and want to get to know her better, but that you feel she is stuck on her ex. Ask her to share with you about who she is, her life, beyond her ex. Add that if she feels she is not yet over him, you will step aside until she is ready. Make it clear that there is no room in your relationship for her ex to have an ongoing role.
DEAR HARRIETTE: I have been going through a divorce for four years. My future ex-husband and I fight about everything. If it's not child support, it's living situations or seemingly anything. My best friend Jenna's marriage fell apart at the same time as mine, and her divorce has been finalized for over two years. The entire process was quick for her, she says, because she approached her divorce like a business.
This is hurtful to me because it seems like she is implying that I am drawing mine out for the sake of feelings. My entire divorce is messy, and I am jealous of Jenna's divorce, but I don't think she has the right to judge how my process is going. I stay quiet about my proceedings, but Jenna continues to ask. How do I tell her to butt out of my business? I don't need her judging tones regarding my divorce. -- Butt Out, Dallas
DEAR BUTT OUT: Jenna probably doesn't realize that she's passing judgment on you. Chances are, she thinks she is helping you by urging you on. Sit down and tell her that her constant questioning makes you uncomfortable. Admit that your prolonged divorce proceedings make you miserable, and her comments make you feel judged. Ask her to lighten up.
DEAR HARRIETTE: I am a college student at a state school. I go here because of the affordable tuition, but some attend because of the excellent academics. This isn't to say I don't appreciate the academics; I just didn't have the option to pick an out-of-state or private university.
A girl who runs in the same circle as me is, for lack of a better word, a spoiled brat. She has her own car, her own apartment and all the funds she ever needs. Sometimes I wish I were in her shoes, but she loses friends because of the way she acts about her belongings. For example, she'll complain that her mother "only" gave her $300 in spending money for the week. That's more than I could even spend in a month! She'll complain that no one is fun because they can't go to the same expensive concert as her or shop till they drop at the mall.
She has noticed that she is losing friends and has turned to me as her confidant because no one else will listen. She's really confused as to why she turns other people off. Should I just be blunt with her and tell her people don't like her because she's a brat? -- Truth Police, Syracuse, New York
DEAR TRUTH POLICE: Since this girl has asked for your honest assessment, tell her what you think. Frame it as your observation of her ostentatious behavior. Tell her that the way she brags about her wealth makes you uncomfortable and probably makes others antsy, too. Tell her that not every student has the same level of privilege she has, and her constant flaunting of her financial abundance is a turn-off. Suggest that she try to make friends just by getting to know people rather than buying a good time.
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
What to Know Archdiocese of Washington, Prince William County, GMU all hit by scam.
A virtual kidnapping is an extortion scheme, in which a criminal demands money from a victim by phone while pretending to hold a captive.
The callers will attempt to keep victims on the line, urging speed and not allowing them to speak with anyone else.
Authorities are warning families about a virtual kidnapping scam where callers claim to have kidnapped a young relative and will only release them after receiving payment.
The scams are hitting different regions, including the Archdiocese of Washington, Prince William County, Virginia, police and George Mason University. The FBI is involved in the investigation, which has been going on for a few years in the Maryland, D.C. and Virginia area.
A virtual kidnapping is an extortion scheme, in which a criminal demands money from a victim by phone while pretending to hold captive a victims loved one. The callers threaten to harm or kill the victims loved one if a ransom isnt immediately wired. Sometimes, screaming can be heard during the call to simulate the victims relative being harmed in some fashion.
Archdiocese officials said there have been two recent calls where a child was allegedly kidnapped. Both calls were false, with the children safe and accounted. A letter was sent out on Tuesday to the parents with students in the Catholic Schools System.
George Mason University confirmed they had two separate reports of virtual kidnapping in the last few days involving a student and an employee. They were also proven false, and the university sent out a warning to staff and students last week.
Prince William County posted a lengthy message on social media, warning residents in the area about the scam. They said the ransom demands vary in amount, and victims are told to wire the money to a third party in Puerto Rico. They said the alleged kidnappers appear to be Hispanic males and often speak with a Spanish accent.
The callers will attempt to keep victims on the line, urging speed and not allowing them to speak with anyone else. They may even have a bit of personal information, such as a school name, to make the incident seem real. Authorities urge people to report any contact about a potential kidnapping, real or virtual, to police immediately.
The News4 I-Team spoke with victims in Maryland in April about the virtual kidnapping scam and how the crime made its way into the area from New York and Texas.
Seven buildings were evacuated at Harvard Business School after a threat was received on Wednesday morning.
According to an email sent out by Harvard University Police, Morgan Hall, Esteves Hall, Aldrich Hall, the Chao Center, Tata Hall, Hawes Hall and Batten Hall were all been evacuated around 11 a.m. All of the buildings were cleared and reopened around 2 p.m.
Harvard Business School spokesman Brian Kenny said a staff member received an email mid-morning that included threats to seven buildings on the Boston campus.
The investigation into the threat is active and ongoing.
Wildlife biologists are urging people to enjoy wild animals from a distance, following the death of a bison calf that tourists at Yellowstone National Park loaded into their SUV because they were concerned for its welfare. Park officials said Monday the calf had to be euthanized after it could not be reintroduced to the herd.
The incident last week and several other recent cases led to fresh warnings that park rules require visitors to stay at least 25 yards from all wildlife and 100 yards from bears and wolves.
Visitors brought the newborn calf they thought was cold and suffering to a park facility on May 9, which officials called a dangerous move because adult bison are protective and will attack to defend their young. Rangers took the animal back to where it was picked up, but they could not get it back with the herd after several tries.
"The bison calf was later euthanized because it was abandoned and causing a dangerous situation by continually approaching people and cars along the roadway," the park said in a statement.
The visitors were cited for touching park wildlife and fined $110, Yellowstone spokeswoman Charissa Reid said. She declined to name the visitors or issue a copy of the citation amid the investigation.
Similar advice about respecting boundaries with animals is in place in Vermont, where state law forbids taking a wild animal into captivity, unless someone is a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.
"We can't treat them like our house pets," David Sausville, a biologist with the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, said of wild animals.
Sausville said over the next few weeks, as more young critters emerge, people walking outdoors may have the urge to scoop them up, believing an animal such as a baby fox to be irresistibly cute. But Sausville warned they may be carriers of rabies.
"The best thing to do is just leave [the animal] in place and let nature take its course," Sausville said.
In other cases, such as with deer fawns, Sausville said people are often incorrect if they think they should help a fawn they believe has been abandoned by its mother. Mother deer regularly leave their young alone for hours and return for them, Sausville explained, and human intervention risks separating the animals from their mothers.
Major George Scribner of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department said roughly once per year, a young deer needs to be euthanized when biologists cannot reintroduce the animal to the wild after human contact. He explained animals learn a lot from their parents about survival that sometimes cannot be taught if the young are separated for too long from their mothers.
Much more commonly, Scriber said small baby animals such as skunks, raccoons, woodchucks, and foxes need to be put down, for rabies testing, after humans handle the possible carriers of the virus.
Professional naturalist Bridget Butler, who offers birding tours and presentations under the "Bird Diva" moniker, told necn there is a simple way to remember the importance of maintaining boundaries with wild animals.
"A saying that's good to keep in your mind is, 'If you care, leave it there,'" Butler said. "For some animals, if you separate them from their parents, mammals especially, they may not be accepted back."
For more information on what to do if you encounter injured animals in Vermont or ones that appear to possibly be orphaned, visit this website: http://www.vtfishandwildlife.com/learn_more/living_with_wildlife/injured_and_orphaned_wildlife
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Plymouth County Deputy Sheriff who shot the suspect in the Taunton stabbing spree released a statement.
Deputy Sheriff James Creed and his wife Laura released a statement on Wednesday afternoon where they acknowledged the victims.
They began by offering their sympathies and condolences to all the people and family members who were affected by the Taunton stabbings.
They added, "This was in every way a senseless tragedy, and one that we wish had never occurred."
The Creeds also addressed the bravery of George Heath, who jumped in to try and stop the suspect but was killed during the attack.
They went on to thank the first responders, specifically the Bristol and Plymouth County Sheriff's Departments, the SEMLEC Critical Incident Support Team.
They ended the statement by adding, "While we appreciate all of the kind words and messages that we have received, there is no cause for celebration regarding this incident. We only wish to go back to our jobs, our families, and our lives. We ask that you keep the victims, their families and all of those affected by this incident in your thoughts."
The Creeds said they will not do live interviews.
James Creed is a Deputy Sheriff K-9 officer with the Plymouth County Sheriff's Office.
His wife Laura is a nurse at Brigham and Women's Hospital in the burn trauma, surgery, and kidney transplant units.
Creed shot and killed Arthur DaRosa after he went on stabbing spree in Taunton, Massachusetts.
Two people were killed during the stabbings and several others were injured.
A former Burlington, Vermont, police officer charged with driving under the influence in a fatal July crash is asking a Franklin County judge to dismiss the case against her.
Thirty-one-year-old Leanne Werner argued Tuesday in Vermont Superior Court in St. Albans that she was pressured by Officer Keith Cote into submitting to a roadside breath test and sobriety exercises during his investigation of the July 12, 2015 accident.
Attorney Frank Twarog claims Cote had insufficient evidence to suspect Werner of DUI and that her samples came from an unlawful search and seizure.
Deputy State's Attorney Heather Brochu argued that Cote had sufficient reason to believe Werner was impaired.
Prosecutors say Werner was drunk when she crossed the centerline on Lower Newton Road and slammed into 74-year-old Omer Martin's vehicle, killing him.
A museum in Maine is offering a $20,000 reward for a piece of a fireball that shot through the sky this week.
Video of the fireball which was seen streaking across the New England sky early Tuesday morning,
has now been viewed more than a million times, but so far, no one has seen the actual meteorite that may have landed in Maine.
A brilliant flash of light that appears to be a meteoroid was captured on a dash camera on a Portland Police cruiser early Tuesday morning, and security cameras from across New England have similar video of the fireball.
Based on the trajectory of the meteor, scientists believe a meteorite could have landed in near Rangeley, Maine. Now, the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum in Bethel wants a piece of it.
"This is an exciting opportunity and we need the public's help," said museum Director Barbra Barrett.
The museum has issued a $20,000 reward for the first person to produce a piece of the meteorite at least one kilogram in size.
"Meteorites have the potential to inform us about how the initial solar system was formed," said museum Curator Carl Francis.
The MMGM is set to open in the Spring of 2017, and they already have quite a collection of meteorites, including a piece of one that famously fell in Russia three years ago, and was captured on camera.
"A new meteorite is just exciting," said Francis.
They're asking people to look about 30 kilometers west of Rangeley.
"The chances of finding a meteorite are very slim," said mineral hunter Zoltan Matolcsy, who owns Maine Mineral Adventures in Woodstock, Maine.
He advised people use a metal detector, magnet, and GPS when searching for one.
"I would say your chances of winning Megabucks is probably a lot better," he laughed. But his wife, and business partner Jody said she might be willing to search, and get that reward.
"I mean if it's out here, I'll be out here looking!" she said. "The more people who are looking, the better!"
The Maine Mineral & Gem Museum "will exhibit the most spectacular minerals and gems ever mined in Maine," according to a news release, along with a meteorite collection. It is involved in an ownership battle over a gold-flecked meteorite discovered in China about 15 years ago.
The arts are getting a big boost at a Massachusetts middle school, thanks to the local IBEW and aspiring electricians.
Students from the electronics program at Shawsheen Valley Technical High School are working alongside the pro's. They're tackling the auditorium at Marshall Middle School in Billerica, a project that's taken years to reach this point with a lot of help along the way.
"We thought this was a great project for us, so we jumped right in," said Lou Antonellis, President of IBEW Local 103.
Members of the union have donated their time to renovate the space. That time is saving the school thousands of dollars.
"They make it all happen and we have beautiful sound, beautiful lighting, and a beautiful TV studio in a couple of weeks," said Michael Rossi, Principal of Marshall Middle School.
Many of the workers and students learning alongside them have a special connection to this particular job site.
"I went to the school, my kids went to this school, I have a son currently in this school. It means the world to me personally," said Antonellis.
"It's just giving back to the community you live in, and trying to make it a better place," field engineer Michael O'Brien said.
This is a community effort with a deep impact.
"It's going to mean a lot because I like doing theater and all the lights and the sound is going to be good for the plays," said Louis Antonellis Jr., a 7th grader at the school.
For the Shawsheen Tech students, it's an invaluable chance to get a true feel for the trade.
"It's kind of fun," said junior Griffin Blanch. "You get some real experience under your belt for when you work in the field."
The renovations include a production intercom system that allows the control room at the back of the auditorium to communicate with the stage. When the project is finished, the facility will have the capability to broadcast live performances on community access television.
West Hartford police have arrested a 29-year-old Hartford man who is accused of exposing himself to a teenage girl at the library.
The victim, a 17-year-old girl, told police that a man began hovering around her and acting strange when she was at the Noah Webster Library just before 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, then he exposed his genitals to her and made lewd movements, then left the library, police said.
An officer responded on a bicycle and detained found a man matching the description that was broadcast Farmington Avenue and Raymond Road and detained Anthony Lawrence.
Police said the teen identified him as the person who exposed himself.
Lawrence was charged with public indecency and second-degree breach of peace.
A Massachusetts man, who has admitted speaking with more than 50 boys and receiving over 200 pictures, faces child pornography charges.
Christopher J. Sullivan, 20, of Waltham was arrested Tuesday, and charged in a criminal complaint with one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
According to law enforcement, Sullivan used Skype, Omgele and Kik Messenger to communicate with the children. Sullivan also admitted to engaging in sexual acts with a boy.
Sullivan is scheduled to appear in court for a detention hearing on May 20.
The charging statute provides for a minimum mandatory sentence of five years and no greater than 20 years in prison, a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.
Members of the public who have questions, concerns or information related to this case, or any information relating to the sexual exploitation of children, should call (617) 748-3274.
Authorities are asking for the public's help with finding a New Hampshire woman who has been missing since Tuesday.
State police say Sheila Brodne, 57, of Acworth, was last seen around 2 p.m.
She left a note for her husband saying she went shopping in the Keene area, but never returned. Troopers canvassed the area, but couldn't find her or the vehicle.
She was last seen wearing mustard colored pants and a mustard colored stripped long sleeve shirt and driving a maroon 2015 Subaru Forester with New Hampshire registration 605388.
Brodne is described as 5-foot 4-inches and weighs approximately 160 pounds. She has brown hair and blue eyes.
Police don't suspect foul play.
Anyone with information is asked to call state police at 603-358-3333.
Police have issued an arrest warrant for a man in connection with the disappearance of a 62-year-old woman from an assisted living facility in Newton, Massachusetts.
Employees of CareOne told police they noticed Beth Birnbaum was missing around 2 p.m. Tuesday when they found her empty wheelchair outside the facility.
Police say 55-year-old David Collignan was seen leaving around that time with Birnbaum's clothing and other belongings. Employees say Collignan has been visiting Birnbaum at the facility.
CareOne released a statement Wednesday afternoon informing the public they are "working closely with local and state police to locate and secure the safety and well-being of Beth Birnbaum."
They added that due to patient privacy laws the center would not be providing any additional information about Birnbaum's health record.
Police say Birnbaum does not have the authority to check herself out of the facility and they're concerned for her safety.
Collignan is wanted for assault and battery on a disabled person.
Birnbaum has a traumatic brain injury and is easily confused. Police say this could become a dire situation if she doesn't get medical treatment.
Police say Collignon is driving a grey 2015 Honda Fit with the license plate 744YR1.
Birnbaum was last seen wearing a green crew neck sweatshirt, pajama pants, glasses, and red moccasins
Due to her brain injury, she wears a black and white travel pillow around her neck.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Newton police.
A sign the was put up in Hanson, Massachusetts, in memory of a soldier who was killed in Iraq has been taken down to be repaired.
Earlier reports said the sign was cut down.
However, the Assistant Town Clerk in Hanson said the Veterans agents removed the sign to perform maintenance.
The sign will be put back in place by Memorial Day.
According to the Enterprise News, Marine Staff Sargent Bill Callahan, was killed in Iraq in 2007 at the age of 28.
Callahan died while overseas in Iraq's Al Anbar province on April, 27, 2007, leaving behind a wife and newborn son.
The sign, which reads "Callahan Corner" was erected in his memory on Route 14 at the corners of County Road and Independence Avenue in Hanson.
The man charged with leading police on a 50-mile car chase from Massachusetts to New Hampshire that ended with officers punching him has been ordered held without bail.
Richard Simone Jr. was arraigned Wednesday on charges including larceny, failure to stop and assault.
A judge ordered the 50-year-old Simone held without bail on a parole violation and $50,000 cash bail on the new charges.
Authorities say he was wanted on multiple warrants, refused to stop May 11 for police in Holden, Massachusetts. He's charged with leading a chase that reached speeds of up to 100 mph.
Helicopter video of his arrest in Nashua, New Hampshire, shows Simone appearing to surrender and officers then punching him. One state trooper from Massachusetts and another from New Hampshire were suspended.
Simone's attorney did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
An elementary school teacher in Worcester, Massachusetts, is under evaluation after he allegedly ran naked through the school building.
The teacher, who has not been identified, reportedly took off his clothes and ran through the halls of the Rice Square Elementary School Tuesday.
The school was placed into lockdown and the teacher was apprehended four streets over from the school.
Officials are checking if there was any physical contact with students.
Police say the issue was related to mental health and the teacher will not be facing any charges.
Death the end or the beginning?
Regular columnist Mark Fairweather-Tall shares his thoughts on death, and reminds us that the hope we have in Jesus changes how we view the inevitable event in all our lives.
The first few months of 2016 have seen an unusual number of people die who were household names: David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Terry Wogan, Paul Daniels, Ronnie Corbett, Victoria Wood and Prince, to name but a few. Back in February, Newsweek was already calling this the year of The Great Celebrity Death Epidemic.
As the weeks have gone on the death rate of some of our best-known and best-loved actors, comedians and musicians has been widely noted. In this social media age, there has been no shortage of those expressing sadness and grief at the passing of someone they may never have met personally, but nevertheless, feel they know. Some have started to ask the question, Is 2016 cursed? Others have protested against the year, writing Enough 2016.
Statisticians have been asking whether the number of celebrity deaths is the new normal or is it just a statistical blip. A number seem to be siding with the former view. They point to the pop music boom and the rise of television stars from the 1960s onwards to suggest there is an increased pool of household names. They are now reaching their 70s and 80s so we shouldnt be surprised that there are more deaths that hit the news.
With more and more people being classed as celebrities it seems likely that there will be a continuation of the number of deaths considered significant enough to hit the headlines. And that means it is likely that we will continue to see tributes pour out within minutes of the announcement of someones death as we can express grief more widely and publically than ever before.
There is much that we could reflect around this. Let me suggest just three things
Tributes are important
Tributes, whether communicated by social media, or a card to the family, or through a phone call, can be a very important part of marking someones death. For some, the sharing is a bonding experience; for the family of the dead person, it can be a consolation to know that the person was appreciated and valued by others. The tributes say that the persons life mattered. In one sense it is a shame that the person who has died never gets to hear the impact they made on someones life.
In fact, there are some who have sought to remedy this. I was reading an article in The Times about this (entitled, Eulogies are too good to waste on the dead) and they reported that a company called Tribute has been set up in America to ensure that no one need miss their own eulogy: Instead of sending cards or emails on a birthday, customers can now send friends and loved ones videos of emotional speeches that would normally be reserved for a funeral.[1] The writer goes on to reflect on some of the drawbacks of this; eg if someone says something nice about you, you may feel that you have to be equally effusive back.
However, the article reaches the conclusion that it is the little things that build up over time that are more important than a grand gesture - a text, a card, a quick email, a word of appreciation these things can make a difference. Sometimes in the busy-ness of life, these are the things that we dont make time for. Tributes are right and proper when someone dies but why not communicate this to them whilst they are living?
We write our legacy
Day by day we write the legacy for which we will be remembered. Alfred Nobel invented (amongst other things) dynamite. When his brother died, a newspaper wrote an obituary about Alfred, mistakenly thinking that it was he who had passed away rather than his brother. The newspaper said, The merchant of death is dead and portrayed him as the man who had made it possible to kill more people more quickly than anyone else ever before. Nobel was taken aback by the way in which the world was going to remember him after his death, so he took action. He used his fortune to establish the Nobel Prize and today many more are familiar with the Nobel Prize than how he made his money.
Clearly the things that we do day by day effect the way we will be remembered. It is an interesting question to ask of ourselves, How do I want to be remembered? And such reflection may affect the way that we live.
We are all mortal
As celebrities die and the news breaks, it is a sobering reminder for all of us that we are mortal beings. It can be too easy for the reality of death to be pushed to the back of our minds it becomes something we know happens but dont think about, especially in relation to ourselves. However, when someone dies we can use this moment to think about what happens when we die.
In 1 Thessalonians 4:13, Paul writes: Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. Paul tells us the gospel message that there is hope in death. He doesnt play down its significance by telling us not to grieve.
Death is serious; when Paul writes to the church at Corinth, he describes death as an enemy. He encourages us to grieve in a different way to grieve with hope. This is because the enemy death has been defeated by Jesus who died and rose again. Jesus is the first fruit of this victory, a victory that one day we will share in. For the present, it is our steadfast and certain hope.
Death will go on being a part of life. Sometimes we will be affected by it in a minor way through the death of a celebrity; sometimes more seriously as a loved one dies; One day, it will be our turn. As we recognise this, though, we can live differently and positively because we have hope in Jesus.
[1] Eulogies are too good to waste on the dead by Jenni Russell, published 21/4/16
Graveyard image is courtesy of https://pixabay.com
In the health IT development hype cycle, a number of novel technologies have been announced and marketed. One example is the Qualcomm Tricorder Xprize, which is a competition designed to encourage developers to build a device that will diagnosis and self-treat a number of chronic conditions without the need for a physician. This prize is from the same organization (Xprise) that tried to encourage suborbital flight from commercial spacecraft companies.
Technology is so pervasive in healthcare that books have been written about The Internet of Health Things (Kvedar J.C., The Internet of Healthy Things) that describe the wonderful new sensors patients can wear and measure their health every day. Even within older data collection paradigms, the healthcare area is talking about patient-reported outcomes and how we need to incorporate this data with the electronic health record to help improve patient care.
Caution advised
We need to be cautious, however, about the future promise of health IT. Consider, for example, the recent struggles of Theranos, a health-technology and medical-laboratory-services company. It might be shut down by the FDA, and the "Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. attorney in San Francisco are investigating whether the company misled investors and regulators about the state of its technology and operations," according to the Wall Street Journal.
The current regulatory environment around health professionals was designed to limit the number of non-licensed professionals providing health advice. That means your smartphone and other devices will not be licensed healthcare providers.
+ More on Network World: Healthcare IT makes improved customer service an urgent priority +
The regulations are so complex that the government is setting up a website to help navigate all of the rules. If you look at the website set up recently by the FTC about the number of different overlapping rules, the laws that govern healthcare technology are large.
Further, when working in the health technology innovation space, everyone needs to realize that mistakes can have deadly consequences. A cautious approach is warranted. Example: A report earlier this week showed how a risk calculator to determine if patients need to be on medication for cardiovascular disease may have led to incorrect prescriptions of statins. The error in algorithm existed since 2009. The algorithm was not regulated by a government agency, since doctors were suppose to know if the algorithm gave the wrong results.
Technology can't replace health professionals
On another note, healthcare providers are trained about the limitations of their skills and when they need to consult an outside expert. This level of self-awareness for health diagnosis programs or measurement is not routinely done in technology.
What is surprising is many of the devices we talk about are trying to replace health professionals. Why go to a doctor when a tricorder will diagnosis and treat you? Why go to the office when you have all of your data streaming to the healthcare team? Why wait in an office to be seen by a clinician for 15 minutes? Those questions can have dangerous consequences because patients could begin to rely solely on the technology and not an expert to provide opinions and advice.
Health professionals go to undergraduate and graduate school to help improve the lives of others. Upon graduation, they take oathsfrom the Hippocratic Oath for physicians to the American Nurses Association Code for Nurses, as well as multiple other oaths or pledges for all of the allied health science professionals. Going back to the definition of profession: a paid occupation, especially one that involves prolonged training and formal qualification. Will we require the programmers of the health IT devices to take oaths? Or of if computers are self-aware, will the computers take oaths?
All of our health IT was developed by very smart people. However, we hold physicians, nurses and other health professions to a higher standard than other job categories. Further, we do not hold our technology to the same high standards as we do individuals, especially in the court of law.
As we rush to technology to help improve our lives, a different paradigm needs to emerge. We do not need to replace health professionals, but we need to engage them in novel methods to leverage the strengths of both computers and humans.
For a healthy 20-year-old patient with no chronic health conditions, does it make sense to have a physician review the number of steps or miles the patient completes on a daily basis? Or does using a daily activity-monitoring device make sense to track an elderly individual who is at risk for falls where a decrease in daily movement represents a change in health or a possible injury? Who is the appropriate health professional to review all of this data? What role do the algorithms have in helping to identify challenges? Who is held liable if the algorithms are coded incorrectly or if the health professional does not understand the results and makes a poor decision? Those are the types of questions healthcare organizations and professionals need to answer.
Just like self-driving cars have led to lots of questions about state regulations, so have healthcare devices. The sophistication of the algorithms will allow better healthcare, but we have to figure out what does and does not work.
Healthcare professionals love tools that help patients improve health and outcomes; however, the goal is to augment not replace the professionals. Even in Star Trek, the tricorder was used by a doctor. The Qualcomm X prize is trying to make a tricorder more functional than science fiction.
After meeting with U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez yesterday, Verizon and union leaders representing some 40,000 striking workers agreed to continue stalled contract negotiations with the assistance of a federal mediator who has on her resume decades of experience as general counsel for a major union.
From a U.S. Department of Labor press release:
The parties involved in the Verizon labor dispute, including the senior leadership of the unions and the company and their bargaining teams, met today in Washington with Labor Secretary Tom Perez and Allison Beck, an experienced federal mediator who the parties agreed today would assist in the ongoing contract negotiations. Discussions will continue in Washington this week under the auspices of the Department of Labor.
Verizon and the unions have also agreed to refrain from making public comments as talks progress.
Beck is director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), an agency created by Congress in 1947. Beck was nominated for the directorship in 2014 by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate last summer. Prior to serving the FMCS for four years as deputy director, Beck spent two decades as general counsel of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO (IAM).
Meanwhile, yesterday there was another report of a picketing striker being hit by a vehicle operated by a Verizon replacement worker, this time in Boylston, Mass. Police say the replacement worker was driving with a suspended license. Last week in nearby Westborough, another Verizon replacement worker faced multiple charges including drunken driving and operating on a suspended license after his vehicle allegedly struck a picketing Verizon employee. There have been numerous reports of vandalism to Verizon equipment and allegations that the crimes are the work of strikers.
There are also many reports of consumer and business service calls going unfulfilled. Industry experts are warning Verizons business customers that they should be closely monitoring their accounts and services, as Verizon employees normally devoted to them are now busy replacing the strikers.
Welcome regulars and passersby. Here are a few more recent buzzblog items. And, if youd like to receive Buzzblog via e-mail newsletter, heres where to sign up. You can follow me on Twitter here and on Google+ here.
Nokia is back in the mobile phone business, after a fashion.
It has granted HMD Global an exclusive, 10-year license to the famous brand, allowing the Finnish startup to sell Nokia mobile phones and tablets.
Meanwhile Microsoft, which bought Nokia's mobile phone activities in 2013, is finally getting out of the feature-phone business, selling its remaining interests in the Nokia brand and its Vietnamese phone factory to HMD and to FIH, a subsidiary of contract manufacturing giant Foxconn, for around US$350 million.
Microsoft isn't giving up on phones altogether: It will continue to develop the Windows 10 Mobile OS used in phones from manufacturers including Acer, Alcatel, HP, Trinity and VAIO, and in its own Lumia phones.
Fans of the Lumia brand should still see software updates, but they may not see any new hardware: Microsoft merely said it would "support Lumia phones such as the Lumia 650, Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL," without talking of developing new models.
Nokia is now tightly focused on manufacturing telecommunications network infrastructure, following its acquisition of rival Alcatel-Lucent and its sale of the Here mapping business.
However, its roundabout return to the mobile phone market was clearly telegraphed. As early as 2014 it dipped a toe back into the mobile market with the release of the Nokia-branded N1 tablet, manufactured under license by Foxconn, the manufacturing partner of HMD.
The Muscular Dystrophy Association has jettisoned several manual business processes and legacy technologies in favor of cloud software as the nonprofit organization seeks greater operational efficiencies at a lower cost. The IT modernization, which includes email, CRM, human resources and several other business functions, has galvanized the organization's nearly 800 employees, says CIO Jeannine Houlihan, who joined MDA from Motorola Mobility in 2014.
Muscular Dystrophy Association's CIO Jeannine Houlihan.
Houlihan says the changes, which also include moving to a private cloud and building a new patient case management system, are empowering staff to more efficiently access constituent information, enabling the organization to better serve patients and families. Moreover, the moves are making the business more agile and productive because MDAs lean staff of 13 employees no longer manages hardware infrastructure and applications.
[ Related: How Kronos cloud migration makes for a better business ]
MDA serves hundreds of thousands of people suffering from some form of neuromuscular disease, including muscular dystrophy, ALS and dozens of related diseases. In 2015, MDA provided care and support to 100,000 individuals and coordinated 50,000 visits at MDA care centers across the country.
Why MDA lifted core technologies to the cloud
With so many organizations soliciting donations, it's challenging for nonprofits such as MDA to consistently generate income. Any funds that it can save by implementing new technologies and processes is welcome but the organization must also continue to function efficiently and reliably. Such was the case for MDA, whose senior leadership and rank-and-file employees were very open to change, Houlihan says.
+ ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD How GE found a home in the cloud +
MDA, it turned out, required a lot of change. The bulk of MDA's technologies were implemented years ago and left idle. After Houlihan was hired she dug into the MDA's IT documentation -- what little of it there was -- to learn what technology was working and what wasn't. She then proposed and moved forward with a three-year IT transformation roadmap.
It wasn't long before Houlihan began automating several manual processes with cloud software. Those moves included the following:
Switching from Microsoft Outlook 2010 to Microsoft Office 365 and implementing Skype for Business chat and SharePoint for collaboration (from a hodgepodge of file servers).
Moving ADP on-premises human resources and payroll systems to ADP's Workforce Now cloud applications, allowing employees to access documents, paid time off, time tracking and recruiting capabilities online. She says moving HR, payroll, email and collaboration to the cloud really made us a more nimble, organization, allowing employees to access their own information and engage with clients from any computing device.
Implementing Salesforce.com CRM software to improve call center operations and sales, enabling MDA to track customer interactions for the first time. Previously, contacts and leads were managed via spreadsheets.
Implementing BroadSoft call center cloud software -- the organization's first call center -- for IT Help Desk and donation call handling. Calls literally went to someone's desk," Houlihan says.
Migrating from an on-premises data center in Tuscon to a VMware-based private cloud hosted by Involta in Tuscon, Ariz. I have really gotten out of the business of managing hardware, Houlihan says, adding that the move is driving IT efficiency and reducing infrastructure costs.
Moving to the cloud may have afforded MDA some operating efficiencies, freeing staff up to focus on more business requirements. But Houlihan says she meets with her cloud vendors quarterly to ensure she is getting the service MDA is paying for. You have to hold them accountable and they have to be responsive, Houlihan says.
Craving, not fearing, change management
Most corporate CIOs cite change management as their chief challenge in ushering in new technologies, but Houlihan says MDA wanted the tools to improve how they did their jobs. "The staff had struggled in various areas for years so when the opportunity came about to help lead or support change there was very little resistance by individuals in the field, Houlihan says.
[ Related: 7 warnings to heed before a cloud migration ]
To ensure smooth technology transitions, Houlihan and her staff exercise strategic planning and best practices for portfolio and project management. "New processes, structure and governance in this area along with leadership support is enabling our transformation at great speed," she says.
More technology upgrades and inclusions are on tap for 2016 and beyond, including additional software modules to better automate for MDAs Great Plains cloud accounting, invoicing and expense management cloud applications, which Microsoft hosts.
MDA is also building new patient case management system to host on Salesforce.coms cloud. Houlihan says the current system, hosted on Microsoft Access database, makes it difficult for employees to access patient data. "We are still a work in progress but we have moved the needle significantly."
This story, "Nonprofits cloud migrations boost business agility" was originally published by CIO .
The gig economy continues its rapid growth, with nearly 35 percent of today's workforce consisting of nonemployee workers as of 2015. The fast-paced growth of these non-traditional workers has businesses scrambling to develop strategies to manage them -- and much of the responsibility has fallen on the desks of HR workers. However, there are efficient ways to manage these atypical workers without overburdening the HR department with more paperwork.
Enter PEO, or Professional Employer Organization, a growing trend in which businesses partner with a third-party service to outsource a lot of the maintenance work that can come with employees. The theory is that PEO systems can free up HR to spend time on developing company culture, fostering engagement and moving the company forward. "PEO systems allow small and midsize companies to access technology that would normally be cost prohibitive for companies that are not larger enough to support an IT budget," says Andee Harris, chief engagement officer at HighGround, a human capital management provider and an organization that currently uses a PEO system.
[ Related story: How the gig economy will shape 2016 ]
What is PEO?
PEO, in the simplest sense, is a human resource model that relies on "single-source HR service providers offering comprehensive employment services, such as payroll and benefits administration, HR management and assistance with employer compliance," according to Jackie Breslin, director of human capital services at TriNet, a company dedicated to providing PEO systems for companies and other HR related services. That means, businesses can take away a lot of the grunt work that comes with managing employees, as well as a lot of the risks. Rather than completely giving up a part of the businesses to another vendor, PEO providers work in tandem with the company, and oftentimes are even considered an actual part of the company.
"As a rule, one of the major benefits of a PEO is that it takes over the HR tasks, ultimately freeing up businesses owners or HR professionals to focus on things that really matter to their business. They no longer have to worry about remaining compliant, managing personal time off, or health care benefits packages. For the gig economy, this means HR professionals can focus on the businesses, full-time employees, workplace culture- as well as the gig workers," according to Breslin.
PEO is a type of outsourcing, but not in the sense that the tech industry usually outsources. Using this HR model, employers outsource aspects of HR such as employee benefits, payroll, worker's compensation, training and development, recruitment as well as risk and safety management. And with the increase in the gig-economy, it's becoming one of the more efficient ways to manage this unique workforce -- especially as rules and regulations change as quickly as gig workers are hired.
[ Related story: How the cloud is transforming HR ]
The benefits of a PEO model
HR has evolved over the years -- it's no longer a department strictly focused on the details of employees, benefits, payroll and time off. Instead, HR has developed into a department that is devoted to employee engagement and company culture. "As companies shift from having traditional paper pushing HR departments to becoming more focused on the employee experience, a PEO system can create a huge benefit allowing HR to focus on their talent brand vs compliance," says Harris.
PEO models can also help minimize the workload and paperwork associated with gig workers, who are in and out of the company like a revolving door, says Harris. These systems take away a lot of the grunt work associated with onboarding employees, as well as managing their benefits, compensation and even seeing them out of the company once they move on. PEO systems are freeing up HR so they can focus on ensuring gig workers are engaged, feel a part of the culture and aren't treated any differently than typical full-time workers.
Improved risk management
Beyond the fact that PEO systems help alleviate workloads, they can also help companies manage risk and compliance. HR departments are faced with plenty of compliance laws, and it's creating complex environments that HR doesn't always have the time or resources to navigate. However, PEO systems can help businesses manage compliance and stay up to date, so there aren't any risks or fears around regulations and laws that constantly pop up. "A PEO helps their clients remain HR compliant. From producing employee handbooks to helping a business understand the Affordable Care Act (ACA)," says Breslin.
For the most part, PEO systems offer coverage and benefits that otherwise might not be easy for businesses to obtain. For example, coverage under an Employer Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) is frequently a part of the offering, according to Breslin. A PEO may also offer additional services that businesses may find challenging to implement on their own. Some examples include expense management tools that integrate into payroll, online web-based learning and performance management programs. This is all become more important as we get deeper into the gig economy, because HR departments are typically juggling multiple databases filled with employee information -- part-time or full-time.
By partnering with a PEO system, businesses can manage these employees more efficiently, and ensure that any changes from the last time that person was hired or when a new person is hired are covered in one main database. It also means that employees won't stay in the system mislabeled; a big problem with the IRS. "The IRS' perspective is that very few workers should be classified as independent contractors or gig workers," says Breslin. "Paying the worker, deducting payroll taxes and funding workers' compensation coverage lowers the risk of getting into trouble for misclassifying an employee."
A shift to PEO
However, it's not exactly easy for departments to completely shift how they conduct businesses. First, your business will need to develop a strong understanding around what employee information is needed for the business. That includes everything from benefits to payroll and the needs around them. After that, the next step is creating an implementation plan with specific goals, milestones and the due dates for each of them. This organized approach is a major part of what helps HR departments shift as seamlessly as possible to a PEO model, according to Breslin.
Choose Wisely
Not all PEOs are created equally, according to Harris. With that in mind, you need to consider what PEO system to go with. "If an employee has a bad experience with a PEO it reflects on the company, so you need to make sure you have a good service agreement in place with your PEO provider," she says.
Breslin recommends choosing a PEO system that will benefit your employees no matter where they are, and to also consider regions you plan to hire from in the future. It's also important to choose a PEO model that has been "accredited by the industry's 'watchdog' organization, the Employer Services Assurance Corporation," she says.
Related Video
This story, "How to manage workers in the gig economy " was originally published by CIO .
One of the most vexing aspects of a Windows 7 reinstall is that even after you install the operating system and Service Pack 1, you can expect to spend a ridiculous amount of time applying patches that came post-SP1. Service Pack 1 came out in 2011, and there have been dozens and dozens of fixes over the past five years.
For the longest time, this was a sore spot among users. That and the fact that Microsoft was reluctant to issue a second service pack with just a rollup of current fixes.
Well, that wish has been granted. The company today announced a "convenience rollup" for Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 that contains all of the security and non-security updates it has issued for the two operating systems since the Windows 7 Service Pack up through April 2016.
For whatever reason, it is not named "Service Pack 2," but who cares. At least we have it. But be warned: it will not be delivered over the Windows Update service the way Service Pack 1 is made available to a fresh Windows 7 install.
A challenge to get
Getting it, though, is currently proving a challenge. The blog post announcing the servi-, er, convenience rollup says the download is available only via Microsoft's Update Catalog site. It will not be distributed via Windows Update. On clicking on the Microsoft link, I got this error:
To use this Web site's full functionality, you must be running Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later.
To upgrade to the latest version of the browser, go to the Internet Explorer Downloads Website.
If you prefer to use a different Web browser, you can get updates from the Microsoft Download Center.
IE 6? When was that page last revised?
So, I loaded the page in IE 11 instead of Firefox. After installing an ActiveX add-on, I was given a catalog with either the Windows 7 rollup or the Server 2008 rollup, plus a separate Windows 7 patch. I tried to add them to the cart, and no luck. I can't download it. That's amateur hour I would not expect from Microsoft these days.
Why it isn't called Service Pack 2
One reason why Microsoft is not calling it Service Pack 2 is because it requires Service Pack 1 to be installed. You could install SP2 for Windows XP without having to install SP1 first. So, the dependency doesn't qualify it as a service pack.
For updates released after April 2016, Microsoft also plans to produce monthly rollups of non-security updates for Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012/R2. This will be a continuously evolving, cumulative batch of non-security fixes. This package will be distributed over Windows Update.
The rollup, service pack, call it what you will, is desperately needed and a good decision. But making it available from a long-abandoned web page that is accessible only via Microsoft's browser, requires an ActiveX add-on, and doesn't work is just baffling. It really gives off an air of sloppiness, and again, I would not expect that from Microsoft these days.
Microsoft today continued to undo its disastrous 2014 acquisition of Nokia's phone business, announcing that it is exiting the feature phone market, which it had once trumpeted as a critical component of its mobile strategy.
The sale of its feature phone business for $350 million prompted analysts to again question Microsoft's commitment to smartphones. "There won't be any more Lumia [smartphones]," said Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research, in an email reply to Computerworld's questions today. "It does leave the door open for a new, narrower, phone strategy in the future."
In a statement Wednesday, Microsoft said it had sold its remaining Nokia assets, including its factory in Hanoi, Vietnam, to FIH Mobile Ltd., a subsidiary of Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai, better known as Foxconn, and to Finnish firm HMD Global.
The factory will go to Foxconn, as will most of the rest of its feature phone assets, including software and services, and customer and supply contracts. HMD Global will, as part of a larger deal with Nokia, acquire rights to use the Nokia brand, as well as some design rights. HMD will manufacture and sell Nokia-branded phones and tablets, all of which will be powered by Android.
In return, Microsoft will receive $350 million.
Microsoft has had to unwind the mammoth $7.9 billion acquisition of Nokia's phone business, which proved a monumental mistake on the part of former CEO Steve Ballmer.
Since Satya Nadella took charge at the Redmond, Wash. company two years ago, he has been walking back the deal.
In mid-2015, Microsoft wrote down the entire Nokia acquisition. According to filings with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), the company recorded a charge of about $10 billion against earnings, an amount that included an accounting scrub of the purchase along with billions in reorganization and severance fees.
At the same time, Nadella spelled out what the repudiation of Ballmer's strategy meant for the company. "We are moving from a strategy to grow a standalone phone business to a strategy to grow and create a vibrant Windows ecosystem that includes our first-party device family," Nadella told employees in a July all-hands email. He also tapped three markets for a much reduced mobile device division: business customers, value-oriented buyers and Windows loyalists.
With the unloading of the feature phone component, the second of Nadella's sell-to segments was struck off the list.
Sales, whether of feature models or smartphones under the Lumia brand, have not only been disappointing since Microsoft struck the deal with Nokia, but have more recently gone into free fall. In Q1 of this year, Microsoft sold just 2.3 million Lumia smartphones, down 73% from the same period the year prior. The company sold 15.7 million feature phones in the first three months of this year, a 36% decline.
Phone hardware revenue was down 47% year-over-year.
How Microsoft explained the sale caught the eyes of analysts, particularly the omission of any statement of confidence in the Lumia line of smartphones, which continue to represent the vast bulk of Windows-powered phones.
The lapse made Dawson question Microsoft's vow to stay in the business. "It does seem odd that Microsoft didn't commit to launching smartphones in [the] future in this press release," Dawson said. "That suggests that there's at least some uncertainty about whether Microsoft continues to be committed to making smartphones."
Dawson left Microsoft a small window of opportunity. "[Microsoft's comments] fit with reports that we might see a Surface phone in 2017," he said, referring to rumors that Microsoft will double down on the Surface brand with a phone to match its tablets and 2-in-1s.
For its part, Microsoft said only that it would "continue to develop Windows 10 Mobile and support Lumia phones such as the Lumia 650, Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, and phones from OEM partners like Acer, Alcatel, HP, Trinity and VAIO." But it was silent on any future Lumia models, and less surprisingly, didn't say anything about a Surface phone far down the road.
Carolina Milanesi of Creative Strategies had a somewhat similar take to Dawson. While she was expecting Microsoft to exit the smartphone hardware market entirely, she contended that the rumored Surface-branded phone might be positioned much like the original Surface and Surface Pro tablets: as a design benchmark to strut the capabilities of Windows 10 Mobile.
"Anyway, there are different ways to skin a cat in getting consumers," Milanesi argued, ticking off Microsoft's cross-platform apps for iOS and Android, and the services it's pitched to all comers, like OneDrive and Office 365.
Microsoft never seemed that enthusiastic about feature phones, although it did position them as a gateway to more expensive, expansive smartphones. As part of Ballmer's initial strategy, feature phones were to lead at least some consumers from those bare-bones devices to more sophisticated, if still inexpensive, smartphones. And from there to Microsoft's services portfolio, where they could be monetized.
That didn't pan out, perhaps because the approach was more an ex post facto rationale of the Nokia deal than a viable plan.
"Microsoft took the feature phone business [from Nokia] because it was only offered an all-or-nothing deal by Nokia," said Dawson. "It then had to justify acquiring a business that had no connection to the rest of Microsoft, hence the funnel rationale. But it always seemed like a stretch, and that's been borne out in reality."
"When they did the deal, there was some value to feature phones," said Milanesi. But that turned out to be a mirage, as very-low-priced smartphones from smaller manufacturers, many of them feeding local markets in the People's Republic of China, India and elsewhere in Asia, flooded the market.
No matter the details of today's sale announcement, the overall result remains gloomy for Microsoft in mobile hardware. "It's certainly the latest indicator of how Microsoft's commitment to its smartphone business has waned over the last couple of years," said Dawson in an analysis he posted to his research firm's blog today.
How Microsoft exits the market, assuming it does, will be just as telling. If Microsoft decides to halt smartphone sales -- as other analysts have expected for more than a year -- and can't convince third-party manufacturers to build and sell more Windows-powered devices, the company's overarching strategy of Windows 10 and its "Universal" app model, will be called into question.
And that cuts to the core of Microsoft's foundation for the future.
This story, "Microsoft's sale of feature phone biz erodes smartphone commitment" was originally published by Computerworld .
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Champaign, IL (61820)
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Periods of rain. High 67F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible..
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NOTICE: This Consumer Medicine Information (CMI) is intended for persons living in Australia.
Clindamycin phosphate Consumer Medicine Information
What is in this leaflet This leaflet answers some common questions about DALACIN T. It does not contain all the available information. It does not take the place of talking to your doctor or pharmacist. All medicines have risks and benefits. Your doctor has weighed the risks of you using DALACIN T against the benefits they expect it will have for you. If you have any concerns about using this medicine, ask your doctor or pharmacist. Keep this leaflet with the medicine. You may need to read it again.
What DALACIN T is used for DALACIN T is an antibiotic lotion used on the skin to help treat acne. DALACIN T works by decreasing acne lesions and/or stopping the growth of skin bacteria that cause acne. DALACIN T is not addictive. This medicine is available only with a doctor's prescription.
Before using DALACIN T
When you must not use it Do not use DALACIN T: 1. if you have an allergy to: clindamycin or lincomycin any of the ingredients listed at the end of this leaflet Symptoms of an allergic reaction may include skin rash and itching. 2. if the packaging shows signs of tampering. 3. if the expiry date (EXP) printed on the pack has passed. If you are not sure whether you should start using DALACIN T, contact your doctor.
Before you start to use it You must tell your doctor if: 1. you have any allergies to: any other medicines any other substances, such as foods, preservatives or dyes 2. you are pregnant or intend to become pregnant 3. you are breast-feeding or plan to breast-feed. 4. you have or have had any other medical conditions, including: other allergies If you have not told your doctor about any of the above, tell them before you use DALACIN T.
Taking other medicines Tell your doctor if you are taking any other medicines, including medicines you buy without a prescription from a pharmacy, supermarket or health food shop. Some medicines may interfere with DALACIN T. These include: the antibiotic erythromycin neuromuscular blocking medicines (certain agents used for muscle relaxation in anaesthesia) These medicines may be affected by DALACIN T or may affect how well it works. You may need different amounts of your medicine or you may need to take different medicines. Your doctor will advise you. Your doctor or pharmacist may have more information on medicines to be careful with or avoid while using DALACIN T.
How to use
DALACIN T
How much to use and how to use it Shake the bottle immediately before use. Apply a thin layer twice a day to the affected areas of the skin. Avoid contact with eyes, lips and mucous membranes. Follow all directions given to you by your doctor and pharmacist carefully. They may differ from the information contained in this leaflet. If you do not understand the instructions on the label, ask your doctor or pharmacist for help.
How long to use it Continue using DALACIN T for as long as your doctor recommends. If you are not sure how long you should be using DALACIN T, check with your doctor. If your acne does not improve within 6 weeks, or if it becomes worse, contact your doctor. However, treatment of acne may take up to 8 to 12 weeks before full improvement is seen.
If you forget to use it Apply DALACIN T Lotion when you remember, unless it is almost time for your next application, in which case wait and apply at the next application time.
If you use too much If you use too much DALACIN T, you may experience some of the side effects listed below under side effects.
If Dalacin T is swallowed Immediately telephone your doctor or the Poisons Information Centre (telephone 13 11 26) for advice, or go to Accident and Emergency at the nearest hospital, if you think that you or anyone else may have swallowed DALACIN T. Do this even if there are no signs of discomfort or poisoning. You may need urgent medical attention.
While you are using DALACIN T
Things you must do If you become pregnant while you are using DALACIN T, tell your doctor. If you are about to start taking any new medicines, tell your doctor and pharmacist that you are using DALACIN T.
Things you must not do Do not give DALACIN T to anyone else, even if they have the same condition as you.
Side effects Tell your doctor or pharmacist as soon as possible if you do not feel well while you are using DALACIN T. Check with your doctor as soon as possible if you have any problems while using DALACIN T, even if you do not think they are connected with the medicine or are not listed in this leaflet. Like other medicines, DALACIN T can cause some side effects. If they occur, most are likely to be minor and temporary. However, some may be serious and need medical attention. Do not be alarmed by this list of possible side effects. You may not experience any of them. Ask your doctor or pharmacist to answer any questions you may have. Tell your doctor if you notice any of the following and they worry you: skin irritation (burning, redness, peeling) itchy skin dry skin hives skin oiliness stomach upset (diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting) stomach pain These side effects are usually mild. Tell your doctor immediately if you notice any of the following side effects during use, or several weeks after stopping treatment with DALACIN T: severe stomach cramps watery and severe diarrhoea, which may also be bloody fever, in combination with one or both of the above These are rare but serious side effects. DALACIN T can change bacteria, which are normally present in the bowel and harmless, to multiply and therefore cause the above symptoms. You may need urgent medical attention. This side effect is rare. Do not take any diarrhoea medicine without first checking with your doctor. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if you don't understand anything in this list. Other side effects not listed above may also occur in some patients. Tell your doctor if you notice anything else that is making you feel unwell.
After using
DALACIN T
Storage Keep DALACIN T in a cool, dry place where the temperature stays below 25C. Do not store it, or any other medicine, in a bathroom or near a sink. Do not leave it in the car or on window sills. Heat and dampness can destroy some medicines. Keep DALACIN T where children cannot reach it. A locked cupboard at least one-and-a-half metres above the ground is a good place to store medicines.
Disposal If your doctor tells you to stop using DALACIN T or the expiry date has passed, ask your pharmacist what to do with any lotion left over.
Product description
What it looks like DALACIN T is a white to off-white lotion. It is available in a 60 mL bottle.
Ingredients DALACIN T lotion contains clindamycin phosphate equivalent to clindamycin 10 mg/mL as the active ingredient. It also contains: glycerol sodium lauroyl sarcosinate stearic acid glyceryl monostearate mono- and di-glycerides purified water potassium hydroxide cetostearyl alcohol isostearyl alcohol methyl hydroxybenzoate
By Lynda Williams, Senior medwireNews Reporter
The primary endpoint of major molecular response (MMR) at 12 months for ponatinib versus imatinib in patients with newly diagnosed chronic phase-chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) remains undetermined, report the EPIC trial investigators.
EPIC was terminated early due to concerns over an increased risk of vascular adverse events reported in other ponatinib studies, giving a median follow-up of just 5.1 months, the researchers explain in The Lancet Oncology.
Just 10 of the 155 patients randomly assigned to receive open-label ponatinib 45 mg/day and 13 of the 152 patients given imatinib 400 mg/day were assessed for MMR (BCR-ABL1 transcript 0.1%) at 12 months. The endpoint was reached by 80% and 38% of these patients, respectively, and this difference did not reach significance.
However, the secondary endpoint results indicate that ponatinib might be more effective than imatinib in this patient population, say Jeffrey Lipton, from the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and co-authors.
Patients given ponatinib were significantly more likely than imatinib-treated participants to achieve MMR at 3 months (31% of 109 patients vs 3% of 114 patients), 6 months (62% of 69 patients vs 22% of 73 patients) and 9 months (86% of 22 patients vs 33% of 27 patients).
Ponatinib-treated patients were also significantly more likely to achieve MR4 (BCR-ABL1 transcript 0.01%) and MR4.5 (BCR-ABL1 transcript 0.0032%) at all times points than the imatinib group, "although patient numbers were small", the team notes.
And the median time to MMR and MR4 was shorter with ponatinib than imatinib, at 3.3 vs 5.6 months, and 5.6 versus 7.1 months, respectively. Median time to MR4.5 with ponatinib was 5.6 months while none of the imatinib-treated patients had this level of response.
"Achieving MR4.5 is a prerequisite for sustained responses in the absence of continued tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy", the investigators write. "[T]he EPIC trial results provide a rationale to further explore the potential of ponatinib in this setting."
But they caution that arterial occlusive events occurred in 7% of 154 ponatinib-treated patients and 2% of 152 imatinib-treated patients, with serious episodes in 6% and 1%, respectively. There was a comparable rate of grade 3 and 4 ischaemic events, at 3% versus 1%.
Ponatinib was also associated with an increased risk of grade 3 or 4 lipase elevation (14 vs 2%), thrombocytopenia (12 vs 6%) and rash (6 vs 1%), compared with imatinib, but a reduced risk of neutropenia (4 vs 8%).
The authors of an accompanying comment agree that the EPIC results show the "potential of ponatinib to induce early molecular response, early MR4, and early MR4.5" but suggest that the 45 mg dose used "might not outweigh the risk of developing arterial occlusive events."
Carmen Fava and Giuseppe Saglio, from the University of Turin in Italy, therefore advise: "For this reason, the potential of ponatinib should be evaluated at lower doses even in the first-line setting, with more stringent inclusion criteria to avoid patients with high cardiovascular risk scores."
Licensed from medwireNews with permission from Springer Healthcare Ltd. Springer Healthcare Ltd. All rights reserved. Neither of these parties endorse or recommend any commercial products, services, or equipment.
Tragedies like the E. coli outbreak in Ontario's Walkerton in May 2000 could be averted today with a new invention by researchers at York University that can detect the deadly contaminant in drinking water early.
"We have developed a hydrogel based rapid E. coli detection system that will turn red when E. coli is present," says Professor Sushanta Mitra, Lassonde School of Engineering. "It will detect the bacteria right at the water source before people start drinking contaminated water."
The new technology has cut down the time taken to detect E. coli from a few days to just a couple of hours. It is also an inexpensive way to test drinking water (C$3 per test estimated), which is a boon for many developing countries, as much as it is for remote areas of Canada's North.
"This is a significant improvement over the earlier version of the device, the Mobile Water Kit, that required more steps, handling of liquid chemicals and so on," says Mitra, Associate Vice-President of Research at York U. "The entire system is developed using a readily available plunger-tube assembly. It's so user-friendly that even an untrained person can do the test using this kit."
Traditional methods of testing for E. coli contamination involves collecting water samples to send to an appropriate microbiological lab where the bacteria is cultured before a plate count is done to detect E. coli presence.
The testing device uses the porous hydrogel matrix, developed by Mitra's team at his Micro & Nano-scale Transport Laboratory that cages specific enzymatic substrates that release certain enzymes in E. coli cells. These enzymes then chemically react with the substrates to change colour. If there is no E. coli, the colour of the hydrogel won't change, as there is no chemical reaction.
The results of the water test can be instantly broadcast using a mobile app already developed by the team.
The breakthrough invention has resulted in forming of Glacierclean Technologies Inc, an Innovation York spinoff company, in partnership with York U. "We have received a significant number of queries from related industries. We strongly believe that the product is in a unique position as the only one available in the market for rapid detection of E. coli," says Naga Siva Gunda, president and CTO of Glacierclean, talking of the commercialization plan for affordable rapid E. coli detection tool, adding that the company has recently hired a CEO.
Several pediatric medical conditions, such as congenital heart disease, vascular compression, and congenital softening of the cartilage lining the trachea or bronchi, can compromise the airway and cause breathing difficulty. No matter the cause, airway obstruction in children can be life-threatening, requiring immediate attention. Corrective options such as reconstructive surgery or endoscopic stent placement are limited because of the potential for granulation formation within the lumen or increased risk of wound rupture. In a presentation at the 96th AATS Annual Meeting, investigators describe their experience with external stenting to relieve airway obstruction in 98 children over an 18-year period.
A team of surgeons in Japan has developed a technique to relieve airway obstruction in children. The technique, known as external stenting (ES), expands and stabilizes the airway by suspending its wall to a rigid prosthesis placed around the bronchus or trachea. ES avoids the problem of granulation formation resulting from endolumenal corrective approaches, such as endoscopic stent placement. In a presentation at the 96th AATS Annual Meeting, the researchers describe the ES technique in detail as well as report on indications, complications, and long-term outcomes.
"Our ES technique may provide an alternative or adjunct to established practices for relieving airway obstruction, such as aortopexy. ES is less invasive and more reliable, and is effective equally for tracheobronchomalacia with or without vascular compression. It also has the potential of allowing age-proportional growth of the airway," explained Makoto Ando, MD, of the Department of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at Sakakibara Heart Institute, Tokyo (Japan).
The prosthesis "grows" as the child grows. The procedure relies on a ringed polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) prosthesis that is cut to an appropriate length covering the obstructed airway segment (usually the length of 3 to 5 cartilage rings). The prosthesis is then cut longitudinally into two pieces, forming a sleeve around the obstructed area. A larger piece that is approximately one-half to two-thirds of the circumference is used to stabilize the cartilage portion of the airway and the smaller one with one-third of the circumference stabilizes the membrane portion of the trachea. Three rows of stitches are placed on the cartilage and a single row on the membrane. The two pieces are not sutured together, allowing for airway growth.
Over an 18-year period, 98 patients (average age 7.2 months) at two medical centers underwent a total of 127 ES for 139 obstruction sites. Airway obstruction was caused by congenital tracheobronchomalacia (cartilage weakening) in 52 cases, by vascular compression in 43 cases, and a combination of both in three cases. More than 80% of the children had cardiovascular anomalies, including ventricular septal defect, a functionally single ventricle, vascular ring/pulmonary arterial sling, and other cardiac septal or vascular defects. Eighteen had coexisting aortic arch obstruction. The children showed symptoms such as apnea, frequent respiratory infections, severe respiratory distress, and failure to wean from a ventilator. The technique is not intended for blockages caused by food or other ingested items.
Fourteen children died, mainly due to congestive heart failure, gastrointestinal bleeding, or respiratory distress. Ten patients required reoperation for re-stenosis and three required stent removal for infection. To date, 84% of the children have survived after 55 months of follow-up and 87% did not require re-operation at 59 months of follow-up. Eighty-eight percent of children were successfully weaned from a ventilator.
Many of the children studied are being followed at hospitals outside of the two surgical centers. Dr. Ando strongly recommends that patients be re-evaluated when they reach adulthood to see if the stents can be removed.
The team continues to refine the technique. Changes include shortening the graft to reduce the risk of airway perforation by the graft, especially in the right main bronchus. Placement of a sheet of PTFE between the graft and surrounding structures can also help to prevent erosion.
Adult patients who were admitted to U.S. intensive care units had higher mortality if they were extubated overnight. The results reported at the ATS 2016 International Conference may discourage hospital administrators from expanding the practice of overnight extubations in ICUs, which the lead author noted are rapidly being transformed to provide continuity of care.
"Overnight extubations is of specific relevance today as physician presence in U.S. ICUs overnight (either onsite or remotely) is increasing," said Hayley Gershengorn, MD, lead author and assistant professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and attending physician at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. "One of the goals of this movement has been to transform ICUs into truly '24 hour operations' in which the same level of care is available throughout the day. Our results demonstrate more information is needed before we can say it is in our patients' best interest to make extubation a service we provide all of the time."
The researchers completed a retrospective study comprising 32,760 patients admitted to76 ICUs, where they received mechanical ventilation to help them breath. One-fifth of the patients in the study (18.2 percent) were extubated overnight, which the researchers defined as between 7:00 p.m. and 6:59 a.m. Patients who were extubated overnight were typically diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, sepsis, trauma or other neurologic disease. Among ICU admissions, mortality rates were 28.2 percent in patients who were extubated overnight and 15.9 percent in patients who were extubated during the day.
This study is believed to be the first to investigate the frequency of overnight extubations in the U.S. "Our results raise concern that this practice may be harmful," cautioned Dr. Gershengorn.
"Prospective studies are needed to evaluate this issue further. Specifically interesting will be the results of such prospective investigations on patient subgroups as there may well be some patients - for example surgical patients with short durations of mechanical ventilation - in whom overnight extubation is safe and effective."
Vector biologist Laura Harrington and chair of the Department of Entomology at Cornell University says overreaction to the threat of Zika virus in the continental U.S. could be harmful to citizens' psychological well-being, as well as the environment as it may lead to mass spraying of insecticides that may not be effective in controlling the mosquitos.
Harrington says:
"I'm very concerned that people are overreacting to the threat of Zika virus in the U.S. It is very disappointing to see the maps and information that the CDC has distributed showing unrealistic range distributions for both vectors - Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus. This is really doing a disservice to the public and vector surveillance programs.
"I am concerned that there will be efforts to mass spray insecticides that will not be very effective in controlling these particular mosquitoes and could potentially be harmful environmentally. I am also concerned that the hysteria diverts attention and funds away from other serious health issues in the U.S.
"There is a serious need to support new translational research efforts for collaborative teams that include university researchers and government/private industry. That funding should have the explicit goal to rapidly develop outcomes that control this vector in an effective way and reduce the burden of disease.
"While it is likely we will have some Zika cases within continental U.S. borders this year; we are unlikely to see an outbreak of the magnitude seen in South and Central America.
Royal Philips and a consortium of leading European healthcare regions, companies, universities and hospitals* today announced the start of the first large scale care coordination and telehealth program in the European Union to support tens of thousands of people living with chronic conditions.
The three-year [email protected] program will collect and analyze the health outcome and economic impact data for large populations of chronic patients and elderly people to develop, test and consolidate best practice care coordination and telehealth programs that can be replicable and successfully rolled out across the European Union. The program aims to reach more than 75,000 patients in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain and Denmark by 2019.
Today, 70 percent of Europes healthcare budget is spent on patients living with chronic conditions, largely a result of Europes aging population and rapidly changing care needs, said Jeroen Tas, CEO Connected Care and Health Informatics, Philips. Philips is committed to helping care providers and governments implement innovative, connected care delivery models that help improve patient self-management and care collaboration. The [email protected] program will provide the evidence needed to successfully deliver a seamless patient experience with better outcomes at lower cost.
The five participating healthcare regions are all in the process of rolling out innovative care coordination and telehealth services. Within the [email protected] program, they will share an agreed and standardized data set including program outcomes such as the number of patients included, (re)hospitalizations, duration of hospitalizations and mortality rates. They will also assess economic impact factors such as cost per patient and the impact on hospitals income models. This data is to support the development of new and sustainable business models. Next to this patient satisfaction scores are measured and the degree to which connected technology empowers people and affects health outcomes.
The regions involved comprise Catalonia (Spain), which has developed programs to support nursing homes, reduce hospital re-admissions, manage complex cases and promote physical activity; Southern Denmark (Denmark), which is rolling out a telehealth program to deliver psychiatric treatment; Northern Ireland (UK), which has remote telemonitoring programs to support COPD and diabetes patients, and manage maternal obesity; Northern Netherlands (The Netherlands), with programs to provide specialist support for COPD, asthma and heart failure patients, and connect healthcare and community services for chronic disease patients; and the Basque Country (Spain), which is rolling out programs to support older people with complex health and social care needs, plus telehealth services for chronic heart failure patients.
Telehealth and coordinated care services may offer the elderly and otherwise frail individuals the ability to maintain their independence for longer and enjoy a significantly better quality of life, but they also involve significant changes to the healthcare system and the recipients ability to self-manage, said Professor Erik Buskens, Professor of Medical Technology Assessment at University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG). [email protected] will allow us to determine the most cost-effective ways of implementing those changes while also maximizing the benefits for Europes ageing population.
First findings available end of year
The [email protected] scientific consortium members comprise of University Medical Center Groningen (The Netherlands), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), City University London (UK), Universitatsklinikum Wurzburg/Klinikum der Bayerischen Julius-Maximilians-Universitat (Germany), University of Hull (UK), Kronikgune-Centre for Research Excellence in Chronicity (Basque Country, Spain), Hospital Clinic of Barcelona (Spain) and Philips. It is anticipated that the first preliminary findings will be available from the end of Q4, 2016.
[email protected] builds on the successful ACT program, a two-and-a-half year study (2013 2016) that looked into the results of European integrated care programs. Thousands of interviews were conducted with participating patients and care providers. These learnings on success factors are applied to significantly grow the [email protected] healthcare regions coordination and telehealth programs. The program is part of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP-AHA), an initiative from the European Commission under its Innovation Union strategy, and aims to increase the average healthy lifespan by two years by 2020.
eHealth Week 2016
Philips, a leader in care coordination and telehealth and a trusted partner for governments, healthcare authorities and hospitals throughout the world, will be showcasing its latest eHealth and coordinated care solutions at the upcoming eHealth Week, booth N21, Hall 2 (June 8 10, Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam, The Netherlands). For updates on Philips presence at eHealth Week, visit www.philips.com/ehealthweek.
Detecting fluid retention in patients early is important to prevent their heart failure from getting worse. Nurses who are trained in the use of handheld pocket ultrasound devices can dispense diuretic drugs more precisely. These medications prevent harmful fluid retention in patients with heart failure.
Researchers at Levanger Hospital and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have published a study showing that cardiac nurses who have learned to use pocket ultrasound devices can accurately calculate fluid retention both in the pleural cavities (between the two membranes surrounding the lungs) and the inferior vena cava of heart failure patients.
Diuretic medications are the best treatment for fluid retention. Researchers have now found that determining how much fluid has accumulated in heart failure patients with the use of pocket ultrasound technology can be clinically important in treatment.
According to Guri Holmen Gundersen, who is an academic and research nurse and the first author of the study, researchers found that a relatively high proportion of patients who came in for monitoring at the heart failure clinic had pleural effusion, sometimes referred to as "water in the lungs." "In addition," she says, "we found that the ultrasound examination significantly predicted diuretic dosing compared to other routine examinations and blood tests".
The study is based on the surveys of 62 patients who visited the heart failure outpatient clinic at Levanger Hospital on a total of 119 occasions.
Two specialized nurses examined them each time, one using a pocket ultrasound and one not using the device. Following the exam, each nurse and cardiologist team discussed adjustments to the patient's treatment plan.
In 89 of the paired consultations between the nurse and the cardiologist, the two teams (with and without ultrasound) agreed regarding diuretic dosing, meaning the ultrasound examination changed the treatment in 30 of 119 cases.
"Using a pocket ultrasound device enables health personnel to detect signs of dehydration or worsening heart failure early, before the patient experiences symptoms of breathlessness, weight gain and oedema. Proper diuretic dose adjustment can quickly improve the patient's condition and prevent episodes of acute exacerbation of the disease that would require hospitalization," says Gundersen.
In the study, pleural effusion was found to be present in 42% of the patients, which shows that this is common in heart failure.
Using the handheld ultrasounds to measure the volume of fluid retention was the single factor with the greatest impact on the dosage amounts prescribed for patients and on any dosage changes in follow-up visits.
More aggressive treatment of new fluid retention occurrences can restore fluid balance and potentially improve the prognosis of patients.
Researchers see promise in these study findings, but stress that it remains to be seen whether the effects of adjusting the medication dosage will have clinical significance for patient progress over the longer term.
Scientists from KU Leuven, Belgium, present a new therapeutic approach that may make it possible for HIV patients to (temporarily) stop their medication. The findings shed a completely new light on the search for a cure for HIV.
Existing antiviral inhibitors can suppress the replication of the HIV virus, but they cannot fully remove it from the human body. As a result, HIV patients have to take inhibitors for the rest of their lives. HIV researchers worldwide are currently developing new methods to eliminate the virus.
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The HIV virus uses the cellular protein LEDGF as a kind of grappling-hook to attach itself to specific locations in our genetic material. Once its DNA is inside the cells of its human host, the virus can multiply and make the patient sick.
In 2010, the research team of KU Leuven Professor Zeger Debyser developed inhibitors called LEDGINs that block the grappling-hook. As a result, the virus cannot attach itself to its preferred locations in our DNA.
Doctoral student Lenard Vranckx has now discovered that, when treated with LEDGINs, the HIV virus settles elsewhere in our DNA, in locations where it cannot multiply. Lenard Vranckx explains: Weve shown that a treatment with LEDGINs not only inhibits the integration of the HIV virus, but also ensures that the virus doesnt multiply once the treatment is stopped.
This discovery paves the way for new clinical studies with LEDGINs, Professor Debyser continues. We dont know whether this approach will lead to a final cure for HIV, but even a scenario that allows patients to stop their medication for a while is an important step in the right direction.
However, the researchers remain cautious: We dont want to give anyone false hope. Our discovery is based on cell cultures. The findings still need to be tested in mice and in clinical studies. Thats why a potential treatment based on the discovery is still years in the future, says Professor Debyser. But now, we already know the direction of our future research.
Patients who receive care at migrant health centers located in Medicaid expansion states are increasingly likely to have Medicaid, according to a report published today by the Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative at the Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH) at the George Washington University (GW). The researchers examined national survey data on the nation's agricultural workers and analyzed data from community health centers, including trends over time in insurance coverage of patients at health centers that specialize in caring for agricultural workers and their families.
The report documents the major role played by health centers that receive migrant health funding in providing health care services to agricultural workers. In 2014, the nation's community health centers served nearly 892,000 agricultural workers and their families. Migrant health centers accounted for 91 percent of all agricultural workers and families served by health centers that year.
As with the national agricultural population, the agricultural health center patient population is clustered in California, the Pacific Northwest, and the South. Health centers in just four states (California, Florida, North Carolina, and Washington) accounted for 71 percent of all agricultural patients served by health centers in 2014.
According to national survey data, agricultural workers and their families remain much more likely than other low-income populations to be uninsured - 66 percent versus 32 percent of low-income adults generally. While data on community health centers does not specifically report insurance coverage of agricultural workers and their families, insurance coverage of migrant health center patients has increased over time; between 2003 and 2014, the proportion of uninsured patients served by health centers receiving migrant funding dropped from 42 percent to 30 percent, and state Medicaid expansion has played the major role in this trend. Although migrant health centers in both Medicaid expansion and non-expansion states had statistically significant declines in their uninsured rates between 2013 and 2014, when the ACA was fully implemented, the decline was steeper in Medicaid expansion states. Over the 2013-2014 time period, migrant health centers in Medicaid expansion states registered a statistically significant increase in the percentage of patients with Medicaid coverage, while migrant health centers in non-expansion states did not.
According to the study, three factors might account for the impact of the Medicaid expansion on migrant health centers and their patients: (1) high poverty among agricultural workers; (2) the growing tendency among agricultural workers to settle and work in one state rather than migrating across state lines, which in turn may increase the likelihood that they will qualify for Medicaid in their state of residence; and (3) rising Medicaid coverage rates among non-farmworker patients served by health centers that receive migrant funding.
The findings from this study underscore the importance of Medicaid expansion in states whose large agricultural industry offers only limited employer coverage. Between 2013 and 2014, migrant health centers in California and Washington - both states that have expanded Medicaid - the percentage of uninsured patients dropped by 9 and 11 percentage points, respectively. Yet migrant health centers located in Florida and North Carolina - both non-expansion states - showed a decline in the proportion of uninsured patients of only 3 to 4 percentage points.
Without Medicaid expansion, health centers serving agricultural workers - a population with especially significant health needs - may encounter additional difficulties providing comprehensive primary care and expanding dental and mental health service capacity for their patients when needed, the authors note.
"There are up to 3 million migrant and seasonal agricultural workers who provide essential labor on farms and ranches in the United States," says author Peter Shin, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management at Milken Institute SPH. "This report shows that Medicaid is reaching the populations served even by those health centers providing care to patients most likely to be uninsured."
"We still face many challenges to providing care for agricultural workers, especially in states that have not expanded Medicaid," says Feygele Jacobs, President and CEO of the RCHN Community Health Foundation, which funded the report. "Community health centers will continue to need stable grant funding in order to expand into isolated areas and provide specialized services to this at-risk population."
During the four years of medical school training, students can either study, sleep or have a social life, but never all three, joked Joel Rosenfeld, MD, M.Ed, FACS, Chief Academic Officer, St. Luke's University Health Network, and Senior Associate Dean, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.
After four years of intense study and clinical experience, 27 Temple/St. Luke's medical students graduated on May 13, 2016 at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.
Graduation is truly a culmination of many years of hard work and preparation, said Dr. Rosenfeld. From high school through college and then throughout medical school, medical students have to be singularly focused and committed in order to succeed. I am very pleased that our students have met these challenges, far exceeded our expectations and have proved themselves ready for the next step of their training in their chosen residency programs.
Cut Lines:
Group Shot: Members of the Temple/St. Luke's School of Medicine Class of 2016 pose for a photograph with faculty shortly after graduation on Friday, May 13 at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.
Caverly, Baby: Temple/St. Luke's graduate and Macungie resident Colin Caverly, MD adjusts his robe while his son, Connor, and wife, Jamie, chat with Joel C. Rosenfeld, MD, MEd, FACS, Chief Academic Officer at St. Luke's University Health Network and Senior Associate Dean and Professor of Surgery at Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. Caverly will continue his training with St. Luke's Emergency Medicine Residency Program.
Photo credit: Tom Volk/Special to St. Luke's University Health Network
St. Luke's University Health Network gives permission for you to use these photos.
St. Luke's Student Wins Top Prize Local Faculty Honored
At an award ceremony for 200 graduates of the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, St. Luke's student Rachael Kyper, MD of Manor, PA was awarded the Joseph C. Doane Memorial prize for the member of the graduating class with the highest average throughout all four years of medical school. Rachael also won the Earl H. Spaulding Award in Microbiology and Immunology. Rachael will continue her training as an Emergency Medicine resident at University of Pittsburgh, near her hometown.
Dr. Fabio Dorville, an internal medicine physician who completed his residency training at St. Luke's and practices in Bethlehem, won the Blockley-Osler award for an affiliate faculty selected for excellence in teaching by the Temple/St. Luke's students.
Dr. James Anasti, a St. Luke's obstetrics & gynecology physician and program director for the OB/GYN Residency program at St. Luke's won the Drs. Henry and Page Laughlin award for excellence in clinical teaching as selected by Temple/St. Luke's students. Dr. Anasti graduated from Temple University School of Medicine and completed his residency and internship at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Five Temple/St. Luke's Medical Students to Continue Studies at St. Luke's University Hospital - Bethlehem for Residencies
On March 18, fourth year medical students all over the country matched their residency applications with prospective health institutions to determine residency training programs, the next step after graduating from medical school.
National Match Day is truly a milestone for every medical student across the country. This is the day when medical residency programs match with their highest-ranked medical students, and fourth year medical students learn where they will continue their professional development, explained Dr. Rosenfeld.
Dr. Rosenfeld continued, We are extremely pleased with how well our students have matched. This is a tribute to their hard work over the past four years and to the excellent teaching, advice and counsel of our faculty.
Five students will continue their medical education in St. Luke's Graduate Medical Education programs, according to Dr. Rosenfeld. Data demonstrates that 50 percent of physicians will practice medicine within 100 miles of where they attend medical school and complete residencies.
Robert Langan, MD, Program Director, Family Medicine Residency Program, St. Luke's University Health Network, said, St. Luke's University Health Network and the Lewis Katz School of Medicine made a joint investment in the future of the health of the Lehigh Valley by joining together to produce a medical school with the stated purpose of attracting high quality individuals who will learn, train and and we hope stay - to practice medicine in the Lehigh Valley.
For more information about the Temple/St. Luke's School of Medicine please visit www.temple-stlukes.slhn.org and for other graduate medical education programs at St. Luke's University Health Network, please visit www.sluhn.org/medical-education.
Definition - A hackathon (also known as a hack day, hackfest or codefest) is an event in which computer programmers and others involved in software development and hardware development collaborate intensively on software projects.
Entrants and donors are invited for the worlds first Hackathon for Chronic Pain to be held over one weekend May 20-22, 2016 at Fishburners in Sydney as a lead up to National Pain Week 2016 (July 20-26).
The Hackathon aims to develop a minimum viable prototype of an app that addresses the lifestyle, social and psychological needs of people living with chronic pain.
Teams of digital technology professionals such as web designers, graphic designers and coders will work with people living with pain to build an app to solve the problems identified by people in pain. The teams will work around the clock to develop the app over the weekend of May 20-22. Prizes of $6,000 are being offered. The winner will be announced on the night of Sunday May 22, 2016.
Judges are :
Dr Mandy Nielsen, pain researcher, lives with pain, VP Chronic Pain Australia
Pete Cooper, iCentral: Founder at The Start Society & iCentralCo. Tech startup ecosystem advocate.
Gary Morgan, Managing Director, MPT Innovation - Gary Morgan is managing director at MPT Innovation Group and founder and CEO at People Insights Group. Gary Morgan has over 20 years experience as an executive and consultant developing and driving digital innovation, strategy, business performance, international collaboration, development and growth in organisations.
For further information please go to: http://cpahackathon.devpost.com/com
Sponsorship email: [email protected]
The co-design methodology of the Hackathon is about developing ideas with the people who will benefit from the end solution the app, said Dr Coralie Wales, President of Chronic Pain Australia who organize National Pain Week 2016.
This is so exciting - developing tools and networks for people with chronic pain to connect to and learn from each other in the community should be celebrated.
Chronic Pain (pain that lasts for longer than 3 months) is the fastest growing medical condition in Australia with approximately 4 million people currently recognized as living with the challenges of chronic pain. Chronic Pain Australia is a non profit consumer organization which receives no Government funding.
As well as asking digital professionals to participate - $6,000 in prizes being offered; we are also seeking donors to sponsor a meal or a prize for the participants of the hackathon. The cost of this is a $500 contribution or an in kind contribution, said Dr Coralie Wales. do we need an email for people to contact if they want to get involved?
Everyone knows that, for kids, being in the hospital is no fun. That's why UCLA Health's child life specialists make sure hospitalized kids still get to be kids. They staff playrooms, orchestrate social events and bring movies and games to kids' bedsides.
Now, child life experts nationwide are recognizing that kids' parents, who are stressed and anxious about their children's health, need some fun too.
"When we think of a pediatric patient as a child, it helps us remember that the patient is part of a family unit. As child life specialists, we support family-centered care, which recognizes that the patient's illness affects the whole family," said Kellye Carroll, director of the Chase Child Life Program at Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA.
In support of that family-centered care, the Child Life department at Mattel Children's launched a family resource room. Initially set up as a resource library to provide health-related information, the space is evolving into a playroom for caregivers, providing the same therapeutic support that the traditional playroom provides for the children.
"It is a place for parents to relax while their children play next door in the playroom. Here, they can take a break and rejuvenate so they can better help their child," said Denise Matsuyama Lai, a UCLA child life specialist and coordinator of the family resource room.
The room has support beyond hospital staff. For example, once a week, hospital volunteer Shannon Allbright, who teaches sewing classes, brings sewing materials to the resource room for parents who find that busy hands help soothe worried minds. Allbright offers free sewing lessons to adult caregivers. Often, as the adults sit around the table working on a simple sewing project, they begin to share their stories -- and their stress starts to lift.
"It's really about the parents getting a little bit of a break because they are going through the worst time of their lives," Allbright said in a KCBS/KCAL news story about the sewing circle.
The Child Life Program offers other free, stress-busting activities such as parent teas, manicures and haircuts, and Zumba classes. And team members are looking to offer more.
They welcome volunteers or organizations who can provide instruction in activities such as:
-Simple crafts, including origami, jewelry making, knitting, crochet or embroidery
-Health and wellness activities, such as exercise, yoga, meditation and massage
-Experts to teach parenting workshops
"Many of our patients have complex illnesses like cancer or organ transplants and they're here for weeks and months at a time. The parents are with their child around the clock. If we can help the family have less stress, then that means better care overall for their child," Carroll said.
News18 Blogs India
Why Congress Can't Get Rid of Rahul Gandhi
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi. (File photo: PTI)
Exit poll results confirm Congress's worst fears that its base and presence are rapidly shrinking. Despite the histrionics of the Congress karyakartas (workers) on the streets and Sonia Gandhi's "I will die in India" emotional outburst in Kerala which is very similar to the then prime minister Indira Gandhi's Bhubaneswar speech just hours before her assassination in 1984, the Congress has every reason to be worried.
No matter the eyeballs the party gets on news channels or the front page coverage, no matter how much social media space it gets, in the end the benchmark of whether a party is thriving or not are always about election wins.
By that yardstick, most would declare Congress a spent force and the country on way to becoming "Congress Mukt Bharat".
But what is worse for the Congress is that a whisper campaign has begun for a "Rahul Mukt Congress" as well.
Here is where I beg to differ with many Congress leaders and even some political analysts. I think we are being hasty in writing him off.
Yes, politics doesn't give you the luxury of taking time in proving oneself. For that matter in this jet age no profession allows that. But then in politics you get not one but many chances.
Comebacks are routine and accepted after an initial setback. One doesn't need to look far. Amar Singh is with the Samajwadi Party.
Those within the Congress clamouring for Sonia and claiming that only she can lead the party forget that when she decided to lead it in 1998, there were similar voices from the then old guard who called her gudia just as Rahul is being called pappu.
Those who laud Sonia's political acumen and her ability to get Congress to rule at the Centre for a decade forget that it took her almost seven years to get her party to power in 2004. Congress at that time wasn't even a talking point.
When she saw that alliances were the only way to come to power, she started on it and reached out to the DMK, a party many allege supported her husband's Rajiv Gandhi's killers. Among the many things she did included walking into Ram Vilas Paswan's home just next door on a cold December morning to seal an alliance.
Her famous "I have 272" after Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government lost the trust vote in Parliament in 1999 stuck to her and earned her the tag of being a novice. Congress wasn't winning elections and in many states the party was almost a non starter. It was in news for all the wrong reasons.
The situation was not very different from what it's facing today.
Then the turn around happened in 2004 and Sonia became a "woman of substance" for most Congress leaders, even those who has written her off.
Rahul unfortunately still has to wait for the tag for a long time and needs a few electoral wins to add to his kitty.
But just as Sonia then had a small but committed group of loyalists who believed she could do it, Rahul too has one.
Yes, times are different.
The scrutiny is harsher, social media is quick to magnify the failures and Narendra Modi is a formidable opponent.
The truth is we are always harsher on a man than a woman. Pretty much similar to elders breathing down the neck of our brothers and sons to get a good job.
Yet Rahul may well go the Sonia way because politics throws up many surprises. Those close to him say he has the grit, determination and that small group of loyalists who believe he can do it.
There is a point of view that Rahul should step down and hand it over to what many argue are more capable and experienced netas in the party. Whether one likes it or not only a Gandhi can withstand the palace intrigues of the party.
Congress best exemplifies the crab culture. The moment one tries to climb up, others pulls it down. It's a party where each neta thinks he/she alone is capable of leading it and no one would be ready to accept the other as their leader. Only a Gandhi would be acceptable, for better or worse.
So what Congress needs is not "Rahul Mukt Party" but a lethargy, defocussed and complacent mukt party.
And yes if it's Rahuls responsibility to not let down his party, it's equally important that his party doesn't let him down. The reality is that Congress will have to learn to live with Rahul.
Chennai: Heavy rains are likely to continue in Tamil Nadu and Kerala for the next 48 hours. Chennai has already recorded 101 mm rainfall since Tuesday. NDRF teams have been put on standby.
Many areas of Chennai are waterlogged bringing back the memories of the floods that hit Tamil Nadu nearly 5 months back.
The Met department has asked people to stay indoors. The Kanchipuram District Collector has also directed fishermen not to venture out into the sea. All District Collectors have been advised to take precautionary measures and senior civil servants asked to visit those districts which are expected to receive heavy rainfall.
Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government has set up a call centre to address rain-related grievances.
"For all kinds of rain related grievances, the Control Room No 1070 may be contacted," an official release from the Commissioner of Revenue Administration said.
Chennai is experiencing the heaviest rainfall in May in the last five years, and the heaviest since the 2015 floods.
Rains had also affected the voter turnout during the Assembly elections on Monday in some places in Chennai and South Tamil Nadu.
Kerala, too, is witnessing heavy rains with Ernakulam and some southern districts of the state receiving the maximum downpour.
According to the Met Department the rains are due to a low pressure formed in the Bay of Bengal.
Mumbai University's Institute of Distance and Open learning textbooks has courted controversy by omitting Indias first prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru's name from the political science textbook.
While Nehru no longer features in the book, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi have been called anti-secular in the same textbook. The book has been compiled by the university course coordinator and the head of the Civics and Politics department.
Following an uproar the university constituted an inquiry committee to review the book.
A few days ago, a controversy had erupted after it was revealed that Class 8 textbooks in Rajasthan had excluded any mention of Nehru from the history of independent India.
The opposition Congress, taking pot shots at BJP, had then dubbed it as 'saffronization of education'.
New Delhi: Six people including the Managing Director of a hotel have been arrested in connection with the murder of a 57-year-old lawyer who was allegedly shot dead by an unidentified duo at a crowded street in southeast Delhi's Jamia Nagar area.
The deceased was identified as MM Khan, an assistant legal advisor with the NDMC, police said.
The police probe revealed that the hotel MD had threatened him. According to the police, the family said that the victim was offered a bribe of Rs 4 crore to settle the tax dues, but he refused. Police said the hired killers were paid Rs 1.5 lakh to kill the lawyer.
Talking to CNN-News18, the officer's daughter said, "My dad worked honestly. He was killed because he refused to take bribe. He said he is facing a lot of pressure. If there is someone from NDMC who was putting pressure on him than that person must be punished."
The incident took place around 7:45 PM on Monday night when Khan was heading back home in his car which was intercepted by a motorbike at a busy street in Jamia Nagar. The assailants on the bike were wearing helmets and shot at Khan from a close range.
Khan sustained a bullet injury in his chest and was rushed to a nearby hospital where he died.
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Who will rule West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry for the next five years? We will get to know the answer by 11 am on Thursday. Most exit polls have predicted that Mamata Banerjee-led TMC will stay in power in West Bengal, J Jayalalithaa will make way for MK Stalin-led DMK in Tamil Nadu, BJP will script a historic win in Assam and Kerala will bring back the LDF. In the tiny union territory of Puducherry, chief minister N Rangaswamys future looks bleak.
West Bengal
Most Exit Polls have predicted a big win for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress.If she wins, her victory march which started in 2009 Lok Sabha elections will continue, with no strong opposition to her rule. The CPM-led Left Front which fought the Assembly polls in alliance with the Congress will have to seriously think about its future, if Mamata railroads them into submission once again. The second consecutive defeat is likely to make both the Left and Congress largely irrelevant in the state's politics.
If she wins, Mamata is likely to take some decisive steps to consolidate her power both within and outside the party.
Assam
If we go by the exit polls, the longest serving chief minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi, may not be as lucky as Mamata. Most have already voted him out, giving a clear edge to the BJP. If the BJP manages to unseat Gogoi, it will be a historic victory for the saffron party in many ways. Dubbed as the 'third' force in the biggest north eastern state till recently, the BJP will emerge as the primary force. It will also be a huge win for BJP's CM nominee Srabananda Sonowal, who was allowed to lead the campaign by the party bosses in New Delhi - Modi and Shah.
Tarun Gogoi led a spirited campaign across the state and if he manages a fourth consecutive win for the Congress, he will go down in history as Congress' most charismatic chief minister ever. A hung Assembly can make AIUDF and AGP kingmakers. A loss for Gogoi can make Congress totally irrelevant in the eastern parts of India.
Tamil Nadu
Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa will continue to be the uncrowned queen of Tamil Nadu if she bucks the trend. Because nobody has done that after her mentor MG Ramachandran. Most exit polls have predicted a win for MK Stalin-led DMK. Only two exit polls C-Voter and Thanthi TV - have declared that Jaya will stay in power, giving her 139 and 111 seats respectively. If that happens, the DMK will have to go through what the Left Front would go through in West Bengal in case of a Mamata win.
If DMK wins, AIADMK might face a huge crisis as Jayalalithaa is not keeping well. If TN throws up a hung Assembly, smaller players like Vaiko, Vijayakanth and Anbumani Ramdoss will become kingmakers in the highly polarised and complex state politics.
A win for DMK will help the Congress remain relevant in state politics. The 92-year old five time chief minister M Karunanidhi may once again become the chief minister delegating all his powers to MK Stalin.
Kerala
The smallest southern state with a high density of population is unlikely to buck the trend say exit polls. Most exit polls have predicted the win of CPM-led LDF in this election. Kerala always alternates the two fronts once in five years. If the LDF wins, Pinarayi Vijayan will most likely become the chief minister, and the 92-year old former chief minister VS Achuthanandan will have to be contented with the post of an MLA.
The third player BJP may or may not open its account in Kerala. If it wins even one seat, it will be an occasion for celebration.
Puducherry
The news ahead of counting is not encouraging for Chief minister N Rangaswamy. His party AINRC is staring at an imminent defeat claim some exit polls. The Congress DMK alliance is the top favourite. The AIADMK may also deliver some unexpected results. The Territorial Assembly has just 30 seats.
With just a few hours left for counting in one of the most viciously-fought poll battles in Bengal in recent times, it's perhaps the right time to assess what is at stake for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, politically and otherwise.
A month before polls were announced, things looked bright for Banerjee and her party. The Saradha ponzi scam seemed nowhere around. The opposition looked feeble. The Left was in disarray and the Congress no better. The BJP had clearly failed to cash in and improve upon the support it had received from people of the state in the 2014 general elections. With virtually no political challenge before it at that point, the Trinamool Congress had already decided on the agenda it would pursue - development.
But then a few things happened.
First, two of the unlikeliest parties joined hands. The Congress was more forthcoming and wanted a formal alliance. The Left was tentative. Aware of its acrimonious past with the Congress in the state, it was keener for an informal handholding at the grass roots. But what was common to both parties was their desperate bid for political survival against the allegedly fiendish attacks of the ruling establishment. In the end, the two camps shared seats and avoided a four-cornered fight. For Mamata Banerjee, whose vote share in the 2011 polls was 38.1%, a notch below the Left's 41% (but then she had Congress as her partner and the total vote share of Congress and Trinamool was about 48.5%) this was bad news.
Shortly afterwards, 12 Trinamool leaders were exposed, allegedly accepting bribes in return for government favours, by a sting operation conducted by a Chennai-based media house. Five of them were the party's candidates in the state polls.
While Banerjee was grappling for an honourable exit from that slur, an under-construction flyover collapsed and snuffed out the lives of 27 unsuspecting people in Kolkata. Suspicion that adulterated material was used at the site singed the party yet again.
The Election Commission, as many in the Trinamool Congress describe it now, "wreaked havoc" when it reshuffled the state machinery by transferring more than 50 top officers of the civil administration and police. An unprecedented 714 companies of central paramilitary troops were deployed to ensure free and fair polls over the seven phases earmarked for the state - making a commentary on the state of law and order in Bengal, needless to say.
Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, people with whom Banerjee was known to have maintained cordial relations, lashed out at her at public meetings and questioned her integrity. That too was a first of a kind experience for the Bengal Chief Minister who was flaunted by her party as a "symbol of honesty" in the previous elections.
But most of Banerjee's energies were possibly spent on countering the onslaught of a section of the media which ran a sustained campaign against her Ma Mati Manush government. The bitter war of words heightened during her first tenure as chief minister, and during the run-up to the polls it has been vicious like never before.
Livid with the bad press she has had recently, Banerjee suddenly become reticent and imposed a near carpet-ban on interactions with journalists, much to the chagrin of the professionals who find the present elections in the state more intriguing than most elections in the past.
A favourable result for the Trinamool Congress is hence not just an opportunity for the embattled chief minister to answer her critics but also her final chance to stand vindicated on the development course she believes she has charted for Bengal. If not, then it would mean that her model for governance has miserably failed. Numbers would speak, margins would tell more stories. But for Banerjee, challenges would persist. Primary among them would be to ensure that the already vitiated political atmosphere in Bengal doesnt descend into further chaos.
I am ready to face any inquiry. These allegation leveled against me by a Kakinada lawyer is baseless and fabricated. I am ready to cooperate with the police and want the truth to come out in public, said Narasimhan.
Hours after allegation of being involved a taking nude photos of children, Telugu Desam Party's (TDP) Kakinada MP Thota Narasimham rubbished the accusation and claimed that there was conspiracy to malign his image.A Kakinada-based lawyer Suravarapu Venkata Ravi has filed a complaint with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) alleging that Narasimham was involved in clicking and circulating nude photos of his children along with other minors.Accused the MP of having a hand in the "criminal act", the lawyer demanded an investigation.Meanwhile, the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has written to Andhra Pradesh Director-General of Police (DGP) JV Ramudu and the Secretary Home Affairs to inquire into the matter.The commission has sought a report by June 16.
Google Home is a voice-activated assistant.
Emoji, stickers, Ink, and our Whisper Shout feature in Allo.
Google is trying to decide what to name the next version of Android and wants you to suggests good ideas.
Android N brings more realistic emojis, skin tone variations and 72 new emojis (including bacon and owl!) #IO16 pic.twitter.com/Io8kuQmeJF Google (@google) May 18, 2016
You can do some pretty awesome things with the Daydream controller. #IO16https://t.co/GMKIrNbPYS Google (@google) May 18, 2016
Google unveiled its answer to Amazon's virtual assistant along with new messaging and virtual reality products at its annual I/O developer conference, doubling down on artificial intelligence and machine learning as the keys to its future.We bring you 5 key announcements from the company's annual event.Following in Amazon's footsteps, Google unveiled a smart-home assistant that lets people listen to music and podcasts, as well as manage tasks such as setting alarms and compiling shopping lists, throughout their home.Called Google Home, the Internet-connected device lets users control it with their voice to listen to music and control lights and thermostats in the home, for example.Google says that unlike other home assistants, Home will work with other speakers in the house too. Mario Queiroz, a vice president at Google, says the sleek, flower pot-like device also lets you ask Google about "anything you want."In the future, Google says the device could let users control things outside of their home too. The company has not yet revealed its price, but says it will be available later this year.The Google Home, a portable speaker powered by the company's search engine, would offer competition to Amazon's Echo.Amazon's Echo, a surprise hit that has other tech giants racing to match it, uses a virtual assistant called Alexa, a cloud-based system that controls the Echo speaker and responds to voice-controlled commands by users.Google, at I/O 2016, introduced two new apps - Allo and Duo. While Allo is a messaging app that incorporates Google's new voice assistant, Duo is a one-to-one video calling app.Allo, which a rival to Facebook's WhatsApp and other messaging services, allows people look up restaurant options and even book a table right in the app. Allo offers users an array of emoji and stickers and the option to increase or decrease the size of text to add emphasis.Allo also gives a range of automated responses to questions and even photos, recognising things like food and dog breeds.One interesting feature in Duo, the video companion to Allo, is the Knock Knock feature that shows you a live video preview of the other caller before you pick up.Both the apps will be available later this year for both Android and iOS.Google is adding a few more features to the next version of its Android operating system in an attempt to outshine Apple's iPhone.The company is promising better graphic and battery performance. It's also adopting a security approach that lets you encrypt specific files rather than the whole phone.Google, for the first time, has invited people to help the company name Android N Google released Android N to developers two months ago, but still hasn't specified when it will be ready for consumers. The company previously revealed that Android N will offer a split-screen feature so users can toggle between apps more easily. It also will enable users to reply directly to notifications, something iPhones already allow.Apple's split-screen feature works only with iPad tablets, not iPhones.Research firm Gartner says nearly 1.3 billion smartphones running on Android are expected to be sold this year compared with a projected 231,000 iPhones.Google's stepping further into the virtual world. It announced a new platform for virtual reality called Daydream, and said manufacturers including Samsung, HTC and Huawei would have smartphones capable of handling it this fall.The platform, included in its upcoming Android N operating system, is meant to improve upon the experience of Cardboard, which Google launched two years ago, by making virtual-reality experiences that are more comfortable, higher quality and more immersive.Google said it had created a reference design for a headset that a partner manufacturer would have ready for the fall, and designs for a new controller that has a few buttons, a touchpad, and sensors that track its orientation and where it's pointing.In a demonstration for some 7,000 attendees at its Google I/O conference in Mountain View, California, the Internet search giant showed how the controller could be used to flip digital pancakes, throw things, cast a virtual fishing line and fly a digital dragon.Google also announced what it calls Android Instant Apps, that will let users run apps without downloading them. It will be compatible with device running Jelly Bean and above.
Tim Cook is making his Indian debut just as the country emerges as one of the last large growth markets in the smartphone world, while sales in the United States and China begin to taper off.On his maiden visit to India the Apple CEO's diary seems to be full with visits across the country in Gurugram, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. (Also read: 5 Things to Watch Out for During Apple CEO Tim Cook's India Visit Cook's visit to India comes at a time when the US technology giant is hit by slower growth in global sales of its flagship products -- iPhone, iPad and Mac.Among other officials, he is due to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi later on Saturday. Cook had met Modi at a Silicon Valley event in the US last September, where they discussed manufacturing plans under Modi's 'Make in India' initiative. Tim Cook's schedule is believed to also include meetings with industry partners.In Delhi, after greeting employees at the Apple's corporate office at One Horizon Centre in Gurugram, he is expected to visit iZen Store (Apple authorised reseller) in Green Park and the iWorld Store (Apple premium store) in Ambience Mall in Gurgaon," an Apple source told IANS.Cook is in India after a visit to China, where Apple announced a $1 billion investment in the local ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing.The fact is that Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn is present here and is looking to set up a manufacturing base in the country.Earlier this year, Apple opened a development centre in Hyderabad, also home to Microsoft's first India office, where engineers are working on Apple Maps.Apple is also expected to announce plans for a startup accelerator in India to work more closely with the Indian developer community that works on Apple's iOS and OS X software platforms.According to Reuters sources, Modi is likely to press Cook to set up production facilities in India, as part of the government's plan to find jobs for millions of Indians joining the workforce every year. Apple is in separate talks to open its first official retail store in the world's third-largest smartphone market.Cook's India visit, could run into the weekend, also includes meetings with industry partners. On Friday, Cook is expected to meet Bharti Airtel's Sunil Mittal.Cook, who joined Apple in March 1998, was made chief executive of the company, succeeding Steve Jobs, on August 24, 2011.Hit by slower growth in the sale of its flagship products iPhone, iPad and Mac globally, Apple's revenue dropped for the first time since 2003 as the tech giant released earning reports for the second quarter of fiscal 2016 in March.The company on April 27 posted a quarterly revenue of $50.6 billion and quarterly net income of $10.5 billion ($1.90 per diluted share), compared to revenue of $58 billion and net income of $13.6 billion ($2.33 per diluted share) in the year-ago quarter.The revenue was down in both Americas and China -- Apple's two biggest territories. It declined around 10 per cent in the Americas and 26 per cent in China.According to reports, the company is looking for new growth markets like India after its sales declined.In the last two years of Modi as prime minister, top global executives have lined up to visit India. These include Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO; Satya Nadella, India-born CEO of Microsoft; Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg; Sundar Pichai, Chennai-born CEO of Google and Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba, among others.
Thousands of developers from all over the world will be heading to the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, starting today, to witness some of the most anticipated announcements coming from Google. The annual developers conference - Google I/O - is scheduled to run from May 18 to May 20 and other than the much-anticipated launch of Android N and Xiaomi's debut participation at the event, expectations are high about a new Nexus phone, a new VR device, and possibly something around the ambitious driverless car project. Here's a roundup of all that one could expect from Google I/O 2016:Successor to Android Marshmallow, Android N is expected to bring in a host of improvements with new features and increased stability. One key innovation in Android N is the picture-in-picture function for using two applications simultaneously. The new version of Android OS will further improve battery consumption and also support Emoji Unicode 9. All that remains now is to find a suitable name. As tradition has it, all the previous Android versions have been named after sweets. However, during his India visit, CEO Sundar Pichai said that the company was open to naming it after an Indian sweet and that it could conduct an online poll to decide the name for the operating system.With the announcing of Android N, Google is likely to bring forth new hardware to showcase the software. The search giant is therefore expected to use the I/O platform to announce an all-new Nexus smartphone. It is widely speculated that the company could either announce new phones or a phone and a tablet manufactured by HTC or Huawei. The purported Nexus smartphone is expected to feature a bumper 7-inch display, with an Nvidia Tegra X1 processor coupled with 4 GB of RAM. The device is further rumoured to come with Apple iPhone-like pressure-sensitive display and draw its juice from a 3000mAh battery.Other than introducing a new hardware, Google could also introduce updates to the existing Nexus phones - the Nexus 5X by LG and Nexus 6P by Huawei. It is speculated that the new phones will feature Type-C and come powered by the newest Android N. Rumours also hint at a smaller screen size - with the Nexus 5X at 5 inches and Nexus 6P at 5.5 inches; the latter is also expected to run a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 CPU with Adreno 530 graphics. The new phone (Nexus 7) or the updated ones (Nexus 5X 2016 and Nexus 6P 2016) are unlikely to hit the markets before September.In a time of Oculus Rift and HoloLens, Google's Cardboard clearly feels a tad too outdated and the search giant could finally use this opportunity to reveal a new VR headset that is fit for the competition, lest it meets a future like Google Glass. Recent media reports hinted at a new headset in the making which will work without the need of a smartphone, unlike the current Cardboard. The purported device will include a screen, high-powered processors and outward-facing cameras. Speculations also hint at a new operating system designed specifically for virtual reality environments (Android VR) instead of a stand alone headset. Well, we can only be sure once the Googlers take on the stage.With the recently announced partnership with carmarker Fiat Chrysler, Google I/O 2016 serves as a great opportunity for the search giant to reveal a word or two about its ambitious driverless car project. Google intends to develop 100 self-driving cars or minivans with Fiat to give a push to its driverless car programme.Early this year, LG launched its first modular smartphone - the LG G5 - and it is expected that Google will also announce some update to its Project Ara. The long neglected modular smartphone could resurface at the Google I/O conference. Google is developing an environmentally friendly and cost-effective smartphone with a customisable 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.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.Earlier this year, Google wiped away all data related to its $1,500 smart glasses as it reportedly started working on a new version of its face-mounted technology. The project on which Google is currently working is a product currently nicknamed Project Aura which will be redesigned from the ground up. The team is not only working on the next incarnation of Glass, but also developing other wearable technology.After Facebook's idea of inserting chat bots to help users make the most of its Messenger, it seems Google too is looking at messaging and chat bots. Latest media reports hint at a WhatsApp-like messenger that could feature a chat bot that will also answer your queries within the app. This week Google introduced a messaging app meant for groups, called 'Spaces'. However, it is still a mystery if the purported chat bot or messaging app will be a standalone product or a part of Hangouts.Other than the big projects, the Google I/O 2016 could also see announcements including updates to Android Wear, Chrome OS, IoT, Project Loon among others.You can go here to know how to watch Google I/O 2016 Keynote Live in 360-degree VR.
As a child, Google CEO Sundar Pichai didn't like sweets and mixed sambar with payasam so that the payasam wouldn't taste sweet. But it could very well be an Indian sweet that lends its name to the upcoming version of Google's Android operating system. That is, if an Indian sweet is chosen in the search being conducted by Google to pick a name for Android N. (Also read: If Android versions were named after Indian sweets Sundar Pichai had first announced that the name for Android N could be chosen via an online poll during his visit to India in December 2015 and added that he would also ask his mother for suggestions.Neyyappam or nankhatai or nolen gurer sandesh? Which Indian sweet could it be? Or something else from some place else? Google appears to express its weakness for the delicacy from Kerala made of rice flour and jaggery. The ' Help name Android N ' page has the name 'Neyappam' prominently featured.Other contenders visible on the background of the page include: nectar, nutmeg, nuts + nachos. The poll is however open-ended and participants can suggest any name of their choice.Google is known for nicknaming its Android mobile operating systems after popular desserts ( with the notable exception of 4.4 version which was called KitKat , after the popular chocolate candy bar).Many Indians have been expressing the desire that Google names an Android version after an Indian sweet. Now that Google's CEO has kept his promise made during his interaction with students at Delhi's Sri Ram College of Commerce, the chances of Android N being named after an Indian sweet appears to be a lot brighter.If you have a name to suggest for Android N, tell Google and also let us know in the comments.
Nokia, once the world's top mobile phone maker, announced its return to the fiercely competitive handsets and tablets market years after being crushed there by Samsung and Apple.
Nokia, which is now a leading telecom equipment maker, said it would licence its brand to a new Finnish company which will produce phones and tablets under the Nokia name.
The new company, HMD Global, "has been founded to provide a focused, independent home for a full range of Nokia-branded feature phones, smartphones and tablets," Nokia said in a statement.
As part of the process, HMD Global and its Taiwanese partner, FIH Mobile of FoxConn Technology Group, will take over Microsoft's feature phone business for $350 million, Microsoft said separately. The US company had bought the business from Nokia in 2014.
Nokia was the world's leading mobile phone maker from 1998 until 2011 when it bet on Microsoft's Windows mobile platform which proved to be a flop.
Analysts say the company failed to grasp the growing importance of smartphone apps compared to hardware. The new product portfolio will be based on Google's Android.
The Finnish company sold its unprofitable handset unit in 2014 for some $7.2 billion to Microsoft, which dropped the Nokia name from its Lumia smartphone handsets.
Meanwhile Nokia has concentrated on developing its mobile network equipment business by acquiring its French-American rival Alcatel-Lucent.
With the new deal, Nokia eyes some new revenues from its still valuable consumer-brand, without having to bear the financial risks related to it.
"The areas where we believe the brand is strongest are Asia, South America and parts of Europe. Clearly China will be one of the target markets," Ramzi Haidamus, CEO of the Nokia Technologies unit, told Reuters.
HMD is a private venture in which Nokia will not hold equity. But the company is well-stacked with former Nokia executives.
"Nokia seems to have put together a very elegant deal in order to maximise the potential to drive some revenue from the handset business, with no risk in terms of hardware," said Ben Wood, an analyst at research firm CCS Insight.
"The brand is strong in the feature phone space, but does it stand for a cutting-edge future proof smartphone? That's unclear ... It's a brand that has lost its lustre," he added.
HMD, which will focus on branding and design in the partnership with Foxconn, said it would put 500 million euros ($564 million) into marketing over the next three years.
Nokia declined to provide revenue targets related to the licensing deal, nor a timetable for new devices, which will use Google's Android platform. The deal between Microsoft, Foxconn and HMD is expected to close in the second half of 2016.
Jukka Oksaharju, a strategist at brokerage Nordnet, said annual licensing revenues for Nokia would likely be in the tens of millions.
Microsoft has struggled with phones after the 2014 deal with Nokia, and last year it wrote off $7.5 billion from the business. Microsoft said on Wednesday it would continue to develop its Lumia smartphones.
Harsh competition
A senior analyst at Nordea Markets, Sami Sarkamies, told AFP that Nokia "could only win" with the deal.
"Certainly Nokia's brand still has some appeal in some markets, but competition is harsh. However, Nokia won't bear any of the risks," Sarkamies said, estimating the extra revenues would be counted in tens, not hundreds, of millions of euros.
The risks will fall on Chinese FoxConn, which will be in charge of manufacturing, sales and distribution of the new products through its subsidiary FIH.
The new company is to be led by Finn Arto Nummela who has previously held senior positions both at Nokia and Microsoft.
The conditional deal between Microsoft and Nokia's new brand-licensing partners is expected to close in the second half of 2016.
(With inputs from agencies)
In line with rumours and leaks, Motorola introduced the next-gen Moto G in two editions - the Moto G4, which is a base model, and the G4 Pus (with a fingerprint sensor and a better megapixel count), but what took many aback was the company's decision to release the G4 Plus with immediate effect, while postponing the G4 launch to next month.
This was surprising more so because companies have usually been seen bringing the regular edition first - if not both.
And therefore to understand the company's move better, we asked Amit Boni, Motorola India head, to explain why the G4 India launch has been shifted to June.
Motorola India head explains why
Clearing the air, Amit said, "We have actually introduced both the products - the Moto G4 and the G4 Plus. The G4 supplies will come slightly later. So we didnt want to lose any time because there is a lot of anticipation around the G4 as well as the G4 Plus. So we wanted to make sure that we introduce these new products as soon as possible. So as soon as we get the supplies for them in June, we will introduce that product as well."
The G4 may be here in a few weeks, but given that the G4 Plus comes with a fingerprint sensor and at competitive prices, I wonder how many of the prospective buyers would actually like to opt for the base model, which anyway is likely to cost only a little lower than the G4 Plus.
The price of the Moto G4 will be announced next month when it goes on sale. The G4 Plus, on the other hand, comes in two variants - 16 GB for Rs 13,499 and 32 GB for Rs 14,499.
Advancing equality for women is arguably one of the big opportunities for inclusive growth in the coming decade. A new research paper from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) released at the Women Deliver Conference in Copenhagen builds on an earlier report and speaks of the six indicators that could deliver parity.The report calculates that achieving the economic potential of women and making progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) would need investing of an additional $1.5 trillion-$2 trillion in annual spending on essential services in 2025. The potential economic gains, could be 6 to 8 times this outlay, the report says.The new research points to six indicators where improved access could make the difference. Assistance with unpaid care work, not just help with child assistance but also access to basic amenities like clean drinking water (women spend large chunk of their time accessing the basics for their families), digital and financial inclusion, maternal and reproductive health and education could all unlock economic opportunities for women. According to available gender data, women do 75% of all unpaid work.The new report builds on last years report and deep-dive reports on India and the United States. While every region has much to gain, India stands at the top of the ladder when it comes to the global GDP opportunity, in the best in the region scenario in 2025 India at 16% whereas the world at 11%. Vivian Hunt of the McKinsey MGI underlines how gender data points to women, who are about half of the population, contributing to about 37% of GDP.The opportunities to advance gender parity vary by region, but among the large global opportunities are services to help manage unpaid care work. Paid parental leave, networked child care, shared programs all can address the problem of unpaid child care, that developed countries like the United States are yet to take head on.In what the report calls regional opportunities education, maternal and reproductive health are particularly important and focus on them could unpack greater potential. Anu Madgavkar, a Partner at MGI spoke to CNN-News18 mentioning how global opportunities shine on an important realisation, Even in countries that are developed, issues of gender based violence that are fundamental, in a sense and women in leadership positions have not been addressed. So while the regional priorities may include more focus on health care and womens reproductive rights there are larger issues that need addressing all over the world.(Anubha Bhonsle is in Copenhagen at the invitation of Women Deliver. This article was first published on Medium.com .)
Over the years, Jurgen Ziesmann, a biology professor at Lynchburg College, has spent more hours than he can count staring at cells on slides under a microscope.
His time looking at organisms and their structures has also influenced Ziesmanns artistic passions.
When he paints, the circles and lines on his canvas merge to create organic shapes, each with a movement and being of their own.
He finds the rhythms and the patterns in life, says professional artist Guy Kinnear, a former colleague and creative mentor of Ziesmanns. I've seen him play with subject matter on a microscopic level, on a molecular level pulling it all up to a macro level looking at Earth forms and architectural forms. That ability to find pattern, I think, is really quite striking.
Ziesmann, the featured artist in Riverviews Artspaces Co-Op Gallery this month, never starts with a clear idea of how the piece will look when finished. Instead, he places lines and shapes on the paper and allows them to grow and develop naturally, much in the way organisms do.
I like to mimic those biological processes because Im often surprised myself [by] what the outcome is, he says while sitting in the front room of his Rivermont home, which doubles as his studio, an incomplete painting of squiggles, dots and brown earth tones in front of him. If you have two cells, one from one organism and one from a different organism, they could grow into completely different things.
The same happens in his drawings. Ziesmann never knows what he will create until his brush stops adding color to the picture and he takes a step back.
He is a really astute observer in metaphoric patterns in life, bringing and weaving that into the work, which is one of the reasons why once you look at them, one also senses there's more to it, Kinnear says. He's dialoging about something that's much more deep and much more profound, events that are happening in his life, but translating it through this abstract language.
For Ziesmann, art and science have always gone hand-in-hand.
Science, too, requires creativity, he says, especially when designing experiments and formulating questions that no one has ever thought to ask.
Every artist is a chemist, whether they know it or not, Kinnear says. Having to balance out the effects of chemical compositions and mixtures in order to affect wavelengths of light, it's a language and it's quite scientific.
An artist needs to know that language and know how to manipulate and work with it, but at the end of the day, theyre communicating profound ideas through the patterns of their own brain synapses. I think there's a very intimate inter-relationship.
Born in Germany, Ziesmann grew up surrounded by animals, forests and fields in Hundheim, a tiny farming village 30 miles east of Nuremberg.
If you want to find it on a map, you have to look between Munich and Berlin, he says. Then you go right in the middle. You end up, really, in nowhere land.
While he lived there, Hundheim had a population of 22 residents. It had no shop, no church or pub. Just five families, four of whom ran the farms.
As a boy, Ziesmann would spend his time by a pond across the street from his house, catching creatures and releasing them.
At the same time, he also had a burgeoning passion for art, though he says his parents noticed it long before he did. One year they gave him a Schmincke watercolor set for Christmas.
I remember looking at this and thinking, What do they want me to do with this? he says with a laugh.
Ziesmann started actively drawing during his higher education studies, first sketching from photographs before moving to more abstract designs.
In the late 90s, he visited an exhibition in Munich of Der Blaue Reiter, an expressionist movement in early 20th century Germany that included artists Wassily Kandinsky, August Macke and Franz Marc.
The next day, he started drawing in color, specifically with hues and variations he could find in nature.
After years of study, Ziesmann graduated from the University of Bayreuth in Bayreuth, Germany, with a doctorate in natural science, focusing his doctorate work on animal physiology.
My interest, mainly, was in the senses, he says. The eyes, the ears. How we smell. How our touch receptors respond to the environment. So, I specialized in sensory philology.
Jobs as a biologist brought him to England, New Zealand and, finally, to the United States in 1999.
All the while, he continued to dabble in art, filling small boxes and sketchbooks with hundreds of tiny, postcard-sized drawings.
Ziesmann also started to impose certain guidelines on his painting, conventions he still abides by today.
It resembles biology, he says of his process. You have surprisingly few genes and according to the rules, you have predictable outcomes. Every human has two arms, two legs, a body, a face, two eyes, a nose and a mouth. But applying the same rules with tiny variations on it gives you all this variety. Theres not a single human exactly the same as any other on Earth or before you or after you. Youre unique. I like the idea that my pictures are somewhat similar.
None of his drawings ever feature perfectly straight lines, rectangular shapes or 90-degree angles, as those shapes do not appear in nature. Also, his lines rarely cross.
When he draws lines, the areas of imperfection no matter how slight serve as building blocks for the next shape, and by the time he completes the piece, it must have an overall balance.
[His work] is definitely unique. I could pick Jurgen out of a pile, Kinnear says. I really think it is the perspective he brings as a scientist. He sees and studies things that most of us dont see and study. Hes got an intimate relationship with this subject matter. He knows the who, what, why, when and how of the structures he looks at.
Tired of constantly hunting for grants and post-doc positions, Ziesmann eventually accepted a post at Azusa Pacific University in Los Angeles, where he taught for 14 years.
There, he started to take Kinnears college-level art classes, one every semester for three years.
In these classes, Ziesmann says, Kinnear expected about 15 hours of work every week, most of which students would complete outside of class.
I dont think anything else improved my abilities [more] than coming to a point where making art was not just fun anymore, he says. It turned into work. That improved technique, but also improved the size of my pictures. They became bigger because I had to spend more time on them.
During these long painting sessions, Ziesmann discovered a sense of peace within himself about his place in the world.
I have a very negative view of me. I am one of those people who is not convinced about himself, but while Im drawing, Im good. And I know Im good because people like my pictures.
This realization further fueled Ziesmanns enjoyment of multi-hour sittings.
He still carries his colored pencils with him and will draw between his classes at Lynchburg College, where hes taught for a year. And he still tries to put in 20 hours a week, though he paints less during the semester because of time constraints.
There is hardly any day that I dont do at least 10 or 15 minutes, Ziesmann says. Like other people go to the gym and have to run at least for half an hour, I have to paint for a while.
For as long as the federal government has been giving out financial aid for college students, its drawn a line: no grants to students taking college courses while still in high school.
Now, the Obama administration is trying a new experiment with 44 colleges across the country including Central Virginia Community College it announced Monday.
Under CVCCs successful grant proposal, high school students enrolling in the Early College program or Science Technology Engineering and Math Academy can apply for Pell Grants. Those grants support low-income students and families.
Both the Early College and STEM Academy programs involve students taking college courses for dual enrollment credit during their junior and senior years of high school, and then potentially graduating with an associates degree at the same time they graduate from high school.
CVCC Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs Muriel Mickles said the grant is for three years, and she expects it could lead to expansion of the Early College program.
In the past, she said recruiting for Early College often involved speaking to rooms filled with excited students.
Then, when you talked about the fact that there is a cost, a lot of the students would just say, Im out, because there is no way I can afford that or My family cant afford it, she said.
CVCC still is working to understand details of being accepted into the federal pilot program, including how much money it could expect to go CVCC students. The federal announcement spoke of about $20 million to benefit about 10,000 students across all 44 schools for the 2016-17 aid year.
CVCC has about 50 students for its Bedford County Early College program, and about half that in the Lynchburg, Campbell and Amherst Early College programs and the STEM Academy, Mickles said. Appomattox County Early College has about a dozen students.
Mickles still has a lot of unanswered questions, at this point, including whether they could get aid in place for students interested in joining the program this summer in time for the fall semester, but she said Tuesday she welcomes starting the conversation.
My door is open and Im always interested in seeing what we can do, she said.
CVCC tuition costs about $149 per credit with 15 to 17 credits needed per semester for the two-year Early College program, Mickles said. That could be somewhere in the range of just less than $4,500 to just more than $5,000 per year.
All of the school divisions are planning to provide some form of assistance next school year to their Early College students, whether thats partial tuition or money for books, or some combination, but none pay the full amount. Assistance varies by school division for the STEM Academy.
Mickles said the grant specifies the Pell money must supplement, not supplant, local contributions from area school divisions. She said shes not sure yet what would happen if a school division voted to take away funding. Early College programs have been a topic of conversation in budget discussions and debates in at least a couple of the counties this year.
A 3 percent pay raise scheduled for state employees and college faculty could be delayed or lost if Virginias lagging revenues dont catch up to projections by the end of June.
Secretary of Finance Richard D. Ric Brown said Monday that revenue collections through April were trailing projections by 1.9 percent, or $347 million, after declining 6.7 percent from the previous April.
If collections finish the fiscal year behind $169 million, or 1 percent under the annual forecast, the state would be required to reforecast revenues for the two-year budget that takes effect July 1.
If we have to do a reforecast of revenues, the pay raises are put on hold, Brown told reporters after briefing the House Appropriations Committee.
However, the delay would not necessarily prevent employees from eventually getting the raises, currently scheduled to take effect Dec. 1, he said. Theyre just not guaranteed.
Brown remains hopeful that collection of income and sales taxes will recover enough this month and in June after a disappointing April to close the gap and avoid a mandatory revenue reforecast, which the state last performed in late 2014.
This year, in the first nine days of May, revenue collections jumped 23 percent over a year ago, and there is an additional deposit day for income taxes withheld from payroll.
You have some strength in May, Brown told the committee. The question is, how long does it last?
Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman R. Steven Landes, R-Augusta, was not optimistic: It does look like were not going to meet our estimate by the end of the (current) biennium.
Brown responded that meeting the estimate remains possible, but he added, I tend to agree; its some heavy lifting to get there.
The potential shortfall puzzles Brown and other budget officials, because it is driven primarily by weak collections of income withholding taxes, the states most reliable source of revenue. Those taxes account for almost two-thirds of money required to support the general fund budget.
Virginias payroll employment increased almost 3 percent in March from the previous year as the state has made what Brown called solid improvements in job growth since the federal deal was announced last fall to put off further cuts in federal spending under budget sequestration for two years.
It just doesnt seem to match up with lagging withholding tax payments that are driven primarily by new jobs, Brown said. He added that wages may be lower for those new jobs or that the employment projections may be too rosy.
The potential revenue gap is not related to the big shortfall that emerged two years ago when tax collections ended $439 million below budget at the end of fiscal 2014 and resulted in a projected $2.4 billion shortfall through this biennium.
That shortfall was driven almost entirely by a huge drop in estimated payments of income taxes that are not withheld from payroll but paid on stock gains by investors. Revenues recovered last year and resulted in the states biggest surplus.
But last years performance in May and June will be hard to top, Brown conceded. Revenues would have to grow 10.3 percent this month and in June above last years increase of 10.1 percent during the same period.
Income tax collections, both for withholding and non-withholding, trail projections by 1.5 percent, and the state is paying more in tax refunds than expected. Sales and recordation taxes also are lagging behind projections for the fiscal year.
Theres some general weakness in the numbers across the board, Brown said.
The budget included money for 3 percent pay raises for state employees and higher education faculty, as well as 2 percent increases for teachers and state-supported local employees.
My concern is we made a lot of commitments to a lot of folks, said Del. T. Scott Garrett, R-Lynchburg.
In remarks to reporters, Brown said he hasnt lost hope of meeting the projection or falling short by less than the 1 percent that would put raises on hold.
In this game, nothing is over until its over, he said.
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Businessmen, mayor call for Johnnys return
Abraham retired late last year after being transferred from Central to Northern Division.
The spike in murders in Central Trinidad also compelled Mayor oodhan to once again call for a gun amnesty as well establishment of a permanent police/ army post in the Enterprise community as criminal activity is on the rise in that community given a migration of persons to Central Trinidad. We should have an army/police post in Enterprise or some presence in that area because the records show most of the crimes occur in that particular area. On the gun amnesty, the mayor said, I have made this call about twice already to have some level of gun amnesty to get illegal weapons from the hands of people committing the crime. For his part, Couva/Point Lisas Chamber of Commerce president Liaquat Ali said the business community is living in fear and unable to conduct business.
We are calling on the government and Minister of National Security to do something about the upsurge in crime in Central.
The business community is living in fear, business people have to be very watchful in everything they do, its like we are living in jail. Contacted for comment Abraham recalled efforts, including a lawsuit against the Commissioner of Police to block the buyout of leave of senior retiring officers.
He said he is retired and is enjoying life with his family although he is hurt when people call for help but he cant assist as he is now citizen Johnny.
Tug and pull over privacy
While Antoine was entitled to her view, Al Rawi said, The proportionality in law is always going to be considered by a court and thats for the courts to decide. He continued, Having that balance is dealt with by audit functions, the structive functions, the rules and regulations which I have told you, we are engaging in.
The AG recalled that the Central Bank Act which was passed in 2010, which came along with the Purchase of Certain Rights and Validations Act, has been held by the courts to be unconstitutional and they struck it down. He added that law is currently on appeal. During his contribution at the forum, Al Rawi reiterated his view that the right to privacy is a qualified one and is not absolute.
He said, There is no such thing as an absolute right, that has been traversed up and down in the halls of any court...be it Privy Council, Court of Appeal or High Court. Al Rawi also argued the right to privacy is in competition to the right to protection and the right to liberty as outlined in Section 4A of the Constitution.
In her earlier contribution, Antoine said, The ICA, of itself violates the right to privacy.
It does. Not only does it violate the right to privacy, it says so in the Act. Saying she was not present in 2010, Antoine added, I dont know whether there was any serious interrogation or debate as to the violation of rights, at the time or the justification of it. Against that background, Antoine argued the SSA Bill may be ultra vires the Constitution.
While agreeing with Al Rawi that there is no absolute right to privacy in TT, Antoine said it was wrong for anyone to argue such a right is non-existent in this country.
She explained that unlike other Caricom countries where the right to privacy is mentioned in the preambles of their constitutions and therefore not enforceable, the right to privacy in TTs Constitution is mentioned in its body. She agreed with the view of former Chief Justice Michael de la Bastide that the right to private and family life in the Constitution, is synonymous with the right to privacy. Antoine added, There is no distinction between the two. Declaring there is ample case law to support this argument, Antoine declared to the audience, What more do you want?
I not telling Geeta sorry!
Roget instead called for an apology from NPs management for the retrenchment of workers. I agree that the management of NP, along with Miss Ragoonath should apologise for the unjust removal of you all (workers) from your jobs, an impassioned Roget said.
He condemned what he described as a brutal and vicious attack on workers by management.
These workers were removed for no reason other than they were members of a trade union that took a stand against corruption, Roget charge.
He added that the families of these workers are now the ones suffering. I recall a retrenched worker was pregnant when she was notified she would no longer be needed.
The resulting mental anguish and trauma almost caused her to lose her child and she is still receiving treatment. Roget also thanked members of the union for their continued support even as he and the OWTU continues to defend their rights. In March, Roget was found guilty of slander by a High Court in a slander case brought by Ragoonath.
Roget was ordered to pay a total of $360,000 in damages to Ragoonath by Justice Vasheist Kokaram who also ordered that he apologise within 14 days, in a form acceptable to Ragoonath or settled by the court and the sum of exemplary damages which amounted to $160,0000 will be reduced by 50 percent. But in a show of solidarity, OWTU members began collecting donations towards paying the sum.
If you are a member of our union and you care about your President General, you will make a donation here today, Wayne Leacock, (NP Branch President) told supporters.
The President General speaks in support of us and when something like this happens, we must support him.
All monies donated here today will go towards supporting our President General! In a statement later in the day, Ragoonath described Rogets remarks as disappointing but not surprising.
The defamation case I won against him has nothing to do with dismissal of workers by the management of NP, she stated.
Ragoonath added that accusations that she wrote a letter to President Anthony Carmona seeking the removal of the President of the Industrial Court, were both false and malicious. She said Rogets actions yesterday were an attempt as diverting attention away from his actions.
It takes a big man to say Im sorry and clearly, Mr Roget cannot measure up, Ragoonath said.
Action on Life Sport, FCB IPO hinted
In defending the role of the Auditor General as a mechanism for oversight of the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) as articulated in the recent debate on the SSA (Amendment) Bill 2016 in Parliament, Al-Rawi disclosed, As a result of the Auditor Generals investigations into Life Sport, you will very shortly see certain results coming out of that. He added there will soon be results also in relation to the IPO at FCB. Responding to claims that the SSA has been ineffective in helping to combat crime, the AG told his audience, So I dont think it is true to say there has been no action, just carte blanche. Saying that regulations governing the SSA and the Interception of Communications Act will be laid in Parliament soon, Al-Rawi said, It is my genuine belief and intention that the operationalisation of that very independent and constitutional creature, the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions), is a very useful tool to consider in the audit and check of every intercept that happens. He said the regulations will be subject to negative resolution and welcomed any parliamentary debate on them. Thats good governance and thats democracy, he added.
Asked afterwards by reporters to elaborate on his disclosures, Al-Rawi said, As a result of audits performed in the Government sector on institutions, information has come forward. He continued, Due process has to be followed and that will happen by those who have the responsibility to do that. You will hear some more about that quite soon. On the possibility of charges being laid and people being arrested with respect to Life Sport and the IPO, the AG explained, Whomever the police and DPP decide they will investigate is a matter for them. Reiterating that the matter is in train, Al-Rawi said, There are many bits of consideration over these issues.
Some are civil. Some are criminal. Some are in other camps. Some are in the Governments camp. However, he underscored the point that the Government can never intrude upon the work of independent entities. While Government may have certain civil perspectives on certain things and is entitled to deal with that, the AG said, We are not the TT Police Service.
We are not the DPP. We are enablers of certain things. On July 25, 2014, then prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced the termination of the Life Sport programme after a government- ordered audit unearthed evidence of fraud, theft, links to people involved in criminal activity and poor control.
Workers to be laid off from Agriculture Ministry
Speaking with Newsday late yesterday afternoon, Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat said, 67 workers; many of them casual and the rest regular workers, were to be issued lay-off letters (soon) because we need to hire the right technical staff to handle the (huge) backlog in the LMD. However, Rambharat said after it came to his attention that neither the Permanent Secretary (PS) nor the Human Resource Manager in the ministry had communicated with the National Union of Government and Federated Workers (NUGFW) about the planned lay-offs, its premature to say these (LMD workers) are the ones to go home. He reiterated what he earlier stated on his Facebook yesterday, that nothing will be done without the required consultations, including discussions with the Ministry of Labour, where required. Last Wednesday (May 11) a memorandum (memo) dated May 4 from PS Joy Persad-Myers was received by someone in the office of the Director of Surveys.
In the memo, entitled Realignment of Portfolios - Termination of Employment, Persad-Myers said, As a consequence of the realignment of portfolios in September 2015 certain duties, responsibilities and functions were rationalised, resulting in excess staff in the daily rated cadre of workers. Regular workers are to be given no less than five working days notice prior to lay-off while causal workers are to be given no less than two working days notice. The workers will be entitled to severance benefits.
The Ministry of Food Production and the Ministry of Land was merged with the Marine Resources into the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries. This led to the merging of the Land Administration Division and the Surveys and Mapping Division into the LMD.
One union official told Newsday LMD staff and union officials were shocked and upset to learn of this development, with the NUGFW left wondering why neither the PS nor HR manager had said anything to them.
No one can stop the employer from re-alignment but industrial relations best-practice says you must consult the recognised majority trade union. We were really gutted by that memo because the ministry has yet to respond to our letter dated January 19, 2016 requesting a meeting to discuss allocation of funding and job security, the NUGFW official lamented.
Asked if he had addressed the communication failure with the PS and HR manager, Rambharat said, This was contrary to good industrial relations practice and I took it upon myself to call (NUGFW president) James Lambert today (yesterday).
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Morphine shortage in TT
But it was not only relegated to this country, it is a global problem.
This country has only one registered source for morphine and this was in the United Kingdom.
The drug was mostly used for end stage cancer patients to help with their pain.
Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh speaking yesterday at a Port-of-Spain Rotary Club luncheon at the Lions Civic Centre in Woodbrook, said the Ministry is now trying to source a second manufacturer, also from the UK, which is one one of very few countries that produces the drug for export. We tried to get from the United States, but the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency), which allocates quotas to its manufacturers, have bluntly told us we cannot get it because the DEA mucked up the projection for their quota, and they do not have enough to supply us, he said.
Deyalsingh said they were getting a small supply from Cuba and Germany, but because it was labelled in Spanish and German, respectively, they could not bring it into the country. He said it was about protocol. Our law says the labels must be in English and concentrations could vary. If you cant read the label you would not know what dose you are giving.
Overdose can cause death, underdose could cause pain and suffering. We must follow protocol and go through the proper channels to safeguard the health of the population, he said.
Deyalsingh said the drug industry was based on profit and since morphine was a low-budget, low-profit drug, TT was not financially attractive to the global market. He said this was not only in TT but throughout the Caribbean, which is insignificant to the global market at below one per cent of the worlds market.
The minister said some institutions have been bringing in contraband morphine into the country, which is something that has to be looked at by Customs and Excise. There has been a problem with contraband drugs on the whole. Different administrations over the years have tried to work with Customs and everybody else to stem the flow, but it is a global issue. Public hospitals cannot and will not import contraband morphine. That tends to exist more in the private domain, he said.
Deyalsingh said he was not turning a blind eye to the issue, but everything contraband fell under the remit of Customs and Excise. Apparently it is easy to come into the country because it has been happening for a generation now, he said.
Ask the Office the PM
That was not part of my youll have to touch base with the Office of the PM, said Selwyn Lashley. You know he is an adviser to the Office of the PM and a report on the entire visit will come out of the Office of the PM. Lashley was one of the State officials who comprised the delegation which accompanied Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley on a visit to Ghana.
The Permanent Secretary was questioned by Newsday moments after appearing before a Parliament committee on energy affairs. On the Ghana trip as a whole, Lashley said, It was good but there is going to be a report coming out of the Office of the PM. He could not say when the report is to be released.
Former Attorney General Garvin Nicholas has queried Juliens reported involvement in the signing of new agreements with Ghana. He said a company tied to Julien had previously been part of a 2011 arrangement with the Government of Ghana involving Volta Aluminium Company Ltd. This same company was one entity toured by Rowley.
Ken Julien in his private capacity was doing business with the Ghanaian Government, Nicholas said. Is this a case of conflict of interest? This cannot be shrugged off. There is a lot to be questioned here. Julien is a member of the Standing Committee on Energy, chaired by Rowley. On the international outlook, Lashley said turbulence in Venezuela and Brazil may not affect this countrys energy sector.
Asked if ongoing unrest in Venezuela might have a ripple effect, he said, I suppose. They are part of the sector. But its dynamic. Lashley suggested weather conditions might bolster demand due to its effect on hydroelectric power.
None of our gas goes to Venezuela, Lashley said.
There are other countries it goes to: Chile, Argentina, Brazil as well. But energy needs continue to flourish. In fact, because of the severe dry season, that is why they need LNG for their power plants because they have not been getting as much power from hydro.
The Bear Attacked, So She
'Popped It Right in the Nose'
The world's youngest patient to be diagnosed with breast cancer is now in remission. Eight-year-old Chrissy Turner from Utah had underwent a mastectomy back in December last year as the most preferred treatment for secretory breast carcinoma, a very rare form of breast cancer that affects one in every million people mostly adult women.
The news of her diagnoses quickly caught on the headlines around the world and even attracted the attention of leading medical experts in oncology in the United States and elsewhere. The rare form of breast cancer was originally believed to occur mostly in young girls but majority of cases involved both adult men and women, Nature World News reported. Now that the little girl is in remission, Chrissy is now back to normal life as she continues dreaming of becoming a dragon rider someday.
"It was the hardest thing we've ever gone through as a family," Chrissy's mom, Annette Turner, 43, as quoted by People Magazine in an exclusive interview. "But Chrissy is a fighter. We're hopeful that the worst is behind us. She's feeling better now and there are more smiles. Life is good."
Amid financial difficulties surrounding Chrissy's medical saga, friends, family, and supporters started a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for her treatment. She was diagnosed with Secretory Breast Carcinoma after her parents insisted on having an ultrasound for their daughter after a lump was discovered on her right nipple that was extremely painful to touch.
She then went through mastectomy to remove her right breast. Although now in remission, she still needs to go through a series of medications and tests. At a tender age, the eight-year old Utah native is now a survivor of cancer like her parents. Her mother survived cervical cancer while her dad Troy Turner, an equipment specialist at Hill Air Force Base, also overcame his ordeal against Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
After the recent terror attacks that shook the entire European union. Belgian counter-terrorism unit police say that "You risk your privacy by expressing joy".
This came as an aftermath of the Belgium terror attacks and since then Belgium's federal police have issued a public warning on Wednesday afternoon that Facebook's FB 0.64% reactions: the emoticons of laughter, amazement, anger, sadness and love that have joined the old "thumbs-up" were actually there to erode your privacy. Facebook has already had difficulties in Belgium, with privacy authorities there having forced it to stop tracking non-users with its browser cookies. Explaining that Facebook's users are the product, the Belgian police wrote that the new reaction symbols help the social network to evaluate the effectiveness of its advertising.
Limiting the number of reactions to six encourages people to express their emotions more frequently and thereby help Facebook's algorithms, the post read, adding that expressions of happiness tell Facebook when the time is right to bring in ads. "If it appears that you are in good spirits, Facebook will infer that you are receptive and will be able to sell advertising space by explaining to the advertisers that they are more likely to get a reaction from you," the police wrote, adding: "One more reason therefore not to rush to click if you want to protect your privacy."
Of course, one might argue that if you want to protect your privacy from Facebook, don't go on Facebook. Why? Because the whole service is designed to analyze its users' behavior, in order to figure out how to most effectively present advertising. Then again, perhaps this is a handy tip for those who want to use Facebook but not show all their cards to the almighty algorithm. But however, this definitely does have a point. Facebook for certain have a lot of baits in the form of user experiments.
Osama Bin Laden, one of the greatest terrorists of the world, may have left behind a legacy that his 23-year-old son is preparing to embrace. Rumor has it that his son, Hamza Bin Laden, is preparing to become the next Al-Qaeda leader after his father's assassination. Even though he didn't say a word, his return rumor was sparked by an audio message claiming him to be the next leader.
Hamza is between 23 and 24 years old and is in hiding somewhere. Osama Bin Laden was executed by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Pakistan in 2011. After his father's death, it has been speculated that he is being readied for his role as the next leader of the Islamic extremist organization.
Reports indicate that an audio message emerged that featured Hamza, convincing Syrian jihadists to unite and use this current opportunity to free Palestine.
"The Islamic umma (nation) should focus on jihad in al-Sham (Syria)... and unite the ranks of mujahideen. There is no longer an excuse for those who insist on division and disputes now that the whole world has mobilized against Muslims," Hamza urged all jihadist groups in Syria in his message.
According to Rita Katz, Site Intelligence director, said that Hamza is the next contender for the role of Al-Qaeda leader as he is considered inspirational by his supporters. He also has a very good reputation and is greatly admired by his followers. Even though he is being prepared to take the high seat, Hamza is yet to gain that reputation of a key figure amongst the group. He is yet to earn the same respect as his father in the Jehadist circles.
News reports also suggest that the group is hoping that Hamza will be the new-age leader that the terror outfit needs. His audio messages were a clear indication of his validity as an Osama Bin Laden heir and the next leader of Al-Qaeda.
Fairbanks, AK (99707)
Today
Light snow this evening will give way to snow showers late. Low 17F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 70%..
Tonight
Light snow this evening will give way to snow showers late. Low 17F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 70%.
Indore/Ahmedabad:
Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel today refuted media reports which suggested that BJP is mulling to remove her and bring in another party leader at the helm of affairs in the state, saying nothing like that is on.
Nothing like that is on, Anandiben told reporters at Indore in Madhya Pradesh where she had gone to participate in the ongoing Simhastha Kumbh at Ujjain and meet spiritual guru Bhaiyu Maharaj.
She blamed media for linking her and state Health Minister Nitin Patels visit to Delhi, suggesting that a change of leadership in Gujarat was imminent.
The Gujarat CM arrived at Indore to meet spiritual guru Bhaiyu Maharaj at his Vijay Nagar residence. When mediapersons asked her about reports of change of leadership, she quipped At present, I am here in Indore.
You (media) had linked two different visits to Delhi to come to this conclusion. I had gone to Delhi for the meeting related to water crisis and Nitinbhai (Nitin Patel, health minister) had gone to Delhi on the NEET issue, she said.
Asked whether the BJPs political base has suffered because of Patel quota agitation, she said, At present there is no Patel agitation going on in the state. This protest is completely over now.
Speculations are rife in a section of media about a possible change of leadership in Gujarat ahead of the 2017 elections.
The reports had said that BJP might ask Anandiben Patel to step down as chief minister and projected Nitin Patel as a front-runner for the post, after both of them were in Delhi yesterday.
They also said the change of leadership in Gujarat was necessitated by to poor handling of the quota agitation by Anandiben, and strains caused by infighting in the partys state unit.
Anandiben was made Chief Minister in May 2014, after Narendra Modi was elected as Prime Minister.
Asked about the purpose of her over one-and-a-half hour meeting with the spiritual guru, with whom recently RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat also had a meeting, Anandiben said she took his guidance for agriculture and education and would try to implement his suggestions in Gujarat.
In Ahmedabad, BJPs Gujarat unit spokesperson also denied that a leadership change was on the card.
We are preparing an elaborate programmes for celebration of two years rule of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Anandiben Patel in Gujarat. In the midst of this there are such baseless reports of change in leadership, which we totally deny, state BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya said.
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New Delhi:
Several major roads in Delhi have been choked following the funeral procession of Nirankari Sant Baba Hardev Singh, who died in a road mishap in Canada last week as thousands of his followers came out on the streets to pay last respects to the departed soul.
A traffic advisory has been issued by the Delhi Police for commuters, urging them to avoid certain roads. The heavy pedestrian movement in the procession has led to the closure of traffic from Kingsway Camp to Burari Road. In the traffic advisory, motorists have been urged to take alternate route.
Followers of Baba Hardev Singh from across the country have gathered in the national capital to catch a glimpse of their spiritual leader. Religio-philanthropic Sant Nirankari Mission was headed by 62-year-old Baba Hardev, who passed away along with his son-in-law in a road accident. The mortal remains of Baba Hardev Singh were brought to Delhi from Canadas Montreal on Monday.
For devotees who cannot make it to Delhi to join the funeral procession of Baba Hardev Singh personally, the Sant Nirankari Mission had made special arrangements online. The followers can follow the last rites through live streaming on the website live.nirankari.org.
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Lucknow:
Uttar Pradesh will be at the centre of BJPs celebration of Narendra Modi governments second anniversary with the Prime Minister set to address a rally in the state on May 26 and almost all senior ministers scheduled to visit it during an over 15-day exercise.
The state, which the party had swept in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, is crucial to its electoral fortunes and it is investing a lot of political resources there to return to power in the Assembly polls scheduled for early next year.
Modi is likely to address the rally in Saharanpur, a Western UP district, and party chief Amit Shah too will take part in multiple events in the state during the period.
Most of the ministers will go to the state. They will address public meetings, press conferences, convention of workers besides holding other events as part of the exercise, BJP General Secretary Arun Singh said.
Aiming to ensure the presence of senior party leaders and ministers in maximum states, the party has constituted about 30 teams of four to five members each and every team will visit six places in as many states, he said.
One team will include a cabinet minister, a minister of state, one party office-bearer apart from a member or two from the state unit concerned.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Patna, Dehradun, Mumbai and Pathankot and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will go to Bhopal, Lucknow and Amritsar among other places. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is scheduled to visit Jaipur, Pune, Hyderabad and Chandigarh among other places.
The Lok Sabha MPs, including ministers, have also been asked to vist their constituencies. The party has prepared a list of governments achievements which will be the main talking points of these leaders.
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New Delhi:
Bengaluru, being a major tech-hub of the country, garners attraction from around the world for its booming startup culture. It comes as no surprise that Apples CEO Tim Cook has chosen Bengaluru to set up iOS app design and development accelerator. It will be set up in early 2017.
Cook is in India with an agenda ranging from local manufacturing to setting up stores in the country. HIs maiden visit to India will prove advantageous for the Indian startups and developers working on Apples IOS platform as the company has decided to set up a software laboratory in India. This initiative will help the developers design their apps for Apples iPhone and iPad.
Cook arrived in the country on Tuesday night and he is expected to visit Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi this week. Besides, he will also hold meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vodafone CEO Sunil Sood, Bharti Airtel founder Sunil Mittal, Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry and many other officials later this week.
Moreover, the Indian governments drive to provide employment for millions of Indians joining the workforce every year will be supported with Cooks initiative to set up production facilities in India.
Some of the challenges Apple faces in the country:
Although India ranks third in the worlds largest smartphone market, Apples iPhone has only two percent market share and it has a very stiff competition from Android. The Android phones dominate the Indian market with attractive offerings, cheap price and the right balance of features and specifications.
Further, various local applications and services get launched in Android and Apple lags behind. The app design and development accelerator, to be set up in Bengaluru, will help developers come up with innovative apps and services for Apple products in India.
To add to that, getting service for Apple products is a huge task. There are Apple authorized service centers, but the service experience is not uniform across them. Offline stores often do not offer service for Apple phones sold online. There was confusion on the warranty status of devices for consumers who preferred to import devices because of the lower prices. While these imported devices did have international warranty, Apple did not offer its international warranty in India.
Recently, the tech giant also faced a setback in the Indian market as telecom ministry of India rejected their application to import and sell refurbished phones in the country. Apple, in a bid to gain some market share by selling used phones at a discounted rate, approached Indian market as most of the phones sold in India are under a20,000 and the Apple products are priced much higher.
According to sources, the sale of refurbished devices could also be on agenda along with Apples participation in Modis Made in India initiative.
Mumbai:
In a bid to reach out live fans Sonu Nigam tried something different and landed on street with all his talent. Mr Nigam disguised himself as a beggar and sat under a tree with a harmonium and his all-time favourite song Har Ghadi Badal Rahi Hai from Kal Ho Naa Ho.
Interestingly, many stopped to listen to this familiar voice, praised it but failed to recognize him. The performance which lasted for more than an hour attracted many, including the one who felt amazed and in reply asked this poor beggar of snacks.
In the video, Sonu Nigam also mentioned about the guy who handed him Rs 12 secretly to have something to eat. Sonu framed the currency and kept in his office. Sweet gesture both touched Sonu and us.
A big round of applause for the make-up team which managed successfully to hide this talented star among public.
Watch video here:
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New Delhi :
The Ministry of Home Affairs on 4 May, 2016 released a draft of The Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, 2016 which has created a war of words between India and Pakistan. The draft states that it will be mandatory to take permission from a government authority or, in this case, a Security Vetting Authority, before acquiring, disseminating, publishing or distributing any geospatial information of India.
To this, Pakistan expressed "serious concerns" with regard to the depiction of Jammu & Kashmir in maps. However, the Indian government has resolutely rejected Pakistans objection to the draft bill, citing that Pakistan has no right to object to the Indias internal legislative matter. It said that it was open to addressing the issue bilaterally with Pakistan.
It is the first time that a Bill has drawn diplomatic opposition from a neighboring country.
Pakistan's foreign affairs ministry, in a statement said, letters have been sent to the United Nations Secretary General and the President of the Security Council expressing "serious concerns" over the Indian government's efforts to introduce the Geospatial bill in parliament. "In violation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions, the official map of India has been depicting the disputed territory of Jammu & Kashmir as part of India, which is factually incorrect and legally untenable. Through the passage of this bill, the Indian government would penalize the individuals and organizations who depict Jammu & Kashmir as a disputed territory as per the UNSC resolutions," it said.
Geospatial information, according to the draft, means; geospatial imagery or data acquired through space or aerial platforms such as satellite, aircrafts, airships, balloons, unmanned aerial vehicles; graphical or digital data depicting natural or man-made physical features, phenomenon or boundaries of the earth; any information related thereto including surveys, charts, maps, terrestrial photos referenced to a co-ordinate system and having attributes.
Security Vetting Authority grants licenses to organizations/individuals who want to use geospatial data. It will check the content and data provided and ensure it is well within national policies, with the sole objective of protecting national security, sovereignty, safety and integrity."
Every person or business which/who uses location as a key feature to function will be highly affected by this. Apart from the usual Google, this includes other apps like Uber, Ola, Zomato, AirBnB and Oyo. It also includes Facebook and Twitter which can track ones location.
Besides, if anyone violates the law which means illegal acquisition of geospatial information of India will lead to fine ranging from Rs. 1 crore to Rs. 100 crore and/or imprisonment for a period up to seven years. Moreover illegal dissemination, publication or distribution of geospatial information of India i.e., whoever disseminates, publishes or distributes any geospatial information of India in contravention of section 4, shall be punished with a fine ranging from Rs. 10 lakhs to Rs. 100 crore and/or imprisonment for a period up to seven years.
The proposed Bill is an entirely internal legislative matter of India, since the whole of the state of J&K is an integral part of India. Pakistan or any other party has no locus standi in the matter, Vikas Swarup, Spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
The Bill has garnered mixed reactions from people and industries for its proposed seven years in jail and fine of up to Rs 100 crore for non-compliance with guidelines. The draft, in its current form, could also imply that an individual clicking a picture carrying geospatial information would be liable to seek a license.
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New York:
Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra paid tribute to music icon Prince during a performance at the 2016 ABC Upfront Presentation at Lincoln Center in New York City.
The Quantico star, 33, and Miles Brown collaborated for the tribute and they sang Princes hit song Kiss.
Priyanka was joined at the event by her co-star Johanna Braddy, and Miles attended with his on-screen parents Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross.
The Indian actress performance garnered mostly positive feedback, although a few social media users felt that the Prince tribute felt like it had been shoehorned into the act.
Prince died on April 21 at age of 57.
She has just wrapped filming her Hollywood debut Baywatch. The finale episode of the first season of Quantico aired on May 16.
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New Delhi :
Nokia, on Wednesday, announced plans that will see its global comeback to the mobile phone and tablet market by licensing its brand to a newly-created Finnish company. The announcement comes on a day when Foxconn subsidiary FIH Mobile Limited (FIH) decided to acquire the remainder of Microsofts feature phone business assets. Microsoft announced it would sell its entry-level phone assets to Foxconn's subsidiary FIH Mobile and HMD for $350 million.
Under a strategic agreement covering branding rights and intellectual property licensing, Nokia Technologies will grant HMD global Oy (HMD), a newly-founded company based in Finland, an exclusive global license to create Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets for the next ten years, Nokia said in a statement.
Ramzi Haidamus, president of Nokia Technologies, said, Instead of Nokia returning to manufacturing mobile phones itself, HMD plans to produce mobile phones and tablets that can leverage and grow the value of the Nokia brand in global markets. Working with HMD and FIH will let us participate in one of the largest consumer electronics markets in the world while staying true to our licensing business model.
Nokia Technologies will receive royalty payments from HMD for sales of Nokia-branded mobile products, covering both brand and intellectual property rights, Haidamus added.
Nokia was the world's top mobile phone maker between 1998 and 2011 but was overtaken by Samsung after failing to respond to the rapid rise of smartphones. The Finnish company sold its handset unit to Microsoft in 2014 for some $7.2 billion which dropped using the Nokia name on its Lumia smartphones.
The conditional deal between Microsoft and Nokia's new brand licensing partners is expected to close in the second half of 2016. Nokia said the new Finnish company, HMD Global, is a private venture in which Nokia will not hold equity.
Besides, HMD announced that it has conditionally agreed to acquire from Microsoft the rights to use the Nokia brand on feature phones, and certain related design rights. Together these agreements would make HMD the sole global licensee for all types of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets. HMD intends to invest over $500 million over the next three years to support the global marketing of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets, funded via its investors and profits from the acquired feature phone business, the release said.
HMD and Nokia Technologies have signed an agreement giving HMD full operational control of sales, marketing and distribution of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets, with exclusive access to the pre-eminent global sales and distribution network to be acquired from Microsoft by FIH, access to FIHs world-leading device manufacturing, supply chain and engineering capabilities, and to its growing suite of proprietary mobile technologies and components.
The Nokia brand, especially feature phones, is still very popular across the world, especially in markets like India. HMD will continue to market them as part of an integrated portfolio alongside a new range of Android smartphones and tablets.
Kano:
The first of 219 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram from Chibok in northeast Nigeria more than two years ago has been found, activists, the head of a support group and a community leader said today.
Amina Ali was discovered last night in the Sambisa Forest area of Borno state by civilian vigilantes assisting the military and brought back to her home town of Mbalala, near Chibok.
She met her parents, who recognised their daughter before she was taken to the military base in Damboa, Ayuba Alamson Chibok, a community leader in Chibok, told AFP.
Her fathers name is Ali and the girls name is Amina. I know the family very well because I have worked with them, being a spokesman for the families of the Chibok girls.
Yakubu Nkeki, head of the Abducted Chibok Girls Parents group, also confirmed her name and said she was 17 when she was abducted.
He added: Shes the daughter of my neighbour... They brought her to my house.
Tsambido Hosea Abana, a Chibok community leader in the capital, Abuja, from the BringBackOurGirls pressure group, was the first to give details about the discovery.
All three men said the teenager appeared to have given birth while in captivity while Abana said other kidnapped girls were in the forest, which the military has been targeting for several weeks. There was no immediate word from the Nigerian authorities.
Boko Haram seized 276 students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok on the night of April 14, 2014. Fifty-seven managed to escape in the immediate aftermath.
Nothing had been heard from the 219 still held captive since a video published by the Islamists in May 2014 until an apparent proof of life message was sent to the Nigerian government earlier this year.
The abduction sparked outrage worldwide and brought global attention to the Boko Haram insurgency, which has killed at least 20,000 people and made more than 2.6 million homeless since 2009.
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New Delhi:
Bollywood actor Salman Khan and Iulia Vantur are trying every possible way to hide it, but their recent outings are claiming more than enough to prove their brewing love for each other.
Recently, they were spotted together at Preity Zintas reception and had garnered enough headlines. Several reports claimed that they are all set to get hitched by the end of this year.
Now a new report by spotboye suggests that the Khan parivar have moved forward and have also decided dates for marriage.
And unsurprisingly, the actor's close friends suggest that Sallu will tie the knot on December 27, which also happens to be his 51st birthday.
If report is to be believed then December bring double celebration for Khan-daan.
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New Delhi:
NASAs pioneering spacecraft New Horizons once again takes a tiny Kuiper Belt object orbiting the sun. New Horizons first imaged 1994 JR1 in November last year at a distance of 280 million kilometres. The image taken from spacecraft's Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) in April shatter New Horizons' own record for the closest-ever views of this KBO.
According to NASA scientists the Kuiper Belt object (KBO) is just 145 kilometres wide. And these observations contain valuable findings. As combining the two observations allow us to locate the JR1 to within 1,000 kilometres, far better than any small KBO.
With the help of this data, scientists are now able to determine the objects rotation period which is once every 5.4 hours for one JR1 day.
These observations can serve as best practice for possible close-up looks at about 20 more ancient Kuiper Belt objects that may come in the next few years. The spacecraft is on for an ultra-close flyby of another Kuiper Belt object, "2014 MU69", on January 1, 2019.
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Vilnius:
A 22-year-old Afghan man who received Taliban death threats over his work for the Lithuanian army in the war-torn country has won asylum in the Baltic state after reaching out on social media, the interior ministry said today.
Abdul Basir Yoususi, who worked as an interpreter for Lithuanias NATO contingent in the central province of Ghor, fled his homeland earlier this year, embarking on a dangerous two-month journey to Europe.
He launched an emotional appeal on YouTube from a refugee camp in Greece in March, asking Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite for asylum.
Yoususi, who has a two-year-old daughter, said he had faced death threats from the hardline Taliban militia after Lithuanian forces left Ghor in 2013.
Everything changed when the Taliban sent me a threatening letter. They said I was Catholic not a Muslim so they would chop off my head, hang me, he told local media earlier this month.
I turned to local police and I was told that neither they nor the military could do anything. They suggested I get a pistol.
Lithuanian Deputy Interior Minister Elvinas Jankevicius told AFP that the authorities had checked out his claims. He is indeed in danger, so we granted him international protection and refugee status, Jankevicius said.
A grateful Yoususi, who picked up Lithuanian after initially working for the troops as a cleaner, said he is now waiting for his family to join him from Afghanistan.
Im not exactly sure how theyre doing. I havent been in touch with them for 10 days, he told the Baltic News Service today. The situation is really bad there. Theres no safety, there is war all the time.
Yoususi is one of thousands of Afghan interpreters who risked their lives for foreign troops over the years and who have since sought asylum or visas to escape Taliban reprisals.
Some of the interpreters who managed to emigrate have notably called on the British and US governments to not abandon their colleagues back home.
Lithuania first sent troops to Afghanistan in 2002 after the US-led overthrow of the Taliban regime there.
Lithuanian soldier Jurgis Norvaisa, who was posted in Afghanistan in 2012, said he recognised Yoususi when he saw the video circulating on social media.
He interpreted from Lithuanian to Dari Persian and vice versa. He helped us in our contact with the local people, Norvaisa told AFP last month.
Lithuania has agreed to welcome 1,105 migrants over two years under an EU relocation programme for asylum seekers to help ease Europes migration crisis. So far only 11 refugees from Iraq and Syria have arrived in the EU member of three million people, Jankevicius said.
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Cairo:
US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Cairo today to meet President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, after Egypt called for a renewal of the Middle East peace process.
Even before Sisi had raised the issue, Kerry had planned a visit to discuss the crisis in Libya and Syria and to raise concerns about Egypts harsh crackdown on dissent.
But the top US diplomat is also keen to hear more from the Egyptian leader about how he intends to help broker peace between his Israeli and Palestinian neighbours.
Hes interested in hearing a bit more directly from the president about what role he has in mind, a senior US official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Yesterday, in a televised speech, Sisi urged Israelis and Palestinians to seize what he said was a real opportunity and hailed his own countrys peace deal with Israel.
In 1979, Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel after years of conflict, and today it remains an influential player in the region.
Washington believes the only way to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is a negotiated settlement resulting in two states side-by-side within recognised borders.
But the US does not believe the time is yet ripe to resume a direct dialogue between the sides, preferring instead to lobby both to make confidence building measures to reduce violence and calm tensions.
Some in the international community are becoming frustrated with that approach and Franceand now Egypt are pushing for a quicker resumption of efforts to seek a final deal.
There is sympathy for that goal in Washington, and an acceptance that there is a risk that the process could become unsalvageable if it is allowed to fester, but there is also caution about pushing too fast.
Weve said repeatedly that we believe negotiations are the only way to solve the problem. Weve also said that were not ourselves trying to resume negotiations at this point, the official said.
The secretary is very interested in hearing some more about the details of what President Sisi has in mind, he added.
Supporters of the peace process have been dismayed in recent months by Israels ongoing construction of settlements on Palestinian land and by Palestinian knife and gun attacks on Israelis.
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New Delhi:
Eight rebel Congress MLAs along with former Uttarakhand CM Vijay Bahuguna of Congress today joined BJP after the being sacked from Congress.
The fate of these MLAs has been in lurch after the Congress won floor test in Uttarakhand Assembly. The unanimous decision to induct these MLAs into the party was taken after a meeting of partys central leadership with its Uttarakhand core group.
Center had revoked Presidents rule from Uttarakhand on May 11, 2016 after Rawat-led government was able to prove their majority on the floor of the House.
Presidents rule was imposed in the state after nine rebel Congress MLAs voted against the state government's annual budget resulting in its loosing majority.
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Karachi:
In a startling admission, a senior minister in Pakistan's Punjab province today said the government cannot take legal action against terror groups like Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) as the "state itself remained involved" with them.
In an interview to BBC Urdu, Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah was asked why legal action has never been taken against anti-India groups in the province which were close to the "establishment".
"By pro-establishment groups if you mean JuD and JeM, then let me tell you that they have been declared proscribed organisations and they can no longer carry out any activity in the province," he said.
The minister ruled out the possibility of any legal action against the groups saying "How can you prosecute a group with whom the state itself has been involved with?".
India accuses Pakistan of patronising terror groups like JuD and JeM who carry out attacks in the country. Pakistan however denies the charge calling them "non-state actors" who are not in its control.
The candid admission by Sanaullah about the Pakistani state's past ties with JuD and JeM may increase international pressure on the country to act against all militants groups including the Haqqani network active in Afghanistan.
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BROOKFIELD A bill that would free the town of having to pay back more than $950,000 in state grants stalled last week in the state legislature, leaving officials in limbo about whether a long-running dispute can be resolved.
The town and state have wrangled for more than a year over whether Brookfield must repay some of the $8 million in grants awarded to renovate the high school a decade ago.
Connecticuts Department of Administrative Services says the town has not provided enough documentation to prove that the grants were spent as intended.
Town officials argued that the state was provided the necessary information when the work was done, but nevertheless began combing through records to find the necessary paperwork. They succeeded in documenting all but $950,000 of the amount, but they say the town shouldnt be squeezed for the rest.
State Rep. Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, said language he crafted with State Sen. Clark Chapin, R-New Milford, included in the states school construction bill, would clear Brookfield of having to pay the money back. The bill passed in the state Senate but was still awaiting a House vote when the legislative session ended last week.
The quicker we can absolve Brookfield of this debt, the better, Harding said. Im upset that it didnt get a vote in the regular session, but Im confident that we will go back and vote on this bill.
First Selectman Steve Dunn said with the town cannot afford to repay the state, especially after officials found that $3.3 million had been erroneously credited to its reserve fund, or cash balance.
Its a lot of money and I believe we provided all of the information that the state required, Dunn said. At this point in time with our general fund, we cant afford another $950,000 hit. Its vital to the overall health of the town that we get this (bill) approved.
Town officials have worked for more than a year to produce the records sought by DAS, including bid documents, invoices and proof of public notices.
The state originally sought more than $8 million, but former First Selectman Bill Tinsley said that number was revised to $2 million last year after a trove of documents were found in a file cabinet. Further investigation satisfied the state that only $950,000 needed to be returned, but the town, now led by Dunn, has kept looking for documentation to wipe out that remaining obligation.
Greg Dembowski, who Dunn hired in March to comb through documents in search of further evidence that the money was properly spent, has come up with paperwork concerning another $320,000 that he believes the state is likely to forgive.
Part of the search, Dembowski said, has involved seeking out various subcontractors involved in the project and hoping they kept records from the project.
Ive read Municipal Building Committee meeting minutes from 2006-07 that ID names and numbers of people I can call, Dembowski said. Its a lot of detailed digging, and keep digging and calling and making connections so we can put a story together.
But for now, that work is on hold, with the hopes that the state makes it unnecessary.
I have every hope that it will pass, Dunn said. Clark (Chapin) and Steve (Harding) have been very helpful. I think its just sitting there waiting for approval.
awolff@newstimes.com; 203-731-3333; @awolffste
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BETHEL Local Democrats chose a 24-year-old Bethel resident this week to run for a seat in the state House of Representatives, but another young candidate has vowed to force a primary to decide the nomination.
Party leaders voted 8-3 Tuesday night to endorse former congressional aid Raghib Allie-Brennan over Thomas Burke, a 26-year-old Marine veteran who also lives in Bethel.
Burkes three votes put him over the 15 percent threshold needed to qualify him for a primary without having to collect signatures of registered voters. Its not clear, however, whether Burke, a former Republican, is eligible to participate in a primary just months after he switched parties.
The eventual Democratic nominee will run against former Bethel selectman Will Duff, who was unanimously endorsed by local Republicans on Monday as nominee to replace outgoing Rep. Dan Carter as 2nd District representative.
The district covers parts of Bethel, Danbury, Newtown and Redding.
Carter chose not to seek a fourth term in the state Legislature so he can challenge Democratic incumbent Richard Blumenthal in the race for U.S. Senate.
Allie-Brennan previously worked for Bethel First Selectman Matt Knickerbockers re-election campaign and was himself elected to a four-year term on the towns Inland Wetlands Commission in 2013. He resigned after 11 months to work in Washington, D.C.
Bethel attorney Peter Olson, one of the delegates who endorsed Allie-Brennan on Tuesday, praised the nominee.
Hes the right candidate for the district, Olson said. Hell work hard and were comfortable hell be successful in the fall.
Allie-Brennan is confident Burke is not eligible to run in the primary given that he switched parties in the last minute.
Burke, who has volunteered for Hillary Clintons presidential campaign since January, changed his party affiliation in late March.
According to state statute, any candidate who has transferred to another party shall not be entitled to participate or vote in a caucus or primary of any party ... or be entitled to the privileges accompanying enrollment in any party for a period of three months from the date of the filing of his application for transfer.
Burke said he is eligible because the primary is in August, more than four months after he became a Democrat. His opponent argues that the statute bans Burke from having any privileges with the party until late June, and that votes cast for him at this weeks convention were not valid.
A spokesman for the Secretary of States office could not give a definitive answer.
It appears from the law that you have to be on the enrollment list before you can be a candidate for that party, spokesman Patrick Gallahue said. However, more needs to be known before that can be established.
Burke said Democratic voters should be able to choose their nominee.
Im looking forward to a primary, and Im confident well be able to carry my hometown, he said, adding that his opponent doesnt understand the needs of the district. He doesnt really have roots here.
Allie-Brennan has worked with U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty and North Carolina Congresswoman Alma Adams in Washington, D.C.
He said the 2nd District has gone without real representation in Hartford since Carter was first elected and that Duff would just repeat that.
Duff brushed off the criticism, describing Allie-Brennan as the quintessential Hillary Clinton insider Democrat.
He should move back to D.C., take his negative campaign and work for Hillary Clinton, the Republican said.
If elected, Allie-Brennan said he would prioritize five key issues: economic development, increasing educational opportunities, tackling the opioid epidemic, transportation improvements and supporting renewable energy.
Bethel resident Dan Gaita, who supports Burke and is also a Marine veteran, said local Democrats chose a friend and a puppet to represent them in Hartford.
He basically spent less than a year bouncing around as a congressional aide, Gaita said.
noliveira@newstimes.com, 203-731-3411, @olivnelson
DANBURY Democratic Party leader and former Mayor Gene Eriquez opened a nominating convention at party headquarters Tuesday night and said nothing about his weekend arrest on a domestic-violence charge.
Amid a suggestion by Democrat state Rep. David Arconti that Eriquez should not conduct business as usual while the court considers allegations that he beat his wife during an alcohol-fueled fight, Eriquez welcomed delegates and turned the meeting over to nominating officials.
Eriquez left the Main Street building halfway through the meeting, refusing to comment on the third-degree assault charge he faces. He said only that he planned to make a statement Wednesday night during the regular meeting of the Democratic Town Committee.
Earlier Tuesday, Eriquez sent a short and businesslike email to party members, reminding them about upcoming meetings. His email did not mention his arrest on Sunday or his court appearance Monday, at which Eriquezs lawyer told the judge he was extremely embarrassed, and extremely remorseful about the incident.
Eriquez has been barred from returning home or seeing his wife until his next court appearance in late June.
While top party leaders on Tuesday, such as Vice Chairman Gary Goncalves, did not answer calls for comment, other leaders openly showed their concern about the situation.
I feel horrible for his wife, said Lori Kaback, the former longtime City Clerk. Theres no tolerance for domestic violence.
Democratic City Council members Tom Saadi and Benjamin Chianese made similarly strong statements condemning domestic violence on Monday, each saying Eriquez should step down if the allegations are true.
Eriquez was accused of punching his wife in the face, kicking her in the back, and striking her with a kitchen bowl. She told police she would have called 911 earlier during the alleged assault, but that Eriquez chased her down and threw her cell phone, according to a police report.
She eventually locked herself in a bedroom with the phone and called police, the report said.
Eriquez was too drunk to give a statement, police said. In addition to the misdemeanor assault charge, the 63-year-old was charged with interfering with an emergency call and disorderly conduct.
On Tuesday night, Eriquez buttoned his gray suit and addressed a crowd of 30 delegates. He then left the podium to stand alone at the back of the room before leaving the building.
Delegates nominated Jeff Tomchik, of Danbury, to run for the 138th District, and Raghib Allie-Brennan, of Bethel, to run for the 2nd District.
Arconti, who attended Tuesdays meeting and planned to be at Democratic Party headquarters Wednesday to seek the nomination for a third term representing the 109th District, was unequivocal about what Eriquez needed to do.
He should step down from the party and focus on his personal life, said Arconti, who is related to Eriquez. I think he should focus on getting the help he needs.
coke said: That is true. It just reunited Europe and tore down the wall. ******* Reagan an his big mough Click to expand...
He had a big mouth, but he was smart enough and morale enough to realize the the time for peace with the USSR had come. He played the situation well. I'm not a huge fan of Reagan, but how he handled the last few years of the Cold War impresses me.
VANCOUVER, May 17, 2016 /CNW/ - In response to the devastating fires in Fort McMurray, Alberta, games studio IGG Canada is pledging immediate support. IGG Canada are donating the sum of $100,000 USD to the Canadian Red Cross to help support those affected by wildfires.
CEO of IGG, Duke Cai said, "The images and stories from evacuees and emergency responders on scene really affected us. Fort McMurray as a community has lost so much. When a community is devastated like Fort McMurray has been, we all need to do our part to help those in need".
"Our thoughts are with the Fort McMurray community and with those families who have experienced loss," said Kimberly Nemrava, Vice-President, Canadian Red Cross B.C. & Yukon. "It's with the generosity of companies like IGG Canada that we're able to help the residents through these initial days and work towards meeting ongoing needs through the long road to recovery".
About IGG - I Got Games
IGG celebrates its 10 year anniversary this year. The company has studios on three continents and is ranked as one of the top game developers in the world. Specializing in games for mobile devices, IGG is best known for blockbuster games Castle Clash, Clash of Lords, Galaxy Online, Deck Heroes and the recently released Lords Mobile which is already a top 10 game in the Google Play Store.
IGG Canada located in Vancouver, B.C. opened its doors in 2013 and employs 60+ Vancouverites. The studio is currently developing multiple games and social platforms.
To donate: http://redcross.ca/IGG_Canada
LINKS:
IGG Canada: http://ca.careers.igg.com/
IGG: http://www.igg.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/IGGCanada
Twitter: @IGGCanada
SOURCE IGG Canada
Image with caption: "From L-R: IGG Canada President & General Manager, Neng Xu; Vice President - British Columbia. & Yukon Canadian Red Cross, Kimberley Nemrava; Senior Vice President IGG Group, Kai Chen; IGG Canada Senior Vice President Design & Development, Andrew Woodruff; Senior Philanthropy Manager, Canadian Red Cross, Sharan Dhillon (CNW Group/IGG Canada)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160517_C7137_PHOTO_EN_693228.jpg
For further information: [email protected]
Mint to donate $10,000 and portion of proceeds of the "Firefighters" coin to Red Cross Alberta Fires Appeal (Fort McMurray)
WINNIPEG, May 17, 2016 /CNW/ - The Royal Canadian Mint is proudly honouring Canada's national heroes with a new silver collector coin series. The series features firefighters, paramedics, police and the military, all of which face danger in the line of duty yet remain steadfast in their commitment and dedication to helping others. The coins were unveiled today at a ceremony held at the Mint's production facility in Winnipeg.
"On behalf of the Government of Canada, I would like to thank our firefighters, paramedics, police and the military for their commitment to preserve and protect the lives of Canadians every single day," said the Honourable Bill Morneau, Minister of Finance. "The dedication and professionalism of these brave men and women, who ensure we continue to live in a safe society, are a true inspiration to all Canadians."
"This coin series is a wonderful addition to any collection, paying tribute to our everyday heroes who put themselves at risk every time they answer the call of duty to protect us," said Sandra Hanington, President and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint. "These coins are also a way for the Mint and all of our employees to say thank you for the unwavering selflessness and courage these heroes demonstrate in their communities."
In conjunction with this coin series, the Mint is donating $10,000 to the Red Cross Alberta Fires Appeal (Fort McMurray) as well as $5 from the sale of every "Firefighters" coin, which is the first coin in the series.
Each of the four coins in the series is produced in 99.999% pure silver and features selective colour over engraving which brings to life the depiction of a firefighter, paramedic, police officer or infantry soldier in the line of duty. Designed by Canadian artist Ken Ryan, each coin has a face value of $15, a mintage of 10,000 and retails for $69.95.
These coins can be ordered from the Mint at 1-800-267-1871 in Canada, 1-800-268-6468 in the US, or online at www.mint.ca. The "Firefighters" coin is available now at the Mint's boutiques in Ottawa, Winnipeg and Vancouver, as well as through the Mint's global network of dealers and distributors, including participating Canada Post outlets. The remaining three coins in the series can be ordered from the Mint as of today and will be available on the following dates:
Paramedics - June 7, 2016
Police - August 7, 2016
Military - September 6, 2016
The entire series is also available by subscription. Each subscription includes a special wooden collector case to proudly showcase all of these heroes side by side. Contact the Mint today!
About the Royal Canadian Mint
The Royal Canadian Mint is the Crown Corporation responsible for the minting and distribution of Canada's circulation coins. An ISO 9001-2008 certified company the Mint is recognized as one of the largest and most versatile mints in the world, offering a wide range of specialized, high quality coinage products and related services on an international scale. For more information on the Mint, its products and services, visit www.mint.ca.
Images of these coins are available by visiting https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2thbme5uldevmok/AABzCoexe4YEkq69dH0ZO7qUa?dl=0
SOURCE Royal Canadian Mint
Image with caption: "Royal Canadian Mint President Sandra Hanington, Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman, Mint Board of Directors member Bonnie Staples-Lyon and Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister join emergency first responders, at the Mints Winnipeg facility, in unveiling collector coins celebrating Canadas national heroes (May 17, 2016) (CNW Group/Royal Canadian Mint)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160517_C2604_PHOTO_EN_692988.jpg
For further information: Alex Reeves, Senior Manager, Communications, Royal Canadian Mint, Telephone: 613-949-5777, [email protected]
TORONTO, May 18, 2016 /CNW/ - VersaPay Corporation (TSXV: VPY) ("VersaPay" or the "Company"), will release its first quarter results for 2016 on Wednesday, May 25, 2016 after market close. The Company will subsequently hold a conference call on Thursday, May 26, 2016 at 9:00 AM Eastern Time hosted by Craig O'Neill, Chief Executive Officer, and Harp Gahunia, Chief Financial Officer. A question and answer session will follow the corporate update.
CONFERENCE CALL DETAILS
Date: Thursday, May 26, 2016
Time: 9:00 AM Eastern Time
Participant Dial-in Numbers:
Local Toronto (+1) 416 764 8609
Toll Free North America (+1) 888 390 0605
Conference ID: 56124394
Recording Playback Numbers:
Toronto (+1) 416 764 8677
Toll Free North America (+1) 888 390 0541
Passcode: 124394 #
Expiry Date: Thursday, June 2, 2016, 11:59 PM
A live audio webcast and archive of the conference call will be available by visiting the Company's website at http://www.versapay.com/company/investor-relations/. Please connect at least 15 minutes prior to the conference call to ensure time for any software download that may be needed to hear the webcast.
About VersaPay
VersaPay is a leading cloud-based invoice presentment and payment provider for businesses of all sizes. VersaPay's ARC software-as-a-service offering allows businesses to easily deliver customized electronic invoices to their customers, to accept credit card and EFT payments and automatically reconcile payments to their ERP and accounting software. VersaPay is headquartered in Toronto, Canada and has operations in Montreal and New York.
More information about VersaPay can be found on the Company's website at www.versapay.com or under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Forward Looking and Other Cautionary Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking information" which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future. Such forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words and phrases such as "plans," "expects," "is expected," "budget," "scheduled," "estimates," "forecasts," "intends," "anticipates," or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may," "could," "would," "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved.
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. Management believes that these assumptions are reasonable. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others, risks related to the speculative nature of the Company's business, the Company's formative stage of development and the Company's financial position.
Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.
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.
SOURCE VersaPay Corporation
Image with caption: "VersaPay Corporation (CNW Group/VersaPay Corporation)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160518_C4645_PHOTO_EN_693398.jpg
For further information: Harp Gahunia, Chief Financial Officer, VersaPay Corporation, 416-458-5976, [email protected]; John McLeod, Vice President, Marketing, VersaPay Corporation, 647-258-9406, [email protected]; Babak Pedram, Investor Relations, Virtus Advisory Group Inc., 416-644-5081, [email protected]
On-demand virtual health care with certified family doctors replaces long doctor's office waits
TORONTO, May 18, 2016 /CNW/ - Today Akira, a mobile platform that connects patients to family doctors on demand, launches to bring patients one-on-one consultations straight from their smartphone. Available for download on Android and iOS, the app allows patients in Ontario to consult with board-certified physicians by secure mobile text or video, and provides users mobile access to personal health records including clinical notes, prescriptions and test results. Akira is launching with $500,000 in seed funding from investors including Shopify founder Tobias Lutke, Top Hat founder, Mike Silagadze, and venture capital firm HIGHLINE.
"The way Canadians interact with their doctors hasn't really changed in 100 years. Technology has revolutionized almost every other aspect of our lives except the healthcare system," said Dustin Walper, co-founder, Akira. "At Akira, we're focused on bringing high-quality health care to people everywhere, and we're leveraging technology to do it. We're starting with the Akira app, but our ultimate goal is to build the world's smartest artificial medical assistant."
With the push of a button, Akira enables users to speak with an Ontario-based doctor immediately. Once logged in, users can begin a text conversation with the doctor, and based on the patient's situation, doctors can immediately launch a video chat if necessary. Users can start a chat with a doctor any time Monday-Friday between 9am - 5pm or Saturday between 10am - 6pm. Text messaging is ideal for a quick question or concern, and doctor response time is typically within two minutes.
Akira can be used to diagnose and treat many common health problems such as anxiety or depression, urinary tract infections (UTIs), rashes, and the flu. Doctors can write prescriptions and send them to the user's pharmacy of choice, refer patients to specialists or allied health professionals, and order tests. Through partners, Akira also offers free, same-day delivery of prescription medications to the home or office. Prescription information including frequency and dosage is also easily accessible in-app.
The company was co-founded by Walper, who previously co-founded web and mobile development agency Myplanet, and Dr. Taha Bandukwala, a radiologist who recently completed residency at The University of Toronto. Akira is also launching with a team of female and male general practitioners, including Dr. Shazeen Bandukwala, Dr. Shayda Ziai, and Dr. Paul Frydrych.
"Akira's mobile health platform is bringing much-needed change to a medical system still reliant on fax machines and paper charts," said Dr. Taha Bandukwala, chief medical officer, Akira. "According to the American Medical Association, up to 70 per cent of doctor's visits could be conducted virtually, saving an unnecessary trip to the doctor's office. Canadians are demanding better access to health care, and we built an interdisciplinary team of physicians, developers, data scientists and designers to bring transparency, accessibility, and user-friendliness to the patient experience."
Akira is available through a monthly subscription service for $9.99/month, which provides unlimited access to the platform's team of doctors and nurse practitioners, and can be cancelled at any time. The service can also be provided by employers as an extended health benefit, and companies including Pivotal Labs, Top Hat, and 500px are currently offering Akira to their employees. During a closed beta test this spring, over 2,000 people signed up for Akira and had over 750 doctor consultations. If each consultation saved one hour of wait time at a clinic, Akira has already saved patients over 31 days of wait time.
When it comes to patient information, Akira follows the stringent privacy rules set out by the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA). All consultations are private, and patient data is encrypted and stored in Canada. iPhone users can enable TouchID protection to prevent unauthorized access to their health records. Additionally, only patients and their doctor or medical staff can view patient data.
Akira should not be used for emergencies, and is not a replacement for the most responsible physician in cases of chronic disease, cancer or other complex care conditions.
Akira is currently available in Ontario, but will be expanding to other provinces soon. The app is available for download on the App Store and Google Play Store.
Akira Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/akira_md
Website: http://akira.md/
About Akira
Founded in 2015 by Dustin Walper and Dr. Taha Bandukwala, Akira provides health care services that work the way you do and on your schedule. Akira, a Japanese name meaning bright or intelligent, aims to change the way modern health care works by providing a much-needed mobile option to a system still reliant on fax machines and paper charts.
SOURCE Akira
Image with caption: "Akira (CNW Group/Akira)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160518_C1247_PHOTO_EN_693261.jpg
For further information: Media Contact: 88 Creative, Morgan Craig, Account Executive, Email: [email protected], Office: 416-944-2722
Are you saying that the Clinton Foundation works differently than any other presidential foundation? Are you saying that the Bush/Reagan/Carter/Ford or any other foundation refuses money for charity?
Are you saying that previous secretaries of state (Albright, Kissinger, Powell, Rice) accomplished more than Clinton?? If so, what exactly, considering the challenges of their era/tenure? They all visited "a bunch of countries". They all did their best to protect Americans abroad and at home....because that's the job description. And before you answer, let me remind you that Condi Rice (whom I greatly admire) was Sec of State during the reign of terror--9/11. Shall we do a compare and contrast--9/11 to Benghazi???
And you haven't answer my question about Trump. What has HE contributed to this country? Has he given/done more good than Hillary?
The indefinite strike declared by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) did not hold as expected as commercial and social activities progress...
The indefinite strike declared by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) did not hold as expected as commercial and social activities progressed unhindered in Awka, Anambra State.Reports revealed that most civil servants reported early at their various offices.A visit to the Jerome Udoji Secretariat and Government House both in Awka, showed that workers were in their various offices while many others were outside the buildings in groups discussing the issue.One of the workers, who simply identified herself as Mrs Evelyn, said she had to report to work because she understood the strike was stopped by a ruling of the Industrial Court on Tuesday.Evelyn said she would have joined the action, if it was not illegal.Another public servant, who spoke on condition of anonimity, said she was at the secretariat but his office was under lock and key.Secondary and primary schools opened but classes were apparently not serious as students were seen playing and loitering in the streets.Head of Service, Mr Harry Uduh, was not on seat to comment on the situation.Meanwhile, vehicular movement was normal in the capital city, Awka, and people went about their normal activities.Similarly, commercial banks were operating freely while those located within the government secretariat were shut due to the uncertainty at the place.Officers of security agencies including, Army, Police and Department of State Security Services were strategically positioned while others on patrol, to ensure peace and order.There were no public rallies or protests as at the time of filing the report.Meanwhile, organised labour in the state chaired by Mr Jerry Nnubia of the NLC were still holding a joint session as at noon.
President Muhammadu Buharis wife, Aisha, on Tuesday in Abuja, presented N55 million cheque to parents of Chibok school girls and Buni Y...
President Muhammadu Buharis wife, Aisha, on Tuesday in Abuja, presented N55 million cheque to parents of Chibok school girls and Buni Yadi school boys, who were abducted and murdered respectively by Boko Haram.Mrs. Buhari presented a cheque of N30 million to parents of the Chibok girls and N25 million cheque to parents of the Buni Yadi boys.She said the presentation of the cheque was part of her promise that proceeds from the book she launched on Essentials of Beauty Therapy would be used to empower parents of the Chibok girls and Buni Yadi boys.She said, The day I launched my book, I promised that the proceed will be used to empower the parents of missing Chibok girls and the Buni Yadi boys.And I am here today to present a cheque of N30 million to empower the parents of the girls and also a cheque of N25 million to empower the parents of the murdered Bunu Yadi boys.Mrs. Buhari said the rest of the proceed would be used to take care of Internally Displaced malnourished children.Vice President Yemi Osibanjos wife, Dolapo, commended Mrs. Buhari for the gesture, saying this shows the quality of a good leader.On her part, Asabe Bashir, member, House of Representatives for Gwoza and Damboa constituency, commended the Federal Government for putting more efforts toward finding the missing girls.She said government attached great importance to the issue of Chibok girls and security of the country and that is why people could move around freely in the country today.She said the missing Chibok girls case was a global issue as the whole world was involved to ensured that they were found and reunited with their parents.The Chairman of Abducted Chibok Girls Parents, Yakubu Nkeki, said 19 of the more than 200 parents of the missing Chibok girls had died.He urged the government to put extra effort to get back the girls soon in good health, saying we, the parents of the girls are not happy about the situation as over two years now we didnt hear anything about their whereabouts.He, however, commended the government for all efforts toward finding the girls and bringing peace to the North East as many in the region had returned home, adding that they still believe that the girls are alive.Now, we can sleep in our houses peacefully without any attack by the insurgents in the Chibok area. This is a clear indication that insurgency will soon come to an end, he said.The wife of the vice president received the cheque on behalf of the parent of the Chibok girls, while the Minister for State, Foreign Affairs, Khadijat Bukar, received the cheque on behalf of the parents of the Buni Yadi boys.(NAN)
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court has ordered the Federal Government of Nigeria to justify the detention of Sam...
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court has ordered the Federal Government of Nigeria to justify the detention of Sambo Dasuki, Nigeria's former National Security Adviser (NSA) under 24 hours.The detained retired army officer was also ordered to make out his case against government challenging his detention since December last year in one day.Presiding judge of the regional court, Justice Friday Chijioke Nwoke, gave the order in Abuja Tuesday at the resumed hearing in a legal action instituted by Mr. Dasuki to challenge his alleged unlawful detention, unlawful seizure of properties and infringement on his fundamental rights to freedom of liberty.
Ijaw leader Chief Edwin Clark has warned President Muhammadu Buhari to follow the footsteps of his predecessors in handling the upsurge ...
Ijaw leader Chief Edwin Clark has warned President Muhammadu Buhari to follow the footsteps of his predecessors in handling the upsurge in militancy in Niger Delta.Clark said the President needed to dialogue to resolve the crisis, instead of applying military might, since the nations military had been over-stretched in recent operations.The Ijaw leader also advised members of the Niger Delta Avenger (NDA) to retrace their steps and embrace dialogue.He noted that violence never served any good purpose.Clark, who addressed reporters yesterday in Abuja on the rising militancy in Niger Delta, urged former militant leaders, like Tom Ateke and Boyloaf, to quell the crisis.The Ijaw leader said the recent attacks on pipelines were not in the interest of the region and its residents.He said it was economically wrong to destroy government infrastructure because they also have direct effects on the people and the environment.Clark called for a meeting of Ijaw leaders from the six coastal states, including the executives of Ijaw National congress (INC) and Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC) Worldwide to discuss what he called the unpatriotic and dangerous upsurge in Niger Delta.The elder statesman, who said the activities of the Avengers could be quickly resolved, if the President opened a channel of discussions, added: At this point, I turn to the leaders of our governments, especially President Buhari, to emulate his predecessors and embrace dialogue on the current perplexing issues threatening the peace, possibly the existence, of our dear country.How many war theatres can our very limited number of military and security personnel be deployed at the same time? How effective can they be against Boko Haram, IPOB/MASSOB, Fulani herdsmen, kidnappers and, now, Niger Delta Avengers and their likes?Violence, even against violence, is not, has never been, the answer. Dialogue is! Lets all embrace dialogue as the best and only means to achieve an equitable society in which everyone feels a sense of belonging and patriotic commitment.I repeat here, as always, that this country belongs to everyone. We have no other country than Nigeria. No one should be treated as first or as second-class citizen, causing some to take up arms to assert their rightful status.Clark distanced himself and other well-meaning Nigerians from Niger Delta Avengers phantom sovereign existence from Nigeria.He said: Nevertheless, it beats my imagination to hear that this so-called Niger Delta Avengers have the effrontery to say that they are designing a flag, a currency and a passport for display, in October, of a phantom sovereign existence from Nigeria. What nonsense!What has changed, when? All that they are complaining about have been the same for a long time. We have been discussing these issues, asking for redress, for as long as I have been in the public arena, up till today, including the six years of national leadership of one of our own.The Ijaw leader called for an immediate cessation of violence.He added: I call on this group, the Niger Delta Avengers, and all persons and groups, who feel aggrieved in the country, to shun violence and seek dialogue, no matter how petulant the perceived adversaries may be. I want to warn all the so-called militants, by whatever new names they want to assume, to energetically take up their own responsibilities, as enshrined in the Amnesty Agreement.The reintegrating militants were tasked to ensure that there would be no more destructive leakages. They were subsequently accommodated in the pipelines security schemes, though, to be fair, administered in a very haphazard manner, leading to many of the erstwhile militants feeling short-changed.Clark urged Ateke and other former militant leaders to go into the creeks and meet with those threatening the peace and security of the Niger Delta with a view to bringing about peaceful resolution of whatever grievance they may have.
Turkish club Fenerbahce have made an audacious move to hire former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho.According to reports, Fenerbahce are desperate to bring Mourinho to Istanbul and will tempt him with astronomical wages.The Portuguese tactician will also be offered a 12m-per-year contract, although it's unclear whether that is before or after tax.The club's chairman Aziz Yildirim would like to arrange a meeting with the Special One to make his pitch in person and unveil extravagant future plans.Despite the persistent rumours of Mourinho's arrival at Manchester United, Louis van Gaal said he remained confident of keeping his job.
Bishop Seun Adeoye of Sufficient Grace and Truth Ministry, Okinni, Osun State has explained why he embarked on one man rally against the p...
Bishop Seun Adeoye of Sufficient Grace and Truth Ministry, Okinni, Osun State has explained why he embarked on one man rally against the present hike of fuel price from N86 to N145 by the federal government.Speaking in Osogbo, Osun State on Tuesday, Rt. Rev Adeoye stated that he took the step because he was of the opinion that the Muhammed Buharis administration has not been fair to downtrodden Nigerians by the increase in the price of PMS.The statement reads in part:Nigerians are passing through hell now. People should see the government as a big father who will give them solace in time of crisis. But this father is wielding a big stick against the people.This increase in pump price of PMS is uncalled for. In the last one year, Nigerians have seen an increase in virtually everything apart from their earnings. We have seen increase in electricity tariff, increase in bank charges and the astronomical increase in food items.Churches in Nigeria today are becoming centres for distribution of food items and relief materials to unfortunate Nigerians who had been deceived by elites in government.Those who are telling Nigerians to bear the cost and allow the new price regime to stand are people flying over us in their choppers. Even if they call the price N1,000 they will still buy it.I also believe there is a time for everything. There is a time to speak and a time to keep quiet. For me, presently in Nigeria, this is a time to speak no matter whose ox is gored.Some may disagree with me on why as a Bishop I left the pulpit for the streets to express my dissatisfaction on the current fuel hike from N86 to N145 by the Federal Government of Nigeria but I am not bothered about the opinion of men, I am moved by the Spirit of God to do what I did.I cannot do anything otherwise but to obey God. Indeed, my major resolution during my.He urged President Buhari to listen to the voice of the poor and the oppressed in this country to drastically reduce the price of PMS.
Protesters against fuel price increase Wednesday chased out Edo State government workers who resumed for duties. The protesters compris...
Protesters against fuel price increase Wednesday chased out Edo State government workers who resumed for duties.The protesters comprising of factional members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and members of the civil society organization.At the civil service secretariat, workers were already seated inside their offices when they asked to leave.Gates to the entrance of the State Ministry of Information and Orientation, Ministry of Justice and other parastatals were placed under lock and key.Staffers of the various ministries did not join in the protest march.They waited outside their offices for several hours and later left for home.Teachers in privately owned primary and secondary schools shunned the strike and protest march as the schools were opened for academic activities.Pupils of public primary and secondary schools were sent home by their teachers.Doctors and nurses were seen at their duty post at the state government owned hospitals and the courts were also in sessions.Federal government workers resumed for duty at the secretariat at Aduwawa in Ikpoba-Okha local government.All the offices were open for businesses.The protesters also chased away stated government workers who went for verification exercise.They pulled down the canopies and forced staff of the Information and Communication Technology unit to stop work.As at press time, the protesters were still marching along major streets of Benin City.
The Oregon Primary election was a quiet affair in Albany, with a long-shot Republican candidate for Congress hoping to pull off a win holding court at an Albany eatery.
Republican Jo Rae Perkins of Albany, in her second bid for political office, spoke with a small group of supporters at Pop's Branding Iron in Albany while waiting for the primary results. She ran on the platform she's better qualified to help veterans than Democrat Peter DeFazio.
Perkins lost to challenger Art Robinson of Cave Junction, who took 7,086, or 60.64 percent, of the votes. Perkins managed to secure just 28.01 percent, or 3,273 votes.
Republican candidate for governor Bruce Cuff, who also lost his primary election bid, showed up as well. And when Perkins decided to call the race and concede, Cuff told her, "It's too early, Jo Rae. You still have the rural votes to count."
Nonetheless, she addressed her supporters, conceding defeat, for now.
"We need to unify," Perkins told her supporters. "This country is split, and it tears me up."
Perkins said U.S. enemies are happy to see such division in our political races, and after calling the election for Robinson, vowed to come back and run again.
"I'll be back," she said. "I'm going to get Arnold Schwarzenegger on him."
Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai has tasked 779 entrepreneurship trainees to become the next world richest men, like Bill Gate...
Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai has tasked 779 entrepreneurship trainees to become the next world richest men, like Bill Gates and Aliko Dangote with the business knowledge and skills they have acquired.Speaking at the graduation ceremony of the first intake of the Kaduna Start-up Entrepreneurship Programme (KADSTEP) and induction of the second batch of trainees, El-Rufai said, his administration has targeted to train 5,000 entrepreneurs in the next three years.It would be recalled that, Kaduna State Government conceived KADSTEP to empower aspiring entrepreneurs to be able to access the various intervention funds that are available to support micro and small businesses.The Governor told both graduating and induction trainees that, the present government sees the youths as the future, and treats them with seriousness they deserve.His words: Those of you graduating today therefore constitute a vanguard that has been empowered to make a difference. You have not been given handouts, but your government has provided you the knowledge capacity to thrive in challenging times. We trust that you will make the most of it. Some of you may falter before becoming the next Bill Gates and Aliko Dangotes of this world. But you have been given the tools to tryTo the incoming intakes, I welcome you to KADSTEP. Make the most of the opportunity to immerse yourself in business knowledge, sharpen your skills and be ready to fly as soon as you graduate. The first set had 279 trainees. The second set that we are inducting today has 500 trainees. We are taking an incremental approach to reaching our target of training 5000 entrepreneurs. This is an investment in the future, and we are proud to do our duty to make this investmentEl-Rufai said, Permit me to begin by saying emphatic congratulations to the first intake of the Kaduna State Entrepreneurship Programme (KADSTEP) who are graduating today. These 279 young persons took the opportunity presented to them to acquire sound business grounding that can propel their evident passion to set up their own enterprises, add value and create jobs. They can be proud of themselves as the first graduates of a programme designed to help them think of their proposed businesses in a way that a potential investor can consider bankableHe added that, In applying for KADSTEP, our graduates demonstrated that they were not wedded to any sense of entitlement, but were ready to grab opportunities that could build their capacity to conceive strong and realistic business ideas. These first intake have amply demonstrated that the youths of our country are ready to face challenges, and that they can embrace initiatives designed to help them succeedHaving undergone three months of business training, we look forward to hearing success stories from a lot of you The governor said.Our government noticed that the N1b intervention fund we had with the BOI was not been disbursed because the bank did not consider most of the applications it received as viable. On our part, we did not want any potential entrepreneur to treat or consider these funds as unaccountable patronage, or as free funds to feed an unsustainable entitlement mentality. We decided that it was best to create a platform for the willing youth to acquire the necessary business skills. And we were lucky to find willing partners in the Kaduna Business School KBS and the Bank of Industry,BOII wish each of todays KADSTEP graduates success, not only in securing funding, but in building successful and sustainable businesses. And I welcome the next batch of 500 trainees into the programme. Your government sees you as the future, and treats youth with the seriousness they deserve. Some other people cynically treat young people as easy fodder, to be fed paltry patronage and deluded into the belief that their future is dependent on the benevolence of thieving patronsThe Governor maintained that, This government believes that the future of this country is hardworking, discerning youth who have trained their minds and hearts, and whose trust in honest endeavour is anchored on values that link effort to reward. He stressed.On her part, Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Aisha Abubakar, who spoke at the graduation and induction of the trainees said with the new policy direction of the change administration of President Mohammadu Buhari: we have no option than embracing economic diversification for a sustainable prosperous future that was hitherto impeded by our undue fixation to the oil sector.
Dr Doyin Okupe, former Senior Special Assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan told the Federal High Court, Abuja on Wednesday ...
Dr Doyin Okupe, former Senior Special Assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan told the Federal High Court, Abuja on Wednesday that Jonathan told him that he gave the sum of N400 million to Olisa Metuh, the National Publicity Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party.The funds, he said was to be used to prosecute a publicity blitz for the party ahead of the 2015 general elections.Okupe was a defence witness in the ongoing trial of criminal breach of trust, money laundering and corruption by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.According to the former presidential aide, Jonathan had earlier promised to give Metuh the funds after a presentation was made to him on the publicity campaign at Aso Rock Presidential Villa.Speaking while being cross examined by Onyechi Ikpeazu, the lead defence counsel, Okupe said Yes, around that time (November 2014) there was very deep concern in the presidency and the government about the perception of Mr President and his administration, negative perception by the Nigerian public.This also included some perceived ineffectiveness of the administration and also a wrong perception in some parts of the country about the role of government and its actions or activities concerning the very security situation in the country then.Therefore, in government, there was a general feeling that some actions needed to be taken urgently to address these issues, especially because of the coming elections.It was in the course of my discussion with Mr President when I also expressed my own personal concerns too that he informed me that Chief Olisah Metuh had some suggestions.And that he (Jonathan) had instructed him to bring a proposition on what he considered needed to be done and that when this is done, he would inform me so that we can go through it together.Shortly after that, I was invited to a meeting in the State house where Chief Metuh in company of some consultants made presentations to the president.He added that apart from the President, the Vice President, Senate President, the National Chairman of PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, former Gov Liyel Imoke of Cross River State and Peter Obi of Anambra State were also at the meeting.Metuh continues his evidence in chief: The President comes in. After the usual exchange of pleasantries, Mr President gave a short briefing in line with what I said earlier.He then asked Olisah and his consultant to make their presentation which they did. After the presentation, there were comments form those who attended the meeting to add or improve in certain areas where they felt was important.In closing, the presentation was approved for action and the President said Mr. Metuh will be given part of the money that was in budget for the execution of the project. We all left.On how he knew if Metuh was indeed given the money he was promised by former President, Metuh said: Yes, I know from two sources. First was the President himself who told me that he had instructed that Chief Metuh be mobilised. And that was during breakfast with Mr President one morning. He told me that he had instructed that Chief Metuh be mobilised with N400 million.The following day, very early in the morning, I got a call from Chief Metuh who told me that he has received N400 million from the President.He added that consequent upon the receipt of the money, Metuh set up a very large committee of various people, former editors, resource persons in line with media, publicity, image management who he said did quite substantial amount of work.Some of the substantial results were security related but others that have to do with image and perception yielded result because we have a feedback mechanism. We call him (Metuh) to say who moved you guys on and why did you have to wait for this long. We know that the outreach programmes were successful.
Minister of Solid Minerals Dr. Kayode Fayemi will tomorrow, address the United Kingdom Parliament in Westminster, London, on Nigerias di...
Minister of Solid Minerals Dr. Kayode Fayemi will tomorrow, address the United Kingdom Parliament in Westminster, London, on Nigerias diversification agenda.This is sequel to an invitation from the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Nigeria to the Minister to address the Parliament on Nigerias Solid Minerals Sector: Alternative Investment Opportunities.According to a statement by Fayemis media assistant, Olayinka Oyebode, the invitation letter, signed by the APPG Chair, Kate Osamor MP, said the meeting would afford Fayemi the opportunity to discuss investment opportunities in the solid minerals sector.The statement reads: The letter states that the event, which would be chaired by Chi Onwurah MP, Vice Chair of the APPG, would bring together British Parliamentarians, Diaspora Stakeholders, policy-makers, business representatives, diplomats, civil society representatives, media, academics and other experts in the sector.It would be a great pleasure to welcome you to the Houses of Parliament to share your views on politics to transform Nigerias solid minerals sector, the value of the sector for Nigeria as the country seeks to diversify away from oil, and on opportunities for investment.The APPG on Nigeria is an independent and impartial cross-party group of British parliamentarians, which seeks to strengthen the bilateral relationship between the UK and Nigeria, raise the profile of Nigeria in the British parliament and support development and democracy.
Indications are that Federal and state workers in Lagos and Abuja have ignored the strike call by the Nigeria Labour Congress over the in...
Indications are that Federal and state workers in Lagos and Abuja have ignored the strike call by the Nigeria Labour Congress over the increase of petrol price from N86 to N145.At the Alausa Secretariat in Lagos, workers reported as usual for work, after goevrnment on Tuesday reminded them of the order by the Industrial Court restraining the unions from embarking on strike.In Abuja, workers also turned up for work.Our correspondent who went round the city said the residents of the Federal capital appear oblivious of any strike: Abuja looks very busy, one can see people moving around and getting on with their business, he said.The banks are open. They are selling petrol. And people are moving about, he added.Some incidents were recorded however in Lagos. At Fadeyi, some hoodlums blocked the highway, setting expired tyres on fire on the main highway leading to the commercial centre of the metropolis. Police and armed soldiers however turned up to disperse the NLC thugs.At the Murtala Muhammed Airport, hoodlums also attempted to block travellers from accessing the airport.But the NLC leaders on their own may have re-interpreted the concept of strike after the snub by the working class.The leaders chose to file out in peaceful demonstrations. In Lagos, they were seen marching on the Ikorodu expressway. In Abuja, our correspondent also met some of the members preparing for a procession in the city.Signs of a strike fiasco were visible from last week when PENGASSAN and NUPENG, the major oil unions said they were not going to join the strike.Then on Tuesday, a factional leader of the NLC, Joe Ajaero also backed out of the strike and struck a deal with government, the same day government procured an injunction from the Industrial Court against the NLC and TUC.Mr Bobboi Kaigama, the President, Trade Union Congress (TUC), also abandoned the strike option and instead pledged the unions support for the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government.Kaigama said that TUC would no longer embark on the nationwide strike as earlier proposed, adding that the decision was taken at the National Executive Council meeting of the TUC.We want to say that we have disengaged ourselves from this strike because we have been duly educated on the benefits of the fuel subsidy removal.He pledged continued support for government policies that would benefit Nigerian workers.In Bauchi, there was a protest against the NLC itself by Buhari supporters.To finally make the strike still-born, both Federal and state governments reminded workers of the no-pay, no work rule and the ruling by the Industrial Court.In a statement late on Tuesday, the Federal Government ordered the invocation of statutory provision of no work no pay on any worker who joined the strike called by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) .The directive was contained in a statement issued by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal.The SGF ordered Ministers, Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Government Agencies to enforce the directive and open attendance registers in all Ministries, Departments and Agencies.This notice is regrettably given in spite of an order by the Industrial Court against the strike.All workers, whether in public or private sector, are reminded of the Trade Dispute Act, 2004 which provides:Where any worker takes part in a strike, he shall not be entitled to any wages or remuneration for the period of the strike and any such period shall not count for the purpose of reckoning the period of continuous employment and all rights dependent on continuity of employment shall be prejudicially affected accordingly.Government, therefore, calls upon and advises all workers to respect the laws of the land and to desist from participating in an illegal strike action.Government undertakes to guarantee the safety of workers and their work places, and expects that normal work will continue in the interest of the nation, he said.Lawal said that the security agencies had been directed to ensure unimpeded access to offices, work places and markets.He assured that acts of intimidation, harassment, including barricading of gates, locking up of offices, blocking of roads and preventing workers from carrying out their lawful duties would be met with appropriate response by the law enforcement agencies.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-3 Sevilla (Coke)
GOAL! Liverpool 1-2 Sevilla (Coke)
GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 Sevilla (Gameiro)
GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Sevilla (Sturridge)
Good evening and welcome to Nigerianeye's live commentary of the Europa League final between Liverpool and Sevilla.Tonight, Sevilla are bidding to win the UEFA Cup\Europa League for a fifth time and indeed a third time in succession.Liverpool, meanwhile, have won Europe's second competition on three previous occasions, with their last success coming in 2001.The two teams are meeting for the first time in UEFA competition, but Sevilla beat English opposition in the shape of Middlesbrough to win the 2006 final in Eindhoven.: Mignolet; Clyne, Toure, Lovren, Moreno; Can, Milner; Lallana, Firmino, Coutinho; SturridgeSoria; Mariano, Rami, Carrico, Escudero; N'Zonzi, Krychowiak; Vitolo, Banega, Coke; GameiroThank you for joining our live coverage. Until next time!It is all over! Incredible scenes on the field as Sevilla celebrate yet another Europa League success. It is their third in succession and fifth in total. What a second-half performance from them here!FULL-TIME: Liverpool 1-3 SevillaBOOKING! Clyne (Liverpool) is booked for a poor challenge on Vitolo.SEVILLA SUB! Cristoforo replaces Banega for Sevilla.Vitolo bends one over the crossbar as Sevilla threaten again on the counter-attack.Sevilla are heading a third successive Europa League win, which is just incredible. It will also be their fifth trophy in total in this competition, which includes the UEFA Cup!We are into the first of four additional minutes in Basel.SEVILLA SUB! Iborra replaces Gameiro for Sevilla.Gameiro breaks through once again, but this time the striker is offside. Not long left!Liverpool have the chance to break as a Sevilla free kick comes to nothing, but Kolo is on hand to clear down the field after Sturridge fails to collect. Eventually Coke has the chance to strike on goal once again, but his effort is deflected wide of the post. What has happened to Coke in this game!Soria gets down to keep out a strike from Sturridge as Sevilla keep their 3-1 lead in tact.BOOKING! Mariano (Sevilla) is booked for wasting time.LIVERPOOL SUB! Benteke replaces Toure in Liverpool's final change.Liverpool only need one goal to make a real contest of this in the final 10 minutes and you sense that we have not seen the last of the action here. Klopp looks nervous on the touchline as Coutinho sends one over the Sevilla crossbar. Not much of an atmosphere inside the stadium at the moment.BOOKING! Rami (Sevilla) is booked for dissent.SEVILLA SUB! Kolo replaces the injured Rami for Sevilla.Liverpool are still in this final, but they need to find a way of breaching this Sevilla defence, which has been strong in the second period. At the moment, Sevilla are winning this competition again!BOOKING! Origi (Liverpool) is booked for a high challenge on Rami.Sevilla score a third in the 70th minute as Coke hammers home his second at the far post! Liverpool wanted offside and they seemed to have a good shout, but the goal stands, controversially!LIVERPOOL SUB! Fit-again Origi replaces Firmino for Liverpool.Liverpool are going to make a change here and that is no surprise. Sevilla have been the better team since the restart and deserve to lead 2-1 with little over 20 minutes left of the final.65 min Stadium silenced! Sevilla have turned this game around as Vitolo's brilliant run ends with Coke sweeping one into the far corner. It is a wonderful strike from the Sevilla captain here!The tide has turned in this second period and Sevilla are looking the team more likely to make something happen in the final third. Gameiro and Banega continue to link in the final third here.SAVE! Wonderful chance for Sevilla to score a second as Gameiro finds all sorts of time at the far post, but the striker cannot beat Mignolet from close range. What a chance there!Little over 30 minutes of normal time remaining and we are locked at 1-1 in Basel. Both teams have players warming up on the sidelines and it will be fascinating to see which manager makes the first move.BOOKING! Banega (Sevilla) is booked for a late challenge on Toure.BOOKING! Vitolo (Sevilla) is booked for a late challenge on Lallana.It is the Sevilla supporters that can be heard at the moment as their team continues to threaten in the final third. Mariano has been very, very lively down the right for Sevilla since the restart.Normally this type of match would tighten up at 1-1, but Sevilla and Liverpool are both committing numbers forward with each counter-attack and I would be surprised if we had seen the last of the goals in the 90 minutes. Origi seems to be getting ready to enter the frame for Liverpool here.Liverpool have just managed to settle in the last minute or two, but Sevilla are full of energy in this second period and are intent on breaking. Lallana picks up decent space inside the Sevilla box after another smart cross from Clyne, but Carrico just about does enough to bundle it behind the goal!CHANCE! Wonderful chance for Gameiro to score a second as the Sevilla striker races through on goal, but Toure comes across to make a stunning challenge. All Sevilla at the moment!Oh my word! Sevilla are level here as Mariano drives into the Liverpool box before drilling a low cross into Gameiro, who cannot miss from close range. Poor defending from Moreno there!... no changes from either side at the break. However, Sevilla had Konoplyanka and Llorente warming up at the break and it would not be a surprise to see those two in the next 15, 20 minutes here.RESTART! Here we go then - both sets of players re-join us on the pitch for the second period. Can Sevilla turn this game around in Basel? Let's find out! The La Liga side resume the action here...The referee brings the first period to a close with Liverpool leading 1-0 courtesy of a 35th-minute effort from Sturridge, who used the outside of his foot to bend the ball past Soria. Sevilla actually started quite well, but are a touch fortunate to only be one goal behind.HALF-TIME: Liverpool 1-0 SevillaCHANCE! Another wonderful chance for Liverpool as Clyne delivers a wicked cross into the Sevilla box, but Sturridge just cannot make contact and Sevilla survive once again.Better from Sevilla as Can is forced to head behind following a period of pressure from the Spanish outfit. That said, the resulting set piece comes to nothing and Lallana can clear down the field.Sevilla are desperate for the interval as they continue to struggle against Liverpool, who have been fired up since making the breakthrough. A second for Liverpool would make it so tough for Sevilla.GOAL DISALLOWED! Liverpool have the ball in the back of the net for a second time as Lovren heads home from a corner, but Sturridge is adjudged to have influenced play from close range!Carrico is forced to block a strike from Lallana as Liverpool come close once again.Offensively, Sevilla have been poor in this first period and Unai Emery needs to come up with a solution in the second period. The Spanish side have really struggled to make their mark in attack.Liverpool make the breakthrough 10 minutes before the break as Coutinho plays a pass into Sturridge and the Englishman uses the outside of his foot to bend one into the far corner!Little over 10 minutes of the first period remaining and we are still all square in Basel. Liverpool have had the better chances, but Sevilla, for me, are edging this final on the whole here.CLOSE! Almost a super goal from Gameiro as the striker produces an over-head kick inside the Liverpool box, but his effort is just wide of the post. Much more like it from him!BOOKING! Lovren (Liverpool) is booked for a poor challenge on Gameiro.Rami comes across to challenge Moreno as Sevilla survive another potentially dangerous attack from Liverpool, who have been the more threatening in the final third. We have not seen too much from the likes of Gameiro and Vitolo thus far, but Mariano has just won a corner for the Spanish side.SAVE! Lallana slides a super pass into Sturridge as Liverpool come close once again, but Soria is out to make a really smart save. Once again Liverpool look more threatening in attack.Sevilla are enjoying much more of the possession at the moment and Liverpool have been guilty of some sloppy passing in the last minute or two. Still all square though with 25 minutes on the clock.The rain has started to fall once again in Basel, which will only quicken the surface! It has been a pretty even 23 minutes here, but Liverpool have had the two best chances of the match. Gameiro has struggled to get the better of Toure and Lovren at the heart of the Liverpool defence here.The play has just settled in the last minute or two as Sevilla enjoy a sustained period of possession. Liverpool continue to press high, however, and it is forcing mistakes from the Spanish club. As mentioned earlier, you do get the feeling that the first goal tonight - if there is one - could be huge.Super battle for possession at the moment as the challenges continue to fly in from both teams. The referee is letting the play flow and that is creating a high-tempo and watchable contest.Liverpool are starting to look dangerous in the final third as Can continues to break from midfield. This Sevilla defence does not look too secure and you sense that the likes of Sturridge will get chances as play develops in Switzerland. Still goalless with 16 minutes on the clock here in Basel.Penalty shout for Liverpool as Carrico seems to handle inside the box, but the referee is not interested. It would have been very harsh in my eyes and the referee was pretty sure of his call.CHANCE! Another Liverpool chance as Clyne picks out the head of Sturridge inside the Sevilla box, but Carrico is back to make a goal-line clearance. Not sure about Soria there!... Banega delivers, but it is very comfortable for Mignolet, who releases Sturridge on the right.Plenty of free kicks in the opening 10 minutes and Sevilla have another opportunity to deliver into the Liverpool box as Milner brings Vitolo to the deck. Potentially dangerous for Liverpool here...SAVE! Smart save from Soria as the Sevilla stopper gets across his goal to deny Can, who released a strike from outside the box. Plenty of challenges flying in at the moment here!It has been a decent start from Sevilla, with the Spanish side on the front foot in the early exchanges. The ball has spent a lot of time in the air, but no real chances to speak of thus far here!Can brings Banega to the deck and the Sevilla midfielder wants an early yellow for his opponent. Can is a touch fortunate after two late challenges early on! Sevilla once again have the chance to deliver a free kick into Liverpool territory, but Can is on hand to clear under little Sevilla pressure.... very much a 4-2-3-1 formation for Sevilla tonight, with Gameiro acting as the lone striker. Sturridge, meanwhile, is up top for Liverpool, just ahead of Firmino. Sevilla have an early chance to deliver a deep free kick into the Liverpool half, but Lovren is fouled by Krychowiak, says the referee.KICKOFF! You just get the feeling that the first goal tonight - if there indeed is one - could be crucial. I fancy Sevilla to win on penalties tonight, but this one really could go either way! Right, it is Liverpool that kick things off inside this vocal stadium in Basel. Liverpool in red, Sevilla in white...
The planned protest of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) may be receiving little attention from Nigerians.
The planned protest of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) may be receiving little attention from Nigerians.The Ayuba Wabba-led faction of the NLC had resolved to embark on an indefinite strike following the hike in the price of petrol from N86.5 to N145.After a series of meetings between labour leaders and the government to resolve the impasse, no agreement was reached.Hence, the union vowed to commence an industrial action and nationwide protests despite a court order restraining it from doing so.But it appears the decision has not gained traction.When newsmen arrived at the headquarters of the NLC venue of convergence for the protest at 8:20am, only a handful of unionists brandishing NLC flags were seen.Activities were also normal at the complex of the federal secretariat (head of service), and the ministry of foreign affairs.Oga work dey well. Workers don they come since morning, a security man told repoters in response to an inquiry.On Tuesday, the NLC faction led by Joe Ajaero entered into an agreement with the government to review the price of petrol and as well as look into the minimum wage.The group also distanced itself from the action.Like Ajaeros faction, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has also backed out of the industrial action. Bobboi Kaigama, president of the TUC, confirmed this on Wednesday.
The Federal Government has raised the alarm that Nigeria is broke and her economy shrinking.
The Federal Government has raised the alarm that Nigeria is broke and her economy shrinking.The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said this on Wednesday while fielding questions on the new fuel pricing regime shortly after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.The minister said the hike in the price of petroleum from N86.50 to N145 "is not about subsidy removal. It is about the fact that Nigeria is broke. Simple!...The economy is shrinking."He also restated the government's complaint that there was no foreign exchange to import fuel.
Federal Government on Wednesday summed up the reasons for the all-time increase in the pump price of fuel, saying that it was broke and n...
The government said that Nigerias foreign earnings had drastically waned in the recent times that the only way out of the financial quagmire was to look inwards to generate more money.Information Minister, Mr. Lai Mohammadu made the disclosure while briefing the State House Correspondents alongside his colleagues, the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola and Labour Minister, Dr. Chris Ngigie at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting, chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari. The Council met to review most contemporary national issues which prominently revolved around the fuel hike, its attendant challenges and industrial action by the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC.He said: The current problem is not really about subsidy removal. It is about that Nigeria is broke. Pure and simple! It is like somebody who has been earning N100,000 a month and he is faced with a situation where his employer says henceforth you will be earning N10,000 a month.He would need to make some very painful decisions and some very painful adjustments. That is the situation with Nigeria today.A few months ago, we were earning as much as $100 for every barrel of crude. In the months of February and March, we were short ofso, we no longer have the resources, the foreign exchange to bring in refined fuel products.And our economy is shrinking. We appreciate the fact that the decision is going to affect everybody. We appreciate what we are going through, but Nigerians should also know that the government has the responsibility at times to take very difficult decisions.So, it is not always about popularity. Also speaking, the Minister of Labour, Ngige denied allegations that the government was encouraging labour factionalism by negotiating with both Ayuba Wabba and Joe Ajaero led factions at separate meetings to forestall the planned strike. Ngige said the door was still open for talks with the federal government. We are ready to discuss with anybody even civil society groups.We as government will not encourage factionalism, if for anything we are unifying them by bringing them together to talk about issues that concern their unions and Nigerians. We have a right to talk to whoever we want.We will open our doors to them for negotiations when they come back Ngige said. The Minister also revealed that FG has agreed to reconstituted the Board of Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) which was one of the demands of the NLC. According to Nigige, the reconstitution would be done within a fortnight from now to accommodate input from Labour in the new development.Similarly, the AGF, Malami discountenanced criticisms arising from the federal government legal approach for injunction against the industrial action, saying it was necessary especially as NLC did not give the government the constitutional 15 days notice.
Mohammed Hayatu The Nigerian Army has arrested a Boko Haram terrorist, Mohammed Hayatu, who claimed to be the husband of the rescued C...
Mohammed Hayatu
. Please recall that we informed you that one of the abducted Chibok school girls has been rescued earlier today and promised to give further details. Further to that, in continuation of Operation CRACKDOWN, troops of 25 Brigade Damboa in conjunction with Civilian JTF deployed in one of the blocking positions at Baale, near Damboa rescued one Miss Amina Ali and a suspected Boko Haram terrorist, Mohammed Hayatu, who claimed to be her husband. Both were brought to Headquarters 25 Task Force Brigade Damboa at about 2.30pm today
This was contained in a statement by Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman, Acting Director Army Public RelationsPreliminary investigation shows that she is indeed one of the abducted Chibok School girls abducted by Boko Haram terrorists on 14th April 2014 in Chibok and her name is Amina Ali as against Falmata Mbalala that was earlier stated.In addition, she is a nursing mother with a 4 month old baby girl who was named Safiya. Both the suspected Boko Haram terrorist and the nursing mother have been taken to Maiduguri for further medical attention and screening,
Some members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) were stoned at the Terminus main market area of Jos city yesterday when they tried to mo...
Some members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) were stoned at the Terminus main market area of Jos city yesterday when they tried to mobilise traders to embark on a strike action scheduled for today.It was gathered from witness that members of the labour union had arrived the market area in an 18-seater bus and a Jeep and began to announce to traders through a loudspeaker not to open their shops today but were told off by the traders.Auwal Mohammed, a vendor in the area said that some youths had surrounded the union members and began to chant in Hausa, Karya kukeyi, meaning, You are liars, accusing the unionists of being sell-outs and pelting them.However, the State NLC Chairman, Jibril Banchir, later sent a text message, saying the news of attack on his members at the Terminus area was not true.
The associate justice of the Colorado Supreme Court has served in the seat since 2006, when she was appointed by former Republican Gov. Bill Owens and retained by the voters in 2011. Educated at the University of Chicago, Eid is a former state solicitor general and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
The nationwide strike embarked on by the Nigerian Labour Congress NLC was massively success in Taraba state as all ministries in the sta...
The nationwide strike embarked on by the Nigerian Labour Congress NLC was massively success in Taraba state as all ministries in the state and public schools were closed.The state university, Taraba state university non academic staff complied with the strike.It was also gathered that the leadership of NLC in the state under the chairmanship Mr. Peter Gembo were picketing some offices that were open at the early hours of the day.The streets of Jalingo were silent as many people remain indoor.Some banks within Jalingo, Taraba state capital were also closed.
The Leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have demanded the immediate release of all members of their party that are currentl...
The Leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have demanded the immediate release of all members of their party that are currently in EFCC detention.Rising from its National Executive Committee NEC meeting in Abuja yesterday May 17th, the leadership of the party decried the "selective probe" of PDP members by the anti-graft agency.According to the party,The party demanded that their members who have been arrested be released immediately or be charged to Court without further delay.
The Police in Ogun State have arrested 47 year old man, Mr Ayodele Balogun from Otta in Ado Odo Otta Local Government Area of the state ...
The Police in Ogun State have arrested 47 year old man, Mr Ayodele Balogun from Otta in Ado Odo Otta Local Government Area of the state for practicing as a lawyer in the last 10 years without training.Ayodele who has been parading himself as a trained lawyer and practicing at the Otta arm of the state Judiciary, was arrested by Detectives attached to the Otta Division of the Ogun Police Command following complainant that he had duped somebody of N140,000: 00k (One Hundred and Forty Thousand Naira only).The Police Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said while the suspect was being interrogated, a notable legal practitioner in Otta also alerted them of his criminal antecedents and the need to interrogate him extensively.Adejobi added that the Police Commissioner, Abdulmajid Ali, who expressed disappointment in the suspects alleged involvement in nefarious activities, has vowed to make Ogun State hot for criminals and unscrupulous elements.While the police detectives were on with their interrogation, one of the revered legal practitioners in the area alerted the police of the suspects criminal antecedents and urged the police to widen the scope of their interrogation, hence the confession of Ayodele Balogun, who has been practicing at a popular chamber in otta for a decade, to be a fake legal practitioner.The suspect and others,who might be indicted in the course of police investigation,be charged to court without delay and his (their) details be sent to the Nigerian Bar Association and other concerned groups/bodies for necessary action, Adejobi said.
The first prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Mr. Michael Wetkas, told the Code of Cond...
The first prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Mr. Michael Wetkas, told the Code of Conduct Tribunal on Tuesday that Saraki bought a property worth N375m in London in 2010 which he did not declare.Saraki is being prosecuted on 16 counts, including false and anticipatory asset declaration which he allegedly made when he was the governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2007.Wetkas said under cross-examination by defence counsel, Mr. Paul Usoro (SAN), that the Senate President neither declared the London property nor the liability of the loan in his asset declaration form submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau at the end of his second term as governor in 2011.Usoro disputed Count 11 of the charges, in which Saraki was accused of failing to declare his liability of N375m loan and the London property.Usoro said the Senate President was not bound to declare the N375m as his liability because as of the time he made his end of tenure asset declaration as governor on June 3, 2011 his debit balance was about N36m.But Wetkas said while it was true that that the debit balance on the account was N36m as of May 31, 2011, Saraki failed to declare the property he allegedly acquired in London with the loan.The witness said, There are two issues. The issue of the loan and the issue of property he used the loan to buy in London.Our position is that we are aware that the outstanding balance was not N375m but N36,042,202.04 as at that date.But if that loan was taken for something else apart from property, we would not have made an issue out of it. But it was taken to buy a property. Our position is that, that property should have been declared in this asset declaration form of 2011. And if it was declared in the asset declaration form, the source of how the property was acquired would have been declared that the money was sourced through loan.While fielding questions on the alleged anticipatory asset declaration by Saraki, the witness maintained that 5A and B McDonald Road , Ikoyi, Lagos, on assuming office as the Kwara State governor in 2003 was the same as 15 McDonald Road Ikoyi, Lagos.He said the Presidential Implementation Committee on the Sale of Federal Governments Properties confirmed that it sold 15 McDonald Road, Ikoyi, to Saraki through the Senate Presidents company, Tiny-Tee Limited, in 2006.But, the witness said Saraki claimed in his asset declaration form submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau on assumption of office in 2003 that he acquired 15A and B McDonald Ikoyi, Lagos, through Carlisle Properties Limited in 2006.He added, I have always said it in my evidence about 15 McDonald Road, Ikoyi. We maintain our position that that property was one and the same property that the implementation committee wrote to us about.The implementation committee did not tell us that there existed15 A and B separately.The Managing Director of Carlisle Property, Mr. Izuagbe, also talked about 15 McDonald as the property belonging to the defendant (Saraki) and the defendant in the asset declaration which he made in 2011 and 2015, delcared the property as 15 McDonald Road, Ikoyi; he no longer said 15A and B.That is why we maintained the same position that it is the same property. The nomenclature is just at convenience of the defendant.The witness confirmed that the Certificate of Occupancy for the property at 15 McDonald Road, Ikoyi, was issued in the name of Tiny Tee Limited and not in Sarakis name.On why he concluded that the property belonged to Saraki, Wetkas said that the asset at 15 McDonald Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, was paid for by Saraki through the bank accounts of two other companies which Saraki had declared its interest in.He also said the Managing Director of two of Sarakis companies; Carlisle Properties and Investment Limited and Sky View Properties, Mr. Sule Izuagbe, confirmed that the payment for the property was made on the instruction given by the Senate President.But Sarakis lawyer, Usoro, said the defendant being an ordinary shareholder in the companies, he could not have been said to be the owner of the assets acquired by the firms.Usoro said Carlisle and Skyview were both limited liability companies and thus had separate personalities different from that of Saraki.In response, the lead prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), said the issue of ownership of the property was clear as Saraki himself had declared the property as his in his asset declaration form.Earlier on Tuesday, the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Danladi Umar, revealed that there were attempts to influence the tribunal to rule in a particular way during the trial of a former Governor of Lagos State, and the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu.Umar said at the opening of the trial of Saraki on charges of false and anticipatory asset declaration, among others, on Tuesday, that despite the pressure mounted on the panel members during Tinubus trial, the tribunal ruled on what was put before it.The CCT chairman said this while allaying the fears of Saraki and his lawyers that the tribunal was being controlled by external influence.He assured the defence team of the determination of the tribunal to do justice in the case as he and his co-panel member would give account to God.He said, I want to say that during Bola Tinubus case we were under serious influence. But you saw what happened. We did what we needed to do and discharged based on what was before us.So we must be fair to ourselves not to delay this trial.
There is currently a video circulating on the internet of Pastor T.B. Joshua commenting on the Buhari administration. Giving prophetic...
In the video which has been viewed on YouTube over 500,000 times, T.B. Joshua is seen saying:President Buhari will do everything to reject devaluation of the naira which is a good idea from a good leader. But there will be overwhelming pressure from above him which he will not be able to resist. Everyone has a portion to be blamed. Let us share the blame and move the country forward.Video Below...My president, President Buhari has good intentions. A kings intention cannot be carried out properly without the support of his subjects. He needs your support to lead us out of the valley. Nigeria, we are in a valley. It is not our president that put us in the valley but generations. He concluded by exhorting, Nigerians, support and pray for your leader. The future of this country is crying for help.After a long hard fight to resist devaluation, on Friday, Buhari indeed finally succumbed to the pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Sources revealed that the naira would be pegged at N290 to one dollar.The truth is that Nigeria cannot operate without sourcing credit from the IMF. And the IMF was adamant that we must devalue before they can discuss extending credit to us, an economic adviser to Buhari reported to the media.For many months, Buhari had stood his ground on the issue and continues to insist that he is not yet convinced about the benefits of further devaluation of the naira.Buhari and his economic team were said to have taken the decision to accept the IMFs terms so that the government can access funds in order to bridge a critical shortfall in revenue occasioned by a drastic decline in oil revenues.The IMF had long indicated its readiness to support Nigerias economy with credit liquidity but insisted on Nigeria devaluing its currency. But Buhari disagreed, insisting on several occasions that he would never devalue the naira.The drastic fall of the naira has been the source of siginificant hardships this year in Nigeria. This has led to the wide-scale fuel shortage and removal of food subsidy, food scarcity and extortionate hikes in food prices.T.B. Joshua had equally commented on this in his prophecy at the beginning of the year: There will be large scale scarcity, shortage of food. As a state, country, continent, we have to go back to the farm to arrest, to alleviate the forthcoming situation.With the current situation only looking bleaker for Nigeria, one cannot help but be prompted to get on our knees and pray for our nation, our president and our future, which as T.B. Joshua ironically said is, crying for help.
Public and private sector workers in five states of the North West on Wednesday defied the nationwide strike action ordered by the Ayuba...
Public and private sector workers in five states of the North West on Wednesday defied the nationwide strike action ordered by the Ayuba Waba faction of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over fuel price increase.The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that federal and state workers in Katsina, Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, and Kebbi have reported to their duty posts in defiance of the order.Reports from the five states indicated that socio-economic activities were also going on, with schools, banks, markets, hospitals and other businesses fully opened.In Sokoto, some civil servants said they would not join the strike because it would only aggravate current hardships in the country.Such strikes would only aggravate our situation; the NLC should have given the Federal Government the benefit of the doubt, Aliyu Musa, a worker at the Shehu Kangiwa Secretariat, said.Mr Mathias Iliya, a federal worker said no worker in his right senses will join the strike action.Nigerians should be fervently prayerful and patient with the Buhari administration as his intentions towards Nigerians are truly sincere.Mr El-Mustapha Sani, the Police spokesman in the state, said all Area and Divisional Commands had been put on red alert.The command had also made arrangements to fully patrol the state to protect lives, public and private property, Sani said.In Kaduna, civil servants and all businesses including motor parks were fully opened, with residents going about their normal business.At the Kaduna State University, normal academic activity was going on with students taking lectures.Workers of the institution have also fully turned out for work, and according to the universitys Public Relations Officer, Adama Jafar, there was no directive from any union to proceed on strike.At the Olusegun Obasanjo State Secretariat, some of the workers interviewed said that they were not convinced with the NLCs argument for the strike.One of the workers, Hajiya Lami Bello said that the NLC should respect the decision of the National Industrial Court, which ordered the union not to proceed with the strike.Another worker, Karim Ahmed said most civil servants were conscious not to fall into the trap of `no work, no pay as announced by the government.On her part, Sarah Bijimi urged the NLC and Nigerians to be patient and support the Federal Governments action, saying with time things will get better.At the Barau Dikko General Hospital, health workers including doctors, nurses, laboratory staff were seen attending to out-patients and those on admission.Jonathan Yohanna, a staff of the state Ministry of Health, said we are not on strike, all our hospitals are functional and our officials are working.The State Command of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, said it had deployed 600 personnel to guard strategic public installations in the state.Mr Orndiir Tergungwe, the commands spokesman said the move was to avoid breakdown of law and order during the period of the strike.We advise the residents to be law abiding and go about their normal business. We reassure the residents that their security will be guaranteed.A check at the Kaduna Central market indicated that traders have turned out for full business.Yusuf Bala, a rice dealer, said we dont have confidence in NLC because at the end of every strike we dont benefit from any relief.Maman Kobo, a Provision seller, advised the labour union to sit down and dialogue with government rather than embark on strike.Reports from Kebbi indicated that civil servants had also defied the NLCs call for total strike action.NAN reports that government offices, markets, banks and business centres have opened for normal business, while civil servants have reported to their places of work as early as 8:00am.The Chairman of the state NLC, Murtal Usman, told NAN in a telephone interview that he was on his way to Birnin Kebbi from Abuja, and insisted that the strike would hold.According to him, the NLC will assemble workers by 10:00 am at the Labour House before embarking on the strike.The State Secretary of Birnin Kebbi Federal Medical Centre of National Association of Nurses and Midwives, Usman Mohammed, said they had not received any signal to embark on the strike.We are waiting for the signal from the national secretariat of our association and until we receive the signal we will not embark on the strike, he added.A cross section of workers and residents indicated they were not satisfied with the reasons advanced by the NLC to embark on the strike.In Kano, the nationwide strike action called by the organised labour has also met a setback, as workers in the state ignored the directive.A NAN correspondent who monitored the situation reports that state and federal government workers had all reported to their various places of work.When NAN visited Audu Bako Secretariat, and Federal Government Secretariat at about 8:30 am, workers were seen in their respective offices while others were seen within the premises in groups discussing about the strike.Similarly, all commercial banks, markets and motor parks had all opened for business in the state.As at the time of filing the report, traders at the two major markets in Sabon Gari and Kantin Kwari had opened their shops for business as directed by the National President of the Harmonised Traders Union of Nigeria, Alhaji Bature Abdulaziz.Abdulaziz had on Monday called on traders across the country to ignore the planned strike by the labour unions.At the First Bank of Nigeria, Kano main branch, workers were also seen going about their normal schedules.One of the staff of the Bank who spoke to NAN on condition of anonymity, described the strike as unnecessary, adding that majority of Nigerians were not in support of it.This strike is a failure as most Nigerians are not in support of it, he said.NAN also reports that primary and secondary schools as well as other higher institutions in the state had opened.However, in Bayero University Kano, some lecturers had joined the strike while others were working.In Katsina, NAN reports that the workers at the State and Federal Secretariats have reported to their duty posts.Jibrin Garkuwo, a middle level worker said that they decided not to join the strike because Katsina was the home state of President Buhari.He said that they are ready to support the president to achieve his economic policies that will move the country forward.Meanwhile, the Chairman of NLC in the state, Alhaji Lawal Sandawa, said the union would assess the situation before commenting on the strike.(NAN)
HACKENSACK -- Bergen County Democrats on Tuesday rallied to the cause of electing Hillary Clinton president, opening a county headquarters for the candidate in Hackensack.
The headquarters on Dyatt Place will serve as a home base for volunteers making phone calls and organizing events on behalf of Clinton, the leading candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination.
Clinton suffered a loss in the Democratic presidential primary in Oregon and barely edged Bernie Sanders in Kentucky. Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), told Clinton supporters at the new headquarters that they needed to overcome support for Sanders "in a polite manner."
"That fight is getting a little too uncomfortable," she said.
Weinberg criticized Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, for denigrating women and immigrants.
Lou Stellato, the chairman of the Bergen County Democratic Party, said the race against Trump would be difficult.
"You have an individual who has simple answers to complex questions," he said of Trump. "And if he doesn't have an answer, he'll make it up."
He said not to underestimate Trump's support in Bergen County.
"We've got to scrape and scratch and claw for every vote," he said.
Rebecca Schwartz, the Bergen County organizer for Clinton, asked supporters to volunteer to make calls on behalf of the candidate.
The New Jersey primary is June 7.
Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
The gunman who allegedly fired a handgun outside a Woodbine house party and pointed a gun at two state troopers pleaded guilty Friday to a weapon charge.
Jose Lopez (Submitted photo)
Jose A. Lopez, 31, of Woodbine, faces a possible 15-year sentence in state prison for the first-degree possession of a handgun by a convicted felon charge, according to a statement from acting Attorney General Robert Lougy. Because Lopez had a prior robbery conviction, which is designated as as violent crime, the possession charge is a first-degree offense.
A grand jury indicted Lopez in September on charges of first-degree attempted murder and third-degree attempted assault.
New Jersey State Police were outside a house around 12:30 a.m. on the 600 block of Washington Avenue in Woodbine on Nov. 16, 2014. A tipster told police that there might be violence at the house party as retaliation for a previous Woodbine shooting.
The two troopers waited from hidden positions across the street from the party. The troopers were not in uniform, although one of the troopers was wearing state police markings on his jacket.
According to authorities, the troopers called for backup after a fight broke out at the party. Police reported seeing Lopez approach a group of people in front of the house and fired several shots, with no one injured from the gunfire.
In response, the troopers began running toward Lopez with their handguns -- identifying themselves as state police and yelling at him to drop the gun. Lopez allegedly pointed his handgun at the troopers while turning toward them and one of the troopers fired four rounds at Lopez before the gun jammed. No one was injured in the shooting.
The Attorney General's Shooting Response Team investigated the trooper shooting at Lopez and it was determined that the police-involved shooting was a justified use of force and is not required to go before a grand jury.
More gunfire was heard at the house but the troopers were unable to identify the gunman.
Police chased Lopez to a nearby wooded area, where he was arrested. Authorities found a .380-caliber handgun with an empty magazine 40 feet from where Lopez was arrested. Shell casings at the scene of the house party were matched where troopers saw Lopez firing his gun.
Police also charged a second man with possession a .380-caliber handgun at the party, Jermaine Russell, 27, of Woodbine. The handgun was found behind a house next door to the party and was linked to Russell using forensic evidence. Russell pleaded guilty on May 3 to second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun and is awaiting a possible five-year sentence.
Under the plea agreement with Lopez, the attorney general's office is seeking a 15-year sentence, including parole ineligibility for seven-and-a-half years. His sentencing is scheduled for July 15.
Don E. Woods may be reached at dwoods@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @donewoods1. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
WEST ORANGE -- The four giraffes that star in Turtle Back Zoo's new African Adventure exhibit were an instant hit with excited young visitors.
"Their necks are high!" said 3-year-old Syriah Daniel of Paterson, who was at the exhibit's grand opening on Tuesday with her mother, father, two little sisters and a friend.
"They loved the giraffes," said her dad, Ramon Daniel, 31, who works for UPS.
"They named him Jeffrey," Daniel added, gesturing toward the tallest of the four. Then, to the little girls, he said, "After Toys R Us, right?"
Actually, his name is Hodari, a.k.a., Walter. He's 10 years old and, at 17 feet tall, is about a foot above average height for a mature male giraffe, according to Dr. Jon Bergmann, Turtle Back's veterinarian for the past four years. Three juveniles, all between one and two years old and shorter than Hodari, share the African exhibit, along with assorted ostriches, turtles and other creatures.
Bergmann took particular pride in African Adventure's opening -- which was attended by Gov. Chris Christie, among other officials -- after the 34-year-old vet had collaborated with architects Gregory Comito and Laurie Sciabarasi of Newark-based Comito Associates on the design of the giraffe barn, the main structure in the 4-acre exhibit, a $7.4 million expansion of the zoo paid for with a combination of Essex County and state funds.
"The way you want a giraffe barn built, this is it," said Bergmann, whose father founded and still runs the Popcorn Park Zoo Animal Rescue and Sanctuary in Forked River, where the son started caring for animals as a child.
Because the barn was newly constructed in the past year specifically for giraffes, it incorporated some of the latest features for the care of the species, and is now a model for similar structures elsewhere, said Bergmann and the two architects, putting Essex County at the forefront of zoological design.Built to order around the latest innovations in the care of the tall creatures, the structure includes floor and ceiling heating, a large roaming area for indoor exercise, a mezzanine level to put caretakers at head level, and a padded "squeeze" pen, which keeps the animals stable during examinations, equipped with removable panels allowing access up and down the giraffe's lofty frame.
"Any part of their body, we can open a window and have a look," Bergmann said.
Comito and Sciabarasi, who had never worked on a zoo building before, said they received generous support and advice from other zoos and architects, coordinated by the American Zoological Association. Now, said Sciabarasi, other zoo officials and architects are eager to see Turtle Back's custom barn.
Comito said he was already looking forward to another project at Turtle Back.
"Next is a lion," he said.
Christie said places like Turtle Back Zoo were "incredibly important" for learning about wildlife and letting "families be families," and he recalled visiting the zoo himself as a child from nearby Livingston.
"I remember coming to this place when it first opened all those years ago, growing up in this area," Christie said. "And it was a great place to come to as a young kid and it is now once again a great place to come to, an even better place than it was when it first opened."
The governor's appearance at the zoo came hours after a federal appeals judge ruled that people whom prosecutors labelled as unindicted co-conspirators in the George Washington Bridge lane closure case should not, for the time being, be identified publicly. Christie did not take questions on the ruling or any other topic.
Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, who was also at the exhibit opening, said the giraffes would pay for themselves within a few years, and then help pay the rest of the zoo's expenses.
Based on attendance at zoos around the country, DiVincenzo said the giraffes would bring in an additional 50,000 visitors a year to Turtle Back on top of current attendance, which totaled 755,000 visits in 2015. At $11 a ticket, he said, that's an added $550,000 a year in revenue.
When the zoo begins allowing visitors to feed the giraffes lettuce snacks, following a normalization period for the animals, DiVincenzo said feeding fees alone would add another $200,000 in revenues per giraffe, per year.
Looking around the new exhibit at the opening day crowds of happy families and giddy school children, DeVincenzo was obviously pleased, on multiple levels.
"This is all about attendance," he said. "Giraffes are very popular."
Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
NEWARK -- A detective who investigated the severe beating of a Millburn woman that was caught on a nanny cam testified Wednesday and apologized for racial slurs he used that were recorded by the same camera shortly after the attack.
"First off, I want to apologize to everybody in the court," Detective Colin McMillan said from the witness stand during the trial of Shawn Custis, who is charged with attempted murder for the June 2013 beating of a woman in her home.
McMillan apologized to the jury, to Custis and to Superior Court Judge Ronald Wigler. The detective said he became upset after seeing the injuries to the beating victim and seeing the cartoon still playing on the television that the victim's daughter had been watching during before the attack.
"I thought of my wife and children. I went to a place I shouldn't be. The father figure came out in me," he said.
"I'm not making excuses. I don't expect anybody to like me," McMillan told the jury, which includes 11 African-Americans and three Caucasians. "That's not who I am. That's not who I was raised to be. This is all on me. That is not a reflection of the (police) department," the somber detective said, with lines appearing across his furrowed brow.
McMillan said he was placed on administrative duties in the police department last April 23, the day after authorities realized that the comments he made at the crime scene were on the video. The detective said he faces a department hearing and could be suspended.
"This is something I have to live with he rest of my life," McMillian said.
He is heard on the recording using racial slurs and obscenities in referring to the person who beat the woman. The statements occurred an hour after the attack, before police had identified a suspect.
Authorities say Custis, 45, of Newark, forced his way into the Millburn home, and beat the woman and threw her down the basement stairs while her three-year-old daughter sat in the living room and her 18-month-old was asleep upstairs. The beating was also recorded on the camera before police arrived at the scene.
Custis was arrested a week after the assault in an apartment in New York City where he had been staying with a woman, authorities said.
Custis' attorney, John McMahon of the Public Defender's Office, argued in opening statements that McMillan made his comments because he is a racist.
Under questioning from Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Jamel Semper, McMillan on Wednesday denied that he is a bigot.
However, under cross examination, McMahon said McMillan's comments showed an attitude that was endemic to the police department, which the detective denied.
"You haven't been suspended from the police department, right? They haven't knocked you down a grade level, right?" McMahon asked.
"Not yet," McMillan responded.
McMillan said he was a detective third-grade, the lowest level of detective. He said he never questioned Custis, and never collected evidence in the case, although he was present when Custis was arrested, and he filed evidence that was collected by other investigators. Custis also went to a hospital with another detective to interview the victim in the hours after the attack.
Tom Haydon may be reached at thaydon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Tom_HaydonSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Dan Stone believes theater can bring people together to share experiences.
And he's putting that belief to the test by inviting community members to perform in one of the two inaugural productions of the Willamette Theatre Festival.
The festival opens with a pair of plays written by Sarah Ruhl, "Dead Man's Cell Phone" and "Eurydice." The plays will run in rotation for the next two weekends at Linn-Benton Community College's Russell Tripp Performance Center in Albany.
Stone, the director of theater at LBCC, said he chose the plays because Ruhl is a fantastic playwright with a unique perspective of the world and he noted that there's another link between the two: Both of them deal with finding love in the afterlife.
Stone asked former students Laura Blackwell and David Gallagher to direct the plays. Rehearsals began in March with the two productions sharing a set, stage and crew.
Blackwell, who received a bachelor of fine arts in acting at Marymount Manhattan College, was excited to return to campus for theater.
"It just seemed like a great opportunity, and I love Sarah Ruhl and what she writes," Blackwell said.
For her first time directing, Blackwell has a cast of community members and students for "Dead Man's Cell Phone."
As the comedy-drama opens, a man named Gordon (Chuck Skinner) has just died in a cafe and his phone continues to ring. Jean (Phoebe May), a curious onlooker, takes the phone and assumes his reality.
"She puts herself into his life and starts learning about him, meets with his family and falls in love with his brother," Blackwell said.
For the sake of the family, Jean attempts to show the amiable side of Gordon, although he actually wasn't such a good person, Blackwell said.
Brady Vernon, Maddie Rogers, Chris Kastet and Renee Zipp round out the cast.
The director says audiences may leave the play laughing, but also thinking about how much they rely on their mobile devices to learn about the world, instead of real human interaction.
"I think it's definitely a show that leaves you questioning what you've always known," Blackwell said.
"Eurydice" also marks the professional directorial debut for Gallagher. He was an assistant director for two main stage productions and additional student plays at the University of Oregon.
The drama is a modern retelling of the classical Greek story of Orpheus (Jakob Holden), in which he goes down into the underworld to retrieve his wife, Eurydice (Nicolette Gibson). The story is told from her perspective.
"It's more about her journey being in the underworld and reuniting with her father. It becomes a very powerful story about choosing between your father and your husband, childhood and adulthood," Gallagher said.
The six-student cast in "Eurydice" has worked together well in rehearsal, Gallagher said, which is fitting because the play involves the struggles of growing up.
"The cast and crew are LBCC students and really talented people who are working and trying new things, giving performances they have never done before," Gallagher said.
Isaac Newton, Jacob Birchard, Kristy Speed and Kaitlyn Petit also star in "Eurydice."
Stone said plans are to stage the Willamette Theatre Festival every other spring. The goal is to turn it into an every-other-year event and to involve as many community members as possible, Stone said.
"It is a time for community members and our students to come together to create intriguing theater performances," he added.
For his part, Gallagher sees the festival from a different perspective: "It is a great opportunity for LBCC alumni, who have had success elsewhere, to come back and give something to the community that helped them."
Taco Bell is giving its stores a makeover.
The fast food chain this week announced plans to debut four new restaurant designs in California this summer, with plans to further roll out the concepts later this year. The designs include a Mission Revival style with white walls, tile and heavy timbers, a "rustic modern style" and a concept called California Sol that "blurs the lines between indoor and outdoor."
The fourth design, called Modern Edge, "represents an eclectic mix of international and street style done the Taco Bell way," the company said in a press release.
The four new designs will be shown off at restaurants in Orange County, California, the company said.
"It's no longer one size fits all," Deborah Brand, Taco Bell's vice president of development and design said in a statement. "Consumers are looking for a localized, customized and personalized experiences that reflect the diversity of their communities - the flexibility in bringing these four designs to life gives us just that."
Taco Bell, a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., plans to open 2,000 new restaurants by 2020. The company added 275 to its roster last year and remodeled roughly 600 others.
The fast food chain is also expanding its "Cantina" restaurant concept, which may offer beer, wine, sangria and frozen alcoholic beverages. The company said it is eyeing Atlanta as the next location for that new concept, which is already open in San Francisco and Chicago.
Erin O'Neill may be reached at eoneill@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LedgerErin. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
In a push to improve safety, Mayor LaToya Cantrell's administration has added cameras, call boxes and security officers to the Lafitte Greenwa
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Linn County Assessor David Swartzlender and Surveyor Chuck Gibbs will retain their positions for another four years, primary election voters decided Tuesday.
Some 68,187 ballots were mailed by the Linn County Clerks Office and 25,192, or almost 37 percent were returned.
Both positions are determined in the primary.
Swartzlender, 54, has served as the Assessor and Tax Collector for three years, taking over when Mark Noakes retired. He spent 20 years as Noakes chief appraiser and deputy assessor before that.
He collected 14,087 votes, or about 56 percent. Swartzlender oversees a staff of 20. Total county valuation is about $9 billion.
Gibbs, 63, has been the county surveyor since 2003. He received 14,196 votes, or 56 percent. He is a Lebanon Union High School graduate and oversees a staff of six.
Linn County Commissioners board chairman Roger Nyquist, 54, ran unopposed for his fifth four-year term in office. Nyquist received 8,254 votes, or 70 percent.
A 1979 West Albany High School graduate, Nyquist has led the countys recent filing of a $1.4 billion class-action lawsuit against the Oregon Department of Forestry, which charges the state has not managed state forest lands for the greatest permanent value return to the counties.
Fellow commissioner Will Tucker, 63, received 7,475 votes, or about 64 percent. He is seeking his third term on the board. Tucker is active with numerous civic groups and has been the boards representative on the Santiam All-Lands Collaborative, which is developing a long-term, sustainable economic plan that includes timber harvesting in east Linn County.
Both will be on the November general election ballot.
In other Linn County voting:
Art Robinson defeated Jo Rae Perkins in the Republican primary to see who will face off against Democrat Peter DeFazio in November. Robinson received 7,086 votes (60 percent) and Perkins received 3,273 votes (28 percent).
DeFazio grabbed 80 percent of the Democratic vote, 8,521 votes, to challenger Joseph McKinneys 1,222 votes, or 11 percent.
Linn County Republicans chose Dr. Bud Pierce over businessman Allen Alley, 5,211 votes to 2,914 votes.
Gov. Kate Brown easily won the support of local Democrats, pulling 7,111 votes, or 67 percent, against five challengers.
There were numerous unopposed local candidates:
State Rep. 11th District, (Democrat): Phil Barnhart, 849 votes, 65 percent.
State Rep. 15th District, (Republican): Andy Olson, 3,934 votes, 78 percent.
State Rep. 17th District, (Republican): Sherrie Sprenger, 3,601 votes, 76 percent.
State Rep. 17th District, Independent): Jeffrey Goodwin, 207 votes, 46 percent.
Judge of the Circuit Court, 23rd District, Position 1: Carol R. Bispham, 14,728 votes, 58 percent.
Judge of the Circuit Court, 23rd District, Position 5: Tom McHill, 14,444 votes, 57 percent.
Linn County District Attorney, Doug Marteeny, 14,987 votes, 59 percent.
City of Gates, Street Maintenance Levy: No-11 votes, 61 percent; Yes-6 votes, 33 percent.
Gallagher's Grill is serving its regular menu on Easter Sunday. Look out for some of the best crab cakes around, photographed May 12, 2016. (Photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
New Orleans has good jobs, if grads get the right training: Editorial
Oct. 23, 1934 May 5, 2016
Darrell was born in Salem and attended Salem schools graduating with honors in 1953. He attended Willamette University and Washington State University, graduating with a masters degree in police science.
Darrell enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1952, and served on the cutter Bonham at the lifeboat station in Tillamook, and on the icebreaker, North Wind. After active duty, he served 20 years as a commissioned officer in the Coast Guard Reserve at Port Security stations in Everett and Seattle, Washington, and Portland retiring as commander.
Darrell was employed at the security office of Seattle Public Schools and as teaching assistant at Washington State University. He then worked for the Salem Police Department, Oregon Law Enforcement Council and Law Enforcement Assistance Administration. In 1970, Darrell was hired as Chief of Police in Albany and retired 19 years later.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Lloyd A. Pepper and Hattie E. Pepper; twin sister Dorothy R. Pepper; brother Earl E. Pepper; and sister Carolyn J. Adams.
Darrell is survived by wife, Barbara J. Pepper; son David, daughter-in-law Linda and granddaughters Samantha and Alexa of Prineville; and son Daniel, daughter-in-law Jannat Gargi, and grandsons Milo and August of Seattle.
A celebration of Darrells life will be from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, June 5, at Brookdale Retirement Community, Willamette Room, 1929 Grand Prairie Road S.E., Albany.
Please share your thoughts and memories for the family at www.demossdurdan.com.
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.
Aug. 8, 1918 May 1, 2016
Murray Marston Chandler, 97, formerly of Albany, passed away in his home in Tigard on May 1, 2016.
Murray Marston Chandler was born Aug. 8, 1918, in Portland.
He was preceded in death by his loving wife, Edith, in 2012; and daughter Carolyn in 1961.
He is survived by two daughters, Alexia Tiemeyer and Pamela Blackwell, four grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.
Murray grew up in Milwaukie where he met and married his sweetheart, Edith Larson, in 1939. Murray and Edith moved to Albany in the 1940s and raised their family of three girls there.
Murray enjoyed his challenging and rewarding career with the telephone company. After his retirement in 1977, he and Edith moved to the home he built at the Oregon Coast south of Newport and enjoyed the beauty of beach life for a few years before returning to the Portland area in 1983.
His life was filled with many adventures. He learned to fly and belonged to the Albany Flying Club in the 1950s. He loved to fish, hunt, and to explore the outdoors. He loved to build and fix things spending many hours in his workshop. He was a devoted husband and father. He loved God and was comforted by his faith in God's promise of life eternal.
Murray was a veteran of World War II, serving in the Army Medical Corps during the Philippine Liberation.
A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 22, at the Summerfield Clubhouse, 10650 Summerfield Drive, Tigard.
WASHINGTON In February, when Rep. David Jolly introduced his quixotic plan to ban members of Congress from soliciting campaign contributions, the Florida Republican had only six co-sponsors.
Then, three weeks ago, "60 Minutes" did a sympathetic piece on Jolly's idea, giving national attention to the scandal of lawmakers spending 30 or more hours a week dialing for dollars.
And now? The number of co-sponsors on Jolly's bill has jumped from six all the way up to um, eight. No senator has come forward with similar legislation.
Jolly, appearing Monday morning at the National Press Club with his lead Democratic co-sponsor, Rep. Rick Nolan of Minnesota, was not surprised. "We've got six more co-sponsors than I thought we might have," he said. It's "a heartbreaking reflection on what the priorities of the Congress are. ... A member's political survival depends on raising money that's the reality."
Jolly speaks the truth. Lawmakers know what needs to be done to clean up the corrupt system but nothing happens.
Democrats talk about overturning the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision allowing corporations and unions to spend unlimited sums on politics. But that ultimate fix isn't happening soon. In the House, Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., has recruited 160 co-sponsors for his system of public financing of elections another good idea but so far he has only one Republican, gadfly Walter Jones (N.C.). Republicans remain reflexively opposed to reform, including the idea of disclosure, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., once championed.
This is why Jolly's idea deserves a look. He calls it congressional reform, not campaign-finance reform. The goal: to get lawmakers to spend more time lawmaking.
"We're here three days a week, and half your time is spent raising money," he said. "In the face of growing crises around the globe, you've got a part-time Congress." This, he said, "is a first-rate scandal."
I've argued for other ways to get lawmakers to spend more time working returning to the five-day week, cutting travel allowances, ending the corrosive practice of members targeting each other for defeat through party committees. Jolly, now a Senate candidate in Florida, offers another tack.
The Republican Party is predictably opposed. The National Republican Congressional Committee, in a letter to CBS after the "60 Minutes" segment, accused Jolly of peddling "fiction" when he said party officials told him he had to raise $18,000 a day.
Unfortunately, liberals have piled on. Campaign-finance reformer Fred Wertheimer told me the idea "is not going to solve the problem," because those working for the members could still solicit funds. Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard law professor, wrote a piece in the Orlando Sentinel calling Jolly's bill a "cynical example of fraudulent reform" because "all that would change is that congressmen wouldn't have to do the dirty work."
But while Jolly can be accused of election-year gimmickry, he voluntarily refused to solicit contributions for his Senate run. And though the bill wouldn't by itself solve the campaign-finance mess, it could help to improve the woeful political culture in other ways.
Jolly's Democratic sidekick, Nolan, said that when he first served in Congress in the 1970s, lawmakers worked full weeks, giving them time to develop respect for one another and to find common ground.
"If you've already consumed 40, 50 hours of the week in travel and fundraising, there's not a lot of time left over for governing, and we're seeing the results of that," he said. "We're looking at the last couple of sessions of the Congress of the United States as being the most unproductive in the history of the country. Why? Well, if everybody's busy campaigning and raising money, there's no time for governing."
Jolly, a former lobbyist and longtime staffer to the late congressman C.W. Bill Young, continues to agitate. He said he's not paying his $400,000 in dues to the NRCC, and he said "I don't buy the notion" that he needs more sponsors before House leadership grants a hearing on his bill.
Jolly is a potential ally of Democrats on campaign-finance reform, saying that Citizens United "could be revisited" and that "we can do better." Until then, surely more lawmakers on both sides can see the virtue of his cause.
"You think you get elected to represent 700,000 people," he said. "But you actually got elected to be one more marble on our side of the aisle to keep the majority, and to do that you've got to go raise $2 million and that makes members angry."
Or at least it should.
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County rejects pot growing, sales bill
Voters in an eastern Oregon county have rejected a ballot measure that aimed to rescind a ban on marijuana production and sales.
With all the votes in from Grant County, 53.5 percent rejected the measure.
Grant County Judge Scott Myers had said last week that he would be more than surprised if it passed in the largely conservative eastern county.
Voters in Klamath County, in the south, faced a similar ballot measure on Tuesday. There, with 60 percent of the vote counted, 58 percent had voted against requiring the county to allow "state-approved licenses, allowing medical dispensaries, retail farms and retail sales to conduct business."
Shortly after Oregon voters decided in 2014 to legalize marijuana, the state allowed cities and counties to ban marijuana production and sales where at least 55 percent of voters opposed legalization. Over 100 cities and counties have since "opted out," according to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission.
Immigrant license lawsuit dropped
EUGENE A judge has tossed a lawsuit that sought access to drivers' licenses for immigrants living in the country illegally.
The Register-Guard reports a legislatively approved bill that was later rejected by voters would have created the temporary licenses.
Judge Ann Aiken said in her ruling released Monday that the lawmaker-approved bill never became law, so the state has no authority to grant the cards.
Since 2008, Oregon residents seeking drivers' licenses have had to prove they live in the country legally.
The lawsuit named Gov. Kate Brown and transportation officials.
Assistant attorney general Sarah Weston said the plaintiffs would need to go through the legislative process to enact the bill.
Representatives of the Oregon Law Center filed the lawsuit and could not be reached for comment Monday.
Jobless rate stays at 4.5 percent
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) The state Employment Department says Oregon added more than 5,000 jobs in April, keeping its jobless rate at 4.5 percent.
The agency says Oregon has gained 64,100 nonfarm payroll jobs since last April, when the unemployment rate was 5.7 percent. That's the most jobs Oregon has ever added in a 12-month period. The next closest was in May 1997, when the state added 61,500 jobs.
Since April 2015, job growth has been especially strong in construction, health care, and professional and business services.
Oregon's labor force participation rate rose to 62.6 percent in April, up from 60.8 percent in April 2015.
Ballot box stolen, votes discarded
BEND Klamath County officials say someone broke into a ballot box and threw the mail-in ballots into a nearby dumpster.
The Bulletin reports that the Klamath County Sheriff's Office is investigating after the 240 ballots were stolen. County Clerk Linda Smith says the state Elections Division says the recovered ballots can still be counted.
Klamath County residents were voting on whether to overturn their county's ban on marijuana dispensaries and on candidates for a state Senate seat.
Secretary of State spokeswoman Molly Woon says stealing ballots is a felony and something the state takes very seriously.
Cam Ranh International Terminal JSC (CRTC) is planning to invest VND3.4 trillion ($150 million) to expand and upgrade the crowded Cam Ranh International Airport in the central province of Khanh Hoa, the state-run VietnamPlus reported
A pre-feasibility study for the project submitted by CRTC, which is a subsidiary of Airports Corp. of Vietnam, is pending approval from the Ministry of Transport.
CRTC expects to begin construction on the project in September this year and commence operations in December 2017.
The expansion aims to serve more than 2.5 million passengers by 2020, which will be raised to 4 million by 2025 and 6 million by 2030.
The current airport is designed to receive maximum 1.5 million passengers per year but it has been overloaded in recent years with passengers passing 2.7 million in 2015.
The expanded airport will cover 52,000 m2, including 80 check-in counters, 10 boarding gates and other relevant infrastructure.
Once approved, it will be designed by Singaporean-US design consulting firm CPG-PAE, which has provided services for Danang International Airport and several modern airports across Vietnam in the past.
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Vietnam posts trade surplus of $1.76 billion in first four months
Vietnam registered a trade surplus of $1.76 billion in the first four months of the year, according to statistics from Vietnam Customs.
Vietnams total import and export value in the first four months arrived at nearly $104.45 billion, increasing 2.5 percent compared to the same period last year.
Vietnam registered a trade surplus in the first four months. Photo by Saigonnewport
Vietnams exports totaled $53.1 billion in that period, up 6.5 percent on-year, while total import value came in at $51.34 billion, a decline of 1.3 percent. The nations trade balance posted a surplus of $1.76 billion in the first four months.
Imports and exports conducted by FDI traders reached $67.78 billion from January to April, up by 4.4 percent compared to the same period a year earlier.
The trade surplus mainly stemmed from the U.S. market that accounted for $11.45 billion worth of goods in the first four months, eclipsing China that accounted for only $5.9 billion.
Textile and garment exports to the U.S. reached $3.4 billion in the first four months, making up approximately 50 percent of the commodity's global export value and contributing nearly 30 percent of total export value from Vietnam to the world's largest economy.
Congressman Pete Visclosky, D-Merrillville, again secured a requirement that the Department of Defense only buy certain products that are made in America, including steel.
The House Appropriations Committee approved Visclosky's Buy American amendment to the Fiscal Year 2017 Defense Appropriations Act, which mandates the military only buy American-made steel for armor plate, mooring chains, ball bearings and engine components.
The administration had been looking to remove Buy America requirements, but Visclosky stressed it was essential at a time when the domestic steel industry has been battered by an unprecedented glut of imports.
"The strength of the American steel industry and the American manufacturing base are essential to the strength of our military forces," Visclosky said.
HAMMOND A Lake Station man indicted in a Latin Kings gang case has agreed to plead guilty to a racketeering charge and accept responsibility for attempting to kill as many as five people.
Raymond Pirate Fazekas, 27, would face no more than 22 years in prison if a judge accepts his plea agreement.
For sentencing purposes, Fazekas agreed to be held responsible for attempted second-degree murders for three different, distinct shooting episodes involving no more than five intended victims, the plea agreement said. Details about the three shootings were not included in court records.
In exchange for Fazekas plea, the U.S. attorneys office plans to drop one count alleging his role in a cocaine and marijuana distribution conspiracy and another count of sale of a firearm to a convicted felon.
Fazekas was one of 17 alleged Latin Kings gang members and their associates indicted in December in U.S. District Court. Several more alleged Latin Kings have been indicted in separate cases.
HAMMOND A Lansing man faces a federal firearms charge after tussling with Hammond police investigating a report of a man with a gun, court records said.
Genaro Galindo, 21, was charged in a complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Hammond police were dispatched Thursday to the 2100 block of Summer Street for a report of someone pointing a gun at another person, an affidavit said.
Dispatch told officers a suspect left in a white Chrysler 300, and police later stopped a vehicle matching that description. A man matching the suspect's description got of the passenger side of the car and ran, the affidavit said.
Police caught up with the man, later identified as Galindo, and he became combative and repeatedly reached for his waistband, the affidavit said.
During the arrest, police recovered a loaded, .40-caliber Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol with an obliterated serial number from Galindo, according to court records. Galindo agreed to talk with police and admitted he's a felony with two convictions on weapons charges in Illinois, the affidavit said.
CROWN POINT After attending a vigil for a slain friend, a woman told jurors she was surprised to see her father parking near her mother's home.
Alexis McCloud-Rogers testified Tuesday in Lake County Criminal Judge Salvador Vasquez's courtroom that she hadn't spoken to her father, Alec McCloud, in months when she saw him on Aug. 3, 2015, in the 400 block of Ellsworth Street in Gary.
Once inside the home, her mother began arguing with her about her father. Gentry Jackson emerged from a bedroom and walked outside while armed with a gun, she said. Outside the home, she heard Jackson, her stepfather, yell at her father just before Jackson began firing shots at him, she said.
"I'm shocked," she said. "So I'm just standing there."
McCloud, 44, drove to the 500 block of Roosevelt Street where he crashed into a curb outside a church. He later died at Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus in Gary.
Jackson, 35, of Gary, faces a murder charge in McCloud's shooting death. He is on trial this week in Vasquez's courtroom.
Defense attorney Russell Brown, who along with Scott King is defending Jackson, told jurors Tuesday that what led to the shooting is more complex than events that transpired that day. He urged jurors to consider the family's history that dates back 30 years, describing a turbulent relationship between McCloud and Jackson's wife that included allegations of domestic violence.
About a year before the homicide, Brown said McCloud had threatened his client by telling him, "I will be the last person you see."
Brown argued Jackson grabbed his gun after McCloud appeared to reach for a gun.
King grilled McCloud-Rogers about a different version of events she had told police, which included her saying prior to the shooting that she thought her father had a gun.
McCloud-Rogers changed her statement last December after she was so haunted by her father's death that she couldn't eat or sleep. She said her original statement was made after her mother threatened her by saying she had caused the shooting.
She moved out of her mother's home the day Jackson was allowed to post bail and was released from jail pending this week's trial.
Upon questioning by King, McCloud-Rogers said she did continue to work with Jackson after his release from jail and requested lunches from him.
Justin McCloud testified he had spoken to his father the day of the shooting and knew he had traveled from Las Vegas to Gary. McCloud said he planned to return with his father and had spent the day packing.
When asked about the details of his trip, Justin McCloud said he had not purchased a ticket to take him to Las Vegas. Though he was living in an apartment nearby, he maintained under questioning that his father had arrived at the home to pick him up.
Justin McCloud and his sister testified that their father never got out of his car and didn't see him display a gun. He said he left without saying anything and eventually came across the crash scene.
During a 911 call, Justin McCloud is heard telling a dispatcher that someone shot at his father's car. When asked who the shooter was, he answered, "It was my momma's husband, Gentry Jackson."
HAMMOND The Diocese of Gary has removed two teachers at Bishop Noll Institute in Hammond following allegations of inappropriate contact with students.
Diocesan spokeswoman Debbie Bosak said Wednesday the school administration is cooperating fully with local authorities.
"Two male teachers are involved and they are no longer at the school," she said. "The school year ends in early June. They were removed from the school last week when these incidents came to light and it became a police matter. The administration is doing everything it can for the security, safety and well-being of students and staff, and counseling is being provided where needed."
Last week, Hammond police initiated an investigation into reports that two teachers at the Catholic school had inappropriate conversations with students there.
On Wednesday, Hammond police Lt. Richard Hoyda said the department cannot comment or provide any information than what was already released because the federal government has taken over the investigation.
The U.S. attorney's office said the Department of Justice regulations prohibit it from either confirming or denying the existence of an investigation.
Last week, Hammond police said in the first case, a 33-year-old male teacher reportedly sent texts and Facebook messages to a student, who thought they were inappropriate and told another teacher, who advised calling the police.
The Diocese of Gary issued a statement last week saying a 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.
So far, no arrests have been made and no criminal charges have been filed in connection with the incidents.
LANSING The residency of a School Board member continues to cause controversy in Sunnybrook Elementary School District 171.
At a School Board meeting last month, board member Jada Curry questioned whether board member Lance Lape lives within district boundaries or with family members in Crown Point, Indiana.
Lape said he does have a legal residence in Lansing and that he would provide proof of residency prior to Mondays School Board meeting.
The board did not address the matter until it was brought up in the public comment section of the meeting on Monday.
I actually called the district attorney and so right now were in the middle of investigating what our options are regarding proof of residency for board members, board President Cozette Pettigrew said.
Pettigrew said the board will try to be very transparent with the public regarding the outcome of the investigation.
Curry mentioned that Lape had said he would provide proof of residency before the scheduled May 16 meeting and wondered what had changed regarding that.
Pettigrew said that after contacting the attorney she discovered the burden of proof of residency does not fall on the board member.
After the meeting, Lape said he had not provided the information he said he would prior to Mondays meeting.
Not yet, because (Pettigrew) was awaiting a response from the legal ... from our lawyer, Lape said.
In other district news, Assistant Superintendent Erika Millhouse-Pettis asked the board to consider for next school year the addition of a full-time special education teacher at Nathan Hale Elementary School to establish a self-contained kindergarten to second-grade special education classroom there.
She said it would save the district money by not sending students outside of the district for special education services and that it would allow students to be educated within their own community among their peers.
The board approved a 2016-2017 transportation contract with Kickert School Bus Line Inc. that includes a 2 percent increase over the current school year.
District 171 consists of Nathan Hale Elementary and Heritage Middle Schools and serves students from Lansing and Lynwood.
INDIANAPOLIS Former Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann will become the ninth president and first female leader of Ivy Tech Community College.
Trustees for the 32-campus institution that educates some 173,000 Hoosier students on Wednesday unanimously elected Ellspermann following a nine-month, 100-candidate nationwide search for a successor to retiring President Thomas Snyder.
Shes got experience in higher education, shes got experience in the political arena, shes got experience in the private sector and it all comes together in that right mix, along with Sues innate skill for thinking strategically, said Paula Hughes, Ivy Tech board chairwoman.
Ellspermann was enthusiastically applauded by Ivy Tech students, faculty and staff at the Indianapolis campus when she was introduced as the colleges new president.
Shes scheduled to officially begin work July 1. But Ellspermann said shes chomping at the bit to get started and plans to visit Ivy Tech campuses across the state throughout June.
Region Ivy Tech campuses are in East Chicago, Gary, Valparaiso and Michigan City. Courses also are taught in Crown Point, Portage and LaPorte.
In addition, many Northwest Indiana high school students participate in Ivy Tech dual credit programs to begin earning their college degrees before entering college and without paying university-level tuition.
Ellspermann said as president her focus will be on organizing Ivy Tech to promote student success and meet the workforce needs of Indianas employers, who require an estimated 1 million new workers with post-secondary degrees or credentials in the years ahead.
Ivy Tech Community College is Indianas most important workforce development engine, it truly is, she said. We have a lot of work to do if were going to meet the needs here in Indiana.
She said her plans to get there include growing the colleges full-time faculty to improve student counseling, right-sizing programs in accordance with employer demand and increasing the degree completion rate.
Currently, only 1 in 20 Ivy Tech students earn their associate degree in two years and just 1 in 4 finish in six.
Ellspermann, 56, is a native of Ferdinand, Ind. She holds a doctorate in industrial engineering and previously was director of the University of Southern Indianas Center for Applied Research.
She served one term in the Indiana House and in 2012 was elected lieutenant governor alongside Republican Gov. Mike Pence.
Ellspermann resigned in March, with Pences blessing, in anticipation of becoming Ivy Techs president.
Pence deemed her appointment a win for education in Indiana.
LAKE STATION City officials and the Lake County prosecutor are investigating whether a former City Court clerk concealed hundreds of convictions in drunken driving cases.
Prosecutor Bernard Carter said suspicion is falling on Miranda Brakley, a stepdaughter of former Mayor Keith Soderquist, who is awaiting sentencing on a federal theft charge.
"From 2008 to 2012 when the then-mayor's (step)daughter was working in that office, it appears she, intentionally, and I use the word intentionally, refused to send any (driving) suspensions down to the BMV (Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles)," Carter said.
"For DUI-related cases, you are probably looking at 500 to 600. For other traffic violations like speeding, you could be looking at 1,000," Carter said. "I am just appalled."
Josh Gillespie, deputy commissioner of communications for the BMV, confirmed Tuesday that a city official alerted the state agency to the missing data and told them they may have to process as many as 800 previously missing records.
Mayor Christopher Anderson, who was Lake Station City Court judge during that period, said Tuesday, "Basically, it was Miranda Brakley. She was appointed clerk of the court. It was her duty and responsibility to carry out those orders."
He said the problem was unexpectedly discovered this month during an investigation into why the City Court failed to submit to the BMV a 2011 reckless driving conviction for Randolph L. Randy Palmateer, 37, business manager for the Northwestern Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council.
"The Palmateer problem is not an isolated situation," Carter said, adding he met this week with the mayor, city clerk, city judge and police chief and other city employees.
Anderson said, "Now we are going to start going through all these old files and figuring out what the extent of it is. I don't think it's been determined that there are hundreds. What we gathered from our meeting, was that after they found out about Palmateer, they came over to City Court, whatever month his plea was submitted, they pulled 15 or 16 other files with a similar plea and checked with the BMV and determined that none of those were sent down either.
"Hopefully, the job was being done properly and we will just find a few here and there, but ultimately, there are enough there now to come to the conclusion that our clerks failed to do what they are supposed to do," Anderson said.
Attorney Thomas Vanes, who is defending Brakley in federal court, said his client is being made into a convenient scapegoat. "How do they know she did this? There were multiple clerks in the (city) court system."
Gillespie said fallout from the investigation may result in headaches for a number of drivers whose driving privileges were supposed to be suspended years ago, but the paperwork never arrived for the BMV to act.
He said any cases where old suspensions never were carried out, will be enforced now, four years later.
Carter said, of Brakley, "There was no oversight by anyone as to whether she was doing or not doing this."
Anderson said he was Brakley's supervisor. He said that he frequently discussed her duties with her and offered her training, but she assured him she was doing all right.
He said as a city judge, he was only a part-time official. "I had another full-time job. I wasn't there but for the court calls. That is just the nature of the job in a city court."
Anderson said he was concentrating in late 2011 on suspicions Brakley was responsible for thousands of dollars in missing court fees. He terminated her in 2012, starting a feud between him and then-Mayor Keith Soderquist, her stepfather. Anderson defeated Soderquist in a 2015 election.
Brakley pleaded guilty in January to embezzling about $16,000 from Lake Station City Court while she was its clerk and her stepfather pleaded guilty to trying to cover it up by trying to replace the missing money with other funds.
Carter said he has no evidence Brakley was being paid to protect the drivers, but that federal authorities have been advised. Ryan Holmes, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, said he could neither confirm or deny any federal investigation.
Vietnam might miss out on the chance to become an upper-middle income country by 2035 due mainly to declining productivity growth, said the World Bank at a workshop on Tuesday.
Perhaps the biggest opportunity lies in completing the unfinished economic modernization agenda, led by the private sector and with a focus on boosting productivity, said Victoria Kwaka, regional vice president for East Asia and Pacific.
Declining productivity growth could hinder Vietnam from maintaining economic momentum and outweigh the benefits from trade pacts including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the ASEAN Economic Community and EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, the World Bank senior official continued.
Empowerment of private sector
Victoria Kwaka said the Vietnamese government should focus on empowering the private sector to boost economy-wide productivity.
The government should speed up its long-running privatization of state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
According to the World Bank, Vietnam currently has more than 3,000 SOEs which take up nearly 40 percent of total investment but contribute only a third of Vietnams gross domestic product (GDP).
The state-owned sector is crowding out most of the funds which might have been effectively channeled into the private sector to improve its performance and productivity, said Victoria Kwaka.
The fact that Vietnamese companies still lag far behind their global competitors in the use of technology makes it harder for them to increase productivity.
Statistics compiled by the Ministry of Science and Technology show that half of the countrys enterprises are applying technology dated back to the 1960s, and only 9 percent of them are adopting modern technological advancements. As a result, Vietnamese companies are weak in both the domestic and international market.
A stronger private sector will greatly contribute to Vietnams economic development.
Vietnam's economic growth in the past 10 years has slowed down as its traditional competitive advantages such as low labor costs have worn out, said Kwaka, adding that the problem is worsening due to Vietnams rapidly ageing population.
Vietnam can achieve development targets through (i) economic prosperity, balanced with environmental sustainability; (ii) equity and social inclusion; and (iii) state capacity and accountability, according to the World Bank
Pathway to maintain economic growth
Earlier this year in a report titled: "Vietnam 2035: Toward Prosperity, Creativity, Equity, and Democracy", the World Bank predicted that in the next two decades Vietnam could reach an annual income of $22,000 in terms of purchasing power parity per capita.
It also laid out a pathway for Vietnam to climb the economic ladder into a higher bracket by fostering private sector competitiveness, promoting social inclusion and bolstering the states effectiveness.
At the workshop, former Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh said Vietnam is integrating further into the global market, offering more business opportunities but creating mounting pressure on domestic companies to increase their competitiveness.
He also admitted that although the government has tried to improve the business environment, there still exists a gap between governance and implementation. For instance, lawmakers have eased business regulations to allow people freedom to do business, but businesses are still faced with cumbersome paperwork and bureaucracy.
He said recent regulations still enabled sub-licensing, which hinders creativity, negatively affects businesses and weakens competitiveness.
Vinh called on foreign direct invested companies to fulfill their promises to transfer technologies, develop human resources and enhance research and development activities through partnerships with local businesses.
In the latest move, the Vietnamese government has issued a resolution to support small and medium-sized enterprises and start-up companies. Under the resolution, all enterprises, irrespective of their size or sector, are treated equally so that they have equal access to resources such as funds, land and investment.
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP Porter County police say a 62-year-old Porter man rescued this morning from a pickup truck sunk in several feet of water along U.S. 30 had been drinking alcohol.
An initial portable breath test found that David Kenning had a blood alcohol content of 0.25 percent, which is more than three times the legal limit, Porter County sheriff's spokeswoman Cpl. Jamie Erow said.
Kenning was driving east on U.S. 30 at 6:25 a.m. when for unknown reasons, his vehicle veered off the roadway to the south, in an area just west of County Road 575 East, Erow said. His tan 2013 Ford F150 pickup truck wound up partially submerged in Crooked Creek with water reaching the door handle.
A nearby guardrail along U.S. 30 was undamaged and the area leading to the ditch is heavily overgrown with brush.
A dive team was initially called out, but was canceled once members of the Washington Township Volunteer Department arrived.
The firefighters broke out the truck's windshield to reach Kenning and stayed close before eventually pulling him out feet first.
Kenning was transported to Porter Regional Hospital after complaining about pain from the air bags deploying in his truck.
Tabz Towing Services of Valparaiso made a couple of attempts to pull the vehicle from the water and up the steep embankment before succeeding.
WASHINGTON Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were neck-and-neck in Kentuckys presidential primary Tuesday at press time, as Clinton sought to blunt the momentum of her Democratic rival ahead of a likely general election matchup against Republican Donald Trump.
The race was too close to call a winner in Kentucky. With almost all the votes counted, the margin between the two candidates was less than one-half of 1 percent as Clinton tried to avoid ending the primary season with a string of losses to the Vermont senator. Sanders was favored in Oregons primary later Tuesday.
Clinton holds a commanding lead of nearly 300 pledged delegates over Sanders and a dominant advantage among party officials and elected leaders known as superdelegates. The outcomes in Kentucky and Oregon were not expected to change that and the former secretary of state remains on track to clinch the nomination in early June.
Tuesdays elections took place amid new questions about party unity following a divisive weekend state party convention in Nevada. Supporters of Sanders tossed chairs and made death threats against the Nevada party chairwoman at the event in Las Vegas, arguing the party leadership rigged the results of the convention in favor of Clinton.
In a sign of the tensions between the two sides, Sanders issued a defiant statement on Tuesday dismissing complaints from Nevada Democrats as nonsense and said his supporters were not being treated with fairness and respect.
Trump was competing in the sole GOP contest in Oregon. The billionaire businessman picked up nine delegates earlier Tuesday in Guam, which held its territorial convention in March, and had 1,143 delegates heading into the Oregon contest fewer than 100 delegates short of the 1,237 he needs to clinch the nomination.
For Democrats, 55 delegates were up for grabs in Kentucky and 61 delegates were at stake in Oregon.
In Kentucky, the former secretary of state visited black churches, a small-town diner and held rallies on Sunday and Monday in an effort to break up Sanders momentum after his recent victories in Indiana and West Virginia.
Clintons husband, former President Bill Clinton, was the last Democrat to carry the state in a presidential election he won Kentucky in 1992 and 1996 and the former first lady tried to emphasize those ties in the days leading up to the primary.
Im excited about the primary but weve got to turn a lot of people out, Clinton told a packed diner in Paducah, Ky., on Monday. Ill tell you this. Im not going to give up on Kentucky in November. I want to help to bring back the kind of economy that worked for everybody in the 1990s.
Facing a choice between Clinton and Sanders, physician Annie Skaggs in Campbellsville, Kentucky, said she had a hard time making up her mind.
I like them both. I wanted to put them both in a blender and whir them up together, she said. I voted for Hillary. Shes got a little broader base and more experience, especially with foreign policy.
Sharon Sharp said she voted for Sanders for one reason: He is not Hillary Clinton.
Benghazi and the emails? Thats just too much to trust her to run my country, Sharp said after casting her vote.
Sanders was favored in Oregon, which is among the nations most liberal states. Sanders secured the endorsement of Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., in April.
Nearing the end of a long primary slog, the two Democratic candidates are preparing for June 7 primaries in California, New Jersey and four other states. When pledged delegates and superdelegates are combined, Clinton entered Tuesday is about 94 percent of the way toward securing the Democratic nomination.
Sanders has vowed to campaign through the end of the primary season on June 14 in the District of Columbia and amass as many delegates as possible to influence the partys platform and message.
He is still aiming to wrestle the nomination from Clinton, even though he would need to win about two-thirds of the remaining pledged delegates to end the primary season in a tie.
Sanders campaigned Monday and Tuesday in Puerto Rico, which holds its contest on June 5, and was holding a rally in the Los Angeles area late Tuesday.
___
Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Denver, Catherine Lucey in Paducah, Ky., and Michelle Rindels in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
U.S. Sens. Dan Coats and Joe Donnelly are pleased the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a confirmation hearing today on Winfield Ong, who was nominated to serve as federal judge in the U.S. District Court for southern Indiana. It revives the discussion of Merrick Garlands nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.
President Barack Obama nominated Ong as well as Garland.
Donnelly, a Democrat, wants the Senate to hold a confirmation hearing on Garland to keep the wheels of government turning. Coats, a Republican, wants the next president to make that decision. He and President Obama are both lame ducks Obama through term limits and Coats through his own decision not to run again.
I appreciate the Senate Judiciary Committees decision to hold a hearing on Winfield Ongs nomination to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Coats said in a prepared statement. The Judicial Conference of the United States has declared a judicial emergency in Indianas Southern District, and Winfield Ongs successful career in the U.S. attorneys office makes him uniquely qualified to fill this important role. This is a significant step toward confirmation, and I am eager to see this process move forward.
Its worth noting if Coats votes on Ongs nomination, he wont be waiting for his successor to make that decision.
The same logic applies to Indiana Gov. Mike Pences appointment of members to a panel set up to offer advice on replacing the ISTEP, the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress. Pence appointed five members none of them from northern Indiana to the 24-member panel directed to recommend alternatives by Dec. 1.
That panel also includes the superintendent of public instruction and her four appointees, the commissioners of Workforce Development and Higher Education, the chairmen of the Senate Education & Career Development and House Education committees, a member of the State Board of Education, four president pro tempore appointments and four speaker of the House appointments.
Pences appointments were made the week before the primary election.
In their interview with The Times Editorial Board prior to the election, Jesse Harper and Pamela Mishler Fish, the two Democratic candidates for state representative in District 4, addressed the ISTEP issue. Both said Pence should wait for the next governor Democrat John Gregg, they were hoping to make those appointments.
Pence himself made a point of drawing a distinction between the federal and state governments when he named the new Indiana Supreme Court justice, Crown Point native Geoffery Slaughter, last week. Indiana has a set deadline for action on appointees, while the federal government doesnt.
But look at it this way: The Republicans urging the Senate not to act on the U.S. Supreme Court appointment are preaching government inefficiency. That could backfire on them.
Already, two cases before the shorthanded court have resulted in 4-4 ties.
How much more government dysfunction can the American people stand? And do the Republicans really want the Republican Party to stand for obstructionism and inefficiency? Those arent the GOP ideals Ive heard Republicans espouse in the past.
The court of public opinion should be as big a concern as the Supreme Court for Republicans, especially in this crazy election year.
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The police department kept its promise Tuesday destroying dozens of illegal motorcycles by running them over with bulldozers. As NY1 criminal justice reporter Dean Meminger explains, it's a move designed to discourage the use of the vehicles on city streets.
It was a stunt move by the NYPD as police crush dozens of illegal dirt bikes, motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles.
"We want to send out a very strong message to the nitwits and knuckleheads who insist on operating these illegal vehicles on the streets, sidewalks, parks and housing developments of the city of New York creating extraordinarily dangers not only for themselves but more importantly for the public," said Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.
Over the years, there have been complaints about groups of riders doing tricks on highways and streets, speeding and running through red lights.
That's not to mention all the noise they cause.
Police have been setting up roadblocks and raiding storage facilities to get the bikes and four wheelers off the streets.
They say the so-called motorized wilding has to stop.
"The vast majority, close to 80% of the motorcycles, ATV's and dirt bikes that we seize remain unclaimed and this is their ultimate fate," said NYPD Chief of Patrol Carlos Gomez.
There are 900 bikes at this Brooklyn pound that will be destroyed in the near future and sold to a scrap metal company.
"We individually crush each vehicle with a front loader and then put it in the metal dumpster," said Rob Martinez, NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Support Services. "Running over it and we actually with the bucket, crush it with the bucket."
The NYPD says so far this year, it has confiscated about 700 bikes. That's about double the number of bikes seized last year during the same time.
And there have been 104 arrests for riding bikes and ATV's dangerously.
Although the issue is across the city, cops say the Bronx and Upper Manhattan see the most activity.
When asked why not resell or auction off the bikes, Bratton says that is not happening.
"These are illegal and we don't want to resell them and put them back into the hands of people who use them inappropriately," the commissioner said.
The NYPD says it's against the law to ride the four wheelers and dirt bikes in the five boroughs.
It's meeting with other cities and counties that border the city to clamp down even more on illegal riders.
After more than a quarter century as Time Warner Cable, the nation's second-largest cable company is now officially Charter Communications.
Charter this morning completed its $56 billion purchase of Time Warner Cable, six days after the deal cleared its final regulatory hurdle.
The deal makes Charter the new parent of TWC News and NY1. The TWC news channels are expected to be rebranded under a new name.
WATCH NY1's INTERVIEW WITH CHARTER CEO TOM RUTLEDGE
"Current Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable customers wont see many changes right away, though in the coming months they will begin to hear more from us about the Spectrum brand, and the product improvements and consumer friendly policies that come with it," Charter Communications Chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge said in a statement released Monday morning. "Charters objective is to provide high quality products at great prices, and back it up with excellent customer service, and we intend to continually improve the way we do business in order to be the very best at what we do."
"While Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks customers will not see any immediate change, the company will be called Charter and the products and services will be marketed under the 'Spectrum' brand," Charter spokesman Alex Dudley told Bloomberg News.
As part of the deal Charter also acquires Bright House Networks for $10 billion.
Charter moved to purchase Time Warner Cable in May 2015 after Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator, backed out of its own bid to buy TWC due to regulatory hurdles.
The Charter deal received approval from the FCC and the Department of Justice over the last month, and cleared its final regulatory hurdle when it received approval from the California Public Utilities Commission last week.
Under the terms of the deal, shareholders of the former Time Warner Cable received $100 in cash and about 0.54 of a share of Charter stock for each share of TWC stock.
The deal spells the end of the Time Warner Cable brand, whose roots lie in the American Television and Communications company that was acquired in 1973 by Warner Communications. Time Warner Cable was formed from the 1989 merger of Time Inc. and Warner Cable, and the company's first news channel, NY1, was launched in 1992.
TWC spun off from its parent company, Time Warner, in 2009.
The newly combined company will provide TV, Internet and phone services to a total of 23.9 million customers in 41 states.
The Senate has passed legislation allowing families of September 11th victims to sue the government of Saudi Arabia.
The vote on the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act comes after the Saudis reportedly threatened to pull billions of dollars from the U.S. economy if the bill passes. The Saudi Foreign Minister says no threat was ever made.
The legislation gives families the right to sue in U.S. courts for any role the Saudi government may have played in the attacks.
Senate Democrats overwhelmingly supported the bill, putting them at odds with the Obama administration.
"This legislation would change long-standing international law regarding sovereign immunity, and the president of the United States continues to harbor serious concerns that this legislation would make the United States vulnerable," siad White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.
The bill is co-sponsored by Sen. Charles Schumer, who says any government that aids terrorist attacks against the U.S. will be held responsible.
The bill now heads to the House of Representatives.
Mayor Bill de Blasio frequently relies on the advice of outside consultant, but it is hard to know just how much he depends on them. And New Yorkers may never really find out. City lawyers are refusing to release e-mails between the mayor and his privately-employed advisers. Government watchdogs say the mayor needs to come clean. Our Grace Rauh has the story.
Critics accuse Mayor de Blasio of setting up a shadow government comprised of consultants who are not paid by City Hall, but pocket cash from clients, many of whom have business before the city.
The arrangement has long drawn complaints but it is generating a new wave of condemnation, because City Hall is refusing to release emails the consultants exchanged with the mayor and his top aides.
"It's disappointing to see the mayor, whose whole persona in government is about doing it for the people and being transparent about it, and to be relying on a legal analysis from some lawyer about whether this consultant's communications are protected is ridiculous," said Dick Dadey with good government group, Citizens Union. "Just disclose."
More than a year ago, NY1 made an open-records request for emails between a top de Blasio consultant, Jonathan Rosen, and the Mayor and high-ranking administration officials.
The request was denied, even though emails between city officials and people outside government are presumed to be public. In a letter to NY1, a city lawyer referred to Rosen as a consultant to the Mayoralty. He argued the emails were protected by the same exemption that keeps us from seeing many of the e-mails the mayor sends to his City Hall staff only.
A spokesman for de Blasio says: "The Mayor has worked with a number of people over the years who he continues to seek advice on a variety of political and communications issues. When these advisors consult with the Mayor in the interest of the Mayors Office and not on behalf of clients, those communications are not subject to disclosure."
Rosen declined to comment.
The open-records denial comes as federal and state investigators are examining the mayor's fundraising and political activities.
The investigations have put a spotlight on the mayor and his consultants. However, when it comes to their emails, de Blasio seems determined to keep New Yorkers in the dark.
New York City is investigating allegations that Covenant House, the largest local provider of shelter to homeless teenagers and young adults, has been inflating the number of people it serves and has not been complying with the terms of its contracts with the city.
The Department of Youth and Community Development opened an investigation on May 8.
The city takes any allegations very seriously, Mark Zustovich, a department spokesman, said in a statement, and we immediately began a comprehensive review of the organizations operations to ensure fiscal integrity and the safety and well-being of the young people they serve.
In response to the allegations, the citys Economic Development Corporation has slowed the process of selecting a developer for a project that is to include a new national headquarters for Covenant House.
The scrutiny of the organization was prompted by an anonymous complaint filed in April to Covenant Houses internal ethics hotline. A copy of the complaint was obtained by The New York Times.
Despite a sudden reversal by New York State officials, the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio is forging ahead with plans for two residential towers in a park on the Brooklyn waterfront that would include market-rate and subsidized apartments as well as a school.
The project at Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park has encountered a series of delays since it was announced in May 2014, including a lawsuit brought by some nearby residents, park advocates and elected officials.
New York City settled the suit one year ago and, in recent weeks, negotiated a new agreement for the towers with a developer and state officials.
All parties had planned to announce the agreement this week, but over the weekend, state officials abruptly pulled back, citing potential conflicts of interest. City officials say they will not be deterred.
Although student numbers are increasing at a similar rate to developed countries, Vietnam may still have 70,000 teachers out of work by 2020, said Bui Van Quan, principal of the Hanoi Metropolitan University.
Quan said at a workshop held on May 17 by the Hanoi Metropolitan University, which has a long tradition of teacher training: By 2020, Vietnams education system will not be able to afford to recruit all newly graduated teachers. That will leave about 41,000 teachers at primary school level, 12,200 at middle school level and 16,900 at high school level unemployed.
At present, 63 out of 64 provinces in Vietnam have at least one university or college that provides teacher training programs.
However, Quan said the level of training does not live up to public expectations, and both the facilities and human resources at many universities are poor.
Ariel Cegla from The A.Ofri International Training Center, Israel, which provides professional teacher training programs said that Vietnam should increase the time student teachers spend as interns. University lectures should also include more discussions about Vietnamese teachers and the adoption of new teaching methods to suit current conditions.
Who, they wondered, could have played a notable role in the highly publicized scheme and still hope to avoid being linked to it? And why did he wait until the eve of the scheduled release of the list of unindicted co-conspirators to try to suppress it?
There are no coincidences in New Jersey politics, said John S. Wisniewski, a Democratic state assemblyman who was co-chairman of a legislative committee that investigated the lane-closing scheme. Im certain that there is an important reason for whoever John Doe is to have retained counsel, a reason that only recently came up.
Whoever he is, Mr. Wisniewski said, John Doe had the resources and connections to hire Jenny Kramer, a former federal prosecutor who is now with the Chadbourne & Parke law firm. Ms. Kramer filed a motion in federal court in Newark last week, arguing that her client would be publicly branded a felon by his inclusion on the list, even though he has not been charged with a crime.
Prosecutors have not said how many names are on the list, but they have obtained indictments against only three former allies of Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, suspected of plotting to tie up traffic in Fort Lee, N.J. They contend that the three Bill Baroni, David Wildstein and Bridget Anne Kelly sought to punish the boroughs mayor, Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, for declining to endorse Mr. Christie for re-election in 2013.
Mr. Baroni was the governors top executive appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the bridge. Mr. Wildstein, who pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy last May, was a deputy to Mr. Baroni at the agency. Mr. Baroni and Ms. Kelly, who was a deputy chief of staff to Mr. Christie, are scheduled to stand trial in September on nine counts, including conspiracy to commit fraud.
In a noisy and bustling stretch of Lower Manhattan, where cabdrivers blare their horns and pedestrians scurry by with laser focus, people have places to be, it seems, and are disinclined to waste any time getting there.
But every so often, someone walking along Canal Street glances upward and pauses. And then pulls out a phone to take a picture.
On Tuesday, the windows of the office buildings on both sides of the street, near the Holland Tunnel, were covered in sticky notes, recreating Marge and Maggie from The Simpsons and a Superman logo that stood as tall as an entire floor. There was a homage to Prince, his symbol depicted in purple Post-its. And there were cheekier messages and references to memes as well: 5pm yet? and Bye Felicia.
The creations are the result of a friendly back and forth between the firms, mostly advertising and marketing companies, on opposite sides of Canal Street.
KIRYAS JOEL, N.Y. In a place where young boys spend their days hunched over volumes of Torah and Talmud, delving into timeless stories and precepts in an ancient singsong, the scene was incongruous.
Dozens of agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and county law enforcement officers more than 50 by the count of officials in this Hasidic village about 50 miles northwest of Manhattan converged on a four-story brick yeshiva here on Thursday, some armed with guns, others carrying crowbars, as helicopters whirred overhead. According to parents of children at the school, the authorities took away boxes filled with computers, office files and security-camera videos.
They scared all the kids, said Yoel Weiss, whose three sons, Moishe, 12, Shloime, 8, and Pinchas, 7, attend the yeshiva that was targeted, United Talmudical Academy of Kiryas Joel. They made a big commotion.
Fourteen months after the election of President Muhammadu Buhari in Nigeria, the Obama administration is considering selling his government 12 warplanes. It is a thorny decision because Mr. Buhari is an improvement over his disastrous predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, and is fighting Boko Haram, the Islamist extremists who have terrorized the region. But he has not done enough to end corruption and respond to charges that the army has committed war crimes in its fight against the group. Selling him the planes now would be a mistake.
Under Mr. Buhari, Nigeria has cooperated more with Chad and Niger to fight Boko Haram. The group, which emerged in the early 2000s, has seized land in the northeastern, predominantly Muslim section of Nigeria. Thousands of people have been killed and 2.2 million displaced. The groups depravity captured world attention in 2014 when it kidnapped 276 girls from a secondary school.
While violence is down and some territory has been recaptured, the group continues to attack remote villages and refugee camps, and it is using women and children as suicide bombers. American military officials say that Boko Haram has begun collaborating with the Islamic State and that the groups could be planning attacks on American allies in Africa.
Yet Nigerias government cannot be entrusted with the versatile new warplanes, which can be used for ground attacks as well as reconnaissance. Its security services have long engaged in extrajudicial killings, torture and rape, according to the State Departments latest annual human rights report. Amnesty International says that during the armys scorched-earth response to Boko Haram between 2011 and 2015, more than 8,200 civilians were murdered, starved or tortured to death.
Last week, Italy and Germany took long overdue steps toward justice for gay and lesbian citizens. On May 11, Italys Parliament approved a bill recognizing same-sex civil unions. The same day, the German government announced it would overturn convictions handed down decades ago under a law that criminalized homosexuality. But more must be done before gay and lesbian Italians and Germans enjoy the equal rights they deserve.
Between 1949 and 1969, some 50,000 men were convicted in Germany under a law against sex between men. Many went to prison, and the convictions remained on their records even after the law was eased in 1969 and finally rescinded in 1994. Convictions under the Nazi regime were overturned in 2002: Some 100,000 men were arrested by the Nazis for the crime of homosexuality, and as many as 15,000 of them were sent to concentration camps.
Given this horrific history, the German governments announcement that it will finally overturn old convictions for homosexuality and find a way to compensate victims is a step toward healing. The government must lose no time: Elderly survivors have waited decades for their records to be cleared.
In another victory for gay rights, Italys Parliament approved same-sex civil unions despite opposition from the Roman Catholic Church. The bills chances were helped when the European Court of Human Rights ruled last July that Italys failure to recognize same-sex unions violated the European Convention on Human Rights. To his credit, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi pushed hard for the bill, staking his government on its passage. His government easily survived a confidence vote the day of the vote on the bill. President Sergio Mattarella is now expected to sign the bill into law.
This is the fourth in a series of dialogues with philosophers and critical theorists about violence. This conversation is with Adrian Parr, a professor of environmental politics and cultural criticism at the University of Cincinnati and the director of the Taft Research Center. Her most recent book is The Wrath of Capital: Neoliberalism and Climate Change Politics.
Natasha Lennard: In your work, you raise the idea of framing climate degradation as a form of violence, and potentially as a crime against humanity. What does it mean to speak of the human destruction of the climate in terms of criminal justice? Is there a distinct guilty party that can be held responsible for this crime?
Adrian Parr: There are three components to the claim that environmental degradation is a crime against humanity. First, it is an appeal to a universal, common humanity that stretches across space and time, and that is oblivious to geographic and historical differences. Second, the crime in question is an existential one that is committed against the very experience of being human, the human elan. Third, it is a crime that calls the established legal order into question, because everyone, and yet no one specifically, can be held responsible.
What is the nature of this crime? The human species is the agent of a terrible injustice being perpetrated against other species, future generations, ecosystems and our fellow human beings. Examples include contaminated waterways, mass species extinction, massive fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions and unsustainable rates of deforestation, to name just a few. This is leading to extreme and more frequent weather events, expanding deserts, loss of biodiversity, collapsing ecosystems, water depletion and contamination, and the rise of global sea levels.
At least Louisiana has a compensation statute. Twenty states have no such laws, which means people who spent years or decades wrongfully imprisoned have to bring lawsuits if they want the government to pay for the wrong done to them. Very often, those suits fail because they require proof of official misconduct.
But even where compensation laws exist, they can be badly flawed. Most states, like Louisiana, place the burden on people who were wrongly convicted to prove their innocence before any payment is made. Several states offer embarrassingly small payouts, like New Hampshire, which gives a flat sum of $20,000 no matter how long a person spent behind bars. Others have laws riddled with unreasonable restrictions, like in Florida, where compensation is denied to anyone who has ever been convicted of a felony.
Some refuse to pay anyone who pleaded guilty or who confessed to a crime he or she did not commit, despite evidence that many innocent people do both. Over all, nearly one-third of the 341 defendants around the country who have been exonerated with DNA evidence have received no compensation.
Finally, most compensation statutes fail to provide those coming out of prison with crucial social services like education, health care, job training and housing. As a result, far too many people end up like Glenn Ford, released directly to the streets, with no money and no prospects.
By the low standards of compensation laws, Texas has perhaps the best. It gives exonerees a lump-sum payout of $80,000 for every year spent behind bars, an additional annuity in the same amount, and funds to help people reintegrate into society. While that is more money than other states offer, its still a pittance compared with the loss of years or decades of ones life. And Texas also bars anyone who takes the payment from filing a civil suit later.
Raleigh, N.C. Ohio and Florida. Florida and Ohio. What a pair of election-year divas, always preening for the pundits. Enough. There are other comely swing states on the stage.
Lets gawk at North Carolina.
If Donald Trump drags down Republicans across the board, this is one of the places where theyll flail. Its Republican governor, nearing the end of a tumultuous first term, is in trouble. One of the states two Republican senators is facing a tougher re-election battle than was predicted just months ago. Democrats are circling. Make that drooling.
Although purple, North Carolina turned deceptively red over the last few years, and Republican lawmakers have behaved with a potentially suicidal swagger. In the process theyve managed to enrage corporate America, exposing a newly profound tension in the G.O.P. between its business-minded wing and the religious right.
Some of the most interesting crosswinds of American politics blow through this state.
In 2008 it voted for Barack Obama by a margin of just .32 percent. Enthusiasm for him helped to propel Democratic women to the Senate and the governors office.
INTERNATIONAL
An article on March 12 about Chinas struggle to come up with legislation imposing tighter controls on foreign nongovernmental organizations two years after it was first proposed misstated the timing of a visit to the United States by Chinas foreign minister, Wang Yi, during which he spoke about NGOs in China. The visit took place in February, not last year. The error was corrected online shortly after the article was published, but editors failed to follow through with this print correction.
NATIONAL
An article on May 9 about widespread claims of sex abuse at private schools omitted some context involving the St. Georges head of school, Eric F. Peterson. While Mr. Peterson has faced calls for his resignation amid criticism that he responded too slowly to the abuse claims, the incidents occurred before he came to the school in 2004.
An Upshot article on Tuesday about the expense of instituting a single-payer health care system in the United States misstated the average salary of general practitioner doctors in Britain, which has a single-payer system. The average salary is around $130,000, not between $81,000 and $122,000.
An Associated Press article on May 9 about the distribution of $1.5 million to family members of the nine shooting victims of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., misidentified the state where Clementa C. Pinckney, the church pastor and a victim, was a state senator. It is South Carolina, not North Carolina.
The Obama administrations directive last week instructing public schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms of the gender they identify with has set off an intense debate.
Many politicians and parents have raised alarms about privacy and warned of predatory boys sneaking into girls bathrooms. But others say that such accommodations are critical protections for a vulnerable population.
For all of the heated debate, a central fact remains elusive: How many students are we talking about?
No one knows for sure. Researchers have not figured out how to obtain consistent, reliable answers from teenagers, much less younger children.
Talking about Hanoi is talking about the organized chaos that makes the city stand out: the traffic, the billboards, the alleys and the people. An urban jungle in the truest sense of the phrase, with ruthless rules of its own, makes any attempt to re-organize it nearly a mission impossible. However, the latest initiative to clean up the advertising industry is perhaps a step too far, as reflected by the outcry it has caused among local businesses.
Le Trong Tan Street. Photo by VnExpress/Ba Do
There was a time when no specific regulations applied to the position or size of signposts and shopfront advertising. Businesses were free to use their own inventiveness and tourists were left awed at the intricacy of designs found nowhere else on earth. But now Le Trong Tan Street, newly renovated in Thanh Xuan District under the extravagant sponsorship of Vietnams biggest real-estate company, Vingroup, has succeeded in making all the signposts uniform.
Surprised is the dominant emotion that appears on the faces seen along the street, both on residents and passers-by. But the biggest surprise lay in store for the businesses that line the street.
Le Trong Tan Street. Photo by VnExpress/Ba Do
Red or blue, sil vous plait!
After nearly two months of construction, Le Trong Tan Street now features 7.5 meter wide pavements, LED lighting systems, trees, flowers and a line of advertising boards available only in two colors.
Photo by VnExpress/Ba Do
VND1.7 billion ($76,000) is the sum generously poured into the street by the sponsor to make it look like its been designed with 3D glasses on, with each blink equal to a billboard hung.
A vote was reportedly held with the attendance of all residents over the decision to make all shopfront signs either blue or red. Despite that, cafe owner Hoan Chau was more than a little astonished when local officials visited her shop to ask what color she would prefer, happily announcing that the plan had been approved by the people.
Centralized planned creative industries?
The prospect of a future void of designers has also provoked an awkward fear among the design community, who will be the first group to take a pounding if the pilot project takes off.
Fear leads to defense, and the artists, of course, turn to art as their first means of expression. Heavily photoshopped pictures filled with all kind of sarcasm flooded the internet the week the street opened, ranging from Time Square riddled in red and cyan billboards to luxury brand tryouts under a 3D filter.
"Model" cover and "model" avatar. Photo: Facebook
Time Square invaded by binary billboards. Photo: Facebook
The brand hasn't landed any deal for a place on this street, but if it happened...
Keeping their own identities!
Regulations make it crystal clear and "much more specific than needed," said Hoan Chau.
To keep her cafe's original billboard, Chau had to shuttle between different agencies for nearly two months.
The cafe with its original billboard. Photo by VnExpress/Xavier Bougois
"I am sick of inspectors who storm in to convince us to follow the regulations."
Chau had to resort to intellectual property law to protect her coffee billboard.
"I support the city's policy to make the billboards uniform. But I think the city should only regulate their size and where we can hang them, not the color and the content," she said. "Many residents are joking that there will be more accidents on the street as people zero in on the billboards to find an address without paying attention to the road, the cafe owner added bitterly.
One fashion shop owner complained that they are welcoming less customers because people think the store is a fake one because it no longer has an original and distinctive billboard. "We plan to move to another street if we are not allowed to hang our sign back up," he said.
Hanoi has already tried to apply a regulation to make all billboards uniform but the project failed miserably as no one complied with the direction.
Hanoi has plans to apply the model to other streets and even the whole city if this archetype can convince the city that it's not a flop. Can you imagine a day when Hanoi streets are adorned only in red and blue? You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. And that's what John said, not me.
This weekend, an army of choreographers, performers and artists will take over the alternative arts space Knockdown Center to explore themes of obedience and submission and are inviting audience members to join in. Directed by Sarah Kinlaw and Monica Mirabile, Authority Figure leverages movement, sound and sculpture to explore different modes of obedience and how they affect us.
Submission to the experience begins with the ticket-buying process. The Personality of Endurance Quiz, five short questions with intriguingly vague options, is a prerequisite, and determines ones personalized entry time with questions like Which best describes your sense of agency? Like-minded groups enter the space in 20-minute intervals. Its a slightly ominous introduction which only heightens the expectations set by the campaign Authority Figure is running on Kickstarter and the social media presences of cast members like artists Alexandra Marzella and India Salvor Menuez, who post to followings of over 40,000. It is mysterious, and its intentional in some way, Mirabile says of the Kickstarter campaign, which doesnt reveal much detail about the project. Each person that goes through is going to experience something different. We dont want people to come in with too many preconceived ideas.
Individual voices played a large role in the development process. More than 150 people contributed to the project: Mirabile, Kinlaw and six others choreographed the movements, but the development included asking everyone to contribute their experiences. Everyone we are working with is someone we admire or collaborated with before, Kinlaw explains. We asked everyone to supply their own voice, the project is very much a product of that. If you pay attention to the music or the movements, you know who did what. Its been a period of growth for everyone. The core group includes longtime collaborators like choreographer Sigrid Lauren, who performs with Mirabile as FlucT. After touring with Caroline Polachek of Chairlift and Ramona Lisa, Kinlaw also tapped her friend to work on the score for Authority Figure alongside talents like Eartheater, Dan Deacon and Devonte Hynes of Blood Orange. The whole thing is about authority and obedience, Mirabile adds. Its all about relationships; these are people I trust.
Visitors will have to extend their trust to the process. The directors recommend wearing comfortable shoes and clothing, but refuse to get very specific about what to expect once inside. Be prepared to stay awhile; but if you want to leave, you of course can, Kinlaw explains. If you come in a group, be willing to break off and embrace the individual experience.
The scramble by Mr. Kaplan, a little-known figure outside Washington politics, shows just how hard it is to meaningfully change the image of Facebook as a politically liberal organization strongly attached to the Democratic Party. That image fostered by how outspoken Mr. Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, Facebooks chief operating officer, have been about their liberal beliefs is increasingly important to change given the companys enormous influence with 1.65 billion members worldwide and its role as a distributor of news and information.
Mr. Kaplan, who is based in Washington, was hired five years ago to counterbalance Facebooks left-leaning perception. Since joining, he has increased the number of Republicans in the companys 100-member Washington office, which include Kevin Martin, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. He also formed Facebooks political action committee and designed its donations to be evenly split between Republican and Democratic candidates.
Mr. Kaplan pushed back on aspects of Facebooks decision to ban private gun sales, a measure that was enacted even after he gave a strong defense of gun ownership. And when progressive groups called this year for Facebook to boycott the Republican convention this summer if Mr. Trump were the partys nominee, Mr. Kaplan told executives that support of both conventions was a good business decision even if they received criticism from the left.
Yet those efforts have been eclipsed by Facebooks executives and their political stances. Mr. Zuckerberg has waded into the fray on immigration by supporting citizenship for children of illegal immigrants. In April, he openly rebuked Mr. Trumps calls for stronger border control and the creation of a wall between the United States and Mexico. Ms. Sandberg, who began her career working for the Clinton administration, has hosted fund-raisers for President Obama and has contributed to Hillary Clintons presidential campaign.
Mr. Zuckerberg has made a public dedication to equal treatment and fair play, Mr. DeMint wrote in a Facebook post on Monday. Millions of Americans, myself included, depend on that guarantee to discuss important issues and share stories that affect our country.
If the Saudis did not participate in this terrorism, they have nothing to fear about going to court. If they did, they should be held accountable.
CHUCK SCHUMER, a New York senator, on a bill he sponsored that would let the families of those killed in the Sept. 11 attacks sue Saudi Arabia for any role in the terrorist plot.
WASHINGTON The Senate confirmed Eric K. Fanning on Tuesday as secretary of the Army, making him the highest-ranking openly gay official ever at the Pentagon.
The voice vote ended a confirmation process that had been delayed for months by a Republican senator who wanted assurances that detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, would not be sent to his state.
But as the senator, Pat Roberts of Kansas, explained how his concerns had been resolved, one of his statements indicated that the administration does not believe it will be able to close the prison before President Obama leaves office.
Mr. Roberts said on the Senate floor that he had been assured last week by the deputy defense secretary, Robert O. Work, that Mr. Obama would not move Guantanamo detainees to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., because the clock has run out.
WASHINGTON Defying pleas by many of its students and faculty to reconsider, George Mason University moved on Tuesday to finalize the renaming of its law school in honor of Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court justice who died recently.
It did so after the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia declined to block the name change, ending for now a debate that has divided George Masons suburban Washington campus since the university announced in March the decision to rename the school and the large gift from conservative donors prompting it.
Though it was expected, the decision came as a disappointment to the students and faculty, as well as a dozen or so Democrats in the Virginia legislature, who opposed the name change out of concern that it would tie the university to a conservative justice whose views, they thought, ran counter to its educational mission.
George Mason administrators ultimately found that argument unpersuasive. And on Tuesday, in a bureaucratic twist, the councils members unanimously decided that in fact they did not have the authority to override the universitys board of visitors, which had already accepted the donations and the terms that came with them.
Finding that the District of Columbias strict gun law is probably unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that, while a challenge to the law is pending, district police must stop requiring applicants to have a good reason for seeking a permit to carry a gun on the street.
Judge Richard J. Leons 46-page ruling in United States District Court in Washington reopens the districts long fight over how much room the Second Amendments guarantee of the right to bear arms leaves for local regulation and whether it applies only to firearms in the home, or to guns carried outside as well.
The law gave the police the discretion to grant concealed-carry licenses only to those with good reason to fear injury or other specific reasons, such as having a job in which they carried large amounts of cash or valuables.
All citizens have a constitutional right to keep firearms in their homes for self-defense, the United States Supreme Court ruled in 2008 in District of Columbia v. Heller.
MIDWEST
Illinois: Officer Involved In Shooting Death Quits
A Chicago police officer whose fatal shooting of an unarmed woman was one in a series of killings of young black people that shattered the publics trust has quit rather than fight to keep his job. The citys police board announced Tuesday that the officer, Dante Servin, who was off duty when he shot Rekia Boyd in 2012, resigned two days before a hearing at which the board was to decide if he should be fired. Ms. Boyd, 22, was walking with friends on a street when Mr. Servin told them to be quiet. He said he had fired because he had seen a person moving toward him with a gun, but the police found only a cellphone at the scene. He was charged with involuntary manslaughter, but a judge acquitted him, saying Mr. Servin had been improperly charged, and suggested that if the act was intentional, then the crime, if any there be, is first-degree murder. The city settled a lawsuit in 2013 with the Boyd family for $4.5 million. (AP)
PLAINS
Kansas: Judge Rules Against Voter ID Law
A federal judge says Kansas cannot require people to show proof of United States citizenship when registering at motor vehicle offices to vote in federal elections. Judge Julie Robinson of United States District Court issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday in a lawsuit over the requirements, but delayed it until May 31 so the state can appeal. Judge Robinson said more than 18,000 eligible voters would be disenfranchised in November under the law. She said Kansas rules violated a provision in the National Voter Registration Act requiring only minimal information for eligibility. Kansas secretary of state, Kris Kobach, said he planned to appeal. The American Civil Liberties Union said the ruling sent a signal to other states that may be considering similar rules. (AP)
WACO, Tex. One year ago Tuesday, law enforcement officials here broke up one of the biggest and deadliest clashes of motorcycle gangs in the country. Gunfire erupted outside a Twin Peaks restaurant at a meeting of a regional coalition of motorcycle clubs after an altercation between two rival groups, the Bandidos and the Cossacks. So many bikers were arrested nearly 200 that officials used the Waco Convention Center for initial processing.
Police have said that the bikers, who attacked one another and fired on police officers, were part of a gang-oriented criminal element that had brought a stockpile of weapons with them. More than 300 handguns, knives, clubs and other weapons were recovered by the police.
Still, a year later, not all those trying to move on from the debacle are bikers with rap sheets.
A crowd of about 80 bikers and their supporters rallied at the steps of the county courthouse on Saturday to mark the anniversary. Long after they left, the widow of Daniel R. Boyett, one of nine bikers who were killed, sat on a bench recalling her husband, who would have turned 45 this month.
Mr. Boyett was a member of the Cossacks, but his widow, Nina Boyett, said he was not looking for trouble. Mr. Boyett, who owned a roadside-service business here, had made plans to be at his nephews fourth birthday party later that day.
Senator Bernie Sanders prevailed over Hillary Clinton on Tuesday in the Oregon primary, according to The Associated Press, while Mrs. Clinton claimed victory in a tight race in Kentucky, the days other contest.
Mrs. Clinton raced around Kentucky in the two days before the primary, hoping to fend off Mr. Sanders in a state that she won easily in 2008. In unofficial results late Tuesday night, Mrs. Clinton edged Mr. Sanders by about 1,900 votes, or less than half a percentage point, with all counties reporting. The Associated Press had not declared a winner by midnight.
The close result meant that she and Mr. Sanders would effectively split the states delegates. Nonetheless, winning Kentucky would give her a symbolic triumph that could blunt the effect of her loss in Oregon as she turns her attention to Donald J. Trump, her likely general election opponent.
Donald J. Trump and the Republican National Committee announced on Tuesday night that they had forged a joint fund-raising agreement allowing donors to make contributions as large as $449,400, spread among the national committee and party committees in 11 states.
The agreement is the product of weeks of negotiations and presents Mr. Trump with his first opportunity to collect large checks from donors as he faces the uphill climb of raising money in six months for a campaign that could realistically cost more than $1 billion.
But the 11 states include only one swing state, Virginia.
The structure is similar to the one created for Mitt Romneys campaign in 2012: Mr. Romneys home state, Democratic-leaning Massachusetts, was included in his agreement, while Mr. Trump has included New York, a state that he believes he can make competitive despite its heavy Democratic edge. Pennsylvania is not on the list, and neither is Ohio or Florida.
The R.N.C.s finance chairman, Lewis M. Eisenberg, will work with Mr. Trumps national finance chairman, Steve Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive.
Monitoring center set up to keep tabs on suspect Formosa wastewater
A new monitoring station in Ha Tinh Province has officially entered service today to check on waste being discharged by Taiwanese steel company Formosa one of the prime suspects for the recent mass fish deaths in central Vietnam.
The center will operate 24/7 and automatically update every two minutes, and is located Ha Tinh's Center for Monitoring and Environmental Engineering.
Formosas environmental activities are being monitored as part of the investigation into the mass fish deaths along the central coast.
Formosa's drainage system. Photo by Duc Hung.
In early April, large quantities of fish washed up dead near the Vung Ang Economic Zone in Ha Tinh Province. This unusual phenomenon spread south along the coast of the central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Tri, Quang Binh and Thua Thien Hue, resulting in a total of 100 tons of fish killed.
According to the results of an initial investigation published by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on April 27, chemical toxins released by human activities or blooming algae (also called a red tide) were identified as the main suspects.
On May 2, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc ordered several ministries to determine the exact cause of the environmental disaster. Five days later, a joint delegation of seven ministries and Vietnam's Academy of Science and Technology conducted an inspection at the Formosa plant. The final results of the inspection have yet to be announced.
Chairman of Ha Tinh People's Committee Dang Quoc Khanh on May 11 approved the plan to install the monitoring center to keep a close eye on the Formosa plant.
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news from Vietnam.
Andrew Plumbly, a Humane Society International campaigner, said, Culture is never an excuse for cruelty.
When the two sides met recently, they found common ground.
Mr. Gong saw no long-term future for his trade. Surveys show that most South Koreans now eat chicken, beef or pork instead of dog meat on boknal, days when they traditionally eat food they believe helps beat the summer heat. None of the young people Mr. Gong knew, including his son, would touch dog meat. He said the image of dog farms was not good.
On a recent day, Mr. Gong saw off 17 of his dogs, the latest batch to be flown to the United States under the deal with the animal protection group. He said he felt better when he saw pictures of the dogs living happily as family pets abroad. He said he might try growing mushrooms now.
I was not ashamed of my way of making a living, but I was not proud of it either, he said, gazing at the dogs still held in cages while they were vaccinated and awaited flights out of South Korea. No one would do this if he could avoid it.
VIENNA Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, said on Tuesday that if President Bashar al-Assad of Syria continues to block access of humanitarian aid to besieged cities and towns, they were prepared to help the World Food Program airdrop food and emergency supplies.
The very fact that they had to threaten the airdrops which are expensive and often inaccurate amounted to an admission of how little progress has been made in achieving either the lasting cease-fire or the regular humanitarian relief that European and Arab nations, along with Iran, laid out as the first steps toward a broader peace agreement.
The threat to conduct airdrops came after a meeting in Vienna of the International Syria Support Group, made up of the nations that drafted a largely unimplemented plan to end the countrys civil war. They gathered at a low point: A once-promising cessation of hostilities has largely collapsed, an effort to start negotiations between the opposition and the government broke down, and there has been no progress toward negotiating a political transition that was supposed to begin on Aug. 1.
Bolstered by Russias intervention to help prop him up, Mr. Assad is in a stronger position than he has been in years, many experts say, and has rejected the idea that any new government would have to exclude him. He has the strong support of Iran, his longtime provider of security, though Russian officials seem less concerned about whether Mr. Assad himself remains in power or is replaced by another leader from his Alawite Shiite sect.
No choreographer alive has built up a stronger reputation for musicality than Mark Morris. In his finest works, he taps both our most primal and our most sophisticated responses to music. Thats not the only reason he has been recognized since the 1980s as one of the very few great choreographers of our day there are also his exceptional imagination; his phenomenal wit; the profundity of his view of society; his insistence on live music; and his exceptionally honest, natural dancers but its fundamental.
He has also, however, made works in which he seems to trivialize musicality, devising dance effects whose timing and structure seem smart-aleck, pedantic, campy. In these pieces, he shows a tiresome fondness for short-breathed, end-stopped dance phrases that dog the music like a distracting running commentary. This side was predominant on Tuesday, in the quadruple bill at the Mark Morris Dance Studio.
The program contains an unimportant world premiere (A Forest), set to one of Haydns most amazing piano trios (No. 44 in E). What puzzles further is Mr. Morriss decision to accompany this with the revivals of two older and yet less substantial works: Cargo (2005), set to Milhauds La Creation du Monde (the piano quintet version); and Foursome (2002), an annoying exercise for four men that, by alternating between Erik Saties Gnossiennes Nos. 1, 2 and 3 and Johann Nepomuk Hummels Seven Hungarian Dances, has a reductive effect on both scores. It seems from these three that Mr. Morris has set out to make his own talent and his musicality look petty.
LONDON In April 1967, a 20-year-old art student, Hamish Fulton, hitchhiked from London to Andorra in the Pyrenees and back, and typed up his itinerary on a few sheets of paper. Petrol Station on Route N20 to Orleans, 10 p.m., one entry read. France/Andorra frontier, 10:00 a.m., read another. He then submitted the two pages as a work of art to his college, the St. Martins School of Art.
Mr. Fultons cheeky piece Hitchhiking Times From London to Andorra and From Andorra to London, 9-15 April 1967 is now hanging on a wall of Tate Britain as part of the exhibition Conceptual Art in Britain: 1964-1979. Running through Aug. 29, the exhibition brings together 70 works by 21 artists whose aim was to produce art about ideas and the creative process.
Some displays are quirky and amusing, such as the tall pyramid of fresh oranges by Roelof Louw (originally conceived in 1967), which visitors are invited to help themselves to. Others are charts, maps, archival photographs and writings, such as the 18 sheets of conversation with words inscribed on musical staves between members of the text-driven Art & Language group.
None of these artworks are really for passive contemplation, said Andrew Wilson, curator of British contemporary art and archives at Tate, who put together the show. Theyre not pleasant arrangements of shapes and colors on a canvas. They are provocations, some of them: provocations to actually thinking what art might be.
That intimacy is echoed time and again on Coloring Book. Chance is one of hip-hops pre-eminent memoirists, a pinpoint recollector of childhood stories who uses them as universal parables. He opens Summer Friends with wistfulness: Socks on concrete, Jolly Rancher kids/I was talking back and now I gotta stay at grandmas crib. But later, the song becomes a eulogy for that same childhood innocence, decimated by Chicago violence: Our summer dont get no shine no more/Our summer die, our summertime dont got no time no more.
Image Chance the Rappers new album, Coloring Book.
Chance is a vernacular progressive, a dexterous rapper who shrugs at his own facility at every turn for him, complexity isnt a cudgel, its a showcase. He shows it off in the density of his rhymes, but mostly in his rhythms and melodies: few rappers are as comfortable with shifting gears mid-flow, and even fewer sound so at ease doing so.
Chance isnt modest, though at least, not about his ambition. Hes connected enough and comfortable enough to get a rare verse by the hip-hop specter Jay Electronica on How Great, corral Justin Bieber for a cameo on Juke Jam and to refer to Beyonce as Auntie Yonce. And though Coloring Book is advertised as a mixtape, its as tightly orchestrated as any album, full of guests who feel the same: Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz, clever on No Problem; a scrappy Young Thug and a startlingly great Lil Yachty on Mixtape.
That song is Chances statement of economic purpose: How can they call themselves bosses when they got so many bosses?/You gotta see what your boss say/I get it straight out the faucet. His resentment about record labels is mid-1990s in spirit, but transposed for an era in which an artist with his gifts doesnt need one to succeed. (Coloring Book is currently available as an Apple Music streaming exclusive; it eventually will be released more widely, though will not be made available for sale.) He frames this distaste in religious terms: They want four-minute songs/You need a four-hour praise dance performed every morn.
Of course, in Chances universe, the pop song is the praise song. Hes a slick warrior for independent artists, for the sanctity and sanity of his hometown, for his family, for the Lord. Mr. West has been juggling concerns exterior and interior, big and small for more than a decade. With Chance, theres no more need to juggle.
The Metropolitan Opera is not the only major American company in the market for a new music director. The San Francisco Opera announced Wednesday that its music director, Nicola Luisotti, would step down when his contract is up at the end of the 2017-18 season.
The announcement means that the company will soon be under new artistic leadership as well as new administrative leadership. Its general director, David Gockley, is stepping down at the end of the current season and will be succeeded by Matthew Shilvock.
Mr. Luisotti, 55, who was born in Tuscany, was appointed by Mr. Gockley and assumed the San Francisco post in 2009, succeeding Donald Runnicles. He said in a statement that he wanted Mr. Shilvock to be able to move freely into the future with his ideas, his artistic interests and to take San Francisco Opera into a new direction.
As hard as it is for me to say this about a company I so dearly love, I sincerely believe this is the right path and the right time for me and San Francisco Opera, he said in the statement, in which he said he would look to new opportunities.
I love the song we did in Episode 16 of Season 2, Chasing the Sky. Its a great, anthemic song, it involves the whole family, and I love best the songs that really tell stories. We always try to use music as story. For me, the songs that work best are the ones that do that most powerfully. To that end, Powerful, which was the Alicia Keys-Jussie Smollett duet, was also a powerful song and very much a story point. If we go back to Season 1, Jussies rendition of his father Luciouss song, in which he turns the pronoun and uses the song to come out in his fathers face was a great moment, and one of my very favorites.
As for the second question, we take in peoples reactions to characters, and they certainly permeate our thinking, but we dont make decisions based on them. We tell the stories we want to tell, but I would be lying if I said we werent affected by the passions of the shows fans.
Can you give an example of how fans affected the show?
We certainly heard our fans at the beginning of Season 2 when they told us they didnt care so much about all of these guest stars. They care about the Lyon family.
Once the shows a hit, you dont need to do stunt casting to get people to watch, right?
Its a temptation and a trap that a lot of shows fall into. We came to that conclusion on our own, but certainly our fans helped us reach it.
Will Luciouss A.L.S. affect him again? Imani king-mason, Canada
I would like to say Luciouss A.L.S. will affect him again. I cant say how, but it occurred to me that we havent referenced it for a while, and it is an ongoing situation for him. We need to acknowledge again that hes someone whos living with an illness that needs to be managed.
When the actress Robin Wright was negotiating a pay raise that would make her earnings for House of Cards equal to those of her co-star Kevin Spacey, she used a tactic that wouldve made her alter ego, Claire Underwood, proud: She leveraged her power by threatening to go public about pay inequality.
Ms. Wright, who plays a calculating first lady to Mr. Spaceys equally ruthless President Frank Underwood on the Netflix drama, told the audience at a Rockefeller Foundation event in New York on Tuesday that shed learned the two characters were equally popular with viewers.
So I capitalized on it, Ms. Wright told the room, according to The Huffington Post. I was like, You better pay me or Im going to go public.
Have you heard the one about the comedian and the personal demons?
Oh, thats right, you have. Youve seen Marc Maron battle angst and addiction on Maron, Louis C. K. ponder single fatherhood on Louie, Will Arnett cope with alcoholism on Flaked. Now, on Netflixs Lady Dynamite, Maria Bamford
No, dont stop me yet. You havent heard this one quite this way before.
Ms. Bamford, who has been treated for depression and bipolar disorder, has made that struggle a theme of her standup. Lady Dynamite, whose first season lands on Netflix on Friday, is a layered, surreal sitcom of mental illness that takes up residence in her hilarious and unsettling psyche.
The series opens with a fantasy sequence: Ms. Bamford, playing a version of herself, cavorts in a pitch-perfect 70s-vintage hair-products commercial. (A ladys got to be ready for when it happens. And right now, its happening!) Shes shaken out of her reverie by a production worker, who tells her she needs to get to work on her show namely, the one that were watching.
Within that show, Marias TV reality is something like her biographical reality: Shes a comedian and actress in Los Angeles who had a career breakthrough, then a breakdown. (In the first episode, she installs a bench in front of her house to connect with her community, something the real Ms. Bamford did.)
Wall Street is putting its old Washington ways on ice.
Big banks are infamous for lobbying against financial reform. Lately, though, they have cut back. Now they are pushing Representative Jeb Hensarling, a prominent congressional Republican, to drop a bill to repeal the Dodd-Frank Act.
The latest efforts to upend the 2010 law ought to appeal to the likes of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs. They have, after all, complained about things as diverse as capital charges, mortgage reform and how watchdogs handle annual stress tests.
Mr. Hensarling, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, plans to introduce a bill that would undermine many of those measures. Wall Street lobbyists, though, are not offering support.
A police major and one of his officers who allegedly beat a man suspected of stealing a motorbike to death during an interrogation were sentenced yesterday to 18 months and 11 months in jail respectively.
The Supreme Peoples Court of the southern province of Dong Nai yesterday sentenced Huynh Ngoc Tong, 41, to 18 months imprisonment, and Pham Xuan Binh, 31, to 11 months and 11 days for the use of corporal punishment.
Tong and Binh in court yesterday. Photo VnExpress/A.X
In November 2012, police in Dong Nai arrested Nguyen Tuan Thanh for allegedly stealing a motorbike.
Thanh admitted that he and his accomplices had stolen six motorbikes. After his first interrogation, Thanh was left with heavy bruising on his shoulders, chest, arms and legs.
The following morning, two policemen continued to interrogate Thanh, but they did not record a statement.
Several hours after his interrogation, Thanh was found unconscious and died after being taken to hospital.
An autopsy conducted by the Vietnam Armed Forces Institute of Forensic Medicine showed that Thanh died from multiple beatings.
In court, Tong denied using corporal punishment, while Binh only admitted to punching Thanh, saying that no torture instruments were used. Several other police officers are suspected of being involved in the beatings, but they have not been charged due to lack of evidence.
A federal judges order last week ending the planned merger of Staples and Office Depot took many in the antitrust community by surprise, but only slightly more so than the decision of the lead defense lawyer, Diane Sullivan, to rest without presenting evidence.
One must ask what such courtroom bravado her firms website quotes The American Lawyer as saying that Ms. Sullivan isnt a hired gun; shes more like a hired bazooka says about the self-confidence of merging parties and their counsel. Their strategy came as the vigor in federal merger enforcement had apparently been revived, and even exaggerated, even though this deal was in so many other ways big and audacious. One must also ask whether the firm will take action quite this risky again.
At the time of the order, no one yet knew its details, as Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia issued only a bare-bones order and the promise of a later written opinion. The ruling was released on Tuesday, and it strongly endorses competition and antitrust.
Though it hardly breaks legal ground, the 75-page opinion emphasizes that mergers this breathtakingly big will not be taken lightly. It reaffirmed a pro-enforcement stance on market definition (that imperfect, art-and-science effort by which courts gauge a mergers competitive effects), relying extensively on another big Federal Trade Commission victory in the 2014 case challenging ProMedicas acquisition of its rival St. Lukes Hospital, and reaffirmed merger laws once-strong incipiency rule, which takes competitive threats seriously enough to stop even those deals that merely threaten some potential harm.
Its hard to sell any company, but Yahoo is finding that it may be even harder when the entire world seems to know about your supposedly secret bidding.
Secrecy is supposed to be the sine qua non of deal-making. An early leak can destroy a deal by driving the share price of the target company too high or by alerting other potential bidders.
As a result, deal makers are known for their secrecy, using code names and holding clandestine meetings. In the 1980s, it was not uncommon for law firms to sweep for bugs and for arbitrageurs to camp outside law firm offices to try to figure out who would be the next hostile raider target.
Secrets are not always kept, to be sure; in fact, leaks in deal-making are an art form practiced for a variety of purposes. It may just be about a lawyer or a banker cozying up to a journalist. In Britain, it is standard practice to do a leak announcement at the start of a negotiation, as bankers are known for regularly leaking deals. It is not quite like that in the United States, but there is a steady stream of dialogue among lawyers, bankers and journalists. After all, they are all in this game together and are likely to see each other again in the next big deal.
LONDON Shareholders are set to consider whether to approve the all-share merger of the London Stock Exchange Group and Deutsche Borse in July, after Britons vote on whether to leave the European Union, the companies said on Wednesday.
The exchange operators have previously said that an exit by Britain would not change the deal, but that it could well affect the volume or nature of business carried out by the combined company. A vote on whether to stay in the European Union is set for June 23.
If Britain were to leave the bloc, the merger would allow London, which has served as a financial gateway to Europe, to maintain economic ties to the Continent.
The London Stock Exchange Group and Deutsche Borse said in a news release on Wednesday that they continue to make good progress with the preparation of the relevant documentation for their shareholders in relation to the recommended all-share merger.
The Weills signaled their westward shift on April 26 by announcing a $185 million gift to the University of California, San Francisco, to finance a new Weill Institute for Neurosciences.
In recent years, the couple has retired from board leadership roles at three New York institutions they continue to back: Weill Cornell medical school, Carnegie Hall and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. But until the latest gift was announced, few New Yorkers familiar with Mr. Weills storied Wall Street history knew that they had moved.
In his heyday in the 1990s, Mr. Weill was a Sun King one of the most powerful and successful financial individuals in New York, said Roy Smith, a finance professor at New York University business school. Mr. Weill gained that status as a deal maker, with a series of ever-larger mergers culminating with Citicorp and the Travelers Group forming the behemoth Citigroup in 1998. The last deal helped knock down the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act, which separated banking from the riskier securities business.
But then he and Citigroup suffered a series of setbacks. He stepped down as Citigroups chief executive in 2003, a few months after a bruising regulatory probe of biased Wall Street research uncovered his personal efforts to get the star telecommunications analyst Jack Grubman to reconsider a tepid neutral rating on AT&T stock at a time when AT&Ts chief executive was a Citigroup director; though Mr. Weill was not charged, Citigroup paid the largest fine of any Wall Street company.
And he and Citigroup were cited as contributors to the 2008 financial crisis by Time magazine and the Oscar-winning documentary Inside Job. Knocking down Glass-Steagall helped spawn swollen banks that are now one of the countrys major economic problems, Time said, noting that Citigroup itself required multiple government rescues costing $45 billion. In 2010 testimony before a congressional panel investigating the meltdown, Mr. Weill minimized the role of Glass-Steagalls repeal, saying it had nothing to do with the financial crisis.
When he retired as Citigroup chairman in 2006, Mr. Weill held 16.6 million Citigroup shares, then worth $768 million. At his peak in 2007, Forbes listed his net worth at $1.8 billion. But the stock lost more than 90 percent of its value after his handpicked successor allowed Citigroup to build up a huge exposure to toxic subprime assets.
Would you buy a Nokia cellphone?
Thats the question that Foxconn, the Taiwanese technology giant, and HMD Global, a Finnish company, are hoping to answer after they joined forces on Wednesday to license the once-powerful brand to build smartphones and tablets, primarily for customers in emerging countries.
The announcement signals the potential return of Nokia-branded phones after the company sold its handset division in 2013 for $7.2 billion to Microsoft, which subsequently wrote down most of that investment. Microsoft later discontinued Nokia-brand smartphones.
The attempt to revive Nokia phones and tablets (the company had previously licensed its brand to Foxconn to make a tablet in China in 2014) also comes almost two decades after Nokia, then the worlds largest smartphone maker, reached its highest valuation of almost $250 billion. It is now worth around $30 billion.
LinkedIn said on Wednesday that hackers were attempting to sell what they claimed were 117 million email addresses and passwords of its users, suggesting that a data breach in 2012 was magnitudes bigger than initially thought.
We are taking immediate steps to invalidate the passwords of the accounts impacted, and we will contact those members to reset their passwords, LinkedIn said in a statement. We have no indication that this is as a result of a new security breach.
LinkedIn is investigating the authenticity of the data, the company said. But a security researcher, Troy Hunt, said on Twitter that he had verified a portion of the breach and that it was highly likely this is legit.
The hacker is trying to sell the data on an illegal marketplace for five bitcoin, or about $2,200, according to Motherboard.
Suzuki Motor said on Wednesday that it had used improper methods to determine the fuel economy of 16 vehicles it sells in Japan, adding to the list of automakers that have come under scrutiny for how they perform in government tests.
Suzuki said that it had not sought to mislead customers, and that its testing had not exaggerated mileage ratings. It said it did not plan to restate any published ratings.
Still, the disclosure is likely to add to industrywide doubts over carmakers and the fuel-test results they report to governments around the world.
That scrutiny has hit Japans auto industry in recent weeks. On Wednesday, Mitsubishi Motors said that Tetsuro Aikawa, its president, would resign after the companys disclosure that its engineers deliberately used unapproved test procedures that exaggerated fuel performance by as much as 15 percent on some models.
When the founders of Credo, a beauty boutique that opened in New York last week, were planning how the store should look, they checked out other green spaces ones that sold, say, yoga mats made of recycled rubber and thought a lot about the differences between a Tesla and a Prius.
We wanted to be Tesla, said Annie Jackson, Credos vice president for merchandising and planning. We didnt want the terrariums and the Zen music in our store.
What Credo, a Sephora-like one-stop shop that opened its first outpost in San Francisco last June, is selling is face creams and eyeliners from companies that dont use any of the ingredients it says are harmful, like formaldehyde or parabens. The list bans 23 groups of ingredients, like animal products and phthalates, a class of plasticizing chemicals.
Name Hailey Gates
Age 26
Hometown Los Angeles. Growing up, I moved about 16 times in the city, Ms. Gates said. Ive lived everywhere from Elviss weird bachelor pad in Bel Air to across the street from the house where Sharon Tate was murdered.
Now Lives In a one-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side, close to Central Park. I have a Mailer-Breslin and the 51st State poster, and a neon-pink sign of Raouls in SoHo, one of my favorite restaurants, she said of her quirky design taste.
Claim to Fame Ms. Gates is a model and the host of States of Undress, a travel series on the new cable channel Viceland that explores the societal impact of fashion in various countries. In the first season, which just ended, she interviews an extremist imam in Pakistan, prowls a runway alongside aspiring beauty queens in Venezuela, and gets her hair done in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Big Break In 2012, after graduating from the theater program at New York University, Ms. Gates landed a supporting role in Ricki and the Flash, starring Meryl Streep. She also did some modeling, starring in fashion campaigns for Miu Miu, Target and Costume National. Vice executives liked her film work (which also included several independent films) and contacted her to host States of Undress. I met with Viceland and decided to do the show on Tuesday, Ms. Gates said. And by Friday, I was on a plane to Pakistan.
Britt Aboutaleb, who is the editor in chief of the fashion website Racked.com, worked at Scoop from 2007 to 2008. I grew up in the suburbs, she said. It was not a normal thing to have an Oscar-winning actress shop for vacation wear. But there was a feeling at Scoop like you were shopping with friends. Once, Naomi Campbell came in looking for a dress. I recognized her right away. When she found one, she hugged me. I thought, Oh, my God, Ive made it.
Just being a saleswoman had a certain zeitgeisty allure. Ms. Rothberg was a lawyer in Brooklyn Family Court when she started working as a part-time cashier at Scoop. I did it so I could get a discount on the clothes, she said.
She remembers fashion crazes the store helped spread: jeans from Seven for All Mankind, some of the first designer jeans to cost well over $100; Jimmy Choo boots that, at $1,000, still had wait lists longer than my body, and the way some women bought up tiny shirts in bulk from the French line Petit Bateau. Even a $30 headband made from a bra strap became a covetable object.
Everyone wore them and fought over them, Ms. Rothberg said. But I always thought that one was a bit like The Emperors New Clothes.
Informant of prostitution activities will be awarded by the authority. : Kien Tuong
Members of the public may be awarded up to VND5 million (250USD) for informing police about illegal activities such as prostitution and human trafficking, according to authorities in District 12.
The money will act as an incentive to encourage groups and individuals to join the fight against crime and drugs and maintain security and order in the city, according to the district's Peoples Committee.
Informants will receive from VND2-5 million for helping police to crack prostitution, human trafficking, gambling and drug cases. The same reward will be given to people who provide information related to the distribution of reactionary documents or leaflets that may harm national security.
Rewards will also be given to people who catch thieves or provide information to police regarding robberies, loan sharks, wanted criminals, illegal economic activities, unsafe food production and environmental pollution.
Funding for the plan will come from voluntary support and contributions made by agencies, businesses and individual sponsors. Chairman of District 12 Le Truong Hai Hieu told VnExpress the rewards are a token of gratitude for citizens who contribute to ensuring national security.
He said the police remain responsible for using the information they gather, but anyone who provides information deserves to be rewarded if it is verified.
For example, if someone captures a burglary on camera, it is up to the police to arrest the thieves, but the person still deserves credit for providing the images," Hieu said .
The growing burden of untreated mental disorders in the worlds two most populous countries, India and China, cannot be adequately addressed without changes to their health care systems and by training folk healers to become collaborators, a new report has found.
The analysis, published as a part of a series in the journals The Lancet and The Lancet Psychiatry, draws on years of medical surveys in those countries. It represents the latest effort by an international coalition of researchers to put mental health care at the center of the global health agenda; last month, the World Bank and the World Health Organization convened hundreds of public officials, doctors and other specialists in a landmark meeting in Washington to focus attention on global mental health.
The new research, presented in three papers, found that less than 10 percent of people in India and China with a mental disorder received effective treatment, and that the resulting burden of disability from those two countries was higher than in all Western countries combined.
India and China together represent more than a third of the worlds population, and both countries are at a remarkable stage of epidemiologic and demographic transition, said a co-author of one of the papers, Dr. Vikram Patel, a professor of international mental health and co-founder of a community-based mental health center, Sangath, in Goa State in India, in a recorded interview accompanying the articles.
Instead, only photographers and videographers would be permitted inside, to record the ritual handshakes between Mr. Kerry and Mr. Sisi images that will suggest all is right between the authoritarian former general who leads Egypt and the nation that provides him with F-16s, helicopters and tanks, as well as riot control equipment that human rights groups say may be used to facilitate Egypts crackdown against activists.
In fact, this meeting comes against a backdrop of increasing tension over Washingtons $1.3 billion in annual military aid to Egypt, which in recent years has been dwarfed by inflows to the country from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The State Department has lately been unable to obtain answers to its questions about whether any equipment bought with American dollars has been used by Egyptians to violate human rights, according to a blistering 77-page report issued last week by the Government Accountability Office.
After more than two decades of traveling with American presidents and chief diplomats on visits to places that have included some of the worlds most repressive nations I am used to watching leaders disappear behind closed doors. But not even being allowed to see the doors close sets something of a new standard.
State Department officials said that once they learned reporters would be barred from the palace, they never even requested visas for us so we could, as is customary, follow Mr. Kerry into the capital for his two- to three-hour visit. Instead, those who made the long trip were stuck in a lounge at the airport.
CANNES, France The Chilean director Pablo Larrain calls Neruda, his latest movie, the anti-bio. Part fact, part glorious fantasy, it opens in 1948, shortly before the poet Pablo Neruda (a magnificent Luis Gnecco), is forced to go into hiding. A Communist and senator, Neruda has become an enemy of the state, having violently and very publicly condemned the Chilean President Gabriel Gonzalez Videla. Chased from the Senate and his home, Neruda flees with his artist-wife, Delia (Mercedes Moran), the two slipping underground while chased by a vainglorious cop (played by Gael Garcia Bernal, the star of No).
In Neruda, Mr. Larrain steers clear of cradle-to-grave cliches for a formally exciting movie that both places Neruda in a specific world-historical moment and shows him as a poet of the people of fawning intellectuals, striking workers, adoring prostitutes. The movie screened in La Quinzane des Realisateurs (Directors Fortnight), a prestigious program that runs in parallel with the Cannes Film Festival. Mr. Larrain, 39, was last in the program in 2012 with No, the final part in his trilogy about life under the savage Pinochet dictatorship.
I spoke to Mr. Larrain on Monday night about biography, cinema and why Neruda which is far better than some of the feature competition titles in the official Cannes festival isnt in the main event here. Here are edited excerpts from the conversation.
You didnt want to do a straight-ahead biography why not?
Because biopics are so dangerous, I think, and I have enjoyed very few of them. Believe me, I read four biographies, I read his autobiography; its a beautiful book. I talked to people who met him, I read hundreds of essays on his life and I made a movie thats called Neruda.
When 5-year-old Timothy Wiltsey vanished on a spring evening in 1991, the story his mother told the police was chilling every parents worst nightmare made real. His mother, Michelle Lodzinski, maintained that Timmy, as he was known, had disappeared from a town carnival in New Jersey.
Five months later, the boys sneaker was found in a swampy part of an industrial park where his mother once worked. His remains were found there too, six months after that.
But it would take a blue blanket, its color long faded but the memory of it held firm by those who had seen it covering Timmy long ago, to finally break the case.
On Wednesday, 25 years after Timmy disappeared, a jury found his mother guilty of his murder, closing one of the states most notorious cold cases.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. Google on Wednesday introduced Google Home, a voice-controlled, Internet-connected speaker that competes directly with Amazons smart speaker, Echo, which costs $180. The company also introduced Allo, a messaging app, and a rebranding of its virtual assistant.
Heres a quick explanation of what these major announcements, made at the Google I/O developer conference, mean for consumers.
What do Home and Echo have in common?
Home and Echo are both speakers that require a wired power connection. They stream music and perform tasks like web searches, adding calendar appointments and looking up movie showtimes over an Internet connection.
What are the differences between Google Home and Amazon Echo?
Google has yet to share many important details, including a price tag, about Google Home, which is scheduled for release this fall. However, from the announcement we can glean a few differences:
Home, which can easily be held in one hand, is shorter and more compact than Echo.
To help overcome upgrade issues, Microsoft and tech experts offered tips on diagnosing and treating Windows 10 problems.
Back Up Your Data
Before starting an installation, back up all of your data. Microsoft designed the Windows 10 upgrade to be seamless a push of a button and you get going. While the company does not officially recommend that you create a backup, this is a must for any operating system upgrade. You never know if an unforeseen circumstance, like a power or Internet failure, could interfere with your installation. Services like Backblaze and CrashPlan are handy tools for making backups.
Identify the Problem
Brian Denslow, a technician for Tech Collective, an information technology consulting company in San Francisco, said his experience upgrading clients to Windows 10 had been smooth. For example, when upgrading a law firms machines to Windows 10, only one out of 50 PCs had issues, he said.
So what is the culprit behind Windows 10 upgrades going wrong? Mr. Denslow said the machines that tended to have problems were cheap computers that cost $300 or less, like budget models made by Acer or Asus.
Cheaper machines tend to be loaded up with parts manufactured by component makers that have neglected to update their drivers the software written for devices or components to work with the operating system for the new Windows system, he said.
Before users switch to Windows 10, Microsoft runs a compatibility checker to see if any apps or devices will stop working after an upgrade to Windows 10. Yet many readers said that the checker failed to identify issues before installing the upgrade.
Mr. Dennis of Microsoft said the compatibility checker was imperfect. Some manufacturers and component makers may not have kept their software drivers up to date, which can lead to problems.
You may have heard the theory that Silicon Valley has been instrumental in the rise of Donald J. Trump.
The idea goes like this: Unlike many of his political rivals, Mr. Trump seems to understand that social media has become the nervous system of the American news business. On Twitter, where he regularly regales his millions of followers with 140-character bursts of id, Mr. Trumps posts are mainlined and amplified by the rest of the media; with one or two tweets, he can dominate cable TV, the web, newspapers and talk radio for an entire day. The pattern was on display again this week, when Mr. Trump blasted The New York Times over a critical story about his treatment of women.
This theory is not exactly bunk. Its true that Mr. Trumps Twitter feed, with its staccato cadences and unending exclamation marks, can be irresistible even to his critics. He is among a handful of politicians who use Twitter as real people do casually, bitingly and free of the jargon that clogs up most other pols tweets. Mr. Trump has also cultivated a Twitter fan base that can be domineering in its attempts to harangue and silence critics, another force multiplier in the day-to-day war for media dominance.
But dont bet that Mr. Trumps mastery over social media will help him in November. He has used Twitter as a tool to foment culturewide rage its his big, inescapable bullhorn. Yet winning a presidential campaign involves more than simply whipping up unfocused outrage. It also requires more discrete, personalized messaging targeted to specific sets of voters and potential volunteers, a goal for which Twitter is spectacularly ill suited.
Two weeks later, Mr. Trump declared he would not run, citing his passion for business and a new contract with NBC for Celebrity Apprentice.
He was gone, but the anger of many G.O.P. voters remained. Rick Santorum, not Mr. Trump, wound up being the insurgent who gave the party establishment fits. He came a lot closer to beating Mr. Romney than a lot of people remember (and its not hard to imagine that Mr. Trump could have done even better).
In 2011, Mr. Trump had a chance to give his media strategy a test run. The New York Times article on his farewell from the race suggested that the most noteworthy element of his flirtation as a candidate was a media culture that increasingly seems to give the spotlight to the loudest, most outrageous voices. Stuart Spencer, a former political strategist for Ronald Reagan, was quoted as saying, The media made him, the media kept him, the media kept promoting him.
Mr. Trump also demonstrated his willingness and ability to mine racial and ethnic resentment. In 2011, Mr. Trump said, China is raping us. Four years later, he said Mexico was sending rapists to the United States.
In the run-up to the Trump candidacy of 2016, Gabriel Sherman reported in New York magazine that an employee of Mr. Trump, Sam Nunberg who was later fired for racially charged Facebook posts under his name measured the bases pulse.
I listened to thousands of hours of talk radio, and he was getting reports from me, Nunberg recalled. What those reports said was that the G.O.P. base was frothing over a handful of issues including immigration, Obamacare and Common Core. While Jeb Bush talked about crossing the border as an act of love, Trump was thinking about how high to build his wall.
But maybe more than anything, Mr. Trump showed in 2011 how he would deploy conspiracy theories. Being a birther was merely a start. He associated with conspiracy purveyors like Alex Jones, a syndicated radio host. Among many examples in the last year, The Times wrote in March, Mr. Trump reposted information on Twitter from the website Infowars, hosted by Mr. Jones, to support his unsubstantiated claim that thousands of Muslims in New Jersey cheered the Sept. 11 attacks.
George Zimmerman isnt giving up.
After he failed in his first two attempts to auction the firearm he used in 2012 to fatally shoot Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black 17-year-old, the former Florida neighborhood watch volunteer said Wednesday that he was evaluating fresh bids.
Mr. Zimmermans third auction, hosted by the United Gun Groups website, closed at noon with a high bid of $138,900 by one John Smith. It was not known whether the buyer was serious or another of the saboteurs who had foiled Mr. Zimmermans last attempt by driving the price up to a bogus $66 million.
The initial auction listing, placed last week on gunbroker.com, was removed after the company received a wave of negative attention.
United Gun Group released a statement shortly after auction, saying that Mr. Zimmerman was vetting several offers. (The company said it had actually conducted two auctions simultaneously, one open to prequalified bidders and another open to the public.)
When the Obama administration directed public schools on Friday to accommodate transgender students by ensuring that they may use school bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice, the latest battle in the nations culture wars became even more contentious. Conservatives called the action an illegal overreach that will put children in danger. Advocates for transgender rights hailed it as a breakthrough for civil rights.
High school students from around the country shared their thoughts with The New York Times on Facebook. Their opinions ranged from anger to joy, and they offered a glimpse into how students are experiencing the issue in their schools and neighborhoods.
The right direction
Image Zoe Allen
The Obama administration has taken significant steps in the right direction in social reform throughout its almost eight-year tenure, and this is just adding to its legacy. The United States was built on freedom and justice for all, and discriminatory laws against transgender students simply disregard not just the Constitution, but the well-being of U.S. citizens. We live in 2016, and acceptance of everyone of every creed, race, sexuality, gender and background is not only a reflection of the time that we live in, but a necessity in American society.
The Boeing C-17 carries equipments set to assist the arrival of the U.S. president. Photo by VnExpress
A delegation of around 800 people transported by specialized aircraft will escort U.S. President Obama during his visit to Vietnam from May 23 to 25, according to a VnExpress source.
Besides Air Force One carying President Barack Obama and another specialized aircraft carrying Secretary of State John Kerry, there will be two or three other planes carrying the entourage scheduled to land at different times at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on the morning of May 23.
Vietnams Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has been preparing for the arrival of Air Force One. A runway will be dedicated to the arrival of the delegation, five minutes before landing. Security measures around the president's plane will also be in place. Commercial flights will be delayed and asked to circle the airport while Air Force One is landing.
Other airports capable of receiving the president's plane, including Da Nang, have also been put on standby. The U.S. has already conducted security checks at these airports to prepare for the arrival of Air Force One.
Under Vietnam's aviation industry regulations, air traffic controllers who serve during such occasions are required to have top professional qualifications and experience in handling unforeseen circumstances, with at least three year of continuous experience.
Earlier this week, some Boeing C-17 Globemaster III heavy military transport aircraft landed at Noi Bai carrying equipment to assist the arrival of the U.S. president. The president's private car and Marine One are expected to arrive by the end of the week.
"The Vietnam Aviation Authority and the U.S. are coordinating to ensure the flight's safety. During the special reception for the U.S. President, civil aviation will be affected, but we strive to keep the disturbance to a minimum," said a representative from the CAA.
According to Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, President Obama will visit Vietnam from May 23 to 25. He is expected to meet for talks with local leaders to discuss cooperation in various fields, including the economy, security, and regional and international issues. Obama will also deliver a speech on the Vietnam U.S. relationship in Hanoi.
Without the bullying, I was able to focus, said Sydney DeBerry, 20, who left a private school to enroll in the Electronic Classroom, which she graduated from in 2014. That was a big distraction, not only to my work but to my individuality.
Students who made it to graduation said self-motivation was crucial. Contrary to popular opinion, you cannot just log on once a week and get by and still pass your classes, said Dianna Norwood, 19, who graduated last year and is now a student at Ohio State University.
But other students complained that the school could make it difficult to succeed.
Alliyah Graham, 19, said she had sought out the Electronic Classroom during her junior year because she felt isolated as one of a few African-American girls at a mostly white public school in a Cincinnati suburb.
It took three weeks for the Electronic Classroom to enter her in its system, she said. Then it assigned her to classes she had already passed at her previous school. When she ran into technical problems, she said, I really just had to wing it.
Ms. Graham, who hopes to pursue a career in medicine, has also been disappointed by the quality of assignments. She showed a reporter a digital work sheet for a senior English class, in which students were asked to read a passage and then fill in boxes, circles and trapezoids, noting the main idea, a picture/drawing, or questions you have.
I feel like I did this kind of work in middle school, Ms. Graham said.
When she turns in assignments, she said, feedback from teachers is minimal. Good job! they write. Keep going!
She hopes to graduate this spring.
Her cousin, Makyla Woods, 19, moved to Cincinnati from Georgia last year, as a senior, to live with her father. Since Ms. Graham was already enrolled in the Electronic Classroom, Ms. Woods decided to give it a try.
But she soon moved out from her fathers apartment, took a job at McDonalds and stopped doing assignments. I just got lazy doing work on the computer, she said.
But his newly resolute attitude is also the cumulative result of months of anger at the national Democratic Party over a debate schedule that his campaign said favored Mrs. Clinton; a fund-raising arrangement between the party and the Clinton campaign; the appointment of fierce Clinton partisans as leaders of important convention committees; and the partys rebuke of Mr. Sanders on Tuesday for not clearly condemning a melee at the Nevada Democratic convention on Saturday.
While Mr. Sanders says he does not want Mr. Trump to win in November, his advisers and allies say he is willing to do some harm to Mrs. Clinton in the shorter term if it means he can capture a majority of the 475 pledged delegates at stake in California and arrive at the Philadelphia convention with maximum political power.
Tad Devine, a senior adviser to Mr. Sanders, said the campaign did not think its attacks would help Mr. Trump in the long run, but added that the senators team was not thinking about the possibility that they could help derail Mrs. Clinton from becoming the first woman elected president.
Bullet Train to Nowhere : Construction of the California high-speed rail system, Americas most ambitious infrastructure project, Construction of the California high-speed rail system, Americas most ambitious infrastructure project, has become a multi-billion-dollar nightmare
A Piece of Black History Destroyed: Lincoln Heights a historically Black community in a predominantly white, rural county in Northern California endured for decades. Lincoln Heights a historically Black community in a predominantly white, rural county in Northern California endured for decades. Then came the Mill fire
Warehouse Moratorium: As warehouse construction balloons nationwide, residents in communities both rural and urban have pushed back. In Californias Inland Empire, As warehouse construction balloons nationwide, residents in communities both rural and urban have pushed back. In Californias Inland Empire, the anger has turned to widespread action
The only thing that matters is what happens between now and June 14, Mr. Devine said, referring to the final Democratic primary, in the District of Columbia. We have to put the blinders on and focus on the best case to make in the upcoming states. If we do that, we can be in a strong position to make the best closing argument before the convention. If not, everyone will know in mid-June, and well have to take a hard look at where things stand.
The prospect of a drawn-out Democratic fight is deeply troubling to party leaders who are eager for Mrs. Clinton and House and Senate candidates to turn to attacking Mr. Trump without being diverted by Democratic strife. Mr. Sanders has won nearly 10 million votes, compared to Mrs. Clintons 13 million, and Democratic leaders say she needs time to begin courting the young voters, liberals and other Sanders supporters who view her as an ally of corporate and big-money interests.
Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, released a list of potential Supreme Court nominees on Wednesday as part of an effort to quell concerns that he would not select conservative jurists.
The unusual move comes as Mr. Trump is looking to unify the Republican Party behind him and win over critics who remain skeptical about his candidacy. While some Republicans who oppose Mr. Trump have considered supporting Hillary Clinton or sitting out the election, he has regularly reminded them that the future of the Supreme Court is at stake.
After the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February, critics of Mr. Trump expressed concern about whether he had the judgment to fill vacancies on the court. He had joked about appointing his sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, a federal appeals court judge in Philadelphia, before suggesting that he would look for someone in the mold of Justice Scalia and later promising to furnish some prospective candidates.
Mr. Trump said in a statement that his shortlist was representative of the kind of constitutional principles I value and, as president, I plan to use this list as a guide to nominate our next United States Supreme Court justices. The Trump campaign did not share how it settled on the names, but Mr. Trump has previously said that he was seeking guidance from conservative groups such as the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation.
For the second time, George W. Bush has written a warm letter in support of a conservative group that bills itself as promoting the natural family based on heterosexual marriage but that is classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The group, the World Congress of Families, based in Rockford, Ill., is holding a conference in Tbilisi, Georgia, where it had planned to honor Mr. Bush. But he declined to attend, a spokesman said.
In a letter dated May 2016, the former president says: I commend your efforts to recognize the importance of families in building nations. Your work improves many lives and makes the world better.
Mr. Bush used almost the exact same words in a letter to the group when members gathered in Mexico City in 2004 while he was president.
Chain pharmacies and drug distributors say their businesses have been disrupted and profits hurt by D.E.A. investigators who have ordered immediate closures of pharmacies deemed regional destinations for addicts seeking a fix.
The D.E.A. has employed the same disrupt-and-dismantle tactics to take down international drug cartels and other criminals as it does to combat prescription drug abuse, said John Gray, the president of the Healthcare Distribution Management Association, a trade organization for drug wholesalers.
But past and present agency officials complain that they were steamrollered by a powerful lobby.
Under this law, the bad actors simply have to promise to be good, and we wont take them to court to punish them for what theyve already done, said Joseph T. Rannazzisi, who retired in October after 11 years of directing the D.E.A.s office of diversion control. Its obvious that industry had a very strong hand in crafting this bill.
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To its sponsors, the new law is an uncontroversial clarification of when the right to distribute controlled substances can be suspended or revoked, a matter separate from the opioid addiction fight. It also establishes a process for federal agencies to go through in many cases before distribution centers can be shut down, giving them 30 days to rectify issues as they crop up in an attempt to reduce disruptions to patients.
Written by Representatives Tom Marino, Republican of Pennsylvania, and Peter Welch, Democrat of Vermont, it passed the House in April by unanimous consent, a month after the Senate approved its version without objection. The Senate measure was equally bipartisan, drafted by Senator Orrin G. Hatch, a conservative Republican from Utah, and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a liberal Democrat from Rhode Island.
The D.E.A. has a big job, Mr. Welch said. Id like to see them not having to waste their time on protocol issues with distribution centers, because thats not where the problem exists.
Donald J. Trump on Wednesday unveiled a list of prospective Supreme Court nominees, seeking to pacify veteran Republicans who fear he does not take judicial matters seriously and to reassure conservatives that his appointees would reflect a right-leaning philosophy. Here is a look at his possible picks:
Steven M. Colloton, Iowa
Born: 1963
Position: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
Background: Judge Colloton, who was nominated by President George W. Bush in 2003, once clerked for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and was an associate independent counsel on the Whitewater investigation in the mid-1990s.
_____
Allison H. Eid, Colorado
The South Carolina legislature has passed a bill making it illegal for a woman to get an abortion at 20 weeks or more, even if she has been raped or is a victim of incest.
The passage of the legislation, which is headed to Gov. Nikki R. Haleys desk, would make South Carolina the 17th state to approve such a ban. Ms. Haley, a Republican, said in March she cant imagine any scenario in which I wouldnt sign it.
The Republican-controlled chamber voted 79-29 late Tuesday to approve the measure, which would allow exceptions only if the mothers life was in jeopardy or a doctor determined that the fetus could not survive outside the womb.
Reaction to the vote was swift. Alyssa Miller, the states director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, said in a statement that the bill was dangerous for women, and that it was made even more extreme by removing exceptions for victims of rape and incest.
WASHINGTON Long security lines have at times prompted hours of delays at the nations airports, generated heated responses from frustrated travelers and led to calls for Congress and the Obama administration to fix the problem. Here are the answers to five questions to help passengers understand why waits are longer at airport security checkpoints.
1. What is causing the long lines?
The Transportation Security Administration says the number of passengers has increased nearly 12 percent since 2011, while the number of screeners has declined by 12 percent, to 41,928 this year from 47,630 in 2011. The agency attributes the decline to budget cuts, though some Republicans in Congress blame the T.S.A. for cutting the number of screeners in recent years.
The T.S.A. tightened security procedures after federal auditors managed to get fake bombs and weapons past screeners, which has also contributed to the long lines. The agency also stopped a program that allowed people who have not signed up for background checks to use expedited security lines.
The result: waits of an hour or more at some airports.
2. What is the T.S.A. doing about it?
Last week, Jeh Johnson, the secretary of Homeland Security, announced that the T.S.A. would pay more overtime for screeners, speed up hiring and increase the use of bomb-sniffing dogs. Congress has shifted $34 million in the T.S.A.s budget to help the agency pay for 768 additional screeners. The agency is also moving bomb-sniffing dogs that screen passengers from smaller airports to larger ones.
OAKLAND, Calif. One message on the web forum asked neighbors to be on the lookout for two young African-Americans, slim, baggy pants, early 20s. Another warned of a light-skinned black female walking her dog and talking on her cellphone.
I dont recognize her, the post read. Has anyone described any suspect of crime like her?
These postings appeared on the Oakland forums of Nextdoor.com, a website intended to be a virtual neighborhood hangout for the tens of thousands of neighborhoods and hundreds of local police departments that use it to communicate with residents. The sites chief executive and co-founder, Nirav Tolia, describes it as a place to find a babysitter, a plumber or a missing cat, and to have a kind of Leave It to Beaver chatter.
But people also use it to report suspected crimes. And as Nextdoor has grown, users have complained that it has become a magnet for racial profiling, leading African-American and Latino residents to be seen as suspects in their own neighborhoods.
In response to the complaints, the company has begun testing ways to prevent these kinds of postings.
LAGOS, Nigeria One of the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram more than two years ago during a mass abduction at a school in Nigeria has been found, community leaders in the area said on Wednesday.
The girl, Amina Ali, was wandering in the forest when members of a vigilante group lying in wait to ambush a Boko Haram camp came across her, said Aboku Gaji, a local vigilante commander.
The kidnapping of nearly 300 girls during exam time at their boarding school in the Nigerian town of Chibok shocked the world and helped galvanize pressure on the government to fight Boko Haram, an Islamist militant group that has terrorized parts of northern Nigeria for years.
Some girls managed to escape shortly after the fighters stormed their school and hauled their classmates away. But Ms. Ali is the first girl to be found since the early days of the episode.
The clock is counting down before Vietnamese people cast their ballots in national elections this Sunday. The government has been more vigilant than ever, especially following a series of protests in major cities over the recent mass fish deaths along the countrys central coast.
The Vietnamese government has shown resolute determination to prevent reactionary forces from disrupting the election, said National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan at a meeting held this morning.
There are only four more days to go until the elections, so this is an extremely important moment. I ask all relevant authorities to proactively prepare for the success of the 14th National Assembly and Peoples Councils elections for the 2016-2021 term so that the day will truly become a national event, said Ngan.
There is no way we will let reactionary groups dupe the public and disrupt the election, she continued.
National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan at the meeting on Wednesday. Photo by Vietnam News Agency
The National Election Council has asked security forces to coordinate and implement stricter security measures to thwart possible threats posed by reactionary groups.
Last Sunday, an 11-minute news report aired on Vietnam's state television warned the public to ignore calls made by reactionary forces to join protests over the massive fish deaths it said were being used to try to create violent political disorder and to disrupt the election.
Vietnam Fatherland Front Chairman Nguyen Thien Nhan called on people to cast their votes for the countrys leaders for the next five years and for your own future. He advised people not to renounce their voting rights just because they are outraged at the fact that the government has yet to identify the cause of the fish deaths that occurred in central coast provinces in April.
A government investigation into the fish deaths is underway but a preliminary report found no links to Formosa's $10.6 billion steel plant in the central province of Ha Tinh.
Experts said either a "red tide", when algae blooms and produces toxins, or a release of dangerous chemicals by humans, could have been to blame.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has promised a thorough investigation and to punish those responsible.
DALORI, Nigeria Zara and her little brother thought they were finally safe.
After being held captive by Boko Haram for months, they made it to this government camp for thousands of civilians who have fled the militants cruelty. But instead of a welcome, residents gathered around, badgering them with questions and glares.
They beat her 10-year-old brother, convinced that anyone who has spent time among the militants, even a young kidnapping victim, could have become a sympathizer, possibly even a suicide bomber.
Zara, in fact, was hiding a dangerous secret strapped to her back: her baby. The childs father was a Boko Haram fighter who had raped her, but Zara knew the crowd would still doubt her loyalties. So she quickly spun a tale that the militants had killed her husband, leaving her a young, widowed mother.
If they knew my baby was from an insurgent, they wouldnt allow us to stay, said Zara, whose full name was not used, to protect her safety. Theyll never forget who her father is, just like a leopard never forgets its spots.
CAMPINA GRANDE, Brazil Marina Leite arrived at a hospital from her rural village in February, 28 weeks pregnant and struggling to speak or breathe.
She was carrying double the normal amount of amniotic fluid, a life-threatening complication that, her doctors told her, stemmed from severe fetal deformities linked to the Zika virus.
A week later, Ms. Leite, 35, had an abortion.
I followed my heart and my doctors advice for my survival, she said.
In almost all circumstances, abortion is a crime in Brazil, punishable by up to three years in jail. But in Ms. Leites case, because of the risk to her health, the abortion was considered legal and the doctor was willing to perform it.
BEIJING Amid the opacity of Chinas social systems, the cliches can sometimes pile up: Game of smoke and mirrors. Wild-goose chase. Stumbling block.
A recent high-profile court case involving Apple and a Chinese company, Xintong Tiandi, which sells leather goods under the iPhone trademark, involved all of those.
Heres a summary: On March 31 the Beijing Higher Peoples Court upheld earlier rulings by a lower court and Chinas trademark arbitration board that Xintong Tiandi had the right to use iPhone for products in Class 18 of the international trademark classification system, since Xintong Tiandi acquired the trademark in 2007 when the iPhone name was not renowned in China, the court ruled. Apple has the rights in Class 9, which covers computers and smartphones. Class 18 covers leather goods.
Heres the smoke and mirrors: Xintong Tiandi didnt exist in 2007. A Russian company acquired the rights then and Xintong Tiandi bought the rights from it in 2011, the Chinese companys lawyer, Xiong Zhi, said in a telephone interview. Public company filings show that Xintong Tiandi was set up in 2011.
BEIJING Wang Jun, a doctor in a hospital in southern China, was busy with a line of patients on Wednesday when, after a blow to his skull, he became the latest fatality in a plague of violence afflicting the countrys hospitals.
Dr. Wangs assailants appeared to be family members of at least one patient waiting to be treated by him and his colleagues, news reports said.
The family members complained that the doctors were not vigorous in treating patients, said a report from Xinhua, the main state-run news agency, citing staff members at the Shaodong County Peoples Hospital in Hunan Province, where Dr. Wang worked as an ear, nose and throat specialist.
They swore at and hit Dr. Wang Jun, who was treating patients, and he fell to the ground injured, Xinhua reported.
BEIJING Usually what newly married couples do on their wedding night needs no elaboration, let alone a pen and paper.
But if the pictures are to be believed, a couple in southeast China spent at least part of the first night of the rest of their lives copying out the Communist Party Constitution. By hand.
Laying down a sheet of paper and neatly copying out the Party Constitution left blissful memories of their wedding night for these newlyweds, said an account of the event, first issued online on Monday by their employers, the railway bureau of the city of Nanchang.
BEIJING For more than a minute on Tuesday night, nine-digit numbers were displayed across the facade of Hong Kongs tallest skyscraper, the International Commerce Center. Towering above Victoria Harbor, the glowing white digits blinked against the night sky: 979,012,493 979,012,492 979,012,491
The seemingly innocuous numbers contained a subversive statement. The animation is a countdown of the seconds until when the one country, two systems framework a guarantee that Hong Kong, a former British colony, would keep its civil liberties and a high degree of autonomy for 50 years after its return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 is set to expire.
We hope to deliver this work to illustrate the biggest anxiety of the Hong Kong people, Sampson Wong, who created the animation with the artist Jason Lam, said before the lights first went up.
The artists planned the display to coincide with a three-day visit to Hong Kong by Zhang Dejiang, a member of Chinas governing Politburo Standing Committee, which began on Tuesday. Mr. Zhang is the highest-ranking official from mainland China to visit Hong Kong since the pro-democracy demonstrations in 2014 known as the Umbrella Movement.
HONG KONG The heart of this global financial hub resembled an armed camp on Wednesday as thousands of police officers deployed around a hotel and convention center where a senior Chinese official was visiting.
For many in Hong Kong, the show of force only increased their fears that the citys civil liberties and autonomy are under assault by the government in Beijing.
Across the Taiwan Strait, final preparations were underway for the inauguration on Friday of Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwans first female president. She was swept into power in part by young voters anxious about what they see as Beijings rising influence over the island. Ms. Tsai is expected to have a far more cautious attitude toward promoting Chinese trade and investment than her predecessor.
It is a humbling week for China. The worlds second-biggest economy after the United States, it is richer and stronger than ever, and its financial clout is being felt the world over. But Beijing is finding it exceedingly difficult to win hearts and minds in its own backyard, among the more than 30 million Chinese-speaking people of Taiwan and Hong Kong.
UNITED NATIONS The United Nations is scheduled to host a global meeting to stop the AIDS epidemic. Should groups that represent transgender people or drug users be allowed to participate?
No, according to a number of countries that belong to the 193-member General Assembly. And they have managed to block the participation of nearly two dozen organizations, from countries as diverse as Cameroon, Jamaica and Russia.
No reasons have been offered. None are required. The General Assembly operates by consensus, which means member countries can object to the participation of any nongovernmental organizations that are not accredited by the United Nations.
The blacklisted organizations and their supporters have loudly objected. Michel Sidibe, executive director of the Joint United Nations Program on H.I.V./AIDS, known as Unaids, warned in an email that the list of excluded groups are many organizations that courageously and effectively speak to the needs of key population groups.
BERLIN The German comic who prompted an international incident with a satirical poem about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey will fight the ruling of a Hamburg court that banned repeating most of the text, his lawyer said on Wednesday.
In a ruling made public late Tuesday, the superior state court in Hamburg said that the comic, Jan Bohmermann, could repeat a few selected lines but not the bulk of the poem, which, because of its insulting content injuring his honor, Mr. Erdogan does not have to accept.
Christian Schertz, a lawyer who is representing Mr. Bohmermann, said the comic rejected the partial injunction imposed by the court because it tried to dissect the poem into permitted and forbidden parts and, in that way, suggested that artistic freedom was somehow divisible.
Image Jan Bohmermann. Credit... Mathis Wienand/Getty Images
Mr. Bohmermann will fight the ruling all the way to the federal constitutional court if need be, Mr. Schertz said in a statement and in a phone interview.
The volume that included the letter, along with other precious manuscripts and books, was stored in the librarys rare books room, where they are kept with the utmost attention and safekeeping, and access to these valuable tomes is closely vetted, Mr. Stacchetti said. But some investigators and experts said that the technique used to copy the letter a photographic plate printed with modern ink, using different paper from the authentic copies indicated that the forgery was more recent.
The Columbus letter is relatively easy to forge, because it only has four leaves, said Paul Needham, the Scheide librarian at Princeton University who was called in by Homeland Security to examine the original in Washington and the forgery in Florence. So its a natural candidate for theft and forgery. And of course if you put something back in its place, 20 years can go by before people know that its a forgery,
John Phillips, the American ambassador to Italy, said on Wednesday that the Florentine letter was not the only copy that had gone missing in Europe. Several original copies of this letter exist, he said, and Homeland Securitys investigation revealed that a number of them had been stolen from libraries in Europe and replaced by high-quality forgeries.
Officials said that the Florentine letter was bought by a rare-books collector in Switzerland in 1990 and was sold to an anonymous buyer for $330,000 at Christies auction house in New York in 1992, the 500th anniversary of Columbuss first voyage to the New World.
In 2004, the letter was bequeathed to the Library of Congress by an estate, American officials said, declining to name the donor. They said that both the benefactor and the library had acted in good faith with regards to the letters legitimate provenance.
Examinations of the forged copy carried out by scientific experts with the military police in Italy found that the pages were not the same size as the original and that the binding and numbering of the pages was different. The paper used for the fake letter was antique but dated to about a century after the Plannck copies.
Pac Bo Cave (also known as Coc Bo) is named after a small village in Cao Bang Province that served as Ho Chi Minh's settlement in the winter of 1941 following his return after 30 years in exile. It has become a popular tourist attraction with the Ho Chi Minh Shrine, Lenin Creek and Karl Marx Peak.
GENEVA The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that there was a low-to-moderate risk of the mosquito-borne Zika virus spreading to Europe in the spring and summer, as the groups general director warned that researchers were increasingly concerned about the threat posed by the disease.
An assessment by the global health organizations European office found that the likelihood of a breakout varied widely between countries, and it identified three areas that are most vulnerable: parts of Georgia and Russia on the Black Seas northeast coast, and the Portuguese island of Madeira, all of which have populations of the Aedes aegypti mosquito mainly responsible for spreading the virus.
The disease can cause severe defects in babies and neurological disorders, and its rapid spread in Latin America, along with the W.H.O.s decision in February to declare it a public health emergency of international concern, prompted the risk assessment for Europe.
Israel has been trying to turn the Americans off the French plan.
After meeting with the French foreign minister in Jerusalem last week, Mr. Netanyahu said, I told him that the only way to advance a true peace between us and the Palestinians is by means of direct negotiations between us and them, without preconditions. He added: They simply avoid negotiating with us as part of their desire to avoid resolving the root of the conflict, which is recognizing the nation state of the Jewish people, i.e. the state of Israel.
Dore Gold, the director general of Israels Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a close aide to Mr. Netanyahu, said the conference that France was trying to convene would provide a new escape route for Abbas to avoid direct talks with Israel.
Though France and Israel are allies, Mr. Gold said, there is a disconnect on this issue.
Speaking to reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah this week, Rami Hamdallah, the Palestinian prime minister, said, Our previous experiences directly negotiating with the current right-wing Israeli government were ineffective and redundant.
The French effort aims to resolve a stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process since American-brokered talks collapsed in acrimony in 2014.
Since then, international players have been preoccupied with other issues, including the battle against the Islamic State.
But the Palestinians say that more than 20 years of failed negotiations have persuaded them to seek a more international approach in their struggle for statehood.
Mr. Hamdallah said that more than 20 countries had agreed to attend the foreign ministers conference in Paris, and that the international conference to follow would set a timetable for negotiations and, perhaps, a deadline for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied territories.
TEHRAN A house visit by a daughter of a prominent ayatollah to a female leader of the persecuted Bahai religious minority touched off a debate this week in Iran about the harsh treatment of a group deemed pagans and impure by the countrys dominant clerics.
The issue was raised last week when the Iranian news media reported that Faezeh Hashemi, 54, a daughter of the former president, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, had sat down for tea with Fariba Kamalabadi, 52, a Bahai leader.
Ms. Kamalabadi was on temporary leave from a 20-year prison sentence imposed on her and six other Bahai leaders for spying for Israel. The United States State Department has condemned their imprisonment and called for their release along with other prisoners of conscience.
An official with Irans conservative judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, called the meeting obscene and despicable, and told reporters on Wednesday that he was planning to take Ms. Hashemi to court.
Russia has quietly expanded its military footprint in Palmyra, a sprawl of ancient ruins in the Syrian desert, after helping Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad drive the Islamic State out of the city in March, ending a 10-month occupation that included the destruction of several archaeological treasures, including ancient temples and an arch dating to Roman times.
At a concert last week, Russian musicians played Bach and Prokofiev, and also showed journalists a small but well-fortified base constructed at the site.
But this week, the Cultural Heritage Initiative of the American Schools of Oriental Research warned that the Russian encampment, which is in close proximity to the archaeological site, could imperil the remaining treasures. (The Associated Press quoted Russian officials as saying that the base was only temporary, to house experts removing explosives.)
A fresh ribbon of asphalt covers the area, though experts say the debris field of old stones around the ruined city is largely unexcavated. Sand berms were bulldozed to form a perimeter, and a panoply of defenses, including antiaircraft missiles, is at the ready. If the Russian site is a potential target that requires antiaircraft defenses, what does that make the ruins?
SANA, Yemen To blare the jingle that draws the children to his ice cream cart in the midst of a war Noah Taha has been forced to improvise.
There is rarely electricity here in Sana. Not for hospitals, not for homes, and not to charge Mr. Tahas little blue MP3 player. To solve his problem, Mr. Taha put a solar panel on the front of his cart so he could play the jingle a somewhat haunting tune he called the Na Na song, after an ice cream brand as he peddled through the Yemeni capital.
It was clever, but Mr. Taha said he had seen better. I saw solar used on an electric wheelchair, he said. That was the best idea.
I met Mr. Taha on a street full of electrical shops during a recent visit to Yemen, my third since the signs of conflict began to emerge early in 2015. With each visit, people seem more put-upon: running lower on money, more desperate to find work, and struggling to find food, medical care or a safe place to live.
Each May, the mayor and other town officials are seated on brass scales in the middle of the town square. Alongside them is the macebearer, who carries a huge gilded club topped with a crown.
The weigh-in is preceded by a tolling out ceremony involving bell ringing that originated in 1678 when residents, irate at their drunken mayor, stripped him of his authority.
According to records, in token thereof it was ordered that the great bell should be rung out in testimony of his misdemeanours.
At the weigh-in, for those who have gained from the previous year, the macebearer shouts and some more! which in the old days led to the crowd flinging rotten fruit at the profligate officials. Those who lost weight are rewarded by the macebearers and no more! and by the crowds inevitable cheers.
Last year, Mohammed Hanif, the current mayor, weighed no more.
But Steve Baker, a member of Parliament for High Wycombe, was among the heavies. Ive been enjoying myself since the fall, he told a local newspaper, eating and drinking whatever I wanted.
So what future-shaping advice does Thiel have for the next generation of entrepreneurs? First, competition is expensive, risky, and it invariably reduces profits. So your goal is not to dream up a company in a field that already exists and then fight for market share. No, the smart move is to found a business in a still unimagined realm an act of creation that Thiel, a serial catchphrase coiner, calls going from zero to one.
Once youve pioneered a new industry, you and your colleagues should set your sights on a very specific goal: building a monopoly. Whereas a competitive firm must sell at the market price, Thiel tells us, a monopoly owns its market, so it can set its own prices. Thiels favorite example is Google, which all but invented the online advertising market and has dominated it for years.
As advice goes, Create the next Google is both unassailable and perfectly useless. Thiel glancingly acknowledges that the type of start-up he is describing is rare, but the fortune he made at PayPal, and later as an investor in Facebook, has apparently convinced him that the exceptional would be far more common if people were just bolder and more imaginative. He makes this and other points in brief chapters packed with references to Pythagoras, the Unabomber, Tolkien, Karl Marx, Jim Morrison, Nietzsche, John Rawls and Shakespeare. In interviews and speeches, Thiel has displayed a sense of humor that would have been helpful here. Listening to this five-hour production is like getting stuck at a dinner party beside a guy whose money and surfeit of ideas has convinced him that he should do all the talking.
I have been with my boyfriend for several years, and I love him very much. We each decided to study abroad for the spring semester of our junior year and have found ourselves on opposite ends of the globe. We will be apart for almost six months, with only intermittent access to the phone and Internet. Before we left, we agreed that it would be best to temporarily open our relationship. We wanted to fully enjoy our respective experiences and take the opportunity to explore being with other people. We decided that we would not discuss our flings with each other, at least until we returned. We did this, I believe, with the implicit assumption that we would not fall in love with anyone else.
Although I was the anxious one before we left, I have found myself in a bit of a sticky situation. I am falling for a woman I met on my study-abroad program. I know that this is not just a casual affair and that I am developing real feelings for this woman. I feel as though I am betraying my boyfriend, and I am sure he would feel the same, despite the fact that I am not technically breaking the rules of our relationship. Communication is sketchy, and the prospect of talking to my boyfriend about this while the signal comes and goes is a little horrifying. I know that this information would hurt him deeply and that his ability to enjoy the remainder of his semester might be diminished. At the same time, I know that this is not what he had in mind when we agreed to an open relationship, and I feel as though I am deceiving him every time we talk. Should I tell him what is going on? Name Withheld
Commitments have rewards. They can keep you out of situations like the one youve fallen into. Agreeing to allow a relationship to be open for a time carries risks. If youd thought of yourself as your boyfriends exclusive partner, you might not have entered into this new relationship. By your account, you have kept to the letter of your understanding but breached the spirit. Unless youve decided that you are going to return to your boyfriend, youre keeping from him a central fact about your relationship.
Still, whats done is done. Like it or not, your boyfriend took this risk in making the agreement with you. An affair, once started, is not fully under your control. Falling in love isnt exactly a choice. You say youre worried about disturbing the rest of his semester; could that be an excuse? Once he knows youre not coming back to him, he can mourn and move on. If real-time communication isnt good enough for a proper discussion, why dont you send him a message that explains (as you have to me) and apologizes (as you probably should)? Apologies express regret; they dont always accept guilt. So you could do this even if you thought you had done nothing wrong.
Is The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeares battle-of-the-sexes comedy, too 16th-century retro for audiences in 2016? It is notable that over the last decade, of the few high-profile revivals in New York, the casts of two have been entirely single-sex. Perhaps producers think the plays dated gender politics require a conceptual idea that allows audiences to see the play with new eyes.
Edward Hall staged an all-male version at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2007, and this summer one of the two offerings at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park will be an all-female production, staged by Phyllida Lloyd (who has also staged productions of Julius Caesar and Henry IV with all women). This new outdoor production benefits from some superb actors in the lead roles as warring romantic partners: Cush Jumbo (The River, Josephine and I) and Janet McTeer (who won a Tony for A Dolls House). (From Tuesday, May 24, to June 26, Delacorte Theater, publictheater.org.)
In recorded announcements at airports passengers are frequently reminded to report any suspicious activity. But what qualifies as suspicious isnt always clear, as an incident earlier this month illustrates, calling into question the effectiveness of citizen vigilance.
On May 5, aboard a plane about to fly from Philadelphia to Syracuse, a passenger, apparently alarmed by math equations her seatmate was working on, caused its departure to be delayed when she suggested he might be a terrorist. The man turned out to be Guido Menzio, a University of Pennsylvania economics professor working on a differential equation.
The crew of the flight, operated by Air Wisconsin for American Airlines, apparently followed protocol when the woman notified the flight attendant that she was too sick to fly. As she left the plane, according to American Airlines, she mentioned her concerns about her seatmate to a crew member who then met with the captain, an airline security officer and eventually Mr. Menzio. The captain determined that he was not a security risk and the flight departed. The woman was rebooked on a later flight with no fee penalty.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Tom Malinowski (second from right) in Son Doong. Photo by VnExpress/Xuan Tu
Tom Malinowski called for "preserving Son Doong cave in its natural state" on the official Facebook page of the U.S. Embassy today, after returning from a five-day trip to the world's largest natural cave with seven ambassadors.
"Around every corner, we encountered images that seemed to be taken from abstract art or the illustrations to a fantasy story, not like anything we ever expected to encounter in the real world," said the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.
He also called on the public to preserve the cave from exploitation, saying what took nature millions of years to create could "take human beings an instant to destroy".
Malinowski considers sustainable tourism as a solution to both preserve and allow the world to behold this wonder of nature:
"The sustainable tourism currently allowed in Son Doong [...] has protected the cave and provided many jobs for local people. [...] People around the world are impressed by Vietnams commitment to preserving its natural beauty and come to the area to see everything that they can. I hope that my children and grandchildren will be able to see this great treasure of Vietnam just as I did.
On November 4, 2014, Quang Binh People's Committee announced the plan to construct of a cable car to Son Doong. The project by Sun Group, which is also behind cable car projects in Nha Trang, Ba Na and Fansipan, has since spurred controversy among the public concerned about its potential environmental and ecological damages.
Last week, ambassadors and officials from the U.S., Australia, the UK, Sweden, Italy, the Czech Republic and Argentina spent five days exploring Son Doong, world's largest natural cave. Joining them on the expedition were Ambassador Pham Sanh Chau from the Foreign Ministrys Culture and UNESCO Department, and Duong Truong Thien Ly, 2nd runner-up at Miss Universe Vietnam 2008.
Islands, by their very isolated nature, seem to inspire curiosity: How big is it? How long is that beach? Who lives there? Like the water around them, interest encircles them, perhaps because, unlike many continent-affixed places, their borders are definite, affording a genuine escape. These American isles represent some of the intriguingly superlative, quirky and wild within the nations fresh and sea waters.
The Nations Largest Island
Hawaii
Fittingly known as the Big Island, Hawaii encompasses over 4,000 square miles, almost twice the size of the other Hawaiian Islands combined. It claims both the southernmost point in the United States, Ka Lae, also known as South Point, and the tallest mountain, Mauna Kea, more than 33,000 feet if measured from the ocean floor but only 13,796 feet above sea level.
Most Harmonic Island
Stockton Island, Wis.
The undeveloped Stockton Island in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Lake Superior is renowned for its singing sands on Julian Bay Beach that resound in squeaks and audible riffs when walked on or rubbed.
In summer months, the ferry also stops farther south at Duck Harbor, where the National Park Service maintains a dock and a small campground, a good jumping-off point for several hiking trails. But the rest of the year, its a four-mile trek from the landing to Duck Harbor, on a dirt road thats rough in spots.
On a late-April visit, I biked to Duck Harbor (fat-tire mountain bike recommended). The road wound through the interior of the island, and crossed a cedar bog, where skunk cabbage and carnivorous pitcher plants grow among the sphagnum. It was quiet enough to hear the wing beats of a flushed flicker. Then the road passed the shore at Sharks Point Beach, where an osprey was gathering sticks for its nest. Finally, it led to the narrow inlet of Duck Harbor.
The harbor earned its name because American Indians, who summered on the island for thousands of years, hunted eider ducks by driving them into the narrow cove. The islands more recent history began when Samuel de Champlain, exploring the area in 1604, named it for its hills. Year-round farmers and fishermen arrived in the late 1700s, followed a century later by rusticators nature-loving vacationers who built summer homes on the north end. In 1943, the heirs of one of those families donated the bulk of the land that comprises the Isle au Haut portion of Acadia National Park, most of which lies on nearby Mount Desert Island. These days, about 40 people live year-round on the two-by-five-mile island, and lobstering is the primary occupation; the population swells to over 300 in summer.
Just south of Duck Harbor, a disused road leads to several trails. I started off hiking the Western Head Trail. As I meandered through hummocky spruce woodlands, with plank bridges over boggy patches, it felt a lot like northern Maine, until I scampered over a rock ledge. Just as I emerged from the deep woods to see waves crashing on the headland below, a bald eagle soared past, head and tail radiant in the spring sunshine. It was overkill, really, like a poster proclaiming the majesty of Americas wildlands.
The trail winds along the shore and weaves back among the trees, then crosses cobbled beaches where storms have milled the rough edges from stones and hurled them high above the tideline (theyve also tossed flotsam ashore in a few spots, especially lobster gear and plastic bottles). The bare rock ledges along the shore here are a geologists delight, telling volcanic tales 400 million years old.
Jury selection continued Tuesday in the felony ethics trial of indicted House Speaker Mike Hubbard, as roughly 60 prospective jurors individually interviewed with attorneys for the prosecution and the defense.
The Auburn Republican was indicted in October 2014 on 23 felony ethics charges of using his political position for personal gain. If convicted, Hubbard faces a maximum penalty of two to 20 years imprisonment and fines of up to $30,000 for each count, all of which are Class B felonies.
Jury selection for the trial got underway Monday morning, beginning with a pool of about 95 Lee County residents. By the end of the day, that number was whittled down as 25 prospective jurors were excused or deferred and three were disqualified.
On Tuesday, more than 60 prospective jurors were individually interviewed by Deputy Attorney General John Gibbs for the prosecution and Bill Baxley for the defense, both lawyers seeking to determine whom they want to strike.
After nine potential jurors were disqualified due to their responses to certain questions indicating they might not be able to remain impartial if selected to serve on the jury, and a number were medically excused from duty, the jury pool remained at 52.
Attorneys will strike Wednesday from the remaining jury pool to create a 16-person jury comprised of 12 voting members and four alternates.
Group one
Day two of jury selection began just after 9 a.m. Tuesday, as members of one group comprised of three panels of prospective jurors were questioned by the court and attorneys for the prosecution and the defense.
Four prospective jurors were questioned late Monday due to timing conflicts that caused them to be absent Tuesday.
Each potential juror was individually questioned by Gibbs and Baxley.
Other jurors were questioned about what they may have read or watched about the case in the news media, and if that information would inhibit them from serving as an impartial juror. They were also asked whether any of them knew each other prior to jury duty.
Many of the prospective jurors questioned Tuesday morning responded affirmatively to questions posed by defense attorney David McKnight Monday regarding whether they have negative perceptions of politicians. They were again questioned about their answers by Baxley Tuesday, and were asked if they were aware of Hubbard's status as a politician and if that would affect the way they would process evidence and make decisions on a jury.
One man was asked about his response to a 50-part questionnaire prospective jurors were required to fill out Monday. The document reportedly asked if persons "always follow the majority" or "never change their minds." He said he answered neither because he felt the provided answer choices were extreme.
Another man said that he had specific opinions about some politicians, but that it would not affect his ability to fairly serve.
The morning panels also included a female prospective juror who said that once she gets something in her head, such as Hubbard's indictment that Walker read aloud Monday, it's hard for her to clearly process new information like evidence, though she told the judge she would try to fairly do so.
Another man said he once worked for a company that had ties to the Southeastern Alabama Gas District.
Walker disqualified two from the first group by 10:30 a.m.
Group two
A second set of potential jurors began taking questions from attorneys just before 11 a.m.
Among the prospective jurors in the second grouping were a man who claimed to know Hubbard, a man who said personal experiences could make it difficult for him to return a fair judgment to the court, a man who may have had prior criminal charges and a political supporter.
Walker disqualified one juror from the second round of panels just before noon.
Group three
After returning from an hour-long lunch break, attorneys resumed questioning with a third set of three panels at 1:30 p.m.
Prospective jurors whose responses to questions stood out included a man with business affiliations involving agencies mentioned in Hubbard's indictment who told Walker serving on the jury could adversely affect his work, a man who said he has a fixed negative opinion about Gov. Robert Bentley's personal life, a woman who admitted to having negative political biases and said she wasn't sure she would be able to ignore who also claimed to have a hearing condition, and a politically active woman who has supported Hubbard, Riley and Bentley.
One man also said he had a negative opinion about all politicians and that Hubbard would have to prove himself innocent rather than the state proving him guilty.
Despite hesitancy from some, many said they would do their best to follow the judge's instructions and be fair if selected.
Walker disqualified three prospective jurors from the third group and medically excused one.
Group four
The fourth and final group of panels began their interviews with attorneys shortly before 4 p.m.
Of the potential jurors interviewed, two had prior arrest records, but said their past situations would not affect their judgment as a juror.
One man said he had a fixed opinion about former Gov. Bob Riley and his role in electronic gambling happenings.
One woman said she formerly worked with Don Williamson, who has been subpoenaed as a witness for the defense, at the Alabama Department of Public Health.
Walker disqualified two more potential jurors and medically excused three more.
Jury selection could last until Thursday. Opening arguments for Hubbards trial are tentatively slated to begin next Tuesday.
Hubbard has maintained his innocence, and continued to serve as Speaker of the House during the 2016 Alabama legislative session.
(Updated, 1 p.m. Wednesday)
A jury was selected Wednesday for the long-anticipated felony ethics trial of indicted Alabama Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard, which is slated to begin sometime next week.
After two days of countless questions and deliberations, attorneys for the prosecution and defense whittled an initial jury pool of just under 100 Lee County residents to 16 Wednesday morning.
Twelve of the 16 selected will serve as voting members of the jury, and four will serve as alternates.
Five black men, four white men, four black women and three white women make up the 16-person jury.
Jurors were provided instructions by Lee County Circuit Court Judge Jacob A. Walker III not to read, watch or discuss the case with anyone before they were dismissed just before noon.
They are expected to swear in on Tuesday before opening arguments get underway, if that happens.
Defense attorney Bill Baxley told Walker he intends to file a writ of some type with a higher court under seal this Thursday or Friday. The filing, likely a writ of mandamus, would essentially appeal a prior ruling or rulings issued by Walker in the case.
The defense has previously filed under seal multiple writs of mandamus with the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, all of which have been denied.
Walker said at a pretrial hearing last month that he would not start the trial if an appeal to a higher court was pending.
Jury selection began in the trial Monday with a pool of about 95 Lee County residents. By the end of the day, that number was whittled down as 25 prospective jurors were excused or deferred and three were disqualified based on their responses to group questions.
On Tuesday, more than 60 prospective jurors were individually interviewed by Deputy Attorney General John Gibbs for the prosecution and Bill Baxley for the defense, both lawyers seeking to determine whom they wanted to strike.
Prospective jurors were asked by prosecutors whether they had prior knowledge of happenings in the Hubbard case from news media consumption; the majority of which had. However, most said they could put that information aside if selected to be on the jury.
Prosecutors also sought information about potential jurors political affiliations and activities, and whether or not any of them had personal or business relationships with parties involved in the trial.
Defense attorneys probed potential jurors about any political biases they might have, as more than 40 answered affirmatively Monday that they had negative perceptions of political figures. Most, but not all, said they could put their feelings aside and serve as an impartial juror.
Hubbard attorneys also made a point to question prospective jurors about their ability to understand that defendants should be considered innocent until proven guilty, and not the other way around.
After nine potential jurors were disqualified Tuesday due to their responses to certain questions indicating they might not be able to remain impartial if selected to serve on the jury, and a number were medically excused from duty, the jury pool remained at 52 on Wednesday.
Attorneys for the prosecution and defense began striking the jury just before 10 a.m. Wednesday morning. Attorneys on both sides each got to strike 18 prospective jurors to create a 16-person jury with 12 voting members and four alternates.
Each side chose two of the alternates, but alternates identities will not be revealed to jurors until the trial begins.
Opening arguments are tentatively expected to get underway in the Auburn Republican's trial on Tuesday following a 9 a.m. hearing on Alabama Media Group's non-party motion to quash a subpoena filed by the defense which seeks the identities of two anonymous AL.com website commentators.
Hubbard was indicted in October 2014 on 23 felony ethics charges of using his political position for personal gain. If convicted, Hubbard faces a maximum penalty of two to 20 years imprisonment and fines of up to $30,000 for each count, all of which are Class B felonies.
He has maintained his innocence, and continued to serve as Speaker of the House during the 2016 Alabama legislative session.
Dr. James "Jim" Frazier McCoy of Auburn, Alabama passed away peacefully on Monday, May 9, 2016 at his Lake Martin home at the age of 70. He is survived by his wife of 31 years Patricia C. Watson; brother, Col. David (Josie) B. McCoy, of Mt. Holly, New Jersey; son, Greg (Angelyn) McCoy, of Auburn, Alabama; grandchildren Marshall McCoy and Mallory McCoy, of Auburn, Alabama, as well as many other relatives and friends. Jim was born at Craig Field, Selma, Alabama on June 18, 1945 to the late Frazier and Cowan "Tiger" McCoy. He grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee and attended Memphis State University receiving a Ph. D in Psychology. He was a faculty member of the Auburn University Psychology Department from 1973 until 2007. The memorial service for Dr. James ("Jim") Frazier McCoy will be held on Friday, May 20, 2016 at 3:00pm CDT at the Auburn University Chapel. The historic Chapel is located at 139 South College Street in Auburn at the corner of South College St. and Thach Avenue directly across from Samford Hall. Memorials may be made in Jim's memory to the American Diabetes Association, P.O. Box 11454, Alexandria, VA 22312; or, the Union Volunteer Fire Rescue Department, 5171 Highway 50, Dadeville, AL 36853. Flowers are also appropriate. www.FrederickDean.com. Funerals & Cremations Since 1900
The European Semester has been adapted to take into account the creation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The implementation of Member States recovery and resilience plans will drive their reform and investment agenda for the years ahead. The European Semester, with its broader scope and multilateral surveillance, will usefully complement the implementation of the recovery and resilience plans.
In light of the changes in the policy context after the COVID-19 crisis, the Commission relaunched in October 2021 the public debate on the review of the EU economic governance framework. The reviews aim is to improve the effectiveness of integrated surveillance and policy coordination in the EU within the European Semester. The public debate should help to achieve a broad-based consensus on the way forward. The 2022 European Semester cycle will be an opportunity to discuss the interactions between the European Semester and the Recovery and Resilience Facility with the Member States and relevant stakeholders to see if and how the future European Semester cycles and their deliverables could be improved
Tomorrow, Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, will represent the Commission at the Energy Council meeting in Luxembourg.
Re: Obama administration to issue decree on school bathrooms [News, May 13]: President Obama cannot call Islamic extremism what it is, and now he cant define a persons gender by their biological sex. It depends on how that person feels.
Gender matters in medical treatment because it is a reality, and not a feeling. I have no comment on the transgender community, in fact, I wish them meaningful lives. But dont ask society to re-enact their life to accommodate a persons feelings and experience with dysphoria. Let us also not ignore the threat this policy poses to children and women.
This is not a federal issue, and we know the president has more important issues to resolve than who can use which bathroom.
Jeff Morgan
Newport Beach
Need more bipartisanship on climate change
I was somewhat surprised when Mark Landsbaum [Look deeper than headlines for the real news, Opinion, April 30] suggested that pollution is our greatest environmental challenge, which has now been successfully addressed by using the clean energy of fossil fuels.
A letter from Ian MacGregor [Landsbaum ignores risks of fossil fuels, Letters, May 7] pointed out the very visible benefits to our environment from controlling pollution. But Landsbaums advocacy of fossil fuels as clean and ignoring the fact that CO2 emissions have already resulted in severe adverse effects on climate change, has been beneficial to no one.
I was even more surprised by a subsequent letter [Dont blame pollution, Letters, May 14] chastising Mr. MacGregor, instead of Mr. Landsbaum, for directly equating pollution with climate change, and then making the unfortunate comment that this was a mistake common to climate-change enthusiasts.
Please, lets cease our bickering and name-calling. We need to agree that climate change is real and argue about the level of mans contribution in order to implement a solution ensuring a wonderful world for our grandchildren, and beyond. More and more Republicans in Congress are in agreement now; lets approach this in a bipartisan manner.
Roger Iles
Rancho Santa Margarita
A former Fullerton College Police Academy instructor has been charged with misdemeanor battery stemming from an emotional meeting in October when students were told their options after the state suspended the program for not meeting requirements.
Todd Rheingold, an adjunct training instructor and retired Los Angeles Police Department officer who started teaching at the school in 1998 and politely declined comment, is scheduled to appear in court next week. He was accused of assaulting a student.
(Rheingold) is no longer employed with the North Orange County Community College District, Fullerton College spokeswoman Lisa McPheron said in a statement Tuesday. Both the district and the college have no tolerance for acts of violence on our campus.
The dismissed instructors attorney, Edward Flores, said Tuesday he could not elaborate on specifics of the incident or case.
Mr. Rheingold is a decorated former peace officer and well have to wait and see how the facts shake out, Flores said.
The academy had been credentialed to provide basic course certification, a minimum training requirement for police officers in the state.
Records show that the Fullerton College Police Academy had been notified of similar potential problems years before. In a 19-page review in 2009 of the academys coursework, the states Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) says the academy lacked instructor documentation, didnt not follow protocol before starting a class and had issues with test security while training recruits for scenarios out in the field.
Looking at this, it looks like they had enough to suspend them, Ralph Brown, the state commissions spokesman said of the earlier findings. But I wasnt there. I cant tell you why they didnt.
Brown said the staff has since changed.
The college has said it should never have been suspended. Also, theres no paper trail showing what follow-up was done by the state, if any, with the college.
The College maintains that POSTs lack of clear, timely review and reporting is a major contributing factor to the suspension of our Police Academy Program, said McPheron in a different statement. It is POSTs mission and responsibility to review programs like ours for quality and compliance.
In recent months, seven graduates who are now police officers in Los Angeles and Orange counties were taken off of patrol and put on desk jobs until they could finish gaps in training indicated by the state.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7865 or afausto@ocregister.com
LAGUNA WOODS Barbara Lee moved from her home in Huntington Beach to Laguna Woods 10 years ago because she heard it was one of the safest communities in south Orange County.
So she was shocked to discover that eight homes tented for termite fumigation hers included were burglarized May 11. Vandals cut through the tenting and shredded window screens to gain access, then rummaged through closets and drawers in nine of the 14 tented homes, officials said.
Authorities said one home was broken into but nothing was taken.
No one expected this, said Lee, 67, who like many of the victims learned her home was burglarized from a notice the communitys private security company had taped to her door. I have a neighbor, shes 95, and she almost fainted when she heard what happened.
Residents have reported losses of a laptop computer, jewelry, military medals and personal documents, officials say.
Orange County Sheriffs officials said Tuesday the investigation is still open and they have yet to determine the losses.
Tom Siviglia, security operations supervisor at Laguna Woods Village, said sheriffs department crime scene technicians gathered fingerprints and other potential evidence at each residence.
Investigators are actively working all leads, he said.
The break-ins, in the 3200 block of Via Carrizo, come as the communitys homeowners association is about to launch a pilot project for a high-tech security system that, if greenlighted, will cost the community about $1.5 million.
The security system has prompted heated debate among residents of the gated community of 18,000 people aged 55 an older. Some say the community which counted 117 thefts and two robberies in 2015 is already safe enough. Others say the sophisticated system is needed to monitor exactly who is entering or leaving the community.
Workers from Newport Exterminating discovered the vandalism to the tenting when they began dismantling it around 9:30 a.m. May 11, said Sgt. Jesse Arellano of the Orange County Sheriffs Department.
Last weeks incident was the second in Laguna Woods, said Curtis Good, president of Newport Exterminating, which has contracted with the community for more than 10 years. Good said a tented home was burglarized in a nearby neighborhood in 2012.
Good said he believes the homes were burglarized by someone living in the community.
It was somebody very comfortable who knows the comings and goings of the neighborhood, he said.
Newport Exterminating fumigates about 1,200 residences per year, Good said.
In the past when weve had other break-ins theyre usually situations I call opportunistic, he said.
Neither the sheriffs department nor Siviglia would comment on Goods contention.
Pat Denekamp, 68, who lives in one of two homes on the Via Carrizo cul de sac that wasnt tented last week, called the break-ins a slap in the face.
People know were vulnerable here. They know the weak spots, she said. To me, if it happened before, why werent they patrolling?
Siviglia said fumigation in the community occurs at 14 to 15 homes every Monday from May through October. He said he plans to beef up security.
Village Security will be maintaining a high visibility patrol and will assign personnel specifically to residences receiving fumigation tenting, he said.
Some Laguna Woods residents contend that a high-tech security system is long overdue. Recent surveys at several of the communitys 13 main gates found up to 20 percent of the people entering are unauthorized, said John Luebbe, a director for Golden Rain Foundation, which oversees the communitys amenities.
Abel Lopez, 60, said he believes the security system will be a positive thing for the community.
You say I live in Orange County, yeah, well (thieves) drive to Orange County and they can stop at your front door, he said.
But Lee said she doesnt think a gate security system would have prevented the break-ins.
Theres a lot of unreported thefts inside Laguna Woods, she said. Theres a lot of renters, a lot of 40- and 50-year-old children that live with their parents.
Lee said she is thankful she did what the fumigation company recommended. She took her valuables with her when she left the house.
The stuff that was taken was not expensive, she said. It was stuff I collected the last 50 to 60 years; just trinkets you cant replace.
But she and the other victims say their losses were more than material.
I just feel that my privacy has been shattered, said Lourdes Hortinela, 79, who came home to find her bedroom closet and drawers had been ransacked.
Missing were a pair of earrings a gift from her husband, Ed, and a brooch and bracelet she wore for her daughters wedding.
Ed Hortinela, 89, lost his prized military medals he kept in a box by his bedside medals of honor he earned while serving with the Navy in Vietnam.
Next door, Marie McCrory, 93, said she lost a pair of opal earrings and a pendant gifts from her late husband. Also gone, she said, were insurance documents and her will, which she kept in her room.
What would they want to take something like that for? she said, shaking her head.
Contact the writer: 949-837-5200 or jkarmarkar@ocregister.com
Most years, the judicial campaigns of Orange County prosecutors Larry Yellin and Michael Murray would draw little scrutiny.
Both men are held in high esteem by other prosecutors and many others. And in Orange County, local prosecutors often become local judges.
But this year, the June 7 vote comes as the Orange County District Attorneys Office is battling accusations that prosecutors routinely misused jailhouse informants and failed to disclose evidence to defense attorneys.
The accusations, which started with a local public defender complaining to one judge, have grown to upend several high-end felony cases and prompted legal scholars around the country to criticize Orange County prosecutors.
The toll, so far:
A judge in March 2015 booted the entire Orange County District Attorneys Office from the penalty phase for a mass killer, a decision now under appeal.
Six murder and attempted murder cases have over the past 18 months had penalties reduced, charges dropped or convictions overturned because of problems in the way prosecutors used informants.
A group of former prosecutors, judges and legal scholars from around the country in November wrote an open letter to the U.S. attorney general seeking a federal investigation of Orange Countys justice system.
In March, an investigator for the county District Attorneys Office and a defense lawyer brawled in a court hallway during an argument sparked by the snitch crisis.
Now the informant issue could become political.
Both Yellin and Murray are promoting their roles as longtime prosecutors as reasons why they are qualified to become judges.
But both men also are among several prosecutors accused in court papers of violating rules of disclosure and misusing jailhouse informants. Heres a look at their judicial races:
Larry Yellin vs. Thuy D. Pham
In all, nine candidates are vying for four judgeships this year, but Yellin is the only one rated exceptionally well qualified by the Orange County Bar Association the groups highest rating.
Yellin, 53, has prosecuted more than 60 murders, according to his candidate statement. He now specializes in hard-to-solve cold cases.
His list of endorsements reads like a whos who of Orange County prosecutors, judges and defense attorneys, as well as Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens.
He wants what we all want, to keep Orange County a safe place to live and to ensure justice is done in a fair and impartial manner, Hutchens writes on Yellins campaign website.
Even the countys former public defender, Frank Ospino who today is a Superior Court judge is backing Yellin.
But serious accusations against Yellin also remain in public court records.
Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders, who first raised questions about the countys use of jailhouse informants, said in a court filing last year that Yellin illegally used a Mexican Mafia informant to go after defendant Nuzzio Begaren, who in 2014 was convicted of orchestrating his wifes murder in Anaheim.
Yellin also is accused of not disclosing the Mexican Mafia tactic and the informant to Begarens attorney.
Begarens attorney in that case, Salvatore Ciulla, did not return calls seeking comment. Other defense attorneys involved in the case also did not return calls for comment. None of the attorneys have attempted to use Sanders allegations against Yellin to attempt to overturn Begarens conviction.
Sanders court filing also accused Yellin of withholding evidence in the 2014 conviction of a third-striker in the stabbing death of a man in an Anaheim alley.
Yellin disputed Sanders allegations in his cases. What he puts in are flawed conclusions based on assumptions, as it relates to me.
Sanders responded: Without this litigation, two murder defendants Larry Yellin prosecuted would have died in custody unaware he had withheld evidence.
Yellins election opponent is Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Thuy D. Pham, who neither lives nor works in Orange County. Phams candidate statement says hes worked as a prosecutor in Los Angeles for a decade and previously worked for three years as a public defender in Kern County.
I strive to assure that victims not only receive justice but have a voice, Pham wrote in his candidate statement.
Pham, 45, said he settled on Orange County to run for judge because of an epiphany he had one Sunday morning.
Id like to help the community if I could. Little Saigon is the largest Vietnamese community outside of Saigon.
He was rated as qualified by the local bar, the second to last of the groups four ratings.
Phams endorsements include nine judges, one commissioner and a pair of police chiefs, all from Los Angeles County, mostly Pomona.
Ive known him to be fair and make really good decisions, said Glendora Police Chief Timothy Staab. I think he would make a tremendous judge.
Michael Murray vs. Thomas Martin
Like Yellin, Murray has an impressive record a 96 percent conviction rate. He also is a former West Point cadet and a veteran of the U.S. Army with 20 years in the Orange County District Attorneys Office.
I believe judges should know the law and use common sense, he says in his candidate statement.
His endorsements include a star lineup of judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and Murrays boss, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas. And, like Yellin, Murray is endorsed by an old foe, Ospino, the former public defender.
Murray also is endorsed by James Crawford, a defense lawyer who was involved in the recent courthouse fistfight over jailhouse informants.
Based on my limited experiences with him, he seems to be straightforward and a straight shooter, Crawford said of Murray, 52. He appreciates his role as a prosecutor and his obligations to seek justice and not convictions.
Assistant public defender Sanders, in a motion filed last year, accused Murray of withholding evidence from defense attorneys in the 2010 trial of Alberto Martinez, who was convicted of killing a businessman in Buena Park.
Murray, who prosecuted the case, didnt disclose a tape recording of a prolific jailhouse informant who had gathered information against Martinez, according to Sanders. Martinez was sentenced to death.
Sanders isnt Murrays only critic.
The 4th District Court of Appeal in 2007 scolded Murray for misstating the law and using unethical tactics in the double murder case of Thai Ba Tran. While justices upheld Trans conviction for gunning down two people in Westminster in 1996, they blasted Murray.
Our conclusion that Tran was not prejudiced by Michael Murrays numerous acts of misconduct does not mean we approve of or condone his tactics and behavior, justices wrote. The district attorney should take little solace in the fact we have affirmed Trans convictions, which we have done based on the strength of the evidence against him. We are troubled by the frequency in which we see prosecutorial misconduct.
Murrays opponent in the judicial race is Thomas Martin, a San Juan Capistrano attorney. Martin, who specializes in civil litigation and personal injury law, said he didnt file a candidate statement because he believes the $25,000 fee is too expensive. He says he is running because its the next logical step in my career.
His 32-year tenure has prepared him to take the bench, he said.
Mike is a very accomplished guy. I just think I have the varied experience, Martin said. I would bring 30-plus years of experience to the bench.
Martin and Murray were both rated as qualified by the local bar association.
Contact the writer: tsaavedra@ocregister.com
With hot dogs whizzing by her on a conveyor belt, Wienerschnitzel Chief Executive Cindy Galardi Culpepper felt like she was acting out a scene from a classic I Love Lucy episode.
Culpepper recently went incognito at the chains Michigan hot dog factory, taping a segment for the CBS reality show Undercover Boss.
Her task was to pluck deformed frankfurters from the production line. She likened it to the legendary I Love Lucy episode in which Lucille Balls screwball character couldnt keep up with candy speeding past her at a chocolate factory.
That was me, said Culpepper. It moved too quickly. It was very funny. I was bad at it.
Come Sunday night when the show airs, Culpepper will find out if her factory antics made the final cut.
In the sequence filmed in late February, the blond, 68-year-old CEO is disguised as Louise, a bespectacled brunette with purple-highlighted pigtails and a nose ring.
It was quite a disguise. I was really funky, Culpepper said during a phone interview.
But wearing a few gaudy accessories was worth getting to know the backbone of the 330-store chain: employees.
Ive met people who I am beyond proud to have representing Wienerschnitzel, she said.
Culpepper became CEO three years ago after the death of her ex-husband, company founder John Galardi. As the companys new leader, Culpepper decided to work in the restaurants.
Back then, the Newport Beach resident did everything from making chili to dispensing soft-serve ice cream.
Without revealing too many show spoilers due to confidentiality agreements, Culpepper said her second tour of duty inside the restaurants was an eye-opener.
It was much more in-depth on Undercover Boss, she said. I didnt get the white-glove treatment as Louise.
For the show, she let producers create her look with very few restrictions. I told them I would do a body suit, she said.
Her undercover duties included working night shifts, mopping floors, preparing chili dogs and taking drive-through orders. She worked at restaurants in Arizona, Utah and Texas.
Culpepper said the show gave her an opportunity to get to know franchisees. The operators have become a priority for Wienerschnitzels Irvine-based parent company Galardi Group, she said.
Culpepper, an 80 percent stakeholder, said shes made it her mission to give back to the communities served by Wienerschnitzel. To do that, shes encouraging franchisees to perform at their highest level to boost sales.
But most of the money generated for Galardi is no longer lining the pockets of the family, she said. We have been giving back the majority of the funds.
Over the past six months, she said, the company has donated $200,000 to various charitable organizations including the Literacy Project Foundation in Newport Beach.
After learning the personal stories of Wienerschnitzel employees, she plans to launch programs to improve their lives.
If I could adopt them all, I would. I got very attached.
Undercover Boss airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on CBS.
Contact the writer: nluna@ocregister.com
With no incumbent in the race, five candidates are vying for an open seat in the 55th Assembly District one amassing a campaign war chest four times that of his opponents.
Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang, newly elected in 2014, is vying for a seat in the California Senate, leaving open her spot in the district that straddles three counties Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange counties and includes parts of Brea, La Habra, Placentia and Yorba Linda.
Hoping to replace her are four Republicans: Walnut Valley Unified School District board member Phillip Chen, Chino Hills Councilman Ray Marquez, West Covina Councilman Mike Spence and Diamond Bar Councilman Steve Tye. The lone Democrat running is Gregg Fritchle, a Los Angeles County social worker.
Republicans have an 8 percentage point advantage in voter registration in the district, according to Aroundthecapitol.com.
The top two vote-getters during Junes primary advance to a runoff in Novembers general election, regardless of party.
Some of the names should sound familiar. Chen, Fritchle and Tye ran for the same seat in 2014. Fritchle was the runner-up.
Chen, who raised more than $600,000 for his unsuccessful 2014 bid, came in third in the 2014 primary.
He again is raising the most money, with about $269,000 as of the latest campaign finance reports on April 23.
By contrast, Tye, a financial adviser, showed more than $70,000 in contributions as of April 23 the second-largest amount.
Chen, a businessman and former health policy adviser to Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, said he does not expect this race to get as expensive as the 2014 campaign.
To Chen, the districts most important issue is public safety. He said he wants to see a dramatic restructuring of mental health laws in California. He also wants less regulation and more help to aid small-business owners.
Tye, an active community member in Diamond Bar for almost three decades, said he has three top issues he would address as assemblyman. The first is protecting Proposition 13. Prop. 13 made it possible for my parents to stay in the house I grew up in, Tye said.
Tye said he also wants to address the voter initiative that reduces penalties for some crimes an absolute disaster and protect small businesses he said are leaving California because of too many restrictions.
Spence, a chief of staff to San Bernardino County Supervisor Curt Hagman, said he would address the nanny state in Sacramento.
Legislators want to approve everything from the boardroom to the bathroom, Spence said. And illegal immigration is not addressed at all.
Marquez, a firefighter of 28 years, cited emergency preparedness and transportation as his top district issues. He wants to see roads and bridges upgraded and greater statewide emergency coordination. Statewide, water is the biggest concern, he said.
We need reservoirs to store more water, (and) to transfer water from the north to the south, Marquez said.
Fritchle said his top issue in the district is traffic, particularly along the 60 freeway, where he would like to see underused service roads turned into roadways for big-rigs now using the freeway. Hes also concerned about the states economy, which he said is propped up with temporary tax money raised through the voter-approved Proposition 30, which is set to expire in 2019.
Of the five candidates, Chen has amassed the lengthiest list of endorsements, including from former Gov. Pete Wilson, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens and Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas.
Tyes endorsements include Yorba Linda Mayor Tom Lindsey and Yorba Linda Councilman Gene Hernandez. Spence is endorsed by state Sens. John Moorlach, Mike Morrell and Joel Anderson, among others. Marquez is endorsed by the Orange County Professional Firefighters Association and the California Professional Firefighters.
Fritchle said his endorsements include the Democratic Party of Orange County and Rose Espinoza, founder of Rosies Garage Tutoring Center in La Habra.
Contact the writer: rkopetman@ocregister.com
Finding that the District of Columbias strict gun law is probably unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that, while a challenge to the law is pending, district police must stop requiring applicants to have a good reason for seeking a permit to carry a gun on the street.
Judge Richard J. Leons 46-page ruling in U.S. District Court in Washington reopens the districts long fight over how much room the Second Amendments guarantee of the right to bear arms leaves for local regulation and whether it applies only to firearms in the home, or to guns carried outside as well.
The law gave the police the discretion to grant concealed-carry licenses only to those with good reason to fear injury or other specific reasons, such as having a job in which they carried large amounts of cash or valuables.
All citizens have a constitutional right to keep firearms in their homes for self-defense, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2008 in District of Columbia v. Heller.
Referring to that ruling, Leon wrote, The districts understandable, but overly zealous, desire to restrict the right to carry in public a firearm for self-defense to the smallest possible number of law-abiding, responsible citizens is exactly the type of policy choice the justices had in mind.
The judge ruled on a lawsuit filed last year by Matthew Grace, the owner of four legally registered handguns, and Pink Pistols, a shooting group he belongs to. In his court papers, Grace said that he had no special reason for needing to carry a gun on the street, beyond the usual worries about street violence, but that the gun law violated the Second Amendment right to bear arms for self-defense.
Leon agreed that the Second Amendment covered the right to carry a pistol in the street as well as in the home. The need for self-defense is, of course, greater outside the home than it is within it, he wrote, adding that the right of law-abiding responsible citizens to carry arms in public for the purpose of self-defense does indeed lie at the core of the Second Amendment.
Robert Marus, a spokesman for the District of Columbia attorney generals office, said it was very likely that Leons ruling would be appealed, so that we can go back to enforcing our law.
The district approved its concealed-carry permit law in September 2014, not long after a federal judge overturned its longstanding ban on carrying firearms in public.
The new law, among the strictest in the nation, matches those in Maryland, New Jersey and New York, which have all been upheld by federal appeals courts elsewhere.
A similar case involving a different plaintiff, Wrenn v. District of Columbia, is pending in the district. In that one, a different judge said the law was probably constitutional and refused to issue an injunction.
SANTA ANA The conviction of a Lake Forest man accused of bludgeoning a beloved Laguna Beach hotel manager to death has been overturned by a state appeals court that found that police acted improperly following his arrest.
Matthew Thomas Dragna was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in the 2009 home-robbery murder of Damon Nicholson, 40, a sales and catering manager at Hotel Laguna.
In overturning the conviction, a three-judge panel unanimously determined that officers should have stopped interviewing Dragna after he invoked his right to an attorney. Instead, Dragna later admitted to being at
Nicholsons home when he was killed.
Dragnas police statements were a centerpiece of the prosecutions case, Associate Justice Richard M. Aronson wrote in the ruling. Indeed, they led the prosecutor to describe the defendant as his star witness.
On Tuesday, a representative of the Orange County District Attorneys Office said the case would be retried. Dragna remained in state prison.
We will retry this case to get justice for an innocent victim who was brutally murdered, said Roxi Fyad, a District Attorneys Office spokeswoman.
A co-worker found
Nicholsons body when he didnt show up for work on Oct. 23, 2009. Two blows to the head had fractured
Nicholsons skull, and computers and other electronics had been taken from his apartment.
DNA found on a trash can in Nicholsons residence pointed investigators to Dragna. Police also found Nicholsons cellphone in a trash bin at Dragnas apartment complex.
As Dragna was being taken to the police station, he told officers that if they wanted to talk to him they should talk to a lawyer.
However, the appeals court judges noted in the ruling posted last week, Dragna kept talking, ultimately admitting that he had been at Nicholsons home the night of the murder, but saying that a friend who lived at Dragnas apartment complex, Jacob Quintanilla, had carried out the slaying.
Dragna said he only entered Nicholsons home to find a trash bag for Quintanillas bloody clothing.
The California Attorney Generals Office argued that Dragna, now 26, had waived his rights by willingly continuing to answer the detectives questions, at one point saying, So what do you guys wanna know?
The office also argued that even without Dragnas statements, prosecutors still had the DNA found at the home and the stolen goods at his apartment complex, which they contend pointed to his guilt. Dragna was friendly with Quintanilla, who lived in the same complex.
Dragna had had sex with Nicholson before.
The appeals court judges countered that Dragnas admission was key to prosecutors tying him to Nicholsons residence at the time of the murder. Otherwise, the judges said, the jurors could have concluded that Dragna was at Nicholsons home at another time, and that Quintanilla had come up with the robbery plan on his own.
Quintanilla is awaiting trial.
A man and his dog were rescued from their balcony after a 3rd alarm fire ripped through an apartment complex in the 1700 block of North Community Drive sending three people to the hospital and over a dozen residents displaced around 11:35 p.m. Tuesday night in Anaheim.
LAGOS, Nigeria One of the teenagers kidnapped by Boko Haram extremists over two years ago from a boarding school in northeastern Nigeria has been found with a baby and was reunited with her mother, a doctor said Wednesday the first of the Chibok girls to be recovered since the mass abduction.
The 19-year-old woman, described by an uncle as traumatized by her experience, was found wandering with her baby on Tuesday on the fringes of the remote Sambisa Forest, which is located near Nigerias border with Cameroon.
The news gave hope to the families of the 218 girls who are still missing and may provide information as to their whereabouts. But the young woman told her mother that some of the Chibok girls have died in captivity and the others still are being held, according to her familys doctor, Idriss Danladi, who spoke to The Associated Press after talking with the mother.
Other Chibok girls may have been rescued by soldiers hunting down Boko Haram in the Sambisa Forest on Tuesday night, said Chibok community leader Pogu Bitrus. But it turned out later those girls were from elsewhere, said Awami Nkeki, secretary of the Chibok local government council.
On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram stormed and firebombed the Government Girls Secondary School at Chibok and seized 276 girls preparing for science exams. Dozens managed to escape in the first hours, but 219 remained captive.
The young woman is the first of those captives to be found since the kidnapping, which grabbed worldwide attention and put a spotlight on the violence of Nigerias homegrown Islamic extremists.
God reigns! one of the founders of the Bring Back Our Girls movement, Oby Ezekwesili, trumpeted on social media. OUR (hash)ChibokGirl IS BACK!!!!!!! (hash)218ShallBeBack because (hash)HopeEndures.
There were conflicting accounts about how the young woman was found.
Danladi said the young woman, who was 17 when abducted, was found by hunters and taken with her baby to her home village of Mbalala, near Chibok, to be reunited with her mother. Her father died while she was in captivity, said her uncle, Yakubu Nkeki. All three were then brought to a military camp and arrived under military escort Wednesday night in Maiduguri, the biggest city in the northeast.
But Nigerias military said it had rescued the young woman and her baby, along with a Boko Haram suspect who claimed to be her husband.
This is to confirm that one of the abducted Chibok school girls was among the persons rescued by our troops, said the army spokesman, Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman.
Late Tuesday, an official at State House in Maiduguri said the liberated woman told him that she was rescued and led from the forest by her Boko Haram husband because the camp ran out of food and they feared their baby would starve to death. The military said the man, Mohammed Hayatu, appears to be a Boko Haram commander and is being held for interrogation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of upsetting the military.
Danladi, who is from Chibok and has treated several of the parents, said the young womans mother attempted suicide some months after her only child was seized.
The mother suffered a huge traumatic disorder. I had to convince her that she just has to stay alive if she really wants her daughter returned home safe and sound, he said.
The Rev. Enoch Mark, whose two daughters are among the missing, said the news brought renewed hope to the parents of the Chibok girls.
I believe that, by the grace of God, our daughters, some of them, will be found if they are still alive, he said.
At least 16 of the girls parents have died since the kidnapping, Bitrus said, and others have ailments they blame on their ongoing trauma after the abductions.
I suffered a stroke on Friday, thats why you dont recognize my voice, Mark said.
The inability of Nigerias government and military to rescue the girls led, in part, to last years electoral defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan, who was seen as uncaring.
The U.S., France and Britain offered help to find the girls, sending in drones, hostage negotiators, intelligence officers and others.
A social media campaign using the hashtag (hash)BringBackOurGirls reached to the White House, where first lady Michelle Obama promised her husband would do all in his power to help. Our prayers are with the missing Nigerian girls and their families. Its time to (hash)BringBackOurGirls, she tweeted in May 2014.
R. Evon Idahosa, executive director of PathFinders Justice Initiative, which works on behalf of victims of child abuse, sex trafficking and rape, said the West has not done enough to help the Chibok girls.
Idahosa noted the response after the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, when government leaders marched in solidarity, arm-in-arm over the death of 17 people. Not to say that that is any less important than the lives of these girls, but the reality is that one Western life definitely has a different value from the value of a girl in Nigeria.
Returning to ordinary life could be difficult for the victims, according to experts.
Children in this situation typically require medical assistance and psycho-social support to help them cope with what they have been through while they were in captivity, said UNICEF spokeswoman Helene Sandbu Ryeng.
Our experience with children and women who were kidnapped by Boko Haram and freed by the military or escaped shows that they often face mistrust, stigma and rejection when they return to their communities, she said.
Its not known how many thousands of girls, boys and young women have been kidnapped by Boko Haram in a nearly 7-year-old insurgency that has killed some 20,000 people, forced more than 2 million from their homes and spread across Nigerias borders.
Boko Haram held a large swath of northeastern Nigeria where it declared an Islamic caliphate in 2014. A multinational force from Nigeria and its neighbors has reduced their territory, reportedly hemming them into the Sambisa Forest. The insurgents have focused on attacking soft targets like markets and mosques with suicide bombers, often girls and young women who are feared to be among their captives.
There also are fears that Boko Haram is sending fighters to Libya to join the Islamic State group, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday at a summit on fighting Boko Haram. The group declared itself the West Africa Province of IS last year, and Blinkens suggestion raised concern the two groups could start an extremist push into the vast and lawless lands of the Sahel region.
It is disheartening to see that the medias near-exclusive focus while covering the Food and Drug Administrations recent tobacco deeming regs has been on the provision that restricts e-cigarette sales to minors. The New York Times published an editorial entitled Keeping E-Cigarettes Away From the Kids, and the Huffington Post ran an article with the headline FinallyCommonsense Protections for Our Kids From Tobacco.
Most people agree minors should not have access to products that contain substantial levels of nicotine (and substantial is used because many foods contain trace amounts of nicotine). But, in focusing on this move, commentators are missing how the FDAs new regulations will destroy 99 percent of an industry that offers an option the Royal College of Physicians finds is 95 percent safer than cigarettes.
The FDAs regulations will force all e-cigarette products to go through the costly and time-consuming premarket tobacco product application process, a step that all but the big tobacco companies will not be able to comply with. (For more on how the FDAs approval process will harm innovation and consumers, see my previous E21 article).
The fundamental reason FDA placed the public at greater risk of the health problems that come with smoking traditional cigarette was that it cannot pass up on a chance to expand its power. As the tortured language of the regulation shows, the FDA recognizes that e-cigarettes are safer than cigarettes, but refuses to admit their potential positive consequences. Instead, the agency twists congressional intent in its deadly power grab.
Last week Nicopure Labs, an e-cigarette company, filed alawsuit against the FDA that argued the agencys dictates violate free speech by prohibiting e-cigarette makers from advertising that their products are smoke-free or safer than cigarettes. When addressing public comments on page 248 of the regulation, the FDA preemptively brought up this legal challenge by writing, A few comments expressed concern that imposition of section 911 of the [Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act] will force e-cigarette manufacturers to implicitly lie by not permitting them to tell consumers that their products are safer alternatives to conventional cigarettes, to advertise that they do not contain tobacco, and to state that they are smoke free.
The FDA replied to the objection by stating, Section 911 is one of the provisions of the statute that applies automatically to deemed products. It was included in the FD&C Act to protect consumers from manufacturers making invalid or unsubstantiated claims, as many had done with respect to their designation of cigarettes as light, low, or mild.
On this point, the FDA cites what it deems to be Congress intent, as stated in Section 2(37) of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, Those who use products sold or distributed as modified risk products that do not in fact reduce risk have a substantially increased likelihood of suffering disability and premature death. The costs to society of the widespread use of products sold or distributed as modified risk products that do not in fact reduce risk or that increase risk include thousands of unnecessary deaths and injuries and huge costs to our health care system.
While the health benefits of light and low-tar cigarettes are nonexistent, the same is not true for e-cigarettes. The FDA is making a giant leap of logic to assert that e-cigarettes cause thousands of unnecessary deaths and injuries and huge costs to our health care system. No one can honestly argue that the slight risks e-cigarettes pose are anywhere near comparable to the major risks light cigarettes pose. If anything, e-cigarettes boost public health and lower health-care spending by offering a safer alternative to cigarettes.
The FDA has compelling interest in preventing drug manufactures from misrepresenting tobacco products risks and benefits. But the Tobacco Control Act was passed in 2009 and makes no mention of e-cigarettes, as the technology was only in its infancy. The part of the act to which the FDA refers was meant to ensure that tobacco companies were not using misleading marketing tactics to make tobacco users believe variations of traditional cigarettes are less harmful. One only needs to read the following sections of the law to see it only mentions that comparable cigarette products marketed as low tar and light. The law was written for a different time, for a different public safety concern.
No such widespread fraud surrounds e-cigarettes. Throughout the regulation, the FDA repeatedly acknowledges that it recognized e-cigarettes may not pose as much harm as smoke emitted from combustible tobacco products, yet under a curious provision of the law, as stated on page 220, the Tobacco Control Act does not require that FDA make a finding that a product is harmful in order to deem it to be subject to chapter IX of the FD&C Act; FDA is authorized to deem any product that meets the definition of a tobacco product pursuant to section 901 of the FD&C Act. Instead of the FDA having to prove that e-cigarettes increase public health risks, the industry is now forced to justify its existence by going through the agencys near-impossible review process.
The FDA beats around the bush by stating that it agrees that using e-cigarettes is potentially less hazardous than using cigarettes, for both first-hand and second-hand exposure. It also admitsas do all scientiststhat nicotine exposure is not responsible for the high prevalence of tobacco-related death and disease in this country. The health risks from smoking instead come from the many carcinogens that are released by burning tobacco.
But the FDA desperately wanted to bring e-cigarettes under its purviewand who would have expected otherwise? After all, bureaucracies do not gain more power (and increased funding) by passing on chances to expand their scopes of authority. From the torturedand seemingly contradictorylanguage of the FDAs deeming regulations, it is clear the agency understands that e-cigarettes are safer than cigarettes.
Hence, the FDA should have allowed the e-cigarette industry to continue to grow under reasonable regulatory oversight, such as restricting sales to minors. The biggest victims here are not the e-cigarette companies forced to comply with unnecessary and onerous regulations. Instead, by perpetuating misinformation about the safety of e-cigarettes, the FDA is leading cigarette smokers to continue using significantly more dangerous products. E-cigarette companies will fail, and many cigarette addicts will die.
Now that the final regulations are out, it is up to Congress to take action so that 99 percent of the e-cigarette market is not wiped out, along with a much safer alternative to smoking.
Jared Meyer is a fellow at Economics21 at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. You can follow him on Twitter @JaredMeyer10.
This article originally appeared in The Federalist.
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In another life, Jacques Heim wishes he could have been an architect or engineer.
Maybe I dont have the mind for that kind of work, said Heim, artistic director of dance troupe Diavolo, Architecture in Motion. But I think my connection to the urban environments, it comes from this dream and fascination. Now, I call myself an architect of motion.
Making up for any kind of missed destiny, Heim, in his life leading a modern dance company, integrates complex structures into dance. Saturday at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, Diavolo will present a world premiere highlighting the best parts of Heims architectural obsession.
Founded in 1992, the troupe uses intense physical dance movement to explore how humans interact with the built environment. The dancers scale structures throughout the pieces, demonstrating, as Heim describes, how fragile and vulnerable people are.
Before moving to America in 1983 for school, Heim spent his days performing with a guerrilla theater group in Paris. He considered city streets and car rooftops his personal stages as he rebelled against societal norms and appropriate behavior.
At the urging of his parents, Heim moved to America for college and a fresh start.
I was a rebel. I had to get out of France, said Heim, who enrolled as a theater major at Middlebury College in Vermont. He soon transferred to dance, where the French-to-English language barrier didnt matter.
I fell in love with the power and universal aspect of movement, said Heim. And I started to think about how dance can echo our own existence.
Now, more than three decades since making the shift to dance, Heim explores how humans behave when put in contact with man-made structures on international stages. Saturday in Orange County, Heim invites audiences to explore the universal themes of struggle, chaos, destiny, freedom, deconstruction and more through dance. Going one step further, Heim promises to clue novice dance audiences into these abstract concepts by personally appearing onstage with an explanation of his newest work.
This is the biggest topic that I know a lot of art affiliates or intellectuals would disagree with me about, but 0.1 percent of people in the audience are completely OK to let the art speak for itself, said Heim. He said he doesnt care what people say because I want to bring the audience closer to the art of dance. That is the bottom line.
In fact, its so important to Heim that theatergoers feel welcomed into the space, he prefers the term guests to audience, he said.
I want the theater to be as if they were in my own living room, said Heim.
But Heims living room is probably the only one able to survive an invasion of 10 gladiator-like dancers who perform daredevil stunts on larger-than-life set pieces. The program at the Barclay, for example, includes an oversized wheel and more than two dozen heavy, gray cubes.
The first piece in the program, Humachina II, is the West Coast premiere of a work that looks at societal evolution. Its devised as a representation of prehistoric nomads first encounter with the wheel. Heim said he grapples with whether the machine is manipulating the dancer, or if the dancer is manipulating the machine.
Next in the program is Heims Passengers, a work-in-progress excerpt from the companys evening-length show, L.O.S.T., Losing Ones Self Temporarily. The piece involves a set piece that is simultaneously a train and a staircase.
Really its like this dark and mysterious machine that represents life, said Heim.
When we start at the beginning of our day, we are all passengers. We take the train, we take the subway, we take a taxi, bicycle, cars, buses, you name it, and its like a beginning of a journey, said Heim when explaining the theme of the piece. Are we a passenger in our life, or are we a driver? Do we create our own destiny, or are we just a victim?
On Saturday, Orange County audiences can join Heim and Diavolo on a journey toward understanding understanding life or even just modern dance.
Contact the writer: 714-796-6026 or kwright@ocregister.com
WALNUT CREEK A year ago, four John Muir Medical Center doctors told Mohammad Meshkin that his daughter was brain-dead. The hospital refused to operate on Anahita Meshkins infected, fractured hip because it said it would not be ethical to treat a dead person.
The Walnut Creek facility told the father they wanted to pull the plug on the then-29-year-old woman, who had been in a coma since 2007 after suffering a massive seizure while battling anorexia. But he wasnt ready to give up.
Before the hospital could stop treatment, Meshkin called Chris Dolan, the lawyer for teenager Jahi McMaths family.
Dolan, along with another attorney, filed a temporary restraining order May 1, 2015, to block the hospital from withholding Anahitas treatment. Hours later, two UC San Francisco School of Medicine neurologists and professors conducted an independent test ordered by a Contra Costa Superior Court judge and determined Anahita was not brain-dead after all.
She does not meet the clinical criteria for brain death, wrote physicians Wade Smith and Andrew Josephson, according to court records. They noted that she moved her head and elbow when they pinched her hands.
Meshkin said he was inspired by the McMath case to fight for his daughter, who remains in a coma in a long-term care facility. Jahis family fought her brain-death diagnosis and won a court order to remove her from UCSF Benioff Childrens Hospital Oakland.
Meshkins case is an example of the post-Jahi medical world. Increasingly, brain-death diagnoses are no longer taken as certainties, and new legal options exist to prolong end-of-life decisions.
Meshkin is clear he doesnt believe his daughter is a medical miracle who recovered from brain death; rather, he believes hospitals and insurance companies are often too quick to make the declarations.
This is their job, to clear beds, and our job is to fight back, Meshkin said Tuesday as he stood beside his daughter in a Walnut Creek care center. Mr. Dolan saved Jahi. He saved (Anahita) too. Hes my hero and Anahitas savior.
After Meshkin won the right to keep his daughter on life-support machines, John Muir performed the surgery on her hip. A hospital spokesman, citing privacy laws, said he could not comment on the case.
MEXICO CITY President Enrique Pena Nieto proposed Tuesday to legalize same-sex marriage in Mexico, a move that would enshrine on a national level a Supreme Court ruling last year that it was unconstitutional for states to bar such couples from wedding.
Speaking at an event on the International Day Against Homophobia, Pena Nieto said he signed initiatives that would seek to add same-sex marriage provisions to Mexicos constitution and the national civil code.
Pena Nieto said he would seek to reform Article 4 of the constitution to clearly reflect the Supreme Court opinion to recognize as a human right that people can enter into marriage without any kind of discrimination.
That is, for marriages to be carried out without discrimination on the basis of ethnicity or nationality, of disabilities, of social or health conditions, of religion, of gender or sexual preference, he added.
Pena Nietos Twitter page and other government Twitter accounts were turned to include the rainbow colors as he made the announcement.
Gay marriage is already legal in some parts of Mexico such as the capital, the northern state of Coahuila and Quintana Roo state on the Caribbean coast. Adding it to the constitution and the civil code would expand gay marriage rights across the country.
Last June, the Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional for Mexican states to ban same-sex couples from getting married. But the decision did not specifically overturn state laws, meaning couples have had to sue in court in each particular case.
Alejandro Brito, director of Letra S, a human rights group specializing in sexual diversity issues, called Pena Nietos announcement great news.
I think it sends a very clear message of respect and against discrimination toward sexual diversity, Brito said. If it is enshrined in the constitution and the Supreme Court has established a precedent on this, it would seem just a question of time before all (government) entities across the country recognize equal marriage. I think this is a battle that has been won.
While Americans are confronting an epidemic of prescription drug abuse, particularly for addictive painkillers, the reverse problem prevails in much of the world.
Many ill people with a legitimate need for drugs like oxycodone and other narcotics known as opioid analgesics cannot get them and are suffering and dying in pain, according to health officials, doctors and patients rights advocates.
In Russia, India and Mexico, many doctors are reluctant to prescribe these painkillers, fearful of possible prosecution or other legal problems, even if they believe the prescriptions are justified.
In Kenya, health officials only recently authorized the production of morphine, one of the most effective drugs for pain relief, after criticism that it was available in only seven of the countrys 250 public hospitals. In Morocco, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch reported in February, only a small fraction of physicians are permitted to prescribe opioid analgesics, which the countrys law on controlled substances identifies as poisons.
And in most poor and middle-income countries, these drugs are restricted and often unavailable, even for patients with terminal cancer, AIDS or grievous war wounds.
The reasons include an absence of medical training, onerous regulations, costs, a focus on eliminating illicit drug use and, in some cultures, a stoic acceptance of pain without complaint. The problem has been amplified, public health experts say, by the stigmatization of the drugs, partly from fear of what has happened in the United States, where opioid misuse is a growing cause of death.
Reinforcing this view has been publicity about high-profile users like Prince, the pop star who died last month at his Minnesota mansion as friends sought help from an addiction specialist to reat what was apparently a dependence on opioid painkillers.
While clearly there are issues with some prescribing practices, theres also clearly a risk to vilifying these medicines, said Diederik Lohman, associate director of the health and human rights division at Human Rights Watch.
In some countries, Lohman said, a clerical error in a morphine prescription can lead to criminal inquiries. The fear associated with prescribing a medicine under strict scrutiny makes physicians afraid, he said.
Afsan Bhadelia, a visiting scientist and palliative care expert at the Harvard School of Public Health, said the biggest misconception internationally regarding opioids was the need for tighter control.
People do not have access to pain control for basic surgery, she said. People are going into the operating room and not having anyone mitigate their pain. It is a great injustice.
Liliana De Lima, executive director of the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care, a Houston-based advocacy group, said that global publicity about the American opioid epidemic had brought this problem to the people, and that has had an effect on the fears.
Despite international protocols dating back decades that entitle patients to pain relief and palliative care, access remains limited or nonexistent for many.
A report published in February from the International Narcotics Control Board, a United Nations agency, showed that most growth in the use of opioid analgesics has been in North America, Central and Western Europe, and Oceania. It remains low in Africa, Asia, Central America, the Caribbean, South America, and Eastern and Southern Europe.
The pain-relief problem was addressed by the World Health Organization in a report published in advance of a U.N. summit meeting on international drug policy in April, the first such review in nearly two decades.
Ensuring the adequate availability of controlled substances for medical and scientific purposes, the WHO said, was a commitment made by member states that had yet to be universally achieved.
It estimated that 5.5 billion people live in countries with low or nonexistent access to controlled medicines for the treatment of moderate to severe pain.
Dr. Dingle Spence, an oncology and palliative medicine physician in Jamaica, said that although opioids are available in her country, the supply is disrupted by so-called stockouts demand exceeding supply because of bureaucracy.
Theres not enough understanding about timely ordering, she said. The amount of permits needed to bring them into the country slows down the timely flow.
Still, Spence said Jamaica was fortunate compared with other countries in the region. In Trinidad, for example, she said officials refused to allow the simplest type of morphine for pain relief. It seems to be they are bound by the opiate-phobia problem, she said. Here we are in 2016, all the advocates are still trying, and nothing has happened.
Morphine consumption data from the International Narcotics Control Board, she said, tells part of the story. In 2013, the global average for 139 nations was 6.27 milligrams per capita. The only Caribbean nation above the mean was Barbados. In Jamaica, consumption was 1.63 milligrams; in the Bahamas, 0.24 milligram.
That means theres a ton of people in pain, Spence said.
Felicia M. Knaul, an international health economist and expert in Latin American health systems, criticized what she described as a widespread overemphasis on the addictive risks associated with opioids. Although fear of opioids may be fed by American tragedies like Princes death, she said, strict regulations also are responsible for the pain-relief crisis elsewhere.
Its not that we shouldnt be concerned about addiction, she said, but we basically have zero access in most countries around the world. You dont go from zero to the situation in the United States.
A 40-year-old Santa Ana man was convicted of second-degree murder on Tuesday for strangling a transgender woman during a sexual encounter and dumping her body behind a Dairy Queen in Anaheim in 2014.
An Orange County Superior Court jury deliberated for less than a day before finding Randy Lee Parkerson guilty of killing Zoraida Reyes, a 28-year-old transgender activist from Santa Ana.
Parkersons encounter with Reyes came during a methamphetamine and sex binge after he lost his job, attorneys said. Parkerson contacted Reyes online and met her in his car in Santa Ana, where he agreed to pay her for sex.
Deputy District Attorney Steve McGreevy in his closing statement said the two engaged in a consensual sex act that went too far when Parkerson began choking Reyes as a form of erotic asphyxiation. McGreevy said Parkerson initially lied to police about what happened before admitting that he got caught up in the moment.
Its not a matter of assigning blame or teaching someone a lesson. Its justice, McGreevy said. He didnt mean for this to happen? Thats not enough.
Parkersons attorney, Deputy Public Defender Sara Nakada, said Reyes wanted to take part in erotic asphyxiation, and told him to keep going several times even though he was worried.
Mr. Parkerson killed Ms. Reyes as a result of an accident, Nakada said. Make no bones about it, the prosecution wants more. But you cant get more unless you prove more.
Parkerson told police that he doesnt consider himself bisexual but prefers sex with men when hes high on meth.
Parkerson said he was clean for years but went on a major meth binge after he lost his longtime job. Hed been up for days on drugs when he met Reyes, he told police.
After discovering Reyes was dead, Parkerson put her body into the trunk of his car, where he kept it for two days to figure out where to leave her. He admitted to leaving Reyes body half-hidden by bushes.
Reyes death was a shock to the local transgender community. She had become an increasingly strong voice for the rights of transgender people and undocumented immigrants. More than 100 people gathered in Santa Ana after her death, remembering her as a shy but bold voice for LGBT rights.
Reyes longtime friend, Jiselle Neel, said she was somewhat relieved by the verdict, though it will never bring her friend back.
She was the sweetest, kindest person I ever met, Neel said. She was a beautiful soul.
Parkerson faces 15 years to life in prison when he returns to court for sentencing on June 24.
Contact the writer: kpuente@ocregister.com
SANTA ANA A male suspect who possibly stabbed a man in his 30s and fled, leaving the victim critically injured Wednesday morning, turned himself in to Newport Beach police.
Authorities believe the stabbing was the result of a dispute between roommates.
Officers responded to the Fairview Mobile Home Estates on Sullivan Street at around 10:40 a.m. to a call of a man who was stabbed, said police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna.
Firefighters said the man was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange as a critical trauma patient.
He was listed in stable condition Wednesday night.
The stabbing victim had been attacked by someone who then fled. Investigators were searching the area, though no description about the persons appearance was immediately available.
It was unclear when the suspect turned himself in to authorities.
Investigators closed off the scene and the mobile home park.
Nearby Lincoln Elementary School officials placed the campus on lockdown during the search as a precaution and had a school police department officer on site but the order was soon lifted.
Updates to follow.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7865 or afausto@ocregister.com
No substantiated evidence exists that genetically engineered crops have caused health problems in humans or damaged the environment, but its too soon to making broad statements, positive or negative, about laboratory-based manipulations of crop genomes, an elite panel of scientists concluded in a report Tuesday.
The panel of 20 experts, most of them academics, was convened by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and asked to review various claims about the benefits and hazards of GE crops. The 388-page report is nuanced and, on some issues, equivocal, with comments from all sides of the issue.
Despite the heavyweight credentials of the panelists, their assessment seems unlikely to quiet the polarized debate over crops that supporters say can feed a hungry world but which critics have referred to as Frankenfood.
We make a very strong point that sweeping generalizations about GE crops are misguided, said committee head Fred Gould, a North Carolina State University professor.
The biotech industry has long argued that GE crops are safe to humans, animals and the environment generally and that these crops can improve yields and in some cases reduce the need for pesticides. Previous studies from the National Academies have generally backed the industry position; the prevailing scientific view is that there is nothing intrinsically more dangerous about changing a genetic trait through a laboratory technique than through the kind of field-based plant breeding that farmers have employed for millennia. Already, much of the corn and soybeans grown in the United States is genetically modified.
The new report essentially reiterates that view, saying government regulators shouldnt focus on the process by which a plant is altered but rather on the plant itself and whatever traits it has. Every newly introduced plant should undergo safety testing regardless of how it was created, the report states. But, it also says, the fact that previous GE crops have not caused health or environmental problems does not mean that all prospective GE plants should be presumed to be benign.
That point is particularly important, the researchers said, given rapidly evolving laboratory processes. New techniques include CRISPR, the revolutionary gene-editing tool that lets researchers delete or inactivate genes without introducing genetic material from other organisms.
One of the take-home messages is, it makes less and less sense to talk about genetic engineering as a distinct category of plant breeding, said Michael Rodemeyer, an attorney and former University of Virginia professor who served on the committee. What were seeing is rapid development of technology blurring all of those lines.
But the recommendation of a process-agnostic approach to new crops one that would wouldnt single out laboratory-engineered plants from ones bred traditionally drew immediate criticism from the technology watchdog organization ETC Group.
In our view the report is inconsistent on the crucially important question of whether or not to regulate the new techniques such as genome editing and synthetic biology. That is the most urgent question regulators face right now, and this report doesnt come to logical conclusions, ETC spokesman Jim Thomas said by email. The potential for gene-editing techniques to have off-target effects should persuade regulatory agencies to focus on the process and not just the ultimate product, he said.
Thomas noted that the general public already is highly suspicious of genetically engineered food. The consumer is saying, We dont trust this stuff and we dont trust the companies that are pushing it, he said.
Dana Perls, senior campaigner on food and technology with Friends of the Earth, said the biotech industry has long supported the National Academies.
Im concerned that their findings and recommendations are deceptive and even biased toward industry interests, she said in advance of reading the report.
The National Academies did not appoint anyone from the biotech industry to the committee, nor use any money from the industry to fund the study, a spokesman said, adding that all committee members were required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest.
The panelists knew they were entering contested territory that is influenced not just by scientific data but also by concerns about corporate agriculture, the ownership of GE seed supplies and the struggles of small farmers around the world. The debate has social and economic elements that cant be solved by science alone, according to the report. On the issue of whether the government should require that products sold at grocery stores be labeled if they contain genetically modified organisms, for example, the panel declined to take a firm position. It instead detailed pro and con arguments.
Michael Hansen, a senior scientist with Consumers Union, praised that element of the report: When it comes to GMO labels, the NAS report points out that there are value choices that consumers want to make when they shop for food. Were pleased to see that the report cites the wealth of polling data showing consumers want GMO labeling.
In an email to The Post, Hansen pointed out that the committee acknowledged that genetic engineering could introduce allergens into a plant that would be hard to detect in tests prior to the food hitting the open market. Thats another reason for labeling, Hansen said.
The new report stressed that very few GE crops are currently in heavy cultivation. Only two types of laboratory-derived genetic enhancements have been widely used so far one that confers tolerance to herbicides, and another that reduces vulnerability to insect pests. Badly managed GE crops can lead to herbicide resistance in weeds and pesticide resistance among insects.
We wanted to be transparent, we wanted to be inclusive, we wanted to include all the voices that have expressed concern about this technology or have expressed support, said Dominique Brossard, a University of Wisconsin professor who studies risk communication in emerging technologies.
We have heard all the sides of the argument, she said. Potentially, we may displease both sides of the issue that is extremely polarized.
SANTA ANA A man charged with hitting and killing a pedestrian as he led police on a high-speed chase pleaded guilty on Tuesday as his trial was underway.
Victor Manuel Sanchez, a 24-year-old documented gang member, was fleeing from police in a white Dodge Charger on May 30, 2013, when he hit Andrew Reisse, a 33-year-old software developer, in a crosswalk at the intersection of MacArthur Boulevard and South Flower Street, authorities said.
Sanchez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Tuesday, just before attorneys were expected to begin closing arguments in his trial, which began May 12, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Mark Birney.
He faces 18 years to life in custody when he returns to court for sentencing on July 8, Birney said.
Birney said Sanchez blasted through residential areas at speeds of more than 60 mph and didnt stop even after he broadsided a truck at Warner Avenue and continued south on Flower.
Sanchez was driving at nearly 100 mph when he slammed on the breaks and hit a second vehicle, the prosecutor said. The impact caused the Dodge Charger to spin and crash into Reisse, who was walking home after having lunch at Chipotle.
Reisse was thrown about 60 feet and died at the scene, authorities said. Reisse was a co-founder of Irvine-based Oculus Rift, a virtual reality headset created for video games.
Sanchez has a prior conviction for evading officers in an hourlong car chase that ended in Long Beach in 2008.
What Mr. Sanchez didnt do was learn his lesson, and it cost that man his life, Birney said during the trial.
WASHINGTON The awkward embrace between Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Party may be nearing a breaking point.
Leading Democrats are growing increasingly vocal in their concerns about the White House hopefuls continued candidacy, and if he and his legions of enthusiastic supporters ultimately will unite behind Hillary Clinton in a general election against Donald Trump.
For his part, Sanders has sharpened his critique of the party. He says it would be sad and tragic if Democrats dont stop relying on big money, and he is assailing Clinton for her dependence on wealthy donors. Clinton backers grumble that such comments can only help Republicans, belying Sanders claims that hell work tirelessly to ensure Trump doesnt end up the president.
The tone on both sides is worsening after last weekends fracas at the Nevada Democratic Convention. Furious over rules they claimed favored Clinton, a group of Sanders supporters shouted obscenities, brandished chairs and threatened and harassed the party chairwoman. And after Democratic officials, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, pressed Sanders to denounce the events, Sanders defiantly asserted that his supporters were treated unfairly.
The tenor of Sanders statement disturbed Democratic leaders. Theyre worried that as the primary process nears its end, Sanders may resist the graceful exit that Democrats expect of him and instead heed advisers and supporters pressing him to maintain the fight, perhaps all the way to the Democratic convention in Philadelphia in July.
Everything our families care about is at stake here, said Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, who said she feared for her safety after being booed and shouted down at the Nevada convention.
Boxer said she spoke with Sanders this week and found her Vermont colleague very upset, insisting, My people wouldnt do this.
I just told him, Bernie, you need to take control of this, Boxer said.
Boxer and other influential Democrats cited Clintons handling of her bitter loss to Barack Obama eight years ago as a model. Then, Clinton washed away a season of bad blood by conceding and throwing her support behind the eventual president.
The math didnt add up for her then, and it doesnt add up for Bernie now, Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan said.
Few are demanding publicly that Sanders get out of the race immediately. That may change if he doesnt do so soon, presuming Clinton wraps up the nomination as expected. But right now, the partys leaders want to avoid making the campaign so bitter that Sanders backers refuse to rejoin the fold.
Looming is the prospect of violence in Philadelphia.
People are trying to reach out and make sure that this thing doesnt get ruptured, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said. The question, she said, is will Sanders go all-in to help Hillary Clinton defeat Donald Trump?
A federal court has ordered a town in Mississippi to desegregate its high schools and middle schools, ending a five-decade legal battle over integrating black and white students.
The ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, made Friday but announced Monday, means the middle and high school programs in the Cleveland School District, in the western part of the state, will be combined for the first time in their centurylong history.
In her decision, Judge Debra M. Brown said, Although no court order can right these wrongs, it is the duty of the district to ensure that not one more student suffers under this burden.
Brown rejected two alternatives proposed by the district as unconstitutional and ordered it to adopt a Justice Department desegregation plan, and to provide a timeline for doing so.
Vanita Gupta, head of the departments Civil Rights Division, said in a statement Monday, This victory creates new opportunities for the children of Cleveland to learn, play and thrive together.
School officials could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday. But a statement on the districts website said it was examining the decision and considering its options for appeal.
Government data released Tuesday suggested that segregation was creeping back in some school districts, with poor, black and Hispanic students increasingly isolated from their white peers.
The report, by the Government Accountability Office, showed that 16 percent of public schools had high proportions of poor and black or Hispanic students in the 2013-14 school year, up from 9 percent in 2000-01.
It said 75 percent to 100 percent of those students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, a commonly used indicator of poverty. The schools offered fewer math, science and college preparatory courses and had higher rates of students held back in ninth grade, suspended or expelled.
Rep. Robert C. Scott, D-Va., who requested the GAO report in 2014 with Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., said it confirmed that the nations schools were still largely segregated by race and class.
Whats more troubling is that segregation in public K-12 schools isnt getting better; its getting worse, and getting worse quickly, with more than 20 million students of color now attending racially and socioeconomically isolated public schools, Scott said in a statement.
The Mississippi case began with an action filed July 24, 1965, on behalf of 131 children. The lawsuit accused the Bolivar County Board of Education and some of its members of operating public schools on a racially segregated basis. Cleveland is in the county.
A Justice Department motion filed in 2011 illustrated the inequities between the poor and well-off in Cleveland, a Mississippi Delta town with a population of about 12,000.
Before 1969, schools on the west side of the railroad tracks were white and segregated by law. Schools on the east side of the tracks were originally black.
More than 40 years later, these schools maintain their character and reputation as white schools with a student body and faculty that are disproportionately white, the department said.
The court ruled that the district must consolidate the virtually all-black D.M. Smith Middle School with the historically white Margaret Green Junior High School. The district must also consolidate the mostly black East Side High School with the historically white Cleveland High School, and review educational programs to identify new ones for consolidation.
The decision came six decades after the U.S. Supreme Court declared in Brown v. Board of Education that separate but equal has no place in public schools. But on the 62nd anniversary of that decision, which was Tuesday, it is still struggling to take hold.
Segregation is not just a characteristic of Southern states. Some of the most severely segregated conditions occur in New York, Maryland and Illinois, the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a report Monday.
Sixty-five percent of New Yorks black students attend overwhelmingly nonwhite schools, compared with 45 percent in Mississippi, the report shows.
Erica Frankenberg, an author of the report, said by telephone that some districts had lagged in ending segregation because doing so required separate legal challenges to policies enforced and enacted at the local and state levels.
It is asking the perpetrators of segregation to be in charge of fixing the segregation, Frankenberg said.
The Justice Department still monitors and enforces 178 desegregation cases, many originating decades ago, the GAO noted.
This month [May 14] marks the eighth anniversary of the arrest of the seven leaders of Irans Bahai community. The two women and five men -- Fariba Kamalabadi, Mahvash Sabet, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezai, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm - were administering to the spiritual and physical needs of the Bahai community in Iran before their incarceration.
In 2010, the seven were sentenced to 20 years in prison, after being convicted of espionage, insulting religious sanctities, and propaganda against the Islamic Republic, following trials that were widely regarded as unfair.
In a written statement, State Department Spokesperson John Kirby said the United States join[s] the international community in condemning the continued imprisonment of the seven Bahai leaders and in calling upon the Islamic Republic of Iran to release them immediately, along with all other prisoners of conscience in Iran.
According to the U.S. State Departments latest report on international religious freedom, there are approximately 300,000 Bahais in Iran, making them the largest non-Muslim faith community in the country. All non-Shia religious minorities in Iran face persecution, but as the State Department reports, most notably the Bahais.
Bahais are denied access to education and employment; they are physically attacked with impunity; their property is confiscated; their marriages are not recognized; their cemeteries are demolished; and they are subject to arbitrary arrest.
Secretary of State John Kerry has said that No nation can fulfill its potential if its people are denied the right to practice, to hold, to modify, to openly profess their innermost beliefs. Iran ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - both of which make clear the fundamental importance of the religious freedom of which Mr. Kerry speaks.
We call on Iranian authorities, said State Department Spokesperson Kirby, to uphold their own laws and meet their international obligations that guarantee freedom of expression, religion, opinion, and assembly for all citizens.
CHICAGO A Chicago police officer whose fatal shooting of an unarmed woman was one of a series of killings of young black people that shattered the publics trust has opted to quit rather than fight to keep his job.
The citys police board announced Tuesday that Dante Servin, who was off duty when he shot 22-year-old Rekia Boyd in 2012, resigned two days before a hearing at which the board was to decide if he should be fired.
The case has been of intense interest in Chicago and beyond, both because of the facts of the situation and the controversy that engulfed the department in the years that followed.
Boyd, like the teenager Laquan McDonald who was shot in 2014, was African-American. In March of 2012, she was with a group of friends walking on the street when Servin told them to be quiet. Servin fired because he said he saw a person moving toward him with a gun, but police later found only a cellphone at the scene.
Prosecutors charged Servin with involuntary manslaughter, but in April of last year, a judge issued a surprising acquittal, explaining that Servin had been improperly charged, and suggested that if the act was intentional, then the crime, if any there be, is first-degree murder.
The city settled a wrongful-death lawsuit in 2013 with Boyds family for $4.5 million.
In November, then-police Superintendent Garry McCarthy announced he would recommend Servin be fired. That came amid intense anger over the delayed release of the video of Officer Jason Van Dyke shooting McDonald 16 times, and the day before Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder.
That timing, particularly since McCarthy had earlier said he did not believe Servin should have been charged, contributed to suspicions that McCarthy was simply trying to assuage an increasingly angry city.
Brandon Smith, a freelance journalist who sued the city to get the McDonald video released, said the Servin case could have helped the citys credibility when it desperately needed it in the wake of the release of the McDonald dashcam video.
If they had moved to fire him in a matter of weeks they could have pointed to that as an example of how they aggressively investigated and discipline officers, he said. As it was, they had no examples.
SANTA BARBARA Julian Alaphilippe has become the king of the Amgen Tour of Californias Queen Stage.
The Frenchman scored his second consecutive Queen Stage victory in Stage 3 of the 11th annual event on Tuesday afternoon, a 104.1-mile race that started at Amgen headquarters in Thousand Oaks and finished atop Gibraltar Road, overlooking Santa Barbara. It is his first victory of the year.
Everybody was waiting for the last climb for a big fight, he said. I was a little bit nervous before arriving here. I wanted to wait for the last moment. I did not know my shape; my condition.
This was something good for me. Im surprised to win like this.
Alaphillipe, a 23-year-old riding for Quick Step, went by Peter Stetina in the final 400 yards for the victory. George Bennett finished third.
The race finished with an 8-mile, 3,484-foot climb with an average grade of 8 percent and portions of the roadway at 142 percent. Last year, Alaphilippe won the Queen Stage atop Mount Baldy to take the yellow jersey.
I was little surprised to be with the last riders, he said. I was feeling good and I felt I can go a little bit more faster. I waited until the last moment.
Last year, Alaphilippe only held the jersey for one day, losing the tour title by three seconds to Peter Sagan on the final stage. With Stage 4 starting Wednesday in Moro Bay, he will have five days to try to hold on to the jersey. He leads Stetina by 19 seconds. He took over the jersey from American Ben King, who won Mondays stage from South Pasadena to Santa Clarita. George Bennett is in third place, 31 seconds back.
It is just different this year for me, Alaphilippe said. Im not really prepared for the (general classification lead). I will take it a little bit day after day.
Tuesdays stage truly did not start until the final climb. Seven riders went on a breakaway about two miles off the starting line heading up the Santa Monica Mountains. It dwindled to four for the final climb.
It was a risk a lot of us that we were willing to take, said Greg Daniel, who earned the Breakaway From Cancer Most Courageous jersey for the effort. I thought it would be good day for a breakaway and get a head start on the climb.
But all of the breakaway riders were done a mile into the climb. But new ones emerged.
Neilson Powless of Roseville, at 19-years old the youngest rider on the tour, took off. Finally Stetina and Lachlan Morton caught the youngster, who won a time trial at this years Redlands race and was third in the San Dimas time trial.
Stetina made a break during a slight downhill section with 2.3 miles to go.
I knew it was harder with 5 kilometers to go, Stetina said. I also knew Lachlan was in the same kind of boat as me and kind of earmarked us going together.
A group of about 10 riders, led by Cannondale and BMC, managed to stay about 10 seconds off the lead. Thats where Alaphilippe emerged, staying with that group.
I do not have the huge punch here like Julian, Treks Stetina said. It was time to go all-in. Unfortunately I was 700 meters too short and kind of ran out of gas. But I had to race that way to give myself the best chance for victory.
Sagan, who held the opening-day yellow jersey and still holds the sprint jersey, finished 13 minutes, 50 seconds behind Alaphilippe. He is 14 minutes off the lead.
QUITE A COMEBACK FOR STETINA
For a man not supposed to be walking, Stetina had an awfully impressive performance in the third stage.
The Northern Californian took the lead at one of the critical points in the climb up Santa Barbaras Gibraltar Road. He held it until the final 400 yards and finished second. He is second in overall classification.
I had earmarked this race and this stage as really needing to be back, he said. Its a testament to moral fortitude. This race was a big personal goal on my calender.
Last year, the 28-year-old had to watch the race from the sidelines, barely able to walk. On April 6, on the first stage of the Tour of the Basque Country, he hit a pole. He spent more than two weeks in as Spanish hospital recovering from a broken knee cap, broken leg and broken ribs. Doctors told him most people would have had their leg amputated after the procedure.
Until a month ago, it was more blind hope and faith that I would be ready for this race, he said. I have had a whole winter under my belt and the recovery has gone really well. But it is a vicious cycle because its continuous catchup.
He said the only way to go is up.
My goals are set high, he said. Im not going to short-change myself. Im here to fight for a podium and hopefully win.
Im kind of in a situation where I get stronger each week instead of breaking down. Im coming from low rock-bottom.
BIG MOMENT FOR POWLESS
Neilson Powless was sitting on the victory stage next to world champions on Tuesday. In some ways, it was a strange feeling.
I had some confidence, but at the same time I have never raced at this level, he said. It is important for me stay calm and take it day-by-day.
Powless has proven himself on the smaller stage, winning a time trial at Redlands and going third in a time trial at San Dimas this year. The 19-year-old, the youngest rider in the race, won a junior XTERRA title.
When the Axeon Hagens Berman rider rounded a bend going up Gibraltar Road, he could see himself on the huge television screen.
I could not believe it he said. It gave me a boost of energy. Im used to watching bigger riders on TV and now it was me.
It was a rush. Its pretty amazing to be up there with the big guys.
SKYS KENNAUGH IN CRASH
Peter Kennaugh of Team Sky had to drop out of the tour when he crashed in the 89th mile. He suffered a collarbone injury.
Contact the writer: keith.lair@sgvn.com
NASA has shipped its last space shuttle external propellant tank to California to join the retired orbiter Endeavour on display in Los Angeles. The plan is to mount the winged spaceship vertically on the massive tank as if ready for launch, complete with a real pair of solid rocket boosters.
The huge orange tank arrived aboard a barge early Wednesday at Marina del Rey on the Los Angeles County coast after a trip that took it from a space agency facility in Louisiana, through the Gulf of Mexico and the Panama Canal, and up the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tugs gently nudged the barge toward a dock.
RELATED: 6 things you need to know about ET-94, the space shuttle fuel tank set to drive on LAs streets
This weekend the tank will be hauled through the streets of Los Angeles to its final home at the California Science Center.
EXTERNAL TANK-94
Known as ET-94, the tank is massive: 154 feet long, 27.5 feet in diameter and weighs 65,000 pounds empty. Tanks not only carried propellant but served as the core of the launch systems architecture. A shuttle also referred to as an orbiter would be mounted on the side of a tank, along with two solid-fuel rocket motors.
INTERIOR
Inside the tank are two internal tanks one for liquid oxygen and a much larger one for liquid hydrogen (held at minus-423 degrees) the propellants that fed a space shuttles three main engines. Another structure connects those tanks and houses other equipment. The total weight of the propellants used for launch exceeded 1.6 million pounds.
EXTERIOR
The tanks surface is covered with a layer of sprayed-on foam designed to keep the propellants at the proper temperature, reduce the formation of ice and to provide protection from heat as it sped through the atmosphere.
FLIGHT
The operational life of an external tank was short. At liftoff, the powerful thrust of the solid rocket boosters was necessary to help the shuttle get moving toward orbit. Within a few minutes, the boosters would fall away from the tank and parachute into the Atlantic for recovery and reuse. Meanwhile, the shuttles main engines gulped thousands of gallons of fuel as the shuttle gained enough speed to enter orbit more than 17,000 mph. In little more than eight minutes and 70 miles above the Earth, the tanks job would be done, detaching from the orbiter and falling away on a planned trajectory over an ocean. Unlike the boosters, the tank would almost entirely burn up in the atmosphere.
HISTORY
ET-94 is the last flight-qualified external tank. NASA ordered it for a mission that would have been flown by the shuttle Columbia, which disintegrated over Texas as it was returning from a mission, killing its crew of seven. An investigation found that foam fell off that missions external tank during launch and punched a hole into a wing, allowing hot gases of the fiery re-entry inside the structure. Investigators used many pieces of foam from ET-94 in tests to come to the conclusion.
SANTA ANA After hearing from dozens of speakers at both extremes in the debate over detention of transgender immigrants at Santa Ana Jail from LGBT activists to anti-illegal immigrant Donald Trump supporters City Council members on Tuesday night took the middle road.
The council unanimously voted to end a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement but not immediately, as some activists had pressured with a hunger strike.
Santa Ana Jail has 182 ICE detainees, including 26 who are gay or bisexual and 31 in the nations first dedicated module for transgender people detained by ICE, to Jail Administrator Christina Holland.
With members saying the city should not be in the business of jailing immigrants, the council directed the city not to renew the contract set to expire June 30, 2020, but not to end it earlier without a viable way to pay off the $24.3 million jail facility debt that ICE dollars are going toward.
We need to make a decision tonight that is prudent, and at the end of the day, its going to take a little bit more time to get there, Councilman David Benavides said Tuesday of the contract phase-out.
Council members followed city staffs recommendation to authorize City Manager David Cavazos to find a consultant for a jail reuse study, but requested that the consultant also look at improving conditions for detainees and alternatives to incarceration, and lowered the study budget from $100,000 to $50,000.
Additionally, council members except for dissenting Mayor Miguel Pulido and absent Councilwoman Michele Martinez voted to allow Cavazos to enter into negotiations with the Santa Ana Police Officers Association to offer voluntary early retirement incentives to full-time jail staff.
Cavazos also was authorized to enter into an agreement with ICE for a Transgender Care and Classification Committee pilot program, making Santa Ana Jail the first facility in the nation to form a committee to consider transgender detainees preferences in custody and housing placement.
ICE has touted the pilot program, based off the federal agencys Transgender Care Memorandum, as a progressive model for humanely detaining gay, bisexual and transgender populations.
But Hairo Cortes, a program coordinator for Orange County Immigrant Youth United, called the program a cover for ICE to justify the continued detention of transgender immigrants.
For immigrant and LGBT rights activists who began a hunger strike on Monday, the councils decision on the ICE contract was a big disappointment, Cortes said. The group had demanded that the council set a vote for an early contract termination. Leaders say they plan to end the strike Thursday night.
Council members really did choose inaction on this, waiting until 2020 for the contract to expire as opposed to leading on this and putting a stop to it right away, Cortes said. Really, its the weakest, most cowardly decision they could have made.
The Rev. Kent Doss of Tapestry Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Mission Viejo urged the council to end the contract with ICE as soon as the city has an alternative to address the financial hole.
If it does not end, Doss said, those youth outside (the hunger strikers) will be joined by a lot of clergy people.
Some speakers on the other side of the issue Tuesday were satisfied that the city will enter into the ICE pilot program.
Members of The Remembrance Project, which advocates for families with loved ones killed by undocumented immigrants, toured the jail earlier Tuesday and said they were impressed with the operation and treatment of transgender women.
The pilot program looks like a humane solution, said Claremont resident Robin Hvidston, a member of The Remembrance Project.
The opposing groups interrupted each other throughout the public comment period Tuesday, with banter coming to a head when Westminster resident Vaughn Becht, 72, wearing a Trump campaign hat with a U.S. flag print, uttered the slogan written across the cap: Make America great again.
Councilman Sal Tinajero addressed the seeming white supremacist such comments, which included that only legal immigrants have civil rights.
We know what that means, lets go back to the 1950s when weve been lynched, Tinajero said. I wish you would get to know us before you judge us. If you had salad today, chances are they went through the hands of an illegal immigrant.
Mayor Pulido added that the Council was aware that some speakers came from out of town, but their responsibility first and foremost was to Santa Ana residents.
Upset immigrant and LGBT rights advocates left their seats chanting, Shut down ICE and End trans detention. forcing Council members who could not hear each other to stop the meeting. They left chanting, Well be back.
We must frankly face the fact that the front-runners in both political parties represent a new low, at a time of domestic polarization and unprecedented nuclear dangers internationally. This years general election will offer a choice between a thoroughly corrupt liar and an utterly irresponsible egomaniac.
The Republican establishment, whose serial betrayals of their supporters created the setting for a Donald Trump to arise, must now decide how best to deal with the apparent inevitability of his candidacy.
Choosing among various unpalatable options may require some tricky maneuvering on their part, but they have been used to tricky maneuvering, which is how they find themselves in this predicament in the first place.
Apparently, some Republican leaders have opted to try to make the best of a bad situation by creating at least the illusion of party unity. But the toxic image of Donald Trump can follow the Republicans repeatedly in future elections.
The careers of young Republicans are especially at risk of acquiring an indelible stain by being associated with Trump, much as Marco Rubio may never live down his association with Sen. Chuck Schumers attempt to create bipartisan amnesty.
The smart money says that, when all is said and done, Republican voters are going to have to vote for Trump. If they stay home, that is the same as voting for Hillary Clinton.
As former House speaker Newt Gingrich put it, Hillary Clinton in the White House means a Supreme Court packed with justices who will undermine the Constitution for decades to come. He has a point but not necessarily a decisive point.
Seeing the freedom for which generations of Americans have fought and died eroded away by judicial sophistry in the coming years is certainly a grim prospect.
But nuclear annihilation is one of the few prospects that are even worse and a man with a runaway egomania may not have the finesse or the depth to steer through troubled international waters that include a nuclear Iran and a nuclear North Korea.
If a man in his sixties has not yet matured, he is unlikely to grow up in his seventies. This is not a question about whether Donald Trump is as evil as Hillary Clinton. He may well be the proverbial lesser of the two evils in that sense, and yet be the more dangerous president to have in the White House.
Some have argued that a President Trump could surround himself with experienced and savvy advisers to cover for his own shallow understanding of many national and international issues. But Barack Obama has already shown us that a headstrong egomaniac can ignore even unanimous advice from military advisers. That is how he pulled troops out of Iraq and set the stage for ISIS.
Those of us who are far more concerned about the fate of this country than about the fate of the Republican Party face far tougher questions than how to get through this years election.
Some people are said to be thinking about a third-party candidate. Desperate times may call for desperate measures. But if such a desperate choice is made, a third party has virtually no chance.
The most a third party could hope for would be to take enough votes to deny either partys candidate a victory in the Electoral College. That would throw the election into the House of Representatives.
No one knows who would then become president. But it would be hard to find someone worse than either Hillary or Trump.
The very fact that we are left with such desperate options is not only a rebuke to the professional politicians, but also a painful revelation about the voting public.
Immediately after electing a president with virtually no track record, on the basis of rhetoric and symbolism, and seeing disaster after disaster during his administration, many are now prepared to do the same thing all over again.
More than two centuries ago, Thomas Jefferson said, Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. If so, can people who cannot be bothered to look up from their electronic devices expect to remain a free people?
The battle over the proposed eruv Jewish boundary in Westhampton is a national issue since rejection would undercut eruvim nationwide. Officials and media have short-changed residents on information on this issue.
Can news media be criminally negligent in not reporting something? We think so. Wikipedia defines that as careless, inattentive, willfully blind
First medium in the docket is the New York Times which has ignored the multi-million dollar, multi-billion word battle since Feb. 4, 2013.
Now that a settlement has been proposed, NYT has assigned real estate reporter Matt Chaban, who recently joined the paper from Crains, to write a story.
Chaban contacted us since he has heard that the eruv has become a matter of some concern for the town, but you especially.
We noted on odwyerpr.com NYTs sudden interest in the subject but did not name Chaban. He objected to any mention of the NYT as covering this and now has declined any help from us. A search on odwyerpr.com pulls up about 1,500 entries in the past eight years. So he is cutting himself off from a lot of information.
Map shows eruv around Westhampton Beach.
Promised Town Hall Needed on Eruv
Whats needed on the proposed eruv settlement, exact words of which are not yet available from Mayor Maria Moore, is a town hall at which citizens could hear from supporters of both sides and could have access to relevant documents.
Moore, who is unopposed for re-election June 17, has never had a press conference much less a town hall where citizens would be in the drivers seat. She only appears before the public at trustee meetings where she is surrounded by other trustees with her husband Tom Moore in the audience and Police Chief Trevor Gonce standing by. Citizens get no more than five minutes to speak at the end of the meeting and trustees are not legally required to respond to anything citizens say.
WHB trustees are scheduled to vote on the still-unseen proposed agreement with the East End Eruv Assn. June 2. They should wait until after the election. Planning Board member Steve Frano is running and would replace one of two incumbents, Ralph Urban or Charles Palmer. Frano has yet to say where he stands on the eruv issue.
Why is NYT assigning a newbie staffer to this topic when Nicholas Confessore, a top political reporter, is the son of Quogue library president Lynda Confessore and presumably knows plenty about the eruv situation? NYT can put dozens of reporters on certain stories while neglecting other stories.
We felt the sting of NYT non-coverage in 1995 when the ODwyer Co. won a lawsuit against Dean Rotbarts TJFR publishing company that had sued the company for $21 million on charges of false reporting about his Newsroom Confidential series.
NYT had been so excited about our coverage of what Rotbart said to the 1993 PR Society of America conference that it sent a photographer to his home to take a picture to illustrate a story by Bill Glaberson that ran across six columns on Dec. 27, 1993. The story falsely accused this writer of slipping into the Rotbart talk (it was open to the press), of printing a transcript, which we did not, and falsely described TJFR as a rival and arch enemy of the ODwyer Co. when the two firms competed in only a narrow area.
When we won the suit, obtaining the top position in the New York Law Journal that day, NYT ignored it. American Journalism Review, Deadline Club, Business Wire and others hailed our victory but not NYT.
SH Press Could Do a Lot More
The Southampton Press/27east.com has written many stories about the eruv battle but it could do a lot more.
Specifically, both SH Press and the WHB website should carry the 34-page examination of the Constitutional issues involved in eruvim by Prof. Alexandra Susman of the UCLA Law School and the 18 pages of equally compelling text declaring eruvim unconstitutional by law Prof. Marci Hamilton of Yeshiva University.
A link to that text is in the Aug. 17, 2015 report that Mayor Moore, responding to 25 minutes of complaints by residents that there was a failure of WHB officials to communicate about the eruv, had proposed a community meeting on the subject. It never happened.
We have plenty of other documents on eruvim (1,500+ on odwyerpr.com) but neither the NYT, SH Press or local libraries are interested. There isnt one speck of materials about the eruv situation in the Westhampton library.
SH Press, in an editorial July 23, 2015, expressed support for eruvim, saying, Nobody can see the lechis that reportedly mark the boundaries of an eruv It urged acceptance of the roof of an eruv although an eruv is supposed to be a wall.
SH Press, buying into court decisions that are also blind to eruvim depictions on Synagogue websites, said lechis are not signs if they are not visible.
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Colombia is in the final stages of striking a peace agreement with the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC that would end a 52-year conflict that has taken the lives of more than a quarter million, left 45,000 people missing, and displaced 6.8 million. At a recent meeting with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry encouraged both sides to come to a final agreement. He stressed that the United States is "very committed to not just helping to achieve the document, but to helping achieve true peace in Colombia."
In a promising step, the Colombian government and FARC announced that they had reached an agreement to release child soldiers under 15 years of age from rebel custody and develop a road map for an exit for the remaining minors, those between 15 and 18.
The deal could eventually involve hundreds of children who were recruited to fight in Colombias long civil war, though no census of child solders has ever been taken.
One of the biggest horrors of a conflict is when we drag our children and young people into combat, said Humberto de la Calle, the chief Colombian government negotiator. Its for this reason that this agreement is a crucial advance in the process of bringing this war to a close.
The United States, said Secretary Kerry, will continue to lend its support during the post-accord process. "Colombia will need help," he said, "in areas such as humanitarian demining. And were working with the president and with his team to define the details of the demining initiative, which were working on with Norway as co-chairs of that effort, also to help with the post-accord implementation, which will require significant global commitment."
President Santos expressed his gratitude to the United States for its "crucial support" in the peace process. "We hope that in the near future we can complete the [accord] and start building a true peace."
The United States remains deeply committed to helping Colombia begin a new chapter in its history, one of reconciliation and peace.
Union Pacific said Tuesday that it expects second-quarter freight volume to fall from a year earlier by a percentage that is in the low teens.
The Omaha-based employer of 8,000 Nebraskans said that so far in second quarter, volume is down 14 percent. U.P., the nations second-largest railroad by ton-miles, made the forecast at a conference in Boston. It predicted freight volume for 2016 would be down by a percentage in the mid-single digits.
Like the six other Class I freight railroads, Union Pacific has been struggling with low freight demand, in what some economists call a recession for the transportation industry. The railroad has about 4,200 union workers in the field on temporary layoff or similar work status and 1,800 idled locomotives.
In the second quarter, its falling freight volume has been led by a 30 percent decline in coal, an 18 percent drop in intermodal traffic (items also traveling by truck and ship), and a 12 percent fall in industrial products.
U.P. shares were little changed Tuesday, up 17 cents at $82.19. The shares have fallen 19 percent in the past year.
Correction: In a previous version of this story, data on falling second-quarter freight volumes incorrectly listed the time frame being described.
The Nebraska Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower courts refusal to release a man serving 65 to 100 years in prison for killing a teenager and her unborn baby.
Bobby Joe Moss of Omaha was convicted in 2005 of second-degree murder in the 2003 shooting death of 17-year-old Michelle Harlan, who was eight months pregnant at the time. Moss shot her, then dumped her in Carter Lake. Moss was also found guilty of a weapons count and of manslaughter in the death of Harlans fetus.
Is the Hizbul Mujahideen moving away from ISI control with ISIS tie up?
Feature
oi-Vicky
By Vicky
The meeting of a few ISIS commanders with the leaders of the Hizbul Mujahideen in Pakistan occupied Kashmir has sent panic signals among the security agencies. The coming together of these outfits is a signal that the Hizbul Mujahideen is gradually moving away from the Pakistan spy agency, ISI where the Kashmir issue is concerned.
Groups such as the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Hizbul Mujahideen which have their focus on Kashmir were normally driven by the ISI. It was the ISI that set the agenda and also issued directives on when and how to strike in Kashmir. However if the talks between the Hizbul Mujahideen and the ISIS do materialise then it is a clear signal that they would battle without the blessings of the ISI.
Taking the Kashmir issue away from the ISI:
The ISIS has made its displeasure towards the ISI known very well. They consider Pakistan and its proxies stooges of the United States of America. In fact they term the Pakistan army and its proxies as an apostate force which allies with America. In this context if the Hizbul Mujahideen and the ISIS do come together it is quite clear that they will wage a war without the blessings of the ISI.
In the recent past when banners of the ISIS had surfaced in Kashmir, the Intelligence Bureau had suspected that it could have been the handiwork of some Hizbul Mujahideen operatives. There were subtle messages that were being sent out regarding the arrival of the ISIS. Another point that one needs to bear in mind is that the Wahabi ideology followed by the ISIS was first tested in the country at Kashmir.
The Hizbul Mujahideen too realises that many youth who were part of groups such as the SIMI or the Indian Mujahideen had bid good bye to the ISI and followed the ISIS. The clamour for the Caliphate and the implementation of the Sharia Law, they feel is only possible if they align with the ISIS. The ISI on the other hand according to them was fighting an agenda battle and over the years the recruits had caught this bluff and hence decided to distance them from the clutches of the Pakistan spy agency.
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Story first published: Wednesday, May 18, 2016, 12:53 [IST]
Smriti Irani has Facebook Interaction with Citizens
Feature
oi-Lisa
By Lisa
Minister of Human Resource Development, Mrs. Smriti Irani yesterday answered questions posed to her by citizens of India on her Facebook page. The questions were answered by her between 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm.
She had tweeted about the timing of the interaction and had mentioned that she looked forward to a positive dialogue.
Will take questions from citizens tomorrow between 1:30-2:30 PM on https://t.co/ajmNNw8MrO Looking forward to a positive dialogue. Do join! Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) May 16, 2016
Mrs. Irani ended her interaction on Facebook by posting a thank you note for those who posted questions for her. Mrs. Irani posted, "Leaving for Anand district's karyakarta sammelan. Thank you so much for the interaction. Look forward to engaging again at the earliest".
The minister answered numerous questions on wide number of topics like:
On what does not fall under ministry's domain:
Smriti Irani in response to all the queries to NEET said that it did not come under the jurisdiction of her ministry and it would be unfair for her to speak on such a sensitive issue. In the similar manner she made it clear that engineering colleges do not fall under the regulations of UGC. The minister also eased the worries of CBSE students who are waiting for the results by stating that though there is delay in declaring results date the results will be declared on time. She also let the people know that medical colleges do not fall under her domain.
In reply to a query she said that 12th board exam papers are of varying difficulty level as different state boards set different question papers.
On uniform education system:
In reply to one suggestion to have one uniform education system across India she said that we need to celebrate the fact that we cater to students with different linguistic abilities and diversities rather than have a uniform system of education.
On improving education standard:
Mrs. Irani also let the citizens know that through GIAN the ministry has helped state institutions to help gain access to foreign academicians who come and teach and infuse world class knowledge.
On IIT Fee change:
On IITs fee changes she said that students whose annual family income is less than 1 lakh will get a full fee-waiver and students whose annual family income is less than 5 lakh get 2/3rd fee-waiver.
On outdated sylabus:
Raji Jayaraj drew minister's attention to the fact that at the UGC NET examination portions, especially for subjects like Management & Mass Communication, in the age of Digitisation and progress students still have to answer questions that are way too irrelevant with reference to the subjects. She requested the minister to design a team of young as well as older seasoned academicians and set a standard for the test which adds value to the education system when it comes to have quality faculty members.
Mrs. Irani's reply to Raji Jayaraj was that she will meet UGC Chairman next day and forward her suggestion.
On installing values in students:
Deepesh Krishnamoorthy's question for the MHRD was that what were the special programs run by the ministry to take care that kids hear all the right things and grow up to be patriotic Indians who are proud of Indian culture and heritage.
To this the Minister replied that, sanskar is in the realm of the family - Siksha is in the realm of the MHRD. Through programs like Kala Utsav, Seema Darshan, the CBSE Expression (Essay) series, publishing of books like Veer Gatha her ministry has tried to do their bit.
On delay in announcing result dates:
Anumika Bahukhandi asked the minister as to why there is always a delay in announcing the date of the results. She added that this created a lot of confusion among students. She asked why there can't be an official announcement regarding the same on time.
To which the minister replied that last October 2015, under the chairmanship of Secretary School Education, the ministry held a meeting with all the state board and decision was taken that all results across the country will surely be declared by May 31st. She further mentioned that since education is in the concurrent list, ministry at the Center has to respect the right of state governments to engage with students through their board at their administrative convenience.
On state government run engineering colleges:
Sumit Verma a student studying in Uttar Pradesh's government engineering college asked why ministry was only focusing on IITs and that students like him are not treated well in the colleges where corruption is rampant.
MHRD's reply was that, Uttar Pradesh Government Colleges are within the administrative realm of the state government. She offered to forward any pertinent challenges that he wanted to bring to the notice of the state government.
On NCRT books free availability:
Shailesh Ranjan asked the minister that when CBSC and NCRT books are free on E portal why most private schools give books to students through school and students need to buy it compulsory. He asked if the ministry had any rule regarding it and what would ministry to do control it.
Minister's reply to this was that, "Hi Shailesh, NCERT books in English, Hindi and Urdu from classes 1 to 12 are available free on e-Pathshala. CBSE schools have been issued circulars wherein students cannot be compelled by books outside the syllabus from a particular shop that school seeks to engage".
Free education:
Abhijeet Bose asked the minister that why in India we do not have free education and when exams and marks only matter how will talent survive.
To which the minister replied that, "Hi Abhijeet, under MHRD we are hoping to soon launch India's first indigenous moocs platform which seeks to give free education in conjunction with institutions like IITs, IIMs, Central Universities NIOS and boards like CBSE".
On stressing skill development:
Professor Dr. L N Mittal tried to draw attention of Mrs. Irani towards opening of more and more engineering colleges in private sector and that the quality of education is not good. He wanted that in India we should have more ITIs and polytechnic colleges rather than engineering colleges.
To which MHRD replied that, "Respected Sir, we have now allowed Engineering institutions to start skill-based education in second shift using the same infrastructure. AICTE is also appealing institutions to update their syllabus so that students can benefit from new knowledge and become industry compliant".
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Story first published: Wednesday, May 18, 2016, 12:33 [IST]
Launch of Hindi version of MBBS course books will bring positive change in country: PM
Amit Shah chairs meet of Uttarakhand core group
India
oi-PTI
New Delhi, May 18: BJP chief Amit Shah today chaired a meeting of Uttarakhand core group, held in the wake of setback the party suffered in the state where its attempt to dislodge the Congress government failed.
Shah and top party leaders from the state dissected BJP's strategy and also analysed the prevailing political scene in Uttarakhand which will go to polls early next year.
Sources said the leaders deliberated on the party's strategy after Chief Minister Harish Rawat's reinstatement, following a Supreme Court-monitored floor test in the Assembly, is believed to have given him a head start over BJP.
Former state chief ministers B C Khanduri, Bhagat Singh Koshyari and Ramesh Pokhriyal besides the state party chief Ajay Bhat and its in-charge Shyam Jaju were among those who attended the meeting. Party sources said 10 rebel Congress MLAs may also join the party in the coming days.
PTI
Fire breaks out at industrial estate in Mumbai, no one hurt
'Thank God' movie review: Check what audience say about Devgn-starrer
Rupee gains 26 paise to 82.62 against US dollar in early trade
Apple CEO Tim Cook visits Siddhivinayak Temple, performs aarti
India
oi-IANS
By Ians English
Mumbai, May 18: Global tech giant Apple Inc's CEO Tim Cook kicked off his maiden India trip with an early morning visit to the famed Shree Siddhivinayak temple in Prabhadevi, central Mumbai, where he performed a special 'aarti'.
Sporting a light blue shirt and dark trousers with a yellow stole having Sanskrit scriptures in orange, Cook performed a special 'aarti' of the temple's presiding deity, Lord Ganesha -- who symbolizes wisdom and is the remover of all obstacles.
Accompanied by Apple India head Sanjay Kaul, Cook's temple visit was a prelude to a host of meetings lined up with top business and Bollywood personalities later in the day.
At the temple Cook ran into Anant Ambani, the scion of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, and chatted with him for some time.
Among the engagements lined up for the Apple CEO include meetings with Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry and other top industrialists, besides Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan.
Though his official program is kept under a lid, during his India trip Cook is likely to visit the IT capitals of Bengaluru and Hyderabad and later New Delhi.
"Whatever we wish to share, we have already done this morning," an official told IANS, referring to the announcement of Apple's plans to set up a new iOS App Design and Development Accelerator in Bengaluru in early 2017.
Cook arrived here late Tuesday night from Beijing in a private jet and is staying in the Hotel Taj Mahal Palace in south Mumbai.
--IANS
qn/rn/bg
Cong tears into PM's foreign policy
India
oi-PTI
New Delhi, May 18: The Congress today tore into Prime Minister Narendra Modi's handling of foreign policy, saying he has been an "embarrassment" to India and told him sarcastically that international relations are not about being "feted" by world leaders.
The Congress also cited some developments in the neighbourhood to buttress its assessment while seeking to project that the Prime Minister, whose government completes two years next week, has been an "embarrassment" to the country in the field of foreign affairs.
"Under the watchful eyes of Narendra Modi, USA agreed to sell F-16s to Pakistan; India's old friend, Russia lifted its weapons embargo on Pakistan, and China is stifling us in our own neighbourhood," the Congress said.
In a hard hitting commentary titled " 'Foreign Minister' Narendra Modi has been an embarrassment for India", the AICC faulted the Prime Minister on several counts. "Modi, disregarded the innate wisdom of our foreign policy, which has resulted in India being further isolated in South Asia.
India's flip-flops on Pakistan have confused security experts from across the world." it said in the commentary posted on the party's website. It contended that developments including Modi's surprise visit to Pakistan, the Pathankot attack, and then the invitation extended to the Pakistani JIT, which included the ISI, to visit India's sensitive air-force base, has "defied all logic".
"And the Modi Government's statements almost seem to be at pains to exonerate the Pakistani establishment rather than corner it", it said. Last year, Modi became the first PM of India to humiliate his own country on foreign soil by making the embarrassing claim that "being born Indian was earlier considered to be a curse", it said.
"The nation that Modi most wanted approval from was USA, the country which denied him a visa in the aftermath of the 2002 riots," it said adding that the USA has been busy blocking India at the WTO. The ruling in February has hurt India's National Solar Mission.
"Modi must realise that international relations are not about being feted by world leaders, but about ensuring that your own country's interests & the interests of the common man, back home, are not hurt", he added.
PTI
After the 'Jihad' comment, Patil now claims \"I never said it\"
Cong leaders meet Sonia, greet her on MCD bypolls results
India
oi-PTI
New Delhi, May 18: A section of Congress leaders and workers of its Delhi unit today met Sonia Gandhi after the party's victory in the MCD bypolls, dubbed as a comeback for it.
The elected ward councilors of the party who accompanied Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken, were also introduced to the party president during their meeting at her 10 Janpath residence.
Congress has termed the victory in the bypolls as a message of people of Delhi for its comeback in the city, where it was routed in 2015 Assembly polls. It said it has started planning for a "far more grand" performance in the civic body polls next year.
The results for the bypoll were declared yesterday. Congress won 4 seats and secured nearly 25 per cent of the over 3 lakh votes polled on May 15. The Congress rebel Rajender Singh Tanwar who won in Bhati ward was also present during the meet with the party chief today.
Maken, at a media briefing yesterday, had said that Tanwar has joined the party. Tanwar was also present there. Ruling Aam Admi Party in Delhi won five wards while BJP secured three seats.
PTI
Delhi LG and CM greet people on Diwali, ask people to be mindful of pollution
Govt 'imposing' Hindutva agenda: CPI on Akbar Road issue
India
oi-PTI
New Delhi, May 18: Attacking Union Minister V K Singh over his demand for renaming Akbar Road after Maharana Pratap, CPI today alleged his view reflected NDA government's bid to "impose" Hindutva agenda on people, and insisted the name of the street should not be changed.
"It is increasingly proven that BJP government, its ministers have all become aggressive in pushing the Hindutva agenda. He (Singh) is talking about secularism. Akbar was supposed to be a secular king. "He was called 'Akbar the Great'.
It is the Hindutva agenda they are trying to impose on the people," CPI national secretary D Raja alleged. Raja also ridiculed the government for changing name of Aurangzeb Road in Lutyens' Delhi last year and said it was "clever" of the ruling party to rechristen it after former President late APJ Abdul Kalam.
"This is the mindset which we are talking about. They want to impose their Hindutva agenda on people. Akbar Road should not be renamed," Raja said.
Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu though today spurned the demands for rechristening Akbar Road, saying "naming and renaming of streets was not on the agenda".
Union Minister of state for External Affairs Singh had yesterday pitched for renaming Akbar Road in posh Lutyens' Zone after the doughty Mewar ruler and written to Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu in this regard.
Singh's demand came amid reports that Haryana government too had sought renaming of Akbar Road after the Mewar ruler.
PTI
Kalvari Scorpene Class Submarine gives boost to Make In India
India
oi-Lisa
By Lisa
Kalvari, the first of the Scorpene class submarines, built at the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd Mumbai (MDL), went to sea for the first time recently. The submarine sailed out at about 10 am under her own propulsion for the first sea trial, off the Mumbai coast and during the sortie, completed a number of preliminary tests on the propulsion system, Auxiliary Equipment and Systems, Navigation Aids, Communication Equipment and Steering gear.
Various Standard Operating Procedures were also validated for this new class of submarines. The submarine then returned to harbour in the evening.
This important milestone was achieved by MDL after overcoming a number of challenges faced since launching of the submarine last year in October. During the next few months, the submarine will undergo a barrage of sea trials, including surface trials, diving trials, weapon trials, Noise trials etc. which would test the submarine to the extremes of its intended operating envelop.
Thereafter she would be commissioned into the Indian Navy as INS Kalvari later this year. Commissioning of Kalvari will be a re-affirmation of India's capability to build submarines and a major boost for the 'Make in India' programme of the government.
Leveraging on the experience and the transfer-of-technology of the Scorpene project, and with the enhanced and upgraded infrastructure, MDL is ready for undertaking future submarine and shipbuilding projects, in order to meet the growing requirements of National Security.
The ongoing project for the construction of six Scorpene class submarines, has M/s DCNS of France, as Collaborator and includes 'Transfer of Technology', with M/s MDL as the 'Builder'.
Operational Features
The state-of-art features of the Scorpene include superior stealth and the ability to launch a crippling attack on the enemy using precision guided weapons. The attack can be launched with torpedoes, as well as tube launched anti-ship missiles, whilst underwater or on surface. The Stealth features give it invulnerability, unmatched by many submarines.
The Scorpene Submarine is designed to operate in all theatres including the Tropics. All means and communications are provided to ensure interoperability with other components of a Naval Task Force. It can undertake multifarious types of missions typically undertaken by any modern submarine i.e Anti-Surface warfare, Anti-Submarine warfare, Intelligence gathering, Mine Laying, Area Surveillance etc.
Construction Features
Submarines are built from special steel, capable of withstanding high yield stress and having high tensile strength, thereby allowing them to withstand high hydrostatic force and enabling them to dive deeper to further enhance stealth.
The Submarine is built according to the principle of Modular Construction, which involves dividing the submarine into a number of sections and building them parallelly. The equipment is mounted onto Cradles and then embarked into the sections. The complexity of the task increases exponentially as it involves laying of around 60 kms of cabling and 11 kms of piping in extremely congested and limited space inside the submarine. Further, the stringent tolerances laid down for the construction of the Scorpene were indeed a challenge, but have been successfully achieved.
Other Features
The Scorpene is equipped with Weapons Launching Tubes (WLT), and can carry weapons on board which can be easily reloaded at sea, through special handling and loading equipment. The array of weapons and complex sensors fitted on board the Scorpene are managed by a high technology Combat Management System, which integrates various diverse systems fitted onboard into One Formidable Whole.
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Story first published: Wednesday, May 18, 2016, 16:24 [IST]
UP: SP leader's car hit by truck, dragged for more than 500 meters in Mainpuri | VIDEO
Mulayam Singh Yadav passes away; Prez Murmu, PM Modi join leaders in mourning the death of SP founder
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SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav to be cremated at native village on Tuesday
SP a 'one family party' sans ideology: BJP MP
India
oi-PTI
Balrampur (UP), May 18: Opposition BJP MP Daddan Mishra has hit out at the ruling Samajwadi Party terming it as a "one family party".
Addressing mediapersons last night here, the Shrawasti MP said the SP "neither has an ideology nor organisation" and it is a "party of a family".
"SP is neither a political party nor an organisation. It is like (there are) terrorist and Maoist organisations in Kashmir and Nepal, similarly there is Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh," Mishra told reporters here.
He also attacked the SP over the candidates it announced yesterday for Rajya Sabha polls, including Amar Singh, Beni Prasad Verma and controversial Lucknow-based builder Sanjay Seth.
"Those raising slogans of 'samajawd' (socialism) have nothing to do with it...When it comes to sending leaders in Rajya Sabha and Vidhan Parishad they prefer capitalists," he added.
Mishra said the state government is "creating hindrance" in developmental projects to "defame" the Centre.
PTI
Woman, her two children mowed down by train; Suicide not ruled out
Talaq through speed post: Muslim woman moves Supreme Court
India
oi-Jagriti
New Delhi, May 18: A Muslim woman in Jaipur who got divorce through speed post moved to the Supreme Court against the triple talaq system.
The 25-yr old Afreen Rehman hailing from Jaipur tied the nuptial knot in 2014 through a matrimonial portal. Her in-laws started demanding dowry and mentally harassed her just 2-3 months after her wedding.
"Later they started to beat me and in September my in-laws asked me to leave their place. Thereafter, I came to my maternal home and after some time received a speed post from my husband announcing divorce," Rehman was quoted as saying by Zee News.
Muslim intellectuals, scholars recently urged the All India Muslim Personal Law Board to take corrective measures to stop and prevent the misuse of triple talaq.
Muslim intellectuals, scholars join chorus against triple talaq
The 'triple talaq' -- pronouncing 'talaq' thrice in one instance to divorce wife -- is being exploited and misused by some undesirable elements for their own interests and this needs to be checked by the AIMPLB as it is getting a bad name for the community, the scholars and intellectuals said at a conference organised by the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat here on Monday night.
Shaista Ambar, president All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board (AIMWPLB) has also called for nullifying the triple talaq system.
OneIndia News
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Story first published: Wednesday, May 18, 2016, 16:54 [IST]
Tamil Nadu assembly elections: Women make historic presence
India
oi-Pallavi
Chennai, May 18: May 16 would be etched in the pages of political history of India. The Tamil Nadu elections are just an excuse, but one should have a look at the number of women who cast their votes in the state.
According to the Election Commission of India, more women have cast their votes than men, even when the overall percentage in the 232 constituencies across the state touched 74.26%.
A total of 4.28 crore out of 5.79-crore electorate exeercised their power on Monday. Of these, 2,16,28,807 were women and 2,12,44,129 were men and 738 were from the third gender.
Election Commission of India - State Election, 1991 to the Legislative Assembly of TAMIL NADU
TYPE OF CONSTITUENCY GEN SC ST TOTAL 1. NO. OF CONSTITUENCIES 189 42 3 234 2. ELECTORS a. Men 16494952 3476191 238443 20209586 b. Women 16035139 3425249 238813 19699201 c. Total 32530091 6901440 477256 39908787 3. ELECTORS WHO VOTED a. Men 10841523 2330743 154770 13327036 b. Women 9878108 2133322 140178 12151608 c. TOTAL 20719631 4464065 294948 25478644
That is not all, there has been a significant rise in the number of women candidates in the final fray, accounting to 327.
Incidentally, over 10 lakh women voted in Kancheepuram (12.41 lakh), Vellore (11.81 lakh), Chennai (11.95 lakh), Tiruvallur (11.19 lakh), Villupuram (10.54 lakh) districts, Salem (11.02 lakh).
Election Commission of India - State Election, 1996 to the Legislative Assembly of TAMIL NADU
TYPE OF CONSTITUENCY GEN SC ST TOTAL 1. NO. OF CONSTITUENCIES 189 42 3 234 2. ELECTORS a. Men 17461533 3697924 246295 21405752 b. Women 17149500 3675937 247776 21073213 c. Total 34611033 7373861 494071 42478965 3. ELECTORS WHO VOTED a. Men 12017693 2601220 169164 14788077 b. Women 11075124 2420269 155779 13651172 c. TOTAL 23092817 5021489 324943 28439249
The district-wise percentage are as follows:
Dharmapuri (85.03 per cent), Ariyalur (83.77 per cent) and Karur (83.09 per cent) were the top three districts, which registered highest polling percentage. Tiruvannamalai (82.99 per cent), Namakkal (82.10 per cent) and Salem (80.09 per cent) also scored above 80 per cent.
Election Commission of India- State Election, 2011 to the Legislative Assembly Of Tamil Nadu
TYPE OF CONSTITUENCY GEN SC ST TOTAL 1. NO. OF CONSTITUENCIES 188 44 2 234 2. ELECTORS (INCLUDING SERVICE VOTERS) a. MALE 19314522 4186949 204169 23705640 b. FEMALE 19067808 4137324 203680 23408812 c. OTHERS 1189 203 2 1394 d. TOTAL 38383519 8324476 407851 47115846 3. ELECTORS WHO VOTED a. MALE 14908055 3301146 169833 18379034 b. FEMALE 14904895 3302873 169940 18377708 c. OTHERS 42 29 0 71 d. POSTAL 104780 23600 1033 129413 e. TOTAL 29917772 6627648 340806 36886226
Dindigul (79.62 per cent), Perambalur (79.54 per cent), Villupuram (79.44 per cent) and Erode (79.39 per cent) districts were followed by Krishnagiri (78.38 per cent), Tiruvarur (78.04 per cent) and Thanjavur (77.44 per cent) districts. Vellore (77.24 per cent), Pudukkottai (77.07 per cent), Virudhunagar (76.36 per cent), Cuddalore (78.64 per cent), Nagappattinam (76.05 per cent), Tiruchi (75.77 per cent), Tirupur (72.68 per cent), Tirunelveli (71.94 per cent), Thoothukkudi (71.17 per cent), Tiruvallur (71.20 per cent), Theni (75.29 per cent), Madurai (71.09 per cent) and the Nilgris (70.53 per cent) districts registered above 70 per cent.
[Read: TN polls: CVoter's prediction in 2011 came closest to the reality, so... ]
[Read: Tamil Nadu: A Tenkasi constituency booth to undergo repolling ]
[Read: Tamil Nadu, Puducherry Assembly election Updates: 81.94% polling in P'cherry, TN 73.76%]
OneIndia News
Security at all time high as Lashkar, JeM look to strike at heartland
Death keeps no calendar: The writing on the truck that JeM terrorists came in
Two mistakes that led to the Jaish-e-Mohammad becoming stronger
India
oi-Vicky
New Delhi, May 18: The similarity between the number one and 3 in the ranks of the Jaish-e-Mohammad is that both had spent time in Indian jails before being handed over to Pakistan. In the case of Maulana Masood Azhar he was handed over following the Khandahar hijack.
In the case of Shahid Latif, he was deported to Pakistan after he completed his jail term in 2010.
Following the release of Azhar, India witnessed the Parliament and Pathankot attacks. Latif after his return to Pakistan went back to the Jaish-e-Mohammad camp and played a crucial role in attacking police stations and army units in Kashmir apart. Latif was also a key player in the Pathankot attack.
Stronger after their return:
Maulana Masood Azhar had visited Kashmir as a journalist. The agencies found him to extremely suspicious and when they found that he had come to India on a reconnaissance mission, they arrested him.
However the ISI decided to help him out and staged the Khandahar hijack. Azhar's brother Assad who masterminded the hijack ensured that his brother was handed over in exchange for the hostages aboard IC-814.
Jaish-e-Mohammad was setting up home grown module in India
After the return of Masood Azhar, the Jaish-e-Mohammad was formed. The primary objective of the outfit was to wage a war in Kashmir at the behest of the ISI. However they announced their arrival by staging the Parliament attack an attempt to hit out at the Indian democracy.
The case of Latif is no different. When he was arrested in 1994 in Jammu for carrying out an attack on the Hazrat Bal Shrine, he was a small player.
He was part of the same group that was headed by Azhar, but at that time around the Jaish-e-Mohammad had not been formed as yet. He was convicted in 1996 and shifted to Varanasi due to security reasons.
After he completed his term, the Indian government wrote to Pakistan to identify him and also confirm his citizenship.
Following a confirmation, he along with 20 others were deported in the year 2010 through the Wagah-Attari border.
Following his return he joined the Jaish-e-Mohammad. In a span of three years he became an important person and according to the NIA he is ranked three in the outfit.
The name of Latif cropped up during the Pathankot probe in which it was found that he was the one who had dropped off the terrorists at the border.
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Story first published: Wednesday, May 18, 2016, 10:54 [IST]
Partial Solar Eclipse 2022: City-wise timings, when and where to watch
With AQI of 259, Delhi's air on day before Diwali least polluted in 7 years
IRCTC update: 190 trains cancelled on October 24; here is the complete list
Delhi LG and CM greet people on Diwali, ask people to be mindful of pollution
2 Nigerians held for drug peddling in Delhi
India
oi-IANS
By Ians English
New Delhi, May 18: Two Nigerians have been arrested in south Delhi on the charge of involvement in drug trade and 92 gm cocaine valued at Rs.50 lakh seized from them, police said on Wednesday (May 18).
Emeka Umealakei, 38, and his cousin Uzoma Joseph Umealakei, 25, were arrested on Saturday from Kotla Mubarakpur in south Delhi when they visited the area to supply cocaine to their customers, police added.
Emeka told police that he came to Delhi on a business visa but settled in Munirka in south Delhi after marrying an Indian girl in 2006.
"Emeka exported readymade garments to Nigeria. He entered the drug trade after meeting Mumbai-based Nigerian Victor to meet his expenses," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav said.
Yadav said Emeka also involved his cousin Uzoma in drug peddling when he came to India in 2015 on a student visa.
"Both bought drugs from Victor and sold these in Delhi and NCR (National Capital Region). We are trying to trace Victor," the police officer said.
IANS
rak/tsb/dg
Will stop water supply to Mumbai from our soil, warn villagers
India
oi-PTI
Mumbai, May 17: Peeved at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation drawing water from reservoirs in their area, the scarcity-hit villages from Shahapur in neighbouring Thane district today threatened to stop the water supply to Mumbai if government fails to ensure adequate water for them.
Around 300 people, led by local BJP leader Santosh Shinde, who had embarked on the "Jaldindi Padyatra" on March 14 to register their protest against BMC, today reached Mumbai after covering the distance of around 75 km and met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Submitting their 10-point demands to CM, the group, including women, requested him that they be adopted by the BMC so that entire Shahapur taluka will become tanker-free.
"Through this padyatra, we demand adequate water provision for us too, otherwise, we will have no choice but to stop the supply of water which is being diverted to Mumbaikars from our soil," Shinde said while addressing the gathering at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai.
He said they have submitted their demands to Fadnavis and are hopeful that their problems will get resolved soon. The outskirts of Shahapur tehsil have four reservoirs of Bhatsa, Tansa, Modak Sagar and the Middle Vaitarna which supply 2,960 million litres of water to Mumbai every day through pipelines.
Shinde also added that they are not opposing the water supply to Mumbaikars per se. "We are only highlighting our problems by asking that when there is water around us, why we are dying thirsty...We have nothing to drink...We have to walk kilometres to fetch a bucket of water," he said.
Shravan Telam, a resident of Kasara who reached Mumbai after walking 95 kms in blazing sun, said the water which is supplied to Mumbaikars for a day will suffice them for the whole year. "We want to convey this message to the state government," he added.
BJP MP Kapil Patil (Bhiwandi) also accompanied the protesters and urged the Chief Minister to do the needful to solve their woes. "I along with representatives of the affected residents suggested the CM to convene a meeting involving all the stake-holders such as the officials of the BMC, irrigation and water supply departments, to which the CM readily agreed," Patil told PTI.
Underlining the gravity of the situation in the region, Patil said, "All the industrial units have been shut (in view of water scarcity) which has led to severe unemployment among youths, which needs to be addressed immediately."
PTI
Donald Trump wants to speak to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un
International
oi-Shubham
Washington, May 18: Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump has said that he is willing to talk to North Korean leader Kin Jong-un---marking a sharp departure from the current US policy towards the hermit kingdom.
Speaking to the Reuters in an exclusive interview on Tuesday (May 17), Trump said he would talk to Kim to dissuade him from going forward with the nuclear programme---something which has emerged as a serious security concern for the international community.
Trump though said that he has no problems speaking with Kim but he also added that he would put more pressure on the Chinese to put pressure on the North Koreans in turn to change their ways.
"At the same time I would put a lot of pressure on China because economically we have tremendous power over China," he said in the interview which was held at the 26th floor of the Trump Tower in Manhattan. He said China could solve that problem with one meeting or a phone call.
Trump, however, refused to share any further details on his plans on North Korea. He also sought a rejuvenation of the Paris Climate Accord and disapproved of Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in eastern Ukraine. He also proposed dismantling most of the US Dodd-Frank financial regulations if he is elected as the president, the Reuters report said.
Oneindia News
ELKO In less than a year, Great Basin College has added several new bachelors degrees to its offerings, giving rural Nevada students more options when choosing their major field of study.
The colleges most recent degrees approved by the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents include the Bachelor of Arts in social science and Bachelor of Arts in natural resources.
I am pleased to announce the creation of a new Bachelor of Arts degree program at GBC, said Social Science Program Supervisor Jonathan Foster. This degree will replace the former Bachelor of Arts in integrative studies (BAIS)- Social Science emphasis.
Foster explained this transition to a new degree program is benefiting students in several ways.
The new degree can be earned entirely online, and its name is more recognizable to potential employers.
Similar to the colleges other bachelors degree options, the BA in social science is an acclaimed option for students wishing to attend graduate school, advance in their current fields, or embark on new career paths.
Its a great degree for students interested in pursuing graduate studies in anthropology, history, political science, and psychology, said Foster. We have exceptional faculty teaching in the program, and the B.A. in social science students will receive excellent preparation.
The same benefits hold true for the Bachelor of Arts in natural resources, replacing the former BAIS in natural resources.
Completion of the natural resources degree will give students employment opportunities in a variety of careers including land management, environmental consulting, lab technicians, as well as a foundation for graduate level study.
The bachelors in natural resources is a mixed delivery degree option. Students who wish to complete the degree will be required to attend labs in Elko and Winnemucca.
Students who are interested in pursuing the bachelors degrees will earn an associate degree as they proceed through the program on the way to the bachelors degree. Those with an appropriate associate degree will enter the program with junior status.
Interested students are encouraged to make their interest in the programs known, and departmental faculty will be happy to advise them from first semester onward.
Anyone interested in pursuing the social science degree is encouraged to contact Foster by calling 775-753-2128 or emailing jonathan.foster@gbcnv.edu.
Anyone interested in the natural resources degree is encouraged to contact Natural Resources Program Supervisor Peter Bagley by calling 775-753-2229 or emailing peter.bagley@gbcnv.edu.
First Chibok girl cited in Nigeria
International
oi-Jagriti
Abuja, May 18: One of the kidnapped Chibok girls has been cited in Nigeria. This is the first recovery of Chibok girls since they were kidnapped in 2014.
She is first among 276 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram from their secondary school in north-east Nigeria in April 2014.
She has been found by a vigilante group on Tuesday in the Sambisa Forest, close to the border with Cameroon, reported the BBC citing an activist.
A civilian fighter has reportedly recognised her.
Launched in 2002, Boko Haram - which in the local Hausa language means "Western education is forbidden", a reference to the initial focus of its Islamist agenda - became a force to be reckoned with in 2009 when it raided police stations and government buildings in Maiduguri, and other northern cities.
US State Department added Boko Haram in terrorist organisation in November 2013.
OneIndia News
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Story first published: Wednesday, May 18, 2016, 17:46 [IST]
Pak hosts four-nation meet to discuss Afghan peace
International
oi-PTI
Islamabad, May 18: Pakistan, Afghanistan, the US and China today held a fresh round of talks here to chalk out a roadmap to revive peace talks with the Afghan Taliban and end the 15-year-long insurgency in the war-torn country.
The Quadrilateral Coordination Group said direct peace talks were the only option to end the violence in Afghanistan. "The QCG reiterated that violence serves no purpose and that peace negotiations remain the only option for a political settlement," said an official statement after the fifth QCG meeting.
"In this respect, QCG countries reaffirmed to use their respective leverages and influences." The meeting comes only days after the Afghan government hanged six Taliban-linked militants, in one the starkest signs of their frustration at the lack of progress of the talks.
And a surge in violence has only rattled Kabul. Taliban insurgents in recent months have repeatedly seized parts of the more than 2,000-mile-long Ring Road network, which connects major Afghan population centres.
Last month, more than 64 people were killed in a terrible Kabul bombing. The four-nation grouping today condemned the terrorist attack and underscored that those who perpetrate such acts "should be ready to face consequences of their actions."
They expressed their continued determination with shared commitment to advance the goal of an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process. The group said that the next QCG meeting will be convened as mutually agreed.
The last meeting was held on February 23 in Kabul and the Afghan government had announced that peace talks with the Taliban would start in the first week of March. But the talks could not start as Taliban refused to join.
Direct Afghan-Taliban talks began last year but ended abruptly after it was revealed that the Taliban's founder Mullah Omar had been dead for two years, sparking factional fight among the insurgents.
The Islamist group has made the withdrawal of the 13,000 foreign troops still in Afghanistan a precondition for talks. Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry hosted the fifth QCG meeting in Islamabad.
Other delegations were led by Afghan President's Special Envoy and Ambassador to Pakistan Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal, US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Ambassador Richard G Olson, and China's Special Envoy for Afghan Affairs Ambassador Deng Xijun.
PTI
Pakistan targeting $75 mn from export of 100,000 tons mangoes
International
oi-PTI
Karachi, May 18: Pakistan is targeting revenues of around USD 75 million from export of approximately 100,000 tonne mangoes this season to various countries, including South Korea, Japan, China, the US and Australia.
The shipment of mangoes from Pakistan will began from May 20 this season, a senior office bearer of the the Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association (PFVA) said.
"We are expecting these shipments will fetch foreign exchange of around USD 75 million for the country's exchequer," PFVA Chairman Waheed Ahmed said. He noted that last season the export target of mangoes could not be met due to a drastic fall of about 40 per cent in mango production.
The exporters, besides targeting traditional markets, will also try to tap new markets in China, Russia, Iran, Belarus and Middle Eastern countries.
However, in the absence of much-needed vapour heat treatment (VHT) plant, the Japanese market will remain untapped for the third consecutive year.
Ahmed said that exporters had exported around 72,000 tonnes of mangoes last year which was the lowest in the last five years.
"This year the forecast and scenario looks better with 100,000 tons of mangoes to be exported as production is expected to be higher this season than the previous year and it may touch 1.6 million tonnes," he said.
The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada and some European countries for many years have been traditional markets for Pakistani mangoes and Ahmed said this year markets of South Korea, Japan, China, the US and Australia are also open to Pakistani exporters.
He admitted that Pakistan was lagging behind other mangoes exporting countries because of lack of research and expertise in the county which made it difficult to compete in terms of quality and standards. Ahmed said a Vapour Heat Treatment for tropical fruit import and export is now necessary in this industry.
A VHP palnt had been imported with an investment of millions of rupees but had not become operational as the institutions concerned had yet to install it. By treating mango at the VHT plant, Pakistan can initially export more than 400 tonnes to Japan, increasing the volume to thousands in future.
PTI
'India won't listen to anyone': Anurag Thakur gives strong reply to PCB
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Pakistan: Two police officials killed, 9 injured in twin bombings
International
oi-Jagriti
Peshawar, May 18: At least two police officials were killed and 9 injured in twin explosions that rocked Pakistan's Peshawar on Wednesday.
The explosion took place at Mithra when a police van was passing by the area while the second explosion took place when police and rescuers were trying to help casualties.
"Around 4.5 kilograms of explosive material was used in the bombs," SSP Abdul Majid Marwat was quoted as saying.
Police cordoned off the area after the attack, however; no arrest has been made yet.
Any group is yet to responsibility of the attacks.However, Pakistani Taliban regularly target military and civilian installations as part of a conflict which has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
In January this year, Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, also in northwest Pakistan was attacked the Tehreek-e-Taliban group (TTP), which left 21including students and teachers dead.
OneIndia News
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Story first published: Wednesday, May 18, 2016, 15:02 [IST]
West Bengal polls: Mamata made 5 records
Kolkata
oi-Shubham
Kolkata, May 18: Results of Assembly elections in four states and one Union Territory were announced on Thursday (May 19). The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) swept the elections and Mamata Banerjee made some records as the leader of that party.
Assembly Polls 2016 Coverage; What exit polls 2016 said
Mamata wins and set to become CM for second time; 6th in the state's history
Mamata Banerjee's victory meant she will become the chief minister of the state for the second time and the first and only woman to do so. Her first stint as the CM was between 2011 and 2016. Before her, Prafulla Chandra Ghosh, Bidhan Chandra Roy, Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee, Jyoti Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee became the chief minister for two or more times. [Mamata Banerjee has lost only 1 election in her career]
Mamata wins, implying anti-incumbency factor has succeeded in Bengal only twice in last 39 years
Banerjee's victory meant that the anti-incumbency factor has failed in the state yet again. West Bengal has seen anti-incumbency factor influencing an election only twice in the last 39 years---in 1977 when the Congress lost power and in 2011, when the Left was toppled. It will also mean Mamata Banerjee, like Bidhan Roy, Ajoy Mukherjee, Jyoti Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, will succeed in beating the anti-incumbency factor. [How 6 phases of Bengal polls went]
Mamata wins and it implies the ruling party has won contesting alone for first time since 1962
Mamata Banerjee wins, signifying for the first time since 1962 that a ruling party would win an election by contesting alone. In 1962, the ruling Congress had won 152 seats in the 252-seat Assembly.
Mamata wins, handing the Left its fourth straight defeat since 2009
Banerjee wins this election, meaning the Left Front's fourth thrashing in the hands of the TMC since the 2009 Lok Sabha election. While the TMC suffered big losses in 2001 and 2006, it reversed the trend in 2009 and repeated the performance in the 2011 Assembly election and 2014 Lok Sabha election.
Mamata wins as her party wins over 200 seats
The TMC was set to set its 2011 tally by at least 30 seats which is another record in the history of West Bengal's elections. The last and the only time a party got more than 200 seats was the Congress and it achieved the feat in the 1972 election.
Oneindia News
The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday night issued a warning to fishermen not to venture into the sea. It has warned people of heavy rains saying parts of Tamil Nadu are likely to receive heavy rainfall in the next 24 hours. Rain, which began on Monday due to a low pressure over the Bay of Bengal, continued throughout the day on Tuesday. In the 24-hour period between 8.30am on Monday and 8.30am on Tuesday, the Regional Meteorological Centre recorded 67mm of rain in Chennai.
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ELKO Lily Hernandez will join the United States Air Force after she graduates from Elko High School in June.
She passed the qualification process to enlist.
She will be enrolled in the Community College of the Air Force on a full scholarship when she departs for Basic Military Training this summer.
Congrats Lily and thank you for your service, said Tech. Sgt. Curtis Loos.
Hernandez will leave for Texas in September.
SPRING CREEK Ten students from Spring Creek Middle Schools Future Business Leaders of America Chapter recently competed at the State Business Leaders Conference in Reno.
SCMS is one of only two middle school chapters to attend the conference and have done so for the past four years.
The students competed in the performance events of Computer Slide Show presentation, reciting the Creed and Public Speaking as well as online events of Business Communication, Financial Math, Personal Finance and Keyboarding Applications.
Daphne May placed 1st in Keyboarding Applications and 2nd in Computer Slide Show. Kennedy McGuire placed 2nd in Keyboarding Applications as well as being a finalist in Public Speaking. Ashton Moon placed 5th in Creed, a high school level event.
The Chapter also presented a check to the March of Dimes foundation for $450, money SCMS raised at their annual Walk-A-Thon.
When asked about the experience, Kattalin Lopategui said, I learned how to prepare for college and how to be a better leader.
Congratulations to all the students who took advantage of this great opportunity to build their skills for the future.
Kentucky, officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. Kentucky borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to the east; Tennessee to the south; and Missouri to the west. The Commonwealth's northern border is defined by the Ohio River. Its capital is Frankfort, and its two largest cities are Louisville and Lexington. The state's population was approximately 4.5 million in 2020.
Leicester Mercury 25 Oct 2022
The passenger terminal was cleared and flights held on the runway while airport officials carried out checks
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"The law [as it stands] perversely requires drug developers to test on animals, which often means killing them after the..
WASHINGTON (AP) The Democratic presidential primary was too close to call in Kentucky, but Hillary Clinton is still inching closer to the Democratic nomination shes now 95 percent of the way there.
The tight margin in Kentucky between Clinton and rival Bernie Sanders means that the two will split the states delegates fairly evenly.
With 55 delegates at stake, Clinton and Sanders will each pick up at least 25. Five delegates remain to be allocated, pending final vote tallies.
That means based on primaries and caucuses to date, Clinton now has 1,741 delegates. Sanders has 1,458.
To close that 283 delegate gap, Sanders would need to win 67 percent of the remaining primary and caucus delegates.
Clintons lead is wider when including superdelegates, or party officials who can back any candidate.
She has 2,265. Thats 95 percent of the 2,383 needed to win. Sanders has 1,498.
Oregon voters also were casting ballots Tuesday, with 61 delegates at stake.
The Papua New Guinea Government has warned people attempting to commit illegal acts as part of attempts to hijack student protests that they will face the full force of the law.
Chief Secretary Isaac Lupari said activists involved in the latest attempt to cause civil disturbances were not students but agitators who had no interest in student matters.
These agitators devote their lives to stirring the public up for the highest bidder, and now they are trying to hijack student protests, he said.
These people are subject to the laws of our country and if they are found to be inciting people to commit acts that are illegal, they will be arrested and prosecuted by law.
He said due to the serious nature of the threats of violence, the National Security Advisory Committee would be convened to discuss the matter.
Make no mistake, the agitators behind proposed protest are not students, but have much more sinister purposes, he said.
The NSCA is the principal adviser to the Government on security matters and will consider certain powers that can be used against this behaviour.
The extreme action they are trying to stimulate is uncalled for and will not be accepted. I appeal to our students not to be misled by the agitators and to make your own judgments.
He was responding to a message from an anonymous source that was widely circulated yesterday calling for civil disturbance, stop-work and protests tomorrow.
Lupari urged people who had read the message on social media to understand the motive.
There is big money involved in manufacturing protest for people of dubious intent, he said.
And members of the public might be fooled into taking part not knowing it is part of broader political campaign.
Lupari said there were processes involved in staging lawful protests.
People behind any protest must know there are clear and proper process and these must be followed, he said.
He said some posted comments do cross into breaking the law.
People who are sending these posts around must be aware of this, he said.
Lupari said the calls for anarchy by the agitators were entirely separate from student protests.
The action promoted by the activists is not the Melanesian way where we resolve issues as a community, but is an aggressive foreign style of intimidation and grandstanding.
The matters they are promoting are also before the court so cannot be properly discussed until they have run their course.
HIGH Commissioner to India Tarcisius Eri says the removal of Mahatma Gandhis bust in campus by protesting University of PNG students is outrageous.
Eri, who was instrumental in arranging a visit to PNG by Indian President Pranab Mukherjee last month, has apologised to the Indian community in PNG for what happened. Mukherjee handed over the bust to the PNG Government during his visit which was put up at the UPNG campus.
As an alumnus of UPNG, I am totally disgusted with the actions of a few students who have completely lost the cause of their boycott by removing the bust of Mahatma Gandhi at the Waigani campus, he said.
These students should emulate the actions of Mahatma Gandhi by resorting to peaceful and non-violent protests, which is more powerful than such disgraceful behaviour.
I wish to inform the student body that Mahatma Gandhi is revered not only in India but all over the world as the icon of non-violence and peaceful protests.
Renowned icons of non-violence and peaceful protests such as Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela were disciples of Mahatma Gandhi, whose legacies are celebrated by humanity.
He reminded students in PNG to follow one of Mahatma Gandhis mantra: You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
But a student leader who requested anonymity said yesterday they removed the bust because it did not reflect democracy in PNG as their petition to address the political and economical situation of the nation had been suppressed. The National /ONE PNG
US Online Gambling News Round-Up: May 2016
Published May 17, 2016 by Elana K
It's been a busy week in the world of US online gambling; while online gambling opponents are trying to revive an old bill, New Jersey's online gambling stats are reaching record highs, showing that the industry cannot be stopped.
It's been a busy week in the world of online gambling; while online gambling opponents are trying to revive an old bill, New Jersey's online gambling stats are reaching record highs, showing that the industry cannot be stopped.
RAWA Supporters Resort to Sneakiness to Try and Pass Bill
Online gambling opponents have been trying to pass RAWA, the Restoration of Americas Wire Act, for years. RAWA would essentially impose a federal ban on online gambling, including the states that already legalized it. When proponents of RAWA were dealt another blow a few months ago, even Sheldon Adelson, the main mover and shaker behind the bill, seemed to give in and rumors spread that the bill would be reworked.
Last week, however, Senator Lindsey Graham revived the original bill by trying to sneak it into a piece of totally-unrelated legislation. But his attempts did not go unnoticed, as he had hoped - poker watchdogs were quickly turned on to Grahams seemingly innocuous addition to the annual Appropriations Bill for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, Science, and related agencies. This is a bill that has nothing to do with online gambling, and yet, Graham inserted a pro-RAWA paragraph smack in the middle of it. While the text itself seems to be more of a note than a suggestion to turn anything into law, even notes are taken seriously in legal documents.
Fortunately, Grahams move did not go unnoticed before the bill was approved.
New Jersey Continues to Break Records
The good news of the week is that New Jersey has broken its online gaming revenue record for the second straight month in a row. In March, New Jersey online gaming revenue brought in $15.5 million, creating the states record high. But April smashed that record with a whopping $17 million, creating a new high and a new bar to aim for this May.
ELKO In a move many state leaders consider as the Obama administration forcing a liberal agenda concerning transgender rights, the Elko County School District plans to maintain the policies already in place, as they mostly comply to Fridays directive.
We already have policies in place that protect from harassment or discrimination regarding gender identity, said Elko County School District Superintendent Jeff Zander.
The only part of our policy that I believe does not comply is access to restrooms and locker rooms, from the standpoint, I think that the directive is probably a little more liberal than what our policies mandate, he said.
Local school district policies state restroom accessibility is going to be determined on a case-by-case basis and be balanced against the rights and desires of all students, said Zander.
The recent guidelines from Washington require schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms corresponding to their gender identity.
There is a further stipulation a transgender student should not be required to use individual facilities, when the same is not required of other students, according to reports.
The districts legal counsel interpreted the letter as a political statement and not law at this time.
Zander said it will be interesting to see how this plays out over the course of time be that six months or a year.
The Elko County School Board faced this issue in September, when it denied a transgender student access to male bathrooms and locker rooms. The contentious meeting included statements from parents as well as local and state officials.
According to Free Press files, it was stated reasonable accommodations were made for the student and that there are not any legal stipulations for restroom use corresponding to gender identification.
Within the same month, the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada issued a statement saying it would investigate and potentially press charges regarding the above decision.
Zander said Tuesday the district has not heard anything from the ACLU since that time.
Depending on what takes place with that, and depending on what takes place, I think, across the State of Nevada and nationally probably will have some impact on whats going to take place regarding our policies, he said.
Some educators and administrators have stated the guidelines can serve as an aid in determining how to move forward and create best practices concerning transgender students.
During last years request, federal guidelines released in 2015 by organizations such as the ACLU titled Schools in Transition were reviewed and taken into consideration.
That being said, our policy was not changed in regards to accommodating those requests on a case-by-case basis and we balanced the rights and desires of all students, said Zander, explaining last Septembers request was eye-opening in that it showed more schools facilitating accommodations, acceptable to those applying, than the central office was aware of.
We have not rewritten the policy or adopted a policy that completely complies with the Schools in Transition document, but I do think we have accommodations being made to support those students, he said.
Setting Policy
Oftentimes school boards set policy and a request would come from either a board member or legal counsel.
If this does come before the Elko County School Board, it will be put on the agenda and deliberated at a public meeting, said Zander, explaining there are no plans to do so at this time, unless he is contacted by board members, legal counsel or the insurance liability carrier.
The item would then be reviewed with the board president, who sets the agendas.
The federal letter provides guidance from the Education and Justice departments and, while it does not carry the power of law, there are implications of lawsuits or loss of federal aid, which would substantially impact the local district.
If it would affect federal aid, we currently collect approximately $7 million a year in federal monies in all of our funds, said Zander.
About $1 million is for resources in the general fund, while roughly the other $6 million is for special revenue funds: primarily including titles I, III and VII, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and food service.
Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt said President Obama has gone beyond his purview granted in the U.S. Constitution. Additionally, he said it denies state and local officials the right of self-governance and decides what is best for their students and community.
By ignoring the balance of power between the federal, state and local governments, President Obama has usurped democratic participation from all necessary stakeholders, Laxalt said. This is especially troubling when he has done so by threatening to withhold funding to struggling Nevada schools unless they comply.
Considering Elko is a rural school district in Northeastern Nevada, which appreciates its local control, Zander concluded by saying he thinks the presidents directive, in some ways, diminishes that.
ELKO Great Basin College will be awarding another record number of certificates and degrees this spring.
The Elko graduation ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Elko Convention Center.
The college reports total bachelor degree awards have increased 24 percent in the last year. That statistic coincides with the colleges recent feats to begin offering more baccalaureate level education to rural Nevada.
In the last year, GBC has received approvals from the Board of Regents to begin offering four new bachelor degrees, including a Bachelor of Science in Biology, Bachelors of Arts in English, Social Science and Natural Resources.
The ever growing number of bachelors degrees awarded by GBC confirms our belief that there is a need for additional four-year degree options in rural Nevada, said GBC President Mark Curtis.
This year, the college has received applications for 611 certificates and degrees, up from 553 last year.
The total number of students who applied to graduate is 483. Some students will have received dual credit and will be receiving a certificate and a degree, or multiple degrees.
It is anticipated 250 students will walk across the stage to receive their diplomas at the Elko ceremony on Saturday.
Based on applications, the college estimates this year it will award 73 bachelor degrees plus 4 post bachelor certificates (up from 59 in 2015), 333 associate degrees (up from 304) and 201 certificates (up from 190).
Six out of the last seven years, GBC has graduated record numbers of students, said Curtis.
Curtis explained the record numbers of graduates may also underscore the national honors GBC recently received for the affordability of its online offerings.
The incredible dedication of our faculty and staff have proved year over year they can find ways to be very efficient while continuing to provide high quality postsecondary educational opportunities to the citizens of Nevada and beyond, he said.
Of the degrees to be awarded, 39 are Battle Mountain graduates, 21 Ely graduates, 45 Pahrump graduates, 97 Winnemucca graduates, and 410 from Elko and surrounding areas, including a number from out of state.
GBC has a vision for growth that has included more baccalaureate degrees, and more outreach to rural Nevada, said Curtis. Our next step is a push for state college status as we look forward to celebrating the colleges 50th anniversary next year and begin planning for the next 50.
Graduation dinner receptions in Battle Mountain, Pahrump, Ely and Winnemucca will begin early this week.
Our next step is a push for state college status as we look forward to celebrating the colleges 50th anniversary next year and begin planning for the next 50. GBC President Mark Curtis
ELKO The Community Foundation of Western Nevada in Reno recently awarded LASSO (Local Animal Shelter Support Organization) a $10,000 grant to help the organization hire a part-time veterinarian.
The Community Foundation hopes the grant will kick-start a local fundraising plan with matching dollars for local gifts.
Community Foundation Chief Philanthropy Officer Tracy Turner sent the request for a grant proposal to LASSO as part of the grant service to carry out a bequest from a Community Foundation donor who loved animals.
I was looking for places where $10,000 could be a transformation. We work hard to carry out our donors legacies. said Turner.
Karen Walther, Elko Animal Shelter manager, responded to the RFP with a request for $10,000 to help fund a permanent, part-time veterinarian for the shelter and to head the surgical team at the Dumke-Weeks Spay/Neuter Clinic.
Such a position will be sustainable in the future through a combination of City of Elko funding and local fund raising, bringing stability to the clinic.
Affordable, healthy animals which are already spayed/neutered are crucial to successful adoption rates, wrote Walther.
For information on how to contribute to LASSO, visit www.LASSOelko.org or contact Curtis Calder at citymanager@ci.elko.nv.us or phone 777-7110.
Women protest the murder of Rosa Elvira Cely in Bogota. Mauricio Duenas Castaneda (EFE)
An official at Bogota City Hall has resigned and Mayor Enrique Penalosa has retracted his statement blaming Rosa Elvira Cely for her rape and murder in 2012, but activists are holding a series of vigils to highlight the continuing scourge of gender-based crimes and the Colombian capitals negligent handling of the case. On Monday afternoon, dozens of people gathered before City Hall shouting: No more femicides, were all Rosa Elvira.
This is a demonstration for Rosa Elvira Cely and against the bureaucratic insults that require us to break the silence, one demonstrator said. The protest was the first of a series planned for this week in Bogota, a city where, according to the Ombudsmans Office, at least 21,000 women have been victims of gender-based violence in the two years following Celys death.
The protest was organized after City Hall issued a statement inferring the victim was largely to blame for her death. She put her well-being and life at risk to the point where Javier Velasco cut off her existence; if Rosa Elvira Cely had not gone out with two classmates at night after she finished her classes, we would not be grieving her death today, the former mayor said in a statement responding to accusations that the authorities were negligent in their response to the victims call for aid after the attack.
Rosa was found two hours after she called the emergency services. Her body showed signs of hypothermia and several stab wounds
UN Women says the case is a clear indication of the institutional impunity that allows violence against women around the world and that Celys plight has led to an important debate about how Colombia deals with gender-based crimes. Until there is an alignment between the law and its appropriation by public servants in charge of its application, the country will not see fundamental advances in the eradication of this avoidable scourge of violence against women, the UN said. According to Medicina Legal, the countrys forensic institute, more than 8,000 women were killed in Colombia between 2009 and 2014.
Celys case shook the nation when the details of how she was tortured were revealed four years ago and it continues to anger many Colombians. Adriana Cely, the victims sister, recalls the series of mistakes that led to Rosas death. Although she was able to call for help, they let her die. The authorities took a long time to get there and once in the hospital she did not receive the care she needed, Adriana told EL PAIS.
A man shows his support for Rosa Elvira Cely. Mauricio Duenas Castaneda (EFE)
Rosa was found two hours after she called the emergency services. She was naked and lying on the grass in a park in downtown Bogota. Her body showed signs of hypothermia and several stab wounds. The doctors said she died of peritonitis because her attacker stabbed her with a wooden stake in the abdomen. What we feel today is like going back to four years ago. We feel the same pain, the same impotence, the same sadness, Adriana says.
Rosa Elvira Celys family has also condemned the fact that her attacker, Javier Velasco, has been freed even though police records show that he had killed another woman before and abused two of his stepchildren.
I dont understand how they can expect abused women to report [assaults] if the authorities see them as the culprits, Adriana Cely says. Last year, she sued the city for its negligent handling of her sisters case.
English version by Dyane Jean-Francois.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday. CARLOS GARCIA RAWLINS (REUTERS)
More information La oposicion venezolana llama a ignorar el estado de excepcion
Venezuelas opposition has come out in open defiance of the government of President Nicolas Maduro, telling its supporters to ignore the state of emergency decreed over the weekend. If Maduro wants to apply the decree, then he should start bringing out the tanks. Were not going to accept it, and I am calling on the country to take no notice of the decree. I am saying this to the armed forces, for whom the moment of truth is coming We dont want a military solution, but this is unacceptable, said leading opposition figure Hector Capriles, the governor of the state of Miranda, on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, President Maduro has said that he is the victim of an international conspiracy to overthrow his government. Venezuela is being led toward a situation of widespread violence to justify an international military intervention, he said at a press conference on Tuesday, adding that he was launching a political counter-offensive to deal with threats and attacks from the United States, Spain, and Colombia.
Former Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is in Caracas along with the ex-presidents of Panama and the Dominican Republic in a bid to mediate between the government and the opposition.
Venezuela is being led toward a situation of widespread violence to justify an international military intervention
President Maduro, on Tuesday
The opposition-controlled National Assembly on Tuesday rejected the state of emergency giving Maduro the right to limit constitutional guarantees. Opposition figures dismiss the move as a way to avoid holding the recall referendum on his mandate they are demanding.
Maduros decree also gives him the power to ban all marches and demonstrations and to restrict movement. Capriles says he and the opposition will continue to insist that the electoral commission register the more than 1.8 million signatures it handed over two weeks ago gathered as the first step toward holding a recall referendum this year.
Capriles said that marches will be held on Wednesday throughout Venezuela, with protestors gathering outside the offices of the electoral commission in major cities.
In Caracas, opposition leaders say they will ignore City Halls ban on marches.
Previous marches have been violently broken up by the police, who have erected huge cordons around the main offices of the electoral commission in the capital.
English version by Nick Lyne.
Greenpeace activists unfurling an anti-TTIP banner on a Madrid tower. ANDREA COMAS (REUTERS)
The ongoing negotiations for a free trade agreement between the European Union and the United States has triggered numerous citizen protests across European cities, including Spanish ones.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been protesting the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) in Germany, Austria and France.
In Spain, that opposition is still incipient. Livestock breeders, farmers, environmentalists, anti-globalization activists and representatives of the anti-austerity party Podemos have been the most vocal opponents of an agreement meant to liberalize new markets, but whose exact terms are being kept under wraps while talks are underway.
We dont believe that the jobs generated by the TTIP will make up for those that will be lost
Miguel Blanco, activist
Spanish detractors of the treaty believe it could hurt jobs, the economy and the environment.
The cities of Seville, Zaragoza, Segovia, Valladolid, Barcelona, Lleida, Castellon de la Plana, Valencia, Merida, Lugo, Pontevedra, Santiago de Compostela and soon Madrid as well, according to economy councilor Carlos Sanchez Mato have added their names to the 146 municipalities that are expressing opposition to the deal by declaring themselves TTIP-free Zones.
Most of these local governments are controlled by Podemos or by sister groups.
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Meanwhile, up to 270 unions, environmental associations and anti-globalization groups are working to stop the agreement before it gets signed.
Lola Sanchez, a member of the European Parliament for Podemos, explains that it is difficult for citizens to discuss the treaty because most politicians are not talking about it in public either, whether to defend it or criticize it.
We need to do a lot more campaigning in rural areas. Many producers have trouble understanding the implications of this treaty, says Jorge Luis Bail, of the green group Confluencia por Aragon (Equo).
The way each Spanish region views the TTIP depends largely on what drives the regional economy. Farmers and cattle breeders feel that their sector is particularly sensitive to the entry of US products that undergo fewer food safety controls than European ones.
Andalusians are very concerned about the future of livestock breeding and agriculture, says Alejandro Aguilar, a 32-year-old without a job who represents the No to TTIP movement in the southern Spanish region.
There is great concern over the loss of jobs, he says, adding that producers are particularly worried about the future of Spanish food products with Denominacion de Origen a quality guarantee similar to Frances Appellation dOrigine.
COAG, an umbrella group for farmers and livestock breeders representing thousands of people, wants Spanish political parties to take a clear stand against the treaty.
We dont believe that the jobs generated by the TTIP will make up for those that will be lost, said secretary general Miguel Blanco, who believes that small and medium businesses will suffer the most.
A budding debate
Tom Kucharz, an expert in international trade for the green group Ecologistas en Accion, says that opposition to the treaty is growing in Spain even as the debate opens up to the public. Extremadura is the first region to have created a committee to analyze the potential impact of the TTIP on the area. The initiative came from Podemos.
Of 158 anti-TTIP motions filed in assemblies across Spain, the Popular Party opposed at least 66 and Ciudadanos voted against 17, according to Podemos sources.
In the Madrid region, the PP and Ciudadanos voted against an anti-TTIP motion in the regional assembly; but the city of Madrid is run by the leftist alliance Ahora Madrid, which has already expressed its wish to join the TTIP-free Zones.
In the meantime, Brussels has already drafted an impact evaluation for Spain, but detractors of the treaty say this document is biased because its authors work for the Institute for Economic Studies (IEE) and because it was sponsored by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce.
IEE director Jose Luis Feito holds that theirs is the best study on the subject, and that Spain can only benefit from joining the TTIP.
English version by Susana Urra.
These are the responsibility of the editor and convey the newspaper's view on current affairs-both domestic and international
Cuban President Raul Castro greets Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo and Public Works Minister Ana Pastor in Havana. HO (AFP)
At last, Cubas President Raul Castro has received Spains foreign minister, Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo and Public Works Minister Ana Pastor. It has taken more than 18 months for the meeting to take place: the last time the minister travelled to the island, Castro refused to see him.
Given the way the Cuban regime works, the delay is not just the fault of the Spanish government. But the meeting illustrates the level of the relationship between Madrid and Havana at a time when diplomatic ties between Cuba and the United States are improving and the Cuban economy is opening up to outside investment. It is in Spains strategic interest to be among the islands leading interlocutors.
It is in Spains strategic interest to be among the islands leading interlocutors
Despite Garcia-Margallos comments following his meeting with Castro that the political relationship between the two countries is at a high point, the facts on the ground suggest otherwise. Since diplomatic relations with Washington resumed in December 2014, the presidents of the United States and France, along with the Italian prime minister, and others, have all visited the island, and they have done so accompanied by large delegations and carrying a battery of proposals to strengthen their presence on the island.
After Venezuela and China, Spain is Cubas largest trading partner. The regimes new foreign policy, along with the implosion of Venezuela, has created an unprecedented situation in which Spain cannot allow itself to be left out of. For historic reasons, for economic reasons Spanish hotels make up 50% of the total Cuba is a priority for Spain. Margallos visit has been a success, but it is just the first step. We now need to see the prime minister and King Felipe make the trip to Havana.
English version by Nick Lyne.
Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia:
Hedge funds rallied strongly in April moving the industry into positive territory for the first time this year, with the Barclay Hedge Fund Index gaining 1.05% during the month and 0.07% YTD, said data provider BarclayHedge.
Sol Waksman,founder and president of BarclayHedge, commented, "Improving trade data out of China, strengthening exchange rates for commodity linked currencies, a strong rally in high yield bonds, and a 20 percent surge in the price of crude oil provided ample impetus for the profitable hedge fund strategies in April."
He added that overall, 12 of Barclays 18 hedge fund indices gained ground last month. The Event Driven Index was up 2.40%, distressed securities gained 2.41%, healthcare and biotechnology was up 2.14%, convertible arbitrage gained 1.81%, and emerging markets added 1.27%.
In the loss column, European equities were down 0.90%, equity short bias lost 0.83%, the Equity Market Neutral Index gave up 0.61%, the Pacific Rim equities index lost 0.63%, and merger arbitrage was down 0.24%. "Although global equity markets moved higher on the month, the dispersion of the returns of different sectors was quite high," said Waksman. And added, "Big name stocks with large hedge fund followings such as Apple and Microsoft also performed poorly in April."
After four months in 2016, ten of Barclays hedge fund indices are in negative territory, while ei......................
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This Thursday state television channel La Primera will be showing the final episode of the 17th season of Cuentame, one of Spains longest-running and most popular television series ever, which began by telling the story of a middle-class family during the final years of the Franco dictatorship and on into the early years of democracy, and has now reached 1985.
But the prime-time shows future is now in doubt after it was revealed via the so-called Panama Papers that its two main actors, Ana Duato and Imanol Arias, have evaded paying almost 3 million in taxes between them from income that came principally from their roles as the husband and wife at the center of the series.
The pair are suspected of not paying the full amount of tax they owed via a series of opaque companies created by Spanish law firm Nummaria. Arias is thought to have concealed 2.18 million from the taxman between 2010 and 2014, while Duato failed to pay 794,389 between 2010 and 2012.
Both are now under investigation by a high court judge on suspicion of tax fraud and money-laundering offenses.
Duato and Arias are accused of using a Costa Rican national, Bernal Zamora Arce, as a front man. Zamora is also implicated in the activities of the Punica kickbacks for contracts network headed by businessman David Marzaliza and Francisco Granados, the former general secretary of the Madrid regional division of the Popular Party.
All companies that work with RTVE are required to present a certificate from the tax office proving they are up to date with their fiscal obligations
As a result, senior management at state broadcaster RTVE, which shows the series, are reportedly concerned about negative publicity. State prosecutors have not so far implicated the company that produces the series, Ganga Producciones, but they have turned their sights on Ganga Proyectos and the production companys manager, Miguel Angel Bernardeau. All companies that work with RTVE are required to present a certificate from the tax office proving they are up to date with their fiscal obligations, something that Ganga cannot at the moment do, leaving the future of the series in the air.
As clients of Nummaria, the company under investigation, we acted in good faith, we pay our taxes in Spain, we have no accounts abroad, and we are up to date regarding our fiscal obligations and neither the bank accounts of Ganga or Miguel Angel Bernadeau have been embargoed, said Ganga Producciones in a statement.
RTVE has already launched an internal audit into the series tax affairs following allegations from an actor who has since left the program. Until the results of the audit are known, say sources, no go-ahead can be given for an 18th series.
Cuentame, which means Tell me in Spanish, was first aired in 2001. Thursdays series-closing episode includes a double marriage: Duato and Arias will renew their marriage vows, while their daughter ties the knot. Sources at RTVE say this ending was not planned as the definitive conclusion to the series. Despite the negative publicity generated in recent weeks by the Panama Papers revelations, or perhaps because of it, viewing figures have not been affected. The penultimate episode, aired last Thursday, was watched by more than 3.4 million people, garnering an 18.7% audience share.
English version by Nick Lyne.
Opalesque Industry Update - Asset managers need to come up with unique and differentiating product ideas to make it to distributors' product shelves that are increasingly dominated by big brand names. Having the right product fit and how to differentiate their funds from peers were among the key challenges cited by asset managers. This is one of the key findings of Cerulli Associates' newly-released report, Asian Fund Selector 2016: Striving for Longevity on Distributors' Shelves. Amid the persistent global market volatility, a survey that Cerulli conducted for the report also found that a majority of fund selectors are still looking to add funds to cater to macroeconomic events. For instance, about 40% of fund selectors at global/regional banks surveyed said that they will add funds to cater to the impact of potential Federal Reserve rate hikes. "A similar percentage said while they will not add funds, they may adjust their recommendation lists to accommodate uncertainties in the Chinese capital market," says Shu Mei Chua, an associate director with Cerulli, who led the report. In terms of fund strategies, selectors at global/regional banks find limited product choices in traditional asset classes such as Asian mid-cap strategies, Chinese renmimbi (RMB) bonds, Indian fixed income, and European high yield. This potentially offers opportunities for asset managers who have not yet made it onto selectors' focus lists. There is a greater inclination among Asian gatekeepers to add liquid alternatives in 2016, given the uncertain macro environment. However, demand continues to be largely from the global private banks, as appetite for liquid alternatives among local distributors and insurance companies is still nascent. "In the liquid alternatives segment, some global/regional banks are looking for funds-of-hedge funds kinds of products, but find limited availability of such products," Chua adds. Meanwhile, a look at the fund lists of Asian fund selectors also shows an increasing propensity to work with top names as it is an easier proposition to sell funds and expedite the due diligence process which could take a relatively longer time for unknown or lesser-known names. This dominance of top-selling brands has resulted in challenges for unfamiliar names or new entrants to on-board their funds. "Still, our research showed Asian fund selectors are also willing to work with new ideas and have allowed deviations in the past. Selectors may even relax their quantitative screening parameters, if the fund strategy is unique and timely for the current market environment," says Leena Dagade, a senior analyst with Cerulli. Dagade cited the example of a Swiss bank in Hong Kong which added a RMB fixed-income fund from a boutique asset management firm in Hong Kong well ahead of market cycles and before others spotted the trend.
Hidden in Plain Sight - Part 1
My guest today is Paul Thompson, researcher and author of The Clinton Email Scandal Timeline, an exhaustive chronology of events related to Hillary's email situation, which can be found online.
JB: Welcome to OpEdNews, Paul. Why did you decide to investigate this story in such depth?
PT: Like a lot of people, when I first heard of Clinton's emails in the news, I didn't pay close attention. I had heard about the Benghazi scandal, which seemed like a Republican witch-hunt to me (and largely still does), so I figured this was more of the same. It was only a few months ago that I heard some details that made me sit up and take notice. For instance, finding out that some of her emails were deemed top secret or even above top secret, I began taking a closer look, and the more I looked, the more I felt this was a very real and serious scandal. But I couldn't find any single resource online that put it all together. Even the Wikipedia page was sorely lacking (and still is). So I decided I'd have to make it myself.
JB: I think a lot of us have sort of coasted through the email scandal, assuming it was no big deal. Based on what you have ultimately come up with, putting this together must have been a daunting task. Did you have any idea when you got started what was going to be involved in doing this right?
PT: It has been a daunting task, because I feel time pressure. The timing of what information gets known when is vital, as we'll probably discuss later. I've worked hard to put this together in only a month and a half. But aside from that, yes, I knew what I was getting into because I did this all before. I put together timelines about terrorism during the George W. Bush era that were even more extensive (and were very critical of the Bush administration, by the way). Some of them were compiled into my book "The Terror Timeline," published by HarperCollins in 2004. So I had worked out a good system for boiling information down into a timeline format doing that, and it was just a matter of using that technique on a new topic.
JB: Lucky thing actually; you didn't have to waste time reinventing the wheel. We'll circle around to talk more about your system and format later. Readers will want to know: what's your relationship with Hillary's candidacy?
PT: If you would have asked me a year ago who I would vote for, I hadn't made my mind up yet. I easily could have voted for Hillary. But, after reading in depth about her email scandal and what the Clinton Foundation has done, and then coming to the conclusion that she had to be guilty of multiple serious crimes, how could I possibly support her? Naturally, I became a vocal supporter of Sanders. If you knew that someone living on your street was a criminal, wouldn't you feel compelled to warn your neighbors? That's why I've put so much time and effort into the timeline.
Thompson's Clinton email scandal timeline logo
(Image by courtesy of Paul Thompson) Details DMCA
JB: That makes sense. I understand that there are numerous issues that could land Clinton in hot water. Share some with us, please.
PT: This scandal has many different facets to it. I believe political pundits have consistently underestimated the trouble Clinton is in because they've been focusing mainly on the content of her emails. That's just one aspect, but let's look at it now.
The key thing to keep in mind is that we, the public, only get to see the unredacted portions of her emails. Out of the 30,000 work-related Clinton emails released to the public, over 2,000 of them have been redacted to some degree. Many of them are entirely redacted, including 22 top secret or even above top secret emails. It's the redacted material that's likely to give Clinton the most trouble. For instance, The New York Times recently reported that 18 emails make reference to CIA assets or operatives. Remember the Valerie Plame scandal? This actually could be worse than that. And even that Times report doesn't include what's in those top secret emails, which could give her the most trouble of all.
JB: I'm not following. No one, at least no civilian, knows what's in those redacted emails, whatever their classification. So, unless there's a prosecution or charges brought, we have no way of evaluating how serious the breaches were.
PT: Exactly. There have been some hints in some news reports. And some Congresspeople have the clearances to see the redacted portions, so they've given some hints too. But if they say too much, they'll be in legal trouble as well. If Clinton is ever put on trial, it's likely that portions of the trial would have to be held behind closed doors, since that top secret material especially is likely to stay top secret and not leaked to the press. This is a big reason why it's so hard to know how likely the FBI is to recommend Clinton's indictment, because they know a lot more than the general public does.
JB: Better but still not quite clear. This is what I want to know: Because of all the redactions, is the FBI more likely or less likely to recommend indictment? Aren't they still under the same pressure from Obama not to indict, regardless of the content? And does the president know what's in the redacted emails?
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By William Boardman, Reader Supported News
It's the server, stupid!
It's not yet clear whether Hillary Clinton will be indicted. It's not even clear in the broader sense whether Hillary Clinton should be indicted. But it's crystal clear that, even on the limited amount of credible evidence now available, Hillary Clinton could be indicted. She could be indicted for what might be characterized as privatizing her government office. That, in effect, is what the Secretary of State did when she moved pretty much all her public government communication to a private email server at her home in Chappaqua, New York. That deployment of a private server for a government official is, as far as we know, unprecedented. The public business of the Secretary of State does not belong in anyone's private domain. It's a gross violation of sane and honest public policy. And it's also illegal.
That's why Hillary Clinton could be indicted. She has committed a unique offense. But how serious is the offense? Until the FBI completes its investigation, including thousands of emails as well as the server, we can't begin to know what weight to give it legally. Politically, we can infer that the Clinton camp is terrified of any full reckoning, since Clinton and her surrogates have been minimizing and lying about the case from the beginning.
When Bernie Sanders said in an early debate that people were sick and tired of hearing about Hillary Clinton's "damn emails," he may well have executed a shrewd and deft bit of political jiu jitsu. First, he framed himself as more interested in substantive issues, rather than political gossip. He surely knew that, if an email of actual importance turned up, the case would take on a well-deserved life of its own. Meanwhile he could take the high road, ignoring mere peccadillos. And quite possibly, Sanders understood even then that the core issue was the server, not the emails, and that the FBI under James Comey was a good bet to carry out a thorough and honorable investigation. Sanders successfully took a principled position on the "damn emails," while knowing that all he had to do was wait to make the move a win-win for him (if that's the way it would turn out, with nothing to lose if it didn't).
Is the FBI investigation a ticking time bomb for Hillary?
The FBI investigation seems to have been relatively leak-free since it began in July 2015. In early March 2016, an anonymous "senior law enforcement official" let it be known that a Clinton employee had been granted limited, non-specific immunity from prosecution. Grants of immunity are an indication of an investigation's progress toward the target, in this case Hillary Clinton. So far the only known grant of immunity has gone to Bryan Pagliano, a Clinton 2008 campaign worker who set up her private government email server in her home in 2009. Spokesmen at the FBI and Justice Department would not comment, but Pagiano's attorney confirmed the immunity agreement was in place and his client was cooperating.
The flurry of reactions to the immunity deal at the time were mostly politically dishonest on one side or another, but C-Span on March 18 spent some 49 sober minutes exploring the case with attorney Joe diGenova, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia (1983-88) and now in private practice in Washington. While diGenova tends to lean right politically, his discussion of the Clinton case was dispassionate and analytical. Asked what advice he might give Clinton now, he answered: "Do not be interviewed by the FBI. If you lie, you will be in the same boat as General Petraeus. When you lie to a federal investigator, that creates incentive to work harder on the case."
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Reprinted from Wallwritings
Israeli Defense Force (IDF) Deputy Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, delivered a public address on the eve of this year's Holocaust Remembrance Day.
He spoke at Israel's Massuah Institute for Holocaust Studies, which is located at Tel Yitzak Kibbutz.
The General could not have chosen a more auspicious location for what Ha'aretz described as an "unusual speech."
Four days later, General Golan (above) was "harshly criticized" by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who, Ha'aretz reported, told Sunday's cabinet meeting that Golan's remarks "were outrageous, unfounded and they wronged Israeli society."
Ha'aretz' report on the Golan speech began:
"In an unusual speech in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day on Wednesday evening, IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Major General Yair Golan likened recent developments in Israeli society to processes that unfolded in Europe before the Holocaust."
As any critic of Israeli policies quickly discovers, linking Israel today with any reference to Nazi Germany is strictly forbidden by Israel's propaganda machine.
This did not deter Major General Yair Golan, who declared in his Holocaust Eve speech:
"If there's something that frightens me about Holocaust remembrance it's the recognition of the revolting processes that occurred in Europe in general, and particularly in Germany, back then -- 70, 80 and 90 years ago -- and finding signs of them here among us today in 2016. "Golan said that the Holocaust 'must make us think deeply about the responsibility of leadership, the quality of society, and it must lead us to fundamental thinking about how we, here and now, treat the stranger, the orphan and the widow, and all who are like them.'"
Then with an blazing passion that sounded more like a Hebrew prophet than a Major General, he added...
"There is nothing easier than hating the stranger, nothing easier than to stir fears and intimidate. There is nothing easier than to behave like an animal and to act sanctimoniously. On Holocaust Remembrance Day we ought to discuss our ability to uproot the seeds of intolerance, violence, self-destruction and moral deterioration. "Just as Yom Kippur is a day for personal atonement, it ought to be and in fact it's actually essential for Holocaust Remembrance Day to be a national day of atonement."
Major General Golan did not travel this road alone.
Four days after Golan's Holocaust Day Eve speech, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon spoke at Israel's Memorial Day ceremony to further "his vociferous public dispute with the rest of the right-wing figures and political leaders in Israel."
Reprinted from Consortium News
Does any intelligent person look at a New York Times article about Russia or Vladimir Putin these days and expect to read an objective, balanced account? Or will it be laced with a predictable blend of contempt and ridicule? And is it any different at The Washington Post, NPR, MSNBC, CNN or almost any mainstream U.S. news outlet?
And it's not just Russia. The same trend holds true for Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Nicaragua and other countries and movements that have fallen onto the U.S. government's "enemies list." We saw the same pattern with Saddam Hussein and Iraq before the 2003 U.S. invasion; with Muammar Gaddafi and Libya before the U.S.-orchestrated bombing campaign in 2011; and with President Viktor Yanukovych and Ukraine before the U.S.-backed coup in 2014.
That is not to say that these countries and leaders don't deserve criticism; they do. But the proper role of the press corps -- at least as I was taught during my early years at The Associated Press -- was to treat all evidence objectively and all sides fairly. Just because you might not like someone doesn't mean your feelings should show through or the facts should be forced through a prism of bias.
In those "old days," that sort of behavior was deemed unprofessional and you would expect a senior editor to come down hard on you. Now, however, it seems that you'd only get punished if you quoted some dissident or allowed such a person onto an op-ed page or a talk show, someone who didn't share Official Washington's "group think" about the "enemy." Deviation from "group think" has become the real disqualifier.
Yet, this conformity should be shocking and unacceptable in a country that prides itself on freedom of thought and speech. Indeed, much of the criticism of "enemy" states is that they supposedly practice various forms of censorship and permit only regime-friendly propaganda to reach the public.
But when was the last time you heard anyone in the U.S. mainstream say anything positive or even nuanced about Russian President Putin? He can only be portrayed as some shirtless buffoon or the devil incarnate. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton got widespread praise in 2014 when she likened him to Hitler.
Or when has anyone in the U.S. media been allowed to suggest that Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and his supporters might actually have reason to fear what the U.S. press lovingly calls the "moderate" rebels -- though they often operate under the military command of Sunni extremist groups, such as Al Qaeda's Nusra Front. [See Consortiumnews.com's "Obama's 'Moderate' Syrian Deception."]
For the first three years of the Syrian civil war, the only permissible U.S. narrative was how the brutal Assad was slaughtering peaceful "moderates," even though Defense Intelligence Agency analysts and other insiders had long been warning about the involvement of violent jihadists in the movement from the uprising's beginning in 2011.
But that story was kept from the American people until the Islamic State started chopping off the heads of Western hostages in 2014 -- and since then, the mainstream U.S. media has only reported the fuller story in a half-hearted and garbled way. [See Consortiumnews.com's " Hidden Origins of Syria's Civil War. "]
Reason for Conformity
The reason for this conformity among journalists is simple: If you repeat the conventional wisdom, you might find yourself with a lucrative gig as a big-shot foreign correspondent, a regular TV talking head, or a "visiting scholar" at a major think tank. However, if you don't say what's expected, your career prospects aren't very bright.
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad
(Image by The Guardian, Channel: The Guardian) Details DMCA
If you somehow were to find yourself in a mainstream setting and even mildly challenged the "group think," you should expect to be denounced as a fill-in-the-blank "apologist" or "stooge." A well-paid avatar of the conventional wisdom might even accuse you of being on the payroll of the despised leader. And, you wouldn't likely get invited back.
But the West's demonization of foreign "enemies" is not only an affront to free speech and meaningful democracy, it is also dangerous because it empowers unscrupulous American and European leaders to undertake violent and ill-considered actions that get lots of people killed and that spread hatred against the West.
The most obvious recent example was the Iraq War, which was justified by a barrage of false and misleading claims about Iraq which were mostly swallowed whole by a passive and complicit Western press corps.
Creative Commons photo by Lionel Allorge
If youre a fan of science fiction or the films of David Lynch, youve surely seen the 1984 film adaptation of Frank Herberts cult classic sci-fi novel, Dune (though Lynch himself may prefer that you didnt). And indeed, its very likely that, by now, youve heard the incredible story of what Dune might have been, had it been directed ten years earlier by psychedelic Chilean filmmaker, writer, composer, and psychotherapist Alejandro Jodorowsky. Perhaps you even caught Jonathan Crows post on this site featuring Jodorowskys proposed storyboardsdrawn by French artist Moebiusfor what would most certainly would have been a mind-bogglingly grand epic of a movie. Alas, Jodorowskys Dune never came about, though it did later lead to the documentary Jodorowskys Dune, which Matt Zoller Seitz pronounced a call to arms for dreamers everywhere.
That description applies not only to the film about a film that could have been, but also to the entirety of Jodorowskys work, including histhoroughly bizarre and captivatingearly features, El Topo and The Holy Mountain, and the creation of a comic book universe like no other. Called The Jodoverse, the world of his comic books is, as writer Warren Ellis says, astonishingly beautiful and totally madagain, a succinct description of Jodorowskys every artistic endeavor. Witness below, for example, the stunning trailer for his most recent feature film, 2014s The Dance of Reality. You may find the visual excesses so overwhelming that you only half-hear the narration.
Listen (or read) carefully, however. Jodorowsky has as much to tell us with his cryptically poetic pronouncements as he does with his visionary imagery. Do you find his epigrams platitudinous, sententious, Pollyannaish, or naive? Jodorowsky doesnt mind. He calls, remember, to the dreamers, not the hard-bitten, cynical realists. And if youre one of the dreamers who hears that call, youll find much to love in the list below of Jodorowskys 82 Commandments for living. But so too, I think, will the realists. These come from Jodorowskys memoir The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky, and the list comes via Dangerous Minds, who adapted it from the better part of three pages of text.
As Jodorowsky frames these maxims in his book, they originated with influential Russian mystic George Gurdjieff, and were told to him by Gurdjieffs daughter, Reyna dAssia. Perhaps thats so. But youll note, if you know Jodorowskys writingor simply took a couple minutes time to watch the trailer abovethat they sound enough like the authors own words to have been brought forth from his personal storehouse of accumulated wisdom. In any case, Jodorowsky has always been quick to acknowledge his spiritual teachers, and whether these are his second-hand accounts of Gurdjieff or his own inventions has no bearing on the substance therein.
Often sounding very much like Biblical proverbs or Buddhist precepts, the commandments are intended, dAssia says in Jodorowskys account, to help us change [our] habits, conquer laziness, and become morally sound human being[s]. As she remarks in the book, before she delivers the below in a lengthy monologue, to be strong in the great things, we must also be strong in the small ones. Therefore
Ground your attention on yourself. Be conscious at every moment of what you are thinking, sensing, feeling, desiring, and doing. Always finish what you have begun. Whatever you are doing, do it as well as possible. Do not become attached to anything that can destroy you in the course of time. Develop your generosity but secretly. Treat everyone as if he or she was a close relative. Organize what you have disorganized. Learn to receive and give thanks for every gift. Stop defining yourself. Do not lie or steal, for you lie to yourself and steal from yourself. Help your neighbor, but do not make him dependent. Do not encourage others to imitate you. Make work plans and accomplish them. Do not take up too much space. Make no useless movements or sounds. If you lack faith, pretend to have it. Do not allow yourself to be impressed by strong personalities. Do not regard anyone or anything as your possession. Share fairly. Do not seduce. Sleep and eat only as much as necessary. Do not speak of your personal problems. Do not express judgment or criticism when you are ignorant of most of the factors involved. Do not establish useless friendships. Do not follow fashions. Do not sell yourself. Respect contracts you have signed. Be on time. Never envy the luck or success of anyone. Say no more than necessary. Do not think of the profits your work will engender. Never threaten anyone. Keep your promises. In any discussion, put yourself in the other persons place. Admit that someone else may be superior to you. Do not eliminate, but transmute. Conquer your fears, for each of them represents a camouflaged desire. Help others to help themselves. Conquer your aversions and come closer to those who inspire rejection in you. Do not react to what others say about you, whether praise or blame. Transform your pride into dignity. Transform your anger into creativity. Transform your greed into respect for beauty. Transform your envy into admiration for the values of the other. Transform your hate into charity. Neither praise nor insult yourself. Regard what does not belong to you as if it did belong to you. Do not complain. Develop your imagination. Never give orders to gain the satisfaction of being obeyed. Pay for services performed for you. Do not proselytize your work or ideas. Do not try to make others feel for you emotions such as pity, admiration, sympathy, or complicity. Do not try to distinguish yourself by your appearance. Never contradict; instead, be silent. Do not contract debts; acquire and pay immediately. If you offend someone, ask his or her pardon; if you have offended a person publicly, apologize publicly. When you realize you have said something that is mistaken, do not persist in error through pride; instead, immediately retract it. Never defend your old ideas simply because you are the one who expressed them. Do not keep useless objects. Do not adorn yourself with exotic ideas. Do not have your photograph taken with famous people. Justify yourself to no one, and keep your own counsel. Never define yourself by what you possess. Never speak of yourself without considering that you might change. Accept that nothing belongs to you. When someone asks your opinion about something or someone, speak only of his or her qualities. When you become ill, regard your illness as your teacher, not as something to be hated. Look directly, and do not hide yourself. Do not forget your dead, but accord them a limited place and do not allow them to invade your life. Wherever you live, always find a space that you devote to the sacred. When you perform a service, make your effort inconspicuous. If you decide to work to help others, do it with pleasure. If you are hesitating between doing and not doing, take the risk of doing. Do not try to be everything to your spouse; accept that there are things that you cannot give him or her but which others can. When someone is speaking to an interested audience, do not contradict that person and steal his or her audience. Live on money you have earned. Never brag about amorous adventures. Never glorify your weaknesses. Never visit someone only to pass the time. Obtain things in order to share them. If you are meditating and a devil appears, make the devil meditate too.
via Dangerous Minds
Related Content:
Moebius Storyboards & Concept Art for Jodorowskys Dune
Mbius & Jodorowskys Sci-Fi Masterpiece, The Incal, Brought to Life in a Tantalizing Animation
Moebius Gives 18 Wisdom-Filled Tips to Aspiring Artists (1996)
Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him at @jdmagness
WebHostingCat.com Announces Best cPanel Hosting and Best Green Web Hosting for 2016
https://webhostingcat.com/best-green-web-hosting-2016/
Los Angeles, CAWebHostingCat.com recently released their 2016 top web hosting recommendations for two different categories. With cPanel continuing to be the web hosting control panel of preference by many, three web hosting companies were recognized for their quality cPanel hosting plans. Among those on the preferred list are InMotion Hosting and SiteGround. For more information, see https://webhostingcat.com/best-cpanel-hosting-2016/.Because of continuing concern for the environment, green web hosting has become a primary goal of many web hosting companies. In addition to making sure their data centers are adhering to green standards, many web hosts are using renewable energy credits to put back into the grid multiple times the amount of energy they consume. GreenGeeks tops this years list for best green web hosting. To read the complete article, visitAbout WebHostingCat.comWebHostingCat.com is an independent guide and review site created for those looking to get their business or personal website online. In addition to reviewing the top web hosting companies, the site has an extensive article section consisting of helpful tips on creating and maintaining your website, as well as suggestions on where to find the best deals on web hosting plans.WebHostingCat.com has announced their recommendations for Best cPanel Hosting and Best Green Web Hosting for 2016.Michael James, Media Relations2275 Huntington Dr., Ste. 332San Marino, CA 91108(626) 388-1533mike@webhostingcat.com
Global Vape Market (e-Cigarette and Vaporizer) Strategic Assessment and Forecast Till 2021 by Beige Market Intelligence
Vape Product Market by Beige Market Intelligence
http://www.beigemarketintelligence.com/reports/research-report-consumer-and-retail-market/vape-ecigarette-vaporizer-market-research-report/
http://www.beigemarketintelligence.com/reports/research-report-consumer-and-retail-market/vape-ecigarette-vaporizer-market-research-report/
Vape Market (e-Cigarette and Vaporizer) Market Report InsightsA vape product or broadly known as e-cigarette, electronic cigarette, and vaporizer is a battery operated device and has been reckoned as an alternative to traditional tobacco cigarettes by many vendors. Without the inhalation of smoke, it gives the experience of tobacco smoking where the user inhales the vaporized nicotine emitted by the device. Vape products are smoke and tobacco-free consumer products. These are also designed and used as a tobacco harm reduction (THR) product and are sold as medical devices in many countries. The major turning point for the vape product market was the year 2014 as the market witnessed a record number of major acquisitions, the launch of technologically advanced product, patent warfare, and the introduction of government regulations.The effects of vaping on the human body are not yet fully known. However, they are considered less toxic than traditional tobacco cigarettes because they produce vapor instead of smoke. They are considered as an effective method that helps smokers quit smoking, though there is no scientifically grounded evidence for this.Vape market (e-Cigarette and Vaporizer) research report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the Worldwide Vape Products (e-Cigarette and Vaporizer) Market for the period 2015-2021. The report provides in-depth analysis of market size and growth of Worldwide Vape market. This market research report includes a detailed market segmentation of the Worldwide Vapor Products Market byVape (e-Cigarette and Vaporizer) Products Segmentation1) Closed System Vape Productsa) Cigalikes (also known as disposables/first-generation e-cigarette)b) Rechargeables (also known as second-generation e-cigarette)c) Refill Cartridges2) Open System Vape Productsa) Vapor/tanks/mods or VTMs (also called personal vaporizer/modulars/electronic cigarette/third-generation e-cigarette)b) E-liquids/e-juicesVape (e-Cigarette and Vaporizer) Products Geographic Segmentation1) North America2) Europe3) APAC4) ROWVape (e-Cigarette and Vaporizer) Products Distribution Channels1) Online2) Retaila) Convenience storesb) Vape shopsc) Tobacco shopsd) Grocerye) Drug storesf) OthersThe report also provides market share and profiles the key vendors operating in the Worldwide Vape Products Market and also provides the detailed competitive landscape of key players.To know more about the report, please visitVape (e-Cigarette and Vaporizer) Products Market Size and DynamicsA vaping device or vapor product is a battery-powered inhaler that simulates tobacco smoking. It is designed to provide inhaled doses of e-juice by vaporizing the flavored liquid, and then simulating the effects of smoking by vaporizing the liquid, which the user inhales and exhales. A vaping device, also known as an e-vaping device, a personal vaporizer, or an ENDS uses a heating element to vaporize the flavored liquid. The e-juices in the market are available in more than 3,000 flavors with many more being added every month.Vape products are broadly classified into two categories: closed systems (cigalikes, rechargeables, and refill cartridges) and open systems (VTMs and e-liquids). Market research analysts at Beige Market Intelligence, expect the Worldwide Vape Products Market to reach approx. US$32.11 billion by 2021.The Worldwide Vape Products market has been segmented on the basis of distribution channels and geographical region. North America accounted for the largest market share of more than 40% of the market in 2015; it is expected to grow at a high CAGR of around 27% between 2015 and 2021. However, APAC market is expected to account for a share of around 21% of the market in 2021.Vape (e-Cigarette and Vaporizer) Products Drivers and TrendsThis market research report provides market overview of the factors driving and restraining the growth of the market. The report also outlines the key trends emerging in the market that will contribute to the growth of Worldwide Vape Products (e-Cigarette and Vaporizer) Market during the forecast period. The factors driving the growth of the market include consumers' perception of vapor products as an alternative to traditional tobacco cigarettes. There is increased desire among consumers worldwide to quit smoking tobacco and this has made vaping a rapidly growing concept worldwide. The global sales volume of traditional cigarettes has declined owing to an increase in sales of e-cigarette and vaping. The US witnessed about 19% decline altogether in traditional cigarette sales among adults, i.e., a drop from 20 of every 100 adults (19.8%) in 2008 to nearly 16 of every 100 adults (15.7%) in 2015. Due to this, the majority of the global players in the tobacco industry witnessed a massive decline in the shipment of traditional cigarettes in 2015, prompting bigger tobacco companies like Altria Group, Imperial Tobacco, and Reynolds American to rush into the vapor products market. Also, the increasing number of deaths caused by smoking-related cancer has propelled people to stop smoking traditional cigarettes. For instance, as per the US government, approximately 480,000 people, due to active smoking, and nearly 42,000 people, due to passive smoking, die in the country every year. The tobacco smoking is attributed to one in every five deaths in the US.Some of the major challenges confronting the Worldwide Vape Products (e-Cigarette and Vaporizer) Market include governments introducing stringent norms to regulate vapor products. Vape products are banned in many major economies such as Brazil, Japan, and Indonesia. Also, the governments of Poland and India are considering imposing a complete ban on the sale and use of these products. In March 2016, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) banned the use of e-cigarette, vape pens and vaporizer or vapes in flights. Moreover, growing health concerns related to the use of vapor products is acting as a challenge to the growth of the market. Regulatory bodies are still not clear on how much nicotine or other chemicals are actually being inhaled by the body while vaping. In addition, the effectiveness of these products in helping people quit smoking has not been fully studied. Researchers have indicated that e-liquids containing chemical flavoring have substances which cause lung diseases. About 90% of the flavored e-liquid or e-juice in the market contain an organic compound called Diacetyl. This flavoring chemical, i.e., Diacetyl has also been linked to severe lung diseases. Exposure to this chemical leads to Bronchiolitis obliterans, spirometry abnormalities and other harmful respiratory symptoms.The market research report also provides the Porters five forces analysis along with a description of each of the forces and its impact on the market.To pre-order the report, please visitVape (e-Cigarette and Vaporizer) Products Key Vendors and Market ShareThis market research report profiles the major companies in the market and also provides the competitive landscape and market share of key players. Within the report covers the entire market outlook regarding the value chain operating within the market. The major players in the market include Altria Group, British American Tobacco (BAT), Imperial Brands (earlier Imperial Tobacco), Japan Tobacco, NJOY, and Reynolds American.Other prominent vendors in the market include Ballantyne Brands, CB Distributors, Gamucci, Nicotek, RRR Chemicals, Vapor, ECIG, VMR Products, and White Cloud among others.To know more detail about the Global Vape Market (e-Cigarette and Vaporizer) Strategic Assessment and Forecast Till 2021, please contact Beige Market Intelligence:Mail: contactus@beigemarketintelligence.comUS: +1 347 903 9949UK: +44 20 323 99499APAC: +91 99 012 75473eige Market Intelligence: We are a new-age provider of competitive business intelligence, working across various industry verticals. Our expertise and knowledge ensures that the market analysis Beige provides is comprehensive, detailed and complete. The analysis helps our client organizations become aware and make educated decisions, as far as investing or devising a marketing strategy is concerned. The actionable insights delivered through our market research provide a comprehensive market analysis for every level of market segmentation in an industry. Beige Market Intelligence is a quality driven high end Market Research organization. Our team of experts ensure the analysis you receive is not just analyzed and smartly presented, but is completely customized based on the clients requirement. Our deliverables guarantee our current global client base does not look beyond Beige when it comes to any kind of industry and market analysis.Name of the company: Beige Market IntelligencePostal Address: Chinnapanahalli Main Road,Doddanekundi V illage, Bangalore Bangalore KA 560037, IndiaPress Contact: Jency Jacob (media@beigemarketintelligence.com)
Louis Vause's Daughter Melody Beats Back Pain with Scoliosis SOS
Melody receives treatment for her scoliosis
http://www.scoliosissos.com/treatment/what-is-scoliosis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zWNqsDXYUY
www.scoliosissos.com
Louis Vause is a pianist known for his work with the likes of Madness and Blur guitarist Graham Coxon. Two years ago, Vause's daughter Melody was diagnosed with scoliosis, an excessive sideways curvature of the spine; once this diagnosis had been made, Louis and Melody were told that surgery was probably the only way for Melody to escape the pain that was quickly becoming a large part of her everyday life."It was quite upsetting to know that the only option was a huge operation," recalls Melody, now a 22-year-old interior design student. Father and daughter were initially resigned to the surgical solution, but after doing some research, they decided to look for an alternative: "It was only when Melody showed me the - frankly quite frightening - pictures of the operation that I though, 'Oh God, if it goes wrong it's paralysis or something like that'," says Vause.After a series of online searches, it was decided that Melody would attend a treatment course at the Scoliosis SOS Clinic in London. These courses are designed to help scoliosis sufferers to overcome their symptoms without any surgical intervention; this is achieved through exercise-based techniques such as the Schroth method, which originated in Germany in the early 20th century.The results were phenomenal. "From day two, I already felt a significant difference," says Melody, and her father agrees: "I couldn't believe it...I went, 'Already? Day two?!'"Melody is just one of many scoliosis sufferers to have benefited from the Scoliosis SOS Clinic's non-surgical treatment courses. To find out more, please visit the following links:SCOLIOSIS SOS WEBSITEscoliosissos.com/WHAT IS SCOLIOSIS?INTERVIEW WITH MELODY & LOUISScoliosis SOS is the UK's leading scoliosis clinic, offering effective non-surgical treatment courses for patients with scoliosis and other spinal conditions such as hyperkyphosis. The Scoliosis SOS Clinic is located on Mansell Street in London, but the Clinic's ScolioGold treatment courses have attracted patients from all over the world.Scoliosis SOS Clinic63 Mansell Street, LondonE1 8ANWebsite:Telephone: 0207 488 4428Clinic Founder: Erika Maude
European Economy Commissioner Pierre Moscovici. EFE
Brussels has postponed sanctions against Spain for its continuous deficit target misses until after the country holds general elections on June 26.
But that is where the good news ends.
On Wednesday, the European Commission (EC) also demanded budget cuts of over 8 billion between this year and the next.
The European executive wants Spain to bring down its deficit to 3.7% of GDP in 2016 and 2.5% in 2017. The Spanish deficit at the end of 2015 was 5.1% of economic output, far above its target. The country has the second-largest deficit in the entire EU.
A delayed decision
EC President Jean-Claude Juncker has defeated the voices that were asking for a strict application of fiscal regulations and immediate sanctions against Spain for overshooting its target again.
Instead, the EC will wait until after Spaniards go back to the polls following the inconclusive election of December 20. According to a EU source, a decision will be made in the first few days of July.
The Commission is asking for an ambitious but realistic effort
Pierre Moscovici, EU Economy Commissioner
This is neither the political nor the economic moment to take this measure [sanctions], said Economy Commissioner Pierre Moscovici on Wednesday.
The fine could be as steep as 2 billion, according to some European sources, although the Spanish government hopes that the final figure will be much lower, if not zero altogether.
Asked whether Spain has leeway to lower taxes, as acting prime minister Mariano Rajoy has promised to do, EC Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said that Spain can take whatever tax decisions it wants, as long as it meets the deficit [target].
In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Rajoy had said that if he wins the elections he will lower taxes again.
The fourth time
This is the fourth time since the Great Recession began that Brussels gives Spain an extra year to bring the deficit down.
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In exchange, it is asking for a new round of adjustments on top of the unpopular budget cuts that the Spanish government has already enacted.
The Commission is asking for an ambitious but realistic effort, said Moscovici, adding that the cuts will be made at a fast pace.
Brussels wants to see structural cuts worth 0.25% of GDP in 2016 and another 0.5% of GDP in 2017. The Commission also wants Madrid to crack down on regional governments, which are chiefly responsible for Spains steep deviation from deficit targets.
Meanwhile, the public debt has now exceeded 100% of GDP, a situation unseen since 1909.
Spain and Portugal
The remarks were part of the presentation of country-specific recommendations for the Spring 2016 European Economic Package. This set of measures are meant to guide member states actions over the next 12 to 18 months.
As regards Portugal and Spain, the Commission recommends to the Council to recommend a durable correction of the excessive deficit in 2016 and 2017 respectively, by taking the necessary structural measures and by using all windfall gains for deficit and debt reduction, says the EC in its recommendations.
English version by Susana Urra.
Nebraska-Based Medical Staffing Firm, Triage Staffing, Launches New Website Including New Features
Triage Staffing, a staffing agency for traveling medical professionals, recently launched a new website, designed to meet the needs of medical traveling professionals. The new site combines a streamlined job search, a responsive-first design and easy access to necessary forms and certifications.We want to have fun and foster an environment that encourages people to be creative and have a positive job experience. The new site, with its focus on travel opportunities and great advice for our Triage family, does just that, said John Maaske, co-founder at Triage.Released just in time for its debut during one of the busiest weeks in healthcare, National Nurses Week, the site is already seeing increases in traffic and praise from medical professionals across the United States. Triages commitment to attracting and retaining medical professionals could not have come at a better time, as a nursing shortage is expected nationwide as baby boomers age and the need for healthcare grows.According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Employment Projections 2014-2024 released in December 2015, registered nursing is listed among the top occupations in terms of job growth through 2024. Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds 62 percent of registered nurses over age 54 are considering retirement within the next three years.Triage will continue to gain more market share and be a force within the healthcare staffing industry. We have a proven growth track record; part of this is our commitment to staffing. Unlike many of our competitors, we have a diverse model which gives us tremendous stability in the marketplace. This diversity coupled with our training program and focus to hire the best healthcare professionals will enable Triage to gain more and more market share, said Maaske.New and existing features on the site include: a 30-second application form, resources page including: current medical jobs available, travelers career advice, health tips, specific fields available (rehab, nursing, radiology, laboratory), legal employment documents (I-9, W-4, Timecards, Hep B Immunization, etc), the Triage blog (updated on a weekly basis with tips, stats and advice for travelers of both general and specialty fields), search map for simple site navigation and a benefits page which includes all benefits Triage offers their travelers.About Triage Staffing: Triage Staffing has been serving traveling medical professionals for over a decade, broadening their reach to hundreds across the nation over the years. Their mission is to create a tight culture with their employees to be expressed through their patients. Their commitment to their employees continues by delivering great service to take care of each employee through every positive and negative assignment. Join the Triage family.Triage Staffing Inc13934 Gold CircleOmaha, NE 68144Presscontact:Maren HoganPress@Redbranchmedia.com
32 Channel Temperature Scanner Indicator by The Sensor Connection a division of Harold G. Schaevitz Industries LLC
http://thesensorconnection.com/instrumentation/meters-displays/digital-thermocouple-temperature-scanner
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMedia Contact: Chris Branstrom / 248-636-1515 / chrisb@thesensorconnection.comTechnical Contact: Neill Murphy / 248-636-1515 / neillm@thesensorconnection.com32 Channel Temperature Scanner Indicator by The Sensor Connection a division of Harold G. Schaevitz Industries LLCPMD-MXT series 32 Channel Temperature Scanner Indicator for Industrial ApplicationsTroy, Michigan, May 16, 2016 The Sensor Connection a division of Harold G. Schaevitz Industries LLC, has expanded its line of measurement and control instrumentation with the addition of the model PMD-MXT series of temperature scanner indicators. This 32 Channel microprocessor-based temperature scanner provides continuous monitoring of up to 32 channels of thermocouple or RTD sensors. The large 14 mm tall digit red LED display is easy to read, even at a distance. Rows of LED annunciators warn of specific channel alarm conditions. The scanner has 2 user-selectable HI/LO, HI/HI, or LO/LO alarm set points, configured through the front panel push buttons. During an alarm condition a front panel LED annunciator is enabled and an internal 2 Amp relay contact output is engaged. The scanner's display will auto cycle through all input channels at a user determined rate of 0.5 to 10 seconds per channel. Input: Up to (32) Thermocouple or RTD sensors Temperature units field selectable for C or F Auto or Manual scanning Adjustable Auto scan rate Limit Alarm trip points adjustable per channel Dual 2 Amp alarm relays Powered by 20 to 28 VDC Case Size only 6.3" x 3" x 7"Product Link:Image link:The Sensor Connection a division of Harold G. Schaevitz Industries LLC is an American company whose management has a combined experience of over 50 years in the sensor industry. We have a technically trained staff to help you select the ideal sensors for your application. Our core product offering includes Exhaust Gas Thermocouples (EGT) Probes, Thermocouples, RTDs, Linear Position sensors, Rotary Position sensors, Pressure sensors and switches. In addition to our standard products, we have capabilities to design and build custom products to suit your specific application. Major markets served include Motorsports, Marine, Heavy Vehicle, R&D Test labs, Power Generation, Military, and Industrial Manufacturing Assembly & Test.102 Commerce DrUnit 8Moorestown, NJ 08057
TypeSoft s.r.o. to Release EasyType iPhone Keyboard App: New App Brings Unique Features to Mobile Typing
EasyType keyboard app
Zilina, Slovakia: Software developer TypeSoft s.r.o. is set to release its first mobile application, EasyType, on Wednesday, May 18, 2016. The app will be available for free download only for iPhone through the iTunes App Store. EasyType is the first ever scrollable iPhone keyboard, aiming to make typing on the iPhone easier and faster.EasyType is different than any other iPhone keyboard on the market now because of several unique features, says TypeSoft founder and EasyType developer Rastislav Mirek. Scrolling is perhaps the simplest and most popular concept for mobile phones, however, EasyType is the first mobile keyboard to make use of it. The results are amazing, and our beta users love the capabilities. We did not just copy features of other iPhone keyboards, but instead found new ways to utilize familiar principles.EasyType also offers interchangeable themes for the keyboard, as well as customizable options for numeric screens and emojis. Additionally, easy swipe gestures allow users to type numbers and symbols without changing keyboard screens, and the cursor control makes selecting and editing text much faster, says Mirek. Our goal was to create a keyboard that will make mobile typing easier and more fun for average user, and I think weve accomplished that.Some of EasyTypes additional innovative features include:-Unique Scrollable layout: Quick access to emoji keyboard, letters, or numeric keypad by swiping left or right.-3D Typing: Force touch capabilities on iPhone 6S to type numbers and punctuation, delete last word and more.-Multi-Language Capabilities: Easily scroll between different language keyboards, with eleven languages now supported by EasyType.About TypeSoft s.r.o: TypeSoft was founded by Rastislav Mirek, who began work on EasyType in 2014 following Apples announcement of permissions for third party keyboard apps. Aiming to fulfill the need for a faster, smarter keyboard, EasyType became the first app developed by the company. Read more about EasyType and its features, or download the app at easytype.info.TypeSoft s.r.oAlexandra Rudnaya 23Zilina, Slovakia 01001Presscontact:Lydia Nicoll, EasyType Marketing Directorlnicoll@easytype.info+19178914580
Global PC Game Headsets Market Size, Growth and Forecast 2016 2020 Available In New Report
http://www.9dresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/pc-game-headsets-market-2016-global-industry-size.html
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Global PC Game Headsets 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 scrutinizes the PC Game Headsets market and gives an intricate examination of its applications. The report includes a cost evaluation analysis of products that are available in the worldwide PC Game Headsets market with regard to manufacturer profit margins. It helps figure out the primary driving forces of the PC Game Headsets market in significant end-use organizations around the world. It likewise constitutes a broad investigation of the restraints on the market, business sector structure, and the business pattern of the PC Game Headsets market. Meetings and interviews with leading market participants have been used to present primary information regarding the market.Read Complete Report with TOC @The report is characterized into numerous parts dealing with diverse aspects of the PC Game Headsets market. This research report inspects the present situation and development prognosis of the PC Game Headsets market around the globe during the forecasting horizon. To determine the market size, the report analyses revenue produced in the PC Game Headsets market worldwide alongside demonstrating the segmentation of the prime producers.Trusted current state analysis tools, such as Porters five forces analysis and SWOT analysis are employed in the report to assess the PC Game Headsets market data to deploy a complete overview of the market. Furthermore, this report gives a complete review of the magnitude and application scope of the PC Game Headsets market around the world. A detailed overview of the purchasing criteria and difficulties confronted in the PC Game Headsets business sector is also elaborated in this report.Inquiry for buying report @The market share evaluation of the primary players of the PC Game Headsets market given in the report offers a thorough evaluation of the market shares of the companies profiled in this report. The report fuses an analysis of the company profiles as well as the industry patterns for PC Game Headsets market used transversely over diverse end-use businesses.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
Global Mobile Wifi Industry 2016 Overview by Technology, Market Developments, Trends, Analysis(HUAWEI, D-link) & Growth Parameters
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This research report focusing on the global Mobile Wifi market has been compiled using primary and secondary research methodologies. For a detailed analysis of the market, the research report uses Porters five forces analysis to point out the bargaining power of customers, the bargaining power of suppliers, the threat of substitute products or services, the threat of new entrants, and the threat of established rivals. This analysis addresses a range of problems and issues that might be present in the global Mobile Wifi market to help the businesses and readers formulate strategic moves to maximize their profits.The report also assesses the feasibility of the new investments that are likely to flow into the market, breathing life into several projects in the coming years.The investigative approach taken by this report provides an exclusive insight into the market segmentation. The global Mobile Wifi market has been segmented on the basis of application, service, technology, product, and geography.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The segmentation allows the readers to understand the factors that are likely to drive these segments and the ones that will hamper the growth of certain segments in a given geographical location. The report has also factored in the economic indicators, important market highlights, market size, and forecast.The research report dedicates a special chapter to the competitive landscape of the global Mobile Wifi market. It delves into the nitty-gritties of the financial overview, investment outlook, research and development activities, business and marketing strategies, branding ideas, and expansion plans of the important players of in the global Mobile Wifi market. This chapter also provides clarity on matters of management styles of these companies and the changes that market enthusiasts need to expect in the foreseeable future.Browse Complete Report with TOC @QYresearchreports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.QYResearchReports1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-618-1030Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Global Yoga Clothes Market Professional Survey Report Industry Report 2016
Global QY Research
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The recently published report titled Global Yoga Clothes Market Professional Survey Report Industry 2016 Market Research Report is an in depth study providing complete analysis of the industry for the period 2016 2021. It provides complete overview of Global Yoga Clothes Market Professional Survey Report market considering all the major industry trends, market dynamics and competitive scenario.The Global Yoga Clothes Market Professional Survey Report Industry Report 2016 is an in depth study analyzing the current state of the Global Yoga Clothes Market Professional Survey Report market. It provides brief overview of the market focusing on definitions, market segmentation, end-use applications and industry chain analysis. The study on Global Yoga Clothes Market Professional Survey Report market provides analysis of market covering the industry trends, recent developments in the market and competitive landscape. Competitive analysis includes competitive information of leading players in market, their company profiles, product portfolio, capacity, production, and company financials. In addition, report also provides upstream raw material analysis and downstream demand analysis along with the key development trends and sales channel analysis. Research study on Global Yoga Clothes Market Professional Survey Report market also discusses the opportunity areas for investors.View Full Report With Complete TOC, List Of Figure and Table:With 153 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.8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Yoga?Clothes8.1 lululemon?8.1.1 Company Profile8.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.1.3 lululemon? 2015 Yoga?Clothes Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.1.4 lululemon? 2015 Yoga?Clothes Business Region Distribution Analysis8.2 GAP8.2.1 Company Profile8.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.2.3 GAP 2015 Yoga?Clothes Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.2.4 GAP 2015 Yoga?Clothes Business Region Distribution Analysis8.3 Nancy Rose Performance8.3.1 Company Profile8.3.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.3.3 Nancy Rose Performance 2015 Yoga?Clothes Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.3.4 Nancy Rose Performance 2015 Yoga?Clothes Business Region Distribution Analysis8.4 sweaty betty8.4.1 Company Profile8.4.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.4.3 sweaty betty 2015 Yoga?Clothes Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.4.4 sweaty betty 2015 Yoga?Clothes Business Region Distribution Analysis8.5 NIKE8.5.1 Company Profile8.5.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.5.3 NIKE 2015 Yoga?Clothes Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.5.4 NIKE 2015 Yoga?Clothes Business Region Distribution Analysis8.6 Adidas8.6.1 Company Profile8.6.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.6.3 Adidas 2015 Yoga?Clothes Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.6.4 Adidas 2015 Yoga?Clothes Business Region Distribution Analysis8.7 Nordstrom?8.7.1 Company Profile8.7.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.7.3 Nordstrom? 2015 Yoga?Clothes Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.7.4 Nordstrom? 2015 Yoga?Clothes Business Region Distribution Analysis8.8 Forever218.8.1 Company Profile8.8.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.8.3 Forever21 2015 Yoga?Clothes Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.8.4 Forever21 2015 Yoga?Clothes Business Region Distribution Analysis8.9 Mika Yoga Wear8.9.1 Company Profile8.9.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.9.3 Mika Yoga Wear 2015 Yoga?Clothes Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.9.4 Mika Yoga Wear 2015 Yoga?Clothes Business Region Distribution Analysis8.10 American Apparel8.10.1 Company Profile8.10.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.10.3 American Apparel 2015 Yoga?Clothes Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.10.4 American Apparel 2015 Yoga?Clothes Business Region Distribution Analysis8.11 EASYOGA?8.11.1 Company Profile8.11.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.11.3 EASYOGA? 2015 Yoga?Clothes Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.11.4 EASYOGA? 2015 Yoga?Clothes Business Region Distribution Analysis8.12 Beijing Pier8.12.1 Company Profile8.12.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.12.3 Beijing Pier 2015 Yoga?Clothes Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.12.4 Beijing Pier 2015 Yoga?Clothes Business Region Distribution Analysis8.13 Giggle Monkeys8.13.1 Company Profile8.13.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.13.3 Giggle Monkeys 2015 Yoga?Clothes Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.13.4 Giggle Monkeys 2015 Yoga?Clothes Business Region Distribution Analysis8.14 Yoga Smoga8.14.1 Company Profile8.14.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.14.3 Yoga Smoga 2015 Yoga?Clothes Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.14.4 Yoga Smoga 2015 Yoga?Clothes Business Region Distribution Analysis8.15 Anjali?8.15.1 Company Profile8.15.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.15.3 Anjali? 2015 Yoga?Clothes Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.15.4 Anjali? 2015 Yoga?Clothes Business Region Distribution Analysis8.16 Earth Yoga8.16.1 Company Profile8.16.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.16.3 Earth Yoga 2015 Yoga?Clothes Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.16.4 Earth Yoga 2015 Yoga?Clothes Business Region Distribution Analysis8.17 prAna?8.17.1 Company Profile8.17.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.17.3 prAna? 2015 Yoga?Clothes Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.17.4 prAna? 2015 Yoga?Clothes Business Region Distribution Analysis8.18 Shakti Activewear8.18.1 Company Profile8.18.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.18.3 Shakti Activewear 2015 Yoga?Clothes Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.18.4 Shakti Activewear 2015 Yoga?Clothes Business Region Distribution AnalysisDownload Sample this Report:Global QY Research is the one spot destination for all your research needs. Global QY Research holds the repository of quality research reports from numerous publishers across the globe. Our inventory of research reports caters to various industry verticals including Healthcare, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Technology and Media, Chemicals, Materials, Energy, Heavy Industry, etc. With the complete information about the publishers and the industries they cater to for developing market research reports, we help our clients in making purchase decision by understanding their requirements and suggesting best possible collection matching their needs.Unit1, 26 Cleveland Road, South Woodford, London, E182AN, United KingdomEmail: sales@globalqyresearch.com
Fiber-reinforced concrete Latest trends in Civil Engg, construction and Real Estate Industry: Future trends and Forecasts by 2023. Fibers are basically used in concrete for control the crack due to reduction of plastic and to ventilation shrinkage Concrete fiber is reinforcement materials which is surpass in order to their mechanical, chemical and physical properties such as high stability, high heat resistance and massive physical durability. These materials are extremely specific in order to their distinctive mechanical, optical, environmental and chemical properties. The concrete fibers market in APAC region is one of the fastest-growing markets and is expected to continue growth during the forecast period. APAC is held more than forty percent of the total market share in terms of revenue in 2014, which was mainly include the country such as Japan, China and India.
Concrete fiber market is expected to grow during the forecast period. The rise in trend of urbanization and improving construction industry is the major driving factor of this market. In addition, increasing new market player of this industry are try to cater this market. These are the factor is boost the market and is expected to see robust growth during the forecast period. Further addition, increasing demand of basalt fiber, basalt fibers are produced from basalt rocks, which are melted at 1400 C. this factor also boosting the concrete fiber market. Wide range of industry usage of concrete fiber such as road construction, mining application, industrial and others also helps to boost the concrete fiber market. However in the concrete fiber industry, cost of this product is quite high therefore the cost reduction with new technology concept does not work here so this factor acting as a restraint of this market. In addition, a new innovation of this market is ready mix concrete this concrete composite with the aggregates, cement, water, and admixtures. For instance, this new concrete fiber, ready mix concrete is essentially used in mining sector, road construction sector, industrial and others.
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The concrete fiber market is segmented in four categories: by product, by material, by end use and by region. By product the market can be divided into Monofilament Concrete Fibers and Fibrillated Concrete fibers. In terms of materials the market can be segregated into synthetic fibers, basalt fibers, glass fibers, steel fibers, natural fibers and others. In terms of end use, the market can be divided into mining, industrial, road industry, construction and others.
By geography, the market is divided in four major regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the world. North America and Europe are the early adopters of technology and hence will occupy majority of the market share. However, Asia Pacific region is expected to see faster growth during the forecast period due to the presence of developing nations such as India and China. This growth is attributed to the availability of skilled workforce required to concrete fiber market.
Some of the key players participating in the concrete fiber market are The Euclid Chemical Company, Fibercon International Inc., Nycon Corporation, ABC Polymer Industries, Cemex, W. R. Grace & Co., Bekaert SA, SIKA AG, Propex Global and BASF SE among others.
This research report analyzes this market on the basis of its market segments, major geographies, and current market trends. Geographies analyzed under this research report include
North America
Asia Pacific
Europe
Middle East and Africa
Latin America
This report provides comprehensive analysis of
Market growth drivers
Factors limiting market growth
Current market trends
Market structure
Market projections for upcoming years
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Transparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We are privileged with highly experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who 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.
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Water Trading : does it going to hamper demand for clean water around the world?
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The research report on the global water trading market offers accurate and detailed answers to questions raised by current market statistics. The report incorporates a complete study of the water trading market with respect to its various drivers and restraints. It also discusses the role of leading countries in water trading projects such as Australia, Chile, the U.S., and the U.K. Market trends are fully explored, providing reliable predictions for the near and distant future. An explanation of the industrys overall growth rate is put forth using various market growth maps and overall developments in technology.Porters Five Force Analysis provides a thorough coverage of the top players in the global water trading market, while a SWOT analysis brings out its prominent aspects. An investigative value chain assessment and a unique examination of the micro and macro factors of the market provide the reader a useful perspective and valuable insights regarding player sustainability.OverviewThe research report on the global water trading market reveals all aspects connected to the developments in it. Water trading refers to the voluntary transfer of a prescribed amount of water between the buyer and the seller. This is done so that the waters purchaser can satisfy his end demand. Water trading provides a unique and responsive solution to the various verticals of end users in the global water trading market, which essentially refers to everyone who needs water. It is thus an answer for all the various types of users, urban as well as agricultural. It provides equivalent prices and water allocations with respect to the demand. According to Forbes, the global water trading market currently contains numerous projects that have so far conducted a total of more than 100 transactions in water trading, amounting to more than US$10 trillion. Some of the most prominent projects in the global water trading market include Payments for Watershed Services, Water Quality Trading, Herediam, Dar es Salaam, and Saltillo. Branches of the global water trading market include ground water mitigation and flow restoration projects.Interpret a Competitive outlook Analysis Report with free PDF Brochure:The primary growth factor for the global water trading market is the increasingly high demand for clean water around the world. A growing population needs larger volumes of water to sustain itself and its economic development. This has put increasing amounts of pressure on the global water trading market to form a supply chain that can be equal to the demand. One of the biggest disadvantages brought forth by water trading is the restriction and closure of public access to clean and healthy water in multiple locations.The major restraining factor in the global water trading market is the high infrastructure cost, which includes water transportation from seller to buyer. Other issues faced by the market include water rights, legal hassles, and social and political boundaries.Companies mentionedThe key companies described in the research report include Severn Trent, Murray Irrigation, Calgon Carbon, Aqua America, Integra Water Services, and Ameron.Major geographies analyzed under this research report are:EuropeNorth AmericaAsia-PacificRest of the WorldThis report gives you access to decisive data such as:Market growth driversFactors limiting market growthCurrent market trendsMarket structureMarket projections for the coming yearsAbout UsTransparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We are privileged with highly experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who 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.ContactMr. Sudip.S90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
For effective app hire Android app developer from Mobisoft Infotech
To understand how to create Android app that enables Google to rank deep links within the app and serves exceptional points of interest over web by just indexing of different applications, hire Android app developers, a team of expertise from Mobisoft Infotech.18 March, 2016: The app visibility is crucial on the web as well as on Google Play, this indeed, determines the success of your app. Mobisoft has a team of Android app developers with extensive years of experience who strive to contribute in a success of Android app development for its customers.A consolidate team of developing, designing and marketing works together to serve you best at your endeavor. Besides the planning of effective UX and UI of the Android application, there are certain level commitments of the Android app developers, which are key in the wake of development and advent in the technological driven world .Android App Indexing: Android application developers need to empower the deep link indexing of the application content from native code for Android app indexing. Therefore, for that, your engineers need to tag codes to your Android app that will build up deep links.We can tag URL, similarly like web page, to the application screen and that URL plans. Google can file the application screens, through URL plan, similarly as accomplishing for web pages and bring the more profound content of apps on top searches of Google Play store.Android has a particular native system and that requires particular sorts of code or labels to manage the indexing and for backing up the deep linking. Hence, for this level of app success hire Android app developer from Mobisoft who would help you coding your app well and boost your app marketing at the same time.Google Search Consoles: We can also add robot texts to app, similarly as we tag to web pages, to advise Google bots to index or no-index it. Likewise, we can configure Google Search Consoles or web master tools to keep a record of activities of your app by adding on a tracking code particulars to mobiles. The moment you configure tracking code in your Android application and empower Google analytics, you will have uncommon points of interest of observing app activities and run n numbers of campaigns utilizing it with mobile ad campaign of Google.Mobisoft Infotech is a 6 year old organization with 200+ representatives who has an extensive years of experience. It is a mobile, cloud and web solution company which assist your startups and established companies to discover mobility. It has it back end team in Pune, India which is capable in determining mobility solutions with most recent innovations and technologies.Contact:Ritesh PatilMobisoft Infotech1811 Bering Dr, Suite 200,77057HoustonPhone 18555722777socialmedia@mobisoftinfotech.com
Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) Dry Storage Casks most viable method of storing high level nuclear waste.
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A surge of shutdowns may be observed in the future for most of the ageing nuclear reactors in the world. These reactors which have supplied power to millions of homes in the past have always faced hurdles in terms of public acceptance. With most nuclear plant owners unwilling to dish out extra millions for renovation of their old plants, gradual shutdowns are imminent. With the Fukishima disaster in Japan involving an old boiling water reactor built in the 70s, the public sentiment towards the old nuclear plants is likely to deteriorate. The major issue closely linked with decommissioning these old nuclear power plants is the efficient and safe disposal of nuclear waste. Decommissioning costs of nuclear plants are extremely high, going up to nearly a billion dollars for larger plants. Efficient storage of nuclear waste will occupy a majority portion of these costs. Radioactive half life of wastes ranges up to 16 million years while they remain hazardous for much longer. Storage of such nuclear spent fuel (NSF) will ultimately spark the demand for dry storage casks.View exclusive Global strategic Business report :Dry storage casks are generally the most viable method of storing high level nuclear waste which has been cooled down to manageable levels. Cooling of spent fuel requires over a year and sometimes nearly 8 years bringing down to manageable temperatures. Concrete or steel are the major materials used for making these casks, which are able to withstand the harshest of temperature and weather conditions without damage. Not only do inert gases surround and insulate the spent fuel rods in these containers, concrete layers are also present to provide additional radiation shielding to waste handling personnel.These NSF dry storage casks should be transportable as well, a feature which is incorporated into them during manufacturing. With a majority of the old nuclear power reactors going for decommissioning, thus approaching their wet pool storage limit for NSF, dry cask demand is likely to increase significantly in the future.The market for these NSF dry cask storages is likely to be driven by certain countries. Japan with its decision to decommission existing nuclear reactors and move towards a renewable oriented generation mix can be a potential market. While other countries have not decided yet to walk on Japans path, long lasting effects of the Fukishima disaster are imminent. Decommissioning of old reactors might be the general public and regulatory sentiment in many countries, to be replaced by newer and more efficient power plants. A major requirement of such dry storage casks may be observed from the North American region, with both the U.S. and Canada deciding to shut down and replace a number of their old reactors.In the European market, Germany and Russia are likely to be strong demand drivers for such dry storage casks. Strong R&D is likely to be required by the manufacturers of these casks to ensure leak free storage of such wastes in nuclear storage repositories. As the requirement for newer and safer repositories increase to dispose of the nuclear wastes, quality improvements in the casks will become necessary. Major emerging markets are likely to be observed in the North American and Asia Pacific regions. Some of the market players involved in the business of manufacturing SNF dry storage casks are Skoda JS A.S., NAC International, Holtec International and Areva among others.About UsTransparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We are privileged with highly experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who 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.ContactMr. Sudip.S90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Euronews: An Armenian perspective of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict (video)
Euronews has presented the Armenian and Azerbaijani views on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. The European Friends of Armenia presents the Armenian perspective. It is more than 20 years since the cease-fire agreement between Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan and Armenia. Yet, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is still simmering in the South Caucasus, disrupting the lives of thousands of people. This landlocked mountainous region is still subject to an unresolved dispute between its ethnic Armenian population and its former Soviet colonial master Azerbaijan. Historical cultural monuments thousands of years old trace the Armenian heritage of this region. At the early years of the Soviet regime the region of Nagorno-Karabakh was annexed to Azerbaijan as an autonomous region (oblast) upon Stalins arbitrary decision, disregarding the will of the people of Karabakh and its history. Nagorno-Karabakh initiated its secession from Azerbaijan through the adoption of Declaration of Independence on September 2, 1991. This act took place in full conformity with all the norms and principles of international law and the Soviet constitutional framework of that time, that granted oblasts the right to follow that path in a legally binding manner. On December 10, 1991 the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh held its own referendum: 82.2% of all voters participated and 99% voted for independence. Thus, Nagorno-Karabakh got its independence in the same vein as Azerbaijan and all other former Soviet Republics. The people of Nagorno-Karabakh want to live in peace and exercise their right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they want to freely determine their political status and pursue their development. Azerbaijan opposes that independence and wants to turn back the clock of history. Nevertheless, the only viable option for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is to let its people live independently, in safety and dignity. Nagorno-Karabakh itself is one of the most secure and stable regions in Europe. Despite the ongoing conflict and dire living conditions imposed by Azerbaijan, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh have succeeded in state-building and development: they established all the necessary elements of the State as required under the 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, such as territory, population, government, and capacity to enter into legal relations. The people of Nagorno-Karabakh organise their political life through elections, democratic institutions, a well-established rule of law system and a vivid civil society. Six parliamentary and five presidential elections have been conducted that were described by international observers as transparent, competitive, fair and in line with international standards. Well-established and recognized international organizations such as Freedom House acknowledged that democratic governance in Nagorno-Karabakh has been much better established than in Azerbaijan, which suffers and exports high levels of corruption due to its ruling elite. 20 years of negotiations held by the leaderships of Armenia and Azerbaijan with mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by the U.S., France and Russia, demonstrated that the irreconcilable positions of the parties and that no amount of additional talks would overcome the impasse. Thus, independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic should be recognized in order to provide strong guarantees for the security of its people. They fully deserved such recognition. Azerbaijan itself should participate in that process, but constructively and not just to block it. The democratic Nagorno-Karabakh Republic deserved it much more than a fully-fledged UN,OSCE and Council of Europe member Azerbaijan that routinely violates all norms and principles of those organizations. Indeed, to make such a decision on Karabakh would be difficult and hard first and foremost for the Azerbaijani elite. However, it will not be harder for Azerbaijan than it was, to name just a one instance of secession, for such a staunch French patriot as President de Gaulle, who recognized the independence of Algeria. This editorial was written by the European friends of Armenia to offer one view on the situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Euronews does not endorse its content. Azerbaijani perspective is available here
Bio-based Polyester Coatings - Huge success with emerging NextGen biodegradable technology in paint and coatings 2020.
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Polyester coatings are also called as oil-free alkyds coatings and used can be used as substitute for alkyd resins. These are most widely used coatings due to low cost, high acceptance and versatility. Polyester coatings can be tailored with additives for specific end-use applications. These offers high flexibility, hardness, chemical resistance and high strength. The applications of polyester coatings include construction, automotive, OEM coatings, infrastructure, aviation, industrial coatings and packaging.Growing demand for polyester coatings from construction industry is expected to drive the market growth. Demand for construction is due to growing population and rising disposable income of middle class. Owing to rising income in developing countries people are going for second home plans as investment option that is driving the construction industry. Further increasing investment in infrastructure building is expected to drive the polyester market. Governments bodies are investing heavily in improving overall infrastructure of own countries. These infrastructure projects include domestic as well as industrial and transportation infrastructure. In addition demand from OEM coating is expected to boost the market for polyester coatings.Download Free exclusive Sample of this report:OEM coatings include coil coatings, paper & paperboard coatings, powder coatings, radiation cured coatings, wood furniture & composition board finishing, appliances coatings. The demand for OEM coatings is rising with changing lifestyle and improving per capita income across the globe. Rising demand from special purpose customized coating is expected to boost the polyester coatings market growth. Special purpose coatings include marine coatings, industrial maintenance, aerosol coatings, automotive coatings, wind energy and aerospace coatings.However, volatile raw materials and environmental regulations are expected to inhibit the market growth for polyester coatings market. Polyester coatings are manufactured from ethylene which is a petroleum derivative and is subjected to crude oil price volatility. Additionally, polyester coatings are required to have solvents for solubility and application on the surface. These solvents are environmentally hazardous and pose threat to human health as well. Therefore, environmental regulations by governments bodies are expected to hamper the polyester paintings market growth.Customized coatings for specific applications and bio-based polyester coatings are expected to provide opportunities for the players in this market. Bio-based polyester coatings are manufactured from renewable raw materials and are biodegradable. Further, waterborne polyester coating is expected to be new opportunity, as they are environment friendly as compared to solvent based coatings.Asia Pacific was largest market for polyester coatings in terms of consumption with China contributing highest to the demand. Few multi-functional producers of coatings and resins have established their manufacturing plants in China due to high demand. Construction industry and hybrid coatings are expected to drive the polyester coatings market in this region. Demand from Japan has declined significantly in last few years due to high performance, high cost alternatives available in this region. Due to enacted legislation in some part of North America and Europe, the demand for polyester coatings has declined. Players are developing new products those meet requirements of the regulations in these regions. Demand for waterborne polyester coatings is gaining momentum in this region due to low to no solvents. Market for polyester coatings in Europe is experiencing very slow growth rate due to strict environmental regulations.Global polyesters coatings market is highly fragmented with few major international companies dominating the market. Some of the major players in the polyester coatings market are AGC Chemicals, The Dow Chemical Company, BASF SE, Huntsman Corporation, Du Pont, 3M Company, Momentive Chemicals among others.About UsTransparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We are privileged with highly experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who 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.ContactMr. Sudip.S90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Expected to create more than 100,000 new jobs, the Victorian government has unveiled plans in the 2015 state budget to commit $22 billion towards public infrastructure over the next four years. More than $1.5 billion of this funding is expected be dedicated towards the development of the Melbourne Metro Rail Project, entailing the construction of two nine-kilometre tunnels underneath Melbourne CBD, as well as five new railway stations. The Melbourne
If you were alive on Sunday, May 18, 1980, you probably remember where you were and what you were doing when you heard that Mount St. Helens had erupted. The eruption killed 57 people, caused billions of dollars' worth of damage, closed highways and airports, and took 1,300 feet off the Washington volcano's elevation.
Now Steve Olson, a Seattle-based writer and the author of "Mapping Human History," has published "Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens," in which he lays out the economic, historic and cultural forces that influenced the fates of those near the mountain that day. W.W. Norton & Company will release the book March 7.
Steve Olson is an award-winning science writer.
Olson will visit Portland to read from his book at 7:30 p.m. March 9 at Powell's City of Books, 1005 W. Burnside St. Here is an excerpt.
***
"Eruption" has received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews.
Book critic Michael Upchurch interviews author Steve Olson and reviews "Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens.
Right after lunchtime on Thursday (Editor's note: March 27, 1980), people near Mount St. Helens heard a loud bang from the cloud-covered volcano. A few hours later, a reporter from a Portland radio station was flying over the mountain when the clouds suddenly parted and revealed a plume of steam and ash rising from the mountain's summit. "There is no question at all," he radioed to his listeners. "Volcanic activity has begun. You can see smoke and ash pouring from the top of the mountain, especially the north side of the mountain." A blackened crater 250 feet across had opened on the top of the mountain and was showering ash on the mountain's northeast side. Officials from the Washington Department of Emergency Services told everyone within fifteen miles of the volcano that they should leave the area.
The area around Mount St. Helens is not heavily populated--at least not at the end of March, when the lakes surrounding the mountain are still frozen and the ridgelines remain covered by snow. All around the volcano, narrow valleys, steep hillsides, and dense forests have discouraged human settlement. To the northwest, the nearest town is Toutle, twenty-eight miles away. (The name is from a band of Native Americans who lived in the area before the arrival of American settlers.) To the southwest, the nearest towns are Cougar and Yale, which serve mostly to provision people working, camping, fishing, and hunting in the nearby forests. East of the volcano the country is even more wild and is mostly included within the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
But the area around Mount St. Helens was not devoid of people when the volcano began shaking. Every weekday, hundreds of loggers employed by the Weyerhaeuser Company were working in the woods around the mountain. Weyerhaeuser owned most of the land between Mount St. Helen and Interstate 5, thirty-five miles to the west, and for the previous eight decades it had been logging that land hard. Most of the original forests were gone, replaced by muddy clearcuts and even stands of hand-planted trees. But right around Mount St. Helens some of the old-growth forests still stood--gigantic trees 10 or more feet across and more than 250 feet tall, monsters that shook the ground so hard when they fell that loggers nearby could barely remain standing. In the spring of 1980, Weyerhaeuser was chopping down its last remaining stands of these trees. To the west and northwest of the volcano, the woods were filled with logging roads and yarding towers.
When the volcano erupted Thursday afternoon, Weyerhaeuser evacuated three hundred of its employees from the area. For many loggers, it was a chance to retreat to their favorite bars in Toledo, Vader, and Castle Rock an hour or two early. At the Hill Billy Inn, the girlfriend of a logger was quoted in the Portland Oregonian saying, "The mountain is blowing, and this tavern is going." But their time off was brief--as one company official scoffed, "There's no concern of any immediate danger at all." By the next morning, they were all back at work.
Thursday morning, a television station in Seattle had offered (volcanologist) Steve Malone a helicopter ride to the volcano in exchange for an interview. Malone was too busy, so he asked (fellow volcanologist David) Johnston if he wanted to go. Johnston was so nervous about public speaking that he once hyperventilated and passed out while giving a scientific talk, but this offer was too good to turn down. He drove to the helicopter pad, shook hands with the journalists, and took off.
The helicopter carrying Johnston and the reporters landed in the Timberline parking lot on the north flank of the volcano. Timberline was the end of the road to Mount St. Helens--a broad paved area just above the volcano's highest grove of trees for drivers who wanted to get as close to the summit as possible. From the parking lot, nothing but glaciers and snowfields stood between the reporters clustered around Johnston and the mountain's peak. The afternoon was bright but cold. Wind-driven snow needled their faces.
"Magma is rising," he told the assembled reporters in the parking lot beneath Mount St. Helens. "It looks like there's a very good chance there will be an eruption. If there is an explosion, it is possible that very, very hot incandescent debris could come down on all sides." To the reporters filming Johnston and taking down notes, the incongruity of what he was saying was obvious. He was talking about all of them dying in a devastating eruption. Yet he was obviously excited to be so close to an active volcano.
Excerpt from "Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens" by Steve Olson. Copyright (c) 2016 by Steve Olson. With permission of the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
John Ludlow is confident that he still can win the Clackamas County chairman seat for another term, despite being 10 percentage points lower than fellow board member Jim Bernard, with partial votes counted.
Bernard and Ludlow are headed for a runoff in November - a sign of how split county voters are after four years of controversy and strained ties with governments both in the county and out.
Bernard, a county commissioner, is leading with just over 37 percent of the vote. Ludlow, the incumbent, has 27.7 percent. Paul Savas, a commissioner, and Oregon City Mayor Dan Holladay follow with 21.4 percent and 13.3 percent, respectively.
Ludlow plans on picking up the votes for Savas and Holladay to boost his numbers in the general election.
Ludlow and Bernard are often at the two ends of Clackamas County issues. Bernard is unabashedly pro-light rail while Ludlow was elected to the board in 2012 on a platform aimed at defeating TriMet's Orange Line.
Bernard touts his Democratic credentials, and said his lead is an indication that Clackamas County voters are not as concerned with "Stop Portland Creep" slogans as they were in 2012.
"We have a lot more Democrats now in Clackamas County, so it has changed," Bernard said. "Of course the first time I won was 2008 in the presidential election and I think this is a good opportunity for me to win in 2016."
Ludlow, though, says the two are closer than party affiliation might indicate.
"At one time, we counted only six things in three years for things we disagree about," Ludlow said. "So it might be tough for people to choose on the comparison between the two people."
Tootie Smith, Ludlow's 2012 running mate, will have to fend off challenger Ken Humberston, a relative newcomer to Clackamas County politics, in November. Humberston was appointed and then re-elected to the Clackamas River Water board after it lost nearly its entire leadership.
Smith is leading with 45.9 percent of the vote, but didn't clear the 50 percent bar to win outright. Humberston has 29.5 percent of the vote, just ahead of a third candidate, Bill King
Martha Schrader won her race with Steve Bates by nearly 20 percentage points, with partial returns counted. Schrader, who also won outright in the 2012 primary, has served several terms on the county board, off and on, and makes up the Democratic minority with Bernard. She can often be a swing vote, and tries to mediate between other commissioners.
Bates, who earned 35 percent of the vote with partial returns counted, has previously run for positions on the county board and lost. The Boring leader advocates seceding from Metro.
-- Molly Harbarger
503-294-5923
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Corbett Middle School
A 2013 picture of Corbett Middle School, which will be replaced if the district's 2016 bond measure passes. (Brent Wojahn/The Oregonian)
(Brent Wojahn)
Voters have said no to Corbett, Centennial and Molalla River school district bonds, according to partial returns.
In Corbett, about 54 percent of voters rejected an $11.9 million bond measure.
Fifty-seven percent of Centennial voters said no to the district's $85 million bond.
The Molalla River School District's $73.4 million bond failed with about 55 percent of votes going against the measure.
Tuesday's election decided whether or not to support school bonds at 21 Oregon districts. For the first time, many districts whose bonds were approved will receive additional funds from the state in the form of a matching grant.
Centennial, Molalla and Corbett each would have received an additional grant from the state had their respective bonds been approved. Superintendents at each district did not immediately return requests seeking further comment on Tuesday night.
Here's more on the bonds and results for three districts in the Portland metro area:
Centennial School District
Voters have shot down the Centennial School District's $85 million bond with about 57 percent voting no, according to partial returns. About 43 percent voted in favor of the measure. If approved, the district would have also received a $7.1 million grant from the state.
The east Multnomah County school district sought funding for safety and security upgrades and building repairs at the district's 10 schools, among other projects.
The majority of the bond -- $72.9 million -- would have been allocated for a new middle school building, district spokesperson Carol Fenstermacher said. The middle school would be built on vacant property at Southeast 172nd Avenue and SE Foster Road in Gresham that the district purchased in 2006 and 2008.
Centennial is one of few districts in the Portland metro area that only has seventh- and eighth-grade students attending middle school, Fenstermacher said. With the new school, sixth- through eighth-grade students would have attended middle school, relieving crowding at current elementary schools and Centennial Middle School.
A file photo of Centennial Middle School. If the district's bond passes, another middle school would be built to help relieve crowding. Currently only students in grades 7-8 attend middle school. (Allison Milligan/The Oregonian)
The district hoped to have the new middle school project ready for students by fall 2018 at the earliest, Fenstermacher said.
The bond also would have covered new 5,000-square-foot multipurpose rooms at Lynch Meadows, Lynch Wood, Lynch View and Parklane elementary schools and Centennial Park School, Fenstermacher said
"Whatever the schools need, this would just give them some added room," she said. "It would also open up some space for community use."
The tax rate for the bond was estimated at $1.31 per $1,000 of assessed property value per year, or about $217 for a home assessed at $166,000.
Molalla River School District
Voters have said no to the Molalla River School District's $73.4 million bond, according to partial returns. Forty-six percent of voters supported the measure, and 55 percent voted against it. If approved, the measure would have been coupled with a $4 million grant from the state.
The district's bond proposal followed a long process to gauge what the community saw as priorities for the the district, Superintendent Tony Mann said. Improving facilities came out as a top priority.
The Molalla River district's bond would have funded safety and security efforts, energy efficiency and building upgrades, among other projects, according to the ballot measure filing.
Most of the bond would have covered the construction of a new elementary school and a new middle school.
The new elementary school would have helped the district accommodate enrollment growth, Mann said. The $25 million project would have been built on the site of Molalla River Middle School. The new elementary school would have incorporated parts of the current middle school, keeping the gym and a newer wing of classrooms intact.
"This is a community that is projected to grow notably in the coming decade," Mann said. "You have to position schools to be ready."
The new elementary school would have potentially opened to students by fall 2020.
The new middle school, a $46 million project, would have been built next to Molalla High School on district-owned property, Mann said. Many of the district's buildings are more than 50 years old, and the middle school especially is showing its age, Mann said.
Having a central location for all secondary students would have helped the district cut about $100,000 in a year in transportation costs, Mann said. The new middle school would have been ready for students in summer 2019.
In addition, about $1 million of the bond would have gone toward work at Mulino Elementary to enclose the outdoor campus, Mann said.
The tax rate for the bond was estimated at $1.99 per $1,000 of assessed value, or $398 a year for a property assessed at $200,000.
Corbett School District
Voters have again rejected the Corbett School District's bond proposal.
The $11.9 million bond measure received 611 yes votes, making up about 46 percent of total votes, according to partial returns. The bond received 713 no votes, about 54 percent of the vote.
The bond would have been matched by a $4 million state grant. The 2016 measure marked the district's fourth attempt in recent years to get a bond approved by voters.
Bond proceeds would have been used to replace the district's current middle school building among other projects, according to the measure statement.
The project to replace the middle school building is estimated to cost $8 million to $10 million, said Superintendent Randy Trani. The current middle school, built in the 1920s, is at risk of collapsing in an earthquake, he said.
The new building could have been ready for students next year, Trani said. The district hadn't determined an exact purpose for the new building.
The bond money would also have address seismic and fire safety issues as well as concerns about possible Americans with Disabilities Act and Title IX violations at district schools. For example, the bond would have covered adding fire sprinkler systems at schools and making the girls and boys locker rooms more equitable, Trani said. The bond would have added railings, ramps, elevators and more to improve accessibility.
The tax rate for the bond was estimated at $1.78 per $1,000 assessed value, or $178 a year for a property assessed at $100,000.
The district's bond measures have faced some objection from community members. Victoria Purvine, a former board member and member of the Corbett Save Our Schools group, said community members worried that a new and larger building won't be sustainable if out of district students don't continue coming to Corbett. About 55 percent of the district's total 1,253 students live within Corbett's boundaries, the district said last fall.
The latest bond wouldn't have added square footage to district buildings, Trani said.
"We're not going to add any more space than the Corbett School District has had," he said.
-- Laura Frazier
lfrazier@oregonian.com
503-294-4035
@frazier_laura
Multnomah County Elections office busy ballot counting
Multnomah County Elections workers look at a ballot in this file photo. (Jamie Francis/The Oregonian)
(The Oregonian)
Some metro-area school districts are now looking at next steps after voters shot down multiple bond measures on Tuesday night.
In total, 21 Oregon districts asked voters to approve bond measures. For the first time, many districts had the opportunity to get a matching grant from the state, if their bonds passed.
Superintendent Sam Breyer said he was "cautiously optimistic" that the bond would pass heading in to Tuesday, and felt the district had worked closely with the community and a citizen advisory group.
"Of course, the outcome wasn't what we wanted," Breyer said, and that he's "disappointed that the bond request wasn't approved."
Now, the district's board will now go over election results and information and talk about long term and short term options to address overcrowding and facility needs, Breyer said.
Breyer also shared a statement on Facebook:
As you are likely aware, the Centennial Bond request was not approved by voters last night. It was part of a trend in... Posted by Centennial School District on Wednesday, May 18, 2016
It was a similar story for the Molalla River School District. The district's $73.4 million bond, which also would have been coupled with a state grant, failed with about 54 percent of votes going against the measure and 46 percent supporting it, according to Wednesday counts.
The district's bond funding would have built a new elementary and a new middle school, among other projects. Superintendent Tony Mann said in a statement to district staff that he felt the bond proposal was "prudent" and may have failed because of an "information gap with some voters."
The bond will be discussed at multiple upcoming board meetings, Mann said.
"Because of the bond's failure, I am sad the community won't be able to benefit from the state's $4 million in matching funds that were awarded to Molalla," Mann said. "That said, we must continue to focus on plans for the future, and we will do so... putting students first in each and every decision we make."
In Multnomah County, the Corbett School District's measure also couldn't win over voters. Corbett's $11.9 million bond, the district's fourth attempt in recent years, failed with 54 percent of voters saying no. The district also would have received a state grant, had the measure passed.
Mount Hood Community College's $125 million bond also failed, with about 57 percent of voters rejecting it.
However, it was good news for some Oregon districts on Tuesday night.
The tiny Gaston district in Washington County passed its $12 million bond and will now get a grant from the state. About 54 percent of voters voted in favor of the bond.
The McMinnville School District in Yamhill County put forward the largest bond in the state, asking voters to approve a $89.4 million bond with the possibility for a grant. The bond sailed to victory, with 62 percent of voters voting in favor of the measure.
For our full coverage of Tuesday's election, see here.
-- Laura Frazier
lfrazier@oregonian.com
503-294-4035
@frazier_laura
MHCC Bond
Mt. Hood Community College's $125 million bond would've paid for a number of projects, including a new Applied Technology Center, a 90,000-square-foot building that would house the technology, automotive and other programs (Courtesy of MHCC)
It turns out the fifth time may not be the charm for Mt. Hood Community College.
In partial returns, a $125 million bond measure to benefit the Gresham-based college appeared to be failing, with just 43 percent of voters approving the plan and 57 percent against the plan.
The bond would have allowed Mt. Hood Community College to add two buildings, seismically retrofit others and pay off $27 million in debt.
Voters last approved new money for the college in 1974.
Community college officials and the business community in East Multnomah County were united behind the measure, but it proved not to be enough.
School officials declined an interview request, saying they preferred to see more ballots come in first.
The bond proceeds would've paid for a $28 million technology and manufacturing center on the Gresham campus as well as a $23 million overhaul of the Maywood Park campus. The bond plan also included $7.5 million for safety improvements on the main campus.
The proposed bond would've cost homeowners roughly $31 annually per $100,000 of assessed value.
Debra Derr, the college's president, said that she was still holding out hope that the margin would tighten Wednesday morning. "We haven't given up hope," she said, of the margin.
If the measure fails, Derr said the school would get together with its board and revisit its plans. "Whether we look at something a little bit different in November or we wait and go out again in a year or two," she said, "that will be up to the board."
-- Andrew Theen
atheen@oregonian.com
503-294-4026
@andrewtheen
PSU trustees meeting shut down
Portland State University students and supporters shut down the school's governing board meeting Thursday before trustees were expected to vote on a 4 percent tuition increase for in-state undergraduates. March 31, 2016 Beth Nakamura/Staff
(Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian)
Portland State's Board of Trustees will hold a special meeting next Wednesday with one item on the agenda: Hear from the university's students.
Pete Nickerson, the PSU trustee's chair, sent an email to all students Tuesday describing the meeting. "This will be an extended opportunity to share perspectives, insights or concerns about the University and to hear back from trustees," Nickerson wrote. "The Board has scheduled no other business for this meeting, other than to hear from and talk with students."
The meeting will occur less than two months after the trustees' March meeting was completely shut down at one time by a group of vocal students and community activists. The trustees disbanded that meeting, then reconvened in a separate basement conference room across campus, where they voted on a tuition increase with no students present.
That was the third consecutive meeting of the volunteer governing board disrupted by a group of students.
The group of a few dozen students has several demands, the most prominent of which is a reversal of the 2014 board decision to hire armed police officers on campus.
On May 10, those students with Disarm PSU group led a walkout on campus to oppose the police officers.
The meeting May 25 is scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon in the University Boardroom, on the fifth floor of the Academic and Student Recreation Center.
Trustees are asking students who plan to attend and speak to register on its website.
A student activist in Disarm PSU didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
-- Andrew Theen
atheen@oregonian.com
503-294-4026
@andrewtheen
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Update: "Odysseo" has been extended through July 31.
When the horse-themed circus "Cavalia" trotted into Portland in 2011 with its enormous white tent and omnipresent billboards, it turned enough heads for a 5-week extension.
Now, Cavalia the company -- created by a co-founder of Cirque du Soleil -- is bringing another show that makes horses the stars to Portland. The sequel performance, titled "Odysseo," opens July 7 under the traveling big top at Zidell Yards, and it may well outdo its predecessor.
"Odysseo" will be twice the size of Cavalia's eponymous show from 2011, bringing 65 horses and 45 acrobats and riders together for a spectacle that aims to blend their worlds. Together, they'll embark on an "odyssey" of sorts from a misty, enchanted forest to some of the world's greatest natural wonders.
Imagine, 65 beautiful equine specimens exploring the Mongolian steppes, Monument Valley, Easter Island, and Nordic glaciers. And true to the show's fantastical aspirations, they even reach the moon and bask in the light of shooting stars and vibrant nebulae.
It will be like a live version of one of those tie-dyed horse T-shirts you might buy at a street fair, but so much classier.
Tickets for "Odysseo" are now available for $34.50-$249.50 online at cavalia.net or by phone at 1-866-999-8111. Matinee and evening performances are scheduled through July 31 at Zidell Yards on Southwest Moody Avenue.
-- Dillon Pilorget | dpilorget@oregonian.com
503-294-5927 | @dillonpilorget
Hood River County voters have said yes to a measure that would effectively block Nestle Waters' plan to bottle water in Cascade Locks by banning large water bottling operations in the county.
Partial returns Tuesday showed the measure winning with 68 percent of the vote.
The measure's backers celebrated with cheering and speeches in Hood River, while a Nestle spokesman expressed regret while noting "we respect the democratic process."
Nestle for seven years has sought a way to bottle water from Oxbow Springs, which gurgles out of hillside just outside the Columbia River Gorge town of Cascade Locks.
The company hopes to build a $50 million bottling plant at the town's port, where 100 million gallons annually of Oxbow Springs water would be bottled under the Arrowhead brand. Additional Cascade Locks municipal water would be sold under the company's Pure Life brand.
But the plan has faced opposition from the start, despite widespread support among the town's leadership. Measure 14-55 was the latest wave of backlash in a yearslong battle.
Julia DeGraw, an organizer for Food and Water Watch, a national group leading the Nestle opposition in Oregon, called Tuesday's victory "proof that voters are smart."
"When you talk to them about something as crucial as their water, which is necessary for an agricultural economy, right after they have a drought, there is not enough misinformation the opposition can throw at voters to make them buy it," DeGraw said.
Critics oppose Nestle on environmental and ideological grounds. Some argue against the waste inherent in selling water in plastic bottles, while others say Nestle's plan amounts to privatizing a public resource for corporate profits.
Some target Nestle specifically as a bad actor that exploits small, economically depressed communities while failing to deliver on promises of financial salvation. Members of the Warm Springs tribe, who consider Oxbow Springs a sacred site, say state leaders could be violating their tribal treaty rights by agreeing to let Nestle take the spring's water.
Nestle's supporters, meanwhile, see the company's interest in Cascade Locks as a much-needed win for a community that has struggled for decades to fill the economic hole created when Oregon's timber industry contracted. Water, they argue, is one of the city's few abundant resources.
Nestle's proposal to trade water for jobs and, eventually, property taxes (the city expects to provide tax abatements), sounds like a solid deal to them. The company expects to employ up to 50 people, and once it begins paying property taxes, the revenue will nearly double Cascade Locks' property tax base.
Debora Lorang, who spearheaded a group that fought the ballot measure, noted a significant portion of Cascade Locks voters opposed the measure.
"We want to be able to repair our town infrastructure," Lorang said. "There was a brown-out yesterday for no good reason."
It's unclear what the election loss means for Nestle. Aurora del Val, leader of the Local Water Alliance, which sponsored the ballot measure, said she expects Nestle to sue. DeGraw expressed confidence that the measure is legally-defensible.
"It was written knowing full well we were going up against he world's biggest multinational food and beverage company," she said.
In a statement Tuesday, Nestle spokesman Dave Palais said company leaders are "disappointed," but gave no hint of the company's plans in Oregon.
"While we firmly believe this decision on a county primary ballot is not in the best interest of Cascade Locks, we respect the democratic process," he said.
Lorang, meanwhile, cautioned that the fight over Nestle's right to set up shop in Cascade Locks "ain't over 'til it's over." She raised legal questions about county voters' ability to weigh in the city matters.
"We could still see this be overturned in court," she said.
--Kelly House
503-221-8178; @Kelly_M_House
ohsu.jpg
Oregon Health & Science University and the state's 61 other hospitals have pledged to give consumers cost estimates of scheduled procedures three days after they ask for it.
(The Oregonian/File photo)
Oregon hospitals took a step toward price transparency on Wednesday, promising to provide cost estimates for scheduled procedures within three days.
The initiative aims to give uninsured patients and those who are out-of-network a better idea of what a procedure will cost.
"It's another step to give patients the tools they need to make decisions," said Andy Van Pelt, executive vice president at Oregon Association of Hospitals & Health Systems.
The measure will not help 95 percent of the consumers in Oregon who have insurance. The best way for them to get cost estimates is to contact their insurance company, Van Pelt said.
But it does aim to help the other 5 percent obtain good faith estimates of hospital costs.
The Oregon Association of Hospitals & Health Systems has added cost estimate pages to its website, OregonHospitalGuide.org, that includes contact information for the billing departments of each of the 62 hospitals in Oregon.
All of the hospitals have agreed to provide the estimates within three days, and some are responding even quicker than that, Van Pelt said.
"What we're trying to do is create a set of standards that we can live up to and the patient can expect," Van Pelt said.
The initiative makes Oregon one of the first states in the country to adopt a hospital-wide commitment to price transparency, said Richard Gundling, senior vice president of the Healthcare Financial Management Association, a membership organization for hospital financial executives. It comes amid a consumer push for greater transparency on health care costs with the prevalence of high-deductible plans and rising premiums and co-pays.
"People are asking more about the price because they're paying more out of pocket," Gundling said.
The good faith estimates could still include surprise charges on the final bill. The cost of any surgery or procedure varies among patients based on their health and needs. And the estimates won't include physician charges which are billed separately from hospital costs.
But in calling hospital billing departments and discussing price, patients are more likely to benefit from financial assistance and charity care.
"That's the goal," Van Pelt said.
Oregon has long lacked health care transparency, according to a national report card issued every summer by the Catalyst for Payment Reform.
"Oregon gets an F every year," Van Pelt said.
So do most other states.
Van Pelt said the association is trying to move the bar up.
The group launched the website in March. It includes hospital performance information from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and a tool that allows consumers to compare institutions.
In July, the Oregon Health Authority will post median prices on the 50 top inpatient procedures and the 100 most common outpatient procedures. That move follows the passage of Senate Bill 900 in the last legislative session.
The association will also post the prices on its website.
-- Lynne Terry
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Keith Pearson, formerly of Oregon, is cycling across the United Kingdom to raise money for the Alzheimer's Society. (Photo courtesy Janet Birch)
A former Oregon man is cycling his way through the United Kingdom to raise money to combat dementia.
Keith Pearson (Courtesy Janet Birch)
Keith Pearson, 57, started his trip on May 11 and plans to travel about 1,600 miles over the course of about six weeks. His goal? To raise at least PS 2,500 ($3,612) for the Alzheimer's Society. He said he's seen people close to him struggle with dementia.
"Dementia is so much more than losing memory," Pearson said in an email to the Oregonian/OregonLive. "I am passionate about this cause."
Pearson has raised about $3,121 through his JustGiving site as of Tuesday.
One man and his trike! Keith Pearson from Widnes sets off today - pedalling solo to the Shetland Islands to raise money for the Alzheimer's Society. Keith has seen first hand the effects dementia can have on close family. Give him a wave if you see him go by! Posted by BBC Radio Merseyside on Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Pearson came to Oregon from California in 1972 to attend Canyonville Christian Academy, a boarding school for students in grades nine to 12 in southern Oregon, he said in an email. In 1976, he won state titles in both the the mile and 880 meter run, two events that are no longer held.
Pearson then attended college in Newberg and Portland, where his daughters still live, he said in an email. He now lives in Widnes, a city of about 60,200 near Liverpool, England.
Pearson is making his journey on an ICE Trike--a recumbent, three-wheeled cycle-- and is aiming to average about 50 miles a day. He's traveling from Widnes through Scotland and up to the Shetland Islands and back, using a paper map, camping and sticking to a budget of about $14.50 a day.
Read more about Pearson's journey on his Facebook, where he's been posting updates.
-- Laura Frazier
lfrazier@oregonian.com
503-294-4035
@frazier_laura
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(Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian)
Ilo and Melissa Ferroggiaro, longtime medical marijuana growers who planned to enter the recreational market, took a decisive step after Klamath County voters refused to overturn a pot ban: The couple put their home on the market.
Ilo Ferroggiaro said Wednesday that the county's determination to prohibit marijuana businesses means he can't work as a licensed cannabis producer. So after a dozen years in Klamath County, he's packing up his family and headed to the Portland area.
"I am a cannabis farmer," he said. "I legally can't make a living in that town anymore."
Klamath and Grant counties on Tuesday decisively rejected measures that would have repealed bans on marijuana businesses. In both places, pot advocates gathered enough signatures to put the proposals on the ballot.
Klamath County voters voted 57 percent to 43 percent against overturning their local ban; In Grant County, 54 percent of voters opposed overturning the ban, compared to 46 percent who voted in favor.
Despite local bans, local residents may still grow marijuana at home for their own personal use either for recreational or medical purposes.
Under a law passed by the Legislature, city councils and county commissions could prohibit production and sales where at least 55 percent of voters opposed Oregon's legalization measure as was the case in Klamath and Grant counties. Those communities had until last December to impose a ban and they didn't need voter approval.
However, now that the December deadline has passed, any local government, even those that met the 55 percent threshold, must put the issue to a vote at the next general election in November.
In all, more than 100 cities and counties have "opted out" of allowing licensed marijuana businesses, according to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission.
Governments that opt out don't get a share of the tax revenue generated by recreational marijuana sales. The state collected $6.84 million in taxes from recreational sales in January and February, the latest data released by the Oregon Department of Revenue.
Leland Berger, a Portland lawyer and longtime cannabis advocate, said he's disappointed with the results but impressed that citizen activists managed to get the measures on their local ballots.
He said counties that prohibit regulated marijuana businesses not only lose out on tax dollars and jobs but have allowed the government to restrict how they can use their land.
"A reason people live rurally is because they place a higher value on being able to do what they want to do with their land and their lives," he said. "It's just disappointing."
Scott Myers, Grant County judge who chairs the county commission, said local residents' ability to vote on the issue outweighs the vote itself.
He said Grant County voters said no to Measure 91 and Tuesday's vote reinforces their opposition.
"Clearly," he said, "a majority was in favor of a ban and again they had the opportunity to voice that."
-- Noelle Crombie
503-276-7184; @noellecrombie
By Dana Milbank
WASHINGTON -- In February, when Rep. David Jolly introduced his quixotic plan to ban members of Congress from soliciting campaign contributions, the Florida Republican had only six co-sponsors.
Then, three weeks ago, "60 Minutes" did a sympathetic piece on Jolly's idea, giving national attention to the scandal of lawmakers spending 30 or more hours a week dialing for dollars.
And now? The number of co-sponsors on Jolly's bill has jumped from six all the way up to -- um, eight. No senator has come forward with similar legislation.
Jolly, appearing Monday morning at the National Press Club with his lead Democratic co-sponsor, Rep. Rick Nolan of Minnesota, was not surprised. "We've got six more co-sponsors than I thought we might have," he said. It's "a heartbreaking reflection on what the priorities of the Congress are. ... A member's political survival depends on raising money -- that's the reality."
Jolly speaks the truth. Lawmakers know what needs to be done to clean up the corrupt system -- but nothing happens.
Democrats talk about overturning the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision allowing corporations and unions to spend unlimited sums on politics. But that ultimate fix isn't happening soon. In the House, Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., has recruited 160 co-sponsors for his system of public financing of elections -- another good idea -- but so far he has only one Republican, gadfly Walter Jones (N.C.). Republicans remain reflexively opposed to reform, including the idea of disclosure, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., once championed.
This is why Jolly's idea deserves a look. He calls it congressional reform, not campaign-finance reform. The goal: to get lawmakers to spend more time lawmaking.
"We're here three days a week, and half your time is spent raising money," he said. "In the face of growing crises around the globe, you've got a part-time Congress." This, he said, "is a first-rate scandal."
I've argued for other ways to get lawmakers to spend more time working -- returning to the five-day week, cutting travel allowances, ending the corrosive practice of members targeting each other for defeat through party committees. Jolly, now a Senate candidate in Florida, offers another tack.
The Republican Party is predictably opposed. The National Republican Congressional Committee, in a letter to CBS after the "60 Minutes" segment, accused Jolly of peddling "fiction" when he said party officials told him he had to raise $18,000 a day.
Unfortunately, liberals have piled on. Campaign-finance reformer Fred Wertheimer told me the idea "is not going to solve the problem," because those working for the members could still solicit funds. Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard law professor, wrote a piece in the Orlando Sentinel calling Jolly's bill a "cynical example of fraudulent reform" because "all that would change is that congressmen wouldn't have to do the dirty work."
But while Jolly can be accused of election-year gimmickry, he voluntarily refused to solicit contributions for his Senate run. And though the bill wouldn't by itself solve the campaign-finance mess, it could help to improve the woeful political culture in other ways.
Jolly's Democratic sidekick, Nolan, said that when he first served in Congress in the 1970s, lawmakers worked full weeks, giving them time to develop respect for one another and to find common ground.
"If you've already consumed 40, 50 hours of the week in travel and fundraising, there's not a lot of time left over for governing, and we're seeing the results of that," he said. "We're looking at the last couple of sessions of the Congress of the United States as being the most unproductive in the history of the country. Why? Well, if everybody's busy campaigning and raising money, there's no time for governing."
Jolly, a former lobbyist and longtime staffer to the late congressman C.W. Bill Young, continues to agitate. He said he's not paying his $400,000 in dues to the NRCC, and he said "I don't buy the notion" that he needs more sponsors before House leadership grants a hearing on his bill.
Jolly is a potential ally of Democrats on campaign-finance reform, saying that Citizens United "could be revisited" and that "we can do better." Until then, surely more lawmakers on both sides can see the virtue of his cause.
"You think you get elected to represent 700,000 people," he said. "But you actually got elected to be one more marble on our side of the aisle to keep the majority, and to do that you've got to go raise $2 million -- and that makes members angry."
Or at least it should.
Follow Dana Milbank on Twitter, Milbank.
(c) 2016, Washington Post Writers Group
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Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian
(The Oregonian/OregonLive file photo)
Expect to see the same game plan that Brad Avakian followed to win the Democratic primary for secretary of state in the November general election. The only unknown is whether voters will fall for it again.
The secretary of state serves as Oregon's top elections official and oversees an audits division that ensures public dollars are being spent wisely. But you wouldn't know that from Avakian's campaign in which he pledged to go after private companies, sniff out unequal pay for women and otherwise use the office in ways that go beyond the responsibilities articulated in the Constitution and state law.
Avakian trumpeted endorsements from abortion rights advocates, helping to sway voters who are either unfamiliar or indifferent to the actual responsibilities of the secretary of state. And he plugged the office's position on the State Land Board to argue that he will help combat climate change.
Voters who are rightly concerned that Avakian will distort the office to fit his Hulk-sized ambitions should take a close look at the winner of the Republican primary, Dennis Richardson, for November.
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Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and his wife, Jane, in Rapid City, S.D., last week.
(AP Photo)
By James Hohmann
Bernie Sanders is huge on college campuses -- or yuuuuge, as he likes to say -- but the small private school in Vermont that his wife, Jane, ran for seven years announced yesterday that it will shutter because of "the crushing weight" of debt incurred under her leadership.
Burlington College said its financial troubles are connected to Jane Sanders' 2010 purchase of 32 acres of lakefront property, part of a botched expansion plan. The college was placed on academic probation in 2014 by its accrediting agency and it faced cash flow problems due to the imminent loss of a line of credit, The Post's Nick Anderson reports. To survive, the school has tried to sell land but it was not enough to remain solvent.
Jane Sanders was president from 2004 until 2011, when she stepped down amid an apparent dispute with the college's board. She left with a $200,000 severance package.
- Jane Sanders has become an increasingly prominent figure in her husband's campaign. The onetime community activist routinely travels with him and has become a ubiquitous surrogate on cable TV.
- The failure of Burlington College gives credence to two arguments routinely made by the Clinton campaign and its allies:
First, Bernie and Jane Sanders were insufficiently vetted by the mainstream media. Many reporters have passed on writing up opposition research hits about the Vermont senator, or focusing on the problems at the college, because they did not believe he ever had any realistic chance of being the nominee. The Clintons, owing to their status as the front-runners and former occupants of the White House, have continued to command a more intense level of scrutiny.
Second, Sanders is making fantastical promises that are unfeasible. Eventually someone has to pay the bills for his promised "revolution." Studies published last week by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center and the Urban Institute concluded that Sanders' plans are short a total of more than $18 trillion over a decade. "His programs would cost the federal government about $33 trillion over that period . . . yet he has put forward just $15 trillion in new taxes," Wonkblog's Max Ehrenfreund explained.
Not only would most of his ideas be dead on arrival in Congress, but many observers wonder whether the septuagenarian socialist even fully understands how the economy works. His inability to explain how he'd break up the big banks during the disastrous sit-down with the New York Daily News
editorial
board last month remains a good data point in the case that he is in over his head on policy.
- The Sanders campaign has ignored repeated requests for comment on Burlington College's failure. The uncharacteristic silence is telling.
- This morning's clips are brutal for the Sanders campaign, especially on the day of two must-win primaries:
The Burlington Free Press: "In response to reporters' questions about a possible law enforcement probe into the college's finances, [President Carol Moore and Dean Coralee Holm] declined to comment."
Politico: "The college was also on the Education Department's list of colleges that are subject to extra scrutiny - known as 'heightened cash monitoring' - as recently as March 1, for issues relating to 'financial responsibility.'"
Vanity Fair: "The financial failure of Burlington College presents a jarring contrast with the upbeat, optimistic message of the Sanders campaign . . . While Sanders has inspired millions of young supporters with his promise to eliminate college debt, his wife's decision to hike tuition in order to pay for a costly campus expansion-a big factor in the rise of college tuition throughout the country-casts Bernie's hopeful policy proposals in a more complicated light."
The Atlantic: "Jane Sanders holds a doctorate in Leadership and Policy Studies from the Union Institute, a nontraditional school that critics sometimes call a diploma mill. Union made national headlines during the 2012 campaign because Marcus Bachmann, husband of then-Representative Michele Bachmann, also received his doctorate there."
CNN: A loan application that Jane signed apparently overstated the amount of pledged donations Burlington College had when acquiring the land. The school took a $6.7 million loan. The Vermont Journalism Trust first reported last year that she told People's United Bank that the college had $2.6 million in pledged donations to support the purchase: "The college, however, received only $676,000 in actual donations from 2010 through 2014 . . . Burlington College also cited a $1 million bequest as a pledged donation that would be paid out over six years, even though the money would only be available after the donor's death."
The Washington Free Beacon reported in January that, when Jane Sanders was president, the college also enrolled students at a woodworking school run by her daughter and spent more than half a million dollars on the endeavor, which ended not long after she left.
Jane Sanders has also profited off Bernie's campaigns: She received $91,020 between 2002 and 2004 for "consultation" and to negotiate the purchase of television and radio time-slots for Sanders' advertisements, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported in 2006.
(c) 2016, The Washington Post
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Ted Wheeler celebrates at his campaign party in Southeast Portland upon being elected mayor of the city.
(Kristyna Wentz-Graff/Staff)
Ted Wheeler is to be congratulated. Because his closest competitor, Jules Bailey, failed to garner enough votes to force a runoff, Wheeler will become Portland's mayor in January. But that's just the fine print.
The reality is that Wheeler's first day on the job is Wednesday. That's when he must roll his sleeves up and bring a hard cold eye to the workings of Portland City Hall, with particular attention to the initiatives of lame duck Mayor Charlie Hales, who has unsuccessfully sprung surprise tax and zoning proposals of late. Wheeler may still be Oregon's treasurer, but Portland needs his best now so he can close later.
Mayor Wheeler should spend the next few months setting priorities to surmount several gnarly challenges. He has said he'd find a way to ensure no one in Portland goes without a place to sleep by 2019: But how? He has said he wishes to expand protections for apartment dwellers, so many of whom are unable to keep pace with rent hikes: But when? He has said he wants to nose into the choice of the Portland Development Commission's next director: Good, but how and when? Separately, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is about to drop upon Portland a mammoth plan for cleaning up toxic Portland Harbor -- at costs to be borne by Portland industries and the city itself. Will Wheeler broker and advance Portland's best interests to balance environmental and economic values? He can and should.
Wheeler is one of a few natural talents in Oregon politics. He's smart. He's committed. He knows this place. And he promises to make a difference. Portland voters have chosen well. Wheeler can reward them with immediate follow-through.
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TriMet's Orange line, from Portland to Milwaukie, is the latest expansion of light rail in the Portland region.
(Randy L. Rasmussen/Staff)
A flashpoint of public discussion in some of Portland's suburbs has been whether Metro, the regional government, and TriMet, the mass transit agency, are in cahoots over light rail -- an expensive transit modality seen by detractors as a profligate way to export urban ills to idyllic settings while forcing Portland's liberal agenda upon folks who'd prefer not to live the Portland life, after all.
Hence the unsuccessful try by newly elected Clackamas County leaders in 2012 to break the county's written commitment to support the completion of a Milwaukie-bound MAX line -- and their campaign slogan "Stop Portland Creep." Hence more recent votes in King City and Tigard to amend their charters to require that any new high-capacity transit corridor through their cities win the approval of voters as well as their councils. A particularly angry vilification of light rail occurred not in Portland's immediate suburbs at all, however, but across the river, in Clark County: That's where some folks found political traction in helping to tank the late Columbia River Crossing project, which called for a Portland-to-Vancouver MAX line dubbed "Loot Rail."
Now Portland's southwest suburbs -- a prosperous, fast-growing realm comprising Sherwood, Tualatin, Tigard, King City and portions of Southwest Portland -- finds itself mired in traffic, even on weekends, and searching for a way forward. For years, however, a panel of agency and elected leaders, have studied the problem and tested theoretical solutions. And now, as if the negative expectations of the fearful were met, the beast returns: a light rail MAX train from Portland to Bridgeport Village, at the I-5 in Tigard, via portions of Barbur Boulevard and the I-5.
It's hardly a firm commitment. But it's smart planning. Scoping meetings will take place this summer and fall, along with public hearings. The provisional conclusion of those forging the Southwest Corridor Plan is that light rail would, in the long run, be the only modality to meet anticipated demand while being affordable to operate. They're right.
Recently participants in the Southwest Corridor Plan discussion examined vast expansions of bus service, chief among them the high-capacity modality known as bus rapid transit, in which riders would buy tickets on platforms as if they were riding a train. BRT, however, would lack the terminus-to-terminus right-of-way passage that light rail would enjoy, in places spending as much as half its time snaking in and out of street traffic, compounding congestion and slowing both cars and itself. Light rail, by comparison, would not "harvest" street capacity. Then there was the timing. It will take a decade to implement either BRT or MAX service owing to route alignments and station design, right-of-way acquisition, funding and community approvals. In just 10 years after that, however, analysts calculated that BRT would need to run nearly continuously to meet anticipated demand: arrivals and departures of high-capacity buses every 90 seconds, up and down the line, straining service, racking up operational costs, and, ironically, adding to traffic.
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or 503-221-8142.
The immediate challenge to rail is that it is expensive to build: an estimated $2 billion, or substantially more than the cost of establishing BRT, with about half of the price picked up by the federal government. But light rail would be cheaper to operate: For every MAX train with one operator, the equivalent of two or three buses with two or three drivers is required. As demand rises, so do the number and frequency of buses, along with the personnel to operate them.
The rail line under consideration is not yet fixed. But it would extend southward from the Green/Yellow/Orange Line MAX tracks now running through the downtown Portland Transit Mall and find an alignment along Naito Parkway or Barbur Boulevard before trundling down the center of Barbur, possibly turning at 13th Avenue or 26th Avenue to be adjacent to I-5 before turning towards the Tigard Triangle and heading south to Bridgeport Village, at the border of Tigard and Tualatin. Previous planning to include a tunnel to serve Portland Community College's Sylvania campus has been nixed as too costly.
The MAX line would not solve the region's mounting congestion. It would simply help to keep things moving in a growing part of Portland and its suburbs while connecting Southwest communities to the web of MAX trains already serving east, west and southeast portions of the region -- not that folks in Tualatin aspire to ride to Gresham, Hillsboro, Milwaukie or, even, Portland International Airport. Municipal governments, as well as citizens, are urged to participate in the upcoming sessions at which TriMet and Metro strategists, as well as elected leaders, make the sane case for light rail.
On Tuesday night, Ted Wheeler, a mayoral candidate competing for an open seat, easily secured more than 50 percent of the vote, thereby avoiding a November runoff. Meanwhile, despite competing with the tremendous advantage conferred by incumbency, Commissioner Steve Novick managed to muster only 43 percent. He'll have to defeat Chloe Eudaly, who edged Stuart Emmons for second place, to keep his job.
http://media.oregonlive.com/opinion_impact/photo/agenda-2013jpg-da8a3522a991b9c6.jpg
Editorial Agenda 2016
Get Oregon centered
Better leadership in education
Make Portland a city that works
Build Oregon prosperity
Protect and expand personal freedom
Get pot right
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These results say two things. One, Portlanders consider Wheeler a very good candidate. Two, Portlanders consider Novick a not very good commissioner. The votes against him far outnumbered those for him, making "Not Steve Novick" one of Tuesday night's big winners.
Why aren't people nuts for Novick?
We can only guess, but for many his hamfisted advocacy for additional street funding may have been a problem. True, the gas tax he ultimately proposed did prevail Tuesday. But it did so very narrowly, and many of those who supported it probably weren't thrilled by the fact that only 56 percent of the revenue will be used to address the city's huge maintenance backlog. The city is not well positioned to ask for additional road funding, which it undoubtedly will at some point, and that in large part is Novick's doing.
For other voters, Novick's immaturity may rankle. He can be petulant and punitive, as we noted in our endorsement of Stuart Emmons. Dare to challenge his policy proposals, as the Portland Business Alliance has done, and be told that you "would rather burn the city to the ground" than do what's fair. Fail to fall in line, as lobbyist Paul Romain has done, and be labeled (bizarrely) a socialist and threatened vaguely with policies you like even less than those you happen to be opposing. Succeeding as a commissioner requires the development of constructive relationships -- even with people who might not agree with you all the time. Novick fulminates. He belittles. He personalizes. He has hissy fits.
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Upon learning Tuesday night that a runoff with Emmons might be possible, for instance, Novick called him "the candidate of the right-wing Oregonian editorial board that doesn't believe in global warming, wants to destroy unions, doesn't care about working people," Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. Not only is Novick's characterization of our positions simply fictitious (his bombastic fabrications call to mind a certain orange New Yorker), but his dismissal of Emmons betrays a blindness to his own flaws. We endorsed Emmons, in part, because he promises to be the sort of collegial bridge-builder that Novick is not. Many voters Tuesday may have been similarly motivated, and Novick almost immediately validated their choice by having a tantrum.
"And if that's who I'm running against," he said of Emmons, "I'll feel that I'm basically running against the Oregonian editorial board, and I want to get Erik Lukens (The Oregonian's editorial and commentary editor), one on one." Talk about personalizing.
If Novick wants to win back the tens of thousands of Portlanders who voted for someone else Tuesday, he should start by asking himself why they did it. He won't find the answer on his list of presumed enemies. He'll find it in the mirror.
Wheeler's victory this week suggests that Portlanders, after three-plus years of Charlie Hales, crave adult leadership. Novick can make himself a much more appealing candidate in November by growing up.
Politics: Left, right, in between
The Grand Old Party has been transformed into the Grand Ole Opry.
Rob Henry, Southwest Portland
*
Donald Trump is leading a regime change in the GOP. The old, entrenched regime doesn't like it. What a surprise.
Donald Berg, Southwest Portland
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If things don't work out with the GOP, Donald Trump should run as a third-party candidate. My suggestion is that he calls it the National Alliance of Trump Supporters Inc. -- or NATSI for short.
Dave Dahl, Beaverton,
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I can certainly see walls going up if Donald Trump becomes president. Canada will build one to keep out the swarm of U.S. refugees fleeing the insanity.
Eric Duffy, Salem
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I realized that Donald Trump's line "Make America Great Again" actually means "Make America White Again."
Al Brown, Hood River
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If Mitt Romney had fought as hard against Obama as he's fighting against Trump, he'd have been living in the White House for the past three years.
Barbie Anderson, Northwest Portland
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If Bernie Sanders and Jeff Merkley (who recently endorsed the Vermont senator for president) get their way in abolishing international trade agreements, Portland will be required to change its name to Potemkin.
Lenhardt Stevens, Southwest Portland
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Megalomania (from Webster's):
1) a mania for great or grandiose performance;
2) a delusional mental disorder that is marked by infantile feelings of personal omnipotence and grandeur.
This perfectly defines a political candidate.
K. Barrett, Northwest Portland
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Public policy
What if Oregon introduced a 5 percent sales tax -- but Oregonians with proof of residency (driver's license, state ID, student ID card, etc.) would be exempt from paying it?
Frank Groff, Southwest Portland
*
Providing bus fare to the homeless is funny. Is there anyone on this green earth who doesn't believe the receiving end won't provide the same for a return trip to Portland?
Ed Hausafus, Eagle Creek
*
Since the tax revenue from the sale of marijuana is larger than expected, why can't a portion of that money be used to meet the needs of the homeless in Portland?
Kathy Luiten, Wilsonville
***
Intel lays off 784 employees
Good thing we gave all those tax breaks to Intel so they could provide us with jobs.
Peter Butzer, North Portland
Armenian FM: We hope this time Azerbaijan would not deceive hopes of Co-Chair countries
Statement by Edward Nalbandian, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Armenia at the 126th Session of the Committee of the Ministers of the Council of Europe Excellences, Secretary General, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to congratulate Bulgaria on its productive chairmanship at the Committee of Ministers and to thank Minister Mitov for the excellent ogranisation of this meeting. I would also like to express our appreciation to the Secretary General for presenting his third annual report on the State of Democracy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Europe. We share Mr. Jaglands view on the concept of Democratic Security, according to which the democracies are less likely to go to war. Obviously, authoritarian regimes do not face such a dilemma. Such case was most recently witnessed in early April when Azerbaijan launched large-scale military offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh, resulting in many killed and wounded, along with gross violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. The tense situation of early April and possibilities of addressing its consequances were discussed two days ago in Vienna in a meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan attended by the Secretary of State of the United States, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia and State Secretary for European Affairs of France representing the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries. In their joint statement the Co-Chair countries insisted on the importance of respecting the 1994 and 1995 ceasefire agreements. The Presidents reiterated their commitment to the ceasefire and the peaceful settlement of the conflict. To reduce the risk of further violence, they agreed to finalize in the shortest possible time an OSCE investigative mechanism. The Presidents also agreed to the expansion of the existing Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman in Office. This could pave a way for resumption of the negotiations for the resolution of the conflict. Up until now Azerbaijan has been continously hindering the implementation of such proposals of the Co-chair countries and even reached agrrements. We hope that this time Azerbaijan would not deceive the hopes of the Co-Chair countries and the expectations of the international community. Dear colleagues, It is the primary goal of Council of Europe to safeguard common values and individual rights at pan-European level. We share the belief of many in this room that rights of individuals guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights must not be dependent on the status of the territory where peoples live. In this regard, we appreciate recent initiatives to discuss the subject of ensuring human rights in conflict zones. Today violent extremism and radicalisation leading to terrorism are direct threats to our values. To succeed in the fight against these appalling phenomena we should start with the root causes. Fight against racism, xenophobia and intolerance are essential in this regard. Armenia has been vocal in condemning hate speech and xenophobia, especially the kind, used in a political discourse. Combating these phenomena has been a priority for Armenia during our Chairmanship at this Committee and it continues to remain as such. 2016 marks the 15th Anniversary of Armenias accession to the Council of Europe. These have been years of fruitful cooperation in various areas of mutual interest. In a few days we will officially launch the Council of Europe 2015-2018 Action Plan for Armenia, which will further promote reform process in our country. In conclusion, I would also like to join the previous speakers in wishing every success to the incoming Chairmanship of Estonia.
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Opinion: Azerbaijan would not rush to Moscow for help if it could benefit from war (video)
It is wrong to expect any breakthrough in the Karabakh-Azerbaijani conflict without the participation of Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia has said it on many occasions but the international mediators do not seem to hear this objection and continue to pressurize Armenia trying to continue the talks in the format and model that they imagine. It is very close to the ideas of Azerbaijan, Giro Manoyan, Head of the Hay Dat Office of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun, said on May 18. Asked whether accusations will continue to be targeted if devices are installed along the entire length of the border, Mr Manoyan said, They are targeted to the extent that the firing is blamed on us. They do not consider whether we are to blame or not. We cannot expect them to be a judge and find guilty ones. In reply to the question whether Azerbaijan has reasons to unleash new aggression, Mr Manoyan said, Should Azerbaijan not be interested in ceasing hostilities, it would not rush to Moscow asking the latter to broker a truce. Azerbaijan launched military operations in the hope that it would succeed but as we saw, it failed in its calculations. We cannot predict what Azerbaijan plans to do next. There is no logic in many actions of Azerbaijan. They will hardy be able to restrain themselves for a long time.
Dow Corning has announced a 27-year employee as the new business president of its silicones division, to start the day after the company closes its restructuring and becomes part of The Dow Chemical Co. June 1.
Andrew Tometich has been the senior vice president of Silicones since 2014, after previously serving as president and chairman of Hemlock Semiconductor. He has been with Dow Corning for 27 years, and has held various commercial, business development and executive positions over that period of time.
According to a press release, his role will be to lead the silicones business with particular focus on ensuring ongoing operations are smooth for customers through the integration period with Dow in addition to driving the capture of new growth synergies.
"Dow Corning is an industry-leading global company that, with Dows support, pioneered the silicones industry more than 73 years ago, Tometich said. It is exciting to help lead Dow Corning in this new era, as the combined strengths of Dow and Dow Corning create intriguing possibilities for our customers.
Tometich will report to Mauro Gregorio, the incoming chief executive officer of Dow Corning.
Andys strong business acumen and track record of success at Dow Corning make him a great fit for this important leadership role, said Gregorio. Andy will help Dow Corning build on its already industry-leading silicones development and manufacturing capabilities, while leading the company into a new era which combines the strengths of both Dow and Dow Corning to benefit our customers.
This announcement comes two days after Dow Corning announced Chairman, President and CEO Bob Hansen would be retiring from the company and Gregorio would become CEO.
A press release from Dow Corning said Hansen will stay with the company for several months, helping to ensure a smooth ownership transition for the Dow Corning Silicones business.
In an emailed statement to the Daily News, Hansen said he is thankful for the opportunity to spend his career "working with great colleagues at Dow Corning." To read more, go to http://bit.ly/1TVMOaG.
LANSING, Mich. (AP) Lower-than-expected growth in tax revenue will force Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and lawmakers to enact a new state budget with less spending than initially proposed, but the dip should not lead to cuts below current funding levels, the state budget director said Tuesday.
With revised budget figures in hand, the Republican governor and GOP-led Legislature may scale back funding increases for universities, expanded dental coverage for low-income children and a proposed new $165 million fund to address drinking water and other infrastructure improvements statewide following Flint's lead-contaminated water crisis, John Roberts said.
But, he said, the administration remains committed to education, public safety, emergency aid for Flint and a rescue of Detroit's ailing school district. The state, which has managed the district for seven years, is being asked to pay off hundreds of millions of dollars in operating debt over a number of years as part of a plan to launch a new district.
"All investments are on the table for review," Roberts said.
He spoke to reporters after state officials revised downward the revenue forecast for this fiscal year and next by $333 million in the state's two main accounts, a key step before Snyder and legislators soon finalize the budget that will take effect in October. Officials also identified roughly $130 million in unanticipated Medicaid costs because caseloads have not dropped as much as predicted and costs have risen.
"Anything that saw an increase" in Snyder's budget proposal, "we'll go back and revisit," Roberts said. He said he does not anticipate needing to enact cuts in the current budget, though some proposed mid-year spending increases could be put off until the new fiscal year.
Economists said income tax withholding payments and lottery revenue are much stronger than projected in January, but corporate income tax revenue is down 20 percent and sales tax collections continue to fall below expected levels.
The $10 billion general fund is now projected to have $300 million less this year than last year and grow by $404 million, or 4.4 percent, next year. The $12 billion school aid fund, which is $320 million higher this year, will rise by $335 million next year, or 2.8 percent, according to the new estimate.
"First and foremost, the sky is not falling," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Al Pscholka, a Stevensville Republican. He said the House budget plan "came in below the governor's suggested spending" and "we are prepared to handle this situation with minimal impact on government."
Democrats, though, said the corporate income tax structure is too volatile five years after Republicans overhauled and reduced business taxes while raising them on individuals.
"This should be a wake-up call. We need to make long-term investments in our infrastructure and our kids, which is impossible without a predictable revenue stream," said Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr., an East Lansing Democrat.
Gilda Jacobs, president and CEO of the Michigan League for Public Policy, an advocacy group for the poor, said she hopes "no lawmaker uses this news as a justification to turn their backs on the children of Flint, Detroit and communities around the state."
Snyder and majority GOP lawmakers want to enact the next budget by early June, likely in conjunction with another mid-year supplemental boost in emergency aid for the Flint disaster. The state has authorized roughly $70 million in funds for the emergency, and Snyder is seeking $165 million more through the budget process this year and next.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Dave Hildenbrand, a Lowell Republican, said "there's going to be a lot of trimming in a lot of areas, so I don't think there's going to be any one area that's going to see significant reductions."
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Associated Press writer Michael Gerstein in Lansing contributed to this report.
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Follow David Eggert on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DavidEggert00 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/author/david-eggert
One person was hurt in a crash that occurred at a Clare County rest area on Tuesday night.
Michigan State Police troopers from the Mount Pleasant Post responded to a single-vehicle rollover crash at the Mackie Rest Area on U.S. 127 near Colonville Road about 6:40 p.m., a media release states.
Tuesdays special meeting to solve a mud bog stalemate between Jon Chambers and Larkin Township brought some clarity to the situation, but still left the issue pretty murky.
Chambers has begun creating a mud bog on his 360 acre property at 4292 N. Jefferson Road, and it has neighbors concerned about partying, campers, noise, traffic and safety of children.
Tuesdays meeting drew plenty of emotion from the standing room only crowd at the Larkin Township offices. The overflow crowd left people standing in the entryway along with a county deputy who was there to deter any improper behavior.
However, the tension still got close to boiling as accusations began flying back and forth, interspersed with some foul language. At one point, Chambers stood up from his front row seat, turned around and addressed his supporters.
The guys that are here on my behalf please calm down, he said.
However, emotions remained strong from both sides.
At the request of Larkin Township Supervisor Carl Crewes and Planning Commission Chair Jerry Steger, Township Attorney Peter Poznak opened the meeting by sharing his opinion on the situation.
During the process, he said Chambers has made presentations to the township board and planning commission, but a planned use has never been submitted to the zoning administrator or planning commission.
Because of that, this board cannot do anything this evening with the information they have, Poznak said. What can occur at this meeting is merely a public hearing and informational discussion. There is no appropriate motion for this board to deal with.
However, Poznak did cite a June 9, 2015, township meeting when Chambers first approached the board about the use of his property for mud bogs. At the time, township minutes state, There were no objections from the township board.
We have a situation where the individual showed up before the board, discussed his plans and received affirmative comments from the board. However that does not change the fact that there has been no application, Poznak said.
Chambers also appeared before the Township Planning Commission at a recent meeting. Larkin Township Planning Commission Chair Jerry Steger told the Daily News that since Larkin Township does not have any ordinances that support holding a mud bog, the planning commission voted unanimously against the request.
I would like to see it in the minutes where the planning commission voted (against) this, Chambers said. I asked Jerry Steger to provide that for me and he never came up with it. I didnt hear any votes,
Speaking for Chambers was Lansing attorney Pat Gallagher. It was the June 2015 board meeting that he cited.
At this point, Jon considers himself to have board approval, doesnt need to make an application for special use permit, doesnt need to talk to the planning commission, doesnt need to talk to the zoning administrator, doesnt need to ask to have the ordinance changed. Why? Because he had approval from the board. The board in charge of this township said, or implied, that it was all right to go ahead, Gallagher said.
Since then, Chambers has incurred over $80,000 in costs.
Nobody told him to stop work. He didnt hear anything against this project until March 2016 when someone said to him, he might want to reconsider going forward. He started to ask a few questions. Nobody has definitively told him to stop. The township has not issued a cease and desist order, Gallagher said.
Gallagher also mentioned that the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality doesnt have a problem with what he is doing.
Jon approached the DEQ and asked if he could use a certain portion of land for the project. DEQ said, no, you cant use those acres, but you can use the rest of the property thats not in the wetlands, Gallagher said.
That brought disagreement from Steger, who produced a copy of a denial letter from the DEQ, which states that if Gallagher is to use the uplands, he has to reapply.
This is the letter that I was referring to where Jon had made application to use this 8.9 acre area for mud bogging, Gallagher said. They said he couldnt do it because of the wetlands so Jon removed that part from his plans. So, that denial letter is only for the use of those nine acres, which Jon is not using. Not for the use of the (other acreage) that is high ground.
Gallagher wrapped up his comments by stating that Chambers is willing to work with the township to provide some compromise of this dispute and that is the next step.
Government recognizes eminent momain over Gndevaz land areas for Amulsar project
At the meeting of 19 May the Armenian Government is going to recognize eminent domain over 0.975 ha of agricultural land area owned by private entities in Gndevaz community, Vayots Dzor Region, for the implementation of Amulsar project. The land acquisition process is led by 'Geoteam' CJSC. The deadline for initiating property alienation process is set not later than 20 months after the entry into force of this decision, EcoLur reports. The decision rationale says, 'The project plans to launch the construction of project infrastructures in spring 2016 making an investment of US $370,000. It's planned to implement gold extraction in the heap each facility located in the area of Gndevaz village. In 2015 the Company already acquired over 230 land areas (130) ha located in the HLF area. The construction is planned to be carried out within 2 years.' Currently four land areas (owned by three owners) haven't been acquired by the company because of the non-consent with the land areas, which are located in the central parts of the area designed for infrastructures, so if they are not acquired, the construction works can't be launched to their full extent. It should be mentioned that disagreement with one of the land areas is connected with the compensation amount offered, otherwise he expressed his willingness to sell land areas and doesn't oppose to the project and/or related actions. The compensation amounts they are asking for are not substantiated, as the compensation proposed by the company is already higher than the market prices. What about two other land owners, there are restriction in regard with the sale and purchase of the land areas, and their solution is rather difficult (one of the land areas is pledged, while the owner of the second land area is not in Armenia). The recognition of the eminent domain over these land areas doesn't harm the land owners in non-substantiated manner.
SEBEWAING Lynn Hahn has spent the majority of her life in a perpetual hunt for morel mushrooms.
The 72-year-old Sebewaing woman remembers going out with her mother when she was 5 years old. And it didnt take long for her to pick it up.
I found mushrooms before she did and I didnt even know what I was looking for, Hahn said.
Hahn also remembers the first one she picked a nice white morel and remembers the exact spot in the woods where she found it. You could say she is a bit obsessed with the hunt and she wont disagree.
Im very addicted to morel picking, Hahn said. Ill admit it.
Over the years, the obsession has turned into a family affair, whether her family wanted it to be or not. Hahn has four children and eight grandchildren all of whom have shared in the experience.
At one time or another, Ive dragged every kid out there, Hahn said. And grandkids.
For 40 years, Hahns running mate was her sister Kathy. Nowadays, its her granddaughter Tori. She is also passing down the art to Toris daughter Viviann.
The trio typically get together several times a week during morel season, at choice spots Hahn has found on state land over the years. Once on site, Hahn grabs her trusty walking stick and is off to the races.
You put on some mileage when you go looking, because you circle and you walk around and then come back around to where youve been, she said of the swirling manner in which she goes about a hunt.
She says that dark morels are usually found where its swampy and in very cluttered, bushy areas. Always look for mounds, too. White morels are typically found more on mounds, in open fields, and around ash, oak and apple trees. Especially dying ash trees.
She said former burn areas are also good.
There is a lot of truth to that, Hahn said. There really is.
Hahns No. 1 tip for those going out hunting is head to where its damp. Morels tend to thrive in swampy areas.
Although she has a great sense of direction in the woods, she says to never go out without a compass. Except that one time she didnt follow her own advice.
It was on a cloudy day and I didnt have my watch and I didnt have my compass, she said. I knew I had to head west but couldnt find my direction from the sun because it was behind the clouds. I finally found a spot in the woods I recognized and we went out from there.
While youll find many morel hunters will be a little secretive of the locations where they find their treasure, Hahn is not quite as protective. She has her spots, but admitted its pretty hard to be private when youre on public land and says great locations tend to vary depending a lot on how the wind blows the spores each year.
Through the years Ive had so many different spots, she said. Its hard to pick one.
She recalled the one time she went out with her sister and they found a spot where they wound up picking for hours. Each brought home a paper grocery bag full of morels.
Its so exciting, she said of finding what she calls a honey hole. You just never stop talking about it.
Added Hahn: During your lifetime, you only get a couple of really good ones.
Hahn said the largest white morel she ever found stood about a foot tall. The largest dark one weighed about eight ounces.
But its not the amount, or the height, or the weight of the morel that keeps her coming back for more. Its simply the challenge.
Lots of times they are extremely hidden you really have to know where to look, Hahn said. Theyre hard to find. You have to have good eyes and you really have to know what youre looking for.
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United Way of Midland County honored several individuals as part of its annual Spirit of the Community celebration on Tuesday. Local organizations and businesses were also recognized as part of a group of heroes that come together for change.
These awards really remind us of how invested our community is, said Holly Miller, vice president of communications and community impact at United Way. We are inspired by the people were shining a light on.
At the onset of the event, a video was shown of a tree blocking a road. After one small child began pushing on the tree, many others who were stuck in the traffic joined in. Working together, eventually the tree was moved.
The tree represents struggles in our community, United Way Executive Director Ann Fillmore said.
Fillmore noted that United Way has established goals that were chosen by the community, for the community, and focus on health, education and self-sufficiency.
Community change is bigger than just one person or just one organization, she said.
The awards ceremony began with volunteer awards. Bridgette Gransden was honored with the Torch Bearer Award.
Midland is an incredible place to live, Gransden said. Living United is the standard, not the exception.
She, like the other recipients, shared the recognition.
I dont do anything any of you in this room have not done, she said.
Gransden, administrator/controller for the County of Midland, championed the United Way and other campaigns at work with creative strategies, which increased overall giving.
The Heart of the Community Award went to Kathy Dolan.
The heart is made of many, many cells ... every cell is necessary to make the heart healthy, Dolan said. I am only a part of the heart in this community.
Dolan advocates for kindness, acceptance and inclusion for individuals with disabilities.
Look at this room of people that give so much, she said. It pushes you to do better.
Dolan, who served on the board at the Arc of Midland for 12 years, helped launch Express Yourself Artshop at Creative 360, and created the Arcs Community Safety class.
Jack Telfer was recognized with The Heart of the Community Legacy Award.
It has been a huge honor to be part of the United Way process, Telfer said. The last five years have been incredible.
Telfer, editor of the Daily News, was part of taking a really, really good process of making sure contributions have the most impact and making it better. He has done this by serving as the chair of the community impact strategy team for United Way of Midland County, helping the group work toward becoming a community impact organization.
Tonight, we honor a man who gives his whole heart to our community, through his tireless commitment as a community impact champion, Rich Wells, who emceed the event, said. A true visionary, Jack has helped guide United Ways impact work ... His commitment and compassion keep our community grounded in the key to our success changing lives.
The Young Leader Award, recognizing someone in their 20s or 30s who demonstrates a passion for volunteerism and philanthropy, was presented to Brian Marinik.
Our community is not a place we visit, this is where we live, Marinik, who works at Dow Corning Corp., said.
Marinik challenged his peers in attendance to find one person before the end of the year, and invite them to get involved more.
The Charles J. Strosacker award went to Kimberlee Bruce.
Bruce, director of client services at Shelterhouse, was honored for her work in serving survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. She helped to launch Bridge of Hope and the Advocacy Initiated Response Program.
Bruce said she was blessed to pick a career that she truly enjoys.
I love the mission of Shelterhouse, she said.
The Shining Star Award was presented to pastors Jeremy and Tammy Screws. They were honored for their impact through the West Midland Family Center.
Jeremy and Tammy are extraordinary role models to our families through their own actions and solid parenting, Greg Dorrien, executive director of the center, said. They are what the family in West Midland Family Center has come to represent.
As part of Oil City Assembly of God, the Screws aim to be the light of the world, as referenced in Matthew, chapter 5, of the Bible.
We want to be a lighthouse to our community, Jeremy said.
United Way also honored several Companies That Care.
Companies That Care are not only characterized by the financial commitment they and their employees make, but their impact through community advocacy and volunteerism, Fillmore said.
The 24 organizations recognized are: Aptar, Ayre-Rhinehart Realtors, Bolger + Battle, Chemical Bank, County of Midland, Deloitte, Dow Chemical Employees Credit Union, Dow Corning Corp., Fisher Contracting, Garber Chevrolet, Gavin & Associates, Great Lakes Loons, Ieuter Insurance Group, McKay Press, Members First Credit Union, Midland Daily News, Midland Public Schools, MidMichigan Medical Center-Midland, Northwood University, The Dow Chemical Co., Three Rivers Corp., Trinseo, Wolverine Bank and Yeo & Yeo, PC CPA.
Wolverine Bank was awarded the distinction of the 2016 Caring Company of the Year.
David Dunn, president and CEO, helped his company increase its giving by 13 percent.
Dave is a tremendous advocate of the work of United Way, Wells said. He brought the entire staff together to kick off their campaign and to learn more about the new community level goals.
Wolverine staff also took part in the Young Leaders United March is Reading Month event with Carpenter Schools second grade students.
Midland is a phenomenal community, Dunn said.
He applauded United Way of Midland County for its rich heritage and incredible legacy, calling the organization a shining star of United Way agencies throughout the nation.
The night was filled with inspiration, Fillmore said.
Local residents who want to celebrate National Police Week can attend a ceremony to honor the service of law enforcement officers Wednesday in Midland.
The ceremony, marking National Peace Officers Memorial Day, will begin at 4 p.m. at the Midland Law Enforcement Center, 2727 Rodd St. It will include a flag raising by the Midland Honor Guard, a blessing by the chaplain and a moment of silence, as well as various speakers.
According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, one law enforcement officer is killed in the line of duty somewhere in the United States every 61 hours on average. Since the first known line-of-duty death in 1791, more than 20,000 U.S. law enforcement officers have made the ultimate sacrifice. Even one death is too many, and it is worth our time to recognize those who have sacrificed on our behalf.
The week will also include the Midland Police Department Awards Ceremony at 4 p.m. Thursday in the city council chambers at Midland City Hall, 333 W. Ellsworth St.
The new awards are earned through hard work and going above and beyond. They include good conduct, valor, honor, professional excellence, physical fitness and the Rob Booth Community Awareness Award, as well as awards based on participation in special programs such as the SWAT team, dive team, field officer training, school resource officer and canine handler.
Youll see officers wearing these, Lt. Matthew Berchert said of the awards, which are in the form of pins.
The awards are not only to recognize officers for their efforts, but to inspire new officers, he said. Fellow officers select each award winner.
The new awards are a great opportunity to recognize achievements and inspire a life of service. Thank you to the officers and deputies who work to make our community a safe place to live.
Your efforts are truly appreciated.
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The 28-year-old Beaverton man accused of killing a Gladwin County man last fall has entered a no contest plea to second-degree homicide.
Chad Alan Ballard entered the plea in the Gladwin County Circuit Court last week.
Evidence presented during the preliminary hearing in the case included that the victim in the case, Daniel James Dombroski, 46, who was reported missing in early October, suffered 27 stab wounds to his neck, chest and abdomen. Investigators working on the missing person case began to suspect foul play after there was no activity on his social media pages and no transactions made with his financial accounts.
Also charged in connection with the death was Stephanie Anne Livingston, 47, Rochester Hills. She faced counts of tampering with evidence, larceny from a person and being an accessory after the fact to a felony. She entered the guilty plea to one count of being an accessory after the fact to a felony.
The charges against Ballard and Livingston were filed after Dombroskis body was recovered from a wooded thicket on the edge of a swamp in Beaverton Township in November.
Gladwin County sheriffs deputies were called to Tobacco Township near Wixom Lake on Oct. 12 after Dombroski was reported as a missing person. He was last seen on the evening of Oct. 6.
Deputies, with help from the Michigan State Police, searched in the neighborhood where Dombroski was last seen, and south into Midland County including areas near the river in Edenville. The Billings Fire Department dive team also helped the Gladwin County Sheriffs Office check portions of Wixom Lake.
The search in November was precipitated by a detectives interview with a suspect in Dombroskis disappearance. During the interview, the suspect gave the detective information about the location of the body.
Second-degree homicide is punishable by up to life in prison.
Both Ballard and Livingston are scheduled to be sentenced on June 6.
Multiple unlocked vehicles were entered over the weekend, which has led Midland Police to remind residents to take valuables inside and lock their car doors.
The majority of larceny from auto cases involve unlocked vehicles, and the warmer weather months often lead to more incidents with more people out and about, police said. Police said over the weekend, the unlocked vehicles were rifled through but nothing was stolen.
BHK lawmaker to Serzh Sargsyan: We shall have nothing left if we lose little by little (video)
In an interview with Armenian journalists on board his presidential jet whiling returning to Yerevan from Vienna, Serzh Sargsyan said we lost only some 800 hectares of land in the April 2-5 hostilities in Karabakh, while the total security zone held by Karabakh forces is 800,000 hectares. Vahram Baghdasaryan, Head of the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), says there is no need to return the 800 hectares of land. Each human loss is important for us and I do not think that those 800 hectares are worth new losses, Mr Baghdasaryan said on Wednesday. The republican lawmaker is not particularly concerned about the lost 800 hectares of land though he is well aware that many Armenian soldiers were killed in the April skirmishes for those territories. 800 hectares of land is nothing compared with the 800,000 hectares of land. This area does not have any strategic importance, Mr Baghdasaryan added. Unlike the HHK lawmaker, Vahagn Makhsudyan from the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) says Armenia lost from the very beginning: we failed to foresee the attack and lost 800 hectares of land. We received reports that Azerbaijan was amassing weapons and troops along sectors of the frontline. Why didnt we take out our tanks against the enemys tanks? Mr Makhsudyan said. The lawmaker says neither Armenia nor Nagorno-Karabakh was prepared for Azerbaijans aggression but we need not suffer from the loss of 800 hectares. We may lose or acquire new territories but we should think of returning those 800 hectares, the BHK lawmaker said. The lawmaker knows that Serzh Sargsyan also spoke about respecting truce and the need to avoid a war and losses. He said we need not try to return the territories lost in the four-day war at the cost of new victims. However, the lawmaker disagrees with Sargsyan and says, We shall have nothing left if we lose little by little. Mr Makhsudyan adds that we should fight for every inch of land.
Law enforcement officers arrested 563 motorists for drunk driving during the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over crackdown March 16 to April 4. Of those arrested, 102 were charged under the states high blood alcohol law with a BAC of .17 or higher.
Long before a driver feels drunk or even acts drunk, the skills and abilities needed to operate a vehicle safely can be impaired, Michael L. Prince, director of the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning, stated in a media release. A drunk or drugged driver may be unable to make the split-second decision necessary for preventing a traffic crash. Even a slight delay can mean the difference between life and death.
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department.
Sunday, May 15
5:01 a.m. A motorist was arrested at North Saginaw Road and Campau Drive for driving on a suspended license.
11:42 a.m. Deputies were sent to a mobile home in Lincoln Township for an argument between a woman, 74, and her daughter-in-law, 53, about residency. Neither woman would stop arguing, and deputies sternly advised there be no physical violence. Both women are going to file eviction orders against the other.
12:09 p.m. A Mount Haley Township man, 27, was arrested after deputies responded to a report of a stolen vehicle.
12:40 p.m. Deputies were sent to assist paramedics at a Lee Township home with a 49-year-old woman who was experiencing mental health problems. The woman was taken to the emergency room for a mental health evaluation.
6 p.m. Police made an arrest for marijuana possession in the 4800 block of Inglewood Drive.
8:40 p.m. A motorist was arrested at Cronkright and Buttles streets for driving on a suspended license.
9:06 p.m. Gasoline, valued at $28.14, was stolen from a Warren Township gas station.
10:02 p.m. A deputy assisted Jerome Township firefighters when a 47-year-old woman reported a fire under her pickup truck. The deputy and fire chief used extinguishers to douse the flames.
Saturday, May 14
3:38 a.m. Deputies were sent to a Mount Haley Township bar for a report of a suspicious vehicle. A man was sleeping inside the vehicle because he could not drive home. The man was given a ride home.
5:35 a.m. A deputy was sent to a Coleman home for a report of a disorderly 14-year-old boy. The boy was taken to the emergency room for a mental health evaluation.
7:18 a.m. Property in the 4000 block of Whiting Drive was damaged.
10:03 a.m. Officers investigated a hit and run crash in the 1800 block of South Saginaw Road.
11:13 a.m. A St. Louis man, 48, was arrested in Edenville Township for driving while his license was suspended.
6:14 p.m. Police were called to assist paramedics in the 1400 block of Ashman Street, and made arrests for marijuana possession and on a warrant.
8:10 p.m. A deputy was called to wooded land in Mills Township by a bicyclist who found items that he thought might be related to the production of methamphetamine. The items were deemed to be trash.
8:23 p.m. Officers were called to an assault in the 5200 block of Hedgewood Drive.
10:42 p.m. A Sanford man, 45, was arrested in the Village of Sanford for disorderly conduct. He was taken to the emergency room for an evaluation due to his high level of intoxication before going to the jail.
Friday, May 13
8:43 a.m. Police assisted probation agents in the 200 block of West Ellsworth Street.
9:26 a.m. A deputy was called to a Jerome Township mobile home park for a report of a fight involving multiple children at a bus stop.
3:29 p.m. A Homer Township woman, 30, reported charges of $1,422.44 on her check card. The woman was reimbursed by her financial institution. There are no suspects.
6:19 p.m. Police made an arrest for marijuana possession in the 1800 block of South Saginaw Road.
7:50 p.m. A piece of fencing was stolen from a Lee Township home.
8:41 p.m. A motorist was arrested at Waldo Avenue and Contractors Court for driving on a suspended license.
10:18 p.m. A deputy was sent to U.S. 10 and M-18 for a report of a man suffering from dementia who was driving. The vehicle was not found.
10:33 p.m. A deputy was sent to U.S. 10 and Hope Road for a report of a reckless driver. The driver was not found.
10:46 p.m. Officers investigated a hit and run traffic crash in the 300 block of Jerome Street.
11:36 p.m. A deputy stopped a vehicle in Homer Township after a report of a drunken driver. Substance abuse was not a factor in the persons driving.
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KADENA AIR BASE, Japan -- Does it matter if a wrench is used at 69 or 89 degrees Fahrenheit?
To the Airmen of the 18th Component Maintenance Squadron precision measurement equipment laboratory, it does; it's the difference between mission success and mission failure. By calibrating and repairing measurement and diagnostic equipment, the shop's mission is to provide customers with reliable, safe and accurate equipment that meets or exceeds expectations.
"The test, measurement and diagnostic equipment troops support more than 10,000 different types of equipment such as spectrum analyzers, torque wrenches and pressure gauges by thoroughly fine-tuning them to meet the four criteria of safety, accuracy, reliability and traceability," said Staff Sgt. Benjamin Harvey, 18th CMS TMDE element supervisor.
The 18th CMS's TMDE calibrates the equipment used on base, for other PMEL shops and agencies throughout the entire Pacific, and is one of only two shops of its kind in the Pacific Air Forces' area of responsibility.
"Calibration is very important to the mission," Harvey said. "If none of this equipment gets looked at, to see how it actually is, then we have no idea of what our aircraft can actually do. For example with weapon alignment, the pilot could be ready for a kill shot and they would miss, putting our guys in harm's way."
The laboratory has a high standard for calibration, explained Harvey. Each piece of equipment used to calibrate something has to be four times more accurate than what it's calibrating to ensure traceability. It can take anywhere from 15 minutes to one week to calibrate an object.
"When it comes to PMEL we have a standard humidity and a standard temperature for all the equipment," said Senior Master Sgt. Brandon Kirkham, 18th CMS TMDE flight chief. "We know every time it comes in we have eliminated the variable of temperature effects on the operation."
According to Kirkham, when a piece of equipment is operating outside, say at 69 degrees Fahrenheit, it may operate differently than if it's at 89 degrees Fahrenheit.
"The issue is, when we are calibrating equipment we have to put it in ideal conditions so we can verify its accuracy in the best conditions," Kirkham said. "The user equipment conditions may vary; however, once it comes into a laboratory we want to eliminate as many variables as possible."
Kirkham said standards are not only set for the tools calibrated but also for the technicians using them.
"The challenge for being in a flight like this is maintaining all of the qualifications to support the wide variety of operations," Kirkham said. "There are approximately 600 items that need to be signed off on our training records to be considered proficient at our jobs."
Once upgrade training for each skill level is completed, technicians then have qualification training that has to be almost micromanaged to ensure there is more than one person who is able to perform the task.
"If they want to go on leave or there's an emergency, we have someone else who is able to step in and perform the operation," Kirkham stressed. "We can't have a single point of failure throughout the more than 3,000 types of equipment we operate."
Everything calibrated by the 18th CMS's TMDE flight is vital to Kadena's mission; from gauges used to measure the water pressure of a fire hydrant to wrenches used on an F-15 Eagle.
"When it comes to any test or measurement we are the center point for that," Kirkham said. "Our job is important for equipment safety, weapons accuracy, reliability of equipment and traceability. We set the standard."
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan -- The purpose of the U.S. military on Okinawa is clear: strengthen regional alliances, protect the Okinawan populace from potential threats and defend the U.S. and allied nations' interests in the area.
To better support that role, the U.S. Army and Air Force on Kadena Air Base teamed up for a few hours in the swelteringly humid morning air here for a first-ever joint decontamination training for personnel and military vehicles May 12.
Dressed head-to-toe in full mission oriented protective posture, or MOPP gear, the two forces worked together to demonstrate one another's techniques and processes and formulate plans for potential real-world response to chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attacks.
"We're getting with the 18th Wing's CBRN response unit and doing a collaboration of decontamination methods," said Army Sgt. Jackie Dozier, 1-1 Air Defense Artillery Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion CBRN specialist. "We're taking our HHB decon team and actually conducting vehicle decon while the Air Force conducts personal decon. It's basically to see each other's capabilities and be able to show that we can rely on each other."
Dozier explained that his unit, though small in comparison to the number of Airmen on the installation typically handles both personnel and vehicle decontamination, while the Air Force on Kadena has multiple units to handle the different tasks.
This allows the Army to rely more heavily on the Air Force here to handle contaminated personnel to ensure the Patriot Missile batteries and the Soldiers involved can respond more quickly and efficiently to incoming threats.
"Decon training isn't just a yearly training; it's a continuous aspect," Dozier said. "We're not like the Air Force. They have a dedicated (Contamination Control Area) team. We have to pull from our personnel section, our mechanics, our battalion assets ... so we have to continuously train because that's not their specialty."
Because proficiency requires constant exposure, Staff Sgt. James Baker, 18th Civil Engineer Squadron training NCO in charge of the Readiness and Emergency Management Flight, first formulated the decontamination training in 2015.
According to Baker, the drill was worth the months of planning.
"Hope for the best but prepare for the worst," Baker said. "I feel like a lot of people settle into the exercise way of thinking, so I tried to think in terms of reality. At the end of the day, if something were to happen, we may have to rely on each other pretty heavily because we may not be able to receive help from anyone else outside of Okinawa."
Baker said he hopes to continue the joint exposure in the near future.
"I hope this training happens again in the future," he said. "There have already been discussions between both sides' leadership elements in order to continue joint training down the road to better integrate and incorporate those ideas into joint operations. That way both sides get a deeper understanding of each other's operations in a CBRN environment."
Baker explained that the two units are collaborating to potentially attend one another's service-specific CBRN training courses as well to further the interoperability between the branches.
"It's good training for our guys because they're getting to work with the Air Force, and not a lot of people get to do that," Dozier said. "I always push for joint training because you don't get to do this. It creates a more professional environment."
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Naval District Washington commemorated the arrival of the first Japanese Embassy to the United States in May 14, 1860 by hosting a plaque dedication and unveiling ceremony at the Washington Navy Yard, May 13.
The plaque, now permanently displayed in Willard Park in the Washington Navy Yard, was donated by the Society of Descendants of the First Japanese Embassy.
More than 100 guests from the Society of Dependents of the First Japanese Embassy to the United States of America, 1860 Inc.; Japan America Society of Washington; prominent Japanese Americans and government employees working at the Washington Navy Yard attended to witness the historic ceremony.
Distinguished guests included former United States Secretary of Transportation, Norman Mineta; Deputy Chief of Mission, Atsuyuki Oike of the Embassy of Japan; and Commandant, Naval District Washington Rear Adm. Yancy Lindsey.
Lindsey welcomed guests in attendance while addressing the crowd during his opening speech and spoke about the efforts to make the ceremony and the plaque a reality for Takashi Muragaki.
"For over a year Mr. Muragaki has steadfastly shepherded the effort to put in this special place a fitting reminder of the historic event that we're celebrating today," said Lindsey. "Mr. Muragaki, we're inspired by your dedication and your loyalty to the memory and legacy of your ancestors. It's been a pleasure to work with you throughout these past several months. Your kindness, consistency and patience epitomize the diplomatic charisma demonstrated in this place by your ancestor so many years ago."
Muragaki is chairman of the Society of Descendants of the First Japanese Embassy and a fourth generation descendant of Vice Ambassador, Norimasa Awajinokami Muragaki. He thanked Naval District Washington for bringing the plaque dedication ceremony to fruition.
"With sincere gratitude and joy I welcome you to the plaque unveiling ceremony commemorating the historic arrival of the First Japanese Embassy to the United States of America in 1860," said Muragaki. "Tomorrow marks the 156th anniversary of this historic event."
Japan's first diplomatic trip to the United States occurred May 14, 1860, when the steamer Philadelphia brought the first Japanese delegation to Washington, D.C. Three Japanese Ambassadors, including Norimasa Awajinokami Muragaki, were received at the Washington Navy Yard.
According to Muragaki, his ancestor participated in establishing the first solid bond of friendship between the two nations 156 years ago.
"Today the shared history between the United States and Japan continues," said Muragaki. "This plaque presentation culminates collaboration with honored attendees of both countries."
The ceremony culminated with the unveiling of the plaque which reads: "In commemoration of the arrival of the First Japanese embassy to the United States of America at the Washington Navy Yard on the 14th day of May 1860. We honor and remember the first historic visit of 77 Japanese members of the Edo government of Japan and the long-lasting friendship between the United States of America and Japan. Presented this 13th day of May 2016 to the Unites States Navy by the Society of Descendants of the First Japanese Embassy to the United States of America 1860."
YEONCHEON, South Korea -- Less than six miles from the Demilitarized Zone that separates North and South Korea, the 30 U.S. and South Korean heavy artillery vehicles lined up, May 10, were the largest coordinated artillery fires many had seen.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, participated in a live fire exercise with Republic of Korea Army soldiers from several battalions of the 26th Mechanized Infantry Division Artillery.
In six M109A6 Paladins, U.S. Soldiers fired with ROK soldiers in 24 heavy artillery vehicles -- the K55A1 155 mm self-propelled howitzer, and the K9 Thunder 155 mm self-propelled howitzer. A total of 30 "guns" occupied the firing point and simultaneously engaged targets in the St. Barbara's impact area approximately six kilometers away.
For most Soldiers in 1-82 FA, it was the largest artillery live fire they had ever witnessed.
"It definitely caught me off guard," said 1st Lt. Robert Kurz, Combat Observation and Lasing Team platoon leader. "I've never seen more than one battery (six guns) engage a target at one time. The ROK Army's ability to mass fires is impressive."
Both U.S. and South Korean observers called in fire missions, where all guns engaged a single target, and with all rounds within a battery impacting nearly simultaneously.
The exercise was the culmination of more than a month's worth of planning between U.S. and South Korean Soldiers, and critically important to the U.S. artillery mission in the Korean Peninsula.
"Partnership is important, especially here in Korea, because we will be fighting as a multinational coalition," said Lt. Col. Douglas Hayes, commander, 1-82 FA. "It's important to rehearse on multiple levels so we understand how we will fight."
For the Korean artillerymen involved in the exercise, the exercise reinforces joint fires and the ability of U.S. and ROK forces to "Fight Tonight."
"By having an exercise together with U.S. Army, not only can we reduce trial-and-errors, but also we can react to the situation promptly during war-time combined operations," said Lt. Col. Jong Hwa Jung, commander of the 228th Field Artillery Battalion.
It was the second major exercise with U.S. counterparts, and they plan to continue the joint exercises -- they partnered with 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division last year.
Around age 25, I realized I loved tacos more than any other food. I'd like to believe that the innate glory of the taco revealed itself to me, like some kind of divine tortilla-wrapped vision, and that a couple of trips to Mexico broadened my horizons. But who really knows.
Eight years and a literal thousand nights of tacos later, I've come up with some helpful tricks to improve your taco game at home. Because all most people want is to eat better tacos more often, right?
First, a strict definition: tacos equals tortilla + filling + salsa. Any so-called taco missing one of these components is a fraud.
Tacos are temporal. Eat them immediately.
Tacos taste better standing up. I don't know why.
Don't let inflexible ideas of authenticity get in the way of deliciousness.
OK, let's break this down:
Tortillas
Tortillas are the soul of the taco. You can't have a great taco with a terrible tortilla.
In a battle of sturdiness, flour tortillas beat corn tortillas every time. Use flour tortillas for larger, messier tacos.
The slight structural deficiency of corn tortillas pales in comparison to the superior flavor and fragrance they lend to each bite. I use corn tortillas 99 percent of the time.
Corn tortillas are simple to make at home, but frustratingly hard to master. Feel no shame in purchasing top-quality corn tortillas for most of your taco needs. Buy them the same day you plan to use them.
Warm corn tortillas until soft, supple and fragrant. Place tortillas in a heavy skillet set over medium-high until you notice steam wafting off. Flip and wait until you spot steam again. At this point, the tortilla should be very soft. If not, continue heating for a few more seconds. Wrap warmed tortillas in a towel when done, and let them hang out for a few minutes to further steam.
Heating tortillas on top of the grate over an open flame of a gas stove is also a great idea.
One tortilla is usually enough. Some saucier taco fillings will soak through one, thus requiring two, but there is nothing automatically better about doubling up. If anything, two tortillas make it harder to appreciate the filling.
Fillings
Free your mind of what constitutes a taco filling.
Veggie tacos are a thing, and they are exceptional. If I can advance one, ahem, opinion here, it is that vegetables make incredible taco fillings.
Great vegetables for tacos: zucchini, mushrooms, kale, squash blossoms, potatoes, Swiss chard, huitlacoche (a prized corn fungus), refried black beans, poblanos, butternut squash and pumpkin.
I love griddled steak tacos, too, but you can braise beef shoulder for barbacoa or cure round for cecina. Heck, you can eat tongue, intestines, brains and all kinds of other fun parts of the cow. And that's just one kind of animal!
Chorizo is the bacon of the taco world; it makes everything taste better, but it needs a partner. A taco with only chorizo is like a cake made entirely out of frosting.
Grilled fish tacos are almost always mushy. Fried fish tacos are great but messy to make on a weeknight. Don't forget about shrimp tacos.
Adding rice is almost always a terrible idea.
Salsa
Salsa isn't optional. Salsa separates tacos from wraps and other tepid creations.
Salsa requires chilies. Chilies bring excitement and vibrancy to our dull, drab lives.
Make roasted tomatillo salsa. I've got nothing against fresh pico de gallo (made with plump summer tomatoes, of course), but tomatillo salsa is what I usually make, because it's acidic and flavorful, and tomatillos are available year-round.
The broiler and blender are your best salsa friends. If you want to go hardcore authentic, you could toast all the ingredients on a comal and then grind them by hand using a stone molcajete. Or you could replicate this process in a 10th of the time by broiling the vegetables and then processing them in a blender.
You can combine salsa and the filling into one dish. If you braise chicken and tomatillos together (which you should), there's no need to waste time making a completely different salsa.
Guacamole counts as a salsa.
Most canned salsas suck. Rick Bayless' Frontera brand does not.
Hot sauce is different from salsa. Its main purpose is to add a final flash of intense heat, which is quite convenient if you're serving tacos to a group of people with varying levels of spice tolerance.
Quick and biased hot-sauce guide: Valencia > Cholula > El Yucateco > Tapatio > Tabasco
Taco construction
Small tacos are usually better than large tacos. It's tempting to stuff each tortilla with as much as possible, but always consider proportion. You want to get a bite with all the components, which is hard if you can barely fold the tortilla over the mass of fillings and toppings. Better to make a slim and satisfying taco, and eat more of them.
Additional toppings are completely optional but can separate a good taco from an exceptional one.
Great toppings: pickled red onions, pickled jalapenos, shredded cabbage, radishes, queso fresco.
Boring toppings: lettuce, chopped tomatoes, pre-shredded "Mexican" cheese, canned black olives.
Chopped white onions and cilantro are great toppings but unnecessary if you've included both in your salsa.
Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
Makes about 1 cup
8 ounces tomatillos, husked, rinsed
1 to 2 serrano chilies
2 cloves garlic, unpeeled
teaspoon salt
1 handful fresh cilantro, chopped
white onion, chopped
Place tomatillos, serranos and garlic cloves on a foil-lined baking sheet. Cover garlic with an additional layer of foil. Place under a hot broiler and cook until tomatillos are blackened on top, about 6 minutes. Flip tomatillos and serranos; blacken on the other side, about 5 minutes. Remove baking sheet from oven; allow everything to cool. Stem serranos and peel garlic. Transfer tomatillos, serranos garlic and salt to a blender. Process until almost smooth. Taste, and season with more salt if necessary. Transfer to a bowl; stir in cilantro and onion.
Zucchini, Chorizo and Almond Tacos
Makes 12 tacos
8 ounces fresh Mexican chorizo
1 large white onion, sliced
1 pound zucchini, ends trimmed, thinly sliced crosswise
2 cloves garlic, minced
teaspoon ground cinnamon
teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and pepper
cup slivered almonds
12 corn tortillas
1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
3 limes, quartered
Roasted tomatillo salsa, see recipe
Add chorizo and onion to a large skillet set over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft and translucent and chorizo is starting to brown, 8-10 minutes. Add zucchini, garlic, cinnamon and cumin; stir well. Cook, stirring often, until zucchini softens, about 5 minutes. Taste, and season with salt, if necessary -- usually about teaspoon -- and pepper to taste.
Meanwhile, toast almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until lightly browned, 3-5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add a tortilla; warm until you notice steam rising off, 5-10 seconds. Flip and warm until very soft, another 10 seconds. Wrap in a towel and repeat with remaining tortillas.
SPRINGFIELD Following the Illinois Senates passage of a Democratic plan to overhaul the states school funding formula, a Republican lawmaker whos been critical of that proposal has presented his colleagues with a potential path to compromise.
Sen. Jason Barickman of Bloomington sent a letter to members of the General Assembly on Tuesday laying out a plan to merge some aspects of the Senate Democrats proposal, sponsored by Sen. Andy Manar of Bunker Hill, with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauners call to fully fund elementary and secondary schools next year under the existing formula that nearly everyone acknowledges does a poor job of getting state funding to districts that need it most.
Barickman said his plan could serve as a bridge to the evidenced-based funding model he and members of the education community have been calling for, something he thinks could be in place by the 2017-18 school year. That model would use measures such as class sizes and the number of students who require special education services to determine how much money each district receives.
My goal is to provide a path forward that I believe helps solve a problem and can generate bipartisan support, Barickman said Wednesday.
A main Democratic criticism of Rauners proposal to fund the foundation level set by the current formula $6,119 per student has been that many districts with high poverty rates and low property values would see their state funding drop. Manars plan is designed to funnel more state money to many of those districts.
We should acknowledge that fully funding the foundation level underscores the need to reform the existing formula, Barickman wrote to his fellow lawmakers.
He recommends drawing on Manars bill and other legislation to provide additional money to districts that would lose funding under Rauners budget proposal, thereby lifting them to a funding level otherwise not achievable through the current formula.
Barickman acknowledged that would take more money than the $55 million increase proposed by Rauner.
An aspect of Manars plan that has drawn the ire of Republicans, including Barickman, is a proposal to have the state pick up the tab for the employer portion of Chicago Public Schools teacher pensions, something it does for every other school district.
Barickman said that issue should be addressed separately, pointing out that in the past, House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, has supported shifting responsibility for teachers pensions from the state to local school districts.
Manar, who also supports the evidence-based model and included provisions in his bill to shift the state in that direction, said Barickmans written commitment helps bring us closer to a solution.
The question then becomes where we start from in terms of funding levels, Manar said. And we cant start from where we are today.
Meanwhile, House Democrats are working on their own school funding plan that could be filed this week.
House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, who chaired a task force on education funding, said she appreciated Barickmans letter.
He clearly makes a distinction between what we might do today and what our long-range plan might be, which I think is reasonable, Currie said. But I would be happier if we included more of a long-range (plan) in whatever it is we do this year.
BLOOMINGTON The city can save nearly $10 million in health insurance costs over the next five years by joining the Intergovernmental Personnel Benefits Cooperative, the City Council was told this week.
About 102 municipalities statewide are members of the intergovernmental, self-insured health benefit program that promises savings by spreading the risk over a larger pool of covered employees and limiting the impact of catastrophic claims.
The city, which now offers a self-funded PPO plan, a Health Alliance HMO plan and a union-administered plan for police officers, has until July to make a decision on joining the IPBC and dropping Health Alliance. The city now pays about $8.3 million for health insurance.
"We are not a typical health benefit plan. We are member-driven organization," the group's executive director Dave Cook, told the City Council.
"We are a $240 million organization and have over $120 million in reserves currently," he said. "That money is the members' money that they have put on bank with the organization."
Gregg Aleman, who is with the city's benefits consultant, Itasca-based Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., also spoke to the council Monday.
"This game-change could mean as much as $9.9 million to the city over the next five years," he said.
City Manager David Hales said the city staff wanted the council to hear specifics about the organization because "we're always looking at ways to reduce costs and expenses to the city."
Hales said he sees two "significant attributes" to the organization: "strength in numbers" and flexibility in designing health plans.
"The reason why nobody leaves the pool is ... because we keep your insurance self-funded, which allows you to make plan design changes as you see fit," Aleman said. "We create a different risk model that finance directors like because it keeps everything budgetable, stable and predictable.
"We turn catastrophic events into a fixed cost shared by everyone inside the pool."
Ward 9 Alderman Jim Fruin noted that few municipalities south of Interstate 80 are IBPC members.
"There's a very significant concentration in the (Chicago) suburbs," he said.
Aleman said IBPC is working to add more downstate municipalities.
"I just feel like maybe we ought to look at some comparables," said Ward 1 Alderman Keven Lower. "I'm sure you stack up, but I think we should look around first before we make a decision."
Hales said city staff will evaluate whether there are disadvantages by joining IPBC and discontinuing Health Alliance.
IPBC also could handle dental and life insurance.
Hales gave no specific date for when a final recommendation might be brought to the council.
BLOOMINGTON Central Illinoisans filled grocery bags on Saturday and, in doing so, are filling food pantries this week.
About 83,000 pounds of non-perishable food were collected in the Bloomington-Normal area by Branch 522 of the National Association of Letter Carriers, Branch 522 food drive coordinator Kim Marshall said on Tuesday.
The occasion was the 24th annual National Association of Letter Carriers' Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. Letter carriers collected bags of food left by residents at their mail boxes.
This week, representatives of 18 Bloomington-Normal food pantries are picking up the food that has been stored at Midwest Food Bank. Food collected in the area, but outside the Twin Cities, is going to the nearest food bank.
Pat Turner of Center for Hope Food Pantry Network, one of the 18 Bloomington-Normal food pantries, said the timing of the drive is perfect because demand on food pantries increases during summer when students are out of school and not getting daily school lunches.
"I appreciate all the communities in Central Illinois stepping up to help their neighbors," said Marshall, a Bloomington letter carrier.
Last year's drive collected a record-high 83,585 pounds. While she doesn't have this year's final numbers yet, Marshall estimates this year's total will be 83,000 pounds.
Included in that total is 60,000 pounds from Bloomington-Normal. While that's less than last year's 63,000 pounds, Marshall said the number of donated items was higher, meaning more people were donating lighter-weight boxed foods.
Donations also were higher this year in many area communities, including Pontiac, where residents donated 8,300 pounds of food, Marshall said.
NORMAL We are here to make a difference, not to make excuses.
"People find excuses as to why they don't assert themselves," Carolynn Brooks said.
Instead of focusing on their limitations, everyone should push through their limitations while focusing on their gifts, she said.
Brooks' career has focused on empowering a broad spectrum of individuals and emerging leaders to push through their perceived limitations and embrace their strengths to make the world a better place.
She was the keynote speaker at Tuesday night's YWCA McLean County Women of Distinction awards banquet, which was attended by more than 550 people, at the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in Normal. She spoke with The Pantagraph before her address.
Brooks heads her own company, Atlanta, Ga.-based KEYS4Empowerment, which is working to mentor women and the disenfranchised in the corporate and not-for-profit sectors. Previously, she was vice president and chief diversity officer for OfficeMax in Chicago.
Brooks said she advises young people and anyone who is struggling to "find your purpose and find your passion."
"Tap into the natural gifts that God has given you," said Brooks, who has received numerous awards for her diversity and inclusion work. "We all come here loaded with gifts and talents."
By finding, embracing and using those gifts, we can find our passion, she said.
For example, Brooks said she was an introvert who was self-conscious about her deep voice. But she discovered that her strong voice was a gift that she needed to use.
While developing our strengths, we also need to push through our limitations. For example, Brooks has mentored young African-Americans who were self-conscious about their manner of speech and people with disabilities who focused on what they couldn't do.
"Understand who you are and what you bring to the table," she advised. "Know yourself."
"People find excuses to not assert themselves" and sometimes blame others, Brooks said. So she works with people on how to be appropriately assertive, how to carry themselves and have good posture and how to speak out clearly but kindly, respectfully and intelligently.
"My mother used to say 'Hold your head erect and you'll command all men's respect,'" she said. "If people are intimidated, it's their issue, not yours."
Brooks said her message to people is, "Move boldly into the future."
Embracing a bold, diverse, inclusive workforce makes sense for businesses because what results will be diverse, new ideas.
That's good for the businesses, their employees and communities, Brooks said.
"You can change the world."
For our winter issue, we gave ourselves one assignment: Break The Internet. There is no other person that we can think of who is up to the task than one Kim Kardashian West. A pop culture fascination able to generate headlines just by leaving her house, Kim is what makes the web tick.We tapped legendary French photographer Jean-Paul Goude to recreate his iconic " Champagne Incident " shot (an image also known asfor the name of the model and the location in which it was taken) and all we can say about the images inside, which we'll be releasing this Thursday, is...
A school teacher, Mrs. Tonya Andrews, of Joshua High School in Texas was sharing her heartache to her students about her passing cat. Hence, after hearing their devastated math instructor's cries, her loving learners surprised her with a gift she will never forget.
Mrs. Tonya Andrews broke down in tears when she was telling her students her 16-year-old cat passed away. A student named Rachel Hanhart, along with her classmates, were moved on her professor's story and decided to give their teacher something that will cheer her up, as per Buzz Feed.
The students first thought of giving her flowers and sweets, but Rachel's mother had a much better idea. She looked for a new kitten ready for adoption that night that will replace Mrs. Tonya Andrews's deceased feline.
The next day, Rachel and her classmates shocked Mrs. Tonya Andrews with a bouquet of white flowers and cupcakes. The teacher looked very touched as she saw the kittens and, once again, burst into tears.
We surprised our teacher with kittens because her cat passed away yesterday pic.twitter.com/ozzwCJTVmj Rachel Hanhart (@ace040913) Mayo 6, 2016
In one moment, Mrs. Tonya Andrews even clapped her hands in astonishment while picking up one kitten and asking if it's indeed for her, according to Hello! Magazine. She, then, kissed and hugged her new pets and was very happy.
In spite of Mrs. Tonya Andrews's claim that she will get a new cat for herself over the weekend, the girls made sure they will get her a new cat before she did. Rachel, on the other hand, shared a video her surprise on her Twitter page.
"We surprised our teacher with kittens because her cat passed away yesterday," she captioned the clip. The tweet was now being retweeted for over 68,000 times.
Watch the full touching video below.
A man who has a brother with Down Syndrome defended his sibling on Facebook after the latter got a complaint about working in a kitchen restaurant. What the complaining party did not know is that the grievance was actually the owner of the restaurant owner.
US Weekly said someone lodged a complaint with the Tennessee Health Department about an "unauthorized" person working in the kitchen. The person was actually referring to Andrew Ankar, who had Down Syndrome since he was born.
However, Ankar is the registered owner of the Ankar's Hoagies restaurant in Chattanooga. His mother, Judy, mentioned in the same report that his son is very dedicated to his business and works 13 hours a day.
"He knows his customers by name and treats all of them like family," the mother added. "People come in looking for Andrew! If they don't see him, they ask, 'Where is he?'"
Andrew took over the restaurant after his dad, George, died in April because of esophageal cancer. He told US Weekly that he loved to work in the restaurant just like his father did when he was still alive.
The restaurant owner also received the support of his older brother Alex, who took to Facebook and defended his sibling. He claimed that the complaint against Andrew made him really furious.
"There are people in this world who don't have an ounce of kindness in their heart to appreciate what an amazing person he is," Alex said in his post. He noted that he is disgusted with the reality that many people still treat those with disabilities as "sub-human."
He added that he is awed with Andrew's capability to love almost every person he meets. Alex said his brother does not know how to hate even the people who have belittled him.
The older Ankar asked his readers to set differences aside and treat one another as equals. He said that if people will continue to put judgment on people like Andrew, they appear to be the "disabled" persons.
A car accident in Missouri last May 11 killed a pregnant woman but the baby she was carrying was miraculously saved. A crowdfunding page has also been started to pay for the medical needs of the baby girl and the memorial for her mother.
Fox News said Sarah Iler was on her way to the hospital with her husband, Matt Rider, when the SUV they were riding collided with a tanker truck on a Cape Girardeau highway. Sarah died on the spot but the responding medical team still took her to a nearby hospital to save the baby.
A healthy baby girl, named Maddyson, was delivered at the Saint Francis Medical Center through an emergency C-section. Maddyson was supported with a ventilator after birth but she is now reportedly breathing on her own.
Condition improving
According to Daily Mail, the baby was recently able to open her eyes and grab a finger of a nurse. Doctors, however, are still monitoring her condition as they suspect that she could suffer brain damage because of the lack of oxygen during the accident. Experts noted that it is still early to tell the extend of damage to the baby after the car crash.
It was noted in the Fox News report that the father lived but broke his limbs and ribs during the accident. He has also not seen his daughter because they were brought to different hospitals.
A GoFundMe page was started by Iler's sister Kaysea who claimed that Sarah did not have life insurance and they need around $9,000 for her funeral expenses and the hospital bills of Maddyson. The page, as of Monday, has raised more than $8,000 from 250 concerned individuals.
Click here to support Sarah's Memorial/Baby Fund by Kaysea Iler https://t.co/6pBScUAVcM cassie knight (@casnark) May 17, 2016
Kaysea also detailed in the page how excited her sister was to welcome her first baby. She said that Maddyson will surely be told about how a great person her mom was.
China's introduction of more stringent restrictions in the country's growing infant formula gray market is taking its toll to overseas companies. GrainCorp and Bellamy's are already reporting experiences on the effects of the crackdown on their businesses such as slow sales and halted deliveries of products to China.
High Demand For Foreign Milk Products
Since the milk scandal in 2008, Chinese consumers have established a preference for foreign brands of infant formula. Most of them come from Australia and New Zealand, sold via online websites and apps outside China through a personal shopper and then shipped to Chinese consumers. This drove the growth in the gray market, called "daigou," where infant formula is a top product, Bloomberg reported, citing Nielsen.
Stricter Rules
To cool down the daigou industry, China has introduced a new tax scheme that took effect last April 8. Under this regime, infant formula is taxed at a rate of 30 yuan per kilo, pushing the prices of the product up by 20 to 25 percent. Nonetheless, they are still cheaper than equivalent local Chinese formula products. The country has also imposed a limit on the volume of infant formula products that foreign firms can sell in mainland China.
Baby Food On Close Watch
As reported by China Daily, there have been recent arrests related to sales of fake infant formula carrying the brands "Similac" and "Beingmate." With that, the government is keeping a keen eye on baby food and supplementary food products, inspecting ingredients included in the powder as well as how they are being manufactured. So while the government's quashing of the gray market is having bad effects on the business side, parents and their children could benefit in a way. But not until they could put their trust again on local products.
A consumer that the Australian Financial Review has spoken to expressed her willingness to still deal with the new rules, despite the inconveniences. "Although it's a pain and takes a lot of time we have to buy it this way for the safety of the children," said Zhou Qi.
"Fifty Shades" trilogy readers, particularly young girls, have the potential to develop sexist behavior, a new research found. The new study made by Ohio State and Michigan State Universities revealed that the erotic novel made the female book lovers believe in sexism.
According to Independent.ie, 747 female university students aged 18-24 were examined and interviewed to answer 22 questions. The findings showed that 61 percent of women who had read at least one book from the "Fifty Shades" trilogy have "stronger ambivalent, hostile and benevolent sexist attitudes."
This is compared to the females who haven't read any book from "Fifty Shades" trilogy. In the study Sexist Attitudes Among Emerging Adult Women Readers of Fifty Shades Fiction, benevolent sexism means that the women should be guarded and cared for by men.
Never gets old #WHSmith #LHR A photo posted by E L James (@erikaljames) on May 16, 2016 at 8:52am PDT
Hostile sexism, on the other hand, signifies as an objectification. "Consistent with notions of benevolent sexism, Anastasia's complete fulfillment is not achieved without a heterosexual, monogamous romantic relationship," the study wrote, as per The Guardian.
The research is strongly pointing out that the "Fifty Shades" trilogy character, Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) is imposing that she has to please Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) for him not to leave her. She has a feeling that when he didn't give what he wants he will abandon her alone with no one to be around but her cats and novels.
Anastasia Steele lets Christian Grey to do whatever he wants and what he needs to be satisfied. Fusion added that the study has no intention to discredit "Fifty Shades" trilogy, but what it is trying to say is sexist media has a negative effect on women, which also coincides with other research.
The researchers' finding is in harmony with other experimental research and correlational studies. It only proves that there is a connection between the use of media sexism that carries the same concept like "Fifty Shades" trilogy that inflicting violence against women.
What can you say about the new findings of the effect of "Fifty Shades" trilogy to the young female readers? Share us your thoughts. Write your comments below.
The Los Angeles Unified School District has to pay $88 million settlement to resolve its sex abuse case against its two teachers as declared by the victims' lawyer on Monday. There were 30 students who were sexually exploited at Telfair Avenue Elementary School in Pacoima and George De La Torre Jr. Elementary School in Wilmington.
Worth Of Settlement For Each Victims
According to Yahoo! Finance, Manly, Stewart & Finaldi successfully ended the negotiation between the 30 young students' complaints against the Los Angeles Unified School District in February and March. The settlement is in favor of the child victims of sexual abuse in opposed to Paul Chapel III of TelFair Elementary School and Robert Pimental from George De La Torre Elementary School.
George De La Torre's 18 victims will receive a total of $58 million cause of damage while 12 of Paul Chapel III's casualties are set to have $30 million worth of settlement. Each of the victims will have about $3 million.
The Verdict
NBC Southern California added that the settlement came in the tail end of the verdict of Paul Chapel III on behalf of his two young victims of sexual exploitation in November 2015. He will be imprisoned for 25 years after demanding no oppose in 2012 in abusing 13 boys for four and a half year.
Robert Pimental, on the other hand, is going to be in a state prison term after insisting no question in accusation of lewd acts on a child. Unfortunately, this is not the first time the Los Angeles Unified School District faces sexual abuse allegations.
Does LAUSD Has Been Negligent?
The victims' lawyer, John C. Manly, revealed in a statement that the settlement happened because the Los Angeles Unified School District has been negligent. LAUSD is evidently disregarding complaints, warnings and reports that two of their teachers are abusing their students.
The Los Angeles Unified School District's officials remain to be silent about the issue, but LAUSD's senior attorney, Greg McNair, told Los Angeles Times, via Los Angeles Daily News, that they are "turning the corner." "We're glad that we're able to resolve both of these cases so we can avoid painful litigation and put these cases behind us," he said.
What do you think of the Los Angeles Unified School District settlement? Share us your thoughts. Write your comments below.
An education fund for child refugees will be launched next week at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey. United Nations (UN) Special Envoy for Education Gordon Brown made the announcement to reporters in the UN Headquarters in New York.
The fund for child refugees is dubbed Education Cannot Wait. Brown said it seeks to aid 20 million child refugees who have been forced out of school. Child refugees today are members of "the largest population of displaced girls and boy since 1945," Brown said, as per the UN.
The @UN will fund education for refugee children. We take a look ahead of official launch. https://t.co/mgfiqsyX1K pic.twitter.com/p9xLfefQhg EducationHQ NZ (@EducationHQ_NZ) May 17, 2016
Child Refugee Education Fund To Raise Almost $4B in Five Years
According to the UN, the immediate aim will be to raise $3.85 billion for child refugees over the next five years. The education initiative also seeks to find 100 major donors from global agencies, businesses and philanthropic organizations to aid child refugees. The UN eventually seeks "to transform humanitarian aid for the future" through Education Cannot Wait.
The education fund for child refugees has been planned for three years, according to ABC News. It was brought about by the Syrian refugee crisis but the funds are for child refugees all over the world.
Child Refugees Broken Without Hope - Brown
Brown, according to Deutsche Welle, said that the lack of hope is something that breaks the lives of the child refugees. "[It is] the soul crushing certainty that there is nothing to plan or prepare for, not even a place in school," said Brown.
Brown said Syrians would possibly choose to stay close to their war-torn region instead of undergoing a dangerous journey to Europe is they had assurance that their children can study in Syria. Brown said that if no help is given to the children, they could become "a lost generation."
Would you like to be part of this new education initiative for child refugees? Share your thoughts below.
Poor schools need more funding than their rich counterparts. However, schools in rich districts receive more money from the state and local sources than the poor ones that need the funding the most.
The U.S. Department of Education has proposed a rule that would oblige local school districts to give equal funding to both rich and poor schools. The Education Department's decision comes after the U.S. Congress finished reviewing the omnibus federal education law called the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA, the New York Times wrote.
School Districts Failing To Provide Equal Funding
U.S. districts with high rates of impoverished children receive $1,200 less per student from state and local sources than rich districts. In accordance with the 50-year-old ESEA's Title I, local school districts receive federal grants based on the number of low-income students enrolled in a school. The law also requires districts to spend majority of the federal money in areas where it is most needed and where children face additional barriers to their education.
Administrators in local districts were discriminating against minority students. This is why lawmakers are worried that districts would practice a shell game and divert funds for poor schools into rich ones, the New York Times further reported.
In 1970, Congress amended ESEA and required districts to spend Title I funding on additional education for poor students. That money serves as supplementary funding aside from what the students receive from other sources.
Issues Affecting School Funding In The US
U.S. school funding comes from three sources: 45 percent local money, 45 percent from the state and 10 percent from federal, the NPR reported. Marguerite Roza, a scholar from Georgetown University, said numerous districts spend a third less per student in poor schools. There are many reasons behind this issue like affluent parents swaying budget allocations, the New York Times noted.
The problem is also due to teachers' salary based on longevity. Teachers have the tendency to flock in rich schools because of this. As a result, only novice and badly compensated teachers remain in poor schools.
Texas Supreme Court Funding
Texas is one of the states in the U.S. that struggle with school funding. Just recently, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the state's public school districts will continue to use the current public education funding system. According to the court, the state meets minimum constitutional requirements despite its notable flaws, BusinessWire reported.
In 2014, a district judge ruled Texas' system as unconstitutional, inefficient, inequitable and underfunded. The state's legislature slashed almost $5.5 billion in school funding in 2011, Chron wrote.
Victoria's Secret Angel Candice Swanepoel is excited to welcome her baby soon especially now that she has confirmed the gender of her bundle of blessing. The 27-year-old model said she is also looking forward to the bonding and friendship that her baby and the child that fellow model Behati Prinsloo is expecting.
In an Instagram photo she recently posted, Swanepoel said she will give birth to a baby boy. The half nude photograph that revealed her big baby bump came with the caption "My Not so little boy," along with a baby boy and a blue heart emoji.
A photo posted by Candice Swanepoel (@angelcandices) on May 17, 2016 at 9:44am PDT
According to US Weekly, the model is very much looking forward to her first child with fiance and Brazilian model Hermann Nicoli. They were engaged last year after about a decade of dating.
Swanepoel earlier said that she was not sure of getting married and noted that she already feels married to her longtime boyfriend. "10 years is kind of a marriage, so I don't really need papers to tell me that," she mentioned in a Daily Mail report.
In August last year, the couple announced their engagement followed by the news in March that they are expecting their first child. The Victoria's Secret angel has expressed her desire to have children and start a family. She also noted that she has given her full commitment to Nicoli.
Swanepoel is also ecstatic to be sharing the same feeling with fellow Angel, Behati. "She's so excited to be expecting at the same time as Behati," a US Weekly source said. Candice also shared a photo on Instagram last Mothers' Day noting that she and Behati are now "almost moms."
Another source told E! News that this excitement is fueled by the fact that the two Victoria's Secret angels have been best friends and their pregnancy due are not far from each other. It is also their first time to expect babies and they just cannot wait to become mothers soon.
There is much excitement over Disney and Lucasfilm's 2016 release "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," and now it looks like more details have been uncovered about the Star Wars prequel. A German website has just come across a book that reveals the names of Felicity Jones' Jyn Erso Rebel crew, the truth about those black stormtroopers and Darth Vader's highly-anticipated cameo in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story!"
The "Rogue One" Visual Story Guide
Jedi-Bibliotek, a German website that specializes in everything Star Wars, shared some pages from the book "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story: The Official Visual Story Guide." The pages list the names of the Rebel crew that accompanies Jyn Erso on her mission. Diego Luna plays the Rebel Alliance officer Captain Cassian Andor while Donnie Yen is the spiritual warrior Chirrut. Riz Ahmed will portray the Rebel soldier Bodhi and Jiang Wen is the freelance assassin Baze. The crew also includes two alien warriors named Bistan and Pao, however the names of the actors who will play them were unlisted (via Jedi News).
ICYMI: New Rogue One character info reveals who Alan Tudyk (and everyone else) is playing https://t.co/PGBuAvrPEq pic.twitter.com/BRif4vJF94 The A.V. Club (@TheAVClub) May 18, 2016
The "Rogue One" Visual Story Guide also confirmed the name of the droid seen in the "Rogue One" trailer as K-250. The droid, which could be played and voiced by Alan Tudyk, is revealed to be a former Imperial droid that may have been reprogrammed by the Rebels.
The Black Stormtroopers Have The Perfect Name
Star Wars fans were blown away by the appearance of black stormtroopers in the "Rogue One" first trailer. The "Rogue One" Visual Story Guide reveals that those shiny black soldiers are known as Death Troopers and are working for Ben Mendelsohn's Star Wars character Director Krennic.
Cue The Imperial March, Darth Vader Is Coming
The "Rogue One" Visual Guide also puts the focus on the Empire, which happens to feature a huge photo of Darth Vader himself. The image may have confirmed that Darth Vader will have a major appearance in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story."
Star Wars: Rogue One Character Names, New Images and More https://t.co/vBWCQqa9SY pic.twitter.com/0ftEyEI7PX Peter Sciretta (@slashfilm) May 17, 2016
Star Wars fans need to be reminded that the photos featured in the book are not yet final, so there are still possibilities that some details will be changed in "Rogue One." For now, the information listed can still be considered rumors (via io9). "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" flies into theaters on December 16.
There is another disturbing reason why parents should always monitor their teenage kids' activities. A dangerous new trend called sex roulette parties, where teens enjoy unprotected group sex knowing that one participant is secretly HIV positive, is on the rise in Spain and may soon become a global trend among teenagers.
The Rise Of Teen Sex Roulette Parties
The Daily Mail reports that doctors in Spain have warned about the increasing popularity of underground sex roulette parties, which are usually attended by teens and gay men. Just like the popular Russian roulette, this dangerous new trend presents a potentially lethal game of chance as it involves teens having group sex with no condoms allowed and with at least one participant who is secretly HIV positive.
Experts claimed that underground sex roulette parties are often organized by wealthy people. They added that teens who are thrilled of the unknown are the ones who are enticed to take part of this dangerous new trend.
Psychosexual therapist Kate Morley told HelloU that teens are thrilled to attend sex roulette parties because of the higher risk. "In the case of sex parties the intense high is as you combine orgasm with high adrenaline," Morley explained.
Risks Of Teen Sex Roulette Parties
Morley warned that attending teen sex roulette parties comes with short- and long-term consequences. She said that aside from contracting HIV, there is also a possibility that party-goers will acquire other dangerous sexually transmitted diseases.
Dr. Josep Mallolas of Hospital Clinic Barcelona told el Periodico that sex roulette parties are an implication that people have 'lost respect' for HIV. "There is everything: sex roulette parties, or sex parties you can only attend if you already have HIV," he disclosed.
According to the Independent, Barcelona's Hospital Clinic has released a statement saying that the present rise of patients with HIV and sexually-transmitted diseases in the region could be blamed to the popularity of teen sex roulette parties. The clinic is presently treating almost 4,500 HIV-positive patients. An estimated of 100 people are also consulting about HIV every day.
What can parents do to address the rise of teen sex roulette parties? Share your thoughts about this dangerous new trend by leaving some comments below.
Several fans were shocked when 33-year-old "Superman" actor Henry Cavill confirmed that he is dating 19-year-old college freshman girlfriend Tara King. However, based on recent reports, it seems like the couple has already split as they reportedly did not have too much in common.
'Superman' actor Henry Cavill broke up with Tara King
A lot of people have raised their eyebrows when Henry Cavill admitted last Fall that he was dating Tara King, who was 14 years younger than him. Expectedly, the age gap has rubbed quite a number of fans the very wrong way.
Though there is nothing really wrong about the 14-year age gap, many find it odd that Tara King was exactly only a consenting adult for a year of her life before hooking up with Henry Cavill. Well, as for their relationship, Henry Cavill made sure that there is no presence of awkwardness when he hold forth about Tara King in interviews.
As a matter of fact, Henry Cavill once said that Tara King has protected him from the world. After that, Henry Cavill reportedly gave Tara King a promise ring that is said to be a sign of his commitment to his girlfriend.
Tara King dumped by Henry Cavill out of the blue
Meanwhile, no one can confirm the main reason why Henry Cavill and Tara King ended up to a split. However, rumor mill is spreading that it is Henry Cavill who dumped Tara King completely out of the blue.
Tara King, as expected, is reportedly devastated after the split and probably has severe daddy issues now. An unnamed source claimed that Henry Cavill has said that they could still be friends even after the split that he invited her to his recent birthday party.
There are also rumors spreading which says Henry Cavill was so frustrated with the box-office performance of his most-recent "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" film after it did not surpass the expectations of many. Henry Cavill reportedly suffered from depression, which later forced him to focus more on his craft especially now that a "Superman" solo movie is slated to be released soon.
Do you think Henry Cavill dumped Tara King for no apparent reason? Do you think the failure of his "Superman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" film has caused him depression? Share to us your thoughts in the comment section below.
The U.S. Education Department has issued guidelines for public schools regarding the controversial transgender bathroom law. According to the guidelines, public schools are required to allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their chosen 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 stated via CBS Minnesota. Senators Al Franken and Tammy Baldwin have expressed their support for the guidelines issued by the education department.
.@PerlmanOfficial will not perform in North Carolina until the controversial transgender bathroom law is repealed https://t.co/8sHZXdIqAy Classic FM (@ClassicFM) May 18, 2016
"We've seen far too many attempts to marginalize and discriminate against our LGBT students, neighbors, and family members," Sen. Franken said. "Every student deserves the freedom and opportunity to dream the same dreams, get a great education, and have the same shot at success," Sen. Baldwin added. The Human Rights Campaign also cheered on the directive from the Education Department, calling the move groundbreaking.
The Education Department's guidelines regarding the transgender bathroom law obligate schools that receive federal funding to treat transgender students in accordance with the gender identity they have chosen. The Education Department directive also states that students are not required to present any medical certificate or diagnosis to back-up their claims and they should be given access to their chosen locker room or bathroom even if it makes other students feel uncomfortable.
These guidelines from the Education Department further intensify the conflict among Americans about transgender rights. Many Americans feel that disallowing transgender people to use bathrooms and locker rooms of their chosen gender identity is a violation of their civil and human rights.
There are also many Americans who feel that allowing transgender people to use the bathroom or locker room they want could be abused and put people -- especially girls -- in danger of sexual predators pretending to be transgender people. North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory defended the transgender bathroom law by saying that it can help protect the privacy of citizens, CNN reports.
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Apple's CEO has landed in India for a week's long stay with a packed agenda. Earlier we reported on Apple's "First-of-its-Kind iOS App Design Center and Development Accelerator in India." We now have learned that Cook and his team will be meeting with the top telcos in India to forge new partnerships for the distribution and sale of devices. Apple believes that India's widening 4G nework will help to boost iPhone sales in that country.
Bharti Airtel is India's largest mobile operator and Reliance Jio Infocomm is planning to start nationwide commercial 4G services this year, making them key to Apple's iPhone strategy. A senior Bharti Airtel executive said that they were in talks with Apple for a broader strategic tieup, which may include options such as distribution or selling through retail stores. Cook will be meeting with Airtel's Chairman Sunil Mittal on Friday.
Cook and team are also set to meet with Telangna Chief Minister K. Chandrarashekar Rao and Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and end the week meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday.
Cook has stated that iPhone sales will significantly improve in India once high-speed 4G networks gain traction across the country. Today, most smartphones selling in India are "low end" due to the existing networks and market economics.
Another India report today notes that Cook will be staying at the iconic Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in a suite costing US$1300 (87,000 Rupees). When in Delhi, the Apple team will stay at the Leela Palace Hotel in Chanakyapuri. One of the other top five executives on this trip includes Apple's COO Jeff Williams.
Apple's new iOS App Design Center and Development Accelerator in India that opens in 2017 will be located in a complex called the WaveRock by real estate firm Tishman Speyer.
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Patna: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, speaking at the 'Socialist Unity Convention' at Anjuman Islamia Hall in Patna on Tuesday, denied dreaming about becoming the Prime Minister of India saying he was not a fool to think that he could occupy the nation's highest chair with only 17 MPs in his hand.
"I have been accused of dreaming about becoming the Prime Minister of India but I am not a fool to claim the nation's highest post with only 17 MPs. I realize my limitations but there is a concerted effort by my opponents who are spreading this rumor to make it look like I have abandoned Bihar in my quest for PM's chair," the Chief Minister said in the presence of several socialists from various states including Medha Patkar and Harbhajan Singh Siddhu.
The event was organized to mark the 82nd anniversary of the formation of Congress Socialist Movement.
Kumar further said that the opposition was also accusing him of spending all his time talking about prohibition in Bihar.
"I don't care what they say; the fact is I am very encouraged by the response of prohibition in the state. Today, people of Bihar are much happier and if Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh also followed Bihar's suit, the state will become completely alcohol free. In this manner, one day the entire nation will be under total prohibition," he said.
Training his gun on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Kumar raked up the 'Love Jihad', beef, and 'Ghar Wapasi' issues earlier raised by the saffron party saying that was simply the 'trailer' of a movie that would be released if the BJP once again came into power in 2019.
He also took not so subtle jab at Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Lok Dal President Ajit Singh saying there were leaders who talked about uniting the secular forces but when the time came, they backed out of the deal after a few photo-ops.
Patna: With Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) junior doctors' strike entering into its third day, at least six persons have been reported dead so far in the lack of medical care as negotiation to end the strike once again proved futile with junior doctors refusing to go back to work until their demands were met without any precondition.
The patient exodus to private care continued on Tuesday with only those who could not afford private nursing homes remaining at the hospital.
Sticking to their demand for the resignation of PMCH Principal Dr. S. N. Sinha and round-the-clock security of the doctors and nurses at the hospital, the talk between the protestors and Bihar Health Secretary Jitendra Srivastava failed despite the latter's repeated assurance to look into their demands.
"When police were swinging their batons at the junior doctors and nurses on Sunday night, the Principal just stood there and did nothing to stop the police from assaulting us. We have decided the strike will not be withdrawn until the Principal is removed," said the protesting doctors.
Urging the junior doctors to end their strike, Srivastava said that undoubtedly mistakes were made on the part of the hospital management but that did not give the junior doctors right to take out their anger on innocent patients.
"Patients are the biggest losers in this fight between the students and the administration. Also, we cannot turn the entire hospital into an army camp overnight to provide security to the hospital staff. We sympathize with their demands but they also have to be reasonable and show some empathy for the patients and their family members," Srivastava said.
Meanwhile, besides all the major government hospitals in Bihar including the one in Darbhanga, Bhagalpur, Gaya, and Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH) in Patna, junior doctors of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) also joined the strike further degrading the medical care in Bihar for the third straight day.
Till the time of reporting, neither Chief Minister Nitish Kumar nor Bihar Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav paid a visit to the PMCH further raising the student's ire.
"Besides sending the health secretary to negotiate with the striking doctors, the government has not made any attempt to bring the strike to an end," said a senior doctor on the condition of anonymity.
Patna: At least one person was killed and nearly 400 arrested during the 7th phase of the ongoing Panchayat elections in Bihar as polls were held on Wednesday at 12,237 booths in 854 panchayats under 57 blocks in 35 districts of the state.
In Patna district alone, polling was held at 28 Panchayats including 15 in Fatuha, six in Daniyawa, and seven in Khusrupur block.
Statewide, voter turnout was 65%, state election commissioner Ashok Kumar Chauhan said.
Authorities also seized three firearms, Rs. 46,000 in cash, 20 vehicles and several bottles of country-liquor from various polling booths in Samastipur, Gaya, and Kaimur districts.
One Munna Singh died of bullet injuries after rival gang members opened fire at him near Booth Number 275 in Lalganj block in Vaishali district, officials said.
Polling was cancelled from Booth Number 378 to Booth Number 392 in Samastipur district due to printing errors on the ballot papers, Chauhan said.
Polling for Panchayat Mukhias are being held statewide in ten phases.
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"We're not used to seeing growth in our check business," said Deluxe's Tracey Engelhardt, who reports a 6% to 7% increase in revenue for check orders from businesses and consumers in each of the last three quarters, driven by various factors originating from the pandemic.
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Maybe you know not to plug strange USB drives into your computer, but trends indicate that most people think nothing of it.
This is not a new risk. A decade ago, a group of penetration testershackers who are paid to break into companies, a la Sneakersdropped 20 USB sticks around the parking lot of a credit union. Fifteen of them were found by employees, and each of those was eventually plugged into a computer, unwittingly running a program that communicated with a bad server.
In a recent and more rigorous experiment, a group of researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Michigan and Google, dropped nearly 300 USB thumb drives around six campus locations and found that at least 45 percent of them were plugged into a computer and perused by the person who found them. While some of the people made an attempt to check the drive for malwarescanning it with antivirus software, for examplevery few seemingly understood the risk of using an untrusted USB drive.
While modern Windows and Mac systems no longer run programs on a USB stick by default, other attacks, such as BadUSB, can make a USB drive appear to be something else, such as keyboard, and then use that access to take malicious actions.
Would you open an email attachment from someone you did not know, or one that seemed suspicious? Opening files on an untrusted USB drive is similar, said Michael Bailey, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and one of the co-authors of the research paper.
USB drives: Untrusted and ubiquitous
In the current world, there is no adviceexcept to know the provenance of the USB drive, Bailey said. Do not trust, dont plug or insert untrusted media into your computer.
For anyone tempted by the relative ubiquity of USB drives, this is hard advice to take. Security services provider Verizon, which publishes the annual data breach report, recommends that companies attempt to keep track of whenever USB drives are used. When the company finds untrusted USB drives, it can test them, said Chris Novak, a director with the firms RISK team, a computer investigations group.
We have a lab environment, and we have isolated sandboxed systems, Novak continued. We often do executive protection, where, when executives go overseas or to a big conference, we give them temporary equipment, and if something happens, we get it back. We review it to see if there are any threats that took place.
Yet, USB threats are often brought back home. In one case, which the company documented in its Data Breach Digest report, a Hollywood executive received a package seemingly from a well-known production company with a branded USB drive. Playing the movie trailer on the drive installed malware on the victims computer, enabling the attacker to steal an unreleased movie.
The fact that users plug such storage devices into corporate computers is a nightmare for IT security professionals, to the degree that they sometimesand somewhat controversiallyblock USB ports on highly sensitive computers by gluing them closed with epoxy.
For consumers, doing without USB is not a solution. Yet, there seems to be very few ways to safely plug in a potentially malicious USB drive.
Run your own sandboxed environment? That could prevent damage from a file infector, but even a virtual system does not rule out a low-level hardware attack.
Erase the USB drive? This protects against file-based attacks, but firmware attacks, such as BadUSB, would not be prevented.
The best that consumers can do is buy their own USB drives. While that does not necessarily protect against all threatsflash memory has been known to be infected by a virus at the manufacturerit does protect against the most common types of dangers.
Encrypted USB drives offer additional safety
When buying a drive, picking one with hardware encryption is also a good step. More advanced drives do not solve the basic problem of being a vector for malware, but they can protect the data on the drive and prevent firmware-based attacks such as BadUSB, according to Andrew Ewing, Flash Business Unit manager at storage-maker Kingston.
The firmware is digitally signed, so it cannot be altered, Ewing explained. If we [Kingston] needed to alter the firmware, we would have to have the customer send back the drive to Kingston, so we could reprogram the firmware using the production tool.
So, next time someone gives you a free USB drive, return it. If you find one on the ground, turn it in to lost-and-found. Plugging it into your computer is the worst digital hygiene, said Verizons Novak. Think of USB sticks like toothbrushes and then you will not be so quick to pick it up and share it, he says. (Ew.)
Microsoft is finally making it easier to reinstall Windows 7 from scratch with a new Service Pack (SP) that the company refuses to call a service pack.
Windows 7 may not be available to most of us anymore, but there are many reasons to reinstall the operating system on existing Windows 7 PCs, and Microsoft never released a Service Pack after Windows 7 Service Pack 1s release in early 2011. Because of that, updating a Windows 7 PC in recent times required countless download update-install-reboot-repeat cycles to fully patch the system, installing five full years of updates piece by piece.
It was painful.
That problem is now history, however. Microsoft recently announced the availability of the Windows 7 SP1 convenience roll-up. That sounds more like something youd buy from a confectioner than put on your PC, but its essentially SP2 for Windows 7. The rollup includes all the security and non-security fixes since the release of Windows Service Pack 1.
The impact on you at home:Thankfully, the endless update cycle for Windows 7 is over nowas long as you know about the roll-up, that is. Microsoft wont offer the roll-up via Windows UpdateI guess that would be too convenient. Instead, you have to download the roll-up directly from Microsofts Update Catalog (Internet Explorer only please). In other words, if you dont know about the convenience roll-up youre still in for a world of tedious updates.
Monthly rollups for everyone
Adding more roll-up fun for the future, Microsoft plans to create monthly roll-ups of non-security fixes for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 from now on. The new monthly roll-ups will be available via Windows Update.
But Microsoft didnt stop tinkering with the update process there. The company has also decided to stop making Windows updates available through the Microsoft Download Centeran online repository that offers direct downloads of single updates.
Instead, anyone looking to avoid Windows Update will have to head to the Microsoft Update Catalog (MUC)the same site where the new Windows 7 roll-up is available. Right now the MUC only works with Internet Explorer since it requires ActiveX. Microsoft plans to support other browsers with non-ActiveX functionality later this summer.
[via Ars Technica]
When it comes to parsing Microsofts public statements, most company watchers know you have to read between the lines to get at what Microsoft is saying without really saying it. The Verges Tom Warren just spotted one such statement that implies Microsoft is killing the Lumia lines of phones.
The recent suggestion that the Lumia era was truly over appeared in Microsofts press release announcing the sale of its feature phone businesswhich was acquired from Nokia in 2013to a Foxconn subsidiary.
Heres what Microsoft said:
Microsoft will continue to develop Windows 10 Mobile and support Lumia phones such as the Lumia 650, Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, and phones from OEM partners like Acer, Alcatel, HP, Trinity and VAIO.
Continue to develop Windows 10 Mobile and support Lumia phones. Not continue to develop and support both the mobile OS and Lumia handsets. One item is called out as under active development (Windows 10 Mobile) while the other (Lumia handsets) only gets a mention of support. In other words, Windows 10 Mobile updates will be available for Lumia handsets capable of running them, but dont count on seeing any new Lumias.
At least thats the implication. Microsoft has yet to officially announce the end of the Lumia line; however, critics have expected as much since earlier in 2016.
The impact on you at home: Even if the Lumia brand has reached the end of its sad, tortured existence with the Lumia 650which was rumored at the time to be the last Lumiait doesnt necessarily mean Microsoft wont create another Windows phone. Rumors, and desperate hope from Windows phone fans, are still holding on to the dream of a Surface phone. If we do see that phone, however, it may not happen this year. In late March, during the Build developer conference in San Francisco, Microsofts Windows chief Terry Myerson told The Verge that phone hardware was not a priority for the company in 2016.
Heres to 2017, then?
Nokia is back in the mobile phone business, after a fashion.
It has granted HMD Global an exclusive, 10-year license to the famous brand, allowing the Finnish startup to sell Nokia mobile phones and tablets.
Meanwhile Microsoft, which bought Nokias mobile phone activities in 2013, is finally getting out of the feature-phone business, selling its remaining interests in the Nokia brand and its Vietnamese phone factory to HMD and to FIH, a subsidiary of contract manufacturing giant Foxconn, for around $350 million.
Microsoft isnt giving up on phones altogether: It will continue to develop the Windows 10 Mobile OS used in phones from manufacturers including Acer, Alcatel, HP, Trinity and VAIO, and in its own Lumia phones.
Fans of the Lumia brand should still see software updates, but they may not see any new hardware: Microsoft merely said it would support Lumia phones such as the Lumia 650, Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, without talking of developing new models.
Nokia is now tightly focused on manufacturing telecommunications network infrastructure, following its acquisition of rival Alcatel-Lucent and its sale of the Here mapping business.
However, its roundabout return to the mobile phone market was clearly telegraphed. As early as 2014 it dipped a toe back into the mobile market with the release of the Nokia-branded N1 tablet, manufactured under license by Foxconn, the manufacturing partner of HMD.
During childhood, Henri Berger and his sister dodged Nazi authorities and sympathizers in southwestern France, surviving on meager food scraps by sneaking into corn fields and melting into bread lines.
Despite incredible danger and hardships, they endured, and with Frances liberation in 1944, were reunited with their family before immigrating to the United States.
Now a Lake Elsinore resident, the 85-year-old Berger was honored in Sacramento by state Assemblywoman and fellow Lake Elsinore resident Melissa Melendez as part of the Assemblys annual Capitol Holocaust Remembrance Day on Monday, May 16.
I am humbled to have the ability to honor Mr. Berger today, Melendez said in a release. He is a testament to the power of hope triumphing over the power of evil and someone who has truly inspired me.
After coming to the U.S. and living in Sacramento, Berger enlisted in the Marines and fought in Korea. Upon his return, he got married and had three children.
Contact the writer: 951-368-9690 or michaelwilliams@pressenterprise.com
The sponsor of a billboard in Murrieta that has spurred controversy because of its content said Tuesday, May 17, that a threat was left on his office phone voice mail.
Dr. Brian Eichenberg, owner of Renuance Cosmetic Surgery Center in Murrieta, said a caller with a male voice left a message at about 8 p.m. Monday, May 16, alluding to the giant sign at the Interstate 15-Interstate 215 split and insinuating he would be paying a visit to Eichenberg and his practices partner with a firearm.
Eichenberg said he contacted the Murrieta Police Department, who promised to patrol the area. He has also kept the doors locked from the outside during office hours.
We took a case, confirmed Murrieta Police Sgt. Dave Baca. It was a criminal threats telephone call and its being looked at by our detective bureau right now.
Eichenberg, however, said he has no plan to remove the billboard, which has been targeted by a high school students petition contending the message is insulting to women and should be removed.
After launching her campaign a couple of weeks ago, Murrieta Valley High School sophomore Anna Gorski had received more than 700 signatures by Tuesday in support of her cause on the page she set up on change.com.
Just as Im proud of Anna Gorski for standing up for what she believes in and doing something about it, as a businessman, doctor and father, I should stand up for something I believe in, Eichenberg said in an interview Tuesday. I dont think what I put there was wrong or bad, and I dont plan to take it down based on pressure from other people.
The billboard features the images of two coffee cups, a small one labeled B and a large one labeled with D. The cups are separated by the phrase, SIZE MATTERS. Underneath is the name of the surgery center.
This billboard is demeaning, objectifying, and inappropriate as it attacks womens bodies and promotes low self esteem, Gorski wrote on the petition website.
An article by Press-Enterprise columnist Carl Love on the controversy last weekend sparked a vigorous discussion online, with some supporting the girls views and others defending it a free speech issue.
Eichenberg said the billboard was not intended to be demeaning.
Im glad it is promoting a discussion about that issue, he said. The thing I would want people to take away is that plastic surgery is a very personal thing. We emphasize its something you do as a personal decision for yourself.
We dont expect everyone to choose that, but if its something that she wants to do and it makes her feel better about herself, then were here for them.
Contact the writer: 951-368-9690 or michaelwilliams@pressenterprise.com
Beaumont hired Richard Warne, 63, as its new interim city manager Tuesday night, May 17.
Warne replaces Elizabeth Gibbs, who has been filling the post since Alan Kapanicas was put on leave in June 2015. Kapanicas was one of seven former city employees arrested on corruption charges earlier Tuesday.
The council voted 4-1 to hire Warne. Brenda Knight voted no and Mike Lara said he reluctantly voted yes, questioning the fit.
Im thrilled for the opportunity to come to the great city of Beaumont and become part of this transition, Warne said. My goal is to achieve the goals of the City Council.
GIBBS PRAISED AS GREAT LEADER
Gibbs, who will stay with the city as its transit director, was praised by council members.
I want to thank Miss Gibbs for stepping in at a very difficult time in the citys history, said Mayor Mike Lara. She was an excellent example of a public servant and a great leader.
Beaumont Councilman Lloyd White said the change at the top had nothing to do with the charges or the citys financial issues.
She always had the community and staff as her focus, White said.
Councilman Mark Orozco said Gibbs was the best person for the job when the position opened.
Theres also a time to move forward, he said. (Warne) is the right person for this time.
Warne was named interim city manager in Calexico in June 2014 and got the permanent job one year later. He was put on leave three months later.
He also served as city manager in Livingston in Northern California and Twentynine Palms.
JUMPING INTO A HOT ONE
Warne is on a month-to-month contract and will be paid almost $16,000 per month, equivalent to a $199,000 annual salary.
White told Warne he appreciates his experience of being in the frying pan, and youre jumping into a really hot one.
Warne was named interim city manager in Calexico in June 2014 and got the permanent job one year later. He was put on leave three months later.
He also served as city manager in Livingston and Twentynine Palms.
ANAHEIM As Disneyland heads into the future with Star Wars land, the park is letting go of some of its past.
Disneyland officials have filed a permit with the city to demolish the Skyway Chalet in Fantasyland, once one of two endpoints for open-air gondolas that floated via cables over the park beginning in 1956.
Visitors hopped aboard the ride, affectionately called the Buckets by guests, and slowly cruised 40 feet above Disneyland and, beginning in 1959, through an opening in the Matterhorn. The ride linked Fantasyland and Tomorrowland until it closed in 1994.
Now, the Skyway Chalet station will be removed to make way for Star Wars land, said Betsy Sanchez, a Disney spokeswoman.
According to paperwork filed at City Hall last week, the cost to demolish the 5,100-square-foot building is an estimated $67,000.
News that the station was coming down upset some people on social media, while others had a more nostalgic take.
I remember as a kid how exciting the Skyway Buckets were and my love for the look of that building has only grown over the years, said Kim Keeline, 47, of San Diego. Disneyland keeps changing. That has its good points, and its bad points.
Jeff Gordon, 35, of Santa Monica said change is in Disneylands DNA.
I love the history of Disneyland as much as anyone, but people forget how much Walt Disney tore down and rebuilt parts of the park while he was alive for the sake of better experiences, he said. Star Wars land is a much better experience than a rotting chalet.
The Skyway was a prominent ride at Disneyland when it opened a year after the parks debut.
For nearly four decades, the attraction ferried an estimated 150 million passengers. In 1994, a man admitted to jumping out of one of the gondola cabins and landing in a tree near the Alice in Wonderland ride.
Soon, Disney shut down the ride, citing its lack of popularity and the number of workers required to operate it. Staffers also had to deal with riders dropping food and spitting on people.
At times, Disneyland would put lights in the chalet to make it appear as if a dragon lived there during Halloween seasons.
The cables and three towers were removed, but the two stations remained. The Tomorrowland station, sealed off, will apparently be left alone for now.
Contact the writer: business@pressenterprise.com
In a scene that has played out before in the Inland area, elected officials were booked into jail as authorities announced poitical corruption charges.
Beaumont is the just latest city to become the focus of a such a probe. In some cases, investigations led to prison time for some top leaders. In other cases, no charges were filed with authorities offering no explantion of why.
COUNCIL & CO
AGENCY: City of Moreno Valley
ALLEGATIONS: Investigators from the Riverside County District Attorneys Office, FBI and IRS raided the offices of developer Highland Fairview and the homes of four Moreno Valley City Council members and a real estate broker with political connections as part of what they described as a political corruption investigation. In a related investigation, one council member, Marcelo Co, was arrested for accepting a $2.36 million bribe as part of a sting operation.
WHEN: Bribery sting in January 2013, searches in April 2013
THE PLAYERS: Highland Fairview President and CEO Iddo Benzeevi, then-Moreno Valley Mayor Tom Owings, then-Councilwoman Victoria Baca, Councilman Jesse Molina, then-Councilman Marcelo Co and real estate broke Jerry Stephens.
RESULT: Co was sentenced last year to five years in federal prison. Owings and Baca were both recalled from their council seats but no charges were brought against them or others in the case. The FBI and District Attorneys office announced in April 2015 that they had concluded their investigation but offered no explanation.
STATUS: Inactive but both agencies said they would reopen the case if new information came to light.
LONG-LIVED SCHEME
AGENCY: City of San Jacinto
ALLEGATIONS: A 155-count indictment alleged a years-long corruption scheme between developers and elected officials in San Jacinto. It included charges of bribery and campaign money laundering that extended from City Council elections and votes to a 2006 state Assembly race.
WHEN: Charges filed in November 2009.
THE PLAYERS: Four council members, James Potts, John Mansperger, Dale Stubblefield and Jim Ayres; developers and businessmen Stephen Russell Holgate, Scott Douglas Shaull, Robert Edward Osborne, Byron Jerry Ellison Sr.; and seven relatives of the elected officials.
RESULT: All but one eventually took plea bargains with some serving jail time. Osborne died before his case went to trial.
STATUS: Case concluded.
COLONIES PROBE
AGENCY: San Bernardino County
ALLEGATIONS: Four former county officials were accused of accepting bribes from a Rancho Cucamonga developer who received a $102 million settlement in a civil case he filed against the county.
WHEN: A grand jury returned a 29-count indictment in May 2011.
THE PLAYERS: Developer Jeff Burum of Colonies Partners; former county Supervisor Paul Biane; former Supervisor and Assesor Bill Postmus; Mark Kirk, former top aide to former Supervisor Gary Ovitt; James Erwin, former assistant assessor and former top aide to former Supervisor Neil Derry.
RESULT: Postmus pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against the other four defendants who are awaiting trial. Prosecutors and defense attorneys have battled over the charges filed in the case with appeals going all the way to the state Supreme Court.
STATUS: A trial has been delayed several times, now tentatively scheduled for this fall.
CAMPAIGN CASE
AGENCY: San Bernardino County
ALLEGATIONS: Former Assessor Bill Postmus was accused of conducting political work at his office with him and three other assessors employees facing charges including grand theft, misuse of public funds and perjury. In a related case, a campaign committee controlled by Postmus was accused of laundering campaign contributions to former Supervisor Neil Derry.
WHEN: The investigation began in 2007 with charges filed in 2009.
THE PLAYERS: Bill Postmus, who was elected as assessor in 2006 after serving as county supervisor; former Assistant Assessor Adam Aleman; former Assistant Assesor Jim Erwin; former assessors employees Rex Gutierrez and Greg Eyler; and former Supervisor Neil Derry.
RESULT: Postmus and Aleman both took plea deals in exhange for testifying in the Colonies case and will be sentenced after that case concludes. Gutierrez was convicted in 2010 of four felony charges including grand theft and conspiracy and was sentenced to two years and eight months in state prison. Eyler pleaded guilty in 2011 to a misdemeanor charge of filing a false claim. Derry pleaded guilty in 2011 to a misdemeanor charge of violating campaign finance law. Derry lost his re-election bid in 2012. A year later, a judge expunged the conviction.
STATUS: Postmus and Aleman are awaiting sentencing.
COUNTY CONTRACTS
AGENCY: San Bernardino County
ALLEGATIONS: Bribery of public officials to get lucrative county contracts; failing to report gifts.
WHEN: Late 1990s to early 2000s.
THE PLAYERS: James Hlawek, a county administrative officer, admitted to accepting bribes, including from his predecessor, Harry Mays, who became a consultant for a Norcal Waste Inc., whose vice president Kenneth James Walsh was also implicated. Billboard company owner William Shep McCook was charged with bribery while former county Supervisor Jerry Eaves was accused of failing to report gifts from McCook.
RESULT: Hlawek, Mays and Walsh were convicted of taking bribes and sentenced to prison. McCook was acquitted in 2004. Eaves resigned his seat and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.
STATUS: Concluded.
AIRPORT THEFT
AGENCY: San Bernardino International Airport Authority
ALLEGATIONS: An airport developer and his business associate were accused of defrauding the authority of more than $1 million and indicted on charges including conspiracy to commit grand theft and perjury.
WHEN: Charges filed in March 2013.
THE PLAYERS: Scot Spencer, who oversaw development at the airport for several years; and Felice Luciano, a business investor with Spencer.
RESULT/STATUS: Awaiting trial.
CONTRIBUTIONS CASE
AGENCY: San Bernardino City Council
ALLEGATIONS: Councilman Chas Kelley was accused of illegally spending thousands of dollars in campaign contributions on himself.
WHEN: 2013
THE PLAYER: Councilman Chas Kelley
RESULT: Kelley pleaded guilty to one felony count of perjury and received a 90-day sentence. He resigned his council seat and dropped out of the mayors race.
STATUS: Concluded.
Contact the writer: 951-368-9558 or ighori@pressenterprise.com
A man was busted Sunday, May 15, for flying a drone over the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco.
The drone was spotted by prison personnel about 9 p.m. Sunday night, said California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Joe Orlando. The prison borders the Naval Surface Warfare Center, where it is illegal to fly a drone without permission. All military installations are designated drone no-fly zones according to Federal Aviation Administration laws.
The FAA laws do not explicitly prohibit people from operating drones over prisons. Incidents have been reported in other parts of the country where drones were used to deliver contraband to prisoners.
Naval Surface Warfare Center officials on Tuesday did not respond to questions about the drone incident. They would not confirm if the drone flew over the property.
Orlando said California Rehabilitation Center personnel found the drones pilot nearby.
He said he had no idea it was a problem to do that, Orlando said.
The man was also linked to a similar incident that occurred last Sunday, May 8, about the same time of night, Orlando said.
Riverside County Sheriffs deputies responded to the area and talked with the man, said spokesman Deputy Michael Vasquez. The man was not arrested.
Deputies from the Sheriffs Departments Norco station are investigating the incident further.
Add another name to the list of candidates for California governor in 2018.
State Treasurer John Chiang announced Tuesday, May 16 that hes forming a gubernatorial campaign committee. The move allows 53-year-old Democrat and former state controller to raise campaign funds.
A news release from the Chiang campaign touted his record as one of Californias most effective and creative leaders Chiang is known for his commitment to openness and accountability in government.
He made headlines in 2011 when he withheld pay from state lawmakers after he determined that Californias budget was not balanced. An appeals court later ruled that Chiang overstepped his constitutional authority.
He also posted the salaries of public employees online and created a searchable database of state and local public debt. And he challenged Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2008 when he refused to lower the pay of 200,000 state employees to the federal minimum wage.
Chiang was elected treasurer in 2014. Prior to that, he served two four-year terms as state controller.
Chiangs entry into the 2018 governors race had been anticipated for some time. He told reporters earlier this year that he was leaning toward running for the states highest elected office.
Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, who was re-elected in 2014, cannot run again due to term limits. Besides Chiang, Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom also is running to succeed Brown.
Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former state Controller Steve Westly, both Democrats, are expected to run as well. Other rumored contenders include San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who is a Republican, and billionaire environmental activist and Democratic mega-donor Tom Steyer.
Contact the writer: 951-368-9547 or jhorseman@pressenterprise.com
The federal agency that oversees student loans has used social media in the last few years to answer questions and give advice to students and parents about loans, plans and repayment, among other issues.
One of the most active is Federal Student Aids #askFAFSA Twitter account, where the May 25 Office Hours session at 2 p.m. 3 p.m. PDT will focus on Graduation Whats Next?
Questions with the hashtag #AskFAFSA can be submitted starting Monday, May 23. Experts will continue answer questions beyond the live session time frame, officials said.
Outstanding federal student loan debt stands at $1.3 trillion.
Two UC Riverside students facing graduation, a six-month student-loan payment grace period, and then the challenges of finding a job, both said they would consider using the Q & A format Twitter format.
I think I would check it out and see what questions there are about what it means to be a graduate with loans, said Bethanie Le, 21, who is graduating after three years and two quarters with a Bachelor of Arts in public policy and $19,000 due in student loans supplemented by annual financial aid of $5,500.
Le said she went through a mandatory exit tutorial from Federal Student Aid, and while it answered her questions, found it hard to understand.
I think that way it would be easier for me to understand, and more effective, she said of the Twitter session. With my generation, social media is like a second language, she said.
Sahar Adina, 22, is graduating in June with a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology. She was able to keep her student loan amount to about $13,000 to $14,000 I was lucky because I was able to transfer from a community college, she said.
I just want to know how they decided to do six months (on the grace period) and why not maybe a year, because its tough to find a job these days, she said. Her plans are to find work for a year and a half and begin to pay her loans, then try for graduate school.
Federal Student Aid started the monthly Twitter sessions to answer questions about four years ago, said Susan Thares, the digital engagement lead for Federal Student Aid, part of the U.S. Department of Education.
The department is one of a handful of government agencies including the U.S. Postal Service and the Transport Security Administration that uses social media as part of its services, she said.
When Federal Student Aid was first launched, we did a lot of consumer listening, and used that information to create content, Thares said in a telephone interview. And we still do that. The agency is also on Facebook and YouTube.
We wanted an opportunity to engage people but we were not sure we had all the resources to respond to all questions and thats how Office Hours started on Twitter, she said.
The name is taken from the term professors use for the time they can meet with students, and Federal Student Aid has collaborated with other agencies or organizations, such as the Veterans Administration in November, and a session in Spanish with Univision.
Whats really interesting is that adult students and parents go on Facebook, while students go on Twitter, so we put out content on both, Thares said.
Contact the writer: rdeatley@pressenterprise.com or 951-368-9573
In an annual tribute to veterans, motorcyclists took off Wednesday, May 18, for a 10-day journey to Washington, D.C.
Locally, they gathered in Ontario early in the morning before a journey to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a wall that lists the names of those who died in the war.
The event, dubbed Run For The Wall, honors veterans service and sacrifice. It included a stop Wednesday for speeches and prayers at Spotlight 29 Casino near Indio, which hosted 500 riders.
Contact the writer: community@pressenterprise.com
UPDATE (Wednesday, July 6): Someone changed voters party affiliations without their consent, DA says
Riverside County Republican Party officials said dozens of GOP-registered voters in the county have had their voter-registration data tampered with, including having their party affiliation switched without their knowledge.
The voters in question include Riverside Community College District Trustee Nathan Miller, who said someone switched his party affiliation to Democrat. He said he found out only after looking up his registration status.
Miller and Riverside County GOP Chairman Scott Mann said an investigator from the county district attorneys office was looking into the matter. Responding to a Facebook post from Miller, District Attorney Mike Hestrin asked any voters victimized by voter fraud to contact Assistant Chief Investigator Wayne Hoy.
Mann said hes fielded more than two dozen complaints from voters throughout the county whose voter registration information was changed without their knowledge or consent. The tampering ranged from changing party affiliations to Democrat or no party preference to address changes, ethnicity changes, birth dates and changing a voters status from voting at a polling place to voting by mail, Mann said.
These errors are clearly not resultant from any (county Registrar of Voters) housekeeping action to clean up voter files, Mann said. Someone is doing this on purpose to disrupt the integrity of voter data in Riverside County right before the June 7th presidential primary.
Miller, who is the northwest caucus chairman for the county GOP, said that after hearing about other people who had their voter registration information tampered with, he looked up his registration online and saw that his party affiliation was switched to Democrat on April 11.
It was upsetting, he said. Thoughts run through your head as to how this could happen, how weak the system could be in place is it a weak system or is the person who did it exceptionally savvy?
Millers registration has since beeen switched back to the GOP. But he wants his record fixed to erase the time period in which his party affiliation was Democratic.
Registrar of Voters Rebecca Spencer said shes aware only of Millers case, and that she forwarded what happened to the California Secretary of States fraud unit. Millers registration was changed through Californias online voter registration system, she said.
In order to change voter registration data, the voters name is needed as well as his or her residential address, date of birth, the last four digits of his or her social security number and the voters drivers license number, Spencer said.
California voters have to be registered Republican to cast a ballot for a GOP presidential nominee in the June 7 primary. The state GOP is particularly concerned about registration numbers with the number of Republican-registered voters in the California on the decline.
The Inland Empire is no stranger to allegations of voter registration fraud. In 2006, The Press-Enterprise reported that the party affiliation of dozens of Inland voters was switched to Republican without their knowledge during GOP-funded voter registration drives.
Mann said the ability to register to vote online and automatic registration through the Department of Motor Vehicles makes it easier to manipulate voter data.
We have been promised for years that Riverside County would have an efficient, integrous, honest and fair voter system, he said. Apparently were not there yet.
Contact the writer: 951-368-9547 or jhorseman@pressenterprise.com
Nearly five million people in Zimbabwe - half of the country's rural population - will need assistance by next year as a result of the ongoing drought in southern Africa, the United Nations has said.
Zimbabwe is one of the worst affected countries by the driest year in decades facing southern Africa - including Malawi, Zambia and South Africa - which has placed more than 30 million people at risk.
Rainfall is not expected in the country in the near future and President Robert Mugabe has declared a "state of disaster".
Residents have reported not having proper food for days.
"A lot of people are hungry," Ambuya Grace, who lives in one of the affected villages, told Al Jazeera.
Another local, Virgilance Tsabora, said she, too, needed assistance.
"No one has come to help us. Some people got food, but many people did not," said Tsabora.
The government says it is trying to buy grain from neighbouring countries.
The drought has been made worse by the strong El Nino weather patterns, a temporary climate change of the Pacific in the region around the equator.
In February, Zimbabwe's Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa appealed to local business and charities for more than $1.5bn in aid to save more than a quarter of the population from starvation.
At a news conference in the capital Harare, Mnangagwa said the government "requires a total of [$1.57bn] with effect from February to December 2016", adding that millions were in need of food and water.
The UN's World Food Programme said in January that about 14 million people in Southern Africa are facing hunger due to poor harvests in 2015, caused by the latest El Nino.
Source: Aljazeera
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Former President John Agyekum Kufour has said donors and the public should play a major role in assisting businesses fight climate change and environmental degradation.
The ex-president, who was speaking at the World Bank Group launch of the Climate Innovation Centre to support Ghana's green economy in Accra on Wednesday May 17, indicated that: If we are seeking green solutions to fight the impact of climate change which is global, I believe public policy, donor community support, as well as private venturists should share the risk of investment to transition from fossil fuels to green energy.
The centre is a technology hub designed to help over 100 local clean technology businesses develop and commercialise innovative solutions to climate change.
The World Bank believes climate change will have serious and adverse consequences for many development sectors in Africa, and threatens the economies and livelihoods of many African countries.
To support African countries as they deal with the challenges of climate change, the World Bank has laid out a plan of action aimed at adaptation to climate change in Africa, seizing mitigation opportunities on the continent, building knowledge and capacity, and making more financing available.
For ex-president Kufour, he held the view that: We should not put the burden all together on the entrepreneurs who dare to go into say bambooI believe public policy should be there because after all we are talking about environmental sanitation which has an impact on public health and a whole lot of things.
Source: classfmonline.com
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The right to adequate food is realized when every man, woman and children within our communities have access to adequate food and potable water.
Ghana has an explicit recognition of the right to adequate food in its constitution, however, its implementation is usually hampered by several challenges.
According to UNICEF Ghana, in 2015 an estimated one out of four children in parts of Ghana goes to bed hungry.
There are over five million Ghanaians who can't afford a plate of food in a day and over 30% of food goes waste along food supply chains in the country. Inefficiencies within the food supply chain has given rise to tonnes of food going waste, according to the report.
Recovering half of the food wasted is enough to feed the vulnerable, Food for all Ghana program, a non-governmental organization said.
The NGO seeks to build community food banks in Ghana to feed the vulnerable.
As a result, its collating signatures in support of the project in ensuring that waste foods are preserved for the vulnerable in society.
Source: Food for All Ghana
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Sixty-five people have been killed by lightning strikes in Bangladesh in four days, as the country endures its annual severe storm season.
Most of the deaths occurred in rural parts of north and central Bangladesh, with the victims predominantly farmers and construction workers, Reaz Ahmed, director general of Bangladesh's Department of Disaster Management, told CNN on Monday.
The deadliest recent day was Thursday, when 34 people were killed, he said. Twenty-one died the following day, seven on Saturday and three on Sunday.
Lightning strikes are relatively common in the low-lying, densely-populated nation, with the country experiencing severe storms with frequent lightning often between March and June, ahead of the onset of the monsoon.
The storms were caused by strong cold fronts moving out of the Himalayas and southeastward, encountering warm, moist air from the Bay of Bengal.
Deforestation has exacerbated the problem, with the lack of trees making farmers working in fields a target for lightning strikes.
Ahmed said that while lightning was common at this time of year, the number of fatalities was higher than usual. Last year, 274 people were killed by lightning.
"We are discussing with our meteorological experts on why the deaths are higher this year," he said, adding that the government had been running a public education campaign on how people could protect themselves from lightning.
Tropical storm kills 23 in Bangladesh
The government is providing 20,000 Bangladeshi takas ($253) to victims' families, and 10,000 Bangladeshi takas (roughly $126) to the wounded, he said.
So far this year, five people have been killed by lightning in the United States, a country with about double the population of Bangladesh, which has 157 million people.
About 90% of victims of lightning strikes survive, although many endure debilitating injuries. The odds of a person being struck by lightning during his or her lifetime is about one in 12,000.
Source: CNN
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Chief of Afari, near Kumasi, Oheneba Acheampong Tia II, has found himself at the wrong side of the law, after threatening to unleash terror on a private developer, if the latter does not stop working on a piece of land at Tanoso, Kumasi, Today can report.
Sources at the Ashanti Regional Crime Office told Today that the chief and his accomplice, Oppong Boateng, had earlier been invited to the police headquarters in Accra, after a complaint had been made against him.
Accordingly, Oppong Boateng, the source said, reported but the chief resorted to playing hide-and-seek game with the police, until criminal summons was issued against him to appear in court.
However, the prosecutor withdrew the criminal summons against the chief, and was subsequently discharged by the Asokwa Magistrate Court.
But not long before his acquittal, Oheneba Acheampong Tia II, who is also the Abrenyasehene, was re-arrested by the police.
His charge was that he threatened one Nana Dominc K. Asamoah, who apparently happened to be the attorney of the said estate developer.
Today gathered that Oheneba Acheampong Tia II further threatened the workers who were constructing a petrol filling station on the said land.
Documents chanced upon by Today has revealed that somewhere in February 1998, one Mr. Kennedy Osei Yaw returned from his base in Canada to purchase a piece of land located at Tanoso, off the Abuakwa to Kumasi highway, from the late Chief of Afari, Oheneba Acheampong Kwasi III, which he planned to develop as a petrol filling station.
The documents further revealed that the lawful attorney of Mr. Kennedy Osei Yaw, Nana Dominic K. Asamoah, was later, after the demise of Oheneba Acheampong Kwasi III, approached by the Odikro (Chief) of Abessewa, Nana Subin Kankam Amaado II, who was also the custodian of the ancient Tano Kofi Royal Shrine of Tanoso, Kumasi in May 2001 to stop working on the land.
Nana Amaado II, according to the documents, claimed that the land belonged to the Tano Kofi Stool but sold it to Mr. Osei Yaw at a higher price.
The late Bantamahene, Nana Baffour Awuah, was also reported to have asked the developer to stop working on the land.
That move, according to him, was because the Great Oath of the Asantehene was invoked on the land.
However, the attorney of the estate developer recounted that at one traditional court session to resolve the matter his boss was directed to perform certain rituals so as to revoke the oath on the land.
He further recounted that the late Bantamahene promised to inform the Asantehene of the proceedings and the next line of action.
And whiles waiting to do so, he said, one Madam Abena Penaman, filed a suit at a Kumasi High Court in June 2001, for an injunction order, to restrain any person from working on the land, claiming that the land in question belonged to her.
But the court, according to him, ruled against her. He continued that the late Bantamahene then asked Kennedy to continue his work on the land.
Nevertheless, he said not long before the late Bantamahene asked his boss to continue working on the land in 2001, the Lands Commission also asked them to stop.
According to Nana Dominic K. Asamoah, the Commission claimed that the land was a state land and not a stool land.
That, he stressed, did not stop them from pursuing the matter.
However, he said they approached the Lands Commission and requested that the land should be leased to them which after series of meetings was subsequently leased to them in 2009.
However, he said Oheneba Acheampong Tia II shortly after they had restarted working on the land came back to stop them, claiming that Manhyia in 2001 warned any developer on the land.
Source: Today
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The Brong Ahafo Regional Police Command has intercepted 800 pieces of AAA cartridges.
The cartridges were concealed in a mini Tata bus bound for Bunkpurugu in the Northern Region from Kumasi, with registration number UE 1162 C.
The Police Patrol team on May 13, 2016 intercepted the cartridges at the outskirts of Kintampo.
The Brong Ahafo Regional Police Relations Officer (PRO), ASP Christopher Tawiah, briefing the press during an identification parade in Sunyani, said when the driver, Konlan Kambele, and the caretaker, Suuk Kombart, were questioned, they identified 50-year-old Soodoin Konlan as the owner of the cartridges.
Soodoin Konlan admitted ownership of the cartridges and indicated that he was transporting the cartridges to the town to sell on rail basis.
The police also noticed that he had no license to run such a business. Investigations are still underway, but the suspect will be arraigned before court.
Meanwhile, the command has re-arrested Kingsford Kweku Yeboah, together with one Agyemang Boateng.
Kingsford Kweku Yeboah attacked one Kate Sam Wilson at Ohene Djan, a suburb of Sunyani, and robbed her of GH2,500.
He was nearly lynched but was rescued by the police and admitted at the Brong Ahafo Regional Hospital, where he escaped.
Source: The Finder
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Audio Attachment: Listen to Dzifa Attivor speaking in Ewe and the translation by a reporter.
Former Transport minister Dzifa Attivor says the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is a tribal party bent on prosecuting only Ewes if it wins the general elections in November.
Referring to the record of the NPP government between 2001 to 2008, Dzifa Attivor argued the NPP targeted only members of her ethnic group for prosecution.
When the NPP won power in 2001, most ministers who are Ewes were imprisoned, including Serlomey and Abodakpi and a host of other ministers. Does that mean that no individual from any other tribe has faulted in the discharge of their duties? she said in her native language.
Victor Selormey who was a former Deputy Minister of Finance under the Rawlings regime was jailed 13 days to Christmas in 2001.
A Fast Track High Court in Accra sentenced him to a total of eight years' imprisonment after he was convicted on all six counts of defrauding by false pretence, conspiracy and causing financial loss to the state.
He received presidential pardon three years into his prison term and died on 18 April 2005.
A former Minister of Trade and Industry Dan Abodakpi was also jailed 10 years in August 2007 by the same court. He was sentenced on three counts of conspiracy, two counts of defrauding and two counts of willfully causing financial loss of $400,000 to the State.
The fraud was committed when Abodakpi and the late Victor Selormey co-chaired a Trade and Investment Programme.
Dzifa Attivor who resigned her ministerial position last year following the controversial bus branding saga, was armed with this history when she mounted the campaign platform during the launch of a group called 'Ketu South For Fifi And Mahama' at Wodoaba in the Ketu South district of the Volta region.
She reminded the grassroots that the fate that befell some NDC top guns from the regions still holds true for any Ewe in the current government. The former minister explained that all that stands between her and prison time, is the Volta regional vote.
I want to remind you that it is your vote that will decide if Fifi Kwetey and I will be prosecuted and put behind bars or not, she rallied.
She expressed comfort and confidence in the fact that the Volta region remains the stronghold of the ruling government. We the people of the Volta region will forever remain loyal to the NDC, Dzifa Attivor said.
She asked the NDC grassroots to encourage their relatives living in border towns in Togo to come back home and register during the limited registration exercise which begins 28th April 2016.
Source: myjoyonline.com
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Ghanas former President, Jerry John Rawlings, has slammed Hon Dzifa Attivor for appealing to Voltarians to carry on with the mantra of voting for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) because the party's founder is from the region.
The former Transport Minister, during the launch of a group called 'Ketu South For Fifi And Mahama' at Wodoaba in the Ketu South district of the Volta region, told indigenes that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) with reference from its 2001 to 2008 record of governance, shows how the party would associate itself with tribalism on prosecuting only Ewes if it wins the General Elections come November 7.
She is reported to have tagged the NPP flagbearer as a tribalistic politician saying an Akufo-Addo government will embark on a jailing spree of Ewes just as former President John Kufuor did during his tenure, citing the imprisonment of former government officials Victor Selormey and Dan Abodapki to buttress her point.
The former Minister explained that all that stands between her and prison time, is the Volta regional vote.
I want to remind you that it is your vote that will decide if Fifi Kwetey and I will be prosecuted and put behind bars or not, she rallied the Voltarians.
Before making such unfortunate statements lets remove the logs in our own eyes
But former President Rawlings, in a strongly worded statement issued Wednesday, cautioned it is imperative "before making such unfortunate statements," one removes "the log in our own eyes".
Describing the former minister's comments as distasteful, Mr Rawlings stressed that he does not ascribe to the politics of ethnic bias.
While I may not be a fan of the NPP, I know their presidential candidate is not tribalistic or ethnocentric. Whatever Nana Addos shortcomings, tribalism is not one of them, he added.
Read Mr Rawlings' full statement below
STATEMENT ON ETHNOCENTRIC COMMENTS BY DZIFA ATTIVOR
My attention has been drawn to a statement made by a former Minister for Transport, Dzifa Attivor at a political event at Wodoaba in the Volta Region.
I find it distasteful that aside making ethnocentric references accusing the NPP Presidential candidate of being tribalistic, she also insinuated that because I was the Founder of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the electorate in the Volta Region should vote for the party on that basis.
Before making such unfortunate statements lets remove the logs in our own eyes.
I do not subscribe to the politics of ethnic bias and never have. While I may not be a fan of the NPP, I know their presidential candidate is not tribalistic or ethnocentric. Whatever Nana Addos shortcomings, tribalism is not one of them. Some known and respected Voltarians like Nutifafa Kuenyehia should be able to testify to his political nature.
As we draw closer to the next Presidential and Parliamentary elections we all as Ghanaians expect ALL PARTIES involved in the process to base their arguments and campaign rhetoric on the truth and desist from emotional and non-factual statements, especially where my name has to be mentioned.
I implore the electorate not to allow immature behaviour and pronouncements to cloud their judgement.
Thank you.
Source: Chris Joe Quaicoe/ email: [email protected]
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The running mate of the Opposition New Patriotic Party Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has stated that the Presidency is religiously skewed.
According to him, the seat of government does not adequately reflect one part of the two dominant religious groupings in the country.
Addressing supporters of the New Patriotic Party in the Sissala East district of the Upper West region, the former deputy governor of the Central bank urged the residents to vote for the NPP in the upcoming elections in order to bring religious balance to the presidency.
Another major issue that I want to bring to the attention of the people is that; if we look at the flagstaff house today, it does not reflect the people of Ghana in terms of religion.
We are in this country living peacefully and nicely; Christians and Muslims. So we believe in the NPP that Christians and Muslims should work together and that is why whenever we pick a flagbearer as a Christian, we pick a Muslim as a vice. And when we come and pick a Muslim as a flagbearer, we will pick a Christian as a vice.
"So if, Insha Allah, Nana Akufo-Addo becomes president, he will swear with the Bible and enter the Flagstaff and I will swear with the Quran and enter the flagstaff House, he noted.
Currently, Ghanas President John Mahama and his vice, Kwesi Amissah-Arthur are both Christians.
Source: starrfmonline.com
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Information reaching DAILY GUIDE confirmed that some northerners in the eastern regional secretariat of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) would today (Monday) start bussing majority of Burkinabes to Ghana to get registered in the ongoing biometric limited registration exercise.
Alhaji Umar Bondinga, the Regional First Vice Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who confirmed this to DAILY GUIDE, said their intelligence reports confirmed that the NDC had parked buses at Darkola, a border town in Burkina Faso, where they would today (Monday) bus tomato farmers and other people to the Eastern Region to register in places such as Achiase, Afram Plains, Oda, Suhum, Asuogyaman and Kwahu.
Our sources said some of the Eastern Regional Executives of the NDC, precisely those who are northerners in the party, have linked up with others at Paga and have masterminded the move to bus majority of Burkinabes to the region today to get registered and vote in the upcoming November polls, in order to secure their [NDC] agenda 50/50 project, he alleged.
Alhaji Bondinga indicated that The NDC as a party has become so unpopular in the region due to the general dissatisfaction and disaffection among the people towards the Mahama-led government to the extent that they have to resort to the bussing of people from other regions to Eastern Region to register
This action of the NDC in the ongoing limited registration exercise is illegal, unwarranted, unlawful and shameful and they must be told in plain clear language.
He posited that At Kyebi in the Abuakwa South constituency, it took some brave women to resist the registration of some 52 Nigeriens who were bussed from Ashaiman in Greater Accra to the constituency by the NDCs parliamentary candidate, Owuraku Amofa. The people were brought to the constituency in a Nigerien Renault-branded vehicle with registration number 8Q9137 with the inscription, ZOMO, to illegally participate in the ongoing limited registration exercise.
He added that The NDC parliamentary candidate for Fanteakwa South, Abigail Elorm, also on Saturday bussed some people including minors from Volta Region to get registered at Dwenasi, a farming community in the constituency, but the residents there stopped them from registering and sacked the Voltarians back to their region.
Alhaji Umar Bondinga called on the police, other security agencies and party members who are in the border areas to stop the move by the NDC to get foreigners to register in Ghana.
We urge the police and other security agencies not to kowtow to any pressure from the so-called above and bend their rules of engagement to favour one political entity. They must bring their professionalism to bear to ensure a level playing field in this electioneering period, he urged.
Confusion
Meanwhile, DAILY GUIDE has gathered that since last week, there have been several physical attacks at various registration centres in the region, where some thugs believed to have been hired by the NDC have been moving from one centre to the other driving eligible voters away on grounds that they are minors and destroying materials of the Electoral Commission.
In places such as Akwatia, Suhum, Akyem Oda, Ofoase/Ayirebi and Atiwa among others, there were exchanges of blows and physical assault at Kwahu Nkwantia between the executives of the NDC and the NPP, which led to the Kwahu Abetifi NDC Youth Organiser, John Teye, sustaining injuries. He was reported to have protested against the registration of about 200 students from Nkwantia Senior High School, who had gone to that centre to register, on grounds that they were minors. This reportedly resulted in an altercation that led to the arrest of one NPP member.
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NDC Justification
The Eastern Regional Communication Officer of the NDC, Jamal Konneh, after the incident, in a statement, called on the police to act swiftly and apprehend those who were bent on disrupting the exercise.
We want the police and the national security to stop all unregistered vehicles in the region during this period since the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is using such vehicles for their illegal activities, the statement said.
It further urged all polling agents to continue challenging every minor the NPP tries to register in the region as the law demands. We wish to assure them of the needed protection they need moving forward.
NPP Concerns
However, the regional executive body of the New Patriotic Party, which noted with concern that the ruling National Democratic Congress was deliberately using thugs to intimidate and beat people at the various registration centres in the region, especially first time registrants from the Senior High Schools, in a press statement issued and signed by David Prah, the Regional Communications Director, called on the security agencies to put in place measures to halt these acts of lawlessness.
According to the NPP, the NDC executives, aware that the youth would not vote for them come November 7, 2016 due to their abysmal performance in the management of the countrys economy and the general neglect of the youth by the Mahama-led NDC government, had adopted these crude and cruel strategies of physically preventing eligible people from registering and unnecessarily challenging same, especially in areas they perceived as the strongholds of the NPP.
The NDCs shameless armed thugs, including some of their regional executives led by Mark Oliver Kevor, the Regional Secretary, and his Deputy Francis Dompreh, were seen with machetes and chanting war songs moving from one registration centre to another intimidating and violently and unlawfully preventing prospective and eligible people from registering, especially at the Kwahu block, the NPP stated.
The statement indicated that the NDC thugs went to the Nkwantia post office registration centre in the Abetifi constituency and started beating people who had queued to register. They were, however, resisted strongly by the youth in the area, which resulted in a scuffle between the supporters of both parties. We found it very unfortunate that the police would arrest only the NPP guy with the excuse that it was an order from above. This is unacceptable and dangerous to our democracy.
Again, these NDC thugs were seen wielding arms and firing from all angles with the sole aim of intimidating and scaring registrants and it took the expertise of the Abetifi Police to halt this insanity and unlawful act of the NDCs shameless thugs.
The party indicated that it was a law-abiding and decent political party and would continue to collaborate with the established security agencies to ensure a smooth and peaceful registration process that would produce a credible voter register for election 2016.
The party, however, assured its polling agents, numerous supporters in the region and the good people of Ghana that the OPERATION GET VOTES FOR NANA is on course, focused and begins with this registration. We urge them to resist any attempts and all forms of intimidation and oppressors rule as our national anthem enjoins. We will give them the needed protection, with the assistance of the security agencies, as they go about their lawful duties of ensuring that qualified persons get registered in this limited registration exercise.
Source: Daily Guide
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Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Free Zones Board, Kwadwo Twum-Boafo has described the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party NPP, Nana Addo Dankwa-Akuffo Addo as a violent Thug, who wants to be president of this country at all cost.
I will say it again that this country is on a precipice, that we have a violent thug, who wants to be president of this country at all cost. We have a man who absolutely has no campaign message, who is now begging to be voted for," he said.
Contributing to a panel discussion on Radio Gold's "Alhaji and Alhaji" programme, a fuming Twum-Boafo said Ghanaians should never make up their mind to vote for an unforgiving individual, causing all the mess in the country just for his personal interest to become the president of this land.
Whiles advising Ghanaians to be very vigilant when dealing with members of the NPP and its flag bearer, he also urged them to listen to Paul Afoko, NPPS suspended Chairman, who to him, is "clearly telling us the facts about who Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffu-Addo".
I have faith in the Ghanaian people that they would never vote into power such a man who has on three (3) occasions within his own party and twice from the Ghanaian people lost elections due to his lack of respect...." he said.
He added that this act by Citizens really demonstrate how they would not allow any tyranny to befall them, showing how good they are in learning history. Therefore we would not allow anybody to intimidate us for power".
so for those of you who always get up and say , that people like Kwadwo Boafo are always on the case of the NPP flag bearer...should do their homework well he asserted.
me am not afraid of anybody, you can only kill me once, can you kill everybody and when you finish are you going to rule over the cockroaches? he rhetorically quizzed.
Source: Elizabeth Semiheva/Peacefmonline.com
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Mr Frank Aboagye Danyansah, an estate developer, has been acclaimed as Progressive Peoples Party parliamentary candidate for Obuasi East Constituency.
The acclamation was supervised by officials of the electoral commission after Mr Danyansah, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Danywise Estate and Construction, was retained as the sole candidate after close of the partys nomination for the slot.
Mr Danyansah told the Ghana News Agency that he has unveiled a chain of campaign activities and development agenda focusing on human development and progressive leadership to generate job opportunities and tackle the protracted unemployment menace in the area.
"Our country is at the threshold of a new era, an era that beckons for a new kind of leadership, a leadership that is uncontaminated by the prejudices of the past, a leadership committed to change [and ready to] solve the everyday problems that confront the average Ghanaian."
"I have come to launch a campaign of ideas, not one of calumny; I have come to preach love, not hate. I have come to break you away from divisive tendencies of the past which have slowed our drive to true nationhood, I have no enemies to fight, you are all my friends and we share a common destiny, he said.
I shall strive to the best of my ability to help resolve the problem of unemployment within our communities with a gold refinery [and make] make the constituency attractive to investors.
Mr Danyansah also pledged to facilitate the construction of a wood village and expand an existing timber market into ultra-modern facility, and build a central market to decongest Obuasi market and minimize vehicular and human traffic.
We intend to put up a modern central market within Obuasi East, this market will be the centre of Adansi market where all towns and villages around Obuasi will bring their produce for sale, it will ease pressure on the already existing market and create traffic free environment for us, he said.
Mr Danyansah said financing of the projects would not come from a common fund or government funding but through interventions of investors with the transformative and progressive leadership of the PPP leading the process.
Weve [PPP leadership] already appealed to investors who are ready to help and assist us, we have the network to make it happen.
Mr Danyansah called for unity and contest of ideas among political parties to better inform the electorate to make informed choices as to who was fit to move the constituency into prosperity and transform peoples living conditions.
He said the PPP would promote cleaner environment, advocate the use of more paper bags instead of plastics, and preach attitudinal change to people to dispose waste appropriately to prevent recurrent of outbreak of diseases that claim lives every year.
Source: GNA
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong has justified the alleged assault on colleague MP by the partys Ashanti regional chairman, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako popularly known as 'Chairman Wontumi'.
According to him, the Manhyia North MP, Collins Owusu Amankwah is part of the mole flirting with the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Chairman Wontumi allegedly slapped the Manhyia North MP and assaulted constituency secretary, Felix Ibrahim during the limited voter registration exercise at Krofrom, a suburb of Kumasi on Sunday.
What triggered the attack is still unknown but the Chairman is assisting police with investigation. He turned himself in after he was declared wanted by the Tafo Pankrono police.
Though his conduct has been condemned by many, Ken Agyapong on Asempa FMs Ekosii Sen programme Tuesday doff his hat for Wontumi.
Wontumi is a fantastic chairman; the slap he gave the MP is good. In fact he [Collins] deserves to be beaten, he scoffed.
Explaining his position, the outspoken Assin Central MP claimed Hon. Collins Owusu Amankwah with the help of an NPP bigwig called President Mahama to deal with Chairman Wontumi.
This MP called a big man in the NPP who also called President Mahama who gave the order for the police to deal with Wontumi, he claimed.
Ken Agyapong also warned any MP who will connive with the NDC to bring the NPP down ahead of the November elections will not be spared.
Source: adomonline.com
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has been hit by another tragedy following the death of the partys chairman for Ahafo Ano South West Constituency.
Mr. Anthony Osei Yaw Akoto passed on at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) on Wednesday, May 5, 2016.
He had been admitted to the Hospital and receiving treatmentment after sustaining multiple injuries from a fatal accident which occurred last week.
He is reported to have been involved in the accident on Monday when a vehicle he was driving somersaulted several times.
The chairman was touring the constituency when the incident occurred. The cause of the accident was immediately not known.
Party members familiar with the situation say the late chairman was on his usual rounds observing the ongoing Limited Voter Registration exercise.
The late chairman is said to have suffered several injuries in the ribs and the neck, and was receiving treatment at the Accident and Emergency Centre at KATH but gave up the ghost when he had no strength to carry on.
Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, aka Chairman Wontumi, who confirmed the incident, told journalists that the party would visit the constituency on Friday, May 7, 2016, to meet with the family and discuss the way forward.
He said the party would dearly miss the late constituency chairman whom he described as hardworking and dedicated to the course of the party.
The Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition has for the past few months lost some notable personalities among its rank and file.
The party in April buried two of its illustrious sons, former National Chairman, Jake Otanka Obetsebi Lamptey and J. B. Danquah-Adu, former MP for Abuakwa North who was gruesomely murdered by a 19 year-old boy.
The NPP late last year also lost its Upper East Regional Chairman, Adam Mahama as a result of acid attack.
Source: kasapafmonline.com
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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Some Voltarians are not the least enthused at the continuous attempt by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to get foreign nationals, especially Togolese and Ivorians, to register and vote in Ghanas elections as witnessed in the just ended limited voters registration exercise.
In a statement, the pressure group, Volta4Change (V4C), noted that sensing the nationwide unpopularity of their governance, which by all indices has been an absolute failure, John Dramani Mahama has resorted to any means, however despicable, to preserve his scandal-ridden incumbency.
Apart from that, the statement which was signed by Eyram Doe and Abraham Futukpor, leading members of the group, said due to its rapidly dwindling support within Ghana and especially within Volta Region, John Mahama has sought to co-opt Togolese nationals as part of his constituency base, bussing them into Ghana where necessary, even to the extent of constructing cross-border roads to facilitate this.
According to them, these incidents in the Volta Region have brought to light instances of police allegedly beating up a citizen (referring to the Volta Regional Chairman of the opposition NPP, Peter Amewu) who dared to try and challenge a police vehicle taking a registration machine into Togo. They added that the fact that the police is allegedly involved in corrupt electoral practices is bad enough.
That the police brutally beat up a man who patriotically saw it as his duty to challenge such flagrant corruption and abuse of power is evidence that the NDC is prepared to utilise any means, however foul, immoral or corrupt, to achieve its objectives, the group noted with concern, insisting that in any civilised democracy, such a nefarious activity would be worthy of a public inquiry and prosecutions.
Come Saturday, June 4, 2016, the Volta4Change group will march through the streets of Hohoe to highlight the need for changea change from the violence and corruption that is flourishing under John Dramani Mahama.
We will be marching to change the cloud of hopelessness engulfing the country and to preach the message of hope for a better day after John Mahama is kicked out of government, was how the statement put it.
The march is expected to end with a free health screening for the people of Hohoe.
They have therefore asked Ghanaians to join them in this campaign exercise, noting, the recent voter registration exercise was a first-class farce, a complete shambles from top to bottom and describing it as a near top of the league lamentable litany of EC cock-ups.
Source: Daily Guide
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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All Peoples Congress (APC) founder, Hassan Ayariga has argued that the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo would only work as a ceremonial President if elected because in his opinion, he is too old.
Hassan Ayariga, popularly known as Ayaricoff said the septuagenarian would be a ceremonial President because he would lack the ability to think while occupying the position of a President.
Even at 70, thinking is a problem and people would think for you, which means you are just going to become a ceremonial president, he said on Adom FM Wednesday.
The flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Nana Akufo-Addo, while inaugurating the South African branch of the NPP, reiterated that age is not a factor when it comes to the presidency, but competence and ability to deliver count.
The 72-year-old said there are living examples in the sub-region to prove that presidents above 70 can provide solutions.
Alassane Ouattara, who I am talking about, in Cote dIvoire is two years older than me. Muhammadu Buhari is three years older than me, and you see what he is doing in Nigeria, the former foreign affairs minister told the gathering.
The so-called young man that we have is plunging our country into a ditch. Lets elect the so-called old man to come and take our country out of the ditch, Nana Addo said.
But Hassan Ayariga insisted that age has everything to do with being President as according to him, Nana Addo at 70 would lose the ability to think right and propose right solutions to the countrys problems.
Wisdom has nothing to do with age, Methuselahs age has nothing to do with the wisdom of Solomon so its time for we the young ones to take overcan you compare the thinking of a young person to the aged...? he quizzed.
Asked why he appeared to cough every time Nana Akufo-Addo made a submission during the 2012 Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) Presidential debate, Hassan Ayariga said it was not a deliberate act.
According to him, he was not well during the debate.
If you have ill health and cough, does it mean you did not do well at the debatewho is Nana Addo for me to cough to distract, he is a human being like everybody, Nana Addo is not Godcant I fall sick, am I God, he asked.
Source: adomonline.com
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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Suspended chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Paul Afoko, yesterday admitted that the issues he raised against the appointment of a member of the Disciplinary Committee of the party that recommended his suspension were not based on any express provisions in the partys constitution.
Mr Afoko, however, insisted that the NPP National Council should have appointed Gifty Eugenia Kusi, MP for Tarkwa Nsuaem, whose membership is part of the issues he has brought to the Human Rights Court, Accra against the party, even though he conceded that there was no specific provision in the NPP constitution requiring such a step.
Mr Afoko has sued the NPP and its Acting National Chairman, Freddie Blay, following his indefinite suspension in October last year by the party.
The partys Disciplinary Committee (DC) had recommended his suspension after a petition by two members of the NPP; and Mr Afoko wants the court to order his re-instatement as the National Chairman.
Give-And-Take
NPP Counsel, Godfred Yeboah Dame: Mr Afoko, you cant point to any specific provision in Article 4 (in reference to NPP constitution) which requires prior approval by the National Council.
Witness: I cannot, but since we are talking about Gifty Kusi or for that matter one representative of the parliamentary group, the constitution does not also say that the person must necessarily be an MP.
Article 4 (1) (c)
Counsel then took Mr Afoko to Article 4 (1) (c) of the partys constitution which deals with the persons that the National Chairman has the right to appoint onto the DC, which he admitted also does not warrant a prior approval by the National Council. The witness insisted, however, that in spite of this, his earlier answers to the question still stood that The National Council has the authority to reject, accept and appoint all names put before it to serve on the standing committee.
Mr Afokos answers prompted the trial judge, Justice Anthony K. Yeboah, to remind him that the court needed a Yes or a No answer before the witness could go ahead to offer an explanation.
Counsel: Do you see what you just stated in the provision?
Witness: No, it is not in the constitution.
Counsel: You see a requirement, in the provision that you just read, for at least two women to be on the Disciplinary Committee?
Witness: Yes.
Counsel: Your alleged original list which you claimed satisfied the constitutional provision is actually contrary to this requirement for two women to be on the Disciplinary Committee. Is that not correct?
Witness: It is correct that the National Council did not actually adhere strictly to that provision. Therefore, if it was to be rectified then it was for the National Council to do so.
Counsel: Nonetheless, you consider your list as being the duly constituted Disciplinary Committee?
Witness: That list is not my list. It is the list that was approved by the National Council so I consider it as duly constituted National Disciplinary Committee, even though there is this flaw in the appointment.
Counsel: The replacement of W.O. Boafo with Gifty Kusi ensured that two women served on the Disciplinary Committee.
Witness: The nomination of W.O. Boafo came from the parliamentary group and so that had nothing to do with me but then the replacement of W.O. Boafo with Gifty Kusi was because the National Council was not quorate.
Gender Provision
Mr Afoko told the packed court that some members of the committee, including Nana Yaw Osei (his spokesperson), and Alhaji Rahman had embarked on a pilgrimage to Mecca while W.O. Boafo had written to say he could be replaced; and insisted that the appointment of Gifty Kusi was not to rectify the gender provision.
Counsel: Quorum for the Disciplinary Committee is five.
Witness: Yes.
Counsel: Take a look at the report of the Disciplinary Committee on your petition. How many persons signed as having taken part in the proceedings?
Witness: It is signed by six persons. What is revealing is the undated letter put in by W.O. Boafo where he states that he wished to be replaced so the committee could quorate. This goes to show that the introduction of Gifty Kusi was meant to have a quorum required.
Counsel: The number six which sat on your petition was in excess of the minimum quorum?
Witness: Yes, it is. But as we contended earlier, Alhaji Rahman was not available in the earlier sittings. The petition before the committee was the preliminary legal objection not what they signed off.
Counsel: I put it to you that the appointment of Gifty Kusi was thus not intended to satisfy a quorum of the Disciplinary Committee.
Witness: I disagree.
Appointment Procedure
Mr Afoko admitted that the appointment procedure for all standing committees of the National Council was set out on pages 38 to 41 of the partys constitution.
He, however, disagreed with counsel that in respect of all standing committees with the exception of the DC the appointment is directly by the National Council, saying, The appointment of all members of the National Council standing committees is by the National Council.
Counsel: You see at page 41, the appointment procedure to the DC is not specified there. You are referred to Article 4.
Witness: Yes, that is correct.
Counsel: Look at Article 4 page 11 and tell this court where it is stated that the National Council shall appoint members of the DC.
Witness: It is not stated explicitly but referring to my earlier answer, I state that uniquely, a DC is the one that has its membership coming from various bodies within the party.
Mr Afoko also admitted that the term of the DC had to do with how long they could serve but said, It also states that they could be re-appointed.
Counsel: The term has nothing to do with the procedure by which the members get to serve on the committee.
Witness: No, it has nothing to do with the procedure but it does say within the same Article 4 (2) that they may be re-appointed.
He admitted that there is no provision that contends that members shall be re-appointed to the DC but said his reliance on Article 4 (2) was meant to illustrate the point that just as it does not state explicitly so, it is that the absence of a term description did not make the membership forever.
Afokos Availability
Counsel pointed it out to Mr Afoko that at the time of Gifty Kusis appointment, he was not available to swear her into office; and the witness said it was correct.
Counsel: This was the same time that your lawyers appeared before the Disciplinary Committee and claimed that you were not well.
Witness: Only one occasion. I wasnt incapacitated but not well enough to attend the hearing in the preliminary legal objections.
When counsel told him that the last time he (Afoko) held a meeting of either the National Executive Council or National Council was in March 2015, six months before the hearing of the disciplinary proceedings against him, he said: In line with the constitutional provisions, I convened National Council and NEC meetings appropriately.
Counsel: All the questions you raised about Gifty Kusis appointment were considered by the National Council.
Witness: The National Council did not consider any issues at all or questions relating to Gifty Kusi because the Council never had her name placed before them.
Counsel: There was an appeal filed by yourself against the decision of the NEC to suspend to the National Council.
Witness: Yes, there was an appeal filed but it was not contesting my suspension but rather the constitutionality of what had happened, especially the DCs right to pronounce judgement without hearing the whole matter.
Counsel: Your lawyers indeed stated, as one of the grounds of appeal to the National Council, the allegation of the unconstitutionality of Gifty Kusis appointment.
Witness: Yes.
Sitting continues on June 1, 2016.
Source: Daily Guide
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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A damning new article has blasted the University of Sydneys prestigious St Andrews College for what is an alleged toxic culture of sexism, racism, sexual assault and bullying essentially, the very worst things you could get when lumping a bunch of freshly minted 18-year-olds under one roof with buckets of alcohol and no supervision.
It follows not one but two recent incidences of USyd students (this time from Wesley College) being monumental shit bags; the first, a slut-shaming journal, the second, harassment of sex workers.
But this new article is about St Andrews, because lest the douche-baggery discriminate. Published by student magazine Honi Soit, the piece begins with a story about a student, Kendra Murphy, who had her alleged sexual assault broadcast over the PA system in 2014 and very quickly degenerates from there.
It paints an environment that regularly slut-shames women while simultaneously putting them in environments where the entire aim is too encourage hook-ups (see: Fresher Fishing). And as author Justine Landis-Hanley says, its very difficult to opt out of a culture when you live there.
One incident she describes is the weekly ritual of senior students airing hook-ups and personal information over the colleges PA system. Another is the 2014 O-Week sexual harassment talk, where female freshers were told by senior students to try and grope the boys genitals, because it would be really funny, theyll be too afraid to look at you after being told they cant touch you without your consent. Yet a third is the aforementioned annual Fresher Fishing party, where older students are paired with younger students to see if they catch the bait and bone them. Vom.
In fact, Landis-Hanley didnt even have the space to include all the stories she was sent for the article.
One student sent me pictures of a burnt gay pride flag that was found lying on the St. Andrews grounds amidst beer cans after their formal party last year, she said. Another showed me how their student food representatives start their weekly report with an Islamic peace greeting, something that most people would see as disrespectful cultural appropriation.
The piece went live yesterday, and shes says plenty of past and present college students have written to thank her for shedding light on these practises.
That being said, she wants to make it very clear that while not every student will have or has had these negative experiences, plenty of them have been or are affected by what she calls a toxic culture.
This piece is not an attack on the individual it is an attack on an environment that compels people to behave in certain ways, and subject others to this behaviour, she said. How we enact change within the aforementioned institutions is a dilemma fraught with difficulty; It would require overturning years of action and inaction that has been continually justified as tradition.
These colleges need to investigate their own systemic sanctioning of dangerous behaviours and take the appropriate steps to combat them.
PEDESTRIAN.TV has reached out to the university for comment. Well update when they get back to us.
Source: Honi Soit.
Photo: Facebook / University of Sydney.
To access 24/7 support lines for sexual assault, call 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732.
Whilst the battle for the regulation and legislation of ridesharing services like Uber has been fought mainly in state parliaments around the country, in Victoria the legalities of the service have been vetted through the court system.
An on-going test case against Uber driver Nathan Brenner has served as the frontline battle for both sides of the legal argument.
Brenner, who at one point served as the manager of Split Enz and Men at Work, accepted a booking on August 21st, 2014 at the Hilton in East Melbourne for a $9 fare to the Hotel Como in South Melbourne. However he arrived at the booking to discover that the booking was a sting made by two Taxi Services Commissioners, who subsequently charged him with operating a commercial passenger vehicle without being authorised.
Back in December of last year, the initial court case found Brenner guilty of those charges, levelling a $900 fine against him, and in the process created a legal precedent that effectively rendered UberX illegal in Victoria.
However, the company continued to operate the service within the state, and Brenner subsequently launched an appeal.
Today, Judge Geoff Chettle ruled in favour of Brenner, dismissing the original charges against him and overturning the original courts decision; a ruling that effectively makes Uber not illegal in Victoria once again.
In Melbournes County Court this morning, Chettle applauded Brenners defence team and lashed prosecution for failing to actually read the relevant act that they were basing their case off of.
The ruling found that, under the current Victorian taxi legislation which was drafted and enacted in 1941, an Uber vehicle cannot be classified as a commercial passenger vehicle as the acts definition stipulates.
Judge Chettle threw the case out, and awarded all legal costs to Brenner.
The decision means that Ubers legal status in Victoria is effectively back to square one, and now the onus returns to the Andrews Government to draft and implement the regulatory legislation that would encompass and legalise ridesharing in the state.
Uber Victorias GM Matt Denman was beyond stoked with the decision:
We are delighted that our driver-partner Mr Brenner won his appeal today in the the County Court of Victoria, and was awarded costs. The time for excuses is over. The Andrews Government needs to listen to the hundreds of thousands of Victorians who are choosing ridesharing every week and introduce sensible, safety-based regulations without delay.
Uber is currently legal in New South Wales, Western Australia, and the ACT. But both South Australia and Queensland remain doggedly opposed to the service.
Source: Herald Sun.
Photo: Adam Berry/Getty.
Because of Australias tall poppy syndrome, we will lock onto any kind of international cultural representation we can find. No matter what. Any kind of shout out, and well take it, even if
PHOTO: #FSA group captures #ISIS member wearing a shirt for Australian punk band Deez Nuts #Syria pic.twitter.com/2t92LvZtGh Conflict News (@Conflicts) May 17, 2016
Well, there you go. Twitter account Conflict News, which reports on minutiae from battlefields everywhere, but especially Syria and Iraq, reported that the two were captured by the Free Syrian Army, the US coalition backed militia which opposed both ISIS and the rule of Bashar Al-Assad in Syria.
For whatever reason, the fighter pictured on the left here is wearing a shirt of Melbourne hardcore band Deez Nuts. Its good to get support for local music right?
Source: Twitter.
Kesha
Kesha attends "To the Rescue: Saving Animal Lives" Gala and Fundraiser held at Paramount Pictures Studio on Saturday, May 7, 2016, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
(Richard Shotwell)
Dr. Luke's record label Kemosabe Records will not allow Kesha to perform at this weekend's Billboard Music Awards any longer, according to USA Today.
Kesha had accepted the invitation to perform Sunday, May 22, and Kemosabe Records even sent written approval to dick clark productions, which produces the awards show, according to Billboard.
The record label later pulled its approval after a "media report Wednesday (May 11) regarding Kesha's performance on the (Billboard Music Awards)," according to a statement from the production company.
USA Today suggests that it might have something to do with stories published on TMZ and the New York Daily News last week. "Sources close to Kesha" told the media outlets that the musician had planned a "statement performance" which would reference her ongoing legal feud with Dr. Luke.
Kesha later commented on Instagram that she only wanted to play Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" at the Billboard Music Awards "to honor an artist I have always looked up to." She said the performance would not have referenced Dr. Luke or her legal situation.
The musician, whose full name is Kesha Rose Sebert, had sued to be released from her contract with Kemosabe Records, according to The Atlantic. That's because Kesha claims Dr. Luke, whose full name is Lukasz Gottwald, had abused and raped her for years. He wasn't charged.
Kemosabe Record also reportedly told Kesha that she could record music without Dr. Luke. That led New York judge Shirley Werner Kornreich to throw the suit out, saying it "decimates" Kesha's argument that his involvement would bring her career to a standstill.
Kesha's lawyers plan to continue the legal battle against Dr. Luke in California, according to
.
TV Meteorologist-Owl Rescue
A baby screech owl is fed at The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Philadelphia on Tuesday, May 17, 2016. A Philadelphia television meteorologist broke off from a trail run to rescue the injured baby screech owl and take it to the wildlife center, where it's doing well. (The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education via AP)
Approaching apparently helpless animals with compassion can sometimes end up being a bad idea, as was the case with some recent tourists at Yellowstone National Park.
But a Philadelphia woman had a much more pleasant and rewarding experience when she came across an injured owl.
Cecily Tynan, a meteorologist with Philadelphia ABC affiliate WPVI, came across the young owl while on a trail run on May 16.
I just found this injured owl while on a long trail run. Forget the run, I am going to try to capture it in my shirt and bring it to a wildlife center. Wish me luck! Posted by Cecily Tynan on Monday, May 16, 2016
The nestling had likely fallen from a tree, and seemed to have an injury to one of its wings. Tynan posted the video on her Facebook page, where she also announced she would try to take the animal to a wildlife center.
One commenter on the video suggested Tynan take the owl to the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. Tynan then swaddled the owl in a shirt and the two were on their adorable way.
Success! Walking home and then heading to the Schuylkill wildlife center Posted by Cecily Tynan on Monday, May 16, 2016
According to the staff at the wildlife center, Tynan made the right move, and just in the nick of time, too. Here's what the center had to say:
It looks like the owl, whom Tynan named "Ridley", is doing much better in the care of the experts.
Great news! Ridley (yes, I named him) made it though the night & is doing well. Thx, to the The Schuylkill Center for... Posted by Cecily Tynan on Tuesday, May 17, 2016
If you're looking for more owl-related awesomeness, check out this update on the Millersburg-based Project SNOWstorm, which tracks snowy owls. There's also a new owl Pokemon coming our way soon, which is clearly the greatest and best of all Pokemon ever.
Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright
Kevin Spacey, left, and Robin Wright attend the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2015, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Alex Berliner/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Images)
(Alex Berliner)
In a move worthy of Claire Underwood, actress Robin Wright demanded to be paid the same as her House of Cards co-star Kevin Spacey or she would go public about the difference in pay.
She talked about the pay negotiation during an interview with The Rockefeller Foundation Tuesday, May 17, according to The New York Times. Spacey was being paid $500,000 per episode in 2014, which made him one of the highest-paid actors on television. Wright, on the other hand, was being paid $80,000 less than her male co-star, according to USA Today.
When the actress learned that both her and Spacey's characters were equally popular among viewers, the actress took the opportunity to ask for a pay raise.
"I was like, 'You better pay me or I'm going to go public,'" Wright said, according to The Huffington Post. "And they did."
Wright called it the "perfect paradigm" as there are few movies or television shows like House of Cards where its male and female characters are equal.
Wright is one of many actresses who have recently spoken out against pay inequality in Hollywood, such as Jennifer Lawrence and Patricia Arquette, according to
.
Sean Adams | sadams@pennlive.com
Best moments for 'Top Gun'
On March 3, 1969, the United States Navy established an elite school for the top one percent of its pilots. In 1986, they made a movie about it starring Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer. Both the school and the movie were titled "Top Gun."
The film went on to inspire a 500% increase in Navy enlistment, a spoof in the form of the movie "Hot Shots" and a need for speed for many in the audience. Here's nine of the memorable moments from the movie, which celebrates a 30 year anniversary today!
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Sean Adams | sadams@pennlive.com
The need for speed
Maverick and Goose give each other one hell of a high five here. And why shouldn't they? They've got a shared, imperative desire for dramatic acceleration, after all.
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Sean Adams | sadams@pennlive.com
The volleyball scene
You might think that a movie about jet pilots wouldn't have a memorable scene of shirtless volleyball, but you'd be wrong. Sometimes you just gotta be playing with the boys.
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Sean Adams | sadams@pennlive.com
The bromance
There's no love lost between Iceman and Maverick. One is by-the-book, one is a loose cannon, and they are both supremely confident that they're the best pilot around. But by the end of the movie, gosh darn it, they can be one another's wingman. Hug it out, bro.
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Sean Adams | sadams@pennlive.com
The sunglasses
Was there ever a time that aviator sunglasses were uncool? If so, it was long before "Top Gun" came out, thank you very much.
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Sean Adams | sadams@pennlive.com
The music
Revvin' up your engine
Listen to her howlin' roar
Metal under tension
Beggin' you to touch and go.
Headin' into twilight
Spreadin' out her wings tonight
She got you jumpin' off the track
And shovin' into overdrive.
You're welcome.
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Sean Adams | sadams@pennlive.com
Buzzing the tower
One of many examples of Maverick's disregard for the rules - but hey, what good are rules when you can be the best pilot instead? Take that, coffee!
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Sean Adams | sadams@pennlive.com
The planes
If you're a fan of high-speed aviation, this is the movie for you. There's no shortage of scenes showcasing the F-14A Tomcat, one of the United States' top fighter jets, including in dogfights with the (fictional) Russian MiG-28.
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Sean Adams | sadams@pennlive.com
The nicknames
Anybody can be cool with a call sign like Maverick, Iceman, Viper or to a lesser extent, Hollywood. But it takes a real man to make a nickname like Goose into something moderately cool. You're the man, Goose.
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Sean Adams | sadams@pennlive.com
Tom Cruise in full Tom Cruise mode
Ahh, Tom Cruise. You are at your best when you're playing an arrogant jerk. But that jerk always has a sensitive side that makes us care about him. And to think, they almost cast Matthew Modine in this role instead.
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Sean Adams | sadams@pennlive.com
What's your favorite part?
Do you love "Top Gun"? Share your favorite memory from the movie in the comments below!
And if you don't love "Top Gun," well, here's a spoof movie trailer video from the folks at Honest Trailers.
Lebanon Valley College celebrated more than 500 students during its 147th Commencement on Saturday, May 14, 2016.
Timothy Peelen of Lebanon, associate professor of chemistry, delivered the commencement address. Peelen earned the privilege of speaking at commencement after being recognized at last year's ceremony with the college's top teaching honor for a full-time faculty member, The Thomas Rhys Vickroy Distinguished Teaching Award (Vickroy Award).
Also during commencement, the college announced Treva Clark, assistant chair and assistant professor of business and economics, as this year's Vickroy Award winner.
According to the college, Clark teaches business administration and international business courses. She was appointed to the president's Strategic Planning Steering Committee and serves as chair of the Global Learning Task Force. Clark twice served as program director for the Maastricht short-term study abroad program and has forged area collaborations with businesses. These efforts have led the College to create a new international business major that begins this fall. Clark completed her Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh last year with her dissertation focusing on her research in the fields of development education and microfinance.
The top student award, the H. Anthony Neidig Award, was presented to Carrie Pfleiger, a biology and French double major from Dover.
View photos from the event at www.lvc.edu/FB/147-commencement.
Video of the ceremony is available at www.lvc.edu/youtube/147-commencement.
Nigeria Kidnapped Girls
FILE - In this Monday, May. 12, 2014, file image taken from video by Nigeria's Boko Haram terrorist network, shows missing girls abducted from the northeastern town of Chibok. Soldiers have found one of the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram from a boarding school in Chibok town, her uncle said Wednesday, May. 18, 2016 describing her as pregnant and traumatized but otherwise fine.
(AP Photo/File)
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) -- Nigerian soldiers have found one of the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram from Chibok, making her the first freed from the Islamic extremists since the mass kidnapping more than two years ago. Her uncle describes her as pregnant and traumatized but otherwise fine.
Amina Ali Nkeki is the first of the 219 Chibok girls to escape from her captors since their abduction grabbed worldwide attention more than two years ago.
She was found wandering in the forest, uncle Yakubu Nkeki told The Associated Press. He said the 19-year-old -- she was 17 when she was abducted -- was brought to Chibok Tuesday night for her identity to be verified and to be reunited with her mother. Her father died while she was held captive, he said.
He said the soldiers then took the young woman away, apparently to a military camp in the town of Damboa.
Other Chibok girls may also have been rescued by soldiers hunting down Boko Haram in the remote northeastern Sambisa Forest on Tuesday night, said Chibok community leader Pogu Bitrus. He said he is working with officials to establish their identities.
Boko Haram Islamic extremists stormed and firebombed the Government Girls Secondary School at Chibok on April 14, 2014, and seized 276 girls who were preparing to write science exams. Dozens escaped in the first hours, but 219 remained missing.
The inability of Nigeria's government and military to rescue them led, in part, to the electoral defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan last year.
It's not known how many thousands of girls, boys and young women have been kidnapped by Boko Haram in a nearly 7-year-old insurgency that has killed some 20,000 people and spread across Nigeria's borders.
Nigeria's military has reported freeing thousands this year as they have forced the extremists from towns and into strongholds in the sprawling Sambisa Forest. Boko Haram has turned to soft targets using suicide bombers.
Activists told the BBC that Amina Ali Nkeki was found by a vigilante group on Tuesday in the Sambisa Forest, close to the border with Cameroon. ...
Amina was reportedly identified by a civilian fighter who recognised her. The fighter belonged to the Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF), a vigilante group set up to help fight Boko Haram.
Hosea Abana Tsambido, the chairman of the Chibok community in the capital, Abuja, told the BBC that Amina was found by the vigilantes after venturing into the forest to search for firewood.
One of the Chibok girls has been found, the first since their capture by Boko Haram militants in 2014, activists say https://t.co/1M8K5Iywg1 BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) May 18, 2016
From CNN:
The girl was found on the edge of Sambisa Forest, in the northeast of the country, where the girls have long been suspected to have been held since they were kidnapped from their school dormitory.
She was identified by a local resident and taken to her mother, who confirmed her identity, the activist says.
FLASH: #BringBackOurGirls Rescued Chibok girl Amina Mkeki reveals all the kidnapped girls are still kept in Sambissa Forest by Boko Haram Sahara Reporters (@SaharaReporters) May 18, 2016
The Independent in UK says the rescued girl is pregnant.
girl-13-killed-by-hammock-Peri-Sagun.jpg
Peri Sagun, 13, and her sister were simply trying to relax as they strung a hammock between a tree and a brick light post outside their home. Then, unimaginable tragedy struck.
(Screen shot/KCRG)
A 13-year-old girl and her sister were simply trying to relax as they strung a hammock between a tree and a brick light post outside their Des Moines, Iowa, home last weekend. Then, unimaginable tragedy struck.
The Des Moines Register reports that the five-foot brick light post gave way when Peri Sagun, 13, jumped on that side of he hammock, with her older sister already seated on the other end.
The additional weight on that side of the hammock caused the brick post to collapse onto the younger girl's head.
Her 16-year-old sister, sitting on the hammock's opposite end, was unhurt, and she ran inside the house for help, the newspaper reports.
Despite CPR and first aid administered by Peri's father, the girl died at 12:52 p.m. Saturday after being rushed to a nearby hospital, the newspaper reported, citing the police report in the case.
Primary Election Kentucky
Voters in Kentucky's primary election, May 17, 2016.
(Ryan Hermens/The Paducah Sun via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States sees evidence that hackers, possibly working for foreign governments, are snooping on the presidential candidates, the nation's intelligence chief said Wednesday. Government officials are working with the campaigns to tighten security as the race for the White House intensifies.
The activity follows a pattern set in the last two presidential elections. Hacking was rampant in 2008, according to U.S. intelligence officials, and both President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were targets of Chinese cyberattacks four years later. Despite that history, cyber experts say neither Donald Trump's nor Hillary Clinton's campaign networks are secure enough to eliminate the risk.
"We've already had some indications" of hacking, James Clapper, director of national intelligence, said Wednesday at a cybersecurity event at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington. He said the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security were helping educate the campaigns.
Of the attacks, Clapper predicted, "we'll probably have more."
Eight years ago, foreign intelligence services "met with campaign contacts and staff, used human source networks for policy insights, exploited technology to get otherwise sensitive data, engaged in perception management to influence policy," the document said. "This exceeded traditional lobbying and public diplomacy."
Jonathan Lampe with InfoSec Institute, a private information security company in Chicago, said security hasn't improved significantly since then.
The Clinton and Trump campaigns didn't respond to questions about cybersecurity.
Dickson said the campaigns focused more on computer security because of the investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, and a computer breach of voter data at the Democratic National Committee.
Last year, Clinton's campaign accused rival Bernie Sanders of stealing information about potential voters from the committee's extensive voter trove. Sanders apologized for his campaign improperly gaining access to Clinton campaign data and fired a data director.
Jeremiah Raber, former star of TLC's "Breaking Amish," knows where he stands on Donald Trump.
"If you want positive change then vote #Trump," he wrote in an April Twitter post. "The rest are elite controlled so you'll get the same push for #Nwo [New World Order] as you do now."
Raber, who has a sizable social media presence and nearly 10,000 Twitter followers, has emerged as a sort of Trump surrogate in recent months, urging the Amish to vote for the brash billionaire in November.
"The biggest thing that I see people claiming is that the Amish don't vote, but they do. There are Amish in 42 states and Canada and they are all completely different," Raber says in a December Youtube video.
#Trump is the only one not controlled by the Elite so why would vote for #Cruz #Sanders or #Clinton GO #Trump2016 Jeremiah Raber (@jeremiahraber) April 6, 2016
"A lot of them started voting here when Obama started running for president the first time and they all voted against him. The second time around a lot more went out and voted and I can promise you that this time the Amish will be out in full force voting for president in 2016. And I can almost guarantee you the Amish will be voting for Donald Trump for president 'cause they vote for what is right."
"How do I know that?" Raber continues. "I grew up Amish myself. I was raised Amish and adopted into the Amish. I was raised by them. I know their beliefs. I know what they think."
Some are certainly banking on Amish support for Trump, as evidenced by the recent creation of a Trump Super PAC dedicated solely to getting members of the religious community to the polls. The effort echoes similar ones undertaken in Dutch Country on George W. Bush's behalf in his 2000 and 2004 presidential runs, and represents the latest chapter in the church's complicated and controversial history of political engagement.
This year, the newly minted "Amish PAC," or Plain Voters Project, reportedly expects to spend $41,000 on newspaper ads and billboards in the lead up to the election and will focus heavily on Amish strongholds like Lancaster County and Amish communities elsewhere in Pennsylvania and Ohio, both key swing states.
Depending on who you ask, the number of potential new Republican voters among the Amish ranges from just a few thousand to tens-of-thousands at best.
But doubters of the Plain community's potential impact on election results or the wisdom of recruiting efforts targeting them in such small numbers, would likely be directed to the 2000 presidential race in Florida which George W. Bush won by just 537 votes.
With this in mind, the Amish PAC's website touts the potential influence of Amish voters this year, claiming "Increasing Amish turnout by even 5 percent in 2016 could be the difference between a Republican president and Hillary Clinton."
Raber would likely agree, and said he predicts voter turnout among the Amish will be strong, if not entirely key to Trump's chances of winning.
"People claim the Amish don't vote, but they do," he reiterated.
"And I can almost promise you that the Amish will be out in full force voting for Donald Trump for president."
In this June 19, 2014 file photo, bison graze near a stream in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. The man who made international headlines after putting a bison calf into his SUV at Yellowstone National Park ??? which led to the animal being euthanized - is from Quebec, a park spokeswoman said Wednesday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Robert Graves, File
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-
During the meeting (Source: VNA)
In his welcome speech, Zarubezhneft General Director Sergey Kudryashov thanked Vietnamese Government for its support over the past number of years and pledged to boost ties with Vietnamese partners in the future.
The PM spoke highly of the effective cooperation between the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and Zarubezhneft, evidenced by the operation of their joint ventures Vietsovpetro and Rusvietpetro, considering it a vivid symbol of the Vietnam-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership.
The Vietnamese government always provides all possible support for sustainable, long-term and mutually-beneficial collaboration between the two countries, as well as between PetroVietnam and Zarubezhneft in particular, he stated.
In such spirit, he expressed his support to firms which study and expand the exploration of oil and gas in the two countries or the third country.
The guest also suggested seeking new forms of cooperation, especially in processing petrol products, manufacturing engine fuels and applying green technologies.
Talking with Zarubezhneft engineers and workers, the PM believed that on the back of the long-standing and close friendship between Vietnam and Russia, PetroVietnam - Zarubezhneft cooperation will further progress in the foreseeable future.
The Vietnamese leader is scheduled to visit Gazprom oil and gas group and hold a meeting with Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko the same day./.
TRENTON - A federal appeals court judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the disclosure of a list of individuals prosecutors believe joined the alleged criminal conspiracy in the George Washington Bridge lane-closure case but whom the government did not charge.
The ruling was a victory for a person identified in court papers as John Doe, who says he is one of the so-called unindicted coconspirators. A group of news organizations - including the company that publishes the Inquirer - is appealing part of the judge's order, requesting access to the list of coconspirators redacting Doe's identity.
Just hours before prosecutors last Friday were to provide the news media access to the list of unindicted coconspirators, Doe moved to intervene, arguing the disclosure would cause irreparable harm to his reputation.
The district judge rejected Doe's arguments and ordered the government to release the list by noon Tuesday. But Judge Thomas L. Ambro of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia granted Doe's request to temporarily suspend the district judge's ruling.
Doe's request "is granted temporarily to allow a full panel of this court the opportunity to consider the merits of the case," Ambro wrote in an order Tuesday.
Oral arguments are scheduled for June 6. Ambro directed Doe and the news organizations to address "whether oral argument on this matter should be open or closed to the public."
Ambro also ordered that court briefings must be filed under seal, meaning the public cannot read them.
Bruce S. Rosen, an attorney for the news organizations, said the coalition filed an emergent motion seeking reconsideration of the portions of the order "sealing briefing and potentially sealing argument of this matter, as well as requesting that the court in the interim order release of the unindicted coconspirator list redacting John Doe's identity."
The appeal would be heard by a panel of the Third Circuit.
Jenny Kramer, Doe's attorney, did not respond to a message seeking comment Tuesday.
Doe's intervention came after the group of news organizations in January sued the government to gain access to the list of unindicted coconspirators.
U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton ruled May 10 in favor of the media on First Amendment grounds, writing that although "privacy for third-parties is indeed important, this court is satisfied that the privacy interests of uncharged third parties are insufficiently compelling to outweigh the public's right of access."
Two days after Wigenton issued her ruling, Doe asked Wigenton to temporarily suspend her order, arguing that disclosure would violate the unindicted coconspirators' constitutional right "not to be branded criminals without due process of law."
Wigenton rejected Doe's motion, ruling that she had "given Doe notice and an opportunity to be heard," and had "thoroughly considered his privacy interests in determining that the conspirator letter should be made public."
Doe appealed to the Third Circuit, where Maryanne Trump Barry, Donald Trump's sister, is a judge. Gov. Christie, who has been dogged by the bridge scandal but has not been accused of wrongdoing, is heading the presumptive GOP presidential nominee's transition team.
The names of the judges who will sit on the three-member panel will be made public at least 10 days before oral argument, court spokesman Joel McHugh said. They will be randomly chosen from a pool of 24 judges, factoring in potential recusals.
The news organizations argued that Doe had not met the legal thresholds required to block the release of the conspirator list.
For example, the media companies argued, disclosure would not cause Doe irreparable harm because Doe could fight any "stigma" associated with being named a coconspirator in public. Moreover, the companies said, keeping the names secret would result in even greater harm to the public by frustrating its "established First Amendment right to access the conspirator letter."
Ambro did not address the arguments in his order Tuesday.
Prosecutors have said in court filings that the list of unindicted coconspirators includes "any other individual about whom the government has sufficient evidence to designate as having joined the conspiracy."
A federal grand jury last year indicted Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a top Christie appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Also charged was David Wildstein, who was Baroni's chief of staff, according to prosecutors. Wildstein pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the government; Kelly and Baroni pleaded not guilty and face trial in September.
The indictment, unsealed a year ago this month, alleges that Kelly, Baroni, Wildstein, and "others" conspired to "punish" Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for refusing to endorse Christie's reelection "by deliberately causing significant traffic problems" in the borough in September 2013, "all under the false pretense of a traffic study."
The list of unindicted coconspirators is expected to reveal the names of the "others" referred to in the indictment.
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Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L) and Speaker of Russias State Duma Sergei Naryshkin (Photo: VNA)
The Vietnamese leader, who is on his first official visit to Russia as PM, congratulated the host country on its socio-economic development and its growing standing in the world. The State Duma is crucial to those successes, he added.
He renewed that Vietnam prioritises the intensification of its comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia.
The State Duma Speaker hailed Vietnams impressive development and congratulated the Communist Party of Vietnam on the successful 12th National Congress, which set forth major orientations for the countrys development for the following years.
The Russian State Duma and all the parties that have seats in the lower house, including the United Russia party, the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, and the Fair Russia Party, support reinforcing the comprehensive strategic partnership with Vietnam, he noted.
At the meeting, both sides rejoiced over the flourishing partnership, as seen in the tightened political relations with high mutual trust and regular delegation exchanges at all levels that have driven up the countries all-faceted cooperation.
They voiced delight at the close coordination between Vietnams National Assembly and Russias Federal Assembly, which celebrate the 60th founding anniversary of their cooperation relationship this year. They applauded the two parliaments frequent meetings and sharing of information and experience, which have greatly contributed to the growth in their respective nations.
PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked the two parliaments to ensure the effect and enforceability of the international treaties that both Vietnam and Russia have participated in, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
He also delivered the invitation to visit Vietnam from National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan to Sergei Naryshkin.
Also on May 17th, the Vietnamese delegation laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a war memorial dedicated to the Russian soldiers killed during World War II, in Moscow.
They also paid homage to V.I. Lenin, the great leader of the working class and the international Communist movement, at his mausoleum in the Russian capital city./.
Photo: VNA
The celebration was attended by a large number of staff from the Vietnamese Embassy, representative agencies and overseas Vietnamese people and students in the UK.
Speaking at the event, Vietnamese Ambassador to the UK Nguyen Van Thao expressed his respect and gratitude to Uncle Ho.
During his journey for national salvation, President Ho Chi Minh lived and worked in Britain for a period of time. Ambassador Thao said he hoped the Vietnamese community in the UK would continue to study and work and turn their hearts to the homeland.
At the celebration, Head of the Overseas Vietnamese Association in the UK Luong Son Thanh reviewed the affection of the overseas Vietnamese community in the UK for President Ho Chi Minh.
He also expressed his gratitude to the late General Secretary of the UK-Vietnam Friendship Association Len Aldis, an English friend who had special admiration for Uncle Ho and who had made contributions to attach a memorial plaque to President Ho Chi Minh on the wall of New Zealand House in the heart of London in 1991, which has become a connecting destination for many people who loved President Ho Chi Minh and Vietnam.
After the celebration, the Vietnamese Embassy met students who are Party members studying in the UK. This was an annual meeting organized by the embassy to grasp the situation of studying, living and listen to their opinions, aspirations and proposals.
During the meeting, Ambassador Nguyen Van Thao informed them of the political, economic and social situations in Vietnam, especially the organization of the 12th National Party Congress in January and preparations for the upcoming election of deputies to the 14th National Assembly and Peoples Councils at all levels for the 2016-2021 period; situation at the East Sea and the consistent policy of the Party and State on protecting the sovereignty of borders, the sea and islands; outstanding international issues affecting Vietnams political and economic situation, so that the students timely grasp and communicate to organizations of Vietnamese students in the UK.
The ambassador highlighted the important role of the students who are Party members in the UK in contributing intelligence to the development of the country./.
Out and About Audio Article Atascosa County Anti-Bullying Rally Oct. 19 Poteet Strawberry Festival grounds, main pavilion, 6-8 p.m. Guest speaker Batman & Co. and...
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Overview of the talk (Photo: CPV)
Speaker of the talk was Prof. Dr. Hoang Chi Bao, a famous researcher of President Ho Chi Minh.
Speaking at the event, Ambassador Doan Xuan Hung stressed that the overseas Vietnamese community in Germany is increasingly united and mutually supportive.
He also reminded the audience of the fire which caused major damage in Berlins Dong Xuan market and shared his deep sympathy with the families effected.
The ambassador said on the occasion of the 126th birthday of Uncle Ho, the organization of the talk about Uncle Ho was an expression of the infinite gratitude and admiration of the staff of representative agencies and overseas Vietnamese people to him.
During the main part of the event, Prof. Dr. Hoang Chi Bao spent over two hours sharing about the main features of the life, career, ideology and moral example of President Ho Chi Minh.
He introduced some generalizations about the life of Uncle Ho, from difficulties and hardships in his childhood to adulthood, his departure to find a way to save the country, and his return to lead revolutionary movements in Vietnam, undergoing long resistance wars against the colonialism and the imperialism.
The story of Professor Hoang Chi Bao was the very simple, realistic narrative about Uncle Ho when he traveled abroad, or even that he had become a leader in daily life or when working.
The sharing of the professor about the moments before Uncle Ho passed away were really touching, creating strong feelings for those attending the talk.
According to Mr. Hoang Chi Bao, the talk about Uncle Ho was not only to review his life and career, but also helped people loves him more, striving and studying the ideology and moral example of Uncle Ho.
The talk left deep impressions in the hearts of the participants about Uncle Ho, the beloved leader of the people of Vietnam.
Earlier, Prof. Hoang Chi Bao had talks with staff of Vietnams representative agencies in Berlin and Frankfurt to report the results of the 12th National Party Congress and the 30 years of Vietnams innovation process.
After his sessions in the Federal Republic of Germany, the professor will hold talks about Uncle Ho in the Czech Republic and France./.
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The polls have officially closed in the state of Kentucky, and the race is too early to call, according to NBC News. With only a small percentage of the vote counted, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is locked in a tight race with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Clintons delegate lead over Sanders is nearly insurmountable, but she still hopes to secure what is more of a psychological win over Sanders to prove to her critics that she isnt simply limping to toward a likely general election match-up against Donald Trump.
A March poll of Kentucky Democrats the only survey taken in the state in 2016 showed Clinton leading Sanders by five points. The Bluegrass State is a closed primary state, which tends to benefit Clinton.
Sanders, on the other hand, did extremely well in the May 10 contest in West Virginia, a neighboring state of Kentucky where the Vermont senator beat Clinton by double digits. The states population is also 88 percent white a demographic with which Bernie Sanders has performed well. Its certainly possible although not very meaningful for him to eek out a victory in the Bluegrass State.
Oregon also holds its primary on Tuesday night, although polls there wont close until 11:00 p.m. ET. The Sanders campaign hopes to capture a win in that state, which is seen as favorable territory for the independent senator.
For Bernie Sanders, a potential win in either Kentucky or Oregon will do nothing substantive to change the race in his favor. Clintons pledged delegate lead is simply too big for him to overcome by netting a handful of delegates at a time.
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A new PPP poll of Arizona shows that Mitch McConnells obstruction of President Obama may cost John McCain his Senate seat, and McConnell his Senate majority.
According to PPP:
Even if McCain does manage to survive the Republican primary, its not going to be a walk in the park for him in the general. His overall approval rating is 34/52, and he leads Ann Kirkpatrick only 42/36 in a head to head match up. The race is close despite Kirkpatrick having only 58% name recognition at this point. If Ward advances to the general election it looks like this contest will basically be a toss up- she gets 37% to 35% for Kirkpatrick so its pretty much a wash. One issue thats tricky for McCain right now is the Supreme Court fight. 61% of voters in the state say they support confirmation hearings for Merrick Garland, compared to only 24% who are opposed to them. By a 17 point margin voters say theyre less likely to vote for a Senator who opposes hearings- 40% say that stance makes them less likely to vote for someone, compared to only 23% who consider it a positive. But among Republican voters theres 35/44 opposition to hearings, and voters say by a 16 point spread that theyre more likely to vote for someone who opposes hearings. So McCains obstructionism might be helpful in getting him through the primary, but its a completely different story when you get to the general. For instance independents support hearings, 65/21.
Mitch McConnell has put John McCain in a nearly impossible position. Thanks to McConnells obstruction of President Obamas Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, McCain now has to oppose hearing to win a heavily contested Republican primary, but he could lose his seat in November if he opposes hearings for Garland in the fall.
If McCain loses his seat, the Republican Senate majority is toast. To complicate matters even more, Sen. McCain is going to be saddled with the unpopular Donald Trump at the top of the ballot. It is possible that Arizonas Hispanic voters will turn out in record numbers to vote against Trump and take McCain out in the crossfire.
The ripple effects from Senate Majority Leader McConnells decision to obstruct President Obama could result in Democrats killing two birds with one stone. Democrats could both send John McCain into retirement, and end McConnells time as Majority Leader all because McConnell couldnt resist obstructing President Obama one last time.
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Hillary Clinton poked a hole in Bernie Sanders supposed momentum on Tuesday night by carrying Kentucky in an astonishingly close race against the Vermont senator, NBC News projected.
The victory will help Clinton maintain her nearly insurmountable pledged delegate lead, and the former Secretary of State is hoping her win in the Bluegrass State will quiet critics who say she is limping toward a likely general election match-up with Donald Trump.
Kentucky, of course, has long been friendly territory for the Clintons.
Former President Bill Clinton carried the state in each of his presidential campaigns in 1992 and 1996. During the 2008 Democratic primary between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the former Secretary of State won Kentucky in a landslide, carrying 118 of the states 120 counties and getting over 65 percent of the vote.
Tonights win for Clinton, as close as it was, is just the latest in a long line of Clinton triumphs in the Bluegrass State.
Both Clinton and Sanders traded the lead with one another throughout the night, but late returns from Louisville, Kentucky propelled the former Secretary of State to a down-to-the-wire victory.
Oregon is also holding its primary for the Democrats tonight, where Clinton does not expect to perform well in what many see as a state Sanders should win. In March, the Vermont senator won the Democratic caucus in the neighboring state of Washington by 45 points.
One thing is for certain, regardless of the final numbers from each state: Hillary Clinton will continue to lead Bernie Sanders by a sizeable margin when it comes to delegate count and is still on track to be the Democratic nominee. It is becoming increasingly unclear why Sanders remains in the race instead of acknowledging the math and working to unite the party against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
The next big contests will come on June 7 when six more states, including delegate-rich California and New Jersey, will hold primary elections. FiveThirtyEight.com gives Clinton a better than 90 percent chance of winning each of those two states.
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In a prime-time interview with Megyn Kelly that aired Tuesday night on Fox, Donald Trump was asked all the softball questions we would expect from the popular Fox News commentator.
The interview touched on such gripping topics as Trumps previous marriages, how his brothers alcoholism affected him Trump claims he has never had a single drink in his life and whether the presumptive nominee has ever been emotionally wounded by someone.
Kelly also gave Trump ample time to explain away almost all of his transgressions, from his incendiary tweeting to his inflammatory rhetoric. The spray-tanned billionaire did, of course, stop short of admitting to making any mistakes during the campaign. Trump even refused to say it was a mistake to retweet a meme mocking Heidi Cruzs appearance.
What was abundantly clear during the back-and-forth was that Trump and Kelly have repaired their relationship and were making a concerted effort to portray a softer image of a man whose negative ratings are at historic levels.
If you were hoping to finally hear a substantive, thoughtful policy exchange from a man who could potentially be President of the United States, Im afraid you tuned into the wrong interview.
At the interviews conclusion, Trump said, If I dont win, I will consider it to be a total and complete waste of time, energy and money.
Something tells me that plenty of folks already feel that way about his campaign.
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Charlotte Higgins, in a recent look at Roman Britain and its legacy today (Under Another Sky, 2013) writes that, with its cosmopolitan, Mediterranean-facing outlook, Roman Britain isbeing claimed in some quarters as a kind of foundation myth for modern multiculturalism. There is good reason for this, as people from all over the Roman world found themselves in Britain. And this would be true of any province in the Roman Empire you cared to name.
Why this is important to us today is that there is a lesson to be learned from Romes success. We can see that multiculturalism is not the bogeyman Republicans make it out to be. If it could work for the Romans, there is no reason it cannot work for more enlightened people 2000 years later.
The ethnic melting pot of Roman Britain included Germans from the Rhine Batavians serving as Roman auxiliaries, who have left many revealing personal letters behind and Syrians from Palmyra, also serving as Roman auxiliaries, as well as Spaniards, Gauls, Thracians (modern Bulgaria), Frisians (modern Holland), Pannonians (modern Hungary), Dalmatians (modern Croatia), Tungrians (modern Belgium), Sarmatians (modern Ukraine) and others.
And that doesnt include the countless merchants who did business in the province. Some had light skin, some had dark skin. Some were from Europe, others from Asia or Africa. They worshiped all varieties of gods and practiced a variety of customs. What they all embraced was the idea of Romanitas, literally Roman-ness (or Romanism), and Clifford Ando tells us (Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire, 2000) this was true whether they were citizens or not. The equivalent of Americanism, or the idea of America as opposed to the idea of Rome.
According to Ando, residents of the empire believed in the universality of certain political ceremonies and of the foundational beliefs that such ceremonies expressed. Why should the United States be any different? The Romans knew you could be Roman no matter your skin color, no matter which gods you worshiped or customs you followed, thanks to a shared idea of Rome. Is the idea of America that much weaker and less compelling?
It is all too easy to make a comparison with America today, which since its very origins has been multicultural: with Englishmen, Frenchmen, Scots, Irish, Germans, Africans, Spaniards, Native Americans, and others. this is encouraging. Sadly, it is also all too easy for racists to point to a once-multicultural island and say, if we were multicultural once and managed to reverse it, we can do it again.
Yet it wasnt multiculturalism that killed the Roman Empire. Needless to say, as in the United States, many of these ancient people settled down in Britain. They mixed with the local populace, intermarried, and had children of mixed ethnicity, like the Palmyrene who left an epithet for his Gaulish wife at the Roman fort of Arbeia in northern England. These are simple facts.
Yet conservatives in both Britain and the United States completely lost it over the idea of a dead Roman woman whose remains were found in 1901, when the use of more recent techniques revealed she was not British at all (i.e. not a white woman), but from Roman North Africa, known as the ivory bangle lady from her grave goods. And she wasnt a slave, but part of Roman Britains 1 Percent.
Wired called her the EO-GLOBALIZED sister of todays global populations. And the evidence is that Roman York was more diverse than modern York. Not what racists want to hear, and the unpalatable truth meant that the results of the tests had to be multicultural lies.
The Roman Empire was multicultural. That means its provinces were multicultural. And no, Romans didnt care what your skin color was. They might have had odd ideas about what you were like based on your country of origin, but your skin color didnt matter. The emperor Septimius Severus is shown in a painting to have dark skin. Another emperor is known to history as Philip the Arab. The Roman genius was their ability to be inclusive, not exclusive.
Contrary to the racist rants surrounding the ivory bangle lady, black people do not need to be rewritten into history. They were always part of it, and not always as slaves. Being black didnt make you a slave in the Roman Empire. There were plenty of white slaves to go around. Anyone in the ancient world could wind up a slave.
Much as Republicans want to portray President Obama as un-American, he is quintessentially American, a product of the mixture of ethnicity that is so commonplace in this country. It is ironic that Romans of 2,000 years ago Pagans would have given Obama the welcome he is denied in 21st century Christian America.
Yet, conservatives bridle at the idea of multiculturalism being the norm. This is as true in Britain (and elsewhere in Europe) as in America. Never mind that Britains original Celtic inhabitants were suppressed or absorbed by the Italian Romans (and then increasingly multicultural Romans to follow), and then by Saxons and Vikings and Frenchified Normans, before we can find a modern Englishman.
As R Muse noted here Tuesday, the Texas GOP platform asserts,
We favor strengthening our common American identity, which includes the assimilation of racial and ethnic groups. We encourage non-English speaking students to transition to English within one year to quickly assimilate and succeed in American society.
Assimilation. The wholesale destruction of ethnic groups (the only racial group is human but Republicans). This is termed genocide. And yes, genocide can be cultural too. You dont have to kill the members of a culture to destroy that culture.
And unsurprisingly, the only ethnicity Republicans do not want assimilated into the greater whole, is white Anglo-Saxon culture. This is the dominant culture in Republican thinking. Demographically, it was the dominant culture from Americas founding. But demographics change.
None of this is surprising. As Gallup showed in 2013 (and it is as true today), Democrats are racially Diverse; Republicans are mostly white. It liberalism is not legitimate, as conservatives argue these days, how can its component parts be legitimate?
But multiculturalism is not the enemy here, whatever Republicans believe. And the only culture Americans ought to be thinking about is that great amalgam that is American culture, which takes its flavors from many different sources.
Remarkably, the Texas GOP, while endeavoring to control every aspect of our lives, claims that climate change is a political agenda promoted to control every aspect of our lives, when what really seems to be set on controlling our lives is a Republican agenda that would rather invent history than study it.
The idea of Romanitas persisted despite the inclusion of so many different cultures and languages. Republicans cry foul at the idea of Spanish but Rome survived quite nicely with two official languages, Latin in the West and Greek in the East, with many other languages besides.
There is no reason the idea of America cannot survive multiculturalism. Romes success was that it found strength in diversity. Rome did not last so long because there were more Italians than anybody else. It lasted so long because there were more Romans than Italians.
What will make America great is not that there are more white people, but that there are more Americans.
Photo: Islamophobia Today
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*The following is an opinion column by R Muse*
There has always been a partisan divide in America because it is normal in a representative democracy. However, since the election of an African American man as President, the partisan divide is one group adhering to the nations founding document as the law of the land and another that opposes everything the Constitution, and America, stands for. Conservatives like to claim all they want to do is take their country back, but the place they want the country back to never existed in America.
This absurd take their country back mentality is particularly true among Texas Republicans. In what was reported as a nasty floor fight over secession at the Texas GOP convention over the weekend, one pro-secessionist speaker claimed that the federal government has buried states rights at the bottom of a landfill under the bodies of murdered babies a remark that drew wild applause. Another secessionist proponent cited the absurd anti-transgender toilet war and proclaimed Washington will allow pervert men into womens bathrooms. Who better to represent the will of Texas than Texas? I say secede now to even more crazy-wild applause and cheers.
A reporter for the Texas Observer said one official looking character confided to him that the only solution to the current situation is for Texas to threaten to secede. Then Washington will take us seriously and start cleaning up its act.
When a Texan says he wants Washington to start cleaning up its act, he means making Texas Republicans the federal government. What that likely entails is abolishing the Constitution save the Second and Tenth Amendments, enforcing evangelical Christianity as the state religion, banning people of color from America, and repealing each and every piece of civil rights legislation ever enacted over the course of the nations existence. In fact, after the raging floor scream-fest over secession, Texas Republicans set their platform that fundamentally does everything mentioned above.
These Texas Republicans are nearly impossible to call Americans, if for no other reason than they cannot fathom the nation is under purview of the United States Constitution. For example, just a few of the official Texas GOPs planks demonstrate their lust to become a theocratic nation of white people.
The Houston Press reported that Republican 26-page platform was approved unanimously by every Republican state delegate. Under the heading Strengthening Families, Protecting Life, and Promoting Health, the religious part of the platform highlights how state GOP lawmakers will act to deny equal rights for the LGBT community and abolish abortion.
Yes, it is true that abortion has been a legal medical procedure in America since the 1970s, and until recently that legal medical procedure was protected by federal laws and a landmark Supreme Court ruling. It is noteworthy, as well, that it was a ruling founded on the document Texas Republicans refuse to acknowledge is the law of the land, the United States Constitution. The Constitution is in conflict with evangelicals and the Vatican concept of equality, and maybe more importantly, it does something evangelical Republicans will not tolerate; it protects womens right to control their own bodies and reproductive health.
However, as one might expect from Texas Republicans, to punctuate their disdain for the Constitution, rule of law, and the Supreme Court, the most religious part of the platform stated emphatically that Texas legislators will enact legislation officially refusing (nullifying) to acknowledge federal laws and Supreme Court rulings. Not because they are un-American or unconstitutional, but because the religious right doesnt agree with anything unrelated to their bastardized version of Christianity.
For example, in the section of the platform founded on Americanized Christianity, the Republicans stated:
We call upon the Texas Legislature to enact legislation stopping the murder of unborn children; and ignore and refuse to enforce any and all federal statutes, regulations, executive orders, and court rulings, which would deprive an unborn child of the right to life. We support the elimination of the use of public funding and facilities to advocate, perform, or support elective abortions, embryonic stem cell research, research on fetal tissue, or human cloning.
Texas Republicans wouldnt be Texas Republicans unless they officially stated their contempt for the LGBT community. The Republicans claimed the Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage was unconstitutional; apparently because it conflicts with the document evangelicals believe is the constitution; the Christian Bible.
The platform demanded that the Governor and other elected officials of the state of Texas assert our Tenth Amendment right and reject the Supreme Court ruling. Still adhering to theocracy, the platform states that any sexual education for students must consist solely of Abstinence until marriage. And not include policies and curriculum that teach alternate lifestyles including homosexuality, transgender and other non-traditional lifestyles as normal. Texas evangelicals will teach and define what is normal, and part and parcel of what Republicans regard is normal is forcing every American to adhere to their version of an American identity.
One of the more nefarious sections of the Republican platform demands that racial and ethnic groups abandon their various cultural identities and embrace what Texas Republicans dictate is the American identity. Specifically, the platform says, We favor strengthening our common American identity, which includes the assimilation of racial and ethnic groups. We encourage non-English speaking students to transition to English within one year to quickly assimilate and succeed in American society. The only thing the platform does not demand is that racial and ethnic groups transition to Caucasian or get out of the Texas Republicans America; it is likely why Texans love Donald Trump.
It is getting to the point that maybe the government should let Texas secede; they (Texas Republicans) certainly do not belong in a nation, or with a society, that they have no respect for. What is telling is that nearly everything in the Texas GOP platform is embraced by Republicans across the nation and in Washington. In fact, the preponderance of neo-conservatives oppose accepting anything about America whether it is cultural and racial diversity or the Constitution and Founding Fathers intent to prevent a nation of laws founded on the Christian religion. The Texas Republicans even bitched and moaned about the Constitution prohibiting mandatory prayer in schools, and it likely is another reason a fairly large number of the Republican delegation demanded that secession be placed at the top of the platform.
Decent Americans have had just about enough of these sick malcontent Texas-type conservatives that have no use for America, people who arent evangelical fanatics, or citizens who happen to be an ethnic minority. They certainly have no use for the Constitution and it is primarily because it protects the rights of women and gays and forbids theocracy as the law of the land. What is not surprising is that like the majority of Republicans, Texas Republicans are more than willing to pass legislation taking away constitutional rights of any group that does not fit into their concept of the American identity.
That fact should terrify each and every citizen in every state because if Republicans ever gain control of all three branches of government, that nasty Texas GOP platform will be the law of the land and anyone who thinks that is not enough to work tirelessly to defeat Republicans in November is most certainly a Texas Republican.
It is not a bad thing for us, that the route known as the Goldene Strae or the Golden Road as we will get to know it- has escaped the attention of so many. It has been spared being overrun by hordes of tourists and as you will discover the
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MADISON, Wis. Vintners in southern Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota are reeling from a weekend cold snap that ruined huge swaths of their grapes.
Temperatures dipped below freezing in much of those areas late Saturday and early Sunday, wiping out grape shoots that had emerged early due to a warm spring. The cold turned the water in the shoots cells to ice, killing the tissue, said Amaya Atucha, a University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant horticulture professor.
Steve Johnson, head of the Wisconsin Grape Growers Association, said Tuesday that vineyards west of Madison suffered the worst. An informal survey of growers shows at least 30 vineyards in that area lost more than 50 percent of their crops, he said.
John Falconer, who owns the 12-acre Falconer's Vineyards in Red Wing, said he lost his entire crop after the mercury dropped below 30 degrees for four hours.
"It looks so terrible," Falconer said. "(The cold) took everything. Mother Nature slapped us this year."
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Wollersheim Winery in Prairie du Sac, Wis., lost 75 percent of its red grapes and 25 percent of its white, said co-owner Julie Coquard. She said workers dragged a "frost dragon," a propane-fueled heater, across the winery's 30 acres of vineyards, but to no avail.
"The year was looking so good," Coquard said. "That's what's so frustrating. It's so sad to see the grape vines get gray and black at the ends."
Johnson didn't have any loss estimates. Some wineries might yet see secondary grape buds on their vines, though it's unclear how much fruit they might bear as the plants recover from the freeze, he said. Generally, though, each lost acre of grapes amounts to a loss of about $7,000 to $8,000 and 3,000 bottles of wine, he said.
The Minnesota Grape Growers Association didn't immediately respond to voicemails and emails seeking comment.
The freeze shouldn't lead to any immediate, large-scale wine shortages for consumers. The freeze-out was extremely localized, UW-Madison's Atucha noted.
What's more, Wisconsin and Minnesota produce just a small fraction of U.S. wine; Wisconsin has only about 110 wineries and Minnesota has only about 50, Johnson said. By comparison, California, by far the nation's top wine-producing state, has about 4,000 wineries.
Wineries already have their 2016 products on the shelves, but Wisconsin and Minnesota vintners will start to feel the pinch going into next year when the September harvests roll around.
Growers also could hope the secondary buds produce fruit, but those shoots likely won't flower for another month, pushing harvest back into October. That increases the chances cold temperatures could prevent the grapes from ripening or kill them outright, however, forcing growers to decide whether to invest the time and money in raising that crop, Atucha said.
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Many vintners with damaged crops like Falconer and Coquard likely will have to purchase grapes from elsewhere to generate 2017 inventory, Johnson said.
"I don't know what our expenses will look like," Falconer said. "If you don't have your own crop, you're always paying more if you have to bring it in from outside. People will be scrambling for what fruit there is. It is frustrating, and nothing can be done about it."
AUSTIN Hormel Foods Corp. is expanding its snack portfolio by buying the maker of nut-butter products for an undisclosed amount.
Austin-based Hormel, which produces Spam, Jennie-O Turkey and Skippy Peanut Butter, among many other products, announced this morning that it has entered into a "definitive agreement" to acquire Boulder, Colo.-based Justin's LLC. Justin's, founded in 2004, makes peanut, almond and hazelnut butter spreads, squeeze packs, cups and pre-packaged snacks.
"Justin's naturally delicious, high-quality nut butters, nut butter snacks and organic peanut butter cups align perfectly with our goal of complementing our existing brands with new offerings that resonate with younger, on-the-go and more health-conscious consumers," Hormel CEO and Board Chairman Jeffrey Ettinger said in announcing the deal.
Justin's will continue operating out of Colorado as a Hormel subsidiary in its Grocery Products segment.
Beside expanding its youth-oriented product line, this buy adds to Hormel's growing non-meat products. It purchased Skippy Peanut Butter in 2013 from Unilever for $700 million. In recent years, Hormel has acquired Wholly Guacamole, Muscle Milk protein drinks and many ethnic food lines.
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Justin Gold, the young founder of Justin's, said he was pleased with the deal.
"My goal has always been to build something truly special, and Hormel Foods is the right
partner to make this an enduring and far-reaching brand," he stated in the press release about the acquisition.
Hormel also announced its second quarter financial results this morning.
It reported $215.4 million in net earnings, up 20 percent from $180.2 million in the second quarter of 2015. Sales were $2.3 billion for the quarter, very slightly up from last year. Diluted earnings per share were $0.40, which is an increase of 21 percent from the same quarter last year.
"Hormel Foods delivered strong results this quarter, our twelfth consecutive quarter of record earnings, with four of five segments achieving double-digit increases in operating profits," stated CEO Ettinger. "Jennie-O Turkey Store generated an impressive earnings performance despite lingering effects of turkey supply constraints, while International was challenged by weak exports and high pork costs in China."
A couple of weeks ago, Pastor Emily Carson's column, "Holy Everything" was another good one. The column talked about ways to support, connect with and encourage the children and young adults of a church congregation.
One paragraph really seemed important to me. It was about follow up to those you have connected with. Examples were sending a card to a young person a month or two after any special event or even sending a care package for the graduates who may now be at college.
I was talking to Randy Reimer, a friend, who told me that he does believe that children are inspired by someone in some way. He remembered three outstanding teachers from seventh grade through his senior year that instilled in him a love and confidence with math that led him to decide on an engineering degree.
Randy told me he always tries to express a word of interest and encouragement to the friends of his teenage children. He feels that the more adults can show an interest in young people, the more they will be encouraged to succeed.
My wife and I just attended an open house for the graduation of his daughter. Randy and his wife Sonja have been remarkable role models for their three children and have strived to stay closely connected and supportive of them.
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Follow through
This idea of follow up, and not just to young adults, is something I need to improve on. One graduation card to someone is not enough. One phone call to someone who has just heard a tough diagnosis asking if they need anything, is not enough. One sympathy card at a funeral is not enough for the family. I need to follow up.
At this point in a baby boomer's life, one knows that little things can mean a great deal. A card, a letter, a phone call that we receive at a time when needed is never forgotten.
If these moments of kindness impact us as adults, just think how powerfully they impact a child or young adult as they make their way through school. It made me wonder what spark, what little bit of encouragement can drive someone to achieve. What is it that they may experience, see or hear that may inspire?
I thought I would touch base with my niece. She is a remarkable young woman who is an associate professor of art and art history at Gettysburg College in historic Gettysburg, Pa.
Motivating trip
She said her catalyst was a high school trip to Europe. She looked out the window of her hotel in Lucerne, Switzerland. She saw remarkable beauty and said to herself, "I want a job where I can come to places like this."
She enrolled at the University of Dallas and thrived in the field of art history. Felicia reflected that a number of teachers and professors inspired her in different ways. After a semester abroad in Rome, she became committed to pursuing art history at the graduate level. I wish I would have helped her during that journey. I wish I would have followed up.
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Though her parents divorced and her mom struggled to make ends meet, Felicia's mom was supportive of her decision to pursue this passion. They both worked hard and pooled their resources to give her these opportunities.
Though her dad wasn't living nearby, Felicia felt he always instilled the importance of openness to the views of others and supported women's rights. Felicia believed this helped give her the initiative and the confidence to explore the world, pursue her interests and forge her own path.
Passing it on
Now she passes on to her students the excitement and wonder that she felt when she traveled abroad. Felicia feels the circle has become complete as she has had the chance to take her mother with her during research trips to Florence and other areas.
To me, this follow-up thing isn't something we can log into our smartphones. It's not a follow up to a business customer or a reminder to pick up bread. It's something deeper. I need to figure out how to improve on making somebody continue to feel valued or remembered in whatever they are facing.
When I started college in 1971, I was on my own. All expenses, everything that needed to be done was up to me. My high school English teacher, Mr. Nobel MacVey, knew I needed support.
All of a sudden, every few months a letter would show up. In each letter was a brief, encouraging note along with a check for something like $10. I was amazed by this aid this follow up.
Forty-five years later, I still remember his kindness, his support of me. He cared enough to follow up.
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Grandkid Quote of the Week
Recently my wife was a speaker at a pinning ceremony for new graduate nurses at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter. Our daughter's family also attended. Later I asked my grandson what he thought of the day. He said about his grandma, "I've never been related to an honored guest before."
A special event featuring Dr. Karen Wyatt, author, speaker and founder of the End of Life University, will be held 6:30 p.m. Friday at Peace United Church of Christ, in Rochester.
Wyatt, a leading voice in the end-of-life movement, will give a talk titled "Death as a Teacher for Life."
Tickets are $12 in advance, available on Wyatt's website, www.eoluniversity.com/rochester, or $15 at the door. The event also features resource tables about end-of-life services, hospices and other organizations in southeastern Minnesota.
The event is sponsored by the Southeast Minnesota Threshold Network, which has existed in Rochester since 2014. The group, an extension of the statewide group based in the Twin Cities, encourages conversations about death and dying; educates advocates and supports advanced planning; and promotes a full range of family-directed end-of-life care, including green burial. More information: www.facebook.com/RochesterChapterMNThresholdNetwork .
Peace church is at 1503 Second Ave. NE. More information: 289-0720.
A Rochester man accused of breaking the leg and arm of a 7-year-old child has been sentenced to 30 days in jail and placed on probation for two years.
Patrick James Rousseau, 28, also received a 365-day stayed jail term and was ordered to successfully complete programming recommended by his probation officer.
He pleaded guilty Monday in Olmsted County District Court to one count of gross misdemeanor malicious punishment of a child. In exchange, one count of felony third-degree assault was dismissed during Monday's sentencing.
The investigation began July 17, when police were called to a local hospital for a report of possible child abuse.
The child's grandmother told officers she'd worked the night before and got home about 9:30 that Friday morning. Her daughter called and told her the child had hurt her leg while Rousseau had been watching her; the grandmother was asked to take the child to the doctor.
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The woman had to carry the 7-year-old to the car, the complaint says. Medical personnel determined the girl had a spiral fracture of her left leg and an injury to her forehead. The girl allegedly told police Rousseau hit her in the head with a flashlight, "got really mad and broke (my) leg." She also said she was afraid when he got mad, and that he pulled her hair.
The officer met with the child's mother, who said she was told the victim hurt her leg while jumping off the bed.
Rousseau told police the girl was playing with a flashlight instead of her toys, which upset him. He slapped the victim in the back of the head so hard that her head struck and bounced off the dresser, and she fell backwards, court documents say.
Rousseau then "picked her up by her hair and arms, and threw her onto the bed," according to the criminal complaint. The girl rolled several times when she landed. Rousseau speculated that she might have broken her leg if she twisted it when she fell.
He admitted the injuries the child sustained were due to his actions, but he wasn't sure how she broke her leg.
A later report from the hospital indicated the girl's left arm was broken, as well.
A Pine Island man has admitted he asked for sex from someone he thought was 15 years old.
Joshua John Johnson, 38, pleaded guilty Thursday in Olmsted County District Court to one felony count of soliciting a child through electronic communication to engage in sexual conduct. In exchange for the plea, one felony count of prostitution-agreeing to hire a 13- to 15-year-old is expected to be dismissed at sentencing, which has been set for June 13.
The charges stem from an investigation that began in mid-October, when Johnson allegedly responded to an ad that a member of the Rochester police street crimes unit had placed in the escort section of a website that contains a section for adult services. Members of the unit often monitor the site and place false ads to target people involved in prostitution, or respond to ads placed by others.
The phone number in the ad was for a phone used by an undercover officer. Johnson and the officer began a texting conversation, during which Johnson was told the "girl" was 15 years old, the complaint says; the phone number from the messages was associated with Johnson.
The two were unable to agree on a meeting, court documents say, while Johnson "continually asked (the officer) if he was speaking to a cop," and requested explicit photos to prove it wasn't law enforcement.
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The officer was unable to continue the investigation until Oct. 30, when Johnson was once again contacted and told the "girl" was 15 years old, reports say. Johnson allegedly asked if they could spend the night together for $500, and sent a graphic photo to the undercover officer.
Johnson was arrested Nov. 5 at his job; he allegedly told the officer, "I know what this is about and it's just a fetish of mine. I wasn't actually going to do it." He later admitted he'd been told the person was 15, that he agreed to pay her for sex and that he'd sent a graphic photo, the complaint against him says.
A review of Johnson's criminal history indicates a 2002 conviction for first-degree criminal sexual conduct. As a result, he must register as a predatory offender.
A Rochester man accused of bursting into a woman's home, assaulting her and stealing some of her belongings has been sentenced in the case.
Montez Terrell Ruth, 38, pleaded guilty in March to one count of simple robbery, a felony. He was sentenced Monday in Olmsted County District Court to 17 days in jail, with credit for 17 days served. Ruth was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation and follow all resulting recommendations. He must also complete 90 hours of community work service.
The case began about 7:35 p.m. Nov. 12, when deputies were called to Chosen Valley Mobile Home Park, 13700 U.S. Highway 52 South.
There, a 56-year-old woman told them Ruth and Kayla Ryane Richards, 27, had come to her home, dragged her by the hair down a hallway and knocked her unconscious, the report says.
The victim had dated Richards' father, said Sgt. Kirby Long, of the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office, but it's unclear what prompted the attack. When the couple left the home, they took a TV and the woman's phone.
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Richards and Ruth were known to have a Rochester address, the report says, so local law enforcement was contacted and advised to watch for them. A Rochester police officer was at the couple's residence in the 1500 block of Sixth Avenue Southeast when they arrived home; the stolen items were found in their car.
Richards pleaded guilty in December to one count each of simple robbery and third-degree assault. In exchange, one count of violating a domestic assault no contact order, also a felony, was dismissed.
She was sentenced in April to 68 days in jail, with credit for 68 days already served, and placed on 10 years' probation. Richards was also ordered to complete chemical, psychological and domestic abuse counseling/treatment and undergo anger management.
A Stewartville man made his initial appearance Tuesday in Olmsted County District Court, where he's been accused of sexually assaulting a minor.
David Miller Wood, 44, has been charged with one count each of first- and second-degree criminal sexual conduct, both felonies. He remains in custody in lieu of $500,000 unconditional bond; his next court date hasn't been set.
The investigation began after the victim told a friend at school about the abuse, the complaint says; the friend told an adult, who contacted Fillmore County Social Services.
The child said Wood "did stuff sexually" every time he saw the child; the alleged abuse had gone on for years, beginning when Wood lived in Chatfield.
According to court documents, Wood removed the victim's clothing, then touched the victim all over, especially on the chest, back and genital area. The assaults included oral sex, the complaint says.
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Wood reportedly told the child not to tell or Wood would get into trouble.
If convicted, the first-degree charge carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, a $40,000 fine, or both. The second-degree count is punishable by up to 25 years in prison, a $35,000 fine, or both.
PRESTON A hotel employee who used a debit card left behind in a room has been sentenced in the case.
Christine Yvette Gurule, 31, of Ostrander, was sentenced to nine days in jail, with credit for one day served, and placed on probation for two years. In addition, she must complete a chemical and educational assessment, write a letter of apology and pay restitution in the amount of $304.90.
Gurule pleaded guilty in March to one count of gross misdemeanor financial transaction card fraud. In exchange for the plea, one count each of felony financial transaction card fraud and check forgery; gross misdemeanor charges of check forgery and identity theft; and three misdemeanor counts of theft were dismissed.
The investigation began Oct. 23, when the hotel guest contacted the Fillmore County Sheriff's Office. He told a deputy he had lost his wallet sometime the day before, and had since learned his debit card had been used several times. No cash had been in the wallet, the victim said, and none of the credit cards had been used.
Charges had been made at a grocery store and a variety store in Spring Valley, as well as three businesses in Stewartville.
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The deputy went to the Spring Valley stores and reviewed the surveillance footage of the transactions and saw a woman and a man in both. The woman appeared to be making the purchases.
The same couple appears in the video from one of the Stewartville businesses, as well, court documents say; the other two didn't have surveillance cameras.
The deputy also spoke with the owner of the hotel where the victim had stayed. He said an employee had found the wallet in a room while she was cleaning, made a note of it and put it on a housekeeping cart.
The owner saw the note, he told authorities, and asked where the wallet was it was no longer on the cart. The housekeeper said the only other person around was Gurule. According to records, the debit card was used five minutes after Gurule punched out of work at the hotel.
When confronted by law enforcement, Gurule admitted to taking the wallet and making the purchases on the card. She said her husband was with her during some of the transactions, but he was unaware of the thefts.
Gurule told officers she threw the wallet in the river north of Ostrander.
Olmsted County has a long list of bridges and bridge structures on its list for repairs and replacement, but whether the projects will receive funding is up to the Minnesota Legislature.
The county updated its bridge priorities during two public hearings Tuesday, one for county and county state aid roads, and another for township roads. The county priority list included 74 structures, and the township priority list had 39.
The county has more than 500 bridge structures, according to Kaye Bieniek, county engineer.
The county is actively pursuing funding for only the top five or six projects on its township and county priority lists due to the highly competitive statewide source of funding a bonding proposal from the Legislature that comes once every two years.
"The way the Legislature does it on an every-other-year basis tends to be 'feast or famine,'" said county board member Ken Brown. "This money is gone before you can take a couple breaths."
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Olmsted County's bridges are, for the most part, in good structural condition. Each bridge on the priority list is given a rating from 0 to 100 based on structural evaluation, deck geometry, waterway adequacy and approach road alignment.
"A lot of our sufficiency ratings on the township structures, as well as in our own county system, are actually fairly high and that's because we've done an aggressive job of getting those structures replaced and going after the bonding dollars when they're available," Bieniek said.
The highest county road priorities this year are culvert improvements for bridges over Dry Run on county highways 11, 8 and County Road 130; a bridge over Lynch Creek on County Road 130; and a bridge over the South Fork of the Whitewater River on Highway 14.
On the township priority list, a Cascade Township stream crossing on East River Road has highest priority. It has been rated 64.8, structurally deficient. Other work includes culvert improvements at 20th Street Northeast, 75th Street Northeast, 19th Avenue Northwest and 85th Street Northwest.
Only the Cascade Township project has funding so far. The remainder of the work is at the mercy of the Legislature, Bieniek said.
County board member Jim Bier said he hoped for action from the state's lawmakers by the end of this week but he was not optimistic.
RED WING The Goodhue County Board of Commissioners made a pair of decisions Tuesday that will affect property on the county's side of Lake Byllesby.
During the regular board meeting, the board voted 4-1 to hire HKGi Consulting of Minneapolis to develop a master plan for the lake. The company is part of the team working on the Barn Bluff master plan in Red Wing, and has been retained by Dakota County to update its master plan for Lake Byllesby on its side of the county line.
Greg Isakson, director of public works for Goodhue County, said hiring the same company as Dakota County just makes sense.
"We are, as much as possible, going to coordinate meetings," he said. "They'll figure out what are the current trends in parks. What do we have, and what are we missing. They'll come back with concepts for us to review."
Commissioner Brad Anderson said the key is to make sure the parks on the Goodhue and Dakota county sides of the lake are connected.
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The Goodhue County portion of the master plan will cost $72,000, and it will also include planning for new park land near Kenyon.
During the following Committee of the Whole meeting, the board also heard from Goodhue County Surveyor Lisa Hanni concerning a group of citizens that has asked to purchase the land between their lot lines and the water line along the south side of Lake Byllesby.
Hanni said the summer elevation of the lake is 865.7 feet, well below the lot line of several lakefront properties. The county had originally separated the lot lines from the water line to keep green space between the land owners and the lake.
"The county board at the time thought to do this because of the dam there and flooding issues," Hanni said.
The 500-year event flood level is estimated only a couple of feet higher, she said, and likely would not affect many properties along the south side of the lake. Dakota County has previously sold the extra land to landowners along the lake on the north side, she said.
"We need to talk to Dakota County to see their experience doing this," said Commissioner Dan Rechtzigel. Issues to consider include how to sell without putting the small pieces of land on the open market, whether there are any new flood insurance requirements, whether the lots all need to be replatted, and whether all the property owners will purchase or if some will opt out.
"I'm not sure as a landowner I'd be comfortable with someone from the Cities buying that little strip of land next to my property," Commissioner Ron Allen said.
Earl Benson, president of the Lake Byllesby Improvement Association, said property owners on the north side of the lake enjoy peace of mind that is not available to the owners on the Goodhue County side.
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"On the north side of the lake, you pull up in a boat and you're on private property," he said. While on the south side, boaters can camp on that strip of land that essentially is connected to private property. "As we move forward on a united master plan, everyone on that lake should be teated equally."
Anderson and Commissioner Ted Seifert agreed to work with staff to see what it will take to sell the land strips to the adjacent property owners. "Can we put staff time toward the purchase cost?" Seifert asked.
Hanni said 31 or 32 properties would be impacted by this opportunity to purchase the land to the water line. The average distance from the property lines to the water line is 25 feet. Those properties would be spread over three sections of the lake where residential housing is adjacent to the lake, including 20th Avenue Way, 23rd Avenue Way, and surrounding Lake Byllesby County Park.
Tom Olson, who lives on the lake's south side on 20th Avenue Way, said talk of buying extra land might be appealing to people on the east side of the lake, but along the southwest side of the lake, the extra strip of land runs into sediment that has collected from the last few floods along the lake.
"We don't live on a lake," he said. "It's all cattails and mud flats." If the county were to give him the land, he would accept it, he said, but he has no plans to buy. "I'm not going to pay them a dime. You can't even get a boat in and out of here."
Rochester Community and Technical College's next interim president may come from Riverland Community College.
During a Minnesota State Colleges and Universities human resources committee meeting this morning , Chancellor Steven Rosenstone announced he had selected Mary Davenport to lead the college over the course of the next two years while RCTC searches for a permanent president.
Rosenstone's selection will need to be approved by the board of trustees during its meeting later today. But if approved, Davenport would start at RCTC on July 1.
Davenport is vice president of academic and student affairs at Riverland Community College, a position she has held since 2012, Rosenstone said. She has worked in higher education in the state for 28 years and is "uniquely prepared" for this position because of her demonstration of open and honest communication and commitment to shared governance.
"While we need more time to recruit a permanent president, the college also needs some stability in leadership," Rosenstone said, adding that Davenport would help maintain RCTC's prominent role in the community, which is of special importance with major initiatives such as Destination Medical Center.
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"As interim president, Mary Davenport will provide sound, thoughtful and energetic leadership while the college continues its search for a truly extraordinary leader," Rosenstone said.
Davenport holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, master's degrees and a specialist degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stout and a doctorate from Colorado State University.
Rosenstone also thanked current RCTC Interim President Joyce Helens, who took the reins at the college in January after President Leslie McClellon's resignation in December. He said Helens was able to "strengthen the culture of collaboration and trust" and bolstered the administration by filling critical positions. She also helped the college create a master academic plan and balance the budget.
Rosenstone's announcement comes after a search for a permanent president failed last month because it didn't turn up any viable candidates.
"Despite best efforts, the search process has not yet identified a pool of candidates of sufficient quality from which to forward to the campus and eventually to recommend to the board for appointment," Rosenstone said in an April letter.
"We have learned from the search firm that last fall's high profile Internet and media campaign to oust the president deterred many prospective candidates," Rosenstone said in the letter.
MnSCU is governed by a board of trustees, which has a specific protocol for filling open presidential positions. In the case of appointing an interim president, the chancellor will recommend a candidate for the position that needs to be approved by the board. Because it is an interim appointment, a search committee was not used.
"One of the most important responsibilities of the chancellor is formulating recommendations of individuals to serve as presidents of our state colleges and universities. I take this responsibility very seriously," Rosenstone said in an April 12 statement. "It is absolutely essential that we identify truly extraordinary leaders."
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"Several of our campuses have been served by interim presidents, and their track record is excellent," Rosenstone said in a email statement Friday, pointing to examples in the MnSCU system such as Devinder Malhotra, a two-year interim serving at Metropolitan State University.
"In general, I believe it is better to select an interim president to serve for a defined period of time than it is to select a permanent president who is insufficiently prepared to play a critical leadership role," Rosenstone said in last month's letter.
The interim president will be presented at RCTC in the college's atrium at 2:30 p.m. today.
Olmsted County residents have a positive view of the county as a place to live, work and raise a family, according to results from a recent National Research Center survey.
But residents also worry about crime perhaps more than they should the data showed.
On a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 represented "poor" and 100 represented "excellent," Olmsted County residents rated the county's overall quality of life at 73, per results shared during an Olmsted County Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday. The result is similar to Olmsted's rating in previous years and higher than the National Research Center's nationwide benchmark for counties.
Residents gave Olmsted the highest survey ratings for the county as a place to raise a family, 73; a place to live, 72; and a place to work, 71.
The survey results showed residents had less favorable perceptions of the county for its availability of affordable child care and availability of affordable housing; both categories received a rating of 41 on the 100-point scale.
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County residents were most concerned with crime and taxes when asked to evaluate seven potential problem areas. Crime, or at least the perception of crime, showed up in more than one area of the county's survey results.
Olmsted County survey respondents reported feeling less safe from violent crime than the national benchmark, and also reported feeling less safe than the benchmark for feeling safe while using county parks and trails.
Olmsted residents reported feeling safer from illegal drug activity, identify theft and distracted drivers than they did in a 2013 National Research Center survey.
Olmsted County board member Sheila Kiscaden wondered whether the county had a crime problem or only a perception of a crime problem.
"I find it interesting that people's perception of crime is worrisome," she said. "I think the data shows that our actual crime statistics differ from the public perception."
That is not an uncommon phenomenon, said Erin Caldwell, National Research Center director of research.
"I don't know the specifics for your community, but I would say that's not an uncommon problem, where resident perception might be different from what the reality is," Caldwell said.
The results are available online at co.olmsted.mn.us .
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Surveys were mailed to 2,100 Olmsted County residents and 723 of those surveys were returned.
Kharkiv City Council at a special session on May 17 amended the city budget for 2016, increasing costs to complete the construction of the third line of Kharkiv Metropoliten from the Oleksiyivska station to the Peremohy Prospekt station by UAH 30 million.
Deputy Mayor Tetiana Taukesheva said extra UAH 5 million would be spent on repairs in the emergency rooms of the central libraries of Industrial and Frunze districts, the modern theatrical school, music schools Nos. 2 and 9.
As reported, on December 23, 2015 the deputies of Kharkiv City Council approved estimates of expenditure for the program of construction and development of the Kharkiv subway at the expense of the city budget for 2016, according to which UAH 230 million will be used for building a new station. The Kharkiv leadership has repeatedly stated its intention to complete the construction of the Peremoha metro station by the City Day celebrated on August 23.
ST. PAUL Not a single Rochester project is included in the House Republicans proposed $947 million construction package unveiled late Wednesday.
"Its extremely disappointing because it was not a big request from Rochester as a total and to not have it included in the Houses proposal is extremely disappointing," said Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede.
Rochester projects that failed to make the cut include $20 million for Rochester Community and Technical College for demolition and renovation work, $5 million for Rochester International Airports U.S. Customs expansion and $1.5 million for The Reading Center/Dyslexia Institute of Minnesota expansion. While funding for the airport was not included in the House construction borrowing bill, also called a bonding bill, it is included in the House GOPs transportation funding proposal.
"The House GOP completely stiffed Rochester. Ive never seen a bonding bill that I can recall that had nothing in it that Rochester requested. Its shocking, really," said Rep. Tina Liebling, DFL-Rochester.
Byron Republican Rep. Duane Quam said the bill does make key investments in core infrastructure that would benefit Olmsted County and southeast Minnesota.
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"If you look at the total package, 45 percent of (the funding) is water infrastructure and local roads and bridges. Thats the first bonding bill Ive seen where more than 10 percent has been put into roads and bridges," Quam said.
As for the lack of Rochester projects, he chalked that up in part to negotiations. He noted that Rochester Sen. Dave Senjem is the ranking Republican on the Senate Capital Investment Committee so he will likely have a key role in crafting the House and Senates compromise bonding bill.
The big winners in southeast Minnesotas construction borrowing package are Lanesboro and Red Wing. Included in the bill is $3.6 million to repair the historic Lanesboro dam and nearly $15 million for a rail grade separation at Sturgeon Lake Road near Red Wing. There is also $833,000 to help cover additional construction costs on U.S. 61 in Red Wing.
Preston Republican Rep. Greg Davids said he is pleased to see the Lanesboro dam in the bill. He said he sees the bill as a "reasonable starting point" and said he expects it will change.
"I understand when you have $3 billion in requests and less than $1 billion to work with, not everything gets done," Davids said.
Earlier this month, a $1.8 billion construction package failed to pass the Minnesota Senate by one vote. That package included funds for the Rochester International Airport, RCTC and The Reading Center. Also in that bill was $25.3 million for Winona State Universitys Education Village, $4.5 million for Red Wings River Town Renaissance, $600,000 for Austin waterway restoration and $500,000 for Oronoco wastewater infrastructure improvements. Neither bill included funding for Chatfield Center for the Arts renovations.
RCTCs construction project was ranked as seventh on Minnesota State Colleges and Universities' priority list for funding. Despite that, St. Cloud State Universitys 10th-ranked project leap-frogged RCTCs request to get $18 million in the House bill.
Rep. Nels Pierson, R-Rochester, said he has received assurances that funding for the Rochester International Airport will be part of a final transportation bill. As for the other projects, he said it's disappointing they were not included, but he is working hard to convince fellow lawmakers of their importance as negotiations continue.
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"Clearly, (the projects) are on people's radar and that advocacy is happening behind the scenes," Pierson said.
Rochester DFL Rep. Kim Norton said she is not going to start panicking about funding for the Rochester projects yet. She said she sees this GOP bill as the start of negotiations and expects plenty of changes. Unlike other bills, bonding bills require a three-fourths majority vote in order to pass. That means Republicans will need DFL votes to get the bill approved. At this point, Norton said she cant vote for this bill.
"If this is the final bill, it will certainly be disappointing for our area," Norton said. "I just dont think were at the final bill yet."
Naftogaz: Arbitration will make decision on all mutual claims between Naftogaz and Gazprom
The Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce will make decision on all mutual requirements in the existing contracts between NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy and PJSC Gazprom, the press service of the state holding has told Interfax-Ukraine.
"Naftogaz has not buying gas from Gazprom since late November 2015. Prior to that, the company imported gas exclusively through the entry points to the gas transportation system in the territory controlled by Ukraine. All purchased gas volumes were accounted and prepaid. We expect the Stockholm arbitration to make decision on all the mutual claims between Naftogaz and Gazprom," Naftogaz said.
The press service noted in connection with the implementation of the Third EU Energy Package significant changes in the Ukrainian legislation were made.
Thus, in January 2016 the European Commission and Ukraine proposed Russia negotiate the settlement of violation of Ukrainian and EU legislation by Gazprom.
"Unfortunately, Russia has evaded negotiations. We remain open to discuss disputable issues and explain the latest amendments in Ukrainian legislation," the company said.
The town Schastia in Luhansk region has been provided full access to Ukrainian television, the press service of the Ministry of Information Policy has said.
"Cable operators reach more than 70% of the town's population and provide Internet services. They are the most responsible for disseminating informational broadcasts. Fiber-optic lines provide Internet to all who desire access. Some 1,000 residents have access to TV via satellite," the agency said.
Petro Poroshenko Bloc MP Oleksandr Bryhynets, who advises [Information Policy Minister Yuriy Stets] in the ATO zone said satellite TV stations are received at no cost, including Russian TV channels, but that Ukrainian TV channels could only be watched on cable for money. Most people in the town watch cable TV stations.
Deputy Mayor Volodymyr Tiurin of Schastia and local MP Vitaliy Prylypa said the situation in the town is not critical. He said life was 'normal' in terms of living conditions and access to information.
"City residents asked Ukrainian officials to repulse [Russian] invaders, who irritate them with lies and propaganda," the statement reads.
A May 11 Post-Bulletin headline read, in part, "Company official: Racism helped kill ... pork plant deal."
The article wasn't from a city in one of our southern states. It reported a Mason City (Iowa) City Council vote to deny Prestage Farms the chance to build a pork processing plant in the city.
In reading the incomplete headline as I wrote it, many would probably think the story originated in Mississippi or Alabama or some other southern state that may still practice racism in one form or another.
But no, this story came from the state on Minnesota's southern border and from a city about 50 miles south of the Minnesota-Iowa border.
The vote by the Mason City City Council was 3 to 3 to reject this company's plans to build a pork processing facility in Mason City. When I first read that line, I made an assumption that people were objecting to the plant's location within the city or the objectionable smells that might be produced. But nowhere in the Des Moines Register article reprinted in the Post-Bulletin did it mention those as concerns.
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The problem laid in the nationalities of those who might be employed there.
City council member Janet Solberg voted for the project and was quoted, saying, "Racism was a huge factor. There is no doubt in my mind. Most of the phone calls and emails were, 'We don't want those people in our community.' It played a very large factor in all of this, sad to say. I'm so disappointed in our citizens."
There is no doubt in my mind that, had a majority of Mason City residents indicated their approval of the measure, it probably would have been passed. There is also no doubt in my mind, that had the council members voted their consciences, they would have approved the project.
Yes, one could argue the council members voted the wishes of a majority of the people they represent. But sometimes, our representatives must vote for what they believe is the right thing to do. In this case, provideing jobs for hundreds of people and improving the economy of this northern Iowa community.
On another note: In the most racially divided state in the union, Missouri, a GOP-controlled legislature passed a new photo ID bill recently that will reportedly restrict more than 200,000 people from voting if supported by voters in the 2016 elections.
Here's the good news. You may remember a similar ballot initiative in Minnesota in 2012 was defeated by the voters. Opponents of the bill, including Gov. Mark Dayton, argued that if passed, the bill would disenfranchise eligible voters. On Election Day, 52 percent of voters opposed the amendment.
So, as Minnesotans and Iowans, we must not fool ourselves. Racial bias lives here, too. Hopefully not to the extent that it exists in other states, but it exists. It's wrong. It's an issue that each of us needs to deal with individually.
Hopefully, we can all come up with the right answers.
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Darrell Larson, of Austin, is a member of the Post-Bulletin's Community Editorial Advisory Board.
WASHINGTON You could say that it all depends on how you define "lie." Or, perhaps, that it's hell to have a public record.
Either way, Hillary Clinton's vast resume of, shall we say, inconsistencies, is the dog that caught the car and won't let go. A viral video collection of her comments on various subjects through the years is bestirring Republican hearts.
To those who'd rather vote for a reality show host than a Clinton, the video merely confirms what they've believed all along. For independents and even Democrats, it's a reminder of how often Clinton has morphed into a fresh incarnation as required by the political moment.
Most of the highlights would be familiar to anyone who follows politics -- her varying takes on Bosnia, health care, Wall Street, NAFTA -- but the juxtaposition of these ever-shifting views is more jarring than one might expect. Politicians count on Americans' short attention spans (and memories) as much as they do their own policies and/or charms. This video , inartfully titled "Hillary Clinton lying for 13 minutes straight," clarifies blurred recollections and recasts them in an order that, among other things, reminds us how long the Clintons have been around.
If you're looking for a fresh face or an anti-establishment candidate, Hillary Clinton isn't it. But then, neither are Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, both of whom have been haunting the public square nearly all of their adult lives -- one a raging radical, the other a radical rager.
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Presumptive nominees Clinton and Trump are equally egregious in their misstatements, if in substantively different ways. Clinton is measured, poised, concentrated and studied when she revises her personal history. Trump just says whatever tiny thought penetrates his prefrontal cortex where inhibitory functioning is obviously kaput, blurting absurdities and bromides the way pirates toss plastic beads from papier-mache ships at Mardi Gras.
Lacking a policy record to defend or reverse, Trump gets to gloat and sneer at his female foe. He did reverse himself on his irrelevant position regarding the Iraq War, but the number of real estate developers whose opinions entered into the nation's military calculus in 2003 was exactly zero. Otherwise, his evil-clown act toward women, minorities, the disabled and others is apparently acceptable to the Republican Party.
Clinton's record is something else. The woman who would become president promises a continuation of President Obama's policies, even though she rejected many of them in 2008. The candidate who hates NAFTA almost as much as she now despises Wall Street is captured in several clips praising NAFTA.
A review of her bizarre accounting of landing in Bosnia under sniper fire in 1996 is almost entertaining. Audacious, really. Rather than ducking and dodging across the tarmac where no welcoming committee was present, film footage reminds us that she and daughter Chelsea Clinton calmly walked from the plane, posed for photographs with students there to greet them, and shook hands with a little girl.
No news here, just a rehash of history. One web author who posted the video sent to me by several readers insists that it would be impossible to vote for Clinton after viewing the 13-minute montage. This may or may not be true given the alternative, but a refreshed memory does invite fresh consideration of Clinton's character.
On questions of honesty and trustworthiness, Clinton consistently polls low, including among Democrats, which partly explains Sanders' support. His economic plan may be fantastical, but at least he's honest!
Well, maybe. With Clinton, there's no maybe, as the 13 minutes make clear. For whatever reason, she simply can't seem to stick to the truth, which, at times, needs neither embellishment nor denial. Wasn't it enough to have gone to Bosnia to conduct the nation's all-important soft diplomacy?
Clinton has been in public life long enough to have made some honest mistakes and even changed her mind a few times, which aren't sins. But trustworthiness requires honesty, which often begets forgiveness.
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After all these decades, Clinton still wants everything every which way, just never straightforward. Her lengthy tenure as a public figure has become her greatest obstacle. This isn't only because of her lack of forthrightness, but also because, having lived under such intense scrutiny for so long, she seems incapable of allowing herself the ultimate dodge: She's merely human.
A person who can admit to mistakes, express genuine remorse, apologize for errors of judgment or failures to act, and who revises history only in the service of truth -- that person could become president of the United States.
If only.
Kathleen Parker is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Washington Post.
Let's make Minnesota the nation's top state in which to do business. Support a Minnesota fair tax.
The top states that are prospering are states such as Florida, Texas and Alaska. All are states that do not have an income tax.
Minnesota does fairly well at being a good place just because of the work ethic of Minnesotans. Now, add to that by not taxing the incomes of workers as well as those of businesses, Minnesota would become an economic magnet.
Businesses would become very competitive because the huge burden of income taxes would not be embedded into the price of products manufactured. Remember, business does not pay taxes or fees because they become part of the price of the product or service. Thus, the product would cost less for residents to buy and would be very competitive to export to other states as well as the international market.
This would reduce the practice of outsourcing to other countries and other states. Investors, especially Minnesota investors, would want to invest in entrepreneurs and businesses located in Minnesota.
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Let's have inversions into Minnesota, not inversions out of Minnesota.
Harold Radtke
Pine Island
With less than a week remaining in the legislative session that ends Monday, it seems lawmakers can only agree on two things when it comes to the big measures that lie ahead: Minnesotans would prefer to not pay taxes, and they'd like improved services.
It's amazing what 10 weeks of effort can reveal.
Oddly, those same weeks haven't offered many insights into the progress of the tax and transportation bills that were sent to conference committee more than a year ago. Last year's session ended with disappointment, and last week ended with both sides regurgitating their 2015 stances.
Hoping to push action forward, Gov. Mark Dayton offered a pair of potential compromises Monday, one with a reduced gas tax and another with no gas tax. Both offered agreement to take some annual funding for roads and bridges from the general fund, but neither were as aggressive as the House Republican stance, which hadn't changed in the past year.
The added pressure helped budge House Republicans to reduce the reliance of general fund dollars in their proposal, but a healthy gap remains to be bridged.
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More needs to be done in the coming days. A do-nothing session with a $900 million surplus and countless needs throughout the state is inexcusable.
Even if lawmakers can pull agreements on the tax and transportation bills, as well as state bonding, out of thin air, last-minute efforts are not defensible.
Our state representatives and senators knew going into the session that time was limited, and they knew the workload included three key items. None of them should be allowed to deny that or lay the blame on anyone else. They all are bear responsibility, as does the governor's office.
Instead of doing their jobs, legislators wasted time by pointing fingers, crafting press releases to lay blame at the other party's feet and calling press conferences to outline excuses as campaign season nears. Not enough time has been spent discussing needed compromises.
Delays rob Minnesotans of the transparency they need from their state government. If deals are made in the coming days, they will be achieved without enough time for most state residents and some lawmakers to truly understand the impact of the legislation. The past has shown us mistakes likely will be made, which will require corrections during a special session or at the start of next year's regular session.
We expect better from our state leaders.
However, they aren't solely to blame. We've watched the delays grow longer and longer through the years as political divides take precedence over actually getting the state's work done. We've all watched as 201 elected men and women allow a handful of leaders make the biggest decisions for them. We've watched it get worse each year.
We can only expect the trend will continue until lawmakers are put on notice. We need to send clear messages in person, through calls and emails and at the ballot box if necessary.
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We need to step up and tell them what we expect. We expect work to be done. We expect a willingness to consider alternatives throughout the session, rather than abandoning potential compromise at the first sign to discord.
Unfortunately, until that message is made clear, we expect more of the same.
Days ahead of their expected arrival date, more than 250 delegates for the 2016 Festival of Pacific Arts are already on Guam and more are expected today. According to Mark Mendiola, chairman of the FestPac housing committee, the delegates will be arriving at different times depending on their country of origin because of flight schedules. Most of the delegates are expected to arrive by May 20.
While delegates entered Guam, the schools meant to house them were still undergoing preparations.
"Our community partners stepped up," Mendiola said. "We have folks from the Pacific Islands University and the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Agana Heights."
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Oyaol Ngirairikl, the governor's spokeswoman, said it wasn't entirely expected that some delegations would arrive so early, but temporary accommodations were arranged with help from Dededo Mayor Melissa Savares.
John Taulu is one of 35 delegates from the Cook Islands who arrived early yesterday morning. His group had been in transit for 12 hours prior to landing. They were temporarily housed at the Agana Heights Seventh-Day Adventist Church.
"From what we thought, it's just straight in, land here, and get straight into business. But it seems like we have a bit of time to just play around and get to know the place a bit more," Taulu said.
Preparations
Staff and volunteers spent most of yesterday clearing classrooms and generally preparing the eight school housing sites for the delegates' arrival. The eight schools are Tiyan High School, Astumbo Middle School, Untalan Middle School, Southern High School, Agueda Johnston Middle School, Jose Rios Middle School, George Washington High School and Okkodo High School.
GW was chosen as a replacement for John F. Kennedy High School. The venue change was due to costs and facility issues. GWHS principal Lynda Hernandez-Avilla said preparations began early yesterday, at about 6 a.m. By 10 a.m., all the classrooms had been cleared with help from U.S. Air Force volunteers and various GovGuam agencies.
Mendiola said between 400 and 500 volunteers were mobilized to assist with clearing schools.
Between 499 and 520 delegates will be utilizing GW. Hernandez-Avilla said she believes the school would be ready for its first early arrival. About 150 delegates from Palau are expected to arrive today at 10 a.m. Hernandez-Avilla said they had originally anticipated all delegates arriving on May 20 at 3 p.m.
"That kind of pushed everything forward," she said. "I thought we had more time to move all this but we made it happen in four hours."
Maintenance work
While the rooms were cleared early, they were not all without problems. A brief scan of a few rooms showed they had some stained floors and broken cabinet doors. Hernandez-Avilla said she was informed GW would be utilized for housing about one month ago. She added that there was some discussion of moving back to JFK and the decision to stay at GW was not finalized until last week.
With classes ending Tuesday, May 17, there was little time to determine what patchwork needed to be done.
"We are checking teachers out and when they turn in their list of what needs to be done, then we are able to asses that," Hernandez-Avilla said. "If you're asking me to do try to do that before the delegations come in, it's not going to happen."
The Tiyan high campus also had some maintenance issues. The Post visited one of the wings that would hold delegates. It contained a large hole in the wall on the second floor and one near a water fountain, although the wing had received a fresh coat of paint.
Like GW, the rooms were all cleared by yesterday afternoon. Tiyan may also host an early delegation from Fiji as their flight is to arrive early today, according to assistant principal Joel Punzalan,.
While delegates continue to pour in, the ones already here are being supported as much as they need with regard to food services. Ngirairikl said demand hasn't been too much since the delegations knew they were early and meal services don't begin until May 22.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry urged the international community on the day of an anniversary of Stalin's deportation of Crimean Tatars to carry on the sanctions pressure on Russia over the Crimean issue.
"Ukraine is commemorating victims of the 1944 Crimean Tatar genocide and is urging the international community to continue political and diplomatic pressure on the Russian occupation authorities in order to avoid a recurrence of the tragedy, the immediate end of violations of human rights in Crimea and, eventually, de-occupation of the peninsula and restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity within the internationally recognized borders," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted in Kyiv on Wednesday.
On May 18-22, 1944, over 250,000 Crimean Tatars fell victim to the policy of 'Stalin's USSR'; their deportation was a black page in history, the statement said.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry drew parallel between the events, which happened 72 years ago, and the present day, mentioning the ban on activity of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis in Russia and prosecution of its activists. According to Kyiv, more than 20,000 Crimean Tatars moved to Ukraine after Crimea's accession to Russia.
May 18 is the day of remembrance of Crimean Tatar deportation victims.
Crimea joined Russia in March 2014 after a local referendum on the status of the peninsula; Ukraine refused to recognize the referendum results and said that the region was its territory under temporary occupation. The West described the Russian move as 'annexation' and imposed sanctions on Russia.
I agree with Pauls comments on the list of potential Supreme Court nominees that Donald Trump released today. I have a few additional thoughts.
One of the judges on the list, David Stras, is on the Minnesota Supreme Court. He has stellar credentials, having clerked for Michael Luttig and Clarence Thomas. Prior to his appointment to the Minnesota court by Tim Pawlenty, he was of counsel to my law firm, but I didnt know him in that capacity. Surprisingly, I dont know him at all; that is probably because he is so young: 41.
Don Willett of the Texas Supreme Court is the rare judge who is a public figure. He is active on Twitter and is a hero to conservatives around the country. Check out this tweet, for example:
When your Justice is a straight shooter. pic.twitter.com/PIVcpGB8kC Justice Don Willett (@JusticeWillett) May 18, 2016
William Pryor was the subject of a heated confirmation campaign when George W. Bush appointed him to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. He was ultimately confirmed by the Senate on a 53-45 vote, as we wrote in 2005.
My sense is that the party is coalescing behind Donald Trump. No doubt this list of excellent judges will accelerate that process. Nothing concentrates the mind of a conservative like the prospect of Bill and Hillary in the White House.
UPDATE: A distinguished appellate lawyer emails:
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Passengers on Arik Air flight W3 308 to Ghana from the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in Abuja on Monday have accused the airline of treating them in a shabby and disrespectful manner after their 6.30 pm flight was delayed for more than 24 hours.
Some of the passengers who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES described how the airline first refused to provide meals and accommodation for them after the flight was rescheduled for 9:30 am on Tuesday.
Officials of the airline, our sources said, initially offered to transport the passengers to a central location in Abuja so they can arrange their own accommodation afterwards.
But the passengers insisted that the airline must accommodate them for the night, in line with the Nigerian passengers bill of rights.
They expected that passengers would sort themselves out from there, said Halima Sogbesan, a passenger on the flight.
The passenger said when the airline later took them to a hotel in Lugbe, in the outskirts of Abuja, they were informed that provision had only been made for five rooms and other passengers should pay for their own rooms if they liked to stay in the hotel.
Again the passengers said they would have none of such arrangement. And the airline buckled and agreed to pay for the accommodation of every passenger after an argument that lasted for 30 minutes, passengers said.
Ms. Sogbesan said the hotel in which they were lodged was substandard and dirty, and that there was no provision for food.
I had to call the reception downstairs to come open the door for me when I wanted to step out, one passenger said. The bathtub was unclean. Theres no Internet. No talk of food too.
On Tuesday morning, the airline failed to keep a promise to provide a bus to convey the passengers back to the airport.
No staff of the airline was seen an hour before the rescheduled time for the flight departure. The passengers were forced to make alternative arrangements to transport themselves to the airport.
But when the passengers returned to the airport from the hotel, their ordeals simply continued.
Ms Sogbesan said her and her colleagues endured another humiliating 12 hours of waiting at the airport.
The airline failed to provide food or refreshment for the passengers as it repeatedly announced further postponements of the flight.
The flight only departed at 7:30 p.m., passengers said.
Barnabas Ikyo, a lecturer at the University of Agriculture Makurdi, Benue State, one of the passengers who endured the ordeal, said he was on his way to attend a regional workshop of the Africa Centre of Excellence Project in Accra slated to start at 8 am on Tuesday.
He said about 150 participants, including academics from 10 universities in Nigeria and other academics from other African countries were expected to take part in the workshop.
Mr Ikyo blamed Arik Airs disregard for customers right on the failure of aviation regulators in the country to come hard on the airline.
This is unfair and Arik has been doing this. We wonder what the airline regulators in this country are doing that they havent fined Arik big time, he said.
When contacted, the spokesperson for Arik Air, Ola Adebanji, said the passengers account of what happened was half truth.
He said the flight was delayed due to the scarcity of aviation fuel being experience in the country.
He added that in line with standard practice, the airline tried to lodge all the customers in an hotel it usually used for such purpose but was told they only had five rooms available.
Hotels in Abuja are always full. you do not tell hotels to please reserve rooms for me. The normal hotel we use was full as we couldnt lodge them in a single hotel, we lodged 34 of them in three hotels, one in Lugbe and two in Kuje, he said.
We cannot take passengers to a hotel and tell them it is only five people we can pay for, it is not possible.
Mr Adebanji added that the it was not true that the hotel the airline lodged the passengers in was below standard.
We cannot lodge passengers in five-star hotels. But the hotels we lodged them were all standard hotels. It was late so some of them chose to go home to spend the night.
Mr. Adebanji also said it was not true that the airline did not come to convey the passengers to the airport in the morning.
He said his airline offered to convey the passengers in two batches and those that took taxi to the airport were those in the second batch who couldnt wait for the bus to return from the airport.
When Mr. Adebanjis claims were put to one of the passengers, he simply said, his comments were public relations gimmick filled with falsehood and should be disregarded.
A last minute meeting between the federal government and Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, on Tuesday night to attempt to avert a nationwide strike over increased petrol price, collapsed mid-way as representatives of the organised labour staged a walkout on government representatives.
The NLC says the talks broke down because the government refused to even consider its demand for a reversal of the price hike, and an earlier increase in electricity tariffs.
The meeting, called by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir Lawal, was attended by the president of NLC, Aliyu Wabba, who led representatives of affiliate groups including Trade Union Congress, TUC, and civil society organisations.
PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the meeting was barely an hour into its agenda when the labour leaders decided to stage a walkout after what they called the refusal of government to accede to their demands.
The General Secretary of the NLC, Peter Ozo-Eson, who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES on phone shortly after leaving the venue of the meeting, said members could not continue to put up with the governments unbending attitude towards their demands.
The talks with government broke down because it was not ready to address the issues the NLC placed on the table for discussion; so we left, Mr. Ozo-Eson said.
The demands the NLC and its affiliates made formally in writing on Saturday were that government should first revert to the fuel price of N86.50 per litre before any other decision.
Again, we demanded that the electricity tariff imposed on the people last January should also be reversed. But, government said they were not ready to discuss such things.
They said they wanted to discuss minimum wage and palliatives. But, those were not issues we were ready to start any discussion with, he said.
Mr. Ozo-Eson said labour was not interested in listening to what offers government was going to make in respect of the two issues it offered to talk about, saying their interest was a complete reversal of the fuel price and electricity tariff.
He said the government could not be talking about minimum wage first when most Nigerians are not even working and are being tasked further financially and economically by the hike in fuel price and increased electricity tariff.
Members of the civilian JTF in Borno state have reportedly rescued one of the 219 Chibok school girls abducted by Boko Haram from their school hostel in 2014.
The Hausa service of the BBC reports that the girl was rescued after a gunfight between the civilian JTF and Boko Haram at a forest in Borno State.
The BBC also quoted a lecturer in the University of Maiduguri, Hauwa Biu, who is familiar with the rescue,
as confirming the incident.
After defeating the terrorists, the civilian JTF also succeeded in rescuing the girl who was seen carrying a baby.
One of them identified her as one of the school girls kidnapped and her name is Amina Nkek, Ms Biu was quoted as saying.
She also said the civilian JTF took Miss Nkek to Chibok where her parents identified her.
The report also said the girl, originally from Mbalal village, is presently with the Nigerian Army unit in Damboa town where investigations regarding the rescue and identity of the girl is ongoing.
PREMIUM TIMES is yet to independently verify the report and will provide updates as they are available.
Normal activities continued in Abuja, Bauchi, Yobe, Kano, Adamawa, Jigawa and Bayelsa States Wednesday as residents ignored the call by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to embark on strike over the increase in pump price of fuel.
But the strike largely successded in Gombe and Plateau States where schools, banks and government offices were closed.
In Abuja, all government offices, banks, schools and markets remained open with workers at their duty posts.
Amid tight security, labour leaders, who marched from the federal secretariat, did not force people to comply with the strike order.
In neighbouring Kaduna, schools, banks, offices and business were opened for business.
The NLC restricted the strike to the state secretariat along Independence Way in Kaduna.
Adamu Ango, chairman of the Kaduna NLC, told PREMIUM TIMES that because of the peculiar problems of security, Katsina, Kano, Bauchi and Kaduna chairmen met earlier and resolved not to hold any street procession.
That is why we restricted our members to carry out the strike within NLC premises. Those who want to remain at home can remain at home, those who choose to go to work have gone to work, he said.
He said members who defied the strike order would be sanctioned.
In Bauchi where some youths demonstrated on Tuesday in support of the deregulation of the downstream oil sector, labour officials did not attempt to enforce the strike.
A civil servant working with the state government, Sanusi Ibrahim, said most workers were not in support of the strike.
When we were not paid our salary for over eight months, what did the NLC do?
Before the removal of subsidy, we were buying fuel at the cost of N300 per litre; in some states, even N500.
Now the fuel is available at maximum of N145. The NLC should leave us alone, he was quoted by the News Agency of Nigeria as saying.
Contacted on telephone Wednesday for his comment, Chairman of NLC in the state, Hashimu Gitel, told NAN that he was on his way to Abuja.
Normal activities were also ongoing on in Damaturu, the Yobe state capital, with banks, schools, hospitals, state and federal secretariats open for business.
In Adamawa State, normal activities were going on in Yola, the capital, and other major towns as schools, banks, markets, as well as the State and Federal secretariats remained opened.
Some residents said they were not convinced that the strike was the best alternative in the present circumstance.
Adamu Danwanzam, the chairman of Yola Perishable Food Items Sellers Association, said his members were not in support of the strike action, according to NAN.
Also speaking, the state chairman of Private School Proprietors in Adamawa, Dijatu Balla, said her members had no business with the strike action.
Husaini Isa, chairman of Commercial Tricycle Association in Adamawa, also distanced his members from the strike, pointing out that for many months, his members had been buying fuel for N200 per litre, as such the new prize of N145 per litre was a relief.
At the state secretariat in Yola, most government offices were opened. Some workers openly challenged labour leaders who visited the secretariat at about 10AM.
When contacted, the state NLC chairman, Dauda Maina, said he could not comment as he was still in Abuja.
I am still in Abuja where I missed my flight back due to lack of aviation fuel, but I have given mandate to my vice and other union officials to ensure compliance with the strike, Mr. Maina said.
Plateau and Gombe go on strike
In Dutse, Jigawa State, people went about their normal businesses.
At the State and Federal secretariats, civil servants were seen attending to their official duties.
In Gombe State, the strike order was however in full force as the NLC Monitoring Committee went round to ensure compliance.
Most places of work, schools, banks and the state radio and television stations were closed.
The strike was also enforced in Plateau State.
The gate of the state secretariat was under lock, as labour officials barred civil servants from the office.
Similarly, the Plateau Radio and Television and the state-owned newspaper, the Nigeria Standard, located at Joseph Gwomwalk road, were also shut.
Labour union leaders also locked the Plateau State Polytechnic at Hiepang, and the Jos campus, and the State High court.
At press time, most civil servants who went to work early, had returned home, while some banks that opened for business, were compelled to close.
At the Jos Main market, only a few major shops opened for business, possibly for fear of an outbreak of violence.
Most residents of the volatile state, remained indoors.
Down south, only a handful of Ogun State workers took part in street protest.
The protest was led by the NLC chairman of the state, Akeem Ambali, and chairman, Committee on Defence and Human Rights, Olayinka Folarin.
The protesters walked through major roads, accompanied by police and other security agencies.
Some commercial banks closed, while others also provided skeletal services.
While some ministries were open, workers stayed indoors. Also, some pupils returned home from school earlier than normal.
At the markets and motor parks, normal activities were ongoing.
In Bayelsa, civil servants shunned the strike and turned up for work.
The main secretariat and offices in Yenegoa, capital of Bayelsa opened for work as civil servants reports early to work.
Many of the workers in the main secretariat reported to office as early as 8am.
Tonye Ayama, a civil servant, said the NLC in the state was yet to address workers.
So, we are still waiting to hear from the Labour Union; if they say there is strike, then we can go back to our houses, Mr. Ayama said.
Six of the 219 Chibok schoolgirls abducted in 2014 by Boko Haram are dead, activists and local officials have quoted one of the girls rescued Tuesday as saying.
Nineteen-year-old Amina Nkek was rescued in Kulakaisa village at the fringes of Sambisa forest, by a Chibok vigilante group, the sources said.
A source familiar with the rescue said Ms. Nkek was breast feeding a child.
After she was taken to Chibok, where she was identified by her parents, Ms. Nkek told the community leaders that all the girls are in Sambisa forest, but six of them had died, a source told PREMIUM TIMES.
The source quoted Ms. Nkek as saying that the remaining girls were well secured and protected to stop the Nigerian Army from rescuing them.
He added that the girl was taken to the army unit in Damboa, Borno state.
The army said in a statement that one of the abducted chibok school girls, Falmata Mbalala, was among the rescued persons by our troops at Baale near Damboa.
The statement, signed by army spokesperson, Sani Usman, did not say why the names differed.
The BBC quoted Hosea Abana Tsambido, the chairman of the Chibok community in Abuja, as saying that Ms. Nkek was found by the vigilantes after venturing into the forest to search for firewood.
Over 219 girls were abducted by Boko Haram from their school hostel in 2014.
Some of the girls managed to escape.
The abduction attracted global attention and the Nigerian government said that efforts were being made to rescue the girls alive.
Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court Uyo, Akwa Ibom State on Tuesday convicted and sentenced the duo of Wisdom Afangideh and Godwin John to 10 years imprisonment on each of the two count charge preferred against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The jail terms are to run concurrently, a statement by EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, said.
The convicts were however given an option of Three Million Naira (N3, 000 000.00) fine each. Also the truck and the product are to be forfeited to the Federal Government.
The convicts were prosecuted on charges bordering on conspiracy and illegal dealing in petroleum product.
Messrs. Wisdom and Godwin were arrested on June 8, 2012 by officials of State Security Service in Oku Iboku village in Ikat Adakpan Local Government of Akwa Ibom State with one DAF truck (registration number XQ 926 APP Lagos) with 33,000 litres of suspected illegally refined Automotive Gas Oil (AGO).
They were subsequently, handed over to the EFCC on June 12, 2012 for further investigation and possible prosecution.
When they were arraigned on September 30, 2013, they pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Count one reads: That you Wisdom Thomas Afangideh, Augustine Gabriel Ogbole and Godwin Ochefie John on or about the 10th June, 2012 at Oku Iboku along Ikat Adakpan Local Government of Akwa Ibom State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable court did conspire among yourselves to commit felony to wit: illegal dealing in petroleum product and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 3(6) and punishable under Section 1(17) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act Cap M 17 of the Revised Edition (Laws of the Federation of Nigeria) Act 2012.
A witness in the ongoing trial of a former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Haliru Bello, has explained how he was instructed to pay N300 million to a company belonging to Mr. Bello.
Mr. Bello and his son, Abba Mohammed, alongside their company, Bam Project and Properties Limited, are facing corruption charges, for allegedly receiving N300 million from the office of the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.
The witness, Yazidu Ibrahim, an account officer with the Office of the National Security Adviser, told the court that he received a written instruction on a piece of paper to prepare a payment mandate for BAM to the tune of N300m.
A statement from the office of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, said Mr. Ibrahim told the Federal High Court in Abuja that the piece of paper had the account name, number, amount to be paid, as well as the reason for payment, which was indicated as payment for safe houses.
Mr. Ibrahim also stated that there were two signatories on the payment mandate, namely Sambo Dasuki, and Salisu Yushau, Director, Finance and Administration.
After they have signed the paper, I would also sign before taking it to the bank (Central Bank of Nigeria), he said.
Mr. Ibrahim had told the court that there were procedures for making payments, which included presentation of documents, approval of the said documents and instructions from the Director of Finance, among others.
Documents to be presented include: contract documents, contract agreements, signature of the contractor and voucher.
After the documents had been presented, I would prepare the payment mandate ,which would be passed to the NSA and DFA for signing before taking it to the bank for payment, he stated.
During cross-examination by counsel to the first defendant, Solomon Umoh, the witness told the court that he did not know if there was any contract between the defendants and Office of the National Security Adviser.
He further stated that he was not in the position to know why payments were made and that
The case has been adjourned to June, 1 for further cross- examination of the witness by counsels to the second and third defendants.
The Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, has commenced its nationwide strike in protest of the governments increase of petrol price and electricity tariffs.
The congress wants both tariffs reversed, and has vowed an indefinite strike from Wednesday until the government accedes to the demands.
A last minute dialogue on Tuesday to forestall to industrial action broke down after the government said it could only consider raising salaries and other measures to cushion the impact of the fuel price hike.
Leaders of the NLC marched on Wednesday at about 9AM from Labour House in central district of Abuja to the federal secretariat, where the president of the congress, Aliyu Wabba, addressed workers.
A procession of unionists and workers, decked in t-shirts and displaying flags, is to move to the Berger Junction in Abuja, and will continue every day until the government rescinds its decision, Mr. Wabba said.
More details coming.
The owner of Intraco Manageent Ltd. Serhiy Zaytsev has said Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko never used the company's services.
"Intraco has never provided services to Poroshenko," he said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
Earlier media reports said that Intraco bought 500 tonnes of aviation fuel from a subsidiary of Russia's Gazprom. They said that the company also provided services to Poroshenko and MP Ihor Kononenko.
Zaytsev said that Poroshenko before his inauguration once used the services of other company belonged to him Austria's GB Park.
"I am the owner of Austria's GB Park that leased Cessna Citation Sovereign plane and re-leased it," he said.
Zaytsev noted that "Petro Oleksiyovych earlier used the services of GB Park, but not so often as I as wished it to be."
"After he was elected the president he used the plane of GB Park once, after he was elected and before the swearing-in ceremony. Poroshenko paid from his pocket as usual for that flight," he said.
Zaytsev said that falling demand on business trips by air and competition among systemic operators, such as NetJets, 'killed' the project.
"I had to shut down Intraco and the plane of GB Park was put up for sale," he said.
Commenting on information about 'cooperation' with Russian companies, Zaytsev said planes at Sheremetyevo airport can be fueled only by Gazpromneft-Aero-Sheremetyevo.
"If they had a Shell fueling skid we would fly there with pleasure," he said.
Commenting on his relations with Poroshenko's companies, he said that he is a minority shareholder in Roshen and was the sole owner of Intraco.
Zaytsev denies the links between his operations in Roshen where he is deputy director and his other businesses.
"I organize direct purchases of cacao beans from Cargill and other suppliers for Roshen. For myself I trade with futures and options. There is no conflict. I once started looking at alternatives trade with shares and bonds, crediting, charter transportation, for example," he said.
Senator Shehu Sani of Kaduna Central District has cautioned the federal government against intimidating the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, and its leaders, for protesting the recent increase in petrol price.
Mr. Sani condemned the governments campaign of calumny and blackmail against the unionists, and said Nigerians must appreciate the NLC for standing by the masses over the years and for making contributions to the realization of political change in Nigeria.
A nationwide called by the NLC in protest of fuel price hike and electricity tariff raise began Wednesday after talks with the government failed on Tuesday night.
The government has vowed to implement a no-work-no-pay policy, and has threatened appropriate response by the law enforcement agencies against union leaders who attempt to barricade gates or lock up offices to enforce the strike.
In a statement issued on Wednesday , Mr. Sani said as the umbrella body responsible for the welfare of Nigerian workers, NLC has the right to protest or to opt for dialogue or not.
Campaign of calumny and blackmail against the NLC and Labour leaders simply for speaking out and standing up for their traditional constituents must stop, Mr. Sani said.
We joined and applauded the NLC for leading a mass protest against increase in pump prices of petroleum products in the past.
Its hypocritical to condemn them now for their principled stand on same issue. Our quests for justice and equity must not depend upon the Government or persons in power but must depend upon the matters of principles at hand, the lawmaker said.
Mr. Sani added: The cloud of intimidation and blackmail against people for expressing their objections must end. We are now in a state whereby dissent is equated to disloyalty.
We must learn to tolerate views and positions different from our own no matter how unpopular. If we must all agree on all issues at all times, democracy couldnt have been invented.
Democracy guarantees every citizen the fundamental right to free speech and to objection and this must be respected.
He said those in support of the governments decision to increase petrol price have no right greater than those opposed to it.
He said detaching the masses from the Labour movement through orchestrated campaign by some is defanging the power of the masses.
Its imperative for our people to understand that the political class define and view social justice in the colours of their personal interest.
Those who stood against increase in price of petroleum products yesterday and stood for it today have betrayed the very principle which they claimed to represent.
If for political convenience we choose to divide or destroy the Labour unions today, we will be harming the very organ that stands as the guardian of democracy.
Increase in pump price of petroleum products does nothing other than add to the suffering of Nigerians but those in support of it have the constitutional rights to revere their chains.
Unjust policies must not be beclouded by political interests and political convenience, he added.
He called on the Labour movement to continue to dialogue, but unambiguously condemn all acts of treacherous intimidation against the leaders of Nigerian workers.
The Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC), has urged the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), to investigate and prosecute the lawmaker representing Anambra South in the National Assembly, Senator Andy Uba, over his alleged mention in the global leak of files belonging to Mossack Fonseca, a law firm in Panama.
In a petition to the Bureaus chairman and signed by the coalitions chairman, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju, the CSNAC said a report by an online newspaper, Premium Times, alleged that the senator owned 4,950 shares in an offshore shore company, Wentworth Properties Limited in the Republic of Seychelles, while holding public office, in violation of a federal code of conduct law as spelt out in the Fifth Schedule of 1999 Constitution, as amended.
This was contained in a massive global leak of files belonging to Mossack Fonseca, a law firm in Panama.
The files accessed by PREMIUMTIMES and published on Saturday, May 14, 2016, alleged the incorporation of the company in 2004 when Mr. Uba was an aide to former President Obasanjo and held majority share in the company till date.
According to the paper, Andy Ubas net worth was insignificant and almost peasantry before May 29, 1999 when Olusegun Obasanjo was sworn in as President. He later returned from his sojourn in the United States to be appointed a presidential aide.
He is believed to have become suddenly rich, running for governor in 2007, and then for senatorial position after his governorship election was annulled.
The online medium quoted Section 6(b) of the Code of Conduct Act that says a public office holder shall not, except where he is not employed on fulltime basis, engage or participate in the management or running of any private business, profession or trade, to back up its claims of constitutional violation by the lawmaker.
He is also in breach of Section 2 of the Code of Conduct and Tribunal Act, an offence punishable under section 23(2) of the Act and Paragraph 9, Part 1 of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers under the 5th Schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) which provides as follows:
A public officer shall not do or direct to be done, in abuse of his office, any arbitrary act prejudicial to the rights of any other person knowing that such act is unlawful or contrary to any government policy.
Section Three (Part 1) of the Fifth Schedule of the Nigerian Constitution says, The President, Vice -President, Governor, Deputy Governor, Ministers of the Government of the Federation and Commissioners of the Governments of the States, members of the National Assembly and of the Houses of Assembly of the States, and such other public officers or persons as the National Assembly may by law prescribe shall not maintain or operate a bank account in any country outside Nigeria.
The group said the Code of Conduct Bureau, which is vested with the responsibility of prosecuting public officers found in violation of this law, has however failed in its constitutional duty of investigating and prosecuting several of such matters.
CSNAC is by this petition demanding the immediate investigation and prosecution of Senator Andy Uba for these alleged violations of above stated provisions of the constitution, the petition reads.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Wednesday re-arraigned a former Head of Service of the Federation, Stephen Oronsaye, before Justice Gabriel Kolawole of a Federal High Court, Abuja, on an amended 35-count charge bordering on stealing and obtaining money by false pretence.
In the amended charge dated November 2, 2015, Mr. Oronsaye was charged alongside Osarenkhoe Afe, Fedrick Hamilton Global Services Limited, Cluster Logistic Limited, Kangolo Dynamic Cleaning Limited, and Drew Investment & Construction Company Limited.
Messrs. Oronsaye and Afe, who is the managing director of Fredrick Hamilton Global Services Limited, were present in court. However, the other defendants were absent.
Prosecuting counsel, Leke Atolagbe, while citing Section 478 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, said, We urge your lordship to enter a plea of not guilty for the defendants who are not represented in court, in order that the trial can proceed.
Counsel to Mr. Oronsaye, Joe Agbi, SAN, raised no objections to the application of the prosecution, neither did Oluwole Aladedoye, counsel to Messrs. Afe and Fedrick Hamilton Global Services Limited.
The trial judge, while acceding to the application of the prosecution, ruled that: In the absence of the fourth, fifth and sixth defendants, Section 478 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 shall be applied to each of them, except if it is later shown that they were not served with the amended charges, in the interest of justice.
Count one of the charges reads: That you Stephen Oronsaye, Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina (now at large) Osarenkhoe Afe and Fredrick Hamilton Global Services Limited on or about 2nd July, 2010 in Abuja, collaborated in disguising genuine nature of the sum of N161,472,000 derived from an illegal act to wit: conducting procurement fraud by means of fraudulent and corrupt act on the contract extension of biometric enrolment purportedly awarded to Innovative Solutions Limited by the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation without following due process and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 14 (1) (b) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004.
Another count reads: That you Stephen Oronsaye and Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina (now at large) between April and May 2010 in Abuja, collaborated in disguising genuine nature an aggregate sum of N131,038,425 derived from an illegal act to wit; conducting procurement fraud by means of fraudulent and corrupt act on the contract of biometric enrolment purportedly awarded to Moshfad Enterprises by the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation without following due process and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 14 (1) (b) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004.
They pleaded not guilty to the charges as they were read to them.
Following their plea, prosecution counsel, Mr. Atolagbe asked the court for a date for commencement of trial. He also notified the court that the prosecution had 22 witnesses it intended to present in court.
The defence counsel expressed readiness for the commencement of the trial. They further applied that Justice Kolawole allow their clients to continue with the earlier bail granted them on July 21, 2015.
The prosecution did not raise any objections to the oral application.
Since there was no objection to the application, the trial judge acceded to the request and further adjourned to June 9, 2016 for commencement of judicial trial.
Mr. Oronsaye first appeared before Justice Kolawole on July 13, 2015, where he was confronted with a 25-count charge, to which along with his co-defendants, he pleaded not guilty. The trial judge had fixed February 16, 2016 for them to enter their plea for the amended charges.
The case file, was however, afterwards transferred to Justice J. T. Tsoho of a Federal High Court, Abuja.
Presiding over the case for the first time on February 16, 2016, he adjourned to March 1, 2016 for them to take their plea on the amended charges.
On the set day, however, rather than begin the proceedings, he simply said: It has been realized that the case came to me in error, and Ive been instructed that it should be returned to Justice Kolawole who started it; he should continue where he stopped. I wish you the best of luck.
Making clarification on the return of the file to him, Justice Kolawole explained that the Chief Judge wanted to redistribute cases to new judges transferred to the Federal High Court, in order to decongest the court, but this case file of Oronsaye was taken in error to Justice Tsoho. This explanation becomes necessary so the public will not be wondering why such back and forth movement.
A former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, has said that weapons found in his home last year belonged the NSA office.
A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday heard that the weapons found at the Asokoro residence of Mr. Dasuki barely 48 hours after he left office were for the use of his security details.
These were contained in Mr. Dasukis statement made to the operatives of the State Security Service, SSS, tendered and admitted as exhibit by Justice Adeniyi Ademola in the ongoing trial of the former NSA on charges of unlawful possession of arms.
A prosecution witness, Samuel Ogbu, who is an operative of SSS stated this when he was asked to read in the open court the statement made by Mr. Dasuki during his interrogation by the SSS before he was charged to court.
Under cross-examination by the counsel to Mr. Dasuki, Ahmed Raji, the witness said that Mr. Dasuki in his statement confirmed that weapons were for the ONSA and for the protection of the NSA.
The witness also said that Mr. Dasuki claimed in his written statement that the weapons were to be returned to the ONSA by the security details at the end of the day.
Mr. Ogwu said he could not remember the date Mr. Dasuki left office as NSA but however insisted that the interrogation was conducted after he had left office.
Answering another question, the witness, who claimed to have spent 34 years in the service, admitted that the NSA was entitled to security details as the coordinator of activities of all security agencies in the country.
The operative said that the SSS did not issue the weapon to the former NSA, but said he would not know whether the weapons were issued to Mr. Dasuki by the military authority.
Also under cross-examination, the witness admitted that he had never been to the armoury of the Nigerian Army, Airforce, Navy, Police, National Intelligence Agency and DMI and would not know whether the weapons found in Mr. Dasukis house were issued to him by any of the agencies.
I am aware that the Office of the NSA coordinates the activities of all security agencies in this country comprising Police, Army, Airforce, Navy, DSS, and DMI among others and my evidence in this trial relates only to what happens in the DSS, Mr. Ogwu said.
Earlier in his evidence, the witness had claimed that the house of Mr. Dasuki was searched based on intelligence report and that some weapons including powerful rifles were hidden.
He said that as a follow-up to the recovery, he was invited to participate in the interrogation of Mr. Dasuki to know the ownership of the weapons and for what purposes they were meant in the house.
The witness said that the interrogation was freely conducted and fully recorded with electronic gadgets and that Mr. Dasukis statement was also recorded when it was being made voluntarily.
Led in evidence by the counsel to the Federal Government, Dipo Okpeseyi, the witness said that the SSS decided to interrogate the ex-NSA on the weapons because of their sophistication.
The witness added that ordinarily such weapons were not usually issued to ordinary individuals because of their capacities and that licence were not usually issued to individuals to purchase or carry them.
Mr. Ogwu told the court that parts of the guns, Tavor Assault Rifles, were imported into the country by the Federal Government following the Boko Haram.
The Nigerian Army has released a photo of the Chibok schoolgirl rescued Tuesday in Borno State.
It identified the girl as Amina Ali, correcting the first published name of Falmata Mbalala.
The army said in a statement that Amina was rescued with her four-month-old baby and a suspected Boko Haram terrorist, Mohammed Hayatu, who claimed to be her husband.
Read full statement:
Please recall that we informed you that one of the abducted Chibok school girls has been rescued earlier today and promised to give further details.
Further to that, in continuation of Operation CRACKDOWN, troops of 25 Brigade Damboa in conjunction with Civilian JTF deployed in one of the blocking positions at Baale, near Damboa rescued one Miss Amina Ali and a suspected Boko Haram terrorist, Mohammed Hayatu, who claimed to be her husband.
Both were brought to Headquarters 25 Task Force Brigade Damboa at about 2.30pm today. Preliminary investigation shows that she is indeed one of the abducted Chibok School girls abducted by Boko Haram terrorists on 14th April 2014 in Chibok and her name is Amina Ali as against Falmata Mbalala that was earlier stated.
In addition, she is a nursing mother with a 4 month old baby girl who was named Safiya. Both the suspected Boko Haram terrorist and the nursing mother have been taken to Maiduguri for further medical attention and screening.
You are kindly requested to disseminate this information and photographs to the public through your medium.
Thank you for your usual cooperation.
Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman
Acting Director Army Public Relations
The nationwide strike initiated Wednesday by the Nigeria Labour Congress was partially successful in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State.
The gates of the state secretariat, Idongesit Nkanga Secretariat, along Ibrahim Babangida Avenue, Uyo, remained closed as at 8am when civil servants turned up for work.
The labour officials positioned at the entrance of the secretariat barred workers from entering.
The state judiciary headquarters at Wellington Bassey Way, few metres away from the Akwa Ibom Government House, was completely shut down. None of the courts sat for the day.
But at the state ministry of works, almost opposite the judiciary headquarters, civil servants were going about their normal duties when PREMIUM TIMES reporter visited the premises.
Emmanuel Robinson, an ex-officio member of the NLC, Akwa Ibom State, who led the NLC team around Uyo capital city to ensure that workers stayed off their offices, told PREMIUM TIMES that the Commissioner for Works, Ephraim Inyang, assured them that he was going to direct workers in his ministry to close their offices for the day.
At the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, at Abak Road, Uyo, there was no sign of an industrial action, as doctors and other health workers went about their job peacefully. There was no sight of NLC officials within the UUTH premises.
A security officer at the UUTH gate told this newspaper that NLC officials visited the hospital in the morning, but that their visit did not disrupt activities within the facility.
At the federal secretariat, still along Abak Road, a confused pain cloth security guard was about opening the gate for the car conveying a PREMIUM TIMES reporter to drive in, but was prevented by an officer with the Nigeria Civil Defence Corps.
The gun-wielding officer politely said that people were not allowed into the secretariat premises because of the NLC strike.
By about 11am, two blue-colour pick-up trucks belonging to the Department of State Service were stationed in front of the Indongesit Nkanga Secretariat.
The Chief Security Officer to Governor Udom Emmanuel, O. Humphrey, led other security officers to force the gate of the secretariat open.
Those that want to work should go in and work, those that want to protest can stay outside and protest. We dont want any protest inside (the secretariat), Mr. Humphrey told the labour officials who by now had moved closer to him to find out what he was up to.
When you are on strike you dont protest, you give order to your members. Those who want to follow you, they will follow you. Those who dont obey you, you find a way to sanction them.
By the time you start preventing people (from entering), you are applying force.
This is state secretariat. The governor said nobody should prevent anybody from entering the secretariat.
The ex-officio member of the NLC in the state, Mr. Robinson, who spoke on behalf of other labour officials, told the CSO that they only listen to instructions from the national leadership of the union at Abuja, and not from anybody in the state.
The arrival of Unyime Usoro, a former chairman of NLC in the state, interrupted the dialogue, as the labour officials, buoyed by Mr. Usoros arrival, rushed towards him and started chanting solidarity songs.
Mr. Usoro told them to discontinue with the strike, since they have had enough for the day.
At least, we have sent signal to (Joe) Ajero-led faction and the TUC that without them we can still do it, said Mr. Usoro, who is currently the Honorary Special Adviser on Labour Matters to Governor Emmanuel.
Usoro was accompanied to the meeting by Ekpenyong Enyinna, the governors Special Adviser on Labour and Productivity.
Mr. Enyinna, while addressing the labour officials told them that the NLC strike didnt hold in Lagos, Abuja, Cross River, and Rivers states, and that the labour shouldnt allow their action to be a taint on the clean image of the state governor.
He said even though people werent pleased with the hike in the price of fuel, that it was only Lagos and Abuja that people really enjoyed the previous price of N86 per littre of fuel.
Here (in Akwa Ibom), fuel was being sold at between N100 and N120. We werent enjoying any subsidy.
By 12: 30pm, the NLC chairman in Akwa Ibom, Etim Ukpong was said to be in Abuja where he had gone to attain a meeting with the national leadership of labour.
A 25-year-old man, Samson Tella, has stabbed his friend to death in Iyesi-Ota town in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State.
The Ogun State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, who confirmed the attack, told PREMIUM TIMES that the killing occurred on Tuesday.
He identified the deceased as Abiodun Abdulkareem.
He said police operatives attached to Onipanu Division of the Ogun State Police Command arrested the suspect after a friend to the deceased reported the case.
Mr. Adejobi said the suspect, Mr. Tella, and the deceased had an argument, before the suspect stabbed his friend in the neck, with a bottle.
The victim was rushed to the hospital where he was confirmed dead.
Mr. Adejobi said the Commissioner of Police Ogun State, Abdulmajid Ali, had ordered a thorough investigation of the matter, and had directed the deputy commissioner of police in charge of the Department of Criminal Investigation and Intelligence, Eleweran Abeokuta, to take up the matter immediately.
National joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy after making internal inquiries has not revealed violation of internal regulations of the holding or any conflicts of interest involving employees who were associated with offshore companies.
The press service said that Deputy Board Chairman Serhiy Konovets is a minority co-owner of Kvassir Global Inc. registered in British Virgin Islands in 2009 when he lived and officially worked outside Ukraine. The operations of the companies incorporated in the group are linked to production of pet litters.
The operations of Kvassir Global Inc. are not associated with the operation of Konovets in Naftogaz. The company did not buy or supply goods or services to companies incorporated in Naftogaz Ukrainy or any other oil and gas companies in Ukraine. Investment in Kvassir Global Inc. is reflected in Konovets' declaration from the moment when he returned to Ukraine. The co-owners of the company are several Ukrainian and foreign investors who are not affiliated with Naftogaz group. They were not civil servants and were not involved in politics.
Board Chairman of public joint-stock company Ukrtransnafta Mykola Havrylenko was mentioned as the co-owner of Turitella registered in 1999 in Panama. In 2007 he left Turitella as a shareholder and since then he has no relation to the company.
"The company continues analyzing the list of persons mentioned in the Panama Papers and will inform on the results," Naftogaz said.
10:00 18.05.2016 Interfax-Ukraine to host press conference on new developments in Yanukovych case
1 min read
On Wednesday, May 18, at 10.30, the press centre of the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency will host a press conference on new development in Viktor Yanukovych case. The press conference participants will present a testimony by Yanukovych concerning the shootings on Maidan, as well as a video recording of this testimony, and comment on the current stage of interaction between the defense team and investigation agencies. The participants will include Yanukovych defense lawyer, partner at AVER LEX law firm Vitaliy Serdiuk, and a defense lawyer for former officers of Berkut riot police, partner at GORO legal law firm, Oleksandr Horoshynsky (8/5a Reitarska Street). Accreditation is required by phone: (044) 300 1151, (063) 409 4455 (Anastasia Sych).
R Sridharan, president of AIPIMA and Vimal Mehra, past-president of AIPIMA, in this interaction, say, the association is doing all it can to...
By PrintWeek Team
All eyes are on the Awards Night of the 12th edition of the PrintWeek Awards to be held at the Grand Hyatt (Santacruz East, Mumbai) on 2 Nov...
German Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Frank-Walter Steinmeier has praised the outcomes of a meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in Vienna, which dealt with efforts to settle the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, the OSCE said in a press release on Tuesday.
"I welcome the initiative by my colleagues from the Russian Federation, the United States of America, and France, the co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group, who held a meeting with the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan on 16 May," Steinmeier said.
"I am encouraged by the renewed commitment that both Presidents have expressed to the ceasefire and to the peaceful settlement of the conflict, as well as their readiness to have a new round of talks in June," he said.
At the same time, Steinmeier expressed his concern about the situation in the conflict zone.
"I deeply regret the reported recent loss of life, and I urge the sides to respect the ceasefire in full," he said.
Mohammad Ghos Khawaja, managing partner of Al Omeira Printing & Publishing Co. LLC, shares his secret of success with Venkat Raghavan
Formerly from India, Mohammad Ghos Khawaja did his Science Graduatation from India. At the age of 12, he took the reins of life in his hand due to certain circumstances and he started to earn his own bread while studying in school by doing some trading. He then wanted to be self reliant as much as possible, and not to be a parasite to anybody, also not under the shunning wealth of his parents. With the insistence of his close friend he landed in UAE, even he slept on Abu Dhabi beaches to save the room rent but soon with his hardwork, honesty, and grace of Allahs (SWT) within a short time he rose to a good poistion. When he realized that progress is limited in doing service, he started looking for business opportunities. Later, he had brought the capital from India to invest and used his built-in entrepreneurship. In 1976 Ali Al Omeira who had started a small printing press early in 1967 took him as an equal partner in Al Omeira Printing and since then he never have seen back.
HIGHLIGHTS
Press has around 170 employees
Awarded by Ministry of Interior, Department of Justice, and Road Transport Authority
New plant in Dubai going to be opened in next few months to offer an additional 120,000 sq.ft working area
Talking about his carrer, Khawaja added, I am originally from India with a legacy of Turky and Afghanistan, my ancestors where high officials in Mughal empire. But now I have been here (in UAE) more than 40 years and I love UAE and its people. Basically, I am a businessman all my life. Since my early childhood I have been doing business of my own and that has taught me a lot. Actually business or in particular trading is to get (purchase) more (value/material) for less payment and realize profit by selling it (what you purchased) for more money. Business is no different but you need to input few more important ingredients in it - that is consistent efforts, honesty and devotion. With this mixture anybody can get success. At the time of entering in to the partnership of the Al Omeira Press we had few old mostly letterpress machines, hand composing and a staff of about 20 people working with us. Gradually, I did better marketing, made the finances disciplined and replaced most machinery with State of Art and very latest machinery. Now I have more than 175 people working and the important fact is most of the staff is working with me for more than 15-20 years.
He futher added about his press, progression of the business, trends, and awards, Our specialization is security printing. Although electronics is eating the traditional Print products (in security) still there is lot of scope and market segments. I feel our strength is in R&D which is the very important part of Security Printing. I consider growing and developing (machinery and manpower) in difficult time is our success. All my people are contributing (in this business) as a homogeneous family and as their own business. My progression in the business is step by step you can say Brick by Brick - the wall is being built. If there is a task of building a huge Mansion you may face challenge, but I am not bothered about the target or apex, I dont see anything as a challenge but perhaps a continuous process of progressing. I have to swim till end of my life, ofcourse taking along and with the help of my colleagues without thinking of the end of the task. I have seen too much changes occurring to Printing Industry. Really, its a sea change. Except we are still printing on paper with ink (mostly) everything has been changed. All over world new technologies are emerging very fast and printing is no different. It is neck to neck. Thats why I consistently upgrade our technologies machinery and recruit more technical people. We have been awarded by Ministry of Interior, Department of Justice, Road Transport Authority and many other valued customers many times but I feel our main award is the trust of our customers and suppliers in us.
He futher narrates about the region, future of printing, companys plan, UAE is the leader of AGCC countries. The leaders of UAE are having vision and unity to move towards progress and they are managing successfully with modern policies and technology. With the basic economic boost printing industry is riding with full speed and changing rapidly. Most of the outdated presses have been closed or got modernized in the process. The progress in economy has helped printers to modernize their old presses and adapt new technologies. UAE has taken big strides in Printing Industry compared to any country in the world. The coming years are of Digital technologies. I am sure, eventually the main role (in printing) will be assumed by Digital technologies which has a huge potential. I also feel that best security products is the requirement of the hour and there is excellent scope for our products. Our new Dubai Plant in DIC Dubai is near to its completion which is expected to be launched in next few months. We will be having additional 120,000 SqFt working area with fully secure environment and lot of new state of art machinery. It is really an adventure in this sluggish time but with the backing of our loyal customers it is an opportune time to invest.
He finally adds about the industry, There are many establishment who cant produce good quality and dont understand business. For the same product people quote with variation of 10 to 100 even 300%. Excess production capacity and changed market requirements are cyclical. But it is becoming harder and harder to start a new business with unprofessionalism, very few uneducated laymans will survive. However, there is no doubt they have spoiled the market everywhere.
Dubai launches International Centre for 3D Printing
Dubai Holding has launched the International Center for 3D Printing to make Dubai an international destination for 3D printing by 2030, reported Emirates 24/7.
The project, located at Dubai Industrial City, will host 700 companies. It will include research centres and laboratories for testing materials used in 3D printed products within an integrated environment dedicated to serve construction, medicine, and consumer products sectors.
The next phase of the International Centre for 3D Printing is to translate the vision of our wise leadership in the 3D printing domain by providing the latest technology and the best solutions in the industry to meet the requirements of local and international companies in this sector. The centre will offer the advantages of strategic location, advanced infrastructure, developed offices, warehouses, exhibition facilities, not to mention the integrated support system that will enable companies to establish their business. The centre will host more than 700 local and international companies to make Dubai a major hub of 3D printing technology, said Abdullah Belhoul, CEO of Dubai Industrial City.
The new project aims to build a network of distinguished companies in the 3D printing sector by attracting entrepreneurs and innovators as well as targeting international enterprises locally and globally by offering special laboratories for 3D printing.
The strategy is particularly relevant to the construction sector considering that the strategy aims to 3D print 25 per cent of buildings in Dubai by 2030.
The Dubai 3D Printing Strategy has five main pillars, namely: Infrastructure, Legislative Structure, Funding, Talent and Market Demand.
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.
Request for transferring Savchenko to Ukraine submitted to Russian Justice Ministry, no requests received from Yerofeyev, Alexandrov
Documents regarding the transfer of Ukrainian citizen Nadia Savchenko to Ukraine are undergoing a standard processing procedure at the Russian Justice Ministry, Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov told reporters in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.
"The package of documents regarding Savchenko's transfer to Ukraine has been received by the Justice Ministry from the Federal Penitentiary Service; it is undergoing a standard processing procedure. Additional documents are being collected; the events are following their due course," Konovalov said.
"There have been no requests from Yerofeyev and Alexandrov," he said.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for the period of the anti-terrorist operation () has banned registration related to the change of founders (participants) and heads of legal entities located in settlements in the Donbas areas not controlled by Kyiv and the contract line.
Some 227 deputies voted for the corresponding law on amendments to the law on temporary measures for the period of the anti-terrorist operation (concerning the unimpeded activity of local self-governance authorities, No. 4048).
According to the law, the list of settlements, in the territory of which public authorities temporarily do not exercise their powers, and those located on the contact line are approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The law says the Cabinet ensures the timely updating of the list.
The act also stipulates that during the ATO period registration procedures can be conducted in the settlements located on the contact line, in the territory of which public authorities exercise their powers, for legal entities to change founders (participants) or heads if documents are submitted in paper personally by the founders (participants) or the heads of the legal entity.
NANCY, France, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Sysmex Inostics, a subsidiary of Sysmex Corporation, today announced its first RAS biomarker testing site in France opening at the Biopathology department of the Institut de Cancerologie de Lorraine (ICL), Nancy. The center will offer Sysmex Inostics blood-based OncoBEAM IVD test, developed by Sysmex Inostics GmbH in collaboration with Merck, which is a non-invasive, fast method to determine the RAS status crucial for therapy planning of RAS wild type mCRC patients.
"With the blood-based mutation test we aim at a dramatic reduction of the delay for mutation analysis and therefore accelerated optimized initiation of personalized therapy ", says Prof. Jean-Louis Merlin, head of the Tumor biology Unit of the new center.
Determining RAS mutations in circulating cell-free DNA with the OncoBEAM RAS CRC test is highly sensitive, and only requires a single blood-draw. Thus, the blood-based test, also called liquid biopsy, represent an alternative to tumor tissue-based test that requires biopsies or other surgical specimen. This test can also be performed when no tumor tissue is available or when reducing the delay for providing the result is crucial for therapy success. The OncoBEAM RAS CRC assay has been shown to have similar performance to conventional tissue-based testing[1]-[3] and can be used to determine which patients would benefit from anti-EGFR therapies, such as Erbitux, as demonstrated by recent data.[4]-[8]
The OncoBEAM RAS assay is a comprehensive test which includes 34 KRAS and NRAS mutations reflecting the recommendations of the NCCN, ESMO as well as EMA guidelines to determine the RAS mutation status before initiating treatment[9]-[12]. The certification of conformity with the European harmonized directives (CE-labelling) has been granted in April 2016 allowing its use in routine for patient diagnosis.
As of April 2016, and under the acronym "ColoBEAM", the ICL is conducting a multicenter prospective study comparing the implementation in real-life clinical practice of OncoBEAM RAS CRC test on blood to standard test on formalin fixed and paraffin embedded tumor tissue.
OncoBEAM is a registered trademark of Sysmex Corporation. OncoBEAM is distributed and marketed by Sysmex Inostics, Hamburg, Germany.
References
Hahn S, et al. Eur J Cancer 2015;51(suppl 3):S79. Jones S, et al. Poster discussion presentation at the European Cancer Congress
2015, September 25-29, 2015.
Scott R, et al. Ann Oncol 2015;16(suppl 4):iv1-iv100. Douillard J-Y, et al. N Engl J Med 2013;369(11):1023-34. Schwartzberg LS, et al. J Clin Oncol 2014;32(21):2240-7. Bokemeyer C, et al. Oral presentation at the 2014 American Society of Clinical
Oncology Annual Meeting, May 30-June 3, 2014. Abstract No:3505.
Stintzing S, et al. Oral presentation at the European Society for Medical Oncology
Congress, September 26-30 2014. Abstract No:LBA11.
Ciardiello F, et al. Oral presentation at the 2014 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, May 30-June 3, 2014 . Abstract No:3506. Sorich et al. 2015 Annals Oncol 26.13-21 NCCN guidelines colon cancer 3.2015 Van Cutsem et al. 2014 Metastatic colorectal cancer: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines. Annals Oncol 25 (Supplement 3): iii1-iii9 http://www.ema.europa.eu/ema
About Sysmex Inostics
Sysmex Inostics, a subsidiary of Sysmex Corporation, is a molecular diagnostic company whose core competency is mutation detection in blood through highly sensitive molecular methods. Our OncoBEAM blood-based tests deliver a minimally invasive alternative for sensitive real time molecular diagnostics to improve cancer characterization and treatment.
Sysmex Inostics is a trusted partner to leading pharmaceutical companies, advancing their efforts to bring the most effective personalized cancer therapies to global markets. Sysmex Inostics companion diagnostics (CDx) team offers services for the development of non-invasive cell-free DNA-based IVD tests supported by a growing network of partners to cover the entire IVD development process.
Sysmex Inostics' headquarters and Service Laboratory are located in Hamburg, Germany; Sysmex Inostics' Clinical Laboratory is located in Baltimore, Maryland. For more information on OncoBEAM blood testing and the BEAMing technology refer to http://www.sysmex-inostics.com or email info@sysmex-inostics.com .
Friederike Lehmann
Sysmex Inostics GmbH
Phone +49-(0)40-325907-0
Fax +49-(0)40-325907-6511
lehmann.friederike@sysmex-inostics.com
SOURCE Sysmex Inostics GmbH
Fast Growing Predictive Analytics Company Gains a Modern, Agile and Scalable Platform with NetSuite
SAN JOSE, California, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NETSUITE SUITEWORLD 2016 NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry's leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP and omnichannel commerce software suites, today announced that Blue Yonder, a leading predictive applications company based in Germany, has selected NetSuite OneWorld to run its mission-critical business processes, including financial consolidation, revenue recognition, forecasting and budgeting, reporting, management for subsidiaries in the UK and Germany, multi-currency support for the Euro, British pound and US dollar and multi-country taxation compliance all within one unified cloud platform. With NetSuite OneWorld, Blue Yonder has a true cloud solution that will scale with the company as it continues its growth and expands into the US and beyond.
A venture-backed company that recently received a $75 million investment, Blue Yonder is the leading provider of Predictive Applications for retail. It delivers automated data driven decisions to the retail sector that can achieve an 80 percent reduction in out-of-stock rates and a 15 percent increase in revenue. Blue Yonder does this by using its pioneering machine-learning algorithms, developed and managed by the most qualified team of doctorate-level data scientists in retail. Founded in Germany by a former CERN Researcher, Blue Yonder has undergone rapid growth and quickly found that its existing ERP solution was not sufficient for an ambitious data driven company. It made delivering the required level of financial reporting a significant challenge, forcing the business to rely on Excel spreadsheets and manual input.
After considering different solutions, Blue Yonder chose NetSuite as a fellow cloud provider that could provide financial customer information in real-time, in one unified system, helping to manage global financial consolidation to expedite its plans for further expansion. Blue Yonder's commitment to European data privacy was also key to its selection of NetSuite OneWorld. NetSuite's recent European data centre announcement, track record and proven scalability inspired the trust and credibility that Blue Yonder required.
NetSuite OneWorld delivers transformative power to global businesses of all sizes with any business model, giving them the agility and flexibility to adapt to the rapidly changing world of modern business. NetSuite OneWorld gives today's businesses the ability to expand and transform their organisations and reinvent their business models to meet the ever changing demands of their markets and the expectations of their customers. With support for 190 currencies, 20 languages and automated tax compliance in over 100 countries, NetSuite OneWorld brings Blue Yonder the following key features and benefits:
Rapid expansion. NetSuite OneWorld's powerful international capabilities will enable the business to quickly and easily establish new entities as the brand expands globally.
NetSuite OneWorld's powerful international capabilities will enable the business to quickly and easily establish new entities as the brand expands globally. Real-time analytics and reporting. NetSuite's dashboards, reporting and analytical tools will enable Blue Yonder to monitor, report and analyse all KPIs across the board.
NetSuite's dashboards, reporting and analytical tools will enable Blue Yonder to monitor, report and analyse all KPIs across the board. Real-time global financial consolidation. NetSuite OneWorld will provide real-time visibility across all of Blue Yonder's subsidiaries, divisions and business units with a single financial system of record.
NetSuite OneWorld will provide real-time visibility across all of Blue Yonder's subsidiaries, divisions and business units with a single financial system of record. Ease of integration. Blue Yonder will be integrating partner product Adaptive Insights (advanced financial planning) into the implementation in order to provide enhanced financial capabilities.
"We looked for an ERP solution that supports our growth plans and expansion into new markets, and in order to do this, accurate reporting across our subsidiaries in a variety of currencies is mission critical," said Uwe Weiss, CEO of Blue Yonder. "NetSuite OneWorld will provide us with these capabilities with one single view, in real-time."
Today, more than 30,000 companies and subsidiaries depend on NetSuite to run complex, mission-critical business processes globally in the cloud. Since its inception in 1998, NetSuite has established itself as the leading provider of cloud-based financials/enterprise resource planning (ERP) and omnichannel commerce software applications for businesses of all sizes. Many FORTUNE 100 companies rely on NetSuite to accelerate innovation and business transformation. NetSuite continues its success in delivering the best cloud business management software to businesses around the world, enabling them to lower IT costs significantly while increasing productivity, as the global adoption of the cloud accelerates.
Follow NetSuite's Cloud blog, NetSuite's Facebook page and @NetSuiteEMEA Twitter handle for real-time updates.
For more information about NetSuite, please visit www.netsuite.co.uk.
NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are service marks of NetSuite Inc. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090924/SF81218LOGO-b
Related Links
http://www.netsuite.com
SOURCE NetSuite Inc.
MIAMI and NEW YORK, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
The Libra Group today announces the creation of a new real estate company for the Americas. Elandis, born out of group's former subsidiaries, FCA Group, FSA Group and US Hotels, incorporates Libra's entire real estate ownership, development and property management capabilities in the region. It brings a new, integrated player to the North, Central and South American real estate markets with a focus on diverse property assets in the residential, commercial, industrial and hospitality sectors.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160518/805940 )
The company has approaching 2,500 residential units, 25 hotels and 10 real estate development projects across six countries. It has a combined portfolio of more than 5.8 million square feet developed and under development and is a major player in the multifamily residential sector, owning units primarily in the southern United States.
Elandis's hospitality portfolio of 25 hotels ranges from historic properties in New England, USA to a new villa and hotel development south of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The company has formed a landmark partnership with Hyatt Hotels for the $300 million development of nine Hyatt Place hotels throughout Brazil and has a close relationship with its sister company within the Libra Group, Grace Hotels - owning and developing Grace properties throughout the region.
The company's residential investments outside the multifamily sector include premium properties in prime locations throughout the Americas. Its commercial real estate is typically located in primary markets secured by leases from strong and stable tenants while its industrial investment strategy concentrates on the growing demand for logistics and warehousing facilities.
The Elandis property management team offers a full range of property management services to third-parties such as property owners, investors and homeowner associations. The scope of services spans the entire property management lifecycle from routine maintenance to consulting on revenue management and rental agreements. The company's strategy for its own and third party projects is to optimize living conditions for residents and reduce tenant turnover, thereby raising overall occupancy and rental rates, and upholding long-term asset values.
"Over many years we have developed comprehensive experience in the real estate sector throughout the Americas," comments Frank Espinosa, CEO of Elandis. "This new company embraces capabilities spanning property development to investment along with the management of individual estates and assets. Our expertise and insight across multiple real estate sectors represents a unique platform for commercial growth in the Pan-American market. Through further investment and the formation of strategic partnerships we intend to develop our core business within and beyond the countries in which we are now present." Elandis has principal offices in Miami, New York, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Panama City and Madrid.
About Elandis
Elandis develops, owns and manages real estate assets throughout the Americas with over 5.8 million square feet both developed and under development. Its development strategy is focused on real estate assets in the residential, commercial, industrial and hospitality sectors including a major portfolio of multifamily properties, principally in the southern United States. http://www.elandis.com
Elandis is part of the Libra Group, an international business group which is focused on shipping, aviation, real estate, hospitality and renewable energy as well as selected diversified investments. Libra Group has a track record of large-scale real estate investment across six continents.
http://www.libra.com
SOURCE Libra Group
LONDON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
There are an estimated 30,000 marketing agencies in the UK*, most of which offer digital services in some capacity. That's 30,000 agencies marketers and digital decision makers have to choose between. Not an easy task.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160512/803489 )
As one of these agencies, Thin Martian has always said we're full service. We did strategy, design, development, mobile, products, marketing, social, content, you name it, we did it. But the digital universe has evolved and got more competitive so us Martians are evolving too.
User expectations are increasing as the number of digital interfaces they encounter every day increases in quality as well as quantity. To compete as an agency, or a client with a digital offering, good is no longer good enough, your user experience needs to be out of this world.
We've tried to do everything in the past and whilst we've done a great job it's not a sustainable model in delivering the best results. So we're happy to say we no longer do it all, we just aim to be the best at what we do.
That's delivering world-class User Experience, Design and Frontend Development.
We're small, we're smart and we specialise in
The UX and design of super sleek websites, whether that be a marketing site or web based product
App interface design for screens of any size where outstanding UX is the key to success
Digital transformation modernising outdated software or turning previously manual processes into digital products
Utilising the latest frontend technologies to build rich, rewarding interactive experiences
If it's a content based site that you need then we can build that too (it was after all our bread and butter for a long time), but for anything else we'll work with a partner agency or a client's in-house team to deliver collaboratively. We really believe that combining our specialist skills with other expert teams will deliver the best results.
It's a bit like shopping for a new outfit. If you want to buy a nice outfit then you can go to a department store, but if you want something amazing then you need to go to a tailor.
While we are making some big changes, there are lots of things about Thin Martian that are staying the same. It's the reason clients (like BA and Microsoft) have continued to choose and recommend us for many years, and why we attract the best talent. We've got a great location in the heart of Old Street, a small flexible team with passion that exudes in everything we do and users will always continue to be our ultimate focus. We create simple interfaces people love.
Have a look at our new site to find out more and see our work at www.thinmartian.com
Or get in touch: hello@thinmartian.com / 020 7253 0000 / 32-37 Cowper Street, EC2A 4AW
*Source: Entourage Business Development
SOURCE Thin Martian
PUNE, India, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
The 2016 foodservice market research on size, trends and 2020 forecasts is of 58 pages providing 30 Figures, 6 Tables and now available in the food and beverages industry segment of MarketReportsOnline.com. Foodservice is business-to-business (B2B) arrangement where specialized logistics providers serve the foodstuff and ingredient needs of businesses.
The "Global Foodservice Market: Size, Trends and Forecasts (2016-2020)" report analyzes the potential opportunities and significant trends in the foodservice market segments globally. Growth of the overall and regional foodservice markets has also been forecasted for the period 2016-2020, taking into consideration the previous growth patterns, the growth drivers and the current and future trends. The report also includes detailed analysis of leading players in the industry including Compass Group Plc, Sodexo, Sysco Corporation and Bidvest Group on the basis of attributes such as business overview, recent developments, financials and strategies adopted by the market leaders in order to ensure growth, sustainability, etc. Complete report is available at http://www.marketreportsonline.com/477186.html.
Geographical coverage of this 2016 foodservice market report includes Asia Pacific (China, Australia), North America, Europe (The UK, Italy), Latin America (Brazil) as well as Middle East & Africa (South Africa). Company Coverage of Foodservice Market: Compass Group Plc, Sodexo, Sysco Corporation & Bidvest Group Limited.
Presently, Asia Pacific is the world's largest foodservice market driven by rising demand in China and India. North America follows at second position with large number of restaurants and food chains due to the rising demand for fast food. Europe, being third largest foodservice market has France, Germany, Italy, the UK and Spain as major foodservice submarkets.
Growth of global foodservice market is driven by rise in disposable income, growing demand of outside food in emerging markets and changing demographics and identities at home which further boosts demand for foodservice. However, factors such as political and economic instability in nations, lack of qualified workforce in the industry and rising cost of food are posing challenge to growth of the industry. Key trends prevailing in the industry includes rise in mergers and acquisitions in the industry globally and growing adoption of technology for day to day functioning.
Order a copy of this global foodservice market research report at USD 800 (Single User License) at http://www.marketreportsonline.com/contacts/purchase.php?name=477186.
Foodservice business comprises of sale of food and beverages prepared out-of-home for immediate consumption either on the point of purchase or for takeaway and home delivery. The market caters to cafeterias, hospitals, cafes, pubs, nightclubs, bars, and hotels. It is also present in schools, colleges, universities, and restaurants. The market can be broadly segmented into four categories - Conventional Foodservice system; Centralized/commissary Foodservice system; Ready-prepared Foodservice system; and Assembly-serve Foodservice system. Out of these, Conventional foodservice systems are the most common type of foodservice system.
Major Points from Table of Contents Provided in Global Foodservice Market 2016-2020 Forecasts Research Report:
1. Executive Summary
2. Foodservice Market
3. Global Foodservice Market Analysis
4. Global Foodservice Market: Regional Analysis
5. Global Foodservice Market Trends
6. Global Foodservice Market: Growth Drivers & Challenges
7. Competitive Landscape
8. Company Profiles
Explore more food and beverages market research as well as other newly published reports by Daedal Research at http://www.marketreportsonline.com/publisher/daedal-research-market-research.html.
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MarketReportsOnline.com is your one stop market research and industry analysis reports' library providing business data and intelligence information on thousands of micro markets with global as well as regional coverage.
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SOURCE Market Reports Online
MAIDENHEAD, England, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Hitachi Ltd., a multinational corporation with an annual turnover of 90 billion, announces its healthcare expansion in Europe, focusing on specifically particle beam therapy system available both as a one or a multi-room system.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160516/368002LOGO )
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160516/368003 )
"Having successfully delivered and installed state of the art proton therapy systems in Asia and in the US in recent years, we are focusing on Europe to help healthcare systems and universities and hospital networks address the growing demand for radiation cancer services. We are proud to offer systems with superior technology, unsurpassed industry reliability and the highest uptime in the industry to ensure consistent patient care" said Fumito Nakamura, Executive General Manager of Radiation Oncology Systems Division at Hitachi,Ltd.
Hitachi has been involved in the research, design and operations of both proton and carbon technology for over 20 years. The company, ranked among the top 50 most innovative companies globally, is known as the pioneer of the pencil beam scanning (the first to be FDA approved in 2008) in addition to IMPT and the real time image gated technology. Hitachi's system is based on synchrotron accelerator, which is recognised as a green solution in terms of energy efficiency, less radioactivity and default free operations.
Over 12,000 patients have been treated with the Hitachi proton therapy systems at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Texas, and other, globally recognised medical institutions in the US, as well as Hokkaido University Hospital, Nagoya Proton Therapy Center and Tsukuba University Hospital in Japan.
Recently, Hitachi proton beam technology was selected by additional hospitals including Sibley Memorial/Johns Hopkins Medicine and the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital.
"We are already in close discussions with several hospital centers in a number of European countries. We see high interest especially for our new compact design of one or two room system, which can be conveniently expandable, if there is a future need," Mr. Nakamura concluded.
New particle therapy projects means additional staff hired locally are dedicated full time for operation & maintenance of the facility.
Hitachi Group employs over 11,600 people in 160 offices in Europe.
Hitachi will showcase its latest achievements and technology advances at the annual Particle Therapy Co-Operative Group (PTCOG 55) in Prague.
SOURCE Hitachi Europe Ltd
NEW YORK, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Abundant Crude oil Reserves Coupled With Announcement of Euro-4 and Euro-5 Standards to Steer Iran oil Refinery Chemicals Market by 2021
According to recently published TechSci Research report "Iran Oil Refinery Chemicals Market By Type, By Application, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021", the oil refinery chemicals market in Iran is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5% during the next five years. Growth in the market is anticipated on account of increasing oil and gas refining capacity in the country. Additionally, stringent government regulations for lowering the sulphur content of transportation fuels coupled with implementation of Euro-4 and Euro-5 standards in Iran is anticipated to positively influence the oil refinery chemicals market during 2016-2021.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140117/663730 )
Browse 18 market data Tables and 29 Figures spread through 107 Pages and an in-depth TOC on "Iran Oil Refinery Chemicals Market"
http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/iran-oil-refinery-chemicals-market-by-type-merchant-hydrogen-refining-catalysts-etc-by-application-petroleum-conversion-petroleum-treatment-water-and-wastewater-treatment-and-others-competition-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021/670.html
Merchant hydrogen accounted for the largest share in Iran oil refinery chemicals market in 2015. The segment is anticipated to maintain its dominance over the next five years as well. However, growth in demand for refining catalysts is expected to outpace merchant hydrogen owing to its high efficiency in accelerating the yield of gasoline. Refining catalysts, pH adjusters and corrosion inhibitors are the other major oil refinery chemicals consumed in Iran. During 2016-2021, Esfahan region is expected to dominate Iran oil refinery chemicals market due to the presence of multiple refineries in the region. In addition to domestic players, several global players such as Air Liquide, Air Products and Chemicals Inc., and Sud Chemie are also operating in Iran oil refinery chemicals market.
Download Sample Report @ http://www.techsciresearch.com/sample-report.aspx?cid=670
Customers can also request for 10% free customization on this report.
"With about 10% of global oil reserves and 13% of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil reserves, Iran accounts for the world's fourth-largest crude oil reserves, globally. In Iran, around 1,985 thousand barrels of refined petroleum products were produced per day in 2014. Moreover, export of petroleum products from Iran has increased from 441 thousand barrels per day in 2011 to 470 thousand barrels per day in 2014, and this trend is expected to continue, especially with the US and other major developed economies having lifted sanctions on Iran. Hence, oil refinery chemicals market in Iran is anticipated to register healthy growth over the next five years." said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a research based global management consulting firm.
"Iran Oil Refinery Chemicals Market By Type, By Application, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021" has analyzed the potential of oil refinery chemicals market in Iran provides statistics and information on market sizes, shares and trends. The report will suffice in providing the intending clients with cutting-edge market intelligence and help them in taking sound investment decisions. Besides, the report also identifies and analyzes the emerging trends along with essential drivers and key challenges faced by oil refinery chemicals market in Iran.
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Global Textile Chemicals Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2020
http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/global-textile-chemicals-market-forecast-and-opportunities-2020/190.html
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About TechSci Research
TechSci Research is a leading global market research firm publishing premium market research reports. Serving 700 global clients with more than 600 premium market research studies, TechSci Research is serving clients across 11 different industrial verticals. TechSci Research specializes in research based consulting assignments in high growth and emerging markets, leading technologies and niche applications. Our workforce of more than 100 fulltime Analysts and Consultants employing innovative research solutions and tracking global and country specific high growth markets helps TechSci clients to lead rather than follow market trends.
Email: sales@techsciresearch.com
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SOURCE TechSci Research
In the framework of his working visit to Bulgaria, Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin has met with Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland to discuss the matter of human rights protection on the occupied territories of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's press service reported.
"During the meeting, the officials discussed further cooperation with the Council of Europe in the field of human rights protection in Ukraine, in particular in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea occupied by Russia," the press service said.
Also, Klimkin and Jagland discussed the issue of release of Ukrainian political prisoners.
As reported, on Tuesday evening the Ukrainian foreign minister began a two-day visit to Bulgaria, where he will attend the 126th meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.
NEW YORK, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Abundant crude oil reserves coupled with announcement of Euro-4 and Euro-5 standards to steer Iran oil refinery chemicals market by 2021
According to recently published TechSci Research report "Iran Oil Refinery Chemicals Market By Type, By Application, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021", the oil refinery chemicals market in Iran is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5% during the next five years. Growth in the market is anticipated on account of increasing oil and gas refining capacity in the country. Additionally, stringent government regulations for lowering the sulphur content of transportation fuels coupled with implementation of Euro-4 and Euro-5 standards in Iran is anticipated to positively influence the oil refinery chemicals market during 2016-2021.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140117/663730 )
Browse 18 market data Tables and 29 Figures spread through 107 Pages and an in-depth TOC on "Iran Oil Refinery Chemicals Market"
http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/iran-oil-refinery-chemicals-market-by-type-merchant-hydrogen-refining-catalysts-etc-by-application-petroleum-conversion-petroleum-treatment-water-and-wastewater-treatment-and-others-competition-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021/670.html
Merchant hydrogen accounted for the largest share in Iran oil refinery chemicals market in 2015. The segment is anticipated to maintain its dominance over the next five years as well. However, growth in demand for refining catalysts is expected to outpace merchant hydrogen owing to its high efficiency in accelerating the yield of gasoline. Refining catalysts, pH adjusters and corrosion inhibitors are the other major oil refinery chemicals consumed in Iran. During 2016-2021, Esfahan region is expected to dominate Iran oil refinery chemicals market due to the presence of multiple refineries in the region. In addition to domestic players, several global players such as Air Liquide, Air Products and Chemicals Inc., and Sud Chemie are also operating in Iran oil refinery chemicals market.
Download Sample Report @ http://www.techsciresearch.com/sample-report.aspx?cid=670
Customers can also request for 10% free customization on this report.
"With about 10% of global oil reserves and 13% of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil reserves, Iran accounts for the world's fourth-largest crude oil reserves, globally. In Iran, around 1,985 thousand barrels of refined petroleum products were produced per day in 2014. Moreover, export of petroleum products from Iran has increased from 441 thousand barrels per day in 2011 to 470 thousand barrels per day in 2014, and this trend is expected to continue, especially with the US and other major developed economies having lifted sanctions on Iran. Hence, oil refinery chemicals market in Iran is anticipated to register healthy growth over the next five years." said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a research based global management consulting firm.
"Iran Oil Refinery Chemicals Market By Type, By Application, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021" has analyzed the potential of oil refinery chemicals market in Iran provides statistics and information on market sizes, shares and trends. The report will suffice in providing the intending clients with cutting-edge market intelligence and help them in taking sound investment decisions. Besides, the report also identifies and analyzes the emerging trends along with essential drivers and key challenges faced by oil refinery chemicals market in Iran.
Browse Related Reports
Saudi Arabia Oilfield Chemicals Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2020
http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/saudi-arabia-oilfield-chemicals-market-forecast-and-opportunities-2020/201.html
Global Textile Chemicals Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2020
http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/global-textile-chemicals-market-forecast-and-opportunities-2020/190.html
GCC Construction Chemicals Market By Type (Concrete Admixtures, Waterproofing, Protective Coatings, Adhesives, etc.), By End User, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021 - Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman & Bahrain
http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/gcc-construction-chemicals-market-by-type-concrete-admixtures-waterproofing-protective-coatings-adhesives-etc-by-end-user-competition-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021-saudi-arabia-uae-qatar-kuwait-oman-bahrain/613.html
About TechSci Research
TechSci Research is a leading global market research firm publishing premium market research reports. Serving 700 global clients with more than 600 premium market research studies, TechSci Research is serving clients across 11 different industrial verticals. TechSci Research specializes in research based consulting assignments in high growth and emerging markets, leading technologies and niche applications. Our workforce of more than 100 fulltime Analysts and Consultants employing innovative research solutions and tracking global and country specific high growth markets helps TechSci clients to lead rather than follow market trends.
Contact
Mr. Ken Mathews
708 Third Avenue,
Manhattan, NY,
New York - 10017
Tel: +1-646-360-1656
Email: sales@techsciresearch.com
Connect with us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/TechSciResearch
Connect with us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/techsci-research
SOURCE TechSci Research
LONDON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
The MBI Al Jaber Foundation has announced a significant donation to the Bloomsbury Research Institute.
The Bloomsbury Research Institute is a partnership between UCL and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, creating a centre of excellence for research in public and global health, and bringing together a unique range and depth of expertise.
The Institute is located in the heart of London at a new state-of-the-art building with the latest laboratory technology. It will house more than 200 leading scientists from around the world whose research will help accelerate the development of new treatments, vaccines and diagnostics for major global killers - TB, HIV and Malaria, as well as tropical diseases and emerging microorganisms such as Zika, MERS and SARS. Experts will also contribute to international efforts to address antibiotic resistance and development of new antimicrobials.
Leading microbiologist Professor Sharon Peacock, the Director of the Bloomsbury Research Institute, welcomed the gift saying, "The innovative research and development at the Bloomsbury Research Institute will accelerate the understanding and treatment of infectious diseases, with the potential to save millions of lives worldwide. We are grateful for this generous gift and will be naming a teaching area of the Institute in recognition."
The generous gift to the Bloomsbury Research Institute by Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber follows earlier capital donations to SOAS, the University of Westminster and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. The MBI Al Jaber Foundation has also funded many scholarship programmes for students from the Middle East to study in the UK and Europe, and is a major contributor to the UNESCO Euro-Arab Dialogue Initiative. The latest gift to UCL and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine comes at an important moment in the lead up to UCL launching one of Europe's largest fundraising campaigns later this year.
Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber, patron and sole benefactor of the MBI Al Jaber Foundation, said: "It gives me great pleasure to support the Bloomsbury Research Institute. The cutting-edge research conducted at the Institute is essential for the improvement in prevention and control of infectious diseases, as well as training the next generation of scientists to continue this important work."
For more information please contact:
Email: sgentry@mww.com
Tel: +44-(0)20-7046-6080 / +44-(0)7884-496-251
SOURCE MBI Al Jaber Foundation
SHUNDE, China, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Offer at EUR 115 in cash per KUKA share
in cash per KUKA share Premium of 59.6 percent over KUKA's unaffected closing price on February 3, 2016 , the day before publication of the increase of Midea's stake to 10.2 percent
, the day before publication of the increase of Midea's stake to 10.2 percent Mutual strategic benefits through complimentary businesses and joint development of robotics for applications in general industry and logistics as well as service robotics
Midea fully committed to KUKA's independence and status as a listed entity in Germany , and is committed to invest in KUKA's employees, brand, intellectual property and facilities to further support the company's development
Midea (Midea Group Co Ltd, SZSE 000333), one of the world's leading industrial groups in consumer appliances and Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) systems, announced today its intention to launch a voluntary takeover offer through its affiliate MECCA International (BVI) Limited for all shares in KUKA (KUKA AG), a leading global supplier of intelligent automation solutions, at EUR 115 per share. The decision confirms Midea's previously stated intention to increase its shareholding in KUKA. Currently, Midea indirectly owns 13.5 percent of KUKA's shares. In line with the applicable regulatory framework, the increase of the shareholding to more than 30 percent requires an offer for all issued shares in KUKA AG.
Midea is committed to maintaining KUKA's independence as a publicly listed company in Germany and has no intention of entering into a domination agreement regardless of the result of the takeover offer.
The all-cash proposal provides KUKA's shareholders with compelling and immediate value, as it represents a 59.6 percent premium over KUKA's unaffected closing price of EUR 72.05 on February 3, 2016, the day before the publication of Midea's 10.2 percent stake. The completion of the takeover offer will be subject to certain conditions. These include, in particular, achieving a minimum acceptance threshold of 30 percent of the issued shares of KUKA, including the shares already owned by Midea, necessary antitrust and other regulatory clearances and approval of the transaction by the shareholders' general meeting of Midea.
Paul Fang, Chairman and CEO of Midea, comments on the announcement: "As a customer and investor, we have been impressed by KUKA's management and employees and have had constructive dialogue since building our initial stake in the company. KUKA is in excellent condition today and we are committed to investing in KUKA's employees, brand, intellectual property and facilities to further support the company's development. We would like to have a meaningful stake in KUKA above 30 percent and have no intention of concluding a domination agreement or delisting the company. We believe that a larger shareholding strikes the right balance between an independent KUKA while also putting both companies in a position to drive further growth through collaboration, especially in China. The investment fits perfectly into Midea's 'Smart' strategy, which aims to upgrade our manufacturing competencies and develop smart home devices."
Mutual strategic benefit through complementary businesses and joint development of robotics for applications in general industry and logistics as well as service robotics
One of KUKA's stated key strategic focus areas is the broader robotics market in China, an area in which Midea also sees substantial growth opportunities driven by rising labour costs and an ageing Chinese population. KUKA stated that by 2020, it plans to grow sales to EUR 1 billion in China from EUR 425 million in its most recent financial year.
As a leading industrial company in consumer products, Midea has an extensive network of distributors, suppliers and other constituents and is therefore an ideal partner to significantly strengthen KUKA's positioning, address local customer needs and increase its exposure to general industries in China, which has the largest and most diverse general industries sector in the world. Based on its excellent manufacturing capabilities, Midea will seek opportunities to support KUKA to fully utilize its capabilities and network and realise efficiencies in its supply chain.
Having serviced households both inside and outside of China for decades, Midea sees substantial potential, specifically in smart home appliances. In 2015, Midea launched its "Smart" strategy, not only to further upgrade Midea's manufacturing and logistics automation via additional investments in robotics, but also to look into developing smart home devices based on robotics technology. Midea's goal is to raise its overall sales over the coming years to over EUR 25 billion, of which smart devices and service robotics will form a significant portion.
Andy Gu, Vice President of Midea, says: "Midea sees KUKA as its partner of choice in further enhancing its automation product and service offerings, while Midea makes an ideal partner for KUKA to develop, manufacture and market KUKA's robotics proposition. We look forward to leveraging our experience and additional financial resources to accelerate KUKA's strategy in China and support their expansion into general industries."
Midea also aims to enhance its manufacturing efficiency through KUKA's technology throughout its industrial base and supply chain, while KUKA can capitalize on Midea's manufacturing expertise to further develop innovative solutions. Moreover, there is a strong strategic rationale in an increased collaboration between KUKA's "Swisslog" business and Midea's broad logistics operations to drive warehouse and logistics automation in the growing Chinese logistics market. Midea sees significant opportunities to combine each company's strengths -- KUKA's robotics expertise and Midea's established position in customers' homes -- and jointly strengthen the footprint in the future service robots market by seeking opportunities to develop customized product lines, such as home and service robotics products.
Midea values KUKA's independence and proposes corresponding commitments
Midea fully supports the operational independence of KUKA's business. Midea regards the continued leadership of the current management team as critical to KUKA's continued success and is fully supportive of KUKA's current strategy, employment base and brand development.
"We intend to seek representation on the Supervisory Board in a manner which appropriately reflects our shareholding and look forward to working constructively with the other KUKA Board members and shareholders to support the company's future development. We are prepared to agree to specific commitments in this regard. We expect these to include continued support for KUKA's employment levels, brands and intellectual property. Moreover, we will look to support KUKA's additional investments in Research and Development and software to maintain its competitive advantage," said Midea Chairman and CEO, Paul Fang.
Additional information
The transaction will be implemented through a voluntary takeover offer for all outstanding shares of KUKA. Midea has the financial capacity needed to implement the transaction. The financing of the transaction will be achieved by a credit facility.
Morgan Stanley is acting as exclusive financial advisor and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is acting as legal advisor to Midea on the transaction.
This announcement does not constitute an offer or an invitation to purchase any securities. The intended takeover offer will be made solely by means of the yet to be published Offer Document, which will contain the full terms and conditions of the intended takeover offer including details of how it may be accepted.
This document may contain certain forward-looking statements. Such statements are, in particular, indicated by terms such as "expects", "believes", "is of the opinion", "attempts", "estimates", "intends", "assumes" and "endeavors" and similar phrases. Such statements express current intentions, views, expectations, estimates and forecasts with regard to possible future events. They are, inter alia, based on certain assumptions, assessments and forecasts, are subject to risks and uncertainties and therefore they may turn out to be incorrect.
Notice to US holders of KUKA AG Shares:
The intended takeover offer is being made for the securities of a German company and is subject to German disclosure requirements, which are different from those of the United States. The financial information included in this announcement has been largely prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards and the generally accepted accounting principles of the PRC and thus may not be comparable to financial information of US companies or companies whose financial statements are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States. The intended takeover offer will be made in the United States pursuant to the applicable US tender offer rules, including Regulation 14E and relevant provisions on exemptions from the prohibition on purchases outside the intended takeover offer and otherwise in accordance with the requirements of the German Securities Acquisition and Takeover Act (Wertpapiererwerbs- und Ubernahmegesetz). Accordingly, the intended takeover offer will be subject to disclosure and other procedural requirements, including with respect to withdrawal rights, offer timetable, settlement procedures and timing of payments that are different from those applicable under US domestic tender offer procedures and law.
To the extent permissible under applicable law or regulation, MECCA International (BVI) Limited (the Bidder) and its affiliates or brokers (acting as agents for the Bidder or its affiliates, as applicable) may from time to time before, during or after the period in which the intended takeover offer remains open for acceptance, and other than pursuant to the intended takeover offer, directly or indirectly purchase, or arrange to purchase, shares of KUKA AG, that may be the subject of the intended takeover offer, or any securities that are convertible into, exchangeable for or exercisable for shares of KUKA AG. Any such purchases, or arrangements to purchase, will comply with all applicable German rules and regulations and Rule 14e-5 under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act to the extent applicable. Information about such purchases will be disclosed in Germany to the extent required by applicable law. To the extent information about such purchases or arrangements to purchase is made public in Germany, such information also will be deemed to be publicly disclosed in the United States. In addition, the financial advisors to the Bidder may also engage in ordinary course trading activities in securities of KUKA AG, which may include purchases or arrangements to purchase such securities.
About Midea
Midea is a leading global player in consumer appliances and Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) systems, with diversified product offering, encompassing air-conditioners, refrigerators, laundry appliances, kitchen appliances and various small home appliances. Midea is committed to build a better life by adhering to the principle of "Creating Value for Customers". Midea is focused on continuous technological innovation, including robotics, to improve product and service quality, to make life more comfortable and pleasant.
Founded in 1968 in Guangdong, China, Midea has now established a global platform of more than 200 subsidiaries and nine strategic business units. Midea had total revenues of over EUR 18.7 billion in the fiscal year ending December 31, 2015 and approximately 100,000 employees worldwide. Midea runs 21 manufacturing sites globally and operates 260 logistics centres. Midea is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (000333).
To learn more about Midea, please visit at http://www.midea.com/global/
To learn more about the takeover offer, please visit http://www.partnershipinrobotics.com/
Midea KUKA Partnership Factsheet: http://photos.prnasia.com/prnk/20160518/8521603191-a
Related Links
http://www.midea.com/global/
SOURCE Midea Group
TALLINN, Estonia, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
An Estonia-based information technology company WeDo Ltd. launches its third medicine themed service: Vetxed.com, a unique multilingual catalog of 194 veterinarian pharmaceuticals approved by the European Medicines Agency. Available in 25 languages, it boasts a complete and correct database of medicines for all kinds of animals, starting with a widespread domesticated ones like dogs, ferrets and cats as well as bigger livestock such as cattle, pigs, goats and horses and finishing with various smaller mammals, birds and wild animals.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160518/805917 )
Vetxed.com is regularly synchronized with clinical databases, thus guaranteeing that the information it is providing is credible and up-to-date, and is also incredibly user-friendly, being easily browsable by either medication name, substance, ATC code, manufacturer or species. On top of that, it is readily available for both desktop and mobile devices. Vetxed.com is targeted for a wide audience, since information it contains is suitable and helpful both for the trained veterinarians and for the pet-owners with minimal medicinal knowledge, and because information it contains is translated into as many as 25 different languages.
Each article on the site contains description of the product, with essential overview, studies, uses and dosages; a summary of product characteristics; conditions or restrictions regarding supply and use; labeling, package leaflet and a list of available packaging. All categories are logically organized, making important information easily accessible.
Vetxed.com uses accumulated knowledge from their other projects to make this site both relevant and practical. It is a valuable resource for anyone who wants to confirm whether or not a certain drug is certified and approved by governmental facilities, refresh their memory on its dosage and side-effects and find out all about the studies that were performed.
WeDo Ltd. originates in Estonia, one of the world's top 20 most innovative information technology countries. The company was established in the summer of 2011 and since then has built a large portfolio of successful projects of all kinds, with one common incentive - to help people. WeDo Ltd. began its crusade into the world of health a few years ago, when it launched its pharmaceutical pilot project, an Estonian website that analogically contained a complete list of all certified prescription medicines, with comprehensive descriptions, information and all studies, side-effects and warnings. By popular demand, WeDo Ltd. translated it to several languages, improved its usability by taking into account user feedback and helpful tips from doctors and rebranded it into RXed.eu . Later, the company also launched the widely popular HerbalRef.com , a natural medicine catalog about herbal remedies.
More information about Vetxed.com: www.vetxed.com
More information about HerbalRef.com: www.herbalref.com
More information about RXed.eu: www.rxed.eu
SOURCE Vetxed.com
WASHINGTON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Housefax today announced results of a survey that shows 30% of home buyers purchase a house after viewing its Housefax Report. From those who did not purchase a house after viewing its Housefax Report, the number one reason provided was the price of the home.
Furthermore, an additional survey revealed that 68% of respondents submitted an offer within two weeks of viewing the Housefax Report. And when asked if Housefax played a role in their decision, another 68% of respondents said "yes."
"We always knew that Housefax Reports help turn window-shoppers into confident buyers and now we have evidence," said Eddy Lang, CEO of Housefax. "At the end of the day, most Housefax Reports are a good news story, meant to create peace of mind so potential home buyers are comfortable with their decision. In fact, our records indicate that only 1 in 10 previously downloaded Housefax Reports show a reported incident."
In addition to reported incidents, Housefax Property History Reports include valuable information that can influence a home buyer's decision including voluntary liens, natural hazards, permit history, utilities and more. This information is not typically found on other listing sites and complements the MLS system.
"Home buyers need lots of questions answered before they feel confident about buying a home," said Jennifer Young, the number one Keller Williams agent in Virginia. "I recently used a Housefax Report in the middle of a home inspection negotiation and was able to show that the basement was permitted, which was one of the requests of the home buyers." Young added, "This transparency secured the buyers decision to move forward with the transaction."
Housefax offers discounted Reports to real estate agents via Housefax PRO, a subscription program for real estate professionals. To learn more about Housefax PRO, visit: http://housefax.com/pro/about.
About Housefax
Founded in 2012, Housefax is a leading provider of residential property history reports for real estate consumers and industry professionals. Housefax offers instant access to property details, voluntary liens, building permit history, emergency incidents and natural hazards. Housefax PRO is a monthly subscription service designed to give industry professionals access to Housefax Property History Reports at preferred pricing. For more information and to view a sample report, visit http://housefax.com/pro/about.
SOURCE Housefax
Related Links
http://housefax.com
COLUMBUS, Ga., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Aflac Incorporated (NYSE: AFL) announced today that it will webcast its annual Financial Analysts Briefing on May 25, 2016 from 8:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. (EDT). Aflac's management will discuss its operations in Japan and the United States, along with capital management strategies and outlook. The schedule of the business meeting webcast is as follows.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Opening Remarks
Overview of Aflac U.S.
Robin Y. Wilkey
Teresa L. White
Strategic Overview of Aflac
Aflac U.S. Q&A Panel
Daniel P. Amos
Aflac Incorporated Financial Outlook and Capital Management
Japan Macro Environment
Frederick J. Crawford
and Market Overview
Paul S. Amos II
Strategies for Governance
and Transition
Overview of Aflac Japan
Kriss Cloninger III
Hiroshi Yamauchi
Aflac Incorporated Financial Outlook
Aflac Japan Q&A Panel
and Capital Management Q&A Panel
The presentations, which include slides, will be available via webcast. If you would like to sign up for the webcast, you may do so on the day of the event by visiting aflac.com and clicking on the Investors page. You will need to register for the event, so please allow yourself five to seven minutes to sign up prior to the scheduled start time. An archive of the presentations will be available on aflac.com for two weeks beginning the evening of May 25, 2016.
ABOUT AFLAC
When a policyholder gets sick or hurt, Aflac pays cash benefits fast. For six decades, Aflac insurance policies have given policyholders the opportunity to focus on recovery, not financial stress. In the United States, Aflac is the leading provider of voluntary insurance at the worksite. Through its trailblazing One Day PaySM initiative, Aflac U.S. can receive, process, approve and disburse payment for eligible claims in one business day. In Japan, Aflac is the leading provider of medical and cancer insurance and insures one in four households. Aflac individual and group insurance products help provide protection to more than 50 million people worldwide. For 10 consecutive years, Aflac has been recognized by Ethisphere as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies. In 2016, Fortune magazine recognized Aflac as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America for the 18th consecutive year and included Aflac on its list of Most Admired Companies for the 15th time, ranking the company No. 1 in innovation for the insurance, life and health category for the second consecutive year. In 2015, Aflac's contact centers were recognized by J.D. Power by providing "An Outstanding Customer Service Experience" for the Live Phone Channel. Aflac Incorporated is a Fortune 500 company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AFL. To find out more about Aflac and One Day PaySM, visit aflac.com or espanol.aflac.com.
Analyst and investor contact Robin Y. Wilkey, 706.596.3264 or 800.235.2667, FAX: 706.324.6330 or [email protected]
Media contact Catherine Blades, 706.596.3014 FAX: 706.320.2288 or [email protected]
SOURCE Aflac Incorporated
Related Links
http://www.aflac.com
CORONA, Calif., May 18 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A.R.I.D, a leading integrator and manufacturer of self-service automated coffee kiosks has announced that the newly developed intazza Cafe has already beat their quarterly projections in it's initial month. "We are tremendously excited about our growth. Sales in our initial month has already exceeded our projections for the entire quarter," said Joe Menichiello, President and Founder of A.R.I.D. "Our partnerships with eager entrepreneurs from around the country is making this a wonderful experience."
Management has received commitments from several top mall companies around the country and is poised to add more deals to their already extensive list during this month's SPREE RECon convention in Las Vegas, NV. Locations such as malls provide heavy exposure and sales for the kiosks.
Since the launch of the intazza Cafe, A.R.I.D has already sold their entire inventory of intazza kiosks and has now created a waiting list.
The intazza Cafe is entering emerging markets such as Los Angeles, Tampa, Detroit, Miami, and Orlando. Some key locations include the Glendale Galleria and Del Amo Fashion Center in Los Angeles.
The intazza Cafe is a branded automated coffee kiosk that allows guests to enjoy up to 24 different hot beverages at $2.00 a cup. Customers have the opportunity to conduct the purchase process through the kiosk's HD touch screen. Users have the ability to choose their own coffee strength, sugar amount, and creamer level. The 26" LCD screen above gives owners the ability to control the content. This allows them to sell advertising space.
The intazza Cafe's introductory price is set at $9,999. It is registered on FranchiseDirect.com and is available to entrepreneurs around the country. The intazza Cafe team will assist in location finding for its clients at a nominal fee. They also provide competitive and simple financing.
A.R.I.D is an investor-based company that recently launched a crowd funding campaign that can be seen at https://www.fundable.com/intazza-automated-coffee-kiosk. Their company websites are intazzacafes.com and aridfund.com
For more information, contact: [email protected], (888) 600-0709
SOURCE A.R.I.D (Automated Retail Income Development)
Related Links
http://www.aridfund.com
The European Union Delegation to Ukraine has said the ban on public commemoration of victims of deportation of the Crimean Tatars is unacceptable, and expressed its concern over recent arrests of Crimean Tatar activists.
"Today, 72 years on from the forcible deportation of the Crimean Tatars from their homeland, they again face persecution and intimidation. The prohibition of peaceful, independent public commemorations of the Crimean Tatars' historical tragedy is not acceptable," the EU Delegation said in a statement posted on its website.
The EU Delegation recalled that the rights and fundamental freedoms of Crimean Tatars were gravely attacked through the recent banning of the activities of the Mejlis, their self-governing body, and its labeling as "an extremist organization" by the so called Supreme Court of Crimea. Furthermore, recent reports of arrests of Crimean Tatar activists are of great concern for the EU.
"The EU has repeatedly expressed its deep concern at the deterioration of the human rights situation in Crimea and Sevastopol since the illegal annexation by the Russian Federation, and calls for full compliance with international human rights standards and other obligations under international law," the delegation said.
LONDON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Baby Care Market in India is highly fragmented and unorganised in the apparel, toys and accessories segment. But due to the ethical nature of the segments like food, skin and hair care these segments are dominated by organised players.
The low penetration of the baby care sectors and less number of organised players in the baby retailing segment which contributes nearly 93% of the sector's revenue it can be said that the sector is in a very nascent stage and it is likely to enter growth stage with the change in consumer habits of the Indian population.
The industry is facing a myriad of problems like scarcity of raw materials and preference of people to cheaper substitutes. The industry is expectant of registering a remarkable growth on the account of increasing baby population in India, increase in disposable income of parents, change in consumer habits of parents and frugal innovation done to reduce the cost of various baby care products in the Indian market. The sector can further increase its growth rate by increasing the penetration of the baby care products in the rural market with better distribution network.
Indian baby care market is poised to grow at the rate of 13.66% CAGR over the coming years. Many of the leading players in this sector have made an ambitious projection of the sector growing faster than the 15% on the account of increased spending per child in India which is expected to increase from INR 6917 to INR 14079 at the rate of 12.57% CAGR even though the number of babies in the age group of 0-5 years is going to increase from 127 million to 135 million by 2020. This growth rate is also backed by the boom in the e commerce sector which is going to be a major shopping platform for the parents who do bulk shopping of baby care products and for those parents who are very busy with their work and consider baby care products to be a burden on their strict schedule. Many international players are entering the lucrative Indian baby care market but the companies are either entering through a JV or they are outsourcing their manufacturing to the local manufacturers to reduce the cost of manufacturing. The entry of foreign players will result in transfer of technology regarding the design of toys, apparel and accessories to the Indian companies.
However there are many key pain areas for the sector like scarcity of the raw materials for the companies in the baby toiletries market and baby food market. The baby toy market is facing the problem of lack of design institute which can provide them with innovative designs to compete with the international players. The Indian baby gear and apparel segment is also facing a threat from the flooding of the Chinese products in the Indian market. The government has no support system for the baby care industry.
The earlier food parks which were run by state and central government are now defunct and government is trying to create an environment for the food industry which is going to affect the baby food market. The unorganised players are facing a problem of entering the market due to problem of procuring the license to manufacture and getting clearances from the standard associations In spite of these difficulties and problems the sector is facing the sector looks stable and promising with a very high growth prospect in the near future with the change in habits of the consumer base.
Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3812902/
About Reportbuyer
Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers
http://www.reportbuyer.com
For more information:
Sarah Smith
Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +44 208 816 85 48
Website: www.reportbuyer.com
SOURCE ReportBuyer
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RESTON, Va., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Bechtel has been named the top U.S. contractor by Engineering News-Record (ENR), the leading U.S. publication for the engineering and construction industry. This marks the 18th consecutive year that Bechtel has ranked first on ENR's Top 400 Contractors list, which is based on 2015 construction revenue.
In addition, the company was recognized as a top contractor on the following lists:
Top 20 Petroleum
Top 20 Transportation
Top 20 Industrial
Top 50 Contractors Working Abroad
"This recognition reflects the exceptional work of the men and women of Bechtel during a time of economic volatility," said Brendan Bechtel, the company's president and COO. "Once again, our 55,000 colleagues worldwide delivered the extraordinary performance our customers expect of us and we expect of ourselves. This enduring commitment to excellence will sustain and expand our competitive position in today's difficult market."
Together with its customers, Bechtel delivers landmarks projects the modern marvels of the world that foster sustainable progress and grow economies. Among its many current projects, Bechtel is helping customers build roads and rail systems in Europe; natural gas-fired power projects in the United States; airports in the Middle East; and liquefied natural gas processing facilities in Australia. From cleaning up nuclear waste at Hanford, Washington to eliminating chemical weapons stockpiles in Colorado and Kentucky, Bechtel teams are ridding the world of some of the most dangerous byproducts of World War II and the Cold War. In Gabon, Bechtel is executing the build-out of national infrastructure to support sustainable economic development, while in Saudi Arabia, it is designing a new industrial city. With these and every other project, Bechtel places a core focus on protecting people and the environment, promoting local economic development and partnering with communities and societies.
In addition to successful execution of projects around the globe, Bechtel and its affiliated projects received several industry recognitions in 2015, including:
View the entire ENR Top 400 List.
About Bechtel
Bechtel is one of the most respected global engineering, construction, and project management companies. Together with our customers, we deliver landmark projects that foster long-term progress and economic growth. Since 1898, we've completed more than 25,000 extraordinary projects across 160 countries on all seven continents. We operate through four global businesses: Infrastructure; Nuclear, Security & Environmental; Oil, Gas & Chemicals; and Mining & Metals. Our company and our culture are built on more than a century of leadership and a relentless adherence to our values, the core of which are safety, quality, ethics, and integrity. These values are what we believe, what we expect, what we deliver, and what we live. www.bechtel.com
Media contacts:
Francis Canavan
t. +1 703 429 6737
c.+1 240 529-5303
[email protected]
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130124/SF47758LOGO
SOURCE Bechtel
Related Links
http://www.bechtel.com
LONDON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Big Data in Global Government & Defense market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 30% representing in huge opportunities in this sector, finds a new research report launched by NOVONOUS. This growth is driven by increasing penetration of big data, increase in analytics services and availability of affordable big data solution and services to end users.
Big Data in Government & Defense Industry controls 7% market share in terms of revenue in Global Big Data market. It is expected to become seventh largest industry in terms of it's market share position in 2020.
Organizations worldwide are turning their attention to Big Data as a useful means to derive insights from the huge amount of data generated from various sources. Technologies such as NoSQL databases and MapReduce/Hadoop frameworks are at the core of the solutions heralding a paradigm shift.
This research found that high investment costs, lack of awareness and novelty have been the main threats for new entrants in the Big Data space. There are a few major players who control the entire value chain. However, many smaller players have mushroomed who provide consulting in the Analytics space. This research also found that most organizations misunderstand Big Data and it is important to educate the end users through face to face interactions.
Spanning over 102 pages and 75 exhibits, "Big Data in Global Government & Defense Market: Key Trends, Market Opportunities and Industry Forecast 2015-2020" report presents an in-depth assessment of the Big Data in Global Government & Defense market from 2015 till 2020.
The report has detailed company profiles including their position in big data market value chain, financial performance analysis, product and service wise business strategy, SWOT analysis and key customer details for 12 key players in Global market namely TEG Analytics, Heckyl Technologies, KloudData Inc., Gramener, Germin8, VIS Networks Pvt. Ltd., Abzooba, Fintellix, Latentview, Indix, Analytic-Edge and Tookitaki.
Scope of Big Data in Global Government & Defense Market: Key Trends, Market Opportunities and Industry Forecast 2015-2020 Report
- This report provides detailed information about Big Data in Global Government & Defense market including future forecasts.
- This report identifies the need for focusing on Big Data in Government & Defense market.
- This report provides detailed information on growth forecasts for Big Data in Global Government & Defense market up to 2020.
- The report identifies the growth drivers and inhibitors for Global Big Data market.
- This study also identifies various parts of Big Data value chain.
- This report has detailed profiles 12 key players in Global Big Data market covering their business strategy, financial performance, future forecasts and SWOT analysis.
- This report covers the competitive landscape in Big Data in Global Government & Defense market.
- This report provides Porter's Five Forces analysis for Big Data in Global Government & Defense market.
- This report provides SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis for Big Data in Global Government & Defense market.
- This report also provides strategic recommendations for end users, Big Data service providers and investors.
Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3812896/
About Reportbuyer
Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers
http://www.reportbuyer.com
For more information:
Sarah Smith
Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +44 208 816 85 48
Website: www.reportbuyer.com
SOURCE ReportBuyer
Related Links
http://www.reportbuyer.com
NEW YORK, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Bitly, the world's leading link management platform, today announced that the company is generating SSL certificates for more than 40,000 Bitly branded domains used by marketers to create links and share content across the channels, devices, and networks. All links created through the platform will now be secure HTTPS links.
The upgrade represents Bitly's commitment to not only branded domain users, but all marketers and internet users around the globe, to ensure that encryption and security remain a top priority. Bitly processes data associated with more than 12 billion clicks per month, leading to massive troves of intelligence for marketers to better connect with consumers and make informed business decisions.
"Bitly is a major part of the digital ecosystemone-third of the world's population clicks on our links each month. Our upgrade will create a more secure Internet for our customers, and will specifically help our customers build trust with their users," said Matt Thomson, CPO at Bitly. "This move is a stand against malicious internet activity and its negative impact on good customer experience. We look forward to joining other platforms to improve digital security measures around the world."
All newly created HTTPS links will have SSL certificates efficiently created by Bitly through a partnership with LetsEncrypt and upgrades to modern browsers. Bitly will manage all link maintenance on behalf of the branded domain customers, allowing them to continue to focus on business matters and their own customers.
This partnership is especially important for Bitly branded domains that facilitate any type of transactions on behalf of customers. According to a recent survey by Ponemon Institute on behalf of Ghostery, it is estimated that the top 100 internet retailers in the United States lose $310 million annually due to customer attrition caused by mixed content warnings.
"We're specifically excited to offer HTTPS to retailers, financial services, and government entities where the financial impact is obvious," said Thomson, CPO at Bitly.
For more information about Bitly's commitment to internet security, visit http://product.bitly.com/https-release/. To learn more about Bitly, visit www.bitly.com.
About Bitly
Bitly's software platform helps the world's leading brands deliver and measure their efforts across all marketing channels. Through the power of the link, Bitly connects customers to the best digital experience possible, harnessing functionality like branded links, mobile deep linking and omnichannel analytics to provide a complete marketing solution that drives customer experience.
Bitly processes more than 10B clicks each month across the world. The company is headquartered in New York City, with additional offices in San Francisco and Denver. Brands like IBM, eBay, GE, BuzzFeed and more rely on Bitly as their universal link management platform. To learn more about how Bitly helps companies measure and optimize their marketing efforts, please visit www.bitly.com.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140310/NE79714LOGO
SOURCE Bitly
Related Links
http://www.bit.ly
NEW YORK, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Blink Fitness - the premium-quality, value-based gym has announced the appointment of David Collignon as the Vice President of Operations. For the past three years, Collignon has served as Vice President of Strategic Sourcing and Procurement for Equinox Holdings, which includes Equinox, PURE Yoga, SoulCycle, and Blink Fitness.
In addition to Collignon's intimate knowledge of Blink and the fitness category, he has extensive multi-unit retail operations experience with The Children's Place, at one point overseeing 80+ locations and more than 1,300 employees. He was part of leading significant national retail expansions in support of 50 to 100 new locations annually, across all aspects of operations. Earlier in his career, David held area manager and store manager roles at Eddie Bauer, J. Crew, and Calvin Klein Factory Stores.
"David will be a great addition to Blink's world-class leadership team. His extensive multi-unit retail experience will be particularly helpful as we look to accelerate our already strong growth and expand our national footprint," said Todd Magazine, President of Blink Fitness. "In addition, his deep understanding of the fitness industry, particularly the luxury space, will enable Blink to increase its member experience advantages over other brands in the high volume, low priced segment."
Blink Fitness is distinguished by its unique brand philosophy, "Mood Above Muscle," which puts the inner-benefits of fitness front and center. Reflected in a recent ad campaign titled "Every Body Happy," Blink promotes a change to the ongoing rhetoric around fitness via spirited visuals of confident and happy gym goers who come in all shapes and sizes.
Blink Fitness is growing rapidly, with more than 50 company-owned locations currently open or in development in the New York Tri-State area. In the spring of 2015, Blink Fitness launched a national franchising program with a goal of reaching more than 300 company-owned and franchise clubs nationwide by 2020. Blink's first two franchisees signed on this past December.
For more information about franchise opportunities, visit blinkfranchising.com. Follow Blink Fitness on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest news and trends.
About Blink Fitness
Founded in 2011, Blink Fitness is a premium quality, value-based fitness brand with more than 50 locations open or in development throughout New York and New Jersey. Blink Fitness puts Mood Above Muscle which celebrates the positive feeling you get from exercise, not just the physical benefits. Each club employs the company's signature Feel Good Experience that highlights enthusiastic staff members, a clean environment, an open, spacious, and colorful design, energizing music and fitness training that is motivating and affordable.
For more information about Blink, visit blinkfitness.com. Franchising details are available on blinkfranchising.com.
SOURCE Blink Fitness
Related Links
http://www.blinkfitness.com
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Boston Biomedical, an industry leader in the development of novel compounds designed to target cancer stem cell (CSC) pathways, will feature clinical data on investigational compounds napabucasin (BBI-608) and amcasertib (BBI-503) in multiple tumor types at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, held from June 3 to June 7, in Chicago.
Data to be exhibited underscore the potential of napabucasin an orally administered investigational cancer stemness inhibitor designed to inhibit CSC pathways by targeting STAT3 to enhance anti-cancer activity when used in combination with other chemotherapeutics.i Data will be shared across multiple tumor types, including the company's first results in ovarian, lung and breast cancers. Updated data in colorectal and pancreatic cancers from ongoing phase Ib extension studies will also be provided.
Also the first data in head and neck cancer from an ongoing phase I extension study of amcasertib an orally administered investigational agent designed to inhibit cancer stem cell pathways, including Nanog, by targeting stemness kinases will be shared at the meeting, both in poster format as well as in a poster discussion session.
"Boston Biomedical is pleased to share new clinical data on first-in-class cancer stemness inhibitors napabucasin and amcasertib at this year's ASCO annual meeting," said Chiang J. Li, M.D. FACP, the President, CEO and Chief Medical Officer of Boston Biomedical, and the Head of Global Oncology for Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Group. "These findings support the potential for napabucasin and amcasertib to address a broad range of tumor types, which ultimately could lead to a new approach in treating cancer through targeting CSC pathways"
Planned poster sessions include:
Saturday, June 4 from 8:00 a.m. 11:30 a.m. [Gastrointestinal (Colorectal) Cancer], Hall A
Abstract #3564 , Poster #261: Phase Ib extension study of cancer stemness inhibitor BB608 (Napabucasin) administered in combination with FOLFIRI +/- Bevacizumab (Bev) in patients (pts) with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) O'Neil BH 1 , Hubbard JM 2 , Starodub A 3 , Jonker D 4 , Edenfield WJ 5 , El-Rayes B 6 , Halfdanarson TR 2 , Ramanathan R 7 , Pitot H 2 , Britten C 8 , Grothey A 2 , Borodyansky L 9 and Li CJ 9 1. IU Health University Hospital, Indianapolis, IN ; 2. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN ; 3. IU Goshen Health Center; 4. The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre, Ottawa, ON , Canada ; 5. Institute for Translational Oncology Research, Greenville, SC ; 6. The Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University , Atlanta, GA ; 7. Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ ; 8. MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, Charleston, SC ; 9. Boston Biomedical, Inc., Cambridge, MA
Saturday, June 4 from 8:00 a.m. 11:30 a.m. [Gastrointestinal (Noncolorectal) Cancer], Hall A
Abstract #4128 , Poster #120 : A Phase Ib extension study of cancer stemness inhibitor BB608 (Napabucasin) in combination with Gemcitabine and nab-Paclitaxel (nab-PTX) in patients (pts) with metastatic pancreatic cancer El-Rayes B 1 , Shahda S 2 , Starodub A 3 , O'Neil BH 2 , Hanna W 4 , Shaib W 1 , Oh C 5 , Li YZ 5 , Borodyansky L 5 , Li CJ 5 and Bekaii-Saab T 6 1. The Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University , Atlanta, GA ; 2. IU Health University Hospital, Indianapolis, IN ; 3. IU Health Goshen Center for Cancer Care, Goshen, IN ; 4. University of Tennessee Medical Center, Knoxville, TN ; 5. Boston Biomedical, Inc., Cambridge, MA ; 6. The Ohio State University Wexler Medical Center, Columbus, OH .
Saturday, June 4 from 8:00 a.m. 11:30 a.m. (Lung Cancer, Non-Small Cell Metastatic), Hall A
Abstract #9093 , Poster #416: A Phase Ib/II Study of Cancer Stemness Inhibitor Napabucasin (BB608) Combined with Weekly Paclitaxel in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Becerra C 1 , Spira A 1 , Conkling P 1 , Richey S 1 , Hanna W 2 , Cote G 3 , Heist R 3 , Langleben A 4 , Laurie S 5 , Edenfield WJ 6 , Kossler K 7 , Hume S 7 , Li Y 7 , Hitron M 7 , Li CJ 7 1. US Oncology Research, TOPS Phase I Program, Woodlands, TX; 2. University of Tennessee Medical Center, Knoxville, TN ; 3. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA ; 4. St. Mary's Hospital, McGill University , Montreal, QC ; 5. Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON ; 6. Institute for Translational Oncology Research, Greenville Hospital System/University Medical Center, Greenville, SC ; 7. Boston Biomedical, Inc., Cambridge, MA
Saturday, June 4 from 8:00 a.m. 11:30 a.m. [Gastrointestinal (Noncolorectal) Cancer], Hall A
Abstract #TPS4144 , Poster #129b : The BRIGHTER trial: A phase III randomized double-blind study of BBI-608 + weekly paclitaxel versus placebo (PBO) + weekly paclitaxel in patients (pts) with pretreated advanced gastric and gastro-esophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma Shah MA 1,8 , Muro K 2,8 , Shitara K 3,4,8 , Tebbutt NC 5,8 , Bang YJ 6,8 , Lordick F 7,8 , Borodyansky L 8,9 , other BRIGHTER Investigators 8 and Li CJ 8,9 1. New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical School, New York, NY ; 2. Department of Clinical Oncology, Aichi Cancer Center Hospital, Nagoya, Japan ; 3. Department of Gastroenterology GI Oncology Division, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Chiba, Japan ; 4. Exploratory Oncology Research and Clinical Trial Center, National Cancer Center, Chiba, Japan ; 5, Austin Health, Heidelberg , Victoria, Australia ; 6. Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul , Republic of Korea; 7. University Cancer Center, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany ; 8. Authorship was determined by the order of regional activation and patient enrollment; 9. Boston Biomedical, Inc., Cambridge, MA
Saturday, June 4 from 1:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m. (Head and Neck Cancer), Hall A; Saturday, June 4 from 4:45 p.m. 6:00 p.m. (Poster Discussion Session), S406
Abstract #6018 , Poster #340: Phase I Extension Clinical Study of BB503, a First-in-Class Cancer Stemness Kinase Inhibitor, in Adult Patients with Advanced Head and Neck Cancer Cote G 1 , Chau N 2 , Spira A 3 , Edenfield WJ 4 , Richards D 3 , Richey S 3 , Laurie S 5 , Wilks S 3 , Braiteh F 3 , Wang K 6 , Li Y 6 , Rogoff H 6 , Hitron M 6 , Li CJ 6 1. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA ; 2. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA ; 3. US Oncology Research, TOPS Phase I Program, Woodlands, TX; 4. Institute for Translational Oncology Research, Greenville Hospital System/University Medical Center, Greenville, SC ; 5. Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON ; 6. Boston Biomedical, Inc., Cambridge, MA
Sunday, June 5 from 8:00 a.m. 11:30 a.m. (Breast Cancer, Triple Negative / Cytotoxics /Local Therapy), Hall A
Abstract #1094 , Poster #199 : A Phase Ib/II Study of Cancer Stemness Inhibitor Napabucasin (BB608) Combined with Weekly Paclitaxel in Advanced Triple Negative Breast Cancer Becerra C 1 , Braiteh F 1 , Spira A 1 , Langleben A 2 , Panasci L 2 , Vukelja S 1 , Hinshaw I 1 , Goodwin R 3 , Panella T 4 , Edenfield WJ 5 , Kossler K 6 , Hume S 6 , Li Y 6 , Hitron MJ 6 , Li CJ 6 1. US Oncology Research, TOPS Phase I Program, Woodlands, TX; 2. McGill University , Montreal, QC ; 3. Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON ; 4. University of Tennessee Medical Center, Knoxville, TN ; 5. Institute for Translational Oncology Research, Greenville Hospital System/University Medical Center, Greenville, SC ; 6. Boston Biomedical, Inc., Cambridge, MA
:
Monday, June 6 from 1:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m. (Gynecologic Cancer), Hall A
Abstract #5578 , Poster #401: A Phase Ib/II Study of Cancer Stemness Inhibitor Napabucasin (BB608) Combined with Weekly Paclitaxel in Platinum Resistant Ovarian Cancer Garcia A 1 , Hays J 2 , Cote G 3 , Becerra C 4 , Langleben A 5 , Lau S 5 , Roman L 1 , McCormick C 4 , Richards D 4 , Braiteh F 4 , Yimer H 4 , Richey S 4 , Spira A 4 , Edenfield JW 6 , Kossler K 7 , Hume S 7 , Li Y 7 , Hitron MJ 7 , Li CJ 7 1. University of Southern California , Los Angeles, CA ; 2. The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbus, OH ; 3. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA ; 4. US Oncology Research, TOPS Phase I Program, Woodlands, TX; 5. McGill University , Montreal, QC ; 6. Institute for Translational Oncology Research, Greenville Hospital System/University Medical Center, Greenville, SC ; 7. Boston Biomedical, Inc., Cambridge, MA
About Boston Biomedical
Boston Biomedical, Inc. (Founder, President, CEO and CMO: Chiang J. Li, M.D. FACP) was founded in November 2006 and is wholly owned by Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd. Boston Biomedical's mission is to develop the next generation of cancer therapeutics by creating drugs designed to target cancer stem cell pathways. Boston Biomedical's innovation in drug discovery has received a number of recognitions and awards in the United States, including the Frost & Sullivan 2010 North American Drug Discovery Technology Innovation of the Year Award, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) cancer stem cell initiative grant award in 2010, and the 2011 Biotech Pioneer Award at the Alexandria Oncology Summit. The company also received the "Company To Watch" award in the 10th Annual Team Massachusetts Economic Impact Awards in 2013. Boston Biomedical is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Additional information about the company and its product pipeline can be found at www.bostonbiomedical.com.
Disclaimer Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
The forward-looking statements in this document are based on management's assumptions and beliefs in light of information presently available, and involve both known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Information concerning pharmaceuticals (including compounds under development) contained within this material is not intended as advertising or medical advice.
i Li Y, Rogoff HA, Keates, S, Gao Y, Murikipudi S, Mikule K, Leggett D, Wei L, Pardee A, Li CJ. Suppression of Cancer Relapse and Metastasis by Inhibiting Cancer Stemness. PNAS. 2015;112(6):1839-1844.
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SOURCE Boston Biomedical Pharma, Inc.
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DARMSTADT, Germany, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Not intended for UK- or US-based media
ASCO Abstract #
Avelumab: 4009, TPS4134, TPS4135, 9036, TPS9105, 3055, TPS3106, 8503, 4514, 4516, 5533, TPS5600, TPS4580, 9508; tepotinib: 4072
Abstracts featuring Merck compounds span a broad range of cancers, with an emphasis on those which are difficult-to-treat and represent significant unmet patient need
Avelumab data in seven different cancers from rapidly accelerating JAVELIN clinical program to be presented
Merck, a leading science and technology company, announced that this year's Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO; June 3-7, 2016, Chicago, IL, U.S.) will feature research on Merck compounds across a broad range of cancers. These reports, which focus on cancers with significant unmet patient need, will inform and advance scientific knowledge within the oncology community. This includes data on avelumab*, Merck's high priority, late-stage investigational immuno-therapy, that is being developed in collaboration with Pfizer.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160518/369530LOGO )
"We have a clear and focused commitment to accelerate oncology innovation and transform the way cancer is treated, both by leveraging our internal expertise and capabilities, and through our collaborations," said Luciano Rossetti, Executive Vice President, Head of Global Research & Development at the biopharma business of Merck. "Avelumab is an example of this strategy coming to life, as it was originally discovered by Merck and is being co-developed with Pfizer. More broadly, we will be presenting data across multiple tumor types at ASCO as we continue to advance our oncology and immuno-oncology pipeline."
Collaborating to bring innovation to cancer patients
Merck and Pfizer are presenting avelumab data at this year's congress that reflect the significant progress this alliance is making. This includes results from the pivotal, Phase II metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma trial which, taken together with data from other challenging tumors being evaluated in the JAVELIN clinical development program, supports efficacy and a favorable safety profile for avelumab. Avelumab, an investigational, fully human, anti-programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) monoclonal antibody, has a dual mechanism of action that is believed to enable the immune system to find and attack cancer cells. Avelumab's clinical program, one of the largest immuno-oncology development programs, now includes approximately 2,200 patients across more than 15 tumor types. Together, the two companies have initiated 30 ongoing monotherapy or combination therapy programs with avelumab, including nine pivotal studies.
Innovation: treatment and beyond
Erbitux (cetuximab) and precision medicine remain a strategic priority for Merck. As a cornerstone of treatment in RAS wild-type mCRC and SCCHN, Merck is committed to exploring Erbitux as an 'anchor' treatment in combination with immuno-therapies in these indications. Erbitux also continues to captivate the interest of leading researchers and the medical community with more than 30 abstracts at ASCO, the majority from investigator-led studies.
Merck aims to improve patients' experiences along their treatment journey by helping patients and physicians to make faster treatment decisions. Merck is the first pharmaceutical company to collaborate with multiple diagnostic companies to co-develop and commercialize innovative liquid biopsy RAS biomarker tests to determine which patients with mCRC would benefit from treatment with Erbitux. At ASCO, Merck's partner Sysmex Inostics will be presenting new data demonstrating the value of the co-developed and commercialized liquid biopsy test, which received CE mark approval earlier this year.
Truly innovative pipeline
Following Merck's strategic reassessment of its portfolio, there is significant potential with later-stage priority programs and Merck's truly innovative early pipeline. Six out of seven of the current pipeline products in Phases I-III were discovered in Merck's labs.
Data will be presented on another of these Merck-discovered compounds, tepotinib**, an investigational, highly selective, small molecule inhibitor of the c-Met receptor tyrosine kinase. The ASCO presentation will report on tepotinib's clinical activity and tolerability in Asian patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, a cancer in which there is a considerable need for new treatment options.
Through Merck's Translational Innovation Platforms in oncology and immuno-oncology, the company is developing differentiated therapeutic drugs targeting distinct cancer hallmarks and multiple immune-system-mediated mechanisms. These include, among others, DNA repair, antibody drug conjugates, oncogenes, tumor antigens, T-cell therapies, and targeted cytokines and chemokines.
*Avelumab is the proposed nonproprietary name for the anti-PD-L1 mAb (also known as MSB0010718C).
**Tepotinib is the proposed nonproprietary name for the c-Met kinase inhibitor (also known as MSC2156119J).
Avelumab and tepotinib are under clinical investigation and have not been proven to be safe and effective. There is no guarantee any product will be approved in the sought-after indication by any health authority worldwide.
Notes to Editors
Accepted Merck-supported abstracts are listed below. In addition, a number of investigator-sponsored studies have been accepted, including several related to Erbitux and avelumab (not listed).
Avelumab
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) in patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer from the JAVELIN Solid Tumor Phase Ib trial: analysis of safety, clinical activity
Lead Author: C Chung
Abstract #: 4009
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 4 08:00-11:30
Session: Poster Session: Gastrointestinal (Noncolorectal) Cancer
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 1)
Title: Maintenance therapy with avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) vs continuation of first-line chemotherapy in patients with unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic gastric cancer: the Phase III JAVELIN Gastric 100 trial
Lead Author: M Moehler
Abstract #: TPS4134
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 4 08:00-11:30
Session: Poster Session: Gastrointestinal (Noncolorectal) Cancer
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 124b)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) + best supportive care (BSC) vs BSC chemotherapy as third-line treatment for patients with unresectable, recurrent, or metastatic gastric cancer: the Phase III JAVELIN Gastric 300 trial
Lead Author: Y-J Bang
Abstract #: TPS4135
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 4 08:00-11:30
Session: Poster Session: Gastrointestinal (Noncolorectal) Cancer
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 125a)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) as a first-line treatment for patients with advanced NSCLC from the JAVELIN Solid Tumor Phase Ib trial: safety, clinical activity, and PD-L1 expression
Lead Author: C Verschraegen
Abstract #: 9036
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 4 08:00-11:30
Session: Poster Session: Lung Cancer-Non-Small Cell Metastatic
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 359)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) vs platinum-based doublet as first-line treatment for metastatic or recurrent PD-L1-positive non-smallcell lung cancer: the Phase III JAVELIN Lung 100 trial
Lead Author: M Reck
Abstract #: TPS9105
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 4 08:00-11:30
Session: Poster Session: Lung Cancer-Non-Small Cell Metastatic
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 425a)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) in patients with advanced cancer: safety data from 1300 patients enrolled in the Phase Ib JAVELIN Solid Tumor trial
Lead Author: K Kelly
Abstract #: 3055
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 5 08:00-11:30
Session: Poster Session: Developmental Therapeutics-Immunotherapy
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 377)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) in combination with other cancer immunotherapies in patients with advanced malignancies: the Phase Ib/II JAVELIN Medley study
Lead Author: A Ribas
Abstract #: TPS3106
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 5 08:00-11:30
Session: Poster Session: Developmental Therapeutics-Immunotherapy
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 422b)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) in patients with advanced unresectable mesothelioma from the JAVELIN Solid Tumor Phase Ib trial: safety, clinical activity, and PD-L1 expression
Lead Author: R Hassan
Abstract #: 8503
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 5 08:00-11:05
Session: Oral Abstract Session: Lung Cancer-Non-Small Cell Local-Regional/Small Cell/Other Thoracic Cancers
Room/Details: Arie Crown Theater
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma from the JAVELIN Solid Tumor Phase Ib trial: analysis of safety, clinical activity, and PD-L1 expression
Lead Author: A Apolo
Abstract #: 4514
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 6 13:00-16:30
Session: Poster Session: Genitourinary (Nonprostate) Cancer
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: A137)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) in patients with advanced adrenocortical carcinoma from the JAVELIN Solid Tumor Phase Ib trial: safety and clinical activity
Lead Author: C Le Tourneau
Abstract #: 4516
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 6 13:00-16:30
Session: Poster Session: Genitourinary (Nonprostate) Cancer
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 138)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) in patients with recurrent/refractory ovarian cancer from the JAVELIN Solid Tumor Phase Ib trial: safety and clinical activity
Lead Author: M Disis
Abstract #: 5533
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 6 13:00-16:30
Session: Poster Session: Gynecologic Cancer
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 356)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) pegylated liposomal doxorubicin vs pegylated liposomal doxorubicin alone in patients with platinum-resistant/refractory ovarian cancer: the Phase III JAVELIN Ovarian 200 trial
Lead Author: E Pujade-Lauraine
Abstract #: TPS5600
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 6 13:00-16:30
Session: Poster Session: Gynecologic Cancer
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 421b)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) in combination with axitinib as first-line treatment for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma
Lead Author: J Larkin
Abstract #: TPS4580
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 6 13:00-16:30
Session: Poster Session: Genitourinary (Nonprostate) Cancer
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 199a)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) in patients with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma previously treated with chemotherapy: results of the Phase II JAVELIN Merkel 200 trial
Lead Author: H Kaufman
Abstract #: 9508
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 6 13:15-16:15
Session: Oral Abstract Session: Melanoma/Skin Cancers
Room/Details: Arie Crown Theater
Tepotinib
Title: Tolerability and activity of tepotinib in Asian patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)
Lead Author: S Qin
Abstract #: 4072
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 4 08:00-11:30
Session: Poster Session: Gastrointestinal (Noncolorectal) Cancer
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 64)
All Merck Press Releases are distributed by e-mail at the same time they become available on the Merck Website. Please go to http://www.merckgroup.com/subscribe to register online, change your selection or discontinue this service.
About Avelumab
Avelumab (also known as MSB0010718C) is an investigational fully human anti-PD-L1 IgG1 monoclonal antibody. By inhibiting PD-L1 interactions, avelumab is thought to enable the activation of T-cells and the adaptive immune system. By retaining a native Fc-region, avelumab is thought to potentially engage the innate immune system and induce antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC). In November 2014, Merck and Pfizer announced a strategic alliance to co-develop and co-commercialize avelumab.
About Erbitux
Erbitux is a highly active IgG1 monoclonal antibody targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). As a monoclonal antibody, the mode of action of Erbitux is distinct from standard non-selective chemotherapy treatments in that it specifically targets and binds to the EGFR. This binding inhibits the activation of the receptor and the subsequent signal-transduction pathway, which results in reducing both the invasion of normal tissues by tumor cells and the spread of tumors to new sites. It is also believed to inhibit the ability of tumor cells to repair the damage caused by chemotherapy and radiotherapy and to inhibit the formation of new blood vessels inside tumors, which appears to lead to an overall suppression of tumor growth.
The most commonly reported side effect with Erbitux is an acne-like skin rash that seems to be correlated with a good response to therapy. In approximately 5% of patients, hypersensitivity reactions may occur during treatment with Erbitux; about half of these reactions are severe.
Erbitux has already obtained market authorization in over 90 countries world-wide for the treatment of colorectal cancer and for the treatment of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). Merck licensed the right to market Erbitux outside the US and Canada from ImClone LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eli Lilly and Company, in 1998. Merck has an ongoing commitment to the advancement of oncology treatment and is currently investigating novel therapies in highly targeted areas.
About Tepotinib
Tepotinib (also known as MSC2156119J) is an investigational small-molecule inhibitor of the c-Met receptor tyrosine kinase capable of inhibiting both hepatocyte growth factor-dependent and -independent c-Met activation in low nanomolar concentrations. Alterations of the c-Met signaling pathway are found in various cancer types and correlate with aggressive tumor behavior and poor clinical prognosis. Tepotinib is currently under evaluation in Phase I/II trials.
About Merck
Merck is a leading science and technology company in healthcare, life science and performance materials. Around 50,000 employees work to further develop technologies that improve and enhance life - from biopharmaceutical therapies to treat cancer or multiple sclerosis, cutting-edge systems for scientific research and production, to liquid crystals for smartphones and LCD televisions. In 2015, Merck generated sales of 12.85 billion in 66 countries.
Founded in 1668, Merck is the world's oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company. The founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed corporate group. Merck, Darmstadt, Germany holds the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the company operates as EMD Serono, MilliporeSigma and EMD Performance Materials.
SOURCE Merck KGaA
LIMA, N.Y., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Electronic Security Expo (ESX) selected Bristol ID Technologies as an ESX Innovation Award Winner.
The ESX Innovation Awards, part of the ESX Expo, honor products and services for their innovative technology, design or application. The Innovation Awards also differentiate how the product or service helps the electronic security dealer, integrator or monitoring company better run, grow and maximize their business as well as rethink the future.
Bristol ID won this prestigious industry award for its entry "Dual Technology Student Access Card." This customizable secure product offers users a durable, secure and convenient product while enhancing the manageability for the student and the educational institution. Dual technology contactless Student ID cards, manufactured by Bristol ID, offer students the luxury of one card for multiple uses room and building access, student union, campus food service, book store and library. Two short range contactless chips allow the card to read with multiple systems while the magnetic strip provides crossover to campus POS systems, one card does it all.
"Having our innovative work recognized by the Electronic Security Association is an honor," said Diane Morsch, Bristol ID's Director of Sales and Marketing. "Here at Bristol ID we are committed to advanced technology, design quality and excellence in production. Receiving an award focusing on these qualities confirms what we do every day for our customers."
Bristol ID's award winning entry will be featured at their Electronic Security Expo booth June 8-10, 2016. The award winning entry is also one of ten award winners selected to compete at the show in a head-to-head "Shark Tank" style competition before a panel of industry sharks. The winner of this challenge will be crowned Best of Show on Wednesday, June 8th in the Exhibit Hall at 2:00 pm.
Bristol ID is a manufacturer of custom plastic cards used in the ID & Security, Gift & Loyalty, Promotional Products and Print industries. Learn more about Bristol ID Technologies at www.bristolid.com.
About the Electronic Security Expo
ESX focuses on the needs of electronic security integration and monitoring companies. It helps electronic security company owners, executive managers and their staff discover best practices, uncover key business and mentoring relationships and learn about the industry's challenges and opportunities.
ESX a venue for manufacturers and distributors to do business with installers, integrators and central alarm station managers. The show serves both residential and commercial security service providers. Please visit the ESX website at www.esxweb.com.
SOURCE Bristol ID Technologies
Related Links
http://www.bristolid.com
BRIDGEWATER, N.J., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Brother International Corporation, a leading provider of printing and imaging solutions, has virtually solved the small office and home office (SoHo) user's two biggest printing challenges: the high cost and the inconvenience of running out of ink when needed. Brother expands its INKvestment line of color inkjet all-in-ones by introducing two, new cost-efficient versions. The MFC-J985DW prints a black and white page for less than a penny and color pages for less than a nickel1 each, while the MFC-J985DW XL includes 12 INKvestment cartridges, eliminating the need to purchase ink for up to two years2. The INKvestment versions are competitively priced at $199 and $299 respectively, without skimping on quality, reliability or business functionality3.
INKvestment Helps Fuel SoHo Users
The expanded line of INKvestment all-in-one devices help small office and home office users leverage technology crucial for their businesses, while spending less money on ink for more pages. INKvestment stretches a SoHo's investment with a single INKvestment Super High-yield black cartridge delivering approximately 2,400 pages, for less than $251 and a single INKvestment Super High-yield color cartridge delivering 1,200 pages for less than $151.
"Regardless of brand of ownership, SoHo customers haven't been shy with expressing their feelings about the price of ink and cartridge yields," said Phil Lubell, Senior Director, Product Marketing, Brother International Corporation. "The new line of Brother INKvestment all-in-ones were created so customers can spend less for more pages, helping reduce their pain point of printing costs while providing Super High-yield cartridges."
XL Delivers Up to Two Years' Worth of Ink in the Box2
A recent study4 found almost half of home offices run approximately 200 print jobs every month. For small office and home office businesses looking for additional value-add to fit their constant print needs, Brother is introducing the MFC-J985DW XL, which combines the MFC-J985DW with 12 Super High-yield INKvestment cartridges5 in the box. With the convenience of up to two full years of ink2 included, buyers can simply install a fresh cartridge and continue printing.
"SoHos consider all-in-one print devices an important component of their daily operations," said small business analyst, Brian Moran, CEO of Brian Moran & Associates and Brother Consultant. "They want to rely on a high quality, no-fuss device that will help their business grow, without breaking the bank."
Understanding the importance of delivering quality solutions with business-capable features for home office environments, Brother has equipped the MFC-J985DW and the MFC-J985DW XL all-in-one devices with the following:
Cloud Services Made Easy in the Home Office Users can directly scan documents to popular services such as Google Drive, Dropbox and Evernote 6 Users can also scan documents to Brother Cloud Apps such as Office, Outline&Copy, Outline&Scan, Outline&Remove, NoteScan and CreativeCenter 7
Mobile Productivity Print from almost any device including smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers, all through the freedom of wireless connectivity (no router required) with Wi-Fi Direct 8 Mobile device capability with AirPrint, Google Cloud Print, Mopria, Wi-Fi Direct, NFC and Brother iPrint&Scan 9
Touchscreen Display Access powerful features via an easy-to-navigate 2.7" Touchscreen display
Business-capable Features Automatic duplex printing and 20 sheet auto-document feeder add convenience and functionality
Dedicated Support Brother provides a two-year limited warranty and toll-free technical phone support for the life of the product
MFC-J985DW MFC-J985DW XL Approximate Average Street Price $199 $299 Yield Includes 4 INKvestment cartridges in the box
Approximately 2,400 black pages and 1,200 color pages total ink yield in the box5 Up to 2 years of ink included using 12 INKvestment cartridges 2 in the box
Approximately 7,200 black pages and 3,600 color pages total ink yield in the box5 Functions Print/Copy/Color Scan/Fax Print/Copy/Color Scan/Fax Max Speed10 12 black/10 color pages per minute 12 black/10 color pages per minute Display 2.7" Touchscreen 2.7" Touchscreen Print Resolution11 6000x1200 dpi 6000x1200 dpi Paper Capacity Up to 100 sheet tray/ 1-sheet bypass for printing no envelopes and cardstock / 20-sheet automatic document feeder Up to 100 sheet tray/ 1-sheet bypass for printing no envelopes and cardstock / 20-sheet automatic document feeder
Availability
Brother's INKvestment all-in-ones, MFC-J985DW and MFC-J985DW XL, are available online now and in Staples, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Best Buy, Amazon, and other fine retailers in 2016. For more information on INKvestment, visit www.brotherinkvestment.com.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Photography available upon request. All referenced trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective companies.
About Brother
Brother (www.brother.com) is an industry leading provider of small and mid-sized business printing and imaging solutions developed to help increase productivity, improve workflow, and enhance organizational efficiency, all while helping to reduce costs. Brother is also a leader in electronic labeling and provides the number one line of facsimile machines in the U.S. The U.S. corporate office in Bridgewater, N.J. was established on April 21, 1954 and currently markets many industrial products, home appliances and business products manufactured by its parent company, Brother Industries, Ltd. of Nagoya, Japan. For more information, visit www.brother.com .
1 Based on MSRP of LC20E black and color ink cartridges and approximate page yield in accordance with ISO/IEC 24711. For more page yield information, see www.brother.com/pageyield.
2 Based on average monthly print volumes of approximately 300 pages (70% black pages / 30% color pages) and approximate page yield in accordance with ISO/IEC 24711 using 12 cartridges provided. For more page yield information, see www.brother.com/pageyield.
3 Approximate average street price may vary.
4 The Brother Business Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research (www.wakefieldresearch.com) among 509 U.S. small business owners and business decision-makers at companies with 500 or fewer employees between December 10th and 18th, 2015, using an email invitation and an online survey. The margin of error for the study was +/- 4.3 percentage points.
5 Actual yield of starter cartridges will be approx. 90% of replacement LC20E Black, and 60% of replacement LC20E Color Series, due to ink system initialization. Approximate page yield in accordance with ISO/IEC 24711. For more page yield information, see www.brother.com/pageyield.
6 Requires Internet connection and an account with desired service. For more details see www.connectprintshare.com
7 Requires Internet connection. See www.connectprintshare.com for details.
8 Requires Internet connection to a wireless network. See www.connectprintshare.com for details, availability, and mobile device compatibility.
9 Requires connection to a wireless network. See www.connectprintshare.com for details, availability, and mobile device compatibility. The Brother iPrint&Scan free app download is not available in all countries. The mobile device must have NFC capability and run Android OS 4.4 or later.
10 ISO print speed based on ISO/IEC 24734. ISO copy speed is based on ISO/IEC 24735. For more information about print speed methodology see www.brother-usa.com/printspeed for details.
11 Resolutions are listed by vertical by horizontal dpi.
Contact: Nina Korfias
MSLGROUP
781-684-0770
[email protected]
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SOURCE Brother International Corporation
TAMPA, Fla., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Yah, mon! Burger 21, an award-winning, "beyond the better burger" fast casual franchise, has captured the exotic flavors of the Caribbean with the launch of its Marley Meltdown Burger and Toasted Coconut Dream Shake, which will be available for a limited time. As part of its unique culture, Burger 21 offers a different chef-inspired burger and hand-crafted shake on the 21st of every month. Additionally, the brand donates 10 percent of its restaurants' sales to a local charity or school in the communities it serves on this day.
Burger 21 Marley Meltdown Burger and Toasted Coconut Dream Shake
Beginning May 21 through June 20, guests can enjoy Burger 21's Marley Meltdown Burger, featuring a jerk seasoned chicken burger topped with Monterey Jack cheese, crispy plantain chips, house-made Caribbean ketchup on a bed of fresh mango salsa and served on a toasted brioche bun. The Toasted Coconut Dream Shake combines vanilla ice cream, cream of coconut and vanilla that's topped with whipped cream and toasted coconut.
"This month, we decided to turn up the heat with the new, flavor-packed Marley Meltdown Burger, while cooling things down with the Toasted Coconut Dream shake," said Mike Remes, corporate chef for Burger 21. "At Burger 21, we like to create memorable dining experiences through our unique recipes, and with our latest featured burger and shake, guests can experience the flavors of the Caribbean without needing a passport."
To celebrate the brand's ongoing commitment to giving back to the communities it serves, all guests who dine at their local Burger 21 restaurant on May 21 will receive a double-punch via its "B Loyal" app, for supporting the restaurants' respective monthly charity partners.
Recognition for Burger 21 includes being named one of Entrepreneur magazine's Top New Franchises of 2016. Additionally, the company has been ranked on Fast Casual's Top 100 "Movers and Shakers" for the last three consecutive years, while Burger 21 Founder and President Mark Johnston was acknowledged as one of Fast Casual's "Top 25 People" of 2014 for his strategic leadership in the brand's growth and development. Burger 21 also was named one of QSR's "Best Franchise Deals" of 2014.
For more information on Burger 21, please visit burger21.com and follow Burger 21 on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. For the latest special offers and promotions, join the B21 Club or download Burger 21's "B Loyal" app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.
To learn more about ownership opportunities with Burger 21, contact Ashley Sawyer, director of franchise development, at 813-327-7881 or [email protected], or visit www.burger21franchise.com.
About Burger 21
With 22 locations now open in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Texas, and more than 20 in development in six states, Burger 21 is a "beyond the better burger" fast casual franchise concept founded in 2010. Headquartered in Tampa, Fla., Burger 21 is a chef-inspired brand with offerings including 21 unique burger creations ranging from hand-crafted, freshly ground Certified Angus Beef to chicken, turkey, vegetarian, shrimp and tuna burgers, fresh salads, all-beef hot dogs, chicken tenders and an extensive shake bar including hand-crafted shakes, floats and sundaes. Since its inception, the company has provided more than $127,000 in contributions as part of its "B Charitable" initiative, in which it donates 10 percent of its restaurants' sales to local schools and charities on the 21st of each month. For more information, visit http://www.burger21.com.
CONTACT: Ellie Mannix
Fish Consulting
(954) 893-9150
[email protected]
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SOURCE Burger 21
Related Links
http://www.burger21.com
The bill on local elections in the uncontrolled territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions is being drafted today by the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, the chairman of the parliamentary Opposition Bloc faction Yuriy Boiko has said.
"The following four provisions of the bill are most important: elections must take place in accordance with the Ukrainian legislation, Ukrainian media must be able to cover the elections there and election commissions must be formed under the supervision of international observers," the press service of the Opposition Bloc said quoting Boiko on Monday.
"All this should be taken into account in the new bill," Boiko said.
Batkivschyna (Fatherland) faction leader Yulia Tymoshenko said that preparations for a draft law on local elections in occupied Donbas were almost completed.
"I know that the draft law elaboration in the occupied territories has almost come to an end. I emphasize: not in areas which have been liberated [by Ukrainian army units], but in territories occupied by Kremlin-led militants. This means "they want democratic elections" to be held in occupied territories," Tymoshenko said at a briefing in Kyiv on Monday.
According to Tymoshenko, if the president proposes a measure providing for the liberation of occupied territories in Donbas, it will tantamount to surrender the territories.
Tymoshenko said parliament would pass the first reading of the bill.
"I have no doubt. There is a parliamentary majority that will support the draft bill on holding elections in the occupied territories. These two political factions the Petro Poroshenko Bloc and People's Front, as well as the pro-Kremlin Opposition Bloc members, will support the measure. This will lead to the further destruction of Ukraine's territorial integrity," Tymoshenko said.
ATLANTA, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- When the international mental health watchdog Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) took a stand at the annual convention of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) against the use of electroshock on children, it was joined by representatives of the NAACP, the Nation of Islam, 10,000 Fearless Men, Black Lives Matter and Concerned Black Clergy.
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Electroconvulsive Therapy, otherwise known as ECT or electroshock treatment, is a technique invented in the 1930s that sends massive amounts of electricity into the brain to induce a seizure.
Protesters reported that bystanders were shocked to learn this practice is still common and stunned to learn that the APA is currently pressuring the Food and Drug Administration to reclassify ECT devices to include their use against children.[2]
"You mean they still do that?" asked one of the security guards where the APA convention took place. "I thought that went out in the '40s."
Not so, says Mental Health America, reporting that "ECT is administered to an estimated 100,000 people a year, primarily in general hospital psychiatric units and in psychiatric hospitals."[3]
The FDA is aware of the danger of ECT. In fact, the FDA's Office of Device Evaluation, part of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, issued a draft guidance in early 2016 recommending a "prominently placed" warning on ECT devices to include "The long-term safety and effectiveness of ECT treatment has not been demonstrated."[4]
The same report lists effects known to be associated with ECT, ranging from:
Long-term problems with "autobiographical memory" (knowledge about one's own life)
Pain and skin burns
Insufficient, or lack of breathing
Heart attack
Stroke
Death
The march was followed by a panel discussion on ECT, and a symposium the following day that presented such compelling information, the only question that remained was "Why on Earth would anyone in their right mind push to use this against children?"
One speaker, an ECT survivor who received 30 rounds of electroshock the year he was 21, doesn't have a single memory of his high school years. He broke into tears while recounting "sitting there, and my father having to teach me how to tie my shoes again."
"It is unconscionable to even consider doing this to a child," said Dr. Linda Lagemann, a clinical psychologist, retired after 23 years in practice. "Someone's getting rich and someone's getting hurt. This really must be stopped."
Atlanta native, Georgia State Senator Donzella James, spoke on the panel on the need for state legislation to ban the use of ECT on children. She said Georgia's provisions to protect children and others from ECT are grossly insufficient. She cited a World Health Organization recommendation to governments that "There are no indications for the use of ECT on minors, and hence this should be prohibited through legislation."[5]
Panel Member Rev. Fred Shaw commented on the unanimous, resounding and spontaneous support for Senator James' proposal, and that this issue brings together this particular mix of people of every persuasion, religious affiliation and socioeconomic delineation, showing that when it comes to our children, we can find unity amongst diversity.
CCHR is a non-profit, non-political, non-religious mental health watchdog established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and professor of psychiatry Dr. Thomas Szasz. Its mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections. CCHR has helped to enact more than 150 laws protecting individuals from abusive or coercive mental health practices.
Click here for more information.
References:
[1] "Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) Devices for Class II Intended Uses," Draft Guidance for Industry, Clinicians and Food and Drug Administration Staff, December 29, 2015, pp. 13-14, fda.gov/downloads/MedicalDevices/UCM478942.pdf.
[2] Letter to Robert M. Califf, M.D., Commissioner, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, from the American Psychiatric Association, March 10, 2016, p. 2, psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/advocacy/federal-affairs/patient-safety, click on: "March 10: APA Comments to the FDA Concerning the Proposed Order and Draft Guidance related to ECT Devices."
[3] "Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)," Mental Health America, psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/advocacy/federal-affairs/patient-safety.
[4] Op. cit., "Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) Devices for Class II Intended Uses," Draft Guidance for Industry, Clinicians and Food and Drug Administration Staff.
[5] Benedetto Saraceno, MD, "WHO RESOURCE BOOK ON MENTAL HEALTH, HUMAN RIGHTS AND LEGISLATION WHO 2005," p. 64, who.int/mental_health/policy/legislation/Resource%20Book_Eng2_WEB_07%20(2).pdf.
This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com
SOURCE Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR)
QUEBEC CITY, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - TSO 3 Inc. (TSX: TOS), an innovator in sterilization technology for medical devices in healthcare settings, announced today that a peer-reviewed paper describing the Company's STERIZONE VP4 Sterilizer has been accepted for publication in the Canadian Journal of Infection Control (CJIC). The paper entitled "The First Dual-Sterilant Low-Temperature Sterilization System" will appear in an upcoming issue of the publication.
The paper, co-authored by Dr Sylvie Dufresne and Dr Thomas Richards, discusses the unique chemistry of the STERIZONE VP4 Sterilizer, the first commercially available dual-sterilant low-temperature sterilization device. In particular, the paper highlights TSO 3 's innovative approach of controlling the sterilization process by use of pressure rather than the traditional sterilization method of sterilant dose and time. The paper also discusses how the device was validated including half-cycle, simulated-use, and "in-use" clinical testing.
"We are very pleased to see this peer-reviewed paper accepted and look forward to its publication in this respected journal in the field of infection prevention and control," stated R.M. (Ric) Rumble TSO 3 's president and CEO. "This paper follows a recent poster presentation by the Company at the IAHCSMM conference in San Antonio, Texas last April and demonstrates TSO 3 's commitment to advancing the science of sterilization."
About the STERIZONE VP4 low temperature sterilizer
The STERIZONE VP4 Sterilizer developed by TSO 3 is a dual sterilant, low temperature sterilization system that utilizes vaporized hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) and ozone. Its single cycle can sterilize a large number and wide range of compatible devices, thereby allowing for a cost effective and error-free sterilization process. TSO 3 's unique Dynamic Sterilant Delivery SystemTM automatically adjusts the quantity of injected sterilant based on the load composition, weight and temperature. With its large 75 lb load capacity and a short cycle time, the STERIZONE VP4 Sterilizer can enhance throughput and lower sterilization cost. The STERIZONE VP4 Sterilizer was cleared for commercialization in the United States in December 2014.
More information about the STERIZONE VP4 Sterilizer is available through TSO 3 's website, under the Products section: http://www.tso3.com/en/products/sterizone-vp4/
About TSO 3
Founded in 1998, TSO 3 (TSX: TOS) is committed to improving the standard of healthcare sterile reprocessing by providing breakthrough sterilization systems, related consumable supplies and accessories for heat-sensitive medical devices. TSO 3 designs products for sterile processing areas in the hospital environment that offer an advantageous replacement solution to other low-temperature sterilization processes currently used in hospitals. It also offers services related to the maintenance of sterilization equipment and compatibility testing of medical devices with such processes. For more information about TSO 3 , visit the company's web site at www.tso3.com.
The statements in this release and oral statements made by representatives of TSO 3 relating to matters that are not historical facts (including, without limitation, those regarding the timing or outcome of any financing undertaken by TSO 3 ) are forward-looking statements that involve certain risks, uncertainties and hypotheses, including, but not limited to, general business and economic conditions, the condition of the financial markets, the ability of TSO 3 to obtain financing on favourable terms and other risks and uncertainties.
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 jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.
The TSX has neither approved nor disapproved the information contained herein and accepts no responsibility for it.
SOURCE TSO3 Inc.
Related Links
http://www.tso3.com
SEATTLE, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnival Corporation & plc, (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), the world's largest leisure travel company, was well represented last month at the sixth annual Port of Seattle Green Gateway Awards, with three of its cruise line brands being recognized for environmental excellence. Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line and Princess Cruises were acknowledged at the Cruise Annual All Agency Pre-Season Reception at the World Trade Center Seattle, which lauded companies that prioritize effective environmental stewardship.
Carnival Corporation's three brands that regularly visit the Port of Seattle each received the Green Gateway Partner Award at the recent luncheon ceremony, which gathered major industry leaders from throughout the region.
Additionally, Carnival Cruise Line won the Program Innovator Award for its waste reduction incentive program, and the Technology Innovator Award went to Holland America for its early adoption of a fuel treatment system that conserves fuel and reduces air emissions. The ceremony specifically commended the Carnival Corporation brands for their environmental initiatives and programs that go above and beyond current regulations and industry standards.
"As a global corporation and across all 10 of our industry-leading cruise line brands, we are firmly committed to responsible sustainability practices to protect and maintain healthy oceans, seas and ports of call," said Roger Frizzell, chief communications officer for Carnival Corporation. "It is not just an operating necessity - one that involves oversight from our corporation's Board of Directors - but it is the right thing to do."
The initiatives awarded in Seattle are among a series of ongoing programs by Carnival Corporation built around the company's commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility. Carnival Corporation recently pledged $2.5 million to The Nature Conservancy and hosted leading conservation, science and sustainability organizations at its headquarters for the Mapping Ocean Wealth annual forum. The company also recently partnered with the U.S. Wildlife Trafficking Alliance to combat the poaching, movement and sale of illegal wildlife products.
The annual ceremony honors industry leaders as judged by independent analysts from EA Engineering, Science and Technology, Inc., and is part of the Port of Seattle's commitment to promoting sustainable practices in regional cruising.
About Carnival Corporation & plc
Carnival Corporation & plc is the largest leisure travel company in the world, with a portfolio of 10 cruise brands in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia comprised of Carnival Cruise Line, Fathom, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard, P&O Cruises (Australia) and P&O Cruises (UK).
Together, these brands operate 101 ships visiting over 700 ports around the world and totaling 225,000 lower berths with 15 new ships scheduled to be delivered between 2016 and 2020. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates Holland America Princess Alaska Tours, the leading tour companies in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Traded on both the New York and London Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation & plc is the only group in the world to be included in both the S&P500 and the FTSE 100 indices.
Additional information can be found on www.carnival.com, www.hollandamerica.com, www.princess.com, www.seabourn.com, www.aida.de, www.costacruise.com, www.cunard.com, www.pocruises.com.au, www.pocruises.com and www.fathom.org.
SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc
Related Links
http://www.Carnivalcorp.com
CLEARWATER, Fla., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Depression is a very devastating illness that takes on many forms. And some forms of depression are very resistant to current available treatments. Patients may lose jobs, spouses, and in some cases, may contemplate taking their own lives. CBS news featured a report on a new breakthrough treatment, IV Ketamine Infusion Therapy, which looks to be the most significant breakthrough in antidepressant medication in decades.
Dr. Ashraf Hanna, a board certified physician and director of pain management at the Florida Spine Institute in Clearwater, Florida discusses PTSD and treatment-resistant depression: "There are many forms of depression that can be treated by a psychiatrist with various modalities, anti-depressants and psychotherapy. IV Ketamine therapy is only reserved for those patients that have treatment-resistant depression that have failed conventional therapy. IV Ketamine infusion therapy has offered a new hope to patients that had no hope."
When asked what prompted his use of IV Ketamine for PTSD and Depression and if any universities were involved in its development, Dr. Hanna went on to say: "There have been multiple universities involved in the research such as Harvard, Yale and Stanford that have proven the success rate of IV Ketamine for treatment-resistant depression. Since I was already successfully using IV Ketamine for CRPS/RSD, Fibromyalgia, Neuropathy, and Lyme disease, with over 7,000 infusions to date, I wanted to expand the treatment for depression, bi-polar and obsessive compulsive disorders. Since I am not a psychiatrist, I do not treat depression, but I work with qualified psychiatrists, and if he or she feels the patient has failed other treatment modalities, I then administer IV Ketamine for treatment-resistant depression."
One of Dr. Hanna's patients, Pamela Williamson, appeared on the show and she spoke about her experience with PTSD and Depression and her IV Ketamine Treatments: "Three years ago, I lost my only child and fell into a deep depression. I spent the first year in bed and then the second and third year, was taking anti-depression medication - but nothing was helping and I was losing hope. I was diagnosed with depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and began looking for other treatments."
Pamela continued: "Dr. Hanna has helped me tremendously, the results from my Ketamine treatments were almost immediate. I am not cured, but the Ketamine made a big change in my depression, I have begun living again and am extremely happy. I think Dr. Hanna is a godsend, I am very grateful for him and his team at The Florida Spine Institute. They are extremely kind and caring."
For over 25 years, Dr. Ashraf Hanna and the Florida Spine Institute have been the leader in pain management and most trusted medical facility in the Tampa Bay area, providing the latest advancements in chronic pain treatment, spine surgery, and the treatment of spine and joint pain.
For more information regarding IV Ketamine Infusion therapy for PTSD and Depression, please visit: http://www.ivketamine.com or call 727-450-3123
SOURCE ivketamine.com
Related Links
http://www.ivketamine.com
ATLANTA, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Everyone has heard of common germs like E.coli or influenza, but what about Streptobacillus moniliformis or Capnocytophaga? If not treated quickly, both can kill people within days. But they are so rare that doctors and labs probably have never seen them and may mistake them for more common diseases like meningitis. Enter MicrobeNet, an innovative online tool designed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that, since 2013, has helped laboratorians and doctors get the information they need to accurately diagnose causes of disease faster and save lives.
MicrobeNet provides laboratorians with unprecedented access to CDC's virtual microbe library of more than 2,400 rare and emerging infectious bacteria and fungi at no cost. The recent multi-state outbreak of Elizabethkingia in Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan underscores the need for a tool like MicrobeNet in diagnostic laboratories. Hospitals and health departments using MicrobeNet can identify rare bacteria like Elizabethkingia quicker, and know they're comparing their results to the most comprehensive and accurate disease database available.
In partnership with Bruker Corp., CDC has recently added a new module to MicrobeNet that allows labs to search the protein signatures of the bacteria and compare them to the rare pathogens in CDC's MicrobeNet library by using Bruker's MALDI Biotyper systems. Using MALDI to test is extremely fast and cheaper to run than many other types of testing, making the technology increasingly popular among labs. The new MicrobeNet module will be immediately available to laboratorians and clinicians using the Bruker system in labs nationwide. Until the addition of the MALDI library, MicrobeNet offered two ways to search pathogens: by DNA sequence or biochemical tests (chemical reactions caused by the bacteria).
MicrobeNet can dramatically improve the health of people in the United States and around the world by cutting the time for testing from about a week to a few hours.
"MicrobeNet has the potential to revolutionize public health," said John R. McQuiston, PhD, team lead for CDC's Special Bacteriology Reference Laboratory and CDC's lead for MicrobeNet. "This system helps public health labs and hospitals quickly identify some of the most difficult pathogens to grow and detect. In turn, MicrobeNet will help treat patients faster and allow health departments to respond to public health emergencies more effectively."
Traditionally, clinicians or laboratorians who needed to identify a rare bacteria or fungi or to confirm an infectious disease diagnosis with one of these organisms needed to send a sample to CDC and await test results. With MicrobeNet, they can access the information they need immediately.
One of MicrobeNet's greatest advantages lies in allowing two-way communications between users and CDC staff who are experts in the diseases that users are searching. MicrobeNet allows state public health experts to monitor disease trends in their state in real time and recognize when those trends might indicate an outbreak. It also provides public health agencies with a valuable snapshot of nationwide disease trends and will help CDC identify multistate outbreaks and provide information to public health partners in the affected states.
In addition to being faster, using the MALDI module in MicrobeNet offers dramatic cost savings for clinical and public health laboratories because they no longer will need to develop their own pathogen libraries. These laboratories will also have the assurance that their information has been confirmed by CDC experts. In addition, for many germs, MicrobeNet provides doctors with information about which antibiotics the bacteria are resistant to. By quickly identifying the species of bacteria, lab staff can pass this critical information to the doctors who can use it to help make a diagnosis and select the right treatment, thus reducing the risk of their patients developing drug-resistant infections.
About MicrobeNet
MicrobeNet was launched in 2013 by the Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology's Special Bacteriology Reference Laboratory as a way to help state public health laboratories and other diagnostic labs rapidly identify rare and emerging infections, with the goal of saving time, money, and lives. MicrobeNet initially had a DNA sequence search module. Since then, MicrobeNet has added a phenotypic and biochemical search tool and, through a partnership with ThermoFisher, a DNA sequence editing tool, MicrobeBridge. CDC has also entered pages of information, including contact information for the subject matter expert for every species.
Funded in part by CDC's Advanced Molecular Detection initiative, MicrobeNet currently includes information about more than 2,400 bacteria and fungi, including images and information about growing these organisms. Every month, CDC adds information on as many as 100 new species to MicrobeNet to aid in detection, diagnosis, and planning treatment for sick patients.
For more information on MicrobeNet, please visit: www.cdc.gov/microbenet. Labs wishing to join MicrobeNet can request an account by visiting https://microbenet.cdc.gov or emailing [email protected].
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
CDC works 24/7 protecting America's 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 America's most pressing health challenges.
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SOURCE Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Related Links
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STAMFORD, Conn., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Cenveo Publisher Services, a division of Cenveo, Inc. (NYSE: CVO), is honored to sponsor the 2016 Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) Annual Meeting that takes place the first week of June in Vancouver. The gold sponsorship is an investment in support of Arizona State University's (ASU) Center for Science and the Imagination, who developed a project called, "Sprint Beyond the Book." In 72 hours during the SSP Annual Meeting, authors, scholars, digital publishers, journalists, service providers, and technologists will create and produce a book that explores important topics on the future of scholarly publishing.
Unique to this project is the integration of special tools and resources that are used within scholarly communications by publishers and authors. Additional project sponsors include Overleaf, Research Square, and JSTOR. The collaboration among sponsors will enrich the project and enhance the authoring and production experience.
"Cenveo Publisher Services is excited to work collaboratively with other sponsors and the attendees at SSP," explains Marianne Calilhanna, director of marketing at Cenveo Publisher Services. "The outcome of this project will be the sharing of remarkable findings that impact the future of scholarly publishing. Those interested can follow our journey and find a link to the final book on our website."
Attendees will have a first-hand view as the book materializes and can participate by reacting to content or contributing their own thoughts and ideas. Six individual "sprints" will be offered as concurrent sessions alongside traditional educational sessions. Each session will confront participants with a different provocation about the future of scholarly publishing. Topics include making research matter, the age of human-machine collaboration, exposing hidden knowledge, the future of the scholarly book, expanding access, and shaping the public square.
"A book is always an artifact of intense collaborationand no small amount of improvisation. Book sprints are an opportunity to bring all of that invisible work and energy into view," said Ruth Wylie, assistant director of the Center for Science and the Imagination at ASU. "We're particularly excited to be working with our sponsors to explore how new publishing workflows and composition technologies are changing the way information, analysis, and insights can be assembled, packaged, and shared."
Previous book sprints have been held at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Arizona State University, and Stanford University's Center for the Study of the Novel. SSP member Amy Brand, Director at MIT Press, who has been working with the team at ASU on other projects, suggested to SSP leadership that the Annual Meeting is a good fit for the Center's next project.
Cenveo Publisher Services, a Cadmus Journal services company, is the industry leader in transformative publishing solutions. Cenveo Publisher Services provides expert content services and innovative technology solutions that drive revenue growth, streamline operations, and ensure editorial excellence. With The Publisher's Office and The Design Studio, Cenveo provides full-service editorial, management, production, and art & design support for print and digital products across the publishing spectrum. For more information, please visit www.cenveopublisherservices.com.
Cenveo (NYSE: CVO), world headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, is a leading global provider of print and related resources, offering world-class solutions in the areas of custom labels, envelopes, commercial print, content management and publisher solutions. The company provides a one-stop offering through services ranging from design and content management to fulfillment and distribution. With a worldwide distribution platform, we pride ourselves on delivering quality solutions and service every day for our customers. For more information please visit us at www.cenveo.com.
Inquiries should be directed to Marianne Calilhanna at (267) 640-9158 or [email protected].
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SOURCE Cenveo, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.cenveo.com
To address these legislative requirements, CH2M will also manage further facility upgrades, including electrical improvements, a new oxygen train, two new secondary clarifiers and high-level disinfection expansion. While drastically reducing ocean outfalls, these measures will also increase the plant's capacity up to 30 percent, from 285 to 368 million gallons a day.
Since 2007, CH2M has delivered more than $30 million in improvements to the South District plant, while also serving as the owner's agent for the district's Ocean Outfall program. To date under its existing contract, the firm has worked on 26 task authorizationsvalued at $90 million in constructionthat are either completed or under way. WASD has graded CH2M's performance with perfect 4.0 ratings on all evaluated projects, and the firm recently accepted multiple awards for its work on the Ocean Outfall program, including a Technology Merit Award for Climate Change Risk Modeling and Assessment from the Climate Change Business Journal, as well as the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce's Corporate Business of the Year Award for its outstanding contributions to the Chamber and local community.
"We're honored to serve as the county's lead wastewater consultant, helping WASD to provide high quality wastewater service and deliver on its mission of protecting public health and the environment," said CH2M Water Business Group President Peter Nicol. "This new contract award is a testament to our partnership with Miami-Dade WASD and the excellent service our team is providing to support the community."
About CH2M
CH2M leads the professional services industry delivering sustainable solutions to clients working on the world's most complex challenges. CH2Mers make a positive difference providing consulting, design, engineering and management solutions for vital infrastructure and resources serving diverse public- and private-sector clients. With $5.4 billion in revenue and ~22,000 people, the firm has offices in 50 countries and four business groups: water; environment and nuclear; transportation; and energy and industrial. Known for managing global events such as the Olympic Games, CH2M ranks among Ethisphere's World's Most Ethical Companies; number-one in environmental consulting and program management by Engineering News-Record; and among sustainability leaders by independent analyst Verdantix. CH2M in 2016 was selected to receive the World Environment Center's Gold Medal Award for International Corporate Achievement in Sustainable Development, and in 2015, received the Stockholm International Water Institute's highest Industry Water Award for advancing innovative potable reuse technologies. To learn more about the CH2M difference, connect with the firm at www.ch2m.com; linkedin.com/company/ch2m; twitter.com/ch2m; facebook.com/ch2mhill; and search for jobs at www.ch2m.com/careers.
Contact:
Lori Irvine
CH2M (Water Business Group)
+1 720 286 3137
[email protected]
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SOURCE CH2M Hill
Related Links
http://www.ch2m.com
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 17th, 2016, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Plaintiffs, that their case based on GM's misrepresentation of safety ratings depicted on the stickers affixed to GM's 2014 Cadillac CTS sedans was appropriately certified as a class action by the district court. (Case: 15-14442)
General Motors challenged a district court order granting a motion for class certification brought in an action pursuant to the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA). The district court's order certified a class comprising all those in Florida who purchased or leased 2014 Cadillac CTS sedans.
As Plaintiffs argued to the district court, Monroney window stickers, which appeared on these new vehicles, were intended to provide safety information and ratings assigned by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The window stickers displayed ratings on a five-star scale in six categories: rollover risk, risk of injury to driver in a frontal crash, risk of injury to passenger in a frontal crash, risk of injury to driver in a side crash, risk of injury to passenger in a side crash, and overall safety rating.
However, in reality, as Plaintiffs allege, the NHTSA had not actually assigned any safety ratings to the 2014 Cadillac CTS sedans at the time of sale to the class members. This fact was acknowledged to these class purchasers in a letter to GM, and the manufacturer tried to assuage the purchasers with offers of On-Star service, satellite radio, and other perks. When the NHTSA did finally assign the safety ratings, as Plaintiffs further allege, not all of them were five-star after all.
The case arises out of law set forth by the FDUTPA, which prohibits "[u]nfair methods of competition, unconscionable acts or practices, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce."
"These purchasers were misled by inaccurate information on these stickers, and relied on the five-star safety ratings in deciding to purchase these vehicles," attorney Don Fountain said. "GM must be held accountable for what appears to be a misrepresentation that enticed innocent consumers to purchase these vehicles based on their safety ratings."
The attorneys at Clark, Fountain, La Vista, Prather, Keen & Littky-Rubin and their co-counsel look forward to litigating this case as a class action, because it involves purchasers of these 2014 Cadillac CTS vehicles all over the country.
SOURCE Clark, Fountain, La Vista, Prather, Keen & Littky-Rubin
Related Links
http://www.clarkfountain.com/
WASHINGTON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Congressman Chaka Fattah (PA-02) announced that Denise Kemp is the winner of this year's Congressional Art Competition for her pencil drawing of Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill. For the first year ever, the winner will also receive a scholarship to attend a 4 week summer program held at the University of Pennsylvania, courtesy of the Julian Krinsky Camps & Programs.
Four student submissions were selected by an independent panel of judges and announced as winners during an awards ceremony on May 17 at Congressman Fattah's Philadelphia district office. The runner-up winner is Ariel Akbar with a photograph entitled "Violate the Bounds of Platitude". The second runner-up winner is Quamere Brown, with pencil, pen and ink portrait of an old man entitled "Former Glory". The final honor was awarded to Haley Schwartz for her photograph, "On a Roll". All four honored artists are high school students in Pennsylvania's Second Congressional District.
"Every year I am inspired by the level of talent and enthusiasm that our students bring to the Congressional Art Competition, which gives them the opportunity to demonstrate their creativity," Congressman Fattah said. "I am proud to announce Denise Kemp as the winner and especially excited to be able to offer her the chance to pursue her passion's further with the help of our friends at the University of Pennsylvania."
"The University of Pennsylvania School of Design is proud to present Denise Kemp with a full scholarship to the Art: Summer at Penn program," said Adrian Castelli at Julian Krinsky. "Denise's hard work and dedication to her art is inspiring. In addition to the Congressional Art Competition award, she will have the privilege of spending four weeks with a group of the most talented high school artists in the world at this enriching program. While hosting students from all over the world, the summer program introduces hard working, local art students to all that Penn has to offer. For this reason, we are proud to partner with the Congressional Art Competition on this incredible effort."
Kemp's art will be displayed at the United States Capitol starting in June, until May 2017. She will join hundreds of other winners from around the country on June 23 to be honored at the Capitol during a reception for all district art competition winners.
The Congressional Art Competition began in 1982 to offer an opportunity for members of Congress to recognize the creative and artistic talents of their young constituents. Since its beginnings, over 650,000 high school students have been involved with the nation-wide competition.
www.fattah.house.gov
SOURCE Office of Congressman Chaka Fattah
Related Links
http://www.fattah.house.gov
SAN FRANCISCO, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CoreMedia, a leading digital experience (DX) company, today announced that its CoreMedia LiveContext solution has achieved validation for both IBM WebSphere Commerce Version 8.0 and IBM Commerce on Cloud. These validations demonstrate CoreMedia's ability to help IBM customers in both B2B and B2C environments deliver engaging digital shopping experiences that blend inspirational content with real-time product data. CoreMedia LiveContext also allows them to optimize the delivery of these experiences across any digital channel, site, language or region.
"This validation demonstrates our commitment to the IBM commerce ecosystem and shows that we have what it takes to meet IBM's strict standards," said Jochen Toppe, VP of Product Management at CoreMedia. "Our out-of-the-box, real-time integration ensures that our joint customers can deliver innovative shopping solutions in less time and with less risk - in both on-premise and hosted environments."
e-Commerce strategies based on a "one-size-fits-all", catalog-driven store are no longer sufficient to attract and retain online shoppers. Tech savvy customers want and expect more as they search for and purchase the newest products through their always-on mobile devices. Working in close coordination with IBM, CoreMedia aims to transform traditional, transaction-based shopping sites into engaging, multi-channel customer experiences that inspire, inform and drive sales.
CoreMedia LiveContext
CoreMedia LiveContext is a content and digital asset management solution that augments the capabilities of existing e-Commerce systems with a range of advanced capabilities including:
Dynamically blend real-time product data, branded content, and rich media
Responsive templates, reusable content assets, and adaptive image handling
Flexible navigation management
Editable text overlays, "drag and drop" image maps, 360 product spinners, shoppable videos, and real-time multi-channel site previews
Manage high-resolution media assets as well as associated renditions and usage rights
Support B2B shopping experiences with automatic contract based-pricing and content filtering
Advanced personalization of both content and commerce elements.
As one of the first partners to receive the IBM Commerce on Cloud validation, CoreMedia has been invited to demonstrate their integration platform at the IBM Engagement Bar in the IBM booth at this year's Amplify conference in Tampa, Florida May 16-18. CoreMedia has its own booth at the show where they are demonstrating how both B2C and B2B e-commerce companies can deliver exceptional online experiences that build emotional connections with shoppers leading to increased traffic, engagement, revenue and loyalty please visit at booth # 400.
Additionally, CoreMedia executives and customers are presenting at the show on a number of topics including:
About CoreMedia
CoreMedia is a leading digital experience (DX) company that has been powering the online strategy of organizations across varied industries for more than 19 years. We partner with our customers to connect them with their audiences wherever they are by seamlessly integrating digital, e-Commerce and social media assets, accelerating time to market, and increasing the productivity of business users. Our solutions also help transform e-Commerce stores by infusing visually compelling and immersive content into the online customer experience, resulting in increased engagement, sales, and loyalty. Established in 1996, CoreMedia is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, with offices in San Francisco, Washington DC, London and Singapore. CoreMedia's clients include global brands, such as Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), BILD, CLAAS, Continental, Deutsche Telekom, Henkel, Internet Broadcasting, Office Depot and Telefonica Germany. For more information on CoreMedia, please click here.
Media Contact :
Ben Jolley
Connect Marketing
+1.801.373.7888
[email protected]
SOURCE CoreMedia
Related Links
http://www.coremedia.com/
Vitaliy Serdiuk, a lawyer for Ukraine's former president Viktor Yanukovych, has called on Ukraine's Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko to ensure the arrival of an investigator to his client and insists that political figures not interfere in the "Maidan case."
"Lawyer Vitaliy Serdiuk is calling on the prosecutor general to ensure the arrival of an investigator to Viktor Yanukovych; insists on political figures' non-interference in the 'Maidan case' and a public statement on the absence of evidence of Yanukovych's involvement in the Maidan shooting, that the proceedings should be as public as possible and that all existing theories of the tragedy be explored," the lawyer said in a press release handed out to journalists in the Interfax-Ukraine office on Wednesday before the press conference on the new circumstances in the case against Yanukovych.
The lawyer also demands that the "Maidan case" materials be made public.
Serdiuk said the Prosecutor General's Office did not collect evidence that could confirm Yanukovych's guilt during the investigation into the "Maidan case." "For this reason, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office should tell that to the public openly and honestly, make the legal proceedings as public as possible and finally begin working on the existing theories of the tragedy," the press release says.
The lawyer later told reporters that no investigative actions are being conducted in regard to the case involving the creation of a criminal organization opened against his client.
"The criminal proceedings against Yanukovych 1048 [case involving the creation of a criminal organization for the purpose of creating a grave or an especially grave crime] was halted more than a year ago, even in 2014; it's been almost two years since it was halted, that is, investigative actions are not being conducted. We have requested an investigation into this case; our request was declined," he told a press conference at the Interfax office.
PUNE, India, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
The report "DC-DC Converter Market for Space by Application (Surveillance, Communication, Navigation, Scientific Research, Remote Sensing), Output Voltage (<3.3, 5, 12, 15 VDC), Output Power (<20, 20-40, 40-100, >100 W), and Geography - Global Forecast to 2020", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market for space is projected to grow from USD 213.2 Million in 2015 to USD 268.2 Million by 2020, at a CAGR of 4.70% by 2020.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 )
Browse 71 market data Tables and 59 Figures spread through 147 Pages and in-depth TOC on "DC-DC Converter Market for Space"
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/dc-dc-converter-market-159918662.html
Early buyers will receive 10% customization On this report.
This growth is mainly attributed to the rise in the number of satellite constellation worldwide, emergence of new power architecture and digital power management and control.The demand for cost effective and high performance power system is also one of the major factors driving the growth of DC-DC converters market for space.
Communication application segment to dominate the DC-DC converters market for space
The rise in the paid TV market and need for communication satellites across the globe have propelled the demand for efficient space DC-DC power modules. This segment is projected to dominate the market during the forecast period.
Output voltage segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period
Among the output voltage segment, the 3.3 VDC is projected to grow at a comparatively higher CAGR during the forecast period. This growth is due to innovation in the field of digital power management and control introduced by market players to support the power systems of newly launched satellites and spacecraft.
Asia-Pacific is estimated to grow at the highest CAGR in the DC-DC converters market for space from 2015 to 2020
The Asia-Pacific region is projected to grow at a higher CAGR in the DC-DC Converters Market for space due to the emergence of rising paid TV market. The paid TV market is growing at a faster rate in the Asia-Pacific region due to growing demand for paid TV channels. This growth will increase the number of satellite launches in the region, which will drive the DC-DC converters market for space as power devices are essential equipment to keep the satellite operational in the space.
Top players in the DC-DC converters market for space
The key players operating in the DC-DC converters market for space are Crane Aerospace and Electronics (U.S.), Infineon Technologies Inc. (Germany), Microsemi Corporation (U.S.), Vicor Corporation (U.S.), Synqor Inc. (U.S.), and Modular Devices Inc. (U.S.).
Inquiry Before Buying : http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=159918662
The report segments and analyzes the DC-DC converters market for space on the basis of application (remote sensing, surveillance, communication, navigation and scientific research), output power (<20w, 20-40W, 40-100W and >100W) and output voltage (3.3 VDC, 5 VDC, 12 VDC, 15 VDC and others) and maps these segments and subsegments across four major regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, RoW (Rest Of World).
Browse Related Reports
Small Satellite Market by Type (Nano, Mini, & Microsatellite), by Application (Earth Observation & Meteorology, Scientific Research & Exploration, Surveillance & Security, and Others), by End-User, by Geography - Global Forecast to 2021
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/small-satellite-market-150947396.html
About MarketsandMarkets
MarketsandMarkets is the world's No. 2 firms in terms of annual 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 info graphics 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:
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Markets and Markets
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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
Serving major cities and cultural centres, France-Spain High Speed international trains are the easiest way to travel. The direct high speed connection between France and Spain allows travellers to seamlessly connect to 17 cities in France and Spain including Marseille in the French Riviera, Paris, and Lyon, to Barcelona, and Marseille to Madrid. Travel between Paris and Barcelona and enjoy city-centre to city-centre travel in just over 6 hours; ride from Barcelona to Toulouse in just over 3 hours; or venture from Spain's capital, Madrid, to Marseille in just over 7 hours.
No matter the route, France-Spain High Speed international trains' 1st class cars pamper the traveller at every level with spacious seating and generous legroom. Amenities include: access to power outlets, meals available for purchase, a designer interior with leather seats, and access to the club lounges at select train stations.
Take advantage of 1st class savings and book today by visiting Rail Europe's website at raileurope.com or by calling Rail Europe's Customer Care Centre. Restrictions may apply, see terms and conditions.*
For travellers whose journeys include Paris, Rail Europe invites them to share their explorations on social media with #ParisWeLoveYou, to express their love for the incredible French city.
TERMS & CONDITIONS:
*First class France-Spain High Speed international tickets show under "Comfort" on the Rail Europe websites. Bookings of 1st class France-Spain High Speed international train tickets of $90 or more (before shipping) made with coupon code 25FRANCESPAIN from May 17 through 5:00pm ET on June 15, 2016 will be eligible. Offer is valid for bookings of 1st class France-Spain High Speed international train tickets on international routes only. Minimum booking value of $90 required. Offer is limited to the first 760 bookings or until the promotion's end date of 5:00 pm ET on June 15, 2016 whichever comes first. Group bookings of 10 or more travelers are excluded from this offer. One coupon code per booking may be applied. No other coupon code discounts can be combined. Offer is subject to change or extension without notice. No adjustments can be made on prior purchases.
About Rail Europe
Rail Europe represents more than 50 European train companies and is a one-stop shop for European rail travel planning and booking. Rail Europe, Inc., is the largest distributor of European rail products in North America, offering a wide range of passes and train tickets to North American travellers. An essential part of the vacation planning process, the company's Web site offers a user-friendly booking engine, knowledgeable experts, online rail pass finder, virtual tours, interactive maps and much more. Rail Europe provides a worry-free, cost and time-effective and seamless travel experience by enabling customers to purchase tickets and plan travel details in advance.
For more information or to book a trip with Rail Europe, visit raileurope.com . Trips can also be reserved by speaking to a Rail Europe Travel Consultant at 1-800-438-7245 (U.S.), 1-800-361-7245 (Canada) or 1-888-337-8687 (Mexico). To book rail for groups of 10 or more, please contact the Group Department at https://www.raileurope.com/group-travel/group-travel.html.
For the latest Rail Europe news, downloadable videos and high-resolution photos of European trains, media can visit the newsroom at www.raileurope.com/about-us/about-us.html.
Connect with Rail Europe on:
Facebook
Twitter (@RailEurope)
Instagram
Youtube
Google+
Pinterest
Blog
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SOURCE Rail Europe
Related Links
http://www.raileurope.com
Aiming for a modern, stylish color that is equally soft and calming, the brands' lead designers worked collaboratively to create a rich, neutral hue to set the tone rather than dominate the room. Blurring the line between natural and man-made, Single Malt boasts a distinctive warm and rustic shade to evoke the essence of simple indulgences like cognac, whiskey and cigars as well as the aromatic notes of leather and coffee.
Each brand incorporated Single Malt into a unique selection of products resulting in a suite of signature accents to outfit the ELEVATE urban loft space. Schmidt drew inspiration from Scandinavian designs with clean whites, sharp blacks and a mix of modern and organic lines, textures and materials. Mary Jo Peterson, an interior designer with kitchen design expertise, collaborated with Schmidt to ensure the overall aesthetic translated into a supremely functional kitchen.
Schmidt, owner of JWS Interiors said, "I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to work with a group of such innovative brands to shake up the design space and transform home accentsfrom faucets, kitchen appliances and countertops to door hardware, doors and fansinto design statements. My vision for the loft was to use the accent pieces as the starting point and really allow that to drive the color story while keeping the overall aesthetic chic, timeless and luxurious."
In the heart of the home, the open concept kitchen features striking countertops made of modern and sophisticated large-scale 180fx by Formica Group laminate in a custom Bourbon Trail marble design. KitchenAid appliances including the 36" Multi-Door Freestanding Refrigerator, Single Wall Oven with Even-Heat True Convection and 44 dBA dishwasherall in black stainlessprovided smart features and unmatched performance. Rounding out the design, the Delta Trinsic Pro faucet in a brushed steel finish delivers the flexibility and industrial style of a professional chef's faucet and the convenience of Touch 2 O Technology, which turns the faucet on or off with just a touch. The Delta Ara Collection introduced a contemporary bathroom design with angular silhouettes found in the faucet and showerhead.
Peterson, owner of Mary Jo Peterson, Inc. said, "With the open concept layout, creating supreme functionality in a kitchen fit for a chef while maintaining a warm and inviting design aesthetic was paramount for the loft design. Each brand customized a selection of its top products to bring together the ultimate in form and function in the space."
The living room features the beautifully-crafted Ronan ceiling fan while the bedrooms showcase the contemporary Sentinel and the modern Apple HomeKit Symphony smart fansall three engineered to perform and designed to inspire by Hunter Fan. Creating a cohesive feel, each room was outfitted with doors from the JELD-WEN MODA Door Collection, including a custom three-panel barn door leading to the kitchen pantry. Each interior door was then outfitted with Schlage's decorative Northbrook Lever with Upland rose in Matte Black to carry the design theme in every detail throughout the home.
Additional product sponsors that contributed to the ELEVATE Design Collective loft include Maxton and Cornell Maple cabinets from KraftMaid, Italian Alps ceramic wall tile from Daltile, a Brisbane Collection sink from Oliveri and Ultra Pure White interior paint from Behr. The loft also features a wireless multi-room Wi-Fi audio system with POLK Omni S2 speakers from POLK Audio.
To learn more about the ELEVATE Design Collective, the urban loft and the participating brands, visit ELEVATE Design Collective to receive updates and join the conversation on the ELEVATE Instagram and Facebook pages.
About The ELEVATE Design Collective
The ELEVATE Design Collective is a first-of-its-kind alliance of industry-leading brands that have come together to bring home accents to the forefront of the style and design conversation in home remodeling and renovation. The 2016 ELEVATE Design Collective is transforming the look and feel of the entire home with brands including Delta Faucet Company, Formica, Hunter Fan, JELD-WEN, KitchenAid and Schlage. For more information, visit ELEVATE Design Collective and join the conversation on the ELEVATE Instagram and Facebook pages.
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SOURCE ELEVATE Design Collective
Related Links
http://www.elevatedesigncollective.com
Elevation purchased the multifamily apartment community in 2014 for $3.8 million and immediately initiated its Serenity rebranding process. This involved significant capital renovations and upgrades throughout the property, including replacement of all windows and the creation of a new leasing office. Through the strong oversight of Elevation Property Management, the community increased its Net Operating Income by over 320% in only 15 months. With over 2,400 units in the management portfolio, Elevation Property Management manages multifamily apartment communities and senior towers throughout the Southeast United States.
"This 2014 acquisition and 2016 disposition represents the strongest Elevation transaction to date. Remarkably, through the implementation of cost-reducing environmentally sustainable systems, Elevation created such significant value without displacing residents or dramatically raising rents. This property has been properly re-positioned to deliver safe, clean and affordable housing for years into the future and we wish the new owner much success," said Chris King, CEO and President, Elevation Financial Group, LLC.
Elevation Financial Group, through its subsequent fund, continues to own and operate the nearby 419-unit Serenity Apartments at Three Rivers, located in Columbia, South Carolina, as well as the 152-unit Serenity Apartments at Spartanburg, located in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
About Elevation
Elevation Financial Group, LLC, a real estate private equity company, leads an award-winning group of companies with a focus and mission to acquire, revitalize and operate affordable apartment communities for independent seniors and families. Elevation raises capital through no-load private placement funds subscribed to by accredited investors. Through a consortium of companies specializing in real estate investment, property renovation and property management, Elevation has delivered superior financial returns to its investors while making a positive and distinctive impact on the communities we serve.
For further information visit: www.ElevationFinancialGroup.com
Contact:
Angela Howell
Director, Marketing and Communications
Elevation Financial Group
407-215-1350
[email protected]
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SOURCE Elevation Financial Group, LLC
Related Links
http://elevationfinancialgroup.com
TEL-AVIV, Israel, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Ellomay Capital Ltd. (NYSE MKT; TASE: ELLO) ("Ellomay" or the "Company"), an emerging operator in the renewable energy and energy infrastructure sector, today announced that it will hold its annual general meeting of shareholders (the "Meeting") on Wednesday, June 22, 2016, at 3:00 p.m., Israel time, at Ellomay's offices located at 9 Rothschild Boulevard, 2nd Floor, Tel-Aviv 6688112, Israel.
The agenda of the Meeting will be as follows:
1. Reelection of Shlomo Nehama, Ran Fridrich, Hemi Raphael and Anita Leviant as directors;
2. Approval of the updated compensation policy for the Company's directors and officers;
3. Approval of a three-year extension of the Management Services Agreement among the Company, Meisaf Blue & White Holdings Ltd. and Kanir Joint Investments (2005) Limited Partnership;
4. Reappointment of Somekh Chaikin, a member of KPMG International, as the independent auditors of the Company for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2016 and until the next annual general meeting of the Company's shareholders, and authorization of the Board of Directors to approve, following the approval of the Audit Committee, the remuneration of the independent auditors in accordance with the volume and nature of their services; and
5. Receipt and consideration of the Auditors' Report and the Financial Statements of the Company for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015.
Shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 23, 2016 will be entitled to vote at the Meeting or any adjournments thereof. The Company plans to mail a proxy statement that describes the proposals to be considered at the Meeting and a proxy card on or about May 24, 2016. The proxy statement and proxy card will also be furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Form 6-K on or about May 18, 2016.
Each of the resolutions to be presented at the Meeting requires the affirmative vote of holders of at least a majority of the ordinary shares voted in person or by proxy at the Meeting on the matter presented for passage. However, the approval of the proposals under Items 2 and 3 is required to comply with additional special "disinterested" voting requirements as set forth in the proxy statement. Item 5 does not require a shareholder vote.
Shareholders wishing to express their position on an agenda item for the Meeting may do so by submitting a written statement to the Company's offices at the above address no later than June 12, 2016. Any position statement received will be furnished with the SEC on Form 6-K, which will be available to the public on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov and on the websites of the Israel Securities Authority and Tel Aviv Stock Exchange at http://www.magna.isa.gov.il or http://maya.tase.co.il , respectively. Eligible shareholders may present proper proposals for inclusion in the Meeting by submitting their proposals to the Company no later than May 25, 2016.
Shareholders may vote their ordinary shares by means of a deed of vote or proxy card, which are required to be received by the Company, along with the documentation set forth in the Proxy Statement, by 11:00 a.m., Israel time, on June 22, 2016 (four hours prior to the Meeting), to be counted for the Meeting.
About Ellomay Capital Ltd.
Ellomay is an Israeli based company whose shares are registered under the trading symbol "ELLO" with the NYSE MKT, and with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Since 2009, Ellomay Capital focuses its business in the energy and infrastructure sectors worldwide. Ellomay (formerly Nur Macroprinters Ltd.) previously was a supplier of wide format and super-wide format digital printing systems and related products worldwide, and sold this business to Hewlett-Packard Company during 2008 for more than $100 million.
To date, Ellomay has evaluated numerous opportunities and invested significant funds in the renewable, clean energy and natural resources industries in Israel, Italy and Spain, including:
Approximately 22.6MW of photovoltaic power plants in Italy and approximately 7.9MW of photovoltaic power plants in Spain; and
Approximately 9.2% indirect interest, with an option to increase its holdings to 9.375%, in Dorad Energy Ltd., which owns and operates Israel's largest private power plant with production capacity of approximately 850 MW, representing about 6%-8% of Israel's total current electricity consumption.
Ellomay Capital is controlled by Mr. Shlomo Nehama, Mr. Hemi Raphael and Mr. Ran Fridrich. Mr. Nehama is one of Israel's prominent businessmen and the former Chairman of Israel's leading bank, Bank Hapohalim, and Messrs. Raphael and Fridrich both have vast experience in financial and industrial businesses. These controlling shareholders, along with Ellomay's dedicated professional management, have accumulated extensive experience in recognizing suitable business opportunities worldwide. The expertise of Ellomay's controlling shareholders and management enables the company to access the capital markets, as well as assemble global institutional investors and other potential partners. As a result, we believe Ellomay is capable of considering significant and complex transactions, beyond its immediate financial resources.
For more information about Ellomay, visit http://www.ellomay.com.
Information Relating to Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties, including statements that are based on the current expectations and assumptions of the Company's management. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release regarding the Company's plans and objectives, expectations and assumptions of management are forward-looking statements. The use of certain words, including the words "estimate," "project," "intend," "expect," "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. Various important factors could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those that may be expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements, such as regulatory changes and limitations. These and other risks and uncertainties associated with the Company's business are described in greater detail in the filings the Company makes from time to time with Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 20-F. The forward-looking statements are made as of this date and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Contact:
Kalia Weintraub
CFO
Tel: +972-(3)-797-1111
Email: [email protected]
SOURCE Ellomay Capital Ltd
CHICAGO, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Investment consultancy Ellwood Associates announced today that it has entered into a purchase agreement to acquire Colorado-based Watershed Investment Consultants, subject to customary closing conditions, including obtaining consents from Watershed clients. The closing is expected to occur on or about May 31st. Ellwood and Watershed are both private, S.E.C. registered, employee-owned firms that provide research-based investment related counsel and services for institutions and high net worth individuals and families. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
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According to Russell Hill, Ellwood's Chairman and CEO, "This combination is designed to benefit the clients of both firms. Ellwood clients will gain from the addition of three highly respected investment professionals with decades of experience, who share our core values and standards of client service. Watershed clients will gain from the professional depth and operational and research resources that Ellwood has established over the past 39 years."
Upon completion of the transaction, Watershed's three principals Dale Connors, Paul Schreder and Kevin Yoshida will become Senior Consultants and have equity ownership positions at Ellwood, and will continue to operate from Watershed's current location in Greenwood Village, Colorado. The transaction will not affect existing relationships with Ellwood clients, or the current operating structure of Ellwood. Watershed clients will become clients of Ellwood upon completion of the transaction.
Watershed's Managing Director, Paul Schreder, noted that, "There are very few firms, regardless of size, that we believed would make it worthwhile for Watershed to retire its brand name. But Ellwood's longstanding reputation in investment consulting, its deep research and operational resources, and demonstrated independence, integrity and client focus, convinced us that a partnership would enable us to better serve our clients, and to grow professionally by being part of a larger team. We will be proud to be associated with the Ellwood brand."
About Ellwood Associates and Watershed Investment Consultants
Both firms are 100% employee-owned, independent investment consultancies with no parent organization or affiliate organizations. Investment consulting is their only business and sole source of revenue. Both firms provide a range of services that address the investment needs of corporations, endowments, foundations, health care institutions and high net worth individuals and families. Ellwood Associates (www.ellwoodassociates.com) was established in 1977 and Watershed Investment Consultants (www.watershedinvest.com) was established in 1998.
Contact:
Gordon G. Andrew
Andrew + Selikoff Partners
Email
(609) 987-0200
SOURCE Ellwood Associates
Related Links
http://www.ellwoodassociates.com
PETACH TIKVA, Israel, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Emerald Medical Applications Corp. (OTCQB: MRLA) ("Emerald" or the "Company"), the Israeli-based company engaged in the development and sale of DermaCompare, its proprietary artificial intelligence technology and application for the early diagnosis of melanoma and other skin cancers, today announced that Dr. Ben-Zion Weiner has joined the Company's Scientific Advisory Board.
From 1975 to 2012, Dr. Weiner held executive positions with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (NYSE: TEVA) and its subsidiaries ("Teva"). He was Vice President of Global Products of Teva from 2005 to 2011 where he was responsible for global Generic and Innovative Research and Development.
Dr. Weiner was also a Member of the Core Management Committee.
Dr. Weiner holds a B.Sc. Degree in General Chemistry and Biochemistry, graduating with distinction at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, a M.Sc. Degree in Organic Chemistry, graduating with distinction at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Ph.D. Degree from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Dr. Weiner did his Post-Doctorate studies at Schering Plough Corporation in Bloomfield, New Jersey, on "Exploratory work of new drugs, research in organic chemistry, and pharmacology." Dr. Weiner received twice the Rothschild Prize for Innovation/Export for the development of Copaxone(R) for Multiple Sclerosis and for the development of alpha D3 for Dialysis and Osteoporosis.
Dr. Weiner commented, "I am pleased with the high potential of Emerald's DermaCompare technology. My pharmaceutical background will allow me to consult and advise the company on how to maximize current and future applications for the technology. Dr. Weiner went on saying: "I am honored and privileged to join forces with Professor Perry Robbins and Lior Wayn, CEO of Emerald Medical Applications Corp., stated, "I would like to officially welcome Dr. Weiner to our Scientific advisory board. His qualifications and expertise in the areas of chemistry, pharmacology and pharmaceutical products will undoubtedly be of significant value as we explore to maximize our DermaCompare's potential. I believe that our ability to combine the power of artificial intelligence with the utility of a mobile app will revolutionize the way we detect and diagnose melanoma and, in the future, other skin conditions.
About Emerald Medical Applications Corp
Emerald Medical Applications is an Israeli-based medical technology company that utilizes proprietary military image processing technology and state of the art data analytics to improve the analysis of medical images. Emerald's flagship solution, DermaCompare, is an FDA Class #1 approved, HIPPA-compliant, skin cancer (melanoma) screening platform that enables physicians to identify and monitor changes in their patients' skin health, specifically the early detection of cancerous moles and skin anomalies.
The DermaCompare patient application is available in Mac or Android based platforms and works using virtually any digital camera, including cell phones, iPads, tablets and other similar devices, to take Total Body Photography ("TBP") images and, in real-time, transmit these images for dermatological evaluation and identification of suspicious moles, lesions and other skin conditions. These images are then compared using Emerald's cloud database, as well as the patient's previous Total Body Photography images, which will dramatically enhance a physician's ability to detect Melanoma earlier, more accurately and more efficiently than other means of diagnosis.
For more information, visit: http://www.dermacompare.com/
Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements, about Emerald's expectations, beliefs or intentions regarding, among other things, its product development efforts, business, financial condition, results of operations, strategies or prospects. In addition, from time to time, Emerald or its representatives have made or may make forward-looking statements, orally or in writing. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "believe," "expect," "intend," "plan," "may," "should" or "anticipate" or their negatives or other variations of these words or other comparable words or by the fact that these statements do not relate strictly to historical or current matters. These forward-looking statements may be included in, but are not limited to, various filings made by Emerald with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, press releases or oral statements made by or with the approval of one of Emerald's authorized executive officers. Forward-looking statements relate to anticipated or expected events, activities, trends or results as of the date they are made. Because forward-looking statements relate to matters that have not yet occurred, these statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause Emerald's actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Many factors could cause Emerald's actual activities or results to differ materially from the activities and results anticipated in such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the factors summarized in Emerald's filings with the SEC. In addition, Emerald operates in an industry sector where securities values are highly volatile and may be influenced by economic and other factors beyond its control. Emerald does not undertake any obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Reference is made to the disclosure under "risk factors" included in our Registration Statement on Form S-1 which was declared effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on January 20, 2016.
Contact:
Lior Wayn, CEO
+1-917-7242059
+972-50-6816300
[email protected]
SOURCE Emerald Medical Applications Corp.
NEW YORK, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Mailjet, the European leader in email deliverability, announces today that it has officially been made available for Google Cloud Platform. As a globally-focused, EU data compliant, email service provider available from Google Cloud Platform, Mailjet gives developers and enterprises a powerful solution for creating and delivering transactional and marketing emails to customers worldwide.
Within Google App Engine and Google Compute Engine, Mailjet's REST API, SMTP relay and optimized deliverability can be easily leveraged. Developers can now send and receive timely messages and alerts, conduct email marketing automation, parse inbound traffic, and track email events in real-time. Users will also have access to a user interface which includes a visual real-time metrics dashboard and email marketing features such as A/X testing, Campaign Comparison and Segmentation.
With Google Cloud Platform being one of the world's major cloud infrastructures, Mailjet is extremely excited to have its global deliverability engine readily accessible within the platform.
DESIGNED FOR GLOBAL COMPANIES
Developers and enterprise clients using Google Cloud Platform will have access to a globally-focused email service provider. With offices in Paris, New York, London, Berlin, Sofia, Toronto and Vietnam, Mailjet offers user interfaces, documentation and 24/7 customer support in 4 languages (English, French, Spanish, German).
With servers that are entirely EU-based, Mailjet simultaneously complies with data privacy regulations in Europe and the US. With a global network being one of the key features of Google Cloud Platform, Mailjet and its 360 global emailing solution further support Google's globally-focused clients.
TECHNOLOGY AND SCALABILITY AS A PRIMARY FOCUS
IT teams and developers on Google Cloud Platform can now leverage our all-in-one email service to power their transactional and marketing emails. By providing a scalable, turn-key email infrastructure and deliverability service, Mailjet lets companies concentrate on their core product instead of the complexities of email sending. Our comprehensive step-by-step guides are available in 7 programming languages (cURL, PHP, Ruby, Python, Go, Java, NodeJS).
Mailjet is also the only email service providing a fully email-responsive markup language (MJML). Emails coded using MJML are translated to responsive HTML, enabling automatic email adaptation to any client, browser or device. Creating responsive emails using MJML requires shorter amounts of code, allowing developers to become at least 50% more efficient.
"Mailjet is very excited to be accessible from Google Cloud Platform and proud to bring Mailjet's global email deliverability technology to the same cloud platform that gives enterprise-grade compute, storage, big data and service solutions to developers and IT teams."
-Alexis Renard, CEO of Mailjet
PRICING AND BENEFITS FOR GOOGLE CLOUD PLATFORM USERS
Special pricing plans (starting at Free) with enhanced benefits are available to Google Cloud Platform users signing up to Mailjet. Mailjet's REST API, SMTP Relay, Optimized Deliverability, Global Support, Reporting, Email Personalization and more are standard features available to all users. Premium plans include A/X Testing, Segmentation and Campaign Comparison. Silver Plans and above gain additional access to Dedicated IPs and Reputation Monitoring.
ABOUT MAILJET
Mailjet is a powerful all-in-one email service provider that enables online businesses to send transactional and marketing email and better understand their contacts send after send. Mailjet's intuitive tools and powerful APIs give senders the right amount of analytics to get the most value from each recipient, campaign and inbox. Founded in France in 2010, Mailjet is a market leader for email infrastructure and deliverability and serves more than 32,000 customers globally such as Galeries Lafayette, TagHeuer and Sketchfab. For more information, visit mailjet.com .
Press Contact:
Michyl Culos
Channel Marketing Manager
[email protected]
SOURCE Mailjet
NEW YORK, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- European Police Modernization & First Responders Markets - 2016-2022
Europe's 2.55 million police officers and 820,000 1st responders are facing ISIS terror attacks and threats coupled with the surge in entry of 1.8 million migrants (UN data) with far greater complexity than ever before.
Germany's police forces and other 1st responders (which include only 9% of the European police officers and 1st responders) are forecast by 2020 to procure 22% of the continent's market for police and 1st responder's related goods and services. The European police forces challenges were best stated in March 2016 by Mr. E. Walter, Chairman of the German Federal Police (DPoIG): "Germany's police (is) the first and last line of defense and response to any terror attack; they're simply not equipped for the challenge. Where we are not prepared is with the policeman on the street; normally the first to confront terrorists. (For example) we need modern weapons. We need armed helmets against shooting by a Kalashnikov. We have very old weapons in the German police force. The machine guns are the machine pistol MP5 it is about 50 years old".
Present European police agencies' capabilities simply can't meet Europe's Terror & Migration Crisis challenges. Following the Paris and Brussels terror attacks a major overhaul of the European police forces infrastructure and funding is already in progress.
The "European Police Modernization & First Responders Markets 2016-2020" report is the most comprehensive review of the market available today. It provides a detailed and reasoned roadmap of this growing market.
The market is set to undergo a major transformation from 2016-2022 through the following drivers:
The Paris and Brussels 2015-2016 terror attacks shook the European police agencies, governments and public unlike any other recent homegrown or ISIS-Da'esh-inspired terrorist attacks since they were complex and well-planned.
Western Europe, the largest economy in the world with a 2015 GDP of approximately $22 trillion (vs. the U.S. $17.5 trillion), can invest "whatever it takes" in its police forces to protect its citizens from the looming risks of terrorism and immigration.
The Western European police forces are ill equipped to counter 21st century terrorists who use cutting edge encrypted communication, conduct remarkable pre-attack intelligence by jihadists who have been trained by ISIS ex-Iraqi military officers on planning and conducting modern day guerrilla warfare, and use modern weapons.
Europol estimates that up to 11,000 European jihadists (5000 in Western Europe and 6000 in Eastern Europe) have returned to Europe after obtaining combat experience on the battlefields of the Middle East.
The European Police Office (EUROPOL) estimates that there are 4 million unregistered illegal firearms in the Balkans, and over 30,000 military-grade weapons from the former Yugoslavia in circulation in Western Europe.
The Law Enforcement, Police modernization & 1st Responder industry faces a considerable challenge in seeking to provide the necessary solutions to current and future threats. At the same time, this challenge presents immense opportunities for the defense and security industries able to deliver effective functions, integrate systems and maximize security and productivity per $ invested.
The EU and the rest of the European police & 1st responders' market for products and services are served by local defense and security companies. Even with a preference for locally manufactured products, foreign products can usually strongly compete on the basis of cost-performance. They do not encounter any EU direct trade barriers or quotas. Non-tariff, indirect trade barriers may be the approval process of dual use goods, which include many security market products.
This report is a resource for executives with interests in the market. It has been explicitly customized for the security industry and other decision-makers in order to identify business opportunities, developing technologies, market trends and risks, as well as to benchmark business plans.
Questions answered in this 185-page report + one* report include:
What will the market size and trends be during 2016-2022?
Which submarkets provide attractive business opportunities?
Who are the decision-makers?
What drives the police and 1st responder agencies to purchase products and services?
What are the customers looking for?
What are the technology & services trends?
What is the market SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats)?
What are the challenges to market penetration & growth?
With 185 pages, 21 tables and 32 figures, the "European Police Modernization & First Responders Markets 2016-2022" report covers 12 countries and regions and 3 revenue source submarkets, offering for each of them 2015 data and assessments, and 2016-2022 forecasts and analyses.
* Customers who purchase a multi-readers license of the report will get the "Global Homeland Security & Public Safety Industry 2016 Edition" report free of charge. Single-reader license customers will get a 50% discount for the Industry report.
Why Buy this Report?
A. Market data is analyzed via 2 key perspectives:
With a highly fragmented market we address the "money trail" each dollar spent via the following 2 viewpoints:
By 12 Country Markets:
UK
France
Holland & Belgium
Sweden, Norway, Finland & Denmark
Germany
Austria & Switzerland
Italy
Spain
Poland
Hungary & Czech Republic
Russia
Rest of Europe
By 3 Revenue Sources:
Products Sales Revenues
After Sale Revenues Including: Maintenance, Service, Upgrades & Refurbishment
Other Revenues Including: Planning, Training, Consulting, Contracted Services & Government Funded R&D
B. Detailed market analysis frameworks for each of the market sectors:
Market drivers & inhibitors
Business opportunities
SWOT analysis
Competitive analysis
Business environment
The 2015-2022 market segmented by 36 submarkets
C. The report includes the following 4 appendices:
Appendix A: European Homeland Security & Public Safety Related Product Standards
Appendix B: The European Union Challenges and Outlook
Appendix C: Europe Migration Crisis & Border Security
Appendix D: Abbreviations
D. The report addresses over 300 European Homeland Security and Public Safety standards (including links)
E. The supplementary (*) "Global Homeland Security & Public Safety Industry 2016 Edition" report provides the following insights and analyses of the industry including:
The Global Industry 2016 status
Effects of Emerging Technologies on the Industry
The Market Trends
Vendor Government Relationship
Geopolitical Outlook 2016-2022
The Industry Business Models & Strategies
Market Entry Challenges
The Industry: Supply-Side & Demand-Side Analysis
Market Entry Strategies
Price Elasticity
Past Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Events
F. The supplementary (*) "Global Homeland Security & Public Safety Industry 2016 Edition" report also provides a May 2016 updated extensive data (including company profile, recent annual revenues, key executives, homeland security and public safety products, and contact info.) of the leading 119 Homeland Security and Public Safety vendors including:
3M
3i-MIND
3VR
3xLOGIC
ABB
Accenture
ACTi Corporation
ADT Security Services
AeroVironment Inc.
Agent Video Intelligence
Airbus Defence and Space
Alcatel-Lucent (Nokia Group)
ALPHAOPEN
American Science & Engineering Inc.
Anixter
Aralia Systems
AT&T Inc.
Augusta Systems
Austal
Avigilon Corporation
Aware
Axis
AxxonSoft
Ayonix
BAE Systems
BioEnable Technologies Pvt Ltd
BioLink Solutions
Boeing
Bollinger Shipyards, Inc
Bosch Security Systems
Bruker Corporation
BT
Camero
Cassidian
CelPlan
China Security & Surveillance, Inc.
Cisco Systems
Citilog
Cognitec Systems GmbH
Computer Network Limited (CNL)
Computer Sciences Corporation
CrossMatch
Diebold
DRS Technologies Inc.
DVTel
Elbit Systems Ltd.
Elsag Datamat
Emerson Electric
Ericsson
ESRI
FaceFirst
Finmeccanica SpA
Firetide
Fulcrum Biometrics LLC
G4S
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc.
General Dynamics Corporation
Getac Technology Corporation
Hanwha Techwin
Harris Corporation
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Hexagon AB
Honeywell International Inc.
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd
IBM
IndigoVision
Intel Security
IntuVision Inc
iOmniscient
IPConfigure
IPS Intelligent Video Analytics
Iris ID Systems, Inc.
IriTech Inc.
Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd.
ISS
L-3 Security & Detection Systems
Leidos, Inc.
Lockheed Martin Corporation
MACROSCOP
MDS
Mer group
Milestone Systems A/S
Mirasys
Motorola Solutions, Inc.
National Instruments
NEC Corporation
NICE Systems
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Nuance Communications, Inc.
ObjectVideo
Panasonic Corporation
Pelco
Pivot3
Proximex
QinetiQ Limited
Rapiscan Systems, Inc.
Raytheon
Rockwell Collins, Inc.
Safran S.A.
Salient Sciences
Schneider Electric
SeeTec
Siemens
Smart China (Holdings) Limited
Smiths Detection Inc.
Sony Corp.
Speech Technology Center
Suprema Inc.
Synectics Plc
Tandu Technologies & Security Systems Ltd
Texas Instruments
Textron Inc.
Thales Group
Total Recall
Unisys Corporation
Verint
Vialogy LLC
Vigilant Technology
Zhejiang Dahua Technology
Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p03837917-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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LONDON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- European Safe Cities & Public Events Security Markets - 2016-2022
The recent terrorist attacks have demonstrated that past measures to secure cities and public areas have failed. A major overhaul of the internal security of west European cities, towns and crowded public areas is already underway.
As is the case in Israel, this kind of terror does not have a "Silver Bullet" solution but it can be mitigated by state-of-the-art surveillance, intelligence technologies and trained security forces. The Israeli counter terror apparatus evaded 70-90% of urban terror attacks. That is a daunting challenge for Europe.
Based on 6 months of the "Europe's Terror & Migration Crisis Series" research, and over 65 face-to-face interviews and analyses, we forecast that the 2015-2020 market will grow at a CAGR of 19.2%, a 4 fold hike from the 4.2% CAGR during 2000-2015.
The "European Safe Cities & Public Events Security Markets 2016-2022" report + the bonus* "Global Homeland Security & Public Safety Industry 2016 Edition" report are the only comprehensive reviews of the European market available today. Their objective is to provide a detailed, time sensitive and reasoned intelligence report.
The market is set to undergo a major transformation from 2016-2022 through the following drivers:
Europol estimates that up to 5,000 European jihadists have returned to the EU after obtaining combat experience on the battlefields of the Middle East.
The ISIS-inspired complex and well-planned Paris and Brussels carnage (162 killed and 668 injured) sent shockwaves across the continent, unlike any other terror attacks since 9/11.
The present security infrastructure of European cities, towns & crowded public areas is no match for the 21st century ISIS-inspired and trained terrorists who use improvised explosives, military grade weapons, modern encrypted communication, make a remarkable use of social networks to recruit and train new jihadists and conduct excellent pre-attack intelligence.
With no "Magic Bullet" technology in sight, the challenge that remains unresolved is finding ways to stop terrorists from detonating explosives in crowded, unscreened public areas.
European security services will do their best to replicate some of Israel's urban counter-terror strategies and technologies.
The EU and most of the rest of the European market for homeland security and public safety products are served by local companies. Even with a preference for locally manufactured products, foreign products can usually strongly compete on the basis of cost-performance. They do not encounter any EU direct trade barriers or quotas. Non-tariff, indirect trade barriers may be the approval process of dual use goods, which include many security market products.
This report is a resource for executives with interests in the market. It has been explicitly customized for the security industry and government decision-makers in order to enable them to identify business opportunities, developing technologies, market trends and risks, as well as to benchmark business plans.
Questions answered in this 207-page report + one* report include:
What will the market size and trends be during 2016-2022?
Which submarkets provide attractive business opportunities?
Who are the decision-makers?
What drives the customers to purchase solutions and services?
What are the customers looking for?
What are the technology & services trends?
What is the market SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats)?
What are the challenges to market penetration & growth?
With 207 Pages, 32 Tables, 55 Figures and 42 Submarkets, this report + one* report covers 12 Countries and Regions, 2 Vertical Markets and 3 Revenue Source Submarkets, offering for each of them 2015 data and assessments, and 2016-2022 forecasts and analyses.
* Customers who purchase a multi-readers license of the report will get the "Global Homeland Security & Public Safety Industry 2016 Edition" report free of charge. Single-reader license customers will get a 50% discount for the Industry report.
Why Buy this Report?
A. Market data is analyzed via 3 key independent perspectives:
With a highly fragmented market we address the "money trail" each dollar spent via the following 3 viewpoints:
By 12 Country Markets including:
UK
France
The Netherlands & Belgium
Sweden, Norway, Finland & Denmark
Germany
Austria & Switzerland
Italy
Spain
Poland
Hungary & Czech Republic
Russia
Rest of Europe
By 3 Revenue Sources including:
Products Sales Revenues
After Sale Revenues Including: Maintenance, Service, Upgrades & Refurbishment
Other Revenues, including: Planning, Training, Consulting, Contracted Services & Government Funded R&D
By 2 Core Vertical Markets including:
Public Events Security
Safe Cities
B. Detailed market analysis frameworks for each of the market sectors, including:
Market drivers & inhibitors
Business opportunities
SWOT analysis
Competitive analysis
Business environment
C. The report discusses directly or indirectly the following current and pipeline technologies:
City-Wide Communication Interoperability, Video Surveillance, Analog Video Surveillance, Digital Video Surveillance, IP Surveillance Cameras, IP-Based Video Surveillance Systems, Safe City Video Analytics Technologies, Video Analytics Based Suspect Behavioral Analysis, Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaaS), Video Surveillance as Service Solutions: Vendors, Real Time Automatic Alerts Software, Image Segmentation Software, Item Tracking Video Analytics Software, Object Sorting and ID, Item Identification and Recognition, Multi-Camera Intelligent Video Surveillance Systems, Item Detection, Item Tracking Software, Intelligent Video Surveillance Systems, "Splitting" Items Algorithms, Dimension Based Items Classifiers, Shape Based Item Classifiers, Event Detection Methods, Vision-based Human Action Recognition, Video Derived Egomotion, Path Reconstruction Software, Video Cameras Spatial Gap Mitigation Software, Networked Cameras Tag and Track Software, Visual Intelligence Technologies, Visual Processing, Fusion Engine, Video Analytics, Standoff Video Analytics Based Biometrics, Video Surveillance Based Behavioral Profiling, Video Based Biometric Recognition Technologies, Video Based Face Recognition, Remote Biometric Identification Technologies, Fused Intelligent Video Surveillance & Watch Lists, Crowd and Riot Surveillance, Wireless Video Analytics, Online Video Analytics, Pulse Video Analytics, ,Physical Identity and Access Management (PIAM),Safe City Natural Disasters Mitigation & Management, Emergency Management systems, Public Events Emergency Services, WMD and Hazmat Detection, Command & Control Systems, Gunshot Location Technologies, Intelligent Transport Technologies, License Plate Recognition (LPR), Inductive Loop Detection, Video Vehicle Detection, Smart Transportation Security and Emergency Vehicle Notification Systems.
D. The report includes the following 4 appendices:
Appendix A: European Homeland Security & Public Safety Related Product Standards
Appendix B: The European Union Challenges and Outlook
Appendix C: Europe Migration Crisis & Border Security
Appendix D: Abbreviations
E. The report addresses over 300 European Homeland Security and Public Safety standards (including links)
F. The supplementary* "Global Homeland Security and Public Safety Industry 2016 Edition" report provides the following insights and analyses of the industry including:
The Global Industry 2016 status
Effects of Emerging Technologies on the Industry
The Market Trends
Vendor Government Relationship
Geopolitical Outlook 2016-2022
The Industry Business Models & Strategies
Market Entry Challenges
The Industry: Supply-Side & Demand-Side Analysis
Market Entry Strategies
Price Elasticity
Past Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Events
G. The supplementary (*) "Global Homeland Security and Public Safety Industry 2016 Edition" report provides a May 2016 updated extensive data (including company profile, recent annual revenues, key executives, homeland security and public safety products, and contact info.) of the leading 119 Homeland Security and Public Safety vendors including:
3M
3i-MIND
3VR
3xLOGIC
ABB
Accenture
ACTi Corporation
ADT Security Services
AeroVironment Inc.
Agent Video Intelligence
Airbus Defence and Space
Alcatel-Lucent (Nokia Group)
ALPHAOPEN
American Science & Engineering Inc.
Anixter
Aralia Systems
AT&T Inc.
Augusta Systems
Austal
Avigilon Corporation
Aware
Axis
AxxonSoft
Ayonix
BAE Systems
BioEnable Technologies Pvt Ltd
BioLink Solutions
Boeing
Bollinger Shipyards, Inc
Bosch Security Systems
Bruker Corporation
BT
Camero
Cassidian
CelPlan
China Security & Surveillance, Inc.
Cisco Systems
Citilog
Cognitec Systems GmbH
Computer Network Limited (CNL)
Computer Sciences Corporation
CrossMatch
Diebold
DRS Technologies Inc.
DVTel
Elbit Systems Ltd.
Elsag Datamat
Emerson Electric
Ericsson
ESRI
FaceFirst
Finmeccanica SpA
Firetide
Fulcrum Biometrics LLC
G4S
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc.
General Dynamics Corporation
Getac Technology Corporation
Hanwha Techwin
Harris Corporation
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Hexagon AB
Honeywell International Inc.
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd
IBM
IndigoVision
Intel Security
IntuVision Inc
iOmniscient
IPConfigure
IPS Intelligent Video Analytics
Iris ID Systems, Inc.
IriTech Inc.
Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd.
ISS
L-3 Security & Detection Systems
Leidos, Inc.
Lockheed Martin Corporation
MACROSCOP
MDS
Mer group
Milestone Systems A/S
Mirasys
Motorola Solutions, Inc.
National Instruments
NEC Corporation
NICE Systems
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Nuance Communications, Inc.
ObjectVideo
Panasonic Corporation
Pelco
Pivot3
Proximex
QinetiQ Limited
Rapiscan Systems, Inc.
Raytheon
Rockwell Collins, Inc.
Safran S.A.
Salient Sciences
Schneider Electric
SeeTec
Siemens
Smart China (Holdings) Limited
Smiths Detection Inc.
Sony Corp.
Speech Technology Center
Suprema Inc.
Synectics Plc
Tandu Technologies & Security Systems Ltd
Texas Instruments
Textron Inc.
Thales Group
Total Recall
Unisys Corporation
Verint
Vialogy LLC
Vigilant Technology
Zhejiang Dahua Technology
Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3837920/
About Reportbuyer
Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers
http://www.reportbuyer.com
For more information:
Sarah Smith
Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +44 208 816 85 48
Website: www.reportbuyer.com
SOURCE ReportBuyer
Related Links
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Members of three subgroups from the Trilateral Contact Group for the settlement of conflict in eastern Ukraine have gathered in Minsk, the Luhansk Information Center has said, referring to a source close to the negotiations.
"Three groups, excluding the political one, have begun their day's meetings," the source said.
He said that Kyiv's representative to the political subgroup Volodymyr Horbulin had left the meeting in Minsk.
"Yesterday, at a meeting of the political subgroup, Horbulin announced his resignation and left the meeting ahead of time. He said he would not be participating any longer and left under the pretext of poor health [...]. Probably, this is another step towards thwarting the political provisions of the Minsk deal," he said.
INDIANAPOLIS, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The first patient in the world to receive a tissue-engineered regenerative CorMatrix ECM Tricuspid Valve has been released home in good health reported Marc Gerdisch, MD, FACS, FACC, the surgeon in the groundbreaking case. The 44-year-old patient, Chad, was the first to be enrolled in the FDA study, which will include up to 15 patients nationwide.
According to Dr. Gerdisch, chief of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery at Franciscan St. Francis Health in Indianapolis where the procedure was performed, the innovative surgery fills a gap in the treatment of tricuspid valve disease, as current replacement valves were designed and tested for the other side of the heart.
The CorMatrix ECM Tricuspid Valve is constructed from the CorMatrix ECM material. The remodeled valve allows the patient's cells to infiltrate and remodel over time into a fully functioning tricuspid valve, leaving no foreign body behind and requiring no long-term anti-coagulation therapy, as is the case with all mechanical or prosthetic valve designs.
When Chad came to the Franciscan St. Francis emergency room, his infected tricuspid valve was no longer functioning and was throwing infected debris into his lungs.
"Chad's surgery went very well. He recovered very quickly, and his echocardiograms thus far have looked perfect," Dr. Gerdisch continued.
Dr. Gerdisch is a pioneer in the use of the CorMatrix material for valve repair. He was the first surgeon in the world to implant CorMatrix in the human heart. He built a construct similar to the CorMatrix ECM Tricuspid Valve in the OR prior to the introduction of the device in the study. Dr. Gerdisch went on to publish this work along with several other surgeons, which lead to the FDA trial.
The first patient who underwent this earlier procedure with Dr. Gerdisch is thriving more than three years after surgery.
John had just turned 19 when he became gravely ill with an infected valve. Today, he is finishing his degree, rock climbing, weightlifting and enjoying the life of a healthy young man.
"Not only is this a meaningful step forward for the treatment of tricuspid valve disease, it will serve as a platform for similar procedures with other heart valves," Dr. Gerdisch explained. "In fact, we are in the process of evaluating a version that won't require open heart surgery."
SOURCE Franciscan St. Francis
Related Links
http://www.franciscanalliance.org
LOS ANGELES, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Grass Fed Coffee, the world's first ready-to-drink butter coffee, is taking to the streets to promote its innovative new beverage. After an incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign, that exceeded its goal by 500% and becoming the most funded beverage in Kickstarter history the butter coffee brand decided to celebrate its debut with the also newly launched Tesla Model X - wrapped in its distinctive cow-spotted branding and fueled by "762 cowpower." The custom exterior also features multiple hidden "Where's Waldo?" for consumers to find.
The long-awaited launch of the Tesla Model X has captured the attention of car enthusiasts and consumers alike, mirroring Grass Fed Coffee's much-anticipated launch. The butter coffee brand is the first of its kind, just like the falcon-winged SUV, and has seen attention from not only coffee enthusiasts but also fitness fanatics and consumers everywhere.
"With the launch of both of these highly anticipated and innovative products, we thought this would be a great marriage to get our brand out there," shared Co-Founder John "Sonic" Ban. "The Model X is already a head turner, but adding our Grass Fed Butter branding to it, we really hope to grab people's attention."
Made with cold-brewed, organic, fair trade coffee extract, MCT oil, and grass fed butter Grass Fed Coffee delivers mental clarity and sustained energy. This ready-to-drink coffee is rich with sustainably-produced, grass fed butter that is high in vitamins, antioxidants, and healthy fats. After months of anticipation, consumers will be able to taste Grass Fed Coffee when it hits shelves in July!
Watch the video of the Model X's transformation into the Grass Fed Coffee Car here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=culKPbCzmn8&feature=youtu.be
To learn more about Grass Fed Coffee, visit http://grassfedcoffee.com/.
On social media, visit Grass Fed Coffee at:
Instagram: @GrassFedCoffee
Twitter: @GrassFedCoffee
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Grassfedcoffee/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/grassfedcoffee/
ABOUT GRASS FED COFFEE
Grass Fed Coffee is a single serve, ready-to-drink butter coffee made from organic, fair trade coffee extract, medium chain triglyceride (MCT) oil, and sustainably-produced, grass fed butter high in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and healthy fats. Based on ancient Tibetan butter tea, Grass Fed Coffee works to deliver sustained energy, mental clarity, and a healthy metabolic state to support weight loss.
SOURCE Grass Fed Coffee
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"With FirstMerit Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island in the heart of the Chicago Parks District, it seemed like a natural fit for these organizations to come together to recruit volunteers to help cleanup the Chicago Park District for those who visit this summer," said David Taylor, Senior Vice President, FirstMerit PrivateBank Regional Executive.
Live Nation's commitment to the Parks and Chicago is similar to that of FirstMerit Bank. "We're so thankful to the city of Chicago for embracing Country LakeShake and this is our way of giving back," said Brian O' Connell, Live Nation President of Country Touring. "As a native Chicagoan myself, the city means the world to me, and we're honored to be a part of this initiative."
The $10,000 donation will be used to support Park District Programs. "The Chicago Park District is committed to creating and maintaining beautiful spaces that promote both active recreation and leisure use," said Raffi Sarrafian, Chicago Park District Chief Administrative Officer. "Our task is made possible with the help of patrons who donate their time to great initiatives like Windy City Cleanup and with support from thoughtful contributors like FirstMerit Bank."
About FirstMerit
FirstMerit Corporation is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Akron, Ohio, with assets of approximately $26.1 billion as of March 31, 2016, and 368 banking offices and 400 ATM locations in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Pennsylvania. FirstMerit provides a complete range of banking and other financial services to consumers and businesses through its core operations. Principal affiliates include: FirstMerit Bank, N.A. and FirstMerit Mortgage Corporation.
FirstMerit Corporation
Media Contact: Robert Townsend/Media Relations Officer
Phone: 330.384.7075
Email: [email protected]
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SOURCE FirstMerit Corporation
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TUNICA, Miss., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A traveling replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall will make its way to the grounds of the Fitz Casino & Hotel, Tunica in time for Memorial Day Weekend. This is its first visit to Tunica, Mississippi.
The memorial is 80% the size of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. It stands six feet tall at the center and covers nearly 300 feet from end to end. The wall will arrive at the Tunica Casino Factory Outlet Shoppes on Wednesday, May 25, and from there, it will be escorted by motorcade to the Fitz. . The motorcade will be greeted at the Fitz by the Tunica County Color Guard, the Rosa Fort High School Color Guard, and members of the school's Air Force ROTC. Volunteers will be on hand to assist in assembling the wall, beginning at 11:00 a.m. The wall will be decorated on Thursday, May 26.
On Friday, May 27, the wall will open to visitors at 10:00 a.m. Admission is free, and the wall will be accessible around the clock. Candlelight vigils will be held each night at 9:00 p.m.
On Memorial Day, Monday, May 30, the closing ceremonies will begin at 2pm, though the wall will remain open until 10:00 p.m. Dignitaries scheduled to speak at the event will include Tunica Mayor Chuck Cariker, Sherriff K.C. Hamp, and representatives from the military.
"We are honored to host the Traveling Memorial Wall, remembering those who have served," said Rick Casagrande, Fitz' Executive Director of Marketing. "This is a wonderful opportunity to pay tribute to our fallen heroes, and a great way for citizens to experience this beautiful replica of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C."
For complete schedule information, visit fitzgeraldstunica.com.
About the Fitz Casino & Hotel Tunica
The Fitz Casino & Hotel, Tunica is located at 711 Lucky Lane in Tunica Resorts, MS. The casino hosts 979 slot machines, 20 table games and a friendly casino staff. Fitzgeralds offers the newest slot products available as well as the standard favorites. The gaming action at Fitzgeralds provides non-stop excitement with traditional games as well as some of the most innovative games available in the market. More information is available at www.fitzgeraldstunica.com.
The Fitz..Luck Lives Here!
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SOURCE Fitz Casino & Hotel, Tunica
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NEW YORK, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Ford Foundation today announced the appointment of John Irons as director of Inclusive Economies. In this role he will oversee two lines of work: 'Quality Work and Economic Security' and 'Impact Investing.' As director, he will advance Ford's work in addressing inequality to pave the way for economic opportunity and inclusive growth.
Irons joins the foundation from the Rockefeller Foundation where he served as managing director for Global Markets. An economist by training, Irons led work on U.S. employment, including employment in a green economy, and a project on state and metropolitan innovation in partnership with the Brookings Institution. He also helped guide Rockefeller's program-related investments.
"We are thrilled to welcome John to the foundation as we work to address inequality in all its forms," said Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation. "He brings an academic's heft but also the wisdom of practice and a social justice perspective. He will be an incredible addition to our global inclusive economies team."
Irons has had a distinguished career as a researcher, teacher, policy analyst, advocate, and grant maker. Before joining Rockefeller, he served as research and policy director at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC. In addition, he has worked as director of Tax and Budget Policy at Center for American Progress, and as a senior economic analyst and staff economist at OMB Watch, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting government accountability and citizen participation. Irons was also an assistant professor of economics at Amherst College.
"John is joining at an extraordinary time at the foundation and in the larger economy, when we are seeing new debates and new approaches to transform markets, communities, and lives," said Xavier de Souza Briggs, vice president of Economic Opportunity and Markets. "It's an honor to have him join, and I look forward to our work together to help ensure that market economies promote shared prosperity and respect human dignity."
Over his tenure as an energetic analyst and communicator of economic ideas, Irons has published articles and reports on a wide range of economic topics, including macroeconomic policy, tax and budget policy, and labor markets. His work has been published in leading scholarly journals, and he is coeditor of Testing Exogeneity, a volume on advanced modeling published by Oxford University Press.
Irons has been a guest lecturer and presented research at many colleges and universities. He has also served on a number of boards, including the nonprofit Coalition on Human Needs, the Committee on Electronic Publishing of the American Economic Association, and the National Economists Club. John is also on the advisory board for the Solutions for Youth Employment, a coalition convened by the World Bank to address economic opportunity for young people around the globe.
"I look forward to working with the Ford Foundation, their talented and committed teams, and their partners across the globe who are truly on the forefront of social change," said Irons. "Making economies more inclusive is central to reducing inequalities. I truly believe that now is the time to work together to create more opportunities, to improve living standards, and to ensure widely shared prosperity."
Irons earned a BA in economics from Swarthmore College and a PhD in economics from MIT, where he was a National Science Foundation graduate fellow.
SOURCE Ford Foundation
Related Links
http://www.fordfoundation.org
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and WASHINGTON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- LH Meyer, Inc., the research firm founded and led by former Federal Reserve Board Governor Larry Meyer, announces its partnership with Prattle, a provider of tradable textual analytics, as two business lines under the new parent company Quiet Signal. Larry Meyer remains president of LH Meyer, and Ken Meyer transitions to Quiet Signal COO. Former Prattle CEO Evan Schnidman and former Prattle CTO Bill MacMillan take on the roles of Quiet Signal CEO and CTO, respectively.
"This merger creates a company with deep expertise, established customer relationships, sophisticated technology and immense growth potential," said Larry Meyer of LH Meyer, Inc. "Prattle provides novel central bank sentiment analytics that complement LH Meyer's monetary policy and macroeconomic analysis. Both of these services provide clarity to investors struggling with a flood of unstructured data and information."
"Quiet Signal is the natural synthesis of Prattle and LH Meyer," said Evan Schnidman, CEO of Quiet Signal. "From central bank communications to broader applications such as earnings calls or regulatory information, we create actionable signals from noisy information."
About Prattle
Prattle, a text analytics company, evaluates global central bank communications using an expertly trained, domain-specific linguistic algorithm and machine learning. Built to treat prose as data, this methodology produces comprehensive, unbiased and quantitative assessments of central bank communications in real time. For more information, visit www.prattle.co.
About LH Meyer, Inc.
Led by former Federal Reserve Board Governor Larry Meyer, LH Meyer, Inc. uses its macro forecasting expertise and extensive knowledge of monetary policy to provide its clients with a full suite of commentaries and analytics on US economic outlook, monetary policy and rates. In addition to former Board Governor Larry Meyer, it is supported by an expert staff including former director of research at the Federal Reserve, David Stockton. For more information, visit www.lhmeyer.com.
SOURCE Prattle
Related Links
http://www.lhmeyer.com
NEW YORK, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Boloro Global is pleased to announce that Delwar H Azad, a mobile financial services pioneer and executive with over 25 years of mobile financial services, telecom, and operations experience has joined the management team as Executive Vice President Strategy, Product & Solutions.
"Azad brings a wealth of global experience in Mobile Money, Payment Transactions & Mobile Technology," says Ann Camarillo, CEO & President Boloro Global. "His dynamic and innovative approach will be a great addition."
Most recently, Azad served as a Director in Grameenphone, a major Telenor subsidiary and the leading telecom service provider in Bangladesh with 56 million subscribers. While at Grameenphone, he held several critical positions including Head of Financial Services for payment and transactional services, Head of New Initiatives responsible for all non-voice services and strategic projects, and Head of IS/IT Architecture, Business Process & Governance looking after IS/IT investments.
"Azad is an industry leader within Financial Services and was responsible for taking the first bill payment services by a mobile operator to the market. Within the Telenor Group he is considered one of the leading authorities on mobile financial services for the unbanked," said Petter-Borre Furberg, CEO Telenor Myanmar. "Being responsible for the Telenor group initiatives on Financial Services I had the pleasure of both working with and learning from Azad."
Azad also served on the Board of Directors of Tameer Micro-Finance Bank in Pakistan to assist in the launch of the innovative Easypaisa Branchless Banking initiative.
"I am delighted to be a part of Boloro, a truly next generation mobile payments network," said Azad. "Boloro's patented process, true interoperability and multiple applications will boost commerce, digital money growth and accelerate financial inclusion worldwide."
Prior to Grameenphone, Azad was General Manager at Square, the largest conglomerate in Bangladesh with diversified businesses, where he led the group's ICT transformation and the launch of first of its kind satellite based communication business in the country. Azad has also worked as the Head of ICT in a leading manufacturing company to lead the complete automation of manufacturing to administration including capturing machine data.
Azad has an Engineering degree and an Executive MBA with a Leadership Diploma from Stockholm School of Economics.
About Boloro Global Limited:
Boloro is a next-generation global payments network that offers consumers the ability to securely pay for goods and services using any kind of mobile phone and account. 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.
Headquartered in New York City, Boloro operates in South Asia, Middle East and Africa and soon entering Latin America, Caribbean and East Asia. For more information, visit www.boloro.com.
Media Contact:
Marc James: [email protected]
SOURCE Boloro Global Limited
Related Links
http://www.boloro.com
NEW YORK, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, a leading national securities law firm, is investigating potential securities fraud at Gerdau S.A. ("Gerdau" or the "Company") (NYSE:GGB).
The investigation focuses on whether the Company and its executives violated federal securities laws by failing to disclose that several of its executives might have been involved in illegal activities and tax evasion.
Specifically, on May 16, 2016, Brazilian news agencies reported that Brazil's federal police charged several Gerdau executives, including Chief Executive Officer Andre Gerdau Johannpeter, of bribery, money laundering, and influence peddling. Furthermore, the Company is being accused of evading $429 million in taxes.
On this news, Gerdau's share price has fallen from a closing price of $ 1.72 per share on May 16, 2016 to a low price of $1.59 on May 17, 2016 a $0.13 or a 7.5% drop.
Request more information now by clicking here: www.faruqilaw.com/GGB. There is no cost or obligation to you.
Take Action
If you invested in Gerdau stock or options and would like to discuss your legal rights, visit www.faruqilaw.com/GGB. You can also contact us by calling Richard Gonnello toll free at 877-247-4292 or at 212-983-9330 or by sending an e-mail to [email protected] Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP also encourages anyone with information regarding Gerdau's conduct to contact the firm, including whistleblowers, former employees, shareholders and others.
Attorney Advertising. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP (www.faruqilaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. We welcome the opportunity to discuss your particular case. All communications will be treated in a confidential manner.
FARUQI & FARUQI, LLP
685 Third Avenue, 26th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Attn: Richard Gonnello, Esq.
[email protected]
Telephone: (877) 247-4292 or (212) 983-9330
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SOURCE Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP
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LONDON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Global online shoppers differ when it comes to choosing a method to pay for their online purchases, yStats.com reports. While credit cards still account for a large share of online purchases, alternative payment methods are predicted to increase their penetration, already holding strong positions in regions such as Asia-Pacific. Digital wallets and cash on delivery are the strongest competitors for credit and debit cards in the fast growing online payments industry. PayPal, for example, was already used by a moderately high double-digit share of global online shoppers in 2015. The use of cash on delivery is especially prominent in emerging B2C E-Commerce markets, such as Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Another important finding in yStats.com's report is that security remains a major issue for online shoppers and retailers across the globe. When asked about the main criteria for adopting new payment methods, over three quarters of consumers in the top B2C E-Commerce markets surveyed in 2015 mentioned data privacy and security as their primary concern. Nevertheless, the adoption of even the most innovative mobile payment technologies is taking off both in emerging and advanced markets, with peer-to-peer mobile payments establishing themselves as an especially attractive market segment.
Given the diversity of online shoppers' preferences regarding payment methods, as well as their tendency to opt for both safe and convenient payments, online retailers, banks and payment service providers increasingly compete to offer the best payment options to global shoppers. For example, Amazon has launched payment by installments in the UK, while the major credit card networks, including American Express and Visa, are expanding their express checkout solutions. Also in mobile payments completion intensifies, as yStats.com reveals. Samsung Pay was launched in the USA after its initial launch in South Korea and Apple Pay cooperated with China UnionPay for its launch in China. Overall, as online and mobile payments continue to grow worldwide, more payment options and services are expected to emerge and gain in importance.
Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/1908187/
About Reportbuyer
Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers
http://www.reportbuyer.com
For more information:
Sarah Smith
Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +44 208 816 85 48
Website: www.reportbuyer.com
SOURCE ReportBuyer
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DENVER, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Online registration at special "early bird" rates is now available for The SRI Conference to be held in Denver at The Hyatt Regency Downtown, November 911, 2016. To learn more about rates and registration, go to http://www.sriconference.com/register/.
For 2016, The SRI Conference theme is "All In For Impact." The focus on impact investing is of interest to both the investment industry and those in the philanthropy and foundation worlds, with a special appeal to financial professionals and the growing number of nonprofits, charities, universities, pension funds, medical facilities, and other organizations that are increasingly engaged in investing for positive impact.
The five "SRI Pioneers" who will be featured at the 27th annual event are:
Rebecca Adamson, PhD, an Indigenous economist, founder and president, First Peoples Worldwide. Adamson established First Nations Development Institute in 1980, and founded First Peoples Worldwide in 1997. A leader and activist, she utilizes the wisdom and paradigms of Indigenous economics, advocacy, and engagement of corporate social responsibility as tools to catalyze change. Her work established the first microenterprise loan fund in the United States, the first national tribal CDFI intermediary and Calvert Foundation 'community notes.'
Hazel Henderson, D.Sc. Hon., FRSA, president, Ethical Markets Media (USA and Brazil). Henderson is a futurist; evolutionary economist and author of the award-winning Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy and many other books. She created the Ethical Markets TV series in global distribution, the EthicMark Awards, the Green Transition Scoreboard, and co-created Ethical Biomimicry Finance.
Thomas Van Dyck, CIMAR, is Managing Director - Financial Advisor with the SRI Wealth Management Group at RBC Wealth Management. He has been a leaderin the field of socially-responsible investing for more than 30 years. Hecurrently consults on $1.6 billion of ESG-screened assets. In 1992, Mr. VanDyck founded As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy organization.* In 2014, hewas a featured guest on Bill Moyers and Company and discussed theDivest/Invest movement which he helped initiate with his clients. In 2013,he was named one of the Financial Times' Top 400 Financial Advisors. He wasalso a featured speaker at the TedX Wall Street conference in 2012. Mr. VanDyck is a Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMAR) and holds Series 7and Series 66 FINRA licenses.
*RBC Wealth Management does not endorse or support As You Sow.
*RBC Wealth Management does not endorse or support As You Sow. Thomas Van Dyck, CIMAR, is Managing Director - Financial Advisor with the SRI Wealth Management Group at RBC Wealth Management. He has been a leaderin the field of socially-responsible investing for more than 30 years. Hecurrently consults on $1.6 billion of ESG-screened assets. In 1992, Mr. VanDyck founded As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy organization.* In 2014, hewas a featured guest on Bill Moyers and Company and discussed theDivest/Invest movement which he helped initiate with his clients. In 2013,he was named one of the Financial Times' Top 400 Financial Advisors. He wasalso a featured speaker at the TedX Wall Street conference in 2012. Mr. VanDyck is a Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMAR) and holds Series 7and Series 66 FINRA licenses.*RBC Wealth Management does not endorse or support As You Sow.
Jerome L. Dodson, founder and president, Parnassus Investments. Dodson is lead Portfolio Manager of the Parnassus Fund and the Parnassus Asia Fund and is the sole Portfolio Manager of the Parnassus Endeavor Fund. With over $16 billion in assets, Parnassus is the nation's largest mutual fund complex committed to ethical and environmental guidelines in all the funds it manages. Before founding Parnassus Investments in 1984, Mr. Dodson was president of Working Assets Money Fund, a money market fund making socially responsible investments.
Steve Lydenberg, CFA, partner, Strategic Vision for Domini Social Investments LLC, founder and CEO, The Investment Integration Project, and founding director, Initiative for Responsible Investment at the Hauser Institute for Civil Society at Harvard University. For over three decades, Lydenberg has been active in responsible investment with the Council on Economic Priorities, Trillium Asset Management and KLD Research & Analytics. He is author of numerous articles on responsible investment, and several books including: Corporations and the Public Interest (Berrett-Koehler) and Dilemmas in Responsible Investment (Greenleaf).
ABOUT THE SRI CONFERENCE
The 27th annual SRI Conference will be held November 911, 2016, at the Hyatt Regency Downtown Denver, Colorado. The SRI Conference (http://www.SRIconference.com) is the premier annual forum for investors and investment professionals engaged in sustainable, responsible, impact (SRI) investing. Conference participation includes investment professionals, institutional investors, and related organizations. The SRI Conference features educational sessions and focused opportunities to network with hundreds of like-minded individuals, organizations, and leaders in the field of Sustainable, Responsible, Impact investing.
The SRI Conference is produced by First Affirmative Financial Network, LLC (http://www.firstaffirmative.com), an independent Registered Investment Advisor offering investment consulting and asset management services through a nationwide network of investment professionals who specialize in serving socially conscious, impact-oriented investors (SEC File #801-56587).
EDITOR'S NOTE
For assistance with The SRI Conference registration and sponsorships, please contact Krystala Kalil, Conference Coordinator at 888-774-2663 or [email protected].
SOURCE The SRI Conference, Denver, CO
Related Links
http://www.SRIconference.com
There have been no Ukrainian servicemen among the deceased in the zone of hostilities in Donbas in the past 24 hours, Ukrainian presidential administration spokesman for the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) issues Andriy Lysenko has said.
"None of our servicemen have been killed in the hostilities in the anti-terrorist operation zone in the past 24 hours; however, ten of our servicemen have been injured. Ukrainian troops suffered these losses in the Donetsk and Mariupol areas," he told a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.
PLANTATION, Fla., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Goodwin Biotechnology, Inc., a biological Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) that specializes in bioprocess development and cGMP manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals today announced that it has recently expanded its Bioconjugation capabilities by adding a dedicated suite for developing and manufacturing cytotoxic Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs) up to Safebridge level 4/5.
"For over 15 years, Goodwin Biotechnology has been one of the pioneers in providing development and GMP manufacturing of a broad portfolio of ADC projects, including cytotoxic ADCs, Radio-Immunoconjugates, Antibody-Peptide Conjugates, Antibody-Dye Conjugates, PEGylated proteins, other bioconjugates, and even Biobetters," said Muctarr Sesay, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer and VP, Bioconjugation Development at Goodwin Biotechnology. "Our experience in Bioconjugation has resulted in several patents and publications, as well as proprietary processes that enable us to help our clients overcome some significant challenges in developing their next generation of ADCs. Given the increasing interest in conjugating highly cytotoxic products (e.g., anti-cancer drugs) to enhance the efficacy of ADCs, we have added a dedicated ISO-7 Cytotoxic Process facility for Proof of Concept, development, Tox and cGMP manufacturing to address unmet clinical needs."
"We have built a very productive relationship with Goodwin Biotechnology over the past 18 months," said Jostein Dahle PhD, Chief Scientific Officer at Nordic Nanovector ASA, a Norway based, biopharmaceutical company. "They listen closely and are responsive to our needs. This collaborative approach is helping to develop a flexible manufacturing process for the successful GMP production of antibody radionuclide conjugates, or ARCs, for clinical trials with potential for future commercial scale up."
"I have found that working with the team at Goodwin Biotechnology has been a great pleasure," noted Miguel Garcia-Guzman, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer at Aspyrian Therapeutics, a California based, clinical stage biotech company. "We were originally impressed by their expertise in Bioconjugation. This perception was reinforced by the flexible and solutions-oriented approach to the complexity of our project, a first-in-class, precision targeted therapy for cancer. They treated our product as theirs as they orchestrated a flexible and well-run process in successfully generating Tox and cGMP materials, which performed well in preclinical animal studies and on-going human clinical trials. As a result, we secured our firm's first IND submission, which was a crucial milestone for our company. It speaks about the quality, timeliness, and process economics that Goodwin Biotechnology puts into every aspect of their work."
"We collaborate with many of our clients in the early stages of proof of concept/development of the conjugation process by empirically recommending the appropriate linkers, payloads, and the bioconjugation chemistries and processes to create a viable ADC candidate. We then blend that with a solutions-oriented approach to help our clients overcome significant challenges, including aggregation, especially that associated with IgM antibodies and conjugates, multiparameter optimization, optimizing drug-to-antibody ratios (DAR), working with antibody fragments, purification challenges, drug solubility issues, process scalability and economics, etc.," Dr. Sesay continued. "We have developed proprietary processes to help address many of those challenges. We have also overcome the challenges associated with random conjugations with site-directed conjugation of radionuclide chelators and other payloads and ligands to antibodies which results in narrower DAR (drug-to-antibody mole ratios), improved conjugate binding and, hopefully, an enhanced therapeutic index."
"We are proud of the expertise that we have developed in area of Bioconjugation and the successful work that we have done with over 40 client projects over more than a decade," said Karl Pinto, Chief Executive Officer at Goodwin Biotechnology, Inc. "Goodwin continues to invest strategically in our Bioconjugation business in order to enhance the breadth and depth of what we can offer to our clients. These Bioconjugation capabilities complement our over 23 years of experience in manufacturing monoclonal antibodies, recombinant proteins, and vaccines through mammalian cell culture expression systems. So, as part of our Single Source Solution, Goodwin is uniquely qualified to partner with our clients to develop customized and flexible approaches for manufacturing the 'naked' antibodies, then follow with the appropriate conjugation activities to cost effectively address their needs and deliver their ADC candidates on time."
About Goodwin Biotechnology, Inc.
Goodwin Biotechnology is a uniquely qualified CDMO that offers a Single Source Solution for our clients from cell line development, exploratory proof of concept projects through process development and cGMP contract manufacturing of monoclonal antibodies, recombinant proteins, vaccines, and Biologic Drug Conjugates including Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs) for early and late stage clinical trials. By working with Goodwin Biotechnology, clients can enhance the value of their product candidates with clear development and manufacturing strategies, as well as a road map to meet the appropriate quality requirements from the milligram and gram range to kilogram quantities as the product candidates move along the clinical development pathway in a cost-effective, timely, and cGMP compliant manner to enhance patients' lives. With over 20 years of experience as an independent integrated contract manufacturer, Goodwin Biotechnology has worked as a strategic partner with companies of all sizes from small university spin-offs to major research institutes, government agencies and large, established and multi-national biopharmaceutical companies. Based on the impressive track record, Goodwin Biotechnology has been awarded Frost & Sullivan's Customer Value and Leadership Award for Best Practices in Mammalian Contract Manufacturing! In addition, Goodwin Biotechnology was awarded 'Best in Sector: Biopharmaceutical Contract Development & Manufacturing' at Acquisition International magazine's 2015 Sector Performance Awards. Most recently, Goodwin Biotechnology received Global Health & Pharma's 2016 award for Best for BioProcess Development & cGMP Manufacturing. Click here to view the press releases! Additional information may be found at http://www.GoodwinBio.com.
For more information, please contact:
Goodwin Biotechnology: Amita Quadros, PhD Associate Vice President, Client Services 954-327-9613 [email protected]
or [email protected]
SOURCE Goodwin Biotechnology, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.goodwinbio.com
Faster out of the gate
Comporium saw the writing on the wall years ago. To speed our area's future as a knowledge-based economy, the Carolinas had to have ultra-fast Internet service. The company quickly became the first in the area to provide download and upload speeds of 1,000 megabits per second or one gigabit over its own fiber optic network. Named "Zipstream," Comporium's gig service was designed to support Carolina communities' efforts to become recognized hubs for recruiting, launching and growing high-impact technology and other businesses. After announcing the advent of the new service in February 2014, Comporium launched Zipstream to businesses in downtown Rock Hill in June 2014, becoming one of only a few communities in the U.S. to offer gigabit broadband connections. By July 2014, it had begun delivering gigabit Internet service to 125 fiber-to-the-premises residential neighborhoods and more than a dozen business parks in York and Lancaster counties in the southern part of the Charlotte metropolitan area. Comporium's "digital lifestyle" has now spread from the Midlands of South Carolina around Columbia to the greater Charlotte area and beyond in N.C.
Miles ahead
Comporium, an experienced broadband provider to over one hundred thousand businesses and residences, offers advantages no Silicon Valley newcomers can match. Its more personal, local service comes from people who are your friends and neighbors here in the Carolinas. Yet, just as it has for decades, the company has a global view that drives its dedication to leading the way with advances in technology pioneered around the world.
The new Google Fiber website says "It's too soon to share an exact date or plans and pricing information. A lot of things impact our timingsometimes things can take a bit longer than we originally anticipated." In contrast, Zipstream service has been up and running for nearly two years, which means companies and families who've chosen Comporium are already living the digital lifestyle, spending far less time buffering and more time speeding data transfer, video conferencing, uploading videos and playing online games.
Going forward, you can expect the Carolinas own homegrown telecommunications company to continue its long history of technological firsts. How far it can go is only limited by the imagination and support of the communities it calls home.
This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com
SOURCE Comporium
BOSTON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Gordon Brothers Group, a global advisory, restructuring and investment firm announced today that it has acquired BlastOff Brands, the Los Angeles-based licensing and branding company. Blast-Off Brands co-founder, Ramez Toubassy, will join Gordon Brothers as President of the Brands Division and the rest of the BlastOff Brands team will take on senior leadership positions on both the creative and licensing sides of the business. The transaction strategically bolsters the firm's Brands Division and serves as the foundation for its next generation brand investment platform.
From left: Jaime Lewisohn Mann, Head of Licensing, Brand Division, Gordon Brothers Group; Ramez Toubassy, President, Brand Division, Gordon Brothers Group; Ann Gordon Creative Director, Brand Division, Gordon Brothers Group
"While Gordon Brothers has been very active in the brands space for years, we saw a unique opportunity in acquiring BlastOff Brands to bring even deeper brand building and licensing capabilities in-house," said Kenneth Frieze, CEO of Gordon Brothers Group. "In so doing, we will have the most robust, end-to-end middle-market brand platform in the market with the unique flexibility to work alone or with strategic partners," he added.
Since founding the company in 2014, the BlastOff Brands team has established a reputation for providing a unique mix of art and science to licensing clients such as the Life is Good lifestyle brand. Prior to BlastOff Brands, the same team pioneered a hands-on and integrated branding and licensing approach with dozens of high-profile brands over the course of more than a decade at leading licensing agency, Brand Sense Partners.
The team's branding and licensing skill-sets will serve to complement the existing capabilities of Gordon Brothers Group. For over a century, the firm has been a leader in hard asset management, recovery and valuation, and has applied those same principles to intellectual property. Gordon Brothers Group leverages its intimate knowledge of consumer markets, sourcing, marketing and retailing to maximize brand values. Notable past brand acquisitions include Polaroid, Coby Electronics, Linens 'N Things, Bombay & Company and The Sharper Image.
"We couldn't be more excited to be joining the Gordon Brothers family," said Ramez Toubassy, President of Gordon Brothers Group's Brands Division. "The landscape in the consumer brand space is rapidly changing and the breadth and depth of operational capabilities resulting from this marriage will be the critical and differentiating ingredient for successfully acquiring, developing and operating brands well into the future. By combining forces, we will be able to seamlessly invest in, lend to and consult to all manner of consumer brands on a global basis, specifically tailoring our approach to each unique situation."
The new team will oversee Gordon Brothers Group's existing consumer brands portfolio including collaborating with the management team of Polaroid to grow the brand and to pursue additional brand investments that complement that business. Toubassy and the Brands team will also support the valuation practice within Gordon Brothers with market perspective and licensing expertise, as well as coordinate with Gordon Brothers Finance Company, the firm's middle-market debt investment partner, to provide underwriting expertise on intellectual property loans. Rafa Klotz, a founding member of Gordon Brothers' Brands Division, has been promoted to spearhead the firm's international growth and will continue to advise and support the Brands Division.
About Gordon Brothers Group
Founded in 1903, Gordon Brothers Group (www.gordonbrothers.com) is a global advisory, restructuring and investment firm specializing in the retail, consumer products, industrial and real estate sectors. Gordon Brothers Group maximizes value for both healthy and distressed companies by purchasing or selling all categories of assets, mitigating leases, appraising assets and operating businesses for extended periods. Gordon Brothers Group conducts over $70 billion worth of transactions and appraisals annually. As of November 2014, debt financing is provided by Gordon Brothers Finance Company (www.gbfinco.com).
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160517/368968
SOURCE Gordon Brothers Group
Related Links
http://www.gordonbrothers.com
"We're proud to be doubling our military incentive once again this year and making it easier for military personnel to choose a new Hyundai," said Steve Flood, director, retail operations, Hyundai Motor America. "We appreciate our troops all year round, but Memorial Day offers us a special moment to express our gratitude."
Those who served in the following branches (and current spouses) are eligible for this benefit:
United States Air Force
Army / National Guard
Coast Guard
Marine Corps
Navy
Reserves for any branch listed above
For additional details, please visit: https://www.hyundaiusa.com/financial-tools/military-program.aspx
HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICA
Hyundai Motor America, headquartered in Fountain Valley, Calif., is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Co. of Korea. Hyundai vehicles are distributed throughout the United States by Hyundai Motor America and are sold and serviced through more than 830 dealerships nationwide. All Hyundai vehicles sold in the U.S. are covered by the Hyundai Assurance program, which includes the 5-year/60,000-mile fully transferable new vehicle limited warranty, Hyundai's 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain limited warranty and five years of complimentary Roadside Assistance. Hyundai Blue Link Connected Care provides owners of Hyundai models equipped with the Blue Link telematics system with proactive safety and car care services complimentary for one year with enrollment. These services include Automatic Collision Notification, Enhanced Roadside Assistance, Vehicle Diagnostic Alert, Monthly Vehicle Health Report and in-vehicle service scheduling.
For more details on Hyundai Assurance, please visit www.HyundaiAssurance.com
Please visit our media website at www.hyundainews.com and our blog at www.hyundailikesunday.com
Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160518/369411
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SOURCE Hyundai Motor America
Related Links
http://www.hyundainews.com
BANGALORE, India, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Infosys (NYSE: INFY) today announced that as in the previous years, it will furnish its annual reports to its American Depository Shares (ADS) holders on its website in lieu of physical distribution.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130122/589162 )
Accordingly, the Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended March 31, 2016 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May 18, 2016 (U.S. time), together with the Indian Annual Report filed with the Indian Stock Exchanges (BSE/NSE), is available on the Infosys Limited website at http://www.infosys.com. The financial statements included in the Annual Report on Form 20-F have been prepared in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as issued by International Accounting Standards Board.
As allowed under New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) rules, the Company will not circulate physical copies of the Annual Report on Form 20-F or the Indian Annual Report to ADS holders. However, in compliance with NYSE rules, physical and email copies of Infosys' Annual Report on Form 20-F and the Indian Annual Report will be made available, at no cost, to ADS holders on request. Interested ADS holders may request for physical or email copies by writing to "The Company Secretary" at Infosys' registered office at Electronics City, Hosur Road, Bangalore - 560 100, India or by emailing [email protected].
About Infosys
Infosys is a leading provider of consulting, technology and next-generation services. We enable clients, in more than 50 countries, to stay a step ahead of emerging business trends and be competitive in their respective markets.
Visit http://www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY), with US$ 9.5 billion in LTM revenues and 194,000+ employees, is helping enterprises renew themselves while also creating new avenues to generate value.
Safe Harbor
Certain statements in this press release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements regarding our future business expectations intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, and unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2016. These filings are available at http://www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. In addition, please note that the date of this press release is May 19, 2016, and any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of this date. The company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company unless it is required by law.
SOURCE Infosys
TORONTO, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Ministry of Transportation Ontario Transforms its Legacy System Into a Modern, Citizen-centric Platform
Infosys Public Services Inc. (IPS), a North America-based subsidiary of global consulting, technology and next-generation services company Infosys (NYSE: INFY), and the Ministry of Transportation Ontario (MTO), Canada, today announced a successful implementation of a complex new carrier registration, licensing and performance monitoring system in the province.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130122/589162 )
With this implementation, Ontario becomes one of the first jurisdictions in North America to have a truly integrated carrier registration and performance monitoring solution built on a one-client, one-record model. This is also the first implementation of Infosys Public Services' new motor vehicle administrators licensing and registration solution. With 37% of Canadian citizens living in Ontario, this most populous province represents a high volume jurisdiction for proving the functionality and performance of the solution.
The new Registration and Licensing System of Ontario (RLSO) is an enterprise services-based platform using a suite of Oracle software products as a foundation. The system, implemented as part of MTO's Road User Modernization Program, replaces the existing 40-year-old legacy licensing and registration system with a modern, scalable, client-friendly solution. The platform, which does away with manual and paper-based processes, automates licensing and registration and performance monitoring services for approximately one million commercial clients and provides the foundation for a 'one client/one record' integrated driver, vehicle, and carrier system.
Infosys Public Services implemented the new solution while maintaining the integrity of the Ministry's policies and procedures, and with minimal interruption to service. Infosys Public Services took a three-pillar approach to this modernization, focusing on business performance, technology modernization and business modernization. The result is an agile solution which required minimal customization and provides a 360-degree view of the customer. More than 80% of the total business functionality for the carrier program is currently available within the system and some of the key business services supported by the solution include: motor vehicle inspection stations, carrier registration, carrier performance monitoring, 'smart' forms, knowledge management and client self-service. RLSO is continuing its expansion with the implementation of the facility audit program, stock management and online services for carrier clients to be delivered this year.
Quotes
Linda Dunstall, Director of Road User Safety Modernization, Ministry of Transportation Ontario
"We were able to successfully modernize our legacy licensing and registration system for carriers and build a foundation to develop an integrated driver, vehicle and carrier solution that will eventually support more than nine million drivers/citizens in the Province of Ontario. Infosys Public Services brought their expertise and gained a deep understanding of the DMV space while implementing a proven solution to achieve the successful execution of a large complex modernization project within scope and budget."
Eric Paternoster, President and CEO of Infosys Public Services
"Many Motor Vehicle Departments and Ministries of Transportation are considering modernization programs similar to this one. Here, in this first phase, Infosys Public Services helped MTO create a new registration system with a modern, commercial, off-the-shelf solution that automates nearly all key business processes and makes the roads safer for all Canadian citizens."
Infosys Public Services will be at Booth 105 at the AAMVA 2016 Region IV Conference, on May 16-19 in Portland, Oregon.
About Infosys Public Services, Inc.
Infosys Public Services (http://www.infosyspublicservices.com), a North-American subsidiary of Infosys (NYSE: INFY), is a leader in business consulting, technology solutions, and next-generation services. We partner with public sector organizations in the US and Canada to help them stay ahead of the innovation curve. Our solutions, combined with execution excellence and proven best practices allow clients to renew themselves while also creating new avenues to generate value.
About Infosys Ltd
Infosys is a global leader in consulting, technology, outsourcing and next-generation services. We enable clients, in more than 50 countries, to stay a step ahead of emerging business trends and outperform the competition. We help them transform and thrive in a changing world by co-creating breakthrough solutions that combine strategic insights and execution excellence.
Visit http://www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY), with US$ 9.2 billion in LTM revenues and 193,000+ employees, is helping enterprises renew themselves while also creating new avenues to generate value.
Safe Harbor
Certain statements in this press release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements regarding our future business expectations intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, and unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2015. These filings are available at http://www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. In addition, please note that the date of this press release is January 14, 2016, and any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of this date. The company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company unless it is required by law.
SOURCE Infosys
MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The 65th annual BetterInvesting National Convention May 19-22 in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Chantilly, Va., will have a local flavor, with instructors and financial experts from the area empowering individuals to make informed investment choices.
On Friday, May 20, volunteer instructor Irina Clements of BetterInvesting's D.C. Chapter will help lead a session on investment opportunities in the technology sector, detailing which of the 19 industries in the technology sector might offer the best opportunities for long-term growth and offering five suggestions of companies to study. On Sunday she'll discuss the basics of modern portfolio theory and in other sessions help provide an overview of retirement planning.
On Saturday, author Angele McQuade of Arlington, Va., will lead a discussion of the popular investing book Charlie Munger: the Complete Investor. The next day she'll lead a workshop on strategies for cleaning up your finances.
Gerri Walsh, senior vice president of investor education at D.C-based FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), and John Gannon, a member of BetterInvesting's board of directors and former president of the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, on Sunday will present "Smart Investors Are Better Investors." In this session Walsh and Gannon will offer their views of the latest investment trends and emerging issues as well as provide updates about valuable resources and tips for smarter investing in the months ahead.
Experts from the financial community will offer their perspectives during a free day of investment education on Saturday, May 21. Bob Pugh, CFA, CFP, the president and founder of Insight Wealth Management of Gainesville, Va., will provide the keynote presentation on Saturday. In his presentation, "Reading the Tea Leaves: Making Sense of Economists, Politicians and the Federal Reserve," Pugh will discuss valuations in key markets, economic trends and global economic-political concerns, including this year's presidential election.
He'll also participate in the panel discussion "Bull or Bear: What's a Better Investor to Do?" with BetterInvesting CEO Kamie Zaracki and Chris Versace, chief investment officer of the D.C. area's Tematica Research and author of the new book "Cocktail Investing."
To learn more about the convention, which will be at the Westfields Marriott Washington Dulles, and link to the registration site, go to its homepage at:
www.betterinvesting.org/biconvention
To register for the free public day, go to:
www.2016-bi-publicday.eventbrite.com
The convention is the premiere education event of BetterInvesting, a nonprofit investment education association. The association's BetterInvesting Volunteer Advisory Board, comprising volunteers who are passionate about the association's mission, conducts the annual event.
About BetterInvesting
BetterInvesting is a national nonprofit organization that has been empowering individual investors since 1951. Founded in Detroit, the association (formerly known as National Association of Investors Corporation) was borne out of the conviction that anyone can become a successful long-term investor by following commonsense investing practices. BetterInvesting has helped more than 5 million people become better, more informed investors by providing webinars, in-person events, easy-to-use online tools for analyzing stocks, a monthly magazine and a community of volunteers and like-minded investors. For more information about BetterInvesting, visit its website at www.betterinvesting.org or call toll-free 877-275-6242.
SOURCE BetterInvesting
Related Links
http://www.betterinvesting.org
LONDON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Easing sanctions on Iran by major countries such as the US, Germany, etc., coupled with growing expenditure on R&D, technology advancements and increasing IT spending is forecast to drive Iran IT services market over the next five years. Post the signing of nuclear deal with the US and P5 countries, Iran IT services market is projected to grow during the forecast period. The government is increasing its focus on developing new technology parks across the country and this is anticipated to boost the market for IT services in Iran in the coming years.
According to "Iran IT Services Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2020", IT services market in Iran is forecast to reach USD 2.8 billion by 2020. Increasing IT spending, growing mobile penetration rates, coupled with easing economic sanctions are boosting IT services market in the country. In 2014, Tehran dominated IT services market in Iran, while Kermanshah region emerged as a rapidly growing IT services market. Moreover, IT captive management services accounted for a lion's share in Iran IT services market, followed by IT telecom, IT infrastructure services, and IT product development segments. This segmental trend is expected to continue through 2020, however, the share of IT captive management services segment is expected to decline by 2020. "Iran IT Services Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2020" discusses the following aspects of IT services in Iran:
- Iran IT Services Market Size, Share & Forecast
- Segmental Analysis - By Type (IT Captive Management Services, IT Telecom- Application Software Services, IT Infrastructure Services, IT Product Development) and by Region
- Policy & Regulatory Landscape
- Changing Market Trends & Emerging Opportunities
- Competitive Landscape & Strategic Recommendations
Why You Should Buy This Report?
- To gain an in-depth understanding of IT services market Iran
- To identify the on-going trends, and anticipated growth over the next five years
- To help industry consultants, IT service providers align their market-centric strategies
- To obtain research-based business decisions and add weight to presentations and marketing material
- To gain competitive knowledge of leading market players
- To avail 10% free customization in the report without any extra charges and get research data or trends added in the report as per the buyer's specific needs
Report Methodology
The information contained in this report is based upon both primary and secondary sources. Primary research included interviews with IT services provider companies and policy makers in Iran. Secondary research included an exhaustive search of relevant publications like company annual reports, financial reports and other proprietary databases.
Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3392470/
About Reportbuyer
Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers
http://www.reportbuyer.com
For more information:
Sarah Smith
Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +44 208 816 85 48
Website: www.reportbuyer.com
SOURCE ReportBuyer
Related Links
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Bankers Shareholders are encouraged to participate in the Shareholder Vote and reminded to vote prior to the deadline on May 27, 2016 at 3:00 PM MDT(Calgary time).
CALGARY, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Bankers Petroleum Ltd. ("Bankers") (TSX: BNK, AIM: BNK) is pleased to announce that Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. ("ISS") and Glass, Lewis & Co. ("Glass Lewis"), leading independent proxy advisory firms, have recommended that Bankers shareholders vote in favour of the proposed corporate transaction (the "Arrangement") at the Special Meeting (as defined below).
Along with the recommendation that Bankers' shareholders vote FOR the Arrangement, Glass Lewis states that the proposed transaction will allow Shareholders to, "immediately realize an assured value at a significant premium to the recent unaffected share price." ISS further advised that, "a vote FOR is warranted based on a review of the terms of the transaction, in particular, the significant cash premium which provides certainty of value."
As previously announced on March 20, 2016, Bankers has entered into an arrangement agreement (the "Arrangement Agreement") with affiliates of Geo-Jade Petroleum Corporation in respect of the Arrangement, which provides for the purchase of all the issued and outstanding common shares of Bankers "at a cash price of C$2.20 per Bankers Share.
Special Meeting of Shareholders
Bankers will host its special meeting of shareholders (the "Special Meeting") on May 31, 2016, seeking shareholder approval for the Arrangement. Bankers' shareholders of record as of April 19, 2016, are encouraged to vote at the Special Meeting. The Management Information Circular prepared in connection with the Arrangement provides important information about Bankers and the Arrangement. The Management Information Circular and related proxy materials are available on SEDAR and Bankers' website (www.bankerspetroleum.com).
The Special Meeting will be held at The Metropolitan Centre (Strand/Tivoli Rm), 333 4th Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta on Tuesday, May 31, 2016 at 3:00 p.m. (Calgary time). Bankers will provide further information with respect to the timing of closing of the Arrangement and the delisting of Bankers common shares from the TSX and AIM as updates become available.
Benefits of the Arrangement include:
Cash price of C$2.20 per Bankers common share
per Bankers common share Bankers debt will be handled separately by the purchasing Company and will not affect the stated purchase price of $2.20 per Bankers common share
per Bankers common share The Arrangement is an opportunity for shareholders to crystalize value representing a premium of 98% over Bankers' closing share price on the TSX of C$1.11 on March 18, 2016 , and 109% over the 30-trading day volume weighted average trading price of Bankers common shares of C$1.05 per share ending on March 18, 2016
on , and 109% over the 30-trading day volume weighted average trading price of Bankers common shares of per share ending on The Arrangement has received the unanimous approval of the Board of Directors of Bankers, who have recommended that shareholders vote in favor of it, and carries the full support of Bankers' management team
Both parties continue to pursue the outstanding regulatory approvals pursuant to the Investment Canada Act (Canada) and the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE). If approved at the Special Meeting closing of the Arrangement remains on track to occur in June 2016, following which, the Bankers Shares will be delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") and the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.
Shareholder Questions
Shareholders who have questions regarding the Arrangement or require assistance with voting may contact the Proxy Solicitation Agent below:
Laurel Hill Advisory Group
Toll Free: 1-877-452-7184
International: +1 416-304-0211 outside Canada and the US
By Email: [email protected]
Your Vote is Important. Please Vote Today.
-----------
About Bankers Petroleum Ltd.
Bankers Petroleum Ltd. is a Canadian-based oil and gas exploration and production company focused on developing large oil and gas reserves in Albania and Eastern Europe. In Albania, Bankers operates and has the full rights to develop the Patos-Marinza heavy oilfield, has a 100% interest in the Kucova oilfield, and a 100% interest in Exploration Block "F". In 2015 Bankers acquired an 85% interest in the rights to explore the Puspokladany Block concession within the Pannonian Basin located in north eastern Hungary. The Bankers Shares are traded on the TSX and the AIM Market in London, England under the stock symbol BNK.
Caution Regarding Forward-looking Information
Certain information set forth in this press release, including information and statements which may contain words such as "could", "plans", "intends" "should", "anticipate", "expects", "will", "propose", "opportunity", "future", "continue", and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts, contain forward-looking statements, including but not limited to statements regarding: the proposed Arrangement and the anticipated timing of closing, the timing of receipt of required regulatory approvals, the timing of the Special Meeting, the treatment of Bankers debt and the delisting of the Bankers Shares following completion of the Arrangement. By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond Bankers' control. Completion of the Arrangement is subject to a number of conditions, including receipt of the approval's required by the Investment Canada Act (Canada) and approvals required by the People's Republic of China and the competition authority of Albania, and other conditions which are typical for transactions of this nature. Failure to satisfy any of these conditions, the emergence of a superior proposal or the failure to obtain approval of Bankers' shareholders may result in the termination of the Arrangement Agreement. The foregoing list is not exhaustive. Additional information on these and other risks that could affect completion of the Arrangement is set forth in the information circular in respect of the Special Meeting, which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. 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. The actual results, performance or achievement of Bankers 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 Bankers will derive therefrom. Bankers 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 required by applicable securities laws.
SOURCE Bankers Petroleum Ltd.
REDWOOD, Calif., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ItsOn, the leader of transformative SaaS solutions in the telecommunications industry, today announced that it has been included in the list of "Cool Vendors" in the Communications Service Provider Operational and Business Infrastructure report by Gartner, Inc.
Gartner's "Cool Vendor" reports evaluate vendors that are innovative and impactful in their respective industries to help inform clients of how to stay ahead of the IT technology curve.
ItsOn's end-to-end platform enables mobile network operators to rapidly evolve into modernized digital service providers (DSPs). Once deployed, ItsOn's client-cloud architecture provides operators with the ability to engage with consumers in a highly contextual and personalized way while allowing carriers to design, test, launch and refine new digital services with unmatched agility. By offering the kind of digital experiences that consumers now expect, operators can meet or exceed the high engagement and personalization standards set by leading mobile application and over-the-top content providers.
ItsOn operates in North America, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East and counts top-tier operators such as Telefonica Mexico, MTN, Saudi Telecom Company, Sprint and Virgin Mobile among its customers.
"Consumers today expect more from their service providers: transparency, flexibility, control and ease of use across new digital channels. Carriers now accept and adopt digital transformation as a key part of their overall business strategy to address those expectations," said Robert Oberhofer, VP of Technical Marketing and Sales at ItsOn. "We believe ItsOn's operator deployments, combined with continued industry and analyst recognition like Gartner's Cool Vendors report, validate our solution's transformational impact."
Gartner subscribers can access the report here. For additional background on ItsOn, visit www.itsoninc.com.
Required Disclaimer:
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in our research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
Gartner, Cool Vendors in Communications Service Provider Operational and Business Infrastructure, 2016, Norbert J. Scholz, Martina Kurth, Sylvain Fabre, Neil Osmond, Charlotte Patrick, 11 May 2016
SOURCE ItsOn
Related Links
http://www.itsoninc.com
The anti-Russian sanctions may be lifted after the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements, and the United States wants the Minsk Package of Measures to be implemented as soon as possible, says U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland.
Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, Nuland recalled President Barack Obama's words that the sanctions may be lifted if and when the Minsk Agreements are fully implemented.
It is the right time now to speed up the process and secure the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements, which should have a positive effect on peace and security in Ukraine, on Russian-Ukrainian bilateral relations and on Russian-U.S. relations, she said.
While the U.S. is not a Normandy format participant, it has reached agreement with all of its participants that it will work simultaneously with both Kyiv and Moscow to speed up the negotiations, Nuland said.
K2 Intelligence, known for its investigative excellence, will integrate BitVoyant's expansive datasets to provide defensive cyber products and services. These products and services will deliver the ability to map multiple layers of risk across an enterprise, its vendors and partners; advise clients requiring cyber M&A due diligence; and help to inform cyber insurance underwriting.
"We are in a new phase of the cyber battle, where companies can no longer operate in the dark without the necessary intelligence to stay ahead of advanced threats," said Jeremy Kroll, President and Chief Executive Officer at K2 Intelligence. "BitVoyant's valuable datasets in conjunction with our stellar cyber defense team and investigative strength, will provide clients with the information they need to make better business decisions and create stronger defense strategies."
"Proprietary cyber information is the foundation of our partnership with BitVoyant, synergizing traditional business, Dark Web, and network intelligence," said Austin Berglas, Senior Managing Director and Head of Cyber Defense at K2 Intelligence. "The applications of this information are larger than just defense. This enhanced cyber due diligence offering will provide a thorough risk analysis to protect enterprises against threats lurking in potential deals and partnerships."
BitVoyant has been transitioning their sensitive technologies from the government world to the private sector under the leadership of BitVoyant, CEO, Jared Novick. BitVoyant's data sources and global capabilities obtain network information passively from outside company firewalls to derive valuable knowledge. BitVoyant's current clients benefit from its wholly-owned proprietary data libraries derived from its global sensor grid.
"The partnership applies information not previously available to the commercial market. It will allow us to harvest the potential of this data, and deliver value alongside the gold standard in corporate investigations," said Novick. "We are looking forward to rolling out products and services to large enterprise clients and law firms over the next few months."
The K2 Intelligence team of cyber defense experts is comprised of former law enforcement and intelligence professionals with experience managing the most sophisticated and noteworthy investigations. Their competitive advantage is their competence to provide a holistic capability aimed at creating a robust cyber security posture, respond to threats in near real-time, and proactively defend the network.
About K2 Intelligence
K2 Intelligence is an industry-leading investigative, compliance and cyber defense services firm founded in 2009 by Jeremy M. Kroll and Jules B. Kroll, the originator of the modern corporate investigations industry. Over the last 40 years, Jules, Jeremy, and their teams have built a reputation not only for investigative, analytic and advisory excellence but for the independence and insight they bring to investigations. With offices in New York, London, Madrid, Tel Aviv, Geneva, and Los Angeles, K2 Intelligence advises governments, companies, boards and individuals in business areas including: Complex Investigations & Disputes; Anti Money Laundering and Regulatory Compliance; Construction and Real Estate Project Oversight Monitoring & Compliance; Data Analytics & Visualization; and Cybersecurity Investigations & Defense.
In 2015, American International Group, Inc. (AIG), a leading international insurance organization and the market leader in the underwriting of cyber insurance, endorsed the work of K2 Intelligence by acquiring a minority stake in the firm.
For more information, visit www.k2intelligence.com
About BitVoyant
BitVoyant is a provider of cyber-derived business intelligence and proactive defense solutions. BitVoyant provides commercial information from their global sensor network to deliver competitive intelligence, proactive cyber defense, counterparty risk assessments, and supply chain analysis. BitVoyant supports the Fortune 100, law-firms, private equity groups, insurance underwriters and market-intelligence firms. BitVoyant's offices are headquartered in Rosslyn, Virginia. www.bitvoyant.com
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151109/285612
SOURCE K2 Intelligence
Related Links
http://www.k2intelligence.com
DENVER, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A large multi-national corporation has agreed to pay a seven-figure settlement to a Denver area warehouse worker for injuries he suffered due to equipment failure, according to the Law Firm of Jeremy Rosenthal. The names of all parties and the final settlement amount are confidential under the terms of the settlement agreement.
The worker was injured when he was moving large slabs of a popular kitchen material, which in its raw state weighs more than one ton. The retention system manufactured by the multi-national corporation named in the suit failed, and the slabs fell directly on the worker, causing major injuries to his lower torso. The worker required multiple surgeries and intensive physical therapy in order to remedy his injuries.
"This was a very serious injury suffered by our client," said attorney Jeremy Rosenthal. "Fortunately, he will now be able to address all of his medical needs going forward and live comfortably for the rest of his life."
Rosenthal said that the favorable seven-figure settlement was reached days before trial. "In preparation for trial, we flew to Duke University to meet with the world's foremost communications and jury expert," said Rosenthal. "We were ready for trial, but were able to secure a very favorable outcome without having to put our client through a trial."
Based in Denver, Jeremy Rosenthal has been representing personal injury claims in Colorado for more than 12 years. His areas of expertise include workplace injury claims, car accidents, dog bites, wrongful death, premises injuries, negligence claims and medical cannabis cases.
Rosenthal is a four-time SuperLawyers Rising Stars honoree, a three-time inductee into the SuperLawyers' Top 40 Lawyers Under 40 in Colorado, a member of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers (National Trial Lawyers Association), and a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, representing the most prestigious group of trial lawyers in the U.S.
For more information, visit LawFirmofJeremyRosenthal.com.
Contact:
Jeremy Rosenthal
303-825-2223
Email
SOURCE Law Firm of Jeremy Rosenthal
Related Links
http://www.lawfirmofjeremyrosenthal.com
Lawn Dude's past escapades, ranging from "laying off the sauce" to "manscaping," captured the attention of Southern Californians and promoted conservation across the region. As the state enters a fifth year of historic drought conditions, the newest Lawn Dude campaign leverages the momentum of the 2016 election to remind residents that despite improving conditions, the drought is not over.
"I'm throwing my hat in the ring because the drought's not over, baby California needs me more than ever before," said Lawn Dude. "Now is the perfect time to announce my candidacy. And my slogan? 'Conserve, Conserve, Conserve!' of course."
Felicia Marcus, chair of the California State Water Resources Control Board, said of Lawn Dude and the continued partnership between SCWC and CCOA, "Lawn Dude has been a strong force in the conversation about conservation and I'm thrilled to see him out on the campaign trail just in time for the California primary and the beginning of the hot summer months. I applaud the Southern California Water Committee and Clear Channel Outdoor Americas' commitment to keeping Southern California's conservation dialogue fresh year after year."
Just last week Governor Jerry Brown issued an executive order establishing long-term water conservation measures in light of the drought. Lawn Dude is also working to dispel the myth that El Nino "fixed" the drought, and he's taking no prisoners in the process by using the slogan "El Nino Campaigned on Empty Promises" to get this message out to residents.
"Lawn Dude is the perfect candidate to remind Californians that, despite increased rainfall, the drought is not over and we need to continue to conserve," said Charles Wilson, Executive Director of the Southern California Water Committee. "We are thankful for our continued partnership with Clear Channel Outdoor Americas, whose generous contribution allows us to harness the power of billboards to encourage Southern Californians to adopt conservation as a way of life."
The latest phase of the Lawn Dude campaign will go up on CCOA's digital and traditional billboards throughout the Southern California region as the state moves into the hot summer months. Californians are encouraged to continue engaging with @Lawn_Dude on Twitter and share billboard sightings, personal water saving practices, and photos of their drought tolerant yards.
"As we head into summer, it's critical that we do not take our foot off the conservation pedal and Clear Channel Outdoor Americas is proud to help reinforce this message across the Southland," said Layne Lawson, director of public affairs for Clear Channel Outdoor. "We are in support of Lawn Dude's campaign and hope to see California join his pledge to 'Conserve, Conserve, Conserve!'"
CCOA consistently donates space on its digital and traditional billboards in Southern California and throughout the nation to display public safety and public awareness messages. The unique ability of digital signs to reach a wide audience while displaying messages in real-time allows them to act as valuable resources for non-profit organizations, public safety agencies, law enforcement and a variety of others who need to effectively relay messages to the public.
About Southern California Water Committee
Established in 1984, the Southern California Water Committee is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public education partnership dedicated to informing Southern Californians about our water needs and our state's water resources. Spanning Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino, Imperial, Riverside, Ventura and Kern counties, the SCWC's members include representatives from business, government, agriculture, water agencies, labor and the general public. Visit us at www.socalwater.org and find us on Facebook.
About Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.
Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc., (NYSE: CCO) is one of the world's largest outdoor advertising companies, with more than 625,000 displays in over 35 countries across five continents, including 43 of the 50 largest markets in the United States. Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings offers many types of displays across its global platform to meet the advertising needs of its customers. This includes a growing digital platform that now offers over 1,050 digital billboards across 28 markets in North America. Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings' International segment operates in 22 countries across Asia, Australia and Europe in a wide variety of formats. More information is available at www.clearchanneloutdoor.com www.clearchannelinternational.com .
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160518/369365
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160518/369366
SOURCE Clear Channel Outdoor Americas; Southern California Water Committee
Related Links
http://www.socalwater.org
CHINA
19-22 September 2016
Shanghai, China
The "O2O2O Solution" was developed after months of studies on the dynamics and areas of potential in the online and offline trading worlds by UBM and Alibaba B2B teams, including extensive customer surveys, and will encapsulate an end-to-end solution for professional buyers including*:
For sourcing professionals, personalized search capabilities over a larger pool of potential qualified suppliers and existing business partners, using integrated Alibaba.com and UBM knowhow; For exhibiting companies, search abilities from a larger pool of quality sourcing professionals amongst UBM databases and Alibaba.com members, and enhanced online showroom to display products and company information; Business match-making and communication functions allowing buyers and sellers to connect before, during, or after an event and to set meetings during the event; Full service onsite "O2O2O Solution Pavilion" with meeting space, lounge and concierge services at SIGN CHINA and LED CHINA
*Future plans in next stage product launch includes further e-commerce integration via Alibaba B2B's transaction, payment, protection, Trade Assurance programme, and host of logistic services.
Jime Essink, President and CEO of UBM Asia Ltd, said: "The experience in working with Alibaba B2B in recent months has inspired us beyond what we originally set out to accomplish. It was clear from the beginning we could leverage Alibaba's strength in online trading technology and UBM's expertise in creating face-to-face trading platforms. We knew that we could enhance our trade shows by way of robust, scalable and more precise pre-show search and meeting technologies (the first 'O', for online) while at the same time Alibaba build on the online sourcing experience by offering their capabilities to the physical 'meet and hand-shake" at trade shows (the second 'O', for offline). What we came to realise was the opportunity for the third 'O' (again for online), or the ability for us to service B2B customers even better by connecting them full circle in the sourcing and buying process through online transactions and other business services made available by Alibaba."
Qian Yi, Global Business Development Director - Alibaba Group B2B Unit, said, "We are thrilled to partner with UBM to develop this brand-new O2O2O trade solution which will greatly enhance the efficiency of the cross-border B2B trading business. With the new solution available at the SIGN CHINA and LED CHINA trade show, we expect more SMEs will benefit from it and expand their businesses more effectively."
"SIGN CHINA and LED CHINA is thrilled to play host to the official debut of the 'O2O2O Solution'", said David Tang, UBM Trust Managing Director and organiser of the fairs. "Through this collaboration with Alibaba B2B, we are able to give our exhibitors an enhanced marketing and business opportunity with pre-show online product showrooms and the ability to connect with even more potential buyers before and during the shows. The online and onsite match-making services offered at SIGN CHINA and LED CHINA will create a truly world-class experience for our international trade attendees."
To stay up-to-date on the news and feature updates leading up to Alibaba B2B and UBM's "O2O2O Solution" launch at SIGN and LED China, please visit:
http://www.signchina-sh.com
http://www.ledchina-sh.com
Contacts
Ben Veechai Regional Director International Marketing, UBM Asia Ltd T: +852 2516 1691 E: [email protected] Crystal Liu
Alibaba Group T: +852 63785626 E: [email protected]
About UBM plc (www.ubm.com)
Listed on the London Stock Exchange, UBM plc is a leading global events-led marketing services and communications company. UBM helps businesses do business, bringing the world's buyers and sellers together at events, online and in print. 5,000 staff located in more than 20 countries are organised into specialist teams which serve commercial and professional communities, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently. Running over 400 events per year UBM is the second largest exhibitions organiser globally and the biggest commercial tradeshow organiser in the US, mainland China, India and Malaysia.
About UBM Asia (www.ubmasia.com)
Owned by UBM plc listed on the London Stock Exchange, UBM Asia is the largest trade show organiser in Asia and the largest commercial organiser in China, India and Malaysia. Established with its headquarters in Hong Kong and subsidiary companies across Asia and in the US, UBM Asia has a strong global presence in 24 major cities with 31 offices and 1,300 staff. UBM Asia operates in 20 market sectors with 230 dynamic face-to-face trade exhibitions and associated print/online products for over 2,000,000 quality sellers and buyers from all over the world. Most recently, UBM Asia was awarded 'Asia's Most Reliable Trade Show Organiser Award' in Hong Kong's Most Valuable Companies Awards (HKMVCA) 2016.
About Alibaba.com
The first business of Alibaba Group, Alibaba.com (www.alibaba.com) is the leading platform for global wholesale trade serving millions of buyers and suppliers around the world. Through Alibaba.com, small businesses can sell their products to companies in other countries. Sellers on Alibaba.com are typically manufacturers and distributors based in China and other manufacturing countries such as India, Pakistan, the United States and Thailand.
About 1688.com
Launched in 1999, 1688.com (www.1688.com) is a leading online wholesale marketplace in China. It serves as a wholesale channel for merchants doing business on Alibaba Group's retail marketplaces to source products from domestic wholesalers. 1688.com is a business within Alibaba Group.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160517/368457
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160517/368467
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160517/368468
SOURCE UBM Asia Ltd.
Related Links
http://www.ubmasia.com
SAN JOSE, Calif. and SYDNEY, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NETSUITE SUITEWORLD 2016 -- NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry's leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP and omnichannel commerce software suites, today announced that the Lingerie Company of Australia, a leading luxury lingerie wholesaler and retailer who represents Simone Perele and Implicite brands, has deployed NetSuite in Australia and New Zealand to better manage its business operations and support its vision for B2B and B2C business growth in the region. NetSuite OneWorld replaced several legacy systems, including Solemate and MYOB for accounting, to manage its core business processes, including financial consolidation across its head office, wholesale business and 13 retail stores in Australia, customer relationship management (CRM), point of sale (POS), demand and supply planning, inventory management, order management, warehouse management, invoicing, payroll and multicurrency management for the Euro, US, Australia and New Zealand dollar.
Lingerie Company of Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Simone Perele Group, has been in operation for 25 years, and today is one of the global brands' largest operations outside of its headquarters in France. From its warehouse in Victoria, Australia, the company supplies the Simone Perele brand to over 120 wholesale accounts, Smith & Caughey's in Auckland, New Zealand, Ballantynes in Christchurch, New Zealand, and 13 of its own retail stores across Australia. In addition, Lingerie Company of Australia has a brand-exclusive relationship with one of Australia's largest department stores, David Jones, which has grown from occupying a single rack to now being the only lingerie brand stocked across all 40 David Jones' ANZ locations.
In July, Simone Perele plans to enter into concession relationship with David Jones, establishing a direct selling model in each department store where it will become solely responsible for inventory management and staffing. In order to support this move, Lingerie Company of Australia expects to rely increasingly on NetSuite OneWorld to provide accurate stock visibility across its 20,000 SKU's and to help deliver enhanced customer service.
"A challenge we're currently facing is to ensure we're ahead of the industry shift away from pure wholesaling and toward 'own' retailing," said Tim Rosenfield, CEO, of the Lingerie Company of Australia (Simone Perele ANZ). "The new concession agreement with David Jones is a perfect step to help achieve our business growth objectives; however, it is also adding a whole new layer of complexity. In order to manage this change, we need a robust inventory management system and NetSuite OneWorld can give this to us."
As part of the company's shift toward direct selling, Lingerie Company of Australia recognised that it needed to upgrade its customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities. Despite having over 200,000 Australian customers in its loyalty program, many contact details were inaccurate, and the lack of ERP integration made it difficult to get a single view of the customer. With NetSuite OneWorld, the company can now access and analyse each customer's complete transaction history and turn this data into customised engagement. It can track what customers are buying and engage with them through tailored email marketing, whether offering complimentary items or communicating special deals with high value customers. Lingerie Company of Australia also has future plans to use NetSuite's powerful development platform to further automate this tailored communication with its customers.
"As a business, we can now engage with our customers in a much more meaningful way, and this largely has to do with how we obtain, analyse and manage our data," Rosenfield said. "Being able to offer our customers items based on their purchase history and engage with them in a way that makes them feel valued, is crucial to our business. To ensure we are providing the best level of service to our customers, we also need a responsive stock analysis system to offer the desired items to our ANZ customers in a timely manner."
The rising cost of doing business in Australia and New Zealand is another concern for Lingerie Company of Australia. In order to maintain its warehouse in Brunswick, Victoria, it needs to maximise efficiencies across the business, and this requires clear visibility of financial performance. With its legacy system, Lingerie Company of Australia previously had no insight as to how it was performing until profit and loss statements were received at month's end.
NetSuite OneWorld supports 190 currencies, 20 languages and automated tax compliance in more than 100 countries, and transaction in more than 200 countries. Since implementing NetSuite OneWorld, Lingerie Company of Australia has experienced the following benefits:
- More efficient and accurate inventory and delivery management: Lingerie Company of Australia's inventory and delivery management was previously cumbersome and ineffective as it relied on manual data entry, with only select employees having visibility of stock arrivals and product performance. With NetSuite OneWorld, stock performance and delivery reports can now be viewed on a daily or per transaction basis, allowing the business to identify the cost of different stock items and better optimise their distribution across the business.
- Financial transparency that allows action: With NetSuite OneWorld, Lingerie Company of Australia can view performance figures daily and make adjustments accordingly through initiatives such as promotions, changes to shipping schedules and adjustment of staff hours.
- Visibility turns to profit: For the two years it had been open, one of the organisation's Australian stores was unable to turn a profit, and given the lack of visibility into stock performance and financials, the reason could not be identified. NetSuite OneWorld helped Lingerie Company of Australia analyse transactions and gross margins and after making changes to the stock offering, the store turned a profit within two months.
- Effective stock management: Lingerie Company of Australia can now more effectively analyse efficient vs. inefficient stock to the benefit of the business. It is also undertaking a large project to increase stock turns by utilising the help of sales reports, stock on hand and delivery management.
- More efficient warehouse management: Prior to NetSuite OneWorld, Lingerie Company of Australia did not use any sophisticated warehouse tools. It now has the ability to track cost of shipping per box to streamline efficiencies.
- Integrated POS system: NetSuite's POS solution is a vast improvement on the previous legacy system. Now that all transaction data is captured within NetSuite, Lingerie Company of Australia is able to analyse data in real-time to understand where further efficiencies can be gained.
- Easily operate in multiple currencies: Through NetSuite OneWorld, the ANZ subsidiary of the Simone Perele Group is able to easily pay its global parent company in local currencies, USD and Euro when invoices are received.
- Reduced IT costs and complexity: NetSuite's proven, secure cloud solution has helped significantly reduce the need for Lingerie Company of Australia to allocate time and additional budget to managing, maintaining and upgrading its business critical applications.
Today, more than 30,000 companies and subsidiaries depend on NetSuite to run complex, mission-critical business processes globally in the cloud. Since its inception in 1998, NetSuite has established itself as the leading provider of cloud-based financials/enterprise resource planning (ERP) and omnichannel commerce software applications for businesses of all sizes. Many FORTUNE 100 companies rely on NetSuite to accelerate innovation and business transformation. NetSuite continues its success in delivering the best cloud business management software to businesses around the world, enabling them to lower IT costs significantly while increasing productivity, as the global adoption of the cloud accelerates.
For more information about NetSuite please visit www.netsuite.com.au.
Follow NetSuite's Cloud blog, NetSuite's Facebook page and @NetSuiteAPAC Twitter handle for real-time updates.
NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are service marks of NetSuite Inc. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090924/SF81218LOGO-b
SOURCE NetSuite Inc.
Related Links
http://www.netsuite.com
PURCHASE, N.Y., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Lipton is encouraging people to pull up a chair and reconnect with friends and family in a meaningful way through Lipton's Chef Fest, a series of experiential dining events designed to infuse excitement into everyday meals.
Lipton's Chef Fest events, which will be hosted by celebrity chef Michael Symon and feature appearances from other celebrity friends, will coincide with new recipes and digital content via a multi-platform, culinary-focused partnership with Food Network, leveraging the brand's digital assets.
The focus on mealtime comes from Lipton's belief that the difference between an ordinary meal and a great meal is the combination of the right ingredients and moments around the table with friends and family.
"Today's world can be hectic and impersonal, making it easy for us to miss out on what really matters," said Melanie Watts, director of marketing for Lipton. "At Lipton, we know that refreshing iced tea goes great with meals and is the perfect complement to great times around the table. That's why this summer and fall, we are using this inspiration to help people create great mealtime moments."
Lipton's Chef Fest events will kick off this fall in Chicago, Washington D.C., Austin, Texas, and Atlanta and will feature celebrity guests, local tastemakers, mixologists, live music and delicious meals paired with Lipton Iced Tea. Michael Symon will host each event. Additional celebrity guests, to be announced separately, will also join the events.
"There's nothing I love more than the stories and traditions that come from gathering with friends and family for delicious food and a lot of laughs. That's why I'm so excited to be a part of Lipton's Chef Fest," said Symon. "We hope that these events will help people pause, take a break and really savor those important mealtime moments."
The events align with Lipton's brand philosophy, which encourages people to take time to engage with others and enjoy the world around them. With Lipton Iced Tea, people can unlock experiences, creativity and inspiration, whether it's playtime, mealtime, travel time or anytime in between.
All summer long, people can enter for a chance to win a trip to one of the four dining stops by posting a photo of their favorite meal and Lipton combination and tagging @Lipton with #LiptonChefSweeps on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. People can also visit LiptonBrightBites.com, hosted in partnership with Food Network, for recipes from Symon and a new content series starring him and other celebrity guests.
"At Food Network, we know that great things can happen when people come together over a great meal," said Deb Puchalla, vice president, content development and digital advertising. "This partnership will bring inspiring food-forward content to new audiences across the country."
Fans can join the conversation using #LiptonChefSweeps on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Media Contacts:
Stephanie Sternberg, Pepsi Lipton Partnership Communications
914-253-2358
[email protected]
Jennifer Davis, Golin on behalf of Lipton
312-729-4248
[email protected]
About Lipton's Chef Fest Sweepstakes
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Lipton's Chef Fest Sweepstakes is open only to legal residents of the 50 United States (or DC) who are at least 18 years old (19 in AL or NE) at the time of entry. Sweepstakes starts on May 18, 2016 at 12:00 a.m. ET and ends August 25, 2016 at 11:59 p.m. ET. For FREE ENTRY and Official Rules visit www.TheChefFest.com (http://www.thecheffest.com). Void where prohibited. Sponsored by Pepsi/Lipton Tea Partnership, 1111 Westchester Avenue, White Plains, NY 10604.
About Unilever United States, Inc.
Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of Food, Refreshments, Home and Personal Care products with sales in more than 190 countries and reaching 2 billion consumers a day. In the United States, the portfolio includes brand icons such as: Axe, Ben & Jerry's, Breyers, Caress, Clear Scalp & Hair Therapy, Country Crock, Degree, Dove personal care products, Fruttare, Good Humor, Hellmann's, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!, Klondike, Knorr, Lever 2000, Lipton, Magnum, Nexxus, Noxzema, Pond's, Popsicle, Promise, Q-tips, Simple, St. Ives, Suave, Talenti Gelato & Sorbetto, TIGI, TONI&GUY Hair Meet Wardrobe, TRESemme and Vaseline. All of the preceding brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Unilever Group of Companies.
Unilever employs approximately 8,000 people in the United States generating more than $8.5 billion in sales in 2015.
Unilever's Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) commits to:
Decoupling growth from environmental impact.
Helping more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being.
Enhancing the livelihoods of millions of people by 2020.
For more information on Unilever U.S. and its brands visit: www.unileverusa.com
To connect with Unilever U.S. via Facebook visit: www.facebook.com/unileverusa
To connect with Unilever U.S. via Twitter follow: @unileverusa
About PepsiCo
PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $63 billion in net revenue in 2015, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.
At the heart of PepsiCo is Performance with Purpose our goal to deliver top-tier financial performance while creating sustainable growth and shareholder value. In practice, Performance with Purpose means providing a wide range of foods and beverages from treats to healthy eats; finding innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment and reduce our operating costs; providing a safe and inclusive workplace for our employees globally; and respecting, supporting and investing in the local communities where we operate. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com.
Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160517/369021LOGO
SOURCE Lipton
Related Links
http://www.liptontea.com
LAS VEGAS, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Lucky Jack Organic Coffee Co. has tapped Matthew Ammirati as Co-CEO to work in tandem with current CEO Giancarlo Chersich. Together they will lead Lucky Jack as the brand expands and enters new distribution opportunities. This news follows Jillian Michaels taking controlling interest of Lucky Jack in January of this year. Ammirati, founder of holding company LP2, has also invested in the brand.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160518/369166LOGO
Previously, Ammirati served as creative chairman of digital marketing agency Resource/Ammirati. Before the partnership with Resource in 2014, he was founder and president of creative agency Ammirati, where he created multifaceted campaigns for clients in the food and beverage space including Sweet 'N Low, Powerade, VitaminWater and Pirate's Booty snack food. Ammirati is an investor in an eclectic group of innovative brands and companies.
"I look forward to utilizing my experience in brand building, technology and product innovation to grow this upscale ready-to-drink coffee brand into a leader in the cold-brew category," said Ammirati. "My skills are complementary to Giancarlo's and Jillian's, and we are working with one of the top coffee brewmasters in the world. I have no doubt that this venture can only be a recipe for success." Co-CEO Lucky Jack, Matthew Ammirati
As Co-CEO, Chersich will hone in on the overall sales and operations, and alongside Ammirati, the duo will focus on the overall branding, marketing and distribution of the organic cold brew. Lucky Jack is currently available in Whole Foods in the SoPac region, all Sprouts Farmers Markets, finer natural food stores and will soon announce new channels of distribution.
"The cold brew category is on fire. Lucky Jack is the premier brand in the space as its organic, hand crafted, and nitro-infused for superior quality and taste. Matthew brings a pedigree and a level of expertise that is unparalleled. I look forward to this journey with Matthew and the rest of team in growing the Lucky Jack brand." Co-CEO Lucky Jack, Giancarlo Chersich
Please visit www.luckyjackcoffee.com for up to date information and product selections. You can also follow Lucky Jack on Instagram@LuckyJackIcedCoffee
ABOUT: Lucky Jack is the brainchild of Richard Karno, coffee pioneer and founder of Groundwork Coffee, one of the first and largest certified organic coffee roasters in Southern California. In 2013 Karno launched Lucky Jack, producing a fresh roast using only the highest quality coffees from certified organic growers without additives or preservatives. The nitro infused coffee and choice to only bottle in glass sets Lucky Jack apart from any other cold brews on the market. Lucky Jack is available in six incredible flavors Old School, Double Black, Sweet Thing, Lean Bean, Mary Jane and Slow Brew (coffee concentrate).
Media contact:
Christina Lazzaro
323-656-6995
SOURCE Lucky Jack Organic Coffee Co.
Related Links
http://www.luckyjackcoffee.com
CHESTERFIELD, United Kingdom, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mallinckrodt plc (NYSE: MNK), a leading global specialty biopharmaceutical company, today announced that its Board of Directors has approved a change in the company's fiscal year end to the last Friday in December from the last Friday in September.
The company is making this move to better align Mallinckrodt's financial reporting calendar with its customer base and industry peers. This decision will result in a transition period from Oct. 1 to Dec. 30, 2016. The subsequent first full fiscal year will end on Dec. 29, 2017, with Mallinckrodt's current "4/5/4" reporting convention remaining the same.
"We believe our new fiscal year end will make it easier for the financial community to understand Mallinckrodt's performance and growth relative to our industry peers, most of which have a fiscal year end of December," said Matt Harbaugh, Chief Financial Officer.
The company currently expects to report results for the 13-week transition period ending Dec. 30, 2016 in February 2017.
ABOUT MALLINCKRODT
Mallinckrodt is a global business that develops, manufactures, markets and distributes specialty pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical products and therapies, as well as nuclear imaging products. Areas of focus include autoimmune and rare diseases in specialty areas like neurology, rheumatology, nephrology and pulmonology; immunotherapy and neonatal respiratory critical care therapies; analgesics and hemostasis products; and central nervous system drugs. The company's core strengths include the acquisition and management of highly regulated raw materials and specialized chemistry, formulation and manufacturing capabilities. The company's Specialty Brands segment includes branded medicines; its Specialty Generics segment includes specialty generic drugs, active pharmaceutical ingredients and external manufacturing; and the Nuclear Imaging segment includes nuclear imaging agents. To learn more about Mallinckrodt, visit www.mallinckrodt.com.
Mallinckrodt uses its website as a channel of distribution of important company information, such as press releases, investor presentations and other financial information. It also uses its website to expedite public access to time-critical information regarding the company in advance of or in lieu of distributing a press release or a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosing the same information. Therefore, investors should look to the Investor Relations page of the website for important and time-critical information. Visitors to the website can also register to receive automatic e-mail and other notifications alerting them when new information is made available on the Investor Relations page of the website.
CONTACTS
Investor Relations
Coleman N. Lannum, CFA
Senior Vice President, Investor Strategy and IRO
314-654-6649
[email protected]
Media
Rhonda Sciarra
Senior Communications Manager
314-654-8618
[email protected]
Meredith Fischer
Senior Vice President, Communications and Public Affairs
314-654-3318
[email protected]
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150105/167103LOGO
SOURCE Mallinckrodt plc
Related Links
http://www.mallinckrodt.com
WASHINGTON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrissey will discuss the rapidly evolving legal case challenging the Obama Administration's Clean Power Plan at a National Press Club Newsmaker news conference on Mon., May 23, at 3 p.m., in the Club's Bloomberg Room. Just this week, the DC Circuit, which was scheduled to hear argument in the case in early June, decided to take the unusual step of bypassing an initial 3-judge panel hearing and going directly to an en banc hearing before the entire court in September. It is a step that has only happened once before and, when coupled with the never-before issued Supreme Court stay of the Clean Power Plan, has highlighted the magnitude of the stakes in this case.
Morrissey, who has coordinated a coalition of 30 states opposing the rule, will be joined by former EPA Air Office head Jeff Holmstead, now an industry attorney representing the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) in the case, and utility policy analyst Christine Tezak of ClearView Energy. Veteran E&E News utility reporter Rod Kuckro will moderate.
The National Press Club is located on the 13th floor of the National Press Building, 529 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C. Like all Newsmakers event, this news conference is open to credentialed media and NPC members, free of charge. No advance registration is required.
Contact: Frank Maisano, [email protected]; o. 202-828-5864, c. 202-997-5932
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20080917/NPCLOGO
SOURCE National Press Club
ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Medical Advantage Group announces the launch of CIPA, the Consortium of Independent Physician Associations, in Ohio. The company's commitment to Ohio physicians is to provide the vital business and clinical readiness services to position them for the healthcare industry transformation to value-based care. CIPA is endorsed by the Ohio State Medical Association (OSMA), who is an active participant in the rollout strategy and advocacy to independent physicians across Ohio.
The Affordable Care Act introduced reform and incentives in the areas of value-based payments, improvements to population health, and the accelerated use of Electronic Health Records (EHR). While many large physician groups and health systems have already started to transform their operations for value-based care, independent physicians and small practices typically do not have available resources and find themselves at a disadvantage.
CIPA allows independent physicians in Ohio to band together to leverage economies of scale and thought leadership to better manage the challenges facing independent physicians. CIPA provides:
Practice Assessments To identify opportunities for cost savings and workflow improvements.
To identify opportunities for cost savings and workflow improvements. Group Purchasing Discounts on common services and products such as vaccines.
Discounts on common services and products such as vaccines. Accountable Care Organization Participation in a Medicare Shared Savings Program ACO.
Participation in a Medicare Shared Savings Program ACO. Billing and Coding Consulting Coding best practices for improved billing accuracy resulting in increased reimbursement.
Coding best practices for improved billing accuracy resulting in increased reimbursement. EHR Selection, Implementation and Optimization Dedicated, onsite assistance with the selection, implementation and optimization of EHR systems.
Dedicated, onsite assistance with the selection, implementation and optimization of EHR systems. Revenue Cycle Management Services to streamline workflow, reduce denials, and ensure faster claims processing.
Services to streamline workflow, reduce denials, and ensure faster claims processing. HIPAA Consulting Compliance advisory services, risk assessments and remediation planning.
Compliance advisory services, risk assessments and remediation planning. Value-based Contracts Access to contracting opportunities that increase physician reimbursement and assistance to help physician practices prepare for upcoming changes in payment models.
Access to contracting opportunities that increase physician reimbursement and assistance to help physician practices prepare for upcoming changes in payment models. Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Hands-on practice consultants work onsite to help practices get to the next level and be well-positioned to be rewarded for transformation efforts.
Hands-on practice consultants work onsite to help practices get to the next level and be well-positioned to be rewarded for transformation efforts. Training and Educational Seminars Emerging topics such as Medicaid billing, MACRA, Telehealth and wearable devices.
"The journey to success in a fee-for-value environment is full of obstacles, especially for smaller independent physician practices," said Todd Baker, CEO, Ohio State Medical Association. "Challenges include training staff in new approaches, modifying workflows, and updating technology in the practice."
"CIPA 'connects the unconnected' physician and facilitates their participation in incentive programs while providing the vital infrastructure support to maximize reimbursements in value-based contracts," said Paul MacLellan, CEO, Medical Advantage Group. "Leveraging the endorsement and support of the OSMA, we are committed to make a difference for physicians in Ohio. In Michigan last year, we helped our CIPA members earn $17 million in additional practice revenue from fee schedule increases and financial incentives."
Since launching in 2005, Medical Advantage Group has managed CIPA which consists of a network of 40 physician organizations representing 1,200 physicians throughout Michigan who are dedicated to the practice of independent medicine. Members include individual practices, group practices, rural health clinics, Federally Qualified Health Centers, and physician hospital organizations. Most CIPA physicians are independent solo practitioners located in both urban and rural settings.
Learn More
To learn more about CIPA, visit www.JoinCIPAOhio.com.
About Medical Advantage Group
Medical Advantage Group simplifies the delivery of efficient, high-quality health care for medical practices, health centers, physician organizations, hospitals and health systems. The company delivers the tools, best practices, and proven methodologies to optimize practices through a variety of value-based health care solutions: Patient-Centered Medical Home, population health management, clinical measures performance improvement, risk contracts, incentive program management and optimization, physician organization management, group purchasing, HIPAA compliance, revenue cycle management; and EHR implementation and optimization. Established in 1996, Medical Advantage Group (www.medicaladvantagegroup.com) is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Doctors Company. The Doctors Company is the nation's largest physician-owned medical malpractice insurer, with more than 78,000 members and $4.3 billion in assets, and is rated A by A.M. Best Company and Fitch Ratings.
SOURCE Medical Advantage Group
Related Links
http://www.medadvgrp.com
The Ukrainian Justice Ministry has not received documents on the extradition to Russia or pardoning of Russian intelligence officers Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Alexander Alexandrov, who were convicted in Ukraine, Ukrainian Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko has said.
"As of now, there are no such documents there," he told reporters in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Commenting on the alleged extradition of Nadia Savchenko, who was convicted of killing Russian journalists, the justice minister recalled that all documents have been filed the same as for other Ukrainian prisoners. "They are now being reviewed by Russia. We only have information from the media that a certain package of documents was allegedly received by their Justice Ministry today, which will be reviewed by their Federal Penitentiary Service," the minister said.
Speaking about the contacts between the Ukrainian Justice Ministry and Russian colleagues, Petrenko said: "We only have contacts via conventional mechanisms."
Russian Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov said earlier on Wednesday that the documents on the extradition of Savchenko to Ukraine are being reviewed by the Russian Justice Ministry in accordance with routine regulations and that requests from Yerofeyev and Alexandrov, who were convicted in Kyiv, have not been received.
WASHINGTON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mesothelioma Compensation Center says, "We want a US Navy Veteran who has recently been diagnosed with mesothelioma or their family members to call us anytime at 866-714-6466 for instant access to the nation's leading mesothelioma lawyers, who are either senior partners or managing partners of their law firm and full-time mesothelioma attorneys with references nationwide.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160517/368644
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160517/368645
"If you are a US Navy Veteran with mesothelioma, or their loved one, these are exactly the types of legal experts you should be talking to. These extremely experienced and skilled mesothelioma attorneys we suggest get the best possible mesothelioma financial compensation settlements for their clients nationwide. Please don't shortchange yourself when it comes to financial compensation for mesothelioma." http://MesotheliomaCompensationCenter.Com
So why is having a conversation with one of the nation's leading mesothelioma attorneys such an important thing for a US Navy Veteran or a person who has recently been diagnosed with mesothelioma?
The Mesothelioma Compensation Center fears that most diagnosed people with mesothelioma never come close to getting anything close to the financial compensation for this rare form of cancer they should have received. While compensation for mesothelioma might be deserved, if a diagnosed person with this rare form of cancer caused by asbestos exposure does not hire one of the nation's most experienced mesothelioma lawyers, in all likelihood they will get shortchanged.
A recently diagnosed person with mesothelioma who was exposed to asbestos while serving in the US Navy, or their family members, are urged to call the Mesothelioma Compensation Center anytime at 866-714-6466 for their unsurpassed free services focused on providing them with the best possible financial compensation legal experts who get the best settlement results for their clients. http://MesotheliomaCompensationCenter.Com
Vital mesothelioma compensation tip from the Mesothelioma Compensation Center:
Typically, a confirmed diagnosis of mesothelioma comes out of the blue and is not expected. More often than not, the news is devastating to the diagnosed person and their family. This often leads a person or family member in this situation to impulsively search the Internet thinking they can quickly find a local person injury law firm to help them. Don't fall for an Internet mesothelioma ad that says something about 'billions recovered', or 'no lawsuit needed'.
"The most important piece of advice we can give a recently diagnosed US Navy Veteran, or person with mesothelioma, is please call us at 866-714-6466 so you do not mistakenly hire a law firm that will underperform or overcharge you. We offer instant access to the nation's top mesothelioma attorneys who get the best results for their clients. Please don't accept anything but the best when it comes to mesothelioma compensation," says the Mesothelioma Compensation Center. http://MesotheliomaCompensationCenter.Com
According to the CDC, the states indicated with the highest incidence of mesothelioma include Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Louisiana, Washington and Oregon. However, a diagnosed victim of mesothelioma could live in any state including California, New York, Florida, Texas, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Nebraska, North Dakota, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Idaho or Alaska. http://MesotheliomaCompensationCenter.Com
The Mesothelioma Compensation Center says, "If you call us at 866-714-6466, we will see to it that you have on the spot access to the nation's most skilled mesothelioma attorneys, because these incredibly skilled legal experts consistently get the best financial compensation results for their clients on a nationwide basis." http://MesotheliomaCompensationCenter.Com
High-risk groups for exposure to asbestos include US Navy Veterans, power plant workers, shipyard workers, oil refinery workers, public utility workers, chemical plant workers, manufacturing or industrial workers, plumbers, electricians, welders, auto mechanics, machinists, construction workers, steel mill workers or miners. Typically the exposure to asbestos occurred in the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's or 1980's.
For more information about mesothelioma please refer to the National Institutes of Health's web site related to this rare form of cancer: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mesothelioma.html
Media Contact:
M. Thomas Martin
866-714-6466
SOURCE Mesothelioma Compensation Center
"Following a year of transformative and groundbreaking projects, the Milwaukee Art Museum is embarking on a period of tremendous growth and opportunity. Our board sought a candidate who recognized that momentum, and could build on it and take the institution to the next level," said Don Layden, president of the Milwaukee Art Museum's board of trustees. "Marcelle is forward-thinking, bright and innovative, and we're thrilled she's coming to Milwaukee."
Polednik brings extensive experience to the Museum. At MOCA Jacksonville, she redefined the Museum's artistic vision and mission, shifting the emphasis from traveling exhibitions to self-curated projects, which now comprise nearly all of the Museum's artistic initiatives. Under her leadership, the Museum's exhibition program grew in both number and stature. The founding of the Museum's Project Atrium seriesa suite of site-specific commissions by emerging and mid-career artistsinvigorated the Museum's monumental Atrium gallery and bolstered MOCA's experimental approach to artistic collaboration and audience participation, as recognized by a two-year grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. In addition to the founding of this significant series, Polednik charted the vision for MOCA's featured exhibition program, refining MOCA's artistic philosophy. While adding variety to the exhibition program and growing the permanent collection, Polednik focused on cultivating a distinct MOCA-branded interpretative approach that connected the projects across the varied media and subject matter they may individually explore.
The emphasis on self-curated projects as well as Polednik's innovative approach to the artistic vision as a whole have raised the profile of the organization, bringing a new level of local, regional and national attention to the Museum. They have also spurred key partnerships with collectors and cultural organizations nationwide, as evidenced by MOCA's growing traveling exhibition program. While at the helm of the Museum, Polednik curated several significant curatorial initiativesSLOW: Marking Time in Photography and Film (2012); Abstraction over Time: The Paintings of Michael Goldberg (2013), WHITE (2015) and Hans Hofmann: Works on Paper (2017).
As she redefined the Museum's curatorial program, Polednik also brought a renewed emphasis on MOCA's award-winning signature educational outreach initiatives, focusing on growing both their breadth and depth. Under her leadership, MOCA's attendance grew by more than 70 percent and general admission revenue increased by 147 percent. Through these activities, Polednik ushered in the Museum's philanthropic revival, raising annual contributed income by 75 percent ahead of the 40 percent budgetary growth. The focus on artistic integrity, excellence and innovation also paved the way for growing interest from national funding sources and precipitated last year's announcement of the largest gift ever given to a cultural organization in Jacksonville's history. This announcement was followed by the January 2016 launch of MOCA's rebrand, which emphasized a bold new approach to the Museum's digital sphere, online presence and virtual audience engagement.
"I am honored to lead the Milwaukee Art Museum at the defining moment in the life of this exceptional institution," Polednik said. "Building on the solid foundation established by my predecessors, I look forward to working with the Museum's talented team, devoted board of trustees and the Milwaukee community at large to usher in an era of unprecedented artistic accomplishment, one that charts the path to deeper, meaningful audience engagement, financial sustainability and local, regional and national renown."
Prior to her position at MOCA Jacksonville, Polednik was the chief curator at the Monterey Museum of Art. She was also previously an assistant curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
"Marcelle brings considerable curatorial and management experience from diverse museums to her new role," said Adam D. Weinberg, Alice Pratt Brown director, Whitney Museum of American Art. "Her broad knowledge of 20th century art, her focus on creating distinctive, original exhibitions, her commitment to community involvement and her leadership abilitiesnot to mention her warmth and energymake her the perfectly well-rounded director to lead the Milwaukee Art Museum into its next exciting chapter."
Polednik earned her doctorate in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University and has curated numerous exhibitions and authored articles for various catalogs and institutions including The Museum of Modern Art in New York. Originally from Poland, Polednik grew up in Deerfield, Ill. She is a native speaker of Polish and Czech and is fluent in Slovak, Spanish, French and German. Polednik will be moving to Milwaukee with her husband and son.
The newly named Donna and Donald Baumgartner director title honors a recent $8 million gift to the Museum's endowment from Donna and Donald Baumgartner. Polednik succeeds Dan Keegan, who is retiring this month. The executive search for the new director was led by Naree Viner and Charles Ingersoll of Korn Ferry.
About the Milwaukee Art Museum
Home to a rich collection of more than 30,000 works of art, the Milwaukee Art Museum is located on the shores of Lake Michigan. Its campus includes the Santiago Calatravadesigned Quadracci Pavilion, annually showcasing three feature exhibitions, and the Eero Saarinendesigned Milwaukee County War Memorial Center and David Kahlerdesigned addition. The Museum recently reopened its Collection Galleries, debuting nearly 2,500 world-class works of art within dramatically transformed galleries and a new lakefront addition. For more information visit mam.org.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160518/369194
SOURCE The Milwaukee Art Museum
Related Links
http://www.mam.org
SAN JOSE, Calif. and SYDNEY, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NETSUITE SUITEWORLD 2016 -- NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry's leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP and omnichannel commerce software suites, today announced that Mons Royale, a global apparel manufacturer and wholesaler of high performance merino clothing has deployed NetSuite OneWorld for business efficiency and growth. Mons Royale is using NetSuite OneWorld for financial consolidation, inventory management, multi-currency for EUR, CHF, USD, AUD and NZ and multi-language support for English, French and German and tax compliance across its head office in New Zealand and five subsidiaries in Austria, Switzerland, United States, Australia and New Zealand. With NetSuite OneWorld, Mons Royale has a single source of truth in real-time for the very first time, facilitating more accurate and strategic decision making, as well as impressive cost and time savings.
Founded in New Zealand in 2009 by a professional skier and his wife looking for a more stylish alternative to the traditional technical merino base layers, Mons Royale began shipping international orders during its first year of business. Today, Mons Royale is available in stores across North America, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, as well as direct to consumers online. As a result of its global growth, Mons Royale struggled to capture real-time insights in order to make informed business decisions.
After a thorough evaluation process that included SAP and Salesforce, Mons Royale selected NetSuite OneWorld for its rapid deployment, powerful customisation and integration platform and its global scalability. With NetSuite OneWorld, Mons Royale has replaced a number of manual processes, allowing personnel to focus on more strategic tasks to grow the business. Furthermore, NetSuite OneWorld's ability to log any currency or stock changes automatically saved its finance staff up to 10 hours a week, where previously these changes had to be logged manually across disparate systems.
Global inventory management is also much more seamless and automated. Inventory can easily be moved around the world, with NetSuite OneWorld automatically recording these inter-company transactions and providing a real-time view of global inventory. Although headquartered in Wanaka in New Zealand, Mons Royale has a substantial global footprint, including manufacturing in China, 20 warehouse locations globally, physical offices in Austria, Switzerland and New Zealand plus multiple shipping locations in key markets around the world. From this footprint, Mons Royale distributes its product to 450 retail locations with NetSuite OneWorld tracking all inventory movement worldwide in real-time.
Ben Irving, Chief Operating Officer at Mons Royale said, "The business benefits delivered by NetSuite OneWorld have been transformational for Mons Royale. As a growing business, we really needed a sophisticated ERP platform to help us introduce more efficient business processes, as well as help manage the complexity associated with a global business, trading in multiple geographies, languages and currencies. For the first time we have a single source of truth available from our headquarters in New Zealand, which enables us to make more strategic business decisions, as well as deploy our most valuable resources on growing the business, versus back office business administration."
NetSuite OneWorld supports 190 currencies, 20 languages and automated tax compliance in more than 100 countries, and transaction in more than 200 countries. With NetSuite OneWorld Mons Royale can experience benefits including:
Real-time global financial consolidation . NetSuite OneWorld gives Mons Royale real-time visibility across all of its subsidiaries, with a single financial system of record, delivering greater confidence in accurate decision making.
. NetSuite OneWorld gives Mons Royale real-time visibility across all of its subsidiaries, with a single financial system of record, delivering greater confidence in accurate decision making. Multi-currency support bringing greater efficiency to intercompany transactions, and saving time consolidating multiple currencies from different management systems delivering greater confidence in accurate decision making.
bringing greater efficiency to intercompany transactions, and saving time consolidating multiple currencies from different management systems delivering greater confidence in accurate decision making. Superior inventory management giving stakeholders a real-time view of stock levels in any location anywhere around the world and optimising the overall supply chain.
giving stakeholders a real-time view of stock levels in any location anywhere around the world and optimising the overall supply chain. A flexible and agile platform. The NetSuite SuiteCloud Platform easily enables the company to customise NetSuite to meet its business requirements and to integrate with other systems.
Today, more than 30,000 companies and subsidiaries depend on NetSuite to run complex, mission-critical business processes globally in the cloud. Since its inception in 1998, NetSuite has established itself as the leading provider of cloud-based financials/enterprise resource planning (ERP) and omnichannel commerce software applications for businesses of all sizes. Many FORTUNE 100 companies rely on NetSuite to accelerate innovation and business transformation. NetSuite continues its success in delivering the best cloud business management software to businesses around the world, enabling them to lower IT costs significantly while increasing productivity, as the global adoption of the cloud accelerates.
For more information about NetSuite please visit www.netsuite.com.au.
Follow NetSuite's Cloud blog, NetSuite's Facebook page and @NetSuiteAPAC Twitter handle for real-time updates.
NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are service marks of NetSuite Inc. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
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SOURCE NetSuite Inc.
Related Links
http://www.netsuite.com
Owned by Photosynthesis Group Co., Limited, MUJOSH is the first brand to go international since its parent company started its international business expansion at the beginning of 2015.
"Malaysia is the first place we chose after deciding to expand into the international market," said Grace Zhang, General Manager of International Business Division of Photosynthesis Group. "We are pleased to achieve another 'first' for the company here. We are still in search of international business partners with the goal of bringing our brands to more places and customers in the world."
Founded in 2010 by a group of young creative rule-breakers who believe glasses are not only tools to improve eyesight, but also fashion accessories to differentiate wearers and make them stand out from the crowd, MUJOSH is deeply loved by fashion icons and wearers.
About MUJOSH
Established in 2010, MUJOSH is an innovative fashion eyewear brand headquartered in Hong Kong. Boldly combining unique elements and styles into design, this dedicated and iconic fashion brand has an attitude of its own. Appreciating creative ideas, valuing the value of handicraft, cherishing the original touch of materials, MUJOSH is deeply loved by fashion icons and wearers.
About the MUJOSH Concept Store
Address: L1.39, Pavilion KL, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Contact:
Capri Wu
+86-755-2588 2188
[email protected]
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160518/369089
SOURCE MUJOSH
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Nevada Energy Metals Inc., (TSX-V: BFF) (OTCQB: SSMLF) (Frankfurt: A2AFBV) is pleased to announce it has been approved to upgrade its common stock from the Pink Open Market to the OTCQB Venture Market under the trading symbol "SSMLF", effective today, May 18, 2016.
Richard Wilson, CEO stated, "The upgrade of our common stock to the OTCQB Venture Market strengthens our commitment to building a strong, profitable business which will broaden our shareholder base, improve liquidity and increase the visibility for our achievements going forward."
The OTCQB Venture Market, operated by OTC Markets Group Inc., offers transparent trading in entrepreneurial and development stage companies that have met a minimum bid price test, are current in their financial reporting and have undergone an annual verification and management certification process. These standards provide a strong baseline of transparency, as well as the technology and regulation to improve the information and trading experience for investors.
U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for FTE Networks at http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/SSMLF/quote.
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. The Company's most recent acquisition is 128 placer claims (2,560 acres/ 1,036 hectares) located in southwest Black Rock Desert, Washoe County, Nevada.
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.
450-789 West Pender St
Vancouver, BC, V6C 1H2
+1-604-428-5690
http://nevadaenergymetals.com
[email protected]
SOURCE Nevada Energy Metals Inc.
SAN FRANCISCO, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Intersolar North America, the most attended solar industry exhibition and conference dedicated to the North American market, will showcase two exhibition pavilions at this year's event that highlight innovative start-up and mid-stage companies. After a successful debut at last year's event, the California Solar Energy Industries Association (CALSEIA) will once again host the California Pavilion, featuring member companies in the solar and storage industries. New to this year's exhibition is the Powerhouse Pavilion, hosted by Powerhousethe world's first and only incubator and accelerator dedicated to solar. The Powerhouse Pavilion will highlight solar software, finance and storage startups.
In addition to showcasing products from established companies, Intersolar North America highlights groundbreaking products and services from start-up, early and mid-stage companies. As the first major solar industry event of the year in North America, Intersolar will unveil the next-generation products to help reduce costs, boost efficiency and drive the solar market forward. The event will feature more than 500 exhibitors and host an expected 18,000 visitors.
The CALSEIA California Pavilion, located on the first level of Moscone West, will allow attendees to connect with solar and energy storage companies from one of the country's leading markets. The expanded pavilion will educate attendees on the latest trends shaping the California solar and energy storage economy, and offer access to CALSEIA representatives to learn more about the organization's policy initiatives in the state and get involved.
"The companies exhibiting in the California Pavilion represent a cross section of CALSEIA's member companies that are working together to ensure the continued growth of California's solar industry," said Kelsea Jones, membership and marketing director for CALSEIA. "From the diverse to the ingenious, and from the entrepreneurial to the enduring, California is the playing field where the new gets tested and the old gets perfected."
The Powerhouse Pavilion, located on the second level, will feature both new and established solar software, financing and energy companies. As part of the California-based incubator's activities at Intersolar North America, Powerhouse will host the Powerhouse Circle conference side event. During this "speed-dating" event, 25 investors and executives will meet 1:1 with 25 entrepreneurs and startups, granting each the opportunity to make valuable business connections.
"The best word to describe Powerhouse Circle is intense. Startup founders have 90 seconds to pitch and executives or investors have 90 seconds to respond. We put the 'speed' in speed dating," said Emily Kirsh, Powerhouse co-founder and CEO. "This isn't a five-minute pitch on stage at demo daythis is a true elevator pitch. Powerhouse Circle gives everyone what they want. Startups get to meet with potential customers and investors and industry leaders and investors get to see months worth of deal flow in a couple hours. Everybody wins."
The Solar Foundation joins Intersolar North America exhibition for the first time this year. Known for its annual National Solar Jobs Census, the organization is dedicated to delivering analysis and actionable information to inform solar policy decisions across the country. Representatives from The Solar Foundation will discuss job creation within the solar industry and new programs to maintain, grow, develop, and train the solar workforce. Through a new initiative, The Solar Foundation will collaborate with Intersolar and CALSEIA to produce a white paper focused on the potential solar workforce opportunities and challenges that come with solar-plus-storage system configurations, which will be published and presented at this year's event.
"America's booming solar industry is now a major job creator and a key driver of economic growth," said Andrea Luecke, president and executive director of The Solar Foundation. "We are excited to come to Intersolar and share our ongoing research on the rapid increase in solar jobs nationwide as well as our initiatives on workforce development and solar jobs training."
The Intersolar North America exhibition will be held July 12 14 at the Moscone West Center in San Francisco and is co-located with both ees North America, the ideal platform to connect stakeholders in the rapidly growing energy storage market, and SEMICON West, the world's marketplace for microelectronics innovation. Registration for the exhibition and conference is available online. For a full listing of exhibition events, visit the online schedule.
In addition to visiting the exhibition floor, registrants for this year's Conference will also be able to use this same registration to attend the American Solar Energy Society's SOLAR 2016 and ees North America program tracks to get an unparalleled overview of the renewable energy industry worldwide.
About ees North America
The ees global exhibition series is the electrical energy storage industry's hotspot for manufacturers, distributors, users and suppliers of stationary and mobile storage solutions. ees exhibitions are organized in cooperation with Intersolar, the world's leading exhibition series for the solar industry.
The ees exhibitions and accompanying conferences are focused on storage solutions for renewable energy, from residential and commercial applications to large-scale storage systems for stabilizing the grids. ees also features energy management, electric transportation and uninterruptible power supply (UPS).
There are three ees events around the worldees North America in San Francisco, ees Europe in Munich, and ees India in Mumbai. The ees North America debuted in 2015 as a special exhibition in San Francisco. In 2016, ees North America becomes a stand-alone exhibition co-located with Intersolar North America.
With 100 expected exhibitors and 18,000 visitors at the co-located events, it will be the most-attended solar-plus-storage event in the U.S.
For more information on ees please visit www.ees-northamerica.com
About Intersolar North America
With events spanning four continents, Intersolar is the world's leading exhibition series for the solar industry and its partners. It unites people and companies from around the world with the aim of increasing the share of solar power in our energy supply.
Since its establishment in 2008, Intersolar North America has become the most attended solar event and the premier networking platform for the North American solar industry. Co-located with SEMICON West, Intersolar North America takes place annually at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, in the heart of the United States' pioneering solar market. The event will expand to host a co-located energy storage-focused exhibition, ees North America. ees grew out of Intersolar North America's popular energy storage exhibition segment.
A total of 521 exhibitors and around 17,835 visitors participated in Intersolar North America in 2015. The conference and exhibition program featured 47 sessions with more than 200 speakers and 25 workshops.
Intersolar North America's exhibition and conference focus on photovoltaics, energy storage systems, smart renewable energy and solar heating & cooling technologies. Since being founded, Intersolar has become the most important industry platform to connect manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, service providers, policy makers, start-up founders, financiers, installers and partners in the global solar industry.
With 25 years of experience, Intersolar has the unique ability to bring together members of the solar industry from across the world's most influential markets and solar supply chain. Intersolar exhibitions and conferences are held in Munich, San Francisco, Mumbai, and Sao Paulo, and, starting in 2016, in Dubai. These global events are complemented by the Intersolar Summits, which take place in emerging and growing markets worldwide.
For more information on Intersolar North America, please visit: http://www.intersolar.us
Organizers: Intersolar North America is organized by Solar Promotion International GmbH, Pforzheim and Freiburg Management and Marketing International GmbH (FMMI).
SOURCE Intersolar North America
Related Links
http://www.intersolar.us
WASHINGTON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- When the International Space Station is visible from Earth typically at dawn and dusk it is the night sky's second brightest object, after the moon. A new companion tool to NASA's popular Spot the Station service makes it easier to share information about where and when to see the orbital laboratory. The International Space Station Program has created a widget that organizations can easily embed on their websites, making the service broadly available for people who want to catch a glimpse of the station as it flies overhead.
NASA's new Spot the Station mobile app
Test the widget and find instructions on how to embed it via NASA's website: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/widget/.
More than 350,000 people currently track morning, evening or both types of sightings via Spot the Station alerts.
"Humans have been living on the space station continuously for 15 years now, conducting valuable research to improve life on Earth while supporting NASA's journey to Mars," said Sam Scimemi, division director for the International Space Station Program at NASA Headquarters.
"It is rewarding and great funwhen someone first sees the station from the ground. It is a wonderful connection for anyone with an interest in space research, or a curiosity about life off this planet."
This week, the space station reached its 100,000th orbit, since its first component, the Zarya cargo module, launched Nov. 20, 1998.
The International Space Station's trajectory passes over more than 90 percent of Earth's population. The service is designed to only notify users of passes that are high enough in the sky to be easily visible over trees, buildings and other objects on the horizon. NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston calculates the sighting information several times a week for more than 4,700 locations worldwide.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160518/369282
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO
SOURCE NASA
Related Links
http://www.nasa.gov
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (NMPRC) today ordered a 30-day extension to the procedural schedule for the general rate case filing submitted by PNM Resources' (NYSE: PNM) New Mexico utility, Public Service Co. of New Mexico (PNM). This order represents the second extension to the schedule and extends the suspension period through August 31, 2016, delaying the earliest implementation of new rates to September 1, 2016.
"While today's extension is within the suspension period allowed by state law, it is disappointing that the implementation date will now be a full year after our filing," said Pat Vincent-Collawn, PNM Resources' chairman, president and CEO. "It is unfortunate that after three weeks of evidentiary hearings, additional bench requests to provide information on past regulatory actions on Palo Verde that do not ultimately change the amount of our request have resulted in a further delay. We do not believe the delay is necessary and our filings more than adequately address the questions regarding Palo Verde."
PNM filed its request on August 27, 2015 for an increase in electric rates of $123.5 million, reflecting a $655 million increase in rate base since its previous general rate case filing in 2010. Hearings on the request were held during the month of April. The bench requests relate to the 64 MW purchases of previously leased Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station Unit 2 capacity included in the rate filing. The associated leases were set to expire in January 2016 and were purchased at fair market value to secure the capacity currently serving retail customers. These purchases were consistent with both prior NMPRC approvals and all of PNM's previously filed Integrated Resource Plans. An additional hearing has been scheduled on June 27, 2016, which allows the information supplied to be included in the record of the hearing.
On December 18, 2015 the company issued its 2016 earnings guidance. At that time, the company provided earnings sensitivities that describe the effects of timing delays on the rate case. Those sensitivities continue to apply and can be found at http://www.pnmresources.com/~/media/Files/P/PNM-Resources/events-and-presentations/2015/2016-earnings-guidance-presentation-and-appendix.pdf. Revised earnings guidance is expected to be issued during the third quarter and incorporate any preliminary or final decision in PNM's general rate case.
Certain documents related to PNM's rate filing can be found at http://www.pnmresources.com/investors/rates-and-filings.aspx.
Background:
PNM Resources (NYSE: PNM) is an energy holding company based in Albuquerque, N.M., with 2015 consolidated operating revenues of $1.4 billion. Through its regulated utilities, PNM and Texas-New Mexico Power Company (TNMP), PNM Resources has approximately 2,787 megawatts of generation capacity and provides electricity to more than 760,000 homes and businesses in New Mexico and Texas. For more information, visit the company's website at www.PNMResources.com.
CONTACTS:
Analysts Media Jimmie Blotter Pahl Shipley (505) 241-2227 (505) 241-2782
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
Statements made in this news release that relate to future events or PNM Resources, Inc. ("PNMR") or Public Service Company of New Mexico's ("PNM") (collectively, the "Company") expectations, projections, estimates, intentions, goals, targets, and strategies are made pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Readers are cautioned that all forward-looking statements are based upon current expectations and estimates. PNMR and PNM assume no obligation to update this information. Because actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, PNMR and PNM caution readers not to place undue reliance on these statements. PNMR's and PNM's business, financial condition, cash flow, and operating results are influenced by many factors, which are often beyond their control that can cause actual results to differ from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. For a discussion of risk factors and other important factors affecting forward-looking statements, please see the Company's Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which factors are specifically incorporated by reference herein.
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SOURCE PNM Resources
"We are proud and honored to partner with Northampton," said Evan Erdberg, CEO of PLI. "We believe this integration will be a perfect opportunity to eliminate any educational limitations on students and eradicate the negative effects of reduced teachers within the American Education System. Ultimately, our goal is to provide students with the highest quality teachers, no matter their location or situation."
School districts around the nation have increasingly faced difficulty locating quality educators to fill open positions within their classrooms. PLI's Virtual Staffing provides a seamless and generally "win-win" solution, providing master educators while still accommodating to each school's unique schedules, requirements and policies. PLI's courses are live and interactive, hosting familiar face-to-face classroom activities such as student participation, group exercises, with the opportunity to ask questions and problem solve with the teacher in real time.
NCPS Superintendent Charles Lawrence said, "Northampton Co. Public Schools have endeavored to continue providing our students with the highest quality of education possible. Virtual staffing programs offer our students the unique opportunity to continue engaging with high quality teachers, receiving a superior education and becoming better prepared for the future."
About Northampton Co. Public Schools: With the mantra of "Inspiring Learners for Life Through Achievement and Success," NCPS sees each student as a valuable resource and is dedicated to providing them with a world-class education. This Virginia district is focused on providing every student with high quality instruction, a well-rounded educational experience, and the support necessary to succeed. Learn more: http://www.ncpsk12.com/index.cfm
About Proximity Learning Inc.: Proximity Learning Inc. is a virtual staffing company catering to students ranging from kindergarten to high school. Proximity Learning has served over 150 school districts and delivered over 800 courses, with numbers growing. Proximity Learning has been rated as one of the top K-12 Virtual Staffers in the nation, boasting the highest quality teachers, most innovative virtual classrooms, and the reputation as a flexible learning solution to both public and private school districts. Learn more: http://proxlearn.com/.
Contact: Shelly Smith at [email protected]
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160517/368905
SOURCE Proximity Learning Inc.
Related Links
http://www.proxlearn.com
ALLENTOWN, Pa., May 17, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Creditsafe USA, the world's most used supplier of company business intelligence, today released startling statistics about the troubled oil and gas sector. This report comes on the heels of Chapter 11 filings by four significant industry powerhouses: Breitburn Energy Partners, Linn Energy, Pennsylvania Virginia Corp., and Sand Ridge Energy, as well as the restructuring announcement by Seventy Seven Energy, Inc.
"The oil and gas sector is incredibly important industry to the United States. Our research estimates oil and gas companies contributed $220B to the US economy in 2015. This represents a significant percentage of the country's GDP. With five companies declaring financial duress in less than five days, it is obvious the industry is in trouble. And it is only going to get worse," said Matthew Debbage, CEO, Creditsafe USA and Asia.
Debbage continued,"The oil and gas industry ranks in the top 5% of slowest paying industries with construction being the slowest. And, the industry has seen a 25% increase in its days beyond terms, which is now at 7.3. Breitburn Energy Partners, Linn Energy, Pennsylvania Virginia Corp., Sand Ridge Energy and Seventy Severn Energy, Inc., have all displayed negative payment behavior with respect to paying their suppliers."
Oil and Gas companies recently filing for Chapter 11 or restructuring:
**Breitburn Energy Partners: Involved in the acquisition, exploitation and development of properties in the United States that bear oil, natural gas and NGL.
**Linn Energy: Top-20 independent U.S. E&P company with approximately 7.3 Tcfe of proved reserves in producing U.S. basins. The Company's core focus areas are the Rockies, California, Hugoton Basin, Mid-Continent, Permian Basin, east Texas and north Louisiana ("TexLa"), Michigan, Illinois and South Texas.
**Penn Virginia Corporation: Engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil, NGLs and natural gas in various domestic onshore regions of the United States, with a primary focus in the Eagle Ford Shale of south Texas.
**SandRidge Energy: Focused on exploration and production activities in the Mid-Continent and Rockies regions of the United States.
**Seventy Seven Energy Inc.: Provides range of well-site services and equipment to land-based exploration and production customers in the United States.
Oil and Gas Industry Snapshot:
**Oil and gas industry consists of 1,000 companies with over one million employees.
**Sixty oil and gas companies have filed for bankruptcy since 2014.
**Bankruptcies in this sector are expected to sextuple in 2016 according to Deloitte.
**Eleven oil and gas companies filed for bankruptcy in April 2016 with an accumulated debt of $14.9 billion.
About The Creditsafe Group
The Creditsafe Group is the world's most used supplier of company business intelligence, with ten Creditsafe Group reports downloaded every second. Privately owned and independently minded, Creditsafe is looking to change the way business Information is used by providing high-quality data in an easy to use format that everyone in an organization can benefit from.
Founded in Norway in 1997, The Creditsafe Group has offices in countries all over the world including: the UK, Germany, France, Sweden, Ireland, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United States. Globally, Creditsafe employs over 1,200 people and has more than 90,000 subscription customers. Three years ago, the Creditsafe Group opened offices in the U.S. under the name Creditsafe USA. Its U.S. operations are headquartered in Allentown, Pa. with another facility in Phoenix, AZ. For more information, please visit www.creditsafe.com.
For more information, please contact Kathryn Lancioni:
[email protected]
SOURCE Creditsafe USA
Related Links
http://www.creditsafe.com
The Verkhovna Rada intends to send funds from local budgets in temporarily occupied areas in Donbas to the general funds of Luhansk and Donetsk regional administrations.
Some 236 deputies at first reading supported corresponding bill No .4623 on amending the section "Final and Transitional Provisions" of the Budget Code.
Parliament did not have the minimum 226 votes required to pass the measure outright. It instead backed the proposal to expedite a second reading of the bill.
The measure foresees that temporarily, until the return of state control over the territories, remaining local budget funds in towns and settlements will be incorporated into Donetsk and Luhansk regional budgets.
Funds from the Donetsk regional budget will be used to repay the debt of Donetsk City Council on a loan from Ukreximbank, as well as to restore social and transportation infrastructure.
CHOCTAW, Okla., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Students who have spent their high school years studying online will meet for the Oklahoma Virtual Charter Academy (OVCA) in-person graduation celebration at 1 p.m. on May 21. More than 120 high school seniors will turn their tassel as they celebrate their past academic achievements and prepare for the future.
OVCA, a tuition-free, online public school serving students in grades K-12, provides its students with a learning environment that works for them. The range of classes, extracurricular activities and supportive community give students of all abilities and backgrounds the change to thrive. The school's robust gifted and talented program challenges advanced learners while the broad range of profession-focused courses provide students with a competitive edge.
"The flexible schedule of OVCA allowed me to pursue my dreams," said Rhian Jonckowski, 2016 OVCA Valedictorian and Oklahoma Academic Scholar. "My teachers supported me in following my passion for filmmaking and I'm looking forward to continuing my academic and filmmaking studies at The University of Oklahoma next year."
The OVCA program helps students gain a competitive edge for the future regardless of their post-graduation path.
Media are welcome at this event. Details are as follows:
Oklahoma Virtual Charter Academy Graduation Ceremony
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Choctaw High School Performing Arts Center
14300 NE 10th Street
Choctaw, Okla. 73020
1 p.m.
"Graduation is one of the best times of the year," said Sheryl Tatum, head of school for OVCA. "It is an exciting opportunity to celebrate the wonderful accomplishments of all our great students at OVCA!"
For more information on Oklahoma Virtual Charter Academy and upcoming enrollment events, please visit http://ovca.k12.com.
About Oklahoma Virtual Charter Academy
Oklahoma Virtual Charter Academy (OVCA) is an accredited, full-time online public school authorized by the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board and serving Oklahoma students in grades K through 12. As part of the Oklahoma public school system, OVCA is tuition-free, giving parents and families the choice to access the award-winning curriculum and tools provided by K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN), the nation's largest provider of proprietary curriculum and online education programs. For more information about OVCA, visit http://ovca.k12.com.
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SOURCE Oklahoma Virtual Charter Academy
Related Links
http://ovca.k12.com
Ms. Coldwell has been with ORBA since 2011. She has more than 13 years of experience in corporate, partnership and individual tax planning. More specifically, she handles technical reporting, entity structuring and consulting to both businesses and high net worth individuals. She serves as both a resource and an advisor to her clients. To learn more about ORBA, visit http://www.orba.com .
"I am honored and pleased to have been appointed to the Board of RefugeeOne," said Ms. Coldwell. "RefugeeOne is a social service organization that provides relief and opportunities for people fleeing war-torn countries, famine and persecution. I feel privileged to be able to make a difference in the lives of those seeking shelter, safety, dignity and self-reliance."
About RefugeeOne
Founded in 1982 and incorporated as an independent not-for-profit in 1992, RefugeeOne is a refugee resettlement agency that provides a full range of services to refugees coming to the Chicago area. The organization assists refugees in becoming independent, self-supporting members of their new community. According to their website, every year, RefugeeOne assists approximately 2,500 refugees and immigrants of all ages, ethnic groups, faiths and backgrounds to find housing, learn the English language, acclimate to American culture, develop computer and job readiness skills, secure employment, obtain medical and other care, apply for citizenship and develop overall family strengthening skills.
Ostrow Reisin Berk & Abrams, Ltd. (ORBA) is a full-service accounting, tax and business consulting firm located in downtown Chicago serving privately-held companies, individuals and not-for-profit organizations. ORBA's Certified Public Accountants have experience with accounting and assurance, business advisory services, financial and estate planning, fraud investigation, tax, litigation, and mergers and acquisitions. With some of the highest levels of direct client involvement in the industry, ORBA is where clients go to build long-standing, meaningful and successful relationships with resourceful, proactive business and tax advisors. For more information, visit www.orba.com, subscribe to our blog www.orbablog.com or connect with us on LinkedIn.
Contact:
Carlo Calma
[email protected]
312.670.7444
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SOURCE Ostrow Reisin Berk & Abrams, Ltd. (ORBA)
Related Links
http://www.orba.com
TAMPA, Fla., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Outback Steakhouse launched the new "Australian Dinner Party" advertising campaign today, inviting everyone to have a Bloomin big, all are welcome, great night out for any occasion or no occasion. The campaign includes TV creative featuring Australian celebrity chef, Adrian Richardson. In Australia, he's known as "The Meat Guy," which makes him the perfect host for Outback's Australian Dinner Party. As part of the "Australian Dinner Party" launch, Outback is introducing its all-new Center Cut Sirloin, the most tender sirloin of all.
"We couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the new 'Australian Dinner Party' campaign than by partnering with Adrian Richardson who perfectly embodies our relaxed, laid back Aussie spirit," said Jeff Smith, Outback Steakhouse President.
All sirloins at Outback Steakhouse will be center cut the most tender cut of sirloin. To celebrate the new Center Cut Sirloin, Outback is inviting customers to "go a size bigger" on the house. Go to outback.com/gobigger to claim your coupon, now through June 21.
While the special offer is available for a limited time only, the Center Cut Sirloin and "Australian Dinner Party" are here to stay. The new campaign creative, developed by The Acme Idea Company, features the new tagline "Bloomin' Great" and solidifies the very definition of what it means to enjoy amazing food, generous portions and an all-around good time where everyone is welcome. The 30- and 15-second TV spots, which debuted on May 17 during primetime television, feature Richardson in an Outback Steakhouse, interacting with real team members. The current "Australian Dinner Party" TV spots focus on the new Center Cut Sirloin and will continue to highlight new offerings throughout the year.
"Outback Steakhouse is serious about serving quality food, perfectly prepared. They make everyone feel right at home. A key trait to being an Australian," says Adrian Richardson.
For more information on Outback or to find a location near you, please visit www.outback.com, www.facebook.com/outback or follow us on Twitter @Outback. To join the wait list before you even arrive, receive exclusive offers, and choose how and when you want to pay the bill, download Outback's new mobile app for free at www.outback.com/app.
*Product participation may vary by location.
About Outback Steakhouse
Outback Steakhouse starts fresh every day to create the flavors that our mates crave. Best known for grilled steaks, chicken and seafood, Outback also offers a wide variety of crisp salads and freshly made soups and sides. New creations and grilled classics are made from scratch daily using only the highest quality ingredients sourced from around the world. For more information, please visit www.outback.com or http://www.facebook.com/outback.
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SOURCE Outback Steakhouse
Related Links
https://www.outback.com
DUNEDIN, New Zealand and HERSHEY, Pa., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Cancer diagnostics company, Pacific Edge Limited (NZX:PEB), announced today the Company is working with Melon Health and a group of U.S. and Asia-Pacific companies to launch an online patient community to support people and their families living with bladder cancer. The website, www.bladdercancer.me, is unique in the way it empowers patients to self-manage their journey.
The bladdercancer.me website provides the resources and community often seen on other cancer community sites, but also offers tools for symptom tracking and reminders. Just as technological advancements are changing the way bladder cancer is detected and monitored, the bladdercancer.me site seeks to change the way patients monitor and manage their own treatment and health. The patient-oriented community and tools on the website are beneficial not only for patients, but also for their physicians.
Dave Darling, Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Edge, stated, "We are proud to continually offer bladder cancer patients worldwide a means to detect, monitor, and manage their condition. We aim to be leaders in using technology to reduce the burdens of bladder cancer on patients, not only through our Cxbladder diagnostic products, but also by providing an environment for them to connect with patients from similar backgrounds, learn about and rate urologists, and get the support they need to live healthier lives."
Siobhan Bulfin, Chief Executive Officer of Melon Health, added, "The rising use of the internet in healthcare is nothing new with "Dr. Google" providing a fount of information. But the ability to connect virtually with other people going through the same thing is something that has only come about in recent years as patients and medical researchers begin to see how empowering social networking can be."
Watch a video here introducing BladderCancer.me.
About Bladder Cancer
Bladder cancer is the fifth most commonly diagnosed cancer in the US, with over 75,000 new cases diagnosed in the US annually. Bladder cancer is three times more common in men than women, and 1 in 42 people will be diagnosed with bladder cancer in their lifetime. The major causes of bladder cancer are thought to be tobacco smoking and exposure to occupational chemicals in the rubber, organic dye, metal refining, petrochemical and paint industries.
Common symptoms of bladder cancer include burning urine, frequent urination and hematuria (the presence of an abnormally high number of red blood cells in the urine). Hematuria can be macroscopic (visible in the urine) or microscopic (detectable only with dipstick testing or microscopy).
Bladder cancer is treatable if detected early, but it has one of the highest recurrence rates of all cancers and requires regular monitoring.
About Cxbladder
Cxbladder is an effective, non-invasive, urine based diagnostic technology, developed by Pacific Edge that can be used to detect and monitor bladder cancer. With two tests in market and two others on the way, Cxbladder significantly outperforms the traditional cytology and FISH tests and is a step change in how bladder cancer is detected and monitored.
About Pacific Edge Limited
Pacific Edge Limited (NZX: PEB) is a New Zealand publicly listed, cancer diagnostic company specializing in the discovery and commercialization of diagnostic and prognostic tests for better detection and management of cancer. The company is developing and commercializing its range of Cxbladder bladder cancer tests globally through its wholly owned central laboratories in New Zealand and the USA. The company's products have been tested and validated in international multicenter clinical studies. Pacific Edge has three proprietary, novel, accurate, molecular diagnostic products in-market providing actionable results, and better detection and management of urothelial cancer. Cxbladder Detect is available through the company's dedicated CLIA certified laboratories for customers in New Zealand, Australia and the USA. Cxbladder Triage is available in New Zealand and Australia. Cxbladder Monitor launched in New Zealand in December 2015 and is anticipated being available in the US in 2016.
For more information, please contact
Edison Strategic Advisors
Tirth Patel (investors)
[email protected]
646-653-7035
Ellis & Co.
Jackie Ellis (media)
[email protected]
+64 9 360 8500
SOURCE Pacific Edge Limited
Related Links
http://www.bladdercancer.me
SAO PAULO, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- "The State does not have to be minimal. It has to be cerebral. Fewer arms and legs, and more strategies for social interest and for nailing down public policies," said the governor of Mato Grosso, Pedro Taques, during the LIDE BUSINESS BREAKFAST, organized by LIDE Grupo de Lideres Empresariais [Corporate Leaders Group], in partnership with the Americas Society/Council of the Americas (AS/COA), at the organization's headquarters, this Wednesday (18th) in New York.
In a presentation to investors, bankers, rating agency analysts, and American and Brazilian businesspeople, Taques listed actions by the state of Mato Grosso that encourage foreign companies to invest there. He also mentioned public-private partnerships as one of the paths for development. One of the projects is the Export Processing Zone, which is an area where companies can operate with tax incentives, suspension of taxes, and simplification of administrative procedures related to exporting. "And it will be an excellent platform for us to be able to export to western Brazil," said the governor, reminding everyone that Mato Grosso's market is small in comparison with the huge potential of the central-western region.
Another action presented by the governor is the bill that would exempt ICMS, the Value-Added Tax on Sales and Services, from being levied on jet fuel. "With this law to purchase jet fuel, Mato Grosso will become a point of connection for companies, and that will expand the sector," he said. According to the government, fuel acquisition alone represents more than 40% of the cost of the operation, which is why a tax incentive is necessary to encourage regional flights, which are so important in a state that is larger than some countries in Latin America.
Taques also pointed out the creation of the Gabinete de Transparencia e Combate a Corrupcao (GabTCC) [Division for Transparency and the Fight Against Corruption (GabTCC). "The Division is being created as a department for state compliance. Good management and behavioral practices, distribution and compliance with internal and external rules, incentives for denunciations, guarantee of protection for the whistle-blower, and/or a guarantee of secrecy," he explained. "Brazil is entering into a new period. That is what we are striving for in our State; more transparency and competition," he finished.
The LIDE BUSINESS BREAKFAST was sponsored by MARFRIG, the GOVERNMENT OF MATO GROSSO and KROTON. Official providers were CDN, F&Q, RODOBENS COMUNICACAO EMPRESARIAL and TRAVEL ACE. FORBES and PR NEWSWIRE are media partners. The 2016 Brazil Series of the Americas Society/Council of the Americas (AS/COA) is sponsored by HSBC.
Contact:
Rose Rocha
[email protected] / +55 (11) 3643 2952
SOURCE LIDE BUSINESS
ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- PenFed Credit Union's Chairman of the Board Ed Cody decisively went off script and made an impromptu yet heartfelt tribute to members of America's Greatest Generation during the credit union's 81st annual meeting at the Springfield, Virginia Waterford Conference Center.
Cody said, "Before I called the meeting to order, I was alerted to the fact that there was at least one World War II veteran in attendance. I figured there had to be more, as we knew that there were 50-year members and even one 68-year member present. When the lady and the four gentlemen who served in World War II stood to be recognized, I could feel the emotion wash over the audience."
"Standing right before us was an amazing group of people who, in their youth, stared evil in the face, refused to blink and did their part to save the world," he said.
Cody honored the World War II veterans with an excerpt from an address that President Ronald Reagan delivered during the 40th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy. The chairman also recognized veterans of every American conflict since World War II, as well as those who were currently serving on active duty.
Throughout the evening, PenFed showcased the work of its charitable arm, the PenFed Foundation. A moving video presentation provided a dramatic, personal glimpse into the life of Julie Keys, whose son Adam suffered wounds from an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. Adam became a triple amputee as a result of those wounds. Julie left her job and spent five years living in a hotel in order to be close to the medical facility where Adam recovered.
For her commitment and care during the recovery of her son, Keys was presented with the PenFed Foundation's Hero at Home Award during the 2016 Night of Heroes Gala earlier this month.
"We want our members to know they are connected to something greater than a financial institution. PenFed is a community leader that genuinely cares about helping people do better," said President and CEO James Schenck.
Schenck played down the importance of the sustained growth PenFed has experienced during his time at its helm and the nearly $2 billion in growth the credit union saw in just the last year. He said, "If I look back in ten years and we've grown PenFed from $16 billion to $75 billion, what will matter and what I will remember, will be the men and women I had the opportunity to visit with in this room tonight."
"I'll remember the emotion on their faces when those World War II veterans stood up so proudly and I'll never forget the tears in their eyes when the video of the Keys family played."
"I will be most proud of all the things PenFed did to take the initiative to be a community leader. Last year alone, we gave back $4 million. I truly have one of the most outstanding jobs in America," said Schenck.
Representatives from the National Credit Union Administration, the Credit Union National Association and the National Association of Federal Credit Unions attended the annual meeting as industry colleagues of PenFed.
Former NCUA Board Member GiGi Hyland said, "It was an honor to attend PenFed's 81st annual meeting." Referring to the foundation's video presentations, she said, "I was particularly moved to see the stories of all the people the PenFed Foundation helps."
CUNA President and CEO Jim Nussle said, "PenFed's leaders, board, and team continue to be movement-industry leaders serving members and its community."
NAFCU Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Anthony Demangone described the annual meeting as simply a wonderful event. He said, "Seeing the hundreds of engaged members in attendancea good number who were members for fifty years or moreclearly shows the value in our industry. Also, it was humbling to be surrounded by so many veteransfive of whom served during World War II. The evening made me happy to be involved with credit unions, and proud to be an American."
During the meeting, PenFed announced the recent re-election of three of its incumbent directors. Ed Cody, Army Reserve Lt. Col. Philip Romanelli and retired Army Col. James Quinn were elected to new three-year terms. The board welcomed newly-elected director, retired Army Lt. Col. Ronald Spear. PenFed is governed by a 13 person, volunteer board of directors who bring a wide range of experience and leadership to the credit union.
Schenck's financial report highlighted the fact that there are fundamental differences between banks and credit unions. "If I were a bank CEO, my primary role would be to get the most out of my customers in order to provide the highest rate of return to my shareholders." I have a much better job as a credit union CEO. My whole job centers around helping you, our members, do better financially," he said.
About PenFed Credit Union
Established in 1935 as the War Department Credit Union, PenFed Credit Union is one of the largest credit unions in the country, serving 1.4 million members worldwide; with $20 billion in assets. Its long-standing mission has been to provide superior financial services in a cost effective manner, while being responsive to members' needs. PenFed Credit Union offers market-leading mortgages, automobile loans, credit cards, checking, and a wide range of other financial services with its members' interests always in mind. PenFed Credit Union serves a diverse population, and no military service is required to join. We offer many paths to membership, including numerous employee groups and association affiliations. It's easy to apply. We invite you to come see why you belong at PenFed Credit Union. PenFed Credit Union is federally insured by the NCUA and is an equal housing lender. To learn more about PenFed Credit Union, visit PenFed.org, like us on Facebook and follow us @PenFed on Twitter. Interested in working for PenFed? Check us out on Linkedin. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer: M/F/V/D.
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SOURCE PenFed
Related Links
http://www.PenFed.org
PARAMUS, New Jersey, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Qognify, formerly NICE Security, today announced that Hongqiao Airport in Shanghai, China, is marking the seventh anniversary since its implementation of Qognify's Video Management Solution. Airport management has leveraged the security solution's stability and versatility to expand its role further, to ensure smooth airport operations.
Hongqiao Airport, the primary domestic airport serving Shanghai, has grown significantly in the past several years. It is now the fourth busiest airport in China, regularly handling over 30,000,000 passengers annualy, as well as being mainland China's fifth busiest air cargo transit point. It is also part of the Hongqiao Transportation Hub, the first of its kind in China and the largest in the world.
Qognify's video surveillance solutions have been an essential element of Hongqiao Airport security and operational continuity. Currently, Qognify's Video Management Solution is monitoring, managing and recording over 1,500 video cameras in the airport's landside and airside operations areas. This includes a centralized operations center, with enhanced video management technology, collating high-resolution video feeds from the gates, the airport apron, the parking lots, and the airfield, as well as certain parts of the transportation hub. Advanced capabilities of the Video Management Solution deployed at Hongqiao Airport include visual parameters optimization and camera tampering detection.
Mr. Sheng Lu, Senior Project Manager for Hongqiao Airport, said: "Qognify has demonstrated an in-depth knowledge of airport operations and security procedures, and an understanding of our technology needs over the years. The company's security solution has the quality, scalability and functionality we need to maintain comprehensive security and consistent operations, even as we grow to serve more and more of the public."
The flexible capabilities of the Qognify Video Management Solution, as cited by Mr. Lu, have meant that Hongqiao Airport enjoys a relatively low total cost of ownership for the system.
Moti Shabtai, President of Qognify, commented: "We are proud to have been able to address the surveillance needs of one of the foremost passenger and freight airports in the world over the past seven years. Hongqiao Airport's use of advanced technology not only for security and safety, but also for gains in operational efficiency has been an impressive example of the potential applications of Qognify's solution for airports."
About Qognify
Qognify helps organizations mitigate risk, maintain business continuity, and optimize operations. The Qognify portfolio includes video management, video and data analytics, and PSIM/ Situation Management solutions that are deployed in financial institutions, transportation agencies, airports, seaports, utility companies, city centers, and to secure many of the world's highest-profile public events.
http://www.Qognify.com.
Corporate Media Contact
Hagar Lev, +1-201-690-5207, [email protected]
Regional Media Contact
Graham Thatcher, +44(0)793-673-240, [email protected]
SOURCE Qognify
NEW YORK, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Increasing Awareness, Growing Demand for Energy Efficient Devices and Increasing OEM Adoption to Drive Global Quantum Dot Display Market Through 2021
New Age TechSci Research Logo (PRNewsFoto/New Age TechSci Research)
According to TechSci Research report, "Global Quantum Dot Display Market, By Material, By Application, By Region, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2012 - 2021", global quantum dot display market is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 64% during 2016-2021, on account of increasing awareness about benefits of quantum dot display, growing adoption of quantum dot display by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), rising demand for energy efficient devices coupled with mounting per capita spending on consumer electronics. With around 1.86 billion units of smartphones were sold across the globe in 2015, adoption of quantum dot display by smartphone manufacturers is also hugely driving demand for quantum dot display across the globe. New product developments are anticipated to increase the adoption of these displays in healthcare, transportation and other applications through 2021.
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Browse 13 market data Tables and 62 Figures spread through 162 Pages and an in-depth TOC on "Global Quantum Dot Display Market"
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Over the past few years, quantum dot displays have undergone radical changes in terms of application and material used to manufacture these displays. With European Commission restricting usage of cadmium in manufacturing consumer electronics due to environmental and health concerns, companies involved in manufacturing quantum dot display started manufacturing cadmium free quantum dot displays. This led to robust growth in demand for cadmium free quantum dot displays from different application areas. In 2015, around 3.89 million televisions equipped with quantum dot display were sold across the globe. Anticipated increase in demand for Ultra High Definition (UHD) TVs and Quad High Definition (QHD) is expected to further boost demand for quantum dot display during the forecast period. LG Display Co., Ltd., Samsung Display Co., Ltd., Sony Corporation, QD Vision Inc., Nanoco Technologies Ltd are few of the leading players operating in global quantum dot display market.
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"Technological advancements and new products developments are boosting the adoption of these displays in various applications such as consumer electronics, transportation, healthcare, power, defense, etc. Further, increasing adoption of quantum dot display by smartphone, tablet, and monitor manufacturers, and rising demand for non-toxic quantum dot displays from the healthcare and transportation sectors is projected to drive exponential growth in the global quantum dot display market in the coming years.", said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a research based global management consulting firm.
"Global Quantum Dot Display Market, By Material, By Application, By Region, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2012 - 2021" has evaluated the future growth potential of global quantum dot display market and provides statistics and information on market structure, size and future growth of global quantum dot display market. The report is intended to provide cutting-edge market intelligence and help decision makers take sound investment evaluation. Besides, the report also identifies and analyzes the emerging trends along with essential drivers, challenges and opportunities present in the global quantum dot display market.
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SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The dentists at the Sacramento Dentistry Group were recently asked the question: "Can Invisalign cure bad breath?" While Invisalign cures a lot of dental problems, bad breath generally isn't one of them. An exception might be if a patient had teeth that were so crowded together that they were difficult to clean. Widening the arch to give more space to the teeth can be accomplished with Invisalign, but that is an indirect solution for a problem whose real source is actually gum disease.
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That still brings up the question of what can Invisalign cure? Here's a list of some of the top complaints that are fixed by Invisalign:
Maloccluded Teeth: Malocclusions occur when teeth are not in their proper position. There are almost as many reasons for problem bites as there are patients in the world truly everyone's mouth is different. Dentists have discerned, however, that certain key dental parameters lead to longer-lasting teeth, better oral health, and sometimes even improved physical health. As a result, curing a malocclusion with Invisalign may solve many health problems.
Cosmetic Problems: When it comes to orthodontics, their use is usually connected with fixing crooked teeth. In cases where the teeth are functional, but simply unsightly, Invisalign still is the treatment system of choice. Twisted, crowded, overly spaced and tilted teeth are just a few of the difficulties cured with Invisalign.
Snoring and Sleep Apnea: If a snoring or sleep apnea problem (and the two often go together) is caused by smaller than normal airways, Invisalign can cure this problem by widening the airway with orthodontics. The Sacramento Dentistry Group has found this procedure very helpful for many of their patients, providing a permanent solution to a potentially life-threating disorder.
So while most dentists would not recommend Invisalign for curing bad breath, it can cure many other debilitating problems. For more answers about Invisalign and what it is doing for orthodontic patients around Sacramento, contact the doctors at the Sacramento Dentistry Group at 1105 E Street in the downtown area. They are also available at 916-538-6900 or via their website sacramentodentistry.com.
This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com
SOURCE Sacramento Dentistry Group
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WASHINGTON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Puerto Rico addresses contain types of areas typically not seen in stateside addresses. One example is an urbanizacion, which is a named neighborhood similar to a stateside subdivision. To help maintain Puerto Rico addresses within the U.S. Census Bureau's address database and to improve address update processes, the Geography Division is developing geographic information systems-based processes that use existing address structure points to draw boundaries for these areas. Our first priority is the urbanizaciones.
Getting these boundaries right is essential to achieving a complete and accurate count of all Puerto Ricans in the 2020 census and for an accurate Puerto Rico Community Survey every year.
Why do urbanizaciones matter?
In different urbanizaciones, house numbers and street names may repeat within a single ZIP code, resulting in identical addresses. In such cases the urbanizacion name is required to make the addresses unique. Drawing spatial boundaries for an urbanizacion and creating relationships between the urbanizacion and census blocks makes geocoding addresses in urbanizaciones more feasible; however, currently the Census Bureau has no spatial boundaries for urbanizaciones.
Why create boundaries?
To provide a mechanism to use address ranges for geocoding Puerto Rico addresses that fall outside the stateside convention of having only not repeating a house number and street name within a given ZIP code. This is critical for the address database update of Puerto Rico addresses.
addresses that fall outside the stateside convention of having only not repeating a house number and street name within a given ZIP code. This is critical for the address database update of addresses. To identify nonstandard urbanizacion names, such as misspellings and alternate formats, currently in the address database and their standard forms. The standard forms will be used to update the address database and improve overall data quality.
names, such as misspellings and alternate formats, currently in the address database and their standard forms. The standard forms will be used to update the address database and improve overall data quality. To facilitate the generation of a list of urbanizacion names on the Census Bureau's Listing and Mapping Application ( LiMA ) used to capture address information in the field. The intent is to provide LiMA users with a list of choices for urbanizacion names based on their assigned census block to increase efficiency and reduce input errors. It will also provide additional reference data for the Census Bureau's in-office address canvassing operation.
How we do it?
The Geography Division standardizes address data, creates boundaries using structure points (latitude/longitude coordinates) currently associated with the address database and aligns polygon boundaries with authoritative and reliable third party sources.
Because the urbanizaciones names are one of the components that make addresses unique in Puerto Rico, the geocoding based on the urbanizaciones boundaries will ensure an updated and accurate address frame for use in surveys such as the 2020 Census and the Puerto Rico Community Survey.
Media Contact: Public Information Office, [email protected], 301-763-3030
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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau
Related Links
http://www.census.gov
Ukraine's ex-president Viktor Yanukovych is not ready to come to the country to give evidence in the investigative actions and participate in court hearings due to a threat to his life and the absence of security guarantees from public bodies, his lawyer Vitaliy Serdiuk said.
He told a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine office on Wednesday that it had taken the case involving an assassination attempt against Viktor Yanukovych on February 21-22, 2014 half a year to be entered into the Ukrainian unified register of pre-trial investigations, and after it was entered the Prosecutor General's office sent the case to the Interior Ministry, not wishing to investigate it.
"The Interior Ministry's Main Investigative Department generally avoided working on this case for a long time as very many procedural requests were made. All procedural requests were declined, the defense lawyers contested them in court, the court declined, too. After that, the case was sent to the Interior Ministry [branch] of the Kyiv region, which is not investigating it," the lawyer said.
Serdiuk said he is convinced that the only conclusion from this is that there is a threat to Viktor Yanukovych's life. "Bearing in mind that these cases are not being investigated, that calls are constantly made for Yakukovych to be killed, it's not possible to speak about any safety in the territory of Ukraine. For this reason, it's not possible to say that Yanukovych will come and that the state can provide him with proper security measures," the lawyer said.
Serdiuk also said there has been an assassination attempt against himself and his family members. "A shot was fired, which, fortunately, didn't hit the target, but a nearby car. We made relevant procedural requests and provided evidence to the Prosecutor General's Office asking for security measures to be taken; it declined them, the case was sent to the district department, where it was swept under the carpet," the lawyer said.
SAN DIEGO, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Realty Income Corporation (Realty Income, NYSE: O), The Monthly Dividend Company, today announced that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of 6,500,000 shares of common stock.
Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and UBS Investment Bank are the sole book-running managers and underwriters for the offering. The underwriters may offer the shares from time to time for sale in one or more transactions on the New York Stock Exchange, in the over-the-counter market, through negotiated transactions or otherwise at market prices prevailing at the time of sale, at prices related to prevailing market prices or at negotiated prices.
The company expects to use the net proceeds from the offering to repay borrowings under its $2.0 billion unsecured revolving credit facility and, to the extent not used for that purpose, to fund potential investment opportunities and/or for other general corporate purposes.
A preliminary prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus related to the public offering of these securities have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of the preliminary prospectus supplement and prospectus, when available, may be obtained from Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, One Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10010, by calling toll-free (800) 221-1037 or by emailing [email protected]; or Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Attn: Prospectus Department,180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10014; or UBS Investment Bank, Attn: Prospectus Department, 1285 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10019, toll free at 1.888.827.7275.
These securities are offered pursuant to a Registration Statement that has become effective under the Securities Act. These securities are only offered by means of the prospectus included in the Registration Statement and the preliminary prospectus supplement related to the offering. 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 where, or to any person to whom, the offer, solicitation, or sale of these securities would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical are "forward-looking" statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, which may cause the company's actual future results to differ materially from expected results. These risks include, among others, general economic conditions, local real estate conditions, tenant financial health, the availability of capital to finance planned growth, continued volatility and uncertainty in the credit markets and broader financial markets, property acquisitions and the timing of these acquisitions, charges for property impairments, and the outcome of legal proceedings to which the company is a party, as described in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Consequently, forward-looking statements should be regarded solely as reflections of the company's current operating plans and estimates. Actual operating results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecast in this press release. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date these statements were made.
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SOURCE Realty Income Corporation
LONDON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Red Box Recorders (PRNewsFoto/Red Box Recorders)
INTERTEL, Inc., the leading medical canvassing firm in North America, has chosen Red Box Recorders as a key technology partner in the drive to combat insurance fraud. INTERTEL has deployed Red Box's Quantify voice and data recording solution to capture over three quarters of a million calls annually at their four contact centers in Missouri and Colorado. This move makes INTERTEL the first company in the medical canvassing sector to provide evidential call records to their clients, which include the largest insurance carriers and third party administrators in the US.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150311/734947 )
As the industry architect, INTERTEL prides itself in providing the claims industry with the most secure, consistent, high-quality information available. Red Box's recording suite, Quantify, enables the company to reliably capture calls and effectively substantiate the data acquired by its 200+ strong medical canvassing team as they verify treatment date information. Red Box's Quantify will also allow INTERTEL to review and evaluate recordings to effectively determine call-quality and potential training needs.
INTERTEL has ambitious growth plans and required a solution that is both highly scalable, could integrate seamlessly with their Avaya telephony platform, and would ensure reliable recording with archiving to one location; Red Box Recorders was able to deliver on all counts.
Steve Derossett, President at INTERTEL, said: "As the number one name in Medical canvassing, we are committed to keeping INTERTEL at the forefront in the battle against insurance fraud through continued advancements in technology. Our decision to partner with Red Box Recorders, the leading voice and data recording specialist, reflects this commitment and we are confident that it will bring great benefits for existing and future customers. The fact that everything is stored on a central Media Server means that I, as the President, can be at all four locations at one time!"
Pete Ellis, Chief Operating Officer at Red Box Recorders, said: "The ability to reliably record, then swiftly search and replay incoming, outgoing and internal calls is critical for a business like INTERTEL, where facts need to be accurately verified without delay. We are delighted to be part of such an important program and working with another leading US organization that wants to get maximum value from its communications."
SOURCE Red Box Recorders
BEND, Ore., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- While spring is in full swing, the Northwest is already preparing for summer wildfire season particularly following the unprecedented damage to many rural homes and communities last year. But a poll from PEMCO Insurance warns that almost one-third of residents who live in Oregon's most at-risk areas for wildfire haven't taken the necessary steps to fully protect, or "Firewise," their properties.
According to the PEMCO Insurance Northwest Poll, the vast majority of Oregon residents share some degree of concern for the possibility of wildfires, and many residents on the east side of the state believe there is a very real chance wildfire will directly impact their lives.
But despite their concern, the poll finds that of the Oregonians who say they live in an at-risk area, nearly one-third haven't taken the steps they know to be most important precautions for protecting their homes against wildfire.
"We know that preparing your home for wildfire is a major job. The people we polled agree that clearing dry brush, grass and weeds from around the property is the most important task and that certainly takes time and effort. But we also know from experience that the consequences of not doing it can be devastating," said PEMCO Spokesperson Derek Wing.
More than half of those polled in Oregon say that one of Firewise's basic guidelines clearing flammable vegetation is the most important step toward protecting a property from the threat of wildfire. Wildfire prevention experts agree.
According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), a property's risk hinges on its immediate surroundings or its "home ignition zone" and it urges residents to think "lean, clean and green" when working to protect their property. Keep grass short and green around the home, use low-growing, well-pruned and fire-resistive plants, prune low-hanging tree limbs, and clear debris and pine needles from roofs, gutters and porches.
In Oregon, the state's mantra "wildfire knows no season" helps relay the urgency of preparing now.
"The fight against wildfire starts at home. Every property owner needs to take action now to reduce their wildfire threat," said Larry Medina, Deputy Chief of Fire Prevention at the Bend Fire Department.
Last year, Oregon saw 2,588 fires that spanned 685,809 acres and, despite this winter's precipitation, the U.S. Drought Monitor says southeast areas of Oregon remain with moderate to severe drought conditions, making them vulnerable for wildfires.
"The healthy snowpack in the mountain regions of the state this winter mean the wildfire season may be shorter, but residents still need to be prepared for the inevitable wildfires that are sure to happen across the state," Wing said.
For more information and resources about Firewise guidelines, visit www.pemco.com/DontGetBurned.
For a complete summary of PEMCO's poll results, visit www.pemco.com/poll where the public is invited to participate in an informal version of the poll and see how their own responses compare with those collected by FBK Research of Seattle in March 2015.
About the PEMCO Insurance Northwest Poll
PEMCO Insurance commissioned this independent survey that asked Washington and Oregon residents questions about driving habits and attitudes toward current Northwest issues. The sample size, 600 respondents in Washington and 600 in Oregon, yields an accuracy of +/- 4.1 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. In other words, if this study were conducted 100 times, in 95 instances the data will not vary by more than the associated error range.
About PEMCO Insurance
PEMCO Insurance, established in 1949, is a Seattle-based provider of auto, home, boat, and umbrella insurance to Northwest residents. PEMCO Insurance is sold to consumers by the method they choose phone, local community agents, or online. For more information, visit pemco.com. J.D. Power has ranked PEMCO "Highest in Customer Satisfaction among Auto Insurers in the Northwest Region, Three Years in a Row." For J.D. Power award information, visit jdpower.com.
CONTACTS:
Derek Wing
PEMCO Insurance
206.628.4622
[email protected]
Kristi Herriott
Firmani + Associates Inc.
206.443.9357
[email protected]
SOURCE PEMCO Insurance
Related Links
http://www.pemco.com
More than 70 wineries from Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, California, Idaho, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Washington will showcase an extraordinary lineup of more than 250 Rieslings. (Many winemakers will also bring a "surprise wine" from their estates.) Guests will savor Riesling friendly food from popular Seattle food trucks including Barking Frog, Snout & Co. and Jemil Caters, as well as appetizers prepared by Chateau Ste. Michelle Executive Chef Janet Hedstrom and the winery's culinary team. The event will also feature live music by Six Over Four.
Tickets are $85 General Admission (5-8 pm) and $125 VIP limited availability (4-8 pm). Tickets are available online at 2016GrandTasting.RieslingRendezvous.com. (Attendance is limited to ages 21 and older.)
"Riesling Rendezvous has grown into the largest event dedicated to Riesling in the United States," says Ted Baseler, president and CEO of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. "We are extremely fortunate to have some of the most renowned Riesling winemakers in the world sharing their stellar wines to demonstrate the great attributes and diversity of Riesling."
The Grand Tasting is part of the 5th Riesling Rendezvous, a three-day event designed to bring together leading experts and producers to explore the versatility of Rieslings from around the world, discuss issues and opportunities surrounding the advancement of Riesling, and forge alliances among producers and Riesling enthusiasts. The trade tastings on July 18 & 19 will be held at Bell Harbor International Conference Center in Seattle and feature in-depth seminars led by distinguished speakers on topics such as: climate trends impacting Riesling, the diversity of Australian Riesling, the essential elements of dry Riesling, tips from the pros on selling Riesling, Alsace's diverse terroir, and demonstrations pairing Riesling with cheese and salmon, Riesling cocktail tastings...and more! Limited tickets are still available for the 3-day package at rieslingrendezvous.com
Nearly two decades ago, Chateau Ste. Michelle, North America's leading Riesling producer, teamed up with Ernst Loosen, famed Riesling winemaker from the Mosel, to collaborate on an ultra-premium Washington Riesling called Eroica. Riesling Rendezvous was born out of this special partnership's commitment to promote the extraordinary nature of Riesling. Riesling Rendezvous is held every three years and is a member of the Riesling Coalition that brings events to North America, Australia and Germany on a rotating basis.
Riesling Rendezvous Grand Tasting Participating Producers:
Australia
Frankland Estate
Grant Burge Wines
Jim Barry Wines
Mac Forbes Wines
Pikes
Rieslingfreak
Austria
Boutique Winery Clemens Strobl
Emmerich Knoll
F.X. Pichler
Malat
Canada
Cave Spring Cellars
Hidden Bench Vineyards & Winery
Kitsch Wines
Little Farm Winery
Synchromesh Wines
Tantalus Vineyards
von Mandl Family Estates
France
Albert Mann
Domaine Loew
Famille Hugel
Meyer-Fonne
Paul Blanck
Schlumberger
Germany
Ansgar Clusserath
Balthasar Ress
BattenfeldSpanier
Christmann
Donnhoff
Dr. Burklin-Wolf
Dr. Loosen
Egon Muller-Scharzhof
Fritz Haag
Leitz
Maximin Grunhaus
Oekonomierat Rebholz
Robert Weil
Wittmann
New Zealand
Framingham Wines, Ltd.
United States
California
Balo Vineyards
Maidenstoen Wines
Stirm Wine Co.
Idaho
Cinder Winery
Michigan
Black Star Farms
Mari Vineyards/Scriptorium Wines
New York
Anthony Road Wine Company
Boundary Breaks
Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery
Fox Run Vineyards
Ravines Wine Cellars
Red Newt Cellars, Inc.
Sheldrake Point Winery
Wagner Vineyards
Oregon
Brooks
Elk Cove Vineyards
Tunkalilla Vineyard
Washington
Charles Smith Wines
Chateau Ste. Michelle
Pacific Rim
Snoqualmie Vineyards
The Woodhouse Wine Estates
Tsillan Cellars
Tulip Valley
Regional Sponsors:
Alsace Wines: Allimant-Laugner, Bott-Geyl, Dirler-Cade, Emile Beyer, Frederic Mallo, Leon Beyer, Pierre Sparr, Willm
Wine Australia: Eden Road, Glaetzer Dixon Family Winemakers, Grosset, Kilikanoon, Pewsey Vale, Pressing Matters, St Hallett
Idaho Wine Commission: Cinder Winery, Colter's Creek Winery, Pend d'Oreille Winery, Sawtooth Winery, Ste. Chapelle Winery
Oregon Riesling Producers: Alexana, Argyle, Brandborg, Brooks, Chehalem, Elk Cove Vineyards
About Chateau Ste. Michelle
Founded in 1934, Chateau Ste. Michelle pioneered vinifera grape growing in Washington state and has been producing classic European varietal wines under the Ste. Michelle label since 1967. The winery combines an ongoing dedication to research with a commitment to classic winemaking traditions. The winery owns 3,500 acres of vineyards in the Columbia Valley of eastern Washington, including Canoe Ridge Estate and Cold Creek, which are LIVE and Salmon Safe certified. Chateau Ste. Michelle enjoys winemaking partnerships with two of the world's most distinguished vintners. Col Solare is an alliance with Tuscany's Piero Antinori and Eroica Riesling is a partnership with the Mosel's Ernst Loosen.
Chateau Ste. Michelle has been a champion of Riesling for more than 45 years and was among the first to plant Riesling in Washington state. Ste. Michelle was catapulted into the national spotlight when its 1972 Johannisberg Riesling won the now-famous blind tasting of nineteen White Rieslings sponsored by the Los Angeles Times. Today, Chateau Ste. Michelle offers up to 10 different Riesling styles designed to showcase the versatility of Riesling and the regional styles within Washington's Columbia Valley, which produces more Riesling than any other American wine region.
About Dr. Loosen Estate
The Dr. Loosen estate has a 200-year tradition of producing Riesling in Germany's Mosel region. With his modern world view and his traditional approach to winemaking, Ernst Loosen strives to produce wines that unmistakably express the character of Riesling and of the vineyards where they are grown. Decanter magazine named Ernst Loosen 2005 "Man of the Year" for his perseverance in promoting and producing great Rieslings around the world.
Riesling Rendezvous is a registered trademark of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates Ltd.
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SOURCE Chateau Ste. Michelle
LONDON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Halal cosmetics are skin and body care products which are free from materials forbidden by the Islamic Law. Therefore, blood from any animal, pork and pork products as well as alcoholic constituents are not incorporated in manufacturing of these cosmetics. With increasing availability of halal cosmetics, Islamic population in Saudi Arabia is gradually shifting to cosmetic products free from materials prohibited under the Islamic Law. In addition, growing health concerns due to harmful effects of ingredients used in manufacturing cosmetics is increasing demand for halal cosmetics, not only among Muslims but also non-Muslim population in the country. Moreover, increasing preference for halal cosmetics is leading to a change in business strategy of the local as well as international companies operating in the market. Companies are focusing on accommodating the growing preference for halal cosmetics products in the country.
According to "Saudi Arabia Halal Cosmetics Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2020", the halal cosmetics market in Saudi Arabia is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 15% during 2015 - 2020, due to growing accessibility of these products, rising consumer awareness regarding the benefits of using halal cosmetics, coupled with increasing willingness amongst consumers to pay more for high quality halal cosmetics. Additionally, religious preference for halal products in Saudi Arabia, which is predominantly a Muslim populated country, is another factor driving demand for halal cosmetics in the country. In 2014, fragrances and skincare products accounted for a majority share in the country's halal cosmetics market. Few of the major players operating in Saudi Arabia halal cosmetics market include Inika, One Pure, LLC, FX Cosmetics, Clara International Beauty Group and Samina Pure Minerals Makeup Ltd., among others. "Saudi Arabia Halal Cosmetics Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2020" report elaborates following aspects related to halal cosmetics market in Saudi Arabia:
- Saudi Arabia Halal Cosmetics Market Size, Share & Forecast
- Segmental Analysis By Type (Fragrances, Skincare, Color Cosmetics & Others)
- Policy & Regulatory Landscape
- Changing Market Trends & Emerging Opportunities
- Competitive Landscape & Strategic Recommendations
Why You Should Buy This Report?
- To gain an in-depth understanding of Saudi Arabia halal cosmetics market
- To identify the on-going trends and anticipated growth in the next five years
- To help industry consultants, halal cosmetic manufacturers, vendors and dealers align their market-centric strategies
- To obtain research based business decisions and add weight to presentations and marketing material
- To gain competitive knowledge of leading market players
- To avail 10% customization in the report without any extra charges and get research data or trends added in the report as per the buyer's specific needs
Report Methodology
The information contained in this report is based upon both primary and secondary sources. Primary research included interviews with halal cosmetics suppliers and industry experts. Secondary research included an exhaustive search of relevant publications like company annual reports, financial reports and other proprietary databases.
Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3426208/
About Reportbuyer
Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers
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For more information:
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Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com
Email: [email protected]
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SOURCE ReportBuyer
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NEW YORK, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Attorney Advertising -- Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is investigating potential claims on behalf of purchasers of the American Depository Receipts of Gerdau S.A. ("Gerdau" or the "Company") (NYSE: GGB). Such investors are advised to contact Peretz Bronstein or his investor relations analyst Yael Hurwitz at [email protected] or 212-697-6484.
The investigation concerns whether Gerdau and certain of its officers and/or directors have violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Around March 26, 2015, news sources said that the Gerdau was raided by Brazilian Federal Police in connection with "Operation Zelotes," an investigation of suspected tax fraud by several Brazilian companies. Gerdau allegedly defrauded tax authorities of more than $380 million and bribed tax authorities. Following this news Gerdau's American Depository Receipts ("ADRs") dropped $0.38 per share, or over 11%, to close on March 27, 2015 at $3.06 per share on unusually heavy volume.
Around February 23 - February 26, 2016, Gerdau was again raided by Brazilian authorities in connection with Operation Zelotes. Brazilian authorities said Gerdau was targeted in a new stage of investigation implicating bribes to the Board of Tax Appeals ("CARF"). Police carried out "20 court orders for testimonies and 18 search warrants in Rio Grande do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Pernambuco and Brasilia." Following this news Gerday's ADRs dropped $0.19, or nearly 18%, over four trading days, to close at $0.87 per share on February 26, 2016.
On May 16, 2016, several news sources reported that Brazil's federal police charged Gerdau of evading $429 million in taxes and prosecuted Gerdau executives, including Chief Executive Officer Andre Gerdau Johannpeter, for corruption. The charges included bribery, money laundering, and influence peddling. Following this news Gerdau's ADRs dropped $0.13, or over 7%, to close at $1.72 per share on May 16, 2016.
If you are aware of any facts relating to this investigation, or purchased Gerdau ADR's, you can assist this investigation by visiting the firm's site: http://www.bgandg.com/#!ggb/pnju1. You can also contact Peretz Bronstein or his Investor Relations Analyst, Yael Hurwitz of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC: 212-697-6484 or via email [email protected]. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, email and telephone number.
Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a corporate litigation boutique. Our primary expertise is the aggressive pursuit of litigation claims on behalf of our clients. In addition to representing institutions and other investor plaintiffs in class action security litigation, the firm's expertise includes general corporate and commercial litigation, as well as securities arbitration. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
Contact:
Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC
Peretz Bronstein or Yael Hurwitz
212-697-6484 | [email protected]
SOURCE Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC
Related Links
http://www.bgandg.com
NEW YORK, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Levi & Korsinsky announces it has commenced an investigation of Diebold, Incorporated (NYSE: DBD) concerning possible breaches of fiduciary duty by the board of directors of the company. To obtain additional information, go to:
http://zlk.9nl.com/diebold-dbd
or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at [email protected] or by telephone at (212) 363-7500, toll-free: (877) 363-5972.
Levi & Korsinsky is a national firm with offices in New York, New Jersey, California, Connecticut and Washington D.C. The firm's attorneys have extensive expertise in prosecuting securities litigation involving financial fraud, representing investors throughout the nation in securities and shareholder lawsuits. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
CONTACT:
Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
Eduard Korsinsky, Esq.
30 Broad Street - 24th Floor
New York, NY 10004
Tel: (212) 363-7500
Toll Free: (877) 363-5972
Fax: (212) 363-7171
www.zlk.com
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120409/MM84375LOGO
SOURCE Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
Related Links
http://www.zlk.com
NEW YORK, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Gerdau S. A. ("Gerdau" or the "Company") (NYSE: GGB). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980.
[Click here to join a class action]
The investigation concerns whether Gerdau and certain of its officers and/or directors have violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
On or around March 26, 2015, news reports revealed that the Company was the subject of a raid by Brazilian Federal Police in connection with "Operation Zelotes," an investigation into alleged tax fraud by a variety of Brazilian companies. According to news reports, Gerdau allegedly defrauded tax authorities of over $380 million, including by engaging in a bribery scheme with tax authorities. On this news the Company's American Depository Receipts ("ADRs") fell $0.38 per share, or over 11%, to close on March 27, 2015 at $3.06 per share on unusually heavy volume. On or around February 23 through February 26, 2016, Gerdau's offices were the subject of further raids by Brazilian authorities in connection with Operation Zelotes. According to Brazilian authorities Gerdau was targeted in a new phase of an investigation involving bribes to the Board of Tax Appeals, and police carried out "20 court orders for testimonies and 18 search warrants in Rio Grande do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Pernambuco and Brasilia." On February 25, 2016, Gerdau confirmed that Brazilian police had raided Company offices in connection with Operation Zelotes. On this news the Company's ADRs fell $0.19, or nearly 18%, over four trading days, to close at $0.87 per share on February 26, 2016. On May 16, 2016, various news outlets reported that Brazil's federal police accused Gerdau of evading $429 million in taxes and indicted Gerdau executives, including Chief Executive Officer Andre Gerdau Johannpeter, on corruption-related charges. The charges included bribery, money laundering, and influence peddling.
On this news, Gerdau's ADRs fell $0.13, or over 7%, to close at $1.72 per share on May 16, 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
CONTACT:
Robert S. Willoughby
Pomerantz LLP
[email protected]
SOURCE Pomerantz LLP
Related Links
http://www.pomerantzlaw.com
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company, (NYSE:LMT) and the American Helicopter Society (AHS) International today announced the Sikorsky-AHS "Hover for a Day" Challenge, a new competition to demonstrate a game-changing level of efficiency in rotorcraft with a $50,000 prize at stake.
Sikorsky Innovations, the technology development team within Sikorsky's Engineering & Technology group, is working with members of AHS International to lead the competition coordination. Sikorsky is a world leader in helicopter design, manufacture and service.
"On behalf of our more than 4,000 engineers across the world, I am proud to announce this extremely thought-provoking challenge," said Mark Miller, Sikorsky vice president of Engineering & Technology. "Spread the word: With this new competition, we are challenging aviation engineers to stretch their thinking with regard to how a helicopter performs in what they do best hover. This Challenge is to hover for 24 hours, while still demonstrating other helicopter key attributes, as well as new levels of efficiency and reliability. We hope to keep the spirit of Igor Sikorsky alive, the spirit that tackled many seemingly impossible tasks and created our industry as a result."
"We think it's going to take groundbreaking changes in efficiency of rotor, engine and energy storage and delivery in order to hover continuously for a full day," Chris Van Buiten, vice president of Sikorsky Innovations, added. "These efforts may produce new technologies, in terms of airfoils, rotor structures, transmission and drive, engine and energy storage. It will be exciting to see the inventive thinking that this Challenge will generate."
In a previous challenge, AHS and Sikorsky awarded a $250,000 prize for the AHS Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition, which endured 33 years to prove what many suggested was impossible: to create a helicopter using only human-generated power that could rise three meters (9.8 feet) and hover over a 10-meter-by-10-meter (32.8 ft) box for one minute.
The winner of that competition was AeroVelo Inc., consisting of a team of students from the University of Toronto and led by UT graduate engineers. AeroVelo flew its "Atlas" vehicle above three meters and hovered for approximately 64 seconds, capturing the prize for the decades-long competition in June 2013.
"Just like the human powered helicopter competition, the statement is simple, but the solution may be technically very complex. We hope the AHS 'Hover for a Day' Challenge sparks the next generation of aviation engineers with great ideas to try to do something that may be impossible," said Mike Hirschberg, executive director of AHS International.
Specific details on how to enter the Challenge and detailed rules will be announced on June 16, 2016, on the AHS International website www.vtol.org/challenge, Hirschberg said.
About Lockheed Martin: Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 125,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.
About AHS International: Headquartered in Fairfax, Va., AHS is the world's premier professional vertical flight technical society. The non-profit brings together industry, academia and governments to tackle the toughest challenges in vertical flight. Founded in 1943 as the American Helicopter Society, AHS International provides global leadership for scientific, technical, educational and legislative initiatives that advance the state of the art of vertical flight.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141118/159313LOGO
SOURCE Lockheed Martin
Related Links
http://www.lockheedmartin.com
WEST HARTFORD, Conn., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Brookdale Chatfield is investing $26.6 million to meet the growing need of seniors in Connecticut. The senior living community is expanding its assisted living and dementia care services creating dozens of new jobs in the local community. Brookdale Chatfield is located at 1 Chatfield Drive in West Hartford.
Brookdale Chatfield
Scheduled for completion in June, the project is creating 50 assisted living apartments and 34 memory care units for those living with Alzheimer's and dementia. The community's 117 independent living apartments are getting a renovated entrance and new bistro.
The Alzheimer's and dementia care community will feature the Clare Bridge program developed by Brookdale, the nation's largest senior living provider. Clare Bridge focuses on providing meaningful and purposeful daily life for those in dementia's middle to later stages through activities and events tailored to individual interest.
"When new residents move in, we learn as much as possible about their life stories," said Juliet Holt Klinger, Brookdale's senior director of dementia care program development. "We design activities that meet their interests, stir their memories and match their current abilities so they can be successful in their daily lives. This provides our residents with a sense of purpose and accomplishment that raises self-esteem."
There are 74,000 people in Connecticut living with Alzheimer's and dementia. The Alzheimer's Association estimates this figure will reach 91,000 by 2025. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, people 65 and older make up nearly 16 percent of Connecticut's population.
"We are expanding our services so we can serve more seniors and provide a greater range of services," said Rose Thomason, executive director of Brookdale Chatfield. "As our resident's needs change, they will still have access to care at the community they call home."
Brookdale Chatfield is offering tours starting in May with move-in dates booking for August. Interested parties can call (860) 561-1669.
For more information about Brookdale, visit brookdale.com.
About Brookdale
Brookdale Senior Living Inc. is the leading operator of senior living communities throughout the United States. The Company is committed to providing senior living solutions within properties that are designed, purpose-built and operated to provide the highest-quality service, care and living accommodations for residents. Currently Brookdale operates independent living, assisted living, and dementia-care communities and continuing care retirement centers, with approximately 1,121 communities in 47 states and the ability to serve approximately 108,000 residents. Through its ancillary services programs, the Company also offers a range of outpatient therapy, home health, personalized living and hospice services.
Contact: Dana Schroering, 615-564-8543, [email protected]
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160517/368978
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160513/367350LOGO
SOURCE Brookdale Senior Living
Related Links
http://www.brookdaleliving.com
A mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which arrived in Kyiv on May 10, 2016, has completed its work, the Ukrainian Finance Ministry's press service told Interfax-Ukraine.
The IMF worked in Ukraine in the framework of the second review of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program.
The four-year EFF program for Ukraine totaling SDR 12.348 billion (about $17 billion), opened by the IMF in March 2015, originally foresaw quarterly revisions of the program, the issue of four tranches to Kyiv in 2015, another four in 2016. However, at present the country has received only the first tranche worth $5 billion and the second one worth $1.7 billion.
IMF official representatives repeatedly said that the Fund needed more clarity about the status of the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian parliamentary coalition for the completion of the second review of the EFF and the provision of the third tranche.
DALLAS, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) (the "Company") announces the Southwest Airlines Board of Directors, at its meeting held today, increased the Company's quarterly dividend by 33 percent and authorized a new $2 billion share repurchase program. Under the new $2 billion share repurchase authorization, the Company intends to repurchase an initial $500 million of Southwest common stock under an accelerated share repurchase program. The quarterly dividend will increase to $.10 per share from $.075 per share, beginning with the 159th consecutive quarterly dividend declared today to Shareholders of record at the close of business on June 8, 2016, on all shares then issued and outstanding. The dividend will be paid on June 29, 2016. Annualized, this increased dividend amounts to approximately $255 million based on approximately 632 million1 shares of common stock outstanding.
Gary C. Kelly, Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO, stated: "I'm pleased to announce the Board's decision today to increase our quarterly dividend by 33 percent, which would provide an approximate one percent annual dividend yield to our Shareholders, based on yesterday's closing stock price of $42.20. On a cumulative basis over the past five years, including today's increase, our quarterly dividend has grown more than twenty fold. The Board also authorized a $2 billion share repurchase program, representing our largest repurchase authorization in a decades-long history of returning value back to our Shareholders through share repurchases. Since 2010, we have reduced our outstanding shares by over 25 percent through the cumulative repurchase of $4 billion of common stock. Our strong performance, investment grade balance sheet, and cash flow outlook has enabled the Board's actions today that reinforce our ongoing commitment to return value to our Shareholders."
The Company recently completed its previous total $1.5 billion share repurchase authorization, including $700 million repurchased this year under accelerated share repurchase programs. The Company repurchased $500 million in common stock pursuant to an accelerated share repurchase program launched during first quarter 2016, and $200 million pursuant to an accelerated share repurchase program launched during second quarter 2016, receiving approximately 11.9 million and approximately 4.5 million total shares, respectively. Under the total $1.5 billion share repurchase authorization, the Company repurchased approximately 37.3 million shares. The Company's share repurchases under the new $2 billion repurchase program will be made in accordance with applicable securities laws in open market, private, or accelerated repurchase transactions from time to time, depending on market conditions, but may be discontinued at any time.
1As of May 16, 2016.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains 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. Specific forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements related to (i) the Company's plans with respect to the return of value to Shareholders and (ii) the Company's financial outlook. These forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current intent, expectations, and projections and are not guarantees of future performance. These statements involve risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that are difficult to predict and that could cause actual results to vary materially from those expressed in or indicated by them. Factors include, among others, (i) the impact of economic conditions, consumer behavior, fuel prices, actions of competitors (including without limitation pricing, scheduling, and capacity decisions and consolidation and alliance activities), governmental actions, and other factors beyond the Company's control, on the Company's business decisions, plans, and strategies and (ii) other factors, as described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the detailed factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015.
SW-DSR
SOURCE Southwest Airlines Co.
Related Links
http://www.southwest.com
WICHITA, Kan., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Spirit AeroSystems joined the Kansas Board of Regents today to announce the inaugural class of Spirit Scholars, recipients of more than $570,000 of scholarship support. Spirit scholarships were awarded to students enrolling in engineering and business programs at Wichita State University, the University of Kansas and Kansas State University.
The recipients include:
Wichita State University
Engineering:
Colton Brennan, Seaman High School, Topeka, KS
Isaac Carrillo, Bishop Carroll Catholic High School, Wichita, KS
Haley Kauffman, Haven High School, Haven, KS
Jackson Lechner, Creighton Prep, Omaha, NE
Nathan Lipinski, Bishop Carroll Catholic High School, Wichita, KS
Lilia Marquez, Wichita North High School, Wichita, KS
Jacob Messenger, Kingman High School, Kingman, KS
Payton Morgan, Wichita East High School, Wichita, KS
Carson Reimer, Newton High School, Newton, KS
Whitney Warner, Homeschool, Wichita, KS
Business:
Matthew Sen, Campus High School, Wichita, KS
Brett Howie, Sunrise Christian Academy, Kechi, KS
University of Kansas
Engineering:
Ian McDonald, Washburn Rural High School, Topeka, KS
Sydney Warren, Clearwater High School, Clearwater, KS
Business:
Brian Freeman, Raymore-Peculiar High School, Peculiar, MO
Kansas State University
Engineering:
Anna Christianson, Olathe Northwest High School, Lenexa, KS
Josiah Satzler, Riley County High School, Manhattan, KS
Business:
Avery Bolar, Shawnee Mission East High School, Prairie Village, KS
Each scholarship will provide $8,000 annually to cover tuition, fees, books and supplies, and is renewable for up to four years.
"At Spirit AeroSystems, our work requires a ready, reliable and trained workforce with high-tech skills," said Spirit AeroSystems President & CEO, Larry Lawson. "We are pleased to support these scholarship recipients and partner with Kansas engineering and business schools to help build a pipeline of future aerospace employees."
Spirit will work with the Spirit Scholars throughout their university experience, including a guaranteed Spirit internship interview after the completion of their sophomore year. Spirit will host students and their families at a welcome event later this year.
"I'm proud to say, the University Engineering Initiative Act remains on track to increase the number of undergraduate engineering degrees awarded collectively by Wichita State, KU, and K-State to 1,365 graduates annually by 2021," stated Regent Shane Bangerter, Chair of the Kansas Board of Regents, who has been overseeing this initiative in partnership with the Kansas Department of Commerce. "But our long-term success will undoubtedly rely on the involvement of industry partners such as Spirit AeroSystems, if we are going to identify resources which can support this ambitious goal. Today we want to again thank them for this critical investment."
In all, Spirit is funding 18 scholarships across three universities.
On the web: http://www.spiritaero.com/
On Twitter: @SpiritAero
About Spirit AeroSystems Inc.
Spirit AeroSystems designs and builds aerostructures for both commercial and defense customers. With headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, Spirit operates sites in the U.S., U.K., France and Malaysia. The company's core products include fuselages, pylons, nacelles and wing components for the world's premier aircraft. Spirit AeroSystems focuses on affordable, innovative composite and aluminum manufacturing solutions to support customers around the globe. More information is available at www.SpiritAero.com.
SOURCE Spirit AeroSystems
Related Links
http://www.spiritaero.com
SANTIAGO, Chile, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. (SQM) (NYSE: SQM; Santiago Stock Exchange: SQM-B, SQM-A) reported earnings today for the three months ended March 31, 2016 of US$58.5 million (US$0.22 per ADR), a decrease from US$71.7 million (US$0.27 per ADR) reported for the three months ended March 31, 2015. Gross profit reached US$113.6 million (29.0% of revenues) for the three months ended March 31, 2016, lower than US$130.7 million (33.7% of revenues) reported for the three months ended March 31, 2015. Revenues totaled US$391.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2016, similar to the US$387.5 million reported for the three months ended March 31, 2015.
SQM's Chief Executive Officer, Patricio de Solminihac, stated, "During the first quarter of 2016, as anticipated, the downward trend in iodine prices and the weakness in potash prices continued, impacting our margins. Potash sales volumes were higher this quarter compared to the first quarter of last year, which helped to offset the impact on revenues, although adverse weather conditions at the port caused some shipments to be postponed to the second quarter. We believe we are on track to see a recovery in our potash volumes for the full year, returning to levels similar to those reported in 2014. In fact, we expect to see higher sales volumes across all of our business lines for the full year, although margins will continue to reflect lower iodine and potash prices."
He went on to say, "Pricing in the specialty plant nutrition business has been more stable than potash pricing, and our leading position in the potassium nitrate market has helped us to keep revenues stable in the face of uncertainty in the potash market. The best news of the quarter has been our lithium business, where we saw significant revenue growth. In response to strong global demand for lithium, we are working to deliver more volumes, and prices have also increased."
"In other lithium news, during the first quarter we were pleased to announce a joint venture with Lithium Americas to develop the Cauchari-Olaroz lithium project in Argentina, which is a great complement to our existing lithium operations in Chile. We are targeting a capacity of 40,000 tons with this joint venture, with production expected to begin by 2019. We believe that our years of experience in this business will contribute to the success of this project, and we should benefit from synergies with our Chilean lithium operations. We are confident that this joint venture will generate value for our shareholders."
Mr. de Solminihac concluded by saying, "Although we have faced many challenges during the last year, relating to both operating and non-operating matters, I am proud of the hard work I see every day across the company. Efforts to improve operating efficiency have become part of the culture, and we are constantly seeking new opportunities to improve and to grow. We are also committed to maintaining a solid financial position. We recently paid a special dividend to shareholders, and following that payment, all of our financial indicators remain well within our conservative internal targets. I believe that SQM is well positioned to take on the challenges and opportunities that the future will bring."
About SQM
SQM is an integrated producer and distributor of specialty plant nutrients, iodine, lithium, potassium-related fertilizers and industrial chemicals. Its products are based on the development of high quality natural resources that allow the Company to be a leader in costs, supported by a specialized international network with sales in over 110 countries. SQM's development strategy aims to maintain and strengthen the Company's position in each of its businesses.
The leadership strategy is based on the Company's competitive advantages and on the sustainable growth of the different markets in which it participates. SQM's main competitive advantages in its different businesses include:
Low production costs based on vast and high quality natural resources;
Know-how and its own technological developments in its various production processes;
Logistics infrastructure and high production levels that allow SQM to have low distribution costs;
High market share in all its core products;
International sales network with offices in 20 countries and sales in over 110 countries;
Synergies from the production of multiple products that are obtained from the same two natural resources;
Continuous new product development according to the specific needs of its different customers;
Conservative and solid financial position.
For further information, contact:
Gerardo Illanes 56-2-24252022 / [email protected]
Kelly O'Brien 56-2-24252074 / [email protected]
Carolyn McKenzie 56-2-24252280 / [email protected]
For media inquiries, contact:
Carolina Garcia Huidobro / [email protected]
Alvaro Cifuentes / [email protected]
Tamara Rebolledo / [email protected] (Northern Region)
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as: "anticipate," "plan," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "strategy," "should," "will" and similar references to future periods. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make concerning the Company's business outlook, future economic performance, anticipated profitability, revenues, expenses, or other financial items, anticipated cost synergies and product or service line growth.
Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are estimates that reflect the best judgment of SQM management based on currently available information. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that are outside of our control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated in such statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Readers are referred to the documents filed by SQM with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the most recent annual report on Form 20-F, which identifies important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to SQM on the date hereof and SQM assumes no obligation to update such statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.
SOURCE Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile, S.A. (SQM)
AMERICAN FORK, Utah, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- StealthGearUSA, the manufacturer of high-performance holsters and gear that embodies the needs of the demanding user in the everyday carry (EDC) space, is pleased to announce the formation of an independent Technical Advisory Council (TAC) with the purpose of providing critical guidance for new and existing company products. The TAC will be comprised entirely of experienced professionals and technical experts in the following fields: military, police, firearms instructors, competitive shooters, and armed professionals.
The TAC team will be co-chaired by Chairman and Founder of StealthGearUSA, Paul Laemmlen, and Liberty Firearms Training certified shooting instructor, Ron Givens. Givens, a former Marine and current firearms instructor, also serves as the Sergeant-at-Arms for the Sacramento (California) Republican Party, and was the national co-rally organizer in 2014 to free former Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi from a Mexican prison.
"Since the company's inception in 2012, an informal group of concealed carry experts from law enforcement, military, and private citizens have quietly and proudly shared their valuable and insightful feedback to StealthGearUSA," noted Paul Laemmlen, Chairman and Founder. "Today, we are pleased to team up with Ron Givens in announcing our Technical Advisory Council. Ron brings decades worth of hands-on practical firearms experience to the group, first as a U.S. Marine; and secondly as a Certified Firearms Instructor teaching defensive shooting principles."
With a rapidly expanding array of products in development, StealthGearUSA found it critical to create a formalized group of independent experts. Their combined industry knowledge, professional experience and strategic technical insight will support the company's mission to continue to improve the industry through superior design and innovation.
"When I discovered StealthGearUSA, I immediately recognized the truly superior innovations that they offer in their products and I became an immediate fan," commented Ron Givens. "Based on my background and experience I offered some input to StealthGearUSA for consideration which was received with "mission focus", and adopted immediately. After two trips to American Fork City, Utah to spend time with the company's founder and staff, as well as observe products being designed and built, I was invited and humbly accepted the responsibility to co-chair and serve as Senior Technical Advisor of the newly created Technical Advisory Council for StealthGearUSA."
For more information on StealthGearUSA and the company's products please visit www.StealthGearUSA.com.
About StealthGearUSA
StealthGearUSA, headquartered in American Fork, Utah, is a premium performance brand that is dedicated to the design and manufacture of quality gear meant to work in the real world, to do a difficult job, and to do it with consistent excellence. StealthGearUSA is also the leader in patented, demonstrably superior, differentiated technology platforms for holsters, accessories and support items.
About Liberty Firearms Training
Liberty Firearms Training (LFT) formed in 2007 from a belief that in the Elk Grove and Sacramento area of California, women and novices new to shooting did not have available to them self-defense options in handgun (pistol) and defensive shooting instruction. From that concept programs were developed to provide new gun enthusiasts with a variety of options including crime prevention education, home security techniques, personal safety and NRA certified instruction, starting with Basic Pistol and progressing into Defensive Pistol Shooting, as well as personalized private lessons. For more information on Liberty Firearms Training, visit: LibertyFirearmsTraining.com.
SOURCE StealthGearUSA
Related Links
http://www.StealthGearUSA.com
Mr . Nopparat Maythaveekulchai , TCEB President disclosed that, "To promote the meetings and incentives travel (M&I) sector in 2016, under our WIN Strategy, TCEB will focus on attracting Mega Size Events with more than 2,000 international delegates by establishing the Thailand Big Thanks! sales promotion campaign, especially for organisers. With high spending power, every Mega Size Events can help inject healthy MICE revenue into our economy.
"In addition to China, key source markets for Thailand's M&I sector also include other Asian countries. Secondary markets include the EU, US, and Oceania, while emerging markets where we closely monitor and start to create awareness of the Thai MICE industry range from Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. In 2015, Thailand welcomed a total of 1,095,995 MICE travellers from around the world, generating 95,857 million baht MICE revenue. Of these, 516,663 travellers and 44,533 million baht were from the M&I sector. Major contributors were mainland China, which presents significant opportunities and still has high potential for growth, followed by India, Singapore, Malaysia, the US, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and Australia, respectively."
Ms. Nooch Homrossukhon, Director of Meetings and Incentives, TCEB said that, "The emergence of M&I Mega Size Events has been our new target over the past three years. We have put in place strategic plans, from raising awareness of Thailand as a premiere destination for meetings and incentives travel in Asia, to increasing marketing development activities through products and services promotions, and VIP receptions to event logistics and facilitation. More importantly, the THAILAND BIG THANKS! financial subsidy campaign in addition to the THAILAND CONNECT beyond THE CAPITAL will help organisers and key decision makers make Thailand their destination of choice for their next events."
The THAILAND BIG THANKS! campaign was created to help drive the M&I sector through a financial subsidy scheme of up to two million baht for eligible Mega Size M&I events with more than 2,000 international delegates staying at least three nights in the Kingdom of Thailand. Starting from 1 October 2015 until 30 September 2017, the travel must take place in Thailand from 1 October 2015 until 31 December 2017. Complementing this is the THAILAND CONNECT beyond THE CAPITAL package, presenting international corporate clients the opportunity to discover the diversity of Thailand with promotions from domestic airline partners including Thai Airways, Thai Smile Airways, and Bangkok Airways. Requirements include a group size of more than 100 delegates, and staying in Thailand at least three nights. The organiser will receive transportation support of 1,000 baht per delegate, up to a maximum of 300,000 baht per group. Applications are open from 1 October 2015 until 30 September 2016, and travel must take place from 1 October 2015 until 31 December 2016.
"Marking its 20th anniversary, the Infinitus Overseas Training 2016 is held from 11 to 29 May 2016. Held for the thirteenth time in Thailand, TCEB's support for this annual corporate meeting under the THAILAND BIG THANKS! campaign also includes MICE LANE and immigration services for executives and VIP guests at the airport, a Thai performance, and special souvenirs for all delegates, worth a total of five million baht. Additionally, as a token of our appreciation, TCEB will be presenting the 'Thai-Sino MICE Outstanding Contribution Award' to Infinitus (China) for their continuous consideration of Thailand. The major meeting of one of the biggest health product companies in China for 14,000 delegates will take place in Bangkok and Pattaya in seven groups (2,000 delegates per group), and is expected to help generate more than 1.3 billion baht for the Thai economy," Ms. Nooch added.
In 2015, China accounted for 109,987 MICE travellers, generating a total of 9,197.65 million baht MICE revenue. Thanks to the upward trend of the M&I market from China over the past three years, TCEB has appointed sales and marketing representatives to directly target corporate customers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and emerging provinces including Shenzhen, and Chengdu.
"Since last year, TCEB has welcomed Mega Size M&I events including the 2015 Manulife MDRT PEAK Convention, Asia-Pacific Herbalife Extravaganza 2015, 2015 Perfect Marie-Anne tour to Thailand (Perfect China Event), INFINITUS 2015 and Organo Gold Asia Convention 2015. During the 2016-2017 fiscal years, we continue to successfully attract major meetings and incentives trips to Thailand such as Pro-Health, in September 2016 with 5,500 delegates, and the Jeunesse Global Conference 2017 (Health Care / Skin Care), in August 2017 with 12,000 delegates. We believe that the effectiveness of the Mega Size strategy for M&I sector, along with support for INFINITUS 2016 will play a vital role driving the Thai MICE industry to achieve this year's target of 1,060,000 MICE travellers, helping to generate 92,000 million baht MICE revenue into our economy," Mr. Nopparat concluded.
For further information, please contact:
Corporate Communications Division,
Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (Public Organization)
Ms Arisara Thanuplang Tel: +662 694 6095 Email: [email protected] Ms Kanokwan Kadeedang Tel: +662 694 6006 Email: [email protected] Ms Kwanchanok Otton Tel: +662 694 6096 Email: [email protected] Ms Paniyada Mulalin Tel: +662 694 6091 Email: [email protected]
a publicist Tel: +662101 6860
Ms.Thittaya (Jang) Tel: +6683 668 1112
Mr.Kosin (Ton) Tel: +6681 566 2053
Mr.Sorasak (Earth) Tel: +6689 406 5544
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160517/369066
SOURCE Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau
Related Links
http://www.tceb.or.th
9. Born in Cincinnati The first pilot prototype Camaro (No. 100001) was assembled on May 21, 1966 at the General Motors Assembly Plant, located in Norwood, Ohio, a few miles from Cincinnati. Why Cincinnati? GM produced a large share of the subsequent production Camaros at the Norwood plant and used the construction of 49 pilot prototypes to develop the assembly line and equipment needed for high volume, serial production. The Norwood plant was not going to be the only assembly line for Camaros, however, so the company also built three pilot prototypes at their Van Nuys, Los Angeles plant. The Norwood plant was not going to be the only assembly line for Camaros, however, so the company also built three pilot prototypes eight weeks later at their Van Nuys, Los Angeles plant. (Photo courtesy of Philip Borris, Echoes of Norwood)
Image 9
8. Top Secretfor Real
Ford spent years teasing the public with show cars and concepts that hinted at the anticipated Mustang. GM, by contrast, revealed nothing about the Camaro until the car's name announcement in June 1966 and formal Detroit launch in August 1966. Dealers had cars within a month. Boom. (Photo courtesy of HVA/Phil Parrish May 2016)
Image 8
7. How about Panther?
The Camaro almost wasn't. GM brass considered dozens of names including "GeMini," Commander," and "Wildcat," until finally settling on "Panther." The company then invested over $100,000 in Panther badges only to dramatically change course just a few weeks before the debut. "Camaro" emerged as the dark horse winner. (Photo courtesy of HVA/Phil Parrish May 2016)
Image 7
6. Camaro vs. Mustang
The Mustang proved that GM's small and sporty Corvair wasn't the right recipe. So GM rushed development of the Camaro, birthing the car in 36 months, and nearly photocopying Ford's playbook. While the Camaro did not equal the Mustang's incredible sales successFord sold over half a million Mustangs in 1965GM moved more than 400,000 Camaros in the first two years. But perhaps more importantly, the Camaro kicked off Detroit's greatest rivalry, pushing each to new heights. (Photo courtesy of HVA)
Image 6
5. A Golden Tradition
General Motors used a gold exterior and interior color scheme for its first prototypes and kept that tradition for the Camaro. And amazingly, that gold prototype Camaro (No. 100001) still exists. (Photo courtesy of HVA/Phil Parrish May 2016)
Image 5
4. Most Important New GM Model in 50 Years
The success of the Camaro not only represented a positive boost to General Motors' sales and profits, but also played a key role in the subsequent boom of the so-called "muscle car" market. And GM was a powerhouse muscle car maker. (Photo courtesy of www.pilotcarregistry.com)
Image 4
3. Camaro No. 100001 Will Enter the HVA's National Historic Vehicle Register
The first Camaro (No. 100001) is currently being exhaustively measured and documented by the HVA using the guidelines set by the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Heritage Documentation and the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER). Once complete, the material will permanently reside in the Library of Congress, joining such iconic cars as the Shelby Cobra Daytona prototype, the first Meyers Manx dune buggy and one of the last surviving Futurliners. This is being done to preserve an important chapter in America's automotive heritage. (Photo courtesy of HVA/Phil Parrish May 2016)
Image 3
2. Third Most Popular Collector Car
With over one million collector car vehicles insured in the United States, Hagerty ranks the Camaro third in overall popularity. The most popular collector car is the Chevrolet Corvette followed by the Ford Mustang. (Photo courtesy of HVA/Phil Parrish May 2016)
Image 2
1. Coming to Detroit in August
A special HVA exhibition of the first Camaro (No. 100001) will be on display in Detroit to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the launch in 1966. The exhibition will coincide with the annual Woodward Dream Cruise week (August 13-20). The first Camaro will be on public display in the HVA's glass cube that recently featured President Reagan's Willys Jeep on the National Mall in Washington, DC. (Photo courtesy of HVA/Phil Parrish May 2016)
Image 1
Organization and Funding:
The documentation of the first Camaro (No. 100001) on the National Historic Vehicle Register and subsequent exhibition in Detroit is being organized by the Historic Vehicle Association and underwritten by Hagerty, Shell (including their Pennzoil and Quaker State brands).
About the Historic Vehicle Association
The HVA is dedicated to preserving and sharing America's automotive heritage. In 2014, the HVA established the National Historic Vehicle Register. Working with the U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Heritage Documentation Programs and Library of Congress, their aim is to document historically significant automobiles in America's past. The HVA is supported by over 400,000 individual historic vehicle owners, key stakeholders and corporations such as Shell (including their Pennzoil and Quaker State brands), Hagerty, American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, as well as individual benefactors. Please visit: historicvehicle.org
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SOURCE Historic Vehicle Association
Related Links
http://www.historicvehicle.org
CLEVELAND, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Kent Furst, Polymers Practice Leader presented "Outlook for the US Economy and Silicones Market" at the International Silicone Conference on Tuesday May 17 at 9:00 am. His presentation, Outlook for the US Economy and Silicones Market, is now available for download.
Download this presentation to learn more: http://hubs.ly/H032hB60
This program included new information from Freedonia's US Market study, published in March. The emphasis was on larger trends in the US economy and how they are affecting the silicones industry.
According to Mr. Furst, "Silicones are incredible materials which combine the strength, optical clarity, and high temperature resistance of glass with the ability to be formed into rubbers, fluids, and gels. These versatile polymers are used in a broad range of applications, from microelectronics and medical devices to personal care products and construction sealants.
In recent years, a number of economic trends have had a significant impact on the US silicones industry. These include volatility in key markets such as motor vehicles and construction, a sharp drop in oil and gas prices, competition from silicones producers in China, and the "reshoring" of American manufacturing."
To learn more about the silicones industry, visit our website: http://www.freedoniagroup.com/DocumentDetails.aspx?ReferrerId=RF-CXPO&StudyID=3391
About The Freedonia Group
The Freedonia Group, a division of MarketResearch.com, is a leading international industrial market research company that publishes more than 400 research studies annually and offers custom research solutions. Since 1985 we have provided research to customers ranging in size from global conglomerates to one-person consulting firms. More than 90% of the industrial companies in the Fortune 500 use Freedonia Group research to help with their strategic planning. Reports can be purchased at www.freedoniagroup.com and are also available on www.marketresearch.com and www.profound.com
Press Contact:
Corinne Gangloff
+1.440.684.9600
[email protected]
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SOURCE The Freedonia Group
PARK CITY, Utah, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kimball Art Center invites guests to attend their annual fundraiser gala featuring Sibylle Szaggars Redford's live, multidisciplinary performance piece, The Way of the Rain and the exhibition of her show Summer Rainfall - Original Rain Art in the center's Main Gallery.
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The annual Kimball Art Center Gala precedes and honors the 47th Annual Park City Kimball Arts Festival (running August 12th14th). The Gala will be held at 6pm on August 4th, encompassing a seated dinner and cocktail party within an outdoor, tented venue at the center. Guests will experience a live performance of The Way of The Rain, Redford's homage to planet Earth and its four universal elements. The original piece will incorporate music, dance, spoken word, film, and light, featuring renowned musicians Will Calhoun, Dave Eggar, Chuck Palmer, Andrew Nemr, and guest artist Robert Redford.
"The opportunity for Park City to experience both the multimedia performance of The Way of the Rain, and the exhibition of Summer Rainfall - Original Rain Art, is a true and timely gift to our community," says Robin Marrouche, Executive Director of the Kimball Art Center. "Redford's work with rain as an artistic collaborator is haunting and ethereal." The Way of Rain, an Official Selection of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, will kick off an incredible evening. For more information about the performance, visit http://www.thewayoftherain.com/.
Redford is a German-born multimedia artist, dedicating her work to creating art informed by her spiritual consciousness of our connection to life, land, and the world. Redford finds inspiration in nature and ancient traditions. Summer Rainfall Original Rain Art explores the energy of the torrential monsoon rain storms that crash into the high desert of New Mexico. In creating her pieces, Redford exposed pigments to rainfall, producing organic works of art that capture the power of the storms that shape the landscape of the west.
All proceeds from the Gala benefit the Kimball Art Center in Park City, Utah. A limited number of tickets are available and can be purchased for $350 at: http://www.kimballartcenter.org/2016-gala/
Media Contact:
Katie Eldridge
Panic Button Media
(435) 640-2554
SOURCE Kimball Art Center
PARIS, NEW YORK, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
UpCouture, the shirt specifically designed to improve posture and presence with a stylish design and revolutionary built-in features, today launches its crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160518/369182LOGO )
More than 80% of adults tend to slouch, but no one really wants to be reminded to stand/sit up straight until it's too late (back pain, migraine or else). That's why UpCouture has invented fashionable active clothing to improve posture with pleasure. "We want to communicate the DESIRE to improve posture, together with a beautiful shirt which is active and efficient," says UpCouture founder, Neda Naef.
The UpCouture Shirts integrate a unique patented system of elastic resistance technology that pulls shoulders back when slouching. To stop feeling the resistance, users straighten up and exercise their back muscles. No "corset" effect. When standing or sitting up straight, the UpCouture Shirt is perfectly comfortable.
Designed to turn heads with its incredibly fashionable look, the UpCouture shirt is the first of its kind.
The UpCouture shirts have been tested and approved by many health professionals because of their special, built-in powers: http://upcouture.com/en/content/13-testimonials
Manufactured in France with beautiful material, UpCouture was given the official label of Excellence by the French Institute of Design. Made of organic cotton, it comes in various sizes and assorted colors for both Men and Women.
The UpCouture shirt is available for pre-order on Kickstarter with special early bird pricing available. For more information and to pre-order UpCouture visit: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/upcouture/upcouture-worlds-first-perfect-posture-fashion-shi
ABOUT UPCOUTURE
"I was finding poor posture was more comfortable than good posture, especially when working on the computer," said Upcouture founder Neda Naef, originally an attorney-at-law. "I was thinking, wouldn't it be nice to have a nice-looking shirt that could physically remind me to improve my posture?"
After a two-year process of research and design, UpCouture was created. UpCouture designs clothing that:
1. Makes you stand straight and feel good about you
2. Trains you to work your back muscles
3. is environmentally sound.
Already thousands of Up T-shirts have been sold, for both Men and Women. UpCouture has become a specialist in creating high quality technical clothing in organic cotton. It has now the right manufacturing partners, in order to deliver the "shirt that is your back's best friend" in an exquisite quality and design.
SOURCE UpCouture
SAN FRANCISCO, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile styling app Covet Fashion today announced actress and style star Vanessa Hudgens as its latest "Covet Celebrity Host." Beginning today through mid-June, fans and fashion enthusiasts will be able to get to know Vanessa by styling her avatar in an array of real world fashion challenges including a date night, wine and cheese party and summer music festival.
Vanessa joins Covet Fashion as the platform's fourth Covet Host, following three successful host series with Nina Dobrev, Emma Roberts, and Gabrielle Union, where Covet users have created more than 10 million outfits for the stars. Unlike other apps that highlight a single celebrity for their lifetime, the Covet Fashion Celebrity Host Series features a different celebrity regularly, creating a modern and interactive take on the traditional covergirl seen in magazines. The unique initiative enhances how celebrities and fans connect- providing users an opportunity to interact directly, source inspiration from the celebrity host's personal style, learn about their upcoming projects and connect with their stories.
"I'm really looking forward to connecting with my fans in a new way," said Vanessa Hudgens. "Covet Fashion is a unique platform that gives us place to celebrate our love of fashion together. I hope users have fun styling the challenges- expecting some great ideas that I can use in my daily life!"
"The Covet Fashion Celebrity Host Series has been such a hit with our users, so we are thrilled to launch our next installment with Vanessa," said SVP, GM of Covet Fashion Blair Ethington. "Our users love to experiment with fashion, so having a celebrity who truly celebrates her own personal style is important to us."
Some of Vanessa's style challenges will include a Rose and Brie Party, Date Night Surprise, Festival Vibes, Spin Class, Hand Jive Reunion, and more.
About Covet Fashion:
CrowdStar's runaway hit Covet Fashion blends elevated aesthetics, real-world fashion and a strong emphasis on community feedback that keeps millions of users coming back for more - often for 60 minutes every day. Covet Fashion players style head-to-toe looks using the latest clothing, shoes and accessories from today's hottest brands including BCBGMAXAZRIA, Michael Kors, Rebecca Minkoff, Rachel Zoe, Calvin Klein, and more. Through direct brand partnerships, Covet Fashion offers meaningful value by creating unique consumer experiences and driving unprecedented levels of engagement and brand awareness. With the launch of the new Covet Fashion Celebrity Host Series, users can even virtually style their favorite celebrities, such as Emma Roberts and Gabrielle Union. Other notable initiatives with brands in and out of the fashion realm include Open Road Film's Dope movie, integration with fashion and lifestyle site The Coveteur and Yigal Azrouel's exclusive New York Fashion Week preview, showcasing the latest collection in-app before it even hit the runway.
Media Contact:
Melissa Duren
Jennifer Bett Communications
[email protected]
SOURCE Covet Fashion
Ukrainian Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko has expressed hope that with the arrival of Yuriy Lutsenko to the Prosecutor General's Office all schemes of returning assets removed illegally from Ukraine will be used, including a new mechanism designed by the Justice Ministry.
"Today we have a new prosecutor general. I am optimistic about how cases important to us, which are important for Ukraine and to Ukrainians, will be handled. Issues, such as the conviction of Yanukovych [former disgraced president Viktor Yanukovych] and his cronies, as well as the return of billions of [hryvnias] stolen funds will be handled. We today present one more mechanism that empowers the prosecutor general to return funds stolen from the Ukrainian people," he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Petrenko said that Prosecutor General's Office for two years have been investigating several criminal cases involving Yanukovych and his relatives. According to international calculations, more than $20 billion were pilfered from the Ukrainian budget using various schemes.
Petrenko said new investigative tools include authorizing criminal proceedings in absentia and the introduction of a special confiscation procedure have helped so far to close the cases (against Yanukovych and his relatives).
First Deputy Justice Minister Anton Yanchuk said a measure is being discussed that would help law-enforcement agencies collect illegal assets before convictions are handed down in criminal court.
He said the proposals are being discussed by the Council of Europe. The essence of the funds collection procedure is a claim which the prosecutor general and first deputy prosecutor general can send to court. Nominal holders of the assets are to prove the sources of the funds.
PUNE, India, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
The report "Wax Emulsion Market by Material Base (Synthetic and Natural), by Type (Polyethylene, Paraffin, Carnauba, Polypropylene, and Others), by End Use Industry (Paints & Coatings, Adhesives & Sealants, Cosmetics, Textiles, and Others), by Region - Global Forecast to 2021", published by MarketsandMarkets, The global market is expected to reach USD 3.2 Million by 2021, at a CAGR of 3.9% from 2016 to 2021.
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Browse 96 market data Tables and 53 Figures spread through 149 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Wax Emulsion Market"
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/wax-emulsion-market-37491323.html
Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.
A key driving factor for the growth of the wax emulsion market is consequent rise in the demand for paints & coatings, and adhesives & sealants.
Polyethylene segment to dominate the global wax emulsion market
Polyethylene has been widely used in the paints & coatings industry across major regions. Polyethylene and paraffin are mainly used in for better slip, scratch resistance, and water resistance on the surfaces. Cost effectiveness, and easy availability of polyethylene makes it a most preferred raw material over other raw materials for wax emulsions.
Paints & coatings is the major end use industry in the global wax emulsion market
The paints & coatings segment is the largest contributor to the global wax emulsion market. Almost one third of the global wax emulsion produced is consumed by the paints & coatings industry. This is mainly attributed to better chemical stability and environment friendly characteristics of wax emulsions. The absence of substitutes also drives the growth of wax emulsion market. In fact, solvent system is expected to get replaced by wax emulsion in paints & coatings, which is more eco-friendly option for the manufacturers.
Asia-Pacific is the most dominant region in the global wax emulsion market
Asia-Pacific dominates the global wax emulsion market. Increasing demand from industries such as adhesives & sealants and paints & coatings is likely to drive the growth of wax emulsion market in this region. This region is becoming one of the most favorable investment locations all over the world because of easily available and cost-effective labor. This in turn helps the industrial sector in the region grow rapidly in recent times, which is further driving the demand for wax emulsion in the region.
Make an Inquiry @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=37491323
Some of the key players operating in the global Wax Emulsion Market include Michelman Inc. (U.S.), Altana AG (Germany), BASF SE (Germany), Nippon Seiro Co., Ltd. (Japan), Sasol Ltd. (South Africa), The Dow Chemical Company (U.S.), Exxon Mobile Corp. (U.S.), Momentive Performance Materials Inc. (U.S.), Lubrizol Corporation (U.S.), and Danquinsa GmbH (Germany).
The global wax emulsion market is segmented on the basis of material base (synthetic natural), type (polyethylene, paraffin, carnauba, polypropylene, and others), end use industry (paints & coatings, adhesives & sealants, cosmetics, textiles, and others), region (Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe, RoW).
Browse Related Reports:
Polymer Emulsion Market, by Type (Acrylics, Polyurethane Dispersions, SB Latex, Vinyl acetate Polymer and Others), by Application (Adhesives & Sealants, Paints & Coatings, Paper & Paperboard, and Others) - Trends & Forecasts to 2020
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/emulsion-polymers-market-1269.html
Paints & Coatings Market, by Resin Type (Acrylic, Alkyd, Epoxy, Polyurethane, Polyester, & Others), by Technology (Waterborne, Solvent Borne, High Solids, Powder & Others), by Application (Architectural & Paints) - Global Forecasts to 2020
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/paint-coating-market-156661838.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.
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Markets and Markets
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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
MCLEAN, Va., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- WidePoint Corporation (NYSE Mkt: WYY), a leading provider of Managed Mobility Services (MMS) specializing in Cybersecurity and Telecommunications Lifecycle Management (TLM) solutions, today announced that Steve L. Komar, chief executive officer, will present at B. Riley & Co.'s 17th Annual Investor Conference on Thursday, May 26, 2016 at 11:30 a.m. PT. The conference will be held May 25-26, 2016 at Lowes Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
Management will be available during the day on May 26 for one-on-one meetings. A live webcast of the group presentation will be available at http://www.wsw.com/webcast/brileyco17/wyy. This webcast will be archived for 90 days following the live presentation. For more information about the conference or to schedule a one-on-one meeting with management, please contact your B. Riley representative.
About B. Riley & Co.
B. Riley & Co., LLC is a leading investment bank which provides corporate finance, research, and sales & trading to corporate, institutional and high net worth individual clients. Investment banking services include initial, secondary and follow-on offerings, institutional private placements, and merger and acquisitions advisory services. The firm is nationally recognized for its highly ranked proprietary equity research. B. Riley & Co., LLC is a member of FINRA and SIPC. For more information, please visit www.brileyco.com.
About WidePoint
WidePoint is a leading provider of secure, cloud-delivered, enterprise-wide information technology-based solutions that can enable enterprises and agencies to deploy fully compliant IT services in accordance with government mandated regulations and advanced system requirements. WidePoint has several major government and commercial contracts. For more information, visit www.widepoint.com.
For More Information:
Brett Maas or David Fore
Hayden IR
(646) 536-7331
[email protected]
SOURCE WidePoint Corporation
Related Links
http://www.widepoint.com
SAN JOSE, Calif., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NETSUITE SUITEWORLD 2016 -- NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry's leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP and omnichannel commerce software suites, today announced that multifaceted retailer, Wingtip, has deployed NetSuite's ecommerce and point-of-sale (POS) capabilities to natively unify all of its customer touchpoints with its existing NetSuite ERP, CRM, order and inventory management. Wingtip can now modernize its commerce systems, further streamline its operations and deliver seamless brand experiences across all of its customer touchpoints.
San Francisco-based Wingtip sells high-end men's clothing, accessories and lifestyle products from its website and its ground-level store, which houses a custom clothing department, wine and spirits shop, fly-fishing shop, tobacconist and barbershop. Ten stories higher, its private club for its best customers boasts a bar, lounge, parlor rooms and a wine cave. Already running its back-office with NetSuite cloud ERP, Wingtip deployed SuiteCommerce Advanced for its website and SuiteCommerce InStore for POS, replacing its homegrown commerce systems. With SuiteCommerce Advanced and SuiteCommerce InStore natively unified with its NetSuite back-office, Wingtip now has a true omnichannel commerce platform to deliver continuous experiences across its multifaceted business. The retailer has since refocused from managing systems to building brand loyalty, increasing revenue and cost-effectively scaling its business.
"We've redefined the omnichannel customer experience by blending one side of our business with the other," Wingtip founder & CEO, Ami Arad said. "Club members use the same knives and drink the same wine we offer from our retail channels. And we capture all of those transactions to better serve our customers and grow our business. Prior to NetSuite, managing homegrown systems was death by a thousand paper cuts. We erased 10 years of technical debt by migrating to NetSuite and innovating the customer experience."
Some of the many benefits NetSuite delivers to Wingtip include:
Seamless omnichannel commerce. With NetSuite's in-store and ecommerce solutions built on the SuiteCommerce platform, customers can get a continuous, personalized brand experience, moving from online to in-store, to the members-only club. Omnichannel fulfillment offers many options: buy online/pick-up in store; buy in-store, ship elsewhere; split store shipments, and pushing in-store items to a customer's shopping cart/wishlist for purchase later.
Rich, online experience. SuiteCommerce Advanced can provide website users an immersive brand and product experience thanks to capabilities such as multiple images, zooming and ultimate design flexibility. In addition, responsive design gives Wingtip a complete mobile site out of the box.
Self-service account management. Customers can view their website and in-store purchase history and track order status online. Private club members can do the same and also manage their rolling account balance since Wingtip credits half of their annual membership dues toward website and in-store purchases.
Full featured, mobile POS. With SuiteCommerce InStore, store associates can deliver a personalized and mobile in-store experience with all customer information, order history and inventory levels available in real-time, creating upsell and cross-sell opportunities.
Single view of every customer. NetSuite unifies all customer information into a single profile. Store associates and customer service representatives can get an immediate, 360-degree view of any customer in real time, facilitating better service and improved brand loyalty.
Centralized order and inventory management. Real-time inventory visibility across the business can mean better forecasting, lower shipping costs and a buy anywhere, fulfill anywhere, return anywhere customer order experience across all channels.
Warehouse and distribution management. With thousands of SKUs and hundreds of suppliers, Wingtip automates delivery from its warehouse and its many drop-ship locations so customers get what they want, when they want.
Data-driven decisions. With a unified platform, Wingtip has a single source of data across its entire business for real-time access to make informed decisions.
Today, more than 30,000 companies and subsidiaries depend on NetSuite to run complex, mission-critical business processes globally in the cloud. Since its inception in 1998, NetSuite has established itself as the leading provider of cloud-based financials/enterprise resource planning (ERP) and omnichannel commerce software applications for businesses of all sizes. Many FORTUNE 100 companies rely on NetSuite to accelerate innovation and business transformation. NetSuite continues its success in delivering the best cloud business management software to businesses around the world, enabling them to lower IT costs significantly while increasing productivity, as the global adoption of the cloud accelerates.
Follow NetSuite's Cloud blog, NetSuite's Facebook page and @NetSuite Twitter handle for real-time updates.
For more information about NetSuite please visit www.netsuite.com.
NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are service marks of NetSuite Inc. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
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No one invites Ukrainian pilot Savchenko to apply for pardon
Lawyer Mark Feygin, who represents the interests of Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko convicted in Russia, sees no point in his client applying for a pardon.
"Soloshenko applied for a pardon and it was declined. What's the point of applying for a pardon if the result will be negative?" Feygin told Interfax on Wednesday.
Yuriy Soloshenko is former general director of Zorya Production Association (Poltava, Ukraine). He was sentenced in Russia to six years in a high-security colony for espionage.
Feygin said he does not know of anyone inviting Savchenko to apply for a pardon.
"I visited Savchenko literally yesterday, no such offers had been made to her," the lawyer said.
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Kolkata, May 13 : A civil rights group on Friday appealed to the Election Commission (EC) to compensate all the victims of poll violence in West Bengal.
'Aakranta Aamraa', a forum of "victims of human rights violations under the Mamata Banerjee rule", contended that the victims were attacked when they were responding to the poll panel's call for exercising their democratic right.
Referring to the various incidents of violence across the state during the assembly polls in which a few people were killed and many others were injured, and their properties were damaged, 'Aakranta Aamraa' (We the Victims) urged chief election commissioner Nasim Zaidi to initiate adequate monetary compensation for all the people who suffered.
"The EC undertook a huge campaign urging people to vote fearlessly, notwithstanding any kind of intimidation. Since the announcement of the polls many people including children, elderly, poling agents, and others were brutally murdered or seriously injured, and their properties were destroyed by armed miscreants," reads the letter.
"All these attacks have happened because the citizens responded to your call go to polling booth and exercise your democratic right fearlessly," read the letter signed by victims and forum members including Jadavpur University professor Ambikesh Mahapatra who is also the convener of the forum.
The chemistry professor, who is contesting the assembly polls as an independent, hit headlines when he was arrested in 2012 for circulating emails mocking Trinamool Congress (TMC) Chairperson and Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee.
The forum on Friday held a convention where a number of poll violence victims assembled and put their signatures on the letter, a copy of which has also been sent to the state police chief.
"It is the EC's duty to instil confidence in the voters. So we have approached the commission seeking compensation for the victims. Moreover, the polls this year have been unprecedented for the fact that several children fell victim to violence," said Mahapatra.
Geneva, May 13 : Around 1,000 migrants and refugees including from Syria and Iraq were due to arrive in Italy on Friday after being rescued in the southern Mediterranean, the UN said.
The people of various nationalities, including refugee families and unaccompanied children, were due to disembark at three Sicilian ports and one in Calabria, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said.
The migrants and refugees were rescued in operations coordinated by the European Union borders agency Frontex, said UNHCR.
In one operation, some 500 people were rescued off Sicily, southeast of Cape Passero from two fishing boats that had set sail several days earlier from Egypt, according to UNHCR.
Syrians and Iraqis were among passengers aboard the two fishing boats, the Italian coastguard said.
Italy on Thursday began the grisly task of raising a corpse-packed trawler from the seabed near Libya, a year after up to 800 migrants perished in the Mediterranean's deadliest disaster since World War II.
Attempts would be made to identify the bodies inside the trawler from fingerprints, DNA samples and distinguishing body marks. The bodies would then be buried in Sicilian cemeteries.
So far this year, 187,920 refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe by sea, including 31,252 who reached Italy and 155,765 who reached Greece. A total of 1,361 people died or went missing.
Around 9,000 people are known to have lost their lives in the Mediterranean since the current migrant crisis erupted in mid-2013.
Bengaluru, May 13 : Leading automobile manufacturer Toyota Kirloskar Motor on Friday launched its multi-purpose vehicle Innova Crysta in nine Indian cities simultaneously.
"Now with the all new Innova Crysta, we are not only confident of satisfying our existing customers, but I am sure we will win over more customers looking for a perfect blend of sophistication, toughness and luxury in their vehicles," said Toyota Kirloskar Motor vhairman Vikram S. Kirloskar.
Priced between Rs.14,17,740 and Rs.21,12,311 (Ex-showroom Bengaluru), the vehicle is available pan India in seven and eight-seat configurations.
Currently available in the diesel version, Innova Crysta will also come in petrol variant in the future. Engine types include 2.8 L diesel in six speed automatic transmission and 2.4 L diesel in five speed manual transmission.
Some of the first in class features in the new vehicle include automatic LED projector headlamps, ambient illumination, glove box with cooling, one touch tumble second row seat and a rear auto AC with digital display.
Standard safety features in all grades of the Innova Crysta include three SRS airbags, ABS, Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBD) and Brake Assist among others.
Innova Crysta is available in three new colours - garnet red, white pearl crystal shine and avant garde bronze.
Director, sales and marketing, N. Raja said they had sold more than six lakh Innovas in India since the car was launched in 2005 and annually sell around 70,000 Innovas in India.
On the Supreme Court ban on registration of diesel vehicles with engine capacity more than 2,000 cc in the Delhi NCR area, he said that the company "will work with them (apex court) towards showing that diesel cars are not the main polluters. And we are working closely with them. We want to be part of the solution".
Addressing the media in Chennai, vice president, customer service, B. Padmanabha said the ban has affected sales as NCR accounts for nearly eight percent of the overall sales.
He also said the company will commission its diesel engine plant in Bengaluru soon.
Questioned about the company's pricing strategy as the upgraded model is priced higher than the older version, Padmanabha said the company has been creating new market segments.
"The new model is loaded with several features and the price reflects that. The price will not be detrimental to the market share," he added.
Company vice president Sailesh Shetty, who launched the car in Kolkata, told reporters there that the petrol variant of the new car is in the pipeline.
"In terms of government regulation and emission norms, this car (Innova) caters to all that. Diesel is not a bad fuel and with right technology a diesel car is as good as petrol car," he said.
On Thursday, May 19, at 14.00, the press centre of the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency will host a press conference "Yatseniuk-Appointed Officials Continue to Impede Resumption of Ukrainian Broadcast in Donbas: New Facts." The participants will include former CEO of Broadcasting, Radiocommunications, and Television Concern (BRT Concern) Anatoliy Antonenko; NGO Maidan Information leader Pavlo Bilonozhko; and lawyer, human rights activist Maryna Pomazanova, social activist Andrei Jinja (8/5a Reitarska Street). Registration requires press accreditation. More information by phone: (067) 676 8899.
London, May 14 : British Prime Minister David Cameron has warned local voters that leaving the European Union was the "last thing the economy needs" and would be a vote for recession.
Cameron made the remark at an event in his own Witney constituency in Oxfordshire, Xinhua news agency cited Sky News on Saturday.
Economic security was the single most important thing for people to consider, and none of the arguments for Brexit were "able to counter the immediate and sustained hit that we would suffer to our economy" if Britain left the EU, Cameron said.
Addressing voters on the biggest day of campaigning yet, dubbed Super Saturday, Cameron said: "If we vote to leave on 23 June we will be voting for higher prices, we will be voting for fewer jobs, we will be voting for lower growth, we will be voting potentially for a recession. That is the last thing our economy needs."
Cameron said that the referendum was "more important than a general election" and the "chance for a generation of a lifetime".
Cairo, May 15 : The Islamic States (IS) militant group continues to plot deadly suicide bombing attacks in Iraq.
According to UN Assistance Mission, the country has been witnessing some of the worst violence in years, turning many cities and towns into veritable hell.
In the mission's latest estimate, 1,119 Iraqis were killed and 1,561 injured because of terrorism, violence and armed conflict across Iraq last month alone.
The momentum continues in May, and the last week saw high casualties caused by suicide attacks and car bombing, mostly in northern and western Iraq seized by the IS since June 2014, Xinhua news agency reported.
On Saturday, five policemen were killed and 14 injured in three suicide bombings by the IS in Iraq's western province of Anbar.
On Friday, three gunmen in a civilian car attacked a cafe in Iraq's northern town of Balad, killing 13 people and injuring 25.
The attacks followed a series of car bombing in Baghdad on Wednesday that killed at least 96 and wounded 171 people.
On Wednesday, an IS militant detonated his car bomb in the predominantly Shia district of Sadr city, leaving at least 64 killed and 87 wounded.
A massive blast occurred when a booby-trapped car went off at a popular outdoor market in the Shia bastion of Sadr city. Most of the victims were women and children.
Only hours later, another suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden car at the crowded square of Adan at the entrance of the holy Shia district of Kadhmiyah in northern Baghdad, leaving 17 people dead and 43 wounded.
At the same time, another car bomb ripped through al-Jami'a district in western Baghdad, killing at least 12 people and wounding 31 others.
Following the explosions, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered an immediate investigation.
He said the armed forces will intensify intelligence work to prevent the sleeper cells from moving within cities and carrying out bombings against citizens, vowing to bring the terrorist group to justice.
The UAE on Thursday condemned the "terrorist massacres".
It declared solidarity with Iraq against organised terrorist attacks which target its religious and cultural institutions, as well as its rich civilisation, WAM reported.
The Iraqi army is battling the IS in the country's western and northern regions, vowing to retake Mosul, the second largest city, by the end of this year.
In retaliation, IS militants waged a wave of bombing attacks across the country, in an attempt to spark sectarian conflicts.
However, the military operations were impeded by a political crisis as parties could not reach a compromise on a government reshuffle.
New Delhi, May 16 : Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley, who also holds the finance portfolio, on Monday demanded an independent and "credible" probe into the murder of a Bihar journalist.
"It is a very unfortunate incident. I think it is an opportunity for an independent probe," Jaitley said, talking to journalists at the Indian Women's Press Corp here.
"I hope Nitish Kumar will realise that in all fairness that it's a kind of an attack in which the nature of probe itself will add to its credibility," added Jaitley.
Jaitley was referring to the murder of Rajdeo Ranjan, Siwan bureau chief of Hindi newspaper Hindustan, part of the HT Media, who was shot dead at a busy market near Station Road in the town on Friday night.
Agartala, May 17 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to lay the foundation stone for a new India-Bangladesh railway project on May 27, a top railway official said on Tuesday.
A top official of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) said that Modi on May 27 would also flag off a regular passenger train service from Agartala to Sealdah, Agartala to Silchar and passenger train services to Manipur (52 km) and Mizoram (84 km) on the newly-laid broad gauge line.
"Prime minister would attend the plenary session of North Eastern Council (NEC) in Shillong. From Shillong through remote control, the prime minister would lay the foundation stone of the Agartala (India)-Akhaura (Bangladesh) railway project," a top official of NFR told IANS.
"Modi would also flag off regular passenger train service from Agartala to Sealdah, Agartala to Silchar and passenger train services to Manipur and Mizoram on the newly laid broad gauge line," the official added.
An official of the Tripura planning and coordination department said the prime minister would inaugurate the two-day (May 27-28) plenary session of NEC, a regional planning body, in Meghalaya capital Shillong.
"He would hold interactions with the chief ministers and governors of all the eight northeastern states during the plenary session," the official added.
The Rs.968 crore Agartala-Akhaura railway project was finalised in January 2010 when Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met then prime minister Manmohan Singh during her visit to New Delhi.
"Following the Tripura government's persistent persuasion and Prime Minister's Office (PMO) intervention, the DoNER (Development of North Eastern Region) ministry has agreed to provide Rs.580 crore for the new railway project," Tripura Transport Minister Manik Dey told reporters.
"If the DoNER ministry releases the funds, the necessary work for acquisition of required 67 acres land would start immediately," he said.
During his recent visit to Tripura, Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha said the PMO has been supervising the new India-Bangladesh railway project with Tripura.
He said the 15 km (5 km on Indian side and 10 km on Bangladesh) long Agartala-Akhaura railway project would provide a major boost to development and economy of the northeastern region of India and eastern Bangladesh.
"The project would give a boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Act East' policy," Sinha added.
Modi discussed the railway project with Hasina during his visit to Dhaka in June last year.
"India's external affairs ministry would provide necessary funds for the Bangladesh portion of the Agartala-Akhaura rail project. The DoNER ministry's funds would be spent for the Indian portion of the project," Tripura minister said.
The 1,650-km distance between Agartala and Kolkata would be reduced to only 550 km once the new rail track is linked through Bangladesh.
Currently, India and Bangladesh have four rail links with West Bengal.
The railway line from Guwahati passes through Lumding in Nagaon district (in central Assam) and southern Assam connecting land-locked Tripura's capital Agartala and parts of Manipur and Mizoram with the rest of India.
The Guwahati-Silchar railway line is the lifeline for southern Assam comprising four districts - Cachar, Karimganj, Hailakandi, Dima Hasao district, known as Barak Valley, and the mountainous states of Tripura, Manipur and Mizoram.
These states are heavily dependent on this railway line for supply of foodgrain, fertilisers, petroleum products, construction materials and other commodities besides ferrying passengers.
The 437-km Lumding-Silchar and Badarpur-Agartala gauge conversion work was sanctioned in 1996.
It was declared a national project in 2004, thereby ensuring uninterrupted funding from the central government's general budget. The project was hit by insurgency from 2006 to 2009 and work could only gain speed after that turbulent period.
In the first phase, the 210-km Lumding-Silchar gauge conversion project was completed last year.
In the second phase, the 227-km Badarpur-Agartala gauge conversion was scheduled to be completed in March but was completed three months earlier.
The Silchar-Jiribam (52 km) in Manipur and Silchar-Bhairabi (84 km) in Mizoram gauge conversion project are part of the Lumding-Silchar line along with other projects.
With the completion of gauge conversion work right up to Agartala, the Tripura capital was connected with the country's broad gauge railway network through Guwahati at a distance of about 600 km this month.
After India's independence, Agartala is the first state capital of the country to come up on the rail map (meter gauge line) in October 2008.
Baghdad, May 17 : At least 44 people were killed and more than 90 injured in two bomb attacks in Baghdad on Tuesday, media reports said.
A suicide blast at an outdoor market in the predominantly Shiite northern district of al-Shaab, according to Sky News, killed 38 people and wounded 70, while a car bomb in the southern neighbourhood of al-Rasheed left six dead and 21 injured.
A spokesman for Baghdad Operations Command told state TV a lone attacker set off an explosives vest - at the same time the planted car bomb exploded.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks.
Iraq has been currently witnessing a wave of violence since the Islamic State (IS) group took control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions in June 2014.
The terror group has intensified its attacks on civilian targets in the face of losing ground to the Iraqi security forces in recent months.
According to the authorities, IS currently controls only 14 percent of Iraqi territory, down from the 40 percent it held in 2014.
Paris, May 18 : The peace conference planned by France to seek a solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine will not be held as scheduled on May 30, but later this summer, French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday.
In an interview with Europe 1 radio, Hollande justified the postponement because the US Secretary of State John Kerry will not be able to visit Paris on May 30, the date announced last week by the head of French diplomacy, Jean-Marc Ayrault, EFE news reported.
In any case, he insisted that if France does not assume a strong initiative, settlement building, terrorist attacks and conflicts will continue and the Palestinians will take the case to the UN Security Council.
Hollande said the goal is to create parameters that allow Israelis and Palestinians to meet at the negotiating table.
Thiruvananthapuram, May 18 : A Kerala priest abducted in Yemen is safe and efforts to secure his release has reached its last leg, a government official said on Wednesday.
Catholic priest Tom Uzhunnalil is safe and has spoken to his church authorities, the official told IANS.
" It is now clear that the priest is not in the custody of the Islamic State (IS) terror group but with anti-government forces in Yemen. Last minute efforts are underway and his release is imminent," the official said.
In March, armed militants barged into an old people's home set up by the Missionaries of Charity in 1992, and killed many including four nuns out of which one was Indian.
The militants abducted Uzhunnalil and there was no word from him until last week.
The Vatican, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the local Indian community in Yemen are all working hard to secure his safe release.
Mumbai, May 18 : Apple CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday announced that the tech giant would establish a Design and Development Accelerator facility in Bengaluru, the home of India's startup scene.
"India is home to one of the most vibrant and entrepreneurial iOS development communities in the world," said Cook, who is on an India visit.
"With the opening of this new facility in Bengaluru, we're giving developers access to tools which will help them create innovative apps for customers around the world," he said in a statement.
Each week, Apple experts will lead briefings and provide one-on-one app reviews for developers. The facility will also provide support and guidance on Swift, Apple's powerful and intuitive programming language created to build apps for iOS, Mac, Apple TV and Apple Watch.
Bengaluru is now home to more technology startups than any other part of India.
Over one million people in the city work in the tech sector, and over 40 percent of graduates from local universities specialize in engineering or information technology.
The iOS App Design and Development Accelerator is expected to open in early 2017.
The facility will commence operations on one lakh square feet leased space in WaveRock, a building owned by real estate giant Tishman Speyer at Nanakramguda.
However, it was not confirmed if Cook will be present to inaugurate the company's first development centre in India.
The Cupertino-based firm plans to expand the facility to 2.5 lakh square feet by next year. It will have 2,500 employees, sources said.
The company, which has taken the space on lease at WaveRock, is also planning to build its own campus.
Cook's visit to India comes at a time when the US technology giant is hit by slower growth in global sales of its flagship products -- iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Zomato and Snapdeal along with NASSCOM President R. Chandrashekhar extended their support for the new facility.
"This is a huge vote of confidence in India's developer community and a tremendous opportunity to gain world-class design and development expertise," said Deepinder Goyal, CEO Zomato, in a statement.
"Apple's support will help drive growth and accelerate progress among the country's vast talent pool," he added.
"Apple's expert guidance on the interface and user experience has helped us build an app that our consumers love. We are thrilled Apple will have a local presence which will amplify our efforts to develop more high-quality apps for our digital commerce ecosystem," said Kunal Bahl, CEO Snapdeal, in a statement.
"Apple's investment in Bengaluru through its iOS Development Accelerator will have far-reaching effects for the area's rapidly growing and highly talented developer community," said Chandrashekhar in a statement.
The Apple CEO is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. He had met Modi at a Silicon Valley event in the US last September, where they discussed manufacturing plans under Modi's 'Make in India' initiative.
The Apple CEO flew to the country from China, where Apple announced a $1 billion investment in the local ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing.
"India is incredibly exciting. The population of India is incredibly young. Almost half the people in India are below 25. And so I see the demographics there also being incredibly great for a consumer brand and for people that really want the best products," Cook had said earlier this year.
Cook, who joined Apple in March 1998, was made chief executive of the company, succeeding Steve Jobs, on August 24, 2011.
Hit by slower growth in the sale of its flagship products iPhone, iPad and Mac globally, Apple's revenue dropped for the first time since 2003 as the tech giant released earning reports for the second quarter of fiscal 2016 in March.
According to reports, the company is looking for new growth markets like India after its sales declined.
Chennai, May 18 : The makers of superstar Rajinikanth-starrer Tamil action thriller "2.o" shot in a popular mall in the city in the early hours of Wednesday, a source said.
"Director Shankar had sought special permission to shoot in Forum Vijaya Mall in Chennai. The team shot between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. earlier this morning (Wednesday). Akshay Kumar and a few character artistes participated in the shoot," a source from the film's unit told IANS.
The team plans to wrap up the current schedule over the weekend.
"They had originally planned to shoot with the public. However, they feared being mobbed and, therefore, dropped the plan and instead chose to shoot early morning," he said.
The team is currently shooting across key locations in the city.
A sequel to Tamil blockbuster "Enthiran", Lyca-produced "2.o" also stars Amy Jackson and Sudhanshu Pandey.
United Nations, May 18 : Indian peacekeepers have maintained their clean record so far this year in UN peacekeeping operations as New Delhi pursues a zero tolerance policy against sexual abuse.
A UN report released on Tuesday on sexual abuse in peacekeeping missions so far this year found no allegations against Indians as they kept up their clean record in UN operations that have been tainted by reports of abuse.
No allegations were made against Indians in 2015 either, the first year for which the UN identified the nationalities of those accused of sexual offences.
India will be deploying national investigation officers in each of the contingents starting with the next troop rotations in July, according to a diplomatic source familiar with Indian operations.
Enforcing India's commitment to a zero tolerance policy, the officers will be able to "take prompt and immediate action if anything ever happens" and function as a safeguard against abuse, the source said.
Deploying investigation officers has been one of the recommendations of the UN.
Tuesday's report highlighted as a "best practice" the decision by India to designate a point of contact for carrying out paternity tests and facilitate payment of child support if claims were brought by victims against its troops.
The report said 44 allegations were brought against personnel in peacekeeping and special political missions so far this year, 35 of them against troops and four against police.
Two Bangladeshi peacekeepers were accused of sexual abuse of a minor and Dhaka conducted an inquiry, the report said. Charges were substantiated against one of them and the person was sentenced to a year's imprisonment and dismissed from service.
UN has begun vetting all those being deployed in peacekeeping operations to ensure they did not have a record of misconduct.
India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Syed Akbaruddin, told the Special Committee for Peacekeeping Operations in February: "We have a zero tolerance policy on SEA (sexual exploitation and abuse) cases and would like that there is zero tolerance on such issues across the UN too."
A report by the Office of Internal Oversight Services found three substantiated cases of sexual exploitation or abuse by Indian peacekeepers between 2010 and 2013.
Since then India has tightened its zero tolerance policy.
India has conducted DNA tests of peacekeepers for paternity tests when allegations of abuse arose from a deployment in Congo during 2007-08.
One soldier was found to have fathered a child there and action was taken against him and three of his superiors.
WASHINGTON, May 17 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday set final dumping margins on imports of cold-rolled steel flat products from China and Japan, signaling that it may impose punitive duties on those products.
The department made its affirmative final determination that these cold-rolled steel products from China and Japan had been sold in the United Statesat dumping margins of 265.79 percent and 71.35 percent, respectively.
The department also determined that producers and exporters of these Chinese products received countervailing subsidies of 256.44 percent.
Punitive duties would be imposed after the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) made an affirmative final rule, which is scheduled for June 30. If the ITC makes a negative determination, the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations into these products will be terminated.
In 2015, imports of these products from China and Japan under investigation were estimated at about 272.3 million U.S. dollars and 138.6 million dollars, respectively, according to U.S. official data.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has repeatedly urged the United States to abide by its commitment against trade protectionism and work together with China and other members of the international community to maintain a free, open and just international trade environment.
China will take enforcement actions against the United States under the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement framework to urge the latter to stop illegal anti-dumping activities, the ministry said Friday in a statement.
The United States failed to enforce the decision made by the WTO's appellate body to stop 15 illegal anti-dumping practices against Chinese products, damaging the organization's credibility and Chinese enterprises' interests, it added.
Patna, May 18 : Police on Wednesday raided Bihar's Siwan jail in connection with the probe into the killing of journalist Rajdeo Ranjan, and are reported to have searched the cell of former RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin, who is lodged there.
The raid came after the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged the role of jailed former Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Mohammad Shahabuddin, who has been lodged in Siwan jail, in the murder of Rajdeo Ranjan.
The raid signalled that police officials involved in the investigation are not ready to take any chances, said an official.
Shahabuddin, a criminal-turned-politician, locally known as Bahubali, has been lodged in Siwan jail for over a decade. He has only twice been shifted to Bhagalpur and Gaya jail for brief periods.
Ranjan, Siwan bureau chief of Hindi newspaper Hindustan, which is part of the HT Media, was shot dead at a busy market near Station Road last Friday night.
"A police team led by Siwan district magistrate and superintendent of police have raided Siwan jail, where Shahabuddin is lodged, in connection with the killing of Rajdeo," a district police official said.
According to official sources, Shahabuddin's cell was searched during the police raid.
Police have already arrested Upender Singh, an aide of Shahabuddin, and are likely to take him on remand to quiz him in connection with the killing. Singh is known as a sharpshooter of Shahabuddin.
Singh was sent to jail on charges of violation of the new Excise Act.
Police in Siwan said that Ranjan's killing was part of a pre-planned conspiracy.
Meanwhile, Bihar Director General of Police P.K. Thakur said that police have identified the shooters involved in the killing of the journalist.
Five police teams have been constituted to investigate the case. "Each team has been working on different angles," he said.
The state government has constituted a special investigation team of two DSPs, three inspectors and five sub-inspectors to trace the killers.
Protests against the killing continued in Patna and other parts of the state also. The protesters, including mediapersons, have demanded justice for the family of Ranjan.
The Bihar government led by Nitish Kumar has already recommended a CBI probe into the journalist's killing.
Lusaka, May 18 : A top Chinese official has dismissed reports in Zambian media that Beijing has been selling human meat as food in Africa.
The reports quoted an unnamed Zambian woman living in China as warning people to stop buying Chinese corned beef, Xinhua news agency reported.
The woman claimed that Chinese beef companies were collecting dead human bodies, marinating them, packing them in tins labelled as corned beef and sending them to Africa.
Chinese ambassador to Zambia, Yang Youming, accused people with ulterior motives of trying to destroy the long-standing partnership between Zambia and China.
"This is completely a malicious slandering and vilification which is absolutely unacceptable to us," he said.
"We hereby express our utmost anger and the strongest condemnation over such an act," he added.
The envoy has since asked relevant government departments in Zambia to investigate the tabloid and source of the rumour in order to clear China's name.
New Delhi, May 18 : The Congress on Wednesday said people were targeting the Gandhis "to get into the good books" of the ruling BJP, after actor Rishi Kapoor questioned why important assets of the country were named after the Gandhi family.
Congress spokesperson P.C. Chacko, however, didn't name the veteran actor, but told the media that "it was merely an attempt by some people to get into the good books of those in power".
Chacko said he had not seen Rishi Kapoor's tweets "but it seems that some people are trying to abuse the Congress leadership just to get into the good books of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)."
"They want to please somebody in power. They can have it but not at the expense of the Congress. We don't take it seriously and it is not worth any comments at all," he said.
Rishi Kapoor earlier in a series of tweets deprecated the fact that previous Congress governments have named important assets of the country after the Gandhi family.
He said the present government must consider renaming the assets after those who have contributed to the society.
He asked why Delhi's airport was named Indira Gandhi International Airport. "Why not Mahatma Gandhi or Bhagat Singh, Ambedkar or on my name Rishi Kapoor. As superficial! What say."
New Delhi, May 18 : Global cyber security leader Symantec on Wednesday warned of continued cyber attacks on Indian government and commercial organisations by advanced cyber espionage group Suckfly.
In a blog post publishing activities of Suckfly, Symantec said it believes that the cyber espionage group will continue to target organisations in India and other countries.
Suckfly is known to have conducted cyber attacks on several Indian government and commercial organisations over a two-year period.
"Suckfly has the resources to develop malware, purchase infrastructure, and conduct targeted attacks for years while staying off the radar of security organisations. During this time, they were able to steal digital certificates from South Korean companies and launch attacks against Indian and Saudi Arabian government organisations," said Symantec in its blog post.
"The Indian targets show a greater amount of post-infection activity than targets in the other regions. This states that these attacks were part of a planned operation against specific targets in India," the blog post read.
Symantec also identified, without naming, global targets across several industries that include one of India's largest financial organisations, a large e-commerce company, one of India's top five IT firms, a US health care provider's Indian business unit and two government organisations.
"An Indian government (organisation) is linked to departments of India's central government and is responsible for implementing network software for different ministries and departments. The high infection rate for this target is likely because of the organisation's access, technology and information that it has on other Indian government organisations," the post further read.
Suckfly's attacks on government organisations that provide information technology services to other government branches is not limited to India.
They have conducted attacks on similar organisations in Saudi Arabia, likely because of the access that those organisations have, said Symantec.
Kabul, May 18 : At least 130 Taliban militants were killed by Afghan security forces within the past 24 hours, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.
At least 76 militants were also injured in the joint clearance operations, Xinhua news agency quoted the ministry as saying.
The forces also confiscated weapons during the raids launched in 18 out of the country's 34 provinces, the statement said.
It also confirmed loss of 10 army personnel over the same period.
The Afghan security forces have beefed up security operations against militants recently as spring and summer -- known as the fighting season -- were drawing in the country.
The Taliban were yet to make any comment in this regard.
New Delhi, May 18 : A court on Wednesday granted bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Alka Lamba, who faces charges of vandalizing shops and preventing police from performing their duty.
Metropolitan Magistrate Abhilash Malhotra granted the bail and asked Lamba to furnish a personal bond of Rs.10,000 and a surety of like amount each. The court fixed June 3 as the next date of hearing.
Police alleged that on August 9, 2015 Lamba and some others committed trespass in Santosh Kumar's shop, threw the cash bill machine, vandalized the counter and obstructed the police personnel from doing their duty.
New Delhi, May 18 : Actress Huma Qureshi, who will be seen sharing screen space with her brother and actor Saqib Saleem in "Dobaara", says good content helps in reaching out to a wider audience.
"Dobaara" is the Hindi remake of Hollywood supernatural psychological horror film "Oculus".
Huma believes remakes will always continue to intrigue audiences.
"I think as long as remakes -- whether it is a Hollywood film into a Hindi film or a southern film into whatever... They (remakes) always happen," Huma told IANS.
However, the 29-year-old actress stressed that the mainstay reaching out to a wider audience is "good content".
Released in 2013, "Oculus" is the story of a brother and sister battling paranormal activity. Saqib and Huma will be portraying the characters played by Karen Gillan and Brenton Thwaites in the film.
"Dobaara" is slated to release this year in September.
The "Ek Thi Daayan" star, who was last seen on screen in "Badlapur" in 2015, is also marking her debut in southern cinema and will be seen sharing screen space in superstar Mammootty-starrer "White".
Huma will also be seen in Gurinder Chadha's "Viceroy's House", an upcoming British-Indian historical drama.
Kolkata, May 18 : Sister Mary Prema, superior general of the Kolkata-headquartered Missionaries of Charity (MoC), was on Wednesday conferred the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit by German Ambassador to India Martin Ney.
"On behalf of the German Federal President Joachim Gauck, Ney handed over the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit to Sister Prema," said a statement by the German embassy on its official Twitter handle.
The 63-year-old Germany-born nun has been a member of MoC, the religious institute founded by the Mother Teresa of Calcutta, since 1980 and was also a close confidante of the Nobel laureate.
"With this honour, Germany acknowledges Sister Prema's personal commitment and the outstanding contribution towards humanity and the Indo-German relations over the past decades."
Mumbai, May 18 : Veteran actor Anupam Kher, who visited Shimla to perform his play "Mera Woh Matlab Nahi Tha", says he was honoured to meet Himachal Pradesh Governor Acharya Dev Vrat.
The 61-year-old actor, who was invited for breakfast, also shared a photograph of himself with Vrat.
"Thank you Honourable Governor of Himachal Acharya Dev Vratji for inviting us to Raj Bhavan for breakfast. Feel honoured," Anupam tweeted on Wednesday.
The actor also met the Uttar Pradesh Governor, and tweeted: "Pleasure to meet honourable Ram Naikji, Governor of Uttar Pradesh. It was lovely to meet his family too."
Anupam loved the experience of performing the play in Shimla.
"Thank you Shimla Walo for your love, warmth and hospitality during the staging of our play #MeraWohMatlabNahiTha," he added.
He had earlier shared that he was staging the play in Shimla "in memory of my father Pushkar Nath Ji's happy times spent" there.
Mumbai, May 18 : Anil Kapoor, who brought a 'desi' version of American show "24" to the small screen, says an "upgraded" version of epic Indian sagas "Ramayana" and "Mahabharata" would make for great content for the global audience.
In a comment on the Indian stories which can be replicated on TV globally, Anil said via a statement: "I believe 'Ramayana' and 'Mahabharata' can be upgraded and executed for the international audience.
"They would be loved for sure. In fact, the writers of 'Mission Impossible' once told me that they were looking for a script which they wanted to shoot in India. I had suggested (the story of) Akbar - The Great. It would have made for a phenomenal story, similar on the lines of 'Game of Thrones'."
The actor was seen in Oscar-winning "Slumdog Millionaire", and also featured in "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" in 2011. He also gave a voiceover for a character in "Family Guy".
Talking about content, he said "there is nothing like outdated content, it could either be good or bad".
Last year, Anil was seen on the big screen in "Dil Dhadakne Do" and "Welcome Back", which will beam on Zee Cinema on May 28.
Anil feels his "roles of taporis seem to work the best".
Military drills in Chinas southeastern coastal areas are not meant to target anything specific, according to China's Ministry of National Defense.
The military drills conducted by the PLA, PLA Navy and PLA Air Force are simply routine practice, intended to test and improve the army's ability to combat security threats and complete military tasks, said the Defense Ministry on Tuesday.
The drills consisted of infantry, armored forces, artillery, and special-operation forces from the 31st Group Army simulated beach landings, Chen Xiaoming, a regiment commander, told the PLA Daily, the official newspaper of the People's Liberation Army.
Some had speculated that the drills were in response to the current situation in southeastern coastal areas.
New Delhi, May 18 : Automobile manufacturer Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) on Wednesday launched a special edition of its compact sedan Xcent to commemorate 20 years of its presence in India.
According to the company, the 'Xcent Special Edition' will be available in both petrol and diesel variants.
The new compact sedan's petrol variant is priced between Rs.6.25 lakh and Rs.6.29 lakh, whereas the diesel version is ranged from Rs.7.17 lakh to Rs.7.21 lakh.
"It has been a momentous two decades for Hyundai in India. In a short span of time we have emerged as India's most loved automobile brand," Rakesh Srivastava, senior vice president, sales and marketing, HMIL, was quoted in a statement as saying.
"It is our continuous effort to gauge changing customer preferences and keep introducing new technology in our products to offer high value to our customers."
The automobile manufacturer had launched the first variant of the compact sedan two years back.
Kannur (Kerala), May 18 : A day ahead of counting for the Kerala polls, Congress leaders in Kannur complained of bogus voting in Dharmadom assembly constituency and submitted digital and documentary evidence to the state election commission on Wednesday.
The visuals obtained from the webcams set up by the Election Commission (EC) allegedly show that 21 people, including the Left Democratic Front's local woman leader, have cast votes in more than one polling booth in the constituency.
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan is contesting from the constituency after a break of 20 years.
The complaint, filed by the Congress party, also includes documentary evidence of the voters' lists of five booths where these 21 people voted.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in a statement issued here said the visuals show how blatantly the CPI-M violates the rules.
"All what has come out is from one local body (panchayat) and the impression is that this would be the case in other local bodies also. This is the way how the CPI-M conducts itself and does it by threatening the people and the poll officials and win elections," said Chandy.
But Rajya Sabha member and CPI-M leader K.K. Ragesh denied any wrongdoing and dismissed it as a ploy to take away the sheen of a "huge win" by their leader Vijayan, when votes are counted Thursday.
Vijayan is in the running for the post of chief minister along with V.S. Achuthanandan, if the Left wins the polls.
New Delhi, May 18 : Director Jon M. Chu's "Now You See Me 2", a sequel to the 2013 film "Now You See Me", will release in India on June 17.
The film is distributed in India by PVR Pictures, read a statement.
The fabulous Four Horsemen -- Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Lizzy Caplan and the charming Dave Franco -- return in the thrilling caper, elevating the limits of stage illusion in the film, which promises a showdown between the Four Horsemen and a dangerous tech genius as a decidedly less powerful magician.
A synopsis of "Now You See Me 2", which stars actor Morgan Freeman in a key role, reads: A year after outwitting the FBI and winning the public's adulation with their Robin Hood-style magic spectacles, the famous illusionists resurface for a comeback performance in hopes of exposing the unethical practices of the tech magnate.
Revealing the man behind their vanishing act who threatens the Horsemen into pulling off their most impossible heist yet, the horsemen are back with a bang. Raising the bar with the first film, the sequel stars everyone's favourite star kid Daniel Radcliffe as a ruthless tech tycoon. Of course, we also see a lot of visual flourishes thanks to the film's magic-fuelled heist set-pieces."
Mumbai, May 18 : Global tech giant Apple Inc's CEO Tim Cook kicked off his maiden India trip with an early morning visit to the famed Shree Siddhivinayak temple in Prabhadevi, central Mumbai, where he performed a special 'aarti'.
Sporting a light blue shirt and dark trousers with a yellow stole having Sanskrit scriptures in orange, Cook performed a special 'aarti' of the temple's presiding deity, Lord Ganesha -- who symbolizes wisdom and is the remover of all obstacles.
Accompanied by Apple India head Sanjay Kaul, Cook's temple visit was a prelude to a host of meetings lined up with top business and Bollywood personalities later in the day.
At the temple Cook ran into Anant Ambani, the scion of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, and chatted with him for some time.
Among the engagements lined up for the Apple CEO include meetings with Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry and other top industrialists, besides Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan.
Though his official program is kept under a lid, during his India trip Cook is likely to visit the IT capitals of Bengaluru and Hyderabad and later New Delhi.
"Whatever we wish to share, we have already done this morning," an official told IANS, referring to the announcement of Apple's plans to set up a new iOS App Design and Development Accelerator in Bengaluru in early 2017.
Cook arrived here late Tuesday night from Beijing in a private jet and is staying in the Hotel Taj Mahal Palace in south Mumbai.
Kathmandu, May 18 : An alliance of Madhesis and Janajatis on Wednesday decided to continue its protest against the new Nepali constitution for another 10 days.
The Sanghiya Gathbandhan, or the federal alliance of the Madhesis and Janajatis, decided to hold the protests in the inner parts of the Nepal valley as well, apart from national capital Kathmandu.
The alliance will also protest in Birgunj and Pokhara, two major cities outside Kathmandu.
A meeting of 29 political parties and ethnic groups, that formed the political alliance, decided on their future course of action at a meeting here.
The alliance supporters had picketed Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli's residence in Baluwatar on Tuesday during the first phase of their stir programme.
A total of 36 rounds of parleys between the protesters and the government have failed since September 2015 when these parties launched their stir against certain provisions of the new constitution.
Ahmedabad, May 18 : Jamnagar Lok Sabha MP Poonamben Madam, who sustained head injuries after falling into a drain on Monday and was later flown to Mumbai, is stable, hospital officials said on Wednesday.
"Her condition is stable," a spokesperson at the Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital in Mumbai told mediapersons.
The 41-year-old BJP MP was inspecting a demolition site at Jalaramnagar locality in Jamnagar when a slab which covered the underground drain on which she was standing collapsed. She was treated at a local hospital before being moved to the Mumbai hospital.
She had gone there as residents were protesting against the demolition of 237 housing units by the Jamnagar Municipal Corporation.
The MP had suffered a four-inch deep gash on her head and also injured her shoulder and foot. She received five stitches on her head, doctors, who treated her at a private hospital in Jamnagar, had said earlier.
Bhubaneswar, May 18 : The number of tigers in Odisha has been estimated at 40, said a report on Wednesday.
According to the tiger estimation report of Odisha government, the state has 40 tigers against the report of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), which said there were 28 big cats in Odisha.
The estimate found there were 318 leopards in the state.
The state government rejected the estimation of NTCA, which in its All India Tiger Estimation 2014 report downgraded the number of tigers in Odisha to 28.
Odisha government conducted tiger census between February and April this year claiming the state was home to more Royal Bengal tigers.
According to the report, Similipal tiger reserve habitats 26 tigers, Kranjia division has three and Satkosia tiger reserve has two tigers.
As many as three tigers were enumerated in Keonjhar Wildlife Division, four in Sunabeda, and Khariar and Sundargarh have one each, said the report.
Three melanistic tigers were also found in Similipal, the only habitat in the world to have a source population of such dark-striped large cats, said forest and environment secretary Suresh Mohapatra.
There are 13 male, 24 female and three cubs in the state, Mohapatra added.
The tiger census was carried out in all the eight circles and 46 divisions. A total of 20,174 Pug Impression Pads (PIPs) were laid and 448 camera traps were installed to conduct the survey.
New Delhi, May 18 : The nine disqualified rebel Congress legislators of Uttarakhand, whose shifting loyalty led to a political upheaval in the hill state, joined the BJP on Wednesday.
The rebel Congress leaders joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at its headquarters here in the presence of Uttarakhand in-charge Shyam Jaju.
The move was decided at a meeting of the Uttarakhand BJP core group leaders with BJP president Amit Shah and other senior leaders.
The meeting was attended by BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, former Uttarakhand chief ministers Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Ramesh Pokharial Nishank and senior leader Satpal Maharaj, among others.
The nine rebel Congress leaders were barred from voting in the floor test.
Congress legislator Rekha Arya, who changed her loyalty to BJP on the day of the floor test, has also given her consent to join the saffron party.
Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal had disqualified the nine, led by former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna.
Other than Bahuguna, the nine rebel Congress leaders were Harak Singh Rawat, Subodh Unial, Amrita Rawat, Umesh Sharma, Shailendra Mohan Singhal, Pradeep Batra, Pranav Singh and Shailarani Rawat.
They had challenged their disqualification earlier in the Nainital High Court and then in Supreme Court, but didn't get any relief.
Kolkata, May 18 : Blaming the ruling Trinamool Congress for the "mounting political violence in West Bengal", the CPI-M on Wednesday approached the Election Commission seeking protection and compensation for victims of poll violence.
In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, Communist Party of India-Marxist state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra harped on the "voters' right to peaceful living".
"The voters who courageously responded to the measures taken by the Election Commission should enjoy right to peaceful living in the post polls days. Unfortunately in West Bengal, attacks are mounting on the voters by Trinamool hooligans with tacit support from a section of police," said Mishra.
Referring to the various incidents of violence during the six-stage assembly polls in which a few were murdered and many people women and children injured, Mishra alleged inaction both by the EC and the police.
"It is the responsibility of EC to ensure protection of citizens being subjected to barbaric attacks. EC would fail in its constitutional obligation if it doesn't extend protection and compensation to the victims of violence," added Mishra.
New Delhi, May 18 : The Congress party on Wednesday took a swipe at actor Rishi Kapoor for questioning why important assets of the country were named after the Gandhi family, by asking if the veteran actor has "any role to play in India's public life".
The Congress on Wednesday said people were targeting the Gandhis "to get into the good books" of the ruling BJP.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewary said: "Last time I heard of him was when he acted in some movie called 'Bobby'. That's quite a few years ago. After that I have not heard of him. Does he have any role to play in India's public life? This stage doesn't deem fit to reply to this question."
Congress spokesperson P.C. Chacko, without naming the veteran actor, told the media that the comments targetting the Gandhis were "merely an attempt by some people to get into the good books of those in power".
Chacko said he had not seen Rishi Kapoor's tweets "but it seems that some people are trying to abuse the Congress leadership just to get into the good books of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)."
"They want to please somebody in power. They can have it but not at the expense of the Congress. We don't take it seriously and it is not worth any comments at all," he said.
Rishi Kapoor earlier in a series of tweets deprecated the fact that previous Congress governments have named important assets of the country only after the Gandhi family.
He said the present government must consider renaming the assets after those who have contributed to the society.
He asked why Delhi's airport was named Indira Gandhi International Airport. "Why not Mahatma Gandhi or Bhagat Singh, Ambedkar or on my name Rishi Kapoor. As superficial! What say."
China Eastern Airlines has issued an apology to a female customer who was the target of sexual harassment by a foreign male passenger on one of the airlines flights. China Eastern has started an investigation into the incident, according to the airlines official Weibo account.
Xiaoyan, a Chinese student living in Vancouver, Canada, was on flight MU582 from Vancouver to Shanghai on May 9. Xiaoyan said that she sat in the last row of the plane, and that foreign passengers sat around her, four of whom wore traditional Indian clothes. Xiaoyan claimed that a man sitting directly in front of her showed her a pornographic video on his mobile phone and made sexually suggestive gestures at her at least five times.
According to Xiaoyans report, she did not feel comfortable asking for help from the other passengers around her because all the passengers sitting near her were acquaintances of the alleged harasser. Therefore, Xiaoyan reported the situation to a crew member, asking to see the purser or the captain. She wanted to change her seat and have the crew inform staff members on the ground about the situation.
However, the crew did not change Xiaoyans seat because the plane was at full capacity. A male crew member said that he had not seen the Indian passenger using his mobile phone, and that if Xiaoyan saw him using it again she should tell him so he could remind the man to turn off his phone.
Although Xiaoyan asked the crew to inform staff on the ground, employees on the ground did not follow up with any repercussions for the Indian man.
Legal experts said that the airline was responsible for Xiaoyans safety, according to the Law of Protection of Consumers' Rights and the Law of Contract. Lawyers also said that as a service supplier, the airline should fulfill its obligation to protect persons and property. In this case, the passenger has the right to ask for an apology or even compensation from the airline if she can prove damages.
Imphal, May 18 : Tribal students on Wednesday threatened to start an agitation if state government failed to stop rationing agents from exploiting the poor tribals in the interior hill areas of Manipur.
Joseph Newmai, president of Tousem Headquarters Students' Union said: "Rice is sold at Rs.10 a kg instead of Rs.3. On inquiry, the rationing agent said that the Rationing Agents' Association in the state decided to sell it at Rs.10. The government should explain whether the agents are above the government. We will agitate in public interest if government remains unconcerned."
The National Food Security Act, 2013 was implemented in Manipur from April 25, 2016.
The government claims that the Tousem sub-division in Tamenglong district is the first and only area in Manipur where rice is sold under the NFSA 2013.
Newmai also disclosed that kerosene in this isolated tribal area is sold at Rs.25 per litre once in a while.
People are not aware of the government policy. However, most of the ruling Congress MLAs allegedly distributed the ration cards to their supporters.
Though Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh had made a passing reference to it, cards are yet to be distributed through the local bodies and rice made available.
BJP has been pointing out that apart from the political interference rice cannot be distributed simply because there is no fair price shop that functions in Manipur.
The BJP leaders said that rice is sold at Rs.34 or more per kg in the market. FCI rice meant for distribution in the fair price shops finds its way to the market and is sold at Rs.24 per kg.
New Delhi, May 18 : United States businesses will sign deals worth $27 billion with India over the next two years, a top US official said here on Wednesday.
"Over the last two years, US businesses invested over $15 billion in India, and will reportedly sign deals worth another $27 billion over the next two years," Arun M. Kumar, assistant secretary for global markets and director general for the US and foreign commercial service, said.
Talking about increasing US investment in the Indian market, he said, "American companies are responding. Last year, US companies invested more in Indian equities than in China," he added.
In particular, US companies' unique capabilities can help India address its priority needs and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi's economic development goals, Kumar said.
He also acknowledged India's e-commerce market as the fastest growing in the world, and said that US companies are contributing to the sector.
"US companies have already invested billions and, in the process, are making it easier for Indian firms export globally," he said.
New Delhi, May 18 : In a key development, US tech giant Apple is all set to hire Rajiv Mishra, currently vice president of media and corporate social responsibility division at Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, as its India head of media and public affairs.
Mishra confirmed the development to IANS on Wednesday.
The move is significant, as it comes when Apple CEO Tim Cook is in India on a four-day visit and is slated to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week.
The move is also crucial as with Mishra's over 22-year expertise, Apple will be better positioned to disseminate information to its various stakeholders and cement its position in the Indian market.
Mishra joined Samsung in August 2014. At Samsung, Mishra is responsible for overseeing the entire media mandate for the organisation across the country.
He had worked for various media organisations like Hindustan Times Group, Star TV, Zee TV, Reliance Infocomm Limited, News 24 (BAG Films and Media) and India News, among others.
Mishra also worked with Lok Sabha TV as CEO and has been a nominated member of various media advisory bodies in various ministries.
He is founder of the Electronic Media Rating Council of India and his contribution in television ratings methodology in Europe has been recognised by International Telecommunication Union and European Broadcasting Union at Geneva.
Rajiv Mishra is also the founder and first president of Association of Radio Operators for India (AROI) and also the first president of Association of Regional Television Broadcasters of India (ARTBI), the industry representative body of regional Broadcasters of India. He has recently been nominated as member, expert committee of Information & Broadcasting Ministry to develop papers on copyright issues.
A master's in broadcasting from IAB, Montreux, Switzerland, he earned MBA in media management from Metropolitan College of New York (MCNY) in the US.
Apple is reported to be looking for new growth markets like India following decline in sales.
Hit by slower growth in the sale of its flagship products iPhone, iPad and Mac globally, Apple's revenue dropped for the first time since 2003 as the tech giant released earning reports for the second quarter of fiscal 2016 in March.
Revenue was down in both Americas and China -- Apple's two biggest territories. It declined around 10 percent in the Americas and 26 percent in China.
According to Vishal Tripathi, research director at global market consultancy firm Gartner, Cook may raise the issue of allowing Apple to import and sell refurbished iPhones at a cheaper price in India during his talk with Modi. This will give Apple a slot in the mid and low-price segment.
Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn is already present here and is looking to set up a manufacturing base in the country.
Kochi, May 18 : The shadow of SNC Lavalin graft case is hovering over CPI-M polit bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan, even as he is widely tipped to become the next Chief Minister of Kerala when votes are counted on Thursday with most exit polls predicting an LDF win.
The Kerala High Court is scheduled to consider the review petition filed by the CBI challenging the discharge of Pinarayi Vijayan and other accused in the Lavalin case on Thursday.
Should the Kerala HC admit the central agencys petition, the decision could prove to be a roadblock to the fiery Marxist leaders aspirations of becoming the CM of the State.
Significantly, veteran CPI-M leader V S Achuthanandan has thrown his hat in the ring by announcing to the media his willingness to assume Chief Ministership if the party chose him.
The State government had also approached the HC two months back with an interim plea seeking to expedite the proceedings in the plea filed by the CBI. The HC had then put off the plea to be heard on May 19, opining that no situation existed that warranted an urgent hearing of the case.
However, hearing the governments interim plea, Justice Ubaid had expressed doubt over the sustainability of the order of the Thiruvananthapuram CBI court discharging Mr. Vijayan and others.
This gives hope to Pinarayi Vijayans rivals and detractors within the party that Lavalin case could thwart his chief ministerial ambitions.
Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan will hear the CBIs review plea tomorrow.
The Lavalin case pertains to the exchequer sustaining heavy losses in the contract awarded to Canada based company SNC Lavalin for the renovation of hydroelectric power stations.
Panaji, May 18 : The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the centre is high on publicity but low on performance, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh said on Wednesday.
The All India Congress Committee general secretary in charge of Goa, was in the state to take stock of the party's organizational preparations with the state legislative elections tentatively scheduled in January next year.
"The BJP government at the centre is high on publicity but extremely low on performance. Economy is not doing well. Employment level has come down. Exports have come down," Singh said, also hinting at brewing communal polarization in the country.
"The differences between community and religion have been high. The prime minister is not able to control some leaders of the BJP who have spoken in communal manner against people belonging to the minority community," Singh also said.
In a sign of the times the Australian government recently introduced a number of measures making it more difficult for overseas investors to acquire Australian real estate. While Australia is not the first government around the world to take such action a recent report suggested that the move has turned many Chinese property investors away from the country. This is all good and well when markets are stable but will the Australian authorities regret stigmatising overseas property investors and making it more difficult for them to acquire property assets?
Cracking a nut with a sledgehammer
A recent report commissioned by the Australian authorities highlighted the fact that overseas real estate investment, although it has grown in recent times, has little or no real impact upon market prices. While this report is in the public domain it seems as though the Australian population have overlooked this matter and politicians have certainly poured fuel on the fire. The consequence is that Chinese investors in Sydney and Melbourne in particular have faced growing public outrage and ongoing attacks in the local media.
The idea that Chinese investment in Australian real estate is pushing prices towards bubble levels seems to be a general misconception amongst the wider public. However, as ever politicians are looking to curry favour with as many voters as possible and they have played along with this public perception.
Is Australia losing long-term support?
As well as alienating many overseas investors the Australian authorities are likely to suffer from a general reduction in Chinese overseas property investment in the short to medium term. The forecast reduction in overseas investments together with negative press comment in Australia is likely to see more Chinese investors look towards the US. Indeed Chinese investment in US residential properties has increase from just over $11 billion in 2010 up to $28.6 billion in 2015.
It is all good and well offering support to local investors when real estate markets are flying high but what happens in the more difficult volatile times? Even though investors look at cold hard figures many will not forget the way they have been treated by the Australian political elite and the general public.
Australian economy
If we take a look at the Australian economy since 2008, the year of the US mortgage crash, there has been massive investment by Chinese individuals and companies into natural resource sectors such as mining, oil and gas. While this massive investment has begun to taper off it does not help long-term relations if criticism of overseas investment in real estate is aired but the authorities are happy to take Chinese investment in local businesses?
Many people forget that the Australian economy is one of few in the world not to have dipped into recession after the 2008 worldwide economic downturn. Much of this was down to enormous Chinese investment in mining, oil and gas as well as residential properties across the country. Will the Australian authorities live to regret their ongoing attack on Chinese real estate investors?
(Photo source: 81.cn)
PLA Navy commander Wu Shengli came to the Simon's Town naval base in South Africa on May 16 to pay a visit to the 22nd Chinese naval escort task force, consisting of supply ship Taihu, guided missile destroyer Qingdao and frigate Daqing.
This is the first ever time that a PLA Navy commander has boarded a naval vessel while overseas. On board frigate Daqing, Wu inspected the guard of honor; on the decks of all three vessels, he chatted with officers and soldiers.
The 22nd Chinese naval escort task force arrived in South Africa on Monday for a friendly four-day visit. During the visit, the task force will conduct joint exercises with the South African Navy.
(Photo source: 81.cn)
(Photo source: 81.cn)
(Photo source: 81.cn)
The 5th China-Europe High-level Political Parties Forum kicks off in Beijing on Tuesday. (Peoples Daily Online/Yao Chun)
Beijing, May 16 (Peoples Daily Online) -- At present the China-Europe relationship has entered a key stage of boosting efficiency and improving quality, said Song Tao, Minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, in a keynote speech on Tuesday.
Song Tao made the remarks at the 5th China-Europe High-level Political Parties Forum, which kicked off in Beijing on Tuesday with the theme of Forging Partnership for Reform and Development: New Prospect of China-Europe Cooperation.
Song Tao highlighted the importance of exchanges between parties of China and Europe when delivering a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the conference, saying: It plays an important and unique role in promoting the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Europe.
Song Tao, Minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, delivers a keynote speech at the 5th China-Europe High-level Political Parties Forum on Tuesday. (Peoples Daily Online/Yao Chun)
Song Tao believed that cooperation between China and Europe is of great potential. China and Europe are building partnerships for peace, growth, reform and civilization. At the same time China and Europe are seeking developing path that are suitable for our own conditions. Song Tao said: Communist Party of China has proposed the development concepts of innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing. The One Belt One Road initiatives proposed by China have many inherent similarities with the development concept of European countries, which offers new opportunities for deepening China-Europe Cooperation.
Songs observations were echoed by foreign representatives who attended the forum. Yanaki Stoilov, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria and Vice President of the Bulgarian Socialist Party said: The open development gets a new opportunity along the Silk Road One Belt, One Road. Chinas opening has been one of the pillars of its success in the past almost three decades.
Yanaki Stoilov, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria and Vice President of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, delivers a speech at the 5th China-Europe High-level Political Parties Forum on Tuesday. (Peoples Daily Online/Yao Chun)
The time is ripe for Europe to start studying, transferring and utilizing some of the Chinese practices. Therefore the process is already a two-way onefrom Europe to China and from China to Europe. This forum is very useful. It can turn into one of the strong silk threads connecting us. said Yanaki Stoilov in his speech during the forum.
More than one hundred representatives including delegates of 30 political parties from 24 European countries have attended the forum.
Spicy Vines Tasting Room - Join us at 441 Healdsburg Ave, Healdsburg, CA 95448 707-927-1065 We are unique. From the art on the wall, to the subtle nuances, we have a very fun, energetic upscale vibe that invites people to relax. There are not many tasting rooms that offer the entertaining experience we do," said Hackett.
The grand debut of Spicy Vines Tasting Room was a breathtaking affair -- befitting for a wine house that has earned a stellar reputation for its artisan wines. The calm yet vibrant Tasting Room officially opened April 20 and will now serve as the premium destination for wine connoisseurs who desire a hip and tranquil environment in the historic downtown of Healdsburg.
A visit to the Tasting Room is more than a special occasion, its an experience. Spicy Vines focused on quality and variety when it designed the Tasting Room. Most wines offered in the Tasting Room are medal recipients or 90+ rated selections, proving Spicy Vines only offers the best quality to visitors. Among the highlights of some of Spicy Vines masterpiece wines that have been recognized, includes the 2013 Zin Master, which received 90 Points by Robert Parker-The Wine Advocate, and the 2013 Dragons Kiss Syrah, which received the 93 Points Cellar Selection from The Wine Enthusiast. Another favorite also offered in the Tasting Room is the Risque Chardonnay, which received 90 points also from The Wine Enthusiast. Spicy Vines signature collection is prepared and selected by seasoned wine-maker Doug Hackett, who has received over 100 medals and earned numerous 90+ point ratings.
We are unique. From the art on the wall, to the subtle nuances, we have a very fun, energetic upscale vibe that invites people to relax. There are not many tasting rooms that offer the entertaining experience we do," said Hackett.
Spicy Vines is a company known for embracing a creative lifestyle, which is why the Tasting Room isnt afraid to mix it up. The Tasting Room has a wide assortment of artisan wine cocktails, including the Mango Sunrise Mimosa, a popular choice that leaves many in awe. All wine cocktails are made daily with either the companys flagship spiced wine, the Original Blend, a Zinfandel blend with five chai spices and a hint of brandy or their newest release Fleur de Spice, a Gewurztraminer base with orange blossom, rose pedals, green ginger, cardamon and cinnamonboth a testament to Spicy Vines flair for experimenting with different flavors since the launch of its flagship wine.
Spicy Vines has rounded out the experience with a medley of small bites and live music. Every appetizer and small plate includes ingredients that are sourced locally. Also, the Saturday Jive @ Spicy Vines includes live music every Saturday night. Saturday Jive will host acoustical musicians in the tasting room from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
Spicy Vines has a very unique private Barrel Room located in the back of the tasting room. The room will host private blending sessions such as Sunday Fun Day Blending Session with Winemaker, Doug Hackett, where visitors can create their own private blend using Spicy Vines' barreled wine and take the bottle home.
Spicy Vines has created the next generation tasting rooma destination with good vibes so visitors want to return. Whats more, the Tasting Rooms hours are open later on weekends than most other tasting rooms in Healdsburg. Its hours are 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, and 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Visit Spicy Vines at http://www.spicyvines.com and get connected on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
About Spicy Vines
Rooted in the spirit of tradition, Spicy Vines combines old styles with innovative California winemaking to craft artisan wines made with heart, soul and a hint of spice.
An added bonus for wine lovers is Spicy Vines membership "Club Spice" which offers many benefits to the membership.
People watching a WCRI webinar. For the first time ever, policymakers and system stakeholders in Kentucky now have information on how their workers compensation benefit delivery system compares with 17 other states.
For the first time ever, policymakers and system stakeholders in Kentucky now have information from the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) on how their workers compensation benefit delivery system compares with 17 other states across a broad array of metrics, including performance.
Join WCRIs Carol Telles for an hour-long webinar on Thursday, June 9, 2016, at 2pm ET/1pm CT/12pm MT/11am PT as she discusses key cost drivers, trends, and the performance of the Kentucky workers compensation system as compared to other states, as well as takes your questions.
Ms. Telles is a senior policy analyst and a lead author of WCRI's CompScope benchmarks studies, which provide the most meaningful interstate comparisons currently available for more than 60 system performance measures across 18 large states.
Apart from sharing findings from CompScope Benchmarks for Kentucky, 16th Edition, Ms. Telles will share findings from several other WCRI studies that include Kentucky, focusing on hospital outpatient costs, prices for nonhospital services, and payments to ambulatory surgery centers.
Things you will learn:
The major cost drivers in Kentuckys workers compensation system.
Performance of Kentuckys workers' compensation system compared to other states.
Trends seen in many metrics of system performance in Kentuckys workers' compensation system.
Factors that shape income benefits in Kentucky.
How Kentuckys medical payments per claim differ from other states for similar claims, and some of the reasons for those differences.
Attendance is limited to 100 people and all attendees receive a free copy of the slides. Webinars are $39 for WCRI members; $79 for non-members; and no charge for members of the press, legislators as well as their staff, and state public officials who make policy decisions impacting their states workers compensation system. Click on the following link to register: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/wcri_webinar.
The Cambridge-based WCRI is recognized as a leader in providing high quality, objective information about public policy issues involving workers' compensation systems.
ABOUT WCRI:
The Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) is an independent, not-for-profit research organization based in Cambridge, MA. Organized in late 1983, the Institute does not take positions on the issues it researches; rather, it provides information obtained through studies and data collection efforts, which conform to recognized scientific methods. Objectivity is further ensured through rigorous, unbiased peer review procedures. WCRI's diverse membership includes employers; insurers; governmental entities; managed care companies; health care providers; insurance regulators; state labor organizations; and state administrative agencies in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
9Gauge helps our clients adjust their business to leverage the best practices of the NetSuite solution, ensure they are importing a clean environment, and never lose sight of the integration and configuration optimizations, said Doug Kennedy, VP, Global
9Gauge Partners, a leading financial and advisory services firm based in Austin, Texas, today announced that it has joined the NetSuite Systems Integrators Partner Program. 9Gauge plans to bring NetSuite cloud ERP to businesses spanning a number of industries including retail, manufacturing, professional services, and nonprofit in the Austin area. The partnership with NetSuite extends the offerings 9Gauge already provides beyond its focus of financial advisory, business intelligence advisory, and transaction advisory services.
Our clients should be able to realize the full benefits of migrating to software solutions such as NetSuite, so this is a natural partnership of technology and know-how that can help our clients implement solutions they need to succeed, said Brian White, founder and managing partner of 9Gauge Partners. Im thrilled to incorporate the NetSuite solution into our portfolio of services.
9Gauges software integration services help businesses effectively and efficiently migrate to new systems while helping to maximize the benefits realized from such software implementations. Joining the NetSuite Systems Integrators Program allows 9Gauge to address the fast-growing demand among U.S. organizations for a true cloud-based business management suite that encompasses enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), omnichannel commerce, and professional services automation (PSA) capabilities.
9Gauge helps our clients adjust their business to leverage the best practices of the NetSuite solution, ensure they are importing a clean environment, and never lose sight of the integration and configuration optimizations, said Doug Kennedy, VP, Global System Integrators at NetSuite. 9Gauge in combination with NetSuite delivers a best-in-class solution coupled with finance and accounting prowess that drives true value for our clients.
Over the past 6 years, in addition to full service accounting needs, 9Gauge has provided over 170 clients a full range of finance and advisory services. The firm has designed, implemented, and managed budgets, rolling forecasts, and reporting packages for their clients, with a distinct focus on delivering actionable insights and measurable value. Many business leaders look to 9Gauge for their executive dashboard and metrics design needs.
As a NetSuite Systems Integrator partner, 9Gauge will promote, implement and support NetSuite with companies that want to move their mission-critical business processes to the cloud. 9Gauge offers customers a rich set of consultancy services focusing on business management software migration, implementation methodologies, and best practices for gaining maximum value from software systems. 9Gauge also leverages its deep expertise in and knowledge of historical business software solutions to help clients navigate elements of business process optimization and change management to successfully migrate to NetSuite.
Our team looks at implementations from all sides to help ensure clients are getting the greatest return on investment in the NetSuite platform, said David Dolmanet, managing director of 9Gauges financial advisory services practice. Well be a strategic partner throughout the full implementation and beyond.
NetSuite Systems Integrator (SI) Partners provide specialized financial and consulting services that can help clients get even more value from their NetSuite software. SI Partners are experts in their field and have a deep and unique understanding of NetSuite solutions, enabling them to help clients use NetSuite to address requirements such as regulatory compliance or process optimization, as well as the requirements of specific industries.
ABOUT 9GAUGE PARTNERS
9Gauge Partners delivers best practices finance and advisory services to provide executives with the business insights they need to make better decisions faster. Consultants are deployed on engagements in teams, rather than as isolated resources. Clients receive the best expertise for each phase of the work needed, driven by a culture of collaboration and accountability among the team members. Unlike traditional consulting services firms that provide a "resource" to execute tasks based on the clients guidance, 9Gauge deploys teams of consultants at blended rates that often are less costly than a single resource. This often results in completing the work more efficiently and more quickly, as a result of putting the right skills on each task. 9Gauge goes beyond the approach of "just getting the work done" as prescribed by the client, and delivers recommendations to optimize finance and accounting processes and implement efficiencies where possible. Our continued commitment to excellence in our delivery to clients drives long-term relationships, and continuing to maintain a great work culture enhances our ability to attract and retain great talent.
For more information, visit http://www.9Gauge.com, and follow 9Gauge on LinkedIn, Twitter and Glassdoor.
NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are service marks of NetSuite Inc. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
Our infovideo presents the most important giveaways from the research to help business managers catch up on important information effortlessly and then be able to effectively modify their strategy.
Boston-based digital marketing agency Pepper Gang publishes a new infovideo based on a recent mobile video advertising study conducted by IAB, Tremor Video and Millward Brown Digital to educate businesses on the impact of different video variables to ad effectiveness. The video is now available on YouTube.
Video adverting is a dominant marketing approach. The spend in the U.S. is expected to reach $8 billion, double from 4 years ago, (CMO.com) and mobile devices play an important role in that growth. According to eMarketers research in February, video ad on mobile will increase nearly 50% this year.
To help brands come up with more efficient ways to target different audience groups, Pepper Gang summarizes the key takeaways from the study Multiscreen Video Best Practices: Understanding the Next Wave of Video Ad Receptivity to educate businesses on this subject. In the video, viewers are able to learn the latest data about what qualities of video ads can assist in driving effectiveness and breaking through to different audience groups.
Mobile video advertising is what businesses in every industry should do. But only few have done it in a right way, said Stefanie Daneau, Co-Founder of the agency, Our infovideo presents the most important takeaways from the research to help business managers catch up on important information effortlessly and then be able to effectively modify their strategy.
To view the infovideo, please visit Pepper Gangs YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhPEOy3GSbk. If you are interested in learning more about mobile video advertising, the agencys blog provides latest tutorials and updates regularly.
The original report can be downloaded from http://www.iab.com/insights/multiscreen-video-best-practices/
About Pepper Gang
Pepper Gang is the Boston-based digital marketing company committed to the growth and success of their clients' business. The company was born out of a desire to tell each brands story in a way that compels like-minded consumers to align with the brand. Meet the Pepper Gang team and read their story at http://www.peppergang.com.
American Natural Gas (ANG), a premier distributor of alternative motor fuels, is excited to announce that it has acquired two public compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations from an affiliate of Southwestern Energy Company in Conway, Arkansas, and Damascus, Arkansas. Service at both stations will continue uninterrupted as ownership and operations responsibilities shift to ANG.
Were looking forward to a seamless transition and long-term relationships as we continue to supply Southwestern Energys fleet, its loyal customers, and any new transportation companies interested in converting to CNG, said Andrew West, CEO of ANG. Its clear the local community is leading the way in alternative fuel use and were excited to be part of that solution.
Both stations are active hubs for local municipal vehicles and regional return-to-base and long-haul trucking fleets. The Conway station, at 2125 Sanders Road, is located just off Interstate 40 and the Damascus station is located at 16038 Highway 65 South. The Conway station features two dual-hose dispensers and Damascus has three. Both stations are open 24 hours a day and feature self-service pumps with credit card capabilities and video surveillance.
According to calculations by the US Environmental Protection Agency, switching vehicles from gasoline to CNG can reduce carbon monoxide emission by 90-97 percent, carbon dioxide emission by 25 percent, nitrogen oxide emissions by 35-60 percent, and lessen toxic and carcinogenic pollutants. Overall costs to operate heavy-duty trucks on CNG are significantly less than running the same trucks on gasoline or diesel fuel.
Those looking to learn more about ANG are encouraged to visit its website, http://www.americannaturalgas.com, or call 866-264-6220 with questions.
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About American Natural Gas, LLC
American Natural Gas, LLC (ANG) is a premier distributor of alternative motor fuels in the Northeast and the surrounding states. ANG designs, builds, owns, operates and maintains natural gas fueling stations for transportation. The mission of ANG is to help America by making natural gas readily available for commercial and public use in vehicles. ANG's team is comprised of industry, legal, construction, engineering and entrepreneurial experts. With more than 30 years of industry experience, ANG will provide the best solution possible to meet and exceed your CNG fueling needs. ANG is a majority owned subsidiary of HC2 Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: HCHC). To learn more visit http://www.americannaturalgas.com
PrimePay recently announced several changes within its infrastructure designed to help the organization focus on expansion and growth as the nations largest privately-owned provider of payroll and human resources services for sales year 2017.
According to the May 5th announcement by Executive Vice President, Chief Sales Officer Todd Quarfot, Karen Cimorelli-Moor has been named Senior Vice President, Corporate Training and Sales Enablement. Cimorelli-Moor will be responsible for sales and service training, sales enablement, inside sales account management, sales recruiting, and leadership development across the organization.
Pete Cappiello has been promoted to the newly created position of National Vice President, Sales. In this role Cappiello will exclusively oversee the north, south and west direct sales regions, as well as PrimePays inside sales executives.
With Cappiellos promotion, Eric Gennari has advanced to fill Cappiellos seat as Regional Vice President, South Region covering Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Texas and Florida. Each organizational shift, including Gennaris, comes with the experience and forward-thinking afforded by the companys 30-year history.
This is the most exciting time in PrimePays history, said Quarfot. When we first opened our doors in 1986, we set out to be a great payroll solution for small business owners. And thats just what we did. Today, even as we hold true to our roots, weve grown to also function as the entrepreneurs human resources partner. By taking the back-office minutia off of their plates they can better focus on the services and profitability of their businesses. These key promotions are just another reflection of meeting the needs of our clients where they need us most.
In the upcoming months, PrimePay will be announcing additional initiatives surrounding its 30th Anniversary celebration. Many of the companys efforts will be centered around thanking its small business clients and the communities that have embraced companys philosophy of helping everyone achieve The American Dream.
About PrimePay
PrimePay is an employee management solutions provider offering a full range of integrated payroll and HR support services. As the nations largest privately-owned payroll company, PrimePay serves all 50 states from more than 30 office locations. Delivering highly personalized and comprehensive payroll processing services, workers compensation insurance, benefits administration, compliance solutions and HR support, PrimePays national footprint is set to grow. With more than 500 employees, PrimePay, headquartered in West Chester, PA, holds the principle of serving its clients and franchises to the highest of standards. For more on PrimePay, visit http://www.PrimePay.com.
For more information, contact:
Janet Tirado; PrimePay, LLC.
484-320-3935
JTirado(at)PrimePay(dot)com
Infinity Flight Group, a flight training school based at the Trenton Mercer Airport in New Jersey is excited to announce that they have just signed a first of its kind flow-through agreement with Piedmont Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines. The arrangement allows Certified Flight Instructors (CFIs) employed by Infinity to interview with Piedmont Airlines with only 500 hours of flight time. Piedmont will offer conditional employment offers to the selected candidates, and pay a bonus structure for every 100 hours CFIs fly at Infinity until they reach the required ATP minimums. Additionally, program participants will receive a $5000 signing bonus, and allow the candidate to jump from flight instructing one day, to commercial airline pilot at Piedmont, the regional arm of American Airlines, in the shortest time possible. This new agreement also allows Infinity pilots who are hired by Piedmont to be placed on the flow through list for American Airlines.
Gregory John, President of Infinity Flight Group commented, The Cadet Program with Piedmont is a true win for its participants. Cadets are given a competitive advantage by being able to move directly to the right seat with an airline that has tremendous upgrade and flow though possibilities with American Airlines. Traditionally, pilots have to build time then move to the airlines. This program differs because it gives CFIs the ability to start developing a relationship with a top ranked regional airline and be paid bonuses from the time they start instructing.
With the predicted pilot shortage, and commercial airlines building their fleets globally, this agreement will ensure a fast rack to success for anyone interested in pursuing a career as an airline pilot.
Infinity Flight is partnered with Mercer County Community College (MCCC) Aviation Degree Program. It manages the flight portion of the MCCC program, which currently has 55 enrolled students.
Infinity offers pilot training services to non-degree flight students and aircraft rental services through its Cessna Pilot Center accreditation.
eegee's is proud to announce the beneficiary of the 24th annual Coupon Card program is the Johnjay & Rich Care for Kids Foundation.
Every year during the entire month of June, eegees provides customers the opportunity to support a local not-for-profit organization. In appreciation of each $7 donation a customer makes, eegee's will reward them with a coupon booklet valued at up to $48 in savings.
For 2016, eegees selected an organization whose services are vital to helping those in need in Southern Arizona. The Johnjay and Rich Care for Kids Foundations mission is to improve the quality of life for children living within the foster care system by offering assistance, comfort and hope.
"As a Tucson-based company, eegees is proud to continue this program for the 24th year, said Robert Santiago, Director of Marketing, eegees. The Coupon Card allows us to reward our customers generosity and support Southern Arizona based organizations that provide valuable services and benefits to people in need to help make life better in our local community.
For 45 years, eegee's and their employees have striven to lead by example in the area of social and environmental responsibility. In 2015, eegee's customers donated over $241,000 to BAGIT!, Bens Bells and Kick Cancer for Stephen through the Coupon Card program.
With nearly 20,000 children in foster care in Arizona, we are honored to be the recipient of the eegee's coupon card this year so we may further support children who are facing life in the Arizona Foster Care, said Johnjay & Rich of 93.7 KRQ. Our goal is to one day have more foster families waiting for children than children waiting for families.
You are invited to attend a press conference on Tuesday, May 24, 2016 at 1:00 pm. Representatives from eegees and The Johnjay and Rich Care for Kids Foundation will discuss the 2016 Coupon Card Program and the mission of their organization.
Who:
Robert Santiago, Director of Marketing, eegees
Johnjay Van Es, Co-Founder, Johnjay & Rich Care for Kids Foundation
Rich Berra, Co-Founder, Johnjay & Rich Care for Kids Foundation
Kirsten Johnson, Executive Director, Johnjay & Rich Care for Kids Foundation
When: Tuesday, May 24, 2016 at 1:00PM
Where: eegees Corporate Offices 3360 East Ajo Way, Tucson, AZ 85713
Please RSVP by contacting Robert Santiago at 520-294-3333 or by email to robertsantiago(at)eegees(dot)com
About eegees
Tucson-based restaurant chain, eegees, makes and sells their signature frozen fruit drink in lemon, strawberry and pina colada flavors and a unique flavor of the month. eegees also serves made-to-order sub sandwiches, salads, fries and more at its 24 locations in Tucson and Casa Grande. eegees is committed to social and environmental involvement by donating time, food and money to local charities as well as minimizing waste at their 30,000 sq. ft commissary. For 45 years eegees has been serving the Southern Arizona community. For more information, visit eegees.com.
About Johnjay & Rich Care for Kids Foundation
The Johnjay & Rich Care for Kids Foundation and #LoveUp Program supports the nearly 20,000 foster children in Arizona by raising awareness for the need for foster and adoptive families to provide safe and loving homes these children. The foundation works closely with the Department of Child Safety by supporting the Childrens Heart Gallery photo shoots and creation of galleries for those children whose biological ties have been severed from their families in hopes to find them a forever home. The goal for the foundation is that one day there will be more foster and adoptive families waiting for children than children waiting for families.
"Virtual assistants and chatbot technologies ... have the potential to significantly improve education."
Colorado State University, a leading public research university, and Cognii Inc., a leading provider of Artificial Intelligence based educational technologies, today announced a partnership. CSU faculty will work with Cognii to develop a new learning and assessment experience, powered by Cogniis Virtual Learning Assistant (VLA) technology.
Cogniis VLA uses conversational AI and Natural Language Processing technologies to engage students via intelligent tutoring. It provides instant assessment of students open-response answers along with a qualitative natural language feedback that guides them towards conceptual mastery. Cognii allows an alternative to multiple choice tests, which is especially important for courses in humanities and social sciences. The VLA is designed to improve students knowledge retention and learning outcomes, increase instructors productivity and enable high-quality personalized education at a large scale.
Students at CSU will use the Cognii-powered virtual tutorials this fall in two online undergraduate courses in Human Development and Family Studies and Psychology and one online graduate course in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. The tutorials will be developed collaboratively by CSU faculty and instructional designers who will partner with the technologists at Cognii to develop this new approach to cognitive tutoring. The final learning and assessment tools will be unique and will be developed based on the pedagogical strategies and goals of CSU combined with the research and technology of Cognii.
The use of Cognii in the classroom is expected to improve learning outcomes, turning assessment into learning while enhancing the effectiveness of the time our faculty devote to teaching, said Mike Palmquist, Associate Provost for Instructional Innovation at Colorado State University. Through this partnership, CSU is on the cutting edge of recent research and innovation in the fields of natural language processing, cognitive sciences, and machine learning, and an example of how the University is taking bold steps toward transforming access to quality education.
Dee Kanejiya, CEO and founder of Cognii stated, We are delighted to partner with CSU, which is a leader in innovative online education. Virtual assistants and chatbot technologies are today enhancing our lives in many different spheres and have the potential to significantly improve education. Through this partnership, we are looking forward to bringing the benefits of AI to education and training.
About Colorado State University
Colorado State University is one of Americas premier public research universities and an institution on the rise, with a mission of access, discovery, and engagement. Over the past several years, CSU has seen record enrollment each year, more than $300 million in annual research expenditures, and unprecedented fundraising success, surpassing more than $170 million in the last fiscal year and anticipating another record this year. CSUs faculty is renowned for its expertise in research and scholarly activities as well as its commitment to enrolling and graduating one of the largest most qualified and diverse student bodies in the history of the University. CSU graduates on average carry less student debt and are employed at a higher rate than their peers nationwide and most important, nine out of 10 Colorado State graduates in a recent survey said they would choose CSU again. The University offers credit and noncredit online and distance degrees, certificates, and courses to more than 10,000 students annually through CSU Online, its Division of Continuing Education. For more information, visit http://colostate.edu
About Cognii
Cognii is a leading provider of Artificial Intelligence based educational technologies to the K-12, Higher Ed and corporate training markets. Cogniis award winning Virtual Learning Assistant technology provides automated assessment of students open-response answers and engages them in a natural language virtual tutoring conversation. Cognii facilitates implementation of the newer, more rigorous academic standards by enabling the pedagogically superior form of constructed response assessment in a cost-effective way. Cognii partners with schools, universities, educational content publishers and online learning & training platforms. Based in Boston, MA, Cogniis mission is to improve the quality and affordability of education for all, with the help of AI. For more information, visit http://cognii.com
Qingdao, a coastal and hilly city in China, inaugurated its business and commerce center in San Francisco on Tuesday to deepen the regional cooperation between China and the United States.
Zhang Xinqi, Mayor of Qingdao (R) and Ed Lee, Mayor of San Francisco (L) unveil the Qingdao Center for Business and Commerce USA on May 17th, 2016. (Peoples Daily Online/Han Shasha)
Zhang Xinqi, Mayor of Qingdao, led a Chinese delegation consisted of local governmental officials and company executives attending the Qingdao-San Francisco Sino-US Regional Economic & Trade Cooperation Forum and the opening ceremony of Qingdao Center for Business and Commerce USA on May 17th.
Zhang said that by March this year, Qingdao has invested a total of 9.08 billion US Dollars into 194 projects in the United States, and also received a stock of 3.88 billion US Dollars from the United States, which now is the fourth largest source of inbound FDI for Qingdao.
He said: San Francisco is a beautiful and dynamic city, although ocean apart, we are closely bonded by our sister city relationship. Toady we also have over 20 executives from Qingdao companies, including Haier, Hisense, Port of Qingdao, Qingdao Beer, and CRRC Qingdao Sifang. Some of them have already invested in the United States, and others are still seeking opportunities. I am sure they will partner with San Francisco business communities at todays forum.
Ed Lee, Mayor of San Francisco, said at the forum that San Francisco is very like Qingdao, having waters and hills. San Francisco is the gateway to the United States, also the gateway of innovation. In my opinion, our responsibility is to share the innovation going on to make sure that we can work with other countries, like China, through Qingdao to promote innovation around the world.
He said that San Francisco have companies from Qingdao like Haier who recently purchased General Electric Appliances, the very famous brand in the United States. There are more examples why and how we must work together. And I think there will be very strong reason to continue this cooperation.
In 2012, then Vice Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward sub-regional cooperation during his visit to the United States. Qingdao was chosen by the Department of Commerce in 2013 as one of the first cities in promoting regional cooperation in trade and investment between China and the United States. Zhang said The visiting to San Francisco this time aims to carry out the cooperation in finance, trade and business, as well as technology and culture under the guidance of the sub-regional cooperation spirit.
Luo Linquan, General Consul of the Chinese Consulate General to San Francisco, told the attendees that in September 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the United States. The two presidents spoke highly of the achievements made by regional exchanges and cooperation, and they welcome more mechanism to be built in promoting regional economic, trade and investment cooperation.
The establishment of Qingdao Center for Business and Commerce USA is a new achievement of the consensus of the two presidents and also enriched the content of economic and trade cooperation mechanism between Chinese provinces and California, said Luo.
At the forum, over 20 Qingdao companies signed cooperation agreements with American counterparts.
Concreate concrete plank flooring is used in elevator lobbies throughout the newly renovated JP Morgan Chase building in Jersey City, NJ. This is the first major North American installation of Concreate plank flooring, a new category of building material." - Roi Kuris, CEO, Concreate
World renowned architecture firm Gensler has selected a new, unconventional flooring material with a unique look and feel for the offices of the world's 6th largest bank. Concreate, a premium pre-finished concrete plank floor covering, is being installed on 17 floors of the Chase Building in Jersey City, NJ. An attractive, durable floor, it was chosen by owner JP Morgan Chase for elevator lobbies, one of the most heavily-trafficked areas of the building. Chase, which already occupies the building, undertook a top-to-bottom renovation as part of a plan to move 2150 more employees across the river from New York and create a technology and operations hub in New Jersey.
This project is the first major North American installation of Concreate plank flooring, explains Concreate CEO Roi Kuris. It is a new category of building material. While our flooring is widely used in Europe, Gensler conducted extensive due diligence to determine that the product meets US standards for performance, safety, and sustainability. We are very proud that Concreate passed every test.
Concrete plank floor, a product invented by Concreate, is just -inch in thickness. The planks have a burnished concrete finish with subtle color variegation for visual interest. Tongue-and-groove edges and ends simplify installation, and micro-beveled edges enhance cleanability and visual appeal. Concreate provides the appearance and performance of a decorative concrete floor without the multiple disadvantages of pouring and finishing cast-in-place concrete.
Gensler visualized a concrete-look product, and recommended several products with a sophisticated appearance to the client. JP Morgan Chase chose Concreate because it met the design intent within the construction allowance. They selected Dark Gray, one of three available Concreate concrete colors.
One of the important selection criteria had to do with the projects goal of LEED Silver certification. Vidara Group, sustainability consultant for the renovation, required numerous tests, including VOC content and emissions of both the planks and the special adhesive used to install them. Concreate products have numerous green aspects. They are built on a proprietary, high-performance substrate made with a non-Portland cement that is far more sustainable to manufacture than ordinary Portland cement: it consumes 50% less energy and produces far less CO2, a primary greenhouse gas. The substrate is reinforced with natural fibers to give planks increased strength and durability. Planks are installed with Concreates proprietary SMP Adhesive, a low-VOC adhesive made with recycled rubber granules that give the floor a resiliency not typical of other hard surface flooring, and increase vibration damping and sound proofing. The plank surface is sealed with natural, plant-based oil, and monthly mopping with the low-VOC oil assures long-term durability. Both planks and adhesive are Greenleaf certified, and met LEED indoor air quality requirements of JP Morgan Chase project.
The flooring installer on the project, Continental Marble, also vetted the product before it was approved by the bank. Continental Marble had never installed a Concreate floor before, but installation procedures are similar to other tongue-and-groove flooring systems. After a trial installation Continental Marble CEO Jeff Olsen was impressed with the speed of the work compared to tile or stone flooring.
Another important consideration was that the product is readily available in the US. The product selection was made relatively late in the construction process, but Concreate was able to supply the flooring promptly without delaying the first construction phase. Because the building is occupied, the renovation is being staged in four phases, approximately four floors at a time. Other characteristics that appealed to the project team were Concreates non-combustibility and Class A fire rating.
Installation has been smooth, and the project is expected to complete before the end of the year, adds Concreate CEO Roi Kuris. Following successful installation in the early phases of the New Jersey project, Gensler selected Concreate for two more JP Morgan Chase projects, a second office building in Jersey City and an office building in Chicago.
The selection of Concreate has long-term sustainable and economic benefits, as well. Concreate floors require only simple, environmentally-friendly care, including daily removal of loose dirt and debris, weekly cleaning with a mild cleanser, and monthly mopping with natural oil sealer. No stripping, waxing, or harsh chemicals are used, minimizing both labor and environmental impacts. The floors are stain-resistant and long lasting.
Concreate floor planks are also available with a pre-finished, real wood top layer. Concreate Wood and Concrete planks are fully compatible with each other for easy installation and maintenance, and can be used in mixed patterns for a wide variety of visual effects. The company also makes thin concrete wall panels that complement the flooring. All products are available throughout the world.
For more information, please visit http://www.concreate.net.
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To Download High Resolution Images: https://concreateusa.egnyte.com/fl/MMgwEMJk7I
About Concreate
Concreate LLC is the inventor and manufacturer of patented Concreate plank flooring. This new category of interior finish offers the contemporary look and durability of a concrete floor without the challenges of pouring and finishing a slab. Concreate also makes wood plank flooring and concrete wall panels. Concreate floors are architecturally versatile, easy installing, low maintenance, and environmentally friendly. Concreate products are available worldwide. For more information, please visit http://www.concreate.net.
For more information or interviews: Steve Miller, concreate(at)metaphorce.com
Chargeback Icon Logo By the end of 2016 well have chargeback Monitoring, Responses and Alerts in the commerce stack of thousands of merchants across the globe.
The revamp began at the end of 2015 when Dave Wilkes was appointed Chairman and CEO. Wilkes has been on the founding team of several fintech companies, including Fuze Network (acquired by Ingo Money), One Global Finance (acquired by Galileo Processing), ProPay (acquired by TSYS) and MAD Prepaid (acquired by AccountNow).
Once Mr. Wilkes assumed the helm he brought on Khalid El-Awady as President, moved Spencer Prows into the executive role of operations as the COO, and shortly after asked Nate Smith to join the executive team as CTO. Early in 2016, Scott Stone came on as the CMO.
This by far is the most capable and most experienced senior management team Ive had the pleasure to work with in a long time, not only the ones Ive worked with but others that Ive dealt with, said Wilkes. Khalid is one of the smartest guys in payments. He really brings a level of professionalism, knowledge, expertise and background to not only our company but our forward facing position in the marketplace. And that continues with each of the people we have involved.
The latest addition to Chargebacks executive team is Camille Mauerhan, who joined in March as the Senior Vice President of Sales. Mauerhan has 20 years experience in payments -- one of the main reasons Wilkes wanted her on his executive team.
Camille is a seasoned professional and very well connected and has been doing this for a long time. Ive had a chance to know her personally and professionally for many years, said Wilkes. You just get excited having confidence you can rely and trust a person to get stuff done; thats what I love about having Camille on this team.
The new executive team at Chargeback has made significant investments in their products and plans to release a new reporting portal and enhanced automation in the coming months. The company has undergone a slight re-brand, relaunched the company website, and nearly doubled processed transactions in their first six months.
Were just getting started, said Stone. By the end of 2016 well have chargeback Monitoring, Responses and Alerts in the commerce stack of thousands of merchants across the globe. Chargeback management is important to every merchant that accepts credit cards. The 100,000 plus merchants in the Alexa top 1 million need automated credit card dispute resolution yesterday.
About Chargeback
Chargeback is an industry leader in Chargeback Management. Their solution offers the only chargeback dashboard and reporting tool that's already integrated with shopping cart platforms and payment gateways. The solution enables automated and comprehensive Responses that recover lost revenue from chargeback fraud as well as Alerts from issuing banks to protect merchant accounts from a high chargeback ratio. For more details about Chargeback, visit https://chargeback.com or call +1-888-808-8447.
Our immensely talented and innovative group of Members and Endorsed Suppliers truly made magic happen once again at our Spring Conference," said Louise O'Sullivan, CEO/Founder of Prime Advantage.
Prime Advantage, the leading group purchasing organization for midsized manufacturers, hosted more than 200 procurement, engineering, operations, executive, and sales professionals at its 37th conference in Orlando, FL. The semi-annual event, which took place April 19-21, brought together manufacturers from more than 30 industries, including: commercial foodservice equipment, packaging, truck and trailer equipment, material handling, food processing, HVAC, and construction.
Highlights from the Supply Chain Conference
Prime Advantage Members and Endorsed Suppliers gathered for one-on-one meetings and attended seminars to share best practices for supply chain management, growth, and profitability. Prime Advantage's Spring Conference kicked off with a keynote address from renowned customer service expert Dennis Snow, of Snow & Associates. Snow outlined three principles that need to be at the heart of any organization with aspirations of providing elite customer service: looking at everything through the lens of the customer, paying attention to the details, and adding value to the experience. Snow explained how consumers seemingly have an unlimited amount of choices of where to spend their dollars; and which companies win them over ultimately comes down to who can deliver the best experiences.
The Engineering Focus Sessions held at the conference were also a huge success. Engineers worked together to share ideas around design, compliance, technology, and communication. The meetings featured presentations entitled, "The Changing Face of Regulatory: Risk Management", "Connectivity & IoT: What Is It and How Do I Implement It?","3D Printing: History, Hype, Impact", "Using Hard Data to Validate Product Development", and "Galvanizing Breakthrough Performance: 7 Roles of a Highly Effective Manager."
Each Prime Advantage Conference provides attendees with access to industry experts who lead conversations around topics crucial to manufacturing professionals. The Spring Conference featured Keith Launchbury, President of Keith Launchbury & Associates, who hosted round-table discussions around the topic of, "How Accurate is Your Forecast?" Mr. Launchbury explained how today's planning systems are fundamentally broken, and shared the benefits of Demand Driven MRP (DDMRP), a formal planning and execution method based upon the connection between the creation, protection, and acceleration of the flow of relevant materials, and information and ROI. Launchbury showed how DDMRP is employed by companies to tackle three pervasive problems: unacceptable inventory performance, inadequate service level performance, and large expedited-related expenses and waste.
Prime Advantage also presented awards to Members and Endorsed Suppliers that exhibited an exemplary performance at the conference. Fastenal won "Best Supplier Booth Presentation"; Kloeckner Metals won "Most Prepared Endorsed Supplier;" and Hunter Manufacturing landed "Most Prepared Member."
"Our immensely talented and innovative group of Members and Endorsed Suppliers truly made magic happen once again at our Spring Conference," said Louise O'Sullivan, CEO/Founder of Prime Advantage. "At each conference, our group continues to raise the bar even higher, solving more challenges, developing stronger partnerships and creating an even brighter future for manufacturing. We couldnt prouder, or more thrilled about what our group has accomplished, and know we will be delighted with what comes next."
Prime Advantage concludes each conference by distributing rebates earned by Prime Advantage Member Companies based on negotiated programs with its Endorsed Suppliers. Over the past 18 years, Prime Advantage has paid more than $191.2 million in rebates and discounts to its Members.
The success of Prime Advantage has been continuously recognized throughout the industry. Prime Advantage was a finalist at the Expo EXCITE Awards in the category of Best Buyer-Seller Event in 2014, and won the award in 2013.
About Prime Advantage: Founded in 1997, Prime Advantage is group purchasing organization with more than 750 Members and 125 Endorsed Suppliers. For more about Prime Advantage and its cost savings programs, solutions and services, visit PrimeAdvantage.com.
American West Jewelry will be exhibited at JCK Las Vegas in the Accessories Council Pavilion booth B15143 American West Jewelry curated by Carolyn Pollack, is an iconic, romantic and spirited Collection of unique jewelry...
For the first time in almost a decade, American West Jewelry will be exhibiting at the JCK Show in Las Vegas 2016 with styles that are all handcrafted in America.Taking place on June 3 -6, American West Jewelry will exhibit many of their timeless yet completely on-trend sterling silver, Sleeping Beauty turquoise and gemstone pieces that represent natural, elegant take on the Western fashion. All pieces have a sculptural, versatile quality, meant to be worn for a beautifully-adorned daily life with genuine gemstones from around the world. These are many of the qualities that make Carolyn Pollack and American West Jewelry so popular with a wide-range of fans, from mothers who pass down the designer silver jewelry pieces to their daughters to young women who are beginning to grow their own collection of these timeless heirlooms to women who just want to look and feel fabulous no matter where they are or what they are doing.
JCK Las Vegas is the leading jewelry event in North America for jewelry professionals, where the latest awe-inspiring designers and the most sought-after trends are showcased.
American West Jewelry, curated by designer Carolyn Pollack, is an iconic, romantic and spirited Collection of unique jewelry that defines casual elegance in American fashion. Handcrafted in America, this distinctive jewelry captures the adventure and boho chic beauty of the Southwestern United States, combines sterling silver, rare Sleeping Beauty Turquoise, and genuine gemstones from around the world. Based in Albuquerque, New Mexico but with an e-commerce business across the U.S, American West Jewelry has built a large, loyal following through twenty years as a presence on QVC, including a much-lauded collaboration with superstar Jennifer Nettles. Now poised to move forward with a push into brick-and-mortar stores via wholesale, the company will be creating specific Collections for new doors, and will be offering exclusivity in various markets to early adapters. The extensive Carolyn Pollack/American West website has been created to support not only avid consumers, but also to educate new wholesalers with complete product information.
About American West Jewelry:
American West Jewelry celebrates the rich heritage, landscape and cultures of the West through symbols, stories and artisan-inspired designs. With its mix of classic and fresh silhouettes, American West Jewelry has quickly become one of the most collected and treasured Southwestern jewelry brands in the US. All jewelry is proudly designed and crafted in the American West from sterling silver and genuine gemstones from around the world.
American West collections can be found in fine jewelry stores, galleries, resorts, and department stores around the United States as well as online.
You can follow American West Jewelry on social media: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or in the press.
We had a great turnout during each of the collection dates said Dave Owens, President & CEO of Midland IRA, its nice to see everyone participating for a great cause.
The mission of the Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida is to overcome hunger through education and by working in a cooperative effort with affiliated agencies in the procurement and distribution of food, equitably and without discrimination. In an effort to assist the community, Midland IRA collected 180 pounds of canned food donations for this cause and invited food trucks to serve food during the collection dates.
The Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida has been helping Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry, and Lee counties overcome hunger since 1983. Each month the food bank provides more than 30,000 individuals food through a network of 150 partner agencies. In fiscal year 2015, the Harry Chapin Food Bank provided 15.3 million meals (18.4 million pounds of fresh, nutritious food) by turning every donated $1 into $6 worth of food.
Midland IRA organized a food drive to get the community and company involved during a time when there are not as many food drives happening. The self-directed retirement plan administrator brought in 3 local food trucks during the collection days throughout April. We had a great turnout during each of the collection dates said Dave Owens, President & CEO of Midland IRA, its nice to see everyone participating for a great cause. Midland IRA collected 180 pounds of food, totaling roughly 200 cans. The items consisted mostly of instant mashed potatoes, pasta, macaroni and cheese, rice, canned vegetables, and soup. The company plans on organizing another food drive later this year.
About Midland IRA
Midland IRA is a self-directed IRA administrator that provides tax-deferred and tax-free investment opportunities, superior customer service, and educational tools to assist investors in realizing the maximum benefits possible within IRAs. Midland IRA makes it easy to use self-directed retirement plans to invest in assets that the individual investor knows, understands, and can control. Midland IRA is also a 1031 exchange qualified intermediary. To learn more visit www(dot)MidlandIRA(dot)com.
About Dave Owens
Dave Owens is president of Midland IRA in Fort Myers, Chicago, Miami, Gainesville, New England, and the Florida Panhandle. Owens opened the Fort Myers headquarters in 2003. His background as a certified public accountant, combined with a long history of personal retirement self-direction, provides his audiences and clients with solid advice and practical solutions to their IRA investment questions. Dave holds a BS in accounting from Purdue University. He also earned the prestigious Certified Exchange Specialist designation through the Federation of Exchange Accommodators.
ESO Solutions, Inc., a leading developer of software for public safety and healthcare professionals, was named as a winner in the 2016 Austin A-List Awards, company officials announced. The Austin A-List Awards, presented by the Austin Chamber in partnership with SXSW Interactive, honor the regions top startups and innovators.
ESO was one of nearly 200 nominees considered for the award. A panel of independent judges evaluated business in three categories: Emerging, Growth and Scale. ESO was one of six honorees in the Growth (Mid-Stage) category.
Austin is widely recognized as one of the top cities nationwide for promising and innovative companies, and were honored to be named one of the top promising and innovative companies in Austin, said Chris Dillie, President and CEO of ESO. The Austin tech industry is rapidly growing, and were proud to stand beside the other prestigious companies to win this notable award.
Now in its sixth year, the Austin A-List has previously recognized RetailMeNot, Silvercar, SpareFoot, and numerous other fast-growing and successful brands.
To view the entire list of 2016 Austin A-List winners, and to learn more about Innovate Austin, please visit http://innovation.austinchamber.com/.
About ESO
ESO Solutions, Inc., founded in 2004 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, is dedicated to improving community health through the power of data. Its healthcare, public safety and technology experts provide the most innovative software solutions on the market, including the industry-leading ESO Electronic Health Record (EHR) software, as well as the first-of-its-kind healthcare interoperability platform, ESO Health Data Exchange (HDE). For more information about ESO, visit http://www.esosolutions.com.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker today presented Rayner Equipment Systems with the Presidents E Award for Exports at a ceremony in Washington, DC. The Presidents E Award is the highest recognition any U.S. entity can receive for making a significant contribution to the expansion of U.S. exports.
Rayner Equipment Systems has demonstrated a sustained commitment to export expansion. The "E" Awards Committee was very impressed with Rayner Equipment Systems adaptation of its product line for export markets. The company's participation in trade events was also particularly notable. Rayner Equipment Systems' achievements have undoubtedly contributed to national export expansion efforts that support the U.S. economy and create American jobs. said Secretary Pritzker in her congratulatory letter to the company announcing its selection as an award recipient.
Rayner Equipment Systems, a division of California Pavement Maintenance Co., Inc. is a manufacturer of pavement preservation equipment used to preserve asphalt surfaces including roads, highways, airports (runways, taxiways and ramps) as well as many commercial uses, shopping centers, HOAs, mobile home parks and more. Rayner machines such as the RoadSaver micro surfacing machine are well known and highly respected world-wide.
Exporting continues to be the foundation of our sales growth, and we are honored to receive the E Award, said Gordon Rayner, CEO of Rayner Equipment Systems When we first began exporting in 1987 export sales accounted for two percent of our total sales. Since that time export sales have continually grown and this past year, export sales have accounted for nearly 36 percent of our total sales, enabling us to sustain jobs and even expand our work force right here in Sacramento.
In 1961, President Kennedy signed an executive order reviving the World War II E symbol of excellence to honor and provide recognition to America's exporters. Today, Secretary Pritzker honored 123 U.S. companies with the Presidents E Award for their outstanding work to reduce barriers to foreign markets and to open the door to more trade around the world.
In 2015, U.S. exports totaled $2.23 trillion, accounting for nearly 13 percent of U.S. GDP. Nationally, exports contributed to the U.S. economy, supporting an estimated 11.5 million jobs.
U.S. companies are nominated for the E Awards through the Department of Commerces U.S. Commercial Service office network, located within the Departments International Trade Administration, with offices in 108 U.S. cities and more than 70 countries. Record years of successive export growth and an applicants demonstration of an innovative international marketing plan that led to the increase in exports is a significant factor in selecting the winners.
CuroGens Expands Internationally Our team has helped build a strong international reputation for CuroGens in providing first-class, customer focused consulting services and solutions.
CuroGens, Inc., a global systems integrator and Microsoft partner headquartered in Carmel, Ind., is on track to double its revenue in 2016 based on its growing client base around the globe. In the last 12 months, the company has launched offices in Barcelona, Spain and Calgary, Alberta, Canada, adding to its existing International presence in Hyderabad, India and Copenhagen, Denmark. CuroGens also plans to open a Ghana, West Africa location in 2016.
CuroGens, which means helping others in Latin, found early success and has grown quickly. Co-founded in 2012 by seasoned technology professionals Jesper Kehlet, chief executive officer, and Sumanth Dama, chief technology officer, CuroGens employs nearly 60 sales professionals, software engineers and software architects today around the world. Kehlet expects to employ 100 professionals by the end of 2017.
Our team has helped build a strong international reputation for CuroGens in providing first-class, customer focused consulting services and solutions, Kehlet says. He credits much of the companys success on the practice of hiring the most experienced, qualified team members that exhibit proven success in technology, sales and customer service while demonstrating the ability to meet the growing needs and goals of the company and its clients.
Earlier this year, CuroGens was accepted into Microsofts Cloud Solution Program as a 1-Tier provider, allowing it to sell cloud services on a highly competitive level. These solutions include Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Dynamics AX, Office 365, and Skype for Business. The company also sells proprietary software solutions built on an integrated platform of Microsoft cloud products, including CuroGens mv360, a unique inventory management and customer service solution for motor vehicle manufacturers.
About CuroGens
CuroGens, Inc. is a systems integrator specialized in serving transportation manufacturers worldwide through custom business solutions built on Microsoft platforms, including Dynamics ERP, Azure, CRM Online, SharePoint, Office 365 and other Microsoft .NET based applications. As a trusted Microsoft partner and 1-Tier Cloud Solution Provider (CSP), CuroGens develops, implements and supports solutions that help motor vehicle manufacturers maximize resources, streamline processes and improve customer service. For more information, visit http://www.curogens.com or call +1-317-815-8120.
Ryan Benton Ryan has seen vast improvements in muscle mass and lung capacity as a result of his treatments...
Ryan Benton was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) at the age of three and given a life expectancy in the late teens to early twenties. DMD is a relatively common progressive genetic disorder, which causes aggressive deterioration of the muscles.
In 2009, at the age of 22, Bentons condition was critical. He met with the founder of the Stem Cell Institute in Panama City, Panama and Medistem Panama, Neil H. Riordan, PhD. Research had shown that adult stem cell therapy might have the potential to reverse the progression of DMD.
Because of the laws restricting adult stem cell therapy in the United States, Benton was forced to travel to Panama to receive his first life-saving treatment. Ryan made seven trips to Panama to receive treatments from Dr. Riordans team of physicians at the Stem Cell Institute.
Ryan was assured at the start that there was no guarantee that we would find success but we knew it was his only hope in fighting the disease, especially since his health was at a critical point. Ryan could tell shortly after the first treatment that something was working. He found a renewed strength that he had never felt before and not once did he see any adverse side effects. He trusted Dr. Riordan and felt safe and eager to undergo additional treatments.
It took five years of hard work and successful treatments, but Benton became the first (and only) DMD patient granted FDA approval for this form of medical therapy inside the United States. An investigational new drug (IND) for compassionate use application was approved, allowing Benton to receive treatment in his hometown, Wichita, KS.
Approval from the FDA came with many stipulations, however. This form of treatment was to be used for only a single patient, twice a year for 3 years.
By all accounts, January 2016 was a major milestone. The FDA has recently granted an additional treatment per year, now allowing Ryan three total treatments per year, as well as approval for a second compassionate use IND for another patient. This second patient, a six-year-old boy, has also shown success from previous treatments in Panama. He received his first treatment in the United States this year .
Ryan and his family have been actively involved in the local muscular dystrophy community, and have personally known dozens of others with DMD who have passed away at far too young of an age. That number continues to grow each day, which only continues to frustrate Ryan and his family as they fight for this treatment to be more readily available for others suffering from the same disease. Ryan believes that if treated early enough, patients could have a strong chance to live a normal life. Ryan believes if he had been treated when he was six years old, it could be very likely that he would never have faced any of the diseases debilitating effects.
Ryan has seen vast improvements in muscle mass and lung capacity as a result of his treatments, but we believe additional treatments on a more frequent basis would help ensure maximum potential when it comes to reversing the progression of his disease. Immediately following each round of treatment, we see dramatic increases in his overall health, stamina, physical strength, and ease in ability to breathe. Unfortunately, we have found that on average, three to four months after each treatment, the effectiveness of the cells begins to decrease. We believe the FDAs permission to increase the number of treatments per year will help safeguard Ryans ability to preserve his improvements and more effectively control his Duchennes Muscular Dystrophy. Video: Ryan Benton discusses stem cell therapy for DMD
For many families that have lived alongside, or suffered from this disease, this is very exciting news. Ryan and his family are continually heart stricken as they hear of another member of their md community has died far too young due to the disease. Its their hope they can help provide other families the same opportunities that they were so fortunate to receive.
Coming Together for a Cure, (CTFAC) is a non-profit organization founded by Bentons siblings, Lauren and Blake after Ryans first round of treatments in 2009. In the 7 years since the Bentons were given new hope, theyve been hard at work raising awareness and support for adult stem cell research and therapy.
To find more information about their organization, their family, or to find out how you can help, please visit http://www.comingtogetherforacure.org
For all other inquiries, please email comingtogetherforacure(at)gmail(dot)com
John OKeefe, CEO for ITelagen, was quoted saying I am very excited about the acquisition of Planet Logic and the opportunity to continue serving the healthcare industry with world-class cloud hosting solutions.
Jersey City, NJ May 18, 2016 ITelagen, an IT Support and Hosting service for healthcare providers and practices, announced today that they will be acquiring Planet Logic, a Newton, New Jersey based healthcare cloud hosting company. The acquisition is expected to close on May 31, 2016 effectively marrying the IT and EHR Support and Hosting Services of ITelagen with the custom healthcare hosting solutions of Planet Logic. Planet Logic and ITelagen share many common attributes, including excellent service levels and deep healthcare expertise.
ITelagen is a company that provides EHR hosting solutions and support to physicians and medical practices, and has earned recognition on The Channel Companys 2015 CRN Managed Service Provider (MSP) 500 list as one of the Pioneer 250. This annual list distinguishes the top technology providers and consultants in North America whose leading approach to managed services enables their customers to improve operational efficiencies, elicit greater value from their IT investments, and successfully leverage technology to achieve greater competitive advantage.
The union of these organizations will allow for an acceleration of services in next-generation EHR hosting solutions, technology solutions and support. Planet Logic clients will not only maintain the dedicated and/or shared clouds, co-location and/or managed data center services, but will gain an extraordinary portfolio of products and services. ITelagen is dedicated to maintaining and increasing the quality of innovation, support, and service and will continue to focus efforts on service, support and infrastructure efficiency, and simplicity. John OKeefe, CEO for ITelagen, was quoted saying I am very excited about the acquisition of Planet Logic and the opportunity to continue serving the healthcare industry with world-class cloud hosting solutions.
Additionally, ITelagen maintains a data center that is SSAE16/SOC Type II certified, an international auditing standard governed by information technology and process controls. ITelagen is a cloud-based technology support IT service that monitors and hosts infrastructures for the healthcare, financial, and small business industries. The service provides onsite and remote technical support, manages EHRs to organize medical records and bills, coordinates and submits medical claims and insurance collections, and allows medical staff to send scripts online.
About ITelagen:
ITelagen redefines Healthcare IT for medical practices by providing electronic health records (EHR) as part of an entire back-office solution that includes unlimited onsite & remote technical support for all of your staff and secure hosting of your patient data. We are more than just desktop technicians, but a complete healthcare technology team made up of CIO's, engineers, and healthcare EHR experts. With ITelagen, you can have all the benefits of your very own fully-staffed IT Department, without the expense of an in-house staff. By combining certified EHR experts with IT and hosting, ITelagen becomes the single point of contact and One-Stop Shop for EHR for IT and EHR infrastructure, all for a flat monthly subscription fee. For more information, visit ITelagen on the Web at http://www.itelagen.com. Follow ITelagen on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ITELAGEN, Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itelagen, or LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/company/itelagen.
Contact:
Emile Clifford
ITelagen LLC
201-239-8405
press(at)itelagen.com
On May 9, Guangzhou police hunted down a counterfeit Louis Vuitton production base in a remote town approximately 40 kilometers from Guangzhou. All the Louis Vuitton products produced there would have been shipped to Dubai.
Chinas massive e-commerce firm Alibaba has built a partnership with French fashion brand Louis Vuitton. Now the two are teaming up to stop the sale of counterfeit Louis Vuitton goods. According to the 2016 Alibaba Intellectual Property Rights Protection Annual Report released last month, Alibaba has created a comprehensive system for fighting against counterfeits, replicas and other unauthorized items. The company has drawn a distribution diagram of 3,518 luxury counterfeit producers, and helped local police shut down multiple counterfeit production operations.
Beyond those small-scale production bases, there is a huge counterfeit industrial chain in China. According to statistics, which are not always exact in this arena, there are at least 100,000 people working in the counterfeit chain, and the counterfeits add up to an annual production value of over 100 billion yuan.
Louis Vuittons partnership with Alibaba has already been quite successful. In addition to those caught at the production base outside of Guangzhou, two other suspects from the same industrial chain were arrested in Dubai, where police found about 6,000 fake luxury items.
Alibaba has gradually become an important anti-counterfeit force. In April 2015, Alibaba helped the China-Britain Business Council with its counterfeit lubricating oil case; in May 2015, Zhejiang police worked with Alibaba to bust 244 counterfeit production bases, leading to the arrests of 300 suspects.
Fighting against counterfeits is like struggling with the dark side of human nature; it will be a long war, said Alibaba founder Jack Ma.
The counterfeit Louis Vuitton production base
StartUp Health and GE
StartUp Health, a global organization leading the movement to transform health by building the worlds largest community of Healthcare Transformers, and GE Ventures, announced a new call for innovation today to discover companies focusing on the transition to value based care a fundamental financial, philosophical, and cultural change where care is paid for based on outcomes instead of the number of visits, tests, or procedures. As part of a unique collaborative program to help build innovative digital health companies, StartUp Health and GE Ventures are expanding their partnership to support companies building clinical workflow and chronic care management solutions, in addition to financial/payment platforms and operational technologies designed to transition the healthcare industry to value-based-care. Companies can apply online at StartUpHealth.com/GE.
This past October, StartUp Health and GE Ventures announced a call for innovation focusing on virtual health solutions. The first three companies related to this innovation call have been selected to join StartUp Health Academys GE Program. StartUp Health and GE Ventures have now partnered to help build 19 companies together and plan to select at least 7 more companies this year to join the exclusive program.
GE Ventures is incredibly excited to add Biome Analytics, Jiseki Health and WinguMD to the growing portfolio of amazing companies in StartUp Health Academys GE Program, said Ruchita Sinha, Director of Healthcare, GE Ventures. We are looking forward to investing in the next generation of Healthcare Transformers creating technologies and business models that enable health systems, plans, employers, and consumers to adapt to the rapid shift to value-based care, an area in great need of new solutions.
StartUp Healths ongoing partnership with GE Ventures has been an extraordinary example of how the worlds largest organizations can collaborate with Healthcare Transformers to foster innovation, work together with amazing companies like Biome Analytics, Jiseki Health and WinguMD and help them grow more quickly, said Polina Hanin, Director of StartUp Health Academy. We are looking forward to meeting entrepreneurs around the world helping the industry shift to value-based care. Theres a tremendous opportunity for innovators addressing this need in the market today.
Biome Analytics, Jiseki Health and WinguMD, as well as the next call for applications, builds on the success of StartUp Health Academy GE Program which launched in 2013 with 16 consumer health companies. Since its launch, over 500 companies from 22 countries have applied for StartUp Health Academy with GE Ventures. Currently 19 companies have been selected from a broad spectrum of health innovation. To date, the companies raised $51M in funding and 2 companies have been acquired.
The three newest companies selected to join the StartUp Health Academy with GE Ventures include:
Biome Analytics - Stuart Jacobson, Founder & CEO
(Location: Sausalito, CA; Subsector: Hospital Management)
Biome Analytics' transformational goal is to help hospitals deliver the best possible cardiovascular care at the lowest cost. Biome aggregates the data and builds the applications that deliver the insight doctors and hospitals need to insure the 26.6 million Americans diagnosed with cardiovascular disease get the best possible care at the lowest cost.
Jiseki Health - Tushar Vasisht, Founder & CEO
(Location: San Mateo, CA; Subsector: Patient Engagement)
Jiseki Healths mission is to bridge the gap between hospital-provided clinical care and supportive community health resources with technology to enable better and more accountable service delivery, and ultimately get patients the right services at the right place at the right time and for the right cost.
WinguMD - Manabu Tokunaga, MS, Founder & CEO
(Location: Palo Alto, CA, Subsector: Imaging)
WinguMD's transformational goal is to make all mobile medical photos "smart" and tell a vivid clinical story that would not be able to be captured in a written note. WinguMD's BodyMapSnap collects metadata from an image and enables body location and tagging tools for physicians combined with smart object size measurement and document recognition to make every photo a clinical tool and enables sharing with existing EMR and image archiving solutions.
For more information, please visit StartUpHealth.com/GE and follow the StartUp Health blog for updates.
About GE Ventures
GE Ventures identifies, scales and accelerates ideas that will help make the world work better. Focused on the areas of software, advanced manufacturing, energy and healthcare, GE Ventures combines equity investing, new business creation, licensing and technology transfer to deliver an innovation platform designed to drive growth for partners and GE. For more information, please visit http://www.geventures.com or follow on Twitter (@GE_Ventures) and LinkedIn.
About StartUp Health
StartUp Health is a global organization leading the movement to transform health by building a community of Healthcare Transformers. StartUp Health has the worlds largest portfolio of digital health companies spanning 12 countries. StartUp Healths platform includes the StartUp Health Academy, StartUp Health Network, StartUp Health Ventures and StartUp Health Media. StartUp Health was founded in 2011 by Steven Krein and Unity Stoakes and is chaired by former Time Warner CEO, Jerry Levin. Some of StartUp Healths notable strategic partners and investors include AARP, AON, Aurora Health Care, California Health Care Foundation, Steve Case, Cleveland Clinic, Conifer Health Solutions, Mark Cuban, Esther Dyson, Roger Ehrenberg, Brad Feld, Genentech, GE Ventures, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and SeventySix Capital. Learn more at http://www.startuphealth.com or follow @startuphealth.
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Consumer Goods Technology (CGT) will present its third annual CMO of the Year award during a special ceremony on June 7th at the 2016 Consumer Goods Sales & Marketing Summit in New York City.
This one of-a-kind award will be given to the Chief Marketing Officer who has made the largest demonstrable impact on his/her consumer goods organization through the implementation and successful use of new marketing strategies, technologies and/or processes.
The nominations have been open since January 2016, submitted by members of the consumer goods community. Narrowing the nominations down to three deserving individuals, CGT has presented them to its esteemed Editorial and Research Advisory Boards for voting. Without further ado, here are this year's finalists for CMO of the Year:
Chuck Gitkin, SVP Marketing, Smithfield Foods
Gitkin serves as SVP of marketing presiding over all of Smithfield Foods brands. Under his leadership Smithfield is now the second fastest-growing Top 25 food company in the grocery store (and not just in the meat aisle), which can be all the more difficult to make those gains when you happen to be the worlds largest pork processor and operating from a large base. Smithfields marketing program in NASCARs Sprint Cup series partnered with the iconic Richard Petty has absolutely ignited its brands and the level of authenticity that surrounds Smithfields marketing has earned accolades throughout the sport. With its first documentary film, Chasing 43, produced in 2015 with NBC Sports, the research on awareness/recall/brand favorability was off the charts. Gitkin is now expanding on this content marketing with the sequel now in the editing room at NBC, and airing on the NBC network on May 21, 2016.
Peter McGuinness, Chief Marketing & Brand Officer, Chobani: As Chief Marketing & Brand Officer at Chobani, McGuinness oversees all marketing and communication efforts for Americas No. 1selling Greek Yogurt brand, including advertising, brand strategy, innovation, experiential, retail, digital, social and PR. McGuinness has been a major player navigating, innovating and surviving the yogurt wars, building a mass-market food and lifestyle brand, changing the way people experience and talk about food. Now, McGuinness is on a mission to prove that Chobani can be experienced in the most unexpected places, from its branded Chobani SoHo cafe offering Mediterranean foods to launching the #NOBADSTUFF campaign at incremental and breakthrough innovations to engage consumers. Chobani knows it has a huge opportunity to win over American consumers, so entering new food territories, showcasing new recipe creations, driving trial and raising awareness are key for the companys future success as the modern food company.
Antonio Sciuto, EVP & CMO, Nestle Waters
Sciuto is leading the effort to re-envision the consumer experience for Nestle Waters from a series of anonymous touch points to a well-orchestrated consumer journey based on identity, data, testing and optimization across brands. Sciuto is building a consumer journey command center and dedicated team to manage the orchestration across digital channels, e-commerce, and the contact center under a single leader with a single mission to put the consumer at the center of the business. Benefits of his digital transformation include: 1) reorganized the marketing effort leveraging fully integrated marketing cloud solutions, 2) evolved the branded content campaign leveraging new content partners and operating models (e.g. Tastemade, Buzzfeed) reducing go live from 8-12 months to 8 weeks, 3) integrated all online disciplines through the creation of an eBusiness unit to manage the online space end to end across all channels (digital and social media, e-commerce D2C and e-retailers, acquisition and search, call centers).
CGT presents several awards through the year to the members of the consumer goods community. Click here to make a nomination for awards in the following categories: CIO of the Year, Customer Management, Innovation, SMB Market and Supply Chain.
About Consumer Goods Technology
Consumer Goods Technology (CGT), an integrated media brand, is the leading resource for consumer goods executives looking to improve business performance. Delivering content in print, online and face-to-face, CGT reaches an audience of more than 76,000 consumer goods executives ranging from managers and directors to VPs and CIOs. CGT also covers all major segments of the consumer goods sector, including Food, Beverage, Packaged Goods, Consumer Electronics and Footwear. For more information on CGT, visit http://www.consumergoods.com.
Contact:
Alarice Rajagopal
Editor, Consumer Goods Technology
973-607-1354
arajagopal(at)edgellmail(dot)com
http://www.consumergoods.com
Data loggers for dairy applications in New Zealand
Entering their tenth year of business, Advanced Technical Services began by using MadgeTech data loggers for validation and calibrations, but quickly expanded their data logger offerings as demand continued to increase in other industries. Today, Advanced Technical Services offers MadgeTech data loggers for many industries including energy monitoring, cooking and cooling during food processing, warehouse mapping and most recently dairy monitoring for compliance with changing MPI regulations.
For many dairy processing applications that require temperature monitoring, ATS offers the rugged and diverse HiTemp140-M12 Data Logger. Designed with M12 connectivity, probe styles are interchangeable, making the HiTemp140-M12 a flexible option that can satisfy a variety of different applications with a single logger. Available M12 probe options include RTD clean in place (CIP) probes which are ideal for monitoring cycles in sanitary applications, commonly found in dairy or pharmaceutical processing environments. In addition, many M12 probes on the market can be used in conjunction with the HiTemp140-M12 Data Logger.
Also available to the dairy industry are wireless data loggers for monitoring dairy sheds. MadgeTech wireless loggers can connect directly to the MadgeTech Cloud for around the clock monitoring from any internet enabled device. Using the new RFC1000 Cloud Relay, a computer is not required and data is transmitted directly to the MadgeTech Cloud for instant access remotely from any smartphone or mobile device. The MadgeTech wireless system can be used in virtually any industry where environmental parameters need monitoring and is scalable for facilities large or small.
As regulations become stricter and monitoring requirements evolve in New Zealand, MadgeTech, in conjunction with Advanced Technical Services, will continue to bring cutting edge technologies and expertise to the data logging industry for years to come.
To learn more about MadgeTech data loggers and products sold in New Zealand, contact Advanced Technical Services.
The State of Community Management 2016 Online communities have moved from afterthought to strategic asset in the minds of many executives.
Organizations are seizing the opportunity to use online communities to drive innovation and collaboration, but now must translate that engagement into real business value. Thats the message from The Community Roundtables The State of Community Management 2016 report, which was released today at http://communityroundtable.com/socm2016
Online communities have moved from afterthought to strategic asset in the minds of many executives, said Rachel Happe, co-founder and Principal of The Community Roundtable (TheCR), but as the data show, too few communities can clearly define their value or provide the success metrics that will ensure sustained executive attention.
The report is the seventh in TheCRs annual The State of Community Management series. In all, representatives from 339 communities across industries, functions and geographies shared their data on community strategy, operations and tactics. The sample includes both for-profit and nonprofit communities, and both internal and external communities.
Among the key findings, respondents disproved the 90-9-1 rule of social media engagement, which claims just 1% of users are active content creators, while 9% contribute to content and 90% lurk on the sidelines. For the third consecutive year, communities reported numbers closer to 65-15-20, with more than a third of members actively creating and contributing to content. Set aside inactive members who never log in, and the percentage of actively engaged members in communities rises to between 40% and 50% - in both employee and customer communities.
The research highlights the notion that communities and social networks deliver different engagement outcomes, said Ted McEnroe, Director of Research and Training for The Community Roundtable. Social networks tend to have more reach but lighter engagement while communities are more effective at triggering behavior change and deeper engagement, like asking and answering questions.
The report also recognizes best practices in community management, highlighting key findings for 2016 in community strategy, operations and tactics.
1. Communities that concisely define and measure the shared value to members and sponsors outperform their peers in community engagement and strategy metrics.
2. Communities that empower members to share leadership opportunities improve engagement.
3. Communities that measure their value and return on investment (ROI) by looking at behaviors and outcomes, rather than broad-based activity, achieve greater community success than their peers.
Also as part of this years report TheCR asked participants to share data on answered questions and successful searches in an effort to calculate a base-level community ROI. While the data proved difficult or impossible to collect for some communities, those that were able to submit data demonstrated an ROI of 8-11x their community cost.
As with anything else when you are asking people to calculate value in a new way, the data can be difficult to collect, said Happe. But these first figures suggest that simply answering questions and resurfacing those answers through search can provide a remarkable return on investment for communities.
Among the other data highlights in the report:
Successful organizations make communities a strategic priority. 61% of online communities have an approved strategy, including 93% of best-in-class communities (those who scored in the top 20% overall in the survey).
More than half of online communities have a dedicated budget, including 76% of the best-in-class communities.
75% of communities surveyed say they have full-time community management, and 95% have at least some resources allocated to community management.
Work in communities is only half of community professionals jobs. Community managers say they spend nearly half of their time connecting with members via email, phone, elsewhere online or even in person.
Engagement data has brought with it executive interest and attention in communities, but Happe cautions that the spotlight on communities will fade if community leaders dont capture data and stories that demonstrate the value and ROI of community approaches. The growth and success of community as a strategic approach is something in which all of us who have been involved with building communities can take pride, she notes in the report. In the long run, though, our good feelings wont be enough we need to show results in business terms.
Higher Logic is the launch partner for The State of Community Management 2016 report. The report is available for download exclusively through The Community Roundtable website at http://the.cr/socm2016, and on Higher Logics website beginning May 18. In addition, Ted McEnroe and Rachel Happe will hold a free, exclusive launch webinar with Higher Logic at 2pm ET on Wednesday, May 25, where they will present the findings and take questions from attendees.
Book your place now at http://resources.higherlogic.com/the-state-of-community-management-report-2016-webinar:
About The Community Roundtable
At The Community Roundtable, we collaborate with clients to identify proven, practical strategies for better communities. We believe communities accelerate an organizations potential by connecting employees and customers in meaningful ways. Clients rely on our models, practical research, and peer networks to take their communities to the next level.
TheCR has developed the Community Maturity Model and other models and research platforms that inform programming in TheCR Network, our training offerings and our advisory services.
Over 200 organizations have relied on The Community Roundtables services, including Adobe, Aetna, Autodesk, BASF, CA Technologies, H&R Block, Johnson Controls, Microsoft, NHRI, SAP, The World Bank, and Verizon. Learn more about The Community Roundtable and TheCR Network at communityroundtable.com.
About Higher Logic
Higher Logic is an industry leader in cloud-based community platforms. Organizations worldwide use Higher Logic to bring like-minded people all together, by giving their community a home where they can meet, share ideas, answer questions and stay connected.
Higher Logic aims to empower engagement, collaboration and community evolution, which we believe are the fundamental elements to the long-term relevance of any organization. By fostering community growth, you can open up a world of possibility. Tap into the power your community can generate for you. http://www.higherlogic.com.
Kognito, a proven leader in developing conversation simulations to help modify behaviors that contribute to improved physical, emotional and social health, today announced the appointment of Four Points Technology LLC as its exclusive reseller under the NASA SEWP contract for sole sourcing to federal agencies. The largest users of SEWP include the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, and the Department of Health and Human Services.
A distinguished VA-CVE Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Four Points Technology is a recognized leader in delivering leading-edge technical solutions for real-world Government initiatives. The company has been recognized on U.S. Veterans Magazine's Best of the Best Top SDVOSBs and Washington Technology's Top 100 List among other honors. The partnership with Four Points Technology further activates Kognitos strategic focus on growth opportunities in the federal health market and supports its recent addition of Anita Vick as Kognitos Director of Sales, Federal Markets.
We are pleased to partner with David Chief Gilchrist and his team at Four Points," said Ron Goldman, Co-founder and CEO of Kognito. He went on to comment, several factors led to our partnership including; a respect for Four Points proven leadership in federally-focused sales and contract management, an alignment between our companies values, and the expertise of Four Points dedicated federal health markets team (including the clinical health segment) that aligns with our behavior change simulations.
Our focus has always been on the customer and how we can best bring innovative technologies to bear on challenges our government customer has to deal with every day. With the partnership with Kognito, we are truly helping our customers who serve our former and current military service members in their time of need. With so many of our service veterans requiring specialized patient care, this partnership provides the opportunity to work with a leading provider of improved patient support and continue the good work of the healthcare agencies within the federal government, said David Gilchrist, President/Chief Executive Officer of Four Points Technology, LLC.
Kognitos breakthrough conversation simulations use advances in neuroscience research, simulations, gaming, storytelling, and virtual human technology to create role-play simulations that are research proven in their effectiveness. The Company currently offers a portfolio of products that can be licensed by federal agencies as professional development for healthcare providers and teachers, as well as public education programs for military families, parents, and patients on topics such as PTSD, mental health, substance use, diabetes, congestive heart failure, suicide prevention, and collaborative care. Kognito also works with organizations to develop simulations tailored to their specific needs. Kognito conversation simulations, which are available online and via mobile devices, have already been purchased by the Air Force Space Command, The Kentucky National Guards, and the Veterans Health Administration of New York/New Jersey, Rocky Mountains, and the Midwest. For more information, please visit http://www.kognito.com.
About Kognito:
Kognito is a proven leader in developing conversation simulations featuring emotionally-responsive virtual humans to enable conversations that make a difference. Supported by a growing volume of research evidencing their effectiveness, Kognitos conversation simulations provide an exciting new opportunity for effectively delivering behavior change outcomes. Our scientists, artists and technologists use the latest principles behind neuroscience, social cognition and game mechanics to create simulated conversations with virtual humans, where people practice and self-assess their ability to manage conversations that can lead to positive changes in social, emotional, and physical health. Kognito's growing portfolio of research proven conversation simulations are licensed by over 500 leading health, education, nonprofit and government institutions. Kognito is the only company with health simulations listed in the National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices (NREPP). Learn more at https://www.kognito.com/.
About Four Points Technology:
Four Points Technology, a service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB), is dedicated to providing IT products and professional services to the Federal government. Four Points offers solutions that support a wide variety of business initiatives specifically suited for Government organizations. http://www.4points.com
Harri I showed my team the elegant branded career pages, how easy to use it is and the fact that on-boarding paperwork will be digital and automatically sent to the candidates.
Harri, a global talent technology platform built ground up for hospitality, will showcase its powerful Total Talent Solution at the largest annual gathering of the restaurant, food service and hospitality industry; the NRA Show in Chicago, May 21-24.
Harris Total Talent Solution enables employers to source, hire and manage talent, all on one dynamic platform. It was designed for the unique needs of the hospitality industry, by seasoned hospitality professionals.
With Harris Total Talent Solution employers can:
Reduce hiring costs by 48% and hiring time by 68%
Replace up to 10 existing software systems with one integrated solution
Attract the best talent for your business needs
Eliminate paperwork with a digital employee on boarding process
Enable long term success of your team with best in class management systems
To date, over 1,500,000 applications from chefs, bartenders, servers, hostesses, and managers have been submitted to over 50,000 jobs posted on Harri.
Currently operating in New York, Los Angeles, London, Chicago, Las Vegas, and Washington DC, Harri partners with over 3,500 brands ranging from fast casual to upscale, full-service dining. Some of Harris partners include Tao Group, Eataly, sweetgreen, Nobu, Soho House, LDV Hospitality and The Meatball Shop.
About Harri
Harri is a Total Talent Solution - to source, hire and manage talent - for the services industry. With Harris all-in-one digital platform, employers can find and on board top talent for their business, reducing costs and saving time.
The Total Talent Solution empowers employers to easily post jobs and engage with applicants throughout the hiring process. Job seekers build rich media profiles that showcase their industry experience and personality.
Harri has over 210,000 members and 3,500 employers based in New York City, Los Angeles, London, Chicago, Las Vegas, and Washington DC. It is the number one marketplace for hospitality talent in NYC.
For more information, visit https://www.harri.com/NRA.
Since we invented the elastic resistance band 40 years ago, these and our portfolio of rehab and recovery products have been the go-to for physical therapy and rehabilitation professionals.
TheraBand, part of the Performance Health family of brands, a leading innovator in elastic resistance, rehab and recovery products, is proud to announce its launch into 983 Rite Aid Pharmacy store locations nationwide. One of the largest drugstore chains in the country, Rite Aid will sell a diverse collection of TheraBand products in their newly created rehab and recovery section, including: TheraBand CLX, Kinesiology Tape, Hand Exerciser, FlexBar, Resistance Tubing + Handles (with Door Anchor), Latex-Free Resistance Band Kit, Foot Roller, and Roller Massager.
Addressing a wide spectrum of needs from rehabiliation and recovery to exercise, TheraBands presence in Rite Aid gives consumers across the US more convenient access to products usually carried by professionals and select specialty stores.
Since we invented the elastic resistance band 40 years ago, these and our portfolio of rehab and recovery products have been the go-to for physical therapy and rehabilitation professionals. For those who dont seek out the pros, our presence in Rite Aid makes it possible for us to live our mission and offer a better quality of life to everyone. We recommend those who use our products also use the services of healthcare professionals and we make that possible on PerformanceHealth.com, says Michael Bull, Brand Manager at Performance Health.
TheraBand has led the way in innovative rehabilitation and exercise tools. Their latest advancements include TheraBand CLX, a patented, next-generation resistance band featuring consecutive loops that provide a range of benefits, such as faster exercise transitions, additional high-impact full body exercises, easy grip options and more. The company has also introduced TheraBand Kinesiology Tape with the unique XactStretch Technology, proven to provide muscle support, relieve pain and prevent misapplication with its user-friendly, built in visual application guides. As a leading innovator and industry pioneer, improvements such as these align with the brands promise to empower individuals with the tools and information to become their best physical self.
TheraBand elastic resistance products are also recognized as versatile, easy-to-use alternatives to traditional weights. In a 2015 study conducted by the brand, it was determined that the TheraBand CLX could increase maximal voluntary strength and fat free mass using only the elastic bands during a short-term resistance program. Another study done in the same year found that elastic resistance, such as CLX, is an equivalent alternative to weight training, shown to be just as effective but coming at a fraction of the cost.
Its simple yet versatile and innovative design, coupled with the fact that it fits in your pocket, make TheraBand CLX an incredible way to rehab, recover, or efficiently exercise anytime, anywhere, by individuals of all skill levels. At home, traveling, in the office, at school, TheraBand CLX lives up to its billing: Exercise Everywhere(tm).
For more product and company information, visit http://www.theraband.com and http://www.performancehealth.com.
About Performance Health
Headquartered in Akron, Ohio, Performance Health is a global consumer branded health, wellness and self-care company that designs, manufactures and markets branded rehabilitation and wellness products sold into a variety of U.S. clinical markets, leading national retailers and in over 100 countries through a multi-national network of distribution partners. Its brands and complementary product offerings consist of the TheraBand, Biofreeze, Cramer, Bon Vital', TheraPearl and Perform brand names.
Twelve market experts, including the developer behind Miamis iconic One Thousand Museum, will discuss the state of South Florida commercial real estate during the fourth annual Realtors Commercial Alliance (RCA) Midyear Update hosted by the MIAMI Association of REALTORS (MIAMI). The event will begin at 9 a.m. Thursday, May 19 at the Coral Gables Country Club.
Our RCA MIAMI Midyear event is known for delivering quality programming and unparalleled information on local market trends and projections, said Maria G. Juncadella, the 2016 MIAMI Commercial President and principal at Coral Gables-based Fairchild Partners. "Weve gathered a whos who list of forward-thinking panelists, and theyre ready to engage with attendees on key trends impacting Miamis commercial marketplace.
Juncadella will sit down with award-winning developer Gregg Covin for an engaging, keynote discussion. Covin is known for developing Miamis Ten Museum Park and is co-developing One Thousand Museum, a 62-story Downtown Miami skyscraper designed by one of the worlds most celebrated architects, the late Zaha Hadid. Covins firm is also being considered for a major Downtown Miami cultural park.
Expanded Retail, Commercial Investment Panels Added
Juan Roberto DeAngulo of Elion Partners, Angie Kenyon of PF Changs/Pei Wei and Alberto Perez of AJP Ventures will headline a newly, expanded retail roundtable. Panelists will discuss the strength of South Florida retail and provide an outlook for 2017.
New or expanded shopping centers are planned throughout South Florida. Local retail-space vacancies are at historic lows. Miamis strong fundamentals a growing population and diversified job base are fueling significant retail and commercial investment.
RCA Midyear will also feature a South Florida commercial investment panel, where four area experts will discuss emerging investment areas, land sales, retail transactions and appraisals. Jose Serrano of New Miami Commercial, Edward Schmidt of NAI Commercial, Sandra Goldstein of Sandra Goldstein Commercial Real Estate and Ronald Kohn of Kohn Commercial will spearhead the panel.
A Society of Industrial Realtors (SIOR) industrial panel featuring Maria G. Juncadella, Jose I. Juncadella of Fairchild Partners, Wayne Ramoski of Cushman & Wakefield and Christopher Sutton of Flagler Global Logistics will also explore the industrial trends.
Gregg Covins Bio
One of the first to see the potential of Miami Beachs elegant South of Fifth neighborhood in the late 1990s, Gregg Covins AIA award-winning Neville Condominium and his Peter Page designed Hotel St. Augustine projects were regarded as catalysts in the redevelopment of the area. These were followed by the Montclair Lofts at Lincoln Road Mall in South Beach, which earned the coveted Chicago Athenaeum Award for Excellence in Architecture, and The Anglers Boutique Resort, also in South Beach, which features interiors by Versace Mansion designer Wallace Tutt.
In 2007, Covin completed Ten Museum Park, a 50-story crystalline tower in Downtown Miami developed in conjunction with Clinique La Prairie of Switzerland. Currently, Covin is co-developing One Thousand Museum by Zaha Hadid Architects, a 62-story skyscraper by the late Zaha Hadid in Downtown Miami as well as a finalist for Miami Dade Colleges RFP for their site at 520 Biscayne Boulevard featuring designs by Oppenheim Architecture + Design. Covins projects have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Robb Report, Ocean Drive, and on CNN.
To register for the RCA Miami Midyear event, visit http://bit.ly/RCAMiamiMidyear
Interested news media should contact Lynda Fernandez, Sr. Vice President of Public Relations & International, at 305-468-7040 or lynda@miamire.com
About the MIAMI Association of REALTORS
The MIAMI Association of REALTORS was chartered by the National Association of Realtors in 1920 and is celebrating 96 years of service to Realtors, the buying and selling public, and the communities in South Florida. Comprised of six organizations, the Residential Association, the Realtors Commercial Alliance, the Broward Council, the Jupiter Tequesta Hobe Sound (JTHS) Council, the Young Professionals Network (YPN) Council and the award-winning International Council, it represents more than 42,000 real estate professionals in all aspects of real estate sales, marketing, and brokerage. It is the largest local Realtor association in the U.S., and has official partnerships with 136 international organizations worldwide. MIAMIs official website is http://www.miamire.com
Encino Hospital Medical Center continues to strive for excellence in the acute treatment of stroke patients," says Grady Williams, Stroke Program Manager for Sherman Oaks Hospital and Encino Hospital Medical Center.
Encino Hospital Medical Center has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Associations Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Silver Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes the hospitals commitment and success ensuring that stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.
To receive the Silver Quality Achievement award, hospitals must achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke achievement indicators for at least 12 consecutive months.
These quality measures are designed to help hospital teams provide the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. They focus on appropriate use of guideline-based care for stroke patients, including aggressive use of medications such as clot-busting and anti-clotting drugs, blood thinners and cholesterol-reducing drugs, preventive action for deep vein thrombosis and smoking cessation counseling.
A stroke patient loses 1.9 million neurons each minute stroke treatment is delayed. This recognition further demonstrates our commitment to delivering advanced stroke treatments to patients quickly and safely, said Grady Williams, Stroke Program Manager for Sherman Oaks Hospital and Encino Hospital Medical Center. Encino Hospital Medical Center continues to strive for excellence in the acute treatment of stroke patients. The recognition from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Associations Get With The Guidelines-Stroke further reinforces our teams hard work.
Encino Hospital Medical Center has also met specific scientific guidelines as a Primary Stroke Center featuring a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department.
The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association recognize Encino Hospital Medical Center for its commitment to stroke care, said Paul Heidenreich, M.D., M.S., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and Professor of Medicine at Stanford University. Research has shown there are benefits to patients who are treated at hospitals that have adopted the Get With The Guidelines program.
Get With The Guidelines-S puts the expertise of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association to work for hospitals nationwide, helping hospital care teams ensure the care provided to patients is aligned with the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal to save lives and improve recovery time, Get With The Guidelines-S has impacted more than 3 million patients since 2003.
According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds, someone dies of a stroke every four minutes, and nearly 800,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.
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About Encino Hospital Medical Center (EHMC):
Encino Hospital Medical Center is a 150-bed nonprofit Prime Healthcare hospital located in Encino, California. It is staffed with 330 physicians and 420 professional support staff. Servicing the greater San Fernando Valley, Encino Hospital provides 24/7 emergency services in addition to a wide range of highly specialized medical, surgical and diagnostic services. Their state-of-the-art geriatric services include a geriatric Senior ER, Comprehensive Senior Care Program, Geriatric Inpatient Wing, and Gero-Psychiatric Inpatient Services. Attracting many world-class physicians, their professional clinical teams use an interdisciplinary approach to ensure comprehensive care for each patient. Please visit us at http://www.encinomed.org.
About Get With The Guidelines:
Get With The Guidelines is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Associations hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with tools and resources to increase adherence to the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, Get With The Guidelines has touched the lives of more than 6 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org.
"One for Marian: Celebrating Marian McPartland," the new CD by pianist Roberta Piket. Marian always felt regretful that her tunes weren't played more. She felt a little unrecognized in that regard. She wrote so many great tunes.
Marian McPartlands creative output as a composer has been quite overshadowed by the late piano legends decades-long role as a beloved public radio host. Pianist Roberta Piket aims to help put that right with her new album "One for Marian: Celebrating Marian McPartland," to be released by Thirteenth Note Records on June 10.
Roberta Piket is an absolutely essential creative voice in modern jazz piano, says Todd Barkan, who produced the new CD. And Robertas "One for Marian" sings and swings to serve as an invaluable celebration of Lady McPartlands unique gifts as one of the most compelling composers of our time.
Marian always felt regretful that her tunes werent played more, Piket says. She felt a little unrecognized in that regard. She wrote so many great tunes.
An uncommonly probing improviser in both free and straight-ahead settings, Piket has garnered considerable attention in recent years with a pair of enthralling solo piano recordings. But on "One for Marian" she returns to a larger ensemble format. The albums cast couldnt be better equipped to interpret Pikets lush arrangements and McPartlands melodically charged compositions. Featuring Steve Wilson on alto sax and flute, Virginia Mayhew on tenor sax and clarinet, Bill Mobley on trumpet and flugelhorn, bassist Harvie S, and drummer and percussionist Billy Mintz, "One for Marian" grew out of a concert that Piket performed at the 2014 Wall Street Jazz Festival.
McPartlands Twilight World, with lyrics by Johnny Mercer, is a feature for guest vocalist Karrin Allyson. The idea of a special duet between Karrin and myself came from Todd Barkan, Piket told CD annotator Bob Bernotas, just one of several examples of Todds wisdom and experience that can be heard on this recording.
The album opens with Ambiance, a haunting melody full of thick, mysterious harmonies. In the Days of Our Love, a McPartland tune so lovely that Peggy Lee felt inspired to write lyrics for it, features exquisite solos by Mobley and Mayhew, who croon the bittersweet melody with their horns.
Piket first recorded McPartlands loving portrait of Mary Lou Williams, Threnody, on her debut album in a trio context, while this quartet version showcases Wilsons expressive flute work.
Piket also offers two pieces of her own in honor of McPartlandthe title track, a briskly swinging number with an intricate melodic line that features some particularly tasty drum work by Mintz, and Saying Goodbye, an elegiac caress of a farewell. Fittingly, Piket closes the album with her lively arrangement of McPartlands Kaleidoscope, the theme song for NPRs Piano Jazz, which leaves listeners wanting more while summoning the salty spirit of jazzs grande dame.
"One for Marian" is something of a departure for Piket as her first album dedicated to the work of another composer. From the early stages of her career, shes distinguished herself as a gifted writer (she placed second in the 1993 Thelonious Monk BMI Composers Competition). Over the years, Piket has performed as a sidewoman with many of jazzs greatest figures, including David Liebman, Rufus Reid, Michael Formanek, Lionel Hampton, Mickey Roker, Eliot Zigmund, Benny Golson, and Ted Curson.
Born in Queens, New York (1965), Roberta Piket inherited a passion for music from both of her parents. Her father was the Austrian composer Frederick Piket, who made significant contributions to both the musical liturgy of Reform Judaism and the concert hall with works performed by the New York Philharmonic under conductor Dimitri Metropolis. From her mother, Cynthia, she absorbed the glories of the American Songbook, learning by ear the tunes of Porter, Gershwin, Kern, Rodgers, and Berlin (as well as the accompanying lyrics).
Piket attended the joint five-year double-degree program at Tufts University and New England Conservatory, graduating with a degree in computer science at the former and a degree in jazz piano from the latter. After a year as a software engineer, however, she realized that her calling was music, and she returned to New York, where an NEA grant set her up to study with pianist Richie Beirach.
Marian McPartland heard the young pianist at the Thelonious Monk Composers Competition and invited her to appear as a featured guest on NPRs Piano Jazz, Pikets first of three appearances on the show. Beginning with Pikets first recording under her own name, 1996s "Unbroken Line" (Criss Cross) with Donny McCaslin and Michael Formanek, shes recorded McPartlands music. With "One for Marian," she makes an incontrovertible case for the enduring beauty of McPartlands compositions.
Roberta Piket will be performing several CD release shows in the NYC area, beginning with 6/4 IBeam Brooklyn (full band from the CD, with Shunzo Ohno replacing Mobley); then 6/10 Trumpets, Montclair, NJ (full band, with Anton Denner replacing Wilson); 7/14 Mezzrow, NYC (duo with Steve Wilson); and 9/8 Smalls, NYC (full band, with alto sax TBD).
(Global Times) 09:08, May 18, 2016
Illustration: Liu Rui/GT
As the big-mouthed Donald Trumpis giving the US elite a hard time, another politician's ascent might double Washington's concerns. Rodrigo Duterte, in a landslide victory on May 9, has become the next Philippine president. Notorious for unscrupulous and abusive remarks, Duterte was nicknamed "the Filipino Trump." He may even have gone further than Trump.
What's even worse is that Duterte seems not to be particularly attached to the US. He has no educational experience in the US. He is fed up with US military bases on Philippine turf, and he even threatened to cut off diplomatic relationships with the US and Australia when they denounced his inappropriate speech.
In contrast, he is quite close to the leaders of the illegal communist party of the Philippines and the Muslim rebel groups. In foreign affairs, he has proposed on different occasions to negotiate with China over the South China Sea dispute, an approach dismissed by the US, which is eager to use the Philippines to contain China. On Monday, the presumptive president-elect met with first batch of ambassadors, in which the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines was also included.
Will there be a turnaround to the US-Philippine alliance after Duterte assumes office in late June? Where will the three-party relationship between China, the US and the Philippines head?
As a hard-line nationalist, Duterte harbors a lot of hostility against the US military presence in the Philippines. Meanwhile, nationalism will also shape his stand on the South China Sea dispute. He boasted he would ride a jet ski to a disputed island occupied by China and stake out the Philippines' claims personally. In the last campaign event before the vote, Duterte accused Aquino of selling out to China, instead of proposing talks with China, to solicit more votes.
Besides nationalism, Duterte adheres to pragmatism in governance, and knows when and how to bend the rules. Although a former lawyer, he set aside the rule of law but adopted harsh executive measures to deal with the rampant crime in Davao City. As a highborn member of a political family, he behaved like Robin Hood and won overwhelming support from the grassroots. It is anticipated that he won't be as headstrong as Benigno Aquino III over the South China Sea dispute. He knows clearly that the Philippines stands zero chance to win in a physical confrontation with China, and a favorable award from the international arbitration won't give Manila any down-to-earth benefits except useless sympathy from the international community.
Pragmatism will drive Duterte to improve the Philippines' trade ties with China. Eager for foreign investments, Duterte even vowed to launch a constitutional amendment to clear the way for massive foreign investment. He showed appreciation to how China absorbed foreign capital, and will probably hope the Philippines can get more investment from China.
Meanwhile, pragmatism will prompt Duterte to maintain the alliance with the US. As a militarily weak nation, no matter what Duterte does, security threats such as the South China Sea dispute and the Muslim and Communist rebellions cannot be addressed overnight. Manila still needs a security umbrella provided by the US.
In the upcoming Duterte administration, the new government is likely to stick to the balance between China and the US. In security and political affairs, Manila will continue relying on the US, with the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement remaining effective and the five US military bases holding their positions. While in economic affairs, the Philippines will continue trying to get more favors from China. But this purpose cannot be achieved without both sides finding an essential common ground in the South China Sea dispute.
The upcoming award of the arbitration will serve as a test for both China and the Philippines. Although Duterte is more pragmatic than Aquino over this matter, it is the Aquino government that will respond to the result. China will certainly launch countermeasures if humiliated by the verdict. At that time, the Sino-Philippine relationship will fall into a new impasse, and Duterte will find it more difficult to make a turnaround.
Washington should observe Manila's leadership change and policy transformation from a pragmatic perspective, instead of tying the Philippines on a chariot to challenge China. The Philippines can be friends with both China and the US, not a battlefield for two powerhouses.
#PharmacyVoter is the social media tag for NACDS' get-out-the-vote campaign This second video continues to make the case that engagement in the political arena is essential for telling the story of pharmacy patient care, and for advancing a pro-patient and pro-pharmacy policy agenda.
Momentum seems a fitting name for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) second get-out-the-vote video ad. The spot urges pharmacy personnel to sustain legislative success at the federal and state levels by making their engagement known in the 2016 elections, and its debut comes in the same week that the first video ad Effective surpassed 10,000 views on YouTube in two months time.
The video ads encourage pharmacists and other pharmacy team members to vote and volunteer for the candidates of their choice. They are part of the larger NACDS RxIMPACT Votes get-out-the-vote effort, one aspect of NACDS suite of grassroots advocacy resources under the NACDS RxIMPACT name.
The ads bear the hashtag #PharmacyVoter which is being used in social media to foster a community-wide focus on voter engagement. The website PharmacyVoter.org also showcases the effort and provides information about how to engage politically.
The first video emerged as a rallying cry to help take pharmacys grassroots and political activism to the next level. It has been great to see NACDS members, state association partners, colleges and schools of pharmacy and other allies using it to engage more pharmacy activists, said NACDS President and CEO Steven C. Anderson, IOM, CAE.
This second video continues to make the case that engagement in the political arena is essential for telling the story of pharmacy patient care, and for advancing a pro-patient and pro-pharmacy policy agenda.
The first 30-second ad called Effective debuted in March during NACDS RxIMPACT Day on Capitol Hill, when nearly 400 pharmacy advocates met with approximately 90 percent of the U.S. Congress to discuss key patient care issues. To make its point, Effective compared votes that are not cast to another wasted opportunity: doses of medication that are not taken as prescribed and thus unable to help the patient.
The ad unveiled today Momentum says that it is necessary to keep federal and state legislators attention in order to build on increasing recognition of pharmacys value. The ad notes that more than 60 percent of the U.S. House of Representatives and more than 40 percent of the U.S. Senate have cosponsored legislation to name pharmacists as healthcare providers in Medicare Part B, and improve access to pharmacist-provided services for the medically underserved (Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Access Enhancement Act H.R. 592 and S. 314).
NACDS RxIMPACT Votes seeks to leverage the omnipresence of pharmacies in communities across the nation. NACDS members operate pharmacies in every state and Congressional District. Nearly all Americans 86 percent live within five miles of a community pharmacy.
The videos, website and social media engagement are designed to call attention to resources that pharmacy personnel and companies can use to inspire engagement in the political process. NACDS online resources help to identify candidates running for office in a geographic area; help to understand how to take the first step to volunteer on a campaign; help to plan an effective get-out-the-vote rally; and how to build a company culture that emphasizes participation in our nations system of government.
Jeane Coyle (second from left), President and CEO of Penn Community Bank, accepts her 2016 Lehigh Valley Business Woman of Influence award.
Penn Community Bank is proud to announce that President and CEO Jeane M. Coyle has been named a 2016 Woman of Influence by Lehigh Valley Business. The awards were presented on May 11 at a ceremony and luncheon held at Cedar Crest College, in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Coyle, a native of Allentown, was among 28 women honored by the Lehigh Valley business news publication. Honorees were selected by an independent panel of judges based on experience, integrity, leadership and accomplishments.
About 400 people attended the awards ceremony, held in Lees Hall on the Cedar Crest campus. The 2016 awards program is the fourth annual celebration of women leaders in the greater Lehigh Valley region.
With a career in banking that spans nearly 30 years, Coyle has worked at financial institutions of all sizes throughout eastern Pennsylvania. She takes an active leadership role in the financial industry, appearing on panels such as the 2016 Women in Banking Conference sponsored by the Pennsylvania Bankers Association.
Coyle also dedicates her time to several community organizations that support self-sufficiency and financial literacy initiatives. She serves on the board of the Bucks County Opportunity Council and is vice-chair, community impact on the executive committee of the United Way of Bucks Countys board of directors, where she also serves on the governance and personnel committees. Under Coyles leadership, Penn Community Bank also supports Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County, donating land in Croydon and helping to sponsor the construction of the groups 101st affordable home project in Bucks County.
Photo caption: Jeane Coyle (second from left), President and CEO of Penn Community Bank, accepts her 2016 Lehigh Valley Business Woman of Influence award from Carmen Twillie Ambar, President of Cedar Crest College, Amy Nyberg, Chief Integration Officer of Coordinated Health, and Melinda Beck, Director of Client Management at Highmark.
About Penn Community Bank: Created in 2015 by the unification of long-standing community banks First Federal of Bucks County and First Savings Bank of Perkasie, Penn Community Bank holds more than $1.8 billion in assets and employs more than 300 people at 22 bank branches and two administrative centers throughout Bucks County. As an independent, mutual financial institution, Penn Community Bank is not publicly traded and operates with its long-term mission in mind: to help businesses grow and prosper, to support individuals and families throughout their lifetimes, to strengthen the local economy, and to partner with local organizations to act as a catalyst for positive growth in every market it serves.
Ronnie Smith, PE, has joined HNTB Corporation as regional business development leader. Smith is based in Dallas. He is a trusted advisor to many of our foundation clients and will be a key leader in driving our on-going growth initiatives
Ronnie Smith, PE, has joined HNTB Corporation as regional business development leader. He will serve as a resource for HNTB client service leaders, department heads, project managers and other employees in the firms Dallas and Plano offices. Smith is based in Dallas.
Smith has nearly 35 years of public- and private-sector experience with a successful track record of providing high-performance business development, market development, program and construction management, design build, and construction engineering and inspection services. His experience spans multiple industries, including aviation, transit and municipal.
Ron is a recognized leader in the North Texas infrastructure community. He is joining HNTB during a period of significant market segment diversification and phenomenal growth, and his relationships throughout the local engineering community will continue our momentum, said Mike Hegarty, PE, HNTB Dallas office leader and vice president. He is a trusted advisor to many of our foundation clients and will be a key leader in driving our on-going growth initiatives.
Prior to joining HNTB, Smith served as a senior vice president for another consulting firm. His previous experience also includes work as project manager for Dallas Area Rapid Transit and as project engineer for the City of Dallas.
Smith is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Denton County, Texas, Transportation Committee. He earned a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
HNTBs Dallas and Plano, Texas, offices provide a wide variety of infrastructure expertise to clients, including aviation, transportation planning, construction management and inspection, transportation engineering and urban design.
The firm is currently involved in many prominent projects in the region, including a five-year contract providing program and construction management for Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, and project management and other services for Dallas Central Business District Second Light Rail Alignment.
About HNTB
Named 2015 Design Firm of the Year by ENR Texas & Louisiana, HNTB Corporation is an employee-owned infrastructure solutions firm serving public and private owners and construction contractors. With more than a century of service in the United States and Texas, HNTB continues to grow in size and service offerings to clients from nine office locations, currently employing approximately 400 full-time professionals in the state. HNTB understands the life cycle of infrastructure and addresses clients most complex technical, financial and operational challenges. Professionals nationwide deliver a full range of infrastructure-related services, including award-winning planning, design, program management and construction management. For more information, visit http://www.hntb.com.
Transfinder is a company that has gone global, but they continue to host conferences right here in Albany, and we couldnt be more pleased by their commitment to this community and to their clients.
More than 200 Transfinder clients from from coast-to-coast and Canada will be arriving in Albany, New York this week to attend Transfinders Annual Client Summit at Hilton Albany in the heart of New Yorks Capital.
This is one of my favorite events because it brings many of our clients together in one room. Our clients and employees love it because it gives them a chance to put a face to those voices they speak to regularly, said Antonio Civitella, Transfinder president and CEO. Transfinder, based in Schenectady, develops logistics software for more than 1,700 school districts as well as adult care facilities and municipalities.
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan and Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy will take part in welcoming attendees to the region.
At the conference, attendees will have an opportunity to select from dozens of training sessions over a three-day period.
This Summit is very important to Transfinder and is valuable to both our clients and our employees, Civitella added. Thats because at this conference we are able to give our clients hands-on training, teach shortcuts to key services they may need and show what products we are working on today that will be in their hands tomorrow.
On Thursday, Capt. Guy D. Gruters, USAF, who spent five years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, will address the audience about Business Leadership and Team Building Principles that Work.
Thursday night, attendees will be treated to the sounds of Jamfinder, Transfinders own rock band, playing tunes like The Devil Went Down to Georgia.
Michele Vennard, president and CEO of the Albany County Convention and Visitors Bureau, praised Transfinder for expanding globally while still investing locally. In the past year, Transfinder has announced the opening of an R&D center in Shanghai, China, and forming a partnership with Dubai Technologies to expand its reach in the Middle East and North Africa region.
The annual Transfinder client conference is an excellent opportunity for local school officials to meet and train with the company that created the software they use each and every day. Together they increase service, build business, and inspire new leaders, Vennard said. Transfinder is a company that has gone global, but they continue to host conferences right here in Albany, and we couldnt be more pleased by their commitment to this community and to their clients.
About Transfinder
Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Schenectady, New York, Transfinder is a national leader in intelligent transportation systems, providing transportation management systems and services to school districts, municipalities and adult care facilities. Transfinder, an Inc. magazine fastest-growing company for the past nine straight years, has offices in Austin, Texas, and Shanghai, China and is headquartered in Schenectady, New York. The software company develops and supports routing and scheduling solutions for optimal transportation logistics. For more information, visit http://www.transfinder.com.
Sandbox Sessions at SE Mega & our Presentations Schedule a 1-on-1 meeting in our Sandbox with one of the RPI Experts
RPI Consultants is a Platinum Sponsor for the 2016 Infor Southeast Lawson User Group (SELUG) Mega Meeting being hosted at the Hilton Resort at Kingston Plantation in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on May 22nd, 23rd, and 24th. This is the third consecutive year RPI attends the SELUG Mega Meeting as a Platinum Sponsor. Over 15 RPI Consultants will be attendance to deliver presentations and 1-on-1 sessions on a variety of topics including Global HR and Contract Management.
RPI Attendees include RPI Partners Richard Stout, Justin Braun and Keith Wayland, HCM Practice Manager Melissa Olson, Senior Procurement Consultant Stephanie Kowal, Senior Technical Architect Kathy Williams, Senior Technical Consultants Jeff House, Senior Financials Consultants Cindi Brackins and Chris Gordon, HCM Consultants Lisa Cokes, Guyla Grover, Jackie Dudas, Ashley Rhodes and Senior ISTS Consultant Chad Tucker. Also attending will be Jeff Brewster, RPIs Regional Practice Manager who covers the entire Southeast and Bill Geddy, RPIs VP of Marketing & Sales.
This is always one of the best Lawson User Group meetings every year. RPI has had an ongoing commitment to invest in the relationships and customers that are part of it. Our presentations have been well received over the years and were excited to bring back some of those presenters with new content Jeff Brewster notes.
Its really exciting to see RPI make this kind of investment in this meeting. Well have more consultants onsite at this meeting than some of our competitors have consultants total adds Bill Geddy.
Presentation headliners include Melissa Olson, Richard Stout and Stephanie Kowal.
Melissa Olson, RPIs HCM Practice Manager, will lead presentations focused on Global HR/S3 Differences and Performance & Goal. She will also host one and one sessions to review Global HR and Talent Management functionality and implementation strategies. Melissa Olson has vast experience in the Lawson HCM space, as both a Senior Consulting and a former Lawson HCM customer. As an Engagement and Project Engagement Manager she has supported full cycle HCM implementations, Employee and Manager Self Service deployments, Infor/Lawson upgrades, and Global HR implementation and optimization endeavors. As RPIs HCM Practice Manager she is responsible for the development of RPIs HCM service offering and for ensuring customer satisfaction. She has frequently presented at Lawson User Groups throughout the country and is recognized as a thought leader.
Richard Stout, RPIs Technical Practice Manager, will host a panel on Landmark and Configuration Console. He will also be able available for one on one deep dives into Landmark and one of his favorite Infor solutions, IPA. With over 10 years of experience working on a variety of highly complex Lawson integration projects, Mr. Stout has developed a deep understanding of Lawson architecture. Richard has installed and supported the full suite of Lawson products, but specializes in translating business requirements into the development and implementation of a solution leveraging a variety of available technologies. He has worked extensively with ProcessFlow / Infor Process Automation (IPA) and various reporting, workflow, and imaging solutions. At the forefront of early adoption of Infor technologies, Richard is a regular presenter and has been an IPA advocate throughout the Lawson community.
Senior Lawson Procurement Consultant Stephanie Kowal will deliver breakout sessions on Contract Management and Best Practices for RQC. She will also be available to meet one on one with customers to review Contract Management functionality and deployment strategy. Mrs. Kowal has extensive experience working in materials management, process improvement, project management and system administration. She has lead implementations and process improvement efforts surrounding electronic requisitions and approval processes and created user training materials and sessions for more than 1,000 requesters and approvers. Before coming to RPI, Mrs. Kowal was the Supply Chain Consultant & System Administrator for a large health system. She has been a frequent presenter on Lawson Procurement topics since joining the RPI team.
Additionally, RPI will host 1-on-1 planning sessions with customers to advise and review their Infor Lawson project roadmap over the next 3-5 years. Justin Braun, RPIs VP of Service Delivery will lead these sessions. Mr. Braun has been providing thought leadership to Lawson clients on various projects since August, 1999. His broad application knowledge is supported by an in depth understanding of the relationships and interdependencies of technology and process. Mr. Braun has managed enterprise applications within the IT organization of a healthcare organization running all Lawson application suites, resulting in an in-depth understanding of the staffing levels and skill mix required to appropriately support and optimize the Lawson system. Mr. Braun has been able to synthesize these complimentary skills in a variety of ways, including full cycle implementation phases such as design, configuration, testing, training and go-live support. He has led post implementation optimization assessments, conducted business process review sessions; and developed custom reporting to support ongoing business and implementation functions.
RPIs Presentation Line-up for SE Mega meeting is as follows:
Performance & Goal Management - Jackie Dudas & Melissa Olson
Learn how Infor's Performance Management module can utilize core information from Global HR to build out your appraisal form along with the ease of set up and cascading of goals and the delivered approval and notification process to keep your managers and employees in the know every step of the Performance Review process. Monday 5/23 @ 4:10 PM - Palisades B
Activity Management: Bring Your Projects Out of the Shadows Cindi Brackins
Learn how Lawson's Project Accounting (AC) can help your organization keep track of project expenditures, and project budgets including PO and RQ commitments. Review all the cool things organizations have done with Activities. Tuesday 5/24 @ 8:15 AM - Palisades C
Contract Management: Best Practices Stephanie Kowal
Learn about leading practices in the implementation and optimization of Infor Contract Management. This session will provide an overview of Contract Management, how it integrates with your procurement S3 modules, as well as the improvements it can offer to your current contract processes. The presentation will also highlight a typical project approach and design process along with a snap shot review of additional features offered within the Contract Management application. Tuesday 5/24 @ 8:15 AM - Palisades D
Landmark and Configuration Console Panel Discussion - Richard Stout, Ashley Rhodes, Kathy Williams, Jeff House
Bring all your landmark and configurations console questions to stump the RPI Panelists! Tuesday 5/24 @ 9:15 AM - Palisades A
RQC Best Practices - Stephanie Kowal
Learn about leading practices in the implementation and optimization of Lawson Requisition Center in relation to planning, configuration, end user training and support. Discuss opportunities for continuous improvement by increasing RQC compliance, improving templates, reducing special orders and leveraging Process Automation to build powerful approvals. Tuesday 5/24 @ 9:15 AM - Palisades D
ACA Reporting Roundtable - Guyla Grover
Join us for an ACA Q&A to discuss BN 299 Status (Pending development) and strategic considerations when tracking hours, pay classes, employee statuses, categorized positions and spouses and dependents. Tuesday 5/24 @ 9:15 AM - Palisades E
Lawson AM: Game On! - Chris Gordon
Learn everything you need to know about creating, depreciating, disposing and transfer Assets in Lawson's fully integrated module, including how to leverage asset templates in PO and AP and how to capitalize assets through activities. Tuesday 5/24 @ 1:15 PM - Palisades D
S3 to GHR Differences - Melissa Olson
Learn about the functionality differences and enhancements coming in Global HR over your existing S3 HCM system. Tuesday 5/24 @ 2:15 PM - Palisades E
About RPI Consultants
RPI Consultants is a business applications implementation and optimization firm focused on delivering best practices through technology, systems integration, and process redesign. The RPI team includes certified technical and functional experts in Infors Lawson products; Kronos; and Lexmarks Perceptive Content, Perceptive Capture and Kofax as well as other automation technologies to enhance the procure-to-pay, financial reporting, and human resources processes.
RPIs model focuses on delivering solutions to specific business problems through on-demand strategic intervention. Our team-based approach allows us to leverage the best resources part-time, on a task-by-task basis, while working closely with our clients to identify opportunities to minimize costs associated with travel and downtime. RPI prides itself on providing customers with the most value for their dollar, delivering value-added information and genuinely caring about the outcome of an engagement.
Applied Predictive Technologies (APT) announced today that APTs newest productAPT Engagehas been named the recipient of the 2016 Gold American Business Award for Best New Product or Service of the Year in the Software category.
The American Business Awards are the nations premier business awards program. More than 3,400 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted this year for consideration.
The award reflects APT Engages powerful capability to provide organizations with a 360 degree view of customer spending behavior across industries, channels, and over time. For the first time, organizations that do not collect customer data, or are just ramping up their loyalty program, can understand how much their customers spend, where they are most likely to shop, and how frequently they do so. APT Engage also reveals share of wallet for each customer segment and location. Additionally, organizations with established loyalty programs benefit from a clear view of how their customer segments shop beyond their locations and digital channels.
APT CEO Anthony Bruce commented, We are honored to receive a Gold American Business Award for APT Engage. This award is a testament to the powerful insights organizations can gain from the combination of APTs proprietary analytics and MasterCards robust cross-industry insights. We look forward to bringing this capability to leading companies to provide a comprehensive view of spending behavior both inside and outside their four walls.
Details about The American Business Awards and the list of 2016 Stevie winners are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.
About APT
APT, a MasterCard Company, is a leading cloud-based analytics software company that enables organizations to rapidly and precisely measure cause-and-effect relationships between business initiatives and outcomes to generate economic value. Our intuitive and proprietary Test & Learn software utilizes sophisticated algorithms to analyze large amounts of data, enabling business leaders to conduct experiments and allowing them to make optimal decisions and implement business initiatives at scale. APT also offers products that support decision-making for specific business needs including transaction analysis, space planning, promotion design, category management and location selection. APTs client portfolio features some of the worlds best known brands, including Walmart, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Victorias Secret, American Family, Hilton Worldwide, SUBWAY, TD Bank, T-Mobile, and others. APT has offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, London, Bentonville, Taipei, Tokyo, Sydney, and Chicago. Visit http://www.predictivetechnologies.com to learn more.
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.
Universities at Shady Grove Parking Garage, Rockville, MD Stainless mesh was a convenient way to incorporate a transparent solar veil over the garage to provide a high-tech appearance that complements the precast structure and serves to unify the geometry of the facade. -- Daniel McKelvey, Ayers Saint Gross
A combination of three stainless steel mesh patterns woven by Cambridge Architectural envelop the exterior facade of the new 700-space parking garage at The Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville, Maryland. The $20 million project, completed this spring, is expected to be one of the first parking facilities in the world to achieve Green Garage Certification under the Green Parking Councils new rating system.
Using Cambridges Build-A-Pattern service, Cambridges project engineers worked with Baltimore-based Ayers Saint Gross architects to create a custom facade design that incorporates more than 31,300 square feet of mesh that helps to promote daylight control and ventilation in the garage.
Located at a major intersection at the campus entrance, the garage acts as a billboard for the University according to Daniel McKelvey, AIA, Associate Principal at Ayers Saint Gross.
USG takes pride in being a technology university and wanted the facade to express this ideal, he said. Stainless mesh was a convenient way to incorporate a transparent solar veil over the garage to provide a high-tech appearance that complements the precast structure and serves to unify the geometry of the facade.
The combination of mesh, precast concrete, glass, brick and rooftop photovoltaic panels work together to create a high tech expression that is a signature look for this and other buildings on the campus.
Instead of using a monolithic screen, Ayers Saint Gross design incorporates three Cambridge mesh patterns -- Pellican, Mid-Balance and Shade in combination with punch-outs in the mesh to create aesthetic interest and air flow.
There is a subtle interplay of different mesh types in the panels, McKelvey said. As the sun tracks around the building throughout the day, the different patterns are revealed as the available light changes.
Made from recycled materials, the stainless mesh and Cambridges Eyebolt attachment system hardware contribute to the garages pending Green Certification.
Cambridge a participant in the International Parking Institutes Green Star program for sustainability uses a cold forming process for the mesh that generates less environmental impact than processes for heat-treated products. The mesh is not susceptible to weather, is virtually maintenance-free and has an indestructible life cycle.
Much of the garages construction waste was recycled and a significant portion of the garage labor and materials, including the Cambridge, Maryland-manufactured mesh, was sourced regionally.
In addition, USGs new Green garage generates onsite renewable energy from the photovoltaic panels and features energy efficient LED lighting.
Green Garage Certification is the worlds only rating system defining and recognizing sustainable practices in parking structure management, programming, design, and technology.
It was important to the Universities of Shady Grove that we pursue the Green Parking Council certification so the facility becomes part of their total green campus.
Founded as a regional center for the University System of Maryland in partnership with Montgomery County, USG brings together nine of Marylands leading universities on one campus.
The garage, funded by Montgomery County, is the campuss second parking structure. It will help pave the way for USGs Biomedical Sciences and Engineering Education Facility to be completed in 2018.
About Cambridge Architectural
Cambridge Architectural, a division of Cambridge International, is the most experienced full-service provider of sustainable architectural mesh systems for both interior and exterior building applications. As the world leader in tensioned mesh systems, Cambridge Architectural metal fabric solutions lend unique aesthetic appeal, functionality, affordability and sustainable benefits to a variety of structures interior and exterior. Cambridge Architectural offers full system design, engineering and collaboration from concept through installation in the most challenging building environments and under the strictest budgets. Cambridge Architectural metal fabric systems are categorized by the primary applications they serve, including parking structures, exterior shades, facades, canopies, curtains and others. As a member of the United States Green Building Council, Cambridge Architectural is committed to promoting methods, technology and products resulting in environmentally responsible and healthy buildings. The Cambridge Architectural team develops systems that meet or exceed LEED requirements and provides consultation and direction on a project-by-project basis. Visit http://www.CambridgeArchitectural.com for more information.
Client: Universities at Shady Grove, Rockville, MD (University System of Maryland in partnership with Montgomery County, MD)
Architect: Ayers Saint Gross, Baltimore, MD
Design Build Contractor: Donleys, Richmond, VA
Installer: Crystal Steel Fabricators, Delmar, DE
Pattern: Balance, Mid-Balance, Shade
Attachment System: Eyebolt
Completed: Spring 2016
Anahata Technologies PTY LTD Anahata is delighted to promote Mr. Sai Pradeep Dandem as their development manager in the state of Victoria, Australia.
Globally recognized for providing top class software application development services, Anahata Technologies Pty Ltd has recently promoted their senior software engineer, Sai Pradeep Dandem, as the Regional Manager of Victoria. Mr. Sai has a vast experience in this domain and has hands-on-skills in JavaFX and Java EE. So far, Mr. Sai has led teams of over 20 developers and worked for a huge number of clients across Europe, Asia and Australia. He has developed numerous software applications for industries like Healthcare, Education, Publishing and Construction. Mr. Pradeep has been working with Anahata Technologies for a few years and its the result of his hard work that he is being appointed as Anahatas development manager in the state of Victoria, Australia. The company is relying on his skills and expertise to meet the needs of their Victoria clients for top class software applications.
Anahata Technologies Pty Ltd is one of the most sought names in the industry for providing top class software development services. These services are rendered by their team of highly skilled and experienced software developers who have wide experience of this domain and a high level of expertise in Oracle Java, JavaFX, Java EE, Linux and My SQL databases. Today, the company stands among the top software development service providers in the nation for offering a range of services like Business Process Improvement, E-Commerce Development, Enterprise Software Development, Cloud Development, IT Staff Provisioning and many others. Anahatas experts utilize the latest development tools to ensure that the software applications are developed as per their clients specifications and help them in carrying out their business processes smoothly, without any hassles.
Anahata Technologies Pty Ltd has been in this business since 2010. Today, they are consulted by business owners from every nook and corner of the world for their top class software application development services. This reputed software development company has partnered with a number of world renowned brands like Oracle, MYOB Developer, NetOrigin, ATY Advisory and many others. Business owners planning to opt for the services of this Oracle Java specialized Gold partner can get in touch with them by filling a simple questionnaire present on their official website, Anahata.net.au. In addition to software application development, they also provide a free initial assessment to businesses located within the Perth or Melbourne metropolitian area.
Talking more about the role of Sai Pradeep, Mr. Pablo Rodriguez, Founder, Owner and CEO of Anahata Technologies Pty Ltd stated, Anahata is delighted to promote Mr. Sai Pradeep Dandem as their development manager in the state of Victoria, Australia. With his support and skills, Anahata is gearing up to ramp up our operations in Victoria and are aiming to fulfill our clients needs efficiently and satisfactorily.
About Anahata Technologies Pty Ltd
Founded in Western Australia in 2010 by Pablo Rodriguez Pina, Anahata Technologies Pty Ltd is an Australian privately owned Software Development Company with presence in Perth and Melbourne specializing in the analysis, design, implementation and support of cost-effective custom built software applications.
Anahatas preferred delivery approach is an iterative, agile, customer centric software development process where business analysts and developers work with the customers to gather requirements and an understanding of the current business processes, and to design and deliver a software solution that not only meets the businesss needs, but is also designed to improve business productivity.
Anahatas preferred technological choice is to deliver cross-platform solutions based on open standards and open source technology that ensure stability, compatibility, and security over a long application life span. This enables a reduction in upfront and ongoing licensing fees.
Anahata is an Oracle Certified Partner and delivers custom software solutions based on Oracle Technology, such as Java, Linux, Java Enterprise Edition, MySQL or Oracle Database.
Anahata is a member of Open Source Industry Australia and contributes a number of Java libraries to the open source community.
Anahata is a WA Government Recommended ICT Business Solutions Implementation Services Provider.
Anahata is a certified MYOB developer partner providing Custom Software solutions that can integrate seamlessly with MYOB software packages such as MYOB AccountRight desktop or MYOB AccountRight Live (cloud).
For more information, please visit: http://www.anahata.net.au
The Ford Family I know pet families want to give their companions the very best and, once they learn about Pet Wants and its competitors, I know theyll want to give our food a try.
Scott Ford is proud to announce the launch of his business, a locally owned and operated pet food company and delivery service Pet Wants of Charleston.
Pet Wants carefully developed proprietary pet food is slow-cooked with fresh, all-natural ingredients. The companys distributor makes the dog and cat food in small batches once per month so every kibble is guaranteed to be fresh and packed with nutrition. Pet Wants of Charleston is a franchise of the Pet Wants Franchising Systems and the mobile service delivers to Charleston, Summerville, West Ashley and the surrounding areas.
Pet Wants high quality food and convenient mobile delivery makes us a great addition to the Charleston area. I know pet families want to give their companions the very best and, once they learn about Pet Wants and its competitors, I know theyll want to give our food a try, Ford said.
Ford opened Pet Wants because he was ready to leave the restaurant industry where he worked in service and management to provide a better life for his family while doing something he loved. Ford owns the business with his wife, Carolyn, who is a local RN.
We talked about getting out of the restaurant business for years then we heard about Pet Wants. When I ordered a bag of the chicken and rice food and offered it to my one of my two dogs alongside her current chicken and rice food and another top food brand, she chose Pet Wants every time. Thats when I could tell Pet Wants was something special. We looked into franchising with Pet Wants and it felt like the right fit for our family and for this community, Ford said.
In addition to being made fresh monthly, Pet Wants only sources the best salmon, chicken, lamb, brown rice and other ingredients available. Theres no sugar added, no fillers and no animal by-products. And, since Pet Wants never uses corn, wheat, soy or dyes, the food is a great fit for pets with allergies.
It can be hard to decide to switch your pets food, but let me talk to you about whats in other food options and send you a free sample of Pet Wants. Theres no harm in giving it a shot I know theyre going to love it and youre going to feel good about giving them a healthy, fresh, convenient meal, Ford said.
Pet Wants originally launched in Cincinnati in 2010. Owned by Michele Hobbs, the business was built to provide proprietary crafted, fresh, slow-cooked, all-natural pet food delivered to customers through a retail store and a convenient home-delivery service. Hobbs, now the company founder, turned the business into a franchise in 2015 with the help of Franchise Funding Group, an investment and franchise-development company designed to help entrepreneurs scale their companies nationally as franchise systems.
To order Pet Wants food for your favorite companion or to learn about the company, call (843)708-9808, email SFord(at)PetWants(dot)com or visit http://www.PetWantsCharleston.com.
About Pet Wants: Pet Wants was started by Michele Hobbs out of love for her pets and frustration. Veterinarians were unable to help relieve her dogs painful skin allergies. After doing much research, Michele discovered the national dog food brand she trusted was not fresh, not all natural, and lacked sufficient nutrition...and when pet food sits in warehouses and store shelves for months and months it loses even more nutritional value. She was committed to developing a better solution for all dogs and cats. Their food is exclusively crafted fresh, healthy, slow-cooked and all natural with no sugar added, no fillers and no animal by-products. They source only the best salmon, chicken, lamb, brown rice, and other ingredients. Fresh ingredients make for better food and better health for pets. And since they never use corn, wheat, soy or dyes, the common pet health problems associated with these ingredients are no longer worries. Their fresh food is conveniently delivered to the customer within weeks of production, not months. Roughly half of Pet Wants products are sold through their store and half through their convenient, home-delivery program. You can learn more at http://www.PetWants.com.
Off the Radar by Cyrus Copeland I'm grateful to the book lovers and tastemakers at Chautauqua, and humbled to be in the company of other great authors.
Chautauqua Institution is delighted to announce "Off the Radar: A Fathers Secret, a Mothers Heroism, and a Sons Quest" (Blue Rider Press) by Cyrus M. Copeland as the 2016 winner of The Chautauqua Prize.
As author of the winning book, Copeland receives $7,500 and all travel and expenses for himself and his family for a one-week summer residency at Chautauqua from Aug. 7 to 13, 2016. A public reading will be announced in the coming days.
Copeland received news of the Prize while abroad, preparing to embark on the Camino de Santiago which, he said, makes this the first time a blessing was delivered before a pilgrimage.
"I'm grateful to the book lovers and tastemakers at Chautauqua, Copeland said, and humbled to be in the company of other great authors.
"Off the Radar" is a story only Copeland could tell that of his American father arrested in Iran for spying at the time of the 1979 hostage crisis, then put on trial for his life in a Revolutionary Court. "Off the Radar" is a memoir and mystery, a spy story and a tale of the relationship between father and son. The book is an intriguing story well told, Chautauqua readers said, lauding it as being an outstanding work of timeless and timely material.
Copeland attended Haverford College and Villanova University, and received his MBA from Cornell. He is a former advertising executive and the editor of two collections: "Farewell, Godspeed: The Greatest Eulogies of Our Time" and "A Wonderful Life: 50 Eulogies to Lift the Spirit." Copeland has appeared on NPR and the BBC and has written about his experiences and the art of remembrance for The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Slate and The Huffington Post.
The Chautauqua Prize, this year awarded for the fifth time, is an annual prize that celebrates a book of fiction or literary/narrative nonfiction that provides a richly rewarding reading experience and honors the author for a significant contribution to the literary arts. Previous winners include "The Sojourn," by Andrew Krivak (2012); "Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher," by Timothy Egan (2013); "My Foreign Cities," by Elizabeth Scarboro (2014); and "Redeployment," by Phil Klay (2015).
Details on The Chautauqua Prize are available online at ciweb.org/prize. Books published in 2016 will be accepted as submissions for the 2017 prize beginning in September 2016.
With a history steeped in the literary arts, Chautauqua Institution is the home of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, founded in 1878, which honors at least nine outstanding books of fiction, nonfiction, essays and poetry every summer. Further literary arts programming at Chautauqua includes summer-long interaction of published and aspiring writers at the Chautauqua Writers Center, the intensive workshops of the nationally recognized Chautauqua Writers Festival, and lectures by prominent authors on the art and craft of writing.
(Global Times) 09:11, May 18, 2016
The US House of Representatives approved a resolution on Taiwan on Monday, reaffirming that the Taiwan Relations Act and the Six Assurances are the cornerstone of the US-Taiwan relationship. The case is considered by certain US media and pro-independence forces as showing support for Taiwan. According to Taiwan's Central News Agency, US congressmen have given bipartisan support for Taiwan before Tsai Ing-wen's inauguration this Friday.
The Six Assurances is the product of the Ronald Reagan era, and it was one of the internal documents that went unnoticed for a long time. However, it has been brought to light again lately, which obviously has something to do with consideration for supporting pro-independence forces on the island. But today, over 30 years since Reagan's presidency, in which significant changes have taken place in terms of the national strength of both China and the US, it remains questionable how effective such support will be.
Capitol Hill doesn't care about Taiwan people, rather it cares about Washington's hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region. On the one hand, the US wants to manifest that it will not lose sight of the island, while showing other allies that it still cares about its commitment to Taiwan. On the other, it is trying to boost morale for Tsai in order to form containment against the Chinese mainland while conducting frequent military intrusions in the South China Sea.
In the 1950s, Taiwan was an unsinkable aircraft carrier in the eyes of the US. Yet today, it is nothing more than a pedal for Washington's rebalance to the Asia-Pacific strategy. The pedal will not only prove to be useless for this rebalance, but is highly likely to bring trouble for the US.
Can a single resolution ensure that separatists in Taiwan will not be punished even if they cross the line? Will the status of the armed strength of the Chinese mainland and Taiwan be reversed by selling a few weapons to the island? Perhaps even the US congressmen are not convinced. The era when the US can unilaterally control the cross-Straits situation is long gone. As long as China disagrees, any promises Washington has made will end up in vain.
China's national unity is an irresistible trend, which will not be swayed by any foreign forces. The pattern of one-China has already been formed in the globe and it can never be changed by those US congressmen.
If the US congressmen are serious about turning the Six Assurances into a formal law, China is willing to play along. We will make those Americans see that the US is not capable of taking the consequences, if it is determined to keep playing those rotten cards.
E-Z Photo Scan, the leading marketer of desktop photo-scanning systems, is one of the first recipients of the APPO Endorsement Seal from the Association of Professional Photo Organizers (APPO). The seal was established by APPO to identify partners who have an established track record within the APPO community, and have met the highest standards of quality and service. E-Z Photo Scan and Kodak Alaris are the first recipients of this recognition.
Rick Lippert and his team at E-Z Photo Scan are exemplarily leaders in supporting APPO members who offer scanning services to their clients, says Cathi Nelson, CEO and founder, APPO. More than 125 APPO members have purchased the Kodak Alaris high-speed scanner, the PS50 or PS80, from E-Z Photo Scan. I encourage anyone seeking information on the right scanner to call the team at E-Z Photo Scan to discuss their options because I know the E-Z Photo Scan team will respond quickly, offer relevant business advice and not upsell anyone to purchase more than they need. They also provide outstanding customer service, education, training and support.
We are truly honored to be among the first recipients of the APPO Endorsement Seal, says Richard Rick Lippert, president, E-Z Photo Scan. Our partnership with Kodak Alaris is key to this recognition. The E-Z Photo Scan and Kodak Alaris teams have worked hard to not only provide the best scanning equipment, but also training and marketing advice to improve our customers business.
To be considered for the APPO endorsement seal, a partner needs to be in good standing within the APPO community for a minimum of 3 months and their product or service has been utilized by a minimum of 30 members. Once an eligible company is identified, a member survey with a weighted scoring system is sent. To qualify, the partner must achieve a minimum score of 80%.
ABOUT APPO
The Association of Personal Photo Organizers (APPO) is a marketing and training organization that supports its members the Photo Organizers. We currently train and support hundreds of members across the US and Canada, as well as Australia, the UK and New Zealand. Our marketing efforts help educate people about various solutions for their photo and video collections, and the value of working with a Photo Organizer.
ABOUT E-Z PHOTO SCAN
Founded in 1995, E-Z Photo Scan has worked with many community centers, historical societies, museums, and individuals to help them organize and preserve their photos and documents. Their team has long recognized the need for photo organization and management service providers, having seen individuals who find digitizing photographic archives to be a daunting, expensive and time-consuming task. It was awarded Kodak Picture Saver Scanning Systems Global Value-Added Re-Seller Leader of the Year.
ABOUT THE INFORMATION MANAGEMENT DIVISION OF KODAK ALARIS
Kodak Alaris is driven by the simple belief that we can always find a better way. Our Information Management division helps organizations capture content from digital and paper sources, extract insights, and deliver the right information to the right place at the right time for better business outcomes. Our portfolio includes award-winning document scanners, a global service and support team, and software and solutions that capture and intelligently manage information. For small offices and large-scale organizations, we provide new ways to automate processes, improve customer interactions and make smarter business decisions.
To learn more, please visit http://www.kodakalaris.com/go/IMnews and follow us at Twitter.com/KodakAlarisIM
The infrastructure team is exceptional, the technologies utilized are best of breed, and the processes Ajubeo has implemented to ensure customer satisfaction will continue to be at the core of the business.
Ajubeo, an international provider of high-performance virtual data centers and cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) in the US and Europe, announces leadership additions: Kelly Muenster as Chief Technology Officer, Jon Freeman as Vice President of Sales, and Justin Kraft as Director of Marketing.
The new team has been carefully assembled to further Ajubeos success and growth strategy. Combined the team provides 60 plus years of leadership across a wide variety of industries.
Ajubeo is top notch in everything it does Kelly Muenster, Ajubeos Chief Technology Officer explains, The infrastructure team is exceptional, the technologies utilized are best of breed, and the processes Ajubeo has implemented to ensure customer satisfaction will continue to be at the core of the business.
Kelly Muenster provides more than 22 years of experience in every aspect of IT operations, engineering, administration, management and leadership, to include strategic planning, software development, information security and compliance, quality assurance, vendor/contract management, process automation, and global infrastructure operations. With more than 12 years of experience in Healthcare-specific IT operations and compliance, his knowledge of the industry, regulatory compliance and proven leadership skills support the growth vision and increased service offerings of AJubeo. Kellys extensive experience includes management and leadership positions with Sprint (formerly Nextel), Deloitte & Touche, Colorado Access, the Defense Information Systems Agency, and Equian (formerly The Assist Group).
Its a white-hot ecosystem with many vendors fighting to reduce your infrastructure costs and few advancing service delivery levels, Jon Freeman, the Vice President of Sales at Ajubeo goes on, Ajubeo's cloud solutions and positioning is urgently needed by companies who are looking to move the crown jewels into the cloud. Companies know the cloud offers economies of scale too large to disregard. Ajubeos laser focus provides the financial benefits while supplying the resilience, security, and management controls known to your IT, but lost to technologists in many of todays clouds.
Jon Freeman brings a wealth of complex solution based knowledge and education in startup technology sales to Ajubeo. He has played key roles in producing over $540 million in product and service sales over 30 years of sales and sales management, leading to four acquisitions (Sorbus by Bell Atlantic, Digital Research by Novell, Xircom by Intel, and most recently Confio by Solarwinds). His success is largely attributed to his ability to maintain client relationships with a 98% satisfaction delivery rating.
With the continued growth and innovation of disruptive technologies such as the Internet of Things, Ajubeo is positioned to do some amazing things, Justin Kraft, Director of Marketing explains, Big data has now become gargantuan and continues down a path of complexity. The need for faster compute, storage choices, comprehensive security, and designs for 100% uptime and will continue to be a need that Ajubeo Cloud Agility provides great solutions for.
Justin Kraft adds 15 years of experience in Marketing, Operations, Sales, and Business leadership, producing positive exponential growth. He helped drive acquisitions and market expansion efforts as Co-Founder and Managing Director of Van Bibber Exotic Cars, and Marketing Executive leadership roles with BSI & BP2 and Bross Group. He has served the technology and marketing business sectors as a member of the Colorado American Marketing Association Board of Directors and the Marketing Co-Chair for the Society of Information Managers 2014 signature event, Simposium 2014.
ABOUT AJUBEO
Ajubeo is an international provider of high-performance, enterprise-class cloud infrastructure-as-a-service, founded and built by CIOs for CIOs. The Ajubeo IaaS offering includes virtual data centers, virtual desktops, cloud-based disaster recovery, cloud-based data backup and restore, and cloud-based systems and application monitoring. Discerning organizations select Ajubeo for the increased business and architectural agility that comes from flexible, high-performance cloud infrastructure built to handle the scale, integration, and compliance of todays enterprise. Ajubeo backs its cloud services with an industry leading 100% SLA and corporate commitment to customer satisfaction. Its cloud hubs are deployed in the worlds most reliable and interconnected carrier-neutral data centers, accessible via secure, private network connections from anywhere in the world. For more information, please visit http://www.Ajubeo.com.
Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that during the Michigan Defense Trial Counsels Annual Meeting, Attorney Richard W. Paul was elected Vice President of the organization.
Mr. Paul has been involved in the leadership of MDTC for years, serving as its Treasurer, Chair of the Commercial Litigation Section, and Chair of the 2016 and 2013 Annual Meetings. Mr. Paul was also the 2013 recipient of the MDTC Presidents Special Recognition Award. He is a Member in Dickinson Wrights Troy office where he focuses his practice on ADR, automotive litigation, class actions, commercial and business litigation, and product liability litigation. His representations include serving as trial counsel for various manufacturers and accounting firms and serving as National Discovery Counsel for Ford Motor Company. He is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, the American Bar Association, the Oakland County Bar Association, the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, and the Defense Research Institute. He is recognized as a leader in his field by Michigan Super Lawyers and Dbusiness Top Lawyers. Mr. Paul received his A.B. from Dartmouth College and his J.D. from Boston College Law School.
MDTC is an association of the leading lawyers in the State of Michigan dedicated to representing individuals and corporations in civil litigation. As the States premier organization of civil litigators, the impact of MDTC members is felt through its Amicus Briefs, often filed by express invitation by the Supreme Court; through its far reaching and well-respected Quarterly and other publications; and through its timely and well received conferences and seminars. To learn more, please visit http://www.mdtc.org.
About Dickinson Wright PLLC
Dickinson Wright PLLC is a general practice business law firm with more than 400 attorneys among more than 40 practice areas. Headquartered in Detroit and founded in 1878, the firm has fifteen offices, including six in Michigan (Detroit, Troy, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Grand Rapids, and Saginaw) and eight other domestic offices in Columbus, Ohio; Lexington, Ky.; Nashville, Tenn. (2); Las Vegas, Nev.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Reno, Nev.; and Washington, D.C. The firms Canada office is located in Toronto.
The firm offers clients a distinctive combination of superb client service and exceptional quality. Dickinson Wright lawyers are known for delivering commercially-oriented advice on sophisticated transactions and have a remarkable record of wins in high-stakes litigation. Dickinson Wright lawyers are regularly cited by Chambers, Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and other leading independent law firm evaluating organizations.
The conference is an opportunity for an in depth understanding of Caliphate in Islam and in particular to examine how this concept can be applied in today's age.
For more than 30 years an Islamic Caliphate has existed and operated in London as the worldwide lead for an Islamic community The Ahmadiyya Muslims.
Now, the community is addressing the issue of Caliphate in the 21st Century with an event at Kensington Conference Centre on 23 May.
It will address what is meant by Caliphate and how can it be relevant to this age.
Among the speakers will be:
Dr Yohanan Friedmann, Professor Emeritus of Islamic Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is also a member of the Israel Academy of Science and Humanities. He has written extensively on Islamic matters including Tolerance and Coercion in Islam.
Ayyaz Mahmood Khan, Scholar of Comparative Religion, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community
Ibrahim Ikhlaf of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community said:
Given the developments in the Islamic world and the spread of extremism, its time for a conference to be held to discuss the true nature of Caliphate and its aspirations in the 21st century.
Caliphate evokes many different feelings such as devotion, leadership and unity on the one hand, and intolerance, extremism and aggression on the other hand.
The results of a survey specifically commissioned by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community on British attitudes to Caliphate will be shared at the Conference.
The conference is an opportunity for an in depth understanding of Caliphate in Islam and in particular to examine how this concept can be applied in today's age.
NOTE TO NEWSDESK
Date: Monday 23rd May 2016
Venue: The Great Hall, Kensington Conference Centre, Hornton Street, London W8 7NX
For more information: Conference http://www.truecaliphate.org.uk/
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community http://www.loveforallhatredfornone.org/
Programme
Registration and Refreshments: 6.00 pm onwards
Start of Proceedings: 7.00 pm
Q&A: 8.00 8.45 pm
Networking and Refreshments: 8.45 10.00 pm
Contact
Basharat Nazir, +44 7703 483384 media(at)ahmadiyya(dot)org(dot)uk
Farooq Aftab, +44 7584 100 659
EagleView Technology Corporation, a leading technology provider of aerial imagery, data analytics and GIS solutions, announced that it has flown and captured high-resolution ortho and oblique Pictometry imagery of a 92-square kilometer area in Alberta, Canada following the recent wildfires. Imagery was captured on Wednesday, May 11, 2016 and through the companys Early Access program, images were available for viewing just two days later to assist in initial recovery efforts.
The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta has been a long-standing customer and these fires have been devastating to the entire region, said Robert Locke, president of EagleView Government Solutions division. We were able to get our planes to the area as soon as it was determined to be safe to fly; the imagery will be invaluable for helping with damage assessment and recovery efforts.
The Alberta Emergency Management Agency worked closely with the company to plan the capture of the imagery, which covers areas just south of the airport up through the most populated areas surrounding and including the city of Fort McMurray. The municipality had already flown multiple years with us before the fires so they have a good record of the state of the area prior to the fire, said Locke. They now have the ability to compare before and after imagery in order to help with evaluating losses and beginning plans for rebuilding.
Rishi Daga, EVP of Commercial Sales at EagleView said the imagery will also be of immense value to insurance carriers who insure properties in the areas affected by the fire. Being able to survey the damage remotely will help insurance companies process claims faster and issue payments promptly so the region can begin the rebuilding process, he explained.
About EagleView
EagleView Technology Corporation, through its two wholly owned subsidiaries, EagleView Technologies, Inc. and Pictometry International Corp., is the unparalleled provider of aerial imagery, data analytics and GIS solutions serving the commercial, government and public utility sectors. The companys patented image capture processes and 3D modeling algorithms coupled with property-centric analytic tools empower end-user workflows with scalable, efficient and highly accurate answer sets in support of property claims, risk management, construction, emergency response, assessment, corridor mapping and more. For more information contact (866) 659-8439 or visit http://www.eagleview.com or http://www.pictometry.com
Sexy = Yoga A Fast and Easy Guide on Achieving the Ultimate, Sexy You! Sharon Lechter, Author of Think and Grow Rich for Women & Co-Author of Rich Dad Poor Dad. Sexy=Yoga truly empowers women to live their best lives with passion & vision. For any woman who wants to tap your inner goddess; this is a must-read!
Sexy = Yoga is a solid guide that will make you more appealing to others in almost every situation. This book is truly a road map for everyone who wants to unleash their inner sexy, become aligned with their purpose, and live a life that is filled with abundance.
This book features spectacular photos of Ranee practicing Acroyoga, step-by-step yoga sequences to achieve any goal at any level, recipes to complement your yoga practice, and a bonus gift for readers.
Her book is receiving world-wide acclaim from many well known people in the personal development and self help space:
Les Brown, Bestselling Author and World-Famous Motivational Speaker. As a speaker, Ranee Reese shares her voice and journey to motivate and inspire people. In Sexy=Yoga, she brings her empowering message to people everywhere to impact lives.
Sharon Lechter, Author of Think and Grow Rich for Women and Co-Author of Rich Dad Poor Dad. Ranees message in Sexy=Yoga is one that truly empowers women to live their best lives with passion and vision. For any woman who wants to tap into her inner goddess and her full potential, this book is a must-read!
Bob Proctor, Bestselling Author and Featured Teacher in the Blockbuster Film, The Secret. Ranee Reeses book is one that will inspire you to manifest your dream life and attain the positive mindset to be successful. I want to share this with everyone I know. Sexy=Yoga is truly a life-changing read!
About Ranee Reese
Ranee Reese is a free-spirited native of Thailand. She began practicing meditation and ancient Buddhist principles at 10 years old. She is a certified meditation and yoga instructor, as well as a Reiki master.
Ranee is also a serial entrepreneur who has been a successful restaurant owner, owned a lighting design company, and, currently, has an extensive real estate portfolio. Yoga plays an integral part in her life.
As an inspirational speaker, Ranee also shares her passion and daily inspiration, as well as her knowledge of yoga, meditation, and AcroYoga through her yoga online training website, http://www.raneereese.com, which is helping to expand yogas presence worldwide.
With more than a decade of meditation and yoga and over 1,000 hours of transformational training, Ranee discovered her innate ability to guide and inspire others back to their inner beauty through daily yoga practice, so they can create a happy life in which they truly thrive. Sexy = Yoga will be distributed globally by Beyond Publishing Worldwide.
Follow Ranee on Social Media
Facebook.com/RaneeReeseYoga
Instagram.com/RaneeReeseYoga
Twitter.com/RaneeReeseYoga
Pinterest.com/RaneeReeseYoga
Linkedin.com/RaneeReeseYoga
YouTube.com/RaneeReeseYoga
Alpha Flight Guru
Alpha Flight Guru, the leader in discount first class and business class tickets, is proud to announce an innovative travel photo contest. As part of the launch of the company's travel resource centers for popular world destinations such as Europe, Asia, and North America, the company is soliciting entries into a 90 day photo contest. Photography and/or travel buffs are encouraged to submit photos of weird, amazing, or just plain fun things that they have done in popular world destinations for a chance to win two complimentary round-trip business class tickets to select destinations in Europe or Asia.
"Our mission is to bring cheap business class and first class airfare deals to the masses yet still have fun," explained Alex Scoble, Chief Marketing Officer of Alpha Flight Guru. "Our 'Never Have You Ever' photo contest will combine a passion for discount international airfare with the fun, provocative nature of social media sharing to grow a passion for travel between participants and their friends or families. The winner with the most votes will be selected as the winner after the 90 days are over. So start uploading and sharing daily."
To learn more about the contest requirements and rules, interested persons should visit http://alphaflightguru.com/flight-deals. There, in addition to learning about the contest, visitors are encouraged to click down to the footer navigation and check out the new destination landing pages. An example is the Rome information page at http://alphaflightguru.com/flight-deals/rome, which begins with deeply discounted business class deals to Rome (as well as first class airfare deals to Rome), and then proceeds with the top things to do in Rome such as restaurants, hotels, and popular attractions in the Eternal City.
Contest Details: Summary
For complete terms and conditions, interested persons must visit the landing page identified above. However, in summary format, the details are as follows. To enter, participants should upload a travel photo to social media sites Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and/or the Woobox platform with a caption plus the hashtag #FLYAFG.
For example, a person who has danced in the famous Trevi fountain in Rome could upload a picture of himself or herself dancing in the waters of the Trevi fountain, with the caption, "Never have you ever danced in the Trevi fountain in Rome, Italy. #FLYAFG" Or, a person who has visited Paris Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris might submit a selfie of themselves in front of the cathedral with the caption, "Took an afternoon stroll through the Notre-Dame in Paris. #FLYAFG" The contest is meant to be both fun and informative, as users share travel photos that highlight unusual things to do in travel destinations across the planet. Similarly, users could choose cities as diverse as Sydney (http://alphaflightguru.com/flight-deals/sydney) or Dubai (http://alphaflightguru.com/flight-deals/dubai).
Using the innovative Woobox system, users can then share their photos to social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, and have friends or family vote for their submissions. Comments are encouraged; those who "have" done the activity in question as well as those who "have not" are urged to comment on the posts. Indeed, a lively discussion may ensue about fun, weird, or amazing things that friends and family have done in their own travel experiences.
The winner will receive 2 free roundtrip business class tickets courtesy of Alpha Flight Guru. Other terms and restrictions apply, so users should consult the Alpha Flight Guru website for complete details.
About Alpha Flight Guru
Alpha Flight Guru brings personalized guru service to those searching for cheap business class tickets and cheap first class tickets to destinations from Europe, to Asia, to Australia, and beyond. The company's expert gurus find unpublished discount fares, both business class and first class tickets, to cities like London or Paris, New York or Los Angeles, Melbourne or Sydney. Customers simply use the company's website to enter a destination, and then let a guru find discounted, cheap, unpublished business class or first class airfares to London, Paris, Sydney and beyond.
Tel. 800-359-5175
Our firm has made a commitment to expand its client base and reach out to the large Hispanic community that lives in and around Chicago and the northeast section of Illinois, the northwest part of Indiana, and neighboring parts of Wisconsin. Past News Releases RSS Attorney Michael Cushing Settles...
Cushing Law Offices Share...
Michael Cushing, founder of Cushing Law Offices, recently announced the personal injury law firm is now working with the Hispanic community. Our firm has made a commitment to expand its client base and reach out to the large Hispanic community that lives in and around Chicago and the northeast section of Illinois, the northwest part of Indiana, and neighboring parts of Wisconsin, said Cushing.
To further access this large population segment and provide services to injury victims in a supportive and comfortable setting, Cushing Law hired Rebecca Galvan, a four-year college honor student with experience in the business world interacting with clients and solving their problems. Galvan, who is fluent in Spanish, possesses a wealth of knowledge in providing support for clients who are injured at work.
Growing up, my family predominantly spoke Spanish, so I understand firsthand what it feels like to need someone by your side who not only speaks and understands the language but is also willing to help, said Galvan. When the opportunity came for me to join Cushing Law and support their new expansion, I knew it would be awesome. I love my role at Cushing Law, and being able to support and assist the Hispanic community is great. Knowing the language really helps our new clients feel comfortable, and I am glad I can provide that.
Added Cushing, We have received very positive responses and enthusiastic endorsements from our expanding group of new Hispanic clients for the work Rebecca is doing. We are exceptionally proud of the professional work and service she is providing our new clients, and expect to continue to grow our Hispanic clientele.
In fact, this expansion, implemented in mid-January of this year, has already resulted in Cushing Law representing Hispanic clients in over fifty new cases, a significant increase from representing Hispanic clients in fewer than fifteen cases over the previous seven years. Our targeted efforts have resulted in calls regarding cases where people are injured either at work, on job sites, in motor vehicle accidents and some malpractice inquiries, said Cushing.
About Michael Cushing, Cushing Law Offices
Michael Cushing has dedicated his career to helping people who have been injured by the negligence or misconduct of others. Michael is an aggressive advocate for his clients and has made a difference in the lives of thousands of injured adults, children and newborns since beginning his practice in 2003. Cushing Law practice areas include wrongful death, automobile accidents, table saw injuries, premises liability, product liability, construction negligence, medical malpractice and workers compensation. For more information, please call (312) 726-2323, or visit http://www.cushinglaw.net. The law office is located at 30 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 1728, Chicago, IL 60602.
About the NALA
The NALA offers small and medium-sized businesses effective ways to reach customers through new media. As a single-agency source, the NALA helps businesses flourish in their local community. The NALAs mission is to promote a business relevant and newsworthy events and achievements, both online and through traditional media. For media inquiries, please call 805.650.6121, ext. 361.
The EPL-HB-11K-LED from Larson Electronics is a Class 1 Division 2, Class 2, and Class 3 explosion proof LED light fixture that provides 10,997 lumens of high quality light while drawing only 112 watts of power. LED technology and a compact design make this lamp an excellent replacement upgrade option for older, bulky and high maintenance cost fixtures.
The copper free aluminum alloy body is powder coated for added durability and aesthetics. A special heat dissipating design in conjunction with LED technology helps this fixture achieve an excellent 60,000 hour rated lifespan. The light weight and low profile of this unit makes it an attractive alternative to larger and heavier older fixtures.
This light is universal voltage capable and can be operated with 120-277 volts AC without any modifications. This explosion proof LED light fixture carries an IP66 rating for ingress protection, rated for marine environments, wet locations, and hose down areas. This LED luminaire is shock and vibration resistant with no filaments or glass components that can break or shatter. This fixture is a pendant mount unit and incorporates a threaded hub for wiring.
This new LED light fixture is ideal of applications including oil and gas refineries, drilling rigs, petrochemical facilities, and food and beverage facilities, said Rob Bresnahan, CEO of Larson Electronics. With more and more industries needing explosion proof lighting, this innovative solution will be in high demand.
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.
All of these films were big releases in their day, and today theyre true classicsjust as fun as ever to watch, especially on Eat|See|Hears 3-story outdoor movie screen
Eat|See|Hear, voted best outdoor movies by Los Angeles Magazine, kicked off its fifth season May 7 in Santa Monica with the beloved classic, Dirty Dancing. But the month is just beginning, there are three more events in May.
The action-packed and fun fairy tale, The Princess Bride, was shown on Saturday evening, May 14, at Santa Monica High Schools Memorial Greek Amphitheatre. This coming Saturday night, May 21, Eat|See|Hear will travel to Pasadena City Halls Centennial Square to present a 30th anniversary screening of the musical fantasy film, Labyrinth starring the late David Bowie. May 28s event will take place on the lawn at the Autry in Griffith Park and feature the 1998 comedy, The Big Lebowski. Showtime each night is at 8:30 p.m.
All of these films were big releases in their day, and today theyre true classicsjust as fun as ever to watch, especially on Eat|See|Hears 3-story outdoor movie screen, notes Sharon Sperber, co-owner of Eat|See|Hear.
Adding to the fun each week are live performances from up-and-coming bands. Dream pop band, Mothlight, was the musical guests on May 14. The alternative rock band, Faulkner, will be appearing May 21. Santa Monicas Opus Orange band will be playing their own blend of dreamy indie pop music May 28. Performances begin approximately at 7 p.m. each week.
At every event, plenty of food trucks will be on site and open for business starting at 5:30 p.m. You can count on there being a large selection of vendors and menus each week, Sperber says. That includes multiple vegan and vegetarian options, as well as some gluten-free food choices.
General admission tickets are $14 each for adults and $8 for children 5 to 12 years old when purchased in advance. Children age 5 and under are free. Tickets for the May 21 event can be purchased online at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/eatseehear-outdoor-movie-labyrinth-tickets-21441605419. Tickets can also be purchased at the door the night of the event.
In addition to general admission tickets, a limited number of Fashionably Late passes are available for $21 each. These VIP tickets provide a reserved section near the front of the venue, so you are guaranteed to have a great view regardless of what time you arrive. Sperber says. Fashionably Late tickets must be purchased in advance online, and are not available for sale or upgrade at the door.
For further information about Eat|See|Hears upcoming events for summer 2016, please visit http://www.eatseehear.com/event-schedule/.
About Eat|See|Hear
Voted Best Outdoor Movie Series by Los Angeles Magazine in 2014, the Eat|See|Hear outdoor movie, food truck and live music event series brings an evening of fun to Los Angeles-area venues each summer. The fourth annual series is presented by SHOWTIME NETWORKS, featuring up-and-coming bands from the local music scene, the hottest food trucks and the largest inflatable movie screen on the west coast with the highest quality HD-projection with a 52-foot wide image and professional sound. Eat|See|Hear promises an enjoyable movie-going experience for everyone, including dogs. Each event and is produced by LA-based experiential marketing agency, Trailhead Marketing, Inc. For more information visit http://eatseehear.com.
Fourteen months ago adventurous couple Chanel Cartell and Stevo Dirnberger quit their jobs, sold everything they owned and began travelling the world.
Visiting 31 countries to date, the South African couple have encountered plenty of animals during their global journey- some of them very friendly - so they decided to capture these adorable creatures on camera.
And it seems that while not every animal is particularly photogenic, on the whole they were all happy enough to get up close and personal, striking poses for the photographers.
Cartell and Dirnberger explained how they capture their humorous shots: 'We have always been passionate about animal portraiture. In order to get the style of picture we were after, we would use a wide-angle lens and we'd need to get really close to the subjects, which is tricky in itself.
'You then use the camera's continuous shooting function, and hope that the eyes remain in focus - this is the most important part.
'We've photographed highland cows and alpacas in Austria, bunnies and pigs in Sweden, lemurs, crabs and quokkas in Australia, and dogs and cats in nearly every country we've been to we've been to,' they added.
Fourteen months ago adventurous couple Chanel Cartell and Stevo Dirnberger quit their jobs and began travelling the world. This spectacular image shows an inquisitive bovine putting its nose in the camera, surrounded by a green meadow.
The couple have visited 31 countries to date and have encountered and photographed plenty of animals along the way, including this cheeky alpaca pictured flashing a toothy grin in Salzburg, Austria.
It's a hard life: This sleepy cat seems more content with having a nap upside down than posing for Chanel and Stevo from Johannesburg.
Bliss: A goat basks in the sun with its eyes closed. The image was captured on the couple's trip to Bergen, Norway.
This brown horse was caught with its mouth open in Umbertide, Italy, during the couple's worldwide adventures.
Messy pup: A drooling bulldog splashes water out of its bowl as it has a thirst-quenching drink in the heat.
Udderly gorgeous: A pair of cows get up close and personal with the photographer in Salzburg, Austria.
Hogging the limelight: A muddy pig curiously pokes its dirty snout in the camera in Kolasen, Sweden.
A munching bunny is more interested in eating its greens than being on camera. The scene was captured in Jarpen, Sweden.
Swanning around: This large bird does not seem afraid of swimming right up to the camera to get a close look.
Chanel Cartell and Stevo Dirnberger left their jobs in advertising and branding after discussing their desire to face new challenges.
The new website for NovikShake and NovikStone make these luxury-look products easier to select and buy. The website design has re-organized and prioritized our product content while driving business to our dealer network, making Novik easy to buy." --Ralph Bruno, President , Novik Sales Corp.
Novik, a premier manufacturer of shakes, stones and accessory products that replicate the natural beauty and texture of wood and stone materials, has been awarded the HubSpot Quarterly Impact Award in the Growth-Driven Design category for its newly designed website.
The award recognizes Noviks agency, Falls Digital based in Cleveland, OH, for creating a web design in both English and French Canadian that delivered excellent web metrics under a short deadline. HubSpot is an inbound marketing software platform that helps companies attract visitors, convert leads, and close customers. The HubSpot Impact Awards, given quarterly in six different categories, will be presented at the annual Inbound Conference in November 2016.
Novik, with premier brands NovikShake and NovikStone, is very pleased to be recognized for its newly launched growth-driven website, said Ralph Bruno, President, Novik Sales Corp. The website design has re-organized and prioritized our product content, improved functionality and optimized our lead generation in a very short timeframe. Most importantly, the new site is driving business to our dealer network, increasing their business while making Novik easy to buy.
The Falls digital team was tasked with revitalizing the Novik website in November 2015, in time for Noviks big trade show, the International Builders Show in mid-January 2016. By utilizing a growth-driven, launchpad methodology and HubSpot platform, the website launched on time and with excellent performance data. Less than a month after the launch, the more robust, functional website has yielded an impressive increase in total traffic by 32.5%. And during the same short time period,1,262 visitors viewed the Dealer Locator page.
NovikStone and NovikShake with StainNatural technology, are poised to define completely new categories in the building products industry. To learn more, visit http://www.novik.com .
About Novik
Novik is a premier manufacturer of NovikShake, NovikStone and accents that replicate the natural beauty and texture of wood and stone materials. At the forefront of technology, Novik offers attainable luxury that is attractive and easy to install. Novik products are a perfect fit for builders, contractors, facility managers and consumers who take pride in the aesthetic appearance of their home or building. For more information, visit http://www.novik.com.
Theres nothing more important than keeping families together during times of tragedy, and we hope everyone in our community can help us support Ronald McDonald House during this charity event
Michael George Insurance, a Florida-based insurance agency that provides coverage to family and business clients across northern Florida, is initiating a charity drive to promote and assist the local chapter of the Ronald McDonald House charity group.
Ronald McDonald House aims to provide support to the families of ill and injured children receiving medical care in nearby hospitals by providing them with a home away from home. Ronald McDonald House facilities are offered at low or no cost to client families, ensuring that they are able to remain close to their children and aid in the healing process.
Theres nothing more important than keeping families together during times of tragedy, and we hope everyone in our community can help us support Ronald McDonald House during this charity event, states Michael George, owner and director of Michael George Insurance.
To publicize the charity event, George and his team are working to establish an online presence and reach out to local families over social media and email. The Michael George Insurance team will also be publishing a full page article featuring the charity drive in the next issue of the firms online community magazine Our Hometown: http://www.michaelgeorgeinsurance.com/Our-Hometown-Magazine_41.
Several other Florida charities and non-profits have received assistance from the Michael George Insurance team in recent months. As part of a community involvement pledge, the team plans to work with another new local charity every other month from here forward.
To take part in the Michael George Insurance Ronald McDonald House charity event, interested readers are encouraged to visit the following page and make a personal contribution to the effort: http://www.michaelgeorgeinsurance.com/Supporting-Families-in-Jacksonville-_26_community_cause. To learn more about previous charities and causes supported by the Michael George Insurance agency, interested readers can review the firms Community Causes list here: http://www.michaelgeorgeinsurance.com/community-cause.
About Michael George Insurance
As a Personal Financial Representative and resident of Jacksonville, Florida for over 22 years, Michael George knows many local families. This deep knowledge and understanding of the people in his community helps Michael and his team provide over 3800 customers with an outstanding level of service. Michael George Insurance is committed to helping families just like yours protect the things that are important your family, home, car and more. The Michael George Insurance team is also ready to help you prepare a strategy to achieve your financial goals. To reach a helpful Michael George Insurance representative, visit http://www.michaelgeorgeinsurance.com/ or call 904-220-3400.
Thiel Colleges 20th president, Susan Traverso, Ph.D., addresses attendees during Tuesdays press conference. As the College celebrates its 150th anniversary, the excitement on campus is contagious, and I am optimistic that we can accomplish great things together.
Susan Traverso, Ph.D., has been named the 20th president of Thiel College. Traverso has served as the provost and senior vice president at Elizabethtown College since 2007. She takes office in August as the first female president of Thiel College.
The Board of Trustees is elated to appoint Dr. Susan Traverso as the Colleges next president, Chair of the Board of Trustees Barry Stamm, M.D. 70 said. Dr. Traverso has the creative and hard-working spirit that will inspire confidence and continue the Colleges momentum as we celebrate our sesquicentennial anniversary.
At Elizabethtown College (Elizabethtown, Pa.), Traverso is a senior member of the colleges leadership team and a professor of history. Her responsibilities include strategic, personnel and facilities planning; oversight of the colleges academic and student life programs; coordination of programs, enrollment, financial planning and budget analysis; campaign planning, fundraising and donor relations; supervision of the dean of faculty, the dean of students and seven directors; and engagement with faculty leadership and governance. Traverso co-chaired the Strategic Planning Committee, and chairs the Facilities Planning and Construction Committee and the Hiring Review Committee.
Traversos significant achievements include coordinating $60 million in campus improvements and advancing fundraising priorities that resulted in external funding of $20 million. Traverso also created an Office of Sponsored Research and Programs, developed the School of Continuing and Professional Studies, and established the Center for Community and Civic Engagement.
I am honored to join the Thiel College community as its 20th president, Traverso said. As the College celebrates its 150th anniversary, the excitement on campus is contagious, and I am optimistic that we can accomplish great things together. I look forward to extending the momentum on campus through partnerships with Greenville community leaders.
Previous roles have included dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and associate professor of history at the University of Redlands (Redlands, Calif.); director of the Associated New American Colleges (ANAC) Academy; and associate professor and chair of history at North Central College (Naperville, Ill.). Additionally, Traverso served the U.S. Peace Corps in a variety of rolesincluding education coordinator and directorin locales such as Morocco, Yemen and Bulgaria.
A prolific speaker on academic leadership issues, Traverso has presented to the Council of Independent Colleges, American Academic Leadership Institute, Middle States Commission on Higher Education and the Network for Vocation in Higher Education. She serves on the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design board, and is the chair of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra board. An American social policy and womens history scholar, she is also the author of Welfare Politics in Boston.
Traverso holds doctoral and masters degrees in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a bachelors degree in history and communications from Simmons College (Boston, Mass.). She has continued her education through a series of leadership development programs in recent years.
Traverso and her husband, Kent Taylor, have two children, Linden and Kent.
The Thiel College Board of Trustees elected Traverso at their May meeting upon the recommendation of the Presidential Search Committee. The committee began a national search in February under the leadership of consultant Dr. Peter Mitchell and committee chair John Frangakis. Frangakis is the Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees.
The process attracted 70 applications and serious expressions of interest, which gave the committee a strong pool to choose from, Frangakis said. I was humbled to see board members, faculty, staff, students and community members come together to facilitate this important process in an expedient, yet thorough, manner. Were confident that Dr. Traverso will be an effective leader for the College.
Traverso replaces Troy D. VanAken, Ph.D., who announced his resignation in February to accept the presidency at Elmhurst College (Elmhurst, Ill.). VanAken has served as the 19th president since 2009 and will continue leading the College through the summer.
The U.S. national site selection portal offers free data to businesses seeking new locations More than 97% of business site selectors are researching communities online, often without economic developers aware that their locations are being considered. The new ZoomProspector.com provides key data for the site selection process.
GIS Planning Inc. today announced the public launch of the completely redesigned ZoomProspector.com, the most comprehensive business location analysis portal in the U.S. The new ZoomProspector.com enables businesses and site selectors to freely search and analyze robust GIS map data about U.S. locations so they can make informed decisions about the ideal place to locate.
The original ZoomProspector.com, launched in 2008, changed the process of business location selection by enabling detailed online searching. The new version adds an intuitive new interface, mobile optimization, community rankings by variable, a greatly enhanced data set and additional features, all available without charge to users seeking communities with commercial real estate properties.
More than 97% of business site selectors are researching communities online, often without the economic development organizations aware that the places they represent are under consideration, said Anatalio Ubalde, CEO and co-founder of GIS Planning Inc. The new ZoomProspector.com makes sure they find the data they need. The intuitive interface allows them to dive deep into our extensive data sets, map results, and then find website and contact information to move their decisions to the next step.
ZoomProspector.coms comprehensive GIS data sets drill down past the county level, so that business users can make informed location decisions. Searches can be done at the county, city and metro level. Even better, the site is designed so that anyone, not just GIS tech experts, can easily search and analyze information. Multi-variable searches can be done at the click of a mouse, with results ranked for ease of use and interpretation.
Its so much easier to make sense of complex data when its presented in an engaging visual format, so users will find dynamic data infographics, heat maps, and primary data provided by local governments, explained Pablo Monzon, GIS Plannings CTO and co-founder. The new ZoomProspector.com lets economic developers tell the story of their community with beautiful, informative maps, charts, and images.
A true national site selection portal is only effective if its offered at no cost to business users, since the goal is to encourage as much traffic as possible. Businesses, site selectors, and economic developers will appreciate the lack of barriers to access ZoomProspector.com's vast data resources and mapping capability; anyone can use the site to find their ideal commercial real estate location.
Fully loaded features tell the story of each location. The new ZoomProspector.com enables extensive availability of hyper-local heat maps spanning a huge range of key data variables, including demographics, business, industry, consumer spending and local GIS map data layers, all of which extend down to city level detail. The portal offers opportunities for economic developers to set up detailed Economic Development Organization (EDO) Portals, which function as SEO-boosting microsites to market their communities. ZoomProspector.com is the only national site selection portal with fully integrated sharing with social media, user comment and review fields for communities, and advertising opportunities.
For more information, please visit http://www.ZoomProspector.com.
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(Global Times) 09:12, May 18, 2016
China conducted military drills in waters off its southeast coast to further improve mobile combat capabilities, media reported on Tuesday.
The drills involving the 31st Group Army simulated beach landings, Chen Xiaoming, a regiment commander, told the PLA Daily, the official newspaper of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
The 31st Group Army is based in Xiamen, Southeast China's Fujian Province.
"We are exploring new modes of landing operations and new tactics to improve our combat capabilities," Chen told js7tv.cn, a website affiliated with the PLA, in an interview broadcast on Monday.
The combined battalion consisted of infantry, armored forces, artillery, and special-operation forces, which are linked by integrated command information system, the PLA Daily quoted an official with the 31st Group Army as saying on Tuesday.
Ground, sea and air forces joined the drills, the report added.
The official added that the combined battalion is more adaptive, flexible and better prepared for attacks, and is one of the army's basic combat groups.
This is not the first time the 31st Group Army has conducted drills in the area. China Central Television reported in January that the army also conducted landing exercises in which long-range rocket launchers, self-propelled howitzers and amphibian carriers were used.
Since 1995, the 31st Group Army participated in several large-scale landing exercises on Dongshan Island in Fujian, news site china.com reported in January.
Routine military drills are conducted around the island, mostly landing exercises, the Beijing Times reported. The largest drills took place in 2001, with over 100,000 troops involved in the 4-month drills.
Large-scale military drills were also held on the island in 2004, media reported.
In February, China unveiled a long-anticipated plan to regroup its seven military area commands into five theater commands, a move that observers said is aimed at improving the PLA's combat capabilities and enhance its response through a joint command system to meet the challenges of a new era.
It's time of the year for students to graduate and shoot photos to capture the moment. Graduates of the University of Mining and Technology at Yinchuan College in #China's #Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region seem to have taken the photo shoot to a new level. The students position themselves on May 15, 2016 to create patterns on the ground and used drones to capture unique group photos.(Photo/People's Daily Online)
LUSAKA, May 17 (Xinhua) -- A top Chinese official on Tuesday dismissed reports in Zambian media that China has been selling human meat as food in Africa.
Reports on social media and a local newspaper quoted an unnamed Zambian woman living in China warning people to stop buying Chinese corned beef.
The woman claimed that Chinese beef companies were collecting dead human bodies, marinating them, packing them in tins labeled as corned beef and sending them to Africa.
Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Yang Youming issued a statement expressing how unfortunate it was that people with ulterior motives were attempting to destroy the long-standing partnership between Zambia and China.
"Today a local tabloid newspaper is openly spreading a rumor, claiming that the Chinese use human meat to make corned beef and sell it to Africa. This is completely a malicious slandering and vilification which is absolutely unacceptable to us," he said in a statement.
"We hereby express our utmost anger and the strongest condemnation over such an act," he added.
The Chinese envoy has since asked relevant government departments in Zambia to investigate the tabloid and source of the rumor in order to clear the name of the Chinese people.
Zambia's Deputy Defense Minister Christopher Mulenga has since promised that the government will launch investigations into the reports.
"The government of Zambia regrets the incident in view of the warm relations that exist between Zambia and China. We shall make sure that relevant government authorities will take up the investigations and give a comprehensive statement," he said.
BEIJING, May 18 -- Invited by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee will pay a state visit to China from May 24 to 27.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang made the announcement on Wednesday.
Later in the day, another spokesman Hong Lei told a routine press briefing that during the visit, Chinese leaders will hold talks and meetings with Mukherjee to make in-depth exchange of views on bilateral ties and issues of shared interest.
It will be Mukherjee's first state visit to China since he took office in 2012, Hong said, adding it is one of the most important high-level interactions between the neighboring countries this year.
Besides Beijing, the Indian president will also visit south China's metropolis Guangzhou.
The China-India relationship has maintained a good momentum of healthy and stable development in recent years, Hong said, noting the ties entered a new era of rapid growth since President Xi visited India in 2014 and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China in 2015.
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Crown Publishing Group has relaunched Read It Forward, a website hosting a digital community of more than 385,000 readers. Described as a "publisher-agnostic book vertical," the site is dedicated to helping readers discover new and classic books.
The revamped site places a heavier influence on long-form content and essays by authors of renown-Erik Larson, Erica Jong, and Karin Slaughter will all be involved in the summer launchalong with book recommendations from the site's staff. The site's design has received a facelift as well, with a simplified navigation bar, a cleaner interface, and a more contemporary look overall.
We have always been proud of the editorial content featured on Read It Forward, and now we have a more modern design to showcase our interviews, literary lifestyle essays, and reading recommendations, Crown v-p of community development Kate Rados said in a statement. "While its not possible to be all things to all readers, we strive to deliver the best reads at the right time that align with a readers taste.
New features on the site include 'Book Club Appetizer,' a podcast hosted by Read It Forward editor Abbe Wright and Alana Buckbee of Crown; a weekly Twitter recommendation hour, in partnership with Library Journal and Penguin Random House, under the hashtag #AskALibrarian; and the Book Apothecary, a web-based application that recommends books to fit particular moods.
Read It Forward intends to work with bookstores as promotional partners, and has teamed with Tattered Cover in Denver, Colo., and Northshire Bookstore Saratoga Springs, N.Y. and Manchester, Vt. for a sweepstakes offering a single winner 50 books hand-selected by the stores' bookselling staffs. Marketing include further sweepstakes, an active social media and email marketing campaign, and a "site-wide online adventure" called "The Great Reader's Scavenger Hunt."
At Amazons annual meeting on Tuesday, company founder and chairman Jeff Bezos confirmed that the online retailer plans to open more physical stores, though he did not put a figure on how many new outlets are to come.
According to the Seattle Times, Bezos told shareholders that operating physical stores is an experiment. He then said: Were definitely going to open additional stores. How many? We dont know yet.
Amazon opened its first physical store, Amazon Books, last November in Seattle. This March, the company confirmed it will open a bookstore in San Diego later this year. A rumor floating around BookExpo America, which took place last week in Chicago, had Amazon opening a store in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Additional store openings was not the only topic covered by Bezos at the annual meeting, though. Talking about Prime, the companys two-day shipping service (which provides a number of other perks), Bezos said his goal with the program is to make sure that if you are not a Prime member, you are being irresponsible. Bezos, as usual, declined to discuss the specific number of Prime members Amazon has, just instead there are currently tens of millions.
Various departments and universities in east China's Jiangsu province have recently issued statements promising that they will not lower admissions quotas allocated to local students.
This promise was made to assuage the concerns of anxious parents, following measures taken by the Ministry of Education to ensure higher college enrollment figures for less developed provinces.
The Ministry of Education recently released a new set of rules redistributing cross-provincial quotas for the national college entrance exam. Under the new policy, universities and colleges in more developed provinces with rich tertiary education resources, such as Jiangsu and Hubei, will have to take a larger number of students from less developed regions. This year, for example, universities in Hubei will enroll 40,000 students from less developed regions, while schools in Jiangsu will take 38,000.
But the directive triggered a public outcry from parents in the two provinces, and some even protested in front of local education bureaus last week, claiming that this will make it more difficult for their children to find a place at schools close to home.
Amid the outcry, the Department of Education of Jiangsus provincial government put out a public statement saying that the number of local students enrolled this year will not be less than that of previous years, despite the bump in student populations from other provinces.
Heads from the province's six key universities Nanjing University, Southeast University, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Soochow University and Nanjing Normal University also promised at a press conference that their quotas for local students will not decrease.
Wang Zhuojun, Secretary of the Party Committee of Soochow University, said that overall enrollment this year will increase compared with last year. Liu Tiechuan, head of the education department of Hubei province, also pledged that the enrollment rate for local students at prestigious universities in the province will not drop.
Michele Buzon, a Purdue University associate professor of anthropology, is excavating pyramid tombs in Tombos, Sudan to study Egyptian and Nubian cultures from thousands of years ago in the Nile River Valley. (Purdue University photo/Charles Jischke)
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. New bioarchaeological evidence shows that Nubians and Egyptians integrated into a community, and even married, in ancient Sudan, according to new research from a Purdue University anthropologist.
There are not many archaeological sites that date to this time period, so we have not known what people were doing or what happened to these communities when the Egyptians withdrew, said Michele Buzon, an associate professor of anthropology, who is excavating Nubian burial sites in the Nile River Valley to better understand the relationship between Nubians and Egyptians during the New Kingdom Empire.
The findings are published in American Anthropologist, and this work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration. Buzon also collaborated with Stuart Tyson Smith from the University of California, Santa Barbara, on this UCSB-Purdue led project. Antonio Simonetti from the University of Notre Dame also is a study co-author.
Egyptians colonized the area in 1500 BCE to gain access to trade routes on the Nile River. This is known as the New Kingdom Empire, and most research focuses on the Egyptians and their legacy.
Its been presumed that Nubians absorbed Egyptian cultural features because they had to, but we found cultural entanglement that there was a new identity that combined aspects of their Nubian and Egyptian heritages. And based on biological and isotopic features, we believe they were interacting, intermarrying and eventually becoming a community of Egyptians and Nubians, said Buzon, who just returned from the excavation site.
During the New Kingdom Period, from about 1400-1050 BCE, Egyptians ruled Tombos in the Nile River Valleys Nubian Desert in the far north of Sudan. In about 1050 BCE, the Egyptians lost power during the Third Intermediate Period. At the end of this period, Nubia gained power again and defeated Egypt to rule as the 25th dynasty.
We now have a sense of what happened when the New Kingdom Empire fell apart, and while there had been assumptions that Nubia didnt function very well without the Egyptian administration, the evidence from our site says otherwise, said Buzon, who has been working at this site since 2000, focusing on the burial features and skeletal health analysis. We found that Tombos continued to be a prosperous community. We have the continuation of an Egyptian Nubian community that is successful even when Egypt is playing no political role there anymore.
Human remains and burial practices from 24 units were analyzed for this study.
The tombs, known as tumulus graves, show how the cultures merged. The tombs physical structure, which are mounded, round graves with stones and a shaft underneath, reflect Nubian culture.
They are Nubian in superstructure, but inside the tombs reflect Egyptian cultural features, such as the way the body is positioned, Buzon said. Egyptians are buried in an extended position; on their back with their arms and legs extended. Nubians are generally on their side with their arms and legs flexed. We found some that combine a mixture of traditions. For instance, bodies were placed on a wooden bed, a Nubian tradition, and then placed in an Egyptian pose in an Egyptian coffin.
Skeletal markers also supported that the two cultures merged.
This community developed over a few hundred years and people living there were the descendants of that community that started with Egyptian immigrants and local Nubians, Buzon said. They werent living separately at same site, but living together in the community.
Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu
Source: Michele Buzon, mbuzon@purdue.edu
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Note to Journalists: Journalists interested in a copy of the "Entanglement and the Formation of Ancient Nubian Napatan State" journal article can contact Amy Patterson Neubert, Purdue News Service, at 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu
ABSTRACT
Entanglement and the Formation of Ancient Nubian Napatan State
Michele R. Buzon, Stuart Tyson Smith, Antonio Simonetti
Through the concept of entanglement, archaeological indications of cultural identity and skeletal evidence of biological and geographic interaction are used to explore the development of the Nubian polity who ruled as the 25th Dynasty of Egypt (Napatan Period c. 750-656 B.C.E.). In this paper, we examine the ways in which cultural and biological linkages impact the political, social and cultural trajectories of the political entities in the ancient Nile Valley. Early studies of political developments in this region have often focused on Egypt, ignoring the aspects of power formation that may have developed independently and the long tradition of established local institutions in Nubia. The present research uses evidence from the site of Tombos, located in Upper Nubia, to investigate the processes of identity formation and population composition during the Egyptian colonial occupation and subsequent rising of the Nubian Napatan polity. We address the impact of Egyptian and Nubian immigrants on the political developments, finding strongest support for the influence of Nubian-Egyptian communities established in colonial times on the character of the Napatan polity.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The 2016 Borlaug Summer Institute on Global Food Security will be held June 5-18 at Purdue University.
In attendance will be 40 graduate students selected from 20 universities from across the United States, including Purdue. Participants are selected based on their demonstrated interest and commitment to finding solutions to world hunger, and have chosen dissertation research that addresses the challenges of global food security.
The two-week program, hosted by the Purdue Center for Global Food Security, engages students through lectures by prominent faculty and guest speakers, practicums, small-group research work, and visits to area farms and research infrastructures at Purdue and the region.
The 2016 cohorts include 14 students from India, Nepal, Brazil, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mauritius, Rwanda, Malawi, Colombia, Afghanistan, Madagascar and Pakistan, in addition to 26 U.S. students. Their collective academic disciplines range from agronomy, plant pathology, human nutrition, to agricultural and biological engineering, economics and other social science areas such as conflict resolution.
Students will develop country-specific food security group-project reports in response to a simulated request for proposals from the United States Agency for International Development. Purdue professors with experience in international development will simulate a donor panel on the last day, challenging students to defend their proposals.
"The goal of the summer institute is to provide participants with a more holistic understanding of the conceptual challenges around global food security, with a focus on cross-disciplinary approaches in addressing major global development challenges," said Gebisa Ejeta, director of the Center for Global Food Security, based at Purdue's Discovery Park.
Ejeta, distinguished professor of agronomy and the 2009 World Food Prize laureate, and several Purdue faculty work with these students throughout the two-week period of the institute. The following Purdue officials will address the students: Suresh Garimella, executive vice president for research and partnerships; Tomas Diaz de la Rubia, chief scientist and executive director of Discovery Park; and Jay Akridge, the Glenn W. Sample Dean of Purdue Agriculture.
Other speakers include:
* Julie Borlaug, assistant director for partnerships of the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture at Texas A&M University. She is the granddaughter of the late Norman Borlaug, an agronomist and humanitarian for whom the institute is named.
* Alesha Black, director of the Global Food and Agriculture Program, Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
* Margot Ellis and Clara Cohen, from the USAID Bureau for Food Security Office of Agricultural Research and Policy.
* Charles Owubah, vice president of World Vision International.
The summer institute is part of the U.S. Borlaug Fellows in Global Food Security program, funded by USAID under the Feed the Future initiative. The program is aimed at preparing the next generation of U.S. food security professionals with the scientific foundation needed to effectively study and manage the global landscape in support of sustainable food systems.
Media Contacts: Pamela McClure, 765-494-45441, pmcclure@purdue.edu
Phillip Fiorini, 765-496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu
Source: Gebisa Ejeta, 765-494-4320, gejeta@purdue.edu
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Rock Island County Judge Thomas Berglund on Tuesday reaffirmed his decision to let Mitchell Gayer withdraw his plea in a 2013 DUI crash that killed two people.
Judge Berglund cited several instances in which he believed Mr. Gayer's former attorney, William "Gerry" Schick, had fallen short of his professional duties. The judge said he saw Mr. Schick fall asleep and noted the now-retired lawyer's longstanding health issues.
"One factor in and of itself may not have been enough," Judge Berglund said. "But when you put everything together, the culmination here just indicates that Mr. Schick was not at the top of his game."
Prosecutors charged Mr. Gayer, 26, of Andalusia, with felony DUI charges for a Nov. 27, 2013, crash that killed Jamie Sedam, 22, of Port Byron, and Clayton Carver, 24, of Taylor Ridge. In January 2015, Mr. Gayer entered an Alford plea to aggravated felony DUI, for which he received a prison sentence of up to 18 years.
Mr. Gayer later asked the judge to let him withdraw his plea and vacate the sentence, claiming ineffective counsel by Mr. Schick. The judge granted his motion in December 2015.
At Tuesday's hearing, prosecutors asked Judge Berglund to reconsider his decision. Rock Island County State's Attorney John McGehee said they believed Mr. Gayer entered his plea fully aware of the sentencing range he faced. If the judge was to reverse his decision and allow Mr. Gayer's plea to stand, Mr. McGehee said prosecutors would agree to a new sentencing hearing.
The parties in the case have disputed whether Mr. Schick advised Mr. Gayer that, to receive a non-prison sentence, a judge would have to find "extraordinary circumstances" existed. Mr. McGehee said the issue was discussed several times in court before the plea and sentencing hearings, "so clearly he (Mr. Gayer) understand and heard ... that it was not going to be easy."
Mr. Gayer's current attorney, Katherine Drummond, cited prior testimony by Mr. Gayer and his father that Mr. Schick had told them probation was a feasible request. Ms. Drummond said Mr. Gayer was entitled to "competent council" who would inform him about the "realities" of his plea and its consequences, including losing driving and voting privileges.
Judge Berglund said he was troubled that Mr. Schick would not have advocated for his client to receive probation if he had told Mr. Gayer such a punishment was unlikely.
"Effectively, Mr. Schick was arguing for probation where he's got a client who's got the equivalent of a Class X felony, which is a mandatory prison sentence," the judge said.
He cited a November 2014 hearing -- two weeks before the scheduled trial -- where Mr. Schick asked Rock Island County Judge Walter Braud to let Mr. Gayer present a speech to teens about the DUI crash. At the hearing, Judge Braud expressed bewilderment about how the request would help Mr. Gayer's defense, Judge Berglund said.
"It's my opinion that Mr. Schick was not doing well at that hearing," Judge Berglund said. "He was struggling to some extent. He didn't have good answers for Judge Braud."
Judge Berglund said he also questioned Mr. Schick's decision at sentencing to call certain people to testify, and he said Mr. Schick at one point nodded off.
"He did fall asleep; I saw it," the judge said. "He was right in front of me. It was just for a brief period of time; had it gone on much longer, I would have done something, but he did awake and we proceeded on. So I left it at that point."
All those "little issues" culminated into a "big issue," the judge said. Despite Mr. Schick's declining health, Mr. Gayer was entitled to "a fair defense put up for him," Judge Berglund said.
"That's the nature of our system," he said.
In an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt, but acknowledges a conviction is likely at trial. Withdrawing his Alford plea means all of Mr. Gayer's original charges are reinstated, he is presumed innocent and the case proceeds toward a jury trial.
A future court date was not available Tuesday afternoon.
A New York man sentenced in 2014 to six years in prison on cannabis charges turned himself in on Tuesday in Henry County Circuit Court.
Joseph A. Fredrickson, 29, of Almond, N.Y., was arrested on Interstate 80 in March of 2011 with what police say was more than 40 pounds of cannabis, after he was stopped for going 72 in a 65-mile per hour zone.
Judge Richard Zimmer found him guilty of three cannabis-related counts in May 2013. The judge later changed his mind on a Class X trafficking charge on a post-trial motion, finding that the only proof the contraband came from out-of-state was the trooper's opinion.
Mr. Fredrickson had been free on a $100,000 appeal bond but lost his claim that former State Police Sergeant Floyd Blanks did not have consent to search his truck bed or suitcase, or should have gotten a search warrant.
The Third District Appellate Court ruled in November that even the faint odor of cannabis provided cause for a search.
In addition to the prison term, Mr. Fredrickson must serve three years of mandatory supervised release, and pay various fees, including a $7,500 fine and a $100,000 street value fine.
This is the final installment in a series of stories exploring Transcendental Meditation. To read the other stories, go to QCOnline.com.
Two weeks after starting Transcendental Meditation, the light, but nagging, daily headaches I'd had for more than 10 years disappeared.
Because they were centered in the middle of my face, and I'd had many sinus infections, I assumed they were sinus headaches. An MRI showed normal sinuses.
Still dealing with the headaches many years later, I went to an otolaryngologist, who said my sinuses were clear and suggested I see a neurologist for tension headaches.
Although I had a hectic job as an editor at The Dispatch/Rock Island Argus, I never thought I was stressed. Still, I went to a neurologist, who agreed they were tension headaches and gave me medication to treat them.
I hate taking medication, and this one made me moody, so my husband, who learned TM in 1973 while living in California, suggested I try TM.
After attending a free introductory session in Davenport in August 2013, I did short one-on-one sessions with an instructor for four days before beginning to meditate on my own.
Within two weeks, the headaches were completely gone. I was shocked at how my mind worked through "issues" during those two daily 20-minute meditations. Things that had bothered me before now seemed trivial.
I felt relaxed and refreshed, and very content for the first time in my life. There was no more "I'll relax and enjoy life later, but I have too much to do right now." I could get my chores done and still smell the roses.
Here are what some people in my monthly TM gatherings say about their experience with TM.
-- Chris Ericksen, of Moline, started practicing TM in late 1971. "I read Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's book 'The Science of Being and the Art of Living' in high school. He spoke of a simple technique to help one reach their best potential, so I was interested.
"As a freshman in college, our English instructor took us to an introductory lecture on TM. ... The technique was said to be simple, and was not based on a belief system.
"For 44 years I have been sitting down with my eyes closed twice a day to meditate. Allowing the mind and body to quiet down and rest is a pleasurable experience. Beyond that, I feel refreshed and better able to pursue activity in life."
-- Peter Mc Dermott, of Moline, started TM after attending an introductory meeting at Blackhawk College in 1978. "I was very young and starting my own business. I was nervous and anxious. I made the decision to become a TM meditator, and it has been a godsend! It has been 37 years, and I still appreciate and enjoy meditating on a daily basis.
"Our minds never stop working, even when were sleeping. Like Jerry Seinfeld (a TM meditator) says, 'Look at your bed covers in the morning. Looks like you were at war.'
"Transcendental Meditation helps your entire body and nervous system relax and lets your body function perfectly."
-- Felix Reyes Jaen, of DeWitt, started practicing TM in late 2013 "because I had heard about it when I lived in Nicaragua, but it was not until years later, when I moved to the U.S., that I learned more about all of TM's physical and psychological benefits and the scientific research backing it up.
"By going within myself during mediation, I am empowered to bring a calm reaction to everyday, stressful circumstances. TM has helped me develop a quiet, yet permanent, sense of self-power by expanding my awareness and ability to make healthier choices in life."
-- Connie Moran Barret, of Moline, who taught TM and headed the local TM center in the 1980s, learned TM while in college in St. Louis in 1970. She said she attended a TM lecture and "sensed something about the TM teacher was special, and I wanted that.
"TM has given me a centered calmness even in the most hectic times," she said. "I am able to focus better. I feel an inner contentedness and a sense of awareness of the moment, unfettered by past or future anxieties.
"The practice of Transcendental Meditation is the most simple and effortless practice, and each meditation has a variety of experiences. It could be full of thoughts and feelings, and upon gently returning, provide the most profound state of restful awareness. "
-- Nancy Schold, who lives near Sherrard, has been practicing TM for about five years with her husband, Sam. "I had been curious about it for years, but when training and education became available in the Q-C, it seemed like the right time to give it a try. I had tried other forms of meditation, but I never felt completely comfortable with them.
"TM has given me a way to easily find the quiet centered space within myself. I find myself returning to this space during the day for a minute or two when things seem to be getting a bit hectic or stressful. TM is a tool that I use to help me stay in balance, physically, mentally and emotionally."
-- Martha Nieto, of Moline, learned TM in February 2011. "I wanted to incorporate it into my transition to a healthier lifestyle. It's enabled me to feel more relaxed, and I get less stressed about normal and routine life stressors. My decision making is quicker and more clear.
"The investment of ones time In TM is so small compared to the huge return it gives back. It's so simple and easy to do that sometimes it just comes naturally.
"The best thing about TM is coming out of meditation with the feeling of inner peace in both our mind and body."
(File photo)
Sha Sha is an 11-year-old girl living in Ningxiang County, Hunan province. She should have been in grade five this year. However, she was instead banished from school after her schoolmates' parents found out that she had been diagnosed with AIDS. In response, Yin Pengbo, the headmaster of Chiduan Wanquan Primary School, decided to give Sha Sha private lessons for half a day every week.
When Sha Sha was 7 months old, her mother died of a brain tumor. Sha Sha was later diagnosed with AIDS in March 2016. No one in their family knows when Sha Sha's father, Wu Pengfei, was infected with HIV. Sha Sha's grandfather said that one day in 2010, when Wu Pengfei came home for a visit, he told his mother that he had AIDS and would one day die from it.
Sha Sha was diagnosed with AIDS due to mother-to-child transmission by First Hospital of Changsha in July of 2014. Sha Sha's grandparents and elder sister all tested negative for HIV.
Sha Sha applied for a leave of absence from school on September 1, 2014 so she could receive treatment in Changsha, the capital city of Hunan province. Seven months later, Sha Sha's father died of AIDS.
The latest figures released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed that six out of every 10,000 people in China may be infected with HIV/AIDS. The number of people living with HIV/AIDS in China had hit 575,000 by the end of October 2015, with 177,000 HIV/AIDS-related deaths.
Sha Shas case has highlighted the stigma attached to the disease in China, where many sufferers face widespread discrimination. Knowledge about HIV/AIDS is worse in poor, rural areas, such as the community that Sha Sha is from, said Wu Zunyou, Director of China CDC STD and AIDS prevention and control center. Wu said that about 8,000 children under the age of 14 in China have contracted AIDS through mother-to-child transmission, and many of them have a difficult time obtaining compulsory education.
An official from the Ningxiang County education bureau admitted that one-on-one lessons are not the best choice. "In fact, it is illegal since the practice is in violation of the Protection of Minors Act, as well as relevant national legislation on aspects of the legal rights of people living with HIV. But in the current circumstances, we have to guarantee the rights of the majority of students," the official said.
ROCK ISLAND -- The Rock Island County Board has approved new bylaws for the Hope Creek Care Center board of directors that should allow it to begin meeting again.
The Hope Creek board canceled its last two monthly meetings after Rock Island County State's Attorney John McGehee sent a "cease and desist" letter to its members.
Mr. McGehee advised the board to cease to "convene as a public body" because it was operating under bylaws that had never been signed off on by county board chairman Ken "Moose" Maranda.
Health Dimensions Group, the private firm that runs the nursing home, had raised concerns about the Hope Creek board to county board member Kim Callaway-Thompson, D-Rock Island. She chairs the county's health and humans services committees and has suggested the Hope Creek board overstepped its boundaries by discussing terminating the county's contract with HDG.
At Tuesday's county board meeting, Ms. Callaway-Thompson said the newly approved bylaws would provided a "clearer delineation of roles."
"It'll just be clear to everybody that the role of that board will be much more advisory than anything else," she said.
Jesse Hullon, the chairman of the Hope Creek board, said he had understood when he joined the board that it would have "a little more bite" when it came to oversight at the nursing home, rather than a purely advisory role.
"This is the direction that the Rock Island County Board has taken, and we will have to respect their opinion," he said Tuesday.
Mr. Hullon previously has raised concerns about the amount HDG is charging the county to run Hope Creek Care Center. The firm is charging the county $40,000 a month for its services, and Mr. Hullon said it could earn as much as $700,000 over 12 months if it meets various goals.
County board member Ron Oelke, R-Andalusia, was the only member of the county board to vote against the new bylaws for the Hope Creek board. Mr. Oelke has been a longstanding proponent of the county selling the nursing home, which has struggled financially for years.
Also at Tuesday's county board meeting, the board voted to borrow $500,000 for its general fund to help meet payroll and pay vendors. The board voted 24-0 in favor of the proposal.
County administrator Dave Ross has repeatedly warned the board that without new revenue in the form of a 0.5 percent sales tax increase, a significant number of layoffs will be necessary to improve the county's balance sheet.
The sales tax increase would have to be approved by a voters through a referendum and the county board has yet to agree to put the question on the ballot in November.
Meng Brings NASA Astronaut To Queens On October 17, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Queens) brought NASA astronaut Dr. Jonny Kim to Queens where he met and spoke with students at Francis...
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Rated 3 out of 5 by SoPA Hose and Wand Too Short I bought this based on a friend showing me her similar, higher model of this vacuum, thinking the TSV was a great price, and it is, for a shorter person. I wanted something lighter, with more bells & whistles, to replace my 10 year old, $400 Kenmore canister vac, which is so heavy I dread using it anymore. This vacuum does a wonderful job on carpets, even with lots of pet hair. And I love how light and moveable it is on the caddy. However, I have more hard floors than carpet and found the constantly floppy neck on the hard floor duster head to be awkward to handle. Also, the hose and wand are too short for comfortable above floor cleaning for me, and especially for my 6'5" husband, who does half the vacuuming. Really wanted this to work, because I think it otherwise works very well, especially at this price point. I want to add that I'm thrilled the return shipping cost of $11 for this larger item is what I consider to be reasonable. Was so afraid I'd be stuck with something that doesn't work for us. 10-28-16
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"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
What is happening in Brazil is a great struggle to control the central political power in a period which is not electoral, says Professor Jose Medeiros da Silva in an interview with People's Daily Online
Professor Jose Medeiros da Silva
On May 12, the Federal Senate of Brazil decided for the removal of the President Dilma Rousseff. After all the speeches were given, the Senate reached the majority for impeachment, Peoples Daily Online interviewed Professor Jose Medeiros da Silva, PhD in Political Science from the University of Sao Paulo (Universidade de Sao Paulo/USP), Professor at the University of International Studies in Zhejiang, Hangzhou, and a researcher invited by the International Institute of Macau. He answered some questions about what is happening in Brazil, the mistakes made by the President Rousseff, and the direction the country might go from now on. Read the interview as follows.
Peoples Daily Online: Brazil has been an international highlight lately because of its economic and social roles. Now, the country calls the attention of the world because of a great political crisis. What kind of analysis do you make of this crisis, which resulted in the removal of the President Dilma Rousseff by the Federal Senate?
Jose Medeiros da Silva: In a very simplified way, we may say that what is happening in Brazil is a great struggle to control the central political power in a period which is not electoral. The results of the elections in 2014 were not accepted by a significant sector of the opposition parties, including some Brazilian entrepreneur segments, groups of the main media companies, and an important part of the medium class in the big urban areas, mainly in the south-southeast axis. The conjunction of these forces and the misguided decisions taken in the first months of the second mandate of President Rousseff resulted in the storm that, now, ended up in her ousting from the presidency. After the elections in 2014, the national and the international political conjectures demanded a person with a more political than technical profile. Maybe for an excess of self-esteem on her own ability for management, President Rousseff was unable to realize the size of the storm growing around her with enough time. She believed the main challenge at the beginning of her second mandate was the economy, but, in fact, it was essentially political. She tried to weaken the political confrontations, which seemed to be inevitable, by bringing them closer, that is, inside the Planalto Palace.
File Photo: Dilma Rousseff
PDO: What do you mean? Why did things reach the point they are now? Why couldnt the president even have the minimum parliamentary base to avoid the process of impeachment?
Jose Medeiros da Silva: The president brought economic segments, which used to combat her, to make part of her second mandate. That is, segments which confronted the core of the project of the power of her political basis. It was like taking the wooden horse full of soldiers to Troia. She wanted to build a solid parliamentarian majority so that she could implement the government plan. This is understandable. However, as you said, she could not even assemble a minority, solid enough to avoid this process of impeachment. The reality is usually harder than what we wish. This happened at the beginning of the second mandate, and the consequences of this wrong understanding of the national and international political conjuncture brought this situation about. I guess the president only realized the deep abyss around her when the biggest strategist of her political base, the former president Lula, was called up to depose in a coercive way, on the 3rd of March. President Rousseff, which kept a certain distance of the social base that elected her in the first months of her second mandate, had to back off. But then it was too late. In a war, if you do not prepare yourself well for a back-off process, you take the risk of losing a lot of soldiers and wasting a lot of combat supplies.
PDO: The president could not scale out accordingly to the strength of the opposition. Is it so?
Jose Medeiros da Silva: Partly, yes. I would say she could not scale out the real opposition to her government project. She only identified the apparent opposition, in the image of the Senator Aecio Neves, PSDB (Brazilian Social Democratic Party), who was beaten by Lula and her in the last four presidential elections. However, this was and has been the most fragile opposition, without a project able of building a larger national unity. She has shown to be an opposition without efficient conductors, who should be capable of applying the economic line of some determined national and international groups. It is an opposition based on political caciques who struggle with each other for personal or very confined projects. Her power now is only muddying the water so that the others can fish. Although this opposition hungers for a big fish, their hook can only fish sardines.
At first, PSDB thought that, with the President Rousseff withdrawal, a new window would open for them to regain the central power. This soon showed to be very illusive, for there is Mr. Temer with all the PMDB (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party) on the way. Not only on the way, but already with a foot in the government. The real opposition was something else. It is made of sectors linked by the mass media and the speculative financial capital. They want to keep hidden for a better defense of their economic interests and to impose their view of the world.
Canberra Metro, which was selected as preferred bidder in January, comprises Pacific Partnership, John Holland and CPB Contractors, Australia; Mitsubishi Corporation and The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan; Aberdeen Infrastructure Investments, Britain; CAF, Spain, which will supply 14 33m-long five-section Urbos low-floor LRVs, and DB Engineering & Consulting, a subsidiary of German Rail (DB), which will operate and maintain the line for 20 years.
Act says the capital cost of $A 710m is "much less than the cost originally estimated in the business case for the project." Act also says the cost will be finalised when financial close for the project is reached in the coming weeks.
Act will make a capital contribution of $A 375m towards the project in 2018-19, while the Australian government will contribute $A 67m.
Act will make annual availability payments to Canberra Metro covering operating costs, such as electricity, drivers' pay and maintenance, as well as construction costs, of around $A 48m in the first year of operation rising to $A 75m for the final year in 2038. This works out to an average annual payment of $A 64m, which Act says represents less than 1% of its annual spending.
Construction is expected to be completed in late 2018 with a view to opening the new line in early 2019.
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As stories of Chicago's public-sector pension crisis have filled the newswith some estimating the city's systems to be over $30 billion shortmuch has been made of various reform options proponents claim will save costs. But while there are many policy options that may, in fact, decrease pension liabilities for Chicago and cities and states in similar situations, some options being considered may also have serious consequences for the public sector workforce, now and in the future.
New analysis at the nonprofit RAND Corporation suggests that different pension plan options can have a considerable impact on employee retention. RAND used data from the Illinois State Board of Education to model Chicago Public Schools teachers' retention decisions under different pension policies. The findings showed that not all policy options affect teacher retention in the same way. Some policy changes that we'd expect to lower Chicago's overall pension burden going forwardincreasing vesting or eligibility ages and decreasing the multiplier used to calculate pensions for new teachersnot only can result in higher attrition among teachers early in their careers, they can conversely lead to lower attrition of teachers near the end of their careers.
Higher early-career turnover is costlyreplacing a teacher is estimated to cost as much as $100,000 and can lead to a lack of continuity in instruction, lower teacher expertise in making curriculum decisions, fewer experienced teachers to act as mentors, and fewer teachers in the pipeline to become principals and administrators. Higher retention of late-career teachers may be a plus if these teachers remain engaged and supported, though the overall effect on educational outcomes will also depend on the relative effectiveness of the teachers who extend their careers compared to those who exit earlier.
To avoid higher early-career turnover, changes to pension plans may need to be accompanied by other compensation changes. RAND analysis of other similar compensation systems has shown that bonuses can be used to ensure retention and to keep early-career teacher turnover from increasing. Because school settings differ, such bonuses might need to be higher in some parts of a school district than others.
Changes to a retirement system may be actuarially appealing if they have the potential to decrease unfunded liabilities, but can lead to unintended or unrecognized impacts on teacher retention and morale that have a direct bearing on the effectiveness of the entire educational program. Modeling retention provides insight into at least some of the overall impact, helping to guide policymakers and stakeholders to more informed decisions. As RAND's analysis of the Chicago teacher data shows, the public pension problems faced by Chicago, Illinois, and other states need not be made in the absence of informed analysis. With such information policymakers could make better decisions now and also reap positive outcomes for the future of their public sector workforce.
Kristine Brown is an economist and James Hosek is a senior economist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation.
Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
While pressing for a peace treaty with the United States, North Korea has resorted to military threats as it tries to compel the United States to negotiate. This approach may seem strange, since North Korea claims to be a peace-loving country and argues that the United States is a warmonger. But the North Korean efforts at coercing the United States belie the North's peaceful claims. Since exactly the opposite is true, the United States and other peaceful countries need to exercise due caution in considering the North Korean demand.
In reality, by insisting on a peace treaty, North Korea is probably not seeking peace, but war. North Korean leaders likely hope that a peace treaty would destroy the rationale for U.S. military presence in South Korea, leading to a cancellation of the U.S.-South Korean alliance and a withdrawal of U.S. forces from South Korea.
If U.S. forces are withdrawn, they are unlikely to return. Congress has expressed concern that even today U.S. forces would take too long to deploy to Korea. If they were withdrawn from Korea and then attempted to return in response to North Korean aggression against the South, they would not arrive in a sufficiently prompt manner, since the forward presence of military personnel and facilities needed to expedite deployment would have been lost.
North Korea has never abandoned its vision of unifying the Korean Peninsula by conquering South Korea. Indeed, the political and economic weaknesses of the North Korean state make military aggression the only option that North Korea has to achieve a North Korean-controlled unification of the peninsula. A peace treaty with the United States could create the conditions for such a war.
If a peace treaty were in place, North Korea might be able to invade South Korea with minimal U.S. intervention, giving the North the prospect of being able to conquer the South, especially since the North has been stockpiling substantial quantities of chemical and biological weapons for decades and is preparing a nuclear weapon force of sufficient size and character that could cause crippling damage against South Korea
The remainder of this commentary is available at nationalinterest.org.
Bruce Bennett is a senior defense analyst at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School.
This commentary originally appeared on The National Interest on May 17, 2016. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
Mr. Hu and his wife came specially from the Fengxian District of Shanghai to Jian Qiao University on Monday to express gratitude to three expatsRussian students Roman and Kirill, along with French teacher Bastienfor saving their 17-year-old daughter.
According to the three expats, on the evening of May 14, they were enjoying the night view from the balcony of their apartment when they saw someone struggling in the nearby river. They immediately rushed to the scene.
She had swallowed some water and was gripping a net tightly, Kirill described the situation. Hand in hand, the three formed a chain, with Roman jumping into water to grab the girl. Their initial attempt failed, but they ultimately managed to pull the girl onto the bank. A surveillance camera showed the whole process, which lasted from 8:08 p.m. to 8:11 p.m.
The girl started crying after she was rescued. The three expats decided to take her to their apartment, where they gave her dry clothes to change into. Because of the language barrier, they turned to a Korean student, Juyong Park, for help translating. Park talked with the girl and encouraged her to have a bath. The whole group stayed with the girl until she was sent to the supervisor of the apartment building.
Upon hearing about the incident, security and medical staff from the university came to the apartment and contacted the near-victims family.
The girl is a student at a nearby vocational school. According to thepaper.cn, the president of the university will commend the three expats, and they may also receive a Leifeng Award from the school.
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.
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Baidu, Chinas leading search engine, was ordered to revamp the Pay for Placement (P4P) listings in its search results after the widely publicized death of Wei Zexi, which many people blame partially on Baidu. A follow-up investigation was conducted by Peoples Daily, and the results indicate there is still much room left for improvement, not only by Baidu but also by state regulators.
According to the overhaul requirements published by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), commercial promotion for unauthorized medical treatments, drug and health care products must be taken offline. Commercial promotions, which must be clearly labeled, should account for less than 30 percent of search results.
The search results for synoviosarcoma and arthritis all adhered to the new requirements. The top seven results out of the 17 that came up on the first results page for plastic surgery were all labeled as commercial promotion, but eight promotions in total popped, exceeding the stipulated limit.
Besides medical treatment information, key word searches for interior decoration and other daily activities also went above the 30 percent cut-off. Almost half the search result pages were filled with advertisements.
Such a ratio of actual results to promotions also exists on 360, Sogou and other Chinese search engines. This is an influential and dangerous situation, as most people nowadays obtain the majority of their information through online searches.
We cannot regard search engines simply as information providers, but as an important information infrastructure with a bigger social responsibility, which is to provide accurate and objective information to the general public, said Chen Biaohong, Secretary-General of the information network committee of the All China Lawyers Association.
Apart from overlapping regulations and responsibility that is diffused among multiple authorities, insufficient legal supervision has also been fingered as a contributing factor. Several top political advisors have suggested classifying the P4P listing results as advertisements, and placing them under the regulations of advertisement law.
Since search engine results have wider coverage than traditional advertisements, they should bear even greater responsibility than what is stipulated in advertisement law, commented Xue Jun, a law professor at Peking University.
There are also voices claiming joint liability for search engines publicizing false medical and pharmaceutical practices. Other than penalties imposed through advertisement law, customer rights protection law and tort liability law should also be applied, some say.
Legislation should follow the progress of technological improvements so as to not lag behind Internet innovation, said Liu Junhai, Director of the Business Law Center of Renmin University.
This article was edited and translated from ? source: People's Daily
HOME > The Amazing Race > The Amazing Race 28 Exclusive: 'The Amazing Race' winners Dana Borriello and Matt Steffanina talk (Part 2)
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 05/18/2016
crowned "Engaged Couple" Dana Borriello and Matt Steffanina the champions of Season 28 during Friday night's finale broadcast on CBS.
ADVERTISEMENT Dana and Matt arrived at the final Pit Stop in Los Angeles, CA, in first place, therefore winning the $1 million grand prize. They raced through 18 cities and 10 countries, traveling more than 27,000 miles.
"Mother and Son" Sheri LaBrant and Cole LaBrant, who were the underdogs all season long, finished in second place. On their heels were "Best Friends" Tyler Oakley and Korey Kuhl in third place.
During an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Monday, Dana and Matt talked about their experience and victory. Below is the concluding portion.
Reality TV World: Did you find watching some of the episodes back a little cringe-worthy? I'm sure it wasn't easy to watch yourselves fight, especially if you were watching with friends and family.
Dana Borriello: Dubai wasn't my finest hour. I didn't enjoy watching that back. It was a tough episode for us. But you know, like I've been saying, I really feel like it's a blessing in disguise.
A lot of people don't get that kind of lens, where you get to watch yourself and say, "Okay, this is not good. This is a part of my personality that I need to work on." And if you can accept that and make the changes, I think in the end, I'll be better for it and our relationship will be better for it.
Reality TV World: What would you say was the most difficult part of the Race for you guys and what will go down as your highlight -- aside from crossing the finish line first and winning $1 million. (Laughs)
Matt Steffanina: I would say the most difficult part for us was self-navigation in Dubai. It was probably our least favorite moment of the Race as well, but it's just so hard, being in a country with a foreign language. And we're not the best with maps because we rely on GPS mostly in LA.
That was also where we had some arguments and stuff. It was just a tough leg. We knew we were at the back and we knew that we were really in danger of going home, and we just weren't ready to go home.
I think favorite point, for me, was Chamonix for sure, doing the paragliding off of the mountain. That was one of the coolest Roadblocks throughout the Race and something that I'll remember forever. It was such a beautiful place. We've been to France several times but I've never seen anything like that.
Dana Borriello: Yeah, I think he pretty much covered it. But my favorite moment was actually in Bali. I really enjoyed it. I know [Matt] kind of hated it, but we looked outside at the temple in Bali and we had had a pretty rough leg before that. And I got to sleep outside and it was really peaceful.
You could hear the waves on the beach and we really refocused before that next leg. I think that was kind of where the whole game shifted for us, when we really decided that we wanted to win. (Laughs) Again, we renewed that commitment and I felt like a new person after that experience.
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Reality TV World: Did it come as a surprise to you that Sheri and Cole finished the Race in second place, especially considering they survived two last-place finishes and were the underdogs when Tyler and Korey were the frontrunners?
Dana Borriello: Yeah, I was shocked honestly! When Sheri and Cole came around second, I was really surprised. I mean, I knew that they were really strong, and you know how it is, a race is a race. It's meant to be that way, that anyone can do it.
They are a great team and they had so many great moments, and they were really strong. So, we never underestimated them. But I guess, you know, just in us expecting Tyler and Korey to -- they are just such a great time. I was surprised, were you?
Matt Steffanina: Yeah. I mean, obviously I was shocked. I think everybody was, and even Sheri and Cole admitted, like, "We've given our goodbye speech five times now whether it's in taxis or on the mat. We just somehow keep surviving."
As fans of the show, even though we obviously wanted to win, we were rooting for them to do well also. Because they're just fun to watch and they are really good people with good hearts.
Reality TV World: Did you two personally feel a little underestimated in the Race? Because it seemed like the big threats who were always discussed were only Brodie Smith and Kurt Gibson as well as Tyler and Korey.
Dana Borriello: I definitely think we were underestimated throughout this season. We actually made a comment after the U-Turn that we were really happy to be underestimated because no one even really considered us for the U-Turn! (Laughs) They were like, "We don't need to U-Turn them. They're fine. They're easy to beat."
So it saved us in that regard, that I think people didn't really remember us. They didn't consider us one of the frontrunners. And I think with fans watching the show, they really, I think, thought that the bickering was a bigger deal than it was.
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Matt Steffanina: And also, historically on the show, dancers haven't really done very well. (Laughs) [Tiffany Chantell and Krista Debono] had a really great season last year, but other than that, usually dancers are some of the first ones to go.
Dana Borriello: They were actually "Cheerleaders." They had dancers [Ernest Phillips and Jin Lao] on their season that went home early.
Matt Steffanina: Oh yeah! The dancers did go home early. I mean, I think Tiffany and Krista were dancers as well. But I think that stigma came with us a little bit, like people were like, "Oh, yeah, you know, the dancers. They never do too well on the Race." And that kind of worked to our advantage. We were able to lay low and sneak in there.
Reality TV World: What do you guys plan on doing with your $1 million?
Dana Borriello: We don't have any, like, in-depth plans right now for the money. We are just going to take my parents on a vacation to Italy. My dad has always wanted to see Italy. He's been talking about it since I was born pretty much, and he's been promising my mom he would take her.
So, he's going blind and we wanted to get him there before he completely loses his eyesight so he can see Italy. So, we'll be doing that in the next couple of weeks, and that's really the biggest plan we have right now.
Matt Steffanina: Yeah, we have a lot of things that we wanted to do with dance, whether it's get a space of our own and just be able to help dancers and work with dancers here in LA and around the country. So, we're just going to think about it and see what we can do -- what would be the best use of [the money] for us.
Reality TV World: Any wedding plans in the works? Any details set in stone?
Dana Borriello: No, we don't really have any wedding plans. It's still kind of the same as before we left. Our relationship is doing really well and we're really happy, but we don't have any plans to marry or to separate. (Laughs)
We're just kind of really happy doing what we're doing. We're traveling a lot, we're working a lot, and I think that if we get married -- when we get married -- it will probably just be like a quick, small barbecue.
Matt Steffanina: Yeah!
Dana Borriello: He really wants it to be a barbecue.
ADVERTISEMENT Matt Steffanina: (Laughs)
Reality TV World: Based on your obvious knowledge of the show and the fact you're fans of , did you actually apply to get on the show or were you contacted by producers because of your YouTube presence?
Dana Borriello: We had actually applied several times for a previous season, and we've been called but never brought through to finals. We kind of put it on the back-burner, and it had been about a year...
Matt Steffanina: We applied but we also went to an open call. We slept outside on the sidewalk in San Francisco to get seen for the open call.
Dana Borriello: Yeah, we really wanted to do it and we applied several times since we were big fans. But we never got through to the finals, so we kind of put it on the back-burner a little bit.
And then we got a call from the casting director that had called us for a previous season, and he said, "I recognize your photo from your previous admissions on your YouTube page, and this season, we're doing social media, so I think you guys are a great fit." And it kind of just went from there!
To read the first half of Dana and Matt'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 crowned "Engaged Couple" Dana Borriello and Matt Steffanina the champions of Season 28 during Friday night's finale broadcast on CBS.Dana and Matt arrived at the final Pit Stop in Los Angeles, CA, in first place, therefore winning the $1 million grand prize. They raced through 18 cities and 10 countries, traveling more than 27,000 miles."Mother and Son" Sheri LaBrant and Cole LaBrant, who were the underdogs all season long, finished in second place. On their heels were "Best Friends" Tyler Oakley and Korey Kuhl in third place.During an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Monday, Dana and Matt talked about their experience and victory. Below is the concluding portion. Click here to read the first half.Dubai wasn't my finest hour. I didn't enjoy watching that back. It was a tough episode for us. But you know, like I've been saying, I really feel like it's a blessing in disguise.A lot of people don't get that kind of lens, where you get to watch yourself and say, "Okay, this is not good. This is a part of my personality that I need to work on." And if you can accept that and make the changes, I think in the end, I'll be better for it and our relationship will be better for it.I would say the most difficult part for us was self-navigation in Dubai. It was probably our least favorite moment of the Race as well, but it's just so hard, being in a country with a foreign language. And we're not the best with maps because we rely on GPS mostly in LA.That was also where we had some arguments and stuff. It was just a tough leg. We knew we were at the back and we knew that we were really in danger of going home, and we just weren't ready to go home.I think favorite point, for me, was Chamonix for sure, doing the paragliding off of the mountain. That was one of the coolest Roadblocks throughout the Race and something that I'll remember forever. It was such a beautiful place. We've been to France several times but I've never seen anything like that.Yeah, I think he pretty much covered it. But my favorite moment was actually in Bali. I really enjoyed it. I know [Matt] kind of hated it, but we looked outside at the temple in Bali and we had had a pretty rough leg before that. And I got to sleep outside and it was really peaceful.You could hear the waves on the beach and we really refocused before that next leg. I think that was kind of where the whole game shifted for us, when we really decided that we wanted to win. (Laughs) Again, we renewed that commitment and I felt like a new person after that experience.Yeah, I was shocked honestly! When Sheri and Cole came around second, I was really surprised. I mean, I knew that they were really strong, and you know how it is, a race is a race. It's meant to be that way, that anyone can do it.They are a great team and they had so many great moments, and they were really strong. So, we never underestimated them. But I guess, you know, just in us expecting Tyler and Korey to -- they are just such a great time. I was surprised, were you?Yeah. I mean, obviously I was shocked. I think everybody was, and even Sheri and Cole admitted, like, "We've given our goodbye speech five times now whether it's in taxis or on the mat. We just somehow keep surviving."As fans of the show, even though we obviously wanted to win, we were rooting for them to do well also. Because they're just fun to watch and they are really good people with good hearts.I definitely think we were underestimated throughout this season. We actually made a comment after the U-Turn that we were really happy to be underestimated because no one even really considered us for the U-Turn! (Laughs) They were like, "We don't need to U-Turn them. They're fine. They're easy to beat."So it saved us in that regard, that I think people didn't really remember us. They didn't consider us one of the frontrunners. And I think with fans watching the show, they really, I think, thought that the bickering was a bigger deal than it was.Like I said, for us, we had moments when it went a little too far, but mostly, it really wasn't that bad -- the bickering. I feel like we worked really well together. We were a really strong team through a lot of it. You just couldn't really tell, I guess.And also, historically on the show, dancers haven't really done very well. (Laughs) [Tiffany Chantell and Krista Debono] had a really great season last year, but other than that, usually dancers are some of the first ones to go.They were actually "Cheerleaders." They had dancers [Ernest Phillips and Jin Lao] on their season that went home early.Oh yeah! The dancers did go home early. I mean, I think Tiffany and Krista were dancers as well. But I think that stigma came with us a little bit, like people were like, "Oh, yeah, you know, the dancers. They never do too well on the Race." And that kind of worked to our advantage. We were able to lay low and sneak in there.We don't have any, like, in-depth plans right now for the money. We are just going to take my parents on a vacation to Italy. My dad has always wanted to see Italy. He's been talking about it since I was born pretty much, and he's been promising my mom he would take her.So, he's going blind and we wanted to get him there before he completely loses his eyesight so he can see Italy. So, we'll be doing that in the next couple of weeks, and that's really the biggest plan we have right now.Yeah, we have a lot of things that we wanted to do with dance, whether it's get a space of our own and just be able to help dancers and work with dancers here in LA and around the country. So, we're just going to think about it and see what we can do -- what would be the best use of [the money] for us.No, we don't really have any wedding plans. It's still kind of the same as before we left. Our relationship is doing really well and we're really happy, but we don't have any plans to marry or to separate. (Laughs)We're just kind of really happy doing what we're doing. We're traveling a lot, we're working a lot, and I think that if we get married -- when we get married -- it will probably just be like a quick, small barbecue.Yeah!He really wants it to be a barbecue.(Laughs)We had actually applied several times for a previous season, and we've been called but never brought through to finals. We kind of put it on the back-burner, and it had been about a year...We applied but we also went to an open call. We slept outside on the sidewalk in San Francisco to get seen for the open call.Yeah, we really wanted to do it and we applied several times since we were big fans. But we never got through to the finals, so we kind of put it on the back-burner a little bit.And then we got a call from the casting director that had called us for a previous season, and he said, "I recognize your photo from your previous admissions on your YouTube page, and this season, we're doing social media, so I think you guys are a great fit." And it kind of just went from there!To read the first half of Dana and Matt's exclusive interview with Reality TV World, click here THE AMAZING RACE 28 MORE THE AMAZING RACE 28 NEWS << PRIOR STORY
'The Amazing Race' left off CBS fall 2016 schedule, to air mid-season instead NEXT STORY >>
Mary Sarah Gross: I took a step of faith on 'The Voice' and had to be uncomfortable in order to grow
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Rifle Dynamics and SilencerCo have teamed up yet again for a SilencerCo Summit collaboration. Unlike the first offerings chambered in 7.6239 and paired with an Omega, this one is a 5.45 teamed up with the popular Saker.
Here's what they have to say about it:
Were proud to introduce our latest Summit collaboration featuring an RD501 from Rifle Dynamics. Rifle Dynamics has made its mark by building the most accurate fighting rifles in the world rifles that are now staples in the arsenals of the best trainers and the most demanding end users. When SilencerCo decided to suppress an AK, it was only natural that we reach out to a company with such a highly respected reputation and the products to back it up. These AK collaborations feature a world-class SilencerCo silencer and a Rifle Dynamics AK-style host, with each package representing 30+ hours of labor to create a finished product that is beyond compare. Rifle Dynamics has gone to great lengths to optimize each host for suppression. Included in these changes are a custom recoil spring and gas tube to minimize back pressure and cyclic rate increase, as well as a barrel with perfectly cut concentric threads to ensure proper and secure mounting. This newest offering from the Rifle Dynamics + SilencerCo partnership is an RD501 with a rich and striking Russian red wood handguard paired with a direct thread Saker 556K. The most vibrant and classic SilencerCo Summit AK yet, these 25 guns will be gone before you know it.
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An Hk-manufactured Mp5k-ish (SP5k) pistol being available in the United States has been rumored for a couple years now. Scuttlebutt would still catch our ears from time to time, but many in the community had given up hope for genuine Teutonic hardware, instead opting for American and Turkish alternatives. Sources told Soldier Systems that Hk would be announcing availability at this year's NRA Annual Meeting, and they also published a flyer photo as you can see below.
The flyer reads, in part:
The new SP5K was developed for Heckler & Kock as a semiautomatic, civilian sporting pistol (hence the SP prefix) that matches the look and feel of the famous MP5K submachine gun. The SP5K is designed and manufactured to meet the definition of a civilian pistol and marks the return of the roller delayed blockback system to an HK commercial product. This operating system is legendary in its accuracy and reliability. Originally developed on the Heckler & Koch G3 rifle, it has been used on several HK firearms. The SP5K retains many of the critical features of the MP5, including its precision machined components and attention-to-detail quality. The SP5K is manufactured completely on Heckler & Koch's Oberndorf factory in southwest Germany. The SP5K is a safe, robust, ergonomic large frame handgun. For more comfortable hooting, the SP5K is equipped with an elastic bungee sling. The sling is easily installed by snapping it onto the sling swivel hardware located on the rear of the receiver. Using the sling makes firing the SP5K more stable and reduces fatigue
Further word comes from the social media of Kentucky Gun Co, a firearms sales and distribution outlet, who was evidently told that the first batch would hit American shores in July.
Per the flyer, the MSRP will be $2,700. Though the price is on the higher end, street price should be lowerwe've certainly seen people may more for a genuine Hk article. We'll all find out for sure here in a couple of days at the NRA Annual Meeting. Until then, you can get your fill of Mp5k action by watching the Resident Evil series.
Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, delivers a speech during a welcome dinner in Hong Kong, south China, May 18, 2016.
China's top legislator Zhang Dejiang on Wednesday called for strong confidence in the "one country, two systems" principle and Hong Kong's future.
With regard to the "one country, two systems" principle, people should hold on to its original intention, maintain patience and strengthen confidence, Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said in a speech delivered at a welcome dinner.
In his speech, Zhang touched upon a series of issues related to the "one country, two systems" principle that concern the Hong Kong society.
Referring to the issue of "localism," he said one of the contents of the "one country, two systems" principle is maintaining Hong Kong's original social and economic system as well as people's way of life, and "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong" with a high degree of autonomy.
However, very few people are making use of Hong Kong's uniqueness to reject "one country", resist the central government and even advocate "Hong Kong independence," said Zhang, noting that these acts are not about "localism," but aimed at "separation."
Zhang said the "one country, two systems" principle, a fundamental state policy and a strategic choice, not a makeshift, will not be changed.
He said the "one country, two systems" principle, which is widely acclaimed, is the largest denominator between the mainland and Hong Kong and should not be changed.
Moreover, the "one country, two systems" principle which is a good and feasible system well tested since Hong Kong's return to the motherland need not be changed, he added.
Hong Kong has an important position in the overall situation of the country, Zhang said.
He said the central government will unswervingly implement the principles of "one country, two systems," and "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong" with a high degree of autonomy, unswervingly support the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government in administering the region according to the law, and conducting mutually beneficial cooperation with the mainland.
Before the event, Zhang held discussions with more than 40 participants, including principal officials of the Hong Kong SAR government, non-official members of the Executive Council, some members of the legislative council, chief justice of the Court of Final Appeal and chief justice of the High Court, and representatives of District Council chairmen.
Earlier on Wednesday, Zhang inspected the Hong Kong Science Park and heard briefings about the development of innovative science and technology in Hong Kong.
Zhang also held discussions with Hong Kong's scientific research personnel as well as young entrepreneurs, after watching product displays in the Hong Kong Science Park.
In terms of developing innovative science and technology, Hong Kong has quite a number of advantages and is facing rare opportunities, Zhang said.
He hoped the Hong Kong SAR government and the science sector will seize the opportunities and carry out cooperation between the government, manufacturers, academic organizations and research bodies, and step up efforts in cooperating with the mainland as well as cultivating and introducing innovative talents, so that innovative science and technology can serve as a new engine for Hong Kong's economic development.
This May 3, 2016 photo shows the sign of the First City Homeless Services in Ketchikan, Alaska. Cruise ship passengers have been hanging out at an Alaska homeless shelter to get free coffee and a bite to eat, but few have bothered making a donation, said one of the nonprofit's board members. (Nick Bowman/Ketchikan Daily News via AP)
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KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) Cruise ship passengers have been hanging out at an Alaska homeless shelter to get free coffee and a bite to eat, but few have bothered making a donation, said one of the nonprofit's board members.
Tourists in Ketchikan often stop by looking for a restroom, and some decide to stay longer, First City Homeless Services chairwoman Evelyn Erbele told the Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly on Monday.
"If we have a snack, they'll take the snack and they'll sit there and watch TV," Erbele said. "It's called 'audacity,' isn't it?"
The shelter relies on donations and funding from the city and its borough, and it's requesting more money from officials. Ketchikan is called the First City because it's the first stop in southeast Alaska for ships traveling the Inside Passage.
Last year, 38 cruise ships stopped there, bringing 944,500 visitors to this community of 8,200 people, according to the Ketchikan Visitors Bureau. The homeless shelter had 365 visitors that year.
"It's a shelter, and we don't turn anybody away," Erbele told The Ketchikan Daily News on Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1QSGvzX ).
Chris Alvarado, the shelter's services manager, said he sees why tourists come to the shelter, which is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. six days a week.
"Sometimes some of the stores are not open really early, (so) sometimes people will come up here and get coffee and just hang out," Alvarado said.
While few people end up donating to the shelter, Alvarado said it doesn't bother him.
"We are for the homeless, but we're also for the community, for anybody, who needs a safe place to stay," he said. "This door is open for anybody who needs resources. ... I just can't see myself turning somebody away for a cup of coffee even if they're not from here or they're using the bathroom or if they needed a break from walking around."
First City Homeless Services has a $77,635 budget this year and is requesting $14,000 from the borough, according to its application.
Ketchikan is widely known for wanting a bridge to connect the island town to its airport on a neighboring island. But that span, which became known as the Bridge to Nowhere, became a deriding example of congressional earmarks and hasn't been built. Visitors can only reach Ketchikan by sea or air.
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Information from: Ketchikan (Alaska) Daily News, http://www.ketchikandailynews.com
Jim Schultz/Record Searchlight Donald James "Blue" Mobley of Cottonwood surveys the courtroom audience Tuesday before his arraignment in Shasta County Superior Court.
SHARE Jim Schultz/Record Searchlight Donald James "Blue" Mobley pays close attention to retired Superior Court Judge Anthony Anderson during his Tuesday arraignment.
By Jim Schultz of the Redding Record Searchlight
A Cottonwood man who says he grows medical marijuana on his property for disabled and ailing veterans under his Medicine for Our Military program pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Shasta County Superior Court to illegal marijuana cultivation and other charges.
Donald James "Blue" Mobley, 44, was arraigned on four felonies and one misdemeanor count. He also saw his bail reduced by retired Superior Court Judge Anthony Anderson to $85,000 from $110,000,
Mobley, a medical marijuana advocate known for sheltering veterans on his land, was arrested Friday after a search of his Two Feathers Road property by Shasta County sheriff's deputies and California Fish and Wildlife marijuana enforcement agents.
According to the Sheriff's Office, they eradicated 1,844 growing marijuana plants from two outdoor cultivation sites. The agents also found a dozen firearms, including two assault rifles, packaging materials, digital scales and about 75 pounds of processed marijuana and leftovers, the Sheriff's Office said.
Mobley is being represented by the Shasta County Public Defender's Office and is slated to have a June 1 preliminary hearing to determine whether adequate evidence exists to order him to stand trial.
Mobley is charged with possession of marijuana for sale, illegal cultivation of marijuana and two counts of possession of an assault weapon.
Additionally, he is charged with possession of an injecting-smoking device, a misdemeanor.
About two dozen of Mobley's supporters attended his arraignment, including a Redding woman nearly found in contempt after a courtroom outburst.
As they began to leave the courtroom after Mobley's arraignment, Shari Houser loudly voiced her displeasure over Mobley's plight.
"This is a travesty," she said, adding that Mobley has only done good things to help the community.
Anderson, irked by the outburst, told Houser to return to the courtroom, admonished her and said her comments were out of line.
"We do not allow that kind of intimidation of the court," he said. "Riots do not provide justice."
Houser apologized to Anderson, who accepted her apology.
Mobley's arraignment comes one day after approximately 20 of his supporters staged a protest outside the Shasta County Courthouse.
Those protesters told the Record Searchlight they believed authorities targeted Mobley for rebelling against county code enforcement officials over letting homeless veterans live on his property.
They also said the 1,844 marijuana plants and 75 pounds of processed pot found during Friday's raid were for legal prescriptions, not for sales as sheriff's deputies allege. Interviewed by telephone from the Shasta County Jail on Monday morning, Mobley also told a Record Searchlight reporter that the charges against him are "all bogus," and he, too, believes his arrest is about more than code violations.
"It's a personal grudge issue for code enforcement," he said. "I definitely feel singled out."
Last week's raid at Mobley's Cottonwood area property was the third since last year.
Law enforcement officers removed more than 500 cannabis plants from his property in June and hundreds more plants in October.
But, authorities say, Mobley continues to replant, despite their warnings.
Sheriff's deputy Tom Barner wrote in a sheriff's investigative report filed Tuesday in Shasta County Superior Court that the most recent raid showed no signs that the marijuana found were for a co-op or collective, noting that no medical marijuana recommendations were found.
And, he wrote, none of the people found on the property would provide proof of having legal paperwork under the guidelines of Proposition 215.
"They all were uncooperative, rude and distracting," he wrote.
Related Links
Protesters support marijuana and veterans advocate
Donald Mobley arrested during search of his property
County tells Cottonwood to clear property of homeless veterans
Legal troubles plague Shasta Lake veterans outreach center
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The Redding City Council tonight will act on a plan to allow a town home development on a vacant piece land behind the Masonic Lodge that has been the site of numerous homeless camp cleanups.
Councilman Gary Cadd also will ask to write the opposition argument to a half-cent sales tax measure that will be on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Later, the council will consider a proposal for roundabouts to make Victor Avenue safer people walking or biking in the area.
The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at Redding City Hall, 777 Cypress Ave.
Follow the council's actions from the meeting here.
Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight
The Asphalt Cowboys held their pretend bank robbery Monday at Plumas Bank on Hilltop Drive kicking off the 68th annual Redding Rodeo
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The Asphalt Cowboys have released another pair of clues to help would-be sleuths identify the pair of bandits in Monday's bank robbery and find the missing loot.
Lone Stranger and the Sidekick: A famous Dolly Parton song will give you direction, then turn left at the intersection.
The loot: Star Spangled banner is a clue, people all around, red, white and blue.
Here are the other clues released so far:
Lone Stranger and the Sidekick: The Lone Strangers were headed in three directions. Our Asphalt Cowboys lost track, in a colorful reflection.
Precious Cargo the arriving Lone Strangers were frank with grace. The red faced Cowboys could not match the roaring wheel chairs' pace.
The loot: Use Round-Up on the weeds, finding the loot would be a fine deed.
The Lone Strangers hid the loot and said "you can't catch us or the loot to boot."
Those who think they may know who the robbers, call the Asphalt Cowboys at 223-1188. If you find the loot, return it to the Redding Chamber of Commerce at 747 Auditorium Drive. The loot is always hidden in a public place.
SHARE Land was trading child pornography, according to the Trinity County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies involved in fatal shooting
One person was killed Tuesday evening in an officer-involved shooting on Highway A-12 in Siskiyou County.
Siskiyou County deputies involved in the fatal shooting were not injured, according to Kelly Giordano, the public information officer for the sheriff's department.
The shooting occurred about 6:26 p.m., but few details were available Tuesday night.
The person involved in the incident suffered fatal injuries, the sheriff's office said.
"We are unable to release the names of the individuals involved in this incident as it is under investigation," Giordano said.
Redding announces fire season's start
The start of the four-month fire season starts Monday, the Redding Fire Department announced.
The anticipated rainy season that will linger into the month does not take away from the upcoming period of elevated wildfire potential in the area, Redding Fire Chief Gerry Gray said.
Residents can start making their homes fire-safe by removing clutter, combustible materials and dry vegetation for the 2016 fire season, Gray said.
Man accused of having child porn
A Weaverville man has been arrested on suspicion of possessing child pornography, the Trinity County Sheriff's Office said.
The sheriff's office said it received information from officials in another state that Jesse Jerome Land was trading child pornography with a person in that state. During a search of Land's residence in Weaverville officials found several "items of evidence," officials said.
Land was arrested and told authorities he received and sent child pornography, officials said. He is being held at the Trinity County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.
Official: Birds likely hit by vehicles
After another round of tests has shown no poisons or pesticides found in birds killed along Interstate 5 in March, a state official said they likely died from being hit by vehicles.
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife tested three of the 80 to 100 starlings that were found dead along I-5 near the Wonderland Boulevard exit near the end of March.
Officials conducted numerous tests looking for such substances as pesticides and poisons as Avitrol, Starlicide, strychnine or heavy metals, said Krysta Rogers, an environmental scientist and avian disease specialist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
"These are the most common things that we find when we have poison cases," Rogers said.
It is most likely the birds were killed by passing vehicles on the freeway, she said. The birds were found along the northbound lanes of the freeway, many of them were near the shoulder of the road.
Rogers conducted necropsies on the birds last month and found they had suffered such injuries as broken wings and sternums. They had the normal amount of muscle and body fat, indicating they were not suffering from a disease, she said.
Rogers said there was also nothing in the birds' digestive tracts to indicate they had been poisoned or had eaten bait with poison in it. There have been other instances where birds have been killed by flying into vehicles.
The birds may have been feeding in the area and were startled, causing them to fly into traffic, she said.
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By Jenny Espino of the Redding Record Searchlight
Redding transportation engineers are inviting the public to attend a scoping session Wednesday related to a $2.1 million project to make Victor Avenue safer for foot and bike traffic.
The public meeting is scheduled 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Enterprise Park community room, 4300 Victor Ave.
It follows Tuesday's action by the City Council approving the road plan and authorizing the appropriation of $550,000 from the traffic improvement program to build two roundabouts at Galaxy Way and Marlene Drive.
Brian Crane, public works director, anticipated neighbors would support the changes his staff is proposing on Victor between Enterprise Park and the Churn Creek Bridge. Those include narrowing the road, creating paths for bicycles and pedestrians, more lighting, more visible crosswalks and other traffic-calming features.
"We think this project is going to change the face of this corridor, turn it from a less friendly, fast, car-driven corridor to something that allows the people who live in the area to access the park and share experiences with each other in a safe and efficient manner," Crane said.
Staff is in the final phase of designs. They will be completed in summer so that construction can be advertised in September. Construction will be late in the year with completion expected in 2017, he said.
The bulk of the project is being covered by a $1.4 million award from the federal Highway Safety Improvements Program. The city will kick in $141,700 as part of its match for the funding in addition to the cost for the roundabouts.
The road project has been in the books since at least 2013, prompted by the deaths of three teenagers and the injury of a fourth from 2009 to 2012.
Despite the cases, city engineers have said the road, which moves about 12,000 vehicles daily, has a relatively low collision rate. In 2014, Victor had been the site of 33 collisions, eight of which involved pedestrians, over a five-year period, Chuck Aukland, assistant public works director had said.
The road will be narrowed from four lanes to a lane in each direction and a center turn lane.
North of the park, more street lighting will be installed. Also, designs show on the west side a pedestrian path to the bridge. There would be raised channelizers at crossing areas at Galaxy, Vega Street, Marlene and Conifer Way.
Crane told the council that when the city first proposed roundabouts on Shasta View Drive, there were concerns. People were unfamiliar with their use. Since that time, there is more acceptance and those negatives have been turned into positives.
He also cited studies that show roundabouts have proven to reduce speed and collisions.
In other business, the council approved the Bridge View Villas town homes development behind the Masonic Lodge off Lake Boulevard. Groundbreaking of the 161 four-bedroom units is planned next spring on 14 acres. Long-term goals are to create a trail in the area to Keswick Dam Road.
The council also approved letting Councilman Gary Cadd write an opposition argument to the half-cent sales tax measure on the Nov 8 ballot, when and if he so chooses. The measure, which will be accompanied by an advisory measure on how the funds should be spent, apparently will be called Measure D. The companion piece will be Measure E.
Redding Police released these images of two men suspected of burglarizing the Coca Cola Distribution Center earlier this month.
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UPDATE 8:30 a.m.:
Redding police say they've identified one of two men suspected of the May 6 burglary at the Coca-Cola Distribution Center and the man is already in jail custody.
Eric Lee Cooley, 49, of Redding was booked Sunday into the Shasta County Jail on charges unrelated to the May 6 burglary, according to jail records.
Officers identified Cooley as one of two men involved in the burglary after police on Wednesday made public surveillance photos of the two men involved, Redding police Sgt. Shawn McGinnis said.
Investigators on Wednesday interviewed Cooley, who admitted to the burglary.
"Cooley said he specializes in stealing from coin-operated machines, and his motivation for stealing stems from a desire to supply his addiction to methamphetamine," McGinnis said in a news release.
The second suspect, depcited in surveillance photos wearing a hat and coat, has not been identified, police said.
Investigators ask anyone with information to call 225-4214.
ORIGINAL POST:
Redding police are looking for two men in connection with a burglary at the Coca-Cola Distribution Center earlier this month.
The men broke into a fenced yard, work truck and soda machine at the center at 1580 Beltline Road somtime during the night of May 6, police said.
They took several cases of soda, Sgt. Shawn McGinnis said.
Police acquired photos of the men from the building's surveillance system.
Investigators ask anyone with information to call 225-4214.
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By Joe Szydlowski of the Redding Record Searchlight
SHASTA LAKE A minister seeking to establish a Christian-based, for-profit training center that would offer lessons on both job skills and religious topics in Shasta Lake won a victory after the City Council sent it back to the Planning Commission with instructions to find a compromise.
Tuesday night's 4-0 vote came after nearly an hour-and-a-half of council members peppering Development Services Director Carla Thompson and Timothy Sherman, head of Eagle's Nest International Inc., with questions about the proposed Eagle's Nest Trade School.
Mayor Lori Chapman-Sifers was not present.
Sherman had appealed the Planning Commission's previous unanimous decision to deny his request for a permit for the facility, at 3595 Iron Court. Commissioners cited several issues but four major concerns, which the council examined:
- Parking spaces
- Concerns about access for evacuations
- Nearby industrial buildings and their hazardous chemicals, such as Knauf Fiberglass and the wastewater treatment plant
- Whether the training center could be considered a trade school.
Based on those concerns, Thompson recommended the council deny the permit. But some council members took issue with her report and some of the reasoning behind the commission's decision.
Councilman Greg Watkins called Thompson's characterization of the school "misleading." She had said it appeared the facility would have students help make educational documents the school would then sell and its classes weren't associated with heavy industry, the intent of the trade school exception.
Sherman, however, said that students would come, learn a trade in the humanities, arts or communications and graduate with a certificate.
It would seek accreditation through the Association for Biblical Higher Education, Sherman said in the agenda documents.
An attorney representing him and the building's owner, Collin Bogener, said its classes are similar to another trade school already there. He also pointed out that city law doesn't define what is a trade school, the only type allowed there.
It doesn't make sense to deny the permit "because we can't agree on what the devil a trade school is," Councilman Larry Farr said.
Vice Mayor Richard Kern expressed concern about the organization's business plan, noting one commissioner cited that, because previous tenants have deviated from what they proposed, he said. Sherman did submit a plan shortly before the commission's meeting, but it was incomplete, Thompson said.
Watkins, however, countered that the industrial park has two vacant building sites.
"We don't care if they go broke out there," Watkins said of the council's scope in deciding on the permit. Also, he noted the Shasta Lake Fire Protection District found the facility would have an acceptable, though not ideal, access for emergencies. In a memo sent to staff before the meeting, the district asked that capacity be limited to 90.
Sherman said he expects around 80 students there on his busiest days, though once a month conferences could spike that number higher.
He said he is open to working with the Planning Commission.
"I'm sure we're all here for the good of the community," he said.
Clarification: In an earlier version of this article the first paragraph's wording could have been misunderstood as to the council's decision. The article has since been updated.
Four candidates met at the Millville Grange Hall in Palo Cedro for a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of the Redding Area.
SHARE Burney resident Janet Chandler was one of the candidates at Palo Cedro on Tuesday. Cathy Cresser (right), write-in candidate for the District 3 supervisor's race, speaks to the audience in Palo Cedro on Tuesday. Incumbent Pam Giacomini (right) listens to candidate Mary Rickert at Tuesday's forum hosted by the League of Women Voters in Palo Cedro.
By Nathan Solis of the Redding Record Searchlight
The first of two candidate forums for the District 3 supervisor seat touched on what role a local government official plays in issues like land use, fiscal responsibility and fire protection.
On Tuesday, candidates ranged in their allegiance and expertise, while exchanging criticisms of Shasta County's current administration.
Burney resident Janet Chandler questioned the efficiency of the county Planning Department, and if the Board of Supervisors requires several years to streamline the permitting process, then new direction is necessary.
"How do you solve it? You do it, get out of the way or get out of the county," said Chandler.
Incumbent Pam Giacomini fielded and defended the issues facing the county before a room of about 50 people at the Millville Grange Hall in Palo Cedro.
The Record Searchlight co-hosted the forum with the League of Women Voters for the Redding Area, the Greater Palo Cedro Chamber of Commerce and the Shasta County Arts Council.
Giacomini positioned herself as a defender of water rights during her time on the Board of Supervisors, along with fighting for agricultural producers. A question about the state legalization of recreational marijuana received a calculated response from some candidates.
"If a recreational law passes, then we have to revisit the idea. I'm an agriculture producer," said Giacomini. "I have to account for all of my water and pesticides and runoff. That needs to apply to marijuana producers as well, if the time comes."
Candidate Mary Rickert feels when the time comes she will do her research, while write-in candidate Cathy Cresser said it does not matter what happens on the state level, but what the local government decides to do, referring to cultivation ordinances for medical cannabis currently in place.
Giacomini said the projects she has embarked on during her time on the board matter, because they show her experience and speak to her commitment to the county.
"Opponents can point to your record, when they have nothing to show. They do not know how many phone calls I return. I'm going to continue working from the ground," said Giacomini after the forum.
Mental health and its place with the Blueprint for Public Safety bounced around, with Rickert suggesting an important component is a proposed crisis stabilization center and some semblance of a continuum of care for people who receive care.
Chandler summarized the recommendations in the Blueprint report as a wish list, cautioning the audience about a proposed sales tax component that would pay for a majority of recommendations for the county.
An ongoing theme for Chandler was her line of questioning to the audience: What do you want? What would be the most beneficial to the county? She applied this same reasoning on prioritizing to public safety, retaining law enforcement officers and filling potholes.
A question on support for the State of Jefferson movement sparked a line of answers on proper representation, which all candidates agreed is good. Chandler sees the importance of being heard. Rickert wants to see what type of financial stability would be in play. Giacomini said she feels the pain of the unrepresented. Cresser called the movement broad and would like to see more crowdsourcing on the matter.
All candidates, except for Cresser, had strong opinions on a proposed 166-lot subdivision to be built in Palo Cedro.
Rickert appreciates the tone in the community and concern for available water for the Tierra Robles subdivision development. Chandler cheered when she attended a previous meeting with concerned residents who voiced their opinions on the development. Giacomini said a revised environmental impact report on the project left her with questions on available resources and how it would fit into the community.
Cresser said she was unfamiliar with the project and deferred to Chandler's enthusiasm on people getting involved in the development of neighboring land. Cresser feels she would be the type of supervisor who would ask the questions the citizens want to know.
"It is the responsibility of the board to ask those questions," said Cresser on various funding projects in Burney.
Palo Cedro resident Sandra Kotch said candidates spoke in generalities on too many issues, including the Tierra Robles development.
Next forum
What: District 3 candidates forum
When: Wednesday
Where: Burney Lions Hall, 37006 Main St., Burney, 96013
Next forum
What: District 3 candidates forum
When: Wednesday
Where: Burney Lions Hall, 37006 Main St., Burney, 96013
SHARE Infographic explaining how seismic stations work. Los Angeles Times 2016
By Rong-Gong Lin II, Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES In a major reversal, Gov. Jerry Brown is seeking state funds for a fledgling earthquake early warning system for California, which would allow for a limited rollout of alerts by 2018.
The governor has supported creation of the system, which can give as much as a minute of warning before shaking from a big earthquake hits urban areas. But until now, Brown and the state Legislature opposed providing funds from the states budget, arguing instead the money should come from only private and federal sources.
Brown changed his public stance in his revised state budget, asking the Legislature to allocate $10 million toward the system, which is being developed by the U.S. Geological Survey and university researchers.
Even though California is in earthquake country, it has fallen far behind other areas including Japan, Mexico and Taiwan in developing an earthquake warning system. The network for California and the rest of the West Coast has been repeatedly delayed because of a lack of funding.
This is going to be a huge boost to the build-out of the system. The infusion of state funding will allow us to surge forward, said Doug Given, the U.S. Geological Surveys earthquake early warning coordinator. We have the intent of doing limited public rollout by 2018.
A limited rollout of the system in two years would mean that places such as classrooms, offices, shopping malls, amusement parks and police and fire stations could have ready access to alerts that would give seconds, and perhaps more than a minute, of warning before strong shaking comes in a big earthquake.
Even seconds of warning to drop, cover and hold on would save many lives in an earthquake. Beyond that, alerts would give doctors time to halt surgery and would instruct trains to slow down, preventing deadly derailments. Eventually, bigger benefits are expected: technology to open elevators at the next floor, sparing occupants from being trapped, and warnings that could halt the flow of natural gas through major pipelines, preventing catastrophic fires.
Ultimately, scientists plan to develop apps for mobile phones and computers that would give the public the early alerts.
The early warning system works on a simple principle: The shaking from an earthquake travels at about the speed of sound through rock slower than the speed of todays communications systems. That means it would take more than a minute for, say, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that starts at the Salton Sea to shake up Los Angeles, 150 miles away, traveling on the states longest fault, the San Andreas.
The prototype system has had some early successes. When a magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit Napa in 2014, the system gave researchers in San Francisco about eight seconds of warning before shaking began. Earlier this year, 30 seconds of warning reached downtown L.A. before the ground shook from a magnitude 4.4 quake centered near Banning.
Browns decision marks a dramatic turnaround in fortunes for the warning system. Though the U.S. Congress and President Barack Obama have kicked in millions for a West Coast system most recently, $8 million for the current budget year, with another $8 million requested for next fiscal year that begins in October officials in California, Oregon and Washington state had refused to make contributions from their own operating budgets.
Until now, California was particularly conspicuous in failing to contribute money to the system, since the state represents such a large share of the nations earthquake risk. Brown signed a law in 2013 calling for the creation of an earthquake early warning system, but the bill also explicitly prohibited the use of state general fund money to pay for it.
That prohibition expires June 30. H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for Browns Department of Finance, said the time had come to give a jump-start to the system.
The benefits of having even a minimal amount of warning time can provide a significant amount of ability to respond quickly, Palmer said.
Mark Ghilarducci, director of the governors Office of Emergency Services, said Brown has been tracking development of the network and believed now was a good time to get some catalyst funding from the state to get this kicked off.
The system can reduce the impact of a major earthquake and allow more rapid recovery, Ghilarducci said. Were very excited about it. We think this is one of our legacy programs. For a state like California, this will really bring a great benefit in the long run.
Already, Universal Studios has been studying how it would use earthquake early warnings at its campus. A fire station has tested how garage doors could open up automatically before the shaking begins, preventing the doors from being jammed by the earthquake. Warnings have been piped into science classrooms at Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles, and trains on the BART commuter rail system in the San Francisco Bay Area are already programmed to slow down before shaking arrives.
Technological limitations with mobile phone service, however, mean that reliable warnings over the cellphone system could take a few more years to be a reality. The U.S. cellphone network isnt built for mass alerts where seconds matter, and a bottleneck makes it difficult to send a message to millions of people at the same time, Given said. It could be three to seven years before a solution is reached here.
A solution, however, is possible; early warnings are available by cellphone in Japan.
Though the governors proposed funding is a big step for the system, it does not come with ongoing funds to operate it. An earthquake early warning system for California alone will cost about $23 million to build and $12 million annually to operate; if Oregon and Washington are added in, the initial construction cost rises to $38 million, and the yearly cost to maintain it would be $16 million.
The proposed California funding, if approved, is important and very welcome because it will allow a rapid build-out of the ShakeAlert system in the state. But it wont allow us to set an open-for-business date if its one-time funding, William Leith, the USGS senior science adviser for earthquakes, said in a statement.
Of the governors proposed $10 million, $6.875 million has been set aside for capital costs, such as seismic stations, GPS equipment, telemetry and microwave nodes, while $2.241 million is proposed to help educate people on how to properly react to alerts. The remainder of the money is to be used to figure out future financing and to pay for staffing.
Officials will also need to find more money to build out the entire network. The proposed money wont be enough to complete a build-out of the 1,115 stations needed across California; the state currently has about 470, mostly in highly populated areas around Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Too few sensors means that San Francisco could see slower warnings from a large San Andreas fault earthquake that starts in Humboldt and moves toward the Bay Area.
Los Angeles could also see delays in an earthquake that starts in Monterey County and barrels south along the San Andreas fault. At least four seismic stations need to detect an earthquake before an alert is triggered.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who has championed federal funding of the warning system, praised Browns decision. He and others hoped it would encourage Oregon and Washington state to follow suit, and private industry to also contribute.
We now have full buy-in from California and the federal government, Schiff said in an interview. I think were now on track to get this system up and running. With this increment of funding, and the additional federal funding we hope to get this year, it should be a matter of a couple of years before we can build this system out.
The Legislature is required to pass a budget by June 15.
Other countries have already developed earthquake early warning systems after devastating quakes killed thousands of people. Mexico City has had a system since 1991, built after a 1985 temblor killed at least 9,500 people.
Japan built a nationwide early warning system after the 1995 Kobe earthquake killed more than 5,000 people. When the magnitude 9 quake hit east of Japan in 2011, many people in Tokyo, 200 miles from the epicenter, had 30 seconds of warning that the shaking was coming.
2016 Los Angeles Times
Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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By Jessica Calefati, The Mercury News
SACRAMENTO, Calif. A new state law aimed at modernizing Californias initiative system which paved the way for a higher minimum wage will soon face a second, tougher test as legislators attempt to tighten rules for gun owners.
Before the bill was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2014, the states system of direct democracy had changed very little in the century since it was created. Even poorly crafted or clearly unconstitutional ballot measures were almost impossible for the Legislature to modify or stop once proponents began collecting signatures.
This year, for the first time, activists may file initiatives, and then yank them from the ballot if the Legislature takes action and theyre satisfied with the results.
Labor unions successfully used the new tool to pressure Brown and lawmakers to boost the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022 after agreeing to meet in the middle and raise wages at slower pace. But the political landscape surrounding guns is so much more complex and fraught with competing ambitions that a similar compromise may be too tough to strike, political experts say.
The goal is to bring direct democracy and representative democracy together to cut a deal that sticks, said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at the University of California, San Diego, who has studied the states ballot initiative system.
It worked for minimum wage. The two sides found common ground on an issue that matters to a lot of California families, he said. But its not going to stop every initiative from coming to the ballot.
Gov. Hiram Johnson brought direct democracy to California in the early 20th century to empower citizens to take back power from politicians and corporations, like Southern Pacific Railroad, which controlled the state at the time and operated above the law. Instead, critics say, a system designed for grass-roots activists has often been used by special interests to seek approval of measures that benefit them.
Former Democratic state Senate leader Darrell Steinberg said he introduced his bill to give initiative proponents, lawmakers and the governor more time to work for compromise. Sponsors now have until the end of June to pull their measures from the ballot even if signatures have already been submitted and verified.
If you can work it out and pass a law thats consistent with the spirit of the initiative, the result more often than not will be better public policy, said Steinberg, who left the Legislature in 2014 and is now running for Sacramento mayor.
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom responded to last years terrorist attack on San Bernardino and other mass shootings by promising to get a gun-control initiative placed on the November ballot. And when lawmakers returned to work in January after their winter break, they introduced a flurry of gun safety bills that address many of the same problems.
Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon has said he wants to work with Newsom and other backers of the Safety for All Act on gun control legislation ahead of the June 30 deadline to pull the measure from the ballot. But in a recent letter to de Leon, Newsom bluntly rebuffed the offer.
He wrote that the initiative is needed no matter what happens over the next few weeks with the Legislatures 30 gun-control bills because it is more comprehensive, more powerful and more permanent than anything the Legislature is considering and can legally accomplish.
Still, political experts who have been following Newsoms campaign to replace Brown in 2018 say his ambitions for higher office may be driving his thinking. Newsom wants a ballot initiative because passing a bill wont do anything to help the Newsom-for-governor campaign, said Dan Schnur, who directs the Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California.
Kousser said its natural for initiative sponsors who are preparing to launch a statewide campaign to want to win a policy victory in the spotlight.
Supporting Proposition 49 in 2002, which increased funding for before and after school programs, allowed former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to introduce himself to voters as more than a movie star, and it propelled his recall victory.
A lot of Californians dont know the guy, Kousser said of Newsom. Running an initiative campaign is a tried-and-true method for politicians to tell voters what they stand for.
Newsom declined to be interviewed when asked by to explain his lack of interest in working with lawmakers on a gun-control compromise. But Dan Newman, a spokesman for the Safety for All campaign, rejected suggestions that Newsoms motivations had anything to do with his campaign for governor. The lieutenant governors sole interest is in passing gun safety reforms that save lives, Newman said.
In his letter to de Leon, Newsom wrote that the Safety for All Act must move forward because it is fundamentally different from the legislation thats been introduced so far this year.
The ballot measure would regulate all ammunition sales in a waysimilar to firearms sales; require licensed vendors to report ammunition theft within 48 hours; expand an existing ban on large-capacity magazines; make theft of a firearm a felony; and create new court processes to ensure that firearms are surrendered by people who are convicted of crimes.
(EDITORS: BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)
Asked during a joint Public Safety Committee hearing to compare the initiative with pending bills, Anita Lee, a senior staffer with the nonpartisan Legislative Analysts Office, said there are numerous pieces of legislation that touch on components of the ballot measure.
For example, the initiatives definition of ammunition is identical to one used in a bill written by Leon, and both aim to impose background checks for ammunition purchasers, although they take different approaches, Lee said.
The only component of the ballot measure that isnt addressed by pending legislation is the requirement to ensure that criminals cant own guns.
Gun-control fatigue among the kinds of people you stand in line with at the supermarket will surely make the pending legislation tougher to sell to some moderate Democrats in an election year, said Jack Pitney, a political expert at Claremont McKenna College. And theres no guarantee that Brown, who has vetoed gun bills before, would sign the measures into law this time. But those realities dont make Newsoms lack of interest in legislative compromise any less risky.
So far, Newsoms lieutenant governor campaign account and the California Democratic Party have donated half of the roughly $3 million the Safety for All campaign has raised so far, campaign finance records show. Thats a tiny fraction of the tens of millions of dollars Newsom will need to compete against the National Rifle Association in November.
Democrats are likely to win substantially in November, Pitney said. Failure of a measure like this would be especially embarrassingfor Newsom and the party.
2016 The Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.)
Visit The Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.) at www.mercurynews.com
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As different as they are, Sheryl Sandberg and Donald Trump both testify to America's susceptibility to potentially dangerous fairy tales: narratives of can-do individualism promoted by wealthy celebrities blind to their own privilege.
Last 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 women's 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.
It's 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 Sandberg's one-size-fits-all, upper-class bootstrapism was ever held up as a primer for women's 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.
"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. Sandberg's book spoke mainly of women's "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 Sandberg's 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.
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 women's professional advancement, certainly, but about America's.
Like Sandberg, Trump posits his privileged personal life as a model for remedying the lives of millions: "I'm 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 father's 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. (Trump's 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 one's career or kicking back with reality television. When choosing a president, it could prove catastrophic.
Rhonda Garelick wrote this for the Los Angeles Times.
Older companies can teach them five lessons that do not assure success but do not backfire either
On a recent visit to China, I noticed that Premier Li Keqiang wanted 'mass entrepreneurship'.
China is buzzing with wild-looking entrepreneurs; however, young Chinese are found wanting in preparedness, funding and the ability to execute to success.
India, too, is in a tizzy, described by one knowledgeable commentator as 'the Mahabharata of Indian internet unicorns'.
Business Standard reported that among Indian venture capital circles, growth is no longer the buzzword, profit is (As funding gets tough, start-ups face frugal times, Weekend, May 7).
Funding Indian start-ups has slowed down; 5,000 start-up jobs were lost during the last six months.
Participating at the recent Ericsson-IIT Delhi event on innovation caused me to reflect.
Young people bring the much-needed freshness and agility to business.
Older folks bring experience and wisdom.
Together, both can do more than either could do alone.
Are there lessons that todays start-ups can learn from yesterdays?
There are at least five.
The first lesson is the acceptance that start-ups can learn from grown-ups.
Yes, Unilever, Siemens, Hershey and Tata started up over a century ago, but constant death and renewal of their body cells has taught these companies lessons about growth and renewal over a century.
Psychologist Erik Erikson had postulated eight stages of life for human beings, starting with hope/will and concluding with care/ wisdom.
Companies, too, have life stages like human beings.
Companies may die, but not necessarily their intellectual property.
Brooke Bond, Lipton and Ponds dont exist as a company, but their brand is alive.
The second lesson is that good start-ups grow by deploying all of the four Cs.
Obstacles are essential to spark innovation.
Entrepreneurs overcome obstacles through sheer passion and innovate in a value-adding manner.
Both Indian and Chinese consumers face the first C in the form of daily challenges.
Challenges have to be overcome through three more Cs -- creativity, communication and channelisation.
Indians have plenty of the first three Cs, arguably more so than the Chinese.
However the Chinese have a huge C for the fourth, channelisation, which Indians unarguably lack.
The third lesson is that start-ups are best nurtured without their becoming overly conscious of their potential future value. An initial public offering (IPO) is the beginning of a new journey, not an end in itself.
You dont visit maternity wards or primary schools to identify future Nobel winners, do you?
Remember Jennifer Capriati, who was declared superstar by age 13 and burnt out within a few years?
An analysis of the Westinghouse Science Talent Search data of 52 years showed that out of more than 2,000 finalists over the half century, only 20 made it to the National Academy of Sciences.
Psychologist Benjamin Bloom studied world-class musicians, sportspersons and artists to understand how their parents supported them early in life.
What did he find? Parents of the most successful kids supported them, but did not drive them as tiger moms would with exhortations of the kids innate genius.
The fourth lesson is that irrespective of how grown-up a company becomes, the leadership always strives, nay struggles, to develop a growth mindset among its leaders.
A growth mindset is what biologists call neoteny, self-renewal.
Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck defines a growth mindset as one where the person wants to learn new things and is wanting to do new things, not greatly fearful of failure.
Finally, the secret sauce of a grown-up companys long life can be summarised through four characteristics:
i) A consistent purpose (Siemens: make real what matters; Hershey: sharing goodness is good for everyone)
ii) Highly focused at the core, but experimental at the edges (Tata Steel and Tata Chemicals focused on their core during the 1960s, while Tata software business founder P M Agerwala, used Tata Sons as his tinkering lab.
iii) A clear identity of who they are and why they are in business iv) A conservative approach to costs and finance, no Rambo stuff.
As an elder on the Indian business scene, I wish all our start-ups what every elder wishes for the younger generation: deergha ayush.
Based on my nearly five decades of experience and wisdom, I commend these five principles as a sort of corporate ayurveda for start-ups.
The lessons do not assure success, but they do not detract.
The image is used for representational purpose only. Photograph: Satish Bodas/Rediff.com
R Gopalakrishnan is a writer and corporate advisor; rgopal@themindworks.me
Euro NCAP had said it was disappointed to see quadricycles, including the Bajaj Qute, lack basic safety features.
A little over a month after Euro NCAP awarded one star safety rating to the Bajaj Qute, India's only quadricycle, Bajaj Auto managing director Rajiv Bajaj criticized NCAP's stand on safety.
In a media statement Bajaj said, "I haven't personally seen anything further on quadricycles from NCAP, it is clear to me that their stand on safety is beyond my limited comprehension".
The statement follows an invitation sent by the Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) to Bajaj wherein the Qute was defined 'as the vehicle of the future'.
The invitation was sent on behalf of Global New Car Assessment Programme (Global NCAP) and the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India (MoRTH) by IRTE.
I hear NCAP implying that those who walk, cycle, ride, or use a 3-wheeler must not seek a safer alternative in the quadricycle; they must continue as they are until they can afford a high emission, low mileage, congestion causing car instead", said Bajaj.
The Brussels-based Euro NCAP said it was disappointed to see quadricycles, including the Bajaj Qute, lack basic safety features that are common in small cars.
It amuses me to no end that on one hand NCAP has apparent misgivings about quadricycles with respect to safety, yet simultaneously NCAP along with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways & the Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) invited Bajaj Auto to speak at the Indian Automobile Safety Conference in Delhi, calling the Bajaj Qute 'a global example and a vehicle of the future'. A case of wanting to have your cake & eat it too?" said Bajaj.
Photograph: Courtesy, Indian Autos Blog
India's network has expanded at a compound annual rate of around 4% which has added more than 4.8 km of additional roads since 1951, but even so the network remains badly underdeveloped
India has embarked on a massive road construction programme that both reflects and will stimulate increased ownership of cars and motorcycles and drive continued rapid growth in gasoline and diesel consumption.
India has the second-largest road network after the United States, with 5.23 million km of roads, of which 3.17 million are surfaced (Basic road statistics of India, ministry of road transport and highways, 2015).
The country's network has expanded at a compound annual rate of around 4 per cent which has added more than 4.8 km of additional roads since 1951, but even so the network remains badly underdeveloped.
National highways, the arterial roads connecting state capitals, ports and rail junctions, which the government calls the "economic backbone of the country", carry 40 per cent of passenger and freight traffic but account for just 79,000 km or 1.5 per cent of the total.
State highways, which provide trunk connections within India's states and territories, account for a further 170,000 km (3 per cent). Urban roads add another 450,000 km (9 per cent).
But the majority of the network consists rural roads, stretching for 3.2 million km, some 60 per cent of the total. More than 60 per cent of the rural road network is unsurfaced.
In theory, India's network is better than China's or Brazil's and compares favourably with many advanced economies, according to official statistics.
But the fact that so much of it consists of local unpaved roads rather than major freight and passenger arteries is a 'point of concern' according to the government.
Poor roads lead to immense problems moving freight between ports and the interior, as well as between different regions and states, holding back national integration and economic growth.
Road building has lagged behind motorisation of the country. Between 1951 and 2013, the number of registered vehicles went up by 11 per cent a year, nearly three times as fast as the 4 per cent increase in the road network and five times as fast as the growth of national highways.
Since 2012, the country has embarked on a massive road building programme specifically aimed at upgrading the quality of the network.
The total length of the network rose 7.5 per cent in 2012-13 but the number of kilometres of surfaced highway soared 17.5 per cent.
The massive road building programme continued in 2013-14 and 2014-15 (Embarking towards the horizon of success and prosperity, ministry of road transport and highways, 2015).
Thousands of extra kilometres of surfaced national highways are under construction as well as a host of smaller state highways and rural roads.
Road building and upgrading is essential to the government's vision for economic modernisation as well as providing short-term stimulus (Better roads grease the wheels of India's economy, Wall Street Journal, May 17).
According to the government: "(The) road network is vital for sustained and inclusive growth of the economy. It facilitates the movement of passengers and freight across the country. It promotes efficiency in the economy by minimising total transportation cost in terms of economies of production, distribution and consumption."
In many ways, India is attempting to replicate the transformational impact of the US interstate highway system launched by the Eisenhower administration in 1956 (History of the interstate highway system, Federal Highway Administration).
Past experience from the United States and other advanced economies suggests massive highway construction will promote the creation of a more integrated national economy and increase freight and passenger traffic further.
That will in turn spur further rapid growth in the country's oil consumption, especially transport fuels such as gasoline and diesel.
India's oil consumption has grown at an average annual rate of 5 per cent over the last decade, hitting 4 million barrels per day in 2015-16 (India's mobility revolution is driving global oil demand, Reuters, May 16).
The country is currently the world's fourth-largest oil consumer behind the United States, China and Japan, and is set to overtake Japan for the third slot in the next 12-18 months.
Given how few motor vehicles the country currently has per head of population, and how underdeveloped the road network remains, there is enormous potential for growth in oil consumption over the next 10-15 years.
India's oil consumption is projected to grow by 3 per cent per year, more than doubling from 3.6 million bpd in 2012 to 8.3 million by 2040, according to the US Energy Information Administration (International energy outlook, EIA, 2016).
India is set to join China as the most important source of global oil demand growth over the next two decades.
Photographs: Adnan Abidi/Reuters; Amit Dave/Reuters
An old consumer electronics warhorse looks to leverage its past. Will it succeed?
Can it BPL, the brand that once strode the Indian markets as one of the country's homegrown success stories, is diving back into the mainstream.
With a low-key and low-budget marketing plan, it has laid out a strategy for growing its current businesses as well as reclaiming its name in the consumer durables categories.
BPL has been missing from the brand sweepstakes for many years now. Poor management, family battles and growing competition took the group down.
Even though it relaunched itself online last year, allying with e-commerce player Flipkart for exclusive sales of its televisions and other durables, the former consumer electronics giant has struggled to reconnect with its consumers.
In the meantime it has built up its business in home automation and security solutions and medical equipment, but the brand stayed on the side lines.
Now, the group is making a fresh pitch for consumer attention, drawn by the fact that the Indian consumer durable market is expected to grow at 17 per cent annually till 2020 to reach at Rs 20,200 crore (Rs 202 billion).
Getting into the groove
BPL launched a set of LED (light emitting diodes) televisions, refrigerators and washing machines six months ago. Its products are selling online through Flipkart, but growth has been slow. Its sales remain markedly lower at Rs 700 crore for 2014-15.
The BPL group was a behemoth in the nineties with revenues close to Rs 4,300 crore in 1999.
It lost out to sharper competitors from Japan and the USA as well as internal squabbles that affected the family-run business.
K Vijaya Kumar, chief executive, BPL Techno Vision, does not let the past mar his vision for the future.
"In the last 10 years, we have continued investing in R&D which, I believe, will help us re-grow sooner", he said.
Kumar is currently, looking after BPL's home automation and security and surveillance business which is the major revenue generator for the group apart from medical devices arm.
How does BPL plan to reconnect with consumers?
The group says that the brand recall for BPL is still high and to start with the products will ride on the past associations that consumers have had with its products.
The potential for growth in an underpenetrated market has lured many global players in the past two decades to set up base in here and spend on promotion and manufacturing and expand their presence.
Currently, at least 38 major brands are fighting for market share in India, including global leaders like Samsung, LG, Whirlpool, Bosch and Siemens, Panasonic and Hitachi.
"Indian white goods space is too crowded with all major players present in here", a senior industry executive said.
What has drawn the global majors into the country and is driving BPL's future plans is the belief that the Indian consumer durables market is seriously under-penetrated.
According to an industry expert, the players are all playing the waiting game, secure in the hope that the category will expand eventually.
While, penetration of air conditioners is at 60 per cent globally, for India its three percent with near zero penetration in rural households, according to a report by E&Y report (Study on Indian electronics and consumer durables segment).
Washing machines, a category which BPL is focused keenly on at present, are found in 70 per cent of houses globally.
But in India the penetration is just 8.8 percent of the total homes.
The story is the same for the other categories that BPL is making a bid for.
For refrigerators and televisions the scenario is no better.
For TV, penetration in domestic households remain at 60 percent (89 per cent globally) and refrigerators are used in 21 per cent of homes compared to 85 per cent.
Rebuilding the brand
Lower penetration of durable and home appliances is the most attractive feature of the Indian market, experts in the industry say.
However, that comes with a rider; steeper competition, which often leads to price wars and heavy expenditure on marketing and branding.
Without spending on these can BPL beat the crowds?
While the company is confident about its abilities, industry sources say that the climb is going to be steep, given the brand's near disappearance from public memory.
In fact BPL's fall from grace in the consumer space started in late 1990s when LG and Samsung entered Indian market.
Both have since overtaken the homegrown brand to establish themselves firmly in the Indian market.
Over the years, the company that famously had Amitabh Bachchan as brand ambassador in 1995 and had secured profits of Rs 120 crore (Rs 1.2 billion) in that year has seen finances dwindle. In 2014-15, BPL Ltd, the arm of BPL group which looks after its consumer business made Rs 7.8 crore (Rs 78 million) net profit from Rs 23.9 crore (Rs 239 million) of revenue - much lower than its peak Rs 4,300 crore (Rs 43 billion) sales.
K Vijaya Kumar, says that these are hurdles the brand can cross. It will spread the word about the brand digitally and initially leverage social and digital media. "We are not looking for TVCs right now," he says.
The BPL brand, Kumar says has always been about quality, comfort and tech superiority. And the digital campaign will focus on these qualities.
The company has set itself a bunch of targets for the coming year, more modest than the numbers it once achieved, but would still require the company to pull itself up considerably.
As for now it is willing to put down a figure only for the home automation business in which, it wants to acquire 20 per cent share of the Rs 600 crore (Rs 6 billion) home automation market in India by 2019.
"Our expectation from the surveillance business, which is pegged at Rs 2,500 crore (Rs 25 billion), is that we should be doing business worth around Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) in the first year of operations and then scale up to Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.5 billion) in next three years", Kumar said.
While these are still on paper, there is little doubt that the brand is finally willing to step out of the shadows in 2016.
Because of this rule, majority of India's international routes have been captured by foreign airlines, says Anjuli Bhargava.
Will the government show the courage and do away with the 5/20 rule, as proposed, in its new aviation policy is one of the biggest questions facing Indian aviation industry.
The rule was introduced in 2004 to prevent domestic carriers from flying abroad unless they had been in operation for at least five years and had a fleet of minimum 20 aircraft.
According to industry insiders, the rule was brought in at the behest of Naresh Goyal, chairman of Jet airways, one of the oldest private airlines in India.
He had reportedly lobbied for the rule so that his competitors could be prevented from flying abroad.
Now, almost 12 years later, the government is planning to do away with the rule as it has done more harm than good.
Here's why. In 2007-08, despite having been in business in India, airlines like IndiGo, GoAir, SpiceJet and others could not fly abroad because of this rule.
While they were still consolidating their position at home, flying abroad would have helped these airlines, at least by refueling their aircraft outside India when domestic aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices were prohibitively high. For no-frills airlines, it would have acted as a cushion.
Several industry experts believe this rule was one of the reasons why Kingfisher Airlines stopped flying in 2012.
In 2007, Kingfisher acquired Air Deccan, primarily because the latter had been in business for longer period of time and could get permission to go international.
There was no other reason why the two should have come together - the two airlines had different types of fleet, organisational ethos and culture.
For Vijay Mallya, the permission to fly abroad was a good enough incentive. Even before the merger process was complete, Kingfisher announced its decision to go international.
"I recall how we all celebrated when Mallya announced the decision to go international. We knew it was the beginning of the end," said a former Jet Airways board member on condition of anonymity.
Kingfisher Airlines reverse merged with Air Deccan in 2007.
Even as it grappled with the merger of two totally different entities, KFA went international and burned cash like never before. The rest, as they say, is history.
This was not the only negative fallout of the 5/20 rule. Because of this rule, majority of India's international routes have been captured by foreign airlines.
Some of these foreign airlines are much smaller than Indian airlines which can't fly abroad simply because of this rule.
"It is akin to saying, 'come, make in India but do not export for five years'," says Amber Dubey, partner and India head of aerospace and defence at KPMG India. Dubey says this rule is unique to India.
"In US, EU and Australia, the minimum fleet requirement is one aircraft. It is the financial strength of the applicant that is taken into consideration".
Indian airports have also suffered because of this rule. If this rule had not existed for the past decade or so, some large airports in India could have emerged as regional hubs- like Dubai and Singapore. But the lack of "home carriers" has denied such an opportunity to Indian airports.
Why some airlines have changed position?
Irony is the airlines which had earlier suffered because of the 5/20 rule are the ones lobbying against its removal today.
Experts, however, say there is a presumption that the international market offers "easy money" and hence should be given only to carriers that are at least five years old.
In reality, the international market is extremely competitive where some of the biggest global airlines have suffered failures.
Most global carriers entering a new global route lose money for 18-24 months, before turning profitable.
As per a Parliamentary submission by Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Air India loses money on most of its global long-haul routes, despite years of route development.
"Global routes are not a low hanging fruit that an airline can just jump and grab" adds Dubey.
Route dispersal guidelines, 5/20 separate issues
In a bid to scuttle the proposal to remove the 5/20 rule, incumbent airlines have linked it with the removal of route dispersal guidelines (RDG).
This, many say, is absurd. One, the RDG was introduced in 1994 while the 5/20 rule came in 2004 and the removal of the two can independent of each other.
Two, RDG has helped in expanding air service to what were earlier remote and less accessible locations.
"RDG has worked well as many of the routes that were initially unviable are now viable and airlines are increasing frequencies as the market has now expanded," says a former aviation secretary.
While airlines may have been unhappy initially, RDG has met the macro objectives that it was meant to serve - expansion of air services to less frequented destinations.
Removal of 5/20 has also been linked to the safety issue - the argument being that an airline needs to prove its safety record domestically before taking to international skies.
"This argument holds little merit - if an airline is safe to fly in India, it is safe enough to fly anywhere in the world," says an industry source.
Experts say, regardless of who gains and who loses, 5/20 should be junked.
"At this rate, no policy can ever be changed because there will always be gainers and losers," says a former civil aviation secretary.
He says, some of the airlines which are now lobbying for 5/20 had lobbied against it during his tenure.
"It's like ragging or dowry practice. You can say others have been ragged or those before us have paid dowry. Does that mean everyone should suffer forever?"
There are no easy answers to these arguments.
All eyes are on the new aviation policy now.
CLIPPED WINGS
The 5/20 rule was introduced in 2004 to prevent domestic carriers from flying abroad unless they had been in operation for at least five years and had a fleet of minimum 20 aircraft.
Several industry experts believe this rule was one of the reasons why Kingfisher Airlines stopped flying in 2012.
If 5/20 rule had not existed for the past decade, some large airports in India could have emerged as regional hubs.
Area residents and environmental groups have resisted the coal power plant ever since it was originally proposed in 2006 due to worries about land clearance and pollution
Sri Lanka will cancel plans for a 500 megawatt Indian-built coal-fired power plant at its strategic eastern port city of Trincomalee and will instead opt for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plant, a cabinet minister said late on Tuesday.
Chandima Weerakkody, Sri Lanka's petroleum minister, said President Maithripala Sirisena told Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the decision at a meeting on Saturday during Sirisena's visit to the island nation's larger neighbour.
"We do not want to hurt India. So President Sirisena in his visit has offered an LNG plant instead of the coal plant," Weerakkody told Reuters. "This has been discussed at the highest level and there is consensus."
Sri Lanka is trying to increase its power generation capacity after a recent blackout that was the worst in 20 years, government officials say.
B M S Batagoda, the energy ministry secretary said the switch to LNG was proposed after ten years of opposition to a coal-fired power plant by the residents of Sampur, a village near Trincomalee, where India has already proposed to build South Asia's largest petroleum hub.
Area residents and environmental groups have resisted the coal power plant ever since it was originally proposed in 2006 due to worries about land clearance and pollution.
Plans for the $500 million coal power plant project were finalised in 2011, when state-run Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and India's state-run National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC) agreed to form a joint venture for its construction.
It is not clear which Indian companies would be considered as partners on the proposal to build a gas-fired power plant. Natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel than coal, but there would be the added hurdle that Sri Lanka has no LNG import infrastructure.
Sri Lanka's only coal-fired power plant with 900 MW capacity was built with a $1.4 billion loan from China in two phases. However, the Chinese plant has faced frequent repairs.
India and China have been increasingly loaning funds to Sri Lanka over the last few years, mainly for infrastructure projects. Since the island's civil war ended in 2009, the two rivals have been competing for influence in Sri Lanka, which sits right off one of the world's busiest shipping routes.
Image: Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks on as Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena (L) adjusts his earphones during a seminar at the Simhastha Kumbh Mela in Ujjain, May 14, 2016. Photograph: Jitendra Prakash/Reuters
Antique jewellery can be displayed to tourists for a fee: WGC
India may see a new kind of tourism where with antique gold jewellery held by temples are displayed for a fee to domestic and foreign tourists.
The World Gold Council has engaged the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry to conduct a feasibility study in six months after which a proposal will be forwarded to the relevant ministries.
Some antique jewellery is displayed in a couple of museums in the world.
Gold tourism would be a first of its kind, if implemented properly.
Old temples have jewellery of antique value that cannot be monetised, but they can earn fees for viewing. The objective is to keep jewellery on display for public viewing for a fee.
This will increase temples earnings, said Somasundaram PR, managing director, World Gold Council, India.
Estimates suggest temples hold around a fifth of the 25,000 tonnes gold in the country. Some of these temples have been accumulating gold for centuries.
The WGC had in 2014 envisaged a gold tourism circuit for hand-crafted jewellery.
However, little progress was made because of lack of guidelines for jewellers and differences over selection of jewellery.
Individual temples can keep ornaments on display under their own surveillance. Security can be controlled by temple trusts.
The idea is not bad. But infrastructure and security could be big challenges.
Some temples can do it, said Rajesh Mehta, managing director, Rajesh Exports, a jewellery chain.
FAITH IN GOLD
Some antique jewellery is displayed in a couple of museums in the world
Gold tourism would be a first of its kind, if implemented properly
Estimates suggest temples hold around a fifth of the 25,000 tonnes gold in the country
Individual temples can keep ornaments on display under their own surveillance. Security can be controlled by temple trusts
Actors Abhishek Bachchan and his wife Aishwarya Rai at Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam temple shrine in Tirumala. Photograph: Reuters
Tim Cook also met Anant Ambani, son of billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries group that is on the cusp of hitting the market with a high-speed 4G telecom network.
American technology giant Apple's chief executive Tim Cook on Wednesday met ICICI Bank's top brass at the country's largest private sector lender's corporate headquarters in Mumbai.
Cook, whose every meeting is being closely watched here for cues about Apple's business plans in India, walked into the ICICI Bank Towers in the Bandra Kurla Complex business district and spent over an hour there, sources said.
He met the bank's managing director and CEO Chanda Kochhar and executive directors at a closed-door meeting, they said but refused to divulge what was discussed.
ICICI Bank was among the first to introduce a banking application on the Apple Watch, even before the gadget got launched in the country.
Over the past few years, it has also introduced a slew of other initiatives on the digital front, including a digital wallet, just like the 'Apple Pay' by the tech giant.
Cook's meetings during the four-day maiden visit to India are mostly with top leaders of Indian business houses that offer some opportunity for Apple's businesses.
Earlier today, Cook met Anant Ambani, son of billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries group that is on the cusp of hitting the market with a high-speed 4G telecom network.
Cook also met also Sunil Sood, who heads the country's second largest telco Vodafone India.
Reports suggested he would also interact with the country's largest mobile operator Airtel's top-brass later.
The visit to ICICI Bank comes at a time when there is a huge speculation over how digital and telecom solutions are slated to dominate banking in the future, with experts saying that technology will change the face of a bank.
Cook is scheduled to meet top honchos of India Inc later during the day
Global tech giant Apple Inc's chief executive Tim Cook started off his maiden five-day visit to India with a visit to the famous Siddhivinayak Temple in central Mumbai on Wednesday.
Cook was seen with Anant Ambani, the son of Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani, at the temple devoted to Lord Ganesha.
Sources said the temple visit of Cook was unplanned and so was the chance of meeting junior Ambani.
He arrived in the city late last night from Beijing and is staying at the iconic Taj Mahal Hotel in the city.
He was seen wearing a light blue shirt and a stole with Sanskrit scriptures, which is generally worn by Hindu devotees.
Indian spirituality is not really new to the American company known for cutting-edge scientific innovation. Its famed founder, late Steve Jobs, had a fling with it over four decades ago, and some accounts say that he had also stayed at the commune of a Hindu ascetic at Haridwar during the trip.
At Prabhadevi's Siddhivinayak Temple, Cook was accompanied by Sanjay Kaul, the head of country operations for the tech giant, which witnessed its first quarter of dip in sales of its flagship iPhone.
India, however, figures as a bright spot amid the slump and recorded a 56 per cent jump in sales here with the revenue crossing a $1-billion mark for the first time.
While some media reports said he would be meeting Mukesh Ambani, a RIL spokesperson said the company chairman is away in the US.
Cook is scheduled to meet top honchos of India Inc later during the day, including Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry, TCS chief executive N Chandrasekaran, Vodafone India head Sunil Sood and some start-up entrepreneurs, before flying off to Hyderabad for engagements on Thursday.
Cook may also meet Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. He is also likely to dine with Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan at the superstar's sea-facing residence in Bandra.
He is also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday before winding up his visit.
Photograph: Courtesy, Siddhivinayak Temple
Barring one of the earliest surveys of the kind in the country, in 1989, none has proved right in Tamil Nadus case, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Even as exit polls have given sleepless nights to the political class across the board in Tamil Nadu, the states voters are busy looking elsewhere with greater concern.
In their radar just now is not the May 19 results to the assembly polls, held three days earlier, but the results of the state boards Plus-Two results that came a day later, on May 17 -- followed now by choosing and deciding their wards academic future.
The voters residual interest/concern is centred on the summer rains that have lashed across most parts of the state beginning with poll eve, and continuing possibly until counting day.
The local media, both print and television, has naturally reflected the common mans interests than that of the political class -- though all of them would be swinging back to the other end of the pendulum at least on counting day.
For now, the voter is giving the smug smile that its all over and that he has asserted his democratic right, to perform his constitutional duty.
Its another thing that he includes she and more women have voted in the state than men this time than in the past.
Does it indicate any prediction that could hold good over the results? No.
Does the relatively lower polling-rate compared to the recent past indicate anything? No.
Any prediction linking poll percentages to results in Tamil Nadu is as good as pre-election surveys and exit polls coming true in the state.
They never have come true in the past.
Even this time round, exit polls have thrown up extremely different sets of results, broadly divided between the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the rival DMK.
Any marginal differences are within these two spectrums, not against them, or beyond them.
If there is any commonality in all exit polls, it relates to the irrelevance of the third front under actor Vijayakanth, the Pattali Makkal Katchi, which promoted Anbumani Ramadoss as chief minister candidate, and the Bharatiya Janata Party -- which is nowhere in the picture, as in all earlier elections to the state assembly.
Its not without reason(s). For long now, Tamil Nadu, unlike in most other states, has a continuing /swelling rank of 25-35 per cent non-party, non-committed voters, who swing to the two Dravidian political extremes with each assembly election in particular, since the eighties.
Without knowing or talking to one another, they have almost always cast a strategic vote, if only to ensure that there is no split verdict or hung assembly.
This is so despite the fact that the state has recorded a consistent 10 per cent vote share for a third alternative of whatever kind with each passing decade, if not each passing election.
This time again, the fight that sounded multi-cornered for the record, but looked three-cornered otherwise, ended up almost as a straight fight between the DMK and the AIADMK.
It looks like the third front may have lost out even on playing spoilsport, which title could rest, if at all, with Ramadosss and their PMK -- but in a few constituencies.
If the third front makes a difference to the result, it would still mostly be in the independent company of the PMK, not on its own in most cases.
Or, so it would still seem now.
Going by the last days campaign trends, it became increasingly clear that the third front under Vijayakanth lost the script even before they had come together.
Despite vehement denials this time, past experience of the voter showed that Vijayakanth had the habit of negotiating with the Big Two Dravidian parties, and settle for the highest bidder (in terms of seat share, post-poll arrangement, etc).
On board as the late and latest entrant was the revived Tamil Maanila Congress of former Union minister G K Vasan.
The party had waited until after the AIADMK had turned its back on an alliance before joining the third alternative.
The existing partners welcomed the TMC with open arms, to the dismay of their collective cadre strength, and more so the swing voters who wanted to see a third alternative emerge.
Original partners in the Communist Party of India and CPI-Marxist could not poll more than one per cent vote when contesting independent of a Dravidian ally in the 2014 LS polls.
Another original partner in Thol Thirumavalavans VCK has the inherent potential of consolidating more votes against the alliance as he was capable of consolidating in their favour.
His campaign-in-chief in MDMKs Vaiko spoilt the script all along, to the utter satisfaction of their DMK/AIADMK rivals.
By walking out of a TV interview when charged with big-time bribe-taking to split Opposition votes, without answering the query, the vocal and vociferous Vaiko let the mischief-ridden stigma go uncleared.
By choosing to contest in native Kovilpatti constituency after a two-decade break, and announcing it late in the day, he let even allies believe that all his efforts at forming the third front was driven by personal ambition.
As it turned out, a combination of electoral and caste factors ensured that Kovilpatti could be the safest seat in the state that Vaiko could hope for.
Later on, he shocked supporters and adversaries alike, and rocked the third front no end, after going up to the Returning Officers office in a procession and returning without filing the nomination.
His justification that the DMK was out to trigger caste clashes in the constituency if he contested did not sell even with his cadres, leave aside allies and adversaries.
Even otherwise, TV talk show analysts, especially after the exit polls, have got their numbers wrong. Comparing the electorate in the two successive assembly polls (5.82 crores in 2016 and 4.70 crores in 2011), they have concluded that more than a fifth are new, young voters this time.
Either they have forgotten it, or the figure is not as exciting, but the fact remains that after the 2014 LS polls (5.5 crores), the increase in the number of new voters is only a low 32 lakhs, or 0.5 per cent.
Whatever the results, the analysts might have been right had the state handed down a split-verdict in the LS polls. It was not to be.
The ruling AIADMK swept the polls with 37 of 39 seats and by huge margins -- polling 45 per cent vote-share.
The partys historic poll rival in the DMK parent drew a blank in terms of seats and had to settle for 26.5 per cent vote-share along with the VCK ally in particular.
The Congress, contesting alone then and with the DMK this time, polled 4.5 per cent vote-share, but the TMC has split away from it.
The BJP-NDA polled a very respectable 17.5 per cent vote-share for the PM candidate in Narendra Modi.
The BJP and PMK partners are also going alone this time, with the latter expected to do far better than the former, both in terms of vote and seat-shares.
The BJP and the Modi leadership cannot escape the blame of not doing enough and right -- intolerance was also a factor in the state -- to build up on the NDAs gains from 2014.
If one or the other pre-poll surveys proves right -- that includes exit polls -- that would be an accident. Barring one of the earliest surveys of the kind in the country, in 1989, none has proved right in Tamil Nadus case.
In that election, The Hindu-Apt Services survey gave the DMK a clear lead after 13 years in vanvas when the late AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran was around.
In the 2001 assembly polls, every survey and exit poll gave the ruling DMK a clear lead, but the rival AIADMK won similar number of seats and vote-share (though in the company of strong allies).
In the subsequent 2006 assembly polls, Vijayakanths nascent DMDK split away the traditional third alternative vote, adding over eight per cent at the time, and the DMK-led victory alliance won after all.
In both 2001 and 2006, the victory margins were low in individual constituencies, thus justifying the error in surveys to more than the permissible plus-or-minus five per cent.
This time round, the poll percentage is lower than in the 2011 assembly elections, for instance -- 74.26 per cent, against 78.12 per cent.
But given the higher number of registered voters, 61.20 lakh more voters have cast their vote this time.
That again should add up to the confusion in pre-results calculations and predictions.
So should be the multi-cornered contests across the state, which could keep victory margins low -- even to a few hundred votes -- and the victor unpredictable.
Add to that the summer rains that rocked polling in many constituencies, spread across the state, and the confusion gets confounded -- and keeping pollsters and politicians on tenterhooks and alike until after the final figures had passed on...
But the Tamil Nadu voters greater worry is not the same as that of the other two classes.
They are concerned about repairing the damage to the fair name of their state, which the unprecedented levels of cash-for-vote scam and from-cover-to-container complaints have brought forth this time, more than any time in the past.
Image: People wait in queues to cast their votes for Tamil Nadu Assembly polls in Chennai on May 18, 2016. Photograph: R Senthil Kumar/PTI Photo.
N Sathiya Moorthy, veteran journalist and political analyst, is director, Observer Research Foundation, Chennai Chapter.
A defeat in Assam would be bad news for the Congress which is in power in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur, reports Kavita Chowdhury.
If exit polls are anything to go by then the biggest loser in these assembly polls, is likely to be the Congress. The party is slated to lose in Kerala and Assam, leaving it with only one big state, Karnataka, in its kitty.
Although the party is attempting to keep a straight face and brush it off as anti-incumbency effect, the long-term repercussions of these highly anticipated results are not lost on Congressmen.
The receding national footprint of the Congress would, therefore, coincide with the increasing footprint of the Bharatiya Janata Party, predicted to unseat the Tarun Gogoi government in Assam and open its account in Kerala.
What such a result means for the Congress is extremely detrimental, confesses a Congress insider from the northeast. This will have a shake up effect on other northeastern states. Till now, BJP was the untouchable, especially among the tribals and Christians. But if BJP comes to power in Assam it means it will gain an acceptability among these sections and, therefore, gain an acceptability and entry into other northeast states as well, added the Congressman.
This spells bad news for the Congress which is in power in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur. The Congress leader concedes that the loss of Himanta Biswa Sarma to the BJP dealt a body blow to the Congress in the northeast. The party recently lost its government in Arunachal Pradesh due to the machinations of the BJP.
All India Congress Committee members, however, believe it will be a fractured mandate in Assam. As senior leader and General Secretary BK Hariprasad said, In 1977, we were down to just Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and then we were in power in only Andhra, but thereafter we bounced back; in 1980 we won several states. Adding, So these ups and downs keep happening, theres not much to it.
Nationally, the impact of BJP gaining a toehold in Kerala at the expense of the Congress, has far-reaching ramifications. The three cornered contest will also mean that the alternate terms in power that the Left Democratic Front and United Democratic Front regimes had got accustomed to, might be a thing of the past.
The only glimmer of hope at present seems to be the Tamil Nadu exit polls, where Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is slated to win with Congress as junior partner. A likely return of the Congress government in Puducherry (it has a 30 member assembly), also appears to bolster the low morale of Congressman.
Incidentally, the Congress is not too perturbed about Bengal, where a return of Trinamool Congress and Mamata Banerjee is a blow for the Left but an increase of seat share for the Congress is on the cards in alliance with the Left.
While political pundits raise obvious questions about the receding national footprint of the party and the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, who is slated to take over the reigns of the party from Congress president Sonia Gandhi; Congressmen dismiss these speculations outright. If a win of a state would be credited to the CM or Congress leader in that state, why should a loss be ascribed to Rahul Gandhi. After all these state governments in Kerala and Assam are going to polls based on their governance and achievements, says Congress MP and spokesperson Sushmita Dev.
A BJP government in Assam, is certain to boost the morale of the government at the Centre and while the government could be more emboldened especially in the Rajya Sabha, but whether the Congress would fight shy of being the belligerent Opposition that it has been in the upper house is open to conjecture.
Amid row over chanting of Om before yoga session on International Yoga Day, Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday said it is not mandatory.
He said it is just a sort of exercise or discipline which unifies the body and the mind and has been accepted even by the International community.
"Entire world observed the International Yoga Day last year. It was a clear acknowledgement of ancient Indian wisdom. Yoga is a sort of exercise or discipline unifying body and mind.
"Do not make Yoga controversial. If you dont want to say Om, dont say. It is not mandatory, he said while addressing the valedictory session of the National Conference on Reforming and Rejuvenating Indian Higher Education -- A stakeholders Perspective in New Delhi.
On Tuesday, the controversy broke out over University Grants Commissions directive asking universities and colleges to follow Ayush ministrys yoga protocol that begins with chanting of Om and some Sanskrit sholakas during Yoga Day celebrations on June 21.
In his letter to universities last week, UGC secretary Jaspal S Sandhu had sought the personal indulgence of vice chancellors in celebrating Yoga Day in their varsities as well as affiliated bodies.
Talking about the disturbances in various varsities across the country, he said the problems occurred in just 3-4 universities out of the total 740 varsities but it was painted as if the entire country was under unrest.
Indian naval ships on Wednesday sailed for over two months long operational deployment to the disputed South China Sea during which they will take part in Malabar naval exercise with the United States and Japan.
Indigenously built guided missile stealth frigates, INS Satpura and INS Sahyadri, INS Shakti, a sophisticated fleet support ship, and INS Kirch, an indigenous guided missile corvette, will participate in the MALABAR-16 exercise.
The Indian ships' participation in MALABAR-16, a maritime exercise with the US Navy and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, reflects the vital strategic importance of the region to India.
In a demonstration of its operational reach and commitment to Indias Act East policy, the Indian Navys Eastern Fleet, under the command of Rear Admiral S V Bhokare, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet, sailed out today on a two-and-a-half-month-long operational deployment to the South China and North West Pacific, a statement from the navy said.
During this overseas deployment, the ships of Eastern Fleet will make port calls at CamRahnBay (Vietnam), Subic Bay (Philippines), Sasebo (Japan), Busan (South Korea), Vladivostok (Russia) and Port Klang (Malaysia).
The visits to each port will last four days and are aimed at strengthening bilateral ties between the navies.
PASSEX has also been planned at sea with the host navies.
Reacting sharply to Indias move in December last year of including Japan in the Indo-US Malabar naval exercises on a permanent basis, China had said that Tokyo will not provoke confrontation and heighten tensions in the region.
China claims sovereignty on almost all of the South China Sea which is disputed by Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
The US, which had been pushing for Japans inclusion, has said the exercise is an important element for assessing the maritime capabilities of all the three countries.
The US has in recent months ramped up its warnings over what it calls Chinas growing militarisation in the region.
American warships and aircraft have undertaken number of operations in the region to challenge Chinas moves even as the US hopes to stitch Asian military powers into a closer cooperation.
The US has also been pushing for a quadrilateral security dialogue involving itself, India, Japan and Australia.
Image used for representational purposes only.
Last updated on: May 18, 2016 21:35 IST
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday flew on board a Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft, joining an elite list of dignitaries who have undertaken a sortie on the frontline fighter jet.
Rijiju, 44, took off from Indian Air Force's Halwara base in Punjab and flew for about 30 minutes in the supersonic jet, which can go up to the height of 56,800 feet at a maximum speed of 2,100 km per hour.
"Sukhoi flying brought me closer to IAF team at Halwara Air Force Station. Salute to brave pilots for securing our sky," the Union minister of state for home affairs said after the sortie.
Rijiju joined the list of dignitaries who had cruised in the aircraft that include former Presidents late A P J Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil and former Defence Minister George Fernandes.
Rijiju occupied the co-pilot's seat along with an experienced top notch fighter pilot of the IAF.
Sources said a few days ago Rijiju had undergone a successful medical fitness test.
The minister wore a jump suit and a special eye-gear so that he could comfortably undertake the high-altitude sortie.
Rijiju under took the sortie following a request by IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, sources said.
Images: Kiren Rijiju flies Sukhoi-30 MKI. Photographs: Kiren Rijiju/Facebook
The nine rebel Congress MLAs in Uttarakhand, led by former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, who were disqualified from the state assembly under the anti-defection law, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday unconditionally and sought dissolution of the assembly and holding fresh polls.
The much-anticipated move came after Bahuguna, along with eight other MLAs, met the senior BJP leadership.
All the nine rebel Congress MLAs who had raised the banner of revolt against Harish Rawat in Uttarakhand have today joined the BJP unconditionally, Uttarakhand BJP president Ajay Bhatt said.
He said another dissident Congress MLA Rekha Arya, who had voted against Rawat during the floor test, was also to join the BJP on Wednesday but could not as she was away in Ujjain to participate in the Mahakumbh.
Making it clear that their entry into the BJP was not for any personal gain but in the states interest, Bahuguna said they will continue to fight for protecting the interests of the state.
We demand that the state assembly be dissolved and fresh elections ordered immediately as the Harish Rawat government has lost the right to be in power and also lost the confidence of public, he said.
Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bahuguna said, He is a pragmatic leader and has unflinching commitment towards good governance and development. We have confidence in his leadership and are impressed by his working and policies of last two years.
We have met BJP president Amit Shah and thanked him for allowing us to join the struggle in ousting the corrupt Congress government and ending the political pollution in Uttarakhand, he said.
Among those came to the BJP fold included former minister in the Rawat government Harak Singh Rawat, who rejoined the party after a gap of 20 years.
Besides Bahuguna and Rawat, those who joined the BJP are Amruta Rawat, Shailendra Mohan, Kunwar Pranav Singh, Subodh Uniyal, Pradeep Batra, Shaila Rani Rawat and Umesh Sharma.
Bahuguna said, The assembly should be dissolved at the earliest, they have managed a majority. The strength of the 71-member House will be reduced to 59 as two more MLAs are likely to be disqualified. So I think it is right that the assembly is dissolved and fresh elections ordered.
He was hinting at Rekha Arya of Congress and Bhim Lal Arya of the BJP who had cross-voted during the floor test.
He said, We have embarked on a mission in the service of Uttarakhand. We will work together with the BJP workers and I hope the coming times will be bring a bright future for Uttarakhand.
Bahuguna also criticised Speaker Govind Kunjwal for playing a partisan role in declaring the budget passed despite Rawat government lacking a majority.
On March 18, when we voted against the Finance Bill the government lost but the speaker passed the budget by setting aside all rules and regulations, he alleged.
The way the BJP is talking about clean politics and transparency in politics, we are with them and will work in the interest of the state, he said, adding no pre-conditions were set before joining the BJP and the decision was taken after listening to out inner voice.
When asked if the BJP had guaranteed the Congress rebels tickets to contest the bypolls, he said, You ask for a guarantee when you go to seek a loan.
Assailing the Congress leadership, he said, The party has to introspect why it is being rejected by the masses across the country. It is because of rampant corruption and also because of the fact that Rahul Gandhi is not accessible.
Harak Singh Rawat, a key player in the revolt, said, We parted ways with the Congress as its government in Uttarakhand is a government of the liquor, land and mining mafia. We will take forward this struggle till we oust this corrupt regime.
The decision to induct the Congress rebels into the BJP was taken after a meeting of partys central leadership with its Uttarakhand core group including all former chief ministers and MPs like B C Khanduri, Bhagat Singh Koshiyari and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.
Image: Uttarakhand state BJP chief Ajay Bhatt offers a sweet to Harak Singh Rawat who joined the BJP along with eight other Congress rebel MLAs at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi on Wednesday. Photograph: Atul Yadav/PTI Photo
This weeks collection of unbelievably unusual images from across the world.
A protester takes part in a demonstration against tax havens in London. The protest, organised by Oxfam, Action Aid 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. Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images
Participants attend the Victorian Picnic on the first day of the annual Wave-Gotik-Treffen music festival in Leipzig, Germany. The annual event draws approximately 20,000 enthusiasts from all over Europe from Goth, Cybergoth, Steampunk, Rivethead and Punk influences. The four-day festival includes performances by 200 bands as well as cultural outings, including cemetery strolls and cathedral sermons. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
A man smokes marijuana during a global March for marijuana in Medellin, Colombia. Photograph: Fredy Builes/Reuters
A man pulls the front body of a mini-truck on a camel cart in Ahmedabad. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters
A man competes during The Strong Race, endurance event involving elements of running, agility and strength, in Kegums, Latvia. Photograph: Ints Kalnins/Reuters
Employees at Goopal Group take a nap in their seats after lunch, in Beijing, China. Office workers sleeping on the job is a common sight in China, where a surplus of cheap labour can lead to downtime at work. But in Chinas technology sector, where business is growing faster than many start-up firms can hire new staff, workers burn the midnight oil to meet deadlines and compete with their rivals. Some companies provide sleeping areas and beds for workers to rest during late nights. Photograph: Jason Lee/Reuters
A woman enjoys a mint julep before the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. Photograph: Kramer Caswell/Louisville Courier-Journal via USA TODAY/Reuters
LED lights attached to pigeons leave light trails in the sky while they fly as part of the Fly by Night art installation by Duke Riley above the Brooklyn borough of New York. Photograph: Lucas Jackson/ Reuters
Tourists visit a Lego store during its opening ceremony, the companys largest retail store in the world, near the Shanghai Disney Resort in Shanghai, China. Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters
A cash coin shape of door stands on a bridge in Jiangxia District in Wuhan, Hubei Province of China. Three words Kai, Tong, Bao are marked on the ten-meter-high door which seems to copy from Kai Yuan Tong Bao, ancient Chinese coins in Tang Dynasty. Photograph: VCG/VCG via Getty Images
South Koreans walk beside colorful lanterns as they celebrate the forthcoming birthday of Buddha in Seoul, South Korea. Photograph: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
The Humpty Dumpty cake by Laura Elphick on display at Hyatt Hotel in Canberra, Australia. Photograph: Martin Ollman/Getty Images
An antique house in a sub-district in Bangladesh holds a heritage that reconnects the nation with India. Rabindranath Tagores ancestral home in Shahzadpur holds not only historical value but the potential to satiate the regions educational needs. Prakash Bhandari reports from Dhaka.
IMAGE: The iconic home that Rabindranath Tagore resided in during his youth continues to stand tall to date. Photograph: http://shahjadpur.sirajganj.gov.bd/
Shahzadpur Kaccharibari, a sub divisional headquarter located about 200 km from Dhaka has an iconic building. This building which is now a national monument was once the home of the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.
Residents of his miniscule sub-district in Bangladesh are proud of the poet who lived here and wrote some of his early works in the house and Tagores birth anniversary celebrations continue to be a fixture in the local calendar. Many even hold Tagore on par with the revolutionary Bangladeshi poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.
Tagore's grand father Prince Dwarkanath, who hailed from Kolkatas Jorasankho area, was a landlord. He bought a very large estate in Shahzadpur from a zamindar (landlord) Rani Bhabhani of Natore in 1840.
A young Tagore was sent to Shahzadpur to maintain the estate and as the new zamindar of Shahzadpur patronised the poor in the area and even launched a rural banking system.
Tagore lived in the mansion which was part of the deal when the estate was bought by his father. Tagore penned some of his earlier classics during his stay here. Gurudev was moved by the plight of the poor and donated 1,200 acres of cultivable land that helped the landless farmers earn their livelihood. This is one aspect of his generosity towards the people of Bangladesh which very few people know, said Naseemuddin Malitha, a Tagore researcher based in Dhaka.
At one stage in his life Tagore even thought of setting up his dream Shantiniketan at Shahzadpur. But family circumstances, particularly the large size of the household, precluded this from happening. So, Tagore set up Shantiniketan which was closer to the erstwhile Calcutta, said Sheikh Bayzed, senior school teacher of Shahzadpur and a great lover of Rabindra Sangeet.
In 2015 on his birth anniversary, Bangaldesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone of Rabindra University in Shahzadpur. But like many a government initiatives the foundation stone was all that was laid. The Bangladesh government did little by way of budgetary allotment for the proposed university.
However, it earmarked a vast patch of land in a village Rautara near Shahzadpur for setting up the university complex.
The foundation stone is now left leaning on a wall at a government office in Shahzadpur.
The Bangladesh Sansad (parliament) is yet to enact the act for setting up a university in his name. Without an act of parliament no university can be set up, said Mohammed Zaman, additional director of the Bangladesh University Grants Commission.
The government, however, has set up a committee that would advise the government on the modalities of the university.
We are working out various models to set up the university but it would require some more time. Once parliament passes the bill relating to the formation of the Rabindra University the actual process would start, said Dr Abdul Khaleeq, who is the convenor of the committee that will prepare a draft plan for the university.
The bill relating to the Rabindra University was introduced in the Bangladeshi Parliament by Bangladesh Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid in February this year.
This bill was subsequently sent to the parliamentary standing committee for preview. The standing committee, after much deliberation, sent its report to the speaker and it is hoped that the bill may be taken up by the parliament in the next session.
Once the bill is passed, the university will be built on the lines of Shantiniketan and it would work much in the same way as Tagores Visva Bharati runs the affairs of Shantiniketan.
We would study the Visva Bharati model of Shantiniketan and would assess how best we could adapt Shantiniketan's model in the Bangladeshs social landscape. But the university will certainly have all the streams of studies like any other modern university, said Abdul Razzaq, a former vice chancellor of Rajashahi University, who is also a member of the committee formed by the government.
But there is one section of the Bangladeshi polity, particularly the leftists, who are somewhat distanced from the idea with some going so far as to describe Tagore as a feudal poet since he belonged from a background of landlords.
The leftists felt that Tagore lived in an ivory tower and was far away from the realities of common people. The leftist authors in Bangladesh consider Tagore as a Hindu poet. During the days of the erstwhile East Pakistan, the leftist authors described Tagore as a bourgeois poet, detached from the lives of commoners. Some leftists even described him as nothing but a romantic poet.
But leftist politician and scholar Haider Akbar Khan Rono feels that calling Tagore as a bourgeois poet was erroneous.
For Tagore the centre of religion was mankind. Tagore could never have thought of religion speaking for a god detached from common man. He was a humanist and sought to place man in the broader context of humanity that sees them beyond their individual religion identities and customs. Its true that he was a zamindar but nowhere in his life did his status as a landlord weigh over his status as a poet, said Rono.
To seek more clues in the murder of journalist Rajdeo Rajan, the Bihar police raided the Siwan jail, reports M I Khan from Patna.
Bihar police on Wednesday conducted raids in Siwan jail in connection with the murder of senior journalist Rajdeo Ranjan.
Former MP Mohammad Shahabuddin, whose named has cropped in the case, is lodged in the jail.
Ranjan, 46, the Siwan bureau chief of the Hindi newspaper, Hindustan, was shot dead at a busy market near the Siwan station road on Friday night.
"A police team led by district magistrate and superintendent of police of Siwan have raided the jail in connection with the killing of Rajdeo," a district police official said.
It is not known whether Shahabuddin's ward was searched or not during the raid, the police said.
The police have already arrested alleged Shahabuddin sharp shooter, Upender Singh, who has been remanded to 14-day judicial custody on Sunday under the new Excise Act.
According to police officials, revelations in ongoing probe by the Bihar police suggested a high level conspiracy.
"Singh has confessed to the police that a conspiracy to eliminate Rajdeo has been hatched inside the Siwan jail," the police said.
The police said that least six to seven people have been involved in the murder.
Bihar Director General of Police P K Thakur has said that the police have identified shooters involved in killing of Rajdeo and they will be arrested soon.
"The shooters involved will be arrested soon. A 'supari' (contract) was given to killed journalist, said Thakur.
Siwan superintendent of police Saurav Kumar Shah said that seven people have been detained in the case.
"Five police teams have been constituted to investigate the case. Each team has been working on different angle," Shah added.
The state government has constituted a special investigation team of two deputy superintendent of police, three inspectors and five sub-inspectors to identify the killers.
Meanwhile, protests against Rajdeo's killing have continued in Patna and other parts of Bihar to demand justice to his family.
Bharatiya Janata Party and different journalist bodies have demanded a compensation of Rs 25 to Rs 30 lakh to the bereaved family and free education to his two minor children.
The counting of votes for the assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry would be held on Thursday morning with trends expected early.
By noon, a final picture is likely to emerge on who would be the major players in these states.
The counting would commence at 8 am and is likely to be completed within 6 to 7 hours.
According to Election Commission guidelines, the ballot unit is switched on in the presence of senior poll officials and counting agents of candidates and the result command keyed in to get results per machine.
After the results are declared, names of the winning candidates are published in the gazette.
The gazette notification initiates the process to form the next legislative assemblies in the states.
In Assam, preparations are on in full swing for the counting of votes of assembly election on Thursday. A three tier security layer has been put in place.
Additional DGP Bodoland Territorial Area district, LR Bishnoi said 60 patrol parties have been constituted to man the area and all counting centres would be provided adequate security.
He said 675 police personnel have been deployed in the four districts of Kokrajhar, Baksa, Udalguri, and Chirang.
Bishnoi said extra security would be provided if there is threat to any candidate.
In Tamil Nadu, counting would be held tomorrow of votes polled in the Assembly elections held on Monday.
All arrangements have been made for the counting to be held at 68 counting centres in the state.
The re-polling in one of the polling booth in Tenkasi was held on Wednesday.
The counting will decide the fate of 232 assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu.
In 219 constituencies each round will have 14 counting tables. Sholinganallur constituency will have the highest counting tables of 24.
A three tier security has been given to 68 counting centres in the state.
In the state 13,592 persons including 9621 state government officials and 3971 micro-observers will be overseeing the counting process.
In West Bengal, the Election Commission has decided to make strict security arrangements for counting of votes on Thursday.
Prohibitory orders under Section 144 will be imposed outside each of the 90 counting centres set-up in Kolkata and across the state.
The chief executive officer has held a coordination meeting with all the District Magistrates. Central security forces and state Police personnel are being deployed.
The commission has appointed 4 lakh personnel who will man 4, 932 tables in 394 rooms that have been set up at the counting centres under CCTV watch.
One micro-observer will be deployed at each table. Trends will be announced at end of the each round.
One observer each will be deputed by the commission for each of the total 294 assembly constituencies.
Only the observer will have the right to have a mobile phone inside the centre.
Top Union ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including party chief Amit Shah, on Wednesday reviewed the political and security situation in Jammu and Kashmir besides discussing rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits.
The meeting was chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Defence Minister Manohar Parikar, BJP President Amit Shah, Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh, among others.
Senior government officials and BJP leaders looking after Kashmir affairs also attended the meeting held at the home minister's residence in New Delhi and reviewed the political and security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and took feedbacks on ground realities.
"There was a general discussion on Jammu and Kashmir to understand what is happening. Different issues like security situation, deployment of forces were discussed. We have also discussed about general political scenario of the state," Parrikar told reporters after an hour-long meeting which was attended by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and BJP general secretaries Ram Madhav and Ram Lal.
Asked whether there was any discussion on rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir Valley, Jitendra Singh said, "There was discussion on every thing but no decision on anything. It was a stock-taking meeting."
Parikar said issues related to border with Pakistan, situation along the border, deployment of paramilitary forces and flood relief related matters were discussed.
The defence and home ministry officials had last week held a meeting with J&K Chief Secretary B R Sharma and Home Secretary R K Goyal during which issues pertaining to return of civil land from army and rehabilitation of over 62,000 families of Kashmiri Pandits, who had to leave the Valley following the onset of militancy, were discussed.
Asked whether any strategic decision has been taken, Parrikar said such issues cannot be discussed in public.
On the issue of infiltration from across the border, the defence minister said security forces were neutralising militants who try to sneak into India.
MoS, PMO Jitendra Singh, who hails from J&K, said the high-level meeting discussed political and ground realities of the state.
He said the People's Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government, headed by Mehbooba Mufti, was running smoothly in the state but it was necessary to take stock of the situation from time to time.
"We have a coalition government. It is our responsibility to review from time to time," Singh said.
Asked about the reasons for BJP chief's presence at the meeting, Singh said, "Ye accha hain ki wo maarg darshan karte hain (it is good that he (Shah) guides us)."
Asked whether the issue of rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits was discussed, Singh evaded a direct reply, saying there were "comprehensive" discussions on all issues concerning the state.
The US Senate has passed a bill that would allow families of victims of 9/11 attacks to sue Saudi Arabia even as the White House said President Barack Obama would veto the legislation.
Saudi Arabia has reportedly threatened to withdraw its $750 billion worth of investments in America if it became law.
While the bill is yet to be passed by the House of Representatives before it lands up on the table of Obama to sign it into law, the White House has said that Obama would veto it.
"This legislation would change longstanding international law regarding sovereign immunity," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said after the Senate passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act.
"The President of the United States continues to harbour serious concerns that this legislation would make the United States vulnerable in other court systems around the world," he said.
"Given the concerns that we have expressed, it's difficult to imagine the President signing this legislation. That continues to be true," he said in response to a question.
Earnest said there is also a concern that hasn't gotten as much attention about the potential vulnerability that is created for some of US allies and partners in US courts.
"The concern is related to the fact that sovereign immunity is a principle that is critical to our national security. The United States is more engaged in activities in other countries than any other country in the world," he said.
"Typically, those are actually activities that other countries benefit from significantly. These are peacekeeping activities, or humanitarian relief activities, or other activities in which the United States is supporting the national security activities of other countries, and the national security of other countries is enhanced by the involvement of the United States," Earnest said.
Sponsored by Democratic Senator Charles Schumer and Republican John Cornyn, who is also co-chair of the Senate India Caucus would allow victims of terror attacks on US soil or surviving family members to bring lawsuits against nation-states for activities.
"The United States needs to use every tool available to stop the financing of terrorism. Victims and families who have lost loved ones in terror attacks deserve the opportunity to seek justice," Cornyn said.
"JASTA is a long-overdue fix -- a responsible, balanced fix -- to a law that has extended too large a shield to foreign actors who finance and enable terrorism on a massive scale.
The victims of 9-11 and other terrorist attacks have suffered such pain and heartache, but they should not be denied justice and so, I will fight hard in Congress until the House passes this bill and it is signed into law," Schumer said after the passage of the bill.
JASTA amends the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act so that foreign sponsors of terrorism cannot invoke "sovereign immunity" in cases arising from a terrorist attack that kills someone on American soil.
It also amends the Anti-Terrorism Act so that civil suits against foreign sponsors of terrorism can be held accountable in US courts where their conduct materially supports an attack that kills an American.
JASTA allows terrorism victims, like victims of the September 11 attacks, the opportunity to pursue foreign states who sponsor terrorism in federal court. The bill allows Americans to direct financial damage claims against those who funded the attacks.
The legislation would also afford this opportunity to families of other victims of terrorism on US soil that occurred after September 11, 2001. It also includes an important new tool for the Executive Branch to stay litigation -- including related cases, not against the foreign state itself -- if the government certifies that it is involved in good faith discussions to resolve the matter. This stay can be extended, the Senator's office said.
The party is using the two year occasion to launch its election campaign in the state, which was key to them reaching simple majority in the Lok Sabha in 2014, reports Archis Mohan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a public rally in Saharanpur in western Uttar Pradesh to mark two years of his government on May 26. Several senior Cabinet ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah, too, will address a series of public meetings in UP. The state, which was the key to the BJP reaching simple majority in the Lok Sabha in 2014, is due for assembly polls in early 2017 and this will be the partys unofficial launch of its UP election campaign.
The PM will also visit his Lok Sabha constituency in Varanasi as part of the fortnight-long two-year anniversary celebrations. The BJP considers western UP its stronghold and the focus of the PMs speech will be to highlight his governments schemes for farmers, especially sugarcane growers, of the region.
There is also the possibility of increasing UPs representation in the council of ministers. The party, in an effort to consolidate its Jat support base in western UP, has asked Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh to merge his party with the BJP. Singh, at least until now, is insistent that the two parties have a seat-sharing arrangement for the UP Assembly polls.
As part of its second anniversary, the BJP will hold meetings and rallies in around 200 places across India from May 26 to June 10. It has prepared copious propaganda material of its achievements, including how Mudra Bank loans have been disbursed to 32.5 million people across the country, a third of whom are women.
Of the other ministers, Home Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Patna, Dehradun, Pune and also Pathankot in Punjab. The Punjab city had suffered a terror attack in January.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Roads and Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari will also address public meetings in several places across the country. The party has also organised day-long training workshops for its spokespersons and social media team, said party general secretary Arun Singh.
When his government had completed a year in May 2015, the PM had addressed a public rally at the birthplace of Bharatiya Jan Sangh founder Deen Dayal Upadhyaya in a village in Mathura. Upadhyaya is also credited with the coining the concept of Antyodaya, or welfare of the poorest.
Of late, the Modi governments earlier slogan of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas (together with all, development for all) has increasingly been replaced with its new leitmotif of Antyodaya with the PM repeatedly stating that his government stood for the interests of the farmers, rural India and the poor.
Photograph: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Nearly 1,000 Afghans fleeing their homes daily, warns UN relief wing
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 17 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Nearly 1,000 Afghans fleeing their homes daily, warns UN relief wing, 17 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573c2304411.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.
17 May 2016 - The United Nations humanitarian wing has reported that since the beginning of the year, about 1,000 Afghans have fled their homes every day due to fighting, and aid workers are struggling to meet the needs of those on the run from hard hit provinces such as Kunduz, Herat and Uruzugan.
According to a report compiled in April and newly released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the main humanitarian story of the year is the very large number of people fleeing from their homes to save their lives, with about 118,000 on the move in the first four months of the year.
Specifically in Kunduz, OCHA said springtime in the north eastern province "has been tragically filled with conflict and suffering," leading to an extraordinary displacement of more than 22,400 people. Civilians appear to be caught in the cross-fire between a "spring offensive" launched by non-State actors and subsequent countermeasures put in motion by Government forces.
Fleeing for their lives, 14, 000 people were forced from Kunduz city to remote areas where the conflict is most active. The insecure environment and access constraints created severe challenges in the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
As the violence continued after mid-April, families were forced to flee and seek safety with family members and neighbours who opened their doors to offer a haven in the midst of chaos. "When we conducted the initial needs assessments, as many as six families were living in one house," reported Syed Zaheer, OCHA Humanitarian Affairs Officer, who helped lead the joint assessment mission.
The security situation in Kunduz province continued to rapidly deteriorate, OCHA said. And as displacement swelled, aid agencies prioritized urgent humanitarian assistance to the 7,000 displaced people, however in many cases one of the biggest challenges is access to reaching the most vulnerable families in need.
According to the report, as the battle raged on for territorial control in all seven districts of Kunduz province, families were further displaced to more remote and insecure areas where humanitarian agencies continue to struggle to gain access.
Although physical access to displaced families remains a challenge due to IEDs, military operations and road closures, humanitarian agencies managed to deliver much needed food, nutritional support, emergency shelter, non-food items (NFIs) and health care.
"The displaced families in Kunduz have endured repeated suffering - some displaced two and three times - raising their vulnerability," explained OCHA Head of Sub-Office, Gift Chatora. "We have seen the detrimental consequences when displaced families are inaccessible to humanitarian assistance, children miss out on education, nutrition and basic health care while parents lose their livelihoods and means to provide for their families."
Yemeni people must be at centre of reinvigorated crisis response senior UN relief official
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 17 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Yemeni people must be at centre of reinvigorated crisis response senior UN relief official, 17 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573c2330411.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.
17 May 2016 - A senior United Nations relief official today called for increased global efforts to support the more than 13 million people in need of immediate, life-saving assistance in Yemen, following his visit to the conflict-torn country.
"Seeing the plight of the Yemeni people first-hand reinforces the need for national and international humanitarian actors to scale up their response to protect and support the population," John Ging, Director of Operations in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told reporters in New York.
Mr. Ging appealed for an urgent increase in attention and support for the Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan, which requires $1.8 billion this year, but remains "shockingly underfunded" at only 16 per cent.
He undertook his three-day visit with Emergency Director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Rick Brennan, and Deputy Emergency Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), Gian Carlo Cirri.
They visited a food distribution site in Amran, a small city in western central Yemen where a high number of internally displaced people are living in difficult conditions as a result of the crisis.
Since mid-March 2015, the conflict has prompted a widening protection crisis, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation brought on by years of poverty, poor governance and instability. Over 7.6 million people are severely food insecure, and 2.5 million people have been displaced by violent conflict since January 2014.
Mr. Ging made a crucial appeal to the parties of the conflict to prioritize the protection of civilians and civilian needs, and to swiftly enable unhindered humanitarian access by lifting the blockade so that humanitarian actors have sustained, unhindered and safe access to all people in need, particularly in the governorates of Taiz, Hajjah, Sa'ada, Aden and Al Jawf.
"The people of Yemen must be at the centre of this response, and our collective duty is to protect them and provide them with food, health, shelter and other vital support," said Mr. Ging.
He noted that people are dying of preventable illnesses because of the limited availability of even the most basic medical supplies.
Last year, the humanitarian community delivered vital assistance to 8.8 million women, children and men across the country despite severe restrictions on humanitarian movement and on-going conflict, making all support, including the transportation of goods, difficult and often dangerous.
Syria: UN and diplomatic partners warn of return to full-scale war, recommit to reinforce lagging truce
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 17 May 2016 Related Document(s) Security Council resolution 2254 (2015) [on the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic] Cite as UN News Service, Syria: UN and diplomatic partners warn of return to full-scale war, recommit to reinforce lagging truce, 17 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573c236240b.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.
17 May 2016 - Warning of a return to a full-scale war in Syria, an international group of diplomats reaffirmed its determination to bolster a fragile ceasefire, ensure aid reach those in need, and make progress toward a peaceful political transition, the United Nations said today.
Meeting in Vienna, the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), which comprises the United States, the Russian Federation, the UN, the Arab League, the European Union along with 16 countries, issued a statement, stressing the need to solidify the cessation of hostilities in the face of serious threats, particularly during the past several weeks.
The ISSG called on all parties to the truce to refrain from disproportionate responses to provocations and to demonstrate restraint. If the ceasefire is not implemented in good faith, "the consequences could include the return of full-scale war, which all the Members of the ISSG agreed would be in no one's interest," the statement said.
The ISSG also welcomed the joint statement of 9 May by Ceasefire Task Force Co-Chairs, Russia and US, in which they agreed to intensify efforts to ensure the cessation's nationwide implementation.
The ISSG reaffirmed that sieges of civilian populations in Syria are a violation of international humanitarian law and called for the immediate lifting of all sieges, insisting on concrete steps to enable the delivery of urgent aid to the following locations: Arbeen, Darraya, Douma, East Harasta, Mouadhimiyeh, Zabadin and Zamalka.
The ISSG called on the World Food Program (WFP) to carry out a programme for air bridges and air drops for all areas in need, starting 1 June, if the UN is denied humanitarian access to any of the designated besieged areas.
The ISSG reiterated the objective of meeting the target date of August 1, set out by Security Council resolution 2254 (2015), for the parties to reach agreement on a framework for a genuine political transition, which would include a broad, inclusive, non-sectarian transitional governing body with full executive powers.
The ISSG reaffirmed that political transition in Syria must be Syrian-owned and Syrian-led, and expressed their unequivocal and united commitment to facilitating the start of political transition in Syria by consistent with resolution 2254 and previous ISSG statements of 30 October 30 and 14 November 2015, and 11 February 2016.
The ISSG also requested UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, to facilitate agreements between the Syrian parties for the release of detainees, calling on any party holding detainees to protect the health and safety of those in their custody.
Mr. de Mistura told reporters in Vienna that he could not discuss the date for the next intra-Syrian talks, as it would depend on some factors, including the cessation of hostilities, humanitarian access, and the start of Ramadan.
"We need to bear in mind that credible intra-Syrian talks will become credible when [] there is a credible development on the cessation of hostilities and a credible improvement on the humanitarian side," he said.
He warned that the ceasefire was holding at 80 per cent of the places, but it has come down to 50 per cent. "We need to bring it back [up] and there has been a strong effort and a common line on that," he said.
Regarding the humanitarian aid, 12 of the 18 besieged locations have been reached, he said. If the UN cannot reach them by land, the WFP will conduct a joint operation with Russia, US and other countries to airlift aid to 110,000 people.
On the detainees and abductees, the ISSG took note of that with serious concern because families are asking for their immediate release, he said.
EU has largely 'abandoned' Greece to deal with migrant crisis on its own, UN expert warns
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 17 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, EU has largely 'abandoned' Greece to deal with migrant crisis on its own, UN expert warns, 17 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573c240d40c.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.
17 May 2016 - The suffering of migrants in Greece is the result of a complete absence of long-term vision and the clear lack of political will of the European Union (EU), a United Nations human rights expert said today, warning that Greece, already struggling to cope with fiscal challenges, has been abandoned by the EU to deal with a crisis that requires a response from all countries in the region.
"This is not only a humanitarian crisis," the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Francois Crepeau, warned. "This is more importantly a political crisis in which the EU and the overwhelming majority of EU member States have abandoned Greece - a country that is fighting to implement austerity measures - leaving it to deal with an issue that requires efforts from all."
Wrapping up a follow-up mission to Greece, Mr. Crepeau stressed that the closure of the borders surrounding the country, coupled with the new EU-Turkey agreement, have exponentially increased the number of irregular migrants there. "Unlike before, Greece is no longer a transit country and is struggling to 'catch up' and develop a mechanism to deal with immediate needs, in the absence of a clear commitment from the EU to support the country," he said.
The independent expert expressed particular concern with conditions in the Reception and Identification Centres (RIC or 'hotspots'), which have become closed centres as a result of the EU-Turkey deal, and "are creating an unacceptable level of confusion, frustration, violence and fear."
He noted, among other worrying issues, the length of process to identify vulnerable migrants, the blatant over-crowding that is amplifying inter-communal friction, the mix of families and young single males, the absence of many Government services during the weekend, the contradictory information received regarding procedures and timelines, as well as insufficient procedural safeguards in detention facilities for migrants.
"I visited Idomeni and the closed detention sites of Lesbos and Samos and saw many children. The difference between those in open camps and those in detention is striking. It is unacceptable for children to be detained," the Special Rapporteur said, stressing that "detention can never ever be in the best interests of a child."
The rights expert welcomed official proposals to develop a more structured system of guardianship for unaccompanied minors, but called on the Greek Government "to develop alternatives to detention in the form of open shelters for families and unaccompanied minors as a matter of urgent priority."
Children outside refugee tents on 8 March 2016, in Idomeni, Greece. Photo: UNICEF/Tomislav Georgiev
"The large number of irregular migrants stuck in Greece is mainly a result of EU and EU member States' overreliance on securing borders, 'deals' and practices," the Special Rapporteur said, while calling upon the EU to implement the relocation of 66,800 refugees in a timely and meaningful manner, and facilitate family reunification. He also called on the EU to support Greek authorities in improving reception facilities to ensure adequate standards, and to back alternative measures for detention.
"The way the EU and EU member States handle this 'crisis' seems to indicate that human rights and the rule of law are dispensable when it comes to migrants under these circumstances," Mr. Crepeau said.
The expert welcomed the positive steps taken by Greece to provide emergency services such as shelter, food and medical services, particularly for the most vulnerable groups. He also noted the quick response of national and international organizations in assisting the Government in its efforts to protect and promote the human rights of all migrants. "The Greek people have been generous in their support for irregular migrants," he added.
"The Greek Government must harness the energy of these different actors and develop a comprehensive migration strategy. It must ensure the systematic provision of information to migrants themselves and to all the different stakeholders working with migrants," he said.
During his five-day visit from 12 to 16 May, Mr. Crepeau met with a range of Government officials responsible for border management, international organisations, civil society organizations and migrant organizations.
He also gathered first-hand information during his visits in Athens, Idomeni and Polykastro in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, as well as the Aegean Islands of Lesbos and Samos, where he met with migrants, including families and unaccompanied children in the unofficial camp in Idomeni and Elliniko, the Polykastro police station, the Elliniko detention centre for migrant women, and the closed Reception and Identification Centres in Samos and Lesbos.
The Special Rapporteur will present his follow-up country mission report to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2017.
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.
Iraq: UN envoy condemns string of terrorist bombings targeting crowded Baghdad markets
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 17 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Iraq: UN envoy condemns string of terrorist bombings targeting crowded Baghdad markets, 17 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573c243b40b.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.
17 May 2016 - The United Nations Envoy for Iraq has strongly condemns a series of terrorist suicide bombings today that targeted busy markets in Baghdad's northeastern Shaab neighbourhood, Sadr City and the southern neighbourhood of Al-Rasheed, killing or wounding many civilians, including women and children.
According to a statement from the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq, more terrorist attacks were reportedly foiled by security forces.
Mission chief Jan Kubis offered condolences to the families of the victims and wished the injured speedy recovery.
"The terrorists have struck again, adding to their long violent history of death and destruction and once again aiming to kill and maim as many innocent people as possible," Mr. Kubis said.
Colombia: UN chief welcomes agreement to separate children from FARC
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 17 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Colombia: UN chief welcomes agreement to separate children from FARC, 17 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573c245f40c.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.
17 May 2016 - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the announcement by the Colombian Government and a long-time opposition group Sunday of an agreement to separate and reintegrate children associated with the insurgent force.
"The Secretary-General congratulates the Government of Colombia and the FARC-EP [Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army] and calls upon their negotiators to achieve promptly a final agreement that will allow all Colombians to enjoy the benefits of a lasting peace," said Mr. Ban's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.
The two sides agreed to separate minors under 15 years of age from FARC-EP camps, develop a roadmap to complete the separation of all minors, and create a special comprehensive program focused on these children.
"This agreement, achieved with the good offices of the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui, heralds the end of the conflict for its youngest participants, recognized as victims in the agreement," the spokesman said.
In Ukraine, a 'Living Library' helps ease tensions between displaced persons and hosts
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 16 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, In Ukraine, a 'Living Library' helps ease tensions between displaced persons and hosts, 16 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573c24a940c.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.
16 May 2016 - Experiencing the story of a person displaced in Ukraine - the suffering, joys, feelings of alienation and social exclusion, but also the sense of belonging - is possible for communities hosting the displaced persons due to a United Nations project that has turned testimonies into "books" in a so-called Living Library. "People become becoming living books. They give all these stories and record them and bring them all together into a library that other people can consult," explained Janthomas Hiemstra, Country Director in Ukraine for the UN Development Programme (UNDP), which supports the Living Library project. The project is run by a local non-government organization.
From the beginning at UNDP, we have understood that post conflict programming is not only about physical recovery but it is also about psychological and social recovery
The Library is "therapeutic" and contains stories of different communities, particularly "stories of displacement, feeling at home, feeling not at home, prejudice, social exclusion," Mr. Hiemstra added in an interview with the UN News Centre ahead of the World Humanitarian Summit to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, on 23 and 24 May 2016.
The stories were collected from throughout the country, including from communities in the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, which are de facto divided between areas controlled by the Government and those under the control of rebels.
As a result of fighting during the past two years, nearly 10,000 people have been killed and over 21,000 wounded.
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled conflict-affected areas and found refuge in other regions, putting pressure on the resources and infrastructure of host communities, changing the lives of people who live there, and contributing to tensions between communities.
The "Living Library is one the activities supported by UNDP in these conflict areas to promote dialogue and reconciliation between communities.
"From the very beginning at UNDP, we have understood that post conflict programming is not only about physical recovery but it is also about psychological and social recovery," he noted.
Entrance to the city of Sloviansk, Ukraine, riddled with bullet holes and shell. Photo: UNICEF Ukraine/Pavel Zmey
As a result, people who participate in the Living Library "start to recognize that being an internally displaced person is very difficult, but also being host community is very difficult, and living together is actually something that can be learned and that can be promoted," said Mr. Hiemstra.
The goal is to ensure everyone starts "feeling a little bit more comfortable with each other."
Promoting dialogue and mutual understanding
Present in Ukraine for more than two decades, UNDP's priorities in the country shifted two years ago when the conflict erupted, with a greater focus now on activities to achieve reconciliation.
This focus is in line with the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Agenda for Humanity, which includes a responsibility on preventing conflicts and finding political solutions to resolve them. The Agenda for Humanity comprise five core responsibilities, which also includes respecting the rule of war, leaving no one behind, working differently to end need, and investing in humanity.
Among its activities to promote dialogue and mutual understanding, UNDP also supports an online platform that allows Ukrainians to constructively discuss the future of their country. It brings together people participating already in various dialogues in progress at the local level.
A woman and her daughters lit by candlelight in a bomb shelter on the outskirts of the city of Debaltsevo in Donetsk province. Photo: UNICEF Ukraine/Aleksey Filippov
"It is an innovative way of stimulating dialogue," Mr. Hiemstra said. About 40 Ukrainians facilitators have been trained to record the results of dialogues and post them on the platform.
This project is implemented in partnership with the European Forum for international Mediation and Dialogue (MediatEUr).
The idea is that the mediators can play a role in guiding the dialogue in a peaceful and useful direction for the country. The platform helps facilitators to get in touch with each other and with foreign counterparts to share information and experience and to improve their capacity for dialogue.
Kenya: Investigate police crackdown against protesters
Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 17 May 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Kenya: Investigate police crackdown against protesters, 17 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573c263e4.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 brutal crackdown by Kenyan police against protesters must be urgently and impartially investigated, said Amnesty International.
Police descended on a crowd of largely peaceful protesters hitting many of them with batons, lobbing tear gas at them and spraying them with water cannons. In one video widely shared on social media, three policemen were seen kicking and beating a protester after he had collapsed by the roadside. Some media reports say the individual later died of his injuries.
"The brutal beatings by police yesterday amount to arbitrary and abusive use of force, which is illegal under Kenyan, regional and international law," said Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International's Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.
"The Independent Police Oversight Authority must quickly launch a thorough investigation into this blatant violation of human rights. Police officers suspected of responsibility for arbitrary or abusive use of force, including those with command responsibility, must be prosecuted in fair proceedings. It is essential to ensure that the police are held accountable for excessive use of force and to send a strong signal that such violations have no place in Kenya."
The protest was organised by the opposition Coalition for Reform and Democracy (CORD), led by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who has vowed to lead protests outside the headquarters of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) every Monday until the current commissioners are dismissed. They accuse the commissioners of bias towards the ruling Jubilee alliance, a charge the commissioners deny.
"The police have a duty to facilitate peaceful assembly and must not prevent people from enjoying their guaranteed rights to freedoms of peaceful assembly, association and expression," said Muthoni Wanyeki.
Background
The Constitution of Kenya protects the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. Article 37 provides that "every person has the right, peaceably and unarmed to assemble, to demonstrate, to picket and to present petitions to public authorities."
The National Police Service Act 2011 provides that police officers should perform their functions through non-violent means. In the circumstance that they are constrained to use force, the force should be necessary and proportional to the objective to be achieved, the seriousness of the offence, and the resistance of the person against whom it is used.
International law and standards on the use of force by police stipulate that any use of force by police must only be what is strictly necessary and proportionate for the performance of their duty, and that arbitrary or abusive use of force by police must be treated as a criminal offence.
Copyright notice: Copyright Amnesty International
Iraq: Deadly bomb attacks show disgraceful disregard for human life
Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 17 May 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Iraq: Deadly bomb attacks show disgraceful disregard for human life, 17 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573c26d74.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 spike in deadly bomb attacks across Baghdad, in predominantly Shia areas, will outrage anyone who places value on human life," said James Lynch, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
"The bloody toll from these attacks, which is predominantly civilian, has been growing steadily over the past seven days."
"Today's sickening attacks, carried out in daytime, in areas well known to be frequented by civilians such as busy markets, display a total disregard for the lives of civilians and the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law."
According to media reports, this morning's first bomb which detonated in a market in the Al-Shaab neighbourhood of Baghdad killed at least 38 and injured 70. A second in the al-Rasheed neighbourhood killed at least six and wounded 21, while a third attack targeted a market in Sadr City, a Shia district east of Baghdad, killing at least 19 more, media reports said.
Iraq's Ministry of Interior told Amnesty International that at least 43 people had been killed and at least 84 injured in the three attacks today.
The armed group calling itself Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the first attack in Al-Shaab, saying that it had targeted members of the Popular Mobilization Units, militia groups which have been fighting the IS alongside government forces.
On 11 May, media reported that at least 68 people were killed and over 80 wounded in a car bomb attack in a market in Sadr City. Later that day at least 18 people, including five police officers, were killed by a bomb at a security checkpoint in the predominantly Shia Kadhimiya neighbourhood and a further seven were killed by an attack at a checkpoint in Jamiya, media reports said. The day was dubbed the year's bloodiest day for Baghdad.
"The deliberate targeting of civilians is strictly prohibited and can never be justified. International humanitarian law also prohibits attacks that fail to distinguish between civilians and fighters or that disproportionately harm civilians," said James Lynch.
"The groups responsible for these attacks, including the so-called Islamic State, must end these deliberate attacks on civilians and indiscriminate attacks and abide by the laws of war."
Copyright notice: Copyright Amnesty International
Eye spy: biometric aid system trials in Jordan
Publisher IRIN Author Bethan Staton Publication Date 18 May 2016 Cite as IRIN, Eye spy: biometric aid system trials in Jordan, 18 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573c27774.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.
There is only one supermarket at Jordan's Azraq refugee camp. It's a cavernous space, packed with crowds and stacked with tins and boxes. Sabha, a mother of six who came here from Aleppo four months ago, browses the tinned pulses, eggs, rice and fresh vegetables that line the shelves and sits on her stacked rations for the month as she queues to buy them.
When she pays, however, Sabha doesn't take out her purse. She simply looks into a small black machine, and buys her groceries using only her eyes.
Sabha is using a new iris scanning system that's just been rolled out in Azraq, a camp that houses some 20,000 Syrian refugees in the Jordanian desert.
The machine takes a detailed reading of her eye, matches it against hundreds of thousands of records, and deducts her grocery bill from her monthly World Food Programme allowance. This is relatively groundbreaking technology, and it's now the standard means of distributing food aid in Azraq.
"It's a first not just for refugees, but for the whole shopping and retail industry," Shada Moghraby, WFP's spokeswoman in Jordan, told IRIN. Soon the scanners will be in Zaatari, Jordan's largest camp for Syrians, and it's hoped they'll appear in urban supermarkets too, as the 85 percent of Syrian refugees who live in Jordan's cities already use iris scanners to withdraw monetary assistance from cashpoints.
But not all refugees are convinced of the technology's value - Sabha says it actually makes her shopping more of a slog - and privacy advocates are concerned too.
"The fact is that it is so powerful," says Eric Topfer of the German Institute for Human Rights. "If [the data] doesn't stop [at aid use] and it's shared more liberally and used with less control or without controls then it can do harm."
New technology, new problems
Sabha's shopping is made possible by a biometric data network that's now a normal part of life for the more than 600,000 Syrian refugees registered in Jordan.
Iris scans, taken when refugees register in the country, are stored in a database kept by the UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, and used to verify individuals as they seek assistance from UNHCR and, more recently, other UN agencies like WFP.
The system has significant benefits over the cards it's replacing. Cutting down on paperwork by connecting recipients direct to the allowances they receive, it's a more secure method of delivery that ensures allowances are only used by the people they're intended for.
Moghraby says that feedback from refugees in Azraq camp has generally been positive, with particular advantages for the elderly.
"It eliminates hassle and waiting time and can't get lost in the way cards can," she says.
At the supermarket, however, the refugees themselves don't seem convinced at all.
Sabha says that the eye-scanning system has made her life more, not less difficult. "I'm pregnant, and I'm frightened for my unborn child," she explains, gesturing at the chaos of the supermarket.
Because she's named as the head of household responsible for the money only she can access the monthly WFP allowance with her eyes.
"I'd rather my son go and get the food for me, but he can't because of the iris scanner. My sister is in the same situation. She has six kids. They're young, but she has to take them to the supermarket when she goes to pick up food."
Her grievance becomes a common theme among the other shoppers: many say they prefer the older cards, which allowed them more freedom to cooperate with friends and ask family members to run errands on their behalf. The fact that Azraq's single supermarket takes significant time and effort to get to only makes the situation tougher.
Responding to the criticisms, Moghraby says that people experiencing problems with the eye scanning system can request not to use it, or to transfer the account to a family member's iris.
But the shopping refugees didn't seem to be aware of this option. Moghraby also points out that the transfer of vouchers from person to person is one of the things the system seeks to avoid.
When the pluses are the minuses
This is not the only way in which a benefit of biometrics can become a drawback.
Iris scanning technology's greatest selling point is that it allows refugees to firmly establish their identity without carrying documents, and thus securely access services and aid. But this is also what makes the possibility of abuses or errors particularly dangerous.
Eric Topfer, a researcher at the German Institute for Human Rights, is worried that unauthorised actors might be able to access refugees' information, or that databases may be authorised for new purposes such as counterterrorism or tracking immigration.
"Given the increasing desire of security agencies to cross-match existing databases to prevent 'foreign fighters' travelling around the world, I see the risk that the massive data pool being built up by the UNHCR will attract the interest of these actors," Topfer explains.
Indeed, the head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency has said the so-called Islamic State was sending fighters disguised as refugees to Europe, so it's easy to imagine that European intelligence agencies would like to get their hands on such a cache of data.
"Once the data of refugees is let out of Pandora's box and circulates within the intelligence community I doubt that affected refugees will ever be able to reclaim control, which might in the long-term pose serious risks if the data falls into the wrong hands," he says.
Volker Schimmel, a senior field coordinator at UNHCR in Amman, played a key role in developing the iris scanning system and has thought carefully about these risks.
Schimmel has the unusual air of a chess player, perpetually considering multiple philosophical, technical and political dimensions of a humanitarian puzzle, and, like Topfer, he knows the near certainty of a match offered by biometric testing is both a benefit and a risk.
"The real practical scenarios as to how this could be misused have neither been developed nor tested, thankfully," he tells IRIN. "But the risks are anything from identity theft, on one hand, to manipulating what we see as the whole identity of an individual, to use that information, to filter out more people that you then target easily.
"The possibility of either manipulating identity or using it to target, particularly for harmful actions, will always be there in some shape or form," says Schimmel.
He believes however, that the UNHCR have a strong strategy when it comes to sharing personal information and states unequivocally that refugees biometric data is not shared with governments.
Schimmel acknowledges that no means of encryption is certifiably unbreakable, but like Moghraby at WFP he's confident that refugees' data is reasonably secure. The key to security, he explains, is a data encryption system that means no biometric information is transferred between agencies. When a refugee looks into the scanner at the checkout, the image that's taken is condensed down and encrypted before being sent through the infrastructure, then decrypted to be compared with the database records on the other side. The image itself, Schimmel stresses, is neither sent nor stored on the camera itself.
Only UNHCR possess the second half of the encryption key that's needed to see an individual's record, Schimmel says, adding that even the company that makes the system can't see them.
Information is decrypted using the UNHCR cipher, and it's the results of that - and not the biometric data itself - that is communicated with other agencies like the WFP.
Heavy responsibility
In Azraq, and outside, few of the refugees IRIN speaks to confess to being anxious about the security of biometric testing. A few say they are worried it will affect the health of their eyes.
But also they don't have the luxury to refuse the technology: registration and accessing aid depends on it. A population as vulnerable as refugees fleeing a war zone have little choice over whether they are able to accept or refuse biometric registration.
That leaves humanitarian agencies with a heavy responsibility when it comes to measuring up the costs and benefits.
At the International Committee of the Red Cross, Information Manager Charlotte Curtet tells IRIN that biometric systems haven't been adopted. They're looking into the technology to make sure it doesn't betray key humanitarian principles and cases no harm - she calls these "absolute criteria".
The ICRC is balancing the immediate practical considerations of refugees like those in Azraq, the bigger organisational impacts, and the security risks that biometric data necessarily implies.
Curtet says that refugees must be fully informed about what will happen to their information, and that it must never be used beyond that point.
"It's just as when we're handing over our information to a doctor we wouldn't expect to see it somewhere else," Curtet tells IRIN. "We shouldn't collect something with one purpose, and then allow it to be used in a different way, or even to be negligent about how it's used."
Aid agencies are cautiously optimistic about the future use of biometric data - a new briefing paper from the UN's aid coordination body, OCHA, stresses the importance of "responsible" data use, and protecting vulnerable populations from potential harms. Although legal restrictions so far limit its use in Turkey, the UN hopes to expand iris scanning for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, especially for access to health care. That means moving forward slowly.
"We're fine now but I think if this catches on, and becomes something that more and more users want, we have to be careful," Schimmel says. "So it's important to keep up the debates, to keep up the discussions, the criticisms that gives us the confidence that we're doing the due diligence and that it's good enough."
Somalia and Somaliland restart dialogue
Publisher IRIN Author Mohamed Amin Jibril Publication Date 13 May 2016 Cite as IRIN, Somalia and Somaliland restart dialogue, 13 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573c28044.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.
Somalia has made a $1 million donation to the drought-hit breakaway northwestern region of Somaliland, ahead of controversial talks between the two sides later this month to clarify their future relations.
Mogadishu, far from one of the world's flushest governments, has been quick to point out the donation was not designed to influence the talks in Turkey due on 31 May.
It is "not meant to gain any political sympathies, but it is brotherly responsibility to help each other in these difficult times," said Somalia's Deputy Prime Minister, Mohamed Omar Arteh.
Northern Somalia is facing an El Nino-related disaster. Nearly 1.7 million people out of a population of 4.6 million in Somaliland and Puntland need some form of humanitarian assistance, according to OCHA, the UN's office for humanitarian coordination.
In some areas the drought has destroyed 60 to 80 percent of cattle, in a region where families depend on livestock for income, food and status.OCHA has appealed for $105 million to help tackle the crisis.
Relations between Somalia and the self-declared independent republic of Somaliland have historically been extremely sensitive.
The international community does not recognize Somaliland, and Somalia's goal has always been reunification - although it does accept the northwestern territory as an autonomous region.
Somaliland has had something of a raw deal. Its rebellion in the late 1980s was answered with merciless bombing by former Somali president Siad Barre.
When he fell in 1991 and Somalia went into meltdown, Somaliland remained relatively stable.
It has a functioning government; has had held a series of elections; has recently handed out commercial oil exploration licenses; and its strategic port of Berbera is one of Ethiopia's outlets to the sea.
Its progress is recognised by the international community, and there is the precedence of independence in Eritrea and South Sudan. But there is no appetite for Somaliland's independence from within the African Union, and it has the lead on the issue.
Meanwhile, Somaliland's constitution forbids reunification equating it with treason.
Part of the impetus for formal dialogue between the two sides stems from the London conference in 2013 aimed at consolidating Somalia's political and development gains. But the subsequent talks always deadlocked.
Aid diplomacy
Now Somalia's drought aid donation may have created a fresh opening.
"Aid exchange is a channel of communication between Somaliland and Somalia, because when brothers help each in the difficult time, they may forget their differences and continue to discuss other issues," Mohamed Omar Dalha, a former deputy speaker and member of Somalia's federal parliament, told IRIN.
It is not the first instance of aid-sweetened diplomacy for the two. In 2011 Somaliland sent assistance to Somalia in response to famine in its central region, and six months later direct dialogue began for the first time.
In the past talks, held in the UK, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, there has been agreement over the need to facilitate development projects in each other's territories, and security cooperation.
But for Somaliland, the bottom line has always been independence. "The reason we want to negotiate with Somalia is to reach a two state solution," said Somaliland's foreign minister, Saad Ali Shire.
According to David Shinn, the former US ambassador to Ethiopia, regardless of that red line, there's value in the dialogue process.
It leads to "better understanding of differing points of view and perhaps lays the foundation for more meaningful discussions [next time] somewhere on Somali soil," he said.
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The long goodbye
Publisher IRIN Publication Date 17 May 2016 Cite as IRIN, The long goodbye, 17 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573c290a4.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.
Yusra al-Khatib is scrolling through photos of her husband, Bassam Mughrabi, on her smartphone.
The couple have lived apart for three years, ever since Mughrabi fled their war-torn hometown of Yabroud, Syria, and made his way to Germany. It used to be a proper partnership. He supported their six children by working in construction, while she took care of their home. Now, their relationship has been reduced to a flurry of text messages, selfies and voice recordings on WhatsApp, Viber, and Facebook Messenger.
Al-Khatib, who is 40, says she tried to join Mughrabi in Europe via family reunification procedures. After being told by the German embassy in Beirut that she would have to wait until 2017 for a visa interview, she decided to take matters into her own hands. In February, she and four of her children, aged seven to 20 along with her sister-in-law, Khadeja, and her five children paid smugglers a total of 6,000 euros to cross the Aegean Sea in the hope of reaching their husbands.
Their trip was cut short by the shutdown of the 'Balkan Route' to northern Europe, which trapped some 54,000 refugees and migrants in Greece. Now their main roadblock is bureaucratic: a Greek asylum system so overwhelmed that it's nearly impossible to get an appointment and avenues for family reunion within Europe that are painfully slow.
For these two women and thousands of other families separated by Europe's border closures they finally reside on the same continent as their loved ones, but feel no closer to actually being with them.
"He is trying to pull us to him and we can't get there. I would do anything to be with him again," said al-Khatib, who spent five weeks shivering in a small plastic tent with her children at Idomeni, a squalid, makeshift refugee camp at the Greek-Macedonian border. After giving up hope that the border would reopen, they moved to Veria, an official camp 70 kilometres from the city of Thessaloniki with much better living conditions.
Asked how many of the camp's 400 residents were women and children trying to join husbands and fathers elsewhere in Europe, al-Khatib lost count at 18 families.
Restrictive policies deter reunification
Last year, the vast majority of the one million asylum seekers to reach Europe by boat were men, many of them young, single and travelling alone. By February, nearly 60 percent of those risking their lives at sea were women and children, according to the UN's refugee agency, UNHCR.
One reason for the changing demographics, aid agencies say, is the lack of safe, legal ways for people trapped in warzones or living as refugees in the Middle East to join family members already in the European Union.
Although EU legislation recognises a refugee's right to be reunited with their immediate family, a number of member states are making it extremely difficult to realise, with increasingly restrictive eligibility criteria and onerous bureaucratic requirements.
In recent months, many EU member states have targeted family reunification as part of broader policy efforts to tighten border controls and deter prospective asylum seekers.
Austria passed the most restrictive changes in April. In addition to allowing police to turn away asylum seekers at the border, new legislation increases the waiting period for family reunification to three years for holders of subsidiary protection, a type of protection for people who do not fit the criteria for refugee status but cannot be sent back to their countries of origin.
In Germany, those with subsidiary protection must now wait two years before they can apply for family reunification, while recent amendments to Sweden's asylum law mean that subsidiary protection holders have no right to apply for it at all. Other countries, such as Finland, are introducing income requirements for refugees seeking to bring family members to the country.
Playing the European lottery
Those like Yusra and Khadeja al-Khatib, who have made it into the EU but are stuck in Greece, have two main legal options to rejoin family members elsewhere. First, they must apply for family reunion under the Dublin Regulation, which decides which country is responsible for processing an individual's asylum claim. If that fails, they can try to reunite via the EU's official relocation scheme, which takes family ties into account when determining which member state to transfer asylum seekers to.
Both procedures are excruciatingly slow. Only 909 of a promised 66,400 people have been moved from Greece to other EU countries under the relocation scheme since last September, and only certain nationalities with high rates of refugee recognition qualify.
According to Daphne Bouteillet-Paquet, a senior legal officer with the European Council on Refugees and Exiles: "People often have to wait a good year before enjoying family unity under Dublin it is quicker and more efficient to turn to the services of smugglers."
As with family reunification from outside Europe, most member states only allow reunion under Dublin for immediate family -- typically spouses and children under 18 years old. Adult children and families formed in transit countries like Turkey are usually excluded. This means that Yusra al-Khatib's 20-year-old daughter won't qualify to join the rest of family in Germany, and another recently engaged young woman in Veria camp may not be able to reunite with her fiance.
The documentation requirements for Dublin requests also pose a major hurdle for families who fled their homes without crucial paperwork, such as marriage licenses and birth certificates. Insufficient documentation is often grounds for denial.
"We have seen families being torn apart, because if they cannot prove the family link, they could be assigned to different member states under Dublin," Bouteillet-Paquet said.
The broken system
A lack of legal help means that women like Yusra and Khadeja al-Khatib are often left to navigate the complex family reunification process on their own.
But before they can even begin the process, they must secure an asylum interview, something that has proved impossible for many. Since late March, the Greek Asylum Service has only allowed people to make appointments for their asylum interviews via Skype. But many of the refugees are staying in camps with no WiFi access and spotty cellphone service. Even those with internet access complain that they can't get through on the Skype number. In Veria last week, almost no one had an appointment yet.
Beginning in late May, the Greek Asylum Service says it will start visiting camps throughout the mainland to register asylum claims. Through this "pre-registration exercise", which is supported by UNHCR and the European Asylum Support Office, asylum seekers will receive an appointment for an interview along with an international protection card, which will give them access to public health services and the school system.
The process is expected to take two months, with all asylum interviews to take place by the end of the year. To meet this goal, the Greek Asylum Service will need to conduct more than 6,000 interviews per month a tall order for an agency that processed just 1,100 asylum claims a month in early 2015.
The women at Veria feel no closer to having a clear timeline for when their families will be whole again.
"It's disappointing and lonely, even with the children," said Abeer Hammood, a Syrian mother in the camp whose husband is also in Germany. "It's like I'm living, but without my soul."
In a fit of tears one night, her husband said he would cancel his asylum application in Germany and come to Greece to be with her. Despite how much she misses him, Hammood convinced him not to.
Last month, soon after being granted refugee status in Germany, Yusra al-Khatib's husband came to visit his family on a special refugee passport. He flew to Thessaloniki, then took a bus to the camp. Yusra waited for him at the camp gate.
For a few short days, it felt almost like a vacation. "But I hated him seeing us here, living like this," she said.
In what seemed like the blink of an eye, he was back in Germany and the waiting game began again.
Five countries where child soldiers are still recruited
Publisher IRIN Author Jared Ferrie Publication Date 17 May 2016 Cite as IRIN, Five countries where child soldiers are still recruited, 17 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573c2a8c4.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.
Colombia's largest guerrilla group has agreed to release all of its soldiers under age 15. It is a move welcomed by child rights groups but it also highlights the continued use of child soldiers in conflicts around the world.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) made the pledge during talks in Cuba aimed at ending its five-decade war against successive governments. The administration of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC now need to decide upon the terms under which the child soldiers will be reintegrated into civilian life.
"UNICEF stands ready to support the release of all children and their reintegration into their families and communities, in accordance with national and international law," the UN agency's representative to Colombia, Roberto de Bernardi, said in a statement yesterday.
Reintegration is the hardest part of demobilisation. It's easy to release child soldiers from service, but what do they do then? Often, they have been deprived of education and have only the skills they picked up while under arms. Aid agencies offer support for former child soldiers by funding programmes to provide them with education, skills training and micro-loans to start small businesses, but the children often find it hard to adjust to new lives.
According to principles adopted at a Paris conference led by UNICEF, a child soldier is anyone under age 18 "who is or who has been recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity", which can include non-combat roles such as cooks and porters.
It's not only rebel groups that recruit child soldiers. Some state militaries recruit children too.
Here are five examples of the use of child soldiers around the world:
Britain: Rights groups have campaigned to end the army's practice of recruiting 16-year-olds. Some 17-year-olds were deployed to the Gulf War in 1991, and to Kosovo in 1999, but the army subsequently barred anyone under 18 from combat. The army requires parental consent for any recruit under the age of 18, but Child Soldiers International says the recruitment process does not guarantee that such consent has been given.
Myanmar: As part of its reform process, the military signed a joint action plan with the UN in 2012 to demobilise all child soldiers. It has released them sporadically over the last four years, most recently this past March. The task is harder than it may appear: families sometimes send young sons to join the army for financial reasons, and recruitment may be ongoing in remote areas although the military officially banned the practice and even set up a telephone hotline to report child soldiers in its ranks. The UN lists seven non-state armed groups in Myanmar that also use child soldiers.
The Democratic Republic of Congo: More than 30,000 children were released from the national army between 2004 and 2006 as part of a military reform process following a peace agreement in 2002. However, the reforms were not successful and the war did not end. Those failures also represented a big step backwards for those advocating the release of child soldiers. Recruitment continues today, and hundreds of children are reported to be serving in the armed forces, according to Child Soldiers International. Many more have been recruited by rebel groups.
South Sudan: Even before splitting from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan passed laws that made it illegal to use child soldiers and began releasing them. But in December 2013, the world's newest country descended into civil war and the recruitment of child soldiers began anew. Since then, government and rebel forces have used as many as 16,000 children, according to UNICEF. A December 2015 report by Human Rights Watch named more than 15 commanders and officials from the government and rebel forces who used child soldiers.
Yemen: In 2014, Yemen signed up to a UN action plan to end recruitment of child soldiers by the country's armed forces. The last 13 months of war have not only put that plan on hold but meant an increase in children taking part in the conflict. UNICEF estimates that children make up a third of the people fighting in Yemen, including Houthi rebels and forces loyal to the deposed but internationally recognised (and Saudi Arabian-backed) President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Human Rights Watch said last year that the Houthis have intensified their use of children as scouts, guards, runners and fighters.
Halloween is nearly here. Find out when Trick-or-Treat is happening in Martinsville.
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AN INVITATION TO VETERANS
Area veterans and active duty military personnel are invited to attend 'I Love American Day' at Dyess Elementary School, 402 Delaware Road, on Friday where they will be honored at 1 p.m. in the school gym.
Fifth-grade students will present 'I Love America 2016 America's Son: George Washington.' The program will include a salute to current and former members of the Armed Forces, patriotic songs and flag waving in celebration of America.
An all-school parade will follow the Friday program at 2:15.
A special performance of the 'I Love America' program will be held for the Dyess Elementary School kindergarten and first-grade students and parents. Veterans are also invited to attend that program at 1 p.m. Thursday.
The programs will include flags from all branches of the military, which were donated to the school by VFW Post 6873.
For more information or to rsvp, call 325-690-3795, ext. 1783 or email kayla.fowler@abileneisd.org.
COLLECTING COMMAS WRITING CLUB
A free weekly writing club has been formed, giving young adults, ages 10-17, a chance to improve their creative writing skills with no pressure or stress. The group meets at 4:30 p.m. Thursdays in the Storyroom of the Abilene Public Library, 202 Cedar St.
Participants will be able to write poems, short stories, plays or even a continuous work, such as a novel, and participate in group writing activities. Facilitators will be on hand to go over the basics of writing and how to build writing skills.
DOUBLE YOUR MONEY
Rescue the Animals has received a $20,000 challenge grant where all donations will be doubled until May 31. All donations are welcome and appreciated and can be made by a visit to the website at www.rescuetheanimals.org.
NEW OPPORTUNITIES TO GET FIT
The West Texas Rehabilitation Center, 4601 Hartford St., has recently updated and added onto their gym and fitness facilities and now offer classes to anyone interested in getting fit and staying fit. They have lots to offer TRX suspension trainer classes, Barre classes, chair yoga, mat yoga and fit camp. There's also Pilates and yoga classes, gym or pool sessions, group fitness and elite fitness training with a certified fitness trainer.
Choose from a variety of times for your class. There is a no-contract, pay-as-you-go policy. Call the WTRC at 325-793-3441 with any questions.
MOSQUITO PREVENTION HOTLINE
In anticipation of mosquito season, the city of Abilene has launched a mosquito prevention hotline. Residents are encouraged to call the hotline to report standing water, which can be a breeding ground for mosquitoes. When a resident sees standing water, they should call 325-437-4999 and report the location information. Upon receiving this information, the city will follow up at the location and take the necessary steps to prevent mosquitoes from becoming a threat or nuisance.
Mail information to Jan Woodward in care of 'Around Town,' Abilene Reporter-News, P.O. Box 30, Abilene, TX 79604. Email address is jan.woodward@reporternews.com or fax information to 325-670-5242. Deadline for submission is noon seven working days before publication.
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.
Potosi VFD enhances fleet with converted military vehicle
A new coat of paint and some feature conversions by the Potosi Volunteer Fire Department have repurposed a two-and-a-half-ton military truck into a new fire response vehicle.
The Potosi VFD repainted the 1994 Stewart Stevenson M1078 military cargo truck, then had emergency lighting, warning equipment, radios and extra maintenance equipment.
'We will be using this truck for wildland fires mostly,' Chief Aaron Maxwell of the Potosi VFD said.
The VFD is also planning on using it for high water rescues and as a reconnaissance truck.
'The supervisor can use it to scout out the fires and dispatch our other units,' Maxwell said. 'There have been times when we needed a truck to respond as a maintenance vehicle to change a flat or repair something on one of our other units. With it carrying extra maintenance tools it can be designated as that type of response vehicle as well.'
The Department of Defense Firefighter Property Program, overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, provides excess military equipment to fire departments and emergency service providers. Launched in Texas in 2005, this program has released over 400 retired military trucks to VFDs across the state to help better protect lives and property. Texas A&M Forest Service picks up the vehicle from a military installation, performs necessary repairs and delivers it to the volunteer fire department at no cost to them.
Leadership atop the Abilene Independent School District board of trustees will remain the same after several members old and new were sworn in Tuesday.
Trustee Danny Wheat was re-elected president of the board during Tuesday's meeting.
Randy Piersall, elected to his second, four-year term earlier this month, was chosen by the seven-member board as vice president. He'll lead meetings in the event Wheat is unable to do so.
Piersall said he's grown to love the district even more than when he first ran for office.
'I was a die-hard fan of Abilene ISD when I ran,' he said. 'But after four years, seeing what the kids do and what the teachers do and getting to honor them ... to say I'm an AISD fan would be an understatement.'
Piersall, who had served as assistant secretary during the past year, suddenly has become a senior leader on the board, which also includes newly elected members Angie Wiley, Jeff Arrington and Daryl Zeller, plus two-year veteran Cindy Earles.
The only other member with more experience than Piersall, Stan Lambert, is the Republican nominee for Texas House District 71 and will have to resign in or before December if he wins the general election in November against Democrat Pierce LoPachin.
Earles was elected to serve as secretary, while Zeller was selected as assistant secretary.
The retirements of Barry Hoefer, who had served as vice president, and Robert Laird, who had served as secretary, both with 12 years of experience on the board, meant at least one new member elected May 7 would hold an officer position.
After taking the oath of office Tuesday, Zeller said he's just excited to get going.
'It's just an honor to be sitting here,' he said. 'I'm excited by where we're going and excited by where we've been. I'm just excited.'
Arrington, a professor at Abilene Christian University, began his own four-year term with a joke, expressing relief that the grueling campaign season, in which he was unopposed due to a technicality, is over and he finally can get to work.
Wiley expressed her own excitement to be part of the new team of eight, which includes board members and Superintendent David Young.
Austin Elementary recognized by The Leader in Me program
Austin Elementary is now considered among an elite group of schools that have adopted The Leader in Me program.
Franklin Covey Co., which created the program for elementary students based on the work of author Stephen R. Covey, named the Abilene ISD elementary school to its list of Lighthouse Schools, recognizing strong outcomes in the four years since it implemented the program, according to a news release from the district.
'To think that Austin Elementary ... is one of the only accredited ... schools across the entire globe needs no explanation as for the extraordinary celebrations that are happening around our school this May,' said Carla Garrett, who is completing her final year as principal of Austin Elementary before moving to her new role as executive director of elementary education. 'Did I ever doubt that this Austin school community could accomplish this Lighthouse feat? Never.'
Only 216 schools of the 2,753 total campuses that have adopted the program are recognized as Lighthouse Schools, meaning Austin Elementary is among the top 8 percent in the program.
Austin Elementary will celebrate the recognition at 8:15 a.m. Friday with a pep rally featuring special guests from the Franklin Covey, Cooper High School and others, the release said.
Schools are designated as Lighthouse Schools after completing a two-year training regimen for The Leader in Me and undergoing an extensive on-site review by Franklin Covey representatives to ensure the fidelity of implementation, the release said.
Austin faculty and staff members were required to submit reports that showed the school had met 144 criteria indicators in nine areas: team building, leadership environment, integrated curriculum and instruction, student collaboration, student leadership, parent and community engagement, leadership events, goal tracking and measurable results.
'Schools who achieve the Lighthouse Milestone are great examples of a strong leadership model, process and what it means to be a Leader in Me school,' said Sean Covey, education practice leader for the Franklin Covey Co. 'The school has experienced transformational results by implementing the principles and practices related to The Leader in Me. We are so pleased to celebrate the success they are experiencing.'
Another commencement, another opportunity for President Barack Obama to urge the nation's graduates to participate fully in the political process. He cannot say it often enough, especially during a presidential campaign when two candidates one from the left and one from the right brazenly use the frustrations of the electorate to peddle quick fixes that will only feed its cynicism.
'Passion is vital, but you've got to have a strategy,' Obama said May 7 at Howard University. 'And your plan better include voting not just some of the time, but all the time.' Sunday, at Rutgers University, the president repeated that message. He, again, lamented the low turnout of young voters. But this time he hammered home how their lack of participation contributes to the lack of progress on issues they care about.
'Apathy has consequences. It determines who our Congress is. It determines what policies they prioritize,' the president said. He acknowledged the menace of big money and lobbyists on the nation's politics. And then he said something that runs counter to the campaign message of Donald Trump and especially Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
'But, contrary to what we hear sometimes from both the left as well as the right, the system isn't as rigged as you think, and it certainly is not as hopeless as you think. Politicians care about being elected, and they especially care about being re-elected. And if you vote and you elect a majority that represents your views, you will get what you want. And if you opt out, or stop paying attention, you won't. It's that simple. It's not that complicated.'
Nope, it isn't that complicated. And, yet, despite the throng of young people at Sanders' campaign rallies, young voters aren't rising to the occasion. Citing statistics from the U.S. Elections Project, The Post's Vanessa Williams and Scott Clement reported, 'The share of eligible voters ages 18 to 29 who cast ballots fell from a record high of 48 percent in 2008 to 41 percent in the 2012 presidential election.'
Their story was about how the activism inspired by the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement hasn't translated to increased voter turnout among African American young people. 'Across two dozen states where exit polls were conducted in 2008 and this year, black voters older than 45 grew from 12 percent of the electorate on average in 2008 to 16 percent this year,' Williams and Clement wrote. 'In those same states, black voters younger than 45 made up 11 percent of voters in 2008 vs. 10 percent this year.'
In their interviews with some BLM-inspired activists, the reporters said 'a nuanced view of electoral politics' was revealed. And while no one 'advocated a total boycott of elections ... many were not enthusiastic about the value of voting.' I get it. So many promises were made and many weren't fulfilled. And in the case of BLM, one black college student told The Post she 'is concerned that many young African-Americans are already disenchanted with politics because of their view that two terms of an Obama presidency have done little to dismantle institutional racism.'
I understand that sentiment. But anyone who thought the election of Barack Obama was going to wipe away more than 400 years of injustice or anyone who thinks that all that's needed is a political revolution to quickly secure, say, free tuition simply doesn't know (or doesn't care to know) how our democracy works. As the president said at Rutgers, the change rightly demanded by the electorate requires consistent persistence in eking out progress in the face of forces bent on their failure.
'Now, one of the reasons that people don't vote is because they don't see the changes they were looking for right away. Well, guess what none of the great strides in our history happened right away. It took Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP decades to win Brown v. Board of Education; and then another decade after that to secure the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. (Applause.) And it took more time after that for it to start working. It took a proud daughter of New Jersey, Alice Paul, years of organizing marches and hunger strikes and protests, and drafting hundreds of pieces of legislation, and writing letters and giving speeches, and working with congressional leaders before she and other suffragettes finally helped win women the right to vote.
'Each stage along the way required compromise. Sometimes you took half a loaf. You forged allies. Sometimes you lost on an issue, and then you came back to fight another day. That's how democracy works. So you've got to be committed to participating not just if you get immediate gratification, but you got to be a citizen full-time, all the time.'
This passage in Obama's speech gets at my frustration with Sanders' promises of things like free college tuition. I'm all for it. But when pressed on how he would get it done, Sanders has nothing to say other than pablum about how a political revolution will force Congress to do what the people say. Not said is how that uprising will be greeted on Capitol Hill where Republicans could still be in control of one or both houses of Congress after this November elections.
Meanwhile, what the president said also explains my eye roll whenever Trump says anything. From his reprehensible Muslim ban to the morally repugnant call to deport every undocumented immigrant in the United States, the presumptive Republican nominee is making promises he won't be able to keep. And that would be a good thing. But imagine the sense of betrayal Trump's aggrieved supporters will harbor if he fails to follow through.
Knowing how the system works and how to work it effectively is not acquiescing to self-imposed limitations. Dreaming big must also account for the missteps and miscalculations along the way. Reaching for the stars must accept the incremental victories that get us there. Sanders's policy dreaming never accounts for the political nightmare that might await him and his supporters if he were entrusted with the Oval Office.
Obama must not let up on this part of his message. When voters go to the ballot box in November, they must not be ignorant of the reality they and his successor will face. To do otherwise is to continue feeding the frustration and cynicism everyone says they are rebelling against.
Jonathan Capehart wrote this for The Washington Post.
What's going on?
This is not an area where extreme violence often is reported in bunches, but we're experiencing that now.
On May 8, a man was shot to death in Stamford. An arrest has been made.
On Friday, an Abilene man was shot in the stomach on the city's north side. He was hospitalized in critical condition. Two suspects have been arrested.
On Sunday, a woman's body was found in northern Brown County. Police believe she is a homicide victim.
On Tuesday, one person was killed and another wounded in a north Abilene shooting. A 17-year-old was arrested later Tuesday morning.
Additionally, an argument between a man and woman on South First Streets led to the woman pulling away into the path of a passing vehicle. She was struck but not seriously injured.
In the news last week was the return of a verdict against, and 55-year prison term given, an Abilene man for the fatal stabbing of another man in July 2014 at a north-side apartment complex. And a second indictment was made in the 2014 death of an Abilene man who was run over near a south-side convenience store.
That's a lot of news about violence printed in the newspaper just this month. Too much.
Some would blame spikes in violence on summer, when it's hot and folks are out. But the May trend suggests otherwise. Others would blame the availability of weapons but that's a debate that continues to be argued.
Whatever is going on, this rash of violence is not the norm in this area. And we don't want it to be perceived as so. A Houston law firm recently rated Abilene as the 11th most violent city in Texas, Odessa being the worst. Nearby San Angelo, by contrast, was not among 34 cities rated.
The ratings may be valid or not, but it's being reported and it's not a list we want our city to be on. We can do better keeping our city safe, but it appears we have our work cut out.
UPDATE
The Abilene Regional Airport received 0.26' of rain overnight, and radar indicates more is on the way.
ORIGINAL STORY
Showers and thunderstorms will remain in the forecast for West Central Texas until Thursday, the National Weather Service reported Tuesday.
A few of the expected storms could be strong to severe, with significant lightning, locally heavy rainfall and hail, according to a weather service advisory.
As of Tuesday afternoon, only trace amounts of rain had fallen over Abilene, but rain was building up that could come the city's way, the weather service said, with a few scattered light showers southeast of Sweetwater.
'They could build in a little bit more and have a little heavier rain overnight and into (Wednesday),' said Steve Lyons, a meteorologist with the weather service office in San Angelo.
As the week wears on, chances for showers persist.
Wednesday's rain chances stand at 50 percent during the day, 40 percent overnight, with a whopping 70 percent chance Thursday, trickling down to 30 percent overnight.
After the damp, a period of fair weather is expected through Saturday, Lyons said, with more chances of rain entering the forecast Sunday and Sunday night at about 40 percent.
'So it's a fairly wet period overall for the greater area, whether you get it in your own backyard or not,' he said. 'The highest chance is still Thursday evening.'
Lake Fort Phantom Hill, Lake Abilene and other bodies of water throughout the Big Country remain full, meaning flooding is a potential threat with any lingering, heavy rain, Lyons said.
'That's a possibility over the next several days,' he said, and thus something those in flood-prone areas should monitor.
Abilene is at 14.19 inches of precipitation for the year thus far, greatly above its normal average of 7.5 inches, Lyons said. Lake Fort Phantom Hill was about a foot above its conservation pool Tuesday afternoon.
Your seven day forecast:
Wednesday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy, with a high near 64. North northeast wind around 10 mph.
Wednesday Night: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Cloudy, with a low around 58. East northeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Thursday: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 71. East wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Thursday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 57. East wind 5 to 10 mph.
Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 80. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming south in the morning.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 62. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 84. South southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 66. South southeast wind around 10 mph.
Sunday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 83.
Sunday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 67.
Monday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 85.
Monday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 67.
Tuesday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 87.
Wednesday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy, with a high near 64. North northeast wind around 10 mph.
Wednesday Night: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Cloudy, with a low around 58. East northeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Thursday: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 71. East wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Thursday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 57. East wind 5 to 10 mph.
Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 80. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming south in the morning.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 62. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 84. South southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 66. South southeast wind around 10 mph.
Sunday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 83.
Sunday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 67.
Monday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 85.
Monday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 67.
Tuesday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 87.
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Features
"It's not right. We need more time."
Cambodia National Rescue Party president Sam Rainsy (R) speaks to the press as deputy president Kem Sokha (L) looks on in Tokyo, Nov. 10, 2015.
Cambodias opposition party delivered a letter to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Wednesday, calling for an immediate meeting of the signatory countries to the 1991 Paris Peace Accords to address the Southeast Asian nations dangerous political situation.
The letter charges that checks and balances in the political system no longer exist and that the situation is preventing the democratic aspirations of the Cambodia people realized under Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled the country for more than three decades.
The current politically tense situation directly violates the key tenets of the Paris Peace Accords, including Cambodias commitment to ensure the protection of the human rights of all citizens, the letter dated May 4 says.
The agreement signed in 1991 marked the official end of a Cambodian-Vietnamese War and permitted the U.N. to oversee a cease-fire and democratic elections after years of bloody civil war and the late 1970s reign of terror by the Khmer Rouge.
Nearly 25 years since the Paris Peace Accords, Cambodian democracy has become more paralyzed, as its core institutionsthe legislative, executive and judicial branchesare used by the ruling party as tools to eliminate its opposition, says the letter from Kem Sokha, the CNRPs vice president and acting president, and 54 other party deputies.
It goes on to say that the signatories should immediately convene an international conference on Cambodia to review gaps in the implementation of the Paris Peace Accords, to ensure safety of all members of the opposition, and to help stabilize the political situation, in advance of critical elections in 2017 and 2018.
The letter charges that Hun Sens ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) has cracked down on opposition lawmakers and civil society groups over the past year, subjecting them to politically motivated lawsuits that violate the constitutions immunity clause for lawmakers as well as physical attacks in the case of two CNRP lawmakers who were brutally beaten by pro-government demonstrators.
No response yet
The CNRP sent copies of the letter to Indonesias foreign affairs minister, Retno Marsudi, and Frances minister of foreign affairs and international development, Jean-Marc Ayraultboth of whom are co-presidents of the Paris Peace Conference on Cambodia.
We have not received any official response from the U.N. General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, CNRP lawmaker Son Chhay told RFAs Khmer Service in an interview on Wednesday.
In recent months, the situation has grown worse with the CPPs abuse of power and its use of the judiciary and other state institutions against the CNRP, he said.
The more than 20 countries that signed the accord are responsible for helping to protect Cambodia, he said.
We are not calling it an emergency situation, but it is a very dangerous one that needs immediate help from the international community, Son Chhay said.
In recent months, the government has arrested 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.
CNRP leader Sam Rainsy is living in self-imposed exile following his removal from parliament in November 2015 by the CPP because of a warrant issued for his arrest in a seven-year-old defamation case.
Sam Rainsy told RFA in an interview on May 5 that he hopes to find a way to return to Cambodia before the elections, but said that unveiling his plans too early would put him at risk.
Kem Sokha has accused the government of using allegations of sexual misbehavior to attack him as his party prepares for the upcoming elections in 2017 and 2018.
Four staff members from the domestic rights group Adhoc were sent to prison this month on charges of bribing a witness and acting as accomplices in the scandal.
Request to summon justice minister
In a related development, the CNRP is continuing to push a request for Hun Sen to summon Minister of Justice Ang Vong Vathana for questioning before the National Assembly regarding the arrests of CNRP deputies and human rights officials as well as the summoning of other lawmakers to testify in various court cases, Son Chhay said.
Ten CNRP lawmakers signed a letter dated May 6, which the National Assemblys secretariat sent to Hun Sen six days later.
We are waiting for a response, he said, adding that a verbal and written reply should be sent within a weeks time.
CNRP lawmakers want to question the justice minister about the use of influence to control the courts, constitutional violations regarding parliamentary immunity, and intimidation of members of their party and others who criticize the government, he said.
Rhona Smith, the U.N. special rapporteur to Cambodia on human rights, said in March that Cambodias contentious and at times violent political situation has pushed it close to a dangerous tipping point.
As recently as last week, a group of U.N. experts on human rights said 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.
A government spokesman dismissed the U.N. experts remarks as interference in the countrys affairs.
Reported by Vuthy Huot and Neang Ieng for RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Yanny Hin. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Chinese authorities in the northern region of Inner Mongolia are still holding six people in the wake of recent disputes over land grabs and pollution in the region, where ethnic minority groups and Han Chinese alike have said their health and livelihoods are threatened.
Ethnic Mongolian herder Saikhanbileg was detained by police from Zaruud banner amid an ongoing protest over pollution from an aluminum smelting plant near Ar-Hundelen township, just across the administrative border in Urad banner, rights activist Xinna said in a recent blog post.
Fellow Ar-Hundelen herders Erdan and Nasanulzei were detained at the same time and later released. They had posted photos and video of sick and dying sheep online.
Saikhanbileg is believed to be in the Huo Linhe Detention Center near Tongliao city, Xinna said.
"Under huge pressure from the local government, the people of Ar-Hundelen and the whole of Zaruud banner are waiting to see what happens next," Xinna wrote in a May 14 blog post.
"We call on the government not to try to hoodwink local people ... and to deal with them reasonably instead," Xinna, who is the wife of veteran ethnic Mongolian activist Hada, wrote.
"We should speak out about the pollution from the Linhe Alumina smelting plant, which has severely polluted the surrounding area, leading to mass deaths in sheep flocks there," she said in a post on the Weiquanwang rights blog.
The Ar-Hundelen detentions follow several weeks of protests by local people in a long-running dispute over widespread pollution from aluminum smelters.
Five others held
Meanwhile, authorities in Inner Mongolia's Bayannur region are holding five people after a group of local people protested the loss of their grazing land in the regional capital Hohhot, an overseas rights group reported.
Five herdersfour women and one manremain in police custody after a demonstration on May 5 against forced appropriation of local land and official corruption in the Urad plains in Bayannur," the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network reported on its website on Wednesday.
"Urad police seized the five at the protest on unclear charges," it said, naming the detainees as Sarengawa, 60, Wu Yanfang, 57, Zhou Yuzhi, 68, Othensu, 52, and Buurenzirgal, 60.
Local herders confirmed the report.
"They have detained them on 15-day administrative detentions after the herders went and protested the takeover of our land and called for the released of detained herders outside the banner government on May 9," one herder said.
Another activist, Kaishingaa, said the authorities had declined to respond to the requests for the herders' release.
"They didn't give any response at all," Kaishingaa said. "I wonder if it's even possible for ordinary citizens to protect our personal rights."
Many left homeless
A third local resident said 70 or 80 people had been left homeless by the land grab.
"There are still 70 or 80 people who haven't been allocated housing," he said. "They have been to complain at the government, but they haven't had any response."
The group had begun petitioning after local government cadres illegally rented collective pastureland to an ethnic Han group from outside the region without providing fair compensation, CHRD said.
"Nearly 400 local villagers signed a petition demanding equitable treatment in land acquisition and compensation," the group said.
Similar protests to those in Ar-Hundelen have also been seen in Shiliingol in the west of the region near the Mongolian border, CHRD said.
Seven herders from West Uzumchin banner were handed 10-day administrative jail terms following a pollution protest over a zinc and copper smelting plant in March.
The herders were jailed by police for "disrupting the order of a work unit" and "disrupting business order," CHRD said.
Local officials have also warned herders off using the internet or smartphones to organize demonstrations, it said.
Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
Dong Guangping's wife Gu Shuhua (L) and Jiang Yefei's wife Chu Ling (R) hold up placards protesting their husbands' disappearances in Toronto, May 2016.
Six months after their forcible repatriation from Thailand, the whereabouts of two Chinese asylum seekers remain unknown, their families told RFA.
Sichuan-based rights activist Jiang Yefei and Henan activist Dong Guangping, who had fled persecution in their home country, were handed over by Thai police to Chinese authorities on Nov. 13, in a move that drew strong criticism from the United Nations.
Both men had United Nations refugee status and were awaiting resettlement in Canada.
They are being held in China under criminal detention for "organizing illegal border crossings and illegally crossing the border," amid fears they are at risk of torture.
Jiang's wife Chu Ling and Dong's wife Gu Shuhua and daughter Dong Xuerui arrived in Canada safely several days after the repatriation.
But Gu said it is hard to enjoy their personal freedom and safety in the absence of news from Dong.
"My daughter and I may be in Toronto in a country that is relatively free and where human rights are respected, but we are still sad and grieving because Dong Guangping has disappeared and [may have] been tortured," she said.
Gu said there is still no news from police of Dong's whereabouts, and his lawyers and relatives have been unable to find out where he is being held.
The family has received no official documents linked to his detention, she added.
One earlier online report suggested Dong was being held in the northern province of Hebei, but his lawyer had been unable to confirm it, Gu said.
"I am still very angry that he was forcibly repatriated to China by the Thai authorities," she told RFA.
She said Dong had been the target of political persecution in China for more than a decade, and has already spent time behind bars for his activism.
Similar situation for Jiang
Jiang's wife Chu Ling said her family is in a similar situation.
"My mood is so low and depressed right now, and I cry at the slightest thing," Chu said. "Recently I saw a report that [another dissident] was detained, held for more than two years in prolonged pretrial detention, before being sentenced [to 11 years in jail]."
"I am so worried that the same thing will happen to Jiang Yefei," she said.
Jiang's lawyer Ran Tong said he had been to detention centers in the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu to look for his client, but to no avail.
He said Jiang may be being held in the northern port city of Tianjin where police are coordinating a nationwide crackdown on rights lawyers, activists and law firm staff that began on July 9, 2015 in Beijing.
"I am guessing that they are holding all of these people in Tianjin," Ran said. "There is no need for this; the legal process should be transparent."
"There's nothing to be afraid of; I don't know why the law enforcement authorities don't even have the confidence to make their detention public," he said.
Meanwhile, Dong's lawyer Chang Boyang said he had lodged a freedom of information request to police asking for his client's whereabouts, and details of which law enforcement agency is holding him, and why.
He said he also plans to apply for an administrative review of the case by China's cabinet, the State Council.
"I still haven't received any reply [from the freedom of information request]," Chang told RFA. "If I still don't get a reply in another day, then I'll probably apply for an administrative review."
Three other Chinese nationals were repatriated from Thailand at the same time as Jiang and Dong, but their identities remain unconfirmed.
Reported by Hai Nan for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
Reversing a long-standing policy of not allowing quantities of used clothing to be brought into North Korea, customs officers working on the border with China have recently permitted travelers to bring in bundles of old clothes as long as these do not bear South Korean markings, sources in the region say.
North Korean travelers returning from China to the isolated, sanctions-hit state had avoided bringing in old clothes in recent years as the practice was deemed damaging to the countrys reputation, sources said.
They did not even consider carrying old clothes into North Korea, as this wasnt allowed, one source said, speaking to RFAs Korean Service from a Chinese city near the North Korean border.
Now, North Korean travelers are looking for these clothes to bring in, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Clothing brought into North Korea must not be too badly worn or bear labels indicating manufacture in the countrys rival South Korea, though, a Chinese trader traveling frequently between China and Pyongyang told RFA.
Jeans and womens lingerie are also prohibited, as these are considered to promote a delinquent look in their wearers and are subject to suppression, he said.
Though travelers returning to North Korea are now allowed to bring used clothing into the country, no official order has been issued to this effect, so the reasons for the bans relaxation are still unclear, the source said.
'Great news'
Also speaking to RFA, a representative of a religious group providing humanitarian aid to residents of North Korea expressed surprise at the lifting of the ban.
I have always wanted to collect clothes that were either almost new or in good condition being thrown away in South Korean apartment complexes, and send these to the North, he said.
But I couldnt send them, because North Korea didnt allow old clothes into the country.
In South Korea, even never-worn clothes are being thrown away if they are only slightly out of fashion, a North Korean defector now living in the South said.
Hearing that these clothes can now be collected, with the South Korean labels taken off, and sent to the people in my own country is great news, he said.
Meanwhile, a source living in Chinas Dandong city across the border from North Korea said that the lifting of the ban on old clothes is still so recent that many Chinese traders doing business in North Korea still dont know about it.
If this becomes more widely known, the number of peddlers doing business exclusively in old clothes will definitely increase.
Reported by Joonho Kim for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Jackie Yoo. Written in English by Richard Finney.
A Myanmar protester demanding labor rights is arrested by police in Tatkon township outside the capital Naypyidaw, May 18, 2016.
About 200 police officers arrested a dozen striking factory workers and activists near Myanmars administrative capital Naypyidaw on Wednesday as they marched for labor rights, a local township official said.
The former employees of a wood-processing factory in northwestern Myanmars Sagaing region, were heading to Naypyidaw to take up their concerns with national politicians.
Labor officials requested that the demonstrators get some rest at a camp belonging to a government agricultural department, said Aye Thaung, administrator of Ottara township where the stand-off with police took place.
We arranged some water and soft drinks for them, he told RFAs Myanmar Service. We told them they could tell us their demands there, and we would forward them to the authorities concerned, but they wouldnt listen.
When police moved in, they did not use any truncheons or weapons against the protestors, Aye Thaung said.
We used the softest, most gentle, approach to disperse them, Aye Thaung said.
After police took them to a police station in nearby Tatkon township, labor officials filed charges only against the leaders of the protest, as instructed by Naypyidaw authorities, he said.
Myo Aung, chairman of the Naypyidaw Region Council, offered to meet five protest leaders in Tatkon to hear them out, but the workers insisted they all be present.
We told them wed take them back home [to Sagaing region] if they promised not to do this again in the future, Aye Thaung said.
Police arrested eight people, but will take legal action only against those who committed offenses, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) reported, citing local police chief Ko Ko Aung.
Wrongfully fired
The ex-workers from the Myanmar Veneer and Plywood Private Ltd. factory began their march on April 29 to demand government mediation in a company dispute, DVB reported. They say they were wrongfully fired for demanding overtime pay and improvements in working conditions.
We want to trust our leaders, but we have come across numerous such negotiations before, said one striking worker who declined to be named. If the mayor doesnt show up in one and a half hours, if he doesnt want to see us, we will proceed further from here. And if we cant, we will wait here until the authorities see us.
Another worker said the group was dismayed after police forced them into riot vans after saying they had the right to protest for their rights.
We dont want to rebel against the government, he said. Why cant we have our human rights if we have democracy?
The protest comes at a time when parliament is about to open debate on a draft amendment to the Peaceful Assembly Act.
Rights activists have expressed concern over legal actions against protestors involved in several recent demonstrations, despite pledges by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyis new civilian government of pro-democracy change.
Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
A young Tibetan monk taken into custody this week by authorities in southwestern Chinas Sichuan province had been photographed with a banned Tibetan national flag, leading to his investigation and eventual detention by police, sources in exile said.
Jampa Gelek, believed to be about 23 years old, was seized by police at about 8:30 p.m. on May 16 in Tawu (in Chinese, Daofu) county in the Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, one source told RFAs Tibetan Service in an earlier report.
A first-year student at the Tawu Institute of Buddhist Studies, Gelek was detained while walking in prayer around a Buddhist stupa near his monastery, the source said.
Though no explanation for his detention was immediately available, exile sources with contacts in Tawu now say that Gelek had been photographed with a Tibetan national flag and may have expressed a wish to immolate himself in protest against Beijings rule in Tibetan areas.
Gelek was detained after authorities obtained a photo he had taken in his room with a Tibetan flag hanging in the background, Sonam, a Tibetan living in Switzerland, told RFA.
Another reason may have been that he had declared his intention to stage a self-immolation protest last year, though family members later stopped him from doing so, Sonam said.
Slogan found on wall
Separately, a second Tibetan source with contacts in Tawu confirmed Sonams account of Geleks detention, adding that police on searching Geleks room had found a Free Tibet slogan written in English on a wall.
After Gelek was taken away at around 8:30 at night on May 16, another group of security officials raided his room again at around 11:00 p.m., the source, a monk living in South India named Yama Tsering said.
That very night, Gelek was moved to Dartsedo [Kangding] county and is now being held in a detention center, Tsering said.
Sporadic demonstrations challenging Beijings rule and calling for the return of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008.
A total of 145 Tibetans living in China have now set themselves ablaze in self-immolations since the wave of fiery protests began in 2009, with most protests featuring calls for Tibetan freedom and the Dalai Lamas return from India, where he has lived since escaping Tibet during a failed national uprising in 1959.
Reported by Lhuboom and Sonam Wangdu for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Nearly 100 Uyghurs from China are stranded in Istanbuls Ataturk Airport as authorities there detained them for allegedly traveling on fake passports as they attempted to undertake the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca known as the Hajj, relatives and friends of the detainees told RFAs Uyghur Service.
The Chinese government severely limits the number of passports issued to Muslims in that country who want to undertake the Hajj. The restrictions hit Uyghurs particularly hard as they often dont have the influence or money needed to secure a passport for the journey.
According to friends, relatives and Turkish news reports, 98 Uyghurs were detained in the airport by Turkish authorities on May 17 for attempting to travel on fake Kyrgyzstan passports. The Uyghurs allegedly flew into Istanbul on their Chinese passports, but were given the Kyrgyz passports when they were changing planes to continue their journey.
These 98 people were supposed to fly to Cyprus from Ataturk airport and from Cyprus to Saudi Arabia, Ehmet Momin, a Uyghur living in Saudi Arabia told RFA. When they did not arrive on time as they should, I made a phone call to Istanbul, and my friend in Istanbul told me that after the passports were stamped, they were stopped from boarding the plane.
Seytim Tumturk, vice chairman of the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress, told RFA that Beijings refusal to grant passports to Muslims wishing to undertake the Hajj caused people to take the extraordinary steps to make the trip.
If they traveled with fake passports, it is because of the Chinese governments Hajj pilgrimage restrictions, he said. When they do not have other options, they choose to make the Hajj from other countries. We do not know how they got the passports and visas, but it is also possible that Turkey blocked the Uyghurs using misinformation from the Chinese government.
Journey of a lifetime
The annual pilgrimage to Mecca is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetimes by all adults who are physically and financially capable of undertaking the journey. It is one of the so-called Five Pillars of Islam and one of the largest annual gatherings of people in the world.
A Uyghur living in Turkey, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told RFA that his 73-year-old mother has been trying to make the Hajj for a decade, but each year she was stymied by Chinese authorities.
My mother has been submitting applications to be in the list for a passport for the Hajj for the past 10 years, but she was rejected every time, he said. Since my mother was pleading with us to take her on the Hajj, we took her to Kyrgyzstan to start their journey with a travel agency there.
The Turkish Uyghur said he did not know what passport his mother was using for the journey.
I heard they were blocked with the Kyrgyz passport, he said. We paid the travel agency a lot of money. I never thought they would be stopped in Turkey. We do not what to do or to whom to plea.
According to a Timeturk.com report, the Uyghurs paid about $2,800 for the passports and $300 for the tickets. Four people were taken into custody, Timeturk reported. The nationality of those arrested was not reported.
The three evils
China has vowed to crack down on the "three evils" of terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region where most Uyghurs live, but experts outside China say Beijing has exaggerated the threat from Uyghur "separatists" and that domestic policies are responsible for an upsurge in violence there that has left hundreds dead since 2012.
The Timetruk report said the Uyghurs would be returned to China. While their fate is unclear, they could face charges in China.
No matter what, their Hajj is likely over.
Right now, they are being held inside the international airport, Ehmet Momin told RFA. I met about 50 Uyghurs in Jidda who came to meet the relatives and their friends. After we got the news they left in sadness and in tears.
Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFAs Uyghur Service. Translated by Memetjan Juma. Written in English by Brooks Boliek.
President Barack Obama boards Air Force One prior to departing Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, May 15, 2016.
Vietnamese activists are stepping up their campaign to get the Obama Administration to pressure Hanoi to clean up its human rights act before Washington decides to make any major changes in its policies toward the Southeast Asian nation.
In a White House meeting on Tuesday stateside representatives of Vietnamese rights organizations including Vietnam for Progress, VOICE, Viet Tan Party, Boat People SOS and influential human rights blogger Dieu Cay met with Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes and State Department representatives in advance of President Barack Obamas visit later this month.
We pushed the development of civil society, stressing that Vietnam does not have a civil society in the true meaning like that of democratic countries, Nguyen The Binh, a representative of the Vietnam for Progress, told RFAs Vietnamese Service.
Vietnams dismal record on human rights is emerging as a flash point for President Barack Obama as he travels to the communist country later this month.
Not only has the one-party state restricted freedom of speech, press and religion, but the authorities there have also assaulted and imprisoned dozens of rights activists and bloggers.
U.S. envoys have visited Vietnam in recent weeks to assess the rights situation, according to media reports.
Last month, Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told a university audience in Hanoi that he noted some progress in the countrys human rights record, such as ratifying the United Nations Convention against Torture in 2013 and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2014, USA Today reported.
Arms vs rights
To the activists who visited the White House that is not enough to warrant major changes in U.S. policy such as lifting the arms embargo that Washington imposed in the 1980s.
Everybody was concerned that Vietnam would be allowed to buy lethal weapons from the U.S., she said. The embargo should only be lifted if Vietnam improves on human rights.
Obama should also press Vietnam to release the dozens of political prisoners it currently holds. Vietnam says it doesnt hold any political prisoners and that it has jailed only lawbreakers.
We talked about Tran Huynh Duy Thuc and many other political prisoners, urging president Obama to raise this matter with the Vietnams leaders, Nguyen The Binh said. They have to be freed immediately and unconditionally.
Tran Huynh Duy Thuc is a Vietnamese engineer, entrepreneur, and human rights activist who was arrested in 2009, initially for "theft of telephone wires," and was later imprisoned for "conducting propaganda" against the state, one of the vague, catch-all Vietnamese authorities use to incarcerate dissidents.
A new crackdown
Hanois case isnt being helped much as it has cracked down on protesters demonstrating over an environmental disaster that caused tons of dead fish to wash up on Vietnams central coast. Demonstrators have taken to the streets as people have become dissatisfied with the governments reaction to the disaster, which many believe was caused by pollution from a Taiwanese steel plant.
On the last three Sundays, thousands of people in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang, Vung Tau, Da Nang, Hue, and Nghe An publicly demonstrated demanding a transparent government investigation into the mass fish kills off the coast of Ha Tinh province. While security forces did little to block the first demonstrations at first, they have cracked down on the later protests
The Vietnamese government too conveniently forgets that the right to peaceful protest is a core right protected in Vietnams Constitution and international human rights law, said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. Rather than sorting out the environment disaster, the government has focused on breaking up demonstrations and punishing those calling for accountability.
Blogger Huynh Ngoc Chenh managed to evade the police and military blockade set up in Vietnams major cities to prevent protest to stage a lone sit-in protest on Saigons Nguyen Hue Boulevard on May 15.
Security forces were everywhere near the boulevard, he told RFA.
I thought someone would stop me, but maybe they must have thought I was someone with the government, judging from my determination so nobody stopped me, he said. I walked straight to the center of the boulevard and sat down right in the middle of the circle. I took the sign from my pants pocket and held it out.
The sign read: Hit my face! But return to the people clean fish/clean sea/clean environment.
Security forces went easy on him, as he was released that day.
While he was willing to take to the streets to demonstrate against his government, he urged activists to avoid protesting while Obama is in Vietnam.
There was an online call for a protest when Obama visits Vietnam, he said. But to me, if the Vietnamese dont stand up to demand their legitimate rights then nobody can help them, so I myself do not agree with the call for protest on the day he visits.
A hunger strike
Prisoner of conscience Tran Huynh Duy Thuc told relatives he would stage a hunger strike on May 24 for human rights and rule of law.
He decided to go on hunger strike indefinitely, his brother Tran Huynh Duy Tan told RFA. He prepared for the possibility that he would die.
The hunger strike appears to be timed for Obamas visit as Air Force One is due to touch down in Hanoi on May 23.
We would like our message and information to reach President Obama so he knows that in Vietnam there was one person who is fighting for human rights and rule of law, Tran Huynh Duy Tan said. We would like very much for President Obama to read this message.
Obamas visit comes at a critical time as the White House wants to shore up support in Asia for U.S. policies. Vietnam shares the concern of the U.S. and other nations about Chinas assertive moves in the South China Sea.
Beijings claim to the rich fishing grounds, mineral wealth and sea lanes in the region have a big impact on Vietnam and Hanoi sees the U.S. as a counterweight to Chinas might there. For Washington, keeping the sea lanes open is critical for trade and for the integrity of a law-based international order.
Vietnam is a member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-nation free trade agreement that is intended to offset Chinas economic clout in the region. Congress has yet to ratify the pact, and it has become a campaign issue for both parties in the U.S. presidential election.
Everybody agreed that first of all maybe it is not time to talk about it while TPP has not been approved, Nguyen The Binh said,
While there some ambivalence over the meeting, Obama still has support.
If I am free on that day to go out, I will bring flowers and stand on the sideline to welcome him because he is the president of a country that has helped millions of Vietnamese, Huynh Ngoc Chenh said.
Reported bu Cat Linh and Mac Lam for RFA's Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Brooks Boliek.
Officials from the Afghan High Peace Council have signed a draft peace agreement with the Hezb-e Islami militant group.
"We are optimistic about this agreement and we strongly support it," Mohammad Khan, deputy to government Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, said on May 18 before the draft deal was signed.
"Both parties have reached an agreement on most points of the peace plan," a member of Hezb-e Islamis negotiating team said. "I am hopeful they will reach a consensus on the remaining points very soon."
According to the draft agreement, Hezb-e Islami members would be offered an amnesty.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of the militant group, is among the most radical of the hard-line militants in Afghanistan.
The group has carried out deadly attacks against U.S. and Afghan forces since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.
Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, and dpa
A top aide to U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton accused her Republican rival, Donald Trump, of having a "bizarre fascination" with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other "foreign strongmen."
The comment on May 17 came just before primary results were announced in the states of Oregon and Kentucky, with Trump racking up another win in Oregon's Republican primary and Clinton narrowly winning the Democratic primary in Kentucky.
Clinton foreign policy adviser Jake Sullivan made his statement in response to Trump's quip in an interview with Reuters that he would talk to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un to try to stop Pyongyang from further developing nuclear weapons.
Sullivan contrasted Trump's willingness to sit down with Kim with his recent criticism of British Prime Minister David Cameron.
"Let me get this straight: Donald Trump insults the leader of our closest ally, then turns around and says he'd love to talk to Kim Jong Un?" Sullivan said.
Trump "seems to have a bizarre fascination with foreign strongmen like Putin and Kim. But his approach to foreign policy makes no sense for the rest of us."
On Putin, Trump somewhat tempered his past praise of the Russian leader in the Reuters interview, saying their mutual admiration would only go so far.
"The fact that he said good things about me doesn't mean that it's going to help him in a negotiation. It won't help him at all," Trump said.
Trump's win in Oregon on May 17 gives him 28 more delegates pledged to vote for him at the Republican nominating convention in July. He is less than 100 delegates short of outright clinching the nomination before the convention.
While Clinton claimed a narrow victory in Kentucky, leaving her only about 118 delegates short of securing the Democratic nomination, her rival, Bernie Sanders, won the Democratic primary in Oregon.
The win for Sanders adds to his run of successes in the end stage of the Democratic primary process, but it won't do much to slow Clinton's march toward the nomination.
Clinton remained on pace to wrap up the nomination by early June.
With reporting by Reuters and AP
Vladimir Putin's regime clearly has a bad case of Savchenkophobia.
It's true. The Kremlin is absolutely terrified of its hostage.
The Kremlin is terrified of Nadia Savchenko in captivity, where she is a potent symbol of the Putin regime's petty and cruel brutality and of Ukraine's resistance.
But the Kremlin is even more terrified of what Savchenko would become if she were freed.
This became abundantly clear yesterday when the Russian Justice Ministry announced that a long-awaited prisoner exchange to release the kidnapped Ukrainian military pilot will not happen.
The Putin regime appears to have concluded that it cannot release its hostage -- because the costs of doing so are just too high.
Because if Savchenko is released, she would quickly become something that Ukrainians have never had -- a leader with clear and unambiguous moral authority.
It would have a leader unsullied by the past and uncompromised by the current corrupt elite.
It would have a leader who took herself to the brink of death for the sake of Ukraine and who flipped the bird at Vladimir Putin's kangaroo court.
Ukraine would have its Vaclav Havel; it would have its Nelson Mandela.
Savchenko wouldn't even need to formally enter politics to claim this mantle.
Her mere presence on Ukrainian soil would do the trick.
And that would be the Kremlin's worst nightmare.
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Keep telling me what you think on The Power Vertical's Twitter feed and on our Facebook page.
TBILISI -- Dozens of inmates serving life sentences in Georgian prisons have started a hunger protest to demand amendments to the country's 2012 amnesty law.
Georgia's Ministry for Corrections said on May 18 that 42 inmates in Gldani prison near Tbilisi were demanding that the amnesty law be changed so that those facing life in prison can have their sentences reduced along with other inmates.
According to the ministry, all those taking part in the hunger strike were being monitored by prison staff.
The law on amnesty, adopted by Georgia's parliament in 2012, reduced the prison sentences of inmates by 25 percent.
But the language of the amnesty law does not allow for reduced sentences for those imprisoned for life.
Iran has reportedly rearrested political activist and journalist Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, who was released last year after spending more than five years in jail for his outspoken criticism of the Iranian establishment.
His son said Tabarzadi had "very likely" been arrested on May 17 and reportedly was transferred to the special wing of a Tehran prison notorious for housing political prisoners for the country's intelligence service.
The reason for his arrest is unclear.
Iranian authorities routinely withhold information from relatives and the public about detainees and the charges against them, even once their trials have begun.
Abtin Tabarzadi wrote on social media that his father left the house in the morning and had not returned by evening.
He added later that he had received information that his father had been transferred to Section 209 of Evin prison, in the capital.
"[My father] had said repeatedly that in case of arrest, he will immediately go on an indefinite hunger strike," Tabarzadi wrote on Facebook.
Tabarzadi, the head of the banned Democratic Front of Iran, has been in and out of jail for the past two decades.
He was among the many activists and intellectuals arrested in the crackdown that followed the disputed reelection of Mahmud Ahmadinejad to the presidency in 2009. Tabarzadi was later sentenced to nine years in prison on charges that included "insulting Iran's leader" -- a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei -- and "spreading propaganda against the [Iranian] establishment."
Since his release from prison in July, he had continued to criticize the Iranian authorities while accusing them of committing human rights abuses and staging unfair elections.
In an act of defiance, Tabarzadi registered as a candidate for Iran's February parliamentary elections. As expected, his candidacy was not approved by the powerful Guardians Council that vets all of Iran's election candidates.
On May 11, Tabarzadi posted on Facebook pictures of a meeting with a former Baha'i cellmate who had been released from prison. In the post, Tabarzadi criticized the perceived persecution of Baha'is in the Islamic republic, where their faith is not officially recognized.
Several journalists have been arrested in Iran in recent months.
Earlier this week, Iranian news sites reported that the manager of a popular blogging service, Mehdi Butorabi, had been detained.
Iranian authorities also announced that they had arrested eight people involved in a modeling network on Instagram where pictures of female models were posted without the obligatory Islamic head covering.
Kazakh authorities have intensified a crackdown on activists ahead of planned nationwide protests on May 21 against controversial new legislation on the privatization of agricultural land.
Courts handed down short jail sentences to several activists in Astana, Almaty, and other cities, while police searched the homes and offices of government opponents, according to activists and authorities.
Hundreds of people have protested in several cities in recent weeks in a rare display of discontent in the oil-rich Central Asian nation, ruled since the Soviet era by authoritarian President Nursultan Nazarbaev.
The protesters oppose new land privatization laws that will allow foreigners to lease state-owned agricultural plots for up to 25 years.
Activists say they fear land auctions would not be transparent, paving the way for corruption. They have said they plan to hold large demonstrations on May 21 despite the crackdown and Nazarbaevs May 5 order to postpone the implementation of the legislation until 2017.
In the western city of Atyrau, where the first protests took place last month, a court handed down 15-day jail sentences to activists Maks Bokaev and Talgat Ayanov at a hearing that lasted until the early hours of May 18, relatives said.
Tolepkali Ayanov, a defense lawyer who represented his son, Talgat, said the activists were arrested in the morning the day before.
He said that the two men were accused of planning unsanctioned public rallies, and that their social media posts were used as evidence against them.
"Bokaev stated on Facebook that he will join the rally," Tolepkali Ayanov said. "Talgat Ayanov said on Facebook that everyone has the right to organize a rally."
Several Activists Detained
Similar charges were brought against several activists in Almaty, where at least five people were sentenced to 15 days in custody in separate trials late on May 17 as well as on May 18.
Almaty city court officials confirmed the sentences but provided no details.
Bakhytzhan Toregozhina, the leader of the nongovernmental organization Ar.Rukh.Khaq (Dignity, Spirit, Truth), was among those jailed in Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city.
Shortly before the hearing, Toregozhina told RFE/RL's Kazakh Service by telephone that she was in a police vehicle, being taken to court along with several other activists. She said the activists were not given access to defense lawyer.
In the city of Oral, activist Zhanat Esentaev was jailed on May 17 and was being kept in three-day pretrial custody, his lawyer said.
Esentaev is being accused of inciting social and religious discord, the lawyer told RFE/RL.
Activists said police searched the homes of Esentaev and another local campaigner, Isatay Utepov, as well as the office of Abyroy, an NGO.
Hearings continued in Oral on May 18, with Bauyrzhan Alipkaliev and Aibolat Bukenov sentenced to 15 days in custody each.
Both men were accused of organizing illegal protests, a charge that stemmed from their recent social-media posts about the planned May 21 protests.
Oral city authorities recently rejected a request by activists for permission to hold a rally against the land-reform legislation on May 21.
In the capital, Astana, meanwhile, activist Maksat Ilyasuly was sentenced to 10 days in custody late on May 17, his wife told RFE/RL.
Ilyasuly had recently quit a commission authorities set up to review the land-reform plans.
The government established the commission and invited some opposition figures to join it after Nazarbaev postponed implementation of the legislation until 2017 both apparent attempts to appease its opponents and avert further protests.
The wave of protests began when at least 1,000 people rallied in Atyrau on April 23, and soon spread to other cities.
Nazarbaev's government has used a combination of force and restrictive legislation to discourage protests, which have not been frequent in post-Soviet Kazakhstan.
They became rarer after police fatally shot at least 16 people during protests by oil workers and their supporters in the southwestern city of Zhanaozen and the nearby town of Shetpe in December 2011.
Macedonia's parliament has voted to cancel early parliamentary elections that had been scheduled for June 5. They did not schedule a new date.
The May 18 vote came just hours after Macedonia's Constitutional Court temporarily halted all activities for the early elections.
The court said election activities should not continue until it issues a ruling on whether an April 6 vote by lawmakers to dissolve Macedonia's parliament was in line with the constitution.
That ruling is due by May 26 at the latest.
Before the May 18 court decision, lawmakers had not met in a formal session since they voted to dissolve parliament.
Their April 6 vote was part of an EU-brokered agreement to end a political deadlock linked to a government wiretapping scandal.
But three political parties decided later to boycott the June 5 elections, leaving the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski as the only one taking part.
With reporting by Reuters
Macedonia's constitutional court has temporarily halted all activities for next months early elections pending a decision on whether the dissolution of parliament was in line with the constitution.
The constitutional court is to issue its ruling within eight days.
If the court finds that parliament was illegally dissolved, it would mean reinstatement of the parliament before its dissolution and cancellation of the general elections scheduled for June 5.
Lawmakers dissolved parliament in April as part of an agreement to end political deadlock linked to a government wire-tapping scandal.
But three political parties decided to boycott the early elections, leaving the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski as the only one taking part.
The appeal to the constitutional court was brought by a junior coalition partner, the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration.
With reporting by Reuters
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland has discussed the implementation of the Minsk cease-fire agreement for eastern Ukraine with Russian officials.
"We want to see Minsk implemented as soon as possible, and we think that it is now time to really step on the gas and see this implemented," Nuland told reporters in Moscow on May 18 after talks with Russian presidential adviser Vladislav Surkov.
"As our president has said, if and when Minsk is fully implemented, sanctions can be rolled back," she added.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the talks as a "brief exchange of opinions."
Nuland said she also met with Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
The Minsk deal signed in February 2015 has helped reduce fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, but sporadic clashes have continued.
The conflict has killed more than 9,300 people since April 2014.
Based on reporting by AP, Interfax, and TASS
Pakistani officials say a twin bombing has killed one police officers and wounded 18 other people in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
Police official Sher Khan said on May 18 that the first bomb planted on a roadside exploded when a police vehicle passed in Aslam Dheri, a neighborhood in the city's outskirts.
The second bomb went off as police and others arrived at the scene.
The wounded included police officers, rescuers, and members of the media.
Jumat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack.
The area has long been a center of Islamic militancy in Pakistan, and Peshawar itself has seen a number of large-scale militant attacks.
Based on reporting by AFP and AP
Best known for such protest actions as nailing his scrotum to Red Square or cutting off a piece of his ear, Russian political-protest artist Pyotr Pavlensky continues to put his body on the line.
"I have a broken knee, a fractured rib, internal bruising," Pavlensky wrote this week in a message passed from his Moscow jail cell. "Every breath I take is painful."
"Every day, I see what 'police custody' means," the artist wrote.
Pavlensky is currently in pretrial detention as cases against him for two of his protest actions continue.
In one case, he is charged with damaging a historical monument for setting the door to the Moscow headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB) on fire in November 2014.
In the other, Pavlensky is on trial on vandalism charges for setting car tires on fire on a St. Petersburg bridge in February 2014 in an expression of support for Ukraine's Euromaidan protesters. A verdict in that case is expected on May 19.
Pavlensky said his latest injuries were the result of an assault by the police unit charged with escorting him to and from the courtroom.
"At the Moscow City Court, they regularly beat arrestees and prisoners," said Pavlensky's partner, Oksana Shalygina, who heard the story from him during a May 17 jail visit.
"They just load them into the van and beat them. They just throw them around like pieces of meat. Pyotr got into that situation."
Shalygina added: "He was beaten by eight men using batons and their fists. A doctor at the detention center treated him, but refused to document the beating."
Pavlensky's lawyer, Dmitry Dinze, told The Moscow Times that Pavlensky will not file a complaint about the abuse, saying he refuses to "participate in the bureaucratic procedures."
Despite his injuries, Pavlensky continues to appear in court.
"Art is when one's word does not differ from one's actions, when you are in control of your attention," wrote artist Oleg Kulik, a Pavlensky supporter who is attending the hearings, on his Facebook page. "Even if it is hard to smile and your broken ribs are aching."
Pavlensky's letter from jail is intended as his acceptance speech when he is awarded the Vaclav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent during the May 23-25 Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway.
Shalygina plans to accept the award from the New York-based Human Rights Foundation on the artist's behalf and read his message.
Pavlensky has been using his current trial to continue making political points against the government of President Vladimir Putin.
He declined an amnesty that he would have been eligible for because the statute of limitations on the charge related to the 2014 protest has expired.
In April, his defense team brought several prostitutes in to testify. For a fee, the "defense" witnesses proceeded to state in clear terms how offended they were by Pavlensky's protest.
In a written message, Pavlensky explained that the point was to expose the prosecution witnesses who also claimed they were offended by Pavlensky, as well as the prosecutors, police, and judges who he claims are forced to prosecute him for political reasons.
"Through this [action], each one of these prostitutes was able to rip through the scenery and demonstrate to everyone reality as it is," Pavlensky wrote.
"Like it or not, but among prostitutes, judges, prosecutors, teachers, directors, and bureaucrats there is not the slightest difference. They are the same. Political reality itself has determined this and put everyone in their place."
Robert Coalson contributed to this report
A man who says his home was torched after he complained to Russian President Vladimir Putin about official corruption in Chechnya is staying away from the tightly controlled region and keeping the location of his family secret for fear of further reprisals.
Speaking to RFE/RL by telephone from neighboring Daghestan on May 18, Ramazan Dzhalaldinov said that he will not return to Chechnya for the time being and that his wife and children are staying in a safe place provided by rights groups.
He added that he did not want to reveal his exact location either, and that for his own safety and that of his family "it would be better for everyone to keep it undisclosed."
Dzhalaldinov, 56, an ethnic Avar from the village of Kenkhi, posted a video on the Internet on April 14 in which he appealed to Putin to intervene and stop local government officials he claimed were extorting bribes from residents.
He also claimed that federal budget money allocated for rebuilding homes in Kenkhi that were destroyed during the second post-Soviet war against separatists in Chechnya, in 1999-2000, had never reached the residents.
Furthermore, he alleged that local residents had been forced to pay officials one-third of all other subsidies from Moscow.
Chechnya head Ramzan Kadyrov publicly denounced Dzhalaldinov's video statement, calling it "lies."
WATCH: Ramazan Dzhalaldinov tells RFE/RL's Current Time TV how his home in the village of Kenkhi was torched.
In a subsequent video that was posted on the website of the Daghestan-based newspaper Chernovik last week, Dzhalaldinov said that masked men torched his house in Kenkhi following his plea to Putin. He repeated that in the conversation with RFE/RL, saying the attackers wore military-style uniforms.
He also said that Kenkhi had been surrounded by Chechen police and federal security forces for several days and authorities had been questioning residents about his whereabouts.
He told RFE/RL that he had maintained constant contact with other Kenkhi residents by telephone, adding that he changed the SIM card in his phone frequently to avoid being tracked down.
Dzhalaldinov said that the authorities in Daghestan, such as regional parliament speaker Khizri Shikhsaidov, had met with him several times.
"When he met me without journalists on Sunday [May 15], Shikhsaidov tried to persuade me to go to [Chechnya's capital] Grozny, but I told him that I will not go there," Dzhalaldinov said.
He said that Daghestani officials were pressing him to reach an agreement with Chechen authorities to stop the standoff, but that he had appealed to Putin -- not to Kadyrov -- and wanted the federal authorities to address the allegations he made in the initial video. He said that he was expecting to discuss the situation with "investigators from Moscow" soon.
Human rights activists have accused Kadyrov of encouraging or condoning extrajudicial collective punishment -- including the torching of homes -- in the past. After he pledged to destroy the homes of men believed to have taken part in an attack on Grozny in December 2014, several houses were torched or razed.
Kadyrov has also been criticized for subjecting people who have challenged him or complained about his government to elaborate displays of public humiliation.
In one case, he used a face-to-face meeting shown on state television to reprimand a woman who complained publicly that her boss had forced her to hand over money from her monthly paycheck.
Russia denied that it has built a military base inside a zone that holds the UNESCO world heritage site in the ancient Syrian town of Palmyra.
The Russian military on May 17 described the camp as "temporary," saying its few housing units were being used by explosives experts who are removing mines left behind by Islamic State militants.
It said the Syrian government had given approval to build the camp, which includes a field hospital and bakery used by local residents.
The head of Syria's antiquities department, who noted the town's priceless antiquities are safer thanks to the Russian presence, nonetheless told the Associated Press that he would not have granted Russia permission to build the camp if he had been asked.
A UNESCO official said it was unclear whether the encampment was in a buffer zone to the archaeological site, but said it does not pose a threat to the historic area.
Syrian troops backed by Russian air strikes captured Palmyra in March and fighting continues nearby.
Russian demining experts have found and detonated hundreds of bombs left behind by IS at and near the site since the town was recaptured.
Based on reporting by AP and TASS
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.
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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
WASHINGTON -- A new Russian intercontinental ballistic missile. Upgraded U.S. nuclear gravity bombs and air-launched nuclear cruise missiles. A European exclave freshly bristling with Russian ballistic missiles.
And all of that military hardware topped off with a warning from Russia's president one day after a U.S.-built missile-defense system went online in Romania.
"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 about how to neutralize emerging threats to the Russian Federation," Vladimir Putin told a meeting of top Russian defense and military industry officials on May 13. "All these are additional steps toward throwing the international security system off balance and unleashing a new arms race."
Even beyond the Kremlin, 25 years after the end of the Cold War and with Russia and Western powers squaring up over continuing conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, there are fears that Moscow and Washington are on the cusp of a new arms race -- nuclear, conventional, or both.
Russia has sent eye-catching signals about its weaponry in recent months: new cruise missiles fired from Caspian Sea naval ships at Syrian targets; the suspected deployment of short-range ballistic Iskander missiles to the Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad; new ballistic-missile submarines going operational; and the Russian undersea fleet and long-range-bomber patrols approaching Cold-War tempos.
The United States has meanwhile ramped up its military operations in Eastern Europe and adjacent seas. The Pentagon is quadrupling its spending on European defense initiatives. Naval ships and U.S. aircraft are conducting more frequent surveillance patrols near Russia's borders.
An additional U.S. Army combat brigade is scheduled to start rotating into Europe and the top U.S. commander in Europe has suggested he would support a "permanently stationed armored brigade" on the continent.
And the Aegis Ashore missile-defense system went operational in Romania on May 12, incensing Putin.
"The thing with arms race dynamics [is that] no one has to intend to run an arms race for that dynamic to take over," said Jeffrey Lewis, an expert in nuclear nonproliferation at the Middlebury Institute International Studies in Monterey, California. "I worry about the increasing intensity of the deployments."
Gravity Bombs, Nuclear-Tipped Missiles
Then there are the nuclear arsenals. Strategic warhead and delivery-system counts in both countries have been more or less dropping, thanks to the 2010 New START treaty.
But both countries are at the same time modernizing other parts of their arsenals. The United States is moving forward with a multidecade, multibillion-dollar upgrade of its weapons, which includes the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb, 180 of which are based in Europe, about which the Kremlin has already expressed displeasure. The U.S. administration is also moving forward with a controversial new nuclear-tipped cruise missile.
Russia is expected this year to flight-test a new super-heavy, silo-launched, intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, capable of carrying up to 12 warheads and affectionately dubbed Satan-2, after its much-feared Soviet predecessor.
A breathless report by the Russian Defense Ministry TV channel Zvezda claimed the missile, scheduled for deployment by 2018, would be able to destroy the entire state of Texas.
"There's an arms race in the sense of, 'Hey, we can still keep up with what the U.S. is doing; the U.S. is building a fifth-generation fighter aircraft; we can build a fifth-generation fighter aircraft, but we're not going to buy 150 of them," said Dmitry Gorenberg, senior research scientist at the Virginia-based research group CNA, who specializes in the Russian military.
The prospect of a rekindled Cold War-style arms rivalry is in many ways a remarkable reversal from the situation early in U.S. President Barack Obama's first term, when Moscow and Washington tried to "reset" bilateral relations that had soured over issues like the 2008 war in Georgia and Russian opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
But now, with Putin asserting Russian power and influence in neighboring Ukraine and Syria, arms-control experts say, the chances of a new agreement to reduce arsenals further is slim to none.
A larger danger may be the fraying of existing ones, like the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty, the 1987 treaty known as the INF that both Washington and Moscow have accused the other of violating.
Russian warhead counts under New START have also risen recently, prompting some concern, though experts say the fluctuation doesn't necessarily mean Russia will fail to meet a 2018 deadline for compliance.
"Unless a new arms-reduction agreement is reached in the near future, the shrinking of Russia's strategic nuclear arsenal that has characterized the past two decades will likely come to an end," arms scholars Hans Kristensen and Robert Norris wrote in an article published this month in the Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists.
Russian officials have pointed to last week's activation in Romania of the missile-defense system, and specifically the launch system used to fire missile interceptors, as being in violation of the INF, something Putin pointedly raised in his comments. U.S. officials have countered that the system, which is similar to one used to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles aboard Navy ships, complies with treaty restrictions.
Last year, Russian TV aired purported plans for an underwater, nuclear-capable drone that would have the ability to shower a coastal area with radioactive fallout, making large regions uninhabitable for decades.
Soaring Spending
To be sure, there are politics holding back the push forward into a full-blown arms race. But more than anything, what may be constraining both are fiscal concerns.
Defense spending has soared under Putin, particularly since 2007, and was estimated at nearly 4.3 percent of gross domestic product in 2015. Since then, however, the country's economy has suffered due to low oil prices along with Western economic sanctions and retaliatory Russian bans, and the Kremlin is poised to cut its defense spending this year by 5 percent, the largest figure since Putin was elected president in 2000.
That has affected some notable weapons programs, including the planned revival of a railway-based ballistic-missile launch system, part of Moscow's effort to deepen the country's nuclear deterrent capabilities. Dubbed "death trains" or "phantom trains" by Russian state media, the network of covert boxcar-style launchers and missile complexes, initially designed by Soviet engineers, would boost the stealth, mobility, and counterstrike capability of Russia's arsenal.
The U.S. strategic arsenal, meanwhile, is undergoing a massive modernization that Defense Secretary Ash Carter has said will cost $350 billion, and outside experts say will in fact be closer to $1 trillion over 30 years. The U.S. House Appropriations Committee noted in the 2017 Department of Defense spending bill now making its way through Congress that that figure poses "an enormous affordability challenge."
Greg Thielmann, senior fellow at the Washington-based Arms Control Association, said Russia's deployment of the new Satan-2 -- its first flight is expected this summer -- was particularly troubling because silo-based missiles are considered more vulnerable to counterstrikes. Also, he said, Russia will need to deploy many more warheads in order to keep up their overall count as the older-generation Satan missiles are retired.
"There are a lot more things that need to be talked about on the margins," Thielmann said. "I'm much less worried about new Russian ICBMs in terms of keeping the overall balance stable, than I am about some of these things that are introducing new technologies into the strategic balance."
That includes armed drones or new hypersonic glide missiles being aggressively developed by the United States, along with Russia and China, he said.
"If both sides keep doubling down, you could see [things] kind of a spiral into an arms race that neither side really wants, but I see both sides somewhat reluctant to go too far in that direction," Gorenberg said. "At least for now."
KYIV -- Ukraine is commemorating on May 18 the victims of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's mass deportation of Tatars from Crimea in 1944.
A minute of silence was observed across the country at noon -- except in Crimea, where Russia-backed authorities have banned annual commemorations of the deportation after Moscow illegally annexed the peninsula in March 2014.
"On this important day, as always, we stand together with our brotherly Crimean Tatar people, share our common pain, and bow our heads to commemorate the victims," Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko wrote on Facebook.
In November 2015, the Ukrainian parliament approved the bill recognizing May 18 as the Day of Commemoration of Victims of the Crimean Tatars' Genocide.
In Crimea's capital, Simferopol, unknown individuals splashed purple paint on Stalin's commemoration plaque on May 18.
Starting on May 18, 1944, some 200,000 Crimean Tatars were put on trains -- most of them in the space of just two days -- and sent to Central Asia. Thousands are believed to have died during the journey.
The United Nations called on Russia to respect minority rights on the May 18 anniversary of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's mass deportation of Tatars from Crimea in 1944.
A spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville, said the persecution of Tatars has grown during two years of Russian annexation of the peninsula, marked by the intimidation, harassment, and jailing of Tatar officials.
"Since April 2014, Crimean Tatars have been subjected to arbitrary searches, seizure of books, and arrest," he said in a statement on May 17. "Last year, the authorities shut down a number of Crimean Tatar media outlets, and last week were reported to have also blocked Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Crimea news website."
Colville said Russia has "a duty to ensure the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples" and should immediately lift the ban on the Mejlis, the Tatars' legislative body.
During Stalin's reign, starting on May 18, 1944, some 200,000 Crimean Tatars were put on trains -- most of them in the space of just two days -- and sent to Uzbekistan. Thousands are believed to have died during the journey.
*This article has been amended to correct Rupert Coville's title.
The U.S. Army delayed until next year a court-martial of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who is charged with deserting his unit in Afghanistan, leading to his capture by the Taliban for five years.
The U.S. Army announced a February 6, 2017, start date for his trial at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The trial was originally scheduled to start in August, but a military judge delayed proceedings to allow legal teams more time to prepare.
Bergdahl, 30, disappeared from Combat Outpost Mest-Malak in Paktika Province, Afghanistan, on June 20, 2009.
After departing, the soldier was quickly captured by militants from the feared Haqqani faction of the Taliban.
Bergdahl's disappearance triggered a massive search operation.
He was eventually released in 2014 in a controversial prisoner swap for five Taliban prisoners being held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay.
If convicted of desertion, Bergdahl could serve up to five years in prison, receive a dishonorable discharge, lose his rank, and forfeit all pay.
But he also faces a second more serious charge -- "misbehavior before the enemy" -- that could carry a life sentence.
Based on reporting by AP and AFP
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Jeffrey Metzger knows a lot about the supermarket business, even though hes never worked in a grocery store.
As publisher and former longtime editor of Food World, a trade publication that follows the supermarket industry in the mid-Atlantic, Metzger regularly talks to top executives, buyers, brokers, store managers and clerks, and others involved in the grocery or food manufacturing businesses.
Hes been writing about those businesses for more than four decades.
He knows a lot of people in the industry, said Robert S. Ukrop, president and chief executive officer of Ukrops Homestyle Foods who was the longtime president and CEO of the former Ukrops Super Markets chain in the Richmond area.
There arent that many guys out there that does what he does, Ukrop said. He is one of the most informed sources for retail grocery information. He provides a valuable service to the industry.
Metzger will offer his perspective on the local grocery retail industry Thursday at noon at the Richmond Times-Dispatchs 64th Public Square. The community conversation on RVAs grocery wars the public is invited to attend will be held at the newspapers downtown offices.
Metzger wanted to be a sportswriter when he was in high school and college. He never thought he would be writing about grocery chains, pricing or what share of food sales a company holds in a particular locality.
But after graduating in 1973 from Boston University, Metzger had an opportunity to take a reporting job at a small publication that followed the grocery business in New England.
It was that basic first job out of college, said Metzger, who was named editor of the Griffin Report publication eight months later.
He loved the work.
In 1978, the owner of Maryland-based Food World contacted Metzger and the Griffin Reports advertising manager about the two of them buying his publication. They jumped at the chance to run their own business.
It was pure luck meeting this guy at a trade show, Metzger said about the Food World owner. And the opportunity just seemed right.
A year later, Metzger and his business partner acquired Philadelphia-based Food Trade News.
The two now were running publications that tracked the supermarket and food business from the Carolinas to New England.
Metzger said they learned a lot quickly: We didnt know the local marketplace, but we knew the food business. We became more proactive.
One way was creating an annual market share report starting in 1979 that shows sales a supermarket retailer generates in a particular locality and how that measures up against the others.
Food World continues to publish the report; the latest one is slated to come out in late June for the 12-month period that ended March 31.
The market share report provides retailers, brokers, manufacturers, industry personnel and consumers with a snapshot of how a grocer is performing in a particular market.
We have been around for so long and we know a lot of people, Metzger said. It is a trust factor. People utilize us.
That first year, the report showed Safeway commanding a 23.6 percent market share in the Richmond area with its 24 stores, and Ukrops held a 17.75 percent share with 10 stores.
Over the years, the report chronicled how local favorite Ukrops held the top spot for 23 consecutive years until 2009, as its market share dropped in the face of growing competition from chains including Food Lion, Kroger and Walmart.
His reports on the businesses are good because he talks not just to the retailer, but to the brokers and the manufacturers and others, and he was engaging with them, said Ukrop, who started the Henrico County-based company that ships bakery and prepared foods to more than 1,500 stores in 31 states after the sale of the family-owned grocery chain.
He listens and he watches to see what happens, and he reports on that.
Metzger, 64, and his publications he became the sole owner in 2006, after he bought out his business partner sometimes are the first to report stories.
For instance, Food World wrote in July 2009 that Ukrops had offered a prospectus detailing company information to at least three firms that might buy the local chain. That report came six months before the deal was announced that Dutch retail conglomerate Royal Ahold NV was buying the Ukrops stores and converting them to its Martins Food Markets brand.
Two months ago, Food World reported that 19 Martins stores in the Richmond area were up for sale as a way to satisfy federal regulators who are scrutinizing a planned merger between the parent companies of the Martins and Food Lion chains. The publication had a list of 83 stores along the East Coast to be sold, because the two companies potentially have overlapping store locations.
Thats all because of our contacts, Metzger said about breaking the Ukrops story in 2009 and the list of Martins stores in March.
A Richmond womans obituary that suggests she chose death over voting for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton for president has gained national attention.
After the paid obituary for Mary Anne Noland, 68, was published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Tuesday, it became wildly popular on Richmond.com and was widely shared on social media.
Faced with the prospect of voting for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, Mary Anne Noland of Richmond chose, instead, to pass into the eternal love of God on Sunday, May 15, 2016, at the age of 68, the obit states.
A representative of Blileys Funeral Homes said Nolands family has been contacted by national news organizations but has declined interviews, at least until after Nolands funeral Wednesday.
Paid death notices are vignettes about a persons life, as told by their family or friends, the Richmond Times-Dispatch wrote in a statement. This isnt the first time a paid death notice has been used to send a personal message to the world. Some have commented on favorite sports teams, places to visit, a drink of choice and, yes, politics.
The Times-Dispatch statement continued: All content published in The Times-Dispatch is reviewed before publication. In the case of Ms. Nolands obituary, were not surprised by the response.
In August, the obituary of a 104-year-old Colonial Heights woman, written in first person, gained widespread attention and eventually became the most-viewed individual article on Richmond.com in 2015.
Though written as if it had been penned by 104-year-old Dorothy Stewart McElhaney herself, it was actually written by family members, and much of the wording had been lifted from a Florida womans popular obit.
Another obituary in The Times-Dispatch this year also mentioned Trump. The obituary for Ernest Overbey Jr., a 65-year-old Richmond resident and Trump enthusiast, ended: And please vote for Donald Trump.
Trump posted a link to the paid obit and tweeted a thank-you that said Overbey must have been a great person.
Reggie Gordon, who for nine years has served as CEO of the Red Cross Greater Richmond Chapter, is stepping down to lead the city of Richmonds anti-poverty department.
I know its a huge job, Gordon said. But Im so impressed with the mayors vision and whats been done already. Im ready to step in and move forward.
Mayor Dwight C. Jones announced the appointment Wednesday. The anti-poverty push, which Jones announced five years ago, has been one of his offices signature initiatives.
As part of it, Jones and the City Council agreed to create the Office of Community Wealth Building at the end of last year as a way to make the effort last beyond the end of his term in January.
He is bringing a wealth of experience and a heart for the issues that will help further anchor our efforts and advance our goals, Jones said in a statement.
Thad Williamson, who thus far has led the initiative, will return to his teaching position at the University of Richmond after a two-year leave, according to the mayors office.
Weve been well-served by Thad Williamson in the post and appreciate the sabbatical he took to work with us during this time, Jones said in the statement.
Given the great work and good stewardship that Thad has offered, our challenge had been in identifying a viable successor. Im confident that weve identified the right fit for this next phase of our community wealth building efforts in the personality of Reggie Gordon.
Gordon starts June 13. He will make $142,500 a year in the position, according to the city.
The Richmond native has worked as a fund developer for the United Way of Greater Richmond and Petersburg; director of Homeward, a coordinating organization for homeless services in the Richmond area; and director of the William Byrd Community House, a poverty-prevention agency that closed last year.
The Red Cross hired Gordon to lead its local chapter in 2007.
The Red Cross has been a wonderful experience, he said. We actually address human suffering, so this is not too big a leap to me.
While at the Red Cross, Gordon served as a member of the committee that led the anti-poverty initiative as it began. He said he never envisioned himself leaving the nonprofit world for government but that the position was difficult to refuse.
The departments goals are to reduce poverty 40 percent by 2030, including a 50 percent reduction in child poverty. During its first year, the office helped 600 residents find work while also collaborating with the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority and the school system to establish a variety of other programs.
The department focuses on coordinating with groups that work on education, employment, transportation and housing. The department is funded for 10 employees in the coming fiscal years budget.
A Henrico County man has been indicted on capital murder charges in the double homicide of his parents on Easter Sunday.
William Roy Brissette, 22, was originally charged with two counts each of second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the deaths of his parents, Henry J. Brissette III, 59, and Martha B. Brissette, 56. According to Henrico Commonwealths Attorney Shannon Taylor, the murder charges have been upgraded to capital murder.
Capital murder is the deliberate and premeditated killing of another person punishable by death or life in prison, according to state law. The lesser charges carried a potential imprisonment between five and 40 years.
William Brissette lived with his mother and father in the 3800 block of Forge Road, and was taken into custody shortly after a 911 call was made from the home on March 27.
In the past 10 years, police had responded to the Brissette household nearly 30 times before returning on Easter Sunday for a suspicious situation that proved to be a fatal double shooting inside the home.
Several service calls involved mental health assistance for William Brissette.
There were two calls within 17 days of each other in November 2015. On Nov. 10 at 12:05 p.m. and again Nov. 27 at 9:53 p.m., police made contact with the Brissette parents for a mental health call, according to a log provided by police. No police report was taken, police said, because both times the person voluntarily sought treatment.
His mental health may become an issue as the case moves forward, defense attorney Jeffrey Everhart said.
It merits some consideration, Everhart said.
William Brissettes state of mind at the time of the offense and his competency to stand trial havent been evaluated yet. Hes currently in the Henrico jail and was denied bond. Everhart said he hopes the commonwealth wont pursue the death penalty in the case, and said the capital defenders office may get involved in the case.
This is a tragic case for all involved, he said.
Everhart represented William Brissette when he was convicted in Norfolk in 2014 of stalking a woman and he was also convicted of one of the eight charges of violating a protective order that a judge issued against him on behalf of the victim, according to online court records. He was sentenced to 24 months in jail with 21 months suspended.
He has also twice in recent years been charged in Henrico with felony marijuana distribution, but both counts were reduced to misdemeanors, court records show.
Update: Michael Elijah Adams, 49, is now expected to plead guilty on Wednesday.
Previous:
A self-proclaimed serial killer and member of a train-riding gang is expected to plead guilty to capital murder today as part of a plea agreement in which he will be sentenced to life in prison, according to Henrico Countys top prosecutor.
Authorities believe Michael Elijah Adams, 49, is responsible for multiple rail-yard murders across the country, including the 2006 slaying of Robert Allen Chassereau, 47, in Henrico.
Chassereau, a drifter and longtime homeless man who grew up in New Kent County and Henrico, was found beaten to death June 5, 2006, in the Acca railroad yard just north of the Richmond city limits.
Investigators have said that Adams, whose nickname is Crazy Mike, claims to have been an enforcer for a train-riding gang and committed as many as a dozen murders.
His tour across the U.S. ended when he was arrested for fighting in Washington state in 2011, a month after Texas authorities tied him to the killing of a homeless woman in El Paso.
Adams isnt likely to face charges in the Texas case, said Deputy Commonwealths Attorney Mike Feinmel, who is prosecuting the case in Henrico. The plea deal was announced Wednesday by Commonwealths Attorney Shannon L. Taylor.
During interviews with law enforcement agents in Washington, Adams provided details about the Chassereau case that were not public knowledge.
At the time of Chassereaus death, Adams was renting a room on Grace Street in Richmond and was known to sell drugs to homeless people at the Acca yard. Chassereau was a customer, according to investigators.
Adams also was linked to an earlier death of a transient freight-train rider in California. On Jan. 21, 2000, the body of John Semler Owens, 46, was found on a gravel service road at a large railroad yard in Roseville, Calif.
Six months after his Washington arrest, Adams pleaded no contest to second-degree murder in the California case and later was sentenced to 15 years to life.
He recently was brought to Virginia to serve the remainder of that sentence, as well as the life sentence to which he has agreed here. Adams is due in Henrico Circuit Court today at 1:30 p.m., when hes expected to accept the plea agreement.
During a hearing in February, in which Adams appeared via video link, he wished the judge a happy Hanukkah.
The case has been continued every month since February as the terms of the agreement were being ironed out, not by Adams attorney and prosecutors but between governors. California Gov. Jerry Brown had to sign off on Adams transfer to Virginia, a state that doesnt allow for parole. California does have parole.
Hanover Countys superintendent of schools touted the system to a roomful of community power brokers Wednesday and spotlighted ways Virginias 15th largest school division is innovating for the future.
We dont feel that we are moving from good to great. We feel that we are moving from great to greater. But theres always work to be done, Superintendent Michael B. Gill told about 50 people assembled for the Superintendents Address by ChamberRVAs Hanover Business Council and the Hanover Chamber of Commerce.
We know that we have a fantastic school system a fantastic product, if you will, in the business sense but complacency is not something that will serve us well, Gill said.
Gill prefaced those comments with statistics describing the division of about 18,000 students, including its 95.1 percent graduation rate and 3.4 percent dropout rate. He also noted that all of the divisions schools are fully accredited and 74.4 percent of the school systems budget is put toward instructional spending, which he said is tops among comparable divisions.
The division is just starting to draft a strategic plan for the next five years. Gill said the process would be defined by equity and relevance.
He said the school system must be equipped to serve students with different needs, including those who are economically disadvantaged, enrolled in special education, and English language learners. The number of students learning English as a second language in Hanover has more than doubled in the past three years, Gill said.
While as a school system, as a whole, we are making fantastic progress, we have to be mindful of the fact that we have to serve all populations, he said. Were not doing our job fully if we dont ensure each has equal access.
On relevance, Gill said the division must educate students in ways that are applicable to their working and everyday lives.
Gill identified new programs that he said encourage ingenuity, including the addition of a health sciences specialty at Hanover High Schools Specialty Center; a partnership with J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College that would allow students to earn associate degrees while in high school; and the Hanover Regional Governors School for Career and Technical Advancement, which will usher in its first class of 40 in July.
A man in his late 20s was injured in a house fire in Henrico County on Tuesday, according to authorities.
Henrico crews responded to the 9600 block of Peppertree Drive, between Pemberton an Gaskins roads, for the report of the fire about 4:30 p.m., the Division of Fire said in a news release. Smoke and flames were coming from the roof of the two-story home when they arrived.
Firefighters found the victim on the first floor. He was removed from the house and provided with advanced life-support care before being taken to VCU Medical Center. His injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, according to the statement.
Virginias newspapers have done an excellent job of digging into the jailhouse death of Jamycheal Mitchell. The Times-Dispatch has led much of the coverage and on Sunday provided a riveting account of the young mans troubles. The other day the Virginian-Pilot provided a useful rundown of how various government agencies have responded. The upshot: Most of them have little if any genuine authority over the Hampton Roads Regional Jail where Mitchell died.
Not Virginias Department of Corrections. Nor the State Board of Corrections. Nor the Department of Behavioral Health and Human Services. The Commonwealths Attorney in Portsmouth, where the jail is located, has asked the Virginia State Police to investigate but the State Police have not decided whether they will. And even if they do, they can investigate crimes but cannot transform institutions.
The Office of the State Inspector General can investigate the Mitchell case and it has, but its mandate covers allegations of waste, fraud, and abuse. This past year, we asked to expand our jurisdiction, says Inspector General June Jennings. They, the General Assembly included, (do) not want us to have expanded authority for all local jails, so it creates problems for all of us.
That leaves the Hampton Roads Regional Jail Authority whose board is composed of more than two dozen members from Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, and Portsmouth. The members are mostly sheriffs, city council members, and city managers in their respective jurisdictions, which means they answer to the citizens who elected them or the bodies that appointed them.
Thus the regional jail has effectively no accountability from above or below. It answers neither to a higher state authority nor to a discrete constituency of citizens.
That likely is the case for most of the commonwealths regional jails. Virginia has more than 20 of them, and for good reason. Regional jails bring with them several advantages, including economies of scale. Several small localities that pool their resources can run a single combined jail thats better than a bunch of small ones. Regional jails also embody the regional cooperation that is generally considered desirable. It also might be worth noting that while Mitchells case is profoundly disturbing, it appears to be an extraordinary exception.
Nevertheless, state lawmakers might want to look at whether regional jails and other similar authorities have sufficient oversight. While theyre at it, they should ask the same question about other quasi-autonomous government bodies. As we noted a couple of years ago during the contretemps over Richmonds deal with Stone Brewing, economic-development authorities also enjoy perhaps too much autonomy. They are exempt from the states Public Procurement Act, and Richmonds EDA has acted at times with nearly as much secrecy as a black-ops directorate in the CIA. (Likewise, the Hampton Roads Regional Jail has not released the report from its own internal investigation into Jamycheal Mitchells death.)
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A former Craig County student will intern at Google this summer.
Craig County High School graduate and second-year University of Virginia student Kacey Price will spend the next three months working on virtual reality games at Googles Los Angeles campus.
After a week of orientation starting Monday, Price will work on building virtual games that are compatible with Google Goggles.
When Price graduated from Craig County High School and started college last year, she planned to major in biomedical engineering. But during her first semester in Charlottesville she took an introduction to computer science class and was captivated by coding.
It makes jobs that you dont want to do a lot more efficient, she said. As long as youre willing to think about the process, you can make your computer do all of the gross work you never want to do again.
Price first started coding when she was a child. She would tinker with HTML (the symbols used to code text to display properly on webpages) so she could spruce up her virtual pet shop in the Neopets computer game.
She continued coding in high school when one of her teachers, Linda Gooding, taught students basic Python and Mathematica programming languages. Gooding, who teaches at the Roanoke Valley Governors School for Science and Technology, encouraged Price to attend Mathematica camp her junior year.
Google internships are so coveted that in 2013, Hollywood released The Internship to dramatize the competitive nature of the program.
Were always looking for smart, bright, curious students who are passionate about what they do, whether its coming up with original digital marketing campaigns or participating in open source projects to develop useful technology, according to a statement from Google.
A spokesman did not respond to questions about the number of internships the company grants each year. About the time actors Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson were playing Google interns on the big screen, the company said it gets about 40,000 intern applications a year and hires about 1,500 of those applicants.
The first part of the Google internship application was easy, but the two technical interviews with logic questions about coding, algorithms and system design were much more nerve-racking, Price said.
They sent me a PowerPoint for me to be able to prepare with and a whole list of things I should know, she said. I read it and I didnt know a single thing on there.
Price spent her winter break studying about a dozen programming styles, and during the interview she talked about the mathematical models she created at the Governors School that could someday predict the onset of Alzheimers disease. Last year, Price took top honors at the state science competition for her project and competed at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Pittsburgh.
When Price isnt coding, shes playing video games like Halo or Skyrim or drawing with charcoal. She enjoys sketching so much that shes contemplating double majoring in computer science and studio art, which she hopes could lead to a job in computer animation or website design.
The Google internship is paid and Price plans to live with a fellow intern for the summer.
The Los Angeles branch of Google is in Venice, mere blocks from the ocean, which will be a big change for the student who grew up on a farm about 12 miles from New Castle. The last time Price was in California, she was in second grade.
Ive never lived anywhere so big and so close to the beach, she said. I mean, Craig County has 5,000 people for the entire county. This is a total change.
ALMOST 15 per cent more people were in work across the Rotherham borough last month compared to last year.
The latest official employment figures show the number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance or Universal Credit in the borough which includes Maltby, Dinnington and Mexborough fell to 4,380 in April.
The number of peple aged 18 to 24 out of work also fell last month, with 985 claiming JSA or universal credit 19 per cent less than April 2015.
Nationally, the employment rate stands at 74.2 per cent, the highest total since 1971.
Nigel Coleman, of Jobcentre Plus, said the picture was still positive across the district with only Barnsley beating Rotherham in terms of getting people into work.
Mr Coleman said that a number of jobs are expected to be created at a new branch of The Original Factory Shop on the former Co-op site on Maltby High Street which will be holding three recruitment sessions early next month.
He said that Knowhow was also creating 600 jobs and Ikea 350 in the borough.
There will also be a couple of recruitment events for NHS domestic staff at the end of June which Mr Coleman said could act as a way into other health service roles.
He said that people can find out more about vacancies on the NHS Jobs website.
There are also a number of care home opportunities across the district, and further afield in Sheffield 100 places are to be filled at Primark in the city centre.
Mr Coleman said: Looking round the district as a whole, there are massive opportunities in Doncaster with employers such as McDonalds. If you want to go to Doncaster and want to work in warehousing, then get in touch.
He said that Pearson Edexcel on the Hellaby Industrial Estate has taken on 2.500 people temporarily to help with exam marking and that this has been so successful it is likely to be repeated again next year.
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Stephen Crabb, said: These are another record breaking set of figures, with more people in work than ever before and the unemployment rate is at the lowest in a decade at 5.1 per cent.
There is good news in Yorkshire and the Humber, where the number of people in work has risen around 130,000 since 2010, and a near record 2.51 million people are now in employment.
More people in work means that more families across the UK are benefiting from the security of a regular wage and the fulfilment that employment brings.
(Engineering News) - The mining industry in Lesotho is still in its infancy, but it is developing and has a lot of potential, says Lesotho Mining Minister Lebohang Thotanyana. In 2015, Lesotho adopted the Minerals and Mining Policy the first time that the country has developed a policy specifically focused on its mineral resources sector. I think it provides us with a very solid foundation for our mining industry policies and regulations, Thotanyana states, adding that the policy was largely influenced by the Africa Mining Vision the African Unions blueprint to develop the mining sector in Africa.
The Dubai Multi Commodity Centre (DMCC) opened the 37th World Diamond Congress, the biennial meeting of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) and the International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA), at Almas Tower with over 200 global industry leaders in attendance, says a press note from DMCC.Addressing the gathering, Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman of DMCC and Kimberley Process Chair, said, The important global events here this month show that diamonds are particularly big on the agenda with todays opening of the World Diamond Congress and the Kimberley Process Intersessional meetings next week.In his opening speech, Ernie Blom, President, WFDB, emphasized on the themes of the Congress and said, These themes run through all the challenges that we are facing as a global industry and also show us the way forward, and will be at the heart of all our discussions and debates here.Speaking of consumer confidence, importance of collaboration throughout the supply chain and the topic of transparency around synthetic diamonds entering the market, Ronnie VanderLinden, Secretary General, IDMA, said, Working hand in hand with the producers, and with the Diamond Producers Association, we must all contribute, cooperate and do all we can to maintain and strengthen consumer confidence in natural diamonds, for the benefit of the entire diamond supply pipeline. After all, the consumers' desire and confidence in diamonds and diamond jewellery form the backbone of our industry.Peter Meeus, Chairman, Dubai Diamond Exchange, spoke of Dubais rapid emergence as one of the worlds top 3 diamond hubs and the global shift in the flow of trade, We believe in mutual cooperation. In ways we can complement each other by facilitating trade globally, by creating a playing field that is business friendly - where everybody has its role to play in an ever changing world. This is how we will overcome today's challenges.The opening day concluded with a Dubai Diamond Finance Seminar, the second of a series held by the Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE) on financing options and how Dubais trade infrastructure and financial institutions can further support the diamond trade.
The World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) held its committee meetings on Monday ahead of the official opening of the 37th World Diamond Congress (WDC) on Tuesday.
The first day is traditionally taken up with meetings of the WFDB's major committees: the Judicial, Trade and Business, Promotion, and the Executive Committee.
"These are critical meetings for the WFDB which deal with the many issues that crop up between our regular gatherings as well as ongoing topics which were discussed at great length by our Presidents," said WFDB President Ernie Blom. "It is vital that we hear perspectives which come from different areas of the diamond world and which are informed by the deep experience of our delegates. The meetings were extremely well attended and there was a great deal of interest from industry stakeholders, as well as our bourse presidents, with many questions raised."
"The Trade and Business Committee met for the first time and discussed the issues of profitability, synthetics, banking and finance," Blom continues. "And the Promotion Committee heard about the WFDB's new Communications Strategy and its work in promoting our organisation via Social Media as well as receiving a report on the work of the World Diamond Mark."
Theodor Lisovoy, Rough&Polished, Moscow
Lucapa Diamond said it is committed to a $7-million capital development and upgrade programme at the Lulo diamond mine, in Angola.
The company had a 40 percent stake in Sociedade Mineira de Lulo (SML) and operator of the Lulo diamond mining operations, while the state-owned diamond company, Endiama holds a 32 percent interest and Rosas a 28 percent.
It said in a statement that the capital investment plan would incorporate new earthmoving equipment, vehicles for the alluvial and kimberlite exploration programmes and camp upgrades.
Meanwhile, Lucapa said that it expects the kimberlite drilling programme at Lulo on the high-priority L259 kimberlite target later in the June quarter.
The company and its partners also signed-off on a new three-year kimberlite exploration programme at Lulo that would be handed in to the Angolan mines ministry.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
Chinese diamond mining company Anjin Investments, which had operations in Marange until recently, stands accused of smuggling 3,7 million carats of diamonds worth about US$200 million to Shanghai.
The Zimbabwe Independent newspaper quoted informed mining executives as saying that the Chinese decided to take their diamonds to Shanghai following the seizure of local mining companies diamonds worth millions including blocking Anjins $20 million deal in 2012 by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control, which enforces economic, trade and financial restrictions.
As a result of US interventions and the need to bust sanctions, Anjin externalised 3,7 million carats of diamonds which are currently being kept in Shanghai, one of the unnamed executives said.
At current KP rates, the siphoned diamonds are worth $190 920 000. Zimbabwe, which used to produce an annual average of 10 411 817,65 carats, sells its diamonds at an average price of $51.72 per carat.
This is a significant amount of production and money. Remember Zimbabwe produced 10,4 million carats, valued at US$538,5 million, in 2013. After that figures started going down and have now been reduced significantly due to dwindling alluvial reserves and the disruptive consolidation of diamond mines.
Anjin was said to be a 50-50 joint venture between Chinese firm, Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Group and the local military.
President Robert Mugabe claimed earlier this year that $13 billion was lost through leakages since diamond mining began in Marange in 2006.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
Lucara Diamond Corp.s 1,109-carat diamond originally weighed about 1,500 carats before it broke into two pieces, the miner said.
A 374-carat stone that Lucara recovered a day after it found the Lesedi La Rona was actually a part of the latter, Lucaras president and chief executive officer William Lamb told investors.
So we were looking at something which is most probably closer to 1,500 carats, Lamb said in an earnings conference call last week.
Now to identify where that was actually broken whether it was in placement, whether it was in blasting, whether was in the processing nobody is really going to be able to tell, the executive added.
The diamond will be auctioned by Sothebys in London on June 29, with an estimated selling price of more than $70 million. A separate 813-carat stone also mined by Lucara sold for $63.1 million, a record for a rough diamond.
Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) and Etihad Airways, national airline of the United Arab Emirates, announced that all members of registered Antwerp diamond companies travelling with Etihad Airways to one of the destinations listed below can now benefit from a discount of up to 35% on the published fare. In India destinations are: Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore; Middle East: Abu Dhabi, Dubai; Asia: Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai; Australia: Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane; and South Africa: Johannesburg.
The offer is valid for bookings made until the 14th of April 2017, AWDC reported.
Alex Shishlo, Editor of the Rough&Polished European Bureau in Brussels
The 37th World Diamond Congress, which opened in Dubai on May 17, 2016, will stress the importance of Transparency, Responsibility and Sustainability, says a press note from World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB). WFDB President Ernie Blom said the themes were relevant to all the challenges that the global diamond industry is facing and would be at the heart of the discussions and debates to be held at the Congress which ends on May 19, "From mining to diamond cutting and polishing, and from jewellery making to retailing, we must ensure that we are all working in a fair and honest way, and strengthening our Corporate Social Responsibility operations," Blom said.Blom also said it was critical that the industry proactively deals with issues so that governmental bodies and other agencies did not. "I believe it is time that the diamond industry went on the offensive. It seems to me we have been on the defensive too long and unnecessarily so. We have one of the most self-regulated industries in the world."Blom also spoke about the challenges of securing financing and of the Know-Your-Client (KYC) initiative it is supporting for WFDB members to establish a platform to increase transparency in the diamond business.Welcoming delegates from across the diamond world, Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre and Chair of the Kimberley Process, said: We often say that our city has a pivotal location between east and west. The important global events here this month show that diamonds are particularly big on the agenda."WFDB Presidents unanimously re-elected Ernie Blom as President for a further two-year term, and Israel Diamond Exchange President Yoram Dvash as Vice-President, replacing Julien Drybooms.India's Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council was accepted as a WFDB member.
Pangolin Diamonds said one of the seven diamonds recently recovered from the MSC Grid in Botswana is a Type II nitrogen-free diamond.
About 2 percent of the worlds diamonds were classified as Type II diamonds, which are often associated with the presence of large diamonds.
The Type II diamond from the MSC Grid is associated with three other diamonds as well as ilmenites with reaction rims, a mantle xenolith and fresh angular olivine recovered from soil samples in an area encompassing 0.32 sq. km, it said.
These kimberlite indicator minerals are considered to be associated with a proximal source.
Meanwhile, Pangolin said five of the MSC diamonds were Type I aB diamonds and one was a Type I aA. About 98 percent of the worlds diamonds were classified as Type I a diamonds in the range between pure Type IaA and pure Type I aB.
All three diamonds tested from The MTS grid were Type I aB diamonds. The single diamond from the Madala Grid is also a Type I aB diamond, it said.
A synthesis of all the MSC Grid soil sample results, indicator surface feature interpretations, and geophysical data will be integrated towards selecting future drill targets, with drilling to take place in the second semester of 2016.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. says that the Gahcho Kue diamond mine development is approximately 94 percent complete and on track for first production during H2 2016.
We continue to make excellent progress at Gahcho Kue. Mechanical completion has been achieved at the process plant and truck shop and we are on schedule to achieve mechanical completion of the primary crusher during the current quarter. Key areas of focus are commissioning of the diamond process plant, remaining earthworks, pre-stripping and stockpiling of kimberlite as well as preparations for operational readiness, explains Mountain Province President and CEO Patrick Evans.
The Gahcho Kue diamond mine is expected to produce an average of 4.5 million carats a year over a 12 year mine life. The Gahcho Kue Project consists of a cluster of four diamondiferous kimberlites, three of which have a probable mineral reserve of 35.4 million tons grading 1.57 carats per ton for total diamond content of 55.5 million carats.
Mountain Province Diamonds is a 49% participant with De Beers Canada in the Gahcho Kue diamond mine located in Canada's Northwest Territories.
The president of Mitsubishi Motors (7211,MMTOF.PK) decided to step down, taking responsibility for the fuel data scandal that surfaced in April, Nikkei reported.
The position to be vacated by Tetsuro Aikawa, 62, will be filled temporarily by Chairman Osamu Masuko. The 67-year-old will continue to do double duty until after Nissan Motor completes its planned purchase of a 34% equity stake, the report said.
Mitsubishi Motors will submit to the transport ministry Wednesday a report on internal findings about improprieties regarding minicar fuel economy.
Aikawa is expected to leave either around the time the third-party investigative committee compiles the final report in July or the stockholders meeting in June. Up to now, he had said he would not make a decision regarding his future at the company until after the committee released its results, the report noted.
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Business News
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has been projected to win the Oregon Democratic primary, keeping alive his long shot bid for his party's nomination for president.
With two thirds of the vote counted, Sanders had 53 percent of the votes and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had 47.0 percent.
Sanders was called the winner by CNN at 11:40 p.m. EST - about 40 minutes after the polls closed.
Earlier in the evening, Clinton was named the apparent winner in Kentucky's primary, netting a slim advantage with 100 percent of the vote counted. She had 48.6 percent of the vote and Sanders had 48.3 percent.
Heading into Tuesday's contests, Clinton had an unofficial lead of 1,716 to 1,433 in pledged delegates, with 2,383 needed to clinch the Democratic nomination.
But Clinton also has 524 super delegates lined up and Sanders has 40 - so the former Secretary of State has a lead of 2,240 to 1,473.
There wasn't much suspense in Oregon's Republican contest as mogul Donald Trump is the only remaining candidate.
Even so, nearly a third of voters opted for either Texas Senator Ted Cruz or Ohio Governor John Kasich - both of whom had been out of the race for two weeks.
Trump came into the evening with 1,135 delegates, followed by Cruz with 565, Florida Senator Marco Rubio with 168 and Kasich with 154.
There are 1,237 delegates required to land the GOP nomination.
Next up is the Washington State Republican primary on May 24, with 44 delegates at stake.
The Democrats then have caucuses in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on June 4 and 5, respectively before a big night on June 7 featuring contests in California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota.
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SABMiller Plc. (SBMRY.PK,SAB.L), which is in deal to be bought by Belgian brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, or AB InBev (BUD,AHBIF.PK), reported Wednesday that its fiscal 2016 profit before tax declined 16 percent to $4.074 billion from last year's $4.83 billion.
Earnings per share dropped to 166 US cents from 203.5 US cents last year.
The latest results reflected exceptional charges of $721 million principally relating to the impairment of investments in Angola and South Sudan, together with costs associated with the AB InBev transaction.
Adjusted earnings per share were 224.1 US cents, compared to 239.1 US cents a year ago.
Revenue declined 10 percent to $19.83 billion from prior year's $22.13 billion. On an organic constant currency basis, revenues grew 7 percent.
Group beverage volumes increased 2 percent organically, with lager volumes up 1 percent and soft drinks volumes up 6 percent.
Further, the company announced full year dividend per share of 122.0 US cents, up 8 percent on prior year, with final dividend of 93.75 US cents per share payable on 12 August.
AB InBev and SABMiller do not anticipate completion of the recommended acquisition prior to this date.
Looking ahead, the company expects to deliver good underlying performance in the year ahead. Cost and efficiency programme is on track to reach targeted annualised savings of $1.05 billion per annum by the financial year ending 31 March 2020.
The company anticipates to continue to face foreign exchange volatility and the results of certain of key operations would be impacted by currency depreciation against the US dollar.
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Antofagasta plc (ANFGY.PK,ANTO.L) said it expects another year or two of low copper prices. The company continues to improve its operational performance and our ability to deliver on its commitments. In particular, it is focussing on achieving its production and cost guidance for this year and to continue to do so in the future.
At the Company's Annual General Meeting, Chairman, Jean-Paul Luksic said that the company's three-pillar strategy for growth, remains unchanged. Firstly, the company will focus on optimising existing operations, where investment generates good returns quickly. Secondly, it looks for sustainable, organic growth in the areas around operations. And finally, it looks for special opportunities for growth beyond our core businesses both in Chile and abroad.
Antucoya is part of this three-pillar strategy for growth and we started production in September last year and achieved commercial production at the beginning of last month. The mine is now expected to reach its design capacity in a few months' time and will produce some 65-70,000 tonnes of copper this year.
The company currently has two development projects underway, Encuentro Oxides and the new molybdenum plant at Centinela. Both of these projects were started in early 2015 and were scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016 and early 2017, respectively. The development of both projects has now been slowed by some eight months as we concentrate on cash preservation in these uncertain times.
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Business News
Slovakia's harmonized consumer prices continued to decline in April, the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic said Wednesday.
The harmonized index of consumer prices dropped 0.4 percent in April from last year, following a 0.5 percent fall in March. The indicator last increased in December 2013.
Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages slid 2.5 percent, while clothing and footwear prices gained 0.5 percent. Cost of transport declined 3.9 percent.
Month-on-month, harmonized consumer prices moved up 0.4 percent after staying flat in March.
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What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
British brewer SABMiller Plc. (SBMRY.PK,SAB.L), which is in $105 billion deal to be bought by Belgian brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, or AB InBev (BUD,AHBIF.PK), Wednesday reported a decline in profit for fiscal 2016, reflecting higher charges and weak revenues amid negative foreign currency impact. On an organic constant currency basis, revenues grew 7 percent. Further, the company announced higher dividend.
Looking ahead, the company expects to deliver good underlying performance in the year ahead. Cost and efficiency programme is on track to reach targeted annualised savings of $1.05 billion per annum by the financial year ending March 31, 2020.
The company anticipates that it will continue to face foreign exchange volatility and the results of certain of key operations would be impacted by currency depreciation against the US dollar.
For the year, profit before tax declined 16 percent to $4.074 billion from last year's $4.83 billion. Earnings per share dropped to 166 US cents from 203.5 US cents last year.
The latest results reflect exceptional charges of $721 million, principally relating to the impairment of investments in Angola and South Sudan, together with costs associated with the AB InBev transaction.
Adjusted earnings per share were 224.1 US cents, compared to 239.1 US cents a year ago, as the depreciation of key operating currencies against the US dollar impacted results.
On an organic, constant currency basis, EBITA grew 8 percent and EBITA margin increased by 60 basis points.
Revenue declined 10 percent to $19.83 billion from prior year's $22.13 billion.
Group net producer revenue or NPR declined 8 percent to $24.15 billion, with weak results in all regions except North America, where the results were nearly flat. Organic constant currency Group NPR grew 5 percent, with group NPR per hl growth of 3 percent.
Premium lager brands' NPR grew by 11 percent, while global lager brands' NPR increased 13 percent, with growth across all regions.
Group beverage volumes increased 2 percent to 330.87 million hecto liters, with lager volumes up 1 percent and soft drinks volumes up 6 percent. A strong growth in Africa and Latin America was moderated by volume weakness in China and the USA, the company said.
Further, the company announced full-year dividend per share of 122.0 US cents, up 8 percent on prior year, with final dividend of 93.75 US cents per share payable on 12 August.
Regarding its recommended acquisition by AB InBev, the company said significant progress has been made to date, and expects to complete the transaction during the second half of 2016. But they do not anticipate completion occurring before the payment of the final dividend to SABMiller shareholders on August 12.
In London, SABMiller shares were trading at 4,215.50 pence, up 0.13 percent.
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Business News
Nokia (NOK) announced Nokia Technologies will grant HMD global Oy, a newly founded company based in Finland, an exclusive global license to create Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets for the next ten years. HMD's Nokia phones will be based on Android.
Nokia Technologies will receive royalty payments from HMD for sales of Nokia-branded mobile products, covering both brand and intellectual property rights. HMD announced it has conditionally agreed to acquire from Microsoft the rights to use the Nokia brand on feature phones, and certain related design rights.
Headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, HMD is a new private venture founded to create a new generation of Nokia-branded mobile devices. HMD is run by a group of experienced industry leaders, including CEO Arto Nummela, previously of Nokia and currently the head of Microsoft's Mobile Devices for Greater Asia, Middle East and Africa as well as Microsoft's global Feature Phones business, and President Florian Seiche, who is currently Senior Vice President for Europe Sales and Marketing at Microsoft Mobile, and previously held key roles at Nokia, HTC and other global brands.
HMD intends to invest over $500 million over the next three years to support the global marketing of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets.
Microsoft will continue to develop Windows 10 Mobile and support Lumia phones.
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Business News
Clothing retailer Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN) reported net income for the first quarter that fell from last year. Earnings per share remained steady, however, matching analysts' expectations. Meanwhile, the company's sales rose more than expected.
The company reported net income for the first quarter of $29.6 million, or $0.25 per share. This was down from $32.8 million, or $0.25 per share, in the same period last year.
This matched the $0.25 per share Wall Street analysts were predicting, according to a survey conducted by Thomson Reuters. The number of shares outstanding declined from last year, allowing the company to hold EPS steady while net income declined.
Sales for the quarter rose to $762.6 million compared to $739.0 million in last year's first quarter. The company saw growth in its three major brands, Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Free People.
Analysts had expected sales to rise to $759.4 million.
The company runs a variety of clothing stores under different brands, including its namesake locations, as well as Anthropologie, BHLDN, Free People, Terrain and Vetri Family.
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Business News
The ongoing war of words between Bajaj Auto MD, Rajiv Bajaj and Global NCAP over safety of the Bajaj Qute quadricycle continues further over crash test results.
It all started when Global NCAP crash tested the Qute. As per the test, Global NCAP stated that Bajaj Qute safety is not upto mark as there was a strong chance of severe or fatal head and chest injuries to passengers. But, as per rating, it was awarded a 1 star.
Bajaj Auto later stated that Qute scored 1 star, a test in which cars like VW Polo, Ford Figo, Hyundai i10, Maruti Alto, and Tata Nano had scored a 0. This did not go down well with Global NCAP.
Global NCAP Secretary General David Ward said that while Euro NCAP quadricycle tests use full frontal impact at 50 kmph, Global NCAP passenger car tests use 40 percent overlap impact at 64 kmph. Since the latter is a tougher test, the same should not be compared.
Now, in a letter to Mr Bajaj from Dr. Rohit Baluja on behalf of Global NCAP reads Bajaj Quadricycle to me appears to be the vehicle of the future and your organization under your Chairmanship has been able to successfully demonstrate this global example.
To this, Mr Bajaj replied While I havent personally seen anything further on quadricycles from NCAP, it is clear to me that their stand on safety is beyond my limited comprehension.
Below is the complete letter to Mr Bajaj.
Dear Mr. Bajaj
I am writing to you on behalf of the Global New Car Assessment Programme (Global NCAP), the Institute of Road Traffic Education as well as the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India (MoRTH). In our effort to promote road safety in India, we are organizing the Indian Automobile Safety Conference on 16 & 17 May, 2016 at the College of Traffic Management, Faridabad, NCR Delhi. A formal copy of our invitation is annexed herewith.
The Bajaj Quadricycle to me appears to be the vehicle of the future and your organization under your Chairmanship has been able to successfully demonstrate this global example. During the first day of the conference, we are inviting only 4 presentations from Automobile manufacturers and I take the pleasure in inviting Bajaj Auto to make a presentation on the vision, conceptualisation and the future of the quadricycle.
The Conference will bring together automobile and component manufacturers, leading experts in motor vehicle safety and will include discussions and presentations on developments with regard to New Car Assessment Programmes operating in Australasia, the ASEAN countries, Europe and Latin America as well as the Bharat New Vehicles Safety Assessment Programme.
I look forward to hearing from you with a positive confirmation.
With kind regards
Dr. Rohit Baluja Ph.D
President- Institute of Road Traffic Education
Director- College of Traffic Management
Rajiv Bajajs statement to the press on the same.
While I havent personally seen anything further on quadricycles from NCAP, it is clear to me that their stand on safety is beyond my limited comprehension.
I hear NCAP implying that those who walk, cycle, ride, or use a 3-wheeler must not seek a safer alternative in the quadricycle; they must continue as they are until they can afford a high emission, low mileage, congestion causing car instead.
Well, Marie Antoinette is known to have lost her head both figuratively & literally when she suggested that those who couldnt afford bread should have cake.
Speaking of cake it amuses me no end that on the one hand NCAP has apparent misgivings about quadricycles with respect to safety, yet simultaneously NCAP along with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways & the Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) invited Bajaj Auto to speak at the Indian Automobile Safety Conference in Delhi on Monday 16 th May 2016, calling the Bajaj Qute a global example and a vehicle of the future.
A case of wanting to have your cake & eat it too?
Rajiv Bajaj,
MD,
Bajaj Auto,
Pune
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May-18-2016 12:59 TweetFollow @OregonNews Regulation in Binary Options Trading Learn how the binary options trading industry is regulated around the world, and gain an understanding of why regulation is important for investors.
As regulations in the binary options industry become more of a talking point, its a good idea to understand the basic rules.
(SALEM, Ore.) - All around the world, binary options trading is being reclassified, from being in the same arena as gambling, to being a regulated financial instrument. In fact, by mid-2016, the UK is set to implement new FCA rules that will have serious effects on binary options trading. This is a major shift from four or five years ago, when binary options were a fringe investment that not many investors were interested in risking. As regulations in the binary options industry become more of a talking point, its a good idea to understand the basic rules that are already in place, and how regulation can or should affect your choice in binary options brokers. The Bottom Line Lets begin with why the average investor should care about regulation at all. The binary options trading industry relies on all investors putting up a deposit of cash before they begin trading. In order to do that, brokers or trading platforms have to have a place to electronically store investment cash. The biggest advantage of regulation in the industry is that it requires deposited investments to be kept in a secure system that is monitored by third parties. For you, this means that your bottom line is kept secure and guaranteed while you go about trading. There are other advantages to regulation, namely that it provides investors protection from scams and keeps brokers safe from the consequences of non-regulated brokers who break the law. But regulation is different around the world, so when you are dealing with an international market, you must take into account what the laws are in each country or region. Just because you see an unregulated broker doesnt mean its a scam; their country may not require the same types of regulations as your own. Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission The CySEC is an independent regulatory agency for the binary options trading industry that offers brokers a way to become regulated by a third party. Its the most common type of license held by brokers because they are not as restrictive nor as expensive as other agencies. Regulations in the United States In the United States, binary options regulation is overseen by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA. FINRA largely operates as a complaint investigative service; if a dispute is brought forward from a party that believes to have been wronged by a broker or investor, FINRA does a full check of the legality of the transaction and advises on fault in the event that the dispute goes to court. Regulations in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom has been the cause of a lot of talk in the binary options world recently. Their own regulatory agency, the Financial Conduct Authority (or FCA), has been developing a new set of rules that binary options brokers and investors will have to follow. These regulations are set to become official in the middle of 2016. Generally, U.K. brokers who are FCA regulated are considered the most trustworthy to invest with, simply because its difficult to earn an FCA license, especially in comparison to the typical Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission license. Regulations Around the World There are several other regulatory agencies around the world, such as the Autorite des Marches Financiers in France, and the Commissione Nazionale per le Societa e la Borsa in Italy. The Australian Securities and Investment Commission is widely considered to be one of the most proactive and protective regulatory agencies in the industry, but it appears the U.K. isnt far behind. For more information: https://www.facebook.com/onetwotrade
https://plus.google.com/+OnetwotradeOTT Source: SNc Special Features Dept #regulations #binary options #trading _________________________________________
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Articles for May 17, 2016 | Articles for May 18, 2016 |
The Nursing fraternity in Samoa is in mourning.
On Monday evening, they came together under the umbrella of the Samoa Nurses Association to remember and celebrate the life of one of their own, long-serving nurse and Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science, Peseta Eseta Faafeu Hope, who has been called home.
The service was held at Motootua. One of the nurses who paid tribute to Peseta was the Assistant Chief Executive Officer of Nursing, Leveti Auvaa, who recalled a hardworking woman. She was one of the greatest leaders in the circle of leaders at the Nursing Centre, she said.
She was the kind of leader that will fight for what benefits the association and she was the kind of person that once she sets her mind on something she will want to do it straight away.
During our time as leaders of the Nursing centre whenever I feel like giving up she will always know what to say to encourage me not to give up easily.
Manager of the Family Health Association, Liai Iosefa, couldnt agree more with Ms. Auvaa.
In 2006, Peseta became a member of the Family Health Association; in 2010 she was chosen as a board member of the association, in 2011 she was chosen as a General Secretary of the Association until 2013 when she was selected to be the Treasurer of the Association until 2016.
She had so many talents and a gift from God which is a kind heart and a loving person and she always put other peoples needs before hers. What I mean by this is that every time we go on meetings, I would be arguing for what is good for Samoa but she would be fighting for what is good for the whole Pacific.
This shows that she has the heart for everyone and she doesnt favour just one person but everyone she knows needs help.
In tears, Ms. Iosefa said Pesetas life was one that was well lived.
You might be gone from us in the flesh but you will always be remembered through the work that you have done not only for the nursing association but also at the N.U.S. The C.E.O. of the Ministry of Health, Leausa Dr. Take Naseri, acknowledged Pesetas contribution to Samoa.
I didnt have much time to spend with her in the Ministry but there is one thing that I do remember is that she was a woman of many styles, he said.
I always smile when I see her come to my office because she will be wearing these earrings, and dresses and she wouldnt care what anyone says as long as she is comfortable with what she was wearing. She was a hardworking person and once she sets her mind on something she would want to work on it straight away.
Survived by her three children, the 57-year-old will be laid to rest tomorrow at Moataa.
Here is an idea. Why dont we focus on fixing the rut in our so-called Christian country before we worry about the threat that outside religions might have on Samoa?
We say this because the last time we checked, the majority, if not all of the prisoners at Tafaigata and Vaiaata do not belong to any other religion but the one where the majority of the people in this country are affiliated.
Which means there is something awfully wrong somewhere when the leaders of this country including mainstream church leaders - try to stop other religions from entering under the excuse that these religions are a threat to Samoa (see story N.C.C. calls for a ban on Islam).
Its unfortunate that Christianity as a religion has been broadly dragged into this debacle because from where we stand, this has nothing to do with God and Christianity per se. This has everything to do with leaders misplacing the blame for the problems of today that they are largely responsible for today.
Unlike other religions that deliberately hate Christians, Christianity is about love, compassion and tolerance. It is about embracing everyone and showing that the love of God is far greater than any divisive tool there is.
This is why the thought that Samoa is even entertaining the idea of reviewing the Constitution to amend the freedom of religion clause so Christianity is the only officially recognised religion is worrying indeed.
It is without a doubt the most worrying decision in a string of questionable decisions made by the leadership of today.
How did we arrive at this? And how can we sit back and allow it to proceed?
From what weve been told, the government is planning to recognise Christian principles and teachings as the official religion of Samoa. Nothing wrong with that.
Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi reportedly made the point during the celebration of the National Council of Churches 50th birthday celebration last week, saying that Samoa is a Christianity-based country and that goes together with Samoan culture and traditions.
Now, the Secretary General of the N.C.C, Reverend Maauga Motu, has gone further, telling Radio New Zealand he would ban Islam because it poses a future threat to the country.
We are not going too far, no, Reverend Motu is quoted as saying to justify his point. We are still wanting our own people to be prevented from this kind of influence, even though there are so many people who are good people but still there are some dangerous people among them who might come and threaten our peace.
Now this is where it goes awry.
Islam being a threat to Samoas peace? Are you kidding?
If there was ever a threat, it comes from within.
We have rapists, murderers and all sorts of criminals in this country already threatening that peace. We have thieves, incestuous predators and fathers beating their wives and children disturbing that very peace. It has been happening for years.
Some of the most corrupt officials who are driving around in town are Bible bashing religious cons. They go to church every Sunday.
They pose a bigger threat to this country than any outside religion would.
So what is this madness about? What is going on in Samoa today? Have we really lost our sense of sanity?
Lets be reminded here right now that like most countries in the world, Samoa is becoming a pluralistic society with people of other ethnic and religious origins and beliefs making Samoa their home. Many of these people have their own beliefs when it comes to religions.
They deserve our respect and the courtesy to allow them to worship freely, just as we expect them to do to the thousands of Samoans who have moved to other countries making their homes there.
There is no disputing the fact that Samoa is a Christian country. That is made manifestly clear everywhere you look with the church buildings - if you havent noticed already.
But the Constitution as it stands is perfect as it is. It reflects the vision and wisdom of our forebears who knew what was best for this country. We believe the Constitution should be left alone as it is for the sake of peace and security.
We repeat; the line being toed by these church leaders is making Christianity look bad. Its a pity because we know that as a Christian country, we are much better than that. Gods poor name will be dragged through the mud by this ungodly decision.
Besides, why are we trying to fix something that is not broken? Dont we have enough problems already to deal with? What do you think? Dont be afraid to share your thoughts with us!
Have a peaceful Thursday Samoa, God bless!
Dear Editor,
Re: Avele one of the finest institutions in Samoa
The Avele name has been misleading some students for many years. Avele is the school of male whose passion is to win everything.
Becoming a real Avele student is like taking oath in the army, which encourage you to take pride in the school name every where.
The name has hallucinated some students to act the way they thought would hail them as saints or heroes of the school.
In depth, the school has developed talented and academics people like you have mentioned.
The fact is, they do not care at all. About 85% of Avele old students send their children to Samoa College, St. Joseph, Robert Louis etc
Did you study that?
No you did not, but would help you ease your loyalty to the school name.
Change the name and you would change the culture of the school. Change their ethics would also change their attitudes. This is coming from an ex-student who cares so much about the school.
Tuisavalalo B.
The Ministry of Justice and Courts Administration welcomed five new lawyers yesterday, after they were admitted to the bar before the Chief Justice, His Honour Patu Tiavaasue Falefatu Sapolu.
The new lawyers are: Angeline Seiuli, Elizabeth Tagi, Faalau Iupati Lagaaia, Luaipou Ann Matalasi and Terina Eirenei Sefo. They were presented to the bar by the Attorney General, Lemalu Herman Retzlaff.
Today marks both an end and a beginning, said His Honour Patu, it is the end of four years or so and the dedicated study of the Vanuatu law school and one year of practical training at the same time today is the beginning of your career as a lawyer.
From today and everyday hereafter each of you will be known and deserves to be known as a lawyer, the designation is permanent and will remain with you for the rest of your life.
Chief Justice Patu said the realities of the job could be daunting but it could also be rewarding.
It is never boring because no court cases are exactly the same. In fact life at the bar can be quite interesting, stimulating and rewarding.
Not only that but they will also find at the bar that no lawyer ever wins every case in which he or she appears as counsel.
You will win some cases and you will lose some cases. Some cases will win or lose themselves regardless of which lawyer appears as counsel. That is the reality of life at the bar.
But take comfort, the lawyers were told, Rome was not built in a day.
I do not expect you to become top quality lawyers after your admission to the bar, he said.
I would like to see each of you to make genuine effort to become a top quality lawyer, because our country needs top quality lawyers.
Lastly, the Chief Justice congratulated the parents, family members and colleagues who were present for their support. The new lawyers are graduates from Vanuatu Law School. They will all be working at the Attorney Generals Office.
A new era for Avele College began yesterday when the college re-opened.
Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi and the Minister of Education, Loau Keneti Sio, were guests during a special assembly where students were joined by parents at the school.
In addressing the gathering, Tuilaepa said the decision to reopen Avele was not easy and he reminded that this is the absolute last chance given to the school.
Minister Loau highlighted the need for everyone to work together.
Everyone has a part to play, he said. Its not just the principal and teachers.
He told everyone to look back no more and to learn from the mistakes of the past.
Lets not talk about the mistakes of yesterday, instead use the lessons we learned from there so that together, we can all succeed.
Turning to the students, Loau reminded each and every student to think hard about the sacrifices their parents make in order for them to be educated.
The next time you think of fighting, think about your parents first, and how much your actions and behaviour affects them. They are ones who will come and face the principal, or me asking for help and to accept you back to the school.
He also told them to remember the sacrifices and the trouble the Principal, teachers, old students and parents had to go through to reopen the school.
It was hard seeing them in tears asking for help, he said. And we never want to let that happen again.
The Prime Minister and the Minister of Education both wished the principal and staff of Avele the best of luck on their new journey.
The Principal of the school, Lesaisaea Reupena Matafeo reiterated that yesterday morning was a day of celebration and thanksgiving. Not only was he celebrating his 59th birthday, but also the school that he consider home was given another chance to reopen again.
And for that, we should thank God and give Him all the glory He deserves.
But the celebration did not last long, as he went straight to elaborating on some of the new changes they have now set for the school.
The students were told that they are banned from the Savalalo Market.
All the students coming from Aleipata to Apia will have to wait at the Fire and Emergency Service Authority headquarters, near the Police station in the morning to be picked up by the school vehicles.
For students coming from Falelatai to Apia, they will wait for the school bus at the Fugalei market, instead of going to the flea market.
For those students coming from Siumu and Faleata, they will no longer have to go to the market, they were told to get off in front of the main gate of the school.
The other condition is that, all the twenty six students that had been accused of being involved in the last school brawls are no longer accepted back into the school.
Moreover, if any other student will be expelled from Avele, they will no longer be accepted by any other schools in Samoa.
Students are not allowed to bring cell phones to school anymore.
The students will be punished by sending them to have hard labour for the whole day if we find out that she or he brought a cell phone to school, said Lesaisaea.
An advisory council has been set up by the school to examine and control the behaviours of the students.
Should there be any more troubles arising from the students, Lesaisaea said they will contact the police straight away.
We spend too much time trying to control your behaviours and trying to solve these issues than we do with the actual reason why we are here, and that is to learn and be educated.
Tutorial classes for Year 12 and Year 13 students also started yesterday, from 6pm-9pm.They were supposed to start on the same week the school was temporarily closed.
Moreover, while the other government schools go on the school break for two weeks, Avele College will not join the rest of the schools.
Cabinet has also agreed to this. This is will be the opportunity for the students to catch up on their syllabus.
However, the school will still have a break during the three-day public holiday for the independence celebration.
These are some of the conditions we agreed on with Cabinet during the meeting on Monday. And we will all work together to implement these changes.
Lesaisaea admitted that its not easy as Avele only has one more chance from Cabinet. However, he believes that with God, and with the support of all the parents, teachers, and old students, there will no troubles.
Lets all work together for a better future for Avele and for our children.
The private sector, regarded as the engine of economic growth, is not in a mood to celebrate the upcoming Independence Day.
Thats because with the government already declaring three public holidays, it means many private companies will have to fork out thousands of tala to pay for three unproductive days.
And thats going to hurt them especially at a time when economic prospects are weak.
For one of the biggest private employers in the country, Yazaki Eds Samoa, it is staring at a loss of close to a million tala in terms of production.
General Manager, Funefeai Oliva Vaai, told the Samoa Observer that from their calculations, the holidays will cost them at least $900,000.
The loss, he added, does not include other costs carried by the company to accommodate 800 workers.
Our business calendar was based on information provided last year which was to have one declared public holiday, said Funefeai.
But we have now been informed its another extra two days and its a surprise for us because we have already planned out our production.
It means that we have to work overtime, pay penalty rates, prepare extra meals and provide transportation for workers to go home (after work).
Its quite a big loss to our production time and also loss in sales.
The General Manager estimated the average cost of production for the company at $300,000 a day,
According to Funefeai, at least Yazaki has the resources to absorb the losses, something he believes many smaller companies will struggle with.
And in looking ahead, he said it would be great if the government could plan these things in advance and inform the private sector for their planning.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Commerce, Hobart Vaai, confirmed the frustrations shared among the private business community.
According to Mr. Vaai, since the announcement of the public holidays was made, many members have expressed concerns about the cost.
Based on that feedback it would be fair to note that in an already tight economy, a three day holiday announced at relatively short notice will be difficult for the private sector to cope with, he said.
The negative economic impacts across the private sector, particularly the retail sector are estimated to be significant.
Two days of celebrations to mark Independence appears to have been the practise in recent times. That would seem to be ample time to enjoy this special national occasion.
The C.E.O. pointed out that in a significantly shortened week, the private sector is legitimately concerned about the costs associated with having less than half a week of productivity.
Revenue opportunities are reduced and so too are opportunities to address ongoing costs, he emphasised.
The impact of a three days public holiday may have been softened with a longer notice period and sufficient time to plan ahead.
On this occasion, timely consultation would have been appropriate.
Mr. Vaai said the Chamber remains committed to and values its ongoing partnership with government and looks forward to future appropriate opportunities to contribute to the decision making process.
Speaking about the holidays last week, Prime Minister Tuilaepa said: No one wants to come back to work on Friday.
Theres something called a commission holiday which we will use again. In Samoan, its a day for those that have worked hard in government to relax and do some shopping.
Sogi resident Nanai Liu Tokuma is resolute.
Were not going anywhere, the 76-year-old father told the Samoa Observer.
Thank you Prime Minister Tuilaepa for your warning that we now have to leave. But let me tell you something, you know nothing about this piece of land. So leave us alone.
Nanai made the comments in response to Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaois call that the time is up for them and that they now have to vacate the land.
Tuilaepa said a 30-day eviction notice given to the Sogi residents has expired and there will be no more chances. He did not say what the governments next move would be. But Nanai is defiant and is not moving.
For your information, this land was given to our father, the late Tokuma Torurae by the late Mataafa - the first Prime Minister of this country, he said. With his words to my father Go live on the land with your children; the government cant afford to pay what we owe your father, now the land is yours forever.
Asked to elaborate, Nanai said his father had been mistakenly charged for the death of another businessman.
He was sentenced to death, he said. I remembered vividly when our father said goodbye to us with his hands already handcuffed, ready to be executed. His hands were already tied, with a rope on his neck and cloth that covered his face.
While walking towards where he would be hung, two Chinese men ran and told the Police that they were the ones who killed the businessman. My fathers life was spared.
My father walked out free while fighting back tears right in front of us and our mother thats why we were offered this land where were living now.
According to Nanai, the Prime Minister at the time gave them the piece of land as a peace offering.
He told my father in front of us that the government doesnt have money to pay him but they offer him and his children this land for their rest of their lives.
Thats why weve been living here.
"And now after all these years, the government is telling us to go away.
Whats worse is that they are asking us to buy a piece of land at Falelauniu when we have no money to do that.
Nanai said he rejects the offer.
I heard theyre going to build a hotel here. This is on the land that we were for the life of our father. Weve invested large amounts of money in developing our homes and families for many years.
Referring to the warning from the government, Nanai said that Prime Minister Tuilaepa was just a young man at the time and he would not understand.
Whats very sad is that after the past four prime ministers, its only Tuilaepa who has jumped into this conclusion and told us to go to Falelauniu, he said. Not only that, he is telling us to buy land when they are not giving us any money.
Were not going to pay for anything, were not stupid,
The government told us to relocate to Falelauniu because of climate reasons but I heard that theyre planning to build a hotel here.
Nanai said if push comes to shove, they would take their fight to Court.
I know the government has all the power in running the government. I dont care still, we have all the right to fight for this land.
It was not possible to get a comment from Prime Minister Tuilaepa or the Samoa Land Corporation yesterday.
The decision by the government to relocate residents of Sogi was initially announced in 2011.
The government then offered families a quarter acre of land at Falelauniu which they will lease to own at just over $30,000 and $3,000 cash to relocate. Many families at Sogi have taken up the offer. But many others have refused.
Two months ago, an elderly mother, Tala Leiataua, issued a heartfelt plea to Prime Minister Tuilaepa.
Were ready to face the consequences but we want to be buried on this land, Tuilaepa, this land is where our grave is, she said.
Please let us stay on this land. This is where we belong. Our ancestors have worked so hard to level this swamp during the German colonial times for us. We want to stay.
Should the government insist to evict, Tala said: I ask the government to dig a hole and throw us all in there. Id rather die and be buried on the land my ancestors passed down to us.
Chantilly, VA -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/18/2016 -- Afrofuturism Network will be holding its first ever comic book convention and conference on Saturday, June 11th in Chantilly, Virginia.
The conference will provide activities promoting creativity in the youth, innovative workshops, informative panel discussions and feature the talents of various artists. One of the aims of the conference is to highlight and amplify the voices of black artists, creators, and contributors to the genre. Cosplay is also allowed and even highly encouraged.
Afrofuturism, for the uninitiated, encompasses the world of sci-fi and fantasy culture from a black perspective and encourages a breaking down of current, outdated, and widely accepted paradigms to promote a more fully realized and complex black experience. Afrofuturism is intersectional, and, at its heart, about representation and fighting erasure through a kind of cultural activism.
"My goal and the goal of AFN in organizing this convention is to create a space where artists and creators within the genre can meet to make connections and exchange ideas. We want to raise awareness, encourage collaboration and increase the visibility of black comic book artists and writers in the mainstream, because, at the end of the day, representation matters." - William Jones, Founder of Afrofuturism Network
The conference will be held on Saturday, June 11th from 10 am to 6 pm at the AVS Inc (Audio Visual Systems) office, located at 1466 Lee Road in Chantilly, Virginia. Admission for adults is $10. Children age 12 and under can attend for free when accompanied by a paying adult.
Local artists and other vendors wishing to take advantage of the marketplace can register for a table and participant badges. The table registration fee is completely free and includes one 6' x 30" table with two chairs. Vendors can set up anytime between 8:30 am and 9:30 am on the day of the conference. For more information about vendor registration, visit http://www.afrofuturismnet.com/main/workshop/.
For those traveling to attend the event, AFN recommends the Hyatt Place Chantilly/Dulles Airport South located at 4994 Westone Plaza in Chantilly VA for your hotel accommodations. There is a special rate of $105 per night (June 9th through June 13th) for those asking for the comic book fair rate. Interested parties can call 1-866-440-2995 and ask for Terrell Yough, Sales Manager.
Key hotel features and amenities include:
complimentary shuttle to the comic book fair
complimentary airport shuttle
complimentary full, hot breakfast daily
complimentary high-speed internet service
24-hour gym access
24-hour made-to-order snacks and entrees
For more information on the convention and how to register, visit http://www.afrofuturismnet.com/main/workshop/.
About Afrofuturism Network
AFN seeks to support the ever growing community of black writers, artists, and thinkers in the realms of sci-fi, fantasy, comic books and film. Here, we analyze the contributions and portrayal of black characters in these mediums. AFN will examine the role and place of black people in the past present and future and serve as a hub for black creativity and thought. Read more at afrofuturismnet.com.
About William Jones
William Jones, the founder of Afrofuturism Network, is a historian, "comic book geek", writer, and educator. He is a sought-after public speaker on the subjects of the history of black people in America, the image of black people in various forms of media, pop culture and hip-hop music, to name just a few. He has spoken on various college campuses and at conferences both nationally and abroad.
Publicist: BLUE ARTISTS, LLC
info@blue-artists.com
877-977-2023
www.afrofuturismnet.com
Deerfield Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/18/2016 -- The Global and China Crawler Crane Market 2016-2021 Industry Starting with a broad overview, the report narrows down to offer an overview of the Crawler Crane Market 2016-2021 Industry globally as well as with a specific focus on China. By conducting a check of the current status of the Crawler Crane Market 2016-2021 Industry, the report is able to then delve deeper into the various forces that directly and indirectly impact the Market.
Access Full Report With TOC: http://www.mrsresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/global-and-chinese-crawler-crane-market-2016-industry.html
Given the ever-shifting and ever-evolving nature of the technologies that enable the products and services contributing to the growth of the Crawler Crane Market 2016-2021 Industry, the report conducts a detailed analysis of the technological trends and developments. This report then moves ahead to focus on the various global and China-based players in the Crawler Crane Market 2016-2021 Industry. In order to obtain specific information about the Market participants, the report focuses on the following key aspects: Company Profiles, product/services information, contact information, as well as production/revenues.
The report then delves deeper by segmenting the global and Chinese Market for Crawler Crane Market 2016-2021 into sections, based on parameters such as applications, end-users, geographical regions, or product/technology, where applicable. The degree of competition that exists in the Crawler Crane Market 2016-2021 Industry in the context of both China and the world, is studied in detail.
Request For Sample: http://www.mrsresearchgroup.com/report/52700#request-sample
Table of Content
Chapter One Introduction of Crawler Crane Market 2016-2021 Industry
1.1 Brief Introduction of Crawler Crane Market 2016-2021
1.2 Development of Crawler Crane Market 2016-2021 Industry
1.3 Status of Crawler Crane Market 2016-2021 Industry
Chapter Two Manufacturing Technology of Crawler Crane Market 2016-2021
2.1 Development of Crawler Crane Market 2016-2021 Manufacturing Technology
2.2 Analysis of Crawler Crane Market 2016-2021 Manufacturing Technology
2.3 Trends of Crawler Crane Market 2016-2021 Manufacturing Technology
Chapter Three Analysis of Global Key Manufacturers
3.1 Company A
3.1.1 Company Profile
3.1.2 Product Information
3.1.3 2011-2016 Production
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New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/18/2016 -- It is important to have a trustworthy tax attorney and for people living in and around Oklahoma, the below mentioned website can be considered for knowing about the best choices in the same. The entity is believed to have created a list of the top Tax Attorney Oklahoma City in an effort to help people in such issues.
Dealing with taxes can be quite daunting and there are many tax payers who are not aware of the local rules and regulations that are followed in their region. It becomes difficult if there is litigation involved and here, the advice of a professional lawyer can prove to be very useful. Unless there is someone who knows how to take care of the situation and help the person in question to take the best course of action, it can be years before the issue is resolved.
Though the yellow pages can help users in getting the names of lawyers in their area, they are generic and users will not be able to check their effectiveness in resolving tax issues. Therefore, the website is believed to have done the hard work of checking the reviews of individual law firms and listing only the best ones from the lot.
The website says, "A court case that involves taxes can be a trying situation for anyone. We wish to help such people in their difficult times by giving them a list of the best Tax Attorney Oklahoma City. You can get information such as the working hours, telephone numbers and addresses of the handpicked attorneys and get sound legal advice at all times. Once you have hired a good lawyer, you can be sure of getting the situation dealt with in the right manner."
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Lima, Peru -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/18/2016 -- Project World School co-founders Lainie Liberti and Miro Siegel recently delivered a presentation at TEDxAmsterdamED, a conference held for educators.
In their presentation, Siegel quoted Liberti, "What could we possibly say about education in front of a group of educators at a TEDx conference focused on education?" By the end of the presentation, however, Siegel and Liberti had discussed their journey in unschooling and worldschooling while explaining the difference between education and learning.
"I realized my job as a parent was to decide how I would educate my son," said Liberti. Through research, Liberti says she discovered unschooling, a method that encourages learners to delve into their interests and by which parents and children co-create a partnership through learning.
As an example of unschooling via worldschooling, Siegel said, "I've never studied Spanish. In 7 years of traveling through Latin America, I've never opened a textbook or attended a formal class. Now, I'm fluent."
At the core of worldschooling, the objectives are to develop critical thinking skills, build global perspective, become sensitive to other world views, be inspired to take personal action, and develop a love of learning.
According to Liberti, "I realized that through travel experiences, it was helping me change the conversation from education to one about learning. Now, the only thing I want for my son is for him to grow into a passionate lifelong learner."
Liberti and Siegel discussed how saying "yes" had led them to learning experiences, and the two also discussed Project World School and the immersive community learning events they plan around the world.
This year has been a busy year for Project World School, and Liberti and Siegel are planning exciting new events for the remainder of the year. In 2016, Project World School is producing 5 retreats in Mexico, Peru's Amazon Jungle, Cusco & Machu Picchu, Wales Organic Farming, and Thailand. This year, Project World School held their first-ever Family Worldschooling Summit-Conference.
Project World School addresses a challenge that Liberti and Siegel experienced: community. By planning immersive learning events around the world that families can join, temporary communities and natural, active learning experiences are offered.
"The community aspects blew my mind. I never expected the deep friendships I made during the retreat. I really never expected that," said Dylan Hickcox, 16. Another retreat student, Katie Johnson, said, "Before the retreat I didn't feel at peace with myself or the world. But after the retreat I feel great. I feel more at peace with myself, who I am and my life choices. Also more in control of my emotional self."
A recent video explains more about Project World School retreats. More information can be found at http://projectworldschool.com.
About Project World School
Founded by Lainie Liberti and Miro Siegel, mother and son, Project World School coordinates immersive learning events around the world for homeschoolers, unschoolers, and democratic learners alike.
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Project World School
E-mail: info@projectworldschool.com
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Salt Lake City, UT -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/18/2016 -- Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's "natural" or un-paid ("organic") search results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, academic search, news search and industry-specific vertical search engines.
As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, what people search for, the actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience. Optimizing a website may involve editing its content, HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. Promoting a site to increase the number of backlinks, or inbound links, is another SEO tactic.
Webmasters and content providers began optimizing sites for search engines in the mid-1990s, as the first search engines were cataloging the early Web. Initially, all webmasters needed to do was to submit the address of a page, or URL, to the various engines which would send a "spider" to "crawl" that page, extract links to other pages from it, and return information found on the page to be indexed. The process involves a search engine spider downloading a page and storing it on the search engine's own server, where a second program, known as an indexer, extracts various information about the page, such as the words it contains and where these are located, as well as any weight for specific words, and all links the page contains, which are then placed into a scheduler for crawling at a later date.
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By 2004, search engines had incorporated a wide range of undisclosed factors in their ranking algorithms to reduce the impact of link manipulation. In June 2007, The New York Times' Saul Hansell stated Google ranks sites using more than 200 different signals. The leading search engines, Google, Bing, and Yahoo, do not disclose the algorithms they use to rank pages. Some SEO practitioners have studied different approaches to search engine optimization, and have shared their personal opinions. Patents related to search engines can provide information to better understand search engines.
In 2005, Google began personalizing search results for each user. Depending on their history of previous searches, Google crafted results for logged in users. In 2008, Bruce Clay said that "ranking is dead" because of personalized search. He opined that it would become meaningless to discuss how a website ranked, because its rank would potentially be different for each user and each search.
In December 2009, Google announced it would be using the web search history of all its users in order to populate search results.
Google Instant, real-time-search, was introduced in late 2010 in an attempt to make search results more timely and relevant. Historically site administrators have spent months or even years optimizing a website to increase search rankings. With the growth in popularity of social media sites and blogs the leading engines made changes to their algorithms to allow fresh content to rank quickly within the search results.
In February 2011, Google announced the Panda update, which penalizes websites containing content duplicated from other websites and sources. Historically websites have copied content from one another and benefited in search engine rankings by engaging in this practice, however Google implemented a new system which punishes sites whose content is not unique. In April 2012, Google launched the Google Penguin update the goal of which was to penalize websites that used manipulative techniques to improve their rankings on the search engine.
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Windows 10 free update is set to be released in summer, as announced by Microsoft during its Build conference. Also called the Windows Anniversary Update, it is expected to offer features like improved Cortana and security options for facial recognition.
The Windows 10 update, however, is also rumored to bring more number of promoted apps and ads that pop out in the Start Menu. In the slideshow presented by Jessie Labayen, Microsoft's Principal Program Manager, it seems that the MS static apps is going to diminish from 17 to 12. On the other hand, promoted apps is projected to increase from five to 10, while select Windows Inbox Apps is going to be distributed through Promoted Apps.
The objective is supposed to reduce the OEM image creation and complexity, including the deployment and maintenance time. Having said that, the users are going to take the control and be able to eliminate whatever they wish in order to save up some disk space. In addition to this, the ads and apps are going to be installed to introduce users, as well as familiarize them to the Windows store. Also, Microsoft wants the user to discover and be part of the locally important and high quality apps, according to Digital Trends.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time that the company has received a lot of attention concerning the promoted apps. In May 2015, Microsoft revealed that it will install Candy Crush automatically to the users' PC upon the Windows 10 download. Early this year, the company gave some indications that it was working on helping app developers to earn more revenue. In fact, during the Build conference, Terry Myerson and Satya Nadella confirmed of a new Microsoft Monetization and Store Engagement software development kit for developers, which includes the company's current advertising SDK and new services.
Microsoft has also unveiled an affiliate program that comes with four developer tools, which are an enterprise data feed, a link builder, a set of pre-generated banners and a top content data feed, Fortune reported.
Moto G4 leaked once again, a day before the official launch of the much awaited device of Motorola. The press render came from the famous Evan Blass, who presented the frontal part of the new device through his Twitter @evleaks. Blass uploaded a photo matched with the phrase "say hello to your little brother," linking the photo to one of his old Moto G leaks. As noticed by some, the leaked Moto G4 image has a strong resemblance to the Goolge Nexus 4.
While the Moto G4 leak gave hints about the idea that the recent photo was from the similar neighborhood, some reports indicate that the little brother photo belongs to the Moto E series. However, the tipster later pointed out that the recent photo is of the Moto G4 and further stated that the "little brother" reference was meant to bring the bigger Moto G4 Pro into the scene. The two devices are scheduled for launch on May 17, Tuesday at a public gathering.
Some reports also noted the naming strategy of the Motorola devices, which could be confusing for consumers. Like for instance, it is difficult to tell why the company chose the G4 when there have been no G3 or G2 versions before. Others speculate that the reason could be due to the fact that the manufacturer released the three models of Moto phones before the G4, PC Advisor reported.
Meanwhile, other Motorola device that is expected to come with a fingerprint sensor is the upcoming Moto X4, which has also leaked recently. The device appears to have the screen protection tech from ShatterShield, which was initially seen in the Motorola Droid Turbo 2, GSM Arena reported.
Motorola Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus are going to be presented in two media events taking place in New Delhi and Mexico, as announced by the company. During the past weeks, several leaks have emerged in the media, along with information regarding the two devices. Based on reports, the Moto G4 Plus is more likely to come with the fingerprint scanner in the home button.
In a first operation of its kind in the US, surgeons have attached a deceased donor's penis to a 64 year old man whose penis had to be amputated to prevent the spread of a cancerous tumor. The surgery makes Thomas Manning the first man to get a penis transplant in the US, according to recent reports. Manning, who is a bank employee, hopes to resume normal life once he leaves the hospital.
A surgical team at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston operated to replace a one-inch stump that Manning had been left with after the previous removal of most of his penis. The team of surgeons spent three years in preparation for the operation, which included working on cadavers to gain more insight into the intricate anatomy of the organ. Subsequently, trial run surgeries were performed on half a dozen dead donors.
The preparation phase also meant putting Manning through psychological screening to make him ready to deal with the penis transplant. Incidentally, the waiting list for finding a donor with the right skin tone and blood group took only two weeks.
The operation was also part of a research procedure that aims to reconstruct members of the military and soldiers who incur brutal pelvic injuries during war. However, the process will also be helpful for general patients with similar damages as well as those suffering from the after effects of genital cancers. The leader of the surgical team, Curtis Cetrulo, is also researching ways to minimize the drug requirements that prevent the body from rejecting the donor organ.
"I want to go back to being who I was," Thomas Manning said to the New York Times. "I couldn't have a relationship with anybody. You can't tell a woman, 'I had a penis amputation'". Manning chose to speak publicly about his penis transplant surgery to give hope to others with genital injuries and cancers. According to the performing team of surgeons, Manning will be able to urinate normally in a few weeks and function sexually within months. Penis transplant procedures have earlier taken place in China and South Africa; however this was the first such surgery in the US.
In a bizarre incident, a 23 year old woman was bitten by a shark and had to be transported to the hospital with the marine creature still latched on to her arm. According to reports, witnesses saw the woman emerging from the Boca Raton waters in Florida with a shark hanging from her arm.
As per a report, a two foot long baby nurse shark had grabbed onto the woman's forearm and refused to let go even as it was dying. "The shark wouldn't give up," said Shlomo Jacob, an eye witness. "It was barely breathing but it wasn't letting go of her arm, like it was stuck to her or something." According to Ocean Rescue Capt. Clint Tracy, the scene was something that he had never seen before or even heard of.
The culprit is a member of the nurse shark species. The small sized sharks, that usually measure around 10.1 feet at full growth, are known for their easy going nature. According to local shark expert Jim Abernathy, the nurse shark was probably fighting back when it bit the woman. Abernathy believes that the woman possibly could have grabbed its tail, following which the shark turned around and bit her on the arm.
The species are common in the waters of Florida, and sometimes remain stationary on the ocean floor. The Nurse sharks have thousands of small, serrated teeth lining their strong jaws. A National Park Service brochure meant for visitors to Florida's beaches reads that the bite reflex of a nurse shark is so strong that it could be a couple of minutes before the creature will relax or release its tormentor.
A medical team used a splint board to hold the woman's arm and the shark was placed alongside on the stretcher on the way to the hospital. Meanwhile, according to a representative at the Boca Raton Regional Hospital, the woman was treated and in the process of being released.
Zika Bill is set to be approved in Congress, three months following President Barack Obama's request to provide emergency funds worth $1.8 billion to fight the virus. The Senate, on the other hand, passed a compromise amount of $1.1 billion. However, the White House vetoed a bill that was introduced by the House Republican allotting $622 million, which according to the White House is not enough to stop the spread of the disease.
The Zika Bill funding was initially opposed by the Republicans, insisting that the remaining Ebola outbreak fund must be utilized first. But the Democrats fought against this by citing that the GOP was not paying attention to the alarming public health crisis. Nonetheless, Democratic Washington Senator Patty Murray and Republican Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri approved the $1.1 billion emergency funds.
The House is set to vote on the Zika Bill on Wednesday, which is reported to gain most of the votes from the Republicans. According to Sen. Blunt, the House takes the matter seriously, and that they are hoping to draw a final conclusion that allows all agencies involved to spend the allocated Zika funding until the end of the next fall, News4Jax reported.
Based on reports, the House will be dealing with two major points: whether to offset the expense and the concerns about the general funding level. But given the number of Republicans in the Senate who agree not to look for offsets, the pressure is turned to the House Republicans to do something.
Meanwhile, the previous proposal in which the Senate approved was among the three measures that the Senate voted on Tuesday. The Senators did not approve of a plan raised by two Florida senators namely Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Bill Nelson that would have approved Pres. Obama's full request. With 60 votes needed to pass, the plan failed 50 to 47. In addition, Republican Senator Whip John Cornyn also proposed a plan that provides cost offsets for $1.1 billion, but also failed 52 to 45, USA Today reported.
Usually seen outside the Earth, sometimes with the naked eye, asteroids are fascinating entities that NASA is certainly curious about. The organization is currently developing a study where robotic arms can collect and redirect orbits of known asteroids so that scientists can study their nature - and even take samples that can be brought back to earth.
NASA is now engaged in its first ever robotic mission to visit the near-Earth objects. Called the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), this will use robotic arms to reach boulders from asteroids. According to a report, the ARM will "collect a multi-ton boulder from its surface, and redirect it into a stable orbit around the moon. Once it's there, astronauts will explore it and return with samples in the 2020s"
The ARM is dedicated to advance human missions and spaceflight technology for the Journey to Mars in 2030. For now, there are around a thousand asteroids relatively near Earth that can be part of the ARM project - and the technology is said to advance NASA's human path to the red planet.
In a separate report, NASA added that the ARM will help aid their missions to Mars as their missions can be projected to last for 500 days at a time. "This new technology will help send the large amounts of cargo, habitats and propellant to Mars in advance of a human mission," NASA said.
The technology will help the Orion Spacecraft gather asteroid samples from the redirected boulders to bring them back to earth - being the building blocks of the solar system, scientists believe that they can help understand the composition of the asteroids better with the help of the ARM technology.
A face recognition app in Russia is raising eyebrows as it is seen to invade online users' privacy. The app was actually launched two months ago, but is recently taking Russia by storm as it is proven to be an effective app in identifying people. It can also lead the dig into the identities of people being searched.
Dubbed as FindFace, the app is said to compare profile pictures of users on the social network site Vkontakte and is said to work with 70% reliability, The Guardian reported. With this relatively reliable app, anonymity could no longer be possible soon.
FindFace works by comparing the profile photos uploaded on Vkontakte and the actual photos of people to be searched. Vkontakte is a very popular social media network in Russia and currently has more than 200 million users. The fear of some users is the possibility that one can now track down a random person through social network just by using a photograph as a reference, The Guardian said in its new report.
Techspot reported that the said app already has half a million users who already did 3 million searches. The app is currently be used only in Russia.
FindFace app creators Alexander Kababoc and Artem Kukharenko was quoted in The Guardian saying that the app can enable a user to take a photo of someone on the street and examine him or her through a social network website.
Kabakov added that the app can also help users if they intend to look for a date. He said: "If you see someone you like, you can photograph them, find their identity, and then send them a friend request."
Asked about the privacy concerns, he said people will eventually get used to it. He added that everyone is now under the "spotlight of technology."
A faint galaxy around 30 million light years away may just be help scientists needed to learn more about the origins of the universe. Researchers have discovered a galaxy with the lowest metal level - or heavy chemical elements - ever observed in the star system. The galaxy, called AGC 198691, nicknamed Leoncino - or "Little Lion" offers astronomers the chance to see what conditions are like after the formation of the universe.
'Little Lion' galaxy roars new life into Big Bang theory https://t.co/rr9lCudy70 via @fxnscitech pic.twitter.com/V5Y7naIGX7 Fox News (@FoxNews) May 17, 2016
Indiana University professor and co-author of the study, John Salzer said in a press release, "Finding the most metal-poor galaxy ever is exciting since it could help contribute to a quantitative test of the Big Bang. There are relatively few ways to explore conditions at the birth of the universe, but low-metal galaxies are among the most promising."
According to the Christian Science Monitor, right after the Big Bang, the only elements in the universe were hydrogen, helium, and a few other light elements. Metals were formed later on after the hydrogen and helium were combined to form stars. In tracking traces of metals in the galaxy, scientists were able to get an estimate on how much evolution and star production there has been in the galaxy.
Alec Hirschauer, lead author of the study said that the low metal abundance is a sign of little stellar activity taking place in the galaxy, compared to most others.
For now, astronomers can estimate the metal abundance in the galaxy by analyzing the way light is emitted - spectroscopic observations, for instance, enable them to view the full light spectrum, the same way a prism can disperse sunlight to form into a rainbow. It has been noted that the presence of these elements create different types of light.
But why is the Little Lion especially exciting for astronomers?
Finding low-metal abundant galaxies is challenging nowadays, considering that they are correlated with the beginning of the universe. But despite being 30 million light-years away, it is still considered as part of our "local universe" which makes is easier for astronomers to study - getting them nearer than ever in solving the mystery on how the universe actually started.
After all the commotion relating to a certain star that was investigated by NASA's Kepler Scape Telescope last October, astronomers have been exhausting all their efforts to find a natural explanation for the strange transit signal. Though it has turned into something of an epic endeavor, astronomers are zeroing in on the most likely candidate.
As every one of you may have already known, the Kepler Telescope is used to detect the movement of exoplanets around other stars. The strength of the telescope is that it is able to detect even the very faint drop in starlight of surprisingly small worlds of Earth-like dimensions, sometimes smaller, at tens up to hundreds of light-years distant. Newsyac.com has reported that the Kepler's database is outrageously huge, so in order to help astronomers identify transit signals, the crowd-sourcing group Planet Hunters probes into the signals.
A signal, which originated from a star designated as KIC 846852, which was eventually given the name "Tabby's Star" after the one who discovered it, Tabetha S. Boyajian, was dramatic. A series of transit signals made the star's brightness to dip up to 20 percent. For a mission that deals in transits that usually dim starlight by fractions of a percent, you can see why the signal caused a whirl.
This signal was confirmed to be real, so there was no error in the instrument or the analysis. This gave astronomers a chance to start working on possible explanations. And it wasn't long before the "alien" card was pulled and the world's media latched questions like, Was this the first direct evidence of an advanced alien civilization building some kind of "megastructure" around their host star? Could this be the first evidence of a partially built "Dyson Sphere"?
However, according to Discovery News, scientists being the party pooper that they are were already pointing their fingers at other, more reasonable explanations, and it didn't involve aliens. One idea they have identified gravitated towards the possibility of a planetary collision. Although the likelihood of looking in the right place at the right time to see the exo-smashup was slim, it doesn't mean it didn't happen. Another idea was focused on a wide swarm of comets blotting out the star from our viewpoint.
Indeed, the latter explanation had some meat as there was another nearby star that could have destabilized Tabby's Star's Oort Cloud, which is the region surrounding a star that is thought to harbor countless billions of ancient icy bodies waiting to be knocked off by their gravitational perch and fall through the inner star system.
A recent research by astronomers from Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have studied Tabby's star using the Submillimeter Array and the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, located atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii, in an effort to possibly track down dust associated with a planetary collision. The warm dust that would be produced by such an event should glow in emissions at submillimeter and millimeter wavelengths. But found none.
Although the signal off some warm dust in the system may be undetectable, this negative result puts some tough restraints on the amount of dust in the system. There's simply not enough dust there to support the collision hypothesis, but might be consistent with a complete breakup of 30 massive Halley-like comets blocking the starlight from view.
KINGSTREE, S.C. Williamsburg County Council members gave second reading Tuesday night to a $28.5 million fiscal year 2016-17 budget that would start July 1.
That budget includes $18 million for the general fund and $10 million for other funds, County Supervisor Stanley Pasley said. It also includes a $239,584 shortfall in the general fund and a 2 percent raise for all county employees. The other funds are balanced, he said.
Pasley told those gathered for the public hearing on the budget that the countys budget will depend on the final state legislative budget because the county is hoping to get about $170,442 more in local government fund monies from the state, once that budget is approved.
Council is also looking at putting a one-cent capital projects sales tax on a referendum ballot in November.
That money will help to pay for the countys radio system upgrade, as it moves from an analog system to a digital one. The cost, Walt Ackerman, county finance director said, is about $1.2 million for 252 radios.
Council gave approval to a lease-purchase agreement for the purpose of buying the public safety radios.
Williamsburg County Attorney Billy Jenkinson than gave an update to council members about the status of the Williamsburg Regional Hospital. The countys hospital was deemed too damaged to remain open following the October 2016 flood.
A temporary emergency room is operational, he said, and negotiations continue on the future of a temporary 22-bed hospital (to be operational by Sept. 16), and a new permanent hospital.
On that note, Council member Sam Floyd reminded citizens and council members of the hospitals upcoming fundraiser on June 4, the Dr. Walter Cottingham Dancing with the Stars fundraiser.
In other business, Jackie Hailes, chairperson of the Employee of the Month committee, the county supervisor and council members, presented the Employee of the Month for May award to Capt. Jamie Linder Sr. with the Williamsburg County Fire Department.
Council tabled action on an ordinance to repeal Williamsburg County Ordinance 1982-4 and approved a resolution naming May as Older Americans Month.
A request from the councils Special Committee, to have all county vehicles marked with county seals and permanent tags was defeated. A move to have all county vehicles marked with permanent tags was then approved by council members.
The question of which county vehicles are to be marked by decals will return to the Special Committee for further discussion.
Council entered into executive session to discuss a contractual matter concerning the proposed one-percent capital projects sales tax.
No action was taken by council upon their return to open session.
The next regular county council meeting will be Monday, June 6 at 6 p.m. in the Public Service Administration building at 201 W. Main Street, Kingstree.
COLUMBIA, S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley and Attorney General Alan Wilson are attacking a directive by federal justice and education officials advising public schools to allow students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity.
Haley and Wilson, in statements to The Greenville News, said they believe such issues should be decided at the state and local levels. Wilson said he is conferring with other attorney generals to see what action, if any, can be taken to fight the directive, which carries with it the implied threat of loss of federal education funding if schools choose to refuse to follow the guidance.
When Sen. Lee Bright, a Spartanburg County Republican, introduced a measure last month to require those using public bathrooms and locker rooms choose the facility of their gender at birth, Haley said publicly she had no interest in such legislation, which ultimately died in committee.
As I said when North Carolina passed its law, I dont think we need that type of law here, Haley said. But we also dont need President Obama imposing a one-size-fits-all policy from Washington. We have always been proud of the fact that we handle issues such as this one in our school districts, and I trust South Carolinians to decide this issue, community by community, at the school district level.
Wilson argued the administration is acting improperly.
The president does not have the legal authority to force this federal mandate on South Carolina schools, parents and children, he said. This matter should be left to state and local governments, not a one-size-fits-all mandate. The threat of lawsuits as well as the withholding of education funding for all of our children is not the proper approach. All children have a right to a safe and respectful environment where they can focus on their education.
Wilson said last year, he filed a brief in a case before the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to reject the federal governments legal authority in this area.
I am currently working with other state attorneys general to determine what actions should be taken, he added.
In the Fourth Circuit case, a panel ruled 2-1 that a lower court should rehear a Virginian students claims that his schools policy violates federal law. The school board has a policy directing transgender students to use unisex bathrooms.
The U.S. Education Department argued in that case as well as in last weeks issuance, that transgender students should be allowed to use bathrooms that align with their gender identities instead of being forced to use those that correspond with their biological gender. To do otherwise, department officials argue, amounts to a violation of Title IX, which bans sex discrimination at schools receiving federal funding.
In hearings over Brights bill, opponents, including former State Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum, argued that enacting the bill would violate Title IX and jeopardize federal education funding to the state.
Current State Education Superintendent Molly Spearman did not challenge last weeks federal directive in a statement issued afterward.
The South Carolina Department of Education and school districts throughout the state are dedicated to ensuring a safe and respectful climate for all students, she said in a statement. We continue to monitor and advise schools and districts on discriminatory issues to ensure compliance with Title IX and all other federal requirements.
Greenville County Schools spokeswoman Beth Brotherton said the district is monitoring the Fourth Circuit proceedings.
At this moment we do not intend to create a broad policy regarding the matter or change the designations associated with bathrooms or locker rooms, according to a statement released by the district. Instead, we will continue to monitor the legal proceedings in the Fourth Circuit, and maintain our current practice of considering and responding to each individual situation when a request is made by a student being considerate of the privacy concerns of all of our students.
Obama said this week that the new directive is aimed at protecting transgender students from bullying.
They are vulnerable and I think its part of our obligation as a society to make sure everybody is treated fairly, and our kids are all loved and protected, and that their dignity is affirmed, he told the website BuzzFeed.
Various political leaders around the nation have taken issue with the directive, as have some citizens, arguing that allowing transgender students to use the bathroom of their gender identity opens the door for sexual predators to visit bathrooms.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called the new directive blackmail, while other leaders said the federal government needs to stay out of state and local issues.
"This issue is a lot more than transgender individuals getting 'cart blanche access' to public restrooms," said Stan Plowden of Greenville. "If allowed to proceed, the degradation of societal norms on this issue will 'throw the doors open' to allow anyone who 'feigns' transgender identify to have unfettered access to areas where women and small children have always traditionally been assured were 'safe havens.'"
The S.C. House Ethics Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to publicly continue an investigation into former state Rep. Edward Southard.
The committee found 9-0 there was probable cause that the Berkeley Republican violated House policy.
The committee released redacted reports detailing allegations of inappropriate behavior by Southard toward two House pages and a lobbyist. Southards behavior was directed at African-American females who perceived the attention as inappropriate, according to an investigation by the Fisher and Philips Columbia law firm.
In a February letter, S.C. House Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Darlington, instructed Southard, 69, to have no contact with a House page who had accused the legislator of making her uncomfortable by touching her, hugging her and being too close to her. Southard signed that letter on Feb. 9.
On April 7, Fisher and Phillips was asked to investigate another complaint of inappropriate conduct by Southard.
According to that investigation, a page said she was sitting at Southards House desk on March 21, working on a document, when the Berkeley Republican placed his hand on her right leg and squeezed. Southard told investigators it is possible he slapped the pages knee when telling her that she was doing a good job.
The page said the married Southard told her to come home with him, commenting how beautiful she was and how she should be a queen, or his queen. Southard told investigators he did not recall telling the page she was beautiful or making any comments about a queen.
According to the report, Southard acknowledged he does compliment women in a similar fashion, giving as an example how he might say to a server in a restaurant, Its nice to be served by such a pretty girl.
The page also said Southard put his foot under hers while her legs were crossed. (The page) states she backed away from the desk to avoid this foot contact and (Southard) asked her again if she was nervous.
Other lawmakers were interviewed about the incident, but none said they witnessed the events described by the page, the report said.
Afterward, several witnesses described the page as visibly upset, frightened, nervous, unhappy, distraught and slumped over.
Fisher and Phillips also detailed the account of a lobbyist who said she had an encounter with Southard this spring.
The lobbyist had told Southard she was interested in buying a car. Southard offered to show her his sons car, which was for sale, in the State House parking garage.
Southard escorted the lobbyist to the vehicle, who got in the passenger side, as he got in the driver side, according to the law firms report. After talking about the car, the lobbyist alleged Rep. Southard suddenly grabbed her left forearm and began saying, Go out with me and Why wont you go out with me?
That incident could not be substantiated because there were no witnesses and the lobbyist did not confide in anyone at the time. However, the conduct the lobbyist accused Southard of closely corresponds with statements and actions alleged by other African-American females, the law firm said in its report.
Reached by phone on Tuesday, Southard said hes been advised for five weeks now not to say a word, adding, especially to the media.
Southard told the Associated Press on Tuesday that he had been promised the allegations against him would be dropped if he resigned from the House, which he did in April.
However, the Republicans name is still on the ballot for the District 100 House seat that he formerly held. Southard does not have a challenger in the upcoming June GOP primary or November general election.
Southard said Tuesday he could not say what his plans are concerning the November election.
Southard is the second House member in two years to face allegations of harassment. Former state Rep. Nelson Hardwick, R-Horry, resigned last year after a sexual-harassment allegation was filed by a female House staff member.
Hardwick was indicted in October on a count of misconduct in office, a misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
Cassie Cope: 803-771-8657, @cassielcope
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The new office in Houston will be responsible for Ardmores activities in the Americas working along with the chartering teams in Europe and Singapore.
The office will be headed new recruit Holly Cummings as Ardmores chartering manager (Americas). Cummings joins Ardmore from Stena Weco where she was involved in MR chartering.
Our new office offers us the opportunity to build upon our existing relationships and strengthen our profile, both in Houston and across the Americas, she said.
Although it has always been an important player as a shipping and energy centre, Houston is emerging as an increasingly dynamic and fast-growing hub for chartering business and a great strategic location, with more and more shipping companies choosing to locate and do business from here.
Ardmore has fleet of 22 MRs and chemical tankers.
HMM, presently weighed down by a debt restructuring, stated that its entry into THE Alliance is postponed due to earlier speculation by some media reports about the company going under court receivership.
HMM is certain that entering THE Alliance is only a matter of time, and will surely take place once the companys continued efforts to stabilise its business ends. The current members of THE Alliance are going to determine HMMs participation once HMMs business is normalised, the Korea shipowner stated.
Compatriot shipowner Hanjin Shipping, which is also facing restructuring, is already part of THE Alliance, along with five others Hapag Lloyd, Yang Ming, K Line, NYK and MOL.
Apart from HMM potentially joining THE Alliance, UASC is also expected to join as it is in a merger talk with Hapag Lloyd.
The proposed forming of THE Alliance, subject to approval by the relevant regulatory authorities, will be a counterweight to the 2M and Ocean Alliance.
According to Alphaliner, the projected market share on the main Far East-Europe trade will see Ocean Alliance commanding 35%, 2M taking 34% and THE Alliance (if including UASC and HMM) with 30%.
On the Far East-North America trade, the estimated market share will be 39% each for Ocean Alliance and THE Alliance, and 16% for 2M.
Last week I spent a day chairing a small maritime security conference, where questions such as - Will Somali piracy comeback?, How can an owner protect his ship from pirates off West Africa? and What will happen to the private maritime security companies (PMSC)? - were hotly debated.
As with most these types of events it probably raised as many questions as it answered, but it did very well illustrate the complexity of the maritime security issue and the fact it is about much more than just Somali piracy.
But on the issue of Somali piracy and whether it could have a resurgence there were differing views, much revolved around whether the combination of factors that are believed to have prompted its rise in the first place are still in play. This then combines with a gradual scaling down of the naval presence in the area and fewer owners using armed guards, which provides greater opportunity to successfully attack ships.
Not surprisingly there was no definitive answer to the question, but there did seem to be a sense that the pirate gangs could ramp up again over a twothree year period if the right circumstances were to come together - or the wrong circumstances from the perspective of shipping.
It would appear to be a concept promoted by the surviving PMSCs. One speaker noted of the reported of attempted attacks reported off Somalia over the last year or so all had come from vessels carrying armed security teams. Which rather begged the question whether the pirates if thats what they actually were chose to attack only vessels with armed guards on them.
This segued somewhat neatly into the state of the somewhat parlous state of the PMSC sector itself. The recent voluntary liquidation of the Security Association of the Maritime Industry (SAMI), which essentially provided the standard for insurance cover related to PMSCs, underscores the uncertainty in this not so long ago burgeoning sector.
It was noted that the number of PMSCs had dropped from 150 in 2011 to 50 today, and the market could probably actually support around 3040 at most going forward.
One of the issues for PMSCs is that while the somewhat unique circumstances off the failed state of Somalia allowed them to operate in the way they do the same does not apply to other piracy hotspots.
The biggest area of concern today is West Africa, but no one is recommending the use of PMSCs in that area as you will quickly fall foul of the coastal states. While no one was exactly singing the praises of Nigerian military approved security teams if calling in the West African state, it was also seen as the only viable option.
PMSCs also face major difficulties in operating their other potential business area which is Southeast Asia. While the conference was a caught alight by the hijacking of the Hai Soon 12, and its successful interception by the Indonesian Navy, territorial waters in that region largely prelude armed security.
The overall conclusion - don't discount piracy in risk assessments - where it actually is a bit more complex.
Speaking at the Latham & Watkins Debt Restructuring Conference in Hong Kong, Liu said: "Looking at where we are today, the question that must be asked is 'how did we get here?' and the answer is it was quantitative easing coupled with a then high oil price environment was really what created the huge bubble."
She noted that over the past five years, high yield bond issuance in the energy space amounted to $300bn, comprising about a third of the entire high yield issuance.
Credit Suisse Hong Kong head of oil and gas, utilities and chemicals Christian Deiss meanwhile thought that from a deal making perspective and an investment perspective we are at an "interesting inflection point" where it has settled at the current level around $50, which is seen as a critical support level for oil majors and international oil companies (IOCs) to sustain their budgets.
Regardless of this however what has been seen especially among the larger companies over the past 12 to 18 months has been a focus on cashflow generation, reducing costs, mostly on the services side, reducing overheads and getting rid of non-core projects, Deiss said.
Looking ahead, he sees the main activity among these companies as being continued divestment of non-core assets as well as the pulling back of IOCs from Asia, especially in certain jurisdictions in Southeast Asia.
Meanwhile the oil field services sector is a lagging sector and is only just starting to see the effects as cost cuts cycle through the industry but it has been "hit very hard", said Deiss.
He noted that it is a fairly consolidated space at the top end but at the lower value added end of the chain, such as vessel and equipment providers, there is overcapacity that needs to be worked through, most likely through asset retirements.
"I don't see much activity there, and I think there is more pain to come, especially for the banks in this part of the world and the question for investors is whether there is asset value and how you potentially play that asset value on the upturn," he said.
In terms of opportunities, Deiss said there is the prospect of re-capitalisation deals in the oil field services sector as the commodity market starts to return to an up cycle.
On LNG, both speakers saw the continued deferral or cancellation of projects as additional supply coming onstream keeps putting pressure on prices. However, Liu noted that as the clean burning becomes more commoditised and it will become a greater investment focus of Chinese oil companies as they search for greater energy security.
Md Amir Hamzah Azizan said the main priority of the company is to take necessary and financially prudent steps to see out the current tough market conditions.
"This includes restructuring our capital and operating cost structures to focus on quick wins, and driving fleet utilisation through competitive bidding.
"As a result of our financial discipline focusing on cost optimisation and conserving cash flow, Icon continues to win new business through its competitive services.
Through its current initiatives, Icon is taking advantage of the current industry down-cycle by reshaping itself to capitalise on any recovery and to explore transformational and consolidation activities such M&As and diversification," he said.
The company has aggressively bid for new contracts in the last six months with the most recent being a Letter of Award from ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia Inc (EMEPMI) in May this year worth MYR42m ($10.4m).
Other measures include delaying the delivery of four new vessels, as the company seeks to conserve cash and ride through the current overcapacity situation.
We want to bring in these vessels when the market improves, Amir Hamzah said.
The deferral of the delivery will also mean expenditure for the vessels of about MYR90m, which was to be spent this year, will be pushed back, improving the group's cashflow situation for this year. Amir Hamzah added that the vessels will be put on milestone payments.
He added that the company had also been in talks with banks on the possibility of restructuring their loans to reduce the burden on their cash.
Amir Hamzah also said the group was now aggresively bidding for contracts in Brunei as part of its regionalisation strategy and to boost its order book, which as at March 31, 2016, stood at MYR640m.
"We like Brunei at this point of time. We have two vessels which have been successful in that market. We have traded in 10 other countries before, the key is to not trade opportunistically, but to penetrate and to stay in these markets," Amir Hamzah said.
We have done this in Brunei, so we have to see if we can do the same in other countries, he added. Amir Hamzah also said Icon Offshore is looking at other opportunities for long-term business in the region as well as options for merger and acquisitions possibilities.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May. 18
Trend:
The presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia committed themselves to respect the ceasefire, to put in place important confidence-building measures, and to begin negotiations next month that can lead to a comprehensive settlement, John Kirby, spokesman of the US State Department, said during a briefing.
Presidents demonstrated political will to move beyond the status quo and to take steps that can benefit all the people in the region, he added.
The United States, for our part, will stand ready to assist them in that regard, Kirby said. "It was a positive meeting and a step in the right direction. And now everybody has to do the hard work of implementing the things that they committed to".
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 18
Trend:
OSCE is expected to monitor the contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops on May 19, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry told Trend May 18.
It is planned to hold the monitoring under the mandate of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative on the contact line to the north of the Bash Garvand village of Azerbaijan's Aghdam district.
On the Azerbaijani side, the monitoring will be carried out by the field assistant of OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative Hristo Hristov and head of the OSCE High Level Planning Group, Colonel Hans Lampalzer.
On the opposite side, the monitoring will be conducted by the field assistants of OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative Simon Tiller, Peter Svedberg and representative of the OSCE High Level Planning Group, Colonel Andrei Barashkin.
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 18
By Anakhanum Idayatova - Trend:
The negotiations are always better in the conflict settlement than hostilities, a Russian expert told Trend via e-mail May 18, commenting on the Nagorno Karabakh issue.
"The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement requires compromises to which Azerbaijan and Armenia are not ready yet, so the conflict settlement will be delayed," said Leonid Gusev, a senior research fellow at the Analytical Center of the International Studies Institute at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.
"It is important that the situation on the line of contact not to turn into a direct military confrontation," the expert stressed, adding that it may have negative consequences for the entire region.
A meeting was held in Vienna May 16 involving President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, US Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, French Minister of State for European Affairs Harlem Desir, OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, and Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
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Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum
Press Release
May 17, 2016 BONGBONG MARCOS TO ASK COMELEC FOR SYSTEMS AUDIT OF AES
As Irregularities Uncovered In Own Quick Count The camp of Vice Presidential candidate Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos, Jr. is set to ask the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to open the Automated Election System for a systems audit after uncovering irregularities while tabulating results of the May 9 elections based on the Certificates of Canvass. Atty. Jose Amor Amorado, Head of the BBM for VP "Quick-Count" center said that according to their IT (Information Technology) experts, only a systems audit will show if the election results were not affected by the change in the script done to the server. "By tomorrow May 18 in the early afternoon 1pm we are filing a strongly-worded demand letter to the Comelec regarding the opening of the system for a systems audit because doing so will finally put to rest whether or not the changing of the '?' to 'n' that they tampered with resulted to something else," he said. Among others, Atty. Amorado cited the report of the Provincial Board of Canvassers of Laguna seeking permission from the Comelec to convene anew to "correct the discrepancies" in the manually-uploaded election results reflected in their provincial COC. In that report, Precinct No. 13423 which represents the town of Rizal in Laguna listed was 12 votes each for Senators Allan Peter Cayetano, Francis Escudero and Gringo Honasan and 9 votes each for Senator Marcos, Rep. Leni Robredo and Senator Antonio Trillanes. Atty. Amorado also noted the "highly irregular" number of undervotes in the Vice Presidential race. "We have collated unusually high percentages of under votes for the Vice Presidential race in all parts of the country - from Region 1 to the National Capital Region and all the way to Region 13 and the ARMM (Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao)" Amorado added. He explained that "under vote" means that the voter did not select any candidate. In contrast an "over vote" means the voter chose more than the number of candidates for the position. In both instances, the vote is not counted. "Overall, there were more than 3.3 million undervotes in the 2016 Vice Presidential derby and in a highly contested race, we consider the same highly suspicious," Amorado expressed. Amorado said they are in possession of evidence of other irregularities but they are still collating and validating them. He said these would be made public as soon as they get the necessary clearance. He added that Marcos would also send representatives to the hearing of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Automated Election System that will be investigating the unauthorized change in script of a transparency server for automated elections. "We would like to thank everyone who has been helping us in this campaign especially those who are risking their lives just to reveal vital information on the conduct of the elections. Rest assured that we will not stop until the true will of the people prevails," he said. Meanwhile, Amorado also said that based on their own count of 100 COCs out of a total of 108, Marcos received 13,506,005 votes compared to Cong. Leni Robredo who got 13,346,009, or a difference of 117,939 as of 3:15 p.m. Tuesday. "That's why we are optimistic we will win this election," he said. Likewise, Amorado welcomed the announcement of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) that it would terminate its quick count soon. Marcos had asked the COMELEC to have the PPCRV end its quick count, as done in the previous elections, to prevent confusion or doubt in the official results of the official canvass in case there is a noted variation between the two counts.
Press Release
May 18, 2016 Keynote Speech of Senator Loren Legarda
"Realignment of the Power Industry Towards Renewables"
Power & Electricity World Philippines
2016 18 May 2016 | SMX Convention Center Allow me to open my speech with a question: What kind of future are we leaving behind for our children? Our extractive and consumptive lifestyle, and misplaced notion of development have brought our world in a state of utter disrepair. We have been so focused on development without realizing that development without conscience destroys the world. It is reported that 2015 registered the hottest summers in the Northern Hemisphere ever since recording began in 1880. The highest temperature for Metro Manila last year was 39.4 degrees Celsius. In April this year, Manila's hottest temperature peaked at 37.7 degrees Celsius. The global temperature is getting hotter every year--2015 is the hottest year ever recorded, before that, 2014 was the hottest year on record. PAGASA made a bold prediction that this year can be a candidate for the warmest or one of the warmest years with daily maximum temperature of 40 degrees Celsius in Tuguegarao or the Cagayan area. El Nino is said to be weaking. La Nina, however, is believed to be not too far behind. Scientists have blamed human activity, particularly increased carbon dioxide emissions, as the major cause of anomalies in our weather system. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC, human activity released 545 gigatons of carbon dioxide from 1750 to 2011. It is projected that if 1,000 gigatons of carbon dioxide is emitted, which at current rates will likely occur between 2040 and 2050, there is a one-in-three possibility that the 2 degrees Celsius limit above the pre-industrial level will be exceeded. In the last decade, 90 percent of rise in carbon dioxide levels was due to burning of fossil fuels. As one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change impacts, the Philippines needs to lead in global advocacy efforts for the massive reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. By leading, we cannot demand action from others while we continue to aimlessly approve the construction of coal-fired power plants. Nothing builds and sustains credibility like an advocate who leads by practice. It has been said many times that as a developing nation, we need energy to build the foundations of our growth. I subscribe to a healthy energy mix, but not on the misguided axiom that our country should develop and acquire the energy and power it needs at all costs, regardless of whether it sustains or kills life. Today's issue is not just about security of energy supply. It is not just about reliability or affordability. It is about increasing clean energy supply, and using it wisely and efficiently. Energy security that assails the safety of our people and the environment can never guarantee inclusive development. Let us take a look at how other countries are doing. The US has already cancelled all coal operating contracts as it has been developing solar, wind and natural gas as its main energy sources; last year, renewables accounted for almost two-thirds (63.85 percent) of their new electrical generation. China is halting the approval of new coal mines for at least three years as of January 2016.[1] In Europe, they are scaling down on coal. Germany is a solar superpower, but only receives half the intensity of the sunlight we enjoy in the Philippines. There are countries that have the capacity to source 100% of their power requirements from RE. On windy days, Denmark can produce as much as 140% of its requirements. Iceland, through its geothermal energy, can source up to 100% of its power requirements from RE. Other countries have also invested in renewables on business or residential premises. More than a million residential properties in Australia now have solar systems installed.[2] Pay-as-you-go schemes are used to provide solar power to off-grid communities in developing countries like Bangladesh and Tanzania. Grameen Shakti, founded by Dr. Muhammad Yunus, installed solar home systems in a million homes in Bangladesh in 2012.[3] This only proves that renewable energy technologies can be promoted in rural areas in developing nations. If global projections point to a decline in the share of coal in power generation, and countries are shifting to 100% renewables, why is the Philippines taking the opposite track? The explanation given is anchored on simplistic assumptions--coal-fired power plants are the country's dominant power technology because economically, they are widely available and easy to build. People say renewable energy is expensive and coal is cheap. First, this does not take into account the true cost of coal. We need to factor in the externalities of coal-generated power. Coal affects our health, kills biodiversity and the environment, affects our waters, pollutes the air we breathe, and increases the risk of climate change. Second, RE is cheaper than some conventional fuels. In rural, off-grid areas, electricity must be sourced from expensive diesel fuel. Instead of subsidizing diesel for gensets in remote islands, we should turn to solar, hydro, biomass, geothermal or wind power. Third, the cost of renewable energy is inflated by the cost of doing business in our country. Project developers are faced with a long list of bureaucratic requirements. While some are necessary, many are products of subjective whims of public officials. This has to change. Not all is lost. I applaud the streamlining of the RE service contract application process by the Department of Energy -- from two (2) years to forty-five (45) days. I acknowledge the fact that we cannot totally get rid of coal today. Since we have not developed enough baseload renewable energy, we need to see coal as a transition energy source. But we seek the development of more renewable energy capacities so that in time, we can achieve greater self-sufficiency, sustainability and security in the energy sector. Our country is rich in renewable energy. Estimates from past studies by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory indicate that the Philippines has 246,000 megawatts of untapped renewable energy capacity. This is thirteen times more than our current installed capacity. Failure to develop these capacities would be unforgivable. Renewable energy currently accounts for 33% of the country's energy mix. I can say we have reached considerable progress; but we cannot stop just yet. We should have a good energy mix where there is a bias for renewables. We have a Renewable Energy Law that provides for the full development and use of RE in the country. It is said that we have one of the best RE laws in the world, and we adopted it long before other countries adopted their own. The RE law provides the necessary policy mechanisms such as the Feed-in Tariff, Net Metering, Renewable Portfolio Standards, Green Energy Option, Renewable Energy Market, and other fiscal incentives such as income tax holiday. The National Renewable Energy Program has set out aggressive targets on renewable energy development from 2011-2030, aiming to increase RE capacity to 15,304 megawatts by the year 2030. There have been challenges, however, in our efforts to fast track the development of our renewable energy resources more aggressively. Impacts on electricity pricing have been a major consideration among our regulators, particularly as we already have one of the highest electricity rates in the world. We import much of the oil and coal we use, thus making us vulnerable to price fluctuations. Renewables are indigenous resources and we are responsible for setting its price. In essence, we have greater control over the pricing of RE thereby mitigating pricing risks. The development of the country's RE resources is supposed to be our long-term response to our huge oil import bill. Prices of RE technologies have significantly gone down since 2008. The price of solar panels, for example, has gone down by at least 80% since 2008. What we need now to address intermittency is to have cheaper energy storage and there are companies that are already rapidly decreasing battery costs. There are two compelling reasons for accelerating the development and utilization of renewable energy in the country--energy self-sufficiency and environmental sustainability. Growth is difficult to imagine without energy; and energy that does not take into consideration the needs of future generations can only destroy and not build. Development, progress, and quality of life cannot be the exclusive domain of a few. Quality of life comes with a price tag--not necessarily beyond our reach. Building liveable cities and communities requires good planning. More importantly, it requires a genuine commitment to the ultimate goal of putting the Earth's and our people's survival foremost over all other concerns. Last April 22, the Philippines and 174 other nations signed the Paris Agreement on Climate Change which aims to limit global temperature rise within the century "well below 2 degrees Celsius and to drive efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels."[4] The Philippines has committed to reduce GHG emissions by 70% by year 2030 from the business as usual scenario from energy, transport, waste, industry and forestry. We may not be a major emitter of carbon dioxide, but that does not mean we have no obligation to promote environmental sustainability. We need to deliver on our commitment. We can only meet this if there is radical shift in the way our country develops our indigenous clean energy resources. The Philippines likewise committed to achieve the objectives of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Sustainable Development Goals. The energy sector has a crucial role to play in achieving these goals. But whatever sector or industry we belong to, we are all obliged to be stewards of the Earth and its resources. The world is not just about us. The future is not twenty years from now. It begins today, dedicated to those who will be born beyond our time. It is clear injustice to let future generations suffer the irreversible consequences of our irresponsible actions. The climate crisis presents the opportunity to promote green growth for the sake of humanity and the only planet we call home. We should act to protect the Earth not just with a sense of urgency, rather with a sense of great emergency. Thank you.*** ________________________________________ [1] Former US VP Al Gore's Presentation at the Climate Reality Training in Manila, March 2016 [2] Ibid. [3] Grameen Shakti Makes a World Record in Non-Grid Power Generation http://www.gshakti.org/ [4] The Paris Agreement, Conference of Parties 21. Article 22.1 (a).
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Aygun Badalova - Trend:
Fragile ceasefire is better than war, but it is a temporary solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Nathalie Goulet, member of the French Senate, told Trend May 18.
"I think that the ceasefire is the best solution under one condition - the good will of both parties," she said.
Goulet pointed out that Azerbaijan pursues wise policy by not answering the Armenian provocations.
Armenians are very gifted to show themselves as victims, she said, adding that this victimization is not adequate to the current situation.
The French senator noted that Armenia is the aggressor according to international resolutions.
Further, Goulet said that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are now aware that the "frozen" conflict needs urgent solution.
She said that Russia is now looking ready to be more involved in the process of the conflict's settlement. Goulet went on to add that currently France and the US are in a stormy political time, with major presidential and parliamentary elections, and thus Armenian lobby in those countries will not meet any strong opposition.
On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.
Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
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Follow the author on Twitter: @AygunBadalova
Hundreds of SoMa residents worried that their affordable rents could soon more than double can now rest easy. The city has cut a deal with the owner of South Beach Marina Apartments at 2 Townsend St. to keep the units at below-market prices.
The history of the apartments is unusual: The five apartment houses were built in the late 1980s and early 1990s with city redevelopment money, loaned in exchange for a promise that 20 percent of the units would stay affordable for 25 years. But as that time period neared its end, residents in the 101 units had been scrambling to find a way to ensure their rents didnt soar.
In exchange for keeping in the rents down, the buildings owner will receive a $60 million credit from the city for future development projects meaning the owner or its affiliates wont have to build the equivalent of $60 million worth of below-market-rate units in future projects.
Dennis MacKee, spokesman for the Florida Board of Administration, a state pension fund that bought the Townsend Street apartments in 1999, said the fund is pleased there is no displacement.
We have worked hard with the Board of Supervisors for several months to develop a fair and equitable solution, he said.
Supervisor Jane Kim, who helped broker the deal, said it would benefit working-class San Franciscans.
These arent simply below-market-rate units; these are the places that families have called their homes since 1985, Kim said in a statement. I am thrilled to announce today that we were able to successfully protect 101 homes and keep 101 families in place.
Emily Green
This looks familiar: Mayor Ed Lees plan to give developers extra height and density in exchange for building a greater number of affordable units all but died earlier this year amid fears the changes would drive out small businesses and destroy neighborhood character.
Now, the progressives who helped kill what was called an affordable housing bonus program have proposed their own version of the plan, which is basically the same idea scaled back to its bare bones.
The yet-to-be-introduced legislation would allow nonprofit developers who build 100 percent below-market units to add two additional stories beyond current zoning restrictions.
Supervisors Aaron Peskin and Eric Mar are authoring the legislation, which they plan to introduce in the coming weeks. That the legislation isnt ready didnt stop them from having a news conference on the steps of City Hall on Tuesday morning.
Its development without displacement, Mar told supporters. This is about density done right, with input from our communities. ... Progressives like me and others on the board and in our communities are not against development. I support development that is done equitably and without displacement.
Its unclear how many additional units the legislation would create, although the number is likely in the low hundreds.
Last year, nonprofit developers constructed about 10 buildings that were 100 percent below-market, creating between 700 and 800 units, said affordable housing advocate Peter Cohen, who heads the Council of Community Housing Organizations.
Cohen said a key benefit of Peskin and Mars legislation is that it has widespread community support, unlike the mayors affordable housing bonus program.
You have to start where the political consensus is, Cohen said, rather than choking it down everybodys throat.
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Emily Green
Let there be life: The most-fought-over tree in San Francisco will see life yet.
The Board of Supervisors has voted to confer landmark status on the tall and slender pine arborists cant agree on its species located in the backyard of a private house on Cook Street in the Inner Richmond.
The owner of the house wanted to cut down the tree, which stands around 100 feet tall and can be seen across the neighborhood. Many neighbors wanted it preserved.
The tiff got so contentious that neighbors secured a restraining order from the Public Utilities Commission prohibiting its removal. Lawyers were hired and a shaman was consulted seriously.
Supervisor Mark Farrell, in whose district the tree is located, stayed clear of the dispute until the Urban Forestry Council concluded that the tree should be landmarked because of its physical attributes, rarity, environmental benefits and cultural support.
Farrell followed the councils suggestion and introduced landmark legislation for the tree. Last week, the Board of Supervisors gave the legislation, and the tree, its full stamp of approval.
Emily Green
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The possibility that Star Wars creator George Lucas will try to bring his museum of Hollywood memorabilia and illustrative art to Treasure Island highlights what is going to be one of the biggest transformations San Francisco has seen in decades the building of a high-rise neighborhood right in the middle of the bay.
Under a deal worked out between San Francisco and developers Wilson Meany and the Lennar Corp., some 8,000 housing units, two hotels and 550,000 square feet of commercial space will be going up on the former naval base. There will also be 300 acres of parkland.
One of the hotels, a project that will also include condominiums, could go as high as 45 stories. Many of the housing units and offices will be in a dozen or so buildings that go as high as 35 stories.
It is absolutely happening, said Kofi Bonner, regional head of Lennar Corp. We will be spending about $100 million on it over the next couple of years.
The first part of the project is already under way on Yerba Buena Island, where prep work has begun to build 250 two- and three-bedroom homes facing San Francisco.
Then, starting in July, the big build on Treasure Island begins. The high-rises will be going up near the Bay Bridge, which is one of the more solid sections of the man-made island. Still, the developers will have to build up the island with tons of dirt.
Eventually, by 2030 or so, 25,000 people could make their home on the island, compared with the 1,800 who live there now in former military housing.
The idea is that a Lucas museum could be a magnet for the area, the way AT&T Park drew businesses and residents to China Basin more than a decade ago. It might also help with traffic, because ferries to the museum could also be used by residents.
A ferry terminal is already planned for the west side of the island, and boats could be docking by 2021.
If Lucas were to open his museum across from the planned ferry terminal within five years, however, service could ramp up much sooner.
Lest you think this is all a Star Wars-like fantasy, consider that Supervisor Aaron Peskin a critic of past Treasure Island development plans will sit down with Lucas team this week to start talks in earnest.
Mayor Ed Lee, needing cover with progressives on any big development deal, is happy to let him take the lead.
Wheres the force? Marc Benioff, the Salesforce boss well known for his philanthropy in the Bay Area, took a swipe at George Lucas the other day tweeting out no way to a Treasure Island museum unless he does something for SF Schools, Hospitals, & Homeless.
The tweet got the attention of Lucas and his wife, TV financial analyst Mellody Hobson. She phoned Benioff on Tuesday to discuss his concerns.
Look, I support the museum, Benioff told us. But I just would like to see that if we do deals like the museum, we do deals that support our kids.
He added, There is a lot of money flowing through San Francisco today, and it would be nice if we saw a percentage of that go into the safety net.
Benioffs stand is interesting, considering he was among a host of heavyweights who signed a letter a couple of years back urging the Presidio Trust to allow Lucas to build his museum near Crissy Field.
And in fact, Lucas has done his own share of charitable giving most notably, pledging in 2012 to donate to educational charities the majority of the $4 billion he made from selling Lucasfilm.
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Also, the $700 million or so that Lucas is committing to his new museum includes a major educational component, teaching kids about digital arts.
As for whether Benioff got any clues from Hobson about how serious Lucas is about abandoning his stalled plan for a museum in Chicago in favor of Treasure Island?
They want to get their museum built for sure and I think they are at a point where they will take it wherever they can get it, Benioff said.
Chiang in: Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has some competition in the 2018 race for governor. With little fanfare, state Treasurer John Chiang took out papers Monday to begin raising money for the race as well.
The son of immigrants from Taiwan, Chiang is about as opposite in style as you can get from Newsom, with his history of taking showy stands on cutting-edge issues like same-sex marriage and legalized recreational marijuana.
Gavin is a terrific orator, but I think people want a leader who is going to solve problems, Chiang said.
And as a tax law specialist who worked as an attorney for then-state Controller Gray Davis and served on the state Board of Equalization before being elected controller himself, Chiang thinks he fits the bill.
On a quick check of issues, Chiang said he supports extending the tax-the-rich part of Proposition 30, backs high-speed rail if we can find private financing for it, and wants more information before taking a stand on legalized weed.
Definitely not showy.
San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: matierandross
Authorities are on the hunt for the man responsible for a late-morning shooting Tuesday at San Pablo Park in Berkeley that left a young man in the hospital with multiple gunshot wounds.
The Berkeley Police Department received several reports of gunshots fired in the area at 11:08 a.m., said Officer Byron White, a Berkeley Police Department spokesman.
Officers, upon arrival to the location, found a man believed to be in his early twenties with multiple gunshot wounds outside of the parks bathrooms, White said.
The man was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
White was unsure of the mans condition as of early Tuesday afternoon.
Witnesses in the area described the shooter as a light-skinned male, in his 20s, about 6-foot-tall, wearing a cream-colored shirt and baggy jeans, White said.
Officers werent aware of any other details regarding the incident and said the investigation is ongoing.
We are talking to neighbors and witnesses to try to determine what has happened, White said.
I wouldnt say something like this is common in this area, he said. Weve had shootings here in the past, but its not a common occurrence.
Anyone with information about the incident can contact the Berkeley Police Department at (510) 981-5900.
Kevin Schultz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kschultz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: KevinEdSchultz
Drivers tired of dodging potholes and transportation officials weary of fighting for funding got a bit of promising news with a recent poll showing that Bay Area voters may be willing to raise their gas taxes by a nickel a gallon to fix roads.
But the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, responsible for regional transportation planning and finance, is in no hurry to put a nine-county gas tax measure on the November ballot for fear it might weaken other potential efforts to coax voters to help pay for a variety of transportation needs and other projects.
Were extremely mindful that if we put another measure on the ballot, that could, for some voters, make a difference, said Randy Rentschler, an MTC spokesman. We worry about that because there are a lot of things we want to do, but we know there is a limit to what people will support.
No city, county or transportation agency has placed a measure on the November ballot yet they have until June or July but several are planning to do so.
Voters in San Francisco, Alameda and Contra Costa counties will probably be asked to approve a $3.5 billion bond measure to modernize and maintain BART. In addition, half-cent sales tax measures to improve roads, highways and public transportation are being contemplated in San Francisco, Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties. Oakland is also contemplating a city bond measure that, among other things, could fund road, bicycle and pedestrian improvements.
And that doesnt count expected housing measures and the usual school, library and assorted city, county and district tax measures likely to populate the ballot.
While the need to invest in the Bay Areas transportation system is obvious, as anyone whos packed onto a BART or Muni train or sat at the Bay Bridge toll plaza can attest, Bay Area leaders are concerned that they could risk alienating voters with too many disjointed requests to help improve the regions transportation mess.
There may be tax exhaustion before the time Bay Area voters get to the end of their ballots, said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Coupal said voters need to be convinced that spending more money to relieve congestion will work.
State, federal funds cut
Whats driving the plethora of potential transportation tax measures is a sharp decline in state and federal funding. State and federal gas taxes, the traditional way of funding transportation, havent been increased in two decades, and revenue is falling as gas consumption declines. Gridlock in Congress has cut transportation funding to a trickle, and a strange twist in the way California collects the gas tax that requires an adjustment to the tax rate when prices rise or fall has also prompted cuts in projected funding.
So regions such as the Bay Area have a choice to either resign themselves to forever sit in gridlock or stand on crowded trains or figure out how to pay for it themselves.
Were not getting the help we used to out of Washington and Sacramento, said Ross Chittenden, chief deputy executive director of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority, which is leading the effort for the Contra Costa tax measure. Were having to take things into our own hands.
The Bay Area has a history of passing transportation bond measures, such as the one in 1962 that paid for BARTs construction, as well as transportation sales taxes, which got their start in Santa Clara County in 1976. Every Bay Area county except Solano has passed one or more sales taxes to help make it easier to get around. And Solano, which has come close in the past, will try again in June with a half-cent proposal that would last for five years.
A variety of polls on the potential ballot measures show that theyre at least close to the support theyll need to win individually. Late in April, the MTC poll, for instance, showed that 65 percent of voters back a nickel-per-gallon gas tax. Its the closest in almost two decades that polling results have come close to a 66.7 percent supermajority needed to pass a regional gas tax.
Crowded ballot concerns
But nobody is sure how voters might react to a long ballot that proposes a regional gas tax, a BART bond measure and a transportation sales tax.
Carl Guardino, a member of the state Transportation Commission and chief executive officer of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, has worked to pass several transportation measures. He doesnt think a crowded ballot, even one with multiple transportation measures, will sway citizens to vote any of them down.
That is a common assumption that is commonly wrong, he said, explaining that he thinks voters consider issues separately, then act on whats best for them.
November elections for president are the best time to ask voters for money, he said, because theyre contemplating the future and thinking about issues.
Weve never had a clean ballot free of other tax measures, Guardino said, referring to Santa Clara County transportation sales tax efforts, and theyve all been successful.
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Chittenden, however, isnt convinced. While Contra Costa voters have approved two transportation sales tax proposals in the past, antitax sentiment runs stronger in the county than in San Francisco or Alameda counties.
Were very concerned about the length of the ballot and where we ultimately get placed, he said. Ive heard people say theres no evidence that a crowded ballot hurts your chances, but theres no evidence that it doesnt, either.
Regional discussions
Contra Costa officials are working closely with BART to make sure their measures work together instead of competing.
Everything dovetails together well, he said. But will people see that and support them all, or will they pick and choose?
Scott Wiener, a San Francisco supervisor and MTC member, said similar talks are going on among all the Bay Area counties and transportation agencies about how to keep, or get, the region moving with the help of transportation taxes.
There are a lot of regional conversations happening right now, he said. And its long overdue. We as a region need to realize that we all rise and fall together when it comes to transportation.
As for the regional gas tax plan, MTC commissioners are leaning toward conducting more detailed polling, including a look at the cumulative impact of ballot measures, before they make a decision.
Now that George Lucas dream of a grandiose museum in Chicago is starting to look as ill-fated as his 1986 flop Howard the Duck, I wonder if he finally realizes that his best friends in San Francisco were the directors of the Presidio Trust.
They tried to save him from himself.
That wasnt the spin in 2014, when political powers-that-be heaped scorn on the trust for daring to tell the billionaire filmmaker that he couldnt do what he wanted with a trophy site across from the marsh at Crissy Field. So Lucas took off for Chicago, where Mayor Rahm Emanuel had 17 acres waiting for him on the shores of Lake Michigan.
But heres the kicker: The Chicago museum is now bogged down in the courts, delaying the planned groundbreaking until who-knows-when or if. Exactly the type of morass that the trust saw coming if it let Lucas have his way.
There would have been lawsuits up the wazoo, said Nancy Hellman Bechtle, who spent five years chairing the board that manages the former Army post, now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. People say, You were so courageous, but Im not sure we had any other choice.
Bechtle left the board last June, part of a mini-purge. While her second term had just ended, members often continue to serve for months before replacements are selected. Instead, Bechtle was shown the door, and two first-term directors, William Hambrecht and Charlene Harvey, werent reappointed by President Obama.
The changes were seen as payback by the likes of Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, both of whom were in Lucas camp. So was tech investor Ron Conway, a confidante of Mayor Ed Lee who had proclaimed that LucasLand officially the Lucas Cultural Arts Museum would show the world that San Francisco is, and will remain, this countrys capital of innovation.
Lcam
Conway celebrated the dismissal of the three by calling them colluders and crowing to The Chronicle, Thank God, the president of the United States got out the broom and swept out the trust.
Bechtle admits the name-calling hurt accused of being dishonest is not fun but what else could she do?
Lucas wanted to build a structure larger than was allowed. It would have intruded on views of the Golden Gate Bridge from new parkland that will drape from the Main Posts parade ground to Crissy Field. The original design resembled nothing so much as a Xerox of the Palace of Fine Arts.
I dont want to come out sanctimonious on this, but the trust board wasnt established to make money for the city, Bechtle said this week over lunch at a cafe near her Presidio Heights home. We had oversight over public land. You take the oath to protect a special place, and that makes a difference.
So Lucas headed off to Chicago, despite efforts by the trust board to steer him to a nearby Presidio site that lacked the prominence but still offered postcard views. Goodbye, snooty elitists second-guessing the creator of Star Wars. Hello, that fabled City of Big Shoulders, where the mayors word is law.
Though Emanuel brushed aside all objections to the project and various commissions bestowed their blessings, the advocacy group Friends of the Parks filed a lawsuit saying that the Lucas museum on his preferred site would violate public trust doctrine. And last month, a federal district judge ruled that a full trial must be held on the merits of the suit.
In other words, the Chicago scenario has turned out to be just like the one that would have occurred in San Francisco if the trust had fallen in line with the wishes of Lucas starry-eyed supporters. Ignore legal concerns and what do you get? A day in court.
Theoretically, Lucas could head back west in search of the slam-dunk museum site. Id say thats as likely as Howard the Duck 2, but on Tuesday, mayoral spokeswoman Christine Falvey said in response to an email that Mayor Lee continues to believe that the museum and investment belong in San Francisco and the Bay Area, and we would welcome the opportunity to work with Mr. Lucas again.
As for Bechtle, shes smart enough to know that the legacy of her board isnt the standoff with a billionaire, but the progress it made in the ongoing revival of 1,491 acres at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge. New trails. Restored buildings, including the Main Posts 19th century brick barracks. The financial self-sufficiency required by Congress when the military base was handed off to the National Park Service.
Asked about the facets of todays Presidio that she can point to with pride, Bechtle caught me by surprise.
Im so glad we saved the weeping willows at El Polin Spring, Bechtle beamed, referring to two aged trees in a clearing where water bubbles from a crevice into a small bowl-shaped valley. They were going to be removed because theyre nonnative. When I heard that, I said, What?
Trust staff got the message: When I go walking there now and see a whole class of children under the weeping willows, I love that, Bechtle said. Those trees are a treasured part of our past.
As is the Presidio. Whether or not theres a $400 million museum to show off.
Place is a weekly column by John King, the San Francisco Chronicles urban design critic. Email: jking@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @johnkingsfchron
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Embattled Lending Club disclosed late Monday that it has received a grand jury subpoena from the Department of Justice after it ousted Renaud Laplanche as chairman and CEO on May 9 over internal control issues.
The San Francisco company, which operates an online marketplace for consumer loans, also disclosed that a number of investors that, in the aggregate, have contributed a significant amount of funding on the platform, have paused their investments. ... As a result, the company may need to use its own funds to purchase these loans in the coming months.
The news, included in a quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, calls into question whether Lending Club can regain the investor trust it needs to survive.
The company originally connected consumers who needed loans with individual investors willing to fund them. As it grew, most of its funding came from institutions, not individuals. Some institutions packaged Lending Club loans into securities they sold to other investors.
Many Lending Club borrowers used their loans to pay off higher-rate credit card debt. The issue now is whether investors will continue funding these loans at a rate that lets this model work.
I think survival is very much a question mark at this point, said Julianna Balicka, an analyst with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. Until they have a clear strategy to regain investor confidence, she said, it really isnt possible for us to know how this will play out.
On May 9, Lending Club said Laplanche resigned after a board review found that the company sold $22 million in loans to an unnamed institutional investor in contravention of the investors express instructions. It added that certain personnel apparently were aware that the sale did not meet the investors criteria. The review started after it was discovered that someone changed the application dates for $3 million of the loans.
Separately, the company said Laplanche failed to fully inform the board that he had a personal interest in an outside fund while Lending Club was considering an investment in the same fund.
Shares in Lending Club fell 34 cents, or 8.6 percent, to $3.60 per share Tuesday. It went public in December 2014 at $15 per share. Its stock shot as high as $25.90 shortly after the IPO, but it has been mostly downhill since then as concerns over marketplace lending have continued to mount.
Lending Club said it contacted the Securities and Exchange Commission about the matter and that ti intends to cooperate with the SEC and the Justice Department.
In its SEC filing, it said that an outside adviser analyzed certain loan data elements from whole loans issued and sold during the second quarter of 2014 through the first quarter of 2016. Excluding the $3 million of loans with doctored dates, the adviser found that 99.99% of the remaining loans display either no changes or changes explained by the normal course of business. It said it has taken various control remediation steps, including termination or resignation of senior managers involved in these non-compliant loan sales, and intends to take additional control and other remediation steps in the coming months.
Lending Club has been selling 100 percent of the loans made through its marketplace. If investors back off, the company could hold some of those loans itself, but thats only a stopgap measure, Balicka said.
Hedge funds might be willing to take the place of departing investors, but they are likely to want higher rates, said Evan Singer, president of SmartBiz Loans, a San Francisco company that helps banks originate Small Business Administration loans through its online marketplace. The question is, will borrowers be willing to pay the higher rate if (Lending Clubs) cost of capital goes up?
Singer said that some large financial institutions with lower costs of capital, such as Goldman Sachs, are planning to enter this business. I think (Lending Club) can survive, but they have some challenges, he said.
Insikt is a San Francisco company that has purchased about $80 million in Lending Club loans. It buys whole loans that meet its proprietary underwriting criteria. It has packaged about $45 million of these loans into securities and sold them to accredited individual investors.
It is purchasing loans through Lending Club and Prosper as a sideline to its core business, which is working with banks to make nonprime loans to customers with lower credit ratings.
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Insikt will continue buying loans through Lending Club provided they still meet our credit criteria, said James Gutierrez, Insikt chief executive.
Lending Club has done a million things right to get where they are, he said. But they need to enhance their disclosures, they need to enhance their processes internally to make sure something like this never happens again. This is one thing they did wrong out of a million things right.
Lending Club said, We are not surprised to receive a Department of Justice subpoena in light of our public disclosures and the focus of the department on financial services. The company is fully cooperating and has engaged in a productive and orderly dialogue through counsel. While the investigation is still in its early stages, the Company is pleased with the open and positive interactions that have occurred to date.
Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: kpender@sfchronicle.com Twitter: kathpender
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Seba Aghayeva - Trend:
The statements made by Yerevan after the Vienna meeting on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict's settlement are provocative again and distort the conflict's essence, Hikmet Hajiyev, spokesman for Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, told Trend May 18.
He was commenting on the statement made by Armenia's Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian during a session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Sofia, Bulgaria.
"Today, the entire international community, in particular, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs emphasize the inadmissibility of the current dangerous status quo and urge for changing it," said the spokesperson. "Unfortunately, instead of showing constructiveness, Armenia's foreign minister by all means tries again to create conditions for maintaining the status quo."
"If Nalbandian is doing this under the instructions of his country's president, then it is a dangerous path and it can dramatize the situation," said Hajiyev. "The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs should take serious measures in this regard."
The remarks made by Nalbandian, who represents the corrupt military dictatorship, on the concept of "democratic security" or "democratic peace" can only cause laughter and irony, said Hajiyev.
"The Armenian regime, which is committing massacre against its citizens by using firearms, has no moral, political and legal right to talk about human rights and democracy," he added.
"Armenia's military gamble on the line of contact in early April has once again proved that the Armenian regime is a serious threat for the whole region," said Hajiyev.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
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Of course Bryan Cranston is monumental as Lyndon Baines Johnson in the HBO adaptation of the play All the Way. You know that going in because Cranston is prodigiously gifted and because he won a Tony for playing the role on Broadway.
The added gift of the HBO film, airing Saturday, May 21, is that Robert Schenkkans adaptation of his own play offers us a chance to reconsider Johnsons complex legacy, something that is somewhat of a cottage industry in American politics and letters, but is especially valuable against the backdrop of a singular presidential election year.
All the Way begins with the sound of gunfire and then the image of an unoccupied presidential limousine. There is blood on the seat of the car. You can just make out handprints that you know belong to the first lady on the trunk of the car.
The president is dead. We dont need to see the administration of the oath of office to his successor because that photo, with Johnson flanked by his wife, Lady Bird, and Jacqueline Kennedy, is indelible in our minds.
Johnson (Cranston, Breaking Bad) and Lady Bird (Melissa Leo, The Fighter) are trying to collect and focus their thoughts as they fly back to Washington on Air Force One. Ready or not, LBJ is president and in charge.
All the Way focuses on Johnsons life and career as he picks up the reins of the American presidency after John F. Kennedys assassination and sets about defying the odds, not to mention Southern segregationists, by getting the 1964 Civil Rights Act passed.
Right or wrong, popular opinion has it that Kennedy was a political saint and Richard Nixon was the 20th century version of Richard III. Both men were far more complicated than that, of course, but their stories are too easily oversimplified without close examination.
No matter what you think of Johnson, his story cannot be simplified. Nearly 50 years after he left office, the jury of public opinion is still considering the verdict. Some view him as motivated only by his love of power when he allowed the voting rights portion of the Civil Rights bill to be trimmed in order to get the bill passed. Others see him as, in fact, more committed to civil rights than Kennedy ever was and admire his strategy to win a war by surrendering a battle.
Almost certainly, the Civil Rights Act would not have passed with the voting rights provision. Once Johnson got it passed, he could come back, as he promises Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Anthony Mackie, Captain America: Civil War) he will do, to pass a separate voting rights act because he had his sizable boot in the door already.
All the Way is packed with superb performances in addition to Cranstons. Mackie delivers an Emmy-worthy performance as King. Bradley Whitford (The West Wing) is almost unrecognizable as himself, but spot-on as Sen. Hubert Humphrey. Frank Langella (The Americans) makes Sen. Richard Russell the unyielding but ultimately broken father figure to LBJ. And Leo makes it very clear that Lady Bird was about much more than beautifying America.
The script is nearly perfect in its nuanced attention to the complexities of Johnsons character, but it stumbles a bit at a couple of points. After Johnsons most trusted aide, Walter Jenkins (Todd Weeks, Falling Skies), is arrested in a YMCA mens restroom for disorderly conduct, Schenkkan has a perplexed LBJ questioning FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover (a wonderfully slimy Stephen Root, Turn) about how you can tell if someone is gay. Edgar is danged if he knows, while were supposed to chuckle at the irony. The moment is rather cheap and not worthy of the rest of the script.
There is no question that Johnson, the protege of House Speaker Sam Rayburn and Russell, was an exceptionally astute politician, peerless in amassing and leveraging power. In opposing Russell and other segregationists, Johnson knew full well he was placing the possibility of being elected to a full term in jeopardy. He did it anyway.
He declared war on poverty, but was dogged in his first full term by the escalating mess in Vietnam that hed inherited from his predecessors. That war would hound him in his second term to the point where one of the most memorable images from the era remains David Levines cartoon of LBJ famously showing reporters his gall bladder surgery scar. Except that the scar was now shaped like North and South Vietnam.
Its no wonder Robert Caro has filled four volumes on the life of the 36th president, with another one still on the horizon. As a man and as a consummate politician, Johnson was a Shakespearean figure in the nations history. Schenkkan and director Jay Roach have taken a chance by deciding to walk a very fine line between depicting LBJ as either a hero of the civil rights battle or an opportunist. The danger in that kind of approach is that Johnson could have come across as neither and we might have concluded that the filmmakers had pulled significant punches.
Instead, we come away with a somewhat greater understanding of Johnsons enigmatic complexity and, above all, the realization that there are no easy answers when it comes to determining his impact on history.
David Wiegand is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dwiegand@sfchronicle.com
All the Way: Made-for-TV film, 8 p.m. Saturday, May 21, on HBO.
Were very proud today to introduce our Thursday weekly columnist, who actually needs no introduction since she appears frequently on our pages and on SFGate.com, where shes a regular blogger.
Beth Spotswood is a San Francisco native who grew up in Marin County and returned to San Francisco after college in the East. She spent four years as a backstage dresser for Steve Silvers Beach Blanket Babylon before signing on as a website producer for KPIX.
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WASHINGTON Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders battled to a neck-and-neck outcome in Kentuckys presidential primary Tuesday, as Clinton declared victory and sought to blunt the momentum of her Democratic rival ahead of a likely general-election matchup against Republican Donald Trump. Sanders won Oregon and vowed to soldier on.
The race in Kentucky was too close to call, but Clinton wrote on her Twitter feed: We just won Kentucky! Thanks to everyone who turned out. Were always stronger united. With almost all the votes counted, Clinton held a narrow lead of less than one-half of 1 percent as she tried to avoid ending the primary season with a string of losses to the Vermont senator.
Trump won the sole GOP contest in Oregon, where Sanders was declared the winner shortly after the polls closed in the liberal-leaning state.
Rallying supporters in California, Sanders said he would end up with about half of the delegates in Kentucky and promised to press forward even though he would need to win about two-thirds of the remaining pledged delegates to end the primary season in a tie.
Before we will have the opportunity to defeat Donald Trump, were going to have to defeat Secretary Clinton, Sanders said to cheers in Carson (Los Angeles County).
Clinton holds a lead of nearly 300 pledged delegates over Sanders and a dominant advantage among party officials and elected leaders known as superdelegates. The outcomes in Kentucky and Oregon were not expected to change that, and the former secretary of state remains on track to clinch the nomination in early June.
Tuesdays elections took place amid new questions about party unity following a divisive weekend state party convention in Nevada. Supporters of Sanders tossed chairs and made death threats against the Nevada party chairwoman at the event in Las Vegas, arguing the party leadership rigged the results of the convention in favor of Clinton.
In a sign of the tensions between the two sides, Sanders issued a defiant statement Tuesday dismissing complaints from Nevada Democrats as nonsense and said his supporters were not being treated with fairness and respect.
Trump won the sole GOP contest in Oregon. The billionaire businessman picked up nine delegates earlier Tuesday in Guam, which held its territorial convention in March, and had 1,143 delegates heading into the Oregon contest fewer than 100 delegates short of the 1,237 he needs to clinch the nomination.
For Democrats, 55 delegates were up for grabs in Kentucky and 61 delegates were at stake in Oregon. Clinton and Sanders will each pick up at least 25 delegates in Kentucky, with five delegates remaining to be allocated pending final vote tallies.
The Sanders campaign did not immediately say whether it will challenge the results in Kentucky, which does not have an automatic recount.
The SLA went up in flames that night.
The Chronicles front page from May 18, 1974, covers the Los Angeles standoff, shootout and fire that ended in the deaths of six members of the Symbionese Liberation Army.
Donald DeFreeze, the gun-crazy escaped convict who called himself General Field Marshal Cinque of the Symbionese Liberation Army, died with four other persons in a savage gunbattle (in Los Angeles) with police and the FBI last night, law officials at the scene said, the story by correspondent Paul Avery on The Chronicles front page reported.
Two of the dead were women members of the SLA, the terrorist group that murdered Marcus Foster, Oakland school superintendent, and abducted Patricia Hearst, daughter of San Francisco newspaper editor Randolph A. Hearst.
When the smoke cleared, four women and two men, including DeFreeze, the SLA leader, were dead. Patty Hearst and Bill and Emily Harris watched the shootout from an Anaheim hotel room and eventually returned to the Bay Area, where Hearst was arrested 16 months later.
(Click to enlarge)
The Chronicles front page the day after the shooting shows the flames which arent as dramatic in black-and-white engulfing the stucco house where the SLA members were holed up. After a reported 9,000 rounds were fired, the police finally entered when the fire died down.
Officers found most of the bodies clustered together in a crawl space under what was left of the house.
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.
The Chronicle Covers project 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
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
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Armenia bears full responsibility for unleashing the war and using force against Azerbaijan, occupying its territories and carrying out ethnic cleansing on a massive scale, said Azerbaijan's Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammad-Guliyev.
He made the remarks addressing the 126th Session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Sofia, Bulgaria, May 18.
"Speaking about the security challenges that Europe faces today, I would like to draw your attention to the ongoing military aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan," he said.
"The occupation of the Azerbaijani territories by Armenia was condemned by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in its resolution of 1416 (2005). The resolution emphasized that "the occupation of foreign territory by a member state constitutes a grave violation of that state's obligations as a member of the Council of Europe," he added.
"We regret that the United Nations Security Council resolutions adopted in 1993, calling for immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan, still remain unfulfilled," said Mammad-Guliyev.
He noted that on April 2, 2016, the armed forces of Armenia targeting civilians densely residing in the territories adjacent to the frontline area opened intensive heavy weapons fire at the positions of the armed forces of Azerbaijan along the line of contact.
"As a result of Armenia's artillery attacks a number of civilians, including children were killed and seriously wounded. Residential buildings, houses, schools, kindergartens, and other civilian infrastructure were either destroyed or damaged," said the deputy FM.
"It should be emphasized that the territories controlled by the armed forces of Azerbaijan along the line of contact are densely populated, on the contrary, there are no civilians on the other side of the line of contact controlled by the Armenian armed forces," he added.
"Therefore, accusations of Armenia on killing of civilians are groundless and have the only aim of deceiving the international community and avoiding responsibility," said Mammad-Guliyev.
Out of the 83 killed Armenian military servicemen 65 are the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, he said, adding that this is another proof of Armenia's responsibility for using force against Azerbaijan's territorial integrity.
"Despite the ceasefire agreed between Armenia and Azerbaijan on April 5, 2016, Armenia continues to violate that agreement by shelling the Azerbaijani towns and villages," added the deputy FM.
He said the recent escalation triggered by Armenia's offensive actions represents a serious challenge to international and regional peace and security.
"We call upon the international community to condemn Armenia for blatant violation of international law and the ceasefire regime, demand strict compliance by it with the April 5, 2016 ceasefire commitments and engage constructively in the talks on the withdrawal of its armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan that would pave the way for the settlement of the remaining political issues," he said.
The conflict can only be resolved on the basis of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders, according to Mammad-Guliyev.
"I would also like to touch upon the Secretary General's annual report," he said. "The unfair finger-pointing approach targeting limited number of member countries is unacceptable."
Expressing concern about some problems, while ignoring others, undermines credibility of the CoE, according to the deputy FM.
"It is difficult to understand the reason behind expressing appreciation to the Secretary General for his annual report while simply taking note of his report on migrants and refugees at the same session," said Mammad-Guliyev.
"Selective approach should be avoided if we want to be consistent in our efforts," he said. "We expect the same level of concern from the Secretary General with regard to the grave consequences of Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan, including ongoing violation of the rights of Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs."
The deputy FM also noted that the topic of the ministerial meeting is a clear indication of the increasing significance the issue of democratic security has gained recently.
He noted that the recent terror acts perpetrated in Europe proved that terrorism constitutes a serious threat to peace and security.
"Having experienced the horrors of terrorism, Azerbaijan strongly condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and supports efforts and initiatives to fight this evil," he said. "In this regard, Azerbaijan welcomes the increase in the number of accessions to the Council of Europe (CoE) Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism."
Meanwhile, combating terrorism and extremism should not target any particular religion or culture, and in this regard, the rise of intolerance and Islamophobia in the continent is worrying, according to Mammad-Guliyev.
As a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and CoE, Azerbaijan acknowledges the importance of promotion of the intercultural dialogue, he said.
The deputy FM recalled that just recently Azerbaijan hosted the 7th Global Forum of UN Alliance of Civilizations, gathering more than 4,000 participants from 140 countries.
"The Forum adopted the Baku Declaration, which would serve as the guideline in promotion of intercultural dialogue and multiculturalism, as a way to counter violence and extremism, and sustain peace, security and prosperity for all," he added.
The Supreme Court needs a ninth justice.
On Monday, the court said it was effectively punting on Zubik vs. Burwell, a challenge to the Affordable Care Acts mandate on birth control coverage.
The case has to do with whether women can get contraception coverage without violating employers religious rights. It was brought by Little Sisters of the Poor, an international Catholic womens organization, along with other nonprofit Christian employers who objected to the contraception coverage mandate.
The court referred the case back to the lower courts, telling them to reconsider the matter and work out a new compromise.
The decision doesnt have a huge impact in California. State law has made it possible for residents working for religious employers to access birth control under Medi-Cal. But since religious nonprofits may include everything from small groups to Catholic hospitals and universities, the ruling could affect coverage options for hundreds of thousands of people across the country.
By choosing not to rule on the case, the court avoided a possible 4-4 split ruling. Its a short-term victory for the religious employers, though the necessity of a compromise suggests that its not the end of the road for women who seek coverage for birth control.
The entire disappointing process demonstrates, yet again, how the lack of a ninth justice is seriously affecting the courts ability to conduct its business.
Its been two months since President Obama nominated Merrick Garland, chief judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C., circuit. Garland has provided the Senate with a 142-page questionnaire listing his employment record, opinions and public remarks. Hes met with 46 senators, including 14 Republicans.
Yet the Senate Judiciary Committee continues to express no interest in holding a hearing on his nomination. The senators resistance is nothing more than base partisan obstructionism.
Neither the courts calendar nor the importance of its rulings is based on the national election schedule. The Senates holdouts are depriving all Americans of their third branch of government.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Air travel may be cheaper and more competitive than ever. But its also harried, uncomfortable and frustrating. Add to these negatives a new annoyance courtesy of Washington: longer waits for security screening that are infuriating travelers at the nations busiest airports.
The usual drill of removing shoes and emptying pockets before walking through a metal detector isnt taking minutes any more. Its much longer, causing missed flights and ruined travel plans.
A California senator is calling on the Department of Justice to identify the scope of sexual extortion, a crime in which victims are coerced into sending nude photos of themselves after their computers are compromised.
In what is often referred to as sextortion, attackers use compromising information, usually in the form of sexually explicit images or videos, to force victims to engage in sexual activity online, wrote Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
Boxer cited a recent Brookings Institution report as outlining the issue in horrifying detail. The authors found nearly 80 cases of sexual extortion and more than 3,000 victims in court records and news reports.
Some criminals have hacked into victims computers, secretly recorded explicit videos of them, and then threatened to post the footage on social media if the victims do not agree to send additional sexual material, Boxer wrote.
A Department of Justice spokesman said it was reviewing Boxers letter.
In an April report, however, the department said sextortion especially when it involves children has become a major threat in recent years.
The Brookings Institution calls attention to an instance in which a victim was so haunted that he wrote a suicide note.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, that teen, referred to as Zac, grabbed his fathers gun, put it to his head and pulled the trigger. The safety was on.
In March 2011, Zac testified at his tormentors sentencing hearing in Georgia. At the time, Michael Macaluso was sentenced to 30 years in prison for extorting multiple young victims.
The Brookings Institution report called these insidious schemes remarkably understudied.
To my knowledge, there are no clear numbers right now on sextortion, said Pam Dixon, the executive director of the World Privacy Forum in San Diego.
While her organization focuses primarily on privacy research, Dixon said shes increasingly been fielding calls on the crime from desperate people, including parents of child victims, seeking help.
She described several instances in which teenagers and adults were victimized, many through social media.
The ones that involve children are the worst, Dixon added. This is a crime with so many victims who are nameless and so full of shame.
Sean Sposito is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ssposito@sfchronicle.com Twitter: seansposito
The first wine she pours me at High Treason, the wine bar, feels slight its ultra-light body and subtle, piquant flavors slip down my tongue as if trying to escape unnoticed. Its the Chateau dEpire Savennieres 2014, a Chenin Blanc from Frances Loire Valley. This is an elegant wine, a classy wine, but its deferential. Right now, I want something that doesnt speak in its indoor voice.
So next she pours me a taste of Herve Villemades 2013 Les Saules cuvee, a Romorantin (thats a grape) from Cour-Cheverny, also in the Loire. It tastes like honey and mealy apples, with a racy, salty acidity that echoes and lingers. My brain registers it as delicious, but the wine is too loud for my current mood.
(Yes, Im one of those people who holds up the line at the bar by asking relentlessly for tastes. Sorry, not sorry.)
If my wine steward is running out of patience with me, shes not showing it. Im going to bring you some Chardonnay, she says.
And there it is. She pours the 2014 Christophe Chablis, a village-level Chardonnay from northern Burgundy. Its a wine that wants to cuddle, but still gives you some space: simultaneously milky and fresh, soft and structured, floral and citrus-y but its citrus is like a jar of lemon curd, with that super-tense dynamic of sweet richness and bright, sour zest. Its just right.
Like that Chablis, this wine bar, High Treason, is just right not gimmicky, not belabored, yet serious and thorough. It doesnt feel storyboarded or overconsulted, but its clear this isnt amateur hour. Its doing everything that a wine bar should do, and its not messing with any of the frivolities that many wine bars employ to their peril.
What should a wine bar do? Offer good wine in a relaxed setting it shouldnt be a Michelin-starred restaurant experience served by someone who knows what shes talking about, and wants to teach me something. High Treason is all that and little more. And thats just fine with me.
John Storey/Special to the Chronicle
Open since January, High Treason is on Clement Street in the Richmond, in what can accurately be described as a wine-bar desert. Owners Michael Ireland and John Vuong are fine-dining sommeliers Ireland, formerly of the Restaurant at Meadowood and Quince; Vuong, of Ame and Gary Danko who grew tired of fine dining. We love great service, Ireland says. But deep down, we just werent the guy in the suit. We wanted to do something that was more us.
Ireland loved Terroir, the Folsom Street establishment whose ambience more closely approximates a hipster coffee shop than a swanky, ladies-night-out wine bar. With High Treason, he wanted to create a similarly casual space. At Terroir, its just about the wine, he says. Thats what Im about. Im like, Lets drink Burgundy, wear flip-flops, listen to Beastie Boys.
That anything-goes mentality is apparent at High Treason, which lacks a number of features that have become commonplace at the Wine Bar of Today: some kind of inert-gas preservation system (We thought about buying a Coravin, Ireland says, but then we just never bought one.); flights (especially themed flights please, make them stop); menus with witty, pseudo-educational banter (e.g. Legs? Nose? Are we talking wine or dating? which actually appears on the menu of one San Francisco wine bar that shall remain nameless).
Im not saying that all wine bars have to stop serving flights or gassing up open bottles of wine. But High Treasons charm lies in its simplicity or, rather, its focus on what really matters: the wine.
In fact, Ireland seems so focused on the wine that other things that might normally preoccupy a bar owner seem to fall to the bottom of his to-do list. More than two months after opening, the bar is still without a sign. (Its coming, he says.) The bar is actually also a retail shop, but thats advertised nowhere. Theyll put in shelves for bottles, eventually. (Any take-home bottles are priced at 40 percent off the wine list price.)
At 45 items, the length of the by-the-glass list is fairly astounding, even more so because there is no preservation system to keep open bottles tasting fresh. (You can order bottles, too, but few do.) Ireland didnt expect to keep the list so lengthy. I made a massive by-the-glass list at first, just because I wanted to see what would sell, with the idea that we would shrink it based on what our clientele really enjoyed, he says. But frankly, were going through everything all the time. (The only wines that havent sold well, he notes, are the cheapest ones, like a $6-a-glass Chianti that wouldnt budge.)
That may be because theres no typical clientele here. On a recent weeknight, High Treasons customer demographics appeared to run the gamut: blind dates, adult children with their parents, high-pitched squads of girlfriends, groups of co-workers. There were 25-year-olds at the bar, and tables of women in their 60s. Especially considering the fact that the nondescript facade has no sign, business looks healthy.
Like Terroir, the space doesnt scream wine bar; its analogue, perhaps, is an art gallery. The high ceilings have sun roofs, filling the room with light into the evening hours. One wall is populated by Paul Klee-like abstract paintings; another, by staggered wooden wine cases.
Even High Treasons food is just right: dead simple, wine friendly and tasty. Gooey croquettes of jamon serrano and Manchego cheese explode with umami. Duck fat fries are angel-hair thin and perfectly crisp, like a grown-up version of Utz Potato Sticks. Even a dish of asparagus wines public enemy No. 1 calls out for Riesling, with Parmesan and toasty almonds.
Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.
According to Ireland, the goal here is to serve a wide range of wine preferences, rather than require customers to subscribe to some particular philosophy. Were not trying to push one type of wine, he says. Were not pigeonholing ourselves to a region or a farming practice.
Yet despite cameos from Napa Cabernet (Cultivars pleasing, well-priced 2013 bottling, at $13/glass) and Sonoma Zinfandel (from natural-wine darling Broc Cellars; 2014, $12), its clear that the list bends even if it doesnt completely keel toward a minimal-intervention, lower-alcohol, trendy-wine-region methodology.
The preference for natural wine is not actualized in such extremity as at Terroir or Oaklands Ordinaire; on the whole, these are gateway drugs. There are three Jura wines, but theyre from Domaine du Pelican a Burgundy transplant making some of the Juras cleanest, most straightforward, most un-Jura-like wines. Ask for a Rhone blend, and you might end up with the silky Domaine des Accoles Chapelle 2012 ($12), from the Rhone-adjacent Ardeche region, or La Clarine Farms 2014 Elvis Mourvedre ($12), a funky wine from the Sierra Foothills. Request a fruity red, and youll get the Forlorn Hope Suspiro del Moro, from a Portuguese grape called Alvarelhao in Alta Mesas Silvaspoons Vineyard (2014, $12), which tastes like raisins and strawberry preserves.
Most importantly, the list is geared toward discovery. When the only domestic Pinot Noir (Vocals 2013 Lilo Vineyard, from the Santa Cruz Mountains) is $21 a glass, you might be inclined to try instead Benantis Etna Rosso (2013, $12), a light, earthy, cherry-scented Sicilian wine that sings of its volcanic origins.
Probably, youll taste something new. Inevitably, youll find something just right.
John Storey/Special to the Chronicle
Esther Mobley is The San Francisco Chronicles wine, beer and spirits writer. Email: emobley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Esther_mobley
To order: Wine, by staff recommendation ($8-$21/glass); croquettes ($10); duck fat fries ($5).
Where: High Treason, 443 Clement St., S.F. www.hightreasonsf.com.
When: 4:30-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 4:30-11 p.m. Friday, 1-11 p.m. Saturday, 1-10 p.m. Sunday.
To the American palate, aquavit can seem like one of those austere, unfriendly, searingly boozy spirits beloved by people in some exotic place but bewildering to us in the land of Coca-Cola. (See also: raki, grappa, shochu.) Not helping its case in America is the fact that the 40-ish percent ABV spirit is meant to be served as a snaps sipped from a shot glass neat, never on the rocks.
Which is why Staffan Terje, the chef and co-owner of Volta restaurant, was surprised to learn that there was a growing chorus of American distilleries producing aquavit. I was like, Wow, this is new to me, he says. Theres more than you might think. The production seems to be concentrated in areas with Swedish and Norwegian immigrant traditions Minnesota, Illinois, Washington.
Terje grew up in Nykoping, Sweden, where there was plenty of aquavit. I think I had my first shot when I was 2, he says. He grew up drinking his grandmothers homemade concoctions, often infused with St. Johns wort, elderflower or black currant. Although the chefs resume thus far has dealt mainly in Italian fare he and business partner Umberto Gibin own Perbacco and Barbacco he wanted to incorporate his Swedish heritage into his and Gibins newest venture, Volta, which opened in December.
No Scandinavian spirits
Naturally, aquavit would play a role, but shockingly little of the spirit is imported from Scandinavia. They really havent pushed it as an export, Terje says. Thats when he discovered the bounty of American aquavit and committed to an all-American program of a very un-American beverage. (A couple of imported aquavits, from Iceland and France, have since joined the list.)
Aquavit is produced by flavoring a neutral spirit, such as grain alcohol or potato vodka, with spices, herbs and fruits, typically caraway and dill seed. The add-ons are a free-for-all in Scandinavian countries, but the U.S. mandates that anything labeled aquavit must include caraway. That may not be helping its case. For us in Sweden, its basically just flavored vodka, and we use lots of different flavors, Terje says. If you have some salmon thats cured with bright lemon zest, you dont really want to wash it down with this strong caraway liquor.
Paul Chinn/The Chronicle
Voltas aquavit offerings embrace much more than just caraway. Terje features several selections from one of his favorite producers, Old Ballard Liquor Co. in Seattle, whose Alskar ($8/glass) is citrus-dominant, like a less cloying version of Absolut Citron. It mingles beautifully with cured salmon (Voltas excellent gravad lax, $17), as does the dill-driven Midsommar ($8), which gets a touch of richness from vanilla bean. Trying Old Ballards barrel-aged aquavits is mandatory, especially the copper-colored Ragnarok ($10), which tastes like maple and caramel. It speaks a whiskey drinkers language.
Theres even a local aquavit, from Venus Spirits in Santa Cruz. Recognizably Californian, Venus aquavit ($9) is light, botanical and citrusy, but still backed up by spicy caraway.
How its served
These arent easy sippers. At Volta, a snaps is served in a small shot glass set in a bed of ice; youll likely find yourself with more than one at a time. The restaurants exceptional Herring x 5 ($19), which features five preparations of herring, calls for a range of aquavit styles: maybe the Ovrevann ($9) from Duluth, Minn.s Vikre distillery (subtle, delicate, but with a light smokiness) with the white vinegar-pickled herring, then something barrel-aged, like Vikres warm-spiced Voyageur ($10), with the heavier herrings in madras curry and with dijon mustard.
Its a palate cleanser, really, for rich Nordic food, Terje explains. We eat a lot of smoked food, pickled food, and its always nice when the alcohol cuts that. It becomes a digestive aid. Part of his tradition, too, is eating and drinking for a long time; Terje describes parties where dessert is served at 10 p.m., then stomachs settle for some steak tartare after midnight. Who could drink beer for that duration and still maintain an appetite?
If after all this youre still not game for sipping liquor out of a shot glass, you might consider the Volta! cocktail ($12) your gateway. Made with carrot juice, honey, lemon and Voltas house-infused aquavit (caraway, dill seed, Douglas fir, juniper), its a deftly balanced drink, tasting neither like too-sweet fruit juice nor like a juice cleanse. I love cooking carrots in caraway, Terje says of the cocktails inspiration. The botanical elements elevate the drinks vegetal component into a complex medley of earth notes. Its just as good a palate cleanser as any aquavit served solo.
Giving it a try
If Voltas customers are willing to try five different preserved herrings, will they go for aquavit? Its definitely an acquired taste, I heard more than one person remark euphemistically at the bar on a recent evening. Are you sure we cant have it on the rocks? someone asked. The bartender did not recommend it.
Dont beat yourself up, America: Terje says that even Swedes are beer drinkers at heart, now mostly drinking aquavit on festive occasions. No need to force it on meals of burgers, pizza or spaghetti. Save it for herring.
Esther Mobley is The San Francisco Chronicles wine, beer and spirits writer. Email: emobley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: Esther_mobley Instagram: @esthermob
To order: Volta! cocktail ($12), Old Ballard Ragnarok aquavit ($10), Vikre Voyageur aquavit ($10)
Where: Volta, 868 Mission St., S.F. (628) 400-6200. www.voltasf.com
When: 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day
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Art has played an influential role in the modern environmental movement, dating all the way back to Albert Bierstadts 19th century landscape paintings and Carleton Watkins photographs of Yosemite Valley that moved President Abraham Lincoln to protect the area as parkland.
Then in the late 1930s, Berkeley native David Brower, the first executive director of the Sierra Club, was instrumental in getting a copy of Ansel Adams glorious large-format Sierra Nevada portfolio into Franklin D. Roosevelts hands, solidifying the presidents resolve to create Kings Canyon National Park.
Brower, considered the father of modern environmentalism, used limited-edition photography books throughout his activism career to convince people of the importance of protecting Americas unspoiled wild places. Given this history, it is fitting that Berkeleys David Brower Center, an advocacy and education center, is showcasing Bay Area artists work inspired by the use and misuse of nature to commemorate the centennial of the National Park Service.
The juried exhibition Common Ground: A Celebration of Our National Parks explores Americas best idea as interpreted through the eyes of 20 local artists. Working in a diverse range of media and responding to such threats as climate change, overuse, the effects of industry and threatened biodiversity, these artists are inspired by our parks to create so much more than pretty pictures, says center Executive Director Laurie Rich.
In Dave (Brower)s day, images of our parks inspired awe in people who had never seen such places, Rich says.
The disabled President Roosevelt, for example, like the majority of Americans in far-flung states, would never be able to visit Kings Canyon, yet Adams powerful images aroused a sense of responsible stewardship for the untouched wilderness.
Today, with widespread documentary imagery available to everyone online, were seeing artistic work that is beautiful, but serves as more of a cautionary tale, says Rich. Its a significant shift. The message often is: Be careful.
Photographer Ansley West Rivers, who received her masters degree from California College of Arts in San Francisco, has embarked on a photographic project to capture the fragile watersheds of seven U.S. rivers. Her Hanford Reach, Columbia River photo on view depicts the jarring infringement of our modern world on many of our parks, says Rich. They are no longer just beautiful protected places.
Sculptor Alexis Arnold and photographer Jeffrey Greenwald were both inspired by the hypnotic, otherworldly colors of Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, caused by microbial activity. One creates tiny sculptural geodes, the other grand-scale full-color photography, Rich says of the works. Two separate artists inspired in two very different ways by this one wild place.
In that sense, part of Daves core message is still shining through: his belief that beautiful works of art were meant to inspire people to advocacy and action, and to protecting the wild places that are still left.
Jessica Zack is a freelance writer who frequently covers art and film for The San Francisco Chronicle.
Common Ground: A Celebration of Our National Parks: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. May 20-Sept. 8. David Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley. (510) 809-0900. http://browercenter.org
A 33-year-old bicyclist was in critical condition after a taxi ran him over in San Franciscos North Beach neighborhood Tuesday evening, police said.
A cab going north on Mason Street around 6:15 p.m. hit the man while he was riding west in a crosswalk at the intersection of North Point Street. The bicyclist suffered abrasions on his elbow, face, shoulders and back as he went underneath the car on impact, authorities said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
Trend:
Pope Francis congratulated Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the occasion of the Republic Day.
"I am pleased to convey my sincere congratulations to you and your people on the occasion of the national day of the Republic of Azerbaijan," Pope Francis's message said.
"May Almighty God help you realize your efforts towards ensuring a happy and peaceful life for your citizens," the message said." "I wish your Excellency and the whole people of Azerbaijan plenty of God`s blessings."
President of the Republic of India Pranab Mukherjee also congratulated President Aliyev on the holiday.
"On behalf of the government, the people of India and on my own behalf, it gives me great pleasure to convey cordial greetings and felicitations to you and to the government and people of Azerbaijan on the occasion of your Republic Day," President Mukherjee's message said.
According to the message, India and Azerbaijan enjoy warm and friendly relations based on close historical and cultural ties.
"I am confident that through our cooperative endeavors our bilateral relations will continue to grow for the mutual benefit of our two peoples," the message said.
According to the message, India looks forward to further strengthening the country's multi-faceted engagement with Azerbaijan.
"I take this opportunity to extend my best wishes for Your Excellency's good health and well-being as well as for the prosperity and progress of the friendly people of Azerbaijan," the message said.
President of Montenegro Filip Vujanovic also congratulated President Aliyev on the holiday.
"I extend my cordial congratulations on the occasion of the national holiday of Azerbaijan, May 28 Republic Day," President Vujanovic's message said. "I wish for continued advance of Azerbaijan along prosperity for its citizens."
According to the message, the relations between Montenegro and Azerbaijan have always been cordial and friendly.
"I am confident that our future cooperation will further foster such relations between our states and nations," the message said.
"I avail myself of the opportunity to reiterate the expression of my high appreciation of the cooperation between our two countries, to which you have given huge personal contribution we are very grateful for," the message said.
"Esteemed Mr President, I wish you good health and success in performing your high duty," the message said.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto also congratulated President Aliyev on the holiday.
"It is my pleasure to extend to you my sincere congratulations on the occasion of the National Day of the Republic of Azerbaijan - Republic Day," the message said.
"I avail myself of this opportunity to reaffirm the commitment of the Mexican government to work together to strengthen and expand the bilateral relations for the welfare of our countries and societies," the message said.
"Dear Mr. President, please accept the assurances of my highest consideration," the message said.
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Oakland City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan is calling on the state to expunge all marijuana-related criminal records, a move that she says will open the door for people of color who have traditionally been shut out of a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry.
I think its important to keep in mind the racial disparity here, Kaplan told The Chronicle on Wednesday. Over the past decade, its been black people whove been locked up had their freedom taken away, their families taken away, their jobs taken away for something that white people mostly dont get punished for.
She said that people who were convicted years ago may still be denied jobs, affordable housing or student loans. So theyre punished over and over again for something that society now doesnt think is a crime.
Kaplan has authored a resolution, which goes before its first council committee on Thursday, and may be the next political maneuver by a city intent on correcting the racial injustices of the U.S. war on drugs. On Tuesday, the council unanimously approved new marijuana laws that included a controversial equity program that supporters say will help right some of the wrongs, but that critics say will cause the citys pot trade to sputter.
This is a travesty
This is not equity, this is a travesty, said Jake Sassaman, a member of the citys Cannabis Regulatory Commission. Sassaman, who is white, said he knows several African American pot entrepreneurs who would not qualify for an equity permit because they do not meet the requirements.
Oaklands new equity permit program will set aside half of the citys cannabis business permits for applicants who fit a narrow set of criteria: Residents who have lived for at least two years in a designated police beat in East Oakland where marijuana arrests were highly concentrated in 2013, or individuals who were incarcerated for marijuana-related crimes in Oakland over the past decade. Equity permit holders must sustain at least a 50 percent ownership stake in their businesses.
Opponents of the program say it will create huge backlogs on permits because the rules stipulate that the city must award at least one equity permit for each general permit. While the citys eight currently licensed dispensaries will be grandfathered in, its mom-and-pop cannabis businesses many of which are run by African Americans and Latinos could get caught up in the jam.
Among the critics who spoke out at Tuesdays council meeting was Andrea Unsworth, the black owner of a delivery service called StashTwist. Many of her suppliers are moms who grow pot plants in their garages.
Risk for entrepreneurs
We know this is about those who have been arrested and impacted by the drug war, but its also about those of us who have taken the immense risk of opening businesses, Unsworth told the council.
But on the other side of the debate were Oakland residents who see themselves as victims of a drug policy that disproportionately punished people of color. Some who spoke at the council meeting said theyve been left behind as the state inches toward legalizing recreational marijuana.
The war on drugs has criminalized black and brown communities, and now that (marijuana) is becoming legalized theres a whole line of white men that are about to get rich, said a speaker named George Galvis.
Councilwoman Desley Brooks pushed for the equity program by tacking on last-minute amendments to ordinances that had taken the citys Cannabis Regulatory Commission 18 months to write. Councilwoman Annie Campbell Washington added to a provision extending equity permits to people with criminal records.
If youre serious about equity, show us youre willing to share this big pie, Brooks said to the pot business owners who challenged her amendments.
May need to tweak laws
Kaplan acknowledged on Wednesday that the laws might need a few tweaks before they can fully achieve the councils vision of a more inclusive marijuana economy.
Shes confident that eventually the state will get on board with the idea to expunge records for marijuana crimes.
Theres an open question as to whether this is something that (Gov. Jerry Browns) administration just launches, or whether it will take legislation, she said. But I do think we are likely to win in the end.
A spokeswoman for the states newly formed Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation said she thinks the decision about whether to toss records will be left to the courts.
Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com
San Francisco Police Greg Suhr said Tuesday he has no intention of stepping down amid growing criticism of his five-year tenure, asserting that no one is in a better position than he is to oversee reforms to a city force under fire over recent shootings and racist behavior by some officers.
I know some people would have me to go by the boards. I have no intention of doing that, Suhr told The Chronicles editorial board in an hour-long meeting. There are a lot of things that are moving parts, and I cant honestly think of somebody else who could get it all done as quickly as I can get it done.
Suhrs critics, including the four most progressive members of the Board of Supervisors and a group of activists who waged a 17-day hunger strike to try to force his ouster, believe the city needs a new chief at a time when the U.S. Department of Justice division in charge of police-community relations is studying the San Francisco force and drawing up recommendations for changes.
But Suhr said he was committed to weathering the public outcry and was buoyed by supporters insistence that he stay.
He said that although the Justice Departments recommendations will not be mandatory, he will treat them as binding. He said he had first asked for such a federal review in 2012, but that the Justice Department only decided to come to San Francisco after the outcry over the December police shooting of Mario Woods in the Bayview neighborhood.
I dont think youre ever going to get to a better place if youre not welcoming people to come in, Suhr said. Im smart enough to know Im not smart enough, so Ill take whatever criticism comes and Ill try to get better from it.
Answering his critics
He disputed criticism that the move toward changes was coming too late in his tenure, and after too many problems, including a spike in property crime and the recent release of racist and homophobic text messages that had been exchanged by at least four officers. Calls for Suhrs resignation reached a fever pitch last week, after supervisors Jane Kim, John Avalos, David Campos and Eric Mar said they had lost faith in the chief.
Suhr said he had worked hard for years to improve the department including in the way it uses technology, treats the mentally ill and handles street protests and had gotten rid of many problem officers.
To suggest that the department has been standing still for five years would be a little bit unfair, he said. The men and women in this department have been very smart and thoughtful in the way they do things. That said, there have been some that have been equally as dumb and thoughtless in the way they do things, and that tends to carry the day and the headlines and sully the rest of the officers.
Suhr said his priorities include putting in place new use-of-force policies currently being debated before the Police Commission and equipping his officers with body-worn cameras that have become common in other cities.
In a wide-ranging discussion, Suhr said he was, like many members of the public, shocked when he watched the video-recorded killing of Woods though he maintained that he thought officers did their best in a tough situation. After failing to subdue the stabbing suspect with beanbag rounds, five officers shot at him as many as 27 times as he shuffled along a wall, allegedly still holding the knife.
Suhr said he implemented new training within the department to try to reduce shootings and emphasize de-escalation. Officers are now trained to fire and then reassess, rather than fire in rapid succession until the threat is stopped, and in some cases to aim not for the center of a persons chest but for the pelvic area, which may stop him without killing him.
Shooting in the Mission
But these shifts were under way last month when police officers in the Mission District killed a homeless man they say charged them with a knife. Video showed they fired at Luis Gongora within 30 seconds of exiting their patrol vehicles, and Suhr said afterward that the officers did not appear to try to de-escalate the encounter.
The department, he said, is now working to implement a team-oriented response to dealing with people in a mental health crisis. He said the department in the past five years navigated more than 20,000 mental health crisis calls without using deadly force.
If we can have less of them, he said of shootings, its a good thing for everybody.
Suhr made it clear there had been no mending of the relationship between him and District Attorney George Gascon, who assembled a blue-ribbon panel of judges to investigate bias in the police force following the emergence of an earlier set of racist and homophobic text messages exchanged among officers.
Having been through many district attorneys in my time, there has always been a yin and yang between police chiefs and district attorneys, Suhr said. I think this was exacerbated a little bit because this D.A. used to be the police chief, and I dont know if hes got leavers remorse for the job that he used to have. Everybody gravitates toward their strengths. Certainly his strengths would be more as a police officer than as a prosecutor because he never did that before.
Gascon declined to comment Tuesday.
Blue-ribbon panels report
The blue-ribbon panels full report hasnt been released, but it found the Police Department has outdated policies, engages in stop and frisk tactics that have come under fire in other cities and does a poor job tracking officers conduct so it can root out problems. Suhr made a point to say that his officers do not engage in stop and frisk and follow the law when stopping and searching suspects, but said he would comment further when he got the report.
He said reports that he needed to hold on to his position until the fall to make sure his wife is eligible for continuation benefits in the event of his death were untrue. He and his wife were domestic partners before they married in August, he said, and she is already eligible.
Suhr would not estimate how long he planned to continue running the force.
Ive been a police officer a long time, he said. Im not going to be a police officer forever, but I am committed to seeing it through. It is really important.
Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: VivianHo
Jack Ma, the head of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, is withdrawing from an anticounterfeiting convention in Florida just two days before he was scheduled to give the keynote speech.
Alibaba announced the move Tuesday after last weeks suspension of the companys membership in the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition, a small but influential group that lobbies U.S. officials and testifies before Congress.
Ma is a self-made billionaire, and Alibaba, which he founded in 1999, went public in 2014 in the biggest initial public offering of stock. But some coalition members view the company as the worlds largest marketplace for fakes.
Members of the group rebelled against Alibabas membership and were further upset about conflicts of interest involving coalition President Robert Barchiesi.
According to an investigation by the Associated Press, Barchiesi had stock in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., had close ties to an Alibaba executive and had used family members to help run the coalition. The conflicts of interest werent fully disclosed to the board, and it has since hired an independent firm to review its corporate governance policies.
The groups website listed Ma scheduled to talk Thursday about the importance of e-commerce and Alibabas efforts to protect intellectual property rights on its platforms.
Instead, Alibaba President Michael Evans will represent the company at the annual spring conference in Orlando and will reinforce Alibabas commitment to fighting counterfeits and the importance of strong collaboration between brands, governments and intermediaries.
The coalition has more than 250 members.
LinkedIn said Wednesday that more than 100 million email addresses and passwords from its users, stolen by hackers in 2012, had resurfaced online this week.
Based on a post by the Mountain View professional network Wednesday, it appears that the number of people affected by the data breach was far larger than previously understood. The breach was already LinkedIns largest to date.
In June 2012, the company reported that at least 6 million email addresses and hashed, or digitally obscured, passwords had been stolen. It required users it believed to have been affected to reset their passwords. The stolen information was being offered for sale on a Russian website. In February, LinkedIn settled a class-action lawsuit over the breach for $1.25 million.
Any harm that might have come from the use of that information has most likely already occurred, said Jeremiah Grossman, founder of WhiteHat Security.
If anyone was going to take action, they would have by now, he said.
Perhaps the greatest remaining threat is whats known as password reuse attacks, since people often use the same password to sign into different accounts.
A 3-year-old password might not be applicable to a LinkedIn account, but might work on the same individuals Facebook or Gmail account, Grossman said.
Tod Beardsley, the security research manager at Rapid7, said the emails themselves a vast database of contact information for working professionals might be the real value.
The LinkedIn cache, according to Australian security researcher Troy Hunt, who specializes in breach data, is being sold for roughly $2,200.
That makes it especially attractive to spammers who rely on active email addresses.
LeakedSource, a search engine for data leaked in breaches, said it had obtained the entire database from a party it would not name. The data included 167 million credentials. Of those, only about 117 million included passwords. Though the passwords were hashed a form of protection that involves changing the passwords with a mathematical formula so they dont include the plain text LeakedSource said it was able to crack about 90 percent of them in a matter of days.
In 2012, LinkedIn announced that it was taking additional steps to secure its passwords that would, in theory, make them far harder to crack in any future data breach.
Now, LinkedIn said, it is working to secure the accounts of users whose information was stolen in 2012.
We are taking immediate steps to invalidate the passwords of the accounts impacted, and we will contact those members to reset their passwords, wrote Cory Scott, LinkedIns chief information security officer, in a post. We have no indication that this is as a result of a new security breach.
A company spokesman declined to offer comment beyond Scotts statement.
Sean Sposito is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ssposito@sfchronicle.com Twitter:@seansposito
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Two suspects wanted in the killing of a 26-year-old Richmond man in April have been tracked down and arrested in Las Vegas, authorities said.
Edbert James III, 35, and Rosezetta Murray, 29, both of Richmond, were arrested May 11 in Las Vegas in connection with the fatal shooting of Reginald Atkinson, said Lt. Felix Tan, a spokesman for the Richmond Police Department.
We hope the arrests of the pair brings some closure to the Atkinson family and that swift justice will prevail, Tan said on the departments Facebook page.
On April 28, the departments ShotSpotter technology registered 16 rounds of gunfire in the area of Cutting Boulevard and South 37th Street. Once on the scene, officers found Atkinson shot multiple times and lying on the ground next to a car near a Valero gas station, Tan said. Atkinson died at the scene.
A few hours after the shooting, officers were able to identify the suspects. Wentz then learned the suspects had fled to the Las Vegas area, and he collaborated with the Las Vegas Metro Police to track them down.
A motive for the killing was not revealed.
James was charged with murder and is being held on $3 million bail, Tan said. Murray was charged with being an accessory to murder, and her bail was set at $500,000.
Kevin Schultz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kschultz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: KevinEdSchultz
Jim Berger wanted a doghouse for Eddie. So he wrote the architect whod designed the singular stone-and-concrete house his father was building himself in the hills of San Anselmo and asked Frank Lloyd Wright if he would design a home for his black Labrador, who was 4 (thats 28 in dog years, the 12-year-old noted).
A house for Eddie is an opportunity. Someday I shall design one, but right now Im too busy to concentrate on it, replied the celebrated architect in a signed letter dated June 28, 1956.
He was designing the Guggenheim at the time, says Berger, now 72, whod offered to pay Wright for whats now widely known as Eddies House with money he made from his Marin Independent Journal paper route. Wright suggested the kid write again in a few months, which he did.
Some time later, Berger whod asked for a design that would be easy for him to build but relate to the family home received architectural drawings for an elegant triangular structure with trademark Wright touches like extended eaves, unusual angles and a subtle entryway.
Bergers father, Robert, an engineer who taught at College of Marin, devoted 20 years of his life to constructing the beautiful Berger House, including the doghouse but unfortunately not before Eddie died. The familys new Irish setter, Shaunessy, snubbed it.
He had no desire to go sleep in that doghouse, recalls Berger, a retired Sacramento cabinetmaker and high school shop teacher. He recently donated the flawless replica he built of Eddies House to Marin County, whose Civic Center was the last structure Wright designed.
The original doghouse probably leaked, Berger half joked. Among other things, Wrights structures were famous for leaking. In fact, the home Wright designed for Bergers family leaked a lot. But that didnt dampen the abiding passion his mother, Gloria, had for the house, though it did not extend to the doghouse. She consigned it to the dump sometime after her husband died in 1973 (Jim Berger and his three siblings sold the house after their mothers death a few years ago).
Berger, working from the original plans for which Wright declined to bill him, rebuilt the mahogany and cedar doghouse with his brother Eric for a 2011 Michael Miner documentary about Wrights California work, Romanza.
The doghouse has since been exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution and museums around the country. Marin, whose Board of Supervisors accepted the gift last week, plans to show it in the Civic Center library and elsewhere.
For Wright to design a structure like that for a 12-year-old was a cruel joke, Berger says cheerfully, sitting in the Civic Center cafe with his wife, Irene. It was a nightmare when I was in my 60s. It was very difficult. You know how to get 60 degrees on a table saw? I had to look it up on the computer. It was definitely challenging.
But gratifying. Berger says he could have sold the doghouse to the new owners of the Berger House, but opted to give it to Marin, through the Frank Lloyd Wright Civic Center Conservancy Commission, so his daughter, grandchildren and the public can see it.
I really wanted to give it to the people of Marin, Berger says, because thats where Im from.
For more information, go to www.marincounty.org/news.
Voigt to the Conservatory
Deborah Voigt, the sterling dramatic soprano recently forced to cancel performances of her Voigt Lessons show at the SF Opera Lab because of a ruptured eardrum, will be giving private lessons and master classes when she joins the full-time faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music this fall.
Voigts mastery of major Wagnerian roles and the exceptional technique required to do it will attract in-demand larger voices to the school, notes Cesar Ulloa, who chairs the Conservatorys voice department.
For more information, go to www.sfcm.edu.
New Century at 25
New Century Chamber Orchestras violin-playing music director, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, leads her final season with the ensemble, which celebrates its 25th anniversary and her fruitful nine-year tenure.
The 2016-17 season includes the opener with Israeli pianist Inon Barnatan, a collaboration with Chanticleer and a new three-performance San Francisco festival. One show features music by composers in residence with New Century over the years, including Jennifer Higdon and Mark OConnor, while another toasts Salerno-Sonnenberg, who plays the piece that put her in orbit here, Astor Piazzollas Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.
For more information, go to www.ncco.org.
Jesse Hamlin is a Bay Area journalist and former San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.
The Angry Birds Movie: All your aggressions playing this online game come to life on the big screen as we learn the backstory behind all the destruction. Among the many big names whose voices you will hear are Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Kate McKinnon, Keenan Michael-Key, Peter Dinklage and, of course, Sean Penn.
A Bigger Splash: A rock star played by the always fascinating Tilda Swinton takes a vacation with her boyfriend (Matthias Schoenaerts), and runs into an old friend (Ralph Fiennes) and his daughter (Dakota Fanning). Being labeled an erotic thriller.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
Trend:
Azerbaijan has agreed to strengthen the ceasefire regime to continue future negotiations at the meeting in Vienna, said in an interview with ANS TV channel Novruz Mammadov, deputy head of Azerbaijani presidential administration, chief of the administration's foreign relations department.
Most importantly, to continue to respect the ceasefire regime, to begin negotiations next month, he added.
Commenting on the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on the expansion of duties of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Personal Representative, Mammadov said that there couldn't be any significant changes in Andrzej Kasprzyk's duties.
He said it was the Minsk Group's position and Azerbaijan has not taken any obligations regarding the issue.
Regarding the Armenian president's statements, Mammadov said that Armenian side must withdraw from occupied Azerbaijani lands in accordance with the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council.
He added that the faster Armenia does this, the better off it will be.
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SAN DIEGO The Giants will be following and rooting for Tim Lincecum from afar.
He may look good in red, manager Bruce Bochy said, knowing his old ace is close to signing with the Angels. I dont know. Ive got to see him first.
With Lincecum on the verge of a new career path, his old team wished him well.
Everybody on this team will be pulling for him, the staff, myself, the organization, Bochy said. We cant thank him enough what he did for us. To have him back competing on the mound, were happy for him.
Asked if he sees Lincecum making a successful comeback, Matt Cain said, I dont see why not. Hes always had a live arm. His body feels good again.
Cain said his fondest memory of Lincecum is the 14-strikeout gem against Atlanta in the 2010 playoff opener. And also the 2007 debut against the Phillies.
He literally looked just like Billy the Kid when he showed up, Cain said. We were the same age. It was, like, Yup, there he is. He comes in throwing 98, 99 mph, fantastic stuff.
It was fun being able to follow him. He made a lot of hitters look pretty bad for a long time. It was a good lead to follow the next day. Hopefully, the next day they were still thinking about how nasty he was and if I threw something down the middle they werent looking at it.
Briefly: Reliever George Kontos was reinstated from the disabled list and Clayton Blackburn was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. Blackburn was weekend insurance for Jake Peavy and Cain and wasnt needed. He still awaits his big-league debut. Its the way it worked out, said Bochy, adding he felt bad not pitching Blackburn in Arizona where his family and friends gathered. If he does his thing, hell be up here. ... In extended spring training, Sergio Romo threw 23 pitches in one inning and will pitch again Friday, and Andrew Susac will serve as a designated hitter Wednesday and then report to Class A San Jose for a couple of games and eventually Sacramento.
John Shea is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.
On deck
Wednesday
at Padres
7:10 p.m. CSNBA
Cueto (5-1)
vs. Pomeranz (4-3)
Thursday
at Padres
7:10 p.m. CSNBA
Samardzija (5-2)
vs. Shields (2-5)
Friday
vs. Cubs
7:15 p.m. Channel: 11
Arrieta (7-0)
vs. Peavy (1-4)
Leading off
History: The Giants scored 14 runs in Arizona, their fewest in a four-game road sweep since they scored 13 in a May 1910 series against the Phillies. Christy Mathewson won the opener.
John Shea
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising has too many talented people involved in it for it not to be at least a little bit funny. But thats all it is, a little bit funny. Over the course of its hour and a half running time, it inspires maybe three loud guffaws, a few modest chortles, a subsonic chuckle and a handful of silent smiles. Thats not enough to make it a worthy or even worth-making sequel to the 2014 comedy Neighbors.
The movies problems are peculiar because they almost seem contradictory. On the one hand, the set-up is so obvious, so designed to re-create the dynamics of the original movie, that it seems either a purely cynical exercise or so blatant a cynical exercise that it qualifies as a bold comic gesture: In the previous film, a newly married couple had to contend with a fraternity moving in next door; this time, a sorority takes over the same house.
The jokes are as coarse as the strategy is deliberate. As the movie begins, we see the young married couple (Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne) having sex, and then she throws up on him. Actually, its one of the best laughs in the movie, as well as a cautionary example. Had she been on the bottom, she might have died from aspiration, and that wouldnt have been funny.
Yet for all the movies boldness, its coarseness, its in-your-faceness, Neighbors 2 is constrained by political correctness. The sorority is at least as bad as the fraternity ever was, but, because the couple is fighting girls, the movie has less fun with it. The girls act like villains, but the screenplay is unwilling to present them unsympathetically. The upshot is that Neighbors 2 is mostly unpleasant without being funny or ultimately satisfying.
The screenplay ties itself into a knot from the start, when it presents the founding of the nasty sorority as a feminist event. Young Shelby (Chloe Grace Moretz) is disheartened to find out that sororities, under national Greek rules, cant throw parties. She is further disillusioned when she attends a frat party and finds the experience sexist and degrading. And so she joins forces with three new friends to establish a new sorority, independent of the Greek system.
In the new sorority, they throw parties that are just as loud and lewd and awful as the frat parties, though the movie expects us to recognize a difference that isnt there. In any case, the parties are a source of misery to next-door neighbors Mac (Rogen) and Kelly (Byrne), who dont realize that whats keeping them up at night isnt mere raucousness, selfishness and noise but burgeoning feminist assertion. Meanwhile, the movie makes it plain that this is coming at the worst possible time for the couple: Theyve bought a new house and need to sell the old one, which theyre currently occupying. But the sorority has made their property unsellable.
In Neighbors, the culprits were young men, and so director Nicholas Stoller and the screenwriters felt at liberty to present them as slobs not evil, but ridiculous. By treating the sorority sisters of Neighbors 2 with kid gloves, they rob them of humor and, inadvertently, make them more culpable (and therefore more dislikable) with every awful thing they do. Theyre just not funny. And neither is Zac Efron as Teddy, who was the fraternity leader last time and here is presented as pathetic and needy.
Yet even with so-so material, Rogen is funny, and so is Byrne, whose comic facility was the revelation of the first Neighbors. But theyre so sympathetic that theres little joy in witnessing their victimhood.
Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicles movie critic. Email: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: MickLaSalle
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising
Comedy. Starring Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne and Zac Efron. Directed by Nicholas Stoller. (R. 92 minutes.)
To see a trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzZgJZMXNEc
Terrence McCarthy
Nicola Luisotti will step down as the San Francisco Operas music director when his contract expires at the end of the 2017-18 season. The 55-year-old Italian conductor has been at the companys musical helm since 2009.
I believe that close to a decade is about the right time to be leading a company, he said in a statement. I want the companys General Director Designate Matthew Shilvock to be able to move freely into the future with his ideas, his artistic interests and to take San Francisco Opera into a new direction.
1 Zika funding: The Senate voted decisively on Tuesday in favor of a bipartisan $1.1 billion measure to combat the Zika virus this year and next, cutting back President Obamas request but offering significantly more money to fight Zika than would House GOP conservatives. The 68-29 vote propelled the measure over a filibuster and sets the stage to add the Zika funding to an unrelated spending bill. It comes three months after Obama requested $1.9 billion to battle the virus. For pregnant women, the virus can cause a serious birth defect called microcephaly and other severe birth defects. Zika is commonly spread by mosquitoes and can also be contracted through sexual contact.
2 Bergdahl trial: Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who walked off his combat outpost in Afghanistan and spent five years in captivity, will be court-martialed under a new commander-in-chief. A military judge decided Tuesday to delay Bergdahls trial from August until February to provide time for resolving disputes over the defense teams access to classified documents. Bergdahl, now 30, sat attentively in his dress blue formal uniform during the brief hearing at Fort Bragg, N.C. The soldier from Hailey, Idaho, faces charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. The latter charge is relatively rare and carries the potential of life in prison.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
Trend:
Azerbaijan has gotten $20 million in military aid from the US Department of Defense over the last ten years, while Armenia has gotten nearly nothing, a review of US government documents shows, Joshua Kucera, a freelance writer and journalist specializing in foreign affairs and international relations, wrote in his article on EurasiaNet.org website.
Although the US Department of State for the most part observes a policy of "parity" in aid to the two countries, the Department of Defense has been less cautious in maintaining a balance, Kucera wrote.
"Baku has benefited in particular from two Pentagon aid programs, known as Section 1004 and Section 1206, which are subject to less Congressional oversight and less stringent public reporting requirements," he wrote.
Azerbaijan has gotten $8.5 million since 2005 in funding from Section 1004, which provides counternarcotics assistance, and $11.5 million from Section 1206, which provides counterterrorism aid, the article said.
Armenia, by contrast, has gotten just $41,000 in Section 1004 funding and no Section 1206 money, according to data collected by the Washington Security Assistance Monitor advocacy group, which maintains a database of the various US military assistance programs, according to the article.
Much of the money for Azerbaijan has been targeted toward naval forces because of the US's interest in protecting Caspian energy infrastructure, the author wrote.
Last month's flare-up in fighting on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops has revived debate about US military aid in the region, according to the article.
On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.
The US Department of State affirmed that it is necessary to support the country's efforts to counter international terrorism, which is important to Azerbaijan's border security, the author wrote.
Moreover, the US Department of State will not undermine or hamper ongoing efforts to negotiate a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the article said.
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 18
By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:
The Vienna meeting between presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a very positive fact, Malena Mard, head of the EU delegation in Azerbaijan, told reporters in Baku May 18.
The EU supports the decision to hold a variety of events, investigation of accidents, planning a road map for comprehensive peace negotiations, as well as planning a second meeting in the near future, said Mard.
She added that there is no military solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The conflict must be resolved through peaceful negotiations, and the presidents, as well as the co-chairs play the main role in them, said Mard.
As is known, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini earlier met with the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, said Mard.
While in Azerbaijan in February, Mogherini said she would personally deal with this conflict and that she wanted to become a partner of the OSCE Minsk Group in this issue, Mard 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.
On May 16, a meeting was held in Vienna, with participation of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, US Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, French Minister of State for European Affairs Harlem Desir, OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, and special representative of the OSCE chairperson-in-office Andrzej Kasprzyk.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
Trend:
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received President of the Maastricht School of Management, former President of the Dutch Senate and Honorary President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Rene van der Linden May 18.
President Aliyev said relations between Azerbaijan and the Netherlands developed actively, and highly appreciated Rene van der Linden`s efforts in this regard.
President Aliyev said the scope of the issues of the two countries` mutual interest was always expanding. The Azerbaijani president touched upon cooperation between the two states in business sector, adding that the number of Dutch companies was increasing in Azerbaijan.
President Aliyev said relations between Maastricht School of Management and ADA University were of strategic importance, and described all this as positive indicators of cooperation.
Rene van der Linden hailed cooperation between the Netherlands and Azerbaijan. He thanked President Aliyev for this cooperation, in particular for establishing ties with the Dutch province of Limburg. Rene van der Linden said both sides spared no efforts to develop these ties.
The sides exchanged views over Azerbaijan-European Union cooperation, as well as development of bilateral ties between Azerbaijan and the Netherlands in various fields, and settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Donald Trump has verbally steamrolled a lot of politicians during the 2016 campaign - but not Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf.
Trump was quoted in the New York Times Wednesday, suggesting that Iraq was relatively safe compared to Oakland.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
Trend:
Azerbaijani armed forces liberated more than 2,000 hectares of the country's territory from Armenian occupation, Azerbaijani defense ministry said in a message May 18.
Armenian leadership finally officially confirmed that it carried out an armed provocation against Azerbaijan in the country's occupied territories in early April, which resulted in changes on the contact line of troops of the two countries, the message said.
On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Azerbaijani armed forces liberated important heights and territories of strategic significance in Agdere district, as well as in the Fizuli and Jabrail districts from the occupation during the counter-offensive following the enemy's attack, according to the message.
Despite the fact that the Armenian side states about the alleged loss of 800 hectares, it's obvious that the area of territories liberated by Azerbaijan is being intentionally downplayed, the defense ministry said.
In fact, the Azerbaijani armed forces freed more than 2,000 hectares of land, and even a larger area from an operational point of view came under the control of Azerbaijani armed forces, said the message.
"In contrast to the Armenian side, the Azerbaijani armed forces are not taking any steps to aggravate the situation on the contact line but are only forced to take adequate steps," the defense ministry said. "No sabotage of the enemy will remain unanswered. The figures issued by Armenia regarding casualties on the both sides in early April also don't reflect reality. Actually the losses of the Armenian armed forces are ten times higher than ours."
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Anakhanum Idayatova - Trend:
Metsamor nuclear power plant is a threat not only to countries bordering with Armenia, but also the whole world, President of the Strategic Outlook Turkish International Research Center Yusuf Cinar told Trend May 18.
Armenia has a nuclear power plant, Metsamor, built in 1970. The power plant was closed after a devastating earthquake in Spitak in 1988. But despite the international protests, the power plant's operation was resumed in 1995. Moreover, a second reactor was launched there.
According to the ecologists and scholars all over the region, seismic activity of this area turns operation of the Metsamor nuclear power plant in an extremely dangerous enterprise, even if a new type of reactor is built.
Cinar said that the Metsamor nuclear power plant might, at any time, share the fate of the Japanese Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The expert said that the operating life of the Metsamor power plant has ended long time ago, according to research reports.
Cinar said that despite the numerous calls of the EU to shut down the plant, Armenia didn't react to them, and there are two reasons for that.
"First, Armenia covers its energy needs at the expense of Metsamor nuclear plant," Cinar said. "The second reason is political: the plant is located near Turkey and Azerbaijan, and continues to pose a danger to the security of these countries."
He said that Armenia never showed the slightest desire to close the plant, even during normalization of relations with Turkey.
"Given the situation in the Middle East and the threat of conflicts in the Caucasus, the slightest terrorist attack at the Metsamor nuclear power plant may lead to a catastrophe in the region," the expert said.
He went on to add that the international community should pay due attention to this real threat.
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Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Seba Aghayeva - Trend:
Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will attend a meeting of foreign ministers of the countries participating in NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, to be held in Brussels May 20, Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman for Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, told Trend May 18.
Mammadyarov will also attend a meeting of foreign ministers of the Eastern Partnership countries.
Being NATO's loyal supporter, as well as taking into account its significant contributions, Azerbaijan was admitted to the ISAF mission by NATO as the mission's potential supporter.
Afterwards, Azerbaijan will take part in the new mission planning process.
Besides Azerbaijan, only seven countries, namely, Australia, Georgia, New Zealand, Ukraine, Finland, Sweden and Montenegro have been admitted as potential supporters of the mission.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Anakhanum Idayatova - Trend:
Azerbaijan is a valued partner of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), said Douglas Lute, the US permanent representative to the NATO.
He made the remarks answering Trend's question during a telephonic press briefing.
"Azerbaijan's contribution as a NATO partner has been consistent," said Lute. "We appreciate Azerbaijan's participation in the coalition."
He also noted that NATO anticipates the participation of the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov in a meeting of the FMs of the countries participating in NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, to be held in Brussels May 20.
In recent years, Azerbaijan has been actively involved in peacekeeping missions, including in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Azerbaijan-NATO cooperation is realized as part of the 'Partnership for Peace' program.
Earlier, NATO adopted a document on the fourth stage of the Individual Partnership Action Plan for 2015-2016.
Edited by EA
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Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
Trend:
President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Mulatu Teshome has congratulated Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev on the occasion of the Republic Day.
"On behalf of the people and government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, and that of my own, it gives me great pleasure to extend to you and through you to the people and government of the Republic of Azerbaijan, warmest congratulations on the occasion marking your country's national day," said Teshome in his congratulatory letter.
"I would also like to take this opportunity to express my confidence that the close relations that exist between our two countries will continue to be further strengthened in the years ahead," he added.
"Please accept, Your Excellency, my best wishes for your personal wellbeing and for the continued peace and prosperity of the people of the Republic of Azerbaijan," Mulatu Teshome said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
Trend:
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the United States to the Republic of Azerbaijan Robert F.Cekuta visited Azerbaijan State University of Economics (UNEC) on May 16.
Meeting with UNEC Rector, Professor Adalat Muradov the ambassador spoke about the current situation with teaching of the English language in Azerbaijan. Issues of involving instructors from the US in training English at UNEC who use the academic mobility as well as the Fulbright Program were also discussed during the meeting.
Afterwards, Cekuta commented the existing situation of the world economy to the undergraduate students of the International School of Economics of UNEC. UNEC students in turn addressed their questions on economy to ambassador. Students' questions on increasing role of the Chinese economy in global economy, changing oil prices on the world market, US-Azerbaijan economic relations and especially direct investments from the US to Azerbaijan were responded.
The ambassador said though the major developed regions of China's economy are located in the eastern part of the country, now it is moving to the west of the country. Speaking about the transformation of the national currency of China Yuan into the world currency Cekuta drew the students' attention to the national economy which has become the world's second largest economy over the recent years. He noted that China's economy and factor are no longer possible to ignore in the world economy; currently entering the Yuan into the world economy in a systematic way is happening.
Focusing on changes in oil prices Ambassador Cekuta noted in his speech that the decline in the oil price should be viewed in ways. The drop in the oil price of black gold for consumers, of course, is very good. However, the decrease for oil-exporting countries and companies is not a positive thing. Because of the fall in the price of black gold the decline in prices of other products fall, in addition it leads to the reduction of oil companies and ultimately to unemployment. Cekuta noted that oil prices have created problems for many countries in the current situation, but we cannot say that for Azerbaijan. The economic situation in Azerbaijan cannot be compared with the situation existing in Venezuela and Nigeria.
The ambassador also touched on the investment policy of US companies. He said that his country's companies will continue to take active part in Azerbaijan's energy sector in any case. The ambassador also emphasized the possibility of focusing his country's businessmen on Azerbaijan's tourism and information technologies sector.
UNEC students shared their opinions with Ambassador Cekuta.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:
The volume of damage inflicted to mosques and historical monuments during the Armenian shelling of settlements in Azerbaijan in early April is being studied, Mubariz Gurbanli, chairman of Azerbaijani State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations, said May 18.
In connection with this fact, the committee appealed to the relevant bodies, he told journalists in Baku.
"This issue is being studied," he added. "Restoration of historical monuments, including mosques, along with the restoration of settlements in Azerbaijan, will begin after this process is finished."
On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
Trend:
Baku, Prague, Minsk, Paris, Riga, Tallinn, Rome, Barcelona, Helsinki and London are in the top 10 of the most popular foreign cities for summer trips among Russian tourists, according to Russian Travel.ru web portal.
Minsk and Baku became foreign capitals with lowest summer trip costs (45 euros per day each), while London - the most expensive (more than 200 euros per day).
In Prague, for hotel accommodation tourists spend an average of 58 euros per day, in Tallinn - 53 euros, and in Paris - 93 euros. On average, Russian tourists, who book their holidays independently, travel to foreign cities for 5 days and pay about 75 euros per day for accommodation.
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Bernie Sanders laughed heartily Wednesday afternoon before taking the stage at his rally in San Jose, noting the differences in his California campaign activities compared with his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton.
Sanders scheduled two Bay Area rallies Wednesday he also had a rally in Vallejo Wednesday evening and in between the two made an unannounced stop to join a boisterous crowd of hotel and restaurant employees in San Francisco demanding the right to unionize.
Clinton or her husband, former President Bill Clinton, will headline four high-dollar fundraisers in the Bay Area next week. All the events are private and cost from $250 to $27,000 a ticket.
Ha, ha, ha! That says everything about the difference, Sanders told The Chronicle Wednesday. Our goal and I dont know if well achieve it is to talk to 200,000 people in California in rallies like this until June 7 the date of the California primary election.
If you want a candidate who is out working and speaking with people rather than hanging out raising money from millionaires, I think the choice is pretty clear, the Vermont senator said.
While fundraising stops will be part of the Clintons next trip to the state, they will also be making several public appearances as they have also done during recent stops. Hillary Clinton did make public appearances at rallies in Oakland and East Los Angeles during a campaign swing earlier this month. And Bill Clinton headlined public events in San Diego and Los Angeles earlier this month, too. Bill Clinton is expected to be at a rally in San Diego on Saturday when he swings through California for several days starting this weekend, with more public events expected to be on his schedule. Hillary Clinton is also expected to do multiple public events on her next trip through California next week.
Hillary for California campaign director Buffy Wicks responded that both Clintons have held events across the state this month where theyve talked to many Californians about the issues on their minds and they look forward to returning this weekend and next week.
A practical purpose
For the Sanders campaign, Wednesdays rallies served a practical purpose. Before the candidate appeared, supporter Wrenn Bunker Koesters urged the crowd from the stage to text the word volunteer to a campaign number.
That inspired Esdras Ortega to text his desire to volunteer. The rally was the first political event the 20-year-old De Anza College student had ever attended.
I just wanted to come here, hear what he said and pick up a vibe on his speeches and see what people were cheering for and getting excited about, Ortega said. This gets me psyched up to volunteer.
It has paid similar dividends nationally. Of people who have attended Sanders campaign rallies or town meetings, 67 percent have volunteered and 40 percent of them donated money, Sanders campaign digital director Kenneth Pennington said Wednesday.
The public perception is palpable, too, analysts say.
When you raise money like that, you are more accountable to the public at large rather than a small group of donors, said Daniel G. Newman, co-founder of Maplight, a nonpartisan organization that analyzes the role of money in politics. Newman pointed out that both Clinton and Sanders have promised to do all they could to overturn Citizens United, the Supreme Court decision that paved the way for unlimited campaign contributions.
During Wednesdays rally before 5,500 people at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in San Jose, Sanders often in a hoarse voice stuck to his stump speech, a critique of how the wealthy have a death grip on Americas political and economic systems. He didnt attack Clinton directly and saved some of his most pointed jabs for Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.
That will not happen
I know that there are many people who are concerned that Donald Trump may become president of the United States. That will not happen, Sanders said, pointing to how he leads Trump in many national polls. More important, I believe the American people will reject the basic tenets of what Donald Trump stands for.
Sanders pointed to Nevada casino magnate Sheldon Adelson saying last week he would endorse Trump.
When you have billionaires supporting billionaires, thats oligarchy, the candidate said.
Sanders steered into a California topic when he addressed a matter likely to be before state voters this fall: legalizing cannabis for adult recreational use.
If I lived in California I would vote yes to legalize marijuana, Sanders said at the rally, drawing huge cheers.
After he left San Jose, Sanders appeared about 4:30 p.m. in the plaza at 101 California near the Le Meridien Hotel to support workers trying to organize there and spoke for about five minutes to a crowd of about 500 people.
This time he veered in a very San Francisco issue: homelessness.
Just been in San Francisco for a few hours, and its stunning to see people sleeping out in the street, he said.
Following his speech, he waded into the crowd to shake hands with supporters before heading to the evening rally in Vallejo.
At Vallejos Waterfront Park, Sanders continued hammering on the nations wealth inequality while speaking for an hour before a crowd organizers estimated at 5,000 people. And he continued to be boundlessly optimistic about his chances, saying that after winning the Oregon primary Tuesday, I think were going to sweep the West Coast.
Like he did in San Jose, Sanders barely mentioned Clinton and focused his attacks on Trump as a billionaire who, if elected, would perpetuate an economic system thats rigged against middle- and low-income Americans.
In an interview before his San Jose speech, Sanders reacted strongly to criticism of events at the Nevada Democratic Convention over the weekend. His supporters said party organizers had changed the rules of the convention to block them and give an advantage to Clinton. They reacted by causing disruption and threatening the state party chairwoman.
But Sanders said concerns about violence were overblown and pointed out that it was a room filled with police officers and nobody was arrested.
Dems criticize campaign
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz called the reaction by the Sanders campaign to the Nevada incident anything but acceptable, and California Sen. Barbara Boxer, who was in Nevada, complained of being booed and said she had been concerned for her safety. Other party leaders worried it could be a preview of chaos at the national convention in July in Philadelphia should Sanders not win the nomination.
What I am concerned about is that people in the Democratic Party even raise that as a spectacle. Why would you do that? Sanders told The Chronicle Wednesday. When we have the most grassroots campaign seen in a very long time with no violence and then people are suggesting that we will bring violence to the convention in Philadelphia. Thats absurd. Thats a political tactic.
Without mentioning Wasserman Schultz or Boxer by name, Sanders said, Then you have people comparing us to Donald Trump? Thats bad politics. What we are trying to do is bring people together. That some people booed and yelled and maybe acted inappropriately, we condemn that. But people do have the right to boo.
Sanders also pressed for Clinton to fulfill her promise to debate in California. Fox News extended an invitation Wednesday to both campaigns to debate in California and the Sanders campaign noted that The Chronicle has offered to co-host a debate.
While the odds remain long for Sanders to capture the Democratic nomination, Matthew Finkelstein, a Vallejo resident wearing a blue Bernie-themed yarmulke to the rally in his city, remained hopeful.
In politics, anything can happen. Sometimes a moment comes together perfectly and a star goes supernova, Finkelstein said.Whether or not Bernie wins this contest or he doesnt, this movement is coming.
Chronicle staff writers Steve Rubenstein and Jenna Lyons contributed to this report.
SACRAMENTO Allegations are swirling in a hotly contested state Senate race in San Jose between two Democratic lawmakers after a fight broke out at a political fundraiser.
Assemblywoman Nora Campos, D-San Jose, says her husband was physically attacked by a labor leader last month in San Jose simply for being married to me. She has accused Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, whom she is attempting to unseat, of orchestrating the incident and has warned Beall and Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, to call off your thugs, referring to local labor leaders she said were behind the attack.
Beall and de Leon deny any involvement, and a labor leader who was involved in the scuffle with Campos husband, Neil Struthers, said Struthers provoked him and threw the first punch.
Struthers gets kicked
Campos said her husband was attacked at a political fundraiser at the Fairmont Hotel by leaders with Laborers Local 270 union, which supports Beall. Struthers was kicked in the groin, she said.
Enrique Arguello, business manager with the union, admitted kicking Struthers in the leg but only after Struthers made racist and homophobic remarks while threatening him.
He said Struthers had been taunting him for more than a year after Arguello refused to vote in favor of Struthers receiving a pay increase when Struthers led the Santa Clara Building Trades Council. There was also tension, Arguello said, because his union had endorsed Councilwoman Magdalena Carrasco for San Jose City Council over Campos brother Xavier Campos.
He threw the first punch and hit me on the shoulder, Arguello said.
Arguello said his wife stood in front of him and Struthers attempted to throw punches past her, hitting her.
I kicked him a little bit, he said. It barely touched his pants.
Arguello said two big guys from the carpenters union separated them.
Struthers has denied Arguellos account. Campos said her husband is filing a lawsuit against Arguello for slander.
Another allegation
Now, Campos has partnered with Assembly candidate Darcie Green, who alleges Beall used his influence to try to force her employer to fire her when she decided to run against someone he supported.
I dont understand what she is doing, Beall said of Campos on Tuesday. Its a desperation move in the last three weeks of the campaign. There is no truth to this.
Green, who is running for the San Jose Assembly seat Campos is leaving when she terms out this year, said she had worked out a plan with her employer, Kaiser Permanente, when she decided to run for the office. Green said that plan was thrown out when Kaiser told her in August that she had to quit her campaign, quit her job or take an unpaid leave without benefits. She refused to quit either and was placed on unpaid leave, she said.
When I pressed and pressed as to why they are doing this, weve had meetings about this and were all on the same page, why the abrupt change of events, finally someone in leadership told me that Kaiser Permanente had been influenced by Sen. Beall, she said.
He or someone in his camp contacted Kaiser and said their employment of me was them favoring me over other candidates. He has great influence over Kaiser Permanente because he sits on influential committees.
Beall denies talking to Kaiser.
Campos said de Leon, as leader of the Senate, needs to stop the intimidation tactics and let voters decide who they want in office.
Im not willing to get out of the Senate race he doesnt want me in, Campos said. I challenged his sitting member, and thats taboo.
Utterly preposterous
A spokesman for de Leon denied Campos allegations.
Its bizarre, irrational and an utterly preposterous accusation to make against a respected senator, said Jason Kinney, a spokesman for Senate Democrats. Frankly, its way beneath the dignity of the public office Nora Campos is seeking.
Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: MelodyGutierrez
Does San Francisco need another tiki bar?
That was my first thought upon hearing that owner Brian Sheehy and the Future Bars crew the same ones who brought you Bourbon & Branch, Rickhouse and Devils Acre were opening Pagan Idol in the Financial District. As a relatively recent California transplant, I was under the impression that this city was already saturated with what always seemed to me a genre of bar that was kitschy at best, insipid at worst. Between Smugglers Cove, Tonga Room, Trader Vics, Forbidden Island, Tradr Sams, Kona Club and thats not all do we need another purveyor of syrupy mai tais, another excuse for Hawaiian shirts?
Oh, but how I underestimated tiki.
In the month since it opened, Pagan Idol has been wildly busy, with lines out the door before 5 p.m. on weekdays. Less claustrophobic than Smugglers Cove, more elaborately decorated than the Tonga Room, the bar has two chambers: the Captains Quarters, resembling the inside of a ship (complete with cabin windows looking into a fish-filled LED-screen ocean); and beyond it, a fantasy island with cabanas, carved idols and a periodically steaming volcano.
There are so many places in San Francisco where you can get an incredible cocktail, says general manager Justin DOlier. There arent many places, especially in FiDi, where you can have this much fun.
For the Pagan Idol team, tiki is a state of mind. Its immersive, a place for escapism, DOlier explains. As soon as you walk in, you should feel transported to a different world. The atmosphere or maybe its just all the rum should put you immediately on island time.
The ur-tiki bar, Don the Beachcomber, opened in Hollywood in 1933, with Oaklands own Trader Vics just a year behind it. It makes sense that tiki was born in the Depression, when people had reason to dream of escape, then proliferated in the post-World War II era, when servicemen had returned from the South Pacific.
Jen Fedrizzi/Special to the Chronicle
Tiki is an American invention, and its amazing to see it exploding worldwide, says DOlier, citing a new tiki bar in Bilbao, Spain. He makes an important distinction: Tiki was never meant to be authentically Polynesian. From the beginning, tiki has always been a self-consciously Americanized amalgamation of Polynesian, Cantonese, Hawaiian and other South Pacific-ish elements. Tropical drinks like the pina colada and the mojito, which were actually created in the Caribbean, are not tiki, technically speaking, while the quintessentially American zombie and the Scorpion Bowl the Coca-Cola of cocktails? are.
You wont find a Martin Cate-style rum bible here; Pagan Idols bar manager, Daniel Parks, keeps a neat, 16-drink cocktail menu, made up of 13 single-serving libations and three shareable bowls (one of which, yes, is served with a live flame). All are proprietary cocktails, if some are recognizable theres a house daiquiri ($10) and a mai tai float ($12) and most are exceedingly complicated. Torched-to-order marshmallow and a stick of rock candy both make appearances (respectively, in the Dawn Patrol and the Maybe Grog, both $12). Theres also a secret menu of about 50 classic tiki drinks. (Now you know to ask for it.)
The cocktails embrace their sweet, boozy mandate, but most of them avoid cloying. (The fact that all the juices are house-made probably helps.) The Witch Doctor (rums, grapefruit, lime, passion fruit, spices, egg white, $12) contains that recognizable dark rum-and-citrus combination, but its spice component could that be cardamom? gives it interest. This is the chai of mai tais, remarked my companion.
Pagan Idols love letter to the zombie, the Daywalker ($15), sacrifices none of the antecedents potency even as it gets a spicy complexity from the additions of bitters and absinthe. And the highlight of the houses Bird of Paradise ($12), which tastes a bit like a richer, sweeter margarita, is the passion-fruit-infused whipped cream, sprinkled with irresistibly tangy li hing mui (Hawaiian dried plum powder).
Youll resent the complexity of these cocktails if youre waiting upward of 20 minutes for a drink, which you will be if you go during prime time. (Fueled by the FiDi after-work crowd, the bar is busiest Wednesday through Friday. The secret: Go on Monday.) Even the swiftest bartenders seem to take forever, measuring out the various rums and juices, shaking them in the milk-shake-style mixers, doing that marshmallow torching. Theyre hiring more staff, DOlier says.
Then again, tiki bars are intricate by nature, from the drinks to the decor. At Pagan Idol, that makes for some impressive details: Note the glass light fixtures, designed by Ivan Mora, depicting the goddess Calypsos octopus-like legs; the wooden idols carved by Mora and Crazy Al Evans; the jungles of plants, which appear to be real.
This over-the-top intricacy makes Pagan Idol feel all the more jubilant. The geography is vague, pointed not at any particular island but rather at that amalgamated, American-interpreted spirit of the exotic; its less about verisimilitude than about sheer exuberance. And isnt that the point of the tiki bar, to make you feel as if youve gone on vacation?
DOlier insists that Pagan Idol is trying to complement, rather than duplicate, its neighboring tiki bars in the Bay Area. Were just trying to create a better tiki bar crawl, he says.
Jen Fedrizzi/Special to the Chronicle
But did that crawl need another stop does San Francisco really need another tiki bar?
No, San Francisco does not. But once youre under the thatch, with the volcano steaming, the ukulele music blaring, with that toasted-marshmallow-garnished drink in your hand, youll forget youre in San Francisco at all.
Esther Mobley is The San Francisco Chronicles wine, beer and spirits writer. Email: emobley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Esther_mobley Instagram: @esthermob
To order: Daywalker ($15), Bird of Paradise ($12), Dawn Patrol ($12).
Where: Pagan Idol, 375 Bush St. (at Kearny), San Francisco, (415) 985-6375. www.paganidol.com
When: 4 p.m. to midnight Monday-Friday, 6 p.m. to midnight Saturday. Closed Sunday.
I dont throw around superlatives lightly, so I expect the following statement to have some gravitas: I believe Ippuku has the best shochu program in the Bay Area. Heck, in California. In the United States. Could we even say North America?
Ippuku, a perennial Chronicle Top 100 restaurant, is a Berkeley yakitori spot known for its succulent skewers of grilled chicken parts knee cartilage, gizzards, hearts and various raw preparations of the bird. Yes, you may order sake (or beer, or whiskey; wine is not available), but if you do, youll be missing out on the Western Hemispheres finest shochu selection, notable for the access it provides not only to rare bottles but also to the expertise of Ippukus shochu experts, including one sommelier-style certified shochu adviser.
Unlike sake, which is fermented, shochu is a Japanese clear liquor distilled from any number of grains or starches, most commonly sweet potato, rice, barley or brown sugar. Shochu is more complex than vodka, more subtle than gin and, usually at around 25 percent alcohol by volume, typically lower in alcohol than either.
Scotland has Scotch, Mexico has Tequila and Japan has shochu, explains Washi Washino, Ippukus resident shochu adviser.
Shochu has been produced in Japan for a long time like 1,000 years and for much of modern history, it was something your grandpa drank, says Ippuku co-owner Christian Geidemann. In the post-World War II era, it became popular to mix shochu with Hoppy, a nonalcoholic beer, to make drinking large quantities of the swill more palatable. That was the cheapest way to get drunk when everyone was poor after the war, Geidemann says.
As you might imagine, the quality wasnt superb. But then, in the 1990s and early aughts, shochu suddenly happened. It became trendy with younger people, coinciding with a larger izakaya boom, Geidemann explains. And Washino points out that shochus salubrious virtues added to its appeal: Shochus kind of healthy. Because its distilled, it has less calories, less chance of a hangover.
Premium shochu proliferated; shochu bars emerged. Attention darted to traditional production methods, higher-quality ingredients and region-specific styles, especially the prestigious, single-distilled honkaku shochu.
Ippuku is indebted to that shochu boom in Japan, born from a stage that Geidemann did at Nagomi, a Tokyo yakitori restaurant. At Nagomi, it became apparent to me that this is definitely the drink for yakitori, he says.
The logic of the pairing holds that the liquor has a cleansing, lightening effect. The richness and greasiness of grilled meat, especially chicken that has the skin on it shochu is the perfect counterbalance. Its not cloyingly sweet like sake. Its got a little flavor, the weight is light, its something you can drink throughout your meal.
John Storey/Special to the Chronicle
That is, if you like shochu. Which you might not.
Dont expect to get it right away. At first it may feel like youre drinking straight vodka. Perceiving the individual nuances requires focus.
A shochus flavors are largely determined by the grain of origin and the type of koji, which is the mold that performs the pre-distillation fermentation. Black koji are intense; they make a strong flavor, Washino explains. White koji is more of a light, delicate flavor. Yellow koji, less common, makes fruity flavors.
If you want to see for yourself what difference a mold can make, compare two shochus that differ only by mold type: Ippuku offers the Tsukushi shiro (white mold; $10/glass) and Tsukushi kuro (black; $8).
Imo, derived from sweet potato, is generally the most potent type of shochu, and often the favorite of connoisseurs. My first experience with imo was that its way too intense, Washino recalls, but once he acquired the taste for the nutty, complex liquor, he never looked back.
Kome, rice shochu, is often the mildest and most delicate; on a recent visit to Ippuku, my server warned me away from it: Some of the lighter ones really just taste like alcohol. Shochu made from mugi, or barley, can often have characteristics of whiskey, and is sometimes even aged in oak barrels.
Going by recommendations from our server, we started with the jinkoo (imo; $12), which smelled like caramel and gave the impression of sweetness on the palate, with crisp acidity; and then the nuttier, smoother shima senryou (imo; $12).
We tried the towari (distilled from soba; $9) oyuwari-style, served in a ceramic mug with a proportion of 60 percent shochu and 40 percent hot water: It had a hot sake-like quality, with a slightly funky, toasty finish. We loved the enma (mugi; $11), which tasted like the diluted ending of a glass of scotch on the rocks, but the mugon (kome; $9), not so much, likely because our server suggested we drink it neat. I recoiled instinctively upon smelling the mugon, suddenly transported back to my collegiate encounters with Everclear.
Will Americans ever jump on the shochu badwagon?
Washino and Geidemann say that their customers are catching on to shochu, though its a slow adoption. They and their staff are admirably thorough in walking newbies through the list, which they have determined to be the largest in the United States. The scarcity of sought-after Japanese whiskeys like Yamazaki 18 of which Geidemann can procure only one bottle per month, and he sells out of it in two days allows them to turn some guests attention to shochu, especially the barrel-aged, whiskey-reminiscent mugi varieties. But, they note with resignation, most people still just order sake.
Dont be one of those people. If youre at Ippuku, youve already willingly transported yourself from downtown Berkeley to a different world: Youve removed your shoes to climb into a tatami room; youve ordered raw chicken (and if you didnt, shame on you; march back immediately and order the sashimi-like pickled version with wasabi). As the saying goes, go big or go home. Just drink some shochu, already.
Esther Mobley is The San Francisco Chronicles wine, beer and spirits writer. Email: emobley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Esther_mobley Instagram: @esthermob
To order: Chicken skewers ($7-$9), shochu by recommendation ($6-$19/glass)
Where: Ippuku, 2130 Center St., Berkeley. (510) 665-1969. www.ippukuberkeley.com
When: 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, 5 to 11 p.m. Friday to Saturday
ROME The U.S. has returned to Italy a letter written by Christopher Columbus in 1493 announcing his discovery of the New World that was stolen from a Florence library and unwittingly acquired by the Library of Congress.
The eight-page letter conveys Columbus marvel at the fertile islands he found, full of the greatest variety of trees reaching to the stars, and the timid natives who Columbus believed were ripe for conquest by Spain and conversion to Christianity.
GENEVA The World Health Organization said Wednesday that there was a low-to-moderate risk of the mosquito-born Zika virus spreading to Europe in the spring and summer, as the groups general director warned that researchers were increasingly concerned about the threat posed by the disease.
An assessment by the global health organizations European office found that the likelihood of a breakout varied widely among countries, and it identified three areas that are most vulnerable: parts of Georgia and Russia on the Black Seas northeast coast and the Portuguese island of Madeira, all of which have populations of the Aedes aegypti mosquito mainly responsible for spreading the virus.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
Trend:
Winners of the national final round of Imagine Cup innovation competition, which was held in Azerbaijan for the 2nd time by Microsoft Azerbaijan and Nar, with the support of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ministry of Communication and Higher Technologies and High-Tech Park, were identified.
To participate in the competition, it was required to prepare Microsoft platform innovative software project as well as prototype of the application, solving problems of the modern era, or to find out an original game. 25 teams representing 11 universities participated in the national selection round of this year's competition, best 15 of which qualified for the national finals.
As in world finals, teams of the students of higher and vocational education institutions taking part in the national finals, competed for three nominations: 'Innovation', 'Games' and 'Social projects'. Winners in all three nominations were chosen by professional juries. In the national finals, 'JavaSet' team, which was presented identification of emotions, won in 'Innovations' nomination, the ADA University's 'The Corp' team, which presented a game for visually impaired persons, in 'Games' nomination and 'SABAH Groups' representative 'TechSOS' team, which presented the device, facilitating identification of location of elderly people got in trouble, in 'Social projects' nomination.
Attending the awarding ceremony Azerfon CEO Kent McNeley congratulated the winners and noted that main purpose of the competition is to instill innovative thinking ability in students and reveal of local talents. 'Reveal of talented Azerbaijani students as well as establishing condition for their preparation as specialists, ready for the demands of tomorrow's market, is a main condition of our traditional support to this project. Nar always supports young people and is ready to support them to soar to new heights. We believe that these talented young people will be future professionals, experts in their fields and mainly, worthy persons', Mr. McNeley said.
Winner teams are now eligible to participate in the international online voting in May. As a result of the voting, they will gain an opportunity to compete for the prize of 50,000 USD in the US World Finals.
Microsoft Imagine Cup competition is one of the large-scale innovation contest, held among the students of the world. Purpose of the competition is to reveal talented students, establish condition for their preparation as specialists, ready for the demands of tomorrow's market.
Always focusing to the development of education and innovation, science and culture, within its corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy, Nar has been supporting Microsoft Imagine Cup innovation competition for the second year.
1 Refugee smuggling: International law enforcement agencies say smuggling networks cashing in on the huge flow of refugees into Europe had an estimated turnover last year of up to $6 billion. The agencies say that the number of people trying to reach the European Union is expected to increase, with some 800,000 waiting in Libya to cross the Mediterranean. More than 1.2 million people applied for asylum in the European Union last year. A summary released at The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday of a joint Europol and Interpol report also warned there is an increased risk that foreign terrorist fighters may use migratory flows to sneak into Europe.
2 Genocide trial: A Swedish court convicted a 61-year-old man this week for taking part in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, and sentenced him to life in prison. The case was noteworthy for being part of a transnational effort to hold people accountable for crimes against humanity, no matter where those crimes occurred. A Stockholm court found that the man, Claver Berinkindi, a Rwandan who obtained Swedish citizenship in 2012, had participated in five massacres in 1994.
KUWAIT CITY Deadly bombings in Baghdad may signal a shift in tactics by the Islamic State, determined to rebound from a series of battlefield losses and the groups hope that attacks in the capital will distract already divided Iraqi leaders, a top U.S. general said Wednesday.
Army Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command, said, however, this does not mean Islamic State has given up its ambition to create a so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
They are looking for ways to start to regain their momentum or regain the initiative, he told reporters flying with him to Kuwait, the first stop on a Middle East tour. Votel said the suicide bombings and other attacks in and around Baghdad over the past week, killing more than 200 civilians, show how rapidly momentum and tactics can change. The latest, on Tuesday, struck outdoor markets and a restaurant in Baghdad, killing at least 69 people.
While we abhor the things that the Islamic State does, I think we have to respect our enemies and respect their ability to adapt and adjust on the battlefield, he said.
U.S. officials say they have squeezed the Islamic State on multiple fronts, damaging their ability to raise revenue from oil, destroying substantial cash stockpiles, eliminating more than 120 of their key leaders since the start of 2015 and reducing the amount of territory they control by 45 percent in Iraq and by 20 percent in Syria. Even so, the militants have proven resilient and adaptive.
We are seeing them (Islamic State) see opportunities and take advantage of those opportunities, Votel said. I think they believe it will cause the Iraqi government to divert forces, divert effort, divert intellectual horsepower to solving those problems as opposed to priorities like recapturing the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul in northern Iraq and further stabilizing Anbar province.
Retaking Mosul is an important goal because it is the Islamic States main stronghold in Iraq, but prospects for launching an Iraqi offensive there have been in doubt for more than a year, in part due to political divisions in Baghdad.
Votel, who took over at Central Command seven weeks ago after commanding U.S. Special Operations Command, offered a balanced view of the outlook for further Iraqi military gains. He said they have made important advances in recent months but have much more to accomplish. Without discussing specifics about U.S. troop involvement, Votel said the American public should know that it is going to be a long and difficult fight.
And now that Islamic State has lost substantial pieces of territory it once controlled in Iraq, they may be reverting in some regards back to their terrorist roots.
Santa Fe is gonna feel the Bern after all.
Democratic presidential candidate and US Sen. Bernie Sanders is planning an appearance Friday afternoon at Santa Fe Community College, its spokeswoman, Janet Wise, tells SFR.
"It was literally just minutes ago that we got confirmation," Wise says, noting that the candidate's advance team checked out the school earlier.
The Sanders campaign says the doors will open at 1 pm for the senator's event at the college, which comes after before an event at Albuquerque convention center. Doors for the Duke City event open at 5 pm. RSVPs are "strongly encouraged."
"The college won't have any real control or role to play really in access," says Wise. As was the case when Barak Obama visited in 2008, "The Secret Service is in charge of security, and our campus security follows their instructions."
The Obama visit saw traffic backed up for miles between the school and Rodeo Road. This time, the college has an additional entrance that might help things flow more smoothly.
Wise says during the Obama visit, people who lined up early for admission got into the gym until it reached capacity.
"The semester is over, and the number of students we have taking classes on campus is somewhat less than it usually is. But I would certainly expect and hope that students here and students at the high schools would be interested in seeing this," Wise says. "As we learned with the Obama event, you can be part of history by taking advantage of opportunities like this. To see them and hear them in person is much different than on TV. It's really exciting to see a presidential candidate. Any candidate."
Hillary Clinton, Sanders' major rival for the Democratic nomination, visited Albuquerque last summer but did not hold any public events. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, has announced visits to Albuquerque and Espanola later this month. No Santa Fe campaign stop has been scheduled for the state, according to Victor Reyes, an official for New Mexico for Hillary.
The Sanders committee issued the following statement:
Santa Fe Reporter
People trying to survive in this arid landscape have spent thousands of yearssome flush with rain and snow, others parchedhoping that the next season will allow fields and villages to survive. Or maybe even flourish. Whether it was the drought of the 12th century that contributed to migrations out of Chaco Canyon or the dry years that desiccated ranches and farms in the 1930s and 50s, people here in New Mexico have probably always watched the skies and prayed for rain.
And while tree ring data or abandoned farmsteads trace the stories of past droughts, online PDFs full of graphs, tables and planning ideas offer clues to the difficultiesor opportunitiesthat might lie ahead.
This year, the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission released 16 regional water plans. Each draft paints a localized picture of the next 40 yearshow much water there may be, whether the population will rise or fall and if supplies can meet demands.
Some regions are worse off than others. The economy in northeastern New Mexico hasn't yet recovered from drought that began in 2009. In southern Curry County, people haul water in places where wells have dried. Surface water is already scarce in the northwest; now, groundwater levels are declining, too. In the past 30 years, aquifers beneath Gallup and nearby communities have dropped several hundred feet. And in many places, like the Middle and Lower Rio Grande, river waters are already over-allocated.
Further downstream from the Canyon Road treatment plant, water fans out for wildlife habitat and recreation along a paved trail. (Laura Paskus)
But even as surface and groundwater supplies in many places are projected to decline even further, no one seems sureand the state's not sayinghow all these regional plans will fit into one comprehensive plan to envision how New Mexico might look in 2060.
"Other than the fact that we have a common technical platform, I don't think we have any idea what they're going to do with the state water plan," says Conci Bokum, a local expert who has long worked on regional water planning in the Santa Fe area.
The state did not allow water planning staff to answer questions on the record about the plans, nor did Interstate Stream Commission Director Deborah Dixon respond to interview requests.
As for how, or if, the state will incorporate the regional plans into a statewide approach, Public Information Officer Melissa Dosher wrote in an email that the planning phase has begun and will continue into 2017.
CALL TO COMBINE FORCES IN SF
Considering the dire data for many areas, Santa Fe is in comparatively good shape.
The City Different lies within the Jemez y Sangre planning region, which includes Los Alamos County and parts of Santa Fe and Rio Arriba counties. The recent planning effort involved the three counties, the cities of Santa Fe and Espanola, water users associations, acequia users, environmental and business groups, federal and state agencies and six pueblos.
Today, about 147,000 people use more than 90,000 acre-feet of water in the region each year. Most of that water comes from the Rio Grande, the Chama and the Santa Fe River; about 20,000 acre-feet is pumped each year from underground aquifers.
Farms are the biggest water users: Irrigated agriculture diverts 73 percent of the region's entire water supply.
As with all the regions, state workers and contractors wrote the bulk of the plansupplying water information, population forecasts, and future demand scenarioswhile locals suggested ideas to address the gap between future supply and demand.
Many solutions center around increasing efficiency, improving infrastructure and drilling new groundwater wells. Other proposals call for restoring watershed conditions and reusing effluent water.
The Jemez y Sangre region is highly vulnerable to drought, which can put surface supplies at risk. That means planning for climate change is critical.
"Water has always been a big issue in our area," says Santa Fe County Commissioner Kathy Holian, one of the steering committee's four chairs. "But as climate change begins to be felt more and moreand in a variety of waysit's even more important for us to do planning so that we can help shield people in our communities from the effects of drought or really heavy rainstorms."
Holian hopes the public will weigh in on the draft plan, especially when it comes to a proposal to regionalize the city and county into one water utility, similar to the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority. The two entities worked together in the past to build the Buckman Direct Diversion Project on the Rio Grande. "It is a slightly controversial topic," she says. "The county is open to that, but the city, as far as I can determine, is not really interested in going there at this point."
Santa Fe might also continue buying agricultural water rights and transferring them to municipal use. That's one way to close the gap, especially since ag is the predominant water user in the area. "I myself am very interested in encouraging more local agriculture, not less," says Holian. "So I really want to get feedback on that particular issue."
Read the Jemez y Sangre plan here. To comment, email Kathy Holian and Tina Salazar.
This story was a joint effort between the Santa Fe Reporter and New Mexico In Depth as part of Laura Paskuss Climate Change Project.
Santa Fe Reporter
Opinion, April 20: Gutsy Move
Not Anti-Semitic
Ms. Griffith's letter was not anti-Semitic. Israeli Jews often use "Nazi" to describe their country's treatment of Palestinians. Untactful language or not, Griffith holds up a mirror. Her critics, however, refusing to take responsibility for their reflection, project it onto Griffith, just as the Jewish state projects its inhumane ideology onto Palestinians. With the power to force Israel to end its relentless violations of international law, the American Jewish community chooses instead to support those violations.
Accusations of anti-Semitism are meant to deflect attention from this inhumanity. Current Justice Minister Shaked has called for genocide against the Palestinian people. Large mobs of Israeli Jews often chant "Death to the Arabs."
As a former AIPAC member with relatives living in Jewish settlements, my 10 years of daily research has concentrated on Israeli sources. During that time, I have not encountered one supporter of Israeli policy who has impartially researched the history. Instead they repeat Israel's discredited claims of self-defense, even for the killings of helpless children.
In 1948 Albert Einstein compared Israel's Herut party, led by future Prime Minister Begin, to the "Nazi" party and warned: "from [the terrorist party's] past actions we can judge what it may be expected to do in the future." Herut has become Likud, and PM Netanyahu knowingly incites hatred of Palestinians and anti-Semitism.
Richard Forer
Albuquerque
Shake Off Nationalism
While comparisons between the Israeli occupation and the Nazi genocide are wildly out of proportion, we might remember that even that most great of twentieth-century Jews, Primo Levi, Holocaust survivor, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, repeatedly condemned Israeli treatment of Palestinians, saying that "everybody is somebody's Jew." He openly acknowledged that the behavior of the Israeli military was such as to invite comparison with the Nazi treatment of Jews. "Israel, less and less the Holy Land, more and more the military state," he lamented. For this, he was labeled an anti-Semite by some Israelis.
Primo Levi was surely a great man (and a great Jew) in part because he shook off nationalism and saw his own humanity in others.
Henry Shukman
Santa Fe
Correction
In the state House District 48 "Pop Quiz" (May 11), Linda Trujillo was identified as the president of the Santa Fe Board of Education. She serves on the school board but stepped down as president before filing her candidacy.
SFR will correct factual errors online and in print. Please let us know if we make a mistake, editor@sfreporter.com or 988-7530.
Mail letters to PO Box 2306, Santa Fe, NM 87504, deliver to 132 E Marcy St., or email them to editor@sfreporter.com. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specific articles in the Reporter. Letters will be edited for space and clarity.
Santa Fe Reporter
Directors of Intueri Education Group have cut their base director fee in half as the listed training provider seeks to cut costs, has laid off 70 staff, put dividends on hold, and seen its share price tank after ongoing reviews by the Tertiary Education Commission and Serious Fraud Office.
The savings from the director fee cut will only amount to around $200,000 a year but chairman Chris Kelly told shareholders at the annual meeting in Auckland it was a case of all shoulders to the wheel at a particularly difficult time.
Listed two years ago, Intueris share price has dropped from $2.35 at the time of its initial public offering to 37 cents today. It reported a net loss of $48.5 million for the year to December 2015, mainly due to a full write-off in the value of its Quantum Education Group and impairments at its Dive School and Design & Arts College.
The directors advised shareholders today that underlying earnings, before, interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the 2016 financial year will be slightly less than the $21.5 million achieved in 2015.
Directors and management faced a barrage of questions from shareholders including when dividends, which amounted to $13.7 million in the past two years, would be reinstated.
Kelly said the board would consider paying dividends again once the outcome of the TEC reviews into Quantum and the Dive School and the SFO investigation into Quantum were completed, though debt reduction also needed to be a focus for the company.
Its auditors tagged the companys financial statements over its ability to continue as a going concern. It has confirmed an extension of its banking facilities to March 2018 and lifted its total facility to $80 million and delayed until 2017 paying A$5 million owed for the acquisition cost of an Australian business.
Experienced director Alison Paterson, who was elected to the board in June, said she wouldnt have taken the job if she didnt have confidence in the chairman, chief executive, and chief financial officer but there was a job to do to restore shareholder wealth and dividends.
Deloitte was appointed by the TEC to review the Dive School and Intueri has provided feedback on a draft report which chief executive Rob Facer said didnt find any issues for concern in 2015 when the school was under its management. However it did confirm issues Intueri had raised in its own review relating to the period 2010 to 2014 when the school was under the management of the previous owners. Intueri said it would be seeking recourse from the vendors. A final report is expected in the next two to three months.
TEC and SFO reviews of Quantum, where concerns have been raised about the performance and reporting of high student completion rates that didnt match the real number of student enrolments, are still ongoing. How long it will take to resolve the issues is uncertain. Kelly said the former owners of Quantum have also been put on notice Intueri may also take action against them.
Kelly said problems with the subsidiary also occurred before Intueri took over management of the school. Due to Quantums 2016 student enrolments halving to around 500 equivalent full-time students, 70 staff have been laid off and 12 campuses have been closed, with students taking courses on the remaining campuses and sharing those of other colleges.
Facer said overall cost-cutting initiatives are expected to save $3 million this year and $5 million on an annualised basis from 2017 and beyond.
Intueri is also hampered in meeting a growing demand for online learning as a large percentage of students in its Australian-based online courses are funded through VET Fee-Help. The Australian government has imposed a cap on the scheme this year, holding all providers to their 2015 revenue levels. The Australian Federal Department of Education and Training is conducting a review of the scheme after a Senate inquiry found rampant abuse of the system and soaring costs, and legislation is expected to be introduced early next year.
The current long-term executive share scheme has been scrapped by the board because it was not meeting its desired objectives and also doesnt meet likely tax and regulation changes. Options for a new one are being explored. The long-term incentive scheme provided an interest-free loan to Facer and CFO Rod Marvin if they reached financial targets but Facer said the drop in share price meant the executives were now effectively out of the money if they took up the loan. He received a $204,653 loan under the share scheme in the 2015 year which he said related to the companys performance the previous year.
Hes also entitled to a short-term bonus equivalent to up to 60 percent of his $320,000 base salary if share price and profit targets are met, though Kelly said he obviously didnt receive that this year.
BusinessDesk.co.nz
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Former investment banker and technology company executive Richard Dellabarca has been appointed the new chief executive of the government-backed New Zealand Venture Investment Fund.
Out-going chief executive Franceska Banga announced she was stepping down in September last year, having held the role since its establishment in 2001.
The 13-year-old NZVIFs future remains in doubt with the government undertaking a review due to be completed this year. Any Crown funding exit is likely to be in 2018 or 2019 though Banga said the fund is unlikely to become self-sustaining until 2025. The next two to three years are critical for seeing whether it achieves the level of cash returns from exiting mature investments that would allow self-funding, she said.
Since its establishment, NZVIF has invested $162 million in 213 companies, alongside private investment of $1.9 billion, and has invested in eight listed companies, including Orion Health Group and Xero.
NZVIF chairman Murray Gribben said Dellabarca "brings a wide range of capital markets and technology company experience" to the role.
As NZVIF looks to transition to a self-sustaining commercial model, Richards private sector experience and extensive international networks could help to bring external capital to partner with NZVIFs existing capital base for investment in New Zealand growth opportunities," Gribben said.
He has extensive investment banking experience, working in both New Zealand and Australia in mergers and acquisitions and equity capital markets. He also serves on the boards of Kea New Zealand and the New Zealand Rugby Union, and has just been appointed to the New Zealand Post board. He has an MBA from Cambridge University and is qualified as a barrister and solicitor, and chartered accountant.
Dellabarca will take over the role on May 30.
BusinessDesk.co.nz
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Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
Zenith Aran Oil Company Ltd., a subsidiary of Canada's Zenith Energy Ltd., has been registered in Azerbaijan, reports the Vergiler newspaper of Azerbaijan's Ministry of Taxes.
Andrea Cattaneo is the company's legal representative in Azerbaijan.
The company was registered at: 15, Nobel Avenue, Khatai District, Baku, Azerbaijan.
Zenith Energy Ltd. established its subsidiary Zenith Aran Oil Company Ltd. for mining operations at Azerbaijan's three onshore oil fields.
Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR and Zenith Aran Oil Company signed March 16 an agreement on production sharing, restoration, development and exploration at the block of Muradkhanli, Jafarli and Zardab oil fields.
The Muradkhanli, Jafarli and Zardab fields cover an area of 642.2 square kilometers.
Currently, the average daily oil production at these fields is 350 barrels.
Edited by EA
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov
Former NZX chief Mark Weldon has denied misleading the former owners of the Clear Grain Exchange when NZX was negotiating to buy the platform in an at-times heated cross-examination in Wellington's High Court this afternoon.
Weldon was responding to questions from Tim North, counsel for Clear's former owners, Grant Thomas and Dominic Pym, and their companies Ralec Commodities and Ralec Interactive during his second day of cross-examination. NZX and Ralec have made claim and counterclaim over NZX's purchase of the grain exchange in 2009 in a High Court hearing that's been extended to 11 weeks because of slow progress.
Weldon, who earlier in the day rejected North's claim he had kept material information from NZX's board and said he stopped trusting Clear's former owners when it became clear they had misrepresented the likelihood of winning Australia's largest bulk grain handler as a customer, disagreed with North over the contents of a letter he sent to Ralec in 2009.
North said that in the letter Weldon told Thomas and Pym that the NZX board had made a $100 million commitment to investment in the agri portal, and described that as "false" and "misleading", a claim Weldon denied.
"You, as the chief executive of the New Zealand stock exchange, have said to the vendors of assets that your company is to commit a level of investment of $100 million, haven't you?" North said. "You did it for the purpose of seeking to persuade the vendors to sell their assets, didn't you? You put in the words that your board had committed to the level of investment because you were seeking to persuade them to enter into the transaction, didn't you? The content of this letter, I want to put to you, is put forward on the basis of you seeking to entice the Ralec party to enter into the transaction."
"It's relatively florid language to say we're seeking to entice Ralec," Weldon said, adding that he had answered questions about whether the board had made a commitment to invest $100 million "thirteen times now."
"The vendors were dying to sell their assets," he said. "This was a negotiation. This is a non-binding letter which sets out a prospective structure and lays out in relatively short form, prior to an SPA (sale and purchase agreement) the strategic intent of the board to a direction of travel on the global agri portal. The board did indeed commit to that and did indeed spend a significant amount of money. The company did indeed run into a hell of a hiccup, with the underperformance of Clear which required enormous triage, and the success of that platform was a key building block in the agri portal."
Earlier today North quizzed Weldon about analysis he had commissioned about Clear from Richard Koch, managing director of Australian agricultural news business ProFarmer, which NZX acquired in 2008. Koch had advised that Clear was five to 10 years away from making money, an assessment North says was kept from the NZX board.
But Weldon said Koch was actually predicting how long it would take for Clear to be taken up 'en masse' by growers, which would amount to over 50 percent of growers trading grain through the platform, and that was not key for Clear's success in a market he described as "heavily institutionalised."
The NZX board would expect management to synthesise the views it had gathered, and Koch didn't amount to an expert, Weldon said.
"Koch had absolutely no experience in grain markets," Weldon said. "It would be like saying a really good analyst for Fletcher Building would be able to tell if NZX would make money. His views would hardly constitute him as an expert."
The cross-examination became at times tetchy and Justice Robert Dobson had to intervene several times today to clarify what was being asked, as Weldon appeared increasingly at North's approach, at one point saying: "I've answered yes to this inane question a number of times."
In his brief, Weldon said Ralec had misled NZX over the nature of the platform's relationship with Graincorp and NZX would not have bought the platform had it not thought Graincorp would trade grain through the platform.
Today, Weldon said it was astonishing Graincorp's trading on the market had not eventuated. Weldon had replaced Ralec's Thomas, who left Clear in 2010, with NZX's corporate counsel Rachael Newsome when NZX lost trust in the transparency of information coming from the grain exchange.
"Could we go and talk to Graincorp? Yes we could, but we had no reason to - we trusted and believed [Thomas] and when we got some suspicions that something was rotten in the state of Denmark we sent Rachael Newsome across. I wanted someone who I could trust, who wouldn't gild the lily. That was when we understood there had never been a commitment to trade, even pre-acquisition."
Weldon was pushed by both North and Justice Dobson on whether there was anything preventing NZX from talking to Graincorp itself pre-acquisition. He said NZX felt an unshakeable belief Graincorp would trade on Clear because of the information it had been given by Clear, and that confidentiality about the acquisition was an issue.
"My strong sense was the Clear guys didn't want us talking to anybody, they didn't want wind of the acquisition getting out," Weldon said, adding when asked by North that he believed Graincorp had an opportunity to match any offer for Clear.
North put it to Weldon that NZX had "never spent anywhere near $12 million" on Clear, but Weldon said that as a "back of the envelope" calculation, NZX might have spent about $15 to $20 million on the Clear business from the point of acquisition to when the market operator first issued proceedings, and he had been told the accumulated losses were around $8 million.
Dobson told the counsel for the parties that another two weeks was available for the hearing if needed and if that wasn't enough time the court would have to sit for longer hours. He agreed to extend the hearing after lawyers for both sides told the court yesterday that their witnesses wouldn't be finished within the initial nine-week time frame.
The judge yesterday warned North about spending too much time on similar questions or a single document, and this morning directed North to take it as given that Weldon had read emails he had been sent after Weldon gave the same response, that he assumed he had read the email but could not remember it specifically as it was seven years ago, to multiple questions.
Weldon is the fourth witness in the trial. NZX and Ralec have made claim and counterclaim over NZX's purchase of the Australian Clear Grain Exchange in 2009. NZX is suing for between A$20.7 million and A$37.6 million, and Ralec has countered with a suit totalling A$14 million plus bonuses.
NZX claims Clears former owners, Thomas and Pym, and their Ralec companies misled NZX when it bought the commodities trading platform with wildly inaccurate forecasts. Ralec subsequently filed a counterclaim against NZX, later adding Weldon to the list of defendants. It claims NZX, which bought the platform for A$7 million with the potential for a further A$7 million of earnouts, failed to fund the exchange sufficiently. The case pre-dates much of NZX's existing management, having first hit the courts in 2011.
BusinessDesk.co.nz
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Steel & Tube Holdings, the NZX-listed steel products distributor under fire for sales of seismic steel mesh that wasn't independently tested, cut its full-year guidance and said underlying earnings may fall 10 percent to 15 percent as margins contracted and it incurred costs related to quality issues for the mesh.
The updated guidance is a downgrade from the forecast it gave in February for underlying net profit to be unchanged from last year's $21.4 million but doesn't include a $6 million gain on the sale of its Bowden Road property.
"While global raw material and finished steel prices remain volatile, they have increased dramatically in many parts of the world from the 13-year lows in late 2015," the company said. "Conversely, New Zealand steel distribution prices have continued to decline since January, due to intense competition as some competitors vie for market share, impacting margins."
The Lower Hutt-based steel products company said it expects "minimal impact on trading during the remainder of this half" and "some uplift in New Zealand steel prices in the early part of the new financial year commencing 1 July 2016."
"Recent issues around product quality, and in particular seismic mesh have also impacted short term earnings," it said.
Last month Steel & Tube agreed to sell only seismic reinforcing steel mesh which has been independently tested, after the Commerce Commission signed court enforceable undertakings with the company. The commission is conducting a wider investigation into the industry, focused on possible misrepresentations on the meshs performance characteristics which would breach the Fair Trading Act.
Steel & Tube shares last traded at $2.25 and have dropped 23 percent so far this year.
BusinessDesk.co.nz
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Former NZX chief Mark Weldon denied he kept material information from his board before the Clear Grain Exchange acquisition and said he stopped trusting the vendors when it became clear they had misrepresented the likelihood of winning Graincorp, Australia's largest bulk grain handler, as a customer.
Weldon made the comments during his second day on the witness stand, being cross-examined by Tim North, counsel for Clears former owners, Grant Thomas and Dominic Pym, and their companies Ralec Commodities and Ralec Interactive. NZX and Ralec have made claim and counterclaim over NZX's purchase of the grain exchange in 2009 in a High Court hearing that's been extended to 11 weeks because of slow progress.
Today North quizzed Weldon about analysis he had commissioned about Clear from Richard Koch, managing director of Australian agricultural news business ProFarmer, which NZX acquired in 2008. Koch had advised that Clear was five to 10 years away from making money, an assessment North says was kept from the NZX board.
But Weldon said Koch was actually predicting how long it would take for Clear to be taken up 'en masse' by growers, which would amount to over 50 percent of growers trading grain through the platform, and that was not key for Clear's success in a market he described as "heavily institutionalised."
The NZX board would expect management to synthesise the views it had gathered, and Koch didn't amount to an expert, Weldon said.
"Koch had absolutely no experience in grain markets," Weldon said. "It would be like saying a really good analyst for Fletcher Building would be able to tell if NZX would make money. His views would hardly constitute him as an expert."
The cross-examination became at times tetchy and Justice Robert Dobson had to intervene several times today to clarify what was being asked, as Weldon appeared increasingly at North's approach, at one point saying: "I've answered yes to this inane question a number of times."
In his brief, Weldon said Ralec had misled NZX over the nature of the platform's relationship with Graincorp and NZX would not have bought the platform had it not thought Graincorp would trade grain through the platform.
Today, Weldon said it was astonishing Graincorp's trading on the market had not eventuated. Weldon had replaced Ralec's Thomas, who left Clear in 2010, with NZX's corporate counsel Rachael Newsome when NZX lost trust in the transparency of information coming from the grain exchange.
"Could we go and talk to Graincorp? Yes we could, but we had no reason to - we trusted and believed [Thomas] and when we got some suspicions that something was rotten in the state of Denmark we sent Rachael Newsome across. I wanted someone who I could trust, who wouldn't gild the lily. That was when we understood there had never been a commitment to trade, even pre-acquisition."
Weldon was pushed by both North and Justice Dobson on whether there was anything preventing NZX from talking to Graincorp itself pre-acquisition. He said NZX felt an unshakeable belief Graincorp would trade on Clear because of the information it had been given by Clear, and that confidentiality about the acquisition was an issue.
"My strong sense was the Clear guys didn't want us talking to anybody, they didn't want wind of the acquisition getting out," Weldon said, adding when asked by North that he believed Graincorp had an opportunity to match any offer for Clear.
North put it to Weldon that NZX had "never spent anywhere near $12 million" on Clear, but Weldon said that as a "back of the envelope" calculation, NZX might have spent about $15 to $20 million on the Clear business from the point of acquisition to when the market operator first issued proceedings, and he had been told the accumulated losses were around $8 million.
Dobson told the counsel for the parties that another two weeks was available for the hearing if needed and if that wasn't enough time the court would have to sit for longer hours. He agreed to extend the hearing after lawyers for both sides told the court yesterday that their witnesses wouldn't be finished within the initial nine-week time frame.
The judge yesterday warned North about spending too much time on similar questions or a single document, and this morning directed North to take it as given that Weldon had read emails he had been sent after Weldon gave the same response, that he assumed he had read the email but could not remember it specifically as it was seven years ago, to multiple questions.
Weldon is the fourth witness in the trial. NZX and Ralec have made claim and counterclaim over NZX's purchase of the Australian Clear Grain Exchange in 2009. NZX is suing for between A$20.7 million and A$37.6 million, and Ralec has countered with a suit totalling A$14 million plus bonuses.
NZX claims Clears former owners, Grant Thomas and Dominic Pym, and their companies Ralec Commodities and Ralec Interactive misled NZX when it bought the commodities trading platform with wildly inaccurate forecasts. Ralec subsequently filed a counterclaim against NZX, later adding Weldon to the list of defendants. It claims NZX, which bought the platform for A$7 million with the potential for a further A$7 million of earnouts, failed to fund the exchange sufficiently. The case pre-dates much of NZX's existing management, having first hit the courts in 2011.
BusinessDesk.co.nz
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Labour Party housing spokesman Phil Twyford's proposal to abolish Auckland's urban growth boundary as a way to rein in ballooning land prices in the country's biggest city has attracted the support of business lobby group BusinessNZ.
Twyford today called for central government to use a national policy statement under the Resource Management Act to free up land for development by abolishing the boundary, and manage those areas in city planning, integrating land use with transport and infrastructure. He also wants to change the way infrastructure is funded, allowing for bond financing to be repaid over the life of a property, rather than have that cost capitalised into a new property and passed on immediately to the buyer.
"Auckland is the place where the housing crisis is most acute for a number of reasons, so it would be in a national policy statement to make specific directives to Auckland Council's unitary plan," Twyford told BusinessDesk. "Freeing up these restricted land rules is one of the most important fixes for land prices."
Auckland's housing market has shown signs of recovering its heat after it cooled late last year, and Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler this month said he was looking at new lending restrictions because of the threat house prices pose to the nation's financial system. Auckland Council is expected to make a final decision on its unitary plan in August, which is seen as an opportunity to unblock one of the channels holding back the pace of construction in the city.
Business NZ chief executive Kirk Hope welcomed the Labour Party's announcement, saying providing for more land is the key issue to free up the block on housing constraints.
"With agreement on this issue between both main political parties, it is to be hoped that local government planning decisions will take heed of the need to focus on land and housing supply," Hope said in a statement.
Twyford said the Labour Party would "absolutely" support the government if it adopted the proposals he's pushing.
BusinessDesk.co.nz
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Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
Trend:
"AtaTravel" LLC offers a two day Mingachevir- Ganja-Goygol tour on May 21-22, 2016. The tour price for one person is 85 manat. One day stay at the "Mingachevir Samani Hotel", twice breakfast, lunch, dinner, tea party, professional photo session, disco party and boat trip are included in the price.
Ganja sanctuary, Nizami mausoleum, excursion to Goygol, Maralgol and quizzes with gifts along the way are also included in the program. It is free for children up to six years old. The tour starts at 07.00 in the morning and ends at 22:00 the next day. Place of gathering is in front of the "Excelsior Hotel Baku". It is possibe to get more information calling to "AtaTravel" (994 12) 493-05-01 or mobile number 050 245 05 09.
"AtaTravel", subsidiary of "Ata Holding" was founded in 2011 and with its major accomplishments in different areas of economy developed into one of Azerbaijan's leading holdings. Its initial target was to grow and gain popularity as reliable and professional partner within short time. "AtaTravel" offers a number of services as part of travel arrangements to any destination in the world. The services covered by the agency include accommodation, transfers, air tickets, advance tour reservation, insurance and visa.
Shaw spins into hurricane season
Hurricane season is scheduled to begin here June 1 and last until Nov. 30.
Although Shaw Air Force Base is approximately 100 miles from the coast, the base still has the potential to experience destructive weather.
On Sept. 22, 1989, Hurricane Hugo hit Shaw with winds up to 109 mph and caused approximately $7 billion in damages to the mainland United States.
Statistically, Shaw is hit by a hurricane approximately every 20 years.
Staff Sgt. Dayna Byrd, 20th Civil Engineer Squadron emergency management flight operations noncommissioned officer in charge, said her biggest piece of advice is to be prepared. Bring any necessary medications for family members with special needs, have a full tank of gas and make a plan for pets during an evacuation.
Capt. Matt Griffie, 20th Operations Support Squadron operations support weather flight commander, recommended everyone have a hurricane prep bag including batteries, chargers, extra water bottles, blankets and flashlights readily available in the event of a storm.
Shaws severe weather preparedness was tested during the Thousand Year Flood, October 2015, which affected the Shaw and local areas.
The flood was referenced in preparation for the upcoming hurricane season when Gov. Nikki Haley led a tabletop exercise at the headquarters of the S.C. Hospital Association May 13, to work on state coordination and planning for hurricanes and tropical storms.
Often times with hurricanes the biggest issue is people wait until its too late to evacuate, said Byrd. If youre given the order to evacuate, follow that order, get your family and get out of town. Evacuation is key to being able to come back and contribute to the recovery.
In case of a weather emergency, the South Carolina Department of Transportation emergency evacuation route for Shaw AFB and Sumter, S.C. is U.S. Route 378 West.
Hurricanes tend to weaken once they hit land, however the stronger storms can move farther inland causing strong winds, floods and tornados. During an average hurricane season, 12 tropical storms, about half of which become hurricanes, form over the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, or Atlantic Ocean according to the National Weather Service.
To stay updated on weather events, local media outlets, the National Hurricane Center and the official Shaw Air Force Base website and Facebook issue warnings, watches and forecasts of hazardous weather such as hurricanes and tropical storms.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Dalga Khatinoglu - Trend:
Russia says it has completed construction of Bushehr nuclear power plant, and it eyes construction of new nuclear plants in the Islamic Republic.
Russian Tass agency quoted a source at state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom on May 17 that it intends to start engineering of Bushehr-2 nuclear power plant in Iran by 2016 year-end, after endorsement of parameters by the customer.
Construction of Iran's first nuclear power plant, Buhsher, lasted over 15 years and became operational in 2011. However, according to the latest annual report of Iran's Energy Ministry, the plant operated with 28.3 percent of its nominal capacity during last fiscal year (ended on March 21).
There is no official statistics about the current situation of 1000-megawatts Bushehr power plant, but it generated about 2.5 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity during the last fiscal year, sharing around 0.9 percent in the country's total electricity generation.
Meanwhile, the director of Bushehr NPP announced on April 10 that the plant will produce six billion kWh of electricity following the recent fuel change.
Tass reported that the construction site for the new nuclear power units in Iran may start in the next two years.
The construction of the second stage of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran is estimated at approximately $11 billion, Alexander Novak, the Russian Energy Minister, said last October.
Novak also said that Russia and Iran are considering the possibility of financing joint projects in the medium term in the amount of $35-40 billion.
In November 2014, Tehran and Moscow struck a deal to build eight more nuclear power plants in Iran.
In accordance with the 20-year perspective document, atomic energy should account for 10 percent of Iran's electricity production, which means nine more power plants are needed by then, said Behrooz Kamalvandi, spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran in April.
Tehran, Iran, May 18
By Emil Ilgar - Trend:
The national Iranian budget bill was passed by the Guardian Council after being rejected two times, the Council's official website reported May 18.
The bill was the last time rejected on May 11 by the Guardian Council, but the report says that after emendations the bill was finally passed.
The Guardian Council's member Siamak Rahpeik said earlier that while Iran's parliament had made amendments according to the Council's requests after the previous consideration, the revised bill still contained faults and was therefore returned to the parliament.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
The Danish company Maersk is not closing down its activities in Azerbaijan, the company's head office told Trend May 18 commenting on the information about the closing down of its office in Azerbaijan issued by the Azerbaijani Taxes Ministry's Vergiler newspaper.
The company said that its unit on drilling works - Maersk Drilling - will continue its work in Azerbaijan.
"The reason behind the liquidation information is because we are moving all activities previously held under the company name A.P Moller - Maersk A/S to Maersk Drilling A/S.," said the company. "This means that it is a legal procedure regarding the company structure we have in Azerbaijan."
Therefore, the activities in Azerbaijan, where Maersk Drilling is working for BP in the Caspian Sea with the floating semisubmersible drilling rig named after Heydar Aliyev, will continue, said the company adding that the rig is currently on contract with BP until May 2021.
Edited by SI
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Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov
Calling for more action on ease of doing business from New Delhi, a senior American official today sought to allay concerns on the future of the Indo-US commercial ties, saying they are "secure" and will withstand any political change at the White House.
"The important question is what is going to happen to the Indo-US commercial engagement? We are working very hard to institutionalise it, so that irrespective of the political leadership, the mechanisms, structure and momentum will be there to continue," US assistant secretary of commerce Arun Kumar said here this evening.
With the US presidential elections months away, and Donald Trump set to bag the Republican nomination, Kumar was asked about to the future of Indo-American ties, and he termed them as "secure".
Kumar, who oversees the global markets division, made it clear that his term will end with the Obama regime.
Specifically, he said initiatives like the CEO Forum, which is now woven into the Indo-US strategic and commercial dialogue, will continue irrespective of who is sworn on January 20, 2017.
Additionally, a strong bench of public servants who are in place will also ensure that the ties continue without any difficulties, he said while addressing an Asia Society event.
The Indian-origin Kumar, who started his career here in the financial capital itself with KPMG, however, flagged concerns about ease of doing business and asked for more action on it saying conviction on India will increase only when companies see action.
Stating that this is "fundamental to the future growth trajectory of commercial relationships", he said, "many US companies are increasingly optimistic about the shift in official terms and the increased willingness to engage with New Delhi. But they are waiting to see further tangible progress in the country's business climate."
He further said even though some states have made progress, as a whole the country still finds itself at the bottom of the ease of doing business list among the G-20 groupings.
The work on this front will also help the India initiative, he added.
Terming the just legislated Bankruptcy Code as a "significant milestone", he said, "This important reform will make it more likely that banks are able to recoup their money and lend to promising Indian entrepreneurs in the future.
To build on the positivity, Kumar said an Indo-US
Innovation Forum will be held by the end of the year.
He said there is more action required on the issue of standards, which is hampering the country's integration with the world economy by keeping it out of the global supply chains.
"India will need to harmonise its standards with international rules. Barriers like testing, certification, registration requirements not only pose obstacles to US companies but hamper integration with the global economy and supply chains," he said.
Kumar also flagged the issue of tariffs, saying the average duty on US imports to India is 13 per cent, which is higher by a few percentage points than what Indian exports attract in the US.
He said India and US are also working on a bilateral investment treaty, but declined to share more details on it.
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BENGALURU: Bored from work, looking for an escape from your everyday monotonous routine? A nice drive by the Mother Nature or a holiday in the green grasslands is a good idea. There cannot be anything like being in the midst of scenic backwaters, lush green landscapes or the National parksIndia is gifted with phenomenal natural wealth and habitats. Summer is a good time to visit the National park or Reserves and hence, we bring to you a list of places in India, you must visit before the monsoons spring are up; as compiled by HolidayIQ blog.
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BENGALURU: Taj Mahalthe ivory-white marble mausoleum on the south bank of the river Yamuna is one of the most beautiful as well as the most admired places in the world. It is also one among the most visited places by tourists from all over the world. Indeed, standing in front of the world heritage site, enjoying the beauty of the Mughal architecture is itself a memorable experience. So, imagine sitting in a cozy room, on a comfortable sofa with coffee in one hand and then looking at the Taj Mahal. That could be mesmerizing. Fortunately, there are several hotels which provide this luxury to those who can spend a bit for their passion for beauty. We present to you the best five hotels offering incredible views of the monument, as reported by cntraveller.in.
The Gateway Hotel
Located at the Fatehbad Road Agra, the hotel offers 28 rooms, 4 luxury suites and a separate sitting area for mind blowing views of the iconic monument. The sky deck at the top of the hotel, a new age restaurant, serves as peep into the ancient Mughal era.
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BANGALORE: It was recently at the Auto Expo 2016 that Volkswagen first showcased its new car, Ameo. CarAndBike Team of NDTV reports that the automobile behemoth will be launching this latest car in July, 2016. Pre-orders for the upcoming sub-compact sedan has also been started to be accepted by Volkswagen. The German automaker will look to target the Tier II & III customer market with their new launch. It is believed that Volkswagens new launch will have a positive impact on its production by increasing it by 15% in this year.
Ameo has been produced especially for the Indian markets according to the carmakers. Best-in-class safety features, build quality and a great driving experience, will all be offered in this new sedan. The automobile firm has developed Ameo at their manufacturing facility in Chakan, Maharashtra. This model as reported has a high localization percentage when compared to other Volkswagen cars.
The Ameo will derive power from two engine options which are the 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol, and 1.5-litre four-cylinder diesel engine and will underpinned under the same platform used for the other models of Volkswagen such as VW Polo and Vento. A 5-speed manual and a 7-speed DSG will also be offered in this compact sedan.
Wide range of features such as cruise control, rain sensing wipers, static cornering lights, and MirrorLink infotainment system makes Volkswagen Ameo, a complete car. A car that anyone would love to have fun with! Along with the aforementioned feature, the cars entire range will also have dual front airbags and ABS as standard provisions.
Though, VW Ameo is one of the last few automakers that have entered into the market of Tier II & III customer, they are confident to go up! Volkswagen Ameo will face strong competition from established names such as the Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire, Ford Figo Aspire, Honda Amaze, and Hyundai Xcent, etc.
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Remember Santro? Well, it's Making a Comeback!
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:
Azerbaijan, which stands out for its stability and support for peace proposals, has a bright future, says Rene van der Linden, former president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
He made the remarks May 18 during the second EU-Azerbaijan business forum in Baku.
"Azerbaijan has greatly changed thanks to the incredible development," he said, adding that it can be seen clearly in Baku. "I see Azerbaijan has a very bright future."
Addressing the forum, Azerbaijan's Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev said that over the past years, Azerbaijan has achieved significant economic growth and is gradually reducing its dependence on energy resources.
"Over the past 10 years, the country's economy rose by 2.4 times, non-oil sector - by 2.3 times, budget expenditures increased by eight times, and the country's monetary reserves rose by more than 16 times," said Mustafayev.
He noted that oil sector's share in the country's economy decreased from 60 to 30 percent over the past 10 years.
Private sector's share increased thanks to the development of entrepreneurship and exceeded 80 percent, said the minister.
Mustafayev added that this success is very important and constitute the basis of Azerbaijan's current economy.
The forum was attended by about 300 businessmen, about 70 of whom were representing the EU.
Panel discussions on opportunities in the agricultural, food, transportation, logistics, tourism sectors, as well as business opportunities in Azerbaijan were held at the business forum.
Edited by EA
WASHINGTON: A 15-year-old Indian-American boy has won the prestigious 'Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award' for developing a low-cost electronically-aided knee brace that allows a person with a weakened leg to walk more naturally.
Syamantak Payra, a Texas resident, won the USD 50,000 award along with 17-year-old Kathy Liu. The award was given by Intel Corporation and the Society for Science and the Public (SSP) at the 2016 'Intel International Science and Engineering Fair' in Arizona last week.
"Our top winners this year - Syamantak and Kathy - clearly demonstrate that age has no bearing on your ability to conduct research and come up with solutions to important problems," said Maya Ajmera, SSP president and chief executive.
"We congratulate them not only for their success, but on their dedication and hard work. They and the rest of the Intel ISEF finalists are the rising stars of STEM and we look forward to watching them pursue their passions and in turn make the world a better place for future generations," Ajmera said.
When Payra tested his prototype with two individuals partially disabled by polio, it almost immediately restored a more natural gait and increased mobility, according to a statement.
"Intel congratulates this year's winners and hopes that their work will inspire other young innovators to apply their curiosity and ingenuity to today's global challenges," Intel Foundation president and Intel Corporation vice president of human resources and director of corporate affairs Rosalind Hudnell said in a statement.
This years Intel International Science and Engineering Fair featured more than 1,700 young scientists selected from 419 affiliate fairs held in 77 countries.
A team of students from India also attended the event.
Five Indian Americans also figured in the 22 "Best of Category" winners and each received a USD 5,000 prize.
These winners included Rajeev Jha (Hawaii) in the Behavioral and Social Sciences category, Marissa Sumathipala (Virginia) in the Cellular and Molecular Biology, Swetha Revanur (California) in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Tiasha Joardar (Texas) in the Energy: Physical category and Prashant Godishala (Minnesota) in the Translational Medical Science.
Under the Intel and Indo-US Science & Technology Forum, three students won the award for a visit to India.
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Source: PTI
WASHINGTON: The US has a "very special relationship" with India and it will continue to work with the country in various areas of mutual cooperation, a top official has said ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's expected visit here next month.
"This is a very special relationship," State Department Spokesman John Kirby told reporters at his daily news conference.
He made the remarks in response to a question on the expected visit of Modi to Washington early next month.
"It's one that we are very committed to. We look forward to continuing to work with Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi on all the different areas in which the United States and India will and must work together," Kirby said.
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Page Content
Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunications (Ministry TEATT) Ingrid Arrindell on Tuesday, 17th of May congratulated, via a press statement, all telecommunication-sector workers on World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD), which is being internationally observed today.
The theme for WTISD is ICT entrepreneurship for social impact.
May 17th has been identified as a day to help raise awareness of the opportunities that the use of the internet, and other information and communication technologies (ICT), can bring to societies and economies, as well as the ability of the internet to bridge the digital divide.
Developments in telecommunications and information technology, today form the basis of nearly everything we do. Times have changed, and we live in a different world - a digital world. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all telecommunication workers, as well as all those working in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) field on their special day. The tasks that you perform daily are critical to our economy and daily life, as just about everything is digitally driven. Many systems are dependent on telecommunications and ICT, and both are indeed the drivers of innovation.
I call on small and medium-sized businesses to seize the opportunity to innovate, through the use of ICT, to create products and services that will create the new digital Sint Maarten economy. We must think outside of the box in the 21st century and stretch the imagination as far as it can go. We must project where we as a country should be fifty years from now.
Technological innovations will continue to improve the quality of our lives. For example, when we can sit at our computer and pay all of our bills instead of driving to GEBE, TelEm/UTS, Cable TV, etc. This increases productivity by saving time no spending time standing in long lines to pay a bill, this helps the environment - saves gas, and this alleviates traffic congestion on our roads.
Our young entrepreneurs-to-be and those who have graduated, we need your expertise to harness the power of the digital world from a Sint Maarten perspective. Let us work together to create a Sint Maarten digital revolution and develop this sector where jobs are created for our young, bright and vibrant minds.
May 17th marks the anniversary of the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention in 1865 and the creation of the United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU). This year marks the 151st anniversary of ITU.
May 17th is a day to reflect upon where we are today and where we want to be 50-years from now. We must not sit back and wait on others, but jump-start and take the lead in the digital age. I challenge our youth and young entrepreneurs to become the digital pioneers of our country, Minister Ingrid Arrindell said on Tuesday.
Ocean Oxygen another climate shoe dropping
Posted on 18 May 2016 by howardlee
How warming temperatures and ocean acidification are recreating an ancient killer
Ocean anoxia widespread oxygen-starved dead zones in oceans - did the killing of ocean life in several mass extinctions of Earths past. Anoxia went hand-in-hand with CO 2 emissions, rising global temperatures, and (often) ocean acidification, a situation which todays climate change is recreating with uncanny likeness.
Atmospheric oxygen levels are declining as a result of burning fossil fuels, but thats not the cause of ocean anoxia. Neither are we at risk from asphyxiation, because the oxygen decline is at a rate of about 4 parts per million (ppm) per year, compared to an atmospheric oxygen concentration of 21% (ie 210,000 ppm). It would take nearly 4,000 years of burning fossil fuels at current rates before atmospheric oxygen declined to unsafe levels!
Even in normal, healthy oceans, dissolved oxygen levels in middle-depth waters (between about 500 to 1,500 meters) are low enough to discourage most higher animals. This makes those depths an important refuge for krill and other prey species to hang out during the day, safe from visual predators. In the dark of night, these creatures venture nearer the surface to graze on plankton, an impressive commute given their small size.
Depth slices through the oceans showing how dissolved oxygen declines from the surface to middle depths and then rises again in deep water. Constructed from World Ocean Atlas 2013.
There are places around the world where these oxygen minimum zones are much shallower than elsewhere, and there are also coasts where polluted river water delivers excess nutrients into the sea, causing coastal dead zones, for example in the Gulf of Mexico. But these pale in comparison to times in Earths past when ocean anoxia became so intense and widespread that it contributed to the permanent annihilation of many marine species. But if we look at the conditions that led to past Ocean Anoxic Events (OAEs), and compare them to our altered climate in the coming decades, the parallels are sobering.
How it works:
There is a complex interplay between a warming climate, its effects on land, delivery of nutrients to the ocean, lifes response to the changes, and chemical results. It works mainly by affecting 2 complementary parts of the ocean carbon cycle:
the biological carbon pump the remineralization depth
The biological carbon pump is the process that transports carbon from the near-surface of the ocean to deep water. It is the overall effect of sinking fecal matter along with dead, decaying remains of near-surface life, hitchhiking microbes, and a broth of organic molecules. In this way the biological carbon pump takes carbon that was in the atmosphere before it was fixed into organic matter by photosynthesizing plankton, and sequesters it into the deep ocean and seafloor. For more detail on the biological carbon pump see this explainer by Nature Education.
Remineralization uses the carbon in the biological pump as food for myriad lifeforms, chiefly zooplankton and microbes, which convert it back to CO 2 through respiration, consuming oxygen and liberating nutrients at the same time. Remineralization therefore works against the carbon pump. The remineralization depth is the depth to which most organic matter sinks before it is consumed and respired, determined by factors like the amount of shelly mineral, how clumped the organic particles are, how big they are, and how soluble they are. Its not so much a single floor level but a diminishing curve, represented by the depth at which only 37% of the original organic matter remains (0.37 1/e). In modern oceans it is about 590 meters deep.
The complex biogeochemical connections in ocean anoxia. The 3 connected drivers of anoxia include warming (left), acidification (center), and nutrient supply (right). This diagram is schematic, based partially on Gehlen et al in Ocean Acidification, OUP 2011, and on others referenced below.
The stronger biological pump and deeper remineralization in a normal, pre-industrial ocean. This diagram is schematic, based partially on Gehlen et al in Ocean Acidification, OUP 2011, and on others referenced below.
Remineralization depth feedback to atmospheric CO 2
A deep remineralization depth encourages oxygenated deep water and a strong carbon pump. It also increases the concentration of CO 2 in deep water compared to shallow waters, so that where those waters eventually well up to the surface, they can cause localized CO 2 outgassing back into the atmosphere, rather than absorbing CO 2 from the atmosphere. A shallow remineralization depth, on the other hand, encourages oxygen-starved zones in relatively shallow water. It also liberates CO 2 near the ocean surface, reducing the oceans ability to absorb atmospheric CO 2 .
During the last ice age the remineralization depth deepened by about 110 meters, reducing atmospheric CO 2 by 30 77ppm, while modern warming of the oceans does the opposite - it moves the remineralization depth shallower, reducing the oceans CO 2 absorption capacity, with potentially substantial impacts on atmospheric CO2 levels expected this century.
Some terminology:
Different words are used to describe different degrees of deoxygenation: hypoxic, suboxic and anoxic just refer to decreasing levels of dissolved oxygen. Euxinic describes waters that are not only anoxic but where sulfate-reducing bacteria are generating toxic hydrogen sulfide (the rotten egg gas). As oxygen levels decline, microbes use other chemicals, eg nitrate, to power their anaerobic respiration.
Term: Hypoxic Suboxic Anoxic Euxinic Oxygen level: < ~60 mol kg1 <5 mol kg1, <1 mol kg1, <1 mol kg1, Respiration: dead zone for many higher animals Anaerobic: Nitrate reduction Anaerobic: Mn, Fe reduction Anaerobic: Sulfate reduction and H 2 S production, Methane oxidation
Based on Keeling et al 2010 , Gilly et al 2013 , Wright et al 2012
Examples from Earths past.
Several of the big global warming events in Earths past were also Ocean Anoxic Events, with widespread ocean anoxia coupled to global warming, and, in most cases, ocean acidification like today.
How it worked back then and today:
Warming
In all cases except the Ordovician, it started with rapidly rising CO 2 levels (in most cases, if not all, from Large Igneous Province eruptions), which generated global warming. The warmer oceans and atmosphere promoted stronger chemical weathering of rocks, liberating their nutrients into rivers, which delivered them to lakes and oceans. For OAE-2 in the Cretaceous, chemical weathering is calculated to have increased by 300% in response to a 5C sea-surface warming.
Warming has a direct effect on deoxygenation because warmer water dissolves less gas, so warming reduces the amount of oxygen dissolved in oceans; but this is not nearly as strong a factor in creating ocean anoxia as the effect of nutrients (see below). Warming exerts a stronger effect by increasing ocean lifes metabolic rates, which typically double for every 10C increase in shallow oceans (ie doubling oxygen demand, so using up dissolved oxygen twice as fast). Warming also causes the remineralization depth to rise.
Deep ocean warming alters the population of bacteria and archaea (archaea look like bacteria but have different genetics and biochemistry) that live in deep ocean sediments. As water temperatures rise, the microbe population, especially of archaea, actually declines significantly. Since their habitat covers 65% of the globe, this population decline represents a significant change in the balance between carbon in water and carbon in sediments.
The combined effects of warming are to increase nutrient supply to oceans, raise the remineralization depth, increase the respiration rate, and reduce oxygen solubility all of which reduce ocean oxygen concentration in progressively shallower waters.
Nutrient supply and trapping
The level of oxygen dissolved in water is overwhelmingly controlled by the supply of nutrients to the food web.
Phytoplankton (plant plankton, algae) and zooplankton (animal plankton) make up over 90% of the mass of marine life and form the base of the food web. If the supply of nutrients (including carbon, phosphate, Iron, nitrogen, etc) increases, it enables them to multiply and bloom. As they multiply, they excrete waste and they support the multiplication of life that feeds on them, which also excrete more waste. Most of that life respires using up oxygen, so as oceans support ever more plankton and microbial life, oxygen levels in shallow water drop substantially.
When Montiero et al (2012) ran models of the Cretaceous OAE-2 event, they were only able increase ocean anoxia by a couple of percent by reduced oxygen solubility alone, but when they added nutrients, the global oceanic oxygen decreased by 70% and the geographic areas of anoxia expanded from 5% to over 50%, matching the observations of the extent of anoxia in the geological record for that time.
Massive nutrient supply even seems to be able to generate anoxia in cold oceans. As the planet emerged from the last ice age, ocean anoxia expanded in the Eastern Pacific. A similar but far more extreme situation seems to have driven the Ordovician mass extinction event, as I explored in this earlier post.
Circulation and stratification
Sluggish ocean circulation used to be thought of as an important factor in anoxic events, but anoxia can occur even in actively circulating oceans. The reason is that upwelling of deep waters returns even more nutrients to the shallow ocean, enabling plankton to bloom, which as we saw above is the main driver of anoxia.
Past OAEs were long-lived affairs, so even though there may have been some thermal stratification of the surface ocean, which would have trapped nutrients and hindered the uptake of oxygen from the atmosphere, this would have been a transient effect, lasting a few centuries as compared to the OAE as a whole which typically lasted a few hundred thousand years. Stratification is a much more important factor in modern climate change.
Geography
Accidents of geography can create zones where nutrients are trapped, creating regions that are much more prone to anoxia than other areas. In the Cretaceous, for instance, the North Atlantic was much more restricted than it is now, and so was already prone to anoxia before OAE-2. During OAE-2, anoxic and euxinic waters expanded over a large portion of the oceans, depositing black muds rich in organic matter that are now oily black shales.
In the modern world, the Black Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as some fjords, naturally trap nutrients making them prone to anoxia or euxinia. The Eastern Pacific is another area prone to low-oxygen because old, nutrient-rich waters well up along the coast, leading to large oxygen minimum zones and shoaling of low oxygen waters, causing die-offs and long term reduction in fish stocks.
Acidification
Deoxygenation and ocean acidification are closely linked. If CO 2 levels rise fast enough to decrease the carbonate levels in the ocean, ocean acidification is the result (ie its not just about a lowering pH). Low carbonate saturation makes it harder for plankton to make carbonate shells, so they tend to be smaller and thinner, and organisms that make heavier shells may die out. The net effect of this is to reduce the ballast effect it reduces the rate that organic particles sink into the deep levels of the oceans. This traps more nutrients near the surface of the ocean, exacerbating anoxia.
Low oxygen zones are also naturally more acidic due to life respiring food and generating CO 2 , an effect known as respiration-driven acidification, so as low-oxygen waters expand they amplify ocean acidification in affected areas.
Acidification also has a number of biogeochemical effects that promote anoxia. It changes the ratio of carbon to nitrogen, which in turn increases the production of organic carbon, increasing the demand for oxygen. Acidification also enhances nitrogen fixation, which captures nitrogen and converts it into a nutrient, which boosts plankton levels further, increasing shallow-water oxygen demand.
Anammox and nitrous oxide
Ammonium waste is oxidized by microbes in low-oxygen environments via a chemical process known as anammox, consuming oxygen and generating nitrous oxide (N 2 O). As low-oxygen environments expand so may the production of nitrous oxide, which is mostly emitted to the atmosphere, where it is a minor greenhouse gas.
Our very own Ocean Anoxic Event
Today, deoxygenation from climate change is already exceeding natural variability in the southern Indian Ocean, parts of the eastern tropical Paci?c, and the Atlantic Ocean. Coastal dead zones have spread exponentially since the 1960s, becoming more intense as a result not just of rising ocean temperatures, but also due to excess nutrients in runoff from the land. Low-oxygen, low-carbonate, low pH waters now bathe seabed habitats along the west coast of the Americas and other places such as the Bay of Bengal. Oxygen minimum zones in tropical and sub-tropical oceans have expanded significantly in recent decades, compressing habitats for many fish, and expanding the habitat for low-oxygen-tolerant species such as the Humboldt Squid.
Timeframe when deoxygenation will exceed the natural variability. Blue shades indicate that the human deoxygenation signal is detectable around now, green shades show the spread of deoxygenation expected between now and around 2050 under a business-as-usual scenario. Gray areas have high natural variability, so will need a longer time for the human-caused effects to be formally distinguishable from natural variability. Blank areas are where the parameter used in the model ( =26.5 potential density surface) is at the ocean surface. Figure from Long et al (2016).
A significant component of modern deoxygenation is due to ocean stratification the formation of a warm water lid at the ocean surface that resists mixing into deep water. Stratification inhibits the movement of surface oxygen into deeper water, and it also promotes nutrient trapping near the surface. On geological timescales stratification is transient, lasting only a few centuries, so was probably not an important factor in the much longer-lasting OAEs of Earths past.
As rainfall becomes more intense and erosive, as ice recedes, and as we clear forests and land cover, the supply of nutrients pouring into the oceans keeps promoting the expansion of low-oxygen zones. Warmer temperatures will keep weathering rates, and therefore nutrient supply to the oceans, higher for centuries. Add-in warming and acidification from rising CO 2 levels, and we have the complete list of ingredients to bake our very own Ocean Anoxic Event.
Just as in the Cretaceous OAE-2, where preexisting oxygen minimum zones expanded with global warming, so the Eastern Pacific is expected to suffer the greatest impact on marine biodiversity in the coming decades. Human-caused ocean deoxygenation is expected to become widespread globally by the 2030s or 2040s, and increase substantially through the end of the century if we continue business-as-usual CO 2 emissions.
On top of all that, though, there is the positive feedback by deoxygenation onto global warming by a shallower remineralization depth, greater nitrous oxide emissions, and weakening of the organic carbon pump.
Ocean deoxygenation is the 3rd but less-reported member of an evil climate change trinity, along with global warming and ocean acidification. It is not so much another shoe dropping out of our CO 2 emissions as it is a large boot kicking ocean ecosystems, with significant knock-on impacts for hundreds of millions of people who depend on the oceans for a living, and with feedbacks on climate. Ocean scientists have been calling for policymakers urgent attention on this issue, and the Royal Society will be hosting a conference on the topic at The Royal Society in London in September 2016.
Main References:
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Scripps O2 Global Oxygen Measurements (2016), http://scrippso2.ucsd.edu/
World Ocean Atlas 2013, Volume 3: Garcia, H. E., R. A. Locarnini, T. P. Boyer, J. I. Antonov, O.K. Baranova, M.M. Zweng, J.R. Reagan, D.R. Johnson, 2014. World Ocean Atlas 2013, Volume 3: Dissolved Oxygen, Apparent Oxygen Utilization, and Oxygen Saturation. S. Levitus, Ed., A. Mishonov Technical Ed.; NOAA Atlas NESDIS 75, 27 pp.
Bochdansky, A. B., Clouse, M. A., & Herndl, G. J. (2016). Dragon kings of the deep sea: marine particles deviate markedly from the common number-size spectrum. Scientific reports, 6.
Meyer, K. M., Ridgwell, A., & Payne, J. L. (2016). The influence of the biological pump on ocean chemistry: implications for long-term trends in marine redox chemistry, the global carbon cycle, and marine animal ecosystems. Geobiology.
Gehlen, M., Gruber, N., Gangst, R., Bopp, L., & Oschlies, A. (2011). Biogeochemical consequences of ocean acidification and feedbacks to the earth system. Ocean acidification, 1, 230-248.
Kwon, E. Y., Primeau, F., & Sarmiento, J. L. (2009). The impact of remineralization depth on the airsea carbon balance. Nature Geoscience,2(9), 630-635.
Marsay, C. M., Sanders, R. J., Henson, S. A., Pabortsava, K., Achterberg, E. P., & Lampitt, R. S. (2015). Attenuation of sinking particulate organic carbon flux through the mesopelagic ocean. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(4), 1089-1094.
Keeling, R. F., Kortzinger, A., & Gruber, N. (2010). Ocean deoxygenation in a warming world. Marine Science, 2.
Gilly, W. F., Beman, J. M., Litvin, S. Y., & Robison, B. H. (2013). Oceanographic and biological effects of shoaling of the oxygen minimum zone. Annual Review of Marine Science, 5, 393-420.
Wright, J. J., Konwar, K. M., & Hallam, S. J. (2012). Microbial ecology of expanding oxygen minimum zones. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 10(6), 381-394.
Monteiro, F. M., Pancost, R. D., Ridgwell, A., & Donnadieu, Y. (2012). Nutrients as the dominant control on the spread of anoxia and euxinia across the Cenomanian?Turonian oceanic anoxic event (OAE2): Model?data comparison. Paleoceanography, 27(4).
Danovaro, R., Molari, M., Corinaldesi, C., & DellAnno, A. (2016). Macroecological drivers of archaea and bacteria in benthic deep-sea ecosystems. Science Advances, 2(4), e1500961.
Moffitt, S. E., Moffitt, R. A., Sauthoff, W., Davis, C. V., Hewett, K., & Hill, T. M. (2015). Paleoceanographic insights on recent oxygen minimum zone expansion: Lessons for modern oceanography. PloS one, 10(1), e0115246.
Naafs, B. D. A., Castro, J. M., De Gea, G. A., Quijano, M. L., Schmidt, D. N., & Pancost, R. D. (2016). Gradual and sustained carbon dioxide release during Aptian Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a. Nature Geoscience.
Dupont, S., Todgham, A. E., Levin, L. A., Milke, L. M., Seibel, B. A., Cai, W. J., ... & Breitburg, D. L. (2015). And on top of all that: Coping with ocean acidification in the midst of many stressors.
Melzner, F., Thomsen, J., Koeve, W., Oschlies, A., Gutowska, M. A., Bange, H. W., ... & Kortzinger, A. (2013). Future ocean acidification will be amplified by hypoxia in coastal habitats. Marine Biology, 160(8), 1875-1888.
Long, M. C., Deutsch, C., & Ito, T. (2016). Finding forced trends in oceanic oxygen. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 30(2), 381-397.
Diaz, R. J., & Rosenberg, R. (2008). Spreading dead zones and consequences for marine ecosystems. science, 321(5891), 926-929.
Capone, D. G., & Hutchins, D. A. (2013). Microbial biogeochemistry of coastal upwelling regimes in a changing ocean. Nature Geoscience, 6(9), 711-717.
Levin, L. A., & Breitburg, D. L. (2015). Linking coasts and seas to address ocean deoxygenation. Nature Climate Change, 5(5), 401-403.
Levin, L. A., & Le Bris, N. (2015). The deep ocean under climate change. Science, 350(6262), 766-768.
Segura, C., Sun, G., McNulty, S., & Zhang, Y. (2014). Potential impacts of climate change on soil erosion vulnerability across the conterminous United States. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 69(2), 171-181.
Details added (first version posted on 19:13)
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
Trend:
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree May 18 on execution of the 2015 budget of the country's State Oil Fund (SOFAZ).
SOFAZ's revenues and expenditures were 7,721,084,900 manats and 9,187,826,900 manats, respectively, in 2015, according to the decree.
The budget revenues and expenditures were executed by 75.4 percent and 77.8 percent, respectively.
The revenues from the sale of profitable oil and gas stood at 7,369,582,100 manats, while the revenues from the oil and gas transit through Azerbaijan's territory amounted to 11,594,900 manats.
The revenues in the form of bonuses as a result of signing or implementation of oil contracts stood at 2,108,300 manats, while the revenues from the placement and management of the Fund's foreign exchange assets totalled 335,579,500 manats in 2015.
SOFAZ was created in 1999 and its assets were equal to $271 million at that time.
Under SOFAZ's regulations, its funds may be used for construction and reconstruction of strategically important infrastructure facilities, as well as solving important national problems.
The main goals of the State Oil Fund include: accumulation of resources and placement of the Fund's assets abroad in order to minimize the negative effect on the economy, prevention of the "Dutch disease" to some extent, promotion of resource accumulation for future generations and support of the current social and economic processes in Azerbaijan.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Aygun Badalova - Trend:
Greece is not planning to advance talks on the Russia-backed Poseidon pipeline during a forthcoming visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Athens, EurActiv reported with the reference to diplomatic sources.
Greek media said that energy issues, in particular the Poseidon project, will be high on the agenda during the visit of Putin to Athens on May 28.
However, according to diplomatic sources close to the issue, there would be a discussion over energy but with "no essential result".
"Taking into account the bilateral relations between Turkey and Russia, no discussion on energy issues could make a progress," the sources said.
In February, Russia's Gazprom, Italy's Edison and Greek DEPA signed a memorandum of understanding on deliveries of Russian natural gas through third countries to Greece and from Greece to Italy via an undersea pipeline in the Black Sea. The sides are planning to use to full extent the results of work that has already been completed by Edison and DEPA under the ITGI Poseidon project.
At the same time Greece is a transit country for the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which envisages transportation of gas from the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas and condensate field to the EU countries.
Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras said at the TAP groundbreaking ceremony in Thessaloniki, May 17, that the project is of geo-strategic importance for the entire region, and it will help Greece to become an important energy hub.
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Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:
Roman Sklyar was appointed deputy minister of national economy of Kazakhstan, the press service of the ministry reported.
The Minister of National Economy of Kazakhstan Kuandyk Bishimbayev introduced Sklyar to the staff of the ministry.
Since March 2016, Sklyar has served as member of the Mazhilis (lower house) of the Parliament of Kazakhstan, chairman of the Committee for Economic Reform and Regional Development.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, May 18
By Huseyn Hasanov- Trend:
Constitution Day in Turkmenistan is widely and solemnly celebrated May 18.
A national holiday - Day of Revival, Unity and Poetry of Magtymguly Fraghi (Pyragy) [a Turkmen spiritual leader and philosophical poet] is also celebrated in Turkmenistan on May 18.
A ceremony of laying flowers at the Monument to the Constitution and a concert will be held in the Turkmen capital. Festive performances, poetry evenings will be organized on a square in front of a monument to Magtymguly Fraghi and in a park in the center of the Turkmen capital. In the regions of the country, main events will be held at the central squares of regional centers.
The current version of the Constitution of Turkmenistan was adopted September 26, 2008. At this stage, Turkmenistan prepares for a constitutional reform. Majlis (Parliament) of Turkmenistan holds a public discussion of the draft of the new Constitution.
In February 2016, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov drew attention to the fact that in international relations, Turkmenistan conducts a policy of positive neutrality, which was twice recognized by the resolutions of the UN General Assembly.
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A woman who says she had a knife held to her throat as her attacker stripped her of jewellery and threatened to rip her daughter's eyes out has spoken of her continuing anxiety and flashbacks of the man's face and voice.
The victim recalled being so scared she slept in a wardrobe the night Steven James Thompson, 39, robbed her after they had spent several days consuming the drug ice together at her Richardson home.
Steven James Thompson "vehemently disagrees" with a jury's finding of guilt over the attack. Credit:Tanya Lake
A jury last year found Thompson, 38, guilty of aggravated robbery, burglary, unlawful confinement, theft, and taking a motor vehicle without consent.
He has maintained his innocence and his defence lawyer, Jacob Robertson, said his client still "vehemently disagrees" with the jury's verdict when he faced the ACT Supreme Court for sentencing on Wednesday.
The federal government will spend $76 million in a bid to improve the water quality, odour and appearance of Canberra's lakes and waterways.
ACT senator Zed Seselja, who will announce the funding on Thursday, said Canberra's lakes desperately needed a clean-up with residents complaining of foul smells and algae.
Zed Seselja said the federal funding was responsible and based on two years of scientific consultation and research. Credit:Graham Tidy
The money will fund 25 priority projects across the six catchment areas that feed and drain Lake Burley Griffin, Lake Ginninderra and Lake Tuggeranong.
The ACT and federal governments signed a $85 million plan to save Lake Burley Griffin and other polluted waterways in 2014, with $9 million of federal money already spent on research and preliminary projects.
7.39am: A woman is trapped after a truck and car crash at Benham Street and Halley Streets in Chisholm. Please avoid the area.
7.28pm: Police are asking people to avoid the intersection of Isabella Drive and Hambidge Crescent after a truck and car crash. Southbound traffic is closed from the roundabout and traffic is banking up.
7.21pm: There's been a prang at the BP Servo on Benham Street and Halley Street in Chisholm.
If you see any accidents or have any info on the morning commute, let us know whenever it is safe to do so. Email morningblog@canberratimes.com.au or tweet us @canberratimes.
Planned road closures:
Southside, there'll be temporary changes to the Tharwa Drive roundabout with Box Hill Avenue due to roadworks.
From Tuesday until Thursday, the right turn lane on Box Hill Avenue, previously used for through traffic and to turn right, will be converted to right turn only.
The traffic from the left lane will be able to move in all three directions (left and right to Tharwa Drive and through to Woodcock Drive).
It's a big weekend for music in Canberra. Start planning your Friday, Saturday and Sunday with Canberra Weekender.
Celestial Empire: Life in China 1644-1911 is on at the National Library of Australia brings together culture and tradition from two of the world's great libraries. Until May 22. Free.
Cirque Africa is a two-hour high energy African circus production, bursting with colourful costumes, live music, dance and acrobatics. At Exhibition Park from Until May 25. $30-$150
See 2015's best political cartoons at the Behind the Lines exhibition at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House.
Bush Capital: The natural history of the ACT at the Canberra Museum and Gallery (CMAG) shows the natural history of the Territory with specimens, illustrations, photographs, works of art and sound. From March 12 to June 26. Free.
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Touch or click through for more David Pope.
Today: Partly cloudy. Light winds becoming west to northwesterly 20 to 30 km/h in the morning. Min 3, max 16.
Friday: Partly cloudy. Patchy fog in the early morning. Winds northwesterly 15 to 20 km/h tending westerly in the middle of the day then becoming light in the late afternoon. Min 7, max 19.
Saturday: Partly cloudy. Light winds. Min 3, max 18.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, May 18
By Huseyn Hasanov- Trend:
The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) will take part in financing of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline project, Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper reported May 18.
Negotiations of representatives of the IDB and Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) with the governing committee on TAPI project were held in Ashgabat. The meeting was dedicated to the development and adoption of an investment agreement to finance the construction of the main gas pipeline in Turkmenistan's territory.
Participation of financial institutions in the project is expected in three main areas: to provide the project with pipe products, gas equipment and the provision of loans on investment lines with the prospect for Asian companies to be involved in the development of the largest Galkynysh gas field in Turkmenistan.
"Implementation of TAPI project will bring great benefits not only to gas exporters, transit countries and consumers, but also will give a powerful impetus to the strengthening of peace, stability, as well as development of international cooperation in the region," said the article.
The main document for the TAPI, called the Ashgabat Interstate Agreement, was signed in 2010.
The groundbreaking ceremony for TAPI's Turkmen section was held in mid-December of 2015.
The estimated cost of the project will exceed $10 billion. The annual capacity of the gas pipeline will reach 33 billion cubic meters. It is planned that the total length of the TAPI pipeline will be 1,814 kilometers. Some 214 kilometers will pass through the territory of Turkmenistan, 774 kilometers - Afghanistan, 826 kilometers - Pakistan.
The project is expected to be completed in late 2019.
Veteran developer Renato Cervo says he does want to build the best possible shopping centre for the new suburb of Coombs and believes his proposals will do that.
He has also defended his decision to start work on the site without approval, saying he believed the project would get the green light and he was just reacting to the community's desire for some local shops to be finally opened in the Molonglo Valley.
Artist's impression of revised plans for the Coombs shopping centre, which was knocked back by the Environment and Planning Directorate in February.
"People used to pass by every day and ask, 'When is it going to be finished?'," he said.
"I've done many projects in Canberra. I've never broken the law. I thought I was doing the right thing."
The worker's blue regulation Personal Protection Equipment can be seen folded on the ground to the left of the worker, while other workers wearing their PPE can be seen working in the background.
But it later declared the worker had not been exposed to asbestos fibres through his actions because the waste had been wrapped in plastic.
In the video taken at 4 Barrow Place, in Lyons, the worker was not wearing their Personal Protection Equipment. Credit:Rohan Thomson
When WorkSafe ACT was made aware of the footage - which was taken last Friday - it stopped work at the site on Wednesday.
The video was taken at 4 Barrow Place, Lyons by Ben Carvalho. Ben's father Leo was arrested outside the Mr Fluffy demolition site last week after protesting that demolition safeguards were not being followed.
A spokesman for WorkSafe said it had contacted the principal contractor immediately upon seeing the image of the worker in the skip without safety gear.
But it later issued a statement saying it was "satisfied that at no time was there any risk of contamination from airborne asbestos fibres to the worker, or any member of the public. All asbestos materials are wrapped before they are moved from the premises to ensure there is no risk to the public or workers handling the materials".
WorkSafe was also "satisfied with the remedial actions taken by the person conducting a business or undertaking in relation to managing the risks of a worker entering a skip bin and handling asbestos materials".
That assurance is not enough for Unions ACT, however, with secretary Alex White saying the video only confirmed union concerns about safety at Mr Fluffy demolition sites - for both workers and the community.
Pauline Williams and Graham McGrath did not believe they could afford solar panels on their shared home.
And yet in May last year, after one unsolicited phone call and a knock at their door, the two disability support pensioners had signed up for $15,000 worth of solar panels on their home in Minyip, in rural north-west Victoria.
They say that despite their doubts, the salesperson assured them about the money they could save, making a representation that they may no longer have to pay electricity bills.
They signed up to a payment plan with a suggested retail finance provider - $176 a fortnight, for 87 fortnights.
The man who bought Queensland's Isaac Plains coking coal mine for $1 believes the coal sector will witness more mergers and acquisitions in the near future.
Speaking at the re-opening of Isaac Plains, Stanmore Coal managing director Nick Jorss said his company would be among those keen to buy mines put on the market by multinationals like Anglo American, Peabody Energy and Rio Tinto.
Stanmore Coal Managing Director Nick Jorss and Chairman Neville Sneddon. Credit:Glenn Hunt
"Absolutely there is a lot of formal processes being run at the moment so I expect that will result in quite a number of changes in ownership for coal assets.
"Companies have been having a hard time for a while and there has been assets on the market, if we get a bit of prolonged price positivity that will help to bring the buyers out of the market."
Indonesian lawmakers are remaining tight-lipped about the condemned who they are, and how many but there are rumoured to be up to 15 drug offenders , largely non-Western foreign nationals of retentionist countries, who could be executed as early as this week . " There is only the choosing of the specific date. That's what I haven't been able to decide ," announced Attorney-General H.M. Prasetyo, as though pondering when to hold a luncheon rather than when he will usher the next desperate band of convicts onto the killing fields of Nusakambangan.
As Indonesia gears up for another round of executions, it's becoming depressingly clear that after the intense media coverage of 2015 the political posturing, the desperate pleas and impassioned headlines this year's condemned will go to their deaths in the forests of central Java with barely a murmur of protest. The final wishes of executed Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan for an end to the death penalty will not be granted. Or not yet.
If Indonesia has learnt anything from the diplomatic fiasco ignited by last year's execution of 14 death-row inmates, it seems to be this: if you're going to kill drug offenders, and particularly foreign nationals, keep it low profile. Or better still, assemble a line-up from countries that are less likely to remonstrate. Not the lesson, perhaps, that the international community might have hoped for.
Authorities are resolved to avoid any "drama" this time around, as though the macabre theatre of last year the armoured Barracuda carriers and brigades of masked security personnel was not scripted by Indonesia itself. "There won't be a soap opera like the last time", according to Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Panjaitan "because I think that wasn't pretty". No indeed.
Of course, the less said about these executions, the harder it is to scrutinise the mechanics of Indonesia's capital punishment apparatus or the narratives of those that are caught within it. Like Zulfiqar Ali, for instance, sentenced to death for possession of 300g heroin: except that Ali wasn't in possession of the drug at all, and the individual who was and who fingered Ali as his supplier has since retracted his testimony.
This bleak situation may not come as any surprise to legal experts or anyone else who witnessed, with dismay and disbelief, the events of 2015. Young Filipina Mary Jane Veloso came within minutes of an encounter with the firing squad before new evidence suggesting Veloso wasn't, in fact, a drug trafficker but a trafficked person was finally conceded. And in this, too, Indonesia is not alone.
Research from the United States reveals that, conservatively, about 4 per cent of those sentenced to death are innocent. That's around 8000 men and women in the US that have been placed, falsely, on death row since the 1970s and only a fraction of these will ever be exonerated. The rash of forced confessions that undermines the integrity of capital sentencing in Indonesia appears to be part of an epidemic that spans the Middle East and even the United States. The death penalty, it turns out, is not the ultimate way for the community to mete out justice, but injustice.
In some respects, the tide is turning. In April, an Indonesian delegate at the United Nations general assembly special session on drugs was booed for defending the use of the death penalty for drug crime and there's no doubt its use in this context is deeply troubling. But it's not clear why such public demonstrations of scorn are reserved for Indonesia alone, and why the conversation around capital punishment is perennially hijacked by a focus on the crime, rather than the punishment. The number of offenders allegedly on Indonesia's hit list is almost identical to the number put to death in the United States this year so far; similar to that executed by state of Texas in 2015 alone.
Most Western election campaigns produce their own "Sister Souljah moments". For political challengers, they offer extraordinary opportunities to demonstrate leadership and for that reason alone they can neither be ignored nor missed.
In May 1992, Sister Souljah, an African-American hip-hop artist from New York City, created a firestorm of controversy in the aftermath of the Los Angeles riots. As published in The Washington Post, her observations could not have been more inflammatory: "I mean, if black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people."
A young governor of Arkansas named Bill Clinton, seeking the Democratic nomination for the Presidency, confronted Souljah directly, repudiating these and other remarks attributed to her, to the effect that she had never met any "good" white people, in blunt and unambiguous terms.
"If you took the words 'white' and 'black' and you reversed them, you might think David Duke (of the Ku Klux Klan) was giving that speech," he said.
"Now that the subject of touch typing has been exhausted," types Alastair Wilson, of Balmain (and yes, it certainly has!), "might we find out the longest word able to be typed on the top row of a QWERTY keyboard? My guess is 'typewriter', but I await further suggestions. The other two rows don't seem to offer much: 'Galahads', perhaps, for row two, and nothing pronounceable from the third."
"Is 'quotidian' the new 'in' word?" asks Rosemary Flannery, of Wollstonecraft. "Three times in as many weeks in the Herald." Possibly, but if it really was the new "in" word, it'd be in the paper every day.
"I often hear people, including Barnaby Joyce on Tuesday night, say 'It went down like a lead balloon'," writes Chris Kearney, of Stanmore. "I always thought it was 'Went over like a lead balloon'." Either way, the simile may be misplaced. Column 8 seems to recall seeing a lead balloon on TV some years back, made of thin lead foil and filled with helium, floating serenely in the breeze.
"I have often heard, when someone is quoting a very large number, that it 'is larger than the number of atoms in the Universe'," writes Lance Newsham, of Stanmore, who asks "Exactly how many atoms are there in the Universe, and how do we know that the number is correct?"
"The line of succession to the British throne," clarifies Joel Alexander, of Kensington (Column 8, Wednesday), "is defined as the eligible descendants of Electress Sophia of Hanover (who was meant to inherit the throne from Queen Anne, but died before Anne did), but since Queen Victoria had so many children, most of the list comprises her descendants. The monarchs of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands are also in the line of succession, as are living former royals of Romania, Yugoslavia, Prussia, Saxe-Coburg, Hanover and Greece. Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh, is also in the line of succession, but only because he himself is also a descendant of Victoria."
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 17
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
As Iranian officials blame the US for the fact that leading European banks are still uncertain in doing business with Iran, Mehrdad Emadi, consultant at the UK-based Betamatrix International Consultancy, believes that resumption of those banks' cooperation with Tehran needs months.
"Based on actual observations pertaining to the enquiries made by the leading European banks, as well as their efforts on undertaking country-specific risk assessment, I think we will see a gradual return of these banks toward the resumption of business dealings with Iran in the next 15 to 18 months," Emadi told Trend May 17.
"This is if a new Administration in Washington does not embark on an aggressively hostile foreign policy toward Iran, which may increase the risk of doing business with Iran, though I believe the resumption of business with Iran by the EU banks will happen even then, be it more slowly," the expert said, adding the US will find it very hard to recruit many allies in Europe should Iran abide by its agreement in the nuclear deal, which came into force last January.
He further said the United States, in fact, will be the main loser should it decide to pursue such a path, especially given the position of Iran as one of the key players in bringing about stability in the region and further afar.
At the same time, Emadi said Iran has done less than it could have to highlight the significance of using investment and trade opportunities in Iran as a unique banking and manufacturing hub with capabilities of serving Southern Europe and Central Asia.
"To this effect, there seems to be a relative lack of appreciation in Tehran of what are the needed resources to build a European business network based in two or three key cities in Europe, designed to achieve Iran's objective through economic channels, which most effectively nullify the existing and future Iranophobic efforts," he said.
Iranian officials accuse Israel and Saudi Arabia of using Iranophobia as an instrument to sabotage implementation of the nuclear deal, something that is true according to Emadi.
Emadi believes that the Saudi leadership and the government of Israel have verifiably evaluated their efforts since the last year to prevent a comprehensive return of Iran to the global economy.
However, the expert forecasts that in a period of 15-24 months Iran will return as a full partner in the economy of the region, as well as in the world economy in energy, automobile manufacturing, biotechnology and tourism.
"I stay with my previous evaluations that should Iran follow a path of competition- enhancing economic policy with a transparent banking system and a simplified and apolitical regulatory framework, we should see a doubling of its GDP within 10 years," said Emadi.
Should this forecast be close to the actual outcome, the importance of resuming trade and investment with Iran can be appreciated by the EU businesses, he added.
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Follow the author on Twitter: @UmidNiayesh
The integrity of ACT Health Directorate data related to emergency department response times has been the subject of intense scrutiny in recent years justifiably so given the deliberate manipulation of Canberra Hospital records that emerged in April 2012. Now, following confirmation by the Barr government of further irregularities in the ED statistics, the Canberra Liberals have called on the ACT Audit Office to inquire further into the management of this data.
In a letter to Auditor-General Maxine Cooper, Opposition Leader Jeremy Hanson suggests the errors (which cover the period July-December 2013), involve the same data set investigated twice by the Audit Office since 2012, and that "the discovery of these errors in itself is serious enough, but is all the more damaging when viewed in the light of your recent findings".
Those findings, it will be recalled, were highly critical of the Health Directorates' systems, procedures, training and of its top-down, results-driven culture. The first audit, released on July 3, 2012, identified a single individual an executive with the directorate as principally responsible for the falsification of records. The executive was aided and abetted in her mischief-making which took place from 2009 until early 2012 by the "very poor systems and practices" then in place to report and record performance information". The audit noted also that "managerial pressure was placed on the executive to improve the performance of the emergency department".
A subsequent audit, tabled in the Legislative Assembly on June 19, 2015, noted that data integrity had improved as a result of "considerable efforts by ACT Health over the past two years". However, Dr Cooper cautioned that "there is more work to be done ... especially in the non-admitted patient areas".
It'll lend an entirely different meaning to the word "independent" and bury for good the argument that parents who pay extra to send their children to private schools are doing other taxpayers a favour. So dependent are private schools already that 95 per cent get more in government grants than they spend on teachers' salaries. They either raise very little extra from parents (typically the case for Catholic schools) or raise a lot more and use it for facilities that are the envy of their public school neighbours. It began quietly. For more than 100 years until the mid-1960s Australia treated private schools the same way as did other developed countries. It didn't fund them. Then prime minister Menzies broke the ice with grants for science labs and prime minister Whitlam with general grants linked to the achievement of targets. Prime Minister Howard turbocharged the process with a new formula that took no account of the money private schools got from other sources and a new kind of grant for the establishment of new private schools. In the space of a decade Australia gained an extra 127 private schools, some very small, and all entitled to establishment grants and ongoing public support.
Julia Gillard's 2011 Gonski review found a mess. "When considered holistically, the current funding arrangements for schooling are unnecessarily complex, lack coherence and transparency, and involve a duplication of funding," it reported. It recommended instead a "colourblind" approach. Every student would be entitled to the same amount of money, adjusted for need. So dependent are private schools already that 95 per cent get more in government grants than they spend on teachers salaries. In public schools it would all be provided by governments, state and federal. Private schools attended by students from poor socio-economic backgrounds would be told to find 10 per cent themselves. Private schools attended by students from good backgrounds would have to find 75 to 85 per cent. The one big problem was that Gillard had decreed that "no school will lose a dollar". It made Gonski expensive. But after initially causing mischief (his education spokesman Christopher Pyne labelled the idea "Conski") Tony Abbott promised a "unity ticket". He would honour Labor's agreements with the states for at least four years, even though they lasted for six years.
After his election it was quickly forgotten. The money was forthcoming, for four years only, but the requirement for the states to put in their share and divide it in accordance with Gonski formula was dropped. Labor had made it hard for him, even if he had had the best will in the world. First it had insisted that no school be worse off, hugely inflating the Gonski's cost, and then, because it couldn't work out how to fund that cost, it pushed all but $3 billion of the $9.7 billion out into the final two years of the agreements, where it wouldn't show up in the budget's forward estimates. Uncertain of what to do as those final two years approached, Malcolm Turnbull at first suggested the Commonwealth abandon schools funding, leaving it all to the states, which would raise their own income tax, except for private schools, which for some reason he would continue to fund. Then he threw them an extra bag of money to buy a few years more time. As the election approaches, Labor is talking again about funding the full Gonski, the expensive one where private schools don't lose a dollar. I'd hoped for more, but then I've yet to meet a Labor MP whose children aren't in private schools. The Coalition seems not to have a policy at all, at least not yet.
Those who don't like minority government include the major parties which prefer a two-party system with government alternating regularly between the two. They each get a turn in the lolly shop. The big parties don't like any interference with executive government when they hold the reins of power.
Effective minority government is common around the world. It is a form of government which depends on compromise and negotiation and can deliver more inclusive outcomes. At the same time it can be slower, apparently messier and less decisive. It can also give too much power to individual MPs.
Two cheers for minority government. It's as good as any alternative and has advantages and disadvantages which must be balanced against each other in any situation. That lesson hasn't been learned despite considerable informed commentary following the 2010 federal election result which delivered three years of minority government.
But when they condemn the idea of a so-called hung parliament it must always be recognised that it is self-interest speaking not disinterested analysis. They did that last week when Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten expressed their horror at the prospect of any sort of alliance with the Greens. This possibility had been suggested by Adam Bandt, the Greens member for Melbourne, who said the Greens were ready to form an alliance if the big parties fell short of a majority in their own right.
The Gillard government, was a successful minority government that executed a considerable legislative program under extreme pressure. Credit:Andrew Meares
Neither the Coalition nor Labor wanted to admit the possibility that they might not achieve a majority this time. That would be a sign of lack of confidence in their prospects. They also didn't want to invite speculation about an alliance with the Greens as they might then have to negotiate policies with the dogmatic minor party on matters like climate change and refugees.
It was the prospect of a Greens alliance which drew most of the front page publicity, but the bigger issue was minority government per se. The first thing to point out was the Gillard government was not a Labor-Greens alliance at all but a more widely-based minority government. Julia Gillard needed four extra votes to govern and she managed to negotiate the support of the Greens, then Andrew Wilkie, and finally Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott. Surprisingly no one made that point.
Secondly, it was surprising that Shorten chose not to defend the legacy of the Gillard government, a successful minority government which executed a considerable legislative program under extreme pressure between 2010 and 2013. The same applies to the majority Rudd government, 2007-2010. There are good reasons why Shorten would not want to focus on those years, given his role in the two leadership changes, one in 2010 and the other in 2013.
Next we're introduced to Ulrike Klein, an arts patron with a long association with the ASQ. We hear how she came to Australia from Germany, and how she and her biochemist husband founded the Jurlique skin care label.
For a documentary largely reliant on talking-head interviews, Scott Hicks' Highly Strung has no lack of momentum. First up, we're told of the formation of a new line-up for the Adelaide-based Australian String Quartet and how two of its members fell in love and married within weeks of starting to play together.
More relevantly, we discover that she's about to fulfil her dream of equipping all four members of the ASQ with instruments by the 18th-century Italian craftsman G. B. Guadagnini, worth more than a million dollars each.
Former Australian String Quartet violinist Ioana Tache in Highly Strung.
All this happens within the first five minutes of Highly Strung, which moves so rapidly it sometimes feels more like a trailer for a film than the film itself. Other key personalities show up later: between keeping tabs on Klein and the ASQ, Hicks pays occasional visits to the Italian luthier Roberto Cavagnoli, presented as something of a present-day successor to Guadagnini (for me, the film's least interesting thread).
There are also side-trips to New York, where Hicks meets the members of another string quartet the high-powered, fabulously wealthy Carpenter siblings, who resemble villains from a Wes Anderson film and don't entirely seem to be joking about wanting their own reality show.
Taken together, these subplots raise a series of open-ended questions. Can a musical instrument be a work of art? If so, does it belong in a museum, or in the hands of someone who knows how to play it? Are instruments made by the old masters necessarily superior to those made with equal passion today?
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the "last thing" her electorate of Inala needed was "to see a SBS show in there that takes the mickey out of people" or "families ridiculed on national television".
Ms Palaszczuk said she backed LNP Lord Mayor Graham Quirk "100 per cent" in his refusal to give the SBS crew permits to film the sequel to the controversial hit series Struggle Street, which followed residents in the western Sydney suburb of Mount Druitt.
Cr Quirk said he believed the series damaged the reputation of Mount Druitt and he would not be privy to watching the same thing happen in Inala, in Brisbane's south-west.
Ms Palaszczuk, who has a long family history with the area, said she shared similar fears, adding she did not believe there to be a place for the latest Struggle Street series anywhere in the state.
Mr Turnbull had earlier dodged the issue on Wednesday morning by refusing to take questions from travelling journalists about Mr Dutton's remarks.
Mr Shorten went on the offensive over the issue, demanding Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull pull his cabinet colleague into line over his "pathetic", "offensive" and "deeply divisive" comments.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has accused the Turnbull government of reviving the "Pauline Hanson rhetoric of the past" following Immigration Minister Peter Dutton's controversial comments about "illiterate" and "innumerate" asylum seekers taking Australian jobs.
Asked about the Greens proposal to increase Australia's refugee intake from around 13,700 to 50,000, Mr Dutton said on Tuesday: "They won't be numerate or literate in their own language, let alone English.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten described Immigration Minister Peter Dutton's comments refugees as "pathetic" and "offensive" on Wednesday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
"These people would be taking Australian jobs, there's no question about that.
"For many of them that would be unemployed, they would languish in unemployment queues and on Medicare and the rest of it so there would be huge cost and there's no sense in sugar-coating that, that's the scenario."
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop defended Mr Dutton, saying he was making the "self-evident" point that it is highly expensive to resettle refugees and that it is time for a "reality check" on the issue.
At a press conference in Sydney, Mr Shorten said: "Mr Dutton's comments are comments that Pauline Hanson would have been proud to make and if this is the best that the Liberal Party can do, it is not very good at all.
Dubbing Mr Dutton "an outstanding Immigration Minister", the Prime Minister said Australia was one of the most generous countries in the world when it came to refugee resettlement and took its responsibilities seriously. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has changed tack. Credit:Andrew Meares But he sought to put Mr Dutton's comments into context by explaining that large numbers of refugees came from war-torn countries, and that this was to be met with compassion, not intolerance. "Large percentages of them have no English skills at all, many of them are illiterate in their own language, many of them have not completed high school," Mr Turnbull said. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
"That's no fault of theirs. That's why we're reaching out to help them with compassion. That is not a basis for criticising them. "What it is, as Peter [Dutton] has identified, is a basis for us taking our responsibility seriously and ensuring that we take into Australia the number of refugees that we can effectively settle." Illustration Ron Tandberg These people would be taking Australian jobs, there's no question about that, and for many of them that would be unemployed, they would languish in unemployment queues and on Medicare and the rest of it. Peter Dutton Unlike many other countries, Australia invested hundreds of millions of dollars in refugee settlement and support services, the Prime Minister said. "Many countries in the world accept many refugees into their countries and effectively forget them. We don't."
Mr Turnbull said Labor's intention to double the annual humanitarian intake of refugees would come with a price tag, likely in the billions of dollars, that the opposition had not costed. "Labor's approach to immigration is one of gesture politics," he said. In recent days, Mr Turnbull and senior ministers have ramped up their rhetoric on asylum seekers. On Tuesday, the Prime Minister toured an Australian Border Force patrol vessel docked in Darwin, and delivered his strongest attack to date on Labor's border protection record. Then on Tuesday night, Mr Dutton told Sky News many refugees were not literate or numerate. "These people would be taking Australian jobs, there's no question about that, and for many of them that would be unemployed, they would languish in unemployment queues and on Medicare and the rest of it," he said. Labor, the Greens and refugee advocates have branded those remarks offensive and incorrect. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said they were comments that One Nation leader Pauline Hanson "would be proud to make". But Foreign Minister Julie Bishop endorsed Mr Dutton's comments on Wednesday morning, saying it was "self-evident" that resettling refugees was expensive.
Asked whether he would want a divisive border protection debate to run through the election campaign, Mr Turnbull repeated sentiments he expressed on Tuesday that "border protection and immigration are and always have been key political issues". However, when asked directly, he would not repeat or echo Mr Dutton's suggestion that refugees "would be taking Australian jobs". The local Liberal MP Ewen Jones, who accompanied the PM on his visit to the Port of Townsville, said he was "rock solid with Peter Dutton" but had not seen a transcript of the minister's interview. "The reason we have such a great humanitarian program is because we run it well," Mr Jones said. "It's not us who's politicising it, it's Labor candidates." The Townsville MP said asylum seekers remained a "massive issue" in his electorate. But he did not share the views of Nationals MP George Christensen who also accompanied the Prime Minister on Wednesday who wrote to the government with concerns about Syrian refugees being settled in his neighbouring electorate of Dawson.
Evidence, including NSW police briefing notes and testimony from crime figures, suggests that one of the most vital border security facilities, the NSW Customs Examination Facility, has been compromised by corrupt insiders, enabling criminals to import large amounts of drugs and tobacco undetected. Staff at the facility are responsible for searching containers suspected to contain contraband. An AFP officer at the raided house. A small network of Department of Agriculture officials responsible for clearing imports into Australia have also been assisting and liaising with known drug traffickers for at least the past five years. This network is allegedly led by Mr Vong, a suspected corrupt Department of Agriculture official, who works out of Customs House in Melbourne. The department missed multiple warnings about Mr Vong and some of his colleagues. The scene of the raid.
Fairfax Media has delayed reporting on the border corruption scandal for several months at the request of authorities. In NSW, evidence uncovered by Fairfax Media from multiple sources, including agency officials, government briefing files and figures with underworld ties, implicates Border Force officials in drug and tobacco trafficking, and leaking to the criminal underworld. Richard Vong was arrested on Wednesday over alleged links to organised criminals. Criminal intelligence suggests one officer has been taking kickbacks of hundreds of thousands of dollars from traffickers, while another has been facilitating importations. Suspected corrupt officers are still operating.
The latest scandal comes three years after a network of corrupt customs officers was identified at Sydney airport and charged by the federal police. At the time, Mr Pezzullo promised sweeping reforms, including many which have been implemented. Top security and policing officials, along with corruption experts, called for the nation's federal police watchdog, the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI) to have its budget dramatically increased and said the Australian Border Force had failed to deal with corruption in its ranks. Leading corruption expert and former senior judge Stephen Charles, QC, said ACLEI which, with about 20 investigators out of a total of 55 staff, is among the smallest corruption fighting agencies in Australia was badly outgunned. Mr Charles said Australia needed an anti-corruption agency with hundreds of staff. "It [ACLEI] needs to be ten-drupled," a law enforcement agency source said. Fairfax Media can also reveal that officers from the joint state and federal Polaris waterfront crime taskforce in NSW, which has played a key role in identifying corruption on the docks, were last week told they would be shut down due to a lack of funding. State police are furious, but federal government sources insist the funding has been reallocated to other anti-organised crime taskforces.
One briefing describes how a veteran customs officer who has previously worked closely with the AFP and the NSW Crime Commission is suspected of leaking "sensitive information" to drug and tobacco importers. A customs officer is also named as having travelled overseas with a suspected criminal. Property records obtained by Fairfax Media reveal this customs officer, who was on long-term sick leave, lives next door to the suspected criminal in the Sydney suburb of Sylvania Waters. The border security scandal comes three years after the Sydney airport customs corruption scandal, in which a network of corrupt customs officers led by customs officer Adrian Lamella were trafficking drugs using couriers on international flights. The reforms implemented by Mr Pezzullo and the federal government after the Sydney airport scandal appear to have failed to stop significant corruption in the agency. One senior government source said the Australian Border Force was "incapable" of eradicating corruption in its ranks and sometimes dealt with internal integrity issues with departmental sanctions, such as demotion or sacking, rather than by conducting intensive probes that could expose corrupt networks.
The Department of Agriculture section involved in Mr Vong's alleged corrupt network was formerly named the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service. AQIS senior managers were first warned that organised criminals had infiltrated the agency's ranks in 2012, when an officer was identified, and later charged, for leaking information to a drug importation syndicate. Information outlining Mr Vong's alleged links to suspected drug trafficker Jimmy Chhav has been held by various law enforcement agencies for several years, but it is unclear if it was ever formally passed to the Department of Agriculture. However, the department had its own information linking the pair which was never acted upon. In April 2012, Fairfax Media first reported Australia's maritime borders were badly exposed to corruption and that a confidential Operation Polaris report had found that "serious organised crime groups are able to access and exploit key Australian government officers." "Polaris investigations have identified employees of law enforcement and regulatory bodies providing assistance to criminal groups. This assistance is less common but of higher consequence than private sector corruption. The employees have included members of customs and employees of AQIS.
"Operation Polaris has also determined the government's Maritime Security Identification Cards required by tens of thousands of Australians who work in the industry have failed to stop organised crime infiltration. "Multiple MSIC holders are involved in drug activity and are subject to substantial intelligence holdings detailing their criminal activity and criminal associates." Stephen Charles, QC, a former Victorian Court of Appeals judge and an expert in anti-corruption agencies, said watchdog ACLEI was unable to combat public sector corruption outside of several policing agencies. Mr Charles, who recently gave testimony to a Senate committee about the need for the establishment of a national anti-corruption agency, said ACLEI's staff had good intentions but had limited investigative and jurisdictional capacity. The federal government has recently passed laws to ensure that people with criminal histories are not giving the government security clearance to work on the waterfront or at airports.
Liberal frontbencher Josh Frydenberg said on Thursday morning that the allegations were being dealt with appropriately. "Such behaviour will not be tolerated and we'll take every possible measure to ensure that those people, if they have behaved in a way that is criminal, face the appropriate justice system," he told ABC TV. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection said in a statement that although it and the Australian Border Force were "unable to comment on the status of current investigations", it could confirm that it had been working "in partnership with ACLEI". It said Taskforce Pharos, an internal taskforce set up following the corruption scandal at Sydney airport to target corruption "within the border environment", continued to operate and had been instrumental in referring matters to ACLEI for further investigation. "In addition, the Department has provided supplemental funding to ACLEI to ensure matters relating to its own officers can be fully and independently investigated."
Asthmatics and allergy sufferers could be wasting time and money trying to free bedrooms from dust mites, says a top Australian allergy expert whose new research challenges 40 years of conventional beliefs.
Only 10 per cent of the total daily exposure to dust mites occurred while sleeping in bed at night, finds new Australian research, which was published in the science journal PLOS One on Thursday morning.
Associate Professor Euan Tovey shows the prototype of a new device that took samples of dust mites in the air.
Another 50 per cent of exposure occurred elsewhere in the home and 40 per cent occurred outside the home, found the study, headed by Associate Professor Euan Tovey from the Allergen Group of the Woolcock Institute for Medical Research at Sydney University.
In the past, experts thought that beds and the bedroom were the biggest source of exposure to dust mites, a leading cause of allergies and asthma.
Health Minister Jillian Skinner has defended her department's handling of an outbreak of legionella, after admitting she did not know that a man in the Burwood cluster had died until she saw it on television.
Four people have contracted legionnaires' disease in the fourth outbreak to affect Sydney this year, with investigations centred on Westfield and Burwood Plaza, where at least two of the patients spent time.
But the health department did not alert the public to the new cluster until late on Tuesday, two days after Burwood Council started inspecting cooling towers in the area and only after receiving inquiries from the media.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Farhad Daneshvar - Trend:
Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pak Ayeen has called on entrepreneurs and merchants from both countries to seize the chance to enjoy benefits of improved ties between Tehran and Baku.
Speaking about improved ties between Iran and Azerbaijan the ambassador advised entrepreneurs and merchants to gain advantage from the current opportunities, said the message of Iranian embassy in Baku.
Addressing a conference on economy in Baku May 17, Mohsen Pak Ayeen mentioned that official Tehran and Baku are determined to establish stronger ties.
The ambassador elaborated on the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and said the removal of sanctions against the Islamic Republic has created a proper chance to cement economic ties with Iran.
According to the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan the country's export to Iran almost doubled to $14.4 million in 1Q16 year-to-year, while imports increased from $19.4 million in 1Q15 to $27 million in 1Q16.
The JCPOA was implemented on January 16 followed by a nuclear deal last year curbing Iran's nuclear program in return for the removal of international sanctions.
Guangzhou: Reporting on a court case in China should be simple enough, if the rules are anything to go by.
The Supreme People's Court website states helpfully that, to be kept accountable, the "People's Courts should eliminate the obstacles to the access to information and supervision by the public and the media".
Anthony Bannister arriving at the Guangzhou People's Intermediate Court in June 2015. Credit:Sanghee Liu
But at Guangdong's High Court on Tuesday, where former jockey Anthony Bannister was appealing against a suspended death sentence for having commercial quantities of the drug ice in his luggage, it didn't quite turn out that way.
A man has been charged over the brutal bashing and sexual assault of a young woman at a western Sydney nightclub, 20 years after the alleged attack left the woman in hospital with a brain injury.
The 44-year-old man was arrested in South Australia this week and has been extradited to NSW, where he will face a Sydney court on Thursday charged with the aggravated sexual assault of the then 19-year-old woman at the Parramatta nightclub in 1996.
NSW Police will allege in court that on March 8, 1996, which was a Friday night, the 19-year old woman was at the nightclub with friends when she was approached by a man who she believed knew her boyfriend.
The pair began talking and their conversation continued outside the nightclub, where he allegedly became violent. Police allege he assaulted and sexually assaulted the woman in the nightclub's car park.
Police who were patrolling the area discovered the woman just before 3am, unconscious and suffering from severe injuries, including multiple fractures and a brain injury. She was taken to Westmead Hospital where she remained for several weeks.
Mr Curtis, supported in court by his wife and Sweaty Betty PR agency founder Ms Jacenko, has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. The NSW Supreme Court heard on Tuesday there were potentially hundreds of trades that may have formed the basis of charges against Mr Hartman. Credit:Daniel Munoz Mr Hartman gave a damning account of the pair's alleged plan to use information he acquired during his work as an equities dealer at boutique investment firm Orion Asset Management. He said both he and Mr Curtis had a gambling problem at the time. "Unfortunately we came up with a plan whereby I would tell Ollie the stocks Orion would be buying ... so he could use that information," he said. Oliver Curtis arrived at court flanked with his wife, PR businesswoman Roxy Jacenko. Credit:Daniel Munoz
"The purpose was to make money out of the information I held. I controlled when Orion bought or sold stocks. I made a huge mistake by taking advantage of that opportunity." Mr Hartman said the pair agreed to buy and sell contracts for difference, which can allow traders to profit from shifts in share prices, and "share the profits 50-50". What we were doing was effectively front running or insider trading. John Hartman The court has heard the trades netted the men $1.43 million in profits between May 2007 and June 2008, some of which was spent on a $60,000 Mini Cooper and a $20,000 Ducati motorbike for Mr Hartman. The pair also went on a luxury holiday to Whistler and Las Vegas, including shouting their friends helijet transfers "as we will all be very hung over and will not enjoy a two-hour drive".
Mr Hartman said his friends "didn't know where the money was coming from", apart from Mr Curtis. "They just thought I was being generous," he said. Secret messaging method Mr Hartman said the men had met in a bar in the Sydney CBD on one occasion and had discussed that they would both be "in a lot of shit" if their dealings came out in court. He told the court he would communicate with Mr Curtis using a BlackBerry that his friend had bought for him.
Mr Curtis had shown him a method of communication known as "pinning", he said, which was "like SMSing somebody" but the information was not stored by telecommunication providers. "He told me a story I can still remember 10 years later now," Mr Hartman said with a small laugh. Mr Curtis had said the only way to access the content of the messages would be to "pull a satellite out of the sky", Mr Hartman claimed. "We both understood we needed to be careful. He understood exactly what the information was, where it was coming from." The court has heard the men grew up in Mosman on Sydney's lower north shore, attended the same high school and lived together in a luxury apartment in Bondi. Mr Hartman said they used some of the proceeds of their trading to pay the $150,000 rent on the property upfront, along with two plasma televisions.
"We were best friends," Mr Hartman said. Emails between the pair, tendered in court, show Mr Curtis talking excitedly in February 2008 about Bondi being the "BEST place to live and Notts Avenue is THE street so you don't get much better". In spite of their windfall profits they also had minor disagreements, including Mr Curtis asking Mr Hartman to "make a more conscious effort to lighten the use of electricity like turning off the lights etc!" to save on bills. But the court has heard the relationship has since soured more dramatically. Mr Curtis' barrister, Murugan Thangaraj, SC, has asked the jury to consider if Mr Hartman had turned on a "good mate" to reduce his own jail time.
Mr Thangaraj told the jury on the second day of the trial that Mr Hartman's co-operation with authorities, including giving evidence in his friend's trial, had translated to "less time in jail". Mr Hartman was released on a good behaviour bond in March 2012. He agreed that the total profit from his personal trading was $5.8 million, of which only $1.59 million was seized by the corporate watchdog when his account was frozen. He was also allowed to keep his motorbike, which he later sold, and a BMW he bought when he traded in his Mini Cooper. Mr Hartman told the court that his motivation at the time was "to make money". "Whilst it's all relative, at the time I didn't have access to a large amount of money ... The opportunity to make a lot of money from taking advantage of the information was there."
But Ms Terrill said it was a shame the government had not adopted a recommendation to change the gap between peak and off-peak fares."It would be a really valuable contribution to managing congestion if the fare structure encouraged people who can to travel off peak," she said
But Sydney commuters seemed most concerned that they would no longer get free trips after making eight journeys in a week. Instead, they will now pay half price after their first eight.
"Now I'll have to think about where I travel after the eight, whereas at the moment after the eight I know I can travel anywhere I want for free," said Jay Gill, a commuter on Sydney's light rail line.
"In that respect I will probably use public transport a bit less. I'm not sure it's the best idea in the world, actually."
While the idea of cutting free trips had been floated since December, when a draft report into the Opal fare structure was released by the state's pricing regulator, commuters seemed surprised that the government had backed the idea.
Sydney socialite Shari-Lea Hitchcock who allegedly tried to assault a good Samaritan who came to her aid and then bit a police officer has pleaded not guilty to assault charges.
The long-time mistress of late billionaire Richard Pratt attended Waverley Local Court on Wednesday, flanked by lawyer Chris Murphy.
Shari Lea Hitchcock, right, with daughter Paula. Credit:Andrew Murray
Mr Murphy said Hitchcock, 46, has been suffering from a medical condition, and would plead not guilty to all charges.
"The medical issues are quite strong," Mr Murphy told the court.
A traffic island at South Brisbane has been ripped up after the Brisbane City Council was ridiculed for installing a traffic island near the Annerley Road gutter, while leaving a painted bike lane unprotected.
Cyclists had lambasted the council for building the islands between Annerley Road's bike lane and the gutter, when they said they could have been installed to provide the bike lane some protection.
These traffic islands on Annerley Road have been ripped out after coming under criticism from cyclists. Credit:Twitter - @mikefc
Brisbane's deputy mayor agreed.
Adrian Schrinner, also the council's public and active transport chairman, ordered the traffic island be torn up and started again after cyclists tweeted him photos.
An alleged drug smuggler's mother will be imprisoned for 12 months if she fails to cough up $315,000 for her son's failures to appear in court.
The Queensland Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that Elizabeth Anne Turner, 62, pay $315,000 to the Crown within six months or she would be jailed.
Mum ordered to pay or face jail. Credit:Louie Douvis
Justice Peter Flanagan also ordered the forfeiture of a $70,000 cash deposit she paid to the court in 2011 to release her son on bail.
Markis Scott Turner, 42, was arrested and charged by Australian Federal Police over allegations he was part of a suspected drug smuggling ring that planned to import a 50-kilogram shipment of cocaine into Australia.
When it comes to turtles it is always better to put your eggs in one basket a UQ study has found.
Research conducted by Queensland and Malaysian researchers found turtle hatchlings in bigger clutches used less energy than smaller clutches when tunnelling their way to the surface, helping them get to the water faster.
Turtle hatchlings work better together in tunneling to the surface.
The study, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, saw researchers take about eight green turtle clutches from an island in Malaysia and bury them under a 40 centimetre thick layer of sand inside a specially adapted respirometer chamber, which had been trialled on Heron Island hatchlings late last year, to measure their oxygen consumption.
UQ PhD candidate and author Mohd Uzair Rusli said they separated the yet-to-be-hatched clutches into a big and a small group and measured their oxygen consumption throughout the digging process.
A Melbourne UberX driver has won an appeal against a conviction for operating a commercial passenger vehicle without a licence, in a case that effectively legalises the ride-sharing app in Victoria.
The decision on Wednesday also puts pressure on the Andrews government, which has been slow to make a decision on whether Uber's low-cost UberX service should be permitted to operate in Victoria.
Uber driver Nathan Brenner, whose successful appeal effectively legalises the ride-sharing service in Victoria. Credit:Simon Schluter
Nathan Brenner was found guilty last year by a magistrate of two counts of operating without a licence and one count of driving a commercial passenger vehicle without accreditation.
But a Victorian County Court judge on Wednesday dismissed the charges and ordered the Taxi Services Commission to pay Mr Brenner's appeal costs.
A Perth flight bound for Sydney was unexpectedly diverted to Adelaide on Wednesday morning after a passenger began acting erratically.
Virgin Australia in a statement said its VA552 flight made an unscheduled stop in South Australia due to a disruptive guest on board.
A disruptive passenger has forced a Virgin Australia flight to be diverted. Credit:Edwina Pickles
Passenger Tom Murphy tweeted about the incident, claiming the man was "kicking and screaming while sleeping".
"Currently on #VA552, which has been diverted to Adelaide because of an absolute idiot who happens to be sitting in front of me," he said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iranian and Croatian officials signed two memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on the sidelines of a meeting between Iran's President Hassan Rouhani and Croatia's President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic May 18, Iran's state-run IRINN TV reported.
The signed documents envisage boosting cooperation in economic fields, including enhancing ties between Croatia and Iranian chambers of commerce.
Croatia's President arrived in Tehran early May 18 to discuss expansion of bilateral ties with Iranian officials.
Meanwhile, representatives from 72 Croatian companies alongside with several ministers arrived in Tehran on May 16.
The Croatian delegation is also slated to hold several meetings with the members of Iranian private sector to discuss bilateral cooperation.
Earlier commenting on the visit, Total Croatia News said that for Iran, which has large gas reserves and could take over an important gas producer, Croatia is located at an extremely important geopolitical location and could become a distributor of Iranian gas to many European countries.
Iranians are interested in investing in an LNG terminal, shipbuilding, petrochemical industry and tourism, while Croatian companies want to invest in infrastructure and energy, the report added.
One of Australia's biggest egg producers was found guilty of wrongly labelling its eggs free range in the Federal Court in Perth on Wednesday.
In December 2014, the ACCC filed proceedings in the Federal Court against Snowdale Holdings, who trade as the Swan Valley Egg Farm, alleging that the labelling of its free-ranged eggs was misleading.
Laying hen at Swan Valley Egg Farm, Carabooda. Credit:Terry Loftus, Sun City News
The ACCC alleged Snowdale used words and images and made false, misleading or deceptive statements on its egg cartons and websites that its hens were able to move about freely on open ranges, due to the stocking densities of the barns.
Greens animal welfare spokesperson Lynn MacLaren said she was "delighted" Snowdale had been found guilty of deceptive conduct by the ACCC.
The Australian man and his three associates jailed in Lebanon over the 60 Minutes failed kidnapping plot has been denied bail.
Investigative Judge Rami Abdullah told reporters at Beirut's Palace of Justice that he had rejected an application for bail for Australian man Adam Whittington, his child-retrieval associate Craig Michael and two Lebanese men hired to help with logistics. He will now hand the case over to the general prosecutor Claude Karam.
Adam Whittington was refused bail over the botched child kidnapping in Beirut in April. Credit:Youtube: CARI via SMH
Lawyer Sahar Mouhsen is representing one of the jailed Lebanese men, Mohamad Hamza, and said the case could now take months to conclude as it was tied to the fate of Whittington's legal outcome.
Whittington, a former Australian soldier and dual British national, is accused of orchestrating the child-abduction plot on behalf of Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner, whose estranged husband never returned to Australia their two children after they visited him in Lebanon for a holiday in 2015.
Baghdad: At least 80 people were killed in the Baghdad area when bomb attacks, the biggest of which was claimed by the Islamic State extremist group, hit five districts in and around the Iraqi capital.
The bombings on Tuesday, which left another 190 people injured according to eyewitnesses and security and medical officials, marked the sixth day out of seven that the city was hit by deadly attacks targeting mainly Shiite areas.
Mourners grieve on Tuesday by coffins of bomb victims, Saad Samed, 28, and his wife Mariam Aqeel, 22, and his sons Mohammed Saad, 7, and Ahmed Saad, 5, who killed at an open-air market in Baghdad's northern neighbourhood of Shaab. Credit:AP
The Iraqi government said that Islamic State was lashing out in response to recent gains by security forces who are pushing into the western al-Anbar province, long a stronghold of the Sunni extremist group.
The general election effort to take down Donald Trump through television ads will begin on Wednesday when the main super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton airs the first of two attack ads in four important swing states.
The effort kicks off a multimillion-dollar campaign that will flood TV screens in those battlegrounds in the months to come.
Donald Trump said the "Speak" ad had misrepresented one of his statements. Credit:AP
The super PAC, Priorities USA Action, had initially planned to wait until after the June 7 primary contests to introduce TV ads attacking Mr Trump, but accelerated its effort against the presumptive Republican nominee.
The group's $US6 million investment includes two ads that offer scathing critiques of Mr Trump's comments about women that will run for the next three weeks in Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Nevada.
A Nigerian schoolgirl who was among a mass hostage-taking by Islamist militants more than two years ago has been found, marking the first of the more than 200 captives to be recovered since shortly after the abduction.
Nineteen-year-old Amina Ali Nkeki was found by Nigerian soldiers, said YaKubu Nkeki, one of the girl's uncles. He said his niece was pregnant and suffering from "trauma" but did not elaborate.
Lawan Zannah, secretary of the association of parents of missing Chibok girls, said the girl was discovered on Tuesday near the Sambisa forest in north-eastern Nigeria, not far from the village of Chibok where Boko Haram militants seized the girls on April 14, 2014.
Washington: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has formally apologised for a racist incident that took place more than a century ago.
In mid-May 1914, the Komagata Maru, a Japanese steamship, arrived in Vancouver after leaving Hong Kong in early April. On board were 376 passengers, most of whom were Sikh migrants from what was then British India. The ship was not allowed to dock and its passengers were forced to return to India.
A 1908 Canadian law at the time forbade arrivals in the country who did not make a "continuous journey" from their nation of birth or citizenship. In an era when hundreds of thousands of white European immigrants were settling in Canada, the law was seen as a measure to stymie Indian arrivals because it was practically impossible to travel directly from the Indian mainland to North America.
The Sanders contingent at the Nevada convention was rowdy, noisy. They booed Clinton ally and California Senator Barbara Boxer off the stage, but it's possible that the ructions are being hyped for political purposes. A supporter holds a sign as Senator Bernie Sanders speaks in Carson, California. Credit:Bloomberg There are charges that chairs were thrown but video recordings show only a single chair being lifted above an attendee's head and, Sanders delegates insist, it was not thrown. And it's debatable whether messages left on a local party official's voicemail actually constituted a death threat, as claimed, or were merely crass like "I think people like you should be hung in a public execution to show this world that we won't stand for this sort of corruption". In a formal complaint to the DNC, Nevada party officials warn: "We believe, unfortunately, that the tactics and behaviour on display here in Nevada are harbingers of things to come as Democrats gather in Philadelphia in July for our national convention." Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders isn't giving up in his fight to wrench the Democrat presidential candidate title from Hillary Clinton. Credit:Jae C Hong
Sanders stands by his supporters, accusing the party of treating his campaign unfairly and adding in a statement: "It goes without saying that I condemn any and all forms of violence, including the personal harassment of individuals." The ruckus in Nevada, according to the Clinton camp, was proof of a penchant for violence by the Sanders camp, requiring Sanders to do the right thing, according to Democrat Senate leader Harry Reid, who claimed that Sanders' defence of his supporters was "a silly statement". A supporter greets Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in Kentucky, on Monday. Credit:AP Claiming that how Sanders responded would be a "test of leadership", Reid declared: "I wanted to make sure [Sanders] understands and he's heard what when on [in Nevada], the violence and all the other bad things that have happened there." Sanders says he'll stay in the race until the Democrat convention in Philadelphia in mid-July. But showing the frustration in the Clinton camp, Senator Dianne Feinstein demanded that Sanders quit, arguing: "The numbers are very positive for Clinton, [but] but I think the fact that Bernie Sanders doesn't recognise this is really difficult because it precipitates a lot of this confrontation."
Hillary Clinton prior to her narrow victory in Kentucky. Credit:AP The Nevada brouhaha coincides with another attack on Clinton a video that reportedly has gone viral, in which what are variously described as her lies or inconsistencies over the years have been run together under the title Hillary Clinton lying for 13 minutes straight. Trump continues to gain on Clinton in polls on a notional presidential head-to-head contest; and his chaotic campaigning continues to drown out her more wonkish presentations in media coverage of the campaign. Supporters cheer for Hillary Clinton in Lexington, Kentucky. Credit:AP As the race stands, Clinton has 96 per cent of delegates and super delegates she needs to lock up the nomination; Sanders has 64 per cent.
One of the few detailed media accounts of what transpired in Nevada was in the progressive Nation, which described an ugly melee, but also complaints by the Sanders camp that the party rules were changed and procedures were manipulated to thwart them, excluding 58 Sanders delegates to give the Clinton forces a majority. Apparently three convention delegates were at stake. The Nation points out: "This whole debacle was over at most three delegates in July. If the Sanders supporters had carried the day, they would have gone to Philadelphia with 18 delegates to Clinton's 17; instead they remain behind Clinton, 20-15. "Hillary Clinton's failure to clinch the nomination has understandably left many of her supporters bad-tempered about Sanders' refusal to concede [But] if Clinton doesn't stop being such a sore winner, she may well end up a sore loser. A candidate with 524 super delegates in her pocket and a lead of 291 in pledged delegates can afford to be gracious. "Because while it is true Bernie Sanders is unlikely to win the nomination, it is equally true that unless Clinton is able to convince a large proportion of Sanders' supporters to vote for her, she's unlikely to win in November."
Medicinal cannabis may get support, but focus must be placed on education.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The delegation comprising of Roland Joe Bushman President of the Freedom Fighters Foundation, Jay Haviser, Dr. Dan Johnson and Arun Jagtiani gave the members of parliament a indebt presentation on cannabis and its usage especially its medical values. Bushman said Members of Parliament thought he would have taken a set of rastamen to parliament in order for them to legalize cannabis but instead he took professionals who did their research and have valuable information on the herb.
Dr. Johnson said cannibis cures several diseases such as epilepsy, diabetes, pain, hypertension, tumors, hepatitis, spinal cord diseases, and depression among other known chronic diseases that pharmaceutical medicines are not helping. He said as doctor in the United States of America he has been treating patients with medicinal cannabis that has no side effects.
So far some 37 countries the panelist said have decriminalized cannabis, while St. Maarten already did the same for a very small amount of the herb. Dr. Johnson said this herb have been known for its medicinal purposes since the 2900 BC which became more known in the 1850s and then in 1978. Dr. Johnson said the largest group of doctors in the USA is now supporting the medical use of cannabis.
While Arun Jagtani in his presentation tried to show parliament how much monies can be made through the legalization of the herb, even if its for medical, recreational or as a tourism product. He showed Members of Parliament a statement made by a well known doctor Sanjay Gupta who also works for CNN where he admitted he did not enough research in the past on cannabis and its medical values.
While the panel took time to research and to open the door on St. Maarten to start a discussion on the legalization of cannabis. Several Members of Parliament were against it especially the recreational use of it since they said that there is not sufficient means on St. Maarten to control the sale and use of cannabis. MP Lloyd Richardson spoke of his work on the side with patients that suffer from the side effects of drug use, the amount of mental health patients on the island. He agreed that while the discussion has just started there is much more work to do and one has to see what has priority on St. Maarten. MP Richardson said St. Maarten would need labs to produce the medicines and to even measure the dosage.
MP Johan Janchi Leonard, a former police officer was very honest in his response when he said that for him the use of cannabis or any drugs is a no because as a police officer for over 40 years he fought the use of illegal drugs including cannabis. Leonard shared with the delegation that he has seen the effects that cannabis have on youths because his grandchildren are using it and he could see how aggressive they become, their demeanor and behavior haved changed and as a grandfather he is worried. However, he said that even though he is not a proponent of legalizing cannabis he believes that he could weigh in on the medical use of the herb.
MP Sarah Wescot Williams also said that one of the things that has to be done is to have a committee in place that could do much more research, she also said that government has to see what their priority is right now and to legalize cannabis it will cost government monies especially for the controlling.
MP Tamara Leonard was the only MP who believes that the timing for the legalization of cannabis is now because she herself still suffers from the side effects of pharmaceutical medications, but also got relief by using medicinal cannabis. She said that one of the things Roland Bushman has to do is continue to educate the people of St. Maarten, and to get a proper legislation in place which she will support wholeheartedly even though she believes that much more work has to be done on the recreational use of cannabis.
MP Maurice Lake also supported the medicinal use of cannabis and spoke of how he personally had to get some cannabis leaves to help a friend that is suffering from epilepsy. MP Theodore Heyliger also supported the medicinal use and a product for tourism, however, he did say much more work has to be done on the recreational use and education.
While MP Frans Richardson said that he had been discussing this for a very long time and anytime a proper legislation comes before parliament it will get his support. MP George Pantophlet was also a bit skeptical and does not know if the timing for the discussion is right. He said that there is so much that government has to focus on and indeed there must be more educational forums set up in order to educate the people.
In responding to some of the questions posed Roland Joe informed MP Leonard that cannabis a tree like any other tree. He said at any time government could say that they will criminalize any other herb such as basil while its a herb that almost everyone uses.
Jay Haviser said that their main goal is to legalize the medicinal use of cannabis and St. Maarten could easily built its own research center which would create jobs and at the same time produce its own medicine. He said based on what he heard from Members of Parliament it sounded a bit taboo since they do not know wmuch about the medicinal values of cannabis. He said it is properly packaged like any other medication. Dr. Haviser said soon enough that medicine will be imported while St. Maarten could make its own. He urged Parliament to look further into legalizing the medicinal cannabis while he does agree that much more work has to be done on the recreational aspect of the herb.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Central Committee will meet on May 18, 2016.
The Central Committee meeting has been set for Wednesday at 11.00 am in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg. Representatives of the Independence for St. Martin Foundation will be present for agenda point 1.
The agenda points are:
1. Discussion with the Independence for St. Martin Foundation concerning the following topics:
1. Holding a referendum on independence
2. Getting the territory of St. Maarten on the United Nations Decolonization list
2. Advice regarding the installation and composition of a Committee of General Affairs
3. Approval composition delegation and provisions for special delegates of the Parliament of Sint Maarten to participate in the handling in the Second Chamber of several Kingdom Laws
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 prosecutors office confirmed on Tuesday that they received the written request and some documents from the Minister of Justice requesting that an investigation be launched on what transpired at the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJAIE) on May 5th 2016 involving Director of IND Udo Aron. Aron was returning from the Dominican Republic where he went to attend a course on the issuance of visas.
On Monday when SMN News contacted the Prosecution for a comment on whether or not they have started the investigation requested by the Minister of Justice, the Prosecutors Office said through their spokesman Gino Bernadina that they were aware of the case but they did not get the request in writing and also they needed some documents from the Minister. However, on Tuesday they changed that statement and said they had gotten the documents and the requests and are now looking through them to see if they have enough to launch the investigation.
According to information provided to SMN News on May 5th 2016, the Director of IND Udo Aron return to St. Maarten with a female Dominicano who did not have a visa to enter St. Maarten. The source said that Aron did not check with the immigration officers but instead walk pass the immigration officer with the person he smuggled into the island illegally. The source further explained that a female immigration officer identified as Rosy Priest called out to Aron and requested that he follow procedures but Aron in turn told her to do whatever she wants to do and she could even add his statements to her report. After that Aron then went to his friend, the acting director of IND August Emmanuel and told him to reprimand Priest for not taking direct orders from her superior. The source further explained that Priest immediately informed her union representatives of the incident who contacted the Minister of Justice Edison Kirindongo who immediately requested that a report on the incident reached his desk before the end of last week.
The Minister confirmed to SMN News on Sunday that he did receive a complaint and that he subsequently submit a written request at the office of the Attorney General asking that an investigation be conducted in to what transpired on May 5th at PJIAE. At the time Aron was returning from the Dominican Republic where he went to participate in course regarding the issuance of visas to Domincano nationals. SMN New understands that Chief Prosecutor Ton Maan also attended that course but he returned to the island before Aron.
In an unrelated incident SMN News understands that the owner of an exotic club wrote a letter to Aron informing him that two of his dancers had escaped from his club and was working at another club "Bistro Charo" on A.T Illidge Road. The source said one night the club owner went to the club "Bistro Charo" to see if IND had acted on his letter and picked up the two dancers, however, when he arrived at the club he saw Aron drinking and having a good time with the two women that escaped from his club and were working at the "Bistro Charo" illegally.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 17
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has recently said that Israel and Saudi Arabia are trying to stop the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, aka nuclear deal), signed by Iran and the world powers, from bearing fruits, and accused them of using Iranophobia as an instrument to sabotage the deal's implementation.
In an interview with Trend regarding the issue, Mehrdad Emadi, a consultant at the UK-based Betamatrix International Consultancy, said the observations made by Araqchi highlight an important issue affecting the pace of return of Iran into the world trade and financial systems as an important economy freed from a multi-layered net of restrictions and exclusions.
Evidence suggest that since November 2015 there has been a visible rise in the efforts of both the Saudi leadership and the government of Israel to prevent a comprehensive return of Iran to the top table of the world's important economies, according to Emadi.
He said Saudi Arabia reportedly has utilized various instruments to create as many obstacles on the path of Iran as politically attainable.
Explaining the steps taken, Emadi said numerous contacts have been made by the Saudi officials in the EU, most notably in France, Italy, the UK, Austria, and additionally in Canada and the US, with the leading banks and oil companies warning them off that resumption of business links with Iran will be considered most unfavorably by the Kingdom since Riyadh believes that any enhancement in Iran's ability to access world's banking system and its sales of crude will only increase the ability of Iran to destabilize the Persian Gulf and the Middle East.
He said the Saudi officials in these contacts stated that they saw this as a direct threat to the security of the Kingdom.
"Furthermore, both Saudis and the government of Israel have repeatedly claimed that access to free banking will enable Iran to use the banking services to engage in new money laundering efforts to finance the military activities of its regional allies," added Emadi.
"Thence, the Saudi leadership has made it clear that it will reconsider the position of the Kingdom in continuing with the existing business deals, as well as with any future contracts with those banks and oil companies that ignore its warnings concerning Iran," he noted.
Parallel to these direct contacts, in the United States, Riyadh has been using its network of business contacts, members of the House of Representative and the Senate, senior Pentagon officials to magnify what the Kingdom's leadership labels as the "Iranian expansionist threat", according to Emadi.
In this context, according to Emadi, the Saudi-friendly media in the United States and Canada have embarked on a campaign of Iranophobic stories using the fictitious claims fabricated by some of the opposition groups to the Islamic Republic's leadership pertaining to a resumption of clandestine nuclear activities of Tehran toward the militarization of Iran's nuclear research and technology capabilities.
He said this facet of Saudi efforts in the United States and Canada has been implicitly coordinated with the efforts of the pro-Tel Avis lobby, who have increased their efforts to enflame the Iranophobia media cover as a means to nullify the recent US agreement with Iran through their efforts in the US Congress.
The expert also said the Saudi leadership with help and advice of some of the Israeli government allies in Washington and in some key US states, most notably New York, Texas, Nebraska, New Jersey and Florida, have been focusing on how doing business with Iran will result in them losing business ties with Saudi Arabia and Israel, and how this will affect certain states in terms of employment and revenues.
Emadi said the Saudis also warned those US states that Riyadh may not offer the same level of global and regional cooperation with the US government and businesses in important energy and arms agreements if the involved American businesses do not lend their support and use their political clout to prevent Iran from using international banking system and dollar-based transactions.
"It is claimed that Saudis have even mentioned the possibility of selling off some of their dollar-denominated assets and bonds should Washington continue its partial rapprochement with Iran," added Emadi.
"Interestingly all the three facets of the Saudi efforts and instruments used to achieve the intended outcome have rightly put the emphasis on using the influence of Saudis in the US to apply the added pressure on the leading EU banks, as well as some of the global institutions," he said.
Emadi further said that so far the tangible result of this multi-faceted campaign has been to increase the trepidation and fear of reprisals by the oil-rich Arab countries amongst the EU banks.
"However, in recent weeks the Iranophobia campaign of the Riyadh-Tel Aviv alliance has been losing some of its traction in the EU mainly due to a constructive and proactive approach of Iran's Foreign Ministry that has been emphasizing on the improvement on the level of financial transparency of Iranian banking system and the welcoming changes in the regulations concerning European partnerships in the economy," he noted.
Notably, the governor of Iran's Central Bank Valiollah Seif has been made aware about the significance of such measures to allay the fears of banks in Europe, as well as about the effectiveness of enhanced financial transparency as a means to undermine the Iranophobia efforts of Riyadh and Tel Aviv, said Emadi.
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Follow the author on Twitter: @UmidNiayesh
Bandwidth for education
On the occasion of World Telecommunication Day UTS commits to supporting 8 local schools, offering them high-speed broadband internet through its CaribServe broadband internet service. The schools are 8 local catholic schools on the island and each school will be provided with a 10 Megabyte per second (10MBPS) connection to assist the schools in their aim of educating their many students. With technology playing a bigger role in the classroom than ever before, the need for a robust, high speed connection is more important than ever.
Technology increasingly important in education
What better occasion than World telecommunication Day and who better than CaribServe to assist these schools in achieving their goal of providing a well-rounded, engaging and interactive educational experience. says UTS Marketing and Communication Officer, Ivy Lambert. With the introduction of the Digi-board and other technological learning tools, education has become a much more interactive experience. Even in the earliest stages of education, kids are now learning in a more interactive and visual way. The youngest generation handles technology and devices as if it is second nature to them, so it only makes sense to use technology as a tool in learning as well. I can speak to the added value of technology in the classroom from personal experience as well. Not only does it support learning in the classroom; Apps like ClassDojo allow parents to stay informed of classroom activities, monitor performance, behavior and communicate with the teacher directly during the school-day. Information on homework assignments are also easily disseminated through this app. You have a direct line to your childs teacher and vice-versa through your smartphone or computer. That added line of communication and information helps parents continue the learning at home as well. Lambert continues
UTS broader support for education
The 8 schools that will receive the high speed connections are Catholic schools located in different districts of the island, such as Cul De Sac, South Reward, Middle Region, Philipsburg and Simpson Bay which means that children from many households will have the benefit of the increase in internet speed at school. Increased usage on technology also requires a more robust, reliable connection, which is the reason CaribServe will be providing a connection of 10Mbps.
Aside from the 8 new connections, UTS was already providing its technology to support several other schools within the scope of another technology based educational program, which is the Digikidz initiative. This program uses a combination of tablets, digital school boards and other technological learning tools to provide classroom, individual and group-based learning with a strong emphasis on and supported by technology. The program is already up and running at two primary schools on the island and has been deemed a great success by educators and students alike. The program is ongoing at the Hillside Christian School, Asha Stephens Campus and the Seven day Adventist School in Cole Bay. Soon the Hillside Christian School, H. Snijders Campus will also be added to the program and UTS supports all three schools with a high speed, reliable internet connection that is essential for the success of program. The program is a fully managed IT-environment that depends heavily on a high quality internet connection beyond the basic connection most schools have. Says UTS eastern Caribbean CEO, Glen A. Carty The program is very successful in engaging the students and we commend veteran educator, Ms. Jose Sommers and her team of the Foursee Foundation on the hard work and dedication in implementing the program. Our partnership is a recipe for success with more collaborations to come in future! Carty continues.
On telecommunication day we also invite our customers or anyone interested in any of our services to touch base with us. Let us help you where we can to use technology to improve upon your life. So many things are possible, but maybe youre not sure how something works or need help setting up some of the features of your smartphone. Maybe you want try our new mobile internet because youve heard its the fastest on the island or maybe you had trouble setting up an app or service. Technology helps connect you to the things and people that matter to YOU and were here to help you with that if needed. Our friendly agents are available by phone at +1721 5881010, by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or through Facebook at ChippieSXM.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Health and Labor Emil Lee assured SMN News on Wednesday that his Ministry especially the department CPS is on top of the Zika virus and controls on mosquito breeding sites. Minister Lee said that monitoring the Zika virus is a top priority of his Ministry and that CPS just concluded an experiment in the Fort Willem area with Ovitraps.
The Minister said when the Ovitraps are used correctly then the fear of mosquito breeding is limited, but in several cases they found that even people that are using the traps correctly have rain water in buckets not far away and thus the breeding of mosquito continues. He said that the war on mosquito breeding has be done with the full involvement of the community.
Minister Lee further explained that he is currently working with Aruba and Curacao in order to get the videos and booklets they made in multiple languages to use here on St. Maarten to create more public awareness on the how to eliminate the breeding of mosquitoes.
SMN News asked the Minister if he is paying full attention to the virus since Interval International confirmed on Monday that at least one of their clients that own timeshare on St. Maarten asked that they be re-routed to another Caribbean island fearing that she might catch the virus while she is pregnant.
Minister Lee said he is aware of the concerns of everyone but CPS is doing what they need to do while he believes that the numbers of cases identified on the Dutch side is still fairly low.
Mayor Emanuel and Glassdoor Announce Companys Growth Plans for Chicago
CHICAGO, IL (Marketwired) 05/17/16 Mayor Rahm Emanuel and , the leading jobs and recruiting marketplace, today announced Glassdoor has found a long-term home in Chicagos Fulton Market District and has signed a 13-year lease for 1.5 floors of a new office building at 1330 West Fulton Street that will accommodate approximately 400 employees.
The company previously to Chicago at the end of 2015. Glassdoor now employs more than 50 team members in a temporary office location and expects to double the team to more than 100 by the end of the year.
A world-class workforce plus access to transportation and capital make Chicago the perfect location for a high-tech company like Glassdoor to thrive, Mayor Emanuel said. This vote of confidence in Chicago will mean economic opportunities for residents in our neighborhoods. I look forward to watching Glassdoor build a great future for themselves right here and contribute to the great future of Chicago.
Were passionate about maintaining our vibrant culture, and Chicagos workforce combines great talent with Midwestern values, said Robert Hohman, co-founder and CEO of Glassdoor, Inc. Were growing incredibly fast in Chicago and are excited to make Glassdoors long-term home in Fulton Market. We have already assembled a terrific team who are planting the seeds in Chicago for what we expect to be a vital hub for Glassdoor in the years ahead.
Glassdoor plans to move into the 51,500 square feet new office, managed by Sterling Bay, in mid to late 2017. The Fulton Market District offers the growing Glassdoor team easy access to public transportation, including a CTA L stop a few blocks away and shuttle bus service to nearby commuter suburban train stations. The developing neighborhood has great dining, shopping, and a mix of residential and business use.
Glassdoor is one of the fastest-growing job sites in the U.S. and currently employs approximately 600 employees in its Mill Valley, Calif. headquarters, Ohio, London, Dublin, Ireland and now Chicago. Visit Glassdoor to view all and learn more about what its like to .
is the worlds most transparent jobs and recruiting marketplace that is changing how people search for jobs and how companies recruit top talent. Glassdoor combines free and anonymous reviews, ratings and salary content with job listings to help job seekers find the best jobs and address critical questions that come up during the job search, application, interview and negotiation phases of employment. For employers, Glassdoor offers and employer branding solutions to help attract high-quality candidates at a fraction of the cost of other channels. In addition, Glassdoor operates one of the most popular job apps on and platforms. The company launched in 2008 and has raised approximately $160 million from Google Capital, Tiger Global, Benchmark, Battery Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures, DAG Ventures, Dragoneer Investment Group, and others.
Glassdoor is a registered trademark of Glassdoor, Inc.
Fraud.net Named Finalist for the Prestigious 2016 Red Herring Top 100 North America Award
NEW YORK, NY (Marketwired) 05/18/16 Fraud.net announced today it had been selected as a , a prestigious list honoring the years most promising private technology ventures from the North American business region.
Red Herring has been selecting the most exciting and promising start-ups and scale ups since 1995. Finalists are still evaluated individually from a large pool of hundreds of candidates based across North America. Twenty major criteria underlie the scoring and process. They include, among others: the candidate companys addressable market size, its IP and patents, its financing, the proof of concept, trailing revenues and managements expertise. Each company goes through an individual interview after filling out a thorough submission, complemented by due diligence from the Red Herring panel. The includes some of the best performing and prominent companies of that year.
This unique assessment of potential is in addition to a review of the companys actual track record and standing, which allows Red Herring to see past the buzz and make the list a valuable instrument for discovering and advocating the greatest business opportunities in the industry.
2016 will be remembered as a special vintage. The confirms the excellent choices made by entrepreneurs and VCs and the start-ups solid roots in corporate America, embracing their innovations. By all metrics, it emphasizes the United States entrepreneurial excellence, said Alex Vieux, publisher and CEO of Red Herring.
Finalist selections for the 2016 edition of the Red Herring 100 North America award are based upon technological innovation, management strength, market size, investor record, customer acquisition and financial health.
Fraud.net is the leader in crowdsourced e-commerce fraud prevention, currently protecting approximately 2% of all US e-commerce. The Fraud.net platform enables merchants to pool their fraudulent and suspicious order data into a real-time, searchable and sharable data store, and represents the largest merchant-led effort to combat online fraud to date. Its unified algorithmic architecture combines 1) collective intelligence, 2) cognitive computing (such as dynamic machine learning) and 3) rules-based decision engines to detect fraud in real-time, at scale. The platform delivers unprecedented business intelligence and embedded control through its comprehensive risk management and analytics solutions.
Contact:
Whitney Anderson
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
Rahul Mehta the President of International Apparel Federation (IAF) has said that Iran has become a member of the IAF.
According to Rahul Mehta International Apparel Federation has 60 members and the annual volume of trade turnover of the IAF mounts to $500 billion, Fars news agency reported.
While Iranians spend $15 billion on clothing annually, the country only export $100 billion worth of garments, the report said.
Iran's textile industry has capacity to produce 300,000 tons of clothing products annually.
Iranian officials earlier announced that only 10 percent of clothing items consumed in Iran is imported into the country through legal procedures.
According to media reports during the first half of last Iranian calendar year, (March-September 2015) some $600 million worth of clothing was smuggled into Iran from Turkey.
Bushehr nuke plant gets license to operate
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Emil Ilgar - Trend:
The Safety System Center of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has issued a license for operation of the country's first nuclear power plant, Bushehr.
The license was issued for five years, said Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the Organization's official website reported May 18.
He said the Bushehr nuclear power plant operated at a full capacity the last month, producing 4 percent of the country's total electricity.
Kamalvandi also said the power plant was handed over to Iran in 2013, but Russia was responsible to render consultant services for three years.
"Now, the operation of the plant is fully in the hand of Iranian engineers," he added.
He said some 270 Russian engineers were working in 2012 at Bushehr, but now their number has decreased to 60.
"The Russian engineers will all leave the power plant by September," he added.
There is no official statistics on the 1000-megawatts Bushehr power plant, but it generated about 2.5 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity during the last fiscal year, sharing around 0.9 percent of the country's total electricity generation.
Who did it best: Cast your vote for the high school football player of the week
sports
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran and Croatia are determined to boost mutual economic cooperation, in particular in the energy and transportation sectors, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said.
He made the remarks during a press conference with his visiting Croatian counterpart Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic in Tehran May 18, Iran's state-run IRINN TV reported.
International sanctions on Tehran prevented the two countries from boosting their relations in line with their capacities, said Rouhani, adding the parties have reviewed each other's potential and capability that can contribute to the growth in relations, including the Islamic Republic's engineering and technical capabilities which can be used in Croatia.
In addition to economic issues, Tehran and Zagreb also voiced willingness to enhance cultural and academic relations, as well as cooperation in science and technology, said Rouhani.
He further said that tourism was another topic discussed at the meeting and both sides emphasized the importance of boosting cooperation in that sector.
The important issues of the Middle East, in particular the countries facing terrorism, were also on the agenda of the talks, he added.
Iran and Croatia also stressed the need for cooperation in fighting terrorism, said Rouhani.
Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic arrived in Tehran early May 18 to discuss expansion of bilateral ties with the Iranian officials.
Meanwhile, representatives from 72 Croatian companies alongside with several ministers arrived in Tehran on May 16.
The Croatian delegation is also scheduled to hold several meetings with the members of the Iranian private sector to discuss bilateral cooperation.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has once again described the US as a "great Satan" and criticized regional powers that follow the US policies.
"Unfortunately, some Islamic governments betray their fellow nations and lay the ground for the US," Khamenei's official website quoted him as saying in a meeting with participants of a Quran recitation competition in Tehran May 18.
He said some Islamic countries cooperate with the US, which is considered as a serious issue for the Islamic world.
"We should not be weak. We must be strong. Power does not mean only money and weapon. Belief [in God and religion] and resistance are the bases of power," said Khamenei.
"The enemy is afraid of Islam's might," he said. "Resistance to the US is the main point of Iran's prowess."
Khamenei also said the Islamic Republic's stance is influential in the world.
"We are sincere with Muslims and our words and deeds are the same," he added.
Iranian leader also touched upon the issue of extremism and said terrorist groups are acting on behalf of the "enemy" in sowing discord among Muslims.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
Saudi Arabia's trial of 32 men for allegedly spying on behalf of Iran has violated the basic due process rights of the defendants, Human Rights Watch said.
Over nearly three years of detention and investigation and the first two months of hearings, authorities have not permitted defendants to meet with lawyers or provided all of the court documents necessary to prepare defense. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for 25 of the 32 people, Human Rights Watch reported May 17.
The men are accused of spying for Iran. But the charge sheet, which Human Rights Watch has reviewed, contains numerous allegations that do not resemble recognizable crimes, including "supporting demonstrations," "harming the reputation of the kingdom," and attempting to "spread the Shia confession." The trial began in February 2016 at the Specialized Criminal
Court in Riyadh.
"This trial is shaping up as another stain on Saudi Arabia's grossly unfair criminal justice system," said executive director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa Division Sarah Leah Whitson. "Criminal trials should not be merely legal 'window-dressing' where the verdict has been decided beforehand."
According to the charge sheet, the defendants include 30 Saudis, and one Iranian and one Afghan citizen. An individual with direct knowledge of the case told Human Rights Watch that all but one of the Saudi defendants are Shia Muslims. Authorities detained 17 people on March 16, 2013, 14 others later in 2013, and one in 2014.
Taha al-Haji, a Saudi lawyer who represented a group of the defendants until March, told Human Rights Watch that the defendants have been in pre-trial detention since their arrests. He and another person with knowledge of the case said that authorities held the men incommunicado for three months before allowing phone calls and visits with family members.
Al-Haji said that authorities have not permitted defense lawyers to visit their clients or to view case files and evidence against their clients. He said that with little advance notice, the authorities suddenly brought the men to trial in February and demanded that lawyers prepare defense statements within two weeks.
He said he believes the timing may relate to ongoing hostility between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which severed diplomatic relations in January after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Saudi Shia cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, and Iranian protesters sacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran in retaliation.
Local Saudi media outlets reported in March that some of the defense lawyers refused to participate in court proceedings. The Saudi Gazette, reported that "lawyers made a number of demands through some [defendants who attended the hearing], including providing them with car parking slots near the court, not to be frisked, and letting them in [the courtroom] with their
mobile phones."
Al-Haji said, however, that the lawyers' primary concerns have been an inability to visit clients and view evidence, or have adequate time to prepare a defense. He said defense lawyers also asked the court to halt an ongoing local media smear campaign against their clients, which they said would lead to an unfair trial.
The charge sheet includes a number of offenses constituting "high treason," including meeting with Iranian "intelligence agents" and passing them confidential military information and background information on Shia communities in Mecca, Medina, and Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province.
But among charges that do not represent recognizable crimes, six people are charged with "supporting demonstrations," three with "distorting the reputation of the kingdom," and three with attempting to "spread the Shia confession" in Saudi Arabia. One faces the charge of "planning with an Iranian intelligence element... to establish a company to spread Shia
activities in [Eastern Province.]..." Another faces the charge of "endeavoring and attempting to establish a center especially for the Shia confession in the city of Mecca to spread the Shia confession in Mecca."
Authorities accuse one defendant of sharing with Iranian intelligence agents "articles by the wayward and deviant thinker Mikhlif bin Daham al-Shammari." Al-Shammari is a prominent human rights defender in Saudi Arabia who has worked to improve relations between Sunni and Shia muslims. He faces a two-year prison sentence and 200 lashes for, in part, visiting prominent
Shia figures in the eastern province as a goodwill gesture.
Saudi Arabia's Shia citizens face systematic discrimination in public education, government employment, and permission to build houses of worship in the Sunni-dominated country.
Though defense lawyers have not been permitted access to evidence, the charge sheet makes reference to physical evidence, such as USB drives and computers as well as confessions and statements to investigators.
Human Rights Watch obtained and analyzed seven Specialized Criminal Court judgments from 2013 and 2014 against men and children accused of protest-related crimes following demonstrations by members of the Shia minority. In all seven trials, detainees alleged that confessions were extracted through torture, but judges quickly dismissed these allegations,
admitted the confessions as evidence, and then convicted the detainees almost solely based on these confessions, sometimes handing down death sentences.
The conduct of the trial so far raises fears that 25 of the 32 defendants could be handed death sentences without an adequate chance to defend themselves, Human Rights Watch said.
Article 13 of the Arab Charter on Human Rights, which Saudi Arabia ratified in 2009, guarantees the right to a fair trial. The Arab Charter also guarantees the right of anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge to be brought promptly before a judge or other officer of the law, and to have a trial within a reasonable time or be released. The charter says that
"Pre-trial detention shall in no case be the general rule" (article 14).
Article 25 of the Arab Charter guarantees the right of minority groups to practice their own religion, and article 4 bans discrimination on the basis of religion.
"Being a Shia Muslim should not be a crime, and Saudi courts should stop treating it as such," Whitson said.
Astronomers, biologists and other scientists are discussing the nature of alien intelligence during a daylong workshop on May 18, 2016, at the International Space Development Conference in Puerto Rico.
Scientists are gathering in Puerto Rico today (May 18) to discuss the many forms alien intelligence could take.
This effort will draw upon the incredible diversity of life on Earth, conference organizers and participants said.
"Philosophical questions aside, from a pragmatic perspective, if we are to send a message, we must design it in a way that it can be understood and used by the broadest range of forms that intelligent life could take," University of Washington biologists Dominic Sivitilli and David Gire said in a statement. "We can make substantial progress toward this goal by understanding the diversity of forms that intelligent life has taken on this planet."
For example, it's possible that sexual selection which drives the evolution of traits that don't aid survival but do impress potential mates has played a larger role in the development of human intelligence than "normal" natural selection, said biologist Anna Dornhaus of the University of Arizona.
"If this is true, then we should expect cognitive ability i.e., learning, memory, abstraction and many other elements of intelligence to be commonplace in the galaxy as they are among organisms on Earth," Dornhaus said in the same statement. "But 'exaggerated' intelligence, as in humans, may be a rare accident of chance, as rare as a peacock's tail."
The SETI workshop is part of the National Space Society's International Space Development Conference (ISDC), which takes place from today through Sunday (May 22) in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
"By launching ISDC 2016 with a daylong meeting on the nature of intelligence in the universe, we set the stage for an engaging conference that includes sessions on the habitability of other worlds, the latest research from Arecibo Observatory and updates on cutting-edge space missions like Breakthrough Starshot to Alpha Centauri (Pete Worden) and New Horizons to Pluto (Alan Stern)," said Dave Dressler, ISDC 2016 program chairman.
Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
ET-94, NASA's last remaining flight-qualified space shuttle external tank, arrives at Marina del Rey, completing its ocean voyage to Los Angeles, on May 18, 2016.
NASA's last existing external tank built to launch the space shuttle has made landfall in Los Angeles after a five-week ocean journey.
The massive orange-brown tank, which left New Orleans atop a barge April 12, arrived in Marina del Rey, California Wednesday morning (May 18). The space artifact's 5,000-mile (8,000 kilometers) sea voyage included transiting the Panama Canal to cross from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
"[The tank] has entered the breakwater of the marina!" the California Science Center stated on Twitter. "Can't believe this journey!!" [NASA's Space Shuttle Program in Pictures: A Tribute]
The tugboat Shannon Dann led the barge transporting the tank into the marina just after 6 a.m. PDT (9:00 a.m. EDT; 1300 GMT), eventually docking next to Fisherman's Village. A second tugboat, American Spirit, pushed the barge, Gulfmaster I, from behind.
The external tank, known by its assembly number ET-94, is destined for display with the space shuttle Endeavour at the California Science Center. In 2019, the museum plans to open the Samuel Oschin Air & Space Center, featuring the world's only exhibition of a fully authentic space shuttle stack as it appeared on the launch pad.
To get from the marina to the Science Center, ET-94 will trade its sea legs for road wheels, departing on a 15.5-mile (25 km) trek through the streets of L.A. beginning just after midnight PDT (3 a.m. EDT; 0700 GMT) on Saturday (May 21). A custom-built Mack track will tow the dolly-mounted tank on its road trip, which is expected to take between 19 and 21 hours to reach its new home in Exposition Park.
The space shuttle external tank ET-94 docks at Marina del Rey to be off-loaded and transported to the California Science Center, May 18, 2016. (Image credit: California Science Center)
Moving at a brisk walking pace not to exceed 5 mph (8 km/h), the tank will be accompanied for much of its "parade" by a cadre of former NASA space shuttleastronauts and a convoy of about 10 to 12 support vehicles. Technicians will work ahead of and behind the tank to clear and restore any obstacles along its way.
"A lot of the work on the utilities will be done just ahead of the transport, so we will be running a crew out in front of it moving utilities, and a crew behind it restoring them," said Jeff Rudolph, president of the California Science Center, in an interview with collectSPACE. "Where there are things to be moved, like signal lights, we have already gone around and loosened all the bolts and checked them to make sure we don't run into problems."
At 154 feet long and 32 feet wide (47 by 10 meters), the external tank is expected to draw out crowds of spectators, similar to previous large object moves, including the space shuttle Endeavour and a 340-ton boulder delivered to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to be the centerpiece of an art sculpture. Thousands of people lined the streets to see both moves in 2012. [Space Shuttle Endeavour Soars Over California Landmarks (Video)]
"We think the number is going to be somewhere between the space shuttle Endeavour and 'the rock,'" said Rudolph. "We are pretty confident we are going to have a lot more than [the rock]. I don't think we are going to have as many as we did for Endeavour, but we are getting tremendous interest."
The space shuttle external fuel tank ET-94 at Fisherman's Village in Marina del Rey, California, on May 18, 2016. (Image credit: Rod Pyle)
The Science Center is hosting its annual Discovery Ball at the marina on Friday night (May 20) to celebrate the tank's arrival and give it a proper send-off before it exits onto the streets of Los Angeles.
Leaving the parking lot at Marina del Ray, ET-94's route will follow Fiji Way to Lincoln Boulevard to Mindanao Way. From there, it will take California State Route 90 (CA-90) to Culver Boulevard, back to Lincoln and then onto Loyola Boulevard.
Turning onto Westchester Parkway, which turns into Arbor Vitae Street at Airport Boulevard, the tank will then take La Brea Avenue to Manchester Boulevard. From there, ET-94 will take Vermont Avenue to Martin Luther King Boulevard to Exposition Park, where the Science Center is located.
ET-94's now-completed ocean journey began at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana, where it was built. The tank crossed the Panama Canal on April 25 and 26 before heading up the coast of Mexico. Along the way, the Shannon Dann was able to rescue the four-person crew of a charter fishing boat that sank.
The external tank made its first West Coast landfall in San Diego on Sunday (May 15) to clear through U.S. Customs, before continuing on its way to Marina del Rey.
The external tank served as the structural backbone of the space shuttle and fed liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen to the three main engines mounted to the aft of the orbiter.
The only external tank built for flight but never used, ET-94 became a test article, used to validate modifications made to the tanks that enabled the shuttle fleet to safely return to flight after the loss of space shuttle Columbia in 2003.
Watch a video of the space shuttle external tank ET-94 arriving at Marina del Rey at collectSPACE.
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Iran and Croatia should use all the possibilities provided by the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action to widen the prospect of their economic cooperation, says Iran parliament speaker, IRNA reported.
Ali Larijani on Wednesday told the visiting Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic that it is time for Iran and Croatia to enhance the level of their economic relations.
'The two countries should exploit all the potential to enhance economic and trade ties,' Larijani said.
Iran's parliament speaker named development of roads and rail transportation, marine industries and energy as sectors open to foreign investments.
'Iranian people have a positive view about Croatia and this also makes it possible for the two countries to expand ties in tourism and hoteling industry sectors,' Larijani said.
The Croatian President, on her part, blamed the low level of trade between the two countries on sanctions against the Islamic Republic and the lack of joint commissions.
She expressed hope that the two countries could establish good ties in economic and cultural spheres.
'Croatia has good experience in railroad development, shipbuilding, energy, food industries, transportation and tourism,' she said.
Croatian President arrived in the Iranian capital on Tuesday afternoon.
A large economic delegation is accompanying the Croatian official during her three-day stay in the Islamic Republic.
Russian and Japanese authorities have agreed to promote investment cooperation between the two countries to achieve the best results possible for the upcoming Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), the Russian deputy prime minister and presidential plenipotentiary envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District said Wednesday, Sputnik reported.
On Monday, Trutnev started a three-day visit to Japan. The deputy prime minister met Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga for negotiations.
"We discussed future development of our relations in the sector of investment of Japanese companies into the Russian Far East and agreed to try to do maximum amounts of work in the upcoming here months before the forum so we could sum everything up and to move on quickly and efficiently," Trutnev told reporters.
The second Eastern Economic Forum will be held on 2-3 September in Vladivostok. The authorities of Russia's Primorsky Territory expect that the event will be attended by at least 3,500 people, including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
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Will the people of Austria really elect a right-wing populist to become their highest representative on Sunday? Is Austria in the process of becoming part of that group of European countries, along with Hungary, Poland, Finland and Switzerland, where the right-wing is already part of the government? And if so, how long will it take before the new right-wing movement tears Europe apart?
If one looks geographically at the congratulatory messages the FPO candidate Hofer received following his triumph in the first round of presidential elections, a checkered pattern of new European nationalists emerges. Marine Le Pen from the French party Front National was first, followed by the Lega Nord of Matteo Salvini and Forza Italia, under the leadership of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. From the Netherlands, congratulations came from PVV head Geert Wilders and from Germany, plaudits were sent by the right-wing populists from the Alternative for Germany (AfD). The right wing in Europe is becoming organized and developing contacts across the Continent. The election on Sunday is far more than just a purely Austrian affair.
Across Europe, large, mainstream parties are losing power and influence. It has happened in Spain, France and Germany, but nowhere has the phenomenon been as dramatically visible as during the first round of the presidential elections in Austria. Hofer came in first place followed by Green candidate Van der Bellen. An independent candidate came in third place. Only then did the candidates of the SPO and OVP -- the two parties that currently form the governing coalition -- follow in fourth and fifth place. Together, they didn't even managed 23 percent of the vote.
Both parties are in turmoil. After Faymann's resignation, the SPO scrambled to quickly find a new chancellor, ultimately choosing an outsider: Christian Kern, head of the Austrian national railway. At the OVP, meanwhile, the days of the party's leader Reinhold Mitterlehner are likely numbered, with Sebastian Kurz, Austria's young foreign minister, standing by to take over.
Lessons for Europe
The setbacks for the OVP and the SPO have been dramatic. Into the 1970s, the two parties enjoyed four times the support they did in the first round of this year's presidential elections, with the SPO experiencing a brief period during which it received over 50 percent of the vote. These days, though, three out of four blue-collar workers in the country cast their ballots for the FPO. The right-wing populists are even ahead among labor union members.
What went wrong in Austria and its approach to the right-wing populists and their voters? More importantly, are there lessons to be learned for the rest of Europe, particularly for Germany, where the country's political establishment is slowly getting used to the presence of the AfD ?
The history of the FPO in Austria is a long one, meaning the country has experience with the question as to whether right-wing populists should be approached with rejection or acceptance. Both the OVP and the SPO have, in the past, chosen acceptance. In 2000, the OVP formed a governing coalition with the FPO at the national level. And in Burgenland last year, the SPO joined the right-wing populists in the state government, despite the fact that a 1986 party resolution enjoined the Social Democrats from ever cooperating with the Freedom Party. With the prospect of new parliamentary elections approaching, it is fair to ask whether the SPO would be willing to join the FPO again.
The political duel looks like this: On the one side stands Hofer, a 45-year-old who wouldn't turn heads on the street -- a smiling, friendly man who talks rapidly. His campaign posters read: "Your homeland needs you now!"
On the other side is the 72-year-old Alexander Van der Bellen, the long-time head of the Greens whose appearances are professional but who has thus far seemed shaky on the campaign trail, depending on the day. After a serious illness that kept him away from the large political stage for years, he is now trying to make a comeback. He enters the final round of voting on May 22nd with a 14 percentage point deficit in the polls. His campaign posters read: "Those who love our homeland don't divide it."
In a debate between the two candidates held on Austrian public broadcaster ORF shortly after the first round of elections, Van der Bellen seemed polite. Indeed, he was so reserved that one commentator wondered if the Green candidate was aiming to form a coalition with the FPO candidate. "We are once again of the same opinion, Mr. Hofer," said Van der Bellen. In response to a question as to why he was suddenly talking so much about the "homeland," the Green Party leader said: "One can always learn something new." He seemed tame and harmless. Yet he is the candidate tasked with defending the political mainstream.
Can it really be that Austria is preparing to hand over the presidency to the right wing without a fight?
A further debate, held on Sunday evening, delivered a different impression. The two candidates were seated at a table in a sparsely decorated studio for a discussion free of rules and with no previously agreed list of issues for discussion. There wasn't even a moderator. The result was the kind of childish name-calling one might expect from a school playground. It was not a good look.
A Bit Eccentric
From the outside, the situation in Austria is vexing. It is a small country of not even 9 million residents -- and one that has long been allergic to suggestions from Germany, its large neighbor to the northeast. The country does not want to be treated like a little brother; it wants to be taken seriously as a political partner.
Germans, though, tend to see Austria more as a vacation destination than as a political entity: A bit eccentric perhaps, but full of attractions. It has transformed its history into a spectacle: The Austro-Hungarian Empire, Empress Sisi and Franz Joseph I., the "good emperor," who is once again being celebrated on the 100th anniversary of his death.
Austria has Mozart, the Spanish Riding School, apricot dumplings and the Burgtheater. It has the deep, with Sigmund Freud and his psychoanalysis, and the morbid, with the Imperial Crypt and the Central Cemetery. It has its coffee houses, where comfort meets depression and grumpiness. It has the mountains to climb and the lakes to swim in.
It is so beautiful in Austria. It is so beautiful in the state of Carinthia.
It is also beautiful in Grosskirchheim, a small municipality of 1,374 residents in the Moll Valley, a place of weathered farmhouses, tangy air and mountains with a dusting of snow. Little streams bubble through the meadows, the buttercups are in bloom and bubbly wine is being served in restaurants -- but dark thoughts are in the air.
In a wood-panelled parlor, Mayor Peter Suntinger has set out a Bible, a book about Islam and a further volume with the title: "The Koran, God and I." In addition, he has put on display colored printouts of the asylum-seeker IDs and passport photos belonging to seven refugees from Syria who now live in the village. He wants to show everything that is going wrong in Austria -- and in Europe at large.
Wearing a blue doublet, the balding, 51-year-old mayor has a mistrustful, cagey expression on his face. His greeting is brief.
Protecting the Homeland from Islam
Suntinger, a member of the FPO, proudly claims to have once stood atop the Grossglockner, Austria's highest peak, together with the late FPO leader Jorg Haider, who died in late night car crash in 2008. He tells the story as though it were a religious experience.
Suntinger is a farmer, a mountaineer and the father of two. In the last municipal elections in 2015, he was elected with around 80 percent of the vote. There was no other candidate.
His lecture on the state of the world begins. "Essential to the Koran is that the woman is a subject -- and that in the 21st century," he says, before reading out suras pertaining to sexuality and identifying women as a "place of sowing of seed."
"The Koran sees only dead Christians as good Christians," he says. Europe only makes sense, he goes on, "if it focuses on preventing the Islamization."
He then presses his index finger onto the identification photo of one of the Syrian women. He says: "That is supposed to be the mother." Impossible, he says, the children are much too old.
"The West is colliding with the East!" Suntinger calls out. "The people have to wake up!"
By that point, his presentation was only 10 minutes old.
The economy of the Moll Valley was long dependent on mining and agriculture, but is now trying to attract tourists -- foreigners with money -- as well. As part of that effort, Suntinger has overseen the several-million-euro construction of a new recreation park, complete with a hall where you can shoot at virtual deer. "It's a big hit," says Suntinger. "Because of the overpopulation of foreigners, many more people have weapons here."
When Suntinger says foreigner overpopulation, he means migrants -- and he would like to keep them away. Because as the FPO says: "Protect the homeland from Islam."
Mountains and Cows
One year ago, someone from the Netherlands, who owns an empty pension in the municipality, wanted to provide shelter to 29 refugees, but the town was able to prevent it. The vote in the municipal council was 14 to one against the foreigners. Not only that, but someone threw a firework onto the pension's terrace and the Dutchman's hearing was damaged in the explosion. He then sold the place and moved away.
Now, a seven-member Syrian family lives in a former rectory on the hill above town and they generally stay out of sight: Fatima, Madiha, Mohamed, Amina, Anes, Boshra and Bashar, from Damascus. They have learned a bit of German, with their first words being "excuse me," "mountains," and "cows." "It is beautiful here," says Fatima up in the rectory. "But so quiet."
Down below, in the parish hall, Suntinger says: "Islamization is the great danger."
That things will improve and remain the way they always were, that was the promise made by Jorg Haider back when he was governor of Carinthia, the state in which Grosskirchheim is located. "Jorg dares to do things" was once Haider's campaign slogan, a perfect slogan for a populist. He came from Carinthia and used it as the base for his climb to the chairmanship of the FPO, transforming it into the state's most powerful political party by 1999. It was also here, in 1991, that he praised the "Third Reich" for its "decent job creation policies."
Haider drove the state of Carinthia to ruins and led his party into several scandals, but nevertheless brought the FPO a measure of acceptance. After Haider died in the 2008 traffic accident, almost 30,000 people showed up to his funeral in Klagenfurt. His charisma still holds sway in the Moll Valley.
He was a master at winning people over, many in Grosskirchheim still say today. Others note he was a great friend and keen observer of human nature. He wasn't shy about becoming one with the people, they say.
It has now been 30 years ago since Haider ended up at the top of the FPO, the party that was founded 60 years ago, initially providing a political home mostly to members of the country's far-right fraternities, known as Burschenschaften, and to ex-Nazis -- though many of them also joined the SPO and OVP.
Austria is a country where the "greatcoat of silence" was draped over the past for far too long, as author Karl-Markus Gauss once wrote. One of the founding myths of postwar Austria is that the country was not first-and-foremost an accomplice of Nazi Germany, but rather that it was the first victim of Hitler's aggression.
The Nazi Past
Early on, Austria's national consciousness was extremely fragile. Shortly after the war, fully half of the population saw themselves as being part of the German nation. The result has been that, even today, the majority of the population closes ranks in the face of massive assaults from abroad. That was the case in 1986, when the Nazi past of Austrian President Kurt Waldheim -- a former UN general secretary -- came to light. And that was also the case when Haider's FPO became part of the federal government and was faced with widespread outrage from Europe and further afield.
The chameleon-like Haider represented the transition from Nazi brown to the modern right wing. He proved attractive to large segments of the rural population but also to blue collar workers in the cities. He was able to present himself as a modernizer while at the same time appealing to the old Nazis; as the child of Nazi parents, he had the far-right vocabulary down pat.
Yet even Haider, who, starting in 1986, led the party to unprecedented popularity and, ultimately, into the federal government, proved too objectionable. He declined to represent the party on the national stage and wasn't part of the team when Wolfgang Schussel, then head of the OVP, put together his governing coalition with the right-wing populists. The coalition didn't last long, partly due to the steady stream of provocations delivered by Haider from the sidelines, but it was important in that it showed the FPO could play in the top league.
When Schussel went into a coalition with the FPO, the outcry from Europe was deafening and the Continent sought to sideline Austria with diplomatic sanctions, even declining to invite the country's foreign minister to certain events. It looked as though Europe were ready for a fight, but then it lost momentum. The pressure faded and Europe resigned itself to Austria's new government.
But the outcry was loud in Austria as well, at least among artists and intellectuals. One of those who made his voice heard at the time was theater director Martin Kusej, who is from Carinthia. In an essay, he decried the "friendly, open men and women" of "the horror called homeland." The party, he wrote, "will be everywhere." Today, Kusej is art director at the Residenztheater in Munich and, looking across the border to his home country, he sees a friendly, open man by the name of Hofer, who wants to become the president of Austria.
Kusej is broad-shouldered 55-year-old who still looks like the athlete he once was. He is from an agricultural region in southern Carinthia and is known for his coarse, sometimes brutish, staging. But he has a softer image of his homeland and the malaise it triggers.
Pre-Democratic Austria
He too says that Carinthia is beautiful. So beautiful that he can sometimes hardly stand it. In the autumn, there are always "two or three weeks where the low, late-afternoon light breaks particularly elegantly on the mountain formations or becomes entangled in the dying, colorful leaves on the trees. It is so outrageously beautiful that a heavy ring of iron forms around your heart. I have to leave quickly." He has found a literary quote from Haruki Murakami describing the feeling as "a groundless sadness called forth in a person's heart by a pastoral landscape."
The difficulty that Kusej had with his homeland during his childhood, though, had far less romantic origins. It came from the fact that he and others with Slovenian names were frequently singled out for abuse.
Still, he is uninterested in joining the standard chorus of anti-Austrian critique, in part because it is never fair to blame an entire country for a political development. But he is happy to talk about his experiences with politics back home. "Voting for a party means trying to get the maximum advantage for one's self," he says. It is an economy based on one's party membership and everyone, he said, internalized that view of politics. If you needed a job, were building a house or wanted a fishing license: "The party -- for many years it was the SPO -- took care of it. And when the FPO came to power promising to put an end to it, everything just became worse."
He says that some aspects of Austria seemed pre-democratic. In Germany, he says, "you go to the authorities and have rights. In Austria, you are a supplicant." That, he says in his Munich office, "is why everybody in Austria, myself included, uses a title, no matter how farfetched." They think such a title will guarantee them better treatment. They think that if a policeman sees "professor" or "engineer" in your identification, "they will have a certain reluctance to bite." It is an approach that sees authority as something that can both mete out punishment as well as offer protection. There is a desire, he says, for this authority "to be embodied in an omnipotent leader, a good leader, a ray of light. A good emperor."
Pre-democratic thought, a yearning for the ray of light -- that accelerates the rise of figures like Haider, and like Hofer. Theater can react to such a thing. Theater provides a free space where a world can be created to come to terms with such developments -- a space where hyperbole is allowed.
But is that freedom now under threat? In Vienna, a right-wing extremist group stormed the performance of Elfriede Jelinek's work "Die Schutzbefohlenen" (The Subjects). Kusej says that he has nasty visions when he thinks about it. He sees violent hordes marching through the streets "like in pre-fascist times."
Headscarves and Dreadlocks
"Pessimistic, perhaps," he says with a smile. Kusej says he is beset by the special Austrian form of pessimism that is combined with faith. "When you envision something particularly bad, there is always the hope that perhaps it won't be so bad after all."
Austria's governing parties, by contrast, are currently learning that things can also be even worse than the most dyed-in-the-wool pessimist might predict. For decades, the OVP and SPO have divided power and posts between them. Since the end of World War II, the two parties have governed the country in a coalition government, apart from three interludes. They watched the rise of the right-wing populists but continued to take their own primacy for granted -- particularly when the FPO, consumed by scandal, split in two in 2005 and plunged into the opposition, hardly able to attract 3 percent of the votes.
Now, though, you can head out to the Viennese working-class district of Simmering, in the southeast of the capital, to hear how things have changed. It is a diverse, slightly decrepit area with lots of social housing. The women wear headscarves or dreadlocks and one sees men with completely pierced and tattooed faces. If you want Wiener schnitzel, you have to go to the Unlu Kebap diner and for punschkrapfen, that Austrian, pink-glazed delicacy soaked in rum, you must go to Yildiz Bakery. It is here where Norbert Hofer achieved his best result in Vienna, with 41.2 percent.
Maria and Karl are sitting at the bar of an Austrian restaurant located on the main street of Simmering. It is noon on Sunday and blue smoke wafts through the room -- smoking is still allowed in many restaurants and bars in Vienna. She was a housewife her entire life while he worked for Opel until he retired five years ago. The two order their third round of beers. Back in October, they voted for the FPO candidate Heinz-Christian Strache in the Vienna city council election, they say. "And now Hofer." They see him as "smooth" and as "a young man who wants to change things." What exactly? "That Austria remains Austria."
Ali too, who came from Turkey to Austria when he was five and who has now lived in Vienna for 32 years and become an Austrian citizen, has high hopes for Hofer. "He's great," Ali says in the mobile phone shop where he works. Great? Really? From the perspective of an immigrant? "There are more and more coming and they get everything handed to them while I had to work hard for years." Even so-called guest workers and their descendants have praise for the FPO.
Standing Up to Berlin
That is not completely Hofer's doing. Hofer, in his office in parliament, seems friendly, but he is adamant about what he has to say. He has used a cane since a serious paragliding accident in 2003 that almost left him paralyzed. He merely grins at the accusation that he is, despite his personable nature, merely a "wolf in sheep's clothing." And what about his recently purchased Glock-26 pistol? He says he's not planning on using it in the presidential office. What about his connection to a German nationalist Burschenschaft -- one which views the Austrian state as a fiction -- in his home village of Pinkafeld? Hofer says he is merely an honorary member. And his widely quoted answer given during a televised interview when asked about the powers of Austrian president? At the time, he said: "You will be surprised to see how much is possible." Now he says it just slipped out.
Regarding Europe, Hofer says that "those issues that can be decided in the member states must once again be allowed to be addressed and decided there." He adds: "I think, for example, that Marine Le Pen is a politician with whom such goals can be implemented together." Le Pen is the leader of France's right-wing populist party Front National.
Hofer is convinced that if he and the rest of the FPO were to hold power in Austria, the EU would cease bowing to the will of the Germans. The FPO presidential candidate, to give an example, sees the demand issued by Sigmar Gabriel, head of the Social Democrats in Germany, that "all democratic forces" must form a front against Hofer" as inadmissible meddling. "We are not taking orders from Berlin," he says.
The Front National, on the other hand, provides the Austrian right-wing populists with a kind of blueprint. Marine Le Pen has turned her back on open anti-Semitism -- primarily embodied by her father and party founder Jean Marie -- and is now trying to appear modern. It is a path that is appealing to Hofer's FPO as well.
The party is currently under the leadership of Heinz-Christian ("HC") Strache, who took over from Jorg Haider in 2005. It was Strache who chose Hofer as the party's candidate for the presidency and when Hofer takes the stage wearing his preferred dark suit, as he did on May 1 in a packed beer tent in Linz, Strache is sitting in the audience, wearing his knee-length lederhosen and matching vest. A trained dental technician, Strache spent his youth in the far-right milieu, taking part in militia training exercises. He initially attracted attention for his relentless election campaigning against immigrants in addition to the rigid organizational structure he imposed on the nationalist camp. Now, the FPO leads the nationwide public opinion polls in the country with 34 percent.
Austria for the Austrians
Hofer, his candidate, employs a gentler speaking style, but is just as far to the right as Strache. He is fully devoted to his party, including to people like the FPO Vienna city council member who in 2013 demanded: "Now it's time to take out the clubs for all asylum frauds, criminals, illegal foreigners, criminal Islamists and leftist screamers!" Hofer was largely responsible for the party's 2011 platform, called "Austria First." It offers a look at the country as the FPO wants it to be.
That Austria is "not a country of immigration" and should focus primarily on its own citizens -- and not on those that do not possess an Austrian passport. Social housing, for example, should be reserved "to cover the housing needs of Austrian citizens," the platform reads.
Voters should also be asked to take part in national referendums, as in Switzerland. The homeland is to be loved and traditions maintained, because "those who value their own culture and homeland" can "defend themselves as needed against other cultures should they display an aggressive character that seeks to push aside our own culture."
The problem, the party consistently makes clear, is the foreigners, particularly Muslims. It is a message with which the FPO scores points among many of those Austrians who are fearful of losing their place in society and of being overrun by foreigners. The message does not do as well among the prosperous and the generous.
But Strache has secured a further triumph: The support of Ursula Stenzel, a distinguished presence who can be found in the Hotel Sacher. She has everything that a Viennese lady should have: a refined upbringing, blonde hair perfectly coiffed and held in place with a liberal dose of hairspray, carefully chosen gold jewelry and the ability, even during the tensest moments of conversation, to graciously balance her cup of coffee. She is, she says, "hopelessly bourgeois." Before she joined the FPO list in 2015, she was a presenter on the main news show of public broadcaster ORF and, after that, head of the OVP delegation in the European Parliament. Starting in 2005, she spent 10 years as chairwoman of District 1 in Vienna, which encompasses the very heart of the city. Now, she serves as "a bourgeoisie icebreaker, I'm aware of that," says Stenzel. She also says that the chemistry between herself and Strache is excellent.
The FPO is doing all it can to make headway within both the propertied upper class and the petit bourgeoisie without losing sight of its traditional, German-nationalist far-right wing. Strache says he imagines the division of tasks as follows: He himself is responsible for the rough stuff, with his "husky eyes." The rest is covered by Norbert Hofer "with his deer eyes."
Green Party Confusion
Meanwhile, the Van der Bellen camp has had difficulty finding the right strategy for confronting the right wingers. The Green Party candidate said on television that he is hoping for a "grassroots movement." He promised that he would do all he could "within the framework of the constitution" to prevent a possible Chancellor Strache should it come to that -- if the FPO were to win the next parliamentary elections.
Despite all the calls from the anti-fascist camp for voters to avoid casting their ballots for the far right on May 22, though, Van der Bellen has avoided accusing the FPO of having right-wing extremist tendencies. His PR advisors have warned that doing so could trigger even more people to side with the FPO against such an onslaught.
But the Green candidate has also shown a more aggressive side. During a breakfast debate just over a week ago, he earned from Hofer the comment: "Herr Doctor, you are so angry today." And during the tete-a-tete on Sunday, Van der Bellen warned that the coming vote was a "decision between a cooperative style and an authoritarian style." A Gallup survey is forecasting a close race, but prior to the first round, the polling company also predicted that Van der Bellen would do better than he did -- and Hofer worse.
What, then, can be done to ensure that Van der Bellen does in fact become Austria's next president? Even Andre Heller, a leading member of the candidate's support team, doesn't know for sure. Heller, who splits his time between his estate near Marrakesh and his Vienna apartment, turned away from the SPO eight years ago when Faymann became prime minister. The Social Democrats, he says -- a party that has even forgotten how to "take the hardships in social housing seriously" -- are themselves to blame for their own disaster. "That's why it is deceptive and even embarrassing to only attack Mr. Strache."
Although he is a Social Democrat himself, Vienna Mayor Michael Haupl agrees, saying that after decades of power, the SPO has forgotten how to "understand the language of the suburbs." That he is one of the most powerful members of this quarrelsome party, and yet is willing to say such a thing, is yet another example of the crisis in which the SPO finds itself.
Vienna's Powerful Mayor
It is 11:08 on this Thursday morning when the door to Haupl's office swings open. A man in a slim-cut, conservative suit steps out and says: "Good day, I am Christian Kern." It is a polite greeting, but somewhat unnecessary. Only seconds before emerging from the office, he had learned that he was to become Austria's next chancellor, replacing Faymann. He is hardly an unknown.
Kern is head of Austria's state-owned railway, an elegant-looking gentleman with a past that is indispensable for the Social Democrats: He grew up the son of a working-class family in the Simmering district of Vienna and became a member of the SPO early on. Within the powerful union wing of his party, Kern is considered modern but moderate -- someone who might be able to pull the party out of the swamp.
But how could the proud Austrian Social Democrats have fallen so low? The man whose office Kern has just left should know: 66-year-old Michael Haupl, who has been mayor of Vienna since 1994. For decades, he has pulled the strings for the Austrian Social Democrats.
It is Haupl who chose the unsuccessful chancellors Viktor Klima, Alfred Gusenbauer and Werner Faymann, even though he himself -- a man who is both down-to-earth and well educated -- would have been the more promising candidate. And it is interim party leader Haupl who, on this morning in his office with its view of St. Stephen's Cathedral, sets forth the party's new direction. When it comes to the vital refugee question, he describes the future under newly installed Chancellor Kern like this: "Our fundamental principle of humanity combined with order hasn't changed," Haupl says. "But we do want to know who is coming to us."
How will the SPO deal with the FPO? Haupl is known in Vienna for his folksy style and his hardline against the far right, but he has begun waffling on the issue. We must find a compromise, he says, "between political reality and our party platform." The proposal made by the head of the Carinthia chapter of the SPO, he says, is worth considering: namely that binding criteria be established for coalitions with all parties, and not just for the FPO.
Estrangement from the Mainstream
That is akin to a step-by-step retreat. And the bulky Haupl, who in a previous life in science became an expert on the cranial kinesis of geckos, doesn't deny it. He would like his party to be untainted and patient, moving slowly but tenaciously in the right direction. You can't simply rely on the dogmas of yesteryear, Haupl says.
The debate, in any case, has been reopened. And there are many in the party who view the SPO coalition with the FPO in Burgenland not as a misstep but as a model for the future.
Burgenland is the easternmost and least populated state in Austria, and the coalition, in which the right-wing populists are the junior partner, has been in office for almost a year. Presidential candidate Hofer, who is from the Burgenland town of Pinkafeld, helped midwife the coalition. Hans Niessl, the Social Democrat who has governed Burgenland for the last 15 years, is considered a pragmatist and a man of the people. He has no ideological reservations about having the tightly hierarchical FPO in his state's government.
Niessl can count on the support of Austria's senior-most union leader, who recently called for the center-left to take a new approach to the FPO with the words: "You can't just shove the 35 percent who voted for Hofer into the right wing." More importantly, though, Niessl can invoke a famous precedent: that established by Bruno Kreisky, the four-time Austrian chancellor and the unchallenged political icon of the postwar period. Until 1971, Kreisky's socialist minority government was tolerated by the FPO and its then-leader, a former SS Obersturmfuhrer (roughly equivalent to a lieutenant colonel). The arrangement granted the FPO a certain amount of legitimacy in the eyes of many.
"We are the successors of Bruno Kreisky," is the unblushing claim now made by FPO head Strache. The Freedom Party, he says, is a new Volkspartei, a term used to denote large parties representing a huge swath of the electorate. The FPO, he says, represents "the center of society."
These days, it is becoming clear just how large, and likely lasting, the estrangement has become between voters and those parties, like the OVP and SPO, that were once defined by the term Volkspartei. Their old mistakes have continued through the decades and new ones have joined them. Both the center right and the center left have underestimated the electorate's anger that has built up as a result of their almost God-given claim to leadership in Austria.
Simple Solutions
The situation has been made worse by the fact that mistrust of those in power has been growing not just in Austria, but in all of Europe. That mistrust can be summed up in three overarching complaints: We are being steamrolled by globalization; nobody is listening to us; and the market economy benefits others.
But the FPO is listening and is quick to offer simple solutions: Close the door. Shut out the migrants.
Both the SPO and the OVP found in the first round of the presidential elections that it doesn't help to simply parrot such answers. They copied the immigration policies proffered by the FPO and tightened the country's asylum policies to such an extent that those policies hardly have an application any more. But they were heavily punished by the voters anyway. Why should voters choose a copy when they can have the original?
It has become apparent that this opponent cannot be defeated with imitations. It may, however, help to listen to the voters, even those who have been lost, to take their concerns seriously and to provide their own answers that are more intelligent than those coming from the FPO.
Why, though, didn't the SPO immediately throw their weight behind Van der Bellen and against Hofer following the first round of elections? Some critical, despairing Social Democrats give the following answer: "When you only managed to get 11 percent, what can you really tell the voters?"
But there are also other reasons as well that reach far into the past. One of those who has long considered the question is Josef Haslinger, a political essayist and author. He is also president of the German PEN Center and primarily known for being the author of "Opernball," or "Opera Ball," a German-language novel dealing with right-wing terrorism.
Haslinger can be found in his garden house in the Grinzing district of Vienna when he is not in Leipzig carrying out his duties as professor of literary aesthetics. On a recent Friday after the first round of voting, Haslinger was wondering how many Austrians would "come to their senses" and resist Hofer, particularly among Social Democrats. In an essay, he addressed the question as to "why Austrian Social Democrats have for decades served as accessories to the FPO." One answer can be found the early 1930s.
'Engraved in Their Memories'
It was a time when the Christian Socialists and the Social Democrats engaged in a brief, but bloody civil war. Both parties were banned -- the Nazis and the Social Democrats. Some socialists, including the later Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky, sat together with a Nazi in the same prison cell.
For the Social Democratic movement, says Haslinger, "the awareness that they were not defeated by the Nazis, but by the political mainstream, has been engraved in their memories for decades."
Haslinger wrote early on about the Nazi past of then-Austrian President Waldheim and published an essay called "Politics of Emotion," that still provides a foundation for the present-day debate. Haslinger wrote about Haider, organized demonstrations and repeatedly took political sides as an intellectual and as PEN president. And now, in his garden house surrounded by nature with Vienna behind it, the issue is once again at the forefront. Do demonstrations help? Calls to action? Podium discussions?
"It would be nice," Haslinger says, "if it weren't the same old people" -- people like himself -- "standing behind such a movement." The call came and he signed. But there isn't nearly as much outrage today as there was in 2000, when the FPO joined the government.
Perhaps that is because the shock isn't as great as it would be in Germany, for example, were the AfD to win an election. Over the years, Austria has slowly gotten used to the FPO. The taboos have shifted.
It used to be that no one admitted to having voted for the FPO, Haslinger says. "I didn't know a single FPO voter." And today? "Today I know one. Quite well, actually." And? "We have been talking about it since."
What else can one do other than talk, write and produce words?
A short walk leads to the Grinzing cemetery, where the famous singer Peter Alexander is buried as is the late publisher of the newspaper Kronenzeitung. So too is the writer Thomas Bernhard, who's grave Haslinger visits regularly.
Thomas Bernhard is resting under thick and well-tended greenery. Sometimes his grave is vandalized by unknown idiots, but on this day everything is quiet and peaceful. There he lies, unaware that his saying about punschkrapfen is once again being quoted: that Austrians are a lot like this Austrian national treat -- red on the outside, brown on the inside and always a bit drunk.
Another tidbit making the rounds again these days is from the satirist Karl Kraus, who once called Austria the "testing grounds for the end of the world." Or the old saw from playwright Johann Nestroy, who decried the "grief" that "constantly shines through our threadbare warmth and friendliness."
But perhaps the best bon mot comes from the writer and translator Hans Weigel. He once said of his country: "Please don't think evil thoughts about the Austrians. They have enough of those themselves."
The new app seeks to address this problem. "The midwives want to be able to look up what they have just learned in order to make sure what they're doing is right," says Christina Niemoller, one of Oliver Thomas' Ph.D. students. Together with her colleague Dirk Metzger, the information systems expert has traveled to the country to visit the university, the hospital and the bamboo huts -- but also to try to better understand how the people here live and think. "Togetherness is one of the most important things to these people, and they also want to be there for each other," Niemoller says.
App Also Works Offline
With many settlements not having anybody with medical training, it is important to the midwives that they be able to share their knowledge. The midwives, for example, can use training dummies in order to demonstrate to volunteer helpers how the birthing process works as well as to identify the different stages. The app provides convenient instructions for the dummies, which can be created using everyday materials.
Much of the content on the free app is also available offline, making it usable even if the mobile network goes down. "The exchange of information also happens within a closed group so that sensitive medical data doesn't get into the wrong hands," says Metzger.
The app is currently undergoing testing by midwifery students at Goroka. In the next phase this autumn, the midwives will be asked for their feedback and their suggestions will then be integrated into the app. Verena Thomas believes this is a particularly important step in the process. "Truly sustainable development can only work if people accept the project locally and assume control and responsibility themselves," she says.
Thomas today splits her time between Papua New Guinea and Brisbane, Australia -- a life she describes "having each foot in a different world." But her thoughts are still in Papua New Guinea and the midwife app won't be her last idea for the country. She wants to continue her educational work with her films, which share stories of local residents who have created something new on their own.
People like the woman who built a restaurant from scratch in Goroka -- an establishment that has since become the largest in the city. Or the wife of a village teacher who untiringly fights for improved medical care. "We're looking for and finding inspirational stories that we can then spread through the media," says Thomas. A missionary of a different kind.
Turkish parliament approved on Tuesday to open the issue of parliamentary immunity for debate with 348 for, 155 against, eight abstentions and 25 blank votes, DailySabah reported.
14 MP's were absent during the voting.
Early Wednesday the first article of the proposal to lift immunities was approved with 350 for and 148 against votes while 5 MP's abstained from voting and 27 blank votes came out of the ballot box.
Later on, the 2nd article of the proposal to lift immunities was approved in the parliament with 357 for and 149 against votes.
We are far away from such a scenario. This is just a mental exercise. But it is rooted in reality, because prevention, by its very nature, must begin long before the feared occurrence. If right-wing populist Norbert Hofer is elected president of Austria, the failures that made his election possible will be found deep in the past. The same is true in the event of a Trump victory.
It will then be claimed that the established parties and the media turned their backs on the people -- that they arrogantly behaved as the lords of democracy. And that's not entirely untrue. The greatest arrogance, though, would be telling the voters that they voted for the wrong candidate because they don't know what is good for them. The defining characteristic of true champions of democracy is that they accept election results as they are because they take voters seriously. Anything else leads to a revolution.
This does not mean that true democrats sit back and do nothing until unwanted results start coming in. They are neither despondent nor dogmatic; they are both active and sanguine. They don't give up on democracy, they fight for it. They differentiate between the functionaries of a right-wing populist party and that party's voters. They challenge the former with constant disagreement and court the latter by offering better alternatives. It is far from being too late for Germany to take that path.
Jeremy Moody, Secretary and Adviser to the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (CAAV) met with EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan on Thursday 12th May to discuss the current financial crisis in farming and future development of the CAP.
With agricultures need to respond intelligently to the present serious difficulties, we discussed how agricultural valuers can give great support to farming businesses and families, he said.
Mr Moody also thanked Commissioner Hogan for responding to the CAAVs request to urgently extend the BPS application dates last year.
The meeting followed Commissioner Hogans speech to Farm Europe on 5th April, entitled CAP beyond the crisis paving the way for a sustainable growth for the EU. In this, Commissioner Hogan explored how the CAP could support producers through the current downturn, and help deliver sustainable growth in the agri-food sector in the longer-term.
Mr Moody took the opportunity to explain how professional agricultural valuers could help the industry to meet these goals. With the knowledge, experience and breadth of perspective, the professional advice of an agricultural valuer, with other advisers, can help farmers, landowners and others review their position, business structures and the agreements they use to take land, he said.
He illustrated how the CAAVs work and guidance on land occupation arrangements and business agreements in Northern Ireland could produce a thriving tenanted sector, drawing on long experience in Great Britain.
The report recognises the very difficult trading environment that many British farmers have been facing over the past 24 months, during which time farm products across the board have faced a sustained period of low prices.
In the past 24 months, the average milk price has fallen by more than 33%, pig meat by 30% and feed wheat by almost 40%. The Lords report recognises the challenges facing the industry and presents a number of medium and longer terms recommendations directed at the EU, the government and the industry itself.
NFU President Meurig Raymond said:
Successive CAP reforms have led to changes in farm policy, with much less government intervention in agricultural markets. The NFU supports the progress towards a more market-led agricultural sector, where it is done fairly across the EU and without executive bureaucracy.
We are actively supporting the European Commissions agri-market task force. The task force is seeking to help farmers manage risk with a range of financial instruments. Central to these is robust, mandatory price reporting, which is vital if dairy futures are to be established in the European marketplace. We are also seeking urgent talks with the UK authorities to determine how European Investment Bank support can be channeled to best help the industry at this time of acute strain.
The committee suggests that the CAP should undergo further restructuring primarily to support the provision of public goods.
Mr Raymond said:
It is clear that over the past 24 months, with prices where they are, many farmers would struggle to continue in business. The NFU believes that the decoupled direct payments received by farmers by way of the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) should remain at the core of the CAP and that the primary purpose should remain primarily an economic one.
Official statistics from Forestry Commission England show that between April 2015 and March 2016, only 546 hectares of woodland were planted - around 640,000 new trees. This is substantially short of the 2.2 million trees that have to be planted every year if the Government is going to meet its targets of 11 million new trees by 2020.
The Government has blamed late issuing of approvals to plant trees for these low figures. Forestry and timber trade body Confor understands IT-related problems and delays between the various government agencies involved in approving tree planting were part of the cause of this situation which is causing significant difficulties for tree nurseries across the UK.
Harry Frew, Managing Director of Cheviot Trees near Berwick-upon-Tweed, said:
The planting figure for 2015/16 is woeful and is the lowest for more than five years. We need urgent Government action to address this or UK nurseries will go out of business - forcing us to import trees from overseas with all the associated plant health risks that brings. [The UK already imports 80 per cent of its timber].
Stuart Goodall, Chief Executive of Confor, said:
With Britains forest and woodland cover barely one-third of our European Union neighbours and growing demand for timber products, it is absolutely clear that the UK needs to significantly increase the number of trees it plants every year.
At last years General Election, the Conservatives committed to planting 11 million trees in the five years to 2020 in England. This was the largest commitment given by any of the main political parties and was welcomed by the forestry and wood processing sector. In terms of size, 11 million trees represents a new forest the size of the City of Preston.
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A federal judge in Hartford sentenced the founder of New Britain-based Stag Arms to two years on probation and fined him $100,000 in a case that the Justice Department characterized as a warning shot across the bow of the firearms industry.
In addition, U.S. District Judge Alfred V. Covello ordered Stag to pay a $500,000 fine.
The case against Stag dates back to 2007 when inspectors from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives first uncovered violations, including duplicate serial numbers placed on firearm frames.
This is the first time, nationwide, that a major firearms manufacturer has been convicted of a felony and had its license revoked, said U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly. This prosecution should serve as a warning to those in positions of leadership in the firearms manufacturing industry that failure to maintain strict compliance with firearms laws will have serious consequences.
Mark Malkowski, who started Stag in 2003 as an AR-15 producer and built a reputation in the firearms world as a semi-automatic rifle promoter and Second Amendment defender, is banned from a management or ownership role in the gun industry for life.
As part of a plea deal reached last December, Malkowski in February sold the company to White Wolf Capital, a Miami-based private equity firm. Malkowski will play a consulting role for the new owners, White Wolf said when it announced the acquisition.
In 2014, ATF inspectors found more violations, including 62 unregistered machine guns, 3,000 un-serialized gun receivers, and 3,000 firearms sold or otherwise transferred by Stag without any notations in record books. Of those, 341 were reported as lost or stolen although the number later was reduced to 200.
When firearms licensees fail to comply with these federal regulations and laws, they open the door for untraceable firearms to wind up on the street in the hands of traffickers and criminals, said ATF agent in charge Daniel Kumor, of the bureaus Boston division, which has jurisdiction over Connecticut.
At the sentencing, Mr. Malkowski reiterated that he believed that public safety was never compromised by the violations and was pleased that todays proceeding puts this issue behind him and Stag Arms, allowing them to focus on the growth and success of the new company, Stag said in a statement.
Federal prosecutors vehemently disagreed with the company statement, arguing that public safety is indeed compromised when gun companies flout record-keeping requirements.
The governments hard line against Stag was necessary not only as just punishment for Stags continued illegal conduct . . . but also as a warning shot across the bow of the firearms industry that there must be strict compliance with firearms laws, the Justice Department said in its sentencing memorandum. Connecticut and the New England region have one of the largest concentrations of major manufacturers in the country. When federal firearms licensees ignore or disregard their responsibilities (under law), they put public safety at risk and will be held accountable.
dan@hearstdc.com
Apple is among the U.S. companies being scrutinized through quiet reviews in China. (Photo : Getty Images)
China is closely scrutinizing technologies from several Western companies including Apple to determine if they pose possible security threats to their users and the country amid China's already tense relations with the United States.
A report from the New York Times revealed how a committee linked to China's top censor and Internet regulator quietly targets U.S. companies such as Apple whose data storage and encryption technology was reviewed.
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Citing unnamed sources who are knowledgeable about the reviews, the NY Times said that the committee associated to the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) requires executives and officials from the companies to answer queries on their products in person.
The report comes two days after China expressed their dissatisfaction on an annual Pentagon report submitted to the U.S. Congress that reportedly "distorted" the Asian country's military and cyberspace activities, as reported by the Xinhua News Agency.
The Review
Currently, Apple considers China as one of its key markets where they forecast "iPhone sales growth beyond established smartphone markets," according to the Apple Insider.
While China had been relatively eager to negotiate with international companies, it proved to be quite a difficult water to tread in for Apple especially now that the CAC committee is over its shoulder.
According to the NY Times, the Chinese reviews scrutinize products that cover more broad applications in contrast to what Western countries were used to doing.
"While other countries, including the United States and Britain, conduct reviews of some tech products, they usually focus on products that will be used by the military or other parts of the government that are concerned with security, and not on products sold to the general public," the report stated, adding that China's reviews cover products that the general public use.
Apple's Case
Worries on these mysterious reviews continue to heighten especially since Chinese officials have yet to reveal more details about it.
One Chinese-language report implies that the reviews being conducted began last year and that several companies have already been called in over the past nine months, an anonymous source said.
The NY Times report explained that since there were no parameters set, the reviews can be used to ultimately "block products without explanation or to extract trade secrets in exchange for market access."
Furthermore, more problems may arise from this if such secrets were leaked to competing companies and become vulnerable to exploitation by cyberspace criminals.
I am angry. Two years ago, many people (our Connecticut Congressional Delegation among them) worked very hard opposing an effort begun by the House Budget Committee to make deep cuts in the funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The cuts that were made in the end were greatly scaled back and were made by changing the rules for the Heat and Eat program, which linked SNAP benefits and eligibility for heating assistance in 15 states. The governors of many of those states, including Gov. Dannel P. Molloy, adjusted the funding for heating assistance, thus preserving SNAP benefits. Then-House Speaker John Boehner accused them of cheating.
And now, just two years later, the House Majority is doing it again. Only worse. Their proposals would:
1. Cut SNAP funding by $150 billion over 10 years (2017-2026), a 20 percent cut.
2. Eliminate the link between SNAP and heating assistance altogether, forcing many families who need help to stay warm in the winter out of SNAP.
3. Change the program to a Block Grant a fixed amount of money sent to the states each year. This would prevent SNAP from increasing benefits during bad economic times and decreasing again as conditions improved. Increased numbers of recipients would require reducing benefits.
4. Eliminate benefits for some of the nations most destitute adults living in areas with high unemployment. On average, those targeted live on incomes of about $2,000 per year for a single individual.
5. Eliminate the states ability to adjust benefits to take local costs of living into account. About 2 million people, mostly low-income working families and low-income seniors, would lose benefits because of this change.
Do these proposed changes to SNAP really represent a problem in Connecticut? You decide. One in every eight Connecticut residents currently receives SNAP benefits. Six of 10 of these are in families with children; a third are in families with elderly or disabled members. Statewide, 13 percent of residents are food insecure (the USDAs term for lack of access to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members). This translates to almost 473,000 people and an additional $254,876,000 to meet food needs well beyond the means of local food banks.
Is SNAP what Speaker Paul Ryan has called a hammock that lulls able-bodied adults to a life of dependency and complacence? You decide. Four out of five SNAP participants either are not expected to work (children, elderly, or the disabled) or are working. Furthermore, three-quarters of those participating in the program receive benefits for two years or less. Half of all new recipients stay on the program no more than 10 months.
Does SNAP help someone you know? Again, you decide. Half of all American children receive SNAP benefits at some time in their lives half!
In 2014, SNAP lifted 5 million Americans, including 2.1 million children out of poverty and did it with an error rate of less than 1 percent one of the best performances of all government programs.
Taking food away from children, seniors, and the disabled is mean-spirited and unconscionable.
Our Congressional Delegation have long supported SNAP. Please call or email Congressman Jim Himes and Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy asking them to continue to stand up and be counted to preserve SNAP. Ask them to oppose both the cuts and the rule changes.
For a few Americans, the Great Recession is over, and life is good again. But for the majority, the picture is not so good, and times are still tough. The House proposal only makes them tougher. Thats why Im angry.
Stamford Resident William Baker is a volunteer activist for RESULTS, a worldwide movement of people using their voices to influence political decisions that will bring an end to poverty.
Tim Cook rides a cab with Didi Chuxing President Jean Liu. (Photo : Tim Cook/Twitter)
Apple CEO Tim Cook rode what can be considered as the most expensive taxi ride ever during his visit to China, with high hopes that the Asian giant would take another bite of his Apple.
The Cupertino company's big boss took to Twitter to reveal his co-rider in a cab in Beijing on Sunday.
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"Taxi! Caught a cab in Beijing this morning with Didi Chuxing's Jean Liu," he wrote in caption of two images showing him with the cab-hailing company's president.
News quickly spread after that, with some reports like the one from The Wall Street Journal which described that cab ride to be worth $1 billion.
According to CNet, Cook's visit to the second largest smartphone market in the world comes after his company encountered a number of challenges in the country including one where Apple lost a trademark battle for "iPhone" with a Chinese leather company.
$1 Billion Taxi Ride
According to CNet, Cook's cab ride was deemed to be worth $1 billion because of Apple's recent billion-dollar investment in the Chinese cab-hailing service and Uber's main competitor in the country, Didi Chuxing.
Cook said the "rare" investment was made to help them better understand what makes the Chinese market tick.
"We are making the investment for a number of strategic reasons, including a chance to learn more about certain segments of the China market," the Apple CEO told Reuters. "Of course, we believe it will deliver a strong return for our invested capital over time as well."
Formerly known as Didi Kuaidi, Didi Chuxing admitted that Apple's investment had by far been the largest one the company has ever received amid its losing battle against Uber.
During their ride, Cook and Jean Liu, the daughter of Lenovo founder Liu Chuanzhi, presumably talked about how the Chinese company can work with Apple to make their stay in the country a little bit smoother.
"There's a lot of things we can work on together," Liu responded when asked whether her company intends to help Apple with its issues with the Chinese government.
According to Reuters, Liu's father has connections in Chinese politics which might be the reason why Apple chose their company despite its losing status.
Cook's Visit in China
Apple did not reveal Cook's itinerary and the exact reason why he visited the country, but some outlets are quick to speculate.
Upon his arrival, Cook decided to visit one of the Apple Stores located at the shopping district Wangfujing in Beijing, where he reportedly met with Liu and a couple of bosses from other Chinese apps such as Toutiao.com, Meituan and Tap4Fun.
US Warns Against Possible Effects of New Chinese Rule on Domain Name Registration on the Internet
The U.S. warns that China's domain registration policy might break the Internet. (Photo : Getty Images)
The United States is worried that Chinas new Internet rules on the registration of domain names might fragment the Internet and limit its ability to serve as a global platform for communication, creativity and commerce.
According to The Register, U.S. Department of Commerce Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information Larry Strickling and State Department Ambassador Daniel Sepulveda warned against China's amendments to the "Chinese Measures for the Administration of Internet Domain Names."
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Warning on the New Rule
According to a previous report from the outlet, China's new rule on domain names is similar to Facebook's "real name policy" as it requires businesses registering their website names to use the real name of their companies.
They also need to acquire licenses from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), which will require them to undergo personal information verification under the ministry's "TLD management system."
In a letter posted on the official website of the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Strickling and Sepulveda said that China's decision to require all domain names to be registered through government-licensed providers in the country can be detrimental to the Internet.
According to them, it "runs contrary to China's stated commitments toward global Internet governance processes as well as its stated goals for economic reform."
"The regulations appear to create a barrier to access and force localization of data and domestic registration of domain names," they added.
Furthermore, the two U.S. officials noted that whatever China's motivation behind the move was, it does not change the fact that the new policies will not be beneficial to the Internet and its global users.
"Whether driven by a motivation to increase control over Internet content in China or a desire to increase the quantity of Chinese-registered domain names, these regulations would contravene policies that have been established already at the global level by all Internet stakeholders (including Chinese)," they stated.
Widespread Impact
They also warned the public of the implications of the new rules, per interpretations "by some" that implies "all websites with domain names registered outside China will be blocked, thereby cutting off Chinese Internet users from the global Internet."
The approach will "contravene, undermine, and conflict" with other current policies that cover top level domains from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), they said.
They also strongly warned against the possible impact of the policies on a global scale.
"By creating its own rules for domain name management, China is threatening to fragment the Internet, which would limit the Internet's ability to operate as a global platform for human communication, commerce and creativity," the letter stated.
M any of the best-known and most successful fund managers in this country will not touch bank shares with a barge pole even eight years after the beginning of the financial crisis. What is perhaps more surprising is that Antony Jenkins, who until a few months ago was the chief executive of Barclays, seems to agree with them.
Jenkins has kept a low profile since being removed from his post but he surfaced this month to speak at an event organised by the New City Agenda an organisation dedicated to developing new thinking in the financial services industry.
His speech was notable for its home truths. Seldom has a chief executive, in or out of office, spoken with such candour about the challenges facing his business.
By way of introduction he talked about how banks, even now, were not properly fulfilling their role to society, and how they were generally unhappy places to work. He noted that only six out of the 36 major banks in Europe are earning returns which are above the cost of equity, which he reckoned was around 11%.
Furthermore, he expects them to continue to struggle with structural changes brought about by a deluge of post-crash regulation as this has fundamentally affected their ability to make money.
But he also warned that even all that regulation, intrusive though it undoubtedly is, may not be enough to make banks as safe as governments and taxpayers now expect them to be.
Banks are where they are because the distorted values of their employees led to a wholesale destruction of value for shareholders. These core values have to be re-established and this is about defining a purpose for banks and those who work in them which is not just about money or how much people earn, but how banking services, when properly delivered, can change lives. Put that in place and maintain it and in time people will begin to trust.
The responsibility for doing this must come from bankers themselves. But the regulator has a role too: he or she must define conduct of business rules which properly reflect the ideal and spell out what customers and bankers can reasonably expect from each other.
Sustainable banking also requires treating all stakeholders fairly and not indulging in short-term moves which benefit one group say the employees while acting against the long-term interests of another for example, the customers or shareholders.
It needs a leadership which understands that what matters are actions not words. The leadership must also have the courage to press for change in the full knowledge that it will be resisted by the vast majority of employees and customers, because without change banks cannot survive.
"Technology will transform banking and may transform banks but it is more likely to finish them off."
Unfortunately there are no quick fixes: changing the culture of a business such as banking is a process which will take at least five years and possibly 10.
What Jenkins says makes a lot of sense. The trouble with his programme is not that it is wrong, but because it is so brutally honest about the time it will take, it is hard to see any bank following it through.
Boards seldom have that much patience, and shareholders are similarly lacking as Jenkins himself found out when he was ousted after only three years at the helm.
The other and perhaps equally big risk is that banks will be overtaken by events, particularly by the application of modern technology. At some point, Jenkins says, banks will face their Uber moment when they have to confront the arrival of an app which delivers a much enhanced customer experience but hollows out the business and profitability of the existing players.
Jenkins is sure that technology will transform banking and could similarly transform banks but it is more likely to finish them off.
The world is flooded with fintech firms awash with venture capital money. The next three years is expected to see a tidal wave of innovation some of which might even work. The banks will survive this but will struggle to be part of it.
Four-fifths of the vast sums they spend on IT goes on maintaining their existing systems; that creates a mountain of vested interest against change and a cultural resistance to anything new.
IT people can be every bit as conservative as the rest of us more so, perhaps, because they understand better than most just how obsolete last years box has become.
This is not the real hit on banks, however; the more dramatic changes will come between five and 10 years time. By then, some of those fintech initiatives will have gained traction which means they will be thought to be around 10 times better than what they replace, the rule of thumb for what is needed to persuade customers to switch.
Banks will then have reached zombie-like activity alive but going nowhere and forced to cut back to the profitable bits they think they can defend. This is when we will get staff cuts of between 20% and 50% and the closing of at least half the bank branches.
But even that will not be enough because beyond 10 years there will be such sophisticated profiling of potential borrowers and lenders that it will be possible to match both online developing existing peer-to-peer and social media technologies.
Once borrowers and lenders can be perfectly matched directly, the two main reasons for having banks intermediation and maturity transformation (the technical term for borrowing in the short-term from a lot of customers and providing that money as a long-term loan to a few) will have ceased to exist.
One of the earliest known loan defaults was in Greece inevitably in about 400 BC. Considering how long banking has been with us, 20 years is an agonisingly short time to contemplate its demise. But perhaps we need to start getting used to the idea.
H es the richest gent in English high society youve never heard of. For years, while his foreign exchange trading empire was in full flow, Urs Schwarzenbach was one of the biggest in the business.
Since his first major break getting the job of running UBSs foreign exchange operations in London during the Seventies, he has earned hundreds of millions of pounds trading in currencies.
But reports of a major fight with the tax authorities back in his original home in Switzerland suggest life is becoming rather more difficult for this close friend of Prince Charles.
Not that he isnt still short of a bob or too. The Sunday Times Rich List puts his current worth at 1.08 billion, making him Britains 109th richest person. When looking for UK properties, he was able to afford not just a mansion in the shires but a whole village Hambleden in Buckinghamshire, which formed the backdrop to Midsomer Murders. Companies House and Land Registry records show that, like his 26,000-acre Scottish estate, he owns the village through offshore vehicles.
A director of the Guards Polo Club, owner of the Black Bears polo team and a keen former player of the sport, he lives with his wife Francesca, a former Miss Australia, in Culham Court, part of his sprawling estate which is also owned offshore near Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire.
"However he made his money, few get that wealthy without making enemies."
His friendship with polo-loving Princes Charles and Harry add to his socialising with City royalty like Icaps Michael Spencer.
But outside those rarefied circles, he is immensely private, only appearing in the newspapers on the society circulars of the poshest British aristocratic functions.
Business contacts who have worked with him in the UK describe him as extremely decent and impeccably charming although precisely how he got so super-rich is hard to surmise beyond his ownership of InterExchange, a foreign exchange dealership he set up in 1976.
A scandal that sparked an art clampdown Schwarzenbachs art is obviously not stolen but he may be suffering from the side-effects of the additional scrutiny Switzerland is putting on its art and antiques world. Julian Radcliffe of the London-based Art Loss Register, which runs a database of the worlds stolen art, says the Swiss have imposed a major clampdown on moving art since the scandal over valuables that were stolen from European Jews by the Nazis and held in Swiss banks. Radcliffe says: Switzerland was a haven for stolen art but the law changed in 2005 under international pressure. That was in relation to crime and terrorism and from the reaction to the Swiss banks attitude to the Jewish assets as a result of the Holocaust. Now, he adds, the countrys customs authorities and its ministry of culture are among the most common organisations requesting searches from his register on the origins of artworks in Switzerland.
In a rare interview in 2011, he gave the vaguest of explanations: I got some money from my father and started in the Seventies, to speculate in currencies. Ive sold British pounds at the right time, among other things.
However he made his money, few get that wealthy without making enemies. In Schwarzenbachs case, that seems to include some very influential authorities in Switzerland.
Recently, as he stopped off in his new Gulfstream jet at an out-of-the-way airport in Spain, he was reportedly held by customs officers.
According to a local police statement, a 67-year-old Swiss citizen believed to be Schwarzenbach was asked if he had anything to declare: No, came his reported response. But according to a Guardia Civil press release, the officials found in the passenger cabin a large 3.5 metres by two metres artwork, rolled up in plastic. The piece was recently completed by the British painter Ben Johnson.
The Guardia Civil seized the painting, Patio de los Arrayanes, under suspicion that it was being smuggled contrabando de arte as the press statement put it. The sole occupant of the plane was then told he was under suspicion of attempting to move the 160,000 (125,000) picture to Spain without paying taxes.
Schwarzenbach was, by all accounts, furious and friends say he denies any wrongdoing.
The tycoon is one of the worlds biggest art collectors, and even had a private gallery built in Australia solely to house his Aboriginal collection. His friends claim the Spanish were given a duff tip-off by the Swiss authorities. They say he only stopped over in Spain en route to Morocco, where the picture was destined to hang in his renovated palace in Marrakech.
Social circle: Schwarzenbach is friends with Prince Harry / Reuters
This version of events seems to be backed by the artist himself. Johnson tells the Evening Standard from his Hammersmith studio that the piece was specially made to go with another already hanging in the palace.
He had kindly let it be displayed at a public gallery in Southampton first but we always knew it was going to Marrakech because it was to go with another picture, he says.
A simple mistake by the Swiss authorities, then? Not according to one friend: Urs has trodden on the wrong toes in Switzerland, and this is what you might call a warning shot.
For Schwarzenbach is involved in long-running battles with Swiss tax authorities over other parts of his art collection, including works he has installed in another of his properties, the Dolder Grand Hotel overlooking Lake Zurich.
Travel and art guides rave about the Dolder collection boasting Pissarros, Warhols and Dalis. But the Swiss Customs Administration has claimed he imported valuable artworks without paying millions of francs in tax.
In 2013, the authorities searched the Dolder and Schwarzenbach-related art in a Zurich duty-free warehouse, seizing documents and electronic data.
Again, he strongly argues he had done nothing wrong, telling a Swiss newspaper: If the authorities see the facts differently from my lawyers, the judge must decide. He said the Dolder artworks were for sale, so were not liable to Swiss import taxes. Tax would only be payable when the pieces were sold, he added.
This year, according to reports in the Swiss press, as investigations into his businesses tax affairs continued, authorities were granted a freezing order on Swfr200 million (142 million).
Schwarzenbach, who declined to comment to the Evening Standard due to the ongoing investigations, is said to have wound down his foreign exchange trading in Zurich since last summer.
That has triggered speculation in some quarters of the Swiss media that he was trying to move cash out because of his tax troubles. Time to buy some more pretty British villages, perhaps?
Whatever happens, therell be plenty to chat about between chukkas as the polo season gets under way.
T odays State Opening of Parliament represented reassuring continuity at a time of particular constitutional uncertainty. In little more than a month, we may vote to sunder the nation from the European Union an institutional upheaval that, for good or ill, would transform Britains economic prospects, diplomatic identity and place in the world.
So this Queens Speech the 65th of Her Majestys reign, delivered in the year of her 90th birthday was more than an annual spectacle of pomp and pageantry. It was a timely reminder of the stability and durability at the heart of our unwritten constitution.
Politically, of course, the address was intended to convey the sheer industry of David Camerons Government, supposedly undistracted by the poisonous recriminations of the referendum campaign. Its 21 bills (in addition to three carry-overs) reflect an unshaken commitment to economic security (reflected in schemes such as Help to Save), to the strengthening of life chances for each and every citizen, to counter-extremism, and to an overhaul of the care system.
Whether or not the PM will steer all these legislative ships into harbour before his departure from Number Ten is impossible to predict. Clear enough, however, is his determination not to be thwarted in this ambition by the divisions of this referendum. It was no accident, for instance, that Cameron and Michael Gove issued a joint statement on prison reform overnight, promising devolution of power to prison governors, improved education programmes for inmates and six Reform Prisons. The PM has come a long way since, as Special Adviser to Michael Howard at the Home Office, he helped enact the gruff doctrine that prison conditions should be decent, but austere.
As for Gove, there has been much speculation about the likely fate of the Lord Chancellor, a leading Brexiteer, if his side is defeated. It is true that the PM was distressed by his close allys decision to back Leave. Yet in this promise of collaboration over penal reform, the PM has made quite explicit his intention to keep Gove in his inner circle after June 23. Acts of conscience will be forgiven. It is acts of opportunism and one in particular that Cameron finds hard to tolerate.
Todays speech was no less clear in the trajectory it set for the Government. As prominent as the Eurosceptic Right has been during the campaign, HMG will continue to pursue a One Nation strategy. As I have written before, Cameron is, at heart, a social reformer who was compelled by the circumstances in which he became Prime Minister to make economic repair his initial priority.
Now, in the third and final act of his premiership, he is at last addressing the issues that animate him most. Our priorities are clear, he wrote at the weekend in The Sunday Times. I want the next four years to be a period of great social transformation in Britain. Though not, perhaps, a great vote-winner, the reform of the care system is long overdue, an absolute social imperative and a project that will fail unless Number Ten invests the full force of the PMs political will in its enactment.
No less significant is the plan to accelerate academisation the process by which schools are gradually released from the grip of local authorities. True, this blueprint has been modified since it was unveiled in the Budget, its original radicalism moderated by pressure from Tory MPs and councillors who balked at the degree of compulsion and centralisation initially proposed by ministers. Yet this dilution should not eclipse the most important feature of the plan: namely, its New Labour origins. As Jeremy Corbyn has vacated the centre ground that was once Tony Blairs terrain, Cameron and co have claimed it as their own.
This Queens Speech was a message from the PM to his party as well as to parliament and public. As much as the referendum has oxygenated the dreams and nostalgia of the Right, this Government was elected on the unambiguous basis of a centrist, compassionate Conservative manifesto. However Britain votes on June 23, it would be a grave error to interpret the popularity of Brexit, such as it is, as a message to the Tory Party that what the public really craves is a hectic lurch to the Right.
Yet as polling day draws closer, it becomes clearer that the Brexiteers would not accept defeat as the end of the matter. This week, Nigel Farage told the Daily Mirror that he would regard a narrow victory for Remain as unfinished business. Meanwhile, there is growing interest among Leavers in the European Union Act that mandates the Foreign Secretary of the day to hold a referendum on any future EU treaty involving a significant transfer of power to Brussels. Likewise, an almighty row over the proposed British Bill of Rights lies ahead, now that the original plan to leave the European Court of Human Rights has been dropped. It is naive to expect that this great confrontation will end on the morning of June 24.
In private, Cameron sees all this, correctly, as a battle for the soul of the party he has spent the past 11 years making electable. Even now, his working majority is only 17 which makes the legislation announced today conspicuously vulnerable to backbench sabotage. Though the Queens Speech is a non-partisan document the sovereign cannot descend to the gutter of party politics todays address was easily decoded as a warning by the PM that he has no intention of leaving Number Ten early, that he has a packed in-tray and that, on his watch, the Conservatives will remain a party of the centre-Right committed to social reform, better state education, help for those at the bottom of the economic ladder.
It is unlikely that Camerons legacy will be party unity. But be in no doubt: he intends to stay long enough to entrench the habits of the centre-ground, One Nation politics and consequent electability in his wayward tribe.
President Xi Jinping first proposed his Belt and Road Initiative in 2013. (Photo : Getty Images)
President Xi Jinping accused some Chinese officials of "missing the point" in his latest statement highlighting his hallmark supply-side structural reform.
In a statement quoted by the country's top broadcasting outlet CCTV News, Xi expressed his utter disappointment at how some officials failed to comprehend his point regarding the country's economic path via the supply-side reform.
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"All regions and all departments must unify their thoughts and actions to stay in line with the decisions [on reform] made by the Party's Central Committee," CCTV quoted him as saying during the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs meeting on Monday.
According to the outlet, Xi called on local officials and departments to increase their efforts to advance the supply-side structural reform he introduced in the country.
Xi's Statement
According to the South China Morning Post, Xi not only ordered for more efforts from Chinese officials but also urged them not to hesitate or wait any longer.
"Don't wait because of the heavy burden, or waver because of the extreme difficulties, or hide because of the risks, or hesitate because of the pain," Xi said.
The SCMP noted that Xi's statement underscored his deep dissatisfaction at the country's progress that has so far reached no further than when he began explaining the direction he wants China's economy to go.
"Some local governments haven't started vigorous implementation yet, and some efforts are missing the point," he reportedly stated.
The Ultimate Goal
According to the Xinhua News Agency, agencies and departments are "busy making and releasing detailed measures to implement the supply-side structural reform."
The CCTV report also noted his reiteration on shifting focus and efforts to effectively reduce overcapacity, destock housing, and lower corporate costs to achieve one ultimate goal: to reduce the "ineffective" supply that drags the country into a slowed growth.
"The Chinese economy may have cyclical and aggregate demand problems, but the main problems are structural ones, and the key issue still lies on the supply side," CCTV quoted him as saying.
According to Xi, the government's and the market's roles "should be put into better play to balance the reforms."
Xi's supply-side structural reform received commendation from economists, with some saying that there is a great possibility that it can solve the problems that China is currently facing.
"Xi's reiteration of supply-side structural reform reflects policymakers' judgment of the current situation," Chinese Academy of Social Sciences economist Dong Yuping told China Daily. "Supply-side structural reform is the key to solving the problems facing the economy."
T he Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) isnt normally a body which crosses my radar. Its report on banks may not have registered with those readers who take personal cash flow for granted and who, irritatingly, leave entire jamjars full of spare coins on their desk, just to rub in their liquidity to those of us who have to raid the childrens Lent box for the collection when we go to church.
But for those of us for whom its touch and go at the end of the month as to whether card terminals in supermarkets will register that mortifying word, Declined, when weve put the shopping through thats when you make your retail transactions on non-judgmental self-service checkouts there was interesting reading in the CMAs new report about the banks.
It said banks must set out a maximum monthly charge for unauthorised overdrafts, though it declined to impose a cap on charges across banks. It encouraged them to send texts to customers to warn them when theyre overdrawn.
Oh, and its galvanising customers to move their accounts if theyre not satisfied that tired formula for consumer activism which is the market solution to every sector which overcharges, like energy companies, and which puts the onus on consumers to spend hours on price comparison websites, which are often themselves in the pay of the providers.
My own bank, Allied Irish, had, no doubt, got my interests at heart when it declined to extend my overdraft facility. How about just 500? I said, ingratiatingly, just in case payments come in late? Nope, the idea is that the customer should be in credit most of the time rather than using the overdraft routinely to get by. Anyway, the minimum overdraft is 5,000. So when you go a couple of quid over the limit, youre charged 30. A day.
And whats really annoying is when its your bank charges which put you out of credit. Even if you put the account back in order on the day, its usually too late.
I dont mind banks charging for their services. Its better to do it upfront than pretending in-credit accounts are free and piling the cost elsewhere. But I do mind being fleeced.
I do not believe that it costs 30 to bounce a cheque. Its bad enough when you get back the one you made out for your childs trumpet lessons (now theres middle-class humiliation) without feeling that youre paying over the odds for it.
Neither do I believe it should take three days to clear a cheque that would put you back in credit. And yes, I do like to get warning calls from my bank to say that Im about to go over the edge; kindly ones. Thats a luxury from the era of paternalistic personal banking; can we have it back?
As for the usurious interest charges on banks credit cards, thats no longer a problem for me, though it cripples other people; my card debts are now with a debt-handling agency. Im a one-woman equivalent of Greece.
As it happens, I am well paid I just have, ahem, historic debts and high rent. For the badly off, what they need isnt banks: its more credit unions.
Everett gets the complexity of Wilde better than most
It's no surprise that there have been rave reviews for Rupert Everett as Oscar Wilde in The Judas Kiss, David Hares play in New York, or that hes doing a film biopic of Wilde. Theres a natural congruity between gay, Catholic Everett and gay, Catholic Wilde (he converted on his deathbed in Paris, prior to observing: Either that wallpaper goes, or I do.)
Oscar Wilde, says Everett, is a character I feel very attached to ... hes a patron saint or even a Christ figure because in one sense he was crucified and then came back to life, and for the gay movement he was the beginning ... but hes Christ with a twist because hes God and Man brilliant and thick as a plank.
Thick? Well, lacking common sense, maybe.
Everett understands Wilde better than, say, the atheist Stephen Fry. Wilde was gay and profoundly Christian: see his story, The Selfish Giant. Everett got it in the neck from gay activists for saying he doesnt agree with gay marriage but Wilde would have felt just the same.
Everett understands both the sexuality and the religion: for Wilde, both mattered.
* The Kensington Dolls House fair last Saturday was, its fair to say, the highlight of the year for my nine-year-old daughter. You might think dolls houses are toys and so this is one for the kiddies? Not so. As my daughter observed, there were lots of old ladies and about half a dozen children.
Still, she cleaned up, purchasing plates of miniscule fruit, bread and cheese and (attagirl) three tiny newspapers, including this one, plus a doll size packet of Flash. Her day was made when a nice lady gave her a rose in a pot for a quid.
The whole thing does seem like a displacement exercise. If you cant afford an actual house, you can have as much fun with a Liliputian version. Its may be as close to home ownership as she gets.
I n China, this drink fizzy fermented tea is called the immortal health elixir. It has a tart taste and is surprisingly addictive. Go for a wholesome thirst-quenching flavour or try it in a cocktail for an extra kick. Heres where to find your new favourite soft drink.
Kitchen Table
The Michelin-starred hideaway at the back of Bubbledogs hot-dog restaurant brews its own kombucha with a flavour that goes with that days menu. Flavours include toasted hay, nettle, and liquorice.
Info: 70 Charlotte Street, W1, kitchentablelondon.co.uk
JARR
The offshoot of Crate Brewery in Hackney Wick serves homemade kombucha either straight or in cocktails in original, ginger or passion fruit flavours. If youd rather take yours home, JARR bottles are available from Harrods.
Info: Micks Garage, E9, jarrkombucha.com
Caravan Coffee Roasters
The roasters at the back of the Kings Cross restaurant will be moving into a nearby stand-alone space in September fully stocked with kombuchas in loads of flavours: lemon verbena, nettles and dandelion greens as well as preserved lemons and limes and orange zest.
Info: Across London, caravancoffeeroasters.co.uk
Raw Duck
This Hackney restaurant is known for its homemade drinking vinegars but it also has kombucha in flavours such as hibiscus, lemongrass and lavender.
Info: 197 Richmond Road, E8, rawduckhackney.co.uk
Nama
Notting Hills raw-food restaurant has a range of kombuchas to complement your raw-chocolate ganache torte.
Info: 110 Talbot Road, W11, namafoods.com
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Review at a glance
T he Unknown Girl, the latest film from Belgian social-realist directors the Dardenne brothers, is like an artistically serious version of Casualty, with people constantly popping round to ask if they can have a word.
Adele Haenel plays a gifted young doctor, Jenny Davin, who, one evening, working as a locum in a charmless suburb of Liege, preoccupied with a troubled intern, fails to respond to a call on the surgerys front door after closing time. The next day, the body of a young black girl with a head injury is found on the banks of the Meuse, without any means of identification.
Security camera footage shows it was her seeking help, before she was injured. Dr Davin, stricken with guilt, resolves to find out the girls identity.
She begins asking around and discovers the answer lies with some of her own patients, so, again and again, she finds herself both caring for them and asking them questions they dont want to answer.
Dr Davin is a woman of incredible social conscience, dedication, and moral courage, who doesnt stop, despite being threatened. Eventually, the man responsible asks why he should ruin his life by coming forward. Because shes asking us, says the good doctor. Shes dead, he says. If she was dead, she wouldnt be in our heads, says Jenny. Responsibility and solidarity never end.
Cannes Film Festival over the years - In pictures 1 /34 Cannes Film Festival over the years - In pictures 1966 US actress Jayne Mansfield and her husband US actor Mickey Hargitay pose during the 17th Cannes Film Festival AFP/Getty Images 1977 Arnold Schwarzenegger, the film actor who first became famous as Mr Universe for his magnificent physique, on Cannes beach during the Film Festival with the girls from the Folies Bergere Keystone/Getty Images 1957 1957: American actress Elizabeth Taylor with her husband, producer Mike Todd at the Cannes Film Festival Express Newspapers/Getty Images 1978 British singer David Bowie poses during the 31th Cannes Film Festival Ralph Gati/AFP/Getty Images 1954 British actress Simone Silva posing topless with the American star Robert Mitchum during the Cannes film festival. Having been elected 'Miss Festival', Simone Silva was asked to leave the festival after her semi-nude pose which resulted in one photographer breaking his arm and another his leg in the rush for pictures Keystone/Getty Images 1965 1965: Daleks arrive in Cannes from Shepperton Studios, England, for the showing of the new 'Dr Who' movie which features at the Film Festival Keystone/Getty Images 1983 Helmut Newton and Jerry Hall in Cannes Rex 1972 Robert Redford, US director Sydney Pollack, pianist Arthur Rubinstein and his wife Nela pose during The Cannes International Film Festival AFP/Getty Images 1962 Actors Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood are followed by The Press whilst in Cannes Associated Newspapers 1947 Film stars parading in the street of Cannes, southern France, during the Cannes Film Festival AFP/Getty Images 1955 Grace Kelly Aat the 8th Cannes International Film Festival Rex 1956 Running barefoot on the sands at Cannes, French film star, Brigitte Bardot George W Hales/Getty Images 1956 Diana Dors, the starlet, with the Cadillac in which she arrived at the Cannes Film Festival Keystone/Getty Images circa 1956 Dancer Ginger Rogers (right) and actress Kim Novak attending the Cannes Film Festival, France, circa 1956 Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 1959 Italian film star Sophia Loren poses on the window ledge of her hotel in Cannes, where she is promoting the Italian film 'Nella Citta L'Inferno' (aka 'Caged') by Renato Castellani Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images circa 1960 Swiss film actress Ursula Andress at the Cannes Film Festival, Keystone/Getty Images 1963 Alfred Hitchcock and American actress Tippi Hedren explore Cannes together after the premiere of 'The Birds' Keystone/Getty Images 1965 A gathering of guests and models enjoying a barbeque after a fashion show, at the Cannes Polo Grounds during the annual film festival, France, AFP/Archive Photos/Getty Images 1966 French actress, Catherine Deneuve with her husband, English photographer, David Bailey at the Festival of Cinema in Cannes Pieri/Getty Images 1967 Portrait of actress Vanessa Redgrave sitting on the beach wearing a chevron patterned dress, as she bring her film 'Blow Up' to the Cannes Film Festival Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 1968 Hollywood sex symbol Jayne Mansfield and her husband Mickey Hargitay smile for the cameras at the Cannes film festival Keystone/Getty Images 1968 Beatles drummer Ringo Starr chats with French film director Roman Polanski at the Cannes film festival, whilst attending a screening of the British film 'Joanna' Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 1975 English actress Jane Birkin takes up photography at Cannes Keystone/Getty Images 1977 Mexican-born actor Anthony Quinn (1915 - 2001, centre, left) and Brazilian football star Pele make their way through the crowds at the Cannes Film Festival Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 1979 On the beach of a luxury hotel outside Cannes, 32-year-old David Essex limbers up on his motorbike. Phillip Jackson/Daily Mail 1984 Robert de Niro and Joe Pesci pose after the screening of the film "Once upon a time in America" Ralph Gati/AFP/Images
The brothers are already two-time winners of the Palme dOr here at Cannes where they have become a fixture and their 2014 entry, Two Days, One Night, starring Marion Cotillard as a worker trying to find solidarity among her colleagues to keep her job in a race against time, was both moving and exciting.
Filmed with their trademark close-up handheld cameras and naturalistic lighting, The Unknown Girl, however, dips almost into self-parody. Haenel brings impressive intensity to her role but the film seems to issue from the distinctively stylised world of the Dardenne brothers, rather than reality. Still no clear winner here then.
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F ilm producer Gabrielle Tana has revealed how she persuaded ballet bad boy Sergei Polunin not to give up dancing for acting and then put him in front of a camera for a new documentary.
Polunin, 26, became the Royal Ballets youngest ever principal aged 19 but stunned the world of dance when he quit the company in 2012 saying he wanted a normal life.
The British producer said the Ukrainian star, who co-owns a tattoo parlour in north London, approached her shortly after for advice on acting lessons: I was introduced to him because he wanted to become an actor and I told him to keep dancing.
I said, Youre the best dancer in the world, to be the best actor isnt so easy. I encouraged him to take classes and experiment, but not to totally stop what he was so brilliant at and then the idea of making a documentary came out of it as a way of engaging with him.
The film, Dancer, follows Polunin over four years as he travels between London, Russia and Los Angeles while he works out what he wants to do. It includes never-before-seen footage shot by his family and fellow Royal Ballet School pupils.
Tana, who produced Philomena, starring Judi Dench and Steve Coogan, said she wanted to capture the extraordinary charisma of ballets biggest star.
He has this charisma and the fact he can physically do what he does is just extraordinary, breathtaking. He has an innate dramatic presence. That, wedded to this amazing technique, is what makes people want to watch him.
Polunin recently confirmed he is in a relationship with fellow dancer Natalia Osipova. The pair are set to appear together at Sadlers Wells later this year for a short series of contemporary performances the first time they have danced together in the UK.
Tana is also making a biopic of Rudolf Nureyev with a screenplay by Sir David Hare and direction by Ralph Fiennes. She said filming with Polunin had been extremely helpful in understanding Nureyev, but she was not tempted to cast him in the role of the master. We are in Russia now searching schools and looking for a dancer to take the part, she said.
What to see at the theatre in pictures 1 /13 What to see at the theatre in pictures The Deep Blue Sea Until September 21, National Buy tickets
Henry Hitchings says... Helen McCrory is achingly good in this sombre, tense revival of one of Terence Rattigans finest plays a devastating portrait of a woman adrift on loves ocean, desperately afraid of loneliness and blighted by the social conventions of the early Fifties. Carrie Cracknells mostly restrained interpretation doesnt shy away from indulging the plays deep silences, and the translucent rooms nested within Tom Scutts design show Hesters Ladbroke Grove lodgings haunted by the fluttery comings and goings of other residents. Their ghostly presence suggests a surveillance society where Hester can never express herself freely. Richard Hubert Smith People, Places & Things Until June 18, Wyndham's, Buy tickets
Fiona Mountford says... It's rare to see a group of critics, cynical devils that we are, rise to their feet for a sweeping standing ovation on a press night. But this wasnt any old opening, or any old leading actress. For my money, Denise Gough gives the greatest stage performance since Mark Rylance in Jerusalem as Emma, an actress addicted to drink and drugs. Its a supremely confident and well-oiled production from director Jeremy Herrin, with a fluid acting ensemble. There is absolutely no doubt that Gough is the person, Wyndhams the place and this play the thing to see this spring. Johan Persson Guys and Dolls Until Oct 30, Phoenix Theatre, Buy tickets
Fiona Mountford says... Now in its third incarnation after the premiere at Chichester and an initial West End run at the Savoy, Gordon Greenbergs delicious production of Frank Loessers classy classic once again boasts chemistry in all the right places. In short, theres absolutely nothing not to like about this rendering of Damon Runyons assortment of colourful New York low-lifes. The songs are as tuneful as ever, with Sit Down, Youre Rockin the Boat once more a foot-stomping inducer of encores. This show is tingle-down-the-arms good a rarity in the West End. Johan Persson The Threepenny Opera Until Oct 1, National Theatre, Olivier, Buy tickets
Henry Hitchings says... The Threepenny Opera is a stinging indictment of capitalism. Yet for all its pugnacious seriousness it can be fun, and Rufus Norris, whose tenure as artistic director of the National Theatre has so far drawn mixed reviews, oversees a revival thats enjoyably raucous and packed with amusing detail. By downplaying the storys grit and embracing a cartoonish exuberance, Norris ensures that this three-hour production will divide opinion. But after a tentative opening it fizzes with ideas, doing justice to Kurt Weills score, a blend of cabaret and jazz that sounds timelessly, enticingly sleazy. Alastair Muir Show Boat Until August 27, New London, Buy tickets
Fiona Mountford says... Its always a pleasure to welcome a classy production of a classic musical to the West End and director Daniel Evans has constructed just that in this triumphant transfer from the Sheffield Crucible. From the musically stirring, verbally unsettling opening lines of Ol Man River that begin the show, delivered by the magnificently voiced Emmanuel Kojo as Joe, we know were in for something special. Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammersteins 1927 work set the template for the musical as we know it, and 90 years on its still a knockout, above all for its soaring songs. Don't miss this boat. Johan Persson Funny Girl Until October 8, Savoy Theatre, Buy tickets
Fiona Mountford says... Sheridan Smith triumphantly reinvents Fanny Brice for a new generation of musical theatre lovers, conveying with skill and heart this entertainers emotive blend of professional success and personal vulnerability. Michael Mayers sassy production is reinforced by Michael Pavelkas elegant, wistful design of a theatre, with rows of burnished mirrors running into the wings. Fanny is endlessly reflected back, but never quite in the image shed like to see. Johan Persson The Caretaker Until May 14, Old Vic, Buy tickets
Henry Hitchings says... Timothy Spall returns to the stage, after a 19-year absence, in Harold Pinters classic vision of deception and isolation. Hes absorbingly watchable as Davies, a tramp taken in by Daniel Mayss generous, simple-minded Aston and he makes this shambolic figure a bundle of mannerisms, a fidgety bigot who spouts bizarre opinions and peevish gripes. The Caretaker is an incisive, delicately balanced study of a power struggle between three lost souls who are drowning in absurd fantasies. The rich performances make this an unsettling portrait of claustrophobic domesticity and its capacity to warp the mind and the soul. Hamlet Until August 13, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, Buy tickets
Henry Hitchings says... As a brash and youthful Hamlet, in Simon Godwins sultry and at times risky interpretation, Paapa Essiedu radiates star quality. At his best when skittishly imparting the intricacies of Hamlets madness, he combines sarcasm, charm and creepiness. His encounter with the ghost of his father (a memorably doomy Ewart James Walters, whos later a droll gravedigger) transforms him from a slick and smartly dressed graduate into a dynamic oddball whose gestures make the meaning of the plays most famous speeches feel fresh. The production follows the same trajectory. Manuel Harlan/RSC The Alchemist In rep until August 6, Buy tickets
Fiona Mountford says... For all that The Alchemist (1610) is a splendid satire and proto-farce, its densely packed language, so different from the familiar rhythms of Shakespeare, can be a real challenge. In a well-judged move, director Polly Findlay has cut more than 20 per cent of Ben Jonsons wordy text and employed writer Stephen Jeffreys to demystify some of the more arcane references. The result is a nimble-footed production, blessed with some ingenious little flourishes. The action is a little effortful as times, although McSweeney in particular never fails to amuse. Look out too for the wonderful stuffed alligator that serves as an unlikely storage unit for the trios ill-gotten gains. Helen Maybanks Titanic Until August 6, Charing Cross Theatre, Buy tickets
Henry Hitchings says... When it premiered on Broadway in 1997, Titanic was widely derided, but this stripped-back interpretation, though still overlong, affords a vigorous and ultimately moving take on the 20th centurys most notorious maritime disaster. In a cast of 20, the standard of singing is high, with the most attractive performances coming from James Gant and Niall Sheehy, while Matthew Crowe is affecting as a pompous but fragile telegraphist. And at the helm Southerland combines sensitivity with ambition, suggesting that this previously moribund venue is now on course for success. Scott Rylander
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Review at a glance
Y ou wouldnt want to challenge the dancers of NDT2 to a game of Twister. Contortion is a matter of course for these bendy-bodied dancers who can send limbs in any direction. A group of awesome technicians aged 18 to 24, they are the junior arm of the long established Nederlands Dans Theater, but theres nothing elementary about this outfit.
In an eclectic evening, Sol Leon and Paul Lightfoots Sad Case, from 1998, shows the dancers off to best effect. A sort of off-kilter cabaret set to jaunty mambo music, it sees five characters rattle through a string of playfully distorted poses.
Elsewhere theres impressively underplayed virtuosity in Hans van Manens Solo. Its actually a trio, the three men tag-teaming the non-stop routine, driving to the finish.
By contrast, Romanian choreographer Edward Clugs Mutual Comfort manages to deliver quick movements that somehow have no momentum, the dancers at once antsy and completely controlled.
What to see at the theatre in pictures 1 /10 What to see at the theatre in pictures The Deep Blue Sea Until September 21, National Buy tickets
Henry Hitchings says... Helen McCrory is achingly good in this sombre, tense revival of one of Terence Rattigans finest plays a devastating portrait of a woman adrift on loves ocean, desperately afraid of loneliness and blighted by the social conventions of the early Fifties. Carrie Cracknells mostly restrained interpretation doesnt shy away from indulging the plays deep silences, and the translucent rooms nested within Tom Scutts design show Hesters Ladbroke Grove lodgings haunted by the fluttery comings and goings of other residents. Their ghostly presence suggests a surveillance society where Hester can never express herself freely. Richard Hubert Smith People, Places & Things Until June 18, Wyndham's, Buy tickets
Fiona Mountford says... It's rare to see a group of critics, cynical devils that we are, rise to their feet for a sweeping standing ovation on a press night. But this wasnt any old opening, or any old leading actress. For my money, Denise Gough gives the greatest stage performance since Mark Rylance in Jerusalem as Emma, an actress addicted to drink and drugs. Its a supremely confident and well-oiled production from director Jeremy Herrin, with a fluid acting ensemble. There is absolutely no doubt that Gough is the person, Wyndhams the place and this play the thing to see this spring. Johan Persson Guys and Dolls Until Oct 30, Phoenix Theatre, Buy tickets
Fiona Mountford says... Now in its third incarnation after the premiere at Chichester and an initial West End run at the Savoy, Gordon Greenbergs delicious production of Frank Loessers classy classic once again boasts chemistry in all the right places. In short, theres absolutely nothing not to like about this rendering of Damon Runyons assortment of colourful New York low-lifes. The songs are as tuneful as ever, with Sit Down, Youre Rockin the Boat once more a foot-stomping inducer of encores. This show is tingle-down-the-arms good a rarity in the West End. Johan Persson The Threepenny Opera Until Oct 1, National Theatre, Olivier, Buy tickets
Henry Hitchings says... The Threepenny Opera is a stinging indictment of capitalism. Yet for all its pugnacious seriousness it can be fun, and Rufus Norris, whose tenure as artistic director of the National Theatre has so far drawn mixed reviews, oversees a revival thats enjoyably raucous and packed with amusing detail. By downplaying the storys grit and embracing a cartoonish exuberance, Norris ensures that this three-hour production will divide opinion. But after a tentative opening it fizzes with ideas, doing justice to Kurt Weills score, a blend of cabaret and jazz that sounds timelessly, enticingly sleazy. Alastair Muir Show Boat Until August 27, New London, Buy tickets
Fiona Mountford says... Its always a pleasure to welcome a classy production of a classic musical to the West End and director Daniel Evans has constructed just that in this triumphant transfer from the Sheffield Crucible. From the musically stirring, verbally unsettling opening lines of Ol Man River that begin the show, delivered by the magnificently voiced Emmanuel Kojo as Joe, we know were in for something special. Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammersteins 1927 work set the template for the musical as we know it, and 90 years on its still a knockout, above all for its soaring songs. Don't miss this boat. Johan Persson Funny Girl Until October 8, Savoy Theatre, Buy tickets
Fiona Mountford says... Sheridan Smith triumphantly reinvents Fanny Brice for a new generation of musical theatre lovers, conveying with skill and heart this entertainers emotive blend of professional success and personal vulnerability. Michael Mayers sassy production is reinforced by Michael Pavelkas elegant, wistful design of a theatre, with rows of burnished mirrors running into the wings. Fanny is endlessly reflected back, but never quite in the image shed like to see. Johan Persson The Caretaker Until May 14, Old Vic, Buy tickets
Henry Hitchings says... Timothy Spall returns to the stage, after a 19-year absence, in Harold Pinters classic vision of deception and isolation. Hes absorbingly watchable as Davies, a tramp taken in by Daniel Mayss generous, simple-minded Aston and he makes this shambolic figure a bundle of mannerisms, a fidgety bigot who spouts bizarre opinions and peevish gripes. The Caretaker is an incisive, delicately balanced study of a power struggle between three lost souls who are drowning in absurd fantasies. The rich performances make this an unsettling portrait of claustrophobic domesticity and its capacity to warp the mind and the soul. Hamlet Until August 13, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, Buy tickets
Henry Hitchings says... As a brash and youthful Hamlet, in Simon Godwins sultry and at times risky interpretation, Paapa Essiedu radiates star quality. At his best when skittishly imparting the intricacies of Hamlets madness, he combines sarcasm, charm and creepiness. His encounter with the ghost of his father (a memorably doomy Ewart James Walters, whos later a droll gravedigger) transforms him from a slick and smartly dressed graduate into a dynamic oddball whose gestures make the meaning of the plays most famous speeches feel fresh. The production follows the same trajectory. Manuel Harlan/RSC The Alchemist In rep until August 6, Buy tickets
Fiona Mountford says... For all that The Alchemist (1610) is a splendid satire and proto-farce, its densely packed language, so different from the familiar rhythms of Shakespeare, can be a real challenge. In a well-judged move, director Polly Findlay has cut more than 20 per cent of Ben Jonsons wordy text and employed writer Stephen Jeffreys to demystify some of the more arcane references. The result is a nimble-footed production, blessed with some ingenious little flourishes. The action is a little effortful as times, although McSweeney in particular never fails to amuse. Look out too for the wonderful stuffed alligator that serves as an unlikely storage unit for the trios ill-gotten gains. Helen Maybanks Titanic Until August 6, Charing Cross Theatre, Buy tickets
Henry Hitchings says... When it premiered on Broadway in 1997, Titanic was widely derided, but this stripped-back interpretation, though still overlong, affords a vigorous and ultimately moving take on the 20th centurys most notorious maritime disaster. In a cast of 20, the standard of singing is high, with the most attractive performances coming from James Gant and Niall Sheehy, while Matthew Crowe is affecting as a pompous but fragile telegraphist. And at the helm Southerland combines sensitivity with ambition, suggesting that this previously moribund venue is now on course for success. Scott Rylander
The night is topped off with Alexander Ekmans brilliant Cacti, which mocks pretentious artspeak and the often unfathomable qualities of contemporary dance. Its smart without being smug and has some great rhythmic set-pieces for these impressive dancers, who always go all-out.
Until 20 May (020 7863 8000, sadlerswells.com)
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Review at a glance
I ts about time Ophelia got her own play. This memorable production from director Katie Mitchell and the Schaubuhne Berlin promises her freed from the constraints of Hamlet.
We might reasonably have expected to hear her side of this overwhelmingly patriarchal story. But no. In a thrillingly bold move, Mitchell leaves her almost alone and virtually wordless in a turret-like bedroom that comes increasingly to resemble a prison cell. This Ophelia (Jenny Konig, superb) is an overwhelmingly blank canvas onto which are piled layer upon stultifying layer of almost identical black dresses; shes a helpless figure ever more removed from the core of her being.
We watch Ophelia, a moving study in isolation and repression, go through her hypnotically repetitive and lonely days and gradually realise something revelatory. The focus of the play is, obviously, on Hamlets mental state, but thats a red herring: Ophelia is the one we should be worried about all along. A striking device has all the men in her life provide the sound effects in an onstage cubicle, while Ophelia literally drowns in silence on her own.
Until May 21, Royal Court Downstairs (020 7565 5000, royalcourttheatre.com)
What to see at the theatre in pictures 1 /13 What to see at the theatre in pictures The Deep Blue Sea Until September 21, National Buy tickets
Henry Hitchings says... Helen McCrory is achingly good in this sombre, tense revival of one of Terence Rattigans finest plays a devastating portrait of a woman adrift on loves ocean, desperately afraid of loneliness and blighted by the social conventions of the early Fifties. Carrie Cracknells mostly restrained interpretation doesnt shy away from indulging the plays deep silences, and the translucent rooms nested within Tom Scutts design show Hesters Ladbroke Grove lodgings haunted by the fluttery comings and goings of other residents. Their ghostly presence suggests a surveillance society where Hester can never express herself freely. Richard Hubert Smith People, Places & Things Until June 18, Wyndham's, Buy tickets
Fiona Mountford says... It's rare to see a group of critics, cynical devils that we are, rise to their feet for a sweeping standing ovation on a press night. But this wasnt any old opening, or any old leading actress. For my money, Denise Gough gives the greatest stage performance since Mark Rylance in Jerusalem as Emma, an actress addicted to drink and drugs. Its a supremely confident and well-oiled production from director Jeremy Herrin, with a fluid acting ensemble. There is absolutely no doubt that Gough is the person, Wyndhams the place and this play the thing to see this spring. Johan Persson Guys and Dolls Until Oct 30, Phoenix Theatre, Buy tickets
Fiona Mountford says... Now in its third incarnation after the premiere at Chichester and an initial West End run at the Savoy, Gordon Greenbergs delicious production of Frank Loessers classy classic once again boasts chemistry in all the right places. In short, theres absolutely nothing not to like about this rendering of Damon Runyons assortment of colourful New York low-lifes. The songs are as tuneful as ever, with Sit Down, Youre Rockin the Boat once more a foot-stomping inducer of encores. This show is tingle-down-the-arms good a rarity in the West End. Johan Persson The Threepenny Opera Until Oct 1, National Theatre, Olivier, Buy tickets
Henry Hitchings says... The Threepenny Opera is a stinging indictment of capitalism. Yet for all its pugnacious seriousness it can be fun, and Rufus Norris, whose tenure as artistic director of the National Theatre has so far drawn mixed reviews, oversees a revival thats enjoyably raucous and packed with amusing detail. By downplaying the storys grit and embracing a cartoonish exuberance, Norris ensures that this three-hour production will divide opinion. But after a tentative opening it fizzes with ideas, doing justice to Kurt Weills score, a blend of cabaret and jazz that sounds timelessly, enticingly sleazy. Alastair Muir Show Boat Until August 27, New London, Buy tickets
Fiona Mountford says... Its always a pleasure to welcome a classy production of a classic musical to the West End and director Daniel Evans has constructed just that in this triumphant transfer from the Sheffield Crucible. From the musically stirring, verbally unsettling opening lines of Ol Man River that begin the show, delivered by the magnificently voiced Emmanuel Kojo as Joe, we know were in for something special. Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammersteins 1927 work set the template for the musical as we know it, and 90 years on its still a knockout, above all for its soaring songs. Don't miss this boat. Johan Persson Funny Girl Until October 8, Savoy Theatre, Buy tickets
Fiona Mountford says... Sheridan Smith triumphantly reinvents Fanny Brice for a new generation of musical theatre lovers, conveying with skill and heart this entertainers emotive blend of professional success and personal vulnerability. Michael Mayers sassy production is reinforced by Michael Pavelkas elegant, wistful design of a theatre, with rows of burnished mirrors running into the wings. Fanny is endlessly reflected back, but never quite in the image shed like to see. Johan Persson The Caretaker Until May 14, Old Vic, Buy tickets
Henry Hitchings says... Timothy Spall returns to the stage, after a 19-year absence, in Harold Pinters classic vision of deception and isolation. Hes absorbingly watchable as Davies, a tramp taken in by Daniel Mayss generous, simple-minded Aston and he makes this shambolic figure a bundle of mannerisms, a fidgety bigot who spouts bizarre opinions and peevish gripes. The Caretaker is an incisive, delicately balanced study of a power struggle between three lost souls who are drowning in absurd fantasies. The rich performances make this an unsettling portrait of claustrophobic domesticity and its capacity to warp the mind and the soul. Hamlet Until August 13, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, Buy tickets
Henry Hitchings says... As a brash and youthful Hamlet, in Simon Godwins sultry and at times risky interpretation, Paapa Essiedu radiates star quality. At his best when skittishly imparting the intricacies of Hamlets madness, he combines sarcasm, charm and creepiness. His encounter with the ghost of his father (a memorably doomy Ewart James Walters, whos later a droll gravedigger) transforms him from a slick and smartly dressed graduate into a dynamic oddball whose gestures make the meaning of the plays most famous speeches feel fresh. The production follows the same trajectory. Manuel Harlan/RSC The Alchemist In rep until August 6, Buy tickets
Fiona Mountford says... For all that The Alchemist (1610) is a splendid satire and proto-farce, its densely packed language, so different from the familiar rhythms of Shakespeare, can be a real challenge. In a well-judged move, director Polly Findlay has cut more than 20 per cent of Ben Jonsons wordy text and employed writer Stephen Jeffreys to demystify some of the more arcane references. The result is a nimble-footed production, blessed with some ingenious little flourishes. The action is a little effortful as times, although McSweeney in particular never fails to amuse. Look out too for the wonderful stuffed alligator that serves as an unlikely storage unit for the trios ill-gotten gains. Helen Maybanks Titanic Until August 6, Charing Cross Theatre, Buy tickets
Henry Hitchings says... When it premiered on Broadway in 1997, Titanic was widely derided, but this stripped-back interpretation, though still overlong, affords a vigorous and ultimately moving take on the 20th centurys most notorious maritime disaster. In a cast of 20, the standard of singing is high, with the most attractive performances coming from James Gant and Niall Sheehy, while Matthew Crowe is affecting as a pompous but fragile telegraphist. And at the helm Southerland combines sensitivity with ambition, suggesting that this previously moribund venue is now on course for success. Scott Rylander
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W hen the playwright Charlene James decided to write about female genital mutilation, her aim was to avoid demonising both those who want it for their daughters and those who actually perform it. Automatically, you feel these people are barbaric and... its easy to go the cutter is a monster, she says. But a play couldnt just be that. You have to understand that a lot of it comes from love and protection of their daughters.
The 33-year-old wanted to get inside these peoples heads: Its the psyche of why would I, as a mother, do that to my child? You find they often know its horrific but its out of duty: My child is going to be ostracised without it. The resistance comes where people whove practised it think the Western world is demonising them.
Her play Cuttin It a joint production between the Young Vic and the Royal Court is about two teenagers living in England, both originally from Somalia, with different attitudes to FGM. The idea came to James after watching a Leyla Hussein documentary. When she researched FGM she found articles saying it was happening in Britain: That was my starting point.
For the parent, there comes a point where its Im losing my child to the Western world. They cling to tradition
Though she hasnt been to Somalia, she was working as a teaching assistant in Tower Hamlets (she left in January as her writing was taking off), where she met women from the diaspora community. She saw a split between the generations: The older generation, maybe their English isnt great, but their children are fluent and theyre thriving. For the parent, there comes a point where its Im losing my child to the Western world, so they cling to traditions.
However, the play also makes the case that we shouldnt allow our concerns about cultural sensitivities to prevent us confronting FGM: Its the same as honour killings [we act as though its] their problem not ours. But we must stop saying its a cultural thing: its child abuse.
Increasingly now FGM is being medicalised. James says we should be aiming for eradication of FGM, not medicalisation. I note that some campaigners feel theres a link with the growth in genital surgery in the West. James stops me: Which is out of choice. If youre a woman and you consent to that, thats great.
Did she worry about writing this, as someone outside the community it affects? I saw footage of the cuttings and things like that dont leave your head. When it affects you that much, I dont think it matters that Ive not been cut. As a writer, I want to make unheard voices heard.
James, who grew up in Birmingham but now lives in Lewisham with her older sister, trained as an actress. She didnt come from a thespian dynasty her father worked in a factory and is now a care worker, while her mother is a superannuation officer but her parents were supportive. It was her mother who signed James up for Stage2, a Birmingham youth theatre. She was probably sick of me saying, Im going to be an actress.
What to see at the theatre in pictures 1 /13 What to see at the theatre in pictures The Deep Blue Sea Until September 21, National Buy tickets
Henry Hitchings says... Helen McCrory is achingly good in this sombre, tense revival of one of Terence Rattigans finest plays a devastating portrait of a woman adrift on loves ocean, desperately afraid of loneliness and blighted by the social conventions of the early Fifties. Carrie Cracknells mostly restrained interpretation doesnt shy away from indulging the plays deep silences, and the translucent rooms nested within Tom Scutts design show Hesters Ladbroke Grove lodgings haunted by the fluttery comings and goings of other residents. Their ghostly presence suggests a surveillance society where Hester can never express herself freely. Richard Hubert Smith People, Places & Things Until June 18, Wyndham's, Buy tickets
Fiona Mountford says... It's rare to see a group of critics, cynical devils that we are, rise to their feet for a sweeping standing ovation on a press night. But this wasnt any old opening, or any old leading actress. For my money, Denise Gough gives the greatest stage performance since Mark Rylance in Jerusalem as Emma, an actress addicted to drink and drugs. Its a supremely confident and well-oiled production from director Jeremy Herrin, with a fluid acting ensemble. There is absolutely no doubt that Gough is the person, Wyndhams the place and this play the thing to see this spring. Johan Persson Guys and Dolls Until Oct 30, Phoenix Theatre, Buy tickets
Fiona Mountford says... Now in its third incarnation after the premiere at Chichester and an initial West End run at the Savoy, Gordon Greenbergs delicious production of Frank Loessers classy classic once again boasts chemistry in all the right places. In short, theres absolutely nothing not to like about this rendering of Damon Runyons assortment of colourful New York low-lifes. The songs are as tuneful as ever, with Sit Down, Youre Rockin the Boat once more a foot-stomping inducer of encores. This show is tingle-down-the-arms good a rarity in the West End. Johan Persson The Threepenny Opera Until Oct 1, National Theatre, Olivier, Buy tickets
Henry Hitchings says... The Threepenny Opera is a stinging indictment of capitalism. Yet for all its pugnacious seriousness it can be fun, and Rufus Norris, whose tenure as artistic director of the National Theatre has so far drawn mixed reviews, oversees a revival thats enjoyably raucous and packed with amusing detail. By downplaying the storys grit and embracing a cartoonish exuberance, Norris ensures that this three-hour production will divide opinion. But after a tentative opening it fizzes with ideas, doing justice to Kurt Weills score, a blend of cabaret and jazz that sounds timelessly, enticingly sleazy. Alastair Muir Show Boat Until August 27, New London, Buy tickets
Fiona Mountford says... Its always a pleasure to welcome a classy production of a classic musical to the West End and director Daniel Evans has constructed just that in this triumphant transfer from the Sheffield Crucible. From the musically stirring, verbally unsettling opening lines of Ol Man River that begin the show, delivered by the magnificently voiced Emmanuel Kojo as Joe, we know were in for something special. Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammersteins 1927 work set the template for the musical as we know it, and 90 years on its still a knockout, above all for its soaring songs. Don't miss this boat. Johan Persson Funny Girl Until October 8, Savoy Theatre, Buy tickets
Fiona Mountford says... Sheridan Smith triumphantly reinvents Fanny Brice for a new generation of musical theatre lovers, conveying with skill and heart this entertainers emotive blend of professional success and personal vulnerability. Michael Mayers sassy production is reinforced by Michael Pavelkas elegant, wistful design of a theatre, with rows of burnished mirrors running into the wings. Fanny is endlessly reflected back, but never quite in the image shed like to see. Johan Persson The Caretaker Until May 14, Old Vic, Buy tickets
Henry Hitchings says... Timothy Spall returns to the stage, after a 19-year absence, in Harold Pinters classic vision of deception and isolation. Hes absorbingly watchable as Davies, a tramp taken in by Daniel Mayss generous, simple-minded Aston and he makes this shambolic figure a bundle of mannerisms, a fidgety bigot who spouts bizarre opinions and peevish gripes. The Caretaker is an incisive, delicately balanced study of a power struggle between three lost souls who are drowning in absurd fantasies. The rich performances make this an unsettling portrait of claustrophobic domesticity and its capacity to warp the mind and the soul. Hamlet Until August 13, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, Buy tickets
Henry Hitchings says... As a brash and youthful Hamlet, in Simon Godwins sultry and at times risky interpretation, Paapa Essiedu radiates star quality. At his best when skittishly imparting the intricacies of Hamlets madness, he combines sarcasm, charm and creepiness. His encounter with the ghost of his father (a memorably doomy Ewart James Walters, whos later a droll gravedigger) transforms him from a slick and smartly dressed graduate into a dynamic oddball whose gestures make the meaning of the plays most famous speeches feel fresh. The production follows the same trajectory. Manuel Harlan/RSC The Alchemist In rep until August 6, Buy tickets
Fiona Mountford says... For all that The Alchemist (1610) is a splendid satire and proto-farce, its densely packed language, so different from the familiar rhythms of Shakespeare, can be a real challenge. In a well-judged move, director Polly Findlay has cut more than 20 per cent of Ben Jonsons wordy text and employed writer Stephen Jeffreys to demystify some of the more arcane references. The result is a nimble-footed production, blessed with some ingenious little flourishes. The action is a little effortful as times, although McSweeney in particular never fails to amuse. Look out too for the wonderful stuffed alligator that serves as an unlikely storage unit for the trios ill-gotten gains. Helen Maybanks Titanic Until August 6, Charing Cross Theatre, Buy tickets
Henry Hitchings says... When it premiered on Broadway in 1997, Titanic was widely derided, but this stripped-back interpretation, though still overlong, affords a vigorous and ultimately moving take on the 20th centurys most notorious maritime disaster. In a cast of 20, the standard of singing is high, with the most attractive performances coming from James Gant and Niall Sheehy, while Matthew Crowe is affecting as a pompous but fragile telegraphist. And at the helm Southerland combines sensitivity with ambition, suggesting that this previously moribund venue is now on course for success. Scott Rylander
In her second year of drama school she began to write monologues to perform in class. That developed into writing plays and, after leaving drama school, James got a place on the young writers programme at the Royal Court.
She feels there is a long way to go on diversity in the arts: As a black woman I feel the brunt of that. Sometimes my voice isnt heard enough and I dont see myself represented.
The daughter of Jamaican immigrants, James hates the term BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic). It puts you in a box and says: This is what you are. Because Ive written about [a race-related] issue, I become this black female writer who can only write about these issues. I want these issues to be heard but Im not just black. Im not just a woman. Theres so much more to me.
Black actors, she feels, get typecast as drug dealers or someone getting stabbed and recalls being made to play as a nurse repeatedly. So she is also writing a play for a group of ethnic minority Rada students, Bricks and Pieces: Its about having black characters who arent stereotypes theres a geek and an airy-fairy girl.
She feels these students are experiencing the same problems she did 10 years ago. Being typecast? She shakes her head. Sometimes its the opposite: youre in there playing parts that when you leave you wont be offered. Theres no acknowledgement of who you are and what you bring to a role. So if we did Ibsens A Dolls House, theres never that conversation of What would happen if Nora were black?
Recently I went to a play where it was 90 for the stalls. If we want a diverse audience, how do we do that if its not accessible?
James actually auditioned three times for Rada but didnt get in. She feels drama schools need to do more to ensure their intake is more diverse. Theyll say: We only had five people of colour audition. So what are you going to do about it? Do you do outreach work? [The students] will ultimately be our actors of the future. When she was acting shed often find herself the only black woman in an audition: Id think Am I just here to tick a box?
It isnt just about race, though. She worries that acting and directing will become the preserve of the wealthy. University fees are extortionate. I cant imagine sitting down and saying to my mum, Can you help me pay 9,000 a year to go to drama school?
James spends many evenings watching plays and likes to scan the audience. Theres no diversity at all. I always go, How many non-white people under 60 are there? Ticket prices are part of the problem. Recently I went to a play where it was 90 for the stalls. If we want a diverse audience, how do we do that if its not accessible?
She feels lucky that she had a teacher who encouraged her to go to the theatre. Friends I grew up with have never been. We need more dialogue between theatres and schools so it doesnt become We went to see that boring Hamlet, now I hate the theatre. It needs to be more than Shakespeare, or set texts.
James appreciates playwrights who keep it tight. Cuttin It is just over an hour with no interval. I look at an audience and think: Theyve had enough, she laughs. Rarely does a play need to be three hours.
Cuttin It is at the Young Vic (020 7922 2922, youngvic.org), May 20-June 11; the Royal Court, SW1 (020 7565 5000, royalcourttheatre.com), June 23-July 13, and The Yard, E9 (020 7100 1975, theyardtheatre.co.uk), July 26-30
@RosamundUrwin
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A s regeneration and investment bring an exciting period of change for Deptford, property owners and investors alike are realising the potential of the area.
Steeped in history and culture and with an unrivalled community feel and character, this neighbourhood is on the up.
Deptford has long been thought of as a bustling creative hub thats packed with cultural diversity. Its vibrant main street, galleries, market, restaurants and pop-up shops attract visitors from all around and the area even has its own contemporary arts festival.
With a selection of good schools, its proximity to Goldsmiths University and fantastic transport links into central London, its fast becoming a popular place to buy property.
Deptford Foundry is a new project from Anthology, a property developer that prides itself on creating homes that are built from London. Working with Deptfords impressive heritage, they will be transforming a disused trading estate into homes, creative studios and public open space.
Offering 276 properties in total, a selection of one-, two- and three-bedroom homes are available. All properties have a private decked balcony or terrace with views of the London skyline, plus beautiful communal landscaped areas and courtyards. Prices start from 345,000.
Real photography of show home
On the site of a former metal foundry, the development takes inspiration from the areas rich industrial past. Yet each property has a sleek modern twist with a fluid layout, floor-to-ceiling doors and bespoke storage.
An open-plan kitchen-diner boasts top-of-the-range fixtures and fittings, with handleless cupboards and an integrated Siemens oven, fridge-freezer and dishwasher.
Spacious bathrooms have a relaxing feel thanks to LED down lights, with chrome furniture and a natural-texture feature wall subtly nodding to the Foundrys industrial past.
A handy utility room with washer-dryer ensures homes are practical and convenient, as well as stylish.
Real photography of show home
Master bedrooms are also completed to the highest specifications, with fitted carpets and built-in wardrobes featuring internal lights that activate when you open the door.
Master bedrooms in two- and three-bedroom homes have spacious en-suite bathrooms with a walk-in shower with a glass screen. And theres not a box room in sight, as all additional bedrooms are doubles.
As the area undergoes an impressive period of regeneration, dont miss your chance to be a part of this flourishing and vibrant community.
Start your story at this exciting development by visiting us in our new home at Deptford Foundry. Call 0207 526 9229 or see anthology.london for more information
A patient accused of stabbing a nurse to death at a mental hospital in south London is to stand trial for murder.
Semi-retired nurse Patrick Clarke, 68, suffered a number of knife wounds during the attack at the mental health facility in Croydon on May 12.
Jimmy Jedson, a 40-year-old resident at Southleigh Community Hospital, is charged with murder.
He is due to stand trial at the Old Bailey on November 11 and was ordered to attend a plea hearing on August 3.
Jedson, who is in custody, was not present at a hearing at the Old Bailey today.
Southleigh is a private medical facility, which provides treatment and rehabilitation for adults with long-term mental health problems.
A post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as a stab wound to the chest.
A customer looks at a fake luxury bag allegedly bought and shipped from a Chinese online store. (Photo : Reuters)
China's e-commerce giant Alibaba has vowed to get rid of counterfeits on its online platforms following the suspension of its membership in an international anti-counterfeiting group, China Daily reported.
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The report said that the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition, a nonprofit global organization that fights counterfeit products and piracy, suspended the membership of Alibaba Group Holding on Friday, May 13, a month after it became the organization's first e-commerce member.
According to the report, the suspension came after the organization's president was questioned about conflicts of interest, while complaints about Alibaba were brought out by some members who look at the Chinese company as haven for cheap counterfeits.
In a statement on Sunday, May 15, Alibaba said it will continue its relations and cooperation with the coalition despite the suspension.
"As the world's largest e-commerce platform, Alibaba is an integral part of the solution to solving the worldwide issue of counterfeiting," the company said. "We will continue to discuss and communicate with more brands in the IACC . . . expedite the process to remove products identified as fakes and protect the interest of brands, no matter big or small."
More than 250 member companies, including leading brands such as Apple and Rolex, belong to the coalition.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, the report said that following the suspension, Alibaba Executive Chairman Jack Ma may likely cancel his plan to deliver a keynote speech at the coalition's annual spring conference to be held in Orlando, Florida, from May 18 to 20.
Alibaba is shifting its reputation as a platform that sells cheap goods to one that provides good-quality, genuine brands, and its membership in the coalition would support this transition.
As the world's largest online retailer, the Chinese e-commerce giant needs this global recognition, Tian Hou, an analyst at TH Capital in Beijing, said.
"It is willing to clean house, but all transitions and upgrading require time," Tian said.
The memberships of two U.S. e-commerce sites, Wish.com and The RealReal, are also pending with the coalition.
T his the shocking moment a mass brawl broke out between inmates in the grounds of Wandsworth Prison.
An air ambulance was called to the south London prison after a male inmate was allegedly beaten and stabbed during the fight.
The brawl was sparked by a row over drugs between two rival gangs in one wing of the prison about two weeks ago, the BBC reported.
In the footage, one prisoner is cornered by up to 11 other inmates and repeatedly kicked as he lies on the ground.
Peter Clarke, the new chief inspector of prisons, told the BBC: "The biggest single challenge in our prisons is violence, levels of violence in our prisons are unacceptably high.
He added that there were more than 20,000 assaults and 32,000 incidents of self-harm in prisons across the UK in the last year.
Asked whether he thought some prisons are not fit for purpose, Mr Clarke said: If the purpose is to develop an environment in which meaningful rehabilitation and resettlement can take place, then again some of these prisons are failing, there's no doubt about that.
"So yes, some prisons are not fit for their purpose."
Yesterday, the Standard reported that the number of banned items thrown into London prisons had risen by more than 400 per cent in the last two years.
The sharpest rise was at Wandsworth prison, according to a freedom of information request from the Ministry of Justice.
The Standard has approached the Ministry of Justice for comment about the footage.
A police dog has died after he was runover by a squad car in what officers have called a "tragic accident".
Four-year-old Rebus was part of a pursuit in the early hours of this morning in Colwick and was struck by a 4x4 police vehicle, Nottinghamshire Police said.
The German Shepherd Belgian Shepherd-cross was sent after suspects on the Colwick Loop Road at around 3am when he was hit, and although he was given emergency care at the scene he died of his injuries with his handler by his side.
Chief Inspector Andy Hall, of the East Midlands Operational Support Service said: "This incident is being fully and actively reviewed, and we await the findings. I take the view at this time, however, that it appears to have been a tragic accident.
"I would like to acknowledge and commend the care given to Rebus in his time of need. Not only did an officer provide CPR at the scene, a number of members of the public offered their assistance. A valued police dog and a loyal companion, Rebus certainly would have known he was loved.
"Our colleague is devastated and the officer who was driving the vehicle is understandably distressed. They are being supported by their team and they in turn are being supported by their associates.
"Rebus was not only a fine police dog, he was a member of our policing family. His impeccable service was acknowledged at a memorial today in which DCC Sue Fish laid a wreath in his honour."
Rebus joined Nottinghamshire Police as a pup in July 2012, and in his four years of service he attended 313 incidents.
Additional reporting by the Press Association.
A passenger was subjected to Islamophobic insults before being punched in the face by a fellow train traveller in London, police say.
The 34-year-old man was travelling on a train out of Paddington towards Newbury when two men and a woman started chatting to him.
One of the men allegedly began making a series of anti-muslim remarks before unleashing what detectives describe as a "disgraceful attack".
After hitting the passenger in the face, the alleged attacker got off the train at Southall, police claim.
CCTV: Police want to trace this man in connection with the incident / British Transport Police
British Transport Police have released a CCTV image of a man they want to trace in connection with the incident, which happened on a 10.15pm service on May 1.
PC Rachel Parfitt said: The victim was left bruised by this disgraceful attack and it is fortunate that he was not more seriously injured.
This was a racially-motivated assault which will have appalled anyone who witnessed it and we need anyone with information to come forward."
Anyone with information should call police on 0800 40 50 40 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
A Rolex watch belonging to Sopranos star James Gandolfini was stolen by a paramedic while he lay dying from a heart attack in Italy, a court heard.
The actor, 51, died after collapsing in the Boscolo Exedra Hotel during a family trip to Rome in June 2013.
Paramedic Claudio Bevilacqua, 43, has been accused of taking the 2,000 Rolex Submariner watch while Mr Gandolfini was fighting for his life.
He was part of a team that rushed to the hotel when the American actor collapsed in his suite.
Mr Bevilacqua did not attend the start of the trial in Rome and has yet to enter a plea. The trial has been delayed until November.
T his is the shocking moment a brutal thug dragged a man into the path of an oncoming double-decker bus after beating him unconscious.
Damien Pankiewicz has been jailed for 12 years after he launched the sickening and unprovoked attack on a man with learning difficulties, punching him until he passed out before dragging him into oncoming traffic.
Pankiewicz, who is Polish, had only been in the country two days at the time of the attack, and had convictions for rape and assault in Poland.
The thug set upon his 52-year-old victim at a bus stop on Brixton Hill at about 7pm on July 22 last year.
In the completely unprovoked attack, he repeatedly punched his victim even after he had fallen out cold to the ground.
Guilty: Damien Pankiewicz was jailed for 12 years / Metropolitan Police
Pankiewicz, 37, then grabbed the unconscious man by the neck and dragged him into the road, throwing him in front of an oncoming bus, which managed to stop just in time.
The victim suffered serious injuries including bleeding to the brain, a broken leg and broken ribs as a result of the attack, and was hospitalised for three weeks.
When police arrested Pankiewicz he head-butted the window of a police car, smashing the glass with his face and causing himself minor facial injuries.
Brutal: Damien Pankiewicz dragged his victim into the road / Metropolitan Police
In court, Pankiewicz brazenly denied Grievous Bodily Harm with intent, claiming that the victim had stolen his phone.
However, his claim was disproved by both CCTV and the fact that the victim did not have the phone in his possession.
Pankiewicz, of no fixed address, was convicted unanimously by a jury at the Inner London Crown Court on March 16.
He was sentenced at the same court on Friday to serve 12 years in prison, and will be deported after his sentence.
Detective Constable James Bateman from Lambeth Police's CID said: "This was an unprovoked and violent attack against a vulnerable man in which the victim received serious injuries.
Thug: Damien Pankiewicz beat his victim unconscious / Metropolitan Police
"Pankiewicz initially gave no explanation for the assault, before claiming in court that the victim had stolen his phone, a claim we were able to disprove. He has shown no remorse for his actions at any stage.
"The level of violence, its sustained nature and the impact on the victim has been immense and has deeply affected him.
"This sentence will hopefully help the victim to get some form of closure to an event in his life which has been so traumatic.
A pioneering London schools project has helped cut the number of young people drawn to gangs and crime.
Researchers found that the Growing Against Violence initiative was an effective part of wider efforts to reduce gang membership and serious youth violence.
Today the consultant trauma surgeon who helped found the project appealed for funding to enable it to continue its work, which includes explaining the dangers of sexting and cyber-bullying, sexual violence and child exploitation.
Duncan Bew, clinical lead for trauma and emergency surgery at Kings College Hospital in Denmark Hill, said there was a public health need to ensure that young people were informed about the reality of gangs.
He said: There is this old saying: If you are not around for your kids, the street will bring them up for you.
Growing Against Violence developed from a project set up in 2008 with the Metropolitan police. It has now been delivered to 110,000 pupils in more than 500 schools.
A study in the American Psychological Associations journal found that students who received GAVs class-based teaching developed more favourable attitudes to the police and were less favourable towards violence and street culture.
Researchers interviewed 391 pupils in four London schools a year after they had taken part in GAV classes. Lead author Dr James Densley said it was very promising that positive effects were sustained a year later and noted this was achieved after just six 90-minute class periods.
The programme was effective in reducing levels of gang membership and the frequency and variety of delinquency and violence in the short and longer term, the report said.
Mr Bew said GAVs approach was not to shock pupils by showing them devastating injuries but to focus on the social and emotional consequences of violence.
A top London pianist is to give free lessons on the public pianos in St Pancras station as she tries to spark a passion for music in children.
Barbara De Biasi fears that youngsters are being put off studying creative subjects at school because of more emphasis on science and maths.
Ms De Biasi, 28, who runs a music school in London, will teach from Monday to Friday next week and wants to highlight issues deterring people from learning instruments, including tuition fees for music colleges, cuts to arts funding and pressure on children.
She said: There is an idea that if you go into the arts you will end up penniless and under a bridge. You might not make millions like a banker, but your life will be just as rich. You cant tell a 10-year-old to get into maths and forget about the arts its wrong.
Ms De Biasi, who is from Pisa and now lives in Morden, studied at the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. I would not have been able to afford to go to music college if I had to pay the fees they charge now, she said. The thought of that debt would have put me off.
She said she named her music school Fireworks to reflect the impact learning an instrument has on the brain.
She said: When you play an instrument it is like a jubilee going off in your brain. Sport doesnt do this and neither do other arts subjects and you have to be playing the instrument rather than listening to it.
There are huge benefits also for adults. It can fight Alzheimers and dementia. I want to show how much fun learning an instrument is.
Her 15-minute lessons are for all ages and abilities and can be booked at blog.bidvine.com/piano-st-pancras.
The Bidvine website, a marketplace for local businesses, is highlighting the 36 per cent cut to Arts Council government funding since 2010.
CEO Sohrab Jahanbani said: We decided to do something we hope will inspire people to discover or rediscover a passion for music.
T wo men have been left fighting for their lives following an explosion in a flat in Stamford Hill.
The second floor flat caught alight just after 2.30pm today, and witnesses described seeing at least one person jump from the burning building.
Four men, aged in their 20s and 30s, were treated at the scene for burns, before being rushed by ambulance to two separate hospitals.
One of the flats in the block was allegedly being used as a cannabis farm.
Four fire engines and 21 firefighters spent about an hour and a half tackling the blaze at the property in a block of flats in Stamford Hill Estates.
The air ambulance was also scrambled to the scene.
A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said: "Police were called at 2.38pm to reports of an explosion and fire at a block of flats in Stamford Hill, Hackney, N16.
Flat fire in Stamford Hill
"Officers attended along with the London Fire Brigade (LFB), the London Ambulance Service (LAS).
"Residents in the flats were evacuated, however there were four casualties, all male, whose ages range between late 20s and early 30s.
Air ambulance: two men were seriously injured / 999London
"They have been taken to two different hospitals to be treated for the effects of burns. Two of the men are believed to have life threatening or life changing injuries. One of this pair has subsequently been transferred to a specialist unit."
She added that no arrests had been made and detectives from Hackney CID were investigating.
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: We were called at 2.32pm to reports of a fire on Stamford Hill, Hackney.
We sent a number of ambulance crews, an incident response officer and an advanced paramedic to the scene, alongside our hazardous area response team and Londons Air Ambulance.
We treated four patients at the scene for burns and took them as a priority to hospital."
H eadteachers were today urged by environmental campaigners to do everything possible to protect their pupils from toxic air at schools.
Lawyers at green group ClientEarth also expressed surprise that City Hall did not publish a report in full in 2013 on primary schools in areas with nitrogen dioxide levels breaching EU legal limits.
It found that more than four out of five of these 433 schools were in deprived neighbourhoods.
Parents whose children develop air pollution-related illnesses such as asthma are likely to struggle to sue the authorities as they would have to prove a link to toxic air.
But Alan Andrews, a lawyer at ClientEarth, said: Headteachers worried about legal action should put in place clean air policies that do everything possible to protect their students from air pollution.
These should include things like encouraging parents to stop driving their children to school and supporting the new Mayors proposals for an expanded and strengthened Ultra Low Emission Zone.
Russell Hobby, general secretary of school leaders union NAHT, said that headteachers would be in regular contact with parents on travel to and from school. However, it would be perverse if schools were held accountable for something that they have no control over. Local authorities are ultimately responsible for parking regulations and clean air policies, he said.
Former mayor Boris Johnson has denied covering up the report on schools and air pollution.
A suspected hoax bomb threat caused a sixth form college to be evacuated in peak exam time.
Staff and students were ordered to leave Newham Sixth Form College as police were called to the scene yesterday morning.
The college - known as NewVIc - tweeted: Attention college is closed for the rest of the day. Please keep checking Twitter and Facebook for updates.
An hour later they posted: If you have an exam at college this afternoon please turn up on time. The college is closed except for exams.
Furious students suggested that the hoax - thought to have been sent over email - was the work of a student who wanted to avoid sitting an exam they were unprepared for.
Mohamoud Abdi wrote: How is NewVIc interrupting my exam cause of a bomb threat but dont even let me take my bag? I wasted 25 on this resit.
Another posted: Someone in NewVIc had to call a bomb threat cos they werent ready for their exams.
Zainab Shittu wrote: NewVIc have actually ruined exam season for me before it started.
A Met Police spokeswoman said: Police were called at 9.22am yesterday to a sixth form college in Newham following reports of a bomb threat.
A teenage male has been arrested on suspicion of making a bomb threat and was taken to an east London police station.
Officers from Newham are investigating and enquiries continue.
The college, which teaches more than 2,500 students A-Levels and vocational courses, reopened today as normal and exams were running as planned..
NewVIc declined to comment further when approached by the Standard.
The Cubimorph (Photo : Wordpress)
Google's Project Ara and other companies are still developing modular smartphones, but a group of researchers has just designed a touchscreen built from six-sided display cubes that form daisy chain links. The modular cubes developed by British researchers can be moved like the pieces of a Rubik's Cube puzzle
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Cubimorph's chain of cubes could be repositioned into blocks that form any shape. This could allow touch screens to cover the entire mobile device.
The research team from the University of Bristol has proposed a device that would allow a flat smartphone to be folded into a game controller-shaped device, according to Engadget. In addition, the phone could be rolled up into a rectangular log with a small display on one end.
An algorithm can also be used to fold up the phone like an origami piece. It will figure out the best way to fold and twist the screen into a certain shape. This would help to avoid awkward shapes and ones that trap the user's fingers.
The Cubimorph was developed by Dr. Anne Roudaut from the University of Bristol's Computer Science department. It was created with the help of United Kingdom and United States researchers including at Purdue University in Indiana.
The new display screen is still a prototype. However, this week the researchers will present the concept to a panel at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Stockholm.
In related news, researchers are working on transparent displays using the tech like on Tony Stark's smartphone in the Iron Man movies. The ones being developed today are much larger. However, within a decade they could have more functionality than the superhero's mobile device.
Jennifer Davis is vice president of marketing and product strategy at Planar. She explains that transparent screens make what is happening on the front of the screen appear on the back of the screen, according to Inverse.
Future consumers would likely want large transparent screens. Such displays could be used for several applications such as displays at retail stores or museums, or way-finding kiosks.
Meanwhile, Davis points out that people often use smartphones for functions such as private texts or email. Thus, they probably would not want transparent screen tech on mobile devices to publically share funny cat videos.
A s the publication date of the Chilcot report into the Iraq war approaches with an urgency that makes Godot look punctual, a timely resurgence from Sir Richard Dearlove yesterday. The former MI6 chief appeared from the shadows earlier this week to compare offering visa-free access to Turkish immigrants with storing gasoline next to the fire. But is he simply warming up for a bigger story?
The Londoner is told that Dearlove, who was in charge of the British Secret Intelligence Service during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, is said to be putting the finishing touches on a book about that difficult period of British history. The report is due in July, after a seven- year wait, and we hear that Dearlove, who is not expecting to come off well in the proceedings, will publish his version of events soon after.
Dearlove had previously promised to publish his account after his own death as a resource for scholars, but the date seems to be shuffling forward. Whitehall is now buzzing in anticipation of his side of the story. While Dearlove has said in the past that he wouldnt be writing a memoir, he will undoubtedly address criticism aimed at himself and the then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, and attempt to polish his own reputation.
No wonder, then, that he is back in the newspapers in the run-up to the report. In drawing attention to himself as a fearless but responsible public official, The Guardians Michael White wrote yesterday, Dearlove is being more pro-active... getting some credit with the Brexit newspapers whose benign opinion he may soon need.
But do the media have that short a collective memory?
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A blurry morning for The Londoner today after a quiz at the new Tottenham Court Road Waterstones for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. The Londoner was victorious and made off with the whisky cream prize, helped, admittedly, by a guess the book cover picture round made simpler by the fact that the titles were on the shelves beside us. Still, a victory is a victory.
Bit of a bother over BP and the BM
A refined party got rather crude last night when protesters from Art Not Oil hijacked the the opening of the British Museums Sunken Cities exhibition. The campaigners, who oppose the shows sponsorship by BP, hid in the museum during opening time and then emerged shouting during the speeches. Asked what he thought of the sponsorship by BP, artist Grayson Perry simply replied: I am a trustee of the British Museum.
Another trustee, Liz Forgan, muttered that it was hard to hear the speeches, but perhaps she had other matters on her mind like who takes over from her as chair of the Scott Trust now that Alan Rusbridger has been ousted.
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The Londoner went to the Old Selfridges Hotel last night for the launch of denim brand Replays latest collection of denim. A bevvy of smart-casual stars were on hand to brighten up the dramatically dark room.
Barcelona striker Neymar (inset above) made an appearance, while model-slash-DJ Daisy Lowe took to the decks to get fellow guests Pixie Geldof (pictured above right with Lowe), Amber Le Bon, Rafferty Law and Laura Whitmore onto the dancefloor.
Le Bon, Law, Whitmore and Geldof can often be seen at the same parties do they only ever attend as a group?
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The release of the Panama Papers may have triggered some unpleasant allegations about David Camerons late father, but luckily there are friends who still tell of fond memories. At the launch of his memoir Get On With It, oil baron and former Spectator owner Algy Cluff talked about the olden days when businessmen were businessmen. Ian Cameron was then a senior partner at Cluffs stockbroker Panmure Gordon. The one thing we were all proficient at, Cluff said at a party at Brookss in St Jamess, was polishing off a bottle of kummel between us before navigating an erratic route back to our respective desks.
Boris makes a banana slip
Bringing a banana into politics is a dangerous game, as Boris Johnson discovered yesterday. Out on the Brexit stump, he declared that the EU regulations meant you cannot sell bananas in bunches of more than two or three. Cue the British public tweeting pictures of all the illegal six-strong bunches of bananas they found in shops.
Then former Foreign Secretary David Miliband, pictured, who once waved a banana for the cameras and bore the consequences, chipped in on Twitter. Dear Boris: recommend you stay away from the bananas this campaign. Can be tricky to stay on message.
The Londoner is reminded of the fraught history of the first round of EU banana regulation in the early 1990s. Britain and France were lobbying for their former Caribbean colonies and their smaller Windward bananas to get preferential treatment (which they got) on importing into the EU.
However, the former East Germans, who had for decades endured mini Cuban bananas under a Communist trade deal, were now part of a unified Germany and rather keener on larger Latin American bananas. Our women like the big ones, argued one representative. I wonder why? mused a British diplomat.
Traitor Monmouth's back in town
Not seen in town since his 1685 execution at the Tower of London, James Scott, the First Duke of Monmouth and lovechild of Charles II, pictured, made a triumphant return to London last night at the launch of his biography by Anna Keay, in the form of a towering portrait in Philip Moulds gallery in Pall Mall.
Keays The Last Royal Rebel explores the dukes rise and fall at the Monmouth Rebellion, the disastrous plot to overthrow his uncle James II, whose conversion to Catholicism was the equivalent to William and Kate converting to Islam and her wearing the hijab, Keay explained.
Richard Scott, the Duke of Buccleuch and a direct descendent of Monmouth, was there. In a twist of fate, Buccleuch would have been our king had Monmouth succeeded. Ironically, then, he headed off to an event at the Tower.
S ceptical Britons do not believe David Camerons claim that Europes peace is at risk if Britain quits the EU, a poll shows today.
A clear majority of 55 per cent think it would make absolutely no difference, according to new research by Ipsos MORI for the Evening Standard.
Only a third think national security would suffer if Britain left.
Despite the doubts, todays survey reveals the Remain campaign has pulled ahead to its biggest lead in the past three months with 55 per cent for staying in and 37 per cent for leaving the EU.
This is mainly due to a marked shift among Conservative supporters. The Tory swing suggests the Prime Ministers intense campaigning is having a significant impact on his partys followers.
However, Labour supporters are less likely to vote which explains why Mr Cameron phoned new Mayor of London Sadiq Khan a week ago with a plea to help boost turnout among young people and Labour voters. Among other key findings:
On the crucial question of the economy, people believe by almost two to one (49 per cent to 26 per cent) that Britain would be worse off for the first five years outside the EU.
But when asked how the UK would fare after 10 or 20 years, they think that on balance the country would be better off.
Cameron's ISIS Brexit warning
46 per cent think their own standard of living will be the same in or out of the EU. Some 29 per cent fear they would be worse off, while 18 per cent feel they would be more prosperous.
Boris Johnsons claim that public services like the NHS would be better outside the EU is backed by just a third of respondents, indicating that public scepticism runs both ways.
By a big margin, people think Britain would lose influence in the world if it were to leave the European Union.
The doubtful response to assertions made by Mr Cameron and Mr Johnson about security and public services will deepen unease among MPs on both sides who fear voters could be turned off by hype and counterclaims.
Today Cabinet minister Chris Grayling refused nine times on BBC Radio 4 to say if Mr Johnson was right to compare the EU with Adolf Hitler. He said the former Mayor had made a historians point.
The most significant change since April is that Conservatives have gone from being marginally in favour of leaving to a clear 60 per cent saying they would vote Remain.
But Leave supporters are more determined to vote than Remainers which could mean a higher turnout by them on June 23 and are more unwavering in their views.
Gideon Skinner, head of political research at Ipsos MORI, said: Remain has been boosted by a Conservative swing, but they are also more likely to change their mind, so in this volatile election, with voters divided over the short and long-term impacts of their decision, nothing can be taken for granted.
The survey confirmed the biggest issues for potential voters are the economy, followed by immigration and the ability of the UK to make its own laws. Around half of Brexiteers listed immigration as a key concern.
Even among Brexiteers, 18 per cent admit the economy will suffer in the short term after leaving the EU, but over three quarters are convinced it will do better in the longer run.
The poll also found the Conservatives are two points ahead of Labour, at 36 per cent and 34 per cent, with Ukip on 10 and the Lib-Dems on eight.
Should we stay or should we go? Join the Standard Brexit debate
ON JUNE 23 the country will make a historic decision about its future: should we remain in the European Union or go it alone?
With the polls in the balance we ask what is best for London. The two opposing sides will go head-to-head at a major public debate.
London is a global city and the repercussions of the referendum will have a lasting effect on jobs, the economy, culture, migration and our way of life. Which outcome in this monumental vote would be in the best interests of the capital, of Londoners? Should we stay or should we go?
Join the Evening Standard, in partnership with London First, to decide for yourselves.
D avid Cameron was today urged not to deepen splits in the Tory party with a revenge reshuffle if Britain votes to stay in the EU.
MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, a leading Out campaigner, appealed to both sides of the Brexit row to show magnanimity in victory and for the losers to shut up and get on with the things the Tory party agrees about.
If the Remain side wins, Mr Rees-Mogg said: I would be surprised if the Prime Minister would want to behave in a way that would make splits in the party more likely.
A fellow Brexit campaigner, MP Peter Bone, added: Ideas about revenge would be absurd when we want to bring the party together. Robert Halfon, who attends Cabinet as a minister without portfolio, also warned today that the Tories should seek to heal wounds after the referendum on June 23.
This came amid reports that Mr Cameron may sack Culture Secretary John Whittingdale, employment minister Priti Patel and armed forces minister Penny Mordaunt in a post-referendum reshuffle for their strident attacks on the Government or him during the Brexit debate.
Commons Leader Chris Grayling was mooted to escape the axe by not being too critical, while the fates of former Mayor Boris Johnson and Justice Secretary Michael Gove, who have led the Brexit campaign, were still unclear. Energy Secretary Amber Rudd is tipped for promotion.
In a speech in Parliament this evening, Mr Halfon was due to argue that the party had to move on after the referendum from its obsession about Europe and should be the party for working people, aspiration, opportunity and the underdog.
E mployment minister Priti Patel today launched an appeal to save our curry houses by leaving the EU.
Ms Patel warned that curry restaurants were being starved of high-quality chefs by the Governments biased immigration policy, which caps the number of skilled workers from outside the EU.
About three to five restaurants were closing a week, she added. With David Cameron seeking to cut net migration to Britain to below 100,000, Ms Patel, who attends Cabinet, said: Uncontrolled immigration from the EU has led to tougher controls on migrants from the rest of the world.
"This means that we cannot bring in the talents and the skills we need to support our economy. By voting to leave we can take back control of our immigration policies, save our curry houses and join the rest of the world.
Ms Patel, who announced a Save the British Curry Day to take place in June, was backed by Enam Ali MBE, the founder of the British Curry Awards and Spice Magazine, and Pasha Khandaker, the president of the Bangladesh Caterers Association.
Tory MP Paul Scully, chairman of the all-party parliamentary group for the British Curry Catering Industry, raised the issue in Parliament last year.
He added today: It cannot be right that skilled Bangladeshi chefs should be penalised.
Bill of Rights Plans to replace the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights are confirmed but with much detail left out. The deeply controversial proposal faces a rough ride in the Lords. No 10 says it would restore common sense to human rights legislation and be based on the European Convention on Human Rights. Critics say it would undermine the ECHR.
Prisons and Courts Reform Bill Governors of six prisons will be handed unprecedented authority to control their budgets and the day-to-day running of their jails with a focus on tailoring education and rehabilitation programmes for inmates. Courts and tribunals will be updated to deliver faster justice with better use of technology.
Modern Transport Bill Dubbed the Star Trek Bill, it will enable commercial spaceports, with one tipped to open in Cornwall, and bring forward the prospect of drone aircraft delivering parcels to homes and businesses. Driverless pods carrying passengers could be cruising in towns within months under a big push for new transport and clean electric cars.
Counter-Extremism and Safeguarding Bill A major crackdown on the ability of extremists to influence the lives of young people. Unregulated schools which are teaching hate will be closed. The Disclosure and Barring service will be extended to take into account a persons history of extremism, to stop them getting jobs working with children. Ministers will consult on a new civil order regime to restrict extremist activity.
Children and Social Work Bill Laws to smooth permanent adoptions will also see children in care given a new covenant setting out local authorities duties to help them with housing, jobs and healthcare after they leave care. Likely to win cross-party backing.
Digital Economy Bill Every household will get a right to a fast broadband link, and telecoms providers will get more help to build more comprehensive internet and mobile networks at lower cost.
Neighbourhood Planning and Infrastructure Bill Reforms planning system and gives new powers for people to shape developments in their home areas.
Local Growth and Jobs Bill Gives councils powers to keep and invest 100% of business rates, and to vary their level.
Better Markets Bill Makes it easier for utility customers to switch providers.
NHS (Overseas Visitors Charging) Bill Recovers cost of NHS treatment from non-UK residents.
Pensions Bill Removes barriers to accessing pension savings.
Education for All Bill Allows for expansion of academy programme.
National Citizen Service Bill Expands the volunteering scheme for young people and puts it on a permanent footing.
Lifetime Savings Bill Establishes a Help to Save scheme and Lifetime ISAs.
Criminal Finances Bill Introduces criminal offence for companies which fail to stop staff facilitating tax evasion.
Cultural Property (Armed Conflicts Bill) Allows the UK to sign up to international convention protecting cultural artefacts in war zones.
A former senior Tory party aide was killed along with her toddler daughter in an horrific motorway crash, it emerged today.
Businesswoman Becky Hickmore, 37, died with her three-year-old daughter Milly after the familys car swerved off the M4 motorway and smashed into a tree.
Her husband John Taylor, 40, and eldest daughter, Abby, five, were also in the silver Ford Focus when it crashed near Reading earlier this month.
They are both understood to have been released from hospital and are thought to be currently staying with relatives.
Ms Hickmore, who worked for the Conservative Party treasurer, was described by distraught colleagues as vibrant and brilliant.
Her husband John Taylor, 40, survived the crash
She also helped run Conservatives Abroad under its chairman Lord Taylor - which represents the partys supporters around the world.
The family, from Hampton in south-west London, are understood to have been driving back to London after a weekend visiting relatives when the crash happened.
Ms Hickmore was pronounced dead at the scene, while Milly died in hospital two days later from her injuries.
Kensington MP Victoria Borwick, who was Ms Hickmores boss at Conservative HQ, told the Standard: It is the most devastating news.
Friends and colleagues have been left devastated after the tragic death of Becky Hickmore
She was such a popular, fun-loving person, so loved by everyone on the team - the sort of girl who people look at and just smile.
Nothing was too much trouble. If it was someones birthday she would bake a cake, she was that kind of person. Ill remember her just always smiling.
After she left we stayed friends and kept in touch. She set up her company when she became a mother because she had wanted to keep working while concentrating on being the best mother at the same time, which was very important to her.
Her husband and daughters meant everything to her.
Ms Hickmore previously worked for the English National Opera before setting up her own virtual office assistant business six years ago when her first daughter was born.
A colleague from the ENO, where she worked under musical director Paul Daniel, said she was hugely popular at the organisation, with members performing at her wedding.
She said: She was passionate about opera and helped steer the organisation through a very difficult time. I remember her as a brilliant, intelligent, lovely girl.
I know being a mother was incredibly important to her and she was brilliant at it.
For both her and her daughter to die is almost too difficult to comprehend. I feel heartbroken for her other daughter, husband and the rest of her family.
Mr Taylor, a trombonist in a swing band, was too distraught to speak about the tragedy today.
In an online tribute, Conservatives Abroad director Lesley Taylor said: Beckys creativity, dedication, understanding and hard work ensured that Conservatives Abroad was given a new lease of life and gave a platform from which I was able to build when I took over the reins in 2004.
I would like to extend condolences to Beckys husband John, her daughter Abby, their family and friends for the loss of such a vibrant young lady.
From the chairmen and members who were fortunate to come into contact with Becky. May she and Milly rest in peace.
Mrs Hickmore, an Exeter University graduate, was personal assistant to the Conservative Party Treasurer at Central Office where she worked until 2004, when she moved to become PA for the music director of the ENO.
Thames Valley Police are continuing to investigate the fatal crash and are appealing for witnesses to come forward.
Driver Sue Cumbes, from Portsmouth, witnessed the scene at lunchtime on May 7 as motorists jumped from their cars in a desperate effort to save the family.
She told the Standard: We were driving home when we saw a lorry had stopped. This mother was just lying on the hard shoulder, there was nobody near her, it was awful. There were a couple of people trying to help the children escape the wreckage through the back window.
Seeing that poor woman lying there not moving was the worst thing I have ever seen. My thoughts are with her family.
Detective Sergeant Ashley Hannibal, from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit at Thames Valley Police, said: We are appealing for any witnesses who have not yet been spoken to by police to get in touch.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank the many members of the public who stopped and helped immediately after the collision prior to the emergency services arrival.
T he headmistress of a private girls school has said she loves wearing high heeled shoes, in the wake of a row over sexist dress codes.
Jenny Brown, head of St Albans High School, spoke after temp-worker Nicola Thorp hit the headlines for being sent home from a receptionist job for wearing flat shoes.
Mrs Brown, 46, said she acknowledged it was not healthy to clamp your toes into a ludicrous, masochistic machine for hours on end because it is very bad for your ankles, back and hip joints too.
And she admitted women should not dress to please the opposite sex.
But she added that women look better when wearing heels with formal suits. She said: I understand and accept all arguments, but heres my Achilles heel: I still love my high shoes.
They are the final flourish for formal wear; suits just dont look as good without them.
And they are beautiful in their tapering leanness, their sinuous arches and the magic physics of them - holding with perfect precision and pressure such weight on a pinpoint heel.
Mrs Brown said she wants her pupils to feel confident in shoes that make them feel comfortable and she was glad the issue had been raised.
J unior doctors have thrashed out a deal with Jeremy Hunt they hope will end their long-running dispute over out-of-hours contracts, it has been announced.
Arbitration service Acas said this afternoon that the Government and British Medical Association (BMA) had come to an agreement on how to move forward following 10 days of talks.
The BMA said any deal would need to be put before junior doctors in a ballot.
It follows a wave of industrial action launched by junior doctors in recent months, which saw thousands of operations cancelled.
Under the deal, Saturdays and Sundays will attract premium pay if doctors - the vast majority of whom are expected to - work seven or more weekends in a year.
Doctors will receive a percentage of their annual salary for working these weekends - ranging from 3% for working one weekend in seven to up to 10% if they work one weekend in two.
Any night shift - on any day - which starts at or after 8pm and lasts more than eight hours, and which finishes at or by 10am the following day, will also result in an enhanced pay rate of 37% for all the hours worked.
The deal also sets out systems of payment for doctors who are on call.
This allowance is applied as 8% of basic pay over and above any weekend allowance that has been paid.
Across the board, there will be an average basic pay increase of between 10% and 11%, down from the 13% put forward originally by the Government.
There are also new agreements aimed at reducing discrimination to anyone who takes leave to care for others, such as new mothers or those on parental leave.
This includes accelerated training support to enable people to catch up, such as mentoring and study leave funding.
Some elements of the new contract, if approved in the BMA's ballot of junior doctors, will be implemented in August and all junior doctors will move on to the new terms between October and August 2017.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "We welcome this significant agreement which delivers important changes to the junior doctors' contract necessary to deliver a safer seven day NHS.
"The talks have been constructive and positive and highlighted many areas outside the contract where further work is necessary to value the vital role of junior doctors and improve the training and support they are given.
"This deal represents a definitive step forward for patients, for doctors and for the NHS as a whole."
Dr Johann Malawana, BMA junior doctor committee chair, said: "Following intense but constructive talks, we are pleased to have reached agreement.
"Junior doctors have always wanted to agree a safe and fair contract, one that recognises and values the contribution junior doctors make to the NHS, addresses the recruitment and retention crisis in parts of the NHS and provides the basis for delivering a world-class health service.
"I believe that what has been agreed today delivers on these principles, is a good deal for junior doctors and will ensure that they can continue to deliver high-quality care for patients.
"This represents the best and final way of resolving the dispute and this is what I will be saying to junior doctors in the weeks leading up to the referendum on the new contract."
Last week, arbitration service Acas announced that negotiations would be extended for three additional days following a week of "intensive" negotiations between the two parties.
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 postponed, on top of almost 25,000 procedures cancelled during previous action.
Additional reporting by the Press Association.
A British jihadist has told how he misses Greggs as well as his friends and family after fleeing for war-torn Syria.
The Islamic State fighter, who gives his name as Abu Abdullah Britani and speaks with a London accent, made the comments in a video interview posted on YouTube by an online news organisation.
He speaks with his face covered while wearing sunglasses to conceal his identity, which he says is to protect his family from the British Government.
In the 30-minute conversation, Britani tells American journalist Bilal Abdul Kareem: "I miss home. I miss some of my friends, some of my family, some of my family I really miss.
"I miss Greggs."
He then adds: "I miss some foods, but for me this is a material view. I wouldn't want to make decisions based on my stomach."
Britani also uses the interview, conducted in a trench in Syria, to say he felt compelled to travel to the country to avenge the rape of sisters and the killing of children - although he admits it is bloodthirsty.
At one point he admits to being scared during gunfights and shelling and says he has been injured in fighting.
It comes after the Evening Standard revealed claims yesterday that London's maximum security Belmarsh Prison is "like a jihadi training camp".
T he body of an American man who plunged to his death after falling from a balcony at a luxury hotel has been repatriated.
The 28-year-old, who lived in London, died after falling about 20 feet at the St Moritz Hotel near Trebetherick, Cornwall.
The man, who suffered a serious head injury, was airlifted to Derriford Hospital but was later pronounced dead.
A Devon and Cornwall Police spokesman told the Standard the man lives in London but was an American and his body has since been flown back to his home country.
The Daily Mirror reported a party was being held in the grounds of the hotel on May 1 when the incident happened.
A source told the newspaper: There is a suggestion that the guest may have locked himself out of his villa and tried to climb on to a balcony to get in.
In a statement, a spokesman for the hotel said the duty manager and night porter were informed of an accident outside one of the privately-owned villas within the hotel complex.
Emergency services were called at about 1am, the spokesman said.
The statement continued: Given the understandable distress of the other guests who were staying with the individual within the villa, the St Moritz Hotel team arranged for these guests to be settled into alternative accommodation on site and continued to care for the party at this extremely difficult time.
The team wishes to pass its condolences to the family involved, and remains at the villa owners' disposal for any assistance that can be given at any time.
A police spokesman added: The incident is being treated as sudden death and a file is being prepared for the coroner.
The mans next of kin have been informed.
During the Google I/O on March 18, 2016, Google is expected to reveal its plan to access the Google Play Store from the chromebook. (Photo : YouTube/ CNET)
Google I/O is happening on May 18, Wednesday, at Shoreline Ampitheatre in Mountain View, and everyone is waiting for the tech giant's announcement in the event. Talks about Android VR, Android wear and Android N surfaced, but until then, noone really knows what Google is going to reveal.
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There have been many speculations on what the tech giant has been cooking up for the past 12 months. Here are four things that may be included in the Google I/O:
Android N
Google is known in introducing the developer preview of its latest version of Android every year in its annual Google I/O keynote, but this would not be the case this time. Google gave a preview of its Android N with split-screen multitasking, automated power saving feature and sharp design a few months back. However, the company may include Android N's new tweaks in Google I/O 2016, according to Engadget.
Android wear
It has been quite some time after Google introduced its first Android Wear watches two years ago. This time, developers think that the tech giant may include new development with this product.
A session with a group of panelists in the second day of I/O called "What's new in Android Wear," may finally reveal what is in-store with this Android wear platform. If this happens, fans could expect an Android Wear 2.0.
Android VR
Another Google product that is expected in I/O is Android VR that is hitting the headlines for nearly a year. Previous reports revealed that Google's Android would become a sort of VR platform. There had been speculations that Google would release a cardboard-style VR headset that is designed to fit the phone screens instead of the usual built-in ones.
Chrome OS
Meanwhile, it is also expected that Google will include Chrome OS in its agenda in the event, according to Tech Crunch. In April, a user viewed a notification that said, "Enable Android Apps to run on your Chromebook."
Another user was also almost able to access Google Play from the Chromebook after a few hours. With no clear details yet, Google is expected to talk more about this during the event.
Apart from the mentioned, there have been expectations that Google may also be revealing more of its Project Tango and Google Chirp in the I/O. Check out the video below and get more details about what to expect at the Google I/O event:
T he mother of a missing British man today broke down in tears during a TV interview as she was told her son was at a medical facility in Spain six years after he went missing.
Jim and Pauline Green from Sittingbourne, Kent, last saw their son Matthew in 2010 when he told them he was visiting friends in London.
The couple are now set for an emotional reunion after they were informed earlier this month that their son was found alive.
On Tuesday, it emerged the parents were not initially told Mr Greens precise location by authorities because of data protection rules.
Emotional: Pauline Green wept as she discussed her son's six year disappearance on This Morning / Rex
Speaking to ITVs This Morning, they said a staff member at a Spanish medical unit contacted them and invited them to visit him.
Mrs Green, 63, wept in front of the cameras as she discussed the breakthrough with presenters Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield.
She said: This person texted me last night and it was a Spanish number. He or she said they needed to contact me.
They said 'I am trying to send an email, but it's not successful. I sent him my email address and heard nothing, so I went to bed.
Missing: Matthew Green has located at a Spanish psychiatric unit / Missing People
Just after 5am I thought I would see if this person had tried to contact and that's when I saw this email."
Mrs Green added she had considered whether her son may not want to resume contact with her after six years.
She said: I have thought about that but I have also thought that there must be a glimmer, that he does want us back in his life.
Interview: This Morning presenters Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield spoke to the parents today / Rex
I think we have just got to cling on to whatever we can, with the hope that he can get better and then we can go from there.
The couple appeared alongside criminologist Mark Williams Thomas, who has helped them track down their son.
Mr Green became known to Spanish authorities following concerns for his welfare.
Mr Green, 64, said: It has been a roller-coaster from not knowing for six years. When you get information like this, your emotions are running.
It just shows you the power of the media and social media.
T he Mayor of London today attacked the Prime Minister and government over radicalisation in prisons, claiming they were utterly clueless as to what to do about the problem.
Sadiq Khan said that yesterdays revelations that Belmarsh prison was like a training camp for extremists were deeply worrying but should not come as a surprise.
What is heartbreaking is that warnings about rising extremism in our jails were made by the Chief Inspector of Prisons as far back as 2010 only to be ignored for six years, he said.
Yesterdays expose in the Standard is a massive wake up call to David Cameron and his Justice Secretary Michael Gove. Clearly there is radicalisation taking place inside our prisons and they need to get a grip and do much, much more.
The Prime Minister now faced a perfect storm, Mr Khan said in an interview with the Standard.
Under this government, our prisons have become increasingly overcrowded and under-staffed so we are warehousing criminals instead of reforming them, and creating dens of violence.
This amplifies the problem and is fertile ground for turning vulnerable young men into potential extremists.
"We should be able to do better because in prison you have a cohort of people 24 hours a day at your disposal. Instead the Government have allowed prisons to become universities of crime and radicalisation.
Mr Khan referred to opportunities missed by the Government, including a detailed report in December 2013 by the Prime Ministers task force on tackling extremism that devoted only a few brief paragraphs to radicalisation in prisons.
Although the report acknowledged that it is not acceptable for terrorists and extremists to use their time behind bars to radicalise other prisoners, the task forces recommended response to deploy Muslim chaplains to challenge the extremists appears to have been subverted, he said.
Recent press reports have questioned why Ahtsham Ali, the government adviser overseeing the approval of Muslim prison chaplains, had appointed 140 imams who follow hard-line Deobandi interpretations of Islam.
Mr Khan, who made tackling extremism one of his election pledges, said: The testimony of the former Belmarsh inmate turned whistleblower as told to the Evening Standard is that many prison imams turn a blind eye or even support extremists.
"We urgently need some quality assurance around which chaplains are allowed into prisons and what form of Islam they preach.
He added that he would be seeking discussions with Mr Gove to address the problem of the imams and to push for an extension of his powers to tackle youth justice and probation.
Asked what else should be done, Mr Khan said: We have to achieve two things to de-radicalise and rehabilitate the extremists, and to make sure that ordinary prisoners do not come out radicalised.
This will take vetting of imams as well as proper training of prison officers to spot extremists and preachers of hate and most importantly to give vulnerable prisoners resilience.
A Ministry of Justice source said of Justice Secretary Michael Gove: He set up the first ever review of Islamist extremism in prisons. The idea Michael Gove wont deal with extremism is total nonsense.
A Prison Service spokesman said: We are not complacent in the slightest about the risks posed by Islamist extremism. That is why we have undertaken a comprehensive review of how the prison system deals with this issue. We will set out next steps in due course.
T ributes have been paid to a lovely and funny Polish teenage girl who was found dead at her school after she complained about racism.
The pupil, named as Dagmara Przybysz, was pronounced dead at the Pool Academy in Cornwall on Tuesday after police and paramedics were called at around 2.15pm.
Police said they are investigating the circumstances surrounding her death but added it is not being treated as suspicious.
Today, her school described her as a beautiful, bright and creative pupil while friends added she was lovely and funny on a Facebook page set up in her memory.
In a statement, her school said: It is with overwhelming sadness that the principal, governors and staff of Pool Academy can confirm the tragic, sudden death of one of our students.
We are deeply shocked and saddened by the loss of Dagmara Przybysz.
Dagmara was a beautiful, bright and creative 16 year old student with a very promising future ahead of her. She was passionate about fashion and photography. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Dagmaras family and friends at this difficult time.
Principal Zelma Hill added: The loss of Dagmara is heart-breaking. We are supporting students, staff and their families through this terrible time.
A Facebook post read: I only met her once, and she is very lovely and funny, I'd heard plenty of stories but until I met her, I didn't realise that she was such a lovely girl."
Another said an event was being planned on Sunday to remember a beautiful girl who will be missed beyond belief.
The 16-year-old is understood to have moved from Poland with her family to live in Cornish town Redruth.
Two years ago, Dagmara said she suffered from racist taunts on website ask.fm.
When asked about what problems she encountered at school, she replied racism.
Inspector John Hannaford, Sector Inspector for Camborne and Redruth, said: We understand this is a very distressing time for the family and the school.
We are working closely with them and will offer support where required. Our thoughts remain with family at this difficult time.
For confidential support on mental health call the Samaritans on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or attend a local Samaritans branch.
S he danced semi-naked in a thong in the music video that catapulted her to fame and, more recently, courted the wrath of Piers Morgan by posing for a topless selfie with Kim Kardashian.
But Emily Ratajkowski, 24, who has been named one of the worlds sexiest women by both GQ and Esquire, says she is a committed feminist who has no apologies about posing nude.
The model and actress was propelled into the spotlight in 2013 after appearing in Pharrell and Robin Thickes video for their single Blurred Lines.
In it, the male artists performed fully clothed as Ratajkowski and two other female models danced topless. The song was banned at universities across the UK.
Speaking about the video to ES Magazine, she said: Like any art, theres a million ways to interpret it.
"All I can say is that when a woman is naked, thats not immediately anti-feminist. I have no apologies for it, and Im not ashamed at all.
In March, Ratajkowski posed topless with Kardashian, who had been criticised earlier in the month for posting a censored but fully naked selfie to her 70 million Instagram followers.
Media commentators including Morgan, 51, criticised the reality TV star but Ratajkowski leapt to Kardashians defence, tweeting: Love when a man comments on a womans decision to post a nude photo. Her body, her career. Sexist bullshit.
Speaking to ES Magazine, she said: [Morgan was] talking about the fact Kim is 35 and a mother and that were over seeing her in a sexual light, which I had a lot of problems with.
Infamous: Emily Ratajkowski with Robin Thicke in his video for Blurred Lines
He also implied that her husband [Kanye West] was writing her tweets, as if she isnt capable of writing them herself, which to me is incredibly sexist.
There are lots of [criticisms] I can understand one might have about the Kardashians and reality TV. But even someone who you might be critical of is allowed to post a naked selfie if she wants to.
She called Morgan an attention-seeker, adding: Then we decided to do a selfie with our tops off, flipping off the camera, which I think speaks for itself.
Kim Kardashian West's most revealing numbers yet 1 /25 Kim Kardashian West's most revealing numbers yet Latest snap Kim poses in the nude for yet another mirror selfie Kim Kardashian Paper Magazine Launches Winter Issue to Break the Internet with Kim Kardashian on the cover Jean Paul-Goude/Paper Magazine Big reveal Hands down the most revealing Kim pic ever has to be this GQ shot from her recent cover star stint at the mag. Thank goodness for those stilettos! (Photo credit: @kimkardashian) Kim Kardashian/Twitter Kim Kardashian Bikini Bum Selfie 2013 Kim Kardashian/Twitter Kinda covered Yes, probably one of her more modest snaps but let's be honest from a distance it looks like it's see through (Photo credit: @kimkardashian) Yeezus pop up See what we mean about it being kinda hard to capture her without it being revealing... (Photo credit: @kimkardashian) Kim Kardashian/Twitter Popping out Captioned "Celfie" the star looked like she was bursting out (Photo credit: @kimkardashian) Kim Kardashian/Twitter Barely there Mrs West paid a visit to JustJared's founder Jare Deng and we just don't know how she held everything in - we've seen bikini's with more support! (Photo credit: @kimkardashian) Kim Kardashian/Twitter Holding in Holding them in at the Valentino Fall Winter 2014-15 Haute Couture fashion collection (Photo credit: AP Photo/Francois Mori) Francois Mori/AP Holiday frolics The reality TV star bared all as she rolled around in the sand in Thailand on KUWTK (Photo credit: @kimkardashian) Kim Kardashian/Twitter Baby bump Kim Kardashian doesn't let being pregnant stop her dressing up Michael Loccisano/Getty Images Figure-hugging Kim loves a spot of bright pink latex. Who doesn't? Scott Barbour/Getty Images Keeping it sheer Kim's look for the Met Ball back in 2014 left little to the imagination Larry Busacca/Getty Images JonathanCheban and Kim Kardashian attend Heidi Klum's 2010 Halloween Party at Lavo on October 31, 2010 in New York City Bryan Bedder/Getty Images Kim Kardashian West attends the Hype Energy Drinks U.S. Launch on June 2, 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee Rick Diamond/Getty Images Kim Kardashian at 57th Annual Grammy Awards, Arrivals, Los Angeles, America Rex Kim Kardashian attend the VIOLET GREY & Cassandra Huysentruyt Grey Host Artist In Residence Donald Robertson on August 20, 2014 in Los Angeles, California Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images Kim Kardashian 34th Birthday Party at TAO Nightclub, Las Vegas Rex Kim Kardashian attends the GQ Men Of the Year awards in association with Hugo Boss at the Royal Opera House in 2014 Dave Benett
The American, who was born in London and lived in West Kensington as a child, is the daughter of two academics Kathleen Balgley, a professor of English, and art teacher John Ratajkowski. She is currently reading Vagina: A New Biography by Naomi Wolf and says she takes after her mother in her views on feminism.
[My mother] always told me never to feel sorry or apologetic or embarrassed by my body, to never apologise for my sexuality, she said.
Every woman, whether or not theyre comfortable with the term feminist, probably wants to be equal to men and that is fundamentally what feminism is about.
To me it means talking about the way we look at women and how we judge women differently than how we judge men also it is about paid maternity leave, equal pay for women
But Ratajkowski, who appeared in Gone Girl in 2014 and last years We Are Your Friends, says her looks do inhibit her acting career. If youre a sexy actress its hard to get serious roles, she said. You get offered the same thing that theyve seen you in.
People are like sheep and theyre like, Oh, thats what she does well. Whats so dumb is that women are 50 per cent of the population and they want to spend money to see movies where theyre portrayed as three-dimensional characters.
R upert Everett today paid tribute to Oscar Wilde as a patron saint figure as he received sensational reviews for playing his hero in the New York transfer of The Judas Kiss.
Everett, star of My Best Friends Wedding and Another Country, is appearing as Wilde at the Brooklyn Academy of Arts and Music following the debut of Sir David Hares play at Hampstead Theatre and its subsequent hit West End run.
Everett, 56, told the Standard after opening night: Oscar Wilde is a character I feel very attached to.
"For me hes a patron saint figure or even a Christ figure because in one sense he was crucified and then came back to life and for the gay movement he was the beginning... but hes Christ with a twist because hes God and Man brilliant and thick as a plank.
The Judas Kiss has largely been re-cast for New York with London actor Charlie Rowe playing Lord Alfred Douglas, known as Bosie, whose relationship with Wilde led to his imprisonment.
Everett said: Having new cast members has made us re-invent the play slightly so in one sense its been better doing it here.
He said audiences help keep the role fresh for him: We played in Toronto before this where we had a passive audience and that makes you question everything.
On the eighth day of Christmas... Rupert Everett backs GOSH appeal
"When you have lively audiences, like weve had in Brooklyn, they lift you up.
Critics raved about Everetts performance, with the New York Times saying he makes every small gesture resonate while The Hollywood Reporter said his performance deserves to become legendary.
Everett, who came out as gay in 1989, described playing the role in London on the night gay marriage was legalised in 2013 as amazing.
He has previously been reported to be sceptical of gay marriage but said this was invented by the press.
After the plays run finishes in mid-June he will begin work on The Happy Prince, a film of Wildes final days which he has written and will star in, as well as making his debut as a director.
Typhoon Survivors Continue To Rebuild Their Lives During The Festive Season (Photo : Getty Images)
Chinese fishing vessels illegally operating on Philippine waters thought they could fool the countrys coast guard by flying a Philippine flag. However, they were still arrested because the flag was flown the wrong way.
The red part of the Philippine flag is on top only when the country is at war. However, during peace time, it is the blue part which is on top. And the wrong way the flag was flown was the indicator to Philippine maritime patrols that the two fishing vessels were not owned by locals.
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The 25 crew members of the two Chinese vessels were arrested on Monday off the island of Sabtang in northern Philippines, reported The South China Morning Post. The Philippine Coast Guard escorted the Chinese vessels to the post of Basco in Batanes Province.
Reuters identified the two Chinese vessels as the Shen Lia Cheng and She Kou which had 12 and 13 crew members, respectively. The documents of the vessels showed these are registered in China and had no prior permit to travel on Philippine waters.
James Asis Perez, director of the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, said the government is presuming the apprehended fishermen are in Philippine waters to fish illegally.
Besides the Chinese boats, the coast guard also arrested last week in the same area 18 Vietnamese fisherman on three vessels. The 18 were detained on Thursday off Calayan Island which is 122 kilometers south of Sabtang.
Perez said he ordered state prosecutors to file illegal fishing charges against the Vietnamese fishermen. If convicted, the intruder could be fined up to $1 million for poaching. But no charges have been filed yet against the Chinese fishermen.
Apple is among the U.S. companies being scrutinized through quiet reviews in China. (Photo : Getty Images)
Over the past few months, the FBI and Apple Inc. have been engaged in a stand-off revolving digital information and privacy rights. The government agency and the tech manufacturer are at odds as to whether or not it is legal for the government to obtain information in order to solve a case - specifically the December mass shootings in San Bernardino.
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The battle has been going on for quite some time and it has since attracted the attention of other first world countries including China. In fact, according to several reports, the Chinese government is currently carefully investigating tech products sold in China by foreign manufacturing companies.
The New York Times recently published an article detailing how the Chinese government has been scrutinizing international tech companies - assessing whether or not their products pose a threat to China's national security.
According to the same publication, these reviews are conducted by the Cyberspace Administration of China. Executive from tech corporations like the Apple Inc. are required by Chinese authorities to attend a meeting in person, in which, they would be asked to answer questions regarding their consumer products.
While news about China's new initiative only made the rounds this month, a report from The Beijing News times suggest that the reviews have been happening since early 2015.
The publication previously sat down with the director of the National Internet Information Office Lu Wei in order to discuss his meeting with Apple's Tim Cook. According to Lu, Cook spoke about rumors claiming that Apple Inc. is providing classified information obtained through their products to third parties. He wanted to reassure Lu and the rest of the agency that Apple simply does not divulge sensitive information.
The reviews conducted by the Chinese government is not unique by all means, as the British and the United States' authorities employ the same scrutiny when it comes to certain military grade tech products. However, unlike the British and the U.S. government, the Chinese seem to be targeting products that are sold to the general public. The reviews are worrisome considering how it may result to blocking certain foreign made products from entering the Chinese market.
The court asked the state to provide certified maps and documents supporting the validity of the agreement, lawyer says
An Egyptian administrative court postponed on Tuesday a hearing in a lawsuit against the government's decision to redraw maritime boarders to put two Red Sea islands under Saudi control.
The hearing for the lawsuit, filed by leftist lawyer Khaled Ali, is set for 7 June.
Ali said on his Facebook page on Tuesday that the court asked the state to provide certified maps and documents supporting the validity of the agreement.
The deal, which was made last month when Saudi King Salman visited Cairo, caused widespread controversy in Egypt, with dozens of protesters taking to street to oppose the deal.
Dozens were arrested for participating in the protests, including renowned human rights lawyer Malek Adly, who was also collecting signatures supporting the filing of this lawsuit. Adly is still in jail.
Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said in a public speech that state institutions have documents proving the islands are in fact Saudi.
The agreement, which allows Egypt to use shared Red Sea waters for the excavation of natural resources, should be discussed by the House of Representatives for ratification.
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Ill be eating at McDonalds for dinner tonight.
In March of 1993, I went on the internet for the first time. One of the first 10 people I met was a guy from England who went by the name Gereth. Most people today know him as my husband, Paul. We spoke to each other frequently, sometimes several hours a day, typing messages to each other on ISCA BBS. ISCA is the acronym for the Iowa Student Computer Associations bulletin board system. It used to be one of the largest gatherings of students around the world.
During the Summer and Fall of 1995, after moving away from our respective colleges, we had little to no access to the internet. So we wrote letters. Paul and I were to meet in December of 1995, along with my friend Misty and another Brit, Peter, at my moms house in New York. Our plan was to spend New Years Eve in New York City.
Paul took a bus from his hometown of Preston to London, a four hour drive, to fly to America. He arrived on Dec. 27, 1995. Although everyone was tired, we piled into my grandmas van and drove six and a half hours to Niagara Falls in Canada.
On New Years Eve, Paul and I had split from Misty and Pete to see different things. I dont remember where they went that day, but we went to the American Museum of Natural History. We planned to meet in Times Square to watch the ball drop. At 7 p.m., no one could get closer than two or three blocks to Times Square. On the east side of Times Square, the air was putrid, fill with the stench of alcohol and vomit. On the west side was the smell of marijuana. A slight haze of smoke was everywhere.
Frustrated, Paul and I decided to return to our hotel. Upon arriving in our room, Misty and Pete were already there. They had given up, too. We watched the ball drop on an old, black and white television, a luxury at our discount hotel that also welcomed transients.
When Misty returned to Nebraska and Pete to England, Paul stayed. He returned to England three months later to pack his belongings, returning to America March 1, 1996. As his tourist visa was nearing an end, we decided on May 18 to get married. We chose the date because it was the day that Paul first told me he loved me. He remembers these things. Im not good with dates and figures. Im good with details, how the air smelled, what noises were occurring and what we did, but dont ask me what day it was. I wont remember unless I wrote it down.
We went down to City Hall and registered for a marriage license. On Saturday, May 18, 1996, we went to see the judge. He asked us if we had any witnesses. Uh, no, I responded, a little bewildered. I didnt know I needed any at City Hall. The judge went into the break room where some police officers were eating lunch and asked if one of them would be a witness. I still dont know that cops name.
I had to be at work 30 minutes later. We only had a little bit of money, just enough to grab something at McDonalds. I had the #2, two cheeseburger meal, Paul the #1 Big Mac meal. Its the same meal weve eaten each May 18.
In the following 20 years, weve done the one thing we both love more than anything else travel. Weve toured the White House. Weve met and attended the weddings of friends in The Netherlands weve met online. Weve argued over travel directions in Italy, circling the same roundabout 15 times. We celebrated a new century in Paris and watched a dear friend get married in Dar es Saalam. We laugh now about the dinner in Tanzania where it was so late, Paul fell asleep at the table and knocked over his beer on me.
We climbed to the top of the Twin Towers in New York City and visited Charlemagnes museum in Aachen. Weve walked through Nazi resistance tunnels in Maastrict and witnessed storm devastation in Versailles. Weve climbed Mt. Vesuvius and the Duomo. Weve marveled at the Colosseum, laughed at old men pointing at naked people painted on the walls in Pompeii and have seen marvelous wonders of the world.
Soon, we will travel to Greece to visit my friend Gert, the first person I met online, and his wife, Evangelia. Dinner tonight at McDonalds will be the start of the next 20-year journey with Paul, someone I cant imagine sharing my experiences and love of the beauty in this world without.
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Mauritania's supreme court on Tuesday ordered that a group of anti-slavery activists including a former presidential candidate be set free after downgrading the crimes of which they were found guilty in 2015.
"The Mauritanian supreme court ordered that Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid and Brahim Ould Bilal be freed," Brahim Ould Ebetty, a lawyer for two of the men, told AFP. They were convicted of public order offences relating to a campaign against the problematic issue of slavery practices that persist in the country.
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Rival Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas welcome El-Sisi's comments on need for peaceful settlement to Palestinian-Israeli conflict
The mainstream Palestinian Fatah movement has hailed a recent call by Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Palestinians and Israelis to reach a peaceful settlement to the decades-long conflict.
Osama Al-Qawasmi, spokesperson for the Fatah movement of the Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas, expressed his movements complete readiness to respond to every initiative that contributes to the achievement of national unityto reach freedom and independence."
He said, in comments carried by Egypt's state news agency MENA on Tuesday that El-Sisi's remarks reflect Egypts attention to the interests of the Palestinian people, their issues and national rights.
The Egyptian leader called on the Palestinians and Israelis to seize what he described as a "realistic" and "great" opportunity to reach a peaceful solution, citing the Egypt-Israel peace treaty as an example of the positive outcome of negotiations, while also pledging that Cairo would make every effort to find a solution.
El-Sisi said there will be a warmer peace [between Egypt and Israel] if we provide a solution for our Palestinian brothersand give hope to Palestinians to establish a state and offer guarantees for both countries.
Al-Qwaasmi stressed that ending the Israeli occupation and establishing the Palestinian state is the key to real peace and stability.
MENA reported earlier on Tuesday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also welcomed El-Sisi's "willingness to make efforts to achieve fair peace and establish the Palestinian state.
The rival Islamic Hamas group, which rules Gaza, also welcomed El-Sisis comments, expressing in a statement its readiness to deal with all the efforts to achieve reconciliation and restore national unity.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said his country was ready to join Egypt and other Arab states in "advancing the peace process and stability in the region."
On Tuesday, El-Sisi expressed his backing of an upcoming international conference in France to launch peace talks, an initiative already rejected by Netanyahu, who believes direct negotiations were the only way to resolve the conflict.
The gathering of ministers has been postponed from May to June to ensure the United States would attend.
The meeting is set to include the Middle East Quartet - which comprises the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations - the Arab League, the UN Security Council and about 20 other countries, without Israeli or Palestinian participation.
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Wednesday, 18 May 2016 00:07:34 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo
Gerdau-owned steelmaker Sipar is expected to start production at its new mill in the city of Perez, in the greater Rosario area, by the end of 2016, said Argentinian government news agency, Telam.
The companys start is in line with a Gerdaus recent H2 estimate for the mill, which is expected to expand Sipars current 260,000 mt/year finished capacity at its Rosario rolling mill to 650,000 mt/year to meet the demands of both the domestic and the export markets.
Fernando Lombardo, Gerdaus director in Argentina , said the local Argentinian steel market is currently operating at the limit of its long steel capacity.
Gerdaus Sipar mill would help the local industry to expand long steel capacity.
According to Telam, Argentina has a 1.7 million mt/year long steel capacity, which could be expanded by 40 percent with Sipar.
Wednesday, 18 May 2016 14:28:18 (GMT+3) | Istanbul
Turkish pipe producer Borusan Mannesmann has announced that it will supply 12-24.5 meter pipes with 36 inch diameter for the Tuxpan-Tula gas line project in Mexico. The pipes will be produced in its spirally welded pipe plant located in the northwestern Turkish city of Gemlik between June and August this year and will be shipped to Tuxpan port in Mexico starting in July.
The pipe producer said that, with this tender worth $33 million, Mexico will receive 24.5 meter pipes from an overseas supplier for the first time.
The gas pipeline scheduled to be completed in 2017 will transfer gas to power plants located in Veracurz, Puebla and Hidalgo.
The plant, which is expected to start production by the end of 2017, will produce 300,000 mt of rebar per year once fully operational.
Wednesday, 18 May 2016 11:17:10 (GMT+3) | San Diego
The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has announced final dumping and subsidy margins for Chinese and Japanese exporters of certain cold rolled coil ( CRC ) products.
Accordingly, the DOC affirmed the preliminary dumping margins of 265.79 percent and 71.35 percent for China and Japan , respectively, as well as the subsidy rate of 227.29 percent for China
These margins will be applied as definitive duties if the US International Trade Commission ( US ITC) makes an affirmative finding in its final ruling which is scheduled for June 30. If the US ITC makes a negative ruling, the antidumping and the countervailing duty investigations will be terminated.
The DOC is yet to make a final ruling on the remaining countries involved in the same duty investigations, namely, Brazil, India, South Korea, Russia and the United Kingdom, on July 13.
Wednesday, 18 May 2016 16:26:27 (GMT+3) | Istanbul
According to market sources, ex-Ukraine hot rolled coil (HRC) offers to Greece are currently at 440/mt ($497/mt) CFR, while Ukrainian exporters' HRC offers to Bulgaria are now at $480/mt CFR.
1 = $1.13
Egyptian authorities released one of the founders of 6 April 6 Movement, Sherif Al- Rouby, pending further investigations on charges including inciting protests, his lawyer has said.
Al-Rouby was arrested last month along with dozens of other protesters during demonstrations against the Egyptian governments decision to transfer the two Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia.
A Cairo criminal court ordered his release last week on EGP 1,000 bail pending a probe into charges including inciting protests and belonging to a terrorist group, in reference to the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood. But he remained in custody until he was released late on Tuesday.
Al-Rouby was released from a Giza police station after having paid the LE 1000 bail, lawyer Sameh Samir told Aswat Masriya news website.
Ahmed Maher and Mohamed Adel, the founders of the April 6 Youth movement which helped ignite the 2011 popular uprising, along with the group's coordinator Amr Ali, are currently serving three-year prison sentences for contravening the countrys controversial protest law, which bans all but police-sanctioned protests.
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The clash of titans -- New Hampshire's popular Democratic governor, Maggie Hassan, versus the state's popular GOP senator, Kelly Ayotte, -- remains a toss-up and is likely to stay that way for the rest of this race.
Yes, Hassan had to face down some headlines last month about her husband's involvement in a prep school scandal, but Republicans' attempt to make that stick don't seem to have worked. Hassan recently went up with a widely praised positive ad, though she is $4 million behind Ayotte in fundraising right now.
Meanwhile, Ayotte is in the running for most awkward response to Trump as nominee: She'll support the nominee but she won't endorse Trump. This race is still too close to call.
HANOVER, Germany It's not just computers and mobile phones that are vulnerable to cyber attack, according to software firm Trend Micro. As more devices are hooked up to the Internet, it could be anything from medical equipment to industrial machinery and even sex toys.
To illustrate the point, Trend Micro spokesman Udo Schneider surprised journalists at a news conference this week by placing a large, neon-pink vibrator on the desk in front of him and then bringing it to life by typing out a few lines of code on his laptop.
While the stunt provoked sheepish giggles, the message was sobering. As the number of smart, interactive devices connected to the Internet explodes, concern is mounting about insufficient safeguards and a lack of consumer and employee awareness.
"If I hack a vibrator it's just fun," Raimund Genes, Chief Technology Officer at Tokyo-listed Trend Micro, told reporters at the CeBIT technology fair in Hanover.
"But if I can get to the back-end, I can blackmail the manufacturer," he added, referring to the programming system behind a device's interface.
Germany, host of CeBIT and home to world champion manufacturers, offers rich pickings for hackers, and attacks on industrial production sites are rising, according to the government's latest IT Security Report.
'MASSIVE DAMAGE'
In 2014, a German steel mill suffered "massive damage" following a cyber attack on the plant's network. In recent weeks, several German hospitals have come under attack from Ransomware, a virus that encrypts data on infected machines and demands that users pay to get an electronic key to unlock it.
The German government got its own wake-up call last year, when hackers attacked the lower house of parliament's computer network, forcing it to shut down the system for several days and compromising large amounts of data.
"If someone decided to start shooting with a pistol from the roof of the Reichstag (parliament), security guards would be all over them. But when data are siphoned off for months, no one bats an eyelid," said Dirk Arendt, director of public affairs at Israeli cyber security firm Check Point Software Technologies. "There is a lack of awareness."
Responding to the growing cyber threat, Germany approved an IT security law last July that orders 2,000 providers of critical infrastructure to implement minimum security standards and report serious breaches or face penalties.
Fifty-one percent of companies have been victims of digital espionage, data theft or sabotage in the past two years, according to IT lobby group Bitkom.
The threat is more acute among Germany's small-to-medium-sized manufacturers, known as the Mittelstand, where two-thirds of firms registered attacks. As companies move to connect machinery to the Internet to enable it to collect and exchange data and make it easier to control remotely, 84 percent of managers expect the risks to rise, according to Deutsche Telekom's Cyber Security Report.
While Germans are vigilant about data protection because of their experience of state surveillance by the Stasi secret police in East Germany and the Gestapo under the Nazis, Arendt said more attention needed to be paid to data security.
Employees need to be made aware of the dangers of opening suspicious-looking PDFs in the same way that motorists are warned by giant roadside signs not to speed, he added.
"We only wake up when the damage is done," he said. "There are enough examples of successful hacking cases. Now the next steps need to be taken to get back into a secure area."
($1=0.9002 euros)
Have you ever received care at a hospital that was listed as "in-network" by your insurance company only to find out that the physician or medical group that treated you was considered "out-of-network"?
Did you end up with a bigger-than-expected bill as a result?
If so, we'd like to talk to you.
On April 17, the Post-Dispatch published a story about how more than 1,000 former SSM Health patients were sued for years-old medical debt. Yet, it wasn't the nonprofit, Catholic hospital system that brought the lawsuits.
In 2008, Creve Coeur-based SSM Health hired a third-party contractor to run some of its ERs. That contractor, Lafayette, La.-based Schumacher Clinical Partners, sold the old medical bills to a Las Vegas-based debt collector that is now suing those patients.
After the story ran, we heard from readers who said they were hit with unexpectedly large bills after they showed up at SSM ERs. The reason: While SSM was considered in-network by their health insurer, Schumacher was not.
But SSM isn't the only area health care system that contracts out management of its emergency department. And the practice may extend beyond the ER: pathologists and radiologists also may be out-of-network in your in-network hospital.
If you've received a surprise "out-of-network" bill from your "in-network" hospital, please contact Post-Dispatch reporter Samantha Liss at 314-340-8017 or sliss@post-dispatch.com
Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay $502 million to a group of patients who accused the company of hiding flaws in its Pinnacle artificial hips that caused the devices to prematurely fail and left patients facing surgeries and pain. The verdict was the companys first courtroom loss over the products.
A federal-court jury in Dallas concluded Thursday that artificial hips sold by J&Js DePuy unit under the Pinnacle brand name were defective and company officials knew about the flaws but failed to warn patients and doctors of the risks. They awarded $142 million in actual damages and $360 million in punitive damages to a group of five patients whose hips broke down and had to be surgically removed.
The defendants have tried six different arguments against people with failed implants, said Mark Lanier, an attorney for those who sued. One worked, that the surgeon put it in wrong. The other five havent worked and wont, because it is a defective product.
In an earlier trial, J&J won, using the first argument in a trial with a single plaintiff. Lanier was the attorney for the patient with the implant.
The grounds for appeal are strong and the punitive damages will be reduced to around $10 million subject to the Texas statutory cap, John Beisner, an attorney for the company, said by email.
Mindy Tinsley, a DePuy spokeswoman, said the company acted appropriately and responsibly in the design and testing of the devices. The product is backed by a strong record of safety and effectiveness in reducing pain and restoring mobility for patients, she said in an emailed statement.
The verdict comes in the second trial of about 8,000 lawsuits filed against Johnson & Johnson and DePuy over the metal-on-metal version of the Pinnacle hips. J&J stopped selling the devices in 2013 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration toughened artificial-hip regulations. J&J won the first Pinnacle case heard by a jury in 2014.
The devices werent covered by New Brunswick, N.J.-based J&Js $2.5 billion settlement of claims over another line of artificial hips known as ASRs. J&J recalled 93,000 of those implants worldwide in August 2010, saying 12 percent failed within five years.
The Pinnacle cases have been consolidated before U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade in Dallas for pretrial information exchanges and test trials. Kinkeade agreed to combine five cases selected by plaintiffs attorneys in the most recent trial. About 170,000 DePuy hips were implanted after the devices went on the market in the U.S. in 2000, according to court filings.
Margaret Aoki, Jay Christopher, Donald Greer, Richard Klusmann and Robert Peterson all got Pinnacle Ultamet metal-on-metal hips that failed and had to be surgically removed. Greer, 79, is a plastic surgeon from Chicago, and Klusmann, 68, is a former chief executive of a hospital, according to court filings.
The group said their DePuy hips leached cobalt and chromium material into their bloodstreams, leading to the hips failures and surgical removal. They claimed J&J officials knew their metal-on-metal design would cause such injuries but pushed ahead to rack up billions in sales.
Lanier told jurors in closing arguments that DePuy officials launched an aggressive campaign to market the metal-on-metal hips in the U.S. and across the world.
The effort included paying kickbacks and bribes overseas, paying U.S. doctors millions to tout the devices and misleading doctors and consumers about the safety of the hips, the lawyer said.
SEEDY STORY
Its a seedy story of deception, payoffs and hidden truths, Lanier said. DePuy hip patients are walking time bombs, he said.
Richard Sarver, DePuys lead attorney, countered that the metal-on-metal design was not defective and that each of the five plaintiffs had an individual reason the device failed.
The defect doesnt exist and didnt cause the hips to fail, Sarver said in his closing arguments. The devices may not be perfect, but they are not defective.
Lanier unfairly attempted to paint J&J as a rogue company when it came to selling artificial hips, Sarver said.
This is not a bad company, he told the panel. This company is a good company.
Updated at 12:38 p.m.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked German drugmaker Bayer AG to conduct further studies on its controversial birth control device, Essure, and recommended that the product label contains the most restrictive type of warning.
Essure, acquired by Bayer in 2013, has been the target of thousands of complaints and calls for its withdrawal since it was approved for sale in the United States in 2002.
The device, promoted as an alternative to tubal ligation, consists of two small nickel-titanium coils inserted into the fallopian tubes. Scar tissue that forms around the device is meant to prevent pregnancy.
Complaints have included reports of the device breaking, moving and causing life-altering side-effects ranging from chronic pain and bleeding to autoimmune disorders such as psoriasis and lupus.
The FDA has instructed Bayer to conduct a clinical study to determine heightened risks for some women and has issued draft guidance with labeling recommendations, including a "black box" label warning of serious risks.
The agency also issued a checklist for doctors to use when discussing the risks of implanted permanent birth control devices.
Bayer estimates there are about 750,000 women using Essure worldwide, about 70 percent of them in the United States.
Personal injury lawsuits filed against Bayer have also claimed the implant had caused allergic reactions, severe pelvic pain and required surgeries to stabilize or remove the device.
More than 5,000 adverse events involving Essure have been reported, according to the FDA's website, although the role of the device is not always clear.
Women using the device are more than 10 times likely to require post-procedure surgery than those who undergo laparoscopic sterilization, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal in October.
The FDA also ordered Bayer to conduct a trial designed to provide data on the "real world" risks of using the device.
In September, the FDA called a meeting of its advisory panel to weigh the benefits and risks of Essure.
On Monday, the agency said that while it believed Essure was an appropriate option for most women seeking a permanent form of birth control, some may be at risk of serious complications.
Bayer said it would work with the FDA, while reiterating the positive benefit-risk profile of Essure.
Many members of a 27,000-member Facebook group "Essure Problems" expressed disappointment at the FDA's announcement. The group, as well as consumer watchdog Public Citizen, has been pushing for a ban on the device.
Editor's note: Changes "millions" to "billions" in the fourth paragraph.
NEW YORK Major drug companies took hefty price increases in the U.S., in some cases more than doubling listed charges, for widely used medications over the past five years, a Reuters analysis of proprietary data found.
Prices for four of the nation's top 10 drugs increased more than 100 percent since 2011, Reuters found. Six others went up more than 50 percent. Together, the price increases on drugs for arthritis, high cholesterol, asthma and other common problems added billions in costs for consumers, employers and government health programs.
Extraordinary price hikes by two small companies, Turing Pharmaceuticals and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., drew new attention to drug costs. Turing expected to book $200 million by raising the price of Daraprim, an antiparasitic used for a rare infection, by 5,000 percent, according to company documents released by Congressional investigators.
Routine price increases by bigger players may draw less attention, but they add up. Sales for the top 10 drugs went up 44 percent to $54 billion in 2014, from 2011, even though prescriptions for the medications dropped 22 percent, according to IMS Health data.
At the top of the list was AbbVie Inc., which raised the price of arthritis drug Humira more than 126 percent, Reuters found. Next were Amgen Inc. and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., which raised prices for arthritis treatment Enbrel and multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone by 118 percent.
The increases help explain federal data showing overall spending on drugs rose faster than doctor visits and hospitalization over the past five years.
Reuters based its analysis on the top 10 drugs, according to 2014 sales figures from IMS, and on proprietary pricing data provided by Truven Health Analytics. Reuters used commonly prescribed approved indications. Reuters shared its method and findings with the eight companies that sell the top 10 drugs; none disputed the findings.
In general, drug companies said they set prices to recoup investments in failed drugs, support new research and development efforts, and pay for clinical trials to broaden the use of approved drugs. Also, they said, medications prevent costly hospitalizations.
Some of the companies noted that Reuters' analysis of list prices failed to capture negotiated discounts and rebates information they closely guard. In a few cases, companies offered a limited view into proprietary prices.
Amgen, for instance, told Reuters that, after most discounts, the average sales price for a dose of Enbrel is at least $200 less than list.
And, while Reuters found arthritis drug Remicade went up almost 63 percent, Johnson & Johnson spokeswoman Caroline Pavis said average selling price increases were closer to 5.4 percent per year.
For GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Advair asthma drug, Reuters found a 67 percent increase. But spokeswoman Jenni Ligday said that, with discounts and rebates, prices actually fell during the period.
Even after discounts, pharmacy benefit managers told Reuters they pay annual price increases on top medications of up to 10 percent. By comparison, the U.S. consumer price index rose an average of 2 percent annually over the last five years.
Dr. Steve Miller, chief medical officer of top U.S. pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts Holding Corp, said the current level of drug price increases was "not sustainable."
NEW FOCUS
Drug prices have been a hot topic on the presidential campaign trail and in Congress since Turing hiked Daraprim and Valeant imposed triple-digit price increases on two heart drugs. Adding to the political pressure is the practice among employers and insurers of passing increases onto consumers.
Patricia Calopietro, 70, said she once paid $20 for a three-month supply of Nexium. AstraZeneca Plc raised the list price of the acid reflux drug nearly 50 percent over the past five years, and Calopietro's insurer pushed her out-of-pocket share up to $250. She switched to a cheaper medicine but doesn't like how it works.
"How can I pay something like that? I'm 70 years old, and I'm on a fixed income," said Calopietro, a retired sales manager for the U.S. Army & Air Force Exchange stores from Lorton, Va.
Leading drugmakers say price hikes by Turing and Valeant are outliers. "Our industry invests on average 20 percent of our revenues into research and development. It's a fundamentally different business model," said Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for industry lobby Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA.
Sanofi SA, Teva, Amgen, J&J and AstraZeneca, which all have top 10 drugs, said they offer assistance to low income consumers. AstraZeneca spokeswoman Abigail Bozarth said the company sets prices based on market conditions, "a common practice across the industry."
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center oncologist Peter Bach said patients would be better served if drug prices reflected value, instead of bargaining power. Pharmaceutical "companies have complete control over pricing in the U.S.," he said.
By Bach's estimate, increases last year on just one drug, Amgen's Enbrel, added up to $1 billion to care costs. In a statement, Amgen spokeswoman Kristen Davis questioned Bach's estimate, saying it is impossible to infer revenue growth from list price increases because of other factors, including rebates and discounts.
Davis said Amgen prices reflect research and development costs of $33 billion over a decade. Rebates and discounts bring the average sales price for a weekly dose of Enbrel to $704.23, down from its list price of $932.16, she said.
Updated at 10:59 a.m.
DENVER A University of Colorado professor who came under fire for heading an obesity-fighting group funded by Coca-Cola is stepping down from his executive director position at the university's wellness center.
James Hill announced his resignation from the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center Friday. He said in a statement he intends to continue his own research in obesity and weight management.
A representative for the University of Colorado said Thursday Hill remains a professor at the school.
Hill initially faced criticism last year after The New York Times reported that Coca-Cola Co. helped fund the Global Energy Balance Network he headed. The newspaper reported over the summer that the group emphasized physical activity over calorie reduction for losing weight.
The Global Energy Balance Network said on its website that Atlanta-based Coke had no input into its activities, but emails subsequently obtained by The Associated Press showed the world's largest beverage company helped pick the group's leaders, edited its mission statement and suggested articles and videos for its website.
After the contents of the emails were published, the group announced it was disbanding.
Since 2010, Coke has said it gave $550,000 to Hill that was unrelated to the Global Energy Balance Network. A large part of that was for research, but the figure also covered travel expenses and fees for speaking engagements around the world. It did not include money from Coke's overseas divisions, or industry groups that the company funds, such as the American Beverage Association.
Hill's resignation was first reported by The Denver Post.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said Wednesday that Raymond James failed over several years to detect suspicious activity in client investment accounts and to report it to government authorities. FINRA said the firm's failure was especially serious because it already had been censured and fined in March 2012 for the same problems.
The defence team for detained lawyers Malek Adly and Sayed El-Banna withdrew from their court session on Wednesday, as the head of prosecution prevented the defendants from speaking and ordered them to leave the hall, the duos lawyer Sameh Samir told Ahram Online.
Adly was arrested on 6 May and Sayed El-Banna was arrested on 22 April from his home.
Both defendants face accusations of inciting the violation of the protest law, destabilising security, trying to destabilise the country and planning to overthrow the regime, according to the 'Freedom for the Brave' campaign Facebook page.
Adly's wife Asmaa Aly said on Facebook that Malek Adly suffers from breathing difficulties and repetitive vomiting, and that he does not receive the medicine he needs for his high blood pressure.
Samir, a lawyer at the Egyptian Center for Economic Rights, confirmed that Adly's health situation is bad.
Samir added that Adly has been in solitary confinement for 13 days and that he has not been allowed to leave the prison cell which is not ventilated and does not receive light.
Adly has not been allowed to see visitors or change his clothes since being detained, and has been drinking and eating from the prisons contaminated water, according to Samir.
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NEW YORK Nursing homes are increasingly evicting their most challenging residents, testing protections for some of societys most vulnerable, advocates for the aged and disabled say.
Many of those targeted for eviction are poor and suffering from dementia, with families unsure of what to do, according to residents allies. Removing them allows an often stretched-thin staff to avoid the demands of labor-intensive patients in favor of ones who are easier and more profitable.
When they get tired of caring for the resident, they kick the resident out, said Richard Mollot of the Long Term Care Community Coalition, a New York advocacy group.
Complaints and lawsuits across the U.S. point to a spike in evictions even as observers note that available records give only a glimpse of the problem.
An Associated Press analysis of federal data from the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program finds complaints about discharges and evictions are up about 57 percent since 2000. It was the top-reported grievance in 2014, with 11,331 such issues logged by ombudsmen, who work to resolve problems faced by residents of nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other adult-care settings.
The American Health Care Association, which represents nursing homes, defends the discharge process as lawful and necessary to remove residents who cant be kept safe or who endanger the safety of others, and says processes are in place to ensure evictions arent done improperly. Dr. David Gifford, a senior vice president with the group, said a national policy discussion is necessary because there was a growing number of people with complex, difficult-to-manage cases who outpace the current model of what a nursing home offers.
There are times these individuals cant be managed or they require so much staff attention to manage them that the other residents are endangered, he said.
The numbers of both nursing homes and residents in the U.S. have decreased in recent years; about 1.4 million people occupy about 15,600 homes now. The overall number of complaints across a spectrum of issues has fallen in the past decade, though complaints about evictions are down only slightly from their high-water mark in 2007, the federal figures show. Meanwhile, the share of complaints that evictions and discharges represent has steadily grown, holding the top spot since 2010.
Advocates say offending facilities routinely flout federal law, attempting to exploit and widen justifications for discharge. They say hospitalizations are a common time when facilities seek to purge residents, even though the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987 guarantees Medicaid recipients beds must be held in their nursing homes during hospital stays of up to a week.
They try and take the easy way out and refuse to let the person back in, said Eric Carlson, an attorney who has contested evictions for the advocacy group Justice in Aging.
Bruce Anderson, 66, suffered a brain injury more than a decade ago and had been through several transfers before ending up at Norwood Pines Alzheimers Care Center in Sacramento, Calif. His daughter, Sara Anderson, said the facility began insisting it wasnt an appropriate setting for him, and after he was hospitalized with pneumonia, he wasnt allowed back.
She saw the action as retaliatory after repeated complaints about her fathers care. She appealed the facilitys action and won, but said it still refused to let him back. He remains hospitalized.
It doesnt matter if you win or lose it, theres not enforcement of these hearings. We didnt know that the hearing was pointless, she said.
Norwood Pines did not return calls seeking comment.
Federal law allows unrequested transfers of residents for a handful of reasons: the facilitys closure; failure to pay; risk posed to the health and safety of others; improvement in the residents condition to the point of no longer needing the homes services; or because the facility can no longer meet the persons needs.
Though that final category is often cited in evictions, advocates dispute how often it fits.
The majority of the time, its because the resident is considered difficult, said Tony Chicotel, an attorney for California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform.
Chicotel says that involuntary discharges are almost entirely focused on Medicaid beneficiaries and that economics sometimes plays a role in the ousters. Rather than a long-term Medicaid patient, many facilities would prefer to fill a bed with a private-pay resident or a short-term rehabilitation patient, whose care typically brings a far higher reimbursement rate under Medicare.
Vicki Becker of Sammamish, Wash., said she began receiving pressure from administrators at her mothers assisted living facility about two years ago to have the then-94-year-old transferred elsewhere. For the first six years she had lived in the home, she had paid more than $5,000 monthly. It was only after Beckers mother exhausted her savings and went on Medicaid that the facility initiated discharge proceedings, making her wonder if money was a factor.
Becker hired a lawyer and enlisted the help of the local ombudsman to fight the eviction. Though the facility eventually dropped the discharge case, it left her feeling as if her mothers rights had been violated.
It was her home, she said. What an awful thing to do to somebody.
Whatever facilities reasons, the process can be harrowing.
Its not just losing their home. Its losing their whole community, its losing their familiar caregivers, its losing their roommate, its losing the people they sit with and have meals with, said Alison Hirschel, a lawyer who directs the Michigan Elder Justice Initiative and has fought evictions. Its completely devastating.
Agyemang Bediako knows the feeling well. After breaking both legs in a jump from a burning building, he found himself recovering at a New York City nursing home. He said he was still undergoing rehabilitation when the facility told him it would be discharging him to a homeless shelter.
I was panicked, he said, describing his thoughts before a successful appeal of his case. What am I going to do? I couldnt even eat. I became depressed. I wanted to kill myself.
LONDON As the world focuses on Zika's rapid advance in the Americas, experts warn the virus that originated in Africa is just one of a growing number of continent-jumping diseases carried by mosquitoes threatening swathes of humanity.
The battle against the insects on the streets of Brazil is the latest in an ancient war between humankind and the Culicidae, or mosquito, family which the pests frequently win.
Today, mosquito invaders are turning up with increasing regularity from Washington, D.C., to Strasbourg, challenging the notion that the diseases they carry will remain confined to the tropics, scientists documenting the cases told Reuters.
Ironically, humans have rolled out the red carpet for the invaders by transporting them around the world and providing a trash-strewn urban landscape that suits them to perfection.
The Aedes aegypti species blamed for transmitting Zika breeds in car tires, tin cans, dog bowls and cemetery flower vases. And its females are great at spreading disease as they take multiple bites to satisfy their hunger for the protein in human blood they need to develop their eggs.
Around the world, disease-carrying mosquitoes are advancing at speed, taking viruses such as dengue and Zika, plus a host of lesser-known ills such as chikungunya and St. Louis encephalitis, into new territories from Europe to the Pacific.
"The concern is that we have these species spreading everywhere. Today the focus is on Zika but they can carry many different viruses and pathogens," said Anna-Bella Failloux, head of the department that tracks mosquito viruses at France's Institut Pasteur.
In 2014, there was a large outbreak of chikungunya, which causes fever and joint pains, in the Caribbean, where it had not been seen before, while the same virus sickened Italians in 2007 in a wake-up call for public health officials.
Europe has seen the re-emergence of malaria in Greece for the first time in decades and the appearance of West Nile fever in eastern parts of the continent.
Out in the Atlantic, the Madeira archipelago reported more than 2,000 cases of dengue in 2012, in a sign of the northerly advance of what at least until Zika has been the world's fastest-spreading tropical disease.
In the past 40 years, six new invasive mosquito species have become established in Europe, with five arriving since 1990, driven in large part by the international trade in used vehicle tires. Mosquitoes lay their eggs in the tires and they hatch when rain moistens them at their destination.
North American health experts are also racing to keep up, with the first appearance of Aedes japonicus, an invasive mosquito, in western Canada last November and Aedes aegypti found in Washington DC, apparently after spending the winter in sewers or Metro subway stations.
SPREAD UNPRECEDENTED
The speed of change in mosquito-borne diseases since the late 1990s has been unprecedented, according to Jolyon Medlock, a medical entomologist at Public Health England, a government agency.
For many experts, the biggest potential threat is Aedes albopictus, otherwise known as the Asian tiger mosquito, which is expanding its range widely and is capable of spreading more than 25 viruses, including Zika.
"There is strong evidence that Aedes albopictus is now out-competing aegypti in some areas and becoming more dominant," said Ralph Harbach, an entomologist at London's Natural History Museum, who has been studying mosquitoes since 1976.
In the United States, Aedes albopictus has been found as far north as Massachusetts and as far west as California. In Europe it has reached Paris and Strasbourg.
Adding to the challenge for public health authorities are the blurred lines between diseases carried by different mosquitoes, as shown by research in Brazil this month that another common mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus, may also be able to carry Zika.
Both Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus probably first arrived in the Americas from Africa on slave ships, scientists believe. In the centuries since, commerce has shuttled other species around the world, while air travel has exposed millions of people to new diseases.
"You've got a global movement of mosquitoes and a huge increase in human travel. Humans are moving the pathogens around and the mosquitoes are waiting there to transmit them," said Medlock.
Human incursions into tropical forests have aggravated the problem. Deforestation in Malaysia, for example, is blamed for a steep rise in human cases of a type of malaria usually found in monkeys.
DON'T KILL THE GOOD GUYS
There have been some victories against mosquitoes, thanks to insecticide-treated bed nets and vaccines against viruses like yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis, as well as a new one for dengue approved in December.
But mosquitoes still kill around 725,000 people a year, mostly due to malaria, or 50 percent more than are killed by other humans, according to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Climate change adds a further twist. A 2 to 3 degree Celsius rise in temperature can increase the number of people at risk of malaria by 3 to 5 percent, or more than 100 million, according to the World Health Organization.
Hotter weather also speeds up the mosquito breeding cycle from around two weeks at 25 degrees to 7 to 8 days at 28 degrees, according to the Institut Pasteur's Failloux.
So is it time to wipe out mosquitoes altogether?
Aggressive action in the 1950s and 1960s, including the use of the pesticide DDT, certainly pushed them back for a while.
Today, genetic modification, radiation and targeted bacteria are being considered.
Trying to eliminate all mosquitoes, however, would make no sense, since there are 3,549 species and fewer than 200 bite humans.
"It might be possible to wipe out a few species but we don't want to wipe out the good guys because a lot of them serve as food for frogs, fish and bats," said Harbach. "Many also visit flowers to feed on nectar and may play a role in pollination."
Some are even our friends. Harbach has a soft spot for the Toxorhynchites genus, which have a convenient penchant for eating Aedes aegypti larvae.
Memory loss is one of the hallmarks of Alzheimers and heartbreaking for loved ones to watch progress. Gone are the details of a first love or a childs wobbly first steps. The achievements of a distinguished 30-year career. And the tall tales of traveling the globe that once had everyone rolling on the floor with laughter.
Scientists had assumed for a long time that the disease destroys how those memories are encoded and makes them disappear forever. But what if they werent actually gone just inaccessible?
A new paper published recently by the Massachusetts Institute of Technologys Nobel Prize-winning Susumu Tonegawa provides the first strong evidence of this possibility and raises the hope of future treatments that could reverse some of the ravages of the disease on memory.
The important point is, this is a proof of concept, Tonegawa said. That is, even if a memory seems to be gone, it is still there. Its a matter of how to retrieve it.
The research, described in the journal Nature, involved two groups of mice. One was a normal control and the other was genetically engineered to have Alzheimers-like symptoms. Both groups were given a mild electric shock to their feet. The first group appeared to remember the trauma of the incident by showing fear when placed back in the box where they had been given the shock. The Alzheimers mice, on the other hand, seemed to quickly forget what happened and did not have an upset reaction to the box.
Their reaction changed dramatically when the scientists stimulated tagged cells in their brains in the hippocampus the part of the brain that encodes short-term memories with a special blue light. When they were put back in the box following the procedure, their memories of the shock appeared to have returned, and they displayed the same fear as their healthy counterparts.
Tonegawa and his colleagues wrote that the treatment appears to have boosted neurons to regrow small buds called dendritic spines that form connections with other cells.
The revelations have shattered a 20-year paradigm of how were thinking about the disease, Rudy Tanzi, a Harvard neurology professor who is not involved in the research, told the Boston Herald. He said that since the 1980s, researchers believed the memories just werent getting stored properly.
The technique used in the study optical stimulation of brain cells, or optogenetics involves the insertion of a gene into parts of a brain to make them sensitive to blue light and then stimulating them with the light.
In a commentary accompanying the paper, Prerana Shrestha and Eric Klann of the Center for Neural Science at New York University said that the research employed a clever strategy and that the potential to rescue long-term memory in dementia is exciting.
Doug Brown, director of research at the Alzheimers Society, cautioned that the technique is not something that can be translated into a procedure that is safe for the estimated 44 million people worldwide with dementia just yet.
While interesting, he told the Guardian, the practicalities of this approach using a special blue light to stimulate memory means that were still many years away from knowing if it would be possible to restore lost memories in people.
Electrical stimulation of the brain may be one alternative scientists can pursue, according to Christine Denny, a neurobiologist at Columbia University. Nature reported that early trials showed that stimulation of the hippocampus may improve memory in some Alzheimers patients.
Prosecutors are questioning the three activists on various charges including inciting to violate the Protest Law by calling for demonstrations against a recent Saudi-Egyptian agreement to redraw maritime borders
Egypt's prosecution ordered a 15-day renewal of the detention of rights lawyers Malek Adly, Haitham Mohamadein, Sayed El-Banna and political activist Zizo Abdo pending further investigations.
Labour lawyer Mohamadein and activist Abdo are being questioned on charges of belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, attempting to overthrow the regime and calling for protests against the redrawing of the country's maritime borders in a recent Egyptian-Saudi agreement, the Freedom for the Brave activist group said on its Facebook page.
The next court session is set for 1 June.
In a separate case, rights lawyers Adly and El-Banna face accusations of inciting to violate the protest law, attempting to destabilise the country and plotting to overthrow the regime.
Mohamadein and El-Banna were arrested from their homes on 22 April, while Abdo and Adly were arrested in Cairo's Maadi district on 6 May.
Dozens of activists were arrested on 22 April ahead of protests planned for 25 April, Sinai Liberation Day, against an Egyptian-Saudi deal to acknowledge Saudi Arabian sovereignty over the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir.
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Just a few weeks after she turned 17, Danielle Burgess was diagnosed with colon cancer.
Burgess had been noticing blood in her stool for several years, but she shrugged it off after consulting Dr. Google and self-diagnosing hemorrhoids.
By the time she went to the doctor to have a colonoscopy, she was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer.
It wasnt great, but they gave me a lot of treatment options, said Burgess, of Kansas City.
Six months later she was cancer-free. Doctors continued to monitor her colon (large intestine) every three years. In 2009, when she was 25, a growth on her colon once again tested positive for cancer.
Luckily, they caught it early, said Burgess, now 32.
Colorectal cancer, a malignancy that occurs in the colon or rectum, is a leading cause of cancer deaths. This year, its expected to claim the lives of nearly 50,000 people in the United States.
Its also largely preventable. Screening tests can detect and remove abnormalities before they have a chance to turn cancerous or spot problems in the early stages, when the disease is more responsive to treatment.
The American Cancer Society and other groups say that screening for most men and women should begin at age 50. Even so, many choose to ignore this advice. Roughly one-third of the countrys eligible adults havent been screened for colorectal cancer as recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC estimates that if everyone age 50 and up had regular testing, at least 60 percent of deaths from this cancer could be avoided.
In nearly every case, colon cancer begins with a small growth called a polyp, which over time turns into a large polyp, and eventually turns into cancer, said Dr. David Greenwald, director of clinical gastroenterology and endoscopy at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. This process takes many years to occur; if polyps are removed when they are small or even when they are big, but before they turn into cancer, colon cancer is prevented.
If found in its earliest stages and if the cancer hasnt spread, the survival rate beyond 5 years is 90 percent, said Durado Brooks, managing director of cancer control intervention for the American Cancer Society. If it has already spread, the survival rate drops to 12 percent beyond 5 years.
Our treatments are much, much more effective at the early stage, Brooks said.
There are numerous ways to screen for colorectal cancer, and several organizations have issued their own guidelines.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends screening using high-sensitivity fecal occult blood testing, sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy beginning at age 50 and continuing until age 75, at which point the decision to continue screening should be made on an individual basis depending on the persons health and history.
The tests the task force recommends:
High-sensitivity fecal occult blood test (FOBT) or fecal immunochemical test (FIT) to detect blood in the stool, a possible sign of cancer. People get a kit and collect small samples of stool that are sent to a lab. This test should be done annually.
Flexible sigmoidoscopy, where doctors use a thin, flexible, lighted tube called a sigmoidoscope to examine the interior walls of the rectum and the lower third of the colon. Should be done every five years.
Colonoscopy, similar to a sigmoidoscopy but uses a longer colonoscope tube to look at the inside walls of the rectum and the entire colon. Should be done every 10 years. During the procedure, tissue samples may be collected for further testing or polyps may be removed. Colonoscopies are often performed as a follow-up.
While most adults can wait until 50 to start routine screening, tests should begin earlier and be done more frequently for those at higher risk.
People also need to be vigilant about symptoms no matter what their age.
Just before Susan Cohans 40th birthday in 2002, Cohan experienced stomach pain and rectal bleeding. She saw several doctors who prescribed laxatives rather than referring her to a gastroenterologist.
She was later diagnosed with advanced stage colon cancer and told she had a couple of months to live, said her father, David Cohan, president of the Baltimore-based Susan Cohan Colon Cancer Foundation.
Susan died two years later after a heroic battle, her father said. We urge anyone regardless of age with symptoms such as abdominal pain, bleeding or continuous constipation to get screened for colon cancer.
JEFFERSON CITY Missouri House Republicans this week struck out Medicaid funding provided for Planned Parenthood services in next years budget.
State Rep. Robert Ross, R-Yukon, spearheaded the move Tuesday to strip almost $380,000 out of the 2017 budget that begins July 1, saying he didnt want any state dollars going toward abortions. That amount is based on 2014 budget year expenditures for Planned Parenthood services, when it covered cervical exams, human papillomavirus vaccines and birth control.
There is a whole litany of things on this list that have nothing to do with abortion and simply has to do with womens health care, Rep. Gail McCann Beatty, D-Kansas City, said Tuesday. For the last time, stay out of our uterus.
Other states have tried and failed to cut Medicaid for Planned Parenthood services in the past. It is early in the budgeting process, but we are concerned about these attacks on Medicaid patients throughout our state, said Mary M. Kogut, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri.
The cut is the latest development in a battle over abortion rights in Missouri. It began last summer after Republican state lawmakers decided to investigate allegations that the abortion and health care provider sold fetal tissue. Attorney General Chris Koster, a Democrat running for governor this year, found no evidence of wrongdoing in Missouri, and a Texas grand jury later indicted anti-abortion activists who shot the videos.
There are two Planned Parenthood affiliates in Missouri that oversee 14 centers in the state. Only the St. Louis facility provides abortions. Other services provided include contraception, pregnancy tests and cancer screenings.
Several Republicans said women could go elsewhere, such as federally qualified health centers, for the same care.
Everyone here needs to understand there are (centers that) ... do exactly the same thing and theyre not allowed to do abortions at all, said Rep. Donna Lichtenegger, R-Jackson. To say we are losing everything with this amendment is ludicrous.
Federal law allows Medicaid reimbursement on abortions only when a womans life is in danger or when the pregnancy is caused by rape or incest. The Missouri Planned Parenthood affiliates were reimbursed $126.24 in state and federal Medicaid money in 2015 for those purposes.
An official with the Department of Social Services previously said the state couldnt discriminate in distributing Medicaid funds simply because it didnt like the services Planned Parenthood provided.
Last year, several states were warned against discriminating against Planned Parenthood by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, citing a 2011 memo that says states cannot terminate Medicaid funding to providers because of the services offered. Federal law allows those on Medicaid to obtain services such as family planning from any qualified provider, and ending Medicaid agreements with Planned Parenthood could conflict with that.
Indiana and Arizona have previously battled against Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood in court. Planned Parenthood won both times.
Planned Parenthood Advocates in Missouri tweeted Tuesday that Ross cut would lead to poorer health outcomes for folks who rely on us for care.
The budget needs one more vote in the House before moving to the Senate for further debate.
The bill is House Bill 2011.
ST. LOUIS Thirteen St. Louis-area Muslims sued immigration officials Wednesday, claiming that a secret blacklist was delaying their citizenship applications.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in St. Louis against U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services and immigration officials, says that the Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program, or CARRP, has resulted in the immigrants blacklisting as national security concerns without evidence other than innocuous activity and associations, innuendo, suppositions and characteristics such as national origin.
The definition of a national security concern, the suit says, is based on deeply flawed and expansive government watchlists, and other vague and imprecise criteria that bear no relation to the security-related statutory ineligibility criteria.
The program holds aspiring Muslim citizenship applicants to a higher legal standard, and illegally prohibits them from upgrading their immigration status, the suit says.
All are innocent, law-abiding, long-time residents of the U.S. who do not pose a security threat, the suit says.
The suit, filed by Webster Groves attorney James Hacking, seeks a judges order that would dismantle the program and order the agency to decide on the applications within 45 days.
The men and women who sued range in age from 19 to 61 and hail from Albania, Bosnia, Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Palestine and Pakistan. Two are married to U.S. citizens. All have been waiting at least 9 months, and one applied 26 months ago, the suit says.
Congress has said that the processing should occur within 180 days of an application, the suit says.
The plaintiffs are Eriola Arapi, Samina Syed, Wafaa Alwan, Saqib Sarwar, Syed Asghar Ali, Mohammad A. Al Muttan, Ibrahim Mohamed Zidan, Hanaa B. Kayem, Abubakar Ahmed Abulfathi, Mirzeta Tursunovic, Amina Tursunovic, Syed Tariq Ali and Mohammad S. Jauda.
A USCIS spokesman declined to comment on the pending litigation, but said in an email that the agency adjudicates all applications and petitions on a case-by-case basis according to existing laws, regulations, and USCIS policies, including those that pertain to USCISs fraud detection and national security responsibilities.
He said that the agency will not sacrifice national security or public safety in the interest of expediting the review of benefit applications or petitions.
A similar lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in federal court in California on Aug. 31, 2014. It was dropped in December after the applications moved forward, said Hugh Handeyside, a staff attorney with the ACLUs National Security Project. Handeyside said three were approved and two were denied.
In June 2013, the ACLU sued to force the government to release more information about the program. That lawsuit is ongoing.
ST. LOUIS Minutes after St. Louis Circuit Judge David C. Mason sentenced Tommy Dora to life in prison without parole for killing a grandmother who got in the way of a shooting here in 2014, Mason warned two of Doras friends to stay out of trouble.
As Dora hugged his friends and shook their hands at Wednesdays hearing, Mason said, I really am tired of sending so many young, black males to prison. You keep your nose clean. You understand what Im saying?
They nodded back at the black judge, and kept talking quietly to Dora.
A St. Louis jury found Dora, 22, guilty on April 13 of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the shooting death of Juliette Cleveland-Davis, 46, on July 30, 2014. An accomplice, Errick Owens, also 22, of St. Louis, was given 25 years in prison last July after pleading guilty of second-degree murder and armed criminal action.
Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty against Dora, so the only possible sentence was life without parole.
Police said they believe Dora and Owens were shooting at someone else near an apartment complex in the 1900 block of Hodiamont Avenue when Cleveland-Davis was caught in the gunfire. Police originally thought Dora and Owens fired at a group of people who shot back, but later said no one returned fire.
Dora and Owens were arrested after police released surveillance images from security cameras of two attackers.
Cleveland-Davis relatives have said she lived in the neighborhood for 20 years and was shot while walking home from a store with her three grandchildren two boys, then 4 and 5, and a girl, then 7. The children were not hurt.
A son and daughter of Cleveland-Davis testified at the sentencing, thanking the justice system and saying they forgive Dora.
I just hope and pray that somewhere along the line, that his mind changes, said Kellie Joseph, one of Cleveland-Davis daughters.
The judge allowed Dora to say goodbye to his family and friends before being escorted away by deputies. Doras lawyer, Steven Dyer, said his client maintains his innocence and plans to appeal the conviction.
Doras own grandmother, Michelle Johnson, said after sentencing that she disagrees with the conviction because first-degree murder implies he intended to kill Cleveland-Davis, when authorities agree she was not the intended target.
Im praying to God that somethings gonna come out better for him, said Johnson, 57, of St. Louis.
Lounging in the lobby of a downtown hotel last week, Israeli entrepreneur Shai Reshef mentions casually thats hes got a product that represents the future of higher education.
He was in town to deliver the keynote address at an education conference, but, beforehand, he wanted to talk about his passion University of the People.
Its advertised as the worlds first nonprofit, tuition-free and completely online university. And by the way, Reshef says, its perfect for Missouri.
The idea is that no one should be denied access to higher education and the better life that often comes with a college degree simply because he or she cant afford it.
And as the cost of college continues to grow, Reshef continues to believe hes got the right idea. The College Board, a nonprofit college access organization, reports that between 1972 and 2016 the average yearly tuition at four-year universities has risen from $2,500 to $9,400 at public schools, and from $10,740 to $32,400 at private schools.
Its become insane, Reshef said. We believe education is a right, not a privilege.
And in Missouri, he said, University of the People is even more needed.
State lawmakers, last year, inserted language into the states budget bill that says public colleges and universities must charge immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals classification the highest rate of tuition available either out-of-state or the international rate even if those students live in Missouri.
The students are young people brought to the U.S. as children and become undocumented through no fault of their own and, under DACA, are granted permission to stay in the U.S. The program puts those students in a kind of limbo where they are no longer undocumented, they work and pay taxes, but are not U.S. citizens either.
For DACA students, it meant that they saw the cost of attending college nearly triple from about $9,500 to $25,000 at some state schools.
Thats unacceptable, Reshef said, adding that 40 percent of University of the Peoples 3,500 students live in the U.S. And 25 percent of those are undocumented.
We welcome any undocumented student, as long as they meet our education standards, Reshef said.
To get into University of the People, students must have a high school diploma and pass certain Foundation Courses designed to measure whether students are up to the task.
Reshef said hes well-aware of the skepticism some people have when they first learn of University of the People. But he believes the model is sustainable.
The school earned a major victory recently when it partnered with the University of California, Berkeley. Students can earn an associates degree from University of the People, and then transfer to UC Berkeley to complete a bachelors degree, provided they meet the academic requirements.
UC Berkeley decided to form a partnership with University of the People because its mission of access aligns with ours, spokeswoman Janet Gilmore said in a statement. The institution serves a first-generation, low-income demographic.
Reshef is visibly pleased when discussing the partnership. It gives him ammunition against people who question the value of a degree from University of the People.
Berkeley recognizes our quality, he says smiling.
Founded in 2009, the school relies on a network of more than 4,000 volunteers to deliver instruction to students in 180 different countries. Only instructors are paid.
The Schools Board of Trustees and Presidents Council feature accomplished educators and business professionals ranging from the chairman of the Chinese technology company, Sinocare, to the president emeritus of New York University.
Students are grouped into class sizes of between 20 and 30. They generally take one or two courses during 10-week terms offered throughout the year. Students are assigned program advisers to guide them toward graduation, and are graded on class participation as well as their mastery of the work.
But contrary to claims, University of the People is not entirely free. Although there are no tuition costs or textbook fees, students are charged end-of-course fees adding up to $2,000 for an associates degree and $4,000 for a bachelors degree.
But we have scholarships for those who absolutely cannot pay, Reshef said.
The concept of mostly free online college education isnt new. Projects like Coursera and edX are part of the growing phenomena known as massive open online courses, or MOOCs.
MOOCs are open access online courses designed by college instructors. They gained popularity when they began offering courses from prestigious schools including Harvard, MIT and Georgetown.
The difference, Reshef said, is that unlike MOOCs, University of the People keeps classes small so that students can get personalized attention.
Moreover, the people who take MOOCs mostly already have degrees and are taking these courses for enrichment and to add to their skills, he said.
With us, we are enrolling refugees and people who are very impoverished. They are taking courses with us to earn a degree. Often, we are the only alternative they have, so our students grab onto the university and they hold onto it tight, he said.
Of the University of the People students who complete at least one class, 95 percent stay on through graduation, Reshef said.
We are the future of higher education, he said. If you have the money to go to Harvard, go to Harvard. We are the alternative for the people who cant afford that.
The Hazelwood Board of Education voted to spend $1.7 million in a four-year lease for new laptops for high school students on Tuesday night, just a few months after it faced ire for cuts made to address an impending multimillion-dollar deficit.
The board approved the second part of a three-phase plan to give each of its students from kindergartners to high school seniors a new Chromebook laptop.
District officials said they hope the plan will help Hazelwood compete with other school districts, as well as equip students with more advanced computer skills.
A lot of students dont have this thing at home, a lot of people dont have this technology at home. By giving it to us, were able to go home and look at our scores and work towards it and advance it, said Diamond Terry, a Hazelwood West senior and one of five students the district hired to help roll out the Chromebook plan.
Three community members spoke against the plan at Tuesdays meeting, saying its not the right time to spend more than $1 million on new technology while the district is strapped for funds.
They are not critical to my childs education, teachers are, said Sonya Thayer, referring to the Chromebooks. Are you aware there are studies that show technology in the classroom does not improve education?
The district has already obtained 10,000 Chromebooks on a three-year lease for third- through eighth-graders, as part of the plans first phase. The district expects to pay that lease off by the 2019-2020 school year.
This second phase will give Chromebooks to every high school student. The third phase, which the board has not yet voted on, will give a Chromebook to kindergartners and first- and second-graders.
The district already has nine-year-old Dell laptops for students, but they would cost $219 each to repair, Assistant Superintendent Bruce Green said. A new Chromebook costs $275 each and includes a warranty.
Officials also said those older laptops hold only a two-hour battery charge, and new batteries would cost more than $100 each. It would be more cost-efficient to invest in a new and better-quality Chromebook, Green said. District officials also argue its a bother for teachers to schedule time to use existing computer labs for projects and testing.
Elementary and middle school teachers are starting to integrate Chromebooks into lessons by having students use Google Apps for Education for projects. For example, some Twillman Elementary students used Google Slides, the equivalent of PowerPoint, to make biographies of famous African-Americans for Black History Month.
The plan is part of a partnership between Hazelwood and Google, Green said. He said Hazelwood will host St. Louis first Google Summit in September.
Green said his technology team needs to continue working with its curriculum department to integrate Chromebooks into lessons and train all district staff on using Google Apps for Education. The district also plans to offer monthly technology classes to parents, students and community members in the future.
Hazelwood has made cuts to address an expected $12.7 million deficit next school year, which it attributes to a drop in property tax revenue and increases in district salaries. The district has made changes to P.E. time and band and orchestra schedules and reduced custodian workweeks from 40 to 35 hours to reduce costs.
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JEFFERSON CITY Missouri Republican senators moved forward with contempt proceedings against a Planned Parenthood official Thursday.
The Senate Rules, Joint Rules, Resolutions and Ethics Committee voted along party lines 5-2 to advance a resolution that would compel a Planned Parenthood official to appear before the whole Senate. The resolution now moves to the full Senate for debate.
Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard, R-Joplin, issued a subpoena in November to Mary Kogut, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri. James Miller, owner of Brentwood-based Pathology Services Inc., was also issued a subpoena. He too faces contempt proceedings.
Senators sought from Planned Parenthood six years worth of documents pertaining to fetal tissue and other information about Planned Parenthood operations. Miller was supposed to testify before the interim Senate Sanctity of Life Committee in December but didnt.
On Dec. 23, after the two hadnt complied with the subpoena, state Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia and committee chairman, recommended that the Senate interim committee move forward with contempt proceedings against Miller and Kogut.
If the full Senate approves the resolutions, Kogut and Miller could be forced to appear before the full Senate to explain themselves.
Chuck Hatfield, attorney for Planned Parenthood, says the organization already has explained itself. He said the Senate hasnt listened.
After the initial subpoena in November, Hatfields firm sent a letter on Dec. 4 to Richard outlining the groups objections. The letter said that the subpoena was overly broad, onerous and would violate patient privacy laws.
We heard nothing from them no phone call, no letter, Hatfield said. Instead, on Dec. 23, they issued a report initiating contempt proceedings.
According to a timeline from Hatfield, through February and March, Senate lawyers and Planned Parenthood representatives exchanged more calls and letters. Planned Parenthood again outlined its concerns.
On March 15, a Senate lawyer, Todd Scott, said in a letter that Planned Parenthood wouldnt have to include personally identifiable patient information such as names and addresses.
Federal law covers more than just names and addresses, Hatfield said. Federal HIPAA law covers 18 identifiers including Social Security numbers and medical record numbers, Hatfield said.
The group has other objections. For example, the committee seeks records of when ambulances went to Planned Parenthoods St. Louis location, which doesnt have anything to do with fetal tissue, Hatfield said.
On March 30, Schaefer filed his resolutions that would compel Kogut and Miller to appear before the Senate. At the Senate hearing Tuesday, Schaefer said he sought to assert Senate authority in the face of intransigence on the part of Planned Parenthood.
If we dont have ability to issue subpoenas and actually enforce them, that is a severe disability to the Legislature to actually do its job, Schaefer said.
Both sides have accused the other of being uncooperative.
If Miller and Kogut are found in contempt, they could face 10 days in jail, a $300 fine or both.
Republican lawmakers began investigating Planned Parenthood this summer after videos were released elsewhere alleging the abortion and health care provider sold fetal tissue. Planned Parenthood has denied these allegations, and Attorney General Chris Koster, a Democrat running for governor this year, found no evidence of wrongdoing in Missouri.
Schaefers resolutions are Senate Resolution 1793 and 1794.
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.
ST. CHARLES COUNTY The two-century-old Daniel Boone Home, which has been operated by Lindenwood University as a tourist and educational site since 1998, is becoming part of the fast-growing St. Charles County park system.
County Executive Steve Ehlmann and Lindenwood president Michael Shonrock on Friday announced that the school is donating the home, the adjoining 66-acre historic village and more than 200 surrounding acres to the county. The overall tract will be called Lindenwood Park.
I am thrilled that we will be part of sharing this rich history of our region with others, Ehlmann said. He said the donation also allows the county to provide additional green space for outdoor activities in coming years.
The limestone-walled house, begun in 1803 and completed in 1810, was the home of the famed frontiersmans son, Nathan Boone. Daniel Boone spent part of his final years at the home and died there in 1820.
The village includes more than 20 other historic structures moved there from other sites over the years. The site is off Highway F in the semi-rural southwestern part of the county, about five miles south of New Melle.
After the county takes over, the university will continue its various classes and activities at the site in field biology, archaeology, history and recreation leadership.
The County Council on Monday approved the agreement, which is expected to become final in a few weeks.
Ehlmann said the deal also calls for the school to give the county a significant amount of maintenance equipment at the site, such as tractors and backhoes.
In return, he said, Lindenwood will get a $500,000 credit relieving it from paying rent for the next few years for commencement exercises held at the county-owned Family Arena in St. Charles. The rent has been about $60,000 a year for three ceremonies a year, a Lindenwood spokesman said.
In 2010, Lindenwood and the county held talks on the university acquiring the arena, possibly in a trade for the Boone Home. But the school decided then against the arena acquisition, and Ehlmann said there are no current discussions on that front.
Councilman Joe Brazil of the Augusta area, whose district includes the site, called the Boone Home the countys crown jewel.
Brazil said the county and Lindenwood began new discussions about taking over the Boone Home after a proposal to transfer the site to the state parks system was turned down by state officials.
The new Lindenwood Park will be the 12th park in the county system, which began almost from scratch in 1997.
The most recent, the 80-acre College Meadows Park, opened in 2014 next to St. Charles Community College in Cottleville on land owned by that school.
The county park system also has acquired 542 acres in reserve land over the years, but the tracts have yet to be turned into parks. That will be done gradually.
Most of the parks and planned parks are on the periphery of the countys population centers and avoid duplicating more intensive activities such as swimming pools and ball fields already offered by cities.
JEFFERSON CITY Republican state Rep. Marsha Haefner passionately implored lawmakers this month to force Gov. Jay Nixon to release $350,000 for Missourians with brain injuries.
The money, coupled with about $600,000 in federal funds, is meant to help keep those individuals out of nursing homes, Haefner, a Republican from St. Louis, said this month.
"Without this, they go to much more costly, fully-skilled homes as opposed to being helped in the community," Haefner added shortly before the House overrode Nixon's withhold of the funding. It now moves to the Senate for further debate.
But Ryan Hobart, spokesman for the Department of Health and Senior Services, told the Post-Dispatch that amount is not enough to implement a brand new program. It remains unclear how much money is needed, but advocates are hopeful a boosted amount added to the coming year's budget will do the trick.
Missouri already has a program in place to assist Missourians aged 21 to 65 who have a traumatic brain injury. Through the program, qualifying individual receive services ranging from employment training to neuropsychological evaluations to assistance in locating housing and transportation. About 600 people participate in this program each year and there are currently about 100 individuals on the waiting list.
Lawmakers attempted to supplement this program in the 2016 budget passed last year with about $950,000 in state and federal funds for a Medicaid waiver that would extend services to individuals who need nursing home-level care. The waiver would allow them to receive that care in their own home.
Under the current program, individuals "are not eligible if they need nursing home level of care because they are not functioning enough to participate in rehabilitative support and services," said Maureen Cunningham, executive director of the Brain Injury Association of Missouri.
Nixon withheld funding for the waiver in the current year's budget as part of a more than $45 million withhold made in October after it became clear the state would not receive $50 million in tobacco settlement funds that lawmakers had banked on when making the budget. House members overrode this and one other program last week, but the Senate has yet to act on the move.
Lawmakers must have a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override a withholding 109 in the House and 23 in the Senate just like a veto override. Voters granted lawmakers the power to override a withhold in 2014, but last week was the first time lawmakers exercised that power.
The department did not request the funds for the 2017 budget that begins July 1, but House members signed off on a budget this month with a higher amount -- $1.3 million in state and federal funds -- for the program.
That amount "is going to be able to help more people" with brain injuries, Cunningham said. We "applaud the House budget leadership ... for noticing that more was actually needed."
The money for the brain injury waiver still needs approval from senators, who begin their work on the $27.1 billion budget this week. Lawmakers have until May 6 to pass the budget.
The defendants are charged with assaulting the doctors for refusing to issue a fake injury report
Egypt's top prosecutor levied charges on Wednesday against nine policemen over an assault on physicians at a Cairo hospital earlier this year.
The defendants are accused of the "unauthorised detention of two doctors," physical and verbal assault, cruelty and misuse of power.
The charges stem from an attack on 28 January by several low-ranking policemen against doctors at Matariya Hospital in eastern Cairo, after one of the doctors refused to include fake injuries in a medical report for one of the policemen.
The incident prompted thousands of doctors to protest in February at the Doctors Union, calling for the prosecution of the assailants and the resignation of the health minister.
The protest was believed at the time to be one of the biggest demonstration by union members the country had seen since President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi took office two years ago.
Eyewitnesses said that two plain-clothed policeman assaulted the two doctors, kicking one in the stomach and stepping on his neck when he resisted, before taking him and his colleague to a nearby police station.
According to testimonies, the policemen were later joined by seven of their colleagues who arrived at the scene from the police station
One of the doctors, Moamen Abdel-Azim, said at the time that he had to withdraw an official complaint he had filed at the station for fear of retaliatory detention after the officers filed a counter-complaint against him, accusing the physicians of assault.
The first hearing for the trial is due on 25 May.
Human rights groups say that police violations, which were a main catalyst for the 2011 popular uprising, remain widespread.
President El-Sisi called on the interior ministry in February to crack down on police abuse and submit legislation to parliament to address the issue.
In April, a policeman shot dead a street vendor in a personal dispute in a suburb of Cairo, provoking an impromptu protest by dozens of angry vendors.
Also in April, a policeman was handed a life sentence for shooting dead a driver in a personal argument over a business transaction. In February, a police officer in the north-eastern city of Ismailia was sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of beating a veterinarian to death while in custody.
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WASHINGTON Sen. Roy Blunt missed a procedural vote on a bill to fight opioid abuse because he was raising money for his re-election in Chicago.
Democrats criticized the senator's absence on the Monday night vote, saying he was putting politics ahead of important policy debates. The procedural vote passed the Senate, 89-0. Blunt detoured through Chicago on his way back to Washington for the fundraiser after appearing earlier in Missouri at a Farm Bureau event.
Among the senators who also did not vote were Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who are running for President.
The vote was for "cloture," a parliamentary maneuver allowing the debate and a final vote on the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2015. The Senate is expected to have extensive debate and votes on the bill in coming days.
Blunt faces Democratic Secretary of State Jason Kander in the November election.
Will Baskin-Gerwitz, a spokesman for the Missouri Democratic Party, said that Blunt "owes an explanation to the Missouri families affected by this epidemic about why a campaign fundraiser is more important than doing his job and showing up to vote."
Burson Snyder, Blunt's campaign spokesperson, said the senator "takes very seriously" the "scourge of opiods in Missouri."
She said Blunt, as chair of a Senate subcommittee overseeing federal health spending, pushed for a 250 percent increase in funding for the Department of Health and Human Services to combat opioid abuse.
Blunt "was one of the first senators to demand a solution for veterans addicted to pain killers as a result of their service related injuries," Snyder said.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. Roughly 24,000 workers who care for disabled residents in their homes would make at least $15 an hour in legislation headed to the governor.
The Illinois House approved the plan 67-44 Wednesday. The workers unionized by SEIU Healthcare Illinois may continue negotiating for higher wages.
Rep. Sonya Harper says the employees get $13 an hour doing physically taxing and often unpleasant work. She says allowing disabled residents to stay at home saves the state money in nursing home costs.
The workers have been making noise lately because Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration imposed a limit on overtime pay beginning May 1. The workers and their union insist the job requires more flexibility.
A Rauner spokeswoman did not immediately respond when asked for comment.
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The bill is SB2931.
COLUMBIA, Ill. Police Chief Joe Edwards, a member of the force for 23 years, has retired after being on administrative leave for three months.
City administrator Jimmy Morani said Wednesday that Edwards and city officials had agreed not to discuss the matter. Edwards was chief for 12 years.
The city will pay Edwards $40,600 in accrued vacation and compensatory time, and $2,171 for two months of health insurance. Mayor Kevin Hutchinson signed the severance agreement on Monday. Edwards had been on paid leave since Feb. 12.
The City Council appointed Jerry Paul, former deputy chief, to replace Edwards., and Sgt. Jason Donjon to be the new deputy chief. Paul has been on the force for 22 years and was deputy during Edwards tenure as chief, as well as acting chief during his leave.
In a letter to the council, Edwards offered his retirement effective April 30. His letter does not disclose his reasons for leaving, but says in part, The city of Columbia deserves to have a chief of police that does not bring with him or her personal issues and who can devote his or her time to the job 24/7. He also praises the members of the citys 16-officer force and says, I will never have another job that I love more than this one.
It was the late 1980s and the mysterious deadly disease striking gay men had become a four letter word.
Beyond a name however, little was known about AIDS. Doctors could only offer comfort and tell those with the new diagnosis to get their affairs in order. The disease also brought isolation, with friends and family falling away.
Those facing imminent death took comfort in their pets, loyal companions through the dark times.
But those pets would often outlive their owners, leaving an animals care and future in jeopardy. Those with AIDS would often get so sick they could no longer care for their pets. The financial burden of treating their illness forced owners to give their pets away.
Longtime gay rights activist Michael Mullen remembers story after story of those with AIDS being hospitalized for extended periods, coming home to find their pets had starved to death.
Something had to be done to care for the pets of those with HIV, Mullen said.
He came upon a magazine article about an organization in Marin County, Calif., where volunteers stepped forward to foster pets or help care for them so that the owner could stay with his companion to the end.
Mullen talked with his friends. One put up $500 in seed money. They created a network of volunteers to help walk dogs and provide whatever other assistance was needed. In 1991, their efforts became a nonprofit, Pets Are Wonderful Support, better known as PAWS.
The program now serves about 70 people a year, with an additional 85 on a waiting list. With the advances in HIV care, what was once certain death is now treated as a chronic disease. As a result, owners are now outliving their pets. The focus of PAWS had to shift.
Since HIV has evolved, so has the program, said Kaytlin Reedy-Rogier, coordinator of the PAWS program, now a part of the services provided by St. Louis Effort For AIDS. Instead of trying to find homes for pets, the agency provides assistance with vet bills, pet food and cat litter whatever it takes to ensure that owner and pet can live long lives together.
But with that shift has come a need for more funds and donated services. So the waiting list grows for PAWS, with a budget of just $37,000.
Id be lost
Hyrum Griffin found out about PAWS 15 years ago from his doctor. At the time, he had two Weimaraners and a new puppy, a pug named Pixie. Griffins health wasnt good, and he was on disability.
I was afraid Id have to get rid of my dogs, Griffin said. If you cant love them and take care of them, youre abusing them.
PAWS came through with vet care and food.
Griffin, now 60, lives in the Central West End with two dogs. Toby, a poodle and Maltese mix, begs for attention and serves as an alarm system, barking at the slightest noise. Then there is Pixie, who Griffin thought he would have to give away when she was a puppy. She moves slowly, avoids stairs and holds court from the couch.
Pixie recently had to have some teeth pulled. PAWS paid for it.
Without them Id be so lost, Griffin said of his dogs, Toby cradled in his arms. They give me so much joy. Im having a rough time of it. Thats why my pets are so important to me. If I didnt have them, Id probably be a lot less healthy.
St. Louis veterinarian Ed Migneco, with Hillside Animal Hospital, has been a longtime partner of PAWS.
Theres a lot of research out there that having a pet has benefits, Migneco said, including lowering blood pressure and stress.
Knowing that a pet can make someone with HIV feel better is something I like to think about, Migneco said. But he also knows that when someone has a compromised immune system, its important they have a healthy pet. There are diseases that can be transmitted from dogs and cats to their owners such as intestinal parasites, ringworm and rabies.
This is my small way of helping. Im really fortunate with the way things have gone in my life, said Migneco.
Christopher Arnold was 18 when he was diagnosed with HIV 20 years ago. Its been a struggle, but he always thought assistance from agencies such as PAWS should be reserved for those in a worse situation.
However, during a health setback in December, his orange tabby, Baxter, got sick.
I couldnt do anything for that little cat. He had an allergic reaction to something in my house, said Arnold, of Pevely. The idea of a vet bill seemed out of reach. Arnold is on disability after back and neck surgery to treat a degenerative bone disease. PAWS took care of the vet bill.
When I come home, I can say Baxter and he will come running to greet me. Every time I get sick, he sits on my lap while I cry it out, Arnold said.
Needed and loved
Griffin found out he was HIV positive in 1984. A diagnosis then usually meant death in a few months. He saw that with his friends.
All of them are gone, he said. I had planned my funeral for years. But I got tired of thinking this is my last Easter, this is my last Christmas.
Now, Griffin focuses on his dogs. They remind him he is needed and loved. The loud snoring of Pixie. The shrill barks of Toby. What is noise to others is creature comfort for Griffin.
PAWS continues to add partners so that it can expand its reach. Clients are referred to Bi-State Pet Food Pantry and Carol House Quick Fix Clinic, among others. Migneco, the veterinarian, said he has helped pet owners who are not in the PAWS program, knowing there is a waiting list but not all animal health care can wait.
For Mullen, he finds it hard to believe its been more than 25 years since he started PAWS with a small group of friends out of his house. He is heartened by the advance in HIV care and grateful to all that have helped pets stay with their owners.
It just makes me beam to think about it, Mullen said.
'The union's battle for dignity is inseparable from the battle for press freedom,' syndicate head Yehia Kalash said at a meeting convened to discuss the ongoing dispute with the interior ministry
Hundreds of journalists attended on Wednesday a meeting at Egypt's press syndicate in Cairo to discuss its ongoing dispute with the interior ministry, with union chief Yehia Kalash assuring that journalists would "complete the battle for dignity, while being open to solutions."
The row erupted on 1 May when police stormed the syndicate premises and arrested two journalists, sparking public outrage and prompting journalists to hold sit-ins inside the building.
The two were arrested for allegedly publishing false news and plotting to overthrow the regime.
Kalash repeatedly stressed during Wednesday's meeting that the syndicate supports "the force of law, but is against the law of force."
"The union's battle for dignity is inseparable from the battle for press freedom, said Kalash, calling for the abolition of jail terms for publishing-related offences.
He added that journalists have seen the first step towards achieving this goal in the recent passing of a unified press law by the cabinet.
He also called on journalists to maintain unity in the fight for press freedom.
Ahead of the Wednesday meeting, more than 300 journalists handed a formal request to union asking the board to call a general assembly meeting, where instructions issued to news outlets by the syndicate on 4 May would be made mandatory.
Days after the attack on the syndicate, more than 2,000 journalists rallied for an urgent meeting at the syndicate headquarters, adopting a list of measures and demands in protest against the unprecedented raid.
The syndicate instructed news outlets to protest against a gag order on publishing un the case of the arrest of the two journalists, Amr Badr and Mahmoud El-Sakka from inside the syndicate building
The Syndicate also called for the sacking of the interior minister.
The quorum for a general assembly where the protest measures can be made mandatory requires the presence of 25 percent the 8,000 syndicate members with voting rights.
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WASHINGTON The Supreme Court is ridding itself of a knotty dispute between faith-based groups and the Obama administration over birth control. The court is asking lower courts to take another look at the issue in a search for a compromise.
The justices on Monday issued an unsigned opinion in a case over the arrangement devised by the administration to spare faith-based groups from having to pay for birth control for women covered under their health plans.
The major confrontation over an element of President Barack Obama's health care law is ending with a whimper and with no resolution of the issue the court undertook to decide. The case almost certainly would not return to the Supreme Court until after the 2016 presidential election.
The outcome suggests the court lacked a majority for a significant ruling and is perhaps another example of how the court has been affected by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
During their meeting in Cairo, Kerry expressed his appreciation for Sisi's recent comments concerning reviving the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met on Wednesday with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Cairo to discuss the latest developments in regional crises and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, a statement by the Egyptian presidency read.
In an official one-day visit with the Egyptian president, Kerry expressed the US willingness to deepen strategic cooperation with Egypt to achieve common interests.
The meeting was attended by US ambassador to Cairo R. Stephen Beecroft and Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry.
According to the spokesperson to the Egyptian presidency Alaa Youssef, Egypt expressed its wish to coordinate and consult with the US on issues and developments concerning the Middle East.
Kerry expressed hopes to enhance stability and security in the region through consultation on various regional issues with Egypt.
The officials discussed mutual cooperation in political and economic fields as well as the fight against terrorism and recent developments in the conflicts in Syria and Libya.
On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Kerry expressed his appreciation for El-Sisi's recent statements calling for a revival of the peace process.
Kerry endorsed the Egyptian president's "leadership role and his keenness to contribute for a solution for the issue."
El-Sisi addressed in a speech on Tuesday Israeli and Palestinian leaders, stressing that peace, prosperity and cooperation will only take place if both parties are able to reach a two-state solution.
El-Sisi recalled the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty and the positive outcomes accomplished in the peacemaking process between the two countries, calling on the Israelis and the Palestinians to seize the opportunity to bring security and hope to both countries.
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The UN special envoy to Yemen said Sunday he is optimistic about achieving a peaceful settlement in the war-torn country, but admitted "difficult matters" remain unresolved.
Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said some progress had been achieved in the talks which began on April 21.
"Now, we have an opportunity to reach a peaceful settlement... the progress we have made on some points makes us optimistic," he told a news conference.
"But there remains some difficult matters... the problem is reaching a clear political agreement."
But the envoy declined to provide details on the progress made other than an agreement in principle to free 50 percent of prisoners and detainees before the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in the first week of June.
There has been mounting international pressure to end the Yemen conflict, which the United Nations estimates has killed more than 6,400 people and displaced 2.8 million since March last year.
The talks pit the Iran-backed Shia Houthi militia and their allies of forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh against the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
UN Security Council Resolution 2216, issued more than a year ago, orders the Houthi rebels to pull out of territory they occupied in a 2014 offensive and surrender heavy arms they captured.
Pro-government forces, backed by Saudi air power, pushed the rebels out of five southern provinces last year.
The Houthis however still control the capital Sanaa as well as large parts of the country's north and west, and the Saudi-led coalition has drawn strong criticism over heavy civilian casualties.
The stumbling block at the talks remains the form of the government that would control Yemen in a transitional period.
The rebels are demanding to share power with Hadi while his delegation insists he is the legitimate head of state under UN resolutions.
Ould Cheikh Ahmed said UN agencies provide aid to more than 13 million Yemenis.
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The 2-year Masters programme Social-ecological resilience for sustainable development (SERSD) admits 18 students each year. The first year of the programme is dedicated to courses in theory and methods and an internship. The second year is entirely for the students Masters thesis.
The research questions the students engage in are transdisciplinary, and their field sites are found all over the world. The finished theses are interesting to read, but oftentimes the stories of how they came about in the field are equally exciting.
Former centre Master student Ashley Perl presented her thesis in the fall of 2015. She had looked at how different elements of community-based management of Marine Protected Areas (MPA:s) promoted or hindered recovery from an earthquake in the Philippines but that wasnt the original plan. One of the key components of resilience is adaptability, something that is often required to succeed in resilience research too. Here is Ashleys story:
A windy but exciting road ahead
"Crammed shoulder to shoulder with seven others in a habal-habal, a Filipino motorcycle taxi built for four, was not what originally came to mind when planning my Masters field project. In fact, Bohol, Philippines as a field site was a complete surprise, as I had been ready to go to Kenya and work with the NGO Wildlife Conservation Society, where my supervisor, Tim Daw, had a long established working relationship.
However, the Kenya project came to a halt a few months before I was set to depart. For the past several years, Kenya had been dealing with attacks from militant terrorist group Al-Shabab, but in Spring 2014 attacks were happening nearly biweekly. Unfortunately, some of which were close to the coastal villages where I had been planning to compare the effectiveness of different community-based MPA management strategies. It became clear to both my supervisors and myself that circumstances were too risky, and that alternative project arrangements would have to be made.
A lot of anxiety and questions came from losing the Kenya project. Should I forget about fieldwork and do a desk-based thesis? Do I want to choose a project Im less excited about? Should I delay the stat of start of my thesis? How would delaying affect my student VISA status? How would I budget for extra time? Despite all uncertainties, I decided I wanted fieldwork and a big challenge, and that the only way to accomplish that was to approach other NGOs.
The next few months, I contacted at least a dozen different organizations. Most emails went unanswered, some received a response but with were met little enthusiasm or follow up. However, one NGO, Project Seahorse Foundation, appeared hooked and connected me to their longstanding partners, the Zoological Society of London Philippines, and my eventual co-supervisor Heather Koldewey.
Although I was thrilled to have made this connection, it still came with a number challenges to overcome: I had to adapt my project to incorporate how a 7.2-magnitdude earthquake affected MPA management; delay the start of my thesis project, and consequently graduation; and find employment in the meantime to supplement living costs and cover outstanding fieldwork expenses.
Luckily, with some time all of these missing pieces fell into place. I got to experience the challenges of fieldwork, and examined how different elements of community-based MPA management promoted or hindered recovery from the earthquake. I was able to find a job at the SRC working on the Planetary Boundaries MOOC a job I was able to hold part-time while writing my thesis and also work with a number of people around the SRC that I otherwise may not have interacted with.
While the road to ending up in a packed habal-habal in Bohol, was winding, involved some sacrifices, and patience, in the end it turned out to be a welcomed surprise."
Learn more about education at the centre here
LONDON MARKET CLOSE: Stocks climb as Sunak wins keys to Number 10
Monday, October 24, 2022 - 17:23
Stocks took confidence from Rishi Sunak being named the new UK prime minister on Monday, amid hope that a period of haphazard and market-spooking policymaking has ended.
"Markets have signalled Rishi Sunak will be given time to deliver, with gilt yields falling and the British economy getting a tentative second chance to get back on track. But there's no getting away from the scale of the challenge that faces the new prime minister. The last few weeks have left the UK economy badly bruised, and the volatility of the pound today lays bare the huge task ahead," said AJ Bell analyst Danni Hewson.
The FTSE 100 index closed up 44.26 points, or 0.6% at 7,013.99 on Monday. The FTSE 250 ended up 131.00 points, or 0.8%, at 17,337.55. The AIM All-Share closed up 2.14 points, or 0.3%, at 787.54.
The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.8% at 701.69, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.8% at 14,815.98, and the Cboe Small Companies ended up 0.8% at 12,233.81.
Sunak replaces former leadership rival Truss, who announced her resignation on Thursday last week.
Market and political turmoil overshadowed Truss's stint as PM. The pound and bond markets were pummelled last month after a poorly received mini-budget.
On Monday, however, the pound spent much of the day above the $1.13 mark, before fading back in afternoon dealings.
The pound was quoted at $1.1295 at the London equities close Monday, up from $1.1203 at the close on Friday.
Elsewhere, new figures did little to calm fears of a recession.
A survey found UK private sector output has fallen for the third straight month, fuelling fear that the country is headed for a "deep" recession.
The S&P Global/CIPS flash UK purchasing managers' index composite output measure fell to a 21-month low of 47.2 points in October, from 49.1 in September.
In the FTSE 100, Pearson ended the best blue-chip performer, ending 7.3% higher on Monday.
The London-based education publisher said its trading in the nine months to September 30 was "strong", with underlying sales up 7% year-on-year.
Looking ahead, Pearson said it is on track to deliver at least 100 million of cost efficiencies next year, and it remains on track to deliver group sales and adjusted operating profit in line with consensus expectations for 2022.
Pearson Chief Executive Officer Andy Bird said: "We believe Pearson is well positioned for the future, and we are confident of being able to navigate the challenging macroeconomic environment."
Auto Trader rose 2.0% after selling its Webzone subsidiary, which operates under the Carzone brand in the Republic of Ireland, for 30 million.
Auto Trader noted that Carzone is the second-largest automotive marketplace for Irish retailers and consumers.
The Dublin-based operation brought in revenue of 4.9 million in the year ended March 31 and operating profit of 1.3 million.
In the FTSE 250, Bank of Georgia closed up 4.0% as Chair & Chief Executive Officer Irakli Gilauri renewed his contract for two more years until the end of 2025.
Senior Independent Director David Morrison said: "Irakli has led Georgia Capital since its demerger from BGEO [Group PLC] in 2018 and during this time he has developed the company into a unique institutional investment business in Georgia."
China-focused investment firms had a rough session on Monday, with traders fretting after Xi Jinping secured a rare third term as leader of ruling Communist party in China, signalling his grip on power has no end in sight.
Fidelity China Special Situations dropped 9.8%, JPMorgan China Growth & Income fell 9.9% and Baillie Gifford China Growth Trust declined8.6%.
Investors are fearful that Xi and his allies will continue with gruelling Covid lockdowns and other policies that have punished the world's second-largest economy.
Despite these fears, China's economy grew 3.9% year-on-year in the third quarter, according to official data released Monday, beating forecasts.
Beijing last week delayed the release of the third-quarter growth figures - along with a host of other economic indicators as the country's leaders gathered in Beijing for the five-yearly Communist Party Congress.
China had been expected to announce some of its weakest quarterly growth figures since 2020, with its economy hobbled by Covid-19 restrictions and a real estate crisis.
Nonetheless, many economists continue to think China will struggle to attain its 2022 growth target of around 5.5%, and the International Monetary Fund has lowered its GDP growth forecast to 3.2% for 2022 and 4.4% for next year.
In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 40 in Frankfurt both closed up 1.6%.
The euro stood at $0.9877 at the European equities close Monday, up against $0.9802 at the same time on Friday.
Private sector output in the eurozone remained in sharp decline in October, flash data showed Monday, as energy intensive sectors are hit by higher bills.
The S&P Global flash eurozone composite purchasing managers' index fell to 47.1 points in October from 48.8 points in September.
Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP148.82 late Monday, higher compared to JP148.03 late Friday.
Japan's services and manufacturing sectors are expected to improve in October, flash data showed, as activity and order book levels were boosted by the recent easing in international border restrictions and the launching of the Nationwide Travel Discount Programme.
The au Jibun Bank flash Japan services business activity index improved to 53.0 in October from 52.2 in September, indicating a second successive month of expansion and the strongest performance in four months.
Stocks in New York were in the green at the London equities close, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.2%, the S&P 500 index up 1.0%, and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.4%.
Inflation concerns and challenging demand conditions weighed on the US private sector in October, the latest flash data from S&P Global showed on Monday.
The headline flash US PMI composite output index registered 47.3 in October, down from 49.5 in September. Consensus, as cited by FXStreet, had expected a reading of 49.1.
Brent oil was quoted at $90.88 a barrel at the London equities close Monday, down from $92.84 late Friday.
Gold was quoted at $1,648.76 an ounce at the London equities close Monday, higher against $1,643.70 at the close on Friday.
In Tuesday's UK corporate calendar, HSBC will publish its third-quarter results and Whitbread will post its half-year results.
In the economic calendar, there is a US consumer confidence reading at 1400 BST after Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill speaks at 0900 BST.
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Uncertainty. Apprehension. Determination.
These seem to sum up the feelings of some of the smaller players in the cigar world. Small players whose business will be greatly impacted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations new tobacco regulations. In statements both on and off the record, those who create and market boutique cigar expressed both anger and resolve to StogieGuys.com.
You have to play the hand the best you can with what you have, said Jeff Haugen, co-owner of Crux Cigars. Were going to have to adapt.
While some were reluctant to openly discuss the potential impact or their plans, others were blunt.
Its a mess, said Sandra Cobas, owner of the highly regarded cigar manufacturer El Titan de Bronze, located in Miamis Little Havana since 1997. Cobas is confident shell be able to remain in business, but it wont be the same.
Particularly troubling for her is the Feb. 15, 2007, grandfather date on which cigars had to be on the market to qualify for an exemption from regulation. While El Titans four lines should qualify, many of the smokes she produces for other brands will not. And that means her current level of eight to twelve employees will almost certainly shrink. These are working people, she said. Its very upsetting. Very upsetting.
The economic impact will be widespread, she added, ticking off those impacted, from tobacco growers to box makers, cigar band lithographers to glue manufacturers.
How about in Esteli? How about in the Dominican? where cigar-making has boomed in recent years, she said. They think theyve got an immigration problem now? They dont know what theyll have.
Mel Shah realizes his MBombay cigars will also face the full thrust of the regulations because they came to market only a couple years ago. Just what the FDAs approval process will be, or how much it will cost, however, remains uncertain.
Everything that we hear right now its all speculation, said Shah. Theyre going to charge this, theyre not going to charge this. The whole nine yards. There is nothing in black and white as to how much its going to cost us. Once we have that, then it will be a more definitive strategy.
Shahs position as owner of both a cigar brand and a cigar shop (Fame Wine & Cigar Lounge in Palm Springs, California) provides a well-rounded perspective.
As a measure of what lies ahead, he noted that about 70 percent of the cigars on retailers shelves these days were introduced after 2007.
The FDA regulations, scheduled to go into effect this summer, offer a small window for cigars that arent grandfathered. Those on the market before Aug. 8 can remain on sale until Aug. 8, 2018, before having to apply for approval.
Thats led to conjecture that brand owners will rush cigars to market in order to take advantage. But Haugen, and others, said thats not their plan.
Were certainly not going to knee-jerk any reactions of which way were going to move, Haugen said, noting that all Crux lines are post-2007. Im not interested in just jamming a bunch of brands out there to get something going.
One point of agreement was that, while its too soon to know the full impact, they will survive.
Most, in fact, echoed the sentiment of Ernesto Perez Carrillo in his response to the FDA: We are here to stay.
George E
photo credit: Stogie Guys
Four Turkish soldiers were killed on Wednesday in the town of Semdinli, in the mainly Kurdish southeast near the Iraqi border, when a bomb was detonated as their vehicle travelled past, security sources said.
The military deployed troops backed by helicopters to the area to launch an operation in the wake of the attack, they said.
The army and police have been battling militants in the armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the southeast since a ceasefire collapsed in July 2015, wrecking a peace process aimed at resolving one of Europe's longest-running insurgencies.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched talks with rightwing hardliner Avigdor Lieberman to join his coalition Wednesday, shattering the prospects of a unity government working for a Palestinian peace deal.
The surprise development comes after opposition head and Labour chief Isaac Herzog had indicated his willingness to join Netanyahu's rightwing-led coalition.
But Netanyahu's Likud party said he and former foreign minister Lieberman had decided to form negotiating teams for the latter's six-seat opposition Israel Beitenu to join the 61-member coalition.
Since forming his government a year ago, Netanyahu has not concealed his ambition to expand his razor-thin majority in Israel's 120-member parliament.
Months of secret talks between Netanyahu and Herzog, whose party forms the Zionist Union along with the centrist Hatnuah, gained headlines in recent days.
The Labour leader insisted that a national unity government could help advance peace with the Palestinians, amid fierce opposition from members of his party to joining the coalition.
But in a press conference Wednesday, Lieberman -- who since its inception in May 2015 has branded the coalition as "defeatist" -- said he would be open to joining Netanyahu's team if key demands were met.
Netanyahu summoned him to a meeting a short while later.
For his part, Herzog said Netanyahu was faced with "a historic choice" to "either embark on a journey of war and funerals" with Lieberman or choose a path of "hope for all (Israeli) citizens".
"We won't negotiate in parallel to Lieberman," he stressed.
Labour members criticised Herzog for what they termed his failed attempt to "crawl into the coalition," as reports emerged that Netanyahu offered Lieberman the coveted defence portfolio.
Lieberman's entry into the government would be closely watched by the international community and the Palestinians.
He has called for Gaza to be dealt with "like Chechnya" and urged Israel to treat its Hamas rulers "like the United States did with the Japanese in World War II."
The former foreign minister also has a history of controversial statements about Arab Palestinians living in Israel, calling lawmakers from the Arab Joint List "terror supporters".
The current defence minister is Moshe Yaalon, a level-headed former army chief of staff who has been at loggerheads with Netanyahu after insisting senior military officers should "speak their mind".
His remarks were perceived as a public show of support for Major General Yair Golan, deputy head of the armed forces, who made comments comparing contemporary Israeli society to Nazi Germany.
Yaalon stood up for Golan, stressing that military commanders should not only "lead soldiers into battle" but also teach them "values, with a compass and conscience".
Netanyahu had criticised the deputy chief of staff's "outrageous" remarks, adding however a few days later that "the affair is behind us".
The outspoken Lieberman has publicly supported a soldier accused of manslaughter for shooting dead a wounded and prone Palestinian assailant, in contrast to both Netanyahu and Yaalon who both condemned the killing.
Sitting in the courtroom with the soldier's family during initial hearings, Lieberman said he sought to "balance the crude intervention of the prime minister and defence minister" in the case.
The stocky 57-year-old Moldova native had stepped down as foreign minister in 2012 for nearly a year to fight corruption charges, and in 2015 joined the opposition ranks.
*This report was edited by Ahram Online
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Wells Fargo cut its valuation range on Valeant (NYSE: VRX) from from $30 - $31 down to $27 - $31, while maintaining an Underperform rating on the stock.
Analyst David Maris noted an SEC 8-K filing on Monday, which had Valeant giving extra bonuses to members of its executive management team. Maris noted that some of the execs were the same executives that held managerial roles as Valeant faced major business, regulatory, legal, and accounting issues.
Along with retention awards of $1 million for three executives, Valeant agreed to special equity awards which range from $1.25 to $3.8 million.
Maris continued, We are surprised by these bonuses as we believe this opens the company up to criticism of being brazen in the face of public and government scrutiny for pricing practices ... It is not hard to see the criticism that the retention bonuses are being paid with money Valeant gained through excessive price increases and being paid to executives who in part helped oversee these pricing programs.
For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Valeant Pharmaceuticals click here. For more ratings news on Valeant Pharmaceuticals click here.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Opdivo (nivolumab) for the treatment of patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) who have relapsed or progressed after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (auto-HSCT) and post-transplantation brentuximab vedotin.1 This accelerated approval is based on overall response rate. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials. This first approval of a PD-1 inhibitor for cHL patients who have relapsed or progressed after auto-HSCT and post-transplantation brentuximab vedotin is based on a combined analysis of data from the Phase 2 CheckMate -205 and the Phase 1 CheckMate -039 trials.1 Based on this analysis (n=95), Opdivo delivered a high response rate, with an objective response rate (ORR) of 65% (CI 95%: 55-75; 62/95 patients).1 The percentage of patients with a complete response was 7% (CI 95%: 3-15; 7/95 patients), and the percentage of patients with a partial response was 58% (CI 95%: 47-68; 55/95 patients).1 Among responders, the duration of response was maintained over time for a median of 8.7 months (CI 95%: 6.8-NE; range 0.0+, 23.1+).1
Opdivo is associated with the following Warnings and Precautions including immune-mediated: pneumonitis, colitis, hepatitis, endocrinopathies, nephritis and renal dysfunction, rash, encephalitis, other adverse reactions; infusion reactions; complications of allogeneic HSCT after Opdivo; and embryo-fetal toxicity.1 Please see the Important Safety Information section below.
As a classical Hodgkin lymphoma patient who has tried multiple therapies, I know firsthand what its like to not have a clear next step, said Matt Kludt, a patient enrolled in a nivolumab clinical trial. When I started on Opdivo, I was hopeful about the potential for this new treatment. Now, Im proud to be able to say I was one of several patients who have helped contribute to the approval of a new therapy that may offer other patients like me the possibility of a high response rate.
Todays approval of Opdivo delivers a transformational and exciting new option for these patients and the hematologists who treat them. By expanding this Immuno-Oncology therapy into a hematologic malignancy, we continue to deliver upon our unwavering commitment to provide treatments that work directly with the bodys immune system for patients who are in need of new options, said Chris Boerner, Head of U.S. Commercial, Bristol-Myers Squibb. This is our second Immuno-Oncology agent in blood cancer in less than a year for patients impacted by diseases with a deep unmet need. This approval of Opdivo represents how we are continually working towards the goal of helping patients, like Matt, by offering them a new chance in their fight against this disease.
The efficacy of Opdivo in patients (n=95) with cHL after failure of auto-HSCT and post-transplantation brentuximab vedotin was evaluated in the combined analysis from two studies.1 CheckMate -205 is a Phase 2, single-arm, open-label, multicenter, multicohort study.1 The results of this trial will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in June 2016. CheckMate -039 is a Phase 1, open-label, multicenter, dose escalation study.1 In the combined analysis, efficacy was evaluated by ORR, and an additional outcome measure was duration of response. Objective response rate was assessed by an independent radiographic review committee.1
Both studies excluded patients with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of two or higher, autoimmune disease, symptomatic interstitial lung disease, hepatic transaminases more than three times the upper limit of normal (ULN), creatinine clearance less than 40 mL/min, prior allogeneic HSCT or chest irradiation within 24 weeks.1 In addition, both studies required an adjusted diffusion capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide (DLCO) of more than 60% in patients with prior pulmonary toxicity.1 Patients received 3 mg/kg of single-agent Opdivo administered as an intravenous infusion over 60 minutes every two weeks until disease progression, maximal clinical benefit or unacceptable toxicity.1
The median age was 37 years (range: 18-72), and the majority were male (64%) and white (87%).1 Patients had received a median of five prior systemic regimens (range: 3-15) and received a median of 17 doses of Opdivo (range: 3-48), with a median duration of therapy of 8.3 months (range: 1.9-24 months).1 In adults with cHL who have relapsed or progressed after auto-HSCT and post-transplantation brentuximab vedotin (n=95), Opdivo demonstrated impressive response rates: ORR was 65% (CI 95%: 55-75; 62/95 patients), including a 7% complete response rate (CI 95%: 3-15; 7/95 patients) and a 58% partial response rate (CI 95%: 47-68; 55/95 patients).1 The median time to response was 2.1 months (range: 0.7-5.7).1 Among responders, Opdivo demonstrated an 8.7 month median duration of response (95% CI: 6.8-NE; range 0.0+, 23.1+).1
The safety of Opdivo in cHL was evaluated in 263 adult patients from the CheckMate -205 (n=240) and -039 (n=23) trials.1 Among these patients (safety population: n=263) serious adverse reactions occurred in 21% of patients.1 The most frequent serious adverse reactions reported in 1% of patients were infusion-related reaction, pneumonia, pleural effusion, pyrexia, rash and pneumonitis.1 Ten patients died from causes other than disease progression, including 6 who died from complications of allogeneic HSCT.1 In the safety population, 4.2% discontinued treatment due to adverse reactions, and 23% of patients had a dose delay for an adverse reaction.1 In the subset of patients in the efficacy population (n=95), serious adverse reactions occurred in 27% of the patients.1 In CheckMate -205 and -039, among all patients (safety population: n=263) and the subset of patients in the efficacy population (n=95), respectively, the most common adverse reactions (reported in at least 20%) were fatigue (32% and 43%), upper respiratory tract infection (28% and 48%), pyrexia (24% and 35%), diarrhea (23% and 30%), and cough (22% and 35%).1 In the subset of patients in the efficacy population (n=95), the most common adverse reactions also included rash (31%), musculoskeletal pain (27%), pruritus (25%), nausea (23%), arthralgia (21%), and peripheral neuropathy (21%).1
It is important to have new treatment options for patients with difficult-to-treat diseases who have exhausted the current available options. Because of the unique pathology and biology of classical Hodgkin lymphoma,2 it makes sense from a scientific standpoint to investigate a PD-1 inhibitor, said Anas Younes, M.D., medical oncologist and chief of Lymphoma Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The recent clinical data with Opdivo in patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma who have relapsed or progressed after auto-HSCT and post-transplantation brentuximab vedotin is encouraging and has the potential to impact our approach to treating these individuals in the future.
About Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma
Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), also known as Hodgkin disease, is a cancer that starts in white blood cells called lymphocytes, which are part of the bodys immune system.3 Approximately 8,500 new cases of HL are estimated to be diagnosed in 2016.3 More than 1,100 deaths from HL are expected this year. According to the Lymphoma Research Foundation, cHL is the most common type of HL, accounting for 95% of cases.4 In this type of HL, cancer cells are called Reed-Sternberg cells, an abnormal type of B lymphocyte.3
Bristol-Myers Squibb & Immuno-Oncology: Advancing Oncology Research
At Bristol-Myers Squibb, we have a vision for the future of cancer care that is focused on Immuno-Oncology, now considered a major treatment modality alongside surgery, radiation and chemotherapy for certain types of cancer.
We have a comprehensive clinical portfolio of investigational and approved Immuno-Oncology agents, many of which were discovered and developed by our scientists. We pioneered the research leading to the first regulatory approval for the combination of two Immuno-Oncology agents and continue to study the role of combinations in cancer.
Our collaboration with academia as well as small and large biotech companies is responsible for researching the potential Immuno-Oncology and non-Immuno-Oncology combinations, with the goal of providing new treatment options in clinical practice.
At Bristol-Myers Squibb, we are committed to changing expectations in hard-to-treat cancers and the way patients live with cancer.
INDICATIONS & IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
INDICATIONS
OPDIVO (nivolumab) as a single agent is indicated for the treatment of patients with BRAF V600 wild-type unresectable or metastatic melanoma.
OPDIVO (nivolumab) as a single agent is indicated for the treatment of patients with BRAF V600 mutation-positive unresectable or metastatic melanoma. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on progression-free survival. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials.
OPDIVO (nivolumab), in combination with YERVOY (ipilimumab), is indicated for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on progression-free survival. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in the confirmatory trials.
OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy. Patients with EGFR or ALK genomic tumor aberrations should have disease progression on FDA-approved therapy for these aberrations prior to receiving OPDIVO.
OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who have received prior anti-angiogenic therapy.
OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the treatment of patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) that has relapsed or progressed after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and post-transplantation brentuximab vedotin. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on overall response rate. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials.
Please refer to the end of the Important Safety Information for a brief description of the patient populations studied in the CheckMate trials.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
WARNING: IMMUNE-MEDIATED ADVERSE REACTIONS
YERVOY can result in severe and fatal immune-mediated adverse reactions. These immune-mediated reactions may involve any organ system; however, the most common severe immune-mediated adverse reactions are enterocolitis, hepatitis, dermatitis (including toxic epidermal necrolysis), neuropathy, and endocrinopathy. The majority of these immune-mediated reactions initially manifested during treatment; however, a minority occurred weeks to months after discontinuation of YERVOY.
Assess patients for signs and symptoms of enterocolitis, dermatitis, neuropathy, and endocrinopathy and evaluate clinical chemistries including liver function tests (LFTs), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) level, and thyroid function tests at baseline and before each dose.
Permanently discontinue YERVOY and initiate systemic high-dose corticosteroid therapy for severe immune-mediated reactions.
Immune-Mediated Pneumonitis
Immune-mediated pneumonitis, including fatal cases, occurred with OPDIVO treatment. Across the clinical trial experience with solid tumors, fatal immune-mediated pneumonitis occurred with OPDIVO. In addition, in Checkmate 069, there were six patients who died without resolution of abnormal respiratory findings. Monitor patients for signs with radiographic imaging and symptoms of pneumonitis. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 2 or greater pneumonitis. Permanently discontinue for Grade 3 or 4 and withhold until resolution for Grade 2. In Checkmate 069 and 067, immune-mediated pneumonitis occurred in 6% (25/407) of patients receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY: Fatal (n=1), Grade 3 (n=6), Grade 2 (n=17), and Grade 1 (n=1). In Checkmate 037, 066, and 067, immune-mediated pneumonitis occurred in 1.8% (14/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=2) and Grade 2 (n=12). In Checkmate 057, immune-mediated pneumonitis, including interstitial lung disease, occurred in 3.4% (10/287) of patients: Grade 3 (n=5), Grade 2 (n=2), and Grade 1 (n=3). In Checkmate 025, pneumonitis, including interstitial lung disease, occurred in 5% (21/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO and 18% (73/397) of patients receiving everolimus. Immune-mediated pneumonitis occurred in 4.4% (18/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 4 (n=1), Grade 3 (n=4), Grade 2 (n=12), and Grade 1 (n=1). In Checkmate 205 and 039, pneumonitis, including interstitial lung disease, occurred in 4.9% (13/263) of patients receiving OPDIVO. Immune-mediated pneumonitis occurred in 3.4% (9/263) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=1) and Grade 2 (n=8).
Immune-Mediated Colitis
Immune-mediated colitis can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Monitor patients for signs and symptoms of colitis. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 2 (of more than 5 days duration), 3, or 4 colitis. As a single agent, withhold OPDIVO for Grade 2 or 3 and permanently discontinue for Grade 4 or recurrent colitis upon restarting OPDIVO. When administered with YERVOY, withhold OPDIVO for Grade 2 and permanently discontinue for Grade 3 or 4 or recurrent colitis upon restarting OPDIVO. In Checkmate 069 and 067, diarrhea or colitis occurred in 56% (228/407) of patients receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY. Immune-mediated colitis occurred in 26% (107/407) of patients: Grade 4 (n=2), Grade 3 (n=60), Grade 2 (n=32), and Grade 1 (n=13). In Checkmate 037, 066, and 067, diarrhea or colitis occurred in 31% (242/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO. Immune-mediated colitis occurred in 4.1% (32/787) of patients: Grade 3 (n=20), Grade 2 (n=10), and Grade 1 (n=2). In Checkmate 057, diarrhea or colitis occurred in 17% (50/287) of patients receiving OPDIVO. Immune-mediated colitis occurred in 2.4% (7/287) of patients: Grade 3 (n=3), Grade 2 (n=2), and Grade 1 (n=2). In Checkmate 025, diarrhea or colitis occurred in 25% (100/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO and 32% (126/397) of patients receiving everolimus. Immune-mediated diarrhea or colitis occurred in 3.2% (13/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=5), Grade 2 (n=7), and Grade 1 (n=1). In Checkmate 205 and 039, diarrhea or colitis occurred in 30% (80/263) of patients receiving OPDIVO. Immune-mediated diarrhea (Grade 3) occurred in 1.1% (3/263) of patients.
In a separate Phase 3 study of YERVOY 3 mg/kg, severe, life-threatening, or fatal (diarrhea of 7 stools above baseline, fever, ileus, peritoneal signs; Grade 3-5) immune-mediated enterocolitis occurred in 34 (7%) patients. Across all YERVOY-treated patients in that study (n=511), 5 (1%) developed intestinal perforation, 4 (0.8%) died as a result of complications, and 26 (5%) were hospitalized for severe enterocolitis.
Immune-Mediated Hepatitis
Immune-mediated hepatitis can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Monitor patients for abnormal liver tests prior to and periodically during treatment. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 2 or greater transaminase elevations. Withhold for Grade 2 and permanently discontinue for Grade 3 or 4 immune-mediated hepatitis. In Checkmate 069 and 067, immune-mediated hepatitis occurred in 13% (51/407) of patients receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY: Grade 4 (n=8), Grade 3 (n=37), Grade 2 (n=5), and Grade 1 (n=1). In Checkmate 037, 066, and 067, immune-mediated hepatitis occurred in 2.3% (18/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 4 (n=3), Grade 3 (n=11), and Grade 2 (n=4). In Checkmate 057, one patient (0.3%) developed immune-mediated hepatitis. In Checkmate 025, there was an increased incidence of liver test abnormalities compared to baseline in AST (33% vs 39%), alkaline phosphatase (32% vs 32%), ALT (22% vs 31%), and total bilirubin (9% vs 3.5%) in the OPDIVO and everolimus arms, respectively. Immune-mediated hepatitis requiring systemic immunosuppression occurred in 1.5% (6/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=5) and Grade 2 (n=1). In Checkmate 205 and 039, hepatitis occurred in 11% (30/263) of patients receiving OPDIVO. Immune-mediated hepatitis occurred in 3.4% (9/263): Grade 3 (n=7) and Grade 2 (n=2).
In a separate Phase 3 study of YERVOY 3 mg/kg, severe, life-threatening, or fatal hepatotoxicity (AST or ALT elevations >5x the ULN or total bilirubin elevations >3x the ULN; Grade 3-5) occurred in 8 (2%) patients, with fatal hepatic failure in 0.2% and hospitalization in 0.4%.
Immune-Mediated Dermatitis
In a separate Phase 3 study of YERVOY 3 mg/kg, severe, life-threatening, or fatal immune-mediated dermatitis (eg, Stevens-Johnson syndrome, toxic epidermal necrolysis, or rash complicated by full thickness dermal ulceration, or necrotic, bullous, or hemorrhagic manifestations; Grade 3-5) occurred in 13 (2.5%) patients. 1 (0.2%) patient died as a result of toxic epidermal necrolysis. 1 additional patient required hospitalization for severe dermatitis.
Immune-Mediated Neuropathies
In a separate Phase 3 study of YERVOY 3 mg/kg, 1 case of fatal Guillain-Barre syndrome and 1 case of severe (Grade 3) peripheral motor neuropathy were reported.
Immune-Mediated Endocrinopathies
Hypophysitis, adrenal insufficiency, thyroid disorders, and type 1 diabetes mellitus can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Monitor patients for signs and symptoms of hypophysitis, signs and symptoms of adrenal insufficiency during and after treatment, thyroid function prior to and periodically during treatment, and hyperglycemia. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 2 or greater hypophysitis. Withhold for Grade 2 or 3 and permanently discontinue for Grade 4 hypophysitis. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 3 or 4 adrenal insufficiency. Withhold for Grade 2 and permanently discontinue for Grade 3 or 4 adrenal insufficiency. Administer hormone-replacement therapy for hypothyroidism. Initiate medical management for control of hyperthyroidism. Administer insulin for type 1 diabetes. Withhold OPDIVO for Grade 3 and permanently discontinue for Grade 4 hyperglycemia.
In Checkmate 069 and 067, hypophysitis occurred in 9% (36/407) of patients receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY: Grade 3 (n=8), Grade 2 (n=25), and Grade 1 (n=3). In Checkmate 037, 066, and 067, hypophysitis occurred in 0.9% (7/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=2), Grade 2 (n=3), and Grade 1 (n=2). In Checkmate 025, hypophysitis occurred in 0.5% (2/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=1) and Grade 1 (n=1). In Checkmate 069 and 067, adrenal insufficiency occurred in 5% (21/407) of patients receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY: Grade 4 (n=1), Grade 3 (n=7), Grade 2 (n=11), and Grade 1 (n=2). In Checkmate 037, 066, and 067, adrenal insufficiency occurred in 1% (8/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=2), Grade 2 (n=5), and Grade 1 (n=1). In Checkmate 057, 0.3% (1/287) of OPDIVO-treated patients developed adrenal insufficiency. In Checkmate 025, adrenal insufficiency occurred in 2.0% (8/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=3), Grade 2 (n=4), and Grade 1 (n=1). In Checkmate 205 and 039, adrenal insufficiency (Grade 2) occurred in 0.4% (1/263) of patients receiving OPDIVO. In Checkmate 069 and 067, hypothyroidism or thyroiditis occurred in 22% (89/407) of patients receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY: Grade 3 (n=6), Grade 2 (n=47), and Grade 1 (n=36). Hyperthyroidism occurred in 8% (34/407) of patients: Grade 3 (n=4), Grade 2 (n=17), and Grade 1 (n=13). In Checkmate 037, 066, and 067, hypothyroidism or thyroiditis occurred in 9% (73/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=1), Grade 2 (n=37), Grade 1 (n=35). Hyperthyroidism occurred in 4.4% (35/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=1), Grade 2 (n=12), and Grade 1 (n=22). In Checkmate 057, Grade 1 or 2 hypothyroidism, including thyroiditis, occurred in 7% (20/287) and elevated thyroid stimulating hormone occurred in 17% of patients receiving OPDIVO. Grade 1 or 2 hyperthyroidism occurred in 1.4% (4/287) of patients. In Checkmate 025, thyroid disease occurred in 11% (43/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO, including one Grade 3 event, and in 3.0% (12/397) of patients receiving everolimus. Hypothyroidism/thyroiditis occurred in 8% (33/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=2), Grade 2 (n=17), and Grade 1 (n=14). Hyperthyroidism occurred in 2.5% (10/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 2 (n=5) and Grade 1 (n=5). In Checkmate 205 and 039, hypothyroidism/thyroiditis occurred in 12% (32/263) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 2 (n=18) and Grade 1: (n=14). Hyperthyroidism occurred in 1.5% (4/263) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 2: (n=3) and Grade 1 (n=1). In Checkmate 069 and 067, diabetes mellitus or diabetic ketoacidosis occurred in 1.5% (6/407) of patients: Grade 4 (n=3), Grade 3 (n=1), Grade 2 (n=1), and Grade 1 (n=1). In Checkmate 037, 066, and 067, diabetes mellitus or diabetic ketoacidosis occurred in 0.8% (6/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=2), Grade 2 (n=3), and Grade 1 (n=1). In Checkmate 025, hyperglycemic adverse events occurred in 9% (37/406) patients.
Diabetes mellitus or diabetic ketoacidosis occurred in 1.5% (6/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=3), Grade 2 (n=2), and Grade 1 (n=1). In Checkmate 205 and 039, diabetes mellitus occurred in 0.8% (2/263) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=1) and Grade 1 (n=1).
In a separate Phase 3 study of YERVOY 3 mg/kg, severe to life-threatening immune-mediated endocrinopathies (requiring hospitalization, urgent medical intervention, or interfering with activities of daily living; Grade 3-4) occurred in 9 (1.8%) patients. All 9 patients had hypopituitarism, and some had additional concomitant endocrinopathies such as adrenal insufficiency, hypogonadism, and hypothyroidism. 6 of the 9 patients were hospitalized for severe endocrinopathies.
Immune-Mediated Nephritis and Renal Dysfunction
Immune-mediated nephritis can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Monitor patients for elevated serum creatinine prior to and periodically during treatment. For Grade 2 or 3 increased serum creatinine, withhold and administer corticosteroids; if worsening or no improvement occurs, permanently discontinue. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 4 serum creatinine elevation and permanently discontinue. In Checkmate 069 and 067, immune-mediated nephritis and renal dysfunction occurred in 2.2% (9/407) of patients: Grade 4 (n=4), Grade 3 (n=3), and Grade 2 (n=2). In Checkmate 037, 066, and 067, nephritis and renal dysfunction of any grade occurred in 5% (40/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO. Immune-mediated nephritis and renal dysfunction occurred in 0.8% (6/787) of patients: Grade 3 (n=4) and Grade 2 (n=2). In Checkmate 057, Grade 2 immune-mediated renal dysfunction occurred in 0.3% (1/287) of patients receiving OPDIVO. In Checkmate 025, renal injury occurred in 7% (27/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO and 3.0% (12/397) of patients receiving everolimus. Immune-mediated nephritis and renal dysfunction occurred in 3.2% (13/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 5 (n=1), Grade 4 (n=1), Grade 3 (n=5), and Grade 2 (n=6). In Checkmate 205 and 039, nephritis and renal dysfunction occurred in 4.9% (13/263) of patients treated with OPDIVO. This included one reported case (0.3%) of Grade 3 autoimmune nephritis.
Immune-Mediated Rash
Immune-mediated rash can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Severe rash (including rare cases of fatal toxic epidermal necrolysis) occurred in the clinical program of OPDIVO. Monitor patients for rash. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 3 or 4 rash. Withhold for Grade 3 and permanently discontinue for Grade 4. In Checkmate 069 and 067, immune-mediated rash occurred in 22.6% (92/407) of patients receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY: Grade 3 (n=15), Grade 2 (n=31), and Grade 1 (n=46). In Checkmate 037, 066, and 067, immune-mediated rash occurred in 9% (72/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=7), Grade 2 (n=15), and Grade 1 (n=50). In Checkmate 057, immune-mediated rash occurred in 6% (17/287) of patients receiving OPDIVO including four Grade 3 cases. In Checkmate 025, rash occurred in 28% (112/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO and 36% (143/397) of patients receiving everolimus. Immune-mediated rash, defined as a rash treated with systemic or topical corticosteroids, occurred in 7% (30/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=4), Grade 2 (n=7), and Grade 1 (n=19). In Checkmate 205 and 039, rash occurred in 22% (58/263) of patients receiving OPDIVO. Immune-mediated rash occurred in 7% (18/263) of patients on OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=4), Grade 2 (n=3), and Grade 1 (n=11).
Immune-Mediated Encephalitis
Immune-mediated encephalitis can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Withhold OPDIVO in patients with new-onset moderate to severe neurologic signs or symptoms and evaluate to rule out other causes. If other etiologies are ruled out, administer corticosteroids and permanently discontinue OPDIVO for immune-mediated encephalitis. In Checkmate 067, encephalitis was identified in one patient (0.2%) receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY. In Checkmate 057, fatal limbic encephalitis occurred in one patient (0.3%) receiving OPDIVO. In Checkmate 205 and 039, encephalitis occurred in 0.8% (2/263) of patients after allogeneic HSCT after OPDIVO.
Other Immune-Mediated Adverse Reactions
Based on the severity of adverse reaction, permanently discontinue or withhold treatment, administer high-dose corticosteroids, and, if appropriate, initiate hormone-replacement therapy. In < 1.0% of patients receiving OPDIVO, the following clinically significant, immune-mediated adverse reactions occurred: uveitis, iritis, pancreatitis, facial and abducens nerve paresis, demyelination, polymyalgia rheumatica, autoimmune neuropathy, Guillain-Barre syndrome, hypopituitarism, systemic inflammatory response syndrome, gastritis, duodenitis, and sarcoidosis. Across clinical trials of OPDIVO as a single agent administered at doses of 3 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg, additional clinically significant, immune-mediated adverse reactions were identified: motor dysfunction, vasculitis, and myasthenic syndrome.
Infusion Reactions
Severe infusion reactions have been reported in <1.0% of patients in clinical trials of OPDIVO. Discontinue OPDIVO in patients with Grade 3 or 4 infusion reactions. Interrupt or slow the rate of infusion in patients with Grade 1 or 2. In Checkmate 069 and 067, infusion- related reactions occurred in 2.5% (10/407) of patients receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY: Grade 2 (n=6) and Grade 1 (n=4). In Checkmate 037, 066, and 067, Grade 2 infusion related reactions occurred in 2.7% (21/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=2), Grade 2 (n=8), and Grade 1 (n=11). In Checkmate 057, Grade 2 infusion reactions requiring corticosteroids occurred in 1.0% (3/287) of patients receiving OPDIVO. In Checkmate 025, hypersensitivity/infusion-related reactions occurred in 6% (25/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO and 1.0% (4/397) of patients receiving everolimus. In Checkmate 205 and 039, hypersensitivity/infusion-related reactions occurred in 16% (42/263) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=2), Grade 2 (n=24), and Grade 1 (n=16).
Complications of Allogeneic HSCT after OPDIVO
Complications, including fatal events, occurred in patients who received allogeneic HSCT after OPDIVO. Outcomes were evaluated in 17 patients from Checkmate 205 and 039, who underwent allogeneic HSCT after discontinuing OPDIVO (15 with reduced-intensity conditioning, 2 with myeloablative conditioning). Thirty-five percent (6/17) of patients died from complications of allogeneic HSCT after OPDIVO. Five deaths occurred in the setting of severe or refractory GVHD. Grade 3 or higher acute GVHD was reported in 29% (5/17) of patients. Hyperacute GVHD was reported in 20% (n=2) of patients. A steroid-requiring febrile syndrome, without an identified infectious cause, was reported in 35% (n=6) of patients. Two cases of encephalitis were reported: Grade 3 (n=1) lymphocytic encephalitis without an identified infectious cause, and Grade 3 (n=1) suspected viral encephalitis. Hepatic veno-occlusive disease (VOD) occurred in one patient, who received reduced-intensity conditioned allogeneic SCT and died of GVHD and multi-organ failure. Other cases of hepatic VOD after reduced-intensity conditioned allogeneic HSCT have also been reported in patients with lymphoma who received a PD-1 receptor blocking antibody before transplantation. Cases of fatal hyperacute GVHD have also been reported. These complications may occur despite intervening therapy between PD-1 blockade and allogeneic HSCT.
Follow patients closely for early evidence of transplant-related complications such as hyperacute GVHD, severe (Grade 3 to 4) acute GVHD, steroid-requiring febrile syndrome, hepatic VOD, and other immune-mediated adverse reactions, and intervene promptly.
Embryo-fetal Toxicity
Based on their mechanisms of action, OPDIVO and YERVOY can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman. Advise pregnant women of the potential risk to a fetus. Advise females of reproductive potential to use effective contraception during treatment with an OPDIVO- or YERVOY- containing regimen and for at least 5 months after the last dose of OPDIVO.
Lactation
It is not known whether OPDIVO or YERVOY is present in human milk. Because many drugs, including antibodies, are excreted in human milk and because of the potential for serious adverse reactions in nursing infants from an OPDIVO-containing regimen, advise women to discontinue breastfeeding during treatment. Advise women to discontinue nursing during treatment with YERVOY and for 3 months following the final dose.
Serious Adverse Reactions
In Checkmate 067, serious adverse reactions (73% and 37%), adverse reactions leading to permanent discontinuation (43% and 14%) or to dosing delays (55% and 28%), and Grade 3 or 4 adverse reactions (72% and 44%) all occurred more frequently in the OPDIVO plus YERVOY arm relative to the OPDIVO arm. The most frequent (10%) serious adverse reactions in the OPDIVO plus YERVOY arm and the OPDIVO arm, respectively, were diarrhea (13% and 2.6%), colitis (10% and 1.6%), and pyrexia (10% and 0.6%). In Checkmate 037, serious adverse reactions occurred in 41% of patients receiving OPDIVO. Grade 3 and 4 adverse reactions occurred in 42% of patients receiving OPDIVO. The most frequent Grade 3 and 4 adverse drug reactions reported in 2% to <5% of patients receiving OPDIVO were abdominal pain, hyponatremia, increased aspartate aminotransferase, and increased lipase. In Checkmate 066, serious adverse reactions occurred in 36% of patients receiving OPDIVO. Grade 3 and 4 adverse reactions occurred in 41% of patients receiving OPDIVO. The most frequent Grade 3 and 4 adverse reactions reported in 2% of patients receiving OPDIVO were gamma-glutamyltransferase increase (3.9%) and diarrhea (3.4%). In Checkmate 057, serious adverse reactions occurred in 47% of patients receiving OPDIVO. The most frequent serious adverse reactions reported in 2% of patients were pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, dyspnea, pleural effusion, and respiratory failure. In Checkmate 025, serious adverse reactions occurred in 47% of patients receiving OPDIVO. The most frequent serious adverse reactions reported in 2% of patients were acute kidney injury, pleural effusion, pneumonia, diarrhea, and hypercalcemia. In Checkmate 205 and 039, among all patients (safety population [n= 263]), adverse reactions leading to discontinuation (4.2%) or to dosing delays (23%) occurred. The most frequent serious adverse reactions reported in 1% of patients were infusion-related reaction, pneumonia, pleural effusion, pyrexia, rash and pneumonitis. Ten patients died from causes other than disease progression, including 6 who died from complications of allogeneic HSCT. Serious adverse reactions occurred in 21% of patients in the safety population (n=263) and 27% of patients in the subset of patients evaluated for efficacy (efficacy population [n=95]).
Common Adverse Reactions
In Checkmate 067, the most common (20%) adverse reactions in the OPDIVO plus YERVOY arm were fatigue (59%), rash (53%), diarrhea (52%), nausea (40%), pyrexia (37%), vomiting (28%), and dyspnea (20%). The most common (20%) adverse reactions in the OPDIVO arm were fatigue (53%), rash (40%), diarrhea (31%), and nausea (28%). In Checkmate 037, the most common adverse reaction (20%) reported with OPDIVO was rash (21%). In Checkmate 066, the most common adverse reactions (20%) reported with OPDIVO vs dacarbazine were fatigue (49% vs 39%), musculoskeletal pain (32% vs 25%), rash (28% vs 12%), and pruritus (23% vs 12%). In Checkmate 057, the most common adverse reactions (20%) reported with OPDIVO were fatigue (49%), musculoskeletal pain (36%), cough (30%), decreased appetite (29%), and constipation (23%). In Checkmate 025, the most common adverse reactions (20%) reported in patients receiving OPDIVO vs everolimus were asthenic conditions (56% vs 57%), cough (34% vs 38%), nausea (28% vs 29%), rash (28% vs 36%), dyspnea (27% vs 31%), diarrhea (25% vs 32%), constipation (23% vs 18%), decreased appetite (23% vs 30%), back pain (21% vs 16%), and arthralgia (20% vs 14%). In Checkmate 205 and 039, among all patients (safety population [n=263]) and the subset of patients in the efficacy population (n=95), respectively, the most common adverse reactions (reported in at least 20%) were fatigue (32% and 43%), upper respiratory tract infection (28% and 48%), pyrexia (24% and 35%), diarrhea (23% and 30%), and cough (22% and 35%). In the subset of patients in the efficacy population (n=95), the most common adverse reactions also included rash (31%), musculoskeletal pain (27%), pruritus (25%), nausea (23%), arthralgia (21%), and peripheral neuropathy (21%).
In a separate Phase 3 study of YERVOY 3 mg/kg, the most common adverse reactions (5%) in patients who received YERVOY at 3 mg/kg were fatigue (41%), diarrhea (32%), pruritus (31%), rash (29%), and colitis (8%).
Checkmate Trials and Patient Populations
Checkmate 069 and 067 advanced melanoma alone or in combination with YERVOY; Checkmate 037 and 066 advanced melanoma; Checkmate 057 non-squamous non-small cell carcinoma (NSCLC); Checkmate 025 renal cell carcinoma; Checkmate 205/039 classical Hodgkin lymphoma.
Please see U.S. Full Prescribing Information, including Boxed WARNING regarding immune-mediated adverse reactions, for YERVOY.
Please see U.S. Full Prescribing Information for OPDIVO.
About Bristol-Myers Squibbs Patient Support Programs
Bristol-Myers Squibb remains committed to helping patients through treatment with our medicines. For support and assistance, patients and physicians may call 1-855-OPDIVO-1.
About Bristol-Myers Squibbs Access Support
Bristol-Myers Squibb is committed to helping patients access Opdivo and offers BMS Access Support to support patients and providers in gaining access. BMS Access Support, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Reimbursement Services program, is designed to support access to BMS medicines and expedite time to therapy through reimbursement support including Benefit Investigations, Prior Authorization Facilitation, Appeals Assistance, and assistance for patient out-of-pocket costs. BMS Access Support assists patients and providers throughout the treatment journey whether it is at initial diagnosis or in support of transition from a clinical trial. More information about our reimbursement support services can be obtained by calling 1-800-861-0048 or by visiting www.bmsaccesssupport.com. For healthcare providers seeking specific reimbursement information, please visit the BMS Access Support Product section by visiting www.bmsaccesssupportopdivo.com.
About the Bristol-Myers Squibb and Ono Pharmaceutical Collaboration
In 2011, through a collaboration agreement with Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb expanded its territorial rights to develop and commercialize Opdivo globally except in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, where Ono had retained all rights to the compound at the time. On July 2014, Ono and Bristol-Myers Squibb further expanded the companies strategic collaboration agreement to jointly develop and commercialize multiple immunotherapies as single agents and combination regimens for patients with cancer in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
About Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information about Bristol-Myers Squibb, visit us at BMS.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current expectations. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect Bristol-Myers Squibb's business, particularly those identified in the cautionary factors discussion in Bristol-Myers Squibb's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and our Current Reports on Form 8-K. Bristol-Myers Squibb undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
References
1. Opdivo Prescribing Information. Opdivo U.S. Product Information. Last updated: April 14, 2016. Princeton, NJ: Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.
2. Ansell SM, Lesokhin AM, Borrello I, et al. PD-1 Blockade with Nivolumab in Relapsed or Refractory Hodgkins Lymphoma. N Engl J Med. 2015;372(4):311-9.
3. American Cancer Society. Hodgkin Disease. http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/cid/documents/webcontent/003105-pdf.pdf. Updated February 9, 2016. Accessed May 16, 2016.
4. Lymphoma Research Foundation. Hodgkin Lymphoma (HL). http://www.lymphoma.org/site/pp.asp?c=bkLTKaOQLmK8E&b=6300137. Accessed May 16, 2016.
OPDIVO, YERVOY and Access Support are trademarks of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. Other brands listed are the trademarks of their respective owners.
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A 19-year-old Israeli woman has spent more than three months in military prison in what supporters say is the longest sentence ever handed down to a female conscientious objector.
Tair Kaminer is refusing to perform compulsory military service because of her opposition to Israel's nearly 50-year military occupation of Palestinian lands. Although she is not the first conscientious objector, her lengthy jail term coupled with a newspaper column she is keeping are drawing additional attention to her case.
In a phone interview from jail, Kaminer said she is ready to serve the country, just not in a military capacity. She said she is seeking an exemption in order to join Israel's "national service" program, a civilian alternative usually reserved for army-age religious women that allows them to volunteer in schools and hospitals.
Kaminer said she grew up in a home where politics was often discussed, and that she has long opposed Israel's occupation of the West Bank. But her decision not to enlist was cemented while spending a year after high school volunteering with children in Sderot, a hardscrabble town on the border with the Gaza Strip. Sderot has been hit by thousands of rockets fired from Gaza over the years and has been on the front lines of three Israeli assaults against people living in the besieged Gaza Strip.
She said she saw a lot of "hate" among Sderot's children toward Arabs, and she concluded that children in Gaza have a "good reason" to feel the same toward Israelis.
"We are creating generations of hate on both sides that will only make the situation worse," she said. "If we don't stop it, we must oppose it."
In Israel, military service is mandatory for most Jews, with women required to serve for two years and men for three. Exemptions are given for several categories, including people with mental conditions, people who are strictly religious and pacifists, the army said. Those who receive exemptions have the option of joining the national service program.
While the army makes exceptions for pacifists, who oppose violence or war in all forms, it takes a tough stance on conscientious objectors, who refuse to serve on political grounds.
Altogether, Kaminer's supporters say she has spent 111 days behind bars, the longest term ever handed down to a female conscientious objector. There are typically fewer than 10 such cases a year, the army says.
Mesarvot, a group that assists conscientious objectors, says the longest jail term in history was to a man who was imprisoned for 23 months over a decade ago. In most cases, objectors are eventually deemed unfit to serve and dismissed, it said.
In a statement, the military said it was enforcing the law. "Regarding Tair Kaminer, the draftee refused her draft orders and was therefore jailed," it said.
Her current jail term is set to expire on May 28, but she could face additional time if she again refuses to enlist at that time. She already has been sentenced to five terms of 20 to 30 days each.
Emanuel Gross, a former military judge who now teaches law at the University of Haifa, called the case "unfortunate," but said that simply catering to Kaminer's wishes would set a dangerous precedent.
"She's bringing politics into the army. The army is not willing to allow anyone, any person, to bring into the army his political ideas and to take it as a reason not to obey the legal orders," he said.
"If the army would allow any young person to choose the way he prefers to serve, it would make a mess of the notion of equality in our law," he added.
Kaminer said she shares a cell with seven other young women at a military prison in northern Israel. She said they wake up at 5 a.m. for a roll call, and she spends most of the day in the cell reading or chatting with her fellow prisoners. She is allowed several minutes of phone calls each day, and her family is allowed to visit once every two weeks.
In her quest to draw attention to her cause, Kaminer has also written a series of columns about her experience for the Haaretz daily.
In one column, she challenged the notion that the army is above politics. "The army is a political tool that enables the government to continue the occupation of another nation, and for years its main task has been control, not defence," she wrote.
In another, she noted that she and her fellow prisoners wear used American military uniforms. She addressed the column to "Mr. Smith," the soldier who once wore her clothes.
"Your shirt didn't reach me by chance, your country does a bit more than just giving us your old uniforms. So now that you know, does it bother you that your clothes and your money are in effect perpetuating the occupation of the Palestinians, the absence of security in Israel? Do you sleep well at night knowing that?"
Kaminer said she hopes she will soon be released, but that she has no regrets about what she is doing.
"I wasn't really affected by this stuff when I was growing up, but seeing people who are affected by it caused me to understand that the policies of this government favour the status quo instead of change. And that's something that really angered me," she said.
*The story was edited by Ahram Online.
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Novartis (NYSE: NVS) will highlight the strength of its oncology research programs at the upcoming 52nd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), being held June 3-7 in Chicago. Data will demonstrate advances across several of the company's core disease areas of focus including leukemias and lung, melanoma and breast cancers.
"We are particularly excited to share the results from the Tasigna Treatment-free Remission trials as these represent our unwavering commitment to further understand management approaches for Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia," said Bruno Strigini, President of Novartis Oncology. "These and other data at ASCO 2016 underscore our drive to advance cancer research for the benefit of patients."
Novartis data at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting will highlight the following:
The potential for some patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), treated with Tasigna (nilotinib), to achieve a sustained deep level of molecular response and maintain a major molecular response after stopping therapy a concept called Treatment-free Remission (TFR):
Treatment-free remission (TFR) in patients (pts) with chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase (CML-CP) treated with frontline nilotinib: Results from the ENESTFreedom study [Abstract #7001; Saturday, June 4, 3:12 PM CDT]
Treatment-free remission (TFR) in patients (pts) with chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase (CML-CP) treated with second-line nilotinib (NIL): First results from the ENESTop study [Abstract #7054; Monday, June 6, 8:00 AM CDT]
Update on the efficacy and safety of Tafinlar (dabrafenib) and Mekinist (trametinib) combination therapy in patients with BRAF V600mutated cancers, including potential indications under investigation:
Genomic analysis and 3-y efficacy and safety update of COMBI-d: A Phase III study of dabrafenib (D) + trametinib (T) vs D monotherapy in patients with unresectable or metastatic BRAF V600E/K-mutant cutaneous melanoma [Abstract #9502; Monday, June 6, 1:39 PM CDT]
An open-label Phase II trial of dabrafenib (D) in combination with trametinib (T) in patients with previously treated BRAF V600Emutant advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC; BRF113928) [Abstract #107; Monday, June 6, 9:57 AM CDT]
ROAR: A Phase II, open-label study in patients with BRAF V600Emutated rare cancers to investigate the efficacy and safety of dabrafenib (D) and trametinib (T) combination therapy [Abstract # TPS2604; Sunday, June 5, 8:00 AM CDT]
Updates on CTL019, an investigational Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cell (CAR T) therapy, in relapsed/refractory pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL):
Sustained remissions with CD19-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T cells in children with relapsed/refractory ALL [Abstract #3011; Monday, June 6, 4:54 PM CDT]
Ongoing investigation of established and pipeline therapies for patients with unmet needs:
Long-term outcomes of ruxolitinib (RUX) therapy in patients with myelofibrosis (MF): 5-year update from COMFORT-I [Abstract #7012; Monday, June 6, 11:30 AM CDT]**
Phase I study of the safety and efficacy of the cMET inhibitor capmatinib (INC280) in patients (pts) with advanced cMET+ non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) [Abstract #9067; Saturday, June 4, 8:00 AM CDT]
Additional notable data from Novartis' core disease areas of focus include:
Breast Cancer:
A randomized trial (MA.17R) of extending adjuvant letrozole for 5 years after completing an initial 5 years of aromatase inhibitor therapy alone or preceded by tamoxifen in postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer [Abstract #LBA1; Sunday, June 5, 1:40 PM CDT]
Patient-reported outcomes from MA.17R: A randomized trial of extending adjuvant letrozole for 5 years after completing an initial 5 years of aromatase inhibitor therapy alone or preceded by tamoxifen in postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer [Abstract #LBA506; Monday, June 6, 3:15 PM CDT]
Correlation of PIK3CA mutations in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and efficacy of everolimus (EVE) in metastatic breast cancer: Results from BOLERO-2 [Abstract #519; Sunday, June 5, 11:30 AM CDT]
Prevention of everolimus/exemestane (EVE/EXE) stomatitis in postmenopausal (PM) women with hormone receptor-positive (HR+) metastatic breast cancer (MBC) using a dexamethasone-based mouthwash (MW): Results of the SWISH trial [Abstract #525; Sunday, June 5, 8:00 AM CDT]
Evaluation of lapatinib as a component of neoadjuvant therapy for HER2+ operable breast cancer: 5-year outcomes of NSABP protocol B-41 [Abstract #501; Monday, June 6, 1:27 PM CDT]
Ribociclib (LEE011) and letrozole in estrogen receptor-positive (ER+), HER2-negative (HER2) advanced breast cancer (aBC): Phase Ib safety, preliminary efficacy and molecular analysis [Abstract #568; Sunday, June 5, 8:00 AM CDT]
Lung Cancer:
Genetic landscape of ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and response to ceritinib in ASCEND-1 [Abstract #9064; Saturday, June 4, 8:00 AM CDT]
Phase II safety and efficacy results of a single-arm Ph Ib/II study of capmatinib (INC280) + gefitinib in patients with EGFR-mutated (mut), cMET-positive (cMET+) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) [Abstract #9020; Saturday, June 4, 3:00 PM CDT]
Hematology:
PILLAR-2: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, Phase III study of adjuvant everolimus (EVE) in patients (pts) with poor-risk diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) [Abstract #7506; Sunday, June 5, 11:45 AM CDT]
ReTHINK: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter, Phase III study of ruxolitinib in early myelofibrosis patients [Abstract #TPS7080; Monday, June 6, 8:00 AM CDT]**
Patient reported outcomes (PROs) of multiple myeloma (MM) patients treated with panobinostat (PAN) after 2 lines of therapy based on the international Phase III, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, PANORAMA-1 trial [Abstract #8054; Monday, June 6, 8:00 AM CDT]
Other Tumor Types:
A first-in-human phase I study of the anti-PD-1 antibody PDR001 in patients with advanced solid tumors [Abstract #3060; Sunday, June 5, 8:00 AM CDT]
BERIL-1: A Phase II, placebo-controlled study of buparlisib (BKM120) plus paclitaxel vs placebo plus paclitaxel in patients with platinum-pretreated recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) [Abstract #6008; Sunday, June 5, 10:12 AM CDT]
BERIL-1: Biomarker results from targeted sequencing of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and archival tissue in a randomized Phase II study of buparlisib (BKM120) or placebo + paclitaxel in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) [Abstract #6045; Saturday, June 4, 1:00 PM CDT]
A Phase II study of the efficacy and safety of the cMET inhibitor capmatinib (INC280) in patients (pts) with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) [Abstract #4074; Saturday, June 4, 8:00 AM CDT]
Everolimus (EVE) in advanced, nonfunctional, well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors (NET) of gastrointestinal (GI) or lung origin: Second interim overall survival (OS) results from the RADIANT-4 study [Abstract #4090; Saturday, June 4, 8:00 AM CDT]
Genomic mutation profiling (GMP) and clinical outcome in patients (pts) treated with ribociclib (CDK4/6 inhibitor) in the Signature program [Abstract 2528; Sunday, June 5, 8:00 AM CDT]
Product Information Approved indications for products vary by country and not all indications are available in every country. The product safety and efficacy profiles have not yet been established outside the approved indications. Because of the uncertainty of clinical trials, there is no guarantee that compounds will become commercially available with additional indications.
For full prescribing information, including approved indications and important safety information about marketed products, please visit https://www.novartisoncology.com/news/product-portfolio.
Because INC280, CTL019, LEE011, BKM120 and PDR001 are investigational compounds, the safety and efficacy profiles have not yet been fully established. Access to these investigational compounds is available only through carefully controlled and monitored clinical trials. These trials are designed to better understand the potential benefits and risks of the compound. Because of the uncertainty of clinical trials, there is no guarantee that INC280, CTL019, LEE011, BKM120 and PDR001 will ever be commercially available anywhere in the world.
Target (NYSE: TGT) shares are under heavy pressure Wednesday (-7.8%) after posting a mixed first quarter, with EPS beating but revenues missing analysts expectations. However, it was the second quarter guidance that gave investors pause. The company said it sees second quarter EPS of $1.00 - $1.20, versus the consensus of $1.36.
The news of Target's struggles has some conservatives celebrating.
A little less than a month ago, The American Family Association (AFA) called for a boycott of Target given its policy of transgender bathroom usage. At that time, Target took a public stand on the hotly-debated issue, saying, "we welcome transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity." The AFA petition has 1.25 million signers to date and has been shared some 360,000 times on Facebook. This is not to count the potentially millions of other conservatives that have taken up the cause. Meanwhile, the estimated number identifying as transgendered in the U.S. is about 700,000 people.
Today's guidance from Target suggests the boycott may actually be having a financial impact. Target even admitted as much, but only to a small extent. According to a company spokesperson, the boycott may be impacting sales at a small number of locations in certain geographies.
"We have reviewed the data extensively and determined there was a very minor impact to traffic and sales in a very small number of Target stores," Target said in a statement to StreetInsider.com on the transgendered matter. "The exact impact on traffic and sales is immeasurable given all of the broader factors that are at play. "
The company didn't address the controversy on its conference call. The company is also sticking by its policy on the transgendered matter despite the potential impact on results.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (NYSE: VRX) announced that Mr. Joseph Papa, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, will participate at the UBS Global Healthcare Conference to be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City on Monday, May 23, 2016 at 8:30 a.m. ET.
A live webcast and audio archive of the event will be available on Valeant's corporate website on the "Investor Relations" page, under the "Events and Presentations" tab and via this URL: http://ir.valeant.com/events-and-presentations.
Participants are encouraged to allow approximately five to ten minutes prior to the start time to visit the site and download any streaming media software needed to listen to the event.
People line up to visit the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington March 29, 2016. REUTERS/Gary Cameron
By Ginger Gibson and Lawrence Hurley
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Presumptive Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday unveiled the names of 11 judges - eight men and three women, all white and all conservative - he would consider, if elected, to replace the late Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.
Six of them are judges who were appointed to federal appeals courts around the country by Republican former President George W. Bush. The other five serve on various state supreme courts.
Scalia's replacement could tip the ideological balance of the court, which now is evenly divided with four conservative justices and four liberals. Scalia, who died in February, was one of the court's most conservative justices.
"We're going to choose from, most likely from this list," Trump said in an interview with Fox News. But Trump said he could deviate from the list and added, "At a minimum we will keep people within this general realm."
All of Trump's 11 judges are listed as affiliated with the Federalist Society on the influential conservative legal group's website. The organization is known as a breeding ground for conservative legal thinkers.
It is unusual for a presidential candidate to release names of potential Supreme Court or Cabinet nominees before winning an election.
But Trump is working to assure conservatives in his own party that, if elected president on Nov. 8, he would not appoint a liberal or moderate to the court. Trump allies had encouraged him to announce the names of potential court nominees to allay fears among conservatives wary of a Trump presidency.
Trump's list includes: Steven Colloton of Iowa, a judge on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; Raymond Gruender of Missouri, also a judge on the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals; and Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, a judge on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.
It also includes: Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, a judge on the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals; William Pryor of Alabama, a judge on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals; and Diane Sykes of Wisconsin, a judge on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The state supreme court jurists include: Allison Eid of Colorado; Joan Larsen of Michigan; Thomas Lee of Utah; David Stras of Minnesota; and Don Willett of Texas.
Democratic President Barack Obama in March named centrist appellate court judge Merrick Garland to fill the vacancy. But the Republican-led Senate has refused to hold confirmation hearings or a vote, insisting that Obama's successor should get to select Scalia's replacement.
Trump said in a statement that the 11 judges were "representative of the kind of constitutional principles I value" and said he would use the list as a guide for nominating a justice.
Willett in the past year has posted several comments on Twitter mocking Trump, even referring to him as "Darth Trump," a twist on the "Star Wars" villain Darth Vader. Willett last June posted about imagining Trump selecting a Supreme Court nominee.
"The mind reels. *weepscan't finish tweet*," Willett wrote, suggesting he was crying at the idea.
Asked to comment on Willett's Twitter remarks, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said, "Mr. Trumps sole focus is considering the best potential individuals based on their constitutional principles."
SENATOR'S BROTHER
Lee is the brother of Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah, one of the most conservative members of the U.S. Senate.
"I don't know everyone on the list, but those I do know would all be great Supreme Court Justices. Of course, I do believe one name on that list stands head and shoulders above the rest," said Mike Lee, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that would consider any nomination.
Sykes is the former wife of conservative Wisconsin radio host Charles Sykes, who posted on Twitter that she would make a great justice but added, "I simply don't believe Trump."
Several of the judges have ruled against abortion and reproductive rights. Sykes, Colloton and Pryor have ruled against the Obama administration regarding religious objections to the contraception coverage requirement of the Obamacare healthcare law.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at his daily briefing that he would be surprised if any Democrat would describe any of Trump's picks "as a consensus nominee."
"But the individual President Obama has put forward is somebody that Republicans have described as a consensus nominee," Earnest said of Garland, adding that it would be wise for the Senate to act on Obama's nominee.
Liberal advocacy group People for the American Way said Trump's list included "conservative dream justices."
Most of the 11 judges did not respond to requests for comment.
"Joan Larsen is working along with the rest of Michigan's Supreme Court to provide common-sense, rule-of-law justice. That is her focus and will remain her focus," her campaign spokesman Stu Sandler said. Larsen was appointed to the post and is running for election to a full term.
(Reporting by Ginger Gibson, Lawrence Hurley, Susan Heavey, Timothy Gardner, Susan Cornwell and Alana Wise.; Editing by Will Dunham, Toni Reinhold)
NEUHAUSEN, SWITZERLAND -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- Tyco Retail Solutions (www.tycoretailsolutions.com) today announced its recognition for retail customer analytics from ABI Research, the leader in transformative technology innovation market intelligence.
ABI Research cited Tyco Retail Solutions' recent expansion of inventory visibility, loss prevention and traffic intelligence solutions as key contributing factors to this high honor. In the last year, Tyco acquired three strategic retail analytics companies to complement and bolster the company's existing security and store performance solutions, offering retailers unprecedented insights into their operations:
Creativesystems, a premier European provider of integrated RFID solutions and professional services, strengthens Tyco's ability to improve operational efficiency for retailers and manufacturers, and addresses the rapidly evolving global demand for inventory intelligence applications.
FootFall, a retail intelligence company with principal operations in the United Kingdom, enables Tyco to provide additional insights to optimize staffing, merchandising and store operations. FootFall already managed more than 50,000 devices to collect, measure, and analyze customer traffic for thousands of retail stores and property owners across Europe, Asia Pacific and North America.
ShopperTrak, a U.S.-based global provider of retail consumer behavior insights and location-based analytics, helps Tyco deliver insights and benchmarks to analyze perimeter and in-store customer traffic and behavior, and measure performance in the context of the market.
In addition to these acquisitions, Tyco Retail Solutions recently released its latest Sensormatic Synergy Series, which further helps retailers leverage in-store data to optimize store performance and enhance loss prevention efforts. This next-generation portfolio of intelligent, modular and network-enabled detection systems leverages the power of multiple technologies in one pedestal, including Acousto-Magnetic (AM), RFID, traffic and video analytics technologies.
"With a full suite of innovative information-based solutions, Tyco is responding to customer demands for timely, data-driven insight to power their growth strategies," said Tony D'Onofrio, Vice President of Marketing, Global Accounts and Source Tagging for Tyco Retail Solutions. "This recognition validates the impact our strategy is making on helping store brands prepare for the future."
"Tyco has one of the most innovative solutions available today," says Patrick Connolly, Principal Analyst at ABI Research. "Its acquisition of ShopperTrak and FootFall, and subsequent launch of its Synergy product, significantly boosts its market share, combined with one of the most innovative solutions available today. It is one of the first companies to truly address the need to integrate different retail technologies and bring new capabilities and ROI to retailers."
As a global industry and technology expert in retail inventory intelligence, shopper analytics and loss prevention solutions, Tyco now offers retailers a unique combination of insights to make more informed decisions to improve their revenue and profitability. To learn more, visit www.tycoretailsolutions.com.
About Tyco Retail Solutions Tyco Retail Solutions is a leading provider of integrated retail performance and security solutions, deployed today at more than 80 percent of the world's top 200 retailers. Customers range from single-store boutiques to global retail enterprises. Operating in more than 70 countries worldwide, Tyco Retail Solutions provides retailers with real-time visibility to their inventory and assets to improve operations, optimize profitability, and create memorable shopper experiences.
The Tyco Retail Solutions portfolio for retailers is sold direct through Tyco businesses and authorized business partners around the world. For more information, please visit TycoRetailSolutions.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and our YouTube channel.
TYCO and the product names listed in this document are marks and/or registered marks. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
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Media Contact: Andrea Dunbeck Matter Communications +1 (978) 518-4555 Email Contact
Source: Tyco Retail Solutions
LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Air Products (NYSE: APD) and NIPPON STEEL & SUMIKIN Pipeline & Engineering Co. Ltd. (NSPE) have successfully constructed and placed onstream their first retail hydrogen fueling station in Tokyo, Japan. JX Nippon Oil & Energy, one of Japan's largest developers of hydrogen fueling stations, contracted with NSPE to supply the station. Air Products and NSPE signed an agreement in February 2014 to work together on Japan's developing hydrogen fueling infrastructure market. Under this exclusive arrangement, the parties are currently constructing another station in Hokkaido, Japan, which will be onstream in September 2016.
"We were honored to work with NSPE and achieve success in constructing and delivering the station to meet the growing demand for fueling hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in Japan. The station, completed on-schedule, passed all of its standard testing the first time through and is fueling vehicles regularly. We are pleased to continue collaborating with NSPE in the Japan market, where many more hydrogen fueling stations are already planned," said Ed Kiczek, global business director Hydrogen Energy Systems at Air Products.
Kiczek added that Air Products has operated in Japan since 1970, and works through its established wholly-owned subsidiary, Air Products Japan, on hydrogen fueling opportunities.
"The station is the first under the collaboration between NSPE and Air Products. In Japan, where the FCV commercial market was the first to be developed in the world, NSPE, as an engineering company delivering pipeline, LNG and other energy infrastructure, will continue to supply safe, reliable hydrogen for fueling together with Air Products," said Hideki Imai, director of Plant Division at NSPE.
The Tokyo location is the first station in Air Products' and NSPE's collaborative effort. The Tokyo location uses Air Products' SmartFuel hydrogen fueling station technology and fueling protocol license. Air Products also provided infrastructure engineering and design, while NSPE provided engineering, construction, and adapted the technology for the Japanese market.
Air Products' SmartFuel hydrogen fueling stations provide hydrogen fueling at 70 Mpa (10,000 psi) according to JPEC (Japan Petroleum Energy Center) S0003, and is also SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) J2601 fueling protocol capable, using Air Products' patented technology. Air Products has available several SmartFuel fueling stations incorporating modular and expandable technology, and holds an entire portfolio of global patents, with additional patents pending related to "compressionless hydrogen fueling station" advancements.
Use of the company's fueling technology is increasing and is already used in conducting approximately 1,000,000 hydrogen fills per year. The company has been involved in over 200 hydrogen fueling projects in the United States and 20 countries worldwide. Cars, trucks, vans, buses, scooters, forklifts, locomotives, planes, cell towers, material handling equipment, and even submarines have been fueled with market-leading Air Products' technologies. Details on Air Products' hydrogen fueling station technologies can be viewed at www.airproducts.com/h2energy.
Air Products has more than 60 years of hydrogen experience and an extensive patent portfolio in hydrogen dispensing technology. Air Products provides liquid and gaseous hydrogen and a variety of enabling devices and protocols for fuel dispensing at varied pressures. Hydrogen for these stations can be delivered to a site via truck or pipeline, produced by natural gas reformation, biomass conversion, or by electrolysis, including electrolysis driven by renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.
About Air Products
Air Products (NYSE: APD) is a world-leading Industrial Gases company celebrating 75 years of operation. The company's core Industrial Gases business provides atmospheric and process gases and related equipment to manufacturing markets, including refining and petrochemical, metals, electronics, and food and beverage. Air Products is also the world's leading supplier of liquefied natural gas process technology and equipment. The company's Materials Technologies business serves the semiconductor, polyurethanes, cleaning and coatings, and adhesives industries.
The company had fiscal 2015 sales of $9.9 billion and was ranked number 284 on the Fortune 500 annual list of public companies. Approximately 20,000 employees in 50 countries strive to make Air Products the world's safest and best performing Industrial Gases company, providing sustainable offerings and excellent service to all customers. For more information, visit www.airproducts.com.
About NIPPON STEEL & SUMIKIN Pipeline & Engineering Co. Ltd. (NSPE)
NSPE, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NIPPON STEEL & SUMIKIN ENGINEERING CO., LTD., which is a segment company of NIPPON STEEL & SUMITOMO METAL CORPORATION (NSSMC), has been engaged in the engineering business for energy related plants such as various types of pipelines, natural gas and LNG. NSSMC Group has an experience in the construction of hydrogen stations for the 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, Japan. NSPE has been involved in the construction of the major natural gas transmission pipelines in Japan for over 50 years, and also, provided plants such as LNG shipping and receiving facilities. For more information, visit http://www.nspe.nssmc.com.
NOTE: This release may contain forward-looking statements within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management's reasonable expectations and assumptions as of the date of this release regarding important risk factors. Actual performance and financial results may differ materially from projections and estimates expressed in the forward-looking statements because of many factors not anticipated by management, including risk factors described in the Company's Form 10K for its fiscal year ended September 30, 2015.
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/air-products-and-nspe-team-up-to-commercialize-their-first-hydrogen-fueling-station-in-japan-300271024.html
SOURCE Air Products
88.4% of all Shares Committed
Settlement Date will be 25 May 2016
Highlights
88.4% of all TNT Express shares tendered and accepted
All Offer Conditions have been satisfied or waived
Settlement will take place on 25 May 2016
Remaining TNT Express Shares can be tendered during the Post-Closing Acceptance Period, commencing on 19 May 2016 and ending on 1 June 2016
MEMPHIS, Tenn. & HOOFDDORP, the Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- This is a joint press release by FedEx Corporation, FedEx Acquisition B.V. and TNT Express N.V. pursuant to the provisions of Section 16 paragraph 1 and Section 17 paragraph 1 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). 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/20160517006747/en/
FedEx Corporation (FedEx) (NYSE: FDX), FedEx Acquisition B.V. (the Offeror) and TNT Express N.V. (TNT Express) are pleased to announce that the Offeror has declared its recommended all-cash public offer for all the issued and outstanding ordinary shares in the share capital of TNT Express, including shares represented by American Depositary Receipts (the Shares), unconditional (doet gestand). All Offer Conditions, as described in the Offer Document, have been satisfied or (in whole or in part) waived.
We are pleased with the outcome of the public share offer, said David Bronczek, President and CEO, FedEx Express. May 25, 2016 will be a profound moment in the history of these two great companies. Together, we will transform the global transportation industry, connecting even more people and possibilities around the world.
Acceptance
In connection with the Offer, 484,982,585 Shares (including Shares represented by American depositary shares) have been tendered during the Acceptance Period that expired on 13 May 2016, representing 88.4% of the aggregate issued and outstanding ordinary share capital of TNT Express, and an aggregate value of 3,879,860,680 (at an Offer Price of 8.00 (eight euro) in cash per Share). No treasury shares are held by TNT Express.
Settlement
With reference to the Offer Document, published on 21 August 2015, holders of Ordinary Shares who accepted the Offer shall receive an amount in cash of 8.00 (eight euro) (the Offer Price) and holders of ADSs who accepted the Offer shall receive a cash amount equal to the U.S. dollar equivalent of the Offer Price, calculated by the Offeror using the spot market exchange rate for the U.S. dollar against the euro published on Bloomberg at noon New York time on the day immediately prior to the date on which funds are received by Citibank, N.A. (the ADS Tender Agent), in its capacity as ADS Tender Agent to pay for the ADSs following the Unconditional Date.
Payment of the Offer Price will occur on 25 May 2016 (the Settlement Date). The Offeror currently does not hold any Shares. Following the Settlement of the Offer, the Offeror will hold at least 484,982,585 Shares, representing 88.4% of the issued and outstanding share capital of TNT Express.
Post-Closing Acceptance Period
The Offeror hereby announces that Shareholders, including holders of ADSs, who have not yet tendered their Shares under the Offer will have the opportunity to tender their Shares, under the same terms and conditions applicable to the Offer, in a Post-Closing Acceptance Period (na-aanmeldingstermijn) commencing at 09:00 hours Amsterdam time on 19 May 2016 and expiring at 17:40 hours Amsterdam time (11:40 hours New York time) on 1 June 2016 (the Post-Closing Acceptance Period). The Offeror has agreed that it will accept valid tender of book-entry ADSs until 17:00 hours New York time on 1 June 2016.
During the Post-Closing Acceptance Period, Shareholders have no right to withdraw Shares from the Offer, regardless whether their Shares have been validly tendered (or defectively tendered, provided that such defect has been waived by the Offeror) during the Acceptance Period or the Post-Closing Acceptance Period. A notice of guaranteed delivery will not be an effective means of tendering ADSs during the Post-Closing Acceptance Period.
The Offeror will publicly announce the results of the Post-Closing Acceptance Period and the total amount and total percentage of Shares held by it in accordance with Article 17, paragraph 4 of the Decree ultimately on the 3rd (third) Dutch Business Day following the last day of the Post-Closing Acceptance Period.
The Offeror will continue to accept for payment all Shares (including ADSs) validly tendered (or defectively tendered, provided that such defect has been waived by the Offeror) during the Post-Closing Acceptance Period and shall pay for such Shares (including ADSs) as soon as reasonably possible and, in any event no later than on the 5th (fifth) Dutch Business Day following the last day of the Post-Closing Acceptance Period.
Buy-Out
If, following the Settlement Date, and the Post-Closing Acceptance Period, the Offeror and/or its Affiliates, have acquired 95% (ninety-five per cent) or more of the aggregate issued and outstanding ordinary share capital (geplaatst en uitstaand gewoon kapitaal) of TNT Express, the Offeror will, as soon as possible, initiate a buy-out procedure (uitkoopprocedure) in accordance with Article 2:92a or 2:201a of the Dutch Civil Code and/or a takeover buy-out procedure in accordance with Article 2:359c of the Dutch Civil Code in order to acquire the remaining Shares not tendered and not held by the Offeror or TNT Express.
Asset Sale and Liquidation
If, following the Settlement Date, the Post-Closing Acceptance Period and a Minority Exit Opportunity, the Offeror and/or its Affiliates, have acquired less than 95% (ninety-five per cent) of the issued and outstanding ordinary share capital (geplaatst en uitstaand gewoon kapitaal) of TNT Express, the Offeror may choose to implement the Asset Sale and Liquidation of TNT Express. Reference is made to Section 6.16.3 (Asset Sale and Liquidation) of the Offer Document.
Remaining Shareholders who do not wish to tender their shares should carefully review Section 6.16.3 of the Offer Document and particularly note that if the Offeror elects to implement the Asset Sale and Liquidation and a Shareholder did not tender its Shares under the Offer, such Shareholder will receive the same amount of the Offer Price per Share that it would have received had it tendered its Shares under the Offer, without any interest being paid on such amount and with such amount being subject to any required withholding taxes and costs related to such Asset Sale and Liquidation.
The withholding taxes and other taxes, if any, imposed on such Shareholder may be different from, and greater than, the taxes imposed upon a Shareholder that tenders its Shares under the Offer. Consequently, if the Asset Sale is pursued, the net amount received by a Shareholder for Shares that are not tendered under the Offer (and who remains a Shareholder up to and including the time of the Asset Sale and any subsequent liquidation) will depend upon such Shareholder's individual tax circumstances and the amount of any required withholding or other taxes, as further described in Section 11.1.8 (Asset Sale and Liquidation) of the Offer Document. With respect to the Shareholder Distribution, Dutch dividend withholding tax will be due at a rate of 15% (fifteen per cent) to the extent that Shareholder Distributions exceed the average paid-in capital of those Shares as recognized for purposes of Dutch dividend withholding tax.
Delisting
FedEx and TNT Express will seek to procure the delisting of the Shares from Euronext Amsterdam as soon as possible, and the termination of the listing agreement between TNT Express and Euronext Amsterdam in relation to the listing of the Shares. TNT Express also intends to terminate the ADS Deposit Agreement between TNT Express and the U.S. Depositary upon such delisting. These actions may adversely affect the liquidity and market value of any listed Shares not tendered. Reference is made to Section 6.14 (Liquidity and delisting) and Section 6.15 (Termination Deposit Agreement) of the Offer Document.
Further implications of the Offer being declared unconditional
Remaining Shareholders who do not wish to tender their Shares in the Post-Closing Acceptance Period should carefully review the sections of the Offer Document that further explain the intentions of the Offeror and/or FedEx, such as (but not limited to) Sections 6.13 (Intentions following the Offer being declared unconditional) up to and including 6.16.6 (Other measures), which describe certain implications to which they may become subject with their continued shareholding in TNT Express.
Announcements
Any further announcements in relation to the Offer will be issued by press release. Any joint press release issued by the Offeror and TNT Express will be made available on the websites of FedEx (http://investors.fedex.com) and TNT Express (www.tnt.com/corporate). Subject to any applicable requirements of the applicable rules and without limiting the manner in which the Offeror may choose to make any public announcement, the Offeror will have no obligation to communicate any public announcement other than as described above.
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: [email protected] 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: [email protected] 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: [email protected]
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 worlds 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 worlds 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 or her 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, FedExs ability to successfully operate TNT Express without disruption to its other business activities, FedExs 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 FedExs 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/20160517006747/en/
FedEx Corp.
Media
Patrick Fitzgerald, +1 901-818-7300
[email protected]
or
Media Contact Europe
Burson-Marsteller
Michelle Fresco, +31 (0)70 3021191
[email protected]
or
Investor Relations
Mickey Foster, +1 901-818-7468
[email protected]
or
TNT Express
Media
Cyrille Gibot, +31 88 393 9390
Mobile: +31 65 113 3104
[email protected]
or
Investor Relations
Gerard Wichers, +31 88 393 9500
[email protected]
Source: FedEx Corporation, FedEx Acquisition B.V. and TNT Express N.V.
FORT ST. JOHN, BC -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 --
Summary of financial results (thousands of dollars except per share amounts) --------------------------- Three months ended March 31 --------------------------- 2016 2015 --------------------------- (unaudited) (unaudited) Revenues $9,102 $30,238 EBITDA (1) (1,823) 4,069 Net (loss) earnings (2,930) 1,430 Net (loss) earnings per share ($0.10) $0.05 Weighted average common shares outstanding (thousands) - basic 30,061 30,189 ---------------------------
Note 1 - References to EBITDA are to net income from continuing operations before interest, taxes, amortization and impairment charge. EBITDA is not an earnings measure recognized by International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") and does not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS. Management believes that EBITDA is an appropriate measure in evaluating the Company's performance. Readers are cautioned that EBITDA should not be construed as an alternative to net income (as determined under IFRS) as an indicator of financial performance or to cash flow from operating activities (as determined under IFRS) as a measure of liquidity and cash flow. The Company's method of calculating EBITDA may differ from the methods used by other issuers and, accordingly, the Company's EBITDA may not be comparable to similar measures used by other issuers.
Highlights
The Company is reporting its first net loss in 5 years and its first negative EBITDA in 8 years
The Company continues to materially exceed industry standard safety averages. As at March 31, 2016 Macro Enterprises has now exceeded 11 quarters and 2.5 million man hours worked without a single lost time injury
The Company is reporting shareholders' equity of $92.7 million or $3.09 per share based on common shares issued and outstanding as at March 31, 2016
The Company continues to maintain a strong working capital position of $46.9 million or a 6.3x working capital ratio as at March 31, 2016
The Company continues to actively evaluate and adjust its costs such that it can achieve cash flow positive operations
First quarter results
Three months ended March 31, 2016 vs. three months ended March 31, 2015
Macro Enterprises Inc. posted consolidated revenue of $9.1 million, a significant decrease over last year's first quarter revenue results of $30.2 million. The significant decline in work performed during the quarter was expected due to an industry wide protracted downturn and persistently weak commodity prices. As a result of weak commodity prices clients are deferring discretionary integrity and maintenance projects. Revenue during the period ended March 31, 2016 included recurring integrity and maintenance work from its existing clients under master service agreements. In prior year's first quarter, the Company's revenue also consisted mainly of recurring integrity and maintenance work with some small project work being performed.
Operating expenses were 95.2% of revenue or $8.7 million in the quarter compared to 78.0% or $23.6 million in the same quarter last year. The Company's operating margins were higher than historical averages due to the mix of variable and necessary fixed costs incurred compounded by a significant decline to revenues during the quarter. The Company will continue to tightly monitor and adjust all operating costs under its control in an effort to remain competitive during this period of depressed market conditions.
General and administrative expenses were $1.6 million, down $729,000 and representing a 31.8% reduction from the $2.3 million incurred prior year. The significant decline is a result of reduced operations and the Company actively reducing its overhead costs. Included in the Company's general and administrative expenditures are costs incurred in connection with the bid processes, professional fees, corporate wages, burdens and various other overheads, including rents, insurance, travel and administrative supplies that are not charged directly to projects. The Company will balance reducing its overheads while maintaining its business development plans.
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment was $1.7 million and down slightly million from prior year's first quarter. Depreciation is calculated at various declining balance methods across the Company's multiple categories of property, plant and equipment and is used in guiding the annual capital expenditure estimates. Residual values, methods of amortization and useful lives of the assets are reviewed annually and adjusted if appropriate.
During the first quarter the Company recorded a $487,000 impairment on receivables charge relating to a non-core client working in the alternative energy industry who had entered into receivership subsequent to period end.
During the first quarter the Company recognized non-cash stock-based compensation charges of $203,000 relating to options granted prior year. The company anticipates recognizing an additional $0.4 million in stock-based compensation over the next 6 quarters. The non-cash stock-based compensation charge relate to options granted in fiscal 2014 and 2015.
Finance costs of were up $10,000 from prior year's first quarter to $151,000. However, included in the finance costs were $72,000 of amortized deferred transaction cost relating to the establishment of the Company's $115 million senior secured credit facility.
Income tax recovery in the quarter of $0.7 million was at an effective rate of 19.8% which is lower than the enacted tax rates of 26% after appropriate deductions. The decrease over the enacted tax rates relates to both permanent and timing differences being recognized during the quarter.
Net loss in the quarter was $2.9 million (($0.10) per share)) compared to a net income of $1.4 million ($0.05 per share) recognized during the three months ended March 31, 2015. The decrease was a result of significantly reduced levels of work activity compounded by a material decline to operating margins over prior year's first quarter. Results for the first quarter of 2016 were further impacted by an impairment to receivables charge recognized during the period.
Outlook
Activity levels in the oil and gas industry have been materially impacted across Western Canada as a result of the volatility in commodity prices. Although the pricing uncertainty is affecting activity and many projects have been delayed, large oil and gas companies are continuing to request bids on significant projects, both LNG-related and not. With a solid balance sheet, enhanced liquidity and its industry leading health, safety and environmental practices, the Company is in excellent financial shape to address these uncertain times.
The Company will maintain its focus on working with blue chip pipeline owners and operators to carry out their construction and maintenance programs across Canada.
As part of its overall strategy to develop a significant backlog of work and revenue certainty, including seeking larger credit facilities, the Company is seeking out pipeline and facilities construction contracts in connection with the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) projects being planned on the west coast of British Columbia, an industry that is anticipated to bring substantial economic activity to British Columbia over the next 30 years. Macro continues to have active discussions with the LNG project owners regarding future pipeline and facilities construction.
The Company's revolving operating facility will provide enhanced flexibility and essential funding support as the Company works to realize on those large-scale potential growth opportunities. The secured letter of credit facility is intended to facilitate the issuance of letters of credit to support qualifying projects.
Macro has also been assisting clients with budget and constructability estimates on fee based recovery arrangements.
If investment decisions continue to be deferred and as a result of market conditions, the Company is anticipating a protracted slower period of business activity over the next 12 to 18 months. The Company expects second quarter revenues to be materially less than its first quarter revenues. However, despite its current operating margin deficiencies the Company expects to return to bottom line positive cash flow activity in the second half of fiscal 2016. Recurring revenues from its existing master service agreements will represent the bulk of activity.
Macro's core business is providing pipeline and facilities construction and maintenance services to major companies in the oil and gas industry. The Company is based in Fort St. John, B.C. Its shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol MCR. Information on the Company's principal operating unit, Macro Industries Inc., can be found at www.macroindustries.ca
Conference call
The Company will host a conference call at 8 am PDT on Wednesday, May 18, 2016 to discuss the 2016 first quarter results. The conference call can be accessed by dialing 1-888-390-0605 and referencing conference ID 39236125.
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements in this news release regarding the expected terms, closing and intended use of the new credit facilities may include forward-looking information that involves various risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include the risk that by reason of oil prices, global economic conditions, government regulation of energy and resource companies, weather patterns, terrorist activity, the price and availability of alternative fuels, the availability of pipeline capacity, potential instability or armed conflict in oil-producing regions, material changes in the Company's affairs, the results of due diligence investigations or other circumstances leading to a lack of appetite for the provision of the credit facilities on the part of the prospective lenders, the announced credit facilities are reduced in scope or are not advanced. They also include the risk that the Company is not the successful bidder or is otherwise not able to realize on potential growth opportunities identified by it. These risks and uncertainties may cause actual results to differ from information contained herein, and there can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate. These statements are based on the commitment letter in place and the expectations of management on the dates they are made and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice. Except as required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements should circumstances or management's expectations change.
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.
For further information please contact:Frank MilesPresident and C.E.O.Phone: (250) 785-0033Jeff RedmondChief Financial Officer(250) 785-0033
Source: Macro Enterprises Inc.
NOVI, Mich., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Diversified Members Credit Union (DMCU) is celebrating the grand opening of their new branch office in Novi on Saturday, May 21st with a fun filled Open House.
On site will be a NASCAR racing simulator, 35 foot inflatable obstacle course for kids, complimentary food and beverages, as well as various prizes and contests. AMP Radio 98.7 FM and WYCD 99.5 FM will provide music and even more prizes for guests. In addition, the Novi Police and Fire departments will perform safety demonstrations. There are special appearances planned as well, including Detroit Lions legend Lomas Brown, the Lions mascot Roary, and some childhood favorites such as Cinderella, Darth Vader and more.
"We're excited to be a part of downtown Novi, so we're pulling out all the stops to leave a lasting impression on the community," said Kathie Trembath, CEO of DMCU.
Located at 25880 Novi Road, south of Grand River, the state-of-the-art facility features a complimentary coffee bar, free Wi-Fi, and convenient drive-thru lanes to ensure a positive member service experience. Visit the DMCU Novi branch Open House this Saturday, May 21 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm to partake in the fun activities.
About Diversified Members Credit Union
Diversified Members Credit Union is a full service financial institution offering loans, savings and checking accounts. Anyone who lives or works in the state of Michigan is eligible for membership. Formed in 1929, DMCU has grown to over 20,000 members and $400M in assets. For more information, visit www.dmcu.com, or on Facebook or Twitter.
Media Contact: Dennis Mollner 313.568.5000 ext. 238 [email protected]
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160511/366479
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/open-house-celebration-planned-for-dmcus-new-novi-branch-300268240.html
SOURCE Diversified Members Credit Union
HARRISBURG, Pa., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Secretary of State Pedro A. Cortes is a recipient of the Torch of Global Enlightenment Award for 2016, awarded by the World Affairs Council of Harrisburg.
Secretary Cortes, who is in his second tenure as Secretary of State, received the award Tuesday, May 17, at the annual awards ceremony held at Widener University School of Law in Harrisburg.
"Secretary Cortes has earned the admiration and respect of our board and associates for his spirit of humility and public service," said Joyce Davis, president and chief executive officer of the World Affairs Council of Harrisburg. "In both his public and private roles, Secretary Cortes epitomizes the highest values of global understanding and appreciation of diverse cultures, faiths, languages and lands."
The Torch of Global Enlightenment Award honors the achievements of individuals, organizations and educators who exemplify the ideals of inclusiveness, respect for diversity, multiculturalism and interfaith dialogue.
"I am honored to receive the Torch award from the World Affairs Council," Secretary Cortes said. "I firmly believe that our city, our state, our nation and our world become better places when we respect and embrace diversity. By doing so, we harness the human potential for the benefit of all."
Other 2016 recipients of the Torch award are: Ho-Thanh Nguyen, president of the Pennsylvania Immigrant and Refugee Women's Network (PAIRWN); Yolanda Perez, co-founder of Latino Hispanic Professional Organization; Dr. Wayne Selcher, retired professor at Elizabethtown College; and Ann Van Dyke, retired member of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. Organizations honored are: Harsco, the Mayor's Interfaith Advisory Council, Mission Central, and the YWCA of Greater Harrisburg.
Also, receiving WAC Harrisburg's first Torch Educator awards were Jamie Kinsley, Kelly O'Brien and Tom Sites, a team of elementary teachers at Milton Hershey School.
Secretary Cortes received his second appointment as Secretary of State from Governor Tom Wolf in 2015. He previously served in the post from 2003 to 2010. In his first tenure, Secretary Cortes was the first confirmed Latino Cabinet member in the Commonwealth and became the longest-serving Secretary of State in Pennsylvania history.
He was also the first Pennsylvanian to serve as President of the National Association of Secretaries of State in the Association's 104-year history.
Cortes began his Commonwealth government career in 1993 as a caseworker with the Department of Public Welfare. Subsequently, he worked as a recruiter and attorney with the State Civil Service Commission and was the Executive Director of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs for two Pennsylvania governors. Prior to his most recent appointment as Secretary of State, Cortes was a partner with the law firm of Haggerty, Goldberg, Schleifer and Kupersmith.
The Secretary has been the recipient of numerous awards, including: Hispanic Business Magazine's 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the United States; Multicultural Affairs Congress' Delaware Valley's Most Influential Latino; Legal Intelligencer's Diverse Attorney of the Year; and The Pennsylvania State University Alumni Fellow.
Cortes earned a Bachelor of Science in Hotel, Restaurant and Travel Administration from the University of Massachusetts, a Master of Public Administration from Penn State University, and a Juris Doctor from Penn State Dickinson School of Law.
The World Affairs Council of Harrisburg is affiliated with the World Affairs Councils of America based in Washington, DC. It is part of a national network of influential councils dedicated to educating and engaging the residents of our region in global issues. WAC associates meet and interact with leading international writers, intellectuals, diplomats and political leaders, and are dedicated to making those opportunities available to youth in the region.
The Council in Harrisburg was founded in 2010 with support from several founding institutions: Widener University School of Law, Temple University Harrisburg, The World Culture Club of Central PA, Harsco, Elizabethtown College, Harrisburg University, International House, Keystone Human Services and Messiah College.
MEDIA CONTACT: Wanda Murren, (717) 783-1621
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pennsylvania-secretary-of-state-pedro-cortes-is-recipient-of-torch-of-global-enlightenment-award-300270895.html
SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of State
Morocco's foreign ministry summoned the US ambassador on Wednesday to express anger over a "scandalous" State Department report on human rights in the North African kingdom.
The ministry said in a statement it protested to the ambassador, Dwight Bush, over "manipulation and flagrant factual errors" in the report released on April 13.
It questioned "the true aims and motivation" behind the critical report.
"Morocco is a state of institutions and has national structures whose credibility and seriousness are widely acknowledged," the ministry said.
"Serious allegations such as those contained in the State Department report give the impression that these institutions do not fulfil their duties."
It said Morocco was "ready to go all the way to confront" the charges in the report, point by point, before the relevant US authorities.
On Tuesday, the interior ministry branded the report "scandalous" and said Rabat had already in past years complained to Washington over the "biased character" of the annual State Department country reports on human rights.
In the latest report, the State Department highlights alleged "corruption and widespread disregard for the rule of law by security forces" in Morocco.
"The government abridged civil liberties by infringing on freedom of speech and press, including by harassing and arresting of print and Internet journalists," it charged.
The report also pointed to "few examples and no high-profile reports of investigations or prosecutions of abuse or corruption by officials".
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COLOMBO (Reuters) - Maldives, a staunch supporter of Saudi Arabia, has severed ties with Iran, saying the Islamic Republic's policy in the Middle East is detrimental to peace and security for the Indian Ocean archipelago, its Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia in January cut ties with Iran over the storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran, in a worsening diplomatic crisis between the regional rivals following the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric.
"The Maldives believes that the policies that Iranian government pursues in the Middle East ... is detrimental to peace and security in the region, which, in many ways, is also linked to stability, peace and security of the Maldives," the Foreign Ministry said.
The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said the "irrational adventurism" in foreign policy decisions by President Abdulla Yameen's administration would have serious repercussions on the security of the Maldives.
"President Yameen is amassing all the worlds contentious issues to the Indian Ocean, with Maldives at the heart of it; clearly disregarding the security and protection of the Maldivian people, said MDP international spokesperson Hamid Abdul Ghafoor.
Since 2013, Saudi Arabia has played an increasing role in the Maldives, which like Saudi has a predominantly Sunni Muslim population, with investments in tourism and funds to build mosques. Saudi established an embassy there last year.
Maldives established diplomatic relations with Shi'ite Muslim Iran in 1975.
(Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Alison Williams)
MAPUTO (Reuters) - Mozambique's opposition on Wednesday demanded an independent investigation into a spate of unexplained killings and the possible existence of a police death squad.
Afonso Dhlakama, leader of the main opposition party Renamo, said an inquiry separate from a police investigation was needed into the killing of 15 people last month in the Gorongosa region, north of the capital Maputo.
Renamo accuses the ruling Frelimo party of burning homes and killing civilians in a campaign against Renamo guerrillas, violence that has forced thousands of Mozambicans to flee into neighboring Malawi.
Each party accuses the other of attacks on their members in various parts of the country as a simmering conflict between the old civil war foes has escalated since a fiercely contested national election in 2014.
"We need Frelimo to accept the creation of a commission of inquiry (into the 15 deaths) not just composed of members of parliament, but also members of civil society and journalists," Dhlakama said in an interview with television channel STV.
Police spokesman Inacio Dimas said an investigation into the deaths was ongoing and that the government did not oppose any independent probe.
Renamo and Frelimo fought a civil war from 1976 to 1992 in which a million people died and a million fled to Malawi.
(Writing by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by James Macharia and Robin Pomeroy)
WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland needs more time to solve a constitutional court deadlock, a deputy foreign minister said on Wednesday, after the European Union's executive had given Warsaw until Monday to make significant progress in resolving the crisis.
The EU executive launched its inquiry into whether the rule of law is under threat in Poland after a new nationalist-minded government sought changes in the country's constitutional court that critics said undermined democratic checks and balances.
This has led to an effective paralysis of the tribunal, which has become the focus of heated political dispute.
"We certainly need more time ..., for example legislative changes require parliamentary work, so it seems that Monday can be seen as an auxiliary date, not an ultimatum for sure," Konrad Szymanski told reporters.
(Reporting by Wiktor Szary; Editing by Marcin Goclowski)
Members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) picket in front of Verizon Communications Inc. corporate offices during a strike in New York City, April 13, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
(Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ) and representatives from two striking unions will continue contract discussions in Washington this week with the help of the U.S. Department of Labor, the regulator said.
The groups during these talks will not make any public statements, nor will there be comments from the federal officials involved, the Labor department said on Tuesday.
About 40,000 network technicians and customer service representatives in the company's Fios Internet, telephone and television services unit walked off the job in mid-April in the largest U.S. strike in recent years.
The action was called by the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
Sticking points in contract negotiations had included offshoring call-center jobs, pensions and healthcare coverage.
"I'm encouraged by the parties' continued commitment to remain at the bargaining table and work toward a resolution," U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez said on Tuesday.
"We will continue to facilitate conversations to help the unions and the company reach an agreement," he added.
The company and the unions returned to the negotiating table after a weekend meeting with Perez.
Verizon and the unions could not be immediately reached for a comment.
(Reporting by Rishika Sadam in Bengaluru and Anna Driver in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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 16, 2016
BAY BANKS OF VIRGINIA, INC.
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter)
Virginia 0-22955 54-1838100 (State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation) (Commission File Number) (IRS Employer Identification No.)
100 S. Main Street, Kilmarnock, Virginia 22482
(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)
Registrants telephone number, including area code: (804) 435-1171
N/A
(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 (see General Instruction A.2. below):
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.
Effective May 16, 2016, at the annual meeting of stockholders of Bay Banks of Virginia, Inc. (the Company), Kenneth O. Bransford, Jr. retired from the Board of Directors of the Company pursuant to the mandatory retirement age set forth in the Companys Bylaws. Mr. Bransford also retired from the Board of Directors of Bank of Lancaster and Bay Trust Company, wholly owned subsidiaries of the Company.
Item 5.03 Amendment to Articles of Incorporation or Bylaws; Change in Fiscal Year.
On May 16, 2016, the Companys Board of Directors approved an amendment to the Companys Bylaws, effective May 16, 2016. Article III, Section 3 of the Bylaws has been amended to state that the Companys Board of Directors shall consist of six members. Previously, the Bylaws provided for the Companys Board of Directors to consist of seven members.
A copy of the Bylaws of the Company, as amended effective May 16, 2016, is attached as Exhibit 3.2 hereto and is incorporated herein by reference.
Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders.
The Company held its annual meeting of stockholders on May 16, 2016. At the annual meeting, the Companys stockholders voted on the following proposals and cast their votes as described below:
1. The individuals listed below were elected to serve as Class III directors of the Company for terms that will continue until the 2019 annual meeting.
Broker For Withheld Abstentions Non-
Votes C. Dwight Clarke. 2,696,902 504,909 --- Elizabeth H. Crowther 2,654,942 546,869 --- Robert F. Hurliman 3,167,227 34,584 ---
2. A proposal to approve, on a non-binding advisory basis, the Companys named executive officer compensation as described in the Executive Compensation section of the Companys 2016 Proxy Statement.
Broker For Against Abstentions Non-Votes 2,635,443 543,748 22,620 --- ---
Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits.
(d) Exhibits.
The following exhibit is filed herewith:
Exhibit No. Description of Exhibit 3.2 Bylaws of Bay Banks of Virginia, Inc., as amended May 16, 2016.
2
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
BAY BANKS OF VIRGINIA, INC. By: /s/ Deborah M. Evans Deborah M. Evans Chief Financial Officer
Date: May 18, 2016
3
EXHIBIT INDEX
Exhibit No. Description of Exhibit 3.2 Bylaws of Bay Banks of Virginia, Inc., as amended May 16, 2016.
Exhibit 3.2
BYLAWS
BAY BANKS OF VIRGINIA, INC.
(As Amended May 16, 2016)
Article I
Stock
Section 1. Certificates. Certificates evidencing stock shall be issued to each stockholder in such form as may be approved by the Board of Directors. Certificates shall be signed by the Chairman or President and by the Secretary or Assistant Secretary. No certificates shall be issued until the same shall have been paid for in full.
Section 2. Transfers of Stock. All transfers of stock shall be made upon its books by surrender of certificates for the shares transferred, accompanied by an assignment in writing executed by the holder. The assignment may be accomplished either by the holder in person or by duly authorized attorney in fact.
Section 3. Lost Certificates. In case of loss, mutilation or destruction of a certificate of stock, a duplicate certificate may be issued upon such terms not in conflict with the law as the Board of Directors may prescribe.
Article II
Stockholders
Section 1. Annual Meeting. The Annual Meeting of stockholders will be held on the third Monday of May of each year, or such other date as the Board of Directors may designate, at such place as may be provided in the notice of the meeting.
Section 2. Special Meetings. Special meetings may be called by the Chairman of the Board, the President, or a majority of the Board of Directors.
Section 3. Notice of Meetings. Except as otherwise required by law, notice of meetings, whether regular or special, shall be prepared and mailed by the Secretary or an Assistant Secretary to each stockholder at his address of record, not less than ten (10) days before any meeting; and in the case of a special meeting, such notice shall state the purpose of the meeting.
Section 4. Quorum and General Voting at Stockholders Meetings. A quorum at any meeting of stockholders shall consist of sixty percent (60%) of the shares entitled to vote, represented in person or by proxy. Except as provided in Section 2 of Article VI of the Articles of Incorporation, sixty percent (60%) vote of such quorum shall decide any question that may come before the meeting. Each stockholder shall be entitled to one vote in person or by proxy for each share entitled to vote standing in his name on the books of the company. The Chairman of the meeting may appoint one or more inspectors of the election to determine the qualification of votes, the validity of proxies and the results of ballots.
Section 5. Stockholders Proposals. To be properly brought before a meeting of stockholders, business must be (1) specified in the notice of meeting (or any supplement thereto) given by or at the direction of the Board of Directors, (2) otherwise properly brought before the meeting by or at the direction of the Board of Directors or (3) otherwise properly brought before the meeting by a stockholder. In addition to any other applicable requirements, for business to be properly brought before an Annual Meeting by a stockholder, the stockholder must have given timely notice thereof in writing to the Secretary of the Corporation. To be timely, a stockholders notice must be given, either by personal delivery or by United States registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, to the Secretary of the Corporation not later than 120 days prior to the date of the anniversary of the immediately preceding Annual Meeting. A stockholders notice to the Secretary shall set forth as to each matter the stockholder proposes to bring before the Annual Meeting (1) a brief description of the business desired to be brought before the Annual Meeting, including the complete text of any resolutions to be presented at the Annual Meeting with respect to such business, and the reasons for conducting such business at the meeting, (2) the name and address of record of the stockholder proposing such business, (3) the class and number of shares of the Corporation that are beneficially owned by the stockholder and (4) any material interest of the stockholder in such business. In the event that a stockholder attempts to bring business before an Annual Meeting without complying with the foregoing procedure, the Chairman of the meeting may declare to the meeting that the business was not properly brought before the meeting and, if he shall so declare, such business shall not be transacted.
Article III
Directors
Section 1. General Powers. The business and affairs of the Corporation shall be managed by the Board of Directors, subject to any requirement of stockholder action.
Section 2. Eligibility . Only stockholders may be elected directors. All directors who have been properly nominated and elected by the stockholders shall have the opportunity to serve as a director; however, such director agrees that he or she shall tender his or her letter of resignation as a director of the Corporation at the annual meeting of stockholders in the year in which he or she attains the age of 72. Non-compliance with the resignation requirement with respect to attaining the age of 72 set forth in this bylaw shall constitute cause for the purposes of a removal of director.
Section 3. Number of Directors . The Board of Directors shall consist of six (6) members, who shall be divided into three (3) classes with respect to terms of office.
Section 4. Nominations . Nominations for the election of directors shall be made by the Board of Directors or by any shareholder entitled to vote in the election of directors generally. However, any shareholder entitled to vote in the election of directors generally may nominate one or more persons for election as directors at a meeting only if written notice of such shareholders intent to make such nomination or nominations has been given, either by personal delivery or by United States mail, postage prepaid, to the Secretary of the Corporation not later than (i) with respect to an election to be held at an Annual Meeting of stockholders, one hundred twenty (120) days prior to the date of the anniversary of the immediately preceding Annual Meeting, and (ii) with respect to an election to be held at a special meeting of shareholders for the election of Directors, the close of business on the seventh day following the date on which notice of such meeting is first given to shareholders. Each notice shall set forth: (a) the name and address of the shareholder who intends to make the nomination and of the person or persons to be nominated; (b) a representation that the shareholder is a holder of record of stock of the Corporation entitled to vote at such meeting and intends to appear in person or by proxy at the meeting to nominate the person or persons specified in the notice; (c) a description of all arrangements or understandings between the shareholder and each nominee and any other person or persons (naming such person or persons) pursuant to which the nomination or nominations are to be made by the shareholder; (d) such other information regarding each nominee proposed by such shareholder as would be required to be included in a proxy statement filed pursuant to the proxy rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission, had the nominee been nominated, or intended to be nominated, by the Board of Directors; and (e) the consent of each nominee to serve as director of the Corporation if so elected. The Chairman of the meeting may refuse to acknowledge the nomination of any person not made in compliance with the foregoing procedure.
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Article IV
Directors Meetings
Section 1. Meetings. Regular meetings of the Board of Directors shall be held at least quarterly at such time and place as the Chairman of the Board shall designate; provided, however, that the May meeting shall be held immediately following the Annual Meeting of stockholders. The May meeting shall be the annual organizational meeting of the board and at that meeting officers shall be elected and committees appointed for the ensuing year.
Section 2. Special Meetings. Special meetings of the board may be held on the call of the Chairman of the Board, the President or any three (3) directors.
Section 3. Notice. Notices of regular or special meetings shall be mailed by the Secretary or Assistant Secretary to each member of the board, not less than three (3) days prior to such meeting, and in the case of special meetings, stating the purpose therefore.
Section 4. Quorum. A majority of the directors shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business of the directors. The act of the majority of the directors present at a meeting in which a quorum is present shall be the act of the Board of Directors.
Article V
Directors Committees
Section 1. Executive Committee . The Board of Directors by resolution may designate an Executive Committee, which shall include the Chairman of the Board and the President and such other members of the Board of Directors as they select. The Executive Committee shall have and may exercise all authority of the Board of Directors except to fill vacancies on the Board, to amend or repeal these Bylaws and adopt new Bylaws, to approve or recommend to stockholders that they approve an amendment to the Articles of Incorporation, a plan of merger or exchange, a transaction involving the sale of all or substantially all of the Corporations assets other than in regular course of business, or a plan of dissolution. Further, the Executive Committee shall not be empowered to authorize or approve a distribution, the issuance or sale of shares, or designation of preferences for preferred stock of the Corporation. The Executive Committee shall keep its minutes and provide copies of the same at the next meeting of the Board of Directors.
Section 2. Nominating and Governance Committee . The Chairman may appoint a Nominating and Governance Committee, who may be selected from the Board of Directors of the Corporation and the boards of directors of any subsidiary corporation. Such Committee shall recommend to the Board of Directors nominees for the Board of Directors, shall review Bylaws, proxy statements and proxies to be distributed to stockholders, and shall review policies and practices regarding shareholder voting. The Chairman of the Board and the President of the subsidiary bank shall be among the nominees for the Board of Directors, and each shall be subject to removal if he or she ceases to hold such office in the subsidiary bank. If such Committee is not appointed, the Board of Directors shall perform the duties of the Nominating and Governance Committee.
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Section 3. Audit Committee . The Board of Directors shall elect an Audit Committee consisting of at least three independent directors, who may be selected from the Board of Directors of the Corporation and the boards of directors of any subsidiary corporation. They shall have the responsibility for seeing that the Corporation is audited regularly. The Committee shall elect its Chairman, who shall be an independent director of the Corporation. The voting members of the Committee shall consist of non-employee directors. Non-employee members of the Committee must be free from any relationship that, in the opinion of the Board of Directors, would interfere with the exercise of independent judgment as a Committee member. The Chairman and President of the Corporation as well as the Bank of Lancasters Internal Auditor may attend meetings of the Audit Committee, at the pleasure of the Committee. The Audit Committee shall make periodic reports to the Board of Directors. Such reports shall state whether adequate internal audit controls and procedures are being maintained and shall recommend to the Board of Directors such changes in the matter of audit controls and procedures as the Committee deems advisable. These responsibilities may, in part or in whole, and from time to time, be delegated to the audit committees of subsidiary corporations provided that full reports of such audit committees deliberations are made to the Audit Committee of the Corporation and at least one member of the Audit Committee of the Corporation is in attendance at each meeting of the audit committee of subsidiary corporations.
Section 4. Compensation Committee . The Chairman may appoint a Compensation Committee, which shall consist of at least three directors of the Corporation and its subsidiary corporations, together with the Chairman of the Corporation. The Compensation Committee shall have responsibility to recommend appropriate compensation for all officers of the Corporation and its subsidiaries. It shall have the responsibility for the administration of the Corporations equity compensation plans for employees and directors. It shall also make recommendations of contributions, if any, to the Employees Stock Ownership Plan to the Corporations Board of Directors. If such committee is not appointed, the Board of Directors shall perform the duties of the Compensation Committee.
Section 5. Other Committees . Other committees, consisting of directors, officers or employees of the Corporation and subsidiary corporations may be designated by resolution of the Board of Directors from time to time. Such committees shall have the duties set forth in the resolutions creating such committees.
Article VI
Officers
Section 1. Election and Removal. The Board of Directors, at its organization meeting each year, shall elect a Chairman of the Board and a President (both of whom shall be directors) and also a Secretary and Treasurer. The Board may elect an Executive Vice President, one or more Vice Presidents, an Assistant Secretary, an Auditor, and such other officers as may be necessary or desired to carry out the business of the Corporation. The term of office of each officer shall continue until the annual meeting of the Board of Directors following the next Annual Meeting of stockholders and until their respective successors are elected, but any officer may be removed at any time by the vote of the Board of Directors. If any office becomes vacant during the year, the Board of Directors at its discretion may fill the same for the unexpired term. The Board of Directors shall also fix the compensation of officers of the Corporation as well as their own compensation.
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Section 2. Chairman of the Board. The Chairman of the Board shall be an ex-officio member of all committees of the Board and shall preside at all meetings of the stockholders and the Board of Directors, and the Executive Committee, if any. During the absence or disability of the President, he shall exercise all the powers and discharge all the duties of the President. Notwithstanding the provisions of Article III, Section 2, in the case of an emergency and for business continuity of the Corporation, the Chairman of the Board of Directors shall have the ability to serve for one (1) additional year past age 72 upon a majority vote of the Corporations Board of Directors.
Section 3. President. The President shall be the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation and shall be responsible for the general supervision of its affairs and shall have all the powers and duties as are normally delegated to the office of the Chief Executive Officer. In addition he shall be an ex officio member of all committees. In the absence or disability of the Chairman of the Board, the President shall perform the duties of such office.
Section 4. Executive Vice President . The Executive Vice President, if any, shall perform such duties as may be assigned to him by the Board of Directors.
Section 5. Secretary. The Secretary shall have charge of the seal, stock transfer books and all certificates of stock of the Corporation. The Secretary shall see that proper notice is given of all meetings of stockholders, shall record the minutes of such meetings and the minutes of the meetings of the Board of Directors and its committees, and shall act under the general supervision of the Chairman of the Board.
Section 6. Treasurer . The Treasurer shall have charge of and be responsible for all funds, securities and other financial assets of the Corporation. The Treasurer shall be responsible for maintaining adequate and proper financial records in accordance with generally accepted accounting practices, for preparation of financial statements, for the preparation and filing of all tax returns and reports required by law or regulations, and for the performance of all duties incident to the office of Treasurer and such other duties as may from time to time be assigned by the Board of Directors, President and Executive Vice President, if any.
Section 7. Auditor. The Auditor, if any, shall exercise supervision of and shall be responsible for the efficient operation of the auditing of the Corporation and its subsidiaries. The Auditor shall report to the Board of Directors and its Audit Committee.
Section 8. Other Officers . Other officers may be elected by the Board of Directors, and shall have such duties as the Board by resolutions shall prescribe.
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Article VII
Corporate Seal
The seal of the Corporation shall be circular and shall have inscribed thereon, within and around the circumference, the following: Bay Banks of Virginia, Inc. and in the center shall be the figures 1997.
Article VIII
Amendments
These Bylaws may be amended or repealed and new Bylaws may be made at any regular or special meeting of the Board of Directors by a majority of the Board, provided, however, any changes in the Bylaws thus effected shall be reported annually to the stockholders at the time of the mailing of the notice of the stockholders Annual Meeting. Bylaws made by the directors may be repealed or changed and new Bylaws may be made by two-thirds of those entitled to vote at the stockholders Annual Meeting. Any stockholder or group of stockholders who wish to have a Bylaw repealed or amended shall comply with all notice requirements of these Bylaws and adhere to all applicable regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve System.
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 13, 2016
Intrawest Resorts Holdings, Inc.
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)
Delaware 001-36286 46-3681098 (State or Other Jurisdiction (Commission File Number) (IRS Employer of Incorporation) Identification No.)
1621 18th Street, Suite 300, Denver, Colorado 80202
(Address of Principal Executive Offices, Including Zip Code)
Registrants telephone number, including area code: (303) 749-8200
Not Applicable
(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 (see General Instruction A.2. below):
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.
On May 13, 2016, Intrawest Resorts Holdings, Inc. (the "Company") announced that Carl Long, Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer, tendered his resignation effective as of May 13, 2016.
Effective May 13, 2016, the Company also appointed Lindsay Goszulak as Vice President, Accounting and Controller and principal accounting officer of the Company. Ms. Goszulak joined the Company in December 2013 previously serving as Director of Financial Reporting and Technical Accounting. Prior to joining the Company, Ms. Goszulak was employed by First Data Corporation, a global provider of electronic commerce and payment solutions, as Manager of Technical Accounting from May 2011 to December 2013. Ms. Goszulak holds a Masters Degree in Accounting from the University of Denver, is a Certified Public Accountant, and was a manager in PricewaterhouseCooper's auditing and advisory services group.
SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
Intrawest Resorts Holdings, Inc. By: /s/ Travis Mayer Travis Mayer Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer Date: May 18, 2016
Slain Christchurch woman Renee Duckmanton was working on Manchester St the last time she was seen alive.
Police have pinpointed the 22-year-old's last known movements on day four of their homicide inquiry.
It appears they are considering the sex worker's killer could have been one of her clients on Saturday night.
SUPPLIED Christchurch woman Renee Duckmanton.
Her badly burnt body was found at the scene of a scrub fire on Main Rakaia Rd in rural Canterbury about 7.40pm on Sunday.
Detective Inspector Darryl Sweeney said the 22-year-old was seen around Manchester and Peterborough streets from 8pm to 10pm on Saturday.
It is the same area Ngatai "Mallory" Manning was seen alive before she was brutally murdered at a Mongrel Mob pad in 2008.
SUPPLIED Renee Duckmanton, right, pictured with her mother, Tracy. Duckmanton's body was found in rural Canterbury on Sunday.
Sweeney appealed for anyone who saw Duckmanton in the area on Saturday night to contact police.
"We're looking to hear from any girls working in the area about that time, members of public or clients ... even if they saw Renee for a brief minute," he said.
Police were speaking to sex workers, as well as "persons of interest" and that would continue into the night.
ALDEN WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ 18052016 news photo Alden Williams/Fairfax NZ Police forensics at a Bowenvale Avenue propery.
"Police now believe Renee's work in the sex industry may have been a factor in her death," he said.
"However, we continue to remind the public that she was a vibrant 22 year-old who was a much loved daughter, sister, and member of her family."
When asked if the killer was thought to be a client, Sweeney said he could not rule out the sex industry being "a factor in the circumstances that led to her death".
ALDEN WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ Police carry out a scene examination at the Bowenvale Ave property where Renee Duckmanton lived.
"Certainly her being in that area is of high interest."
Police had increased patrols in the Manchester St area.
Sweeney would not be drawn on the case of Duckmanton's death, so it is not yet known if she was already dead when her body was burnt.
MOTHER PAYS TRIBUTE
Duckmanton's grieving mother has paid tribute to her "kind, sweet and trusting" daughter.
The 22-year-old's badly burnt body was found on the grass verge of a road in rural Canterbury on Sunday night.
Police have launched a homicide investigation into Duckmanton's death, cordoning off two properties in suburban Christchurch, including her home in Bowenvale Ave, Cashmere.
They are looking into whether the killing is linked to the sex industry, where Duckmanton worked, and have beefed up patrols in the city's red light district.
READ MORE:
* Killed woman Renee Duckmanton's body found badly burnt near Rakaia River
* Homicide inquiry launched after woman's body found near Rakaia River in Canterbury
On Thursday afternoon Duckmanton's family released a statement appealing for anyone with information about her death to contact police.
"Everyday, Renee's bright spirit will be missed by those who are blessed to have had her in their life," the statement says.
"She was, and will always be, loved and cherished by many."
Tracy Duckmanton said her daughter was a "kind, sweet and trusting person".
"She was also bubbly, goofy and loved everyone she interacted with.
"She will always be remembered by her beautiful smile and will be missed by us all."
Renee Duckmanton's sisters, Jess and Bianca, said she was the best aunty in the world to her nieces and nephews.
"She had a very easy going nature and a gentle soul," their statement says.
"Renee will always be in our hearts and remembered fondly by all who knew her."
Renee Duckmanton's step-father said: "She will always be my real daughter in my heart."
Earlier, Jess Duckmanton told Stuff her family was struggling to come to grips with her younger sister's death. The hardest part was not knowing what had happened, she said.
"Was she out with some people that she knew? Did she get kidnapped in town and taken out there, was she willingly there and something happened?
"Renee didn't deserve this . . . she was just a sweetheart she wouldn't hurt a fly.
"We know she wasn't innocent but that's the way she came across, she was just a naive girl and so impressionable that's the problem."
Jess Duckmanton said her sister, who had cerebral palsy, grew up in Christchurch and attended Beckenham Primary School and Cashmere High School.
The family only learned that she had been a sex worker when police told them on Tuesday night.
"[Renee] knew we were all here to try help her down the right path. It's just one of those things that slipped through the cracks. We didn't know it had got that bad."
Renee Duckmanton had lived at the Bowenvale Ave property with her boyfriend for several months. Their relationship was "on and off" and tumultuous.
Jess Duckmanton said the last time the family saw her sister was more than a week ago when her mother's dog died.
Renee Duckmanton's boyfriend told her family she did not come home on Friday night.
Police could not tell them much about what had happened, she said.
"Everything in the news is what we know."
A member of the public found Duckmanton's body after spotting a scrub fire on Main Rakaia Rd, about 500 metres from State Highway 1, shortly before 7.40pm on Sunday. Detectives are trying to trace her last movements.
DEATH 'DEVASTATING'
Anna Reed, from the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective, said Duckmanton's death was "devastating" for the industry.
She understood police would increase their presence in Christchurch streets popular among sex workers, such as Manchester St, but some women would not return to the streets on Wednesday night because they were too scared.
"This is the fourth time this has happened, we don't know whether it was related to a client, or a potential client or someone who was known to her."
Christchurch had been home to three murders of sex workers: Ngatai "Mallory" Manning in 2008; Suzie Sutherland in 2005; and a 24-year-old, who has permanent name suppression, also in 2005.
Reed said she had spotted Duckmanton working on Manchester St in the past, but was unsure how long she had been involved in the industry.
"We saw her occasionally on the street . . . we didn't have a lot to do with her..."
An industry worker, who did not want to be identified, said she turned a client away on Tuesday night after she heard what happened to Duckmanton.
"I'm sticking to my regular customers for the time being, better the devil you know than the devil you don't."
A family member, who did not want to be named, said Duckmanton was "very loyal", bubbly and loved her family.
"She had her problems, but all teenagers do. She was Renee, [a] very much-loved daughter, sister, granddaughter, aunty, cousin."
The family were struggling to come to terms with her death, the relative said.
"They wouldn't want people to remember Renee in that way."
Fellow sex worker Amanda Hassan said she met Duckmanton early in 2014 when both of the women were working at an escort agency near Bealey Ave.
"She was a really lovely person who trusted too many people.
"She flitted between working indoors and on the street," Hassan said.
She said Duckmanton had a string of bad relationships with men.
"She wanted to help people, she always tried to nurture the ones that needed it the most, but quite often it ended up with her being hurt."
Hassan said she had conversations with Duckmanton about possible cover stories for her work, which included temporary agencies or domestic assistance.
"I don't know if she ever used one but we discussed that quite a lot.
"A lot of girls do it because they are afraid of what their reactions will be from their families and not wanting to upset them."
Hassan toured the country as a sex worker and said of all the major cities she had worked in, Christchurch was the worst.
"I was earning about $300 a week for six days work. The industry is in a financial recession, it's very difficult to make ends meet.
"That means there are ones that are more likely to take risky options because they want to pay their rent."
Hassan said she still kept in touch with working girls in Christchurch but had not spoken with Duckmanton for some time.
"Working girls pop off the radar all the time, they go touring, they change their names, it's difficult to keep track of them."
'NOBODY DESERVES THAT'
Duckmanton lived in an old white weatherboard house on a rear section on Bowenvale Ave, Cashmere.
Police have been at the property, which has a sleep out, since Monday evening. Forensic staff carried out a scene examination there on Tuesday and were back again on Wednesday morning.
Neighbours said there had been trouble at the property for several years with people taking drugs, arguing and fighting.
A nearby resident, who would not be named, said several people lived at the property.
"They are people you don't want to have any association with because of the company they keep."
He thought Duckmanton had lived there since about December.
"She kept reasonably tidy, but seemed to act strangely."
The resident said he occasionally saw Duckmanton leaving the property late at night.
On Sunday, a man and a woman in their early 20s showed up at the house in a grey-blue car about 4pm, he said.
"They gave me the impression . . . of being a bit agitated about something and that's when [an occupant of the house] came and spoke to them.
"I just had the feeling that he was saying someone like 'I don't know anything'."
The resident said he was shocked to learn what had happened to Duckmanton.
"Nobody deserves that."
Police had also cordoned off a Housing New Zealand property in Kowhai Tce, where Duckmanton previously lived with her mother, Tracy.
Detective Inspector Darryl Sweeney earlier said Duckmanton was last seen alive over the weekend. He appealed for any of her friends who saw her to contact police.
A light-coloured car seen in the Main Rakaia Rd area shortly before Duckmanton's body was found on Sunday was of interest. Police wanted to talk to the car's occupants.
Anyone with information was asked to call police on 03 363 7400 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Police are investigating how a man got a potentially life-threatening head injury on Wednesday evening.
A person came across the injured 64-year-old at a block of flats on Coates Street in Hamilton East and called an ambulance, Waikato senior sergeant Greg Foster said.
"He's gone through to the hospital with a head injury," Foster said.
"We're just trying to establish what's occurred and how he's come to receive that head injury.
"At this stage, we're looking at anything from an accident to something suspicious happening. But we don't want to speculate either way."
Waikato Hospital staff contacted police about 8pm, after the man arrived to be in their care.
"Information from the hospital is that the injuries could be life-threatening, and we're unable to speak to him at this stage," Foster said.
Waikato CIB staff had started making enquiries at the Coates Street address but police were not yet sure if the man was injured there or somewhere else.
Hong Kong Airlines commercial assistant director Michael Burke says the airline estimates up to 60 per cent of customers on the Hong Kong-Auckland service will be from mainland China.
Business class air fares between Auckland and Hong Kong have been slashed by up to 60 per cent by newcomer Hong Kong Airlines.
The independent airline will begin a daily service to Auckland on November 10 using a 283-seat Airbus A330-200 including 24 business class seats.
It is offering a special return business class launch fare of $2204. That compares to $5803 on either Air New Zealand or Cathay Pacific.
The special fare is available for November this year and between early February to late November next year.
READ MORE: Hong Kong Airlines to launch daily flight to New Zealand
Airfares will increase for the peak summer months.
APX Travel chief executive Andrew Dale said the fare would grab attention.
"That's a very competitive business class launch rate," he said.
It's an aggressive enough price to get people to try it and judge for themselves. That market is very price sensitive. Whether it's a like for like product, people will get to judge."
He said the other airlines on the route would probably respond to the move.
Air NZ and Cathay Pacific operate under a strategic revenue sharing alliance on the route.
Cathay Pacific flies twice daily on the route over the New Zealand summer and daily for the rest of the year.
Air New Zealand flies daily on the route year round.
Hong Kong Airlines' economy fares start at $1224 return, slightly higher than Cathay's $1121 on special and cheaper than $1563 on Air NZ.
Hong Kong Airlines is a full service airline with a fleet of 30 Airbus aircraft and a network with more than 30 cities across the Asia Pacific region.
It has been in business for 10 years.
Air New Zealand flies a Boeing 777-200ER on the Hong Kong route while Cathay Pacific flies an Airbus A340.
Hong Kong Airlines commercial assistant director Michael Burke said Auckland had been under consideration for about three years.
"The inbound China market is incredibly strong and it was an obvious opportunity for us really," Burke said.
In the year to March the number of Chinese visitors to New Zealand increased 28 per cent to 378,000.
He estimated up to 60 per cent of customers using the service would be from mainland China.
It would be a challenge taking on Air NZ and Cathay Pacific.
"They're two formidable competitors, we have great respect for both of them," Burke said.
They were established businesses with loyal customers and strong brands, he said.
"They've been in operation much longer than we have. It's going to be a challenge for us but one we're very confident about."
There was enough demand for everyone on the route particularly during the peak season, he said.
After bedding down its Auckland route the carrier would consider opportunities to fly to Wellington and Christchurch, he said.
"Christchurch and Wellington are two opportunities for further growth in New Zealand but it really depends on what market demand is."
Auckland Airport estimated the Hong Kong Airlines service would add 177,000 seats a year to the route and provide a $137 million boost to the New Zealand economy.
Auckland Airport aeronautical commercial general manager Norris Carter said Hong Kong was an important market for New Zealand tourism with the number of travellers increasing 15 per cent a year over the last three years.
"This new Hong Kong Airlines service will also play an important role in further connecting New Zealand with many of China's large cities beyond Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou," Carter said.
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President Francois Hollande said Wednesday that the situation on the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, where hundreds of foreigners have been kicked out of their homes, was "extremely worrying".
Rising anti-migrant anger has seen groups of up to 100 men gather in villages with lists of houses belonging to foreigners and going from door to door forcing them to leave.
This weekend another 500 foreigners, mostly from the neighbouring archipelago nation of the Comoros, were expelled from their homes.
"We are in a situation which is extremely worrying," Hollande said in a statement through his spokesman Stephane Le Foll on Wednesday.
In the island capital of Mamoutzou, a young woman, Mounira, told AFP she was kicked out of her home on Sunday with her husband and three daughters.
"I have a 10-year resident's visa, a permanent contract job, my rent is paid -- I don't understand," she said.
She has been fortunate to find shelter with an ex-employer, but many hundreds have been left in the open in the capital's main square, looked after by the Red Cross and volunteers.
For months, anti-foreigner groups have been whipping up hostility to migrants with leaflets accusing them of "clandestine immigration" and "daily thefts, assaults and murders".
Police have tried to prevent violence, but have been unable to stop the pressure mounting on foreigners -- including many who are living on Mayotte legally -- who have fled their homes in fear.
A local rights group, Cimade, said Wednesday that more than 1,000 foreigners have been forced from their homes this year.
Mayotte opted to remain under French rule when the other islands in the Comoros archipelago chose independence in 1975.
Although there have been protests demanding more investment from France, it remains much wealthier than the neighbouring islands and more than 40 percent of its population is thought to have been born abroad.
The government returned 18,000 people to the border last year, with mounting anger over the pressure on schools and the health system.
"With the immigration that is coming from the Comoros, the status quo is unacceptable... it's an extremely dangerous subject on which we must act," said Le Foll in Paris.
The French government earlier said it had mobilised more than 800 police to prevent further attacks and expulsions, and another 76 to help tackle illegal immigration.
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Maldives, a staunch supporter of Saudi Arabia, has severed ties with Iran, saying the Islamic Republic's policy in the Middle East is detrimental to peace and security for the Indian Ocean archipelago, its Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia in January cut ties with Iran over the storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran, in a worsening diplomatic crisis between the regional rivals following the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric.
"The Maldives believes that the policies that Iranian government pursues in the Middle East ... is detrimental to peace and security in the region, which, in many ways, is also linked to stability, peace and security of the Maldives," the Foreign Ministry said.
The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said the "irrational adventurism" in foreign policy decisions by President Abdulla Yameen's administration would have serious repercussions on the security of the Maldives.
"President Yameen is amassing all the world's contentious issues to the Indian Ocean, with Maldives at the heart of it; clearly disregarding the security and protection of the Maldivian people," said MDP international spokesperson Hamid Abdul Ghafoor.
Since 2013, Saudi Arabia has played an increasing role in the Maldives, which like Saudi has a predominantly Sunni Muslim population, with investments in tourism and funds to build mosques. Saudi established an embassy there last year.
Maldives established diplomatic relations with Shia Muslim Iran in 1975.
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Related Abraaj Group partners with Egyptian education provider
Cleopatra Hospital Company (SAE) announced an indicative price range for its public offering on the Egyptian Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
The largest private hospital group in Egypt measured by number of hospital beds or operating hospitals according to CEO Ahmed Ezzeldin intends to offer up to 40 million ordinary shares, representing 25 percent of existing ordinary shares, at between EGP 8.75 and EGP 11.88 per share, after receiving approvals from the EGX, according to a statement by the company.
The group, which holds majority stakes in four multi-specialty hospitals in the Greater Cairo area, reported operating revenues of EGP 741 million in 2015, while gross profit stood at EGP 234 million, EBITDA at EGP 183 million and net profit for the year at EGP 52 million, on an unaudited, pro-forma basis.
The offering will include an international offer to institutional investors of up to 34 million ordinary shares of the company and a domestic retail offer of 6 million shares in Egypt to raise capital for expansion.
We look forward to a capital injection from the ongoing transaction to fund our capital expenditure, develop extensions of Shorouk Hospital and Cleopatra Hospital, roll out our new polyclinic model, and look to acquire a site in New Cairo to develop into a new hospital, said Ezzeldin.
Cleopatra is 99 percent owned by Care Healthcare Limited, which is beneficially owned by UAE-based private equity firm Abraajs North Africa Hospital Holdings, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Deutsche Investitions- und Entwickungsgesellschaft mbH (DEG), and the Societe de Promotion et de Participation pour la Cooperation Economique SA (Proparco).
The company will then offer Care Healthcare the right to subscribe for up to 40 million new shares at the offer price by way of a closed subscription following the completion of the offer.
The move is designed to complete the capital increase by injecting the proceeds of the first sale back into the company, explained Mohamed Radwan, head of equities at Cairo-Pharos Holding, which is the manager of the offering.
Global Coordinator and Bookrunner EFG Hermes will use 15 percent of the proceeds of the first offering to create a stabilisation account to protect retail shareholders from initial share price drops.
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The Minister of Antiquities inaugurated the first major exhibition of underwater archaeology at the British Museum in London
On Tuesday evening, Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany inaugurated the first major exhibition of underwater archaeology held at the British Museum in London.
During the opening ceremony, El-Enany delivered a speech highlighting the strong partnership and friendly relations that Egypt shares with Britain, not only in the field of archaeology and museology, but in other several domains.
"The relation with Britain in the field of archaeology started as early as the 1880s when Flinders Petrie started excavation in Delta," he pointed out, adding that the ministry is encouraging all kinds of cooperation with all international archaeological and museology institutions but within the framework of both of the fields code of ethics.
At the end of his speech, El- Enany invited all the attendees to come to Egypt to explore its unique archaeological sites and distinguished museums.
Under the title Sunken Cities: Egypts Lost Worlds, The British Museum staged a major exhibition on two lost Egyptian cities and their recent rediscovery by archaeologists beneath the Mediterranean Sea.
It shows how the exploration of Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus submerged at the mouth of the River Nile for over a thousand years is transforming our understanding of the relationship between ancient Egypt and the Greek world and the great importance of these ancient cities.
Elham Salah, head of the Museums Department at the antiquities ministry, explained that the exhibition displays a collection of 300 outstanding objects including more than 200 spectacular finds excavated off the coast of Egypt near Alexandria between 1996 and 2012.
It is supplemented with objects from various sites across the Delta drawn from the British Museums collection, most notably from Naukratis a sister harbour town to Thonis -- Heracleion and the first Greek settlement.
Frank Goddio who led the head of the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology said that the exhibition features a number of extraordinary, monumental sculptures.
A 5.4m granite statue of the Nile God Hapy is greeting the visitors as they enter the space allocated for the exhibition.
Masterpieces from Egyptian museums such as the Apis bull from the Serapeum in Alexandria is on show alongside magnificent recent finds from the sea.
One such piece is the stunning sculpture from Canopus representing Arsinoe II, the eldest daughter of Ptolemy I, founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty.
A complete stela from Thonis-Heracleion advertises a 380BC royal decree of the Egyptian pharaoh Nectanebo I, is also exhibited.
It states that 10% of the taxes collected on all goods imported from the Sea of the Greeks into Thonis-Heracleion and on all trade operations at Naukratis are to be donated to an Egyptian temple.
The exhibition will open to visitors tomorrow. It is supported by BP, organised with Hilti Foundation and the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology in collaboration with Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities.
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Cairos acting-Governor Ahmed Taymour said that the street-stalls threaten the life of residents in Cairo
Some street-stalls will be closed and the state will block the utilities that they operate on if the owners dont lift the occupancies, acting-Governor Ahmed Taymour said in a statement on Sunday during a tour of El Fagala in downtown Cairo.
Last week, a huge fire engulfed a market in downtown Cairos historical and commercial district of Attaba.
"The unlicensed stalls are ticking bombs that threaten the life of many residents of Cairo and I won't let the Attaba catastrophe happen again," Taymour said.
The fire spread throughout the normally busy El-Rewaiei, as approximately 60 fire engines and ambulances, with the help of hundreds of local residents and workers, fought the unrelenting fire in the narrow streets of the neighborhood for more than 24 hours.
The incident left more than a 100 shops burned.
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Health Minister Jonathan Coleman says a record number of doctors and nurses are taking care of patients in the Bay of Plenty.
Our dedicated health workforce is making a difference to the lives of patients in the Bay of Plenty.
This seed line was also imported by the company that imported the three other contaminated lines Kyros 128, Bangor 126 and Bangor 079. As with the other three lines, its fodder beet seed sourced from Italy and certified by Danish authorities and imported and planted last year.
We are testing other seed lines to get a better picture of where contaminated seed has been planted and to enable farmers to have good information about the safety of seed to plant this coming season.
The Ministry is in the process of issuing a legal direction to seed merchants directing them to contact all companies and farmers that they sold the contaminated Feldherr line to, requesting they return any seed they still hold.
Along with its earlier message that farmers inspect all fodder beet crops for velvetleaf, as a precautionary measure the Ministry urges farmers to check their crops for velvetleaf, even though some of the properties may have already been inspected during the search and destroy activities.
MPI intends to contact farmers who have received contaminated seed to provide velvetleaf management information. This website has information on what to do if farmers find velvetleaf - check their velvetleaf page.
Seed lines Kyros 16UB128, Bangor 16UB126, Bangor 15UB079 and Feldherr 16UB131 that have tested positive for an unwanted organism will not be cleared for entry into New Zealand. Any that arrive here will either be re-shipped or destroyed.
Testing of other fodder beet seed lines is continuing and MPI will share information with farmers as it becomes available, says David.
To date, velvetleaf has been found in 11 regions on 250 properties.
MPI is working with partners in local authorities and farming industry bodies to develop long term plans for managing this pest weed, and a workshop is planned for this Friday to progress this planning.
A statement says MPI remains fully involved in this process and is leading a nationally co-ordinated approach with the aim to contain and potentially reduce geographical spread over time. This may include velvetleaf elimination from some regions.
Its vital landowners continue to inspect their properties for late-emerging velvetleaf. Farmers should ensure their on-farm biosecurity practices are strong and this includes following guidelines in the MPI farm management plan on machinery hygiene, feed management and stock movement.
Details of the farm management plan can be found on MPIs website and in a ute guide for farmers to be distributed in the near future.
For advice or reporting suspected velvetleaf detections, farmers are asked to phone 0800 80 99 66.
Police are looking for a Bay of Plenty woman who is wanted for breaching her community work.
A photo of Opotiki woman Samantha Tuhiwai has been released in the hopes police will be able to get some information about where she is.
Taurangas Clayton Mitchell is backing New Zealand First leader Winston Peters call for tougher sentencing of foreign drivers causing fatal crashes.
Clayton told SunLive he had a problem with the growing number of fatalities on New Zealand roads, in particular those which have involved foreign drivers.
With record numbers of tourists arriving each year we can expect those numbers of fatalities to increase accordingly unless something is done now.
Earlier this month, 27-year-old Jieling Xiao pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of Tauranga motorcyclist Rhys Middleton near Napier in February.
Rhys Middleton, 23, died when the motorbike he was driving along State Highway 5, in Eskdale, north of Napier, collided with Xiaos vehicle.
The pair had both been travelling in the same direction when the crash occurred. Rhys was among a group of motorcyclists when the crash happened.
The high number of fatal crashes involving foreign drivers has urged New Zealand First leader Winston Peters to call for tougher sentencing.
Too often the driver is given a comparatively light sentence and disappears overseas quickly.
On behalf of the families of Northlanders Kylee Anne Rakich and Virginia Keogh, who were killed by an American driver on State Highway 10, we urge the courts to consider their circumstances as well as those of the driver at sentencing.
The families have been devastated by the accident which also led to the death of an unborn child. There has been a rush to complete the court hearing and sentencing the driver has added to their trauma.
The driver has admitted two charges of careless driving causing death, and one of causing injury.
Winston says often foreign drivers are not familiar with the standard of highway in New Zealand, have no experience on rural roads, drive on the other side of the road in their home country, do not take heed of the long distances and winding roads, and spend too long behind the wheel.
Yet when a fatal accident occurs the penalties seem light, and are certainly no deterrent to others contemplating driving around New Zealand.
He says New Zealand First believes rental car companies should take responsibility to ensure people hiring their vehicles are competent.
Our Land Transport (Tourist Driver Rental Vehicle) Amendment Bill is awaiting introduction into Parliament, says Winston.
Clayton agrees saying harsher penalties for tourists who kill people on New Zealand roads is part of the solution to the problem.
But a duty of care for rental car companies also needs to be imposed. Rental companies need to be regulated to ensure vehicles that are rented to foreign drivers should have all the safety features a modern car can have.
Rental Car companies should also ensure the hirers are fully aware of the road code and their drivers license and their experience is sufficient to competently drive on our notoriously dangerous roads, says Clayton.
Bay of Plenty mooring owners are claiming the Bay of Plenty Regional Council owes them tens of thousands of dollars in illegally levied mooring inspection fees.
Armed with a legal opinion, a group of Eastern Bay of Plenty mooring owners are seeking the return of about $1000 per mooring owner.
Yoga is an excellent exercise for older adults because it is low-impact but carries a long list of health benefits. New research from the University of California Los Angeles has revealed that integrating yoga sessions into everyday life may also be instrumental in alleviating some of the emotional and cognitive affects brought on by Alzheimer's.
New research from UCLA suggests that yoga may minimize the early effects of Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. For older adults, yoga may be a critical tool in promoting better health and mitigating the negative symptoms related to Alzheimer's.
Managing Cognitive Impairment
According to the UCLA researchers, seniors that entered into a yoga and mediation course for three months saw improved outcomes related to the early stages of Alzheimer's and other types of dementia. Participants saw minimal cognitive and emotional impairment, and yoga proved to be more effective than traditional memory exercises. Helen Lavretsky, professor in residence at UCLA's Department of Psychiatry and senior author of the study explained the outcomes.
"Memory training was comparable to yoga with meditation in terms of improving memory, but yoga provided a broader benefit than memory training because it also helped with mood, anxiety and coping skills," said Lavretsky.
There were 25 total participants in the study, all of whom were over the age of 55. Of that group, 11 participated in memory enhancement training and exercise that is often used for those exhibiting mental decline. The other individuals took a one-hour yoga course once a week and spent 20 minutes each day doing mediation at home. Lavretsky explained that the type of meditation - known as Kirtan Kriya - has been practiced in India for centuries as a remedy for cognitive issues in older adults.
The individuals that engaged in yoga saw improvements in mental ability and memory, as well as in anxiety and depression. Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia pose emotional challenges as well as functional issues. UCLA report stated that while using a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine, the researchers were able to see physical changes in brain connectivity, and that those who did yoga and mediation had more significant improvements.
Adding Yoga Into Your Routine
Everyday Health stated that outside of cognitive improvement, there are a number of health benefits yoga can offer older adults. Yoga promotes flexibility and can be an important remedy for anyone living with chronic back pain. It may also aid in good cardiovascular health, which is essential for anyone worried about heart disease or stroke. Yoga is also effective for treating fatigue and insomnia, as well as arthritis.
With so many health benefits available to seniors through one simple, low-impact exercise, finding ways to practice yoga is a fantastic pursuit. Many local community organizations host yoga classes and sessions, and there are also new yoga studios opening up across the country.
Just outside of Columbus, Ohio, Sunrise of Dublin offers a yoga program every Thursday, taught by yogi instructor Sarah Sutton. She leads our seniors in a series of stretching, balancing and chair yoga exercises for an hour. Our residents say they leave feeling refreshed and more centered, proving that it's a great activity for the body, but even better for the mind!
"The peace that yoga brings our Dublin, OH, residents is a joy to watch," says April L'Abbe, Activity and Volunteer Coordinator at Sunrise of Dublin.
An Egyptian-Greek maritime military exercise held in Egyptian regional waters and on the beaches of Alexandria concluded Monday according to armed forces spokesperson Brigadier General Mohamed Samir.
The joint military training between the two nation's navies, named Alexandria 2016, was held to encourage "the continuation of the development and the consolidation of military relations between Egypt and Greece," Samir's statement read.
The army spokesperson added that "the armed forces leadership is keen on the exchange of expertise with various countries to develop officers' skills in combat efficiency," as well as "unifying operational concepts between [the two] countries."
The training included exercises on maritime surveillance on enemy targets, avoiding mines, countering pirate attacks, live fire exercises, and using air defense weapons to secure maritime units.
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The Kansas Water Office officially opened dredging operations to recover water supply storage during a ceremony at the lake, May 17.
More than three million yards of sediment will be removed from John Redmond Reservoirs conservation pool to restore some of the lakes water supply storage capacity. Dredging will also allow aquatic habitats for the benefit of public recreation and the lakes ecosystem.
John Redmond Reservoir is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Tulsa District project, and was completed in 1964 for the purpose of flood risk management. More than 75 percent of the lake is allocated for water supply storage to the Kansas Water Office, a state agency charged with managing the states water resources.
The start of dredging is the culmination of four years of studying and planning the feasibility of sedimentation removal. The Kansas Water Office worked with the Tulsa District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to gain approval for the operation.
"The Kansas Water Office's data indicated sedimentation would hinder our ability to meet the demand for water in the region," said Col. Richard A. Pratt, commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Tulsa District. "We are pleased with the cooperation between our agencies as we are committed to delivering enduring and essential water resource solutions to meet demand."
Dredging the conservation pool will restore water supply storage for the benefit of the regional water users and recover lost aquatic habitat for the benefit of public recreation and the lakes ecosystem.
According to the Kansas Water Office the John Redmond Reservoir is experiencing sedimentation at a faster rate than other water supply reservoirs in the state.
"The water stored in John Redmond Reservoir is provided, through a contract with the KWO, to 19 communities, six industrial users and the Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Station," said KWO Director Tracy Streeter. "It is our job to ensure water supply is provided for our communities and businesses. As we looked forward to the future demand, we saw we fell short making this a top priority project for the past several years."
Dredging operations are expected to continue through December 2016.
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Ransomware infects computers when a user opens an innocent-looking email attachment or clicks on a seemingly legitimate website address.
(Photos.com)
Syracuse, N.Y. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, Schumer is urging the federal government to do more to stop "ransomware" cyberattacks in which hackers seize control of a business's or government's computers and demand payment to release them.
Schumer said Russian criminals are targeting small town and village governments in Upstate New York and elsewhere because their computers are the most vulnerable. The problem can cost local taxpayers thousands of dollars, he said.
"Our country's critical infrastructure is still far too vulnerable to hackers, and we must do more - and fast - to ward off this metastasizing threat," he said in a statement Wednesday. "Russia's recent ransomware hacks against municipalities and businesses in Upstate New York mean those in our small towns and villages are being forced to pay a big price."
Ransomware is a type of malware that locks a computer system and all of its digital files and operating system until a ransom is paid.
In 2014, the village of Ilion in Herkimer County made ransom payments of $300 and $500 to keep its computers running after two official-looking emails released malware throughout its system, locking up the village's payroll and accounting systems, according to state auditors.
Earlier this year, Russian hackers attempted to seize control of the town of Manlius' computer system. However, when an alert employee noticed the ransomware taking over a computer terminal, the town's IT staff was able to stop the attack by shutting the terminal down, keeping it from infecting the town's entire computer network.
Schumer called on the Senate to allocate more money to help state and local municipalities make the necessary infrastructure improvements and train employees to prevent future ransomware attacks. He also asked President Obama to ensure that his Cybersecurity Commission makes stopping ransomware a priority.
The FBI estimates that cyber hackers using malware like ransomware collected more than $200 million in the first three months of 2016, Schumer said.
Ransomware is are able to infect targeted computer systems when a user opens an email attachment or clicks on a website address that seem legitimate but really contain malicious code.
Schumer said most of hackers using such malware operate out of Russia and the former Soviet republics of Eastern Europe and are hard to trace. In addition to local governments, the hackers have been known to target businesses, police departments, hospitals, banks and other institutions that hold sensitive, personal information, he said.
They also sometimes target the computers of individuals, demanding hundreds or thousands of dollars to unlock their files, he said.
Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148
Egypt's Journalists Syndicate is convening a general assembly meeting on Wednesday to discuss its ongoing dispute with the interior ministry with the aim of resolving the crisis in a way that retains journalists' dignity.
The crisis erupted earlier this month when police stormed the syndicate premises in downtown Cairo and arrested two journalists, sparking public outrage and prompting journalists to hold a sit-in inside the building.
"The syndicate will be discussing its fate as well as steps to take in the coming period," Khaled El-Balshy, the head of the syndicate's freedoms committee, told Ahram Online.
More than 2,000 journalists rallied for an urgent meeting at the syndicate headquarters days after the 1 May attack, adopting a list of measures and demands in protest against the "unprecedented" raid.
At the head of these demands was the sacking of the interior minister and an official apology from the presidency.
The upcoming gathering has been postponed twice to give room for "negotiations to resolve the crisis," El-Balshy says, which has prompted some observers to speculate that the union is standing on shaky ground in its row with the ministry.
The speculations were backed by the fact that some newspapers, national and independent, did not comply with the union's general assembly directives, which included emblazoning a logo on newspapers in protest against restrictions on journalism, publishing a camera negative photo of the interior minister and running black front pages for one day.
Al-Masry Al-Youm, an independent daily, was among papers that backed the union, calling for the minister's sacking and running the above-mentioned logo, before eventually backpedalling.
A font-page editorial written earlier this week by the paper's owner, businessman Salah Deyab, in which he attacked his own paper's "political position" on the crisis, has raised doubts that some chief editors had bowed to pressure by the country's security apparatus to backtrack on their support of the union.
Some believe, however, that the real victory for journalists is the momentum gathered by the union in defending its dignity against the "blatant barbarism" of police.
"A high turnout for the [general] assembly is a victory and a message to authorities not to repeat what they had done," El-Balshy said, adding that "this does not mean we call off our efforts."
Syndicate blamed
The Journalists Syndicate has for many years been a rallying point for demonstrations and a venue for people to voice their grievances, even under former president Hosni Mubarak's autocratic rule.
Union officials say the attack earlier this month was a first in the syndicate's 75-year history.
Since the spat erupted, some media outlets have taken a swipe at journalists, accusing them of politicising the crisis and harming the state.
A report issued by a parliament media committee on Monday argued that the union was to blame for the crisis, saying the syndicate board committed "a grave violation" by allowing the two wanted journalists to take refuge in the union headquarters.
The report echoed an earlier statement by the public prosecutors office that accused the union chief, Yehia Kalash, of "a crime punishable under the law" for allowing the pair to stage a sit-in at the union building after police had stormed their homes.
A meeting held over a week ago and called for by Al-Ahram daily and attended by five syndicate board members also accused the union of acting as though it were a "political party" and demanded a withdrawal of confidence from its current board.
The interior ministry said it had followed legal measures to execute an arrest warrant for journalists Mahmoud El-Sakka and Amr Badr, who are accused of "inciting to protest" and "attempting to destabilise the country and planning a coup."
The pair, who run a website known to be critical of the government, were ordered to be detained for 15 days, while the prosecutor-general issued a media gag in the case.
The syndicate said the move was illegal and violated its state-sponsored law, which bans police from entering its headquarters without the presence of a syndicate official.
Several Egyptian professional syndicates have expressed solidarity with the union.
Among the syndicate's demands is the release of journalists imprisoned over publishing issues.
A total of 29 journalists are currently behind bars in Egypt, with some in custody for almost three years and facing charges of spreading false news or aiming to topple the state, according to union chief Kalash.
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stewarts shops ice cream
Stewart's Shops are known for its ice cream.
(Photo courtesy of Stewart's Shops)
BALDWINSVILLE, N.Y. -- The second Stewart's Shops location in Onondaga County will be open next month.
The new shop will be at 120 Oswego St., in the village of Baldwinsville. The shop will open on June 1 and a grand opening event will be held on June 10.
Stewart's locations are known for their ice cream, plus food options including sandwiches, pastries, doughnuts, soups and chili. The stores also have gas and a full lineup of groceries.
The chain opened its first CNY store in October 2014 in Clay.
A third location is expected to open in late summer. The shop, to be built at the corner of Buckley and Bear Roads in Clay, was approved at the Clay Town Planning Board meeting on May 11.
Stewart's, based in Saratoga Springs, has stores in other nearby communities including Oswego and Rome. The chain has more than 330 stores total in New York and Vermont and employs more than 4,500 people.
A ribbon cutting ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. on June 10 for the grand opening event. Stewart's will be making $1,000 donations to the Baldwinsville Community Scholarship Foundation and the Canton Woods Senior Center in celebration of the company joining the Baldwinsville community.
The grand opening event will also feature several specials, discounts and contests.
Stewart's Shops targets Baldwinsville for next Syracuse-area store
Operation Smackdown 1.JPG
Displayed Tuesday in Syracuse during a news conference on Operation Smackdown, this board shows mugshots of the operation suspected of selling heroin, cocaine and painkillers on the South Side of Syracuse.
(Patrick Lohmann)
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- One of the 72 suspects arrested in a massive anti-drug sweep this week might have thought she was being sneaky when she did not mention heroin explicitly during a phone call in June 2015.
Instead, during what court documents described as a "coded, guarded and cryptic" phone call, Lorrie Redington asked alleged co-conspirator Magen Solano for "31 cupcakes". In another June 2015 phone conversation, suspect Ashley Corsette told Solano she had just "two cupcakes left".
Despite the effort at concealing the alleged illegal activities, investigators weren't fooled.
Redington, Corsette and Solano, whom police described as a leader of the heroin-trafficking organization, were among the dozens of suspects nabbed in "Operation Smackdown." The busts targeted two large organizations dealing heroin and cocaine in Syracuse and surrounding areas, authorities said.
Displayed Tuesday in Syracuse during a news conference on Operation Smackdown, this board shows mugshots of the operation suspected of selling cocaine in the suburbs of Onondaga and Oswego counties.
The results of the 11-month investigation were announced this week, and indictments provided by the New York Attorney General's Office give some hints about the groups' hierarchies and the methods law enforcement might have used to dismantle them.
Between the two groups, drugs valued at around $300,000 were seized, in addition to weapons, cash and paraphernalia used to dilute and process the drugs, authorities said.
One organization sold quantities of heroin and focused primarily on Syracuse's South Side. Multi-page indictments accuse Solano and Julio and Reinaldo Santos of being the group's ringleaders and conspiring with dozens of others to store, sell and process the drugs.
Solano and Julio and Reinaldo Santos are being charged as "major traffickers" and could face life in prison. Others are facing various charges including conspiracy, drug dealing and possession.
Another organization sold cocaine, often diluting it with chemical agents, to customers around Syracuse in suburban and rural areas.
The documents describe phone conversations in which suspects discuss storing and selling heroin and cocaine. Here are a few examples of the drug trafficking alleged by law enforcement:
One March 2015 phone conversation, for example, discussed the potential sale of heroin to a customer "in exchange for money and food stamps".
Another described a heroin source being "unhappy with the amount of money" suspect Julio Santos delivered.
Marcos Carasquillo, who was shot and killed in Syracuse in October 2015, was buying heroin from suspect Luis Undaneta a month before his death. The homicide has not been solved, Syracuse police said, though "drug sales could be a possibility" as the motive behind his death, police spokesman Sgt. Richard Helterline said.
In May 2015, suspect Diana Maldonado advised co-conspirator Kevin Maldando to stop selling heroin after fellow defendant Francisco Flores was stopped twice by the police.
Cocaine-dealing suspects Henry Aguayo and Eddy Cuello discussed installing a steel-reinforced door at a home on the 100 block of Carlisle Street
One suspect, Kyshaun Williams, aka Kyshaun Smith, was charged with criminal possession of a weapon after being found with a .40-caliber handgun. He was also accused of firing a weapon on a public highway in April 2015.
The indictments describe phone conversations, in addition to suspects being spotted going to homes where drugs were being sold and suspects being caught selling drugs to unnamed customers.
Dozens of the defendants arrested in the bust were arraigned Tuesday morning in Syracuse City Court, and others were arraigned Wednesday.
Syracuse, NY -- A Syracuse high school student who spent 18 months in juvenile detention after punching a man to death is back in jail again for his third school-related incident.
Ander Grady, 18, was arrested Monday at the Sidney Johnson Vocational School after allegedly punching a 15-year-old girl, who police believe was his girlfriend.
The fight happened about 12:15 p.m. Friday at the school, Syracuse police Sgt. Rick Helterline said. Grady is accused of spitting on the victim, punching her in the face and upper body and intentionally damaging her cell phone.
Grady was charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief and endangering the welfare of a child (because the victim was a minor), as well as harassment and disorderly conduct, both violations.
He remains jailed on $2,500 cash or $5,000 bond bail.
This isn't the first scrape Grady has had since returning to school in 2015 after punching and killing Michael Daniels outside a South Side store. Grady spent 18 months in detention in New York City after being convicted of second-degree manslaughter.
Ander Grady in November 2015
After returning to school, Grady was charged with threatening to "knock out" a Corcoran school administrator in November 2015.
But that wasn't grounds to permanently expel Grady. Under the school district's Code of Conduct, "verbal aggression against school personnel" can be punished by a short-term suspension.
Grady spent a night in jail and later pleaded guilty. He was transferred to Johnson Vocational downtown after that incident. He appeared to be headed in a positive direction after taking an anti-violence leadership course and planned to graduate this spring.
In April, Grady was in the news again after allegedly bringing a knife to school. Under law, he was not charged with a crime because he had not used the knife as a weapon.
It's not clear whether that allegation was ever proven. Neither Grady's defense lawyer nor prosecutors returned calls seeking comment about that incident.
The district code of conduct does allow for permanent expulsion for bringing a weapon to school, but it is not mandatory. Possession of objects that could be used as weapons can bring either a short-term or long-term suspension, according to the code of conduct.
Grady was obviously back in school last week when the fight occurred. It's not clear if he'll get another chance to finish school.
District spokesman Michael Henesey declined to comment about Grady, citing student privacy laws. He referred syracuse.com to the district's code of conduct.
A simple fight is not grounds for permanent expulsion, according to the code.
A fight that causes "serious bodily harm" is grounds for long-term or permanent suspension. And a fight that leads to a schoolwide "stay in place" order, prevents large numbers of students from moving around, disrupts learning for large numbers of students or poses a grave threat to large numbers of students can result in either short- or long-term suspension.
It's not clear what impact the fight had on other students, but the injuries do not appear to fit "serious bodily harm" under the law. (That would typically result in felony charges.)
It's possible, however, that Grady could return to school again without a criminal record. That's because:
His "Knockout" homicide as a juvenile is sealed
His threat against the administrator is headed toward an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal
His alleged knife incident never resulted in charges and was not proven.
His most recent fight is being considered a "possible youthful offender" case, which means he could be convicted and his record sealed again.
However, the administrator threat case and the charges from the fight are still open. He could face a criminal record for one or both of them. That will be up to a judge.
It's also important to note that Grady's sealed record as a juvenile can be considered if he ever gets into trouble again. There would just be no accessible public record.
Grady is due back in court Thursday.
Interested in the Syracuse school district's Code of Conduct? A copy is below. There's a handy chart describing behavior and possible punishments starting on page 22:
SCSD Code of Conduct by Douglass Dowty
ITHACA, N.Y. -- A man was drunk Tuesday night when he crashed his car into a Tompkins County ditch, according to New York State Police.
James M. Herrick, 53, of Ithaca, was arrested for driving with a blood alcohol content of .17 percent -- over twice the legal limit, said the New York State Police. His arrest came while troopers were investigating a 911 call.
Troopers responded to Bostwick Road in the Town of Ithaca around 9:40 p.m. after a caller reported a car was in a ditch. When investigators arrived, they determined Herrick was intoxicated, trooper said.
Herrick was charged with driving while intoxicated, a felony, and ticketed for traffic violations. Troopers said Herrick was charged with a felony because he has been convicted of DWI within the last decade.
Herrick was arraigned in Ithaca Town Court and released.
Common Council.jpg
Members of the Syracuse Common Council discuss a Resident Employment Ordinance at City Hall, Wednesday, May 18, 2016.
(Chris Baker | cbaker@syracuse.com)
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The City of Syracuse today took a step toward a law that would mandate construction and service jobs go to city residents.
The Common Council introduced a Resident Employment Ordinance, which would require that a portion of new hires under city contracts be city residents. The ordinance has been in the works for nearly five years.
Councilor Khalid Bey proposed the law at a council study session Wednesday.
"This has been a long conversation," Bey said. He thanked city attorneys for putting the legislation together and said it will lead to jobs to support families and generate revenue for the government.
The Urban Jobs Task Force brought signs to Wednesday's Common Council meeting
The ordinance would require that 20 percent of all work done by new hires on city contracts be completed by city residents. The ordinance applies to construction, public works or service contracts worth at least $100,000.
Enforcement of the ordinance will fall to the city's Department of Neighborhood and Business Development. Contractors that violate the ordinance can have their contracts revoked.
Aggie Lane is president of the Urban Jobs Task Force. She and her organization have been lobbying for a law like this for more than four years, she said.
"The fact that this came out of corporation counsel shows that the administration is ready to go forward," Lane said.
Barry Lentz, chair of the UJTF, said the ordinance could decrease unemployment in Syracuse, which has the nation's highest rate of concentrated poverty among African Americans and Hispanics.
The introduction of an ordinance comes several months after the city lost a lawsuit with COR Development Co. over tax breaks and local hiring requirements. In the suit, Mayor Stephanie Miner said COR hid its intention to seek a tax deal because the city planned to demand a community jobs agreement as a condition.
Though the city lost that battle, it gave Miner's administration a chance to speak frequently about community jobs benefits. In interviews and public appearances, Miner repeatedly stressed the importance of including such benefits in projects that gave tax breaks to developers.
Major cities nationwide have adopted similar hiring laws, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and Cleveland. The proposed Syracuse ordinance is based on Cleveland's law, adopted in 2004.
Bey proposed a vote on the ordinance at next Monday's session. Councilor Jean Kessner requested a committee meeting for further discussion before that vote is held.
"This is an important thing to talk about," Kessner said. "I'd like to know more about it and be able to talk about it in a public forum."
Bey agreed, and the council will hold a committee meeting in the coming weeks. The session ended with applause from a handful of Urban Jobs Task Force members, led by Rich Puchalski of Syracuse United Neighbors.
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Dozens of attendees packed into this Syracuse University Eggers Hall event room to hear state and local officials grapple with the opiate-abuse problem in Syracuse and the rest of the state.
(Patrick Lohmann | Syracuse.com)
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Dozens of concerned professionals and private citizens packed into a Syracuse University event room to hear state government and local health workers search for solutions to a growing opiate-abuse problem in Syracuse and the rest of the state.
A heroin task force recently established by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office has been hosting listening sessions in Upstate cities this week, seeking input from physicians and others on the front lines of what they called an "epidemic" and a "public health crisis".
The number of reported heroin deaths in Onondaga County grew from one in 2010 to 34 in 2015. During that same time period heroin arrests in Syracuse more than doubled from 173 in 2010 to 454 in 2015.
The county's 2014 heroin death rate per 100,000 people was higher than the state and national averages. Deaths from all opioid drugs - heroin and prescription painkillers - jumped from 24 in 2010 to 57 in Onondaga County last year.
At the forum, the panel, including Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, listened to three local experts who have watched the problem grow worse in Syracuse and surrounding areas. They were Jeremy Klemanski, president and CEO of Syracuse Behavioral Healthcare, James Scordo, executive director of the Credo Community Center in Watertown, and Nicole Sirian, director of the Milestones Dual Recovery Program in Utica.
"We are here to find the next generation of solutions," Hochul told attendees. "We're looking for creative ideas. We're looking to be a model for the rest of the nation."
The experts each had a number of recommendations, including giving the state's Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services more flexibility and resources, treating opiate addicts more like patients with other chronic conditions and improving prevention services.
They also wished addicts had more coherent and robust options from the moment they seek treatment, either after overdosing or seeking it out themselves.
Task force members, including New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, listened to local experts on the front lines battling opiate addiction.
The lieutenant governor asked whether those trained to administer Narcan, which revises overdosing opiate addicts, knew to whom to refer the addicts or to follow up with after the fact.
"If you're the trainer, there's not a step where you're saying, now that you've revived someone, what do you do with that information," Hochul said.
The experts also guessed at what they saw as the origins of the crisis, and Cayuga County District Attorney Jon Budelmann spoke up at the end to give his thoughts.
When prescription opiate abuse prompted government crackdowns on the amount or type of opiates being prescribed, clinics nationwide noticed that heroin use increased at a corresponding rate. Klemanski said he witnessed the same trend at his Syracuse clinic.
So even if prescription opiate addicts were finding it more difficult to get opiates from their doctors, they were continuing to abuse the highly addictive substance, often buying much-cheaper heroin on the streets.
Heroin, of course, is unregulated and often cut with more-harmful chemicals to increase profit margins. Recent cases involving the powerful drug Fentanyl have caused alarm for local law enforcement here.
"As our percentage of patients we're treating for prescription opioid addiction has decreased, the percentage of those seeking help with heroin addiction has increased," Klemanski said. "When people were taking the pills, to a certain extent they knew what they were getting."
Budelmann, the district attorney, called what occurred with opiate abuse in New York and elsewhere a "perfect storm" that is devastating counties like his. He asked that law enforcement be given more tools to prosecute heroin dealers, like making selling it a "class A" felony.
"If this was Ebola, we would be devoting resources," he said. "...This is completely new. The state needs to step in."
The task force meets again tomorrow for public input in Buffalo. The task force is also accepting written testimony. Individuals can submit written testimony online here.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced May 10 that he had formed the task force to combat the increasing problem of heroin and opioid abuse. Jerald Woolfolk, the vice president for student affairs at SUNY Oswego since January 2014, was the only person from Central New York appointed to the heroin task force by Cuomo.
Bill Backer, the man who taught "the world to sing" with an iconic 1971 Coca-Cola commercial, died Friday in Warrenton, Va., at age 89.
Backer is the "real-life" version of Jon Hamm's Don Draper character on AMC's "Mad Men." The finale of that show last May showed Draper, not Backer, coming up with the idea for the commercial while meditating at a spiritual retreat in California.
The commercial features a multi-cultural chorus singing on a hilltop, "I'd like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company."
According to the New York Times, the real idea for the ad came to Backer in a much different way. From the Times:
"...[H]e was on his way to London in January 1971 to meet with the songwriters Billy Davis and Roger Cook when his flight was diverted by fog to Shannon Airport in Ireland.
"The next morning, Mr. Backer was stunned to see the diverse group of passengers who had been angry the night before cheerfully conversing in the coffee shop.
"'People from all over the world, forced by circumstance, were having a Coke -- or a cup of coffee or tea -- together,' he wrote in his 1993 book, 'The Care and Feeding of Ideas.' 'They were making eye contact over a Coke, and they were keeping each other company.'"
"Mad Men" showrunner Matthew Weiner told The Hollywood Reporter that the 1971 ad was "the greatest commercial ever made."
Backer's career included a number of memorable jingles and slogans including coining the phrase "Miller Time," and Campbell's "soup is good food." He created ad campaigns for Oreo, Hyundai, Quaker Foods, Fisher-Price and other companies.
In 1993, he told the Times that it was the Coca-Cola ad for which he knew he'd be remembered.
"If you come up with what's basically a little hymn to getting the world together, it's a contribution," Backer said at the time.
Backer is survived only by his wife, Ann Mudge.
Here's Backer being interviewed about the commercial in a Coca-Cola video.
The whale washed up on Cleopatra Beach in the northern Matrouh governorate two days ago
Egypt's environment minister met on Tuesday with a number of officials to draw up a plan for burying a rare sperm whale that washed up on shore in Matrouh governorate two days ago, a ministry statement read.
A deep hole will be dug for the burial, which will involve quicklime and plastic insulation.
Specialists will ensure that the skeleton is well preserved in anticipation of transporting it to Wadi El-Hitan (Valley of the Whales) in Fayoum, which holds whale skeletons that date back "42 million years," according to the ministry's statement.
The last recorded incident of a sperm whale washing up on shore in Egypt was in 1908 in Port Said governorate.
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Against the backdrop of a slumping economy, the party-run People's Daily newspaper has once again sought answers from an unnamed "authority."
A "person in authority" told the paper in an interview published May 9 that China's economy is on an "L-shaped" trajectory for recovery.
The interviewee's point was that neither a U-shaped nor a V-shaped line would appear on charts tracking the nation's economic growth rate. Instead, the chart would reflect a drastic decline followed by slow yet stable growth.
The message conveyed did not stray far from what analysts had previously agreed upon. Nevertheless, the interview generated a lot of discussion among economists over its timing and implications.
The interview, apparently aimed at dispelling market jitters over slow growth, triggered steep declines that day on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets. Each bourse's composite index closed the day down by nearly 3 percent.
Equity market traders usually overreact to the Chinese economy's ups and downs. But the early May sell-off was certainly indicative of the deep shock felt by investors who read the People's Daily projection.
Investor reactions thus underscored the challenges ahead as the nation adjusts expectations and rethinks the way the economy should be managed, even as the growth rate follows the trajectory described in the newspaper over the next year or two.
In recent years, overseas analysts have offered sometimes contradictory explanations about the health of the Chinese economy. Some thought the economy would inevitably slow, and that a slow-growth economy would have a positive effect by spurring economic reform. Others tended to fuss when the economy's growth accelerated a little quickly or abruptly slowed.
A look back at recent history may help clear the air and help analysts and economists at home and abroad understand what "L-shaped" economic growth in China is all about.
Back in 1995, China's GDP was less than US$ 800 per capita. A decade later, it had risen to US$ 1,800. And last year, it was US$ 8,000.
The growth was no doubt impressive. But one day, that kind of growth will certainly reach its limit. What follows could be much more moderate growth, and perhaps a contraction.
As internationally renowned economists such as Lawrence H. Summers have pointed out, a rapidly expanding economy is likely to see its growth rate eventually retreat to mirror the long-term, global average. Many academic researchers have similarly concluded that economies not only slow after enjoying years of brisk expansion but are likely to decelerate by a wide margin.
Anyone who agrees with these conclusions should not be surprised to see that China's economic growth has slowed in recent years.
Of course, China's sheer size and impact on the global economy should raise concerns about a slowdown. Fluctuations in China can affect international trade and global finance. Therefore, it is understandable that economists have been anxiously watching China.
The nation's GDP was less than one-tenth that of the United States in 1995 but reached 60 percent at the end of 2015. If the GDP of each country were measured according to purchasing power parity, the two economies would be almost the same size.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in a report based on its 2015 Article IV consultations with China, predicted that the economy would slow by half a percentage point in 2016 but could actually increase by one percentage point in 2020 if the nation carries through with a pledge to further market-oriented reforms.
Thus, striking a balance between short-term aspirations for rapid growth and the long-term goal of promoting sustainability calls for heeding the message delivered by that anonymous authority interviewed by the People's Daily.
What practical steps should be taken? First, reform the economy's supply side. Dealing with the nation's excessive stockpiles of industrial products and unsold homes should be a top priority, according to the authority. Second, the interviewee urges policy makers to stimulate demand and thus help address the constraints affecting the economy's supply side.
China as well as the global community must accept the challenges associated with the nation's slow economic growth. Few expect China to prop up the economy by introducing another round of stimulus like the massive government injections witnessed after the 2008 global meltdown.
Some overseas critics, speaking out of self-interest, could wag a finger while blaming China for the global decline in commodity prices. China's slowdown might indeed help drive down the prices of iron ore and copper, according to an IMF analysis, but not crude oil. It's not fair to blame China for financial hardships in any oil-rich country, especially since other factors such as geopolitics come into play.
Resource-rich countries such as Brazil, Australia and Canada have benefited enormously from China's breakneck development and almost insatiable demand for raw materials. As the Chinese economy continues to slow, these countries must adjust.
China is also adjusting. After the slowdown began, the Ministry of Commerce tried to revive demand for China's exports but with little success. And Chinese businesses that tried to offload excess capacity by expanding overseas have found many developing nations wary of their intentions and reluctant to let them in.
Adjustments, not government stimulus, will help China trim overcapacity and manage financial risk.
A new phase of globalization emerged after the 2008 economic crisis. It's a phase driven by multi-lateral treaties such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. Still, economic stagnation in many countries has given rise to populist movements.
China must remain committed to opening up its economy and promoting win-win cooperation. Domestic and overseas businesses look forward to a level playing field in China an aspiration in line with the essence of the nation's campaign for a supply-side reform movement.
So an L-shape growth trajectory is nothing to fear. It poses challenges but it also offers new opportunities for China and the world.
Hu Shuli is the editor-in-chief of Caixin Media
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Sushi Naiya in Port St. Lucie serves the Orange dragon roll with shrimp, imitation crab, cream cheese, avocado, asparagus, cucumber and masago rolled up in a spiral of nori and rice, topped with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and crowned with strips of salmon. (MELISSA STONESIFER/SPECIAL TO TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)
Melissa Stonesifer Columnist SHARE Fried ice cream, tempura battered and fried vanilla ice cream covered in raspberry sauce, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and topped with a cherry at Sushi Naiya. (MELISSA STONESIFER/SPECIAL TO TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS) Sushi Naiya's spicy drunken noodles. (MELISSA STONESIFER/SPECIAL TO TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS) The spicy octopus salad at Sushi Naiya in Port St. Lucie. (MELISSA STONESIFER/SPECIAL TO TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)
Sushi Naiya on Port St. Lucie Boulevard always has been known for its great sushi, Japanese and Thai cuisine. The restaurant itself has a ton of seating with tables, couch and coffee table set-ups, a full bar in the middle and a sushi bar situated in the back of the restaurant. Decorative hanging lights, fish tanks and vibrant-colored cherry blossom trees that light up, add to the ambiance of Naiya.
We sat in plush leather chairs at a table next to a fish tank with circling goldfish. After ordering a glass of plumb wine ($5.95), I chose the spicy octopus salad ($8.95) to offset the sweetness of the wine, chopped octopus, thin sliced cucumber, scallions, orange segments, avocado and masago tossed with spicy and tangy sunomono sauce. It paired well with the wine and had a lot of nice flavors with the saltiness of the sauce, crispness of the veggies and touch of sweetness from the oranges.
There are so many tasty rolls offered and I tend to go with my favorites, but I strayed from the path and tried the orange dragon roll ($15.95), shrimp, imitation crab, cream cheese, avocado, asparagus, cucumber and masago rolled up in a spiral of nori and rice, topped with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and crowned with strips of salmon. The colors and display of the roll made it a deliciously edible piece of art.
I've sampled many of the curry dishes ($12.95-$19.95) and the red wine duck ($20.95) on separate occasions, all of which were delectable, so I went with another new dish: spicy drunken noodles (pad kee mao $14.95). This dish is similar to fried rice in composition but is made using broad rice noodles coated in soy and fish sauces, tossed with basil, bits of egg, broccoli, carrots, snow peas, cabbage, celery, bok choy and my selection of sea scallops. It wasn't too spicy but was yummy.
For my young foodie, a cup of miso soup ($1.95) and a side of rice ($1) were ordered. She loves scooping up the "little squares" of tofu in the broth.
We ended the evening with fried ice cream ($5.95), tempura-battered-and-fried vanilla ice cream covered in raspberry sauce, chocolate syrup, whipped cream and topped with a cherry. You can't go wrong with ice cream at this time of year.
Melissa Stonesifer dines anonymously at the expense of Treasure Coast Newspapers. Contact her at melissalifetime@gmail.com, or follow @M_Stonesifer on Twitter.
SUSHI NAIYA
Cuisine: Japanese, sushi, and Thai
Address: 1136 S.E. Port St. Lucie Blvd., Port St. Lucie
Phone: 772-237-5473
Hours: 11:30 a.m.-2:30 a.m.; 4:30 p.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday
Handicap access: Yes
Alcohol: Full bar
Online: www.facebook.com/pages/Sushi-Naiya/111842605520214
Boat washes south of Sebastian Inlet after reported smuggling operation. (INDIAN RIVER COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE)
By Elliott Jones of TCPalm
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY Deputies apprehended two more people, raising to eight the number taken into custody in what is described as a human and drug-smuggling operation that landed just south of the Sebastian Inlet.
The search started 5 p.m. Tuesday when a boat washed ashore during the severe rainstorms that moved through the county Tuesday.
About 26 pounds of marijuana was found in a duffel bag in the small Boston Whaler, Sheriff's reports said.
"The smuggling boat left the Bahamas at midnight on May 17, headed for the United States. Two of the apprehended Bahamian males coordinated the trip to smuggle drugs and humans into the United States," said Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Eric Flowers.
Initially, deputies detained a Cuban woman, a man from the Dominican Republic, two Brazilian men and the two men from the Bahamas. Two others, from Brazil, initially eluded capture until 10 p.m. Tuesday, when they were found along State Road A1A. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Department of Homeland Security assisted in the search.
All the people were turned over to Border Patrol agents and transported to West Palm Beach for interviews.
By Andrew Atterbury of TCPalm
Three Indian River County School District campuses will reopen Thursday after one-day closures in the aftermath of Tuesday's torrential rainstorms. Only Vero Beach High School, however, sustained damage, officials said.
The first floors of two Vero Beach High School buildings flooded as 11.22 inches of rain fell in Vero Beach, shattering the city's record. Water rose to about 3 inches in classrooms and a library, officials said, soaking furniture, books, carpet and drywall.
Officials decided Tuesday also to close the Freshman Learning Center because some students there also attend classes at VBHS. Rosewood Magnet School was closed due to flooding around the school that might have created hazardous travel, officials said.
Within two hours of the initial flooding at VBHS, environment specialist crews from Melbourne-based EE&G were on scene, officials said.
Cleanup crews worked throughout Wednesday to ensure campuses could reopen Thursday, officials said.
Some VBHS classrooms might not be usable Thursday, officials said. Staff is prepared to relocate students accordingly, officials said.
School officials declined to release a damage estimate.
The district is expecting to file an insurance claim for the damage, officials said.
Tuesday's flooding is not indicative of the infrastructure at VBHS, said Carter Morrison, assistant superintendent of finance and operations.
The campus is structurally sound, he said.
"This is just an unprecedented rain event," Morrison said.
ST. LUCIE SCHOOLS
St. Lucie County School District campuses were open Wednesday, but the severe weather caused a few issues and shuffled graduation plans.
School officials reported no major damage, but said some schools suffered leaks and pools of standing water in parking lots.
The storms also forced postponement of Tuesday night's Port St. Lucie High School graduation ceremony until 10 a.m. Wednesday.
Graduation went off without a hitch Wednesday, and classes carried on as usual, spokeswoman Kerry Padrick said.
Flooding from heavy rains damage homes Tuesday in St. Lucie County. (XAVIER MASCARENAS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)
By Isadora Rangel of TCPalm
Tuesday's heavy rainfall increases the potential for algae blooms in the Indian River Lagoon as more pollution-laden water flows into local waterways.
As the Treasure Coast on Tuesday got slammed with rain that broke records in Vero Beach, more water flowed into the lagoon from numerous canals throughout the estuary. Those canals bring two things, said Mark Perry, executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society in Stuart:
Freshwater that lowers the estuary's salinity level and promotes the growth of blue-green algae; and
Farm runoff containing fertilizers that feed the algae, which is actually bacteria that is more likely to occur under the high temperatures and sunny days the region has been experiencing.
The recent dry conditions make matters worse, Perry said.
"If you have dry conditions over time, and all of a sudden you get this huge rain, this first flush will bring a lot of high bacterial levels," Perry said.
More freshwater could flow into the northern lagoon in the next few days. The Indian River Farms Water Control District, which covers the greater Vero Beach area, opened the flow gates to three major canals and it will take four to five days to empty the system of the estimated billions of gallons of water that fell yesterday, said district Director David Gunter.
Most of the floodwaters have drained off the roads, but a lot remains backed up in the district's miles of canals, he said.
Less salinity
George Mouton, an employee at Vero Tackle & Marina near Riverside Park in Vero Beach, noticed the decreased salinity levels Wednesday morning.
He said the shrimp in his bait were struggling to stay alive because of lower salinity in the water the store pumps out of the lagoon for its bait tank. He recommended those who want to fish to go south of Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce or north near Sebastian.
Another side effect of the rain: With more water flowing into Lake Okeechobee from the Kissimmee River, discharges into the St. Lucie River could increase, Perry said.
That increases the risk for blue-green algae because the discharges reduce water salinity that helps thwart algal blooms. The Army Corps of Engineers on Thursday is expected to announce discharge levels for next week.
Toxic algae?
Department of Environmental Protection officials could not be reached Wednesday to say whether the agency plans to test algae seen Tuesday in the St. Lucie River for toxicity.
Treasure Coast Newspapers confirmed what appeared to be blue-green algae in the South Fork of the St. Lucie River, just off Kanner Highway.
The state health department in Martin County advised people not to touch algae or let their pets touch it, and to report sightings to the DEP. Toxic algae can cause nausea and vomiting if ingested and rash or hay fever if touched.
Tuesday's rainfall in Vero Beach surpassed all prior daily rainfall records, totaling 11.22 inches. The prior record daily rainfall was 8.82 inches set Jan. 21, 1957. Fort Pierce got 9.85 inches Tuesday. Stuart received around 2.10 inches.
Staff writers Elliot Jones and Ed Killer contributed to this report.
Report blue-green algae bloom sightings
772-467-5572: Florida Department of Environmental Protection
772-221-4219: Reporter Tyler Treadway
A female Aedes aegypti mosquito in the process of drawing blood to a human. (AP FILE PHOTO)
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By Ledyard King, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON The Senate voted Tuesday to approve a $1.1 billion plan to combat Zika on the same day Florida announced three new cases of the mosquito-borne illness.
Many Florida lawmakers, including Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and Democrat Bill Nelson, had championed full funding of President Obama's $1.9 billion Zika plan. But that effort died on a largely party-line vote. Most Republicans objected that the plan would have added to the national debt and included spending unrelated to the health crisis.
Brandishing a letter from the Osceola County manager saying the county's anti-Zika resources have been "exhausted," Nelson exhorted his colleagues on the Senate floor to approve the administration's request.
"Community leaders are saying they're out of funds: 'Help. This is an emergency,'" Nelson said. "Lives are at stake."
The $1.9 billion plan fell 10 votes short of the 60 needed to move forward.
The vote took place shortly before the Florida Department of Health announced that Clay, Orange and Pinellas counties had reported one new Zika case each. That brings Florida's total to 116, all involving people who brought the disease to the Sunshine State from outside the continental United States. Florida has about one of every five cases diagnosed on the mainland. Zika causes serious birth defects and paralysis.
The $1.1 billion in emergency funding, which both Rubio and Nelson voted for after the $1.9 billion proposal died, would be used mainly for mosquito control, public education and development of a vaccine.
The funding battle now shifts to the House. GOP leaders there have gotten behind a more modest $622 million proposal that could come to a vote as early as this week. Senior White House advisers are recommending the president veto that bill because it is "woefully inadequate to support the response our public health experts say is needed."
Florida House members seem split along partisan lines, with Reps. Tom Rooney, R-Okeechobee; Jeff Miller, R-Chumuckla; and Bill Posey, R-Rockledge; among Republicans expressing support for the $622 million plan crafted by GOP Rep. Hal Rogers of Kentucky, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
Posey spokesman George Cecala said his boss likes Rogers' bill, provided it would allow the money to be spent immediately, would not add to the debt and "there are accountability and oversight provisions to ensure effective use of taxpayer resources."
Rooney said the money would be in addition to $589 million already redirected from unused Ebola funds to fight Zika. Administration officials want to replenish that money in case there's another Ebola outbreak.
Republican Curt Clawson, R-Bonita Springs, is expected to vote for the Rogers bill, though he'd like to spend as much as possible to prevent Zika's spread, spokesman David James said. Clawson has proposed bills to establish a tax credit for vaccine research and development, and to reauthorize grants for mosquito abatement programs.
"If we spend money now to prevent the spread of Zika in the U.S., we will save money in the long run by not having to spend on trying to control an outbreak," Clawson said.
All 10 Florida Democratic House members have signed a letter penned by Rep. Gwen Graham, D-Tallahassee, seeking the full $1.9 billion.
"In recent months, it has become evident that we do not have a comprehensive understanding of the Zika virus how it works and what its immediate and long-term health implications are," the letter reads. "As it continues to spread, it is imperative that we make immediate, sustained investments in research that, hopefully, will yield a Zika vaccine, diagnostic method and guide our continued response strategy."
The Zika virus poses the biggest threat to pregnant women or women planning to become pregnant. It has been linked to birth defects, including microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with unusually small heads and incomplete brain development.
Florida is considered especially vulnerable to an outbreak, given its tropical climate; its proximity to Latin America, where the virus is rampant; and the volume of travelers constantly funneling through its airports and seaports.
Last week, Florida Gov. Rick Scott met with lawmakers and Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell in Washington seeking adequate funding to manage the evolving crisis. He also asked for 5,000 Zika preparedness kits that contain mosquito repellent, condoms and mosquito netting.
T. Wayne Gale, executive director of the Lee County Mosquito Control District, said more money will be needed to undertake door-to-door monitoring, treatment and testing for Zika.
"It is difficult to know how much funding will be needed, but most districts are increasing surveillance activities (for Zika-carrying mosquitoes) and this has added some additional expense in personnel and equipment that was not budgeted for," said Gale, who's also the president-elect of the American Mosquito Control Association. "As we move through this summer, we may quickly need to respond in a big way and trying to play catch up will be difficult if funds are not available to do what needs to be done."
Welcome to today's edition of "The Little Guy Gets the Shaft," the show that never ends! Unfortunately.
Let's meet Ralph Brescia and Deanna Thau, a Stuart couple who back in February started experiencing weird electrical issues.
Lights in certain parts of their home wouldn't come on. The refrigerator made an odd humming noise and eventually stopped working altogether. Sometimes the air conditioning kicked on, sometimes it didn't. And the garage door opener? Kaputt.
Time to call Florida Power & Light Co.
FPL came out and determined the problem was an underground power line that was intermittently sending less than half the required voltage to the house. It took several weeks before the problem was fixed for good, and during that time, several of the couple's appliances got fried. A circuit board in the kitchen refrigerator was damaged. The garage door opener, water heater and a plasma TV all had to be replaced.
All told, Brescia and Thau figured they were out nearly $3,000. And they just naturally assumed FPL would be on the hook for the cost.
They assumed wrong.
"FPL strives to provide our customers with reliable service," wrote an FPL claims specialist in an April letter to the homeowners. However, he continued, "we cannot guarantee continuous service 100 percent of the time to our customers."
And he included a copy of FPL's electric tariff, the written rules that define the relationship between a utility and its customers, filed with the state Public Service Commission. That tariff contains language indemnifying the company from all liability, lawsuits, damages or injuries related to the transmission and use of electricity.
In other words: This is your problem, pal.
And since the Public Service Commission doesn't have the authority to override the tariff and force the utility to reimburse a customer for losses, that looked to be that.
Brescia and Thau were livid and wrote FPL to complain to no avail, at least so far.
I called FPL to ask: Really? How is a customer supposed to know if an underground cable has gone bad? They're really just up the creek if this happens?
Well, maybe I didn't word it exactly like that.
Company spokesman Christopher McGrath said the company takes all claims very seriously but, because of the fact mechanical equipment can fail for a variety of reasons and FPL can't guarantee 100 percent uninterrupted service, the PSC has adopted rules that exempt the company from liability for certain damages.
McGrath explained that damage to FPL's facilities can occur due to vehicle accidents, construction dig-ins, weather events and other causes. He declined to discuss specifics of Brescia and Thau's case, citing the company's customer privacy policy.
Apparently this isn't the first time a situation like this has been in the news.
In 2012, the Palm Beach Post wrote about a Lake Worth homeowner whose appliances were damaged by a power surge and who demanded FPL pay the $9,916 tab; FPL, according to the report, offered $7,300, but that wasn't enough for the homeowner.
In that case, FPL said privacy policies prohibited it from commenting on specific customer issues.
In a letter to the Lake Worth homeowner, a PSC official explained tariffs "protect the company from excessive insurance costs, keeping electric rates reasonable. Without these provisions, insurance costs to the company would be passed on to the consumer, making electric rates prohibitively expensive."
The good of the all, I guess, trumps the good of the individual.
So: end of story, right? Well, maybe not.
The homeowners "certainly have a right to pursue a private cause of action," said Florida Public Counsel J.R. Kelly, who serves as the state's utility consumer advocate. He doesn't handle individual complaints the PSC is the agency for that but Kelly said he knows of private lawsuits that have been filed against utilities "where people have gotten power surges and it's fried certain appliances. And some have recovered," he said.
Brescia said he's spoken with an attorney, but he's not eager to sue: "It's costly and the outcome is seldom a certainty," he said.
And you'd like to think he wouldn't have to go that route. Because, look, I get the PSC's point; if a utility is on the hook for damages every time something like this happens, that utility takes a hit to the bottom line; and so, ultimately, do customers.
But why shouldn't there at least be cost sharing in cases like these? Short of that, what the tariff says could be boiled down to this:
"Sure, you had no idea that cable went bad, given that it's buried in the ground and everything. But life isn't fair.
"You're a valued customer. But not that valued."
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in his office at Trump Tower Tuesday in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
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By Carl Hiaasen
Dear Commissioner,
As you know, our client is dying to share his tax returns with American voters before the upcoming presidential election. However, he has prudently chosen to wait until your agency has completed its unfair audit of his Form 1040 filings.
Mr. Donald Trump is offended and outraged that your inspectors have questioned several business expenses that he listed under Part V of Schedule C. We will address each of these disputed issues forthwith:
1. "Miscellaneous Hair Harvesting Fees $767,000."
Mr. Trump's unique mane has become a key visual emblem of his business brand. All costs associated with the maintenance and enhancement of his hair should be deductible.
The silky orange strands on Mr. Trump's head come from the armpits of Pongo pygmaeus, an orangutan found only in the rain forests of Borneo. Authorities there are protective of these rare animals, and have imposed upon Mr. Trump a fee of $1,000 for each harvested hair.
Mr. Trump asserts that this is a legitimate business expense, and it should not be challenged by the IRS.
2. "Orangutan Pacification Program $315,400."
Borneo's orangutans are mostly peaceful creatures, but when provoked they are capable of attacking human intruders. Therefore, removing armpit hairs from an adult specimen can be both challenging and dangerous.
When Mr. Trump heard that orangutans can be soothed by classical music, he immediately arranged to fly a string quartet from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra to the jungle of Borneo.
There the musicians performed Schubert's famous No. 14 in D minor, also known as "Death and the Maiden," which soon caused the orangutans to fall into a deep sleep. During that time, extraction experts hired by Mr. Trump successfully removed approximately 767 hairs from several adult male and female orangutans.
The high cost of this project was borne entirely by Mr. Trump. He used his personal aircraft to transport the string quartet to Indonesia and paid full union-scale wages for the musicians' performance. He also reimbursed them for their malaria shots.
Because no other species of wild primate produces the unusual gossamer hair compatible with Mr. Trump's image, we contend that the Borneo trip was a legitimate and necessary business expense under the current tax rules.
3. "Replace Damaged Viola (and bow) $6,223."
Through no fault of Mr. Trump, one of the juvenile orangutans awakened near the end of the quartet's performance and went after the viola player. The man escaped unharmed, but his expensive instrument was seized from him and reduced to splinters by the testy young ape.
Mr. Trump considers this loss to be a deductible expense, no different from replacing a tire that blows out on one of his jets.
4. "Solarium Upgrade at Trump Tower $178,655."
Because Borneo's equatorial climate is much warmer and humid than that of midtown Manhattan, Mr. Trump hired a contractor to enlarge and upgrade the solarium and tanning salon in his penthouse.
Without such improvements, which include an orchid-scented humidifier, the orangutan hairs obtained and curated by Mr. Trump would eventually lose their texture, sheen and special ginger hue.
In time, the strands would become brittle and break free from the thermoplastic micro-staples attaching them to Mr. Trump's scalp. Clearly, the solarium modifications are essential for Mr. Trump to maintain his current appearance, and the growth of his brand.
5. "Personal Grooming Assistance $322,399."
As one of the most photographed figures in the world, Mr. Trump is puzzled by your agency's failure to understand his need for a staff to assist with his daily grooming.
Many movie stars and TV celebrities less important than Mr. Trump employ teams of such assistants. They might not be paid as highly as Mr. Trump's, but we would argue that the fees paid to his stylists are reasonable considering the challenges they face.
Mr. Trump can't just walk into a Supercuts for a quick trim. It requires specialized skills to painstakingly comb, layer and shape 767 delicate hairs and to keep them flawlessly in place for scores of TV interviews and town-hall gatherings. The stylists who work on Mr. Trump earn every penny he pays them, and the IRS has no cause to disallow these expenses on his tax returns.
He is looking forward to a timely completion of your audit, and would hugely appreciate it if you didn't leak the part about the Borneo trip to any reporters.
Carl Hiaasen is a columnist for the Miami Herald. Readers may write to him at: The Miami Herald, 3511 N.W. 91 Avenue, Doral, Fla. 33172; email: chiaasen@miamiherald.com.
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By Scott Maxwell
If the nation's mortgage meltdown had a face, it would be Florida's.
Thanks to a toxic combination of arrogant and unscrupulous lenders and irresponsible and overambitious homebuyers, the Sunshine State became the epicenter of the housing collapse.
The problem was so severe that the federal government intervened. The banks got trillions. Struggling homeowners were given a pittance by comparison.
Still, the help to those facing foreclosure worked well in many of the hardest-hit states.
Not as well, though, in Florida.
Why? Because Florida officials didn't want it to work.
First, Florida granted help to a lower percentage of struggling homeowners than any other state in America. The state was blistered by the feds who found that, at one point, Florida officials had distributed less than half of the money available.
It would be like if a train derailed and the feds sent down 200 First Aid kits. Gov. Rick Scott's administration decided to leave 100 of them in the shipping container ... just because he didn't like the sender.
But now, Florida has doubled down on indifference.
As the Orlando Sentinel's Mary Shanklin reported Sunday, Florida isn't just being stingy with money, it is now basically rejecting it, refusing to apply for as much as $250 million additional funds earmarked for distressed homes in Florida.
So the banks got their $17 trillion bailout. But when less than one-half of 1 percent of that amount around $8 billion was set aside in the Hardest Hit Fund for citizens, Florida officials obstructed.
That's not just bad for the families involved, it's bad for the state's entire economy as well as the neighborhoods plagued by empty, foreclosed homes.
I was never a big fan of merely giving money to cover bad mortgage payments families could never afford in the first place. That's why some states effectively used their "Hardest Hit" funds to work with banks to reduce principals and payments by restructuring mortgages that were too inflated or overvalued in the first place. Reducing permanent payments that's the formula for long-term success and stability.
So why didn't Scott's appointees on the Florida Housing Finance Corp. focus as effectively on this?
Probably for the same reason his appointees to environmental boards don't protect the environment and his appointees to water-quality boards don't effectively protect water because these "citizen representatives" represent anything but.
I endeavored to ask the members of this housing board many construction and development execs why they refused the most recent round of money meant to help the homeowners they are supposed to serve.
I tracked down most of their personal emails (the state doesn't provide them). And I sent an email to a staffer, who vowed to pass along my simple question:
"Florida took a pass on $250 million in federal aid meant for Floridians struggling with foreclosures. I was wondering why. Why you and your fellow FHFC board members thought this was a smart decision, financially and/or morally?"
Out of eight members, zero responded. They seem to thrive in their anonymity and lack of accountability.
For that reason, here are the names and positions of the eight members of this board:
Chairman Bernard "Barney" Smith, president of "The Smith & Young development company in Jacksonville; vice chairman Natacha Munilla, a commercial building rep from Miami; Len Tylka, a homebuilder from West Palm Beach; Ray Dubuque, a former AT&T executive from Panama City; Renier Diaz de la Portilla, a former legislator from Miami; Brian Katz, an investment fund manager from Tampa; John David Hawthorne, leader of the Habitat for Humanity in Highlands County; and Howard Wheeler, a construction exec from Fort Myers.
I'm not deluded enough to think this board will change its ways and do the right thing by struggling homeowners in this state as leaders in other states, both Republican and Democratic, have done.
But you at least deserve to know who they are. And what they did and didn't do.
Scott Maxwell is a columnist for the Orlando Sentinel. Email: smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com
(Beijing) - The government has launched a five-month inspection to nab power producers who fraudulently claim subsidies for cutting emissions, the country's top economic planner said.
The National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Environmental Protection jointly issued a directive on May 16 for a nationwide probe on coal-fired power plants from May 20 to the end of October.
It will target utilities that do not use pollutant reduction equipment, but continued to receive government payments, the two agencies said.
Subsidy fraud was rampant, some industry analysts said, because many firms left the expensive equipment idle to cut costs.
Inspectors are also looking for firms that have tampered their real-time pollutant monitoring systems to falsify emissions data to qualify for the payment scheme.
The green subsidy, introduced in April 2014, is part of Beijing's efforts to battle the environmental consequences of decades of unchecked growth that has turned the country into the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
Under the scheme, power plants that have installed equipment to cut pollutants such as sulphur dioxide and dust can claim 4.5 yuan per 100 kilowatts of electricity produced within the allowed emissions limits.
Producers that fail to meet emissions targets must return the subsidy and are subjected to heavy penalties. For example, if a power producer emits twice the amount of pollutants permitted, the fine is five times the subsidy received during the period the violation occurred.
The central government doled out more than 94 billion yuan in subsidies for greening up the power sector in the past two years, China Electricity Council, a government-backed industry association, said.
Data from Wind Info, a financial market research company in Shanghai, show that 42 listed coal-fired plants got three billion yuan in subsidies over the past two years.
State-owned Huaneng Power International Inc. alone pocketed 800 million yuan from the scheme during the period and that accounted for 6 percent of profit it made in 2015, data from Wind Info showed.
Ten companies, including some controlled by China Guodian Corporation and China Huadian Corporation, two of the largest state-owned power producers in the country, were fined 519 million yuan for violating subsidy rules in July 2014, the Economic Information Daily reported.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection named and shamed 17 utilities firms that were caught operating while the pollutant controlling facilities were switched off during an inspection last year.
(Rewritten by Li Rongde)
Press-Journal, May 17, 1956 A squad of Jaycees start ground breaking on the new Bethel Creek City Park. From (l-r): Carl Pease, Hugh Baker, Fred Fair, Hugh Corrigan, Ed Schlitt, Frank Schlitt, Bob Cavender, Joe Ingalis, Buck Hart (incoming Jaycee president), and George Loy.
SHARE Press-Journal, May 19, 1966
Compiled By Cindy Schwarz
90 YEARS AGO: 1926
'Maine' wood inlaid
VERO BEACHW. S. Cox's black walnut library table with an inlaid top is on exhibition at the Alfred H. Wagg Company. It took Cox nearly 900 hours to hand make the table, which features a black walnut body and inlaid top, using several varieties of hardwood including four pieces of boxwood that were obtained from wood from the battleship Maine. Other wood includes ebony pieces from piano keys salvaged from a piano carried into the Mississippi River in the flood of 1896.
80 YEARS AGO: 1936
Free juice oranges
VERO BEACHA. B. Michael, of Wabasso's American Fruit Growers Inc., has supplied a great number of oranges to be put into cold storage at Vero Beach and Fort Pierce. Eastern Air Lines' Vero Beach station is the only one nationwide to supply free fresh-squeezed juice to all airline passengers.
70 YEARS AGO: 1946
Typhus warning
INDIAN RIVER COUNTYMrs. Alice Helleso, county nurse, warns all county residents to take every precaution against the outbreak of typhus. Infected fleas on rats carry the typhus germs and people bitten by these fleas can develop the disease. Helleso confirms one county death due to typhus and two active cases in Vero Beach.
60 YEARS AGO: 1956
Prayer room as gift
VERO BEACHThe United Church Women of Vero Beach have attained their dream of a Prayer Room at Indian River Memorial Hospital. The $850 cost was secured through numerous donations from local businesses and a $120 Easter Sunrise Service contribution. Additional funds were raised thanks to Dr. P. T. McClellan, who requested contributions to the Prayer Room, in lieu of flowers for his funeral. For the altar, Waldo Sexton gave Cedar of Lebanon wood from a tree that grew where the new St. Helen Church stands. The Jewish symbols and Catholic symbol were given by friends.
50 YEARS AGO: 1966
Arsonist's bond
INDIAN RIVER COUNTYA $10,000 bond was set for Leon J. Pomianek, of Fort Pierce, for the preliminary hearing on first-degree arson in the April 1 fire at the home of Robert R. Holmes, 4606 Sunset Drive. Pomianek was employed in Holmes' office at Piper Aircraft and was disgruntled after a reprimanding by Holmes, plant manager.
Damage to the home is estimated in excess of $35,000. Pomianek was treated for burns at Fort Pierce Memorial Hospital, said police.
30 YEARS AGO: 1986
Donor effort
VERO BEACHPaul and Ellen Girard lost their 9-month-old nephew, Alex Kevin Girard, in an operation at Boston Children's Hospital that had been postponed until a donor could be located. Alex's liver was rapidly deteriorating and a life-saving surgical attempt was made. Dr. Hardy Hendren, chief of surgery at the Boston hospital, called the operation "a desperate attempt under almost impossible circumstances." The Vero Beach couple has established a foundation in Alex's name that they hope will raise public consciousness about organ donor needs.
10 YEARS AGO: 2006
Ducklings!
VERO BEACHSue Frederickson's Citrus Elementary second-graders are duck sitting. The mallard ducklings began as eggs that Frederickson brought to class. Students have helped incubate the eggs. "We had to turn them over twice a day. If we didn't turn them, they wouldn't hatch," said Tyler MacSweeney, 8. The egg-turning simulated the mother duck's nesting action, explained Frederickson.
SHARE Photos by Mary Ann Koenig Ashley Pretorius is in training with the Public Defender's Office Intern Investigator program. Diamond Litty, public defender for the 19th Circuit, including Indian River, Martin, St. Lucie and Okeechobee counties.
By Mary Ann Koenig, The Newsweekly
As an investigator intern working with the Indian River County Public Defender's office, Ashley Pretorius regularly meets with inmates at the county jail.
The program she's enrolled in is so successful that it's been in place for two decades. It is also unique in the state of Florida, and offers the major benefits of reducing expenses while providing successful, community job-training.
The Public Defender's Office represents people in court who can't afford an attorney. Diamond Litty has been the 19th Circuit elected public defender for the past 23 years. Her responsibilities also cover Martin, St. Lucie and Okeechobee counties.
The intern program came into effect during Litty's tenure the brainchild of Brandon Perron, a board certified criminal defense investigator. It's a tuition-exchange program, entailing classroom and fieldwork. Interns' hours are credited toward state licensing requirements.
Litty's four-county Public Defender's Office has nearly 100 employees, including 37 lawyers who handle approximately 22,000 cases.
The running costs are steep. But using intern investigators, Litty estimates, "has saved taxpayers millions of dollars over the years."
Casework
When she was first elected public defender, Litty was concerned that the office's budget barely covered costs. Then Perron contacted her.
"He said he had a 'heck of a notion' that I should consider," Litty says.
The intern program has been in place ever since.
During their training, interns like Pretorius attend classes that include crime documentation, defendant interviews, case and witness statement analysis, how to read a police report, and other investigative techniques. Then they take on casework for attorneys of the Public Defender's Office.
Pretorius, who has lived in Vero since she was 5 years old says, "I absolutely love it. I'm going to be sad when it ends."
The 32-year-old single mother of three enrolled in October 2015. She is focused on becoming a professional criminal investigator.
She puts in three days a week, sometimes working five cases at a time, while holding down two other jobs including working nights at a Walgreens pharmacy.
She will handle from 30 to 50 cases throughout the course, anywhere within the four-county jurisdiction.
Face time
The Public Defender's Office gets a case when an inmate is verified as being of indigent status. The interns are the first to meet with inmates who have been processed.
Some of the interns' challenges include creating a detailed report for the attorneys, which includes analysis and a timeline of the facts in the case.
Meeting inmates at the county jail, Pretorius says, "can be nerve wracking at first. But I was really okay with doing it. When you go in there, there's not a lot of chaos in the jail. It is very well organized. And you want them to be comfortable, and to tell me what I need to know to help them."
Interns are bound by many of the same privacy laws as attorneys.
The next step is to see if the inmate can make bail. The intern investigators' research and reports help speed up the justice process.
Just the facts
Pretorius's cases range from DUI and battery to first-degree murder. Her fieldwork can bring her to some uncomfortable places, like knocking on a stranger's door.
The interns are issued an official credential, which must be presented to witnesses. But even that doesn't erase the unpredictability factor.
"I've had people cuss at me and slam the door in my face. You don't know what lies behind that door," she says.
She's tracked down participants in a bar-fight, surveyed locations of DUI arrests, and been called as a witness to testify on the stand.
From dealing with such a variety of cases, Pretorius has come to understand the power of perception. A small woman with long blonde hair and a prominent tattoo down her left arm, she believes that the inmates need to know she's impartial and is only there for the truth.
"I don't judge," she insists. "I have a nose ring and tattoos, so I know what it's like to get two different reactions from putting on and taking off my (sleeves)."
Role models
The intern investigator course requires a minimum of 300 hours to graduate. Most interns continue with advanced classes in a variety of disciplines, including forensics, homicide and surveillance, each leading to its own certificate.
Perron and his wife Amy run the program and put two groups at a time through training. They graduate approximately 15 interns each session.
According to Pretorius, "Brandon is someone I really look up to. If you want to succeed, this is the guy to learn from."
Amy Perron began as an intern 2001 and is now chief investigator for the Public Defender's Office, working out of the Fort Pierce. She and Perron were married in 2010.
Pretorius says she has received a lot of support at home from her parents, who help look after her children. She's out the door after breakfast and often doesn't return home until 10:00.
"Everybody's working hard so I can succeed at this," she says. "I've been given the ball and I'm running as hard as I can."
World-renowned director and theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavsky famously said: There are no small parts, only small actors. People often use this to condescend their friends when they get cast as Gang Member or Townsperson #3 in their school productions. Hilarious as this is, I want to talk seriously about the importance and value of the often overlooked performers who make up the indispensable ensembles of so many shows, and why performing in an ensemble is an opportunity as exciting as any other.
The role of the ensemble has developed throughout history, originating from the ancient theatrical function of the Greek chorus. This was a group of tens of performers who would appear on stage to comment on the dramatic action, variously dancing, singing, or speaking. They traditionally served as a visual representation of the intended audience reaction, aiding the publics contemplation of the story and filling plot holes for anyone who was a bit slow at picking up on tricky narrative twists. However, as dialogue and characterisation of principal characters increased, the Greek chorus diminished in usage and significance. It was only opera in the last few centuries that brought the chorus back into the foreground of theatre or rather the background. The 20th century saw the chorus turn into emotionless choirs or faceless kick lines in Broadway musicals (brilliantly subverted in A Chorus Line) and obscure physical masses in experimental plays. It must have been difficult for these hardworking actors to believe the uplifting words of Stanislavsky.
But, thankfully, modern playwrights and composers have rediscovered the potential theatrical power of an ensemble and, if used correctly, a chorus can be one of the most effective aspects of a show. Some actors have even managed to make entire careers out of life in the ensemble; an example of this is Lisa Gajda who has famously appeared in the ensemble of 18 Broadway shows, willingly never breaking out to take on a lead role. She is also a six-time winner of the Gypsy Robe, an honour that Actors Equity typically bestows on the ensemble member with the most Broadway credits before opening night. (It is a real robe, bearing an artefact from each Broadway show to have a recent honoree.) In the Cambridge theatre sphere, the Gypsy Robe would undoubtedly go to Olivia Gaunt who has managed to make a name for herself in ADC theatre world, only appearing in ensemble roles until this term, a real example of how you truly can shine from the background.
Just as I wrote in the first column of this series (An ode to supporting characters), I think it is time people stopped seeing ensemble roles as something to be ashamed of; it is a universal truth that when you watch a show, you pick your favourite person from the chorus to fix your eyes on. They stick out to you in the first few numbers and you enjoy following them and rooting for them through the show, making them form an equally important part of your theatre experience as the big roles, either enhancing comic moments, serving an important dramatic function, or just bringing big scenes to life. It is delightful to notice how ensemble characters often have their own background narratives; they sometimes deliver stand-out lines or moments that make you realise that the standard is just as high for them as it is for the principals. As well as this, some of the most famous moments in theatre are famous precisely because they involve the full ensemble on stage: think of the favourites One Day More from Les Miserables and Seasons of Love from RENT. Also, from a performers point of view, the most enjoyable moments to perform actually tend to be the big group numbers because there is such a tangible, team-driven energy on stage that ignites something totally different inside you compared to the confidence-boosting but high-pressure feeling of performing alone.
If you take anything away from this, let it be that the narratively insignificant roles can be some of the most challenging to play and that the chorus are a fundamental part of the overall work of art you are watching. They deserve as much of a standing ovation as the stars. And so Ill end with something Aristotle said in the days of the people who invented the ensemble: "The chorus too should be regarded as one of the actors; it should be an integral part of the whole, and share in the action".
The organisation Conservators of the River Cam have warned that Cambridge is facing a worrying further increase in the number of swans in Cambridge, in what has already been dubbed a swanvasion.
The organisations river manager Jed Ramsay warned that the city could be plagued with as many as 108 swans, between five and ten times as many as normal, as tourists entice them into the city centre with bread, and urged tourists not to feed the birds. The RSPB advises that aquatic birds should not be given bread, as it can cause angel wing syndrome in the birds and algal blooms in the water, and attract disease-carrying vermin to the waterside. Wheat grains and lettuce are considered more beneficial for swans.
Fears have been raised that the swans will disrupt forthcoming rowing event the Bumps. There are signs that swan-Cantabrigian relations have already soured, with one swan perpetrating two attacks near Baits Bite lock. Conservators have reassured the public that they are keeping an eye on that particular swan, and plan to corral swans into a side channel during the Bumps. Earlier in May, it was announced that Conservators would station a patrol boat on the Cam, partly in response to aggressive swans.
One student at Emmanuel College spoke to TCS of the hazards swans can present to rowing boats. Last term, a swan attacked the blade of one of her oars, an incident which nearly led to its inadvertent decapitation. Swans also fly low over the river and alight immediately behind boats, causing momentary panic in the boat which can be dangerous when travelling at speed.
This swanvasion follows a similar episode in September and October of last year in which a number of rowdy swans repeatedly assaulted punts on the Cam. In 2012, one swan earned himself the nickname Mr Asbo after being implicated in 25 reported incidents with vessels.
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amrisharm BHPian
Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: siliguri/Darj Posts: 516 Thanked: 327 Times
Details! Shorter New Route to Kathmandu, Nepal
The route can be found on Google maps as well. If you type Destination Kathmandu from anywhere in East Nepal, Google recommends this New route.
A more detailed map of Nepal:
(Map of Nepal. Click to enlarge. Map source:
1) The RED Route is the new road to Kathmandu. Known as the B.P Highway, named after Nepal's first Prime Minister. The road was constructed in collaboration with the Kingdom of Japan. The Highway starts from a town called Bardibas on the East-West Highway(Nepal) and heads north from this town.
From Kakarbhitta to Bardibas is approximately 260kms. It takes about 5 hours. We left the border (Kakarbhitta) at 7am and reached Bardibas at 12 noon, just in time for lunch. From Bardibas, its a right turn onto the B.P Highway. Since its a new highway, there aren't any good places to stop for food. So its better to have your food anywhere along the East-West highway. We had our lunch at Bardibs while going and while coming from Kathmandu on this trip.
After turning right on to the B.P Highway, the road for the first 40-50kms is fast flowing with a bit of elevation, then after that for the next 100kms its relatively steep (not extremely) and winding. But its wide enough for two vehicles to pass. Large Trucks and buses cannot and do not use this road, only medium size transport vehicles.
=430 Kms: Total distance from Kakarbhitta to Kathmandu via B.P Highway.
=170kms: Distance of the actual B.P Highway (Bardibas to Kathmandu)
=9.5-10.5 hrs: Total travel time.
My Journey Stats:
Vehicle: Hyundai Santro Xing 2010.
Odo reading: 27,000kms
No. of Travellers: 2
Start Time: 6 AM from Siliguri
Finish Time: 5pm at Kathmandu
Total distance: approx 450kms
Fuel average with 50% A/C and 80-90kms top speed: 18.80 km/litre (24 litres used)
We had heard rumors about Petrol shortages in Kathmandu so we used our A/C very sparingly. It turned out to be just rumors. But situation can change anytime in Kathmandu regarding the availibility of fuel.
2) The Yellow+Red road Route. Well this is the old route. This is also the route used by all heavy vehicles. You can find details of this route in my other travelogue that I wrote 5 years ago.
=600 Kms approx: Total distance from Kakarbhitta to Kathmandu.
=15-16 hrs: Total travel time.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ndu-nepal.html
2) The Green+Yellow+Red road Route. This is another route that can be taken. It follows the main East-West Highway till Hetauda and then heads north instead of heading west. This route is supposed to be quite narrow and quite steep.
=500kms approx: Total distance from Kakarbhitta to Kathmandu
=13-14 hrs: Total travel time. Hi guys, I just came back from a quick road trip from Siliguri (W.B) to Kathmandu (Nepal) via a new route which was officially opened a few months ago. This new route is not only shorter, but also much more beautiful and scenic. And since it is a fairly new road, the surface is very good and its got very little traffic. This is a very significant road for all travellers. Not only does it cut travel time by 4-5 hours, but now it is possible to easily travel to Kathmandu from East Nepal in one single day without an overnight stop. The travel time via the old route would have been approx 14.5-16 hrs. With this new route, its approx 9.5-10.5 hrs.The route can be found on Google maps as well. If you type Destination Kathmandu from anywhere in East Nepal, Google recommends this New route.A more detailed map of Nepal:(Map of Nepal. Click to enlarge. Map source: http://www.ezilon.com/maps/asia/nepal-road-maps.html 1) TheRoute is the new road to Kathmandu. Known as the B.P Highway, named after Nepal's first Prime Minister. The road was constructed in collaboration with the Kingdom of Japan. The Highway starts from a town calledon the East-West Highway(Nepal) and heads north from this town.From Kakarbhitta to Bardibas is approximately 260kms. It takes about 5 hours. We left the border (Kakarbhitta) at 7am and reached Bardibas at 12 noon, just in time for lunch. From Bardibas, its a right turn onto the B.P Highway. Since its a new highway, there aren't any good places to stop for food. So its better to have your food anywhere along the East-West highway. We had our lunch at Bardibs while going and while coming from Kathmandu on this trip.After turning right on to the B.P Highway, the road for the first 40-50kms is fast flowing with a bit of elevation, then after that for the next 100kms its relatively steep (not extremely) and winding. But its wide enough for two vehicles to pass. Large Trucks and buses cannot and do not use this road, only medium size transport vehicles.=430 Kms: Total distance from Kakarbhitta to Kathmandu via B.P Highway.=170kms: Distance of the actual B.P Highway (Bardibas to Kathmandu)=9.5-10.5 hrs: Total travel time.Vehicle: Hyundai Santro Xing 2010.Odo reading: 27,000kmsNo. of Travellers: 2Start Time: 6 AM from SiliguriFinish Time: 5pm at KathmanduTotal distance: approx 450kmsFuel average with 50% A/C and 80-90kms top speed: 18.80 km/litre (24 litres used)We had heard rumors about Petrol shortages in Kathmandu so we used our A/C very sparingly. It turned out to be just rumors. But situation can change anytime in Kathmandu regarding the availibility of fuel.2) TheRoute. Well this is the old route. This is also the route used by all heavy vehicles. You can find details of this route in my other travelogue that I wrote 5 years ago.=600 Kms approx: Total distance from Kakarbhitta to Kathmandu.=15-16 hrs: Total travel time.2) TheRoute. This is another route that can be taken. It follows the main East-West Highway till Hetauda and then heads north instead of heading west. This route is supposed to be quite narrow and quite steep.=500kms approx: Total distance from Kakarbhitta to Kathmandu=13-14 hrs: Total travel time. Last edited by amrisharm : 16th May 2016 at 15:06 .
Medicare started off the year putting into action a program to encourage more doctors to discuss end-of-life and advance care plans with patients. While the details tend to focus on the hard choices on the far side of those arrangements, new and near-future technologies could preserve lifes simple pleasures on their front end.
End-of-life conversations are meant to cover more than the final days or weeks when many, or even all, of an individuals needs have to be fulfilled by others, often in an institutional setting.
Theres a growing movement to include in those discussions options for the elderly and infirm to age in place. For those looking to spend as much time as possible in their familiar home surroundings, technology has been playing an increasingly important role.
For example, tech tools can preserve familial bonds remotely, while ensuring that specialized care is a call or click away.
For those who are open to considering them, new technologies can be a critical component of end-of-life discussions, suggested Perry Price, CEO of Revation Systems.
Including these ideas into end-of-life conversations is critical for understanding the desires of a loved one, he told TechNewsWorld. It is important to know the preferences of how they want their assets or living environments to be either prolonged or changed.
Maintaining Connections
Living environments can play an important role not only in an individuals sense of comfort and well being, but also in life expectancy.
Social isolation can have an adverse impact on health, for example, and it has been associated with an increased likelihood of premature death, noted Jeff Krueger, CEO of Safe Homecare.
Thus, while technology provides very important tools to support the care needs of the aging baby boomer population, all stakeholders who are impacted the senior and the support family are well served by an integrated care plan availing the senior of technology advances and, critically, personal one-on-one interactive caregiver resources, he told TechNewsWorld.
Support Groups
While senior citizens may long for simpler times, many of them arent letting nostalgia be a roadblock to the information super highway and all of the smart things connected to it.
About 85 percent of respondents aged 50 years and older said in a recent Bask survey that technology was helping them live in their homes longer than they otherwise might be able to.
The vast majority of seniors and boomers in their homes people over 50 are using technology to stay connected to their families, Bask CEO Jim Dunn told TechNewsWorld.
Technology was credited with helping about 68 percent of senior survey participants stay in contact with family members they werent able to visit in person, the company found.
So we looked at some different technologies, Dunn said. One of the fastest-growing trends for the 50-plus group is the adoption of mobile, smart mobile.
With regular operating system upgrades and the changes they bring, the adoption of mobile devices has introduced it own set of anxieties and frustrations for seniors. About 81 percent of the Bask surveys respondents indicated that they would use technology more often if they had someone to assist them.
Microsoft this week announced that SQL Server 2016 will be generally available June 1.
It will deliver an end-to-end data management and business analytics solution with mission-critical intelligence, according to the company.
Built into the software are end-to-end mobile business intelligence on any device, in-database advanced analytics, in-memory capabilities optimized for all workloads, and a consistent experience from on-premises to the cloud, Microsoft said.
The announcement suggests Microsoft is taking into consideration the needs of enterprise customers, said Fernando Cruz, an analyst at Nucleus Research.
This is reflected in the investments it has made to reinvigorate Microsoft SharePoint, he told TechNewsWorld.
Microsoft will offer three versions of SQL Server 2016: Enterprise, Standard and Express. The company in March offered a Developer edition as a free download.
Unified Experience
The package will let users scale performance with cost efficiency, suggested Anne Moxie, a senior analyst at Nucleus Research. They wont have to invest as heavily in infrastructure to achieve computing capabilities that will be able to accommodate peaks in use.
Microsoft has been working on unifying its organization across the board, she told TechNewsWorld.
Customers will experience higher ROI from the combination of relational and nonrelational data, [which] makes up the large majority of data available, Moxie said. Using the two together for complete analysis is critical.
Strong Hybrid Solution
SQL Server 2016 will let users host Microsofts Azure cloud locally so it will also run on premises on a local Azure instance, pointed out Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.
This may be one of the strongest hybrid solutions weve seen so far, given the near-identical platforms of public and private Azure, he told TechNewsWorld.
Azure represents a more agile platform than weve seen before, Enderle continued. In a way, it obsolesces the traditional cloud because it potentially extends from on-premises to hosted with virtually no change, so the concept of on-premises versus cloud is obsolete.
Duking It Out With Oracle, Newbies
With SQL Server 2016, Microsoft isnt just targeting its own customer base its also challenging Oracle. In March, it offered free licenses to Oracle customers to make the switch.
However, switchers would have to subscribe to Microsofts Software Assurance program.
The offer is good until June 30 and includes support services to kick-start migration, access to SQL Server Essentials, and free DBA training.
Given the importance of the sales generated by Microsofts server group to the company as a whole, getting existing clients to upgrade is a critical issue, pointed out Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.
Microsoft also wants to aggressively grow that business, and Oracle customers constitute the largest pool of potential new clients, he told TechNewsWorld Controversies about Oracles pricing model and policies could result in a great deal of interest in Microsofts offer.
Further, theres growing interest in alternative open source database solutions running on industry-standard x86 hardware, and Microsoft likely will position SQL Server 2016 to strengthen its hand against those upstart offerings, King surmised.
Pricing and Other Issues
Microsoft announced that it will charge for SQL Server 2016 on a per-core basis rather than per processor, and that has raised some hackles.
However, this is similar to Oracles pricing and represents an industry trend. The old pricing forced decisions that favored high core counts in single processors, which often hurt performance and increased thermal management issues, Enderle said.
The Linux support and hybrid advantages should let [SQL Server 2016] stand out, and the pricing changes should focus buyers back on performance, where it should be, and off gaming prices with processor architectures, he suggested.
Linux support for SQL Server 2016 will be available mid-2017.
Charter Communications on Wednesday announced it has completed its acquisition of Time Warner Cable. Its first order of business, according to spokesperson Alex Dudley, is to do away with the tarnished Time Warner brand.
Time Warner had the worst customer service score in any industry according to an American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) survey from last year. Subscription TV providers Mediacom Communications and Time Warner shared last place with a score of 51 out of a possible 100.
Rather than ditch the name in one fell swoop, Dudley said Charter plans to phase out the Time Warner brand over time. The same is being done with Bright House Networks LLC, which Charter purchased in conjunction with Time Warner for $10.4 billion.
David VanAmburg, ACSI's managing director, said it's not surprising that Charter wants to rebrand Time Warner as it has scored better than Time Warner in recent years. It won't be a cakewalk, however, as VanAmburg said data suggests leaps-and-bounds improvement could be difficult.
Charter received a score of 63 in last year's ACSI survey. For comparison, rival Comcast received scores of just 56 and 54 for its Internet and pay TV services, respectively.
As a result of the acquisition, Charter is now the nation's second largest broadband Internet provider behind Comcast and the third largest pay TV distributor behind AT&T and Comcast.
Charter first revealed intentions to purchase Time Warner nearly a year ago to the day in a deal valued at $55 billion. The announcement came shortly after Comcast dropped its proposed $45 billion merger with Time Warner due to regulator pushback. The failed merger ultimately cost the two companies more than half a billion dollars.
Medical scientists in Australia have discovered that the use of antidepressants in the country has doubled over the past decade and a half despite evidence suggesting that these medications are not as effective as they were once thought to be.
In a study featured in the Medical Journal of Australia, researchers at the Orygen, National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health examined data from various studies including those of previously unpublished drug trials conducted by pharma companies in different parts of the world.
The team found that taking antidepressant medications alone was not able to help as much as 40 percent of patients who needed them. This was particularly seen among young people who were given the drugs instead of placebo.
About one in every 112 young patients treated with antidepressants had suicidal thoughts and experienced certain behaviors that they wouldn't normally have on the placebo treatment.
"The use of antidepressants has continued to rise despite accumulating evidence that they are not as effective as was previously thought," the authors of the study said.
The researchers underscored how the pharmaceutical industry was able to influence findings on the effect sizes of antidepressants. This was done in part by publishing only positive drug trial results as well as by substituting unclear findings with more positive ones.
The discovery of such practices is what the authors of the study believe helped tarnished the reputation of antidepressant drugs and even the pharma companies that produce and market them.
The recent study suggests that drop in the efficacy of antidepressants is likely caused by an increase in the rate of placebo response, especially among young patients. The number of placebo responding patients has steadily increased over the last two decades even though researchers have yet to clearly understand the nature of such a phenomenon.
Lead author Dr. Christopher Davey pointed out that antidepressants still play an important part in treating people suffering from moderate to severe forms of depression. However, he recommends that these medications should be prescribed to patients as just one part of a treatment plan that includes lifestyle strategies and psychotherapy in order to produce positive outcomes.
Davey explained that they are not recommending that patients should stop taking antidepressant medications, or that such drugs are being prescribed by doctors too much. They wanted to point out that people are using these medications by themselves too often without considering other necessary components to the treatment.
Photo: Steve Snodgrass | Flickr
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Cancer charities in the UK have expressed their concerns over the changes to cancer drug fund.
Specifically, 15 charities said they are seriously worried about the new plans of giving the green light to ingenious cancer drugs for England's NHS.
The groups sent a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron that particularly pointed out how it would be a struggle for drugs to get approval. However, medicines regulator Andrew Dillon from the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) says this is not true. In fact, drug approval would even be more hastened throughout Europe.
Changes Coming Up
The concerns of the charities blossomed from the planned alterations in the Cancer Drugs Fund, which is a specific fund set up for cancer drugs only. At present, this pays for new medicines such as breast cancer drug Kadcyla, which costs 90,000 ($130,368) for each patient. This drug is said to prolong the lives of patients by up to approximately six months.
While the fund was able to serve its purpose and provided benefits, it also faced its own struggles as it was overspent. Specifically, the costs rose from about 200 million ($289 million) in 2011 to approximately 340 million ($492 million) from 2015 to 2016.
Questions Rise
The new funding plans will commence in July. NICE will rate new medicines with a Yes, No or Maybe prior to them being available in the market.
Medicines that will receive a Yes rating will be offered in different NHS facilities. Those that will be given a Maybe rating may still be put under the Cancer Drugs Fund.
Questions arise, however, about the credibility of NICE. According to the letter sent to Cameron, the charities said they are concerned about the lack of modifications suggested to the bigger NICE process of deciding on the fate of cancer drugs.
"We urge you to intervene and commit to a review of the outdated mechanisms used to assess cancer medicines," the letter reads.
For Breast Cancer Now's Baroness Delyth Morgan, her deepest concern is seeing cancer patients missing out on innovative treatments that are available in other nations or in areas near the boundaries of UK. She adds that in the last seven years, NICE has not deemed a single breast cancer medicine cost-effective.
Dillon refutes this and says that since 1999, NICE's process has been regularly reviewed and that it is in fact, more generous than other systems.
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If you wish to score a good deal on an Android smartphone, then this is for you. Amazon is now offering an unlocked version of the Sony Xperia Z5 for only $499.
Originally with a $599 tag, Amazon dropped the price low enough that consumers can now buy the Z5 for the same price as its smaller sibling, the Z5 Compact, making the deal really sweet.
Customers who wish to snag one have three color options to select from, which include gold, black and white.
While Z5 and Z5 Compact were initially unwrapped in September 2015. Initially, these phones were sold through Amazon, Best Buy and NewEgg in unlocked form.
As promised by Sony, these two phones hit the United States market in February, but what landed are the versions without the fingerprint sensor, unlike the variants available in other markets.
The fingerprint sensor is among the great features packed into a some flagship devices today. Through this functionality, customers can unlock their handsets and even pay for products.
In terms of specs, the two smartphones feature Snapdragon 810 processors, 32 GB of storage and 23-megapixel main snappers. Under Z5's hood, one can find a 2,900 mAh battery.
The differences between the two phones are their screen sizes and RAM. Z5 has a 3 GB of RAM, while Z5 Compact has 2 GB. Meanwhile, the former touts a 5.2-inch display and the latter is crammed with a 4.6-inch screen.
What makes the deal even sweeter is that shipping is totally free. However, you may be required to pay taxes depending on where you live.
Those who wish to get hold of this Android smartphone from Sony should head on over to Amazon.
While the phone's specs are already a little less impressive now, considering that other latest flagship devices are already equipped with more advanced features and specs, the phone still has a lot of cool things to offer.
In any case, the $100 discount Amazon is offering to customers is indeed a welcome treat. Do you have a plan to avail of this Sony Xperia Z5 deal?
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A Thai island has become so popular with tourists albeit rather overboard that it will soon be off-limits.
Koh Tachai, part of Thailands Similan National Park, is teeming with snorkelers, divers and people numbering close to 1,000 at a time even if its typical beach could only accommodate about 70 at any given time. Now due to concerns of severe damage and deterioration, it will close indefinitely this fall to ward off the thick crowds.
The beaches, shoreline and famed coral reefs surrounding the island off Phangnga province will be closed to visitors starting Oct. 15, aiming to ease the negative effects of heavy tourism in the area.
The newly announced measure belongs to the main marine resource management plan for the Andaman Sea, according to Tunya Netithammakul, the Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plants Conservations director general.
"We have to close it to allow the rehabilitation of the environment both on the island and in the sea without being disturbed by tourism activities before the damage is beyond repair," the director told Bangkok Post, urging visitors to beware of post-Oct. 15 tours to the island that are still being offered.
While many Thai marine sites actually close from May to October for the monsoon season, Koh Tachai will remain closed indefinitely, a move announced over three months in advance.
Assistant professor Thon Thamrongnawasawat clarified that Koh Tachai is preserved as a primitive zone and not a tourist destination, and mourned that it was already filled with tour boats and food stalls catering to guests.
If its not closed now, well lose Koh Tachai permanently, he warned.
The Thai island is only one among tourist destinations worldwide to be recently restricted or given a chance to recover via a travel ban.
The Greek island Santorini, for instance, announced back in March that it would limit cruise ship visitors to 8,000 a day to reduce congestion. In Italy, the five villages comprising Cinque Terre, too, will start selling limited amounts of tickets to sites for next years tourism season.
Jonathan Tourtellot, writing about how tourism in the Galapagos is backfiring, dubbed tourism a two-edged sword in his piece for the National Geographic last year.
Tourism also brings huge risks, fosters greed, and generates unexpected consequences, he said, calling for permanent stewardship in sensitive destinations, as guided by solid research.
Photo: Curtis Foreman | Flickr
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The state senate of New York released on May 17 its proposals on how to combat the problem of heroin and opioid abuse in the state.
According to officials, the new recommendations were developed by the senate's task force that was charged with studying the increasing number of addiction and overdose cases throughout New York.
State Sen. Rob Ortt, co-chairman of the task force, said the proposals include inputs from law enforcement agencies, physicians, addiction experts as well as victims of drug addiction and their families.
The recommendations underscore the importance of preventing the overuse of prescription medications, educating people on the dangers of drug abuse, making addiction treatments more affordable, expanding treatment options and enforcing tougher penalties for dealers of heroin and other illegal drugs.
Senators hope that they could have the proposals approved within the year.
The state senate has set aside a $166-million budget to fund the fight against heroin and opioid addiction.
A separate heroin and opioid addiction task force created by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is also set to launch its listening tour throughout the state on May 17.
The governor's office said the group will build upon efforts by the Cuomo administration over the past few years to curb the drug addiction epidemic in New York. Its primary goals include enhancing prevention efforts throughout the state, increasing the public's access to treatments and providing better support for addiction victims who are in recovery.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the number of heroin-related deaths in the United States had nearly quadrupled between 2002 and 2013. More than 8,200 people died because of heroin abuse in 2013 alone.
The use of the illegal drug had more than doubled among young American adults between 18 and 25 years old in the previous decade.
Of those who use heroin, about 45 percent have also been found to be addicted to prescription opioid medications.
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A new study suggests that emissions from cars or power plants are not the biggest sources of air pollution. Rather, emissions from farming outweigh these major factors.
Previous studies have found that crop production in farms contributes to the annual carbon dioxide increase in the atmosphere, which is a marker of global warming.
Now, researchers from Columbia University discovered that fumes from fertilizers and animal waste that are rich in nitrogen combine with combustion emissions to create solid particles.
The fine particulate matter then becomes a major source of disease and death on Earth, including respiratory problems and heart disease, the study said.
How Farming Negatively Affects The Atmosphere
Manure and fertilizers release ammonia (NH3) into the air, which is swept downwind of farms.
When that happens, ammonia mingles with pollutants such as nitrogen oxide and sulfate, which are produced by factories and vehicles.
After a series of chemical reactions, ammonia molecules and the molecules of pollutants combine to generate gag-inducing particles that are less than 2.5 microns in diameter. These particles earned the name PM 2.5.
PM 2.5 is dangerous. Past studies have estimated the particulate is responsible for at least 3.3 million premature deaths every year.
In 2015, a study found that PM 2.5 can aggravate rheumatoid arthritis. And just recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that PM 2.5 and other particles create unsafe air for city dwellers.
Regional studies in the United States have revealed that agricultural pollution is a prime source of fine-particulate triggers, but the new study, which looks at broader range, confirms that more than 50 percent of the aerosols in the U.S. come from farming.
There Is Good News
Atmospheric scientist Susanne Bauer, the study's lead author, said the findings do not suggest that using fertilizers is bad.
"There are many places, including Africa, that need more of it," said Bauer.
What's more, the fact that emission from farming combines with other pollutants to produce aerosol is good news.
Most studies say that cleaner and more renewable sources of energy, stricter regulations and vehicles with higher mileage could cut down industrial emission by 2100. If that happens, agricultural emission will be starved of the ingredients it needs to produce aerosols, Bauer said.
The details of the study are published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Photo: Derek Bakken | Flickr
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Apple has previously acknowledged incidents wherein iTunes deleted files stored in the computers of users without permission. Apple added that it was taking the reports seriously, and that it will be releasing an update for iTunes that will include possible fixes to prevent the issue from happening again.
Blogger and freelance composer James Pinkstone first detailed on a blog post how he lost 122 GB worth of his own music from his personal iTunes library as he was using Apple Music.
It looks like it is true that Apple is taking the issue seriously, as a new blog post by Pinkstone revealed that two of the company's senior software engineers visited his house in an attempt to understand the bug that deleted the files.
The Apple engineers, who flew from the company's home base in California to Atlanta, Georgia, were known only as Tom and Ezra. They asked Pinkstone to reactivate his account on Apple Music and go through the iTunes track sync process, which uploads unmatched content into the iCloud so that users can access them through streaming.
A special version of iTunes was used throughout, with the software able to track any problem in the code of iTunes. All the while, Tom and Ezra were talking to a team back in California regarding the next steps and options they could take in sniffing out the problem.
The pair then left but told Pinkstone to use iTunes normally. Tom returned to retrieve the data logs recorded by iTunes, but it is unclear whether the company has found the root cause of the problem, along with a definite solution.
Apple has now released the iTunes 12.4 update, and while most of the attention has been going to the user interface changes that the update introduced, iTunes 12.4 could possibly also contain the safeguards Apple promised against the problem.
Nevertheless, sending two employees flying cross country to take a look at Pinkstone's account is a great move by Apple, and not one that all companies would do for users experiencing technical problems.
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Xiaomi Global Vice President Hugo Barra recently let the media know that his company and Google will join forces at the I/O 2016 event.
Barra, who used to be a high-ranking executive for Google in the past, noted his excitement on Xiaomi joining Google at I/O. In his tweet, he shared the image at left, further touting a new release from Mi at the upcoming event. Xiaomi has the capability to deliver a lot of interesting electronics, but our bets are on an Android TV box.
Beyond thrilled to share that Xiaomi will be a part of Google I/O. A sneak peek of what you'll see from Mi at #io16 pic.twitter.com/GP3HHE3F6c Hugo Barra (@hbarra) May 17, 2016
Even though the "sneak peek" is rather vague, those with keen eyesight can detect a stylized "I/O." However, the concentric circles and volume rocker seem to indicate a media player of sorts.
Looking deeper into the matter, we notice that the circles do align with ones from the Bluetooth Remote manufactured by Xiaomi. The volume buttons also follow suit.
The "Home" button looks identical to the one on the Shield Android TV from Nvidia's own remote, not to mention the semblance to the home button on the Nexus Android TV.
Google opened up Android TV and Nvidia quickly took the opportunity and launched its Shield Android TV. In April this year, Shield TV got an update packing significant performance improvements, mouse navigation and more goodies. Read all about it in our coverage.
Xiaomi already developed the Mi TV Box, a device that plays well with Google's OS.
We know that an Android TV equipped with Nvidia's Tegra K1 can output 4K resolutions easily, so why not something similar from Xiaomi?
Android fans are rightfully curious about the price point of the gadget and speculations are running wild. What can be said right now is that the cost should be reasonable. One of Xiaomi's staples is that it engages in mass building of high-quality products at extremely affordable prices. The recipe works great in China, and the manufacturer could expand it at a global level.
Teaming up with Google might give Xiaomi the necessary edge to bring out a powerful, value-for-buck Android TV.
Are you excited at the possibility of having an alternative to Nvidia's Shield Android TV? Let us know in the comments section below.
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A woman died in Florida after undergoing a Brazilian butt lift procedure. What happened and how the life of the mother-of-two fell to a tragic ending represent the rising death cases associated with cosmetic surgeries.
Heather Meadows, 29, traveled from West Virginia to Hialeah, particularly at Encore Plastic Surgery Clinic, to have a cosmetic surgery that involves extracting fat from the torso and injecting it into the buttocks.
Meadows died on May 12 after being rushed from the clinic to Larkin Community Hospital's Palm Springs campus emergency department.
Medical Results: Fat Embolism Syndrome
Medical investigators reported that complications due to fat transfer may have contributed to the death of Meadows.
The specific complication in focus is fat embolism syndrome, wherein fat particles enter the bloodstream and clog the pathway of blood flow.
Fat embolism syndrome may also occur following a bone fracture or bone surgery, after which the bone marrow is at risk of breaking, thus making it possible for the components to enter the bloodstream.
Fat embolism syndrome is rare, but there have been cases of women in Florida who have died because of the same surgical procedure Meadows had.
Brazilian butt lift started to rise in popularity in 2013, when the rate of people undergoing the procedure increased by 16 percent. During that year, the American Society of Plastic Surgery (ASPS) reported that such surgical cases performed reached almost 10,000.
It was also in 2013 when another case of a woman who suffered from fat embolism syndrome was documented after she had Brazilian butt lift in an Encore-affiliated clinic.
Authorities Speak
The Florida Department of Health is now in the process of investigating the case, reports the Hialeah Police Department. However, health department spokesperson Mara Gambineri cannot release official statements yet as they do not disclose information until after 10 days of potential cause-finding efforts.
"The department is vigilant in its efforts to ensure the public is protected from unsafe or unscrupulous health care practice," she says.
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Android Pay just rolled out to UK, and Google says that more countries are in tow for the service.
Google first dipped into mobile payments with Google Wallet, back in 2011. Android Pay arrived later, making use of near field communication (NFC) to deliver payment information from an Android phone to a contactless terminal.
Apple set the tone for NFC payments by launching Apple Pay in 2014 and sealed the deal with a number of important banks. In September 2015, Google prent company Alphabet rebranded its service to increase its market share. After a long wait, Android Pay is now finally available in the UK.
Android Pay users from the UK need to have a MasterCard or Visa credit or debit card in order to tap into the service. On its official blog, Google published a list of supported financial institutions that play nice with the service. The list will get updated constantly, but important names on it already include M&S Bank, First Direct, Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Nationwide Building Society and MBNA.
One major player that is off the list is Barclays, which said it is not interested in cooperating with Android for its payment app. The bank already has a proprietary contactless payment app for Android. In it, users can make purchases of maximum 30 ($43) by simply tapping their phones. For payments between 30 ($43) and 100 ($145), a tap and the PIN code of the phone will do.
Android Pay has a neat integration feature with Transport for London. This means that you can get tickets for bus, train and tube fares with Android Pay. The nice touch is that when you choose the subway, Android Pay notifies you if it senses that you are leaving the station without tapping out. This is of great help if you want to avoid getting a ticket or to simply save some cash, as the Tube charges you extra if you forget to tap out.
Google promises that Android Pay will bring additional programs to cater to users' needs. One of them is dubbed Android Pay Day and is set to go live for UK only, at least at first. The program will notify users of the service of new deals during the week before pay day.
"Starbucks UK and Deliveroo will be among the first to reward Android Pay users in the UK," Google notes.
The contactless payment service will head to Singapore and Australia next, as Google wants to expand even further.
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Microsoft officially announced that it entered an agreement to sell its feature phone business to FIH Mobile, a Hon Hai/ Foxconn Technology Group, and HMD Global.
News about the deal surfaced a couple of days ago, and it seems that reports were spot on. The deal is worth $350 million and FIH Mobile will also buy Microsoft Mobile Vietnam, which is the company's manufacturing plant located in Hanoi, Vietnam.
According to Microsoft, the deal is still subject to regulatory approval and other conditions, but it's expected to close in the second half of this year.
Under the new agreement, Microsoft will fold virtually all of its feature phone assets, including software, brands and services, customer contracts, care network, critical supply agreements and other assets.
Roughly 4,500 employees "will transfer to, or have the opportunity to join" HMD Global or FIH Mobile once the deal is completed, subject to local law, Microsoft points out.
The company also pledged to keep developing Windows 10 Mobile and continue supporting Lumia smartphones such as the Lumia 650, Lumia 950 and 950 XL, as well as phones from manufacturing partners such as Alcatel, Acer, HP, VAIO and Trinity.
At the same time, while promising continued support, Microsoft makes no mention of any plans to bring additional Lumia handsets to market. This could indicate that Microsoft is preparing to take a step back from the mobile market, but it remains to be seen.
The company is still rumored to be working on a Surface Phone, albeit no official information is available in this regards.
The changes in Microsoft's mobile division were expected for quite some time now, as things weren't really working out. Microsoft bet big on mobile back in 2014, when it acquired Nokia's smartphone business in a $5.4 billion deal, but it never saw much success on this front.
Microsoft still hasn't managed to get a more significant share of the ever-crowded smartphone market, and it's still lagging behind rivals.
It will be interesting to see how things will unfold with this new scheme, but Microsoft's mobile days seem to be numbered. We'll keep you up to date as soon as more details hit the surface, so stay tuned.
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South Carolina has passed a bill on May 17 banning abortion after 19 weeks of pregnancy.
The bill got a 79-29 vote in favor of the final approval of the bill. Following ratification, the bill will be turned over to Gov. Nikki Haley.
What's Next?
As the bill is tasked to be in the hands of Haley, the possibility of it being signed is high. This is because the governor said in March that she would likely give it the green light.
"I can't imagine any scenario in which I wouldn't sign it," she said. However, she said that she would like to see the legislation first before signing.
Following Suit
If given final approval, the said legislation will make South Carolina the 17th state in the United States to have the restriction.
Alyssa Miller from Planned Parenthood South Atlantic says women and their families in those states have been put through highly stressful situations such as having the need to terminate pregnancy due to medical reasons, but were not able to do so.
Exceptions To The Bill
The bill, which was approved by the Senate in March, was first proposed in 2015. This was done after the legislation was freed of exceptions for pregnancies due to rape or incest.
The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Wendy Nanney, R-Greenville, says she believes that life begins when a woman conceives and that every action taken to get back to that point is essential. Ultimately, she thinks that taking away the life of a baby after the 19th week is inhumane, so she hopes that the legislation would lead to abortion getting banned altogether.
Meanwhile, the new legislation does not affect cases wherein the mother's life is at risk - something which Nanney finds OK.
In South Carolina, less than 30 abortions for pregnancies earlier than 20 weeks are performed every year since 1990, according to data from the public health agency records.
The restriction in the new law would only affect hospitals. The state only has three abortion clinics, and none of them perform the procedure for pregnancies beyond 15 weeks.
Doctors who would perform abortions in contrast to what is lawful would face three years' imprisonment and pay a fine amounting to $10,000.
2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Google has urged the South Korean authorities to relax laws pertaining to map data, as the regulations are putting a brake on the development of Google Maps' features in the country.
The company had several discussions with high-ranking officials prior to a closed-door meeting with the nation's government on May 18.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the meeting, which is supervised by President Park Geun-Hye, is supposed to look at proposals to modify existing laws.
Among other things, the new laws should permit drones and autonomous vehicles to roam the country. The government has plans to transform the country into a buzzing tech development field, with increased facilities for the Internet of Things, solar power modules, 3D printing and more.
So far, a lot of these efforts were hindered by laws that prevented the South Korean government from sharing accurate maps.
One reason behind the secrecy is that South Korea is under direct threat from its northern neighbor. South Korea allows map data exports under strict conditions, such as blurring satellite images that contain information about military bases.
"We are in a tense situation with North Korea and thus security is very important," says Koh Young-jin, an official at the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
Google points out that the draconic regulations ironically make Google Maps more reliable in North Korea. This also applies to driving directions.
The South Korean government did promise to provide English-language digital maps to enterprises back in 2013. However, Google underlines that the new data cannot provide enough information to deliver accurate directions.
According to the report, Google is dissatisfied with the advantage that local rivals hold over Google Maps. The app faces direct competition from Daum and Naver, two local Internet companies.
Foreign tech companies that want to expand to South Korea have a tough time doing so because of the existing policy centered on secrecy and national security. Even local ventures, such as Hyundai Motors, have to suffer because of the lack of detailed location-based services.
Joongang Daily mentions [translated] that the carmaker is unable to sell its Sonata sedan in South Korea, as the embedded Android Auto needs to access Google Maps for full functionality.
Meanwhile, Google Maps keeps getting neat updates all around the world. Read about the latest label and sticker customization in the directions app in our coverage.
2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Seven years ago, EvoNexus was a startup for startups.The fledgling tech incubator floated between a couple of mostly empty office buildings, where voices echoed through abandoned cubicles. Off in a corner, it provided a few desks, Internet access and mentoring to a handful of San Diego startups at no charge.Today, the echoes are gone. Since it opened, EvoNexus has given 134 companies a jump-start in its three locations downtown San Diego, University City and Irvine. These firms have raised $297 million in angel and venture capital equity funding.Seventeen have been acquired, pushing the total outcomes for EvoNexus companies money raised plus the amount paid by acquirers to over $1 billion.While there are about two dozen incubators, accelerators and co-working office spaces available to help San Diego startups, EvoNexus has grown into the big dog. As such, it is a key component in the regions efforts to position itself as an alternative to the increasingly congested and expensive Silicon Valley for startup companies.If you compare San Diego to Silicon Valley, there are pieces missing here from the startup ecosystem that you need to put together, said Steve Poizner, former California insurance commissioner and gubernatorial candidate who founded tech companies in Northern California. This is where I think EvoNexus has really taken charge and is driving toward this critical mass that is required.Poizner moved to San Diego about a year ago when his latest venture, education software platform EmpoweredU, was acquired by Qualcomm. He is one of dozens of tech executives who volunteer at EvoNexus.Silicon Valley, where I started three companies, is a wonderful place, he said. Every amazing, brilliant entrepreneur on the planet wants to go to Silicon Valley. But its just completely saturated.Sky high salaries and office rents make it difficult for Bay Area startups, which must compete with Google and Facebook for talented engineers, said Poizner. Gridlock traffic and steep housing costs, where the median price of a Silicon Valley home tops $1 million, have resulted in one-third of Bay Area residents saying they are ready to leave in the next few years, according to recent poll by the Bay Area Council.It would be such a great thing for the state of California and the country if Southern California could create a viable alternative, said Poizner. The environment down here could be equal to or better in so many ways. That is the big picture part of EvoNexus that I find compelling.EvoNexus is the brainchild of Rory Moore, co-founder of Peregrine Semiconductor, and retired Vice Admiral Walter Davis. It has its roots in the San Diego Telecomm Council trade organization, which later became CommNexus.With the 2008 financial collapse, Moore and Davis aimed to help startups navigate the crisis by creating a different type of incubator one with no strings attached for companies selected.Some national incubators demand an equity stake as much as 6 percent ownership in the companies they mentor. Co-working spaces charge membership fees for use of desks and conference rooms.EvoNexus is free, with costs covered by the organizations sponsors such as the Irvine Co., Qualcomm, ViaSat and dozens of others.At first, the organizations board of directors was skeptical that a free incubator could succeed over the long haul, said Moore. But the fact that EvoNexus helps companies at no charge turned out to be one of its strengths.One thing that has really made it work is the fact that we get terrific mentors, and we get terrific (executive) talent to help us select the companies, said Davis. And that all came about because we made it free.Past and current executives from Qualcomm, Provide Commerce, Ericsson, Receptors, HP, Interdigital, ResMed, Verizon, Cisco, ViaSat, ID Analytics, CareFusion, Illumina, Nokia, Broadcom and several other companies volunteer at EvoNexus.Its pro bono, and that is actually brilliant, said Poizner. Good for Rory and the Admiral for figuring that part out, because that is what gets people like me to volunteer their time.Another key milestone for EvoNexus was getting the Irvine Co. San Diegos largest office building owner to donate space starting in 2010.Others landlords were willing to participate, but Moore held out for the long-term business plan of the Irvine Co., which doesnt sell its office properties.The Irvine Co. houses all three EvoNexus incubators, which total 40,400 square feet combined.Doug Holte, president of the Irvine Co., said EvoNexus gave it an avenue to get involved in San Diegos tech scene not only with young companies but with the regions successful entrepreneurs who volunteer at the incubator.EvoNexus graduates have become tenants for the Irvine Co. Hotle estimates ex-EvoNexus firms employing about 300 workers lease space in the companys buildings. But Holte sees a larger benefit. Independent research suggests coastal Californias economy will be driven by knowledge workers and technology enabled disruptors.EvoNexus is right in the middle of what is going to be one of Californias competitive advantages, he said. I know they have ambitions to be Southern Californias premier incubator. So I could imagine us having an alliance with EvoNexus in LA, Orange County and San Diego in the future.The incubator also has worked to tap the regions universities to find companies, such as satellite imagery outfit Tomnod, security software firm Tortuga Logic, drug delivery device maker Crisi Medical Systems and Aria, which makes technology to help the visually impaired.You would hear of an occasional spin-out of UC San Diego but not at this scale, said Moore. These are Ph.Ds., post-docs, university-originated ventures that applied to EvoNexus. I am proud of this because no one has done that before.Its not easy to get into EvoNexus. Only about one in 10 applicants are accepted. The incubators sweet spot: Companies that are far enough along in their technology development and business plan to show potential, but arent quite ready to seek funding from investors, said longtime volunteer Steve Hart, co-founder of satellite broadband provider ViaSat.You have to be well beyond the good idea stage to get in, he said.EcoATM is the biggest EvoNexus success to date, selling three years ago to publicly traded Outerwall for $350 million.Mark Bowles, co-founder of ecoATM, has started six companies in his career many of them in Silicon Valley. He said San Diego lacks Silicon Valleys density of investors and entrepreneurs. So random collisions between startups and people who can help them with funding or business advice dont happen as often here.EvoNexus attempts to mimic the Bay Areas startup ecosystem inside the incubator, said Bowles.Three or four times a week Rory and the Admiral would introduce you to some dignitary it might be the chairman of LG, Mayor (Jerry) Sanders or Bill Walton, said Bowles. Only one in four matter to you. But that one is important.An introduction to former Mayor Sanders, for example, helped ecoATM navigate discussions with law enforcement over fears that the companys recylcing kiosks would become a haven for stolen cellphones.On the tech side, they do a tremendous job, and they are doing it without a lot of dough, said Mike Kreen, president of the San Diego Venture Group. I bet they see 80 percent of the quality startups in town. With each cohort of companies that come through there, they get better at what they do.There are a couple of missing pieces for San Diego to become a viable alternative to Silicon Valley for tech startups. Venture capital is the biggest. The region lacks a large, $100 million-plus fund focused on early stage Southern California tech companies, said Moore.Frankly, part of what EvoNexus is looking to accomplish is to increase the ability of young Southern California companies to stay and grow in Southern California and not have to relocate to Northern California to raise money, said Hotle of the Irvine Co.EvoNexus and the San Diego Venture Group are working on the money problem. But its tricky, without easy solutions.I talk to venture capitalists in Silicon Valley all the time, said Kreen. They say they are sick of the valuations in Silicon Valley. They like the valuations in San Diego. They love that our engineers dont jump around from job to job. But when I ask will you come down here and hunt, the answer is no. We have plenty of deal flow.Another missing piece: While San Diego is known for biotechnology and wireless, the region isnt seen as a software powerhouse, despite clusters of data analytics and cybersecurity software expertise.We have a lot of good software people. We dont have critical mass by any means, and we are not seen as one of the great places for software (engineers) to go said Hart, the ViaSat co-founder.EvoNexus is working to change that by emphasizing software startups at its downtown incubator. Twenty-seven percent of EvoNexus companies over the years have been software firms. If a few of these firms grow and have successful exits, it would help raise the regions profile in software.There are major companies like Websense and Fair Issac where we are seeing some of their core talent start to leave and start companies, said Moore. We have three ventures right now that came out of Websense. Thats important. Teams leaving the mothership to start their own company.
Coding School 42 to provide 10000 students from Silicon Valley free education
Xavier Niel is the brains behind Coding School 42 and his organization aims to educate 10,000 students within the next 5 years and that too absolutely free. This is not the first time that Niel is taking upon himself to graduate students that could one day lead the future of the technological era. Coding school 42 has been doing well in France. If you want to hear the origin story of the French businessman, Niel started Coding school 42 in 2013, and there are already 2,500 students learning to code right now in Paris.
One of things that raises the bar about this venture is the fact that its free and additionally, Niel is investing $100 million in the U.S. to create a new school. The new school will have a massive brand new 200,000 square foot building in Fremont opened 24/7 with thousands of iMacs. Coding school 42 will welcome all students between the ages of 18 and 30.
After you have filled out your online application the Coding school 42 team has created a computer science version of the Hunger Games and what it does is that thousands of students face the same coding and logic challenges.
Another thing that should be noted here is that Coding school 42 is far from your average university. The fact that there is no teacher and no classroom sounds a bit absurd, but students are expected to learn a set of skills in 3 to 5 years. They do this by relying on reviews, coding projects, internships and gamification. Students who remain motivated between these 3-5 years become extremely capable software engineers of the future.
Niel is probably not expecting anything in return, other than the fact that these future software engineers are able to pay back in kind in terms of what they have learned to other minds who aspire to become capable software engineers.
Tech Crunch
Developer of anonymous Tor software dodges FBI, leaves US
After going public about the harassment faced by her from FBI, Isis Agora Lovecruft, a Tor software developer has managed to dodge the FBI agents and fled to Germany.
It all started from the FBIs need to hack Tor anonymity network browser. In its mission to hunt criminals, the FBI has been keen to hack Tor, the Internet browser that hides users true location. FBI feels thats Tor is used by criminals to hide their identities and wants to hack Tor.
The FBIs attempts to break into Tor led them to Lovecruft six months back. However, Lovecruft repulsed FBIs efforts to glean any information from her. FBI not to be stopped at mere harassment decided to subpoena her to testify in a criminal hacking investigation.
Lovecruft decided enough was enough, dodged the FBI agents and fled to Germany.
Thanksgiving
FBI agents approached her and her family over Thanksgiving break last year to help them hack Tor.
I was worried theyd ask me to do something that hurts innocent people and prevent me from telling people its happening, she said in an exclusive interview with CNNMoney. According to an FBI agent familiar with the case, FBI agents in Atlanta and Los Angeles are seeking Lovecrufts help to investigate a hacking case in which she, in their eyes, is connected.
Cardozo at the EFF is adamant that Lovecruft hasnt violated the law by dodging the FBI. He and Lovecruft acknowledge that the FBI might have a legitimate reason to seek her help. But they just want to figure out what that is.
Lovecruft, speaking from Berlin by phone on an encrypted app, still sounds worried: I dont know what they want. I dont know what happens to me if I go back.
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.
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
A Big C outlet in Vietnam. Photo credit: Zing
After being acquired by Thai retail giant Central Group for 1 billion euros (US$1.13 million), Big C Vietnam is set to open seven new stores this year, news website Saigon Times Online reported Tuesday, citing a supermarket spokesperson.
Prior to the acquisition, France's Casino Group, the previous owner of the chain, opened four or five outlets a year, the unnamed spokesperson said.
Big C is the largest foreign-owned retail chain in Vietnam with 33 supermarkets and 11 convenience stores.
He also addressed local suppliers' recent charge that Big C is demanding high commissions to discourage them and thus get Thai products in.
Big C would continue with the current policy of sourcing 95 percent of products from Vietnamese producers, he said.
Big C would meet with seafood businesses who recently said they would stop supplying since the chain has increased commissions by 4.25-5.5 percentage points to 17-25 percent, he said.
It expects to reach an agreement, he added.
Casino Group agreed to sell Big C to Central Group at the end of last month, after months of bidding by big players like Vietnam's largest retailer Co.op Mart, Japan's Aeon, Thailand's TCC and South Korea's Lotte.
Vietnamese electronics retailer Nguyen Kim, which is 49 percent owned by Central Group, also joined the Thai conglomerate in the bid, but their stakes have not been disclosed.
Swift code bank logo is displayed on an iPhone 6s on top of Euro banknotes in this picture illustration made in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, January 26, 2016.
Cyber-criminals unsuccessfully tried to send money from a Vietnamese bank to a Slovenian one in December, but there have been no other cases of attempted fraudulent transfers identified in Vietnam, a top central bank official there said on Tuesday.
Le Manh Hung, head of the State Bank of Vietnam's (SBV) Information Technology Department, told Reuters the Dec. 8 transfer - for 1.2 million euros ($1.36 million) via the SWIFT network - was the only attempt to steal funds detected by Tien Phong Bank (TPBank).
Other Vietnamese banks and the SBV have not been hit, and the name of the Slovenian bank was not known, he said. It was also not clear how many accounts were listed as recipients.
The Slovenian central bank said it had no information on the matter and was not informed about it by official bodies. The Slovenian police had no immediate comment.
Unlisted TPBank revealed the interrupted cyber heist in response to Reuters inquiries on Sunday. It involved the use of bogus SWIFT messages, the technique at the heart of a massive theft in February from the Bangladesh central bank.
SWIFT, a linchpin of the global financial system, is used by about 11,000 banks and financial institutions for transactions. The two attacks on banks will likely increase scrutiny on the security of its network.
Interpol was immediately informed of the attack via its representative in Vietnam, Hung said.
There was no financial loss and TPBank found the bogus transfer through its own reconciliation system, he said.
TPBank has not said which bank the funds were headed to and Hung said he did not know the identity of the Slovenian partner.
Hung said TPBank was hit because a third-party vendor it had used to connect to the SWIFT money transfer system was likely infected with malware. The vendor's Internet servers were based in Singapore, he said, adding he did not know the identity of the vendor provider.
Other methods
SWIFT has declined comment on TPBank's claims. On Thursday, it had said a unnamed commercial bank was targeted by a malware attack similar to the one at Bangladesh Bank.
But SWIFT said in mid-May the malware it had found was used to remove traces of fraudulent transactions, not to conduct the transaction, adding the attackers had used other methods it did not identify to send the fraudulent transfer requests. (bit.ly/1TezgHe)
Hung said it was the vendor that had been compromised, rather than TPBank's own systems. TPBank has declined Reuters requests for further comment.
TPBank, founded in 2008 by Vietnam's top technology firm FPT Corp, is considered one of the communist country's most modern and tech-savvy banks and it this month received the "Best Internet Banking" prize from The Asian Banker.
In February, in one of the world's biggest ever cyber-heists, hackers tried to steal nearly $1 billion from Bangladesh Bank's account at the New York Federal Reserve. Most orders were blocked but $81 million was transferred to accounts in the Philippines and most of the money remains missing.
Tai chi may work as well as traditional physical therapy for easing pain in people with knee osteoarthritis, a small study suggests.
Knee osteoarthritis, a leading cause of pain and disability in older adults, occurs when flexible tissue at the ends of bones wears down. While it cant be cured, physical therapy or anti-inflammatory medications are often prescribed to relieve pain and improve mobility.
To see if tai chi a Chinese meditation practice that combines deep breathing and slow, fluid movements might be a good alternative to physical therapy, researchers randomly assigned about 200 people with knee osteoarthritis to try one of these options for three months.
Both groups experienced similar reductions in pain at the end of the three months, and after a year, the study found. People in the tai chi group, however, reported greater improvements in wellbeing and mental health than the participants assigned to physical therapy.
The findings suggest that the growing number of U.S. patients practicing tai chi to address musculoskeletal and mental health issues are on to something, said lead study author Dr. Chenchen Wang, director of the Center for Complimentary and Integrative Medicine at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.
Tai chi is a multicomponent traditional Chinese mind-body practice that may systematically promote health . . . by integrating physical, psychosocial, emotional, spiritual and behavioral elements, Wang said by email.
In the study, Wang and colleagues assigned about half of the participants to attend hour-long tai chi classes twice a week for 12 weeks. The others got six weeks of 30-minute physical therapy sessions twice a week and were then told to continue with exercises at home at least four times a week for another six weeks.
Participants were 60 years old on average. They were typically overweight or obese and had been suffering from knee osteoarthritis for around eight years.
While neither group had perfect attendance, 79 percent of the people in tai chi and 78 percent of patients in physical therapy went to at least half of the scheduled sessions, researchers report in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Because patients knew what treatment they received, its possible that preconceived notions about the potential benefits of tai chi or physical therapy may have influenced the changes in symptoms that participants reported, the authors note.
The study was also done at a single academic medical center, making it hard to say whether the results would be similar in other settings.
Even so, the findings suggest that tai chi may offer some relief to patients without the potential cost of attending physical therapy or side effects of medications, said Romy Lauche of the Australian Research Center in Complimentary and Integrative Medicine at the University of Technology Sydney.
Finding effective and safe interventions is a top priority, Lauche, who wasnt involved in the study, said by email.
Any kind of exercise including tai chi may benefit patients by improving functional disability, and they also impact coping skills, Lauche added.
The controlled movements that are a hallmark of tai chi can be good for joints because they allow fluid in the joints to move in and out of cartilage, improving flexibility, noted Jean-Michel Brismee, a researcher in physical therapy and rehabilitation at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock.
Both tai chi and physical therapy should have the goal to educate patients in doing the healing movements at home daily, Brismee, who wasnt involved in the study, said by email.
Vietnam has protested and dismissed Chinas ban on fishing ban in the East Sea, internationally known as South China Sea, for the next two and a half months.
Le Hai Binh, spokesman for Vietnams Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told local media Tuesday that the ban violates Vietnam's sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago and Vietnams legitimate rights and interests over its waters. It also runs counter to the spirit and wording of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea.
Vietnam resolutely protests and refutes this void decision, Binh said.
He added that Vietnam has sufficient legal foundations and historical evidence testifying to its sovereignty over Hoang Sa and its legitimate rights over its waters, which are specified in line with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The fishing ban, which was introduced in 1999, started on May 16 and will last until August 1. Vietnam has never recognized the legality of the ban.
China should immediately end its violations of Vietnams sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Archipelago, withdraw its jet fighters from this area and not commit similar acts again, Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said Thursday.
He was responding to reporters questions at a press conference in Hanoi about Vietnams reaction to Chinas deployment of 16 jet fighters in the Paracels.
Vietnam once again asserts its indisputable sovereignty over the Truong Sa and Hoang Sa archipelagos. Chinas deployment of jet fighters in Vietnams Hoang Sa Archipelago seriously violates Vietnams sovereignty and directly threatens regional peace and stability.
As a permanent member of the United Nations with an important role in the region, China should act responsibly and constructively in the maintenance of peace and stability in the region in line with international law, particularly the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea.
The US militarys Stars and Stripes newspaper Wednesday reported that the Chinese deployed 16 Shenyang J-11 advanced fighter aircraft the largest number of fighter jets ever in the archipelago on April 7.
Positioning military aircraft on the island seems to contradict Chinese President Xi Jinpings vow not to militarize the South China Sea, a statement he made while visiting Washington, D.C. in February, the newspaper said.
Vietnamese foreign ministry spokesperson on Thursday said disputes in the East Sea, internationally known as South China Sea, must be resolved by all countries concerned.
Le Hai Binh was responding to a recent remark by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that all attempts to "internationalize" the disputes must be stopped.
Prior to a visit to China, Japan, and Mongolia, Lavrov told the Chinese media in Moscow that he urged external players to stop interfering in the negotiations among those involved.
He said attempts to internationalize the issue are "completely counterproductive."
"Only negotiations, which China and the ASEAN are pursuing, can bring the desired result; namely, mutually acceptable agreements, he said.
According to Binh, disputes over the Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago must be settled by all countries concerned.
Other issues that affect countries outside the region, such as security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation, must be discussed and settled by all nations that share the same interests, he said.
Huynh Ngoc Tong (R) and Pham Xuan Binh stand trial in Dong Thap Province on May 17, 2016. Photo: Thanh Dung
A court in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap Tuesday handed down prison sentences to two former police officers for fatally torturing a suspected motorbike thief in 2012.
Major Huynh Ngoc Tong, 41, former deputy chief investigator of the Cao Lanh Town police, got 18 months for applying corporal punishment during an investigation.
Former Second-Lieutenant Pham Xuan Binh, 31, got 11 months and 11 days for the same charge, the time he had spent in custody.
Nguyen Tuan Thanh, 30, was arrested on November 16, 2012 for allegedly stealing motorbikes.
Tong and Binh questioned Thanh, who reportedly confessed to stealing six motorbikes.
But the following day, an officer found Thanh unconscious in his cell. The man was declared dead on arrival when taken to the Dong Thap General Hospital in the province's capital town of Cao Lanh.
An autopsy found Thanh had died to unrecoverable acute circulatory failure due to multiple injuries in his body.
According to prosecutors, Binh and Tong admitted to beating Thanh with their hands, feet and batons and that other police officers also joined in the beating. Investigators found no evidence linking any other officer to the case.
At the trial the two accused rejected the charges against them, saying they did not hit Thanh and rejecting their own statements earlier.
Binh claimed an investigator had tricked him into admitting to beating Thanh.
"The investigator said my wife was pregnant, my parents are old and I should follow their instructions. They promised to drop the case and only impose a fine.
But prosecutors decided that the duo had indeed hit Thanh.
The court found them guilty nevertheless but said it was lenient because Binh and Tong had good records and their families had made great contributions to the countrys freedom.
The explosion and fire destroyed the goat hot pot restaurant in Tan Phu District, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo credit: VnExpress
Two people were found dead after their restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City was burned down in a massive fire following a suspected gas explosion Sunday.
Neighbors said they heard a huge explosion from the goat hot pot restaurant on Luy Ban Bich Street in Tan Phu District at around 10 a.m. before it was engulfed in flames.
They said they tried in vain to put out the blaze with fire extinguishers and water.
More than 40 firefighters, who came to the site along with seven fire engines, brought the blaze under control at 11 a.m.
Tang Chau Long, deputy chief of the Tan Phu District police, said, While attempting to rescue two trapped victims, rescuers found Nguyen Thuyen Kieu, 43, and her daughter Quan Tieu My, 13, dead hugging each other.
The two had burned to death, he said.
Authorities said the fire started from a cooking gas cylinder in the kitchen of the restaurant, which also served as a house, spread to several motorbikes and caused an explosion before destroying the building.
Kieus husband, Quan Man Phuoc, was cooking there at that time, they said.
While Phuoc and two workers managed to get out, Kieu and their daughter were stuck inside.
The three are now under treatment for burns at a local hospital.
Investigations are continuing.
A file photo shows dead fish in a polluted river in Thanh Hoa Province on May 6, 2016. Photo: Hai Tan
The environment ministry has fined three businesses nearly VND3.9 billion (around US$180,000) for polluting a river and killing tons of fishes in farms in the north central province of Thanh Hoa.
It slapped penalties of VND1.92 billion on Tan Hieu Hung Mechanical Assembly Company, VND1.78 billion on Hoa Binh Sugar Company and VND194 million on a pig farm.
The businesses, based in Hoa Binh Province upstream of the Buoi River, have also been suspended for three months to a year for installing proper waste treatment systems.
Hoa Binh Sugar Company last week paid compensation worth VND1.4 billion ($62,800) to 34 fish farmers in Thanh Hoa in the rivers downstream. They lost years of investment after 17 tons of fish ready to be harvested died within several days.
Thanh Hoa environment officials said their tests found excessive amounts of pollutants in the river.
The ammonia content was seven times above the safety limit, while it was two times for hydrogen sulfide and four times for nitrogen dioxide, they said.
The scale of the pollution was too big for any biological or chemical measures to deal with, they said.
We have to wait for rain to wash away the pollution and clean up the river naturally, Thanh Hoas environment department said in a statement.
A fishing vessel heading back to the shore in central Vietnam suddenly exploded on Friday morning, injuring eight crew members who were thrown into the water, authorities said.
Doctors of Hue Central Hospital in Thua Thien-Hue Province said the victims, aged from 20-60, suffered serious burns. One of them is still in critical condition.
The incident happened at around 4 a.m. on Friday, when the boat was four nautical miles from Thuan An Port.
Fishermen from other boats nearby helped rescued the victims, rushing them to the hospital.
One crew member, also the boat's owner, was not hurt in the explosion. He was reportedly sitting far away from the others.
Investigators are looking into the incident. A short circuit is suspected to be the cause.
Hanoi traffic police on Tuesday fined and suspended a taxi driver for driving recklessly on a bridge during rush hour, Zing News reported.
Nguyen Trong Doan, 40, of Mai Linh Company was fined VND7.5 million (US$336) and his license will be suspended for two months. The police will also confiscate the taxi for one week.
He will also be fined VND5 million ($224) by the company.
Doan was filmed driving recklessly on the Vinh Tuy Bridge on the morning of May 10. The dashcam apparently from a car behind him captured the scene. The video was posted online the same day.
Based on the footage, Hanoi traffic police tracked him down.
In the video, the four-seater taxi sped up into the emergency lane for motorbikes before swerving in front of the car. The speeding taxi constantly wormed its way through other vehicles on the bridge, which was crowded at that time.
Doan told the police he had to pick up a passenger but he overslept, so he drove very fast to get there on time.
Luckily no crashes happened, police said.
A photo taken on May 16, 2016 shows Hau River, a tributary of the Mekong River, is no longer red with alluvium. Photo: Dinh Tuyen
Duong Cong To checks the water of the Hau River next to his house and he is not happy at all.
Its too clean, he says.
The 72-year-old has spent all his life by the river, one of two tributaries of the Mekong and the main source of alluvium for fish farms and plantations in southern Vietnam.
Over the past years he has noticed a significant change in the river: it keeps changing its color from a reddish brown to an ocean-like blue.
The water should look red. Now it's crystal clear like theres nothing in there.
Farmers and fisherfolk like To depend on the river for their livelihoods. They may not understand deeply about the science behind all of this, but they know all too well that clean water means a serious lack of alluvial sediments for fishery and agriculture.
"This used to be a great home for fish and shrimp," he recalls.
To says just five years ago, when the river was still red, n early 200 families in his village made a living by fishing and they earned well most days.
Now only around ten people stay with fishing, and they can only catch fish during high tides, he says.
The culprit
The World Wide Fund for Nature reported that suspended sediment load in the Mekong Delta declined from 160 million tons in 1992 to 75 million tons in 2014 due to the construction of hydropower dams and reservoirs on the mainstream and branches of Mekong River.
It noted that sand mining activities were also making the situation worse in many Mekong Delta provinces .
Farmers say there have been fewer fish in the river and some kinds have disappeared. Photo: Dinh Tuyen
Hydropower dams upstream are causing this problem, Duong Van Ni, a lecturer of environment and natural resources at Can Tho University, said.
Ni said the farmers observation reflects a tragic situation.
The Mekong Delta is losing an irreplaceable source of alluvium.
My studies show that no sand or gravel has flowed downstream the past seven years, he said.
Nguyen Huu Thien, an independent researcher of the Mekong ecology, confirmed the findings.
Sand and gravel have been completely blocked by the dams, Thien said.
China has received a lot of international criticism for building seven hydropower dams on the upper Mekong, with 21 more in planning. Two others are under construction in Laos.
Ni said that when China discharged water from its dams in March and April to ease the severe drought in the region, many people were easily fooled that hydropower dams are only related to one problem, which is water shortage.
But a more serious matter is the loss of sedimentation.
When it is lost, it will never be recovered and the lack of it will lead to scary scenarios including erosion and sinking, he said.
Studies showed that the delta has been sinking one to two centimeters every year between 2000 and 2010.
Thien even painted a dark picture in which the Mekong Delta, home to 20 million people, will be entirely gone.
Part of a coastal embankment in the Mekong Delta has been damaged. Photo: Tran Luu/Lao Dong
Ca Mau, which once benefited from coastal accretion, is now asking for US$6.7 million from the government to deal with relentless erosion.
Vietnams southernmost province has a coastline of more than 250 kilometers and the sea has eaten along 80 percent of it, by 50 meters a year in some parts.
Studies by its agriculture department found that the province has been losing around 305 hectares of mangrove forests to the sea every year, Lao Dong newspaper reported.
The province has spent money piling rocks and putting up concrete breakwaters along the sea to weaken waves and retain alluvium for mangrove forests.
But To Quoc Nam, deputy director of the department, said 15 kilometers of coastline urgently need a concrete embankment, estimated to cost VND150 billion (US$6.7 million), which the province cannot afford.
Nam said the province has made a plea to the prime minister for help.
Studies and satellite images show that the Mekong Delta, Vietnams biggest farming region, has been losing 500 hectares (1,235 acres) of land to erosion every year as land accretion fails to make up for areas being washed away.
Local and international conservationists at a conference in Can Tho in June blamed China and Laos hydropower dams upstream of the Mekong River and increasing sand mining in Vietnamese rivers for reducing sediments and exposing the region to severe erosion.
Vietnam Rivers Network, the countrys largest advocacy group for water resource protection, said erosion is damaging almost the entire coastline of the delta, known for its vast natural resources.
The network estimated that by 2050 the number of people directly affected by erosion in the delta would climb to one million.
A photo supplied by the Hanoi-Hai Phong Highway Management shows a sedan has its rearview mirror broken after a group of teenagers threw stones at it on the highway section through Hai Duong Province on May 13, 2016
Police in the northern province of Hai Duong said Tuesday they had identified four teenagers who allegedly threw stones into five running cars on a highway.
The police said the four boys, aged 14-16, had admitted to the act after being summoned by the police for questioning.
The boy said they gathered and threw stones into the cars last Friday evening just for fun, according to the police.
Between 8:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. on May 13, the boys reportedly stood on street barriers on Hanoi-Hai Phong Highways section through Hai Duongs Binh Giang District and threw stones at five cars, damaging the windows, mirrors and other parts of the vehicles.
The police said they are still investigating the case.
Stone throwing has recently been a scary experience to passengers traveling across central Vietnam and provinces to the east of Ho Chi Minh City.
The vandals, most of them teenagers, used to target trains, but have turned to buses after operators installed iron nets to protect train windows.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella delivers the keynote address during the Microsoft Build 2016 Developer Conference in San Francisco, California in this March 30, 2016, file photo.
Microsoft Corp has sued the U.S. government for the right to tell its customers when a federal agency is looking at their emails, the latest in a series of clashes over privacy between the technology industry and Washington.
The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in federal court in Seattle, argues that the government is violating the U.S. Constitution by preventing Microsoft from notifying thousands of customers about government requests for their emails and other documents.
The governments actions contravene the Fourth Amendment, which establishes the right for people and businesses to know if the government searches or seizes their property, the suit argues, and Microsoft's First Amendment right to free speech.
The Department of Justice is reviewing the filing, spokeswoman Emily Pierce said.
Microsofts suit focuses on the storage of data on remote servers, rather than locally on people's computers, which Microsoft says has provided a new opening for the government to access electronic data.
Using the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), the government is increasingly directing investigations at the parties that store data in the so-called cloud, Microsoft says in the lawsuit. The 30-year-old law has long drawn scrutiny from technology companies and privacy advocates who say it was written before the rise of the commercial Internet and is therefore outdated.
People do not give up their rights when they move their private information from physical storage to the cloud, Microsoft says in the lawsuit. It adds that the government has exploited the transition to cloud computing as a means of expanding its power to conduct secret investigations.
Surveillance battle
The lawsuit represents the newest front in the battle between technology companies and the U.S. government over how much private businesses should assist government surveillance.
By filing the suit, Microsoft is taking a more prominent role in that battle, dominated by Apple Inc in recent months due to the governments efforts to get the company to write software to unlock an iPhone used by one of the shooters in a December massacre in San Bernardino, California.
Apple, backed by big technology companies including Microsoft, had complained that cooperating would turn businesses into arms of the state.
"Just as Apple was the company in the last case and we stood with Apple, we expect other tech companies to stand with us," Microsoft's Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith said in a phone interview after the suit was filed.
One security expert questioned Microsoft's motivation and timing. Its lawsuit was one hundred percent motivated by business interests and timed to capitalize on new interest in customer privacy issues spurred in part by Apples dispute, said D.J. Rosenthal, a former White House cyber security official in the Obama administration.
As Microsoft's Windows and other legacy software products are losing some traction in an increasingly mobile and Internet-centric computing environment, the company's cloud-based business is taking on more importance. Chief Executive Satya Nadella's describes Microsoft's efforts as "mobile first, cloud first."
Its customers have been asking the company about government surveillance, Smith said, suggesting that the issue could hurt Microsoft's ability to win or keep cloud customers.
In its complaint, Microsoft says over the past 18 months it has received 5,624 legal orders under the ECPA, of which 2,576 prevented Microsoft from disclosing that the government is seeking customer data through warrants, subpoenas and other requests. Most of the ECPA requests apply to individuals, not companies, and provide no fixed end date to the secrecy provision, Microsoft said.
Microsoft and other companies won the right two years ago to disclose the number of government demands for data they receive. This case goes farther, requesting that it be allowed to notify individual businesses and people that the government is seeking information about them.
Increasingly, U.S. companies are under pressure to prove they are helping protect consumer privacy. The campaign gained momentum in the wake of revelations by former government contractor Edward Snowden in 2013 that the government routinely conducted extensive phone and Internet surveillance to a much greater degree than believed.
Late last year, after Reuters reported that Microsoft had not alerted customers, including leaders of China's Tibetan and Uigher minorities, that their email was compromised by hackers operating from China, Microsoft said publicly it would adopt a policy of telling email customers when it believed their email had been hacked by a government.
The company's lawsuit on Thursday comes a day after a U.S. congressional panel voted unanimously to advance a package of reforms to the ECPA.
Last-minute changes to the legislation removed an obligation for the government to notify a targeted user whose communications are being sought. Instead, the bill would require disclosure of a warrant only to a service provider, which retains the right to voluntarily notify users, unless a court grants a gag order.
It is unclear if the bill will advance through the Senate and become law this year.
Separately, Microsoft is fighting a U.S. government warrant to turn over data held in a server in Ireland, which the government argues is lawful under another part of the ECPA. Microsoft argues the government needs to go through a procedure outlined in a legal-assistance treaty between the U.S. and Ireland.
Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) is fighting a separate battle in federal court in Northern California over public disclosure of government requests for information on users.
The case is Microsoft Corp v United States Department of Justice et al in the United States District Court, Western District of Washington, No. 2:16-cv-00537.
A downpour late Tuesday afternoon in Ho Chi Minh City caused many flights headed for the city to be diverted while several others were also unable to take off.
A Vietnam Airlines spokesperson said many flights at Vietnams busiest airport were delayed due to heavy rain from 5 p.m.
Six of his carriers flights had to be diverted to Phnom Penh and Cam Ranh, he said.
Two Jetstar Pacific flights were diverted to Phu Quoc and Cam Ranh while four others had to circle around to wait for better weather.
Vietjet Air also diverted five flights to Can Tho and Phu Quoc.
All flights arrived at Tan Son Nhat later in the day.
Gridlock on Ho Chi Minh City's Hanoi Highway on May 17 as rain pelted down. Photo credit: Nguoi Lao Dong The heavy rain also led to traffic jams on major thoroughfares as people returned home from work. It was particularly bad on Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Street and Hanoi Highway, with the gridlock lasting several hours.
According to the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting, the rainy season has arrived in the south and the Central Highlands with scattered rains.
Torrential rains are forecast in the southern region from May 19 to 22, and could become heavier just afterwards.
Flags of China and Taiwan flutter next to each other during a rally calling for peaceful reunification, days before the inauguration ceremony of President-elect Tsai Ing-wen, in Taipei, Taiwan May 14, 2016. Photo: Reuters/Tyrone Siu
China's Defense Ministry said recent military drills on its southeastern coast were annual exercises, after Chinese media had suggested they could have been timed ahead of Taiwan's inauguration of a new president from a pro-independence party.
China and Taiwan underwent a rapprochement under the outgoing government which was run by China-friendly Nationalists. But ties have strained with the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Tsai Ing-wen, who is set to be sworn in as president on Friday.
Chinese state media have reported that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has carried out at least three landing exercises on the country's southeast coast since the beginning of May.
The largest drill was conducted in recent days by a regiment under the PLA's 31st Group Army, which is based in coastal Fujian province, across the strait from Taiwan, the official China Daily newspaper said on Wednesday.
China's Defense Ministry said the drills were intended to increase responsiveness to "security threats".
"These drills are routine arrangements conducted according to annual training plans," the ministry said in a short statement on its website.
"They do not target any specific objective. Relevant individuals should not over-interpret [them]," the ministry said.
The ministry made a similar statement after state-media broadcast footage of live-fire military and landing drills just days after the landslide Taiwan election win in January by Tsai and the DPP.
Chinese state media have made no mention of Taiwan in the reports on the exercises, though some Chinese domestic media have hinted that the timing might be coordinated ahead of Tsai's inauguration to deter pro-independence moves.
Taiwan's defense ministry said the recent footage in Chinese-state media of the drills involved annual PLA exercises and that it had "a grasp" of the situation, but declined to further comment.
The United States has expressed concerns about the danger of worsening China-Taiwan ties, at a time when China's navy is increasingly flexing its muscles in the South China and East China Seas and expanding territorial claims.
Taiwan's military has warned that China has practiced attacks on targets modeled on places in Taiwan. Taiwan also estimates China aims hundreds of missiles at the island.
Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (L) and vice presidential candidate Chen Chien-jen greet supporters as they take the stage during a final campaign rally ahead of the elections in Taipei, Taiwan, in this January 15, 2016 file picture. Photo: Reuters/Pichi Chuang/Files
Taiwan president-elect Tsai Ing-wen must "prove" her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is not pro-independence before Beijing will deal with her, a senior member of China's largely rubber stamp parliament said on Thursday.
China considers self-ruled Taiwan a wayward province, to be brought under its control by force if necessary. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan in 1949 after the Chinese civil war.
Beijing has repeatedly warned against any moves towards independence since January's landslide win by Tsai and her DPP in presidential and parliamentary elections. Tsai assumes office in May.
While the DPP's charter calls for the island's formal independence, senior DPP leaders have not publicly stated that clause of late and Tsai has said she wishes to have peace with China and to maintain the status quo.
Speaking on the sidelines of China's annual parliamentary session, Wang Yifu, who leads the Chinese-appointed Taiwan delegation to parliament, said the DPP's independence platform "makes the world feel uneasy".
Wang had been asked by a reporter to comment on Tsai's pledge to develop bilateral relations under the framework of Taiwan's constitution which stipulates that Taiwan and the Chinese mainland are part of "one China".
Tsai's pledge "contradicts" the independence clause in the DPP's own charter, Wang said, adding that she and the DPP would have to "prove (the DPP) is not a Taiwan independence party".
"This is the basis for cross-Strait exchanges," said Wang, who is also president of the All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots - a Chinese government group composed of Taiwanese exiles, defectors and their descendants.
The DPP did not respond to a request for comment.
China appoints a Taiwan delegation to parliament every year to back up its sovereignty claims over the island, even though nobody in proudly democratic Taiwan votes for them.
Wang stopped short of spelling out whether China wants the DPP to drop, revise or freeze the independence clause in its charter.
Wang urged DPP leaders to "appreciate and reciprocate the mainland's goodwill".
Chinese President Xi Jinping said last week China would never allow the historical tragedy of Taiwan being "split" off from the rest of the country to happen again, warning the island against any moves towards formal independence.
Japan ruled Taiwan as a colony for about five decades until the end of World War Two. China's last dynasty, the Qing, had ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895 after losing the first Sino-Japanese war.
"The UKs actions in Libya were part of an ill-conceived intervention, the results of which are still playing out today."
Police officers block protesters holding a portrait of Zhang during a demonstration against a visit by Zhang Dejiang, the chairman of China's National People's Congress, in Hong Kong May 17, 2016. Photo: Reuters/Bobby Yip
Thousands of police were deployed across Hong Kong on Wednesday as a top-ranked Beijing official addressed an economic summit, with tensions high amid calls for greater autonomy in the Chinese-ruled city or even independence from the mainland.
Zhang Dejiang arrived on Tuesday for a rare visit in the former British colony and pledged to listen to residents' concerns about the city's relationship with China, an issue that has ignited fierce debate in the Asian financial center.
Plainclothes and uniformed police were on alert close to parts of the city that were crippled by pro-democracy protests in late 2014. Those protests presented Beijing with one of its greatest political challenges in decades.
On Wednesday, protesters chanted for Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying to step down, while others held up a black banner calling for an end to dictatorial rule and to "stop interfering with Hong Kong affairs".
One small group of protesters burned a portrait of Zhang, China's number three leader, and chanted: "Zhang Dejiang get the hell out of Hong Kong."
They also demanded the release of all political prisoners and true universal suffrage for Hong Kong.
Others waved yellow umbrellas, a symbol of the so-called Occupy demonstrations in 2014 when protesters used them during clashes with police who fired teargas.
Democracy activists and pro-Beijing groups traded insults close to the conference center where Zhang was speaking, heckling and swearing at each other. One pro-Beijing group held up a blue banner that said: "Oppose splitting up Hong Kong."
Hong Kong guarantees freedom of expression under the agreement that saw Britain return its former colony to Beijing in 1997, but authorities haven't ruled out taking action against pro-independence activists.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (L) walks past Zhang Dejiang, the chairman of China's National People's Congress, as they attend the Belt and Road summit in Hong Kong May 18, 2016. Photo: Reuters/Bobby Yip Zhang is the first senior Chinese leader to visit Hong Kong in years. He spoke at a conference on Beijing's "One Belt, One Road" initiative, a plan for a new Silk Road and economic belt spreading from Western China to Central Asia and Europe.
Hong Kong media reports said up to 6,000 police officers would be deployed for Zhang's three-day visit.
The official China Daily said in an editorial that Zhang's visit comes at a "crucial" time to underscore China's support and commitment to maintaining Hong Kong's stability and prosperity.
Zhang, however, as the head of China's parliament and Beijing's point person on Hong Kong affairs, has faced hostility from some of the city's pro-democracy activists and radicals who have staged disruptive protests to call for greater Hong Kong nationalism and even independence from China.
It is a scenario that even the creator's of US crime drama, Breaking Bad, could not have conceived of.
The Hell's Angels Motorcycle Corporation (Australia) Pty Ltd now has a month to scrape together $50,000 or it will be forced to end its legal action against hipster T-shirt website, RedBubble, which listed on the Australian stock market on Monday.
The business side of motorcyle clubs such as Hells Angels is seldom seen in public. Credit:Craig Abraham
The day after Redbubble's ASX debut, a Federal Court judgment ordered the bikie group to provide the $50,000 as security for the payment of costs in case its legal action against the online business fails.
The Hells Angels sued Redbubble for breach of intellectual property after a number of t-shirt designs were found on its website featuring the gang's logo.
BC Iron's undeveloped Buckland iron ore deposit is set to fall back under the management of Alwyn Vorster, the former Iron Ore Holdings boss who will replace Morgan Ball as the managing director of the Pilbara iron ore company next week.
BC Iron announced late on Wednesday Mr Ball would be replaced by Mr Vorster after the board considered "the future direction of the company", which is set to focus more on exploration and development in coming months.
Alwyn Vorster and Morgan Ball when the BC Iron and Iron Ore Holdings merger was announced in 2014.
The company is considering development options for Buckland, which it picked up through a 2014 merger with Iron Ore Holdings, then led by Mr Vorster.
Mr Ball had been an "outstanding" managing director, chairman Tony Kiernan said in a statement, but added Mr Vorster was "uniquely placed" to head BC Iron's focus on its West Pilbara assets.
The board of a Perth junior resources company, Citation Resources, has taken the extraordinary step of suing former director Peter Landau to recover about $2 million it believes went missing from the company's coffers.
Mr Landau, a corporate lawyer who runs corporate advisory firm OKAP Ventures, is no stranger to controversy.
Citation Resources has launched legal action against former director Peter Landau. Credit:Jessica Shapiro
This is the third listed resources company Mr Landau has been on the board of that has been the subject of an internal inquiry or investigations and warnings by the corporate watchdog.
Citation revealed on Wednesday it had launched legal action against Mr Landau after a forensic investigation by KordaMentha, which compiled a report on the "integrity of transactions" involving about $2 million.
It'll lend an entirely different meaning to the word "independent" and bury for good the argument that parents who pay extra to send their children to private schools are doing other taxpayers a favour. So dependent are private schools already that 95 per cent get more in government grants than they spend on teachers' salaries. They either raise very little extra from parents (typically the case for Catholic schools) or raise a lot more and use it for facilities that are the envy of their public school neighbours. It began quietly. For more than 100 years until the mid-1960s Australia treated private schools the same way as did other developed countries. It didn't fund them. Then prime minister Menzies broke the ice with grants for science labs and prime minister Whitlam with general grants linked to the achievement of targets. Prime Minister Howard turbocharged the process with a new formula that took no account of the money private schools got from other sources and a new kind of grant for the establishment of new private schools.
In the space of a decade Australia gained an extra 127 private schools, some very small, and all entitled to establishment grants and ongoing public support. So dependent are private schools already that 95 per cent get more in government grants than they spend on teachers salaries. Julia Gillard's 2011 Gonski review found a mess. "When considered holistically, the current funding arrangements for schooling are unnecessarily complex, lack coherence and transparency, and involve a duplication of funding," it reported. It recommended instead a "colourblind" approach. Every student would be entitled to the same amount of money, adjusted for need. In public schools it would all be provided by governments, state and federal. Private schools attended by students from poor socio-economic backgrounds would be told to find 10 per cent themselves. Private schools attended by students from good backgrounds would have to find 75 to 85 per cent. The one big problem was that Gillard had decreed that "no school will lose a dollar". It made Gonski expensive.
But after initially causing mischief (his education spokesman Christopher Pyne labelled the idea "Conski") Tony Abbott promised a "unity ticket". He would honour Labor's agreements with the states for at least four years, even though they lasted for six years. After his election it was quickly forgotten. The money was forthcoming, for four years only, but the requirement for the states to put in their share and divide it in accordance with Gonski formula was dropped. Labor had made it hard for him, even if he had had the best will in the world. First it had insisted that no school be worse off, hugely inflating the Gonski's cost, and then, because it couldn't work out how to fund that cost, it pushed all but $3 billion of the $9.7 billion out into the final two years of the agreements, where it wouldn't show up in the budget's forward estimates. Uncertain of what to do as those final two years approached, Malcolm Turnbull at first suggested the Commonwealth abandon schools funding, leaving it all to the states, which would raise their own income tax, except for private schools, which for some reason he would continue to fund. Then he threw them an extra bag of money to buy a few years more time. As the election approaches, Labor is talking again about funding the full Gonski, the expensive one where private schools don't lose a dollar. I'd hoped for more, but then I've yet to meet a Labor MP whose children aren't in private schools.
Their attempt on Wednesday to demonise some of the world's most vulnerable people as a simultaneous threat to Australian jobs and a potentially dreadful drain on the welfare system suggests electoral panic. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, Mr Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop not only insulted the integrity and dignity of people fleeing persecution, war, and worse, but the intelligence and decency of Australians.
On the day Malcolm Turnbull's disapproval rating eclipsed his approval rating for the first time since he snatched the prime ministership and declared he would lead by treating citizens as intelligent and mature, he and some of his most senior colleagues resorted to the opposite.
The cynicism and dishonesty with which the Coalition government is seeking to create and fan irrational fears about people seeking asylum is as shameful as it is absurd.
Consider these words from Mr Dutton, in response to a suggestion from the Greens that, at a time when there are more displaced people in the world 60 million than at any time since the Second World War, Australia should boost its humanitarian intake. "These people would be taking Australian jobs ... for the many who would be unemployed, they would languish in unemployment queues and on Medicare so there would be huge cost and there's no sense in sugar-coating that."
Our government treats people seeking asylum cruelly.
Ms Bishop backed him, reiterating the financial argument, while Mr Turnbull lauded his minister and in effect claimed that Australia's treatment of people seeking asylum was beyond reproach.
The Age has long and consistently argued the treatment of such people by recent Coalition and Labor governments has been a disgrace. We understand the issues are complex, and that were there a ready solution, it would have been evident long ago. But cruelly placing people in grim offshore detention centres where they suffer awful health problems, both physical and mental, is wrong, and lowers the standing of our nation. We believe our government should process people onshore, in the community, and lead in the creation of an enhanced regional and international solution with sufficient resources to process refugees so that they do not take the dire risk of getting on people-smuggler boats.
The appalling status quo is clearly unsustainable, as Mr Turnbull and his team must surely be aware, as should Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and his treasury spokesman Chris Bowen, a former immigration minister, who in rushing to denigrate Mr Dutton merely looked hypocritical.
The carnage from the latest round of Australia Council funding continues, with the federal government's arts funding agency accused of delivering a major blow to the contemporary visual arts sector.
A coalition of artists, museum directors and the heads of art schools issued a joint statement on Wednesday attacking the outcome of the Australia Council's four-year funding program.
Artist Shaun Gladwell says contemporary art organisations offer a vital platform for his work. Credit:Nick Moir
Sixty-five organisations failed to receive funding under the four-year program, including Object: Australian Design Centre, Asialink Art, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Australian Centre for Photography and the National Association of Visual Arts.
Paul Kelly wasn't quite declared the most outstanding human to ever grace the earth, this year at least, but the man often described as Australia's finest songwriter was afforded almost as great an honour at a music industry lunch on Wednesday.
Kelly was presented with the 2016 award for services to the Australian community from Support Act, the music industry's charity for sick and needy musicians and roadies. A long time, though mostly private, supporter of some 20 charitable organisations, Kelly has also been a very active contributor to social causes, from land rights to refugees, most notably in songs he has written or co-written such as From Little Things Big Things Grow and Treaty.
Paul Kelly was honoured at Support Act lunch for services to the Australian community.
It was these activities as well as a body of songs going back nearly 40 years which were celebrated at the fundraising lunch held in the Ivy Ballroom. And while Kelly closed the musical portion of the show with a performance, the lunch featured several more of his songs performed by artists who have grown up with Kelly's music.
Among them was Urthboy (who sang, rather than rapped, with his young daughter in his arms) and Caitlin Park, Julia Stone with small choir, and a string section-backed Thelma Plum who shyly admitted afterwards that she had been unable to look at Kelly during the song as he had always been the writer she admired most.
Large numbers of them couldn't speak or write English at first, which meant they were functionally illiterate in Australia.
More than 65 per cent of those workers were migrants from around 30 countries, and a lot of them were "displaced persons" - refugees from a war that had left Europe a ruin.
The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme, Australia's greatest post-war infrastructure project, employed 100,000 people from its start in 1949 to its completion in 1974.
Melbourne wharfies initially refused to dock the first ship of "New Australians" who had arrived in 1947, claiming these foreigners were coming to take Australian jobs.
Peter Dutton's majority had dwindled to just 1250 votes on Monday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
In fact, there weren't many jobs available at first. It wasn't long before there were riots at the biggest migrant reception centre, Bonegilla, near Albury-Wodonga, among those who became fearful they were in detention with no employment awaiting them.
The Minister for Immigration in 1952, Harold Holt, found emergency funding to calm them and speed them into jobs. Lord knows what might have happened if he had called them illiterate layabouts.
These were the very people who went on to help Australia attain long-term economic prosperity and growth and who, with their children, drove cultural change to the point that Australia now embraces traditions from dozens of countries and from every continent bar Antarctica.
Damage stemming from Australia's climate policy standoff is an "important" issue that should be better addressed, Environment Minister Greg Hunt says, amid fears that toxic politics around emissions cuts is unsettling investors and hurting the economy.
However, common ground was in short supply when Mr Hunt met Labor environment spokesman Mark Butler at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, in a pre-election debate dominated by disagreement over the best way to address global warming, and suggestions that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will remain beholden to his party's Abbott-aligned climate sceptics if returned to power.
Mr Butler said the federal government's abolition of Labor's so-called carbon tax had "smashed to pieces" Australia's chances of capitalising on jobs and investment in renewable energy after the successful global climate deal in Paris last year.
The change had also allowed carbon pollution levels from electricity to rise by more than 5 per cent in less than two years and "Australia is now pretty much the only major advanced economy where pollution levels are going up, not coming down", he said.
Sun McKay, the former soldier who was present when a fellow Australian security guard died from a gunshot wound at the Baghdad Embassy, was interviewed by Australian police before being allowed to fly home to Australia, Fairfax Media has been told.
It came as the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade indicated it might review its $51 million contract with the private security firm paid to protect the embassy in the wake of the shooting death of guard Chris Betts, 34.
Sun McKay
Fairfax Media understands Australian Federal Police investigators interviewed Mr McKay, a former commando, before he left Baghdad. But Mr McKay, 39, was subsequently allowed to get on a plane on Wednesday that it was believed was bound for Australia. He has not been charged.
A source in Iraq said Mr McKay was not being escorted and was flying with another employee from the security firm Unity Resources Group.
Gyeongbok Palace is teeming with Chinese tourists while Changdeok Palace a few kilometers away attracts visitors from Japan.
A fact-finding study of package tours to Seoul by the Seoul Metropolitan Government finds that Gyeongbok Palace was included in 93.8 percent of tour programs marketed to Chinese visitors. The next popular destinations were Cheong Wa Dae (93.5 percent) and Chonggye Stream (43.8 percent).
But in tour packages for Japanese, Changdeok Palace accounted for 35.8 percent, followed by Bukchon Hanok Village (29.7 percent) and Cheong Wa Dae (28 percent), while Gyeongbok Palace accounted for just 16.7 percent.
Yet Changdeok Palace was found in only 0.7 percent of tour packages for Chinese.
The study was conducted in August and September last year on package tours targeting visitors from China, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand and offers insight into the sightseeing patterns of people from different countries.
In the case of tourists from other countries, Gyeongbok Palace still accounted for 92.6 percent of sites. The Chonggye Stream is the most popular site with 92.3 percent for visitors from Taiwan.
Blake Lively has come under fire on social media after she posted a picture of herself at the Cannes Film Festival with a caption suggesting that she had the face of a white woman but the behind of a woman of colour.
Lively, 28, who is pregnant with her second child, shared red carpet pictures from the premiere of her new film Cafe Society to her Instagram account on Tuesday.
However, some fans took offence to her chosen caption for pictures: "L.A. face with an Oakland booty."
The caption is a line from the 1992 Sir Mix-a-Lot song Baby Got Back. The term refers to a woman whose face looks like she is from Los Angeles, while her behind looks like she is from neighbouring Californian city Oakland, which has historically been a poorer area, with a high African-American population.
A Melbourne designer who makes clothes for curvy bodies has a message for the mainstream fashion industry. Real women look more like pears than celery, and more like cellos than flutes.
Sprinkle, a name she has used for more than 20 years, says many designs on the catwalk and in major stores are not designed to flaunt a woman's best features but to hide them "in a sack".
Inspiration ... Gloria Steinem is currently in Australia for a series of speaking engagements.
Her winter range, dubbed "corporate coup" for the advancements women have made in working life since the 1960s, is inspired by a visit to Australia this week by American feminist leader Gloria Steinem. Steinem started the feminist magazine Ms. and has been outspoken on issues from pornography to female circumcision.
Sprinkle said Steinem's work was about "flipping the status quo of women in the 1960s from more subservient roles to women in power roles".
Artist Sophia Hewson at one of her previous exhibitions.
"The raped woman, still today, is nearly always represented with her face down and her eyes averted," she says.
"The most confronting aspect of are you ok bob? isn't watching as a woman is struck or penetrated, it's seeing her look back out at us from the experience. She looks accusingly as a subject, not an object."
Hewson coated in black glitter and suspended in another one of her shows.
To see a still from the piece click here.
Hewson, whose research during her almost decade-long career has included spending time with pornstars in LA and a polygamous Mormon cult in Utah, agrees not everyone will understand her work.
Artist Sophia Hewson in her studio.
She admits she is worried about a negative reaction from some people, but delivers a sincere argument for it.
In her artist statement, she defines rape as the "ultimate weapon of male domination". She writes that to choose to put yourself in this situation challenges its use as a form of control.
Melbourne artist Sophia Hewson has filmed herself in what she calls a "self-orchestrated rape representation". Credit:Michelle Tran
The 31-year-old explains she needed to go to the extreme length of being penetrated because it meant her fear was real, rather than acted. By filming it, she says, she's owning how the raped woman is depicted.
Hewson believes society depicts the raped woman as eyes downcast, broken and shivering. The shame is hers, not the man's.
Even though many women are broken from the experience, she says, the high prevalence of sexual assault means that many more endure despite the trauma.
Hewson says the victim depiction, rather than that of a survivor, plays into the patriarchy's myth that rape happens only to others and is not an embedded part of our culture.
She says people have feigned sympathy for a raped woman when she is someone they don't know, but when she's someone they do, they disbelieve or silence her.
"We see it as horrible but as soon as it's our brother, our father, our friend, our boyfriend, there must be some other excuse. Everybody goes quiet," she says.
"How horrified are we of this issue of nothing is ever done.
"We will never resolve this issue until we stop seeing it as an externalised evil."
The Victoria College of the Arts alumni spent two years preparing for the work reading feminist theory and discussing its possible implications on her during psychoanalysis.
She compares it to Manet's Olympia, which broke with the traditional style of depicting nude women with their eyes downcast.
The 1863 painting sparked public controversy due to the confrontational gaze of naked Olympia, possibly a prostitute.
Hewson is following a lineage of contemporary female artists who have been turning the use of rape in art around by depicting its psychological and physical damage.
Historically, rape was used by men in art as an aesthetic or to create dramatic tension that betrayed the realities of rape.
are you ok bob? will also include Hewson changing her middle name and documentation of a trip to her birthplace in London, and another where she read to mountains the Court of the Patriarchs in Utah.
Victorian sexual assault crisis line: 1800 806 292
National sexual assault helpline 1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732
cbooker@fairfaxmedia.com.au
Whispers increased when Vong was discovered travelling not only with other government border security officials, but with some old friends who, according to one well-placed source, came from "the dark side". Fairfax Media has confirmed that these men were alleged drug traffickers. The scene of the raid. Searches of social media pages and other information suggests that the gym may have been a place where Vong's suspected long-standing friendships with traffickers were formed, although the alleged ties may go back further. Online, Vong's gym buddies are part of a community obsessed with body image, partying and motorcycles. Vong is suspected of having close ties to an alleged drug trafficker called Jimmy Chhav, who, according to court records, has been twice connected by state police to drug trafficking: in NSW in 2012 and in Victoria in 2014. Chhav is suspected of having known Vong since at least 2010. An AFP officer at the raided house.
So why were Vong, and some of the border security officials in his network, apparently associating closely with Chhav? Information gathered by Fairfax Media strongly suggests that for several years, Vong and other Department of Agriculture officials were allegedly helping Chhav and other alleged criminals traffic drugs. The Caribbean was among glamorous holiday destinations visited by Vong. Evidence also suggests that the long-standing threat to Australia's border security allegedly posed by Vong is not isolated, and that Vong and his departmental mates are far from the only border security officials suspected by their colleagues of involvement in highly improper activities outside of work. Certain staff from the Australian Border Force are separately suspected of facilitating large drug importations into Australia.
Richard Vong was arrested on Wednesday over alleged links to organised criminals. A number of sources, including figures connected to the underworld and to policing agencies, have confirmed that Border Force staff in NSW have recently been leaking information to drug syndicates in arrangements that may date back years. Australia's main maritime trafficking examination site the Australian Border Force Customs Examination Facility in NSW has almost certainly been compromised by a notorious Middle Eastern crime syndicate involved in drug and tobacco importations. The facility is at the front line of the nation's war on drug, tobacco and gun importing. So if Australia's borders are compromised, as the intelligence suggests, what is the government doing about it? The government insists that its small national law enforcement watchdog, the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, is the answer. But top security and anti-corruption officials and those who have worked closely with ACLEI and have an intimate understanding of its operations, compare the agency to a mouse chasing dragons. Its dedicated investigators often punch above their weight. But with a total staff of 55 (which includes IT, human resources and managers and an estimated 20 investigators), ACLEI is far smaller than most of its state anti-corruption counterparts. It is also reliant on the resources of the agencies it is meant to oversee to run complex operations. For instance, it must use the already in-demand surveillance teams from the Australian Crime Commission or federal police to tail a suspect. Insiders say ACLEI is forced to delay its operations when counter-terror investigations are launched.
"It is shocking. It is facing the biggest threats to the nation's border security and it has the smallest staff and capabilities [of any anti-corruption body or law enforcement agency]," says one source. Allegations of corruption within border security are not new. In 2010, a customs officer working at Sydney Airport became suspicious of some of her border security colleagues. She reported her concerns to superiors but was initially met with indifference and even hostility. All the while, small drug imports were passing Australia's borders, care of a corrupt Sydney Airport customs officer called Adrian Lamella and his small band of crooks. When the concerns about Lamella were finally passed to the federal police in about 2011, a senior AFP officer initially deemed the evidence insufficient to begin a probe. So yet more drugs passed through the border. Meanwhile, the Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity ACLEI began conducting its own investigation, before calling on the federal police again for help. This time, a different AFP officer assessed the allegations and launched a major probe with the commission which ultimately led to the charging and recent conviction of Lamella and the disciplining or charging of several other Sydney airport customs staff. The then federal home affair minister, Jason Clare, along with customs boss Michael Pezzullo, assured the public that the arrest of the officers, along with major integrity reforms being implemented within customs, would help avoid another scandal on the scale of the Sydney Airport trafficking ring.
But those familiar with the Sydney Airport investigation tell a different story. ACLEI's ability to investigate serious corruption was exposed as woeful during the airport probe, with investigators relying on equipment borrowed from the Australian Crime Commission. While ACLEI's resources have increased since then, it continues to operate from a relatively small base. More serious was that, at the time the Sydney Airport probe was operating, fresh information was being sent to ACLEI about serious corruption problems involving customs officials responsible for detecting maritime drug importations. "[Operation] Marca identified a small group of corrupt customs officers at one airport in Australia. Customs is operating all over the country and has a long history of corrupt problems and sweeping them under the carpet," a source who has worked alongside ACLEI said. "The docks are a different ball game. It is well entrenched. Bringing in a few tonnes of ecstasy through the wharves is a lot different to smuggling in a few kilos of cocaine through the airport." Multiple law enforcement sources tell a similar story about discovering serious suspected corruption involving customs officials responsible for detecting maritime drug and tobacco importations. Recent cases include a customs officer tipping off organised criminals in return for bribes of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Another Border Force officer in NSW is suspected of actively facilitating large drug importations.
A top secret NSW Police briefing about one Middle Eastern syndicate states that its members, who include outlaw bikie gang members and Middle Eastern crime bosses, have "assistance from border protection officers working at the [Customs Examination Facility]." A confidential police chart of members of the NSW criminal underworld with suspected links to Border Force staff also reveals deeply concerning links to border force officials. Some of the criminals named in the chart are among the top illegal tobacco and drug importers in Australia. To fight this threat to the nation's borders, "ACLEI needs to be ten-dupled in size," says one security source. Says another anti-corruption fighter who has worked alongside ACLEI on highly sensitive jobs: "They are heavily reliant on the AFP. The trouble is when you are that reliant, it infects the sort of jobs ACLEI will take on." This source also has concerns about ACLEI's decision to avoid public hearings into corruption, despite having the power to hold them. ACLEI is also reluctant to engage with the media about its operations, meaning the public rarely finds out about the true extent of corruption, cultural problems and management failures in the nation's border security agencies. The source says the ACLEI model of arresting a few bad guys, and then releasing only a limited (often in the form of a report) broader public examination into what is causing their corruption, allows the government to claim success in a post-arrest press conference and promptly move on from any scandal.
This suits a government's desire to appear strong, and in control, of the nation's border security. "Politicians aren't stupid. This is how they want ACLEI to run," says the source. Supporters of ACLEI, which has directed most of its limited resources into fighting border corruption, argue it is slowly taking out the federal government officials working on the dark side. They also point out that there are immense benefits to working with the more experienced and better resourced agencies that ACLEI also oversees. The Federal government has recently passed laws to ensure that people with criminal histories are not giving the government security clearance to work on the waterfront or at airports. On Wednesday, ACLEI officers raided the home of Richard Vong and some of his associates (Fairfax Media decided not to reveal its investigation into Vong until these raids in order not to compromise ACLEI's operation.) Among the major questions arising from these raids are how organised criminals could relatively easily, and for several years, apparently cultivate border security officials without detection. The Australian Border Force is facing those same questions.
In the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday Fairfax Media's barrister Tom Blackburn, SC, told the jury the publisher of the Herald could defend Mr Di Girolamo's claim that a series of articles about him, AWH and the Obeids were defamatory because they were in fact true or substantially true.
Fairfax Media claims documents show the Obeids had a secret stake in AWH, which directly contradicts statements made by Mr Di Girolamo to journalist Linton Besser in a December 2012 interview.
Nicholas "Nick" Di Girolamo entered into a sham agreement with the Obeid family to hide the family's interest in Australian Water Holdings to quarantine the water services company from the perceived bad publicity attached to the Obeid name, a court has heard.
Mr Di Girolamo is suing Fairfax Media in defamation for damages, claiming the articles, published between December 2012 and August 2013, depict him as a liar for saying the Obeid family had no interest in AWH.
Journalists Linton Besser, Kate McClymont and Sean Nicholls outside the Supreme Court this week. Credit:Peter Rae
Further, he says the articles carry the defamatory imputation he was party to the corrupt conduct of Mr Obeid in that he lied about the family's $3 million stake in AWH in order to quarantine the company of which he was chief executive from bad publicity attached to that family's name.
Besser, a former Herald journalist who now works for the ABC, says in an interview in December 2012 Mr Di Girolamo said to him: "I have never been involved in a transaction with the Obeids. I have never had anything to do with the Obeids."
But Mr Blackburn told the jury of four women there was nothing wrong in the Obeids holding this $3 million stake, but "Mr Di Girolamo simply didn't tell the truth when he said what he said to Mr Besser".
Less than two weeks ago, Dakota Rose was a normal nine-year-old girl, loving family, netball and riding motorbikes.
The next day she felt a pain in her side. Within days the hard lump was discovered to be a type of cancer mostly restricted to women five times her age, an ovarian tumour.
By Friday, doctors in Brisbane had operated to remove as much of a 13-centimetre tumour that had spread throughout her abdomen as they could.
On Wednesday, she was enduring her second blast of chemotherapy with grandma Gracie Cooper by her side as doctors at the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital tried to destroy the rest of the cancerous cells.
Is company-provided food for employees a fat waste of money or an investment in staff productivity?
I read about the benefits of employers supplying food for staff in a recent Strategy+ Business blog. The author argued that company-provided lunches easily paid for themselves as staff spent extra time in the office.
Food and work: no evidence of higher productivity. Credit:Greg Newington
Motivating employees, team building, and providing healthy food and drink choices were other claimed benefits.
What rubbish. I'm all for workplace perks, but the blog made no mention of the extra office space required to feed staff, the lack of productivity when employees spend too much unnecessary time in the office, or the dangers of blurring work and life at work.
Google has unveiled a second-generation virtual reality viewer, accompanied by a motion controller, as it prepares to build its new Daydream VR platform into the upcoming Android N smartphone operating system.
The first viewers will be available later this year, with Google releasing a reference design for hardware partners which incorporates a head strap. It is accompanied by a two-button handheld motion controller with a clickable touchpad to allow users to interact with a virtual environment.
Clay Bavor, the leader of Google's VR division, announces Google Daydream. Credit:Adam Turner
The viewer does not contain a display it still relies on an Android device as the screen and it's unclear whether Google will manufacture its own headset or leave it to hardware-makers to follow its specifications.
The announcement builds on the success of Google's Cardboard VR viewer, with users already installing 50 million Cardboard-compatible apps. While Cardboard works with a wide range of smartphones, the new viewer and controller are designed to only work with handsets supporting Google's upcoming Daydream virtual reality platform initially designed for Android smartphones but set to come to other devices.
The Anglican Church has offered Geelong's Muslim community a temporary place of worship after its mosque was destroyed by fire.
Melbourne Bishop Philip Huggins said he had told Imam Mohammad Ramzan he could use the hall of All Saints church in Newtown for Friday prayers, if needed.
Bishop Huggins said the church wanted to help "our Muslim friends continue their devotional life".
The roof and interior of the Geelong mosque - a bluestone former church - were destroyed by the fire in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Thirteen students have been expelled from Deakin University for paying a third party to complete their assignments for them.
An investigation by the university found that the 13 undergraduate engineering students - including domestic and international students - were kicked out in a breach called "contract cheating".
Deakin University has expelled 13 engineering students after they were caught paying a third party to complete their assignments for them.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Education Professor Beverley Oliver sent a letter to all students at Deakin on Monday afternoon informing them of the breach.
She warned that students could lose their place at the university and international students could have their visa revoked if they were caught cheating.
Chinese tourists prefer Dongdaemun Market, while Japanese visitors like Namdaemun Market, a recent survey by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry of 300 Chinese and Japanese tourists suggests.
Such surveys often establish quite distinct preferences between the two biggest groups of foreign tourists in Korea. Kim Kyung-jong at the KCCI said, "This is due to subtle differences in the shopping lists between the two groups and the styles they prefer."
The homeless camp in City Square has split. The leader of the "families", Stuart Polden, 40, says he woke Tuesday night to a group of drug addicts and "blow ins" stashing stolen bikes at the camp.
Other undesirables had started to colonise the protest camp too, ruining Mr Polden's plans for an effective protest against crackdowns on rough sleepers.
Stuart Polden has moved back to Enterprize Park, after staging a camp protest in the City Square. Credit:Paul Jeffers
Mr Polden called the police and has now taken his families back to a regular camp, on the huge concrete podiums under the rail viaduct at Enterprize Park.
For the two long-time Melbourne teachers, it was an overseas career opportunity that must have sounded too good to knock back when chatting over canapes during a job fair at the Langham Hotel.
But in just over a year things had gone very wrong: culminating in a ruined Chinese New Year holiday, a repossessed Tianjin apartment full of Ikea furniture and a million-dollar lawsuit against one of Melbourne's most exclusive schools.
Teachers Andrew Settle and Trudy Thomson. Credit:Facebook
Haileybury College is being sued by two former teachers who say they were unfairly sacked from its Chinese campus a school its founding principal said was established to help keep already sky-high fees down for Melbourne students.
And to make matters worse, the aggrieved couple claim they only found out about their marching orders in the departure lounge of Sydney Airport while waiting for a return flight to China.
Just 39 per cent believed that most people in their community could be trusted.
A survey of 1400 people from across Melbourne found that only 41 per cent were confident their neighbourhood would "pull together" in an emergency.
It is often said the worst situations bring out the best in people but it seems many Melburnians have little faith in their neighbours in the event of a calamity.
The findings, released as part of the inaugural Resilient Melbourne strategy are concerning because past experience shows that people in communities that are more connected are more likely to survive disasters and recover quickly.
When a heatwave struck Chicago in 1995 there were two poor neighbourhoods that endured drastically different death rates (3 deaths per 100,000, versus 33 deaths per 100,000).
In the area with the higher survival rate, people were more likely to check on each other, particularly the vulnerable and the elderly.
Melbourne's chief resilience officer, Toby Kent, said he didn't know why some Melburnians seemed to doubt the capacity of their communities to step up in the midst of a disaster arguing instead that Australians had a track record of banding together in an emergency.
"We may or may not go out of our way to embrace our neighbours on an everyday basis but there is a deep sense that we will pull together when times are tough," Mr Kent said.
Longxiang 'Jeremy' Hu was fatally bashed in Chinatown in April last year. And the assault happened in La Trobe Place, just off Chinatown's Little Bourke Street, at a usually busy time: 10pm on a Friday. The secrecy allowed detectives to identify and then investigate Shenliang Wan, a 22-year-old who was charged with murder on April 27, while mitigating concerns he could leave Australia if it became known the bashing was fatal. Patrick Cronin died after being hit outside a suburban pub last month. Police suspected at least two other Chinese nationals were involved, including Hanjie Liu. Police urge Mr Liu to hand himself in, but fear he may have fled overseas.
It is believed a third man has been questioned by police. Hanjie Liu has been convicted for his part in the fatal bashing of Jeremy Hu. Mr Wan is alleged to have been the most violent of the group during the bashing. While Mr Cronin was allegedly punched once outside a pub in Diamond Creek on April 16, Mr Liu died from multiple injuries allegedly caused by a sustained beating. Police fear Chinese national Hanjie Liu may have fled overseas.
Yarra Valley Grammar principal Mark Merry said the friends and family of Mr Hu, an international student completing his VCE, were struggling to understand how a young man who lived so peacefully could die so violently. "He was very unassuming, a quiet, decent and really likeable kid," Dr Merry said. "So for such violence to be inflicted on him was incomprehensible really. "He must have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time." It is unclear why Mr Hu was in Chinatown, but Dr Merry said he attended English language classes in the city.
Mr Hu did not regularly go out, friends said, or attend karaoke bars in the area. He was not with any other students at the school at the time of the assault, and it is believed he did not know the men who allegedly set upon him. Since arriving at the Ringwood school to start year 11 last year, he had developed a close-knit group of friends. On May 5, they joined Mr Hu's parents, and the Melbourne family Mr Hu lived with, in planting a Ginkgo biloba, or maidenhair tree, in his honour near a water feature in the senior school. It is the national tree of China.
Jeremy Hu was a a 'quiet, decent and really likeable kid'. Mr Hu grew up an only child about 8600 kilometres away from Melbourne in Qingdao, on the Yellow Sea. He planned to go to university in Australia next year, and his parents planned to settle here too, Dr Merry said. Instead, they travelled to Melbourne to be told that nothing could be done to save their son, and that his life support would be turned off. "They are a very close family, he has lovely parents, so it was an awful situation," Dr Merry said.
A Perth woman dubbed the "Christmas Grinch" for stealing parcels from people's doorsteps in December has been fined $2400 and ordered to pay thousands in compensation after completing a court-ordered drug and alcohol program.
Ashton Coverley pleaded guilty to six stealing offences in Joondalup Magistrates Court on Wednesday, each attracting a $400 fine.
Coverley and her co-accused were caught on CCTV following delivery vans in Perth's northern suburbs and taking parcels from doorsteps.
The footage was widely circulated on social media and led to the 26-year-old and her 25-year-old co-accused being arrested a day later on December 17.
A 33-year-old man will be forced to return to WA from Victoria to face claims he raped a 14-year-old girl in Perth in 2009.
Police spokeswoman Ros Weatherall said police will allege the sex assault took place in a park in Mirrabooka on February 21.
Police will allege the sex assault took place in a park in Mirrabooka in 2009. Credit:Craig Sillitoe
The man was arrested by Victorian Police in Colac on Tuesday after a review of the case by a unit tasked with unresolved historic offences.
He will be flown back to Perth on Thursday to face the Perth Magistrates Court on Friday, charged with one count of sexual penetration of a child over 13 and under 16 years of age.
New York: People smugglers made between $US5 billion ($6.8 billion) and $US6 billion ($8.2 billion) in 2015 spiriting roughly 1 million migrants into the European Union, two multinational law enforcement agencies said in a joint report that quantified the profitability of such trafficking.
The report also said that more than 90 per cent of the migrants reaching the EU were helped at some point in their journeys by criminal smuggling networks, and that most of the fees demanded by the smugglers were paid in cash.
African migrants on a dinghy are approached by the Search and Rescue team of SOS Mediterranee during an operation in the Mediterranean sea on Monday when 253 migrants were rescued. Credit:SOS Mediterranee/AP
"A large number of criminal networks as well as individual criminal entrepreneurs now generate substantial profits from migrant smuggling or crimes related to the 'facilitation' of migrant smuggling," said the report, a collaboration between Europol, a law enforcement agency of the 28-nation EU based in The Hague, and Interpol, the 190-member International Criminal Police Organisation, based in Lyon, France.
Any activity which propagates communism, Marxism and Leninism is banned in Indonesia under a 1966 decree which dissolved the PKI. Anyone violating this ban can be sentenced to a maximum 12 years in jail. However, recent fears of a communist revival and the ensuing crackdown have been sparked by last month's historic symposium on the 1965-66 massacre of at least half a million people suspected of leftist leanings. This was the first time the Indonesian Government has ever endorsed a forum to discuss one of the darkest chapters in Indonesia's history. Chief Security Minister Luhut Panjaitan subsequently announced the government would form a team to excavate mass graves.
Australian National University Professor Ariel Heryanto the only speaker at the symposium from outside Indonesia attributes the paranoia about a resurgence of communism to a number of factors. One, he says, is genuine anxiety about the possibility that those responsible for the massacre could be indicted for crimes against humanity. Another is the angry and hostile response to the symposium, which acknowledged the plight of the victims of the 1965 massacre and sought some form of reconciliation. And third, he suggests a ploy on the part of disenchanted segments within the political elite to destabilise the government. Asked if he was expecting the backlash, Professor Heryanto said: "Definitely, we are witnessing it now".
Earlier this month rumours swept Indonesia that the PKI planned to stage a reunion in Yogyakarta on May 9. The day before the phantom reunion a group of anti-communist activists calling themselves the Anti Communist Red White Elements, issued a statement warning that communist ideology was "still an insidious problem that is growing in Indonesia". It urged the government to retain the ban on communist teachings, reaffirm its decision not to apologise to the so-called victims of the anti-communist purge and take action against any activities associated with the PKI and its derivatives. Banners were erected around Yogyakarta with slogans such as: "Save Indonesian youth from the latent danger of communism". Yogyakarta deputy police chief Abdul Hasyim Gani told Fairfax Media he still didn't know why Yogyakarta had been selected as the location for the rumoured PKI reunion. "We also don't know the reason behind it," he said.
"The police cybercrime division detected the source of the broadcast was from Vietnam. But that has proven it was just a rumour. There's no proof that PKI is making a comeback." Meanwhile, publishing company Ultimus said a bookshop in Yogyakarta was told it could not display a book about the history of 1965. "The book content was said to twist PKI history," said Ultimus editor Bilven Rivaldo. "But that's not true. There is no official version of history. There are different points of view of history. Such a thing [confiscating leftist books] is like going back to the New Order era. If anyone tries to defy the government they get shut down." President Joko Widodo, who initially ordered the military and police to uphold the law against any spread of communist teaching, recently warned them not to be excessive. "Democracy is the substance of the state. So the police, as well as the military, went too far with their sweeping operations," the Jakarta Post quoted Cabinet secretary Pramono Anung as saying on Friday.
Washington: The US will lift a broad array of sanctions on Myanmar, removing restrictions on state-owned banks and businesses to reward a historic move toward democracy in a country dominated for decades by brutal military rule.
The moves, to take effect on Wednesday, will allow American individuals, banks and companies to do business with all financial institutions in Myanmar, easing the flow of exports in and out of the nation formerly known as Burma. It will also enable US citizens living and working there to pay rent and buy goods without running afoul of the law.
A Myanmar construction worker carries construction debris in Yangon on Tuesday. Credit:AP
The easing of restrictions represents the latest effort by President Barack Obama to use diplomacy coupled with sanctions relief to prod a country that the US once isolated toward greater openness. That principle was at the heart of Mr Obama's agreement last year with Iran, which relaxed sanctions in exchange for restraints on Iran's nuclear program. It has also been the driving force behind the opening with Cuba.
Sales of humidifier disinfectants manufactured by Oxy Reckitt Benckiser plunged a whopping 53 percent on-year between April 18 and May 1.
The plummet in sales is due to the mass boycott of the company's products, which is rapidly expanding through social media.
In 2011, the British-based company's household humidifier disinfectant was found to contain chemicals linked to hundreds of deaths and serious injuries in Korea.
On Monday, the company's CEO Ata Safdar delivered a formal public apology and offered to pay out more than US$4 million in compensation.
The victims and their families refused to accept the apology, calling it an attempt to avoid further investigations and end the boycott.
Bangkok: Vietnam wants US president Barack Obama to lift a decades-long arms embargo during his first visit to the communist country on Sunday, 41 years after the end of one of the most divisive wars in American history.
The move would allow Vietnam to further modernise its armed forces as a counter to China at a time of heightened tensions over Beijing's aggressive claim to almost all the South China Sea.
Military personnel take part in a parade celebrating the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War in Ho Chi Minh City last year. Credit:AP
Vietnam and China have overlapping claims in the flashpoint waters where US$5 trillion ($6.9 trillion) of trade passes each year.
Recently, New York audiences have been rediscovering some long-overlooked, landmark works of the stage. Broadway's Shuffle Along, currently running at the Music Box Theatre, takes a fascinating look at the first all-black musical to be produced on Broadway back in 1921. Farther downtown, Paula Vogel's new work, Indecent, running at the Vineyard Theatre in association with La Jolla Playhouse and Yale Repertory Theatre, re-creates the making of Sholem Asch's 1906 Yiddish play The God of Vengeance. The incendiary drama shocked Broadway audiences and offended the censors in 1923 with its explicit depiction of a lesbian relationship.
Vogel's metatheatrical exploration of The God of Vengeance traces its history from the play's first reading to its Broadway premiere and, later, its relegation to the forgotten files. Lemml (Richard Topol), a stage manager, narrates the action. "We have a story we want to tell you," he says. "About a play. A play that changed my life." We soon learn that at the heart of The God of Vengeance's then-controversial plot is a father and brothel owner named Yankl whose daughter falls in love with one of his prostitutes.
This was heady stuff in early 20th-century America. Along with Lemml, there is the passionate, surprisingly forward-thinking acting troupe (all are referred to merely as "Actor" in the program) who steadfastly refuse to remove the production's crucial lesbian love scene when the public and censors demand it.
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Katrina Lenk and Adina Verson portray, among other characters, Dorothee and Virginia, the two actresses whose infamous onstage kiss brings The God of Vengeance acclaim and infamy. The troupe has extraordinary success with the play for many years in Europe, but at the 1923 Broadway opening, the actors and producer are arrested for obscenity and later put on trial. Meanwhile, a disaffected Asch (Max Gordon Moore) sequesters himself at home on Staten Island to write Yiddish novels in solitude. Years after the trial, the actors leave America and go on to perform the play again in Europe, eventually winding up in a Polish ghetto during the German occupation. It is not long before they find themselves subjected to the horrors of the Nazi regime.
Vogel and director Rebecca Taichman tell this important and at times harrowing story through Lemml's haunting recollections. Taichman's ghostly characters rise from the ashes attired in drab-colored clothes of yesteryear (costumes by Emily Rebholz) in the evocative first scene. "Every night we tell this story, but somehow I can never remember the end," says Lemml prophetically. It's an ominous beginning to a drama that often erupts with delightful musical moments. Band members Mike Cohen, Lisa Gutkin, and Aaron Halva accompany the action with klezmer-style songs and interludes that get the actors singing and dancing onstage (choreography by David Dorfman) on Riccardo Hernandez's simple square-platform set. Surrounded by ever-present suitcases, the space reflects how, for these actors, the stage was indeed their entire life.
Indecent features inspired, presumably fictionalized moments of theater history. Eugene O'Neill (performed with real gusto by Moore) makes a brief appearance as a staunch advocate for God of Vengeance. Moore, Mimi Lieber, Tom Nelis, and Steven Rattazzi (along with Lenk, and Moore, and Verson) contribute to Indecent's large roster of characters, each taking on six or seven roles. The play's reach across the decades necessitates this many characters, but as scenes shift quickly through time and place it's often difficult to tell who is who.
That hurdle, combined with the directorial choices around those moments, mitigates Indecent's raw power. Tal Yarden's projections include frequent supertitles to indicate scene locales, "blinks in time," and languages spoken by the characters (Yiddish, English, and German). Awkward staging techniques, such as Lemml walking around the stage in slow-motion to indicate the passage of time, and the perplexing final rain scene (a literal onstage deluge), also constantly remind the audience that this is theater, making it difficult to connect with these once supposedly real people. The history behind Asch's seminal work is fascinating enough without calling attention away from the story with special effects.
Nevertheless, Indecent ranks as a must-see for anyone who cares about the important legacy of Yiddish theater, or of theater in general. It doesn't shock the way The God of Vengeance did a century ago, but we are indebted to Vogel and Taichman for reminding us of a brave play that fearlessly told the world there's nothing indecent about love.
SINGAPORE, May 18, 2016 -- Bosch, a leading global supplier of technology and services, ended its 2015 fiscal year with SGD 1.2 billion (780 million euros) in consolidated sales in Southeast Asia. The full acquisition of two former fifty-fifty joint ventures, BSH Hausgerate GmbH and Robert Bosch Automotive Steering GmbH, pushed sales up by almost SGD 120 million (78 million euros), or 12 percent. Bosch saw healthy growth in its operations as well; calculated on a comparable basis, sales in Southeast Asia grew by over five percent compared to the previous year. The company's workforce in the region increased by almost eight percent to over 6,800 associates during the same time-period. In Singapore, sales to third parties registered at SGD 224 million (147 million euros) for 2015 and headcount stood at around 910 associates.
"Against a challenging business environment in Southeast Asia, many of our business divisions have performed well, particularly in promising markets such as Vietnam and the Philippines, as well as the automotive hub of Thailand. With our products 'invented for life', we help make a difference in the region," said Martin Hayes, president of Bosch in Southeast Asia. "To succeed in a dynamic and fast-changing landscape, we must be agile and adapt to new ways of seizing opportunities. This includes developing new business models, strengthening our collaboration with partners and like-minded innovators, and widening the online portfolio of our consumer-centric products."
Development of Bosch business sectors in 2015
Bosch's Mobility Solutions business sector achieved double-digit growth in Southeast Asia. The Automotive Aftermarket division is gaining traction in its off-highway segment, and will stay on the course of continuous growth by expanding its product offerings for this market. The division will also focus its efforts in mining-intensive markets such as Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar.
The Industrial Technology business sector experienced positive developments with packaging technologies for the food manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries. However, it was affected by the global weakening of the mechanical engineering segment as well as the slowing down of the oil and gas industry.
The Consumer Goods business sector, comprising Bosch's power tools and home appliances activities, experienced strong growth across Southeast Asia partly due to sales from online platforms. The Power Tools division outperformed the industry in this region, including Singapore despite a cooled residential construction industry in the country.
Across Southeast Asia, Bosch helped the manufacturing and real estate industries with innovative solutions from its Energy and Building Technology business sector. 2015 was a record year for the Thermotechnology division as it secured key projects in the food and beverage (F&B) and healthcare industries, and aims to expand its heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) portfolio in this region. Conference, public address, fire alarm, and internet-enabled (IP) video systems were the main drivers that enabled the Security Systems division to secure and equip commercial developments, key infrastructure and installations, as well as conference venues. The division experienced strong growth in Singapore and Malaysia as well as in developing markets such as Indonesia and Vietnam, and will be enhancing its offerings in the domain of the Internet of Things (IoT).
Developing the building blocks of IoT from Singapore
Singapore is one of the world's leading countries in information and communications infrastructure with a strong impetus to become the leading smart nation. As such, the country is the Asia Pacific headquarters for Bosch Software Innovations as well as one of the subsidiary's software development centre for the Bosch Group's IoT solutions. In line with Singapore's increasing focus on robotics, for example, Bosch has chosen Singapore as a development location for advanced robotics software capabilities. This development is planned to commence mid-2016, and will focus on the development of connected robotics software and their associated user interface capabilities.
As a strategic member of the Eclipse Foundation, Bosch initiated Vorto -- an IoT information model repository project that provides a means for standardizing information about IoT devices. Such a standardization will enable application developers to integrate a broad range of devices and platforms into their solutions without the need for vendor-specific coding. The Eclipse Foundation is an open source community which aims to promote and establish an open platform for IoT. The project team behind Vorto is from the Bosch Software Innovations software development centre in Singapore.
In March 2016, the Bosch Group launched its own cloud for web-based services in Germany. In the Bosch IoT Cloud, the company runs various applications for its connected mobility, connected industries, and connected buildings businesses. The cloud enables Bosch and its partners to offer the Bosch IoT Suite as Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and IoT solutions as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) under stringent data privacy and data security guidelines as stipulated by German law. A second cloud location is currently being implemented in Singapore and is scheduled to start operating in the second half of this year. Furthermore, the development of the marketplace component for the Bosch IoT Cloud is undertaken by the software division's development centre in Singapore, which will also continue to provide innovative components for both the software platform as well as the cloud.
The high-rise urban environment of Singapore also offers interesting opportunities for Bosch: In 2016, the company will implement its first smart building monitoring project in the country, including tracking the operating condition of elevators within a building for irregularities. As data from sensors are transmitted and analysed by the Bosch IoT Suite software, the system will then help create a safer and more pleasant journey for passengers through the efficient scheduling of lift maintenance before a breakdown occurs. Another similar project involves sensors in washrooms that will enable the dynamic deployment of cleaners according to the needs of each washroom. Based on real-time motion and aroma data, the optimizing and maximizing of cleaning resources results in the enhanced cleanliness of all washrooms within the building and the comfort for their users.
Bosch Group worldwide business outlook for 2016
Following a record year in 2015, the Bosch Group wants to continue its growth trend this year. The leading global supplier of technology and services expects worldwide sales to grow within an exchange rate-adjusted range of 3 to 5 percent in 2016. Speaking at the company's annual press conference in Germany, Bosch CEO Volkmar Denner said: "We plan to grow not only with innovative products, but also with innovative services." In the connectivity business, Bosch focuses on the "3S's": sensors, software, and services. The company is increasingly using connected services to build on its broad basis in the hardware business. As it does so, Bosch benefits not just from its technological diversification, but also from its wide-ranging industry and domain expertise. The newly created Bosch Global Service Solutions division, the recently established Bosch IoT Cloud, as well as the Bosch Smart Home System launched at the start of 2016 contribute to this strategy.
In Asia Pacific, the Bosch Group boosted its sales in 2015 to a total of SGD 29.3 billion (19.2 billion euros), thus registering a nominal growth of 17 percent on a comparable basis (2.8 percent after adjusting for exchange-rate effects). At 27 percent of total Bosch sales revenue, the region's share of sales remained at the high level of the previous year.
Bosch in Southeast Asia and Singapore
Robert Bosch (South East Asia) Pte Ltd is a regional subsidiary of the Bosch Group, representing the Group's interests in Southeast Asia, where it is currently present in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. Business operations in the 10 ASEAN countries report to Robert Bosch (SEA) Pte Ltd, located in Singapore. In fiscal 2015, the company generated SGD 224 million in sales in Singapore. As per December 31, 2015, the regional headquarters employed around 920 associates. Bosch has been in Singapore since 1923, active in Automotive Aftermarket, Power Tools, Security Systems, Drive and Control Technology, Packaging Technology, Thermotechnology, as well as Software and Systems Solutions. The Asia Pacific headquarters for the Bosch business divisions of Automotive Aftermarket, Security Systems and Bosch Software Innovations, as well as operations for Corporate Research and Advance Engineering, and Information Technology, are part of Robert Bosch (SEA) Pte Ltd.
Additional Information can be accessed at www.bosch.com.sg,
www.facebook.com/BoschSingapore
About Bosch Group
The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 375,000 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2015). The company generated sales of more 70.6 billion euros in 2015. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology.
The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 440 subsidiaries and regional companies in some 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Bosch's
global manufacturing and sales network covers some 150 countries. The basis for the company's future growth is its innovative strength. Bosch employs 55,800 associates in research and development at roughly 118 locations across the globe. The Bosch Group's strategic objective is to deliver innovations for a connected life. Bosch improves quality of
life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is "Invented for life."
Additional information is available online at www.bosch.com, www.bosch-press.com, twitter.com/BoschPresse
SOURCE Robert Bosch Southeast Asia
CONTACT: Amos Choy, +65 6571 2057, amos.choy@sg.bosch.com
RELATED LINKShttp://www.bosch.com.sg
TORRANCE, Calif., May 18, 2016 -- Acura has revealed its second generation automated development vehicle in California, a modified version of the RLX Sport Hybrid SH-AWD luxury performance sedan. The RLX has been fitted with a new suite of radar, Lidar, camera and GPS sensors, complemented by higher performance CPUs and GPUs, and improved cabling, heat management and circuitry. These enhancements have been combined with new, more intelligent software algorithms to support more complex testing scenarios.
The development vehicle is designed to achieve high reliability by fusing overlapping information together from various sensors. This concept, known as sensor fusion, allows test engineers to validate information from each signal with a higher degree of accuracy than can be obtained from any one of the sensors independently. For example, the vehicle's radar sensors are adept at detecting the relative position and velocity of off-board objects with pinpoint accuracy, while the camera system is best suited to help detect and identify objects based on size and shape. This same concept is applied in the AcuraWatch safety and driver-assistive suite available on all model year 2016 Acura sedans and SUVs.
The vehicle will be tested by Honda Research Institute USA at GoMentum Station, a 5,000-acre automated and connected vehicle proving ground in the San Francisco Bay Area. GoMentum Station contains 20-miles of paved, city-like roadway grids, buildings and other urban infrastructure, providing a realistic environment that will help accelerate the development of automated and connected vehicle technologies. This testing program is aligned with the company's goal to introduce automated driving technologies around 2020.
About Acura Active Safety
Safety performance has been a core element of Acura's commitment to excellence since the brand was founded three decades ago. All model year 2016 Acura sedans and SUVs are available with AcuraWatch, one of the most advanced suites of safety and driver-assistive technologies in the class. AcuraWatch includes Adaptive Cruise Control, a Lane Keeping Assist System, Road Departure Mitigation and a Collision Mitigation Braking System (an AEB technology) with pedestrian-sensing capability.
About Honda Research Institute USA
Honda Research Institute USA (HRI-US) conducts research in the areas of computer and materials science, and develops strategic partnerships with public and private institutions to foster innovation. HRI-US was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Silicon Valley. Learn more at http://www.honda-ri.com/HRI_Us/
IRVINE, Calif.Kerrigan Advisors today announced that The KAR Index (The Kerrigan Auto Retail Index) has dropped 9% from 496.82 to 452.49 in just the last two weeks, indicating depressed public auto retailer valuations. The KAR Index attributes the sharp drop to higher inventory levels, gross margin compression in new vehicle sales, and weakening retailer sales forecasts.
This is a continuation of a volatile first quarter, said Erin Kerrigan, Managing Director of Kerrigan Advisors. After far outperforming the S&P 500 between 2009 and 2015 by over 700%, gravity is starting to set in. With sales growth slowing, auto retail will be a much more competitive industry going forward, likely resulting in lower earnings growth.
The latest KAR Index, which is a monthly index for the auto retail industry covering the seven publicly traded auto retail companies with operations focused on the US market, shows:
Weakening sales projections and inventory surpluses are having an impact on the publics forecasts, contributing to declines in their share prices.
Five of the seven publics Asbury Automotive Group, Group 1 Automotive, Lithia Motors, Auto Nation, and CarMax reporting drops in net income in the first quarter of 2016
Margins for new car sales are under pressure from high inventory levels, more internet sales channels, and increased consumer awareness.
Although the publics share prices are depressed, there is a silver lining: auto retailers have been taking advantage of the dip by repurchasing stock, allowing them to decrease the number of shares outstanding and increase their EPS, said Ryan Kerrigan, Managing Director of Kerrigan Advisors.
The KAR Index is designed to help public and private auto retailers understand the true value of their dealerships, while also providing key insights into factors influencing valuations of these public companies, with broader implications for the auto industry as a whole. To access the KAR Index, click here.
Kerrigan Advisors also releases The Blue Sky Report four times a year and includes Kerrigan Advisors signature blue sky charts, multiples and analysis for each franchise in the luxury and non-luxury segments. The multiples are based on Kerrigan Advisors view of franchise values in the current buy/sell market and can be applied to adjusted pre-tax dealership earnings to estimate blue sky value. To download The Blue Sky Report, click here.
Erin Kerrigan is Managing Director of Kerrigan Advisors, and is a recognized industry expert on dealership valuation, real estate, and buy/sells. A sought after commentator on automotive retailing topics ranging from consumer auto buying trends to auto retail consolidation to private equity in auto retail, she has keynoted numerous automotive conferences and her analysis has appeared in publications such as Automotive News and the Wall Street Journal. For a recent video of Erins commentary on the market, click here.
About Kerrigan Advisors
Kerrigan Advisors is a national dealership buy/sell advisory firm focused on providing a high level of client service for dealership sellers. Led by a team of veteran advisors who have represented transactions totaling over $2 billion dollars in automotive, private equity, and investment banking, Kerrigan Advisors customizes each sale process to maximize the sellers transaction proceeds. With the most comprehensive buyer database in the industry, Kerrigan Advisors has the industry context and expertise to match each seller with the right buyer.
Each quarter, Kerrigan Advisors publishes The Blue Sky Report, a Kerrigan Quarterly, which is the auto industry's most comprehensive and authoritative quarterly report and analysis of dealership buy/sell activity and franchise values. Kerrigan Advisors Managing Director Erin Kerrigan, who authors the report, is a recognized industry expert on dealership valuation, real estate, and buy/sells, and is a frequent speaker at leading auto retail events and conferences, including NADA, JD Power Automotive Roundtable, AICPA, NADC, and Driving Sales Presidents Club. She has also been a keynote speaker for events hosted by American Honda Motor Company, Audi of America, US Trust, Ohio Automobile Dealer Association, and SunTrust Bank, and has led webinars for NADA and Automotive News. Her expertise is also featured in a monthly column for Dealer Magazine.
Contacts
Kerrigan Advisors Media Contact:
mWEBB Communications
Melanie Webber, 424.603.4340
melanie@mwebbcom.com
First Look At Volvo's Future Models
Gothenburg, Sweden, 18th May 2016; Volvo Cars, the premium car maker, today unveiled two new concept cars that move the Swedish brand in an audacious new direction and mark the official launch of its global small car strategy.
Todays newly-revealed 40 series concepts demonstrate for the first time how Volvo Cars plans to expand into the large and lucrative global market for premium small cars with a range of vehicles that combine bold exterior and interior design with industry-leading connectivity, electrification and autonomous drive technologies.
The new concept cars will be the first built around Volvo Cars new Compact Modular Architecture (CMA), which has been specially created for smaller cars and which has liberated the companys designers and engineers to explore bold and daring new directions.
Each member of our product family has its own distinct character, just like the members of a real family. CMA has helped us to capture something special, something youthful in our new concept cars. They have an energy, a disruptive and engaging urban character that makes them stand out amongst the crowd. This is the flavour of small Volvos to come, said Thomas Ingenlath, Senior Vice President, Design, at Volvo Car Group.
Volvo Cars small car strategy is an essential element in its ongoing global operational and financial transformation. The Swedish company is currently implementing an ambitious revitalisation plan that will reposition the brand to compete with its global premium competitors within the next four years.
Volvos new global small car range will include a pure battery electric vehicle as well as Twin Engine plug-in hybrid powertrain variants, in line with the companys commitment to the electrification of its entire portfolio. Volvo Cars plans to have sold a total of up to 1 million electrified cars by 2025 globally.
By taking a modular approach to both vehicle architecture and powertrain development we have succeeded in leap-frogging many of the players in the premium segment, said Dr Peter Mertens, Senior Vice President Research & Development. Our new battery electric powertrain variant opens yet another exciting chapter in the unfolding Volvo Cars story.
On top of their daring exterior design and electrified powertrain options, the new cars will also offer a full range of innovative connectivity services, plus the worlds most advanced standard package of safety features and ground breaking Scandinavian interior design.
The new 40 series cars have the potential to improve our market penetration in an important and growing segment, said Hakan Samuelsson, president and chief executive. An electric powertrain program including both a new compact Twin Engine plug-in hybrid as well as a pure electric car are central to the CMA architecture. He added that the first new 40 series car is expected to go into production in 2017.
The announcement of Volvo Cars new global small car strategy comes on the back of a strong start to the year in terms of sales and profitability.
Volvo Car Group in 2015
For the 2015 financial year, Volvo Car Group recorded an operating profit of 6,620 MSEK (2,128 MSEK in 2014). Revenue over the period amounted to 164,043 MSEK (137,590 MSEK). In 2015, global sales reached a record 503,127 cars, an increase of 8 per cent versus 2014. The record sales and operating profit cleared the way for Volvo Car Group to continue investing in its global transformation plan.
About Volvo Car Group
Volvo has been in operation since 1927. Today, Volvo Cars is one of the most well-known and respected car brands in the world with sales of 503,127 in 2015 in about 100 countries. Volvo Cars has been under the ownership of the Zhejiang Geely Holding (Geely Holding) of China since 2010. It formed part of the Swedish Volvo Group until 1999, when the company was bought by Ford Motor Company of the US. In 2010, Volvo Cars was acquired by Geely Holding.
As of December 2015, Volvo Cars had almost 29,000 employees worldwide. Volvo Cars head office, product development, marketing and administration functions are mainly located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo Cars head office for China is located in Shanghai. The companys main car production plants are located in Gothenburg (Sweden), Ghent (Belgium), Chengdu and Daqing (China), while engines are manufactured in Skovde (Sweden) and Zhangjiakou (China) and body components in Olofstrom (Sweden).
Zhang Dejiang, who chairs China's communist-controlled legislature, is the first senior official to come to Hong Kong since the 2014 Occupy pro-democracy demonstrations. His visit is cited as evidence of Beijing's concern and support for the Asian financial hub, but local authorities are preparing for protests from residents opposed to China's tightening grip.
Parts of Hong Kong have been shut down as part of a drastic security increase as the city prepares for a rare visit from one of China's top ranking officials.
Zhang is officially visiting Hong Kong to speak at an economic conference Wednesday. He will also meet with a small group of pro-democracy legislators Wednesday evening. Protest groups have voiced anger at the exclusivity of this meeting. Zhang's visit is also expected to help Beijing gauge whether the city leader, Leung Chun-ying, should continue for another term after his post ends next March.
Thousands of police have been mobilized. Paving stones have been glued to the ground to prevent protestors from using them as missiles, inspired by protests in February during which demonstrators dug up and threw bricks.
"These young people have no idea that they could be putting Hong Kong on a potentially dangerous collision course with the motherland and bringing an unmitigated disaster," former top Hong Kong security official Regina Ip wrote in an editorial in the state-run China Daily.
Many young activists, however, continue to be increasingly vocal about Hong Kong's independence.
"[We] are facing a very great threat from China: Our culture, our language, our people... we are dying!" said Chan Ho-tin, head of the newly-formed National party which is expected to contest legislative elections in September.
Hong Kong is semi-autonomous since being handed back to China by Britain in 1997, with freedoms unseen on the mainland, but there are fears they are being stripped away.
POET responds to EPA Renewable Volume Obligation Proposal
Broin: The EPA is stopping the biofuels industry from meeting its potential and endangering the expansion of cellulosic ethanol
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (May 18, 2016) POET CEO Jeff Broin today responded to the EPAs proposed rule on the 2017 Renewable Volume Obligiations under the Renewable Fuel Standard.
While the proposed numbers from EPA are trending in the right direction, they once again fail to acknowledge the existing capabilities of the biofuels industry and fuel retailers in meeting the goals of the Renewable Fuel Standard.
Congress called for 15 billion gallons of ethanol from corn starting in 2016. The industry is capable of meeting that goal not just in 2017 but right now, today. Similarly, the infrastructure exists to get these clean fuels to market. The EPA is preventing this industry from meeting its potential and endangering the expansion of cellulosic ethanol.
EPAs core mission is to protect public health and the environment. Today, with this proposed rule, it has failed that mission. Biofuels replace cancer-causing agents in gasoline and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The only way to expand these benefits is to allow the market to grow. Consumers deserve the right to choose higher blends of biofuels like ethanol at the pump.
The EPA must amend these numbers to reflect the full volume for corn ethanol use laid out in statute.
About POET
POET, one of the worlds largest ethanol producers, is a leader in biorefining through its efficient, vertically integrated approach to production. The 28-year-old company has a production capacity in excess of 1.7 billion gallons of ethanol and 9 billion pounds of high-protein animal feed annually from its network of 27 production facilities. POET, through its joint venture with DSM, also operates a commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa. For more information, visit http://www.poet.com.
EPA Proposal: Moves RFS Forward, Improvement Still Needed
May 18, 2016 EPA Proposal: Moves RFS Forward, Improvement Still Needed Author: Growth Energy WASHINGTON, D.C. Today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released proposed 2017 Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The conventional biofuel amount of 14.8 billion gallons is an increase from 14.5 billion gallons in 2016, but falls short of the RFS law.
In response Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy, issued the following statement: We are encouraged that the EPA proposal takes a step forward, signaling the critical importance of cleaner burning, less expensive biofuels, like ethanol. However it still falls short of the goals of the Renewable Fuel Standard. Ethanol producers, retailers and the current auto fleet are fully capable of providing consumers with a true choice at the pump.
The Renewable Fuel Standard is our countrys most successful climate and energy policy. It continues to inject much needed competition and consumer choice into the vehicle fuels marketplace. It enables greater consumer use of cleaner biofuels that displace toxic emissions and reduce our carbon footprint, while creating American jobs, revitalizing rural America and lowering the price at the pump. Growth Energy is reviewing this proposal and will actively encourage our members and consumers to engage throughout the public comment period. The administration invested $100 million in biofuels infrastructure this past year and we look forward to working with EPA and the administration to finalize a rule with higher renewable fuel levels to ensure an open and fair fuel marketplace."
See more HERE
IN CONTEXT Advance Auto Parts
500,000 Parts Buyers Shop Here Each Month: Discount Auto Parts
ROANOKE, Va.Advance Auto Parts, Inc. , a leading automotive aftermarket parts provider in North America, serving both professional installer and do-it-yourself customers, today announced that current independent director, Jeffrey C. Smith, has been appointed Chair of the Companys Board of Directors, effective immediately. Mr. Smith succeeds Executive Chair John C. (Jack) Brouillard, who will continue to serve as a director on the Advance Auto Parts Board. In addition, John F. Ferraro is no longer Lead Independent Director but will continue to serve as a director and has been appointed Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee.
Mr. Smith stated, I am honored to serve Advance Auto Parts as its Board Chair. Since joining the Board in November, Advance has taken important steps to generate shareholder value, including implementing a more field-centric organization and appointing a new Chief Executive Officer. I look forward to continuing to work with the Board and management team to help realize the exceptional future potential for the Company. I would also like to thank Jack and John for their leadership and continued contributions to the Board.
Jeffrey Smith is Managing Member, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Starboard Value LP. Mr. Smith joined the Advance Auto Parts Board on November 12, 2015. Mr. Smith is also currently on the Board of Yahoo! Inc. He was formerly Chairman of the Boards of Darden Restaurants, Inc. and Phoenix Technologies Ltd. and formerly on the Boards of Quantum Corporation, Office Depot, Regis Corporation, Surmodics Inc., Zoran Corporation, Actel Corporation, Kensey Nash Corp., S1 Corp and the Fresh Juice Company.
The Company also announced that stockholders voted earlier today at its Annual Meeting of Stockholders to elect the 11 nominees named in the Companys 2016 Proxy Statement to its Board of Directors: John F. Bergstrom, John C. Brouillard, Brad W. Buss, Fiona P. Dias, John F. Ferraro, Thomas R. Greco, Adriana Karaboutis, Eugene I. Lee, Jr., William S. Oglesby, Reuben E. Slone and Jeffrey C. Smith.
In other actions, the Company's stockholders voted to approve the compensation of the Company's named executive officers. The stockholders also ratified the appointment by the Company's Audit Committee of Deloitte & Touche LLP as its independent registered public accounting firm for 2016 and approved a proposal to amend the Company's certificate of incorporation to eliminate the one-year holding period for stockholders who have owned at least 25 percent of the Company's outstanding shares of common stock to call a special meeting. In addition, a majority of the shares voted were cast against an advisory proposal regarding the ability of stockholders to act by written consent.
About Advance Auto Parts
Advance Auto Parts, Inc., a leading automotive aftermarket parts provider in North America, serves both professional installer and do-it-yourself customers. As of January 2, 2016, Advance operated 5,171 stores and 122 Worldpac branches and served approximately 1,300 independently owned Carquest branded stores in the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Canada. Advance employs approximately 73,000 Team Members. Additional information about the Company, employment opportunities, customer services, and on-line shopping for parts, accessories and other offerings can be found on the Company's website at AdvanceAutoParts.com.
Naver's popular mobile messaging app Line has evolved from a local to a global business platform, often by adapting to foreign markets and offering content like emojis tailored specifically to them.
Some of the content then proves so successful that it is being exported back to the countries of origin, Korea and Japan.
Unlike Kakao Talk, the No. 1 messaging app in Korea but no great shakes abroad, Line has grown mainly overseas. As of the end of March, the total number of Line users stood at 218.4 million, No. 3 globally after WhatsApp, now owned by Facebook (900 million users) and Tencent's WeChat (500 million users).
Line is No. 1 in Japan (68 million users) and Thailand (33 million) and growing quickly in the U.S. (25 million) and Spain (18 million). In Thailand, more than 80 percent of an estimated 40 million smartphone users use Line, and it has become an overseas base to expand into other foreign markets.
Line has already established itself as a significant business platform. Dunkin' Donuts in Thailand, for instance, started distributing coupons via Line, giving out a free box of doughnuts for every box purchased and generated more than 14 million baht (around W457.1 million) in just eight days.
It wasnt enough for George Zimmerman to kill Trayvon Martin.
In an interview with The Daily Beast this week, Zimmerman made it clear he has no remorse about shooting the 17-year-old boy to death in Sanford, Florida, and bears outright hostility for the parents whose son he took away forever.
They didnt raise their son right. He attacked a complete stranger and attempted to kill him, Zimmerman said of Martin.
Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin did everything they could to capitalize on her sons death, he said. She was never a mother figure to him. Tracy Martin couldnt have cared less about their son. He treated him like a dog without a leash.
Four years after Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin, the acquitted killer reportedly sold the gun he used to do it to an undisclosed buyer for $138,900 on Wednesday.
On Feb. 26, 2012, Zimmerman was following Martin down the street of the Retreat at Twin Lakes community, a gated neighborhood in Florida, and called police to describe him as suspicious. The suspicion seemed only based upon the fact that Martin was black, male, and wearing a hooded sweatshirt. Despite a 911 dispatcher saying he did not have to follow the teenager, Zimmerman did so anyway. Sometime later, after Zimmerman ended his call with the police, he and Martin got into an altercation that ended with Zimmerman, the coordinator of a local neighborhood watch, firing a 9 millimeter bullet from his Kel-Tec PF-9 pistol into the teens chest.
It is what was used to save my life from a near-death brutal attack by Trayvon Martin, Zimmerman said of the gun. If it was a stick or mace, its the one tool I had that prevented Trayvon from killing me.
Zimmerman was not anywhere near close to death when police arrived: He had a bloody nose and lacerations on the back of his head.
He tried to stay out of the public eye after his acquittal in 2013, remaining on the fringes of American society as a one of the 21st centurys greatest villains and occasionally stirring the pot of outrage as he attempted to find gainful employment and financial security. Zimmerman was investigated by the Department of Justice for civil rights violations and lived jobless and homeless for a year after the trial. The same year of his acquittal, Zimmermans girlfriend alleged that he had pointed a shotgun at her and started breaking her things. He was charged with felony aggravated assault for the incident, charges his girlfriend later requested to be dropped.
A year later, Zimmerman was involved in a road rage incident with Matthew Apperson, who shot at him on a public street in a separate incident six months later. (Zimmerman was hit in the face by a ricochet.) At the time, Zimmerman was using his infamy to auction off American flag paintings he made on eBayone even sold for $100,000.
When he wasnt getting into shootouts or hawking memorabilia online, Zimmerman was calling President Obama an ignorant baboon on Twitter and retweeting a photo of Martins dead body (caption: Z-Man is a one man army). Zimmerman claimed he couldnt see the photo, just the caption, adding, I do not want to see or relive the night that I was attacked and had to use lethal force to defend my life. No part of the events that transpired that night were heroic or admirable.
Yet a year later, he has marketed the gun as a symbol of liberty and American historysomething to be treasured and owned by a patriot.
When asked if he considers how Martins family feels about him requesting $100,000 for the gun he used to kill their son, Zimmerman called them bad parents.
Sure, Im sorry for any parent that has lost a child, Zimmerman said. That being said, I also believe its their duty to have an internal dialogue to see what they should have done better and what they should have done appropriately.
Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for the family, did not respond to a request for comment.
Zimmerman claims he initially wanted to keep the gun for his future children and grandchildren but said he came to the decision to sell the gun after praying. It took me several weeks to think about it, Zimmerman said.
Its what the forefathers would do, he surmised.
And its an opportune moment to make an extra $100,000 after everyone from Martins family to the Black Lives Matter movement forced him into a life on the run without a job.
If I have to live my life and if I have to go about my business as a normal person, then I would do that. However, Im not afforded that luxury anymore, he said. You guys. The media. The masses. The Fulton-Martin family. They took that from me.
Zimmerman hates the movement he helped create above all: Black Lives Matter.
He detests the fact that his senseless killing of Martin and the subsequent high-profile police shootings of unarmed black men and children in Ferguson, Cleveland, and elsewhere have emboldened the movement to seek justice where it doesnt exist yet. For him, its the police officers who were wronged, the dutiful men and women in blue who are the victims.
On July 13, 2013, when Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder, Alicia Garza, an Oakland-based activist, took to Facebook to write: Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter, Black Lives Matter.
Patrisse Cullors, another activist in the area, turned the phrase into a hashtag that went on to organize mass protests over the killing of black men by police from Ferguson to Baltimore.
Ciara Taylor, political director for Dream Defenders, an activist group that mobilized after Martins death, condemned Zimmermans actions.
I am not a mental health professional, but I think that it is important to note that May is Mental Health Awareness month, and it is clear to me by his actions that George Zimmerman is deeply disturbed and should seek psychological help soon, Taylor told The Daily Beast.
The recent actions of George Zimmerman are prime examples of a mental condition affecting the country at large: a heteropatriarchal, white supremacist societal illness that has been permeating and abstracting the moral conscience of the people United States since its foundation.
The wannabe cop who was playing neighborhood watch when he killed Martin now makes himself out to be a hero for law enforcement under siege by black protesters.
His fascination with police officers and laudatory praise for all they do traces back to his own aspirations to join the force. Zimmerman applied to be a police officer in Virginia, where he lived before moving to Florida. He ended up serving as the neighborhood watch coordinator for the Retreat at Twin Lakes, a gated community in Sanford where Martin was temporarily staying in 2012.
It was the police who first validated his self-defense claims, releasing him without charges after taking him into custody. And now Zimmerman wants to protect the lives of the people who believed in himpolice officers across the country hoping to combat renegade violent protesters.
They would know that George Zimmerman is going to step in and make them richer than they ever dreamed of being, he valiantly claimed.
I would take that money and I would make sure that every law enforcement officer and every single civilian who is affected by the Black Lives Matter fraudulent, violent campaignthose officers, those civilians, their entire familieswere made wealthy beyond their wildest imaginations, he said.
In the past week, UnitedGunGroup.com, which hosted the auction, has been overrun by trolls like Racist McShootface bidding outlandish amounts like $65 million for the gun. The newest listing on the same site asks for a starting bid of $100,000 and provides an email address for Zimmerman, meant to screen fake offers.
As for the final sale price, Zimmerman said he wants the gun to be worth as much as possible.
One of the firmest offers I have with verified assets is $100,000, he claimed. There isnt a set amount.
It doesnt matter to him who gets the gun, as long as they pay up and are lawfully licensed. (The buyer will have to pass a background check).
I recognize the purchasers ownership and right to do with the firearm as they wish, Zimmerman wrote in his auction posting. The purchaser is guaranteed validity and authenticity of the firearm. A portion of the proceeds will be used to: fight BLM violence against Law Enforcement officers, ensure the demise of Angela Coreys persecution career and Hillary Clintons anti-firearm rhetoric.
Corey is the states attorney who prosecuted Zimmerman for second-degree murder and is being challenged for her position this year. She did not respond to a request for comment.
Clinton has received the endorsement of Martins mother, with whom she has appeared at various campaign events, and will speak at an event hosted by the Trayvon Martin Foundation this month. Clintons campaign did not comment on Zimmermans specific grievances with her candidacyhe referred to her campaign in the interview as a crusade to crucify Americabut instead pointed to a recent tweet from Clintons account.
It has nothing to do with her presidential campaign, Zimmerman explained. Its about her as an individual. It doesnt matter if she was running for president or if she was running her own used car lot, which I think shes still unqualified for.
The Hillary hate doesnt necessarily mean Zimmerman will vote for presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, who once said the shooter might not make it to heaven that quickly as a result of his actions.
I would have to do a lot of homework before I decide to endorse him, Zimmerman said. Yet he will do whatever it takes to dispel [Clintons] lies and disrupt the Black Lives Matter movement.
The auction and the story of his life is about Zimmerman as a victim, if he could tell it his way. He has suffered; not Martins family. Hes in the right, not the president and the Department of Justice. He is looking for a page in the history books and a chance to control his legacy, not another foray into the spotlight and some extra cash.
Someone has to do something and I cannot just keep sitting back and saying somebody has to do something, Zimmerman said of the United States he thinks is broken.
This is for me to contribute and make it a better place.
As two of the most divisive figures in their respective homelands, it was perhaps inevitable that Donald Trump and Piers Morgan would hit it off.
In a bar room interview screened in the UK on Tuesday evening, just hours ahead of his much-hyped sit-down with Megyn Kelly on Fox in the US, Trump was his usual abrasive self.
And Morgana longtime friend of Trumps, and previous winner of Celebrity Apprenticejust loved it.
Several of the most news-worthy soundbites from Piers Morgan Meets Donald Trump had already been widely trailed, such as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee warning he wont have a good relationship with British Prime Minister David Cameron if hes elected (Cameron called Trumps comments on Muslims stupid, divisive and wrong) and Trumps bizarre attack on the intelligence of London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Shortly after taking office, Khan criticized Trumps views of Islam as ignorantbut in his interview with Morgan, Trump attempted to turn the tables on Khan and said Khans remarks that he was stupid were nasty.
Let's take an I.Q. test, Trump said Monday, adding that Khan had never met him and doesnt know what Im all about.
I think they're very rude statements and frankly, tell him, I will remember those statements. Theyre very nasty statements.
Trump did not seek to engineer a particularly presidential image, instead shooting the interview perched on a bar stool with rows of gleaming optics behind him.
He denied the rumor he had lusted after Princess Diana.
Totally false, so false. I liked her. I met her in New York onceI did respect her, but I had no interest from that standpoint. But I did meet her once and I thought she was lovely.
Trump laid into Hilary Clinton, describing her as a very flawed candidate--horrible on jobs, and denied he had ever been good friends with the Clintons, saying, I knew everybody, I knew every politician, it was part of what I had to do.
Trump showed few signs of rowing back on his remarks on banning Muslims from entering the United States, saying, We have a tremendous problem with radical Islamic terror and its not people from Sweden who are doing the damagethere is something going on that is not good.
Asked if he regretted his remarks on banning Muslims from entering America, he said, It got people thinking. Im not against any religion but there is something very bad going on there and we have to get to the bottom of it.
Asked how he expected moderate, law-abiding Muslims to react to his remarks, he said they needed to turn in terrorists, saying, They know what's going on, if they dont turn them in its going to be very hard to get along.
Trump said that he had been against the various wars that America has involved itself in in the Middle East, remarking, 15 years ago, if our presidents had all gone to the beach and done nothing, wed be in a better place than we are today.
Bush got us into it, it was a terrible thing that happened, and Obama, the way he got out, was a disaster.
Trump added that there was however a moral obligation to help people left in the war-torn regions, adding, I love people. I respect people. I am a nice person. I like to help people. Most people dont know that.
Lets talk about us, Megyn Kelly purred to Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee who has spent the past nine monthsuntil now, anywayheaping all sorts of vile epithets on the Fox News star.
Trumpwho has called Kelly crazy, highly overrated, and a bunch of other tweeted insults, along with speculating about the impact of her menstrual cycle on her journalismwas the headline interviewee Tuesday night on Megyn Kelly Presents, her first prime-time broadcast special on the Fox Television Network.
Judging from the advance hype, largely stoked by Kelly herself in multiple appearances on various TV outlets in the weeks leading up to Tuesdays broadcast, it was going to be a meeting worthy of the claw-to-claw combat between Godzilla and Mothra.
After all, Trumps attacks on the anchor had started to become so ugly that Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes authorized a company statement asserting that Donald Trumps vitriolic attacks against Megyn Kelly and his extreme, sick obsession with her is beneath the dignity of a presidential candidate who wants to occupy the highest office in the land.
But instead of a showdown, Kellys mano a mano with The Donald took on the trappings of couples counselingand perhaps, at points, even a screwball encounter in a 1930s romantic comedy.
I asked you a tough question about women. Bimbo? Kelly demanded at one point, reminding Trump of one of the poison-tipped arrows he aimed at her in the heat of battle.
Over your life, Megyn, youve been called a lot worse, the candidate deflectedalthough he probably wasnt referring to the words bitch, slut, whore, and other charming descriptors fired at the host of Fox Newss The Kelly File by Trumps fanatical supporters on social media.
Although the session didnt live up to its prurient promise of blonde-on-blond violence, it didnt disappoint.
Kelly managed, for the most part, to knock the 69-year-old candidate off his well-worn talking points, getting him to engage in what passes for introspection and even eliciting an apology of sorts for his deeply ungallant behavior in the aftermath of the Aug. 6 Fox News debate in which she held him accountable for his misogynistic remarks about a multitude of women over the years.
In case anyone has forgotten, Kelly replayed the infamous debate exchange on Tuesdays program:
Kelly: Mr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is that you speak your mind. You dont use a politicians filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular when it comes to women. You have called women you dont like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals. Your Twitter account includes several.
Trump: Only Rosie ODonnell.
Kelly: No, it wasnt. For the record, it was well beyond Rosie ODonnell.
Trump: Yes, Im sure it was.
Kelly: Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president?
Trump: What I say is what I say and honestly, Megyn, if you dont like it, Im sorry. Ive been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be based on the way you have treated me, but I wouldnt do that.
On Tuesday night, sitting 4 feet away from her quarry at the end of a green granite boardroom table in Trump Towershe in bright red dress, he in his usual dark suit and white shirt, graced by an iridescent blue tieKelly grilled the candidate about his overwrought reaction to her debate question.
We were always friendly, she began.
Right. Good relationship, he agreed.
And then came the Aug. 6, 2015, debate, and I asked you a tough question about women, using only the words that you had used. I thought it was a fair question. Why didnt you?
I thought it was unfair, Trump retorted. I didnt think it was really a question; I thought it was more of a statementThats the first question that I have ever been asked during a debate. And I have never debated before. I mean, my whole life is a debate, but I have never actually debated before. And I am saying to myself, Man, what a question So I am saying to myself, I got two hours of this? I dont really blame you because you are doing your thing. But from my standpoint, I dont have to like it.
You know, Kelly persisted, its not a cocktail party.
In a rare burst of self-reflection, Trump mused: Ill tell you what: In a certain way, what you did might have been a favor, because I felt so good about having gotten through. I said, If I could get through this debate, with those questions, you can get through anything.
You seemed to stay angry for months, Kelly noted. Was that real, or was that strategy?
Well, I am a real person. I dont say, Oh, gee, I am angry tonight, but tomorrow you are my best friend, Trump replied.
The candidate added that he respected Kelly for phoning him last month to get together and hash things out. To me, I would not have done that, he said, acknowledging that this probably doesnt speak well of him. I dont say that as an, you know, as a positive. I think its a negative, for me.
And when Kelly pressed him on his retweeting Trump supporters who trashed her as a bimbo, Trump did something highly uncharacteristic: He actually backed down.
I have fans, Trump said, during a discussion of his Twitter behavior. But when you and I were having our little difficulty you probably had some pretty nasty tweets sent your way I dont want that to happen, but our fans We have an unbelievable bond, we have an unbelievable relationship.
Its not the fans, Kelly corrected him.
Yeah, but not the more nasty ones, Trump said. You would be amazed at the ones I dont retweet.
Bimbo?
Uh, well, those retweets, yeah. Did I say that?
Many times, Kelly declaredat which the candidates already reddish face turned positively crimson, and he looked genuinely abashed.
Ooooh. OK, he said with a smile and a laugh that resembled something like chagrin. Excuse me, he added, not in the usual hectoring way he utters that phrase, but in a softer tone that sounded very much like Im sorry.
In another portion of their prerecorded sit-downwhich was presented in three parts, interspersed with Kellys interviews of movie star Michael Douglas, O.J. Simpson lawyer Robert Shapiro, and transgender actress Laverne Coxthe reality show billionaire explained his abrasive, bullying, and crass style of communicating.
I think if I didnt conduct myself in the way I have done it, I dont think I would have been successful, actually, he said. If I were soft if I were presidential if I would not have fought back the way I fought back, I dont think I would have been successful.
Kelly asked if Trump, now arguably steps away from the presidency, had given any consideration to moderating his incendiary rhetoric against perceived enemies, which creates a firestorm in those peoples lives, she arguedespecially so-called civilians who havent put themselves out there as public figures.
She pointed out: You are so powerful now.
Well, I dont view myself as that, Trump demurred. I mean, I view myself as a person thatlike everybody elseis fighting for survival. I, thats all I view myself as. And I really view myself now as somewhat of a messenger.
Trump added: When I am wounded, I go after people hard. OK? And I try to unwound myself.
Most kids between the ages of 6 and 16 have been bullied at some point in their lives. Were you ever bullied? Kelly asked.
No, I wasnt, Trump confided. But, but I have seen bullying. And bullying doesnt have to just be as a child. I mean, I know people are bullied when they are 55 years old.
At which the 45-year-old Kelly grinned broadly. It can happen when you are 45, she said, although the candidate affected not to understand her point.
In a lighter, ostensibly humorous portion of their tete-a-tete, Trump admitted that despite calling for a boycott of Kellys Fox News show, he continued to watch it; he also revealed that his favorite film is Citizen Kane.
It makes a certain amount of sense that the TV star/mogul who would be president of the United States relates to Orson Welless classic about a super-rich media tycoon who wishes to run the world.
In a keynote speech on Tuesday at the Asian Leadership Conference hosted by the Chosun Ilbo and TV Chosun, Widodo confided that Korea is one of his favorite countries for its food, electronic appliances and music.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo claims he became a big K-pop fan thanks to his daughter.
He showed photos of his daughter taken with boy bands SHINee and Super Junior. Widodo went with her to a SHINee concert two years ago and showed another picture of the two of them at a Super Junior gig.
He added "I love Korea" in Korean, to rapturous applause.
Widodo is also apparently a fan of Korean movies and TV soaps like the 2014 film "Roaring Currents" and the recent hit "Descendants of the Sun."
Running the family furniture business before he became president, he said he developed enormous respect for the diligence of the Koreans he met.
Doctors have long classified attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder as a childhood conditionone that, in many cases, continues into adulthood.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defines it as a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interferes with functioning or development in two or more settings. To be diagnosed with ADHD, individuals must exhibit multiple symptoms before the age of 12, something most present before age 7.
A new study out of Kings College London may uproot that diagnostic protocol, suggesting the disorder canin some individualsdevelop far later than age 7. The findings have huge implications for the treatment of ADHD, and the way those with it are identified.
The current criteria for ADHD has mostly limited diagnoses to children struggling to sit still, pay attention, or study in classrooms. By 2011, U.S. doctors had diagnosed more than 6.4 million children with ADHDmore than 11 percent of 4- to 17-year-olds. Its a number that has soared throughout the 2000s, increasing 43 percent between 2011 and 2003, according to a December study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
The disorder, while thoroughly studied, has been evolvingeven as recently as last year. Previously, doctors believed ADHD to be much more common in boys. Scientists cast doubt on this theory, with a number of studies showing that girls may actually have the disorder in equal numbers. A December 2015 study reported a 55 percent increase in girls diagnosed with ADHD, leading researchers to conclude that it may manifest differently in girls, and thus be overlooked.
The study released Tuesday by Kings College adds a new group that may have been previously overlooked by doctors: adults.
In a study published in JAMA Psychiatry, researchers looked at 2,200 18-year-old twins in Britain for signs of ADHD in childhood. Symptoms were tracked via parent and teacher reports at the ages of 5, 7, 10, and 12. Some 70 percent of the 167 people in the study who showed symptoms of ADHD did not test positive for it in childhood.
This group showed significant levels of ADHD symptoms and impairment, as well as poor functioning and high rates of psychiatric comorbidity, the authors write. Therefore the absence of a childhood diagnosis of ADHD should not preclude adults with ADHD from receiving clinical attention.
The scientists used to the data from the 167 people with adult ADHD to analyze the differences in their genes from those who acquired it in childhood. They found that those who reported symptoms of ADHD as an adult and not as a child had a less heritable versionmeaning that their children would not have a higher risk of getting ADHD.
The study built on earlier research in Brazil, New Zealand, and the U.K. that found a high number of adults who had ADHD that was not present in childhood.
Jessica Agnew-Blais, one of the lead researchers, said the study didnt explore the potential cause of the late-onset cases, but her team is exploring theories.
We speculated about the nature of late-onset ADHD: The disorder could have been masked in childhood due to protective factors, such as a supportive family environment,Agnew-Blais said. Or it could be entirely explained by other mental-health problems. Alternatively, late-onset ADHD could be a distinct disorder altogether. We think it is important that we continue to investigate the underlying causes of late-onset ADHD.
The researchers said many questions remain, including why late-onset ADHD arises and how similar it is to that which occurs in childhood. Until then, they hope the research will be used to raise awareness about an underrepresented group in the medical world.
Although ADHD occurs in approximately 4 percent of adults, relatively few adults receive a diagnosis or treatment for the disorder, Agnew-Blais said. It is crucial that we take a developmental approach to understanding ADHD, and that the absence of a childhood diagnosis should not prevent adults with ADHD from receiving clinical attention.
ROME Freedom isnt enough. Amanda Knox wants justice.
The 28-year-old Seattle native, who was convicted in 2009, acquitted in 2011, reconvicted in 2014 and definitively acquitted in 2015 of the 2007 murder of her British roommate Meredith Kercher, has won a plea to have the European Court of Human Rights examine whether her last standing conviction violates her human rights.
Knox remains definitively convicted of slander for falsely accusing Patrick Lumumba, her Congolese nightclub boss, of committing Kerchers murder during the November 2007 late-night interrogation that led to her arrest. But she has always maintained that her false statement was the result of maltreatment at the hands of the Perugia police, who she says hit her on the back of the head and didnt allow her an objective translator or access to a lawyer. She has exhausted all of the avenues in the Italian court system to fight this remaining conviction. The European Court of Human Rights is her last chance to clear her name.
According to Knoxs personal website her Italian lawyers filed an appeal for that slander conviction in November 2013, two years before she was definitively acquitted of the murder by Italys highest court.
My slander conviction was based on comments I made regarding Patrick Lumumba comments that were coerced during a lengthy interrogation by Perugia police shortly before I was arrested in 2007, she writes. The interrogation took place in a language I barely spoke, without a lawyer present, and without the police informing me that I was a suspect in Merediths murder, which was a violation of my human rights.
The website for the European Court of Human Rights has posted Knoxs case (#7577/13) on its website in French, the official language of the court, which is based in Strasbourg, France.
The case file highlights Knoxs primary complaints. The applicant raises several complaints concerning the fairness of the criminal proceedings following which she was sentenced to three years in prison for false accusation, the case file states, referring the sentence she received for accusing Lumumba of the murder.
Citing numbers of the European Court of Human Rights conventions, the applicant complained of not being informed promptly and in a language understandable to the nature and cause of the accusation of his charge, and she also alleges that she was not assisted by a lawyer during the interrogation of 6 November 2007.
Regarding the absence of a qualified, objective interpreter, Knoxs complaint states: The applicant also complains that she was not assisted by a professional and independent interpreter during interrogation and that the police officer who assisted during interrogation of 6 November 2007 performed the duties of mediator and suggested hypotheses about the sequence of events.
And regarding the alleged abuse she suffered at the hands of the police, who she says cuffed her on the back of the head, she says, The applicant complained that the pats on the head she suffered (scappellotti) constituted inhuman and degrading treatment. She also says she denounces the violation of her right to respect for her private and family life, on the grounds that, on 6 November 2007, she was forced to answer questions about certain subjects that incapacitated her from correctly answering because she was under psychological pressure.
Knoxs complaint also refers to the alleged violation of her rights after she was told by a prison medic that she had HIV and was asked to list her sexual partners, which she then recounted in a diary that was leaked to the press.
By accepting Knoxs case, the European Court of Human Rights, which is not part of the European Unions governing body, will now need to investigate each claim and render a verdict that may include compensation for Knox or, potentially, a recommendation to throw out her slander charge. The court is composed of 49 judges representing all European countries, and each judge serves a nine-year term. They are charged with upholding the findings of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights and its many amendments over the years. The court president is currently Guido Raimondi, an Italian former supreme court judge.
Knoxs former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, who was also convicted, acquitted, convicted and acquitted in tandem with Knox, has sued the Italian state for damages associated with his imprisonment. He currently runs an app-based social media business for the dead called Memories where the bereaved can leave messages for their deceased loved ones. He received around 66,000 in grant money from his native region of Puglia for the enterprise.
He does not remain convicted of any crime, so his case differs from Knox. He has asked the Italian state for 516,000 in compensation.
Rudy Guede, a 29-year-old man from the Ivory Coast, remains the only person convicted of Kerchers murder. His prison term ends in September 2021, but he is currently eligible for work release, and could be released on monitored house arrest as early as 2018. He is expected to graduate from university in July of this year after pursuing a degree during his incarceration. He recently told an Italian television presenter that Knox was there when Kercher was murdered.
No date has been set for Knoxs European Court of Human Rights case, but the hearings, which are held in front of a panel of judges who must reach a majority for a decision, will be public.
Oh no, the rag-head Taliban is here. We all think you are a terrorist. Is that a bomb in your backpack?
Thats a small sample of the types of comments Muslim American students have been subjected to recently. But the worst part is that these comments were not made by students. They were made by their teachers.
We have all heard of Flying while Muslim, the frustrating adventures of being Muslim when you head to the airport. But sadly a new, far more concerning challenge appears to be emerging for Muslim American children. Lets call it Studying while Muslim or simply being a student while Muslim in America today.
Another example of this alarming trend came last week when 17-year-old California high school student Bayan Zehlif, a hijab-wearing Muslim, was identified in her yearbook not by her own name but by the words, Isis Phillips. Imagine the joy of receiving your senior high school yearbook only to see that you have been labeled in it as a terrorist.
Zehlif posted in response on Facebook, The school reached out to me and had the audacity to say that this was a typo. I beg to differ, lets be real.
Why did she think this was likely not a mistake? Well, as she explained at a press conference last week coordinated by the California chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), there were other anti-Muslim comments made at the school in the past.
She explained that a fellow student had posted on Twitter that all Muslims are terrorists. And in a far more distressing incident, Zehlif noted that one of her teachers on the anniversary of 9/11 said, with Zehlif sitting in the classroom, that the people who caused 9/11 shouldnt be here today.
Zehlif said that she has received a great deal of support from her fellow classmates. But she added, Seeing my schoolmates hate me hurts a lot, explaining that she had been in tears after seeing her name replaced with the word ISIS in her yearbook. (The school has vowed to investigate why this occurred.)
Muslim students being bullied or harassed for their faith is increasingly becoming the norm not the exception in America. A 2015 study by Californias CAIR chapter surveyed over 600 Muslim students in California and shockingly found that 55 percent had either been bullied or discriminated against. To put that in perspective, thats more twice the number of student reporting being bullied on a national basis.
This disparity is a reflection of how Islamophobic rhetoric by certain media and public figures has become normalized in our society, Hussam Ayloush, executive director of CAIRs Los Angeles Office, explained to me.
And disturbingly the CAIR study found that 20 percent of Muslim students say they have experienced discrimination by a school staff member, the very people charged with protecting them from this type of hate.
We have seen an alarming increase in these type of incidents as of late. For example, just last month in Fort Bend County, Texas, 12-year-old Muslim student Waleed Abushaaban was watching a comedy movie with his classmates that caused him to laugh. His teacher told him, I wouldnt be laughing if I was you. When the Muslim student asked why, the teacher responded, because we all think youre a terrorist. After the teachers comment, Waleeds fellow students then followed her lead and ridiculed him by making jokes about him having a bomb and other hateful stereotypes.
Last year in Florida a teacher called a 14-year-old Muslim student in front of classmates a raghead Taliban for three days in a row. A Georgia teacher jokingly asked a Muslim student in front of the class if she had a bomb in her backpack. And last April another Texas teacher apparently wanted to teach students to hate Muslims by giving out an unapproved homework assignment that contained false claims about Muslims wanting to kill them.
Sadly there have been, and likely will always be, bullies in schools. When I was a kid I had to deal with it as well but it was never for my faith or ethnicity. It was more run of the mill bullying because someone didnt like my face or thought I was a dork.
But whats happening to these Muslim students is far worse. These young people are being in essence told they don't belong in this country and that they are less than fully American simply because of their religious faith.
Distressingly this will likely get worse during this years presidential race given Donald Trumps despicable ginning up fear of Muslims. When young people (and even adults) hear a person like Trump demonize minorities, they think its acceptable to follow suit, as we have seen recently with white students mocking Latino high school students with chants of Build a wall.
Concerns over the rise in the bullying of Muslim children have become so acute that Saturday in Philadelphia, local Muslim organizations are holding the citys first-ever combatting anti-Muslim bigotry youth conference. Kameelah Rashad, the Muslim chaplain for University of Pennsylvania, explained on my SiriusXM radio show Saturday that this event was needed to help Muslim children cope with rampant anti- Muslim bigotry present today and provide them the skills and strategies to deal with it effectively.
Bullying cant be dismissed as just kids being kids. The impact of bullying has been well documented, often leading to students having increased instances of depression, anxiety, and decreased academic achievements.
Teachers and school officials desperately need to set an example that theres no place for this bullying of any students. The problem for many Muslim students, however, is whom do they turn to when its the school administrators doing the bullying?
Soon and very soon, Bernie Sanders is going to have to help his most ardent fans confront the fact of his defeat. How he does so will help to determine his legacy.
That is not meant to disparage the campaign or the candidate, despite the vitriol thats sure to start flooding into my Twitter timeline right now. Its a statement of mathematical fact. As of today, no matter what happens in Kentucky (or Oregon, or Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, D.C. or even mighty California), Hillary Clinton is going to be the Democratic nominee.
Clinton is 94 percent of the way to the 2,383 required delegates, having won 54 percent of the total pledged delegates so far, to Sanderss 46 percent. She needs only 35 percent of whats left, while Sanders needs 65 percent, and a literal miracle. If you throw in superdelegates, as they stand today, Clinton needs just 14 percent of the remainder to win, versus an astounding 86 percent haul Sanders needs.
Everyone covering this race knows these facts, and the only question is how to manage the communication of them in a way that respects the ongoing democratic process.
Of course, none of that has stopped the magical thinking, and in some quarters, the rage and even conspiracy theorizing of hardcore Sandernistas who refuse to accept that the war is lost. Case in point, the cantankerous Nevada Democratic convention in Las Vegas this weekend at which stalwart liberal California Sen. Barbara Boxer was booed and shouted down for the crime of calling for civility and party unity, and a fight literally broke out on the convention floor over the setting of rules and the election of 43 delegates and three alternates to go to the July 25 national convention in Philadelphia.
Indeed, theres nothing quite like firing up Twitter only to be inundated by Bernie-hair avatars shrieking about hundreds of thousandsno, millionsof would-be Bernie voters falling victim to a supposed national voter suppression campaign that is the real reason he isnt winning. The culprits, in this alternate reality, are the Democratic National Committee, which does not set the rules for individual caucuses and primaries. They are run, respectively, by state parties and state legislatures, but according to the theory, theyve been gamed by nefarious Hillary Clinton operatives in the parties, who have been programmed by The Establishment to deny Bernie his rightful nomination.
And then theres Sanders, his wife Janes and some of his prominent surrogates dismissals of the heavily African-American Southern primaries won by Hillary Clinton as irrelevant red states that are too conservative, too brand loyal and too unacquainted with their own best interests to have voted the right way; nearly all-white red caucus states like Idaho, Utah, Wyoming and nearly all-white, red primary states like West Virginia notwithstanding.
The rush to conspiracy theories, appropriation of the real, ongoing struggles against actual voter suppression including voter ID laws, and the embrace by some on the Sanders left of every scurrilous accusation against Hillary Clinton, from the 90s to Benghazi, is jarring. And the memes are especially vicious among the youngest Sandernistas, whose abject, #BerntheWitch hatred of Secretary Clinton is reaching World Net Daily proportions. In fact, some supposed leftists have taken to tweeting out actual WND, Breitbart, and Daily Caller links to prove their case.
And while this likely represents a small minority of Sanders supporters, much like the Hillary PUMAs and Obama bros in 2008, the Sanders campaign and the candidate have done little to try to shut it down.
In 2008, Team Obama pushed out foreign policy adviser Samantha Power and sidelined Obama national co-chair Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. for slagging Hillary Clinton as a monster and mocking her New Hampshire tears, respectively. Obama himself directed his team and supporters to lay off the Clintons, while the Clinton campaign ultimately forced out Geraldine Ferraro over her racial bitterness, and wouldnt let the PUMA faithful anywhere near the Denver convention, to the point where some of them turned on Hillary herself as a traitor to the cause.
By contrast, Sanders and his team have seemed at times to encourage the bitter-enders to fight to the proverbial death, with the campaign itself vowing to contest the nomination right onto the convention floor. Its not clear what Team Sanders hopes to achieve, beyond a platform battle in Philadelphia that will make for a great TV spectacle, but wont change the outcome.
Meanwhile, a reality show vulgarian with a penchant for fight club rallies, tasteless broadsides against flat-chested women and a singular ability to excite white nationalists (including his own longtime butler) with his anti-Muslim and anti-Mexican rhetoric is quickly consolidating the Republican Party behind his nomination. And some Democratic operatives are starting to worry that Sanderss zombie campaign is preventing Hillary Clintonwho possesses some real flaws as a candidate, from her inability to deliver a big speech to the ongoing drag from her paid speeches and her private email serverfrom focusing her full attention and resources on the real target.
If Sanders does hope to have a future in Democratic Party politics, he will eventually have to tell his supporters the truth: that he simply lost the primary contest, despite a hard-fought race. Hell have to walk back some of his sharpest anti-Clinton rhetoric, and find some way to become a bridge to the voters who have become so fervently devoted to him.
Its tough to imagine the Vermont senator actively embracing Clinton, who is considerably more hawkish on foreign policy, and less ambitious on domestic affairs than he. But Sanders has a particular credibility with white working-class voters and young, mostly white collegians. Sanderss particular resonance with the white working-class,a group that has bedeviled Democrats over the last 50 years, and whose skepticism of free trade makes them a prime target for Donald Trump, could prove to be his most valuable asset to his newfound party. Sanders has proven to be an effective attacker when he sets his mind to it. If, as he says, he wants to do everything in his power to prevent a Trump presidency, nothing is preventing him from using his capital now, to try to prevent those voters in his camp from bolting to Trumpville by training his fire on the Republican nominee.
Of course, Sanders could refuse to do that, perhaps concluding that he would lose too much credibility with the rather angry movement hes built, and go right on hitting Hillary Clinton instead. But he risks winding up an isolated figure in Philadelphia, surrounded by his diehards but scorned by Democrats who blame him for weakening the nominee, tolerated by Camp Clinton only because they have to, and unable to win meaningful platform concessions from a party that could well view him as an enemy invader, rather than a bluntly critical, but ultimately valuable friend.
Only time will tell how Sanders chooses to play out the end of his campaign.
ROME Dr. Severino Antinori is no stranger to controversy. The maverick Italian fertility doctor made headlines and broke ground in 1994 when he helped a 63-year-old Italian woman give birth. It was the first time anyone that old had been able to conceive, and Antinori received mixed reviews as to whether he was furthering science or altering natures course in the extreme. He was also the doctor for Patricia Rashbrook, a 62-year-old Briton who in 2006 became the oldest mother in the U.K.
Since then, the 70-year-old has been one of the most sought after fertility doctors in Europe, dubbed grandmas gynecologist for the miracle doctoring he is credited with carrying out.
But being a top fertility doctor, of course, comes at a price. Not only are most of the women he treats infertile due to their age or other issues, but few qualify for egg or sperm donation based on their age. Perhaps thats why authorities have been watching and wondering just where Antinori is getting his human eggs for implantation.
Now they may have an answer. Antinori was arrested over the weekend at Romes Fiumicino Airport on charges that he stole the eggs from a 24-year-old Spanish woman he was treating for non-fertility-related gynecological problems.
The woman, a nurse who has not been named due to privacy issues, says Antinori had hired her as a temporary assistant after he met her at a social function in Milan. During the course of her brief employment, he diagnosed her with an ovarian cyst she says he cooked up as a ploy to steal her eggs. According to the court documents seen by The Daily Beast, she says that on April 5, Antinori took her cellphone and anesthetized her to harvest her eggs without her consent.
She called the emergency services after she came to, and went to a local hospital in Milan where she was examined, which, according to her attorney, proved that she had been anesthetized and that she had an invasive egg-extraction procedure. Police began an investigation into the circumstances around the alleged egg theft and arrested Antinori last weekend, placing him under house arrest in Rome.
The Spanish nurse had apparently agreed to treatment by injection to dissolve her ovarian cyst, but she says she did not consent to the removal of her eggs. The eggs, which were used to develop six embryos to be implanted into one of Antinoris other patients, were also sequestered by police during the investigation. They will be tested for the Spanish nurses DNA and may be destroyed.
Antinori has not been formally charged with any crime, but he is accused of aggravated robbery and causing personal injury. He is also prohibited from practicing medicine for up to a year while the investigation is carried out. His clinic is under lock and key by local police and investigators as well, as are all of the eggs and embryos stored in his facilities, according to Milan police.
Antinori is also being investigated for the potential theft of other young womens eggs, which has prompted Italian politicians to call for tighter regulations with regard to fertility treatment. Donata Lenzi, from the center-left Democratic Party, told reporters that Antinoris arrest confirms a sinister black market in human embryos she suggests could be used for same-sex couples and surrogacy, which is illegal in Italy. Previously Antinori was investigated for activities related to unauthorized cloning research.
The arrest of Severino Antinori is extremely serious because it indicates the existence of a market in eggs that will stop at nothing, Lenzi told reporters after Antinoris arrest.
Antinoris lawyer, Tommaso Pietrocarlo, told Italian news agency ANSA that his client is completely innocent, and that the nurse had actually signed an informed consent to donate her eggs after a consultation with a psychologist who will state that she was conscious of the choice she was making and that it did not pose any problem. He says that she must have changed her mind and trumped up the stolen egg charges. According to the documents, the woman signed two detailed consent forms March 11 and 14 under the guidance of a counselor, he says.
Antinori, who is under house arrest pending a preliminary hearing, was reached by the Italian news agency AGI and said he was being falsely accused with unjust and foolish accusations. He also said that he worried for the embryos that the police sequestered.
I have chest pains, maybe even a heart attack, he said. They want my death? Im an honest man. I did not steal anyones eggs, and in the meantime the embryos they sequestered are dying.
Monica Lewinsky connections, Twitter celebrity status, relaxed views on police-dog brutality, and comparisons of gay sex to necrophiliaDonald Trumps list of potential Supreme Court nominees has it all.
On Wednesday afternoon, the real estate mogul rolled out 11 names of would-be members of the highest court in the land, and it was a veritable dream team of conservative judiciary icons: Steven Colloton, Diana Sykes, Allison Eid, Raymond Gruender, Thomas Hardiman, Raymond Kethledge, Don Willett, Joan Larsen, Thomas Lee, William Pryor, and David Stras. (The list closely resembles one published in March by The Daily Signal, the news site of the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation.)
The court has a vacancy, and President Obama has nominated Merrick Garland, chief judge of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, for the spot. Garland is widely characterized as a middle-of-the-road, moderate justice, and a consensus candidate with whom GOPers could theoretically have made peace. The Daily Beasts Jay Michaelson notes that he is relatively conservative on issues of criminal justice, relatively liberal on issues of administrative and constitutional law.
Trumps potential nominees? Not so much. One potential justice is an expert on Trumps favorite conversation topic: the scandals of Bill Clinton. Steven Colloton, a George W. Bush appointee to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, got started in the world of conservative politicking when he was a lieutenant to Kenneth Starr on the independent investigation of the Clintons Whitewater investments. Starr found out about Bill Clintons sexual contact with Monica Lewinsky while that investigation was underway. The progressive group People for the American Way pointed out that Colloton dissented from a ruling that a city violated the Constitution by having its police dogs bite and hold suspects without warning.
Another name on the list is William Pryor, a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Pryor was previously floated as a potential SCOTUS pick by the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. He is also the most likely name on the list to draw liberals intense ire. Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer once called Pryor an ideological warrior. Pryor has stated that the right to have gay sex would lead down a dark path to legalizing bestiality and necrophilia. He has said that the government should not be in the business of public education. And he has called Roe v. Wade "the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history."
But it was Trumps inclusion of Don Willett, a justice on the Supreme Court of Texas, that drew the the lions share of snarky takes on Wednesday afternoon. For years, Willett has been a conservative Twitter icon for his oft-goofy tweets. His humor is sometimes corny and often funny, The New York Times reported in 2014, profiling his Twitter feed.
And one thing he has really enjoyed doing lately is throwing shade at Donald Trump on social media. Cant wait till Trump rips off his face Mission Impossible-style & reveals a laughing Ruth Bader Ginsburg, he tweeted in March, knocking Trumps brand of conservatism.
When asked about his inclusion on Trumps list, Willett simply told reporters that he would exercise judicial restraint on weighing in on the matter.
Andrew Desiderio contributed reporting.
There are over 500,000 convicted sex offenders in the United States, according to a text crawl at the start of Pervert Park, a documentary that aims to do the near-impossible for the most stigmatized of crimes: stir sympathy for child molesters and sex offenders.
Prohibited by law from living within 1,000 feet of anywhere that children frequentincluding schools, churches, and bus stopsmost find it tough going to find jobs or housing once theyve paid their debt to society. And after serving their time in prison, most exit the criminal justice system only to find themselves struggling in a world that shuns and vilifies them.
Updated numbers actually peg the national count even higher, at over 805,000 registered sex offenders in 2016. That makes for a vast number of sex offenders living on the street, living without access to counseling and support programs, and prone to committing sex crimes again. But down in the state of Florida, 120 of them live in a uniquely supportive safe havena St. Petersburg trailer park run by the Florida Justice Transitions program, the rare housing outfit to actually welcome rehabilitated sex offenders into its ranks.
Within this community of pariahs Swedish-Danish filmmakers Frida and Lasse Barkfors find a complex cast of subjects to share their stories in Pervert Park, which takes its title from the nickname locals have ascribed it over the decades. Its no secret who lives here in rows upon rows of aging mobile homes in an unincorporated section of Pinellas County, Florida.
Locals call them baby rapers and vandalize the park at night, explains the park manager, who is himself also a sex offender. One resident holds up a sack of dead rats someone stuck in his clothes dryer. All he can do is shrug. At the parks regular group therapy sessionsone of several crucial transitional services the Palace Mobile Home Park offersone resident, convicted for flashing, voices his frustration that a probation officer alerted his employer of his sex criminal status.
I feel Im set up for failure every day, he complains.
Most of the parks residents seem to have made peace with the fact that this will likely be business as usual for the rest of their lives. Tracked by ankle bracelets and required to report in twice a year, they live strictly monitored lives under heavy restrictions.
Accepting responsibility becomes probably the most important thing that anybody in my situation can do, says Will Heffernan, a man who was convicted of molesting an 8-year-old and a 13-year-old child. Believe it or not, I think just about all of us have a conscience, and conscience really works on you. It makes it become the most important thing to you to address the issue and make it right before you can move on.
Heffernan, like the films other subjects, bares his tortured soul to the camera as if hes still working through the decisions that drove him, against better judgment, to prey on his victims. Hed long been in denial of his own homosexuality, he says, and that in part drove him to commit his crimes. But its too easy to say thats the reason, he adds. The real fault lies in the individual. The real fault lies with me.
Tragic tales abound in the emotional film, which if you couldnt guess is an extremely challenging watch. Anyone might find some empathy for William Fuery, a resident and program staffer who does maintenance and security work for the park as he shares his difficult history. Molested by a female babysitter as a child and raised in an abusive home, he lost his wife and baby to a drunk driver as a young man. I tried to kill myself for 20 years, he tearfully admits.
Its far trickier to resolve the crimes that eventually landed him behind bars. Years later, still in that mindset of emotionally traumatized nihilism, Fuery was sent to prison on one molestation accusation he deniesbut owns up to a second offense that he suggests was partially triggered by his own childhood abuse.
Vital bigger picture conversations about how society receives these rehabilitated sex offenders take place in group therapy sessions led by counselor Don Sweeney, a passionate advocate for the men and women in his charge. He strongly criticizes the justice systems tendency to go after an increasing number of young adults on the Internet, like Jamie Turner, a tattooed, comic book-loving 22-year-old with a shock of bright purple hair who was caught answering a Craigslist ad for a person he believed to be a 30-year-old woman. She asked him to have sex with her teenage daughterbut it was a trap, and he went to prison for a year.
In hindsight its so obvious, their tactics are so childish, laments Turner. But I was caught up in it.
Thats pure entrapment, chides Sweeney. Theyre not child molesters, but thats what theyre being labeled. Thats a testament to how desperate they are to keep the sex offender machine going. The real offenders are the families. Theyre not reporting anything so now theyre manufacturing them. Theyll spend money on the prison system, which is the moneymaker for the politicians and governments now. You can take out stock on Wall Street on prisons in Florida.
The filmmakers chronicle a wide array of offenders and offenses, from a happily married father of two who was nabbed for soliciting a cop posing as a 14-year-old in an online chat room to the fidgety man who describes driving across the border to Mexico, kidnapping a 5-year-old girl, and raping her as the film intercuts serene footage of him in his trailer home cleaning out his fish tank.
But the most astounding and complicated testimony comes from Tracy Hutchinson, the lone female offender interviewed in the film, who describes how her sexual abuse as a girl at the hands of her father led her to an abortion at age 11 and years of unhealthy relationships as an adult. By the time she had a son of her own, she ended up sexually abusing him. Years later at the age of 13, he continued the cycle of abuse by molesting a younger child.
What Pervert Park illuminates is that no matter the gravity of the individual offensebe it flashing, rape, child rape, or just being dumb enough to get nabbed in a To Catch A Predator-style online stingthe system paints all sex offenders with the same brush, and does little to stem the cycle of sexual abuse that keeps creating generation after generation of victim-abusers.
At Sundance, Pervert Park won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Impact for calling attention to one of societys most taboo subjects. More recently, an ongoing legal dispute between Jeff Shadowens, the landlord who owns Palace Mobile Home Park, and the manager of Florida Justice Transitions has thrown the future of the program into question over $16,000 in allegedly unpaid rent on several trailers.
There isnt anywhere else, Hutchinson told ABC affiliate WFTS Tampa Bay in April. Unless I want to live in the woods somewhere.
I was the one who brought in the AA, the NA meetings, ex-manager Jim Broderick complained to the Tampa Bay Times a week later. The sex offender counselingthats my thumbprint. The program is gone, he [Shadowens] is just a landlord.
Nothing is going to change, promised Shadowens amid ongoing lawsuits with Broderick. Im not going to put sex offenders on the street.
HONG KONG Is Donald Trump ready to ditch long-held America policy and engage in dialogue with Kim Jong Un, the truculent, nuke-armed youngster who happens to lead a destitute North Korea? Yes, because the Trumpster is oblivious to the lessons of decades of dealings with the cunning, manipulative, and dangerous Kim clan.
I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee told Reuters in an interview released Wednesday.
Trump, apparently talking off the cuff, has been making a lot of pronouncements that are destabilizing Americas friends while encouraging rivals and enemies. These specific comments are bound to upset allies South Korea and Japan, and certain to delight China, which increasingly sees the United States as an obstacle to its expansive regional ambitions.
Of course, this could be campaign rhetoric and nothing more. Barack Obama, in July 2007 during a debate with Hillary Clinton, famously said he would be willing, without pre-condition, to meet with the leaders of several hardline states, including North Korea, during his first year in office.
Obama, as president, has never met with either of his North Korean counterparts, Kim Jong Il or his son, Kim Jong Un. In fact, no sitting American president has ever met with a North Korean leader.
And theres a reason. The dictators from the Kim family almost never keep their word to America. Obama, as president, found this out in 2012, when Kim Jong Un violated the so-called Leap Day deal just weeks after the U.S. and North Korea arrived at the pact.
The general approach of the Obama administration, since the breakdown of that arrangement, has been to insist, sensibly, that before starting a fresh round of dialogue, Pyongyang must honor its existing promises to end its nuclear weapons program.
In September 2005, during the Six-Party talks, the North consented to a Statement of Principles, in which it agreed to abandon its pursuit of nukes. Since then, it has detonated four such devices. Moreover, the North has tested long-range launchers in violation of international sanctions and the Leap Day deal.
Secretary of State John Kerry has thrown out hints in recent months that the U.S. would talk with Pyongyang over various matters, including a treaty to formally end the Korean War. His words, however, generally have been seen as part of an elaborate attempt to coax Beijing to enforce UN Security Council Resolution 2270, which imposes a relatively strict set of sanctions on Pyongyang.
China has been hoping to resume the Six-Party talks, which began in 2003 under Beijings sponsorship and broke down in 2009. These negotiations bring together China, North Korea, Russia, Japan, South Korea, and the U.S.
So why not chat with chubby Kim, especially if youve written books about the art of the deal and consider yourself a master of high-stakes, hard-ball drama on reality TV?
Heres why: mere talk of Trump meeting with the belligerent North Korean rattles both Seoul and Tokyo at a time when, at Washingtons urging, they are now implementing tougher approaches to Pyongyang. Conversations with Kim at this moment, and even talk about talking one-on-one, would undermine efforts that now are beginning to work.
Trumps Reuters interview doesnt really come as a surprise. Throughout his campaign he has challenged the whole notion of American alliances. Hes made comments suggesting he might pull out of NATO, and he has threatened to abandon decades-old treaties with Japan and South Korea.
Such words are a source of glee for China, which very much wants America out of Asia.
On Tuesday, when he talked to Reuters, Trump repeated his notion of how to deal with Pyongyang. I would put a lot of pressure on China because economically we have tremendous power over China, he told the Reuters reporters.
That statement also represents a break from Washingtons established approach to Beijing on the issue. So far, both the Bush and Obama White Houses have treaded gingerly in dealing with China, hoping to convince Beijing to come around on North Korea, its only formal military ally.
Pressuring China on North Korea, if done consistently and with determination, could work, especially because at this moment China needs access to the American market as its economy falters. Yet there is no indication that Trump has considered actual strategies or tactics that could coerce Beijing, against its general inclinations, into implementing American policy.
Trumps comments to Reuters, for instance, came as a surprise to Jeff Sessions, the Alabama Republican senator who chairs the candidates national security advisers.
It hasnt gone unnoticed that Trump seems to have a weak spot for dictatorial typesnotably Russias bright and talented Vladimir Putin)while running down democratically elected Western leaders like British Prime Minister David Cameron and, by implication, just about every president and prime minister allied to the U.S.
Let me get this straight, said a statement from Hillary Clinton foreign policy adviser Jake Sullivan, Donald Trump insults the leader of our closest ally, then turns around and says hed love to talk to Kim Jong Un? His approach to foreign policy makes no sense for the rest of us.
Or Americas allies for that matter.
Theres no sin in shaking up Americas North Korea policy, which over the course of decades has failed in crucial respects.
But unless a better alternative is at hand, and none has been presented by Trump, it would be the crime of the century to destroy Washingtons alliance architecture, which has kept a shaky peace in the region. Even now, months before the elections, throwing out policy pronouncements on a whim has the potential to make the situation in Asia even more tenuous, angering allies and delighting adversaries.
East Asia, Trump needs to know, is reality, not TV.
The Russian government and its sympathizers have embarked on a concerted campaign to keep ill-gotten Russian money, and the crooks behind it, in business in the United States.
To do that, they want to rewrite the history of one of the most notorious corruption scandals of the Putin era. And, strangely, some members of the U.S. Congress and European Parliament seem to be playing along.
It all dates back to the passage of the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act on Dec. 14, 2012. This landmark piece of U.S. legislation, named for a tax lawyer in Moscow who uncovered massive corruption and allegedly died for that sin, sought to sanction and bar from entry into the United States dozens of Russian officials and mobsters implicated in a $230 million tax fraud and its murderous cover-up.
Since then, the Kremlin has tried every trick in its playbook to have the law repealed.
Early on, it promoted a series of counter-Magnitsky measures. One of these was a vindictive satire on the original law, barring certain U.S. citizens from traveling to Russia (not that the blacklisted U.S. senators or federal prosecutors of Russian arms traffickers had much of a desire to visit in the first place).
Another, crueler counter-Magnitsky measure prevented Americans from adopting Russian orphans, many of whom are disabled or stricken with debilitating illnesses and languishing in substandard state institutions.
Jo Becker, the childrens-rights advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, denounced the anti-adoption law for making vulnerable children pawns in a cynical act of political retribution.
But to the Kremlins enormous frustration, the U.S. law stayed on the books.
In four years, the Magnitsky Act has not been repealed. The Obama administration, which treats Russia as a kind of frenemy thats potentially useful in some areas even when its criminal in others, has enforced the law only fitfully, but a handful of Russian officials have been publicly named and shamed by Congress.
Meanwhile, efforts to have the law replicated in other democratic jurisdictions, including the European Parliament, have gained momentum, thanks largely to the relentless activism of one American financier.
William Browder is the CEO of the Hermitage Fund, a onetime Moscow-based investment firm whose offices were raided and whose subsidiaries were stolen and reregistered for use in dummying up tax liabilities in 2007.
Sergei Magnitsky was Browders tax lawyer, a Russian everyman who uncovered the fraud and took his findings to the authorities, expecting them to be relieved at the prospect of recovering money effectively stolen from the state.
Instead, Magnitsky was accused of being a tax fraudster himself. He was arrested by some of the same Interior Ministry officials hed implicated in the Hermitage fraud, and there is strong evidencecorroborated by Russias Presidential Council on Human Rights, no lessto suggest that he was deprived of life-saving medical treatment for gallstones and acute pancreatitis while in pretrial detention.
There is further evidence that Magnitsky was handcuffed to a bed and beaten by truncheon-wielding guards who left him to die in an isolation cell in Matrosskaya Tishina prison in Moscow.
Browder has spent nearly a decade promoting Magnitskys investigative work about the fusion between organized crime and the state in Putins Russia. Burdened by an enormous sense of guilt about the death of his attorney, Browder has become a full-time flame tender for the Magnitsky legacy, vowing to bring to justice those who took part in the frame-up job of an innocent man.
Now permanently based in London, Browder has come under unremitting vilification and legal attack from Moscow.
In 2013, a Moscow court put Browder on trial in absentia alongside the dead Magnitsky in the first posthumous prosecution in the history of Russia.
Browder has since defeated efforts to use an Interpol Red Notice to have him extradited back to Russia to face trial for what he insists are bogus tax-evasion charges.
Since the passage of the Magnitsky Act, much of the looted $230 million has been found or frozen. Some was in Swiss and Latvian bank accounts; some was in offshore companies technically owned by Russian concert cellist Sergei Roldugin (who happens to be Putins best friend), and some was even in six-figure condos in Manhattan.
About $14 million of these assets, including cash deposited in U.S. bank accounts controlled by a Cyprus-registered company called Prevezon Holdings, Ltd., was confiscated by the U.S. Department of Justice.
As the investigations and asset seizures have begun to bite, a lobbying effort has gotten under way to try once again to have the Magnitsky Act repealed.
As before, disadvantaged Russian children are being dangled as bait, with a wink-and-a-nudge promise to have the Russian law rescinded if the American law is taken off the books.
As one U.S. official put it privately, the current messaging is being led by ogres out of central casting. Theyre saying, You repeal Magnitsky and well let go of the kids. And its not even American kids. Its their own. And theyre kids with Down syndrome and spina bifida.
In February, an organization calling itself the Human Rights Accountability Global Initiative Foundation, an obvious echo of the full name of the Magnitsky Act, was registered in Delaware. Little trace of the activities or provenance of this organization exist online, apart from its under construction website, whose homepage is written in ungrammatical English.
HRAGIF claims to be working on analyzing legal and legislative options to help overturn this adoption ban, according to its site. We would like to present our findings to the members of U.S. Congress, Administration and U.S. public and is planning to brief them on possible ways of resolution of this stalemate on adoptions.
The Daily Beast has seen an email sent to the Open Dialog Foundation, a Poland-based NGO, from a man named Anatoli Samochornov, who claimed to represent HRAGIF along with Natalia Veselnitskaya, identified in the email as a Russian lawyer who conducted an extensive investigation of the Magnitsky case.
Both Samochornov and Veselnitskaya were seeking press accreditation to attend an event last month at the Open Dialog Foundation where Browder was slated to speak.
They were denied accreditation.
The Russian-born, partly U.S.-educated Samochornov is a former project manager at the Meridian International Center, a subcontracted nonprofit hired by the U.S. State Department where, according to his LinkedIn profile, he worked on programs to establish an understanding of U.S. foreign policy goals and objectives for current and future international leaders, and served as an interpreter at high level UN and private sector meetings for the Secretary of State and other VIPs.
Samochornov was also apparently a program officer at the FBIs field office in New York, according to an FBI press release.
The Daily Beast spoke briefly to Samochornov last week. He confirmed the authenticity of his email to the Open Dialog Foundation and his and Veselnitskayas involvement in the setting up of HRAGIF. But he asked to be interviewed on the record alongside his colleague, who was not, at the time of the call, available to speak.
Then, after agreeing to such an interview, neither Samochornov nor Veselnitskaya responded to The Daily Beasts follow-up inquiries, and neither was available in time for the publication of this story.
Their silence may owe to the fact that, unmentioned in Samochornovs email to the Open Dialog Foundation and nowhere apparent on HRAGIFs website, is Veselnitskayas role as the family attorney for the owner of Prevezon Holdings, Ltd., the company accused in U.S federal court of money-laundering.
Veselnitskaya is not shy about her opinions of the Magnitsky Act, about Browder, or about journalism aimed at uncovering Russian corruption. Her Twitter feed and interviews on Russian state television reveal her to be a staunch adherent of the Kremlins position on all of the above.
For instance, after the so-called Panama Papers disclosures about Putinist cronies stashing billions in offshore companies, Veselnitskaya tweeted that the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, one of the partner organizations investigating the leaks, is a cistern earning serious investments from Western investors in the sewer wars.
In an appearance on Russias RBK TV on Dec. 12, 2014, Veselnitskaya said there is no Magnitsky case, as such. There is Mr. Browders case who used the death of this poor boy in his own personal interests. And: Sergei Magnitsky did not uncover any theft referred to in the Magnitsky ActNo one tortured him and no one killed Sergei Magnitsky as it is stated in the Magnitsky Act.
HRAGIF was founded in February. Two months later, when four U.S. representatives took part in a congressional delegation to Moscow, they were given a letter marked confidential that makes much the same case as Veselnitskaya does about this notorious affair.
The delegation featured Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, a longtime admirer of Putin (they once arm-wrestled in a Washington, D.C., bar), an opponent of U.S. sanctions on Russia, and an outspoken advocate of closer bilateral cooperation between the two former Cold War enemies, particularly in the realm of combating Islamic terrorism.
The confidential letter given to Rohrabacher, a copy of which The Daily Beast has reviewed, carries a litany of serious allegations against Browder, Magnitsky, the Hermitage Fund, and one of its U.S. investors, which the letter accuses of committing securities and tax fraud in the United States.
Browder, the letter states, is guilty of an illegal scheme of buying up Gazprom shares without permission of the Government of Russia between 1999 and 2006, Gazprom being Russias state-owned gas company. There is not a jot of truth in Browders story, but this is the doctrinal essence of the story known as the Magnitsky case put in as a basis for the U.S. Act that caused the most severe damage to the U.S.-Russian relations in recent years, the letter reads. Then its authors offer to bring the collected evidence before the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and other concerned U.S. government agencies.
The document ends with a conspicuous quid pro quo enticement: Changing attitudes to the Magnitsky story in the Congress, obtaining reliable knowledge about real events and personal motives of those behind the lobbying of this destructive Act, taking into account the pre-election political situation may change the current climate in interstate relations. Such a situation could have a very favorable response from the Russian side on many key controversial issues and disagreements with the United States, including matters concerning the adoption procedures. (Emphasis added.)
Rohrabachers press secretary, Ken Grubbs, told The Daily Beast that the letter came from the Russian government itself, as indeed most information from Russia comes from the government itself, but declined to specify who, exactly, in the Russian government presented the document to the California congressman and his colleagues.
As for the letters contents, wherein a U.S. company is implicated in securities and tax crimes and the founding premise for a four-year-old U.S. law is deemed illegitimate, Grubbs did not wish to comment beyond saying: The congressman simply wants to give [the document] careful consideration. He recognizes that various partisans are impatient for a conclusion, but he wants intellectual honesty to prevail, which requires some patience.
Careful consideration of these accusations was the stated reason for Rohrabachers participation, three weeks ago, in temporarily deferring the markup of a new and expanded draft bill that would apply the economic measures of the Magnitsky Act on a global scale, making gross human-rights abusers from any country susceptible to U.S. asset freezes and visa bans.
That deferral more or less coincided with the scheduled debut in the European Parliament of a two-hour documentary, The Magnitsky AffairBehind the Scenes, reiterating many of the accusations made in the Russian government letter Rohrabacher received.
The documentary was directed by famed Russian filmmaker Andrei Nekrasov, who has a reputation as a critic of the Russian government. The documentarys debut was canceled at the last minute, however, owing to legal pressure brought by Browder, who considers it morally squalid in tone and libelously wrong on the facts, and also by the public outcry of several MEPs who agree with him.
But how did Nekrasovs work get to be slated for exhibition in Europes legislature? Here the story gets even weirder. Heidi Hautala, a Finnish MEP from the Greens voting bloc whom Browder once considered to be a stalwart proponent of Magnitsky sanctions in Europe, hosted the abortive screening. (She is reportedly dating Nekrasov.)
Also in attendance were two invited guests whose presence raised eyebrows among those familiar with the real Magnitsky affair. The first was Maj. Pavel Karpov, one of the Interior Ministry policemen the lawyer identified as an accomplice to the Hermitage fraud and one of the first state officials to be sanctioned under the U.S. law.
The second was Natalia Veselnitskaya, who told state-controlled Russian television channel NTV from Brussels: We have not yet unraveled the chain of all those nuances with which Mr. Browder has lived and keeps living. He alone knows for sure the reason for Magnitskys death.
When the film was ultimately yanked, Veselnitskaya was incensed: We are deeply outraged andfeel a sense of disgust. Withdrawal of the film from the premiere shows that freedom of speech in the European Parliament is granted only to one side.
Browder believes that Veselnitskaya played an integral role in the Nekrasov documentary. The Russian press referred to her as one of its organizers and the person who provided input for this anti-Magnitsky film, he said. It is certainly consistent with their own anti-Magnitsky sentiments.
Among the more contentious claims in The Magnitsky Affair is the suggestion that the lawyer was not really a lawyer (despite the fact that even Putins presidential website describes him as such) and was never beaten by prison guards, despite postmortem photographs showing bruises about his arms and legs, an official death certificate that refers to a suspected cerebral cranial injury, and a Russian government forensic teams findings that he suffered from blunt force trauma consistent with that inflicted by rubber truncheons.
Nekrasov also claims that Magnitsky never uncovered any involvement by Russian Interior Ministry officers in the theft of Hermitage subsidiaries and the subsequent tax heist, despite complaints that Magnitsky prepared and testimony he personally gave to Russias FBI-like Investigative Committee outlining his findings in great detail.
Nekrasovs film, following the Kremlins line, also blames Magnitsky and Browder for stealing the $230 million.
Rohrabacher appears to find that allegation persuasive. On May 4, the congressman tweeted: Dont ignore courageous Ru journalist who exposes Putins sins, Andrei Nekrasov. He reports Magnitsky case is a lie. Open Ur mind.
Many more tweets in a similar vein preceded and followed this one.
Curiously enough, as this article was being edited Tuesday, The Daily Beast learned about a further development in the the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which is due to be marked up Wednesday in the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
According to a U.S. congressional staffer, former California Rep. Ron Dellums and someone named Rinat Akhmetshin showed up Tuesday without an appointment.
They said they were lobbying on behalf of a Russian company called Prevezon and asked us to delay the Global Magnitsky Act or at least remove Magnitsky from the name, the staffer said. Mr. Dellums said it was a shame that this bill has made it so Russian orphans cannot be adopted by Americans.
Rinat Akhmetshin was identified in February 2015 by The New York Times as the director of a Washington think tank called the International Eurasian Institute.
Late Tuesday evening, The Daily Beast obtained a copy of Rep. Rohrabachers proposed amendment to the bill for Wednesdays markup session. On Page 2, line 2, the congressman instructed the Foreign Affairs Committee, Strike Magnitsky.
The Iraqi government is putting the ISIS-controlled city of Fallujah as next on its target list.
Thats not because of increasingly dire reports that the citizens of Fallujah are suffering from starvation and torture under ISISs cruel grip. Nor do Iraqi officials see the city as key to dislodging ISIS from its Iraqi stronghold, Mosul.
Rather, Iraqi officials have told their American counterparts that they suspect the restive Sunni-dominated city is sending jihadists to attack Baghdad, the Shiite-dominated capital. In the last week, there have been multiple daily bombings in Baghdad that have killed more than 200 people and wounded hundreds more. On Tuesday alone, a combination of suicide attacks and car bombings took the lives of nearly 70 people; ISIS claimed responsibility for some of those bombings.
In other words: While all eyes were on Baghdad and the deadliest spate of bombings to strike the capital in years, the Iraqi government was quietly pointing its finger at Fallujah.
Such accusations toward Fallujah, arguably, is precisely what ISIS wanted its bombings to incite, a return to the kind of sectarianism that has, in the past, threatened to tear the state apartand was supposed to dissipate under Prime Minister Haider al Abadi.
With each bombing, residents of the Shiite-dominated Baghdad have looked at the Sunni-dominated Fallujah with increased suspicion. And the Sunnis trapped under ISIS control in Fallujah believe their Shiite-led government is making their torturous situation worse.
In recent weeks, the Iraqi government has placed parts of three of its divisionsthe 1st, 6th, and 7tharound the city. Seven brigades of approximately 1,000 to 1,500 fighters are now committed to this task. And American officials believe the government wants to be finished with Fallujah and rid it of ISIS next, as one U.S. defense official explained.
Theyve got [Fallujah] surrounded. They are pressuring it. But they havent been able to make a real move in there to start clearing it yet, Army Col. Steven Warren, a spokesman for the U.S. effort in Iraq and Syria, told reporters Friday.
But unlike their Iraqi counterparts, American officials are not convinced that Fallujah is the source of the multiple daily attacks on Baghdad. There is nothing to support that, a second U.S. defense official explained.
And even if Fallujah is ISIS freed, Iraq wont be. The security around Baghdad is so bad right now that ISIS could just drive down from Mosul, 170 miles to the north.
Perhaps most important, Fallujah has been under ISIS control for more than two years, longer than any other Iraqi city, making it among the most difficult to dislodge from ISISs grip.
The push to launch an Iraqi ground campaign, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, has created friction between American and Iraqi officials, two defense U.S. officials told The Daily Beast. American military advisers believe that the Iraqi governments focus should be on Mosul, not Fallujah.
While wanting to rid Fallujah of ISIS is seemingly a worthy cause, the Iraqi governments reasons behind it do not portend well for an Iraq trying to reduce the level of sectarianism. Before last weeks bombings, Iraqi officials believed it was up to the people of Fallujah to rid the city of ISIS. Some privately looked at the city with contempt, saying they didnt trust anyone from there.
And when stories emerged of mass starvation in Fallujah by ISISforcing some to reportedly eat grass to survivethe Iraqi government was silent. That lack of response only stoked sectarian feelings by the people of Fallujah toward their government.
Mark Alsalih, a Sunni lobbyist and activist who speaks with tribal sheikhs in the region, blamed Shiite militias for surrounding the city and preventing food and supplies from entering. ISIS fighters who have occupied have also refused to let residents leave, he said.
These militias are not allowing any food shipments or medicines into the city and the people of Fallujahmostly poor folks that were unable to pay ransoms to ISIS to let them out early onare stuck there, Alsalih told The Daily Beast. This has been going on for months and the people are eating grass to survivethere is famine everywhere.
Human Rights Watch reported last month that government forces cut off supply routes into Fallujah after taking back the nearby city of Ramadi from ISIS last year, leaving the city effectively shut off from the outside world. Many fled, and now tens of thousands of the citys earlier original population of more than 300,000 remain, the group says.
Sources inside Fallujah that told human-rights monitors of widespread starvation as well as food price spikes. A 50-kilogram sack of flour was selling for $750 and a bag of sugar cost $500, Human Rights Watch found, whereas in Baghdad, the same items cost $15 and $40.
Human rights groups have also reported that ISIS terrorists who control the city have murdered residents who try to escape. Alsalih said that some stranded civilians have lost all hope. Recently, he said, a woman whose husband ISIS had executed tied herself and her three children together with rope and jumped off a bridge into the Euphrates River, where they drowned.
ISIS no longer allows the citys residents to cross the old bridge because of all the people using it to commit suicideout of starvation and mass hysteria due to their horrific living conditions, Alsalih said. He added that his contacts in the area are convinced that the U.S. will not do anything to help them, because Fallujah was once a hotbed of Iraqi resistance members who fought U.S. forces prior to their withdrawal from Iraq in 2011.
Despite such troubling reports, it was not until recent weeks that the Iraqi officials said it was time to go into Fallujah. The city, rather than part of a monolithic Iraq, is relevant only in proportion to the threat it poses to the capital, it appears.
But there are particular challenges to taking on Fallujah. In three weeks, Iraq and the Muslim world will mark the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is a time of rest, reflection and daylong fasting. Following that, Iraq will be unbearably hot for long-term fighting until at least late September.
Even during the days of Saddam Hussein, Fallujah was considered a restive city. Within weeks of their arrival in 2003, U.S. troops found themselves at odds with its residents. A year later, there were two major U.S.-led battles there. It was not until the surge of 2007, which began in Ramadi and brought the U.S. and Iraqi forces together to combat what was then al Qaeda, that a detente emerged between the U.S. and the residents of Fallujah.
Regardless of the Iraqi calls to move in on Fallujah, there is nothing imminent, U.S. officials said. The result, at least in the short term, is both Iraqi and U.S. officials are bracing for more attacks like those that struck Baghdad on Tuesdayand potentially more sectarian tension.
The last weekend of May will see atmospheric night tours of historic sites near Deoksu Palace in downtown Seoul.
Major historical buildings in the area will be open to the public on May 27 and 28.
Participants will have a rare chance to look around the official residences of the Canadian, U.K., and U.S. ambassadors here.
A snapping sound is the last thing any man wants to hear during sex, especially if it comes from his penis. For a 32-year-old man who showed up at an emergency room in New Delhi, India, that nightmare came true, landing him in the pages of BMJ Case Reports.
According to the physicians who submitted the case study, the anonymous man was having vigorous sexual intercourse when he heard a snapping sound, immediately lost his erection, and felt a jolt of severe pain. In short, he broke his penis.
There are no bones in the human penis but it is still entirely possible to break the sex organ, as the graphic picture in the case study can attest. In the photo, which is not suitable for work or for the faint of heart, the mans penis is engorged, bent, and purplea condition that doctors call an eggplant deformity.
As the physicians explained in the case study, when a penis is erect and undergoes a blunt trauma, the penile shaft bends, and the tunica albugineaa semi-elastic envelope of bundled collagen surrounding the erectile tissuecan be torn. The doctors were able to quickly diagnose the mans penile fracture and, after locating the tear with an ultrasound, they drained the blood from his genitals and repaired the rupture surgically.
This mans experience might sound like a freak accident but it is more common than we realize. Understandably, many men are probably reluctant to share a story about penile fracture with their friends. In fact, according to urologists, they are often shy about it when they show up at the hospital.
Those affected are often reluctant to report the injury because of embarrassment, urologists Dr. Michael Dinneen and Mohammad Massarani wrote in a 2007 summary of penile fracture for Trends in Urology, Gynaecology and Sexual Health. They may be reticent in their history, but usually present early.
In their primer, Dinneen and Massarani observe that penile fracture is under-reported, and certainly not as rare as has been claimed. The most common way it happens during sexual intercourse, they note, is if the penis slips out of the vagina and is thrust either below the vulva into the perineum or above the vulva into a pubic joint.
As in the New Delhi mans case, the painful fracture is often accompanied by a sound and a sudden loss of erection. After the rupture of the tunica albuginea is repaired, men are told to wait up to two months before resuming penile manipulation.
Unless there are severe complications, a man who breaks his penis can expect to regain full sexual function.
In 2015, for example, a 42-year-old man reported to Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston with a classic eggplant deformity. His case, described by Dr. Robert J. Hartman in the New England Journal of Medicine, was fairly standard: a penile fracture accompanied by a snap sound, caused by collision with the perineum while fully erect. The patient underwent surgery, was discharged the next morning, and his penis was still straight three and six months later at his follow-up visits.
Both the Bostonian and the New Delhi man are fortunate that they were treated without incident.
In more complicated cases, Dinneen and Massarani note, the penis can remain curved or develop plaque. Depending on the type of fracture, the mans urethra can also be severely damaged, requiring more complex surgery. Some men who experience the condition more than once may have to take a sedative or even estrogen in order to suppress spontaneous erections during convalescence from the surgery.
For now, the anonymous 32-year-olds graphic picture will live forever as a cautionary tale for all future penis-breakers: Dont be shy and get to the hospitalfast.
The University of East Anglia in Great Britain sounds a pretty dangerous place during graduation ceremoniesa place where mortarboards rain injuriously down on the student populus.
This July, the university has asked that students do not mass in groups of more than 250 to throw their caps into the air at graduation ceremonies, because when they fall to the earth injuries have been reported, apparently caused by the traditional graduation caps hardened edges.
The edict has caused students to opine that it takes health and safety guidelines to a ridiculous new level, while the UKs Health and Safety Executive, which has inevitably been drawn into the controversy, has claimed that mortarboardswhose sartorial history dates back to the 11th centurycannot cause serious injury.
The university had originally banned the throwing of mortarboards by graduates in totality, according to student new site, The Tab.
Law graduates at UEA were told to mime throwing their mortarboards instead, according to The Tab; the caps would then be added digitally flying through the air later. A petition was launched to support students who wanted to throw their caps.
Piers Morgan then offered his support to those wanting to throw their mortarboards, leading The Tab to note, At least it isnt [self-generating controversy volcano], Katie Hopkins supporting us.
On Wednesday, the university backtracked on the plan for a total ban on mortarboard throwing.
A university spokesman admitted to the Daily Beast that the controversy had gone global, but UEA was not banning the throwing of mortarboards into the air completely. It was merely suggesting the throwing be done in small groups.
Last summer, the spokesman said, one student had been taken to the ER department of a local hospital after suffering a cut to the face. Another student had suffered a broken nose and nosebleed.
UEA has not introduced a policy banning the throwing of mortarboardswe have simply asked our photography supplier not to encourage it during large group sessions, the University said in a statement sent to the Daily Beast.
We have taken this step because in each of the last two years students have suffered facial injuries. If individuals or small groups want to throw their mortarboards they can but we dont think doing it in groups of around 250 students is sensible.
Geoff Cox of the HSE, quoted at ITV.com, said, Youd think universities would study history and do a bit of research before repeating tired health and safety myths like this one.
As far back as 2008, HSE made clear the law does not stop graduates having fun and celebrating their success in the time-honored fashion.
The chance of being injured by a flying mortarboard is incredibly small and its over-the-top to impose an outright ban. We usually find the concern is actually about the hats being returned in good condition.
The UEA spokesman noted the seeming absurdity of the reports made it seem a Great British story: last year Birmingham University banned the throwing of mortarboards at graduation ceremonies for students in its Classics, Ancient History, and Archaeology departmentsagain because of the possibility of injuries.
In 2008, students at Anglia Ruskin University were also banned from throwing their graduation caps into the air after an injury sustained by someone the previous year.
Mortarboard wounding concerns have also crossed the Atlantic: the Independent reported that students at one Chicago high school were denied their diplomas after defying a ban on throwing, while Yale was the subject of a lawsuit after someone was injured in a mortarboard-related incident in 1984.
The situation at UEA remains confusing. Asked what punishment awaited those students who tossed their mortarboards into the air in groups of over 250, a spokesman said, Absolutely nothing. Its entirely up to them what they want to do. We just dont encourage students to do it.
This was merely advice, or a request, the university was making, the spokesman said.
Whether the mortarboards design could be changed for it to be made less lethalits edges softened or shape alteredthe university spokesman said that was a matter for mortarboards makers.
The mortarboard is a tradition, and we wouldnt want to take away from that tradition, he told the Daily Beast.
It seems a faraway, other time when Diana, Princess of Wales held the hands of people with AIDS.
And it was: The mid- to late 1980s was a time of greater homophobia, prejudice, and ignorance. Could you get it via kissing or touching, the nasty whispers went. Gays, then stigmatized as one of the groups most affected by HIV, along with IV drug users, were diseased, and those with HIV quite literally untouchable.
If you have no idea of what that dark time was like, read Randy Shiltss And the Band Played On, watch The Normal Heart, and forever be thankful for the work of activists like Larry Kramer, Peter Staley (still campaigning, just last week he sat beside Hillary Clinton at an AIDS activist meeting), Sean Strub, and the warriors of ACT UP.
On the public stage, and in her own brave and pioneering HIV and AIDS advocacy, Diana showed that people with AIDS were people, and people to be cared about, loved, and fought for.
This was brave, because HIV, AIDS, and drug addiction were not charitable pursuits previously perceived as royal.
As The Daily Beast reported this week, todays young generation of royals has taken on mental health as a campaigning focus. That is a valuable subject, but not likely to generate the kind of heat that stating a belief in global LGBT equality is.
And so it was that last week, as reported by publications like Pink News, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark delivered a speech to the IDAHO forum, hosted by her countrys government.
Mary delivered a speechassociated with May 17s International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobiastating, clearly and passionately, a belief in LGBT equality.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. But that assertion, for far too many around the world, does not hold true.
Even though we write 2016, too many LGBTI people continue to be victims of hatred, violence, discrimination, bullying and ill-treatmentand this we cannot and must not accept.
Working together to change social attitudes and promote equal opportunities requires a broad and mutual effort by all of us.
It was necessary, Mary said, to build a culture where everyone is accepted and tolerated for who they are and where everyone can participate equally, fully and freely in all aspects of society.
She noted that 76 percent of European LGBTs were not open about their sexuality or gender identity at work and among their colleagues, and that another study of 93,000 LGBT people across Europe had revealed that nearly half of all respondents [47 percent] felt personally discriminated or harassed because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
She added, We need to ensure and understand how we can create greater progress nationally, regionally, and globally.
Marys strong words of support contrast with the near silence on LGBT equality on the part of Britains high-profile royalsa silence that most people assumed comes with tacit support for equality.
However, LGBT equality is also politically fraught, and a delicate royal tightrope to be negotiated. The royal family is at pains to remain at least publicly politically agnosticLGBT rights and equality are not respected, indeed sometimes horribly violated, in some countries in which the royals are figureheads, or travel to.
The queen, as The Daily Beast noted earlier this year, supported the 2013 Commonwealth Charter, which declared: We are implacably opposed to all forms of discrimination, whether rooted in gender, race, color, creed, political belief, or other grounds.
The other grounds referred to sexualitybut specific reference to LGBTs was reportedly omitted for fear of upsetting Commonwealth countries with draconian anti-gay laws.
Then, a few months ago, controversy erupted when the Daily Mail reported that the queen had privately objected to marriage equality in the United Kingdom, which became law in 2014.
Palace sources told The Daily Beast the story was false and that the queen was not against same-sex marriage.
There has been no direct royal patronage of LGBT charities, although in 2014 the queen congratulated London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard (LLGS), a phone line this reporter was very proud to volunteer for, on the occasion of its 40th anniversary.
Last year, Prince William spoke outwithout using gay-specific wordingagainst LGBT bullying.
In 1999, Prince Charles visited the site of the nail bomb attack on the Admiral Duncan gay bar in Londons Soho, which killed three people and injured around 70 others.
In 2015, Prince Harry visited the Mildmay Hospice in East London, where his mother used to visit to offer support for people with AIDS. He and Prince William have also voiced their support for the Terrence Higgins Trust, another charity supported by their mother.
Apocryphal stories are told of the gay staff at the royal palaces: the British MP Edwina Currie once relayed to Pink News that the queen mother, who died aged 101 in 2002, had said, If we didnt have them as staff, wed have to go self-service.
Another queen mother anecdote has her reprimanding two quarreling gay staff: When you two old queens have finished arguing, this old queen wants her gin.
As charming as these stories are, and as encouraging the words and actions of the queen and Prince William are, the challenge facing Britains royals on LGBT matters is neatly encapsulated by the clarity, boldness, and directness of Crown Princess Marys words.
Will the British royals have the courage and cunning to negotiate the fraught waters of international diplomacy and follow her lead?
Havana Club redesigned by Pearlfisher London
Pearlfisher Londons three studios Futures, Strategy and Design have jointly completed a structural and packaging redesign for Pernod Ricard's premium rum, Havana Club 7 year old.
Havana Club traces its roots back to Cuba in 1878. After 25 years of global success, Pernof Ricard turned to Pearlfisher to re-establish integrity and balance in the core brand portfolio with a new brand vision, architecture, identity and visual language, starting with the heart of the range, Havana Club 7.
To inform and inspire the work, Pearlfisher undertook a deep dive into authenticity, conducting a cultural immersion into the city of Havana to experience its sensorial realism and working with Cuban artists to explore the visual cues of a culture energised by creativity. Looking to elevate the powerful sense of humanity prevalent in Cuba, Pearlfisher Strategy rooted the reinvention in the idea of crafted by hand, informing a brand vision that is as colourful, emotional and multi-layered as the people of Havana.
Yael Alaton, strategy director at Pearlfisher, says of the project and of the new Havana Club 7 design (the first product in the new portfolio to launch): We started with the brands heartland spirit, a seven-year aged rum that is not only one of the darkest, richest and most complex blends in the world but a true embodiment of the rich soul and cultural depth of the country. Identifying exu berant craft as the guiding creative vision, we combined the extroverted energy of Cuban people with the artistry inherent in the rums production, bringing the playfulness of Cuba to life in the serious world of spirits while evoking the many layers of taste that both Havana Club 7 and Cuba exude.
Working with Cuban artists, Pearlfisher Design combined two classic Cuban aesthetics 19th Century cigar art, a key element of Cubas artistic heritage, and screen printing, a technique embedded in cultural origins to bring the duality of exuberance and craft to life.
Sarah Cattle, creative director at Pearlfisher, says of the resulting aesthetic: A visual language based on black panels screen-printed over vibrantly illustrated Cuban scenes elegantly communicates the depth, mystery and sultry sophistication of the Havana Club 7 experience whilst allowing the energy and optimism of Havana to shine through beneath text and border cut-outs. As there is currently no common aesthetic to indicate premium in Cuba, our designs not only drive the Havana Club brand forward with contemporary relevance but set visual cues for the category as a whole.
When it came to the structural design for the Havana Club 7 bottle, Pearlfisher Design took inspiration from the Maestros del Ron Cubano who asked for the bottle to be as carefully considered as its precious contents. The new vessel bolder and more substantial than its predecessor, with defined shoulders and a sturdier base provides an honest canvas that feels authentically crafted in Cuba, using profile, glass colour and detailing to frame the label artwork.
A series of unique neck tags that celebrate individuals responsible for different stages of the rums production process brings the human touch, inherent in the brand, to the fore, connecting connoisseurs and first-time drinkers alike with the craftsmen behind the rum.
Nick Blacknell, marketing director at Havana Club, comments: Pearlfisher has done a brilliant job to unveil a new look for Havana Club 7 that speaks of our proud Cuban roots and the people behind this revered rum. Capitalising on the growing global demand for high quality sipping rums, this new bottle will bring our Cuban spirit to international Havana Club fans and continue to support our leadership of the super-premium rum category.
18 May 2016 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Report, editor
Nine bikers lay dead or dying, their bodies sprawled on the grounds at Twin Peaks amid pools of blood and an arsenal of weapons.
Officers from multiple local and state jurisdictions converged on the chaotic scene one year ago, trying to process what had transpired, tending to more than 20 who were injured and attempting to restore order to what previously had been a quiet Sunday in Waco.
Busloads of bikers, most of whom had brought weapons of some sort with them to the May 17, 2015, regional meeting of the Texas Coalition of Clubs and Independents, were taken to the Waco Convention Center, where they were identified and interviewed by police.
Sgt. J.R. Price, head of the Waco Police Department's Special Crimes Unit, was directing what he thought at the time was a capital murder investigation. But that's when McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna arrived with two of his top assistants, Michael Jarrett and Mark Parker.
More than 60 bikers had already been processed, interviewed, photographed and sent home when Reyna put a halt to the interviews and called a meeting in one of the conference rooms. He also put a halt to anyone going anywhere but to jail.
Waco PD's ongoing investigation soon shifted its focus from capital murder charges to engaging in organized criminal activity charges, based on identical arrest affidavits prepared by Reyna's office. Price told Reyna that he wasn't so sure about the new charges, reminding Reyna that his detectives already were in the middle of a capital murder investigation.
He questioned Reyna about what criteria he planned to use to support such a charge. Reyna said the Texas Department of Public Safety had classified biker groups Bandidos and Cossacks as criminal street gangs. The DA ordered any members of those two groups or members of their support groups to be arrested on engaging in organized criminal activity charges.
Price notes in reports that he was aware of ongoing dust-ups around the state between Bandidos and Cossacks prior to the May 17 Twin Peaks shootout and says the DPS shared its intelligence with the department about the feud between the biker groups.
Reyna explained to Price that his justification for the charges was that both groups were designated by DPS intelligence as criminal street gangs, despite the Cossacks not being listed as one prior to the Twin Peaks incident.
Since the Twin Peaks shootout -- a McLennan County law enforcement episode rivaled only by the 1993 Branch Davidian incident in terms of its scope, complexity and death toll -- 154 bikers have been indicted on first-degree felony charges that allege they were acting as members of a criminal street gang that day.
In all, 192 people were jailed in the May 17 incident, including 15 who later were named in sealed indictments because most were wounded and had not been arrested yet.
In the year since the shootout, attorneys for bikers have demanded examining hearings to challenge probable cause, filed motions alleging their rights to speedy trials have been violated, challenged a gag order entered into the case involving one Hewitt biker only, appealed bond amounts and negotiated lower bonds and have filed at least one aborted claim to move one biker's case from McLennan County.
Police and prosecutors have declined public comment since the gag order was issued, but attorneys for bikers have railed against law enforcement and prosecutors in McLennan County and the criminal justice system overall. They claim authorities, including Reyna and Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton, the department spokesman, conspired to poison any potential jury pool with misinformation and exaggerations about bikers and the biker community.
"Obviously, May 17 was a tragic event that occurred in our community. The wheels of justice may not turn as fast as some people may like them to, but this is not a TV movie. This is reality," Swanton said. "The unfortunate part of this is it takes a while for things to occur. That is the nature of the justice system.
"Having said that, as it does move forward, I think people will see that we have a police force in Waco that they should be very proud of. They have a criminal justice system they should be very proud of. The actions of our officers that day protected innocent civilians, and had they not taken the appropriate action that they did, the death toll could have been much worse and innocent civilians could have lost their lives."
Swanton declined to answer specific questions about the Twin Peaks incident, citing the gag order.
Bikers have challenged being labeled "gangs" and say the vast majority arrested are not so-called "1 percenters," or members of a criminal street gang, but hard-working, law-abiding motorcycle enthusiasts who came to Waco that day to hear a legislative update about bikers' rights.
At various hearings during the past year, prosecutors have painted all vest-wearing bikers as members of the Cossacks or Bandidos or one of their support groups who came to Waco armed to the teeth in a show of strength and solidarity with one particular side or the other.
While indictments are pending, prosecutors have said in hearings that they will not be ready to go to trial for possibly many months down the road because state and federal agencies still are reviewing DNA, cellphone evidence, ballistics and other forensic evidence gathered at the massive crime scene.
Reyna and Jarrett, Reyna's first assistant district attorney, declined to be interviewed for this story, continuing Reyna's two-year refusal to speak to the Tribune-Herald.
Reyna also has not spoken about the logistics of adding 154 new cases to the dockets of Waco's two primary felony courts, nor has he consulted in detail with the judges about how they would like the bikers' cases to progress through the system.
No trial dates have been set and the district attorney's office has requested no civil hearings in the forfeiture of 27 vehicles seized from those reportedly involved in the shootout. Prosecutors filed notices in June that they intend to forfeit 17 motorcycles, eight pickup trucks and two SUVs, alleging the vehicles are contraband used in the commission of crimes.
The district attorney's office also has not presented evidence to a grand jury concerning the actions of the three Waco police officers who fired a total of 12 rounds at Twin Peaks that day.
It touches the food we eat and the air we breathe, the clothes we wear and possibly the device you're using to read these words.
But slavery today is a paradox. It is hidden away as never before, but its effects are everywhere.
If slavery were a country it would have the population of Canada and the GDP of Kuwait, but its CO 2 emissions would rank third globally after China and the US.
The latest measures of global slavery conservatively estimate there are about 36m slaves worldwide, spread across virtually all countries. The UN says slavery generates some US$150 billion annually.
These numbers seem immense, but the number of slaves represents only a small amount of the global population. While US$150 billion is a tiny fraction of the global economy and is spread across several million local criminal enterprises.
In all of human history, slavery has never been such a small part of our shared existence. Slavery is illegal in every country, it is condemned by every faith, and business and government leaders are unanimous in rejecting it.
Slavery has been pushed to the very edges of our global society, but it is still destroying lives and the natural world at an alarming rate because the criminal gangs who employ slave labour are often involved in pollution and deforestation as part of their work.
Bosses pit slaves against forests and tigers
As part of my research, I met 19-year-old Shumir in a village at the bottom of Bangladesh. Just the night before he had escaped from slavery by stowing away in a fishing boat. He was lured into slavery, he said:
"A recruiter told my parents he would give them 2000 taka [US$29] if they'd let me come and work on a fish camp ... The man said the work was easy, and there was plenty of food to eat. My parents needed the money and I wanted to help, so I left with the recruiter."
It was a lie. Shumir and dozens of other boys would often work 24 hours straight. "The longer I worked", he told me, "I'd get exhausted and clumsy. Sometimes I'd cut myself with the gutting knife or slip and fall from the drying rack. Whenever I made a mistake the boss would hit me."
Yet more feared than the bosses were the tigers. Every boy I met from the fish camps reported having witnessed or having known another child slave who had been eaten by a tiger. These accounts came about because criminal slaveholders had carved fish processing camps from the forests of the Sundarbans UNESCO World Heritage Site - a natural habitat for protected Bengal tigers in the area.
SHARE Rev. Gerald Baker. Source: http://www.stmaryofthewoodswhitesville.org/
By Tom Lovett of The Gleaner
A Catholic priest who once served in Union County has been suspended by the Diocese of Owensboro after an allegation of improper conduct with a minor.
An allegation against Father Gerald Baker, pastor of St. Mary of the Wood Catholic Church in Whitesville, Kentucky, and St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Fordsville, Kentucky, was filed with the diocese on May 3, according to Bishop William Medley.
Baker served at St. Ann Catholic Church in Morganfield from June 2003 until June 2012, when he was appointed at St. Mary of the Wood.
"We got a call that a young person had made an accusation that Father Gerald Baker had acted in an inappropriate manner with him of a sexual nature," Medley said. "So our first response was to report that to authorities and then move to assure that the person making that accusation is getting whatever support that they might need."
Medley said the allegation came from a young person in the St. Mary of the Wood parish. He was uncertain when the alleged incident might have taken place.
Trooper Corey King, spokesman for Kentucky State Police Post 16 in Henderson, confirmed the KSP is investigating, but also said no charges have been filed.
Medley said he spoke with Baker on May 6. While he declined to discuss what Baker said, Medley said he "asked (Baker) to absent himself from the parish over the weekend pending counsel from the Diocesan Review Board. So he left Whitesville on Friday afternoon."
Baker fell ill on May 7, and has been hospitalized ever since. Medley declined to discuss the nature of Baker's illness or where he is being treated other than to say that he is "very ill."
The Diocesan Review Board was formed in 2002 in response to the church abuse scandal in Boston. The 13-member board is made up of lay members of the church who advise the bishop when allegations are made again church officials.
Medley said the Diocesan Review Board recommended that Baker be suspended. Medley signed the suspension on May 13.
Medley said Baker has served at many parishes across Western Kentucky and to his knowledge, and according to church records, there have been no prior allegations against him. But, he said, the diocese is reaching out to every parish where Baker has served.
"We have asked every parish where he has been assigned to publish a notice in their church bulletin as a soon as possible acknowledging that an accusation has been made and articulating what years he served there and repeating the statement that the church stands ready to help anyone who has ever been a victim of any type of mistreatment of abuse within the embrace of the church," Medley said.
A letter explaining the situation was read at every Mass Saturday and Sunday at St. Mary of the Wood and St. John the Baptist, Medley said, and a copy was sent to every home in both parishes.
Medley said he was at St. Mary of the Wood for a confirmation service Sunday and that parishioners were shocked by the allegation.
"People were expressing their concern and their affection and respect for Father Baker but also thanking me that the church was assuring that the young person who brought this allegation forward would be treated justly and pastorally," he said.
Medley said that while the church is cooperating with police, it is conducting its own investigation.
"Civic authorities will investigate as to whether anything criminal has happened," Medley said. "... We will cooperate fully but will keep hands off to assure there's no perception that we're trying to influence things one way or another.
"The church's investigation will take a different path and it's conceivable that civic authorities might not find that anything criminal has happened but that our own standards have not been observed and we might be required to take action independent of the state police."
Medley said such Baker's suspension could be extended or made permanent, depending on the church's findings.
Beth Smith / The Gleaner Judge Robert Wiederstein poses in his office Tuesday after announcing he will retire from the bench after more than 17 years as a Henderson District County judge.
SHARE
By Beth Smith of The Gleaner
Roughly 26 years ago, when District Judge Robert Wiederstein first stepped foot into Henderson, it wasn't as an attorney.
"One thing people don't know, I was married Aug. 11, 1990, in Poseyville, Indiana. My wife and I spent the first night of our married life in the Sugar Creek Inn in Henderson, Kentucky. Then we went to Kentucky Dam Village for four days and three nights, and I ate off the steak buffet," he said. "I didn't think life could get any better. That Monday we started law school in Indianapolis. I've got a long history, a long association with Henderson. I never dreamed I'd be here practicing law, having a career here and raising a family."
Since Jan. 1, 1999, Wiederstein, 48, has held a seat as a Henderson District Court judge, becoming somewhat of a fixture at the Henderson County Courthouse and later, after its construction, at the Henderson Judicial Center. But by next month, that will have changed.
After 17 1/2 years on the bench, Wiederstein is retiring, effective June 1.
"My dad died in February. County Judge-executive Hugh McCormick died a couple of days after my dad. The value of enjoying today means more to me at the moment then it did a year ago," he said. "I still have some things I want to do. I have some challenges I haven't fulfilled ... there are some things I want to write. Writing has become very important to me. I want to make time for those things. I want to make time for my family. I have a daughter who is leaving for college. My son is 16, and I still want to do some things with him."
"Judge McCormick was the second judge to die in office. He was a friend. County Judge-executive Sandy Watkins, who died in office, was a friend. They were in their 50s when they died in office. There are some things I want to do."
"Now is not a perfect time to retire, but neither is a year from now or two years from now," Wiederstein said. "So I've decided I need to go ahead and go."
In his time as judge, Wiederstein said the greatest lesson he's learned can be summed up as "you don't always know what you think you know. And the minute that you have such confidence in something you think you know, that is the time you're going to make a mistake."
"You have to allow lawyers to make their cases. You have to be receptive to knew information," he said. "You can't go into anything with an objective or result in mind. It's difficult to do that because it's natural to lean in a certain way. It's easy to do that. But time and time again, I've found myself surprised."
"In 17 years what's changed I'd say the biggest thing is that for the first time in about 30 years, since the 80s, there is a widespread public movement asking the question 'is incarceration an effective way to change people's behavior?' The answer, for low risk defendants, is it's not. In fact, you may be creating more of a problem. So in the country right now, there's a lot of people asking the question about the effectiveness of the justice system," he said.
Wiederstein has taken his personal experiences and used them in efforts to help the youth in Henderson.
"When I have a black robe on, people don't realize that when I was a kid, I didn't make very good decisions," he said. "I had people help me, and I have never forgotten that."
"Probably the thing I take some pride in, and there were many people involved, we made a very serious run at trying to improve what we did with kids here locally. We've had some successes, and I take the greatest pride in working with the public schools, the county attorney's office and the other judges to look at this and what it takes to be effective with kids. That's probably what I've worked the hardest on."
As much as he has enjoyed serving as district judge, Wiederstein said, he's ready for the next phase. Although what the new phase will look like, he doesn't know.
"My whole life has been a plan. I've had a plan tomorrow I'm going to do this. Four years from now I'm going to be doing this. For the first time in my life, I don't have a plan. It's unsettling. It's causing me some anxiety, but that's OK."
"I just want everyone to know," he said, "that I'm very grateful to the community for their support during the last 17 years."
A former Hardin County social worker has admitted to making false reports of child abuse last year against her neighbors at an Elizabethtown apartment complex where they lived.
The case attracted widespread attention after the Courier-Journal reported that a young couple who lived in an upstairs apartment with their infant daughter said the bizarre allegations had disrupted their lives and sent police and social workers to their door repeatedly to investigate false, anonymous complaints that they were drunk, disorderly, abusing drugs and mistreating their baby.
The complaints ended after Beth Bond and Joseph Applegate Jr., Bond's then-fiance, were charged with making false reports of child abuse and neglect against their neighbors to the state agency that employed Bond as a social worker. Bond, 38, quit her job with the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services on June 1 after she was charged.
Last week, both Bond and Applegate pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in connection with the case, which brought some relief to their former neighbors, April Rodgers and Corey Chaney, the targets of the false allegations.
'We're just focused on raising our daughter and being a family,' Rodgers said.
However, Bond still faces charges in Grayson County in a separate case where she is accused of making false reports of child abuse against two people, the husband of her former best friend and the pastor of a Baptist church she attended.
On May 13, Bond pleaded guilty in Hardin District Court to six counts of complicity to falsely report an incident, according to court records. She received a 12-month suspended sentence and was ordered to serve two years probation and provide 100 hours of community service.
Applegate, 43, who shared an apartment with Bond on Pine Valley Drive, pleaded guilty to one count of complicity to falsely report an incident. He received a 12-month suspended sentence and two years probation.
Both were ordered to have no contact with the victims.
Adam Cart, Bond's lawyer, said his client wanted to get the case in Hardin County resolved.
'I think we reached a reasonable resolution,' he said. 'My client is happy to put this behind her and move on.'
Evan Spalding, Applegate's lawyer, said he also was ready to get the case settled.
'He's certainly looking forward to moving on with his life,' he said.
Bond remains charged in a separate case in Grayson County with four counts of official misconduct and four counts of falsely reporting an incident. She has pleaded not guilty.
Grayson County Attorney Clay Ratley said a hearing is scheduled next week to get a trial date in the case.
An arrest complaint in the case said that Bond made false reports of child abuse against Jerry Beauchamp, who is married to her former friend, Shawna Beachchamp, as well as Roger Allen, the pastor of Falls of the Rough Baptist Church, which Bond attended. Bond had worked as a social worker in the area before moving to Elizabethtown last year.
Shawna Beauchamp said her family hopes to get the case resolved soon.
'It turned our lives upside-down,' she said. 'I'll be glad when it's all over. I hope she goes to jail.
Greater Burlington leaders hope for more hotel, housing construction
Burlington and West Burlington leaders shared opportunities for growth and quality of life improvements in their respective cities.
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NORWALK Mayor Harry W. Rilling and his wife Lucia are inviting residents to walk with them this Saturday morning as part of the "Walk with Us" program.
The Rillings will walk the Jefferson School neighborhood loop, which is approximately 1.2 miles in length.
NORWALK The state budget hammered out last week continues to reduce tax reimbursements for local hospitals, forcing institutions like Norwalk Hospital to make do with less.
The hospital will receive $3.7 million during the 2017 fiscal year in supplemental payments from the state $1.6 million less than it received this year, according to the state Office of Fiscal Analysis.
Overall, Norwalk Hospital will receive $4.7 million less than what was expected when the 2016-17 state budget was initially approved more than a year ago. Statewide, hospitals will receive $134 million less in tax reimbursements next year than initially budgeted, OFA figures show.
What this does is take an already bad situation and makes it worse, said Steven Rosenberg, chief financial officer for the Western Connecticut Health Network, which includes hospitals in Norwalk, Danbury and New Milford.
The reduced funding is part of a trend that began last year as that state responded to lower than expected tax revenue. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy quickly cut refunds distributed to hospitals for federal and state taxes paid, and those reductions continued in the state budget adopted last week to help close a nearly $1 billion deficit.
All of the states hospitals are grappling with cutbacks. Under the new state budget, Bridgeport Hospital will receive $4.4 million less in reimbursement next year than it received this year; Stamford Hospital $1.9 million less; and the Danbury and New Milford hospitals $1.8 million less.
Michele Sharp, a spokeswoman for the Connecticut Hospital Association, said the cuts may translate into less care for patients.
For patients, it means longer hospital wait times, less access to care, fewer services and higher health care costs, Sharp said. For our economy, its meant the loss of 3,000 jobs since the tax began negatively impacting hospitals in 2013.
Griffin Hospital in Derby is losing nearly $500,000 in tax reimbursement payments and Milford Hospital is losing about $114,000. Those losses are slightly offset by a modest increase in payments from the small hospital pool.
Rosenberg said Western Health Network hospitals are already posting an $8 million loss for the first six months of this fiscal year, noting the state budget cut amounts to an additional $3.2 million tax increase.
We are struggling to get back to a break-even point, Rosenberg said. This just raised the bar for us.
Rosenberg said the hospitals are searching for savings, and said layoffs cannot be ruled out. He pointed out that 60 percent of the hospitals revenue comes from the government, adding there has been no increase in Medicare payments and Medicaid funding is in free fall. The only place we can go is commercial payers, Rosenberg said. We have a limited opportunity to raise prices. That leaves our expense base and anyway we can save a dollar without impacting services. We cant have a loss of $8 million and stay in business.
State Sen. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, said in a recent statement sent to newspapers that hospitals have few options for making up the cuts. The tone deaf budget plan agreed upon by the governor and the Democrat majorities in the House and Senate called for $43.4 million in cuts to the states hospitals, Hwang said. That translates into $130 million in overall cuts when federal funds are included.
Hwang added The states not-for-profit hospitals cannot simply pack up and move to a more business-friendly state as many for-profit companies have contemplated or done. The powers-that-be at the Capitol arent listening.
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NORWALK The Norwalk Police Department broke from tradition at its annual memorial service on Wednesday.
In addition to its established practice of paying tribute to four NPD officers who died in the line of duty, this year the department also recognized eight of its officers who took their own lives.
Calling officer suicide a difficult topic to discuss, but also one that is very real, Norwalk Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik addressed the assemblage of police personnel, local dignitaries, and family and friends of officers:
Borrowing the motto from the Connecticut Police Memorial Foundation, I remind everyone to never forget. While we must never forget those we lost in the line of duty, theres another group of officers that we must never forget. Unfortunately we have done a poor job of keeping that promise, he said.
Kulhawik said the time has come to recognize that the pressures and experiences of this very difficult job takes its toll on officers and affects them in very different ways.
Some tragically have left us as a result. We must also remember all those we have lost to suicide, he said. We have suffered through this loss far too many times. While we cannot change the past, we can take steps to shape the future. In addition to including these officers in todays remembrance, and assuring that we include them in future years, I am dedicating a shadow box to formally remember each of them.
Retired Officer Michael Price designed and presented a shadow box to be displayed as a permanent fixture in the lobby of Norwalk police headquarters.
The box contains the badge numbers of Officer Kenneth Cerulli (served Feb. 7, 2001 to Jan. 15, 2013); Officer Henry J. Magalas (served Sept. 20, 1971 to March 29, 2001 died Sept. 16, 2009); Officer Matthew Morelli (served Aug. 1, 1996 to March 21, 2008); Officer Paul Stevens (served April 1, 1988 to March 13, 2004); Officer Gary Palmer (served Jan. 4, 1974 to Nov. 8, 1999); Officer Larry S. Ralston (served March 6, 1969 to June 29, 1979); Officer Williard M. Miley (served Sept 1, 1952 to April 29, 1976 died July 23, 1976); Sgt. Richard Walsh (served Sept. 1, 1953 to March 4, 1974).
They will forever be included in our remembrances, Kulhawik said. This is long overdue.
The memorial ceremony is held in recognition of a 1962 proclamation by President John F. Kennedy naming May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day, and the week surrounding May 15 as police week.
While we are fortunate here in Connecticut, the reality is that 129 officers lost their lives in the line of duty in 2015 ... 35 officers have lost their lives in the line of duty thus far this year, said Kulhawik. This number is down 19 percent from this time last year. During the same period gun deaths are up by 55 percent. As we all know policing is a dangerous job and the proliferation of gun violence only makes it that much more dangerous ... Join me who in honoring those who are paid to do a very difficult job and those who chose a career that led them to make the ultimate sacrifice.
The Norwalk memorial service honored officers from Norwalk and the surrounding communities who gave their lives in the line of duty, as well as retired Norwalk officers who have passed away during the past year.
We come year after year to say thank you to officers who have given their lives in the line of duty, said Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling. The common response of heroic officers is we are just doing our job. When we mourn the loss of officers who died in the line of duty we often hear, He or she was prepared to give their life.Lets make sure we do our job, to remember their sacrifices.
The memorial service on the plaza outside of police headquarters began with a ceremonial flyover by Eagle 1 and a motorcycle procession by Norwalk police officers. Deputy Chief Susan Zecca led the Pledge of Allegiance and the Norwalk Police Honor Guard retired the colors.
Fred Miodowski and Jon Worley played Taps and Detective Kristina La Pak sang the National Anthem, accompanied by David Harris.
Giving the invocation, Norwalk police chaplain, the Rev. Artie Kassimis, prayed for the safety of officers and said: Right now there is a police officer helping someone and missing their family while caring for ours.
U.S. District Attorney for Connecticut Deirdre Daly added: It is said that the price of freedom is constant vigilance. You pay that price on our behalf.
Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff addressed the assemblage by saying: Most of us go on with our lives and put our heads on our pillow at night knowing that we have protectors ... We stand in solidarity today as we recognize your bravery and heroism.
Norwalk Police Union President Sgt. David Orr reminded those gathered to remember not only the sacrifices of fallen officers but to remember the law enforcement community at large.
Every three days a police officer leaves home and never returns, Orr said. This is a challenge we willingly accept ... Its what we experience together is what binds us together..
The four Norwalk officers who died in the line of duty are:
Sgt. Frank S. Stratton who served Norwalk for 28 years before his death on Oct. 14, 1930. Stratton stopped a suspicious motor vehicle, discovered that the two men inside were AWOL Marines. While bringing the suspects to his patrol car, Stratton was struck by a speeding motor vehicle.
Officer Sherrald Gorton was a police officer for 12 years before his death on June 20, 1962. Gorton was struck and killed by a construction vehicle while on traffic assignment at a construction site.
Sgt. Nicholas Fera served Norwalk for 19 years until his death on July 9, 1971. While attempting to arrest two bank robbery suspects, gunfire erupted, leaving Fera and one of the suspects fatally wounded.
Officer Marco Carias was a police officer for two years. On March 20, 1982 he was involved in a fatal motor vehicle accident while operating an undercover Connecticut State Police vehicle.
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The derailment of an Amtrak train in Philadelphia last May was caused by a loss of awareness by the trains engineer, whos attention was diverted by an emergency involving another train, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday.
The Washington-to-New York City passenger train, Amtrak 188, was traveling at 106 mph around a curve in Philadelphia more than twice the authorized speed of 50 mph when it derailed May 12, 2015. Eight passengers were killed and more than 180 others were sent to area hospitals, some with critical injuries.
Its widely understood that every person, no matter how conscientious and skilled, is fallible, which is why technology was developed to backstop human vulnerabilities, said NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart. Had positive train control been in place on that stretch of track, this entirely preventable tragedy would not have happened.
Investigators determined the Amtrak engineer became distracted by an emergency involving a commuter train and lost situational awareness as to where his train was located in relation to the curve with the 50 mph speed restriction.
The acceleration past 100 mph before entering the curve where the derailment occurred was consistent with a belief that his train had already passed the curve into an area of relatively straight track where the authorized speed was 110 mph, the NTSB said.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn, said positive train control, which can automatically stop an out-of-control train and was mandated years ago, could have prevented the accident.
The absence of positive train control at Frankford Junction resulted in the death of eight innocent people, Blumenthal said. Todays NTSB board meeting was a scathing indictment of railroads and their decades of delay in implementing this life-saving technology.
Blumenthal added while some railroads have worked in earnest to implement PTC, we can add the death toll in Philadelphia to the tally of hundreds of lives taken and thousands injured because most railroads have resisted implementing PTC. Congressional acquiescence to their demands for delay has been culpable as well.
The survival factors aspect of the investigation revealed some of the windows failed to remain intact throughout the accident sequence. Investigators said if the windows had not failed, some passengers who were ejected from the train and killed would likely have remained inside the train and survived.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn, also supported the NTSBs call for positive train control.
We now know without a doubt that last years horrific Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia was 100 percent preventable, Murphy said. The eight people who were killed, and hundreds who were injured, suffered needlessly because weve failed to put in place basic safety measures like positive train control.
Murphy said the Senate is about to pass a bill that includes $200 million to implement PTC on more commuter railroads like Metro-North. I will keep fighting until its operational on every passenger rail service in Connecticut and across the country, he said.
The nations uninsured rate dropped to 9.1 percent in 2015, making it the first year in American history in which less than one in 10 Americans lacked health insurance. Connecticuts uninsured rate was even lower at 4.9 percent down from about 7 percent from the year before.
On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the latest National Health Interview Survey, which gives estimates on health insurance coverage, based on data for 103,798 people. According to the report, 28.6 million people of all ages (or 9.1. percent of the population) were uninsured at the time of the survey 7.4 million fewer people than in 2014.
The report also showed that the percentage of adults age 18 to 64 who were uninsured fell from 16.3 percent in 2014 to 12.8 percent in 2015. In Connecticut, that number dropped from 10 percent in 2014 to 7.6 percent in 2015, the CDC report said.
The drop of those uninsured is significant for a lot of reasons, said Angela Mattie, professor and chairman of Quinnipiac Universitys Department of Healthcare Management. This is good news and will eventually lead to people seeking care that is more cost-effective and more appropriate to their needs, she said.
Mattie said those without insurance tend to delay care, resulting in higher costs when they cant wait any longer. They also tend to go to the emergency room for non-emergency care because they dont have a regular care provider.
Bridgeport Hospital Chief Medical Officer Michael Ivy echoed those thoughts.
This is progress, he said of the drop in the uninsured. People who are insured get better care than those who are not.
Ivy said medical costs are a leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States.
One of the questions here is, will this (drop in uninsured Americans) result in fewer medical-related bankruptcies down the road? he said.
In a statement, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell credited the Affordable Care Act the sweeping health care reform legislation also known as Obamacare for the drop in uninsured rates.
Todays report is further proof that our country has made undeniable and historic strides thanks to the Affordable Care Act, Burwell said in the statement. She also mentioned that, since the bills passage, premiums for employer coverage, Medicare spending, and health care prices have risen at exceptionally slow rates. Our country ought to be proud of how far weve come and where were going.
But Mattie said theres still work that needs to be done. She pointed to Gov. Dannel P. Malloys recent budget, which reduced tax reimbursements to many state hospitals, forcing them to make due with less money. She also mentioned that the health care delivery system is too fragmented, and that there isnt enough money spent on preventative care.
Ivy agreed, but said the new numbers are a positive development.
There is a lot of health inequity in the United States, he said. This is a step toward correcting that.
Arthur Lipners musical path reads like a global roadmap.
The Wilton residents career as a musician, composer and educator has taken him to 25 countries. Hes presented over 300 workshops on six continents and returns to Brazil for the 17th time in July.
Im excited about my upcoming trip to Brazil, said Lipner, who plays the vibraphone and marimba. I will include concerts at two large, beautiful concert halls in Sao Paulo and present workshops there and in Rio de Janeiro.
This weekend, Arthur Lipner performs a little closer to home when he headlines Wilton Librarys Hot & Cool: Jazz at the Brubeck Room concert with his band Brasilian Vibes and vocalist Vanessa Falabella on Saturday, May 21, at 7:30.
Its great to bring the music and musicians that are so special to me to my community, said the musician, composer and educator. And its always fun to look out and see familiar faces.
He noted that his collaboration with Saturdays vocalist Vanessa Falabella began in the mid-90s at Cafe Wha? In New York City. Weve shared the stage many times since then in this country and in Brazil, he said. She contributed to several tracks on my 2010 album Brasilian Vibes.
The disc was nominated by the Brazilian Press Awards for Best CD of that year. Vanessa has an amazingly versatile voice and a special charm onstage, a real pleasure to perform with. We have a special musical connection.
And its no surprise that melodies from Brazil are on this weekends set list. Well be performing an interesting mix of Brazilian style, said Lipner. Samba and Bossa Nova classics will be included, and also songs lesser known from Northeast Brazil.
The mallet player explained why hes so in tune with sounds from that country. Brazilian music offers me the perfect blend of melody, harmony and improvisation. Brazilian rhythms, originally from Africa, are vast in their variety and subtle syncopations, he said. These different beds of rhythm and meter open up a whole universe of opportunities to explore as a performer and composer which I find exciting and fulfilling.
Speaking of composing, over 75 of Lipners works have been released on recordings. I always have my eyes on new compositions and the next recording project. I plan to do some writing for Percussion Ensemble, pieces I can premiere on a university tour in the South in November.
His other current projects include the forming of a brand new ensemble. SQUiLL is a very cool new project of mine that I hope to get off the ground as time allows, he said. Its the funk band I always wanted but never had. The repertoire is a mix of my original compositions and funkified music from around the world. It was first inspired by 2014 recording sessions I did in Istanbul with local musicians. Hopefully starting this summer, Ill have more time to devote to it.
Education has also been a big part of Lipners music. Last week, he returned from leading a workshop in Kentucky, just prior to this interview.
Teaching has always been a passion of mine, he said. I work with all levels of people in all situations. I enjoy seeing the enlightenment and personal progress that Im able to help people find within themselves, and the joy it brings those and those around them. In Kentucky, I taught at two high schools, and worked with the amazing Louisville Leopards percussion ensemble composed of young kids. The fulfillment of sharing music with students, seeing their excitement and watching them getting a sense of where they can go with it is very inspirational to me.
Locally, Lipner started the Wilton Steel Community Band six years ago. Its open to all levels of players and ages with all levels of experience, including none, he said. The model has been so successful, Im exploring doing the same in New Canaan starting this Fall. The group will perform this Sunday, May 22, from noon to 3 p.m. at Gates restaurant in New Canaan.
Lipner also produced a one-hour documentary film Talking Sticks, that was filmed in seven countries and follows Lipner as he connects cultures and creativity. There are on-screen appearances by jazz legends Gary Burton and Mike Mainieri. The percussionists most recent release is the highly recommended Two Hands, One Heart, a 24-track greatest hits double disc collection from 2015.
As Janet Crystal, the Wilton Librarys marketing communications manager, notes, Lipner is no stranger to the librarys crowds. Arthur is familiar to Wilton Library audiences, as he has performed here through the years, including at fundraisers, Discovery Day and a Holiday Walk, she said, adding that he did a Hot & Cool concert there in 2012. And whats Lipners final take on playing locally? Many people from Wilton don't know exactly what I do, and this is a chance for them to find out.
Suggested donation, $10 per person at the door. Registration is recommended. Wilton Library is located at 137 Old Ridgefield Road in the heart of Wilton Center. For information and directions, visit wiltonlibrary.org or call (203) 762-6334.
The 5 O'Clocks kick off a Kickstarter campaign to fund its new album Not on Facebook at 9 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, at 323 Main in Westport. The band features Paula Gallo on vocals, John Lamb on keys, Jim Syarto on drums, Jon Saxon on sax, and Tim DeHuff on guitar. Visit the5oclocks.com.
Got music news? Send it to news2mh@gmail.com.
Every Tuesday night, when not in a Hartford session, I have been attending the Ridgefield Citizen Police Academy. It is coincidental that National Police Week is being celebrated at the same time as our citizen academy graduation ceremony. For the last eight weeks local residents have spent three hours weekly being taken through the steps that police academy recruits must complete to become a police officer in Connecticut. It has been a terrific experience and a great way to gain knowledge and respect for what law enforcement does every day for us.
SafeWise security professionals analyzed FBI crime statistics from all 50 states to find which communities are the most secure and released a report on the 2016's "100 Safest Cities in America. Ridgefield was placed No. 6 and Wilton No. 13. Police departments Citizen Police Academy was cited by the authors of the report as an important contributor to their rankings.
AURORA If it passes regulations, a commercial wind turbine project proposed by Bluestem Energy Solutions and Southern Power District will be the first of its kind in the Aurora area.
The installation of four 270-foot turbines near Aurora is pending regulations to be set by the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners.
The Hamilton County Joint Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a hearing at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 17, at the Bremer Community Center to develop possible regulations for the proposed and future projects.
Planning and Zoning Administrator Scott Stuhr said the hearing will not address specific projects but will set general regulations for commercial wind energy sources in the county.
The regulations will govern the turbines proposed by Bluestem Energy Solutions, as well as all commercial-scale wind turbines that may be located in Hamilton County in the future.
Any recommendations by county planners during the hearing will be suggested to the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners. The county board will have the final say on project proposals and any zoning regulations.
County planners have been discussing these plans since December 2015 in response to a proposal by Bluestem Energy Solutions. Bluestem is an Omaha-based company that has worked on almost 20 wind and solar energy projects throughout the state.
Bluestem contracted with Southern Power District and started project development 18 months ago to place the four turbines along Interstate 80 southwest of Aurora. The project will generate 9.2 megawatts of energy for Southern Power District customers, Bluestem Vice President Adam Herink said.
Hamilton County currently has no zoning regulations for commercial-scale wind projects. Herink said zoning regulations are important to the health and safety of residents in the area.
Bluestem is always in favor of good, sound zoning regulations for projects we develop, Herink said.
According to the Nebraska Energy Office, Nebraska has 539 operational wind turbines at 18 sites across the state.
David Bracht, director of the Nebraska Energy Office, said technology improvements have decreased costs by over 60 percent in the last six years.
Bracht said the price decrease has been one of the main reasons for increased wind energy. Fifteen years ago, there were just six turbines in the state.
Companies were both learning how the development worked in Nebraska and getting to know how good our wind is, Bracht said. While the general wind-speed maps made it look good, its like most things and takes time for companies to get familiar with it.
According to the American Wind Energy Association, Nebraska is ranked 20th for installed wind capacity and number of installed turbines.
Texas, California and Iowa are the leaders of wind energy in the United States. The American Wind Energy Association reports there are more than 50,000 wind turbines with a capacity of 70 gigawatts.
Over the past five years, the federal government with federal wind policy has been encouraging renewable energy of all types.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the number of jobs in wind energy is expected to increase by 108 percent over the next 10 years. Turbine technicians are just one job in the field, and the Department of Energy says wind power could support up to 380,000 jobs by 2030.
Although Iowa has more turbines, Nebraska actually has better wind potential than Iowa because of where were located, Bracht said.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that more than 90 percent of Nebraska has suitable conditions for commercial-scale wind-powered electricity generation.
In 2015, wind energy in Nebraska provided 8.03 percent of all in-state electricity production, which is equivalent to powering 289,000 homes for one year.
If you look at Iowa, Kansas and the Dakotas, projects are going up all over the Midwest, and wind energy is becoming more mainstream, Herink said.
In recognition of National Historic Preservation Month, Edwardsvilles Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) will showcase some of Edwardsvilles historic buildings in a series of articles during the month of May.
The Theuer Building 217-219 Hillsboro Ave.
In May 1907, John Henry Theuer began construction of his building at the corner of North Kansas Street and Hillsboro Avenue. The area was booming then with Hillsboro Avenue lined with shops and offices from Kansas to Main Street. In front of the store, tracks were being laid down the middle of the street for the Illinois Traction Service, a streetcar line.
The modern building had an expansive corner storefront with glass show windows wrapping the corner making it possible to display an array of merchandise on both Kansas and Hillsboro streets. A round cast iron post is set just inside the corner glass and a painted cast iron threshold runs the full extent of the storefront.
Initially only the east side of the building was completed, and the first tenant was The Broken Dollar, a store owned by Julius Dugger and Bruno Suppiger. The men were painters and wallpaper hangers who also stocked general merchandise in their store front. But in the fall of 1908 Dugger and Suppinger would move out to make room for a new tenant, an Edwardsville school.
As more students began completing high school, the Edwardsville campus on Kansas Street, which included elementary and high school students, became severely overcrowded. In September 1908, to ease conditions at the school, the Theuer Building was leased for classroom space. Teacher Mae Watson was assigned the upper floor room with 55 students, and Mamie Neuhaus was given the lower room with 47 students. The following year it was determined that additional space was needed so the school district released the Theuer Building and leased a larger space from C. W. Terry on Main Street near the school grounds. At about that same time, they passed a referendum to build a new high school, also on Kansas Street, which opened in September 1910.
In May 1908, one year after starting the corner building, and just months before leasing the building to the school district, Theuer began construction of an adjacent two-story apartment building. The addition to the building is at an unusual angle. It is set back from the street farther than the storefront, perhaps because of the trains that ran in front of the building. And it is angled so that the buildings, although joined at the back, are several feet apart at the front.
According to architect Jennifer Plocher Wilkins, both buildings are of pressed brick with stone quoins (corner blocks) that alternate between rusticated (rough surface) and smooth. Window sills and lintels are also stone on the street elevations. The addition though is not as tall as the original building. Theuer completed the original building and its addition by late 1908 and the two edifices would be known by locals for many years as the Theuer Building.
J. Henry Theuer (pronounced thire) was an Edwardsville native, born in 1859 of Germany immigrant parents. He was considered one of the best building contractors in the area. The Madison County Centennial History said Theuer has won an excellent reputation for artistic and durable workmanship.
Theuer Construction Company offices were in a building at 215 Hillsboro, next to his new business building, and the family home was just a few blocks away at 553 N. Kansas Street. Theuer was the father of four sons by his first wife, and at one time all of them worked with him in the family business. When his wife died in 1904 he remarried and had another three children one of whom occupied the family home until her death in 2006.
The double building at 217 and 219 Hillsboro would have many tenants over the years. With a few exceptions, 217 was residential, often having school teachers and other professionals as tenants. It is not known who occupied the building after students vacated the building in 1909, but in 1913 the first grocer moved into the storefront. The H. C. Dustmann Grocery was followed by the grocery of Edward Bollman in the late 1920s. The second floor during those early years was used as residential space.
During the Great Depression, city directories often recorded vacancies, but after that it was usually leased. A jeweler followed the grocery businesses, then the Madison County Conservation Control Association, the Public Welfare offices and in the 1940s, a series of beauty shops. Theuer owned the building throughout this time, selling it in 1944, a few years before his death in 1947.
Beginning in 1953 the storefront was leased by the Calvary Southern Baptists for a church. At about that same time the upper floor was leased to a music teacher. There would be a music studio in the building for almost twenty years.
There were three short-time owners following Theuer. But when the Baptists left the building in 1955, LeRoy Eickmann moved his photography business into the storefront and purchased the building the next year. Eickmann was an award-winning photographer who would have a long and successful career in Edwardsville.
Eickmann owned the buildings for nearly twenty-five years. After that there were a number of short-term owners and tenants, many that are familiar to Edwardsville residents. The most prominent of these was Green Earth Grocery that was on Hillsboro for almost ten years.
The double building is used today much the same way as when it was built with three spacious apartments whose tenants dont need to go far for their morning coffee and delicious baked goods. The corner storefront is currently home to A Little Taste of Heaven Bakery.
Information for this article was obtained from resources at the Madison County Archival Library, the Madison County Recorder and Probate Offices, Edwardsville Public Library and from current and previous owners. If you have questions about this article, contact Cindy Reinhardt at 656-1294 or cynreinhardt@yahoo.com.
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Linkedin Abdil Mughis Mudhoffir (The Jakarta Post) Melbourne Wed, May 18, 2016
There are still too few social scientists in Indonesia contributing to knowledge production at the global level. Compared to its neighboring countries, there is a huge difference in the number of international publications.
Based on the Scimago Journal Rank 2014, Indonesian social scientists produced only 488 documents in 2014, far below Malaysia ( 2,056 ), Singapore ( 1,160 ) and Thailand ( 585 ). This is in accordance with the fact that most academic works about Indonesia are written by foreign scholars who are spread throughout the world in many Asian research centers such as in Australia, the US, Japan, the Netherlands and Canada. It seems that we cannot explain ourselves since other people do that for us.
In line with the low number of international scientific publications, academics and social science researchers in Indonesia are much more easily tempted by the instant popularity gained from the mass media.
Appearing on television shows with politicians and officials or making statements in various print and online media outlets is often seen as a measurement of success for a public intellectual. This is not surprising since the status as a popular analyst can also be capital to obtain professional offers as a consultant for political parties or for international funding agencies, or even as a public official.
Unfortunately, too few of the comments made by the analysts are based on serious research, especially that which is published in international journals. Moreover, since academic publication is still very weak, the expertise of social and political analysts is often determined by their popularity in the mass media rather than from international academic reputation.
There is a view that the above conditions occur due to the inadequate remuneration for research that follows international standards ( see Hadiz 2015 ). As a result, it is not surprising that such phenomena emerge and that much research is project oriented, while the academic contribution to international literature is minimal.
Yet in recent years, the Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministry has provided research funding as an incentive for international journal publication. However, the number of social science publications increased by only about 200 documents when the policy was enacted from 2011 until 2014.
In the same period in Malaysia, it rose by more than 500 documents and in India up by more than 1,000 papers ( see Scimago Journal Rank 2014 ).
Similar policies have also been tried by several universities, including by providing incentives for lecturers if they can publish their papers in international journals or at least in a national-accredited journal. However, without an endeavor to build a culture of conducting serious research and writing among lecturers and researchers, such policies are unlikely to increase the number of publications.
There are two main reasons for the low contribution of Indonesian social scientists. First, the situation cannot be separated from the bureaucratization during the New Order that forced the orientation of knowledge production in universities merely to serve the interests of the state and the capitalist class.
A career as an academic was also measured based on the achievement of structural position on campus or in other state departments, rather than based on the quantity and quality of publications, particularly of international standards.
Such positions were also achieved by having a close relationship with state officials or serving the ruling party, rather than having an excellent academic productivity.
A similar situation prevails in many universities in Indonesia until now. It is reflected in the work demand on campus that treats lecturers more as employees than as academicians or intellectuals.
Second, the culture of critical thinking in many universities in Indonesia is not well developed due to the legacy of knowledge bureaucratization. Indeed, producing knowledge requires the stating of an argument based on a critical review of existing opinion. Even now there is still a negative stigma attached to those who criticize views that are believed to be a common truth. Criticizing the arguments of senior scholars on campus is still considered taboo, as well.
Consequently, most of the social science papers published in national journals, especially those that have not been accredited, merely describe theories or data without critical assessments. Such quality is certainly far from the writing standards of international journals.
Furthermore, many academic papers produced by undergraduate and postgraduate students in social science faculties as well as research reports of social scientists have limited theoretical and practical value because of the vague arguments put forward.
Such an academic tradition has tended to produce Indonesian social scientists merely as data gatherers, while those who interpret the data and produce a theory are foreign scholars. As a result, it is not surprising that most of the academic work about Indonesia is produced by foreign academics.
At least two solutions can be offered. First, the knowledge-production practices should be separated from bureaucratization. It should also be emphasized that the main tasks of lecturers and researchers are as academics and intellectuals, rather than as employees required to contribute to the knowledge production.
Second, it is crucial to develop the culture of critical thinking in educational institutions. In primary schools, students can be trained to get used to arguing and analyzing opinion critically. In higher education, the method and the style of academic writing should be changed from merely describing data to becoming more argumentative.
***
The writer is a PhD student at the Asia Institute, the University of Melbourne, previously at the Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University.
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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 Michael Liedtke (Associated Press) San Francisco, United States Wed, May 18, 2016
Google is expected to dive deeper into virtual reality and artificial intelligence Wednesday during an annual conference that serves as a launching pad for its latest products and innovations.
Although Google keeps its plans under wraps until the big event, the conference agenda makes it clear that virtual reality and artificial intelligence, or "machine learning," will be among the focal points. That has spurred speculation that Google is getting ready to release a virtual-reality device to compete with Facebook's new Oculus Rift headset, as well as the Samsung's Gear VR and the Vive from HTC and Valve.
Reporters and bloggers from around the world will attend, ensuring that whatever the company unveils will also be featured in stories, pictures and video delivered to a vast audience of consumers. The three-day showcase also attracts thousands of computer programmers, giving Google an opportunity to convince them why they should design applications and other services that work with its gadgets and an array of software that includes the Chrome Web browser and Android operating system for mobile devices.
(Read also: Google redeems spot as worlds most valuable company)
Android powers about 80 percent of the world's smartphones, largely because Google gives away the software for free to device makers. Google can afford to do that because it designs Android to feature its search engine, maps and other digital services, giving it more opportunities to show the digital ads that generate most of its revenue.
But Apple's iPhone carries more cachet with affluent consumers and often introduces features that Android copies. Apple will hold a similar conference in June to unveil its fall software plans.
Google is holding this year's conference, called Google I/O, at an amphitheater a few blocks from its Mountain View, California, headquarters. With more than 6,000 seats, the amphitheater could potentially accommodate a larger crowd than the San Francisco venue where Google held I/O in past years.
(Read also: Fiat Chrysler, Google to cooperate on autonomous minivans)
Google's bare-bones entry into the still-nascent field of virtual reality came two years ago when it unveiled a cheap headset made out of cardboard. The company may now be poised to get more serious, given far more sophisticated options available for sale. Analysts are touting virtual reality, a technology that casts its users into artificial, three-dimensional worlds, as one of the industry's most promising areas for growth.
Artificial intelligence, a term used to describe efforts to develop software that acts and behaves more like humans, has been a focal point of Google's for years. Progress in the field has helped Google's search engine comprehend the intent of people's inquiries more quickly and vastly improved the comprehension and responsiveness of its voice-recognition services.
Analysts have speculated that Google might tap into its artificial-intelligence research to introduce a virtual-assistant product that could be set up in homes to help people manage their lives and get information more quickly. Such a device would represent Google's response to the growing popularity of Amazon's Echo, a cylinder-like device equipped with speakers and an Internet-connected microphone that enables a virtual assistant called Alexa to interact with its users.
Click here to read other news related to Google.
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Linkedin Karmenu Vella (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, May 17 2016
A lot has changed since the European Union declared zero tolerance on illegal fishing in January 2010. The world has become more aware of the importance of responsible fishing and many countries have improved their fisheries management systems.
Big market powers like the US, Japan and Canada have joined forces with the EUs trail blazing, anti-IUU legislation.
Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is a serious issue whose impacts cause increasing concern all over the globe and in Asia in particular.
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Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan (The Jakarta Post) Sibolangit, North Sumatra Tue, May 17 2016
A flash flood coupled with a landslide has hit the Dua Warna Waterfall resort in Sibolangit, North Sumatra, on Sunday evening, killing at least 15 vacationers, while another six people remain missing.
A joint search and rescue (SAR) team has not yet identified all the bodies, as they were naked when found.
The SAR team also has yet to remove all the bodies from where they were found, with the harsh terrain and long distances to the disaster command post impeding its efforts.
Deli Serdang Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD Deli Serdang) secretary Darwin Surbakti said seven of the bodies had so far been evacuated from the locations where they were found.
He added that the seven bodies, five male and two female, had been brought to the Bhayangkara police hospital in Medan.
Darwin said it had not been possible to move eight more bodies to the SAR post in Sibolangit as of 4:30 p.m. on Monday local time.
The joint SAR team encountered difficulty in retrieving the victims bodies due to the steeply sloping ground and remoteness of the area. It took two hours for the team to bring the first bodies to the post.
So far, 15 victims have been found dead. They were found today in a number of spots along the river between Lau Betimus village and Tambun village, approximately 3 kilometers from the disaster site, Darwin told The Jakarta Post at the Sibolangit disaster post.
According to BPBD Deli Serdang records, another six people are still missing, while the total number of flood victims at the resort is 78 people, which includes two tour guides.
Darwin said the joint SAR team had managed to rescue 57 people, while 21 others had gone missing. Of the missing, said Darwin, 15 had been found dead.
Those who went missing were in the middle of the pool when the flash flood hit the waterfall, so they did not have time to save themselves, while the survivors were at the edge of the waterfall, he said.
The last victim rescued was Mardang Harahap, who was found by rescue team members at 3 a.m. after nearly eight hours of hanging on a cliff.
Survivor Rocky Rhamadona said the flash flood occurred at around 2 p.m. during a drizzle at the Dua Warna Waterfall resort, while it was raining heavily upstream.
He added that before the flash flood, he had heard a series of loud sounds, like a landslide, from the upstream area beyond a hill.
The first and second rumbles were not so hard, but the third was very loud. Then suddenly the flash flood arrived, carrying rocks and tree logs, said Rocky, adding that he still felt traumatized when recalling the disaster.
Another survivor, Dani, also said that it was a traumatic experience. He said he had survived because he had managed to climb to the top of a hill as the flash flood hit the resort.
Some of my friends were swept away with the flash flood and remain missing until now, said Dani at the Sibolangit command post.
Hundreds of people and volunteers from the police, SAR, BPBD Deli Serdang and the local community have been mobilized to search for the missing.
Pancur Batu District Police chief Comr. Frido Gultom, who was involved in the evacuation process, said the search for the missing victims would continue over the next few days.
Frido said he hoped those missing were still alive.
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Linkedin Hans David Tampubolon (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, May 17 2016
As countries become more developed, the more products they consume and the more waste they produce.
The World Bank estimates that worldwide municipal solid waste (MSW) production stands at 1.3 billion tons per year, equal to 1.2 kilograms of waste per person per day. By 2025, this figure could potentially rise to 2.2 billion tons per year, or 1.4 kg of waste per person per day.
When a country becomes more developed, it spends more on MSW management, the data says.
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, May 17 2016
The former chairman of Muhammadiyah, the countrys second-largest Muslim organization, Din Syamsuddin, has gathered five people together to help the government with its development agenda through a newly established mass organization.
Indonesia Moving Forward (PIM) is expected to address problems at the village level and have direct involvement in village development. The selected five are mostly political figures.
Our country is currently facing a dignity-driven sovereignty crisis. Its time for us to help the government at the grassroots level in villages, Din said on Monday while introducing the organization to the Peoples Consultative Assembly at the legislative complex in Senayan.
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Linkedin Dylan Amirio (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, May 17 2016
Indonesia remains the most prone country to hacks and viruses in Southeast Asia, raising the urgency for awareness toward protecting the data of both businesses and consumers.
Microsoft Indonesias national technology officer, Tony Seno Hartono, said that in raising awareness of digital risks and security for consumer and business protection, tech companies could help by partnering with educational institutions to plant ideas.
The company has innovation centers running in five major Indonesian universities.
Many small and medium enterprises [SMEs] that have worked with Microsoft are gradually showing more interest in fortifying their digital infrastructure, even though the traction is not as much as we had hoped, Tony said.
Indonesia has a 50 percent infection rate to malware, the highest in the region, with cybersecurity breaches causing losses of up to Rp 33.29 billion, according to Microsoft data.
Digital experts have been encouraging businesses and public services to adopt a culture of vigilance and protection when it comes to managing data centers, as more businesses and government institutions go digital.
By ramping up efforts in digital security, sensitive data will not be breached easily by hackers nor be prone to mismanagement.
We cannot just rely on the authorities to handle cybercrimes. The response would be too slow. Everyone, from the boss to employees, even customers, has a role in keeping data safe, said Indonesia Cyber Security Forum (ICSF) cofounder and chairman Ardi Sutedja.
There must be education on this matter, within schools and companies, he added.
He also pointed out that not one internet provider in the country has complied with the 27018 International Code of Practice, which dictates protection of personal data.
The industry said to be the most vulnerable to attacks, and thereby the most attractive to breach, was the banking industry. Ardi said the banking industry was 70 percent more targeted than any other sector by hackers, due to the value of financial information.
One way to adopt to evolving technology awareness is to try and utilize the most advanced methods possible to guard data, such as through the use of cloud computing, he said.
Cloud computing is simpler because it puts application, platform and infrastructure into one system. It runs basically on its own and is more low-cost and easier to manage when disasters occur. Despite this, is Indonesias digital infrastructure and ecosystem ready for evolution? Thats also a crucial point, the Telecommunications and Information Society (MASTEL) board of trustees member added.
In sectors such as e-commerce, which is booming in Indonesia, the use of cloud computing in data centers can be vital to efficiency and could also lead to the development of e-commerce platforms.
E-commerce platforms, Ardi said, must invest more time and funds to build up their digital databases. Those who are enabling e-payment options are also encouraged to use cloud computing to make security more efficient.
According to the Microsoft Security Intelligence report, released earlier this month, Indonesia, along with Pakistan, the Palestinian territories, Bangladesh and Nepal, attract the highest rates of attempted malware attacks.
Countries that attracted the fewest include Japan, Finland, Norway and Sweden, Microsoft said in a new study, based on sensors in systems running Microsoft anti-malware software.
We look at north of 10 million attacks on identities every day, Microsoft manager Alex Weinert said as quoted by Reuters. The attacks, however, do not always succeed.
About half of all attacks originate in Asia and one-fifth in Latin America.
Millions occur each year when the attacker has valid credentials, Microsoft said, meaning the attacker knows a users login and password. A technology known as machine learning can often detect those attacks by looking for data points such as whether the location of the user is familiar.
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Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18, 2016
The team from the National Symposium on the 1965 Tragedy is set to submit to the government their recommendations, based on detailed analysis of the communist purge, in the hope of providing closure and justice for victims and survivors.
Symposium chairman Agus Widjojo said on Wednesday morning that his team had narrowed down their recommendations and would hand them over to Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan on Wednesday afternoon.
"The settlement plan has been narrowed to reconciliation through a non-judicial process, in accordance with the year 2000 law on human-rights tribunals," he told journalists.
The recommendations will cover a reconciliation concept, Agus said, without giving specific details. The team will include in documents to be handed to the government academic research and input from various related parties.
The government held the two-day national symposium in April, bringing together together survivors, families of victims, government representatives, academics and human-rights activists to discuss and make recommendations on reconciliation options with regard to the mass killings carried out in 1965 and early 1966. During the tragedy, at least 500,000 people are believed to have been murdered, and millions other sent to prison without trial.
The government has long planned to settle the 1965 communist purge through reconciliation and not a judicial process, claiming it would be difficult to find valid evidence for the crimes. However, families of victims, survivors and human-rights activists have been pushing for a judicial process to bring justice to the victims and their families. (vps/rin)
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Linkedin Rizal Sukma (The Jakarta Post) London Wed, May 18 2016
As we know, the worlds geo-economic and geo-political center of gravity is shifting to East Asia. We already know, China is fast becoming a great power. We also know, the US is trying to sustain its primacy in the world.
Yet, the process of strategic change is still unraveling. Two developments have emerged from that process of change. First, a great power game is returning to Southeast Asia. And, second, the future of Southeast Asia is increasingly defined by how extra-regional powers interact with each other.
I believe that we, in the region, need to continuously examine the strategic challenges facing ASEAN.
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18 2016
After being stagnant for at least two years, TV and print advertisement spending has shown signs of recovery in recent months.
According to a survey conducted by data analysis company Nielsen, ad spending for TV and print increased 24 percent in the first quarter of 2016 to Rp 31.5 trillion (US$2.3 billion) from Rp 25.5 trillion in the same period, last year.
Hopefully the surge was due to consumers feeling confident that the economy will rebound this year, Hellen Katherina, Nielsens executive director media, said in a press briefing on Tuesday.
The rise in ad spending was a positive improvement compared to 2014 and 2015, when the value of advertisement expenditure (adex) for TV and print was stuck at Rp 25.4 trillion and Rp 25.5 trillion respectively, she said.
Among the top 10 sectors that have shown ad-spending growth, clove cigarettes ranked first, with total adex of Rp 1.9 trillion in the first three months this year, a 76 percent increase compared to the corresponding period last year. Dunhill, Djarum super mild, Gudang Garam signature and Dji Sam Soe (234) Magnum Blue filter were some of the brands dominating the spending, Nielsen data showed.
Government and political organizations held the second rank with Rp 1.8 trillion in adex in the first quarter of 2016. The significant growth of 76 percent year-on-year (yoy) was partly caused by a massive campaign from the Health Ministry to eradicate polio through TV ads, Hellen said.
Fast-moving consumer good companies were also among major contributors of adex from January to March, the data noted.
Consumer good company Godrej Indonesia, for example, raised its TV ad spending by 20 percent from January to March this year for its HIT, Stella and Mitu brands, the companys president director, Naveen Gupta, told The Jakarta Post.
This year we have plans to increase our ad spending by more than 40 percent for TV, digital and other mediums, he said, declining to mention the value.
Gupta said his company had seen tremendous opportunity in Indonesia to grow their brands.
Regarding the tendencies of companies in advertising their products on TV, Hellen said that many firms had placed their ads based on how compatible a program was to their targeted audience, not on ratings as many people had thought.
High TV [program] ratings dont necessarily justify companies placing their ads during a particular program, she said, describing that some advertisers had kept their ad spending high despite low rating shares at night.
As an example, 81 percent of cigarette companies advertising budget was spent between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. because broadcast regulations had forced them to do so, she said.
Moreover, Adwin Wibisono, head strategist at Jakarta-based Karsa Strategic Consulting, said TV ratings were used as an indicator of TV audience behavior, not to evaluate program quality.
Thus, companies can use this data as a benchmark to determine where to place ads and to assess the competitors strategy in placing ads on TV.
In Indonesia, Nielsen is the only company that measures TV program ratings. It measures the television audience measurement (TAM), which provides a detailed analysis of consumer viewing behavior by various demographics. The measurement is reported in forms of rating, share and index. (win)
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Linkedin Dewanti A. Wardhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18 2016
An official audit of the tin industry on the Bangka Belitung Islands has found indications of massive foul play in the management and operation of firms in the countrys largest tin-producing region.
A recent Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry audit revealed that there are currently 29 active tin smelters of a total 47 registered facilities in the province. However, the suppliers for the smelters were questionable.
According to a 2015 Trade Ministry regulation on tin exports, which is aimed at minimizing state losses in the industry, tin producers must secure a production operation license (IUP-OP) and may only begin operating after obtaining the so-called clean-and-clear (CnC) certification.
Further, tin producers must also pay royalties to the government, which is 3 percent of the tin price, and submit their payment receipt to the ministrys mineral and coal mining directorate general, before exporting their goods.
In order to obtain certification, a tin producer must prove to government that its activities do not overlap with other concession areas and that it conducts environmentally friendly and sustainable practices. A producer must also prove that it has no outstanding royalties and taxes.
The ministrys inspector general Mochtar Husein, however, said of the total 755 IUP-OP holders in Bangka Belitung, only 498 have obtained CnC certifications. Frankly, the producers without CnC certifications are [operating] without regulation. If there is smuggling or illegal mining occurring, it may come from this group, Mochtar told reporters on Tuesday.
Bangka and Belitung, the two main islands in the province, produce more than 90 percent of the countrys tin, as the worlds biggest exporter of the metal.
A lack of monitoring from local government also contributed to the shady nature of the business, Mochtar said. Tin producers, he added, also failed to provide data of their reserves, thus it was difficult to know whether or not their reserves were legal.
He went on to say firms procedures in obtaining tin ore were also undocumented.
Mochtar said that the ministry would further audit tin producers in Bangka Belitung to understand the dynamics of tin production and the capacity of local firms involved. The ministry would also further coordinate with law enforcement authorities to follow up the report, he said.
Previously, the government announced that it would audit private tin smelters in Bangka Belitung in order to determine production costs and the price of tin. The plunge in commodity prices was allegedly controlled by private tin firms. Reports of alleged illegal tin exports also irked the government.
According to research by Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), illegal tin exports from 2004 to 2013 reached 300,000 tons, and caused up to US$362 million in state losses, and an additional $231 million in losses from potential tax revenues and royalties.
Association of Indonesian Tin Exporters chairman Jabin Sufianto said the government should focus on illegal exports in its audit, which not only causes state losses but also floods the global market with tin, lowering the commoditys price.
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Wed, May 18 2016
There are many relationships between businesses and individuals from Indonesia and Australia but many are somewhat invisible to most people. Australian Ambassador Paul Grigson met with The Jakarta Posts Primastuti Handayani, Yohanna C. Ririhena and Anggi M. Lubis at the new Australian Embassy compound a 50,000-square-meter complex that was officially opened in March by Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to discuss this issue and the shared human interests of the people of both countries. Below is an excerpt from the interview.
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Linkedin Fadli (The Jakarta Post) Batam Wed, May 18, 2016
The Batam Authority (BPK) Hospital has urged the family of UK citizen Scott Roddie, 52, to pick up his body, which has been held in the morgue of the hospital for more than three months.
The hospitals management is worried about the condition of the body if it is kept too long in the morgue.
The Awal Bros Hospital, Batam, sent the body of the British man, who died of natural causes, to the BPK Hospital on Feb.10.
Head of the BPK Hospitals morgue Rian Narulita told thejakartapost.com that it was the Batam, Rempang and Galang (Barelang) Polices intelligence division and the Awal Bros Hospital that had entrusted Roddies body to her hospital.
We keep calling on the police and Interpol to provide certainty [on when the body will be picked up] because it has been here too long, said Rian.
She further said that based on standard operating procedures, a dead body could be kept in cold storage for three months at maximum. The storage can last longer, up to six months, if the cold storage facilitys door is kept closed. However, the cold-storage facility in which Roddies body is being kept has been opened several times so there is no guarantee that its condition will not deteriorate within the next three months.
We dont know what the problem is, neither his family nor the UK Embassy in Jakarta have yet picked up the body. We are really worried about the condition of the body, said Rian.
She further explained that the cost of storing Roddies body amounted to Rp 20 million (around US$ 1,500).
We want the body to be immediately picked up because BPK Hospital has only eight corpse cold-storage facilities. It is the only hospital in Riau Islands that has a corpse cold-storage facility, said Rian.
BPK Hospital spokesperson Wawan Setiawan said Roddie died when he was undergoing medical treatment at Awal Bros Hospital. The hospital later sent the body of the expatriate, who worked for a shipyard company in Batam, to the BPK Hospital as his family members had yet to pick it up.
We treated it differently because hes a foreigner. According to our existing procedures, we bury a body if no family member picks it up within a month. But this is for Indonesians. The problem is, the UK Embassy has not yet given any helpful information for us to decide [what to do with the body], said Wawan.
A source who wished to remain anonymous said the police were facing difficulties in tracing the whereabouts of Roddies family in the UK. It was reported that the deceased was estranged from his family. Meanwhile, the UK Embassy has provided little assistance to the Indonesian authorities in resolving the problem. (ebf)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta Wed, May 18, 2016
Despite the growing acceptance of peer-to-peer payment technology bitcoin in Japan, the EU and the US, the use of bitcoin in Indonesia has yet to be regulated by Bank Indonesia (BI) and it is not recognized as a currency.
CEO Bitcoin Indonesia Oscar Darmawan said he could understand the central banks reluctance to regulate the electronic money.
BI has provided room for bitcoin as a new technology to thrive before it decides to regulate it later, he said on the sidelines of the ANZ Learning Fair 2016 in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Financial Services Authority (OJK) senior official for bank supervision Pardiyono cautioned would-be bitcoin users, underlining the need to understand fully the risks of the electronic money.
Pardiyono said bitcoin, currently valued at Rp 6.1 million (US$458), might be too difficult for lay consumers to understand.
Consumers must take full responsibility for the use of bitcoin. No legal protection is in place right now, he said.
The ANZ Learning Fair 2016, being held from May 16-20, is designed to increase staff understanding of digital issues.
The fair is presenting a number of speakers including Teguh Ariwibowo, founder of crowd-lending firm pinjam.co.id; Mandy Marahimin, founder and CEO of crowd-funding firm Wujudkan; and Christian Sugiono, founder and CEO of MBDC Media. (sha/dmr)
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Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18, 2016
The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) opened its representative office in Indonesia on Tuesday to actively promote imports, exports and bilateral investment between the two countries.
It can be a window for the exchange of information on Sino-Indonesian commerce and trade and be a new bridge for the two countries economic and trade cooperation, CCPIT secretary general Jack Yao said on Tuesday in Central Jakarta.
The office will mainly focus on assisting Chinese trade and economic delegations to Indonesia, and provide consultancy services to Chinese and Indonesian companies willing to invest both in China and Indonesia, Yao said.
CCPIT has 18 representative offices across the globe including in Canada, the UK, France, Germany and Singapore, he said.
Under Chinas 13th five-year plan and the Indonesian development plan for 2015-2019, he said, China and Indonesia had many opportunities for bilateral trade cooperation and would further strengthen its economic ties.
China is the second-largest trade partner for Indonesia after the US.
The main products exported by China to Indonesia are electro mechanical goods, minerals and iron while Indonesia exports palm oil, rubber and rubber goods.
Central Statistics Agency data shows Indonesias non-oil exports to China reached US$1 billion in April 2016, while imports reached $2.5 billion. (Sha/bbn)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18 2016
Rigid implementation of sharia-based regulations will not automatically make cities that have put Islamic norms and values into practice Islamic cities.
A survey by the Maarif Institute has instead found Yogyakarta, Bandung and Denpasar to be the cities that most implement Islamic core values.
The three cities tied, all scoring 80.64 on the institutes Islamic City Index, based on three indicators: safety, prosperity and happiness. They defeated cities that have been implementing sharia regulations more formally to safeguard citizens morality, including Banda Aceh, Tangerang, Mataram and Padang.
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Linkedin Arif Suryobuwono (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18 2016
Delicious color: Scrumptious dishes served during a buffet wine dinner at the recent New Zealand Food Connection, hosted at The Dharmawangsa in South Jakarta.
New Zealand lacks food heritage but is rich in creativity.
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Linkedin Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak (The Jakarta Post) Singapore Wed, May 18 2016
Beauty and the royals: Australian actress Cate Blanchett views The Art & Science of Gems at the ArtScience Museum in Singapore.
The Art & Science of Gems exhibition proves that the two contradicting subjects do get along well, with their combination yielding some splendid results.
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Linkedin Prima Wirayani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18 2016
When numerous governments work hard to lure investors for local infrastructure projects, private lenders find it difficult to pick suitable ones to finance.
The biggest challenge the private sector faces is a lack of adequate bankable projects, said Rajeev Kannan, structured finance general manager at major Japanese lender Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC).
Kannan said a long list of challenges, such as prolonged land procurement and overlapping regulations at the regional and national levels made infrastructure projects in emerging countries seem unattractive for lenders.
There is enough appetite from banks, multilateral finance [institutions] and other sources of capital, but they are looking for the right bankable projects, the risks-mitigated projects, he asserted in a panel discussion at the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group Private Sector Forum in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Kannan, who is also a commissioner of PT Indonesia Infrastructure Finance (IIF), was of the view that Indonesia had been highlighted as a country that needed significant capital to support infrastructure construction.
Established by the government in 2010 to finance big infrastructure projects, IIF alone has channeled more than US$400 million since 2012 and expects to disburse $700 million by the end of the year. The firm is 30 percent owned by the government, 20 percent by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), 20 percent by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), 15 percent by German investment corporation DEG and 15 percent by SMBC.
In a bid to boost economic growth to 7 percent by 2019 from 4.8 percent last year, Indonesia required approximately $460 billion in investments for infrastructure, Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) deputy chairman for investment promotion Himawan Hariyoga cited the 2015-2019 National Mid-Term Development Plan (RPJMN).
Central government and local budgets could fund only around $230.08 billion, while state-owned enterprises (SOEs) had the ability to fund around $88.9 billion. That leaves $141 billion of investment opportunities for the private sector, Himawan said, Thats why the government is very keen to attract investors.
He admitted that land acquisition was the main challenge in attracting investment to the country, besides the license procurement process and financing.
The government has issued 12 economic policy packages since last year in a bid to spur business activity and boost the countrys economy, which slowed to a seven-year low in 2015. The policies include cutting red tape at the central government level and scrapping around 3,000 regional government regulations (Perda) that complicate business operations.
BKPM data show that realized investment reached a record high of Rp 146.5 trillion ($11 billion) from January to March this year. This includes $1.6 billion for infrastructure, according to Himawan. The sector booked $15 billion of realized investment last year, while total commitments since October 2014 reached $187.5 billion last week.
Its a matter of time for the commitments to be realized, Himawan said, It is our job to make it easy for committed investors to realize their plans.
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18 2016
The Bekasi municipality of West Java asked the Jakarta administration on Tuesday for Rp 900 billion (US$69 million) to finance development.
We submitted a request for Rp 900 billion but apparently we will get Rp 400 billion. [If we get that amount] we will be thankful too, Bekasi Mayor Rahmat Effendi said at City Hall, as quoted by beritajakarta.com.
Rahmat said the amount of the grant in the proposal was bigger than last years grant of Rp 98 billion because Bekasi planned to build infrastructure projects.
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18 2016
The Jakarta administration called on the Jakarta Police on Tuesday to improve the management of traffic in the capital during rush hour.
Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama hopes police officers will not allow vehicles to enter Transjakarta (TJ) lanes during rush hour.
We are discussing this with the police. We do not want them to use their discretion and allow vehicles to pass through TJ lanes, said Ahok. Both institutions actually agree that the TJ lanes should be free from congestion.
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18 2016
Chinese phone maker Huawei, a relative newcomer in Indonesias smartphone market, expects to reach a market share of at least 10 percent this year despite tight competition from major players such as Samsung, ASUS and Smartfren.
With the release of new models, the opening of new outlets and the expansion of after-sales services, Huawei is optimistic about achieving the target, country director of Huawei Indonesia Johnson Ma said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Just this month, the Chinese company launched five new products in the Indonesian market, including the Huawei GR3, GR5 and P9 lite.
Ma said the targeted 10 percent market share this year was achievable even though the company had only entered the Indonesian market a few years ago.
According to a report released by the International Data Corporation (IDC) Indonesia in February this year, about 29.3 million smartphones were shipped to Indonesia last year, making it the largest smartphone market in Southeast Asia. Last year the import volume grew by around 17 percent on 2014, when 25 million entered the country.
According to IDC Indonesias report, Samsung led the Indonesian market in 2015, with a market share of 24.8 percent, followed by Chinese smartphone vendor ASUS with a 15.9 percent market share and then Smartfren, which booked a 10.8 percent share.
Advan and Lenovo booked about 9.6 percent and 6.5 percent shares, respectively. Huawei, however, was not in last years list of top smartphone vendors.
IDC research manager Kiranjeet Kaur said in the report that she expected to see a double-digit growth rate in smartphone shipments for the next few years although import licenses for most vendors was set to expire at the end of last year and in the first quarter of this year.
This is likely to impact smartphone shipments in the short term, she said.
In order to grab a bigger market share, Huawei plans to improve services to its smartphone users by opening at least six more service centers in major cities, namely Batam in Batam Islands, Jayapura in Papua, Kendari in Southeast Sulawesi, Mataram in West Nusa Tenggara, Palu in Central Sulawesi and Purwokerto in Central Java, Huawei Indonesia service director Erwin Setiawan said.
The company already has 27 service centers in 26 Indonesian cities, including in Medan in North Sumatra, Padang in West Sumatra, Bandung in West Java, Surabaya in East Java and Makassar in South Sulawesi.
Erwin added that Huawei had also provided more than 300 collection points, spread across more than 150 small cities and remote areas, where damaged smartphones could be collected and taken to the nearest service center to be fixed.
We plans to have at least 375 collection points spread across about 200 small cities and remote areas by the end of this year, Erwin told reporters after the launching of Huaweis 27th service center at the International Trade Center (ITC) Roxy Mas in Central Jakarta. (vny)
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Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18, 2016
The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group has indicated a tentative financing of US$5.2 billion for the implementation of its member country partnership strategy (MCPS) for Indonesia during 2016-2020.
IDB Group board of governors chairman, who is also Indonesian Finance Minister, Bambang Brodjonegoro said Indonesia and the IDB had managed to complete their first MCPS for the period of 2011-2014 and were successful in financing key development areas, such as infrastructure and private sector development.
"This success is expected not only to be replicated [in other areas], but also needs enhancement in the upcoming MCPS of 2016-2019," Bambang said during the opening ceremony of the IDB Groups 41st annual meeting on Tuesday night.
Under the theme, Supporting Smart, High and Inclusive Growth, Bambang said the strategic cooperation plan to be launched during the groups annual meeting, would involve many key areas, based on Indonesia's medium term development plan (RPJMN) of 2015-2019.
"These priority areas include energy, transportation, urban development, higher education and skill development, private sector development, Islamic finance expansion and regional integration," he explained.
Of the total $5.2 billion fund, the IDB Group's Ordinary Capital Resources will provide $3.2 billion, while the remaining $1.8 billion and $200 million will come from IDB Group entities the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), respectively.
Separately, the Islamic Corporation for Insurance of Investment and Export Credit plans to provide $400 million, while the Islamic Research and Training Institute plans to support several capacity-development programs in the areas of Islamic banking and finance.
The major outcome in the IDB Groups intervention is expected to help the government achieve its target of providing greater access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy, particularly increasing the electrification ratio as well as increased accessibility, capacity and connectivity to the road network and the reduction of travel times.
Other outcomes expected from the intervention include increased access to clean water and sanitation for poor people in various regions, in addition to improved quality of higher and Islamic education, and enhancement of technological readiness of public and private institutions.
IDB Group president Ahmad Mohamed Ali said the amount of funds provided by the IDB Group since its establishment amounted to $113 billion, including $12 billion in 2015.
"Cooperation is the main purpose of the IDB Groups establishment with no purpose other than collective action, which is very much needed at this time," he said.
He highlighted several key initiatives, such as the development of the Trans-Sahara road, the Manantali dams, food security programs in African countries, the construction of a railway linking Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, in addition to projects in the field of energy and other infrastructure in remote areas in Africa, Central Asia and other regions.
However, he admitted that challenges remained on the need for systemic enhancement in order to help countries to move to a knowledge-based economy that aims to improve the system of education, information and communication technology, innovation, good governance and institutional systems. (dmr)
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Linkedin Kathy Gannon (Associated Press) Islamabad Wed, May 18, 2016
Four nations Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the United States resumed talks Wednesday on how to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table despite the insurgents persistent refusal to halt their war against the government in Kabul.
The quadrilateral talks, which have been held alternately in Pakistan and in Afghanistan since the beginning of the year, also sought to capitalize on positive signals that emerged over the weekend in Afghanistan, where the outlawed militant group Hezb-i-Islami inched closer to a peace deal with Kabul.
There are hopes this tentative deal which still has to be approved by the Hezb-i-Islami leader Gulbuddin Helmatyar, a US-designated terrorist could be a template for an agreement between the Afghan government and the more powerful Taliban.
But the Taliban have refused to enter into negotiations with the Afghan government, saying they first want to hold talks with the United States something Washington has rejected.
Also, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who in the past backed peace talks with the Taliban, has dismissed future negotiations with insurgents after a deadly Kabul explosion last month. Instead Ghani has demanded Islamabad take up arms against the Haqqani network, a powerful Taliban faction that has found refuge in Pakistan.
Pakistan's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said previously that Islamabad rejects Kabul's demand and that peace talks remain the only way to end the fighting in Afghanistan. Years of fighting the Taliban has not destroyed them, Aziz said, adding that now was the time to press for talks.
Kabul sent no formal delegation to Wednesday's meeting in Islamabad, which was attended only by the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, Omer Zakhiwal.
The apparent slight was to register Afghanistan's frustration with Pakistan over what Kabul considers inaction against Taliban operating on Pakistani soil, said Dawa Khan Menapal, deputy spokesman for Ghani.
Afghanistan and the US are pushing Pakistan to do more to stop attacks in Afghanistan by militants with bases in Pakistan and to use its influence to force them into talks and off the battlefield.
The draft deal with Hezb-i-Islami took months of meetings between Hekmatyar's representatives and those of the government to hammer out, said Mohammad Khan, First Deputy for Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.
"I am very optimistic about this agreement and I am sure that peace with Hezb-i-Islami would have a positive effect on the battlefield in different parts of the country," Khan told reporters Wednesday.
Hekmatyar's battlefield strengths are largely restricted to a portion of northeastern Afghanistan and pale in comparison to the Taliban. His Hezb-i-Islami also harbors deep divisions with the Taliban, who drove Hekmatyar from Afghanistan in 1996 and forced him to live in exile in Iran for five years until 2001, when the US-led coalition drove the Taliban from power.
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Associated Press Writer Lynne O'Donnell in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this report.
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Bandung/Gorontalo Wed, May 18 2016
Book publishers, authors and editors in Bandung, West Java, and Indonesian students overseas have called for the protection of freedom of expression and have criticized the confiscation of books allegedly containing communist information by security personnel.
In a statement commemorating National Book Day on Tuesday, the Bandung literary community call on the government to protect freedom of expression as well as book publishing. Only a dumb nation would ban book publishing, said poet Ahda Imran.
Indonesian students overseas lambasted the repressive measures used by the security personnel against various art and cultural events in the name of anti-communism. The crackdown and confiscation of books by security forces, which closes peoples access to knowledge, are anti-intellectual policies, said Roy Thaniago, an Indonesian studying in Sweden.
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Surakarta Wed, May 18 2016
An elementary school in Gilingan, Surakarta, Central Java, is neighbors with low-cost homestays frequented by provocatively dressed female guests, which some students reportedly are known to spy on.
Every corner of the No. 111 Tirtoyoso Elementary School, which, located behind Tirtonadi bus terminal, immediately borders at least three budget homestays, while the fence surrounding the school is just 1 meter high, so the view to the homestays is quite clear.
It is often that scantily-clad guests are noticed on the balconies behind the homestays immediately facing the school. The fence is only one meter high so students often see indecent sights at the homestays. Its inappropriate for elementary school pupils to see such scenes, said teacher Slamet Riyanto on Tuesday.
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18, 2016
The Jakarta administration plans to transform the capital's main river, the Ciliwung, notoriously known for its pollution and slum areas, into a tourist destination.
The city is aggressively cleaning up all of its rivers, and once the Ciliwung River is clean and free of garbage, Jakartans and tourists can enjoy the river, which runs right through the capital.
"Ciliwung is suitable for river tourism. The riverbanks sedimentary rock is beautiful," Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjajaha Purnama told journalists at City Hall on Wednesday.
The city will retain the natural form of the sedimentary rock for 9 meters in Condet, East Jakarta, and will not install sheet pile over it, Ahok said.
Moreover, Ahok will also urge the managements of apartments near the Ciliwung River to establish open green spaces up to the river.
Ahok previously planned to introduce water-based transportation in the Ciliwung, which stretches across the capital to Depok and Bogor in West Java. However, as he viewed conditions for himself on Wednesday, the governor realized that water transportation would be slower than land transportation.
The plan to transform the river emerged when the administration decided to rehabilitate the Ciliwung. The city has conducted cleanup programs involving contract workers and evicted people from illegal settlements along riverbanks.
The city administration has normalized 9 kilometers of the planned 19 kilometers of Ciliwung riverbanks, with illegal buildings still occupying some of the riverbanks. About 50,000 people live along the Ciliwung, according to city data.
Illegal buildings will be demolished and the residents relocated once low-cost apartments have been built. The Jakarta Housing agency will provide 20,000 apartments this year and another 50,000 next year. (rin)
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Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18 2016
Publicly listed beer manufacturer PT Delta Djakarta has expressed anxiety over the anticipated approval of a controversial alcohol prohibition bill, saying that the move would likely hamper its sales after slowly recovering from a rough 2015.
Last year, all 10 party factions of the House agreed to continue deliberations on the prohibition of alcohol. Legislators who support the bill have argued that Indonesia needs a stronger legal standing to control the production and consumption of alcohol.
The bill, sponsored by the United Development Party (PPP) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), political organizations that are Islamist in orientation, has become one of the priority bills in this years National Legislation Program (Prolegnas).
The bill, reminiscent of the US prohibition efforts in the 1920s, would outlaw the production, distribution and sale of beverages with more than a 1 percent alcohol content.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Delta Djakarta finance director Alan V. Fernandez said the company hoped the alcohol bill, if passed, would not include many new restrictions.
If this eventuates, the firm local producer of various beer brands, like Anker, Carlsberg and San Miguel will aim for a 10 percent sales increase for this year.
Or else, we expect a similar contraction to last year, he said.
Delta Djakarta is 58.3 percent owned by Philippines-based beer producer San Miguel, 26.25 percent by the Jakarta administration and the remaining share by the factory itself and the public.
Delta Djakarta has seen its sales up by 30.7 percent to Rp 430.6 billion (US$32.3 million) from January to March this year compared to the corresponding period last year. In the first quarter of 2015, the companys sales plunged by 42.4 percent year-on-year due to the enactment of Trade Ministry Regulation No. 6/2015 on alcohol control that bans beer sales in minimarkets.
The drastic pick-up is understandable because a significant drop was experienced in the same period last year, besides the fact that we earn more as we also raised the selling price in June last year, Fernandez said.
The current alcohol bill prohibits anyone from consuming any alcoholic drinks except at traditional or religious ceremonies, or for tourism and pharmaceutical purposes in permitted places, stipulated in article 8.
The draft also obliges 20 percent of state income from beer excise taxes to fund a campaign over the danger of alcohol and the rehabilitation of alcoholics.
Indonesia has since January 2014 increased beer excise by 18.24 percent, causing falling net revenues and profits for beer producers.
Together with the rising imported malt and packaging prices, Delta Djakarta registered a 25.5 percent sales drop to Rp 1.5 trillion as of December 2015 from Rp 2.1 trillion in December 2014.
Its net profit also dropped 33.4 percent to Rp 192 billion, while its realized production capacity only reached 50 percent compared to 70 percent in 2014.
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Linkedin Nurul Fitri Ramadhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18 2016
National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti will reach mandatory retirement age in July and President Joko Jokowi Widodo will have to answer the much-asked question: Will Badrodin stay on as police chief?
Jokowi has the authority to keep Badrodin on as chief or replace him, as the existing regulation allows Jokowi both options.
The National Police Law stipulates that police officers retire at the age of 58, but officers with specific required abilities may be kept in active service until the age of 60.
Several legislators have voiced their opinion regarding the potential National Police leadership options in the current climate.
House deputy speaker Fadli Zon said Tuesday that Jokowi needed to keep Badrodin because he is can maintain a conducive climate in the police corps, citing public criticism of the police for taking excessive measures against communist symbolism across the country as a current problem.
The police also became the target of public criticism following the death of terrorist suspect Siyono in police detention. Two members of the National Police antiterrorism squad (Densus88) allegedly tortured Siyono to death.
We need a solid police force and Badrodin is capable of creating it. He can accommodate the needs of the police officers, said Fadli of Gerindra Party.
In contrast, Masinton Pasaribu of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said there is no need to extend Badrodins tenure.
There is no urgency to extend his tenure because our country is not in an emergency situation. Regeneration within the National Police is needed and I am sure there are many police generals who can be promoted to be the new chief, he said.
Badrodins retirement would open door for Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, the deputy chief of the National Police.
Budi was originally nominated, alongside Badrodin, to replace Comr. Gen. Sutarman as the National Police chief. He is a former confidant of Megawati Soekarnoputri, chairwoman of PDIP and Jokowis patron.
Last week, Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said the police had not prepared any names to put forth to Jokowi.
In January last year, Jokowi made the controversial decision to nominate Budi Gunawan as police chief. Three days later, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) declared Budi a graft suspect for alleged financial misdeeds in his capacity as head of the National Police Career Development Bureau.
Bowing to public pressure, Jokowi appointed Badrodin as the police chief. Meanwhile, Budi got his suspect status cleared following a controversial pre-trial hearing in February.
Previously, Badrodin said that if Jokowi decided to extend his tenure, he was ready.
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Linkedin Farida Susanty (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18 2016
Lion Air, the countrys biggest domestic carrier, is the epitome of a budget airline with a long record of poor service and safety issues. But that has not dimmed the appetite of passengers to fly with the airline.
Lion Air maintained the largest market share in the domestic aviation sector last year, securing some 45 percent of 76.6 million domestic passengers, according to data released by the Transportation Ministry. Its closest rival, national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, secured 38.2 percent of the market.
However, Lion Airs consistently high market share came on the heels of a string of incidents last year, including persistent delays triggering chaos at several airports.
Last week alone, the airline was involved in two incidents stemming from mismanagement.
Some 300 of the airlines pilots abruptly went on strike on May 10 to protest the late disbursement of their monthly accommodation allowances, causing delays at various airports, including at the major gateway Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali.
On the same day, the airline mistakenly transferred arriving passengers from an international flight to a domestic terminal after the driver of a bus carrying the passengers from a flight from Singapore thought they were from Padang, West Sumatra.
Alongside mismanagement woes, the airline has also racked up a troubling safety record. In April, Lion Airs full service arm, Batik Air, clipped the wing of a TransNusa airplane on a runway. Late last year, one of its planes skidded off the runway in Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta.
We have told the Transportation Ministry that we are still needed by the people. Indonesians need to fly, Lion Air operational director Daniel Putut said recently after a recent meeting with ministry officials to explain the incidents.
With the tagline we make people fly, Lion Air sells its tickets at remarkably low prices compared to its competitors, making the airline affordable to all walks of life.
Lion Air currently operates 183 flight routes both domestically and internationally, with a total of 500 daily flights, enabling the company to connect passengers with various corners of the archipelago.
By comparison, Indonesia Air Asia (IAA), a rival low-cost carrier, only operates 32 routes.
Lion Air is a part of the Lion Air Group together with Wings Air, Batik Air and Malindo Air, based in Malaysia, and Thai Lion Air, based in Thailand.
It is owned by businessman-politician Rusdi Kirana, the countrys 12th-richest person according to Forbes. Rusdi currently serves as deputy chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB), a party that supports President Joko Jokowi Widodos administration.
Lion Air general affairs director Edward Sirait dismissed speculations that Rusdis powerful position in government had helped keep the airline afloat despite its poor safety and management record.
Nobody is immune these days, he said, adding that Lion Air had never been involved in any fatal accidents.
Suprasetyo, the Transportation Ministrys director general of air transportation, stated that the ministry would impose stern sanctions on Lion Air on a case-by-case basis in a bid to force the airline to improve its services.
A series of warnings have been issued by the ministry after the airline scored below the acceptable 60 percent level for delay management procedures in January. This could eventually lead to the freezing of routes or even the revocation of business permits if no improvements are seen within three-month blocks.
But serious follow-up measures to the warnings are rare. The ministry only sanctioned Lion Air for the flight delay on May 10 by prohibiting it from opening a new route, a sanction that the airline said would not hurt much as it had no plan to open new routes in the near future.
Meanwhile, for the mistake of delivering passengers to the wrong terminal, Suprasetyo said the sanction would depend on an ongoing investigation.
Edward advised the government against clipping the airlines operations, arguing that punitive measures could hurt the countrys investment climate.
I am not saying that we should not be punished. People responsible for wrongdoing must be punished, but it should be done based on proper mechanisms and investigations, he said.
Aviation expert Chappy Hakim warned that the protracted delays and safety concerns reflected weak airline management and the reality that the company had grown too quickly since its establishment in 1999.
He further argued that Lion Airs owner should not be a part of the government as it constituted a conflict of interest and could deter regulators from properly enforcing the law.
It can be seen from their track-record over the years. Theres something wrong with the management, he said.
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Incidents involving Lion Air
Jan. 4, 2016 : Four Lion Air employees are arrested for allegedly stealing items from checked-in bags at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
Jan. 5, 2016 : A Lion Air aircraft is forced into an emergency landing at Batams Hang Nadim airport en route to Jakarta from Pekanbaru.
Feb. 20, 2016 : Juanda International Airport in Sidoarjo, the airport serving Surabaya, East Java, is shut down for several hours after a Lion Air aircraft overshoots the runway.
May 10, 2016 : More than 300 Lion Air pilots go on strike, claiming the company has not paid their accommodation allowance, which should have been paid between May 4 and May 9.
Aug. 12, 2015 : A Lion Air flight from Jakarta to Ujung Pandang in South Sulawesi is forced to make an emergency landing at Juanda International Airport.
Nov. 14, 2015 : A passenger reports feeling uncomfortable when he hears a Lion Air pilot offering a widowed stewardess to passengers over the speakers during a flight from Surabaya, East Java, to the resort island of Bali.
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Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18, 2016
A group of Indonesian students abroad have condemned recent seizures of leftist books in their homeland.
If it is allowed to go on, these actions could be interpreted as a form of terror by the state against its own citizens, said Indonesian Students Circle Abroad, a network of 123 students studying across the world including in Australia, Japan, Lebanon, Russia, the UK and the US.
The raids and seizures of books by the security forces, which violate the peoples right to access knowledge, are an act of anti-intellectualism. With these practices, the state violates the law and neglects civil rights, which are protected by the Constitution in the Indonesian Republic, they said as stated in a press release.
The state is also increasing insecurity among the public in terms of freedom of thought and expression, therefore, the students urged President Joko Jokowi Widodo to halt all types of repressive action against access to knowledge, including in the form of leftist books.
Among the 123 students are award-winning film critic and author Eric Sasono of Kings College, London, musician and social worker Rara Sekar Larasati of the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand and founder of television watchdog Remotivi Roy Thaniago of Lund University in Sweden.
The security forces have recently begun seizing leftist books from citizens, following President Jokowis instruction to take action against the appearance and distribution of communist symbols.
However, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said that Jokowi had admitted that military and police personnel had overreacted to his order. The President felt that people should respect freedom of the press and academic freedom as essential parts of a democratic society, Pramono added.
In 2010, the Constitutional Court annulled the 1963 law on monitoring printed materials with content that could jeopardize public order. (vps/bbn)
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Linkedin Corry Elyda (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18 2016
Instead of acquiring the shares of private water operators as initially planned, city-owned water operator PAM Jaya is set to take over only their distribution sectors.
PAM Jaya president director Erlan Hidayat said recently the city may not go through with acquiring the shares of operator PT PAM Lyonaisse Jaya (Palyja) and was considering other options to improve water access in Jakarta.
Erlan said PAM Jaya would take over the distribution operations of Palyja and another private operator PT Aetra Air Jakarta (Aetra), but both companies would still manage water treatment plants.
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Linkedin Veronica Koman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18 2016
When outsiders think of Papua, it may be to puzzle over why protests there seem never-ending. They may assume the main frustrations of Papuans stem from poverty and lack of development.
That is true to some degree. However, the main reason is simpler and neatly illustrated by comparing two figures: In early May, 2,109 Papuan independence protesters were arrested by police and that number is more than double the 1,025 who were press-ganged into legitimizing Indonesias rule of Papua through the 1969 Act of Free Choice.
Despite our embassy in the UK denying in The Guardian that the arrests took place, the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute documented them all, and holds the names of every one of the 2,109 demonstrators. Compare the figure with the 1,025 who cast ballots in what Papuans refer to as the Act of No Choice, out of an estimated population of 800,000 at that time.
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Linkedin Ruslan Sangadji, thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Palu, Central Sulawesi Wed, May 18, 2016
Two gunmen killed in a recent shoot-out with Operation Tinombala security forces in the Uwe Mayea Mountains of Central Sulawesis Poso regency were members of the terrorist group East Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT), according to police.
"The two men are Firman, alias Ikrima, from Malino in Central Sulawesi and Yazid, alias Taufik, from Java," Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen. Rudy Sufahriadi said on Tuesday.
Both men were members of the MIT group led by Santoso aka Abu Wardah, Rudy said, adding that their names were included on the most wanted list.
"But that is still [based on] preliminary identification in the field, while we are waiting for the final results from the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) unit and doctors at the Bhayangkara Police Hospital in Palu," said Rudy.
According to the police officer, the two men were shot to death by security personnel while they were heading toward the Saatu river with at least five other men. It is suspected that the men were moving from Pantangolehmbah village on the southern coast of Poso toward Desa Saatu in the north.
"That's why, after the two men were shot, the rest escaped back into the forest," Rudy said, adding that the task force had deployed additional personnel to the location of the shoot-out and its vicinity in pursuit of the men who had escaped and also to remove the bodies.
"The evacuation is relatively slow, because aside from the rugged terrain, heavy rain has hit Poso," Rudy added.
In addition to identifying the alleged terrorists, the task force has gathered potential evidence in the form of four bags containing food, a GPS device, a mobile phone and five pipe bombs. (liz/bbn)
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Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18, 2016
Jakarta Police once again sent the case dossier on Jessica Kumala Wongso, who is accused of murdering her friend Wayan Mirna Salihin, back to the Jakarta Prosecutors office on Wednesday.
The police have only a limited time to complete the dossier because the 120-day investigation period of Jessicas case will expire on May 28. If prosecutors do not accept the dossier before the deadline, Jessica will be released and the case closed.
Yesterday, police investigators received the [returned] case dossier from the prosecutors. At 8 a.m. [Wednesday], we returned it back to the prosecutors having fulfilled all the prosecutors requests, said Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Awi Setiyono in Jakarta on Wednesday as reported by tribunnews.com.
He said the prosecutors had advised the police investigators to include a letter from the Law and Human Rights Ministrys central authority and international law directorate, explaining that the request for mutual legal assistance (MLA) from Australia had not been met.
The investigators had also attached an excerpt from a response from a senior liaison officer at the Australian Federal Polices (AFP) Jakarta office in relation to the supplementary MLA and two letters from the International Crime Cooperation Central Authority of the Australian Attorney Generals Office, Awi added.
On Tuesday, head of the Jakarta Prosecutors Office Sudung Situmorang said his office had to return Jessicas case dossier four times to the police because the police had failed to complete the documents.
The evidence has not [been completed]. Therefore the prosecutors, who examine the documents, have returned the case dossier [to the police], said Sudung in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Sudung said he had communicated with Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Moechgiyarto about the matter. The police chief had criticized prosecutors for repeatedly returning the dossiers to the police. Let the judges decide so that there is legal certainty. We shouldn't be bothered with all these problems, said Moechgiyarto as reported by kompas.com, last week.
Jessica has been named a suspect in the murder of Mirna, who died after drinking cyanide-laced coffee in a restaurant in Central Jakarta on Jan. 6. Jessica shared a table at the restaurant with Mirna and another friend, Hani. ( bbn )
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Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18, 2016
State-owned train operator PT KAI has begun an investigation into the cause of the derailment of a commuter train serving the Jakarta-Bogor route on Wednesday morning, which disrupted the travel plans of thousands of commuters.
The train detailed between Manggarai and Sudirman stations during the morning rush hour at 6.18 a.m. Although the line was cleared at 9:30 a.m. there was still considerable disruption to schedules.
There are many factors that cause derailments, said PT KAI spokesman Bambang S. Prayitno in Jakarta on Wednesday as reported by kompas.com, adding that the operator had repaired the track after a similar incident in March.
He declined to speculate on the cause of the two incidents within the last two months in the same location, saying that the investigation was still under way.
Meanwhile, the spokeswoman for electric-train operator PT Jakarta Commuter Jabodetabek, Eva Chairunnisa, confirmed that although the line was clear the impact on scheduling would still be felt hours later.
The trains had to queue in a number of stations, particularly those heading to and from Tanah Abang [station in Central Jakarta], she said. (bbn)
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Linkedin Richard Lardner (Associated Press) Washington Wed, May 18, 2016
The Senate confirmed the long-stalled nomination of Eric Fanning to be Army secretary, making him the first openly gay leader of a US military service.
The voice vote approval Tuesday came after Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., dropped his opposition to Fanning. Roberts said a senior Pentagon official had told him that no detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, would be sent to the Army prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, or other facilities in the United States.
Congress has included prohibitions on moving Guantanamo detainees to the US in annual defense policy bills, thwarting President Barack Obama's campaign promise to close the prison.
Roberts said he met May 10 with Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work, who assured Roberts he was "the person who would have to execute" the moving of detainees to the mainland, "and the clock has run out.'"
But in a statement, Work said he made clear to Roberts that the Obama administration has not taken any location off the table for relocating Guantanamo detainees.
He said he told Roberts that blocking Fanning's confirmation was "depriving the Army of leadership at a time of war and was the wrong way to express his opposition to the administration's plan for responsibly closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay."
Defense Secretary Ash Carter issued a separate statement congratulating Fanning. Carter said he is confident Fanning will make an exceptional Army secretary.
Roberts said he knows Obama will continue to try and close the prison at Guantanamo before he leaves office in January. But said he took Work at his word.
"He understands the significant and costly changes that would need to be made at Fort Leavenworth to change the post's mission," Roberts said. "Most importantly, he understands the legal restrictions on funding to move the detainees to Fort Leavenworth by January 20, 2017."
Fanning served as the Army secretary's principal adviser on management and operation of the service, with a focus on the budget. He was undersecretary of the Air Force from April 2013 to February 2015, and for half a year was the acting secretary of the Air Force. He also worked on Defense Secretary Ash Carter's transition. (bbn)
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Linkedin Dewanti A. Wardhani (The Jakarta Post) The Jakarta Post/Karawang Wed, May 18, 2016
Japan-based electronics company Sharp officially opened on Wednesday morning an LED TV factory in Indonesia, located in the Karawang International Industrial City in West Java.
Industry Ministry Saleh Husin and Sharp Indonesia president director Fumihiro Irie attended the inauguration of the factory, accompanied by a number of local officials.
The Rp 55 billion (US$4.1 million) factory will employ 1,856 workers, with a capacity of about 1 million TV units per year.
Saleh said the government aimed to further develop the country's electronics industry as a vital part of the global electronic products supply chain.
Irie said despite the economic slowdown, Sharp Indonesia sought to provide quality products for its Indonesian customers.
"With the new factory, we will continue to locally produce quality products for our customers," Irie said in his speech. (dmr)
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Linkedin Nani Afrida (The Jakarta Post) Wed, May 18 2016
Ayom Panggalih and Nur Syawaluddin were strolling to the mosques in their respective neighborhoods in Surakarta, Central Java, for afternoon prayer when Densus 88 counterterror squad personnel appeared out of nowhere and stopped them on Dec. 29 last year.
In a round of interrogation sessions at a local police station, they were queried on whether they were involved in a terror group led by Abu Jundi and whether they knew of a man named Hamzah. After a few hours, they were allowed to leave.
Ayom and Nur claim they were tortured during their brief arrests, and that the trauma still lingers until today. The police have offered no apology, let alone restoration of the mens names after they were tainted by the terror allegations.
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Linkedin Margareth S. Aritonang and Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post) Bali/Seoul/Jakarta Wed, May 18 2016
The Golkar Partys national congress ended Tuesday with new chairman Setya Novanto vowing to focus on internal reconciliation to win regional elections next year and improve the partys declining image.
Boosting the partys image looks to be a tough task for Setya, considering the low level of his own image, particularly after the Freeport Indonesia scandal, in which he allegedly used the name of President Joko Jokowi Widodo in a bid to acquire shares in the gold and copper mining company.
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18 2016
Victims of terrorism and wrongful arrests remain virtually neglected by the state as the laws that guarantee their rights require extremely complicated court procedures that discourage them from even trying a legal avenue to gain compensation.
And their prospects do not look promising now that House of Representatives lawmakers deliberating amendments to the 2003 Terrorism Law are reluctant to accommodate calls for better treatment of terror attack victims.
Spurred by Januarys attack on the Starbucks cafe in Central Jakarta, the amendment is intended to reinforce the states power in preventing and combating terrorism. It is likely that victims will still be left grappling alone with economic losses, physical disabilities and psychological trauma.
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Linkedin Nani Afrida (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18 2016
Iwan Setiawan still vividly remembers the fateful day 12 years ago when a huge blast threw him and his pregnant wife Halila off his motorbike onto the busy street across the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, when on their way to a maternity clinic for a routine checkup.
I still tremble whenever I pass that street, says Iwan, 41, at his modest computer repair shop in Depok, West Java. That day, only a single PC and a dusty fan sat on a small table. He and his assistants waited for customers on the floor of their 3-by-5-meter kiosk.
Iwan recalls wiping blood oozing from his right eye as he regained consciousness. Seeing her husbands injuries, Halila then 23 years old grabbed the motorbike and rushed him to the MNC Hospital nearby but, thinking she would not be able to afford the costs, she suddenly changed her mind and took him to another hospital she thought might be more affordable.
There, too, she hit another snag. Iwan did not receive immediate treatment because the hospital demanded to know who would guarantee his medical costs. Fortunately, after an argument, he was taken into the emergency room. He was told shrapnel from the explosion had pierced his eye.
As for Halila, who seemed fine and was busy looking after her husband, was later diagnosed in another hospital to have fractured her spine. She delivered a baby boy prematurely also that same day. She succumbed to a nervous breakdown from the spinal injury and died in 2005. She passed away while I was still struggling with blindness and joblessness, says Iwan who raises two children.
Iwan considers himself lucky as help eventually came from the Australian embassy. The Australian government settled all his and his wifes medical bills. Not only that, he also received an artificial eye and
Rp 10 million in cash to start a business after his job contract with a company ended during that difficult period.
He cannot hide his anger for the Indonesian government not offering him any assistance. At the height of his suffering, he says, he wished about dying as a martyr after blowing up a government building, in order to attract the worlds attention.
They should have paid more attention to victims like me than to terror convicts and their families, he says. I lost almost everything in the tragedy. I wished I had died then. Its hard to start life all over again.
Until the embassy bombing, Iwan says, he was a humorous person who would take life easy. Today, he often complains of dizziness and his left eye cannot see clearly. Sometimes, I cant see anything. But, looking back, I should be grateful that I only lost one eye.
As time goes by, Iwan who has remarried is becoming more resigned to his destiny, knowing that nobody else can raise his two children.
The embassy bombing killed 14 people and injured 150 people, mostly passersby like Iwan and Halila. Other survivors received similar treatment from the state denied compensation, proper medical care and psychiatric counseling to help them overcome trauma.
Sucipto Hari Wibowo, another passerby injured in the Australian embassy bombing, since has become an activist coordinating the organization, Yayasan Penyintas or Indonesian Survivors Foundation, for assisting terror attack survivors.
Still suffering trauma from the incident, Sucipto says the number of fatalities from the attack is in fact higher than the reported 14 because more victims have died in the subsequent years from nerve injuries like that suffered by Halila.
Like Iwan, Sucipto was riding his motorcycle when the blast occurred. Although sustaining serious head injuries, he managed to ride back home and get medical help. He relives the horror every time he passes that street, but the feeling of thankfulness from escaping death has turned his life around.
Now I am more sensitive and better empathize [with people]. Maybe it is Gods way of telling me I should be helping others, he says.
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Linkedin Edith M Lederer (Associated Press) United Nations Wed, May 18, 2016
The director of UN humanitarian operations warned Tuesday that 7.6 million people in conflict-torn Yemen face severe food shortages and are "one step" from famine.
John Ging, who just returned from Yemen, told a news conference that there has been "a shocking fall off" in support from the donor community over the last few months for the millions of Yemenis who need food, clean water and basic health care.
The UN appeal for $1.8 billion to help more than 13 million Yemenis this year is just 16 percent funded, he said, despite Yemen being declared one of the UN's highest-level humanitarian emergencies.
Ging urged governments facing multiple demands for assistance not to forget Yemen. He said the United States, United Kingdom, European Commission and Japan had contributed to the 2016 appeal.
The biggest change from 2015, Ging said, was the absence of a contribution from Saudi Arabia which donated $245 million to last year's UN appeal. He said the donor base for Yemen must be expanded, saying Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states and many other countries were being contacted. He stressed that any contributions from parties to a conflict can't have strings attached.
A major focus of the UN humanitarian summit in Istanbul next week is humanitarian financing, he said, because UN appeals which cover minimum needs are being less than 50 percent funded and new ways must be found to provide life-saving support.
In the Yemen conflict, a Saudi-led, US-backed coalition supporting the internationally recognized government is battling Shiite rebels known as Houthis and their allies. The Houthis have held Yemen's capital, Sanaa, since September 2014, and their advance across the Arab world's poorest country brought the Saudi-led coalition into the war in March 2015. Ging said over 6,000 people have been killed, including 930 children.
Yemen's Foreign Minister Abdul-Malik al-Mekhlafi late Tuesday announced the suspension of peace talks held in Kuwait after weeks of no progress, saying the rebels refuse to accept the legitimacy of the country's internationally recognized president.
Ging said over 10 million Yemenis need basic health care and over 7.6 million "are severely food insecure" which "on the international index of food insecurity is one step below the level of famine."
"So it's a very fragile situation, and it's a huge number of people that are in that status," he said.
"The nutrition situation in Yemen is also very acute," Ging said. "From January to April this year, over 56,000 children were found to be suffering from severe acute malnutrition."
He said the total number of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition is almost 180,000, but the UN has only been able to reach 32 percent of them.
Ging visited the city of Amran and viewed the devastating impact and "terrible consequences" of airstrikes, including on a cement factory where 1,500 people lost their jobs, as well as flooding which caused many homes to collapse. He said more than 300,000 people have been displaced into the impoverished Amran governorate, compounding the humanitarian problems. (bbn)
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Linkedin Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18 2016
The US Embassy has recently installed air quality monitors on its two buildings in South and Central Jakarta that will detect dangerous airborne particles on an hourly basis, in an effort to improve air quality data in the capital.
This will provide information so individuals can also make decisions related to their health, US Ambassador to Indonesia Robert O. Blake told reporters at the US Embassy complex in Menteng in Central Jakarta on Tuesday.
Blake said, like other cities in the world, Jakartas air quality was greatly affected by its transportation, carbon emissions and power plants.
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Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18, 2016
Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) claims state losses in the Indonesian education sector have amounted to Rp 1.3 trillion (US$98 million) over the past 10 years.
ICW found 425 corruption cases in the education sector during the 2006-2015 period, including manipulation of the Specific-Purpose Grant, School Operational Aid, funds for school book procurement and the development of school facilities and infrastructure.
"In the past 10 years, the biggest source of embezzled funds was the Specific-Purpose Grant, with 85 corruption cases, which led to state losses of Rp 377 billion. The grant should be used for school operational purposes such as teacher's salaries and certification," ICW researcher Wana Alamsyah said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
"Moreover, there were 79 corruption cases in the development of school facilities and infrastructure, with state losses of Rp 542 billion."
The government has allocated Rp 424.7 trillion, 20 percent of the 2016 state budget, for education. However, weak controls have led to rampant corruption in the sector, Wana said.
Meanwhile, Hania Rahma, the head of the Bogor Womens Anticorruption Community in West Java said there were many corruption and gratification cases in schools that had never been investigated, including manipulation of school budgets and bribery of schools by students' parents.
"For instance, in Bogor a school held a workshop in Batu city [Malang, East Java]. The event was followed by a fun tour to Mt. Bromo and it was all funded by the students' parents," Hania said.
She said school committees did not control or prevent fund manipulation as the committees often consisted of people directly selected by the school. "The parents involved in the committees often have a close relationship with the school," she added.
Wana and Hania called on the government to form an online system to register all schools and strictly control the use of funding. (vps/bbn)
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Linkedin Germelina Lacorte (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) Davao City, Philippines Wed, May 18, 2016
Presumptive President-elect Rodrigo Duterte has asked erring policemen with pending cases in court to resign or retire before he assumes office or he will send them to Sulu to face the Abu Sayyaf Group there.
He also told government officials and employees to shape up, and be courteous to the public, as he vowed to make the bureaucracy more efficient and eliminate delays in the processing of papers and documents. Kahit wala kang ngipin, try to save some money para sa pustiso, you smile, Duterte said.
Resign or retire, Duterte told policemen with pending cases in court. Those who are already contaminated and you should know who you are, those with pending cases, even the generals and you know who you are, resign or retire, bago pa ako umupo diyan [even before I can sit there], because I hate to name you publicly and ask you to resign, Duterte said.
Yung may mga [those who have] cases, alis na [leave], I do not care kung wala pang [if theres no] judgment [yet], pag hindi [if not], I plan to invade Jolo, sa [in the] lair ng [of the] Abu Sayyaf, he said, Prepare now for combat duty there, kayo ang uutusan ko at kung kayo ang ma-hostage doon, say your our fathers name because I will never, never pay to retrieve you.
Duterte also told government officials and employees in the bureaucracy to shape up and be courteous to the public.
The tough-talking mayor who will assume the presidency on June 30, asked Congress to stop the current practice of insulting public officials summoned to testify in Congress.
Be courteous, be respectful to the public because its the public who is paying for your salary, Duterte said, as he vowed to eliminate delays in the processing of papers in the bureaucracy. Hwag kang mahiya kahit wala kang ngipin, smile, he said.
He also said power can easily get into the head of some people occupying positions in government, as he cited a mayor in Metro Manila, who threatened to close down a fast food chain just because he was not recognized by the waiters there.
Who are you to be recognized, why do you think of oppressing the person just because he does not know you, and who are you to be known? Duterte asked.
Duterte told Congress he would not tolerate the current practice by congressmen of insulting executive department officials summoned to testify in congressional hearings.
I would like to plead to Congress to be more circumspect, Duterte said, I was once upon a time a Congressman and I should know, in the way you treat the bureau directors, Cabinet members, witnesses, pati mga police generals, sinisigaw sigawan nyo [generals too, you shout at them], I will not allow it, he said.
He recalled how former Armed Forces chief Angelo Reyes, investigated by Congress for the money send-off controversy involving retiring military generals, once asked senators for a chance to clear his name, and save his honor and dignity. He got the reply from [Senator Antonio] Trillanes [IV] who said, You have no right to answer, you have no dignity, recalled Duterte.
Hwag nyong gawin iyan sa mga [Dont do that to the] generals, especially when they represent me, Duterte said, adding that he was expecting a lot of investigations and insinuations in the fight against criminality. Tumabi muna kayo [Step aside] and do not insult people just because you are there, he said. Nothing is added to your privilege or right. Who are you, where in the Constitution does it say that Congress has the right to insult people? he asked.
Do not do that to the witnesses from the executive department, I will not allow it. If you want their presence there, good, be courteous to them, be civil, he said.
When you start to insult them, Ill tell them umuwi kayo [you come home], do not appear there, we will have a stalemate and youll create a constitutional crisis, Duterte said.
He also vowed to make the bureaucracy more efficient by eliminating delays in the processing of papers and documents.
[For the processing of] clearances, electricity connection [permits], I will give you 72 hours, Duterte said. After 72 hours you are no longer allowed to release the documents or paper, you have to forward the papers to me and I will ask you why it took you more than three days to process the documents, he said.
He said he wanted to replicate the system, already existing in Davao City, and the reason for Davao Citys competitiveness in terms of ease of doing business, to the whole country.
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Linkedin Arlina Arshad & Joanna Seow (Strait Times) Jakarta & Singapore Wed, May 18, 2016
Indonesia says it will stop sending new live-in maids abroad from as early as next year. Its authorities want domestic workers to live separately from their employers in dormitories, work regular hours, and get public holidays and days off.
The Indonesian Ministry of Manpower's director for the protection and placement of Indonesian migrant workers abroad, Soes Hindharno, told The Straits Times that, in turn, employers will get "better-quality" workers. They will be certified in Indonesia and trained to excel in specific skills, such as cooking, childcare and eldercare.
"They are also free to do other chores, but don't penalise them if they don't do too well in areas outside their skill set. We want better protection for our workers. If they are always indoors, we don't know if they have worked overtime. They should be compensated for that."
The move will be made in phases and will first require meetings with the authorities in receiving countries, including Singapore.
Soes said the initiative will affect only new workers. Maids already working in households abroad who are happy with their employers can extend their visas.
The move is part of Indonesian President Joko Widodo's plan to professionalize informal employment. A road map to stop sending Indonesian maids abroad by next year was announced by the previous administration in 2012, amid worries about maids being mistreated.
Indonesia is the biggest source country for maids in Singapore, with around 125,000 working here.
Concerns have been raised in Indonesia about the working conditions faced by live-in maids working abroad, and progress on addressing them has not been made fast enough, according to Association of Employment Agencies (Singapore) president K. Jayaprema.
The association has been working closely with the Indonesian authorities to address these concerns. Ms Jayaprema said: "We also want to ensure quality domestic workers can continue to come to Singapore."
Agents said they support formalised training, but logistical issues like lodging, travel and housing will need to be settled if maids live out.
"It might be difficult to get all employers on board," said Nation Employment managing director Gary Chin, adding that some might be concerned about unpredictable delays during maids' commutes.
One employer, a banker who gave her name as Madam Molly, 53, said she would prefer to have a helper at night as she sometimes works late. "She doesn't have to do anything after dinner, but it's just good to have an adult at home with the kids," said the single mother of two.
Mr Jolovan Wham of the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics said caregivers could have formal shifts, adding: "If where you live and work is the same, working hours are not clearly defined, and being socially isolated, domestic workers can't ask for help."
A spokesman for Singapore's Manpower Ministry said it had not received any information from Indonesia about the request for live-out maids, and the live-in requirement is not peculiar to Singapore, as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia have the same requirement.
"Singapore does not condone mistreatment of foreign domestic workers and has taken errant parties to task," said the spokesman.
Indonesian maid Aisyah, 27, who goes by only one name and has been living in Singapore for six years, was happy to hear about the possibility of a live-out arrangement. "My situation is okay but I have some friends who say they need help but cannot get it because they are always at home," she said.
"Living outside will give us more free time, more friends, but some might prefer to stay at home if employers treat them like family."
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Linkedin (Associated Press) Washington Wed, May 18, 2016
President Barack Obama offered his congratulations Tuesday to the new presumptive president of the Philippines who has attracted controversy over his iron-fisted approach to law and order.
The White House said Obama and Rodrigo Duterte spoke by phone in their first conversation since Duterte declared victory in the May 9 vote.
Obama noted high voter turnout in the election was a sign of the Philippines' "vibrant democracy," and he highlighted the two nations' "shared commitments to democracy, human rights, rule of law and inclusive economic growth," a statement said.
Duterte has been a controversial character in Philippine politics. The longtime mayor of Davao campaigned on a promise to end crime and corruption. His public threat to kill all criminals helped catapult him to the presidency but has alarmed human rights activists.
Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes acknowledged the controversy over some of Duerte's past statements but he said the US wanted to build on the "good progress" made between the allies under the outgoing administration of President Benigno Aquino III.
"For us, the priorities will remain the security and prosperity of the Philippines. We'll want to see continued efforts in the Philippines in respect of rule of law and to combat corruption, just as we support those types of efforts across Asia and around the world," Rhodes told the Center for a New American Security think tank.
"We believe that now as much as ever it's important that the US and the Philippines are seen as working together and also working with a network of allies and partners in Southeast Asia," he said.
The historically tumultuous relationship between the US and its former colony has thrived in recent years as the Philippines has turned to Washington for support against an assertive China with which the Philippines has territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
On Aquino's watch, the Philippines has agreed to opening up several of its military facilities in American forces a quarter-century after nationalist sentiments forced the closure of US bases in the island nation.
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Linkedin (Associated Press) Manila Wed, May 18, 2016
Communist rebel leaders have welcomed the Philippine president-elect's offer of four Cabinet posts or an alliance government.
This raises the possibility that the Marxist guerrillas, who demand an end to US military presence in the country and free land distribution to farmers, could assume high positions in the government.
Tough-talking Rodrigo Duterte, who won the most votes according to unofficial counts, has offered the Communist Party of the Philippines Cabinet posts in the agriculture, environment, social welfare and labor departments.
The party said Wednesday that Duterte knows that policy changes are more important than the Cabinet spots.
It remains to be seen what common ground can be forged given wide gaps between the views of the rebels and those in the military and business communities.
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Linkedin Matthew Pennington (Associated Press) Washington Wed, May 18, 2016
The Obama administration lifted sanctions against 10 state-run Myanmar companies and banks Tuesday in response to the Southeast Asian nation's historic transition to democracy, but it retained restrictions on trade and investment with the still-powerful military.
The Treasury Department also amended regulations to support trade and financial transactions, intended to coax more US investment and support economic growth under the new civilian government in the country also known as Burma.
Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser, said that by easing sanctions, the US wanted to demonstrate that there is a "dividend" for making the transition from "dictatorship to democracy."
A new government took power in April after the party of former political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi swept historic elections, ending five decades of direct military rule. But the military retains political clout and major economic interests.
"Our actions today demonstrate our strong support for this political and economic progress while continuing to pressure designated persons in Burma to change their behavior," Adam Szubin, acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.
The US waived its longstanding bans on investment and trade in 2012 after Myanmar began political and economic reforms, but has retained restrictions on dozens of companies and individuals designated by Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control because they oppose reform, or are implicated in human rights abuses and military trade with North Korea. The US also prohibits arms trading and business with companies majority-owned by the military.
The US business lobby complains that despite the easing of the broad economic sanctions, doing business remains difficult in Myanmar, one of the last major untapped markets in Asia.
Although several major US firms like Coca-Cola, General Electric, Chevron and Caterpillar are now operating in Myanmar, US investment of US$248 million represents less than 1 percent of total foreign investment there, a much lower proportion than in other Southeast Asian countries.
Several US lawmakers welcomed President Barack Obama's decision to renew Tuesday his authority to impose sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
New York Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley and Ohio Republican Rep. Steve Chabot said they remained concerned about attacks against ethnic minorities and the military's institutional power.
"Renewing the sanctions authority while easing some sanctions sends a clear message that the United States continues to stand in support of true democratic reform in Burma," the lawmakers said in a statement.
Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin was also supportive. He said Myanmar "is making meaningful political and economic progress, but its future remains uncertain."
Rhodes said the military continues to have "disproportionate influence" over the legislative process, control of key ministries and parts of the economy, and the new government will need to address those issues to continue its democratic transition.
Under the current, junta-era constitution, the military controls the ministries for defense, home affairs and border affairs, and 25 percent of parliamentary seats. Rights groups say stateless Rohingya Muslims and other minorities still face repression.
In a sign it was keeping up the pressure, Treasury said it was adding six companies to its list of Specially Designated Nationals, or SDN, that are barred from US business dealings. The businesses are owned 50 percent or more by Stephen Law and Asia World Co. Ltd, a conglomerate he heads. Law had ties to the former ruling junta and has been accused of involvement in the drugs trade.
The administration eased some bureaucratic requirements for US businesses.
Treasury extended indefinitely a sanctions workaround it announced in December, allowing trade-related transactions with designated companies which run ports and transportation services. Among the beneficiaries of that measure is Law's Asia World, which runs Myanmar's main port in Yangon.
The administration is also preparing within weeks to increase from $500,000 to $5 million the threshold of US investment in Myanmar that requires reporting to the State Department, according to US officials who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the administration.
Dealings are now permitted with all Myanmar banks which have either been removed from the SDN list or been covered by waivers. The three that were taken off the list Tuesday are Myanma Economic Bank; Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank; and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank.
The following state-run companies were taken off: Myanmar Timber Enterprise; Myanmar Pearl Enterprise; Myanmar Gem Enterprise; No. 1 Mining Enterprise; No. 2 Mining Enterprise; No. 3 Mining Enterprise; and Co-Operative Export-Import Enterprise. Treasury said these companies are organized under civilian ministries or no longer exist.
However, administration officials said a ban on the import of jade and rubies, one of Myanmar's most lucrative industries, remains in place.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta Wed, May 18, 2016
In a bid to boost tourism at Borobudur Temple, a pilgrimage tour is set to be offered by PT Taman Wisata Candi (TWC), the state-owned company that manages the temple, as well as nearby Prambanan and Ratu Boko temples.
The package will be launched during the Waisak celebration on May 20 with participants in the Borobudur International Buddhist Conference among the first tour members.
PT TWC marketing and business development director Sahala "Ricky" Parlindungan Siahaan said the package was one of the company's strategies to attract foreign tourists to Yogyakarta, Surakarta and Semarang areas.
(Read also: A comprehensive trip to Borobudur from your couch)
"We aim to attract 2 million people in 2019," said Ricky as quoted by kompas.com on Tuesday.
The package will include sunrise prayers at Borobudur led by Magelang's Mendut Temple head Bhikku Sri Pannyavaro Mahathera, a tour of Prambanan Temple in Yogyakarta and a visit to the temples of Sewu, Plaosan and Kalasan.
"We will lead the participants to explore and understand the journey of Buddha starting from his birth, his adventures after he left the kingdom, up to the time he received enlightenment," said Ricky.
(Read also: Borobudur hosts international astronomy olympiad)
At Rp 700,000 (US$52.42) per person, the pilgrimage tour will be open to all tourists, not only Buddhists, and the price includes accommodation and tickets to attend the conference and the celebration of Tri Suci Waisak, or the Buddhist Day of Enlightenment, in Borobudur Temple on May 21. (kes)
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Linkedin Dian Arthen (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, May 18, 2016
In an effort to prevent sixth graders from cheating in national exams, the Iraqi government cut off internet to the entire nation from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. on May 14, 15 and 16, internet performance company Dyn Research has reported.
In Iraq, standard evaluation exams are conducted on the same days for every student in the country and schools usually receive the test papers in the hours leading up to 8 a.m.
"We asked the Communications Ministry to shut off internet services because we knew that some students those who are lazy started to use the internet to try to get [the answers]," said Education Ministry spokeswoman Hadeel al-Ameri to nbcnews.com.
(Read also: High-tech devices take cheating to new level in Thai schools)
"Security departments were able to arrest some people caught trying to leak the questions and we also found out that there were a few people in the [Education] Ministry who used to leak questions," she added.
Students and teachers further explained that a Facebook group called "Leaking the Final Central Exams Questions 2015" existed last year, through which people paid as little as US$9 to get exam answers.
The government plans to shut down the internet again during the the upper school exams that start on May 25. (kes)
A federal judge has delayed the start of Sheldon Silvers prison sentence by two months.
On May 3, Judge Valerie Caproni sentenced the former Lower East Side assemblyman to 12 years on political corruption charges. Today she ruled that he wont be required to report to prison until Aug. 31.
Silver is waiting on a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, which could have bearing on his appeal. The high court is set to decide by the end of June on the corruption case of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell. If its overturned (which appears likely), the federal statute used to prosecute Silver could be weakened and his grounds for appeal bolstered.
Once the Supreme Court rules, Caproni will decide whether Silver should remain out on bail during the lengthy appeals process.
The judge also ruled today that the first installment of Silvers fines ($1.5 million) will not be due until August 15. The original due date was June 14.
Moving across the pond to London from Southern California, I didnt really expect to see all that many cultural differences. I guess I just assumed the Brits were like us except they had a Queen, drank tea and had to carry umbrellas everywhere. And while all of this is true, there are more subtle differences that are actually quite surprising.
I guess you could say it all started with the egg and no I dont mean in the philosophical sense. My first trip to the grocery store I spent a good 20 minutes searching for the eggs in the refrigerated section, only to discover there were none.
For a good minute I considered the horrific possibility that there were no eggs in the UK. Maybe they dont eat eggs here? Maybe eggs arent a thing? How is this possible? But as I was fumbling through the aisles, confused and worried, lo and behold I found them tucked nice and neat next to the baking supplies. Except they werent white; they were brown. There were no white eggs to be found. What on earth?
The reason for my confusion, as it turns out, is because the US Deptartment of Agriculture (USDA) requires that eggs be washed, chemically sanitised, and dried to remove all bacteria build-up in the eggs hence white eggs.
Due to this process eggs are kept refrigerated at a set temperature in the US. This cleaning method has to be followed closely in order to work, and if done incorrectly can actually be rather harmful.
As a result the UK believes this process is more trouble than its worth. The UK and the EU as a whole require their eggs not be washed, and so keep them unrefrigerated to also prevent bacteria build-up.
So no big deal, this just means there are two different ways of selling eggs, right? Not quite.
Another important thing to consider is salmonella: while most eggs in the UK come from vaccinated hens (you cant have the British Lion Quality mark if your hens arent vaccinated), the reverse is true for the US. Only about one-third of flocks are vaccinated and while salmonella poisoning was essentially eradicated in the 1990s for the UK, at the start of widespread vaccination, there still remains approximately 140,000 cases a year in the US from eggs alone. So its illegal to purchase US eggs in the UK.
When I discovered this I was shocked to say the least. Why on earth would the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) not require the vaccination of our hens? Why is the US stuck with the short end of the stick?
Unfortunately, the egg issue only scratched the surface. As it turns out there are plenty of foods that are readily available for consumption in America that are straight up banned in the UK.
Things like artificial food dyes, brominated vegetable oil, synthetic growth hormones and even arsenic (yes, the poison) are all allowed to a certain extent in our food. All of these ingredients have been linked to various cancers, birth defects, and nerve and organ damage, just to name a few side effects.
And lets not forget arsenic, which can literally kill you.
Sadly, I cant say I was completely shocked by our lower than average food standards. I dont think the US has ever been perceived as a healthy nation and no one is more aware of that fact than its actual citizens. No, what shocked me was the fact that other countries didnt have to deal with the same thing.
I knew there was crap in our food, but I naively assumed that this was something every country had to deal with.
Genetically modified organisms in our food? Well its not like were the only ones... Except we pretty much are. In fact, US companies will actually modify their ingredients for the UK to include healthier ingredients in accordance with regulations. So those McDonalds French fries (sorry, chips) I love so much are actually much healthier in the UK.
Its the same with Starbucks drinks, M&Ms, and a whole slew of other products. Finding out were intentionally being given shittier food? I think this above anything else made me wish I could actually blow steam out of my ears like in the cartoons.
Its infuriating that corporations can get away with this and the general public isnt made aware. I realise that theyre doing this for profit and cheaper (unhealthier) ingredients mean cheaper prices, but should Americans really have to choose between quality food and low cost? The answer is no.
Its not fair that were made to pay more for healthier options when those options should be the baseline.
I can tell you right now unhealthy brands outnumber healthy brands in US supermarkets 2:1, and often youll have to go to healthier stores such as Whole Foods for any sort of variety. Basically even if Americans are made aware of whats going on in their food, its not cheap and its not easy to buy healthier alternatives.
So why should you care? Regardless of what side of the pond you live on, this is an issue that affects everyone.
For Americans its pretty obvious that weve been getting ripped off for decades. However, there are plenty of organisations out there making strides towards improving our food standards and raising awareness. Organisations like NON GMO Project, aimed at verifying and labelling all Non-GMO foods, and Whole Cities, which provides access to healthier foods for local communities, have several options for getting involved.
Even just raising awareness is enough. Spread the word and tell people whats going on!
And for my UK friends thinking theyre in the clear think again. To get political for a second, I know Brexit is a hot topic at the moment with both sides battling it out rather impressively. One important issue of note is TTIP. If you have no idea what Im talking about, TTIP stands for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which is a series of mostly secret trade negotiations being carried out between the EU and the US.
This agreement, if successfully negotiated, would reduce regulatory trade barriers for things like banking, the environment, and you guessed it food safety. In other words, TTIP would aim to lower EU food standards to be more in line with those of the US.
Mind you this agreement is not yet official, and the specifics are still very much dependent on a myriad of political outcomes to be decided in the near future, but it is something that needs to be considered. So once again, regardless of which side of the ocean youre on, food safety is no joke and should be treated accordingly.
If theres one thing Ill take away from living abroad its that no American, or anyone for that matter, should have to compromise when it comes to food safety. Its time we caught up with the rest of our fellow peers, people! Imagine a day when we can enjoy some brown eggs with non-GMO milk at a reasonable price.
The organic version of the American dream? Perhaps.
Cramming for your dreaded upcoming exams? Pause your Spotify playlist now because as great as Kanye is, hes probably not going to help you ace the year's biggest test.
But have no fear! Music can genuinely help you get in your zone while studying. It just might not be the music that you're used to listening to. But have no fear! Music can genuinely help you get in your zone while studying. It just might not be the music that you're used to listening to.
Actually, it's classical music that will help your brain work as well as it possibly can during your long days of revision.
With this in mind, Classic FM (yes, we know you've probably listened to the station a whole zero times in your life) has revealed its top ten classical pieces to help you through your exams.
They've even put together a suggested order for you to listen to them for maximum benefit.
Time to create a new playlist? Probably. Here they are...
1. Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel
Classic FM recommends this as as a good starting out point for your studies, as its one chord progression wont distract you as you buckle down and get reading.
Canon in D as it has served as inspiration for a whole load of pop music created in the past 40 or so years, but the classic version makes the best study song.
2. Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach
This song should really get you focused. There are piano versions, but listen to one on harpsichord, as Bach intended when he wrote it.
3. James Horners soundtrack for A Beautiful Mind
To keeping your concentration going, turn to James Horners soundtrack for A Beautiful Mind - yes, that's the emotionally wrought 2001 film staring Russell Crowe.
For more context to the song and for a little inspiration from a genius remember that the film tells the true story of John Nash, an American mathematician who contributed groundbreaking theories to game theory. Suddenly your microeconomics exam doesnt seem so bad, huh?
4. Well-Tempered Clavier by Bach
Maintain that focus with Bachs Well-Tempered Clavier. Its an impressive two-part collection of preludes and fugues, so dont worry if your essay is 15 pages long you have time to power through.
5. Academic Festival Overture by Johannes Brahms
Next up is Johannes Brahms Academic Festival Overture. Feel grateful for your own education as you learn about Brahms: he was awarded an honorary degree at the University of Breslau in 1880, however when he wrote a simple thank-you note for the degree, Brahms nominator responded that the university wanted a bigger show of appreciation. Thus, the Academic Festival Overture was born.
6. Etudes by Claude Debussy
Move ahead to Etudes by Claude Debussy. Come on, it has studies in its name (okay, Debussy specifically meant piano studies, but that has to be some kind of sign, right?). The pieces are incredibly complicated for pianists but great for student listeners.
7. Clair de Lune by Debussy
Debussy could write calmer music, too! Take a break with his Clair de Lune. Its the most famous movement from his Suite Bergamasque, and its beautiful.
8. Gymnopedie No. 1 by Erik Satie
Wind down with Erik Saties Gymnopedie No. 1. Considered the first example of ambient music, it will really set the scene as you take a break and try not to think about your impending exam close your eyes and let it sink in.
9. Philip Glass soundtrack to The Hours
Continue to feel soothed and relaxed with Philip Glass soundtrack to The Hours, a 2002 film about the lives of interconnected women based on Virginia Woolfs masterpiece Mrs Dalloway. Very sophisticated. Youll feel like you have your life together as you listen to this one.
10. Piano Concerto No. 23 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
And, when you realize you dont and you want to quickly cram a little more, listen to Piano Concerto No. 23 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Itll get your blood pumping again.
Cambridges student media has been dealt a heavy blow as it is reported that The Cambridge Student (TCS) will close.
Cambridge University students union (CUSU) has been subject to criticism for its decision to close the paper, which was highly popular and had been running for the best part of 20 years.
Despite TCS reportedly turning over a profit recently, CUSU made the decision to cease publication at a council meeting on Monday evening.
Speaking to the Independent, former editor of TCS, Jack May, said the closure was heartbreaking and that CUSU had backhandedly rushed the decision instead of making it on sound economics.
He noted that it is the students CUSU purports to represent who will ultimately lose out the most. The closure will undoubtedly damage the state of student media in Cambridge, May said, and will make the colleges, university and CUSU significantly less accountable.
The Student Publication Association (SPA) - a national body that represents over 130 student media organisations, both in print and online - has also commented on the decision and criticised the CUSU.
In a public statement, SPA noted that TCS has a clear and committed audience which is proven by the papers multi-national award nominations. The statement continues to note that while as an Association we understand the constraints that Unions sometimes face over media funding, as the newspaper was making a profit SPA find this a hard justification for cutting The Cambridge Student.
Chair of the SPA, Dan Seamarks, has said that he and the organisation support the currently trending #SaveTCS campaign.
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US eases sanctions on Myanmar to support reform, facilitate trade
2016-05-18 11:45
WASHINGTON - The United States announced Tuesday that it is lifting some of the sanctions on Myanmar to show support for the country's political reforms and economic growth and to facilitate trade between the two sides.
In a statement, the US Treasury Department issued regulatory amendments that ease restrictions on Myanmar's financial institutions, allow certain transactions related to U.S. individuals living in the country, and remove seven state-owned enterprises and three state-owned banks from the U.S. blacklist.
"Burma (Myanmar) reached a historic milestone over the last year by holding competitive elections and peacefully transitioning to a democratically-elected government," said Adam Szubin, Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
"Our actions today demonstrate our strong support for this political and economic progress while continuing to pressure designated persons in Burma (Myanmar) to change their behavior."
U Htin Kyaw of the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, was sworn in as Myanmar's new president in late March. US President Barack Obama welcomed the "historic step forward" of a democratic transfer of power to a civilian-led government in Myanmar.
The move on Tuesday will "help to facilitate trade with non-sanctioned businesses and, in turn, help the people and Government of Burma (Myanmar) achieve a more inclusive and prosperous future," Szubin said.
However, the United States strengthened certain sanctions on Myanmar in a bid to "incentivize further democratic reforms and maintain pressure on targeted individuals and entities and the military," according to the statement.
The Treasury Department blacklists six companies that are owned 50 percent or more by Steven Law, or Asia World Co. Ltd, the company he controls. Both Law and Asia World were designated by the US in 2008 for providing support to the then military-led government.
In a letter to Congress Tuesday, Obama expressed US concerns over continued obstacles in Myanmar to full civilian control of the government, the ongoing conflict and human rights abuses in the country, particularly in ethnic minority areas, and military trade with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Obama told Congress he has determined to continue the national emergency with respect to Myanmar, which was declared on May 20, 1997.
Despite this action, the US remains committed to working with both the new government and the people of Myanmar to "ensure that the democratic transition is irreversible," he added.
On May 22, US Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Myanmar to meet with key leaders to signal US support for the new democratically elected, civilian-led government and further democratic and economic reforms, the State Department has said.
DSI gives abbot 7 days to surrender
BANGKOK: The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has given embattled abbot Phra Dhammajayo seven days to turn himself in to investigators after the Criminal Court approved an arrest warrant for him yesterday (May 17).
crimecorruptionreligionpolice
By Bangkok Post
Wednesday 18 May 2016, 09:08AM
Wat Dhammakaya and the charismatic Phra Dhammajayo sprang into the limelight in the late 1990s as a reform sect, and almost immediately became mired in controversy and scandal. (Bangkok Post file photo)
Phra Dhammajayo, the abbot of Wat Phra Dhammakaya, is accused of involvement in laundering money and receiving stolen property worth B1.2 billion in connection with the Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative (KCUC) embezzlement case.
The decision came just four hours after the DSI assigned its chief investigator in the case, Lt Col Pakorn Sucheevakul, to seek a warrant for the controversial monks arrest.
The request was opposed by Samphan Sermcheep, the lawyer for Wat Phra Dhammakaya.
DSI chief Paisit Wongmuang said the DSI did not want a confrontation with the temple supporters and the abbots disciples so it decided to issue a letter to the abbot with a seven-day deadline to meet investigators. He declined to say what the DSI will do if the abbot fails to show up.
Col Paisit said the decision to seek the fresh warrant was made at yesterday's joint meeting between DSI investigators and prosecutors after the monk sent a lawyer to ask for a delay in Phra Dhammajayo reporting to the DSI.
He said the DSI had reviewed the abbots medical records and found them inadequate to justify another postponement of the meeting.
Col Paisit said the medical records were issued by Sahavej Clinic, a facility inside the Phra Dhammakaya temple, while the letter authorising Mr Samphan to act on his behalf was not signed properly.
He said the DSI submitted documents from both sides to the court for consideration.
The 72-year-old abbot of Wat Phra Dhammakaya was summoned to hear the charges, which follow the DSIs probe into the B12-billion KCUC case, at the DSI offices. However, he had postponed previous meetings with DSI investigators on April 8 and 25, citing severe ailments.
The DSI sought an arrest warrant on April 26 but the court rejected the request on the ground that the abbot was not a flight risk. The DSI was forced to issue another summons for him to meet investigators on Monday (May 16).
Mr Samphan on Monday sought the postponement, but was asked by the DSI to submit documents naming his power of attorney and more medical records to prove the monk was ill.
Mr Samphan submitted further documents to the DSI yesterday allegedly showing the abbot was not fit to travel. He asked the investigators to meet the monk at the temple.
The monk had suffered an allergic reaction to medications, he said.
Before the arrest warrant was approved, the DSI chief said the agency would consider when and how the monk would be arrested and it would also ask other law enforcement authorities to assist.
As for a video clip posted on social media showing Phra Dhammajayo outside the temple performing a ceremony and releasing birds on May 4, Col Paisit said he had not seen it and it might be an old clip.
Mr Samphan said he was aware of the arrest warrant and would discuss it with the legal team.
According to the monks lawyer, Phra Dhammajayo suffered a severe allergic reaction to his medications yesterday morning and felt dizzy.
The monks team of four doctors advised he should rest for two months.
Mr Samphan declined to comment on the monks latest symptoms, saying the question should be answered by doctors.
He insisted the illness was not staged to avoid reporting to the DSI.
The DSI is welcome to bring in doctors to examine Phra Dhammajayo, but they must be specialists in the monks illness. The doctors who are treating Phra Dhammajayo will decide on this matter, Mr Samphan said before the arrest warrant was approved.
On Sunday, Phra Sanitwongse Wuttiwangso, director of Wat Phra Dhammakaya's communications office, said the abbot has been suffering from deep vein thrombosis.
He added the ailment could be life-threatening if the abbot moved around too much.
Read original story here.
E-payment scheme nears
economicstourism
By Bangkok Post
Wednesday 18 May 2016, 11:00AM
A model shows an e-payment machine issuing a receipt. Photo: Bangkok Post
People can sign up to access to the national e-payment system at financial institutions, permanent secretary for finance Somchai Sujjapongse said.
After the registration, people can link a single bank account with a mobile phone number or citizens ID card number for payments.
To encourage people and merchandisers to enter the e-payment system, the Finance Ministry is seeking incentives. One possible option is using tax invoices (receipts) from e-payments for lucky draws with prizes of homes or cars, Mr Somchai said.
The e-payment scheme is designed to transform Thailand from a cash-based society to a cashless one. It will also help the government to stem tax avoidance and provide direct subsidies to low earners and elderly people.
It is estimated the e-payment system will help save costs of B70 billion a year in printing and transporting banknotes and cheques.
Under the schemes five modules, Any ID is a system that enables people, even those without a bank account, to transfer money and make payments using a mobile phone and ID.
Expansion of electronic data capture (EDC) machines, which runs in tandem with Any ID, will be divided into two phases. The first phase will encourage companies, state agencies and individuals who register with the value-added tax (VAT) system to install card payment machines. The second phase aims to help individuals who are running a business outside the VAT system to install the machines.
The other three modules are e-tax, allowing the Revenue Department to plug all e-payment transactions into its taxation data system to boost efficiency; subsidising particular groups directly through their ID cards; and offering incentives for making e-payments.
Electronic payments, of which 98 per cent are made through credit cards and the remainder through debit cards, account for 19% of total transaction value.
Mr Somchai said direct subsidies and welfare for particular groups through the e-payment system, such as living allowances for senior citizens, were expected to begin in October. The Finance Ministry is discussing which subsidies and welfare will be provided.
The number of EDC terminals will be gradually increased to two million from about 500,000 in the early stages and financial institutions that provide e-payment will absorb the costs, he said.
The ministry earlier said e-tax was expected to start in July.
Read original story here.
Russian deputy honorary consul for Phuket dies in car crash
PHUKET: Russian Deputy Honorary Consul for Phuket Santi Udom-kiratak died in a car crash in Wichit early this morning (May 18).
accidentstransportpolice
By Eakkapop Thongtub
Wednesday 18 May 2016, 11:02AM
Police believe Mr Santi fell asleep at the wheel when his car struck the back of the truck. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub
Police were called to the scene, near the Wat Naka temple, at 2am.
They arrived to find rescue workers using hydraulic cutters to recover Mr Santi, unconscious and unresponsive, from his wrecked Mercedes-Benz, which had slammed into the back of a six-wheeled truck.
Mr Santi was taken to Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket Town, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Police suspect Mr Santi, 50, fell asleep while driving.
His body was taken to Vachira Hospital for doctors there to confirm the cause of death, said Lt Patcharee Wongboon of the Wichit Police.
Mr Santi was heading toward his home in Chalong. He probably fell asleep when he was about to make a left turn onto Chao Fa West Rd when his car struck the back of the truck, she said.
We are not sure if the truck had stopped at a red light or if it was slowing down to turn at the junction, but the driver, 26-year-old Wanlop Thongked, was taken in for questioning, Lt Patcharee said.
The Russian Consulate in Phuket is aware of the accident. The Phuket News has been informed that the consulate will likely release a statement later today.
Mr Santi served as a Deputy Honorary Consul of the Russian Federation in Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi provinces since 2008, reported the Bangkok Post (see story here.)
JD brings smart products from Silicon Valley to Chinese mkt
By:Jiang Wenran | From:english.eastday.com | 2016-05-16 15:54
Shanghai, May 11- CES Asia 2016 kicks off today in Shanghai and will last to May 13, 2016. JD+ PoweUp project jointly held a sharing session of overseas smart products with JD 3C and launched their upgrading program of overseas smart products localized service.
Defined as a fast traffic lane for those overseas intelligent hardware manufacturers who decide to enter Chinese market, JD+ PowerUp project is an important part of JD+ Intelligent ecology.
Through strategic cooperation with overseas first-class accelerator, incubator and technology companies, PowerUp help overseas intelligent hardware manufacturers approach domestic high-quality resources and provide overseas excellent entrepreneurial teams with localized service including supply chain and marketing channels so as to make them quickly enter Chinese market.
Joining hands with JD 3C will add driving force to PowerUps mature channel capacity, which will make overseas intelligent hardware manufacturers directly approach Chinese market and quickly bring their products to Chinese users.
Reporter from Eastday.com was told that JD has currently reached overseas excellent entrepreneurial teams in Silicon Valley and will bring their smart products to Chinese customers.
Lin Zhibin, director of International Business Department, JD Smart introduced newly-launched creative overseas smart products during the sharing session, including Wonder Workshop Dash & Dot, smart suitcase Bluesmart, smart watch Withings Activite Steel, smart body fat scales Withings WS-50 pet cube and Smarty Sharky OSMO, etc.
These overseas smart products has been successively launched on JD.com, said Yang Qikun, general director of JD 3C, We will continue to develop our potential and make use of more resources available to upgrade overseas smart products localized service. I believe that the joining hands of JD+ PowerUp and JD 3C will provide Chinese customers with more excellent shopping experience of smart products.
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.
It is the hardest project Ive ever worked on and the biggest, the most exhausting, the most devastating and the most glorious, said composer Kevin March.
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FILE - In this Jan. 21, 2016 file photo, Army Secretary nominee Eric Fanning testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Senate confirmed the long-stalled nomination of Fanning to be Army secretary, making him the first openly gay leader of a U.S. military service. The voice vote approval on Tuesday, May 17, 2016 came after Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., dropped his opposition to Fanning after a senior Pentagon official told him that no detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, would be sent to the Army prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, or other facilities in the United States. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
In this Feb. 9, 2016 file photo, Director of the National Intelligence James Clapper speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Clapper said Wednesday,May 18, 2016, that the U.S. has already seen evidence that cyber hackers, possibly working for foreign governments, are snooping on the presidential candidates, and government officials are working with them to tighten security as they expect the problem to grow as the campaigns intensify. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Hospital acquires new surgical robotics technology Burke Health announced the purchase of new robotics technology for use during spine surgical procedures last week. The Globus ExcelsiusGPS is a revolutionary robotic navigation platform system designed to be intuitive and streamline the surgical workflow. Real-time tracking of instruments and implants, along with audible, visual and tactile feedback, enables...
County center wins senior trike Local seniors now have access to an adult tricycle. Director Kimberly Mathis attended the Move Augusta Senior Expo and Bike Rodeo sponsored by Augusta Urban Ministries October 8. The event, held at The Salvation Army Kroc Center, was aimed at people over 50 years old, and included resources and health...
4-H Food Challenge Team takes State For the first time, Burke County 4-H decided to put together a junior food challenge team this summer. Teams are compromised of 2-4 students in the 6th-8th grades. This competition is very competitive and teams must advance to state after the district competition. Our team started practicing weekly in July...
County rehashes trash problem I am bringing up the trash again, Commissioner Evans Martin said during the October 11 meeting. We have to do something about the trash. Martin asked that the record show that he wants to do something about the countys dumpster sites. He made a suggestion that eliminating 10 sites would...
Malegaon blast case accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, who was on a fast-unto-death demanding to take a holy dip in the Kshipra river during the Kumbh Mela at Ujjain, ended her strike after a Dewas court granted her the permission.
Amid huge police security, she was taken to Ujjain on Wednesday morning. Upon reaching, she first visited the camp of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
Speaking to media, she said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a nationalist and she has full faith on the judicial system of country.
On Tuesday, first class additional sessions judge Rajiv Apte directed the Madhya Pradesh Police to make arrangements for the travel of Thakur from the Bhopal prison, where she is currently lodged in connection with the murder of RSS leader Sunil Joshi.
Thakur, who is recuperating from cancer in a hospital under jail supervision, had gone on fast-unto-death, demanding to take a holy dip the Kshipra river and to meet her Guru. Earlier this month she had applied for an interim bail to visit Ujjain.
Although, the court had rejected the her bail application, it has accepted her plea to be allowed to visit Ujjain. The NIA has given a clean chit to Thakur in the Malegaon Bomb blast case
Who is Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur?
Pragya Singh Thakur always nurtured ambitions of becoming a famous politician. To achieve this Thakur, now known to the world as Sadhvi Pragya, took to student politics as a youngster and then joined an NGO. Later, she became a full-time worker of political outfit and finally became saint.
Born in 1971 in Bhind district of Chambal region as the third of the five children of Ayurveda practitioner Chandra Pal Singh, Pragya alias Sadhvi Purnachetnanada Giri alias Pragya Bharti always wanted to become a celebrity and a popular politician like Uma Bharti.
Ambitious, feisty and boyish with charming personality, Pragya wanted to look extraordinary right from her college days when she was student of Laxmibai College of Physical Education, Gwalior.
To fulfill her dreams, she got in touch with the right wing activists of Chambal region who introduced her into politics. She soon became a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS.
During her college days, she became a full-time member of the ABVP and was even made the national executive member at the behest of a BJP leader of Madhya Pradesh.
Pragya worked as organisation secretary for almost five years in Bhopal, where she was promoted by Arvind Singh Bhadoria, a former ABVP leader and now a BJP MLA.
A Judo-Karate expert, 45 year old Sadhvi had even toyed the idea of contesting assembly polls on a BJP ticket in 1998 from Mehgaon assembly seat in Bhind. She was also member of RSS Durgavahini, its women's wing.
In 2003, she trained women in Ujjain in shooting and fencing. Although she courted controversy with that move, the right wing organisations honoured her by presenting her with a sword at a public event.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has 1.36 million followers on Twitter, though he follows no one. The spiritual leader, who founded the Art of Living Foundation in 1981, now has some catching up to do. His Sri Sri Ayurveda, an Ayurvedic products manufacturer, is pitted against the fellow yoga guru Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved, which has been growing like Topsy in the past few years.
In fact, Sri Sri Ayurveda has long been a reluctant competitor. It started working in 2003 (three years before Patanjali Ayurved started), and served mostly the requirements of the Art of Living community. Patanjali, on the other hand, never shied away from locking horns with competitors, especially the multinationals. Ramdev abhors his multinational competitors. In an interview with THE WEEK in 2005, he even alleged that some MNCs had threatened to eliminate him.
Patanjali, which is based in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, has grown manifold since. The past five years have been dazzlingrevenues grew from Rs 453 crore in 2011-12 to an estimated Rs 5,000 crore in 2015-16. Now it sells some 450 food, personal care and wellness products, and more than 300 medicines for treating common cold to paralysis. And, Ramdev is not yet done. He is planning to open Patanjali mega stores across India and is set to launch a premium cosmetic brand, called Soundarya, to take on the likes of L'Oreal and Maybelline.
Analysts see a bright future for the company. Brokerage firm IIFL Associates predicts Patanjalis revenues to touch Rs 20,000 crore in 2020. According to Arvind Singhal, chairman of the consumer market consultancy Technopak Advisors, established FMCG companies are facing a stiff competition across multiple product categories. Having said this, I believe that Patanjali will contribute in expanding the market for FMCG products in India, and this would help all the companies, he said.
The competitors know they have met their match in Patanjali. Food and beverages giant Nestle India was the first to feel the heat. When it had to pull out its Maggi brand of instant noodles last year after a controversy broke out on the products quality, Ramdev stormed the market with Patanjali atta noodles. Nestle's sales fell from Rs 9,854 crore in 2014 to Rs 8,175 crore in 2015.
Many experts believe the actual fight is in the fast-growing oral care sector. Patanjali's Dant Kanti toothpaste posted sales of Rs 450 crore in the last fiscal, garnering about 5 per cent of the market. Market leader Colgate-Palmolive lost 0.6 per cent share in the same period. More importantly, some brokerage houses have cut Colgate's earnings estimates for the next year citing the threat from Patanjali.
Sri Sri Ayurveda remained a spectator for most part when Patanjali took the market by storm. That, however, might be a thing of the past, as last month it gave clear intentions of its plans with a full-page advertisement of Ojasvita, a malt drink, in a national newspaper. In fact, the groundwork has been on for a while. In addition to the two manufacturing facilities it has, it is getting a third one ready. We plan to have 2,500 stores across India by 2017, carrying an extended range of modern, daily consumption products, said Tej Katpitia, chief marketing officer of Sri Sri Ayurveda. Over the next two quarters, we are extending our range of food products to include breakfast cereals, cookies, atta, oils, spices, masalas, ready-to-cook items and a range of organic staples for select markets.
Many of the food products sold by Art of Living are made by Sumeru Ayurveda. Ravi Shankar's nephew Arvind Varchaswi runs this company. Sumeru Holidays, a sister concern which has an office at the Art of Living headquarters on the Bengaluru-Kanakapura road, makes travel arrangements for guests and volunteers of Art of Living programmes.
Ravi Shankar has always been an advocate of Ayurveda. Sri Sri Ayurveda was started to cater to his hospital near the Art of Living headquarters. Later it expanded to wellness and personal care products. People deserve quality products, said Ravi Shankar in an interview with THE WEEK. We are not for profit. So we do not need to compromise on quality.
It also helps that it has the backing of the deep pockets of Art of Living. The foundations main source of income is the course fees from its many wellness programmes. It has been steadily expanding to new geographies and regularly introducing new courseslike the ones for those with diabetes, depression or asthma. Its corporate clients include Google, JP Morgan and Reliance Industries.
At any point of time, some 1,000 people stay at Art of Living's Bengaluru ashram for its residential programmes. And, it does not take a second look to figure out the typical client profileurban middle class. It is exactly the spending power of this following which makes Sri Sri Ayurveda a potential force in the FMCG market.
Evidently, both Patanjali and Sri Sri Ayurveda are counting on the mass appeal of its patrons. But it is not just that. They are both promoted by charismatic gurus and offer holistic products that claim a close connect to nature. That is an unbeatable combination, said Harish Bijoor, brand expert and founder of Harish Bijoor Consults Inc. These brands seem to resonate well with consumer expectations. It is all about being relevant to consumer wants, needs, desires and aspirations at the right point of time.
Consumers, for sure, are happy about the newer options, and there is the added appeal of Ayurveda and a lower price point. Chetan Macwan, 29, of Nadiad near Ahmedabad, Gujarat, has been using Patanjali's neem soap for six months and vouches for its quality. It is better than most other soaps, he said. Most Patanjali products are competitively priced. For instance, its 500g honey bottle is sold at Rs 135, while Dabur India's 500g bottle is sold at Rs 199.
Dabur was expected to be the first casualty of the onslaught of Patanjali and Sri Sri Ayurveda. However, despite losing market share in a few categories, the company's revenues jumped 8 per cent in the last fiscal, from Rs 7,827 crore to Rs 8,454 crore. This could well be attributed to the expanding market of Ayurvedic products. There are reports that many big players, including Hindustan Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive, have started focusing on natural products. There have also been efforts by companies such as Dabur and Marico to improve distribution in chemist stores, which indicate that they are looking to position their products more conspicuously among wellness-oriented consumers, said Ritwik Rai, vice president (private client group research), Kotak Securities.
Standing out in this crowd would be a challenge for every player. And, most companies have a plan to face that challenge. Dabur, for instance, is banking on its heritage and strong research and development. Dabur has highly differentiated brands in the market, said Lalit Malik, chief financial officer, Dabur India.
Ravi Shankar and Ramdev will play crucial roles for their companies in this marketing game, just like they played them to perfection in the yoga business. Ramdev successfully used every media platformbooks, cassettes, CDs, cable, internetto take yoga to millions of people. He did the same with Patanjali Ayurvedits products are everywhere, from exclusive kiosks in Big Bazaar to the shelves of the neighbourhood stores. And, he is among the biggest ad spenders in the industry. Patanjali is said to have a Rs 300 crore budget for advertisement this year.
Ravi Shankar, on the other hand, has been discreet. He carefully cultivated a following for his wellness programmesmost of them based on his patented breathing technique called Sudarshan Kriya. Similarly, Sri Sri Ayurveda has been slow but steady. Its products have been a hit among Art of Living members. Delhi-based finance professional Arun Padmanabhan, 45, for instance, has been using Sri Sri Ayurveda's products since he attended a meditation camp by Art of Living five years ago. I use their honey, tooth paste, incense sticks and many syrups and drops, he said. Sri Sri Ayurveda sells a significant chunk of its products through its online store Sattvastore and e-tailer Amazon.
Despite lending his honorific title to the company, Ravi Shankar stays away from the day-to-day business of Sri Sri Ayurveda. Ramdev, however, has a hands-on approach. Though he does not own the company or hold a position in it, he is involved in everything it does. His close associate Acharya Balkrishna is chairman and managing director of Patanjali.
Ramdev and Balkrishna go back a long way. They started their efforts to revive yoga in 1995, along with Acharya Karamveer, who was a master in yoga and the Vedas. Karamveer later parted ways with the duo owing to some differences. While Balkrishna has a degree in Ayurveda, Ramdev attended some gurukuls after studying up to class 8 in Shahjadpur. He is said to have travelled the Himalayas after that and settled in Haridwar. He honed his yoga skills and discovered many medicinal plants during the Himalayan odyssey.
Balkrishna owns 94 per cent stake in Patanjali Ayurved, but resembles an ascetic rather than a corporate honcho. He rarely uses a computer or the English language. Both Ramdev and Balkrishna do not draw salaries.
Patanjali's dream run is nothing short of a miracle. It took just 10 years to hit Rs 5,000 crore in revenues. Dabur took 70 years to reach the milestone. And, ITC's FMCG business, with all its financial muscle, took 13 years. Patanjali is planning to raise Rs 1,000 crore from banks to fund its ambitious expansion. ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank have offered to provide the loan. It currently has a loan of Rs 320 crore from Punjab National Bank.
Sri Sri Ayurveda, on the other hand, does not intend to borrow to meet capital requirements. It is funding the expansion with its own money. The sales growth itself supports expansion plans, said Katpitia. We do not have any immediate funding needs. THE WEEK could not verify Sri Sri Ayurveda's revenues.
Funds, anyway, have seldom been a problem ever since Ravi Shankar devised Sudarshan Kriya in 1982. A science graduate, he was inspired by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his Transcendental Meditation. Ravi Shankar held the first Art of Living course in 1983. Now the foundation, which operates as a charitable organisation, has presence in 156 countries.
Sales pitch: A Sattva store on Art of Living Foundation campus in Bengaluru | Bhanu Prakash Chandra
While both Patanjali and Sri Sri Ayurveda intend to beat multinationals in their own game, there is the inevitability of competing with each other. They will fight one another for sure, said Bijoor. In fact, they compete in almost every category, though at slightly different price points. They will also fight for the precious raw materials. Both Patanjali and Sri Sri Ayurveda have captive facilities to grow medicinal plants and herbs. But they can meet only a fraction of the requirements. Both companies have arrangements with various states to buy forest produces collected by tribals and medicinal plants cultivated by farmers.
Then there is the common strategy of leveraging the resurgent national pride. While Ramdev wears it on his saffron shawl, Ravi Shankar is subtler. Though it is unlikely to be a decider in the long run, the momentum it gives is important for the companies, and both men know it. Ramdev recently gave a cryptic answer when journalists asked what his advice was to Ravi Shankar. He wants people to always smile, said Ramdev. My advice to him is to keep smiling. It remains to be seen who will have the last laugh.
WITH SHRITAMA BOSE, ABHINAV SINGH AND NANDINI OZA
Leading Israeli ministers and members of Knesset will join US officials, newsmakers and opinion-shapers to address the Fifth Annual Jerusalem Post Conference on May 22nd. The conference, hosted by Israels leading English language daily newspaper with the largest global online presence for news and information about Israel and the Jewish world, is expected to draw more than 1,500 participants to the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square to discuss the key issues and challenges facing Israel and the Jewish world today.
This week, The Jerusalem Post made public a list of highlighted speakers who will address the conference. Additional featured speakers at the conference will be announced in the coming weeks.
For a complete list one may visit the website. http://www.jpost.com/landedpages/ConferenceNewYork2016/Conference_Speakers.aspx
Highlighted speakers include US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Ed Royce, Israeli Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan, Minister of Education Naftali Bennett, Knesset member and Former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer, Former IDF Chief of General Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and Former Director of the Israeli Mossad Ephraim Halevy.
Ronit Hesin Hochman, the CEO of the Jerusalem Post Group said that the conference this year is expected to be more dynamic than ever before because the debate will focus, among other things, on global terrorism, the US presidential elections and strained relations between the two countries. We will continue to generate headlines and provoke the international debate on the State of Israel, said Hochman.
The Jerusalem Post Annual Conference is the central platform for Israeli and American politicians, security officials and Jewish leaders to address issues that concern Israel and the Jewish world before an audience of 1,500 people, said Steve Linde, Editor-in-Chief of The Jerusalem Post. Each participant will provide invaluable insights and a unique perspective on the topics to be raised during the Conference.
For more information about the Jerusalem Post Annual Conference, and to register one may visit the website. https://members.jpost.com/nyc2016.aspx
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
French President Francois Hollande has announced he is postponing his plans for hosting a Mideast peace conference to advance negotiations towards a final status agreement between Israel and the PA (Palestinian Authority). French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault announced the conference as an act of good faith towards bringing the sides closer together.
Hollande stated that despite the delay, the conference will take place this summer. It is reported that US Foreign Minister John Kerry cannot attend on May 30th, the announced original date for the summit.
Following the French invitation, the Prime Ministers Office released a statement that only direct negotiations between Israel and the PA will lead to a final status agreement.
Earlier this week PA (Palestinian Authority) Chairman Abu Mazen announced he hopes nations attending the conference will succeed in jumpstarting the process while PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah added talks have been taking place for 22 years without success and therefore, the PA welcomes the latest French initiative.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
One of Yisrael Beitenu party leaders demands is to amend the current draft law back to its original formal as it was passed in the last Knesset. Avigdor Lieberman maintains his tenacious objections to the current law, which was amended following the elections for 20th Knesset and the entry of the chareidi parties into the coalition government.
Amid repeated recent calls for Yisrael Beitenu to enter the coalition government, Lieberman announces his major issues, which are topped by the draft law. Lieberman signals that even though a call to enter the coalition was heard again directly from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, current realities are such that it is most unlikely his party will agree to the terms. Clearly Liebermans demands vis-a-vis the draft law will be met with fierce chareidi opposition.
The chareidim however are calm as chareidi lawmakers realize PM Netanyahu is unlikely to prefer Lieberman and his six seats over the combined 13 seats of Yahadut Hatorah and Shas.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said Poland and Hungary are embracing a leadership model touted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding to growing criticism in Washington over policies pursued by the eastern NATO members.
The two formerly communist countries have fallen out with their European Union peers and the U.S. amid concerns their governments are backsliding on the democratic values built up following the collapse of the Iron Curtain a quarter century ago. While Hungary is seeking nuclear energy technology from Russia, Poland is a vocal critic of Putins assertive stance in eastern Europe and wants to finalize a deal boosting the presence of North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops in the region at the alliances summit in July.
Poland and Hungary, two countries that would not have been free but for the United States and the long Cold War, have now decided this democracy is too much trouble, Clinton said on Friday at a campaign stop for his wife, probable Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. They want Putin-like leadership: just give me an authoritarian dictatorship and keep the foreigners out.
The former presidents comment triggered an angry response from Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, who said it was the Hungarian people who fought for the countrys freedom and Clinton didnt have the right to insult voters who put Orbans party in power.
No one, not even former U.S. President Bill Clinton, can allow himself to insult Hungarian people, Szijjarto said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday.
Clinton said his wife, secretary of state in President Barack Obamas first cabinet, understood changes in the global landscape, including in eastern Europe, and would keep big bad things from happening and make good things happen if elected in the race unfolding against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Trump said the U.S. has spent trillions of dollars over time to help defend its allies abroad and called on them to pay more for such protection or risk losing it.
(c) 2016, Bloomberg Wojciech Moskwa
Former Hillary Clinton deputy chief of staff Huma Abedin and at least five others will be questioned by a conservative watchdog groups lawyers seeking information about Abedins overlapping employment at the U.S. State Department, the Clinton Foundation and an outside consulting firm.
The first of the six to testify in a sworn deposition will be former State Department employee Lewis A. Lukens, according to a schedule filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington. Lukens will be questioned Wednesday. Clintons chief of staff at the State Department, Cheryl Mills, may testify on May 27. Abedin, now the vice chair of Clintons presidential campaign, may be deposed on June 28.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said when ordering the depositions on May 4 that the group, Judicial Watch, could also question Clinton, but only if necessary and only with his prior express permission.
Judicial Watch has been pursuing records related to Clintons tenure as the top U.S. diplomat, including those stored on a private e-mail server at her home in Chappaqua, New York. Clinton, the Democratic Partys front-runner for its 2016 presidential nomination, faces primaries Tuesday in Kentucky and Oregon.
Sullivan, earlier this year, said Washington-based Judicial Watch was entitled to engage in what he called limited discovery in as part of its 2013 Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking details of Abedins multiple roles.
Under Sullivans order, Judicial Watch lawyers can ask about what led to the creation of the private e-mail system and how the State Department responded to the groups information request. While trying to determine whether the government has turned over all the requested documents, the lawyers are barred from asking about the substance of Abedins employment arrangements, the handling and protection of classified information and any pending law enforcement investigations.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is separately probing Clintons use of the private e-mail server.
Also set to be questioned are former State Department Executive Secretary Stephen Mull, on June 3, and its undersecretary for management, Patrick F. Kennedy, on June 29. While those dates and the Lukens date are firm, according to the court filing, Judicial Watch has resorted to serving subpoenas to depose Abedin, Mills and former State Department employee Bryan Pagliano, who maintained the private Clinton e-mail server. The group seeks to depose him on June 6.
The State Department declined to comment on the court filing. The Clinton campaign didnt immediately respond to e-mails seeking comment on it. Attorneys for Abedin, Mills, Pagliano and Kennedy also didnt immediately reply to messages seeking comment. Lawyers for Mull and Lukens couldnt immediately be identified.
Judicial Watch has asked a different judge for permission to question Clinton in a separate case concerning the groups quest for records related to the 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.
(c) 2016, Bloomberg Andrew Harris, Ben Brody
Mammootty's Rorschach hits all the right notes, except in the end | Movie Review
[PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]
Interior Minister, Minister of Negev & Galil Development Aryeh Deri on Tuesday 9 Iyar visited Ofakim and a number of other southern district municipalities. His first stop was in Ofakim, where he was met by Mayor Yitzchak Danino and senior city officials including Deputy Mayor Rabbi Shlomo Azran, Ofakim Religious Council head Rabbi Binyamin Malka and Councilman Rabbi Avraham Deutsch, who holds the chareidi education portfolio.
Other officials in Deris office accompanied them as well as did the Director of the Shas-affiliated HaMayan Education Network Moshe Iluz.
Mayor Danino explained at the opening of their meeting that in the past he has hosted cabinet ministers and even a Prime Minister but for him, he is most excited to host Rabbi Aryeh Deri due to the special closeness and emotional to Ofakim and from his wealth of experience as Interior Minister he has done a great deal for the city.
The city is 60 years old but still suffers from symptoms of a development town. Many new immigrants from all walks of life have joined us and this includes a large mosaic of populations including the chareidim which today number 30% of the citys population the mayor explained. They mayor then continued, explaining the citys direction, advances and needs.
Deri announced his office is advancing a cabinet decision to view Ofakim as a priority. He is also changing the status of government offices in citys that accept many immigrants, such as Ofakim, by which the national government will pay 100% property tax, thereby generating an additional NIS 500 million and these funds will be given on a priority basis to the weaker municipalities including Ofakim.
The entourage then visited Mosdos Bnei Yosef and the Shoshanim Girls School as well as the Misgav HaImahot High School. The welcome was an excited one at the Darchei Chaim Talmid Torah in Ofakim headed by Rabbi Yosef Butbul.
They then traveled to Kiryat Malachi where Deri was greeted by Mayor Eliyahu Zohar and he painted a picture of the current situation and future needs. The mayor explained the citys population is expected to double in the coming decade. They also visited the Beit Yosef Talmid Torah in the city headed by Rabbi Mordechai Chamu. Deri tested the students and was reportedly impressed with their ability to respond.
Deri then visited HaRav HaGaon Rabbi Yitzchak Yehuda Yuroslovsky Shlita, Secretary of Rabbanei Chabad in Eretz Yisrael and an area rav in the city. Deri was received warmly and received a bracha for success from the rav.
Deri completed the visit visiting kivrei tzaddikim in the city.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
The second victim of the Brussels terror attack, in April 2016 Mendy Farkash, was BH released from the hospital on Tuesday, 9 Iyar, close to sixty days after the attack. The 55-year-old Farkash was treated in Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital.
Mendy was injured with his brother-in-law Chaim Weinrantz and they both underwent a number of surgical procedures. The two were released from the hospital erev Pesach to permit them to have a seder at home with family. Weinrantz was able to remain at home but Farkash was instructed to return and was not released.
The family expresses their hakoras hatov to HKBH for the miracles they have seen, and how the two were saved from near death.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has filed new financial documents describing his personal wealth and he isnt waiting until theyre public to say theyre good.
Trump announced late Tuesday he had submitted his candidate financial disclosure form to the Federal Election Commission. He said it showed a tremendous cash flow and growing revenues from his businesses.
The form it will be publicly available after an initial review by the government should offer updated information about the value of his assets and the revenues produced by his businesses. According to Trump, over the last 17 months his businesses revenues grew by $190 million, and he earned $557 million in income.
Trump said last July in a note accompanying a previous disclosure that he was worth more than $10 billion, an assertion he also made Tuesday. Also last year, he reported that a large amount of his valuation came from the $3.3 billion in estimated worth he placed on his personal brand. Last July, Forbes magazine deflated that valuation, saying Trumps brand was likely worth about $125 million.
In Tuesdays release, Trump said his ability to accumulate wealth demonstrates what he described as the kind of thinking the country needs.
(AP)
Secretary of State John F. Kerry came to Cairo Wednesday to explore a new Egyptian proposal for resuming peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.
Kerry arrived in the Egyptian capital fresh from two days of talks in Vienna about the war in Syria and supporting the new government in Libya. He drove directly from the airport to meet with President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, a former general who took power after an elected Islamist president was ousted in a coup.
A scheduled meeting for Kerry to update Sissi on the Syrian and Libyan peace efforts took on an added importance after the Egyptian leader made an overture to Israelis Tuesday, offering to warm up their frosty relationship if they would resume negotiations to settle the conflict with the Palestinians.
Sissi said he hoped his remarks would be re-broadcast in Israel so citizens and leaders there could discuss its merits.
Initial accounts of Sissis proposal were vague. His offer was made not in the Egyptian capital but in the southern city of Assiut, which two decades ago was a hotbed of Islamic extremism. Sissi reportedly offered to mediate a reconciliation between Palestinian factions for the purposes of restarting negotiations with the Israelis.
A State Department official said Kerry is interested in learning more about what Sissi has in mind. Before departing Vienna, Kerry spoke Tuesday night with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the official said.
In his first year as secretary of state, Kerry spent months trying to arrange peace talks, but they collapsed in failure. Since then, U.S. officials have expressed concern that the time for a two-state solution to the conflict is running out, due in part to the expansion of Israeli settlements in the territories and divisions among the Palestinians.
Now in their final months in office, Obama administration officials have said they are not actively trying to get the talks going again before a new president comes into office.
The Sissi proposal is not the only idea for a settlement to arise from somewhere other than Washington. The French also are seeking to renew negotiations, calling for a conference in Paris at a still-undetermined date.
(c) 2016, The Washington Post Carol Morello
Hillary Clintons claim of a narrow victory in Kentucky and Bernie Sanders win in Oregon illustrated a deepening rift among Democrats with the potential to hobble the party heading into the general election.
The split outcome in Tuesdays primaries gives Clinton little leverage to push Sanders to unify his supporters behind her in preparation for an expected campaign against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, who is using the extended primary contest to attack Clintons standing with her own party.
Sanders showed no intention of dialing back his fight against Clinton or urging his supporters to fall in line. His spokesman said Sanders is considering seeking a recount in Kentucky, where Clinton was clinging to a lead of a half percentage point.
We are in until the last ballot is cast, Sanders told supporters at a rally in Carson, California, saying he believes he can win the June 7 primary in the nations most populous state. We have the possibility it will be a steep climb, I recognize that but we have the possibility of going to Philadelphia with the majority of the pledged delegates, Sanders said of the July nominating convention. He said in early general election poll match-ups he does much better against Trump than Clinton.
Clinton has 96 percent of the delegates and superdelegates needed to clinch the nomination, according to an Associated Press estimate Wednesday. Sanders has 64 percent. Hed need to win about two-thirds of the rest of the pledged delegates to pull even with Clinton by the end of the nominating race, according to AP.
With her lead in the nomination race all but insurmountable, Clinton and party leaders had been looking to take advantage of a split in the Republican Party over Trump that has been opening since the start of the primary campaign. Instead, theyre dealing with their own divisions. That was illustrated with an eruption by Sanders supporters during last weekends state party convention in Nevada.
Some Sanders backers threw chairs and shouted down speakers during the convention, at which Clinton was awarded a majority of delegates, in a dispute over rules. The chairwoman of the Nevada Democratic Party was subjected to threatening messages on her voicemail.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said Tuesday he spoke to Sanders about the incidents and that he was confident the Vermont senator would speak out against violence by his supporters. He called it a test of leadership.
Sanders responded with a statement saying that Democratic leaders must understand that the political world is changing and that millions of Americans are outraged at the political and economic establishment.
It is imperative that all state parties treat our campaign supporters with fairness and the respect that they have earned if Democrats are to win in November, Sanders said, adding that it goes without saying that I condemn any violence or personal harassment.
Later, at his rally in California, Sanders suggested there would be consequences for Democratic Party leaders if they dont change its rules to expand participation for independents and newcomers.
Open the doors; let the people in, Sanders said, after supporters booed the mention of the Democratic Party. He added that before we will have the opportunity to defeat Donald Trump were going to have to defeat Secretary Clinton.
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz told CNN on Tuesday night that Sanders response added more fuel to the fire.
The Nevada state Democratic Party said in a statement that the Sanders campaign was being dishonest about what happened Saturday and is failing to adequately denounce the threats of violence of his supporters.
We believe, unfortunately, that the tactics and behavior on display here in Nevada are harbingers of things to come as Democrats gather in Philadelphia in July for our National Convention, the state partys lawyer wrote in a formal complaint to the Democratic National Committee.
Democrats, including some of Sanders Senate colleagues, piled up complaints and admonitions to allow Clinton to concentrate on a general-election fight against Trump.
He needs to tell whoever is conducting this violence that it is completely anathema to his own values, that he calls on them to stop it, that its anathema to our partys values and to our countrys values, and I hope that he will, said Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, a Clinton supporter. A primary can be a very good thing but at the end of the day there is a winner, and then it is really important for people to pull together, because the stakes are existential in November to virtually every value that Bernie Sanders cares about.
The Clinton campaign can take comfort in some of the patterns that played out in Barack Obamas win over her in the 2008 nomination race. That year, Sen. John McCain had the Republican nomination locked down by March while Clinton kept Obama fighting in the primaries until June. She won most of those last contests, but Obama went on to win the nomination and the presidency. But Clintons position in the Democratic establishment gave her a clearer imperative to unify the party in 2008 than Sanders has in his outsider role.
Sanders has been on a winning streak lately, taking 11 of the last 19 contests. But Clintons early wins in larger states and advantage with Democratic superdelegates have made it mathematically near-impossible for Sanders to catch up to her in the delegate count.
While Kentucky isnt likely to be a swing state in November, problems there for Clinton may foreshadow difficulties in parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Any additional wins for Sanders, meanwhile, give him more standing to demand concessions from the party, in order to bring over his supporters even if he cannot secure the nomination.
The question now for a few weeks has been what does Sanders really want, said Jennifer Duffy, an analyst at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. While Clinton has pretty handily won this nomination she does need his voters. Theyd have to give Sanders something that inspires his supporters for lack of a better word.
(c) 2016, Bloomberg Margaret Talev
[COMMUNICATED CONTENT]
A new social trading platform has been taken over by an anonymous investor calling himself Superman704, making his followers incredible profits.
By Carly Davis
UK-Sipping on a half-finished Heineken while flipping through Facebook on his laptop, Leeds native Trent Crowdleys money is multiplying by the second. And its all thanks to a new social network that allows investors to copy the trades of highly successful financial analysts with no Broker or Middleman fees. Social trading lets users literally copy the trades of some of the best Forex traders out there. When I tell people that I trade for a living, they assume that I actually understand financial markets he jokes. But the truth is, I just deposit the money and let someone else much smarter than me make all the trading decisions (and money) for me. Like many other profit seekers worldwide, Trent joined this fast-growing crowd of worldwide profit seekers on Trade 24s social trading network. Thanks to social trading, members of this social network are earning an extra income without even working an extra hour. This money- making potential has taken the internet by storm, but despite its raving success, it has some brokers on Wall Street quite concerned.
The Suits are Worried
The problem with social trading is that you dont know who is on the other side trading for you so its hard to know if he will actually make you money or not claims Greg Halsrom, a junior broker at a well-known investment firm in downtown Manhattan. Trent disagrees! Pointing to the list of traders to choose from, he shows how to research each traders success following the track record which is clearly displayed on the network for all to see. Pointing to one investor going by the alias Superman704, Crowdley notes this guy has a 96% success rate so I will latch onto his trades. Trent clicks on Superman704s impressive 3-year trade history which reveals generating some remarkable returns using a conservative risk level of 2.59/10 and a profit/loss ratio value of +69.49% to boot.
The Proof is in the Profits
Despite the fact that the mystery trader doesnt reveal his real name, the proof is in the profits. He just makes me money. It doesnt get any more transparent than that Trent quips. With just two clicks, Trent has entrusted a complete stranger to manage his initial 500 investment. He then exits out of the page to browse Facebook, YouTube and the Daily Mail for about fifteen minutes. Upon returning to the Online Exchange, Trent discovers that Superman704 made him 80 pounds in pure profit. Who else do you know makes 80 Quid in just15 minutes? Crowdley asks with a stride of beaming confidence. And just for clicking on the mouse twice no less! Since Trent started using this system to trade online, he has been able to quit his day job and make a decent living from home.
Round-the-Clock Opportunities
Since the social network is based on a Forex platform, trades are placed roughly every 15 minutes in a 24 hour span. This means that the investor Crowdley selected (Superman704) gives him roughly 96 opportunities a day to make (or not make) money. Another reason this social trading network is pushing Wall Street brokers into an abyss of irrelevance is its wild success.
No background in finance needed
I barely graduated high school by the skin of my teeth he recalls. If you would have told me one year ago that Id be trading full time online, I would have recommended putting you in a mental institution. I was horrible at math in school and the very idea of trading in the Stock Market scared the wits out of me. One day, Crowdley was down on his luck and sick and tired of waiting tables at a local pub in his Seacroft neighborhood. It was then that he saw an ad online for Trade 24s Social Trading Network. The platform offers a simple means of trading in financial markets from virtually anywhere in the world with an internet connection.
Conclusion
Many on Wall Street are skeptical of this new online trading method with some claiming that those who have never traded before could be at a real disadvantage as they dont fully understand financial markets. Nonsense! Exclaims Crowdley Im the last person who should be trading and Ive made an excellent salary doing it from homein my PJs. He concludes with a few words of wisdom if I can do it, trust me-anyone can do it.
Carly Davis
The author is a boutique hedge fund manager overseeing $21 million in assets and is a regular contributor to various financial media outlets.
Trade24 has a special connection with the Jewish religious community and trades with a Heter Iska.
To visit Trade24 for more information, click here.
The following is from the parents of the two boys injured last week in Kerister, Hungary, as they were travelling to the Kever of Reb Shayala Kerister:
Thank you to all those who have so kindly donated to our fundraising effort. We are so grateful.
We have so far raised 6,500 but we still need to reach our goal of another 33,300 in the next 8 hours as BH we have managed to reduce the initial costs from 70,000 to 39,800.
We really do need your support now more than ever to help us reach this goal to get the boys home safe and back to a London hospital for immediate and better care.
IYH the boys are expected tomorrow in the care of private medical individuals. With your help we can make this happen and ensure that they are in the best hands to make a speedy and full recovery.
As most of you know, 2 boys were involved in a horrific crash in Hungary last Wednesday on their way back from davening at Reb Shayles kever. They were in a critical condition and were put into an induced coma. BH we have seen miracles and they can now be flown back to London.
We would like to clarify that the boys had taken out travel insurance and so their repatriation costs should of course be covered. However, the insurance company is trying to avoid paying out and is using small print excuses. We have a solicitor on the case but it may take a few weeks to settle this. The boys need urgent medical care which the Hungarian hospital is not equipped to adequately provide. If the insurance company pays out, then we will be in a position to return all money donated. If moneys have been donated annoumesly we will donate the money to Hatzola UK.
Click HERE to help.
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.
SHARE Taber Eldred McCarty Shelley
Hillary Taber, a 2009 graduate of Wichita Falls High School and a student at Texas State Technical College, received the Baxter + Korge Education Fund Scholarship from the Advertising Education Foundation of Houston and the American Advertising Federation-Houston.
Taber is scheduled to receive an associate's degree in visual communication technology, with a focus on technology design specialization, in August.
Taber and her husband David moved from Wichita Falls to Waco so he could study automobile body repair. Her plans after graduation are to continue studying graphic design in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
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Jena Eldred, a registered nurse who serves as Community Healthcare Center's director of nursing, has been chosen as Employee of the Quarter for the CHC.
Eldred was cited for her hard work, leadership, positive attitude and willingness to go beyond the duties of her job, including stepping into various nursing rolls as staffing needs require.
According to the award presentation, "Jena has a heart of gold and is always working hard for her Community Healthcare Center patients and staff. She has a passion for Community Healthcare Center's mission, and we are honored to give her the recognition of Employee of the Quarter."
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Journey McCarty, daughter of Tiffany Stevens and Jack McCarty, will compete July 30 in the National American Miss pageant in Dallas. Journey will compete in the Junior Teen Texas division.
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Monique LaFontaine, of Wichita Falls, graduated magna cum laude May 7 from Minnesota State University-Mankato, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication disorders.
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Raylean Webb, of Wichita Falls, has been awarded a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from McMurry University in Abilene. Webb was one of 194 graduates receiving degrees during commencement exercises May 7.
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Ten Texas and Oklahoma students have been named winners in the Southwest Rural Electric Association Energy Essay Contest. and received $50 cash prizes. Two students were also selected to attend the Touchstone Energy Camp that will be held May 31-June 3 near Red Rock Canyon in western Oklahoma.
The five Oklahoma contest winners were:
Ally Angelly, of Blair Middle School. She is the daughter of Melvin and Stephanie Angelly of Altus.
Garrett Haight, of Tipton Middle School. He is the son of Beth Haight of Davidson.
Paula Hickerson, of Snyder Elementary School. She is the daughter of Teresa and Paul Hickerson of Mountain Park.
Makenna Hill, of Frederick Middle School. Her parents are Roxie and Roger Hill.
Rocio Quinui, of Navajo School. She is the daughter of Monica and Ramon Quinui.
The five Texas contest winners were all from Vernon Middle School. They were:
Blake Aderholt, son of Lisa and Ken Aderholt, of Harrold.
Kollin Bergt, the son of Kim and Kevin Bergt.
Sarah Castleberry, the daughter of Came and Toby Casteberry.
Elijah Dickerson, the son of Deana Woods and Tye Dickerson.
Addison Ragland, the daughter of Tessa and Albert Ragland.
Makenna Hill and Blake Aderholt will represent SWRE at the Touchstone
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Governor Greg Abbott has appointed Lindsey Shelley, of Fort Worth, as student regent to Midwestern State University.
Shelley is a graduate student pursuing a Master of Science in nursing in the Family Nurse Practitioner program at MSU. Shelley, who earned her bachelor's degree in nursing from MSU in 2013, works in the emergency department at United Regional and is a member of the Texas Nurses Association and American Nurses Association. She was recently inducted into Sigma Theta Tau, the honors nursing society at MSU. During her undergraduate career at MSU, Shelley was a member of the cross country team in which she served as team captain her senior year. She also served the university as a student ambassador, admissions tour guide, peer counselor, and was a member of the Student Nursing Association.
Shelley has served as volunteer for Baby Boutique, Interfaith Ministries, Hotter'N Hell Hundred, and the Child Life program at Cook Children's Hospital.
Student regent is the highest appointed position of a student at Texas public institutions of higher education. The student regent is a nonvoting member of the university's governing board.
At MSU, the student regent represents all students, both undergraduates and graduates, for a one-year term on the Board of Regents. This position represents students in discussions of key issues in higher education. Although the student regent does not vote, he or she has the opportunity to have important input in decisions affecting the future of the university.
Mary Phillips will be honored with a retirement ceremony Wednesday. Contributed photo
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By Christopher Collins of the Times Record News
On Wednesday, the Wichita County Tax Assessor-Collector's Office will celebrate the career of a woman who worked in the office for nearly four decades.
Mary Phillips, a deputy clerk in the property tax division, will be honored with a reception from 1:30-4:30 p.m. on the second floor of the Wichita County Courthouse annex. The event will be in the conference room adjacent to the agrilife extension office.
"She's just been a model and stellar employee from the standpoint of her dedication," Tax Assessor-Collector Tommy Smyth said. "During tax season, we had people who would only get in Mary's line because they only wanted Mary to do their taxes. She's an institution."
Phillips was born in the mid-1950s and as a young adult moved from Mexia to Wichita Falls to live with her cousin. Here she attended Draughon's Business College while working at a furniture manufacturer.
Shortly after she began work at the Wichita County tax assessor-collector's office, where she was employed for 38 years until leaving last year for health reasons.
Clay Glasgow, chief deputy of the tax office, described Phillips as "very genuine."
"Not only was she a hard worker, but she was conscientious" he said.
A presentation for Phillips is scheduled in the conference room for 3-3:30 p.m. Cake and punch will be served and guests are encouraged to bring gifts or kind words.
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Washington
The Amtrak engineer whose speeding train ran off the rails in Philadelphia last year was apparently distracted by word that a train nearby had been hit by a rock, federal investigators concluded Tuesday, pinning most of the blame on him for the wreck that killed eight people.
"He went, in a matter of seconds, from distraction to disaster," National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said.
At the same time, the NTSB said a contributing factor was the railroad industry's decades-long failure to fully install positive train control, GPS-based technology that can automatically slow trains that are going over the speed limit.
Had positive train control been in use along that stretch of track, "we would not be here today," said Ted Turpin, an NTSB investigator.
Engineer Brandon Bostian heard about the rock-throwing on the radio and was apparently so preoccupied by it that he lost track of where he was and accelerated full-throttle to 106 mph as he went into a sharp curve with a 50 mph speed limit, investigators said at an NTSB hearing to pinpoint the cause of the May 12, 2015, derailment. About 200 people aboard the Washington-to-New York train that night were injured.
Bostian, who has been suspended without pay since the crash for speeding, did not attend the hearing. He and his lawyer did not immediately return calls and emails seeking comment.
Ron Kaminkow, an Amtrak engineer who also serves as secretary of the industry union consortium Railroad Workers United, said the board's conclusion underscores the need to put two engineers on trains. "If one buys into this theory, having another engineer or conductor would've prevented the wreck," he said.
As for what this could mean for Amtrak and Bostian, the railroad has already taken responsibility for the tragedy, and its liability is capped under federal law at $295 million, which could easily be exhausted, given the number of deaths and serious injuries.
The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office is helping the NTSB on the investigation, but a spokesman would not comment on the possibility of criminal charges.
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ALBANY The state Attorney General has reached an agreement with CDPHP over its coverage of hepatitis C treatments, ending a lawsuit filed last month that accused the Albany-based health insurer of breaking the law by delaying coverage until patients were in advanced stages of the disease.
Under the terms of the agreement, Capital District Physicians' Health Plan will no longer restrict coverage of some hepatitis C treatments to only those patients with severe symptoms, such as scarred livers. The insurer also agreed to cease denying coverage based on patients' alcohol or drug use and to allow treatment authorized by any appropriately trained provider, not just liver specialists.
The insurer will also pay $25,000 in legal fees and must provide notice of the policy changes to existing members who previously were denied coverage for treatment of the liver disease.
The agreement comes on the heels of settlements reached by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office with seven other private insurers, including Schenectady-based MVP Health Care and the parent of Latham-based BlueShield of Northeastern New York, following an investigation that determined they were inappropriately delaying or otherwise restricting coverage for hepatitis C treatment."With today's settlement, my office has now reached agreements with every private health insurance plan in New York that was previously denying certain forms of coverage for Hepatitis C," Schneiderman said. "This is a victory for public health and for patients across the state."
A spokeswoman for the Albany-based insurer confirmed the agreement but declined further comment.
Terms of settlements with the seven other insurance companies were similar to the one reached with CDPHP. The Albany-based insurer, however, is the only one that must reimburse the attorney general for costs associated with its investigation.
The attorney general's office filed a lawsuit in mid-April contending CDPHP failed to cover medically necessary care and deceived members about their coverage. According to that suit, CDPHP members diagnosed with early-stage chronic hepatitis C infection were required to monitor their illness and wait until they developed advanced symptoms before treatment was covered.
Schneiderman found other insurers guilty of the same practices, but reached settlements with them rather than suing. Agreements with the seven other insurers were announced about 10 days after the Attorney General filed the suit against CDPHP. Shortly afterward, the state's Medicaid program also changed its policies to cover treatments for patients in earlier stages of the disease.
CDPHP has previously suggested the Attorney General singled out the insurer for political purposes. Schneiderman's office refused its request to participate in talks that led to agreements with other insurers, CDPHP said in a previous statement.
Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus that can cause chronic infection of the liver and, in the worst cases, liver failure and death. An estimated 25,000 new cases occur each year in New York.
People at risk for the condition include injection drug users and anyone who had a blood transfusion before 1992. Baby boomers are five times more likely than others to have the illness, according to federal data.
Several new drugs have become available in recent years for treatment of hepatitis C. Federal approval in 2014 of Harvoni, made by Gilead Sciences, was hailed for two reasons: It provides a complete cure for most patients who take it, and it comes in a once-a-day pill form that does not have to be taken in combination with drugs that cause severe side effects.
But the list price for a complete course of Harvoni tops $90,000. Insurance companies typically negotiate discounts for the drugs.
The drug's cost is often cited in calls to reform pharmaceutical company practices that lead to exorbitant pricing.
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SCHOHARIE -- State Supreme Court Justice Richard Mott has begun deciding the fate of Binghamton-area car dealer Cal Harris and could deliver a verdict in his murder trial as soon as Thursday.
In closing arguments Wednesday, Tioga County District Attorney Kirk Martin told the judge he believed Harris, 54, violently attacked his estranged wife, Michele on Sept. 11, 2001 and that a calculating Harris may have hoped the 9/11 terror attacks would take attention away from her disappearance.
"On the night of Sept. 11, 2001, when most people were concerned about what had just happened earlier in the day, the defendant was concerned only with himself and how it could benefit him to put his plan in motion to make Michele disappear," Martin said.
He said prosecutors have never alleged that Michele Harris, 35, was bludgeoned, but added, "What we allege and continue to allege is that Michele Harris came through the door of the garage and was violently attacked by her estranged husband, the defendant."
He noted she weighed about 100 pounds.
"How many blows would it take to render her incapacitated? I submit not many at all especially if a heavy object like a hammer was used," Martin said.
Her body has never been found.
Martin said Harris understood his wife had rejected his most recent settlement offer of $700,000 and he stood to lose more money as well as the couple's four young children.
Martin said Harris told a relative, "She thought she was going to get the kids."
All four of the couple's children attended the trial on Wednesday and supported their father.
Earlier in the day, Harris' attorney slammed the assertion that his client murdered his wife over their pending divorce.
"The very motive that they allege is simply insane," Bruce Barket told Mott during his closing arguments.
Barket said the divorce was not acrimonious. "It was literally calming down and ending," he said.
Martin said Harris repeatedly exhibited the behavior of a guilty man in the hours, days and weeks after his wife vanished.
He questioned why Harris didn't try to call her after she disappeared and, despite their ongoing divorce proceedings, held a yard sale to get rid of her things.
Martin said when someone told Harris, in the presence of relatives, that Michele's body had been found, he said, "They didn't find her body."
Harris is on trial for the fourth time since 2007. He was convicted at his first two trials closer to his Tioga County home, but both verdicts were reversed. The third trial, which was moved to Schoharie County because of publicity, ended last year in a mistrial.
This time, he decided to forgo a jury and is trying to convince Mott that he did not kill his wife.
Mott, who is based in Columbia County, allowed the defense team to call witnesses to buoy another theory. In closing arguments, Barket stressed evidence that he said shows Stacey Stewart of Texas, who was living in Binghamton and allegedly involved with Michele Harris, was the killer.
Martin tried to debunk the Stewart theory, saying the man didn't have a relationship with Michele Harris.
The prosecutor challenged claims by a witness who came forward years later and said he saw a woman who looked like Michele with a man who looked like Stewart at the end of the couple's driveway on the day she disappeared.
Barket slammed the blood evidence police discovered in the couple's home, saying the evidence could have been present for years before Michele Harris disappeared.
"Fifteen years, Cal Harris and his family have endured this," Barket said.
Mott told attorneys he would give them a 30-minute notice before he delivers his decision. Both attorneys were expected to be back in Schoharie County Court on Thursday.
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Schenectady
Three men were arraigned at Albany Medical Center on criminal charges in connection with a robbery and shootout early Tuesday inside a home in the Woodlawn neighborhood.
Police said Pharoah Nisby, 22, allegedly forced his way into 10 Shirley Drive and shot two men, wounding one of them in the face and torso, and bit one of them on the cheek. One man returned fire, hitting Nisby in the arm and legs, police said. All three are expected to survive.
Authorities have said the two unnamed men are possible suspects in the sale of marijuana in the apartment.
Nisby faces numerous charges, including attempted murder, burglary, three counts of assault, robbery, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and unlawful imprisonment, according to court documents.
Police have not released the names of or charges against the other two men, ages 20 and 22.
A fourth man, Daiqwan Malik Maddicks-Park, 20, is charged with felony tampering with physical evidence, misdemeanor criminal possession of a weapon and unlawful possession of marijuana, according to court papers.
The tampering charge alleges Maddicks-Park attempted to leave the home with a hidden .380 semiautomatic handgun after the shooting. He was expected to be arraigned Wednesday.
Nisby also was charged with felony weapons crimes in connection with a Feb. 20 shooting on Crane Street. The disposition of that case was not immediately available.
State records indicate he served time in prison for stabbing a man in 2012.
pnelson@timesunion.com 518-454-5347 @apaulnelson
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Schenectady
Easier access to medications used to wean addicts off heroin and other opioids topped the list of needs three Capital Region treatment providers shared with a new state task force formed to combat the drug epidemic.
The area experts offered their suggestions to Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul and the heads of several state agencies for improving the state's ability to deal with the heroin and prescription narcotic epidemic as the Governor's Heroin Task Force started a statewide listening tour at Proctors in Schenectady after being created last week.
Kevin Connally of Hope House in Albany, Gay Hartigan of the management firm that runs Conifer Park in Glenville and Stuart Rosenblatt of New Choices Recovery Center in Schenectady all said people seeking to stop taking heroin need the option of medications that help check their cravings while they undergo treatment.
Connally and Rosenblatt described the trouble in getting buprenorphine, known as Suboxone, due to a limited number of physicians prescribing it and a cap put on the number of patients to whom they can prescribe it. Hartigan asked state officials to help providers remove the stigma associated with clinics that provide methadone to people with the most severe addictions.
Rosenblatt suggested easing the rules for prescribing the drugs, even if it resulted in some of the medications being sold on the street.
"That possibility is clearly outstripped by the daily loss of lives from opiate overdoses and the pain and suffering endured forever by family and friends," Rosenblatt said.
Overdose is now the leading cause of accidental death in New York.
Increasing access to medication-assisted treatment was also part of a report issued earlier Tuesday by the Senate Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction, which completed an 18-month listening tour.
The report included 48 recommendations for combating the addiction crisis, with recommendations falling into four broad categories: prevention, treatment, recovery and law enforcement.
Specific suggestions of the Senate report address the need to provide more treatment options and make them more accessible, increase wraparound services to help people stay in recovery, and provide resources for law enforcement, especially to aid in the ability to get high-level drug dealers off the street.
Limiting obstacles to insurance coverage was another topic common to both the just-launched listening tour and the just-completed report.
Treatment providers at Proctors talked about delays in authorization from insurance companies that result in some patients leaving before treatment starts.
Hartigan also asked that treatment providers be allowed to hold drug users who are detoxing for at least 72 hours, the way that hospitals can hold some mentally ill patients who are at risk of hurting themselves, in an attempt to begin treatment that will prevent the patient from using drugs again.
About 130 people, most of whom deal with the heroin crisis from one perspective or another, attended the event.
chughes@timesunion.com 518-454-5417 @hughesclaire
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More than 200 visitors from 31 states and Canada will be in downtown Albany through Friday for Transfinder's annual client conference. Most attendees are transportation officials for school districts that are clients of Transfinder, the Schenectady software company that makes bus routing software. The event is being held at the Hilton Albany.
Larry Rulison
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Washington
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would allow families of Sept. 11 victims to sue the government of Saudi Arabia, rejecting the fierce objections of a U.S. ally and setting Congress on a collision course with the Obama administration.
The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, approved by voice vote, had triggered a threat from Riyadh to pull billions of dollars from the U.S. economy if the bill is enacted.
The legislation, sponsored by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., gives victims' families the right to sue in U.S. court for any role that elements of the Saudi government may have played in the 2001 attacks that killed thousands in New York, the Washington, D.C., area and Pennsylvania.
The House still must act on the legislation.
Relatives of Sept. 11 victims have urged the Obama administration to declassify and release U.S. intelligence that allegedly discusses possible Saudi involvement in the attacks.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir denied earlier this month that the kingdom made any threats over the bill. He said Riyadh had warned investor confidence in the U.S. would shrink if the bill became law. "In fact what they (Congress) are doing is stripping the principle of sovereign immunities, which would turn the world for international law into the law of the jungle," Al-Jubeir said in a May 3 statement.
The Treasury Department said Monday that Saudi Arabia in March held $116.8 billion in Treasury debt.
Passage of the bill sends the message that the United States "will combat terrorism with every tool we have available, and that the victims of terrorist attacks in our country should have every means at their disposal to seek justice," Cornyn said.
Schumer said any foreign government that aids terrorists who strike the U.S. "will pay a price if it is proven they have done so."
Senate Democrats had firmly supported the legislation, putting them at odds with the Obama administration. The White House has said the bill could expose Americans overseas to legal risks, and spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday efforts to revise the legislation fell short in addressing the administration's concerns about preserving sovereign immunity. "Given the concerns that we've expressed, it's difficult to imagine the president signing this legislation," Earnest told reporters at the White House.
Schumer was confident the Senate had the necessary two-thirds vote of the chamber to override a presidential veto.
"We don't think their arguments stand up," the New York lawmaker said at a news conference after the Senate action.
Albany
Houston-based developers of the $750 million Constitution natural gas pipeline are headed to federal court to challenge a state denial of critical environmental permits for the project.
According to its news release, the company is suing the state Department of Environmental Conservation in two federal courts over its April ruling on permits needed for the 120-mile pipeline to cross through 250 creeks and streams in the Southern Tier.
State water quality permits were the final approval needed for Constitution's developers, which received consent from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in December 2014. But DEC rejected those permits, saying the energy company refused to provide enough environmental information on how the pipeline would cross those water bodies in Broome, Chenango, Delaware and Schoharie counties.
One lawsuit, filed by Constitution with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, calls DEC's ruling "arbitrary and capricious," as well as an "impermissible challenge" to FERC's earlier approval.
The other lawsuit, filed with U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, argues federal law pre-empts the state's authority over the water permits.
Constitution claims the state ruling "blocks millions of northeastern consumers from accessing lower-cost energy while ultimately slowing the region's capabilities in transitioning from coal and fuel oil to natural gas, as well as its ability to integrate more renewable energy sources into its power portfolio," according to a prepared statement.
"DEC's allegation that it did not receive the necessary information is inaccurate as demonstrated by extensive and comprehensive technical materials submitted by Constitution for the record. We believe this allegation was intended to distract stakeholders from the application of a fair technical and regulatory review of the merits of Constitution's application for a water quality certification. We are ultimately seeking to have the court overturn this veiled attempt by the state to usurp the federal government's authority and essentially 'veto' a FERC-certificated energy infrastructure project," the statement said.
A DEC spokesman declined comment on the lawsuit.
Constitution is a partnership of Cabot Oil and Gas Corp.; Williams, an Oklahoma-based energy company; Piedmont Natural Gas; and WGL Holdings. Repeated attempts to contact company spokesman Christopher Stockton for further information were unsuccessful.
Developers have maintained the pipeline is needed to meet state energy needs, is environmentally beneficial and will not ultimately be used to ship natural gas overseas.
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The proposed pipeline would connect Pennsylvania fracked gas to the Iroquois pipeline in Schoharie, where owners are considering whether to reverse the flow of gas north toward Canada. From there, gas could move in other pipes, flowing toward potential export facilities planned on the Atlantic coast.
Anti-pipeline forces last month vowed to help the state in any legal battle sparked by the permit rejection.
"Jobs, school tax payments, gas distribution, economic development, and so-called lower emissions have nothing to do with a (state) water quality certificate. The press release is closer to a rant against (Gov. Andrew) Cuomo than a justification of a legal challenge to a water quality certification," said Anne Marie Garti, a lawyer with the grass-roots group Stop the Pipeline. "At the end of a long and costly process, the pipeline company will learn that no means no. We expect to win."
bnearing@timesunion.com 518-454-5094 @Bnearing10
Glenville
Several top executives at TrustCo Bank Corp NY including CEO Robert J. McCormick decided to forgo nearly $500,000 in bonuses last fall after federal banking regulators forced them to tighten controls and improve the loan review system.
It is unclear if McCormick, who still earned $1.7 million in total compensation last year, will speak about the decision at the bank's annual meeting on Thursday at Mallozzi's Restaurant in Rotterdam.
The move by McCormick and others at the bank to leave money on the table does appear to show just how seriously they are approaching an overhaul of the bank's internal controls and policies that has underway since July of last year, when the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said it had uncovered unsound banking practices and potential violations of consumer laws.
Although TrustCo has declined to reveal the specifics of the OCC's findings, arguing that they are confidential, it said reorganizing the bank would cost about $5 million a year with the hiring of an outside consultant, the need to hire additional audit and legal staff and higher FDIC insurance premiums. The company today has 784 workers, up from 747 a year ago, and by giving up their bonuses, McCormick and his team will have money to spend on others.
McCormick has declined several requests to talk to the Times Union about how the bank is approaching the OCC's demands, and a TrustCo spokesman did not immediately know if McCormick would comment on the bonus givebacks.
TrustCo, which is the largest bank headquartered in the Capital Region, with $2.5 billion in local deposits, has been a mainstay in the local banking community, focusing mostly on mortgages while shunning riskier commercial and investment banking. As of March 31, its loan portfolio had reached $3.3 billion, an all-time high.
The pay of TrustCo's top executives has consistently has been an issue with the public and some shareholders, especially since McCormick's compensation package in years past has typically topped $2 million, making it one of the largest of any public company executive in the region. His base pay is $880,000, but that is just a portion of his total compensation package, which also includes stock and other perks like a country club membership.
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In a filing last month with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, TrustCo said that had McCormick taken his bonus, for which he was eligible, it would have totaled $184,800, significantly lower than his 2014 bonus of $246,400.
Other TrustCo executives who gave up their 2015 bonuses were Robert T. Cushing, chief operating officer; Scot Salvador, the chief banking officer; and Robert Leonard, the bank's corporate secretary.
lrulison@timesunion.com 518-454-5504 @larryrulison
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Colonie
With the state potentially lining up billions of dollars in subsidies in coming years to reach ambitious clean energy goals, state officials on Tuesday heard opinions on which kinds of energy should be at the table for the feast.
Proponents and detractors of upstate nuclear power plants which could receive more than a quarter-billion dollars in subsidies through 2030 packed a hearing at Colonie Town Hall held by the state Public Service Commission on Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed Clean Energy Standard.
Meanwhile, 20 state senators also urged the governor to make off-shore wind farms their own category under the plan, which requires the state to produce half of its electrical power from renewable sources by then. Currently, the state gets about 27 percent of its power from renewables like hydro, wind and solar.
The state Public Service Commission has projected the state could provide more than $3.6 billion in subsidies to renewables, including nuclear, to reach Cuomo's targets.
To get there, the state must support its remaining four upstate nuclear power plants, said Gary Toth, chairman of the industrial development agency of Oswego County, where two of the plants are located.
"Nuclear is carbon-free emissions," said Toth, who is part of Upstate Energy Jobs, which supports potential state subsidies for the nuclear plants. "It is low-cost and reliable."
Nuclear as emission-free was disputed by Tommy Rock, a Navajo from Arizona who is part of an Arizona-based group focusing on pollution from abandoned uranium mines near Indian lands.
"There are emissions during the life cycle of uranium mining, which is very carbon intensive," said Rock. "We have many of these mines near where I live, and people who have cancer."
Also Tuesday, Democrats in the state Senate wrote Cuomo, urging a change to the plan to set aside specific subsidies for off-shore wind energy farms. In recent years, two such proposals the GLOW project in Lake Erie and another farm in the Atlantic Ocean off Long Island have been shelved due to cost concerns.
"To meet our goals, off-shore wind must be a significant component," wrote Sen. Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat.
Another supporter, Catherine Bowes of the National Wildlife Federation, said that New York "can no longer afford to ignore the golden opportunity of off-shore wind."
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According to projections by the state Public Service Commission, potential state subsidies needed to achieve the goals could total:
$2.4 billion for new renewable energy suppliers, resulting in about $4.3 billion in carbon reduction benefits.
$907 million for existing renewable energy suppliers, yielding $622 million in carbon reduction benefits.
$270 million for nuclear plant owners, creating $3 billion in carbon benefits. But while nuclear would be eligible for the subsidy under the proposal, nuclear power would not be counted toward the 50 percent renewable energy goal.
The PSC projects that the program would add less than $1 a month to typical residential electricity bills by 2020.
bnearing@timesunion.com 518-454-5094 @Bnearing10
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"We've had our eyes set on this for a while," concert promoter John D'Esposito of SLP Concerts said in reference to this weekend's three-day Rock'n Derby extravaganza at the Schaghticoke Fairgrounds.
As one of the architects behind New Jersey's annual Rock Carnival, a heavy metal-and-fair festival, Esposito is well versed in setting up the sort of extravaganza Rock'n Derby is anticipated to be.
"There's got to be a more experiential thing for fans. It diversifies and adds more value,'' he said. "So we do five to 10 of these kind of events (multi-day festivals) a year," he said.
Rock'n Derby is slightly different than the typical event D'Esposito has put together, however, and its chief difference is why the event is taking place in the Capital Region.
More Information If you go What: Rock'n Derby When: Friday-Sunday Where: Schaghticoke Fairgrounds, 69 Stillwater Bridge Road, Schaghticoke Admission: Varies, depending on single-day, multi-day or camping package Info: http://www.rocknderby.com FRIDAY, MAY 20 Derby Stage: 5:50 p.m. Pop Evil 6:50 p.m. Clutch 8:15 p.m. Lamb of God 9:45 p.m. Five Finger Death Punch Rock'n Stage: 6 p.m. Wild Throne 6:55 p.m. Red Sun Rising 7:55 p.m. Wolfmother 9 p.m. Parkway Drive Upstate Concert Hall Arena Stage: 6 p.m. Let Go Daylight 6:45 p.m. The 7th Squeeze 8 p.m. The Art is Murder 9 p.m. Corrosion of Conformity 11 p.m. Scott Stapp 11:30 p.m. Schism (After-Party) SATURDAY, MAY 21 Derby Stage: 2:10 p.m. Miss May I 3 p.m. Memphis May Fire 4:05 p.m. We Came As Romans 5:15 p.m. State Champs 6:30 p.m. Hollywood Undead 7:45 p.m. Halestorm 9:30 p.m. A Day to Remember Rock'n Stage: 2:40 p.m. Experiment 3:30 p.m. Avatar 4:30 p.m. All That Remains 5:30 p.m. Chevy Metal 6:35 p.m. Sebatian Bach 7:40 p.m. Extreme 9 p.m. Anthrax Upstate Concert Hall Arena Stage: 1:30 p.m. Streetlight Circus 2:15 p.m. Illusionist 3 p.m. Moriah Formica 3:50 p.m. Stay at Home Dads 4:35 p.m. Rings of Saturn 5:45 p.m. Cliver 6:40 p.m. Stray From The Path 7:40 p.m. For Today 8:45 p.m. Beartooth 11 p.m. RAMT2 (After-Party!) SUNDAY, MAY 22 Derby Stage: 2:10 p.m. Midnight Mob 3:20 p.m. Trivium 4:30 p.m. Sevendust 5:40 p.m. Ghost 7 p.m. Coheed and Cambria 8:45 p.m. Shinedown Rock'n Stage: 2:40 p.m. Like a Storm 3:30 p.m. Dokken 5 p.m. Collective Soul 6:30 p.m. Sixx:A.M. 8 p.m. Megadeath Upstate Concert Hall Arena Stage: 1:50 p.m. Frank Palangi 2:30 p.m. Rahway 3:10 p.m. The Power 3:50 p.m. After Earth 4:30 p.m. Bad case of Big Mouth 5:10 p.m. Currents 6 p.m. Upon a Burning Body 7 p.m. Born of Osiris 8 p.m. Enter Shikari For concert photos throughout this weekend, go to http://timesunion.com. See More Collapse
"What's unique (about Rock'n Derby) is the demolition derby," he explained.
About a year ago, D'Esposito and his cohorts made the decision to include a demolition derby to their usual mix of music, food trucks, wrestling and camping. Once this was added to the mix, the search for suitable venues in the Northeast ensued, leading SLP to the Schaghticoke Fairgrounds. While on the surface, the Rensselaer County village wouldn't seem to be the obvious choice for a three-day metal/hard rock festival, it's actually the perfect site.
"It has a derby track," D'Esposito explained. "It's (the event's siting) the turnkey for the whole thing.
"The location is central to our target audience: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Albany, Buffalo and Montreal," he continued. "Schaghticoke is right in the middle, and logistics-wise the ability to offer camping and structures in the event of rain are perfect."
The grounds can accommodate upward of 100,000 people and D'Esposito anticipates roughly 30,000 attendees daily. And the vast expanse of the fairground easily accommodates traffic, both vehicular and human.
Having never organized a demolition derby before, D'Esposito and SLP subcontracted it out to Stoney Roberts, the promoter behind the derby at the Great Schaghticoke Fair each year. Once that was handled and SLP festival regulars Game Changer Wrestling were recruited, D'Esposito was back on terra firma, booking big-name bands that appeal to multiple generations of hard rock and metal fans.
Aficionados of the current scene can see Five Finger Death Punch, Lamb of God and Crutch on Friday; A Day to Remember, Halestorm, East Greenbush-based pop-punkers State Champs and rap-rock outfit Hollywood Undead on Saturday and Shinedown and Coheed and Cambria on Sunday. These acts will all be the derby stage, where the on-stage mayhem will be vying for attention with the demolition derby.
At the Rock'n stage, fans of the previous generation of rock can be satiated by the likes of Anthrax, Extreme and Sebastian Bach on Saturday and Megadeth, Sixx A.M. and Collective Soul on Sunday. The Upstate Concert Hall Stage will feature Creed frontman Scott Stapp and a slew of regional and smaller acts. Overall, there's nearly 60 bands on the docket, with stylings from across the rock spectrum. This wide range is by design.
"It's about family and community," D'Esposito said. "We want the father in his 50s and his teenager to both come and have a good time. Maybe the dad is checking out Anthrax while his kid is at A Day to Remember. There's something for everyone."
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While D'Esposito personally is most looking forward to checking out Chevy Metal, the side project of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins that rips through deep cuts from '70s powerhouses like Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath and the Rolling Stones, the one thing most people associated with Rock'n Derby have expressed interest in is the demolition derby. With open slots for the derby and its $10,000 in prizes rapidly filling, D'Esposito can't wait to see it come to fruition this weekend.
"I wouldn't have done this without the derby; I'm so excited about it," he enthused. "The bands are going to drive them (cars in the derby), because I've had so many of them ask about doing it."
With set-up running smoothly and strong community support, Rock'n Derby is poised to be a success, setting the stage for this to become an annual tradition in Schaghticoke.
"The community has been so welcoming, and we've had full support from everyone here," D'Esposito said. "The derby is already a success and we've built around the strong base we have here. We plan on leaving stuff (stage and festival apparatus) for next year.
"The foundation has been laid."
Jim Shahen is a freelance writer for the Times Union.
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Albany
During his 2004 tour in Iraq with the New York National Guard's 27th Infantry Division, Brian Huskie lost three soldiers in his unit killed by car bombs. He survived two close calls with IEDs and a rocket-propelled grenade knocked him to the ground with its percussive force.
He assisted U.S. Special Forces in Samarra, knocked down doors of Iraqi homes in the middle of the night and completed "snatch and grabs" to round up suspected insurgents. He saw civilians killed in so-called "friendly fire" incidents. He was given the assignment of identifying dead Iraqi police officers and driving them to a morgue in nearby Tikrit.
Huskie was 23 years old at the time, a country kid from Petersburgh in Rensselaer County. Witnessing the horrors of war up close changed him in ways he did not imagine when he signed up for the Guard while a student at the University at Albany.
More Information Scholarship walk What: 25-mile walk to raise money to give Albany High refugee students scholarships to UAlbany. When: 7 a.m. May 28. Where: Begins and ends at The Crossings, 580 Albany Shaker Road, Colonie. Info.: To make a pledge or walk, go to www.rallyup.com/AHS-Refugees, call Huskie at 275-8947 or email him at BHuskie@aol.com. See More Collapse
He was haunted by the memory of a young Iraqi boy who offered to show the American soldiers the way to an improvised explosive device, or IED. They feared it was a trap, but followed with caution.
"The sergeant said if it goes off, the first thing you do is shoot the kid," recalled Huskie, who is now 35 and the father of two sons, Rohan, 5, and Navin, 3.
He was locked and loaded, but it turned out the boy was not working for the enemy. He tipped them off to an IED that they destroyed before it could harm American troops.
"The kids got caught in the middle of a war and a lot of them died in collateral damage," said Huskie, an English teacher at Albany High School for the past nine years. He also works with English language learners. In the past decade, ELL students have more than tripled in the city school district and now account for more than 1,000 students between kindergarten and 12th grade.
Huskie teaches a growing number of refugee students, including several from Iraq.
They discovered they had common ground. He and his students endured hardships in a country under siege, torn apart by a long and complicated battle against Islamic extremists and a war not of their making.
Huskie put them at ease by using words and phrases in their native Arabic and displaying an understanding of their culture.
"I don't know if I'd call it guilt or shame, but it's almost a karmic thing," Huskie said. "I want to help these kids. What happened to their countries was no fault of theirs."
Huskie is putting words into action. He organized an inaugural 25-mile walk to raise money for a University at Albany scholarship fund for Albany High School refugee students. His goal is to create a $25,000 endowment. He's getting help from his wife, Ramita, who is from India, and other teachers.
Many parents of refugee students are low-wage workers who cannot afford college tuition. The students grew up in refugee camps where formal education was scarce and higher education was not in the conversation.
"I feel proud to be going to college," said senior Sayblu Htoo, a Burmese refugee who grew up in a refugee camp in Thailand. She came to Albany in 2011, the oldest of four children. None spoke English when they arrived. She will graduate from Albany High in June and plans to attend the nursing program at Hudson Valley Community College.
"We talked about what he did in Iraq. It's cool. He was just doing his job," said junior Saad Bene Jamiel, whose family fled fighting in Baghdad and lived in a refugee camp in Turkey before coming to Albany with his mother and two sisters three years ago. His father died in Syria during the family's long trek to safety. Jamiel works part-time in his older brother's auto repair shop and his goal is to study auto mechanics at HVCC.
"It's good what Mr. Huskie is doing," Jamiel said. "He encourages us to go to college. He wants us to be successful."
"He's a good teacher who helps us a lot," said senior Beya Paw, a Burmese refugee who grew up in a refugee camp in Thailand. Both her parents are deceased and she lives with an older sister, who is in the HVCC nursing program. Paw hopes to follow in her sister's footsteps.
"I'm just happy to get a chance to go to college," she said.
"Mr. Huskie is really helpful. I like to talk with him about Iraq," said Assalah Othman, a junior whose parents, four sisters and three brothers fled Islamic State extremists in Baghdad. They came to Albany in 2014. Her parents were both engineers in Iraq. She hopes to attend a joint degree program at Siena College and Albany Medical College with a goal of becoming a pediatrician.
Huskie is proud of several former Albany High refugee students who currently attend college. He wants to expand the opportunity with the UAlbany scholarship fund.
The students have helped him overcome psychological wounds when he returned to civilian life.
"I can't imagine growing up in a war zone like these kids did," Huskie said. "I've become a peace-loving person. The most important thing is giving these kids a bright future."
pgrondahl@timesunion.com 518-454-5623 @PaulGrondahl
Clonmel and the greater South Tipperary area is still reeling this morning from the news that Suir Pharma is to close after 43 years in the town, with the loss of 134 jobs.
The announcement was made to staff following the appointment by the High Court of a provisional liquidator to the pharmaceutical manufacturing company.
Suir Pharma Ireland Ltd, (better known locally as Clonmel Healthcare)which is located at Waterford Road in Clonmel, and has been making generic medicines for approximately 40 years in the town, is insolvent and is to be wound up.
At the High Court on Tuesday the company cited losses of 4.9 million during the 15 months before March 2015, and a large drop in sales in the US market late last year, for its difficulties. It projects further losses in both 2016 and 2017.
Its parent company, Saneca, was not willing to fund the company and it was left with no option other than to apply to the court for the appointment of a provisional liquidator.
Mr Justice Michael Twomey said he was satisfied to appoint insolvency practitioner Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton as provisional liquidator of the company.
The court granted Mr McAteer a number of powers, including a power to continue to allow the company trade.
Barrister Declan Murphy Bl, for the company, said the appointment of Mr McAteer would secure and help realise the best value of the companies assets, including its stock.
Mr McAteer would also accelerate the process of locating potential buyers for the companys site in Clonmel, counsel added. It was in the best interests of the company and its creditors that a liquidator be appointed.
The company, which has 134 employees, has had several owners during its existence. Last year it was sold to Slovakian group Saneca Pharmaceuticals by Munich restructuring company Mutares for an undisclosed amount. After approving Mr McAteers appointment, the Judge adjourned the matter to June 13th.
However, there is a lot of anger in Clonmel amongst employees who were informed by email that a meeting would take place in the canteen at lunchtime - they were then told that the facility was closing with immediate affect. One member of staff who has been there from the beginning was left 'devastated' by the news according to one source.
Deputy Alan Kelly's bid to be Labour leader appeared to be on track this week as the party met in conclave in Dublin to discuss picking a successor to Joan Burton.
With the final deadline for nominations this coming Friday, the parliamentary party met for most of Tuesday and is meeting again this Wednesday thrashing out whether there should be a contest or a coronation.
Sources told The Tipperary Star this Tuesday that Deputy Kelly was confident he would at least get support to force the issue to a contest. If that happens, his most likely opponent will be former party deputy leader and Minister for Public Service Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin, who failed in two previous attempts in 1997 and 2002 to get the top job. In contrast, Deputy Kelly became deputy leader on the first count after Eamon Gilmore stood aside following the disastrous 2013 local elections.
Deputy Kelly is, so far, the only TD to put his name forward officially, but reports all week have consistently stated that he will not get a seconder should he propose himself for the job. With Ms Burton and Willie Penrose opting out of supporting any candidate, he would need to convince Brendan Ryan, Jan O'Sullivan or Sean Sherlock to back him. If the sources prove correct, he has managed to get over the first hurdle in a race that could last for months. Some reports are suggesting that Limerick TD Ms O'Sullivan will second him to faciliate a contest.
Deputy Kelly is understood to have pleaded at Tuesday's meeting that there should be a contest on the basis that the party is the only political party in Ireland that allows its ordinary members to choose its leader.
He is also believed to have the party's grassroots behind him, with some reports stating that members feel they don't want a leader imposed on them. Others have said that no individual should be denied the right to contest an election for leader.
The former Minister for the Environment's combative style was said to be putting off other TDs from supporting him, but there was a time when Mr Howlin was regarded as the young turk, with a not too dissimilar style to Deputy Kelly. The Wexford TD has calmed over the years to become a more mature and reflective politician.
While the mood within the parliamentary party is not to have a contest, Deputy Kelly's strength would be in a direct appeal to the membership. He has been bolstered in that regard by some recent robust Dail performances and his appearance on last week's Late Late Show has gone down well with many inside and outside the party.
Deputy Kelly was unavailable for comment.
[May 17, 2016] AHF Documentary The People's Hope Celebrates 15 Years of AIDS Treatment in South Africa
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization currently caring for over 612,000 patients in 36 countries, will celebrate 15 years of saving lives in South Africa with a special documentary screening on May 17th. At the Arclight Hollywood Theater Tuesday night, AHF will present The People's Hope, a documentary that recounts the establishment of AHF's Ithembalabantu Clinic in KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa. The film explores the challenges faced by the clinic, which gave hope to thousands of South Africans affected by HIV/AIDS at a time when no treatment options were available in the country. AHF South Africa previously held the world premiere screening of the poignant documentary in Durban in April. The film chronicles AHF's battles with the South African government and pharmaceutical companies during its campaign to provide affordable HIV medicine to Africa and elsewhere in the developing world. Despite the challenges, AHF opened its Ithembalabantu Clinic (the Zulu word for "People's Hope") in Umlazi, Durban in 2001 at a time when the government withheld lifesaving anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs from its people due to its outspoken denial of HIV/AIDS. AHF President Michael Weinstein recalls that activists petitioned his organization to act following the disappointing outcome of the 2000 bi-annual International AIDS Conference in Durban. "When we went to the organizations that were treating people with AIDS, there was a sense of hopelessness because in the US we already had the treatment evolution," said Weinstein. "It was very sad, and it made me angry because the government had essentially abandoned millions of people in South Africa." To attend to South Africa's neglected HIV population, AHF converted an abandoned office into a clinic for 100 patients living with HIV and hired three people to run it. For may years, AHF was one of only three organizations offering anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs in KwaZulu-Natal.
"At the time, medication cost about $5,000 per person per year in Africa," continued Weinstein. "We knew it would be difficult, but we set up a clinic for 100 people and demonstrated that it could be done." Ithembalabantu has since grown into a proud institution, recognized far beyond the township of Umlazi where it is located. Today, the Ithembalabantu clinic serves over 15,000 patients-including children born with HIV-who form a part of the 100,000 patients that AHF now treats in its 57 clinic sites throughout South Africa.
The documentary also celebrates the resilience of Ithembalabantu's first patients, many of whom braved the alarmist warnings of the early 2000s about the potential toxicity of the ARV drugs. Many of these patients had nearly lost all hope when they arrived at the clinic, but their miraculous recovery inspired others to seek treatment early. One of Ithembalabantu's first patients was Jenny Boyce; a fifteen year-old girl born with HIV whose story is now a source of inspiration to many. Boyce said of her experience: "For a lot of us there was uncertainty. Medication wasn't provided in the country, and there was a lot of talk about it being toxic and more detrimental than the disease. So we were coming to the clinic because [we] wanted to live." AHF has also been at the forefront of the global campaign for the reduction of prices for ARV drugs. As a result of grassroots efforts such as marches on the offices of AIDS drugs producers, ARV prices have been slashed to $100 per person per year. South Africa has also made progress in addressing the AIDS epidemic since Ithembalabantu's establishment in 2001. In 2010, AHF lauded South African President Jacob Zuma for leading a national effort to expand HIV testing and antiretroviral treatment. South Africa now has the largest antiretroviral treatment program in the world, with over 3 million people on treatment and 10 million tested for HIV every year. However, AHF believes more still needs to be done to end HIV/AIDS in 2030. "We appreciate that the government wants to work with us, and has partnered with us," said Terri Ford (News - Alert), Chief of Global Advocacy and Policy at AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "The South African government has stepped up more than any other government in the world. We want to continue our partnership so that we can stop HIV in South Africa, and the way to do that is to get as many people tested and on treatment." MEDIA NOTE: For inquiries about the May 17th Arclight Hollywood screening of The People's Hope documentary, please contact: Ged Kenslea
Senior Director, Communications
AIDS Healthcare Foundation
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+1.323.791.5526 mobile
[email protected] AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 612,000 individuals in 36 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook (News - Alert): www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter (News - Alert): @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160517006710/en/
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[May 18, 2016] Celmatix Names Dr. Erin Foran Wolff as Chief Medical Officer
Celmatix, a personalized medicine company focused on fertility and women's health, today announced it has named Dr. Erin Foran Wolff as its first Chief Medical Officer. In this position, Dr. Wolff will play an important role as the company prepares to launch its first genetic test and continues to scale its analytics platform, Polaris, already in use at leading fertility clinics across the US. In addition, Dr. Wolff will help support the ongoing clinical research efforts of the company. Dr. Wolff comes to Celmatix from the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C., where she conducted basic, translational, and clinical reproductive research as an Assistant Clinical Investigator for the past five years. Dr. Wolff received her M.D. from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. After completing her residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, she became a Scholar of the Reproductive Scientist DevelopmentProgram at Yale University School of Medicine. She then completed a fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).
"Dr. Wolff joins us at a key point in the growth of Celmatix," explained Dr. Piraye Yurttas Beim, Celmatix Founder and CEO. "We are continuing to scale our clinical data network and product offerings through our Polaris platform and also accelerate our research and development pipeline. Dr. Wolff's deep experience and expertise as an OB/GYN, reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialist, and NIH clinical investigator, will be a major asset to Celmatix." Dr. Wolff commented, "I've always felt a strong commitment to both patient care and research. My work at Celmatix will allow me to continue to move the needle in patient care, while also contributing to the ground-breaking research for which the company is known." She continued, "This position gives me the unique opportunity to do both by developing better tools to provide care for women more effectively."
About Celmatix
Celmatix is a personalized medicine company that uses big data and predictive analytics to help individuals who are struggling to have a baby make informed decisions. Founded in 2009 and based in New York City, Celmatix is disrupting the way women approach their lifelong fertility journey by empowering them through science and technology. The company's flagship product, Polaris, is in use at top fertility clinics across the country and is the world's first analytics platform for optimizing fertility. Celmatix also has an active research and development program dedicated to decoding the genetic basis of fertility potential. For more information, visit www.celmatix.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160518005496/en/
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[May 18, 2016] Huawei Drives NB-IoT in New Zealand
AUCKLAND, New Zealand, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Huawei today hosted the first Internet of Things (IoT) Innovation Forum in New Zealand, bringing together a range of industry and academic experts to share their vision for a better connected world. The shift to an ultra-broadband future and next generation mobile networks will provide the framework for widespread interconnectivity of devices, from the small and simple to the large and complex. Huawei believes that by 2025 there will be over 100 billion connections globally, known as the IoT. The event was held at Auckland's Viaduct Event Centre as part of Tech Week and opened by Mayor Len Brown who thanked Huawei for the company's commitment to fostering innovation in the Auckland region and wider New Zealand. Huawei South Pacific Region CMO Lim Chee Siong encouraged New Zealand business leaders, industry stakeholders, and agencies to start preparing for the future today. "The New Zealand of 2025, or even 2020, will not be the same as the New Zealand of today," he said. "The internet of things will be far bigger than anyone realises. Economic impact from the global IoT market by 2020 is estimated to be US$7.1 trillion, and this is a conservative projection. Of all the technology trends taking place right now, perhaps the biggest one is the internet of things; it's the one that's going to give us the most disruption, as well as the most opportunity over the next five years."
Huawei New Zealand CEO Jason said the IoT would benefit hugely from next generation of networks, able to support massive numbers of connections, vast data levels and provide near ubiquitous coverage. Many devices would be low-powered, requiring only intermittent data connections, but may be deployed in massive numbers, such as sensors for use by farmers which could report on the health of individual livestock, or soil conditions. Huawei believes those devices would benefit from carrier-grade and standards-based narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) technology -- a low-cost solution which can deliver wireless, low-power and wide-area networks.
Complex sensors, such as those used in self-driving cars or healthcare applications would require far greater bandwidth and extremely low latencies to be effective. The breakthroughs required to enable these next-generation technologies are already emerging across both mobile and fixed line deployments. Mr Wu said New Zealand was well placed to take advantage of IoT innovations. "Huawei has been involved in many projects recently which have significantly advanced New Zealand's broadband networks. Fibre and 4G are now widespread, and this month Huawei and Spark enabled NZ's first 4.5G site, with speeds of up to 1 gigabyte per second, in Christchurch. The IoT will offer enormous opportunities for a well-connected country to innovate and be at the forefront of this revolution." About Huawei Huawei is a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider. Our aim is to enrich life and improve efficiency through a better connected world, acting as a responsible corporate citizen, innovative enabler for the information society, and collaborative contributor to the industry. Driven by customer-centric innovation and open partnerships, Huawei has established an end-to-end ICT solutions portfolio that gives customers competitive advantages in telecom and enterprise networks, devices and cloud computing. Huawei's 170,000 employees worldwide are committed to creating maximum value for telecom operators, enterprises and consumers. Our innovative ICT solutions, products and services are used in more than 170 countries and regions, serving over one-third of the world's population. Founded in 1987, Huawei is a private company fully owned by its employees. For more information, please visit Huawei online at www.huawei.com or follow us on: http://www.twitter.com/HuaweiAPAC
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[May 18, 2016] OT Acquires Xantium and Strengthens Its Leadership Position on African Continent
OT (Oberthur Technologies), a leading global provider of embedded security software products, services and solutions, today announced that it has acquired Xantium Integrated Solutions (News - Alert) (Xantium). Xantium is a renowned South African supplier of cards and personalization services to a wide variety of market segments including Banks, Retailers and Third party payment processors in South Africa and several African countries. Through this acquisition, OT will grow its footprint in the promising Southern African market and strengthen its base in Johannesburg to address customers across the African continent. Xantium brings to OT an experienced team which has excelled in providing high levels of service to its broad client base with a focus on quality, speed and flexibility. This has been supported by an innovative approach to card personalization with expertise developed in the fields of card distribution and reporting. "OT's ambition is to strengthen our leading position in Africa by addressing the growing demand for payment, authentication and related services through providing best in-class expertise and state-of-the-art products that meet our clients' demands. Xantium has built up an impressiv customer base across the continent and through this acquisition, OT pursues its strategy of acquiring, targeted companies which enhance our global footprint through a strong local presence" said Muzaffar Khokhar, Regional President for Russia, Middle-East and Africa at OT.
ABOUT OBERTHUR TECHNOLOGIES OT is a world leader in embedded digital security that protects you when you connect, authenticate or pay.
OT is strategically positioned in high growth markets and offers embedded security software solutions for "end-point" devices as well as associated remote management solutions to a huge portfolio of international clients, including banks and financial institutions, mobile operators, authorities and governments, as well as manufacturers of connected objects and equipment. OT employs over 6 500 employees worldwide, including almost 700 R&D people. With a global footprint of 4 regional secure manufacturing hubs and 39 secure service centers, OT's international network serves clients in 169 countries. For more information: www.oberthur.com FOLLOW US
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[May 18, 2016] ReliaMax Raises Over $35,000 For South Dakota Communities
ReliaMax, the leading financial technology-based and complete private student lending solutions provider, today announced that the company has raised over $35,000 in the past 12-months to support charitable organizations in the Sioux Falls and broader South Dakota community. Over the past year, more than 28 unique organizations and families have benefitted from these donations. "ReliaMax is dedicated to fostering strong relationships with and giving back to the communities in which we live and work," said Michael VanErdewyk, CEO of ReliaMax. "Internally, we built a culture in which every team member is dedicated to improving the environment for those in need. And, by providing corporate programs as well as ReliaMax team member-focused programs like Make It Count!, we bring that thinking and commitment to making a difference in people's lives within our community." The ReliaMax Make It Count! program is an innovative charitable benefit where ReliaMax provides each team member with a defined dolar amount that can be given to individuals or groups of their choice. Together the Make It Count! program along with ReliaMax corporate contributions, donations have been made to provide school supplies and assemblies to low income schools, and to provide program support to organizations including the Boys and Girls Club of the Sioux Empire, DakotAbilities, Feeding South Dakota, Forward Sioux Falls, Sioux Empire United Way, Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation, Sioux Falls Jazz and Blues, Special Olympics, and We Promise Foundation.
About ReliaMax Founded in 2006, ReliaMax is a financial technology-based and complete private student lending solutions provider. Hosting a proprietary database of over $14.5 billion in private student loans and one million borrowers, ReliaMax offers banks, credit unions, alternative lenders and investors up to 100% loan loss protection with stable returns and has helped over 450 lenders profitably deliver private student loans to their borrower clients. ReliaMax has insured over $2.6 billion in private student loans since 2009, helping over 100,000 borrowers finance their education and achieve their dreams. Learn more at ReliaMax.com.
Trademarks ReliaMax is a registered trademark of ReliaMax and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160518006033/en/
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[May 18, 2016] Superstar Martina McBride and Leading Cancer Network Sarah Cannon Release Dates for Special Concert Series and Announce Anthem for Band Against Cancer
Sarah Cannon, the global cancer institute of Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), in partnership with Country superstar, Martina McBride, and Big Machine Label Group (BMLG), announced details today about The Sarah Cannon Tour concert series in support of their collective initiative, Band Against Cancer. Previously announced in February of 2016, Band Against Cancer is bringing together two of the most influential industries of music and healthcare to connect those touched by cancer with community-based treatment options and resources. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160518006015/en/ Today, Band Against Cancer revealed the five stops on The Sarah Cannon Tour with Martina & Friends, which include Dallas, Texas, Austin, Texas, San Antonio, Texas, Denver, Colo., and Nashville, Tenn. Information on tickets, dates, venues and supporting acts will be revealed in the coming weeks on www.bandagainstcancer.com. The tour supports the Sarah Cannon Fund that benefits The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and also supports Be The Match, operated by the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). Both organizations help families across the country who are currently fighting leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma and other types of blood cancers. "Every three minutes, one person in the United States is diagnosed with a blood cancer. Further, 70 percent of all blood cncer patients who are in need of a transplant do not have a matched donor in their family. We chose to begin our campaign by supporting people facing blood cancer, an underserved patient population requiring convenient access to cutting-edge treatment options in their communities," said Dee Anna Smith, Sarah Cannon Chief Executive Officer. "We are honored to have Martina McBride and the country music industry band together with us to bring awareness to potentially life-saving treatments including stem cell transplants and the latest targeted medicines for patients."
In addition to the concert events, Martina's newly released "Reckless" album on Nash Icon Records features the song, "Just Around the Corner," which serves as the official Band Against Cancer anthem. The song is slated to be her next single releasing in June. As a part of the Band Against Cancer campaign, one lucky fan and a guest will join the superstar in Nashville at the culminating concert. Visit www.bandagainstcancer.com to learn more about the national sweepstakes. "Helping families who are facing cancer has always been a cause that is near and dear to my heart," said Martina McBride. "I'm honored to be the voice that delivers a message of hope and help through the Band Against Cancer movement and my new song, 'Just Around the Corner.' Music has such power in bringing communities together and is a source of strength for those who need it. This is what our initiative is all about - empowering everyone to help in fighting this terrible disease."
The drivers behind Band Against Cancer know that cancer patients and their families get their greatest strength from being close to home. Through the Band Against Cancer movement, patients, friends, families and music fans can get connected to organizations in their community to support those fighting cancer. To learn more about how you can help, visit www.bandagainstcancer.com. About Sarah Cannon Sarah Cannon, the global cancer institute of Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), offers integrated cancer services with convenient access to cutting-edge therapies for those facing cancer in communities across the United States and United Kingdom. Sarah Cannon's cancer programs include individualized patient navigation provided by oncology-trained nurses, more than 900 stem cell transplants performed annually throughout the Sarah Cannon Blood Cancer Network, hundreds of clinical trials, and molecular profiling capabilities. Through its services, Sarah Cannon is providing state-of-the-art cancer care close to home for hundreds of thousands of patients, a number unmatched by any single cancer center. To learn more about Sarah Cannon, visit sarahcannon.com. About Big Machine Label Group Led by Founder, President and CEO Scott Borchetta, the Big Machine Label Group encompasses Big Machine Records, The Valory Music Co., Dot Records, Nash Icon Records and publishing company Big Machine Music. BMLG artists include superstars Taylor Swift (News - Alert), Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts, Reba, Florida Georgia Line, Martina McBride, Hank Williams Jr., Ronnie Dunn, Steven Tyler, Cheap Trick, Jennifer Nettles and Brantley Gilbert; chart-topping acts Thomas Rhett, Justin Moore, Eli Young Band, Maddie & Tae, A Thousand Horses, The Mavericks, Aaron Lewis, The Voice winners Cassadee Pope and Danielle Bradbery; up-and-comers The Cadillac Three, Drake White, Ashley Campbell, Tucker Beathard, Brett Young, Tara Thompson, as well as soundtracks for ABC's "NASHVILLE." Borchetta served as the mentor on American Idol, proudly added Season 14 winner Nick Fradiani and Season 15 champ Trent Harmon to Big Machine Records' roster. BMLG artists have received multiple GRAMMY, CMA, ACM, AMA, CMT, Teen Choice, MTV, Billboard, People's Choice and Brit Awards. Big Machine is the first-ever American label to align with terrestrial radio for performance royalty rights for its artists and is an industry leader in fighting for artist, songwriter, publisher and record company rights. Visit BigMachineLabelGroup.com for more information. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160518006015/en/
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[May 18, 2016] In Wake of Panama Papers, Cybersecurity Technology Innovator From Intensity Analytics to Speak on Technology Solutions for Law Firms
Intensity Analytics:
WHO: Industry leader and co-founder of Intensity Analytics John Rome will speak on a cybersecurity panel. WHAT: Last month, the largest data breach in history saw 11.5 million client documents leaked from a single law firm in Panama. Cyberattackers are targeting law firms by name. WHY: Because they know that law firms can be the least-fortified path to some of the most valuable data - intellectual property as well as inside information on pending M&A transactions. Attorney and cybersecurity innovator John Rome will join a distinguished panel of legal industry experts in a discussion on the future of the practice of law and technical innovations attorneys can put to work for the benefit of their clients. WHEN: Thursday, May 19th / 5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. MT WHERE: Lawgical/Legal Talk Network, 3120 Blake Street, Denver, CO 80205 The Client-Driven Technology Solutions (News - Alert) event is organized by EvolveLaw and Lawgical as part of a nationwide series of conversations aimed at bridging the gap between innovators and the legal community. It offers an opportunity to network with Denver-area lawyers, view technical demonstrations and hear from legal-industry veterans. http://evolvelawnow.com/event/client-driven-technology-solutions ABOUT: Intensity Analytics is a privately held behavioral security solutions company formed in 2009 by veteran entrepreneurs with decades of experience working together on enterprise software projects for Fortune 500 companies and large government agencies. We use physical behavioral analytics to recognize users at login, and after login, by how they type without using personal information, tokens or special hardware. Legacy attempts have not succeeded because they use biometrics or judge behavior by habit. That's not useful for authentication nor blocking stolen credentials. The company has achieved independently verified breakthroughs in multidimensional mathematics to finally answer the critical question: who is at the keyboard. We protect your business from password hackers and malicious insiders, and help keep your reputation intact. For more information visit www.intensityanalytics.com.
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[May 17, 2016] Leaders in Online Wholesale Trade and Exhibitions to Debut "O2O2O Solution" Service at SIGN and LED CHINA 2016 Expositions
SHANGHAI, May 17, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- UBM plc, one of the world's leading trade exhibition organisers, and Alibaba's B2B business unit, including Alibaba.com and 1688.com, the leading platforms for online wholesale trade of the Alibaba Group, today announced the launch date of the B2B industry's "game-changing" sourcing solution and service. The "O2O2O Solution", or "Online to Offline to Online" integrated trade services, jointly-developed by UBM and Alibaba B2B will catapult the trade sourcing experience for manufacturers and buyers before, during, and after a trade show into a new era. Visitors, professionals, and media will be able to experience firsthand the "O2O2O Solution" at its debut at the collocated SIGN CHINA and LED CHINA fairs to take place 19-22 September 2016 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC) in Shanghai, China. The "O2O2O Solution" was developed after months of studies on the dynamics and areas of potential in the online and offline trading worlds by UBM and Alibaba B2B teams, including extensive customer surveys, and will encapsulate an end-to-end solution for professional buyers including*: For sourcing professionals, personalized search capabilities over a larger pool of potential qualified suppliers and existing business partners, using integrated Alibaba.com and UBM knowhow; For exhibiting companies, search abilities from a larger pool of quality sourcing professionals amongst UBM databases and Alibaba.com members, and enhanced online showroom to display products and company information; Business match-making and communication functions allowing buyers and sellers to connect before, during, or after an event and to set meetings during the event; Full service onsite "O2O2O Solution Pavilion" with meeting space, lounge and concierge services at SIGN CHINA and LED CHINA
*Future plans in next stage product launch includes further e-commerce integration via Alibaba B2B's transaction, payment, protection, Trade Assurance programme, and host of logistic services.
Jime Essink, President and CEO of UBM Asia Ltd, said: "The experience in working with Alibaba B2B in recent months has inspired us beyond what we originally set out to accomplish. It was clear from the beginning we could leverage Alibaba's strength in online trading technology and UBM's expertise in creating face-to-face trading platforms. We knew that we could enhance our trade shows by way of robust, scalable and more precise pre-show search and meeting technologies (the first 'O', for online) while at the same time Alibaba build on the online sourcing experience by offering their capabilities to the physical 'meet and hand-shake" at trade shows (the second 'O', for offline). What we came to realise was the opportunity for the third 'O' (again for online), or the ability for us to service B2B customers even better by connecting them full circle in the sourcing and buying process through online transactions and other business services made available by Alibaba." Qian Yi, Global Business Development Director - Alibaba Group B2B Unit, said, "We are thrilled to partner with UBM to develop this brand-new O2O2O trade solution which will greatly enhance the efficiency of the cross-border B2B trading business. With the new solution available at the SIGN CHINA and LED CHINA trade show, we expect more SMEs will benefit from it and expand their businesses more effectively." "SIGN CHINA and LED CHINA is thrilled to play host to the official debut of the 'O2O2O Solution'", said David Tang, UBM Trust Managing Director and organiser of the fairs. "Through this collaboration with Alibaba B2B, we are able to give our exhibitors an enhanced marketing and business opportunity with pre-show online product showrooms and the ability to connect with even more potential buyers before and during the shows. The online and onsite match-making services offered at SIGN CHINA and LED CHINA will create a truly world-class experience for our international trade attendees." To stay up-to-date on the news and feature updates leading up to Alibaba B2B and UBM's "O2O2O Solution" launch at SIGN and LED China, please visit: http://www.signchina-sh.com
http://www.ledchina-sh.com Contacts Ben Veechai Regional Director International Marketing, UBM Asia Ltd T: +852 2516 1691 E: [email protected] Crystal Liu
Alibaba Group T: +852 63785626 E: [email protected] About UBM plc (www.ubm.com) Listed on the London Stock Exchange, UBM plc is a leading global events-led marketing services and communications company. UBM helps businesses do business, bringing the world's buyers and sellers together at events, online and in print. 5,000 staff located in more than 20 countries are organised into specialist teams which serve commercial and professional communities, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently. Running over 400 events per year UBM is the second largest exhibitions organiser globally and the biggest commercial tradeshow organiser in the US, mainland China, India and Malaysia. About UBM Asia (www.ubmasia.com) Owned by UBM plc listed on the London Stock Exchange, UBM Asia is the largest trade show organiser in Asia and the largest commercial organiser in China, India and Malaysia. Established with its headquarters in Hong Kong and subsidiary companies across Asia and in the US, UBM Asia has a strong global presence in 24 major cities with 31 offices and 1,300 staff. UBM Asia operates in 20 market sectors with 230 dynamic face-to-face trade exhibitions and associated print/online products for over 2,000,000 quality sellers and buyers from all over the world. Most recently, UBM Asia was awarded 'Asia's Most Reliable Trade Show Organiser Award' in Hong Kong's Most Valuable Companies Awards (HKMVCA) 2016. About Alibaba.com The first business of Alibaba Group, Alibaba.com (www.alibaba.com) is the leading platform for global wholesale trade serving millions of buyers and suppliers around the world. Through Alibaba.com, small businesses can sell their products to companies in other countries. Sellers on Alibaba.com are typically manufacturers and distributors based in China and other manufacturing countries such as India, Pakistan, the United States and Thailand. About 1688.com Launched in 1999, 1688.com (www.1688.com) is a leading online wholesale marketplace in China. It serves as a wholesale channel for merchants doing business on Alibaba Group's retail marketplaces to source products from domestic wholesalers. 1688.com is a business within Alibaba Group. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160517/368457
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Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160517/368468 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/leaders-in-online-wholesale-trade-and-exhibitions-to-debut-o2o2o-solution-service-at-sign-and-led-china-2016-expositions-300269844.html SOURCE UBM Asia Ltd.
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[May 18, 2016] Hozbe and eTravos Simplified Hotels and Travel Booking Engine
BENGALURU, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- www.hozbe.com and www.eTravos.com, a new entrant in the online hotel and travel booking engine powered by i2space Web Technologies Pvt Ltd. and in association with The Hotel Times.in were formerly launched its pan India marketing operations in Bengaluru. The official marketing launch of these user friendly booking engine for hotels and travel industry with focus on simplifying booking experience is scheduled at Bengaluru, on 09th June 2016 at Food Hospitality World 2016 - A trade show for the fast growing food and hospitality companies and trade professionals in India. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160518/803928 ) www.hozbe.comand www.eTravos.com the first-of-its-kind booking engines with unique characteristics and with extensive research blended with hi-tech integration to bring a delightful experience to the end users. While explaining the features of the booking engines, Mr. Bhargava Vangapally, Managing Director, i2space Web Technologies Pvt Ltd. said that "Hozbe is smartest cloud hospitality booking platform serving hotels, resorts, hotel chains, service apartments, theme parks owners to manage their inventory and online business smoothly in India. Our flagship product, hozbe can accommodate multiple hospitality services under one umbrella to hospitality chain of companies." Mr. Bhargava further added, "We are excited for having associated with The Hotel Times.in which has wide association with the hospitality industry. While outlining the travel product profile www.eTravos.com, Mr. Bhargava said that "eTravos is a first-of-its-kind affordable cloud-based SaaS solution that launches custom branded travel portal [ticket booking - bus, flight, hotel, cabs, holidays] within flat 15 minutes. You can go live with your business within 2 days! an ideal solution for travel agents, tour operators, small or mid size business or those who want to startup students, housewives, senior citizens just try it out." He further added that "eTravos is fully configurable for industry's needs, facilitate quick bookings, cancellations and report viewing. It has adopted the traditional B2B Travel Agent's Deposit Balance model. The system is quite intuiive and has been simple even for youngand inexperienced entrepreneurs." "Our focus in www.hozbe.com and www.eTravos.com has been on creating a simplified booking experience at affordable cost," he concluded.
Mr. K. Altaf Hussain, Chief Executive Officer of Corporate Comm India(CCI), The publisher of The Hotel Times.in said that The Hotel Times.in is indeed privileged to partnered with i2space Web Technologies Pvt Ltd. for positioning, branding and promoting www.hozbe.com and www.eTravos.com and allied booking engines. Mr. Altaf further added that i2space Web Technologies Pvt Ltd., a new generation travel centric software solution provider in a short span of time has made its respectable place in the industry. While elaborating the features of www.hozbe.com, Mr. Altaf stated that it has great look and feel, mobile and desktop friendly, insights into conversion and more, sell packages and add-ons, highlight and sell hot deals, simple 3 step booking process, offer promo and loyalty codes, multi language and currency, offer upgrades subject to availability, take payment on website or on arrival, trip itinerary, book multiple hotels and customise to groups needs. Where as www.eTravos.com has unique features such as bus bookings, cab bookings, domestic flight bookings, International flight bookings, hotel bookings, holiday packages, recharges, bills payments, eCommerce (3rd Party) and coupons (3rd Party). Increasingly online booking demand being generated in hospitality and travel industry, Mr. Altaf said that Hozbe and eTravos booking engines will be able to make a difference in the present day market dynamics. While expressing his happiness for The Hotel Times.in being associated with i2space Web Technologies Pvt Ltd. for providing quality simplified travel and hotel booking engine at the affordable cost to the customers with an assured booking experience.
About i2Space Web Technologies Private Limited: i2Space Web Technologies Private Limited is an ISO 9001:2008 Certified leading software solution provider specializing in travel and hospitality domain solutions. The company is established in 2010, headquartered in Hyderabad. During the period of 2010 to 2014, i2Space successfully executed more than 50 custom travel and hospitality portals, by consuming the partners API. Majority of the executions were in the domestic market apart from a few global executions in North America, Australia, Europe and Africa. Based on the domain and technology experience gained during this period with i2space Web Technologies Pvt Ltd. evolved a product named eTravos - a multi-tenant cloud SaaS that can empower clients to start a travel and hospitality portal with their custom design within 15 minutes. i2space Web Technologies Pvt Ltd. have executed more than 150 cloud sites Although travel and hospitality is i2space Web Technologies forte diversified in eCommerce, manufacturing and Finance domain. In these domains we've closely worked with a few of the US, Australia and Middle-east based clients who are leading service providers in core technologies. i2space Web Technologies Pvt Ltd. started with Microsoft Technologies and the team of developers are passionate and smart enough to adapt to the cutting-edge technologies for the solutions provided. Gradually, i2space Web Technologies Pvt Ltd. also built in-house competency and executed a few projects for SAP, Java, Oracle, Responsive Design, Open Source technologies and Mobile Development. About The Hotel Times.in: The Hotel Times.in is the venture of Corporate Comm India (CCI), headquartered in Bangalore. The Hotel Times.in is an online hospitality news portal to provide quality information to hoteliers and industry consultants. The portal serves a worldwide audience of hospitality professionals, providing them with both daily updated content and interactive services. The site offers industry news, multimedia streamed features, discussion platforms, a recruitment center, a supplier marketplace and several focus areas in areas such as technology and sales and marketing. The product and services promotional division of The Hotel Times.in is providing its services in positioning, branding and promoting of quality products for hospitality and travel industries with a customized solution. Corporate Comm India's other venture are The SME Times- http://www.thesmetimes.com/, The Pharma Times-http://www.thepharmatimes.in/, The Property Times-http://www.thepropertytimes.in/, The Power Times-
http://www.thepowertimes.in/ For details please contact:
James G
+91-80-41156483
[email protected]
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[May 18, 2016]
Intacct Collaborate Passes 10,000 User Adoption Milestone
SAN JOSE, Calif., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Intacct, a leading provider of cloud ERP software, today announced a customer adoption milestone for Intacct Collaborate, the secure social layer available within the Intacct financial management system. More than 10,000 users have adopted Intacct Collaborate, which empowers finance, sales, and services teams to streamline communications and cooperatively resolve issues with non-routine transactions that often slow down processessuch as clarifying policies, gathering missing information, or resolving exceptions.
Intacct Collaborate embeds Salesforce Chatter into Intacct to create a secure social layer across all finance processes and across devices through the Salesforce1 Mobile App. Instead of spawning separate and external email threads to resolve process issues, employees can now conduct conversations inside Intacct's cloud financial management system, directly on specific records such as customers, projects, invoices, purchase requisitions, journal entries, and more.
Intacct was recently named a Salesforce Platinum ISV Partner. For more than 10 years, Intacct has partnered with Salesforce to offer customers a pre-built integration with Salesforce Sales Cloud to connect their primary front-office and back-office systems. For joint customers leveraging the Intacct-Salesforce integration, conversations in Intacct Collaborate appear simultaneously in both systems. This enables sales to collaborate from the system they spend the most time in, while finance has access to the conversations from the accounting system of record they work in.
"As a Salesforce Platinum ISV Partner, we are constantly looking at innovative ways to make our joint customers more efficient and productive," said Intacct CTO, Aaron Harris. "For more than a decade, Intacct customers have used our tight integration with Salesforce to streamline processes and get the most out of their Intacct investments. Intacct Collaborate takes that connection to a whole new level by embedding Salesforce Chatter, empowering front-office and back-office teams to streamline communications and speed work execution."
Customer Reaction to Intacct Collaborate
One of the early adopters of Intacct Collaborate was Preston Trail Community Church, a regional church based in Frisco, Texas. The value they see in Intacct Collaborate revolves around improving communication, increasing control, and bettermanaging growth.
"We couldn't wait to subscribe to Intacct Collaborate. As we grow and our organization becomes more complex, it is essential that our technology solutions expand to support our dynamic environment," commented Tammy Bunting, CFO of Preston Trail Community Church. "We like that Collaborate allows users to comment at the transaction level, while maintaining the historical tracking requirements and permanent documentation we need for audit review. It also allows for tight controls and segregation of duties across our organization. Most importantly, Collaborate streamlines communicationbringing much needed automation and efficiency to the critical area of organizational coordination and conversation during our rapid growth."
Emission Monitoring Service, a professional services firm that assists companies in meeting the environmental regulations of both state and federal agencies, has adopted Intacct Collaborate for employees across its finance, sales, and services teams.
"One of the things we like about Intacct Collaborate is that it transforms the interaction with our ERP softwaremaking it less about just working with a computer and more about engaging with each other, within an application, for a common purpose," said Israel Askew, CFO of Emission Monitoring Service. "The other benefit we wanted was to create notes around the work we are doing in collections for past-due invoices. Intacct Collaborate enables us to easily add notes to particular order entry transactions in closed periods. This eliminates the need to handle communication around these exceptions outside of our financial system."
Intacct Collaborate is available as part of Intacct's core financial management system and is free for all Intacct customers, including those that don't currently use Salesforce applications. For an overview of functionality available with Intacct Collaborate, please visit: http://www.intacct.com/intacct-collaborate.
About Intacct
Intacct is a leading provider of cloud ERP software. Bringing cloud computing to finance and accounting, Intacct's award-winning applications are the preferred financial applications for AICPA business solutions. In use by more than 11,000 organizations from startups to public companies, Intacct is designed to improve company performance and make finance more productive. Hundreds of leading CPA firms and Value Added Resellers also offer Intacct to their clients. The Intacct system includes accounting, cash management, purchasing, vendor management, financial consolidation, subscription billing, revenue recognition, project accounting, fund accounting, inventory management, and financial reporting applications, all delivered over the Internet via cloud computing.
Intacct is headquartered in San Jose, California. For more information, please visit www.intacct.com or call 877-437-7765. Connect with Intacct on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube.
Intacct and the Intacct logo are trademarks of Intacct Corporation. Salesforce, Chatter, and others are among the trademarks of salesforce.com, inc. All other company and product names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Press Contact:
Peter Olson
Intacct
408-878-0951
[email protected]
http://www.twitter.com/intacct_peter
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120123/SF39551LOGO
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/intacct-collaborate-passes-10000-user-adoption-milestone-300270585.html
SOURCE Intacct
[May 18, 2016] NetDiligence Announces Strategic Alliance with Information Shield
PHILADELPHIA, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NetDiligence, a leading cyber risk assessment and data breach services company, announced today it has formed a strategic alliance with Information Shield, a leading provider of information security policy and compliance solutions. NetDiligence has integrated Information Shield's newest solution, ComplianceShield, into the NetDiligence eRiskHub platform as an optional feature, providing insurers that license the portal with a streamlined way to help their policyholders build and maintain strong information security programs that reduce their overall risk. ComplianceShield is a cloud-based solution that helps small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) automate the development and management of a customized information security program. The product comes bundled with tools needed to demonstrate a sound cyber risk posture, including security policies, security awareness training, program automation and a wizard-driven interface. ComplianceShield can enable insurers to reduce the cyber risk of their client portfolio, while providing consistent visibility into the security practices at the portfolio and individual client level. Insurers can choose to make a trial version of ComplianceShield available to their registered eRiskHub clients at no cost. Within minutes, covered clients have a set of "essential" information security policies and security awareness training for up to 10 employees. Clients that want a more robust feature set can easily upgrade to a low-cost annual subsciption.
"NetDiligence elected to integrate ComplianceShield into the eRiskHub because we understand that company insiders account for the majority of data breaches, whether by malicious intent or simple staff mistake," said Mark Greisiger, president of NetDiligence. "ComplianceShield addresses that problem directly by making it easier for businesses, even businesses without any information security expertise in-house, to focus on the specific things they need to do to improve their organizational security posture." Information Shield will be showcasing ComplianceShield and its integration to eRiskHub at this year's NetDiligence Cyber Liability Conference in Philadelphia on June 7th and 8th.
Media Contact :
Mark Greisiger
President, NetDiligence
610.525.6383
Email About NetDiligence
NetDiligence is a cyber risk assessment and data breach services company. Since 2001, NetDiligence has conducted thousands of enterprise-level cyber risk assessments for a broad variety of organizations, including public entities, financial services, retailers, software developers, medical providers and universities. NetDiligence services are used by cyber liability insurers in the U.S. and U.K. to support loss-control and education objectives. The NetDiligence eRiskHub (https://eriskhub.com) is licensed by a majority of cyber liability insurers. NetDiligence also publishes an annual Cyber Claims Study and hosts annual Cyber Liability Conferences in multiple locations. For more information, visit www.netdiligence.com. About Information Shield
Information Shield has provided information security policy and compliance products to over 10,000 organizations in 60 countries. Since 2004, Information Shield has focused exclusively on helping organizations document their information security and data privacy programs. ComplianceShield provides companies with an easy, affordable tool to demonstrate compliance and reduce cyber risk. Organizations can get started in minutes with a free trial at www.informationshield.com/cmquickstart. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/netdiligence-announces-strategic-alliance-with-information-shield-300270612.html SOURCE NetDiligence(R)
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[May 18, 2016] Industry-Leading Physicians to Conduct Free Seminars on Relieving Uterine Fibroid Pain
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In partnership with the Fibroid Education Center, Dr. Suzanne LeBlang, an industry leader treating uterine fibroids, and Dr. Stern, an award-winning OB/GYN, will conduct two free seminars providing guidance to women regarding relieving uterine fibroid pain, including new FDA-approved treatment option Curawave (MRgFUS), at the Mizner Cultural Arts Center in Boca Raton, Florida, on June 12 at 3:00pm and 6:00pm. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160517/369005 One in four women will suffer from uterine fibroid symptoms, and most are told to watch, wait, and tolerate symptoms. Ten million women in America currently experience fibroids, and over 250,000 women annually undergo a hysterectomy in response to fibroids. Dr. LeBlang and Dr. Stern have observed many patients do not fully understand the nature of fibroids or the treatment options available. New advances in medical research have led to Curawave (MRgFUS), an FDA-approved non-invasive, outpatient procedure that treats uterine fibroids and relieves common symptoms, including pain, bloating, and bleeding. Prior to this, many doctors have instructed women to suffer throgh uterine fibroid pain or undergo an invasive hysterectomy instead. With Curawave, women complete the treatment in only a few hours and walk out the same day without any required recovery period. This treatment is available at prestigious medical centers around the United States, including University MRI in Boca Raton, the only Florida site offering the procedure.
Attendees will receive quality education on uterine fibroids, including a comprehensive condition description, symptoms, treatment options, and detail on Curawave (MRgFUS). Registration for the seminar is free, open to the public, and available both online at http://www.fibroidseminar.com and by phone at (888) 44-WOMEN. The event is ideal for women currently suffering from uterine fibroids and who are interested in learning more about the condition and the treatment options available to them. Dr. LeBlang has heard many patients say, "Watching and waiting with uterine fibroids is wrecking my life." Some patients report being thrown to the floor in bouts of pain. Others have irregular heavy bleeding or leak urine at embarrassing moments. Dr. LeBlang and Dr. Stern are confident that as women with uterine fibroids learn more about their options for overcoming fibroids, there will be less watching and waiting. Women will act to adopt the best therapy and remove fibroids before they grow to a level that requires the most invasive methods.
The Fibroid Education Center (http://www.fibroideducation.com) is a social health company serving women who struggle with symptomatic uterine fibroids. We encourage women to take their health into their own hands by providing information to assess treatment choices. Media Contact:
Terry Newmyer
Fibroid Education Center
888-44WOMEN
707-495-2019 (cell)
http://www.fibroideducation.com To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/industry-leading-physicians-to-conduct-free-seminars-on-relieving-uterine-fibroid-pain-300270661.html SOURCE Fibroid Education Center
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[May 18, 2016] Randstad Japan Selects Gigwalk to Transform the Management of Its Staffing Business
Gigwalk, the leader in distributed workforce management, today announced its partnership with Randstad Japan, a division of the world's second-largest HR service provider Randstad, to bring innovative mobile solutions to the staffing industry in Japan. Randstad Japan provides temporary staffing, outsourcing, recruiting business and outplacement and other HR services with 120 branch offices throughout Japan. Gigwalk will be powering the launch of a mobile application to advance how Randstad Japan communicates with and manages contingent labor and on-demand work. By using Gigwalk's technology, Randstad Japan aims to improve the work process by minimizing phone, email, and fax communications and transitioning to a mobile solution that offers better and faster job matching, and the ability for workers to easily accept or decline jobs, clock hours and communicate with recruiters. Additionally, this partnership will improve efficiency by enabling mobile alerts for workers, speeding time to deployment, eliminating paper time sheets, and providing real-time data on both the work and the worker to ensure compliance with Jpanese labor laws. Gigwalk will enable a whole new way for Randstad Japan to manage their daily temporary staffing business.
"Approximately 2,000 on-demand staffing positions are dispatched per day, from promoters at a supermarket, to traffic researchers and warehouse workers," said Marcel Wiggers, Chairman and CEO, Randstad Japan. "Through this new partnership, we'll be able to offer better and faster communication with workers, while improving our productivity and work process." In Japan, the shortage of labor is becoming an important issue. Companies, especially in the food service and retail industries, are struggling to find people to hire. The country is already challenged with an aging society, and with the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, Japan will face what is increasingly becoming a chronic and structural labor shortage.
"We're excited to partner with Randstad Japan to use Gigwalk mobile technology to make it more efficient to quickly place contingent workers in jobs across Japan," said CEO of Gigwalk, David Hale. "Through this partnership, we hope to give Randstad Japan the advanced mobile capabilities to revolutionize their staffing business and maximize staff utilization and worker satisfaction." This new Gigwalk-powered Randstad Japan app will roll out to clients in July and then to workers in August and promises to make work better by easily connecting workers and employers digitally. About Gigwalk Gigwalk builds mobile software for distributed workforce management, providing employers the ability to find the right people to get the job done, supervise distributed teams and get real-time visibility into what's happening on the ground and out in the field. Based in San Francisco, California, Gigwalk is backed by August Capital, Harrison Metal, Nokia (News - Alert) Growth Partners, Randstad Innovation Fund, and SoftTech. For more information, visit www.gigwalk.com. About Randstad Japan Randstad specializes in solutions in the field of flexible work and human resources services, ranging from regular temporary staffing and permanent placements to In-house, Professionals, Search & Selection, Outplacement, and HR Solutions. Randstad Japan operates with 120 branches and in-house locations across the country. For more information, see www.randstad.co.jp. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160518005395/en/
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Tycoons have huge assets hidden overseas
VietNamNet Bridge - The Panama Papers has issued warnings about tax evasion committed by Vietnamese individuals and institutions through international transactions.
In the Panama Papers released on May 10, 2016, the names of 189 Vietnamese individuals, 19 offshore companies and 23 intermediary companies are included.
In the Panama Papers released on May 10, 2016, the names of 189 Vietnamese individuals, 19 offshore companies and 23 intermediary companies are included.Some Vietnamese individuals named in the list have appeared in mass media, saying that being listed in the Panama Papers does not mean that the companies and legal representatives were related to tax evasion or money laundering.Pham Trong Dat, Director General of the Government Inspectorates Anti-corruption Bureau, also affirmed that persons and businesses named in the Panama Papers do not mean they violated the law.What has been unveiled from the Panama Papers should be considered a source of information for Vietnams agencies to verify.However, analysts commented that there must be reasons for the names to be listed in the papers, and that the institutions and individuals huge assets, transactions and the cash flow remain a secret.This is not the first time that Vietnamese tycoons are related to bribery cases and unclear transactions overseas.In early 2015, ICJCs (the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists) documents showed that more than 100,000 clients from 200 countries opened accounts at HSBC Switzerland branch in the years from 1988 to 2007.These include 26 clients related to Vietnam who had total assets of $37.5 million, while the richest had assets worth $12.2 million.The information then sparked curiosity among the public. Experts said that Vietnamese laws do not allow Vietnamese individuals to deposit money at foreign banks, and it is very difficult to make international transactions under the very strict regulations on foreign currency management.Recently, Giang Kim Dat, former chief accountant of Vinashin (the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group), has been found embezzling $19 million and has fled abroad.During his five years in Singapore, Dat spent a lot of money and bought an apartment worth $3.6 million. Prior to that, Dat bought an apartment in Sentosa, Singapore.It is unknown how Dat could transfer such a big amount of money abroad and buy assets under his name.Lam Ngoc Khuan, the former director of Phuong Nam Seafood Company, fled abroad some years ago because his company fell into insolvency.While he could not pay tens of billions of dong in Vietnam, he could transfer big money abroad with which he could buy houses in the US.A report of Coldwell Banker Singapore showed that 3.2 percent of the real estate transactions in Singapore are made by Vietnamese.
M. Ha
[May 18, 2016] Online Scam-Tracking Map Allows Consumers to Report and Monitor Fraud Schemes
WASHINGTON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With more than a million cases of fraud being reported to the government annually, the AARP Fraud Watch Network has launched an online Scam-Tracking Map, allowing consumers nationwide to report instances of fraud schemes, by way of sharing the information with others in their community who may become targeted. The free interactive tool also includes alerts from law enforcement and other public agencies, listed state-by-state. The Fraud Watch Network is encouraging those who have been targeted or victimized by a scam to access the map web page, where they can easily post a brief description of the scam. The Scam-Tracking Map, powered by Google Maps, features location-based functionality, allowing users with one click to view current scam alerts posted by residents of their own community. Users also may search for different types of scams via a keyword search function. A pull-down menu displays the latest police and public safety notices, state by state. "Scammers have demonstrated that they are highly adept at developing creative identity theft schemes, imposter scams ad other types of fraud," said Nancy LeaMond, Chief Advocacy & Engagement Officer, AARP. "The Scam-Tracking Map will help people recognize these insidious schemes wherever they encounter them via email, telephone or a knock at your door."
The Federal Trade Commission reports that it received 1.2 million fraud complaints during 2015, with consumers losing more than $765 million to the con artists. The Scam-Tracking Map is being promoted via an advertising campaign which features an online video.
The AARP Fraud Watch Network was launched in 2013 as a free resource for people of all ages. The website provides information about fraud and scams, prevention tips from experts, fun educational quizzes, and video presentations featuring Fraud Watch Network Ambassador Frank Abagnale. Users may sign up for "Watchdog Alert" emails that deliver breaking scam information, or call a free helpline at 877-908-3360 to speak with trained volunteers. About AARP:
AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, with a membership of nearly 38 million that helps people turn their goals and dreams into 'Real Possibilities' by changing the way America defines aging. With staffed offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, AARP works to strengthen communities and promote the issues that matter most to families such as healthcare security, financial security and personal fulfillment. AARP also advocates for individuals in the marketplace by selecting products and services of high quality and value to carry the AARP name. As a trusted source for news and information, AARP produces the world's largest circulation magazine, AARP The Magazine and AARP Bulletin. AARP does not endorse candidates for public office or make contributions to political campaigns or candidates. To learn more, visit www.aarp.org or follow @aarp and our CEO @JoAnn_Jenkins on Twitter. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160518/369214
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20070209/NYF043LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/online-scam-tracking-map-allows-consumers-to-report-and-monitor-fraud-schemes-300270851.html SOURCE AARP
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[May 18, 2016] Sikorsky and AHS International to Offer New "Hover for a Day" Challenge with $50K Prize
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company, (NYSE:LMT) and the American Helicopter Society (AHS) International today announced the Sikorsky-AHS "Hover for a Day" Challenge, a new competition to demonstrate a game-changing level of efficiency in rotorcraft with a $50,000 prize at stake. Sikorsky Innovations, the technology development team within Sikorsky's Engineering & Technology group, is working with members of AHS International to lead the competition coordination. Sikorsky is a world leader in helicopter design, manufacture and service. "On behalf of our more than 4,000 engineers across the world, I am proud to announce this extremely thought-provoking challenge," said Mark Miller, Sikorsky vice president of Engineering & Technology. "Spread the word: With this new competition, we are challenging aviation engineers to stretch their thinking with regard to how a helicopter performs in what they do best hover. This Challenge is to hover for 24 hours, while still demonstrating other helicopter key attributes, as well as new levels of efficiency and reliability. We hope to keep the spirit of Igor Sikorsky alive, the spirit that tackled many seemingly impossible tasks and created our industry as a result." "We think it's going to take groundbreaking changes in efficiency of rotor, engine and enegy storage and delivery in order to hover continuously for a full day," Chris Van Buiten, vice president of Sikorsky Innovations, added. "These efforts may produce new technologies, in terms of airfoils, rotor structures, transmission and drive, engine and energy storage. It will be exciting to see the inventive thinking that this Challenge will generate."
In a previous challenge, AHS and Sikorsky awarded a $250,000 prize for the AHS Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition, which endured 33 years to prove what many suggested was impossible: to create a helicopter using only human-generated power that could rise three meters (9.8 feet) and hover over a 10-meter-by-10-meter (32.8 ft) box for one minute. The winner of that competition was AeroVelo Inc., consisting of a team of students from the University of Toronto and led by UT graduate engineers. AeroVelo flew its "Atlas" vehicle above three meters and hovered for approximately 64 seconds, capturing the prize for the decades-long competition in June 2013.
"Just like the human powered helicopter competition, the statement is simple, but the solution may be technically very complex. We hope the AHS 'Hover for a Day' Challenge sparks the next generation of aviation engineers with great ideas to try to do something that may be impossible," said Mike Hirschberg, executive director of AHS International. Specific details on how to enter the Challenge and detailed rules will be announced on June 16, 2016, on the AHS International website www.vtol.org/challenge, Hirschberg said. About Lockheed Martin: Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 125,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. About AHS International: Headquartered in Fairfax, Va., AHS is the world's premier professional vertical flight technical society. The non-profit brings together industry, academia and governments to tackle the toughest challenges in vertical flight. Founded in 1943 as the American Helicopter Society, AHS International provides global leadership for scientific, technical, educational and legislative initiatives that advance the state of the art of vertical flight. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141118/159313LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sikorsky-and-ahs-international-to-offer-new-hover-for-a-day-challenge-with-50k-prize-300270943.html SOURCE Lockheed Martin
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[May 18, 2016] Lingerie Company Of Australia Chooses NetSuite OneWorld To Fuel Business Model Innovation
SAN JOSE, Calif. and SYDNEY, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NETSUITE SUITEWORLD 2016 -- NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry's leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP and omnichannel commerce software suites, today announced that the Lingerie Company of Australia, a leading luxury lingerie wholesaler and retailer who represents Simone Perele and Implicite brands, has deployed NetSuite in Australia and New Zealand to better manage its business operations and support its vision for B2B and B2C business growth in the region. NetSuite OneWorld replaced several legacy systems, including Solemate and MYOB for accounting, to manage its core business processes, including financial consolidation across its head office, wholesale business and 13 retail stores in Australia, customer relationship management (CRM), point of sale (POS), demand and supply planning, inventory management, order management, warehouse management, invoicing, payroll and multicurrency management for the Euro, US, Australia and New Zealand dollar. Lingerie Company of Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Simone Perele Group, has been in operation for 25 years, and today is one of the global brands' largest operations outside of its headquarters in France. From its warehouse in Victoria, Australia, the company supplies the Simone Perele brand to over 120 wholesale accounts, Smith & Caughey's in Auckland, New Zealand, Ballantynes in Christchurch, New Zealand, and 13 of its own retail stores across Australia. In addition, Lingerie Company of Australia has a brand-exclusive relationship with one of Australia's largest department stores, David Jones, which has grown from occupying a single rack to now being the only lingerie brand stocked across all 40 David Jones' ANZ locations. In July, Simone Perele plans to enter into concession relationship with David Jones, establishing a direct selling model in each department store where it will become solely responsible for inventory management and staffing. In order to support this move, Lingerie Company of Australia expects to rely increasingly on NetSuite OneWorld to provide accurate stock visibility across its 20,000 SKU's and to help deliver enhanced customer service. "A challenge we're currently facing is to ensure we're ahead of the industry shift away from pure wholesaling and toward 'own' retailing," said Tim Rosenfield, CEO, of the Lingerie Company of Australia (Simone Perele ANZ). "The new concession agreement with David Jones is a perfect step to help achieve our business growth objectives; however, it is also adding a whole new layer of complexity. In order to manage this change, we need a robust inventory management system and NetSuite OneWorld can give this to us." As part of the company's shift toward direct selling, Lingerie Company of Australia recognised that it needed to pgrade its customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities. Despite having over 200,000 Australian customers in its loyalty program, many contact details were inaccurate, and the lack of ERP integration made it difficult to get a single view of the customer. With NetSuite OneWorld, the company can now access and analyse each customer's complete transaction history and turn this data into customised engagement. It can track what customers are buying and engage with them through tailored email marketing, whether offering complimentary items or communicating special deals with high value customers. Lingerie Company of Australia also has future plans to use NetSuite's powerful development platform to further automate this tailored communication with its customers.
"As a business, we can now engage with our customers in a much more meaningful way, and this largely has to do with how we obtain, analyse and manage our data," Rosenfield said. "Being able to offer our customers items based on their purchase history and engage with them in a way that makes them feel valued, is crucial to our business. To ensure we are providing the best level of service to our customers, we also need a responsive stock analysis system to offer the desired items to our ANZ customers in a timely manner." The rising cost of doing business in Australia and New Zealand is another concern for Lingerie Company of Australia. In order to maintain its warehouse in Brunswick, Victoria, it needs to maximise efficiencies across the business, and this requires clear visibility of financial performance. With its legacy system, Lingerie Company of Australia previously had no insight as to how it was performing until profit and loss statements were received at month's end.
NetSuite OneWorld supports 190 currencies, 20 languages and automated tax compliance in more than 100 countries, and transaction in more than 200 countries. Since implementing NetSuite OneWorld, Lingerie Company of Australia has experienced the following benefits: - More efficient and accurate inventory and delivery management: Lingerie Company of Australia's inventory and delivery management was previously cumbersome and ineffective as it relied on manual data entry, with only select employees having visibility of stock arrivals and product performance. With NetSuite OneWorld, stock performance and delivery reports can now be viewed on a daily or per transaction basis, allowing the business to identify the cost of different stock items and better optimise their distribution across the business. - Financial transparency that allows action: With NetSuite OneWorld, Lingerie Company of Australia can view performance figures daily and make adjustments accordingly through initiatives such as promotions, changes to shipping schedules and adjustment of staff hours. - Visibility turns to profit: For the two years it had been open, one of the organisation's Australian stores was unable to turn a profit, and given the lack of visibility into stock performance and financials, the reason could not be identified. NetSuite OneWorld helped Lingerie Company of Australia analyse transactions and gross margins and after making changes to the stock offering, the store turned a profit within two months. - Effective stock management: Lingerie Company of Australia can now more effectively analyse efficient vs. inefficient stock to the benefit of the business. It is also undertaking a large project to increase stock turns by utilising the help of sales reports, stock on hand and delivery management. - More efficient warehouse management: Prior to NetSuite OneWorld, Lingerie Company of Australia did not use any sophisticated warehouse tools. It now has the ability to track cost of shipping per box to streamline efficiencies. - Integrated POS system: NetSuite's POS solution is a vast improvement on the previous legacy system. Now that all transaction data is captured within NetSuite, Lingerie Company of Australia is able to analyse data in real-time to understand where further efficiencies can be gained. - Easily operate in multiple currencies: Through NetSuite OneWorld, the ANZ subsidiary of the Simone Perele Group is able to easily pay its global parent company in local currencies, USD and Euro when invoices are received. - Reduced IT costs and complexity: NetSuite's proven, secure cloud solution has helped significantly reduce the need for Lingerie Company of Australia to allocate time and additional budget to managing, maintaining and upgrading its business critical applications. Today, more than 30,000 companies and subsidiaries depend on NetSuite to run complex, mission-critical business processes globally in the cloud. Since its inception in 1998, NetSuite has established itself as the leading provider of cloud-based financials/enterprise resource planning (ERP) and omnichannel commerce software applications for businesses of all sizes. Many FORTUNE 100 companies rely on NetSuite to accelerate innovation and business transformation. NetSuite continues its success in delivering the best cloud business management software to businesses around the world, enabling them to lower IT costs significantly while increasing productivity, as the global adoption of the cloud accelerates. For more information about NetSuite please visit www.netsuite.com.au. Follow NetSuite's Cloud blog, NetSuite's Facebook page and @NetSuiteAPAC Twitter handle for real-time updates. NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are service marks of NetSuite Inc. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090924/SF81218LOGO-b To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lingerie-company-of-australia-chooses-netsuite-oneworld-to-fuel-business-model-innovation-300270901.html SOURCE NetSuite Inc.
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[May 18, 2016] NASA Invites Media, Social Media to June Deep Space Rocket Booster Test
WASHINGTON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Media and social media followers are invited to watch as NASA tests the largest, most powerful booster in the world for the agency's new deep space rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), on June 28 at Orbital ATK Aerospace System's test facility in Promontory, Utah. SLS and NASA's Orion spacecraft will launch astronauts on missions to explore multiple destinations on the journey to Mars. NASA social media followers can apply for credentials to attend the booster test firing as part of a NASA Social event. A maximum of 45 participants will be selected to attend events on June 27, which include tours of the Orbital ATK facilities and opportunities for interviews with NASA and Orbital ATK officials. Participants also will have the opportunity to view, and feel, the powerful test firing on June 28. Social media followers can apply to attend the event at: http://www.nasa.gov/social/qm2_social Registration is for U.S. citizens only and closes Monday, May 23. All social media accreditation applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Details and rules for social media accreditation also are listed on the website. Members of the U.S. media interested in coverig the June 27 events and June 28 test can request credentials by contacting Orbital ATK's Kay Anderson at 435-230-2787 or [email protected].
This is the second two-minute, full-duration qualification test for the booster, and will provide NASA with critical data to support booster qualification for flight. It also will be the last time the booster is fired in a test environment before the first flight of SLS and Orion in 2018. During the test, 82 qualification test objectives will be measured through more than 530 instrumentation channels on the booster at a target initial temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit the colder end of its accepted propellant temperature range.
The first, full-scale booster qualification test was successfully completed in March 2015 and demonstrated acceptable performance of the booster design at 90 degrees Fahrenheit -- the highest end of the booster's accepted propellant temperature range. Testing at the thermal extremes experienced by the booster on the launch pad is important to understanding the effects of temperature on the performance of the propellant. Two five-segment solid rocket boosters and four RS-25 main engines will power the SLS. Solid rocket boosters operate in parallel with the main engines for the first two minutes of flight, providing more than 75 percent of the thrust needed for the rocket to overcome Earth's gravitational pull. The SLS Block I configuration will have a minimum 70-metric-ton (77-ton) lift capability and be powered by twin boosters and four RS-25 engines. The next planned upgrade of SLS, Block 1B, would use a more powerful exploration upper stage for more ambitious missions with a 105-metric-ton (115-ton) lift capacity. Block 2 will add a pair of more powerful boosters to provide a 130-metric-ton (143-ton) lift capacity. In each configuration, SLS will continue to use the same core stage and four RS-25 engines. For more information about SLS, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/sls Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nasa-invites-media-social-media-to-june-deep-space-rocket-booster-test-300271043.html SOURCE NASA
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[May 18, 2016] HobbyLink Japan Selects NetSuite OneWorld To Manage Global Business Growth
SAN JOSE, Calif. and TOKYO, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NETSUITE SUITEWORLD 2016 - NetSuite Co., Ltd., the Japanese subsidiary of NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry's leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP and omnichannel commerce software suites, today announced that HobbyLink Japan Inc., distributor of Japanese toys and hobby products to consumers and retail businesses across the globe, has selected NetSuite OneWorld to support its global expansion plans. HobbyLink will run its mission-critical business processes on NetSuite, including accounting, financials, inventory management and order management. Established in 1995, HobbyLink Japan, supplies some of the world's finest hobby kits, figures and toys, including a comprehensive selection of Gundam, Sci-Fi, anime and military models, books and supplies from a 4,000-square-meter facility in Tochigi. It has a catalogue of 125,000 SKUs and actual inventory of 60,000 items that can be ordered online and shipped to customers and collectors around the world with large markets in the US, Australia, the UK, Canada, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Germany, Malaysia and the Philippines. Currently, 30 percent of sales go through hobby shops and the other 70 percent through the ecommerce site. As Japanese pop culture gained popularity in markets around the world, the company experienced exponential growth. While the company enjoyed this business growth, at the same time, it had challenges with its existing on-premise accounting system and numerous Excel sheets that created extensive manual work and were error prone. The old system required heavy customization and could only offer basic reporting capabilities. Employees had to hand code most of the customer queries and responses. This ultimately hampered the company's ability to manage growth. After a rigorous evaluation of software solutions including SAP and Microsoft Dynamics, HobbyLink chose NetSuite OneWorld for the following reasons: Superior inventory management that can provide visibility into stock levels and when to replenish to help avoid out of stock or over-stock issues.
Efficient order management that can centralize all orders and process them efficiently, heling to eliminate manual processes such as hand written orders and notes.
Real-time visibility with one single unified financial system of record and financial reporting across the entire organization.
360-degree view of its customers, allowing the company to better segment its customer base and tailor promotions to better meet demand for specific products and for specific geographic marketplaces.
A modern, intuitive user interface that will require minimal training for staff.
Productivity improvements by automating customer service responses and more quickly and efficiently resolving customer issues.
"With NetSuite OneWorld, we expect to have clear insights into the business and business performance and I believe that there will be significant productivity improvements as the system will allow us to get near-instant access to business critical information," said HobbyLink CEO Mr. Scott Hards.
"In addition, NetSuite OneWorld will be invaluable for assessing successes and failures in some of the product segments. We believe with NetSuite, we will be able to effectively manage our inventory to keep our stock levels and types at a point where we can execute well on demand and our customer service department can give the most up-to-date information to our customers. HobbyLink's aim is to continue to supply the world's finest hobby products and toys to its customers and provide an exceptional customer experience." "HobbyLink joins the growing number of businesses that see the value of bringing their mission-critical data together in NetSuite," said Tomoyuki Nakanishi, VP and GM Japan for NetSuite. "With the flexibility, agility and scalability of NetSuite's cloud ERP, these businesses can continue to grow and profit." About HobbyLink Japan Established in 1995, HobbyLink Japan distributes Japanese and international-brand plastic models, toys and figures to consumers and resellers around the world through its web sites at hlj.com and hlj.co.jp. The company also wholesales imported hobby products in Japan through its Beaver Corporation subsidiary. Today, more than 30,000 companies and subsidiaries depend on NetSuite to run complex, mission-critical business processes globally in the cloud. Since its inception in 1998, NetSuite has established itself as the leading provider of cloud-based financials/enterprise resource planning (ERP) and omnichannel commerce software applications for businesses of all sizes. Many FORTUNE 100 companies rely on NetSuite to accelerate innovation and business transformation. NetSuite continues its success in delivering the best cloud business management software to businesses around the world, enabling them to lower IT costs significantly while increasing productivity, as the global adoption of the cloud accelerates. Follow NetSuite's Cloud blog, NetSuite's Facebook page and @NetSuite Twitter handle for real-time updates. For more information about NetSuite, please visit www.netsuite.com. For more information about NetSuite K.K., please visit www.netsuite.co.jp. NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are registered service marks of NetSuite Inc. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090924/SF81218LOGO-b To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hobbylink-japan-selects-netsuite-oneworld-to-manage-global-business-growth-300270907.html SOURCE NetSuite Inc.
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[May 18, 2016] SIMgine Revved Up to Showcase How its eSIM Technology is Powering the Internet of Things at NXP FTF
GWYNEDD, Wales, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Simulity Labs Ltd will be unveiling its flagship eSIM operating system called SIMgine for NXP FTF on May 16th through 19th in Austin, Texas. The eSIM was the most talked about disruptive technology at this past Mobile World Congress in February this year. With the recent advent of AppleSIM, Apple's own version of eSIM, all the stakeholders are getting ready for the next revolution in mobile communications, including NXP Semiconductors and Freescale Technologies who merged last year to form one of the largest semiconductors in the world. SIMgine will be showcased during the four-day event to show how IoT devices can be securely connected and remotely provisioned. SIMgine's secure remote provisioning and connectivity provides consumers with the flexibility and choice of their mobile operator which reduces the costs of data services. One use case in the automotive industry is the value that SIMgine brings is to car makers that embed chips for cellular connectivity and can now manage their sensors more effectively, securely and flexibly. SIMgine enables true control over IoT/M2M devices, with just one single application to handle all management tasks. Stephane Fund, Simulity's CEO adds ''We are committed to the continued growth and stability of developing products for IoT. Based on Simulity's strength in secure embedded communication solutions and its eSIM offering, we believe that al stakeholders would benefit from learning how they can embed SIMgine's technology.'' Mr. Fund continued, ''Simulity is proud to be sponsoring this must-attend event in order to showcase our eSIM solution.'' NXP's four-day event is quite unique and will be a driving force for secure connectivity across the Internet of Things.
The industry projects over twenty-five billion devices will need connectivity by 2020. With such high demand for secure communications, Simulity is partnering with technology companies that want to be a part of the fastest growing IoT eco-system. Simulity is well positioned to provide the secure and embedded connectivity solutions that will be required to make this a reality. Visit Simulity at stand 227 in the Smart City area. SIMgine- powering the future of connected devices and the Internet of Things.
About Simulity Labs Ltd Simulity is a software company, specialising in secure embedded communications software and related server-based applications and services. SIMgine is a proprietary embedded SIM Operating System that is leading the way for secure connectivity solutions and enabling the Internet of Things. http://www.simulity.com About NXP NXP Semiconductors N.V. enables secure connections and infrastructure for a smarter world, advancing solutions that make lives easier, better and safer. As the world leader in secure connectivity solutions for embedded applications, NXP is driving innovation in the secure connected vehicle, end-to-end security & privacy and smart connected solutions markets. Built on more than 60 years of combined experience and expertise, the company has 45,000 employees in more than 35 countries. Notes to Editor For further information on this please contact Eimear Reihillat [email protected]or on 02890446487/ +44 7494421785 This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/simgine-revved-up-to-showcase-how-its-esim-technology-is-powering-the-internet-of-things-at-nxp-ftf-300271004.html SOURCE Simulity Labs Ltd
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[May 18, 2016] Top Industry Leaders Recognized for Improving Energy Efficiency
NIAGARA FALLS, ON, May 18, 2016 /CNW/ - Excellence in energy efficiency was celebrated yesterday in Niagara Falls, with the announcement of Canadian Industry Program for Energy Conservation (CIPEC) Leadership Award winners. The awards, which were presented at the annual Energy Summit co-hosted by Natural Resources Canada and CIPEC, highlight the exceptional achievements of CIPEC member companies in promoting and improving energy efficiency, cutting costs and improving productivity through sustainable energy use. The Government of Canada is committed to advancing energy efficiency as part of Canada's national approach to addressing climate change. Recent action includes proposed changes to Canada's Energy Efficiency Regulations, a key step to meeting federal commitments under the Vancouver Declaration on Clean Growth and Climate Change. The CIPEC Leadership Award winners demonstrate a commitment to environmental protection and are accelerating the move toward a more globally competitive Canadian economy. This year, there are two recipients in each of the following six categories: Corporate Stewardship: ArcelorMittal Dofasco and Cascades Inc.
li>Process and Technology Improvement: Barrick Hemlo and CAE Inc. Energy Performance Management: Shell Canada Limited and Catalyst Paper Corporation Powell River Facility
Employee Awareness and Training: 3M Canada Brockville Plant and Canfor Pulp
Brockville Plant and Canfor Pulp Integrated Energy Efficiency Strategy: Global Wood Concepts Ltd. and Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee
CIPEC Energy Management National Award: New Gold New Afton Mine and 3M Canada Company
The Government of Canada recently launched a new interactive website to allow Canadians to share their ideas and be part of a national conversation on climate change, as part of its commitment to engaging Canadians on the decisions that affect them.
Quotes "I am pleased to recognize the leadership of these companies in promoting energy efficiency in helping to produce a cleaner environment and a more globally competitive Canadian economy. Energy efficiency is an important part of Canada's national approach to address climate change." Kim Rudd
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources Associated Links CIPEC To submit your comments on Canada's approach to climate change please visit www.canada.ca/climateaction. Follow us on Twitter: @NRCan (http://twitter.com/nrcan) NRCan's news releases and backgrounders are available at www.nrcan.gc.ca/media SOURCE Natural Resources Canada
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[May 18, 2016] La Capitale celebrates the 10th anniversary of its VIVA workplace health and wellness program by adding an online wellness platform
QUEBEC CITY, May 18, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - La Capitale Financial Group is proudly celebrating the 10th anniversary of its VIVA health and wellness program, designed for companies of all sizes, by adding an online wellness platform. This online wellness engagement platform and mobile app is provided by the Canadian company, Sprout Wellness Solutions. "Sprout's technological know-how coupled with VIVA's wellness features allows companies to benefit from a simple, efficient and effective turnkey formula," said Annie Giguere, Director of Innovation, Business Solutions and Marketing at La Capitale. A win-win situation for employers and employees
VIVA has earned its stripes over the last 10 years. Companies that introduced the program have reaped the rewards. Employees are more engaged and happy, have improved their lifestyle habits and have a better work-life balance. Enhanced company brand, increased productivity, as well as lower absenteeism and lower health costs are the other benefits of the program. "We have drawn inspiration from the community notion of social media for upgrading our health and wellness program," explained Annie Giguere. "With VIVA, users now have access to an online health and wellness engagement platform and a mobile application that includes personalized activities and measuring tools as well as gamification concepts such as collecting points or badges. The platform contributs to strengthening employees' engagement, while also maintaining and improving their health and wellness. It also supports participants' spontaneous wellness initiatives while offering them a tool to track their personal health and wellness activities," concluded Ms. Giguere.
Measuring tools Rate of platform registration
Usage (the proportion of users who have used their platform account in the last month or week).
Rate of participation in an activity or a challenge
Rate of participant registration in various interest groups
The health subjects that most interest users
Users' health goals Some examples of VIVA activities
Online wellness engagement platform
Heart health clinic with nurses
Sports clinics
Presentations (wellness, work-life balance, parent-child relationships)
Healthy meal cooking demonstrations and tastings
Health and wellness challenges
Monthly bulletins. About La Capitale
Founded in 1940, La Capitale Insurance and Financial Group has a strong presence across Quebec and throughout Canada. With over 2,690 employees and guided by the values of mutualism on which it was founded, La Capitale works with clients to build, protect and value what they feel counts for their financial security. It offers insurance products and financial services to the general public as well as to Quebec public service employees. With assets of $5.8 billion, La Capitale occupies a choice position among leading insurers in Canada. About the VIVA Workplace Health and Wellness Program
For the last 10 years, VIVA has offered a turnkey program that promotes the adoption of healthy lifestyle habits through motivating workplace activities. More than 10,000 Canadian employees have benefited from the numerous advantages of the VIVA workplace health and wellness program. More information is available at viva.lacapitale.com/en. About Sprout Wellness Solutions
Sprout is the leading Wellness Engagement Platform, used by progressive companies to help improve the health of their employees and their business. Sprout helps to create a work culture that enables individuals to lead happier, healthier lives. More information is available at www.sproutatwork.com. SOURCE La Capitale Financial Group Inc.
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What you need to know about Powerball and the $610 million jackpot
At their core, both the Google Home and the Amazon Echo are Wi-Fi-connected speakers with a built-in voice assistant that can seemingly do everything from playing music to controlling your lights. But there are more than a few differences between these competing gadgets.
To see which comes out on top, we put both of these speakers and virtual assistants through 10 rounds of competition, ranging from design and smart-home features to overall intelligence and value. Google Home is good, but the Echo reigns supreme. Heres why.
(Image credit: Photo credit: Corey Olsen/Tom's Guide)
Design
The Echo has a fairly simple cylindrical design, whereas the Home has a more rounded base with a top that's cut off at an angle; it's reminiscent of a vase. The base of the Google Home comes in several colors (mango, marine, violet, carbon, snow and copper), which can be swapped out by the user extra bases cost $20. The Echo is available in only black or white. Both come with buttons to let you mute the microphone, but the Googles main interface is a touch-sensitive surface that you can tap or swipe, whereas the Echo uses a physical button and volume knob.
Winner: Google Home.
Not only does it have a better design, but you can customize its look, too.
(Image credit: Photo credit: Corey Olsen/Tom's Guide)
Smart-Home Features
One of the key features of both the Echo and Google Home is that they let you control a number of smart-home devices using just your voice. For instance, you can say, Alexa, dim the lights, and if you have it connected to, say, Philips Hue smart bulbs, Alexa will dim them for you. You can also have it turn lights on or off by the names youve assigned to the light or the room its in, or even change the color if you have compatible bulbs.
Both Amazon and Google are constantly adding new smart-home partnerships, so this round is a bit of a moving target. Currently, Google Home works with the Nest Learning Thermostat, the Samsung SmartThings Hub (which is a go-between device that itself is used to control even more smart-home devices like lights and smart plugs), Philips Hue lights, Honeywell thermostats, the Logitech Harmony smart remote control, Wink (another smart-home hub that interfaces with smart lights, thermostats and plugs), and the Anova Precision Cooker, a sous vide machine.
Still, by virtue of its being around longer, the Echo currently works with a much wider range of devices than the Home. Not only does it connect to everything listed above, but it also works with Insteon and Ecobee thermostats, a range of home appliances from LG and GE, a robot vacuum cleaner from Samsung, garage door openers, smart sprinklers and more (opens in new tab). Another example: while Google Home only works with August smart locks, Alexa can communicate not only with them, but also smart locks from Schlage, Kwikset and Yale.
MORE: The Best Products That Work With Amazon Alexa
Winner: Amazon.
Alexa currently works with far more smart-home devices than Google Home, but the latter is catching up fast.
(Image credit: Photo credit: Corey Olsen/Tom's Guide)
Voice Assistant
Both Alexa and Google Home will let you set up appointments, track packages, look up local movie times and so forth. Amazons assistant is boosted by skills, which will let you perform such tasks as ordering pizza from Dominos, call an Uber or Lyft, or even start a workout. These skills are voluminous, and more are constantly being added. At last count, there were more than 12,000 in 21 categories.
However, Google Home leverages Google's oldest feature, and one that Amazon can't offer: freeform search. You can use your voice to search for just about anything you would type into Google, and in many cases the Home will read aloud the best answer it can find. (A personal favorite: using it to ask how long certain foods stay fresh in the refrigerator.) Google Home also lets you look up the status of airline flights, which Alexa cant do, and you can also ask the Home to remember things for you like where you keep your passport which it will recall for you later on.
MORE: 49 Best Amazon Alexa Skills
We asked Alexa and Google Home 11 questions across a range of topics to determine which would win this round.
Whats the weather? Tie. Alexa and the Google Home both provide the current weather, as well as the forecast for the day, including high and low temperatures.
Whats a good Italian restaurant near me (and can you book a reservation)? Alexa. Both listed three restaurants, though Google Home also gave the street addresses. However, only Alexa will let you make reservations, though youll need to enable the OpenTable skill and link it to your account.
What time is Guardians of the Galaxy playing (and can you get tickets)? Alexa. Google Home will tell you where a movie is playing and some info about whats playing at theaters near you, but it wont give you showtimes and it cant buy tickets. Alexa, on the other hand, will tell you whats playing (in admittedly excruciating detail), let you list showtimes for local theaters, and, once you enable the Fandango skill and link your account, allow you to buy tickets. (Though its still probably easier to do so on your smartphone or computer.)
Can you get me an Uber/Lyft? Tie. Neither of the voice assistants integrates with Lyft, but either can get you an Uber if you link your account.
Give me directions to the Aquarium. Tie,with a slight edge to Google. Both Alexa and Google Home will suggest to you a fastest route and an estimated time of travel, but neither of them provides you with specific directions. However, Google Home will soon add the ability to send directions to your phone.
Convert 6.2 miles into meters. Tie. Unit conversions is low-hanging fruit for both voice assistants.
What was the score of the last Red Sox game? Tie(with a slight edge to Alexa). Both provided me with the score of the last baseball game the team had played, but Alexa also let me know about the next upcoming game.
Give me a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Tie. Both found a recipe from All Recipes the same one, in fact and allowed you to go through step-by-step. Alexa requires you to enable the All Recipes skill in order to get the recipe, but it also offers more options, such as asking interactive questions about the recipe.
What is Harry Trumans middle name? Alexa. Google Home completely failed on this question, whereas Alexa correctly pointed out that Trumans middle initial, S, doesnt stand for anything.
Who said the only thing we have to fear is fear itself? Google Home. One-up to Google for correctly identifying this quote.
How deep is the Mariana Trench? Tie. Google gave more context about it, but Alexa gave the depth in both feet and meters.
Winner: Amazon.
While both voice assistants let you do things the other cant, Amazons won more categories in our test.
Music and Movie Playback
Both Alexa and Google Home will natively let you stream music from Pandora, Spotify, TuneIn and iHeartRadio. For Prime members with an Echo, you can also stream from Amazon Music, while Google Home users can listen to audio from Google Play Music and YouTube Music. Amazons speaker can also read aloud audiobooks from Audible, as well as compatible Kindle books. And because the Echo has Bluetooth, you can use it as a Bluetooth speaker and stream audio from your phone or tablet. (The Echo Dot can also output audio *to* a Bluetooth speaker.)
Google Home will also let you stream music and movies to either the speaker itself, or to other speakers in your house that are connected to a Chromecast Audio device. This works with both Android and iOS devices, and lets you stream audio throughout your house, or to selected speakers. Youll also soon be able to stream music from an Android or iOS app to Google Home.
If you have a Chromecast connected to your TV (or a Chromecast-enabled TV, such as those from Vizio), you'll also be able to use Google Home to search and play videos using your voice; currently, it works only with YouTube and Netflix, but HBO support is coming. Additionally, Chromecast is being updated to show visual responses from Google Home commands, so youll be able to see a list on TV of shows on YouTube Live, for instance. To get a similar feature with Alexa, youll need to get the forthcoming Echo Show, which features a 7-inch touch screen, or the Amazon Fire TV Edition.
Winner: Google.
The ability to stream not just music, but movies to other speakers and TVs, is a killer feature. However, you also need a Chromecast-enabled device for this to work.
(Image credit: Google;Amazon)
Shopping
Not surprisingly, the Echo lets you order many things off of Amazon, though its limited to two categories of things: physical goods that are eligible for Amazon Prime and digital music. (That still covers a fair number of things.) You can also reorder things that youve bought in the past, ask Alexa for Amazon deals, and add things to your shopping cart or Alexa shopping list for purchase later. There are a few additional caveats: you need to be a member of Amazon Prime (even a 30-day free trial will work), and you need to be in the U.S. with a U.S. payment method.
Google Home also lets you order things online via Google Express, which, while not nearly as extensive as Amazon, does connect to a number of major retailers, including Target, Walgreens, Kohls, Costco and Staples. Here is a full list of retailers, though availability depends on your location and, even then, not all products at those stores are available to purchase via Google Express. For example, you can only buy things between $4 and $100 currently. Also, unlike the Echo, there appears to be no way to set a voice code for confirming purchases.
Winner: Amazon.
You can order more things with Alexa than you can with Google Home, and the experience is definitely more seamless.
(Image credit: Google;Amazon)
News, Weather & Sports
Both Amazon and Google can provide local weather forecasts as well as news reports from specific outlets, such as CNN or the BBC. Also, both services will give you the scores and schedules of specific teams. However, only Alexa lets you set your favorite teams, so you can get updates without having to specifically ask for each by name.
Winner: Amazon.
Being able to set your favorite sports teams gives Amazon the edge.
Games and Entertainment
Want to play a game? Google Home has Mad Libs, the Name Game, Crystal Ball and a few other amusements. Sadly, it pales in comparison to all of the humor, trivia and Easter egg skills you get with Alexa. You can even try your hand at Jeopardy questions (opens in new tab), playing a dungeon-based adventure (opens in new tab), or even solving the crime of who killed Bruce Waynes parents (opens in new tab). Try getting Google Home to meow to your cats.
Winner: Amazon.
All of Alexas third-party skills make this round no contest.
Personalization
If you have more than one person living under your roof, an in-home assistant is much more useful if it knows whos speaking to it.
Google Home can recognize different individuals by voice, and tailors its responses accordingly. Its also adding support for proactive assistance, so it can automatically notify you of upcoming events. For example, it can look at your calendar, and tell you if you need to leave early for an appointment if theres a lot of traffic. It will also be able to bring up personalized recommendations for movies and music, too.
Amazons assistant cant distinguish between different individuals, but the company is working on rolling out notifications that will also be able to proactively notify you of certain developments, rather than waiting for you to ask.
Winner: Google Home.
Being able to receive personalized responses, especially in households with multiple individuals, is very helpful indeed.
Productivity
Voice assistants should do more than just keep you amused, but how well do Google Home and Alexa fare when it comes to productivity?
Both Alexa and Google Home can create shopping lists, set timers and alarms, add events to your calendar while Home naturally uses Google Calendar, the Echo supports not only that but also Outlook.com and Office 365 and read events from it. Both services can also calculate conversions, such as from cups to liters.
Google Home takes advantage of Google Translate to figure out how to say anything in more than 90 languages. Thats much better than Alexa, which has some translation skills, but nowhere near Google Homes depth. On the other hand, Alexas skills encompass a wider range of productivity tools, such as recipes, stock quotes, locking and unlocking certain cars, even finding your phone and guiding you through a workout.
Update (10/4): Both the Echo and Google Home will let you make phone calls to any number in the U.S. and Canada. You can also use the Echo as an intercom to talk to other Alexa-enabled devices using its Drop-In feature.
Winner: Amazon.
Its a close one based on all the things that Google search can provide, but once again, the plethora of third-party skills gives Amazon the edge.
(Image credit: Google;Amazon)
Price and Value
The Amazon Echo costs $179 (although it's being discontinued; the second-gen Echo will cost just $99), while the Google Home costs $129. No contest there, but Amazon has a suite of other Alexa-enabled devices, including the Echo Dot ($49), the Tap ($129), the Echo Show, and coming soon, several other devices; not to mention there are several third-party speakers (such as the $49 Fabriq) that also come with Amazons voice assistant.
MORE: Amazon Alexa Buying Guide: Which Is Best For You?
Winner: Tie.
Google Home costs less than the Echo, but Amazon offers more options for getting Alexa into your home.
Bottom Line
(opens in new tab) Amazon Echo
While Google Homes design and movie-playback features best the Amazon Echo, ultimately, Amazons voice assistant handily wins this match-up by letting you control a larger number of smart-home devices and providing a lot more skills in multiple categories. And, if you find the Echo too pricey, you can get Amazons assistant in a variety of other devices. However, with support for multiple users and hands-free calling to any number, Google Home is gaining ground; well be revisiting this showdown as new features appear.
The LG Watch Urbane LTE makes and receives calls and messages, and gets notifications without being tethered to your phone, but iPhone owners should wait for iOS compatibility.
Say goodbye to smartphone separation anxiety. With its own LTE radio onboard, the LG Watch Urbane LTE ($500 full price on Verizon; $450 with two-year plan; $200 with two-year plan on AT&T) promises to unleash you from your smartphone and still let you stay connected by delivering pertinent alerts to your wrist. The Android Wear-powered Urbane LTE can also double as a basic fitness tracker, thanks to a built-in heart rate monitor. Too bad the watchs compatibility is limited for now, and its bulk makes it hard to wear every day.
Photo: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide
Design: Bulky and Blah
With its black rubber strap and silver metal case, the LG Watch Urbane LTE looks like a typical sporty men's watch. It looks functional, but isn't sexy enough to make me swoon.
Photo: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide
The watch's frustratingly chunky case made me feel like I was strapping on an ankle monitor to my wrist.
The watch has three physical buttons on the face's right side. The top button launches Ok Google, the middle brings you back to the home screen and the bottom button opens LG Health.
Photo: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide
I can put up with the bland looks, but the watch's frustratingly chunky case made me feel like I was strapping on an ankle monitor to my wrist. To accommodate an LTE radio and other components, the Watch Urbane's case is 0.56 inches tall, making it so unwieldy that I kept bumping it into table edges or drawers. Samsung's Gear S2, which also supports 4G connectivity, is slightly slimmer at 0.53 inches, while the LTE-free Apple Watch Sport is a thin 0.41 inches.
Photo: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide
Weighing 3.27 ounces, the LG Watch Urbane LTE is nearly twice as heavy as the Gear S2 (1.9 ounces), and far heavier than the Apple Watch Sport's 42-millimeter case (1.05 ounces).
MORE: Our Favorite Smartwatches for iOS and Android
Thanks to its IP67 rating, the Watch Urbane LTE can withstand being submerged in up to 1 meter (3.28 feet) of water, and doesn't have to be removed while you're doing the dishes or running in the rain.
Calls: Tedious Setup
One of the biggest selling points of the Watch Urbane LTE is its ability to make calls that are independent of your smartphone. But that comes with a few caveats. Owners of iPhones can forget about making calls from their wrists for now; the Watch Urbane LTE doesn't support calling when it's paired with iOS devices.
Photo: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide
If you buy the watch from Verizon, you'll need to use a Verizon Android device (running Android 4.3 or later) to set up the calls, while those who purchase the wearable from AT&T will also need an AT&T post-paid phone line to make calls. This means Sprint and T-Mobile customers will have to wait for their carriers to offer support for this wearable.
Our Watch Urbane LTE came from Verizon. I had to go through a complicated 5- to 10-minute setup process to get the watch to mirror my phone's number when sending messages or making calls. AT&Ts version of the watch has a similar feature called NumberSync, but we were unable to test whether its setup is similarly complex.
You'll have to hold your wrist up when making calls, as if you were a Power Ranger talking to Alpha 5.
The Watch Urbane LTE's speakers were loud enough for me to hear a colleague when I called him from inside a quiet meeting room, but became nearly inaudible when I was out on the streets. On the noisy sidewalks of Manhattans Union Square, I had to hold the watch up to my ear (and avoid curious stares) to hear my co-worker.
My contacts could easily hear me when I had the watch right next to my face, regardless of the environment I was in, but they had trouble hearing me when I let my wrist drop to my side. This means you'll have to hold your wrist up when making calls via your smartwatch, as if you were a Power Ranger talking to Alpha 5. Fortunately, you can also pair a Bluetooth headset to the watch.
LTE Connectivity: Limited Freedom
I really liked being able to leave my phone behind on a quick lunch run. Because it was connected to Verizon's LTE network, the Watch Urbane was able to send me my phone's incoming alerts without me having to be within Bluetooth distance of the device. I could also send messages, chats or emails while I was away from my phone.
Photo: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide
As long as both your phone and watch are online (connected to LTE or Wi-Fi), your wearable will receive your notifications. However, you can only reply to messages if the watch is paired with an Android phone.
Ok Google stopped working altogether on a number of occasions, despite having an LTE and Wi-Fi connection.
I liked that I could leave my phone tethered to the wall to recharge while I continued about my chores, without having to worry about not getting messages. If your handset is dead or turned off, though, then your watch will not get alerts.
When I was outside without my phone, Ok Google was rather slow in processing my requests. My repeated demands to call a colleague took almost a full minute to process, as if Google had trouble reaching a server for the answer. Many times, the system timed out, not calling my colleague at all.
Thankfully, when Ok Google fails you, you can turn to the Phone app to make calls. To make it easy to call someone, the software takes voice dictation and displays your recent contacts.
Fitness Tracking: Basic, But Good Enough
With an onboard heart rate sensor and preinstalled Google Fit and LG Health apps, the Watch Urbane is capable of tracking your workouts. You can use Google Fit to measure your pulse, while LG Health has a tool that analyzes how stressed out you are.
Go into LG Health and tap on the Play button to start detecting your stress level. You'll have to make sure the wristband is fastened securely so that it's not moving about on your wrist. While the watch is calculating, you'll have to sit very still for about 2 minutes as it measures your pulse. LG hasn't responded to my query on how it calculates your stress level, but it may be related to heart rate variability, which counts the time interval between heartbeats.
Photo: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide
LG Health sends you reminders when you're not moving enough to meet fitness goals, and encourages you to perform better during activities. I took a quick break during a walk to buy a snack from a deli, and the Watch Urbane LTE nudged me to walk faster while I was waiting in line to pay.
You'll have to use the app on your wrist to start and stop each workout, and at the end of each session, you'll see the calories you burned, time spent exercising, distance traveled, average pulse rate and average speed. This is pretty basic information, but good enough for a casual user like myself.
MORE: Best Fitness Trackers for Running, Swimming and Training
Fitness aficionados can use the Urbane LTE with third-party apps such as MapMyRun or MyFitnessPal to integrate that data with their existing profiles. But since the watch doesn't have GPS built in, accurate running and distance data will require a phone to be connected.
Display: Colorful But Dim
I loved the color and clarity of the Watch Urbane LTE's 1.38-inch, 480 x 480 P-OLED display. Pictures that my pal sent me via Android Together looked vibrant and clear on the watch face.
Unfortunately, the watch was hard to read in bright sunlight, even with its screen set to maximum brightness, and with brightness boost activated. However, under some cloud cover, I could clearly see my messages and alerts.
Performance and Android Wear
Powered by a 1.2-GHz, dual-core Snapdragon 400 CPU, the LG Watch Urbane LTE was mostly zippy, and I swiped through notifications and apps quickly. The device sometimes stuttered when I tried to go back to the home page, though. Ok Google also stopped working altogether on a number of occasions, despite having an LTE and Wi-Fi connection.
Android Wear continues to grow its library of apps and functions, and recently added the ability to let you make voice calls over Wi-Fi from your wrist. I especially loved connecting to a friend's watch with Android Together and sending random doodles, stickers and pictures directly to his watch face.
Photo: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide
Google does not release the number of Android Wear apps available, but says there are more than 5,000 in the Play Store. That still trails the competition, but it's coming close to the more than 10,000 apps available for Apple Watch, and the 8,000 or so for Pebble.
MORE: Android Wear and iOS: What Works, What Doesn't
Battery Life: Barely a Day
The LG Watch Urbane LTE's 570-mAh battery will need daily charging. I took the wearable off the charger in the morning, when it had 85 percent juice. By 8:30 that evening, the device's battery was down to 9 percent. Granted, I had been testing the watch's calling abilities for part of the day, which could be considered heavy use.
That's short, however, compared to the two days we get from other Android wearables such as the Huawei Watch and the Asus ZenWatch 2, as well as the Apple Watch. Pebble smartwatches last between two and 10 days, depending on the model, but have more primitive E Ink nontouch screens.
The Urbane LTE's magnetic wired charger is lightweight and sleek enough to carry around, and is easy to attach onto the watch's underside.
Bottom Line
The LG Watch Urbane LTE is bulkier and more expensive than a typical smartwatch, but does not do much more other than let you get alerts, calls and messages without your phone. Plus, it lasts only half as long as most other smartwatches.
Existing Verizon and AT&T post-paid customers using Android devices are the few people who will really benefit from having the LTE-connected Urbane, but if you're not one of those lucky folks, you'd be better off with a typical Android wearable. The Gear S2 on Verizon is sleeker, lighter, $100 cheaper and also has a heart rate monitor and similarly robust fitness features. However, the Gear S2 runs Samsung's own Tizen OS, making it woefully short on third-party apps.
Overall, the Watch Urbane LTE is a compelling idea thats poorly executed.
Google announced Daydream, which is an entire mobile VR ecosystem, including reference mobile phone specifications, design guidelines for Daydream compatible HMDs, and a software distribution platform built for navigation within VR.
Google IO 2016 kicked off today, and during the opening keynote presentation, Clay Bavor, the companys VR team lead, revealed the companys plans to move from the entry level Google Cardboard HMDs to a much more robust mobile VR platform that is "comfortable and approachable for everyone," and better suited to compete with the likes of Samsung and Oculus's Gear VR.
Googles Cardboard project has enjoyed wide adoption over the past two years, and the company has learned a lot about virtual reality in that time. Millions of people have Cardboard viewers, and there have been more than 50 million Cardboard apps installed to date, but Google said that that was just the beginning. In the fall of this year, Google and its partners will launch Daydream alongside the Android N operating system.
Daydream is a more high-end product than Cardboard. Google has laid out specific Daydream-ready hardware guidelines for device manufactures that wish to support the platform. Google is taking performance seriously in this venture; certified devices will have to achieve specific framerate targets and deliver sub-20ms motion-to-photon latency to qualify.
Daydream isnt just about higher performance, VR-capable smartphone specifications, though. Google has created reference design specifications for Daydream VR HMDs, and for a portable controller with spatial tracking. Google did not go into specifics about the design elements of the HMD, but it did say that Daydream kits will be much more comfortable than Google Cardboard and that they will offer great optics.
The reference design specifications also include guidelines for the Daydream VR controller. The reference device that Google demonstrated is similar to the Oculus remote in appearance, but unlike the Oculus remote, Googles device incorporates minimal spatial tracking with orientation sensors. Google showed the controller being used to navigate through menus and to play certain games. The controller also features a limited selection of buttons to help you navigate through VR.
Software is the third piece of Google Daydream. The company said it redesigned the Google Play store with VR in mind. You can navigate through your library of content, search for new content, and even buy new apps, all without leaving the virtual reality environment. Google said it has partnered with a large number of big name partners to bring content to Daydream.
The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and CNN have agreed to bring their immersive news content to the platform. Hulu, Netflix, Imax, Lionsgate and other video production and hosting companies have also signed on. Big name game studios are also getting behind Daydream. EA, nDreams, CCP Games, Ubisoft, MinorityVR and others have committed to releasing content when Daydream launches later this year.
Google has also redesigned several of its own services to work well with VR. Google Play Movies and Google Photos will both be supported on day one. Google Photos will even be getting VR photo support tacked on. Google Street View will be upgraded for Daydream VR, too, allowing you to browse the world in an immersive first person format.
YouTube will be getting an overhaul for Daydream, too. Google said the video streaming service is being rebuilt with VR in mind. Youll be able to do voice searches to find content, and playlists will be designed for VR navigation. YouTube VR video streaming and spatial audio will be natively supported. Google also confirmed that the entire library of standard video content will be available.
Google did not offer a specific date for Daydream, but it said that the platform will launch this fall with many partners on board. Samsung, HTC, LG, ZTE, Xiaomi, Huawei, Asus and Alcatel will all launch Daydream-ready phones, and Google said there will be many HMDs launched with them.
Developers that wish to get started early are welcome to do so. The SDK for Daydream is part of the latest Android Development kit, which is available today.
Follow Kevin Carbotte @pumcypuhoy. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard recently celebrated a Top 20 debut on the ARIA Albums Chart, a milestone for the band, whose famously rabid fan base bought up their most recent album, Nonagon Infinity, in droves.
As Tone Deaf reported earlier this month, the band entered the Top 20 of the Albums Chart at a very respectable No 19, with their latest release sandwiched right between fellow Australians Sia and Luca Brasi.
Back in March, the band debuted the first single to be taken from Nonagon Infinity, the fuzzed-out Gamma Knife, alongside pre-orders for the vinyl edition of the album. They quickly sold out of all 1,500 of them and then a subsequent deluxe release.
But the bands chart success isnt contained just to Australia. As it happens, the Melbourne psychedelic collective have one of the highest selling vinyl albums in the world right now, with Nonagon Infinity scaling the US charts.
The bands eighth album debuted at incredible No 2 on the Billboard Vinyl Albums Chart last week and it remains in the Top 10 this week, sitting between releases by mega artists like Amy Winehouse and Panic! At The Disco.
The band are currently busying themselves in the US as they gear up for their latest Australian national tour, which kicks off in June. Of course, all fans want to know is when they can expect the King Gizzard movie.
The band recently debuted their latest music video, People Vultures, accompanying the clip with the news that there will be a Nonagon Infinity album movie set to premiere later in the year some time.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard National Tour Dates
Saturday, 18th June 2016
Dark Mofo, Hobart
Tickets: Dark Mofo
Saturday, 25th June 2016
The Triffid, Brisbane
Ticket: King Gizzard
Thursday, 30th June 2016
The Gov, Adelaide
Tickets: King Gizzard
Friday, 1st July 2016
Badlands, Perth
Tickets: King Gizzard
Saturday, 2nd July 2016
Badlands, Perth
Ticket: King Gizzard
Sunday, 3rd July 2016 SOLD OUT
Mojos, Fremantle
Friday, 8th July 2016 SOLD OUT
Croxton, Melbourne
Saturday, 9th July 2016 NEW SHOW
Croxton Melbourne
Tickets: King Gizzard
Saturday, 16th July 2016
Karova Lounge, Ballarat
Tickets: King Gizzard
Sunday, 17th July 2016
Barwon Club, Geelong
Tickets: King Gizzard
Saturday, 23rd July 2016 SOLD OUT
Splendour in the Grass, Byron Bay
Friday, 5th August 2016
Metro, Sydney
Tickets: King Gizzard
Saturday, 6th August 2016
TBC, Wollongong
Sydney based rock n roll crew The Knowgoods are today unveiling their brand new single Hey Johnny, masterfully crafted sing-a-long indie rock gem of a track.
A straight up no nonsense modern classic Hey Johnny was made written and band retreated to the misty mountains of Jamberoo with Ryan K Brennan (Phantastic Ferniture, Borneo, Georgia Mulligan) to produce their latest batch of material. The lush landscapes and curious wildlife proved to be inspirational catalyst for the bands creativity.
The killer single sees the band pay homage to classic Australian rock bands like The Angels and The Saints, and counterpoints their inherent classic rock n roll sensibilities with a blend of rich harmonies and layered instrumentation.
Recorded in Jamberoo Mountain by Ryan K Brennan (Phantastic Ferniture, Borneo, Georgia Mulligan) and mastered by Andrew Edgson at Studios 301, Hey Johnny is the first of five tracks set to be released by the band in this year.
The band will be supportting Good Counsel for their Grocery Bags single launch at Newtown Social Club on 17th June, presented Vivid Live. For more info on the band and upcoming releases pop by The Knowgoods Facebook page for more info.
Melbourne hardcore outfit Deez Nuts seem to have a knack for unknowingly getting themselves in bizarre situations, even though all the homegrown four-piece really want to do is make music and entertain their fans.
In August last year, the band were caught in the middle of a viral joke when a 15-year-old kid decided to nominate himself as a presidential candidate under the name Deez Nuts, with his campaign getting widespread attention online.
I just woke up one morning and literally all of my social media outlets were being blown up with like a million messages, some confused and some excited and and it took me a minute to kind of piece together what was happening, frontman JJ Peters told Tone Deaf.
Peters social media outlets are no doubt being inundated as we speak, but with something far less amusing than a 15-year-old with a good idea for a viral prank. In fact, theres actually nothing funny about it.
According to a recent tweet by Conflict News, who regularly issue updates about the situation that continues to unfold in Syria, the Free Syrian Army, who are waging a war against ISIS and the Syrian government, have captured an ISIS member wearing a Deez Nuts shirt.
PHOTO: #FSA group captures #ISIS member wearing a shirt for Australian punk band Deez Nuts #Syria pic.twitter.com/2t92LvZtGh Conflict News (@Conflicts) May 17, 2016
Conflict News shared an image of two men, one of whom dons what appears to be a black, long-sleeved shirt with the words Deez Nuts Melbourne on it, though its not known if the unidentified man is a Melbourne native.
In fact, there dont appear to be any details about just who the apparent hardcore fan is, though there is a well-known and disturbing trend of Westerners, including those from Australia and England, leaving home to join up with ISIS.
The biennial Art of Music exhibition has unveiled its works for the year, featuring stunning paintings by a selection of Australias best artists, whove in turn taken inspiration from some of our best musicians.
This years paintings include works inspired by the likes of Courtney Barnett, Kasey Chambers, Midnight Oil, Thelma Plum, The Cruel Sea, Sarah Blasko, and more. Each painting turns one of their songs into a vibrant work of visual art.
Best of all, this unique exhibition will auction off the works during their gala dinner in the Art Gallery of New South Wales on Saturday 18th June to raise money for the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy organisation.
The charity uses live and interactive music sessions to change the lives of children and adults living with a range of needs, including physical and intellectual disability, autism, trauma, illness, and dementia,
Music therapy and its promotion is a passion of mine, said founder and curator Jenny Morris. It is powerful and it changes lives. I am incredibly proud to see how the Art of Music events have gone from strength to strength over the past 10 years
Art of Music relies on the generosity of the artists and musicians, to whom I am eternally grateful. It blows me away every time to see how readily they agree to support the cause.
Meanwhile, the Art of Music Live sister event will bring the paintings to life on stage in a concert to take place Sydney Opera House in The Studio Theatre, featuring once-only performances of reworked versions of these inspirational songs.
Dead Fox, by Courtney Barnett (Guy Maestri)
How Much Does Your Love Cost?, by Thelma Plum (Laura Jones)
Pony, by Kasey Chambers (Lucy Culliton)
Surfing With a Spoon, by Midnight Oil (Nicholas Harding)
Northeast News: Position Roulette
Money line:
"The Mayor and council sent a strong message with the passage of the new 2016-17 budget, in which the Fire Department was fully funded but Police was told to trim their numbers for the second year in a row. Public Safety, or at least the department charged with keeping the citizens of this city safe, was basically told to pound sand on their submitted budget numbers."
An exceptionally insightful column laments police cuts and the latest Kansas City budget . . .You decide . . .
The Russian President's official visit is considered extremely important for further developing Greek-Russian relations
The President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin has arranged to visit Athens and the St. Panteleimon Monastery at Mount Athos on the 27th and 28th of May respectively.
The spokesperson for the Greek government Olga Gerovasili commented that the visit is an extremely important event and a great opportunity to further enhance the economic and energy relations between Greece and Russia.
Reports suggest that security at the monastery will be high, with Russian officials having already arrived and making preparations for President Putin's visit. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow will also be present at Mounth Athos during the Presidential visit.
Read more here.
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
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Servcorp, a leading serviced office provider, has announced the launch of its operations in Iran's capital Tehran.
The facility, located at Park Building, 114 Kaj Abadi ValiAsr Street in Tehran, is Servcorp's 151st global office. It will help corporations to set up their bases in the city.
One of the finest virtual and serviced office operators in the world, Servcorp is present throughout Australia, New Zealand, Japan, UK, US, China, South-East Asia, India, Europe and the Middle East.
The company boasts a range of meetings rooms, boardrooms and day offices throughout its network of worldwide locations which are available for one-off hire and casual bookings, said a statement from Servcorp.
For those corporations setting up offices in the Iran, Servcorp instantly makes available Wifi, telephone services and a full team trained to international standards, it stated.
Servcorp pointed out that the difficulties that corporations face setting up in this complex new market of 80 million people have been solved by its 21st century IT solutions.
Tehran forms part of a network that covers almost every major business centre across the globe including New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Dubai, it added.-TradeArabia News Service
UAE-based Danube Properties is set to open its new sales office in Saudi Arabia this month, to meet the growing demand from Saudi investors who are keen to buy its properties in Dubai, said a senior official.
Danube, which has been operating in the Saudi market for the last five years, said this is its second overseas sales office after India, where the company opened its first office last month.
During this period, the company invested Dh300 million ($82 million) into the Saudi market for establishing five building materials stores and a retail store.
On the Saudi move, Rizwan Sajan, the founder and group chairman, said: "In the past few years, we have seen a large influx of Saudi tourists to Dubai. According to the Department of Tourism in Dubai, 295,000 Saudi tourists visited the emirate during January and February this year while 223,000 tourists flew in from Oman to Dubai registering a 35 per cent growth."
Sajan said the company was also planning to open new outlets in Oman and Qatar over the next two years as part of its GCC expansion strategy.
He stated, the UAE was the group's headquarters and the heart of its global operations. "To strengthen our business here, we will be opening two new retail stores this year."
"Besides the UAE market, we have a strong presence in Oman through our retail stores and we intend to launch two new stores this year, and two more early next year, thus taking the total number in Oman to five," he added.
The new ones will be opened in the cities of Mabela, Nizwa, Sohar and Salalah.
Sajan said the company had made its foray into Qatar years ago with the opening of two building materials stores and now plans to open its first retail store in the country early next year.
In Bahrain, the official said that Danube has established a building materials store as well as a retail store at a total investment of about Dh200 million ($54 million).
On the real estate sector in Dubai, Sajan said its properties portfolio in Dubai had reached Dh1.8 billion ($489 million) with the group having launched its sixth real estate project.
"Dubai is the best investment destination in the world, thanks to the governments vision to create attractive environment for investors," he remarked.
"The political stability and security in Dubai and UAE in general, has stimulated investments by providing investors with global infrastructure. It also provides a unique opportunity for companies to expand their businesses in the region and worldwide.-TradeArabia News Service
Novartis is splitting its pharmaceuticals division into two business units, one focused on cancer and the second on other drugs, while switching out its current pharma head in the second high-profile management reshuffle this year.
David Epstein, the American head of Novartis Pharmaceuticals and a 27-year veteran with the group, will leave the company to "explore new challenges from the U.S.", Novartis said.
Epstein's re-location to the United States implies he is not in the running to replace Andrew Witty as chief executive of British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline next year, as some have speculated. GSK has said it expects to choose a new CEO towards the end of the 2016.
Novartis' reorganization of its main drugs unit, which accounts for about two-thirds of its $49 billion in annual sales, shows the growing importance of oncology to the company, after it bought GSK's marketed cancer drugs for $16 billion last year.
It comes as Novartis struggles with the patent expiration of blood cancer drug Glivec and slower-than-expected revenue from its new heart failure medicine, Entresto.
Epstein is the second high-ranking Novartis official to exit within months. Ex-Hospira chief Michael Ball replaced Jeff George at the company's struggling Alcon eye care business in January as its sales declined again.
"Novartis expects this change to help drive our growth and innovation strategy, with an increased focus and improved execution," the company said in a statement.
"The new structure reflects the importance of oncology to Novartis following the successful integration of the oncology assets acquired from GlaxoSmithKline."
Industry analysts said the division should improve the transparency of the component parts of the drugmaker's business and could help convince investors of the value of Novartis' large oncology operations.
Cancer drugs tend to enjoy high profit margins and the therapy area is highly valued by investors at present, thanks to recent advances in fighting the disease and the premium prices commanded by cancer treatments.
"A split makes sense because oncology now has critical mass, following the GSK deal, and oncology is in many ways becoming a differentiated business from the rest of pharmaceuticals," said Mick Cooper, an analyst at equity research firm Trinity Delta.
HEART DRUG FALLS SHORT
Epstein, who took over the pharmaceuticals division in 2010, will be replaced by two people.
Paul Hudson, currently AstraZeneca's North America head, will run the pharmaceuticals business, and Bruno Strigini, head of Novartis Oncology, will lead the newly created oncology business unit.
A Novartis spokesman said on Tuesday the divisional reshuffle will not result in "big costs", though he did not name a figure.
Additionally, a small number of jobs will be moved as part of the changes to the Basel headquarters from Novartis facilities in New Jersey in the United States.
An AstraZeneca spokesman said Hudson had made a positive impact during his time at the British company and his decision was a personal one. He declined to comment further.
Novartis shares have fallen 16 percent this year, due in part to disappointment over the performance of Entresto, which had been hailed by Epstein as a breakthrough for heart failure but has fallen well short of sales expectations.
Novartis still expects the drug will eventually top $5 billion in annual sales, but Epstein disappointed analysts earlier this year when he said 2016 sales would be just $200 million, far lower than estimates, as insurance companies resist paying and U.S. doctors are slow to prescribe.
Novartis said last month it was increasing the marketing push behind Entresto and hiring more sales people to get over the slow take-up.
Before taking over at Novartis Pharmaceuticals six years ago, Epstein was in charge of the group's cancer portfolio. He originally joined Sandoz, one of the drug companies that merged to form Novartis, in 1989. Reuters
Singapore plans to participate in projects to construct and develop ports in Iran, according to a high-ranking Singaporean official, said a report.
Head of Singapore Port Development Sector Vun Chi Fung, in a meeting with Iran's ambassador to Singapore Javad Ansari, discussed cooperation between the two countries in constructing and developing ports, said Iran Daily News, citing an IRNA report.
Fung also invited Iran's Minister of Cooperatives, Labour and Social Welfare Ali Rabiei to visit port installations in Singapore, said the report.
Rabiei, heading a high-ranking commercial delegation, will begin an official visit to Singapore today (May 18).
Fung said that many parts of southern Iran, particularly along the northern coasts of the Sea of Oman, are suitable for developing ports.
Ansari pointed out that over 80 per cent of Iran's exports and imports are conducted by sea which adds to the importance of port construction in the country.
Singapore recently inked a $450-million agreement to finance offshore installations and other marine projects in Iran, added the report.
Irans re-entry to global trade will headline discussions at a major conference in Dubai, as the UAE and European Union (EU) trade with Iran is expected to reach $59 billion by 2018.
The opportunities faced by the Middle East maritime industry ahead of the further lifting of economic sanctions on Iran, will be the lead subject at this years Seatrade Maritime Middle East (SMME) 2016 exhibition and conference, to be held from October 31 to November 2, at the Dubai International Conference and Exhibition Centre.
The easing of Iran's sanctions could see $8 billion EU trade quadruple by 2018 and thaw $30 billion of Irans frozen overseas assets, according to data from a Seatrade-commissioned report, prepared by global legal practice Stephenson Harwood.
One of the largest economies in the region, Irans estimated nominal gross domestic product (GDP) amounted to $397 billion in 2015.
Andrew Williams, general manager, Seatrade, said: With the majority of US secondary sanctions and EU sanctions already removed, this is a milestone moment in the growth of our industry, opening up a wealth of trading opportunities as well as investment opportunities to support Irans maritime sector, particularly infrastructure development.
The UAE is Irans largest non-oil trading partner and is also Irans largest source of imported goods worth around $27.3 billion, in fact the UAE accounted for 96.7 per cent of GCC exports to Iran in 2013. As far as GCC imports from Iran go, the UAE accounts for more than 62 per cent with Oman taking 26 per cent, added the statement.
James Willn, senior associate, Stephenson Harwood Middle East, said: Increased trade obviously means more shipping, extra vessels will require improved port facilities and even the offshore projects will require workboats, so this has the potential to be a defining period for the regions maritime industry.
The financial benefits to the Iranian economy are significant too. By lifting energy sanctions it potentially increases Irans oil exports revenue to $10 billion by 2017, boosts its GDP growth from zero to 5 pre cent, and allows up to $30 billion of foreign reserves, which are currently frozen, to be brought back into the country. Indeed, Indian oil refiners alone owe Iran more than $6.5 billion, said the statement.
Held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, UAE, and part of Dubai Maritime Week, the biannual three-day exhibition and conference returns to the emirate to welcome the regions largest gathering of shipping and maritime industry decision makers, it said.
Attracting nearly 8000 attendees from across 69 businesses, the event is a dedicated platform at which to do business with owners, operators, managers, charterers, superintendents, senior management and other professionals involved in the procurements of equipment and services within the maritime, offshore, oil and gas and ports industries, it stated.
Irans active pipeline of infrastructure and oil and gas projects will also be tabled for discussion at SMME, including on and offshore oil and gas field developments such as the long delayed Middle East to India Deepwater pipeline, Arvand Oilfield, Changuleh Oil Field Development and Darkhovin Oilfield development; the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline; various petrochem and refining projects like the Lorestan Petrochemical Complex and Mahabad Petrochemical Complex; and its new gas projects covering LNG, LPG, GTL, gas treatment, storage and compressor stations.
For the first time this year, SMME will also welcome partners from the International Ship Suppliers and Services Association (ISSA) and Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology (IMarEST) UAE branch, who will hold their own chapter gatherings and events under the umbrella of the 2016 Seatrade programme, it added. TradeArabia News service
The UAE Space Agency is focussed on establishing specialist space education programmes by partnering with universities and institutions, both in the UAE and abroad, said Dr Khalifa Mohammed Al Romaithi, chairman of the UAE Space Agency.
Providing a qualified and specialised workforce in the space sector is the most significant challenge for states developing a new space programmes, Dr Al Romaithi said during a panel discussion at the 14th International Conference on Space Operations. The event is taking place at the Daejeon Convention Centre in South Korea until May 20.
He said the agency's education programmes will ensure the development of the human capital necessary for growing and sustaining the national space sector, and to build an economy based on knowledge rather than resources.
During his speech, Al Romaithi stressed the important role played by international partnerships in contributing to the development of skills and technical abilities within the space sector and related industries. He stressed the agencys interest in receiving suggestions on developing capabilities, human capital and financial efficiency of space operations.
Al Romaithi also clarified the agencys role in supervising and funding the Mars Hope project that will explore Mars the first time an interplanetary probe will be launched by an Arab nation.
The Space Agency is forming global partnerships that will secure the latest technology for the project, as well as supporting and qualifying Emirati engineers that work on completing and launching the probe in 2020, he said.
The panel went on to discuss the future direction of emerging national space agencies, addressing strategies for developing new space exploration programs. Panellists spoke about the workability and rationale behind such programs, the challenges they face, and the role of space operations.
Participating in the discussions were representatives from the South African National Space Agency and of Nasas planetary network management team. - TradeArabia News Service
Major power foreign ministers failed to agree a new date to resume Syrian peace talks at a meeting on Tuesday, and the opposition said it would not come back to Geneva negotiations unless conditions improved on the ground.
A pessimistic atmosphere pervaded the meeting in Vienna between countries that support President Bashar al-Assad and his enemies, all of which have committed to reviving a ceasefire and peace process that have been unravelling since last month.
In a joint statement after the meeting attended by the United States, European and Middle East powers that oppose Assad as well as Russia and Iran which support him, the powers called for a full cessation of hostilities and access for aid.
In stronger language than in the past, they warned the warring factions that if they repeatedly broke the truce they risked forgoing the protection of the Feb. 27 cessation of hostilities agreement sponsored by Washington and Moscow.
They also directed the U.N.'s World Food Programme to air drop food, medicine and water to besieged communities starting on June 1 if humanitarian access was denied by either side.
But they did not agree on a date for peace talks to resume. The Geneva talks broke up last month after the opposition delegation quit, accusing the government of ignoring the ceasefire, and recent weeks saw an intensification of fighting, particularly near Aleppo, Syria's largest city before the war.
U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura told a news conference there was still a strong desire to keep the peace process moving.
"We want to keep the momentum. The exact date, I am not at the moment revealing it because it will depend also on other facts," he said. He noted that the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins in early June, was coming soon.
The main opposition High Negotiations Committee said it was not willing to return to negotiations without a full ceasefire and access for humanitarian aid.
"I don't think there will be results, and if there are any results they will not be sufficient for the Syrian people," HNC chief negotiator Asaad al-Zoubi told Reuters ahead of Tuesday's Vienna meeting. "The HNC has said that if aid does not reach everybody, if the sieges aren't lifted and if a full truce does not happen, there will be no negotiations."
After Tuesday's meetings, the opposition said the powers had rebuked Assad by demanding that aid should reach towns his forces were blockading.
"The Vienna Communique listed towns where our fellow Syrians are starving under siege and crying out for humanitarian access," HNC spokesman Salem al-Meslet said in a statement. "Assad is not only blockading those towns, but also blocking the path to a political solution, which is the only way to end the suffering."
But HNC member Bassama Kodmani told Reuters the powers must do more to silence the guns: "We cannot be bombed while we're talking about a peaceful arrangement and a peaceful transition."
Local truces in individual areas, which have been attempted in recent weeks, would not be a solution. "Peace talks cannot take place while one front is burning and another is quiet," she said.
NO PEACE WITHOUT SETTLEMENT
Washington, which wants Assad to leave power, has worked closely on diplomacy with Russia, which joined the war last year to support him. That has alarmed some of Assad's opponents. Some diplomats and former officials say Washington may have underestimated Moscow's desire to keep Assad in power.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, standing beside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and de Mistura at Tuesday's news conference, made clear Washington still wanted Assad out.
Russia needed to use its influence over Assad to secure a transition in Syria, Kerry said.
"This war will not end for him or for his people without a political settlement."
Gesturing to Lavrov, Kerry said Assad had made a series of commitments to Moscow that he was prepared to negotiate, but had not kept his word.
"I think he should never make a miscalculation about President Obama's determination to do what is right at any given moment of time where he believes he has to make that decision," Kerry said.
Lavrov repeated Moscow's line that it was not fighting on behalf of any particular ruler in Damascus: "We don't support Assad. We support the fight against terrorism."
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said progress was needed urgently on the ground.
"If nothing happens in terms of respecting the ceasefire or humanitarian aid, then it will no longer be about discouragement, but despair. We are in an extremely fragile period."
AID, VIOLENCE
The United Nations said this month that Syria's government, which has been on the front foot in the war since its Russia intervened last year, was refusing U.N. demands to deliver aid to hundreds of thousands of people.
Tuesday's talks discussed ways to stop the violence by separating al-Nusra Front, al Qaeda's wing in Syria, from other opposition fighters in some areas like Aleppo.
Ayrault said France had told moderate opposition groups "they must be extremely clear with regard to groups like al-Nusra. There must be no ambiguity".
Nusra, along with Islamic State, is not a party to the ceasefire. Western and Arab states accuse the Syrian government and Russia of using links between rebels and Nusra as a pretext to launch offensives against other opponents of Assad.
De Mistura is trying to meet an Aug. 1 deadline to establish a transitional authority for the country that would lead to elections in 18 months, as agreed in a December U.N. Security Council resolution. Kerry said in Vienna that if progress in talks was made, the timeframe would be respected.
FATE OF ASSAD
However, the U.S. administration's failure to convince Moscow that Assad must go is fuelling European and Arab frustration at being sidelined in efforts to end the five-year civil war, diplomats say.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said it was perhaps time to consider alternatives, including ramping up military aid to rebels, if Assad's government continued to flout international agreements.
In the past weeks, several hundred civilians have been killed in air strikes and rebel bombardments in Aleppo province alone, while fighting has taken place in other parts of Syria, including Idlib, Deir al-Zor and around Damascus.
As the talks took place, rebel fighters and officials in the besieged town of Daraya on the outskirts of Damascus said they believed government forces were preparing an assault.
Last week government forces refused entry to what would have been the first aid convoy to reach the town. Troops began shelling the town on Thursday, ending a lull that had prevailed since the ceasefire took effect. Residents say they are on the verge of starvation.
"Large convoys of (government) troops are moving from the airport and from Ashrafiyat Sahnaya (the next town south)," said Abu Samer, spokesman for the Liwa Shuhada al-Islam rebel group.
"We are prepared to repel their assault but our main fear is for the civilians besieged in the town who face severe shortages of food."
A Syrian military source denied rebel accounts of troop deployments, saying nothing had changed in the area.
The blocked aid convoy was not allowed to contain food, only medical and other aid, and residents launched an online campaign ahead of the expected delivery with the slogan: "We cannot eat medicine". Reuters
Turkey will act alone to deal with attacks on the town of Kilis near the Syrian border if it receives no outside help, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday, in a sign of Ankara's growing frustration with rocket fire from Islamic State-held territory.
"We will overcome the Islamic State. We will solve that issue ourselves if we don't receive help to prevent those rockets from hitting Kilis," Erdogan told a meeting in Istanbul in comments broadcast live on television.
"We knocked on all doors for a safe zone at our southern border. But no one wants to take that step. If the world fails to agree on decisive action against terrorist organisations, the world will no longer be a safe place," he said.
Kilis has come under frequent rocket fire from an Islamic State-controlled area of Syria for months, leaving 21 people dead and some buildings destroyed. Turkish and US-led coalition forces have responded with shelling and air strikes, killing dozens of militants in northern Syria.
But Turkish officials say Ankara needs more help from the coalition in protecting the border, citing the difficulty of hitting mobile targets with howitzers.
Turkish concern over possible Islamic State attacks deeper inside its territory has also increased. Police issued a nationwide warning for Thursday's national holiday, with military facilities seen as prime targets.
There has been a spate of suicide bombings in Turkey this year, including two in its largest city Istanbul blamed on Islamic State, and two in the capital Ankara, which were claimed by a Kurdish militant group.-Reuters
National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has signed a new crude and condensate sales agreement with Sinopec of China, a report said.
"Oil sales to Chinese firms was not halted even during the years of sanctions and negotiations are underway to increase crude oil sales and exports to the East Asian country, NIOC's executive director for International Affairs Mohsen Qamsari was quoted as saying in the Iran Daily report, which cited Mehr News Agency.
"Accordingly, crude oil will be supplied to four or five subsidiaries of the Chinese firm, he added. "Current Iran exports more than 500,000 barrels per day to China and this figure is likely to increase further in 2016."
"The current export figure for gas condensate is insignificant and stands at below 100,000 barrels, he was quoted as saying in the report.
The fourth Hotel Show Saudi Arabia, which opened yesterday (May 17), saw exhibitors reveal exciting new product launches on the first day of the event, particularly in the technology sector.
Onity, a leading provider of electronic locking and guest access systems based in Spain selected The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia as the platform to launch its innovative smart bracelet - Qing - which enables hospitality guests to make payments and enter rooms and other access-controlled spaces.
Attendees to The Hotel Show can see the full Onity product range through a 360 degree, virtual reality (VR) tour via a VR headset. Denis Laburu, Onity distribution sales director for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: With the young population in Saudi Arabia, rising levels of domestic tourism, and high internet and social media usage rates it is not a surprise that hotels here are becoming such a strong market for innovative technologies and in turn, the highest quality of service. There is a lot of opportunity here, and we have participated in every edition of The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia with great success. This year we plan to really exceed visitors expectations with our new product launches.
Samsung launched a new hospitality management solution LYNK HMS Solutions which enables in-room smart TVs to act as a central control for guests to personalise room temperature, lighting and other factors, whilst the hotel can send personalised notofications.
LG Electronics revealed innovative display technologies including an 86 inch Ultra Stretch seven-foot-long UHD signage display.
Other product areas on display at the event include: interiors, lighting and design; operating equipment and supplies; HORECA; cleaning and laundry; food and beverage; and other hospitality related sectors.
Running from May 17 to 19, the Hotel Show Saudi Arabia anticipates thousands of hospitality industry professionals to attend the three-day event taking place at the Jeddah Centre for Forums and Events.
The show was inaugurated by HH Prince Abdullah bin Saud bin Mohammed bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Chairman of the Tourism Committee in Jeddah, who was accompanied by Mohammad A. Al-Amri, general manager of the Jeddah and Makkah Province at Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH)
We are honoured that HH Prince Abdullah and Al-Amri opened the fourth edition of The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia and took the time to tour the exhibition floor, said Gary Williams, event director of The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia 2016 at dmg events. The Hotel Show is a must-attend event for hospitality professionals looking to establish a presence in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabias hospitality industry is experiencing extraordinary growth. Here in Jeddah alone, the number of hotel rooms is forecast to double by 2018, said Elliot Rizk, vice president at co-organiser MICE Arabia. The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia is the leading showcase of everything needed to build and run a hotel or restaurant in the Kingdom.
Alongside The Hotel Show, the Vision Conference Saudi Arabia returns for its second year with speakers from King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), Saudi Green Building Council (SGBC), AlKamal International, Hilton Worldwide, Ramada Hotels, amongst others, set to inform the Saudi market on the latest hospitality industry trends.
Register to attend The Hotel Show and Vision Conference, Saudi Arabia 2016 on-site at the Jeddah Centre for Forums and Events for free. - TradeArabia News Service
Jumeirah Group, a Dubai-based global luxury hotel company, has appointed Paul Skinner as director of operations at Jumeirah Carlton Tower, the 216-room hotel situated in Londons Knightsbridge.
Skinner returns to Jumeirah Carlton Tower after a 10 year hiatus, having previously been director of food and Beverage at the hotel from 2003 to 2006. He brings with him a wealth of luxury hospitality experience gathered during his 27-year career in the industry.
His most recent role was director of rooms at The Langham, London, a position he took on in May 2014 having joined the hotel as director of food and beverage in November 2009. Prior to that, he held senior food and beverage management roles at properties including The Balmoral, The Conrad London and The Athenaeum Hotel and Apartments.
Reporting to general manager Katie Benson, Skinner will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the hotel front- and back-of-house operations. Katie said: I am delighted to welcome Paul back to the Jumeirah Carlton Tower. His outstanding hospitality experience will be invaluable in helping us to build on our reputation for delivering world-class service and exceptional guest experiences in Londons most fashionable neighbourhood. - TradeArabia News Service
Travelling can be fun, but when travellers are faced with budget problems finding affordable places to stay can be hard. For summer and weekend travelling though, business hotel rooms are mostly the more reasonable lodging options to stay in.
According to Go Banking Rates, business hotels mostly do not have the luxurious amenities that classy hotels do, as reported via Life Hacker. However, as the latter site reported, business hotels' affordability makes it all worth it to stay in as compared to luxurious hotels. In the end, travellers would appreciate the simple lodging lifestyle in business hotels as long as get to save more money, as compared to if they would check in at luxurious hotels.
Jeanette Pavini, a Coupons.com savings expert, explained further why cheaper business hotels are way better than luxurious hotels, saying:
"During the summer months and on weekends, [business] hotels are typically slower. You're more likely to get a good deal at these hotels if you book a room during those off-peak times."
Travellers should take note, though, that search engines for hotel bookings would enable travellers to select bookings for business purposes. Travellers, though, may have different purposes for travelling, not just for business nor for leisure purposes. However, they should not give up altogether in finding hotels that suit their preferences and purposes of travel, regardless of their reasons for travelling.
There are ways, though, so travellers can avail of reservations for cheap hotel rooms even when these rooms seem to be not available anymore online. These ways are the following, as reported in Philly.com:
1. Purchase another person's cancelled reservation.
Travellers can buy other travellers' purchased hotel room reservations that were cancelled at discounted rates. Travellers would just need to be meticulous in searching for the sites that offer these deals online.
2. Look for sites that offer coupon codes.
Sites that offer coupon codes are around online if travellers just use the compatible keywords to look them up online. Once these coupons are found, travellers may avail of 10 to 50 % discounts off the selected hotel rooms they avail of.
See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
The President of America Barack Obama indirectly slammed Donald Trump during his commencement address at Rutgers University in New Jersey on Sunday.
Though Obama did not specifically name the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump while speaking, he did mention many of Trump's controversial ideas. He also addressed about the recent talk on temporarily banning Muslims from entering the U.S. and building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico.
Obama took on the premise of Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan: "When you hear someone longing for the 'good old days," take it with a grain of salt... [B]y almost every measure, America is better, and the world is better, than it was 50 years ago, or 30 years ago, or even eight years ago."
According to NBC News, Obama spoke about -
Mexico Border Wall:"The world is more interconnected than ever before, and it's becoming more connected every day. Building walls won't change that."
Muslim Ban:"Isolating or disparaging Muslims ... that is not just a betrayal of our values; that's not just a betrayal of who we are; it would alienate the very communities at home and abroad who are our most important partners in the fight against violent extremism."
Trump's Command of the Facts:"Ignorance is not a virtue. It's not cool to not know what you're talking about. That's not keeping it real, or telling it like it is."
Trump's Lack of Political Experience:"You know, it's interesting that if we get sick, we actually want to make sure the doctors have gone to medical school, they know what they're talking about... And yet, in our public lives, we certainly think, 'I don't want somebody who's done it before.'"
Until the period of Democratic presidential race completes, Obama cannot campaign however, by slamming Trump we can see he is all set to fight ahead.
See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
A hurricane hit a place. Several people visit the place just to see what the place looks like. They want too witness the damage first-hand. This is disaster tourism. The question: should we encourage this kind of activity?
Disaster tourism is met with many criticisms. People who live in these areas see these tours as unethical; tour companies cash in on the sadness and hurt of the affected residents. Residents don't see the fun in observing them grieving over the loss of loved ones and struggling over the lack of basic necessities. Some of the emotional residents would be hostile towards the visitors.
Aides complain about how the tour buses delay movement of aide vehicles and other volunteer cars. Add to that, when the tour crowd visits a disaster area, they are subjecting themselves to the danger of an aftermath.
Such is the case in Greater New Orleans affected by Hurricane Katrina. Majority of the communities were not welcoming to the tour crowd.
Residents in Gentilly and Lakeview received the tour crowd with positivity though. They believed that the tours heighten the publicity of the disaster's effects.
Another example of residents that welcome disaster tourists is Indonesians in East Java. Tourist guide Harwati tries hard to entertain visitors while they snap selfies on a disaster-stricken area. This is where the 2006 mud volcano disaster happened.
For Harwati, guiding these tourists along the area is the only job that is available. Harwati says, "This is the only way to earn a living and afford school for my kids."
Busloads of tourists are visiting the area. While these contribute to the local economy, critiques ask if this is the only solution that is available for the community. It has been ten years since the disaster. The areas should have recovered by now.
See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
A lady began to look for jobs in Uber and Lyft in cities where the two companies were in high demand for their services for customers. This occured when this lady shied away from driving again following her car accident. Akhila Sivakumar was in the hospital for over a month, in which she had burns and bruises on her entire body following a car accident.
Sivakumar said she specifically preferred Austin, Texas as the city where to apply for jobs in Uber and Lyft. Sivakumar said she chose this city due to the popularity of ride sharing in it, hence, it would be a piece of cake to get out and about in Austin, even without a vehicle.
Sivakumar, though, was left disappointed when she and the others learned that Uber and Lyft have shut down services in Austin, as reported in Washington Times. Sivakumar and other usual clientele of Uber and Lyft have turned to Facebook groups and Craigslist to locate previous Uber and Lyft drivers, and hence, get them to provide services for the former in negotiated prices.
A businessman in Austin, Bob Woody, revealed in a statement his sentiments over the sad departure of Uber and Lyft in the city, as reported in TWC News. Woody said:
"For us not to have it is to go back in time," Woody said. "To have had it and now not have it--really difficult."
He further added that: "[It's] putting customers at risk. They are making bad decisions, too, because they are intoxicated."
The departure of Uber and Lyft from Austin has caused a severe hassle to many of the commuters in the city. This is because the number of cab drivers are only limited. There are only more than 900 taxi permits. Taxi drivers can only work at set payments only. This means that drivers do not get extra payments when they work over time.
See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Check out Donald Trump's on-air interview with Megyn Kelly at Megyn Kelly Presents show on Tuesday.
According the ET, Trump was as candid as ever, revealing some fascinating insights - namely, how he feels that winning is the only thing that matters.
"If you don't become president, will this all have been for nothing? Or will you have changed America?" Kelly asked.
Trump answered, "If I don't go all the way, and if I don't win, I will consider it to be a total and complete waste of time, energy and money."
"In a certain way, what you did might have been a favor because I felt so good about having gotten through [the debate]," Trump explained. "I said, 'If I can get through this debate with those questions, [I] can get through anything."
He also complimented Kelly on the way she extended an olive branch by calling and requesting a private sit-down with Trump during the height of their feud, and even agreeing to meet with him on his home turf at Trump Tower.
"I would not have done that," Trump explained. "I don't say that as a positive [about me], I think it's a negative for me. You walked into Trump Tower. You didn't [ask to meet] a neutral site like over at Fox or something, that would be a whole different thing, and I wouldn't have done it."
When Kelly spoke to ET about her behind-closed-doors conversation with Trump at his eponymous high-rise, admitting that she was "a little anxious" the day of the meeting.
"I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know whether he would try to embarrass me or threaten me or berate me, but he did none of those things," recalled Kelly, who also announced on Tuesday that her new book, Settle for More, will hit shelves Nov. 15.
See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Science has shown fish to be capable of collaboration, recognition, astonishing feats of memorization, and craving physical touch.
Fish are usually not considered to be the most intelligent animals. They have long been viewed as simple creatures that spend their lives swimming around a vast shadowy world about which we understand relatively little. They are caught relentlessly an estimated half-trillion a year that, if lined up end-to-end, would reach the sun and are either eaten or tossed back into the ocean as unwanted bycatch.
Scientists, however, are beginning to understand more about these creatures, particularly that they are far more remarkable than previously thought. In fact, new discoveries about the intelligence of fish make our human attitude toward fish seem completely outdated and unfair, not to mention cruel.
In a New York Times article titled, Fishes Have Feelings, Too, Jonathan Balcombe, author and director of animal sentience at the Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy, describes several fascinating examples of fish exhibiting astonishing intelligence.
One example is the frillfin goby, a five-inch-long fish with prominent eyes, puffy cheeks, and a pouty mouth. Frillfins hide in shallow rocky pools at low tide and, if they sense danger, jump into nearby pools with excellent accuracy. How do they manage to avoid getting stranded on rocks?
A series of captive experiments dating from the 1940s found something remarkable. They memorize the tide pool layout while swimming over it at high tide. They can do it in one try, and remember it 40 days later. So much for a fishs mythic three-second memory.
Balcombe also describes tool use by fish. The orange-spotted tusk fish uncovers a clam, carries it in its mouth to a rock, and smashes it open with a series of deft head flicks: This is more than tool use. By using a logical sequence of behaviors, involving several distinct stages, the tusk fish also shows itself to be a planner.
Some fish even seek out physical touch, approaching divers for belly and face rubs. One experiment found that sturgeon in a stressful situation (covered by a minimal amount of water) sought caresses from a mechanical model of a cleaner-fish, which consequently lowered the sturgeons blood pressure significantly.
In other situations, fish that are waiting to be cleaned observe how well a cleaner fish does its job before choosing which one to use. Those same cleaner fish have been shown to work better under pressure, with an audience observing.
Fish are even capable of collaboration while hunting, sharing the prey afterward, and of individual recognition, i.e. a particular grouper fish and moray eel who know each other and have worked together to hunt in the past.
Balcombe paints a convincing picture of an underwater world that is far more complex than we humans realize. If fish are truly this intelligent, then the thought of eating fish becomes a whole lot more uncomfortable, particularly when you think of the suffering endured by these animals when they are crushed in nets or suffocated on board boats, not to mention to the effect on plummeting fish populations due to overfishing.
"We have driven many charismatic mammalian species to a point where theyre in peril of extinction. And so it is with many magnificent fish species like cod, swordfish, the Atlantic halibut and the scalloped hammerhead shark.
"Since 1960, populations of bluefin tunas massive, warm-blooded group hunters that can swim up to 50 miles per hour have declined by 85 percent in the Atlantic and 96 percent in the Pacific. Thats the story behind the convenient rows of canned tuna at the store."
It's better, perhaps, to keep these remarkable animals as food for thought.
From radically disrupting ecosystems to increased CO2 emissions, light pollution goes far beyond just eliminating our view of the stars.
The night time prior to artificial lighting is pretty hard for most us light-guzzling moderns to grasp, but as Jon Henley writes in The Guardian, The pre-industrial night ... was widely regarded with dread and fascination in equal measure.
Before our nights were drenched with light, people relied on other strategies to navigate their worlds; the moon and stars were valued for their practical luminosity, people knew their neighborhoods and homes intimately, senses were more finely tuned since sight was hampered. It was scarier and more dangerous, writes Henley, but also had its charms.
Nowadays, the western world has light in spades. So much light that were drowning in it. A little light would be great, but we overuse it to embarrassing excess. Consider this from the IYA2009 Cornerstone Project, a collaboration between the International Astronomical Union, UNESCO and the US National Optical Astronomy Observatory:
Light pollution wastes money and energy. Billions of dollars are spent on unnecessary lighting every year in the United States alone, with an estimated $1.7 billion going directly into the nighttime sky via unshielded outdoor lights. Wasted lighting in the US releases 38 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually; unshielded outdoor lights are directly responsible for 1.2 million tons of carbon dioxide waste. Simply reducing and removing unnecessary lighting saves money and energy, often at minimal expense. Over-lighting the night neither improves visibility nor increases nighttime safety, utility, security, or ambiance.
Light pollution comes in five forms:
Urban Sky Glow
While it sounds kind of poetic, the brightening of the night sky over inhabited areas is actually responsible for the disappearance of the Milky Way and stars from many areas. As IYA2009 points out, increasingly, the most important equipment needed to enjoy the wonders of the night sky is an automobile with a full tank of gas and a map.
Light Trespass
Noise complaints arent uncommon, but how about light complaints? This might happen with light trespass, when unwanted light enters private property, be it from a neighbor, passing headlights, or street lamps.
Over-Illumination
This often overlaps with urban sky glow and occurs when excessive light is used to bring attention to an important building. Landmarks, historic buildings and attention-seeking skyscrapers come to mind.
Glare
When unshielded light from one source spills into the sky and elsewhere; glare can reduce visibility and can be blinding.
Light Clutter
Excessive groupings of light that are bright and confusing, commonly found in over-lit cities and inhabited areas. The proliferation of clutter contributes to urban sky glow, trespass, and glare.
UK-based LED lightbulb site, LEDLights.co.uk, created this infographic that explores how these forms of light pollution effect the planet.
LEDLights.co.uk
The impact the problem has on wildlife is especially disturbing well it's all disturbing. But as I've said before, darkness is an easily renewable resource, we just have to turn off some lights. A little dread and fascination might do us some good.
There is a lot of history here, and a great future.
Way back in the early days of Treehugger, our first writer, Meaghan O'Neill, wrote about the Wee House, with a wee photo and a wee paragraph. Around that time I was in the prefab biz and met Steve Glenn, who was just starting Living Homes; we covered it when the photos were just a bit bigger. He and Geoffrey Warner, founder of Alchemy Achitects and entrepreneur behind the weeHouse, are both true pioneers in modern prefab and tiny living, and are still at it.
Alchemy Architects / LH1 Exterior
Now they are working together and have introduced a line of wee accessory dwelling units (ACUs) ranging from 310 to 600 square feet, inspired by the weeHouse. Plant Prefab founder Steve Glenn says in the press release:
Since Alchemy has long been an expert in designing for prefabricated building methods and a pioneer in sustainable design, and weve already completed two projects together, it was easy for us to partner together to offer a set of unique, ultra-efficient, standard LivingHomes for the market.
Geoffrey Warner ripostes:
Having worked together to build two prior homes in California, were confident that Plant Prefab is the right partner to bring our ADU designs to this market. The lightHouse is intended to be a beacon for sustainable living; Plant Prefab has built up its reputation around sustainable building practice.
The specs sound appealing, with "thoughtful details, such as window nooks that double as seating and guest sleeping areas, laundry, and flexible storage spaces, provide utility where it matters most. Carefully-chosen finish options ensure that the units can blend in with their surroundings and adapt to different climates, a key consideration for building on the West Coast."
Plant Prefab/ Alchemy Architects
But as is so often the case, it is the planning that makes these things a success or failure, and this is where Geoffrey Warner has been refining his designs for the last fifteen years. Here are 380 square feet of really usable space with a generous bathroom. I am also intrigued by this (2) bench + sleeping concept. It's shown as the same depth as the kitchen counter, which is camp cot width, but it's a lot less work than unfolding a sofa bed.
Alchemy Architects
I wouldn't mind living in this 480 square foot unit, especially if it comes with that view. But it also has a very interesting plan:
Alchemy Architects
My first thought was, why is the kitchen out in the living space when there looks to be enough room in (7) laundry/mechanical/storage to fit a galley kitchen? On reflection, I conclude that ADUs should be designed for universal accessibility, which that bathroom is big enough for, as is the open kitchen. A galley might be too tight. You can also never have enough storage.
Alchemy Architects
There are lots of options in size and layout: "Thirteen floor plan variations allow customers to achieve their ideal space, siting, and view, regardless of lot limitations. Configurations range from a compact studio to a one-bedroom unit atop a two-car garage, accommodating just about any end use." Plant Prefab has figured how to do it affordably, with entry-level units starting at $170,000:
Construction of all LivingHomes is made significantly more efficient with use of the Plant Building System (PBS), Plant Prefabs patented, hybrid system for building prefabricated homes. PBS uses a combination of Plant Modules and Plant Panels, a new panelized construction system developed by Plant Prefab, which include plumbing, electrical, and finish materials. By integrating both modules and panels, PBS provides architects with greater design flexibility and reduces the complexity and cost of transportation and installation.
Fifteen years ago when I was working in prefab, Steve Glenn, Geoffrey Warner, and I were all trying to make "great architecture more accessible, affordable, and sustainable." I didn't have the talent or the discipline, but Steve and Geoffrey stuck it out, survived the Great Recession (a lot of others didn't), and are launching lightHouse LivingHomes at a very difficult and precarious time. On the other hand, the timing might be excellent; there may be a big demand for retirement downsizing, home offices, or rental units.
As for me, it is such a pleasure to see two people that I have known and admired for 15 years working together. They will do great things.
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 17
A 21-year-old woman was allegedly disrobed and her family members were beaten in a busy market by stalkers in central Delhi's Anand Parbat on Sunday. The attack was caught on at least three CCTV cameras, police said today.
The woman, a Delhi University student, had also filed a complaint with?Anand Parbat police station on Saturday. She had identified the accused as her neighbours Sonu, Govinda, Chunnu, Bunty and Shankar.
"The woman had complained that she was being stalked, abused and threatened," said a senior police officer.
On the basis of her complaint, a case under sections 354-D (stalking), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (insulting the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code was filed on Saturday.
"All of them were arrested on the same day, but they were bailed out as the offence was bailable," said the officer.
The woman alleges that the accused followed her again when she went to a grocery store at 9 pm on Sunday. The men were furious over her decision to approach the police.
It is alleged that they went ahead to tear her clothes and molested her in the market. They also beat her up when she resisted.
Soon, the woman's mother and sister confronted the group with other family members. They were also thrashed by the goons with belts and rods.
The police were informed after which Sonu, Govinda and Chunnu were arrested while three others are absconding. The injured underwent treatment at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.
Another case under sections 354 (intent to outrage modesty of a woman), 354-B (intent to disrobe a woman), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC was filed on Sunday.
The woman's family also alleged that the accused had threatened to take revenge while leaving the police station on Saturday evening.
"They had claimed that they will get the woman's father and brother arrested in a fake case," a relative said.
The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is not as weighty as the UN Security Council (UNSC) but Prime Minister Modi has made its membership a foreign policy goal. The fly in the ointment is that its membership is open only to the signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). India has not signed the NPT because it means giving up its nuclear weapons arsenal, a privilege allowed only to the five UNSC members, including China. Given India's record of never exporting nuclear technology on the sly, membership should have been a breeze, especially after the NSG lifted the sanctions on India and New Delhi was permitted to trade in civil nuclear technology and fuel.
However, politics has intruded just when the NSG begins considering India's application next month. Beijings motive for threatening to put a spanner in the wheel is two-fold. One, Pakistan is impressing upon China to back its membership into the NSG as well. However, world memory is still fresh about Pakistan running a veritable nuclear technology Walmart. The second reason is geo-political: Indias growing strategic proximity with the US is reflected in Modi planning a fourth visit to Washington.
Modi is within his right to visit another country as many times as he wants. But China looks at the India-US relationship from the prism of a US move to curb its influence in the South China Sea in tandem with Japan and Australia. Its apprehension is stoked by a US Bill to facilitate transfer of top-end military technology and hardware to India. Sino-Indian ties too are in cold freeze. There is also opposition from a six-country grouping which feels an NSG membership to India will scuttle the goal of nuclear disarmament. India will have to mollify them as well. It will require Indian diplomats to raise their game. The Foreign Office does not inspire confidence that it can deal adroitly with China, the US and Russia simultaneously. The still larger question is whether it is worthwhile to spend considerable political capital for a seat at a table that is not as high or useful as the UNSC.
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 18
The nine Congress rebels from Uttarakhand today joined the BJP despite serious reservation in the state unit. They were inducted into the party after a meeting of the state core group headed by BJP chief Amit Shah.
Though the tenth Congress rebel MLA, Rekha Arya, was not present in the meeting. She had given her consent to join the BJP.
Party sources indicated there was no consensus on the move. While the prospective chief ministerial candidates in the BJP were apprehensive of inducting MLAs such as Vijay Bahuguna, the younger lot believed that the rebels would be a liability.
However, the BJP central leadership believed that leaving the fate of the rebel MLAs undecided for too long would have sent a wrong message. "They were with us when we needed them. Besides, it is a question of Amit Shah's word there was little option for the party leadership if it wanted to send the right message across," they said. Sources added that at best the rebels could hope for a party ticket in the Assembly poll in 2017.
Held against the backdrop of the setback suffered in its attempts to wrest Uttarakhand, the BJP discussed the party's strategy for the forthcoming poll. Former Chief Ministers BC Khanduri, Bhagat Singh Koshyari and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank also attended the meeting.
Shaurya Karanbir Gurung
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 17
The Interpol has issued a fresh Red Corner Notice against Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar and his brother, Abdul Rauf Asgar, for allegedly conspiring and planning the Pathankot air base attack.
Sharing the development, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said a Red Corner Notice would also be issued against two more JeM members Kashif Jaan and Shahid Latif, the handlers of the terrorists who carried out the Pathankot attack. The NIA revealed that Latif was arrested in 1994 in a drugs case in Jammu. He was released in 2010 and sent back to Pakistan.
A Red Corner Notice is meant to seek the location and arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition or similar lawful action, as per the Interpol website. The legal basis for a Red Notice is an arrest warrant or court order issued by the judicial authorities in the country concerned. In April this year, a NIA special court had issued arrest warrants against Azhar, Asgar, Jaan and Latif.
India, meanwhile, has sent a second Letter Rogatory (LR) a letter of request issued by a court for evidences to Pakistan. The second LR contains fresh evidences pointing to the involvement of the JeM and Pakistan in the Pathankot attack. As part of the second LR, we have asked Pakistan to conduct searches at the residences of the four terrorists, their handlers and in connection with the credit card holder, who made payments for the JeM websites, said an official.
Pakistan has not responded to the first LR given to it by India. The NIA said it had approached the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to request Pakistan to respond to the LRs. India has also asked Pakistan to allow the NIA team to visit the country to conduct investigation, collect evidences and record statements in the Pathankot attack. The NIA said one of the crucial evidences part of the second LR was the interrogation of Mohammed Sadique, a resident of Sialkot, Pakistan. Sadique was arrested for an attack at an army camp at Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir on November 25 last year.
Sadique is part of the JeM. He was trained in Pakistan and he has listened to the lectures of Azhar and Asgar. He has identified the voice in an audio clip, which claims the JeM carried out the Pathankot attack, as that of Azhars brother, Asgar, said a NIA officer. The same clip was shown to the JIT when they visited India in March this year and they did not raise objections, according to the NIA.
Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 18
Amid tension between China and the US over the dispute in the South China Sea, a flotilla of Indian Navy warships today set sail on a long deployment and a set of exercises with countries that are in dispute with China.
The flotilla will also participate in the India-US-Japan Malabar exercise to be hosted by Japan at Sasebo a port city on the East China Sea waters of which are contested between Japan and China.
The Navys eastern fleet, under the command of Rear Admiral SV Bhokare, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet, sailed out today on a two-and-a-half month long operational deployment to the South China and North West Pacific.
Groups of two warships each shall bifurcate from Port Blair onwards and make port calls at Cam Rahn Bay in Vietnam and Subic Bay in The Philippines. On the return, the warships will visit Port Klang in Malaysia.
All three countries, along with Brunei and Taiwan, are in a dispute with China over the demarcation of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the sea. The US Energy Administration estimates that 11 billion barrels (bbl) of oil reserves and 190 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas reserves lie buried under the South China Sea-bed. The US Geological Survey world petroleum resources assessment has arrived at as-yet undiscovered estimates of an additional five-to-22 billion barrels of oil and between 70-to-290 Tcf of gas to be under the South China Sea. India has interest in two oil blocks off the Vietnam coast.
This is not the first time that the Indian Navy has sent off its flotilla to the South China Sea. The four-ship Indian flotilla will rendezvous somewhere in the South China Sea and set sail for Sasebothe Japanese port city on the East China Sea. The Malabar exercise will be conducted in the East China Sea. From here, one warship shall be deputed to Hawaii, the headquarters of the all powerful US Pacific Command for a separate set of sea exercises. The remaining three ships will visit Busan in South Korea and Vladivostok in Russia.
The warship in Hawaii shall return to India in mid-August while the remaining three will return in July-end after touching base at Malaysia. Indigenously built guided missile stealth frigates, INS Satpura and INS Sahyadri, are part of the fleet.
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 18
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Capt Amarinder Singh has declined to meet the Canadian High Commissioner to India, who had offered to meet him after the Canadian government had denied him permission to hold public interactions during his North America tour.
The communication from the Canadian High Commissioner follows Capt Amarinders letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to protest the denial of permission to hold rallies in Canada.
Reacting sharply, the Member of Parliament referred to the discriminatory approach of the Canadian government in disallowing him to interact with Punjabi diaspora while the representatives of the ruling SAD-BJP alliance and the Aam Aadmi Party had been allowed to hold similar meetings there.
Thank you for offering to meet me. I do not think anything further will emerge from such a meeting as I have already expressed my views, the PCC president said in his reply to the High Commissioner.
Their interactions did not warrant any action by your government. They did their bit and returned to India. In my case, however, the matter took a different turn, he wrote.
Referring to the complaint by Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, Capt Amarinder Singh said, I understand that this intervention against me took place on a letter written to your Ministry of Global Affairs by a known antagonist of India, Gurpatwant Singh Pannu.
I, however, find it strange that a known anti-Indian individuals views were given precedence over an Indian MP who is the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of India and who is also the president of the state Congress in Punjab, he added.
Capt Amarinder suggested to the High Commissioner that it would be more appropriate for his government to ban all such interactions for all irrespective of the party they belong to and not just a selective application as was done in his case.
THE struggle of Indians in South Africa is not yet over. The local authorities are yet unfavourable to our countrymen there in respect of emigration and trading. Every little matter has to be fought out in the Supreme Court of Law and naturally our people still feel much harassed by the present administration of the law. The latest issue of Indian Opinion publishes the judgment of the Transvaal division of the Supreme Court of Justice in an appeal preferred on behalf of Ismail, a minor son of registered and domiciled Indian in the Transvaal. The boy was born in India and he was taken to his parents so that he might live with them. The immigration Officer objected to admit the boy and regarded him as a prohibited immigrant. It passes strange how one's own child in any civilised country can be lawfully so regarded. Anyhow the Immigration Officer was persuaded to give a temporary permit to the boy so that his right to live with his parents might be established in a court. But this does not bind the Registrar of Asiatics to permit the registration of the boy and to allow him to live with his parents. So what will becomes of the boy, we cannot say yet.
Tribune News Service
Haridwar, May 17
Haridwar MP Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank today criticised the state Cabinet decision to drop the CBI case and set up a special investigation team (SIT) of its own to probe the sting case involving Chief Minister Harish Rawat.
Nishank briefly stopped over here on his way to Dehradun after a whirlwind tour of the district. He said the Cabinet decision pointed towards the involvement of Harish Rawat in horsetrading of dissident Congress legislators and the authenticity of the sting operation.
He said the Congress-led government was unstable as it proved its majority in the House in the absence of the dissident Congress legislators last week. Whatever be the Supreme Court judgment on the nine legislators on July 12, the Congress would be routed in the next Assembly elections, he added.
(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
When a Chief Minister is caught on camera trying to lure dissident legislators by offering crores of rupees and a Congress legislator himself reveals that Harish Rawat offered money to party MLAs and the Progressive Democratic Alliance legislators, one can imagine the level of corruption in that party. The people of the state have made up their mind to vote for the BJP in the next Assembly elections and rout the Congress. The five-year rule of the BJP from 2007 to 2012 was development-oriented and the maximum number of development projects were initiated during my and BC Khanduris tenure, said Nishank.
On the induction of the rebel Congress legislators into the BJP, Nishank said the top party leaders would take the decision on the issue. He, however, added it was premature to say whether the party would give ticket to the rebel Congress MLAs.
Tribune News Service
Mussoorie, May 18
Four youths from Tehri Garhwal district, who had gone to work at a restaurant in the Akra city of Ghana in West Africa, are stuck there. They are without food and money for the past few months.
The four youths are stuck at Cuckoos Nest Restaurant owned by Naresh Mirpuri. They have not been paid their salaries since their arrival in the city and are facing problems due to the expiry of their visa that was arranged for them by an agent in India.
The youths from Tehri Garhwal, namely, Virender Singh, a resident of Genwali village in Jakhnidhar block, Manoj Singh from Akhodisain village in Jakhnidhar block, Manoj from Sema Basar village in Ghansali block, and Hem Singh from Khola village in the Kirti Nagar block have written a letter to Rajeshwar Painuli, chief coordinator of the Dobra Chanti Pul Banao Sangharsh Samiti, and pleaded for help. They said the restaurant owner had not given them a single penny for the work done.
They said the restaurant owner had confiscated their passports and was forcing them to work for more than six hours daily without giving them adequate food and rest. The affected persons have also sent their video showing the dismal condition they were living in.
They said they were lured into the trap by a travel agent, Vikas Bhatt, who promised them a high-paying job and extension of their visa that was for one month but instead of high salaries, they were ill-treated by the restaurant owner.
The problem has aggravated as their visas have expired and they were unable to return home.
Meanwhile, Painuli, after receiving the video and letter, contacted the Ministry of External Affairs (MoEA) following which the ministry officials contacted the affected youths through the embassy concerned. They also had a conversation with the restaurant owner who promised to pay their due salaries.
Painuli thanked the MEA officials for its quick response and urged the Union government to make adequate arrangements for the return of the youths from Ghana.
He said there was a need to create a helpline for such victims so that they could contact the right officials without any delay.
Frankfort (US), May 18
Hillary Clinton on Wednesday eked out a narrow win in the Kentucky Democratic primary over rival Bernie Sanders who kept his White House hopes alive with a crucial victory in Oregon, even as she set her sights on an epic clash with Republican Donald Trump in the November poll.
Clinton, 68, squeezed out a cliffhanger victory over Sanders in Kentucky, a result that keeps her on track to win the partys nomination for the presidential polls but also highlights deep divisions in the party.
The former secretary of state won the state by half a percentage point with nearly all the votes counted.
Sanders, meanwhile, won the Oregon Democratic primary, bagging 53 per cent votes to her 47 per cent.
However, despite the series of defeats in the Democratic primaries over the past few weeks including Oregon and a very close finish in Kentucky, Clinton still appears to be on her way to clinch the nomination of the Democratic party for the November 8 general elections.
This is mainly because she is way ahead of Sanders in the delegate count and requires less than 100 more delegates to reach the magical figure of 2,383 delegates to become the Democratic presidential nominee.
According to US media estimates, with 55 delegates up for grabs in Kentucky, Clinton and Sanders both won 27 delegates with one remaining to be decided.
In Oregon with 61 delegates to be taken, Sanders won 28 delegates and Clinton took 24 with 9 remaining to be accounted for.
Sanders who has 1,526 delegates as against Clintons 2,289 delegates, needs to win nearly 70 per cent of the rest of the delegates at stake in the remaining nine primaries.
We just won Kentucky! Thanks to everyone who turned out.
Were always stronger united, Clinton tweeted as she was declared the winner by just 1,923 votes.
Such a narrow win may have derailed some of the momentum of the Clinton Campaign but she has set her sights on her epic clash with 69-year-old Trump in the presidential polls.
In a tweet and an email, she urged her supporters to help raise funds to defeat Trump in the polls.
Meanwhile, on the Republican side, Trump garnered nearly two-thirds of the total votes polled in Oregon, further consolidating his position as the presumptive presidential nominee.
Trump, who joined politics less than a year ago, has defeated 16 top Republican leaders to emerge as the presumptive nominee.
With a win in Oregon, Trump has 1,171 delegates in his kitty and needs just 66 delegates to reach the 1,237 figure to officially clinch the nomination.
This is now considered a mere formality given that he is the only one left in the race. Nearly 350 delegates are still to be awarded from the remaining primaries.
I look so forward to debating Crooked Hillary Clinton! Democrat Primaries are rigged, e-mail investigation is riggedso time to get it on! Trump said in a tweet soon after being declared the winner of the Oregon primary.
Thank You Oregon. Congratulations to the movement, we have just won the great state of Oregon. The vote percentage is even higher than anticipated! Thank you, Trump said in another tweet to his 8.26 million followers.
After his morale-boosting win in Oregon, Sanders told thousands of his supporters in California that he is not giving up even though he has a steep hill to climb.
No one can predict the future, but I think we have a real shot to win primaries in a number of the states that will be coming up. And dont tell Secretary Clinton because she might get nervous, he said.
I think were going to win here in California, Sanders said. As many as 475 delegates are at stake in California. A massive win here might help Sanders to narrow the gap.
Sanders said he would not give up until the last vote is count.
We have the possibility, it will be a steep climb, I recognise that, but we have the possibility of going to Philadelphia with a majority of pledged delegates, he said.
Now some people say weve got a steep hill to climb and thats absolutely true. But together weve been climbing that steep hill from day one in this campaign and well continue to fight for every last vote until June 14, and then well take our fight into the convention, Sanders said.
The next round of eight primaries in California, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, New Mexico, South Dakota, Puerto Rico and Virgin Island are scheduled for June 7.
Washington DC would host the last primary on June 14. PTI
Former employees from Google, Apple and Tesla have jumped into the self-driving trucks waters, saying theyll develop a retrofittable autonomous-driving technology for on-highway commercial heavy trucks.
The company, called Otto, has outfitted three cabs with its automated technology and conducted its first extended test on public highways in Nevada last weekend.
Heading up the effort is Anthony Levandowski, who left his job working at Google on their self-driving car to found Otto with two other former Google employees, Lior Ron and Don Burnette, and another robotics expert, Claire Delaunay.
In a blog post, Levandowski and Ron write, At the heart of our vision is the belief that self-driving tech is the key for creating a more sustainable, productive and above all, safer transportation future. We are at Otto because were driven by an urgency and deep obligation to accelerate the future.
We are developing a suite of sensors, software and truck enhancements coming together in a product that can be quickly outfitted on existing trucks.
Otto is not the first to demonstrate autonomous truck technology. Daimler Trucks last fall in Germany ran a real-world test of what it says is the first series-production truck to operate on an automated basis on the highway. This followed on-highway demonstrations of concept vehicles, the Freightliner Inspiration truck in the U.S. in Nevada (the first autonomous truck legally licensed to travel on public highways in the country) and the Future Truck 2025 earlier in Germany.
However, even Daimler admits that there is a long road ahead to get to true self driving trucks, noting that It will take rewriting a sheaf of regulations and presenting a compelling business case on safety and fuel-economy gains to fleet operators before a Level 3 autonomous truck, like the Freightliner Inspiration demonstration truck, becomes a production tractor.
In an Associated Press story on the new Otto venture, Steven Shladover, program manager for mobility at the University of California's Partners for Advanced Transportation Technology, told AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke that the technology has a long way to go before government regulators trust it to handle a rig at highway speeds without a driver in the seat.
"I don't want to be on that highway when there is nobody there to take over a truck with 80,000 pounds of cargo, and I don't think I know anyone else who would want to be," Shladover said. "The consequences of any kind of failure in any component would be too severe.
According to AP, Otto is looking for 1,000 volunteers to have the system installed on their trucks to help fine-tune the technology. The volunteer truckers would still be expected to seize the wheel and take control of the truck if the technology fails or the driving conditions make it unsafe to remain in autonomous mode, mirroring the laws governing tests of self-driving cars on public streets and highways.
The New York Times reports that while California laws prohibit Ottos vision of an autonomous truck operating with the driver snoozing in the sleeper, other state laws would allow it.
As the paper reports: Right now, if you want to drive across Texas with nobody at the wheel, youre 100 percent legal, said Mr. Levandowski, who as a Google engineer, helped write draft legislation that permitted self-driving vehicles, which later became law in Nevada.
A 66-year-old Oklahoma inmate serving life in prison for possessing an ounce of cocaine was denied parole Tuesday, months after the governor modified his sentence in a way that allowed early release to be an option.
The states Pardon and Parole Board voted 5-0 to deny parole to Larry Yarbrough of Kingfisher, whos been imprisoned since 1997. The reasons for the denial werent immediately given, and a parole board official couldnt be reached for comment.
Attorneys for Yarbrough had argued that he was in poor health, suffering from congestive heart failure and diabetes, and needed a wheelchair to move around. Prosecutors who opposed Yarbroughs parole argued that he was a five-time felon who had prior drug-related convictions.
Gov. Mary Fallin commuted Yarbroughs sentence in March, converting it to life with the possibility of parole. That gave hope to justice reform groups that the cases for about four dozen other Oklahoma inmates serving similar sentences for nonviolent drug-related crimes could be re-evaluated.
The truth is, this shouldve begun the first real step to justice reform in Oklahoma, and all it did was reaffirm that there is no justice reform in Oklahoma, said Mark Faulk, a filmmaker and supporter of Yarbroughs case.
Yarbroughs commutation was among just three that the governor had issued since 2012, and Fallin told The Associated Press she did so in his case because he was sentenced at a time when Oklahomas drug laws were overly harsh, when jurors had no choice but to sentence him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
A spokesman for Fallin declined to comment on the decision Tuesday.
Oklahoma, which has the nations second-highest incarceration rate, is among many states that have passed sentencing reform laws giving courts more discretion in how nonviolent offenders are punished.
President Barack Obama has made it a priority during his second term to seek the reduction or outright elimination of severe mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent offenders.
Last year, Obama became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison when he conducted in-depth interviews with inmates in Oklahoma. He heard from six inmates at the Federal Correctional Institute at El Reno about how their lengthy sentences for nonviolent drug offenses were affecting their families and communities.
In the case of Yarbrough, his lawyer isnt hopeful about his chances of getting released when he goes back before the board in the future.
It doesnt matter youve done 22 years without a single write-up. None of that matters, attorney Debra Hampton said.
The City of Broken Arrow got to look at its Fiscal Year 2016-17 proposed budget as presented by City Manager Michael Spurgeon and the Finance Department during the regular meeting of the City Council Tuesday night.
All council members were present for the presentation except for Mayor Craig Thurmond, who in Washington, D.C., on official business. Vice Mayor Richard Carter handled the gavel at the 90-minute meeting.
Spurgeon provided a detailed look at the City's budget proposal. A public hearing will be held at the June 6 Council Meeting with adoption set for the June 20 meeting.
Spurgeon outlined the budget overview for the general fund and the Broken Arrow Municipal Authority, outlined the fiscal year work plan and future considerations.
"The City is in good condition," said Spurgeon. "Our bond ratings are good. We have met the Council's emergency general fun reserve policy goal and our fiscal year 2016 expenditures are well below budget."
The fiscal year 2017 total budget is projected to be $188,971,324.
On the Broken Arrow Municipal Authority side of the ledger, total available revenues projected at $62,740,564 while proposed expenses at $58,971,900.
However, BAMA has several tasks ahead of it.
Cost and priority of future capital projects loom in the future. Rates to support operations and debt service for those capital projects need a closer look. And, the need to get additional personnel to maintain the systems.
The bottom line was to get more capital improvement projects to construction and get them finished.
Future goals for the budget and the city included seven points:
1. Continual review of expenses. 2. General Obligation Bond program. 3. Lobby for an updated taxation model to support operations. 4. Start a citywide sustainability program. 5. A long term BAMA capital plan. 6. Full time grant coordinator. 7. Downtown residential housing initiative.
In other council business:
Beginning May 30 and lasting until June 10, people can bid on surplus items no longer needed by the City of Broken Arrow. Those items include 65 individual bricks and three church pews from the recently purchased Assembly of God church in downtown BA.
Go online beginning May 30 at the Citys website to view and bid on the numerous items
Speaking of the Assembly of God Church, Spurgeon announced that the building would be demolished right after Memorial Day at a cost that was far less than expected
The City Manager paid homage to the work of the Broken Arrow Police Department as this week is National Police Week.
I want to acknowledge the great job by the police department, Spurgeon said.
The council accepted the Gold Award for its work on Tucson Street between Aspen and Elm. The award came from the American Public Works Association Oklahoma Chapter
BAMA also received national recognition after winning the State award for the Verdigris Water Treatment Plant from the American Council of Engineering Companies
There will be a showdown in Tulsa and Broken Arrow libraries this summer. The council accepted the challenge from Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett. For details on this reading challenge, contact any Broken Arrow Library or go to the library website for details
The Mayors Commission on the Status of Women presented the fruit of a three-year examination of female incarceration on Tuesday, highlighting local and state gaps in programming they hope to eliminate.
Betsy Jackson, the commissions legislative chair, said the report offers a broad look at many of the issues a woman may run in to navigating the system.
What were trying to do is keep women out of prison, Jackson said. You might get put in jail, but the goal is to keep you out of prison.
Jackson said the group will advocate for more services such as education programs and internal-jail advocates who can help incarcerated women get out of the system early on.
Theres really not a complete answer, she said. We want to be preventative.
Mayor Dewey Bartlett announced the fourth installment of his public-safety summit series, Safer, Stronger Tulsa, will feature the report and focus local officials on ways to get involved.
Previous summits have focused on spousal abuse, substance abuse and alcohol abuse all of which are more prevalent in Tulsa than other areas of the state.
Oklahoma remains at No. 1 in female incarceration, as it has for more than 20 years.
Bartlett said the summit will be planned for this fall.
We also want to keep this going, Bartlett said about the steps following the report. Too often we see opportunities that present themselves, but we see no follow-through.
In terms of legislation, the commission has already thrown support behind several bills from the Oklahoma House that take aim at reducing mandatory felony charges and increasing alternative sentences to prison.
The research in the report came from tours of the Tulsa Jail, including interviews with women in incarceration about the problems they face.
Kimberly Cummings, who was arrested in 2009 and spent 40 days in the Tulsa Jail, lent her experience to the commission.
Cummings said her fellow inmates at the time didnt have access to information they needed to navigate the system to get out all while the jail was filled to capacity, making available resources even more scarce.
There are a ton of gaps, Cummings said. Its a law enforcement agency not a social-work agency.
Oklahomas tax credits for revitalizing historic buildings are a model standard that if axed by lawmakers would topple crucial investment dollars in the state and drive developers outside our borders, according to a national economist commissioned to study the program.
Donovan Rypkema, principal of PlaceEconomics, on Tuesday emphasized the states historic tax credits are responsible for about $520 million in investments over the past 15 years. The credits spawn an average of 450 full-time equivalent jobs in a given year, he said, and the state receives half of its money back through boosts in multiple taxes spurred by the investment before the credit is even awarded.
The Legislature put historic tax credits in its cross-hairs this session, with Senate Bill 977, as a means toward beginning to mend Oklahomas massive budget crater. However, that bill is now dead, said Amanda DeCort, executive director of Tulsa Foundation for Architecture.
TFA commissioned the $20,000 study undergoing tweaks before publication soon earlier this year to combat the legislation. DeCort said she intends to use the data to fend off what she refers to as the seemingly annual Statehouse attacks on the credits.
Rypkema suggested second-tier cities such as Ada, Guthrie, Norman or Stillwater might be hurt most by a weakening or loss of the credits, because those types of municipalities are just now getting their feet wet in them whereas larger cities already have reaped benefits.
Even if you dont give a damn about historic buildings, this is an extraordinarily effective economic development tool, creating jobs, leveraging private resources doing all the things that incentives are supposed to do, Rypkema said.
Historic tax credits have been applied in rehabilitations of the Mayo Hotel and Woody Guthrie Center in downtown Tulsa. The Tulsa World Media Co. also secured the credit to begin restoration of the Palace Building at Fourth and Main streets.
Rypkemas firm is based in Washington, D.C., and consults on real estate and economic development matters, according to its website. He discussed his study with the Tulsa World prior to speaking on the topic Tuesday evening at 36 Degrees North, 36 E. Cameron St.
Rypkema laid out two reasons why Oklahomas historic tax credits are so successful.
Firstly, the credits work exactly as intended, Rypkema said. The program creates investment in old buildings.
Secondly, he credited the state lawmakers in 2001 who implemented an effective and efficient program for handling the tax credits. Essentially, developers who qualify for the federal version of the credit also qualify for the state one, he said.
Also regarding the second point, Rypkema said a developer can turn those credits into equity through a bank to reduce borrowed money, lower the projects risk and cover extra costs that may pop up.
Again, thats why Oklahomas is one of the best, Rypkema said.
DeCort provided a document of statistics that TFA points to as indicators of the programs success:
Statewide in the credits 15 years, 77 historic buildings have been fully rehabilitated in 18 counties.
In excess of $415 million has been invested through credits, with total project figures reaching $520 million when including dollars pumped into the projects that didnt qualify for the credit.
The TFA bills itself as a nonprofit organization that educates the public on the importance of architecture and design.
DeCort said developers will shift their money to places such as Texas, Missouri or Iowa elsewhere but Oklahoma if the credit is abolished.
The Mayo Hotel would still be full of pigeons and nobody else if we didnt have a couple of incentives to make it even financially possible, DeCort said.
S. Korea's new COVID-19 infections bounce back to over 40,000 amid resurgence woes South Korea's new COVID-19 cases sharply bounced back to over 40,000 Tuesday, sharply rebounding after showing a gradual decline in the past week. The country reported 43,759 n...
Not satisfied with internal investigations of Veterans Administration medical facilities in Oklahoma, U.S. Sens. Jim Inhofe and James Lankford have introduced legislation to provide funds to hire outside investigators and auditors.
The VA Office of Inspector Generals investigation report on wait times at the Tulsa VA clinic did not match what we are hearing on the ground, Inhofe said in a news release. This is a common occurrence for the investigations that come from within the Department, and as a result, many veterans and VA employees have lost faith in the agency.
Inhofe, senior member and former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, pressed the VA to investigate the administrations medical operations in Oklahoma City, Muskogee and Tulsa.
Complaints about the Tulsa clinic stemmed from reports that personnel may have entered inaccurate information and altered records so the facility would appear to have shorter wait times than it actually did.
The VA inspector generals office said it could not substantiate most of the charges, and believed errors at the clinic were primarily the result of poor training.
In February, Lankford and Inhofe introduced legislation giving regional VA directors more authority to fire or demote ineffective personnel.
Late Monday, the two offered the appropriations piece to that authorization as an amendment to the military construction bill. Their amendment sets aside $18 million for regional directors to hire outside investigators and auditors.
Lankford and Inhofe hope to get a floor vote on the amendment this week.
Oklahomans keep telling me about the same problems at our VA facilities, Lankford said. A fresh set of eyes, from outside the VA, will enhance everyones efforts to ensure our VA facilities are world-class.
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.
The good news is Agent Carter is finally set to premiere next month on 7flix.
The bad news. its just been axed in the US.
The series features the Marvel Comics character Peggy Carter, a secret agent and single woman in 1940s America, with Hayley Atwell reprising her role from Captain America.
Earlier this year readers voted it the unaired international show they most wanted to see in the annual TV Tonight Awards, doubtless due to the delays in its launch. S1 premiered in the US in January 2015, with S2 this January. Its understood discussions to screen on Foxtel were not ultimately realised.
This week ABC announced the series would not be proceeding to a third season, but Seven will have 18 episodes all up.
Its 1946 and peace has dealt Peggy Carter (Captain Americas Hayley Atwell) a serious blow as she finds herself marginalised when the men return home from fighting abroad. Working for the covert SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve), Peggy must balance doing administrative work and going on secret missions for Howard Stark all while trying to navigate life as a single woman in America, in the wake of losing the love of her life Steve Rogers.
Updated: It launches with a double episode, 8:30pm Monday June 20 on 7flix.
ABC will soon premiere Revolution School, a four-part documentary series which investigates how to improve secondary education through a unique experiment.
Previously titled The Great Education Experiment, it was filmed in 2015 over the entire school year at Kambrya College, a public high school in Berwick, south east of Melbourne.
The series is produced by CJZ (Bondi Rescue, Kebab Kings, Julia Zemiros Home Delivery, Gruen) using both fixed rig and roving cameras.
It is an Australian TV first which captures the challenges, dramas and triumphs of life in an Australian high school in a way not seen before. Kambrya is a large school, with more than 1100 students from 42 different nationalities. There are high achievers who are aiming for the stars, but also kids at risk of dropping out and others with serious behavioural difficulties and learning challenges.
As a state-funded school Kambrya takes on all comers, but it did have a big problem. In 2008 the school was ranked in the bottom 10% of schools in Victoria on Year 12 results, and principal Michael Muscat knew he had to make significant changes. The question was, what changes?
Faced with the challenge of transforming Kambrya, Michael Muscat went in search of answers and found support for his approach and guidance from Professor John Hattie, an educational statistician. Hattie is Director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute, part of the Melbourne Graduate School of Education (MGSE) at the University of Melbourne. Under the leadership of Professor Field Rickards, the Melbourne Graduate School is ranked in the top few tertiary education institutes in the world.
Hattie has spent decades number crunching the data from over 70,000 separate studies on the factors that influence how well our kids do in school. From how much TV they watch, to the amount of homework they are given, to the number of students in a classroom, Hattie has been able to come up with a definitive evidence-based ranking of nearly 200 factors influencing what truly makes a difference to student achievement.
It turns out the answers are not what we might expect. And certainly not the problems the politicians and media often focus on, such as class sizes, facilities, funding levels or testing regimes.
At Kambrya Michael Muscat looked at the evidence and decided the best way to lift the school off the bottom rung was to focus on more effective teaching and learning. It might sound simple but when youre dealing with emotional teenagers, time-poor staff, anxious parents, social media bullying and the pains of growing up, change isnt always easy.
Across the series we follow the dramatic story of how Kambrya tries to transform itself and change the lives of the kids.
Production credits: Series Producer, Alex West. Executive Producer, Michael Cordell. CJZ Director of Production, Toni Malone. ABC Commissioning Editor, Anita Brown. Produced with the assistance of Film Victoria and Screen Australia.
Begins 8:30pm Tuesday May 31 on ABC.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has rejected a filming permit request from KEO Films to shoot Struggle Street on council-owned property in Inala, claiming the SBS show damaged the reputation of Mount Druitt in its first season.
Season Two of the series will be based in Victoria and Queensland, but Mayor Quirk says it wont be getting any help from Brisbane council. He wrote a letter to KEO advising Mt. Druitt was unfairly tainted with the stigma of poverty, drugs, abuse and dysfunction without the ability to present a contrary view.
Targeting a particular suburb, he noted, was not taking a balanced view of economic and social disadvantage.
Inala is an emerging, aspirational suburb that is overwhelmingly populated by proud and hardworking members of our community. They deserve better than this, he wrote.
While Council cannot interfere with your right to deal with individuals on their own property, we will not actively assist you with your production on Council owned or controlled locations.
An SBS spokesperson said the intention for the series was to be a fair representation of people and communities capturing stories from a diverse multicultural cross-section of the community.
The first season drew volatile headlines and protests, but resulted in bumper ratings for SBS.
Source: Fairfax
Note to self. If you ask actor John Jarratt a question, you better be prepared for a direct answer.
The veteran actor, currently appearing in Stans Wolf Creek, doesnt mince his words. With a list of credits as long as your arm, there probably wasnt much point in my asking if reviving Mick Taylor caused concerns about being typecast. Somehow I went there anyway.
There is a bit of a double-edge sword, he replies. There are people thinking Lets get Jarratt! Theres a little bit of that going on in the small-minded producers in this country.
I get a lot of shit. About three a week. Someone with a bucket of blood and a chain saw, with a couple of hundred bucks from their grandfather and a sheep.
But Im not whinging. Im 63 and Ive got this iconic character. As an actor everyone wants that. Im sure Stallones happy to run around as Rocky and Harrison Ford is pretty cool about Indiana Jones. So Ive got mine. Its nice to know youve come up with something iconic in your career.
They dodged it and they didnt do their job
Indeed he has. Greg McLeans Wolf Creek has been a hit since it debuted in 2005. It triggered a 2013 feature sequel so extreme that Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton refused to review it on ABCs At the Movies. Jarratt was critical of the snub then, and remains critical still.
I call them Nanna Stratton and Poppa Pomeranz.
Theyve been great over the years, and champions of anti-censorship and fighting the cause. But then they censor my film? he asks.
I would have been much happier if they gave us minus 5 stars and went to town on it, than not review it.
But as far as the film was concerned thank you! When Margaret was badgered about it she said, Well they couldnt have had better publicity. I did them a favour! And shes right. But from a professional point of view, and a principal point of view, they dodged it and they didnt do their job and they should be ashamed of themselves.
But from a marketing point of view, fantastic! Please dont review the next one.
It should be noted Stratton did review the film in The Australian, describing its torture porn as manipulative and ugly.
For Stans big budget debut drama Jarratt admits to apprehension it would work as a mini-series.
I was thrown by it actually. I couldnt see how it was going to work. So I read the scripts and I ate my words. Theyre excellent scripts and its turned into an exceptional series, as far as Im concerned.
And this amazing bloody actress is going to put Cate Blanchett out of work.
He is referring, of course, to actor Lucy Fry who shares the screen with him in the 6 episodes that turns a horror feature into a revenge mini-series.
Fry, who has appeared in Vampire Academy, The Darkness and Mako: Island of Secrets plays American tourist Eve, whose family is massacred by Mick Taylor.
Its a pretty intimidating task to have this iconic Australian anti-hero and go on a journey to take him down. How am I going to meet that? So I certainly put my all into it, to be enough of a competition to John, she explains.
In some ways she is an isolated, lonely character. Even when she is with people she feels so far away from them because of Mick and whats going on around her.
As it goes along she becomes less of a victim. By the end she has to be as menacing as Mick in order to have any kind of chance.
Both actors were required to dig deep for action and horror scenes, filmed in South Australia. Jarratt, who clearly has more experience in the genre, took much of it his stride.
When I gutted the kangaroos they were a bit whiffy, he recalls.
I think its the first time an animal has been gutted on television, in a drama. Then I threw the guts all over the place and everyone just about threw up.
Nice. Fry underwent a similar encounter with a rabbit.
Its the first time Ive done something like that. It was an experience, she admits.
Shit, Mick just winked at that woman!
I ask both how they cope as actors in filming intense scenes. Jarratt has developed a clear approach to the shoot -pardon the pun.
I loosely stay in the Mick zone through the whole thing. Its hard to explain. I go home and Im John with my wife, but Im aware I have to be in the Mick zone. It doesnt worry me because hes such a fun guy. Hes not angst-ridden, he explains.
I dont consider myself a method actor, but there are certain characters you have to go there. Other characters I dont.
If it was method acting youd have to go and kill somebody wouldnt you?
Trust me, thats not a question you want put to you by Jarratt, even if he is out of character. I turn to Lucy Fry to help me out, fast.
I wish I was better at going in and out of it. But if youve had a heavy day its hard to shake it off, sometimes. I was filming from early in the morning to very late at night so I would go home, learn my lines, go to sleep and do it again. So I never really had time to shake it off. But that was great because it helped me stay in Eve, she reveals.
I winked at a woman, and I wouldnt do that, interjects Jarratt. I was walking along the street in Gawler and a really gorgeous-looking woman walked up the hill. And I realised Shit, Mick just winked at that woman! But it wasnt me! I wouldnt do that.
Im relieved to hear it. Lastly, if rather foolishly, I ask Jarratt how, as an actor, he justifies Mick Taylors malevolent, apathetic character. How did Mick get to be so violent without any apparent conscience?
I have a solid back-story from when he was in nappies to what I call page zero just before page one of the script. I know exactly who he is, he assures me.
We do find out a little bit more about him, but if you said to Mick, Tell us about your mother, hed punch you in the face.
You wont get it out of Mick.
Hes just a psychopath. He kills backpackers because theyre vermin. Like all the vermin in the outback, only a bit more fun.
Wolf Creek is now available on Stan.
Four men behind bars in Lebanon have had their bail application rejected by a court in Beirut.
Australian Adam Whittington, his colleague Craig Michael and Lebanese men Mohammed Hamza and Khaled Barbour. All four were recently moved from Beirut to a jail about an hour and a half away in Lebanons north.
Lawyers said Ali Elamine, father of the abducted children, has refused to drop charges or support bail for the four men.
Judge Rami Abdullah will tell prosecutors by Monday what charges should be pursued against all involved in the case, including the 60 Minutes crew arrested in Beirut.
This week supporters of Adam Whittington protested outside Nines Willoughby headquarters, calling on the network to help secure a deal similar to the one which freed the 60 Minutes crew and mother Sally Faulkner.
Channel Nines set the precedent of 500 [thousand dollars] US, thats $680,000Australian at this moment, Whittingtons father David Whittington told SKY News.
Because theyve set that, and theyve put the open chequebook on the table, thats the precedent. He [Elamine] wont budge.
Nine is yet to reveal the findings of its internal review into the saga.
Source: News Corp, Fairfax
Photo: Twitter
We wuz robbed! is a common catch-cry after any Eurovision event, but this year it was Australias turn, and subsequent news certainly alludes to reasons why Dami Im fans are feeling it.
It has emerged that Danish jury member Hilda Heick misunderstood the ranking system and ended up giving eventual winners Ukraine 12 points, instead of the zero she intended.
It is my great mistake and I admit it honestly, but I want to emphasise that I am not senile yet, although several write on Facebook that I should retire and keep me away from everything, and that I dont know anything , she told bt.dk.
That said, even correcting the numbers would not have affected the outcome.
But more than 325,000 fans have signed a petition calling for Eurovision to review the voting process, after Jamala won while not actually topping either the audience (won by Russia) or jury (won by Australia) votes.
However, a lengthy statement posted on the Eurovision Facebook page formally re-enforced Ukraines Jamala as the winner.
Australias Dami Im won the jury vote and Russias Sergey Lazarev won the televoting, the group acknowledged.
They both deserve credit for their world-class performances, their great songs and for taking their loss as true professionals. They may not have won the contest, but responded to the outcome as winners. We respect and appreciate them for that.
The Eurovision Song Contest is a competition. There can only be one winner. We understand that not everyone agrees with the outcome of this years Eurovision Song Contest however in a competition where the results are decided based on a subjective and often very personal opinions, there will always be people who do not agree.
Regardless of this, the result remains valid by all means, in accordance with the rules as they were known to each participating broadcaster, each artist and each dedicated fan.
Ukraine is, and will remain, the winner of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. Whether you agree or disagree, we call upon those who signed this petition to embrace the result, valid in accordance with the rules, and to continue a constructive dialogue about how to further strengthen and improve the Eurovision Song Contest.
Meanwhile EurovisionWorld claims that if the voting system from last year wasnt changed this year, the winner would have been Australia.
It outlines that the voting was not only presented in a different way than last year, it was also calculated differently -despite the claims of the ESC hosts.
The old rules:
The jury ranks the songs from 1 (best) to 26 (worst)
Tele televoters rank the songs from 1 (best) to 26 (worst)
The ranking is combined
The highest 10 songs in the combined ranking get points (12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1)
The new rules:
The jury ranks the songs from 1 (best, Hilda) to 26 (worst)
The televoters rank the songs from 1 (best) to 26 (worst)
The highest 10 songs in the jury ranking get points (12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1)
The highest 10 songs in the televoters ranking get points (12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1)
Elsewhere, DNA Songs composers David Musumeci and Anthony Egizi, were awarded the Composer Award at the Marcel Bezencon Awards, for Sound of Silence.
The Marcel Bezencon Awards were introduced in 2002 to honour the best competing songs in the Eurovision Grand Final. The Composer Award is determined by a jury made up of the participating composers.
SBS Managing Director Michael Ebeid said, This is a truly special prize for the best song at Eurovision, as voted by the composers from this years 43 competing countries, and SBS is absolutely thrilled for DNA and Dami to have been recognised by this expert group of global music industry representatives. DNA are amongst the biggest hit-makers in the country, writing songs for the likes of Delta Goodrem, Ricky Martin and Jessica Mauboy, and it is fantastic to see their composition Sound of Silence not only performed on the worlds biggest stage, but awarded this prestigious prize, while also reaching number one in Australia and charting around the world.
Between Dami Im, as our fantastic artist, as well as her representatives and the talented composers, the SBS Eurovision team truly embodied Australias diversity. Supporting Dami in the green room during the competition was a group of Australians with origins as far-ranging as Korea, Vietnam, Italy, England, Ireland and Denmark. Eurovision is all about uniting communities and exploring cultures through music, so it was wonderful to see such a diverse Australian team recognised with this award.
Source: Digital Spy
Photo: Anna Velikova (EBU)
Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson
Mary Dozier, the Unidel Amy E. du Pont Chair in Child Development in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, has received the 2016 Francis Alison Faculty Award, the University of Delawares highest competitive faculty honor.
The award was established in 1978 by the Board of Trustees to recognize the faculty members who best demonstrate the combination of scholarship and teaching exemplified by the Rev. Francis Alison, founder of the institution that is now UD. The annual award also confers membership in the Francis Alison Society.
Dozier is an outstanding faculty member on each of the Alison criteria, wrote Robert F. Simons, professor and chair of the psychology department, in his letter nominating her for the award.
Her research has changed the field of attachment and child maltreatment; her classroom teaching is excellent and her in-lab teaching and mentoring have inspired numerous undergraduate and graduate students to pursue careers in higher education, research and public service; her scholarship has been continuously funded for nearly 30 years to the tune of approximately $20 million; and her service to UD, the scholarly community and the public are truly exceptional, Simons wrote.
A member of the faculty since 1993, Dozier is internationally known for her work in the development of young children who have experienced neglect or other adversity. She leads the Infant Caregiver Project at UD, where she and her team have developed an evidence-based intervention for parents and other caregivers of these vulnerable children.
The intervention, known as Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC), has been used with parents of children at risk for maltreatment or neglect, as well as those caring for foster children and internationally adopted children.
ABC is being implemented in an expanding number of locations throughout the United States and worldwide, with findings that providing at-risk parents with 10 sessions of the intervention can have long-term effects on the parents responsiveness to their children. That improved responsiveness, in turn, has been found to help children develop more secure attachments and to better regulate their behavior and emotions.
When children have experienced adversity, they really need nurturing and responsive care, Dozier said recently about her work. When parents are nurturing, children learn to rely upon their parents when distressed; when parents follow their childrens lead, children develop self-regulatory skills.
The intervention, she said, focuses on helping parents develop three main skills to provide nurturing care, to follow the childs lead and to avoid frightening behavior. Her research has not only developed the ABC intervention but has disseminated it and has continued to study its effectiveness over time.
Currently, she said, ABC is being implemented through child welfare agencies in 15 states, including widespread implementation in North Carolina, Minnesota and New York City.
Doziers research team has followed children whose parents took part in ABC when they were infants to assess their development as toddlers and, in the newest expansion of research, through ages 8-10.
Dr. Dozier has become the worlds leading scholar on attachment between children and foster caregivers, one scientist wrote in support of the Alison Award nomination. It is truly remarkable how she has achieved becoming a highly respected and authoritative scientist in the field of attachment while at the same doing the hard work of translating scientific insight into programs and leading teams through the arduous task of actual implementation.
Another scholars comment included in Simons letter of nomination said that ABC has the potential to revolutionize child welfare practice in the United States and beyond and noted that Dozier has garnered the respect and admiration not only of her fellow psychologists but also of those from many other fields, including genetics, neuroscience, psychiatry and psychobiology.
Simons and others also praised Doziers teaching and mentoring, particularly her work with undergraduates in preparing them for graduate school by helping them develop laboratory skills in designing and conducting experiments. With 40 undergraduates each semester, Simons said, Dozier has a large lab and still provides undergraduates with a great deal of direct supervision.
Mary Dozier is unlike any other professor I have worked with, one former undergraduate wrote. And I know that she will be a trusted mentor as I move forward in my academic and professional career. Marys enthusiasm for her students and her work is never ending.
Dozier joined UD in 1993 after earning her doctorate in clinical psychology from Duke University and then serving on the faculty of Trinity University. She was appointed the Amy E. du Pont Chair in 2004.
She has given more than 25 invited talks over the past three years, has been asked several times to speak to congressional committees on child welfare, is a frequent consultant to the National Institutes of Health on child-welfare issues and served on the prestigious Institute of Medicines Committee on Child Maltreatment. She received the Bowlby-Ainsworth Award for research, publications and other scholarly activity in the field of attachment research.
Dozier also has held numerous editorial appointments, including a four-year term as associate editor of Child Development, the premier journal in the field, and currently serves on the editorial boards of Attachment and Human Development, Child Maltreatment and Infant Mental Health Journal.
The Francis Alison Award is an amazing honor, Dozier said. There are so many talented faculty at the University of Delaware who deserve this recognition, and Im just delighted to have been selected.
The ceasefire violations are recorded along the entire demarcation line in Donbas, the militants increasingly often use heavy weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements.
This is reported by the ATO Headquarters press center.
"The pro-Russian armed gangs do not stop shelling the ATO positions... The militants launched 24 attacks on the Ukrainian defenders in last day," the report reads.
As noted, the militants grossly violated the ceasefire and were shelling Ukrainian positions near Slavne (25km south-west of Donetsk) for more than an hour using 152mm artillery systems: "In the same direction, the enemy fired at Ukrainian positions outside Novotroitske [32km south of Donetsk] using 120mm mortars, outside Hranitne [57km south of Donetsk] using heavy machine guns, and outside Pavlopol [30 km northeast of Mariupol] using grenade launchers."
"The attacks on Ukrainian strongholds near Avdiyivka [18km north of Donetsk] are ongoing. The militants used 82mm and 120mm mortars, grenade launchers and small arms to fire at ATO troops there," the ATO Headquarters press center reports.
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No Ukrainian servicemen were killed but ten soldiers were wounded in ATO area in eastern Ukraine in last day.
Spokesman for the Presidential Administration on the ATO, Colonel Andriy Lysenko said this at a briefing in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
No Ukrainian soldiers were killed, but ten our soldiers were wounded as a result of active hostilities in last day," Lysenko said.
He noted that the Ukrainian troops had suffered casualties in Donetsk and Mariupol directions.
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Ukraine wants to cooperate with Spain in the military and technical field.
First Deputy Secretary of the National Defense and Security Council of Ukraine Oleh Hladkovsky said this in Madrid during the talks with the leadership of Spanish Defence Ministry, Economy Ministry and Foreign Ministry on expansion of the Ukrainian-Spanish defence cooperation, the Councils press service reports.
"I believe that it is now time to focus our attention on strengthening the Ukrainian-Spanish cooperation in military-technical field. In particular, it could be establishment of joint ventures involving projects of the Spanish military-industrial complex, design of components of military products at the Ukrainian facilities for the needs of the Spanish Defence Ministry, involving the Ukrainian design bureaus in joint projects," Hladkovsky said.
During the meeting with Spanish Secretary of State for Defence Pedro Arguelles Salaverria, the Ukrainian side stressed the importance of concluding and signing the agreements on military-technical cooperation between Spain and Ukraine, which would lay a full legal basis for expansion of bilateral defence cooperation.
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Chief of the General Staff, Commander-in-Chief of Ukraines Armed Forces Viktor Muzhenko and NATO's Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security Marriet Schuurman held a meeting to discuss the cooperation with NATO on the issues of ensuring gender equality.
The meeting was held in the scope of Muzhenkos working visit to the NATO headquarters, Ukrinforms correspondent in Brussels reports.
"The sides agreed on the further cooperation between Ukraine and NATO on gender issues, namely the readiness of the Alliance to provide Ukraine with full support to ensure the holding of reform of Ukraines Armed Forces", Ukraines Mission at NATO reports.
The sides also discussed the issue of practical assistance for ensuring gender equality of the Ukrainian armed forces personnel.
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Wizz Air, the largest low-cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe, plans to consider the issue of its return to Ukraine because of favorable business conditions.
Wizz Air CEO Jozsef Varadi has said this in Warsaw, fly4free.pl reports.
We see that the situation in Ukraine is stabilizing, and as to the business we like what is taking place in Ukraine. We seriously consider our possible return and another entry to the market, Varadi said in Warsaw.
A reminder that Wizz Air had its own subsidiary company in Ukraine - Wizz Air Ukraine, which had operated in the country until 2015. The low-cost airlines had its bases in Kyiv, Donetsk and Lviv. With the start of hostilities in eastern Ukraine, the company closed its office in Donetsk, and then in Kyiv and Lviv in 2015. Then Varadi explained that the company left the Ukrainian market not because of the war, but because of a sharp drop in the hryvnia exchange rate.
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Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has met with Thorbjorn Jagland, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reports.
"The parties discussed further cooperation between Ukraine and the Council of Europe in the field of protection of human rights in Ukraine, particularly in the Russian-occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and the issue of release of Ukrainian political prisoners," the statement reads.
The meeting was held within the framework of Klimkins working visit to Bulgaria, where he came to attend the 126th meeting of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers.
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Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Omelian will pay a visit to Germany on May 18-20.
It has been reported by the governments portal.
"On May 18-20, 2016, Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Omelian will pay a visit to Germany," reads a statement.
The minister will take part in the plenary session of the OSCE Business Conference "Economic Relations - Opportunities for Cooperation and Security" chaired by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The minister will also take part in the annual summit of the International Transport Forum and hold a number of bilateral meetings.
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Only joint and coordinated actions by Ukraine and Turkey will bring results amid annexation of Crimea and the suppression of the rights of the Crimean Tatars.
Ambassador of Ukraine to Turkey Serhiy Korsunsky said this in an interview with Daily Sabah on the eve of the Day of Remembrance of Victims of Genocide of Crimean Tatar People.
"We Ukraine and Turkey have a common Black Sea and a common neighbor Russia. If you recall history from the XV century to the present day, you will see that both Ukraine and Turkey have always had problems with Russia... Ukraine and Turkey should continue to work together to liberate Crimea," Korsunsky said.
According to the Ukrainian Ambassador, Russia's strategy lies in managing the Black Sea region.
"If you look at a map of the Black Sea, if you imagine that Crimea is a huge military base, you can see that Russia is trying to control the Black Sea. Being deployed in Crimea, the Russians could easily control access to all of the countries around the Black Sea. They may jeopardize all the NATO countries around the Black Sea: Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey," he noted.
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The British government will continue its work to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and fight against extremism.
Queen Elizabeth II the United Kingdom stated this in her speech to both Houses of Parliament at the State Opening of Parliament 2016, according to the government website of the United Kingdom.
My government will continue to work to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, she said.
Elizabeth also said that Britain would play a leading role in the campaign against ISIS and support international efforts to bring peace to Syria.
As Ukrinform earlier reported, in March Ukraine and the Great Britain signed a Memorandum of Understanding on defense cooperation.
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Germany and the partners are working on settlement of the Ukrainian crisis as its consequences for European security and confidence system have not been overcome quickly.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said this, opening the Connectivity for Commerce and Investment business conference in Berlin on Wednesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
"The crisis of confidence after the annexation of Crimea cannot be overcome immediately. We and the partners are working to settle it," the German Minister said.
Steinmeier noted: "We see the difficult implementation of the Minsk agreements and the harm which has been done." Today, he said, the political objectives and reality are far apart.
The German Foreign Minister also said that although the economic integration might not be the main reason for the events in Ukraine, it became "one of the fundamental factors" of the crisis.
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As Russia refuses to extradite ex-President Viktor Yanukovych to Ukraine, the Ukrainian Prosecutors Office will raise an issue of his interrogation in Russia.
Chief of the Special Investigations Department at the Prosecutor Generals Office Serhiy Horbatyuk said this at a press conference on Wednesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
As of today we have the refusal of the extradition of Yanukovych, so we'll raise the issue of his interrogation in the Russian Federation. This is possible only with the participation of the law enforcement agencies of this state, Horbatyuk said.
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Train cars painted by Spanish artist Kenor Martinez Vanbergen "from head car to tail car" was presented in Kyivs city Darnytsia depot on May 17.
The presentation was organized by the activists of Projects Art United Us. The train painting is a gift of the artist to the residents of the capital city on upcoming Day of Kyiv which is marked annually at the end of May.
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May 18, Ukraine marks the Day of Remembrance of Victims of Genocide of Crimean Tatar People and the Day of Fight for the Rights of Crimean Tatar People.
The deportation of the Crimean Tatars began on May 18, 1944 and lasted till early June.
The official reason for the deportation was the secret decision of the State Defence Committee No. 5859 "On Crimean Tatars" dated 11 May 1944, which accused Crimean Tatars of alleged mass treason and mass collaboration with the Hitler's troops during the occupation of Crimea. The act was undoubtedly the genocide and ethnocide, as evidenced by accusation of the people of treason and application of the principle of collective responsibility.
According to the official data, 183,144 Crimean Tatars were deported from Crimea. According to the Tatar sources, 228,500 Crimean Tatars were deported, of whom about 110,000 people died during first 18 months.
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In Donetsk regions Mariupol, a concert of Svyatoslav Vakarchuk "Okean Elzy" band , which took place late at night on May 17, gathered 30,000 spectators, but the public order was secured at 100 percent, police chief of the region Vyacheslav Abroskin wrote on his Facebook.
"I would like to thank the Donetsk region police personnel, National Guard units, the Security Service and the Armed Forces for their excellent service. Public order at the concert of "Okean Elzy" was totally ensured. Up to 30,000 spectators were there. We did it. Donetsk region police have proved once again its preparedness, organization and willingness to protect and ensure the safety of our Ukrainian citizens," wrote the police chief.
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| By Patricia Fanning
The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law hosted a public forum convened by National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson, JD, and Maryland Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, JD 67.
The forum, held May 13 in the schools Moot Courtroom, featured an invited panel of representatives from the small business and Baltimore-area taxpayer communities. Each was asked by the advocate to discuss what taxpayers want and need from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to comply with tax obligations.
Maryland Carey Law Dean Donald B. Tobin, JD, a professor specializing in tax law, noted that Olson is unique. As an independent ombudswoman, she is the only IRS employee who is allowed to propose legislation to Congress.
Most people dont understand the important role that the taxpayer advocate plays in ensuring a just and equitable tax system, said Tobin. Shes charged with monitoring the tax system and suggesting improvements for all of us. In a sense, she works for us.
Adam Crandell, JD 10, left, Elizabeth Atkinson, JD; Robin McKinney, MSW '01; Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, JD 67; National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson, JD; Angela Armstrong; Dean Donald B. Tobin, JD; and Beverly L. Winstead, JD 08.
Panelists included the director of Maryland Carey Laws Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) and an alumnus who is an immigration attorney. Members of the schools faculty and others from the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) were among those attending the forum, the sixth in a series being held in local communities across the nation.
Tobin pointed out that in the advocate's 2015 annual report to Congress, Olson had proposed the series of forums to gather input before the IRS adopts a five-year plan. The Future State Plan" would create an online taxpayer account and consultations that would substantially reduce the number of telephone calls and visits the IRS receives from taxpayers.
Cardin offered background for the forum by referring to repeated cuts in the IRS budget by a politically divided Congress. It reflects an attitude by many of my colleagues who dont want the IRS to be nearly as aggressive as some of us would like to see, he said.
Speaking as a member of the Finance Committee and its subcommittee on taxation and IRS oversight, Cardin thanked the employees of the IRS who are asked to do more with less. He also described aspects of a taxpayer rights bill (S. 2333/H.R. 4128) that he co-authored and that he hopes will attract bipartisan support.
Olson said the agencys Future State Plan is being driven by the budget situation that Cardin had outlined. The forums are intended to help make the case to Congress regarding what people need from the IRS in order to comply with this very complex tax code.
Maryland Carey LITC Director Beverly L. Winstead, JD 08, said the LITC serves low-income taxpayers from across the state, many of whom do not understand notices they have received from the IRS. All in all, better communication would allow more taxpayers to resolve their issues on their own without the need to call the IRS, she said.
Adam Crandell, JD 10, a Baltimore-based immigration attorney, said tax returns and tax compliance are crucial components of many cases. But records may be inadequate when his clients rely on third-party preparers who often misfile, give bad advice, or are malfeasant. He urged that the IRS proceed with caution to avoid widening a knowledge gap. Im concerned about the people who fill that gap, he said.
Maryland CASH Campaign Director Robin McKinney, MSW '01, a University of Maryland School of Social Work clinical instructor, spoke on behalf of working families served by the nonprofit organization that she co-founded. The current IRS Future State Plan may work for some taxpayers, but it will leave the needs of a significant number of low-income taxpayers unmet, she said, stating that online services are not a viable method. As a social worker I see that many need that navigation help.
In addition to the three panelists with ties to UMB, the forum also heard from Elizabeth Atkinson, JD, an attorney with LeClairRyan PC, of Annapolis, Md.; Angela Armstrong, a registered veterinary technician whose business, Animal Emergency Hospital in Bel Air, Md., became the victim of payroll provider fraud; and from members of the public.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today expressed its gratitude to the US government and the American people for their latest funding announcement of US$118 million to the UN Refugee Agencys global operations.
This latest funding from the United States demonstrates its continued humanitarian commitment to our emergency work in easing the suffering of millions of people worldwide, said UNHCR Regional Representative in the United States, Shelly Pitterman.
We deeply appreciate this vital support from the United States at a time when conflict and persecution are forcing more people to flee their homes than at any time since World War II.
Separately, Pitterman also expressed appreciation for the recent initiative of the White House to engage Americans to learn more about and contribute to UNHCRs work. In his introduction to the aidrefugees.gov website, President Obama said that Americans have contributed to the cause in incredible ways. In the faces of suffering families, our nation of immigrants sees ourselves, President Obama said.
UNHCR figures show that 59.5 million people fled for safety worldwide by the end of 2014, which means that around 42,500 women, girls, boys and men are becoming refugees, asylum seekers or internally displaced every day.
The conflict in Syria, now into its fifth year, is the main reason for such a surge in the number of persons worldwide seeking safety, however Europe, the Americas, Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia are all seeing increases in the number of persons fleeing.
UNHCR is working to alleviate humanitarian crises across the globe and this current US commitment will help support all the UN refugee agencys lifesaving operations.
Washington, D.C., April 15, 2016 The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) signed a milestone agreement today that will strengthen their collaboration to support education for refugee children and youth.
The agreement comes against the backdrop of millions of children and youth around the world being affected by conflict, disaster, humanitarian emergencies, internal strife and fragility. Globally only one in two refugee children go to primary school, and one in four to secondary. More than half of the worlds out-of-school children live in countries facing war and violence, and are deprived of their right to education. Two-thirds (or 65%) of all refugee children between the age of 5 and 17 live in GPE partner countries.
Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and Alice Albright, Chief Executive Officer, Global Partnership for Education, signed the agreement on the margins of the World Bank Spring Meetings.
When emergencies and crises occur, education is often disrupted for extended periods of time, said Alice Albright. But even in the most challenging contexts, it is critical to engage in efforts to strengthen education systems and improve coordination to ensure that children can continue to go to school and fulfill their right to an education. Education provides normalcy during chaos and is a foundation upon which everything else can be built.
Refugee children, like children everywhere, have the right to education. It is fundamental that children who have been uprooted by war and violence are not left behind even further, said Filippo Grandi. We urge donors and development organizations to support all efforts to include refugee children and youth in national education systems. Education is essential for all children and especially so for refugee children who have already lost so much.
At the global level, the two organizations agreed to collaborate through joint advocacy with national and global partners and donors on the importance of quality education for refugees in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 for education highlighting key challenges and recommendations. There will also be collaboration with other partners, and increased focus and additional funding for education in emergencies and protracted crises.
The two organizations also agreed to strengthen their country-level cooperation. This includes increasing education for refugees through GPE processes; ensuring availability of education statistics related to refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs); and UNHCRs participation in Local Education Groups in countries with IDP and refugee challenges.
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The Global Partnership for Education works with 60 developing countries to ensure that every child receives a quality basic education, prioritizing the poorest, the most vulnerable and those living in fragile and conflict-affected countries.
The Global Partnership mobilizes financing for education and supports developing countries to build effective education systems founded on evidence-based planning and policies.
Learn more at www.globalpartnership.org and Facebook and Twitter
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees works to provide emergency assistance and protection to more than 60 million displaced people worldwide through its staff of some 9,700 in 126 countries.
Education is a key component of UNHCRs support to refugees, 51 per cent of whom are under the age of 18. Working in partnership, UNHCR provides opportunities for refugee children and young people to participate in education and training programs, and strengthens livelihood opportunities for young people and their parents, so that families have the means to support themselves.
Learn more at www.unhcr.org and Facebook and Twitter .
Contact:
Alexandra Humme, Media Lead, Global Partnership for Education, ah[email protected] , Tel: 202-458-5511
Washington, DC, 14 April 2016 (UNHCR) The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today expressed its gratitude to the US government and the American people for their latest funding announcement of almost US$421 million to the UN refugee agencys global operations.
This latest funding from the United States further demonstrates its humanitarian commitment to our emergency work, particularly at a time when the world is grappling with the largest refugee crisis of our time, said UNHCR Regional Representative in the United States, Shelly Pitterman.
The UN refugee agency relies on the generous contributions of donor governments in order to deliver life-saving humanitarian assistance across the globe and there is no doubt that refugees will benefit directly from this major US contribution.
War, conflict and persecution have forced around 60 million people worldwide to flee for their lives, the largest number since World War II. Nearly 20 million of these are refugees and more than half are children. Around 42,500 women, girls, boys and men are becoming refugees, asylum seekers or internally displaced every day.
Todays announcement by the United States is in addition to the US$191 million contribution to UNHCR for its Syria operations that US Secretary of State John Kerry announced at the London conference in February.
The Syrian conflict, now into its sixth year, is the main reason for such a surge in the number of persons worldwide seeking safety, however Europe, the Americas, Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia are all seeing increases in the number of persons fleeing.
UNHCR is working to alleviate humanitarian crises across the globe and this current US commitment will help support all the UN refugee agencys operations.
The sun rises over Tanzania's Nduta camp, where 55,000 refugees from Burundi have found safety and shelter. UNHCR/Sebastian Rich
GENEVA, May 18 (UNHCR) Running from violence in Burundi, Jacqueline and her family are seeking safety in Tanzania, where seasonal rains fall in sheets. Their greatest need is plastic sheeting to keep them dry.
Penniless and on the streets of southern Mexico after fleeing raging gang violence in her native El Salvador, Ada and her three-year-old son need a room where they can sleep, eat together and plan their next move.
Facing a bitter winter chill thousands of miles away in Lebanons Bekaa Valley after escaping war in Syria, Hayel and his three young children need cash and other help to stay warm, dry and fed in their temporary shelter.
What I care about the most is to keep my family under one roof where the children can be warm, where they can eat, where they can study and be safe, he says.
What I care about the most is to keep my family under one roof where the children can be warm, where they can eat, where they can study and be safe. Hayel, Syrian refugee
Jacqueline, Ada and Hayel and their families are among a record number of people worldwide driven from their homes by wars and persecution. For them, a proper shelter whether a tent, a temporary shelter or a house is the basic building block for surviving and recovering from the physical and mental effects of violence.
Today, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is launching a new global campaign to find decent shelter for the refugees under its care. The Nobody Left Outside campaign aims to help those struggling to get by in grossly inadequate, and often dangerously squalid dwellings, where their lives, dignity and futures may be at risk.
Shelter is the foundation stone for refugees to survive and recover, and should be considered a non-negotiable human right, said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. As we tackle worldwide displacement on a level not seen since World War II, no refugee should be left outside.
Nobody Left Outside Campaign
Without a massive stepping up and widening of global support, UNHCR warns, millions of people fleeing war and persecution face homelessness or inadequate housing in countries from Lebanon and Mexico to Tanzania.
The Nobody Left Outside campaign aims to raise private funds to provide and improve shelter for 2 million refugees like Hayel, Jaqueline and Ada by 2018, or more than one in every 10 people under UNHCRs care.
Providing shelter on a global scale is a massive logistical undertaking. Every year, UNHCR purchases 70,000 tents and more than 2 million tarpaulins the iconic plastic sheets which have come to symbolize the response to humanitarian emergencies. Outside of camps, refugees rely on UNHCR support to find housing and pay the rent in towns and cities across dozens of countries bordering conflict zones.
These operations are expected to cost US$724 million in 2016. Yet only US$158 million is currently available, a dramatic half-billion-dollar shortfall which threatens to leave millions of men, women and children without adequate shelter and unable to begin rebuilding their lives.
After fleeing violence in Burundi, Jacqueline found safety and shelter and a place to give birth to young Dani in Tanzania's Nduta refugee camp. UNHCR/Sebastian Rich
Jacqueline was pregnant with baby Dani when she fled the fighting in Burundi. She and her husband, Joseph, and their two children have found safety and shelter at Nduta camp in Tanzania. UNHCR/Sebastian Rich
Hayel, who fled Syria with his young family, uses a wooden pole to support the kitchen roof in his makeshift shelter in Lebanon. It's so dangerous that he doesn't let the children in the kitchen. UNHCR/Sebastian Rich
Ada fled her home in Honduras after gangs began threatening her. She and her son, Brian, 3, are being sheltered in Mexico with support from the UN Refugee Agency. UNHCR/Sebastian Rich
The Nobody Left Outside campaign is asking private donors and enterprises to get much more involved. The private sector is an increasingly important donor to UNHCR, contributing more than eight per cent of the organizations overall income in 2015.
For those in desperate need, that help is nothing less than a lifeline. Fragile as his familys temporary wooden shack is, Hayel says it is basically home, allowing him and his wife, Wisal, to be together and focus on raising their three young children.
Half a world away in Tanzania, Jacqueline says her shelter has given her husband, Joseph, and their kids one seven years old, the other and just four months the privacy to be a family and have time to ourselves until they can build a more permanent mud brick home.
For Ada, a room at a shelter in southern Mexico has simply got her and her three-year-old son Brian off the street, while they claim asylum. Its important to have a place to rest, to eat, she says. Its too cold for mothers to be sleeping out on the streets with their children.
Walking down the street while holding hands with his boyfriend could have gotten Subhi Nahas tortured and killed in his hometown of Idlib, Syria, where he says hardline militias target gay men and execute them.
That is why 28-year-old Nahas fled the country in September 2012, as the war was spreading and militants were entering strategic areas like the north-western town of Idlib.
My family has never accepted me for being gay, and at that point I wasnt safe inside my home or outside in the city. I was afraid that my own father would some day tell [the militias] about me being gay, said Nahas, who arrived in San Francisco in June 2015. He was resettled with the help of two organizations in northern California working to get lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) refugees out of dangerous environments.
The Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration (ORAM), a San Francisco-based non-profit organization, has staff in Turkey reaching out to LGBTI refugees who have gone there to escape persecution in their home countries and helping process their visa applications.
Subhi Nahas, a 28-year-old refugee from Syria (right), walks with his American partner, Mark Averett, in the Castro District of San Francisco. UNHCR/Nick Otto
"My family has never accepted me for being gay, and at that point I wasn't safe inside my home," says Nahas. UNHCR/Nick Otto
A large rainbow flag flies over the Castro District of San Francisco. UNHCR/Nick Otto
"I always dreamt about San Francisco because it seemed like a place where I could be myself," says Nahas. UNHCR/Nick Otto
Subhi Nahas, a Syrian refugee, and his American partner, Mark Averett, help prepare food at a friend's dinner party. UNHCR/Nick Otto
Nahas also received assistance from Jewish Family and Community Services East Bay (JFCS), a non-profit based in nearby Berkeley that runs an LGBTI refugee resettlement program. Since 2011, JFCS East Bay has resettled and assisted about 60 LGBTI refugees and asylum-seekers in the Bay Area. It offers refugees temporary housing with a host family, counseling programs and legal support.
I always dreamt about San Francisco because it seemed like a place where I could be myself, said Nahas, who now lives with his American partner in the Castro, San Franciscos iconic gay district. In Syria and many other Middle Eastern and African countries, being gay is illegal and often punishable by imprisonment or death.
I knew that militants and guards would think that I was gay if they heard me speak. Subhi Nahas, Syrian refugee
Peter Altman, who directs ORAMs San Francisco office, says LGBTI refugees are one of the most isolated and brutalized groups of people worldwide. The scope of the problem is getting larger, he said, because in some places all of the advocacy on LGBTI refugee rights has resulted in growing acceptance and in other countries its exacerbated homophobia.
In March ORAM published a multilingual glossary of words and terms to help aid workers and employees of non-profits better communicate with LGBTI refugees. The glossary has been translated into Farsi, Arabic, French and Turkish.
For Nahas, the road to the Bay Area was not without hurdles. He made two perilous journeys, one by car from Idlib to Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, and another from Beirut to Antakya, in southern Turkey.
I paid the driver double money to speak for me at the checkpoints from Idlib to Beirut, because I knew that militants and guards would think that I was gay if they heard me speak, said Nahas.
Subhi Nahas from Syria helps set the table at a friend's dinner party in San Francisco. UNHCR/Nick Otto
It is increasingly difficult for refugees and asylum-seekers in Lebanon to work. After six months in Beirut, Nahas had tapped out his resources and was running out of money. Returning to Syria wasnt an option, so I used the last money that I had to pay for a flight to Turkey, said Nahas, who helped translate for international organizations operating near the Turkish-Syrian border.
Nahas met an ORAM attorney who was in Turkey researching the living conditions and asylum application process for LGBTI refugees. He says ORAM representatives guided him through the process supported by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. The non-profit explained to him the US Department of Homeland Security interview process, and eventually found him a host family to live with in the Bay Area.
ORAM works primarily in Turkey. The work that ORAM and other advocacy organizations are doing is very important, said Nahas.
Nahas skills also landed him a job at ORAM when he moved to the Bay Area. He helped with Arabic translations, designing publications and serving as a spokesperson for LGBTI refugee rights. He even detailed his incredible journey before the UN Security Council in August 2015.
He had to live in fear for so long." Mark Averett, Nahas partner
He had to live in fear for so long that sometimes he shuts down and I have to remind him that he is in a safe place, said Mark Averett, Nahas partner of nine months. Averett recently introduced Nahas to his family.
Resettling LGBT refugees is a slow and sensitive process because we build a support group around every person we resettle, said Amy Weiss, JFCS East Bays Director of Refugee and Immigrant Services.
One of those hosts is Judy Salomon, a 64-year-old grade school teacher from Berkeley, who has been hosting two gay refugees from Uganda since January. When I heard that the greatest need for resettling refugees was housing for LGBT individuals, it made sense to me and I wanted to help, said Salomon, whose own kids are grown and no longer living with her.
Our Ugandan guests were scared at first. Everything was new and they had already suffered so much trauma back home, said Salomon. But what opened everything up was when they met my six-year-old granddaughter. Kids have a way of getting everyone to relax.
"When I heard that the greatest need for resettling refugees was housing for LGBT individuals, it made sense to me and I wanted to help," says Judy Salomon. UNHCR/Nick Otto
A Ugandan refugee who asked to remain anonymous, at the home of Judy Salomon in San Francisco. UNHCR/Nick Otto
Judy Salomon and her husband have been hosting two gay refugees from Uganda since January. UNHCR/Nick Otto
Judy Salomon and her husband look at an atlas with a gay Ugandan refugee they are hosting. UNHCR/Nick Otto
Judy Salomon, a grade-school teacher from Berkeley, at home with her husband. "Our Ugandan guests were scared at first," she says, but that changed when they met her grandchildren. UNHCR/Nick Otto
Salomon says the agreement with JFCS was to host the refugees for six months, and after a month it seemed as if they were already a family.
UNHCR is committed to protecting the rights of LGBTI people and is continuing to work to build the capacity of its staff and partners to do so. Last year it launched Protecting Persons with Diverse Sexual Orientations and Gender Identities, its first global overview of its progress in protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex asylum-seekers, refugees and others.
Weiss says JFCS East Bay gets many calls from LGBT refugees from around the world, but it can only help those who have received refugee status from UNHCR. She says most of the LGBTI refugees whom they have settled came from African countries including Uganda, Congo, Burundi and Rwanda. Others came from the former Soviet Union and the Middle East.
Its criminal to help homosexuals in some of these countries, so it makes it difficult to serve them directly, said Weiss.
San Francisco is a new beginning for me. Anthony,* Lebanese asylum-seeker
Thats why Anthony* recently connected with ORAM in San Francisco to volunteer his time and skills in helping LGBTI refugees and asylum-seekers from the Middle East. Anthony is from Lebanon and has applied for asylum in the United States.
I see gay teenagers walking around San Francisco. They are so free, and I get sad that I didnt have this when I was younger, said 29-year-old Anthony, who grew up near Beirut. He says that as an asylum-seeker, he has yet to prove that returning to Lebanon is too dangerous for him.
The first time he opened up about being gay was eight years ago, when he was 21. He drove two hours from his home to a different city to confess to a priest.
I grew up Catholic and was always told that the priests were very educated. During confession I told the priest I had feelings for men. He kept my secret but told me to fix myself, said Anthony. San Francisco is a new beginning for me.
*Name changed for protection reasons.
Geneva, 18 May 2016 - A huge shortfall in funds for sheltering refugees is severely undermining efforts to tackle the biggest global displacement crisis since World War II, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, warned today.
At the launch today of a new global campaign, called Nobody Left Outside, UNHCR said efforts to provide adequate shelter for refugees under its care were facing a half-billion-dollar deficit. Nobody Left Outside calls on the private sector to contribute funds for shelter solutions for 2 million refugees. The campaign is aimed at individuals, companies, foundations and philanthropists worldwide.
Forced displacement, most of it arising from war and conflict, has risen sharply in the past decade, largely a result of the Syria crisis, but also due to a proliferation of new displacement situations and unresolved old ones. Some 60 million people are today forcibly displaced, almost 20 million of them refugees who have been forced to flee across international borders, and the rest people displaced within their own countries. Humanitarian funding is failing to keep pace.
A shelter be it a tent, a makeshift structure or a house is the basic building block for refugees to survive and recover from the physical and mental effects of violence and persecution. Yet around the world, millions are struggling to get by in inadequate and often dangerous dwellings, barely able to pay the rent, and putting their lives, dignity and futures at risk.
Shelter is the foundation stone for refugees to survive and recover, and should be considered a non-negotiable human right, said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. As we tackle worldwide displacement on a level not seen since World War 2, no refugee should be left outside.
The Nobody Left Outside campaign aims to raise funds from the private sector to build or improve shelter for 2 million refugees by 2018, amounting to almost one in eight of the 15.1 million under UNHCRs remit in mid 2015. The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) cares for the remaining Palestinian refugees.
Without a major increase in funding and global support, millions of people fleeing war and persecution face homelessness or inadequate housing in countries such as Lebanon, Mexico and Tanzania. Without a safe place to eat, sleep, study, store belongings and have privacy the consequences to their health and welfare can be profound.
Providing shelter on a global scale is a massive logistical undertaking. Every year, UNHCR purchases 70,000 tents and more than 2 million tarpaulins, which have come to symbolize the response to humanitarian emergencies.
However, as UNHCR continues to face high levels of shelter needs and with limited funding available, operations often face the difficult decision to prioritize emergency shelter for the maximum number of people of concern, over an investment in more durable and sustainable solutions. Outside of camps, refugees rely on UNHCR support to find housing and pay rent in towns and cities across dozens of countries bordering conflict zones.
These operations are expected to cost US$724 million in 2016. Yet only US$158 million is currently available, a shortfall which threatens to leave millions of men, women and children without adequate shelter and struggling to rebuild their lives.
The Nobody Left Outside campaign is asking private donors and enterprises to get more involved. The private sector is an increasingly important donor source for UNHCR, contributing more than eight per cent of the organizations overall funding in 2015.
There is an important role for the private sector with its know-how, energy and money to act in a spirit of solidarity to shelter refugees from war and persecution, said High Commissioner Grandi, adding that the provision of adequate shelter could ease tensions between refugees and host communities. We must find better ways of peacefully integrating refugees into our host communities, said Grandi. Proper shelter for everyone is central to social cohesion. Good homes make good neighbours.
The regions most in need of assistance are sub-Saharan Africa (US$255m needed, US$48m available) and the Middle East and North Africa (US$373m needed, US$91m available). Asia requires US$59m, with only US$8m available, and Europe also requires significantly more help (US$36m needed, US$10m available) as it faces a continued influx of refugees.
To support Nobody Left Outside, go to www.nobodyleftoutside.org
Media Contacts:
In Geneva, Leo Dobbs on mobile +41 79 883 63 47
For other offices, please consult our global PI network.
Texas Southern University hailed Dr. Austin A. Lane as the 12th president of the university starting this summer. The Texas Southern board regents chose Dr. Lane after how many months of reviewing more than 40 candidates. To secure the post, Dr. Lane presented a plan that impressed the regents.
Dr. Austin A. Lane To Drive Higher Enrollment at Texas Souther University
Dr. Lane apparently presented a 90-day plan which revolved around actively seeking students for the school. The board of regents was impressed as Dr. Lane did a good job of doing his research, Houston Chronicle reported. Driving in more students will lead to more funding which has been an issue at Texas Southern University.
According to the outlet, there was a 10 percent decrease in enrollment rate in 2014. This amounted to only about more than 7,500 students and a subsequent funding cut. In 2015, the increase was only about a 500 student increase but with Dr. Austin A. Lane, Texas Southern University is expected to have more students.
Dr. Austin Lane named the 12th president of Texas Southern University. https://t.co/DVEfEJAw5g Texas Southern (@TexasSouthern) May 17, 2016
Dr. Austin A. Lane is Experienced in Increasing Enrollment Rates
Prior to taking over Texas Southern University, Dr. Lane managed the Lone Star College system which has seven campuses under it. He was also the president of Lone Star Montgomery campus from 2009 to 2015, Chron.com shared. During his tenure, enrollment among full-time students rose to 20 percent or approximately more than 12,000 students. The number of graduates who received their degrees has doubled as well.
Dr. Austin A. Lane Plans to Strengthen 4-Year Student Retention
In addition to increasing student recruitment and enrollment, Dr. Lane plans to strengthen the student retention in Texas Southern University, according to Click2Houston.com. He aims for students in 4-year courses to stick through the course and graduate.
It's no secret, President Obama is not in favor of for-profit colleges. In fact, his Education Department scouted out codes and compulsory law that have compelled a few to close.
Ellen DeGeneres recently came under fire from the internet after she offered a rather surprised viewer a $25,000 scholarship to private-sector University of Phoenix, according to records on The Huffington Post. DeGeneres, who exemplifies progressive values did this as a Mother's Day giveaway, but the internet slammed her for helping a college that just focuses on making money.
For-profit college stand a better chance of getting students into graduation gown as compared to their public and non-profit counterparts, and this is confirmed by government's own stats. However, the industry is not spared from criticism. Surprisingly, the industry which handles schools offering certificates in message therapy and motorcycle maintenance along with four-year degrees in computer programming and accounting, still has critics objecting their existence.
Despite rhetoric encompassing the industry, for-profit Berkeley College has continued its expansion inclusive of an alliance with the German college Fresenius University.
Fresenius introduced a study center located at Berkeley's building in midtown Manhattan in April. Last year, 240 Fresenius students traveled from Germany to study at Berkeley - their area of interest was mainly fashion and business. One of the major attractions is that Berkeley's building situated on 41st Street is hardly one block from the garment district, the emblematic main branch of Manhattan landmarks including the New York Public Library.
Berkeley boasts an impressive 8,300 students who are enrolled in New York and New Jersey campuses as well as online, according to reports on Forbes.
Students in the U.S. may ideally associate the Fresenius name as a medical facility rather than a university. The company runs nearly 3,400 kindly dialysis centers in America and rest of the world. Currently a for-profit university, it was founded back in 1848 as Carl Remigius Fresenius' chemical laboratory, and it gradually evolved as a training base for chemical engineers with campuses across Germany.
Fresenius has been operating for a commendable 170 years and "you don't survive that long by offering bullshit," said the great-great-grandson of the honorary president and founder of the university during the opening in New York.
Kevin Luing, the chairman of Berkeley stated that their students pay attention on their studies and business. Luing, a member of the family that has run the college since 1965 noted that the students realize they are here to learn and get a job.
As far as why people, especially those with no other options enroll is concerned, they are not required to write essays nor do they need recommendation letters. The school solely considers a high school transcript or diploma, SAT scores or the results of student's placement test.
Courtney, the student chosen for a $25,000 scholarship at the University of Phoenix at the Ellen show was a wife and mother who was unable to finish her college. The show divulged that her husband has been toiling 70-hour weeks, while her father, on the other hand has forgone retirement citing his kidney disease. To make things worse, he can't even afford medical treatment.
Courtney wants to go back to school in order to lend a helping hand to her family, according to the show.
Berkeley's president, Michael Smith noted that though they can't lower their standards, they "have to take students where they are"
"It's about building skills," Smith added.
In order to monitor schools that take students using federal aid, the Department of Education require colleges in the private sector including Berkeley to post "gainful employment" data for the grads. However, this is not demanded from New York University, which is a non-profit, private college, where the list price for tuition and fees is above $48,000.
There is good news against bullying and highschool violence. According to a federal report, incidents of phsyical violence and bullying in US high schools are declining. However, did the case of physical bullying go down or did it transform into another form?
US High School Physical Violence and Bullying Statistics
The National Center for Education Statistics released a report revealing that physical violecne and bullying in US high schools have declined. While the trend is promising, high school staff and teachers are hoping to permanently stop physical violence and bullying in US schools.
In the report, there has been a 7 percent decrease of physical violence brought by bullying in US high schools from 1995 to 2013. Theft has also decreased by 4 percent.
US High School Physical Violence and Bullying Has Resulted in Injuries
Physical violence and bullying in US high schools have resulted in actual injuries and casualties. Take for example, the news last month where a 16-year old high school student was dead after being assaulted by three teenage girls in a Delaware high school restroom, CNN reported.
While the physical violence and bullying rates have gone down in US high schools, this does not mean that it won't increase again. According to high school staff and teachers, this could be remedied by "positive culture" where student-teacher communication is open, US News & World Report shared. However, character development and positive culture cannot stop physical violence and bullying overnight and it may take a lot of years.
Physical Violence and Bullying Transformed Into Cyberbullying?
With today's greater access to the internet and various social media platforms, the trend of physical violence and bullying may have gone online through cyberbullying. Anyone can go on social media and post text or media that can incite cyberbullying.
Cyberbullying Is A Serious Public Health Problem, Says Report, But These 5 Organizations Hope To https://t.co/M7gCKrLoat #cyberbullying Stop Cyberbullying (@StopWebBullying) May 16, 2016
Cyberbullying is no stranger to taking lives of teenagers, especial high school kids as well. A 15-year old teenager from Australia took her life after being cyberbullied for something she posted on the internet, The Herald noted.
Could this mean that physical violence and bullying in US high schools have gone down because teenagers have found a new platform to cyberbully their classmates? Could this be because the school is not privy to students' social media accounts and therefore gives them less chances of being caught? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Burlington College closing will occur later this month after officially announced its struggle with 'weight of debt'. And news are pointing at the direction of Bernie Sanders' wife, Jane Sanders who had served as the school's president from 2004 to 2011.
On a conference at the campus, President Carl A. Moore, regrets to announce the loss after a long struggle with financial problem.
Coralle Holm from the college's Operations and Advancement, said that the institution has $1 million line of credit that will not go to any renewal. She describes Burlington College closing as 'heartbreaking' as the New England Association of Schools and Colleges is no longer renewing the accreditation due to the mounting debt. The news release also claims that the school owes to People's United Bank up to $2.2 million in debt.
The staff members and students have been notified earlier and each representative will begin the unemployment filing on Tuesday.
According to the Burlington Free Press, the institution sold 12 acres of waterfront property for $500,000 a few months earlier. Bernie Sanders' wife, Jane Sanders, who served as former president of the college had promised on doubling enrollment by 2020. Her decision to 'attract more students and donors' apparently failed to save the institution. The USA Today has learned that Sanders who departed after the deal, left the school to suffocate. She had given no explanation on her resignation despite receiving $200,000 of what seems to be severance package.
The news on 'Jane Sanders Burlington College fraud' is also brought up by the National Review. It says that the college is facing allegations of loan fraud during her tenure.
The major financial challenge has led to college shut down. Many students have not finished their study and college faculty staffs will soon be cut off. According to Burlington College official website, the institution was found in 1972 and it had a high rate of student internships back in 2013 and #1 free-spirited students in the USA. The last graduation ceremony occurred on Saturday.
SHARE STAR FILE PHOTO Lemon growers are speaking out against a proposal to allow Argentina to sell its lemons in the United States.
By Bartholomew Sullivan, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON American consumers may soon be drinking cheaper lemonade but the domestic lemon industry, centered in Ventura County, has quickly soured on a proposed Agriculture Department rule to allow imports of Argentine lemons.
Representatives of the industry are in Washington this week to express their concerns about pests and diseases the imports might introduce to California groves and to make the economic argument that flooding the market with cheaper Argentine lemons will harm domestic production worth $647 million in the 2013-14 growing season.
Richard Pidduck, a lemon grower from Santa Paula, told U.S. Department of Agriculture officials Tuesday that he and the nonprofit U.S. Citrus Science Council would be opposing the rule over both disease concerns and what they contend is a flawed economic analysis of the imports' impact on California growers.
"In California, we're not afflicted like Florida and Texas are, but the threat is imminent," Pidduck said. He also called the USDA's economic analysis a "dramatic understatement" of the impact.
The USDA published a proposed rule last week that sets out a detailed production and import regimen for Argentine exporters who have been banned from the U.S. market since 2001. The public has until July 11 to comment. The rule requires stringent inspections for pests and diseases, picking lemons while they are still green and packing them within 24 hours of harvest. They also must be disinfected and waxed.
The fruit must be imported with certificates establishing it is free of certain pests and diseases, including Huanglongbing or citrus greening, a bacteria spread by the Asian citrus psyllid that has been destroying the citrus crop in Florida and Texas.
Joel Nelson, president of the California Citrus Mutual trade association, said his group was "genuinely surprised at the suddenness of this rule so soon after the visit to Argentina" by President Barack Obama in late March. Nelson said the rule is based on a 2007 risk assessment that should have been updated.
Nelson said he was told by senior USDA officials Tuesday a new on-site assessment is planned in September or October, "but that's after the rule has been published, after the public comment period is over."
Nelson said the group met with Sen. Dianne Feinstein's staff Tuesday and had meetings planned with other members of Congress with citrus not just lemons in their districts, because the threat of disease could affect oranges and other fruit. Meetings are also planned with members of the House and Senate agriculture committees, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Office of Management and Budget.
U.S. Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Westlake Village, will meet with the group Wednesday. In a statement Tuesday, she said: "Ventura County produces more than half the lemons for the nation, and we've seen the devastating impact in Florida and Texas of citrus greening. We simply cannot entertain importing Argentine lemons into the U.S. until and when USDA can ensure that Argentina has an extremely robust on-the-ground inspections regime. I would also like to see a more thorough economic impact study, to ensure that the data informing the process is accurate."
Agriculture officials in Ventura County are watching the lobbying effort closely.
"That's the crux of the argument so far that's succeeded in keeping Argentine lemons out of the U.S. that there are pests and diseases in Argentina we're not having to combat yet," said Ventura County Farm Bureau Director John Krist. "There's never a good time to introduce a new type of pest or a new disease into an ag production area."
Lemon production in the U.S. takes place in California (92 percent) and Arizona (8 percent) and is centered in Ventura County where it is the second most lucrative crop after strawberries, Krist said.
And while the potential for disease is the primary argument for keeping them out, "there are profound economic implications, as well," Krist said. "Argentine lemon production dwarfs the U.S. and their production costs are much lower, so they can make a profit and flood the market and drive prices down and our growers will simply go out of business."
Pidduck pointed to an Arizona State University study commissioned by the industry that showed a significantly larger impact on the domestic industry than the USDA's estimate.
The USDA's economic analysis suggests that if the U.S. imports 18 metric tons of Argentine lemons, the price of lemons in the U.S. would decline by 2 to 4 percent, saving consumers $12.2 million to $25 million. That outweighs the $10.9 million to $12.2 million in domestic production losses which the proposed rule says will mainly effect "small entities, including lemon producers, packers, wholesalers and related establishments."
The domestic industry has been successful in keeping Argentine lemons out of the U.S. since 2001 but the trip by Obama to the newly business-friendly Argentine government spurred the process of resuming the imports. The ban was the subject of an Argentine complaint to the World Trade Organization in 2012. Argentina is the world's largest lemon producer.
Federal Election Commission records show California Citrus Mutual made two campaign contributions in the first quarter of this year: $2,500 to Brownley and $1,500 to Jimmy Panetta, a Democrat who is seeking the House seat from which U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, is retiring.
LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR Jack Dyer, co-owner of Topa Topa Brewing Co. in downtown Ventura, poses near what will be the patio of the brewery's new taproom at a former foundry in Santa Barbara's Funk Zone.
SHARE ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Topa Topa Brewing Co. partners, from left, Ryan Jacobs, head brewer Casey Harris, Jack Dyer and Kyle Thompson pose in the brewery's Ventura taproom in June 2015. CONTRIBUTED/KEVIN MOORE ARCHITECT Topa Topa Brewing Co.'s Santa Barbara taproom is scheduled to open this summer in the colored-in portion of a rendering of the Waterline, a multi-tenant project in the Funk Zone. LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR Jack Dyer of Topa Topa Brewing Co. pauses to look at framework for a low wall that will separate the brewery's taproom from the Blair Fox Cellars / Fox Wine Co. tasting room at the Waterline in Santa Barbara's Funk Zone. ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Topa Topa Brewing Co. opened at 104 E. Thompson Blvd. in Ventura in June 2015.
By Lisa McKinnon of the Ventura County Star
Open since early June, Topa Topa Brewing Co. in downtown Ventura will more than double the size of its tasting room this summer by opening a taproom in Santa Barbara's Funk Zone.
"This is a way to expand our tasting room and to expand into a community that is part of our demographic," said Jack Dyer, who co-owns the craft brewery with Kyle Thompson, Ryan Jacobs and head brewer Casey Harris.
"Our vision lines up perfectly with those of (the building's owners). We're looking to create a community hub," Dyer said.
The new taproom is scheduled to open in mid to late summer at the Waterline, an adaptive reuse project that will include an artisan collective and multiple food and beverage providers in a 1920s-era warehouse that stretches from 116 to 122 Santa Barbara St.
The street is at the heart of the Funk Zone, a neighborhood of tasting rooms, restaurants and art galleries located within walking distance of the Santa Barbara Amtrak station.
Home to a number of businesses through the decades, the Waterline building most recently was occupied by the Santa Barbara Art Foundry, which closed unexpectedly in the spring of 2015.
The Waterline is the work of the Miramar Group, a Santa Barbara-based commercial real estate investment, development, management and brokerage firm.
"We went through an arduous tenant selection process to make sure the property would be comprised of merchants that not only provide the highest quality products, but are also personally invested in this community," founding partner Barrett Reed said in a media release.
Two Waterline tenants opened to the public on May 13.
They are Lama Dog Tap Room & Bottle Shop, which offers brews by Draughtsman Aleworks of Goleta among its 20 taps, and the Nook, an order-at-the-window restaurant by longtime Santa Barbara chef Norbert Schulz. The menu offers everything from vegan flatbreads to house-made bratwurst served with beer mustard on pretzel buns.
Located on one side of the roughly 10,000-square-foot space, Lama Dog and the Nook share common seating areas indoors and on a side patio.
Initial construction is underway on the second phase, which will be occupied by a collection of artisan studio spaces called The Guilded Table, and by tasting rooms for Topa Topa Brewing Co., Blair Fox Cellars and Fox Wine Co.
Because the beer and wine tasting areas will be operated by their separately licensed producers, alcohol beverage-control laws require that a divider be erected between them, Dyer said, pointing to counter-height framework during a recent tour of the space.
"It will be one of the few (tasting rooms) where you could be having a glass of beer on one side while your friend is having wine on the other," Dyer said.
Topa Topa will occupy just under 2,000 square feet of the building.
Plans call for 18 taps, a cold box for keg storage and a U-shaped tasting counter that will extend to an outdoor patio area, currently decorated with an exterior mural left by the departed foundry.
Since its June 6 debut in Ventura, Topa Topa has increased its production space by moving storage items and keg-cleaning duties to a 4,000-square-foot warehouse just off Ventura Avenue.
The brewery also has grown from three employees to 14, including two full-time brewers in addition to Harris, Dyer said.
It self-distributes beer to about 50 bars and restaurants from Goleta to Santa Clarita, with the occasional pop-up tap-takeover in Los Angeles.
To help keep up with demand, the first of two new, 60-barrel fermenters is expected to arrive in early June. Once in place, they will increase the brewery's capacity by about a third, Dyer said.
The brewery at 104 E. Thompson Blvd. will mark its first anniversary with a ticketed, beer festival-style celebration on June 12. More than 20 beers will be available, including five made in collaboration with breweries from as many different California counties.
For information about the brewery, click on http://topatopa.beer.
For information about the Waterline, go to http://www.waterlinesb.com.
STAR FILE PHOTO Ventura County's lawsuit against Moorpark over sand truck routes for Malibu's Broad Beach project has been transferred to Santa Barbara County.
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By Mike Harris of the Ventura County Star
A lawsuit filed by Ventura County and Fillmore against Moorpark and the Malibu Broad Beach replenishment project has been transferred to Santa Barbara County.
Ventura County Superior Court Presiding Judge Donald Coleman ordered the transfer last week after all the parties stipulated to a change of venue.
The suit was filed in April in Ventura County Superior Court.
Under the California Code of Civil Procedure, a lawsuit filed by a county against a city cannot be litigated in that county.
The suit was brought over an agreement between Moorpark and the Broad Beach Geologic Hazard Abatement District for hundreds of sand trucks a day to avoid Moorpark when traveling to the beach. The suit contends the agreement, which would send the trucks from quarries in Grimes Canyon through Fillmore, Ventura, Oxnard and unincorporated areas as opposed to through Moorpark, is illegal.
Moorpark City Attorney Kevin Ennis disagrees, saying the agreement is a lawful one.
Ventura County Counsel Leroy Smith said Wednesday he hopes a hearing before Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Colleen Sterne will be held by the fall.
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By Staff reports
Awards
Valery Gonzalez, a fourth-grader at Glen City School, was named the recipient of this year's Hydrant Award for writing the best fourth-grade fire-safety essay. The Santa Paula Fire Department sponsored a fire-safety essay contest open to fourth-graders of the Santa Paula Unified School District and St. Sebastian, Santa Clara and Mupu schools. As part of the process, each school received a fire-safety demonstration led by Engineer John Harber.
Craig Baingo and Agnes Kiss have been named the STARs of the Year for the University Village retirement community and Oak View, the adjacent health center, both in Thousand Oaks. Baingo and Kiss are the first recipients of the new employee awards program designed to recognize staff members who provide outstanding service to residents.
Fundraiser
Women and What We Love, a fundraising event organized by Mayerson Marketing and Public Relations, raised more than $21,000 to benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme and its 9,200 youths, exceeding last year's proceeds by almost $3,000.
Intern
Sam Lerma, a Camarillo native, was named an intern in U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer's Grand Forks office. Lerma is a University of North Dakota student working toward a double major in chemical engineering and economics with a concentration in energetics and a minor in math.
Giving back
Clark University senior Emma Pierce, of Moorpark, and 12 other Clark students recently spent their spring break building homes for low-income families in Broward County, Florida. The trip was organized by Clark's Community Engagement Office and LEEP Center.
File photo
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By Staff Reports
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department will do a DUI/driver's license checkpoint from 7 p.m. Friday to 3 a.m. Saturday at an undisclosed location in Malibu.
The checkpoints are located in places based on collision statistics and frequency of DUI arrests.
More than 10,000 people are killed annually across the United States by intoxicated motorists, according to sheriff's officials.
Deputies will be looking for signs of impaired drivers at the checkpoint.
Motorists caught driving intoxicated face jail, fines, fees, DUI classes and other expenses that can exceed $10,000, officials said.
file PHOTO Dr. Robert Lefkowitz
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By Tom Kisken of the Ventura County Star
A long-demanded childbirth procedure not allowed at many hospitals will be revived at Ventura County Medical Center on June 1.
Officials of the Ventura hospital announced Tuesday that doctors will begin performing vaginal birth for mothers who previously have given birth by cesarean section.
Known as a VBAC for vaginal birth after cesarean, the procedure is not offered at many hospitals because of complication risks and liability concerns. Women who have gone through a C-section surgery and want a natural childbirth have had to go elsewhere.
"We referred them to UCLA and USC," said Dr. Robert Lefkowitz, director of obstetrics and gynecology at county-run VCMC.
VBACs are also performed by some doctors at Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center in Thousand Oaks. And leaders at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura said Tuesday they plan to bring back the option for VBACs, although the timeline is unclear.
The risk of complications, particularly a ruptured uterus that can jeopardize the baby, is less than once thought, Lefkowitz said, noting that ruptures occur in about 0.5 percent of all C-sections.
Under the new program, a surgeon-led team will be available around the clock to deal with complications and perform C-sections if necessary.
"I think we've gotten the risk down to the level where patients can make a choice," Lefkowitz said.
Women will be screened at the county network of clinics to determine whether they are candidates for what doctors call a trial of labor after cesarean. Of those women who go into labor, about 70 percent likely will have a successful VBAC, Lefkowitz said.
He predicted about 12 to 15 births a month.
"I think it's amazing. It's about time," Gwen Cornell said upon hearing the news Tuesday. The Ventura woman has had four children, the first by C-section and the others through natural birth, one in the back of a motor home on the way to Los Robles.
"I think every woman should have the opportunity to have a child naturally," she said. " ... I have a higher risk of getting into my car and getting in an accident than I do of having a uterine rupture."
Lefkowitz acknowledged patient demand for the procedure and said the county wanted to give people safe choices.
The reluctance to offer the procedures in hospitals across the nation was triggered in the late 1990s by guidelines that called for surgeons to be immediately available during VBACs in case emergency C-sections were needed, he said.
"Everyone stopped," Lefkowitz said, noting that hospital leaders everywhere worried about being able to have a surgical team and an operating room available at virtually all times.
Liability played a role, too. Dr. Bryan Wong, medical director at VCMC, said the new program was reviewed by the hospital's malpractice insurance carrier, which agreed to continue coverage.
Discussions of VBAC involve references to the nation's sky-high C-section rate and the risks involved in that surgical procedure when it's performed multiple times.
VBACs have not been performed at Community Memorial in several years. But hospital leaders are working with obstetricians to bring back natural birth after a cesarean, said Dr. Stan Frochtzwajg, the hospital's chief medical officer.
"It's a good thing for patients," he said, citing the need to individualize care.
At Los Robles, some obstetricians perform VBACs and some do not, said Dr. Robert Grossman, chief of obstetrics and gynecology at the hospital.
VBACs are not performed at St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard. At Simi Valley Hospital, VBACs are not routinely allowed, although exceptions may be made in certain situations.
Some people in the maternity community said they knew of the news even before VCMC's announcement.
"There is a big buzz around it," said Tara Stivers, who leads prenatal yoga classes. The Camarillo woman and others see restrictions and prohibition as infringements on their rights.
"Women feel like they're being told how to birth their babies," she said.
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By Kathleen Wilson of the Ventura County Star
Private investors will profit if a Ventura County program aimed at reducing recidivism succeeds but lose their money if it fails.
Under what's called the "Pay for Success" model, investors will pay most of the cost of a $3 million program that will test treatment strategies for hundreds of adult offenders on probation. The investors would be repaid from public funds, but only if the program works, an official said.
"It eliminates the financial risk of government participation in these programs," said Christy Madden, senior deputy executive officer for the Ventura County government.
The county applied for and received a $1.5 million grant from the Board of State and Community Corrections. It's to be placed in a separate fund for the repayment to the investors. Along with Los Angeles and Alameda, Ventura was one of three counties in California to get the award.
On Tuesday, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors accepted the grant, which is being matched with $1.5 million in county funds. With the financing secured, county officials expect to start the five-year program in November.
The rate at which the 400 probationers in the program commit new crimes must be at least 10 percent lower than in a control group of the same size for the investors to recoup their money. The investors will get back their investment of roughly $2.6 million plus a profit of close to $260,000 if optimal results are achieved.
The recidivism program is designed for people who have been placed under formal probation because of the seriousness of their crimes. Probation officials said they could be people with convictions for theft, drug crimes or manslaughter connected with drunken driving; individuals convicted of sex offenses or domestic violence crimes are excluded.
These individuals have been sentenced in the county and are not offenders who have been released from state prison under Gov. Jerry Brown's corrections shift. The program, though, will incorporate strategies that have succeeded in a pilot program with the prison group.
Officials expect to contract with Social Finance, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Boston, to raise the money from private sources for the program. The investors could include banks, philanthropic organizations and investment pools, Madden said.
Interface Children & Family Services, a nonprofit agency based in Camarillo, is charged with delivering the services. Probationers who agree to participate will be offered a variety of strategies backed by research and that can be customized for each individual, county officials said. Most clients will receive help from caseworkers plus behavioral therapy designed to help them change their thinking patterns and attitudes, officials said.
The Pay for Success model has only begun to be tried in the United States, said Erik Sternad, executive director of Interface. If the venture succeeds, it will pay off for the probationers, their families and the public, he said.
County officials hope to save almost $4 million in costs for incarceration, supervision, court procedures and losses for victims over the life of the project.
ROB VARELA/THE STAR A controlled burn in the Sexton Canyon area north of Ventura in January 2014.
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By Staff Reports
The Ventura County Fire Department will do a controlled burn involving 130 acres in Barlow Canyon on Wednesday above the midtown Ventura area.
The burn is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. and end at 6 p.m.
Fire officials say the burns are necessary to increase protection against wildfires in the area and that they remove dangerous vegetation. It is being done in conjunction with the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District and the California Department of Forestry.
Firefighters will set brush on fire as part of the burn. Control lines have already been completed in the area to limit how much is burned. The burn area is Foothill Road and Court Avenue east of Day Road.
"Every effort will be made to reduce the effect on nearby residents," the fire department said in a news release Tuesday.
Officials said there may be smoke in the area as well as helicopter traffic.
The burn could be canceled if the weather is unfavorable.
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In February, when Rep. David Jolly introduced his quixotic plan to ban members of Congress from soliciting campaign contributions, the Florida Republican had only six co-sponsors.
Then, three weeks ago, "60 Minutes" did a sympathetic piece on Jolly's idea, giving national attention to the scandal of lawmakers spending 30 or more hours a week dialing for dollars.
And now? The number of co-sponsors on Jolly's bill has jumped from six all the way up to um, eight. No senator has come forward with similar legislation.
Jolly, appearing Monday morning at the National Press Club with his lead Democratic co-sponsor, Rep. Rick Nolan of Minnesota, was not surprised. "We've got six more co-sponsors than I thought we might have," he said. It's "a heartbreaking reflection on what the priorities of the Congress are. ... A member's political survival depends on raising money that's the reality."
Jolly speaks the truth. Lawmakers know what needs to be done to clean up the corrupt system but nothing happens.
Democrats talk about overturning the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision allowing corporations and unions to spend unlimited sums on politics. But that ultimate fix isn't happening soon. In the House, Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Maryland, has recruited 160 co-sponsors for his system of public financing of elections another good idea but so far he has only one Republican, gadfly Walter Jones of North Carolina. Republicans remain reflexively opposed to reform, including the idea of disclosure, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, once championed.
This is why Jolly's idea deserves a look. He calls it congressional reform, not campaign-finance reform. The goal: to get lawmakers to spend more time lawmaking.
"We're here three days a week, and half your time is spent raising money," he said. "In the face of growing crises around the globe, you've got a part-time Congress." This, he said, "is a first-rate scandal."
I've argued for other ways to get lawmakers to spend more time working returning to the five-day week, cutting travel allowances, ending the corrosive practice of members targeting each other for defeat through party committees. Jolly, now a Senate candidate in Florida, offers another tack.
The Republican Party is predictably opposed. The National Republican Congressional Committee, in a letter to CBS after the "60 Minutes" segment, accused Jolly of peddling "fiction" when he said party officials told him he had to raise $18,000 a day.
Unfortunately, liberals have piled on. Campaign-finance reformer Fred Wertheimer told me the idea "is not going to solve the problem," because those working for the members could still solicit funds. Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard law professor, wrote a piece in the Orlando Sentinel calling Jolly's bill a "cynical example of fraudulent reform" because "all that would change is that congressmen wouldn't have to do the dirty work."
But while Jolly can be accused of election-year gimmickry, he voluntarily refused to solicit contributions for his Senate run. And although the bill wouldn't by itself solve the campaign-finance mess, it could help to improve the woeful political culture in other ways.
Jolly's Democratic sidekick, Nolan, said that when he first served in Congress in the 1970s, lawmakers worked full weeks, giving them time to develop respect for one another and find common ground.
"If you've already consumed 40, 50 hours of the week in travel and fundraising, there's not a lot of time left over for governing, and we're seeing the results of that," he said. "We're looking at the last couple of sessions of the Congress of the United States as being the most unproductive in the history of the country. Why? Well, if everybody's busy campaigning and raising money, there's no time for governing."
Jolly, a former lobbyist and longtime staffer to the late congressman C.W. Bill Young, continues to agitate. He said he's not paying his $400,000 in dues to the NRCC, and he said "I don't buy the notion" that he needs more sponsors before House leadership grants a hearing on his bill.
Jolly is a potential ally of Democrats on campaign-finance reform, saying Citizens United "could be revisited" and "we can do better." Until then, surely more lawmakers on both sides can see the virtue of his cause.
"You think you get elected to represent 700,000 people," he said. "But you actually got elected to be one more marble on our side of the aisle to keep the majority, and to do that you've got to go raise $2 million and that makes members angry."
Or at least it should.
Follow Dana Milbank on Twitter, @Milbank. He writes for The Washington Post Writers Group.
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Everyone won't agree on this, by any means, but I'm glad President Obama will be making a stop at Hiroshima during his imminent trip to Japan.
I'm less concerned about whether such a visit would look like an apology to Japan than I am about our willingness to use the brutal deaths of many thousands of people as part of an argument, 71 years later, about who was right and who was wrong.
That fact is, the mass destruction of a large civilian population, such as the one that occurred at Hiroshima, ought to be considered and commemorated apart from the political and military circumstances in which it occurred.
I decline to take a position on whether Hiroshima was justified or necessary, or whether the deaths of 140,000 mostly noncombatant civilians balances with the many thousands or hundreds of thousands of American and Japanese lives that would probably have been lost during an invasion of Japan.
Ghastly calculations such as this one distract from the breathtaking event itself. On Aug. 6, 1945, the Enola Gay, a B-29 based in Tinian, reached Hiroshima after a six-hour flight and dropped "Little Boy," a small atomic bomb by today's standards, at 8:15 a.m.
The bomb detonated about 2,000 feet above the city's center. The classic account of the explosion's impact is in John Hersey's short book, "Hiroshima," published in 1946. Hersey interviewed survivors of the blast and recounted the stories of six of them, ordinary people attending to ordinary tasks on an ordinary day.
In some respects, Hiroshima was an experiment. During the war, the city had been largely spared from bomb damage, and the atomic bomb itself had been rushed through development. No one could be certain precisely what would happen when it was used for the first time against a target.
But even the comparatively small "Little Boy" was surprisingly effective: the city's center was essentially flattened; 80,000 people were killed almost immediately; within a few months the death toll reached 140,000; and after another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki a few days later, the long war with Japan came to an end.
And who's to say this wasn't a fitting ending to our global history's most brutal and destructive war?
Hiroshima gets special consideration because of the first use of the atomic bomb, but it wasn't the most destructive episode of the war, even for a single air raid. On March 9, 1945, 300 B-29s dropped 1,665 tons of incendiary bombs on Tokyo, producing an immense firestorm that killed, by some estimates, 200,000 people.
When it comes to mass destruction of civilians, the Japanese, of course, aren't entirely innocent. In a prequel to World War II, during six weeks in 1937, Japanese soldiers killed an estimated 300,000 unarmed Chinese civilians in Nanking.
In fact, given enough time, the human capacity for the destruction of other humans is impressive. During World War II, the Nazis killed 6 million Jews. As the time frame gets longer and the numbers get higher, estimates of the destruction get hazier: Over the several centuries of the "conquest" of North America by Europeans, the death toll for American Indians soars into the uncountable tens of millions.
My point isn't that all of these genocides were necessarily equivalent. But at the time the destruction was being carried out, it had a rationale, whether good or bad, and few of the perpetrators were spending much time wondering if their actions, decades or centuries later, would be something that future generations would regret or need to apologize for.
As much as anything, Hiroshima says that we should be careful with the enormous destructive capacity that lies at our fingertips which is why presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's cavalier attitude toward the proliferation and use of nuclear weapons is particularly worrisome.
So, yes, I'm happy President Obama is visiting Hiroshima. If the opportunity arises, so should Donald Trump. And Hillary Clinton.
So should we all.
John M. Crisp, an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service, teaches in the English Department at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas. Readers may email him at jcrisp@delmar.edu.
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If you're one of the 139,890 people in Ventura County eligible to vote in California's June primary but not yet registered and you're balking because you think your vote doesn't count think again. But do it quickly, because you've got less than a week to register.
Just ask Steve Huber, who two years ago lost an Oxnard City Council seat to Bert Perello by a mere 10 votes.
Or Tim Hicks, defeated in November 2012 by Kelsey Stewart for a seat on the Santa Paula Unified School District board by only eight votes.
Or Susan Malin, who lost in November 2010 to Pauline Mercado by only four votes in the race for the Ojai Unified School District board.
Or Ofelia De La Torre, who eight years ago lost her seat on the Santa Paula Elementary School District board to Gary Marshall by a single vote. Yes, one vote out of more than 11,000 cast.
In fact, if you're a Santa Paulan, history shows your vote really counts. That same year, the Santa Paula City Council race came down to a margin of 27 votes.
The deadline to register for the June 7 primary is 11:59 p.m. Monday, May 23 the 15th calendar day before the election. And two of the three local races again involve Santa Paula, where a crowded field is vying for a county Board of Supervisors seat and Santa Paula Unified is seeking approval for a $39.6 million bond issue to improve school facilities.
Maybe you're thinking about staying home because, after expecting the largest state in the nation to finally get a say in picking presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton basically wrapped up the nominations. But the ballot features a host of other races where you can perform your civic duty and make a difference.
Seven candidates are vying for the 3rd District supervisor seat representing the Santa Paula-Fillmore area, Camarillo and Port Hueneme. In Ventura, the Ojai Valley, part of Oxnard and northern coastal communities, two candidates are running for the 1st District seat, and the winner there won't have to face a November runoff.
The race to replace U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer features 34 candidates, and a host of congressional, state Senate and Assembly races are also on the Ventura County ballot.
The county has 546,640 eligible voters, according to the Secretary of State's Office. As of Tuesday, 406,750, or 74.4 percent, were registered 164,917 as Democrats, 137,511 as Republicans, 84,139 as "no party preference" and 20,183 for other parties, the county Elections Division reported.
To be eligible, you must be a U.S. citizen and California resident, 18 or older on Election Day, not in prison or on parole for a felony conviction, and not legally declared as mentally incompetent.
You can register online at registertovote.ca.gov. You'll need your California driver's license or ID card number, the last four digits of your Social Security number and your date of birth. But don't worry about privacy: Voter registration information cannot be used for commercial purposes.
You also can call the Elections Division at 654-2664 to get a voter registration card mailed to you, register at the division's office at the Government Center in Ventura, or pick up forms at city halls, post offices, libraries, chambers of commerce or fire stations.
Just remember that the completed forms must be postmarked by Monday. And remember Stewart's comments in 2012 on her narrow Santa Paula victory: "I don't ever want to hear people say 'My vote doesn't count' ever again."
Oil & Vinegar, a Netherlands-based culinary boutique store specializing in gourmet food and cooking products from around the world, will continue its recent trend of growth by opening a new store in the Downtown Summerlin shopping center in Las Vegas (Pictured: Oil & Vinegars unique amphora wall allows guests to sample dozens of oils and vinegars on tap Photo credit: Oil & Vinegar).
Locally owned and operated by sisters Catherine Shuman and Lisa Salgado, the store will bring exclusive and exotic flavors to the Las Vegas community. The store opened to the public on Sunday, May 15.
Guests of Oil & Vinegar are encouraged to sample, taste and experience a vast selection of imported olive oils and vinegars, pesto and tapenades, appetizers, marinades and sauces, dressings, mustards, salts, exotic herb mixes and handcrafted ceramics and culinary accessories that are guaranteed to enhance any home dining experience or celebration.
I fell in love with the Oil & Vinegar concept several years ago, after an incredible experience at the store in Anchorage, Alaska said Catherine, owner of Oil & Vinegars Summerlin location. Getting to experience so many different flavors and learn from the knowledgeable staff opened up a new world of flavor to me, and I want to bring that experience to Las Vegas, a city with such a vibrant culinary culture.
A geologist by training, Catherine often visited Las Vegas over the years to hike Red Rock Canyon and visit her sister Lisa, her brother Phil and their families. At Catherines urging, I visited the Dallas store, Lisa, the stores general manager, said, I called her immediately following my visit and said We have to open one of these stores in Las Vegas! We scouted a few locations, but when we discovered Downtown Summerlin, we just knew this was the location for our store.
This file photo shows a shelf of covered liquor bottles at a bar. (Photo: AFP: Michal Cizek)
JAKARTA: Twelve Indonesian men have died after drinking bootleg liquor, police said Tuesday (May 17), the latest deaths in the Muslim-majority country caused by homemade alcohol.
The victims died in Bantul district in the main island of Java in recent days, said local police spokeswoman Anny Pudjiastuti.
Four other people are in hospital after drinking the liquor, she said.
A man suspected of selling the alcohol has been arrested in Bantul, which is in Central Java, and 81 bottles of liquor confiscated.
"The suspect could be charged with causing death and could be jailed for 15 to 20 years," said Pudjiastuti.
Police said they were still investigating what the bootleg liquor contained.
There have been several cases in recent years of people dying after drinking bootleg alcohol. In February 26 people in Sleman district - next to Bantul - died after consuming locally-bought homebrew.
Indonesia is home to the world's biggest Muslim population, but most practise a moderate form of Islam and alcohol is available in big cities.
However in rural areas, where few drink, getting hold of alcohol can be difficult and people sometimes turn to potentially dangerous homebrews.
Dr. Luu Ngan Tam briefs on malnutrition is common condition in hospitals
With this in mind, international and local health experts convened today to discuss recommendations and solutions to one often overlooked health issue in this age group: disease-associated malnutrition.
At the symposium, hosted by Abbott, with professional consultancy from Ho Chi Minh Society of Parenteral Enteral Nutrition (HOSPEN), experts considered how findings from new research published in the Journal of Nursing Care Quality can be incorporated into Vietnamese hospital protocols.
One of the key recommendations is the creation of a formalised nutrition programme in hospitals, often called a Quality Improvement Program (QIP), which according to the recent study findings can result in patients getting home quicker, less chance of patients being re-admitted within 30 days, reduced complications in treated patients and overall lower costs.
"Malnutrition is a preventable and treatable condition, and the study shows that implementing simple processes that screen and address malnutrition immediately can be an effective practice for improving overall patient treatment in hospitals. We plan to use this as a case study for how to improve the nutrition process at various hospitals under the professional support of HOSPEN within the next two years," said Dr. Luu Ngan Tam.
QIP aims to identify impacts of prompt nutrition care on patient outcomes and healthcare costs. QIP started with the establishment of an interdisciplinary core team (QI team) that developed a system in which nurses screened for malnutrition risk at patient admission using the Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST), and immediately intervened for those at risk of malnutrition. The intervention included ordering oral nutritional supplement (ONS), specifically Abbotts Ensure Complete, for those at-risk of malnutrition within 24 hours of being admitted to the hospital, then monitored the outcomes by medication administration records.
The results of QIP came after the retrospective evaluation of nearly 20,000 patients aged from 18 to 111 years who were admitted to US hospital, Akron General Medical Center, which is part of Cleveland Clinic, between 2011 and 2013. The study found that the group that was part of the QIP had lowered 30-day readmissions probability by 17 per cent, reduced length of stay by 13.4 per cent, 50 per cent reduction in hospital-acquired pressure ulcers (HAPUs) and reduced cost of care by 8.8 per cent.
Currently, QIP has been applied in 250 sites of care, 12 hospitals, with five of the nations 100 top hospitals.
"Good nutrition is critical to helping adults, especially those with a chronic illness, regain strength and energy. We are connecting local healthcare experts with global nutrition best practices and the latest science to help people in Vietnam live longer and better lives," Gary Fanjiang, divisional vice president of Abbotts Nutrition Research & Development, Asia Pacific, said.
Apart from the achievements recorded, there are a number of weaknesses that need to be addressed in the local real estate market that have been highlighted by the Central Steering Unit for Housing and Real Estate Market policies.
Failure to control the market
In spite of a number of strict measures to control the real estate market, prices are increasing sharply and seemingly out of control. This state of fact presents any potential market management endeavor and efforts to provide houses for low-income earners with a major challenge.
According to a current survey, real estate prices, especially for houses, are extremely high compared to the average income, the countrys economic growth rate, and far exceed the real value of the assets. The construction cost to build a 20-25 storey apartment is around VND16.5 to 17.5 million per sq.m at 2009 prices, which include all associated expenses and ensure a fair level of investors profit. However, actual selling prices for the same project are not less than VND28 million per sq.m. There are a number of reasons for the sharp increase in real estate prices and its consequence, a widening gap between the average income and the cost of housing.
First of all, the cost of construction has increased and there is a scarcity of completed projects. Secondly, the prices are unregulated and a herd mentality in the investment pattern can drive prices to unrealistic levels. Additionally, the failure to prevent illegal trading practices and a lack of education in real estate matters have led people to buy at any cost with a lot of risk. Also and importantly, the range of real estate products currently available is quite limited. In particular, there is a clear shortage of projects suitable to the majority of people in terms of scale and prices and there is a very limited supply of apartments for lease. It is said that the segment of apartments for rent accounts for only 6.3 percent of the total market.
Delay in project completion
In order to attract foreign investors, the Government of Vietnam has been implementing for years a number of measures to improve administrative procedures and enhance policies to create a better business environment. However, the construction of real estate projects in recent years has been quite slow, due in particular to site clearance and land acquisition requirements subjected to continual policy changes.
According to a recent report from the Ho Chi Minh Citys People Committee, the total floor area for housing constructed in 2009 was 4.05 million sqm, much lower than the average figure of 6 million sq.m of 2007 and 2008. In Hanoi, construction started only on a few large-scale new urban areas in 2009 due to the overall review of projects by the local authorities to assess compliance with the new master plan for Hanoi city.
Lack of professionalism in real estate activities
Due to the lack of a comprehensive policy with regards to the real estate markets management, its growth has been at the best of times disorganized. This has hindered the overall sustainability of the market.
Both foreign and local investors have been instrumental in this growth. Large-scale corporations and groups have formed their own real estate trading businesses. Banks are following the same trend. A lot of businesses without an adequate level of financial capabilities and experience have entered the market. Individuals attracted by the idea of a quick dollar are also playing the game.
Real estate trading centers have been on the rise in numbers but often without an adequate level of service. In future, proper policies should be made so as to improve and enhance the quality of real estate trading services. Broker, consultant, cost appraisers should improve their knowledge and skills so as to enhance their professionalism.
Dependence on the banking sector
Although the real estate market sees strong growth and attracts the participation of many different kinds of investors, it can be said that the market still depends very much on the banking sector.
For instance, it should be remembered that during the first and second quarters of 2009, as soon as banks started to disburse the interest rate subsidy stimulus package, the real estate prices rose immediately. In the third quarter of 2009, since the market was waiting for the Governments decision on the continuation of the stimulus package, there was no major move at all. The fourth quarter of 2009 saw some small improvements due to the positive signals from the banking sector. By the end of the fourth quarter, the market was mostly at a standstill.
In addition, there are a number of outstanding issues in capital lending. For instance, the bank lending rates are amongst the highest in the world. Fixed mortgage rate in the US is currently around five percent per annum for loans with maturity of 20 to 30 years. By comparison, Vietnam banks offer a 13 percent per annum rate. However, the actual rates in the real estate market are much higher. Such high level of rates combined with cumbersome loan procedures have hindered people from having access to bank loans for real estate purchase.
This has also discouraged foreign investors to invest in Vietnam and caused concerns about the overall market stability.
Wrong-doing in capital mobilization
The trading in deposits from secondary investors contains latent threats to Vietnams real estate market. The deposit and payment in installments is the most widespread form of real estate purchase in the world, especially in emerging market without sufficient housing products to meet the peoples demands.
However, most investors handover to their customers late against the schedule, without the quality originally agreed to and often with a price increase on the contract price. Some investors actually received payments from buyers for years but eventually stopped their project altogether due to price escalations which made the project apparently not feasible any longer.
Inaccurate information
Control of the Government over the real estate market has so far come up short: the information system with regards to housing and the real estate market is quite limited and unreliable and the role of the Government in the management of the real estate market is still unclear, especially when major fluctuations appear and there is a need to stabilize the socio- economic situation.
At present, as analyzed by real estate experts, there are a number of ministries participating in the management of the real estate market. They include the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. This has led to a lack of consistency in issuing policies which guide the performance of the real estate market. At the same time, the administrative units at provincial and district level have not taken form yet. Knowledge and skills of Governments staff working in this field are quite modest due to improper application or lack of training programs.
The information databases available in the real estate market do not provide good information with regards to the ownership and usage of real estate properties in the market. The information sources are mainly processed through the media without official release from a Government authority. The lack of a national database has made it hard for the authorities to understand and manage the real estate market properly.
The World Bank has warned that Vietnam must reduce its exposure to fiscal risk
World Bank Vietnams lead economist, Sandeep Mahajan, is concerned with Vietnams current budgetary difficulties.
Rising fiscal risks have to be managed, Mahajan said, stressing that Vietnam could face more severe budget difficulties in the medium term, as large amounts must be taken from the state coffers to cover the countrys debts.
Currently, Vietnams budget is reportedly sufficient to pay for debts and recurrent spending, which occupies 70 per cent of the states total budget expenditure.
The World Bank is working with Vietnams government to formulate the best plan for using the state budget.
The government aims to narrow the budget deficit to 4.9 per cent of GDP this year and to 4 per cent next year. Continuing a shift which began in 2015, the budget for 2016 will put greater emphasis on capital expenditure, which is slated to rise by 25.5 per cent. Current expenditure is set to rise by a modest 6.5 per cent.
However, the Asian Development Bank warned that Plans for fiscal consolidation are at risk from shortfalls in revenue.
Over the past five years, several factors including the removal of or reductions in import tarriffs under Vietnams international and regional commitments, as well as tax incentives for favoured firms have eroded the tax base. Low oil prices are also dragging down resource tax revenue, which comprises 10 per cent of the total. Central government revenue and grants fell from 27.6 per cent of GDP in 2010 to 22 per cent last year.
The government could use funds from the equitisation of state-owned enterprises and issue more short-term securities to support the budget in the near term, but achieving a more sustainable fiscal position is likely to require tax reform to reverse falls in the ratio of tax to GDP, said a recently released ADB report on Vietnams economic outlook.
Standard & Poors has also warned that Vietnam could face national financial insecurity if it continued its current trend of overusing state coffers.
Fiscal pressure has increased as the deficit was estimated at 6.5 per cent of GDP last year, reflecting a weak revenue outturn and increased current and capital spending.
Public and publicly guaranteed debt (under the Ministry of Finances definition) is estimated to have increased to 62.5 per cent of GDP in 2015, up from 59.6 per cent in 2014, inching toward the legally mandated debt ceiling of 65 per cent. Standard & Poors noted that in the future, Vietnam should pay special attention to controlling its budget overspending, bad debt, and the growing public debt in the banking sector.
Meanwhile, a World Bank report on Vietnams economic prospects for 2016 pointed out that The government is yet to announce credible measures to implement medium-term fiscal consolidation on either the revenue or expenditure side.
Head of the International Monetary Fund Article IV Mission Delegation John Nelmes recommended a growth-friendly fiscal consolidation (beginning this year) to reduce the fiscal deficit to about 3 per cent of GDP by 2020 and put public debt on a sustainable path.
The consolidation should focus on broadening the revenue base, safeguarding spending on high-quality public investment in education, health, and infrastructure, while also making resources available to resolve non-performing loans and strengthen capital in state-owned banks.
The complexs construction was kicked off in 2003, with the total capital of over VND3 trillion ($134.5 million), an ambitious investment by state-owned shipbuilding giant Vinashin.
The 15-hectare steel plant was designed with an annual capacity of 500,000 tonnes of steel and started test operation in June 2010, after seven years of construction. During the test run, it had an output of 5,000 tonnes of steel meeting the quality standards of the US and Norway, 3,000 tonnes of which were exported.
However, the steel plant has been left inactive after Vinashins corruption scandal.
Regarding the power plant, the 40MW plant came into operation in April 2007, but its operation was halted in 2009 due to financial troubles, even after managing to sell some of its output to state-run Electricity of Vietnam.
In reality, the power plant was quipped with used, low quality machinery imported from China, leading to a failure to supply enough power to the steel plant.
Previously, Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (SBIC), which was born through the reorganisation of the parent company and the inclusion of members from Vinashin, made a futile attempt to resurrect the Cai Lan complex.
As the latest development, the Ministry of Transport requested the government to assign suitable businesses under the ministry to take over the Cai Lan complex.
The document, according to newswire TBKTSG Online, included a proposal to keep some of HAGs debts at the current grades, to provide an extension of the repayment of the principal and the interest, and to decrease or forgive the interest for these debts, as well as a proposal that SBV refinance the lenders at 6-6.5 per cent per year.
The prime minister is going to make the decision within a week. If the plan is approved, SBV and HAGs lenders will meet to decide the specifics on how they are going to reschedule HAGs debts.
Keeping the debts in their current categories instead of downgrading them means that the banks bad debt ratio would not increase, while the companys credit rating would remain the same. If the prime minister greenlights this plan, many people will ask why the government is saving HAG instead of other companies.
The two stocks related to HAG, namely those of the mother company and its subsidiary HAGL Agricultural Joint Stock Company (HNG), rose to the ceiling yesterday after a long spell of decrease. HAG rose VND500 (2 US cent) per share, or 6.8 per cent, ending at VND7,900 (35 US cent). HNG also rose VND500 (2 US cent), also 6.8 per cent, to close at VND7,800 (35 US cent).
HAGs financial statement showed that as of December 31, 2015, the company held VND32.9 trillion ($1.47 billion) in liabilities, which is twice the owners equity. Of this, a debt volume of VND8.297 trillion ($370 million) has payment deadline in 2016. Subsidiary HNG accounted for a little over half of the liabilities.
HAGs three biggest lenders are Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) with VND10 trillion ($450 million), Eximbank with VND4 trillion ($180 million), and VPBank with VND2.8 trillion ($130 million).
At BIDVs shareholders meeting held at the end of April, general director Phan Duc Tu replied to shareholders question regarding HAGs debts, saying that HAG only has difficulties paying, but has not lost the ability to pay. If they sell their 50,000 hectares of rubber plantations along the Vietnamese-Lao border, BIDV can recover the money, but this is a matter of national defence, he said.
BIDV chairman Tran Bac Ha added, They can sell their projects, and we can get the money back, but if they sell them who is going to continue the projects? We have a responsibility to stabilise the market, instead of tilting it off balance.
Throughout 2015, HAGLs shares fell by 122 per cent, compared to the previous year. The groups market capitalisation slipped from VND17.5 trillion ($777 million) on January 1, 2015 to VND7.9 trillion ($351 million) on January 8, 2016.
Encouraging learning and research
In October 2014, Monsanto and VNUA signed the agreement to launch the Monsanto-VNUA scholarship. Through this programme, Monsanto committed VND1.5 billion over five years for the scholarship fund. The scholarship is available for students of biotechnology from the sophomore year and up. Each year, the university selects five students to receive the scholarship of VND42.5 million ($2,000) each, and gives VND105 million ($5,000) to one or some of the universitys research projects in this field.
Nguyen Huu Duc, deputy head of VNUAs Biotech Department, said that the Monsanto-VNUA scholarship not only encouraged students to learn but also gave them the chance to do research when they are still in school. It also helps professors that join in these projects to gain more experience.
The university does not have resources to sponsor the research projects of students and teachers. The scholarship not only gives money to excellent students, but also supports research projects, encourages and enabling students and teachers research, Duc said.
Biotechnology is a new area in the field of agriculture, but it is going to be the core of the field in the future. Therefore it is good that companies in agriculture support the training of agri-biotech human resources, he added. The scholarship gives money to exceptional students, while the projects teach them teamwork and presentation skills, as well as give them a clearer idea of where to go in their future careers.
Young minds eager to study and research
Two years after launching, the Monsanto-VNUA scholarship has been encouraging students to study and research biotechnology. Nguyen Duc Chinh, a senior at VNUA and one of the first five students to receive the scholarship, received VND42.5 million in his junior year. The scholarship helped me in my studies. I bought a computer and some school materials and paid my tuition fees. It is a dream sum of money for a student, he said.
He was part of a project to produce biofuel from freshwater green algae. Since the launch of the scholarship, students have been studying harder to accomplish themselves and get it, he remarked.
He also had an internship with Dekalb, where he had the chance to work in a professional and active but very friendly environment, and learned about the process of corn cultivation, seed technology, and distribution channels, as well as got a closer glance at the weed and pest situation on the corn fields. I really want to become an employee of Monsanto and work in an international environment, Chinh said.
Tran Thi Thaos research project on the Xanthomonas Oryzae.pv oryzycola bacteria (bacterial leaf streak) that affects rice in the north of Vietnam earned the first prize in the universitys 2016 Student Research Contest. On May 20, Thao and her group are going to bring the project to the second national conference on Research and Teaching of Biology in Danang.
The project is sponsored by the Monsanto-VNUA scholarship. I am sure we will learn a lot, gain research and real life experience, as well as teamwork and independent work skills. These are very important to us after we graduate, Thao said.
Multifaceted and comprehensive cooperation to develop agri-biotech human resources
The scholarship had massively positive effects on the school. It encourages students to study, research, and create. It also contributes to students striving for excellence and gives them the opportunity to grow as individuals, as well as contribute to Vietnams biotech sector, Nguyen Duc Bach, deputy head of VNUAs Biotech Department said.
The scholarship helps VNUA support its biotech students to come up with revolutionary and practical ideas. The money from the scholarship helps students financially and gives them the chance to access materials that enable them to join programmes in other countries, he said.
Tran Thi Y Nhi, head of Dekalb Vietnams Human Resources Department, said that Monsanto believed that developing human resources was a good investment.
After two years of the scholarship, we have better foundations to think that the investment is a good one. The recipients of the scholarship have a better view of their career and they all make effective use of the money, she said.
Also according to Nhi, besides the scholarships, Dekalb Vietnam supports VNUA in a variety of ways to improve the training of biotech human resources. On May 13, 2016, Dekalb Vietnam signed a Memorandum of Understanding with VNUA on building a training programme, accepting students into the company for internships, and prioritising VNUA students in their recruitment process.
Before signing this MoU, Dekalb accepted 10 students from VNUA on an internship and recruited 15 more for work at Monsanto. Dekalb Vietnam also employs numerous VNUA graduates, some of whom are members of the Board of Directors, such as Lai Phu Hoang, head of Research and Development, and Nguyen Hong Chinh, head of Marketing.
Nhi said that VNUA graduates were strong in theoretical knowledge, but would need more field experience and skills, such as teamwork and communications. They also need to improve their foreign language skills in order to fit into a global company like Monsanto.
photo source: baogiaothong
Vietnams Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (SBIC), which owned Song Cam, has proposed that the government allow it to separate the Song Cam shipyards into two zones before selling a 70 per cent stake in one of the zones to Damen.
In a document recently sent to the prime minister, SBIC suggested that the first zone include Ben Kien shipyard, which is located in An Hai district in the northern port city of Haiphong. The company will then sell a 70 per cent stake in this zone to Damen. Meanwhile, the second zone, which includes a small shipyard yet to be relocated, will be excluded from the deal.
Vu Anh Minh, head of the Enterprise Management Department under the Ministry of Transport (MoT), told VIR that The ministry supports SBICs proposal, as the separation is expected to facilitate Damens future operations as well as those of Song Cam. Ben Kien is already equipped with good infrastructure for shipbuilding.
It is the best way to keep Damen from exiting the Vietnamese market and encourage it to expand operations in the country, he said. Since over 90 per cent of Song Cams orders come from Damen, the shipyard would face many difficulties if Damen left.
In late October 2015, after months of consideration, the Vietnamese government gave the green light to the Dutch firm to buy a 70 per cent stake in Song Cam.
Song Cam, which has a chartered capital of VND619.69 billion ($28.43 million), with SBIC making up 90.08 per cent, and Bach Dang shipyard holding 7.54 per cent, was the first SBIC shipyard to be equitised in 2008.
Its time to further reduce the states holdings to attract more investment in the industry, Minh explained.
Currently, the Song Cam shipyard is the most valuable unit among SBICs eight subsidiaries. Song Cam has not incurred any losses over the past five years, bringing in most of the SBICs foreign investment thanks to its contracts with Damen. In early 2014, the Damen-Song Cam shipyard was expanded with an investment of $60 million, of which 70 per cent came from Damen.
Aside from its interest in Song Cam, the Dutch shipbuilding group earlier proposed acquiring a 49 per cent stake in another SBIC affiliate the Ha Long Shipbuilding Company once it is equitised. However, the equitisation has not yet been completed, as no financial settlement for the Vietnamese firm has been reached.
Damen is an international company that owns 35 shipyards and other partner yards around the world. It manufactures 150 vessels annually. The group has been a major partner of SBIC for years, negotiating all orders for the Song Cam-Ben Kien shipyard, and has pledged to ensure orders for the Ha Long shipbuilding plant through to the end of this year.
Last week the General Department of Taxation (GDT) instructed its legal base to collect ownership transfer tax from Big Cs mother company Frances Casino Group.
The GDT will seek payment of an estimated VND3.6 trillion ($165 million), calculations based on the profit gained from the transfer deal.
Interestingly, affiliated relationships in the trading activities of Big C Vietnam and its partners have triggered investigations into transfer pricing.
The Hong Kong-based Cavi Retail Company was discovered by the GDT to be a subsidiary of Casino Group. Meanwhile, Cavi Retail owns two companies engaged in business with Big C Vietnam (namely the Vietnam Japan Real Estate Jsc leasing retail space for 32 supermarkets to Big C Vietnam and EB Services Ltd, distributing goods to the 32 Big C supermarkets).
Local authorities are now concerned with how to collect the penalty sum of illegal transfer pricing if the investigation leads to a tax arrears decision.
Many other alleged multinational giants have been sentenced to pay penalties but few of these collections have been successful, an anonymous senior leader at GDT told VIR.
In 2015, tax authorities investigated 4,751 enterprises with signs of transfer pricing and issued orders to collect over VND10 trillion ($458.7 million). However, the collected amount was very modest in comparison, VND16.89 billion ($774,771), representing less than 2 per cent of the total sum of tax arrears.
According to the source, the accused multinational companies argued that the legal basis for the decision was not strong enough to impel them to pay the penalties.
In a private meeting with the Ministry of Finance (MoF) held recently, FDI firms requested the ministry to announce clearly and transparently the source data used in transfer pricing inspections.
These firms protested that tax authorities self-determine the transferred price when declaring returns from related transactions as they occur. This puts tax payers in a passive situation and forces them to pay tax penalties after the adjustment.
It is not surprising that the MoF responded negatively, citing prevailing legislations [for example Article 8, Section 4, the Law on Tax Administration] that tax authorities could not publish such a database as they are obligated to keep tax payers information confidential.
The 8.7-km canal, running through five districts and receiving a facelift in 2012, is now full of floating bodies of the dead fish, while locals stand in crowds along its sides to see the unprecedented incident out of curiosity.
The canal part that runs from the Kieu Bridge to the Cong Ly Bridge in District 3 has the biggest number of dead fish. The aquatic animals already started to stink and decompose.
Most of the dead fish were cichlids and carp.
On Tuesday, competent agencies have sent three canoes to travel along the canal to pick up the dead fish and spray chemicals to disinfect the water.
Fish deaths tend to happen in Nhieu Loc Thi Nghe following such rainfall, as dirty water from sewage would pour into the canal along with rainwater. A downpour was recorded in several areas of Ho Chi Minh City at around 3:50 pm on Monday, ending the heat wave that had scorched the city for months.
However, Tran Dinh Vinh, head of the agency in charge of inspecting water quality in Ho Chi Minh City, said another reason is that the canal water has been tainted with pollutants.
We are testing the effect of disinfecting the canal with chemicals in some of the most contaminated areas, he told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper. If it works, we will propose doing so for the whole canal.
The Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe canal snakes through District 1, District 3, Phu Nhuan District, Binh Thanh District and Tan Binh District.
Its pollution plague began after 1954 and lingered well into the 1960s.
A project meant to revamp the canal and its surroundings was initiated in 2002, with its first phase wrapping up in August 2012.
While the canal has been successfully revitalized, it appears to be a much more difficult task to change peoples mindset so as not to dump trash into the water.
The municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment said in October 2015 that five to 14 metric tons of garbage was dumped into the canal on a daily basis, making Nhieu Loc Thi Nghe one of the channels that contain the most trash in the city.
Raising foreign shareholdings could expose locally-listed firms to tax and customs conditions applied to FDI firms-Photo: Le Toan
Effective since September 2015, Decree 60/2015/ND-CP has paved the way for listed Vietnamese firms to raise the foreign ownership cap to 100 per cent. However, nine months after this decree took effect, there are still less than 20 listed firms that have opened themselves completely to foreign investment. This slow progress has dampened the enthusiasm of overseas investors, who have waited a long time to invest in good-quality Vietnamese firms.
We value the governments intention to open up the foreign ownership limit in the stock market, as evidenced by Decree 60. However, the impact of this regulation on the stock market has been very limited. For example, very few of approximately 700 listed companies, or 1,000 companies if we include the unlisted stock exchange, have been able to increase their foreign ownership limits so far, executive chairman of Dragon Capital, Dominic Scriven, told VIR.
One of the key reasons, according to Scriven, is that the authorities are still confused between the concepts of foreign direct investment (FDI), which comes under Investment Law, and foreign indirect investment via the stock markets, regulated by the Securities Law. According to the Investment Law, a company in which foreign investors hold 51 per cent or more of charter capital is considered a foreign-owned entity and subject to the rules and restrictions on FDI firms.
This has proven to be problematic for listed firms which are governed both by Investment Law and Securities Law. Chairman of the State Securities Commission, Vu Bang, acknowledged that many firms may not scrap their foreign limit due to differences on tax, customs and bank credit eligibility between foreign-owned entities and their domestic counterparts.
For example, Phu Nhuan Jewellery Joint-Stock Company and Mobile World Corporation, both long-time favourites of overseas investors, have decided against raising their foreign limit at their recent annual general meetings. The firms are concerned that once foreign investors own more than half of their stakes, they will become a foreign entity and their retail network will be negatively affected.
A foreign company has to face greater bureaucracy and restrictions when opening new retail stores. As our company intends to expand our retail network, more red tape like that will be very cumbersome and put us at a disadvantage to other domestic retailers. Due to this problem, we wont lift our foreign limit this year, said Cao Thi Ngoc Dung, chairwoman of Phu Nhuan Jewellery.
Eager to invest in good listed firms, investors have put forward some suggestions in order to solve this matter. Dominic Scriven, for instance, recommended that listed enterprises and their foreign ownership limit should be governed only by the Securities Law. This will exempt listed firms from the 51-per cent restriction set by the Investment Law for FDI companies.
Other experts, meanwhile, suggested that the foreign-entity-or-not classification should not be applicable to listed firms when they trade on stock exchanges. This means that any listed company, whether its foreign ownership surpasses 51 per cent or not, should be allowed to buy another publicly traded firm.
Another solution put forward by overseas investors includes launching non-voting depository receipts (NVDRs), which grant foreigners stakes in the listed company but no voting rights. According to Petri Derying, manager of PYN Elite Fund, NVDRs will satisfy overseas financial investors, who look for financial gains rather than control at the invested firm. Moreover, as they have zero voting rights, NVDRs will not be counted among the foreign stakes in a listed company, thus preventing the firm from becoming a foreign entity.
However, most overseas investors stress it is crucial that the Investment Law and Securities Law work in tandem, as this will provide the legal basis for firms to open themselves up to foreign ownership.
As part of the deal, FIH Mobile Ltd. will also acquire Microsoft Mobile Vietnam - the companys Hanoi, Vietnam, manufacturing facility. Upon close of this deal, approximately 4,500 employees will transfer to, or have the opportunity to join, FIH Mobile Ltd. or HMD Global, Oy, subject to compliance with the local law.
Microsoft will continue to develop Windows 10 Mobile and support Lumia phones such as the Lumia 650, Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, and phones from OEM partners like Acer, Alcatel, HP, Trinity and VAIO.
As part of the deal, Microsoft will transfer substantially all of its feature phone assets, including brands, software and services, care network and other assets, customer contracts, and critical supply agreements, subject to compliance with the local law. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2016, subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.
How can the NEPCON Thailand 2016 exhibition boost development in the electronics industry, particularly in light of the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)?
Vietnam and Thailand are trading partners in ASEAN. The full effect of the AEC offers opportunities for both countries to open a larger market and enable the region to draw in more foreign trade and investment.
Held on June 22-25 at the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre, NEPCON Thailand 2016 is a good way to raise awareness for businesses in this very competitive market. It will provide a great marketing platform to introduce the industrial community to new electrical and electronics manufacturing industries from the AEC and beyond, right across the globe.
Lets take Thailands electronics industry as an example. In 2016 this is expected to grow by 2.1 per cent, and automotive electronics exports are predicted to hit $32.7-33.5 billion.
Spurred by the weakening baht, manufacturers are concentrating on high-precision items in automotive electronics, especially for hybrid and electric vehicles.
With the launch of the AEC, electronics manufacturers are exploring future growth areas in cloud computing, which is supported by the Thai government (with securely-backed super-clusters) to attract foreign investment.
Cloud computing has changed how electronics components are manufactured and how customers interact with services provided. Cloud technology has made huge leaps in terms of organisation size, cost, and time, allowing manufacturers to gain better control and clearer insights into their production process and supply chain.
It is possible that future manufacturing facilities will migrate into the cloud, taking advantage of the value it can bring. The emerging trend of cloud technology and Thailands electronics super-clusters are among the latest electronic innovations from the 350 brands from 22 countries to be exhibited at NEPCON Thailand 2016.
What activities will be highlighted at NEPCON Thailand 2016?
Some of the highlights at NEPCON include the electronics design village, which is aimed at enhancing Internet of Things learning for manufacturers.
Also, there will be a machine vision zone, where the superior detection capabilities of machines are showcased, achieving the highest quality control during the manufacturing process.
Machine vision plays a vital role in achieving high quality control during the manufacturing process. Manufacturers often prefer machine vision for precision part inspections that the human eye cannot detect. The machine vision zone includes some of the worlds leading brands, such as Basler, Cognex, Jutze, Val, and Teledyne Technologies.
Meanwhile, the NEPCON sourcing zone is the perfect meeting place for appropriating new partners while extending your business connection circle, and sourcing new partners and subcontractors, from upstream to downstream.
Why should Vietnamese firms visit this event?
Vietnamese industrialists and investors in the electrical and electronics industry should visit this show to keep abreast of ever-changing technology and emerging trends, to improve standards as well as provide connections that will help manufacturers improve their operations in the global market.
Usually, if you are seeking a foreign partner, you would have to fly to the partners nation to meet with him/her. However, at NEPCON Thailand 2016, you can simultaneously meet with hundreds of like-minded partners from all over the world who are also seeking business co-operation in new projects.
This is what makes the NEPCON 2016 edition so important, providing a dynamic marketing platform for more than 350 international manufacturers and distributors from 22 countries. Here, you can connect with over 10,000 professionals from the electronics manufacturing industry. To my knowledge, several Thai electronics manufacturers are considering shifting their production to Vietnam. This is a perfect opportunity for Vietnamese firms to attend NEPCON Thailand 2016 and meet with potential Thai partners.
How will Vietnamese firms be supported when attending this event?
NEPCON Thailand is offering a superior service package for overseas visitors (minimum ten members per group). For example, Vietnamese visitors are offered a (two-room night accommodation (twin sharing).
In addition, we have launched a Connect Business campaign, which will provide visiting promoters with $100 per visitor when they bring ten guests or more to stay for a minimum of three days and two nights.
The price of oil pushed toward US$50 a barrel on Tuesday as wildfires spread in Canada's oil sands region forcing thousands more to evacuate. (AFP/Haidar Mohammed Ali)
NEW YORK: The price of oil pushed toward US$50 a barrel on Tuesday (May 17) as wildfires spread in Canada's oil sands region forcing thousands more to evacuate.
Authorities evacuated about 8,000 people from some 20 camps and facilities north of the city of Fort McMurray in Alberta. Some 100,000 residents and oil workers had been evacuated from Fort McMurray and its surroundings two weeks ago.
Canada's largest oil company, Suncor, was forced to shutter its Fort McMurray operations almost immediately after having gotten them back up and running.
Tim Evans of Citi Futures cited the loss of 1.2 million barrels per day of Canadian output this month as "a major factor in tightening the overall supply/demand balance."
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for June delivery rose 59 cents to US$48.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest closing level since early October.
In London, Brent North Sea for delivery in July, the global benchmark, settled at US$49.28 a barrel, up 31 cents from Monday.
"A break above $50 in the next few days is very possible," said BMI Research oil and gas analyst Peter Lee. "In the second half of the year, oil is likely to hold between US$45 to US$50 a barrel," he told AFP.
Oliver Sloup at iiTrader.com that in addition to support from the Canadian fires, a fall in US crude production for 16 straight weeks was feeding hopes of tightening the market.
Sloup said that the market's upward bias, which has pushed prices up more than 80 percent since February slump, appears intact.
"Every drop that has happened recently has just been bought up by buyers, and that has been the same story day in and day out it seems," he told AFP.
But, Sloup warned, "we're approaching that psychological level of US$50 where you might see some of these people that have been long the market maybe take some profit off the table." The last time WTI closed above US$50 was Jul 21.
The Prime Minister has urged all ministries to improve the business climate_Photo: Le Toan
In a document released by the Government Office last week, the prime minister said that an enabling business environment for enterprises must become a propellant for the economy.
Enterprises have the right to engage in sectors and professions not banned by the law. All enterprises, regardless of scale, business models, and economic sectors, are all equal in their right to access capital, natural resources, land and markets, as well as business opportunities, Phuc added.
He noted that the state would ensure stability, consistency, and predictable policies for enterprises and investors to conduct their business here. Enterprises legal assets must be protected, and private enterprises must be considered a driving force for economic development.
To this end, the prime minister ordered all ministries and localities to draw up radical solutions to solve all difficulties encountered by enterprises. In the short term, all obstructions found in the laws on Investment and Enterprises, as well as any other relevant laws, must be addressed.
At a dialogue between the business community and the prime minister, and other government members on April 29 in Ho Chi Minh City soon after his election as prime minister Phuc promised that enterprises impediments would be tackled as soon as possible.
Chairman of the Japan Business Association in Vietnam Taiji Yanai said that Vietnams overall business climate had improved somewhat. However, when we look into each specific sector, such as tax, labour, law and customs procedures, lots of obstacles remain.
He cited the need for the government to replace Decree No.23/2007/ND-CP on detailing the Commercial Law regarding the goods purchase- and sale-related activities of foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam. He explained that this decree did not match the existing Law on Investment.
Many Japanese firms are awaiting the new decree, so that they can conduct their business more conveniently. We also expect a more transparent business climate in Vietnam, Yanai said.
Currently, a draft decree on ousting Decree 23 has yet to be announced by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Meanwhile, it will have to be completed and submitted to the government for appraisal in July, 2016.
Meanwhile, the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AusCham) underlined restrictions affecting foreign real estate developers.
Specifically, the new Law on Real Estate Business continues to provide for unnecessary differences between foreign and domestic real estate developers. For example, foreign developers are not permitted to transfer land use rights in the form of the division of land into plots for sale, whereas domestic developers enjoy such rights. Furthermore, enterprises with foreign-owned capital are permitted to collect up to only 50 per cent of the value of the contract for sale, whereas the applicable percentage to local developers is 70 per cent.
It is not clear why this difference in treatment is necessary. And this inconsistent treatment creates inefficiencies and impairs the competitiveness of the industry in general, AusChams representative David Carter told the recent Vietnam Business Forum (VBF).
In another case, under Decree No.102/2013/ND-CP, which elaborates on certain articles in the Labour Code relating to foreign workers in Vietnam, foreign enterprises are required to obtain many types of sub-licences regarding employment after their projects are licensed, and before they can operate their projects.
Phuc ordered ministries and localities to review all business conditions applying to their units, and said that such conditions must be simplified and publicised.
All unsuitable business conditions have to be removed immediately. No new conditions will be issued, especially sub-licences. Ministries and localities are banned from issuing documents that are not in line with their remit, Phuc note.
As a result, Vietnams overseas direct investment in Russia has exceeded Russian direct investment in Vietnam.
As of now, Vietnamese enterprises have poured over $2.93 billion in 20 projects in Russia. One of the key projects is a $2.02 billion oil and gas exploration and exploitation project, invested by the Rusvietpetro-a joint venture between Zarubezhneft and Vietnams oil and gas group PetroVietnam.
Furthermore, Rusvietpetro also invested $125 million in another oil exploitation project in Russia.
Another large Vietnamese project in Russia is the $190 million Hanoi Moscow Trading Centre.
In addition, TH Milk Food Joint Stock Company of Vietnam (TH Group) plans to develop a $2.7 billion hi-tech concentrated dairy, cattle breeding, and fresh milk production project in Moscow, which will contribute to increasing Vietnamese enterprises presence in Russia.
Covering an area of 140,000 hectares, the project will be developed in three phases from 2015 to 2016. The first phases construction, with a total capital of $500 million invested by Nghe An Tate & Lyle Sugarcane and Sugar Limited Company-a TH Group subsidiary, is expected to kick off on May 18.
The first phase will combine a material area of 50,000 hectares, a dairy plant with a capacity of 800 tonnes per day, and a cattle breeding production factory with an annual capacity of 400,000 tonnes per year. Besides, Nghe An Tate & Lyle Sugarcane and Sugar Limited Company will develop a distribution chain with over 300 TH True Mart stores throughout Russia.
Once completed, the $2.7 billion facility will be Vietnams largest agricultural and food processing project in Russia. It will house a total number of 350,000 cattle, producing 5,900 tonnes of milk per day, equalling 1.8 million litres annually.
TH Group believes in the success of the Vietnamese dairy industry in general and TH Group in particular in the Russian market. The Vietnamese dairy industry has numerous opportunities to penetrate the Russian market, especially after the Russian government put an embargo on Europeans agricultural products, including dairy products in August 2014.
Meanwhile, Russias direct investment in Vietnam is decreasing.
As of April 20, Russian investors had 113 valid projects worth $1.08 billion in Vietnam. In the first four months alone, Russian direct investment in Vietnam reached $70,000 in three projects only.
There has been a marked decrease by half in Russian registered direct investment when RussiasBus Industrial Center Ltd. had its investment certificate for a $1 billion bus, car, and agricultural equipment production complex revoked by the Nhon Hoi Economic Zone Management Board.
Previously, Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Gazprom, announced to stop talks with PetroVietnam to buy a 49 per cent stake in its Dung Quat refinery.
However, there were positive signals in Russian direct investment in the first four months of 2016. Notably, in March, Vietnam's State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) and Russian VTB Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which will allow both companies to expand investment between the two countries.
The MoU between the parties will create a framework for facilitating investment opportunities for VTB Groups clients in SCIC-related companies and projects. In turn, VTB will introduce SCIC and its partner companies to attractive investment options in countries where it is present. As part of the agreement, VTB Group will assist SCIC and its linked companies to raise investment capital on international markets and act as a financial advisor in debt and equity deals.
On May 18, 2016, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has attended the ground breaking ceremony of the first stage of TH Groups $2.7 billion hi-tech concentrated dairy and fresh milk production project in Russias Moscow and Kaluga oblasts.
The government will give the most favourable conditions to the project. I do believe that the project will be implemented effectively, Phuc said. The project will become a typical agricultural co-operation project between Vietnam and Russia, further contributing to the two countries bilateral co-operation.
TH Group, which possesses the TH true MILK brand name, will build this project with the financial consultancy of BAC A BANK.
The project, which will cover 140,000 hectares, will be deployed in three stages, from now to 2026.
Specifically, the first stage will cover 20,000ha. It will be focused on constructing three clusters of dairy farms, auxiliary facilities, an office area, workers hostel, and a fresh milk processing mill having a daily capacity of 800 tonnes.
This stage will likely have 45,000 cows, of which 21,600 will be milked.
It is expected that in mid 2017, the first milk products will be marketed.
After full completion of the three stages construction, the project will have 350,000 dairy cows, with a total daily capacity of 5,900 tonnes, tantamount to almost 1.8 million tonnes per year.
The project will use state-of-the-art technologies imported from world-famous livestock production technology developers such as Israels Afimilk, Germanys GEA, Swedens Delaval, and the US BouMatic.
Phuc said that he expected Russias government to maximise their support to this project.
THs chairwoman Thai Huong said that this project was given great support from Russias government.
Russia is reforming its agricultural sector via a series of incentives for investors. And now we are here to help Russia further develop its milk industry. We hope that TH true MILK will become a big brand name in Rusisa, she said.
Cam Ranh International Terminal Joint Stock Company (CRTC) has submitted the Ministry of Transport plans to construct a VND3.4 trillion ($152.5 million) new international terminal in Cam Ranh international airport in the central province of Khanh Hoa.
Once approval, construction will be kicked off in September and completed within 16 months, in December 2017.
Once the new terminal comes into commercial operation, it will relieve the overload of the existing terminal. Notably, the airport currently has a maximum capacity of 1.5 million passengers per year. During the last years, the passenger amount has been on a continuous growth of 30-60 per cent per year. In 2015, the terminal received over 2.7 million passengers, exceeding its current capacity by nearly 50 per cent.
According to plans, the new terminal will be able to handle four million passengers by 2025, and eight million after 2030.
Covering an area of 52,000 square metres, the terminal has two separate levels, one for departures and the other for arrivals, approach roads, a car parking area, and other facilities.
Besides, the terminal would be equipped with 80 check-in counters arranged in four rows, 10 boarding gates, four jet ways, four arrival luggage belts, and two departure luggage carousels.
On May 12, Cat Bi international airport in the northern port city of Haiphong began operations after undergoing upgrades for more than two years. It is expected to help not only Haiphong, but also the northern coastal region to realise their potentials and maximise strengths.
Cat Bi is now a 4E-level international airport under the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards, a first-level military airport, and a standby for Hanois Noi Bai international airport.
In the first quarter of this year, the airport welcomed 363,600 passengers, up 48.7 per cent and hauled 1.610 tonnes of cargo, up 15 per cent on-year.
By 2020, the number of passengers is expected to reach 2.3 million, while the amount of cargo will top at 11,000 tonnes.
Chloe Grace Moretz has been courting the talk show circuit of late as she's promoting her movie Bad Neighbours 2, and she's spent a large proportion of her time on said talk shows confirming her relationship with David and Victoria Beckham's eldest, Brooklyn.
Therefore it's only fitting that the pair walk the red carpet at the LA premiere of the movie, n'est pas?
Speaking of being surprised by her fella, 19-year-old Chloe had the following words for PA Showbiz... "I watched Game of Thrones this morning... I ate some salmon from Whole Foods, like a basic girl. And then my boyfriend surprised me in LA from London, so that's exciting."
Brooklyn Beckham flew from London to surprise his girlfriend Chloe Grace Moretz on the red carpet in LAhttps://t.co/X0kSjonvIM PA Showbiz (@PAshowbiz) May 17, 2016
Indeed, she doesn't seem that excited, then again, she's cool AF.
California is poised to become the center of cannabis culture
remaining of
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Russia is set to finalize an agreement with Asean countries including controversial references to maritime navigation and militarization of the South China Sea, a draft of the accord obtained by VOA Khmer shows.
According to a draft of the Sochi Declaration, which is dated May 7 and marked as the agreed text, Russia is moving towards a strategic partnership for mutual benefit covering security, trade, social, health and environmental issues.
The unprecedented engagement with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is part of the Putin administrations efforts to expand their influence in the region. It comes as U.S. President Barak Obama is due to visit Vietnam to strengthen ties with Hanoi a week after the U.S. sent a warship to the disputed sea.
The agreement, due to be adopted on Friday, states that Asean and Russia agreed to Ensure maritime security and safety, freedom of navigation and overflight, unimpeded commerce. Promote self-restraint, non-use of force or the threat of force and the resolution of dispute through peaceful means in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law.
The parties also agreed to Support the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and early conclusion of an effective Code of Conduct in South China Sea (COC) on the basis of consensus.
The move comes after the U.S. Department of Defense last week sent a warship to the sea to carry out freedom of navigation operations.
The USS William P. Lawrence sailed within 12 nautical miles of the China-occupied Fiery Cross Reef to "challenge excessive maritime claims of some claimants in the South China Sea," said Bill Urban, a department of defense spokesman.
"These excessive maritime claims are inconsistent with international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention in that they purport to restrict the navigation rights that the United States and all states are entitled to exercise," he said in an email.
China responded with anger Tuesday morning, with foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang telling a daily news briefing that the ship entered Chinese waters illegally and that the move threatened peace and stability in the region.
Several Asean states have overlapping claims to the sea, notably China, Vietnam and the Philippines. Many in the regional group have advocated a multi-party solution to the problem, but Beijing has said it will only engage in bilateral talks over territorial disputes.
Cambodia, a close ally of China in the region, has previously rejected calls for the disputes to be resolved through Asean, echoing Chinas call for bilateral talks.
Cambodia and neighboring Laos, which have received large amounts of financial aid from China in recent years, could find themselves in a tricky position if asked to commit to the principles in the Sochi Declaration. However some observers expressed doubt that the accord would carry much weight.
John Ciorciari, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan who specializes in Southeast Asia, said Putins Russia was looking for ways to regain some of its past global presence and stature.
Russian defense firms are also looking for export markets. Russia is thus an eligible partner for Asean states trying to diversify their great-power ties in a period of waxing Chinese influence, he said.
Ties to major powers like India and Russia help Asean states boost their capabilities, enmeshes more players in the multilateral regional framework, and helps Asean members avoid having to pick sides in the midst of rising Sino-US competition.
The draft declaration also includes agreements on deepening political, security, anti-terrorism and economic cooperation based on principles of equality, mutual benefit and shared responsibility to promote peace, stability, security, prosperity, economic grow, sustainable development and social progress in Asia-Pacific region with a view to working towards a strategic partnership.
According to the text, Russia also proposed a comprehensive free trade agreement between Asean and the Eurasian Economic Union, a single market with a gross domestic product of about $4 trillion. Asean countries said they would consider the proposal.
Chheang Vannnarith, head of the Cambodian Institute for Strategic Studies, said that while the Sochi Declaration is a sign of growing Russian cooperation in the region, it did not necessarily mean that Russia would become a strategic partner with Asean.
Russia in recent years has focused on Asia as Russia faces diplomatic and economic pressures from the U.S. and E.U. So Asia is a key gateway for Russia to continue its economic development and to continue its diplomatic campaign in the Asia-Pacific region, he said, adding that several Asean nations wanted Russia to remain neutral over the South China Sea.
Russia should strengthen its stance to be neutral in the South China Sea and should not take sides, he said.
Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is visiting Russia for the Sochi summit, wrote on his official Facebook page earlier this week that Cambodia hoped to strengthen ties with Russia, especially the efforts for trade relations, tourism, investment, and the culture of both countries to be stronger and healthier.
Hun Sen is scheduled to meet with his counterpart, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Mededev and Putin to sign 10 memoranda of understanding.
Ou Virak, founder of the Future Forum think tank, said he was concerned by Cambodias increasingly close relationship with both Russia and China.
In this case I see that we cant avoid a new Cold War and if so Asean is the hottest zone and Cambodia as a small country would become a pawn if Cambodia is not cautious, he said.
Tom Hanks' career has seen him play the Everyman. Whether it's something like Forrest Gump, The Money Pit, Cast Away, he's always managed to convey a sense that there is something believable and that we can empathise with - even on a superficial level. However, with A Hologram For The King, there's something truly off-kilter about it all.
Hanks is a failed American businessman who's on his last go-around with an IT company that sells holographic projection software. Upon arrival in Saudi Arabia, it's the classic fish-outta-water story. Hanks' character is beset with all manner of travel ailments, such as being unable to sleep, falling off chairs and the general cultural disconnect between Saudi Arabia and America. After missing his first meeting, Hanks is given a driver from the hotel - Alexander Black - who takes him out to his meeting in the ring-fenced desert where a new city will be built. Once there, he realises that it's highly unlikely that the sale will happen. However, after a medical mishap and a series of misadventures, he meets Sarita Choudhury, who plays a doctor and a separated Muslim woman who's in the process of divorcing her husband.
It's really quite strange how the narrative changes in the film; beginning as a situational comedy, transitioning into an American underdog story, before it finishes out as a romantic drama. The problem is that none of these are particularly well-realised and, to be quite honest, it's all handled very poorly. Hanks' character is aghast at the thought of the Saudis beheading people in public - even though executions are commonplace in the US. Another scene sees him jokingly call himself a freelancer for the CIA to an Arabic man who barely speaks English. That joke then escalates into a tense situation where Hank's joke is compared to an Arabic man joking that he has a bomb strapped to his chest in an airport. Not only that, the relationship that develops between Hanks and his driver is one that's not convincing at all.
The only saving grace, as such, is the relationship that develops between Hanks and Choudhury. That, in and of itself, should have been the focus of the film. There is a great sense of warmth and genuine chemistry between them and it's heartening to see a relationship develop on-screen that doesn't fit the usual bland tropes of what we're used to it. That being said, it's not enough to save what is essentially a horrendously boring film. We're not really rooting for Hanks' character, why would we? He's just a failed businessman who's out in the middle of Saudi Arabia, trying to win back his confidence after he sold out his company to make a bigger profit. The story is too small and pedestrian to suck you in and the performances, right around the table, aren't large or memorable enough to keep you invested.
Tykwer's direction is interesting, however. There are a number of visual flourishes that are put to good use, particularly how Hanks' memories are addressed. However, the pacing of the story and the plodding, uninteresting script - which Tykwer adapted from Dave Eggers' novel - isn't enough to keep the film above the water.By the time A Hologram For The King rolls into the final act, we're really just treading water. The story ends on a completely flat note, with nothing really to show for what came before - other than Hanks has now acclimated himself to Saudi Arabia.
Again, that in itself begs, the question - who cares?
U.S. President Barak Obama will visit Vietnam next Monday where trade, security and human rights issues will top the agenda.
Also under discussion will be the possible lifting of a decades-old arms embargo against the Southeast Asian nation.
Meetings with Vietnamese officials will seek to further the US rebalance to Asia, where it seeks to extend trade and security relations in the region to counter Chinas growing influence on the world stage.
Cambodian officials on Wednesday welcomed the meeting of old enemies, but government spokesman Phay Siphan said that while the visit could help with reconciliation of their relationship, the possible easing of the arms embargo was greeted with caution.
We also heard that the visit will discuss weapons and military issues. Cambodia is a country that prefers building peace, so we dont support that, he said.
Hanoi is eager for Obama to lift the embargo, arguing that it is necessary to counter Chinas claims on the South China Sea, where the two countries are at loggerheads over overlapping claims to the resource-rich sea.
The Obama administration previously eased the embargo in 2014 by lifting a ban on maritime defense purchases.
Obama also launched the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership in 2013, which seeks to boost trade and security ties between the two countries.
The agreement could also benefit other Asean countries, such as Cambodia, Siphan added.
John Ciorciari, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, said that the U.S. was attempting to strengthen ties with a country in the region where its rebalance had been working well.
Kung Phoak, president of the Cambodian Institute for Strategic Studies (CISS), said that Cambodia could also take advantage of this visit, but open discussion involving more countries is needed so that all members can benefit from the Asean Economic Community.
For trade cooperation, the more partners the merrier.
However, Son Chhay, a senior opposition lawmaker, said there was little to be gained from the developments.
The two main agendas for his visit are trade, military and security. For trade, its a special visit as the United States and Vietnam are in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement, while Cambodia isnt, he said.
Behind the meeting is the shadow of the ongoing South China Sea dispute. Chinas claim to large swathes of the sea and the construction of artificial islands and strategic facilities has concerned the U.S. and Vietnam, said Ciorciari.
The South China Sea is clearly one factor motivating the visit, just as it has been a major driver for the warming of Vietnam-U.S. relations throughout Obamas presidency, he said.
He added that multilateral talks were needed to resolve the disputes, something which China has discouraged, preferring direct talks with Asean countries without the mediation of another world power.
Siphan, however, repeated the official Asean position on the dispute that Asean countries should be allowed to conduct talks without powerful arbiters pulling the strings.
Regarding Cambodias own record on human rights, Siphan said that the country was a step ahead of U.S. expectations in the region.
Former President Bill Clinton became the first sitting U.S. president to visit the former enemy since hostilities with Vietnam officially ended in 1975.
George W. Bush visited the country during a regional summit in 2006, but his trip was noticeably lower key than his predecessor.
Afghanistan is showing its anger at Pakistan by downgrading its representation to the international group trying to arrange peace talks with the Taliban.
Kabul says Pakistan needs to honor its commitments to take action against militant groups operating from Pakistan. The groups include the Afghan Taliban and the lethal Haqqani network that Afghanistan and the United States say operate out of Pakistan to launch violent attacks in Afghanistan.
Any future QCG meetings with Pakistan will be held on the ambassador level, Dawa Khan Menapal, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's deputy spokesperson said.
Afghanistans ambassador to Pakistan, Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal, led his countrys delegation at Wednesday's meeting of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG). The delegation was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai at previous meetings.
The delegations for the United States, China and Pakistan were led respectively by U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Olsen, Chinese Special Envoy on Afghan Affairs Deng Xijun, and Pakistans Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry.
Until there is action, for Afghan government peace negotiation is a waste of time, Menapal added. He also said his government would focus more on the intra-Afghan negotiations.
Pakistan's political considerations
Pakistan insists it is sincerely trying to bring the Afghan Taliban to the table, but says such things take time. The Afghan government, Pakistani officials say, is in a hurry because of internal political considerations.
Afghan demands from Pakistan for action against the Taliban have peaked after a devastating attack killed nearly 70 people last month in Kabul.
President Ghani has asked Pakistan to either expel the Taliban or take military action. But Pakistan says a military solution has not worked in the past 15 years.
While the meeting was behind closed doors, analysts like Haroun Mir of the Kabul-based Afghanistan Center for Research and Policy Studies, expected it to be tough, with Afghanistan and Pakistan trading accusations.
A joint news release after the meeting said, The QCG reiterated that violence serves no purpose, and peace negotiations remain the only option for a political settlement. In this respect, QCG countries reaffirmed to use their respective leverages and influences.
Mir said Afghanistan should stay engaged in the QCG process despite slow progress, because finding common ground between Afghanistan and Pakistan is the first step towards settlement in Afghanistan.
Others, like journalist and regional expert Rahimullah Yousufzai are less optimistic. Even if talks with the Afghan Taliban started, Yousufzai said, they would not be fruitful anytime soon. The Afghan government and Taliban have each announced offensives and a breakthrough this summer was going to be hard.
This issue is so old, so complicated, it involves so many hands, governments, non-state actors... that if anyone thought it could be resolved soon, it was wishful thinking, Yousufzai said.
Dealing with Taliban
He also thought Pakistan made a mistake by giving the impression it could bring the Taliban to the table.
I dont think it is in Pakistans power to force the Taliban to make an agreement with the Afghan government against their interest, he said.
Pakistan had arrested 100 Afghan Taliban leaders and released 48 of them on Karzais request so they could talk to them, but that didnt work, he reminded.
Taliban have alternatives. Anyone arrested or killed will be instantly replaced, Yousufzai said.
Mir acknowledged it is difficult for Pakistan to do everything President Ghani demanded, but said Pakistan could still do more in terms of confidence building.
Pakistan always says there is a change in policy, but we do not see it yet. It is not tangible for us, he said.
He also criticized Pakistan's diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, which he said is responsible for alienating the young generation and the new leaders.
Pakistans embassy in Afghanistan is not active. It is still the old mindset. They interact only with those they consider friends of Pakistan. The communication is lacking, Mir said.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which appeared to be on an upward trajectory for a few months in early 2015, took a nosedive as Afghan Taliban increased its violent attacks in the country. 2015 was one of the bloodiest years since 2001.
The only long-term solution to reducing tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Yousufzai said, is strong action.
If Pakistan expels Afghan Taliban and Haqqani network leaders, and Afghanistan expels Pakistani Taliban... then the root cause... will be resolved.
That solution, he acknowledged, was difficult and unlikely to be implemented anytime soon. Meanwhile, he said, the QCG process will survive simply because there is no other forum to move forward.
The head of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has cancelled his appearance at an anti-counterfeit conference in Orlando, Florida, where he was due to be a keynote speaker.
Alibaba announced Tuesday that creator Jack Ma, self-made millionaire, would no longer be in attendance.
The move follows the suspension of Alibaba's general membership in the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC), the organization behind the conference in Florida.
"Given the IACC's desire for additional time to reflect upon the viability of its general membership category, Alibaba feels it best that Jack Ma postpone his appearance," said head of international corporate communications Jennifer Kuperman in a statement.
Alibaba has been repeatedly accused of being a platform for counterfeit goods. Multiple companies, including Gucci and Michael Kors, left the IACC after Alibaba was admitted in April, saying they viewed China's huge online marketer as the world's largest marketplace for fakes.
The company will maintain a presence at the conference. Its president Michael Evans will replace Ma and speak Thursday.
Ma was spotted leaving the White House campus Tuesday where it was later confirmed that he had lunch with President Obama, though the meeting was not listed on his public schedule and no details were provided.
Alibaba was launched in 1999 and went public in 2014 in the biggest initial public offering of stock in history.
After days of torrid, bruising campaigning in Britain in the run-up to next months referendum on whether to remain in the European Union, it would be understandable if the Germans decided it would be much better if the truculent British left.
Predictably, Leave campaigners have been invoking Britains stand-alone World War II history and training their rhetorical guns on the Germans with inflammatory comparisons to Adolf Hitler. It began last weekend with the tousled-haired, former London mayor Boris Johnson dismissing the European Union as a German conspiracy to establish a Fourth Reich without firing a shot.
Other senior Conservatives supporting the Brexit added insult to injury with their rush to defend the indelicate Johnson from outraged Remain campaigners.
Lord Norman Lamont, a former Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) mused on the Sky News television channel that it is a fact there were fascist theorists who believed very strongly in a united Europe.
German leaders have remained largely silent in the face of the taunts, and not just because they have grown accustomed to British jibes about the Nazis whenever theres public debate in Britain about the European project. They want the British to stay in the bloc and fear any outspoken intervention in Britain's referendum campaign could backfire.
Last month, during a visit to London, U.S. President Barack Obama urged the British to vote to remain in the European Union, only to provoke sharp-tongued responses from Leave campaigners and Britains press.
German economy takes hit
A British exit terrifies German leaders, say analysts.
For Germany the consequences of Brexit would be grave, according to Clemens Fuest, an economics professor at the University of Munich.
Germany has a lot to lose and nothing to gain.
First, a British departure would be felt in German wallets. Brexit could see German GDP fall by up two percent, according to a study by Bertelsmann Stiftung, a German research foundation. And the Germans would also have to make bigger annual contributions to fund the running costs of the bloc, $2.8 billion more a year.
What is the Brexit? What: "Brexit" is an abbreviated term that refers to Britain's possible withdrawal from the 28-nation European Union. It is an adaptation of "Grexit," a reference to a possible Greek exit from the eurozone. When: On June 23, British voters will decide whether their country remains in the EU. The date was set by British Prime Minister David Cameron. Referendum question: Voters will be asked, "Should the UK remain a member of the EU or leave the EU?" The question was recommended by Britain's Electoral Commission and accepted by the government and parliament. Why: To appease the Conservative Party and undermine EU opponents, Prime Minister Cameron promised to hold a referendum on the issue if he was reelected in 2015. Conservatives, now in the majority, have been split on the question of EU membership for some 40 years. Grassroots Conservatives generally favor leaving the EU. Significance: Proponents of a British exit believe it would free Britain from rules that are adverse to job creation and allow the country to choose its laws and trading partners. EU advocates contend Britain should maintain its membership in a bloc of like-minded countries, a move they say would help sustain the country's global influence and military and economic security. Eligible voters: Citizens over age 18 can cast ballots on the Brexit question. This includes citizens in Britain and the Commonwealth of Nations, an intergovernmental group of 53 member states. Outlook: Various pollsters are regularly tracking public opinion on the Brexit issue. The Economist has produced an interactive poll-tracker that tracks sentiment on a daily basis.
A study by DZ Bank, Germanys fourth largest bank, projects a British exit might cost Germany up to $51 billion by the end of 2017 as exports from Europe's largest economy would be hit. Last year, German exports to Britain surged by almost 13 percent to just under $103 billion, making Britain Germanys third most important trade partner after the United States and France.
There's a lot at stake for the German economy, said DZ Bank economist Monika Oven.
Political trouble
But it isnt just the likely economic fallout thats preoccupying Germanys leaders. The possible political consequences for Berlin and the European Union as a whole are even more troubling. A Brexit could well encourage Euro-skeptics elsewhere within the bloc, they fear, including in Germany itself.
And for all the truculence of the British, and their inherent suspicion of the whole European project, which sees them swinging from aloofness to resentment, Britains membership generally helps the Germans guide the bloc.
The departure of the U.K., a vital ally, would make it even harder to manage this fissiparous club, argues Charles Grant, director of the London-based pro-EU research organization, the Center for European Reform.
Brexit would leave the EU a less congenial place for many Germans, while also heightening resentment of Berlins power elsewhere on the continent, he argued in an opinion article in Britains Financial Times.
While Britains Leave campaigners already think Germany is too powerful, German leaders fear, from some European perspectives, that would become a self-fulfilling prophecy, if the British exit. As the main eurozone creditor, Germany indeed can call many of the shots, and has done so when it comes to the handling of the euro crisis and imposing unpopular austerity on southern Europes debtor nations.
Loss of influence
But Germany doesnt have total power. Despite its colossal strength within the European Union, Germany could well find it harder to get its way without British membership, especially when it comes to ensuring the bloc remains free-market oriented.
Grant isnt the only analyst to point to a German worry that post-Brexit Berlin would find it harder to steer the European Union. For all of its differences with London over EU political integration and forging common EU security and foreign policies, Berlin would lose a key economic policy ally in the event of Brexit.
For Germany, it would become harder [inside the EU] to champion free trade and oppose protectionism, argued Fuest.
With Britain, the less statist EU members, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Scandinavian and Baltic states as well as Germany, are able to block proposals they dont like on the EU Council. Without Britain, they would fall short of the necessary 35 percent of votes needed to veto measures.
Brexit would also deprive Germany of an ally in trying to keep EU spending down.
Germanys finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, alluded recently to Britains key role when it comes to free-market ideas.
Thanks partly to the British, the European Union has less wasteful agricultural and fishery policies, a liberal single market, a commitment to free trade, he said. Without the U.K., the EU will be less liberal, less efficient and less influential on the world stage," he warned.
Nigerian military officials are debriefing the first schoolgirl to be rescued since Boko Haram militants carried out an infamous mass kidnapping in northeast Nigeria more than two years ago, officials told VOA.
Amina Ali was among nearly 300 girls abducted when members of the Islamist militant group stormed the Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok in April 2014. Many escaped immediately after the kidnapping, but over 200 remain missing. Amina Ali was reunited with her mother in her home village Mbala, where the two had a joyful reunion Tuesday before they were taken to a military camp to be debriefed.
Exact details of her rescue remain unclear. Army spokesman Sani Usman said Nigerian soldiers rescued the girl in a village called Baale, near the town of Damboa. Usman told VOA's Peter Clottey that the army has been debriefing Amina Ali at a military base in Damboa. He said she was found with another individual when she was rescued. The man, suspected of being a Boko Haram militant, is being questioned at the same base, he said.
Watch video report from VOA's Zlatica Hoke:
He says Amina Ali is currently giving "lots of information" to military officials about the whereabouts of the other kidnapped girls.
"In line with keeping faith with the public by the time we complete our preliminary investigation, certainly we will let you know where they are and what happened to some of them. But, quite a number of things are coming out from here," he said.
Aboku Gaji, leader of a vigilante group in Chibok that was set up to defend against Boko Haram, took credit for the rescue. He said his men stumbled on the girl while laying an ambush outside a militant camp.
"As we lie ambush, they come on us," he told VOA.
He said the girl was found near the Sambisa forest, a militant stronghold where the schoolgirls were thought to have been taken after the kidnapping. Gaji also said the rescued girl had a baby with her.
"She told us that the other girls were still there in the Sambisa," Gaji said.
But six of the girls have died in captivity, Gaji said the girl told him. Usman will neither confirm nor deny that six of the abducted school girls have died.
He says the vigilante group credited with rescuing the kidnapped school girl is playing a key role in the fight against Boko Haram.
Hoping to rescue the other girls
The army recently launched a military offensive aimed at putting pressure on Boko Haram as well as rescuing unarmed civilians kidnapped by the militants.
"We have been able to rescue over 12,000 people, and I believe that we have more people that are being held hostage by the Boko Haram terrorists in some of these their hideouts We have been working to also ensure that we rescue them, including the abducted Chibok school girls. And we are hopeful, definitely, wherever they are we will definitely rescue them," added Usman.
Col. Usman says the soldiers on the frontlines fighting Boko Haram are pleased with the progress of the recently launched operation crackdown in the Sambisa Forest. "I can tell you their morale is incredibly high and they are looking forward to rescuing all other abducted girls and flushing out the Boko Haram terrorists wherever they are," said Usman.
'Wonderful piece of news'
U.N. Humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien welcomed news of the girl's rescue "Wonderful piece of news to have one of the Chibok girls rescued and being returned," he said. "There will of course be a deep need for us all to recognize that this girl, whose name I don't yet know, no doubt suffered terrible trauma and will need to be given space and the support, both short and long term.'
In its seven-year war to impose strict Islamic law in northern Nigeria, Boko Haram has massacred civilians, burnt down villages and carried out numerous kidnappings. Over 20,000 people have been killed, and more than two million displaced.
But the Chibok kidnapping remains the group's most infamous crime.
It sparked protests across Nigeria, as people took to the streets, imploring the government to "bring back our girls."
Shortly after the kidnapping, Boko Haram released a video showing the girls. Last month, CNN unearthed a video supposedly used in negotiations for the girls' release that featured 15 of the girls.
Despite numerous rumors and false alarms, there's been no physical sign of any of the girls, until Wednesday
Pogo Bitrus, chairman of the Chibok Elders Forum, said he was "elated" by news of the rescue.
"At least they are alive, they are being found and whatever situation and condition, that doesn't matter," Bitrus said. "The important thing is, they are alive and they are being found."
What is Boko Haram?
China is staging large-scale joint war games featuring mock beach landing, helicopter assaults and tank battles along its east coast facing Taiwan, just days before the inauguration of the self-governing island's new independence-leaning president.
The Defense Ministry said Wednesday the air, land and sea drills were aimed at "testing and upgrading the ability to respond to security threats and complete military missions.''
The drills were "not aimed at any specific target and relevant persons shouldn't read too much into it,'' the ministry said. The statement in question-and-answer format did not mention Taiwan.
China maintains a standing threat to use force to achieve its goal of absorbing Taiwan and the timing of the drills was noticed widely both on Taiwan and in China's entirely-state controlled media.
The military drills are a sign of the sort of disruptions and threats that will descend upon the relationship if Taiwanese President-elect Tsai Ing-wen defies Beijing's demands over the "one-China principle,'' said Li Fei, Deputy Director of Taiwan Research Institute of Xiamen University.
"The exercises are a message sent to the Taiwan independence forces and can be regarded as a warning that any indications of a movement toward independence will meet with repression,'' Li said.
Without detailing the consequences, Beijing has warned that delicate relations between the sides would be destabilized unless Tsai, whose inauguration is Friday, explicitly endorses Beijing's view that Taiwan and the mainland are both part of a single Chinese nation, which it calls the "'92 Consensus.''
The outgoing Nationalist Party government of Ma Ying-jeou had endorsed the framework and signed a series of agreements on trade and other non-political topics during its eight years in power. Tsai has said she wants such contacts to continue uninterrupted, but declined to voice her support for the "'92 Consensus'' that was agreed to by negotiators from the two sides that year.
While military action is considered extremely risky, Beijing could choose to retaliate against Tsai by further limiting its participation in international organizations, luring away its remaining diplomatic allies, cutting off high-level contacts and curtailing trade and tourist exchanges.
China last staged military drills and missile launches in 1995-96 in a bid to intimidate voters ahead of Taiwan's first direct presidential elections. The effort was seen as an abject failure that further alienated Taiwanese from Beijing.
Chinese state media said the latest drills involved mock landing operations and the use of attacks helicopter and tanks. The largest drills were carried out by the People's Liberation Army's 31st Group Army based in the city of Xiamen that looks directly out onto the 100 mile (160 kilometer)-wide Taiwan Strait, the China Daily newspaper said.
Armaments used included WZ-10 attack helicopters, China's most powerful, along with ZTD-05A amphibious assault vehicles, Type-96 main battle tanks and HJ-9 anti-tank missile launchers.
In recent weeks, China's navy has also staged a number of live firing drills in the disputed South China Sea and deployed its massive Ukrainian Zubr military hovercraft.
The 31st Group Army is considered a front-line unit for any action regarding Taiwan and also held live-firing exercises in January, days after Tsai's election. Those drills brought no perceptible response from Taiwan.
When Prince died suddenly in April, he left behind no known children. That has his sibling and half siblings lining up in probate court for their shares of a fortune certain to run into the millions, with great earning potential. Yet it's still possible that an unknown heir may emerge. A Colorado prison inmate has already filed a paternity claim, and the Minnesota court overseeing Prince's estate has set up a process to vet that and any others. Some questions and answers on paternity claims in Minnesota:
How do we know if Prince had kids?
Prince had only one known child, a boy who died in 1996 a week after birth. To test the claim of anyone who comes forward now, Carver County District Judge Kevin Eide has authorized genetic testing on a sample of Prince's blood now held by the medical examiner's office. Eide hasn't yet ruled on a request from Bremer Trust, the special administrator overseeing the estate, to let Bremer set up the protocol for exactly how to handle claimants. Bremer is proposing that those people submit affidavits backing up their relationship to Prince, and then agree to blood and genetic testing, at their expense.
How does the testing work?
A court cannot absolutely confirm paternity, but works to establish what's known as a probability of paternity.
DNA Diagnostics Center, the company the estate special administrator has proposed using, says on its website that it tests for at least 16 DNA markers in father and child to produce genetic profiles for each person, and then uses statistical analysis to calculate probability of paternity. The company claims accuracy of as much as 99.999 percent.
Such a test would likely be preceded by screening questions such as whether Prince and the alleged mother spent time together, or whether they and the alleged child shared a similar blood type, said Judith T. Younger, a University of Minnesota law professor who isn't involved in the case. She said all the evidence would lead to a calculation of how likely it is that a claimant is Prince's biological heir.
"The key to understanding it is when you're testing for paternity, what you're getting is not a fact, but a probability. And that's the best that we seem able to do now,'' Younger said.
How long will this last?
Judge Eide set a four-month deadline for claims against the estate, which would be early September. Younger said that's a fairly typical window. Claimants who file after that might be accepted, she said, but courts typically adhere to the rules laid out. "I think the court has the power always to make exceptions,'' Younger said. She added that any tests should be done fairly quickly. "It's not a test that can't be done quite rapidly,'' she said.
How does heirship in Minnesota work?
A person with a verified claim to be Prince's child would zoom to the front of the line for his estate. In fact, a child would get it all under Minnesota law. So nothing would go to Prince's sister Tyka Nelson and his five half siblings, said Susan Link, head of estate planning for the Minneapolis-based Maslon law firm. "A child would trump the siblings,'' Link said. Carlin Q. Williams, the Colorado prison inmate, is the only person so far with a claim pending. His mother, Marsha Henson, contends that she conceived Williams while having sex with Prince at a Kansas City, Missouri, hotel in July 1976.
What about other heirs beyond children?
Attorneys have filed papers on behalf of a daughter and granddaughter of Duane Nelson Sr., widely described as Prince's late half brother. Nelson, who died in 2011, is not listed as a relative in papers filed by Tyka Nelson's lawyers in the probate case. Her lawyers have declined to clarify why not, citing attorney-client confidentiality. If Nelson's daughter and granddaughter are proven blood heirs, they could stand to inherit his share of the estate along with the surviving siblings.
A Kansas City woman has also claimed to be a half sister.
The U.S. government's top intelligence official says he's seen indications of foreign hackers attempting to spy on the U.S. presidential candidates.
"We've already had some indications," said Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who added "as the campaigns intensify, we'll probably see more of it."
Clapper, whose remarks came Wednesday at a cybersecurity event in Washington, said FBI and Homeland Security Department officials are working with the presidential campaigns to counter any cyberthreats.
The apparent cyber intrusions follow a pattern that was established during the last two presidential elections. U.S. intelligence officials say hacking was rampant in 2008 and, four years later, President Barack Obama and his Republican opponent Mitt Romney were targets of Chinese hackers.
The worldwide hacker group "Anonymous" and others have threatened "total war" against Republican candidate Donald Trump's campaign. Trump's campaign and business websites have already been defaced and spammed at least six times, one of which resulted in the release of his Social Security number.
Clapper said cyberthreats come from a wide variety of sources, including countries. "The Russians and Chinese are far more sophisticated and could do real damage if so inclined. Then there are terrorist groups. Each has different objectives," he said.
China is suspected of stealing millions of U.S. federal workers' personal information in a 2015 attack on the Office of Personnel Management.
To combat the intrustions, Clapper recommends that Internet users patch their software frequently and categorize information to limit its access to hackers.
It wasn't that long ago that the political rise of billionaire Donald Trump prompted predictions of a Republican Party implosion. Certainly the party of Lincoln and Reagan would not hand over the reins of leadership to a former reality TV star with a penchant for self-promotion and social media insults?
Well, the Republicans seem to be moving past their crisis point. But in an unexpected twist, it's now the Democratic Party that is being forced to come to grips with the fallout from a divisive primary battle. And how the party deals with these tensions could go a long way toward determining whether Democrats will be able to hold the presidency for a third consecutive term beginning in 2017.
Tensions rising
Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton claimed a narrow victory in Tuesday's Kentucky primary, even as rival Bernie Sanders continued his winning ways with a victory in Oregon.
Clinton remains on track to clinch the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, perhaps as early as June 7. But Sanders has given no sign of giving up, and tensions between the two campaigns are on the rise, raising fears among some Democrats that the party will have a difficult time unifying to face Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.
Clinton and Sanders effectively split the delegate count from the contests in Kentucky and Oregon, and that did little to change the overall trajectory of the race. Clinton leads Sanders in the delegate count by a wide enough margin that the only way the Vermont senator could catch her is by winning the remaining primaries by huge margins, and by forcing defections of super-delegates who currently support Clinton. Both are far-fetched at this point.
Venting frustration
But Sanders made it clear at a rally Tuesday night in Carson, California, that he is not giving up.
"It will be a steep climb. I recognize that, he said. But we have the possibility of going to Philadelphia with a majority of the pledged delegates."
Sanders also said the Democratic Party needs to be more welcoming to his supporters who "are prepared to fight for real economic and social change." And he warned that it would be "a very sad and tragic option" for the party to maintain the status quo.
Tensions between the two campaigns were on display at a recent Democratic state convention in Nevada, when Sanders supporters vented their frustration at party officials over the process of selecting delegates to attend the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July.
Some Sanders activists threw chairs, and later some threats were made toward state party chairwoman Roberta Lange.
Philadelphia convention
Some Democrats worry the simmering tensions over the primary battle could lead to problems at the July convention.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid urged Sanders to show leadership in calming his supporters.
Sanders issued a statement that "condemned all forms of violence," but noted that there have been no incidents at his rallies around the country.
In her recent campaign rallies, Clinton has been eager to turn her focus to Trump.
"He can say whatever he wants to say about me personally, she told supporters in Kentucky. I will stand up and fight for and speak out for every American that he attacks and he insults!"
Late victories
But Sanders' ability to draw large crowds of intense supporters and win primaries acts as a brake on Clinton's efforts to move past the divisive primary campaign and shift her focus to Trump.
Sanders' success in later primaries has historical precedent, according to analyst William Galston at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
"Late victories by the losers are not at all unusual. We saw much the same thing, actually, in 1992 when Bill Clinton was vying for and ultimately claiming the Democratic Party nomination," Galston said.
He added that the current Democratic fissures pale in comparison with the first election he followed closely: the 1968 campaign when the Democratic Party came apart at the seams.
Looking for leverage
Sanders' continued success in the primaries and his ability to draw supporters could give him valuable political leverage at the national convention in Philadelphia.
"His goal at this point is obviously to influence the platform, influence Hillary Clinton and try to continue to keep her to the left," said Roll Call Editor Melinda Henneberger.
But eventually, Galston predicts, Sanders will have to take steps to unify the party behind Clinton to take on Trump.
"She has some work to do, but so does Senator Sanders, he said. And I would say that the principal responsibility for bringing his supporters on board rests with him, not her."
At times, Sanders has indicated he would be willing to do so.
"While we may have many disagreements with Secretary Clinton, there is one area we agree, and that is we must defeat Donald Trump!" Sanders told supporters during a recent rally in Oregon.
Path to unity
In the end, despite the recent acrimony, many analysts expect that Democrats will be able to work out their differences and unite behind Clinton during and after the convention.
"I think the Bernie Sanders supporters will come home to Hillary Clinton," said John Fortier of the Bipartisan Policy Center. "It may take a month after the convention when they say, what's the alternative Hillary Clinton or a Republican that is much further from our views?"
But getting to that point is a few months away, and the weeks ahead are likely to challenge the unifying skills of both Clinton and Sanders.
The early signs are that getting the Democrats to unify may take a lot more skill and political gamesmanship than anyone could have predicted a year ago.
A sponge that thrives in frigid Antarctic waters could provide a powerful new weapon against MRSA, a sometimes fatal infection that has become highly resistant to antibiotics.
Scientists from the University of South Florida Center for Drug Discovery and Innovation search the world for natural chemicals with pharmaceutical potential. Center director Bill Baker collected samples of a sponge called Dendrilla membranosa from the Southern Ocean. His team extracted a substance they named darwinolide, modified its chemical composition, and tested it against the bacteria that cause MRSA.
Writing in the journal Organic Letters, they report that only 1.6 percent of the bacteria survived and grew.
MRSA methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was once a serious problem only in health care settings, such as hospitals and nursing homes. But the infection is now found in locker rooms, gyms and schools.
It is especially dangerous because it can cause infections almost anywhere in the body, from the skin to the lungs to the lining of the heart. It has developed resistance to the most powerful antibiotics in the medical arsenal.
MRSA bacteria, like many other bacteria, form a biofilm around them as a protective shell. Antibiotics have a hard time penetrating that shell to kill the bacteria inside. Darwinolide appears to attack the biofilm.
That, say the researchers, suggests "that darwinolide may present a highly suitable scaffold for the development of urgently needed, novel, anti-biofilm-specific antibiotics."
There are two types of people in this world: those who jump for joy when they hear the opening strains of 'Wagon Wheel', and those who fly into a murderous rage.
Derry man Stephen Leighton falls firmly in the latter camp, as was proven during his court appearance at Coleraine Magistrates Court yesterday.
The court heard how a neighbour of his had been playing Nathan Carter's cover of 'Wagon Wheel' - which was originally by American band Old Crow Medicine Show - repeatedly, and Leighton admitted that he 'snapped'.
On a night in January, it was reported that he stormed up a communal stairwell in his apartment building shouting: "If I hear Wagon Wheel one more time I'm going to break that stereo" before banging on his neighbour's door and breaking two windows.
His barrister Francis Lafferty said that he had been subjected to repeated playing of the song "on the night in question and for some time beforehand", and believed that it was "some sort of psychological torture." He claimed that after Leighton had threatened to break his neighbour's stereo, the song was "played more loudly and more repetitively".
He received a suspended sentence and was ordered to pay 200 for the damage to the windows.
It seems that Carter is enjoying the publicity, at least...
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is meeting with conservatives, including radio host Glenn Beck, to discuss claims that its trending topics feature is biased against their viewpoints.
The Wednesday meeting also includes American Enterprise Institute president Arthur Brooks, Tea Party Patriots CEO Jenny Beth Martin and also Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center, which says its sole mission is to expose and neutralize the propaganda arm of the Left: the national news media.
Zuckerberg invited the dozen or so conservatives after a report in the tech blog Gizmodo claimed that Facebook downplays conservative news subjects on its trending feature. Facebook denies that report, which relied upon a single anonymous individual with self-described conservative leanings.
Nonetheless, Zuckerberg said the Menlo Park, California, company is investigating the matter.
We have rigorous guidelines that do not permit the prioritization of one viewpoint over another or the suppression of political perspectives, Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post last week.
Bozell said in a release that he looks forward to talking to Zuckerberg and Facebook because, as I'll explain to them, no one knows more about liberal bias in the media than we do. We have been documenting and exposing it for almost 30 years. Facebook has a serious problem.
Facebook's Trending Topics are most visible on the desktop version of the social network, although it is possible to access them on mobile too.
On browsers, the topics appear on the top right corner, separate from the news feed containing updates from your friends and family. On mobile devices, users can tap on the search bar to see the top trends, but they can't see separate categories.
Facebook says software formulas identify trending topics, and humans review them to confirm that the topics are in fact trending news in the real world and not, for example, similar-sounding topics or misnomers.
Topics that appear as trending can have a self-fulfilling effect, as more Facebook readers see and share the items, and other news organizations decide to write their own stories.
Germany is condemning a contest in Iran for cartoons depicting the Holocaust, saying it sows hatred and deepens divisions in the Middle East.
The event was organized by non-governmental bodies with support from Iran's hard-liners. A previous contest in 2006 got a boost from then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who referred to the Holocaust as a myth.
German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said Wednesday that the murder of 6 million men, women and children during the Holocaust, for which we Germans bear guilt and responsibility, must not be abandoned to ridicule.
Schaefer said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier made clear during a February visit to Tehran that no further such competition should take place, and that it was very regrettable it went ahead.
Israel's prime minister has condemned the contest.
The United States has returned to Italy a letter written by Christopher Columbus in 1493 about his discovery of the New World that was stolen from a Florence library and unwittingly acquired by the Library of Congress.
The letter, an 8-page litany of Columbus' impressions about the people, flora and fauna of the Americas that he had sent to Spain's King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, had been replaced at Florence's Riccardiana library with a forgery that no one noticed until a few years ago.
The original, meanwhile, had been sold to a rare book collector in Switzerland in 1990, then purchased by another collector at a Christie's auction in 1992 in New York. It was finally bequeathed to the Library of Congress in 2004 by the estate of its final owner, Italian and U.S. officials said Wednesday.
"Five hundred years later, it did the same trip [as Columbus], round-trip,'' Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini told a press conference in Rome with the U.S. ambassador by his side to announce the letter's return.
U.S. Ambassador John Phillips declined to identify the estate that gave the letter to the Library of Congress, saying the investigation was still ongoing. But U.S. officials said both the final owner and the Library acquired the letter in good faith, assuming its provenance was legitimate.
The auction price was 400,000 euros but Italy's carabinieri art squad estimates its true value at 1 million euros ($1.13 million).
The head of the Riccardiana library, Fulvio Stacchetti, said the letter was likely substituted with a fake in 1950-51, when the Riccardiana loaned the letter to national library authorities in Rome. He said that was the only time the document had left the Riccardiana, and that it would have been impossible for it to have been substituted with a fake while it was home because the reading room is so closely monitored.
The letter is one of about 30 authentic, reprinted copies of Columbus' original letter and is known as one of the Plannck II copies.
Carabinieri art squad officials said they determined the version that was in the Riccardiana was a fake because the print style and page size were incompatible with the original.
A U.S. airstrike has killed two "high-value individuals" in an attack on an Islamic State building in Iraq.
Baghdad-based military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said Wednesday that the May 13 strike killed Abu Hamza and Abu Safiya, as well as a third militant.
Warren said Abu Hamza, a former member of al-Qaida in Iraq, planned and conducted attacks against Americans during the war in Iraq that ended in 2011.
He said Abu Hamza was also responsible for coordinating Islamic State fighters, reinforcements and finances in Iraq.
Abu Safiya is blamed for staging chemical weapons attacks in Iraq's Euphrates River Valley.
Warren said overall the United States has targeted and killed more than 120 high-value fighters in Islamic State since the start of 2015.
But he said in recent days Islamic State fighters have claimed responsibility for a string of attacks in and around Baghdad that have killed more than 140 people in the past week.
Kenyan police are coming under fire for their brutal response to an opposition protest Monday after photos and video of police beating protesters sparked outrage.
Three Mondays in a row, Kenyas main opposition coalition has demonstrated at the electoral commission in Nairobi, calling for it to be disbanded before next years polls.
Each time, riot police dispersed protesters with tear gas and water cannons. But this week, police kicked and clubbed protesters as they ran, according to photos and videos posted online.
Those include images of an officer stomping on a unconscious mans head. The man survived, but Kenyans have taken to Twitter to react with the hashtag #StopPoliceBrutality.
Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero called for swift action. We have said that the Police Oversight Authority must investigate this and the people who meted out violence against innocent people who were engaging in peaceful protest must be prosecuted, he said.
This is not the first time the police have been accused of abuses. The Independent Medico Legal Unit (IMLU) released a study late last year that found police were responsible for nearly 300 gun-related killings since the start of 2014.
Executive Director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) George Kegoro said excessive use of force cannot be tolerated.
We would like to get assurances from the police department," he said, "that as the country heads towards elections and mobilization of large crowds happen, this is not going to be the kind of response that we see from the police department. So we must celebrate and preserve the rights of citizens to protest.
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) is looking into Mondays violence, according to board member Tom Kagwe.
Already investigations have been launched," said Kagwe , "and we will see which officer was culpable. If we can not find the particular individual who is culpable, we will file a case with the highest responsibility in line of command.
The Inspector General of Police has also ordered an investigation, though activists say similar orders in recent years have yielded little action or reform.
Japanese automaker Mitsubishi's president is stepping down, controversy erupted last month over a mileage cheating scandal.
Testuro Aikawa appeared with Mitsubishi Chairman Osamu Masuko Wednesday to announce his departure from company, taking responsibility for the scandal. However, he told reporters that he intends to see the investigation through.
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 with manipulated data showed fuel economy that was about 15 percent better than in reality.
Mitsubishi, the world's sixth-largest automaker, lost about half of its market value after news of the fuel-rigging scandal broke. A recent deal brokered with Nissan, in which Nissan would take a 34 percent stake in Mitsubishi, will not be finalized until the investigation is completed.
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.
According to the World Bank, 9 billion devices are connected to the internet today, but more than half of the world's population is still not connected.
Technologists and government officials say getting connected is critical to improving the lives of many people.
"We have got huge fights in terms of corruption, transparency, [and] openness, and technology is really the vehicle we're using to ensure that whatever transactions are taking place, you can see them. They're digital," said Joe Mucheru, Kenyan Cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology.
But there are still areas of the world that are not connected, said Hilton Romanski, senior vice president and chief strategy officer of Cisco, a multinational technology company based in the U.S.
"Obviously, we look at Africa, we look at Southeast Asia there are large swaths of the population that are not connected," he said.
Denis O'Brien, chairman of the mobile phone company Digicel, says that once people start using smartphones, they talk less and use more data, making high-speed service or broadband a necessity.
He said that building the infrastructure in developing regions is a challenge, pointing out, "Everybody's built the easy bit. In other words, they've done the towns and the cities, but going into rural communities they haven't done it because the business case is very thin."
Technology experts said the private and public sectors need to come together to bring the internet to remote and developing regions, and drive economic growth.
"Any country that wants to create investment and be a location for investment to create employment, the first thing you need is broadband," O'Brien said.
Is technology the answer?
Kentaro Toyama, associate professor of community information at the University of Michigan, has a warning for developing nations that see technology as the solution for economic growth. He notes that social problems did not end in the U.S. as digital innovation advanced over the last 45 years.
"During that same span of time, this country has experienced rising inequality, he said. The medium income has declined."
Toyama added that in developing nations, a smartphone alone will not help people who are uneducated and lack technological skills "people, for example, who are physical laborers on farms, where it doesn't make too much of a difference if you can have access to the latest agronomic research paper as a way to improve your farming."
But O'Brien said the opposite is true.
"Once you get broadband, you can educate people, he said. You can create jobs for people, and people from an agricultural point of view become much more efficient."
He also pointed to cultural differences in each country.
Giving the Kenyan point of view, Mucheru said, "The internet is going to make a change. It is critical for people. I think the fact that maybe some of the people in the West haven't come out of poverty because they have not used their devices well is not the same for Africa."
Cisco's Romanski said it takes cooperation among private, government and nonprofit sectors to maximize the impact of technology.
"So it's going to take all the parties coming together to drive the right cultural shift and the right education into these countries so that the developing market can, over the long term, enjoy the benefits of economic growth," he said.
The experts agreed that positive change in a nation can happen if education about technology is combined with the right policies.
White women in the United States are dying too soon.
That is the simplest way of stating a problem that has become apparent over the past year through statistical analysis. Studies of death rates around the country carried out by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions National Center for Health Statistics show that life expectancy for every demographic group has either gone up or remained stable except for that of white women, for whom life expectancy has gone down.
The decrease is not very large: The mortality rate for white women in 2013 was 81.2 years and the rate for that same group in 2014 was 81.1 years, a decrease of one-tenth of a percentage point. Health care researchers, like Jarron Saint Onge at the University of Kansas, however, are concerned.
As things get better, in a sense, as our life gets easier, our jobs become less dangerous, we would expect that life expectancy continues to go up, said Saint Onge. When you see life expectancy all of a sudden flatline or not increasing, especially as we see a decline in our smoking rate, it is cause for alarm.
The other problem is that if the trend continues, it could produce an even wider gap between white women and other demographic groups. For example, life expectancy among black people, while still lower than that of whites overall by a few percentage points, is higher than it was several years ago, and it continues to rise.
Hispanics have higher life expectancies than blacks or whites, even though a large percentage of that group earn low incomes and lack health insurance. Researchers think that may be due to strong community support, close families and a much lower rate of smoking among Hispanics.
Saint Onge found that the rise in premature deaths is more pronounced among white women in rural areas, and smaller cities and towns in southern states. Mental illness, alcohol abuse and drug addiction all have increased in those areas, as well, and many specific deaths can be linked to these problems.
We need to back up a little more and look at why we are seeing these upticks in substance abuse, said Saint Onge. Is it a lack of mental health services? Or is it a lack of economic opportunities or educational opportunities?
Substance abuse problem
There also has been a slight increase in suicides in some of these areas, along with deaths from such things as heart disease and liver failure. John ONeill, director of Addiction Services at the world-renowned Menninger Clinic in Houston, said drug and alcohol abuse could be the underlying problem.
We know that people who struggle with substance use are going to have more medical problems, we know that there are more motor vehicle accidents, we know that there is more crime, there is more domestic violence, more sexual assaults, he said.
While many small cities and towns may have clinics or hospitals to treat physical ailments, though, they may lack mental health or substance abuse programs.
In a smaller community, that may be a service that is not available, so it goes untreated and thus it can certainly contribute to long-term heart disease, strokes, various physical problems, ONeill said.
Sociologists also are examining such factors as the impact of economic downturns, the fracturing of families, and the ramifications of having physically and/or emotionally disabled military veterans return to smaller communities.
Saint Onge says there is a particular focus now on a segment within the category of white women linked to economic distress.
Even within that category of white women, what you are really seeing is that it is really divided between the haves and have-nots, and that most of those deaths are concentrated among those women who have lower levels of education and higher levels of poverty, he said.
ONeill observed that people who are overwhelmed by grief, stress and loss of purpose often lose hope, fall into depression and seek relief from drugs or alcohol.
When we have a number of psycho-social stressors, whether it is family members who are fighting for our country or loss of a job, loss of a relationship, financial problems, there is an abundance of evidence that says those are stressors that lead people to look for new ways to manage their emotions, new ways to cope, he said.
Alcoholic beverages are readily available in many communities and addiction specialists say many doctors routinely prescribe addictive pain killers without adequately exploring the risks. Authorities have arrested many doctors and health care providers for running so-called pill mills through which addicted patients can buy opioids even if their original prescription has expired.
Heroin, which once was a problem mainly confined to big cities, is now available all over the country, according to law enforcement officials, and generally cheaper and more readily obtained than the prescription pain killers that may have been the initial cause of an addiction.
Addressing the problem
President Barack Obama unveiled an initiative in March that would provide more than $90 million to community health centers for substance abuse treatment.
News media attention to the growing problem of pain-killing opioid addiction also has helped warn people of the risks involved in taking such medications, and it has led to discussion in the medical community about possible alternatives for pain treatment.
In addition, ONeill sees another societal problem that could affect women in small towns: the shame factor.
While U.S. society is slowly moving toward greater understanding of mental health disorders like depression, and acceptance of the idea that alcoholism and drug addiction are diseases, not moral failings, ONeill said people in small communities still may find it hard to open up to anyone about their problems.
He said, Making it OK to talk about substance use, making it OK to talk about depression, anxiety, all those mental health problems, that to me would be, fundamentally, the most important aspect of changing anything in small communities, rural communities.
ONeill emphasizes that various types of treatment have shown success, but having family and community support often is the key to helping people escape addiction. He suggests that at least some of the money currently being spent to fight drug trafficking might be put to better use helping people quit the habits that often end up killing them.
U.S. Representative Keith Ellison doesnt mince words about the Islamic State group.
In an interview with VOAs Afghan service, Ellison, a Muslim American whom IS threatened recently with death, lashed out at the group, its message and its methods.
Daesh, they are neither Islamic nor a state, Ellison said, using the Arabic acronym for IS. The whole movement is premised upon a lie, which is that they are going to establish some sort of Islamic paradise on Earth."
They are liars, he said. They are rapists. They torture people. In Islam, it is prohibited to mutilate corpses. They do this. They burn people. Nothing they do is supportable in Islamic tradition or Quran. He added that many people once aligned with IS were fleeing from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Ellison's name was on a list of people whom IS called politically active apostates in the United States, Australia, Britain and Canada. IS posted the hit list online, along with a picture of a bloodstained knife and remarks from leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He said those on the list "will receive amnesty if they surrender themselves to the Islamic State.
No fear
In response to the IS death threat, Ellison said he did not fear the terror group and vowed to fight the IS ideology.
You are evil, wicked, and I would like to destroy your whole ideology, he said, addressing IS.
Ellison, a Democrat, is from Minnesota, where IS has tried to recruit Somali youths for its fight in Syria and Iraq. Since 2014, the FBI has arrested nine young men in Minnesota for allegedly planning to join IS in Syria. Six of them entered guilty pleas, but the others are now standing trial on charges that include conspiring to support Islamic State and to commit murder abroad.
The trial has put a spotlight on how IS recruiters have worked to radicalize young Somali-American men. The suspects told a judge that IS propaganda videos and social media inspired them to seek out the group.
Ellison called upon young people to be vigilant and not to fall into ISs propaganda trap. He continued to address IS: "I ask all young people who you are lying to, to closely examine the lies that you are telling, and to abandon you and to never support anything Daesh is saying."
Ellison also called upon Muslim Americans to take an active role in the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
If you are a person whose belief system is informed by Quran then you must also believe that you have a moral obligation to make society better, he said. "This is the way to elevate the lives of the people who are Muslims, not through the Daesh way of murder, mayhem and killing.
Despite the uncertainty about U.S. future force numbers in Afghanistan, most NATO military chiefs say they are not planning to withdraw their forces from the war-torn country, the chairman of NATOs military committee said Wednesday.
Petr Pavel told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels that there was a general acknowledgement by most of the NATO allies that they would keep the same level of participation in Afghanistan. He said the decision was due to the belief that conditions were not yet met for NATO to pull out.
U.S. President Barack Obama has called for U.S. forces in Afghanistan to decrease from 9,800 to about 5,500 by the end of the year. Due to the U.S.s significant troop presence in Afghanistan, NATOs future plans for Afghanistan have stalled as the U.S. administration tries to determine whether or not it will stick to its planned troop withdrawal.
Were waiting for that final this is what its going to be so we can then go forward with whatever cards are dealt, a NATO official said Wednesday.
Pavel said NATO military chiefs called for flexible mission parameters based on conditions on the ground.
The new NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, U.S. Army General Curtis M. Scaparrotti, added that Afghan forces must first become self-sustaining before Afghanistan is no longer be a haven for terrorists.
Flexibility urged
The rhetoric mirrored testimony earlier this year by U.S. General John Campbell, then-head of international forces in Afghanistan.
The United States must continue to show flexibility with our mission in 2016 and beyond, Campbell told the House Armed Services Committee in February.
Defense chiefs were briefed by U.S. General John Mick Nicholson, who commands international forces in Afghanistan, on Afghan force capability and security areas which NATO allies need to help sustain.
A NATO official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said some European nations appear to have a vested interest in certain capabilities and want to see these programs endure in Afghanistan whether or not U.S. troop numbers decrease.
Examples of these programs include countering the Afghan drug trade, which the official said is seen as an internal threat to some Europeans, as well as aircraft pilot training and intel collection operations.
But the uncertainty has made it difficult for U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joe Dunford to advise other NATO military leaders on a way forward in Afghanistan, according to the Brookings Institutions defense expert Michael OHanlon.
The expectation of drawing down by the end of this year is not seen as compatible with combat circumstances, OHanlon told VOA. So that puts Dunford in a tough spot. He's not just waiting for his combatant commander or his field commanders report, he's waiting for his commander-in-chief.
2012's Dredd, starring Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey, flew under the radar when it arrived in cinemas.
It received no press screening here in Ireland and was gone from cinemas pretty quickly. It was much the same in both England, the US, Canada and all the major territories across the globe. On a budget of $30 million, Dredd recouped a total of $41.5 million. Critical reception was varied. US newspaper critics roundly slammed the film, whereas those from online outlets responded hugely to its black comedy, its frequent violence and the complex nature of the film's protagonist. The film has since gained a cult following and, naturally enough, there's been calls for a sequel. For all these positives, it's clear that a sequel just isn't going to happen any time soon.
Nor should it.
The best possible way Dredd could continue is through a TV series. In a way, it's absolutely perfect for a television series on, say, Netflix or Amazon Prime. For one thing, its frequent use of violence and expletive language means that it'll never fly on mainstream television. To try and dull down the bleak nature of the world of Mega-City One is to blunt the thing entirely. The two go hand-in-hand. Casual violence is a part of Dredd's world, so why should that be sacrificed? This isn't just simple thirst for gore on screen, it serves as a reminder than in Judge Dredd's world, violence is as much a part of the world as is the black-and-white nature of the justice system itself.
Let's look at the film. It was a wholly contained story set across ninety-odd minutes. We're introduced to the world of Mega-City One, Judge Dredd, Judge Anderson, the various exigencies for brutal force by the Judges and just how hopeless their situation is. The story then goes into a tightly-wound siege thriller that unfortunately had a strong resemblance to Gareth Evans' The Raid, even though Dredd was written and in production a few months before The Raid. The similarities between the two films are, ultimately, superficial. Dredd was a completely different beast to The Raid, blending Verhoeven-esque satire with Carpenter's sparse narrative and flashes of Eastwood and Peckinpah.
Looking back on Dredd, it's clear that director Pete Travis and writer Alex Garland were setting the film up as a franchise - but was doing it in a much smarter way. He wasn't making allusions to a further story or even to the characters themselves. It was a self-contained story, but there was a sense that there was a much bigger world out there to see, much like John Wick in 2015. However, since then, it's more that Dredd feels like an extended pilot for a TV series than anything else. It does all the necessary groundwork and there's a wealth of stories to follow on from it. Not only did it introduce the characters, it showed us that there was so much more out there. If Dredd was to continue as a film franchise, it would have undoubtedly had to compromise on its vision. With a TV series, there's no need. In fact, the likes of Daredevil and Jessica Jones has shown that you can make an adult-orientated comic-book series and not pander to a wider audience for the sake of viewing figures.
Even in terms of how Pete Travis filmed Dredd, it could very easily translate to a workable TV series. The sets in Dredd felt realistic and weren't overly built with a futuristic theme. That cuts down on production design. The use of 3D and slow-motion effects were specific to the story and could be easily eschewed for the series. With regards to casting, it's clear that Karl Urban and Olivia Thirlby would be up for being involved with the series. Urban, in particular, has been quite vocal about wanting to take on the role again. As for a villain, there's a huge gallery of characters that could be taken from the comic-book series.
Hell, they could do a villain of the week and it'd still work.
A TV series of Dredd has the potential to have the same cultural impact as the aforementioned Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Both of those characters, Jones especially, weren't that well-known with mainstream audiences. Daredevil, sure, there was the movie with Ben Affleck, but how long ago was that? With Dredd, they've already got a cult following and with a TV series and a major provider like Netflix behind it, there's a real chance it could turn into something big. The only thing standing in the way of Netflix taking on Dredd would be its cosy relationship with Marvel. As the original Dredd featured on 2000AD Comics - not a Marvel comic - and is currently owned by Rebellion Developments, there's a chance that Netflix may not want to rock the applecart and put a competing comic-book series in there. Whatever happens, one thing is for sure - we're all losing out by not giving Dredd a second chance. The character is so rich in history and such a divergence from comic-book characters nowadays that there needs to be something different.
Dredd is different and we need different nowadays.
Since the ousting of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, pro-president media outlets are appealing for unity and loyalty to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The calls come as his removal provokes uncharacteristic dissent within the party, being played out on social media.
Davutoglu's removal
Prime Minister Davutoglu's ouster by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took much of the ruling AKP by surprise. The move resulted in a rare public show of dissent within the AKP, with angry exchanges on social media.
Political consultant Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners said the dissent sends a worrying message to the president. "Davutoglus removal started a bitter fight in the party, much bigger than I anticipated," he said. "Between his followers or Erdogans detractors and Erdogans fans.I think Erdogan fears or his advisers fear that unless he assumes formal powers over the party, he may lose the party and that I think is the bigger issue."
The AKP has announced it intends to amend the constitution to lift a ban on the president being a member of a political party, allowing Erdogan to regain formal control over it.
Bitter fight within party
Pro-AKP media are calling for unity, while dissenting voices are being purged from their positions.Political scientist Cengiz Aktar said Erdogan will quickly crush any dissent.
"It was just wishful thinking by some people who started to think that Mr. Davutoglu can be an alternative to Erdogan. It was just a big mistake, and it's over." Aktar stated. "The remaining AKP followers will simply pay tribute to the unique sole source of power in the country."
Political columnist Kadri Gursel of Turkeys Cumhuriyet newspaper and Al Monitor website said in his more than a decade in power Erdogan amassed powerful instruments of patronage to maintain power and the loyalty of his supporters.
"Erdogan has built up a very large apparatus political interests, financial interests, social interests many. He has turned the party into a huge company, running the state business, running the budget," Gursel said.
Replacing the PM
On Sunday, Erdogan is expected to further strengthen his grip on the AKP when it elects Davutoglu's successor. It is widely predicted the replacement will be one Erdogans closest allies.
The president has said his priority is to extend his presidential powers, a move that has to be ratified by a referendum.
Political consultant Yesilada said the outcome of that vote could be key to the future of the president. "I think we will have a referendum of sorts, this summer, the outcome of which is very uncertain.If Erdogan wins, everybody will be resigned to their fate. If Erdogan loses on the other hand, I am fairly certain there would be a bitter struggle in the party, or at least reduce his influence," said Yesilada.
Erdogans dominance of Turkish politics is built on more than a decade of successive electoral victories, but the president is likely to be aware that with any sign of weakness opponents, in and outside his party, would likely not hesitate to challenge his power.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton should apologize to the Poles for having said they think democracy is too much trouble'' and want to have an authoritarian dictatorship,'' Poland's prime minister said Wednesday.
Beata Szydlo called Clinton's words unjustified and simply unfair.''
With all due respect, and without using coarse words, [Clinton] exaggerated and should apologize to us,'' she told Polish state radio Wednesday.
Speaking in New Jersey in support of wife Hillary's U.S. presidential campaign, Clinton said Hungary and Poland would not be free'' if not for the United States, but have now decided this democracy is too much trouble.''
They want [Russian President Vladimir] Putin-like leadership. Just give me an authoritarian dictatorship and keep the foreigners out,'' he said.
Sound familiar?'' Clinton asked, in apparent reference to campaign statements by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
A comparison to Putin is especially shocking in Poland, which is very distrustful and critical of his policies.
Clinton was also referring to Warsaw and Budapest protesting European Union plans to redistribute some of the tens of thousands of refugees flooding into Europe and refusing to take in some of them.
Ruling party response
The head of Poland's conservative ruling party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, said Clinton is misinformed.
If someone says there is no democracy in Poland today, that means he should have a medical test,'' he said.
Some Western politicians say Poland's conservative Law and Justice party, which won the presidential and the parliamentary elections last year, does threaten some democratic principles and the rule of law. It has been criticized for the continuing paralysis of the Constitutional Tribunal, its tighter grip on state-owned media and allowing greater surveillance powers for police, issues that have led to massive street protests.
Frank Spula, the head of an organization in Chicago representing some 10 million Americans of Polish origin, told Polish state radio that Clinton's words must sicken anybody who knows the history of Poland and of the Poles.''
On Tuesday, Hungary also protested Bill Clinton's words.
With the U.S. presidential primary in its final months, one of the country's top pollsters says a dominant theme has emerged in how Americans view their government.
Frank Newport, the editor-in-chief of Gallup, told VOA that record numbers of Americans are dissatisfied with Congress and the government in general, and candidates such as Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders have seized on that sentiment.
Sanders has argued that U.S. lawmakers have become too beholden to Wall Street and the influence of the wealthy, and he will prioritize populist programs such as universal health care and free college tuition. Trump has blasted U.S. trade agreements, which he says have cost Americans jobs, and pledged to radically renegotiate trade deals to better benefit American workers.
Newport says both candidates essentially argue that Congress has done little to improve voters' lives.
"A lot of these candidates are running against government. Bernie Sanders called it a revolution. Trump doesn't use that word but says we need huge changes in the way government works and that does separate them from Hillary Clinton."
He says Clinton, after her decades of experience in government, is proposing incremental, instead of wholesale, changes. He says she favors using government the way it is to make things better for Americans.
Gallup is one of the United States' oldest public opinion polling groups, and has been regularly surveying the American public for decades to determine what issues voters care about. It also surveys voters to determine the level of public support for individual politicians, including President Barack Obama, whom Gallup says currently has an approval rating of 51 percent.
That relatively strong level of public support is favorable for candidates in the Democratic Party, even though historically, the White House has tended to swing to the opposition party after a president has served two terms.
Newport said that in order for Democrats to win the election in November, they must raise turnout among black voters, Hispanic voters and young voters who form a significant part of the party's base. Otherwise, he said the predominantly older white voters who form the core of the Republican Party's support could have enough numbers to carry their candidate to victory.
The words are some of the most iconic to ever come out of the U.S. Supreme Court: "We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote that in his 1954 opinion in the case Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed racial segregation in the nation's public schools. He highlighted the importance of the issue, saying education is perhaps the most important function carried out by state governments and that the circumstances of a child's schooling have a profound effect on their life.
"To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone," Warren wrote.
On Wednesday, White House Special Advisor Valerie Jarrett is hosting a group of educators to mark the 62nd anniversary of the ruling and look at how issues related to segregation still persist.
"The meeting will be an opportunity to recommit to the critical work that remains, remembering that the outcome in Brown v. Board was never inevitable," Jarrett said ahead of the event.
Getting to the Brown decision was itself a nearly 60-year journey set off by the Supreme Court's 1896 decision in the case Plessy v. Ferguson.
Homer Plessy was a black man who was told to vacate a train car designated for whites in the southern state of Louisiana. He sued, saying his rights were violated under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that says no state shall "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
The Supreme Court ruled against Plessy in an 8-1 decision.
"We consider the underlying fallacy of the plaintiff's argument to consist in the assumption that the enforced separation of the two races stamps the colored race with a badge of inferiority. If this be so, it is not by reason of anything found in the act, but solely because the colored race chooses to put that construction upon it," Justice Henry Billings Brown wrote. His decision also said legislation cannot overcome social prejudices.
The laws allowing racial segregation on train cars were part of what were know as the Jim Crow laws that persisted for decades largely across the southern United States. They enforced things like separate drinking fountains for blacks and whites and separate schools. There were also extreme rules and taxes imposed on blacks who tried to vote, keeping most from participating in elections and helping white leaders remain in power.
By the time the Brown case reached the Supreme Court, some 17 states had legalized segregation in public schools, almost all in the South.
The effort to fight the laws was led by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which recruited families in Topeka, Kansas to fight the city's school system. Linda Brown was one of the students involved. Her family complained that she was barred from attending a white school much closer to their home and instead forced to go to a worse school farther away.
A lower court ruled that Topeka's system was acceptable, saying the schools were substantially equal in their facilities and teachers.
The Supreme Court's decision rejected that thinking, but even with the unanimous Brown ruling, desegregation was by no means immediate with several state resisting the order. A famous example happened in Little Rock, the capital city of Arkansas, where in 1957 the state's governor ordered national guard troops to surround a high school in order to prevent a group of black students from attending classes. He said if they did, "blood will run in the streets."
By 1958, seven states still had laws segregating public schools, and three states did in 1961.
Schools had several options for integration, including redrawing school district boundaries or busing students to different schools to change the racial balance.
Cities such as Boston had controversial busing programs for decades with parents complaining about kids being sent far from home and questioning whether the efforts were still necessary. Many of those programs have been abandoned, but segregation still persists in U.S. schools.
The Civil Rights Project at UCLA says the number of schools where black students make up at least 90 percent of the population rose from about 6 percent to 19 percent between 1988 and 2013. At the same time, schools with 90 percent white student populations fell from 39 percent to 18 percent.
Part of the change, particularly the second figure, can be attributed to the U.S. becoming increasingly less white.
The Civil Rights Project says persistent segregation is worst in northern and western states, and that the 17 states with a history of explicit segregation laws have not led the list since 1970.
"The ironic historic reality is that the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court supported very demanding desegregation standards for the South while the interpretation of Supreme Court decisions and federal legislation limited the impact of Brown in the North and West."
The latest desegregation ruling came Friday when a federal court in Mississippi ordered a school district there to consolidate its high schools and middle schools after failures to integrate in a case first brought in 1965. Its decision agreed with the Plessy ruling that the law alone cannot provide change, but offered a different conclusion by saying schools have to make it work.
The court said "The delay in desegregation has deprived generations of students of the constitutionally guaranteed right of an integrated education. Although no court can right these wrongs, it is the duty of the district to ensure that not one more student suffers under this burden."
The U.S. Senate Tuesday unanimously confirmed Eric Fanning to be chief of the U.S. Army, making him the first openly gay leader of a U.S. military branch.
President Barack Obama nominated Fanning eight months ago. But Senate approval was held up over plans to transfer detainees from the Guantanamo Bay prison to an Army base in Kansas.
Kansas Republican Senator Pat Roberts dropped his opposition to a vote on Fanning after the White House assured him it was too late to move the prisoners.
Fanning has served in a number of senior positions since joining the Pentagon in 2009, which include acting Air Force Secretary, deputy undersecretary of the Navy, and Army chief management officer.
U.S. Senate Democrats sought to highlight the qualifications of President Barack Obamas stymied Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, in a mock hearing that drew scorn from Republicans and conservative groups.
For more than an hour Wednesday, high-profile colleagues and friends of the nominee extolled Garlands virtues, in unofficial testimony before Democratic members of the Judiciary Committee.
Merrick is calm under pressure, said former U.S. Attorney Donna Bucella, who worked with Garland to investigate the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. And hes always 25 steps ahead of everybody else.
Under normal circumstances, Garland himself would testify at confirmation hearings by the full Senate committee. But the chairman, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, has refused to consider his nomination, joining other Republicans who insist that the Supreme Court vacancy be filled by Obamas successor next year.
For more than two months, Democrats have protested and pressured Republicans to relent to no avail. Wednesdays mock event drew plenty of media coverage, but even its organizers admitted that it lacked the impact of a genuine confirmation hearing.
This hearing is no substitute for the real thing, lamented Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.
Republicans scoffed at the event before it began.
It seems the more we hear from Democrats about the Supreme Court, the more we are reminded of how reasonable and common sense the Republican position is today, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
Meanwhile, in a statement, the conservative group Concerned Women for America said, Its sort of sad to see what Senate Democrats have been reduced to it should be called a mockery hearing.
But the Judiciary Committees top Democrat, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, insisted there is value in publicizing Garlands qualifications and strengths, given that he has had to remain silent in the face of attacks by right-wing groups opposed to his nomination.
Ive known him [Garland] for a very long time, Leahy said. I get frustrated when I hear lobbying groups lobbing attacks against him. Of course, he cant respond to those. If he had a hearing, he could swat them down.
Among those speaking on Garlands behalf was former federal judge Timothy Lewis, who was nominated by President George H. W. Bush in the early 1990s and confirmed by a Democratic-controlled Senate. Lewis bemoaned the hyper-partisanship surrounding judicial confirmations.
There was a culture of bipartisanship that is severely lacking today, Lewis said. The United States Supreme Court should never be viewed as a political arm, an ideological arm, of any political party I believe the Supreme Court must remain above the fray, because it is a symbol of our greatest aspirations as a society.
The Supreme Court has operated with eight justices since the death of arch conservative Antonin Scalia in February.
People, cattle, camels, donkeys and even a lion dressed up in Somalilands red, white and green flag colors for parades and celebrations Wednesday marking 25 years since Somalilands self-declared independence from the Federal Republic of Somalia.
Mohamed Ahmed is the executive director of the Somaliland Non State Actors Forum, based in Hargeisa. He, like many other Somalilanders, takes offense to the phrase self-declared.
As you see, many African countries, they become either dictatorships or failed states, like Somalia, said Ahmed. But Somaliland is a democratic country like Europe or like America, which you know, [have] a free realm of speech and human rights so Somaliland is one of the rare countries in the Horn of Africa and the sub-Saharan countries.
But to the international community, Somaliland is not recognized as a country, even though it has called itself independent since 1991, following a three-year civil war with Somalia. Somalia has refused to recognize that independence but has afforded the region autonomy.
Own government, military
Somaliland has its own government and military and a separate currency. It holds elections and even has a national passport, although travel can often be difficult on an unrecognized countrys documents. And unlike their southern neighbors, Somalilanders enjoy relative security.
For these reasons, Ahmed argues that Somaliland has earned its right to statehood.
We are very much strong, said Ahmed. The international community must accept our case, and I think there is no reason the international community [should] hesitate this time [for] Somaliland not being recognized, because already we have shown that Somaliland has maintained its peace and security, economic development, infrastructure.
Diplomatic issue
But University of Minnesota professor Abdi Samatar says the international community has reasons for not recognizing Somaliland.
And if the northern Somalis become Somaliland, and the African Union sanctions that, there is nothing that will stop the African Union from looking into other secessionist groups and saying that they should also go," he said. "So the international community, particularly the United States and the European Union, have been playing second fiddle to the African Union to see where Somaliland or Somalia goes.
Despite its gains, Somaliland is not perfect, says Samatar. A territorial dispute between Somaliland and Puntland continues over the provinces of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn. Somalilanders suffer from high unemployment rates, and many are still risking the dangerous trip across the Mediterranean to illegally migrate.
Governance crisis
And according to Samatar, theres yet another problem.
I mean if you look at whats going on today, said Samatar, theres a real governance crisis in Hargeisa between different groups who are jostling for power.
Acknowledging the current security challenges faced in Mogadishu and other parts of Somalia, Samatar argues that Somalis are still better off as one larger block than separate, smaller ones.
And so, jointly putting their resources together, they will be at a greater advantage to compete with Ethiopia, and Kenya, rather than become different principalities, Samatar said.
Before 1960, Somalia was divided by colonial powers the British controlled the northern protectorate of Somaliland, while the Italians were in charge of what is now the Federal Republic of Somalia. In June 1960, Somaliland gained independence from Britain, and five days later, the two former colonies united as the United Republic of Somalia. This arrangement lasted until civil war broke out in 1988.
Suzuki admitted to improper fuel economy testing methods on 16 of its automobile models since 2010 in a statement released Wednesday.
The company said the testing methods used were different from those required by Japanese rules, but that proper testing of the vehicles showed no need to amend the fuel economy data. Despite the irregular testing methods, Suzuki denied accusations that it had deliberately falsified data to make their vehicles seem more fuel efficient.
"Any wrongdoing, such as manipulation of fuel efficiency data, were not found," it said in the statement.
It also said the 16 models affected were sold only in Japan.
Suzuki stock plummeted 15 percent Wednesday after reports began circulating that the company could be tied to a mileage cheating scandal currently surrounding Mitsubishi motors.
After Mitsubishi motors was found to have used methods noncompliant with regulations, the Japanese government ordered all domestic automakers to investigate their fuel economy testing processes.
Suzuki is the third carmaker accused of falsifying environmental data in the past 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.
A top Chinese official visiting Hong Kong warned Wednesday against heeding calls for independence for the semiautonomous Chinese region.
Zhang Dejiang, who is the Communist Party's No. 3 official and responsible for Hong Kong affairs, made his remarks at a dinner banquet attended by senior city government officials and business leaders.
Zhang is making a three-day "inspection visit" to the former British colony, where discontent is rising over Beijing's tightening grip on the city. Tension remains high two years after Beijing said it would not allow unrestricted elections for the city's top leader, a decision that sparked pro-democracy street protests that brought parts of the city to a standstill for 11 weeks. Some radical "localist" groups have recently started calling for greater autonomy and even independence for the specially administered Chinese region.
"There are a very small number of people rejecting 'one country' and resisting the central government. They're even flying the banner of Hong Kong independence," Zhang said. "This is not a matter of localism, but it's separatism under the name of localism."
Zhang warned that anyone who broke the law should be punished, though he did not refer to any specific laws. He said the "one country, two systems" framework, under which Beijing allows Hong Kong to have a high degree of control over its own affairs, and civil liberties unseen on the mainland, is in the city's best interests.
Hong Kong authorities have ratcheted up security for Zhang's visit, with as many as 8,000 police officers deployed for the visit, the South China Morning Post newspaper reported, citing an unidentified police source.
Earlier in the day, a group of about 100 protesters who tried to get close to the business conference where Zhang was delivering a speech were kept well away in a designated protest zone.
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump says he is open to talking with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in order to try to halt the country's nuclear program.
"I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him," Trump said in a Tuesday interview with Reuters.
He also said he would use what he described as economic power the U.S. has over China to pressure the Chinese government into playing a role in finding a solution.
North Korea is under multiple rounds of U.N. sanctions targeting its nuclear weapons program and repeated banned missile tests.
China and the U.S. partnered with South Korea, Russia and Japan for negotiations with North Korea aimed at curbing its nuclear activity, but that effort broke down in 2008.
Jake Sullivan, an adviser for Trump's likely opponent in the November election, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, criticized Trump's statement. He highlighted earlier comments in which Trump said he was unlikely to have a good relationship with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
"Donald Trump insults our closest ally, then turns around and says he'd love to talk to Kim Jong Un?" Sullivan said.
Trump told Reuters Tuesday that Cameron has problems, but that he is sure the two will have a good relationship.
Clinton had similar criticism of her 2007 opponent, now-President Barack Obama, when he said he would talk to leaders of nations like Cuba, North Korea and Iran without preconditions. An Iowa newspaper quoted her saying that policy "was irresponsible and frankly naive."
Obama met with Cuban President Raul Castro in March and has spoken by telephone with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, but there has been no direct contact between him and Kim Jong Un.
Rosario Dawson has said that Luke Cage will be very different from Netflix's previous Marvel offerings, Daredevil and Jessica Jones.
Dawson played Claire Temple in the both seasons of Daredevil but also made a cameo appearance in Jessica Jones in which she first met Mike Colter's character Luke Cage.
She was coy when asked about how big a role Claire would have in the Luke Cage series.
"Marvel have probably embedded a cyanide pill in my teeth or have a sniper set up in this building." She laughs. "So I'm not allowed to reveal anything about this upcoming show except that it's really cool and incredibly different."
But just how exactly will it differ from Marvel's other TV heroes?
"Each of the different showrunners for the different shows have a tonally different vision. Daredevil is very martial arts in Hell's Kitchen, Jessica Jones is very noir and Luke Cage takes place in Harlem and is a totally different character. He's got invincible skin which is very different from this fallible type of character like Daredevil. Luke Cage has got a totally different skill set."
She also described how playing the character across three different shows inside the Marvel Universe appeals to her.
"It's like being on a totally brand new show again even though I'm playing the same character. I've never dealt with a character this long or got to do anything like this before so it's still keeping me on my toes. It's really nice to be working in a medium and challenging myself again at something completely unusual."
The Sin City actress was in Dublin recently to promote Budweiser's Dream Big Competition and offer mentorship to the four Irish finalists who are competing to embark on their American Dream. She admitted that she was very impressed with the four finalists.
"They're just remarkable young people. It's so fun cause they're just so into their dreams and I think that's so important. We get caught up in such really important goals in life and what we need to achieve to be successful and we're often told to segment certain things out of our life because they're not as important. So to see these people who've pushed so much because they want to dance and they want to perform and they want to drum and they want to travel because that's their dream. I think that's so encouraging and so exciting and the kind of thing we need to be talking about more."
Hollywood actress Rosario Dawson is calling on people to vote for the Budweiser Dream Big finalist who deserves to have their American dream made a reality. To find our more and to vote now, visit www.BudDreamBig.ie and Facebook.com/Budweiser.
The United States and Egypt sought ways Wednesday to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process after Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said this week he would "make every effort" toward a solution.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with the Egyptian leader in Cairo, with a State Department spokesman later saying the top American diplomat "expressed his appreciation" for Sissi's "strong support for advancing Arab-Israeli peace."
But spokesman Mark Toner did not elaborate on any specific new effort to renew the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process that broke down in 2014 with no agreement.
The Kerry-Sissi meeting came a day after the Egyptian leader said an Israeli-Palestinian accord would make Cairo's relations with Tel Aviv "warmer."
Sissi said there was a "real opportunity" for peace in the region. He said an Israeli-Palestinian pact would "give safety and stability to both sides. If this is achieved, we will enter a new phase that perhaps no one can imagine now."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Sissi's "willingness to invest every effort to advance a future of peace and security between us and the Palestinians."
Egypt and Israel reached a peace agreement in 1979, the first accord between an Arab country and the Jewish state.
The U.S. military is "prepared to support" a train-and-equip mission to fight the thousands of Islamic State militants in Libya when the Libyan government is ready for it, the head of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) said Tuesday.
AFRICOM commander General David Rodriguez added that Libya's internal politics have made it unclear which armed groups are fighting alongside the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), leaving the U.S. "really dependent" on the Libyan interim government to determine "who is with them and who is moving over to them."
Militias will likely be key to stopping the spread of Islamic State once friendly forces are identified and aided he said, but, "We're not at that point yet."
Libya is under a U.N. arms embargo, imposed to keep lethal weapons away from terrorists and militias vying for power.
However, a joint communique issued after international talks Monday in Vienna signaled that international powers, including the U.S., are set to provide arms and support to the Libyan government to fight Islamic State.
"The thing that they need most is really ammunition and small arms," Rodriguez said. "It's not fighter aircraft and that kind of stuff."
Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters Tuesday at the Pentagon that there were small teams of U.S. forces on the ground in Libya to get a "better sense of the players" and to more accurately understand the Islamic State group's presence and strength level.
Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow on defense strategy at the Brookings Institution, said the 20 to 25 U.S. forces now in Libya, along with other NATO allies on the ground there, should "get serious" about a training mission for a Libyan military or integrated paramilitary.
"I'm interested in asking if 1,000 to 2,000 Americans at the right time could make a big difference," he told VOA.
US military locations
The U.S. military has looked at 11 locations for small cooperative security locations to help African nations fight extremist groups and other security threats, according to AFRICOM spokesman Colonel Mark Cheadle.
In response to a VOA question about military base locations in Africa, Cheadle had initially said the U.S. was looking at 11 locations for a second base, but later told VOA he misunderstood the question.
The United States currently has one military base in the east African nation of Djibouti. U.S. forces are also on the ground in Somalia to assist the regional fight against al-Shabab and in Cameroon to help with the multinational effort against Nigeria-based Boko Haram.
One of the possible new cooperative security locations is in Cameroon, but Cheadle did not identify other locations due to host nation sensitivities.
The military is not looking at a cooperative security location in Nigeria, he said, despite increased cooperation between the U.S. and Nigerian militaries.
AFRICOM commander General David Rodriguez told reporters in Brussels that the U.S. military has trained members of Nigeria's intelligence corps as well as three Nigerian battalions, including one that "just recently" graduated.
"Boko Haram is the biggest killer of people across the world," the general said.
Rodriguez also said the AFRICOM headquarters, located in Stuttgart, Germany, will stay in Europe for the foreseeable future.
The command's stated mission is to advance U.S. interests and promote security and stability in Africa.
The Obama administration's decision to continue certain sanctions on Myanmar will not harm the Southeast Asian country, according to Myanmar State Counselor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi.
On Tuesday, the Obama administration further eased financial sanctions on Myanmar to support the nation's political reforms and economic growth, and to facilitate U.S. trade with the country, also known as Burma.
But the U.S. also extended other sanctions in an effort to thwart human rights abuses and military trade with North Korea.
In her first public remarks on the extension of some sanctions, Aung San Suu Kyi told a Wednesday news conference in Myanmar they are "not a big problem and will not hurt us in any way. We have the strength and the means to overcome any obstacles that may be imposed," reported Channel NewsAsia.
Aung San Suu Kyi added that the U.S. is a "good friend" and will remain as such with Myanmar.
Senior U.S. officials announced the decisions Tuesday, days ahead of Secretary of State John Kerry's May 22 visit to Naypyidaw.
Seven state-owned Myanmar enterprises and three state-owned banks are being removed from the blacklist, according to amendments by the Treasury Department in consultation with the State Department.
Other regulatory amendments include general license to authorize trade-related transactions and personal transactions related to Americans residing in Myanmar. Those changes are intended to facilitate trade and the movement of goods within Myanmar.
The U.S. left in place, though, sanctions on Myanmar's powerful military, because of its major economic interests.
Barred businesses
It updated the so-called Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list, to add six companies to be barred from U.S. business dealings. The businesses are owned 50 percent or more by Steven Law, a tycoon accused of ties to the military and the heroin trade through a corporation called Asia World.
The remaining sanctions on individuals and entities primarily target those who obstruct political reforms, commit human rights abuses in Myanmar, or propagate military trade with North Korea.
Former U.S. Chief of Mission in Myanmar Priscilla Clapp told VOA that while Washington is restructuring the remaining financial sanctions, individuals and entities should be targeted to promote better behavior.
Among seven state-owned enterprises removed from the blacklist are Myanmar Pearl Enterprise and Myanmar Gem Enterprise. But senior U.S. officials said a ban on the import of jadeite and rubies, one of Myanmar's most profitable industries, remains in place.
The latest U.S. actions follow a landmark November election in which the party of long-time democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, won a one-sided victory, ending decades of military rule.
In a message to the U.S. Congress, President Barack Obama said Myanmar has made significant reforms since 2011 when it first formed a civilian government. He also said "concerns persist regarding continued obstacles to full civilian control of the government, the ongoing conflict and human rights abuses in the country, particularly in ethnic minority areas, and military trade with North Korea."
Yemen's government walked out of U.N.-sponsored peace talks with Houthi rebels Tuesday, accusing them of having "contempt" for the peace process.
Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdul-Malik al-Mekhlafi called the talks in Kuwait "a waste of time." He said the Houthis insist on power-sharing instead of abiding by a Security Council resolution that says such matters need to be negotiated.
The minister accuses the Houthis of violating a cease-fire in Yemen and using the talks as a chance to stall and rearm themselves.
The rebels have not yet responded to the suspension of peace talks.
The Iranian-backed Houthis seized the capital, Sana'a, in 2014, forcing the internationally recognized Yemeni government to flee to Saudi Arabia before returning to set up in the port city of Aden.
The fighting on the ground in Yemen and Saudi-led airstrikes on the Houthis have created a humanitarian catastrophe, with the U.N. saying 80 percent of Yemeni civilians urgently need food and medical help.
Lack of global response
A top U.N. aid official Tuesday called the global response to help Yemen "shockingly low."
John Ging told reporters in New York that the Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan has gotten only 16 percent of the $1.8 billion in needs for 2016.
He said Yemenis are dying from diseases that are easily preventable by just basic medical supplies. And he made a direct appeal to all sides in Yemen to make protecting civilians their priority.
"The people of Yemen must be at the center of this response, and our collective duty is to protect them and provide them with food, health, shelter and other vital support."
The Zika virus, an infectious disease linked to severe birth defects in babies, may spread into Europe as the weather gets warmer, although the risk is low, health officials said on Wednesday.
In its first assessment of the threat Zika poses to the region, the World Health Organization's European office said the overall risk was small to moderate. It is highest in areas where Aedes mosquitoes thrive, in particular on the island of Madeira and the north-eastern coast of the Black Sea.
"There is a risk of spread of Zika virus disease in the European Region and ... this risk varies from country to country, said Zsuzsanna Jakab, the WHO's regional director for Europe.
"We call particularly on countries at higher risk to strengthen their national capacities and prioritize the activities that will prevent a large Zika outbreak."
The WHO's European region covers 53 countries and a population of nearly 900 million. It stretches from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Mediterranean Sea in the south and from the Atlantic in the west to the Pacific in the east.
A large and spreading outbreak of Zika that began in Brazil has caused global alarm. The virus has been linked to thousands of cases of a birth defect known as microcephaly in babies of women who become infected with Zika while pregnant.
The WHO has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults.
The WHO's Geneva headquarters in February declared the Zika outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), warning it was spreading "explosively" in the Americas.
The WHO's European office said that if no measures are taken to mitigate the threat, the presence of the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that can carry the virus mean the likelihood of local Zika transmission is moderate in 18 countries in the region.
A further 36 countries have low, very low or no likelihood, the assessment found. Aedes mosquitoes are not found in those countries and their climates would not be suitable for the mosquitoes to establish themselves.
Countries with high and moderate risk of Zika should improve vector-control measures to prevent the spread of mosquitoes and reduce their density, WHO Europe said. They also should equip health workers to detect cases early, report them swiftly, and help people at risk - notably pregnant women - protect themselves from infection, it said.
The WHO's European risk analysis took in multiple factors, among them the presence of Zika-transmitting mosquitoes, suitable climates for the mosquito, previous history of transmission of dengue or chikungunya, ship and flight connections, and population density and urbanization.
It also considered the capacity of the country to contain transmission at an early stage, based on four main factors: vector control, clinical surveillance, laboratory capacity and emergency risk communications.
The WHO's regional office is convening a meeting of European health experts in Portugal from June 22-24 to discuss the Zika threat further.
The spokesman of South Africas ruling party has accused the U.S. government of trying to undermine the (countrys) democratically elected government - though representatives from both governments dismissed the claims and say their relationship is strong.
African National Congress spokesman Zizi Kodwas comments follow a story in the British Sunday Times that said the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency helped South Africas apartheid government arrest Nelson Mandela in 1962.
That report quotes a now-dead retired CIA agent who said the U.S. saw Mandela as a communist sympathizer.
Mandela spent 27 years in prison for his opposition to the racist apartheid regime. He was elected South Africas first black president in 1994, after the fall of apartheid, and upon his death in 2013 was mourned across South Africa and the world as a champion for peace and equality.
Kodwa said the CIA allegation is "a serious indictment" - and that the intelligence agency is still operating in South Africa.
"We have recently observed that there are efforts to undermine the democratically elected ANC government," he said in local media. "They never stopped operating here. It is still happening now - the CIA is still collaborating with those who want regime change."
Kodwa did not respond to numerous calls from VOA seeking comment on Monday.
Those are not our views
But South Africas Foreign Ministry was quick to dismiss his comments.
Those are not our views as government, spokesman Clayson Monyela told VOA. From governments point of view, our relations with the United States are strong, theyre warm, and cordial, he said.
The two nations are also major trading partners, with trade totaling about $21 billion, according to U.S. government figures. However, that relationship was threatened late last year when the two governments nearly failed to resolve outstanding trade issues. The situation prompted President Barack Obama to threaten to suspend South Africas membership in a lucrative U.S. trade agreement that allowed the country to export goods duty free.
And the two nations have also traded barbs.
In February, the secretary-general of the ANC, Gwede Mantashe, also accused the U.S. government of pushing regime change, saying: We are aware of the meetings taking place regularly in the American embassy. These meetings in the embassy are about nothing else other than mobilization for regime change.
At the time, U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Patrick Gaspard laughed off the allegations, taking to Twitter to joke that "I always imagined that if I organized a coup it would look like Mardi Gras -- food, music, dance."
This time around, no one is laughing in Pretoria.
South Africa is a strategic partner and friend of the United States, U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Cindy Harvey said in a statement sent to VOA. The United States does not regard the democratically elected government of South Africa, and its strong democratic institutions, as a regime. Claims that we seek to undermine South African democracy run contrary to the spirit of the proud and longstanding relationship we have with South Africa.
Harvey said the U.S. Embassy has no information on alleged CIA operations in South Africa in the 1960s.
Diplomatic consequences?
Back in the present day, both diplomats said their governments are committed to a strong relationship, though political watchers say that these harsh words may one day have real diplomatic consequences.
Political columnist Ranjeni Munusamy noted that the longtime politician is up for the coveted spot of ANC deputy president. Because of the ANCs lock on power in South Africas parliamentary system, the ANC president and deputy president usually end up as national leaders.
Who knows, she mused, where his ambitions might lead him after that and whether at some point, he might be directing South Africas foreign policy?
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her sole rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, split two state nominating contests Tuesday, leaving her closer to clinching the nomination in three weeks.
Clinton edged Sanders in the coal-producing state of Kentucky by about 2,000 votes. It was a margin close enough that election officials said they would not yet declare an official winner, but Clinton claimed the victory, her first in May. Meanwhile, Sanders defeated her in the Pacific coastal state of Oregon.
With the outcome in the two states, Clinton, seeking to become the country's first female president, could clinch the nomination June 7, when six states vote. Democrats would then formally declare her the nominee at their national convention in July.
How delegates are awarded
Democrats award delegates to the national convention proportionally, based on the outcome of state-by-state voting. Sanders gained just four on her Tuesday. Overall, Clinton has 2,291 delegates of the 2,383 needed to claim the nomination to his 1,528.
Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who has attacked Clinton for her past support of U.S. trade deals and connections with Wall Street leaders, has acknowledged that he has only a narrow path to overtake her and claim the nomination. But he has vowed to stay in the race through the remaining state contests.
"Let me be as clear as I can be... We are in 'til the last ballot is cast," Sanders told a rally in California, the biggest state yet to vote in the lengthy campaign.
Going forward, Sanders would need to win about 85 percent of the remaining delegates to the national convention in order to surpass Clinton. He has won only one state by that margin so far, and that was in Vermont, his home state.
Sanders' supporters so far have resisted any move toward backing Clinton. They engaged in violent outbursts at a party convention in Nevada last weekend when they felt they were short-changed in the number of national convention delegates that had been awarded to Sanders to represent the western state.
June primaries
The Democrats have contests on June 4 in the Virgin Islands and June 5 in Puerto Rico. There are not enough delegates at stake in those contests for Clinton to clinch the nomination before the June 7 voting.
The Democratic nominee will face Republican candidate Donald Trump in the November general election to pick the successor to President Barack Obama when he leaves office in January after eight years in the White House.
Trump easily won Oregon's Republican primary Tuesday, with his remaining challengers dropping out of the party's nominating contest in early May. He has yet to officially clinch the party's nomination but also is likely to claim it on June 7.
An NBC News/Survey Monkey poll Tuesday showed Clinton with a narrow national edge over Trump, 48 to 45 percent, down from a five-point margin a week ago.
An average of several polls shows Clinton leading Trump by about six points, with Sanders doing even better with a 13-point advantage over Trump.
Businesspeople and economists say President Robert Mugabes government must take drastic measures to revive the countrys economy but do not support the recent policy measures announced by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, which include the introduction of an export incentive paid in bond notes and cash withdrawal limits, among other issues.
Reserve Bank Governor, John Mangudya, says latest policy measures are meant to boost industrial production, plug foreign currency leakages and ease pressure on the U.S dollar.
He says the bond notes, which are designed to bankroll the five percent export incentive scheme, would be leveraged on a $200 million loan facility from the African Export and Import Bank.
Speaking at a meeting organized by the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce to review the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwes new policy measures, business people and economic experts said they fully supported the central banks efforts to boost local production and exports, but were totally against the introduction of bond notes.
They said printing bond notes was like bringing back the Zimbabwe dollar.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers president, Denford Mutashu, said they can only support bond notes if these coupons wont be used as a way of re-introducing the Zimbabwe dollar.
Lovemore Mukono of Mukontronics, which exports electoral goods, said the central bank should not introduce the bond notes as business and ordinary citizens have no confidence in so-called printed money.
Zimbabwe Investments Authority chairman, Nigel Chanakira, said if the new policy is not revised, that is likely to undo the authoritys attempts to promote investment.
Economics Professor, Ashok Chakaravati, who is working with the government in its efforts to improve the ease of doing business in Zimbabwe, said it was not necessary for the country to introduce bonds notes as a way of revitalizing the economy.
Instead, he said, government should introduce an import levy to finance the export incentive scheme.
Another economist, Brains Muchemwa, noted that it was not advisable for the central bank to force people to use currencies they did not like.
Business executives also raised concern over the governments huge wage bill and its failure to address corruption, which they claimed was scaring investors.
Economist, Masimba Manyanya, expressed similar sentiments, adding that there was no commitment from government to fight corruption.
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce vice president, Devine Ndlukula, appealed to the central bank and government to consider industrys concerns in order to come up with policies that would attract rather than stifle investment.
Mangudya said the recent approval of the countrys debt payment plan by the International Monetary Fund and other finance institutions would boost the countrys re-engagement plan and improve investment opportunities.
But despite such positive moves, Chakravati said there was still need for clarity on the indigenization program, which needs amendments that would attract foreign direct investment.
Many human rights groups are calling on Singapore and Indonesia to halt the imminent execution of a murderer and at least 15 drug convicts, who include four Chinese nationals, two Nigerians, two Zimbabweans, a Senegalese and Pakistani and five Indonesians.
Indonesia Chief Security Minister Luhut Pandjaitan told journalists recently that the executions could take place any time. Human rights groups opposed to the move are the Anti-Death Penalty Network Asia, Center for Prisoners Rights Japan, Community Action Network and Free Community Church of Singapore.
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and others have condemned the planned executions. Efforts to get a comment from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Harare or the Zimbabwe Embassy in Malaysia were futile.
Africa director for ICJ, Arnold Tsunga, told VOA Studio 7 that the death penalty must be abolished worldwide.
In a statement, several organizations said on May 12, 2016, the family of Kho Jabing, a Malaysian national on death row in Singapore, received a letter from the Singapore Prisons informing them that he would be executed on May 20, 2016. Kho Jabing was convicted of murder in 2011.
Of particular concern is the fact that there was a lack of unanimity in sentencing Kho Jabing to death, which demonstrates that reasonable doubt exists as to whether he deserved the death penalty.
As regards the imminent executions that will be taking place in Indonesia, Indonesia would contravene her own international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Right by executing these individuals.
The Association of South East Asian Nations (SEAN) member states, including Singapore and Indonesia, have continuously emphasized the importance of the rule of law and the protection of rights. The death penalty therefore stands out as an aberration.
In December 2014, the United Nations General Assembly adopted its latest resolutions calling on all states to adopt a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, with a view towards abolition. A record number of 117 member states supported the resolution.
Regrettably, Indonesia abstained and Singapore voted against the Resolution. The ASEAN Member States must use the opportunity presented by this Resolution to align themselves with the global movement towards abolition. Singapore has recently undergone its second Universal Periodic Review in January 2016.
The continued use of the death penalty was one of the key highlights of the review, with Singapore receiving over 30 recommendations related to the death penalty, including recommendations to abolish the death penalty.
In 2015, Indonesia, a United Nations Human Rights Council Member until 2017, executed 14 individuals convicted of drug-related offences amid strong international opposition.
The imminent executions would further damage Indonesias human rights record and erode her standing in the international community. The death penalty has no place in the 21st Century. Not only is there a real possibility of wrongful executions, it deprives inmates of their life and dignity, and creates new classes of victims.
We strongly urge the governments of Singapore and Indonesia to halt the upcoming executions, immediately impose a moratorium on the use of the death penalty and take meaningful steps towards its eventual abolition.
A self-employed Zimbabwean, Mthokozisi Ndlovu, living in Canadas Fort McMurray city in Alberta province, devastated by raging wild fires, says he is among thousands of people that have been displaced by the inferno, regarded as the worst in living memory.
Ndlovu and three other family members are now living in Edmonton city, about 450 kilometers away from his home. They are now getting state assistance in catering for their daily needs.
My house was not too affected but what I know from reports we are getting is that the structure is still up I dont know the rest of it. There is quite a bit of Zimbabweans in the community and I would put a figure of between 150 and 100 who are affected.
Indications are that up to 1,000 Zimbabweans have been affected by the fire that started almost two weeks ago.
At the moment, Ndlovu is currently unemployed and hopes that one day he will return to Fort McMurray, which has been declared a no-go area by the government.
For most mortgages there has been a little bit of reprieve from the mortgage companies and banks. They have offered people to maybe hold up a bit on the payments until things are clear or they go back to their lives and in terms of living (in Edmonton) I would say the cost is really high and the government had to chip in but you also have to have some out of pocket expenses.
We are in town and renting a place (Going home) That is uncertain right now. The government would tell the people when to go back and the fire is still burning uncontrollably, so right now its not really safe and they have to fix the infrastructure.
According to the International Organization for Migration, the Zimbabwean community in Canada is estimated at 50,000 concentrated in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Hamilton and Ontario.
Kristina Eichhorst (Konrad Adenauer Stiftung)
The issue of foreign fighters is currently one of the key security threats for the EU. The citizens of the Member States, who travel to conflict areas where they fight and get radicalized, can subsequently use their experience on the Unions own territory. Exactly these types of individuals were among the terrorists who carried out attacks in Paris in November 2015, killing 132 people. Foreign fighters also participated in the planning of the attacks in which 32 people were killed in Brussels at the end of March this year.
The conflict, which sparked the radicalization of most of these fighters, is the Syrian civil war. Looking at the real figures of the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, about 4000 Europeans have left for Syria since 2011 and subsequently joined the Islamic State. Out of that number, 740 people have been from Germany and 240 of them have returned back to their homeland. In the context of the Syrian conflict, it is estimated that the total number of foreign fighters is around 30 000. Looking at this figure, we must begin to ask what motivates these individuals to leave their families, jobs and the relative safety of their homelands to fight for a cause, which, as many would argue, is not theirs?
According to the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence, the motivation of the fighters in the context of the Syrian conflict could be divided into two periods. Their first wave went to defend their fellow Sunnis from the attacks and other brutal acts of Bashar Assads regime. The subsequent wave was linked to the declaration of the caliphate by the Islamic State. Military successes and the speed with which this organization progressed had a great influence on the young Muslims in Europe. Moreover, they had a vision of the opportunity to participate in the formation of a new structure, in which they would have the opportunity of reaching a better social status than in their home countries.
However, the question remains how to deal with these malicious influences. A multidisciplinary approach is important, whereby the key solution is to actually discourage people from wanting to go to fight in foreign countries. The issue of foreign fighters is also addressed by the 2014 UN Security Council Resolution no. 2178, which defines a series of anti-terrorist measures for the Member States, whereby it also defines terrorism as one of the most serious threats to international peace and security. From the EUs perspective, the above-mentioned terrorist attacks highlighted the fact that it is necessary to strengthen the cooperation and exchange of information among individual EU Member States and third countries.
(The study can be downloaded here: http://www.kas.de/wf/en/33.43804/)
Ministers of religion stage a public protest over Zimbabwes national pledge compelling students to recite it at school as a way of expressing their patriotism to the nation.
At least two Zimbabweans are set to be executed in Indonesia, Asia, after they were convicted of trafficking in illegal drugs.
Hundreds of Zimbabweans displaced by raging fires in Canada say the future looks bleak as some of them have lost valuable property and jobs.
Economists say they dont support the central banks move to introduce bond notes in an economy that needs foreign direct investment and critical policy shifts.
And in the youth forum, Time to Engage, this evening we will be featuring Tawanda Katsaruware, a social media developer, based in Zimbabwe. He creates applications for Android and Iphone.
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 hosts Blessing Zulu and Gibbs Dube will talking with listeners and experts about a protest staged by ministers of religion in Zimbabwe expressing their concerns about the countrys national pledge being recited by school children. It is designed to ensure that children become patriotic Zimbabweans.
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.
Zimbabwean parliamentarians crossed party lines in the House of Assembly on Tuesday to protest against human trafficking by leaving their assigned seats to sit on the floor, expressing anger over the trafficking of women and girls to Arab states like Kuwait.
Biata Beatrice Nyamupinga, Zanu PFs Goromonzi West lawmaker and chairperson of the parliamentary committee on gender, said she was impressed at the stance taken by the parliamentarians expressing their disdain on human trafficking.
Some women and men from both the ruling party and the opposition have been angered by the reports we have been receiving on how women and girls who were trafficked to Kuwait by employment agents were abused by their so-called employers, said Nyamupinga.
She said the lawmakers were later asked by the Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Mudenda, to return to their seats so that business of the house could proceed.
Although Mudenda noted that he was passionate about the human trafficking issue at hand as he had been instrumental in bringing the women and girls back from Kuwait, he felt the discussions could better be continued from their seats. The parliamentarians obliged.
We hope that the discussions will continue tomorrow as we did not form a quorum today and our wish is that more awareness on the issue reaches our women and girls especially those in the rural areas so that they do not get lured into dubious job opportunities that will later put their lives at risk.
We have heard harrowing reports of how some of the women were abused beyond measure and we hope that they will receive the help they need from both the Government and other organizations, said Nyamupinga.
Over 200 women and girls are believed to have been trafficked to Arab states with the largest number going to Kuwait.
A few weeks ago a parliamentary committee led by Mudenda, who had visited Kuwait on parliamentary business, were briefed by the Zimbabwe Embassy about the plight of human trafficked women and girls, who were promised good jobs only to be turned into slaves and sex objects.
Thirty-two of them were repatriated back to Zimbabwe with the help of a local business, Wicknell Chivayo, as government could not fund the process.
Twenty-one more women and girls were repatriated last week with the assistance of the Young Womens Christian Association led by Nyaradzayi Gumbodzvanda and six more are expected to leave Kuwait for Zimbabwe this week.
Credit has been given to the Zimbabwe Embassy in Kuwait for helping the women and girls that escape their employers with some of the human trafficking victims telling Studio7 they had no money to pay for taxi fares from their abusers but got a reprieve once they contacted the Embassy.
Zimbabwe Embassy staff in Kuwait have not been able to speak on record but human trafficking victims, who spoke to Studio7, said a Mr. Francis Ngwenya and others had been very helpful in facilitating their repatriation process despite the financial challenges facing most embassies.
In another development, a delegation of Zimbabwes House of Assembly led by Kindness Paradza, chairperson of the parliamentary committee on foreign relations, is on a week-long study tour in Palestine.
Paradza said they hope to share their findings with other parliamentarians back home.
Members of various church denominations staged a peaceful demonstration in Harare today expressing their dismay over Zimbabwes newly-introduced national pledge that is being forcibly recited by school children.
This came at a time when street traders also picketed at the Harare City Council offices, demanding that municipal police should stop confiscating their wares.
More than 300 placard-waving members of various churches, under the banner of an inter-denominational group calling itself Prayer Network of Zimbabwe, marched in Harares central business district demanding that the Ministry of Education should halt the reciting of the national pledge, which has been allegedly imposed on Zimbabwean children.
Leader of the network, Jacob Ngarivhume, who is also the president of the opposition Transform Zimbabwe party, told the protestors outside the ministrys offices that the national pledge violated their constitutional right to freedom of worship.
Farai Makuwe, chairperson of the Prayer Network of Zimbabwe, echoed the same sentiments, questioning the role of Dokora in enforcing the national pledge.
A student, who declined to be named in fear of being victimized, claimed that some teachers are beating up children that are refusing to recite the national pledge.
The demonstrators, who were carrying the Holy Cross and singing church songs, failed to meet Primary and Secondary Education Minister Lazarus Dokora, who was said to be attending a meeting elsewhere. However, the protestors met some education officials who received their petition. Some of the placards read: No to Satanism.
Acting permanent secretary in the ministry, Peter Muzavazi, who received the petition, told the demonstrators that his ministry would respond to their concerns after meeting with Dokora.
Zimbabwes Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku recently dismissed an urgent chamber application by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights to stay the reciting of the national pledge in schools until the court makes a ruling on the case. The Constitutional Court will only hear the matter in June.
The national pledge reads as follows in part, Almighty God, in whose hands our future lies, I salute the national flag. Respecting the brave fathers and mothers who lost lives in the Chimurenga/Umvukela.
In a related development, some vendors staged a demonstration at Town House today demanding that municipal police should stop confiscating their goods.
Chairperson of the National Vendors Union of Zimbabwe, Stan Zvorwadza, said street traders were not happy with council officials who were confiscating their wares.
Council spokesperson, Michael Chideme, told the demonstrators that vendors should trade at designated points to avoid the confiscation of their goods.
Chideme told the vendors to put all their concerns in writing promising that council would seek to address all their issues.
How are there, yesterday, quite, assiduously, and indeed all members of the same family?
Im cursed with a mind that looks at a sentence and sees grammar before it sees meaning. It might be that Im doing math by other means, that I overdid it with diagramming sentences as a boy, or that my grasp of English was warped by learning Latin. Translating Horace felt like solving math problems. Reading Emily Dickinson began to feel like solving math problems. You might think this is a cold way of reading, but its the opposite. You develop feelings. Pronoun, verb, noun I like sentences that proceed in that way, in a forward march. Or those tricked out with a preposition, another noun, and a couple of adjectives. Conjunctions and articles leave me unfazed. If these combinations result in elaborate syntactical tangles, it thrills me. Its cheap words I hate, and I hate adverbs.
Im unembarrassed to admit that my taste in literary style owes a lot to my adolescent reading of The Sun Also Rises Hemingway was no friend of adverbs. Hes not alone. Use as few adverbs as possible is among V. S. Naipauls rules for beginning writers. When William Strunk and E. B. White admonish us to omit unnecessary words, I know theyre talking about adverbs without their having to say it.
Whats my objection? I am a recovering copy editor and proofreader, and I enjoy a good plunge into the usage wars. I think New Yorker copy editor Mary Norriss best seller of last year, Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen, is a terrific book, but she doesnt much concern herself with adverbs as a category. Most copy editors conceive of themselves as something between traffic cops and U.N. peacekeepers, and adverbs are not illegal. They are not war crimes. Which is just as well, because I dont think immersion in either rules or theory can do much for style, and the question of adverbs is, in the end, a question of style. And in terms of style, rules are not that important; with all due respect to Norris, four years of working as an editor in England broke me of the belief that the codes of comma placement were anything but arbitrary. Whether you venerate or violate prescriptions, its diction that really matters, diction and word order. We are first of all slaves to our eyes and our ears, not to that wondrous document The Chicago Manual of Style.
But there have been moments lately when I feared we were speaking and writing in a new adverbial age. I took the appearance of Daniel Handlers 2006 novel Adverbs, a love story in which every chapter is named with a word like immediately, and Jonathan Safran Foers 2005 9/11 novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, whose title signals the child narrators voice, as signs that this century would be friendlier to that part of speech than the one ruled by Hemingway, whether I liked it or not. I thought it might have something to do with the death of the typewriter and the rise of the internet, a zone with an excess of feeling and an amateur taste for the rhetorical flourish. Was the adverb winning?
I wanted numbers, or at least arcs, so I turned to Google. Its Ngram Viewer charts the frequency with which words appear over the decades in all the books Google has scanned. (Are they done yet?) I found that many adverbs have been on the run for more than a century. However and moreover have been disappearing since the 1840s. Indeed peaked in the 18th century and has since suffered a steep decline. Not was most popular in the 17th century but has enjoyed three stable centuries since, unlike its shriveled cousin never. Hopefully surged in the 20th century until the 1970s, when it started to buckle under attack for being used otherwise than for what it means. The comers of recent decades are what I cant help but think of as the Valley Girl or Surfer Dude Adverbs, like radically. The 1980s were good to them. The most fascinating graph I conjured portrayed the adverbs of time. It used to be that we said yesterday more than tomorrow. Now the word we say the most is today. And today Im feeling a bit more generous to the adverb. Over the past year or so, I noticed that my loathing for adverbs was teetering, both in my own writing and in my taste in new writing. It seemed time to examine my hatred and ask whether I was kidding myself all along. Excuse me if I do it pedantically.
Lets begin with the big problem. The adverb is an incoherent lexical category, a catchall. How are there, yesterday, quite, assiduously, and indeed all members of the same family? As we learn in school in a definition that dates from Dionysius Thrax in the second century B.C. adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, noun phrases, clauses, and whole sentences. Adverbs indicate place, time, manner, frequency, degree, certainty. Anything an adverb does can almost always be done more elegantly by the adverbial deployment of the other parts of speech. Almost always more elegantly: in most cases with more elegance.
Why are adverbs inelegant? Few of them start as adverbs, exactly, and it might be a matter of wanting words to stay in their place wanting nouns to be nouns and adjectives to be adjectives, wanting words to stick close to their roots without the clutter of prefixes or suffixes. For an adjective, going adverb is a clunky transition. Of all the suffixes littering the English language, -ly is the most conducive to a singsong sound, and a vast category of adverbs are simply adjectives with -ly or -ily attached to their rears. Hopelessly, seemingly, fitfully often adverbization results in a suffix pileup. You can convert a noun by reconceiving it as an adjective and adding the suffix to make a big, beautiful adverb, to put it Trumpily. You can also turn a noun into an adverb by attaching it to -wise, though thats frowned upon of late (because its silly, soundwise). A flat adverb is an adjective thats come over to adverbial use without the -ly, as in, Take it easy. The dark lords of the adverbs the negators not and never are so perfectly adverbial that some linguists think they deserve their own lexical category. (Yet a word as deadly as not, nullifying everything it touches, is weak enough to be subsumed in contractions like some apostrophized suffix or is that part of its cancerous force?)
But there are other reasons. An excess of adverbs in prose signals a general lack of vividness in verbs and adjectives. You might have to say someone ran swiftly or walked slowly, but youd never have to qualify galloping or lumbering. The adverbs easiest to hate are the so-called sentence adverbs also known as conjunctive adverbs. Writers who lean on the crutches of moreover, accordingly, consequently, and likewise are declaring a lack of confidence in the sequence of their own logic or a lack of faith in their readers ability to follow it. Deploying indeed is tantamount to saying, Ive just had a thought and, indeed, Ive just had another. Next time you come across the word meanwhile, ask yourself when else all this could have been happening. What is the adverbial phrase of course but a smug duo dropped in to congratulate writer and reader for already agreeing with each other. Nevertheless, nonetheless, and the atrocious however are symptoms of an anxiety over a proliferation of the word but. But you can never have too many helpings of but, and sound thinking will make hay of contradictions.
But some adverbs are the most powerful words in English. We can no more escape the adverbs of time than we can escape aging. Without the adverbs of place, we wouldnt be anywhere, not even nowhere. I am in awe of yesterday and tomorrow and of here and there. All these words can provoke potent feelings along the spectrum of sadness and happiness and are essential to getting on with the job of reporting what has or will have happened and where. Theyre beautiful words with a simplicity undiluted by suffixes. But their power is best spent in small doses. If youre deploying an adverb of time in every sentence, you must be writing a police report or singing the Cures Friday Im in Love. And the adverbs that indicate continuous action always, often, still try removing them to see if youre missing much. Verbs carry with them an intrinsic sense of continuity. The postman rings twice. Its not as pretty as James M. Cains title, but the implications are the same.
If you want to make characters sound insane, you can do worse than infect their speech with adverbs. In the opening of Moby-Dick, Melville has Ishmael describing his own depression: Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking peoples hats off then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. (Emphasis mine.) The actions he describes are nuts, but the real madness, as well as the comedy, is in the adverbs. (No more acute example of adverb mania can be found than the voice of the narrator of Edgar Allan Poes The Tell-Tale Heart, in which all the movements in the story come attached to repeated adverbs: steadily, steadily; stealthily, stealthily; slowly very, very slowly.) Nineteenth-century American writers had no inhibitions when it came to adverbs. The ironic weight of the eras most famous pair of lines Dickinsons Because I could not stop for Death / He kindly stopped for me is all on the adverb. Henry James had no shame about kicking off a sentence with a trio of adverbials: At present, obviously, nevertheless, he was not likely to displace himself, he writes in The Portrait of a Lady, a novel in which the word very appears very, very often more than 500 times.
I was telling a poet about my hatred of adverbs, and she said one word, Uglily (part of a special category, where -ly is appended to an adjective ending in -ly, known in the usage biz as the awkward adverbs), and told me to reread Gertrude Stein. The adverbial excesses of the 19th century met their match in Stein. She can do without them completely, as she does for pages on end, or she can build a paragraph almost entirely from them, as in this one from As a Wife Has a Cow: A Love Story: Even now, now and even now and now and even now. Not as even now, therefor, even now and therefor, therefor and even now and even now and therefor even now. So not to and moreover and even now and therefor and moreover and even now and so and even now and therefor even now.
At present, obviously, nevertheless, no one is allowed to write like Stein aside from certified experimental poets. Stein and the other modernists broke the language, and they broke the adverbs back. You can see this by comparing her pupil Hemingway to Henry James. Whats been dispensed with are those sentence adverbs like the trio that begin this paragraph. Hemingway likes nothing better than to begin a sentence with He. The adverbs he favors are really and very, sometimes in combination, because they have the ring of simple speech. But in the work of his mid-20th-century disciples Ralph Ellison, Joan Didion, Norman Mailer at his sparest in The Executioners Song verbs and adjectives tend to fly solo. The eras great exception is Nabokov, who knew how to wring comedy from adverbs in the manner of Melville or Poe. Lolita teems with adverbs. They satisfied Nabokovs thirst for neologism apostately, for instance. To steal a line from Humbert Humbert, you have to be an artist and a madman, a creature of infinite melancholy, to love adverbs.
*This article appears in the May 16, 2016 issue of New York Magazine.
Photo: Richard Termine
Unless cunnilingus is part of the late Victorian housekeeping routine, the studly footman and nubile maid seem to have seriously misinterpreted the task of straightening the bed. How daring of David Hare to begin The Judas Kiss his play about Oscar Wilde with such an explicit act of heterosexuality. And yet how dangerous, too. In the dramas desultory 1998 Broadway debut, starring Liam Neeson, this feint seemed like bad foreplay: a halfhearted apology for all the gayness about to transpire. But now, in the terrific Hampstead Theatre production that has landed at BAM after its success in England, the moment is much more fulfilling in itself and makes much more sense overall. So does the rest of the play, not least because, as Wilde, Rupert Everett apologizes for nothing. I dont want to claim this as a victory for typecasting, but Everett (who is gay) could hardly be better in a role he seems to have grown himself toward. Not literally: What turns him into a reasonable physical replica of the fleshy poet is a fat suit, complete with what he has called baboon moobs and a marvelous knee-length arse. But Everett inhabits each facet of Wildes cut-glass intelligence so precisely, and commands respect for his contrariness so fully, that the man comes alive as a specific human even as his mystery is enhanced. In the process the play, too, grows toward the brilliance of its subject.
The achievement is paradoxical. The Judas Kiss now feels, properly, much gayer that it did, while the philosophical clarity of the production, smartly directed by Neil Armfield, lets us understand that gayness is not really its subject. Wilde is no patron saint of homosexuality, though he has been nailed to that fabulous cross by subsequent generations; he is nobodys martyr but his own. As Act One opens in April 1895, he must decide what that will mean. His libel suit against the Marquess of Queensberry, who accused him illiterately of posing Somdomite, has just collapsed in the face of evidence that, except for the posing part, the accusation was true. (A roll call of rough trade is prepared to testify to that effect.) Now the government will prosecute Wilde for gross indecency, but a window of escape has briefly opened. Will he climb through it, and into exile, as his faithful friend Robbie Ross urges him to do? Or will he stay and fight the charges, thus sending a message, at least to the future, that the passion of men is good and beautiful? This is what his insolent young lover, Bosie, wants him to do; but then Bosie is Queensberrys son and thus the cause of the problem in the first place.
As we know, Wilde did stay, though not for Bosies reasons. In court, Wilde never stood up for homosexuality. He stood up instead for the sanctity of the individual and the right to be left alone. Making no choice was his choice: the perfect repudiation of public morality and private advice. The result was two years labor (mostly walking on a treadmill) and the ruin of his reputation and health. But the trials and imprisonment, effectively dramatized elsewhere, are not really the concerns of The Judas Kiss, which, as its title suggests, is mostly interested in the nature of betrayal. If Act One argues that the forces of conformity and common sense are the enemy, Act Two, which is more speculative, complicates that view. It is 1897 and Wilde is now living in exile in Italy with Bosie, at great cost; his pittance of an allowance from his wife is based on the condition that he no longer take up with a disreputable person. And Bosie isnt even his lover anymore. (He flaunts a series of local Neapolitan pick-ups.) Still, Wilde defends his unfathomable choice to stay with Bosie as a form of idealism: To alter my life now would be to admit I was wrong. A patriot put in prison for loving his country goes on loving his country. A poet in prison for loving boys loves boys.
Here Hare is at his most trenchant, using Wildean syllogism to anatomize hypocrisy and explore the fineness of the poets mind, even in despair. Ironically, it is this fidelity to Wildes worldview that also damages Hares drama. From the moment he enters the action, Bosie has been presented to us as callow, petulant, and literally entitled. (He is nasty to the help a bad sign on a date or in a play.) By all accounts, this portrayal is historically accurate, though Wilde has no use for that kind of accuracy:
The vulgar error is to think that love is a kind of illusion. The reverse is the truth. The everyday world is shrouded. We see it dimly. Only when we love do we see the true person. The truth of a person is only visible through love. Love is not the illusion. Life is.
But in dramatizing this insight, Hare disrupts the balance of a play that must also keep faith with its audience. We cannot see the Bosie that Wilde sees, as we are not permitted to be in love with him. He and Ross are pitted against each other on Wildes two shoulders, but Bosie is unmistakably the Judas. And though this makes Wilde aptly Christlike, Christ is an imperfect dramatic hero, refusing to fight his fate. This is, after all, the man who said, on his deathbed in 1900, either that wallpaper goes or I do.
The plays flaw is too essential to be repaired so Armfield has had the good sense to highlight it instead. As Bosie, Charlie Rowe does nothing (except look good) to mitigate the characters awfulness. Cal MacAninch as Ross has perfected the hopeless, pursed-lip patience of the loyal adviser to a man who takes no advice. Importantly, this production is also much more beautiful than the earlier one: gorgeous draperies, Wagnerian music, Caravaggian lighting, awesome nudity. Its all Hare needed, and all Wilde would have wanted.
* * *
Wildes first trial for indecency began in April 1895, while The Importance of Being Earnest was still running to packed houses on the West End. The new play Indecent, written by Paula Vogel and also opening tonight, concerns another such case, this one brought in New York against a play called God of Vengeance. By 1923, when the case was tried, that 1907 melodrama by Sholem Asch had already been performed all over Europe, and even, in Yiddish, in Greenwich Village. But now it had moved uptown, and been translated into English, bringing with it what is purported to be the first lesbian kiss ever seen on Broadway. Call the cops!
The cop, one Benjamin Bailie, dutifully arrives in Indecent, which, like Shuffle Along, concerns itself not only with the writing of an important early non-mainstream work but with all that followed. The story is told by a ghostly European theatrical troupe, whose members play all the roles as Vogel hopscotches from Aschs early enthusiasm for his play, through its legal troubles, to his eventual renunciation of it as a youthful folly. But Vogel makes a convincing contrary case for God of Vengeance, offering us splintered scenes that depict an almost modern complexity of thought about women and power and faith. (The controversial kiss is between a chaste young Jewish woman and one of the prostitutes in her fathers brothel.) Though Asch punishes the pair in the end, he offers their relationship not as an example of sin but as an example of escape from sin: the sin of not loving, of not being alive.
Vogel brings her usual digressive theatricality to the tale, which is partly historical and partly invented. The vagaries of Broadway production no less than the fate of European Jewry are brought into the mix, sometimes awkwardly. (The resulting ironies can ring a little hollow.) But the director Rebecca Taichman stages it so richly you hardly notice the threadbare patches. Haunting symbols, klezmer music, and perspectival high jinks abound; clearly a great deal of thought and expertise has gone into the mounting. (Taichman wrote her Yale School of Drama thesis on the God of Vengeance trial, and is credited, along with Vogel, with creating Indecent.) Perhaps theres not much authentic Asch left in it; Vogel seems rather to be arguing with him. But Indecent is a valuable reminder of a time when the theater and its great artists were on the dangerous leading edge of our humanity.
The Judas Kiss is at the BAM Harvey Theater through June 12.
Indecent is at the Vineyard Theatre through June 12.
Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
Spoilers ahead.
Rather than allow herself to be consigned to a fate of professional widow (or worse), Daenerys Targaryen instead became the leader of the Dothraki by burning down a hut containing some 21 khals and bloodriders and then emerging unscathed. Its a big turning point in the show, actor Joe Naufahu said. Its pretty epic.
As Khal Moro, he had taken her prisoner but treated her with some respect, until she became a threat and embarrassed him in front of his peers. Naufahu, who hails from New Zealand, said that he was able to wrap his tongue around the tricky Dothraki lines because they sounded similar to the South Pacific languages of his mother (Samoan) and father (Tongan) and sometimes, hed sub in words from both of those languages, and no one knew! It just sounded right! Naufahu chatted with Vulture about the logistics of shooting a big fire scene, Danys fire immunity, and the one Dothraki phrase that gave him trouble.
People have been debating Danys fire immunity and the logistics of it. From what George R.R. Martin has said, Targaryens are not automatically immune, but when blood magic is involved, they can be. So was Dany only able to emerge from the hut unscathed because she killed you and the other khals?
Yes! I was the sacrifice! [Laughs] Thats a cool theory, man. Its an interesting thing, how you can pull so many different strings from the show.
Walk me through how you shot the inferno in the hut. The exterior was in Spain, but the interior was on a set in Belfast?
Yeah, they set up the temple across the road from Titanic Studios in Belfast. It was a huge, huge scene. That one scene took a couple of weeks, just because of the fire hazards. The fire stuff was pretty dangerous. The whole temple was decked out with pyrotechnics and controlled flames that they could turn up or turn down, depending on the intensity they needed.
The heat was pretty crazy. You couldnt stay in the room for longer than a couple of minutes, so youd get out while they reset. At any sign of danger, they would yell, Cut! and move us to the green room until they sorted it out. We were within arms length of the fire, and we werent in fireproof suits or anything. We just had our costumes on, so we were running through actual flames. All the beams coming down from the ceiling, that actually happened. That wasnt CGI. Only when the flames consumed our bodies was it CGI. We didnt have any actual contact with the flames, but we were close, man. And they were using a gasoline-like substance, like propane gasoline, to hold the flame, so you had to be careful not to get that on you, because they were smearing it on the things we were sitting on.
I would just worry, given how long your hair has to be in those scenes
I know, right? We told them to lay off the hair spray that day! We were all like, Watch your ponytail, guys! Watch your ponytail! And our beards! The beards were pretty long, too. That would have shut the production down for a while if our beards caught fire! Stop, drop, and roll! [Laughs]
We had a whole briefing on that before we started shooting, and we had a few laughs with the fire extinguisher guys in between takes. As soon as anyone got near a flame, the extinguisher guy would be ready. Luckily, we didnt have any incidents and we could stay in the moment and not worry about the flames.
We also learn some choice new Dothraki phrases in this episode.
[Laughs] I know, I know. Its like when you learn a language, what do you always learn first? The curse words. The same with Dothraki. My mom was like, Can you teach me some of the words? and I was like, Um, I cant teach you any of these words. The one that I would never, ever use is the c-bomb, and Im sure thats the one that most of the people watching were like, Ah! Zhey gech yofi.
Even when I was reading my script and translating it, I was like, Man, I dont want to say this! [Laughs] That was the most uncomfortable thing for me to say. I would never want my mom to hear me say that! I wouldnt want any woman to hear me say that!
I think saying that was Khal Moros fatal flaw, and he only said it when she embarrassed him in front of his men. He couldnt take it. He couldnt break from tradition, when it came to the crunch. And that was his reaction. When I read that line, I thought, Ah, man! Theres no way this guy is surviving now. Hell no. Hes gone. See you later, man.
Rapoport Academys Meyer High School Advanced Placement studio art students will have a free pop-up art show from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday in the Stratton Building at Eighth Street and Austin Avenue.
The students will exhibit more than 200 pieces of art and explain and discuss their portfolio pieces.
For more information, call 855-2397 or visit www.rapoportacademy.org.
Republican Club
State Comptroller Glenn Hegar will speak at a McLennan County Republican Club luncheon at 11:45 a.m. Thursday at the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museums Knox Hall, 100 Texas Ranger Trail.
Admission is free, and barbecue will be available for $12. Reservations are not required.
For more information, email mcrctx@gmail.com or visit www.mcrctx.org.
Huntingtons group
The Central Texas Support Group affiliate of the Huntingtons Disease Society of America will meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in Room B16 of the Education Building at Highland Baptist Church, 3014 Maple Ave.
Howard Gruetzner, a licensed professional counselor, will speak.
For more information, call 235-9353.
Skin cancer screening
Baylor Scott & White Health will offer free skin cancer screenings from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Baylor Scott & White McClinton Cancer Center, 150 Hillcrest Medical Blvd.
The free screenings are open to anyone who is concerned about past sun exposure, sunspots or moles.
Appointments are not necessary.
For more information, call 202-4000.
Womens networking
The Waco chapter of the National Association of Female Executives Women Information Network will meet from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at Rosatis Pizza, 824 Hewitt Drive in Woodway.
Sonia Evans, an Arbonne independent consultant, will present The Key to Good Time Management: Understanding the Difference Between Urgent and Important.
For more information, call Glenda Ruiz at 723-2404.
Boil notice lifted
North Bosque Water Supply Corp. has rescinded a boil-water notice it issued May 11 for customers north of Highway 185.
For more information, call 848-4668.
NARFE meeting
The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association will meet at 1 p.m. Thursday at Uncle Dans Barbecue, 1001 Lake Air Drive.
Tiffany Fry, learning center coordinator with Heart of Texas Goodwill Industries, will be guest speaker.
Waco City Council on Tuesday approved a tax deal worth nearly $13 million over 20 years for Allergans Waco plant expansion, which is also in line for $4 million in cash incentives from the city-county economic development fund.
In return, Allergan would invest at least $177.6 million into capital improvements at the plant and would agree to retain 660 jobs while adding 75 new full-time jobs with benefits.
The council approved a business grant agreement, similar to a tax abatement, that will result in Waco forgoing $9.9 million of real property taxes from the expansion and $3 million in tax revenue from personal property, which includes equipment.
During that same 20-year period, the city would receive an estimated $6 million in property tax revenue from the expansion.
Allergan plans to start work this fall on the project, which will be fully operational by the end of 2020. In addition to the investment in property, the project includes some $22.5 million in testing, calibration and validation of equipment, bringing Allergans total cost to nearly $200 million.
The pharmaceutical company chose the 27-year-old Waco plant at 8301 Mars Drive for an expansion of 322,000 square feet. Production could be doubled at the plant, which makes eye treatments such as Restasis, Lumigan, Combigan, Refresh Plus, Refresh Tears and Latisse. Company officials said they might hire as many as 250 new employees at the plant when production peaks.
The council had been scheduled Tuesday to vote on a $4 million incentive payment from the Waco-McLennan County Economic Development Corp. for the project, but city staff rescheduled the item to a future meeting. Both the county and city would have to sign off on any payment from the fund.
Also Tuesday, the council approved a business grant agreement to Channel Control Merchants LLC, to incentivize a business that will create 116 new jobs.
The Mississippi-based company plans to establish a distribution center at 401 Precision Drive for its chain of Dirt Cheap building supply and home furnishing stores. The company is investing about $1.5 million in its distribution center and would receive tax breaks worth about $19,000 over seven years.
As part of the deal, the company has agreed to make a good-faith effort to employ and retain ex-offenders as 30 percent of its workforce.
Waco City Council on Tuesday replaced Malcolm Duncan Jr. with Kyle Deaver as mayor but left a council seat empty.
Now the council is starting the process to fill it.
Residents of District 5 have until June 1 to submit an application to serve the remaining year of Deavers term. Applications are available at www.waco-texas.com or at the city secretarys office at City Hall.
The council will interview candidates at its work session at 3 p.m. June 7 and could swear in the chosen candidate that night. Each candidate must be at least age 21 and a qualified Texas voter who has lived in Waco at least a year and the district at least six months.
The interview process has become routine in recent years as a succession of council members, including District 5 representatives Jim Bush and Duncan, were elected mayor with time left on their terms.
Deaver himself was the councils District 5 replacement for Duncan in 2012.
Deaver did not draw an opponent in the May 7 election and was sworn in Tuesday along with District 3 Councilman John Kinnaird and District 1 Councilman Wilbert Austin, who were re-elected by wide margins. The council also voted District 4 Councilman Dillon Meek as mayor pro tem.
In a speech, Deaver said being a councilman has been rich and rewarding, and he encouraged residents to apply for the council seat.
Running without an opponent allowed him more time to work with Duncan in the transition, Deaver said.
He praised Duncans leadership, starting with revamping a troubled animal shelter into a city-run facility with a 90 percent live exit rate. On a larger scale, Duncan helped convene Prosper Waco, the community effort to improve income, education and health care.
His leadership has been steady, intentional, thoughtful and vigorous, Deaver said.
Kinnaird called Duncan an inspiring leader.
You make those around you better, Kinnaird said.
Meek said Duncan has left a lasting legacy.
Under your watch, Waco has prospered, Meek said. Your genuine love for this community has helped raise Wacoans pride in the city to a new level. Due to your work, more than ever, more Wacoans are convinced that this city is great.
Duncan choked up at times as he thanked the council for appointing him as a representative and for working together during his tenure.
I think its a real testament to the idea that the common good runs local government, he said. He saluted county and nonprofit leaders for also finding ways to collaborate with the city.
Addressing Deaver, Duncan shared a few words of advice: Dont take yourself too seriously, dont take things personally, and youll have a lot fun.
University High School senior Joseph Ramirez entered his last year of high school thinking he would spend life after graduation working multiple jobs to make ends meet.
But now, thanks to Universitys new college readiness team, Ramirez is headed to Texas State Technical College with scholarships and stipends lined up to help him reach his goal of becoming a military officer.
I look at my peers and Im like, I got this. I dont know what youre doing, but I got it together now, he said.
In a campuswide effort to help more graduates enroll in college, the college readiness team rallied the 2016 seniors and guided the class through a series of college and scholarship applications. The effort resulted in a 100 percent college acceptance rate for Universitys 339 seniors.
Not all 2016 graduates will follow through with enrollment, University officials said, but they think if they raise the number of students accepted it will result in a higher rate of actual college attendance.
If the opportunitys not there, the enrollment wont be there, University Dean of Instruction Ronnie Massey said. So the first step is to make sure the opportunitys there, which is the acceptance.
University staff didnt track college acceptance rates in previous years. The most recent state data show Universitys college enrollment from the 2012-13 school year at 134 of 294 graduates, or 46 percent.
New University Principal Kendra Strange came to Waco at the beginning of the 2015-16 school year and noticed that the number of graduates enrolling in any type of college consistently fell below 50 percent, with only a handful actually attending selective four-year universities.
When I took this job and I was looking at all of our data, this was something that jumped out at me because less than half of our kids enrolling in college is unacceptable, Strange said. Were shooting for a lot higher than that, and this is the first step.
She created the college readiness team, an extension of the grant-funded college readiness program Project Link, which also guides students through the college application and financial aid process. Each senior filled out the Apply Texas application, a form accepted at all state schools, including McLennan Community College, and the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA form. Students then moved on to apply at more selective institutions.
We know that a lot of our kids werent going to school, Strange said. We felt like we had to take some action at the campus level to help them create their plan.
Many students say the process of applying for college was much simpler than they expected, said Salisa Harrell, an AVID teacher and a member of the college readiness team. AVID, which stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination, is an optional program that teaches students about career and college readiness. Once they apply to one college, students often search for schools and scholarships on their own, Harrell said.
Of this years 339 seniors, 51 students, or 15 percent, have been accepted to four-year selective universities, with more expected, Massey said. Twenty-one of the 294 students who graduated in 2013, or 7 percent, enrolled in selective universities, state data show.
Statewide, 20 percent of the 301,418 high school graduates in 2013 enrolled in a four-year selective university.
Harrell also said school officials have confirmed more than $1 million in scholarships for the outbound seniors, some receiving up to $150,000.
Ramirez sat around a conference table Thursday with six of his peers all talking about their fall college plans. Sprinkled throughout the conversation were references to family members who didnt finish high school, missing parents, first-generation students and new scholarships.
Ramirez didnt think college was an option since he lived with his grandmother, who makes less than $20,000 a year.
The first thing that would pop into my head was, I dont know anything about how Im going to pay for this, he said.
The students credit their acceptance and motivation to the effort the teachers and counselors at University put into helping them.
They helped me actually want to go to college. At first, I was like, I really shouldnt go, University senior Daniela Lopez said. Whenever we were back in Mexico, you have to pay for everything, and my parents didnt have enough for (my sisters) to go. So thats why they were like, We have to come over to the United States.
Lopez wants to be a teacher and has plans to attend MCC until she can transfer to a larger school to earn her bachelors degree and eventually a masters so she can transition into counseling.
Fellow senior Leslie Castillo also began her senior year without any idea what she would be doing after graduation.
The college readiness team spent time helping her narrow her focus, and now Castillo said shes excited about her decision to study education and become a teacher.
I like the way (the counselors) communicate with the students. They help everyone out. I want to help someone out that way one day, she said.
Ramirez said he wasnt aware of how much he could accomplish until the teachers and counselors at University showed him his potential.
Im confident. I just got to stay dedicated and stay focused, he said.
Police are looking for multiple suspects in an armed robbery at Taqueria El Mexicano #9 early Wednesday morning, and two men were arrested after a pair of convenience store robberies at about the same time, Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said.
Police were called to the restaurant at 1420 N. Valley Mills Drive shortly after midnight Tuesday, Swanton said. As the owner left the building after closing, more than one person approached him, Swanton said.
The suspects jumped him, held a gun to his head and forced him back into the business, Swanton said. They stole money from the business and they hit him in the head with something before they left out of the business.
The suspects also reportedly stole the mans vehicle, a 2013 silver Toyota Tundra, and left in it.
The victim was not able to give a description of the suspects, Swanton said. No arrests were made by Wednesday afternoon.
The business owner was taken to Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Medical Center with head injuries.
Police were called to a convenience store at 905 Hewitt Drive at about 12:30 a.m., where an employee reported the business was robbed by a man armed with a handgun, Swanton said. At about 3:30 a.m., officers were called to another convenience store in the 6800 block of Sanger Avenue, where a man also robbed the store at gunpoint, Swanton said. No injuries were reported at either convenience store robbery.
After the second robbery, one of our officers spotted a silver Mercury Sable and stopped that vehicle, Swanton said. Inside that vehicle, one of the occupants matched the suspect description of both the robberies.
The suspect was identified as Silas Alan Hayes, 34. Hayes was arrested on two aggravated robbery charges and taken to McLennan County Jail.
Officers recovered clothing Hayes allegedly wore during the robberies, a BB gun and cash, police reported.
Four people were in the vehicle when it was stopped, Swanton said. Dominic James Barbieri, 26, was in the vehicle and was arrested on a Travis County warrant. The other two people in the vehicle were questioned and released.
At this time, there are no charges on the other two individuals, but our case is still open and ongoing, Swanton said. We impounded their car and transported Hayes and Barbieri to jail.
No bond was listed for Hayes. Barbieri remained in custody Wednesday afternoon in lieu of a $3,000 bond.
McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna should be disqualified from prosecuting cases arising from the Twin Peaks biker shootout because he overstepped his authority by commandeering the investigation, a Houston attorney said Tuesday.
There is a big difference between advising and commandeering, attorney Abigail Anastasio said.
Anastasio represents Ray Nelson, 42, president of the Hill County Cossacks and one of 154 bikers indicted in the May 17, 2015, shootout at Twin Peaks in Waco that left nine bikers dead and more than 20 wounded.
She filed a motion Tuesday in Wacos 54th State District Court seeking to disqualify Reyna and assistants Michael Jarrett and Mark Parker from prosecuting the Twin Peaks cases because she alleges they are potential witnesses because of the way Reyna inserted himself into the investigation on the evening of the shootout.
They started calling the shots, Anastasio alleged in a press conference after filing the motion. They were the ones who determined the course of the investigation, what steps to be taken next, without law enforcement having a significant role in that.
Reyna did not return messages Tuesday. Jarrett and Parker both declined comment on the motion.
No hearing date has been set for Judge Matt Johnson to consider the motion.
The motion alleges that Reyna arrived at the Waco Convention Center after the shootout and changed the scope of the investigation by insisting that everyone linked to the Cossacks, Bandidos or any of their support groups be arrested and charged with first-degree felony engaging in organized criminal activity.
Before Reyna and his assistants arrived, Waco police and other agencies had questioned, identified and processed a busload of bikers and released them from the Waco Convention Center. After Reyna arrived, the remaining bikers went to jail, the motion states.
This interview with the district attorneys office changed the scope and course of the investigation, the motion alleges. The decisions involved were made not by the law enforcement officers, but by the above prosecutors (and possibly others within that office). The affidavit supporting arrest was not written according to the facts noted by any individual officer, but by the district attorneys office.
Anastasio said she intends to call Reyna and possibly his assistants as witnesses because of their role in the case. That is why she is seeking their disqualification from prosecuting it.
During the course of this investigation, the district attorneys, while they do have a right to advise law enforcement as to how to proceed in a case, took over the investigation in this case and overstepped their bounds, she said.
Defense attorneys have a right to inquire as to the course of the investigation in a case. If the person directing the course of the investigation is the prosecuting attorney, then I have a right to ask that person about that.
Breitbart, the right-wing website that has served as a cheering section for Donald Trumps campaign (even going so far as to smear its own reporter, Michele Fields, who accused Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski of manhandling her), created a firestorm in social media Monday morning with this headline: Bill Kristol: Republican spoiler, renegade Jew.
The column attacking Kristol for helping to spearhead a third-candidate effort is another in a long line of Breitbarts tortured defenses of Trumps scandals and rhetoric. This one even attempts to excuse Trumps citation of the National Enquirer for the loony accusation that Sen. Ted Cruzs father was connected to the JFK assassination.
I asked the Trump campaign for comment and its view as to why so many commenters on blogs and supporters of Trump in social media openly express white nationalist and/or anti-Semitic views. No candidate is responsible for all its supporters, but Trumps big following among such groups (and the likes of David Duke) points to the degree to which his anti-immigrant remarks and radical policies, such as his ban on all Muslims, resonate with racists.
The Breitbart incident and loud presence of anti-Semites among his social-media following add to this disturbing perception. At a candidates forum last year, Trump raised eyebrows and incredulous stares before the Republican Jewish Coalition when he resorted to anti-Semitic stereotypes of Jews as sharp negotiators. There he accused the group of not wanting to support him because he did not want their donations (back when he was self-funding his campaign).
His defenders counter that Trumps daughter converted to Judaism (and is raising her children as Jews) and that Trump has expressed strong support for Israel. They have had less success explaining away Trumps argument that the United States should be neutral in Israels negotiations with the Palestinians.
Trumps problems with Jewish voters extend to the Republican Jewish Coalition, which nominally endorsed him and is focusing on down-ballot races. However, longtime RJC members and supporters have expressed their horror at the rise of Trump and its implications for GOP support in the Jewish community.
To some degree, Trumps problem with Jewish voters is not unlike his problem with women, Hispanics, African-Americans, college-educated voters and the chunk of the GOP that voted for other candidates. Many voters, regardless of religion, object to his bigoted and misogynistic language, extreme positions, ignorance on policy issues and penchant for lying about matters large and small.
Two other factors aggravate Trumps standing with Jewish voters. First, Trumps authoritarian tendencies, his mass rallies evoking a cult of personality (complete with oath-taking), threats to punish the media and infatuation with Vladimir Putin and other international strongmen evoke strong images in the minds of many Jewish voters of the European fascist movements of the 1930s and, more recently, South American tin-pot dictators. Trumps nativism and xenophobia make him toxic with a good deal of the American Jewish community for whom such sentiments have invariably been associated with governments hostile to Jews.
Second, a large portion of pro-Israel voters of both parties (accurately or not) view Hillary Clinton as an improvement over President Obama on Israel. Shes gone out of her way to challenge Sen. Bernie Sanders on his false accusations about Israels conduct during the Gaza War. Shes at least rhetorically taken a harder line on Iran and expressed a desire for more cordial relations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Given that Jewish voters usually vote overwhelmingly Democratic, she is likely to regain any lost ground Democrats suffered among Jewish voters during the Obama era.
In sum, Breitbarts headline reflects the implosion of that outlets journalistic reputation and confirms suspicions that Trump is welcoming bigoted supporters. Moreover, it reminds us that as Trump becomes synonymous with the GOP, the Republican Party as a whole risks not only a lopsided defeat but permanent alienation from an increasingly diverse electorate. There is a price to be paid for welcoming a noxious figure like Trump.
Jennifer Rubin writes the Right Turn blog for The Post, offering reported opinion from a conservative perspective.
Pregnant with joy
I commend the Trib for its great article about Care Net Pregnancy Center of Central Texass important expansion [Care Net opens center for new mothers without homes, May 11]. I also give thanks to Care Net CEO Deborah McGregor and all involved in giving pregnant women an alternative to Planned Parenthood for actually giving these women love and trying to prevent them from thinking the only option is abortion.
Deborah and her crew are not in it for the money the way Planned Parenthood is. Women facing pregnancy or raising newly born children can get counseling, excellent health care and shelter at or through Care Net. I wouldnt mind giving my tax money to them. Some claim conservatives are waging war on women, but this place proves otherwise. In fact, they ensure the births of some future women.
Thank God for a place that involves Christ in the workplace. A woman facing pregnancy and feeling alone and confused needs love and guidance. This 14,000-square-foot facility at 800 W. Waco Drive features 28 beds for extended-stay accommodations, offered free of charge to pregnant women and new mothers in need. While I hate to bring it up, how can anything Planned Parenthood offers match all of this?
Jerry Willett, Lorena
Stain on America
As a veteran, I am disgusted and greatly offended by the recent act of dishonor by 16 black female cadets at West Point Military Academy. They were photographed rendering a clenched- fist, black-power salute while in uniform at the academy. This nonverbal, racially charged hate speech brings dishonor on this prestigious military institution. This is the same salute used by the violent Black Lives Matter movement, which calls for the murder of police officers.
This is a violation of the academys honor code and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This act of mutiny and rebellion shows blatant disrespect for every veteran, including those with their names on the wall, including POWs, MIAs and others who have sacrificed for our freedom. It demoralizes our troops who are at war. How can cowardly politicians allow this disgrace of America? What would Gens. Douglas McArthur, George Patton and other West Point graduates think of this shame brought upon West Point?
It would be a travesty to allow these cadets to graduate and become commissioned officers in the U.S. Army. This mockery and defamation is an unforgivable act of dishonor and will be forevermore a shameful stain on America and our flag.
Jim Gray, Henderson
Mustard yellow?
In regard to the Elm Street library: Mustard yellow? Really? And there with that lovely mural to see. Surely you jest, do you not? Great gobs of goblins goose grease. Im almost speechless almost!
Katherine Stephens, Waco
PRESS RELEASE As May half term fast approaches, organisers at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford are gearing up for a busy week of family tours on-board one of the RAFs most sophisticated aircraft. From Saturday 28 May until Sunday 5 June, families can step inside the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod R.1 XV249 and learn about its intelligence gathering role in the Royal Air Force.
Tours will run throughout the day for groups of up to six people, lasting approximately 15 minutes. During the tour visitors will learn about the history of the aircraft, hear about the crews on board and view the sophisticated surveillance equipment up close. Perfect for any budding aviators, there will be plenty of opportunities for photos and tour guides will be on hand to answer any questions the inquisitive youngsters may have.
Families will discover why this aircraft and its missions were so secret that even the existence of 51 Squadron who operated it wasnt mentioned in official documents until 1992, after the end of the Cold War. They will learn why the aircrafts capabilities were such that even flying through friendly and allied nation airspace required diplomatic clearance. Mixed with a few light hearted stories of the crew stationed on board the Nimrod, including tales of the giant tea pot that could brew almost a gallon of tea, these fascinating tours led by museum staff will have visitors wondering what really goes on in the skies above us. Eagle eyed youngsters are challenged to see if they can find the Argos controls? This equipment was so secret that there was never any mention as to what it was or what it did even in the restricted crew manuals.
RAF Museum Cosford Events Manager Abi Betteridge said: Nimrod tours have proved popular with aviation fans in the past, but there is also a real demand from families and our younger visitors who are eager to get on-board and find out more for some children, this is the first time they have stepped inside an aircraft and what a fascinating one it is! We are able to tailor the tours depending on our audience so the youngsters visiting us during half term will learn lots about the aircrafts capabilities as well as quirky stories about what it was like to work on board the Nimrod, keeping it fun and not too overwhelming.
The Nimrod flew in both the maritime patrol and electronic intelligence gathering role. Maritime surveillance, anti-submarine operations and intelligence gathering have been key tasks for the Royal Air Force for much of its long history. When the Nimrod was finally retired from service in 2011, the type had operated with distinction for over forty years in all these roles, and more.Nimrod tours are available daily throughout May half term week from 10am 4pm and tickets cost 5.00 per person. Organisers are advising any interested visitors to pre-book their time-slot now via the museums website www.rafmuseum.org/cosford to avoid disappointment. Tickets can be purchased on the day subject to availability. All children must be accompanied by an adult, tours are not recommended for children under the age of 5. For further information please call the museum on 01902 376200. The museum is open daily from 10am to 5pm and entry to the museum is FREE of charge.
From an original article by Franco Bugada
During March 2016, a new partnership emerged in Italy under the banner of the Savoia-Marchetti Historical Group. As the name suggests, the society aims to promote and preserve the history of the famous Italian aircraft manufacturer, Savoia-Marchetti. They are based in Somma Lombardo, Varese which is very close to Milano-Malpensa airport. The head office is in the Volandia Park and Flight Museum located in the same old factory where Gianni Caproni designed and built a long series of aircraft dating back to 1908! The partnership is made up of many passionate aviation enthusiasts technicians, journalists, fund-raising experts, members of the SIAI-Marchetti Ex Workers Group and the Association of Volandia Friends along with support from a number of companies in the Varese area including Aerosviluppi and OVS Villella.
The group has also received support in publications such as Modellismo, VFR AVIATION and RC Model World which recently produced some articles on Savoia Marchetti aircraft and particularly on the S.55 X flying boat. This famous, ground-breaking aircraft has captured the imagination of the Savoia Marchetti Historical Group members, and they have decided to make a full-scale replica.
Filippo Meani is coordinating the four teams working on the project: Program, Construction, Communications and Financing. The overall plan is to locate and repair any existing S.55 components, as well as find, restore and scan the types surviving technical documentation and drawings so they can use the material in the rebuild program without risk to the originals. Towards this end, Maurizio Grillo and his staff have examined approximately 900 original S.55 assembly, detail and construction drawings. Key support for this effort has come from Marzio Mariani, president of the SIAI-Marchetti Old Workers Group, Paolo Montonati, president of Volandia Friends and Claudio Tovaglieri, president of Technical and Scientific Volandia Museum Committee.
Savoia-Marchetti produced several different versions of the S.55, building roughly 250 examples of all types. The search for wrecks and components has so far turned up small parts within the Italian Air Force Museum collection in Vigna di Valle, near Rome, but most importantly parts from a wreck have emerged in Siberia. In 1935 an S.55P (P for passengers) lost its way in dense fog, touched the tip of a larch tree and cartwheeled into the forest. The tragedy took the lives of nine people. The plane, torn apart by the crash, lay abandoned and was quickly forgotten. However the wreck was rediscovered in the Khabarovsk region during 2008. Unfortunately, the area is very difficult to explore, due to dense forestation, many rivers and hilly terrain. It is only practical to search for the wreck during the summer season, because of the long, harsh winter climate when much of the land is covered in snow and ice. The Savoia Marchetti Historical Group is trying to obtain at least one of the two Isotta Fraschini 750 Hp engines and, hopefully some other pieces too.
Only one complete S.55 still exists. It is the Jahu flying boat of Joao Ribeiro de Barros which crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1927, after Francesco De Pinedo on S.55 Santa Maria. The Jahu was carefully maintained and on display in the TAM Museum in Sao Paulo State, Brazil. Sadly, this museum closed very recently, so Jahu will likely be on the move for too long. Hopefully she will find a secure new home soon.
The above situation pushed the Savoia Marchetti Historical Group to consider building a full scale S.55 X replica. Their dream was to create a flying example, to properly memorialize the famous aircraft of the 1933 North Atlantic Ocean crossing. Unfortunately all Italian lakes and the coastline, even if historically dedicated to flying boats, are now off limits due to the present airport and safety regulations. Only Lake Como allows seaplanes. The modern Como Aero Club flying school is still located on the beach, but the site is not sufficiently large enough to accommodate the 749 wing span of a big S.55 flying boat weighing in at roughly 18,000lbs max takeoff. So they hav decided to build faithful, though non-flying replica for eventual exhibition at the Volandia Museum. The construction will follow the scanned construction drawings and the original instruction manuals.
Workers capable of using industrial robots in great demand Updated: 2016-05-18 07:33 By MA SI/LIU CE(China Daily)
A technician commands an industrial robot at the workshop of Ruihong Robot Ltd in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province.THOMAS WEI/CHINA DAILY
Robotics professionals to be in greater need as nation widely applies technology
China will have a "huge" demand for robotics professionals as the world's second largest economy is trying to upgrade its labor-intensive industry with technological innovation, said the chief of China's largest robot manufacturer by market value.
Qu Daokui, president of Siasun Robot & Automation Co, said: "As the national high-end manufacturing initiative "Made in China 2025" gains momentum, more efforts are needed to cultivate talents to make, operate and sustain robots."
Qu's comment came as China is planning to triple its annual production of robots used in the manufacturing sector to 100,000 in five years.
Qu Daokui, president of Siasun Robot & Automation Co CHINA DAILY
Currently, the country is already the world's largest market for industrial robots, accounting for a quarter of global sales, according to the International Federation of Robotics.
Qu said China is in great need of world-level robot research and development teams as well as high-end technicians, as companies across the country are cranking up the automation of factories.
In February, Siasun bought Teutloff Training and Welding Education Non-profit Ltd Liability Company, a leading German mechanical engineering vocational school, for an undisclosed sum.
The deal, which Siasun said is the first full Chinese acquisition of a German vocational institute, will give the company, based in Shenyang, Liaoning province, access to Germany's decades of experience in vocational training.
It is also part of Siasun's broad efforts to compete with foreign heavyweights such as ABB Ltd, and KUKA Robotics Corp in China, where many corporate clients know little about operating robots and therefore extra technical training will help boost sales.
"We are planning to open 10 to 20 domestic training centers within two years to nurture robot talents," Qu said, adding that the company is discussing cooperation with vocational schools.
On Tuesday, Boston Consulting Group Inc said in its latest report that China's efforts to boost manufacturing prowess will reshape the country's labor landscape, affecting around one million jobs in the near future.
"Low-skill and low-value jobs will be replaced by robots, while there will be a growing desire for robot-savvy employees, electrical and mechanical engineers, software developers, big data scientists and other sophisticated jobs," said Victor Du, a partner and managing director at Boston.
According to Du, China has already cultivated a big pool of efficient workers after three decades of rapid growth in the manufacturing industry. "This laid a solid foundation for it to upgrade the talent base to accelerate transformation," he added.
China's intensified efforts to promote the use of industrial robots also came amid a looming labor shortage, which has spurred a surge in labor costs in the world's most populous country.
Christian Guse, principal at BCG, said cutting-edge products will make it easier for Chinese companies to nurture qualified employees.
Contact the writers at masi@chinadaily.com.cn and liuce@chinadaily.com.cn
Bay Banks of Virginia, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides various banking products and services to businesses, professionals, and consumers in Virginia. The company accepts checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, cash management accounts, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts. Its loan products include commercial and industrial loans, such as small business loans, asset based loans, and other secured and unsecured loans and lines of credit; purchased loans; residential and commercial mortgages; home equity loans; consumer installment loans; and consumer loans comprising automobile and boat financing, home improvement loans, and unsecured personal loans. The company also provides credit cards; and insurance, online banking, telephone banking, mobile banking, analysis checking, cash management deposit, wire, direct deposit payroll, lockbox, positive pay, and remote deposit services, as well as a line of commercial lending options. In addition, it offers management services, including estate planning and settlement, as well as trust administration, investment, and wealth management services; and revocable and irrevocable living trusts, testamentary trusts, custodial accounts, investment planning, brokerage services, investment managed accounts, and managed and self-directed rollover individual retirement accounts for personal and corporate trusts. As of March 9, 2020, the company operated 17 banking offices located throughout greater Richmond region, the Northern Neck region, Middlesex County, and the Hampton Roads region. Bay Banks of Virginia, Inc. was founded in 1930 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.
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Chinese company sues Qualcomm for trademark infringement Updated: 2016-05-18 11:09 (Xinhua)
SHANGHAI -- A Chinese semiconductor company has filed a trademark rights suit against three companies, including US-based Qualcomm Incorporated, claiming compensation of 100 million yuan.
A court in Shanghai held a hearing on Tuesday, but did not give a judgement in court.
According to the legal complaint submitted by the plaintiff, the "Gaotong" trademark in Chinese characters was registered in 1992, the year the semiconductor company was established.
The company complained that Qualcomm, which produces communication technology and semiconductors, used exactly the same Chinese characters for "Gaotong" as its trademark in advertising after entering the Chinese market.
Another two Chinese companies that used "Gaotong" in their company names were also sued.
Clive Palmer says he's not worried about a special purpose liquidator pursuing him for almost $70 million in taxpayer funds that will flow to his sacked nickel workers.
The Federal Court has approved a Commonwealth request to appoint top insolvency practitioner Stephen Parbery, who'll go after assets held by the embattled federal MP and his companies.
Clive Palmer will be questioned in court on Friday over the collapse of the company that ran the Yabulu nickel refinery. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Mr Palmer's Queensland Nickel enterprise went into liquidation last month, owing hundreds of millions of dollars.
The government has activated its entitlements guarantee scheme to ensure almost 800 workers who lost their jobs at the company's Townsville nickel refinery get most of the $74 million they are owed.
OK, so millions of tech-savvy Australians like me know the premise for the popular mobile phone game Angry Birds.
(Come off it Dad, you don't even have a smartphone!)
Voters are like angry birds seeking to punish the greedy pigs for stealing their nest eggs.
(Shoosh! Or you'll have to buy your own credit.)
Yes, as we all know, in Angry Birds the greedy King Pig rules over Piggy Island with an iron hoof. Bored with the same old food, he orders his minion pigs to steal the eggs from the birds. Big mistake. The Angry Birds dish out revenge and use their unique powers to destroy the pigs' defences.
Fascinatingly, the portrait Switzer paints of Turnbull is a kind of mirror image of how the Prime Minister appears to those of us and I'm one of them whose support for the Coalition is occasional rather than regular, but who felt that last September it had chosen a leader worth voting for.
It was a trenchant column that explained why, from the point of view of someone who "has voted Liberal in every federal election since [he] was eligible in 1990", Bill Shorten seems to be doing so well and Turnbull so badly.
On Monday on this site, conservative columnist Tom Switzer argued that Malcolm Turnbull would lose the election unless he could convince the Liberal base that he is a genuine custodian, as Menzies and Howard were, of the "centre-right tradition in Australian politics".
I doubt it, Tom. After all, in Australia we have to vote for someone; I just don't believe that "many Liberal partisans", however disgruntled by Tony Abbott's demise, will mark their ballot papers in such a way that their vote won't trickle down eventually to the Liberal or National candidate.
On the other hand, I know many lifelong Labor voters who were deeply disillusioned by the antics of the Rudd-Gillard era; mistrustful of Bill Shorten's naked ambition and faceless skullduggery; utterly repelled by the strident sloganeering of Abbott; and who saw Turnbull, with his promise to explain and persuade, his patent lack of ideological dogmatism, as Australia's best hope for decent, sensible government. They were the people, surely, who gave Turnbull his stunning early poll figures as preferred leader.
But his popularity has trended steadily down since then. And, Tom, it's not because the Coalition base loves him less: they never loved him much in the first place. It's because many of those floaters and Abbott-haters who saw Turnbull as a potential saviour have decided he's probably nothing of the sort.
"What's different about Turnbull is that he has not actually done anything to explain his rapid downhill trajectory," muses Switzer. But Tom, you've got it the wrong way round. What explains his rapid downhill trajectory is that he has not actually done anything.
And when you look at the things people like Switzer want him to do, and the things that people like me want him to do, it's no wonder he hasn't done anything.
A contractor's error is believed to have been responsible for a fuel spill that dumped thousands of litres of diesel at the D'Albora Marinas at Rushcutters Bay.
Authorities, meanwhile, are also investigating a pollution slick in Rose Bay to the east to determine whether it is sourced from a separate spill.
The d'Albora Marinas portfolio comprises seven high-profile marinas.
Sydney's Port Authority and the NSW Environment Protection Authority are working with the marina to contain and remove the spill using floating booms and other equipment, with investigations on the cause continuing.
Tim Allerton, a spokesman for D'Albora said "close to 6000 litres" spilled from a diesel tank, with contractors alerting authorities of the spill at about 8pm on Tuesday. The Port Authority put the size of the spill at about 7000 litres.
In 2013, McBride was swamped by the Thomson legacy when she stood against Karen McNamara, who went on a career as an assenting nodder sitting behind her prime minister du jour during question time.
Grant McBride held the state seat of the Entrance in the NSW Parliament for 19 years, bailing out of politics when Labor imploded in 2011 after 16 years in government. Labor stank even more on the Central Coast thanks to credit card achievements of their man for Dobell , Craig Thomson.
Emma McBride's dad does not know she is Labor's hope for the central coast seat of Dobell.
Labor candidate Emma McBride says she draws inspiration from her ailing father Grant. Credit:James Brickwood
McBride has saddled up again but her father, who fell ill during her earlier campaign, is now under 24-hour care.
Everybody on the coast knows she is the daughter of their long-time member and she does try to avoid talking about his health in the context of the political campaign, save to say: "It's what inspires me. Dad really gave the best part of his life to serving the community."
Meanwhile, the battle for New England is proving the main event in an election campaign stuck in its dog-days period. The ABC's Four Corners team has been sighted around Tamworth to record the clash of the titans, except that Barnaby Joyce blew town for much of the week to campaign for the Nationals in Victoria.
But the real stoush occurred at the Quirindi Rugby Club where Joyce and nemesis Tony Windsor went into battle over a billboard.
Supermarket giant Aldi took another big step toward the launch of its first Perth stores with the opening of a massive $60 million distribution centre in Jandakot on Wednesday.
The 45,000 square metre facility will supply Aldi stores across WA, with as many as 20 stores expected to be open by the end of the year.
Inside Aldi's $60m distribution centre in Jandakot. Credit:Ray Sparvell
It has begun to fill with goods to stock Aldi's first four stores, set to open on June 8, at Mirrabooka Square, Belmont Forum, Lakeside Joondalup and Kwinana.
WA is expected to eventually host 70 stores.
Haarlem, Netherlands: Sixteen-year-old Abdul Moeen Alhaji is happy to call a prison cell his new home. Never mind the heavy steel doors and grills, or the internal exercise yard.
Like other residents, he can come and go as he pleases, even spend some nights away.
Afghan refugee Siratullah Hayatullah, 23, uses the common laundry in the former prison of De Koepel in Haarlem, Netherlands. Credit:AP
Abdul Moeen is one of 41,000 new migrants to the Netherlands being housed in former prisons, rendered spare given the country's low crime rate.
US eases sanctions on Myanmar to support reform, facilitate trade Updated: 2016-05-18 10:35 (Xinhua)
WASHINGTON - The United States announced Tuesday that it is lifting some of the sanctions on Myanmar to show support for the country's political reforms and economic growth and to facilitate trade between the two sides.
In a statement, the US Treasury Department issued regulatory amendments that ease restrictions on Myanmar's financial institutions, allow certain transactions related to U.S. individuals living in the country, and remove seven state-owned enterprises and three state-owned banks from the U.S. blacklist.
"Burma (Myanmar) reached a historic milestone over the last year by holding competitive elections and peacefully transitioning to a democratically-elected government," said Adam Szubin, Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
"Our actions today demonstrate our strong support for this political and economic progress while continuing to pressure designated persons in Burma (Myanmar) to change their behavior."
U Htin Kyaw of the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, was sworn in as Myanmar's new president in late March. US President Barack Obama welcomed the "historic step forward" of a democratic transfer of power to a civilian-led government in Myanmar.
The move on Tuesday will "help to facilitate trade with non-sanctioned businesses and, in turn, help the people and Government of Burma (Myanmar) achieve a more inclusive and prosperous future," Szubin said.
However, the United States strengthened certain sanctions on Myanmar in a bid to "incentivize further democratic reforms and maintain pressure on targeted individuals and entities and the military," according to the statement.
The Treasury Department blacklists six companies that are owned 50 percent or more by Steven Law, or Asia World Co. Ltd, the company he controls. Both Law and Asia World were designated by the US in 2008 for providing support to the then military-led government.
In a letter to Congress Tuesday, Obama expressed US concerns over continued obstacles in Myanmar to full civilian control of the government, the ongoing conflict and human rights abuses in the country, particularly in ethnic minority areas, and military trade with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Obama told Congress he has determined to continue the national emergency with respect to Myanmar, which was declared on May 20, 1997.
Despite this action, the US remains committed to working with both the new government and the people of Myanmar to "ensure that the democratic transition is irreversible," he added.
On May 22, US Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Myanmar to meet with key leaders to signal US support for the new democratically elected, civilian-led government and further democratic and economic reforms, the State Department has said.
Patrick Norman Pat Chapman is a 34-year-old, Caucasian male who was last known to be in Piedmont which is near the area of Greenville, Missouri on May 10, 2020.
Pat had stayed the night with a friend and his wife at their home. In the early morning when the friend woke to go to work.
Pat was gone in his own Burgundy color 1995 Ford Escort. That is the last anyone was known to have seen him. The vehicle was later recovered on May 29, 2020 in Mill Spring, Missouri.
25 29 April 2016
Under the sponsorship of the Japan Customs Cooperation Fund (CCF- Japan), a World Customs Organization (WCO) Accreditation Workshop for Technical Operational Advisers (TOAs) in the area of the WCO Time Release Study (TRS) was held at the WCO Headquarters in Brussels, from 25 to 29 April 2016. This Workshop was dedicated to French speaking Customs officials and was attended by participants from all 6 WCO regions.
The event was organized as part of the WCO strategic approach to obtain a greater number of experts to assist WCO Members in conducting TRS.
During the workshop, WCO facilitators presented a general overview of the organization of a TRS, and subsequently focused on TRS objectives, challenges, opportunities and ways forward.
11 Customs officials from all 6 WCO regions participated in the workshop and were continuously assessed against a set of criteria that included their overall knowledge and strategic application of key WCO instruments and tools, their level of technical expertise, their ability to support Member administrations in preparing and conducting a TRS and their ability to represent the WCO and facilitate discussions with Directors general of Customs and senior Customs officials.
At the end of the event, several participants successfully completed step 1 of the accreditation process as they demonstrated their potential to become TOAs in the area of TRS. The successful candidates will be invited by the WCO to co-facilitate a technical assistance mission in the area of TRS and complete their process of accreditation. Afterwards, they will be able to support and participate in the WCOs capacity building activities.
At the invitation of Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, CEO of the NEPAD Agency, WCO Deputy Secretary General Sergio Mujica attended the launch of the MoveAfrica Initiative - Moving Goods & Facilitating Trade, held in Kigali, Rwanda, on 11 and 12 May 2016. This Initiative, which was developed in close partnership with the private sector, aims to package and mainstream soft infrastructure issues to reduce transport costs along corridors and promote a multi-sectorial and comprehensive approach for corridor development.
The launch was attended by senior executives and industry leaders from the private sector and senior officials from the public sector, including several international organizations. In his opening remarks, Dr. Mayaki explained the content of the Initiative and highlighted the importance of driving down costs and increasing efficiency for logistics companies and manufacturers in a range of industries, which should be a combined effort between the private and public sectors. Subsequently, H.E. Mrs. Fatima Haram Acyl, African Union Commissioner for Trade and Industry, stressed the importance of fully implementing the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), this to be achieved through close cooperation between Customs and Trade authorities as well as the private sector. She also explained the efforts being made to advance with the negotiation of the Continental Free Trade Area, which would further enhance trade facilitation in Africa.
The WCO Deputy Secretary General participated in a high-level panel, alongside senior officials from international organizations such as UNCTAD, the WTO and the International Trade Centre, as well as the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and various industry leaders in Africa. In his intervention, Mr. Mujica highlighted the main WCO programmes and projects aimed at supporting trade facilitation initiatives, including the Mercator Programme, as well as the key role of Customs in order to achieve consistent and effective implementation of the TFA.
During his visit to Kigali, Mr. Mujica also held working meetings with Mr. Richard Tusabe, Commissioner General of the Rwanda Revenue Authority and Mr. Raphael Tugirumuremyi, Commissioner of Customs, and other senior officers of the management team of Rwanda Customs. The main topics discussed were the latest developments in respect of the WCO Strategic Plan which will be presented to the next Council Sessions, and the key role of Customs to support the implementation of the TFA, as well as the strategic projects Rwanda is working on at national and regional level to further enhance trade facilitation, such as transit corridors, Single Window and Authorized Economic Operator.
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Photos:
1) WCO Deputy Secretary General at the launch of the MoveAfrica Initiative participated in a high-level panel, alongside senior officials from UNCTAD, the WTO and the International Trade Centre, as well as the JICA, and various industry leaders in Africa;
2) Mr. Mujica held working meetings with Mr. Richard Tusabe, Commissioner General of the Rwanda Revenue Authority (right) and Mr. Raphael Tugirumuremyi, Commissioner of Customs (left).
Local Businesses Eligible for Grant Money from WSU and Startup Ogden
May 18, 2016
OGDEN, Utah Weber State Universitys pioneering effort to help promote financial vitality in Weber County has been so successful, plans now are underway to award money to local businesses.
In November 2013, Weber State opened Weber State Downtown (2314 Washington Blvd., Ogden). The ground floor houses the Wildcat Store and cafe. The second and third floors house Startup Ogden, a tech community partner whose setup is conducive to co-working, a collaborative approach to business. The location offers entrepreneurs, students and other community members a world-class, cutting-edge, technology-enabled space to meet and work.
With its unique approach to business and entrepreneurship, Startup Ogden has generated enough revenue that its advisory board has opted to offer grants of $15,000 or more to eligible local businesses. The board is awarding grants two years ahead of its original goal because of the positive response to the co-working-space concept.
To qualify, companies must be Startup Ogden members and must keep their headquarters in Weber County for two years. The first application cycle began the second week of May, and grants will be awarded at the end of June and every quarter following.
These awards are not for new concepts or ideas, said Alex Lawrence, Startup Ogden advisory board chair. Companies have to be open for business and have customers, but they also have to be at the stage where the grant would be meaningful.
The advisory board anticipates awarding three grants per quarter, but that could fluctuate based on the need and number of qualified applicants.
Startup Ogden has 75 desk spaces for rent. Members also can use a conference room equipped for state-of the-art meetings and presentations and several living room areas with modern furniture, televisions and game stations, which provide a relaxed, cooperative atmosphere.
WSUs Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is housed at Weber State Downtown and provides training, consulting and referral services to area business owners and prospective entrepreneurs. The SBDC also coordinates referrals for consulting and financing services with Ogden Citys Business Information Center.
In less than three years after its inception, tech companies that originated at Startup Ogden are beginning to rent space and operate successfully in nearby buildings in Ogden.
The energy, ideas and enthusiasm generated downtown have been infectious, said Tom Christopulos, Ogden City's director of Community and Economic Development and a member of the Startup Ogden advisory board. Its an economic driver in line with Ogdens strategic plan to create high-paying, high-tech jobs downtown.
For more information about the application process or about Weber State Downtown, visit weber.edu/downtown. To apply for the grant, visit StartupOgden.com.
Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
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By AP/West Kentucky Star Staff May. 17, 2016 | 07:07 PM | LOUISVILLE KY
James Comer has won the Republican nomination in Kentucky's 1st Congressional District one year after a heartbreakingly close loss in the GOP primary for governor.Comer wants to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield, who has held the seat since 1995. He defeated Michael Pape, Whitfield's district director for two decades, and Hickman County Attorney Jason Batts. Miles A. Caughey Jr. finished fourth.After losing the nomination for governor by just 83 votes last year, Comer said he planned to return to his farm in Tompkinsville. But when Whitfield announced his retirement, Comer got calls from encouraging him to run.Comer staked an early lead based on poll results in and around Monroe County, where he's from. He told Greg Dunker and Joe Jackson during Tuesday night's WKYX-WNGO election coverage that he was grateful for support across the district."My home county came in big, I think we got about 98 percent of the vote in county with over 40 percent turnout. All the counties that surround me - we got over 90 percent of the vote of them in a 4-way race. And then we get out to McCracken County, Marshall County, Graves County - those were the big counties for us in the western part of the district, and we won those counties. So T.J. and I are so happy, and we look forward to the future.McCracken County Commisioner and long-time political journalist Bill Barleman asked Comer during WKYX-WNGO's election coverage if there was an issue that brought him victory on Tuesday.Comer said, "There were a lot of negative ads - and the Facebook posts from that campaign - I'm not even going to talk about. People are sick and tired of this same old politics, where people go to Washington D.C. and all they do is blame other people for the problems. We need people that are going to go to Washington, D.C. and solve the problems."Comer will face Democrat Sam Gaskins in the November election.
639 of 639 precincts - 100 percent
x-James R. Comer 24,342 - 61 percent
Mike Pape 9,357 - 23 percent
Jason Batts 5,578 - 14 percent
Miles Caughey 896 - 2 percent
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By West Kentucky Star Staff
May. 18, 2016 | FULTON COUNTY, KY
By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 18, 2016 | 01:42 PM | FULTON COUNTY, KY
Four people face drug and other charges after police executed a search warrant Monday evening at a Fulton County home.
At around 6:00 pm the Fulton County Sheriffs Office, Kentucky State Police and the District 4 Constable executed a search warrant at a home on Crutchfield Road in Fulton County. Deputies said that during the search they found about 30 grams of crystal methamphetamine, items used to manufacture methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.
Police arrested four people that were at the home. Their names and charges are as follows:
45-year-old Monica M. Russell of Fulton was charged with possession of a controlled substance, 1st offense, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
49-year-old Frankie R. Forrester of Fulton was charged with possession of a controlled substance, 1st offense, possession of drug paraphernalia, and contempt of court libel / slander resistance to order.
59-year-old Don McClanahan of Fulton was charged with possession of a controlled substance, 1st offense, manufacturing methamphetamine, 1st offense, trafficking in a controlled substance, 1st degree, 1st offense (Greater Than 2 Grams Of Methamphetamine), drug paraphernalia buy / possess, tampering with physical evidence, possession of open alcohol beverage container in motor vehicle, and contempt of court.
34-year-old Ashley J. Damron, of Martin, TN was charged with possession of a controlled substance, 1st offense, manufacturing methamphetamine, 1st offense, trafficking in a controlled substance, 1st degree, 1st offense (greater than 2 grams of methamphetamine), possession of drug paraphernalia buy / possess, and tampering with physical evidence.
McClanahan and Forrester were out on bond for a previous cultivation of marijuana charge at the time of their arrests.
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By West Kentucky Star Staff
May. 17, 2016 | MAYFIELD, KY
By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 17, 2016 | 05:18 PM | MAYFIELD, KY
Police in Mayfield arrested a man Tuesday after he reportedly held three people against their will, and assaulted one of the victims.
According to police, officers responded Tuesday to a report of an assault at a home on Delrose Street. When they got there, officers made contact with two adults and a juvenile. Both adults told police that LaStanford Shelton had held them against their will from sometime in the early morning hours until they could call for police that afternoon.
The victims said Shelton took their phones so they could not call for help. Both victims tried to leave during the ordeal, and Shelton reportedly dragged one of them back into the home by the hair. Police said Shelton beat one of the victims repeatedly on and off throughout the incident.
One of the victims was taken to Jackson Purchase Medical Center for treatment.
Police later found Shelton at his home, and he reportedly had one of the victims' cell phones.
Shelton was arrested for 2nd degree robbery, three counts of 1st degree unlawful imprisonment and 1st degree possession of cocaine. He was booked in the Graves County Jail.
Wexford family to discuss Lamh sign language on Late Late Show It would mean so much to Lori May to have other children communicate with her
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/05/2016 (2352 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
WINNIPEG Manitobas new Progressive Conservative premier, Brian Pallister, says he plans to attend the annual pride parade in Winnipeg next month.
Pallister says he will participate in the celebration of gay and lesbian rights, barring a natural disaster or other emergency that would require his attention.
He would be only the second Manitoba premier to do so.
JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Manitoba Conservative Leader Brian Pallister is shown at the Manitoba Legislature in Winnipeg, Thursday, April 30, 2015. Pallister, who once called same-sex marriage "a social experiment" says he's now open to participating in pride celebrations if he is elected.
When first asked last month, Pallister said he would have to check his schedule, but he now says he is committed to attending.
Pallister was accused by former NDP premier Greg Selinger of being homophobic for opposing a 2013 law that requires schools to allow students to set up gay-straight alliances.
He also came under fire for comments he made a decade ago in Parliament when he called same-sex marriage a social experiment.
After winning the April 19 election, Pallister said his party wants to be inclusive of all Manitobans.
The idea here is obviously everyone should feel included in the province in a real way, not be living in any sense of fear or exclusion, Pallister said Tuesday.
Selinger was the first premier to attend the annual pride parade, which starts out from the front of the legislature.
Pallister said in an interview last year his position on issues such as same-sex marriage had evolved.
The fact is what we all want to see is loving relationships supporting when desired children, and we want to see strong families.
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On the same day Canadas oldest retailer Hudsons Bay Co. announced plans to open 20 new stores in the Netherlands, it was revealed another major European clothing retailer is coming to Winnipeg.
Denmark-based Bestseller plans to open four stores two womens clothing shops and two mens clothing shops in a 7,500-square-foot section of the former Zellers space on the second floor of the CF Polo Park Shopping Centre.
Polo Park manager Deborah Green told delegates attending the 2016 Winnipeg Real Estate Forum that all four stores Vero Moda, Only, Jack & Jones and Premium by Jack & Jones will all open this summer. An exact date has not yet been finalized.
BESTSELLER Jack & Jones (above) is a mens shop and Vero Moda (below) is a womens shop.
Green said in a later interview Vero Moda and Only are the womens clothing stores, and Jack & Jones and Premium by Jack & Jones are the two mens shops. She described all four as mid-priced apparel stores.
She said its interesting that although the Bestsellers chain has approximately 3,000 branded chain stores in 38 markets worldwide, Manitoba is only the second Canadian province where it will have a presence. Quebec is the other.
It shows that European retailers are starting to look at the Winnipeg market, she said.
Another prominent European fashion retailer with a presence in Winnipeg is Swedens H&M, which opened its first store in the Polo Park mall in September 2014. On the home-furnishings side, theres Swedish giant IKEA and Denmarks Jysk.
Green was one of four panellists participating in a morning discussion on the state of the retail market in Winnipeg. Another was Blair Forster, president of Regina-based Forster Projects Inc., who along with Reginas Harvard Developments and Ivanhoe Cambridge, is developing the Outlet Collection at Winnipeg factory outlet mall in southwest Winnipeg. The outlet mall, slated to open in May of next year, is the first in the city and is the anchor tenant in Harvard and Forsters Seasons development, which includes a mix of retail, office and multi-family residential buildings.
BESTSELLER
Forster wouldnt reveal which fashion retailers are coming to the outlet mall. Although the 385,000-square-foot outlet mall is about 50 per cent pre-leased, he said tenant names wont be announced until shortly before the mall opens.
Besides the outlet mall, other tenants in the 854,000-square-foot development include a hotel, an assisted living complex for seniors, a 400-unit apartment block and two auto dealerships. Forster said in a later interview that four mid-rise condo towers are also planned for the site.
Harvard and Forster are also hoping to attract a grocery story, and Forster said two chains have expressed an interest. But theyre waiting to see what impact the new Save On Foods grocery store in the nearby Bridgwater Townsite development will have on the buying patterns of area consumers.
So based on that, were probably 18 months away from getting a grocer to commit to our development, he said.
Michel Avigliano, vice-president of retail for the Bridgwater Townsites developer Calgarys Hopewell Development Corp. told the session the Save On Foods store is slated to open in late October or early November in the office development.
BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Polo Park manager Deborah Green told delegates Vero Moda, Only, Jack & Jones and Premium by Jack & Jones will open in the malls former Zellers space.
A record 650 people, including about 225 from outside Manitoba, attended the one-day real estate forum, which was organized by Informa Canada.
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OTTAWA Its long past time for the federal government to issue environmental permits for a multibillion-dollar liquefied natural gas terminal in Prince Rupert, B.C. Premier Christy Clark said Wednesday while confirming shes in three-way talks with Ottawa and Alberta over hydro sales.
Clarks demand ups the pressure on the Trudeau Liberals, who have so far avoided hard choices on resource projects that are being squeezed between pro-development premiers and environmental and indigenous opponents.
But the B.C. premier isnt laying the blame at the feet of the Liberal government elected last October, saying the bid by Malaysian giant Petronas for its Pacific NorthWest LNG terminal began more than three years ago.
British Columbia Premier Christy Clark poses for a photo before an interview with The Canadian Press in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 18, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
There is something wrong in the system when investors cant expect to get a yes or a no on environmental certificates and other permitting in something other than 1,100 days, Clark told The Canadian Press in Ottawa, where she was on hand for the historic Komagata Maru apology from the prime minister.
So thats what we need from the federal government.
To be fair to this new government, she added, theyve been working hard at that and theyve really picked up the pace.
With the National Energy Board scheduled to release its assessment of Kinder Morgans proposed expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline from Alberta to Burnaby, B.C., on Thursday, the countrys long political gridlock over resource approvals is approaching decision time.
There have been sourced reports of three-way, Alberta-B.C.-Ottawa negotiations linking LNG project approvals in B.C. with Albertas purchase of B.C. hydroelectricity and federal clearance for a West Coast oil pipeline.
Discussions are happening, Clark confirmed, noting her famously fractious negotiations with Alberta go back to the Progressive Conservative government of Alison Redford three premiers ago.
But theyre not connected to pipeline approvals, she added.
British Columbia has begun work on a massive hydroelectric dam known as Site C, whose power is required for the intense energy needs of liquefying natural gas for export by ship. Clark said shed like to sell excess Site C hydro to Alberta, which has committed to phasing out its coal-fired electricity generation.
So were working with them on that and were still discussing how theyll meet the five conditions the B.C. government set for oil pipeline approvals in the province.
Thats a conversation thats been going on for quite a few years now, said Clark.
The rate with which federal approvals have been moving means weve had a lot of time to discuss it, so theyre getting a lot closer on meeting those (five conditions).
Clark said B.C. can easily sell its excess hydro south of the border in the United States, but shed like to see it go to Alberta to help Canada meet its international commitments on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
So its clear where Clarks pitch to federal officials is heading, even if she denies theres linkage between pipeline approvals, LNG and interprovincial hydro sales.
Her province, said the B.C. premier, can help reduce GHGs in Alberta through hydro transmission, as well as in China by exporting liquefied natural gas to replace coal.
She said her government and the federal Liberals both want to combat climate change while creating jobs.
You dont need to try to find a whole bunch of things to trade off because theres a lot of agreement that Canada badly needs an economic boost and were in the best position to provide that, anywhere in the country, said Clark.
And secondly, were doing that with the export of clean energy on the Site C side and on the LNG side.
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Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version described Petronas as an Indonesian company.
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OTTAWA Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says RCMP investigators have been reprimanded for conducting unauthorized surveillance on two journalists nine years ago.
Goodales comments Wednesday followed a CBC News report that a rogue group of RCMP officers investigating a leak of a secret document spied on the pair for more than a week without authorization.
The Mounties placed two Ottawa-based journalists working for Montreal newspaper La Presse, Joel-Denis Bellavance and Gilles Toupin, under physical surveillance for nine days in 2007, says the report, based on a government briefing note obtained by the broadcaster through the Access to Information Act.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale answers a question during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 18, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
The RCMP was looking into the leak of a Canadian Security Intelligence Service document about a terror suspect. The police force hoped that keeping tabs on the reporters would lead them to the leaker.
CBC says the surveillance was done without the required permission of Bob Paulson, an acting assistant commissioner at the time and now commissioner of the RCMP.
The Mounties had no immediate details Wednesday about the reprimands.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the surveillance was unacceptable and noted that an apology had been given to the journalists involved.
NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said a public inquiry should be called into the matter and the New Democrats pressed the Liberals during the daily question period in the House of Commons.
Freedom of the press is a fundamental Canadian value thats enshrined in the charter, Goodale told the House.
The unauthorized surveillance was entirely unacceptable. It was contrary to a ministerial directive. It was contrary to RCMP policy, and it was stopped when RCMP headquarters became aware of it, and the investigators have been reprimanded.
The rogue team was acting contrary to the RCMP rule book for investigations into so-called sensitive sectors, a term that refers to criminal probes involving academia, politics, religion, the media and trade unions, the CBC said.
According to the broadcaster, the briefing note says the unidentified Mounties received criticism for not seeking approval for the nine-day surveillance operation.
While journalists have no privilege or immunity from investigation, the application of the RCMPs sensitive sector approval policy recognizes that the states interests in the investigation of crime and the freedom of the press (or religious/academic freedom) need to be balanced appropriately on a case-by-case basis, says the note, approved by Paulson on Nov. 13 last year.
Vital to maintaining this balance is the centralized independent governance of these criminal investigations a framework that was just being implemented at the time of these events in 2007.
Though the RCMP monitoring of the two reporters was unauthorized, the note adds that limited physical surveillance of the journalists was approved by the police force in 2008 but never carried out.
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TORONTO The CEO of CIBC sent a note to all employees Wednesday, reiterating the companys non-tolerance for workplace harassment after a former worker filed a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the bank and a former executive director that alleges she was sexually assaulted and harassed.
Diane Vivares, a former associate in the banks equity markets group, is seeking more than $1 million in damages from CIBC World Markets and Kevin Carter, a former executive director at the bank.
In a lawsuit filed with the Ontario Superior Court in December, about two months after she was let go, Vivares alleges Carter sexually assaulted her at a company Christmas party in 2007 by shoving his hand down her skirt twice.
A CIBC sign is shown in Toronto's financial district on February 26, 2009. The CEO of CIBC has sent a note to all employees, reiterating the company's non-tolerance for workplace harassment after a former worker filed a lawsuit against the bank and a former executive director over allegations of sexual harassment and assault.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Carter denies the allegations in his statement of defence, saying he had little to no interaction with her at the party.
Vivares claims the bank also failed to protect her from future instances of sexual harassment, instead allowing a sexually poisoned and toxic work environment to develop.
In one alleged incident in 2014, Vivares claims that a junior trader approached her and showed her a pornographic picture of his girlfriends vagina on his phone.
The following year, a sexually explicit note was left on Vivares desk, her statement of claim alleges.
Vivares claims that senior management at the bank were aware of the alleged sexual harassment and assault but did not investigate the incidents or do anything to address the behaviour taking place on the trading floor.
She says in the lawsuit she did not report the incidents to human resources because she was afraid of losing her job, which she needed to support her parents and her daughter.
CIBC denies the allegations, none of which have been proven in court, in its statement of defence.
CIBC took all reasonable steps to provide Vivares with a work environment that was free from harassment, discrimination, and/or bullying, the statement of defence reads.
The bank says in its statement of defence that Vivares did not report the alleged incidents, despite the fact that the company has made numerous resources available, including an ethics hotline for employees who dont feel comfortable reporting an incident to their manager.
The lawsuit came to light following a report Wednesday in the Globe and Mail.
CIBC says in a statement that some of the allegations date back nearly a decade and that many of the individuals allegedly involved are no longer employed by the company.
The bank also says it only learned of the allegations when Vivares filed her lawsuit.
Whenever any harassment issue is raised through our confidential hotline or any other avenue of escalation we investigate thoroughly and take disciplinary action, including termination, if the allegations are proven, CIBC said in an email.
In his note to all of the companys employees Wednesday, CEO Victor Dodig says he cant discuss the specifics of the case for privacy reasons, but adds that any kind of harassment, discrimination or bullying will not be tolerated in the workplace.
Dodig says the evolution of the companys culture over the past year and a half is one of the things he is most proud of.
Is our work done? Absolutely not, Dodig says. Like most organizations, we need to do more and we will do more. You have my word on this.
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MAYERTHORPE, Alta. A railway trestle bridge northwest of Edmonton destroyed by a deliberately set fire has been rebuilt and train service has restarted.
Kate Fenske, spokeswoman for Canadian National (TSX:CNR), says crews worked 20 straight days to replace the bridge burned to the ground near Mayerthorpe on April 26.
Fenske said in an email Tuesday that the new bridge is made of steel and concrete.
A railway trestle bridge, shown in this handout image provided by CN rail, northwest of Edmonton destroyed by a deliberately set fire has been rebuilt and train service has restarted. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-CN *MANDATORY CREDIT*
Rail service was suspended after the fire but resumed on Sunday.
Fenske says design of the new structure began immediately after the fire and within hours materials and workers were on their way to Mayerthorpe.
Lawson Michael Schalm, who is 19, of Mayerthorpe faces 18 counts of arson following an investigation into a rash of fires, including the one on the CN bridge.
Schalm is the son of a former mayor of Mayerthorpe and joined the towns fire department as a junior member when he was 15.
He became a full member when he turned 18.
Schalm was among the firefighters who fought the fire on the bridge.
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Construction of the whats being touted as the citys tallest building the proposed 47-storey SkyCity Centre condo tower on Graham Avenue will hopefully get underway sometime next year, a spokesman for the developer said Tuesday.
Ben Myers, senior vice-president of market research and analytics for Torontos Fortress Real Developments, told delegates attending the 2016 Winnipeg Real Estate Forum that 150 of the projects 385 condos have been presold, and the presale target is 200 units.
Thats the next step to get to 200 sales. After that well secure (construction) financing, he said in a later interview.
A rendering of the SkyCity downtown condo development slated for construction next year.
Myers wouldnt say how long he thinks it might take to sell the other 50 units, although he admitted it would be nice if it happens by sometime this fall. He also wouldnt say when in 2017 the company hopes to begin building the $200-million tower, which will also include about 60,000 square feet of office space and 20,000 to 25,000 square feet of ground-level retail space.
(That) will depend on how quickly we can move these next 50 units and how quickly we can get financing. It ($200 million) is a big construction number, so well probably need several lenders to syndicate that loan.
He said lots of people have expressed an interest in participating in a syndicated loan arrangement. Potential lenders could include banks, credit unions and pension funds.
Myers was one of the participants in a panel discussion on development trends in downtown Winnipeg. He said if this project goes well, Fortress would like to do another condo development in Winnipeg.
Obviously the market conditions here are still very strong, he said later. I dont think it will be another 47-storey tower. But we would be interested in a low-rise (tower) or maybe something a little more boutique if the right partner comes along and presents us with the right opportunity.
Myers added it could be either residential or commercial condos, and could be in the downtown or in the suburbs.
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WINNIPEG Manitoba is in talks with Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia to join the New West Partnership trade agreement.
Its among the first moves made by Conservative Premier Brian Pallister after his election last month.
Pallister says joining the trade deal between the three western provinces will reduce trade barriers and give businesses more opportunity for growth.
The former NDP government came under fire from business leaders for declining to join the group even after some Saskatchewan Crown corporations started limiting bids to provinces who were part of the pact.
Pallister says he hopes Manitoba will formally sign on to the agreement within his first 100 days in office.
Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia set up the trade pact in 2010.
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CALGARY The head of the firm buying Sanjel Corp., Canadas largest privately held well-fracking company, says the target companys headquarters in Calgary will be shuttered when the deal closes later this month as a result of miserable demand for its oilfield services.
Regan Davis, president and CEO of Step Energy Services, also said that reports by two Sanjel employees that all but a handful of staff are losing their jobs are comically inaccurate, but refused to give actual workforce numbers or say how many Sanjel staff will be offered Step jobs.
Weve been hiring some. Were hopeful we will be able hire some more. But at this point we just dont have a whole bunch of clarity on that, Davis said in an interview earlier this week.
The office workers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they had been told their jobs would end May 31, adding that most of their co-workers had also been told they would no longer be needed.
Sanjel said in court documents last month that it had trimmed its workforce in Canada and the United States from 4,300 to 2,200 since the end of 2014 as low oil prices and shrinking client spending plans cut deeply into revenue. Its unclear how many of those staff worked in Canada.
Its probably worth reiterating that this was an asset transaction to begin with, said Davis. So it was never a transaction where we were buying the company; we were buying the assets of the company.
Davis said there are no plans to increase the size of Steps Calgary offices after the Sanjel deal closes.
However, Sanjels oilfield cementing operations are being spun off into a separate company that will need to find office and shop space and hire staff, he said.
More than 100,000 people are estimated to have lost their jobs in the Canadian oilpatch over the last two years as prices have plunged due to a glut of North American oil and gas attributed in part to higher production from fracked wells.
Sanjel announced in early April that it would enter court protection from creditors while negotiating the sale of its Canadian oilfield services assets to Step and similar assets in the United States to Denver-based Liberty Oilfield Services.
No financial details were given initially but a subsequent court filing by Sanjel revealed that the total expected return was between $325 million and $375 million, less than the $397 million owed to its secured lending syndicate led by Alberta bank ATB Financial. That makes any recovery unlikely for unsecured suppliers and bondholders owed about $400 million.
Sanjel leases most of its office and shop space from MacBain Properties. The firm is owned by the MacDonald family that also owns Sanjel but was not included in the Step purchase. Don MacDonald founded Sanjel in 1982.
Sanjel was among the largest five providers of pressure pumping services operating in Canada. Their crews inject liquids and sand under high pressure into underground formations to break up the rock and allow trapped oil and gas to flow into the well.
The procedure is called hydraulic fracturing or fracking and has been opposed by critics who fear it may taint potable water sources.
Step is a private company created in 2011 with the backing of Calgary energy investment firm ARC Financial Corp.
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TORONTO Ontario has passed legislation creating a cap-and-trade system to fight climate change, which the government predicts will add $5 a month to home heating bills and 4.3 cents to the price of a litre of gasoline, or $8 a month on average.
The costs, according to our economists, are $13 a month, and thats before we consider any of the investments, said Environment Minister Glen Murray.
So if youre buying an electric vehicle or home heating and cooling system or new energy systems that well be helping subsidize, that will lower those costs.
Under cap and trade, industries are given specific pollution limits, but can sell their emission allowances to other companies if they come in below their annual limit, or buy credits if they exceed it.
The province plans to hold its first auction of pollution credits in early 2017, and expects to raise $1.9 billion a year from the plan, promising to use the money to help people and companies transition to a low carbon economy.
The Chamber of Commerce urged the Liberals to delay implementation of cap and trade for one year.
We need to think about striking a balance between leading, driving and shaping, and not getting so far ahead of our competitors that we just get too far ahead, Chamber president Allan ODette said in an interview Wednesday. If we get so far out and we lose our competitive advantage, we need to be mindful of that.
The Progressive Conservatives support the idea of putting a price on carbon to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but say it should be revenue neutral, and claim the Liberals will use the money generated to balance the books.
PC Leader Patrick Brown, who skipped Wednesdays vote on the cap-and-trade bill, issued a release condemning the Liberals for adding to the cost of living.
Murray said economists determined that Browns idea of a revenue neutral carbon tax would eliminate the money the government plans to use to help people offset the costs of converting to a low-carbon economy.
The team recommended that would jump the cost per month to about $107 per household, about eight or nine times more, he said.
That confirmed the original numbers we saw when we choose cap-and-trade over a revenue neutral carbon tax system.
Ontario will join existing cap-and-trade markets in Quebec and California starting next January. Manitoba has also signed on to join in the cap-and-trade plan with Ontario and Quebec, but will limit it to 20 large polluters in the province.
Emission allowances will be capped at roughly 142 metric tonnes per year in 2017, which is expected to decline 4.17 per cent each year to 2020, when the Liberals hope to have achieved a 15-per-cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over 1990 levels.
But some major Ontario industries will be given a four-year exemption from cap-and-trade, which the government says is necessary to protect Ontario jobs in sectors that compete with jurisdictions without a carbon pricing system.
The carbon pricing scheme is a key part of the Liberals climate strategy, but their climate change action plan wont be officially released for a couple of weeks.
The Liberals denied a published report claiming their climate change plan would include phasing out the use of natural gas for home heating, and point out they are expanding the gas grid to more rural areas of the province.
There is no natural gas police, and natural gas will continue to be a part of home heating and cooling, insisted Murray.
With files from Allison Jones
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TORONTO The Ontario government plans to ban corporate and union donations to municipal politicians.
The Liberals are expected to propose amendments to the Municipal Act at committee today to prohibit companies and unions from donating to local politicians.
The government, which introduced legislation Tuesday to ban corporate and union donations at the provincial level, had said it would be up to municipal councils to decide whether or not to change their own fundraising rules.
But Municipal Affairs Minister Ted McMeekin has told The Canadian Press that the government has heard from a number of individuals and organizations across the province about the proposed Municipal Elections Modernization Act.
McMeekin says the province will ban corporate and union donations to council candidates and would-be school board trustees in all 445 Ontario municipalities.
He says the ban will create an even playing field for all political candidates.
Toronto already bans corporate and union donations during municipal elections, and several other municipal councils, including Ajax and Barrie, have been talking about a similar rule change to reduce the influence of money in local campaigns, especially from developers and home builders.
However, the majority of councillors in Richmond Hill voted against introducing a similar ban and sent the idea back to staff for further study.
Other proposed changes to the Municipal Elections Act would allow towns and cities the option of using ranked ballots in the 2018 elections, and would shorten campaign periods by opening candidate nominations in May instead of January.
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HALIFAX Police statistics that show only 22 per cent of sexual assault cases in Halifax have led to charges over the last five years are disturbing, says Nova Scotias justice minister.
Diana Whalen was reacting Thursday to statistics that show less than a quarter of sexual assaults reported to Halifax Regional Police and Halifax RCMP from 2010 to 2015 resulted in charges, while another 73 per cent were closed. Police said five per cent of cases remained open.
What you are presenting today are disturbing numbers, Whalen told reporters.
Nova Scotia Justice Minister Diana Whalen speaks to reporters during a press conference at the Department of Justice in Halifax on Monday, January 25, 2016. Whalen says she's disturbed by police statistics that show only 22 per cent of sexual assault cases in Halifax have led to charges over the last five years. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese
Id like the people of Nova Scotia to know that we are looking at it, that it is a concern and that we want to create a situation where people will feel safe and supported to come forward.
Whalen said her department is currently looking at how Nova Scotia compares to other provinces in dealing with sexual assault cases.
While not specific about possible steps, Whalen didnt rule out the possibility of looking at a sexual assault court, adding that other specialty courts have already been established for domestic violence, mental health and drug addiction.
It is something that could be looked at, she said.
Whalen said how people dealing with sexual assault are treated in conventional courts has been a concern of hers over her years in public life.
It certainly does give me pause to think about it as a women and as a mother.
Theresa Rath, a spokeswoman for the Halifax police, said officers are trained with a victim-centered approach, where officers will drop charges if the person making the allegations requests the investigation be dropped.
If at any time the victim says they dont wish to continue the police investigation, then we support that with no questions asked, she said.
Thats one possible reason our numbers are a little bit different If we were to force things through the court process, we would re-victimize the victim.
Rath also said that another reason cases are dropped is because there isnt sufficient evidence to proceed.
Sometimes people dont come forward immediately and that can mean a loss of evidence, she said.
Rath said that police are still analyzing the precise reasons for the low number of prosecutions, and hope to produce more complete information in the future.
In Ontario, a $2.8 million pilot project announced for this spring will help survivors of sexual assault gain access to four hours of free legal advice in Toronto, Ottawa and Thunder Bay.
The Opposition Progressive Conservatives in Nova Scotia have also introduced a bill that would require a victim of sexual assault to be treated with respect when testifying and also gives them the right to legal representation. Those people who cant afford to prosecute a case would also get some financial help to do so.
Tory Leader Jamie Baillie said the court process isnt a particularly welcoming one to victims of sexual assault and that needs to change.
This is why so few sexual attacks end up in a conviction and why predators end up back on the streets, said Baillie. This to me is an issue of fairness to survivors of sexual assault and its an issue of public safety and we ought to get on with it.
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HALIFAX Nova Scotia civil servants can wear clothing that reflects their gender identity and use the washroom of their choice under guidelines released Tuesday.
The guidelines for trans and gender variant employees, announced by the province on the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, also address the use of an employees identified name and pronoun.
Maddi MacDonald, the co-chair of Nova Scotias LGBTI Network, said releasing written guidelines will help make provincial workplaces more inclusive for trans people.
It solidifies the commitment, so in all areas of the public service all trans and gender variant employees will now be supported, MacDonald said.
MacDonald said while Nova Scotia has a fairly inclusive culture in general terms, there is still work that needs to be done.
In some areas there are still lots of systemic challenges in terms of accessing washrooms for example.
The public service commission conducted a census over the winter that indicated about one per cent of Nova Scotia government employees identify as trans or gender variant.
Community Services Minister Joanne Bernard said it is a step forward to have the provinces policy on support and inclusion in written form.
I think they (rules) could have been up for misinterpretation so having them in a clear document that is for everyone to use is nothing but positive, she said.
In December 2012 the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act was amended to include gender identity and gender expression as protected characteristics.
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Thirty years ago, AIDS was a death sentence that fired up homophobia and discrimination against gay men.
Today, its a manageable chronic illness and no longer vilified as a gay disease thanks to the Canadian AIDS Society, says Dr. Dick Smith, medical director of Our Own Health Centre. The non-profit is a safe haven for gay men in Winnipeg, offering them preventive health care. It payed tribute to the AIDS society Tuesday night.
Since 1986 when the Canadian AIDS Society was founded, we have seen HIV change from a disease that killed horribly and a society that fearfully despised its victims to a manageable chronic illness an epidemic that scientists now are working to end and a country where gay men and lesbians can marry and adopt children, said Smith.
CAROL SANDERS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dr. Dick Smith examines Scott Fitzpatrick at Our Own Health Centre in the Exchange District Tuesday. The centre focuses on preventative health care for gay men.
The societys grassroots organizers worked with the community, collected data, advocated for compassion and lobbied governments for resources and research, said the medical director of the health centre in Winnipegs Exchange District. The health centre opened in March to serve anyone working, living or visiting the Exchange District.
Were a resource for the neighbourhood, said Smith. We do pap smears and vaginal exams and all those things. Newcomers from abroad and First Nations are discovering the centre, and they get referrals from Siloam Mission nearby, he said.
Were good friends with the nurse at Red River College who sends over culinary arts students whenever a cut needs stitching.
The centre is averaging about 60 new patients a month, and more are welcome. Were delighted people in the neighbourhood are using us, Smith said.
Still, about 80 per cent of the regular patients are gay men such as Scott Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick switched doctors to be accepted and not given a hard time or asked a lot of probing questions about his sexual orientation, he said.
There was one doctor who would ask me all about being gay, said Fitzpatrick, 27.
There was a curiosity about it, and it made Fitzpatrick uncomfortable. Now he sees Smith. The gay physician helped found the Winnipeg Gay Community Health Centre decades ago. Smith came out of retirement in 2008 to open a part-time clinic for gay or bisexual men at Four Rivers Medical Clinic on Broadway where hed worked for 10 years.
The idea is gay men caring for gay men, and giving men access to health care without discrimination or feelings of shame, said Smith. The Exchange health centre also screens for HIV and sexually transmitted infections such as syphilis and gonorrhea that have spiked recently. It provides treatment for STIs with a focus on harm-reduction and prevention.
We have seen HIV change from a disease that killed horribly and a society that fearfully despised its victims to a manageable chronic illness an epidemic that scientists now are working to end and a country where gay men and lesbians can marry and adopt children Dr. Dick Smith
With doctors, a sex therapist, a clinical pharmacist, a kinesiologist and a small gym on site, the centre aims to treat the whole person, said Smith. Patients who receive ongoing care have infections such as HIV identified and treated more quickly and get help improving their overall health.
Walk-in clinics dont know people as well as we can know them, he said. We believe in comprehensive care.
For the centre to grow, it needs another doctor, but new doctors graduate with a lot of debt and cant afford to start out somewhere like the centre where they have to build up a practice, he said. Smith hopes the centre will attract another doctor preferably a woman who is able to grow her practice with the centre. A full-time female doctor would be wonderful.
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
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This article was published 18/05/2016 (2351 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Lt.-Gov. Janice Filmon will become the first representative of the Queen in Manitoba to address the Pride celebration.
Filmons office confirmed Wednesday that she will speak to the 29th annual Winnipeg Pride parade and rally from the steps of the Manitoba legislature at 11 a.m. on June 5. The event celebrates lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) culture and pride.
Shes happy to be able to do it, said a member of her staff.
Mikaela MacKenzie/Winnipeg Free Press files Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba Janice Filmon.
The lieutenant-governor does not give interviews, and has not given a hint of what she will say, said the official.
Its very exciting, said Pride president Jonathan Niemczak.
Its big for our organization and our community its another level of involvement, to have the representative of our head of state, Niemczak said. Its a show of support for a community thats been marginalized and victimized by the state.
Weve always received a letter from the lieutenant-governor for our program, but this is the first time the Manitoba lieutenant-governor has addressed Pride, he said.
We did invite her we got the formal confirmation in February, he said.
Filmons participation first became public on her monthly list of upcoming engagements.
Only a handful of representatives of the Queen has taken any part in Pride events across Canada, he said. Most Prides dont get that level its not common.
He said that former premier Greg Selinger spoke and marched the past two years. Earlier this week, Premier Brian Pallister said he would be at Pride this year, but did not elaborate on what he would be doing.
nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
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This article was published 18/05/2016 (2351 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
For Kevin Anderson, one of the aboriginal artists whose work will be on display in downtown Winnipeg this summer, wherever he happened to be that day was home.
He lived on the streets for 10 years, carrying his art supplies in a backpack: producing art, and losing it, and producing it again.
Art brought his life into focus, as it does for other artists, he explained in a quiet voice barely audible over the downtown traffic noises.
JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Artist Kevin Anderson displays one of his works that is part of the Indigenous Artwalk.
The Indigenous Artwalk, unveiled Tuesday by the Winnipeg Downtown BIZ, opens the world of aboriginal artists such as Anderson to the rest of Manitobans. Twelve storefronts, either on or just off Portage Avenue between Vaughan and Fort streets, are displaying works by aboriginal artists.
The project was initiated by the BIZs aboriginal peoples advisory council.
Art is a way of telling our stories and expressing who we are as a people, said Sharon Redsky, an aboriginal advisory council member and one of the artists of the Shoal Lake No. 40 art display in the window of the Womens Health Clinic on Graham Avenue.
The Shoal Lake band has provided water for the City of Winnipeg for a century but has not had its own drinking water for 19 years, Redsky said. Her art display includes a traditional jingle dress, beadwork and photographs.
Andersons art is different. It melds traditional aboriginal art and modern art with fantasy. His ink drawings are half-colourized, and half-ink sketch, like an unfinished page in a colouring book.
The colourized part he wants you to see first; the non-colourized should come afterward and sink in more slowly. His drawing, in the window of Book Fair on Portage Avenue, is called Bittersweet, and shows a tale of elders in colour in the foreground and alcohol abuse to the side in black and white. They are surrounded by toadstools like in a fairy tale. The addict in black and white will not go to the elders for help, Anderson explained. Thats a mistake, he said.
Andersons life has been anything but a fairy tale. Quiet, but not necessarily shy, he described an abusive childhood, 10 years of homelessness and a battle with cancer, and hes only 41 years old.
I learned how to survive, he said, crossing Portage Avenue during a media tour of some of the storefront art.
He still carries his art supplies in his backpack but now with prints of his artwork he sells for about $20 each wherever he is, places such as Tim Hortons, Portage Place and The Forks.
As long as Ive got a pencil and paper with me, Im OK, he said. An Ojibwa originally from Sioux Lookout in northwestern Ontario, Anderson has been off the streets in Winnipeg the past three years. He said his art is also on display in Neechi Niche (part of Neechi Commons), the Edge Gallery, Cree-Ations, and the Canadian Plains Gallery.
bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca
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OTTAWA The federal Liberals voted to cut off debate on legislation amending maintenance job requirements for Air Canada in three provinces Tuesday for the second time in less than a month, despite the express wishes of two provincial governments.
Bill C-10, which amends the Air Canada Public Participation Act, will go to a vote on third reading as early as Wednesday after the government introduced a time-allocation measure on it Tuesday.
The Liberals performed a similar manoeuvre last month to cut off debate at second reading.
SEAN KILPATRICK / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Winnipeg North MP and deputy House leader Kevin Lamoureux said there is a finite amount of time available to debate all the bills before the House of Commons, but the opposition isnt being reasonable in negotiating debate time.
Winnipeg North MP and deputy House leader Kevin Lamoureux said there is a finite amount of time available to debate all the bills before the House of Commons, but the opposition isnt being reasonable in negotiating debate time.
Unless the opposition wants to work with the government in building a consensus and passing through in orderly fashion, then time allocation will have to be used, said Lamoureux. The biggest concern has got to be the long-term best interests of the aerospace industry. It is believed this bill, if passed, will in fact, help the industry.
However, Elmwood-Transcona NDP MP Daniel Blaikie said the government has zero justification for fast-tracking the legislation.
The existing act requires the airline to keep overhaul centres in Winnipeg, Montreal, and Mississauga, Ont., but that hasnt been the case since Aveos Fleet Performance went bankrupt four years ago. More than 2,600 people lost their jobs, including 400 in Winnipeg. Air Canada has done most of its heavy maintenance work outside the country since then.
Quebec sued, supported by Manitoba, and won in court. The decision was upheld on appeal.
Air Canada was taking the case to the Supreme Court, but that is on hold while it negotiates settlements with Manitoba and Quebec that include a maintenance centre of excellence in both provinces, as well as the purchase of new jets from Quebecs Bombardier Inc. and the maintenance on those jets for up to 20 years.
Bill C-10 would amend the act to still require Air Canada to have maintenance jobs in Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario but gives the airline the freedom to decide what kind of jobs. If the amendment passes before Manitoba and Quebec settle with the airline, their bargaining power is limited because they will no longer have a case to sue.
Quebec asked the government not to enact the legislation until the legal case is concluded. Manitoba Justice Minister and deputy premier Heather Stefanson said Ottawa needs to at least hold off on the bill until Manitoba and Air Canada finish talks. She said she was disappointed the federal Liberals are pushing the bill through, and local MPs are helping.
Its unfortunate they chose not to stand up for Manitoba, she said.
Last week, Stefanson told the committee reviewing the bill her government does not support it because it doesnt appear to provide a net gain to Manitoba in terms of jobs. Theoretically, Air Canada could meet its new obligation with a single maintenance worker in Winnipeg.
Lamoureux said just because there was a change in the Manitoba government (the Conservatives were sworn in May 3) shouldnt mean Ottawa stops the process already underway.
We had a responsibility to work with the government of the day when the government made the indication they were pulling out of the legal action against Air Canada, he told the Free Press in an interview. Now that there is a change in government you cant expect the new government to change all the rules of engagement that were there.
mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca
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Jonathan Trout has spent most of his life surrounded by bad people. And so the Winnipeg man claims he needed to take extreme steps to protect his family as he tried to put a shady past behind him.
Trout admits stashing a .357 handgun in his bedroom closet, along with plenty of ammunition. Police discovered the weapon while executing a search warrant in 2013.
Its the type of crime that typically attracts a lengthy sting behind bars. But a Manitoba judge has agreed to give Trout a major break, citing the unusual circumstances of his case. Trout was given a two-year-less-a-day conditional sentence Tuesday, allowing him to remain under house arrest while caring for his wife and two young children.
In reaching my decision, I have considered at great length the question of whether removing the accused from his family at the very moment he is progressing to establish a stable environment for his family serves the interests of justice, said Court of Queens Bench Justice Sheldon Lanchberry. I believe incarceration would serve no purpose at this time.
Trout has taken major steps in the more than two years since his bail, including completing programming and treatment while out on bail without incident. He also also tried to distance himself from the Manitoba Warriors gang, which he is listed as an associate of. The Crown was seeking a three-year prison term, which they said was the usual starting point for these types of gun crimes.
But Lanchberry said this is the type of rare case where custody isnt the answer. He noted Trout comes from a First Nations family which has been deeply impacted by the residential school system and has led to plenty of abuse and neglect.
You have made it abundantly clear that it is your childrens future that is most important to you. This sentence is being imposed on you to provide you with that opportunity. It is clearly an attempt to break the residential school cycle which continues to plague Canada today, said Lanchberry.
Sending Trout to jail would be risking the potential of another generation lost by exposing his children to life without a father. Instead, Lanchberry said Trout and his family appear to have broken the cycle of domestic abuse and alcoholism.
However, the judge warned Trout that any breaches of his conditional sentence which includes a 24-hour curfew would not be taken lightly and likely result in the remainder of his penalty converted to custody.
Youll have to live with the consequences that follow to your children, Lanchberry said. You will not only have broken your promise to the courts, but more importantly your promise to your children.
www.mikeoncrime.com
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A 26-year-old woman has admitted taking advantage of a 13-year-old boys infatuation with her and commencing an illegal sexual relationship with him.
The accused, who was 22 at the time and cant be named to protect the identity of the teen victim, pleaded guilty Tuesday to sexual interference. She will be sentenced later this year following completion of a court-ordered report.
Crown attorney Chantal Boutin told court the woman met the boy through her mother, as they worked together at a rural Manitoba business.
He was infatuated with her and developed a crush on her. She was aware of his age at all material points in time, Boutin said. He believed she was his girlfriend and was in love with her.
The legal age of consent in Canada is 16, but that didnt stop the woman from having sexual intercourse with the boy on five occasions between December 2012 and March 2013, court was told.
The incidents occurred in her home, in the boys home, in a rural Manitoba hotel and in her truck, which she often picked the boy up from school in.
She told him not to tell anyone, said Boutin.
Police were contacted when the boys mother found out about the relationship.
Crown and defence lawyers didnt say if they would be making a joint-recommendation on sentence. The accused was set to the fight the case and go on trial Tuesday before the resolution was reached.
www.mikeoncrime.com
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The Opposition NDP wants a judge to decide whether Premier Brian Pallister erred in not disclosing two companies he controls in Costa Rica in conflict-of-interest forms submitted to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.
New Democrat justice critic Andrew Swan called out Pallister during Tuesdays question period for failing to disclose the majority shares he currently holds in two companies located in the foreign country.
The Conflict of Interest Act is pretty clear, it says that at the start of every legislative session, every MLA must submit a declaration including shares of any corporation, any corporation in the world, Swan said.
MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Premier Brian Pallister stands up to respond during the first question period of the 41st sitting of the Manitoba Legislature Tuesday.
You can go over to the clerks office right across the hall and you can have a look at Mr. Pallisters declaration from last November, in which he does not include those.
The Costa Rica Star newspaper reported last month that public records search showed Pallister owns three parcels of land, through a holding company in Costa Rica of which he is listed as president. The paper also reported Pallister controls a second holding company that owns two vehicles. It said it is common practice for foreign nationals to place real estate and vehicles in holding companies.
Pallister was quick to shut down Swans accusations, telling the media after question period he had complied with all conflict-of-interest rules. The Tories previously stated Pallister had acted on the advice from the provinces Conflict of Interest Commissioner in all his disclosure obligations.
I would encourage Mr. Swan to not try and reframe the gutter politics of the last third of the election campaign again, I dont think it serves anyone in public life very well, Pallister said.
According to the Conflict of Interest Act, within 15 days of becoming an MLA, members must submit a statement disclosing assets and interests. This includes the name of every corporation, and every subsidiary of every corporation in which the member holds a beneficial interest in five per cent or more or holds a share warrant or purchase option in respect of five per cent or more.
On his disclosure form filed with the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, dated Nov. 30, 2015, Pallister listed properties he owned in Manitoba, along with corporate shares in Pallister Insurance Agency.
Swan wants to see the issue go to a Court of Queens Bench judge decide if Pallister is breaking the Conflict of Interest Act by not disclosing his stake in the foreign companies.
I have asked the Attorney General (Justice Minister Heather Stefanson) today if she would simply refer it directly to a judge at the Court of Queens Bench, who is the person who has to make the decision, said Swan. It goes directly to court because it is so important.
kristin.annable@freepress.mb.ca
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Winnipegs best features will be on display the first week of June when more than 1,500 municipal officials from across Canada descend on the Manitoba capital.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) is holding its annual meeting here, June 2-5.
Its a convention, so, like any convention, the mayors, reeves and councillors from municipalities large and small will listen to speeches (Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is the keynote speaker on June 3), hammer out and approve policy resolutions, and take in workshops on 20 different municipal issues.
Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responds to a question during question period in the House of Commons earlier this week.
The civic politicians will also have time to tour some of the citys popular destinations as well as exclusive inside looks at some spots not on a typical tourist map the Brady landfill; the southwest transit corridor; a sewage treatment plant; the Red River Floodway; and CN Rails $35-million training centre in Transcona, the CN Campus.
The conference is an opportunity to showcase Winnipeg and the great things happening here because there really are a lot of great things going on, said Coun. Jenny Gerbasi, Winnipegs longest serving city councillor, who has been actively involved in FCM for several years.
Gerbasi (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) has risen up the FCMs leadership rank. She had been second vice-president and was unopposed for 1st VP. The FCMs executive officers will be affirmed June 5.
Gerbasi said planning for the four-day conference was in the works for several years. While FCM is responsible for the business end of the annual conference, the host city takes care of the social events and the local tours.
Winnipeg organized 25 different local tours and by mid-May, most of them were fully booked: tours of public art installations, and walking tours of Old St. Boniface, Central Park, downtown and the Exchange District. Theres even a tour by local music historian John Einarson of the citys rock and roll roots. Similar tours have been organized for delegates companions.
These are pretty nice things for people from far away to see, Gerbasi said. We have experts who can tell some really great stories.
In addition to Trudeau, there will be appearance and speeches by NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. The Conservatives will be represented by South Surrey-White Rock MP Dianne Watts.
The heavy political presence here is no accident. The FCM has actively lobbied the political parties for years on several key issues, including new funding for infrastructure and transit, housing, and climate change mitigation. Gerbasi said the Liberals adopted many of the FCM positions for their successful federal campaign and FCM staff are working with government officials to implement those policies.
FCM is the voice of the municipal sector in Canada and we have become an important voice, Gerbasi said. We have a staff-to-staff relationship with the government that is very active and we have the political relationships. Were working closely with Ottawa right now on the details of those programs.
aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca
FCM workshops Include
Budget 2016: What It Means For The Municipal Sector
Rail Talk: Grade Crossings, Proximity Issues and more
Winning Young: Cracking the Code At The Ballot Box
How Smart Can Help Reduce GHG Emission
Rural Town Hall
Study Tours Include
Innovative Infrastructure Delivery Chief Peguis Trail Extension P3
Central Park Redevelopment
Winnipegs Public Art
Winnipegs Rock and Roll Roots
Red River Floodway
Urban Forest Tour
Downtown Development & Rejuvenation
Opinion
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The late Dr. Jack Kevorkian was arguably the most controversial figure in the contemporary right-to-die movement. When he wrote Prescription: Medicide, the Goodness of Planned Death in 1991, Kevorkian claimed the principle of self-determination the ability to decide for oneself the time, place and manner of ones death was sacrosanct. Consumed by a fervent belief in radical autonomy, he resorted to drastic measures that challenged the status quo prohibiting euthanasia and assisted suicide. Although his methods and core beliefs were once considered extremist, ironically, they have now become part of the mainstream.
In 1991, Kevorkian helped 54-year-old Janet Adkins die with the use of his infamous Thanatron. At Adkins own touch of a button, potassium chloride was released, and her heart stopped in minutes. What made the case particularly controversial was the fact Adkins was not terminally ill. She suffered from early-onset Alzheimers disease and wanted to die while she could still make a rational choice.
After participating in Adkins suicide, Kevorkian was labelled by his detractors as Dr. Death, someone who exploited the fears of the vulnerable for his own personal agenda. Today, however, aid in dying is legal in five American states, and like Adkins, the patient performs the final death-hastening act using medication prescribed by a doctor.
Dr. Jack Kervorkian makes a point during a media conference following his release from prison in 2007. He served more than eight years of an original 10 to 25 year sentence for second-degree murder. The Windsor Star-Dan Janisse
Even in Canada, aid in dying is not necessarily restricted to the terminally ill. In February 2016, the Report of the Special Joint Committee on Physician-Assisted Dying recommended assistance be made available to those with terminal and non-terminal grievous and irremediable medical conditions that cause enduring suffering that is intolerable to the individual in the circumstance of his or her condition. Following these criteria, Adkins would have made an ideal candidate. What was once considered unthinkable providing the means for a non-terminally ill assisted suicide has now become a project of the Canadian government.
In 1993, Kevorkians utilitarian position appeared even more unorthodox when he supported requests by death-row inmates to have their vital organs donated before execution. Kevorkian claimed that those waiting for transplants were dying needlessly, so his more rational solution involved irreversible surgical depth anesthesia, a procedure that placed felons in a deep sleep so their organs could be harvested. If the procedure was adopted, the physician would become the executioner.
Kevorkian even supported medical experimentation on anesthetized death-row inmates who had provided former consent. At the time, comparisons were made to Nazi eugenics. Nonetheless, prominent academics presently support Kevorkians so-called ghoulish opportunism, including Thomas L. Beauchamp, an acclaimed American professor and philosopher. Beauchamp believes non-sentient beings that is, those who lack moral personhood could be used as both human research subjects and as sources of needed organs. Undoubtedly, Kevorkian was in tune with the future of bioethics.
Although Kevorkian had already been involved in at least 130 cases of assisted suicide, in 1998 he pushed the envelope even further in the case of Thomas Youk, a man suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrigs disease.
Kevorkian decided to administer a lethal injection himself, and two months later, a videotape of the procedure aired on 60 Minutes, sparking a national outcry. In March of 1999, Kevorkian was convicted of second-degree murder, and after serving eight years, he was released in 2007. Kevorkians last stand, however, was a sign of things to come. By 2002, euthanasia had become legal in both Holland and Belgium. In 2016, the province of Quebec reported its first case of euthanasia.
Due to Kevorkians tireless campaign for patient self-determination, the right to die became a vital part of the public discourse. Yet, it was the strength of his convictions that made Kevorkian both compelling and contentious. He was a hero to euthanasia advocates, a villain to prohibitionists. And no matter what role he may have played in the modern death and dying movement, one thing is certain: we have inherited his values and are now living in his world.
Stuart Chambers is a professor in the faculties of arts and social sciences at the University of Ottawa. His doctoral dissertation explored the death and dying debate in Canada. He can be reached at schamber@uottawa.ca.
Opinion
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This article was published 17/05/2016 (2352 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
If the electoral calendar and tradition hold true, there should be somewhere in the neighbourhood of 240 individual question periods in the Manitoba legislature between now and the spring of 2020 when the next general provincial election takes place. That is 240 opportunities for the now-opposition NDP to grill the now-governing Progressive Conservatives on all manner of things. And 240 opportunities for the Tories to respond.
If Tuesdays question period was any indication the first QP of the new session of the 41st session of the Manitoba legislature this is going to be a very long, very painful exercise for the once great, now greatly diminished ranks of the NDP.
It has always been thus.
MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Premier Brian Pallister talks to the media after the first Question Period of the 41st sitting of the Legislature of the Province of Manitoba on Tuesday.
Long-serving governments that lose elections can expect question period to become a daily exercise in self-flagellation. Once in opposition, former governing parties try to function as effective critics. However, even as they attempt to dog the new governments every move, question period becomes a daily reminder of everything the previous government did wrong.
Case in point:
On Tuesday, NDP finance critic and former cabinet minister James Allum asked new Tory Finance Minister Cameron Friesen why his government did not hold public consultations in preparation for his first provincial budget, expected to be tabled May 31. By the time its all said and done, Friesen will have barely a month from the time he was sworn into cabinet until budget day, an extremely brief period for such a huge task. As a result, formal public budget consultations were not held.
Allum certainly played his part, looking and sounding as if he had spent a long time on the opposition benches. He shook his head in disgust as he finished his question, his tone dripping with disdain for the obvious negligence demonstrated by the new finance minister. In all good conscience, how could Friesen bring forward a budget without first consulting with the public?
Sitting in his seat in the front bench, Friesen smiled a smile that comes easily to people that figure out the punchline long before it is told. Rising to his feet, he calmly noted his government consulted with the public largely through a general election in which the Tories won a massive majority. He also pointed out his party was forced to bring in a budget on a hasty timetable because the NDP largely to avoid having to reveal the extent of their fiscal difficulties elected to forgo the introduction of a full budget.
As Friesen sat back down in his seat, knowing grin still plastered to his face, the government side of the legislature erupted in lusty applause.
That is, in a nutshell, the narrative we will see in question period, at least, for the time being.
The NDP have too much baggage and the Tories have way too much ammunition to fire back at their would-be tormentors. That is a legislative tradition as old as the daily order paper or Roberts Rules of Order.
Does it mean Premier Brian Pallisters government is going to enjoy a free ride through its first session? Not likely. Even though the NDP lack a lot of credibility on a lot of files, there will always be moments when the new government can and will be called to task.
Another case in point:
Newly minted NDP MLA Wab Kinew asked a well-timed question about what, if any, involvement new Education Minister Ian Wishart would have in mediating a dispute between a Steinbach family and the Hanover School Division.
During the recent provincial election campaign, several media outlets reported on the fight between Steinbach resident Michelle McHale, who said her daughter was being bullied after it became known she lives in a house with two moms. McHale asked the HSD to expand its curriculum to include information about same-sex families and sexual orientation. The division responded by saying it has directed teachers to avoid any discussion of homosexuality or LGBTTQ issues.
This is a sensitive issue for the Tories. In opposition, the party found itself in hot water when it opposed a NDP bill that forced school divisions to accommodate student affinity groups that sought to support LGBTTQ students. Its ambivalence about the legislation was quickly used by the NDP to portray the Tories as intolerant. The Tories, hard-pressed by core supporters to reject the law, did little to defuse the allegation.
In his first official response in question period, Wishart did little to erase those concerns. He said, for now, he will leave the matter up to HSD to manage. If a complaint comes forward, Wishart said, he will consider other options.
That was an entirely unsatisfying response to a 12-year-old being bullied for having same-sex parents. If youre a Tory strategist, your political iceberg early warning system ought to be chiming by now.
The ebb and flow of question period is clear evidence a few really weak questions will not prevent the NDP from finding the policy fissures and political dilemmas that will inevitably challenge the new government.
With 239 question periods to go, there will be days when the NDP cannot escape its own shortcomings. And other days, the new Tory government will be creating some new ones of its own.
dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca
On May 11, Southeast Tech honored Sen. Jeremy Miller as its Outstanding Alumni of the Year at its spring commencement ceremony.
We are very proud to call Jeremy Miller one of our alumni and acknowledge him as our state senator. Senator Miller is a loyal advocate for Minnesota State College Southeast Technical and has students best interests at heart, said Southeast Technical President Dr. Dorothy Duran. We were honored to have him speak at our graduation ceremony.
A 2004 graduate, Miller earned an associate of science degree in accounting from the Winona campus. He is Chief Financial Officer for Wm. Miller Scrap Iron & Metal Co., where his responsibilities include accounting, business development, marketing, human resources, and domestic and global sales.
Jeremy is currently serving his second term as a member of the Minnesota Senate. His interests as a state senator include stimulating job growth, improving educational outcomes, and preserving and protecting our unique natural resources.
As an intensive-care nurse at Winona Health, Helen Bagshaw sees plenty of hard scenarios like intoxicated teens coming into the hospital to get their stomachs pumped.
Bagshaw said some parents are in shock, while others knew something was wrong but did not know to discuss it with their child. Bagshaw, a mother of four, said the conversations have to start well before the hospital.
Youre always a parent first, Bagshaw said.
So Bagshaw, who also serves on the Winona County Alliance for Substance Abuse Preventions board, is helping promote the groups work bringing the national campaign Parents who Host Lose the Most to Winona.
ASAP program coordinator Phil Huerta said people who start drinking so young are most likely doing so because they believe everyone else is, too.
Its a myth, he said, one he hopes the campaign will educate people on.
Theres a perception in the Winona County schools (that) students think that their peers drink monthly or more often, so we just want to make sure that they understand thats not really the reality, he said.
According to the most recent Minnesota Student Survey, the percentage of kids who self-reported consuming alcohol or knowing those who did rose from 16 percent in 2010 to 28 percent in 2013, prompting the alliance to act through an awareness and outreach campaign.
Huerta has been visiting area schools to talk with students and administrators about the dangers of underage drinking, especially amid prom and graduation and graduation party season.
The alliance will be promoting the campaign through the end of June. Parents who wish to participate in the program and take a pledge to not host underage drinking parties can do so by visiting the alliances website.
Huerta said the website also provides a list of other parents who have signed the pledge, along with substance-free party planning tips.
This is kind of a benefit for parents because they can see other community members or peers that have said they wouldnt (serve alcohol), so they know its a safe place for their kids to go to, Huerta said.
He said there are resources on the website, too, to have the kinds of conversations Bagshaw believes are so crucial to changing a culture.
I want to know that Im not the only parent, she said of taking the pledge. Talk to more parents. The more that take it on, the easier it is. (If) everyones doing it, it becomes the norm.
Bagshaw, as both nurse and mom, does not want to see the annual rites of celebration turn to tragedy.
While its prom and while its graduation, we want to celebrate everything that is great about being a teenager, but we want to stop teenage drinking, she said.
Theres a new restaurant in town, and this one is on wheels. Opened in late August, the Chefs Table food truck can be seen at many locations
Rob Radig of Beaver Dam Elks Lodge 1540 was installed as the Wisconsin Elks Association State President on May 1 in Green Bay.
Radig, who was elected in May 2015, will lead the association that is made up of 32 Elks Lodges throughout Wisconsin with thousands of members contributing to building their communities through volunteer work and charitable donations.
I am honored to be chosen to lead a remarkable group of men and women who show their love of country and community by working to help others, Radig said.
Radig has served as a state vice president, state trustee and several other state officer positions. He has served on and chaired state committees including drug awareness and government relations.
Radig has represented Beaver Dam and the Wisconsin Elks at the national convention several times and will lead the Wisconsin delegation to the Grand Lodge Convention in July 2016 when he is state president.
Locally, Radig has served as the Exalted Ruler (president) of the Beaver Dam Lodge twice and filled numerous other officer positions.
He chairs the annual Christmas food basket program, which annually delivers food to more than 500 families throughout Dodge County.
He served as an alderman for the city of Beaver Dam for 10 years.
He is married to Michelle Radig, who along with their three children are very active with the Elks.
JUNEAU | The Dodge County Board of Supervisors honored the six county board members who recently completed their final term on the board.
The county board approved expressing appreciation to former supervisors Chester Caine, Randy Grebel, Clem Hoelzel, Howard Kriewald, Rodger Mattson, and Darrell Pollesch at the beginning of its monthly meeting on Tuesday.
"Looking around, I am the only person who was here 30 years ago," Caine said. "It's been a great 30 years. The constituents allowed us to take care of the count business, and I never took that lightly. Now it is your turn.
Caine represented District 12 from 1986 to 2012 and District 18 from 2012 to 2016. During his 30 years on the county board, he served on the following committees: highway, commission on aging, veterans service commission, reapportionment, library board, special centralized payroll and human resources and building.
Grebel represented District 7 from 2004 to 2016. During his 12 years on the county board, he served on the building, planning, development and parks, and highway committee.
Hoelzel represented District 29 from 1995 to 1999, district 30 from 2004 to 2012 and district 27 from 2012 to 2015. During his 16 years on the county board, he served on the insurance, inventory and purchasing parks commission, waste facility contract, personnel and labor negotiations, community action council, audit, health facilities, building, human services and health board, aging advisory and aging disability resource center governing board.
Kriewald represented District 21 from 1986 to 2012 and District 9 from 2012 to 2016. During his 30 years on the board, Kriewald served on the parks, planning and surveying, agriculture and extension, land conservation, audit, library board, Mid Wisconsin Federated Library Board, insurance, inventory and purchasing, land information and UW-Extension education.
Mattson represented District 2 from 2004 to 2012 and District 33 from 2012 to 2016. During his 12 years on the county board, Mattson served on the building, community options planning, aging disability resource center governing board, audit and taxation.
Pollesch represented District 36 from 1996 to 2002 and again from 2010 to 2012. He represented District 1 from 2012 to 2016. During his 11 years on the county board, Pollesch served on the health facilities, law enforcement audit and UW-Extension education committees.
The states highest court Wednesday preserved state superintendent Tony Evers authority over public schools, ruling against Gov. Scott Walker and a 2011 law he signed that requires state agencies to seek approval from the governor before creating new administrative rules to carry out policies, regulations and laws.
In a 4-3 decision, two members of the courts conservative majority joined two liberal justices to uphold a 1996 ruling that gives the state superintendent autonomy in adopting policies that govern Wisconsins schools. The decision said the 2011 law cannot constitutionally be applied to the Department of Public Instruction, a state agency the superintendent oversees.
The ruling is a blow to Republicans, who have sought to diminish the power of DPI for years and have wrangled with Evers over his adoption of the Common Core State Standards, his opposition to the expansion of the states school voucher system and how to rate schools under the states accountability system.
Justice Michael Gableman wrote the lead concurring opinion, joined by Justices Shirley Abrahamson, Ann Walsh Bradley and David Prosser. Chief Justice Patience Roggensack and Justices Rebecca Bradley and Annette Ziegler dissented.
Attorneys representing Walker and the state Department of Justice argued a 1996 Supreme Court ruling should be overturned if it keeps lawmakers from overriding the superintendents decisions. That ruling blocked Gov. Tommy Thompson from giving decision-making authority to a new state education commission, a second state department of education and a new state secretary of education that would be under the control of the governors office.
Attorneys arguing on behalf of Evers said as a nonpartisan, elected constitutional officer, the state superintendent has complete supervision over education policy in Wisconsin.
The courts majority agreed. Gableman wrote that to diminish the superintendents authority would require a constitutional amendment.
In a separate concurring opinion, Abrahamson noted that the office of superintendent is the only state office other than the governors to be constitutionally vested with powers, or allowed to create and implement its own policies. Those powers cannot essentially be vetoed by lawmakers and the governor, she said.
In her dissent, Roggensack said when the superintendent creates rules, he or she is exercising authority granted by the Legislature under state law and not the constitution. She wrote that the Legislature has its own constitutional authority to direct state agencies, including DPI, to make rules.
1996 case
Before Prosser was appointed to the Supreme Court by Thompson, he wrote a brief in the case that resulted in the 1996 ruling upholding the state superintendents independence. In that brief, he defended Thompsons efforts to diminish the superintendents power, according to a 1998 Capital Times article.
He told reporters at the time, I will be flabbergasted if the governor does not win this case.
Evers said hes hopeful Wednesdays ruling will bring to an end lawmakers efforts to revise his offices duties and proposals to turn his position into an appointed one.
People want an elected state superintendent, Evers said in an interview. Its part of our DNA. I kind of hope people will focus on something more important now.
He added, If people dont like the job Im doing, they can vote me out of the office. Thats what our forefathers intended. Theres already a remedy there.
Walker spokesman Tom Evenson said the governors office will continue to advocate for policies that prioritize student success and emphasized Walker has a good working relationship with Dr. Evers.
Beginning with the Act 10 reforms in 2011, Governor Walker is dedicated to challenging the status quo when it impedes the ability of parents, school boards, and students to get the best educational outcomes, Evenson said in an email.
Evenson did not directly comment on the ruling.
Rick Esenberg, president and general counsel of the conservative legal group Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, who argued before the court in favor of the 2011 law, lamented the courts ruling Wednesday, saying the superintendents power to make regulations has ebbed and flowed over time, presumably in a constitutional manner. Therefore, the superintendent does not need unchecked rule-making authority to fulfill his/her constitutional duties.
Lester Pines, who represented former Madison Teachers Inc. president Peggy Coyne and other plaintiffs in the case originally filed in Dane County Circuit Court, called Wednesdays ruling significant, noting it is the second time in 20 years the states highest court said the founders of Wisconsin, who proposed the states constitution that outlines the power and scope of the state superintendents duties, meant what they said, and thats good.
He said laws governing DPI arent fully fleshed out in how they will be applied in practice, which is why the superintendents position needs the authority the constitution provides.
Attorney General Brad Schimel said through a spokesman that though hes disappointed in the ruling, a majority of justices have given the clear signal to the Legislature that they may reduce or adjust the superintendents powers as they determine in the best interest of Wisconsin.
Africas first Chair in Digital Business established at Wits
Telkom and Wits Business School partner to advance research in the field of digital business.
Africas first Chair in Digital Business is to be established at the Wits Business School through an initial five-year funding commitment from Telkom. This is in line with leading academic institutions around the world where the digital aspect of business is becoming an essential part of business studies.
Research in digital business
This Chair is a first for South Africa and the continent and will ensure that as a business school located in the economic heart of Africa, we are at the forefront of delivering important research and relevant programmes that are essential for doing business in todays digitised world, says Professor Steve Bluen, Head of the Wits Business School.
The impact of this Chair is significant. Not only will it contribute to the economy by developing essential skills that will boost employment and encourage start-ups, but it responds directly to the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy adopted by the African Union in 2014 that aims to reposition the continent as a collection of technology-driven economies, ensuring the sustainable growth of the countries within.
The rapid development of information and communication technologies around the world and across the continent means that these days the internet is a key part of most businesses. Nearly every company or institution has online operations and many businesses now operate solely online.
Wits Business School also plans to conduct research in the field of digital business in Africa, and advance awareness of digital business and readiness by engaging with business, government and communities.
A digital business removes the barriers of time and distance, creating local jobs that can compete in a global market, says Professor Chris van der Hoven, Academic Director at the Wits Business School.
As we stand on the brink of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, business persons must understand the challenges, opportunities and risks of digital business, and be able to develop and implement digital business strategies, including digital management, web and data analytics and digital marketing in order to remain competitive locally and globally.
Potential future developments include the Wits Business School offering a Master of Management in Digital Business, and the establishment of a Centre for Digital Business.
New frontiers
Sipho Maseko, Group Chief Executive at Telkom, said the availability of studies in digital business was an essential development for Africa and South Africa.
Most businesses are, to an ever-increasing extent, online business. The next generation of business people will be even more exposed to new technologies, along with the threats and opportunities of digital disruption. Unless digital business is part of the business model, companies wont survive.
The old analogue approach is history. Digitalisation is helping companies achieve their business goals in a new real-time and information-rich marketplace. This is the world our young people are entering.
Maseko said the collaboration with the Wits Business School would also help to identify and develop black South African and African talent in the field of digital business.
Professor Adam Habib, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Wits University, says: The Telkom Chair is a welcome addition to Wits suite of data science and big data courses and research, as well as to our new innovation hub, the Tshimologong Precinct, in Braamfontein. The development of a successful technology ecosystem is crucial to economic growth and international competitiveness, and I have no doubt that these cutting edge offerings will be central to this.
In addition to its initial R32.7 million funding over five years, Telkom would create a black internship programme for Wits Business School students. Telkom would also offer free digital business training to its own staff, and particularly executives studying for a masters degree in digital business.
Details around when courses will start, academic appointments, research and curriculum information will be announced in the future.
It's time to get out the vote for W&Ms Agar Art entry
Bacterial emojis: William & Mary students Danielle Horridge 17 and Danny Rosenberg 17 created this set of emojis using different species of bacteria. The work is a finalist in an {{https://www.facebook.com/asmfan/photos/a.10155021120285200.1073741837.62453295199/10155021176480200/?type=3&theater,Agar Art}} contest hosted by the American Society for Microbiology. Image courtesy of Danny Rosenberg Photo - of - Hide Caption
A team from William & Mary is a finalist in the 2016 American Society for Microbiology Agar Art contest, and your vote can help win the Peoples Choice Award.
The idea, biologist William Buchser explains, is to make art in an agar plate, a kind of petri dish. Agar is a medium for culturing bacteria, which bloom in different patterns. Danielle Horridge 17 and Danny Rosenberg 17 created a set of emojis, rendered in bacteria.
Danielle and I thought it would be fun to combine older microbiology techniques with something modern, fun and relatable, Rosenberg said in an email. Microorganisms tend to be falsely represented as either boring compared to our cells, or as only being dangerous pathogens that we have to avoid at all costs. In reality, bacteria are an important and vibrant component of not just our bodies, but also food, medicine and the economy.
The art was done in Visiting Assistant Professor Katherine Millers Microbiology course, according to Institutional Biosafety Committee protocols. Using sterile toothpicks, the agar artists worked from an extensive bacterial palette. Serratia marcescens provided red ink; Chromobacterium violaceum, purple/black; Escherichia coli, blue; Micrococcus luteus, yellow; Micrococcus roseus, pink; and Staphylococcus epidermidis, white.
They painted with a toothpick in invisible ink bacteria, Buchser, visiting assistant professor in the Department of Biology, explained. Later, those bacteria grew and made this art!
Horridge and Rosenberg titled their entry The Emojis of Our Lives, noting that the digital symbols have become a part of the language. Their submission points out that Oxford dictionaries even named an emoji ("Face with Tears of Joy") its Word of the Year for 2015.
These icons have become widely used by celebrities, politicians, and major brands across the internet, Horridge and Rosenberg wrote in their submission. Microbiology has similarly seen a significant resurgence in the public eye. From the human microbiome to antibiotic resistance to rapid developments in biotechnology, it is important to remember that bacteria that we cant necessarily see impact the way we interact with the world in every way.
The ASM received 117 entries from around the world. A panel of judges will award first, second and third prizes. Peoples Choice will go to the entry that receives the most likes on the ASMs Agar Art Facebook Page. Entries are presented anonymously, without artists or their institutions mentioned, but the William & Mary entry is here.
Judging ends May 26.
Understanding How the Workplace Communicates Today
When it comes to personal communications, the world is different today than it was a decade ago. Fewer Americans particularly young Americans are using the telephone for phone calls. Email, once a staple of both personal and workplace communications, is on the wane, and text messaging and social media are on the rise. Voicemail, also once very common, is now largely ignored. While employees still use desktops to communicate particularly if they are using a desktop application mobile devices still rule the communications landscape.
All this news is relevant to employers, who strive to keep open communications channels with their workers. Its particularly relevant for workers who support customers, since customers take their communications preferences from their personal lives. Today, workers are less likely to be under the same roof as their employers or their coworkers, so business communications becomes one of the most pertinent issues to success.
The 2016 Digital Workplace Communications Survey, conducted by the PRSA Employee Communications Section and APPrise Mobile, creators of theEMPLOYEEapp, recently set out to find out how people are communicating in workplaces today. The results, presented in both text and infographic format, are quite different from what they might have been 20 or even 10 years ago.
To carry out the survey, researchers asked 250 communications professionals about their use of employee communications tools. The study found that while digital communications are effective, theyre not being used as well as they could be. The breakdown of tools was as follows:
Email use is way down. Nearly half 46 percent of respondents said they use email only monthly or rarely.
Mobile apps are hot. Forty-one (41) percent of respondents claim they use mobile apps daily, and another 21 percent reporting using them weekly.
Social collaboration tools are becoming more popular. One third (33 percent) of respondents use them daily, while another 25 percent report using them weekly.
Social media is the most common. Forty-two (42) percent of respondents said they use social media daily; another 17 percent use it weekly.
SMS is still popular. But its perhaps not as popular as people think. Thirty-nine (39) percent reporting using it daily and 17 percent weekly. Forty-four percent, however, use it monthly or rarely.
It would appear that younger workers are now shaping the way the workforce communicates and collaborates.
As the workplace evolves and Millennials continue to comprise the vast majority of the workforce, the importance of communicating and engaging with employees has never been more important, said Jeff Corbin, CEO and Founder of APPrise Mobile. There is definitely a shift taking place from old school and legacy communications solutions like email and corporate intranets to newer, more mobile friendly tools.
The study authors emphasize that one size will never fit all. Depending on a particular use case or situation, and a companys needs does communication need to be instant? One-to-one? Group-based? -- different solutions will need to be considered as they may prove more effective in distributing content and information to the important employee audience.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi
Iter cryoplant tanks ready for shipment
18 May 2016
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The two biggest tanks for the Iter fusion reactor's cryoplant have been completed in the Czech Republic. An exceptional convoy will be required to transport them to the Iter construction site in southern France.
The quench tanks measure 35 meters in length, 4.5 meters in diameter and weighing about 160 tonnes. They were produced by French gas technology company Air Liquide and its subcontractor Chart Ferox. Air Liquide was awarded a contract in May 2014 by Iter's European domestic agency, Fusion for Energy (F4E), for the engineering, procurement, installation and testing of the tokamak reactor's cryoplant. The contract was worth some 65 million ($74 million). Manufacture of the two tanks began at Chart Ferox's facility in Decin in the Czech Republic last August and was completed recently.
The cryoplant quench tanks (Image: Iter)
The cryoplant produces and distributes the cooling power needed to cool the fusion reactor's magnets, thermal shields and cryopumps. The plasma within the Iter reactor is expected to reach 150 million C. Cold helium will be circulated inside the reactor's superconducting magnets to bring their temperature down to -269C.
However, the magnets may occasionally experience a so-called 'quench'. This is when they stop superconducting, become more resistant and increase in temperature by about 50C. With reduced magnetic performance it is no longer possible to confine the plasma. As the temperature rises, the helium circulating through the cryogenic system starts to expand and is therefore diverted to the quench tanks where it is stored at -196C.
Europe is providing Iter's Liquid Nitrogen Plant and auxiliary systems that will cool down, process, store, transfer and recover the cryogenic fluids of the machine. Two nitrogen refrigerators will cool down Iter's Liquid Helium Plant and two helium loop boxes. They will also supply the purification system, quench tanks, heaters and dryers with nitrogen in liquid or gaseous form. The two helium loops will cool down the thermal shields of the cryostat, vacuum vessel and regenerate the cryopumps. Some 8kg of helium will be processed per second. A helium purification system is planned to recover and clean helium gas from any impurities.
Construction work on Iter began in 2010 and is expected to come to an end in 2019. A commissioning phase will follow that will ensure all systems operate together and prepare the machine for the achievement of first plasma in November 2020. The facility is expected to reach full operation in 2027. Iter's operational phase is expected to last for 20 years.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
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Nawah to manage UAE units
18 May 2016
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The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) has approved the formation of Nawah Energy Company to operate and maintain Barakah units 1-4. Separately, an agreement with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will give the United Arab Emirates access to software tools to assist in radiation protection and assessment.
Enec's board of directors yesterday mandated the company's management to proceed with the formation of the operating company. Nawah will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Enec.
"Nawah aims to become a globally recognized nuclear utility in the safe operation of nuclear energy plants," Enec said.
The launch of Nawah will allow Enec to focus on strategic issues related to the UAE's nuclear energy program, it said, with a special focus on guaranteeing project delivery of the Barakah plants and supporting and developing the country's nuclear industry. Enec will also continue to represent the interests of the Abu Dhabi government in the UAE's energy program.
The UAE is building four Korean-designed APR-1400 pressurized water reactors at Barakah, about 80 km west of the town of Ruwais. Barakah 1, which began construction in 2012, is now over 87% complete, with a start-up target date of 2017. Construction began on unit 2 in 2013, and is now over 68% complete, while work began on units 3 and 4 in 2014 and 2015, respectively. All four units should be in operation by 2020.
Regulatory agreement signed
An agreement signed by the UAE's Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) and the US NRC will give the UAE access to a family of radiation protection and software tools for improving and ensuring the safety of radioactive materials. FANR said the agreement for cooperative research would also benefit related UAE government and academic entities.
Under the agreement, FANR and other UAE entities will be able to access the Radiation Protection Computer Code Analysis and Maintenance Program (RAMP) - a set of computer codes that enable analysts to assess radiation releases and exposures that might occur due to a nuclear accident or emergency.
FANR director general Christer Viktorsson said that it was essential for the nation to be prepared for any incident or emergency, however unlikely. "Using the RAMP tools will allow Emirati agencies to employ state-of-the-art assessment tools," he said.
FANR said that the three-year agreement was signed in March.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
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UK 'confident' of Hinkley deal
18 May 2016
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The UK government is confident "there is a deal to be done" with EDF Energy on Hinkley Point C, but notes that it would not and could not influence the speed at which the utility makes a final investment decision (FID) on the project. "We recognise that the matter now rests with the equity. That's a commercial matter and we have to allow that to play out," said Jeremy Allen, head of procurement and investor relations at the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
Allen spoke at the conference Nuclear Energy's Role in the 21st Century: Addressing the Challenge of Financing that was held in Paris last week. The event was jointly organised by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation.
Agreements negotiated by the government and EDF Energy in October 2013 and approved by the European Commission a year later, are for a long-term contract for the electricity generated at the Hinkley plant - two 1600 MWe Areva European Pressurised Reactor units - and for a guarantee for the project's debt. Then, in March this year, the Commission announced its approval of the partnership between EDF and China General Nuclear for the development, construction and operation of three new nuclear power plants in the UK. Under the Strategic Investment Agreement, which was signed last October, CGN agreed to take a 33.5% stake in the Hinkley Point C project in Somerset, as well as jointly develop new nuclear power plants at Sizewell in Suffolk and Bradwell in Essex.
"The agreement with EDF Energy has yet to be signed and we have yet to take a final decision pending the FID the developer needs to take, but this is where we've got to and the terms we put to the European Commission in terms of seeking state aid clearance for the deal," Allen told delegates.
Asked whether the government could have put a deadline on the FID, which EDF Energy had been expected to make at the end of last year, Allen told World Nuclear News: "We think it's in the interests of EDF and its partners to move to FID when they can, but they are clearly having processes and issues that they need to deal with. We look forward to returning to the table when they've done that. We remain confident that there's a deal to be done, but we'll take our final decision when that FID has been taken."
A key element of the agreement between EDF Energy and the government is the Contract for Difference (CfD), which Allen noted is a private law contract between a low-carbon electricity generator and the Low Carbon Contracts Company, which is government owned.
The generator is paid the difference between the 'strike price' - a price for electricity reflecting the cost of investing in a particular low-carbon technology - and the 'reference price' - a measure of the average UK market price for electricity. The CfD enables greater certainty and stability of revenues to electricity generators by reducing their exposure to volatile wholesale prices, whilst protecting consumers from paying for higher support costs when electricity prices are high.
"As with any other contract, it has dispute mechanisms to allow arbitration and resolution. But it's a protection for those who need long-term stability that the contract they have and the assumptions they [make] are going to be protected," Allen told the conference. "By using this mechanism we have found we can drive competition effectively. We are already auctioning CfDs in renewables, allowing real price competition to drive down the cost to the consumer. With nuclear, we didnt have that ability - at the time when we began this process, there was only one viable nuclear project and that was EDF's plant at Hinkley, which was sufficiently mature to allow us to enter into a series of negotiations. So we did a bilateral negotiation and we're happy with that because we feel we've negotiated a good deal for the consumer. Over the very long term, who knows though; can competition come into the allocation of nuclear CfDs? That would be a very different thing, but we will always look at how to get the best deal for the consumer."
The strike price is determined by competitive bidding for renewables or through bilateral negotiation for nuclear. The reference price is a measure of the average market price - day ahead for renewables and season ahead for baseload generation.
The CfD for Hinkley Point C includes a strike price of 92.50/MWh, falling to 89.50/MWh if a FID is taken on Sizewell C. It has a payment duration of 35 years from the point at which each reactor at Hinkley becomes commercially operational or the last day of the target commissioning window for that reactor, whichever is earlier.
"The need we thought about several years ago, for a very substantial guarantee to underwrite debt, has lessened because of the way that EDF is now choosing to finance Hinkley, Allen said. "There is an offer from government to provide a portion of debt underwriting for round about 2 billion if its required, if the developer wants to draw it down, that is going to be available."
Part of a package
Allen stressed that the CfD needs to be seen "as part of a package" that reflects some of the unique features of new nuclear. "There's also a side agreement between the Secretary of State [for Energy and Climate Change] and the investors which, if the deal goes ahead, will be signed," he said, referring to the political risk agreement that sits outside the terms of the contract. This is a direct agreement between the Secretary of State and the developer as investors, "recognising that nuclear above all other generating technologies is susceptible to political intervention and the need to do something about that risk is critical," he said.
The political risk agreement offers compensation "in the event of a political shut down", other than for certain reasons including health, nuclear safety, security, environmental, nuclear transport or nuclear safeguards.
"This is where a future government in the UK decides for political reasons that it does not want nuclear in the system, which at the time might be a valid and reasonable decision to take, but we need to offer some protection to the developer who has obviously sunk huge amounts of capital to build that asset and that needs to be remunerated in some way. So the political risk factor is there to say nuclear, probably alone and above all generating technologies, needs that additional protection."
It will not cover, however, a plant being shut down "because it is not safe or it is not consistent with the regulatory regime". Allen said: "It's not a free pass; it's purely whether on an arbitrary political basis the government of the day says we don't want nuclear on the system."
The negotiations with EDF Energy have also included change in law arrangements, according to which compensation could be paid or received in relation to certain future legislative amendments - including in respect of specific tax clearances, and uranium and generation taxes. "We are prepared through the contract to offer compensation where there are changes in law that affect the economics of the plant when those changes are unforeseeable, material and specific to or discriminatory to the technology or the individual asset," Allen said. This protection excludes some changes in the law, such as those designed to improve efficiency or lead to increased safety, but provides "risk protection for things that the developer can't manage where those may arise", he said.
One of the key challenges when the government and EDF Energy started their negotiations on the Hinkley deal was, Allen said, "the inability of either side to know what would be going on in 15, 20, 30 years with that asset".
"The choice we had was either asking the developer to price in those factors now or taking a flexible and pragmatic approach, which is to reopen the deal when you know what those factors are - be they fuel costs, or other issues that might affect the economics of running the plant," he said. "How do we take a view of what's likely to happen in 2040? We'd be asking the developer to take a view and to bring it forward into today's money. That didn't seem the right way to us, so in terms of an operational plant we are building in what we call the 'opex reopener'."
This will allow for the adjustment of the strike price upwards but potentially downwards in favour of the consumer in relation to certain operational and other costs. This will be done at two fixed points - 15 years after commissioning and 25 years after. "We think that's a realistic and pragmatic way of managing those uncertainties over such a long-dated asset," Allen said.
The government has also introduced a cost of construction gain share mechanism to incentivise the developer to "outperform on the construction". Savings made on the construction of Hinkley Point C would be shared - a 50% share up to a certain level or 75% share over a certain level.
"This basically allows a greater return if they outperform, but offers then something back to the consumer in terms of a lower strike price," Allen said. "If the developer outperforms, say by 1 billion, that will be shared 50-50; if it's greater than that, the majority will come to the consumer of that benefit." He stressed that this element of the agreements "is a gain share, not a pain share" because "we're not taking construction risk on behalf of the consumer".
The Hinkley deal also contains equity gain share, which means that project outperformance or equity sales that increase the investors' realised equity returns above the base case would be shared. Equity gain share extends beyond the 35-year term of the CfD to the lifetime of the asset.
This "reflects the fact that as you build to time and budget we want that benefit to be shared with the consumer," Allen said.
"There are other things we're doing around tax," he said. "Business rates that apply now, what will they be at the point of commissioning? We'll look at that and may reopen the strike price. Similarly transmission charges - we don't know what they'll be at the point of commissioning, so again we may look at the strike price."
He added: "Were offering some protection where output of the plant is curtailed because the way that we compensate curtailment now has changed significantly to the detriment of a plant like that. It is not about guaranteeing offtake. But it is saying that, if the regulatory regime in the 2020s or 2030s is so markedly different in how we compensate curtailment today, we will look at offering protection through the contract."
Decommissioning fund
The agreements also take in account the management of waste and the decommissioning of the Hinkley plant. The UK has "a legacy in nuclear and needs taxpayer's support for decommissioning and the treatment of waste created in the 1950s and 1960s", he said. "We're not going to do that again. It must be dealt with by the developer, although the cost will be transferred through the contract to the consumer. And we think that for Hinkley that will be about 2/MWh of the overall price."
This funded decommissioning program (FDP) is based on the Energy Act 2008 that requires all new nuclear operators to meet their full decommissioning costs and be responsible for their full share of waste management and disposal costs, so that the taxpayer will not bear the burden in future. An FDP must be approved by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.
Allen said: "It is the operator's duty to set aside funds for waste and decommissioning costs from the start of generation and nuclear-related construction cannot begin without an approved FDP in place. The operator is expected to enter into a waste transfer contract with the government, which sets out the terms under which government will take title to and liability for the plant's used fuel and intermediate level waste for a fee."
Overall, the package of agreements aim for "effective and sensible risk allocation between the parties", he said.
"Taking away risks that the developer cannot manage and cannot price, like a political shut down event or tax changes that would materially affect the economics, we can do something about that in a sensible way by allocating that risk away, but leaving the risks that are appropriate to the developer within the contract. And that's true whether it's renewables or nuclear or any other technology.
But it's clear that through the CfD, we believe this is a good deal for the consumer. We're prepared to take some risk, but not construction risk because that doesn't seem to us to be appropriate when the taxpayer is least able to manage that. And whilst we want to reflect the issue around dispatch certainty and give some confidence there, the idea youre putting the consumer on the hook through an offtake agreement would seem a step too far for us. So there are limits to this even where we think there are greater opportunities through the CfD to share risk appropriately."
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
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According to CBRE Group Inc. 's inauguralreport, voracious global demand for e-commerce fulfillment centers and distribution centers fueled a 2.8 percent year-over-year increase in prime logistics rents globally, led by double-digit percentage gains in U.S. coastal markets. Six of the top 10 markets with the fastest growing prime logistics rents globally were in the U.S., led by Oakland, Calif., with a nearly 30 percent gain.American seaports and inland ports aren't among the world's most expensive for logistics rents, but they did post the largest gains in 2015 due mostly to the increasing flow of goods into and throughout the region from online sales. In addition to Oakland in the No. 1 spot, U.S. cities in the top 10 for fastest growing prime logistics rents include New Jersey at No. 2; the Inland Empire at No. 3; Los Angeles-Orange County at No. 7; Dallas-Fort Worth at No. 8; and Atlanta at No. 9.Another two of those top 10 for rent increases are elsewhere in the Americas: Santiago, Chile, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.The sharp rise in prime rents in the Americas was largely due to massive growth in U.S. coastal markets, where relentless occupier demand drove up pricing. In Oakland, desire for quality premises is the dominant factor for inner-bay logistics users despite the high cost. New development in some markets, such as the Inland Empire, is commanding premium rates. In Latin America, Santiago and Ciudad Juarez notched increases in prime rent of 10.9 percent and 10.2 percent, respectively. In Sao Paulo, prime rents were down 10.5 percent year-over-year.Much of the upward pressure in rents in logistics markets in the Americas and globally is stoked by a supply chain arms race of sorts among retailers, shippers and suppliers seeking accommodate the continued growth of e-commerce. In heavy demand are modern distribution centers and fulfillment centers with features such as a high loading dock ratio and clear ceiling heights of at least 26 feet to accommodate high-tech stacking racks and automated storage-and-retrieval systems. Many such facilities are being built close to large population centers, where land costs are high."Global consumer demand is strong, and an ever-increasing share of retail sales are taking place online," said Richard Barkham , CBRE's global chief economist. "That is prompting traditional retailers, e-commerce companies and third-party logistics firms to seek out advanced 'prime' logistics warehouses to modernize their supply chains and thus facilitate the rapid delivery of goods."Overall, growth in prime logistics rents in the Americas last year (up 5.6 percent) outpaced that in Asia (up 2.5 percent) and in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (up 0.8 percent). Prime rents are the highest achievable rents for a logistics facility of the highest quality and specification."E-commerce demand is acute in the Americas, and rent in the U.S. is growing from a relatively low base given the abundance of developable land here," said David Egan , CBRE's head of industrial and logistics research in the Americas. "Developers are building and delivering more logistics buildings, but that new supply can't keep up with demand. Therefore, industrial occupiers should expect to see rents rising for a while longer."Still, American logistics markets have a lot of ground to make up before they rank among the world's most expensive. That distinction goes to densely populated markets with higher land costs. Last year's most expensive markets are led by Hong Kong with an annual prime rent of US$28.94 per sq. ft. per annum, Tokyo ($16.74), London ($16.36), Singapore ($10.91) and Stockholm ($9.90). The most expensive market in the Americas was Los Angeles-Orange County, ranked 12th globally at US$8.04 per sq. ft. per annum.CBRE tracks prime rents in 68 logistics hubs around the world. Fifty-nine percent (40 markets) of tracked markets saw year-over-year increases in rents, 25 percent (17 markets) saw no change and only 16 percent (11 markets) saw decreases. To focus this report solely on prime facilities, CBRE limited its scope to buildings larger than 100,000 sq. ft. (10,000 sq. m.), with ceiling heights greater than 26 to 36 feet (eight to 10 meters) and a loading-dock ratio of one dock to 10,000 sq. ft., among other criteria.
Fire truck (illustration)
By: Wayne Morin
(Scroll down for video) Four volunteer firefighters were arrested on a charge of filing a false report after allegedly making prank calls so that they can get to drive around town with their fire truck, according to police in Pennsylvania.
The Logan Township police said that they have arrested Dustin Beckwith, Aric Beckwith, Daniel Johnson, and Edward Perino, after being accused of calling 911 to report non existent fires at least five times.
All suspects were charged with filing a false report. They were all suspended for six months.
According to the police investigation, all four firefighters were new members of the Logan Township United Fire Departments Kittanning Trail Station.
In the first incident, Dustin used a cellphone belonging to Johnson to call 911 and report a fire on the Veterans Memorial Highway and Boxcar Lane.
In the second incident, Dustin against used Johnsonas cellphone to call 911 and report a fire shooting out from a chimney fireplace on Poland Avenue.
In another incident, Dustin called to report that cars veered of the road. In another incident, Dustin used Johnsonas phone to report a mud slide.
In the final incident, the four men persuaded Aric to call 911 to report a bank was on fire. Nearly 60 first responders rushed to the scene.
Police believe that they called in the false emergencies in order to drive around in their fire truck.
Innovative Scheme to Care For Those in Mental Health Crisis Piloted in Wrexham
This article is old - Published: Wednesday, May 18th, 2016
An innovative new scheme which aims to care for those in mental health crisis during police incidents is being piloted in Wrexham.
The Wrexham Street Triage will see a collaborative approach between North Wales Police and Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. They will work together to ensure that front line officers are able to access relevant information and expertise when dealing with members of the public in mental health crisis.
The team will be on hand to enable police officers to access relevant information to help them make the best decision to ensure the individual is safe and receives the most appropriate support or treatment in the least restrictive way.
North Wales Police are looking to ensure that any detentions under the Mental Health Act are appropriate and fully informed.
The pilot project will operate at predicted times of high demand, from 6pm to 2am on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and is supported in part by the Police Innovation Fund until 2017. It is hoped that the scheme will enable the team to better respond to incidents where there is a cause for concern that a person may have mental health problems.
Chief Inspector Simon Williams said: Police are often first on the scene at an incident. We often have little choice but to detain the person until health treatment can be provided. The idea of the Triage is to make sure officers are fully informed when having to make such difficult decisions, and ultimately that the person receives the appropriate care.
A partnership between the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and North Wales Police is an innovative alternative; it provides the most appropriate service to people with issues relating to their mental health at the earliest opportunity and saves time and money for the police, ambulance and health services.
A similar scheme has already proved successful in other parts of the UK including the Dyfed Powys force area.
Sam Watson, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board service manager for the project, said: The project is all about trying to get clinical expertise to people at the earliest possible opportunity.
By working in partnership with our colleagues in North Wales Police, were making safer and more efficient care for people that need it at the point of crises.
Since the project launched, there have been numerous examples of cases where people have avoided being detained unnecessarily just by having the right consultation and guidance available.
Presiding Officer Allows UKIPs Blatant Sexist Comments As Carwyn Jones Becomes First Minister
This article is old - Published: Wednesday, May 18th, 2016
The Welsh Assemblys Presiding Officer Elin Jones AM allowed sexist comments made by UKIPs Neil Hamilton to stand, but challenged the use of the word bigot in the chamber today.
Neil Hamilton, who is UKIPs group leader in Cardiff, referred to Plaid Cymrus Leanne Wood and the Liberal Democrats Kirsty Williams as Concubines in a Hareem, these two ladies have made themselves political concubines in Carwyns hareem.
Later Kirsty Williams described the comments as blatant sexist language, and Leanne Wood tweeted saying Theres no place for sexism in our National Assembly. Not prepared to accept racism or homophobia either. Be warned.
Mr Hamilton also referred to dodgy deals in a rambling statement that drew jeers from various people in the chamber itself, and at one point was stopped by the Presiding Officer when he used the word bigot.
Mr Hamilton was not stopped from making the sexist comments, with the implication that the Presiding Officer had no issue with those as the power to intervene, or ask for retracted, or even removal of the member from the chamber, was not exercised.
*Neil Hamilton* of cash for questions fame having a pop at others about dodgy deals @KenSkatesAM eyeballing him pic.twitter.com/gf9HZt1FDU Wrexham.com (@wrexham) May 18, 2016
The meeting today was to elect the new First Minister of Wales, with Leanne Wood pulling out of the race. Prior to the formal agenda item UKIPs Mark Reckless attempted to get a named voted to take place, citing various rules and regulations. The Presiding Officer made a judgement to not conduct a vote, and therefore Carwyn Jones was nominated unchallenged to take on the mantle of First Minster.
First Minister initial comments: steel, pro-euro stance, no legislation for 100 days to promote new way of working then public health bill Wrexham.com (@wrexham) May 18, 2016
Carwyn Jones said: For the fifth time in a row, the Welsh people have asked Welsh Labour to form the next Government. And for the fifth time in a row they have said proceed, but with caution and humility. Because we have no majority. Of that we are acutely aware, and as I have made clear since the election we have no doubt about the responsibilities on us, and the responsibility upon me in particular, to work with others, where we can, for the good of our people. No one party has a monopoly on good ideas, and I want this Assembly to be more open and more confident than the last.
We will not bring forward any new legislation in the first 100 days, giving political groups in the Assembly some time to establish a new way of doing law-making in Wales. This will allow all parties to jointly develop a scrutiny and committee procedure that is better suited to this institutions Parliamentary responsibilities.
Once the Assembly is in a position to better scrutinise legislation we will look to bring forward a new Public Health Bill, an Additional Learning Needs Bill, and we will take forward, on a cross-party basis, legislation that will remove the defence of reasonable chastisement. We will also seek to amend the current Welsh language measure.
Leanne Wood not sorry & angered by bullying & arrogance from Labour. Makes clear today is not a coalition & will oppose when they want Wrexham.com (@wrexham) May 18, 2016
Plaid Cymru allowing Carwyn Jones as First Minister but makes it clear its not support. Says today proves no deal existed with UKIP etc Wrexham.com (@wrexham) May 18, 2016
Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood said of todays First Minister outcome: In our one-vote deal, Plaid Cymru has managed to secure five out of our nine key manifesto commitments. We will help patients access innovative drugs and treatments and ensure more GPs and health professionals are trained and recruited. We will set the foundation for economy-boosting projects across every part of Wales and ensure the creation of 100,000 apprenticeships. And we will help parents access free childcare.
From the outset Plaid Cymru has shown how an effective opposition can deliver tangible benefits for people. Our agreement will deliver for the whole of Wales, and we will scrutinise the government closely to ensure that our agreement is delivered in full.
Plaid Cymru will continue to hold Labours feet to the fire during this next Assembly term and in our role as official opposition we will continue to work effectively to improve the lives of the people across the country.
Speaking in relation to the First Minister vote today in the Welsh Assembly chamber, leader of the Welsh Conservatives Andrew RT Davies said: I congratulate Carwyn Jones on his re-appointment to the role of First Minister of Wales. Welsh Labour took the largest share of the vote and has found itself in a position to assume a leading role in the governance of our country.
Andrew RT Davies has urged the First Minister to outline plans for local government reorganisation as soon as possible. Wrexham.com (@wrexham) May 18, 2016
It must however be remembered that Labour did not win a majority share of the vote this time round, and this must be reflected in the Fifth Assembly. I would seek assurances from the First Minister that the deal struck between his party and Plaid Cymru henceforth be conducted with greater transparency than the meetings which led to its agreement. I lament that up until now, details of these cloak and dagger meetings only emerged via reports in the press.
I urge the First Minister to continue working with the UK Government to support efforts for a successful sale of Tata Steel, providing immediate security for its workforce and a long-term future for Wales steel industry, on which our economy relies so heavily.
Secondly, I ask that the First Minister once and for all brings forward confirmation of his plans for local government reform, and I impress on him the need for a referendum on this issue so that local people are afforded the right to have their say over matters which affect their day-to-day lives.
Thirdly, the new Government must provide details as to how it intends to tackle the crisis of chronic staffing shortages in our NHS. Much hot air was expended in the Fourth Assembly on alleviating this issue, but it remains as dire now as it ever has. The health of our nation depends on a solution, which is urgently needed.
I look forward to continuing to offer robust opposition to the Government, and to working with other parties to secure the delivery of as many Welsh Conservative manifesto pledges as possible. I remain resolute that Welsh Conservatives are the only credible opposition to Welsh Labour, given that Plaid Cymru have shown themselves to be an enduringly agreeable partner to the Government.
The nomination of Carwyn Jones as First Minster now apparently gets passed to London for the green light.
If we have it right democratically elected First Minister nomination gets sent to a Palace where unelected birthright lady rubber stamps it? Wrexham.com (@wrexham) May 18, 2016
More reaction as and when we get it.
Pic: Local AM Ken Skates spun his chair around to listen to Neil Hamilton talk.
Since Donald Trump all but confirmed his position as the Republican Partys candidate in Novembers US presidential election, ruling circles in Canada have begun debating the prospect of a Trump presidency.
There is considerable trepidation among a significant section of the ruling elite about how Canada, which has a decades-long strategic partnership with Washington, could coexist with Trump in the White House. This in part reflects the fear that Trumps strident nationalism will see Canada excluded from foreign policy initiatives and that his appeals to protectionism will disrupt the lucrative relationship enjoyed by Canadian big business with the American market via the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Trumps America first foreign policy slogan indicates a shift away from the use of NATO and other international alliances to a more unilateral approach. Since World War II, the Canadian ruling elite has exploited its close ties with Washington to exert power on the world stage through multi-lateral institutions like NATO, including by participating in a series of aggressive imperialist interventions, while at the same time using these institutions as a counterweight to the much stronger American bourgeoisie.
In the wake of his victory in the Indiana primary May 3, Trump attacked Hillary Clinton and declared that NAFTA, signed into law by her husband Bill Clinton, was the worst trade agreement ever.
Approximately two thirds of Canadas gross domestic product of around $2 trillion is based on trade, and 75 percent of the countrys exports flow south to the United States. No other imperialist power in the world is as dependent on a rival as Canada is on the US, not just in economic terms, but also militarily. Ottawa is fully integrated into all three of Washingtons major geostrategic offensives--in Eastern Europe against Russia, in the Middle East, and in the pivot to Asia against China.
Writing in the liberal daily Toronto Star, columnist Thomas Walkom placed considerable emphasis on trade in a piece titled Watch out Canada: Donald Trump taps into Americas anti-NAFTA mood. Walkom wrote that this nations economy is centered on NAFTA. He continued: Canada has already gone through the wrenching transition from a protected economy, where most things purchased here were made here, to one built around a continent-wide supply chain.
A particular area of concern is the auto industry, which relies on cross-border supply chains to maintain production in Canada. Industry representatives fear that the emergence of barriers between the US and Canada would make production unviable. As Walkom notes, NAFTA may be worse than the old Canada-US auto pact that it replaced. But if NAFTA goes, the old auto pact is not necessarily going to be resuscitated.
When Trump talks of slapping a 35 per cent tariff on cars made outside the US, hes not just talking about Mexico.
Canadian ruling circles have been pushing for a relaxation of border controls between the two countries. In the wake of 9/11, the US-Canada border was systematically thickened. Controls were expanded, effectively putting an end to just-in-time production.
The Globe and Mail, the mouthpiece for the most powerful sections of the Bay Street financial elite, has been uncharacteristically sharp in the language it has used to denounce Trump. A piece titled The GOPs unconditional surrender by columnist Conrad Yakabuski began, So this is what capitulation looks like. Trump scapegoats and slanders entire religions, races, ethnicities and genders, Yakabuski complained.
A March Globe editorial titled The truth behind Donald Trumps lies commented that Trump was an inflammatory, racist billionaire.
The Globe s stated concern over racism and Trumps inflammatory comments did not stop it from endorsing Prime Minister Stephen Harper during his nearly decade-long tenure, lauding in 2011 his bullheadedness, i.e., his willingness to press ahead with a right-wing, anti-working class agenda in the face of popular opposition--an agenda that was frequently underpinned by racist appeals to Islamophobia and a virulent Canadian nationalism.
A large section of the ruling elite calculates that a far-right President Trump would make it much more difficult for the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau to carry through the strengthening of the Canadian military and the implementation of a much more aggressive foreign policy. A critical component of this agenda is expanded collaboration with Washington.
A decisive section of the ruling class rallied behind the Liberals in last years federal election because they recognized that Conservative Prime Minister Harpers militarist tone and bellicose nationalism were unnecessarily inflaming popular opposition. The Liberals, by dint of their progressive rhetoric and use of identity politics, were seen as better able to push through unpopular measures.
These commentators believe that collaborating with a Democrat will enable Trudeau to exploit his public image as a pro-feminist, pro-refugee prime minister and retain the fawning support his government enjoys among privileged sections of the middle class, including the mainstream media and the trade union bureaucracy.
There is also concern about the threat posed to Canada by the economic decline of the United States, on the one hand, and the perceived reduction of Ottawas influence in Washington, on the other, as demonstrated last November by the failure of the Keystone XL pipeline project.
Discussions on the Liberals foreign policy shift intensified in the wake of Trumps America-first foreign policy speech. In it, the billionaire mogul combined reactionary appeals to American nationalism with a pledge to strengthen the US military to prevent American power being challenged by Washingtons geopolitical rivals.
Trump took a swipe at US allies in his speech, declaring that too many were free riders and that the structure of NATO would have to change.
This remark was seized upon by the media, which has been waging a months-long campaign for the Trudeau government to increase military spending and expand the resources available to the Canadian armed forces. While many noted that they opposed Trumps presidential candidacy, they declared that on the issue of military spending, the presumptive Republican nominee had a point.
The Liberals are pledged to increase military spending by an additional 1 percent per year over the next nine years, a timetable initially adopted by the former Conservative government. But even with such a move, Canada will still fall well short of spending the NATO commitment of 2 percent of GDP on defense. Currently, Ottawa spends 1 percent on the military.
Prime Minister Trudeau has been careful to avoid making a clear statement on Trumps emergence as a presidential candidate. The sharpest official criticism thus far has come from British Columbia Premier Christy Clark, who denounced Trump for desiring to erect trade barriers. BC is one of the provinces that would benefit most from the conclusion of a new softwood lumber agreement with the US, which is currently under negotiation.
While majority establishment opinion is against Trump, a significant but important minority would welcome the election of the Republican candidate.
Speaking on behalf of the most predatory elements of Canadian capitalism, the Financial Post enthused that as walls are built along southern borders and Trump implements his promise to create jobs, commodities will likely see increased demand. The newspaper continued, Canadian-mined copper, iron, zinc, nickel and alumina would be directly purchased in significant quantities.
The most outspoken supporter of Trump in Canada is media mogul Conrad Black, who has also firmly endorsed the Liberal government. A personal friend and business associate of Trump, Black has repeatedly dismissed claims that Trump is a racist and argued that he can rebuild Americas greatness after what he describes as the terrible presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Black provided a revealing indication of precisely what this would mean with an all-out embrace of the recently announced defense policy review by the Trudeau government. The consultation aims to strengthen Canadian militarism around the globe, including by deploying more forces abroad and modernizing military equipment, as well as by establishing stronger links with the US armed forces.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders won the Oregon Democratic primary by a wide margin and came within 2,000 votes of winning the Kentucky primary, dealing a blow to Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. The victory in Oregon, by 53-47 percent, was the first for Sanders in a closed primary, where only registered Democrats are allowed to cast ballots. Clinton had won the previous 11 closed primaries, including Kentucky.
Sanders victories had come either in caucuses or in open primaries, where he won large majorities among registered independents, swamping Clintons edge among registered Democrats. In West Virginia a week ago, for example, Clinton led Sanders by 49-45 percent among Democrats who cast ballots, but independents voted for Sanders by 60-40 percent, giving him an easy victory.
Sanders rolled up large majorities in Portland, Oregon, the states largest city, in college towns like Eugene and Corvallis, and in the state capital, Salem. Because Oregon conducts elections entirely by mail, voter participation was larger than in any other state so far in the 2016 campaign, with a turnout of 58 percent. That made Sanders victory all the more significant.
The contest in Kentucky was declared too close to call by the Associated Press, but the television networks declared Clinton a narrow victor. Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, a Democrat and supporter of Clinton, said Clinton had a slim but insurmountable lead of 1,811 votes, with 99 percent of the ballots counted.
The neck-and-neck race was in stark contrast to the outcome in 2008, when Clinton defeated Barack Obama by a whopping margin, 459,511 to 209,954. Clintons vote this year was less than half her total eight years ago as she edged Sanders 212,549 to 210,626.
Clinton had the all-out support of Kentucky Democratic Party officials and officeholders. Last week, after publicly announcing a halt in television advertising in primary contests to conserve cash for the general election, the Clinton campaign abruptly reversed itself and poured money into Kentucky in an effort to forestall an embarrassing loss.
Sanders won all of eastern Kentucky, where the collapse of the coal industry is the dominant economic and social reality, winning by margins as high as 63 percent in Harlan County, site of the some of the most bitter union battles, and 54 percent to 27 percent, with 16 percent uncommitted, in Pike County, the largest in that region. He also won the western Kentucky coalfield area and auto-manufacturing town of Bowling Green, site of a GM assembly plant.
Clinton rolled up a sizeable margin in Jefferson County, which includes the states largest city and industrial center, Louisville, and the bulk of its African-American population. She also won Lexington, which is the second largest city in the state and site of the University of Kentucky, and the affluent Kentucky suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio.
The two results, in heavily Democratic Oregon and in Kentucky, where Republican presidential candidates have won the last four times, showed the deep unpopularity of the Democratic frontrunner, even in an electorate tailored for her, since both primaries were limited to registered Democrats and virtually all party leaders backed her campaign.
Press reports noted that as the two candidates crisscrossed Kentucky, Sanders regularly drew thousands to his rallies while Clinton drew only hundreds.
Anticipating the dismal outcome, Clinton made no public appearance on primary night, watching the returns from her home in Chappaqua, New York and issuing no statement.
Sanders, by contrast, spoke before a packed arena in Carson, California, near Los Angeles. He told a crowd of some 10,000 people Tuesday night that he would continue his campaign through the June 7 contests in California, New Jersey, New Mexico, Montana and North and South Dakota, and the final primary on June 14 in the District of Columbia.
Appealing for support from voters in California, the most populous US state, Sanders made one of the most left-sounding speeches of the campaign, declaring that he had been born into a working-class family in Brooklyn, New York, and claiming that the Democratic Party had to represent the working class in American politics.
The leadership of the Democratic Party has to make a fundamental choice, he said, about whether to bring into the party people who are willing to take on Wall Street, corporate greed and the fossil fuel industry. If the Democratic Party would not open its doors, he warned, it would remain a party which is, incredibly, allowing the Republican Party to win the votes of a majority of working-class Americans. Ill be damned if Im going to let that happen.
The continual use of the term working class is a distinct shift in rhetoric on the part of Sanders, who is a self-described democratic socialist but has shied away from any overt class appeal in favor of vague references to working people or the middle class.
As he has throughout the presidential campaign, Sanders made no criticism of the record of the Obama administration and maintained a criminal silence on American militarism and the growing danger of war with Russia and China.
His declaration that he will continue the campaign through the final primaries and right up to the convention was a response to the intensified campaign by Democratic Party officials to drive him from the presidential contest, demanding that he acknowledge that Clinton has an insurmountable lead in convention delegates, largely due to her overwhelming support among superdelegates, the party officials and officeholders who are not bound by the primary and caucus voting in their states.
Over the last several days, the corporate-controlled media has joined with the Democratic Party establishment in vilifying the conduct of Sanders supporters at the state Democratic convention in Nevada, portraying them as violent and disruptive. The obvious purpose of this propaganda campaign is to intimidate the Sanders campaign and push the candidate out of the race.
Despite the imposition of the reactionary labour law by the Socialist Party (PS) government in the National Assembly last week, using emergency clause 49.3 of the French constitution, protests against the law are continuing this week across France.
During yesterdays strikes and demonstrations, truck drivers blocked or slowed traffic to a crawl on motorways near big cities in most regions of France. Tomorrow, there will be a strike on French railways, while a new round of demonstrations and strikes against the labour law is planned for Thursday.
Protesters are defying brutal police repression of demonstrations against the labour law and the broader police state agenda of the PS. In a sinister development, trampling fundamental democratic principles including freedom of assembly and the presumption of innocence, the PS has been launching pre-emptive arrests of protesters to stop them from participating in protests. The PS used the current State of Emergency, voted in after the November 13th terrorist attacks in Paris, as a pretext for this blatant attack on democratic rights.
The PSs claim was rejected yesterday by the administrative courts, which rule on state institutions, who heard appeals from activists who had been banned from the demonstrations. In nine out of ten cases, the bans were overturned. Nonetheless, the governments invocation of such authoritarian powers is a serious warning to workers and youth: the PS and the entire ruling class have moved very far in the direction of police state rule, as it seeks to impose their agenda of social retrogression.
During yesterdays demonstrations, police and demonstrators clashed again amid the growing anger of youth and workers with the PS. A total of 87 people were arrested nationwide. The demonstration in Paris, which was to have marched to Prime Minister Manuel Vallss offices at Matignon Palace, was rerouted with the trade unions agreement in order to protect the government.
In Paris, 55,000 demonstrated according to the trade unions, while police claimed the demonstration was only 13,000 strong. Clashes between police and protesters erupted towards the end of the march, as in Marseille, where the youth marchers became separated from trade union protesters and were attacked by police. Students at the Marseille protest also charged that the Stalinist General Confederation of Labour (CGT) union had helped the police attack them at the last protest, firing tear gas at the youth protesters.
Other major cities reported sizeable demonstrations: in Marseille, 6,800 according to police or 80,000 according to the trade unions; Lyon, 1,700 (police) or 7,000 (unions); Toulouse, 2,300 or 8,000; Nantes, 3,500 or 10,000; Grenoble: 1,600 or 7,000; Rennes, 1,100 or 2,000 protesters.
In Rennes, a section of the demonstration tried to join truck drivers blocking the ring road around the town and were pursued by police. About 450 managed to join the truck drivers, shouting, State of Emergency, Police State, no one will stop us joining the truck drivers.
In Nantes, hundreds of youth took control of the front of the demonstration, clashing with police and throwing projectiles at the outside of the Prefecture. The banner at the head of the youth rally was Resistances. They chanted, We arent violent, we are angry, young, precarious and revolutionary and What we want is to attack the state, we dont want any more 49.3. The police intervened twice with tear gas against the youth.
These protests reflect deeply rooted opposition to the PSs assault on social gains won over decades of social struggle by the working class in the 20th century. Mass opposition to the labour law and growing anger among workers and youth are creating a crisis of rule for the PS government.
Since it came to power in 2012, President Francois Hollandes PS has made so many attacks on the social and democratic rights of the population that Hollande is the most hated French president of the entire postwar period, with an approval rating of just 14 percent. The El Khomri law is opposed by 75 percent of the population. After the PS government rammed it through the parliament, 54 percent of the population still support continuing protests against it; 68 percent want the government to not implement the law in its current form.
There is every indication, both in France and in escalating struggles of the working class across Europe and internationally, that this escalating discontent is moving in the direction of a social explosion and a direct political confrontation between the working class and the bourgeois state. It is urgent under these conditions for definite political lessons to be drawn from the experience of the protests so far.
In the absence of a broad mobilisation of the working class in struggle against the PS government and the European Union, it is impossible to effectively oppose the austerity drive. As in other countries across Europe, the PS government in France and its trade union and political allies will seek to divide, defuse and demobilise popular opposition as much as possible, so that the ruling class can continue with the imposition of the law.
The struggle of the working class in France against the labour law, and more broadly against austerity across Europe, requires a political struggle against war and to defend democratic rights. Last year, it emerged that Hollande maintains a secret international kill list, discussed only with a handful of unanswerable high-ranking intelligence and military officials. Now, the outlines of a military-police dictatorship in France carrying out preventive arrests and other police provocations to illegalise protests are emerging into view.
The only way forward is to take the struggle out of the hands of the trade and student unions, and to carry out a ruthless political break with the PS, the trade unions, and their pseudo-left supporters, which have proven utterly bankrupt and hostile to the interests of the working class. Any movement left in their hands is condemned to stagnation, dismemberment and, ultimately, to defeat. Workers need organisations of struggle independent of the trade unions and existing parties, based on a perspective of a revolutionary struggle.
One third of London renters sinking into debt
Over the past five years, London rents have risen by 20 percent, while average pay has risen by just two percent. This is forcing many London renters to borrow money from friends, family, banks, credit cards or payday loan firms to cover housing costs.
Nearly 55 percent of 739 households surveyed by YouGov for housing charity Shelter said they struggled to pay their rent from time to time or constantly.
Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, said, With rents rising relentlessly, far too many Londoners are having to fight hard to keep their heads above water. Tens of thousands of people are being pushed out of the city, or are spiralling into debt just to be able to keep a roof over their heads.
Londons private renters are more than twice as likely to have to move home than private renters in the rest of the country. Last year, one in five families was forced to move, creating a nomadic culture for many in the capital.
Map shows unaffordability of rent in London
Housing charity Shelter has published a London Underground Tube map showing how unaffordable most of London is for the average private renters.
The report, which breaks down affordability by the percentage of affordability relative to the average income for a two-person household, shows that only 15 of Londons 270 Underground Stations have affordable private rental housing.
In zone three of the Shelter affordability map, the average cost of a two-bed private rental property is between 35 percent and 50 percent of the combined take home pay of a two-wage household.
Last month, Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron announced government plans to demolish Englands worst council estates, many of which are located in and around London. Two of the worst affected London boroughs under the plans will be Hackney Council, which expects to lose more than 915 social homes and Southwark, which is set to lose 2,051 social rented homes. The destruction of council housing coupled with planning policies favouring private developers have left fewer and fewer truly affordable units.
Growing evidence of slum conditions in east London
In the latest incident confirming slum conditions in parts of east London are worsening, Labour Party-run Newham Borough Council recently issued a probation notice to a Manor Park landlord who was found illegally renting an unsanitary and unsafe apartment to a family of four for 700 per month.
The property was dirty throughout and has no hot water at the kitchen sink, exposed electrical wires at risk of fire, no ceiling, and no supporting beams around the missing chimney breast in the bedrooms, threatening collapse.
Former prison inmates provided with tents after release
A new report reveals that female prisoners with no fixed address on their release from Londons HMP Bronzefield prison were given tents to live in because officials were not able to secure permanent accommodation.
As a direct result of the lack of social housing in 2014, the percentage of inmates lacking housing on release was 4.5 percent in 2014 and 16.3 percent in 2015, almost quadrupling.
A Women in Prison charity spokesperson explained, The fact that Bronzefield is resorting to issuing tents to women leaving prison with nowhere to live does not highlight a problem evident within that one prison. Instead it is a reflection of how chronic the housing crisis has become...
London railway arches to be converted to private housing
The dire shortage of new housing completions in London is driving property prices sky high, sending developers and property investors scrambling to find commercial spaces to convert into housing.
Near the Elephant & Castle area in Central London, estate developers have been granted permission to convert two railway arches into homes. The railway arches, currently being used as storage, are unsuitable for housing as the sound from passing trains overhead are more than double the current standard for noise levels. Twelve trains per hour for 19 hours per day pass overhead. Additionally, natural light will be very poor because of the inability to fit windows around all sides of the property.
The government has made it much easier to convert commercial buildings to residential use. But according to most estimates, levels of house building are far behind what is needed to meet demand. Converting commercial properties into homes will not keep pace with the vast number of properties needed to address the crisis.
London public toilets for sale and rent
A London estate agent is selling a former public toilet facility for 1 million in the east London Spitalfields neighbourhood, marketing the facility as perfect for a new nightclub or other trendy establishment.
Spitalfields, once a working class district, now boasts some of the highest home prices in England as social landlords sell off valuable properties to private developers.
In 2015, Brick Lane residents learned that social landlord EastendHomes are planning to sell off a former council estate, leaving more than 600 residents fearing eviction because the new homes will likely be too expensive to buy or to rent. The landlord has already torn down some of the estates tower blocks at Denning Point and the new build units are selling for 600,000 for a one-bedroom flat.
In Highgate, north London, a local builder is renting a public toilet for 3,000 per month, saying that it would be perfect for bus drivers needing a loo to relieve themselves during their break time.
Referring to the Councils plans to close the only public toilet in the area, the builder told Camden New Journal, I hope they dont shut the public toilets in Pond Square because they are needed, but it would be good news for me in a business sense.
The Left Party has responded to the rise of the far right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and its own losses in Marchs state elections with a further shift to the right. While a faction surrounding Sahra Wagenknecht and Oskar Lafontaine have adopted the AfDs xenophobic propaganda, others, like Gregor Gysi and party co-chair Katja Kipping, are appealing for broad governing coalitions including the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
The Left Party is thereby continuing the same political course which is responsible for the rise of the far right. Their growing influence is the outcome of the rightward shift of all established parties, including the Left Party. The restriction of the right to asylum by the federal government, the increasingly strict deportation policy implemented by all state governments, and the Islamophobic propaganda rife in the media serve as free electoral advertising for the AfD. At the same time, the coming together of all the established parties around a programme of social welfare cuts, layoffs and other austerity measures has enabled the AfD to present itself as an opposition to the political establishment.
The fact that the Left Party is responding to the AfDs rise with a further shift to the right stems from the bourgeois character of the party. Irrespective of its name and occasional radical rhetoric, it unflinchingly defends the power and property relations upon which the capitalist system is based. It is less concerned by the AfDs right-wing programme, with which it largely agrees, than with the breakdown of the mechanisms which in the past served to dampen the class struggle and bolster capitalist rule.
In Marchs state elections, not only did the AfD increase its support, but the Social Democrats (SPD) suffered an electoral debacle. In two states, Baden-Wurttemberg and Saxony-Anhalt, the SPD struggled to surpass 10 percent of the vote and finished behind the AfD. Since the foundation of the Federal Republic, the SPD has played a key role in stabilising capitalist rule. It used its support among workers and its close ties to the trade unions to suppress the class struggle. In 1999, Oskar Lafontaine gave up his position as SPD chairman because he was convinced that the party could no longer fulfill this role due to chancellor Gerhard Schroders right-wing policies.
The Left Party, which Lafontaine later took over, pursued the goal of creating new majorities for the SPD by entering coalition governments. It achieved this goal in several former East German states, and in Thuringia with the support of the Greens. But on a federal level this prospect has faded away. While the SPD has collapsed, the Greens are orienting towards the CDU. The Left Party has responded by embracing the CDU, or by adopting the AfDs slogans.
There is no limit to this right-wing development. This is shown by developments in Greece, where Syriza, the Left Partys sister party, concluded immediately after its electoral victory last year a coalition with the Independent Greeks (Anel), a group just as right-wing as the AfD. Since then, the government of Alexis Tsipras has enforced one brutal austerity package after another and assumed the role of border and prison guard against refugees. This has not prevented the Left Party from continuing to collaborate closely with Syriza.
Marx 21 and SAV
The Left Partys crisis has mobilized the pseudo-left groups that operate within the party or in its environs. They have taken on the task of justifying and defending its shift to the right. The Left Partys organ, Neues Deutschland, has opened its pages for this purpose. In a dossier with the misleading title Strategies against the trend to the right, they speak at length alongside Left Party co-chairs Kipping and Bernd Riexinger, ND editor Tom Strohschneider, and other prominent party figures.
Alongside the Marx 21 and Socialist Alternative (SAV) tendencies, which have long worked within the Left Party, the group Revolutionary Internationalist Organisation (RIO), which formally remains outside the Left Party, is also participating in the debate. In the name of a broad alliance against the right, all three groups advocate even closer collaboration than in the past with the SPD, the Greens, the CDU and even the Christian Social Union (CSU). They also intend to include the trade unions, the church and other reliable props of the capitalist system in their broad alliance.
The World Socialist Web Site has long demonstrated that these groups are hostile to the class struggle, socialism and Marxism, and are making use of populist slogans and democratic phrases to promote the socioeconomic interests of privileged and affluent strata of the middle class. This is being confirmed once again.
Their broad alliance with individuals and organisations responsible for ruthless attacks on the working class is not directed against the AfD, but against an independent movement of the working class that calls the capitalist system into question. They fear that the anger against the right, social inequality, anti-refugee agitation and the preparations for war will undermine the control of the SPD, Left Party and trade union bureaucracy and turn in a socialist direction.
For Marx 21 (linked to the International Socialist Tendency) such a broad alliance can never be broad enough. The appeal initiated by them, stand up against racism, is not only supported by the leadership of the Left Party, but also by the leaders of the Greens, top SPD politicians and trade union officials. Signatories to the declaration include SPD general secretary Katarina Barley and SPD minister of family affairs Manuela Schwesig.
Marx 21 describes this as unity in action and firmly attacks anyone who criticises the participation of the SPD in such unity in action by referring to its leaderships central role in the implementation of neoliberal policies and the promotion of racism. Whoever resists this broad unity in action against the AfD runs the risk of becoming the tragic follower of the representatives of the social fascism theory of the Stalinised KPD, they write. (1)
Marx 21 does not explain how the AfD is to be combatted in cooperation with an SPD politician who, as a member of the federal government, bears full responsibility for its inhumane refugee policy. But it is clear that the groups aim is to defend the SPD against criticism and provide it with an anti-racist fig leaf.
Marx 21 even wants to bring Horst Seehofer and the CSU into its broad alliance. This is because, according to their justification, Seehofer is not building a mass racist movement on the streets which can become the springboard for the formation of a new fascist right. (2) It must be assumed that Marx 21 would also be prepared to conclude a broad alliance with the AfD, if the NPD or another neofascist party would win support in a future election.
The SAV, the German section of the Committee for a Workers International (CWI), also advocates broad alliances, but warns against political arbitrariness. They fear that such alliances will be too quickly discredited if they include those responsible for austerity policies, social cuts, a lack of housing and state-sponsored racism. (3) Less prominent representatives of these parties are, however, welcome. Our critique of pursuing alliances with bourgeois parties is by no means directed against the participation of individual members or whole groups of SPD or Greens in such practical alliances. (4)
Revolutionary Internationalist Organisation
RIO has assumed the task of justifying this right-wing policy with citations from Leon Trotsky torn out of context. The contribution in Neues Deutschland from RIO member Wladek Flakin is titled What would Trotsky say? and is emblazoned with a portrait of Trotsky. It culminates in the demand for a united front as broad as possible, in which everyone is welcome without exception. (5) Flakin means this quite literally. He explicitly names deputy chancellor and SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel and family affairs minister Schwesig as partners in joint action against the AfD.
Flakins attempt to use Trotsky to justify alliances with Gabriel, Schwesig and everyone without exception is a historical falsification of the worst kind. Whoever is even slightly familiar with his biography knows that Trotsky devoted his entire life to the task of building an independent revolutionary movement of the working class. The struggle against the political subordination of the working class to bourgeois and petty-bourgeois tendencies runs through his entire political activity, from the time he joined the Russian Social Democracy as a student to the founding of the Fourth International shortly prior to his assassination.
His irreconcilable opposition to the provisional government of the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries made Trotsky the closest collaborator of Lenin in the 1917 October revolution. The political independence of the working class was also a crucial question in the fight against the Stalinist degeneration of the Communist International and its terrible consequencesagainst the subordination of the British Communist Party to the trade unions in 1926, of the Chinese Communist Party to the Kuomintang in 1927 and of the French and Spanish communist parties to the popular front in the 1930s.
Trotskys struggle against the rise of fascism in Germany, upon which Flakin bases his argument, was in line with this. Trotsky understood very well that concealed behind the radical left-wing rhetoric of KPD leader Thalmann and Stalin were passive fatalism and defeatism. The KPD denounced the SPD as social fascists and twin brothers of the Nazis, lowering themselves to such shameful acts as the support of a Nazi referendum against the SPD government in Prussia, while refusing to mobilize the entire working class against fascism.
Under conditions where the Nazis grew rapidly and it was only a question of months before they made a grab for power and violently destroyed the workers movement, Trotsky urged a united front of both mass workers parties, the SPD and KPD. He rejected the demand for a united front from below, which the KPD sometimes demagogically raised, because at the time the KPD and SPD both had hundreds of thousands of members and millions of voters from the working class behind them. The overwhelming majority of the Social Democratic workers will fight against the fascists, butfor the present at leastonly together with their organizations, Trotsky wrote. This stage cannot be skipped. (6)
However, Trotsky insisted upon restricting the united front to practical questions of defence and resisting the danger posed by fascism. He opposed mixing political banners and the abandonment of political critiques. The united front was a tactic aimed at uniting the working class in the process of resisting fascism, to overcome the fatalism of the Communist Party, whose leaders considered the fascist victory as inevitable, and to break the Social Democratic workers from the influence of their leaders, who, as Trotsky wrote, in the final analysis prefer fascism to communism.
The front must now be directed against fascism, Trotsky stated. And this common front of direct struggle against fascism, embracing the entire proletariat, must be utilized in the struggle against the Social Democracy, directed as a flank attack, but no less effective for all that.
The KPDs refusal to advocate a united front ultimately made Hitlers victory possible.
Flakins attempt to justify the shabby political manoeuvres of the Left Party in the name of Trotskys united front policy exposes him as a cynical con-man. The united front policy, he writes, is the correct approach for revolutionaries today in dealing with the struggle against the right and the traditional, right-wing social democracy (SPD), and the new, more left social democracy (Left Party).
While Trotsky fought to free the working class from the crippling influence of the SPD, Flakin is attempting to strengthen the bureaucratic apparatuses of the SPD, the Left Party and the trade unions, which hardly have any influence left among the workers and are viewed by them with a mixture of disgust and hatred. He is aware that the SPD of today and the SPD then cannot be compared and that the Left Party has still less in common with the KPD. In spite of this, he misuses Trotsky to justify alliances with these right-wing, bourgeois parties.
In contrast to the 1930s, the problem today is not that leaders of mass parties have betrayed workers who trust them. Todays SPD and Left Party are not workers parties, but purely bourgeois parties, whose members come overwhelmingly from the middle class and the bourgeoisie.
The same applies to the trade unions. They are no longer reformist organisations, which represent their members at least on day-to-day issues, but a factory police force organising layoffs and wage cuts in the interests of the corporations and suppressing social struggles. The decades-long domination of the workers movement by these right-wing, bureaucratic organisations has created a political vacuum that is being exploited by the AfD and other right-wing parties.
Under these conditions, only an independent political movement of the working class can effectively counter the danger of the right. It must be an internationalist and socialist movement, combining the fight against the rise of the right with the struggles against war, dictatorship, social attacks and capitalism. Such a movement would rapidly cut the ground from under the feet of the right-wing demagogues and become a beacon for widespread social dissatisfaction. Such a movement can only be built in an irreconcilable political and ideological offensive against the Social Democrats, the Left Party and their pseudo-left defenders.
Flakin is vehemently opposed to this. Instead, he wants to build unity in action with Gabriel, Schwesig and, as he writes on the basis of a citation from Trotsky torn entirely out of context, the devil and his grandmother. Flakin fails to inform us what kind of anti-fascist actions he plans to organise jointly with Gabriel, the German economy minister, who admires Egyptian dictator Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, promotes militarism and war and discusses with Pegida.
The broad alliances, action fronts and united fronts propagated by RIO, Marx 21 and SAV with all possible bourgeois forces are a trap for the working class and the surest way to further accelerate the strengthening of the far right.
The origins of the RIO
The German group RIO was relatively recently founded, but draws on a long tradition of justifying right-wing politics with left-wing jargon and false references to Trotsky. Historically, it is based on two tendencies which broke with the Fourth International and specialised in providing anti-Communism and nationalism with a pseudo-left cover.
The first tendency is that of the state capitalists. They trace their origins to Tony Cliff, who broke with Trotskyism in the late 1940s and described the Soviet Union as state capitalist. This was not merely an abstract question of terminology. The Fourth International defended the Soviet Union against attack from imperialism in spite of its Stalinist degeneration, because the property relations achieved through the October revolution represented progress. It defined the Soviet Union as a degenerated workers state.
Cliffs theory of state capitalism meant a capitulation to imperialism under conditions of the beginning of the Cold War. It was a form of anti-Communism concealed behind left phrases. This was shown as early as 1950, when the state capitalists refused to defend the Soviet Union and China against the invasion of Korea by the United States.
Over the years, the state capitalists went through a series of splits. Among opportunist groups whose politics are based on adapting to the political shifts within different factions of the bourgeoisie, this is unavoidable. However, this did not change anything about their fundamental political orientation. RIO, like Marx 21, is the product of a split within this state capitalist tendency. Its predecessors include the Workers Power Group (GAM), which expressed its opposition to Trotskyism with the demand for a fifth international.
The second tendency upon which RIO is based is Morenoism. In 2011, RIO joined the Trotskyist Faction-Fourth International (FT-CI), within which a leading role is played by the Argentinian Socialist Workers Party (PTS). The PTS was created in 1988 as one of the successor parties to Nahuel Morenos Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS).
Moreno had, like Cliff, transformed himself into a vehement opponent of the Fourth International in the post-war period. He adapted to bourgeois and petty bourgeois nationalism in Latin America and switched his support between its protagonists, from Juan Peron in Argentina to Fidel Castro in Cuba. In its essence, Morenoism was bourgeois nationalism clad in a pseudo-Marxist language.
The working class paid a heavy price with a series of terrible defeats produced by this right-wing tradition, upon which Flakin now bases himself with his attempts to justify the Left Partys right-wing manoeuvres by referring to Trotsky. Workers and youth who genuinely want to combat the AfD must learn to distinguish between this pseudo-left demagogy and real socialist politics.
References
[1] https://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/1006070.den-keil-ansetzen.html
[2] https://www.marx21.de/afd-strategien-gegen-die-rechte-gefahr/
[3] https://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/1003002.breite-buendnisse-aber-keine-politische-beliebigkeit.html
[4] http://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/1007468.mit-rotgruen-gegen-rassisten.html
[5] https://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/1008551.was-wuerde-trotzki-tun.html
[6] This citation, and the one which follows, is taken from Trotskys article For a United Front against Fascism, published in the Militant on 9 January, 1932. Flakin also cites from this work, but rips the quotations out of context.
The leader of the Australian Greens, Richard Di Natale, delivered a key foreign policy speech on May 17 to the Lowy Institute, a leading strategic policy think tank, in which he made carefully worded criticisms of the US-Australia alliance. The speech pointed to the divisions in the Australian ruling establishment over the countrys alignment with US militarism on a world scale, and particularly with Washingtons pivot to Asiathe concerted US diplomatic, economic and military strategy to threaten and undermine China. The pivot has steadily escalated since November 2011.
Di Natale framed his speech entirely from the standpoint of the defence of Australias national securitya code-word for the defence of the interests of the corporate and financial elite. He gave voice to longstanding concerns of sections of the ruling class that Canberras integration into US military operations, particularly in the Asia-Pacific, threatens to jeopardise critical trade relationships, especially with China, and embroil it in a major military conflict.
The theme of the speech was that climate change was the primary threat to national securitynot the US-led war on terror that has dominated Australian foreign policy for 15 years. Speaking for the interests that stand behind the Greens, he complained that environmental-based corporations were missing out on the economic opportunities that would result from a renewable economy.
The Greens leader publicly vented the frustration of sections of the political establishment, in both the US and Australia, that 15 years of US-led wars in the Middle East have resulted in an intractable quagmire. He declared: Our unfailing support for the US means that Australia has been complicit in the horrific consequences borne as a result of these foreign incursions... the situation in Iraq is a horrifying, deadly testament to this.
Di Natale described the 2003 Iraq invasion as illegal and a grievous strategic disaster that had destabilised the Middle East and contributed to the rise of Islamic State. He called for the withdrawal of Australian troops from the current US-led war in Syria and Iraq.
Of perhaps greater note, Di Natale condemned the use of Pine Gap, one of the US militarys most critical communications and spy bases, located in central Australia, to carry out drone assassinations in the Middle-East, Pakistan and Africa.
No leader of a major parliamentary party has, to this point, spoken publicly in such language about US foreign policy and the US-Australia alliance. Di Natale also asserted that the Greens would oppose aspects of the bipartisan Labor and Coalition policy to spend vast sums on major military acquisitions. He declared his party would cancel the $17 billion purchase of F35 strike fighters, and only support building six new submarines, not 12which will cost at least $50 billion. In a populist pitch, he contrasted the resources devoted to the military with the cuts to healthcare, education and other essential services. He stressed, however, that the Greens did support the modernisation of our defence capabilities.
Di Natale proceeded to declare that Australias relationship with the US has become a paradox. He said that while the pretext of the alliance was to ensure our defence, it had become the most likely reason that Australia would confront an aggressive foe. Stressing that his statements were not radical, he indicated that they were directly copied from Dangerous Allies, the 2014 book authored by the now deceased, former Liberal Party Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser.
It was Fraser who had referred to the paradox of the US alliance and advocated that it be revoked, Pine Gap shut down and all other relations with the US military ended. Fraser had explicitly tied his argument to the dangers of Australia being drawn into a US war with China. He called for an independent foreign policy on the part of Australian imperialism, which he declared would require a massive increase in Australian military spending and that the population accept lower living standards to pay for it.
Unlike Fraser, Di Natale insisted that he was only calling for a conversation, aimed at redefining the US-Australia alliance, not abolishing it. He made no criticisms of the joint US-Australian preparations for war against China, and failed to refer to the military tensions that Washington has provoked by confronting Beijing over its territorial claims in the South China Sea.
What Di Natale did not say was as significant as what he did. Fairfax Media, directly quoting from speech notes that had been provided by Di Natales office, reported prior to the event that the Greens leader would declare: Australia is rapidly escalating our military technology so as to join and contribute to a regional arms race, interceding in a South China Sea proxy war between two of our largest trading partners over 4,000 kilometres from our shores, all without diplomatic efforts having even gotten out of first gear.
By the time Di Natale arrived at the lectern of the Lowy Institute, any reference to arms race and proxy war had apparently been deleted.
Clearly perplexed by the omission, the Lowy Institute moderator asked Di Natale to state the Greens position on US-China tensions in the South China Sea. In a rambling response, Di Natale, echoing the position of the Coalition government and Labor, referred to what some would say are Chinas aggressive actions and called for arbitration to settle the tensions. Concluding his answer, he said: We have major concerns about the conflict in the South China Sea. [but] I dont think anyone has a clear response about how Australia should respond to that threat.
When he was challenged over the fact that China has categorically rejected arbitration on the territorial disputes by the UN Permanent Court of Arbitrationa body stacked with figures linked to the US and its alliesDi Natale refused to put a position. He lamely stated again that nobody has an answer.
In fact, the US military has spelled out, in what was initially called the AirSea Battle plan, Washingtons answer. Along with Australia, and other regional allies, the US is preparing for a massive assault on mainland China to compel Beijing to submit to its dictates. Last week, the US Navy carried out its third provocative freedom of navigation incursion into Chinese-claimed territory in the South China Sea. The Labor Party Defence spokesperson Stephen Conroy has insisted that Australian warships should be ordered to carry out their own operationan action that could result in a direct clash between Australian and Chinese military forces.
Di Natales speech serves to underscore the duplicity of the Greens. Under conditions of widespread opposition to Australias renewed involvement in war in the Middle East and emerging awareness of the tensions in Asia, he has sought to distance the Greens from the commitment by Labor and the Coalition to the US alliance. The Greens are positioning themselves to try and posture as an anti-war party when the inevitable opposition erupts to the surface.
His comments were all the more striking, given that, in their 2010 and 2013 federal election campaigns, the Greens said next to nothing about war, and nothing about the US alliance.
At the same time, Di Natale signaled that the Greens, while making some noise about the US alliance, will continue to enforce the conspiracy of silence that prevails in the Australian establishment over just how closely the country has been integrated into the US preparations for a military confrontation with China. This has been a taboo subject for close to five years, precisely because of the fears of popular outrage.
As far as the official establishment is concerned, even the limited criticisms made by Di Natale of Australias alignment with Washington were considered beyond the pale. Most television news and newspapers simply did not report the contents of his speech, or omitted his statements on the US alliance.
The Murdoch-owned Australian, however, felt obliged to remind the Greens that, should they form part of the next government, they will be expected to give their full support to the US alliance and militarism. In its editorial today, it bluntly warned: In the unfortunate event Australians found the Greens in a power-sharing alliance with Labor after July 2, nobody, including party leader Richard Di Natale, could surely expect their absurd proposal to back away from the US alliance, the bedrock of Australias strategic policy for 75 years, would ever see the light of day.
Foreign ministers of the major powers, including both Washington and Moscow, ended a meeting of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) in Vienna with no proposal for a date to resume peace talks between the Syrian government and the collection of Western-backed Islamist militias that constitute the armed opposition.
The so-called rebels walked out of the last round of talks in Geneva, accusing government forces of continuing to attack their positions in violation of a February 27 cessation of hostilities brokered by the US and Russia.
The government of President Bashar al-Assad and its allies, Russia and Iran, have insisted that continued operations were being carried out against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the Al Nusra Front, Syrias Al Qaeda affiliate, both of which are designated by the United Nations Security Council as terrorist groups and remain excluded from the shaky cease-fire.
In a communique issued at the close of the Vienna meeting, the ISSG member states warned that the consequences of a failure to fully implement the cessation of hostilities could include the return of full-scale war.
While the communique warned of consequences for any party violating the agreement, including the exclusion of such parties from the arrangements of the cessation and the protection it affords them, it gave no indications of what concrete actions would ensue.
What is painfully obvious, however, is that alleged violations by forces loyal to the government of Assad could provoke retaliation from the US, whose warplanes are already engaged in strikes on ISIS targets in Syria. At least 250 Special Operations troops have also been deployed on the ground, without the permission of Damascus and in violation of international law.
A US air strike against the city of al-Bukamal in Dayr al-Zawr province near Syrias border with Iraq reportedly killed three children and one woman on Monday.
Violations by the so-called rebels, meanwhile, are ignored by their Western sponsors, and would be punished only by the government and its ally, Russia.
This is clearly a formula for an intensification of a conflict that has already claimed over a quarter of a million lives, while driving some 11 million Syrians from their homes. It also creates the conditions for the Syrian conflict to spill over into a wider war pitting the US against Russia.
Washington only entered into the Syrian peace process as a means of buying time under conditions in which Russias intervention on the side of the Assad government had reversed the tide of battle against the Western-backed Islamist militias and thrown the US-orchestrated war for regime change into disarray.
From the outset, the Obama administration has threatened to resort to a Plan B if the negotiations in Vienna and Geneva fail to achieve Washingtons original aim in stoking the bloody war in Syria: the toppling of the Assad government and the imposition of a more pliant Western puppet regime. Last month, unnamed senior US officials let it be known that Plan B would include the provision of more sophisticated weaponry to the rebels, including MANPADS, portable shoulder-fired missiles that could bring down Russian planes.
Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking to the media alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and UN special envoy Steffan de Mistura at the close of the Vienna conference, issued a direct threat to Syrias Assad, stating, He should never make a miscalculation about President Obamas determination to do what is right at any given moment of time where he believes he has to make that decision.
For his part, Lavrov charged that Washingtons key regional allies, including Turkey, are pouring more arms into Syria to fuel the conflict. Lately, he said, this has included the provision of tanks to the rebels.
The main supply conduit for extremists, the Russian foreign minister said, is a 90 kilometer stretch of the Turkish-Syrian border controlled on one side by the Turkish military and, on the other, by ISIS. He charged that there existed a large, widely-spread network created by Turkey on its side of the border to continue and cover up these supplies.
Kerry spent the weekend preceding the Vienna talks in Riyadh, meeting behind closed doors with representatives of the Saudi monarchy, a principal US regional ally and main supporter of the Islamist forces in Syria. The Saudi regime was the organizer of the so-called High Negotiations Committee, which was formed to represent these Salafist jihadi militias in talks with the Syrian government.
Speaking at the conference in Vienna, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir advocated a speedy escalation of the war for regime change in Syria.
We believe we should have moved to a Plan B a long time ago, Adel al-Jubeir told reporters. The choice about moving to an alternative plan, the choice about intensifying the military support [to the opposition] is entirely with the Bashar regime He will be removed, either through a political process or through military force.
Meanwhile, Turkey, Washingtons NATO ally and also a key backer of the rebels, threatened Tuesday to carry out a unilateral military intervention in Syria.
President Tayyip Erdogan told a meeting in Istanbul that the Turkish military would act alone, supposedly to deal with ISIS missile attacks coming across the Syrian border and striking the town of Kilis.
We will solve that issue ourselves if we dont receive help to prevent those rockets from hitting Kilis, he said. We knocked on all doors for a safe zone at our southern border. But no one wants to take that step.
Erdogans statement echoed that made by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu earlier this month: If necessary, Turkey may launch a ground military operation in Syria by itself.
Erdogans remarks made clear that his concern is not ISIS, which Ankara has armed and supplied, but rather the growing strength of Syrian Kurdish forces near the Turkish border. In a thinly veiled criticism of US backing for these forces, he declared: States which exercise control over the worlds arms industry give their weapons to terrorists. I challenge them to deny this.
The Turkish government is committed to the war for regime change in Syria and has demonstrated, with its shoot-down of a Russian jet last November, its willingness to push this conflict into an armed confrontation with Moscow.
There is little doubt that the Saudi and Turkish regimes are openly advocating a policy that is being supported within powerful sections of the US ruling establishment and military and intelligence apparatus.
An escalation of the Syrian bloodbath also has the backing of the leading candidates in both the Democratic and Republican parties, but its initiation is almost certain to be postponed until after November in order to prevent the subject of war becoming an issue in the US presidential election.
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After telling striking workers for weeks that it would not accede to Verizons demands for a federal mediator, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) agreed to mediation yesterday during talks in Washington, DC overseen by the Obama administration.
The CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) are preparing a reprise of the sellout of the 2011 strike, which was shut down after two weeks with the unions telling workers they should place their confidence in a federal mediator. Predictably Obamas mediator imposed a contract that imposed sweeping health care concessions on behalf of the telecom giant.
The negotiations in Washington, which are continuing this week, are not between two antagonistic parties. On the contrary, the unions are conspiring with Verizon and the Obama administration to defeat the Verizon workers and prevent their opposition from triggering a far broader mobilization of millions of workers who are facing the same corporate-government attacks.
In addition to US Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, the Deputy Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, Allison Beck, will join the talks. Beck, who was nominated to the position by Obama in 2014, served for 20 years as the general counsel of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) union.
The CWA is now trying to convince striking workers that her background in the IAM will be favorable to workers. The IAM is notorious, however, for collaborating with Boeing and the airline giants in ramming concessions down the throats of workers.
At every turn, Verizon has exploited the treachery of the CWA and IBEW, which delayed calling the strike for eight months after the contract expiration, giving Verizon more than enough time to hire and train an army of an estimated 20,000 strikebreakers. The unions did not want a potential strike at the same time that some 200,000 autoworkers and steelworkers were also coming up for contracts last summer.
Allied with the Obama administration and the Democrats, the CWA has remained silent on the strikebreaking efforts being backed by big-city mayors like Bill de Blasio, whose New York City cops, driving vanloads of scabs through picket lines, ran down a striker last week in Queens. This has only encouraged further violence, with the latest incident involving a scab running down Anthony Davenport, a 48-year-old striker who was hit by a contractor truck on a picket line Tuesday morning in Boylston, Massachusetts, 44 miles west of Boston.
The CWA and the IBEW have deliberately isolated the month-long strike by nearly 40,000 Verizon workers. Exploiting this, the company is sticking to every one of the major demands contained in its last, best and final offer. These include the ability to close call centers and lay off thousands of workers, cutting health care and pension benefits for both active and retired workers, and turning much of the workforce into what would amount to roaming work crews forced to transfer far from their homes.
The unions are acting in conjunction with the Obama administration, which has centered its economic policies on enriching the super-wealthy while attacking the living standards and social programs of the working class. The aim of these policies, carried out in collaboration with the unions, is to drive down workers living standards and to help make American manufacturing more competitive in the world market.
This policy was initiated during the 2009 restructuring of the auto industry where the Obama administration, with the assistance of the United Auto Workers, pushed through contract changes that cut starting wages to between $14 and $15 an hour. Likewise, the aim of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, was not to provide universal high quality health care to everyone, but to provide a path for corporations to cut and eliminate health care coverage to its employees and retirees.
The unions are paying only a pittance in strike benefits, despite the multimillion-dollar defense fund, and trying to starve workers, who have also had their medical insurance cut off by Verizon, into submission.
Rank-and-file workers must begin organizing now to reject the imminent sellout agreement. Committees should be organized, independent of the unions and the Democratic Party, to fight for the expansion of the strike to include all telecom workers and the broadest sections of the entire working class.
The WSWS Verizon Strike Newsletter spoke with workers on the picket line in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jen, a FiOS customer service worker with 20 years at Verizon, said, We are all beginning to worry about our mortgages and our bills. Our kids are getting sick of having grilled cheese sandwiches every night. We dont know whats going to happen. I have 20 years of service and many have spent their entire lives working for this company. Can you imagine how humiliating it is to apply for public assistance? Its disgusting.
Referring to workers in the Philippines, who are reportedly being paid less than $2 an hour by Verizon, Jen said, All workers should be able to make a decent wage for an honest days work. This is a battle against the greedy executives of the world. Im not sure how one person [Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam] can justify making $18 million a year.
Verizon has terminated health insurance for striking workers. WSWS reporters explained that after Allegheny Technologies Inc. canceled healthcare coverage for 2,200 locked-out workers, at least one worker died because he did not think he could afford to go to the hospital. He didnt think he could afford [to seek medical care]. Its sad, Jen responded. That would never happen to an executive, now would it?
Another striker, Bill asserted, As a parent with six kids, its no big surprise now when our children finish college with huge debts and cant find a job. I have a theory that this is what happens when you start managing things from a spreadsheetbut its someones livelihood that is affected by that choice.
When a WSWS reporter explained that the unions were betraying the strike, Bill said, Thats true. Every once in awhile you get the idea that maybe theyve got their own agenda that has nothing to do with me, the person they represent.
Mark, another striking worker, explained how the termination of health care benefits was affecting him. I got walking pneumonia. I went and got medication but I have no insurance now, so I dont know whats going to happen. I tried to order my blood pressure medication back on April 30, but I got a call back from Rite Aid telling me that my insurance wouldnt cover it until May 4. And when I run out of that now, I dont know what is going to happen. I may just have to pay out of pocket, I guess. Its a squeeze.
I like that the WSWS said, the working class has to unite. We have to or there will be no jobs left! On the issue of the growing danger of war between the US and Russia or China, Mark noted, Thats been a long time coming. Its like the Middle East. Everyone wants a piece of that. These countries always got to keep their foot in the door. We need a revolution. Neither party is with us.
Mike, a FiOS customer service representative, was wary of the companys statements. Were not allowed to be at the meeting so we dont know what is going on. And I know for a fact Verizon is lying to us. The CEO is either ignorant or he has no integrity. Either way, it doesnt sit right with me.
John, a striking Verizon worker, said, It would be nice if the union would fork out to pay for everybodys health care while were on strike. With the amount of money they have, they should. They have millions of dollars from us, from our union dues. Theyve got to have some investments; Im sure theyre not just letting it sit somewhere.
When WSWS reporters said the unions would try to push through a sellout contract, John responded, Thats exactly right. They do that. I see their emails. I see how they word things. They did that once before in 2011. Its the same thing, we didnt make anything.
PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE
The Flint Water Crisis, in which government officials from both political parties conspired to facilitate and cover up the poisoning of an entire city, has laid bare the real relationship between the state and the working population. Despite serving in organizations nominally tasked with protecting and maintaining the quality of the environment, officials at all levels of government looked on with indifference and contempt while Flints residents drank toxic water from the polluted Flint River. Even after a spike of Legionnaires disease left a dozen dead and clear evidence that a catastrophic level of lead exposure was causing widespread harm to the people of Flint, officials only took action to silence those who threatened to expose the crisis.
Now, faced with an outraged population and a political crisis that continues to spiral out of their control, these same officials have engaged in finger-pointing, attempting to shift the blame onto their political rivals while casting themselves as without fault. In truth, the complicity of regulatory agencies in the crisis points to a wider qualitative transformation in the role of these organizations. Where they once provided at least a modicum of environmental oversight, they now work hand in hand with big business polluters to facilitate the plundering of resources in the name of profit.
The neglect and cover-up by federal and state regulatory bodies led directly to the Flint water crisisand has set the stage for even worse environmental and social catastrophes to come.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy
Regina Gina McCarthy is the Obama administrations administrator for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA played a critical role in covering up the scope of the lead crisis, ensuring that residents continued to drink lead-tainted water for many months after the level of toxicity became known. Despite this, she and other Obama administration officials maintain, to this day, that the EPA is completely without fault in the affair.
Prior to becoming the EPA administrator, McCarthy served in a variety of roles in local and state government agencies. She was the deputy secretary of the Massachusetts Office of Commonwealth Development under Republican Governor Mitt Romney, and the commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection under Republican Governor Jodi Rell. During both of these administrations she gave strong support to market based environmental legislation, including regional cap-and-trade schemes that transformed carbon pollution into a lucrative commodity. Her primary concern was always to ensure that environmental regulation did not hamper the ability of corporate polluters to continue amassing profits.
Obama tapped McCarthy to head the EPAs Office of Air and Radiation in 2009, and she became the agencys administrator in 2013 after a contentious confirmation hearing. She inherited an organization that had long since abandoned any pretense of serious environmental regulation. Decades of deregulation and defunding by both the Democrats and Republicans have crippled the ability of the EPA and other federal regulatory agencies to perform any kind of meaningful oversight on the rapacious operations of big business. In place of regulation, the EPA regularly promotes market-based incentives like cap-and-trade that do virtually nothing to rein in the environmentally destructive effects of capitalist production. Whatever paltry fines the EPA does extract from the most egregious offenders are little more than wrist slaps that polluters account for as an expected cost of doing business.
The EPAs role is particularly grotesque in the case of environmental lead contamination. While the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) explicitly gives EPA oversight authority in issues of water quality, and the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) supposedly sets the standards for lead testing and monitoring, the EPA regularly allows states to exploit gaps and ambiguities in the rule in order to hide dangerous lead levels. The widespread use of practices such as pre-flushing before testing and the selective sampling of low-risk homes allow state agencies to artificially lower lead testing results and claim that their water systems are meeting LCR standards, even when there is widespread lead contamination. These and other practices, which have the tacit approval of an indifferent EPA, have become so widespread that, according to a source recently quoted in the Guardian, they occur in every major US city east of the Mississippi.
The utter failure of the LCR to regulate lead levels contributed to a major lead-in-water crisis in Washington DC in 2001-2004, as well as numerous other lead contamination episodes nationwide in the years before the Flint crisis. The EPA has not revised the LCR in nearly a decade, and doesnt plan to do so until 2017-2018, even though the law requires the agency to do so every six years. Under the EPAs watch, deliberate concealment of lead in drinking water has become unofficial government policy.
Even though EPA officials were aware of severe lead contamination in Flint homes in February 2015, and knew that the city was not using corrosion control by April of that year, they refused to exercise any oversight authority and stood idly by while Flint residents continued to drink the water. McCarthy, who has spent her term pushing toothless policies like the Clean Power Plan and delivering fawning remarks to corporate criminals and billionaires at the World Economic Forum in Davos, was completely indifferent to the catastrophe in Flint until popular outrage forced her to respond. On January 21, 2016, nearly a year after EPA officials first learned of high lead levels in Flint, the EPA issued an SDWA Emergency Order prescribing various actions for the city and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ).
She has since repeatedly and arrogantly asserted that the EPA did nothing wrong, often resorting to outright lies to cover up for her agencys role in the affair. When asked by a World Socialist Web Site reporter about the silencing of Miguel Del Toral, the one EPA official who tried to raise alarms about the crisis, she stated that, Miguel has never been silenced, and he wont be. In her March 2016 testimony before Congress, she refused to accept any blame for the Flint crisis, boldly declaring, I will not take responsibility for causing this problem. In a Washington Post op-ed, she laid the blame entirely on the state, stating that Michigan did not act as a partner in the crisis.
In fact, the MDEQ and the EPA were both willing partners in criminal activity that has caused horrific injury to thousands. Though McCarthys response has prompted calls from Flint residents for her resignation, the Obama administration has stood by her, declaring, Theres a strong case to make that the United States of America has never had a better administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency than Gina McCarthy.
EPA Region 5 Administrator Susan Hedman
The criminal neglect by the EPA in the face of severe environmental contamination was embodied by Region 5 Administrator Susan Hedman, who actively worked to silence and discredit the one EPA official who attempted to raise alarms over the crisis.
Prior to joining the EPA, Hedman was environmental counsel in the Illinois Attorney Generals office. From 2000-2004 she was chief legal officer for the Geneva-based United Nations Compensation Commission, a subsidiary organ of the United Nations Security Council that levied brutal economic sanctions against Iraq in the name of compensating the population of Kuwait for damages suffered in the 1990-1991 invasion (a great many of which were actually inflicted by the United States bombing campaign).
President Obama appointed Hedman to the EPA in 2010, where she dutifully carried out the agencys unofficial mission of partnering with polluters to defend their profit interests. She worked to shield Enbridge Energy from negative press after the company spilled over 800,000 gallons of oil into Michigans Kalamazoo River in 2010. In 2012, she led the US delegation that negotiated the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement with Canada, a non-binding international soft law that carries no mechanisms for enforcement.
Once her office became aware that the city of Flint was not implementing corrosion control and that lead levels were spiking dramatically, Hedman refused to exercise any oversight authority or alert the citizens of Flint that their children were being poisoned. Recently released internal emails have revealed that, while Flint residents were being poisoned, EPA officials engaged in hand-wringing over whether the MDEQ would take this personally or become defensive if EPA exercised any oversight, which they feared might come off as too aggressive/controversial.
One EPA official, Miguel Del Toral, tried repeatedly to compel his superiors to action. He drafted a memo in June 2015 presenting evidence that the lack of corrosion control was causing lead to leach into Flints drinking water, and that the crisis was affecting the entire city.
As his superiors delayed intervention and questioned his conclusions, he maintained that the actions of local and state officials constituted criminal neglect, and that the EPA was enabling them. He added: I am really getting tired of the bad actors being defended, the bad actions being ignored, and people trying to do the right thing are constantly being subjected to intense scrutiny as if we were doing something wrong ... I truly, truly hate working here. EPA is a cesspool.
With Del Toral refusing to drop the issue, his EPA superiors stepped in and told him that he was not to speak to anyone about the crisis or to contact any Flint residents, effectively placing him under house arrest. In July, Hedman emailed Flint Mayor Dayne Walling apologizing for the Del Toral memo and insisting that it would tell a different story after it had been revised and fully vetted by EPA management.
As the truth of the lead crisis came to light, EPA officials fought tooth and nail to avoid engaging on the issue. In January 2016, with public anger reaching a fever pitch, Hedman resigned, a move that Administrator McCarthy called a courageous act.
In her testimony before Congress in March 2016, Hedman insisted, I dont think anyone at the EPA did anything wrong, and that her own resignation was the result of false allegations against her.
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality District Supervisor Stephen Busch
With the federal EPA tacitly endorsing the cover-up of lead in drinking water, the door was open for bureaucrats like MDEQs District Supervisor Stephen Busch to engage in deceitful practices to obfuscate the scope of the water disaster.
Buschs office oversaw the drinking water division in the district that included Flint. In March 2013, weeks before the city of Flint announced its plan to sever ties with the Detroit Water and Sewerage Departments (DWSD) water system, Busch emailed MDEQ Director Dan Wyant and others expressing concerns over the use of the Flint River as an interim source during the construction of the Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA) pipeline from Lake Huron.
He wrote: All contract options with DWSD that are considered semi-competitive with the KWA contract do not fully supply the City of Flint, and would require the City of Flint to meet a significant, if not majority, of its water demands by treating water from the Flint River. He noted that Flint River water would pose an increased microbial risk as well as an increased risk of carcinogenic disinfection by-product.
The email was written in preparation for a same-day call with Michigan State Treasurer Andy Dillon, who would later claim that he had no knowledge of the plan to use the Flint River as an interim source.
Though the city of Flint had signed on to the KWA scheme in April 2013, in early 2014 the citys financial condition had become so dire that it threatened the ability of the Karegnondi Water Authority to issue bonds to begin construction on the new pipeline. In order to keep the KWA project on track, Busch issued a sweetheart environmental order that absurdly linked the KWA pipeline project to a cleanup effort on water treatment plant sludge the city had dumped in a lagoon area. The order required the pipeline construction as part of the lagoon cleanup effort, which ensured that the citys share of cost for the KWA project wouldnt count against the citys debt limit, thus plunging the city further into debt while keeping the KWA project on schedule. This makes a mockery of the claim that the switch from the DWSD was solely related to cost cutting.
Busch ignored warnings from Utilities Administrator Mike Glasgow that the ancient Flint Water Treatment Plant was unfit for operation, and he covered up numerous warning signs once the corrosive water was flowing through the citys pipes. When automaker GM switched their water supply back to Lake Huron water because the Flint River water was corroding parts in their manufacturing plant, Buschs subordinate Mike Prysby told a Flint Journal reporter that the water, although not optimal, was satisfactory, adding, I stressed the importance of not branding Flints water as corrosive from a public health standpoint simply because it does not meet a manufacturing facilitys limit for production.
As evidence mounted that the Flint River water had caused an outbreak of Legionellosis, Busch stated, There is no evidence or confirmation of legionella coming directly from the Water Treatment Plant or in the community water supply distribution system at this time, providing no data to back up his assertion.
When EPAs Miguel Del Toral found evidence of severe lead levels in Flint resident LeeAnne Walters home, Busch downplayed the significance, writing to his colleges at MDEQ that he was not sure why region 5 [EPA] sees this one sample as such a big deal and insisting that the lead levels were the residents problem.
On February 27, 2015, Busch sent an email to Miguel Del Toral stating that the city of Flint has an optimized corrosion control program, a bald-faced and unambiguous lie. Two months later, the MDEQ admitted that no such program was in place. Rather than work to implement corrosion control, which is legally mandated under the SDWA, Busch and other MDEQ officials took to complaining about Del Toral in internal emails, with Busch stating that he would have his MDEQ supervisors make a call to EPA to help address his over-reaches.
While evidence of severe lead contamination was mounting, MDEQ officials ordered Flint city workers to doctor the test results to hide the lead levels. At a meeting with Flint residents LeeAnne Walters and Melissa Mays, Busch and other MDEQ officials mocked their concerns and bragged that Del Toral had been handled.
In January 2016, faced with a volatile political situation and mounting public anger, the state suspended Busch without pay. He and his subordinate Mike Prysby are now facing criminal indictment, with charges including misconduct in office, tampering with evidence, and violating the Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act.
Michigan Governors Office Chief of Staff Dennis Muchmore
The conspiracy to cover up the level of toxicity in Flints drinking water was vast and intricate, involving officials at every level of government. Despite this, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder claims, ridiculously, that he did not learn of the lead hazard until October 2015. This brazen lie is belied by the role of Dennis Muchmore, Snyders chief of staff, who was actively engaged in the effort to politically defuse the crisis while maintaining plausible deniability for his boss.
Muchmore is a longtime lobbyist and corporate executive, who founded the Lansing-based lobbying firm Muchmore Harrington Smalley & Associates LLC in 1988. He served as the Executive Vice President at DHR International, a consulting firm that provides senior-level executive search services to corporations. He has also served as the executive director of the Michigan United Conservation Clubs, where his primary task was ensuring that the organization became financially sound.
His wife, Deb Muchmore, is the Michigan spokesperson for the Nestle Company, the largest owner of private water sources in the State of Michigan. Nestle, which has been repeatedly sued by northern Michigan residents for its water pumping practices, extracts 200 gallons of fresh water per minute from the aquifer that feeds Lake Michigan, paying next to nothing to do so.
In his role as Snyders Chief of Staff, Muchmore regularly sold face time to corporate spokespeople in exchange for large donations, and gave privileged access to corporate entities with whom the state did business. When the private prison food vendor Aramark Correctional Services came under fire for serving maggot-infested food to inmates at a Jackson, Michigan prison, Muchmore emailed Michigan Department of Corrections Director Dan Heyns to have Heyns cancel the paltry $98,000 fine that had been levied against Aramark.
While the Flint crisis was unfolding, Muchmore was well aware of the absurdity of the governments cost-cutting line, stating in a February 2015 email, If GM refuses to use the water in their plant and our own agencies are warning people not to drink it we look pretty stupid hiding behind some financial statement.
In July, he wrote to officials at the MDEQ and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services that These folks are scared and worried about the health impacts and they are basically getting blown off by us (as a state were just not sympathizing with their plight).
In fact, the Governors office, and Muchmore himself, were doing more than simply blowing off concerns. Emails released by Freedom of Information Act requests show that Muchmore was striving to absolve the state of responsibility and to smear the scientists who had exposed the crisis. In September, Muchmore was included on email communications between high-ranking state officials laying out a strategy to discredit Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the Flint pediatrician who discovered the dramatic increase in blood lead levels in Flint children.
The day after Dr. Hanna-Attisha released her findings, Muchmore emailed Snyder, saying, I cant figure out why the state is responsible except that [Michigan State Treasurer Andy] Dillon did make the ultimate decision so were not able to avoid the subject.
In another email to Snyder he asserted, Its really the citys water system that needs to deal with it. He referred to the research scientists who had discovered the dangerous levels of lead as the anti everything group.
Muchmore left the Governors office in January 2016. In February, he joined the Detroit law firm Honigman Miller Schwartz & Cohn LLP, where he now leads the Government Relations and Regulatory Practice Group.
Concluded
6 years, 5 months ago by Scott Hardy
Two children removed from home
Two children had to be removed from their home Tuesday after a meth bust just south of Quincy.
The West Central Illinois Task Force says they and the Adams County Sheriff's Office Special Response Team raided a home Tuesday in the four thousand block of Roberts Street, just off Gardner Expressway. Authorities say they found both meth and drug paraphernalia. 42 year old Christopher Gilker and 28 year old Megan Stark were both arrested for Unlawful Possession of Meth. Two small children in the home are now with a family member.
Both Gilker and Stark are in the Adams County Jail, while they wait for their bond to be set.
6 years, 5 months ago QPD
Darren D. Caillier, 20, for possession of alcohol by minor at 12/Madison on 5-18-16 at 0015 hours. Released on NTA.
Saundra J Smith (69) 3007 Lincoln Hill NE for Failure to Yield-Left Turn at 5/Jefferson on 5/17/16. Released on PTC.
Jayme N Veihl (24) 800 N 12 for Failure to Yield-Left Turn at13/Broadway on 5/17/16. Released on PTC.
Dustin W. Kearney, 26, for Domestic Battery at 115 N 8th on 5-17-16 at 2300 hours. Lodged.
Mercedes N. Farris, 20, for expired registration and operating uninsuredvehicle at 8/Chestnut on 5-17-16 at 1843 hours. NTA.
James A. Martens, 30, for FTA -Battery, FTA-Criminal Trespass, FTA-Domestic Battery. Arrested after a traffic stop at 3/College on 5-17-16 at 2050 hours. Lodged.
John M. Brown, 22, for FTA-poss of cannabis at 19/Van Buren on 5-18-16 at 0153 hours. Located by S-31 during a traffic stop. Lodged.
Michelle Hankins stated that her residence in the 800 block of S. 5thwas entered and paint thrown on the walls and furnishings. The incident took place between 5-5-2016 at 0845 hours, and 5-6-2016 at 1600 hours.
Laura Merlo reported her vehicle was struck while it was parked on 20thSt by an unknown vehicle. The incident took place sometime between 5-6-16 at 1600 hours, and 5-11-16 at 2000 hours. No suspects.
Roderick W Douglas reports his 2007 Trailerman 20' flatbed trailer stolen from 605 S 5th on 5/17/16. It has gray sides and wood floors. VIN-5L3BX20227L001741
Evelyn A Brink 74, Quincy for no seatbelt.
Jessica R. Robertson, 25, 1103 Vermont for FTA - DWLS at her residence on 05-17-16. Lodged
Tyrena J. Taber, 46, 658 Harrison Drive for Fighting at her residence on 05-12-16. NTA
Briana L. Pearl, 21, 624 Spruce for Improper Lane Usage at 8th & Sycamore on 05-17-16. PTC
Holly A. Wagner, 62, 4111 S. 46th for Improper Driving at 36th & State on 05-12-16. PTC
Ricky L Schaffer 61, of Payson for failure to yield.
Stanton L Tate 36, of Quincy for uninsured vehicle.
Joseph L Stokes 20, 2032 Broadway for fighting.
Stella A Shake 37, 2100 S 8th for retail theft at Hy-Vee on 4/30/16. Lodged
Yakima, Wash., police say this man, shown in an image taken from surveillance video, is suspected of beaking in to a Nob Hill Boulevard car wash on Friday, May 13, 2016. (photo courtesy of Yakima Police Department)
A Yakima woman has been sentenced to three years in federal prison after prosecutors say she
You are the owner of this article.
The Yakima County Commission has scheduled a public meeting for Aug. 1 to debate whether to crack down on marijuana businesses operating in un
Scenes from a Moment of Blessing ceremony near the entrance of the Yakima County Jail in Yakima, Wash., Saturday, May 17, 2016. The ceremony was held in honor of Timothy Denton. Denton was killed in jail. Two inmates could face first-degree murder charges.
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A set of new regulations designed to help couples facing divorce settle their disputes has come into effect earlier this week.
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The regulations under the Resolution of Family Disputes Law, suggested by Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked, mandate that couples in dispute must take part in a mediation process in an effort to come to a consensual agreement before appearing in front of a court of law or rabbinic court.
The amendnment aims to reduce the amount of litigation resulting from such cases, along with the acrimony and waste of money they tends to generate.
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Photo: Motti Kimchi)
Shaked has already obtained the necessary funding to allow the courts to provide mediation to the potentially high number of requests.
Under the new regulations, any married individual approaching divorce who wishes to file a couple's dispute claim will first have to submit a request asking to resolve the conflict. The request will then be directed to the court's social services unit, which will invite both parties to participate in four mediatory sessions sans legal representation.
As part of the mediation, feuding couples will receive information on the mediation process itself and on the legal proceedings that await them in case they do not reach an agreement.
In addition, couples taking part in the mediation will learn about the possible impacts that ongoing disputes can have on any children involved, as they are guided in an attempt to reach an agreement concerning such subjects as child support, custody and property division.
The meetings incldued in the required mediation process will be free of charge, with the mediators being civil servants, most of them lawyers or social workers. During the mediation period, both parties will not be allowed to file claims against one another, apart from requests for temporary relief aimed at keeping the status quo or requests for emergency relief.
If both parties do not reach an agreement, whichever party had initiated the proceedings will be allowed to submit a claim to the relevant court to discuss the matter further, while being allowed to continue the mediation process if they so choose. Any additional meetings beyond this point will come at a cost, though it has been agreed upon that it will not be high.
The new regulations will be instated for three years, during which their efficiency will be examined.
It is important to note that the meetings are not set up to provide couple's therapy, and that their purpose is not to have the couple reconcile, but rather to help them respectfully reach a breakup that is concensual, fair and built upon conditions that both parties can meet over time.
"In many cases, an agreement can be reached and the courts can be avoided, which will benefit the citizens and make it easier for the system to encourage all parties involved to make joint decisions," said Minister Shaked."We need to remember that parental disputes cause damage especially for the children, and that it is our duty to protect them. I'm grateful to MKs Shuli Mualem (Bayit Yehudi) and Merav Michaeli (Zionist Union), who initiated the procedure."
So far, the new regulations have faced some opposition from lawyers, whose livelihood could be affected by a greater reliance on mediation as opposed to litigation when settling such disputes. "I feel there are people who are against the law and are trying to sabotage the regulations," said Constitution, Law and Justice Committee Chairman MK Nissan Slomiansky (Bayit Yehudi). "I will not allow it."
The Central Bureau of Statistics found that the first quarter of 2016 saw a 0.8% growth in Israels economy, a low number that in actuality represents a negative growth when compared to the 2% growth in population.
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The Ministries of Finance and Economy were surprised by the data, as the Finance Ministry had expected a 2.8% growth. In light of the worrying information, Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon is due to call a meeting with the head officials of the ministry regarding how to raise the rate of economic growth in the upcoming quarters.
Kahlon and Netanyahu (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)
Prior to the current report, officials from the Ministry of Economy had warned that having a bi-annual budget might hinder economic growth, and that it was preferable to work under a yearly budget. The issue is expected to be raised during the upcoming meeting.
The decrease in economic growth follows a relatively high growth rate of 3.1%, seen during the last quarter of 2015. Despite the relatively low growth rate during the first quarter of 2016, private consumption was shown to have gone up by 4%.
The business sector, however, saw a negative growth rate of 0.4% during the first quarter of 2016, after a 2.9% rise during the previous quarter. Additionally, export rates have gone down by 4.4%. When removing the diamond industry and hi-tech companies from the total equation, the decrease in exports was found to be 12.9%.
When an industry suffers a decrease in exports, it can enter a recession and be forced to fire people working to manufacture their products.
The tourism industry, on the other hand, saw an increase of 34.1% during the first quarter of 2016 based on a yearly calculation (or 7.6% based on a quarterly calculation) and a 26.3% yearly-based increase (or a 6% quarter-based increase). Israels diamond export also went up to a 35.3% based on a yearly calculation (or a 7.9% increase based on a quarterly calculation).
The first quarter saw a 7.5% growth in imports, a relative drop when compared to the previous quarters 20.9% growth. The first quarter also saw a 15.9% increase in importing merchandise for the private sector and an 11.2% increase in the import of services, including software and tourism. Defense imports, however, saw a 13.2% drop during the first quarter. Excluding defense imports, the first quarter saw a 0.4% increase of importing goods and services, after the previous quarter saw a 23.7% yearly-based increase.
The first quarter also saw a 3% increase in private consumption, which includes spending on food, alcohol and tobacco, private services, housing, fuel and electricity.
Spending on durable goods has remained stable during the first quarter following a 55.7% yearly-based increase (and an 11.7% quarterly-based increase). Household equipment saw a 6% yearly-based decrease after a 40.2% increase during the last quarter.
Pioneer Wealth Managements Head Investment Manager Shmuel Ben Arie stated that the general drop is due to the Bank of Israel and the government falling asleep on the job. He continued, Israel hasnt shown almost any encouraging signs of growth, and the government hasnt issued any tax cuts or new investments.
Idan Azoulay, the CEO at Epsilon Investment House, added, The current data need to be taken as a wake-up call by the government. Its time the government begin implementing a policy that supports the business sector and investments.
Our export is looking bad, said Guy Yehuda, a senior economist at Psagot Investment House. When exporting becoming so concentrated, and with Teva, Intel and ICL comprising half of it and showing most of the total decrease, its really a story concerning the micro level of the economy, rather than one of the economy in general.
A joint training exercise between the US, Greek and Israeli navies held at a NATO facility in the Greek islands has recently concluded.
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The drill included several training missions, with Israeli missile boats, patrol boats, swiftboats, rescue helicopters with para-rescue soldiers from the elite 669 unit, and search and rescue vessels all took part in the exercise.
Joint Naval Drill Nobel Dina (: ")
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One of the training missions involved "Snapir" underwater sappers taking over a cargo vessel which had been "hijacked" by terrorists who were armed with sub-machine guns. The Snapir forces "rescued" the ship's crew and neutralized the "enemy" forces.
Nobel Dina joint training excersize (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
The Snapir unit's day-to-day tasks include swimming under dozens of cargo ships arriving in Israeli ports every day to make sure that there are no bombs strapped to the bottom of the vessels that could blow up the ports.
Nobel Dina joint training excersize (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Nobel Dina joint training excersize (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Nobel Dina joint training excersize (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Nobel Dina joint training excersize (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Nobel Dina joint training excersize (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Nobel Dina joint training excersize (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Nobel Dina joint training excersize (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
The head of the Israeli delegation, Lt.-Col. Ori Arnon, said that the reason for holding the drill was to "share information and techniques with other militaries, sail to a far off destination, and learn from mutual debriefings."
Nobel Dina joint training excersize (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Nobel Dina joint training excersize (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Nobel Dina naval training excersize (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
He went on to say that "at the end of the day, this was a cross-cultural meeting. Unsurprisingly, the Israeli forces performed well under pressure and changing conditions. Meanwhile, the Americans and Greek stuck to their plans. All of our fighting techniques are similar, and the drills were in accordance with NATO standards."
Democrat candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders each picked up primary wins on Tuesday in yet another demonstration of how divided the party is in the drawn-out national race to win the nomination for November's general election.
Clinton narrowly defeated Sanders in Kentucky, a state where she was not expected to win, while Sanders won in Oregon.
In Kentucky, the two candidates will likely split the 55 available delegates. In Oregon, Sanders will take only a handful more of the 61 delegates that were awarded.
Clinton's sizeable lead in delegates means it is likely she will eventually be the Democratic nominee, but she remains 92 delegates short of sealing the deal. The Democratic primary now hits a two-week lull, with the final set major contests, including California, scheduled for June 7.
Clinton, who spent the past two days campaigning in Kentucky, would like to lock up the nomination and turn her attention to the Nov. 8 general election and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Trump has begun to organize his general election campaign. On Tuesday, he signed a joint fundraising agreement with the Republican National Committee. The agreement allows him to raise $449,400 from a single donor by splitting the funds between his campaign, the RNC and state Republican parties.
Trump, who eschewed donations in the political system through the primary, has thus far insisted on mostly self-funding his campaign. The shift to a more traditional fundraising approach could draw the ire of some of his supporters.
Trump, in an interview with Megyn Kelly that aired on Fox News Tuesday night, said he did have regrets about his actions during the Republican primary process.
"I could have used different language in a couple of instances, but overall I'm happy with the outcome," Trump said.
Two Israelis, a mother in her 50s and her daughter in her 20s, from Rishon LeZion, were killed in a car accident in southeast Switzerland, after leaving Milan and crossed the Italian border.
The Foreign Ministry said that the bodies have been identified, and that the Israeli embassy is taking care of bringing their bodies to Israel. Their families were notified overnight.
Britain's foreign spy agency MI6 flew a rainbow flag outside its London headquarters to mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia on Tuesday, and to woo potential applicants from the gay community.
Britain's spy agencies historically saw gay spies as a security risk, considering them much more vulnerable to blackmail, but dropped a hiring ban just over 25 years ago.
In January, the domestic intelligence agency MI5 was named the country's most gay-friendly employer by rights group Stonewall.
The flag was hoisted outside the Secret Intelligence Service's building overlooking the River Thames, well-known for its appearance in James Bond movies.
Alex Younger, the chief of MI6 known as "C", has previously stated that MI6 wanted to create "a workforce of individuals as unique as the challenges we face." He was quoted on the agency's webite as saying, "We recognize that the more diverse the contribution, the better the solution and the greater the impact of our work."
In April, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) eavesdropping agency apologized for its ban on gays, which led to the dismissal and subsequent suicide of one of its most brilliant code breakers, Alan Turing, in the 1950s.
Isaac Herzog is facing fierce opposition from members of his own Labor party over his intentions to join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, with senior party members talking about an inevitable split within the party.
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Labor officials claimed on Tuesday that Herzog had already finalized with Netanyahu most of the details over joining the coalition and is now working to get the party's members on board.
These officials said that Herzogalong with allies MK Eitan Cabel and Histadrut Labor Federation chairman Avi Nissenkornhave already begun preparing the groundwork on Monday. Herzog is planning a blitz of phone calls to thousands of party members to convince them to support the agreement he has reached with Netanyahu, which will likely be presented next week.
Isaac Herzog (Photo: AFP)
"There were messages that got to me and to Netanyahu from senior regional and international officials who are saying there is a significant regional opportunity to restart the (peace) process - don't miss that opportunity," Herzog said. "Al-Sisi's remarks were significant. These things were not coordinated in advance but they fell on sympathetic ears, as Bibi has been telling the region he wants to move forward but that he has been politically restricted. For the first time in many years, an Arab president is saying things so clearly."
Herzog, however, did not find sympathetic ears in his own party. "If Herzog joins the government, it will break the party apart," a party official said. "Many MKs will stay out (of the government). Bougie is so eager to join the government because he realizes that if the move fails, he will have finished his role as the chairman of the opposition. He's feeling like Samson - 'Let me die with the Philistines!' And the most shameful part of it is that he wants to join the government under demeaning terms."
"There is a real risk that the Labor party will fall apart under Herzog's leadership," MK Mickey Rosenthal said. "Bougie is putting the final nail in his own coffin. He is betraying our voters' trust and if he remains at the head of the party we'll get less than 10 seats in the next elections. The injury to the Labor party is a critical one, and the party will not be saved unless Herzog is replaced."
MK Erel Margalit asserted on Tuesday that Herzog no longer has the legitimacy to negotiate with Netanyahu. "The negotiations Netanyahu's conducting are not done with the Labor party as one unit, but with officials who do not represent the views of the voters, nor of the electedand Netanyahu should know this," Margalit said. "Instead of the opposition trying to disassemble the government, the government is trying to disassemble the opposition. Unfortunately, there are those who are falling for that trick."
Former party leader Shelly Yachimovich leveled unprecedented scathing criticism at Herzog on Tuesday, claiming that "Netanyahu threw Herzog a bone and ordered him to retrieve it on all fours. His 'offer' should have been categorically rejected."
She went on to say that Herzog was crawling into the government under disgraceful terms. "I tried to be respectful of Bougie. We held several meetings during which I told him what I thought clearly and emphatically, while he kept coming back with the same pitiful offer that includes jobs, and just jobs, with no substance or any power to make a difference, with nothing. Double nothing."
Shelly Yachimovich (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
Herzog's office said in response: "Yachimovich is not familiar with all of the details and is preaching against the offer out of political motives. We suggest she waits until the talks are finalized, and she is expected to wait and study the facts if and when an offer arrives. Until then, she should avoid making threats, using violent language, and making disgraceful comparisons to animals."
MK Eitan Cabel, who is a close ally of Herzog's, told Ynet on Wednesday morning that much of the information reported in the media about the agreement that is being formulated "is not rooted in reality, Herzog isn't groveling or crawling, the question of portfolios is not the main issue at all. The main struggle is for principles and worldviews," noting that the main topics on the table were issues of foreign policy and defense.
MK Eitan Cabel (Photo: Lior Paz)
When asked why he is now in favor of joining Netanyahu's government after the criticism he leveled at the prime minister, Cabel responded that "First of all, Netanyahu is not Hamas. In the past, I vehemently objected to joining the government, but it wasn't because I was against the people themselves. In the end, what's important here is the principle of the matter, whether we can bring about a change."
While granting that "history doesn't show that Netanyahu can be trusted," Cabel stressed that "we can't keep saying that 'since we could never trust him, then we can't now either.'"
Cabel also asserted that the Labor Party Conference will back the proposal Herzog will bring to the table.
Hassan Diab, who has been accused of a 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue that claimed the lives of Israeli citizen Aliza Shagrir and three French nationals, was released from prison to house arrest on Saturday.
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Diab, 61, a Canadian citizen of Lebanese origin, was extradited a year and half ago from Canada to France after having fought the extradition for six years.
The judge who released him argued that there are doubts surrounding the fundamental question of whether Diab was even in France at the time of the attack.
French authorities have already announced that they intend to appeal the judge's decision.
Wreckage after the Paris synagogue bombing in 1980 (Photo: AFP)
Diab, a sociology professor, has been accused of being part of the PFLP-EO terrorist cell (the People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine-External Operations) that carried out the attack.
The attack took place on Simchat Torah, October 3, 1980. A bomb concealed in a motorcycle side bag exploded outside the entrance of the Reform Jewish synagogue on Copernic Street. Four people were killed and 20 were wounded.
Diab denies all the allegations against him, claiming French authorities were confusing him with someone else.
Aliza Shagrir, killed in the Paris synagogue bombing attack
CRIF, The French Jewish umbrella organization, protested the decision: "Diab's arrest and extradition in 2014 was a symbol of the legal system's determination to fight terrorism," said CRIF's President Roger Cukierman Krief. "This release is a scandal and irresponsible. It is an insult to the victims and their families."
Aliza's son, Hagi Shagrir, said that the judge's decision is disappointing that the family is looking into the matter.
Shagrir, who was married to the late filmmaker Michah Shagrir, was a film and news editor for Israeli television since its inception. A foundation established in her memory annually hands out grants to young artists in the field of documentary film.
WASHINGTON - Billionaire casino executive Sheldon Adelson is already at work on behalf of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
"I'm asking for your support" for Trump, Adelson wrote in an email Monday to more than 50 Republican Jewish leaders. Adelson told them he had met with Trump recently and is "specifically convinced he will be a tremendous president when it comes to the safety and security of Israel."
"Like many of you, I do not agree with him on every issue," Adelson wrote in the email, obtained by The Associated Press. "However, I will not sit idly by and let Hillary Clinton become the next president. The consequences to our country, and Israel, are far too great to take that risk."
Nur al-Din Abu Khashiyeh, 20, from the Askar refugee camp in Nablus, was convicted on Wednesday of the murder of IDF soldier First Sergeant Almog Shiloni in November 2014.
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The Tel Aviv District Court ruled that the murder was premeditated.
The verdict described the murder as a "terrible and heart-rending affair in which the life of soldier Almog Shiloni was taken. The attack was not spontaneous in nature. He (Abu Khashiyeh) bought a knife at the flea market, and when he noticed the soldier he decided to execute his evil plan."
Terrorist Nur al-Din Abu Khashiyeh in court (Photo: Motti Kimchi)
Abu Khashiyeh gave a chilling testimony during the trial, saying "It's true that I murdered Almog Shiloni. I wanted to take his weapon and spray everyone because of what your rabbis are doing in al-Aqsa. I wanted to keep going, kill everyone on the street, continue everyone's job. I murdered him. I planned to murder him."
"These words," the verdict noted, "speak for themselves."
According to the indictment, "Abu Khashiyeh illegally entered Israel on November 9, 2014, seeking to stab a soldier and achieve martyrdom. He went to an empty apartment in Jaffa and the next morning went out looking for work. When he couldn't find work, he bought a knife at the flea market.
"At around 12pm, Abu Khashiyeh noticed a soldier carrying an M-16 rifle at the Hagana Train Station, and decided to murder him and take his weapon to harm other people. He jumped Shiloni and stabbed him repeatedly, while Shiloni fought him. The terrorist tried to snatch (Shiloni's) weapon, but a civilian who arrived at the scene hit him and scared him off. Abu Khashiyeh was caught on the fourth floor of a nearby building by three Border Police soldiers."
First Sergeant Almog Shiloni
Shiloni was critically wounded and died at the hospital the next day.
The demolition order issued for Abu Khashiyeh's house was throw out a year later by the High Court of Justice. The judges determined that the long delay in carrying out the demolition11 months from the day of the attackis not reasonable and will therefore not lead to the deterrence sought.
Yosef Shiloni, the slain soldier's father, said with visible emotion at the end of the hearing, "The pain is immense, the loss is immense. We can't bring Almog back. We trust that the prosecution and the court to ensure that justice will be served."
The father said it was difficult for him and his family to see the terrorist at court.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday called Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman and invited him to a meeting after the latter declared at a press conference that, despite media reports, his party had not received any official, concrete offers to join the government.
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The prime minister, whose narrow coalition only has a one-vote majority in the Knesset, is currently in talks with opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Labor) over joining a unity government, a contentious move within his party. Lieberman has also recently been rumored to be in talks to join the government, after initial talks he had with the ruling Likud party to join the new government immediately following the March 2015 elections fell through, leaving the once-ally of Netanyahu in the opposition.
At the press conference on Wednesday, Lieberman stated that "if the central issues we discussed are addressed, then we definitely have what to talk about."
Lieberman convenes press conference (Photo: Daniel Elior)
Lieberman decided to convene the press conference after Channel 10 reported on Tuesday evening that Netanyahu had offered him the Defense Ministry several days ago, even before Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon's speech Sunday that led to a public rift between Ya'alon and the prime minister.
"We have no intention of whitewashing the Labor party's entry into the government," Lieberman stressed. "We're the true national camp. We have clear positions, primarily in the fields of security, immigration and absorption. If those issues are indeed on the table, and they're willing to talk to usnot just over the defense portfolio but also defense policy, death sentence, pension reformsI don't see why not have these talks directly, instead of in the dead of night and through mediators and leaks to the press."
Lieberman said he knew he would not be able to receive all of his demands. "We have several demands, but we want to see the full package. It's clear to us we're not getting 100 percent, but I want to see the final mix," he said.
Prime Minister Netanyahu and Yisrael Beytenu leader Lieberman at the Knesset (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
"Regarding the issues of religion and state - our positions are clear. It's clear to us that ultra-Orthodox parties are part of the coalition. We're talking about being reasonable, have good will if such exists. We've been in a coalition with Haredim before," Lieberman added.
Immigration Absorption Minister Ze'ev Elkin of the Likud party called on the prime minister "to seriously examine the option of expanding the government in expeditious negotiations with Yisrael Beytenu. It's better to build a stable national camp government, in accordance with our promise to the voters, than to head into a false unity government, which will not be stable and hurt the Likud, the national camp, and in general, the public's trust in the political system."
Officials in the Likud party accused Lieberman on Tuesday of trying to sabotage efforts to expand the government. "Prime Minister Netanyahu has called on Lieberman to join the government," one official said. "The prime minister believes a broad government could better handle the security, diplomatic and economic challenges (Israel faces). Lieberman has yet to respond to the proposal and with that continues to prevent the expansion of the national government headed by the Likud party."
Sources close to Lieberman slammed these comments, saying "the briefings (to the press) coming out of the Prime Minister's Office are simply another spin, one of many we've seen in recent days."
Amid the sea of crises currently threatening our neighborhood, a fascinating list of objectives to a peace initiative was set forth on Tuesday by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
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Like then-president Anwar Sadat speaking in front of the Egyptian Parliament, Sisis move comes as a surprise. However (just like Defense Minister Moshe Dayans secret talks with Sadats emissary, Deputy Prime Minister Hassan Tuhami. in Morocco), Sisis speech was preceded by a series of covert coordination efforts between Jerusalem, Aman and the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. The speedy responses issued by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Opposition Leader Isaac Herzog reveal this much: They didnt fall off their chairs when they heard Sisi talking about a real opportunity to find a long-awaited solution. This is because this opportunity is partially based on Egypts status as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (Photo: AFP)
The former Egyptian director of military intelligence, Sisi knows a thing or two about the political camps in Israeli politics, which is why he needs a unity government to be established here: He knows that without Herzog as minister of foreign affairs, Netanyahu wont have any wiggle room. If the move pans out, leave it to Netanyahu to take all the credit. And if it fails, itll be Herzog who will take the heat.
Sisi is very familiar with the advantages of having the military, security and intelligence branches work in tandem, and he is well-aware of the animosity the Egyptian public has for the countrys academics, intellectuals, parliament members and professional unions. Members of this elite group balk at any attempt at a normalization or cooperation with the Zionist enemy. This was why he chose to deliver his speech from the remote South Egyptian village of Asyut, and as part of a joyous occasionthe opening of a new electricity plant due to service millionsthereby first offering his message to his own people first. He has already gone farther with Netanyahu, the Saudi Arabian royal family, King Abdullah II of Jordan and for all we know perhaps even with Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas). Look at what hes offering here: to give Palestinians hope (for their own country), while providing Israel security guarantees.
Sisi deals with countless problems, yet those who meet him describe a determined, hardworking and dedicated leader who can tell his supporters apart from those working to undermine him. Israel is definitely seen as one of the good guys, as Sisi has willingly disclosed his frequent phone conversations with Netanyahu.
The task Sisi has taken on is far from simple. On the one hand, he has promised not to force any solutions, and on the other hand he cannot afford to fail. His plan is comprised of stages: first, political unity needs to be reached in Israel and for the Palestinians. Once this is achieved, the negotiation stage can begin. This is where problems from the Oslo Accords await: where to draw border lines, what to do with the settlements, the division of Jerusalem and the right of return, an issue that has the potential to take down both the Palestinian government and our own. There are no shortcuts, and without painful compromises on both sides as well as (Saudi) incentives, Sisi knows hell never reach his end goal.
"France is concerned about Israel's security," explained French Prime Minister Manuel Valls in a special interview with Yedioth Ahronoth, Ynet's sister publication, ahead of his visit to Israel on Saturday to promote the French initiative to convene a Middle East peace summit.
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The initial meeting of the summit, opposed by Israel , was supposed to take place at the end of the month without Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but French President Francois Hollande announced its postponement until next month due to US Secretary of State John Kerry's scheduling problems.
Valls, considered to be one of the friendliest European leaders to Israel, clarified that the French initiative is designed to prevent another round of violence or war between Israel and the Palestinians. "We think that the status quo works against Israel, the Palestinians, and peace," he said:
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, Photo: AFP
Valls called on Arab states to recognize Israel and strengthen the peace process in the region. "Recognition of Israel by several countries would be a gesture of particular importance to help advance the peace process and encourage the Israelis. No one can cast doubt, even for a moment, on Israel's existence and security. Everyone should participate, as much they possibly can," said the French Prime Minister.
Valls stressed that he will call on the Palestinians to end incitement and violence when he meets with the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah.
He also expressed regret about France's support of UNESCO's decision on the status of Jerusalem, which disregards any Jewish connection to the holy city, and said that there is a link between fight against Islamist terror by Europe and France and Israel's situation.
Valls, a leader of the right wing of the Socialist Party and considered to be one of President Hollande's possible successors, insisted on his country's total opposition to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, and he sees a connection from it to anti-Semitism. Valls, whose wife is Jewish, strongly condemns the anti-Semitic violence of the extreme right and left wings in his country and in Europe. However, he is careful with how he discusses the matter in relation to the Muslim community:
Valls affirmed the connection between France and Jews and called on Israel to recognize Jews' part in French history: "France is not France without its Jews." He continued, "The decision to move to Israel is an individual or family choice, which takes into account many considerations, and I respect that. But when it comes to urgent calls for Jews to leave France because they are not safe anymore, we are now talking about another motivation. We are acting with a firm hand to guarantee their safety and to fight any signs of hatred and anti-Semitism. French Jews need France, and France needs its Jews. I ask the Israelis to consider the history of our country."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Wednesday afternoon with Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman to discuss adding his party to the governing coalition and even offered him the positions of Minister of Defense and Minister of Immigrant Absorption. Lieberman accepted the prime minister's offer to take the defense portfolio, and the two hope to finish negotiations to join the coalition by Friday morning.
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If Yisrael Beytenu joins the coalition, the current minister of immigrant absorption, Ze'ev Elkin, is expected to receive the limited economy portfolio including just industry and trade.
Senior officials involved in the negotiations estimated, "This will be closed on within 24 hours. The chances that Lieberman will join (the coalition) are very high. It's nearly finished."
Netanyahu and Lieberman (Photo: Motti Kimchi)
Netanyahu's Likud party announced officially following the meeting with Lieberman that "The meeting was straightforward, was run with a good attitude, and, at its conclusion, it was decided to establish negotiation teams. The prime minister is updating the leader of the opposition on the details."
Minister of Tourism Yariv Levin said following the meeting, "I welcome the positive progress in talks to add Yisrael Beytenu to the government. I'm convinced that we'll be able to reach mutual understandings and agreements on important agenda items."
Netanyahu also spoke with current Minister of Defense Moshe "Bogie" Ya'alon by telephone to inform him that his position had been offered to Lieberman.
Bayit Yehudi officials were quick to comment, "Bogie's going, and that's for the best. It's been a year of tremendous damage to the IDF. A year of abandoning soldiers, a year of terrible army culture. Bogie needs to go home, and he's goingLieberman's entering (the coalition) will make the government the most right-wing government in history, and that's good. A full right-wing government could reach a full term."
Ya'alon to be replaced (Photo: Defense Ministry)
"I've been hearing a lot of times in the media that we received one proposal or another," Lieberman said earlier in the day. "Supposedly there have been countless of mediators and emissaries, which I read in the papers have offered us the defense and immigration absorption ministries, pension reforms and the death sentence (to terrorists). In fact, we have not received any official proposal."
Lieberman was speaking after Channel 10 reported on Tuesday evening that Netanyahu had offered him the Defense Ministry several days ago, even before Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon's speech Sunday that led to a public rift between Ya'alon and the prime minister.
"We have no intention of whitewashing the Labor party's entry into the government," Lieberman stressed. "We're the true national camp. We have clear positions, primarily in the fields of security, immigration and absorption. If those issues are indeed on the table, and they're willing to talk to usnot just over the defense portfolio but also defense policy, death sentence, pension reformsI don't see why not have these talks directly, instead of in the dead of night and through mediators and leaks to the press."
Lieberman said he knew he would not be able to receive all of his demands. "We have several demands, but we want to see the full package. It's clear to us we're not getting 100 percent, but I want to see the final mix," he said.
"Regarding the issues of religion and state - our positions are clear. It's clear to us that ultra-Orthodox parties are part of the coalition. We're talking about being reasonable, have good will if such exists. We've been in a coalition with Haredim before," Lieberman added.
A former commander of Sayeret Matkal, MK Omer Bar-Lev (Zionist Union) commented on the NetanyahuLieberman meeting, "The picture is becoming clearer, and the extent of the disaster is being exposed. Ousting Ya'alon from the Ministry of Defense is ousting the last defender of the IDF."
Earlier, Leader of the Opposition Isaac Herzog stated that he would not hold coalition negotiations with Netanyahu while Lieberman was holding parallel talks.
A textbook introduced this semester by the government of President Abdul-Fatah al-Sisi requires Egyptian pupils to memorize the provisions of the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty and delineate the advantages of peace for Egypt and the Arab states.
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The assignments from the ninth grade book, The Geography of the Arab World and the History of Modern Egypt, are part of a change to a more robust and positive treatment of peace with Israel than that manifested in books during the three decades in power of al-Sisis predecessor Hosni Mubarak.
Ofir Winter, a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, who recently authored a study of the book, termed it the first buds of development in Egyptian educational attitudes towards peace.
This is not a revolution but the changes are interesting, he told The Media Line. The trend is positive but there is still a great deal to aspire to.
Cairo (Photo: Reuters)
Winter compared the new book to a 2002 Mubarak-era textbook, History for High School Pupils, and found more explicit support for peace with Israel than in the past and more emphasis on the economic advantages of peace. At one point the new book says peace had enabled the promotion of economic and social development and the repair of the countrys infrastructure. While the 2002 textbook allotted 32 pages to wars with Israel and three to peace, the new one curtails the history of the conflict to 12 pages while allocating four to peace.
Egypt and Israel Egypt president backs French proposal for Mideast talks AP, Reuters In an impromptu speech, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi calls on Israelis and Palestinians to reach a peace agreement; he promises warmer ties with Israel, if Palestinian issue can be resolved. Egypt president backs French proposal for Mideast talks
Another change is the inclusion of a photograph of the signing of the peace treaty at the White House at which Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin is seen alongside Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and US President Jimmy Carter. In the past, even when they spoke of the peace treaty, they hardly ever spoke of Israel, says Winter. Israels presence was marginal. Now there is a picture and you see the Israeli partner. This is an interesting and good symbolic innovation.
But some indications of enmity and perceptual gaps remain, especially in terms of the history of the conflict. Like in the older textbooks, Israel is depicted historically as land stolen from its Arab residents and Zionism as a threatening colonialist project. The wars of 1956 and 1967 are seen as reflective of Israels intention to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates and to take over the entire Arab world. A map depicting the results of the 1948 war shows all the territory under Israeli control as occupied land.
This couldnt turn into an Israeli textbook about the wars. There is no adoption of the Zionist narrative, Winter says.
The changes come in the context of an overall improvement in Egyptian-Israeli relations. In late February, Egypts new ambassador, Hazem Khairat, presented his diplomatic credentials to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, becoming Cairos first senior emissary to Israel since 2012. Earlier in February, amid reports of Egyptian-Israeli security cooperation against Islamic State in the Sinai Peninsula, al-Sisi reportedly praised Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahus leadership abilities to a delegation of visiting American Jewish leaders in Cairo. Israeli analysts say that shared enmity towards the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip is helping to bring the two countries closer.
But direct ties with Israel are still frowned upon within Egyptian society. In March, more than two-thirds of the Egyptian parliaments members voted to oust MP Tawfiq Okasha after he hosted a dinner for Israeli ambassador Haim Koren.
Winter believes the textbook changes reflect a growing awareness in Egypt that peace with Israel is a valuable strategic asset, especially when it comes to the economy. Conversely, hostility towards Israel and heated pronouncements about the conflict are seen as providing fertile ground for Islamic extremism, he says.
Today al-Sisi is busy primarily with stabilizing his regime and there are two elements that can influence this: economics and security. The relationship with Israel and the peace are important anchors for both of these.
However, Winter believes that the treatment of Israel in Egyptian textbooks will not improve further as long as Israels conflict with the Palestinians continues. And he cautions that in the age of social media, there are many influences besides textbooks in shaping the views of young people.
Still, the Israeli foreign ministry is enthusiastic about the changes. We view all this as very positive, said spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon. It is an extremely important demonstration of good will. We hope it will have a positive impact on younger generations as we look ahead at the next years and decades.
Eli Shaked, former ambassador to Egypt, also praised the changes in remarks to The Media Line. There was always a claim by the opposition in Egypt that the peace is between the leaderships and not the peoples, Shaked said. In many ways it was right because from childhood the people got a very distorted picture of Israel and the Jews coming from the Koran, from textbooks in schools and from newspapers, even semi-official ones and from the mosques where preachers often used negative expressions about Israel and the Jews. Everywhere that ordinary people looked they saw a negative picture. This change might be a new approach, new tidings, new winds, new voices that Israel would like very much to hear.
Article written by Ben Lynfield.
For five years now, Israel has opted to not take a side in the Syrian conflict. That policy can be justified, but still, it's time to reconsider. In addition to the continuation of indiscriminant killing by the Assad regime and its allies, it's been discovered recently that the Syrian dictator's forces have gone back to using chemical weapons as well (specifically, sarin gas). The international community seems to be ignoring his obligation, made in 2013, to give up such arms.
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Now, we need to take a stand and oppose Assad and his regime. First and foremost, we should do this for moral reasons. The repeated use of chemical weapons reminds us of our duty to internalize this fact: Assad is a loathsome murderer who's brought about a horrifying human disaster. Nearly 400,000 people have died (most due to his army's actions), about two million have been wounded, and 11 million have been turned into refugees. As humans, and especially as Jews, we cannot just stand aside.
A destroyed street in Aleppo. Assad's actions have led to the deaths of about 400,000 people so far. (Photo: Reuters)
Beside the moral argument, strategic concerns also indicate that the removal of the Assad regime would be in Israel's interest. The radical axis led by Tehran, and which goes through Assad to Hezbollah, is the most tangible threat to our safety.
There are those who would say that the threat of ISIS is just as strong, and that we need to start there. While ISIS is not to be ignored, our strategic priority must be handling the Tehran-Baghdad-Damascus-Beirut axis first. This is because the international community has stood up and dedicated itself to handling ISIS, and they've had some success in stopping its progress.
Furthermore, the end of the Assad regime will likely weaken the attractiveness of ISIS, since the majority of SyriansSunni Muslimswould have a moderate alternative that shares their religious affiliation (unlike Assad, who is an Alawite Muslim ed). On the Iranian front, however, Israel is nearly alone, with no one to rely on but itself. That's why it needs to work against the Tehran-Assad-Nasrallah threat as its top priority. Iran and its allies pose a far greater danger to Israel than does ISIS.
We should not stay silent in the face of Assad's use of chemical weapons. (Photo: AP)
Israel must develop a multi-faceted strategy on this matter. A basic condition for this is the creation of a local alliance, even an unofficial one, with Sunni powers such as Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, Turkey, Jordan, and Egypt. In addition, a partnership with the United States on this issue is needed. Perhaps even a quiet understanding with Russia, which, unlike Iran, doesn't see Assad as a necessary component to a future arrangement in Syria. The Sunni nations of the Middle East have shared interests with Israel as far as combating the radical axis is concerned.
Bashar Assad. His regime must end. (Photo: Reuters)
What follows are seven points that describe an overarching strategy for weakening the radical axis and removing Assad from power:
First, we should encourage diplomatic action against the crimes of the Assad regime, and aid in bringing it to justice for its roles in mass killings and its use of chemical weapons. Israel has the power to help expose the statistics of the killings, and spread news of it as far as possible.
Second of all, we need to enter a dialogue with the US about the need to harm assets that are important to the Assad regime as part of President Obama's promise to go up against the regime for using chemical weapons, and to enforce their restriction as a non-negotiable international norm.
Third, it's important that Israel prove it too has red lines and moral principles. Israel should considers limited military action, such as destroying helicopters that drop explosive barrels onto civilians. These actions are focused on saving human lives and can be done without committing to a large-scale, continuous, aerial offensive.
Fourth, It's possible to contend with the threat of ISIS in the southern Golan Heights, in the form of their local affiliate Shuhada al-Yarmouk (the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigades. ed). That's a way of showing that the fights against ISIS and Assad are not mutually exclusive.
Fifth, Israel should work to encourage humanitarian stabilization in southern Syria, along the Israeli and Jordanian borders, with backing from international and local powers.
Sixth, Israel should develop an understanding with Russia regarding the promotion of these steps, while preserving Russia's strategic interests in northern Syria.
Seventh, Israel should encourage and support Arab nations' actions in opposition to Hezbollah and Iran as much as possible.
The Middle East is being restructured in a process that began five years ago. No one can yet see its end clearly. Still, it seems correct to assume that the participants are seeking a new arrangement. Israel has a deep interest in depowering the Iranians and Hezbollah in the "new" Middle East.
The Iran-Hezbollah-Assad radical axis remains the greatest threat to Israel's security. (Photo: EPA)
Gone are the days in which Israel could observe the goings-on, wishing good luck to both sides. It should not miss the opportunity to weaken its most bitter enemies. A moral, assertive, initiating, and creative policy in opposition to the radical axis is the path we must walkespecially with chemical weapons being used once more. It's important that the Sunni Muslim world knows Israel was on the right side of this fight, and that it made the right moral and strategic moves, when Assad is finally gone.
Leader of the Opposition Isaac Herzog spoke at his second press conference of the day on Wednesday night at the Tel Aviv headquarters of the Labor Party in which he explained how talks for his party joining the government collapsed and harshly criticized MK Shelly Shelly Yachimovich.
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"I informed Netanyahu of the end negotiations last night," Herzog announced.
According to him, Netanyahu had agreed to a veto on building in the settlements, a new agreement on the gas deal, and that Herzog's Zionist Union would manage foreign policy.
He further detailed: "An immediate opening of political negotiations, the establishment of a regional peace council, the foreign affairs portfolio, the economy portfolio and seven other portfolios, five deputy minister positions, four committee head positions, including that of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and the transfer of the defense portfolio to the Zionist Union within a year."
Herzog at Wed. night press conference (Photo: Motti Kimchi)
Herzog explained, "Netanyahu demanded that this remain an oral commitment. I don't believe in oral commitments regarding important matters."
Herzog then attacked MK Shelly Yachimovich: "My predecessor is leading a rude campaign, the person who begged to be in Netanyahu's government in the past. Ironically, she led the Labor party without much success, and she has not learned her lesson.
"She will be the stamp with which Lieberman will be appointed minister of defense, and she is responsible for the consequences of his appointment. The Galon/Yachimovich alliance is what is distancing the voters (from us)."
"We are a center-left party and not an extremist left (party). The same people preaching day and night to speak with the Palestinian Authority and Hamas are working to prevent testing a real opportunity."
Yachimovich and Isaac Herzog (Photos: Gil Yohanan, Motti Kimchi)
After Herzog's speech, Yachimovich said, "Herzog lied when he enumerated a fictitious list of agreements that never existed or happened, and in any case Netanyahu never agreed to to put it in writing. He lied when he talked about 'begging for a ministerial portfolio'. From the beginning, the most senior portfolio was offered to me so that I would support the process. I rejected that and as I understood that we were talking about an embarassing and unconditional crawl into the government, I would not have agreeed to empty deals that Netanyahu offered."
She continued, "We have witnessed a miserable, depressing and unfortunate demonstration of lack of leadership and zero taking of responsibility from somebody who laid out the red carpet for Lieberman and granted total legitimacy to a right-wing government that he was ready to enter at any price."
She explained, "I tried together with my colleaguesto prevent him from crawling unconditionally into the government, and we didn't manage to do this. Going to a public fight was the only option."
Herzog called the press conference after Avigdor Lieberman accepted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's offer to take the position of defense minister.
Israel has successfully tested its Iron Dome rocket defense system aboard naval ships for the first time.
Col. Ariel Shir, head of the Navy's operational systems, said Sunday the system shot down a volley of rockets during a drill recently. He said rockets were fired from the shore and all were detected by the radar system and then intercepted by the weapons system.
Shir said engineers made some software upgrades to make the system seaworthy. He said missions will include protecting Israel's "strategic assets at sea" like its offshore gas platforms. He said the system can intercept threats while moving at high speeds.
RAMALLAH - The party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is praising the gunmen who killed 24 people when they attacked an Israeli airport in 1972.
Three members of the Japanese Red Army recruited by a Palestinian militant group, opened fire and threw grenades, killing eight Israelis and 16 foreign tourists. The post on Fatah's official Facebook page Wednesday came ahead of the anniversary of the attack.
"A thousand greetings to the Japanese fighter and comrade Kozo Okamoto, the hero of the Lod airport operation," the post reads, accompanied by photos.
Munir Jaghob, a Fatah media official, said "We are proud of all the people who worked for the Palestinian cause."
GENEVA - Jordan's king says his country has reached "saturation point" for handling Syrian refugees, with debt increasing as Amman borrows to try to deal with the problem.
King Abdullah said Wednesday that one in five people in Jordan is a Syrian refugee and that "we have gotten to literally the saturation point. How many more people can we take?"
Speaking during a state visit to Belgium, he said that the arrivals from across the border are "having a dire impact on our people and economy."
Abdullah called for a global approach to the Syrian conflict and to defeating ISIS, saying "we can't fight it by ourselves."
Trials, tribulations, triumph
Dobbins Airmen gathered at Verhulst Hall, May 14, to listen to Hershel Greenblat speak about his Holocaust survival during World War II.
Born inside a cave in Ukraine, Greenblat spent his first year and a half underground while his parents fought with resistance groups. He stressed the importance of his parents will to survive, even in the face of such atrocity and devastation.
My parents did everything they could to keep their children safe, he said. My mother was injured in the leg by shrapnel during a firefight between German and Russians but she never gave up her will to survive.
Cold, dank, and dark was his reality until the family moved further east to a town called Krasnodor, in search of medical care for his injured mother. They continued their hiding wherever anyone was willing, be it attics, basements or the forests.
Greenblat elaborated on how cruel the Nazis and Russians were to those they were told to eliminate, and relayed a story his mother told him about a notorious Nazi killing squad called Einsatzgruppen.
This killing squad marched nearly an entire town of Jews up to an open field, gave them shovels, and told them to dig six-to-seven feet deep trenches, he said. When they were done digging, they were instructed to line up next to the trenches. The Nazis then shot them in the back of the head. This continued until the trenches were full.
When the war came to an end in 1945, the family, along with over 180 other individuals, boarded a cattle car to escape to a displaced persons (DP) in an American-controlled zone in Austria.
We were fearful that the Russians would catch us, he said. It was known that the Russian soldiers would light on fire cattle cars full of refugees.
They made it. It was in the Beth Bialik DP camp, just outside of Salzburg, Austria, where they finally felt safe and were treated humanely.
After the nine-week journey, with no bathing facilities or bathrooms and little food, we were covered in lice, roaches, and feces, Greenblat said. When the American Soldiers greeted us, I wasnt scared. He explained that the Soldiers werent armed and did all they could to make them feel comfortable and safe.
Ill never forget the gentleness of how we were treated, he said. If it werent for the American Soldiers and the Allied-Forces, thousands upon thousands of people would have perished during the Holocaust, he added.
There were no floors, no windows, and rats all over but his father and mother did all they could to ensure the family was safe and fed. After almost two years in these living conditions, the family was transferred to another DP camp with much better accommodations.
It was like living in a resort! Greenblat said. We had windows, doors, a floor and our own room.
Five years later, the family boarded the USS General C. C. Bellou, a Squier-class transport ship for the U.S. Navy in World War II, where they traveled to the United States.
My father woke me up in the middle of the night, he said. He told me that I needed to come to the top deck and see something. What I saw was the most beautiful and seemingly welcoming statue.
Greenblat was looking at the Statue of Liberty and shortly after the family would be in-processed at Elis Island and transported to Atlanta, Georgia to begin their new lives.
Its my profound honor to speak to you on behalf of my family, he said. I want to thank you for what you do because we wouldnt be here without the U.S. Forces.
Greenblat emphasized how important his entire familys survival was dependent upon the steadfast resolve of his parents.
It is because of my parents unwavering will that my sisters and I were able to escape the horror of the Holocaust, Greenblat emphasized. I want everyone to remember, and that it never happens again.
'Apples to oranges'
In 2011, then-Air Force Reserve Command Commander Lt. Gen. Chares Stenner approached his Directorate of Analyses, Assessments, Lessons Learned and AFSO21 with what seemed like a pretty simple question: What is the cost of an Air Force Reservist versus an active-duty Airman?
In a quest to answer this not-as-simple-as-it-first-seemed question, the people in the A9 directorate developed the Individual Cost Assessment Model, a simulation tool that has made it easier to analyze and compare manpower costs across the reserve and active components.
For its efforts, the ICAM development team was recently recognized with an honorable mention for the 2015 Air Force Analytic Innovation Award.
There are more than 60 organizations in the Air Force analytic community, so this was a great accomplishment for our ICAM team, said Col. Hal Linnean, A9 director at AFRC headquarters, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. I would like to thank Dave Gillespie and his ICAM team for their excellent work on this project and our senior leaders who have championed and powered ICAM development over the past few years.
The ICAM development team, consisting of the best analysts across the Air Force, pulled off what many said could not be done, said Gillespie, A9 chief analyst and ICAM development team leader.
In addition to Gillespie, other ICAM development team members are Lt. Col. Terence Kudo, Lt. Col. Julia Phillips, Dan ONeal, Ron Sweat and Mark Mercier from AFRC/A9; Lt. Col. Andrew Wallen, Joseph Murphy and Misita Nicole from the secretary of the Air Force Financial Management Directorate; and Iara Infosino from Air Force/A9.
Kudo has been working with ICAM since 2012 and has seen the model improve over time.
We had a traditional Reservist, Lt. Col. Todd Combs, who first developed ICAM in 2011, he said. In his civilian job, he was working at the (Department of Energy) National Labs, and he was an expert in modeling and simulation. So he was able to bring that expertise over to us and create ICAM. I came on-board in 2012 as a full-timer and started working with Colonel Combs as a part-timer to grow ICAM.
Kudo said that early on the team found that costing an active-duty Airman is pretty easy; but costing an Air Force Reservist is more challenging.
The active-duty side is pretty straightforward, he said. An active-duty Airman is 24/7. I can pretty much figure out where he is going to be in his career based on time in service, rank, et cetera. When you look at a Reservist, its not that straightforward: Is he part-time or full-time? If hes a part-timer, is he just doing the minimum requirements? What if he does a 180-day activation? What if this Reservist is a pilot who has to add some short training periods in there? Did this Reservist previously serve on active duty? All of that, and a lot more, affects the cost of a Reservist.
ICAM is designed to bridge the gaps in Air Force understanding of manpower costs, not only on an annual basis, but also in terms of burdened life-cycle costs -- things like retirement payments and Tricare for Life, for example.
Comparing costs between active-duty Airmen and Reservists is not an apples-to-apples comparison, Kudo said. Its more of an apples-to-oranges comparison. But its still a comparison that needs to be made, and ICAM can help our decision-makers see that comparison a little better.
Early in 2015, ICAM was added to the Air Force Standard Analytical Toolkit, a foundational set of Air Force analytic community-accepted modeling and simulation tools designed to improve the consistency and quality of Air Force analyses.
Being accepted into the AFSAT was an important milestone for us, Kudo said. It shows that weve put the model through a thorough vetting process, and our tool is now available for use throughout the Air Force analytical community.
The lieutenant colonel said the team is constantly looking at ways to improve ICAM.
We started out five years ago looking at what is the comparative cost of a Reservist versus an active-duty Airman, and I think weve been able to give our bosses and the AFRC community some great information on what those costs are; but there are always other factors we need to look at, Kudo said.
For example, there is a new retirement system that will be implemented starting in 2018. The model we have now, of course, uses the current retirement system, he said. We are going to have to look at the cost implications of the new system compared to the old system. Those are the kinds of things that General Miller (Maj. Gen. Maryanne Miller, who was recently nominated for a third star and assignment as chief of Air Force Reserve and AFRC commander) is going to be very interested in.
ICAM is important because it provides an unprecedented capability to understand what Airmen cost, not only on an annual basis, but across the life cycle, Gillespie said. ICAM looks ahead, assessing not only todays costs, but also future costs under different pays, compensation policies and conditions. Understanding of costs is obviously important as we make decisions to shape the future Air Force under increasing budget pressures.
This has been a long time in the making, but in our continuing pursuit to bring only the best of firearms, 2nd Amendment and defence related news to our readers, we are very excited to announce the next step in our evolution as a company.
As of 2020, Minuteman Review is now the proud owner and operator of Your Defence News, a website with a long history of breaking huge news stories and investigative journalism.
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This means that now the teams of Minuteman can combine with the firepower of Your Defence News to stay at the absolute forefront for our readers.
Keep an eye. Big things are coming soon. We couldn't be more excited.
In the meanwhile, here are some of our most popular posts and categories to keep you busy.
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Rather than rely broad overview of the rental market in any one area, Dr Andy Krause and Dr Gideon Aschwanden, from the Melbourne School of Design in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, believe investors should be more specific in their search for property.
What motivated the research was this idea of this post codes good and this post codes bad, Dr Krause said.
We said well theres a lot of variation within the postcodes between things like accessibility amenities and we thought there needs to be a different way of looking at things, he said.
The research by Dr Krause and Dr Aschwanden consisted of analysing data on the Melbourne property market supplied by Domain Group.
Rather than rely on the traditional yield calculation method of comparing median dwelling prices to median rents, the pair decided used the data to map yields based off data that is more specific to each property.
One part of our research also found that if you just look at the median rent compared to the median price in postcode and say thats the yield, youre actually greatly underestimating your yield, Dr Krause said.
The reason is that homes that sell are in a lot nicer condition than homes that rent. As part of our methodology, we went and mapped homes that were sold or rented and calculated yields off that. We found that when you do that your yields are actually much higher.
Some of the information out in the market suggests you might be only getting yields of 3%, but thats only if you look at median to median, if you look at homes that are sold and then subsequently rented then its often more around 4.3% or 4.5%.
According to their analysis of the Melbourne market, rental yields in the city could vary by 4.5 times between and within suburbs.
The research claims Melbournes highest yield can be found in the areas of Carltons apartment market at 7%, while the lowest are found in the house of the citys prestigious eastern suburbs at 1.5%.
By using their methodology to identify properties that deliver higher yields, Dr Krause believes investors will be able better mitigate any risk that comes with a property purchase.
Yields are obviously half of the story for investors. The other half is the capital appreciation of the property.
Bubbles are often times where people forget about yields and just look at appreciation. But if youre a savvy investor playing the long term, then that monthly yield coming in is much less variable than the likelihood of continued capital appreciation.
So in some ways its a bit a safeguard. Do we know if home prices are going to keep going up? No we dont, especially with all the talk in the legislature and the government about that, but its a pretty good bet that youre going to keep getting that rental income year after year, especially in the inner city.
As a homeowner, you probably already know that you should be working to maintain your home. But, chances are, you Read More
Loss of employment
Major illness
Loss of a family member
Natural disaster
The application process is simple.
Let your bank know in writing or over a phone call that you cannot meet your repayments.
Once you have given a hardship notice, the bank is under obligation to assist you within a stipulated timeframe.
Banks are allowed under law to ask for proofs regarding your situation to assess whether you can meet your financial liabilities or not. Keep the following documents handy.
Proof of employment. Income proof, proof of assets and debts. Payslips, tax returns and contract of employment. Proof of any additional income such as rental income. Bank statements of the past 6 months. Medical proofs if the reason for seeking assistance is illness.
It is possible to apply for hardship assistance for electricity, water and gas bills. Even phone and internet service providers provide hardship assistance to customers by customizing the service to provide only what the customer can afford.
How does the bank decide if I need hardship assistance?
a) Missed credit card payments.
b) Failure to make mortgage repayments.
c) Unable to afford rent and other utility bills.
d) No cash in hand or savings in the banks.
e) Inability to afford insurance.
f) Taking high interest loans from private lenders to meet daily requirements.
Make a See any of the following signs? Take stock of your financial situation now:a) Missed credit card payments.b) Failure to make mortgage repayments.c) Unable to afford rent and other utility bills.d) No cash in hand or savings in the banks.e) Inability to afford insurance.f) Taking high interest loans from private lenders to meet daily requirements.Make a budget and check your incomings and outgoings to have greater control on your finances. In case you see trouble, contact the bank and seek help.
Heading downhill with your finances? Are you missing repayments or looking for increased credit card limits to meet the basic necessities?If you think you are heading into financial hardship, it is best to take charge now. Youd be glad to know that banks have a duty to assist you with flexible payment arrangements or repayment holidays if you have a genuine case and will be able to tide over the situation with assistance.Heres everything you need to know about Financial Hardship Assistance in Australia.If you are having trouble with the bucks and are unable to meet your financial obligations or even bare necessities, it is time to seek help. Banks recognize that financial difficulties happen and provide assistance in case of late payments for genuine reasons, financial hardships and permanent change in financial condition.Financial hardship means that a person is unable to meet financial obligations due to unforeseen changes in circumstances such as:The key point is that the customer in financial hardship is expected to return to normal condition once assistance has been provided.Financial hardship assistance by banks can be in the form of rearrangement of financial agreement, payment holiday, interest only repayments, deferred payments or a temporary overdraft.Tip Do not ignore late payment notices from your bank. Give a financial hardship notice or get in touch with financial counselors at the bank for expert advice to improve your financial situation as early as you can.Each application is decided on a case-to-case basis. Banks will consider information such as the reason for hardship, outstanding debts, whether the assistance provided can improve the situation of the customer and if the customer utilized hardship assistance in the past, whether it improved the financial situation or not.If the bank decides to give you financial hardship assistance, it will provide you a written notice and may also provide the rearranged financing arrangement in writing.Under the National Credit Code, if the bank approves your request for hardship assistance, you must comply with the rearranged repayment terms notified to you. In case the bank thinks you wont be able to comply with the rearranged terms or the hardship assistance will not genuinely improve your financial situation, it can reject your application notifying the reasons in writing.If you are not satisfied with the banks procedure, it is possible to complaint to the bank or the Financial Ombudsman Service.It is important to know where your finances are headed. Use easy online calculators on HashChing to make a budget , achieve your savings target , know your borrowing capacity and repayments . Use the additional repayments calculator to pay your debt faster
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Gaya: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday examined the request by the Bihar government to take over the case of the murder of senior scribe Rajdeo Ranjan, from the state police.
This development comes after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar gave his consent for a CBI probe into the murder case.
The slain journalist's wife Asha had demanded a CBI probe into his murder to ensure that the culprits get stringent punishment.
"I demand from the government a CBI probe and a secured future for my children and me. The culprit must be given stringent punishment," she said.
The state police had earlier said that it would continue its investigation till the top investigating agency takes up the case.
42-year-old Ranjan was allegedly shot dead by criminals near the Siwan railway station earlier on Friday.
Two bullets were fired at the Siwan bureau chief of Hindi daily Hindustan that hit on his head and neck. He was shifted to a hospital, where the doctors declared him brought dead.
Gaya: Jalied JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi, mother of the prime accused in the murder case of Aditya Sachdeva, Wednesday applied for bail in a local court in Gaya district.
This come a day after she surrendered in a case lodged against her under the Excise Act after liqour bottles were recovered from her residence last week.
Manorama Devi's counsel Md. Sarfuddin and S. Siddique filed a bail petition for her client in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) - IV Om Sagar.
The judge posted the JD(U) MLC's bail plea for hearing tomorrow.
Manorama Devi was sent to 14-day judicial custody by the court yesterday soon after she surrendered.
The MLC had surrendered in the court of ACJM -IV yesterday in connection with cases lodged against her for recovery of liqour bottles from her house during a police raid in search of her son Rocky Yadav, the prime accused in the Aditya Sachdeva murder case, who subsequently surrendered.
Devi, wife of RJD strongman Bindeshwari Prasad Yadav alias Bindi Yadav, who has also been arrested besides her bodyguard Rajesh Kumar in the Sachdeva murder case, was also slapped with charges for harbouring her son and employing a child as a labourer at her house.
The JD(U) had suspended Manorama Devi after the opposition mounted pressure on the party leadership for action against her for harbouring her murder accused son.
Sachdeva was allegedly shot dead by Rocky Yadav on May 6 last for overtaking his car.
New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has made a draft bill seeking full statehood status for the national capital.
While addressing a press conference, the AAP chief said, We have uploaded the draft bill on our website. He requested the Delhiites to come forward with suggestions regarding the draft bill till June 30.
While saying that We don't want any politics over this matter, it is evident that all political parties agree on this, Kejriwal said that Bharatiya Janata Party has several times raked up the demand for complete statehood for Delhi.
BJP leaders Vijay Malhotra, Dr Harshvardhan and Vijay Goel have also advocated for full statehood for Delhi, the Delhi CM said.
Giving examples of BJP's poll manifestos of 2003, 2008 and 2014, Kejriwal said the party had promised to grant statehood status to the national capital if it is voted to power.
The BJP used to heavily criticise the then Congress regime for not granting Delhi the full statehood status, he said.
In the press conference, the AAP leader showed Congress' manifesto of 2013, which interestingly, also had elaborate promises for delivering full-statehood.
"We must rise above party lines and solve Delhi's problems and this would will happen through dialogue, the Delhi CM asserted.
Kejriwal has been pushing for full statehood for Delhi -- one of the poll promises of his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) -- as he says it will help him implement his plans for the national capital in a better way.
New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Wednesday arrested six persons, including the managing director of a prominent hotel in New Delhi area, in connection with the murder of a lawyer associated with the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC).
MM Khan, an assistant legal advisor with the NDMC, was shot dead at a crowded street in southeast Delhi's Jamia Nagar area on Monday evening when he was heading back home in his car which was intercepted by motorcycle-borne assailants. Khan, 57, was shot from a close range.
Apart from the hotel owner Ramesh Kakkar, the detained persons include his personal security officer and four contract killers, who allegedly shot dead Khan.
P Kamraj, Special CP, said the lawyer was murdered as he was probing files of hotels sealed for non-payment of taxes and other dues.
Kamraj told a press briefing that the hired killers were paid Rs 2 lakhs to kill the lawyer.
Kakkar, who had been allegedly pressurising Khan to waive off penalty worth hundreds of crores due to NDMC, apparently knew the decision would not go in his favour and conspired to eliminate the lawyer.
Khan's relatives had told police that he had been receiving calls from unknown people during odd hours of the day. Police had recovered his mobile phone and the call data was being analysed, an official had said.
Delhi: Even as intense heat wave scorched northern states of India with Palodhi in Rajasthan sizzling at 50.5 degrees Celsius and Odisha reporting one more sunstroke death on Wednesday, an orange alert was declared in New Delhi after the capital touched 47 degrees today.
The Palam observatory, however, recorded mercury at 46.4 degrees. The minimum temperature in the city was 26.4 degrees.
The Met department has asked people to take precautions against the heat wave, as per media reports.
Meanwhile, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation today issued a red alert for two days.
They they also cautioned citizens to stay indoors to avoid heat stroke.
They had issued an orange alert earlier.
In Rajasthan, apart from Palodhi, Churu recorded 49.1 temperature, Jaisalmer 48.8 and Barmer at 48.6 degrees.
On the other hand, Odisha reported another sunstroke death, taking the toll to 19. Sonepur was the hottest place in the state at 41.4 degrees.
And in Uttarakhand, forest fires were reignited by soaring temperatures and dry weather. 180 hectares of forest land spread over 111 places in the district are in flames, Uttarkashi District Magistrate Shridhar Babu Addanki said, as per PTI.
Mercury hovered above 40 degrees mark in Punjab and Haryana with Hisar being the hottest in the two states at 46.8 degrees. Banda in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh sizzled at 47 degrees.
IMD has issued "severe heat wave" warning for Gujarat, west and east Rajasthan, west and east Uttar Pradesh, Vidarbha, west and east Madhya Pradesh for the next three days.
"Heat wave conditions continued to prevail at most places with severe heat wave at a few places over west Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha and at isolated places over Haryana and Delhi, east Rajasthan, east Uttar Pradesh and central Maharashtra," the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
But for Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry, the MeT department had issued a "very heavy rainfall" warning for the next two days.
In Assam, continuous heavy rains for the last three days triggered landslides that claimed 10 lives in Karimganj and Hailakandi districts in Barak Valley.
Parts of Tamil Nadu received rains for the third day today even as the MeT office said the deep depression in the Bay of Bengal is expected to intensify into a cyclonic storm in the next two days, bringing heavy rains in north coastal areas of the state and Puducherry.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed all district Collectors to take precautionary measures in view of cyclone threat to southern and northern parts of the state.
(With Agency inputs)
Panaji: Goa legislator Atanasio Monserratte, who was arrested for allegedly buying and raping a minor girl, has been granted bail by a local court on Wednesday.
District and Sessions Judge Pramod Kamat granted bail to Monserratte, and also the girl's mother and another woman, Rosy Ferros, arrested for allegedly selling her to the MLA for Rs 50 lakh.
The St Cruz legislator has been asked to furnish bail amount of Rs 1 lakh and a surety of the like amount. He has been asked to appear before Crime Branch for next seven days.
The two other accused women were asked to furnish bail amount of Rs 25,000 each and sureties of the like amount. They were also asked to report to the Crime Branch for seven days.
The legislator, who had been expelled from Congress last year, was arrested on May 5.
Goa police is investigating the case against Monserratte who has been booked for buying the 16-year-old girl and raping her in March.
He was booked under IPC sections 376 (rape), 328 (poisoning), 342 (wrongful confinement), 370 (A) (trafficking), provisions of Goa Children Act and Protection of Children From Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The MLA's counsel Rajiv Gomes had argued against slapping of section 370 of IPC and section 8(2) of Goa Children's Act in the FIR against the MLA.
Referring to the statement recorded by the girl, Gomes said there was no sexual assault in this case as the girl never claimed or disclosed about it in her complaint.
He also challenged the arrest of Monserratte on May 5, the day he appeared before police, by an officer who was not investigating the case.
Gomes had pointed out that the arrest was executed by Police Inspector Dattaguru Sawant, while the case was investigated by Sawant's colleague Sudiksha Naik.
The lawyer had claimed?that the investigation was conducted at the behest of political opponents of the accused.
He also said that by charging the legislator with rape, the police were making the girl as "rape victim" and "tarnishing her image".
In his bail plea, the MLA said the charge of rape against him was a "fertile imagination of investigating officer".
Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: In a breakthrough, scientists have found a new compound that could help those struggling with depression that affects millions of people worldwide.
According to a new study, psilocybin, the psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms, has successfully cleared symptoms of severe depression in patients that have seen no benefit from other, standard forms of treatment.
Psilocybin is a psychedelic drug that promotes hallucinations and reduces inhibitions.
The study, published in the journal Lancet Psychiatry, involved 12 patients with untreatable depression. Researchers gave them two doses of psilocybin and found that after a week all reported improvement with two-thirds of the patients no longer depressed.
The study conducted by the scientists at Imperial College London found that three months later, five patients had no symptoms of the condition.
In the study, initially researchers gave patients a low dose of psilocybin, the hallucinogenic chemical in magic mushrooms, to test for safety.
Later, they were administered a very high dose equivalent to "a lot of mushrooms".
Dr Robin Carhart-Harris, one of the researchers, said: "These experiences with psilocybin can be incredibly profound, sometimes people have what they describe as mystical or spiritual-type experiences."
The findings have been cautiously welcomed by experts as "promising, but not completely compelling".
Researchers now look for further trials, with more rigorous designs, to better examine the therapeutic potential of this approach, the authors conclude.
With an estimated 350 million people worldwide being affected by the condition, the findings could help revolutionise in treating depression.
Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Amid concerns over unlawful tactics adopted by manufacturers of infant food, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that stricter laws be imposed against promotion of breast milk subsitutes.
The move is to encourage breastfeeding of young children as breast milk is the best food for the baby.
Suggesting all its member countries to frame stringent law and not allow any product marketed as a breast milk substitute, WHO recommends that babies are fed nothing but breast milk for their first 6 months, after which they should continue breastfeeding as well as eating other safe and nutritionally adequate foods until 2 years of age or beyond.
The UN agency also recommends that any product for infants and young children should carry messages highlighting the importance of continued breast feeding for up to two years.
It is said that globally, nearly 2 out of 3 infants are not exclusively breastfed for the recommended 6 months - a rate that has not improved in 2 decades.
As per a report from TOI, latest official data released under the fourth National Family Health Survey for 15 states reveal breastfeeding in India is at 47.7%, whereas exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of child is only little higher at 57.5%.
WHO's recommendations will be placed in its upcoming 69th World Health Assembly, the highest decision making body of WHO.
"Products that function as breast-milk substitutes should not be promoted," WHO's secretariat said in its report, which is part of the provisional agenda items for the assembly. The health assembly will begin next week from May 23-28 in Geneva to discuss new health related issues and review the progress of the goals set by it last year.
As per WHO estimates, the breast-milk substitute business is a big one, with annual sales amounting to almost US$ 45 billion worldwide. This is projected to rise by over 55% to US$ 70 billion by 2019.
Breast milk is safe, clean and contains antibodies which help protect the baby from many common childhood illnesses. It has been found that breastfed children perform better on intelligence tests. They are also less likely to be overweight or obese and less prone to diabetes later in life.
Mothers who breastfeed also have a reduced risk of breast and ovarian cancers.
However, inappropriate marketing of breast-milk substitutes continues to undermine efforts to improve breastfeeding rates and duration worldwide.
Hyderabad: Congress party favours Priyanka Gandhi Vadra getting into active politics but it has to be decided by the family, according to AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh, who said she has the potential to emerge as a mass leader.
Asked if Priyanka would play a significant role in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections due early next year, he said, "It's a family decision."
"As far as we (Congress party) are concerned, we will be very happy if she comes into active politics," the two-time Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh told PTI in an interview here.
On whether Priyanka would campaign beyond the Nehru-Gandhi pocketborough of Amethi and Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, Singh said: "The decision would be hers and the family's."
Asked whether Priyanka has abilities of her grandmother Indira Gandhi, he said she has a "striking resemblance" with the former prime minister but he can't say "just now" whether she has the same abilities.
"She has the potential," Singh replied when asked if Priyanka can emerge as a mass leader.
Asked if the "delay" in Rahul Gandhi taking over as Congress president is hurting the party's prospects, he said, "No. This is a decision to be taken by the Congress president (Sonia Gandhi) and she will take a decision when the time comes."
Singh declined to discuss the exit poll results of the recent assembly polls, saying he does not trust them.
"I don't trust these (exit) polls. It's (questions) too hypothetical," he responded.
To a query on whether JD(U) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's efforts to prop up a broad non-BJP front to defeat BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha election would be a non-starter "given the past experiences", he said: "No. It's not that. 'Mahaghatbandan' has worked in Bihar (Assembly elections recently)".
Asked if the Congress would be a party to such an initiative by Nitish Kumar, Singh said it's a policy decision to be taken by the Congress President and the Congress Working Committee.
On his assessment of Narendra Modi government's two-year tenure, he said: "Very high on publicity, very low on performance."
Mumbai: Congress Wednesday responded strongly to Rishi Kapoor's tirade against naming major assets of the country after the Gandhi family members during the party's rule, saying the veteran actor is not aware of the family's contribution towards nation-building.
"Rishi Kapoor fails to realise the contribution of the Gandhi family towards nation building," Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) chief Sanjay Nirupam told PTI.
"Some people say anything for the sake of power and due to their parochial attitude," he said, attacking the 63-year-old actor.
"I have sent him a list of airports in the country, named after several important leaders from Maharana Pratap and Shivaji Maharaj to Lal Bhadur Shastri. Saying that everything is named after the Gandhi family is not correct," Nirupam said.
"Maybe he is not aware of the pioneering work done by late Rajiv Gandhi in areas of women empowerment and panchayat raj," Nirupam, former MP, said.
In a series of tweets, Kapoor had slammed the Congress for naming national assets after Gandhi family during their rule.
The actor said the names of the prominent places should be changed after those who worked for the welfare of the country
"Change Gandhi family assets named by Congress. Bandra/Worli Sea Link to Lata Mangeshkar or JRD Tata link road. Baap ka maal samjh rakha tha? (Did they consider it family property?)
"We must name important assets of the country who have contributed to society. Har cheez Gandhi ke naam? I don't agree. Sochna log!" he tweeted.
New Delhi: The Tamil Nadu Assembly election results 2016 on Thursday are all set to decide the fate of two main political parties in the state.
Breaking the norm, will Jayalalithaa get another term or Tamil Nadu voters will continue the trend of 'no second chance'.
Two exit polls on Monday predicted a defeat for the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu but a third said Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was set to retain power.
The News Nation TV exit poll gave 95-99 seats in the 234-member assembly to Jayalalithaa`s AIADMK and 114-118 to the DMK-Congress alliance.
The People Welfare Front (PWF) alliance, made up of six parties, was set to get 14 seats and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) four, it said. Nine seats could go to others.
The Axis-My India exit poll predicted 124-140 seats to the DMK-Congress alliance, 89-110 to the AIADMK, 0-3 to the BJP and 4-8 to others.
The CVoter exit poll, however, said the AIADMK would bag 139 seats, leaving the DMK-Congress alliance at the second place with 78 seats. The BJP was unlikely to win any seat in Tamil Nadu.
Jaipur: A Muslim woman, who has been a victim of the 'triple talaq' system, has moved the Supreme Court to nullify the prevailing divorce practice.
25-yr old Afreen Rehman hailing from Jaipur moved the apex court after receiving a divorce letter through speed post.
Narrating her ordeal, Rehman claimed, she got married in 2014 through a matrimonial portal, but after 2-3 months, her in-laws started demanding dowry and mentally harassed her.
Later they started to beat me and in September my in-laws asked me to leave their place. Thereafter, I came to my maternal home and after some time received a speed post from my husband announcing divorce, Rehman said.
Notably, All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board (AIMWPLB) president Shaista Ambar has also called for nullifying the triple talaq system.
A case is going on in the Supreme Court, in which petitioner Shayara Bano has challenged the constitutionality of Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 in so far as it seeks to recognise and validate polygamy, triple talaq and nikah halala.
The petitioner also challenged the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939 saying that it fails to provide Indian Muslim women with protection from bigamy.
Talaq-e-bidat is a Muslim man divorcing his wife by pronouncing more than one talaq in a single tuhr (the period between two menstruations), or in a tuhr after coitus, or pronouncing an irrevocable instantaneous divorce at one go (unilateral triple-talaq).
A high-level committee set up by the Central government to review the status of women in India has reportedly recommended a ban on the practice of oral, unilateral and triple talaq (divorce) and polygamy.
New Delhi: The Centre has decided to issue an ordinance or an executive order to defer the implementation of NEET or the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test - the common entrance test for medical and dental courses - for state governments and their affiliated institutions for this academic year.
The exam, however, will be applicable for those applying for Central government and private management institutions under the management quota.
The move comes in the aftermath of a meeting between Union Health Minister JP Nadda and state health ministers to discuss the issue.
The state government representatives had asked the Centre to consider the stress the students will face if uncertainty prevailed.
The central government held two rounds of hectic deliberations to build consensus before taking the Ordinance route.
JP Nadda first held meetings with health ministers of 14 states. Another meeting was later held between leaders of the Congress, the INLD, Left and PDP and Union finance minister Arun Jaitley.
So far 6.5 lakh students have already sat for the first phase of NEET held on May 1. The next phase of the exam is scheduled for July 24.
Last month, the Supreme Court said that students need to take only one common entrance test, the NEET, for entry to medical colleges, following a large number of complaints about corruption in a situation where all state governments and private medical colleges held their own exams.
But after the court's order, several states -- including Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu - had said the implementation of the common entrance test should be deferred by a year.
New Delhi: China on Wednesday denied that it was blocking India's bid for a membership in elite Nuclear Suppliers Groupor NSG and said it will "work" with the members of the 48-nation grouping as well as India to find a solution for India's entry into it.
Liu Zhenmin, China's Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, also said that the issue needs to be deliberated on among among relevant parties.
"That's not true. I think, the membership of NSG is not a new issue. It has been an issue for many years. This should be sorted out together with the members of the NPT," Liu Zhenmin told PTI when asked whether China was blocking India's entry to the elite club.
"Members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group should be party to NPT. So, I think China will also work with others including Indian colleagues together to find a solution.
"This should be consulted among relevant parties. As a very friendly country, China wants to have good cooperation with India at the international arena on all issues," the Chinese minister said. He is in Delhi to attend a multi-lateral legal meet.
Earlier this week, China claimed that several members of the group shared its view that signing of the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was an "important" standard for NSG's expansion.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang in Beijing had 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. The Chinese action is apparently at the behest of Pakistan, which is also seeking an entry into the bloc.
India is not a party to Nuclear Proliferation Treaty, the international pact aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, maintaining that it was discriminatory.
New Delhi: Master poll strategist Prashant Kishor on Wednesday denied reports that he was parting ways with the Congress owing to alleged growing interference by senior party leaders in his work.
His organisation, I-PAC, today said that the master election strategist Prashant Kishor will continue to work with Congress till Uttar Pradesh and Punjab polls.
I-PAC also posted a tweet in this regard.
Question of quitting is nothing but wild speculation. We are deeply honoured by the responsibility and totally committed to the job (1/2) I-PAC (@IndianPAC) May 18, 2016
Kishore, who had successfully designed Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha election campaign and Nitish Kumar's 2015 Bihar Assembly polls campaign, was recently roped in by Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to recreate the same magic for the party in next year's Punjab and Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections.
However, it was reported that all is not well between Kishor and some Congress leaders leaders of UP and Punjab.
A News18 report earlier said that Kishor, who is now managing the election campaign of Captain Amarinder Singh of Congress in Punjab Assembly polls next year and the crucial 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections, has been facing opposition from some sections of the grand old party over his style of functioning.
Kishor, who has become a phenomenon in the Indian political arena, had reportedly made it clear that if there is interference in his style of working, he would quit.
Congress is out of power in Punjab for the past nine years and is making strenuous efforts to oust the SAD-BJP combine from power at a time when AAP has emerged as a significant player in the state.
In UP also, the grand old party is in shatters where it once ruled. Congress, in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, had won only two of out of 80 seats in UP. In 403-member UP legislative assembly, Congress has only 29 MLAs.
New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the terrorist attack on the Indian Air Force Base there has found no incriminating evidence to suggest that it was an insider job.
A report in news18.com said on Wednesday that the apex investigating agency has ruled out any help to the terrorists either from someone in the Punjab Police or from inside the Pathankot airbase .
The NIA officials, it is believed, reached this conclusion after examining the call dumps during the days of the attack from all mobile towers around the Pathankot IAF base .
While probing the Pakistan angle in the Pathankot attack, the NIA interrogators found that there were 37 calls made between a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) operative and the terrorists who attacked the airbase on December 31, 2015.
The examination of his call records further showed that the JeM operative was located somewhere close to the Indo-Pak International Border and that he escorted the terrorists to the border before they crossed over to carry out the attack.
Another Jaish operative, Shahid Latif, who is also a former Indian jail convict, briefed the terrorists on Indian terrain and gave them logistical information, the investigations showed.
Latif, who was convicted under the narcotics law, had spent more than 14 years in Indian jails before being deported to Pakistan. The hijackers of IC 814 had sought his release along with that of Maulana Masood Azhar. Lateef who was lodged in a Jammu jail then was shifted to Varanasi.
NIA believes Latif, who was deported to Pakistan in 2010 after completing his jail term, used his knowledge about India to brief the terrorists.
Latif, according to NIA, is also directly linked to the JeM's front organisation Al Rehmat, which is suspected to have funded the Pathankot attack.
According to reports, the NIA has given details of credit card transactions of Shahid Latif in its supplementary Letter Rogatory to Pakistan. These credit cards were allegedly used to pay for web-hosting of rangonoor.com and alqahafaonline.com - the two websites which were used to collect funds for Al Rehmat Trust.
Delhi: Islamic State or the ISIS is emerging as the new choice of 'jihadist-leaning', 'radicalised' Muslim youth in India and its immediate neighbourhood, as per a media report.
As per a report in The Times of India, the ISIS is threatening to undercut more established terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.
Lashkar and IM are reportedly being seen as temporary in nature compared to the ISIS fighters who are holding on to land, irrespective of setbacks, in Syria and Iraq.
The report added that ISIS has managed to label Lashkar as a theologically suspect adjunct of the state lacking the will to recreate a 7th century caliphate.
The Daily quoted Indian intelligence sources as saying that there was a trend of radicalised Muslims favouring the terror group.
Till recently they were said to gravitate towards Pakistan-based outfits or their Indian affiliates.
"Many IS-inspired youth arrested recently were earlier with Jaish or SIMI. Also, those under surveillance for following IS elements online had earlier been under the influence of Jaish, IM or SIMI. They now find IS more attractive due to its ability to acquire and hold territories in Iraq and Syria," a senior officer was quoted as saying.
However, an intelligence analyst said that with ISIS having lately weakened in Iraq and Syria, the organisation's appeal might not be "much of a concern".
"We are more or less able to track radicalised elements in touch with ISIS, and intervene as and when we learn they have acquired arms/explosives or are planning a strike," the officer told TOI.
At the same time, he warned, "However, if ISIS does strengthen its grip and 'liberates' new territories, its following among Indian youth may pose a threat."
New Delhi: In a major revelation in connection with AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam case, it has come to light that a firm which had just one employee was used to route kickbacks of nearly Rs 140 crore.
It was a Mohali-based firm's subsidiary in Tunisia which was used to route kickbacks worth around Rs 140 crore (28 million euros).
The said Rs 140-crore kickback amount was paid to Indian government officials, politicians and middlemen in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam, according to a report in TOI.
The above-mentioned facts have been disclosed in the chargesheet that was submitted in a Milan court on April 4.
Reportedly, AgustaWestland had allegedly signed a contract with IDS Tunisia, a subsidiary of Mohali-based IDS Infotech, for delivering software.
Interestingly, one of the contract's conditions was a monthly payment of 510,000 euros or Rs 3.14 crore irrespective of the software billings.
The orders were shown as designs of the fuselage of the chopper models - AW129 and AW139.
IDS Tunisia had just employee - director Kamoun Hedi's secretary Garavagalia.
Ujjain: Sadhvi Pragya Thakur said on Wednesday that she was not a criminal and would be acquitted.
"NIA has given right direction to Malegaon probe. I am not a criminal, will be acquitted," Thakur said, adding, "Delayed justice itself is injustice."
"Now that I've been given clean chit, I believe investigation is going in right direction. I've always said I'm not the culprit," she maintained.
Thakur today broke her two-day-long hunger strike by drinking a glass of juice offered by a child at Vande Mataram Ashram of Vishwa Hindu Parishad here.
She called off her fast as the authorities made the arrangements for her to visit the ongoing Kumbh Mela here.
On May 13, in a complete U-turn, the NIA had dropped all charges against Thakur and five others in the 2008 Malegaon blast case while charges under the stringent MCOCA law had 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 had said, adding that it had submitted in the chargesheet "that the prosecution against them is not maintainable", as per PTI.
Seven people were killed in twin blasts when people were coming out of prayers during Ramzan in September 29, 2008.
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 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 were dropped besides Sadhvi.
The agency had also said in its chargesheet, "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."
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.
Sadhvi is currently in judicial custody and undergoing treatment at the Ayurvedic hospital.
(With Agency inputs)
Washington D.C: A federal judge has rejected Mozillas request to force the US government into disclosing a vulnerability related to its Firefox web browser. The company says that their browser was exploited by the FBI to investigate users of a large child pornography website.
US District Judge Robert Bryan in Tacoma, Washington, on Monday rejected Mozillas bid to intervene in a case against a school administrator charged in the investigation, Jay Michaud.
Bryan had previously ordered prosecutors to disclose to Michauds lawyers a flaw in a browser used to view websites including the child porn one on the anonymous Tor network that is partly based on the code for Mozillas Firefox browser.
Mozilla, seeking to fix the flaw, moved to intervene, asking Bryan to force the government to disclose to Mozilla the vulnerability before revealing it to Michaud.
After the Justice Department asked Bryan to reconsider, citing national security, he said on Thursday prosecutors did not need to make the disclosure to Michaud.
Bryan on Monday said that made Mozillas request moot, adding it appears that Mozillas concerns should be addressed to the United States.
Mozilla in a statement said it would argue to the government that the safest thing to do for user security is to disclose the vulnerability and allow it to be fixed.
A Justice Department spokesman declined comment. Colin Fieman, Michauds lawyer, said he would seek the indictments dismissal due to prosecutors electing against disclosure.
Michaud is one of 137 people facing U.S. charges after the FBI in February 2015 seized the server for Playpen, a child porn website on the Tor network, which allows anonymous online communication.
To identify its 214,898 members, authorities sought a search warrant from a Virginia judge allowing them to deploy a network investigative technique.
The technique caused a users computer to send back data any time that user logged onto the website while the FBI operated it for two weeks.
Thousands of people domestically and abroad are being investigated as a result. The probe recently ran into trouble, after two defendants secured rulings declaring warrants in their cases invalid.
Mozillas brief came amid renewed attention to the process for disclosing computer security flaws discovered by federal agencies.
Mozilla said it asked if the FBI submitted the browser flaw through an interagency vulnerability review process used to determine if vulnerabilities should be disclosed to affected companies or should be used secretly, but received no answer.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is known for actively reaching out to the public through social media has now gone one step further.
Now, Modi's personal website, http://www.narendramodi.in, has gone live on Facebook Instant Articles (IA).
For those who aren't aware, Facebook Instant Articles is a feature through which users can view a post within the app itself.
Now, daily engagements, interviews, speeches and activities of the Prime Minister that are posted on his website, can be seen in real-time via Instant Articles, which will share them routinely.
New Delhi: With a motive to reduce paper consumption, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) introduced its plan to launch a smartphone version of driving license.
Oliver Morley, CEO of DVLA, made this announcement by tweeting a picture showing a prototype using Apple's Wallet app on an iPhone.
According to BBC reports. Morley, head of the country's driving authority also clarified that its an 'add-on' and not a replacement for the current photocard.
However, DLVA has not given any tentative dates to launch its digital driving license.
A report published by UK government on the future of its motoring services including DVLA highlights that some of their citizens perform important aspects of their life from a tablet or smartphone.
Keeping this in mind, DVLA has not only abolished the role of paper but also started a series of digital initiatives.
Check out this new 'add-on' to the photo card here:
New Delhi: In a first, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has twice spotted a first object in Kuiper Belt-a region of the solar system which is beyond the orbit of Neptune.
"1994 JR1" is a 145-km-wide Kuiper Belt object (KBO) orbiting more than 5 billion km from the Sun.
Captured from the spacecraft's Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) in April, the images shatter New Horizons' own record for the closest-ever views of this KBO in November 2015 when New Horizons detected "JR1" from 280 million km away.
The observations contain several valuable findings.
"Combining the November 2015 and April 2016 observations allows us to pinpoint the location of JR1 to within 1,000 km, far better than any small KBO," said Simon Porter from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado.
The more accurate orbit also allows the science team to dispel a theory, suggested several years ago, that JR1 is a quasi-satellite of Pluto.
The team also determined the object's rotation period, observing the changes in light reflected from JR1's surface to determine that it rotates once every 5.4 hours (or a JR1 day).
"That's relatively fast for a KBO. This is all part of the excitement of exploring new places and seeing things never seen before," added science team member John Spencer from SwRI in a NASA statement.
The observations are great practice for possible close-up looks at about 20 more ancient Kuiper Belt objects that may come in the next few years.
(With IANS inputs)
New Delhi: Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) captured this spectacular image of Earth's night lights from space.
They took this short-lens photograph of Earths night lights while looking out over the remote reaches of the central equatorial Pacific Ocean. The stunning night view of the Earth was taken when ISS was passing over the island nation of Kiribati at the time, about 2600 kilometers (1,600 miles) south of Hawaii.
The photograph was acquired on August 9, 2015 by a member of the Expedition 44 crew, with a Nikon D4 digital camera using a 28 millimeter lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center.
Knowing the exact time and the location of the ISS, scientists were able to match the star field in the photo to charts describing which stars should have been visible at that moment, explains NASA.
They identified the pattern of stars in the photo as our Milky Way galaxy (looking toward its center).
The brightest light in the image is a lightning flash that illuminated a large mass of clouds.
The space station orbits Earth about every 90 minutes, that means approximately 16 times in a day. Astronauts aboard the space station see the world at night on every orbit.
(Source: NASA)
Portland: Imagine being a police officer on patrolling duty and catching something out of the ordinary on the dashcam?
This is exactly what happened with these two police officers, who were on patrolling duty on the streets of Portland, Maine, in the early hours of the morning, when they caught a spectacular spectacle in the midnight sky.
Sergeant Tim Farris was driving when a meteor streaked across the sky. His fellow officer, Graham Hults couldnt keep his amazement to himself.
In the dashcam video, that they shared, they can even be heard exclaiming in surprise. The meteor, according to reports, made its appearance all over the North American east coast.
According to the American Meteor Society, over 350 reports about the meteor were reported from Quebec to New Jersey.
Check out the video of the explosive spectacle below:
(Video courtesy: RT)
Tripoli: Eighteen fighters loyal to Libya`s unity government were killed in clashes with Islamic State group jihadists and a car bombing Wednesday near the IS stronghold of Sirte, the military said.
An official in an operations room set up by the new Government of National Unity (GNA), asking not to be named, told AFP that "the toll is 18 martyrs and more than 20 wounded in the battles with IS militants and a car bombing".
Seven died in a car bomb attack in Buairat el-Hassun, 60 kilometres (35 miles) west of Sirte, the operations room said on its Facebook page. The others were killed in an IS foray in Abu Grein, further west, that the GNA recaptured on Tuesday.
Hong Kong: Protesters gathered in Hong Kong Wednesday calling for universal suffrage and an end to arrests of activists in China as a top Beijing official visits the city.
The three-day trip by Zhang Dejiang, who chairs China`s communist-controlled legislature, is the first by such a senior official in four years and comes as concerns grow that freedoms are under threat in the semi-autonomous city.
Although ostensibly in town to speak at an economic conference, Zhang`s trip is widely seen as an attempt to build bridges across the widening political divide and to gauge whether Beijing should back the city`s unpopular leader Leung Chun-ying to stand for a second term.
It comes as frustration over lack of reform has sparked a fledgling independence movement condemned by authorities in Hong Kong and China.
Zhang spoke at the economic forum Wednesday morning and will meet with pro-democracy lawmakers in the evening in a rare conciliatory move.
He kicked off his visit Tuesday by promising to listen to political demands from across society.
But opponents have criticised Zhang for what they called "tokenistic" diplomacy and slammed Hong Kong authorities for putting parts of the city into a security lockdown for his visit.
Roads around Zhang`s hotel and the convention centre hosting the conference have been cordoned off by water-filled barricades and protesters funnelled into designated areas, out of sight.
Around 100 protesters marched to one of the protest areas Wednesday morning, vastly outnumbered by police -- thousands of officers have been mobilised to protect Zhang.
They called for the "end of dictatorship", fully free elections, and the release of Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese Nobel peace laureate jailed on the mainland.
"Our requests are very clear, we do not welcome Zhang," said John Leung, 30, of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions.
Rival groups of pro-China demonstrators waved national flags and heated shouting matches ensued between the two sides.
Democracy protesters said they expected higher numbers for an evening rally.
Some said fear of a backlash had kept numbers away in the morning.
"I think more people are scared of the police," said Alexandra Wong, 60, a retired accountant.
"They do what they want."
Hong Kong police were criticised for heavyhanded treatment of protesters during massive pro-democracy rallies which brought parts of the city to a standstill in 2014.
Police arrested seven members of the pro-democracy League of Social Democrats party on Tuesday for unfurling protest banners on hills and flyovers.
They also wrestled one leading pro-democracy activist to the ground near Zhang`s hotel as he tried to breach a barrier.
Human Rights Watch said Wednesday authorities had "sharply limited" the public`s opportunities to voice criticism of Zhang`s visit.
It also said Hong Kong officials should challenge Zhang "to make concrete commitments to respect Hong Kong`s autonomy on human rights and democratic rule".
Hong Kong is semi-autonomous after being handed back to China by Britain in 1997 and enjoys freedoms unseen on the mainland, but there are concerns Beijing interference is growing.
Rabat: Morocco slammed the US State Department's report on human rights in the North African kingdom as a list of inventions and even lies.
The official MAP news agency on Tuesday quoted the Interior Ministry as saying the report's content is "truly scandalous."
Morocco is an important US ally in a volatile region, particularly valuable for its help in the fight against terrorism, making its irate, public reaction to last month's report highly unusual.
The report's contents "went from approximation of information to pure and simple invention, from erroneous appreciation to lies," MAP quoted the ministry as saying. It denounced the sources used to compile the report as "unreliable" and "politically hostile."
The State Department issues a country-by-country report each year on human rights around the world.
The latest report, issued April 13, listed corruption and widespread disregard by security forces for the rule of law as two significant ongoing problems in Morocco.
Interior Minister Mohamed Hassad has met with US. Ambassador Dwight Bush about the report, and "technical working sessions" with embassy officials have been held, the ministry said. Apparently to no avail.
"Morocco wants no more evasive responses, but precise case by case answers," he said.
Morocco is obliged "to explore all possible paths" to uncover the report's errors and "is prepared to go to the end," not excluding taking its case to the "highest authorities in the different national American institutions."
Among other things, the lengthy State Department report said that "systematic and pervasive corruption undermined law enforcement and the effectiveness of the judicial system," adding that "impunity was pervasive" with no official data about prosecution or punishment of officials committing abuses.
It also said decisions at trials touching on politically sensitive issues like the monarchy, security and Islam as it pertains to political life "appeared predetermined."
While reports of disappearances and torture, widespread in the 1970s and 1980s, have eased, the State Department report noted a 2014 report by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention citing "sources deemed to be credible" saying that disappearances have continued.
While torture is constitutionally forbidden, the State Department report quoted an Amnesty International review claiming that "an array of torture techniques are used by Moroccan security forces to extract confessions ... Silence activists and crush dissent."
The Interior Ministry, as quoted by MAP, questioned the credibility of a report prepared in Washington and based on reports submitted by "a few individuals with no credibility or a handful of Moroccans known for years for their aversion to the regime."
Russia`s military strength in Syria has barely changed since President Vladimir Putin announced a partial withdrawal from the war-torn country in March, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
"Their capabilities are largely the same, or almost identical, frankly," Baghdad-based military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said.
"They continue to have air power there, they continue to have ground forces, they continue to have artillery. They still have Spetsnaz (special forces) providing advice and assistance to the Syrian regime."
Putin surprised the West in March when he ordered the "main part" of his forces to pull out of Syria, where Moscow has been conducting a bombing campaign to back up ally President Bashar al-Assad.
Warren said Russian forces appeared to have established some sort of forward operating base near Palmyra, an ancient city whose Roman ruins were largely destroyed by Islamic State jihadists during the 10 months they held the town.
"Too early to tell whether or not they intend it to be a long term or short term venture," Warren said.
"They`ve established an operating base outside of Palmyra... And they`re still building it up."
Warren said Russian forces had started to target IS fighters more actively, whereas their initial focus when they entered the fray last fall was on rebels opposed to Assad.
Islamabad Capital Territory: Pakistan on Wednesday hosted a new four-nation meeting aimed at reviving long-stalled direct peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents, officials said.
The latest meeting of representatives from Afghanistan, the United States, China and Pakistan comes days after Afghan authorities hanged six Taliban-linked militants, the clearest sign to date of Kabul`s mounting frustration at the lack of progress.
The four-nation group was formed in January to try to restart the direct peace talks. But the lack of a breakthrough has left many frustrated as the Taliban have intensified their insurgency, launched in late 2001 after they were toppled from power by a US-led invasion.
On Wednesday a senior Afghan official sounded a more optimistic note.
"We are hopeful this time after we had complaints regarding Pakistan, over not bringing the Taliban to the negotiation table. There is pressure on Pakistan by the US and China, the important participants of the talks," Mawlawi Shahzada Shahid, a spokesman for a group called the High Peace Council, told AFP.
He added that a visit in April to Pakistan by a senior Taliban delegation from their political office in Qatar had further raised hopes.
"Pakistan had somehow convinced them to come back to the talks, and I believe there will be progress and development this time around," Shahid said.
Direct Afghan-Taliban talks began last summer but ended abruptly after it was revealed that the Taliban`s founder Mullah Omar had been dead for two years, sparking infighting among the insurgents.
The Islamist group has made the withdrawal of the 13,000 foreign troops still in Afghanistan a precondition for talks.
Panama City: Panama on Tuesday officially signed on to comply with OECD standards on exchanging tax information, a move that comes more than a month after the Panama Papers data leak.
OECD officials say they have long tried to get Panama to agree to their common reporting standards on exchanging tax information, to no avail.
However Panama`s Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday that the country had inked its adhesion to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development`s reporting standards.
Foreign Minister Luis Miguel Hincapie delivered the document to OECD headquarters in Paris. The new membership however does not take practical effect until 2018.
The public gained its first access to the Panama Papers records of over 200,000 secret offshore companies when the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) put a searchable database online in May.
The database, built on just a portion of the 11.5 million documents leaked from Panama`s Mossack Fonseca law firm, reveals more than 360,000 names of individuals and companies behind the anonymous shell firms.
The Panama Papers reveal the full extent to which the world`s wealthy, alongside criminals, create nominee companies to stash and transfer assets out of sight of the law and tax officials.
Reports already published in April based on the explosive dossier linked some of the world`s most powerful leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister David Cameron and others to unreported offshore companies.
YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. The NKR Defense Ministry informs that overnight May 17-18 the Azerbaijani side fired mortars and anti-tank grenade launcher towards Martakert in the Nagorno Karabakh line of contact.
The NKR Defense Ministrys announcement reads: Overnight May 17-18 the situation was relatively calm in the line of contact between Karabakh-Azerbaijani opposing forces.
The Azerbaijani side continued violating the ceasefire agreement by firing various caliber weapons. The Azerbaijani armed forces fired 60mm mortars (3 shells) and anti-tank grenade launcher (2 shells) towards the northeastern (Martakert) direction.
The NKR Defense Army forces followed the ceasefire agreement and continue confidently conducting their military duties.
YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. US Ambassador in Armenia Richard Mills considers positive the results of the meeting between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Vienna. I think that the news received from Vienna on Monday was very positive, it was an achievement that the two sides confirmed their commitment to the establishment and strengthening of the 1994 and 1995 ceasefire agreements, Armenpress reports, Ambassador Mills said this during the briefing with journalists.
Ambassador says the fact that the sides are ready to work towards the installation of the investigative mechanisms in the Karabakh-Azerbaijani line of contact, shows their goodwill and readiness to that issue. He stated that the Minsk Group Co-Chairs are ready to be consistent and develop that commitment. Ambassador also referred to the Sargsyan-Aliyev possible meeting in June stating that they are optimistic over that meeting. The Co-Chairs, the government of my country hope that the meeting will bring positive results and will contribute to what we all strive to achieve, that is the comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, US Ambassador highlighted.
On May 16 Sargsyan had meetings with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini, U.S Secretary of State John Kerry and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, with the participation of representatives of the Minsk Group co-chairing countries. US Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov, Secretary of State for European Affairs of France Harlem Desir, Armenian FM Nalbandian and Azerbaijani FM Mammadyarov, Ambassadors Igor Popov (Russia), James Warlick (USA), Pierre Andrieu (France) and OSCE Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk participated in the Sargsyan-Aliyev meeting.
YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. In an interview to ANS agency, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan and head of the Foreign Affairs Department Novruz Mamedov said the official Baku is opposing the expansion of powers of the OSCE Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyks Office.
Commenting on the OSCEs announcement, he said:There cannot be significant changes in the powers of Andrzej Kasprzyk. The announcement is the positions of the Minsk Group, we did not take any responsibility around this issue.
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries had issued an announcement after the May 16 meeting in Vienna.
The announcement reads:
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, Secretary of State of the United States of America John Kerry, and State Secretary for European Affairs of France Harlem Desir, representing the Co-Chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group, met today with President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to advance a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. They reiterated that there can be no military solution to the conflict. The Co-Chairs insisted on the importance of respecting the 1994 and 1995 ceasefire agreements.
The Presidents reiterated their commitment to the ceasefire and the peaceful settlement of the conflict. To reduce the risk of further violence, they agreed to finalize in the shortest possible time an OSCE investigative mechanism. The Presidents also agreed to the expansion of the existing Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson in Office.
Finally, they agreed to continue the exchange of data on missing persons under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to which the Presidents committed during the Paris summit of October 2014.
The Presidents agreed on a next round of talks, to be held in June at a place to be mutually agreed, with an aim to resuming negotiations on a comprehensive settlement.
YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Ministry of Armenia informs that overnight May 17-18 the situation was relatively calm in the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border compared to the previous day. The Azerbaijani side again fired irregular shots from various caliber weapons at Armenian positions in the northeastern direction of the border.
The Armenian Armed Forces control the border situation and confidently carry out their tasks.
According to the information received from the NKR Defense Army, overnight May 17-18 the situation was relatively calm in the line of contact between Karabakh-Azerbaijani opposing forces.
The Azerbaijani side continued violating the ceasefire agreement by firing various caliber weapons. The Azerbaijani armed forces fired 60mm mortars (3 shells) and anti-tank grenade launcher (2 shells) towards the northeastern (Martakert) direction.
The NKR Defense Army forces followed the ceasefire agreement and continue confidently conducting their military duties.
YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian delivered a speech on May 18 at the 126th Session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Sofia, Press Service of the MFA of Armenia informed Armenpress.
The meeting was attended by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjrn Jagland, the President of Bulgaria Rosen Plevneliev, Foreign Ministers of the CoE member states.
Referring to the issues of the CoE daily agenda, Minister Nalbandian said: I would also like to express our appreciation to the Secretary General for presenting his third annual report on the State of Democracy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Europe. We share Mr. Jaglands view on the concept of Democratic Security, according to which the democracies are less likely to go to war. Obviously, authoritarian regimes do not face such a dilemma.
Presenting to his partners the consequences of the Azerbaijani aggression against the Nagorno Karabakh on early of April and the high-level meeting held in Vienna on May 16, Armenian Foreign Minister stated: Such case was most recently witnessed in early April when Azerbaijan launched large-scale military offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh, resulting in many killed and wounded, along with gross violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
The tense situation of early April and possibilities of addressing its consequences were discussed two days ago in Vienna in a meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan attended by the Secretary of State of the United States, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia and State Secretary for European Affairs of France representing the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries.
In their joint statement the Co-Chair countries insisted on the importance of respecting the 1994 and 1995 ceasefire agreements. The Presidents reiterated their commitment to the ceasefire and the peaceful settlement of the conflict. To reduce the risk of further violence, they agreed to finalize in the shortest possible time an OSCE investigative mechanism. The Presidents also agreed to the expansion of the existing Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman in Office. This could pave a way for resumption of the negotiations for the resolution of the conflict.
Up until now Azerbaijan has been continuously hindering the implementation of such proposals of the Co-chair countries and even reached agreements. We hope that this time Azerbaijan would not deceive the hopes of the Co-Chair countries and the expectations of the international community.
Minister Nalbadian referred to the challenges of the Council of Europe and stated in this context: It is the primary goal of Council of Europe to safeguard common values and individual rights at pan-European level. We share the belief of many in this room that rights of individuals guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights must not be dependent on the status of the territory where peoples live. In this regard, we appreciate recent initiatives to discuss the subject of ensuring human rights in conflict zones.
Today violent extremism and radicalization leading to terrorism are direct threats to our values. To succeed in the fight against these appalling phenomena we should start with the root causes. Fight against racism, xenophobia and intolerance are essential in this regard. Armenia has been vocal in condemning hate speech and xenophobia, especially the kind, used in a political discourse. Combating these phenomena has been a priority for Armenia during our Chairmanship at this Committee and it continues to remain as such.
Referring to the 15th anniversary of the Armenias membership to the Council of Europe, Minister Nalbandian noted: 2016 marks the 15th Anniversary of Armenias accession to the Council of Europe. These have been years of fruitful cooperation in various areas of mutual interest. In a few days we will officially launch the Council of Europe 2015-2018 Action Plan for Armenia, which will further promote reform process in our country.
YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. US State Department spokesman John Kirby says the meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Vienna was a right step, Armenpress reports, he said this during the daily briefing.
The two Presidents expressed their commitment to respect the ceasefire, to take important measures for establishing trust and to restart the negotiations next month which can lead to the comprehensive settlement. They demonstrated their political will to come out of the scope of the status quo and take such measures which will be beneficial for other people of the region, Kirby stated. Recalling his statement, Kirby confirmed the US commitment to support the conflicting sides.
This meeting was positive and was a right step. Now there is a need of everyday hard work to implement what they agreed upon, Kirby stated.
Referring to the question which says that Armenia and the Nagorno Karabakh, unlike Azerbaijan, were always ready for the installation of the investigative mechanisms for ceasefire violations, Kirby once more recalled the joint statement stating that the meeting was a positive development.
YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. A picture of Turkish president Erdogan dressed as Hitler has been projected onto the walls of the country's embassy in Berlin, reports the Independent.
German artists projected a large photograph of Erdogan wearing a Nazi armband and Hitler's toothbrush moustache as a protest against the recent imprisonment of two journalists in Turkey.
Beside the picture on the walls of the Turkish embassy in Berlin were the words "He's back".
The group behind the image are German art activists Pixel Helper, who have posted pictures of the projection to Facebook.
"We as Germans know what happens in the early stages of a dictatorship. The similarities between the early Nazi regime and Erdogans Turkey right now are frightening," Oliver Bienkowski, a member of the group, told The Independent.
"Erdogan challenges the freedom of the press, has jailed many journalists and politicians, and deals in oil with terrorists.
"We fear that history is repeating itself, and he must be stopped before it is too late."
The message comes at a sensitive time for Turkish-German relations as Chancellor Angela Merkel tries to uphold an agreement with Erdogan to accept refugees from Greece in return for accepting a similar number from camps in Turkey as well as speeding up Turkish visas to the EU.
It also follows comments broadcast by German comedian Jan Boehmermann, which referenced Erdogan in crude sexual and offensive terms, that the Chancellor has said were illegal and may be prosecuted against by the Turkish government.
This most recent criticism of Mr Erdogan in Germany comes just over a week after two Turkish journalists, Can Dundar and Erdem Gul, were sentenced to five years in prison each in a private hearing.
The pair also narrowly avoided a seeming assassination attempt outside the courthouse in Istanbul when a man with a gun shot at Mr Dundar but missed before being restrained by the editor's wife and later by police.
Mr Dundar and Mr Gul were accused of publishing information which claimed Turkish intelligence services were making arms deliveries to Islamists in Syria and the government was supporting terrorism.
In response, the two editors were arrested and charged with planning a coup, spying, sharing state secrets and themselves supporting terrorism.
Mr Dundar and Mr Gul told the Turkish Sun: "They have tried everything, starting with a threat...then blackmails, we were imprisoned, they looked into our personal accounts and assets, bugged our phones."
A court has now sentenced them to five years in prison, which has yet to be confirmed by a higher court, on charges of revealing state secrets.
Mr Bienkowski added: "We would love to project the same images on to the Presidential Palace in Istanbul, but if we did there is a good chance we would not make the flight back to Germany."
YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan met the head of the Petrogradsky district of St. Petersburg Yuri Gladunov and head of the Moskovski district Vladimir Ushakov, Press Service of the Yerevan Municipality informed Armenpress.
Welcoming the guests, Taron Margaryan said the cooperation between Yerevan and St. Petersburg is really effective and successful which year by year gives new practical quality for the implementation of constructive projects between Yerevan and St. Petersburg.
Giving a great importance to the expansion of the cooperation between the administrative districts of Yerevan and St. Petersburg, Taron Margaryan expressed hope that it will also be successful and constructive.
2015-2020 cooperation project signed between the two cities once more confirms that these partner relations are really effective and perspective. Of course, centuries-long friendship between the two people played its role in this, and also, the consistency of my St. Petersburg counterpart had a huge role in the effective implementation of the signed cooperation project, Yerevan Mayor said.
Expressing gratitude for the warm reception and conveying warm greetings of Governor Georgy Poltavchenko, the representatives of the St. Petersburg delegation stated that Yerevan is stable and trustful partner for St. Petersburg which will contribute to the development and strengthening of the cooperation in numerous sectors.
YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. The Investigative Committee of Armenia charged Colonel David Abrahamyan with abuse of power. Abrahamyan is the head of the vehicle service department of the Armed Forces.
There is sufficient evidence suggesting the Colonel abused his position for personal interests.
Notice - Suspect is innocent until proven guilty by Court of Law.
YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. Members of the St. Petersburg delegation who arrived in Armenia within the framework of cooperation between Yerevan and St. Petersburg, visited the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex to pay tribute to the victims of the Armenian Genocide. They were accompanied by the heads of Erebuni and Malatia-Sebastia administrative districts, Press Service of the Yerevan Municipality informed Armenpress.
The delegation members on behalf of the St. Petersburg Government laid a wreath and flowers at the Eternal Flame respecting the memory of the victims with a minute of silence.
Then the guests visited the Museum-Institute of the Armenian Genocide and got acquainted with the exhibition. They left a note in the Commemoration Book of Honorable Guests.
Then the delegation members visited the Arabkir administrative district of Yerevan and laid flowers at the monument dedicated to the children of the Siege of Leningrad.
YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. On May 16 newly appointed Armenian Ambassador to China Sergey Manasaryan presented his credentials to the President of the Peoples Republic of China Xi Jinping, Press Service of the MFA of Armenia informed Armenpress.
President of the Peoples Republic of China Xi Jinping congratulated the Ambassador on his new post and wished him effective work in the development of further bilateral relations.
President Xi Jinping referred to the Armenian Presidents visit to China last year stating that they highly appreciate the Armenian-China traditional friendship and are consistent with the implementation of agreements reached between the Presidents.
Ambassador Manasaryan expressed gratitude for the warm words and ensured that he will make all possible efforts during his mission to deepen and strengthen the already existing friendly relations between the two states.
Ambassador Manasaryan conveyed to the President of China the warm greetings of the Armenian President, and confirmed the Armenian Presidents invitation to visit Armenia addressed to the President of China.
YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. Healthcare Minister of Armenia Armen Muradyan says the prices of medications will be reduced after the adoption of the new law on drugs.
For the first time it is fixed by law that the state will interfere in the medication market in Armenia. That is, the state will begin a process of regulating medications reimbursed by the Ministry of Healthcare. This process will not only change the situation in terms of quality, but will also lead to toughening of the system. Administrative fines for unregistered medications, or fake medications will be toughened, which will lead to reduction of prices and improvement of quality, the Minister said.
He added the law will give the opportunity to tackle monopolies in the medication market.
Asked why the prices of drugs are lower in Georgia compared to Armenia, the Minister said: It is simple; there is no VAT on medications in Georgia. Besides, transportation routes for import of medications are more convenient in Georgia. Medications are imported to Armenia by air, whereas in Georgia, by sea or by land, he said.
YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. The delegation headed by the Chief of General Staff of Armenian Armed Forces, Colonel-General Yuri Khachaturov attended the meeting of NATO military committee on the level of Chiefs of General Staffs in Brussels, NATO Headquarters, on May 18.
As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Armenian Defense Ministry, two sessions were held during the meeting, on the formats of participant states in Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan and Partnership Interoperability Initiative.
The session on Resolute Support Mission was about exchange of ideas about military commitments of states included in the coalition in Afghanistan, as well as coordination of guidelines.
During the session on the format of Partnership Interoperability Initiative, issues referring to development of operational compatibility and strengthening international stability were discussed.
YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. Armenia: Investment Forum large-scale event will be held in New York on October 10-11, Armenpress reports acting executive director of Armenian Development Fund Karen Mkrtichyan told during USA business briefing: Armenia conference in Yerevan. He urges US-based businessmen and investors to visit the forum and get acquainted with major investment programs in Armenia.
The political leadership of the country and representatives of numerous financial and investment organizations will be present at the New York investment forum scheduled on October 10-11 of the current year. It is a good platform for getting acquainted with Armenias major investment programs, Mkrtichyan said.
Armenia: Investment Forum to be held in autumn, 2016 is aimed at promoting foreign investments in Armenia.
YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. Memorandum of understanding was signed between the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) and Singapore on May 18 at the headquarters of the EEC, Armenpress was informed from the press service of the EEC.
EEC Minister in charge of Integration Development and Macroeconomics, Tatyana Valovaya and Minister of State for Trade and Industry of Singapore Koh Poh Koon signed the memorandum.
The MOU assumes a broad cooperation in all economic directions that are of bilateral interest. The signing of the memorandum opens a new page in our relations, Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission, Tigran Sargsyan said.
Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong mentioned that the signing of the memorandum is an important and positive step for the cooperation between Singapore and EAEU. He hoped that it will create new opportunities for fostering trade and investments.
The MOU assumes broad prospects for cooperation. A working group will be set up that will coordinate the relations of EEC and the Government of Singapore.
Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa (L) pictured with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy (C) and EU Commission President Jean Claude Juncker (R) in Brussels
Spain and Portugal received unexpected reprieve to meet the EU limits on public deficits on Wednesday as Brussels delayed a decision to slap fines against the rule-breakers until July.
The delay put off a potentially embarrassing decision for Spain until after elections on June 26 and gave more time for a new government in Portugal to get on its feet.
Inflicting penalities against an EU member state for public overspending would have been an unprecedented step by the European Commission, the bloc's executive arm.
At the urging of Germany, the commission won powers to monitor national budgets during the eurozone debt crisis when overspending in members of the single currency such as Greece and Spain nearly destroyed the euro.
"We have concluded that this is not the right moment economically or politically to take this step," European Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici told a news briefing in Brussels.
"(In Spain) we do not have in front of us a government capable right now of taking the necessary measures," Moscovici, a former French finance minister, said.
For the eighth consecutive year, austerity-weary Spain has overshot its fiscal targets, making it one of the worst performers in the eurozone.
But Spain's acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Wednesday he was eyeing more tax cuts if re-elected, in defiance of the EU rules on running up public deficits.
Spain's deficit came in at 5 percent of gross domestic product last year, far higher than the 4.2 percent initially promised to Brussels and above the 3 percent limit set by EU rules.
- 'Unacceptable' delay -
Madrid has also raised its public deficit target this year from 2.8 percent of GDP to 3.6 percent, which means Spain will once again overshoot the limit set by Brussels.
"It is unacceptable that the commission caved to the lobbying by Madrid and Lisbon and offered the delay," said Markus Ferber, a German MEP from the right-of centre EPP party.
"Spanish elections are not a valid argument," he said, warning that "we can always find a reason not to act".
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Spain is gearing up for another election on June 26 -- the second in just six months after bickering parties failed to reach an agreement on a coalition government following inconclusive polls in December.
Bailed-out Portugal, meanwhile, will see its public debt hit 130 percent of GDP, over double the EU limit of 60 percent.
In Lisbon, a left-wing government came to power last year on a pledge to reverse unpopular austerity measures, in defiance of the EU.
Last year Portugal's deficit sharply overshot targets, landing at 4.4 percent of output.
"After today?s announcements, the European Commission will probably again be criticised for being too lax on the Eurozone?s fiscal rules," said Carsten Brzeski, Economist at ING bank.
But "at the current juncture, with most Eurozone countries desperately trying to revive growth and tackle unemployment, today's decision was in our view the right decision," Brzeski added.
A person searches for discarded fruit and vegetables following the market on April 10, 2016 in the city of Toulouse, in southwestern France
A growing number of Europeans are living in "relative poverty", the UN labour agency said Wednesday, warning that a lack of quality jobs worldwide was threatening to undo decades of progress in poverty reduction.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) also lamented that, while poverty had declined dramatically in middle-income countries it remained "stubbornly" high in Africa and much of Asia, with nearly two-thirds of Africans still in extreme or moderate poverty.
Overall a new ILO report found that relative poverty -- defined as household income below 60 percent of the national median income -- was on the rise in wealthy nations.
"In the developed world there has been ? an absolute increase in poverty, notably in this continent of Europe," ILO chief Guy Ryder told reporters.
In 2012, 22 percent of inhabitants in developed countries -- a full 300 million people -- were living in relative poverty, with more than one third of all children in these wealthy nations considered poor, ILO's 2016 World Employment Social Outlook Report found.
The situation was particularly dramatic in the European Union, which had seen its relative poverty level remain stable at around 16.5 percent for a number of years leading up to the 2008 global financial crisis.
But in 2012 relative poverty in the bloc swelled to 16.8 percent and by 2014 it had hit 17.2 percent, the report said.
The United States also saw its relative poverty rate shoot up by nearly a percentage point from 23.8 percent in 2005 to 24.6 percent in 2012, but it had remained stable since then, the statistics showed.
The findings are bad news after decades of dramatic global progress cutting poverty, especially in the world's poorer nations.
- Decent job deficit -
Today, nearly two billion people live in extreme poverty (less than $1.90 a day) or moderate poverty (less than $3.10 a day), accounting for around 36 percent of the population in emerging and developing countries.
That is down from 67.2 percent in 1990.
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"The world has made significant progress in the reduction of poverty," Ryder said, warning though that the "progress has been uneven and it is fragile."
While poverty has declined rapidly in middle-income countries like China and in Latin America, it has remained "stubbornly high" in Africa and much of Asia, he said, pointing out that 64 percent of Africans still live in extreme or moderate poverty.
A major obstacle to eradicating poverty, both in wealthy and in poorer nations, is a devastating lack of decent, reliable jobs, offering job and income security, and other rights.
For example, nearly one third of people living in extreme and moderate poverty in emerging and developing countries actually have a job, the ILO report showed.
"Addressing the decent work deficits, and they are considerable, is a necessary condition for ending poverty in all its forms," Ryder said.
Growing inequality is also a major stumbling block, said Raymond Torres, ILO expert on social and economic issues.
Pointing out that the 30 percent of the global population considered poor holds just two percent of global income, he said it was "past time to reflect on the responsibility of rich nations and individuals in perpetuation of poverty."
If the global community wants to make good on its commitment to eradicate extreme and moderate poverty completely by 2030, ILO has estimated that some $600 billion needs to be spent annually -- or $10 trillion over the next 15 years.
That amounts to 0.8 percent of the global gross domestic product, but Ryder stressed the burden was drastically uneven.
For developing countries in general, the ambitious target would require investments amounting to 21 percent of their GDPs, while for Malawi, for instance, 78 percent of its GDP would be needed, he said.
The cr.yp.to blog
2016.05.16: Security fraud in Europe's "Quantum Manifesto": How quantum cryptographers are stealing a quarter of a billion Euros from the European Commission. #qkd #quantumcrypto #quantummanifesto
"Europe plans giant billion-euro quantum technologies project," says a 21 April 2016 news story in Nature. "The European Commission has quietly announced plans to launch a 1-billion (US$1.13 billion) project to boost a raft of quantum technologiesfrom secure communication networks to ultra-precise gravity sensors and clocks."
The relevant press release from the European Commission is actually titled "European Cloud Initiative to give Europe a global lead in the data-driven economy" and says "The Commission today presented its blueprint for cloud-based services and world-class data infrastructure to ensure science, business and public services reap benefits of big data revolution." The word "quantum" appears just twice in the press release:
Gunther H. Oettinger, Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society, is quoted as saying "We will also be looking into the potential of quantum technologies which hold the promise to solve computational problems beyond current supercomputers."
One of the "actions" that the "Commission will progressively put in place" is "launching a flagship-type initiative to accelerate the nascent development of quantum technology, which is the basis for the next generation of supercomputers."
The word appears just once in the European Commission's accompanying "fact sheet", proposing to spend "1 billion for a large-scale EU-wide quantum technologies flagship" as part of spending 6.7 billion Euros on a "European Cloud Initiative".
Mission creep, part 1: from big data to quantum computing
It is clear that if large universal quantum computers are built then they will be much faster than conventional supercomputers for many important computations. In particular, Grover's algorithm will speed up very large "combinatorial searches" that arise in many areas of science and that consume huge amounts of computation today. The scientific literature contains ample justification for continuing to fund research into
quantum hardware: plausible methods of building large universal quantum computers, and eventually finding ways to make them run faster; and
plausible methods of building large universal quantum computers, and eventually finding ways to make them run faster; and quantum software: understanding what these computers will be able to doin particular, designing and optimizing quantum algorithms.
But the interesting quantum computations are not big-data computations. They are big computations on small data. The big-data computations that people carry out, and want to carry out, fundamentally involve much more input and output, exactly the weak point of quantum algorithms. Even under extremely optimistic 20-year projections of progress in building quantum computers, big-data computations cannot reasonably be expected to see a quantum speedup. No, Grover's algorithm will not let Google search the Internet more quickly.
The European Commission says that its goal is to "give Europe a global lead in the data-driven economy" so that everyone reaps "benefits of big data revolution". How could they have thought that this goal justifies putting massive funding (1 billion Euros, 15% of the total European Cloud Initiative funding) into quantum computation? Here are three theories:
Theory 1: malice. The European Commission consulted experts in quantum algorithms, and those experts allowed honesty to be overridden by financial incentives. Here's what an expert could have been thinking: "If I tell them that quantum computers won't process big data then they'll take away money for quantum-algorithms research! So I'll tell them that that quantum algorithms are important for future supercomputing and that supercomputing is important for big data. It's not my fault if they leap to the incorrect conclusion that quantum algorithms are important for big data, right?"
The European Commission consulted experts in quantum algorithms, and those experts allowed honesty to be overridden by financial incentives. Here's what an expert could have been thinking: "If I tell them that quantum computers won't process big data then they'll take away money for quantum-algorithms research! So I'll tell them that that quantum algorithms are important for future supercomputing and that supercomputing is important for big data. It's not my fault if they leap to the incorrect conclusion that quantum algorithms are important for big data, right?" Theory 2: stupidity. The European Commission didn't consult experts in quantum algorithms. Instead it consulted physicists who are working on building quantum computers and who don't have any real understanding of what future quantum computers can reasonably be expected to do. These people could have been honestly thinking that quantum algorithms are important for big data, because they simply don't know any better.
The European Commission didn't consult experts in quantum algorithms. Instead it consulted physicists who are working on quantum computers and who don't have any real understanding of what future quantum computers can reasonably be expected to do. These people could have been honestly thinking that quantum algorithms are important for big data, because they simply don't know any better. Theory 3: marketing. The European Commission actually has only the foggiest idea of what it means by "the Cloud" and "the data-driven economy". Isn't every Internet server really part of the Cloud? And don't all algorithm inputs qualify as data? Isn't even the tiniest piece of data part of the big-data revolution that surrounds us all? Join us in relabeling your research with the latest buzzwords!
Each of these theories raises troubling questions regarding the mechanisms used to build public interest in funding scientific research.
Mission creep, part 2: from quantum computing to quantum everything
For the rest of this blog post, let's simply assume that it's reasonable to spend 1 billion Euros to look into "the potential of quantum technologies which hold the promise to solve computational problems beyond current supercomputers." This is still quite different from what the Nature story said: namely, that the 1 billion Euros are "to boost a raft of quantum technologiesfrom secure communication networks to ultra-precise gravity sensors and clocks."
Where does Nature get the idea that the European Commission is funding an unfocused "raft of quantum technologies" rather than quantum computing in particular? The story quotes Tommaso Calarco, who "co-authored a blueprint behind the initiative, which was published in March, called the Quantum Manifesto"; and says that this "initiative" was "driven by an 18-month dialogue between the commission and a group of researchers who, at the organizations request, produced the manifesto."
The Quantum Manifesto is a 19-page white paper full of pictures and sidebars, obviously aimed at politicians. Its title is "Quantum Manifesto: A New Era of Technology" ("DraftMarch 2016"). The Manifesto has two other pages with statements in very large fonts: page 2 says "This manifesto is a call to launch an ambitious European initiative in quantum technologies, needed to ensure Europe's leading role in a technological revolution now under way" and page 6 says "Europe needs strategic investment now in order to lead the second quantum revolution. Building upon its scientific excellence, Europe has the opportunity to create a competitive industry for long-term prosperity and security."
The six items highlighted in the Manifesto's "Quantum Technologies Timeline" are "Atomic quantum clocks"; "Quantum sensors"; "Intercity quantum link"; "Quantum simulators" (special-purpose quantum computers for physics simulation); "Quantum-safe communication network"; and "Universal quantum computers". The four main topics highlighted in sidebars are "Quantum communication"; "Quantum simulators"; "Quantum sensors"; and "Quantum computers".
The Manifesto doesn't claim that "Atomic quantum clocks" and "Quantum sensors" and "Intercity quantum link" and "Quantum-safe communication network" are relevant to the goal stated by Oettinger ("to solve computational problems beyond current supercomputers") or to the rationale stated by the European Commission for funding a quantum-technology flagship ("the basis for the next generation of supercomputers"). Instead the Manifesto claims that these are beneficial for their own sake. For example, the Manifesto mentions "gravity and magnetic sensors for health care, geosurvey and security"; it doesn't claim supercomputing as an application (and I can't imagine how anyone would try to justify such a claim).
In short, at least half of the scope of the Manifesto, presumably at least half of the billion Euros in funding, is quite blatantly hijacking "European Cloud Initiative" funding and diverting it to different goals.
It is interesting to note that a subsequent Nature editorial described the spread of Manifesto topics as a "mistake" and recommended instead "focusing investment on one high-risk, high-gain goalsuch as a universal quantum computer". The editorial board doesn't seem to have noticed that quantum computing was the sole rationale stated by the European Commission for funding this flagship!
The dark side of quantum computing
If I saw a funding proposal for, say, the coal industry, then I would expect it to have an extensive discussion of the environmental impact of the coal industry. I would expect it to allocate massive funding towards reducing this impact. And I would expect the politicians to solicit feedback from environmental experts: is this funding really the best way to address the problem, or should it instead be spent in other ways?
Similarly, I think that anyone proposing funding for quantum computing is ethically obliged to highlight the fact that quantum technologies are a huge threat to security.
We all rely on the security of cryptographic signatures on software updates. But RSA and ECC, the most popular signature mechanisms today, are both known to be broken in polynomial time by Shor's quantum algorithm. This algorithm is smaller and faster than most of the algorithms used to justify investment in building large universal quantum computers. There are no obvious obstacles to attackers building quantum computers that will rapidly break RSA keys and ECC keys, allowing the attackers to forge software updates and seize control of all of our computers.
Post-quantum cryptography is society's most plausible path towards preventing the quantum apocalypse. Most importantly, this research area includes
quantum cryptanalysis , i.e., analyzing which cryptographic systems beyond RSA and ECC will be broken by quantum computers; and
, i.e., analyzing which cryptographic systems beyond RSA and ECC will be broken by quantum computers; and post-quantum cryptographic engineering, i.e., preparing the remaining cryptographic algorithms for deployment as soon as possible.
Example of a question in quantum cryptanalysis: recent research has found a polynomial-time quantum algorithm to break the SmartVercauteren lattice-based cryptosystem; can the attacks be extended to other lattice-based cryptosystems? Example of a question in post-quantum cryptographic engineering: researchers have built confidence in the security of the SHA-3 hash function and hash-based signature systems; but can we deploy these signature systems while meeting the performance and usability requirements of applications?
Obviously we need to replace RSA and ECC before attackers are armed with quantum computers running Shor's algorithm. There are several reasons that action is particularly urgent. First, there is a long path from papers to widespread deployment. Second, many deployed devices last for years without being upgraded. Third, larger and larger fractions of Internet traffic are being recorded, including the private communications of doctors, journalists, lawyers, diplomats, therapists, human-rights workers, etc., again protected primarily by RSA and ECC.
There is a significant risk that all of the benefits of quantum computing during the next 20 years will be outweighed by the security devastation caused by quantum computing during the same period. Does this mean that public research into quantum computing should be halted? I don't think so. I don't believe that halting research will be effective in stopping attackers. NSA, for example, has its own quantum-computing budget, as shown by the Snowden revelations. What will be effective in stopping attackers is post-quantum cryptography.
How security is advertised in the Quantum Manifesto
This brings me to what really bugs me about the Quantum Manifesto. Instead of highlighting the security threat of quantum technology and recommending funding for a scientifically justified response, the Manifesto makes the thoroughly deceptive claim that quantum technology improves security.
Later I'll get to the details of this claim. First let's look at some examples of how prominent this security advertising is:
The accompanying call for endorsement of the Manifesto says that this "initiative" will "create new commercial opportunities addressing global challenges, provide strategic capabilities for security and seed as yet unimagined capabilities for the future" (emphasis added). Security is the only actual topic hiding inside this thicket of buzzwords ("opportunities" and "challenges" and "capabilities" and so on). This sentence is repeated inside the Manifesto.
and seed as yet unimagined capabilities for the future" (emphasis added). Security is the only actual topic hiding inside this thicket of buzzwords ("opportunities" and "challenges" and "capabilities" and so on). This sentence is repeated inside the Manifesto. The same call for endorsement concludes that the initiative "will result in a more sustainable, more productive, more entrepreneurial and more secure European Union" (emphasis added). This is also repeated inside the Manifesto.
European Union" (emphasis added). This is also repeated inside the Manifesto. The Manifesto claims that quantum technologies have "far-reaching applications, including secure communication networks , sensitive sensors for biomedical imaging and fundamentally new paradigms of computation" (emphasis added). Notice that security is again highlighted as the top application.
, sensitive sensors for biomedical imaging and fundamentally new paradigms of computation" (emphasis added). Notice that security is again highlighted as the top application. The Manifesto claims that "Applications [of quantum technologies] are of strategic importance to Europe's independence and safetyin the field of secure information storage and transmission, for instance, and in creating new materials for energy solutions and medicine" (emphasis added). Notice that security is once again highlighted.
and in creating new materials for energy solutions and medicine" (emphasis added). Notice that security is once again highlighted. I mentioned above that "Quantum communication" is one of four main topics highlighted in sidebars inside the Manifesto. The "Quantum communication" sidebar begins as follows: "Communication security is of strategic importance to consumers, enterprises and governments alike."
The third of six items highlighted in the "Timeline" is as follows: "A secure intercity quantum link between a number of European capitals will allow transmission of highly sensitive data without any risk of interception. It may contain ground or satellite-based protected nodes derived from the development of trusted nodes and quantum repeaters."
The fifth of six items highlighted in the "Timeline" is as follows: "A global quantum-safe communication networka quantum internet combining quantum with classical information and encryptionoffers security for internet transactions against the threat of a quantum computer breaking purely classical encryption schemes." Notice that the Manifesto briefly mentions the security threat here, but at the same time claims that it solves the threat.
Security is mentioned a total of 30 times in the manifesto, with quantum technologies consistently portrayed as the hero saving the day. This is like a coal-industry proposal proudly portraying coal as being good for the environment. Coal has far-reaching applications to improve the environment! Whatever threat coal might pose to the environment, coal itself is the solution! Coal will lead to a cleaner European Union!
This coal-industry example is imaginary (I hope), but I've seen many other examples of funding requests that rely critically on exaggerated claims of societal benefits. Of course, people in research area X who make exaggerated claims of impact within X can expect to find their claims shredded by reviewers from the same area, but how will they be punished if they make exaggerated claims of impact on something else? This is particularly important for exaggerated claims of security impact: security has always been notoriously difficult for users to evaluate.
Suppose you're a politician seeing a bunch of physicists asking for a quarter of a billion Euros for "quantum communication". The core justification for this request is the claim that "quantum communication" will provide security benefits. Don't you want to hear an assessment of this claim from security experts? Obviously society is facing security problems, but this doesn't mean that you should mindlessly throw money at anything that claims to be a solution. Don't you want to know whether the security community views this expenditure as a smart way to address the problems, or as an astoundingly stupid way to address the problems?
The claims of amazing security benefits from "quantum communication" aren't new. My experience is that most security experts simply dismiss quantum communication on the basis of its prohibitive cost (see below), but it isn't hard to find literature analyzing the security claims in more detail. For example:
The 2004 PatersonPiperSchack paper "Quantum cryptography: a practical information security perspective" concludes that the set of applications for an "unconditionally secure QKE protocol ... is in fact rather limited".
The 2008 Schneier essay "Quantum cryptography: as awesome as it is pointless" concludes "There are far more serious security problems to worry about, and it makes much more sense to spend effort securing those."
A February 2016 white paper from CESG, the UK government's National Technical Authority for Information Assurance, concludes that quantum cryptography has "fundamental practical limitations" and that it fails to "address large parts of the security problem", while "post-quantum public key cryptography appears to offer much more effective mitigations for real-world communications systems from the threat of future quantum computers". (I should add a caveat here: the people at CESG don't publish much and haven't really established their expertise by normal scientific standards. CESG, like NSA, is widely viewed in the security community as having questionable motives. But I'd nevertheless expect a politician to take CESG seriously.)
My March 2016 paper "Is the security of quantum cryptography guaranteed by the laws of physics?" concludes that the main security claim for quantum cryptography is "not justified anywhere in the literature, and it seems very difficult to justify, in light of what the laws of physics actually say."
The European Commission could easily have, and should have, assembled a panel of security experts to publicly evaluate the security claims in the Quantum Manifesto. The Manifesto authors should of course have been allowed to provide references and further input, and to answer questions from the security experts. The result would have been a public Security Impact Assessment, just like a public Environmental Impact Assessment.
Obviously this security review never happened. The Manifesto says that it is "endorsed by a broad community of industries, research institutes and scientists in Europe" and is accompanied by an online list of thousands of signatories; but the list looks more like a rather narrow community of people who are hoping that the Manifesto makes money for them, such as quantum physicists and their students. Security review, like environmental review, requires experts who are skeptical.
Security failures of physical cryptography, part 1: locked-briefcase cryptography
The snake oil peddler became a stock character in Western movies: a traveling "doctor" with dubious credentials, selling fake medicines with boisterous marketing hype, often supported by pseudo-scientific evidence. To increase sales, an accomplice in the crowd (a shill) would often attest to the value of the product in an effort to provoke buying enthusiasm. The "doctor" would leave town before his customers realized they had been cheated. "Snake oil" entry in Wikipedia
Security experts commonly use the term "snake oil" for products whose security hype far exceeds their security value.
Imagine, for example, that the manufacturers of lockable briefcases start advertising "provably secure locked-briefcase cryptography". The salesmen explain that locked-briefcase cryptography uses the magical power of locks to physically protect information against all possible attacks:
Alice places secret information into a briefcase and locks the briefcase.
A courier transports the briefcase from Alice to Bob.
Bob unlocks the briefcase and retrieves the secret information.
There is a mathematical proof that locked-briefcase cryptography hides all information from the attacker! We should therefore replace cryptography on the Internet with locked-briefcase cryptography on a new "locked-briefcase Internet"! End of sales pitch.
Should we build a "locked-briefcase Internet"? Security experts can fully justify any of the following answers to this question:
No, this would actually make security much worse.
No, this would be insanely expensive.
We should not dignify such a dumb question with a response.
Security experts will often opt for the second answer because the cost of a locked-briefcase Internet seems easier to understand than the security failures. Security experts will often opt for the third answer because they have real work to do. But merely giving the second and third answers, and skipping the first answer, leaves the briefcase manufacturers in a position to request massive research funding aimed at reducing the costs of their magical "provably secure locked-briefcase Internet". Funding agencies need to understand that locked-briefcase cryptography is more expensive and less secure than alternatives.
So what's wrong with the security of locked-briefcase cryptography? Here are some of the obvious avenues of attack:
Alice bought the briefcase from a manufacturer. What happens if the attacker secretly convinced the manufacturer to place a hidden camera inside the briefcase?
What happens if the attacker also controls the courier, and secretly convinced the manufacturer to place a master combination into the lock, or place a weakness into the hinges?
Even if the manufacturer is honest, is the lock actually safe against a courier trying to open it? Cheap locks are well known to provide very little physical security, and more expensive locks seem to rely primarily on obscurity rather than on actually being difficult to break.
The "security proof" assumes that the attacker's only information consists of observations of the outside of the locked briefcase. What happens to the security of the lock, and to the security of the information in the briefcase, if the attacker X-rays the briefcase?
What happens if the attacker substitutes a new identical-looking briefcase that contains forged documents and that opens with the same combination?
What happens if the attacker disrupts delivery of the briefcase, for example by stealing it? Does Alice recognize this somehow and try sending another briefcase? If disruption is much cheaper than delivery, does Alice eventually fall back to another mechanism of communication?
Bob needs to know the secret combination to open Alice's briefcase. What happens if the attacker overhears Alice giving this combination to Bob?
The bottom line is that there are many low-cost attacks against locked-briefcase cryptography.
Security advantages of real-world cryptography
Real-world cryptographyalgorithmic cryptographystarts with the recognition that putting secret information close to the attacker has always been a security nightmare. It is terribly difficult even to fully understand, let alone limit, all the ways that the attacker can physically interact with the secrets.
Real-world cryptography instead keeps Alice and Bob's secrets heavily shielded inside Alice and Bob's computers, the same computers that are storing and processing the secrets in the first place. Alice encrypts a secret message, mathematically transforming the message into ciphertext, before sending it through the Internet to Bob.
Real-world cryptography relies on published cryptographic systems with comprehensive specifications that have convincingly survived many years of publicly documented attack efforts from a large research community aiming at clear security goals. I'm not saying that this process has reached perfection (the remaining problems are major motivations for my own research); I'm saying that the security of these systems is much, much, much better understood than the security of locked-briefcase cryptography.
What happens if the attacker secretly convinced the cryptographic software author to keep copies of Alice's messages, or to place a weakness into the ciphertext? Most serious real-world cryptography has transitioned to open-source software, which is subjected to increasingly comprehensive security reviews and in some cases formal verification. There are also increasingly sophisticated efforts to verify the security of compilers, operating systems, and the underlying chips. All of this work is required for the broader goal of computer security (which Alice and Bob would need even if they magically had secure communication by some other mechanism), and real-world cryptography is leading the way.
What happens if the attacker overhears the secret key exchanged by Alice and Bob? One of the most spectacular advances in real-world cryptography was the advent of public-key cryptography four decades ago. Alice generates a secret key and a corresponding public key; she gives the public key to Bob, and keeps the secret key safely hidden. Bob generates his own secret key and the corresponding public key, and gives the public key to Alice. Alice uses Bob's public key to encrypt information for Bob, and Bob uses Alice's public key to verify that the information comes from Alice. The system is designed to be secure even if attackers see all the public keys.
Of course, if an attacker manages to quietly replace the public keys with his own public keys, then he can fool Alice into encrypting data to him, and he can fool Bob into accepting data from him. But the fact that keys are public allows the keys to be easily sent through multiple channels (certified by "certificate authorities", broadcast through intermediates, double-checked by "transparency", etc.). An attacker who does not control all of the channels between Alice and Bob will be unable to quietly replace keys.
Again, I'm not saying that real-world cryptography has already reached perfection. I'm merely saying that real-world cryptography provides huge security advantages over locked-briefcase cryptography. Locked-briefcase cryptography isn't even trying to tackle tough security problems that real-world cryptography has been addressing for many years.
Security failures of physical cryptography, part 2: quantum cryptography
Like locked-briefcase cryptography, quantum cryptography tries to use physical techniques to protect information. The physical details are different, making quantum cryptography much more expensive than locked-briefcase cryptography, but the same fundamental security problems remain.
The centerpiece of quantum cryptography is "quantum key distribution", notably the "BB84" and "E91" protocols. E91-type protocols require maintaining long-distance entanglement, making them even more expensive than BB84-type protocols. There are papers claiming "provable security" for BB84-type protocols, and papers claiming "provable security" for E91-type protocols.
A company named ID Quantique has been selling quantum-cryptography hardware, specifically hardware for BB84-type protocols, since 2004. ID Quantique claims that quantum cryptography provides "absolute security, guaranteed by the fundamental laws of physics." However, Vadim Makarov and his collaborators have shown that the ID Quantique devices are vulnerable to control by attackers, that various subsequent countermeasures are still vulnerable, and that analogous vulnerabilities in another quantum-key-distribution system are completely exploitable at low cost. The most reasonable extrapolation from the literature is that all of ID Quantique's devices are exploitable.
How can a product be broken if it provides "absolute security, guaranteed by the fundamental laws of physics"? I've heard several different answers from proponents of quantum cryptography:
Some people claim that ID Quantique wasn't correctly implementing BB84 and that a correct implementation would have been provably immune to attack. But these people fail to identify what aspect of BB84 was not being correctly implemented.
Some people claim that for true "provable security" one needs E91 rather than BB84. I asked one of these people what he thought was wrong with the BB84 security proofs. He dodged the question, so I didn't get to ask why he thought the E91 proofs didn't have the same basic flaw.
I've heard an ID Quantique salesman claim that certain characteristics of ID Quantique's current devices are unknown to the attacker, and that this blocks attacks. In other words, Alice and Bob are trusting ID Quantique to deliver shared secrets (the device characteristics) to them. How is this an improvement over having secrets delivered on SD cards by a trusted courier?
Let me get back to the question: how can a product be broken if it provides "absolute security, guaranteed by the fundamental laws of physics"? The correct answer is that the hypotheses of the theorems, the assumptions made in the theorems, are not the laws of physics. The hypotheses include
an embarrassingly oversimplified model of physics that can express some quantum concepts but that ignores critical long-distance interactions, notably electromagnetism; and
an embarrassingly oversimplified model of the attacker that allows the attacker to inspect photons being sent between quantum-cryptography devices but that does not allow the attacker to interact with the devices in any other way.
This is like assuming that the world outside a locked briefcase cannot interact with the contents of the briefcase, and that the only attack possibility is to inspect the outside of the briefcase. The attacker actually has many other options, as Makarov's attacks illustrate. In short, the "provable security" of quantum cryptography draws a useless, inaccurate conclusion starting from unrealistic, oversimplified hypotheses.
One might imagine that the poor security of modern quantum cryptography is merely a short-term accident. One might imagine that future redefinitions of quantum cryptography will exclude ID Quantique's mistakes and bring us to a happy future of quantum devices that really do provide "absolute security, guaranteed by the fundamental laws of physics". But a careful look at the literature provides no reason to believe that this will ever happen, and my aforementioned March 2016 paper explains serious obstacles to making this happen. It seems reasonably clear that the laws of physics actually guarantee the breakability of quantum cryptography by an attacker who collects enough data and performs enough computation (perhaps including quantum computation). Quantum cryptography is advertised as having security independent of "the conjectured difficulty of computing certain functions", but a closer look shows that this advertisement is completely wrong.
Fundamentally, quantum cryptography makes the same mistake as locked-briefcase cryptography: it aims for security in an oversimplified model of the physical world, takes resources away from more serious security techniques, and ends up damaging security in the real world. Quantum cryptography, like locked-briefcase cryptography, also relies on a preexisting secure channel (to authenticate choices of "bases" by Alice and Bob), and does nothing to address the problems handled by public-key cryptography. Quantum cryptography is even more vulnerable than locked-briefcase cryptography to denial-of-service attacks. Furthermore, quantum cryptography is even easier than locked-briefcase cryptography for the manufacturer to subvert, and is practically impossible to audit.
Examples of security statements in the Quantum Manifesto
"Communication security is of strategic importance to consumers, enterprises and governments alike. At present, it is provided by encryption via classical computers": Yes, security is important. Yes, confidentiality is provided by encryption. But security includes more than confidentiality: it also includes integrity, which is provided by authentication, and availability (protection against denial-of-service attacks), which is provided by a mix of techniques. There are also huge differences between secret-key techniques and public-key techniques.
"[Encryption via classical computers] which could be broken by a quantum computer": I mentioned above that the most popular public-key systems, RSA and ECC, are both known to be broken in polynomial time by Shor's quantum algorithm. But there are other public-key systems that have resisted all attempts at quantum attack. Furthermore, there is no reason to believe that quantum computers threaten secret-key systems such as AES-256. Saying that these systems "could be broken by a quantum computer" is idle speculation devoid of content.
"Secure solutions based on quantum encryption are immune to this risk, and are commercially available today": This is ludicrously inaccurate. The "solutions based on quantum encryption" that are "commercially available today" all seem to be breakable. The possibilities for future "solutions based on quantum encryption" are not immune to the risks of quantum computers; see above regarding the meaningless "provable security" of quantum cryptography. Furthermore, "quantum encryption" has the basic security properties of a secret-key stream cipher; it is not a replacement for the public-key systems broken by Shor's algorithm.
"Quantum information is secure because it cannot be cloned": This is accurate as a technical statement regarding the abstract concept of "quantum information", but it will lead most readers to incorrect conclusions regarding the real-world security of quantum cryptography. The information of interest to users is not "quantum information", and its security is not guaranteed by the abstract unclonability of "quantum information". The aforementioned attacks against quantum-cryptography systems do not make any effort to clone "quantum information"; they focus on the actual goal, namely eavesdropping upon all information of interest to users.
"The advantage of trusted-node schemes is that they provide access for lawful intercept, as required by many nation states": A recent United Nations "Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression" concludes that "States should avoid all measures that weaken the security that individuals may enjoy online, such as backdoors, weak encryption standards and key escrows." Escrowing copies of all users' cryptographic keys at "trusted nodes" for government use is a horrifying security weakness and should not be advertised as a feature. There are reports of key escrow being required in a few repressive countries, such as Iran, but this is a human-rights violation. We are under an ethical obligation to protect human rights, not to violate them.
"As soon as this happens [quantum repeaters reaching the market], true internet-wide quantum-safe security could become a reality": This is obviously wrong. There is a gigantic cost difference between merely reaching the market and being deployed "internet-wide". As for "true quantum-safe security", see above.
"Based on quantum coherence, data can be protected in a completely secure way that makes eavesdropping impossible. Given the explosive growth of cybercrime and espionage, this is a highly strategic capability": Quantum technology does not securely protect data, and does not make eavesdropping impossible. If the goal is to protect against cybercrime and espionage then there are many, many, many better ways to spend money.
Concluding thoughts
Consider two scientists, Alice and Bob. Alice honestly and accurately and comprehensibly reports her previous accomplishments and the prospects for her future research. Bob, whether out of greed or out of ignorance, exaggerates his previous accomplishments and the prospects for his future research.
Do we want this exaggeration to produce more research funding for Bob? Obviously not. In fact, we want to discourage Bob from exaggerating in the first place. But this doesn't work if the incentives against exaggeration are so weak that the expected cost of exaggeration is outweighed by the expected benefits.
For many years I've been watching quantum cryptographers wildly exaggerate the security impact of their work. Public corrections from security experts have had negligible effect: quantum cryptographers repeat the same wild exaggerations again and again and again. Apparently these exaggerations are now producing a quarter of a billion Euros in funding for quantum cryptography.
This incident clearly illustrates the incentives towards exaggeration. Where are the compensating incentives against exaggeration? Do we want other scientists to conclude that exaggeration is the path to success?
I mentioned earlier that people in research area X who make exaggerated claims of impact within X will typically be punished by their reviewers, other people in area X. But people in research area X who make exaggerated claims of impact upon Y are normally reviewed by people in X, not people in Y, and the people in X have a categorical incentive to endorse the same exaggerations.
Ultimately the victims are the users. A quarter of a billion Euros, despite being explicitly aimed at communication security, will actually be devoted to quantum technologies that are much less secure than modern real-world cryptography. The occasional users who can afford to deploy quantum cryptography won't realize how easy it is to break. Meanwhile a similar level of funding will be sensibly devoted to quantum computing, but without a proper acknowledgment of the resulting security apocalypse, and without a corresponding level of funding for the most plausible plan to prevent this apocalypse.
[2022.01.09 update: Updated links above.]
Version: This is version 2022.01.09 of the 20160516-quantum.html web page.
When German chancellor Angela Merkel allowed the prosecution of a comedian who had insulted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, some thought it was strategic: that by doing so, it exposed the country's ancient ban on insulting heads of state to broad legal scrutiny.
A court in Hamburg, however, has now banned most of the insulting poem from being read in public there, further rattling those worried about free speech in Germany.
In Tuesday's ruling the court found that "Erdogan does not have to put up with the expression of certain passages in view of their outrageous content attacking (his) honour." The court found that such material overstepped the boundaries of decency in attacking the Turkish leader. [Comedian Jan] Boehmermann has indicated his poem was a response to Ankara's decision to summon Germany's ambassador to protest a satirical song broadcast on German TV which lampooned Erdogan in far tamer language.
This line, from the court, really sums up the problem: "Through the poem's reference to racist prejudice and religious slander as well as sexual habits, the verses in question go beyond what the petitioner [Erdogan] can be expected to tolerate."
"Germany's Ai Weiei," Boehmermann's clever self-appellation, has a good ring to it, but is surely inaccurate. How often does China interpret its laws for the tolerance of a foreign head of state?
After initially denying Liseanna Yazzie's request to wear ceremonial Navajo moccasins during her commencement, the Salpulpa Public Schools have changed their mind.
Via KJRH.com:
After initially being denied the chance to wear her ceremonial Native America moccasins, one senior is now being allowed to attend her graduation ceremony with the Navajo moccasins.
Last week, Liseanna Yazzie spoke with 2 Works for You a bout how she was denied her request to wear the ceremonial Navajo moccasins during her commencement ceremony. Yazzie was told that the ceremonial shoes "did not meet the dress code" because they hit at the calf of her leg.
Originally Sapulpa Public Schools stood by its decision, but now, the school is prepared to bend the rules for Yazzie.
In a statement sent out Sapulpa Public Schools says, "After careful consideration and reflection Sapulpa Public Schools has decided to make an exception to previous restrictions regarding footwear. Native American clothing, especially ceremonial attire (as in this case), can and should be considered appropriate for inclusion in our graduation exercises."
Its a big week for Canadian space-heads. Not only has the International Space Station just completed its 100,000th loop of the earth, the Canadian Space Agency also announced David Saint-Jacques as the countrys next representative aboard the ISS in 2018.
Canadians have played an active role since the ISS was launched in 1998, contributing the Mobile Servicing System (MSS) a group of robo-buddies comprised of the awkwardly named 17-metre Canadarm2; Dextre, the ISSs two-armed robotic handyman; and a moveable work platform and storage facility without a cool name that just goes by The Mobile Base who built the station in space, module by module
And our aspirations of space exploration have continued to pay off.
The Canadian aerospace industry contributed more than $29 billion to the countrys GDP in 2014, employing 180,000. To put that in perspective, the forestry sector contributed less at $20.81 billion, around 10 per cent of the Canadas GDP that same year.
But how much does our continuing role in space cost?
The ISS
Although the estimated cost of Canadian participation in the MSS component of the space station was initially pinned at $800 million, as that obligation looked to hit $1.9 billion by the year 2005, the country started to sweat a little. After re-negotiations surrounding the 1994 budget, that financial commitment was reduced to $496 million on top of the $713 million already contributed putting the total closer to $1.2 billion.
Between 2015 and 2016, the Canadian Space Agency plans to spend $83.3 million on the ISS, scaling back to $78.2 million the following year and dropping down to $73.6 million between 2017 and 2018.
Despite the decline, Canada still remains engaged with the ISS.
To secure Canadas place in the International Space Station, Budget 2016 proposes to provide up to $379 million over eight years, starting in 201718, for the Canadian Space Agency to formalize negotiations with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and undertake the necessary activities to extend Canadas participation to 2024, according to the budget.
Story continues
The Budget
From the time the CSA was established in 1990 to 1999, the agencys budget was established on a per project basis. But in 1999, the organization was moved to a base funding model, with a fixed annual budget of about $300 million.
After slipping from $325.8 million in 2001/2002 to $285.8 million for 2012/2013, the Liberal government surprised many space aficionados by bumping the budget up to a planned $483.4 million this year.
Canada will also continue to take part in other important international collaborations with the potential to build on Canadas strengths and develop the space industry sectors capabilities, says the budget, specifically pointing to participation in the European Space Agencys Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems program. Canada will contribute $30 million over four years, starting in the 201617 fiscal year.
And then theres the RADARSAT-2 the CSA satellite that crept into the news last week when a 15-year-old boy from Saint-Jean-de-Matha, Quebec asked is he could use it to verify his findings of a 4,600-year-old lost Mayan city.
The satellite is a second iteration of the RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) launched in 2007. For the RCM specifically, the Budget in 2010 earmarked $397 million to the CSA over five years leading up to fiscal year 2014/2015 and then allocated an additional $374.2 million over six years between 2013/2014 and 2018/2019.
The Future
Going forward, the Canadian Space Agencys budget is looking at another haircut, shortening to $383 million for 2016 to 2017 and $322.6 million for the 2017 to 2018 fiscal year.
But with $8.7 million specifically earmarked to upgrade the anechoic chamber used for simulating space conditions for testing large spacecrafts and instrument at Shirleys Bay west of Ottawa in the CSAs David Florida Lab test facility and Canadas two active astronauts, David Saint-Jacques and Jeremy Hansen, pretty much both guaranteed spots on the ISS, dont be surprised if the government expands Canadas role in exploring the final frontier.
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's center-left opposition Labor Party leader Bill Shorten on Tuesday endorsed U.S. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton over her chief Republican rival, Donald Trump, who he said would be "very difficult" to work with. Shorten, who is campaigning against Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ahead of national elections on July 2, pledged to continue Australia's close relationship with the United States regardless of the outcome of the U.S. election. But he made no secret of which candidate he preferred. "In terms of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, I have to say that if I was in America, I would be voting for Hillary Clinton," Shorten told reporters. "Whoever America elects we'll deal with but there's no doubt in my mind that Trump would be very difficult, I think, to deal with." Trump's often controversial comments on everything from Muslims and women to the future of NATO and relations with Russia have drawn criticism from Berlin, Paris and other European capitals. British Prime Minister David Cameron this week stood by his description of Trump's plan to ban Muslims from entering the United States as "divisive, stupid and wrong" after Trump said that he was unlikely to have a good relationship with Cameron. (Reporting by Matt Siegel; Editing by Nick Macfie)
DHAKA (Reuters) - A Bangladesh government-appointed panel investigating the theft of $81 million from the country's central bank has found that SWIFT, the international banking payments network, committed a number of mistakes in connecting up a local network, the panel head said on Sunday. "We have shown that SWIFT made a number of errors that made it easy for the hackers," Mohammed Farashuddin, a former governor of the Bangladeshi central bank, told reporters. He said SWIFT, a cooperative owned by 3,000 financial institutions, could not escape responsibility as it had connected its network to the central bank's new real time gross settlement (RTGS) system launched in October for domestic transactions. "SWIFT is responsible for the heist of Bangladesh Bank as it approached the central bank for the installation of RTGS real time gross settlement," Farashuddin said. SWIFT has already rejected allegations made by Dhaka that it had been at fault, saying its financial messaging system remained secure and had not been breached by the hackers during the attack on Bangladesh Bank. The hackers broke into the computer systems of the central bank in early February and issued instructions through the SWIFT network to transfer $951 million of its deposits held at the New York Federal Reserve Bank to accounts in the Philippines and Sri Lanka. Most of the transactions were blocked but four went through amounting to $81 million, prompting allegations by Bangladeshi officials that both the Fed and SWIFT had failed to detect the fraud. Bangladeshi police and a bank official said earlier this month that the central bank became more vulnerable to hackers when technicians from SWIFT connected the new bank transaction system to SWIFT messaging three months before the cyber theft. The local Daily Star newspaper quoted Farashuddin as saying that SWIFT failed to implement 13 security measures in the installation of the system. Farashuddin is due to submit his final report to the government in the next few days. A spokeswoman for SWIFT said she had no immediate comment to make. 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. (Reporting by Serajul Qaudir; Writing by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
By Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Protesters from southern Nepal scuffled with riot police in Kathmandu on Sunday when they took their campaign against the country's new constitution to the streets of the capital. Stones thrown by the crowd smashed the window of a government jeep but no one was seriously hurt, the police said. More than 50 people have been killed in eight months of protests in the south where the minority Mashesi oppose a plan to divide their fertile plains bordering India into parts of several provinces. The unrest, which has caused fuel shortages in Kathmandu as the Madhesis blocked imports of essential goods from India, is a threat to Prime Minister K.P. Oli, who survived an attempt by the opposition to topple his fractious coalition early this month. On Sunday, riot police in black helmets and carrying shields pushed back hundreds of protesters trying to break through a barricade protecting government offices and parliament. "This is a protest against exploitation and we will continue to fight to ensure our rights," said Sharbendra Nath Shukla, a leader of the Terai Madhes Loktantrik Party, part of the Madhesi coalition organizing the protests. Several ethnic minority groups from the hills also joined Sunday's protests. The constitution, put in place in September, was the final part of a peace deal between the government and Maoist rebels which ended a decade-long rebellion in 2006. But many Madhesis want their region, home to half of the country's 28 million people, to become an autonomous state within Nepal and not be broken up into parts of six of the seven federal provinces as envisaged in the new constitution. Covering 23 percent of landlocked Nepal, the region is the country's bread basket, providing rice, wheat, and is home to industries including jute and sugar. (Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
Teaching and Learning
4 Ways to Use Social Media for Learning
These four uses for social media in STEM courses focus on deepening student learning through better communication.
Social media continues to offer great promise for enhancing learning in the classroom. Much of the usage in college and university courses emphasizes collaborative activities, such as sharing ideas and building community the social half of the term. But sites like Wikipedia, Twitter and YouTube are useful platforms for the media side too, enhancing communication and content delivery. Here, we look at how educators in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) are tapping into both aspects of social media for learning. Of course, many of their methods can benefit students in any subject.
Science: Wikipedia for Graphic Communication
When Bruce Sharky, a professor at Louisiana State University's School of Landscape Architecture, incorporated Wikipedia into a graduate class, he sparked a track of coursework that is still fondly remembered by his former students. It started when Sharky happened to attend a meeting where representatives of Wikipedia were attempting to persuade faculty to get their students involved in improving the content quality on the site as part of a new grant program. His idea was to have students develop and add new graphic images.
The regional planning class he had in mind for the project was studying the coast of Louisiana. So Sharky developed a list of "about 15 or 16 subjects, such as global warming, ground subsidence, salt water intrusion [and] reduction of biodiversity," he recalled. The students could pick whatever topic they wanted, find articles related to it in Wikipedia and then develop a graphic that would explain the concepts or content in that particular article.
"The students liked doing it," said Sharky. "And they were quite blown away by the fact that they would put their graphic up for people to see and then they got comments from around the world: 'You could improve this by doing this.' 'This is wrong.' 'Change that.' They got feedback that they found phenomenal."
Along the way, the exercise also "improved the graphic communication of my students related to landscape architecture," he said.
He repeated the exercise the following year, but the students didn't seem nearly as excited. So a year later he partnered with a biology professor to bring two undergraduate classes together for collaborative work. In teams of two, the biology students would contribute to the text of Wikipedia articles while Sharky's students would create graphics for those same articles.
"That didn't work out very well," Sharky acknowledged. Students were challenged to meet because the schedules of the two classes were so different. "We tried it twice and we were just not happy."
While that spelled the end of the Wikipedia experiment, Sharky is considering bringing it back into his classes in the original format. The exercise forced his students to "learn how to read Wikipedia," he pointed out. "Particularly in the sciences, you realize just how rich those articles are, beyond just the words that you read. There are backups, references and things that can really help you explore the depth of the topic that you're looking at."
Technology: Social Programming for Persistence
A project underway since 2007 to improve retention in computer science programs recently took a new twist. Chris Hundhausen, a professor in the Washington State University School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, received National Science Foundation funding to develop a social media platform for the students in introductory computer science classes. The original thinking with the Online Studio-Based Learning Environment (OSBLE) was to create a way for students to participate in a community with shared programming activities; students would tackle their assignments within a special online environment occupied by other students as well as instructors and industry professionals. People could evaluate each other's coding efforts, answer questions and encourage persistence.
WEDNESDAY, May 18, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Children with sickle cell disease may breathe easier when they're given hydroxyurea -- an effective, but underused, drug for the disease, new research suggests.
In a study of 94 young people with sickle cell, researchers found that hydroxyurea helped slow the decline in lung function that is typical of the disease.
The study appears to be the first to show that hydroxyurea can preserve kids' lung function, said lead researcher Dr. Anya McLaren, of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
She said the findings should give doctors more reason to prescribe hydroxyurea. The drug, she noted, is already known to prevent severe bouts of pain and serious lung complications in people with sickle cell.
An expert who was not involved with the study agreed.
"This is further confirmation that this medication is beneficial," said Dr. George Buchanan. He is a pediatric hematologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, in Dallas.
"I think most children with sickle cell anemia should be on hydroxyurea," said Buchanan, who helped craft the current guidelines on treating the disease.
Those guidelines say doctors should "offer" hydroxyurea treatment to families once a child is at least 9 months old.
Yet studies show that most people with sickle cell -- adults and children -- aren't getting the drug.
One reason, Buchanan said, is concern about "theoretical" risks, including a heightened risk of certain cancers, such as leukemia.
But studies have not borne out those worries, both he and McLaren said.
Sickle cell is an inherited disease that mainly affects people of African, South American or Mediterranean descent. In the United States, about one in 365 black children are born with the condition, according to the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
The central problem in sickle cell is that the body produces red blood cells that are crescent-shaped, rather than disc-shaped. Those abnormal cells tend to be sticky and can block blood flow -- causing symptoms such as chronic pain, fatigue and shortness of breath.
One potentially severe complication is known as acute chest syndrome, where abnormal blood cells "clog up" the lungs. It's a leading cause of death among people with sickle cell, Buchanan said.
Hydroxyurea reduces the risk of that complication, so it's "not surprising" that it would also improve kids' lung function, he said.
Hydroxyurea was originally developed as a cancer drug, but it treats sickle cell by prompting the body to make fetal hemoglobin -- an oxygen-carrying protein in red blood cells. That, in turn, helps keep red blood cells from becoming stiff, sticky and crescent-shaped.
The patients in McLaren's study ranged in age from 6 to 20. All had their lung function periodically tested before and for four years after starting hydroxyurea.
Overall, the researchers found, the drug slowed down the annual decline the kids had been showing before starting treatment.
McLaren was to report the findings Wednesday at the American Thoracic Society's annual meeting, in San Francisco. In general, studies presented at meetings are considered preliminary until they are published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Hydroxyurea does have risks. It can lower the number of white blood cells and platelets in the bloodstream, which could leave people at risk of infections or bleeding.
Because of that, patients need periodic blood tests, Buchanan said.
And that is another reason why hydroxyurea is underused. For some families, the monitoring is too much, Buchanan said. For others, he added, just keeping their child on a daily pill proves too difficult.
The type of doctor a child sees can potentially be an issue, too. A general pediatrician or family doctor would have less experience in managing sickle cell, or using hydroxyurea, than a pediatric hematologist would, Buchanan said.
But, he noted, it's adults who have the tougher time finding a doctor with experience in treating sickle cell.
Buchanan said his advice to parents and to adults with sickle cell is the same: If you're not using hydroxyurea, ask your doctor whether you should be.
More information
The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has more on sickle cell disease.
WEDNESDAY, May 18, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- A new British study suggests that attention-deficient hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may often develop in the young adult years.
Researchers at Kings College London looked at long-term data from 2,200 British twins. They found that close to 70 percent of those diagnosed with ADHD as young adults did not have the disorder when they were children.
People with this "late-onset" ADHD also tended to have high levels of symptoms, impairment and other mental health disorders, according to the study.
A Brazilian study in the same issue of the journal also found that a large percentage of adults with ADHD did not have the condition in childhood, and the British and Brazilian studies support the findings of a prior New Zealand study.
"Our research sheds new light on the development and onset of ADHD, but it also brings up many questions about ADHD that arises after childhood," study author Louise Arseneault said in a news release from Kings College London.
"How similar or different is 'late-onset' ADHD compared with ADHD that begins in childhood? How and why does late-onset ADHD arise? What treatments are most effective for late-onset ADHD? These are the questions we should now be seeking to answer," said Arseneault. She works at the college's Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience.
One mental health expert said the study might offer important new insights into ADHD.
"In the medical field, adult ADHD is widely considered a continuation of childhood ADHD that persists into adulthood, or a diagnosis that was missed in childhood but picked up in adulthood," said Dr. Matthew Lorber.
"This study calls both of those assumptions into question," said Lorber, who directs child and adolescent psychology at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
"What is important to consider is that there may be a neurodevelopmental disorder presenting as ADHD in late age that we did not know about," he said. "More studies need to be done looking into this subset, as well as examining if our traditional ADHD treatments will be effective for this older ADHD-like group."
However, another expert was more skeptical of the new study results.
"I would be surprised if follow-up studies with more rigorous designs confirm these findings," said Matthew Rouse, a psychologist at the Child Mind Institute's ADHD and Behavior Disorders Center, in New York City. "Mental health disorders have a heavy biological influence, so there are few that don't show up in some way in childhood."
However, study co-author Jessica Agnew-Blais believes that, in some cases, ADHD may not manifest until adulthood.
"It is crucial that we take a developmental approach to understanding ADHD, and that the absence of a childhood diagnosis should not prevent adults with ADHD from receiving clinical attention," she said.
The study appears online May 18 in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health has more about ADHD.
English Finnish
Stock Exchange Release 18 May 2016, at 10.30 a.m. EET
NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO AUSTRALIA, CANADA, HONG KONG, JAPAN, SINGAPORE, SOUTH AFRICA OR THE UNITED STATES, OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH RELEASE OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL
OP Corporate Bank plc ("OP"), the global coordinator in the initial public offering of Lehto Group Plc ("Lehto Group" or "Company"), has today fully exercised the over-allotment option granted by certain shareholders of the Company ("Selling Shareholders") by purchasing 1,467,268 shares in Lehto Group from the Selling Shareholders. Simultaneously, OP redelivers to Lehto Invest Oy 1,467,268 shares in Lehto Group it borrowed on the basis of a share lending agreement related to the initial public offering.
The Selling Shareholders have sold a total of 3,199,608 shares in Lehto Group in the initial public offering including the shares sold through the exercise of the over-allotment option. The ownership of the Selling Shareholders and the other old shareholders in Lehto Group after selling the shares covered by the over-allotment option and after the redelivery of the of the shares borrowed on the basis of the share lending agreement will be 42,110,796 shares representing approximately 72.3% of all outstanding shares in Lehto Group. The ownership of Lehto Invest Oy in Lehto Group after selling the shares covered by the over-allotment option and after the redelivery of the of the shares borrowed on the basis of the share lending agreement will be 21,735,216 shares representing approximately 37.3% of all outstanding shares in Lehto Group.
No stabilisation measures have been carried out since the listing and due to Lehto Group's share price development OP has discontinued the stabilisation period.
Lehto Group Plc
Pertti Huuskonen, the chairman of the Board of Directors
Hannu Lehto, CEO
More information:
Veli-Pekka Paloranta, CFO tel. +358 400 944 074
Pertti Huuskonen, the chairman of the Board of Directors tel. +358 400 680 816
Lehto Group in brief
Lehto Group is a Finnish construction and real estate group focusing on economically driven construction. The Company's mission is to be an innovative reformer of the construction industry. The Company has divided its operations into four service areas: Business Premises, Housing, Social Care and Educational Premises and Building Renovation. Lehto Group currently operates in Finland and is geographically concentrated in growth centres, which form a significant part of the construction volume. The Company's headquarters are located in Kempele. The Company employed 423 people at the end of the financial year 2015.
DISCLAIMER
This announcement is not for publication or distribution, directly or indirectly, in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Africa or the United States, or any other jurisdiction in which release or distribution would be unlawful. The distribution of this announcement may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions and persons into whose possession any document or other information referred to herein comes should inform themselves about and observe any such restriction. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.
The information contained herein shall not constitute an offer to sell or a 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. Investors must neither accept any offer for, nor acquire, any securities to which this document refers, unless they do so on the basis of the information contained in the applicable prospectus approved by the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority and published by the Company.
These written materials do not constitute an offer for sale of securities in the United States, nor may the securities be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the rules and regulations thereunder. The securities will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and there will be no public offering of the securities in the United States.
The Company has not authorised any offer to the public of securities in any member state of the European Economic Area other than Finland. With respect to each member state of the European Economic Area other than Finland which has implemented the Prospectus Directive (each, a "Relevant Member State"), no action has been undertaken or will be undertaken to make an offer to the public of securities requiring publication of a prospectus in any Relevant Member State. As a result, the securities may only be offered in Relevant Member States (a) to any legal entity which is a qualified investor as defined in the Prospectus Directive; or (b) in any other circumstances falling within Article 3(2) of the Prospectus Directive. For the purposes of this paragraph, the expression "an offer of securities to the public" means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the securities to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to exercise, purchase or subscribe for the securities, as the same may be varied by any measure implementing the Prospectus Directive in that Relevant Member State, and the expression "Prospectus Directive" means Directive 2003/71/EC (and amendments thereto, including the 2010 PD Amending Directive, to the extent implemented in the Relevant Member State), and includes any relevant implementing measure in the Relevant Member State and the expression "2010 PD Amending Directive" means Directive 2010/73/EU.
The information contained herein shall not constitute a public offering of shares in the United Kingdom. This document is only being distributed to and is only directed at (i) persons who are outside the United Kingdom or (ii) to investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the "Order") or (iii) high net worth companies, 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 document relates will be only available to, and will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on this document or any of its contents.
This document includes "forward-looking statements" that involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside of the Company's control and could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning the Company's dividend policy, financial targets, plans, objectives, goals, future events, performance and/or other information that is not historical information. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances after the date made, except as required by law.
OP Corporate Bank plc and Pareto Securities Oy (together, the "Bookrunners") are acting exclusively for the Company in connection with the listing. The Bookrunners will not regard any other person as their respective client in relation to the listing and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for giving advice in relation to the listing or transactions related thereto.
HUG#2013493
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 18, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Panoro Minerals Ltd. (TSX-V:PML) (Lima:PML) (Frankfurt:PZM) (Panoro, the Company) is pleased to announce the appointment of Shannon Ross, CPA, CA as Chief Financial Officer, effective immediately. Ms. Ross has been acting in controller and finance functions with Panoro since October 2014, and is currently the Corporate Secretary.
Ms. Ross has over 25 years of accounting and financial management experience in the mining industry. She began her career in public practice, moving to the mining industry initially in internal audit for Cominco Ltd., before moving to the exploration industry. She has served as CFO and Corporate Secretary for several companies including Northern Orion Resources, Canaco Resources Ltd. and Tigray Resources Ltd., among others. Ms. Ross holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Alberta.
Luquman Shaheen, the Company's President and CEO, states, Shannons experience, background and familiarity with Panoro's accounting and reporting systems and operations will ensure continued smooth operations and we are delighted that Shannon has accepted this position.
Ms. Ross replaces the interim CFO, William J. Boden, who is also the Chairman of the Company. The Company thanks Mr. Boden for having acted as Interim CFO since November, 2015.
About Panoro
Panoro is advancing its unique portfolio of copper and gold projects in the key Andahuaylas-Yauri belt in south central Peru, including its advanced stage Cotabambas Copper-Gold-Silver-Molybdenum and Antilla Copper-Molybdenum Projects.
Since 2007, the company has completed over 70,000 m of exploration drilling at these two key projects leading to the delineation of mineral resources of:
Cotabambas Indicated Resource 117.1 Mt @ 0.42% Cu, 0.23g/t Au, 2.74 g/t Ag & 0.001%Mo (@0.2% Cu eq cutoff) Cu/Au/AG Inferred Resource 603.5 Mt @ 0.31% Cu, 0.17g/t Au, 2.33 g/t Ag and 0.002 %Mo (@0.2% Cu eq cutoff) Project: (Tetra Tech, with an effective date of October 2013) Antilla: Indicated Resource 188.5 Mt @ 0.40% Cu and 0.009% Mo (@0.2% Cu eq cutoff) Cu/Mo Inferred Resource 145.9 Mt @ 0.28% Cu and 0.009%Mo (@0.2% Cu eq cutoff) Project (Tetra Tech, with an effective date of December 2013) Indicated Resource 291.8 Mt @ 0.34% Cu and 0.009% Mo (@0.175% Cu eq cutoff) Inferred Resource 90.5 Mt @ 0.26% Cu and 0.007%Mo (@0.175% Cu eq cutoff) (*Tetra Tech, with an effective date of October 2015) Note: *This material was not previously disclosed as it was not considered material for the project.
Exploration at the Cotabambas Project has focused on the Ccalla and Azulccaca deposits. However, at least eight other porphyry and skarn target zones have been identified within the companys Cotabambas mineral concession blocks. Additional exploration including drilling at these targets is planned.
Additional resource growth potential at the Antilla Project has been identified and additional exploration will be included in the advancement of the project.
In addition to the Cotabambas and Antilla Projects, Panoros portfolio includes a number of earlier stage projects in primarily the same region of south central Peru. Perus national objective of doubling copper production together with the development of the many copper projects in the region, together with the private and public investments into rail, road, power generation and transmission and port infrastructure are leading to the rapid growth of an important global center for copper production. Panoros large portfolio is situated here along with the Las Bambas, Tintaya, Antapaccay, Haquira, Constancia, Las Chancas and Trapiche projects all of which are either in exploration stage, construction or already in production.
Luis Vela, a P. Geo Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this press release.
On behalf of the Board of Panoro Minerals Ltd.
Luquman A. Shaheen, M.B.A., PEng, P.E.
President & CEO
This release was prepared by management of the Company who takes full responsibility for its contents. 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.
As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ
Rousseff Steps Down: Why Brazil Shouldn't Celebrate Just Yet
A turn of fortune
Dilma Rousseff was the first female elected to the office of the president of Brazil in January 2011. When she was re-elected in 2015, her margin of victory was much lower than in her previous term, but she still attained over half of the votes.
In the small hours of May 12, 2016, Rousseff was forced to step down from her position by the senate, which voted 5522 in favor of impeachment proceedings to begin against her. Inside of two terms, she has gone from a leader who was expected to carry on with previous president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvas policies to being politically and economically undesirable.
Economic undesirability key
Rousseffs economic policies became the key reason behind her demise. Problems for Brazil began as China started showing signs of economic sourness as early as the first year of Rousseffs initial term. Since China bought a significant amount of commodities from Brazil (EWZ) (VWO) (EEM), a fall in demand from the country in the years to follow impacted the governments export revenue. The fall in commodity prices served to exacerbate the countrys financial situation.
Dilma Rousseff has been accused of tampering with the financial figures of the government by means of loans that made it seem that the countrys budget balance was in better shape than it was. Budget balance targets in Brazil are set in the congress. This tampering was deemed illegal by a court and formed the basis of the impeachment proceedings against Rousseff.
In this series, well take a look at Brazils economic state, market participants views regarding its financial markets, what could this mean for products investing in the country (FLFAX) (MDLTX), and whats next for the nation.
Before we do that, lets look at a bit of historical context. This isnt the first time impeachment proceedings have been initiated in Brazil. In the next article, well tell you about a situation in Brazil when an earlier impeachment took place and draw parallels with the present day.
Story continues
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Browse this series on Market Realist:
(Bloomberg) -- Malaysia has begun enforcing a law that allows authorities to bar citizens who insult the government from traveling overseas, the Star newspaper reported.
Under the law, Malaysians may be banned from going abroad for three years for discrediting or ridiculing the government, and immigration officials started applying the rule several months ago, the paper said, citing a person it didnt identify. Sakib Kusmi, director general for the immigration department, confirmed the legal provisions to the paper. A spokesman for the authority didnt immediately respond to a call seeking comment.
Prime Minister Najib Razak has fired detractors including his deputy prime minister, and curbed dissent to maintain his grip on power as funding scandals led to the worst political crisis since he became premier seven years ago. Opposition politicians and Najibs leading critics are on a public campaign aimed at ousting him, as questions linger over $681 million that appeared in his personal bank accounts before the last election in 2013. The attorney-general ruled the funds were a donation from the Saudi royal family and Najib has consistently denied wrongdoing.
Opposition lawmakers and human rights groups have condemned a decision to prevent an activist from going abroad this month. Maria Chin Abdullah, chairwoman of the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections, or Bersih, wasnt allowed to travel to South Korea on Sunday to receive an award, the group said in a on May 15.
Bersih organized a major street demonstration against Najib last year that drew an estimated 250,000 people as protesters demanded Najibs resignation. More recently, she was part of a Save Malaysia effort aimed at collecting signatures from ordinary voters in cities across Malaysia calling for the premier to step down.
Najib has already made greater of another anti-dissent measure, the countrys Sedition Act, to detain media executives and political opponents. Under Malaysias laws, the government doesnt have to explain why anyone is barred from leaving the country, the official news agency Bernama reported on Monday, citing Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed. Chin Abdullah can consult the immigration authority to find out the reason behind the ban, he was quoted as saying.
Story continues
"The lack of such transparency and accountability only points to a government which is intent on abusing its powers to repress its critics and dissidents," Tony Pua, an opposition lawmaker with the Democratic Action Party, said in a statement. "The governments crude attempts to restrict our travel rights are outrageous abuse of power, which only serves to prove the critics allegations of Malaysia transforming itself to be police state."
To contact the reporter on this story: Choong En Han in Kuala Lumpur at echoong6@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Andrew Davis
2016 Bloomberg L.P.
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
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has established an online reporting mechanism for public school teachers who are experiencing problems in getting their honoraria for rendering election service last week.
The poll body said teachers who served as board of election inspectors (BEIs) and have yet to receive their honoraria can send their names to the Comelec by using the dedicated hashtag #BEI2016.
Not all teachers are complaining about honoraria. #BEI2016 is for finding out who is to help facilitate follow-ups, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said in a tweet.
He also urged those who have Twitter accounts to help teachers who do not have social media accounts, saying he will assign one of his staff to document the tweets so that they can bring it up to the finance department.
Several teachers have complained to Jimenez over Twitter in connection with the late release of their honoraria.
Meanwhile, the Department of Education (DepEd) said they will also assist those who may have problems in getting their honoraria.
The agency said they have yet to receive any official report, but that those having problems may call either their respective regional offices or the central office so they can coordinate with Comelec.
The poll body is handling the releases of honoraria for teachers.
Earlier, DepEd said the honoraria for public schools teachers who rendered service on May 9 will be released three days after the submission of necessary documents.
Education Secretary Armin Luistro assured the teachers that the release of honoraria for those who served in election precincts this year will be faster than in previous years as funds have already been downloaded to the local level.
Those who served shall be paid by Comelec through its election officer after three days through ATM, cash card (pre-loaded) or cash advance, he said.
Public school teachers who served as BEIs will receive P4,500 and five-day leave credits. The allowance is divided as follows: P3,000 as honorarium, P500 for verification and sealing of the books of voters, P500 for final testing and P500 transportation allowance.
Those who served as supervisors will receive P3,000 and five-day leave credits, while the support staff shall receive P1,500 and five-day leave credits.
By Steve Holland and Emily Flitter NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Tuesday he is willing to talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try to stop Pyongyang's nuclear programme, proposing a major shift in U.S. policy towards the isolated nation. In a wide-ranging interview with Reuters, Trump also called for a renegotiation of the Paris climate accord, said he disapproved of Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in eastern Ukraine, and said he would seek to dismantle most of the U.S. Dodd-Frank financial regulations if he is elected president. The presumptive Republican nominee declined to share details of his plans to deal with North Korea, but said he was open to talking to its leader. "I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him," Trump said of Kim. North Korea's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump's remarks. Trump, 69, also said he would press China, Pyongyang's only major diplomatic and economic supporter, to help find a solution. "I would put a lot of pressure on China because economically we have tremendous power over China," he said in the interview at his office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower in Manhattan. Trump's preparedness to talk directly with Kim contrasts with President Barack Obama's policy of relying on senior U.S. officials to talk to senior North Korean officials. Obama has not engaged personally with Kim, but he has pushed for new diplomatic overtures to Iran and Cuba that produced a nuclear deal with Tehran and improved ties with Havana. Trump, sitting at his desk with an expansive view of Central Park, spoke at length about his economic and foreign policy ideas in the half-hour interview. Facing him on his desk is a framed photograph of his father, the late Fred Trump. A wall displays framed photos of Trump with various celebrities, as well as numerous magazine covers on which he has appeared. The New York billionaire said he planned to release a detailed policy platform in two weeks that would propose dismantling nearly all of Dodd-Frank, a package of financial reforms put in place after the 2007-2009 financial crisis. "Dodd-Frank is a very negative force, which has developed a very bad name," said he said. Trump has been criticized for offering far fewer specific policy proposals than his likely Democratic rival for the Nov. 8 presidential election, Hillary Clinton. He took a dim view of Clinton's stated desire to put her husband, former President Bill Clinton, in charge of building up the U.S. economy. "The wife wants to make him in charge of the economy," Trump said. Clinton described Trump's idea of dismantling Dodd-Frank as reckless. "Latest reckless idea from Trump: gut rules on Wall Street, and leave middle-class families out to dry," she said on Twitter. CLIMATE ACCORD Trump said he is "not a big fan" of the Paris climate accord, which prescribes reductions in carbon emissions by more than 170 countries. He said he would want to renegotiate the deal because it treats the United States unfairly and gives favorable treatment to countries like China. A renegotiation of the pact would be a major setback for what was hailed as the first truly global climate accord, committing both rich and poor nations to reining in the rise in greenhouse gas emissions blamed for warming the planet. On Russia, Trump tempered past praise of Putin, saying the nice comments the Russian leader has made about him in the past would only go so far. "The fact that he said good things about me doesn't mean that it's going to help him in a negotiation. It won't help him at all," he said. Last December, Trump said Putin was "highly respected" and said the United States and Russia could work together to defeat terrorism. Putin responded by saying he welcomed Trump's desire for better relations and called the Republican candidate "very flamboyant, very talented." FINANCIAL BUBBLE? Trump said he perceived a dangerous financial bubble in the tech start-up industry, with some companies selling shares at high valuations without ever turning a profit. "I'm talking about companies that have never made any money, that have a bad concept and that are valued at billions of dollars," he said. On the U.S. Federal Reserve, Trump said that while he eventually wants a Republican to head it, he is "not an enemy" of current chair Janet Yellen, who was appointed by Obama. "I'm not a person that thinks Janet Yellen is doing a bad job. I happen to be a low-interest rate person unless inflation rears its ugly head, which can happen at some point," he said, adding that inflation "doesn't seem like it's happening any time soon." The real estate mogul said he would maintain the current level of benefits for Social Security recipients, a position championed by former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Trump said he would not raise the retirement age or impose a sliding scale of benefits depending on income levels. Some Republican lawmakers have pushed for structural reforms to Social Security to extend its solvency. The depleted Social Security Trust Fund, Trump said, would be replenished by the increased tax revenue that would flow into the government from the higher job growth spurred by his economic policies. Click here for excerpts from the interview with Trump (Reporting by Steve Holland and Emily Flitter; Additional reporting by Alana Wise, David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Tiffany Wu)
Hillary Clinton claimed a narrow victory in Kentucky as she sought to put away Bernie Sanders, but her resilient rival for the Democratic presidential nomination bounced back to snatch a win in Oregon. With the Kentucky race too close for most US networks to call a winner, Clinton declared victory shortly after Kentucky's secretary of state Alison Lundergan Grimes announced on CNN that Clinton was the unofficial winner in her state. "We just won Kentucky! Thanks to everyone who turned out," Clinton tweeted. With 99.8 percent of Blue Grass state precincts reporting, Clinton led Sanders by 46.8 percent to 46.3 percent -- a margin of less than 2,000 votes. Should the results hold, the win would blunt Sanders's momentum and help Clinton move closer toward clinching the Democratic presidential nomination. But the psychological win was short-lived. Half an hour after polls closed in Oregon, US networks projected Sanders the winner there, besting Clinton 53 percent to 47 percent. "We just won Oregon, and we're going to win California," Sanders told thousands of supporters in Carson, California as he predicted victory in the nation's largest state, which votes on June 7. Sanders, a self-declared democratic socialist, declared he would not be forced out of the race by narrow Clinton wins. "It appears tonight that we're going to end up with about half the delegates" in Kentucky, Sanders told the raucous rally. "Let me be as clear as I can be... We are in 'til the last ballot is cast," he said to a huge roar. Clinton has a commanding lead in the all-important national delegate count and is marching toward vying for the presidency in the November 8 general election despite her string of recent primary losses. Victories in Kentucky and Oregon would have definitively halted her slide and helped reverse the narrative that her campaign is showing significant weakness ahead of an almost certain showdown with Donald Trump, the Republican Party's presumptive nominee. Trump -- the last man standing in the GOP race -- was projected Oregon's Republican winner, moving closer to the 1,237 delegates he needs to officially claim the party's mantle in 2016. Sanders had counted on a Kentucky victory to build on his win last week in neighboring West Virginia as he battles to keep his long-shot nomination bid alive. West Virginia and Kentucky are linked to coal, as is much of Appalachia -- the largely white, long-struggling eastern US region where many feel they have been left behind in the lukewarm recovery from the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Clinton saw Kentucky as an opportunity to appeal to working-class white men -- a demographic where the former secretary of state has lagged behind both the celebrity billionaire Trump and Sanders. John Spenlau, 28, speaking to AFP outside a voting station in Louisville, said he voted for Sanders because he represented the best hope for "continued change" and the fight against income inequality, among other problems. "Hillary would be a more stable candidate but I think that Bernie continues to push the envelope, towards a few more of the social programs that I believe in," Spenlau said. - Closing the deal - Clinton defeated Barack Obama in Kentucky's primary in 2008, and her husband Bill Clinton was the last Democrat to carry the Bluegrass State in a general election. Republicans were gleeful over her inability to close out the Democratic nomination race against Sanders, who at the beginning of the campaign was given long odds against the better-funded, universally recognizable former first lady. "While Republicans move toward unifying the party for the general election, Hillary Clinton remains bogged down in a nasty, protracted primary fight and will have to rely on a rigged system of superdelegates to get across the finish line," said Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, in a statement On Sunday, playing up her husband's popularity, the former first lady appeared to indicate Bill would play a role in her administration if she were elected, promising to put him "in charge of revitalizing the economy." She later said she would not give him a cabinet position. As voting got underway, Trump fired off a series of nasty tweets at Clinton. "Crooked Hillary can't close the deal with Bernie Sanders. Will be another bad day for her!" Trump wrote. The Clintons have struggled to contain the damage from comments Hillary made in March, when she said she vowed to put many coal miners "out of business" in the transition to cleaner energy. In recent appearances she has struck a more inclusive tone, and it may have helped her squeak by in Kentucky. "We need to take coal country, coal miners and their families with us and not leave them behind," Clinton told supporters on Monday. Clinton, 68, barnstormed Kentucky on Sunday and Monday, shaking hands, taking selfies, offering hugs -- even chatting with Trump supporters at a smoke-filled diner in the southwestern city of Paducah. "I will not vote for you. I will never vote for you," disabled veteran Dianna Dooley, 66, told her. Clinton kept her composure, saying: "That's OK. You vote for whoever you want."
Student Information Systems
California District Adopts New SIS To Deliver More Information to Stakeholders
The Alden Central School District in Folsom, CA, has switched to a new student information system (SIS) in an effort to provide more student information to parents and staff than it does with its current system.
The district selected PowerSchool's SIS, a web-based system designed for K-12 schools. It includes a range of district and school-level tools for administrators, a gradebook (PowerTeacher Pro) and other tools for teachers, and real-time access to grades, attendance and assignments for parents and students through a web portal or mobile app.
"We want to foster a collaborative environment between teachers, parents and students,' said District Information Technology Director Frank Rizzo. "Parents can download the mobile app to communicate with teachers and evaluate their child's academic progress. It encourages parents to be actively involved in their child's educational success."
With PowerTeacher Pro, administrators, parents and students will be able to see assignments, scores, grades, comments and progress toward standards in real time. Families will be able to monitor students' proficiency on standards and even get alerts specific to their own children.
"Customization was a key factor in our district's decision to switch," said Rizzo. "PowerSchool gives us the ability to add custom fields and screens so that our solution is functional for us. As a previous PowerSchool user, I know that it's not a matter of 'if' we can change something, but 'when.'"
PowerSchool also partners with a number of education technology databases, allowing the Alden district to understand more about where its students stand in comparison to other students in the country.
* Small plane manufacturers hope for additional sales
* Airport capacity crunch limits growth in air traffic
* Investment can add 25 mln jobs and $298 bln to ASEAN GDP
By Siva Govindasamy
SINGAPORE, May 17 (Reuters) - Low-cost airline groups and manufacturers of smaller passenger aircraft will be among the main winners after Southeast Asia's open skies agreement finally came into effect last month, although airport capacity constraints could limit the benefits.
Ratification of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) open skies agreements by Indonesia and Laos in April lifts restrictions on capacity and competition, allowing airlines to launch unlimited flights from their home to any point in the region subject to airport slot availability.
Hubs like Singapore, which have a clear expansion plan, could gain from an increase in air services, as will budget carriers which are ideal for a region where no two points are more than a few hours apart, say analysts.
"Airlines can launch any number of international flights as the market can support," said Alan Tan, an aviation law professor at the National University of Singapore. "Travellers can thus look forward to more flights at more competitive prices."
Dominant low-cost airlines like Malaysia's AirAsia , Indonesia's Lion Air, and Philippine carrier Cebu Pacific plan to do just that.
AirAsia, for example, wants more international flights from the Philippines and Indonesia, a spokeswoman said. This will help its affiliates, which have found it tough to break into the domestic market in those countries.
"Improved connectivity in the region will be a boon to tourism and strengthen ASEAN as an economic union," the spokeswoman said.
Full service airlines like Thai Airways, Garuda Indonesia and Philippine Airlines, which have lost market share to budget carriers over the last decade, say they plan to use their long-haul network to connect passengers to their Southeast Asia services.
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The Singapore Airlines group has an additional advantage, given its ability to operate services using two premium brands and two low-fare subsidiaries, analysts say.
The opening up of regional destinations can also boost manufacturers of 70-130 seater aircraft, like Brazil's Embraer , Canada's Bombardier and ATR, a joint venture between Airbus and Italy's Finmeccanica.
These planes can serve some routes more profitably than the larger Airbus A320s and Boeing 737s, they say.
"Many of the region's airlines are beginning to recognise the potential advantage of right-sizing and the ratification of ASEAN open skies, we feel, will simply accelerate the process," said Mark Dunnachie, who leads Embraer's aircraft sales in the Asia-Pacific.
HUBS LIMIT GROWTH
While there will clearly be winners from the open skies deal, the full gains could be limited by airport constraints.
Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, and Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport serve Southeast Asia's three biggest domestic markets of Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia respectively.
All have reached full capacity with congestion and delays the norm, creating spillover problems for smaller airports in those countries as well.
"Unlimited flight capacity is meaningless if airport and slot congestion remains unaddressed by governments," Tan said.
Singapore's Changi Airport is the exception. Despite having relatively little domestic traffic, it has three terminals which can handle 66 million passengers and served 55 million in 2015, the most in Southeast Asia. Work has begun on two more terminals.
Such long-term national aviation policies are needed due to the lengthy gestation period for terminals and runways, said Vinoop Goel, Asia Pacific director for airports at the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a global airline trade body.
IATA estimates that ASEAN countries can add almost 25 million jobs and $298 billion to the region's GDP by 2035 if they invest in aviation infrastructure. This is up from 11.6 million jobs and $144.4 billion to GDP in 2014.
"Clearly, failing to tackle airport infrastructure will have an economic cost," Goel said. (Additional reporting by Neil Jerome Morales in MANILA, Cindy Silviana in JAKARTA, Rozanna Latiff in KUALA LUMPUR, and Manunphattr Dhanananphorn in BANGKOK; Editing by Stephen Coates)
PARIS, May 18 (Reuters) - Firms could move their headquarters out of France if the government pursues legislation to limit the remuneration of company executives, the CEO of oil major Total (LSE: 524773.L - news) said on Wednesday.
Patrick Pouyanne told a French Senate commission that the question of salaries for executives should be left to company general assemblies and boards, adding that executives must listen when it becomes contentious.
French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron has threatened to legislate on executive pay following an outcry over what some shareholders and workers consider to be excessive remuneration packages attributed to some company heads in France.
Macron waded into the debate this month after shareholders revolted over a 7.2 million euro ($8.12 million) 2015 payout for Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of French carmaker Renault (Swiss: RNO.SW - news) , in which the state is a major shareholder.
"We don't need a law to impose it on us because it will become a slippery slope," Pouyanne said in answer to questions from senators.
"I am convinced that for some of my colleagues, their headquarters will leave France if laws like that are passed," Pouyanne said. "This is not a threat, it's just what will happen, and I don't want Total's HQ to move outside France."
Pouyanne said everyone must use common sense and that the issue was not unique to France because it was also being debated in Britain and the United States.
"My colleague at BP saw his wages increased by 20 percent, but this was rejected at the annual general meeting," he said.
BP's shareholders voted against Chief Executive Bob Dudley's $20 million pay deal for 2015, after the company recorded a record annual loss and cut 5,000 jobs.
Pouyanne said he was the lowest-paid CEO among the oil majors, with a fixed salary of about 1.4 million euros ($1.58 million). Total shareholders will vote at a May 24 annual meeting on his overall remuneration package of about 4.7 million for 2015.
He said his colleagues at other major oil groups, such as Exxon, earned ""20 to 25 million".
"I can tell you that in the European and global market, compared with my American and Anglo-Saxon colleagues, they see me as small fry." ($1 = 0.8868 euros) (Reporting by Bate Felix and Benjamin Mallet; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
(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 for more details) Adds closing prices, details)
* FTSEurofirst 300 ends flat after touching two-week highs
* Fiat Chrysler leads auto sector lower after downgrade
* Taylor Wimpey (LSE: TW.L - news) , Vodafone surge after update
* Greek banks rise after upbeat UBS (LSE: 0QNR.L - news) note
By Atul Prakash and Danilo Masoni
LONDON/MILAN, May 17 (Reuters) - European shares steadied on Tuesday with gains in companies such as Taylor Wimpey and Vodafone following encouraging updates and a rally in mining companies offset by a weaker auto sector.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 ended little changed after earlier rising to its highest since early May. The index, which closed flat also in the previous session, is still down over 8 percent this year.
Taylor Wimpey advanced 4.7 percent after the housebuilder announced a new special payout, promising investors about 1.3 billion pounds over three years, underpinned by strong demand for property in Britain.
Vodafone rose 1.5 percent after the world's second-largest mobile phone operator said its earnings growth would accelerate this year. The group said a programme to improve its networks had boosted demand in Europe and helped it to return to underlying growth in 2016 revenue and core earnings for the first time since 2008.
"Demand for data continues to grow strongly...and Vodafone have invested heavily in infrastructure to capitalise on this," Steve Clayton, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown (LSE: HL.L - news) , said.
The STOXX Europe 600 Auto index fell 2.7 percent, making it the top sectoral loser. Fiat Chrysler (FCA) fell 6.7 percent after Exane BNP Paribas downgrades the stock to "underperform".
"After 7 years of global auto expansion - and unprecedented NAFTA returns - FCA has done too little to insure itself against a downturn in our view. As the end of a lease driven bubble approaches, and M&A optionality fades, FCA looks out of time," it said in a note.
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Greek banks advanced 3.7 percent, with UBS turning more positive on the Greek banking sector arguing that signs of progress in talks with Greece's lenders meant the sector could rebound.
"The starting point is very challenging and risks abound, but we see a fundamental investment case and valuations suggest upside potential," UBS analysts said, referring to Greek banks.
The STOXX Europe 600 Basic Resources index rose 1.9 percent, as copper prices were supported by a softer dollar and firm oil, but remained within sight of recent lows brought about by a resurfacing of worries over demand growth in top consumer China.
Today's European research round-up
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.
(Additional reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Alison Williams)
* Norway opens for exploration zone bordering Russia
* Statoil (LSE: 0M2Z.L - news) , Lundin Petroleum (LSE: 0NNR.L - news) among licence winners
* Russia's Lukoil (Other OTC: LUKOF - news) , DEA win participating interests
* Greenpeace criticises awards (Adds details of awards, minister's comments, Greenpeace comments)
OSLO, May 18 (Reuters) - Norway has awarded 10 oil licences to energy companies in the Arctic, opening new acreage for exploration for the first time in two decades and granting access to an offshore zone bordering Russia.
Norway is hoping the new areas will help boost a sector that has been shedding projects, costs and jobs due to a 57 percent decline in crude prices since mid-2014.
Western Europe's largest oil and gas producing country is also keen to award licences in new acreage to maintain its overall production level, as output in the mature North Sea declines.
"This will contribute to employment, growth and value creation in Norway," Norwegian oil and energy minister Tord Lien said in a statement.
Environmental group Greenpeace criticised the awards.
"It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) is with shock and anger we register that Norway is violating two recent environmental agreements, just to get their hands on Arctic oil," Greenpeace Norway head Truls Gulowsen said.
Lien told Reuters the government "is pursuing a policy that has broad support in the Norwegian parliament".
"If the companies can't operate safely they can't get permission to do business, that's the same for the North Sea and the Barents Sea," he said, adding the Arctic exploration was in line with existing legislation.
ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP - news) , Chevron (Euronext: CHTEX.NX - news) , Norway's Statoil (Hamburg: 1245893.HM - news) and Det norske, as well as Sweden's Lundin Petroleum were among the licence winners.
Some 13 firms will be offered participating interests in a total of 40 blocks, which cover the 10 production licences. Five companies will be offered operatorships.
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Oil firm DEA, controlled by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman's LetterOne, won participation in two licences.
Of the 10 licenses, three are in an offshore area bordering Russia. Russian oil major Lukoil won participation in one of those three.
In a separate statement, Lundin Petroleum said one area, close to the Russian border, had potential to contain in excess of a billion barrels of oil equivalents, while another licence could contain "several billion barrels".
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said it was hopeful first drilling could start as early as next year.
For the full list of companies that won awards, click on the link:
https://www.regjeringen.no/en/aktuelt/announcement-23rd-licensing-round-awards/id2500936/ (Reporting by Ole Petter Skonnord and Henrik Stolen; editing by Susan Thomas)
The logo of Tsinghua Unigroup is seen at its office in Beijing, China, November 15, 2015. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo
By J.R. Wu
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan has begun reviewing Chinese state-backed Tsinghua Unigroup's proposals to buy stakes worth nearly $1 billion in two domestic semiconductor companies, putting the deals under intense scrutiny of a new government less friendly toward its giant neighbor.
A final decision on Tsinghua's partial acquisitions of chip testing and packaging firms Powertech Technology Inc and ChipMOS Technologies Inc will be a test for the new government of President Tsai Ing-wen, which takes office on Friday. Tsai had earlier slammed Tsinghua's proposals as a "huge threat" for Taiwan.
But given that the number of proposals by Tsinghua have dropped to two from three earlier and that the value of the total deal has more than halved, the chances of the proposals being approved have increased, industry executives say. The results of the review process won't be known for some months.
"We have asked for more information, both involving basic and key issues," a representative of the island's Investment Commission, which reviews major inbound and outbound investments involving Taiwanese companies, told Reuters, without elaborating on what the issues were.
Tsinghua Unigroup submitted its applications about a month ago but the review process didn't begin until after Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL), a third Taiwanese chip test and packager, announced it was terminating a similar deal with the Chinese investor at the end of April, people familiar with the deals said.
"It categorically kicks off the review process," said David W. Wang, a ChipMOS vice president.
Tsinghua Unigroup, which told Reuters last year that it has ambitions to become the world's No. 3 chipmaker, did not immediately reply to an emailed request for comment.
Following civil war in China, Nationalist forces fled in 1949 to Taiwan which has been self-ruled ever since. But China regards it as a wayward province to be taken back by force if necessary, fuelling fears among Taiwanese about Chinese influence in the island's main industries.
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Beijing distrusts Tsai and her ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which traditionally favors independence for Taiwan and won decisively in parliamentary and presidential polls in January.
Taiwan's Investment Commission said early on it would look at Tsinghua's proposals as one and subject the offers to review by the island's newly elected parliament, national security advisers and financial regulators.
With SPIL's $1.76 billion deal off the table, Tsinghua's acquisition plans in Taiwan more than halved from an original $2.6 billion in total.
(Reporting by J.R. Wu; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's minority government secured parliament's backing for its new labour minister on Wednesday and promised to push on with unpopular pension reforms, showing it still had enough support from MPs despite the withdrawal of an ally last week. Zornitsa Rusinova, the former deputy labour minister, replaced Ivailo Kalfin, who resigned when his ABV party withdrew its support for the centre-right coalition due to disagreements over policy and changes in the election code. ABV's departure had raised concerns for the stability of the coalition in the European Union's poorest country, which is on its fifth government since 2013. But ABV's lawmakers ended up joining other parties in voting to approve Rusinova's appointment by 135 votes to 68. Rusinova said she would press on with the "social policy" that includes the pension changes, calling it "a policy from the people for the people". The government says the plans to raise pensions contributions by one percentage point in 2017 and 2018, and other reforms, are needed to fund benefits for a shrinking and ageing population. But they have angered many, including policemen, firemen and prison guards who blocked roads in the capital Sofia and protested in other cities in November. The Black Sea state also plans to limit early retirement for police and army officers, who can draw a state pension as early as their late 40s, and gradually increase the retirement age for other hazardous jobs. Bulgaria's population has shrunk by a fifth since 1990 to 7.2 million, partly due to emigration. The World Bank has forecasted that just one in two Bulgarians will be of working age in 2050. (Reporting by Angel Krasimirov; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
By Igor Ilic ZAGREB (Reuters) - Croatia's opposition on Wednesday filed a no-confidence motion against Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Karamarko and a state body said it would investigate an alleged conflict of interest posed by a business deal between his wife and lobbyist friend. A newspaper alleged last week that the lobbyist hired the public relations company run by Ana Karamarko for a 60,000 euro project over two years ending 2015. In addition, the lobbyist works for Hungary's MOL, the biggest shareholder in Croatia's energy company INA. The Croatian government is INA's second-largest shareholder, and the two sides are at odds over management rights and INA's investment policy, and are fighting each other in two international arbitration cases. The ruling coalition has been arguing over how to proceed with the disputes, with Karamarko in favour of abandoning arbitration for fear of financial losses for Croatia. Karamarko, who leads the conservative HDZ party, the biggest party in the coalition, has repeatedly denied that his wife's business dealings with a long-time friend and a MOL contractor, presented any conflict of interest. Wednesday's motion was filed by the main opposition party, the Social Democrat (SDP). The vote must take place within a month. Relations within the ruling coalition have been strained by disputes over political appointments and reform plans. "I expect that the deputies will see this as an unacceptable relationship and people entering such arrangements should know it is unacceptable," SDP leader and former prime minister Zoran Milanovic told reporters. The State Commission for the Resolution of Conflicts of Interest, a body appointed by parliament, announced it would start an investigation into the accusations against Karamarko. The commission can impose fines on officials found to have conflicts of interest. Karamarko told reporters that he had always kept private and public matters separate. "I do not have any conflict of interest and I expect it to be proven," he said before a government session on Wednesday. Political analyst Davor Gjenero who is based in Zagreb said he expected the opposition to struggle to muster sufficient votes to force Karamarko's resignation. But "surprises are always possible," he said. (Reporting by Igor Ilic; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
Storyful
A crowd gathered outside Downing Street in London on Monday, October 24, as Rishi Sunak was announced as the new Conservative Party leader, and thus the UKs next prime minister.Footage recorded by Arman Erim Barel shows people standing at the gates of Downing Street.The former chancellor was announced as the new leader of the Conservative Party at 2 pm local time on Monday.Liz Truss was to remain as prime minister until both she and Sunak had spoken to King Charles.Sunak, 42, will be the first British Asian prime minister, and the youngest person to take the job since 1812. Credit: Arman Erim Barel via Storyful
By Lesley Wroughton and Michael Shields VIENNA (Reuters) - The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on Monday on the need for a ceasefire and a peaceful settlement to the conflict in breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh, according to a joint statement by the United States, France and Russia. The two leaders also agreed at a meeting in Vienna they would fix the time and place of their next meeting in June and that the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) would quickly finalise a plan to monitor the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, the statement said. "The presidents reiterated their commitment to the ceasefire and the peaceful settlement of the conflict," it said. "To reduce the risk of further violence, they agreed to finalise in the shortest possible time an OSCE investigative mechanism." The Vienna meeting was the first between Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev since a dramatic flare-up in violence between Armenian-backed separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh and Azeri forces last month which killed dozens of people and pushed relations to a multi-year low. The existing ceasefire may have stopped the short conflict becoming an all-out war a month ago, but gunfire and shelling still echo nightly, residents say, and people are still being killed. After the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he sensed there was now a desire on both sides for a compromise and that Russia was ready to do what it could to broker a more satisfactory deal, according to RIA news agency. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in Vienna for meetings on Syria and Libya, held one-on-one talks with each of the leaders. Sarksyan's office confirmed the details in a statement, saying a deal had been struck to step up monitoring of the existing ceasefire, to look at beefing up the OSCE team and to take steps towards resuming talks on finding a more permanent solution. The conflict has worried the international community in part because it could cause instability in a region that serves as a corridor for pipelines taking oil and gas to world markets. The United States said before the meeting it was seeking a commitment from both leaders to a 1994 ceasefire agreement and confidence building measures that could eventually lead to a comprehensive settlement. A U.S. official said the meeting would not have time to delve into the substance of how the conflict could be resolved, although it would seek support from both sides of elements that would form the basis for moving ahead. The ex-Soviet state of Azerbaijan and separatists backed by Armenia fought a war over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s with thousands killed on both sides and hundreds of thousands displaced. The war ended with a truce in 1994, although there has been sporadic violence since. The ceasefire was shattered last month when Azerbaijan's army and Armenian-backed separatists exchanged heavy fire using artillery, tanks, rockets and helicopters. (Additional reporting by Andrew Osborn and Polina Devitt in Moscow and Hasmik Mkrtchyan in Yerevan.; Editing by Gareth Jones and Cynthia Osterman)
By Lanre Ola MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - A Nigerian teenager kidnapped by Boko Haram more than two years ago has been rescued, the first of more than 200 girls seized in a raid on their school in Chibok town to return from captivity in the insurgents' forest lair, officials said on Wednesday. Soldiers working together with a civilian vigilante group rescued the girl and her four-month-old baby near Damboa in the remote northeast, army spokesman Sani Usman said. They also detained a "suspected Boko Haram terrorist" called Mohammed Hayatu who claimed to be the girl's husband, he added. "Preliminary investigation shows that she is indeed one of the Chibok schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram terrorists on 14th April 2014 in Chibok," Usman said in a statement. Rights activists named the girl as Amina Ali Darsha Nkeki. They quoted her as saying her schoolmates remained in the Sambisa forest in the northeast, Boko Haram's biggest stronghold. The girl will meet President Muhammadu Buhari in the capital, Abuja, on Thursday, his spokesman said, adding that she would be accompanied by the governor of Borno, the northeastern state in which Chibok is located. A Reuters witness who saw the girl at the governor's office, in Maiduguri, said she seemed tired and was limping. Her age has not been disclosed but she appeared to be in her late teens. Her rescue may give a boost to Buhari, a former military ruler who made crushing the Islamist militant Boko Haram insurgency a key pillar of his election campaign in 2015. The military released a photograph of the girl, who was seated, clad in a Muslim headscarf and cradling a baby wrapped in a cloth while holding a plate of food. Boko Haram seized 276 girls from their school in Chibok, northeast Nigeria, in April 2014, part of a seven-year-old insurgency to set up an Islamic state in the north that has killed some 15,000 people and displaced more than 2 million. Dozens of the girls escaped in the initial melee in 2014 but more than 200 remained unaccounted for. Parents accused former president Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria's leader at the time of the mass kidnapping, of not doing enough to track down the girls and bring them home. "She (Amina) says all of the others are still in the Sambisa forest area, that they are heavily guarded," activists at #Bringbackourgirls said in a statement confirming her release. Hoses Tsambido, chairman of the Chibok Community in the capital Abuja, told Reuters the girl was found on Tuesday in the Kulakasha area on the fringes of Sambisa Forest. Usman said Ali and her alleged husband had been brought to Maiduguri "for further medical attention and screening". Boko Haram, who last year pledged loyalty to Islamic State, have kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children in their campaign to carve out a mediaeval Islamist caliphate. Under Buhari's command and aided by Nigeria's neighbours, the army has recaptured most territory once lost to Boko Haram but the group still regularly stages suicide bombings. (Reporting by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani of Thomson Reuters Foundation, Lanre Ola and Ulf Laessing; Writing by Ed Cropley, Ulf Laessing and Alexis Akwagyiram, Editing by Mark Heinrich)
By Lisa Barrington BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hezbollah said on Saturday its top military commander, whose death it announced on Friday, was killed in Syria by Sunni Islamist artillery fire and not by an Israeli air strike as one member of the Lebanese Shi'ite movement had said. "Investigations have showed that the explosion, which targeted one of our bases near Damascus International Airport, and which led to the martyrdom of commander Mustafa Badreddine, was the result of artillery bombardment carried out by takfiri (hardline Sunni) groups in the area," Hezbollah said in a statement. The Shi'ite Muslim group is fighting in Syria, backing President Bashar al-Assad against a range of Sunni groups including Islamic State and the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front. But a war monitoring group cast doubt on its version of Badreddine's death, saying there had been no shelling by rebels in that area for more than a week. Damascus airport and its surroundings are controlled by the Syrian government and allied forces. Between it and government-held central Damascus, rebels control a portion of the Eastern Ghouta suburb, which has experienced fighting for most of the conflict now in its sixth year. "There has been no recorded shelling or firing from the Eastern Ghouta area onto Damascus International Airport for more than a week," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdulrahman told Reuters. Hezbollah's statement did not say when the attack took place or when Badreddine died. Badreddine was given a military funeral in Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Beirut on Friday. "The outcome of the investigation (into Badreddine's death) will increase our determination ... to continue the fight against these criminal gangs and defeat them," Hezbollah said. Iran-backed Hezbollah, considered a terrorist group by the United States and Gulf Arab states, wields enormous political influence in Lebanon alongside its powerful military wing. Around 1,200 Hezbollah fighters are estimated to have been killed in the Syrian conflict. ENEMIES Badreddine had many enemies. He was sentenced to death in Kuwait for his role in bomb attacks there in 1983 and escaped from a Kuwaiti jail after Saddam Hussein's Iraq invaded 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. "The martyred commander spent years of his life on the front line of the jihad (struggle) against the Zionist entity," Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani said in a telegram to Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah reported by the group's media outlet Al Manar. Israel declined to comment on speculation it was behind Badreddine's death, but a former Israeli official said his country would be glad of the news. Badreddine was 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. A Special Tribunal prosecutor described Badreddine as an elusive character who passed as an "unnoticed and virtually untraceable ghost through Lebanon". (Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
By Stanley White and Takaya Yamaguchi TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's annual economic growth strategy calls for measures to boost consumption on the assumption it will go ahead with a sales tax hike scheduled for next year, a draft presented at a government panel showed on Wednesday. But the document may do little to temper speculation that the government will delay the tax increase scheduled for April 2017 amid lingering concern that consumer spending is struggling due to low wages for part-time workers. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told lawmakers he planned to go ahead with implementing the sales tax as scheduled, but he sidestepped questions on whether he could change his mind after hosting a Group of Seven summit. "There is no change to intention to raise the sales tax unless there is a Lehman Brothers-type crisis or a natural disaster," Abe said. "But I need to consult experts' opinions on whether we are in such a scenario." Japan's economy expanded faster than expected in the first quarter, data showed on Wednesday, avoiding recession. But economists say patchy growth and worries about a global slowdown could eventually force the government to reverse its official position and avoid placing an extra burden on households. Damage from an earthquake last month in the southern manufacturing hub of Kumamoto could also give the government reason to delay the tax hike before upper house elections in July, some economists say. Abe's government is set to finalise its growth strategy before the end of this month, which will feature previously announced policies such as an increase in the minimum wage, better pay for day care workers and steps to narrow the pay gap between regular and part-time employees. The draft also called for a study on issuing shopping vouchers to households, a policy used by previous governments to try to prop up consumption. In a separate policy statement to be finalised at the end of May, the government will unveil an additional set of growth plans, including an accelerated effort to forge free trade agreements, a draft obtained by Reuters showed. The draft also said, rehashing similar growth plans in the past, the government would set up a council to promote the "Internet of Things", in which industrial and consumer firms and software providers team up to offer smarter ways of doing things such as predicting mechanical problems before they arise. The government is scheduled to raise the sales tax to 10 percent from 8 percent next April. Japan will host a Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers summit from Friday. (Additional reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Chris Gallagher and Nick Macfie)
By Alexandra Valencia QUITO (Reuters) - Two earthquakes struck Ecuador's coast on Wednesday, leading to one death and light damage in the same region where a magnitude 7.8 tremor killed more than 650 people last month. Wednesday's tremors, measuring 6.7 and 6.8 in magnitude, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, cut electricity in some coastal areas and sent people running into the streets as far away as the highland capital of Quito, witnesses said. President Rafael Correa said the epicentre of the first one overnight was the fishing village of Mompiche on the Pacific coast, about 368 km (229 miles) from Quito. He said the tremors led to light injuries due to people bumping into the things as they ran out of buildings, adding that one person died in circumstances that are still not clear. "We lament the death, which was caused either directly or indirectly by the earthquake, of a senior citizen in the city of Tosagua," he said, referring to a city in the coastal province of Manabi. According to one version, the person hit their head on concrete, while a second held that a beam fell on their head. School was cancelled until Monday in Manabi and in the province of Esmeraldas, Correa said. The tremors caused minor damage, mainly to infrastructure already hit by the April disaster. There was no tsunami warning. The second tremor struck just before midday, according to the U.S. Geological survey. "We were scared, we left the building because it started moving," said Pilar Guacho, 39, a municipal employee in Quito. "We were worried about my daughter because we couldn't make phone calls. We're tense and worried about this situation." The April 16 earthquake, Ecuador's worst in decades, flattened buildings along the coast. As well as the fatalities, the tremor also injured more than 6,000 people, made nearly 29,000 homeless, and caused an estimated $2 billion in damage, according to the government's latest tally. Correa on Wednesday said he was asking the United States, an ideological adversary of his leftist government, to grant Ecuador "Temporary Protected Status." That designation, which the United States can provide in situations of environmental disasters, would allow nationals from those countries to remain in the United States and in some cases obtain authorization to work. Ecuador's 110,000-barrel-per-day Esmeraldas refinery was working at 77 percent capacity after some operations were halted due to the first quake on Wednesday. Operations were not affected by the second tremor, an official said. (Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Alexandra Ulmer and James Dalgleish)
RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco summoned the U.S. ambassador in Rabat to protest against the State Department's annual report on human rights in the North African kingdom, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday. The Rabat government said in a statement that the report was "outrageous" and contained "inventions and lies" on the human rights situation in Morocco. It was a rare spat between the United States and Morocco, an ally of the West against Islamist militancy but facing accusations from groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch that it forcibly represses dissent. The foreign ministry said it objected to the State Department's description of the reasons for the arrests of three activists, citing "manipulation and factual errors" in the report. One of the cases related to activist Wafae Charaf who the State Department said was jailed for "falsely" reporting being abducted and tortured by unknown persons, citing Amnesty International information. The foreign ministry said she was jailed for "false accusations", "presentation of false evidence about an imaginary crime" and "insulting the judicial police". The U.S. Embassy, in a statement sent to Reuters, said that despite criticism in the report, Washington still looked forward to "continue(d) close cooperation with the Ministry of Interior on our shared security and human rights interests". The 40-page State Department document cited a variety of human rights problems in Morocco including reports of detainees being tortured. It said Moroccan authorities had abridged civil liberties by infringing on freedom of speech and press, including by harassing and arresting print and Internet journalists for reporting and commenting on issues sensitive to the government. (Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
By Samia Nakhoul, William Maclean and Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman got a standing ovation when he visited a gathering of Saudi youth last month. Last week, after hearing about his economic plans in a meeting with religious leaders, one of the kingdom's most conservative sheikhs tweeted a smiling selfie of himself with the prince. Whether the 31-year-old son of King Salman will achieve his goal of modernizing the kingdoms economy is the subject of animated debate on social media, in office buildings and at coffee shops here. The plans, aimed at ending dependence on oil by 2030, require shaking up a bureaucracy that has stymied changes in the past, challenging powerful religious conservatives and building up a private sector currently reliant on state spending. Diplomats and economists say the program, which relies on the private sector driving growth and providing new sources of revenue to the state via new taxes and fees, will be exceptionally difficult to implement. Saudi Arabia is far away" from its economic goals, said Steffen Hertog, an economist at the London School of Economics (LSE) who studies the kingdom. The prince's close aides acknowledge the difficulties. Some ruling family members fear too rapid economic changes could cause social unrest or tension inside the Al Saud dynasty, Saudi analysts say. Yet in this country of 20 million Saudis and 10 million expatriates, the rise of Prince Mohammed -- who runs economic, defense and oil strategy -- underscores a dramatic shift toward a leadership seemingly more in tune with the needs of a country where 70 percent of the population is under 30. It is the first time that effective power has passed from the royal gerontocracy of 70- and 80-something rulers to a third generation of a family founded by the prince's grandfather, known as Ibn Saud. King Salman still has the final word, but he has delegated nearly unprecedented powers to his son. That has meant changes in style and substance. Prince Mohammed works 16-hour days -- unlike the more sluggish schedules of his older predecessors -- and has appointed business people and economic experts instead of other royals to top jobs. Many younger Saudis see the rise of a man who is usually referred to as "MbS" as evidence their generation is at last playing a role in a country whose patriarchal traditions had made power the province of the old. "I'm so excited! I want him to be our king now. I mean he's open-minded, has a great plan and maybe a little handsome," said Najla, 20, who did not wish to give her family name. That backing, and widespread fears about plunging oil prices, is providing MbS with an important springboard for his efforts. When in December, he and his team raised petrol prices -- a step previous administrations had hesitated to take for fear of public backlash -- Saudis took the move in stride. The lack of protests surprised MbS, according to people close to the prince, but also helped convince him that Saudis were ready for a change. Jihad al-Najjar, one of those who lined up outside petrol stations that night to fill up on the lower cost fuel, said he understood the country could no longer afford such subsidies. "It's not the real price," the 22-year-old medical student said. Abdulaziz al-Sager, head of the Jeddah and Geneva-based Gulf Research Centre, says there is a growing recognition among Saudi leaders that the oil-based economic system is not sustainable. That will necessarily lead to social and political change. "You cannot do the economic change and the transformation without some sort of political change," he says. "That raises the question of what sort of a new social contract we are going to have." CONFIDENCE Few had heard of Prince Mohammed before his father, 80-year-old son of modern Saudi Arabia's founder, became the kingdoms 7th monarch in January 2015. Today, Prince Mohammed is second in line to rule behind Mohammed bin Nayef, a cousin who is crown prince and, as Interior Minister, head of internal security. Unlike many other royals, Prince Mohammed did not go to school abroad but graduated from King Saud University with a law degree. Informed Saudis who follow royal affairs say he is the favored son of King Salman, who made him his personal adviser at a very young age. In his few public appearances with journalists, the powerful prince projects confidence. He listens to questions in English but speaks through the Royal Courts interpreter, and sometimes corrects the interpreter's phrasing of English translations. His picks for top cabinet positions and senior advisers have leant more heavily on former businessmen than those of former administrations, which relied more on professional bureaucrats. Last week, Prince Mohammed officially unveiled Saudi Vision 2030, his blueprint to move the economy decisively from that he called its addiction to oil towards the private sector. The phased removal of subsidies on fuel, water and electricity -- part of the welfare lavished on Saudis, of whom about four out of five workers hold public sector jobs -- is already underway. The new plan includes earning non-oil income from private investment and privatization and setting up the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world. The idea is to create millions of new jobs and raise the participation of women in the workforce from 22 currently to 30 percent by 2030. The plans also include selling a stake of less than 5 percent in Saudi Aramco, the state oil giant, and placing the proceeds and the company in the Public Investment Fund (PIF), along with other assets that could eventually create an investment vehicle worth up to $3 trillion. Another ambitious target is to locally source 50 percent of Saudi military procurements -- part of the third largest defense budget in the world -- by 2030, up from a mere 2 percent now. Many diplomats, analysts and economists say the magnitude of the goals -- including the primary one of ending dependence on oil by 2020 -- defy credibility. "To achieve the economic goals, the kingdom would need a thriving non-oil private sector that caters to private demand, offers sufficient productive jobs for nationals and produces substantial non-oil exports of goods and services, said the LSE's Hertog, who has written a book about how the Saudi government works. RELIGIOUS CONSERVATIVES There are social challenges because some of Prince Mohammed's ambitions, including giving women a bigger economic role, will anger religious conservatives, the source of the most dangerous threats to Al Saud rule since the kingdom was founded. Some had hoped, for example, that Vision 2030 would include moves to lift the ban on women driving, which it did not. Answering a question on it, the deputy crown prince said the issue was a social rather than religious question, therefore it was up to society to decide. Moreover, the countrys education system is traditionally regarded as under the thumb of religious fundamentalists who, among other things, insist on the cloistering and segregation of women, hindering their ability to enter the workforce. Some older Saudis, ruling family members and Saudi businessmen fear that Prince Mohammeds plans to streamline the kingdoms bureaucracy could cause social fractures if they fail to maintain comfy living standards or soothe conservatives. And MbSs meteoric rise has also prompted rumors among some Saudi analysts of friction with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, 56, a veteran security chief and a favorite of Riyadhs top ally, the United States. So far, both men have appeared careful in public, with the younger prince showing deference and respect to his cousin, diplomats say. Prince Mohammed and his close advisers appear fully aware of the entrenched resistance they will face -- and are working to overcome it. For example, MbS -- like his father and previous Saudi rulers -- has devoted significant effort to wooing clerics, who have great influence in the legal system. One adviser said that the prince meets between four and five religious leaders a week. Last week, right after announcing 2030 Vision to reporters, he met a group of religious and intellectual leaders in the next room and directly assured them that he would not go too far. When asked about the issue of women drivers, he turned specifically to look at the religious leaders and said it would not happen yet, a person present said. Young people say they like MbS's business-like approach of announcing systemic plans, rather than speaking in generalizations as many of his predecessors did. Still, there is a long road ahead, especially on social change, they say. "I'm waiting for the moment where I can travel without a male with me, said Najla. And drive - I already know what car I want," she said, sending by phone a picture of a bright red sports car. (Editing by Alessandra Galloni and Sonya Hepinstall)
By Elias Biryabarema KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda's main opposition figure Kizza Besigye has been ordered detained until June 1 on charges of treason, a judicial official said, days after he was accused of unlawfully declaring himself president. Besigye lost to veteran leader Yoweri Museveni in presidential elections in February, but said the vote had been rigged. He was detained last week, then charged on Friday with being sworn in as president in a mock ceremony, a charge sheet showed. The conduct of the election and treatment of opponents has drawn criticism from Western donors, who also value Uganda as an ally in the fight against Islamist militants. Ugandan troops are part of an African force battling al Shabaab in Somalia. The opposition has staged sporadic protests since the vote, leading to clashes with police and dozens of arrests. "He appeared (on Wednesday) and the treason charges were freshly read to him again. He was thereafter remanded," Solomon Muyita, spokesman for Uganda's judiciary, told Reuters. He is expected to return to court on June 1, Muyita added. Besigye, a perennial loser to Museveni, has been detained many times over the years. He was also charged with treason in 2005. If found guilty, Besigye could face the death penalty, although Uganda has not carried out an execution in years. His lawyer, Moses Byamugisha, and allies said Besigye appeared without legal representation and said he was taken to court ahead of schedule early in the morning before being swiftly returned to Luzira maximum security prison near Kampala. A government spokesman denied any such tactic. Museveni was named winner of the election with 60 percent of the vote while Besigye came second with 35 percent. The government denied charges that the election was rigged. But European Union monitors said the poll was carried out in an intimidating atmosphere orchestrated by state actors. The United States has voiced concern about the harassment of opposition figures. (Editing by Edmund Blair and Andrew Heavens)
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 18, ARMENPRESS. On 18 May NKR President Bako Sahakyan received delegation of the German Die Linke Party led by Bundestag MP Ulla Jelpke, Press Service of NKR Presidential Administration informed Armenpress.
Issues related to establishing and deepening ties between political forces of NKR and Germany were discussed during the talks.
President Sahakyan highlighted this cooperation for NKR, noting its importance from the viewpoint of strengthening friendly relations with Germany.
The Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement and regional processes were also touched upon during the meeting.
YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. Aleppo has again become the theater of fierce battles. The situation now is really tragic, Archbishop of the Armenian Catholics of Aleppo Boutros Marayati told ItalianZenit website. He expressed special concern over Syrian Christians, especially Armenians. Armenpress presents the entire interview.
ZENIT: Excellency, what is the present situation at Aleppo?
Archbishop Marayati: It is very dramatic. The cease-fire has now ended and for about a week the bombardments have started again. A rainfall of missiles has arrived in the city, which is striking the Christian quarters. Nevertheless, as churches, we are doing our utmost to help the people to remain; a new exodus is happening in Aleppo. Moreover, everything is lacking: water, electricity, and medicines. Food is diminishing and its price is very high. Our hope is that there are margins so that the parties in conflict will agree to a new period of truce. The people of Aleppo dream about the end of this atrocity, they are truly tired of suffering.
ZENIT: Who launches these missiles?
Archbishop Marayati: Aleppo is divided into two parts. One of the two is under the control of the Jihadist rebels. It is the latter that launch the missiles, bombs and mortar strikes in the other part of the city, which is controlled by the regular Army and is the place where the Christian and moderate Muslim communities live. The point is that the rebels have in hand the power plant and the aqueduct; therefore, they control the supplies and do not let them reach us. We, civilians, especially the children, are the ones who pay the highest price of this opposition between the two blocks. In this last week, the littlest ones lived hell.
ZENIT: The conflict in Syria is one that also involves foreign interests
Archbishop Marayati: Unfortunately, it is so. There is never fighting for nothing. International interests and designs exist. The solution of this conflict is in the hands of the great powers, the United States and Russia. Both these powers want to maintain their influence in Syria. I am thinking of the presence of military bases, control of oil wells and gas plants, the outlet to the Mediterranean Sea Intertwined with all these elements, then, is the religious aspect, which is instrumentalized. It is a war that has to do with international geopolitics, but which is consummated on the skin of the Syrians. I repeat: Washington and Moscow possess the key to access peace. We can only hope that they will come to an understanding between them to open a future of hope for Syria.
ZENIT: As long as no solution is found in Syria, the crisis of refugees in Europe will continue
Archbishop Marayati: If Europe is truly interested in resolving the drama of the refugees, it must employ all its energies to have the war cease in Syria. Of what use is it to speak of barriers to be pulled down at the borders, when there is no commitment to help these people not to flee from their land? I always remember that, before this war began, we Syrians had never been refugees. On the contrary, it was Syria that always received people fleeing from wars: from Lebanon, from Jordan, from Iraq And now our turn has come. Something that truly seemed unthinkable, because Syria is, historically, a country of coexistence, peace and culture.
ZENIT: What are the Christian Churches doing to stem the exodus of Christians from those lands?
Archbishop Marayati: The Christian Churches, together with the various World Friends Onlus committed in Syria, are making a great contribution, sending aid. However, the people are tired of suffering and, because of this, of having to receive help. Syrians no longer want to weep for their dead; they no longer want to see rivers of blood flowing. What we ask is that the profuse commitment to send us aid be employed to exert pressure on the international powers so that the bombardments cease.
ZENIT: Excellency, is the destiny of Middle Eastern Christians far from their land?
Archbishop Marayati: Syria needs Christians. Although a minority, they have always represented a richness. One cannot think of a Middle East without Christians, however, it is inevitable that they flee if they are under the of the Jihadist rebels. And by escaping, they will continue not to find peace. A refugee always has difficulties, because he finds himself living in a different context from that which is proper to him, he is someone uprooted.
ZENIT: Is this reality evoking in you, Armenians, the specter of the Genocide of a century ago?
Archbishop Marayati: We, Armenians, are living a twofold trauma. The wound of the 1915 Genocide is not yet healed, and today we find ourselves again as refugees, fleeing from those who wish to kill us. A century ago it was Syria in fact that received us, that agreed to integrate us in Arab culture, building our independence. And today we find ourselves again having to abandon everything we built and face a new exodus. We feel nostalgia for the Syria prior to the outbreak of the war. The Armenian writer Antranik Zaruguian spoke of an Aleppo of dreams. Today, unfortunately, those dreams have become nightmares.
STEPANAKERT, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. German Bundestag MP Ulla Jelpke, Member of Hamburg Parliament Martin Dolzer and the Representative of Altona Community Hasan Burgucuoglu, who visited Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) on May 18 visited Stepanakert memorial accompanied by the head of Artsakh Republic-European Parliament friendship group Vahram Balayan and laid flowers on the tombs of killed soldiers, after which they were received by the President of the National Assembly of Artsakh Ashot Ghulyan.
Greeting the guests, the head of the legislative highly appreciated the decision of the German parliamentarians to visit Nagorno Karabakh, and mentioned that such meetings and exchange of ides are of key importance, particularly during these days, in terms of searching for ways of ensuring stability and peace in the region.
We attach great importance to that true information about Artsakh finds place in German political thought, as a Minsk Group member country that presides over the OSCE must have a realistic assessment of the recent incidents, Ashot ghulyan said.
German Bundestag MP Ulla Jelpke expressing gratitude for the cordial reception, spoke about the discussion of the Armenian Genocide recognition resolution in Bundestag scheduled on June 2 and hoped that its adoption may signal about Germanys new positions and opinions over Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement.
We have no other option, but a peacefully negotiated solution to Karabakh issue, Ulla Jelpke said.
At the request of the parliamentarian Ashot Ghulyan introduced the April aggression initiated by Azerbaijan, mentioning that it was another attempt to perpetrate a genocide against Armenians, which was prevented by the army of Artsakh.
Member of Hamburg Parliament Martin Dolzer attached great importance to the movement in Germany against German-Turkish military cooperation, mentioning the memeories of the past must be a lesson not to repeat the same mistakes.
Hasan Burgucuoglu, who is Turkish by descent, assessed the right of Karabakh to self-determination as substantiated. I consider it as my mission to illustrate and spread information about it, the parliamentarian mentioned.
Afterwards, the sides discussed issues of current geopolitical and regional developments.
A strengthening economy in many Irish business sectors is contributing to a steady rise in attracting skilled workers to Ireland.
Irish based companies that require specific IT and language skills are the leading supporters of work visas for non-EU nationals.
Companies such as Google, who required 286 Irish work permits in 2015, have successfully applied for 125 in the first 4 months of 2016. Other leading tech companies such as Intel and Amazon have received in excess of 100 Irish work permits each in the last 18 months.
In the health sector the HSE secured 1,573 work permits across 2015; from Jan to April 2016 the HSE has secured 479 permits.
Irish migration agents VisaFirst report that in 2015 7,353 permits were issued for the year in total but it is currently estimated, based on recent figures, that this figure will surpass 9,000 for 2016.
Edwina Shanahan Manager of VisaFirst said, While certain companies need to bring staff from other countries to address certain skills shortages in particular areas this is not necessarily a bad refection on Ireland. The uptake in Irish work permits is actually an indication of a growing economy.
Companies are expanding and while Ireland boasts a great workforce of people with qualifications, talent & experience in many areas like most countries, there are areas in which we are deficient in terms of specialist expertise and while traditionally this has been mostly in IT and language-oriented positions, we are also seeing other sectors trying to bridge the skills gap with overseas workers.
The nationalities that feature most prominently are India, Pakistan, USA, Brazil and Israel. India has 4 times the number of USA applications this year to date.
Source: www.businessworld.ie
About us
As part of a Joint Trade Mission between Enterprise Ireland and the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mary Mitchell OConnor, today begins a two-day Trade and Investment Mission to Athlone, Sligo and Limerick as part of a Global Sourcing initiative.
The initiatives objective is to maximise sales opportunities for Irish SMEs with multinational companies based in Ireland.
Since the Global Sourcing initiative began in 2012, 21 new contracts have been secured by Irish companies valued at 10.5m.
This year, IDA will hold over 20 one-to-one meetings with Irish companies to learn how their products or services may add value to an IDA sponsored multinational based in Ireland.
Minister Mary Mitchell OConnor speaking from Athlone at the start of the trade mission said: Ireland is a world-class location for overseas companies and we have a thriving global multinational base here. Regionally based Irish companies are successfully exporting their products and services globally, and are well positioned to service these companies.
She added, There are tangible opportunities for SMEs and multinational companies through mutually beneficial collaboration and partnerships. My objective and a key objective for Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland is to translate the introductions made over the next two days into business opportunities that will lead to contract wins and increased employment.
Source: www.businessworld.ie
About us
Modified On May 18, 2016 05:47 PM By Arun for BMW M Series
We know that the M range of BMWs is possibly among the best driver-oriented cars on the planet. A high revving motor up front, rear wheel drive, and near spot on weight distribution make the Ms potent track tools.
Now, BMW sells its entire range of M cars in the country, except for the M2. Seems like that gap will be plugged as well; reports suggest that the German automaker is considering bringing the most affordable M car to India. It will slot in below the M3 and go head on against the Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG. We expect prices to start around the Rs 80 lakh mark.
Let's run through the basics, shall we? The M2 is powered by a 3.0-litre, turbocharged petrol engine that develops a delectable 370PS of power and 465Nm of torque. It gets an over boost function as well that bumps up the torque to 500Nm. However, it isnt just these numbers alone that make the M2 special. The two-door coupe is based on the 2-Series which is the smallest sedan BMW makes. Dial in the compact proportions, short overhangs, and the low weight, the baby M is a pocket rocket in the truest sense of the word. Speaking of which, 0-100kmph takes just 4.5 seconds. Keep the right foot down and the M2 will max out at 250kmph. We're drooling at the thought of belting one across a track, just like we did with the X5M and the X6M.
In a follow-up to the 320i launch, reports suggest that the German automaker is considering launching the more powerful 330i petrol variant as well. This will replace the discontinued 328i and house the same engine with identical specs (245PS/350Nm). If launched, expect a sticker price that hovers around the Rs 40 lakh mark.
The luxury car market was largely diesel driven until the Delhi diesel ban came into effect. While automakers such as Mahindra downsized engines to meet regulations, others, such as Mercedes-Benz and Toyota, have been openly critical. Launching petrol variants is the easy way out for manufacturers and the market is more than willing to lap them up as well.
We think both the Bimmers fit well in the automaker's Indian line-up and both cater to the enthusiast. We couldn't be happier! What do you think? Let us know!
Source: Team-BHP
Read More on : M Series 2016
Published On May 18, 2016 11:43 AM By Sumit
Following in the heels of countries like China, Australia and New Zealand choosing their own New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP), India has decided to do the same. To be called Bharat NCAP, the programmes official name is expected to be Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Programme (BNVSAP).
The announcement was made at a conference co-hosted by global NCAP where they announced the results of the third round of crash tests. Bharat NCAP will be more broad-based than any other NCAP at the time of introduction. It is proposed that the features of the programme will remain the same for some time, said Mr AV Mannikar, senior deputy director of Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI).
Related Story: Baleno Scores 3-star Rating in Euro NCAP Crash Test
Some tweaks have been proposed in the testing conditions for Bharat NCAP. Indian officials want the offset frontal crash test to take place at a speed of 56 kmph rather than the 64 kmph that the global NCAP bases its reports on. A mandatory speed warning feature is also proposed. The new programme might issue safety ratings to two-wheelers and three-wheelers as well, given their enormous numbers in the country. Another official said that details of the same are expected to be made public in the next ten days. Global NCAP has welcomed the decision from the Indian government.
European nations (Euro NCAP), Latin America (Latin NCAP) and South-East Asian countries (ASEAN NCAP) already have their own assessment programmes. At such a time, having our own standards for crash tests, based on day-to-day conditions, will be a wise decision. Indian authorities are also trying their best to make cars safer. Mr Nitin Gadkari, Union minister for road transport & highways, has been trying to make roads safer by proposing reforms in the automotive industry for a while now.
The world's third-largest economy surprised markets on Wednesday by reporting its fastest pace of annualized quarterly growth in a year.
Real gross domestic product (GDP) for the January-March period expanded an annualized 1.7 percent against expectations in a Reuters poll for a 0.2 percent rise. On a quarterly basis, GDP grew 0.4 percent against a poll forecast of a 0.1 percent quarterly gain.
Eisuke Sakakibara, Japan's former vice finance minister, now a professor at Aoyama Gakuin University, said the first-quarter report card confirmed his bullish view.
"I was expecting a strong read because the economy is in recovery," he told CNBC's "Squawk Box." This year, it's quite likely growth will be around 1 percent so the recovery is going on fairly smoothly."
Wednesday's report marked a significant recovery from the 1.7 percent revised annualized contraction in the October-December quarter, quashing fears that the economy would enter a technical recession, usually defined as two straight quarters of negative growth.
Much of the strength could be attributed to the leap-year effect, noted Kohei Iwahara, economist at Natixis Japan Securities.
"It may sound like a trivial issue but when you have one more day in February, that's 1.1 percent more days in the quarter so people are spending and eating more."
The domestic demand contribution to GDP inched up 0.2 percentage points thanks to higher spending on televisions and recreation, as well as food and beverage, noted a government official, Reuters reported.
But while personal spending was on the mend, consumer confidence remained soft overall and recent wage increases were disappointing, Iwahara said. The government's consumer confidence index fell 0.9 points in April on-month.
A defective Takata airbag has claimed a 17th life in the United States. Honda has confirmed that the recalled airbag was responsible for a fatality on August 20 in Mesa, Ariz.
Since 2014, when automotive manufacturers using the airbags initially recalled 3 million vehicles, the defective inflators -- which can explode and send tiny bits of metal flying through the inside of a vehicle, are linked to 26 deaths worldwide and 290 injuries.
Today, tens of millions of vehicles with Takata airbags -- mostly older models -- are under a recall order, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The agency said long-term exposure to high heat and humidity can cause these airbags to explode when deployed.
Vehicles under recall for this safety defect should be repaired immediately, the agency said. Models made before 2015 should be checked for the defect with Honda and Ford vehicles most likely to have installed Takata airbags.
How to check your vehicle
Owners can check to see if their vehicle is affected by entering their vehicle identification number (VIN) here. A vehicles VIN can be found on the title or registration. It is also embossed into the dashboard on the drivers side.
Honda said the vehicle involved in the Aug. 20 accident was a 2002 Honda Civic that had been under a recall since 2011 for airbag inflator replacement. The company said in this particular case it mailed 15 recall notices to the vehicles registered owners over a period of eight years.
But tragically, the person who died in the accident was not the registered owner of the vehicle and likely was unaware of the safety hazard the vehicle posed.
Until all of the vehicles with defective airbag inflators are repaired or removed from the road, safety officials warn that deaths and injuries may continue. Meanwhile, earlier this year Honda and Nissanrecalled another 1.3 million vehicles with Takata PSDI-5D driver airbag inflators.
Due to a manufacturing error, the companies said the inflator may not function properly or may explode in a crash that necessitates airbag deployment.
A federal district court has entered final judgment in financial institutions class action over the 2013 Target Corp. breach, pushing the final tab Target will pay to $59 million.
Parties reached a $39 million settlement in December to resolve the dispute over the breach, which exposed some 40 million credit and debit cards and the personal data of up to 110 million consumers to potential fraud. The full cost to financial institutions has yet to be determined. The final judgment, entered last Friday, adds attorneys fees and payments to class representatives.
Carrie Hunt, NAFCUs executive vice president of government affairs and general counsel, while praising plaintiffs win, emphasized that a real solution on merchant data breaches involves national data security standards for everyone in the payments chain.
In the nearly three years since Targets huge data breach, consumers remain extremely susceptible to cyberattacks, said Hunt. We continue to urge Congress to protect consumers financial information by enacting national data security standards for retailers and holding them directly accountable for their data breaches.
The Financial Brand Forum has quickly become a must attend event for credit union and bank marketers and anyone interested in marketing, advertising, branding and retail delivery over the past four years. The Forum was specifically designed to help credit unions and banks tackle their biggest branding, marketing and retail delivery challenges. This year over 1000 people have made their way to Las Vegas for the event.
Highlights from day one:
Creativity is a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. Jeffrey Pilcher, founder and CEO of The Financial Brand
Manage the culture of your business and the culture will manage your business. Arkadi Kuhlman, CEO of ZenBanx and founder of ING Direct
75% of consumers are on social media. Be where your customers are. Jim Marous, co-publisher of The Financial Brand
Everyone one of us can be disruptors. Luvleen Sidhu, CMO of BankMobile
It takes 6 months for a new employee before the culture of the new company outweighs the culture of their old job. Garrick Throckmorton, AVP/Organizational Development at Allegacy FCU
You cant nickel and dime millennials with banking. Be transparent and upfront on fees and cost. Jason Falls, SVP Digital Strategy at Elasticity
People care more about their relative wealth, than absolute wealth. Shankar Vedantam, social science correspondent at NPR and the author of The Hidden Brain
Follow all the happening today at The Financial Brand Forum in Las Vegas on Twitter at #FBForum.
This daily digest focuses on market sentiment, new developments in Chinas foreign exchange policy, changes in financial market regulations and Chinese-language economic coverage in order to keep DailyFX readers up-to-date on news typically covered only in Chinese-language sources.
- The state-owned enterprises led by the central government are expected to cut production by 10% in two years.
- Chinas National Bureau of Statistics emphasized that the production cuts must be permanent.
- Chinese President Xi Jinping told that the country will keep the current birth-control policy for a long time.
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Sina News: Chinas most important online media source, similar to CNN in the US. They also own a Chinese version of Twitter, called Weibo, with around 200 million active usersmonthly.
- The State Council released detailed targets of supply-side reforms on May 18th. The state-owned enterprises (SOEs) led by the central government are required to cut 10% of production within the next two years. Also, they are required to reduce costs; the total costs reduced by SOEs led by the central government over the next two years are expected to be 100 billion yuan.
Hexun News: Chinese leading online media of financial news.
- The spokesman of National Bureau of Statistics, Sheng Laiyun, commented on the outlook of Chinas economy: Mr. Sheng forecasted that Chinas economy will continue to stabilize and keep the growth potential over the long term. In terms of supply side reforms, he said that production cuts must be permanent. Some manufacturing firms tend to reduce productiontemporarily; when market prices improve, they begin to increase production again, which eventually causes the reforms to fail. Thus, Mr. Sheng reiterated that the government is determined to fully see through the reforms.
- Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed Chinas birth control policy. He said that the birth control policy is a fundamental state policy for China and will remain in place for the long term. He explained that the facts will not change for a long time that Chinas economy is under considerable population pressure as well as the fact that GDP per capita remains low compared to global averages. China is facing a demographic change with increasing aging population due to the one child policy introduced after the baby boom in the 1960s. However, the cost of a large population exceeds the costs of an aging population. Thus, the country will not further loosen the birth control policy unless fundamentals change.
China Finance Information: a finance online media administrated by Xinhua Agency.
- According to an unnamed source, Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges will soon issue new rules on trading halts and restarts. This is considered as a move to increase the odds of Chinas A-shares to be included in the MSCI index. In March, MSCI said that one criterion for such inclusion is that widespread halts cannot happen again. During the stock plunge last August, over half of the listed companies halted trading. As of May 17, there were still 303 companies suspended in trading with 10 companies having been halted for over 6 months.
- The Shanghai Composite Index dipped below 2800 on Wednesday; closing -1.27% lower at 2807.51. The Shenzhen Composite Index dropped by -2.16% to 9694.78. The ChiNext board dropped the most, by -2.93% to 2020.47. Chinese securities companies including Haitong Securities, Jufu Information and AVIC Securities warned of further drops in the coming session and that the Shanghai Composite Index could break the key level of 2800.
Written by Renee Mu, DailyFX Research Team
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Talking Points:
USD/CAD Technical Strategy: Bears Be Warned, Were on US Dollar Breakout Watch
Trader Sentiment Warns a Coiled Move Lower or Higher Could Be Around the Corner
a Coiled Move Lower or Higher Could Be Around the Corner USD/CAD Focus Turns to Recent High of 1.3015 for Potential Breakout Toward 1.3250
Wednesday saw a strong break higher in USD/CAD. First, the move higher off the weekly pivot developed on volatility in WTI Crude Oil (CFD: US Oil), but followed through with the resilient US Dollar getting more fuel for the potential road ahead at the hands of the Federal Reserves release of April FOMC Minutes.
Surprising to many, WTI Crude Oil has recently broken away from many prior correlations that held at the beginning of the year. As of today, the 30-day correlation of SPX500 to Oil hit YTD low of +0.18 on a correlation coefficient reading whereas +1.00 is a perfectly positive correlation.
Todays DOE Inventory data surprised investors as the EIA reported that there was a surprisingly large build of North American inventories to the tune of ~1.3mn/bbl. Many were expecting a large drop due to the devastating wildfires in the Oil-rich are of Alberta Canada. Much of the gain in inventories were at the hands of Iraq supply coming at its highest clip in ~2yrs.
In addition to the divergence of the Oil correlation and US Dollar strength, directional guidance can be found in the US/CA 2-yr sovereign yield. In addition to sentiment, explained below, US/CA 2-yr yield spreads have been helpful to see which Dollar has the upper-hand. Todays move aligns with the widest yield spread favoring USD strength in a month, and weve moved to the 3-month average spread at -26.8, which could mean a further reversion to the mean (i.e. higher) could be in the works.
USD/CAD Is Breaking Out Of Multi-Month Bear Channel (H4 Chart)
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Even with the above information, it appears now that USD/CAD is in a state of flux. You will see below that our proprietary Sentiment System shows a nearly flat market. Therefore, the potential for a breakdown or breakout from a positioning standpoint seems equally likely. However, Wednesdays break above 1.3015 could entice mean reversion traders to jump in and try to chase and push USD/CAD toward 1.3250/33.
Key Support Levels from Here (Visual Map Below)
Regarding resistance, the important 1.3015 level has been taken out on the post-FOMC USD move. Recently, we warned of a bullish falling wedge breaking out toward the start of the wedge near 1.3250. Now that the price has broken above the recent weekly high of 1.3015, we could soon see a strong break toward ~1.3250-1.3300 that also aligns with the 38.2% Fibonacci Retracement of the January 20 to early May Range.
Two checkpoints that Bulls can keep an eye on is the Weekly Resistance levels from classical pivot points. The R1 sits at 1.3042, which is within an earshot of the price near the close on Wednesday. The Weekly R2 sits well within the Daily Ichimoku Cloud at 1.3150.
As of Mid-Day Wednesday, the LoD is near the weekly pivot, which shows the Bears never had control this week or for that matter, most of the month. Should the weekly pivot fail to hold up the price once again and start acting like resistance, we could see the downtrend regain its steam. Beyond the Weekly Pivot at 1.2905, recent price action support is aligned with recent corrective lows near 1.2775. The 34-DMA in yellow on the chart above aligns with the weekly low at 1.2830. Therefore, there is a lot of support between 1.2775-1.2906 that could bring nice levels for value buyers to load into a potential risk-adjusted trade.
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Canadian Dollar Has Lost Favor per Sentiment
When looking at sentiment, crowd positioning has neutralized after a strong downtrend. For those familiar with our model, USD/CAD provided one of the strongest signals for downtrend continuation from late February to May. We use our Speculative Sentiment Index as a contrarian indicator to price action, and the fact that the majority of traders are near net-flat at a bull: bear of 1.12 as 53% of traders are long shows us a larger shift may be underway.
Long positions are 3.0% higher than yesterday and 12.6% above levels seen last week. Short positions are 4.7% higher than yesterday and 11.1% above levels seen last week. Open interest is 3.8% higher than yesterday and 3.9% below its monthly average. The neutralized positioning signal keeps us on high alert for the next big bias shift. As you can see, SSI has been particularly helpful with catching the big moves in USD/CAD.
USD/CAD Speculative Sentiment Index as of Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Combining the technical picture above, with the sentiment picture, and the Intermarket analysis support further warns of more CAD gains ahead against the US Dollar.
Key Levels as of Wednesday, May 18, 2016
T.Y.
by David A Marcillo | Rockies Correspondent | Wed, May 18th 4:02pm EDT
Miami Marlins reliever Jose Urena pitched one inning on Wednesday in Philadelphia, allowing one run on a solo home run, retiring the other three hitters he faced.
Scotland will soon have a new rural affairs secretary, following the resignation of Richard Lochhead, who has occupied the post for the past nine years.
Mr Lochead, MSP for Moray, who saw his majority in the recent Scottish elections slump from 11,000 to less than 3,000, has written to Scotlands first minister Nicola Sturgeon to indicate his intention to stand down.
In the letter, he explained that he planned to spend more time with his family, especially his wife Fiona, who has breast cancer.
See also: Scottish farm minister tipped to be replaced
After much thought in recent months, I have taken the decision that, after nine incredible but hectic years as cabinet secretary, the time has come to change the priorities in my life, especially in the light of recent family circumstances, he said.
Thank u to great people across Scotland I worked with. Hugely rewarding. Sometimes tough. Always absolute privilege. https://t.co/HKjp6iFMlP Richard Lochhead (@RichardLochhead) May 18, 2016
Responding to the news, NFU Scotland chief executive Scott Walker said Mr Lochhead had always been considered a safe pair of hands. However, this reputation had taken a serious knock in recent months with the failure of his department to get farmers Basic Payment Scheme money to them in a timely fashion.
As a result of the chaos, many farmers have not been paid what is owed and the Scottish government has been forced to use its own funds to ensure even part-payments. This is cited as one of the main reasons for his relatively poor performance in the elections. Richard certainly has blotted his copy book in the minds of our members, said Mr Walker.
Putting that to one side, Mr Walker added that Mr Lochhead had been a great and active supporter of Scottish food and drink in both the UK marketplace and overseas, and had been genuinely interested in the well-being of farmers. We wish him all the best for the future, he said.
A new cabinet secretary is expected to be announced by Ms Sturgeon later on Wednesday afternoon.
We would not tolerate a sin tax on insulin or chemotherapy, even if the revenue was dedicated to a laudable goal. Lawmakers must resist the temptation to lump medical and non-medical cannabis use together when making policy choices.
Last years trio of bills comprising The Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act (MMRSA) bring overdue clarity to Californias 20-year-old program, but many legislative decisions that affect legal medical cannabis patients remain.
In considering those decisions, is important that lawmakers and regulators treat medical cannabis like real medicine. We tax and regulate vices, such as alcohol and tobacco, in a fundamentally different way than we do medicine. We would never erect barriers to obtaining heart medication, but we do take steps to discourage tobacco use. Likewise, we would not tolerate a sin tax on insulin or chemotherapy, even if the revenue was dedicated to a laudable goal. Lawmakers must resist the temptation to lump medical and non-medical cannabis use together when making policy choices.
Some Californians, including members of the legislature, claim most medical cannabis patients are not really ill. One lawmaker recently testified that as few as 30% of patients are legitimate but provided no evidence to support the allegation. Some anecdotes of abuse of the states medical cannabis law may be true, but lawmakers should reject the cynical position that most medical cannabis patients are recreational users. Research and experience show otherwise.
A study published in 2014 shows that of the 1.4 million Californians who have used medical cannabis, almost all (92%) report cannabis helped treat the symptoms of a serious medical condition. The study challenges the commonly held perception that medical cannabis is being overused by healthy people and demonstrates that the states medical cannabis laws are providing real relief to many Californians (Prevalence of medical marijuana use in California, 2012, Drug and Alcohol Review (2014), DOI 10.111/dar. 12207).
This groundbreaking report is the first based on a large dataset representative of the states population. The California Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which is an ongoing cross-sectional telephone survey, interviewed more than 7,500 Californians in English and Spanish, making this the most comprehensive scientific study of cannabis use in California ever conducted.
The analysis shows that one in twenty Californians have used medical cannabis. More than 30% used medical cannabis to treat chronic pain; 11% used it for arthritis, 8% for migraines, and 7% for cancer. Participants also reported using medical cannabis to treat the symptoms of HIV/AIDS, glaucoma, muscle spasms, nausea, stress, and depression. These are not trivial or minor ailments. These are serious medical conditions for which conventional treatments are often ineffective or unavailable.
The results refute smaller studies that suggest most users are young white males. Researchers found that medical cannabis was used at similar rates by men and women, the young and the old, patients with high and low levels of education, and in various regions of the state.
This rigorous evidence that medical cannabis is commonly used throughout the state by a diverse population, and that it is highly effective in treating serious conditions, matters right now. Lawmakers are considering new legislation this year regarding taxation, commercial licensing, patients rights, and more. Those important decisions will affect medical cannabis patients and other stakeholders and need to be informed by facts, not anecdotes, misperceptions, or bias.
Voters are likely to decide in November if cannabis should be legal for non-medical use. There should be a separate conversation about what posture lawmakers and regulators take towards cannabis used for non-medical purposes. Those taxes and regulations might reasonably differ from those related to legal medical use.
In the meantime, we need everyone who is going to make a decision about medical cannabis this year to understand that medical cannabis is medicine for real. That is important because decisions made about genuine medicine will be fundamentally different than those we make about regulating alcohol, tobacco, or non-medical cannabis. The idea that most medical cannabis users are not really sick or that their use is not medical is misinformation. The research says otherwise, and our local and state policies should reflect the critical role medical cannabis plays in the treatment of California patients.
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/medicine_for_real
St. Louis, MO As Johnson & Johnson is ordered to pay $55 million in a As Johnson & Johnson is ordered to pay $55 million in a talcum powder side effects lawsuit, more lawsuits are being filed alleging certain talcum powders are actually dangerous products linked to ovarian cancer. The $55 million award is the second large award handed out in Johnson & Johnson talcum powder lawsuits in recent months.
In February, a jury awarded $75 million to the family of Jacqueline Fox, who allegedly developed ovarian cancer after using talcum powder for more than 35 years. Fox died at age 52 of ovarian cancer, before the lawsuit was completed. During the lawsuit, her attorneys alleged Johnson & Johnson knew its talcum powder was linked to ovarian cancer but failed to warn consumers about the risks. A jury agreed with Foxs family, finding Johnson & Johnson liable for conspiracy, failure to warn and negligence.Among the award were $10 million in compensatory damages and $62 million in punitive damages. Johnson & Johnson has indicated it will appeal the jurys decision.In May, a jury in St. Louis ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $55 million to Gloria Ristesund, who blamed her ovarian cancer on years of talcum powder use. That award included $5 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages. Reports indicate Johnson & Johnson will appeal this award, as well.Although Johnson & Johnson has said there is no link between the use of talcum powder and ovarian cancer, attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that studies have shown since the 1970s that talcum powder could be linked to ovarian cancer. Further, they alleged, internal documents suggest Johnson & Johnson was aware of the studies but failed to act on them.According to(3/21/16), more than 1,000 plaintiffs have filed claims against Johnson & Johnson, alleging the company knew about the risks associated with using talcum powder, putting their health at risk. Seventeen plaintiffs from New Mexico recently filed claims regarding their use of talcum powder. The(5/16/16) reports that 15 of those plaintiffs are women alleging they developed ovarian cancer after using talcum powder. The other two claims are from the estates of two women who died from ovarian cancer.Although Johnson & Johnson says the science does not back claims that talcum powder is linked to ovarian cancer, the International Agency for Research on Cancer isnt so sure. Perineal use of talc-based body powder is, the agency concluded in a 2010 report on carcinogenic risks.While the science might not be clear, women who used talcum powder and developed ovarian cancer are now filing lawsuits, saying they should have been warned about the potential risk.
Washington, DC Given todays medical device environment, including the tendency for manufacturers to rush products to market through the 510(k) Clearance regulatory loophole made available by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), its incumbent on the patient to be proactive in managing or at the very least remaining conversant with regard to his or her own cases. The Given todays medical device environment, including the tendency for manufacturers to rush products to market through the 510(k) Clearance regulatory loophole made available by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), its incumbent on the patient to be proactive in managing or at the very least remaining conversant with regard to his or her own cases. The Zimmer Persona Recall is one such example.
It was on March 12, 2015 - a little over a year ago - that the FDA released its official recall notice with regard to the Zimmer Persona Trabecular Metal Tibial Plate, the problematic component of the Persona personal knee system that was proving so troublesome for patients experiencing Zimmer Persona Knee pain.All lots and sizes, numbering 11,658, were subject to the recall, which extended to the continental United States, Canada and throughout the world to South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.The Zimmer Persona Recall of March 2015 by the FDA was the regulators official response and acknowledgment of Zimmers own voluntary recall of the tibial plate: Zimmer Inc. is initiating a voluntary recall of Persona Trabecular Metal Tibial following an increase in complaints of radiolucent lines and loosening, the official FDA notice began. All sizes and lots of the affected devices are being removed from distribution. Urgent Medical Device Recall notices were issued to affected distributors, hospitals, and surgeons on 2/16/2015 via mail. Customers are asked to review the notification and ensure affected personnel are aware of the contents. All affected product are to be located and quarantined immediately.Locating the devices stocked on hospital shelves waiting for insertion is somewhat easier than locating medical devices already implanted in patients. When you do, what then? Patients already having experienced failure of the component would be looking at revision surgery, and presumably looking into a Zimmer Persona lawsuit as a result. But what of patients who have yet to experience issues?Recalling a failed medical device is not as straightforward as recalling a shoddy part in an automobile, whereby the owner can bring it into the shop where the suspect part would be swiftly swapped out for a new one. Human beings arent that service-ready. No surgeon is going to undertake revision surgery for a component that has yet to fail and poses no risk to the patient until it does, if ever.And therein lay the rub: While the Zimmer Persona Trabecular Metal Tibial plate has a failure rate sufficient to persuade Zimmer and the FDA to undertake a complete and total recall of the troubled component, there are those who continue to have a good experience with the device, and may well be fine. Provided the Zimmer Persona patient is not derailed by constant worry that his or her knee might fail at any time, life can continue to be enjoyed without distraction, waiting for the other shoe (or knee) to drop.Thats assuming the patient has a clue as to what has gone into his or her knee in the first place. Many will not. Others might have a faint memory of something during the initial consultation with the surgeon, but failed to document the conversation, and the make and model of the prosthetic knee for future reference.Thats more important than ever, given the environment in which a majority of medical devices are approved.The 510(k) Clearance is an opportunity for the manufacturer to fast-track its product to market with full FDA blessing without the need, expense or expansive time required for a full clinical trial. Provided the new or updated device is substantially similar to that which is already on the market and performing well, it is deemed worthy of dispensing with the complex and costly clinical trial process involving a representative group of volunteers, and instead is launched into the market to a largely unsuspecting public.The advantage to the 510(k) Clearance is that it allows promising devices onto the market more rapidly, benefiting patients with little delay. The downside, however, is the possibility that products with an unseen and untested Achilles heel, rears up to bite an unsuspecting patient constituency.Any patient actually aware of the component he or she received and experiencing Zimmer Persona knee pain may not be aware of the fact that his or her prosthetic knee system was brought to market under an FDA 510(k) ClearanceBut there it is, on the official FDA recall document of March 12, 2015: 510(k) # K121771.In fact, perusing the official FDA 510(k) database reveals there are two 510(k) numbers attached to the Zimmer Persona Knee system - both dated 2012. The Zimmer 510(k) attached to the Zimmer Persona Recall was dated November 2012. That means the device associated with that clearance was only on the market for a little over two years, before it was recalled.Then, two months AFTER the Zimmer Persona Recall, Zimmer was approved for another device and awarded a 510(k) Clearance for the Prosthesis, Knee, Patello/Femorotibial, Semi-Constrained, Uncemented, Porous, Coated, Polymer/Metal/Polymer.The date on that document is May 20, 2015 - one year ago, and issued nine weeks after the Zimmer Persona Recall.All the more reason for patients, in this age of the 510(k) Clearance fast track, to be diligent: research the device proposed for you, know its strengths and weaknesses, make an educated decision, then verify and document exactly what you got.That may come in handy down the road should you ever have the need to file a Zimmer Persona lawsuit. You cant just blindly trust the system any longer, as the system makes it too easy for mistakes to happen. Its the new normal.
Nigerians have remained in topsy-turvy following the new development in the countrys downstream oil sector.
Legit.ng recalls that the federal government on Wednesday, May 11, removed subsidy from sale of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol with immediate effect.
According to the government, a benchmark of N145 per litre, has been recommended as pump price.
The announcement was made by Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum, who however promised the price will not stay for so long.
This however didnt go down well with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), who vowed to go on strike to force the federal government to revert to the former pump price of petrol (now pegged at N145).
But just as both labour unions planned an industrial action to force the federal government to revert to the former pump price of petrol, the government filed a suit at the Industrial court to restrain them from embarking on strike. And in the early hours of Wednesday, May 18, the court read an injunction against NLC and TUC not to go on strike. The court order shows that should the NLC and TUC go ahead with the industrial action, then they are going against the law.
Just before the court order, a meeting into the night of Tuesday, May 17, between the federal government and the labour workers to reach a compromise over the proposed action, ended in a deadlock.
Although it was gathered that the federal government has agreed to set up a committee that will review the new fuel pump price as well as the minimum wage issue which the workers have been agitating over.
However, Legit.ng fact-check today, May 18, have showed that people have carried on with their usual daily activities despite NLCs position to embark on strike to protest the fuel hike. However, there are cracks in the house of the labour union as a faction have chosen to pull out from the industrial action.
From Lagos to Ogun to Edo, Delta, Abuja and several parts of the country, Nigerians were seen carrying on with their normal daily activities. This however has triggered the ire of some others who have taken to the streets to harass motorists.
Legit.ng is on the streets of Lagos, Abuja and many other major states in the country. We are going to be bringing live coverage of how Nigerians are reacting to the strike action from the labour union.
Legit.ng will also appreciate feedback from our readers on the situation of things in their areas. Send updates to info@corp.legit.ng
5pm' Just as the planned industrial action flopped in many parts across the country, the NLC has threatened to ground flight operations at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos from Thursday, May 19.
If the federal government refuses to revert the pump price of petrol to N87 per litre.
Adelegan Solomon, vice-president, NLC, made this known while addressing protesters at the MMIA over the governments removal of fuel subsidy.
Solomon, who is also the President of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUCPTRE), urged Nigerians to unanimously reject the hike in fuel price.
According to him, the N145 per litre announced by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) will further increase the suffering of ordinary Nigerians.
He noted that Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs) were members of AUCPTRE, adding that arrangements have been perfected to ground flight operations at the airport from Thursday.
Today, few planes have taken-off and landed on this airport but by tomorrow, no plane will land or take off. It is operation occupy Lagos State, Solomon said.
4pm' In Lagos, the NLC protest is looking more like an endurance trek at the moment as security operatives are keeping watchful eyes on the protesters, likewise trying to checkmate their actions.
3.28pm' In Taraba state ministries in the state and public schools were closed as workers comply with the NLC strike
3pm' Adamu Ango, chairman of the Kaduna NLC has said the union in his state won't force any worker to comply with the strike order. According to him, compliance is only in few states and not compulsory.
2.30pm' In Lagos, the roads are beginning to enjoy a lit bit of freedom despite the labour union strike. Legit.ng's correspondent around the Ikeja-Maryland axis have observed motorists now ply the major roads without any form of hindrance and many business activities have continued to go on smoothly. Although the protesters have remained dogged in their strike action, despite heavy security presence. There were also scenes of some of the labour union members clashing with security operatives. It however, didn't turn bloody.
1pm' Legit.ng has gathered that the nationwide strike embarked upon by the NLC has proved to be ineffective in Kano state as workers defied the strike by reporting to their respective offices. It is also same in Bauchi, Yobe, Adamawa, Jigawa as workers shunned the strike. Although in Gombe, Enugu and Ebonyi state there have been partial compliance as most workers stayed home, with schools and banks also shut.
12.48pm' More reports from Benin have it that the strike action declared by the Edo state chapter of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), witnessed below partial compliance by workers in the state on Wednesday, May 18, as some of the ministries functioned fully while others functioned partially.
Civil servants who reported early at their respective ministries and departments, however appeared jobless as they were seen loitering about and some of the doors under luck and key.
Private business establishments, offices and private schools however did not observe the sit at home order of the NLC, as banks and others opened for business without hindrance.
Many public schools however did not open. All classrooms at Idia College, Iyaro, were empty as teachers were not around to teach, just as many students were seen returning home, others gathered is clusters and others playing.
The case was however different at Emotan College, Wire road, where hundreds of students were seen receiving lectures in their respective classrooms.
The State chapter of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), in collaboration with some civil society organisations however matched from their James Watt Secretariat, off Mission Road, through Akpakpava road to the Ring Road and to State Secretariat at Sapele road, where they chased out all workers who reported to work.
All state ministries located at Ezoti street, behind Central Hospital, were quiet as the gates leading to the premises were all placed under locks and keys.
The Oredo local government council secretariat was also closed to workers.
Other government establishments, including Courts, hospitals and others however functioned fully.
Police vans occupied by armed security operatives were positioned at strategic locations around the Ring Road.
12.34pm' Protesters have taken to the streets in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.
12.30pm' Just as the NLC protest have been reported in some states, there is largely non-compliance on the part of Nigerians in other states.
12.20pm' A factional labour has taken to the street of Benin, the Edo state capital to protest.
12.15pm' In Lagos, protesters marched from the labour house in Yaba, to Maryland and ended at Airport road in Ikeja area of the state to protest the fuel hike. Below are some photos from the event in Lagos.
12.03pm' Protesters have taken to the streets in Asaba, the Delta state capital.
12.02pm' Reports have it that Fadeyi in Lagos state is now safe despite the earlier reported riot. This is according to a motorist who said the NLC had protested in the area earlier in the day but have now shifted base to somewhere else.
11.45am' In Yenagoa, the Bayelsa state capital, which is largely a civil service state, the strike is enforce. In Bayelsa, workers are owed for about four months. Labour Union leaders have locked the state secretariat in Yenagoa while the Union leaders are going round offices in Yenagoa.
11.43am' In Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital, the gates of the federal secreteriat are wide open. Workers are going about normal duties. The federal secretariat houses federal government workers like Customs, Immigration, NAFDAC. Petrol stations open with petrol attendants begging customers to buy their products. Banks, markets are opened for businesses in Port Harcourt. Normal traffic jams on normal days noticed as people hurry to their offices and various places of work were noticed in state capital. The strike largely flopped in Port Harcourt as schools, businesses are in full swing.
11.30am' In Maryland, Lagos, business activity is going smoothly. Speaking to Legit.ng, a resident who chose to remain anonymous said: "Many Nigerians have refused to join NLC in the strike because we understand the rationale behind FG 67% increase in fuel price. Unlike in 2012, we chose not to strike because we believe in this government."
11.12am' There are reports that NLC and ASUU members have began protest in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.
11am' A protest has been reported in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital. Led by the Chairman of the State Labour Congress, NLC, the protesters mainly workers of the affiliated unions commenced their protest from the NLC Secretariat, Abiola way and moving through MKO Abiola stadium to Kuto roundabout and down to Kuto road and had a stop over at the State High court, Isabo. There was a mild drama at the High court area as the protesters are forcing shops and workers to join them in the protest, which some vehemently rejected. While many people are condemning their actions, asking them to go back to their various offices, saying, they are not fighting for the masses but their pockets, some are praising them. Findings across the state revealed that schools in Sagamu down go Ijebu Ode to Ijebu Ilese, Ijebu Imushin, Ijebu Ife to Itele down to Ogbere and Abigi and Ibiade in Ogun Waterside are opened with most teachers around while students are seeing in two's and there's roaming around the street. Similar situation was gathered in Itori, Ewekoro, Papalanto, Ifo to Sango down to Iju Ota, Obere Ota, Iyana Igbesa, Owode, Oke Odan, Ajilete, Ihunbo, Ilase, Idiroko, Ibatefin, Agosasa to Ipokia down to Ifoyintedo and Tube, schools were opened and students are in their various classrooms going about their educational activities. Our correspondent gathered from a source that leadership of the association of Private schools proprietors had issued a statement denouncing their non-support to the call by the NLC. Speaking with our correspondent, some of the teachers,who pleaded anonymity disclosed that they are already at their duty posts,opined that there was no need for the strike action. A resident, Ms Yetunde Giwa advised that staying at home is not the solution, but to look at a way to cushion the suffering of the masses, posited that, "there are no gains without pains". An official of a new generation bank declared that we are not part of those that are calling for the strike, so why won't we be at work. "At least, you can see for yourself that activities are going on here and other banks around here. Oke Ilewo is the economic nerve centre of Abeokuta, you can attest to it that normal activities are going on everywhere,no cause for alarm. We are not part of the strike and will be never be", the banker insisted. The NLC protesters are still moving round the town, carpeting the Federal government for their insensitivity about the masses.
10.45am' In Ogun state, residents and workers have been seen going about their normal businesses against the call by the NLC that industrial action should begin today. Investigation within Abeokuta metropolis showed that schools, banks and other offices are open for businesses. Also, Legit.ng's correspondent can authoritatively report that normal activities were going on at the State Secretariat, Oke Mosan, Abeokuta as workers are seen at their various duty posts going about their normal businesses.
10.30am' Despite the anti-riot police officers arrival at Fadeyi bus-stop along Ikorodu road to disperse rioters, reports reaching Legit.ng have it that the NLC have began protest in the area.
10am' Legit.ng findings have shown that a lot of people have failed to comply with the NLC strike as they go about their daily activities. Social media expert and Nigerian blogger Japhet Omojuwa also makes same assertion.
9.51am' Protesters have taken to the streets in Ekiti state in compliance with the NLC strike.
9.20am' Reports reaching us have it that the NLC have commenced protest in Abuja. Some members of the labour union have taken to the streets with the union flags demanding the FG revert to the former pump price of petrol.
9am' Following intelligent reports from some Nigerians, Anti-riot police officers have arrived Fadeyi bus-stop along Ikorodu road to disperse rioters who blocked the road by creating burn fires this morning.
7.30am' Hoodlums arrive Fadeyi bus-stop along Ikorodu road to harass motorists who looked to be heading to their places of work. The hoodlums blocked the road by creating burn fires.
7.10am' A poll conducted by Legit.ng on our official Twitter handle (@naijcom) has shown that more Nigerians prefer the NLC don't go on strike.
7am' Reports have it that that hoodlums have blocked the every busy Ikorodu road to stop motorists who seemed to be heading to their various places of work.
Source: Legit.ng
- After two years of their abduction, one of the Chibok school girls has been found
- She was found by the Civilian JTF
- The chairman of the Chibok community confirmed the report according to Oby Ezekwesili
One of the Chibok school girls abducted by the deadly Boko Haram insurgents in April 2014 has been reportedly found.
According to a report by the Hausa service of the BBC, the girl was rescued in the Sambisa Forest, close to the border with Cameroon on Tuesday, May 18.
The rescued girl identified as Amina Ali Nkek from Mbalala village, south of Chibok was said to have been found by members of vigilante group known as Civilian JTF.
Amina Nkek Amina, 19, was breastfeeding a baby during her rescue
READ ALSO:
Nkek was reportedly identified by a civilian fighter who recognised her.
Sources told the BBC she was found with a baby.
Report has it that she was later identified by her parents after she was taken to Chibok and she now with soldiers in Dambuwa, Borno state until further investigations are completed.
Nkek disclosed that all the kidnapped girls are still kept in Sambissa Forest by the insurgents, Sahara Reporters reports.
She was found in the Kulakeita area in the company of her Boko Haram husband, and was immediately rescued by vigilantes who handed her over to Nigerian troops in Damboa.
She was reportedly found in the company of her Boko Haram husband
The rescued girl reportedly told the soldiers during interrogation that six of the girls have died, while the others have been married off to Boko Haram commanders, and that they were all still in Sambisa Forest as of the time of her rescue.
Oby Ezekwesili, the leader of the #BringBackOurGirls group said the chairman of Chibok community in Abuja, Tsambido Hosea-Abana confirmed the news.
Also confirming the news, Yakubu Nkeki, the chairman Of Chibok girls Parents said she was found on Monday at an area close to the Sambisa Forest by members of the CJTF, Leadership reports.
Nkeki said: "I am in Lagos right now but my wife called me yesterday. The chairman of the CJTF also called me. They took the girl to my place where she was identified. Her mother identified her too. The CJTF and the army have taken her to Dambowa. When I return home, I will be able to get more details."
READ ALSO: Nigerian army confirms rescue of Chibok girl
Meanwhile, the Nigerian army has said troops on Operation Lafiya Dole rescued one of the abducted Chibok School Girls in Baale, Borno state.
According to army spokesman, Colonel Sani Usman, who gave her name as "Falmata Mbalala", she was one of the person rescued by Nigerian troops at Baale near Damboa.
Bulama Madurai, the vice principal of the school where the girls were abducted whom she recognised when she was taken to her village also confirmed her rescue.
However, the school's principal said none of the schoolgirls bear Falmata Mbalala on their register.
According to report, The father of the 19-year old girl who was 17 when she was abducted, died while she was held captive.
This year made it two years since the girls were abducted from their school by the dreaded Boko Haram sect.
On that fateful day, the insurgents stormed the school, abducting over 200 girls from their hostel. Some managed to escape from the insurgents within hours of their kidnapping, by jumping off the lorries and running off into the bushes.
READ ALSO: Service chiefs snub Senate meeting on Chibok girls
The others who didn't escape have been missing since then and every effort to find and rescue them has proved abortive.
In April 2016, which marked the second anniversary of their disappearance, a video surfaced, showing some of the kidnapped schoolgirls alive. The video showed 15 girls in black robes who said they were being treated well but wanted to be with their families.
Source: Legit.ng
- Hashimu Suleiman regrets trekking for Buhari from Lagos to Abuja
- He says Buharis government makes things worse for the masses
- However, later Hashimu debunks rumours, pledged always support Buhari
Suleman Hashimu
Do you remember the man who trekked from Lagos to Abuja to celebrate the victory of Muhammad Buhari in presidential poll?
Hashimu Suleiman, a year after his long trip, has said that trekking for Buhari was his greatest mistake.
The man expressed his dissatisfaction with the way the president has been ruling Nigeria in the last one year.
READ ALSO: Man trekking for Buhari gets mouth-watering offer
He said:
Muhammadu Buhari, the main opposition candidate, won Nigerias presidential election by 2.57 million vote in 2015.
Hashimu had made a personal promise in 2013 that should former military ruler run and win the 2015 presidential poll, he would trek from Lagos to Abuja.
READ ALSO: President Buhari might be the saviour of the Chibok girls?
As Buhari won the man was forced to fulfill his promise and on April 20, 2015, he arrived Abuja from Lagos amid a cacophony of excitements. He met with the president and other party chieftain at the presidential campaign headquarters of the All Progressives Congress.
Source: Legit.ng
Cartoonist Ethan Young is responsible for our favorite comic book experience of 2015Nanjing: The Burning City. An unforgettable portrait of honor and loss, the graphic novel unravels the complexities of one of historys reddest days until a human core remains, raw and brilliant. (It made two Paste editors cry.)
Youngs next two projects travel through space instead of history; The Battles of Bridget Lee arrives this Fall from Dark Horse, featuring a young medic on a journey to reclaim earth. Pilgrim Finch, debuting this Monday from mobile comics platform Stela, explores format as much as the cosmos. Featuring a damn adorable squirrel-groundhog hybrid in a spacesuit, the vertically-scrolling narrative shows the titular astronaut crash-land on a new planet full of mischievous fauna. To emphasize visual storytelling, Young vouches for a comic with no dialogue. In space, nobody can hear you banter.
But the cartoonist articulates sophisticated plot points and themes despite avoiding their most obvious form of expression. Pilgrim Finch emerged from Young witnessing his son, Elliott, transform from a bundle of biological need to an empathetic, cognitive being in a matter of weeks. That revelation mingles with Youngs humane values (hes a vegan who fostered scores of street cats after college in New York City), laying the trajectory for a science-fiction rarity a story all-ages adorable and emotionally ornate, like the best Pixar movies. Paste chatted with Young about fatherhood, the craft of vertical comics and the human races baffling relationship with its pets.
Paste: How did Pilgrim Finch originate?
Ethan Young: The whole idea behind Pilgrim Finch is a metaphorical, symbolic story of my sons first few weeks of life, and how you go from being this helpless, and somewhat selfish, creature to learning how to be a well-functioning being. Not that babies function very well for their first couple weeks, because they still need their parents. But I just wanted to do something to commemorate my sons birth, and I figured using science fiction would make it a lot more interesting for me.
Paste: Being a creator whos constantly bringing new worlds to life, how does that relate to actually creating new biological life? Are there any parallels? Does it influence how you think creatively?
Young: I think more than anything, it fueled my desire to finish projects more quickly, because of time constraints taking care of Elliott all the time. I think its renewed my desire to put more family-friendly, kid-friendly material out there.
Nanjing: The Burning City was meant for an older audience, but before that I was doing my semi-autobiographical comic, Tails. That was a comic that probably could have appealed to young adults as well. I was in my 20s and didnt have many responsibilities aside from cats, and I just cursed a lot in the comic. I stand by it, and Im still proud of it, but at the same time thats not something I could show my five-year-old kid now. Ive been more cognizant to create stuff that I can show to more people. I do want to appeal to fans who are younger, and not just appeal to people who are kind of jaded and cynical, which unfortunately makes up a huge portion of fans.
Pilgrim Finch Art by Ethan Young
Paste: Coming from Tails and Nanjing, how calculated is your muse? Do you have a plan to hit certain genres in a certain time span? Or is Pilgrim Finch a little more spontaneous?
Young: Sometimes its spontaneous. Even with my webcomic, Tails, which had an inkling toward genre art, and then Nanjing is a huge departure from that. Its embedded in the real world. So for my next project for Dark Horse this Fall, The Battles of Bridget Lee, Im going full-on science-fiction genre. At one point many years ago, I thought Nanjing might be better if I did it as a sci-fi allegory, because it would require a lot less research and give me a lot more artistic license to play around with events and timelines, so Im not shackled to actual historical accuracy. That probably wouldnt have worked, just because stories like that would be a dime a dozen. It would have robbed the book of any uniqueness. Right now, Im focusing on some of the things that Ive always wanted to do, which is genre.
Paste: You stray away from using any conventional dialogue in Pilgrim Finch. What informed that decision?
Young: I wanted to challenge myself a little bit, without sounding pretentious. Just creating a comic is a challenge itself, but I wanted to see if I could tell a story in Pilgrim Finch that was largely wordless, using nothing but the emotions expressed on faces, hands and gestures to tell the story and drive that forward. Im a firm believer in the power of visual storytelling and how, even in silence, you can say a lot in comics. My main point of advice for people who ask about drawing comics is to always make sure the visual storytelling is as clear as possible. If you cant follow the story without reading the words, then the visuals havent done their job. You want to make sure that the eye does not get lost after reading it. Thats why I eschewed traditional dialogue in Pilgrim Finch to focus on visual storytelling, and see how far I could really take that.
Pilgrim Finch Art by Ethan Young
Paste: With Stela, you cant flip pages left to right, only vertically. Its a different way of interacting with visual storytelling. How do you approach something that innovative and different?
Young: When it was first proposed to me, I thought, This will really be easy enough, because its not that different from a traditional comic, other than the panels are broken up differently. When I dove into it, I found that the main challenge was how I had to rewire my brain and how I paced the story. With traditional pages, you can change panel sizes. Here, Im trying to treat every single frame as its individual panel, which is its main intentionpanel for panel. I found that certain shots didnt warrant such an emphasis, but I had to give it an emphasis , because those are the rules in this format. It forced me to really think prudentlywhat absolutely needs to be shown? If I was doing Nanjing in this format, it would be challenging, because I couldnt get away with so many silent scenes and so many shots of characters looking at one another, and characters giving each other warnings with their eyes. Id have to be more judicious.
Thats what Pilgrim Finch has taught me, even in the short amount Ive worked on itto be very judicious with how I use any panel.
Paste: Is it difficult to create visual continuity between panels, knowing the reader wont be able to reference two of them simultaneously?
Young: Thats where I think some old animation skill comes in handy. I did a little bit of work with Animation Domination doing character designs. We were constantly being beaten down with issues of consistency. Things that would pass as consistency in comics would not pass in a cartoonif even the jawline is remotely off-kilter I approached Pilgrim Finch slightly with animation principles in mind. The consistency of the composition and the consistency of the environment were incredibly important, and even color. If you look at the first chapter of Pilgrim Finch, the hues and the tints all have to relate to one another. They can differ from time to time, but largely if the color is inconsistent, much like with any part of the drawing or illustration, it will throw the reader off a little bit.
Pilgrim Finch Art by Ethan Young
Paste: Youre a vegan with a host of cats whos pretty active in animal rights. How did you land on a bear as a protagonist?
Young: Its funny that you say bear, because I actually think of Pilgrim Finch as a weird squirrel/groundhog hybrid. I think I wanted to draw something that I found to be very adorable. If this ever does go into print, I think, What adorable face can I plaster on the cover that will appeal to kids?
Paste: And the document thievesa cross between a lemur and a slow loris maybe?
Young: I actually call those characters the critters. Theyre a combination of lemurs, aye-ayes and lorises. I definitely use lorises as an example. I also wanted to use them as an example because I felt bad for them. People kept passing around those videos of them being tickled, after I learned that they actually hate being tickled. But its something where we project a lot of our human emotions on our animals. We want to anthropomorphize them, and lorises are perfect for that because they have those huge, soulful-looking eyes. And really theyre like, Holy crap! Im terrified for my life! But we think, They like being tickled! Theres almost a tragic paradox of their cuteness, and I wanted to use them as these poor little specimens that Pilgrim Finch has ignorantly and selfishly entrapped.
Pilgrim Finch Art by Ethan Young
Paste: and that corresponds as an analogy for your son learning to be more communal.
Young: Thats going to be the running theme in this series: how Pilgrim can learn to be more empathetic. If I could have just made the main character in Pilgrim Finch a straight-up tabula rasaif I could have gotten away with that I would have. But I think a character like that whos a complete blank slate would have been really, really hard for some people to connect to. Even something like WALL-E, which is wordless and has an adorable characterthe characters not a blank slate and he shows a lot of emotion. Its just presented through the eyes and what he collects. My editor [Jim Gibbons] and I figured, Well, if hes something like a collector of these animals and hes imprisoning them against their will, thatll be something for him to work through. And he learns.
Paste: Why did space appeal to you in the first place, coming from projects that were autobiographical and then historical?
Young: Its like Patton Oswalt said in his book, Zombie Spaceship Wasteland: when you deal with those settings, youre basically rewriting the rules of the world. Thats why those settings appeal to so many young creators, especially first-time creators. You get to create your own internal logic, you get to create your own internal rules. Thats the great thing about Pilgrim FinchI dont have to explain why this little bear creature is a traveler, other than several markers. Heres a specimen containerOk, that tells us what his vocation is. He has a spaceship. Its cute and bubbly. I modeled it off an Akira Toriyama design, from Dragon Ball, which I loved as a kid. The designs were always bubbly and Volkswagen-y. I just love this kinds of designcompact and cute.
Science fiction lets us explore modern ideas through allegory, that we would sometimes be uncomfortable facing. We love to explore politics through science fiction because in our reality, its the GOP race. This is ugly and disgusting and I want to turn away. But youre exploring this Philip K. Dick story and its appealing because you can win in that story. Sometimes in real life, you cant win.
Its escapism. You can be political and have as much insight as you want in science fiction, but people come to it for escapism. And that can be a shame; sometimes science-fiction stories that dont offer pure escapism are largely ignored. I feel like if Terry Gilliam offered more pure, fun escapism, hed probably make more money. But that isnt Terry Gilliams style.
Paste: Will Pilgrim Finch have political overtones?
Young: No. This is definitely an emotional story. I do have some loose plans for a sequel, in case Pilgrim Finch is popular enough, where it might get a little more political. But political in the vein of Avatarsome themes of environmental exploitation. Hes on this pure untouched planet right now. Whats it like for such a pure, untouched land to be slowly exploited and stripped away? As I describe it out loud, it sounds kind of depressing[laughs]
Guns N Roses enthusiasts worldwide were thrilled when the news of the Not In This Lifetime reunion tour broke earlier this year, following rumors that vocalist Axl Rose and guitarist Slash had put their feud behind them. Now fans of the hard-rock group have two additional reasons to be excited for the bands extensive summer stadium tour: rock legends Alice in Chains and Lenny Kravitz have been confirmed as the openers for June 23 to July 3 and July 19 to 24, respectively.
The tour, already historic as the first reunion stadium gigs of Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan in more than two decades, now boasts these two illustrious acts, which will no doubt send demand for tickets skyrocketing. Additional seats for the initial Detroit show at Ford Field go on sale tonight on the stadiums website. Kravitz, evidently as swept up in the hype surrounding the tour as anyone else, told Rolling Stone that I dont normally do gigs like this, but sometimes youve got to do things for the fun of it, for the experience. Im looking forward to playing with them and celebrating them coming back together.
Axl Rose is currently touring with AC/DC in Europe as a replacement vocalist for Brian Johnson, who departed from the tour in April for health reasons. When Rose returns to the U.S., the Not In This Lifetime tour will kickoff in Detroit on June 23, with Alice in Chains opening. Openers for the remaining shows, from July 6-16 and July 27 through the end of the tour in late August, have yet to be announced. See the full list of tour dates below.
Guns N Roses Tour Dates:
June
23 Detroit, Mich. @ Ford Field (with Alice in Chains)
26 Washington, D.C. @ FedEx Field (with Alice in Chains)
29 Kansas City, Mo. @ Arrowhead Stadium (with Alice in Chains)
July
1 Chicago, Ill. @ Soldier Field (with Alice in Chains)
3 Chicago, Ill. @ Soldier Field (with Alice in Chains)
6 Cincinnati, Ohio @ Paul Brown Stadium
9 Nashville, Tenn. @ Nissan Stadium
12 Pittsburgh, Pa. @ Heinz Field
14 Philadelphia, Pa. @ Lincoln Financial Field
16 Toronto, Ont. @ Rogers Centre
19 Foxboro, Mass. @ Gillette Stadium (with Lenny Kravitz)
20 Foxboro, Mass. @ Gillette Stadium (with Lenny Kravitz)
23 East Rutherford, N.J. @ MetLife Stadium (with Lenny Kravitz)
24 East Rutherford, N.J. @ MetLife Stadium (with Lenny Kravitz)
27 Atlanta, Ga. @ Georgia Dome
29 Orlando, Fla. @ Orlando Citrus Bowl
31 New Orleans, La. @ Mercedes-Benz Superdome
August
3 Arlington, Texas @ AT&T Stadium
5 Houston, Texas @ NRG Stadium
9 San Francisco, Calif. @ AT&T Park
12 Seattle, Wash. @ CenturyLink Field
15 Glendale, Ariz. @ University of Phoenix Stadium
18 Los Angeles, Calif. @ Dodger Stadium
19 Los Angeles, Calif. @ Dodger Stadium
22 San Diego, Calif. @ Qualcomm Stadium
(For part two in this series, on how unity is impossible in time for November, click here.)
Last July I wrote an article titled The Republican Party is in Shambles for the Huffington Post. That piece was to be a turning point for me. Up until then I had spent most of my energy writing about the GOP, electoral strategy, realignments, and policy. When Donald Trump became the Republican front-runner I realized that the real race for president was the Democratic primary, and so I shifted focus. In other words, the 2016 presidential election was the Democrats to lose. To my dismay, that is exactly what theyre doing.
Right now, the Democratic Party is on the verge of nominating a candidate who would be the least popular presidential nominee since David Duke if not for her rival on the Republican side. It is about to run a candidate who, despite claims to the contrary, is currently being investigated by the FBI, and who, by all rights, would be at home as a Republican if not for some social issues. In a year of outsider insurgency, Democrats are about to rally behind the candidate who most exemplifies the political establishment, save for the fact that Hillary Clinton is not a white man. Theyre about to stake the future on someone most people associate with the word dishonest, and who polls show is the weaker candidate; someone who is almost certain to lose her reelection bid in 2020 a Census year in which down-ballot voting is essential if the Democrats want a chance to retake the House of Representatives before 2031. The establishment of the party has seemingly done all it can to guarantee this outcome.
The primary itself has reached fever pitch, with alleged and not-so-alleged incidents of violence cropping up. The Bernie Or Bust Movement has grown so large it threatens Clintons victory in a close November race (if she is to be the nominee). The Democratic Party has unwittingly revived an old fault line in left wing politics between social and economic progressives, and is splitting as a result. Disunity could actually put Donald Trump in the White House.
How the hell did we get here?
The key to Hillary Clintons success in the primary has been her Machiavellian preparation. Clinton is perhaps the most prepared candidate weve seen in our history. That does not mean she is the best candidate for the job, but it does mean that she did her homework in the many years shes been running for president.
Her campaign made careful calculations about registered Democratic voters. The evolution narrative was crucial to overcome years of flip-flopping and political expediency. The campaign also figured out how much leeway Clintons name recognition and identity politics would allow her evidently enough to overcome concerns about her paid Wall Street speeches
Through coordination with various super PACs the campaign and her allies settled on a strategy of hijacking the term progressive while characterizing any criticism of Clinton as sexist victimization by her opponents. This move was also stroke of political genius as it excused the candidates gaffes, questionable past decisions, and her connections to special interests in the eyes of identity voters and older conservative Democrats. It got people like Rebecca Schoenkopf, Sady Doyle, and Joan Walsh to fight Clintons genuinely progressive critics.
Her campaign also went to great lengths to preserve the air of inevitability surrounding the former Secretary of State. Clinton targeted the early states in the south, and these early wins also helped give her the momentum to survive later defeats, and concerns about her declining favorability ratings. Clinton also bolstered that narrative with her party connections and fundraising influence to guarantee a significant superdelegate lead even before the race began.
The Clintons also established financial ties with many individuals in the media including Chris Matthews (indirectly), Stephanie Cutter, Maria Cardona, Sara Fagen, Hari Sevugan, and Lynda Tran. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who purchased The Washington Post in 2013, made millions as a result of a government contract through the State Department while Clinton was Secretary. Former right wing political hitman David Brock, who runs several pro-Clinton super PACs that coordinate directly with the campaign, purchased Blue Nation Review. CNN too has financial ties to the Clintons. It is owned by Time Warner, one of the former Secretarys largest career donors. Similarly, Comcast which owns MSNBC, is another big Clinton donor. David Cohen, Comcasts executive vice president even threw her a fundraiser.
Speaking of financial ties, Clinton solidified crucial alliances during her time as Secretary of State. Many of the groups that had paid her for speeches or donated to the Clinton Foundation found themselves rewarded with government contracts through the State Department. Clinton also used her position to make new alliances which would later pay off in more speaking fees and donations. Take UBS AG, for example, which the former Secretary got out of a serious dilemma with the IRS. UBS would later give Bill Clinton millions in speaking fees, as well as partner with and donate to the Clinton Foundation. It should be mentioned there is only the appearance of impropriety, but no actual evidence.
The final elements of Hillary Clintons preparation are her political savvy and careful timing. Key people (allies) were appointed or rose to influential positions within the Democratic Party leadership. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, her co-campaign chair from 2008 who is now DNC Chair, and Sen. Barbara Boxer D-CA, whose daughter had a son with the former Secretarys brother, is now the Democrats Chief Deputy Whip in the Senate. Clinton took advantage of these circumstances. Today, the DNC is has a joint fundraising agreement with the Clinton Campaign and is funneling money into pro-Clinton super PACs like American Bridge 21st Century.
Over the last 7 months the DNC has provided $216,000 to American Bridge, which is part of the Brock/Hillary SuperPAC network. Lee Fang (@lhfang) May 18, 2016
All things considered, is it any wonder Hillary Clinton has been the inevitable nominee since 2013?
Regardless of the extreme amounts of preparation that went into the Clinton 2016 presidential run, none of it would have been possible without generous assistance from special interests like Wall Street firms, big pharmaceutical companies, and many others. Through super PACs and donations to the Clintons directly through speaking fees or indirectly through the Clinton Foundation many are those who have helped the former Secretary on her quest for the presidency.
Of course it is our post-Buckley v. Valeo/post-Citizens United v. FEC/post-SpeechNow.org v. FEC America that has enabled these various special interests to bankroll Hillary and Bill Clinton, and enabled the Clintons to exert undue influence on the Democratic Party in spite of neither of them being current elected officials. If politicians did not have to rely so heavily on financial support to win elections, this influence would be minimized. Additionally, without lax regulation and lack of enforcement of campaign finance laws a direct result of political pressures and the Supreme Court Clinton would be disqualified or worse for illegally coordinating with super PACs. As The New York Times recently reported, the FEC is powerless to curb election abuse in 2016.
But there are also problems specific to the Democratic primary process. The first states to vote are those that Democrats no longer win in general elections. The front-loading of the south is a relic of the 1980s when the party was still trying to stop the realignment. But Reagan and the GOP were successful, and there is no reason to run candidates through an ideology filter that wont help them in a general election, or the country afterwards. Theres also the matter of superdelegates. DNC Chair Schultz admitted that their purpose is to quell grassroots uprisings. Today many of these superdelegates are lobbyists. And then finally there are the messy, disjointed state-specific rules for each primary contest. These problems are secondary to the overall broken campaign finance system in America, but they are no less real, and they cumulatively weighed against Bernie Sanders (though a part of that was due to Clintons savvy).
Still, in spite of all the advantages the Clintons have had since before the start of the primary, and in spite of how much the system favors her breed of politician, Senator Bernie Sanders has made a huge splash. He has forced the wheels of change to begin turning.
The current wisdom is that nobody could have predicted the meteoric rise of the independent senator from Vermont, but that is simply untrue. For years insider, transactional politics have failed to deliver the kinds of changes people have been demanding since 2008, or more accurately 2009 when the economy crashed after the Subprime Mortgage Crisis. The Democratic Party has had a grace period in the eyes of the American people since the crash occurred after eight years of a Republican President George W. Bush. But that time is over.
Rather than crack down on Wall Street, President Obama bailed out the banks and passed one very limited piece of legislation, Dodd-Frank, before moving on. Just one top Wall Street executive went to jail most ended up getting huge bonuses. In all that time, the middle class struggled, and shrank. Obamas stimulus worked, but was far too limited in its scope.
Perhaps worst of all, instead of standing up to the influence of money in politics following the highly publicized Citizens United decision, the Democratic Party largely embraced it cozying up to special interests (with few exceptions like Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida). Long story short, the people are mad because the rich got richer and more influential while everyone else got poorer, and the Democratic Party was seen largely going along with it.
Then Bernie Sanders came forward to challenge the status quo and the inevitable candidate. Denouncing Wall Street, special interests, lobbying, and super PACs he reminded Americans of the power they have when they come together. He spoke out genuinely for the desperate and the downtrodden.
The DNC and the media establishment did not react well to Bernies candidacy, or his message. To paraphrase from Christopher Nolans The Dark Knight: everyone whos wallet stood to get lighter went after him.
DNC Chair Schultz scheduled just six primary debates for dates and times when viewership would be low, and threatened the candidates with exclusion from those if they participated in any that were unsanctioned. All of the sanctioned debates were also scheduled after the deadline to switch voter registration in New York (where Bernie and Hillary have ties). These actions benefited Hillary Clinton who had the advantage of name recognition. The DNC also rolled back its rule against accepting money from federal lobbyists, allowing many Clinton allies to influence superdelegates.
The media, from CNN to Politifact, waged a war on Bernie Sanders, giving him significantly less coverage than Trump and perpetuating a narrative that the race was decided for Clinton from the outset. Often the coverage Bernie received compared to his opponent was decidedly more negative. Most major publications endorsed Hillary Clinton, and some went further. The Washington Post took it further and published 16 negative stories on Sanders in just 16 hours. In fairness to WaPo, they did publish the same amount of positive Bernie stories when they got called out, but after that, business went back to anti-Bernie spin. The New York Times stealth edited a pro-Sanders piece in such a way as to change the positive tone of the piece and make it negative. Blue Nation Review happily churns out multiple pro-Clinton and anti-Sanders stories every day.
But something amazing has happened: The people have taken notice.
Bernie Sanders has become a champion the only candidate running with consistently positive favorability ratings. Progressives have rallied together and demanded more of the Democratic Party for the first time in decades. A massive number of new voters have filled out the registrations to be a part of this change. Bernies progressives have even started running for Congress.
Defensive party leaders in Hillarys camp like Howard Dean, Barbara Boxer, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz have lashed out at these voters, apparently unable to see the writing on the wall, and Hillary Clinton has chastised and scolded them. The media has also come to the aid of the establishment. However, it was through this backlash, Democrats got a real glimpse of what their party had become in the same way that through Bernie Sanders they got a glimpse of what it could be.The jig was is up.
Americas voters have had enough. The whole country is realigning. Supporting Bernie Sanders is the only way forward for the establishment. If the leadership does not take this opportunity now, they will likely be swept out of office by progressives in upcoming years. And as the elected leaders change, so too will the unelected ones. The establishment does not realize it yet, but in the long-term, the future belongs to Bernie to the people.
But the immediate future looks dim. The party still has a chance to seize victory, but the way things are playing out, the odds are against it are high. Allegations of voting irregularities abound, pockets of violence are springing up, and Hillary Clinton is poised to become the Democratic nominee for president. A split in November seems all but guaranteed. Whether the party or Hillary Clintons presidential aspirations survive it is to be seen. One thing is certain though, whatever happens next on the left will determine the future of the United States.
(For part two in this series, on how unity is impossible in time for November, click here.)
Graduating college is hard, and so is finding a job, and so is living a decent life where you have enough money to get by and also have a bit of fun. Depending on where you want to live, and what you want your career to look like, this can start to feel impossible in todays economy.
Of course, some places are better than others. But which ones? Nerd Wallet put in the work to research that difficult question, and find out which cities in America are the best for recent college graduates. This was their methodology:
NerdWallet analyzed the 100 largest U.S. cities and ranked them according to the places that provide the best environments for college graduates who are just starting out. Our analysis focused on 2014 U.S. Census Bureau data covering job options, the age of the population, rent costs and median earnings, as well as December 2015 unemployment rates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Based on their findings, its fair to say that you really dont want to live in a small-to-mid-size city in Florida, California, or Nevada, states which contain nine of the bottom ten choices (Detroit is the odd man out). But where do you want to be? Check out the gallery above for the top 20, and be sure to visit Nerd Wallet for all the specific data.
1 of 20 20. Cincinnati, OH
2 of 20 19. Columbus, OH
3 of 20 18. Denver, CO
4 of 20 17. Richmond, VA
5 of 20 16. St. Paul, MN
6 of 20 15. Raleigh, NC
7 of 20 14. Lubbock, TX
8 of 20 13. Norfolk, VA
9 of 20 12. Lincoln, NE
10 of 20 11. Baton Rouge, LA
Once again Riot Fest returns to both Chicago and Denver to celebrate all things punk rock, carnivals and rodeos, still too punk to care that those three events are completely unrelated. Since the festival goes for four days in two different cities, there are a ton of bands signed on to play this year, but there are a few overlaps. Both locations still have some acts (hidden with question marks on the poster) that will be revealed later on this summer, and both cities will see headlining performances from Ween, Death Cab for Cutie and the original Misfits. Beyond that, both lineups (shown below) are absolutely jam-packed with cool music, and were told fun costumes will abound at both locales, because true punks go to music festivals in sailor costumes and matching Chewbacca snuggies.
Riot Fest is Sept. 2-4 in Denver and Sept. 16-18 in Chicagoyoull find their respective lineups below. Purchase tickets and find out more here.
The jet-black satire The Student only slowly makes its intentions known, but the deliberateness is crucial to our understanding of what Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov is after. In its early going, we think this adaptation of a play by German writer Marius von Mayenburg is merely a chronicling of a troubled teen with a Bible fixation. Eventually, however, we realize thats just part of the films larger societal critique. Though a bit uneven and at times strident, The Student has a righteous anger that feels like a tonic. It may be a commentary on the rise of regressive conservatism in Europe, but its themes echo across the globe, especially in the U.S.
The film stars Pyotr Skvortsov as Veniamin, a teen who somewhat recently has become a fervent Christian, reciting Bible passages from heart for seemingly every occasion. (Serebrennikov helpfully cites the passages book, chapter and verse on the screen, the visual footnotes increasing the sense of religious overkill.) Veniamins parents divorced not too long ago, and now he always dresses in black, so the fire-and-brimstone zeal may be merely as phase. But his passion and anger are unsettling all the same.
With his mother an ineffectual presence at home, Veniamin is most engaged by two people at school. One is an impressionable classmate, Grisha (Aleksandr Gorchilin), who was born with one leg shorter than the otherVeniamin feels confident that if his de facto disciple prays sincerely enough, God will fix his leg.
But the other is Elena (Viktoriya Isakova), his thirtysomething science teacher who finds her lesson plans increasingly challenged by this willful boy. When she tries to promote condom use, Veniamin loudly declares that sex can only happen within a marriageand that the act is for reproduction only. (He gets so excitable that he strips naked in front of the class to protest.) But perhaps even more disconcerting, Elena is getting pushback from the head of the school (a wonderfully rigid Svetlana Bragarnik), who thinks Elena is being too provocative by, for instance, teaching evolution without also discussing creationism. Veniamin may loudly defy Elena but, really, his resistance is emblematic of a larger, subtler problem in her school.
Often shooting scenes in long, unbroken takes that require tight choreography between multiple actors, Serebrennikov brings a big-screen energy to a theatrical work. But at the same time, he wants to pace out our indignation, a crucial decision when facing a main character whos meant to be tiresome. Skvortsov does nothing to soften Veniamin, nor does he provide hints about where this corrosive attitude originated. Veniamins confidence is as unwavering as his inscrutability, leaving us trapped with a young man whos impossible to like, let alone understand.
Not that The Student is a takedown of religious faithits more accurate to say the film warns against the ways that some people use religion as a weapon to advance harmful, antiquated agendas. Because Veniamin is always hammering away at those around him, quoting the Bible to justify every one of his sexist, bigoted viewpoints, Elena decides to beat him as his own game, researching the Good Book to find passages that contradict his. It may be a fairly obvious point, but Serebrennikov makes it ardently: The reliance on ancient scripture to validate modern-day beliefs represents an outdated way of seeing the world, encouraging a close-minded perspective immune to new schools of thought or evolving social norms.
But Serebrennikov pushes his critique further, dramatizing societys collective resistance to progressnot to mention observing how those standing up to religious zealotry can become just as entrenched and self-righteous as their opponents. Isakova puts us on Elenas side instantly, the actress revealing her characters frustration as everyone turns on her: the principal, her teacher boyfriend (who thinks shes becoming obsessed in proving the kid wrong) and even her students (who find Veniamins rebellious actions cool in an anti-authority kind of way). Deftly, The Student illustrates the trap that progressives and intellectuals face when they try to stand up for their beliefs: They can come across as know-it-alls and scolds, and their ideas run counter to whats safe and familiar, trying to apply ice-cold logic to situations in which emotions often run high.
Veniamins unblinking dogma can be darkly funny, the young actor emphasizing the characters religious rigidity. Likewise, Isakova taps into Elenas exasperation, eventually becoming so determined to defeat her young adversary that she becomes almost comically competitive. But The Student will later shift into a more serious direction, pitting our two main characters in a battle that seems to extend far beyond a schoolroom debate about how the earth was created. Serebrennikov sees modern life as a time when the forces defending the bad, old days are clinging to the Bible to bully others. In such a climate, the Elenas of the world are fighting a lonely, possibly losing battle, even if they have the facts on their side. No wonder shes the one going insane.
Director: Kirill Serebrennikov
Writers: Kirill Serebrennikov (screenplay); Marius von Mayenburg (play)
Starring: Pyotr Skvortsov, Viktoriya Isakova, Svetlana Bragarnik, Aleksandr Gorchilin
Release Date: Screening in Un Certain Regard at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival
Tim Grierson is chief film critic for Paste and the vice president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. You can follow him on Twitter.
The Arora Group has been granted planning permission to develop a new office block at London Heathrow with 85,000sq ft of CAT A office space. Arora has a strong presence in the Heathrow area, including two existing World Business Centre buildings under its management as well as the Compass Centre,
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This year, Autograph Collection Hotels, Marriott Internationals portfolio of independent hotels, will welcome two new properties from Roomers Hotel group. Part of Gekko Group, Roomers Baden-Baden and Roomers Munich will be Autograph Collections third and fourth hotels in Germany, joining Gewandhaus Dresden and Hotel Am Steinplatz in Berlin.
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According to Cushman & Wakefield, strong investment activity in the core Central European markets of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania continued in the first quarter of 2016, with 1.4 billion invested. The slight decrease in transaction volume of 5% compared to the corresponding period of 2015 was
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According to an Industrial Market Snapshot by Cushman & Wakefield, the first quarter of 2016 was particularly active for the industrial property market, bolstered by 2015s robust economic performance, the strongest annual outcome since 2007. Indeed, Czechs strengthening economy is attracting new investments and propelling activity from new market entrants.
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Goodman Group has signed a 10-year lease agreement with CECZ Logistic Park Management for a 19,000 sqm logistics facility at Bremen freight village (GVZ). The property benefits from excellent infrastructure connections, with direct access to the A281 motorway, the Deutsche Bahn rail freight network and the Port of Bremen.
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YIT, Etera Mutual Pension Insurance Company, Onvest Oy and Fennia Mutual Insurance Company have all signed the agreement to implement the Mall of Tripla and its parking facilities as a joint venture. Fennia Life Insurance Company Ltd, which was a party to the letter of intent signed in December 2015,
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Further companies will soon relocate into Silesia Business Park, an office complex developed by Skanska Property Poland at Chorzowska Street in Katowice. Navo Orbico and Distribev Orbico, both part of international Orbico Group as well as KSP Legal & Tax Advice firm will occupy in total over 3,200 sqm of
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Phenomenal quantities of valuable data are now being collected and created by UK businesses but much of its commercial potential remains untapped.
Fears of data leaks and of losing control are the key reasons why companies are hoarding data rather than sharing or trading it openly and transparently or turning it into profitable information-based products and services.
These are the key findings from an investigation carried out by Imperial College Business School with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The team has worked closely with organisations such as the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Ofcom, IBM and the BBC.
On average, data-based capital contributed just 0.015 per cent to UK GDP each year over the period studied by the team, even though investment in data-based assets in the UK reached US$7 billion in 2013 -- which equates to around 40 per cent of the amount invested in R&D.
Turning data into a widely traded, growth-boosting commodity similar to oil, for example, would require (i) a clearer regulatory framework and (ii) low-cost trading mechanisms enabling data to be exchanged in vibrant digital market-places without sensitive information about its originators being revealed.
Professor Aija Leiponen, Associate Professor at Imperial College Business School who led the work, says: "The world is increasingly awash with data and the key objective must be to ensure that it can be turned into growth, prosperity and jobs. Currently, however, data is still at the very early stages of commercialisation. It can't really be legally owned and that makes companies very protective and secretive where their data assets are concerned. Moreover, even anonymised data can be collated to reveal sensitive information about the organisations where it originates.
"What's needed is the development of new trading technologies -- technologies like the emerging 'blockchains' that incorporate protection against tampering or unauthorised use and could potentially enable anonymous trading of relatively high-value data assets. Alternatively, data assets can be commercialised as part of other digital products and services, though this can require significant R&D. However, data is unlikely ever to become formal intellectual property in the same way as patented inventions or copyrighted content are."
The aim is for the findings to be taken forward by government, the IT sector and wider industry to help create the legal/regulatory framework and technical capabilities needed to release the full commercial potential of the 'big data' revolution.
The results from this research are being presented at a workshop hosted by Imperial College London.
Patients with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) develop more severe critical illness and have higher mortality than patients with non-MERS severe acute respiratory infection (SARI), according to investigators involved with the largest study of critically ill patients with MERS. The study was presented at the ATS 2016 International Conference.
Until March 20, 2016, 1690 cases of MERS had been reported to the World Health Organization, with 80 percent of those cases in Saudi Arabia. The reported cases had an overall mortality of 35 percent. The investigators -- led by Yaseen Arabi, MD, chairman, Intensive Care Department, and professor, College of Medicine, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences and King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- embarked on their research because few studies have examined the clinical course of critically ill patients.
They collected data from 14 hospitals in 4 cities in Saudi Arabia and compared critically ill patients with laboratory-confirmed MERS to those admitted with SARI of non-MERS etiology during a similar period.
A total of 299 MERS patients with SARI were admitted to the participating ICUs and were compared with 218 patients with SARI only. Patients with MERS were younger (median age, 58 years) compared with non-MERS patients (median age, 70 years). There were a number of chronic morbidities common in both groups, including diabetes and liver disease. Symptoms such as cough, shortness of breath, and sputum production were also similar.
"Patients with MERS were more likely to be hypoxemic and to require invasive mechanical ventilation (85 percent versus 73 percent, p = 0.001), vasopressor therapy (77 percent versus 55 percent, p = 0.001), and renal replacement therapy (47 percent versus 23 percent, p = 0.001)," the investigators wrote. Mortality was higher in MERS versus non-MERS patients (70 percent versus 36 percent, p = 0.001).
Wikipedia
Dog racing will soon be a thing of the past in yet another U.S. state - offering hope to hundreds of greyhounds whose lives thus far have only known pain and exploitation. Last week, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law a bill to ban dog races, part of a growing trend of legislation that's bringing an end to the cruel practice nationwide.
Dodo Shows Odd Couples Kitten Isn't Sure About His Pittie Brother At First
Wikipedia
The new ban goes into effect at the end of this year, but Arizona's only remaining dog track, at the Tucson Greyhound Park, may seek to end its races as early as June. With that, more than 400 greyhounds currently held in deplorable conditions will finally be able to retire and find peace as companion animals to people who actually care about them. "Greyhound racing has run its course in Arizona," Gov. Ducey said in a release. "It's heartening that these beautiful greyhounds will soon be off the track and in loving homes. For any families looking to adopt a new canine companion this summer, I encourage you to consider one of these gentle and intelligent dogs." Indeed, there are many good reasons to adopt a retired greyhound.
Facebook/Massachusetts Environmental Police
As far as one bear family knew, they had nothing to be concerned about. In fact, they were probably under the impression that they hit the jackpot. After all, the Massachusetts neighborhood they lingered around was rife with bird feeders. It was an easy source of food after a long winter spent in hibernation. Residents of the neighborhood had seen the mother bear lurking around for weeks on end. But it was that very same convenience that ultimately led to tragedy.
Dodo Shows Adoption Day Hairless German Shepherd Puppies Find The Perfect Families
On Monday morning, the two bear cubs were found stranded in a tree. Their mother lay motionless on the ground. Unbeknownst to the young cubs, this would be the final time they saw her.
Officials discovered that the mother bear had been electrocuted by a nearby high-voltage wire. The powerlines in the area were secured and Massachusetts wildlife officers, in coordination with the Gardner Fire Department, rescued the two orphaned bear cubs, who were found to be in good health, according to a Facebook post by the Massachusetts Environmental Police.
Still, the loss of their mother was something that could have been prevented. "The demise of these bears was being fed by people," Sergeant William Woytek of the Massachusetts Environmental Police told CBS Boston. Large amounts of both corn and sunflower seeds were found on the ground in the area the bears were in, according to officials. "Homeowners are cautioned that bears finding birdseed, corn or other bird food will often revisit that site, drawing bears closer to people, resulting in bears losing their fear of people, a process called habituation," Massachusetts Environmental Police explained on Facebook. Habituation can get bears into dangerous situations, such as the one that caused two bear cubs to lose their mom.
Jessica Peralta
Quinine - not the first name that comes to mind when you think of an adorable, days-old, gray-and-white kitten. But when you handle as many kittens as the volunteers and staff at the Kitten Nursery at Best Friends Animal Society Los Angeles, new names are at a premium. In fact, according to Ellen Buchsbaum, cat caregiver at the nursery, they went through the alphabet 29 times last year alone. The Kitten Nursery has volunteers and staff caring for kittens year-round, 24/7, from birth to when they're big enough to be adoptable - at about 2 pounds, when they can get spayed or neutered. "We've had them arrive with the placentas still attached," Buchsbaum told The Dodo.
Jessica Peralta
The tiny kittens who arrive at the nursery are typically brought into LA Animal Services shelters by people who find litters on their property without the mother nearby (she might be out for food) and are not able to fend for themselves, or even perform basic functions like pee or poop on their own, and without their moms, they must be bottle-fed. Volunteers will stimulate their bowels and bladder by gently rubbing on their abdomen over a nearby trash can. Those lucky enough to arrive with their moms get to stay with them in the Mommy & Me room to nurse to their heart's content instead of heading to the aquariums where the 2-week-and-under kittens are kept between feedings and snuggles provided by the volunteers and staff.
Jessica Peralta
Buchsbaum said that while people who find kittens and take them to a rescue usually have the best of intentions, it's better to wait and see if their mom is actually still around. If she is, the kittens are much better off staying put with her. "Mom does all the hard work," she said. Without mom, it's up to the Kitten Nursery, which has its work cut out for it, especially come spring, which heralds the start of kitten season (typically running April to October). In April 2016, as kitten season got underway, Best Friends LA took in 322 kittens under 8 weeks. Last December, they only took in 29. Open since February 2013, the Kitten Nursery had saved 4,975 kittens by the end of last year.
Jessica Peralta
"Kittens are the highest killed population at L.A. city shelters," Michelle Sathe, public relations specialist for Best Friends Los Angeles, told The Dodo. Because these young kittens are so at-risk, kitten nurseries like the one at Best Friends Animal Society are opening up across the country to offer these babies the 24-hour care they require. Not only do they keep these kittens alive and healthy, but they also provide a human touch that gives them increased socialization and a better chance of being adopted. While kitten nurseries are an important solution to a large problem, spaying and neutering is the only way to stop the problem before it begins.
Dodo Shows Cat Crazy Fluffy Cat Wants To Sit On His Dad At All Times
Jessica Peralta
Female cats can get pregnant at as young as 4 months old. Since the pregnancy cycle is just two months long, a female cat could conceivably birth three to four litters by the time she turns 1.
Jessica Peralta
Fostering is another important component of the Kitten Nursery. According to Elizabeth Pashley, foster care coordinator, "Fosters can take kittens as young as they are comfortable with caring for - we have sent out 2- to 3-day-olds to foster, although more often it's the older ones at 1 to 2 weeks old."
Jessica Peralta
Best Friends Animal Society Los Angeles has a goal of caring for 2,900 kittens (like Quinine) in 2016.
Jessica Peralta
There are currently 179 approved nursery volunteers.
Jessica Peralta
A kitten in a "purrito" is a happy kitten.
Jessica Peralta
All kittens are weighed before and after feedings.
Jessica Peralta
The youngest kittens can't pee or poop without help.
Jessica Peralta
Kittens who don't have their moms will get stuffed animals for cuddling.
Jessica Peralta
Things can get messy when the kittens start eating on their own.
Jessica Peralta
Volunteers are available 24/7 to do whatever the kittens need.
Jessica Peralta
Who could say no to this?
Jessica Peralta
World's best job.
Jessica Peralta
In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue/Renee Brown
In February 2013, Texas' In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue rescued 10 tigers from a wildlife facility that had decided to get rid of its carnivores - and the state they were in was shocking.
"Some of them were 200 pounds underweight and some of them were completely bald," Vicky Keahey, In-Sync's founder, told The Dodo.
"But we took them in and started them on medication. We had to feed them three times a day because they were that hungry," she said. It wasn't until five months into their stay at the sanctuary that 10 rescued tigers even began to look like tigers.
Of the 10 tigers saved, the three youngest ones - Pepsi, Athena and Ukaidi - were grouped together and became known as "The Kids" at the rescue.
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The three "kids" | In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue/Keri Ostermann
Their mother, Cypress, along with their siblings, Jafar and Cincinnati, were saved and brought to In-Sync as well.
Cypress and Jafar | In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue
In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue/Renee Brown
While the kids, who are all 5 years old, are still wary of humans - as they should be - they're an extremely tight-knit group of siblings who are usually piled together in some shape or form within their shared enclosure.
In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue/Lark Demler
"They always fight together, spoon together, they eat together, play in the pool and bathe together," Keahey said.
The kids in a tiger snuggle pile of limbs | In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue/Lark Demler
In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue/Renee Brown
Dashing good looks run in the family, which makes it easy for them to simply meld together, but each of the kids has a distinct personality.
In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue/Karin Saucedo
Pepsi, who is the sole male of the trio, is by far the calmest, Keahey said.
Pepsi | In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue/Karin Saucedo
He also gets "whooped" by his sisters, who are divas in their own right.
Pepsi and Athena snuggling | In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue/Karin Saucedo
"Athena is a troublemaker," Keahey said.
Athena | In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue/Renee Brown
"She likes to instigate everything, everything belongs to her and nobody else can have it," she continued.
Athena refusing to let go | In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue/Renee Brown
Then there's Ukaidi.
Ukaidi | In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue/Karin Saucedo
During the initial transport, Keahey said, nine tigers got into their transport cages without putting up any fuss. Ukaidi was the only one who had to be tranquilized. That's how she got her name, which means "stubborn" in Swahili.
Ukaidi and Pepsi | In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue/Amber Innes; Susan Adams
Despite their closeness, according to Keahey, the trio does occasionally get into cases of sibling rivalry, but very much like humans, it's expected.
After all, no group of siblings is perfect.
Pepsi and Athena sharing a pumpkin | In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue/Karin Saucedo
But all of them are thriving at long last.
In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue/Lark Demler
In a noisy and bustling stretch of Lower Manhattan, where cabdrivers blare their horns and pedestrians scurry by with laser focus, people have places to be, it seems, and are disinclined to waste any time getting there.
But every so often, someone walking along Canal St. glances upward and pauses. And then pulls out a phone to take a picture.
On Tuesday, the windows of the office buildings on both sides of the street, near the Holland Tunnel, were covered in sticky notes, recreating Marge and Maggie from The Simpsons and a Superman logo that stood as tall as an entire floor. There was an homage to Prince, his symbol depicted in purple Post-its. And there were cheekier messages and references to memes as well: 5pm yet? and Bye Felicia.
The creations are the result of a friendly back and forth between the firms, mostly advertising and marketing companies, on opposite sides of Canal St.
Wow, thats funny, said Alexa Catania, 19, who stopped when a mosaic of a white ghost against a yellow background caught her eye; she thought she and her friend had stumbled across the offices of Snapchat on their way to lunch. I was trying to figure out what it was.
Only in New York, her friend Gerald J. Ruland said, as Catania snapped a picture.
The whole thing started last week, when Hi appeared in a window in the building at 75 Varick St. on the north side of Canal. Across the street, in the offices of the advertising company Havas Worldwide, at 200 Hudson St., someone responded with Sup.
Thats how simply things can start, with a little Hi, said Toygar Bazarkaya, the chief creative officer for the Americas at Havas Worldwide.
It blossomed quickly from there, with workers sketching out designs and using scores and scores of the adhesive notes in a range of colours to create their displays, many of which have grown far more sophisticated than the initial text-message shorthand.
Its cool to see it evolve over six floors, Jeremy Pagano, who works in account services for an ad company on the north-side building, said while taking a smoke break outside.
It has really come to life, his co-worker Angela Donza said.
The back and forth has generated lots of attention on social media, with hundreds of pictures posted on Twitter and Instagram, with hashtags like #CanalNotes and #PostItWar. Even the maker of Post-it notes caught wind of it and has sent the companies involved briefcases packed with a variety of notes in different colours.
Inside the offices, workers have found it exciting to watch everything unfold.
Its definitely surprising, said Kristina Bostley, an editorial manager for Biolumina, a pharmaceutical advertising agency in the building on the north side. We never really know what theyre planning, and they dont know what were planning.
It seems unclear where the competition is headed. It started organically, Bazarkaya said, and he hopes it continues that way. It has been a fun way for workers to have another outlet for their creativity after work, during lunch or in the occasional lulls during the day, of course.
We have a day job, he said.
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Sheryl Sandberg has leaned in again. This time with crucial life lessons for anxious millennials.
The famous Facebook chief operating officer and bestselling author of Lean In, her blockbuster book and movement about women, work and feminism that advised women to embrace their demanding professional lives, stepped forward recently after a year of grieving her husbands sudden death to offer poignant advice to university graduates.
The media focused on the fact that during a commencement address at the University of California at Berkeley, Sandberg, 46, spoke movingly for the first time about how devastated she was by the death of Dave Goldberg, her husband and the father of her two young children. Goldberg, a tech executive, died in a hotel gym last May while they were on holiday in Mexico.
This was about the loss of the man whom Sandberg, in the front of her book, had thanked for making everything possible. It was around him, after all, that she built one of her central theses that in order for women to succeed at work they needed to choose the right life partner.
I truly believe that the single most important career decision that a woman makes is whether she will have a life partner and who that partner is, she wrote then.
Perhaps because of her personal tragedy, Sandberg, on Mothers Day, also addressed the challenges single mothers face, saying on Facebook, Before, I did not quite get it. I did not really get how hard it is to succeed at work when you are overwhelmed at home, a statement that brought her criticism for being elitist and out of touch.
Believe me, no matter how much privilege a woman has, when she loses the partner she loves and depends on she suffers an earthquake in her private life.
But lets focus on what Sandberg told the grads she had learned about weathering tragedy. It comes down, as it always does, to the R word resilience but Sandberg outlined what she called the three Ps personalization, pervasiveness and permanence that make it more difficult for us to bounce back from hardship.
Borrowing from American psychologist Martin Seligman, founder of the positive psychology movement, Sandberg said, sometimes on the verge of tears, that people make three mistakes when calamity strikes.
First, we personalize it. Sandberg confessed that she blamed herself for her husbands death. How could she not have known he had heart trouble and saved him? Finally, she accepted that as an economics major of course she didnt have the medical expertise to spot heart trouble. Not taking failures personally allows us to recover and even to thrive.
Secondly, we make the tragedy pervasive. If this setback happened, said Sandberg, then everything in a persons life on every level is perceived as awful.
I wish Id known that in my 20s, when I did a fair bit of awfulizing. If one work thing went wrong, or a relationship ended, I saw my whole life as a flaming disaster. And we didnt even have the expression FML back then.
On her first meeting back at work, Sandberg told the students, she felt so overwhelmed by her tragedy that the meeting seemed unimportant, until something grabbed her attention and she realized that her work and her family life would go on, just not as she had envisaged.
And finally permanence. We assume that the way we feel today shattered, on edge, grief-stricken, like a flop, or as Sandberg put it about herself, swallowed up in the deep fog of grief, will be the way we feel forever, when all evidence suggests that people do recover. And often go on to greater things.
Sandberg joked, My rabbi told me that time would heal but for now I should lean in to the suck. It was good advice, but not really what I meant by lean in.
Hers was the perfect audience to hear this. Its no secret that millennials are beset by anxiety. They need all the coping skills they can get to thrive in a world that is economically and politically unstable and where the pressure and competition to succeed is brutal.
Yet paradoxically, its still the best of times. In fact, as another even more famous commencement speaker, Barack Obama, put it to students this spring at Howard University, If you had to choose one moment in history in which you could be born and you didnt know ahead of time who you were going to be what nationality, what gender, what race, whether youd be rich or poor, gay or straight, what faith youd be born into you wouldnt choose 100 years ago. You wouldnt choose the Fifties, or the Sixties, or the Seventies. Youd choose right now.
These are pivotal messages for todays grads to hear about the positive, progressive nature of the time they live in, however difficult, and how to navigate its challenges without getting crushed.
Because she has immense star power, Sandberg knew that her words would be heard everywhere. So she opted to say how natural the three Ps are, but how important it is to recognize they hold you back.
She told the students, I wish I had known about the three Ps when I was your age. There were so many times these lessons would have helped.
I wish I had known about them too, but its never too late to learn a new way to cope with adversity. Its a sure bet after all that whatever age we are, well face it again.
Judith Timson writes weekly about cultural, social and political issues. You can reach her at judith.timson@sympatico.ca and follow her on Twitter @judithtimson
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This years answer to the cronut is an edible breast implant. Well done, humanity.
OK, its actually called a raindrop cake and its essentially a half-sphere of colourless, flavourless jelly thats supposed to lookand tastelike a large, freshly fallen raindrop. Its jiggly, smooth and delicate. When bitten, the raindrop yields a soft, melty texture that falls apart rather than giving off a chewy, bouncy, Jell-O-like texture. After 30 minutes or so, the whole thing is supposed to disintegrate. Yum!
The dessert has been making the rounds across international media outlets for the past two months, spurred on by New Yorker Darren Wong, who started selling it for $8 a pop at a Williamsburg (of course) food market called Smorgasburg in April. Since I refuse to spend $8 on flavourless jelly, I sought to make my own.
But first, a backgrounder. The cake first went viral in 2014 when Japans Kinseiken Seika Company made a clear version of its shingen mochi, a soft mochi rice cake topped with roasted soybean flour and syrup. Wong, who works at a digital marketing firm, got the idea to bring it to the States. This month, Australian Japanese restaurant Harajuku Gyoza got into the action by making their own sweetened version.
By now you can find online recipes on how to recreate the raindrop cake at home but I wanted to get some local help. I asked chef John Placko, a molecular cuisine instructor, for some raindrop cake tips.
He says the key is getting the right balance of water and agar, a jellylike substance derived from seaweed, to achieve that delicate effect so that when you tap it with a spoon, the cake collapses rather than bounces (much like a raindrop). Gelatin gives a more elastic texture whereas agar will provide a more crumbly texture, which I think is the effect its going for.
Too little agar and the drop wont hold its shape, too much and it becomes cloudy and more silicone than raindrop. At his home kitchen in Mississauga, Placko made a version that uses 1/8 tsp agar, and added sugar and rosewater for flavour. He also topped a bunch of the cakes with gold leaf, mango puree, mint leaves and dehydrated avocados and raspberries. Its a blank canvas. A very blank canvas, he says of the original raindrop cake.
Agar can readily be found at Asian grocers (its a staple in southeast and east Asian desserts) in the form of dried strips or powder. Opt for the powdered stuff as its easier to measure and dissolve. Kitchen supply stores will also have silicone moulds to achieve the raindrop shape. If you dont want to buy a mould, a small rice bowl with a round bottom works wonderfully (the raindrop slides right out). Use distilled rather than tap water to achieve a perfectly clear cakeI realized this six cloudy cakes in.
If you still cant find the necessary components, Placko himself has a retail line of equipment and powders used in molecular cuisine.
Keep this recipe in your archives so future generations can wax poetic about grandmas homemade raindrop cake.
Raindrop cake
1 cup (250 mL) distilled water
1/8 tsp (0.5 mL) agar powder
1/2 tsp (2 mL) superfine sugar, optional
1 or 2 drops clear extract like peppermint, orange blossom or rosewater, optional
In a small saucepan over low heat, pour in water and sprinkle in agar. Stir until agar has completely dissolved. Sprinkle in sugar and add extract, if using. Stir. Bring to a gentle simmer, stir and let cook for one minute.
Pour mixture into silicone hemisphere moulds or a small round rice bowl. Chill in fridge for one hour, or until mixture has set. Carefully remove from moulds and place on serving plates.
Top with desired toppings like sesame seeds, fruit puree or maple syrup. Serve immediately.
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When reporters ask government agencies for copies of records, they often get documents so blacked out they look like crossword puzzles.
Thats why Raphael Satter, an Associated Press correspondent in Paris, was dumbfounded when he received files from the Public Health Agency of Canada that were censored using only Scotch tape and paper.
He was able to see the redacted confidential information simply by peeling back the paper.
This was a first, he said, in more than a decade reporting for the AP. He has made access to information requests in about 15 countries, from Norway to Rwanda. Ive never seen someone use an arts and crafts method in order to hide information from me, he told the Star.
A colleague of his, Maria Cheng, an AP medical writer, applied for the documents in August 2015 and got a reply about nine months later. The files were related to the 2014 Ebola outbreak.
Satter posted pictures and video of the improperly censored government documents on Twitter, where they quickly became the envy of journalists everywhere.
Canadians are so nice, tweeted Bobby Blanchard, a reporter for the Dallas Morning News.
Satter said the censors error revealed private information, including the names of three patients being treated for Ebola in West Africa at the time. He emailed the Office of the Information Commissioner and the Public Health Agency of Canada to notify them of the mistake.
The Public Health Agency is investigating the matter, said spokeswoman Sylwia Krzyszton.
The protection of personal information is of fundamental importance and we deeply regret that this error occurred, she said in an email.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, the body that advocates for the privacy of Canadians, hasnt received a breach report about the incident, said Valerie Lawson, a spokeswoman.
Based on what weve seen on Twitter, it clearly raises privacy questions and we will be following up with the organization to find out what happened, she added, in a statement.
It is rare for government agencies to send journalists uncensored records, according to a recent Star analysis of tens of thousands of access to information requests. Out of all the requests between June 2013 and July 2014, 57 per cent were returned with parts blacked out.
Tom Henheffer, executive director of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, has never heard of any redactions being made with tape and paper.
This is the weirdest thing Ive ever seen, he said. It mustve been someones first day.
It just goes to show how obviously under-funded the system is and there needs to be more investment into it.
In 2014-15, it cost $67 million to operate the access to information system, while the government collected just $368,000 in fees from applicants.
Treasury Board President Scott Brison unveiled changes to the system this month, which the government said was a first step in a greater overhaul.
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HALIFAXA university student struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts says he was forbidden from talking about his mental health problems with peers because of a school policy that carried the threat of eviction from residence if he violated the agreement.
Brody Stuart-Verner said he signed a confidential wellness agreement with Mount Saint Vincent University last October after being diagnosed with depression and experiencing suicidal ideation. The 19-year-old student said he informed his residence assistant at the school of his diagnosis and sought care at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre.
When he returned, he said he was asked by a residence assistant to sign the agreement that stipulated he not talk to other residence students about personal issues, namely the students self-destructive thoughts.
The agreement, dated Oct. 5, 2015, also stated that he should call the Kids Help Phone or a mental health crisis team first and then security if he has an emergency, such as suicidal thoughts.
I laughed when I first read those first two stipulations because I knew there was something fishy about them, but at the time I trusted them, he said in an interview from Charlottetown where he is working for the summer.
I went a whole year not talking about it because if I did talk about the agreement I would have been removed from residence.
The agreement also orders him to attend counselling regularly and follow up with a family physician.
It goes on to say that if he breaks the agreement, Stuart-Verner would have to vacate your room in residence and your lease will be terminated.
Paula Barry, the schools associate vice-president of student experience, did not respond to a request for comment but said in a Facebook post Tuesday that the university would review and possibly alter the agreements.
She said they are intended to support rather than isolate students in crisis situations and in the past year, the language in the agreement was included in one of two plans.
We dont want any other student to feel the way Brody did, she said in the brief post. We are consulting with our Students Union and will ensure the continued input of mental health professionals as we work to review and modify the agreement.
Still, Stuart-Verner and his family maintain the agreements amount to gag orders for students trying to deal with mental health issues and the stigma around them.
His mother, Sandy Stuart, said she was proud of her son for going public with his complaint and his efforts to change the schools policy.
I am shocked that the school would make him sign that, she said, adding that he was initially apprehensive about telling his story. I said, Brody youre speaking for a lot of people who are having these thoughts that are afraid to do anything.
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OTTAWAHarnam Singh Sohi set out for Canada with dreams of starting a new life but was denied the chance to ever set foot in his new homeland.
Instead, Sohi was among the more than 300 other passengers onboard the ship Komagata Maru who were turned away by Canadian authorities after their arrival in Vancouver in 1914.
In what remains a dark stain on Canadas immigration record, the boatload of mostly Sikh travellers was instead sent back to India after officials used a discriminatory law to deny them entry.
On Wednesday, Sohis great-granddaughter, Sukhi Ghuman, was on Parliament Hill to hear Prime Minister Justin Trudeau deliver a formal apology.
He wanted to come to Canada to provide a better life for his family. He wanted his children to have more opportunities because he had heard in Canada he would have a better education system, Ghuman said.
Standing in the Commons, Trudeau apologized to the descendants of those who were onboard and the broader Sikh community for what he called a great injustice.
Mr. Speaker, today I rise in this House to offer an apology on behalf of the Government of Canada, for our role in the Komagata Maru incident, Trudeau said.
The prime minister got no further before MPs and invited onlookers in the packed galleries rose in their seats in a standing ovation.
For many, this emotionally charged day was a long time coming, a chance to right a wrong, to acknowledge the dashed dreams of the ships passengers all of them British subjects barred from Canada because of discriminatory attitudes and policies.
The ship sailed into Vancouver harbour on May 23, 1914 from Hong Kong, carrying 376 passengers. But most of the passengers were eventually turned away on the grounds of the continuous journey clause that allowed only travellers on a trip without interruption to land in Canada. As Trudeau noted, the law effectively eliminated immigrants from India because there was no direct service to Canada.
After two months in limbo in the harbour, the ship was escorted out of the harbour by the military. It returned to India and on its arrival at least 19 people were killed in a skirmish with British soldiers, while others were jailed.
The prime minister said Canada alone cannot be blamed for every tragic mistake that occurred with the ship and its passengers.
But Canadas government was, without question, responsible for the laws that prevented these passengers from immigrating peacefully and securely, Trudeau said.
No words can fully erase the pain and suffering they experienced. Regrettably, the passage of time means that none are alive to hear our apology today, Trudeau said.
At the end of Trudeaus speech, Brampton resident Amarjeet Singh Sidhu, looking on from the gallery, shouted out in Punjabi, Thank you. The truth will always prevail.
Opposition leaders, including Conservative interim leader Rona Ambrose and NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, also rose to echo the sentiment of apology and atonement. We cannot change the past but we can demonstrate that Canada has changed, Ambrose said.
Toronto school principal Harpreet Ghuman said the apology was an important acknowledgement of an historic wrong. This event today brings a validation to all the experiences and challenges and struggles that weve gone through as a community, but in the end we persevere, Ghuman said.
Pardeep Singh Nagra, executive director of the Sikh Heritage Museum, said the saga of the Komagata Maru has forced Canada to confront the racism and discrimination that existed at the time.
Today is important because it reminds us of our history. We should never shy away from history. Nor should we shy away from wrongs, said Nagra, who was also in Ottawa.
Today we can say we are better.
The apology was a chance to reflect on the injustice of the day but also the progress made since. Trudeau noted that Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, himself a Sikh and military veteran, commanded the very regiment that decades earlier was responsible for forcing out the Komagata Maru.
A century ago, the ministers family might well have been turned away from Canada. Today, the minister sits beside us, here, in this House, Trudeau said.
Ghumans great-grandfather never made it to Canada. Turned away once, he refused to try again. Instead, he was able to secure his daughters marriage to someone already in Canada. That daughter would have three children and bring over three brothers, establishing the life that her father had dreamed about.
Its quite sad he didnt make it himself but I think he would be quite proud of this moment today. I think if he was here to witness this apology, he probably would have decided to come to Canada, the Vancouver resident told the Star.
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OTTAWANDP Leader Tom Mulcair says a public inquiry should be called after it was revealed Mounties monitored two journalists in 2007.
Mulcairs comments come after CBC News reported a rogue group of RCMP officers investigating a leak of a secret document spied on the two for more than a week without authorization.
The report, based on a government briefing note obtained by the broadcaster, says Mounties placed two Ottawa-based journalists, Joel-Denis Bellavance and Gilles Toupin, under physical surveillance for nine days in 2007.
CBC also says the surveillance was carried out without the required permission of Bob Paulson, an acting assistant commissioner at the time.
Paulson is now the commissioner of the RCMP.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says this is unacceptable and notes an apology has been given to the journalists involved.
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OTTAWAImmigration Minister John McCallum says his suggestion there's a cultural element driving Syrian refugees to food banks was insensitive and he regrets it.
Food banks from Halifax to B.C. have reported serving hundreds of Syrians who have come to Canada since November, the month the Liberal government launched a major resettlement program to bring 25,000 people by the end of February.
The question of why came up Wednesday at a Senate committee studying the refugee resettlement program and McCallum initially pinpointed two reasons: the fact refugees do not have high levels of income upon arrival and something else.
"There may be a cultural element," he said. "You have to remember the refugees are coming from an entirely different world.
Our world is very different than their world. Sometimes they have been living in refugee camps; maybe its the norm to be offered meals. Im not overly concerned about this.
But later Wednesday McCallum met with reporters outside the House of Commons to take back those remarks.
"The remark I made about food banks I think was insensitive so I regret having made that comment," he said.
Very few of the Syrians settled in Canada are from refugee camps the vast majority of over 4 million refugees from the Syrian war dont live in UN camps but in cities or informal settlements in the region.
To date, about 27,000 Syrian refugees have arrived in Canada, spread among nearly 300 communities.
About 15,000 are government-assisted, meaning they receive a year of income support from the federal government that is linked to the size of the family and provincial social assistance rates.
More than 9,400 Syrians are privately sponsored, so their income is supposed to be covered by the private groups who have brought them to Canada.
The rest of the Syrians who have arrived have their costs shared between the government and private groups.
McCallum said the fact Syrians, or any Canadians, are using food banks raises broad issues about the adequacy of income levels.
"I think the fact we need food banks as a country at all says something to questions of inequality of income distribution."
McCallum's remarks to the committee drew instant criticism.
"I'm very surprised by the word cultural element of going to food banks," said Conservative Sen. Salma Ataullahjan, who came to Canada from Pakistan in 1980.
"I thought people go to food banks if you don't have enough food."
Another challenge linked to the income levels of government-assisted refugees has been finding housing they can afford. Private sponsors often line up accommodation for their new charges but government-assisted refugees work with settlement agencies to secure a spot.
The initial surge of arrivals coupled with high rents in cities like Vancouver and Toronto forced some refugees to remain in hotels for months, but about 98 per cent are now in permanent homes. However, agencies are already working to ensure they don't lose them by using money from the private sector to provide additional rental funds.
The Liberal government has earmarked nearly $1 billion for the Syrian refugee resettlement program and have said a full breakdown of how that money has been spent so far would be made public by the end of this month.
McCallum had told the committee there was more that could be done to support the government assisted refugees, though did not provide details.
In addition to the refugees already in Canada, thousands more are awaiting final approval on the applications submitted by private sponsorship groups before the end of March.
Those groups had originally been told their requests would not be met before 2017 but after an outcry, McCallum agreed to finalize the files by the end of this year or early next and additional staff have now been sent overseas to process the files.
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For most of Toronto, Candice Rochelle Bobb is the citys 29th homicide victim, a 35-year-old pregnant woman shot in the back of a car who never got to meet the baby she was carrying.
But for Toni Morgan, shes the old friend with a cackle of a laugh who always supported her on her journey from homeless teen to student at Harvard University.
The two grew up together in Malton and their grandparents were close, Morgan said in a Facebook message from Cambridge, Mass., where shes studying for a masters degree in education.
She had this deep, raspy voice and a jovial laugh, Morgan remembers. (She was) such a positive personality and a cheerleader.
Their birthdays were just days apart, Morgans on Nov. 12 and Bobbs on Nov. 10, and they would celebrate together as kids amid Bobbs tight-knit family.
My uncle/her grandfather would give us $5 to buy candy and that was our gift, Morgan said a Facebook chat with the Star.
Her grandfather was a white Jamaican. They showed me what it meant to be a transcultural family.
Later the pair bonded over talking about their families.
Thats what made our connection so great. She wasnt competitive or mean spirited. She just had jokes about our families, Morgan said.
They didnt discuss careers much, but Bobb mentioned doing customer-relations work.
The last time Morgan spoke to her childhood playmate was last year, before Morgan left for Boston and Bobb became pregnant with her third child.
Two friends assuming they would see each other again, they talked about connecting when Morgan was next in Toronto.
We hugged and she told me how proud she was of me. She updated me on family stuff (our families were close) and how her kids were doing. But she wouldnt stop talking about how proud she was of me, Morgan said.
Bobbs baby was delivered, months premature, by emergency C-section on the night of the shooting and is in stable condition at Sunnybrook hospital.
Police Chief Mark Saunders held a news conference Tuesday afternoon but had no update on the babys condition or suspects to report in the investigation.
The shooting was targeted, he said, but would not say whether the intended target was Bobb, or one of the other three people in the car.
Police said previously that Bobb was about five months pregnant at the time of the shooting, but a GoFundMe crowdfunding page set up for her children says she was seven months along. If that is true, that would drastically improve the chances of survival for the infant, said to be a boy.
Bobb has two other sons, one a teenager and the other 12 years old. Family members contacted by the Star Monday asked for privacy in their grief.
But a person who identified himself as her little brother posted a tribute to her in a public Facebook post Monday evening. You had so many things left in this world to experience, you left behind three boys, one who you havent even met, two who havent even finished school, Jaiden Anderson wrote.
You took me in when I had no place to go. And for that, I will be eternally grateful. I will never forget you, he added.
The post states Bobb died two days before one sons 17th birthday and two weeks before the other one turned 12.
The fam is hurting without you. Nothing will be the same without you. Im so sorry, the post reads.
If I couldve taken the bullets for you I would have, because you had so much to look forward to. I know that you knew this, but, I love you.
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Seven years ago, Toronto interior designer Katherine Newman was attacked outside her home by a delusional man whose mental illness made him believe she was in love with him.
Bartosz Gajewski, a cabinet installer who had worked on one of Newman's projects, dragged her kicking and screaming down the street, declaring that he was acting in the name of Jehovah and that Newman was corrupt and must be punished.
At his home, police found zip ties, duct tape, a utility knife and other evidence that he planned to hold Newman against her will.
Now Gajewski, 45, who has been held at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health since he was found not criminally responsible for assault and forcible confinement in 2011, may be allowed to live outside the hospital, based on a new recommendation by his doctor.
The Crown plans to oppose the CAMH recommendation, lawyer Michael Feindel said Tuesday in a hearing before the Ontario Review Board, which has jurisdiction over people found not criminally responsible or mentally unfit to stand trial. The hearing was adjourned to give the Crown more time to prepare. The board will make its decision after hearing arguments from all parties.
Newman is terrified at the prospect of Gajewskis freedom.
What am I going to do? she said. I dont have the resources to protect myself. If I had unlimited wealth, I would hire a security detail.
Newmans concerns stem from annual review board reports that confirmGajewskis delusional beliefs about her persist, and the fact that he refused to take medication until he was compelled to do so by a substitute decision maker. She was shocked to learn Tuesday following the hearing which she chose not to attend that recently Gajewski has been permitted to leave hospital grounds under the supervision of his mother for up to eight hours per day.
Its a case that underscores the fraught decisions that must be made in balancing concerns for public safety with the rights of individuals found not criminally responsible, who may pose a certain degree of risk to the public but are legally blameless and therefore entitled to the least onerous and restrictive infringement upon their freedoms.
The medical report that concluded with CAMHs recommendation cannot be released because it contains personal health information protected under privacy legislation. This means the doctors reasons for recommending community living for Gajewski will be revealed publicly only at the review board hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.
Gajewskis lawyer, Anita Szigeti, said her client has not attempted to contact Newman since the offence. She said the loosening of restrictions on him has taken place over time and that he will continue to be monitored closely by a team of professionals, whether he lives at CAMH or in the community.
The proof is in the pudding, she said, noting that no incidents have taken place while Gajewski has been out on community passes over the past year.
Szigeti pointed out that the review board system works well, with evidence showing that recidivism rates are lower than in the prison system.
None of that is a comfort to Newman. She was not notified about a change in Gajewskis hearing date, even though the board is required to keep her informed, and says she did not learn about CAMHs community living recommendation until last week.
On a human level, I feel sorry for him, yes. But at the end of the day, I dont want to lose my life, she said.
Newman, 50, runs a renowned architectural design firm that has completed residential projects in Toronto and the U.S., and has been named one of the 100 top designers of influence by Architectural Digest.
Gajewski was born in Poland in 1971 and moved to Toronto when he was in his 20s, according to court records. He has been diagnosed with delusional disorder. His obsession with Newman began in 2003, shortly after he began working on one of her projects. Gajewski became infatuated with her and was eventually charged with criminal harassment and threatening bodily harm. The charges were withdrawn in 2004 after he signed a peace bond.
The attack occurred several years later, on Sept. 17, 2009, after Gajewski developed a belief that Newman and her father had conspired with police officers to have him arrested. He wanted to have charges laid against them but didnt trust the authorities, so he took matters into his own hands.
Newman was sitting in the passenger seat of her car in her driveway, waiting for her business partner so they could drive to a meeting together, when Gajewski a wide, towering man opened the door, grabbed her by the wrists and dragged her out. Her partner arrived and tried to intervene, but Gajewski managed to pull both of them 40 metres down the street. Neighbours came to the rescue, distracting Gajewski until police showed up.
At a bail hearing later, electing to speak against the advice of counsel, Gajewski explained that he believed Newman was in a conspiracy to commit fraud, mischief and theft against him, and that his plan was to bind her with nylon ties and contact the attorney general of Canada.
For much of his time at CAMH, Gajewski refused to take antipsychotic medications or participate in rehabilitative programs, according to a 2015 review board report. He denied having a mental illness and told doctors he believed he was being held without cause and would eventually be vindicated. In May last year, he told a psychiatrist that the Newmans are hiding stuff in time Jehovah will uncover their wickedness, according to the report.
In the weeks before his June 2015 review board hearing, Gajewski had a change in attitude and began co-operating with his treatment team, the report said. This happened three months after he was found incapable of consenting to treatment, and was compelled by a substitute decision maker to receive antipsychotic medication.
The review boards 2015 decision allowed for off-grounds privileges but upheld Gajewskis continued detention in hospital, noting that it was too soon to tell whether the medication and his new-found willingness to co-operate with doctors would quell his delusions.
Clarification May 18, 2016: This article was edited from a previous version to include new information from Katherine Newman making clear she did not hire Bartosz Gajewski directly. The cabinet installer worked on one of her projects.
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The provincial government wants to ban all corporate and union donations for municipal candidates across Ontario, in attempt to level the playing field.
Initially the province had proposed passing legislation as part of Bill 181, the proposed Municipal Elections Modernization Act, which would give municipalities the power to make their own decision on whether to change the contentious fundraising rules.
But on Wednesday, a day after the province introduced legislation to ban corporate and union donations at the provincial level, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Ted McMeekin said it only made sense to follow suit at the municipal level.
There was a growing sensethat we should eliminate potential contracts with people who are perceived exerting inordinate influence, said McMeekin, in an interview, adding that the ban would apply to all council candidates and would-be school board trustees in all 445 Ontario municipalities. The simplest way to do that was to ban corporate and union donations, he said. Initially, the government wanted to make it optional, but when we have been hearing such consensus, we thought to be proactive, he said.
Those who have been advocating for such a ban welcomed the ministers comments. This is exactly what we campaigning for, said Claire Malcolmson, who works with Campaign Fairness Ontario, which published a recent study which found a troubling relationship between corporate funding and election outcomes in Ontario. This is going to change the landscape of municipal councils, she said.
Malcolmson said while it would be naive to think we will be able to eliminate the relationship between developers and candidates, she called it a step in the right direction.
But not everyone is fully onside with the proposed changes.
Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie said she welcomed what she called new efforts to strengthen local democracy.
Still, Crombie added in a statement, consultation with all municipalities is necessary when making changes of this magnitude and I would welcome the opportunity to provide feedback on these brand new proposed amendments the legislation currently being debated. she said.
We need to balance the need to hold accountable and transparent municipal elections with the realities of running responsive local campaigns. This is especially important in large and growing cities like Mississauga, home to nearly 800,000 residents.
Crombie also said what makes sense at the provincial level doesnt necessarily work municipally.
Unlike provincial election campaigns, candidates for local government do not have per-vote subsidies and they cannot fundraise year round. The proposed changes could also favor incumbent politicians, Crombie said.
In Toronto, a political action group that includes Toronto education workers says the new ban on union donations is bad for democracy. Toronto banned corporate and union donations in 2009, prior to the 2010 election, but the new legislation would extend to school board trustee candidates too.
Were not pleased. It affects our ability to engage in the democratic process, and we tend to support candidates who dont have a lot of financial resources, said Stephen Seaborn, coordinator of the Campaign for Public Education, which is currently supporting trustee candidates in two byelections for the Toronto District School Board.
These campaigns will not be affected by the new amendments, which will go back to the house for debate and to be voted on in coming weeks. If the legislation is enacted, it will be in force for 2018 municipal elections across the province.
Ajax mayor Steve Parrish, who said he has been pushing for reform at the municipal level for decades, says the ban will make a big difference at the local level.
It frees councils from an outside influence that is often centered on private interests, and not on the public interests, he said. It leads to better decision making in the public interest.and I think it will lead to better planning, he said.
He says that municipalities will have to introduce way to replace this source of funding, by creating a rebate program that allows individual donors to get a tax rebate for contributing to a candidates campaign. Only a few cities, like Ajax, Toronto, Markham and Vaughan have implemented this program so far, he said.
He says the province also needs to consider how to police those working in corporations who go around the ban, by making donations as individuals. But he said despite the gaps, the legislation will help to make the election process more transparent and fair.
In the past, I could point at my opponent and say, you are taking corporate donations. He could say, well, theres nothing wrong with that and it doesnt affect my vote, he said. Now you can point at them and say, you are breaking the law.
with files from Louise Brown and San Grewal
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HOUSTONFlood control has long been a challenging issue in Houston, dating back to the citys infancy on the banks of the Buffalo Bayou when its first flood was recorded more than 170 years ago.
Major reservoirs built in the 1940s helped alleviate some of problems, but a population explosion and urban sprawl since then enveloped the reservoirs. Experts said the citys efforts since then have fallen woefully short of the massive needs. And there is climate change, which has increased the frequency of large rainfalls that threaten coastal cities, climatologists said. The result this week was that sudden downpours overwhelmed infrastructure and inundated whole sections of the city, leaving at least seven people dead.
To throw up your hands and say were going to be vulnerable and have hundreds of millions of dollars of impact every year in Houston just because it rains a lot is not the attitude we need to take, said Sam Brody, a professor of regional planning at Texas A&M University at Galveston. We are not thinking about the big picture.
Thousands of people were routed from their homes and major highways when Houstons spaghetti-like web of bayous spilled over banks after rains that began Sunday night.
Then on Tuesday, creeks getting runoff from nearly 18 inches of rain in some spots in outlying northwestern Harris County rose quickly over their banks, prompting a new round of evacuations, including rescues of some residents in wheelchairs from an assisted living facility.
Prospects brightened for some as many roads reopened, although a flash flood watch was in effect through Wednesday.
Its going to have to trickle its way through the city of Houston and to Galveston Bay, Francisco Sanchez, a county emergency services spokesman, said of the waters progressing downstream toward the Gulf of Mexico.
Houston, with more than 2 million people including 90,000 arriving last year alone, is the nations fourth-largest city. And Harris County, which includes most of Houston, has seen a 30 per cent jump in population since 2000, with an accompanying 25 per cent increase in pavement.
The situation is exacerbated by a flat topography barely above sea level and the humid Gulf Coast climate prone to produce extreme rainfall.
These conditions have plagued Houston from the start, with its first flood recorded in 1843, seven years after the city was founded. There have been at least three dozen significant floods since then, including one in 1929 and another in 1935 that prompted construction of reservoirs in the western part of the county, Barker and Addicks, in the 1940s by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
They were way out in the country, said Wayne Klotz, a former American Society of Civil Engineers president who has a Houston engineering firm. They were going to solve all the problems. The city continued to grow. And Barker and Addicks now are like in the middle of town.
Few notable flood-control efforts have been implemented since then, said Philip Bedient, a Rice University engineering professor who has been studying flood control in the area for more than three decades.
Houstons leaders sort of forgot about it for the next 20 years, and it was the wild west, he said. They built and built like there was no tomorrow.
It didnt have to be this way, he said.
Among Houstons recent efforts is a voter-approved program aimed at rebuilding its streets and drainage systems to better cope with floods. The city says it has collected and spent more than $1 billion since 2012, improving 900 miles of roadway.
Brody says more could be done, including an effort to buy out homeowners flood-prone areas and turn the land into open space. He also suggests upgrading building codes to mandate elevating structures in flood-prone areas, as some suburbs have done.
You need to think, he said. And were not.
The Harris County Flood Control District, the agency working in recent years with the Corps of Engineers on hundreds of millions of dollars in projects to ease the flooding impact, did not immediately return a phone message Tuesday seeking comment.
Tropical Storm Allison, with nearly 39 inches of rain in the hardest hit area, left $5 billion in damage in 2001. Hurricane Ike hit in 2008. Just last Memorial Day, hundreds of homes along Brays Bayou in Houston sustained severe damage after an 11-inch rainstorm.
From 1999 to 2009, the Houston area incurred over $3 billion in insured flood losses, Brody said.
Money is a considerable obstacle to improved flood control.
We know what it would take to eliminate flooding, Klotz said. The cost is in the billions. ... We live in times of constraint of public resources. Elected bodies have elected to choose to spend on different priorities.
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A bill that would let the families of those killed in the Sept. 11 attacks sue Saudi Arabia for any role in the terror plot passed the Senate unanimously on Tuesday, bringing Congress closer to a showdown with the White House, which has threatened to veto the legislation.
The Senates passage of the bill, which will now be taken up in the House, is another sign of escalating tensions in a relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
Obama administration officials have lobbied against the bill, a view that White House spokesman Josh Earnest reiterated after the vote. And the Saudi government has warned that if the legislation passes, it might begin selling off up to $750 billion in Treasury securities and other assets in the United States before they face a danger of being frozen by U.S. courts.
Many economists are skeptical that the Saudis would deliver on such a warning.
Questions about the role Saudi officials might have played in the Sept. 11 plot have lingered for more than a decade, and families of the victims have used various lawsuits to try to hold members of the Saudi royal family and charities liable for what they allege is financial support of terrorism.
But these moves have been mostly blocked, in part because of a 1976 law that gives foreign nations some immunity from lawsuits in U.S. courts.
The Senate bill carves out an exception to the law if foreign countries are found culpable for terrorist attacks that kill U.S. citizens within the United States. If the legislation were to pass both houses and be signed by the president, it could clear a path for the role of the Saudi government to be examined in the Sept. 11 lawsuits.
If the Saudis did not participate in this terrorism, they have nothing to fear about going to court, said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. If they did, they should be held accountable.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the legislation was written in such a way that Americans would not be subject to legal action taken by other nations.
I do believe that theres going to be some sabre rattling, some threats, but I think that they are hollow, Cornyn said.
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KUWAIT CITYDeadly bombings in Baghdad may signal a shift in tactics by Daesh, determined to rebound from a series of battlefield losses and the groups hope that attacks in the capital will distract already divided Iraqi leaders, a top U.S. general said Wednesday.
Army Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command, said, however, this does not mean Daesh, also known as the Islamic State group or ISIS, has given up its ambition to create a so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
They are looking for ways to start to regain their momentum or regain the initiative, he told reporters flying with him to Kuwait, the first stop on a Middle East tour. Votel said the suicide bombings and other attacks in and around Baghdad over the past week, killing more than 200 civilians, show how rapidly momentum and tactics can change. The latest, on Tuesday, struck outdoor markets and a restaurant in Baghdad, killing at least 69 people.
While we abhor the things that the Islamic State (Daesh) does, I think we have to respect our enemies and respect their ability to adapt and adjust on the battlefield, he said.
U.S. officials say they have squeezed Daesh on multiple fronts, damaging their ability to raise revenue from oil, destroying substantial cash stockpiles, eliminating more than 120 of their key leaders since the start of 2015 and reducing the amount of territory they control by 45 per cent in Iraq and by 20 per cent in Syria. Even so, the militants have proven resilient and adaptive.
We are seeing them (Daesh) see opportunities and take advantage of those opportunities, Votel said. I think they believe it will cause the Iraqi government to divert forces, divert effort, divert intellectual horsepower to solving those problems as opposed to priorities like recapturing the Daesh stronghold of Mosul in northern Iraq and further stabilizing Anbar province.
Retaking Mosul is an important goal because it is the Daeshs main stronghold in Iraq, but prospects for launching an Iraqi offensive there have been in doubt for more than a year, in part due to political divisions in Baghdad.
Anthony Cordesman, a longtime observer of Middle East conflicts, believes the recent deadly attacks in and around Baghdad are indeed a response to the militants battlefield and financial setbacks. But he also says it shows the militants sense vulnerabilities in Baghdad, including sectarian divisions, corruption and weaknesses throughout the security forces.
Asked whether he was worried that political unrest in Baghdad, which has left the Iraqi parliament in limbo for weeks, might be a hindrance to further Iraqi military progress, Votel said, There is a little concern that it could divert Iraqs focus from objectives like retaking Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city.
He said he was confident that the U.S.-led coalition has an excellent dialogue ongoing with the Iraqi government and I think they understand the need to stay focused on military objectives, and Im not suggesting that they have taken their eye off of that.
Votel, who took over at Central Command seven weeks ago after commanding U.S. Special Operations Command, offered a balanced view of the outlook for further Iraqi military gains. He said they have made important advances in recent months but have much more to accomplish. Without discussing specifics about U.S. troop involvement, he said the American public should know that it is going to be a long and difficult fight.
There are now about 5,500 U.S. military personnel in Iraq. The Obama administration recently announced that it would send another 217 troops to Iraq to expand the advising mission, and that it would make Apache attack helicopters available to support Iraqs moves toward Mosul. Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for the U.S. military command in Baghdad, said Wednesday that the additional U.S. troops have not yet arrived.
In the interview, Votel made no predictions about the demise of Daesh. Asked whether nearly two years of U.S. and coalition aerial bombing and recent gains on the ground in both Iraq and Syria have pushed Daesh to the breaking point, Votel said, We might see some signs of that if they lose Mosul and Raqqa, their self-declared capital in Syria.
Now that Daesh has lost substantial pieces of territory it once controlled in Iraq, they may be reverting in some regards back to their terrorist roots, Votel said.
Votel later acknowledged that his assessment that Daesh is returning to its roots might be a little bit of a supposition on my part. The group began as an Al Qaeda affiliate in Iraq led by the Jordanian, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, until he was killed in a U.S. airstrike in June 2006. Remnants regrouped in Syria before sweeping into western and northern Iraq in the first half of 2014, prompting President Barack Obama to send U.S. troops back to Iraq as advisers and trainers.
I dont want to give the impression that I think they have given up on the notion of a caliphate or on an Islamic state, he said. We still see them attempting to govern, to subjugate populations.
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COLOMBO, SRI LANKAMassive landslides triggered by torrential rains crashed down onto three villages in the central hills of Sri Lanka, and more than 200 families were missing Wednesday and feared buried under the mud and debris, the Sri Lankan Red Cross said.
Sixteen bodies have already been recovered and about 180 people have been rescued from the enormous piles of mud unleashed at around 5 p.m. Tuesday, according to military spokesman Brig. Jayanath Jayaweera.
Villagers recalled hearing and seeing the torrents of muddy water, tree branches and debris crashing down around their homes.
I heard a huge sound like a plane crashing into the earth, said 52-year-old A.G. Kamala, who had just returned to her house in Siripura village when the landslides hit. I opened my door. I could not believe my eyes, as I saw something like a huge fireball rolling down the mountain and again a huge sound.
More than 300 soldiers were joined by local residents digging through the mud with their hands, sticks and shovels to search for survivors in the farming villages of Siripura, Pallebage and Elagipitya in Kegalle District, about 72 kilometres (45 miles) north of Colombo, Jayaweera said. Heavy fog and continuing rain, along with electricity outages and the instability of the ground, were complicating rescue efforts.
Some 220 families were reported missing, the Sri Lankan Red Cross said in a statement. Officials could not give the village populations, but such villages typically include about 1,000-1,500 residents each.
As anxious family members waited for news about missing loved ones, officials said the full extent of the tragedy was still unclear.
One woman, 70-year-old A.G. Alice, said all nine of her children were unaccounted for. I dont know what happened to me after the landslides hit with a thundering sound I have never heard in my life, she said.
A man said his wife, mother-in-law, son and daughter-in-law were all in his house in Siripura when the landslides hit. I still cant locate my family, M.W. Dharmadasa said. I still dont know what happened to them.
State broadcaster Rupavahini showed images of huge mounds of earth covering houses, while cascades of muddy water gushed from hilltops above. Villagers said 66 houses had been buried or damaged, according to local journalist Saman Bandara.
More than 1,000 people who escaped the disaster were sheltering and being treated for minor injuries at a nearby school and a Buddhist temple, according to government official Mahendra Jagath.
The same rains that unleashed the mudslides have also caused severe flooding in cities including Colombo, the capital, where tens of thousands of homes were at least partially inundated. Schools were closed due to the bad weather.
Sri Lankas disaster management centre had reported 11 deaths from lightning strikes and smaller landslides elsewhere in the Indian Ocean island nation on Monday and Tuesday. Nearly 135,000 people across the country have been displaced and were being housed in temporary shelters.
Officials warned that more landslides and lightning strikes could occur in the countryside, as more rain was forecast along with rough seas along the coasts.
Mudslides are common in Sri Lanka during the monsoon season, with heavy deforestation to clear land for agriculture leaving the countryside exposed.
During heavy rains in December 2014, Sri Lankan authorities evacuated more than 60,000 people from thousands of homes damaged or destroyed by floods or landslides. Two months before that, dozens of tea plantation workers were killed when mudslides buried their hillside homes.
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Canadian engineering giant SNC-Lavalin signed $21.7 million in contracts with an anonymously owned company in the British Virgin Islands to obtain business in Algeria, a joint investigation by the Star and CBC/Radio-Canada has learned.
The Panama Papers archive contains six contracts, signed between 2000 and 2002, offering an unnamed agent payments ranging from $800,000 to $8.4 million if SNC-Lavalin were to be awarded public infrastructure projects such as the renovation of a hotel and the construction of a natural gas plant.
While the contracts include anti-corruption clauses and explicitly prohibit any payment to foreign public officials, neither SNC-Lavalin nor Michael Novak, the ex-executive who signed some of them, knows who received the money.
Buried among 11.5 million documents in the database of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, the contracts show how shady consultants were paid to secure deals beyond Libya, where the Quebec-based company paid millions in commissions that landed a former executive in Swiss prison for fraud, corruption and money laundering.
SNC-Lavalin is now suing that former employee, Riadh Ben Aissa, and another, Sami Bebawi, for $127 million, alleging they set up offshore companies and used SNC-Lavalins Libyan commissions to pay bribes and enrich themselves and their families. Both men are now back in Canada, where they face criminal fraud charges, Bebawi for the Libyan payments and Ben Aissa for his role in the Montreal McGill University hospital scandal.
SNC-Lavalins Algeria business has been under suspicion since 2013, when Italian investigators turned up a similar system of bribes disguised as commissions and issued an arrest warrant for the apparent middleman, Montreal businessman Farid Bedjaoui. Shortly afterward, SNC-Lavalins office in Algiers was raided by police. Since then, no charges have been laid. Bedjaoui, who is believed to be in Dubai, is wanted by Interpol and remains at large.
Documents in the Panama Papers database shine new light on SNC-Lavalins business dealings in Algeria, and could kick-start the stalled investigation.
Four of the projects, including water treatment plants in Taksebt and Skikda, were eventually completed by SNC-Lavalin, triggering at least $8.6 million in commissions for a secretive offshore company, Cadber Investments S.A., which was registered by Mossack Fonseca in the BVI in 1999.
SNC-Lavalin now distances itself from its business practices at that time.
The former SNC-Lavalin executives who could be connected to the system you describe, which dates back 15 years, are no longer with the company, SNC-Lavalin spokesman Louis-Antoine Paquin wrote in an email.
We can confirm that since 2013 SNC-Lavalin no longer uses commercial agents in Algeria, wrote Paquin. In 2013, we introduced a policy on business partners . . . precisely in order to prevent this type of practice.
While the documents dont reveal whether the payments were used to bribe Algerian officials, the deal is nearly identical to the Libyan commissions, which caused the RCMP to charge the company with criminal fraud and bribery of foreign public officials last year.
In both cases, the contracts were signed with an offshore company registered in the BVI, whose directors and shareholders have no link to the companys real owners, stipulating payments to a Swiss bank account.
For the Algerian commissions, the account was held at the Royal Bank of Canadas Switzerland branch. RBC could not verify any of this information.
Our Swiss wealth management business was sold in 2015 and all client files are the confidential property of the purchaser, wrote RBC spokeswoman Suzanne Willers.
Revelations in the Panama Papers have brought new-found urgency to tackling the system of tax havens, offshore shell companies and financial secrecy that have allowed corruption to flourish in the shadows for decades.
Last week, six countries, including the UK, France, Kenya and Nigeria, pledged to make public the real owners of corporations and 29 others agreed to collect and share this information with each others law enforcement and tax officials. Canada, citing provincial jurisdictional issues, has not signed up for either.
***
SNC-Lavalins secret agent in Algeria.
The Star and CBC/Radio-Canada were unable to determine the identity of SNC-Lavalins agent behind Cadber Investments.
Even Michael Novak, then-chairman of SNC-Lavalin International who signed several of the Algerian contracts, said he didnt know who was receiving the commissions.
Who is Cadber? I have no idea, said Novak, who retired in 2013. I am a lawyer. We looked at the usual clauses. That was our role.
SNC-Lavalin said it cant identify those who received millions in payments.
Today in 2016, it is impossible for us to determine who the owner of Cadber Investments is/was, nor the intentions of the people who signed one or more of the agreements with Cadber, nor the intentions of Cadber itself, wrote SNC-Lavalin spokesman Paquin. SNC-Lavalin hasnt had any contact with Cadber Investments for more than a decade.
In 2013, Rod Scriban, who was general manager of SNC-Lavalin International from 1994-1997, told CBC/Radio-Canada that the company always knows the identity of its business partners.
They must know, Scriban said. In theory, we never hire anyone without knowing exactly what they do, their interests and their faults.
On paper, Cadber is completely inscrutable. All its correspondence was handled by Dextima Conseils, a financial services agency based in Geneva. Antonio Mavica, Dextimas employee listed as the main contact for Cadber, declined to comment. Mossack Fonseca issued a single bearer share for the company, which grants ownership without leaving a paper trail. The law firm also provided several of its own employees as stand-in corporate directors.
Ironically, this led to the disclosure of the confidential contracts: they were only included in the Panama Papers database because they had to be sent to Mossack Fonsecas offices in Panama for the signatures of their nominee directors.
One of Cadbers nominee directors is Mossack Fonseca employee Yvette Rogers, who is listed as a director for nearly 20,000 offshore companies.
Yet the law firm didnt keep due diligence documents on her. When local authorities contacted the firm to confirm information about Rogers, Mossack Fonseca had to scramble because it didnt have a copy of her ID on file a legal requirement for all directors of companies incorporated by the firm.
Please try your best to get the information as not to have this basic information on employees is totally embarrassing, wrote Rosemarie Flax, Mossack Fonsecas managing director in the BVI in an internal email.
SNC-Lavalin now says it isnt normal to sign contracts with companies using nominee directors.
SNC-Lavalin vehemently condemns this kind of practice, wrote company spokesman Paquin.
At its annual general meeting this month, SNC-Lavalins CEO Bruce Neil said the company hasnt sought contracts in Algeria since 2013.
The company has spent a huge amount of time, effort and money at looking at a lot of things that are historic. And we believe that the position in where we are in today is clear: (commissions through local agents) do not exist today. And thats in the past and were trying to rectify the past.
***
Contract disputes
Despite the secrecy, the contracts for commissions dont appear to have been executed smoothly.
In September 2004, Cadber sent a letter to SNC-Lavalins head office in Montreal, demanding further payment after the granting of the Skikda water project. The letter states that SNC-Lavalin had paid more than 600,000 euros to Cadber by October 2003, but owed the consultancy five per cent of the total value of the contract listed at more than 55 million euros a shortfall of more than 2.1 million euros.
It is clear that CADBER has entirely fulfilled its obligations, which isnt the case for (SNC-Lavalin), the letter states.
SNC-Lavalin wrote back that Cadber had breached their agreement by failing to represent the company in disputes over payments with the Algerian government.
You did nothing to ensure the payment of these invoices by the Client . . . Consequently, we owe you nothing . . . and any demand in this regard will be vigorously contested, wrote Janet Oh, a legal adviser for the company.
SNC-Lavalin has distanced itself from much of what went on in Libya and Algeria in the 2000s. Its board of directors and senior management have been replaced. In 2012, SNC-Lavalin conducted an internal investigation into business practices in Libya and gave the results to the RCMP. Last year, the company was charged with bribing a foreign public official and fraud for its Libyan commissions. SNC-Lavalin has pleaded not guilty and plans to vigorously defend itself.
Shareholders of the company have launched a $1-billion class-action lawsuit, claiming the value of their investments plummeted after revelations of the mysterious payments in North Africa.
In 2013, the World Bank barred SNC-Lavalin from bidding on any of its projects for 10 years, after uncovering a bribery scheme in Bangladesh, which also prompted the RCMP to charge three former employees with bribing public officials.
Last week, SNC-Lavalin announced that it would repay the Quebec government for public contracts won through bid-rigging and other fraudulent acts stretching back two decades.
With files from Anne Panasuk and Luc Tremblay of Radio-Canada
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On Tuesday, Torontonians were absorbing the horrifying news that a pregnant mother had been shot to death while sitting in a car in Rexdale. Her baby, four months premature, was fighting for its life.
Supt. Ron Taverner, who heads the police division where the fatal shooting occurred, spoke for the whole city when he called the incident just disgusting. For one day, at least, the spike in gun violence of the past several months had a face and a name Candice Rochelle Bobb, dead at 35. Her baby will never know her.
Yet the union that represents Torontos police officers chose that day, of all days, to play politics. It took out full-page ads in two newspapers, signed by union president Mike McCormack, to warn of a growing disconnect between the police and the community. And it singled out politicians and some community groups who want to reduce the cost of policing at a time when the safest city in North America has a gun violence problem.
Certainly, Toronto has a problem with gun violence. The figures spoke for themselves, even before Rochelle Bobb became the citys 29th homicide victim of 2016. This time last year, the number was just 15. Its a very troubling trend (one that, as police Chief Mark Saunders noted, is happening in major U.S. cities as well).
But whats it got to do with pressure to rein in police costs? Nothing at all. In fact, the budget for the Toronto Police Service actually went up this year, by 2.45 per cent, to just over $1 billion. Police budgets keep growing at a faster rate than other parts of the city budget, despite pleas for restraint.
McCormack has been singing the same song for months. In December, he blamed a spate of shootings on a reduction of frontline officers from 5,600 to 5,200 over the previous six years. But the police service itself said it has the best homicide investigators in the country and has plenty of resources to bring in to any area hit by violence.
In January, McCormack was at it again this time linking a pair of fatal shootings in Chinatown to the end of police carding. He offered no proof, for the good reason that there was none.
Using a high-profile crime to push back against critics of police is a well-worn gambit. Its a shame the police union felt the need to do it again this time.
At least McCormack did not blame restrictions on carding this time. In fact, he said we accept that carding, or what we call street checks, is over. Thats something positive.
And as for a growing disconnect between police and the community, the union should think harder about why that may have developed.
They could start with the legacy of carding itself. People with brown or black skin were routinely stopped, alienating minority communities and undermining public trust.
They could consider the kind of police violence meted out in cases like that of Sammy Yatim, famously gunned down on a streetcar, or Andrew Loku, the mentally ill man shot to death seconds after police arrived at his apartment complex.
And they could consider the secrecy that has surrounded so many cases like that of Loku. When communities dont know what happened and cant find out, trust will be one of the first victims.
On Tuesday, Chief Saunders called on the public to come forward and help his officers track down the killer of Rochelle Bobb. As he acknowledged, that requires public trust in the police. Using a disturbing upsurge in violent crime as a club against your critics is a lousy way to earn it.
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The opening scene of the novel Dreaming in Cuban could not have been a more appropriate allegory for our journey.
Sitting on her front porch in her best housedress and pearl earrings, protagonist Celia del Pino vigilantly scans the ocean with binoculars, guarding Cuba's northern coast against the yanquis.
"The Yankees have arrived Celia," I thought to myself, as I read the book while approaching the Cuban coastline.
We arrived, in typical American fashion, with much fanfare and spectacle, sailing right into the heart of Havana aboard the Fathom cruise ship Adonia earlier this month.
Carrying nearly 700 passengers, including a horde of media members, the Adonia made history as it pulled into port at the tiny island nation, the first leisure cruise to sail from the United States to Cuba in decades, breaking down barriers that seemed unthinkable as recently as one year ago.
The ship arrived early on a balmy, opalescent Monday morning, bringing automobile traffic along Havana's bustling Malecon to a near standstill. Crowds of people lined the busy waterfront boulevard waving, taking pictures, whistling and clapping. And just behind the rows of people, there was the vibrant palette of the antique cars I'd heard so much about. Blues, pinks, yellows, a scene almost surreal in its confection of color and time warp imagery.
The scene was a small precursor of what was to come.
Throughout the course of Adonia's brief visit to the island, interactions with the Cuban people were easily the most memorable takeaway. But they were among the many highlights. Cuba is a canvas with many colors, someone told me during the trip. And that canvas, at least what I saw of it, also includes crumbling but hauntingly beautiful architecture, a seemingly endless parade of antique automobiles in colors you never knew were possible, picturesque mountainous countryside, small fishing villages, charming beaches, unexpectedly quiet coves and provincial cities - there was much to take in during our whirlwind journey.
The Adonia stopped in three Cuban ports, giving its travelers a mere three and a half days on the ground to explore this fascinating destination. There was two full days in Havana, a half-day in Cienfuegos and nearly a full day in Santiago de Cuba.
Still, as brief as it was, the journey accomplished its mission - reintroducing the Cuban and American people and setting the stage for the ramping up of commerce and interaction, which will include continued regular visits from Adonia.
What would Celia del Pino think of it all? Or more importantly, putting aside the fictional character, what do real Cubans think of this warming of relations with the United States and the flood of Americans about to descend upon the country? I received something of an answer as we disembarked from the Adonia in Havana on day one.
The sunlight flooded in through the exit of the narrow and cavernous port and customs building where Adonia was docked, making the scene outside hard to define and fully absorb initially.
But as we stepped from the building onto the sidewalk, what unfolded was nothing short of remarkable.
Throngs of Cubans, three and four people deep, if not more, lined the opposite side of the street, barely contained by the traffic passing between us, spilling into the street in a mass of enthusiastic humanity.
The arriving Americans stood on one side of the street. The awaiting Cubans on the other. For a few brief moments, we all stood looking at each other, drinking it in - a scene that to a bystander must have appeared simultaneously puzzling and fascinating.
Then as waves of Adonia passengers began crossing the street into this dense crowd, spontaneous cheers erupted from the Cubans. The sea of awaiting Cubans parted slightly to let passengers make their way through, but locals remained close enough to shake passengers' hands, exchange hugs with us and take pictures and video of each new American face.
In the absence of shared language for many of us, communication took place through through smiles and eyes filled with warmth that spoke volumes. "Hello old friend," they seemed to say. "So nice to see you after all these years. Welcome."
It was like walking a red carpet; we were all celebrities to the Cuban people in that moment. And the remarkable, heartfelt exchange continued for hours as hundreds of passengers emptied off Adonia.
For the remainder of the week, there wasn't a passenger I came across who didn't mention that morning and that greeting. It was an experience none of us will soon forget.
The next two days were spent quickly touring Havana and its outskirts. Each group followed a different itinerary, as is the case with cruise ships and the various excursions offered.
Some of the options included walks through Old Havana (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), coffee in Plaza Vieja with a local cafe owner who discussed the role of tourism in the city, visiting San Francisco de Assisi Square to discuss the role of religion on the island and walking through a famous booksellers' market in Plaza de Armas to peruse antiques.
On day two in Havana, we visited Plaza de la Revolucion viewing colossal, iron sculptures of some of the country's most historic figures including Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos. Next there was a tour of Havana's 140-acre Cementerio de Cristobal Colon, a cemetery filled with baroque-style mausoleums. Other options included Havana's Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, (home to some of the country's best examples of fine art) as well as visits with local artists or lunch at an organic farm.
My personal favorite was an afternoon visit to the blink and you miss it town of Cojimar, just a few miles east of Havana. Made famous by expatriate Ernest Hemingway, who used the small fishing village as the setting for his book Old Man and the Sea, Cojimar is an opportunity to escape the heat and hustle of Havana and spend time wandering quiet, dusty streets to converse with locals who see far fewer tourists.
As I meandered down one of the few roads dissecting the town, I noticed a man sitting on the front porch of a modest, single-story house, the color of pistachio ice cream. He stared at me with curiosity, smiling. As our eyes met, he waved me over. Though the language barrier proved challenging, we communicated enough to trade names, our ages and for him to explain to me that he was a watch repairman. Mostly we just smiled, basking in the warmth of even the minimal exchange we managed.
Continuing down the street, I passed the La Terraza de Cojimar restaurant, a famous Hemingway haunt, typically frequented by the legendary writer after he would go out to sea on his boat, the Pilar.
Next, I came across a one-room building painted the color of a sunflower, with a giant slab of meat dangling in its open window. Again the interaction was limited by language, but in the end, as I turned to continue my meandering exploration, the shop's clerk came from behind the counter to send me off with a giant hug and kiss on the cheek.
A few doors down, there was a single-story home with its doors and windows thrown wide open, revealing two rooms filled with artwork. The artist was a young man who lived in the home with his elderly mother. My travel companion bought one of his paintings and then more people trickled in and began snatching up his creations, much to the young man's pleasure.
Around the same time, yet another travel companion spotted actress Tilda Swinton walking around town, having arrived in Cuba for a fashion show taking place later that evening in Havana.
In the days during our visit, the world seemed to begin quickly descending on Cuba in a way that must have seemed surreal for locals. Designer Karl Lagerfeld cordoned off an entire street in central Havana to stage a fashion show with the likes of Gisele Bundchen, Swinton and Vin Diesel. Yet not a single article of clothing displayed in the show is available for sale in Cuba. Nor would any of it be affordable in a country where the monthly salary, we were told, remains somewhere between $28 and $40 for the average person.
The day after the fashion show, several members of the Kardashian family arrived in the capital, touring the city in a convertible, stopping to pose seductively at various local monuments in their skintight designer clothes, posting selfies on Instagram.
Ah yes, here we come Cuba, the good and the bad. Was this the invasion Celia del Pino was hoping to guard against?
Adonia's second stop was Cienfuegos, a small city that I quickly became smitten with. Known as "La Perla Del Sur" (or The Pearl of the South), Cienfuegos is said to be one of the cleanest cities in Cuba.
"La ciudad que mas me gusta a mi" (the city I like the best), Cuban singer Benny More wrote of his home city in the song "Cienfuegos."
In contrast to the hectic and urban energy of Havana, Cienfuegos has a beguiling provincial feel. Walking through its center, visitors get an up-close and colorful view of daily life, which carries on uninterrupted by the passing tourists: ration shops, barber shops, food carts selling sliced pork sandwiches, pharmacies where locals buy subsidized medicine, shoe shops and galleries filled with hand-signed paintings. The rhythm and energy is simultaneously bustling and relaxed.
On street corners, crowds of young men sit on folding chairs and crates, playing the country's favorite game - dominoes - on makeshift tables. Meanwhile, in the parks, locals congregate to use the public Wi-Fi, making video calls on their iPads or phones to friends and family around the world.
Cuban Adriana Pinelo, 28, tells me that the arrival of Internet access (under Raul Castro) profoundly changed life for many people, allowing them to see pictures of relatives on Facebook and make video calls to family and friends not seen in years (and the video calls are actually cheaper then an international telephone call.) Cienfuegos gave us a chance to see this new development in action. Unfortunately, we only had about three hours to explore this charming city, not nearly enough.
On our final day in Cuba, we awoke in Santiago de Cuba. The sounds of the singers and musicians could be heard floating from the small port where the ship had docked earlier in the morning.
Located on the southeastern end of the island, Santiago was founded by the Spanish in 1515. It's the second largest city in Cuba and an area known for colonial architecture and revolutionary history. It's also known for its distinctive Afro-Cuban cultural influences, which can be seen in the artwork for sale here, heard in the music spilling into the streets from bars, restaurants and dance halls, and witnessed in the faces and stories of the people.
All of which is fascinating, but our ability to explore the city and the region in the brief time we were there was severely limited by a downpour during the first half of the day.
When the rain cleared, I made my way to the rooftop terrace of Hotel Casa Granda, in the heart of Santiago, to enjoy the panoramic view of mountainside, the square below and the sea beyond.
There wasn't much of a chance to interact with locals in Santiago, because in addition to the rain, we were guided around on a tightly scheduled bus tour led by police escorts.
Nevertheless, as I sat on the Hotel Casa Granda terrace, I reflected on what I will remember from my visit to Cuba. What I will take home with me is memories of the warmth of the people, their inquisitiveness, the seemingly endless stream of antique cars, and the dizzying array of colors - not only of the automobiles, but the buildings and houses, the hillsides, the artwork and the ocean.
It was a brief introduction, but one that convinced me that Cuba is a place I will visit again and again. The country has a way of getting into your heart and immediately taking up residence there. And that's exactly some Cubans are hoping for.
In the conversations I was able to have, either through a translator or with those who spoke English, I was told again and again about the optimism of Cubans and their hope for the future, when I asked about the blossoming, renewed relationship between Cuba and the United States.
Jose Cardosa, a 48-year-old resident of Santiago de Cuba told me that in the months leading up to Adonia's arrival (after local news had reported that the ship would be coming), the buzz on the street was all about the impending arrival of American tourists.
"Americans are coming, Americans are coming" could be heard in one conversation after another. As the day of the ship's arrival grew closer, more and more Cubans could be seen wearing t-shirts and hats emblazoned with the American flag.
"Cubans love Americans," Cardosa explained. "Because in a sense we are from the same continent...We are much more similar then Europeans and Cubans. Our cultures are closer. There is a link between us."
Perhaps that was the narrative Cubans were expected to tell us, because it was a sentiment I heard expressed nearly identically from other people I encountered.
And if there was one criticism I heard about the way things have begun, it's that many of the tourists arriving right now spend most of their time being shuttled from place to place on government-run bus tours. The taxi drivers and other average Cubans would like to see Americans be able to get out and explore more on their own while here, spreading the wealth around. I would like to see this happen as well.
But Cardosa expressed optimism about this also.
"The buses are for now...Then you will come back again on your own and explore independently and people here will have more opportunity to benefit from Americans visiting," said Cardosa. "I have high hopes."
As Adonia pulled out of port in Santiago de Cuba to begin its journey back to Miami at the end of the week, the sea wall facing the ocean was once again covered with Cubans waving and shouting. The tiny spark of flashbulbs could be seen over and over again as the crowds took pictures of the departing ship. I even noticed the staff from the waterfront restaurant where we had lunch earlier that day, running out onto the patio and dock in front of their building, waving goodbye.
Cars driving along the island's perimeter stopped and the occupants scrambled out, stood on the cliffs facing the ocean and waved. One car followed the ship for what seemed like miles, stopping every few minutes to get out and wave again, and then drive onward to follow the ship until it was no longer possible to drive any further.
As I watched this car, the final parting words of Cardosa ran through my mind.
"Remember, we are waiting for you," Cardosa told me.
We will be back, that's a promise.
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Home Depot (HD) stock price target was increased this morning to $143 from $135 and its "buy" rating was maintained at Deutsche Bank.
The firm increased its price target after the Atlanta-based home retailer reported solid 2016 first quarter results yesterday.
Home Depot reported earnings of $1.44 per share on revenue of $1.8 billion for the first quarter, up year-over-year from earnings of $1.21 per share on $1.58 billion revenue.
As a result, Credit Suisse also increased its price target on the stock to $147 from $145, reiterating its "outperform" rating.
"Home Depot delivered strong first quarter results supported by stronger comps and better expense leverage," Credit Suisse analysts said in an investor note.
Overall weather seemed to impact the business positively despite the "late spring" hurting sales in April. There is an opportunity for a good second quarter as May should bring in customers, the firm noted.
Shares of Home Depot were down 0.03% to $131.96 in pre-market trading.
Separately, TheStreet Ratings rated Home Depot as a "buy" with a score of A+.
TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon.
Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation:
This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that are rated.
The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, growth in earnings per share, increase in net income, revenue growth and notable return on equity.
TheStreet Ratings feels its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that we evaluated.
You can view the full analysis from the report here: HD
Updated to include more details provided by Sundar Pichai at the I/O developers conference.
Internet giant Google, owned by Alphabet (GOOG), on Wednesday unveiled its own personal digital assistant device to compete with Amazon's (AMZN) Echo and expand the ways users can tap into Google services to shop, search and listen to music. It also announced two new messaging apps to further expand the usability of its services.
The digital assistant device is called Google Home and is an always-on, voice-activated speaker that will include Google's "Cast" services to stream content to other speakers and TVs in the house and also control its Nest home automation devices.
Home won't be available until later this year but Google had to enter the personal digital assistant battleground or risk falling behind and lose out on another opportunity, as it did with instant messaging and social media.
The announcement came during Wednesday's keynote address by Google CEO Sundar Pichai at the company's annual I/O developers conference in Mountain View, Calif.
"Credit to the team at Amazon for creating a lot of excitement in this space," Pichai said during the event. He noted that Home will include similar functionality to the Echo and allow users to order an Uber car, find new music on Spotify and review the results of a recent run with Strava.
"To get this done, we really need to work with developers and third parties," he said.
Alphabet's shares rose 0.2% to $721.78 on Wednesday.
Alphabet is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells GOOGL? Learn more now.
Home will be built around the company's new Google Assistant chatbot that will mimic conversations to allow users to conduct more complex searches. During a demo, Pichai asked the bot to find a movie nearby, then trim the list to those that were suitable for children and finally order tickets.
The bot will be part of two new messaging apps Google will roll out this fall with hopes of catching it up to rival services. "Allo" is the new instant messenger with custom emoticons, and "Duo" is its new video calling service, which differentiates itself by showing live video of a caller to help recipients determine whether to answer.
Google also said will begin including virtual reality technology in its forthcoming "N" Android mobile operating system when it debuts this fall. It's also asking the public to help name the operating system, which replaces Marshmallow and its predecessor Lollipop.
Amazon's Echo and Google's Home are seen as just the first two entrants into the personal digital assistant device space, with Apple (AAPL) , Microsoft (MSFT) and even Facebook (FB) expected to eventually debut similar devices. Google already offers a similar service with its "OK Google" service on its Android phones.
Demand for the Amazon Echo has surprised Amazon, which is currently out of stock of the item until June 7. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant uses its Alexa voice app in its Echoes and has sold as many as 3 million of the devices, according to a recent Consumer Intelligence Research Partners report.
The device sells for $179.99 on Amazon and it recently introduced two new scaled-down versions -- the Tap for $129.99 and the Dot for $89.99.
Associate Professor | College of Distance Education
Professor Sexton began teaching at the U.S. Naval War College in 2001 as a military professor in the National Security Decision Making Department. Upon retiring from the military in 2005, she taught as an adjunct professor for the College of Distance Education (CDE) where she taught over 850 students online before returning to campus as a civilian CDE professor in 2014. In 2018, Professor Sexton was named the program manager for online programs and is responsible for the Naval Command and Staff and electives online programs.
When developers erected a semicircle of office towers along Leesburg Pike in the 1970s and 1980s, the buildings attracted a crowd of security agencies and contractors eager for highway access to the Pentagon and National Airport.
That business model, tried and true for the past four decades, helped shape a Washington region where office corridors rose along major suburban thoroughfares, each seemingly as successful as the next. But that march is sputtering.
Record-high vacancies have become the new normal as employers curb their appetite for space and shift their attention to more urban locales. Some office buildings have been empty so long that several of the regions stalwart development firms are tearing up their plans and selling off large chunks of property at bargain-basement prices in favor of pricier, more centrally located buildings.
Buildings began to empty during the recession, and they took another punch when the government shut down and federal spending slowed. The local economy began to pick up last year, but the recovery has been spotty, with construction cranes dotting the Washington skyline but absent from many parts of the suburbs, particularly areas far from mass transit.
After the Defense Information Systems Agency, Deloitte, SAIC and other tenants left or downsized at the Leesburg Pike buildings, leasing has been so slow that owner Vornado Realty Trust of New York booked a $160 million loss on the properties in the first quarter this year and put them on the market.
A $678 million loan on the buildings has been transferred to a special servicing company because it is at risk of foreclosure. The buildings, called Skyline City, are 44 percent leased.
Vornados chief executive, Steven Roth, said the company has been looking to sell the properties and spin off its entire Washington-area portfolio (which also includes 70 percent of the commercial space in Crystal City) into a new business.
In a recent call with investors, Roth said he believed Vornado would benefit by being a focused New York business, so that global investors can invest in the New York platform, the New York assets, and our New York activities, separately from Washington or other assets.
The pain for Washington building owners is most acute in the suburbs, where vacancy rates have been on the rise for five years in a row and are about double that of the District. By one count, there are 151 spaces of 50,000 square feet or more available in Northern Virginia alone.
But downtown has not been spared; developers of newly erected buildings steal companies from old ones as a market flush with space gives businesses freer hand to negotiate favorable terms. For tenants, there just continue to be a lot of options, said Thomas Fulcher of the brokerage firm Savills Studley. He said a company looking for 30,000 square feet on or around K Street could choose from 30 different buildings.
People are just not taking as much office space anymore, Fulcher said. Even if companies are growing, they are not taking as much space.
So rather than continue to try to lease the buildings, some of Washingtons most tenured firms are selling them off or moving on to greener pastures.
Seven weeks ago, First Potomac Realty Trust, a half-billion-dollar Bethesda firm, jettisoned 26 office and industrial buildings in Chantilly, Herndon, Manassas, Merrifield and Reston, for $96 million.
The sale price was $26.5 million below what the company paid for them years before an unfortunate buy-high, sell-low maneuver but the buildings were about a quarter empty, and First Potomac chief executive Robert Milkovich says he plans on dumping another $200 million in similar properties the same way.
Instead, the company is focused on buying properties near Metro stations, restaurants and also bike lanes, a variable for evaluating office buildings that, Milkovich said in an interview, he had never previously considered in his 25-year career in Washington real estate.
Im just continually amazed at how many people are commuting around downtown by bicycle, he said. I dont think that was the case even five years ago.
The buildings First Potomac sold are the poster child of suburban office space obsolescence, said Greg Leisch of the research and brokerage firm NGKF.
So few companies are leasing space away from Metro stations and walkable neighborhoods that properties in office parks and in traffic-riddled corridors have become risky propositions for landlords even at bargain prices.
The marketplace has evolved in the last 10 or 11 years where tenants can be much more choosy today, and they are, he said. So the advantages that were true back then are much more pronounced today.
Even for JBG Cos., the top owner of Washington real estate with rights to 44.6 million square feet, a move out of Washington is afoot. For more than 50 years, the Chevy Chase-based firm has been fully locally focused, becoming the darling of Ivy League endowment funds with projects such as U Street condominiums and the Wardman Park Hotel.
JBG is considering a merger with New York Real Estate Investment Trust, according to a report from Reuters, which would give it 3.3 million square feet in New York.
JBG declined to comment, and the New York company did not respond to inquiries, but executives and an investor familiar with JBGs plans said thats just the first step and that JBG also plans to move into San Francisco and Boston.
We have for a long time had our eye on taking our mixed-use expertise to other gateway markets where the demand drivers are similar and the demographics are similar and frankly where the market needs for that kind of an operator are similar, said the investor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of Securities and Exchange Commission rules.
The investor said the company planned to move into one new market at a time: Weve always believed in starting with one market so we can demonstrate our ability to master this kind of expansion before we branch out beyond that.
Like other firms, JBG is tightening its focus on properties in the urban core. So what will become of the companys holdings in farther-out areas along the Dulles Toll Road, Interstate 295 and Interstate 270?
Those, the executives said, will ultimately be sold.
FUEL INDUSTRY
EPA proposes rise in 2017 biofuels targets
U.S. regulators proposed Wednesday a modest increase in the amount of corn-based ethanol and biofuels that fuel companies must mix into diesel and gasoline next year, a move that will probably disappoint two of the biggest U.S. industries: oil and farming.
In a statement, the Environmental Protection Agency called for 18.8 billion gallons to be blended into the nations fuel supply in 2017, up 4 percent from the 18.11 billion gallons set for this year.
That includes 14.8 billion for conventional biofuels, which is mainly ethanol, up from 14.5 billion for this year, the document showed.
The rise was smaller than the amount backed by the farm lobby and biofuels companies such as Archer Daniels Midland and Poet, which have spent millions to produce advanced biofuels. The oil industry opposed any increase.
As expected, the 2017 total is below the 24 billion gallons outlined in a 2007 law, which was aimed at weaning the United States off oil imports and boosting renewable fuel use. Still the volumes represent ambitious, but achievable growth for the renewable fuels industry, the EPA said Wednesday.
The logo for LinkedIn Corporation is shown in Mountain View, Calif. (Robert Galbraith / Reuters/Reuters)
Reuters
CYBERSECURITY
LinkedIn launches new probe of breach
LinkedIn is investigating whether a breach of more than 6 million users passwords in 2012 was bigger than first thought, after a hackers attempt to sell what is purported to be log-in codes for 117 million accounts.
It appears that more had been taken then and just posted now, spokesman Hani Durzy said. We are still determining how many of these are still active and accurate.
At the time, LinkedIn reset the passwords of everyone it believed was part of the breach, or 6.5 million users, Durzy said.
Vice Medias Motherboard website reported that a hacker is selling the e-mails and passwords of the affected LinkedIn users for about $2,000, and provided about 1 million sample log-ins for verification. The passwords are encrypted but in a format that is easily cracked.
In September, LinkedIns $1.25 million settlement over the breach received final approval by a court.
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The hood of New York met the burbs of D.C. in a psychedelic collision courtesy of the Flatbush Zombies on Tuesday night. The trio, made up of Meechy Darko, Zombie Juice and producer Erick The Architect Elliott, brought all of the ingredients to turn Fillmore Silver Spring into a tiny, urban Woodstock, but this not quite sold-out crowd seemed more concerned with getting hype than high.
Hip-hop has long had a love affair with drugs, but psychedelics have never really been its primary fix of choice. The Zombies are proud to forge a new path. Meechs sinister growl offsets the nasal high pitch of Juices voice while Erick balances them on their mind-bending aural journeys. Every song erupted into controlled chaos with a crowd that was desperate to prove it knew all of the words just as well as the performers. Its the kind of unbridled enthusiasm reserved for niche artists whose fans connect with the outsiderism and arent too cool to jump around.
The Zombies rewarded them with a 90-minute acid trip of visuals. The designs, which included cartoon heads superimposed on geometric neon shapes and white screens that pulsated in sync with the bass, changed for every song, morphing into a show of their own. At times, the massive wall of lights was more of a crutch than complement for the group, which seemed slightly fatigued as it rounded out a two-month, 43-stop tour before heading home to the Flatbush section of Brooklyn.
The trio emerged as part of New Yorks minor rap renaissance that cemented such acts as A$AP Rocky and Joey Bada$$ several years ago. But on a larger scale, artists across the genre including the Zombies were challenging cliche rap aesthetics and incorporating elements of subcultures such as the ghetto goths, afro-punks and indigo children. The group independently released its first proper album an afro-futuristic space trip aptly titled 3001: A Laced Odyssey in March. It landed at the No. 10 spot on the Billboard charts despite the Zombies not having any major hit singles to their name.
In defiance of those who may write them off as simple stoners, the Zombies address social issues, race and mental health in their rhymes on The Odyssey, Meech raps, This fan told me her parents said I sound like the devil/ To me I sound like a poor black kid from the ghetto but much of the nuance gets lost in the frenzy of a live show. Still, the ability to translate the darkness into something people can freely mosh to is an underappreciated gift.
Julia Coffey, foreground, in the title role of Studio Theatres Hedda Gabler, with, from left in background, Michael Early, Kimiye Corwin and Avery Clark. (Allie Dearie)
Hedda Gabler isnt interesting if shes simply a furious psychotic, but thats how shes being framed in the suffocating new production at Studio Theatre. In 1890, Henrik Ibsen wrote a towering and difficult play about a woman hemmed in by society and tormented by her own conflicting impulses. Here, were all just trapped inside her volcanic head.
That makes the show monotonous as Hedda reflexively rips into everyone and never stops. The problem doesnt seem to be the new adaptation of Hedda Gabler by Irish dramatist Mark ORowe, which accentuates Ibsens clipped rhythms and makes the dialogue a touch more colloquial. The writing still sounds like Ibsen, right down to the famous phrases about vine leaves in his hair as Hedda fantasizes about driving an old flame to perverse glory and Im burning your baby as Hedda commits one of her drastic acts.
Instead, the issue seems to be the modern styling and expressionist tilt chosen by director Matt Torney. The house for the fashionable Hedda and her mismatched new husband, the wonky scholar Jorge Tesman, is polished and angular in Luciana Stecconis too-slick cell of a set, with tall, smoked-glass doors at the back that never let in daylight even when Hedda grouses about the sun. The lighting reflects Heddas mercurial moods, and so do the menacing hums and growls of the sound design. Understated would be the wrong word.
The hip furniture includes a sharply rectangular gray couch upon which Julia Coffeys jittery Hedda curls like cat ready to pounce. Avery Clark, who largely manages to keep Tesman from being just a nattering academic ninny, wears tailored jeans (the sharp costumes are by Murell Horton). Tesmans intellectual and romantic rival, Ejlert Lovborg, terrifically played by Shane Kenyon, looks like a trendy magazines version of a rugged writer, with his hiking boots and scarf and expensive-looking rumpled T-shirt.
These contemporary touches here partly undermine the play, which was set in the late 19th century for the debut of ORowes version last year at Dublins Abbey Theatre (a company that happens to be at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday and Thursday performing Sean OCaseys The Plough and the Stars). The bigger issue that the design underlines is the constricted interpretation of the play.
Ibsen never really explains Hedda, who outraged audiences of his era as she recoils from her own pregnancy, toys with her late military fathers guns, flirts with the power-hungry family friend Judge Brack, manipulates Lovborgs devoted lover, Thea Elvsted, and willfully ruins the genius writer Lovborg. (Theres your plot refresher.) But Ibsen packs Heddas environment with lots of clues, among them a strong paternal upbringing and limited creative possibilities for women. This show flies past a lot of contributing factors as it burrows single-mindedly into Heddas neurotic impulses.
Julia Coffey as the restless Hedda and Shane Kenyon as the writer Ejlert Lovborg. (Allie Dearie)
Coffey is lightning fast at this, purring at Thea one second and snapping at Tesman the next, while also infusing the performance with Heddas keen but wildly directed energy; Coffey fills the small stage with a restless muscular presence. The malleability is admirable, but its also mechanical, through no fault of Coffeys. She is not asked to connect the dots, which is the great mysterious challenge of the role, but to make each one piercingly clear, which just makes Hedda a raving mess.
Clark also is proficient with the shows rapid low-key and lash-out style, and Kenyon manages a surprisingly supple performance as Lovborg, who still carries a torch for Hedda (which of course she uses to burn him). Even so, a murmured intimate conversation that Kenyon and Coffey share just before intermission goes wrong in ways that have nothing to do with the acting. The sound that hums under them turns their exchange melodramatic, even tipping it toward soap opera. Then it approaches Gothic horror as sinister organ music intrudes, a footlight effect gives the stage a creepy glow and Hedda . . . goes . . . mad!
Its very stressful, two young men agreed at intermission Tuesday night. Thats the note this airless, nervous show drills home.
Hedda Gabler, by Henrik Ibsen, new version by Mark ORowe. Directed by Matt Torney. Lights, Scott Zielinski; sound, Fitz Patton. With Kimberly Schraf, Rosemary Regan, Kimiye Corwin and Michael Early. About 2 hours and 20 minutes. Through June 19 at Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St. NW. Tickets: $49-$91, subject to change. Call 202-332-3300 or visit studiotheatre.org.
An artist rendering shows a new horned dinosaur, Spiclypeus shipporum. A novice fossil collector found the bones in Montana more than a decade ago. Scientists announced Wednesday that it is a new kind of dinosaur. (Mike Skrepnick/Canadian Museum of Nature via AP)
A fossil collectors lucky find in a remote Montana badlands more than a decade ago represents a new kind of spectacularly horned dinosaur, researchers announced Wednesday.
The bones unearthed near Winifred, Montana, represent a previously unknown species of dinosaur that lived 76 million years ago.
Its scientific name is Spiclypeus shipporum (pronounced spi-CLIP-ee-us ship-OR-um) but it has been nicknamed Judith, after the Judith River rock formation where it was found in 2005 by retired nuclear physicist Bill Shipp.
Canadian Museum of Nature paleontologist Jordan Mallon says Judith is closely related to the well-known Triceratops. Both had horned faces and elaborate head frills.
Like Triceratops, Judith was a plant-eater, approximately 15 feet long and weighing up to four tons, Mallon said.
A reconstruction of the skull of Spiclypeus shipporum nicknamed "Judith." The new species is related to the triceratops, scientists said. (Martin Lipman/Canadian Museum of Nature via AP)
Shipp told the Associated Press he stumbled across what turned out to be Judiths leg bone in 2005, after hiring an amateur paleontologist to give him a lesson on fossil hunting at the ranch hed recently acquired near the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument.
I found it accidentally on purpose, he said. I was actually looking for dinosaur bones, but with no expectation of actually finding any.
It was at least 10 years old when it died, and the bones show signs of infection that would have left Judith hobbled. That made it potentially vulnerable prey for Tyrannosaurus rex-like predators that lived around the same period, Mallon said.
Its an exciting story, because its a new species, and yet we have this sort of pathetic individual that suffered throughout its lifetime, Mallon said. If youre hobbling along on three limbs, youre probably not going to be able to keep up with the herd.
Details on the find were published in the online scientific journal PLOS ONE.
Judith is one of only about a dozen dinosaur species that have been discovered in the Judith formation despite more than a century of exploration in the area, said John Scannella, manager of paleontology collections at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana.
This new animal provides another piece in the puzzle of our view of what the ecosystem of central Montana 76 million years ago was like, Scannella said.
Donald Trump has done a masterful job of spinning a New York Times article about his relationships with women by focusing on an episode involving a former girlfriend, the newspapers executive editor says.
In an interview on Tuesday, the Times Dean Baquet said he stood by the story, which Trump and his ex-girlfriend have attacked for presenting a distorted characterization of their relationship.
Hes a master of spin, Baquet said on Trump. Its just masterful to watch.
The story, which appeared on the Times front page on Sunday, has become the most-read politics article on the papers website this year, according to the Times, which didnt release specific figures.
In their 4,000-word dissection of Trumps history of private behavior toward women, Times reporters Michael Barbaro and Megan Twohey sketched a complicated picture of a man who advanced the business careers of several women over the years but also said hurtful things to a number of them.
The opening anecdote, about Trumps relationship with former girlfriend Rowanne Brewer Lane, sets a disturbing tone. It describes how Trump met the then-26-year-old model in 1990 and immediately asked her to put on a bikini so he could show her off, according to the article, at a pool party at his Florida mansion. That is a stunning Trump girl, isnt it? she said Trump told the crowd at Mar-a-Lago.
But Brewer Lane has challenged the Times characterization of the episode. Although she did not dispute any specific fact, she told Fox News on Monday that some all-important context was left out of the story: Rather than being upset by Trumps behavior as the Times suggested she appreciated his interest in her.
I did not have a negative experience with Donald Trump, she said. And I dont appreciate them making it look like that I was saying it was a negative experience, because it was not, she said.
Trump was even more blunt, calling the story false, malicious and libelous, among other things, on Twitter.
Baquet fired back in the interview, defending the story and taking issue with both Trump and Brewer Lane.
If you look at the quotes and the way she described it, she expressed discomfort with Trumps behavior, he said. She was not saying to us, It was great he did this, which is what shes saying now.
But, in fact, Brewer Lane does not express discomfort with Trump in any of her published comments. At most, she called her relationship with the New York businessman intimidating, although that comment appears in the context of their whirlwind romance, which the article said included a heady blur of helicopter rides and high-end hotel rooms and flashing cameras.
The Times itself, not Brewer Lane, described the swimsuit incident as debasing. That comports with the storys headline,Crossing the Line: How Donald Trump Behaved With Women in Private, and a sub-heading reading, Interviews reveal unwelcome advances, a shrewd reliance on ambition, and unsettling workplace conduct over decades.
Barbaro and Twohey, the reporters of the story, didnt return calls and emails seeking comment. They told CNN on Monday that they stood by the story.
Baquet said that the pool-party incident was the straightest, cleanest way to start the article because it was illustrative of the Times extensive reporting about Trumps private dealings with women. The story was based on more than 50 interviews over six weeks with women who have known and worked with Trump.
Trump has done a masterful job of spinning this story, Baquet said. Everyone is focused on the opening anecdote and [Brewer Lanes Fox] interview since then. . . . Hes pushing all the attention away from the other women who had some remarkable descriptions of their interactions with Trump.
If you look at his reaction and the reaction of his people, and the way some members of the press have covered this, including Fox, its like its just one woman. Its the height of spin. You take one thing that you want to contest and build around that while forgetting that there are 4,000 words and many voices in the story, all on the record.
Despite the criticism, Baquet said he had no second thoughts about the story or the way the opening scene was presented. Any anecdote you use . . . they would have found a way to divert everyones attention from the main point of the story. Shes not contesting the facts of the story. I think the anecdote was fair.
ALEXANDRIA
These cases were among the calls reported recently by the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria, which provides animal control services to the city. For information or to report emergencies involving animals 24 hours a day, call 703-746-4774 or go to alexandriaanimals.org .
Homeless squirrels: Derby Ct., 5600 block, May 8. An officer took two orphaned squirrels to a wildlife rehabilitator.
Biting incident: Martha Custis Dr., 1200 block, May 8. An officer is investigating a dog bite.
Streets Meets Glass art exhibit: The Del Ray Artisans Gallery Without Walls program and the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria will have an opening reception Friday from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Vola Lawson Animal Shelter, 4101 Eisenhower Ave. The show continues through Aug. 15. For information, go to thedelrayartisans.org or animals@delrayartisans.org.
ARLINGTON
These cases were reported by the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, which operates the county animal shelter and provides animal control services to the county. For information or to report emergencies involving animals 24 hours a day, call 703-931-9241 or go to awla.org.
In a fix: S. Buchanan St., 2800 block, May 5. An officer removed a juvenile raccoon that was stuck between a fence and a wall. The raccoon was placed in a crate, and its mother returned to claim it.
Car fan: N. Danville St., 900 block, May 7. An officer removed a kitten from the undercarriage of a car. The stray kitten was impounded.
Room to fly: N. 18th St., 5500 block, May 8. An officer examined a stunned goldfinch lying in a driveway and took it to an open area. The bird flew away.
These cases were handled by the Washington Humane Society, which operates its shelter at 1201 New York Ave. NE. For information or assistance, call 202-723-5730 or go to washhumane.org.
A stunning situation: Indiana Ave. NW, 500 block, May 2. An officer took an apparently stunned ovenbird to City Wildlife for rehabilitation.
Family grows: N St. SW, 500 block, May 4. An officer captured three ducklings with no mother and had them join a duck family with three other ducklings.
Trapped bird treated: Webster St. NE, 200 block, May 4. An officer freed a starling tangled in netting. The injured bird was taken to City Wildlife for rehabilitation.
Adoptable pet: New York Ave. NE, 1200 block, May 5. A 3-year-old Pekinese mix was surrendered to the shelter.
MARYLAND
Man is sentencedfor 2014 slaying
A 33-year-old Maryland man was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years in prison for a 2014 murder in Montgomery County in which the victims mother found the body.
I believe, today, justice was served, Patricia Harris, mother of Jonathan Harris of Silver Spring, said Wednesday after the sentencing of Dion Sobotker of Temple Hills.
Her son was 26, not much more than 100 pounds, and a survivor of open-heart surgery and two kidney transplants. His story was featured several years ago as part of an NBC Today program about organ donation.
Circuit Judge Gary Bair sentenced Sobotker to a life term but suspended all but 40 years.
Dan Morse
Two teens chargedin fatal shooting
Prince George's County police have arrested two teens in the fatal shooting of a man found slain in a car.
Christopher Pineda, 17, and Erik Parham Jr., 19, have been charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Alim Rahim, 22.
Rahim was found shot in a car in the 500 block of Harry S. Truman Drive at about 9:30 a.m. on May 8 and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
The shooting appears to stem from a marijuana-related robbery. Pineda and Parham admitted their involvement and are in jail without bond, police said.
Pineda is charged as an adult.
Lynh Bui
VIRGINIA
Man struck at diner dies of his injuries
A pedestrian injured this month when a man deliberately drove a Hummer into a Silver Diner in McLean before setting himself on fire has died, police said.
Andrew Sheren, 74, of McLean was struck May 4 by the Hummer while walking into the diner in the 8100 block of Fletcher Street, according to Fairfax County police. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said Sheren died Wednesday from complications from injuries suffered in the crash.
Police said they have arrest warrants for Samuel Ovie Abutoh, 59, of Springfield, for malicious wounding and felony destruction of property.
Abutoh, who drove the Hummer into the diner repeatedly before lighting himself on fire, is in a hospital. Warrants will be served upon his release, police said.
Justin Wm. Moyer
Man dies after being struck on Route 7
A man died Wednesday after being struck by a vehicle on Route 7 in Virginia, police said.
Fairfax County police received a report of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle at Route 7 and Glen Carlyn Drive at 3:40 p.m.
The driver stayed at the scene, police said.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) greets Rich Leotta as he prepares to sign Noahs Law, a measure that will expand the use of interlock ignition switches for drunk drivers. The bill was named for Leottas son, Noah Leotta, a Montgomery County police officer who was killed by a drunk driver while on DUI patrol. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed measures on Thursday that will change how drunk drivers are punished and how police are disciplined as well as another that dramatically shifts how the criminal justice system deals with nonviolent drug offenders.
The bills were among 144 pieces of legislation Hogan (R) signed in his final bill-signing session of 2016, leaving about 100 other measures still awaiting action. Hogan has until the end of next week to decide whether to veto the remaining bills or let them take effect without his signature.
Thursdays ceremony drew hundreds of advocates and onlookers, including dozens of police officers and officials. Many had pressed for lawmakers to approve Noahs Law, which will expand the use of interlock ignition devices for drunk drivers. The bill was named for Noah Leotta, a Montgomery County police officer who was killed by a drunk driver while on DUI patrol.
Its a special day, a celebration of life, of Noahs life, and a celebration of saving lives, said Rich Leotta, the slain officers father, said after the ceremony, which took place a day after the man charged in the death pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter.
This was all about saving lives. Noah had a short life, but he left a big legacy.
[As bill passes, lawmaker says slain officer Noah Leotta is still on the job]
The ceremony included lawmakers and advocates who for years have fought for the state to strengthen the states drunken-driving laws and those who have pushed for police and criminal justice reforms.
Advocates who have pressed for improvements in police accountability said the successful passage of the reform bill this year was due to the 2015 death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore from injuries suffered while in police custody and the protests and riots that followed in the city last spring.
Larry Stafford, who leads the Maryland Coalition for Justice and Police Accountability and is the executive director of Progressive Maryland, said advocates have worked for years to change how officers are hired, trained and disciplined, without much success.
After the unrest in Baltimore, Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) and House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) set up a legislative work group to recommend ways to improve relations between the police and the community.
A lot of credit goes to the activists and organizers in Baltimore City who stood up after what happened with Freddie Gray and pushed for changes, Stafford said. That made this very possible.
[On a frigid night, protesters stage a die-in to push for Md. police reform]
Del. Benjamin Kramer (D-Montgomery), who sponsored a bill to expand the use of interlock ignitions for the past seven years, said there was no way we could not get this bill passed this year after the media attention and the efforts of Leottas parents, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the law-enforcement community.
It really is such a common-sense bill that will unequivocally save lives, Kramer said.
Noahs Law lowers the blood alcohol level at which ignition locks are required from 0.15 to 0.08. It also requires ignition interlocks for anyone who has failed a breath alcohol test, not just those who have been convicted of driving under the influence.
[Man accused of drunken driving in death of officer to plead guilty]
Hogan also signed the Justice Reinvestment Act, which will shift the criminal justice systems focus from prison to treatment for nonviolent drug offenders. Under the bill, mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders will be eliminated, penalties for several violent crimes will be increased and some nonviolent criminals will be able to leave prison earlier.
The legislations aim is to reduce the states prison population and save the state money an estimated $80 million over the next 10 years. Much of that money is supposed to be reinvested in drug treatment and prisoner rehabilitation programs.
Hogan also signed a pay-equity bill that bans employers from providing lower wages or less-favorable job opportunities based on sex or gender identity and bars any workplace rules against discussing pay with colleagues.
Among the bills still awaiting action from Hogan are measures that would increase funding to overcrowded school districts; make college more affordable; require the state to match a federal grant for pre-kindergarten funding; and create a commission to study equity in school funding.
Busch said it would be a major concern if Hogan vetoed the education-related bills, given the importance Marylanders place on top-quality schools. He noted that some of the bills require the state to spend additional money, an obligation Hogan has been reluctant to embrace in the past.
Sen. Nancy King (D-Montgomery County), who sponsored the bill to review the states school-funding formulas, said were not sure why Hogan wouldnt want to sign that legislation. Its a real important bill.
Hogan has also not signed a bill, pushed by Attorney General Brian Frosh (D), that deals with the structured-settlement industry. Under the measure, a judge would determine whether a structured-settlement transfer was in the best interest of the recipient, and the attorney general would have the authority to regulate the transfers.
Hogan spokesman Matt Clark said that every single [bill] is being analyzed on its own merit and that the remaining bills are still being reviewed.
Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, at lectern, stands with Comptroller Peter Franchot (D), at left. To the right is state Sen. James Mathias Jr. (D). (Brian Witte/AP)
Baltimore County on Wednesday said it would advance itself $45 million in future state funds to install central air conditioning in virtually all of its schools by August 2018, a response to pressure from Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and Comptroller Peter Franchot (D).
The decision by Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz (D) was the latest development in a battle over how to cool classrooms and accelerates the countys installation timeline by one year.
A divided state Board of Public Works voted 2 to 1 last week to withhold $15 million in school-construction funds from Baltimore and Baltimore County until they came up with a plan to have air conditioning in all classrooms by late August.
The board also voted 2 to 1 to lift a state ban on purchasing window air conditioners. Hogan and Franchot, who sit on the board, supported both moves over objections from the third board member, state Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp (D).
The boards actions prompted the resignation of the states school-construction chief, David Lever, who accused Hogan and Franchot of an exercise of blunt authority [that] . . . substitutes the preferences of the Board of Public Works for the expertise of a range of local and state individuals who have made education and school facility matters their lifes work.
Kamenetz said that Hogan withheld the money as ransom so that we would capitulate.
Its ridiculous that we have to advance the states share of funding to do the job right in the first place, he added.
Hogan spokesman Doug Mayer said the Board of Public Works will review the countys plan once it is officially submitted but that the governor has major concerns.
Until now, Baltimore County residents have been told that rapid progress on air conditioning in county schools was impossible, he said. But without much explanation, the County Executive has announced a significant reversal in policy.
The $45 million for air conditioning will initially come from surplus county funds and operational accounts, with the state gradually reimbursing the cost as part of its annual matching school-construction contributions.
Baltimore and Baltimore County are the only jurisdictions in the state with a significant number of classrooms that dont have cooling systems. In 2011, the county launched a $1.3 billion initiative to modernize its facilities.
Under the plan Kamenetz announced Wednesday, all middle and elementary schools would have central air by the fall of 2017, while all high schools would have it by fall 2018.
Earlier Wednesday, the states Interagency Committee on School Construction tried to distance itself from the air-conditioning war, saying the panel was not responsible for figuring out how to achieve the $15 million funding reduction ordered by Hogan and Franchot.
My ideal solution is to punt this back to the Board of Public Works, said committee member Barbara A. Hoffman. I think the more we can keep the committee out of this, the better for our future.
The panel, which recommends funding for school-construction projects after reviewing every districts proposals, voted unanimously to draft a letter to the Board of Public Works telling it to identify what should be cut.
Kamenetz previously rejected plans for using county surplus money to install portable air conditioners as a temporary fix, insisting that the funds would be better spent on installing central air conditioning to all of the jurisdictions schools by the end of 2019.
Hogan and Franchot say the schools need a faster fix, but local officials say their time frame is unrealistic.
This week, Baltimore City school officials asked the Board of Public Works to reconsider its vote to withhold funding, calling the move punitive and unreasonable.
Tammy L. Turner, the school districts acting chief executive, said the system will be forced to choose between much-needed fire safety, roofs, boilers, and window projects that are essential to the safety and security of our students, and the BPWs unprecedented mandate to install portable air-conditioning units within an unreasonable time frame.
Kopp and other elected officials have suggested that the air-conditioning controversy is politically motivated. Some say privately that they suspect Hogan and Franchot are trying to embarrass Kamenetz, who is widely considered a potential Democratic candidate for governor in 2018.
Franchot is also seen as a potential gubernatorial candidate.
The fight also has drawn the attention of the Democratic-majority state legislature, which earlier this year passed a bill that would nullify certain Board of Public Works decisions including on school-construction funding made after Jan. 1.
Montgomery County Council members from left, Craig Rice, George L. Leventhal, Roger Berliner, Marc Elrich, Nancy Floreen, Tom Hucker, Sidney Katz, Nancy Navarro and Hans Riemer are sworn in in December 2014. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
The cost of buying, selling or refinancing a home in Montgomery County will increase later this year, thanks to a hike in the recordation tax approved by the County Council on Wednesday.
The tax increase is the first of a one-two punch county residents will take this week as the council wraps up work on the 2017 operating budget that goes into effect July 1.
On Thursday, the council is expected to vote on a proposed property tax increase that could be as high as 9 percent. A final vote on the budget is scheduled for May 26.
The council looked to recordation fees as another means of pushing more money into the 156,000-student Montgomery County Public Schools system, which officials say is already overburdened and is projected to grow by another 10,000 students in the next five years.
Approximately 8,700 students are currently in portable classrooms because of overcrowding, according to county figures.
The higher tax is expected to generate an additional $200 million over the next six years, about three-quarters of which would go toward school construction.
The rest of the revenue would help pay for other county construction projects and affordable housing.
[Doubling down on school spending, council fulfills campaign promise]
Taxes on the sale or purchase of a $500,000 home will rise $455, from $3,105 to $3,560. On a $1 million home, recordation fees will tick upward by $2,205, from $8,105 to $10,310. The first $100,000 of the sale price will be exempt from the tax for first-time homebuyers.
The measure, sponsored by council President Nancy Floreen (D-At Large), drew heavy pushback from some residents and from the countys real estate industry, which said the tax hike would be a disincentive for families to move to the county.
Homeownership is one of the best opportunities for people to maintain security and build equity not a piggy bank for the council to use at whim, Peg Mancuso, president of Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors, said at a lively May 10 hearing that brought out parents and other school advocates in support of the tax hike.
Debby Orsak, a parent representing Ashburton Elementary in Bethesda, said the school was so overcrowded that we literally have students whose reading classes are in converted closets, and instrumental music also being offered in similar aforementioned closets.
Last-minute lobbying on Wednesday morning secured a couple of changes to the final version of the bill. The effective date was moved from July 1 to Sept. 1, giving real estate agents time they said was needed to prepare for the change. The exemption for first-time homebuyers was raised from $50,000 to $100,000.
Montgomerys existing recordation taxes are already higher than those in neighboring Prince Georges and Howard counties; the increase will further widen the gap.
Recordation taxes are higher in the District and will remain so after the increase, but they are lower in Arlington and Fairfax counties.
Edward M. Nero, a Baltimore police officer who was involved in Freddie Gray's arrest, leaves the Baltimore City Circuit Court for a lunch recess during the first day of his trial, May 12, 2016, in Baltimore. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)
Officer Edward M. Nero declined to speak in his own defense Wednesday, ending five days of testimony over whether his actions during last years arrest of Freddie Gray were criminal.
I wish to remain silent, Nero told the court.
Prosecutors allege that Nero committed assault in what they contend was an illegal arrest of Gray, and reckless endangerment by then failing to secure Gray with a seat belt in the back of a police van. Gray, 25, suffered a fatal neck injury in the van and died days later.
Defense attorneys contend that Nero acted appropriately and never even touched Gray as he was initially detained April 12, 2015.
Judge Barry Williams said he would issue a verdict in the case Monday. Closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday. Nero, one of six officers charged in Grays arrest or death, opted for a bench trial rather than a jury trial. His case will be the first to be decided in court.
A mural in Baltimore in April 2016 depicts Freddie Gray a year after the protests that were sparked by his death from an injury he suffered in police custody. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)
Neros defense team called a parade of witnesses, all but one of them current or former Baltimore Police Department officers, seeking to hammer home the contention that Neros conduct that day was reasonable.
After police chased Gray on foot that April morning and caught him, Nero assisted another officer who handcuffed Gray and moved him onto his stomach. He then twice helped load Gray into a police van; the prisoner was not belted into a seat on either occasion.
Officer Zachary Novak, who was involved in Grays arrest but was given immunity by prosecutors to testify before a grand jury, was among those who came to court in Neros defense.
He testified that he took a legal training class with Nero in which they were taught that under certain circumstances, you might handcuff an involuntary detainee if you believed the person was possibly armed or a flight risk. He said they were not told specifically how long such a detention should last only that it should be a reasonable amount of time.
Defense attorney Marc Zayon earlier introduced a stipulation that the streets where Gray ran and was caught were in a high-crime area; courts have ruled that fleeing from police in a high-crime area is enough reasonable suspicion for police to give chase.
Novak also testified that after Gray was placed inside a police van for the second time, the wagon was shaking . . . enough for it to go from side to side. From outside, he said, he could hear yelling and screaming.
His testimony echoed that of Officer Aaron Jackson, who gave a similar account on Tuesday.
Capt. Justin Reynolds, who has 18 years service in the department and testified Wednesday, said there was no way for a police officer to belt an arrested person into the seat of a police van while protecting himself or herself.
The straps in the wagons are spaghetti-like, he said, and require both hands to operate.
Theres no way you could seat-belt someone into a wagon with one arm against their chest to keep them from assaulting you, Reynolds said.
Reynolds testified that a revised policy released shortly before Grays arrest requiring all prisoners be seat-belted was not properly disseminated. It should have been read aloud to officers at the beginning of their shifts, he said, and handed out to them not simply emailed to the entire force.
Before that policy change, officers in Baltimore were supposed to secure prisoners with seat belts but were allowed discretion in whether to do so. But prosecutors elicited testimony from several officers that while Gray was passively resisting officers attempts to move him into the van, he did not kick, bite, spit or otherwise attempt to assault them. The failure to belt Gray into a seat was not an issue of discretion in the name of self-protection, prosecutors argue, but simple callousness.
The first officer to go to trial in the case was William G. Porter. His case ended in a hung jury, and he is awaiting retrial.
A Maryland man pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter Wednesday for the drunken-driving death of Montgomery County police officer Noah Leotta, a tragedy that spurred a new state law designed to curb drinking and driving.
Luis Reluzco, 47, of Olney, demonstrated little emotion during a 30-minute court hearing in Rockville. He faces a term of up to 10 years in prison at his scheduled sentencing Aug 23.
Because vehicular manslaughter is considered a nonviolent offense under Maryland sentencing rules, Reluzco would be eligible for parole consideration after completing 25 percent of his term.
The hearing Wednesday revealed new details about the case, including Reluzcos rapid consumption of beer and whiskey at a Hooters restaurant in the hours before the Dec. 3 crash; an account from a new witness who said he saw Reluzcos Honda CR-V strike Leottas police car and then, Leotta, just before 10 p.m.; and Reluzcos statements that he didnt know he had hit anyone.
Leotta a well-liked, 24-year-old officer had pulled over a different vehicle on Rockville Pike as part of a holiday DUI enforcement effort and was out of his car.
The witness described seeing the defendants SUV approach the back of the police car and thinking that the SUV was too close, prosecutor Bryan Roslund said in court. It appeared to him that the SUV tried to go around at the last second, but had waited too long to move over. [The witness] saw the sparks and smoke.
Moments after the crash, Reluzco was still behind the wheel when a police officer responding to the scene came up to him.
Roslund said Reluzco told that officer: Sorry I didnt even see you, adding that Reluzco thought he had merely hit a car. He was not aware that he had hit a person, Roslund said at the hearing.
In the courtroom were Leottas parents, Rich and Marcia Leotta, also of Olney.
I want to hear him say: Yes, I am guilty for the crime that I committed, the officers father said Wednesday before going to court.
The hearing was part of an emotional month for Leottas parents, who attended memorial services for their son as part of National Police Week. It was the right thing to do, but it breaks your heart every time, Rich Leotta said.
He has spent a lot of time recalling a conversation he had with Noah a year ago. It came as he and Noah were walking their dogs. Noah told his dad hed gone to the annual candlelight vigil in downtown Washington at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, which honors fallen officers.
Its such an honor to have your name on that wall, he recalled his son saying.
Noah, it is an honor, Rich Leotta had replied. But thats not a good thing. I wouldnt want that for you.
Letting Noah go: Officers parents channel grief to fight drunken driving
On Wednesday in court, before Leottas parents and about 80 others, including officers and the countys police chief, events leading to the officers death were laid out.
Reluzco, who has worked as a bartender at Bethesda Country Club, went to a late afternoon doctors appointment along Rockville Pike. Afterward, he smoked a one-hitter of marijuana before starting his drive headed for home, according to Roslund.
Along the way, Reluzco would later tell a detective, he saw the Hooters sign and pulled over. Before going in, Reluzco said, he took a half-milligram pill of Xanax.
Surveillance video from Hooters showed him entering at 5:20 p.m.
The electronically stored bar tab showed that over roughly two hours, he purchased four Stella draft beers, one Big Daddy Bud Light, three shots of well whiskey and two shots of Jamesons whiskey, Roslund said in court. The drinking drew the attention of a server who encouraged him to get something to eat to slow the alcohol consumption down, Roslund said. The printed bar tab receipt does reflect that a chicken quesadilla was ordered.
Reluzco stayed at Hooters after paying his credit card tab. Police have said he also purchased drinks in cash. Surveillance video showed him leaving Hooters at about 9:40 p.m., and blood tests would later show he had a blood alcohol concentration of approximately 0.22, or nearly three times the legal limit.
About the same time, Leotta had pulled over a Chevy Tahoe in the far-right lane of Rockville Pike and was walking back to his car. Reluzcos CR-V came up from behind, clipped the rear drivers side of Leottas car, scraped along the edge and struck the officer.
No breaks. No swerving. There was just hitting.
Leotta died a week later at Suburban Hospital.
Reluzco has been held in jail since his indictment in February. He wore a green inmate jumpsuit and white sneakers during the hearing Wednesday, answering Yes, maam to questions from Circuit Court Judge Ann S. Harrington, designed to assure her that he wanted to plead guilty. Reluzcos attorney, John Roth, spoke briefly, saying his client accepted full responsibility.
He never tried to jump away from what he did, Roth said.
On Thursday, Rich and Marcia Leotta plan to go to Annapolis to see the ceremonial signing of Noahs Law, which expands the mandatory use of breath-testing ignition devices for drunk drivers in Maryland. It is set to take effect later this year.
Rich Leotta said he expected the ceremony to be easier than the court hearings or the memorial events.
I think its a good capstone of what weve been through, he said.
A neighborhood activist from the District sued the U.S. Justice Department in federal court this week seeking information on what happens to the thousands of people arrested each year in connection with a host of crimes, including robbery and murder.
It is the latest move in Denise Rucker Krepps six-month campaign to force federal prosecutors in the District to disclose conviction rates to the public.
Last year, Krepp, the advisory neighborhood commissioner for Hill East, held a bake sale and raised $2,000 to pay the government $40 an hour to search five years worth of records for all eight D.C. wards and then make copies at 5 cents a page.
But federal authorities denied her Freedom of Information Act request, writing to her that the U.S. attorneys office for the District does not track this information and has no means of searching for or retrieving it. Krepp appealed, and prosecutors said they would attempt to obtain the data but not in the format she had requested.
[How a rape suspect essentially fell off the grid of monitoring agencies]
Krepps lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington, says she and her neighbors on Capitol Hill are concerned that dangerous criminals are being arrested by the local police department, but when it comes time to prosecute those criminals, the DOJ is failing to follow through on its duty to enforce DCs laws.
The suit goes on to say, Ms. Krepp and her neighbors have seen multiple instances of violent criminals being arrested and then released back into the community, where they have promptly committed crimes again.
A spokeswoman for the Justice Department said the agency was reviewing the complaint, but she declined to comment further.
Capitol Hill residents were outraged last year when robberies spiked and a woman was raped in the middle of an afternoon in her home on Hill East. Police arrested a man who they say is a repeat violent offender, with eight arrests in four years and a conviction for robbery.
[How a rape suspect essentially fell off the grid of monitoring agencies]
That attack and others led to a community meeting attended by hundreds of residents clamoring for more information about the suspect. It also was one of the catalysts for Krepps seeking the conviction rates.
Despite a significant public interest in the data, the DOJ has ignored its obligation to be transparent to the public, and has instead chosen to stonewall Ms. Krepp, refusing to provide even the most basic prosecutorial data, her suit says. The DOJs stated reason for denying Ms. Krepps Request that such data does not exist is without merit. Besides it being highly unlikely from a logical standpoint that an agency charged with criminal prosecutions would not maintain data related to what prosecutions it is maintaining, the DOJ has included prosecutorial data in reports it has released to the public.
The suit says that it appears that the DOJ will only share prosecutorial data when such data is released in a manner controlled by the DOJ, and will not provide the very same data underlying its reports to the citizens who are directly affected by the DOJs policies.
An adjunct professor at a Virginia community college has been charged with rape, authorities said.
On May 5, a student at Northern Virginia Community College reported that her professor, Youssef Taleb, brought her into a conference room to help her with Calculus problems, according to an affidavit filed in Fairfax County in support of a search warrant. Taleb then sexually assaulted her, the affidavit states. The woman also said Taleb had previously raped her in March, and another woman said Taleb sexually battered her earlier in the semester, according to the affidavit.
Taleb was arrested on May 5 by Northern Virginia Community College police and charged with rape, object sexual penetration and two counts of sexual battery, the universitys director of media relations said. Taleb, who was hired in August 2015 and taught only at the schools Manassas campus, was terminated by the school, according to the spokesman.
Talebs attorney did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
A woman who mistreated 11 ferrets has been arrested and charged with animal cruelty in Maryland, authorities said.
On April 6, officers from the Montgomery County Department of Polices Animal Services Division and Crisis Intervention Team responded to the 10000 block of Markham Street in Silver Spring to investigate an animal cruelty complaint, the Countys Animal Services and Adoption Center said in a statement.
There, Lisa Oestereich of Silver Spring allowed officers into her home and basement, where the ferrets resided, according to the statement. Animal Services officers found the ferrets living in isolated, unsanitary conditions, the statement said, with fleas, hair loss and unkempt nails, and without nutritious food.
On Monday, Oestereich was arrested and charged on 33 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty, the statement said. The ferrets were taken into protective custody, and Oestereichs home was later condemned, according to the statement.
The ferrets are now available for adoption. More information is available at www.montgomerycountymd.gov/animalservices.
Haja Kalokoh, left, embraces Evelyn Lopez of Stepping Stones Shelter in Rockville. (J. Lawler Duggan/For The Washington Post)
Haja Kalokohs acceptance to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore almost didnt happen.
The Montgomery Blair High School senior, a refugee from Sierra Leone, said college was always in her plans. But she didnt know how to get there until poverty landed her family in a place they never wanted to be. It turned out to be exactly what they needed.
The Stepping Stones Shelter in Rockville specializes in housing, feeding and counseling homeless families and teaching them how to be self-sufficient. Kalokoh arrived there with her mother, Ramatu Bangura, and her autistic younger brother, Alie, in September, after Bangura lost her hotel housekeeping jobs and the family was evicted from their apartment in Silver Spring.
I was scared, disappointed and mad, because it was our lowest point, said Kalokoh, 19. We tried everything to avoid going to shelter.
The family had made the arduous journey to the United States in the early 2000s after spending years in a refugee camp in Guinea. Kalokoh, whose memories of Africa center on the camp, rations and hunger, arrived in 2003 with her father and her middle brother, two years her junior. Bangura, who was pregnant with Alie, became separated from them during an attack on the refugee camp and did not return until 2006.
[]
[A standout student is undocumented and barred from financial aid]
The marriage grew troubled, and Bangura eventually left her husband, working two jobs to pay bills for herself and the three children.
She depended on Kalokoh to help take care of Alie and take him to medical appointments. Their lives grew more complicated after Banguras middle son was arrested for stealing a cellphone and violated his probation by skipping school, fighting and not reporting to his parole officer. He is currently attending Silver Oak Academy, a year-round residential high school for at-risk youths.
After the family was evicted, they spent one month with relatives and another in a motel. Kalokohs job at a Fuddruckers restaurant generated some income. But by the fall, she, her mother and Alie were at Stepping Stones, located in a historic farmhouse a few blocks from downtown Rockville.
Haja Kalokoh, right, and her mother, Ramatu Bangura. (J. Lawler Duggan/For The Washington Post)
Staffers at the shelter wrapped themselves around the family like a village, helping Bangura apply for work, sign up for computer classes, and search for day care and tutoring for Alie. Kalokoh worked with shelter staffers on school assignments and navigating the college-application process, and she and her mother landed jobs at the Forever 21 clothing store at Westfield Montgomery Mall.
Counselors said they were struck by Kalokohs passion at nightly meetings of shelter residents, even after long days of school, work and helping with her brother. The conversation sometimes veered from responsibilities to high school and random teenager stuff, said case manager Evelyn Lopez. It was the time when she was able to be herself.
Resident Assistant Neeka Paire, who helped Kalakoh analyze an Alice Dunbar-Nelson poem for a school project, said that it was inspiring to watch her blossom. . . . Many people come here focused on the temporary food or housing, but Haja wanted something more solid and sustainable. She developed her future here.
Kalokoh also forged a special connection with Lopez and case manager Joycelyn Obeng-Boafo, both of whom were the first in their family to graduate from college. Obeng-Boafo is originally from Ghana, and Lopez is the daughter of immigrants from El Salvador and Guatemala.
[For poor students in the Ivy League, a full ride really isnt]
They walked her through the process of identifying colleges who might accept her, applying for financial aid and weighing the pros and cons of in-state and out-of-state schools.
We felt like rallying behind Haja and putting resources behind her, said Obeng-Boafo. Shes the first person in the shelter that we are assisting with college as much as we are.
Shelter staffers say they hope to do this more in the future.
Haja Kalokoh, center, talks with her mother, Ramatu Bangura, in their kitchen in North Potomac while Hajas brother Alie, 12, looks out the window. (J. Lawler Duggan/For The Washington Post)
Although the family left Stepping Stones in February, moving into a subsidized townhouse in North Potomac, their relationship with the shelter continues.
Staffers helped Kalokoh choose a dress design and hairstylist for her senior prom, which will take place Saturday. They are helping the family find furniture for their townhouse and featured Kalokoh in their newsletter after she was accepted to college.
Executive Director Jaye Matthews said donors are standing by to pitch in financially once the young woman learns what financial aid will not cover and to buy dorm furnishings and other basics Kalokoh otherwise could not afford.
Last week, the shelter organized a banquet in Kalokohs honor. Those in attendance included Rockville Mayor Bridget Newton, members of the shelters board and several potential donors who wanted to meet her. Lopez, Paire, Matthews and others who had helped Kalokoh were there, too.
Bangura arrived late, after her shift at Forever 21. She told a visitor about some of the hardships she endured while escaping Sierra Leone: nearly dropping 8-month-old Haja while fleeing the capital on foot; a dangerous ferry-boat crossing to Guinea; gun battles on the streets; and leaving her children alone in a tent so she could collect firewood to sell in a makeshift market.
Kalokoh listened, her mouth agape. She had never heard these stories before.
I didnt want you to know how we suffered, Bangura told her daughter. I know now I did not do the sacrifice for nothing.
A few minutes later, it was Kalokohs time to speak. She stood at the lectern without notes and told her own story of her familys eviction, how going to a shelter felt like failure, and how the staff there taught her and her mother to be strong.
College is the breakthrough for my family, she said. Im just so grateful.
Guy Morgan, who runs the office of Professional Standards at the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Dept., has been put administrative leave following complaints about images on his personal Facebook page. (WUSA)
Guy Morgan, who runs the office of Professional Standards at the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Dept., has been put administrative leave following complaints about images on his personal Facebook page. (WUSA)
Fairfax County officials, the fire chief and the leader of the local firefighters union vowed Wednesday to get to the bottom of a series of incidents involving possible sexual and racial harassment of firefighters from within the department.
The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday took the unusual step of pledging to hire an outside consultant to assess the working environment in the agency, days after the official in charge of professional standards was put on leave in response to complaints about lewd images and language posted on his private Facebook page.
That official, Guy Morgan, said in a brief telephone interview that he is prohibited from discussing the situation because he is under internal investigation. The posts on his Facebook page were first reported by WUSA (Channel 9), which showed screen shots of photos of scantily clad women, some posing in front of a firetruck. The television report said that some of the photos on Morgans page were so inappropriate, we couldnt show them on TV. The posts appeared to have been taken down by Wednesday.
Fire chief Richard Bowers said that he will not stand for harassment or bullying in the department, adding that he has no indication that any problems extend beyond some bad apples in the nearly 2,000-employee department.
John Niemiec, president of the firefighters and paramedics union, said the union doesnt condone any bad behavior. . . . If there are wrong-doings, lets correct them.
Niemiec said the union had previously alerted the fire chief to two complaints from members who alleged that Morgan conducted unprofessional, demeaning interviews with employees being investigated by internal affairs. Bowers said he reviewed video recordings of the interviews and found nothing to substantiate the complaints.
[Dvorak: Female firefighters still get harassed. Why is that okay?]
The outside examination of the department follows the April suicide of Fairfax firefighter Nicole Mittendorff. After her death, the department launched an investigation into lewd, degrading comments allegedly written about her online by her co-workers.
I am very concerned, whether its one or more complaints, Bowers said. I want someone from the outside to look into this, tell me if there is a problem, and if there is, I will fix it.
Bowers said he has also set up an internal task force to address 11 initiatives, including suicide prevention and stronger policies against harassment and bullying.
While Bowers said he does not see harassment as a day-to-day problem in county firehouses, an attorney who has sued the department on behalf of some female firefighters disagreed.
I talk to so many women in the fire department not just those who have retained me as legal counsel who say harassment is continuing, said attorney Ellen Renaud, who has won one discrimination lawsuit against the agency, settled several others and just filed one on behalf of a female firefighter. Theyre afraid of retaliation.
A small group of female fire department employees denied Renauds characterization at a news conference Wednesday, telling reporters that black sheep do not represent who we are as a whole, according to WTOP radio.
State police, who are looking into Mittendorffs suicide, have not identified a connection between her death and the posts that appeared on the website Fairfax Underground, Fairfax Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova (D-At Large) said Tuesday.
But we need to address the fact that people who appeared to be posting things of a bullying and harassing nature appear to be firefighters, Bulova said. Actual harassment, bullying, all those things are not acceptable.
Bulova said Morgan, a civilian employee who heads the fire departments office of internal affairs and professional standards, needs to be held to a higher standard because of his position.
Other supervisors interviewed Wednesday agreed that the outside consultant was the best way for the county to proceed.
Lots of rumors are going around, and we want to make sure no stone is left unturned on behalf of the workforce, said Penelope A. Gross (D-Mason), who is head of the boards personnel committee. The images on Morgans Facebook page were bad enough, she said, but the fact that he is head of professional standards was the last straw for me.
Supervisor John C. Cook (R-Braddock), an attorney who practices employment law and heads the boards public safety committee, said that it is not unusual for lawsuits alleging misbehavior to be filed against an agency as large as the Fairfax fire department.
While a rank-and-file firefighter, posting as a private person and not using county equipment, might have a claim to privacy, a high-ranking manager like Morgan, who deals with harassment and bullying complaints, does not have that latitude, Cook said.
I want anybody in the fire department to have confidence that the person investigating their complaint is neutral and able to do the job, Cook said. At the same time, he warned county residents not to leap to conclusions: We want to be careful and get the correct information rather than rush to judgment.
It is not the first time Fairfax has hired outside contractors to examine an agency, officials said. The police department started consulting with the Police Executive Research Forum in 2013, for example, and hired the organization to address its use-of-force policies later that year, after the fatal shooting by an officer of unarmed civilian John B. Geer.
With much of the nation focused on the carnival-like 2016 presidential contest, Ed Gillespie brought South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to Virginia to talk about his plans for an inclusive, policy-based campaign for Virginia governor.
Gillespie, a longtime GOP strategist who nearly unseated Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) two years ago, and Haley (R) stressed the need to reach out to minority groups not known for supporting Republicans.
All you have to do is listen, Haley told a crowd of about 150 Republican activists, elected officials and lobbyists who gathered at a suburban Richmond hotel Tuesday. And not just Indian Americans its Mexican Americans, its Jewish Americans. When we run for office, our job is to work for everybody. You cant work for everybody if you dont listen to everybody.
The even was billed as a conversation about public policy and sandwiched between fundraisers for Gillespies political action committee. The format was intended to display Gillespies high-profile connections in national politics and paint him as the inevitable GOP nominee for 2017 despite competition from U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) and Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.
The strategy contrasts with mogul Donald Trumps presidential campaign, marked by controversial comments about women, Hispanics and Muslims, and a policy agenda that critics say lacks depth.
Yet asked whether the Trump campaign has contacted her about joining the Republican ticket as the vice-presidential candidate, Haley hinted that there have been conversations.
I have said Im not going to run for VP or interested in VP, she said, adding: I have not talked to any of his surrogates. I have talked to people that are in the know.
Like Gillespie, Haley told reporters she would support Trump, even though she took a swipe at him in January in the GOP response to the State of the Union, urging the party to ignore the siren call of the angriest voices, and recently tangled with him during the primary in her state.
A rising-star governor who called for the removal of the Confederate flag from the grounds of the state capitol last summer, Haley endorsed Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) for president in February and demanded that Trump release his tax returns. That drew a rebuke from Trump via Twitter, prompting the Southern governor to respond with a sarcastic Bless your heart.
Asked how they could reconcile Trumps divisive tone with their goal of expanding the GOPs appeal, Gillespie and Haley said Trump is better than the alternative Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and that control of the Supreme Court is at stake.
I think this is a very important election in November in terms of the future of the country, Gillespie said. [Its] not just about the White House for the next four years. It is about control of the court for a generation or more, the Supreme Court. And so Im for him.
Gillespie and Haley answered friendly questions from state Sen. Siobhan S. Dunnavant (R-Henrico), an aide to Virginia House Majority Leader M. Kirkland Cox (R-Colonial Heights) and a young boy.
Haley also took aim at a target shared by Virginia Republicans of all stripes: Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D). She attacked the central theme of his administration, saying Virginias economy has taken a nosedive, the state is nearly last in terms of job growth, and South Carolina no longer competes with Virginia for jobs.
I know he will be a jobs governor, she said, referring to Gillespie. I want another competitor. Im a little bored.
[Not about bathrooms: Critics decry N.C. laws lesser-known elements]
McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy pushed back against the characterization, citing Virginias 4 percent unemployment rate, compared with 5.7 percent in South Carolina.
That is tough talk from the governor of a state with an unemployment rate a full 1.7% higher than Virginias, Coy said in a statement. Governor McAuliffe also left his state today trying to create jobs, but hes focused on new employment for Virginia families, not Republican politicians.
McAuliffe is on a four-day trip to Boston, Montreal and Toronto to promote Virginia oysters, wine, craft beer and outdoor recreation through receptions and media interviews.
More than a year and a half ahead of the Virginia governors race in 2017, Gillespie is aggressively building a war chest and rolling out endorsements.
In addition to Tuesdays public event, Haley helped raise money for his PAC at a luncheon in Virginia Beach and a reception at a donors home in Richmond. The campaign declined to qualify the days haul, but last month the PAC announced a fundraising total of nearly $750,000.
South Carolinas legislature passed a bill Tuesday prohibiting abortion after 19 weeks, becoming the 17th state to pass the restrictive ban.
The legislation will head to the desk of Gov. Nikki Haley (R). The Republican said in March she will almost certainly sign it but wants to look at the details once it reaches her.
Similar laws are in effect in 12 states. Theyve been blocked by court challenges in three others, and the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to rule on the bans constitutionality. A South Dakota law signed in March takes effect this summer.
In Utah, a related law, also signed in March, requires doctors to provide anesthesia to fetuses that have been in the womb 20 weeks or longer.
The South Carolina bill is among several fronts that abortion rights advocates say make having the procedure tougher. Abortion opponents have also passed laws in other states requiring clinics to get admitting privileges for doctors and banning a procedure commonly used in the second trimester.
The sponsor of South Carolinas bill, Rep. Wendy Nanney (R), said shes hopeful that the law is a step to eventually get rid of abortion altogether.
I firmly believe life begins at conception, and anything we can do to protect human life Im all for, she said.
The South Carolina House approved the compromise 79 to 29. The Senate approved it 36 to 9 in March.
The ban allows exceptions only if the mothers life is in jeopardy or if a doctor determines the fetus cannot survive outside the womb. The measures limited definition of fetal anomaly means it would be illegal to abort a fetus with a severe disability if the child could live.
Such anomalies are generally detected around 20 weeks.
That fetal anomaly exception was crucial for the bill clearing the Senate, where Democrats had blocked the legislation for years.
Sen. Brad Hutto (D), a leading opponent, still thinks it should be a womans choice. But he called the compromise he has worked on since last year the best we can get. As it initially passed the House, the bill gave an exception only for the mothers life.
Only four of the 16 states that have passed the restrictions since 2010 allow a legal abortion if a doctor determines the child will be stillborn or die upon birth. South Carolina legislators borrowed the wording for that exception from Georgia, where a state court blocked enforcement of Georgias 20-week ban in 2012.
The South Carolina bill, like most of the similar laws, contains no exceptions for rape or incest.
Supporters think that a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks. Opponents argue that such later-term abortions involve wanted pregnancies that go horribly wrong and that politicians should play no role in the difficult decision.
They are wanted pregnancies, but they find out there is a terrible abnormality, Rep. James Smith (D) said Tuesday. Wouldnt it be interesting if we take dollar-for-dollar the money were going to spend litigating unconstitutional bills and put it into something that makes a difference in South Carolina?
On average, fewer than 30 abortions yearly are performed at 20 weeks gestation or beyond, according to data since 1990 from the states public health agency.
The ban would affect only hospitals. None of the three abortion clinics in South Carolina provide abortions beyond 15 weeks. Most of the women are white, married and older than 24, according to the agency.
A doctor who performs an illegal abortion under the bill would face up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The states House Judiciary Committee chairman, Rep. F. Gregory Delleney Jr. (R), said the law prevents infanticide, noting it ties the fetuss age to conception, rather than to a womans monthly cycle, so the ban refers to what doctors generally consider a gestational age of 22 weeks.
The nonprofit Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion laws, knows of only one person ever charged under the bans. In 2011, an Idaho woman was arrested after giving herself an abortion with pills she bought online. That charge ultimately resulted in Idahos law being struck down last year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The same court struck down Arizonas law in 2013.
Without citing a reason, the Supreme Court declined in January 2014 to hear an appeal from Arizona, which had banned abortion at 18 weeks past fertilization.
Earlier Tuesday, a House subcommittee advanced a bill opponents say would essentially ban abortion past 13 weeks. It has virtually no chance of passing this year.
PUNS AND quips abounded after the recent bill-signing ceremony in which Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) inked a measure that reduced licensing requirements for personnel at blowout salons, whose services are limited to washing and blow-drying hair, as opposed to cutting hair, as at a full-service salon. The bill itself acquired the nickname license to blow, and some openly wondered whether the patently close-cropped Mr. Hogan had enough personal experience to weigh in on the issue.
Funs fun, and far be it from us to pour cold water on this hot topic. (Sorry.) But there is a serious reason to praise the new measure: It represents a modest but genuine step toward reform of occupational licensing rules that too often stand in the way of career progress for working Americans, and not only in Maryland. Last year, a White House report documented the startling fact that 1 in 4 U.S. workers need a license to do their jobs, a fivefold increase since the 1950s. Many licenses can be obtained only after spending many months, and thousands of dollars, on training and paying stiff fees. These burdens weigh especially heavily on ex-offenders and members of military families, the report found.
Some of this growth, to be sure, reflected expansion in the health and education sectors, with their necessarily licensed teachers, doctors and nurses. Overall, however, the White House report found that two-thirds of the growth in licensing over the past half-century was due to proliferating state laws, not changing workforce composition. Many of those state laws seem designed to protect incumbent businesses, not consumers. Even where there is a health-and-safety argument for occupational licensing, the requirements vary from state to state according to no particular logic.
The new Maryland bill creates a limited cosmetology license for workers in blowout salons; it can be obtained after 350 hours of training. Previously, you had to be licensed as a stylist or cosmetologist, which require 1,200 and 1,500 hours of training, respectively. Even 350 hours seems onerous for a job that many people can undoubtedly master in far less time; ditto for the higher-level hair-care licenses. Yet Marylands hair-care licensing rules were in fact relatively permissive even before the new law, according to a 2012 study by the Institute for Justice, a libertarian think tank. In Iowa, for example, you need 2,100 hours for a cosmetology license; by contrast, Massachusetts requires only 1,000.
Blowout bars disrupted the salon industry to the apparent benefit of consumers and entrepreneurs alike. To the extent there are still irrational licensing barriers in their way, those should be removed. If we have any concern, in fact, it would be that Marylands new 350-hour training requirement to wash and blow-dry hair might gradually ossify into a barrier to entry against whoever comes along to disrupt blowout salons. Todays insurgent is tomorrows incumbent. Thats why Maryland, and all states that want to promote a dynamic, flexible economy, should constantly review and revise the licensing rules.
Who bears responsibility for the irresponsible? The general election is nearly six months away, yet the rhetoric inflaming some corners of the Internet already seems to have overheated.
This week, one prominent Jewish journalist denigrated another by suggesting that support for a particular presidential candidate reflects on a persons standing as a fellow Jew. Obviously, the notion that anybody is a good or a bad Jew, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or fill-in-the-blank on the basis of whom he or she supports for elective office is absurd. In fact, its so absurd as to warrant no serious response. But what does warrant a response is the attempt by some people to hold Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump accountable for every hyperbolic statement uttered by any supporter anywhere, while holding no other candidates to the same standard.
Some of Mr. Trumps critics accuse his supporters of anti-Semitism and suggest this reflects on Mr. Trump and his campaign. Of course, no matter how many times Mr. Trump explicitly disavows hate groups, his political opponents and their media acolytes continue to push the myth. Those who do so disregard Mr. Trumps lifelong embrace of Jewish causes in favor of a demonstrably false and defamatory narrative.
When political opponents attack Mr. Trumps supporters as bigoted, they may believe they are discrediting the candidate. But they are discrediting themselves by suggesting that the nearly 11 million Americans who have voted for Mr. Trump in the primaries thus far are essentially a bunch of xenophobes. It is erroneous and misguided to suggest that these millions of Americans who indicate in exit polls that theyre passionately concerned about jobs, the economy and national security are guided instead by darker impulses.
Certain members of the media and various organizations seem to expect Mr. Trump to instantly track down and condemn every irresponsible comment posted anywhere on social media by anyone claiming to be a supporter. The media relies on sensationalism to increase circulation. For example, when Mr. Trump called the New York Times to disavow statements made by David Duke, a conversation for which I was present and in which Mr. Trump shared his firmly held conviction that anti-Semitism has no place in our society, relatively little attention was paid by the media. Mr. Trumps call for unity was just not as interesting to them as a flashy characterization of bigotry among a fraction of Mr. Trumps supporters. The double standard is unfortunate. When the media turn voters attention to the issues they truly care about jobs, the economy and national security Mr. Trump picks up support.
Yes, irresponsible language appears on the Internet and elsewhere all the time, from the left and right alike sometimes from anonymous social media users and other times from journalists themselves. But Mr. Trump and, for that matter, Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are not responsible for other peoples irresponsible invective. When we focus on the issues Americans genuinely care about rather than on petty distractions, we can set about the important work of making America great again.
Jason D. Greenblatt, New York
The writer is executive vice president and chief legal officer of the Trump Organization.
Vietnamese political blogger Nguyen Huu Vinh, left, and his assistant Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy stand at the dock during their trial in Hanoi on March 23. (Handout/Reuters/Doan Tan/Vietnam News Agency)
The May 14 editorial A message to Vietnam urged President Obama to hold Vietnam accountable on human rights, citing prison terms for activists and the shutting out of independent candidates attempting to run for elected office. In the 1950s, the United States refused to allow elections in Vietnam because the Eisenhower administration conceded that Ho Chi Minh would have won. The Johnson administrations dubious accounts of the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident served as a pretext to unleash barbarity for another decade. The United States, in fighting a people seeking national liberation, dropped napalm on children and other noncombatants.
The United States has a very long and shameful history of contradictions and double standards. It is problematic to apply current standards and values retrospectively. Our Constitution, sanctifying ideals of freedom and democracy, was adopted at a time of conquest and ethnic cleansing of native people, of slavery and when only certain white men could vote. Today the United States has the largest number of incarcerated people in the world. Many states bar felons who have served their sentences from voting and holding elective office, excluding them from the democratic process. And a spate of state-sponsored voter suppression laws have passed in recent years.
The United States has operated prisons abroad where detainees are held indefinitely or turned over to allied authoritarian regimes.
The United States should offer reparations to Vietnam rather than lectures on human rights.
James August, Chevy Chase
Hillary Clinton answers questions at a news conference at the United Nations in March 2015 about her handling of emails as secretary of state. (Richard Drew/AP)
Top Hillary Clinton aides Cheryl D. Mills and Huma C. Abedin have agreed to appear for depositions in a civil public records lawsuit about Clintons use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.
The agreements, court records show, came in a case brought by Judicial Watch, a conservative group that also asked a federal judge this week for permission to depose Clinton in a second lawsuit regarding whether the State Department intentionally thwarted federal open-records laws by allowing the private Clinton email setup.
In the first case, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the District ruled May 4 that Judicial Watch could formally question six current and former senior Clinton and department aides in the groups lawsuit concerning a 2013 public records request for information about Abedins employment arrangement
The first top State Department official, Lewis A. Lukens, executive director of Clintons executive secretariat from 2008 to 2011, is set to appear Wednesday for sworn testimony before lawyers of Judicial Watch, the group stated in a court filing Tuesday.
[Deadlines loom for answers in Clinton email probe ]
During an interview with ABC News, Hillary Clinton apologized for using a private e-mail server during her time as secretary or state. Here are past statements where the presidential hopeful neglected to take personal responsibility for the controversy. (The Washington Post)
In the second case, Judicial Watch on Monday asked senior U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth for permission to depose Clinton in connection with a records request for information about talking points Susan E. Rice used in television appearances she made as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations after the deadly Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya.
In a statement to reporters, Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon dismissed the request to depose Clinton as a partisan smear campaign.
Judicial Watch continues to clog the courts with its partisan lawsuits intended only to hurt Hillary Clintons presidential campaign, Fallon said. This suits original purpose was to chase bogus allegations about Benghazi talking points, but with that conspiracy theory debunked, it is now being repurposed to continue to attack Hillary Clinton.
The campaign statement came after Judicial Watch said it had conferred with attorneys for top Clinton aides Mills and Abedin, who agreed to deposition dates in the Abedin matter.
After Lukens, Judicial Watch told the court it issued subpoenas for the May 27 deposition of Mills, who was Clintons chief of staff at the State Department, and a June 28 interview with Abedin, Millss deputy who now is vice chairman of Clintons Democratic presidential campaign.
The group also said it reached agreement with government lawyers for depositions in June of Stephen D. Mull, executive secretary at State from June 2009 to October 2012, and Undersecretary for Management Patrick F. Kennedy.
Bryan Pagliano, a Clinton staff member during her 2008 presidential campaign who helped set up the private email server, did not agree to a date and was issued a subpoena to meet June 6, Judicial Watch President Thomas J. Fitton said.
Huma C. Abedin, aide to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, attends a rally in Staten Island, N.Y., in April. (Seth Wenig/AP)
Beth Wilkinson, an attorney for Mills, declined to comment. Attorneys for Abedin and Pagliano did not respond to requests for comment.
Pagliano invoked his Fifth Amendment rights in September before a House panel investigating Benghazi. He also was granted immunity by the Justice Department as part of a criminal investigation by the FBI into any mishandling of classified information on the server.
There is a court order we can take this testimony, and we think thats going to occur with all these witnesses, Fitton said, although each witness could raise objections with Sullivan.
The scheduled depositions in the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit come amid a quickened pace of appearances by Clinton aides in the FBIs broader criminal investigation, and as Clinton hopes to secure her partys presidential nomination at the National Democratic Convention in late July.
On May 8, Clinton told CBSs Face the Nation that she was more than ready to speak to investigators and had encouraged all of my assistants to be very forthcoming.
The Washington Post reported May 10 that Mills and her attorney briefly left a recent interview after an FBI investigator broached a topic that lawyers for the Justice Department had agreed would be off-limits for a person the government considered a cooperative witness.
FBI Director James B. Comey weighed in on May 11, telling reporters that he would not be rushed by election-year considerations.
[Mills briefly leaves FBI interview; Scant evidence of malicious intent ]
In the Judicial Watch case, Sullivan approved a narrowed scope of questioning about the creation and operation of Clintons email system for official State Department business, and about the departments handling of Freedom of Information Act requests that could involve Clintons and Abedins emails.
For six months in 2012, Abedin was employed simultaneously by the State Department, the Clinton Foundation, Clintons personal office and a private consulting firm connected to the Clintons.
The State Department initially closed Judicial Watchs FOIA request and dozens of others before the existence of the Clinton server was disclosed in March 2015. Subsequently, the government has argued that it did not have to search Clintons server for records in the Abedin case because it did not possess or control the server at the time.
Sullivan rejected that argument, saying the server arrangement allowed Clinton and other former employees to decide after the fact what government records to disclose, apparently without ensuring that State records were secured within the departments systems.
Sullivan did not permit questioning of Clinton for now in the Abedin matter, but said Judicial Watch may ask to do so later based on information learned during discovery.
[Second federal judge grants legal discovery into Clinton email set-up]
In the Benghazi public records lawsuit, Judicial Watch seeks to depose Clinton and also requested to interview Mills, Clinton senior adviser Jacob Sullivan, special assistant Lauren Jiloty, staff member Monica Hanley, and Clarence Finney, now Lukenss deputy.
Lamberth gave the government until May 27 to respond to the deposition proposal.
In an interview, Fitton said it should come as no surprise that Clintons testimony would be requested about the search for records related to Benghazi talking points, saying, The courts have questions, and Mrs. Clinton is positioned as well as anyone to answer those questions.
A young woman carrying a baby emerged Wednesday from the Nigerian bush with a story that began over two years ago: She was among the more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Islamist militiamen and the first to be found since shortly after the hostage-taking.
The fast-moving events that followed the announcement of her recovery, her reunion with her mother were celebrated by activists and others who had helped rally support as high as the White House for the students held by the militant group Boko Haram.
The end of the womans ordeal was likely to raise hopes that others held by Boko Haram could find freedom. But the militants remain a significant force despite widening military campaigns backed by U.S. drone surveillance in Nigeria and surrounding countries including Cameroon and Chad.
There also were questions and grim accounts to assess.
[The trajectory of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign]
The kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok, Nigeria is the most infamous of Boko Haram's atrocities. But the militant Islamists's reign of terror has had a devastating affect on more than a million of the regions children. (Jason Aldag/The Washington Post)
Amina Ali Nkeki, the 19-year-old former captive, said that some of her classmates had died in captivity, a family doctor, Idriss Danladi, told the Associated Press.
And it was not immediately clear whether she was freed or managed to slip away with the infant, whose own history could bring further investigations of possible sexual abuse and forced pregnancies.
A statement from Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman, Nigerias army spokesman, confirmed only that Nkeki was from the boarding school besieged by Boko Haram in April 2014 in the northern Nigerian town of Chibok, not far from the forest area where she was discovered.
She was among the rescued persons by our troops, said the statement, giving no further details.
A total of 276 girls mostly ages 16 to 18 were taken captive as they prepared for an exam. At least 219 remained missing after the others managed to escape soon after the abduction by the militant group, which seeks to impose strict Islamic law.
Earlier, one of the girls uncles said Nkeki was found by Nigerian soldiers. The uncle, Yakubu Nkeki, said his niece was pregnant and suffering from trauma, but he did not elaborate, the AP reported.
[Mystery still surrounds fate of Chibok girls]
In April, a video surfaced purporting to show 15 of the kidnapped girls. One of them remarked, We are all well, and she encouraged the Nigerian government to meet Boko Harams demands, which were not stated.
Since the abduction, activists and others have stirred fears that the girls could face abuse or forced marriages with fighters from Boko Haram, which rejects Western influence in education and other areas. Boko Haram leaders have pledged loyalty to the Islamic State, but the level of direct coordination is unclear.
A report in April by the U.N. childrens agency UNICEF accused Boko Haram of sharply increasing the use of child suicide bombers with girls accounting for more than three-quarters of them in Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad. Some of the girls are thought to have been kidnapped by the extremists, but no direct ties have been made with the captives from Chibok.
[Pentagon flies unarmed drones to help track Boko Haram]
Children in this situation typically require medical assistance and psycho-social support, said a statement from Helene Sandbu Reng, spokeswoman of the U.N. Childrens Fund.
Our experience with children and women who were kidnapped by Boko Haram and freed by the military or escaped shows that they often face mistrust, stigma and rejection when they return to their communities, she added.
Nkeki was taken to a military camp along with the baby and her mother. The teenagers father died while she was held captive.
Nigerian forces have been deployed in the Sambisa Forest region carrying out in missions against Boko Haram, which was waged a nearly seven-year insurgency that has killed more than 20,000 people.
Nigerian officials have alluded in the past to possible talks. But there have been few clear details about potential contacts to free the girls. Around the world, activists have united on social media behind the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.
Although the Nigerian military has dislodged Boko Haram militants from cities and towns, a search-and-rescue operation in the forest is thought to be far more difficult.
In October, the Pentagon announced it was sending up to 300 U.S. troops to Cameroon to establish a drone base to help track Boko Haram fighters.
The U.S. military also flies unarmed drones from Niger to monitor other Islamist factions in the region including Mali, where a group linked to al-Qaeda has waged sporadic attacks on military outposts and Western targets such as international hotels.
Read more:
They were freed from Boko Harams rape camps. But their nightmare isnt over.
What captivity is like for schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram
The never-ending tragedy of Nigerias missing schoolgirls
Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
View of the Air Koryo crew that flew an Ilyushin Il-18 vintage aircraft at North Koreas Wonsan Kalma International Airport. A group of international aviation enthusiasts descended on Pyongyang for a chance to ride in classic 1960s-era Soviet aircraft. Pyongyang / Air Koryo owns the most well maintained fleet of vintage aircraft in that category. (Courtesy of Rebekah Michaels)
As if traveling to North Korea wasnt adventurous enough, a group of 75 self-described aviation geeks, including a handful of Americans, has just spent five days flying in Soviet-era aircraft around a heavily sanctioned country that struggles to get parts and jet fuel.
For airplane aficionados like Brian Crooks, who works in human resources for United Airlines based at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, and Jamie Baker, an aviation analyst on Wall Street, flying in and around North Korea was a dream come true.
It was amazing to fly on all these Russian planes Id seen but never had the opportunity to fly on, said Crooks, who lives in Washington and wants to visit every country in the world before hes 45. (Hes not doing too badly so far, at 127 countries by 36.)
Crooks, along with veterans of Delta and Boeing, joined a five-day trip run by Juche Travel Services, a Britain-based travel agency, designed especially for plane geeks. Theyre all platinum- and diamond-level frequent fliers and sat in the bar of the Koryo Hotel on the night they arrived in Pyongyang talking about the shortcomings of business class on Afriqiyah, the Libyan carrier, and the pluses and minuses of TAAG Angola.
This is what it's like to take a flight from China's Beijing Capital International Airport to North Korea's Pyongyang Sunan International Airport. (Jason Aldag/The Washington Post)
[Video: From Beijing to Pyongyang in 30 seconds]
In North Korea, theyd come to a country led by a planeophile. Kim Jong Un has been featured in state media flying an Antonov An-148 and has apparently had airstrips built across the country so he can fly himself around, in addition to the new airport terminals he has had constructed in Pyongyang and Wonsan.
The participants on last weeks trip, however, traveled on charter flights flown especially for them. Each person on the trip got to choose flights a la carte at a little over $200 a pop. Crooks was astounded to fly on a Tupolev Tu-154, which requires four pilots and sees only five hours of flight time each year in North Korea.
We went to these beautiful new airports, and we were the only flights on the departure boards, Crooks said.
While operational Tupolevs and Ilyushins (another Russian aircraft) can be found in countries such as Cuba, Afghanistan and Sudan, no airline beyond North Koreas Air Koryo has such a relatively large and varied fleet of these planes.
The combination of the collapse of the Soviet Union and decades of sanctions means that North Korea has been unable to afford or procure new planes. So its fleet remains stuck in an era when Tupolev could give Boeing a run for its money.
That makes North Korea a bucket-list place for Soviet-era aircraft, said David Thompson of Juche Travel Services. Its the last place where you can fly on all these different kinds of aircraft. Its something that aviation enthusiasts want to tick off.
[North Koreas one-percenters savor life in Pyonghattan]
The most recent round of sanctions, following this years nuclear and long-range missile tests, added another wrinkle: Selling aviation fuel to North Korea is now prohibited. Furthermore, the State Department strongly advises Americans against traveling to North Korea.
But somehow, the show managed to go on.
Theyre so beautifully maintained. Its like stepping back in time, said Ashley Walker, a British pilot who flies 747s for Cathay Pacific. He couldnt wait to get aboard an Ilyushin Il-62, a narrow-bodied airliner with its engines at the rear and a little wheel that pops out the back.
I used to fly into Beijing a lot and see the [Air Koryo] Il-62 in front of me and think, Theres no way youd ever get me in that aircraft, Walker said. But the more I thought about it, the more I knew I had to do it. He even booked a seat near the notoriously loud engines so he could hear them at work.
[The Post arrives in North Korea for a once-in-a-generation party congress]
Jeff Cacy of Seattle, who started his career at Alaska Airlines and finished it at Boeing, was dying to get on a Tupolev Tu-134, the noisy, twin-engine airliner that Aeroflot retired in 2007. When I was working at Alaska Airlines, I was working in the Soviet Far East, so I have some romantic notions about these Russian airliners, he said.
While the planes were a draw, the mystery of North Korea added another layer of intrigue, said Andrea Ciasullo, a manager in the mechanical engineering department at Delta, based in Atlanta. I love to see new places, and I love traveling in Asia, she said.
We can build bridges and see some cool airplanes at the same time, added her friend Rebekah Michaels, a former Delta manager who now works in aviation consulting. Im here to see North Korea first and the planes second.
Baker, the aviation analyst, said after the trip that flying on Soviet aircraft, not to mention in North Korea, was like gliding into another era.
These aircraft lack most of the creature comforts travelers today expect, such as overhead bins, he said. Theyre loud, you can smell oil and jet fuel from within the cabin, they require several pilots in the cockpit, but they are exactly what so many of us came here to experience.
Read more
North Koreas ruling party is readying for a rare congress
North Korea announces five-year economic plan, its first since the 1980s
North Korea claims it could wipe out Manhattan with a hydrogen bomb
Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi listens to Secretary of State John F. Kerry on April 16 in Cairo as they discuss Egypt-Israel relations. (Amr Nabil/AP)
Secretary of State John F. Kerry came to Cairo on Wednesday to explore a new Egyptian proposal for resuming peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.
Kerry arrived in the Egyptian capital fresh from two days of talks in Vienna about the war in Syria and supporting the new government in Libya. He drove directly from the airport to meet with President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, a former general who took power after an elected Islamist president was ousted in a coup.
A scheduled meeting for Kerry to update Sissi on the Syrian and Libyan peace efforts took on an added importance after the Egyptian leader made an overture to Israelis on Tuesday, offering to warm up their frosty relationship if they would resume negotiations to settle the conflict with the Palestinians.
Sissi said he hoped his remarks would be rebroadcast in Israel so citizens and leaders there could discuss its merits.
Column: Sissi says he speaks a lot to Israels prime minister
Initial accounts of Sissis proposal were vague. His offer was made not in the Egyptian capital but in the southern city of Assiut, which two decades ago was a hotbed of Islamist extremism. Sissi reportedly offered to mediate a reconciliation between Palestinian factions for the purposes of restarting negotiations with the Israelis.
A State Department official said Kerry is interested in learning more about what Sissi has in mind. Before departing Vienna, Kerry spoke Tuesday night with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the official said.
In his first year as secretary of state, Kerry spent months trying to arrange peace talks, but they collapsed. Since then, U.S. officials have expressed concern that the time for a two-state solution to the conflict is running out, in part because of the expansion of Israeli settlements in territory the Palestinians desire for their own state.
Now in their final months in office, Obama administration officials have said they are not actively trying to get the talks going again before a new president comes into office.
The Sissi proposal is not the only idea for a settlement to arise from somewhere other than Washington. The French also are seeking to renew negotiations, calling for a conference in Paris at a still-undetermined date.
Read more
Egypts president backs French proposal for talks
Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Clovis Maksoud in 1997. He advocated on behalf of Arab nations and Palestinian rights as a scholar, a journalist and, for more than a decade, a prominent representative of the Arab League. (Gerald Martineau/The Washington Post)
Clovis Maksoud, who advocated on behalf of Arab nations and Palestinian rights as a scholar, a journalist and, for more than a decade, a prominent representative of the Arab League, died May 15 at a hospital in Washington. He was 89.
The cause was a cerebral hemorrhage, said his daughter, Lisette Mondello.
A Lebanese American, Mr. Maksoud spent much of his life as an envoy of the Arab world to the West, representing Arab concerns at the United Nations and in Washington, as well as in commentary that regularly appeared in publications including The Washington Post and the New York Times.
He played his most high-profile role as an ambassador of the Arab League, an organization of Arab nations founded in Cairo in 1945 that represents 22 countries across the Middle East and North Africa.
After a stint as the groups representative in India from 1961 to 1966, he served in the dual role of observer at the United Nations and chief representative in Washington from 1979 until 1990, when he resigned his post after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
The aggression by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and the ensuing debate over the proper international response to what some Arab countries regarded as a regional problem divided the Arab world. The Arab house has fallen on itself, Mr. Maksoud said in a statement at the time. Unable to rationalize or analyze these developments, I am no longer able to cope with them.
On the one hand, he said, I cannot accept the violation of an established reality the invasion of Kuwait. On the other, I cannot accept the rush towards the internationalization of the crisis. The original action was wrong and the ensuing reaction is wrong. I find myself intellectually paralyzed and politically incapacitated.
A coalition of forces led by the United States ultimately pushed the Iraqi military from Kuwait in the Persian Gulf War of the early 1990s.
More than a decade later, when Hussein was toppled after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Mr. Maksoud observed a deep sense of shame in the Arab world.
Most people are very pleased that he is out, Mr. Maksoud said of Hussein in an interview with the syndicated columnist Georgie Anne Geyer, but they are embarrassed that they didnt do it and that, rather, it was done for them.
Mr. Maksoud often spoke before Western leaders, policymakers and journalists, presenting the Arab perspective on matters of international importance.
After the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, he told the Times that Arab concerns had been blacked out for a long time in the United States. He decried U.S. politicians who fell all over each other to demonstrate their commitment to Israel, with few or no questions asked.
We in the Arab world are genuinely sick and tired of being the whipping boy and the target of cheap shots at our national aspirations, internationally recognized rights and legitimate interests, he said in 1984.
Clovis Maksoud was born in Bristow, Okla., on Dec. 17, 1926. His mother was an Orthodox Christian, and his father, a Maronite Catholic, had settled in Oklahoma for petroleum exploration.
The family moved to Beirut when Mr. Maksoud was in high school. He studied political science at the American University of Beirut, where he graduated in 1948 before receiving a law degree from George Washington University in 1951 and pursuing graduate studies at the University of Oxford.
In between his ambassadorial appointments with the Arab League, Mr. Maksoud was the editor of the Egyptian daily newspaper Al-Ahram and the Lebanese weekly An-Nahar. A Washington resident, he retired in 2013 after more than two decades as a professor of international relations at American University, where he was the director of the Center for the Global South. He also taught at Georgetown University.
An English edition of his memoir, From the Confines of Memory: My Journey With Arab Nationalism, is forthcoming.
His marriage to the former Rosemary Curry ended in divorce. His second wife, Hala Salaam Maksoud, a founder of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, died in 2002 after nearly three decades of marriage. Survivors include a daughter from his first marriage, Lisette Mondello of Arlington, Va.; and a grandson.
Throughout his career, Mr. Maksoud sought to combat anti-Arab prejudice. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he proposed an international anti-terrorism agency to be led by Muslims and Arabs.
We cannot judge Christianity by [the] Ku Klux Klan and we cannot judge Islam by the Taliban, he told the Toronto Star. That imperative, he said, needed to be rubbed into our consciousness.
One of the teenagers kidnapped by Boko Haram extremists more than two years ago from a boarding school in northeastern Nigeria has been found with a baby and was reunited with her mother, a doctor said Wednesday the first of the Chibok girls to be recovered since the mass abduction.
The 19-year-old woman was found wandering with her baby Tuesday on the fringes of the remote Sambisa Forest, near Nigerias border with Cameroon.
The news gave hope to the families of the 218 girls who are still missing. But the young woman told her mother that some of the girls have died in captivity and that the others still are being held, according to her familys doctor, Idriss Danladi, who had spoken with the mother.
On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram stormed and firebombed the Government Secondary School at Chibok and seized 276 girls. Dozens managed to escape, but 219 remained held.
The young woman is the first of those captives to be found since the kidnapping, which grabbed worldwide attention and put a spotlight on the violence of Nigerias homegrown Islamist extremist group.
There were conflicting accounts about how the young woman was found.
Danladi said the young woman was found by hunters and taken with her baby to her home village of Mbalala, near Chibok, to be reunited with her mother. Her father died while she was in captivity, her uncle said. All three were then brought to a military camp and arrived under military escort on Wednesday night in Maiduguri, the biggest city in the northeast.
But Nigerias military said it rescued the young woman and her baby, along with a Boko Haram suspect who claimed to be her husband.
The inability of Nigerias government and military to rescue the Chibok girls led, in part, to last years electoral defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan, who was seen as not committed to freeing them.
The United States, France and Britain offered help to find the girls, sending in drones, hostage negotiators and intelligence officers, in addition to other efforts.
A social media campaign using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls reached the White House, where first lady Michelle Obama promised that her husband would do all in his power to help.
It us not known how many thousands of girls, boys and young women have been kidnapped by Boko Haram in the Islamist groups nearly seven-year-old insurgency, which has killed about 20,000 people, forced more than 2 million from their homes and spread across Nigerias borders.
Niles Niemuth is the Socialist Equality Party's candidate for vice president in the United States
US President Barack Obama used his commencement address Sunday at Rutgers University in New Jersey to express contempt for those who are supporting either the campaigns of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump or self-proclaimed socialist Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders.
While the media has focused on Obamas thinly-veiled swipes against Trumps promise to build a wall along the Mexico border and his foreign policy, more significant was the presidents clear rebuke of students and others for supporting Sanders.
The conclusion to be drawn from his speech is that workersand particularly youthneed to stop complaining and do what they are told. Obama insisted, in what has become his mantra, that things have never been better in America and chastised young people for supporting calls for a political revolution.
In a reference to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has promised that if elected he will Make America Great Again, Obama insisted that social and economic conditions have never been better than they are now. In fact, by almost every measure, America is better, and the world is better, than it was 50 years ago, or 30 years ago, or even eight years ago.
Among other trends, Obama cited the decline in crime rates, teenage pregnancies, the percentage of people living in poverty and an overall increase in life expectancy as proof that life in America is better than it has ever been. He also cited the fact that a greater share of Americans have a college education and more blacks and Latinos sit on corporate boards and hold political office than ever before.
In the course of his remarks, Obama complained that access to the Internet and smart phones has in some ways made us more confident in our ignorance We have to agree that facts and evidence matter. And we got to hold our leaders and ourselves accountable to know what the heck theyre talking about.
It would have been appropriate for someone in the audience to have shouted out at this point, Physician, heal thyself!
Obamas rose-colored account flies in the face of the reality of life confronted by the vast majority of Americans in 2016. Over the last eight years workers have experienced declining incomes and wages, and rising death rates among working class men and women due to an increase in suicides, drug overdoses and alcoholism. Entire cities and regions have been devastated by decades of deindustrialization, with the rate of poverty higher than ever in urban and suburban areas across the country.
Obama was addressing an audience that is part of a generation saddled with more than $1.3 trillion dollars in student loan debt. The first generation worse off than their parents, millions of college graduates who entered the job market after the 2008 economic crisis are either unemployed or underemployed, with an average student loan debt of $30,000.
A majority of individuals with onerous debt payments are unable to afford to buy a car, buy their own house and many delay getting engaged or married. A recent poll found that 77 percent of respondents found it more difficult to live due to their student loan debt.
After eight years of the candidate of hope and change, a period in which 95 percent of income gains (since 2009) have gone to the top one percent, there is a general sense that the entire political system is rotten and the economic order is rigged.
Obamas remarks expressed concern within the ruling class not over Sanders himself, who is working to redirect opposition back into the Democratic Party. Rather, it is over the anti-capitalist sentiments that are motiving an overwhelming turn out among young voters for the self-declared socialist.
He lectured students with a potted version of history in which activists and organizers engaged in alliance-building and deal-making are the source of all social progress in America. Lest they get any ideas, Obama warned his young audience that change didnt happen because some massive political revolution occurred.
Even as Obama argued that social and economic conditions in America are better than ever, he insisted they could be even better if only more people, especially students, voted in even greater numbers for the Democrats! He cited 2014 voter turnout, which was the lowest since the World War II era, and warned that apathy has consequences.
Obama cynically counseled the students to have faith in democracy, by which he meant they should support a political set-up entirely controlled by and subservient to the interests of the wealthiest individuals and corporations. The accusation that those who do not vote are apathetic is slander. The general sentiment is not apathy, but hostility and anger over a corrupt two-party system over which Obama himself presides.
In an additional jab at students, Obama went on to criticize protests at Rutgers over a previous announcement that Condoleezza Rice, one of George W. Bushs secretaries of state, would speak at a commencement. That students should object to having to listen to a war criminal upon their graduation is, according to Obama, an outrageous violation of the principle that is is necessary to listen to those who dont agree with you. Obama perhaps worried that he could be the object of similar protests and denunciations in the not-so-distant future.
Even as he admitted that big money in politics is a huge problem, he cynically asserted that the system isnt as rigged as you think, and it certainly is not as hopeless as you thinkif you vote and you elect a majority that represents your views, you will get what you want. And if you opt out, or stop paying attention, you wont. Its that simple.
It was apparently lost on the president that the history of his own administration is ample proof that the anger and hostility he sought to counter is, in fact, entirely justified.
American military forces launched combat actions in the East African country of Somalia on Tuesday, destroying at least three military vehicles manned by fighters with the militia group al-Shabab.
US personnel provided defensive fire, including salvos of helicopter-based missiles, during fighting near an African Union (AU) checkpoint manned by Ugandan troops.
The US troops, who are deployed to Somalia as advisors to the African Union AMISOM force, engaged in other combat operations earlier this week, carrying out a raid against the Somali village of Toratorow. They have been operating from their headquarters inside the fortress-like international airport in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, where they have organized a special proxy unit known as the Lightning.
The announcement that there are American boots on the ground in Somalia, comes within days of revelations that the US has been waging secret small wars in Libya and Yemen. The White House is now considering options drawn up by the Pentagon for expanded attacks against Libya.
Washington is preparing to launch or deepen an array of similar interventions throughout sub-Saharan Africa, where the US militarys Africa Command (AFRICOM) is currently examining a dozen locations for new bases. More than 6,000 American Special Operations soldiers are active in at least 26 separate locations throughout the continent. AFRICOM plans to relocate its central command, originally based in Germany in an effort to dampen accusations of neocolonialism, to an undisclosed site on the continent, with Morocco rumored as the leading choice.
In the countries bordering the Lake Chad Basin, recently described as ground zero for Islamic State in Africa by AFRICOMs top special forces officer, the Pentagon is opening an entire new regional war theater, deploying hundreds of ground troops and commando teams to Cameroon and Nigeria and establishing a new drone base in Niger.
Since coming to power with backing from the White House, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has imposed military rule in the northern provinces and carried out brutal atrocities against the civilian population, including the massacre of hundreds of Shia minorities by regular army units early this year.
Buhari has sought to place the Nigerian government fully in line with the US war on terror, purging the state of officials and military officers from the previous administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, which fell afoul of Washington due to the growth of Chinese influence in the Nigerian economy.
Buhari made clear from the get-go that his number one priority was reforming the military to defeat Boko Haram, a US official told Reuters Tuesday.
He sees us as part of that solution, he said.
The US plans to train two Nigerian infantry battalions by the end of the year. The Obama administration authorized deployment of a fleet of F-16 fighters to Nigeria, the largest oil producer in Africa, earlier this month.
The F-16 jets, as the Atlantic Councils Africa Center director J. Peter Pham noted, are only used against mass forces in a conventional war.
Such remarks must be taken as grave warnings to the African and international working class. Throughout Africa, as in Eastern Europe and Asia, major land battles and set-piece warfare of the type that laid waste to much of the planet during the 20th century are once again being prepared.
Just as in Iraq and Syria, the Pentagons intervention in Nigeria, justified in the name of combating a Boko Haram militia that, as Pham admits, does not even control any towns or villages, is presented as an advise and assist operation, but is being used to employ military force to assert US hegemony.
The US Army is preparing to intervene throughout Africa. AFRICOM plans to deploy troops against ISIS in the north, Al Shabab in the east and Boko Haram and A.Q.I.M. in the center and the west, US General Darryl Williams said Monday.
Were building these relationships so that if called in, we can respond, Williams said.
Forty leading US and African generals are meeting for the African Land Forces Summit. The summit, hosted by Tanzanian Land Force Commander, General James Aloisi Mwakibolwa, saw Botswanas military receive special praise for its close collaboration with US ground units through the National Guard State Partnership Program during remarks by US General Gregory Lusk.
Not only in Africa but in Europe and Asia, the US Army is preparing to fight higher-end, great-power conflicts, as the New York Times reported Monday. Speaking to the Times in Tanzania, General Mark Milley warned that training for US National Guard troops would have to be stepped up because, I do not think we will have the luxury of four or five months lead time to deploy them for battle.
Under the false pretext of fighting terrorism, US imperialism is striving to secure its hegemony over Africa, launching ever more wars of aggression in an effort to exclude the European colonial powers from their former spheres of influence.
That the new scramble for Africa will contribute to the increasingly explosive divisions within the NATO alliance was underscored earlier this month with the recent signing of a US-Senegal pact that authorizes deployment of more US forces to the former French dominion.
In an effort to seize hold of the lions share of the continents wealth and deny access to its strategic resources to its main competitors on the world stage, American imperialism is preparing new and unprecedented crimes against the poorest continent on Earth.
One of the three female directors competing at Cannes Film Festival, French thesp-turned-helmer Nicole Garcia is no stranger to the Croisette. Instinctive and passionate, yet self-conscious, Garcia, who was born in Algeria, has earned great critical acclaim both an actress and a filmmaker. Her first short, 15 Aout, competed at Cannes, and so did The Adversary which Daniel Auteuil playing a man who murders his family, and According to Charlie with Jean-Pierre Bacri and Vincent Lindon. Her latest film, From the Land of the Moon stars Marion Cotillard and is adapted from Milena Agus Italian novella, Mal de Pierres, about a young womans romances from 1943 until the mid-60s.
Variety: The producer From the Land of the Moon, Alain Attal, said it was a passion project for you. Why was this project so close to your heart?
Its true that its a passion project. I discovered the book in airport shop 7 or 8 years and I read it entirely during a flight between Paris and Marseille. As soon as I landed, I called Alain Attal and asked him to check if the rights were still available. I could sense it would make a wonderful film about the fate of an extraordinary woman who lived in the farming bourgeoisie of the 1950s and is obsessed par her desire to discover passion. She has the craziness of artists and an imagination which saves her. It took me a long time to do it because the adaptation was very complicated, but all those years this project kept haunting me.
Why did you cast Marion Cotillard for this part?
I have hunches when it comes to casting actors for certain characters and I just knew it was for her when we crossed paths just after I bought the rights to the book. There is something mystic about her and she has a tremendous strength which can make her seem possessed like her character in From the Land of The Moon.
Do you consider From the Land of The Moon a feminist movie?
Its not a hardcore feminist movie but through Marions character, its definitely a film that promotes freedom and women empowerment in a way thats both universal and contemporary, even if its a period movie.
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I heard Thierry Fremaux had to convince you to show the film in competition. Why is that?
We were reluctant to the idea of showing in competition at Cannes. We wondered if it was worth taking that risk. But eventually we decided to go for it. Is a generous film carried by wonderful actors and a female heroine who embodies everything there is to love in a woman.
Thierry Fremaux convinced me when he said Its a contemporary film about a modern woman trapped in the middle of the last century.
What do you want to do next?
Id like to direct another film. This time around it will be a thriller based on an original script. But Ill be back into acting. Being an actress has always been one of my greatest strengths as a director because it helps me to work closely and intuitively with other actors.
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Longtime buddies Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen have been touring together for almost a decade now and even released a joint album named after those tours in 2015, Hold My Beer: Vol. 1. Still, theyve never captured the essence of those low-key yet highly entertaining shows until now.
Wade Bowen, Randy Rogers on Putting Country Back in Country
On June 3rd, Rogers and Bowen will release Watch This, a 19-track live acoustic album sourced from their hugely popular tours. Recorded in stripped-down fashion at the House of Blues in Dallas and Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos, Texas a launch pad for legendary Texan acts like George Strait and the spot Rogers and Bowen first met 15 years ago the album acts as a companion piece to Hold My Beer: Vol. 1, one of Rolling Stone Country's 40 best albums of last year.
"We toured as a duo together for eight years before we finally addressed the question: 'When are you guys going to do a Randy and Wade album?'" Rogers said in a statement. "So, we went into the studio with Lloyd Maines in the fall of 2013 and released Hold My Beer: Vol. 1 on April 20, 2015. We had a lot of fun throughout the entire process and felt the next natural thing to do was release a live acoustic album that reflected what it's like to be in the room during one of our shows.
"Nineteen songs is a lot, but we couldn't bring ourselves to cut any of them," Bowen adds. "You'll hear them as we play them during our Hold My Beer and Watch This Tour, and you'll hear some pretty colorful banter, too. We pick on each other, but it's all in good fun. Besides, it's just us, our guitars, two microphones and our friends in the audience. It's pretty raw, and we wanted to keep it as true-to-live as possible."
The album will feature songs from both Rogers' and Bowen's deep well of windblown Texan country. Rather than signaling the conclusion of their collaborative work, it will actually help kick off the 10th annual trek of their Hold My Beer and Watch This Tour, which begins May 26th in Austin, Texas.
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Here's the complete track list for Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen's Watch This:
1. "Tonight's Not the Night"
2. "Mood Ring"
3. "Buy Myself a Chance"
4. "Trouble"
5. "Interstate"
6. "Songs About Trucks"
7. "In My Arms Instead"
8. "You Had Me at My Best"
9. "Too Late for Goodbye"
10. "Whataburger"
11. "West Texas Rain"
12. "Fuzzy"
13. "Things I Could Do"
14. "Satellite"
15. "One Step Closer"
16. "Kiss Me in the Dark"
17. "Who I Am"
18. "She's Gonna Run"
19. "Saturday Night"
Related
Chelsea
Good morning. Here's everything you need to know in the world of advertising today.
1. The main reason why people are not already using ad blockers should worry publishers. The principal reason why most people haven't yet switched on an ad blocker is simply because they are not aware they could block ads, according to research from Optimal.com and Wells Fargo Securities.
2. Chelsea and Nike have signed the second biggest kit deal in the Premier League. The $60 million ($87 million) a year deal is set to be the second biggest kit deal in the Premiership, after Adidas' deal with Manchester United, worth 75 million ($108 million) a season.
3. An ad agency created a dinner plate that cuts 30 calories from each meal. The "AbsorbPlate" plate, from BBDO Bangkok, was inspired by the surface of a sponge and contains hundreds of tiny holes to allow oil to slip away from a meal.
4. Here's everything to get excited about for Google's biggest event of the year. On Wednesday, the company kicks off its annual, three-day long I/O developers' conference at a big stadium near its headquarters in Mountain View, California.
5. Netflix is experimenting with a new way to make money from broadcast TV. Netflix is experimenting with allowing re-runs of its original shows to air on broadcast TV in the US.
6. Thousands of people got freaked out about the BBC's plan to shut down its recipes website. Tens of thousands of people signed a petition calling on the BBC not to close the popular recipe portal.
7. A mommy blogger confessed that most of her stuff is "fake nonsense" and the mommy blogging industry is "b------t." In a splenetic rant on her new blog, Josi Denise said much of the content posted to her mommy blog and countless others like it online was garbage.
8. Prime Minister David Cameron is popping up on Tinder to persuade young people to vote. The Prime Minister plans to place ads on the dating app as part of a marketing campaign to persuade more young people to register to vote in the upcoming EU referendum.
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9. The former president of ad agency RAPP US has filed a lawsuit accusing CEO Alexei Orlov of discrimination and wrongful termination. Orlov allegedly referred to multiple women as "fat cows," according the suit, which was first reported by Adweek.
10. TV networks are insulting "subprime" streaming competitors in the war over advertisers. An early trend of the annual network TV upfront presentations to advertisers, currently taking place in New York City, is a series of jabs at digital companies.
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Venezuelan security forces fired tear gas into crowds of demonstrators Wednesday in Caracas during ongoing protests of the government of President Nicolas Maduro.
A woman with a sign reading "There is no food" faces a line of police officers.
According to Reuters, "several thousand" protesters clamored to reach the steps of the country's electoral body, seeking a recall referendum to end Maduro's socialist rule of the country.
People are arrested during protests against President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas.
Venezuela is an oil-rich country on the verge of economic collapse.
An anti-government protester is detained by police.
A mismanaged state-owned oil industry and government overspending have resulted in entire cities currently facing shortages of food and electricity throughout the country.
A protester with a Venezuelan flag is pushed away by National Guard officers
Civilians line up in the streets for hours just to buy a loaf of bread.
People stand in a bread line Tuesday in Caracas.
"They're scared. Venezuelans are tired, hungry," Alfredo Gonzalez, a 76-year-old protester, told Reuters.
A protester holds a sign that reads "Recall now! Bye Maduro!" next to a line of police.
Looting, riots and violent clashes with police have become commonplace in the country since Maduro announced daily power cuts as a means of conserving energy last April.
Protesters clash with police in Caracas.
Wednesday's protests were sparked after Madura declared a 60-day emergency period in the country, during which soldiers and police would have more autonomy to respond to the country's economic emergency.
A woman demonstrates in front of a line of Bolivarian police in Caracas.
Henrique Capriles, leader of the resistance movement to Maduro's government, told journalists he roundly rejected the president's mandate, saying it would give him unconstitutional powers.
Protesters clash with police in the streets
"We, Venezuelans, will not accept this decree. This is Maduro putting himself above the constitution," Capriles said. "To impose this, he'd better start preparing to deploy the war tanks and military jets."
Anti-government protesters push against Bolivarian police.
Capriles also told the country's military that the time to declare their allegiance had come.
A demonstrator holds a sign that reads, "Venezuela, I want you free"
"And I tell the armed forces: The hour of truth is coming, to decide whether you are with the constitution or with Maduro," he said.
Despite grumblings about the "war on cops," statistics released on Monday from the FBI show that 2015 was one of the safer years on record for cops.
In 2015, 41 officers were killed feloniously, rather than by accident, in the line of duty. This represents a 20% decrease from 2014, when 51 officers were killed. In 2013, 27 law enforcement officers were killed feloniously while on duty, the lowest number in a 35-year period.
Source: Mic/FBI
While the number of police officers killed on duty has fluctuated over the last four years, the recent counts are all lower than the average number of police officer deaths per year 64 from 1980 to 2014.
"The FBI statistics on police officer felonious deaths show that belief that the job is growing more dangerous, because of protests against police or because of the demand for reform to police practices, is simply wrong," University of Pittsburgh School of Law professor David Harris said to the Huffington Post. "Belief to the contrary may be sincere, but it has no basis in fact."
Source: Mic/Officer Down Memorial Page
While 2015 was a safer year for police officers, the Washington Post also reports that police fatally shot 965 people that year.
The majority of those shot fit into three categories: They wielded a weapon, had a mental illness or ran when officers asked them to stay in place.
Source: Mic/FBI/The Washington Post
It's not easy to pinpoint exactly why police officers' jobs are getting safer while nearly 1,000 people were killed by police last year. But police forces' use of SWAT teams, tank-like mine carriers and military-grade equipment might be a good place to start investigating.
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg talk at Ground Zero on the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks September 11, 2008 in New York City. Obama and Republican presidential nominee John McCain visited the World Trade Center area together to pay tribute to the more than 2,700 people killed on September 11, 2001.
Barack Obama, Clarence Thomas, and Michael Bloomberg all walked on to a college campus.
No, that's not the start of a bad joke. Rutgers University, Hillsdale College, and the University of Michigan chose the three men as their respective commencement speakers.
While the liberal two-term President, conservative Supreme Court justice, and Independent former New York City mayor may hold conflicting opinions about the world, their addresses to graduating seniors tapped into surprisingly similar themes: political correctness gone awry and the dangers of limiting free speech.
Obama, who spoke to Rutgers students on May 15, chided them for their role in pushing Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to drop out as the Rutgers commencement speaker in 2014. Students protested the school's choice of Rice, pointing to her involvement in the Iraq War.
"The notion that this community or the country would be better served by not hearing from a former Secretary of State, or shutting out what she had to say I believe thats misguided," Obama said. "I don't think that's how democracy works best, when we're not even willing to listen to each other," he continued.
Bloomberg, too, called out student activists in his speech to the University of Michigan on April 30. He voiced his perception that college students are overly sensitive and shouldn't need safe spaces to deal with difficult situations.
The fact that some university boards and administrations now bow to pressure and shield students from these ideas through safe spaces, code words, and trigger warnings is, in my view, a terrible mistake, he said. The whole purpose of college is to learn how to deal with difficult situations not run away from them."
Clarence Thomas speaks at Hillsdale College's graduation ceremony.
Thomas' speech mostly focused on individual responsibility. But even the legendarily quiet justice couldn't resist the chance to take a swipe at PC-culture.
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"Do not hide your faith and your beliefs under a bushel basket, especially in this world that seems to have gone mad with political correctness, he said.
Thomas also appeared to take aim at critical individuals.
Sadly today [it seems] that grievances rather than personal conduct are the means of elevation, Thomas reflected.
The speakers remarks come on the heels of unrest that swept colleges over the past year. On dozens of campuses, racial tension and protests coupled with demands set by students for the removal of administrators whom students felt let them down. At the University of Missouri, and elsewhere, students succeeded in forcing the resignation of school leaders.
On the other hand, students took part into public skirmishes that painted them as unwilling to listen to dissenting opinions. At Yale University, for example, a group of students confronted an administrator shouting expletives and demanding an apology after they disagreed with statements he made.
Their actions drew derision from some media sources, calling the Yale protesters "coddled" and "tyrannical."
Student-led protests on campuses, however, don't come unprovoked. At Yale, for example, university officials recently decided to retain the name of a slaver-owner on one of its 12 residential colleges Calhoun College.The decision essentially bulldozed calls by students and faculty to change the name.
And at Missouri, racial epithets were thrown at the black president of the Missouri Students Association while he was walking on campus. It took the university nearly a week to respond to the incident, further exacerbating feelings of unimportance from minority students.
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Kim Woo Bin - For You in Full Blossom
Our tall modelesque actor appears in this drama as Sullis photographer friend from the States, and he obviously knows shes a girl. Kim Woo Bin drags her away while shes with SHINees Min Ho, unfortunately incurring his wrath. We didnt expect to see Kim Woo Bin in this idol drama - although it was a much-welcomed cameo appearance!
See Kim Woo Bins cameo appearance in Episode 9
Park Shin Hye - My Girlfriend is Gumiho
The upcoming Doctors female lead also made a brief cameo appearance in this particular hit drama. Park Shin Hye plays the role of a junior from Lee Seung Gis high school, and introduced herself as Go Mi Nam, which is her character name from Youre Beautiful. Apparently Park Shin Hye agreed to this cameo because of her good relations with the writers of Youre Beautiful, the Hong Sisters!
See Park Shin Hyes cameo appearance in Episode 6
Daehan, Minguk, Manse - Jang Yeong Sil
Although the news reported that all three triplets from Return of Superman would be making a cameo, only Daehan and Manse appeared in this dust-filled scene. In order not to make the kids stand out too much, the PD had paired Minguk separately with another child actor - but unfortunately that scene was edited out!
See the lovable kids in Episode 4
Choi Woo Shik - Youre All Surrounded
The rising actor made an appearance as an average worker who is plagued by student loans, and who is often looked down upon even by the average auntie. Three rich students manage to irritate him and in a fit of anger, he takes them as well as four detectives hostage. Were sure the audience can agree with his sense of frustration at his failure to excel at work!
See Choi Woo Shiks cameo appearance in Episode 4!
Lee Chun Hee - Masters Sun
It was a bit strange to see the clumsy Family Outing man being so charismatic in his cameo, but we got over it! Lee Chun Hee appears as a man who once saved Gong Hyo Jins life, and took care of her while she was in a three-year coma. To show his ghost-seeing power, Lee Chun Hee sends the coffee ghost to ask Gong Hyo Jin out at night!
See Lee Chun Hees cameo appearance in Episode 15
Whether youre headed to open houses or just cruising around town, you may begin to notice architectural details of the homes around you: round columns versus square on a front porch, stucco versus brick, and a gabled roof versus a saltbox roof. For the curious homebuyer, it opens up a slew of questions about architectural styles. Do those windows belong to a Colonial or a traditional home? How can you tell if the expansive front porch addition on your home matches the original architectural style of the rest of the house?
Knowing the basics of the most popular home styles and being able to explain exactly what you like to your real estate agent can be a big help when youre starting a house hunt. When looking for a home, knowing the architectural style you prefer will help your agent choose the right houses to show you, says Amy Mizner, principal of Benoit Mizner Simon & Co. Real Estate in Wellesley, MA.
Heres a quick guide to identifying some of the most popular residential architectural styles across the country.
Victorian architectural styles
Victorian: Large wraparound porches, bay windows, and scalloped wood siding
Who hasnt dreamed of owning a fine architectural gem like this home for sale at 107 S. 20th Ave, Longport, NJ? There are several telltale features that Victorian houses share, usually starting with a front porch with a pretty wood railing traditionally painted in vivid contrasting colors, says Holly Mack-Ward, real estate agent with Holly Mack-Ward & Co. Coldwell Banker in Philadelphia, PA. A large double-door entry into a vestibule, bay windows, turrets, and scalloped wood siding are all common exterior features, she adds.
The interiors tend to match the facade in these detailed houses, where intricate millwork, plaster molding, and decorative fireplaces with elaborate mantels are common. Theres something about an old house with fun shapes and pointy towers that make people feel like they own their own castle, adds real estate agent Scott Fore of Berkshire Hathaway Verani in Portsmouth, NH.
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Craftsman architectural styles
Craftsman: Open porches, gabled roofs, and jutting eaves
Craftsman-style homes can be charming, especially if you like the idea of a simple home with a cozy porch and a stone fireplace, says Mizner. These are great homes for first-time homebuyers or those ready to downsize. Craftsman homes like this one at 8336 32nd Ave. NW, Seattle, WA 98117, first popularized during the Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th century, are also celebrated for the detailed woodwork and specialty built-ins (think shelving and window seats) often found inside.
tudor architectural styles
Tudor: Pitched roofs, large chimneys, ornamental framing
You might feel as though youre in a BBC miniseries in a classic Tudor like this home for sale at 2349 Middlesex Dr., Toledo, OH 43606, but lo and behold, Tudors are available (and popular) in America. Tudors typically feature pitched roofs and heavy chimneys (usually in stone or brick) that lend a medieval feeling to the architecture. This style of architecture was inspired by 16th-century English thatched-roof cottages and became popular in the 19th and 20th centuries in the U.S. Expect a mix of brick, half-timber, and stucco on the facade in natural color schemes, plus elaborate arched doorways.
modern architectural styles
Mid-Century Modern: Open floor plans, large windows
Residential architecture saw the advent of a new type of design in the mid-20th century with open, multilevel floor plans and large windows that helped bring in nature like this home for sale at 3801 Whispering Lane, Falls Church, VA 22041. Joshua Saslove with Douglas Elliman Real Estate in Aspen, CO, acknowledges how this modern style of architecture (also referred to as bungalows) brought in a new wave of design. These homes are characterized by distinct linear lines, clean materials, and creative floor plans, says Saslove of the style, often fabricated in steel and concrete. The Mid-Century Modern style, inspired by Frank Lloyd Wrights Prairie School of architecture, also allowed families to be near each other while still moving freely through the home, popularizing open-concept floor plans that are still in demand today.
colonial architectural styles
Colonial: Columns, wood siding, and symmetrical design
You might have missed this type of architecture if you snoozed through history class. The style, a mix of different styles including Georgian, Dutch, and Federal, was first popularized by Americas early settlers. Todays Colonial-style architecture is marked by grand exterior columns and symmetrical windows like in this home for sale at 2401 Kalorama Rd. NW, Washington, DC 20008. If youre looking for a true Colonial, look for a big box with formal and informal spaces, says Amy Mizner. You cant go wrong with high ceilings; if its too conventional, bring in an architect and take down a few walls. Its less expensive to remodel an older Colonial than to build from scratch.
cape cod architectural styles
Cape Cod: Steep roofs, prominent central chimneys, and dormer windows
Cape Cod houses are just plain cute: just look at this home for sale at 76 Ryder Beach Rd., Truro, MA 02666. Theyre often decorated with flower boxes and neat shutters and give you a feeling of being close to the beach. This style of architecture was first used in the U.S. in the 1600s, because it reminded early Americans of the cozy English cottages they had left behind and was sturdy enough to stand up to the areas harsh winters. Its smallish rooms with a central chimney also served a practical purpose: they were easier to heat and stayed warm longer. While most of todays Cape Cod-style homes were built to house the influx of veterans after World War II, they shared architectural similarities with those first built in New England: dormer windows, which are windows sticking out from a roof, smaller rooms, and shingled front facades.
mediterranean architectural styles
Mediterranean: Red-tile roofs, plaster, and curved doors or archways
This style of home just might make you nostalgic for your last European vacation. The architectural styles name is derived from its region of origin, and Mediterranean homes are marked by a sprawling floor plan, red-tile roofs, and a smooth plaster facade. Unsurprisingly, these homes are popular in the South (think Florida, where youll find this home for sale at 2416 Grandiflora Blvd., Panama City Beach, FL 32408), and are often accompanied by a palm tree or two.
Whats your favorite architectural style? Share your favorites in the comments below.
blessIT
On August 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day which serves as a day to honor all those who serve in the sister-service branches.
The men and women of the military have made exceptional sacrifices and so on Armed Forces Day and all other military appreciation days, we can do small acts to show our gratitude to them.
Below are some ideas of how to show your appreciation:
1. Volunteer at a VA hospital or donate your time to a veterans group. There are 152 veteran medical centers in the US as well as hundreds of clinics, outpatient and nursing facilities. Call your local VA medical center or community to learn more about donating your time.
2. Talk to veterans or an active service member. Ask questions about their service, why they joined the military and listen to their stories. A little interest can go a long way.
3. Visit a memorial. All across the US, military members are honored through monuments that memorialize their service and sacrifice. Washington DC is home to 8 but monuments dedicated to members of the military can be found throughout the nation. If you're near D.C., we suggest reflecting in Arlington National Cemetery.
vietname veteran mem
4. Put together a care package. With so many USO centers sending a comforting package is easy. Check with your local center to ensure that they can send out the package. You can fill them up with snacks and non-perishable food, toiletries, stationery or purchase a pre-made package. Microsoft is matching gifts to servicemen and women during May in honor of Military Appreciation Month so send a gift to a soldier.
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5. Donate to a worthy cause. Organizations such as the Wounded Warrior Project, Homes for Our Troops or Disabled American Veterans all work to assist military members, both active and vets, in rebuilding their lives. Organizations like Operation Homefront assist the families of servicemen and women with food, school supplies, finances and housing.
6. Attend a parade. Cities across the US celebrate Armed Forces Day with parades. Some of the most famous parades can be found in the cities of Torrence, California, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Washington D.C.
mem day parade
7. Offer to help a military spouse. While expressing gratitude to service members is encouraged, so is helping out their families. With one person at home, daily tasks can get overwhelming and a break is welcome. Offer to cook a meal, drive them somewhere or watch their children for a few hours.
8. Fly a flag, the correct way. Sometimes the simplest expressions of gratitude are the most appreciated. Make sure that if you do fly America's Stars and Stripes you follow the code.
9. A simple thank you. Sometimes this is the most honest expression of gratitude to those who serve our country.
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By Jan Schwartz and Maiya Keidan
HAMBURG/LONDON (Reuters) - Volkswagen has expressed frustration about the slow pace of investigations into its emissions scandal, responding to demands from an activist shareholder for rapid reforms at the German carmaker.
In a letter seen by Reuters, Chief Financial Officer Frank Witter told British hedge fund TCI that Volkswagen (VW) had made significant progress in implementing a new structure for the group and the VW brand.
However, Witter also acknowledged that an inquiry by law firm Jones Day into who was responsible for rigging U.S. exhaust emissions tests was dragging on. "We are all frustrated at the time this is taking," he said.
VW commissioned the inquiry from the U.S. law firm last year, but Witter said Jones Day had to be allowed to continue its work into the second half of this year to ensure "no stone (is) unturned in the pursuit of truth".
The letter, dated May 17, was addressed to TCI founder Chris Hohn, who has said Europe's biggest carmaker needs to improve its performance and create a new governance structure.
Last month, VW announced a 4.1 billion euro (3.1 billion pounds) operating loss for 2015 after making huge provisions to cover the cost of clearing up the scandal.
It has reached a nearly $10 billion deal with the U.S. government, but still faces an array of civil law suits and members of its management board - which runs the company day-to-day - are under fire over their bonus scheme.
Asked about Witter's letter, TCI partner Ben Walker said VW had to reduce its labour costs and raise its profitability. Walker aimed his criticism at trade unions and the government of Lower Saxony state, which has a 20 percent stake in VW.
"It's a letter of fine ambitions but the key point is that the unions and, in particular, Lower Saxony have to back the management team now," he told Reuters.
"Then this could be the turning point for Volkswagen. Lower Saxony and the unions have to acknowledge that a successful auto company cannot survive long-term with margins of 2 percent."
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NATURAL ATTRITION
VW employs over 120,000 people at six factories in Lower Saxony, including its Wolfsburg headquarters, and the government along with unions have been keen to protect jobs throughout the firm's crisis.
TCI said it had "exposure" to 2 percent of VW's non-voting preference shares and none of the group's ordinary shares. It is therefore dwarfed by the company's dominant shareholders - the Piech and Porsche families, Lower Saxony and the Gulf state of Qatar.
However, Walker said shareholders should back TCI's recommendations - setting tough financial targets, aligning management compensation with shareholders and controlling spiralling labour costs.
"All those key recommendations are clearly shared with all investors, including the families, Qatar and ultimately Lower Saxony," he said, adding productivity could be improved by natural attrition of VW's workforce, and controlling wage inflation and employee growth.
Bonuses for VW's top managers after the 2015 loss have provoked a row which has drawn in German politicians.
VW will pay 12 current and former members of the management board 63.2 million euros in fixed and flexible remuneration for 2015. Management board members have had 30 percent of their variable bonus awards withheld, but this will be released if the share price - currently around 125 euros - reaches 140.
Witter said management incentives and bonuses would also be looked at as part of a process of devising a new strategy 2025, which is due to be announced before the summer.
VW had made progress, including building on the experience of its Porsche sports car brand. "We would like to highlight the introduction of product line management where the best ideas from Porsche are being introduced into the engineering processes of the Volkswagen brand," the letter said.
(Writing by Edward Taylor and David Stamp; Editing by Mark Potter)
Alan Cumming
Over-the-top talented actor and writer Alan Cumming has put his East Village co-op on the market for $2.2 million. Cumming and his husband, artist Grant Shaffer, bought the apartment in 2005 for $1.7 million.
The full-floor apartment on East 10th Street overlooks Tompkins Square Park and features four bedrooms and one bathroom, a flood of natural light, and wide-plank hardwood floors. The prewar unit has a formal entry foyer and expansive living and dining areas. The open, chefs kitchen features stainless-steel counters.
Douglas Elliman broker Noble Black, who is co-listing the apartment with Jennifer Kaufman Stillman, says the co-op is super charming and character-filled.
Its quintessentially East Village living, Black told us.
Interior
Cumming and Shaffer are getting ready to move around the corner into their nearly renovated townhouse, which they bought in 2013 for $4.65 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Scottish actor has thrice been nominated for an Emmy award for his role as slithering Eli Gold on TVs The Good Wife, which recently ended its seven-year run. Cumming won a Tony in 1998 for his portrayal of the emcee in a Broadway revival of Cabaret.
Living Room
The post Actor Alan Cumming Selling Super Charming Apartment in NYC appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com.
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Acura has taken the wraps off of an RLX prototype that looks almost like what you can buy from one of its dealersexcept that this one doesn't require a driver.
This latest RLX prototype is Acura's second foray into the world of autonomous vehicle development. The sedan makes use of updated radar, Lidar, camera, and GPS sensors, all of which is supported by a vastly improved processing system hidden behind the scenes. The sensors themselves are mounted to the RLX's roof almost like they would be on a patrol car.
Acura says it drew inspiration from the automaker's AcuraWatch safety tech suite available on its regular production models. On the automated RLX, the radar sensors are able to judge the car's relative position and velocity of objects (like vehicles) around the car with more accuracy. The cameras, meanwhile, are utilized to detect the size and shape of those objects in order to help identify them.
Together, the two systems will be tested by parent company Honda at the GoMentum Station near San Francisco. GoMentum is a 5,000-acre automated and connected vehicle proving ground with 20 miles of paved roads and simulated buildings and infrastructure.
Honda has been using the grounds of the former Concord Naval Weapons Station to test autonomous cars for some time now. Apple is also thought to be using the grounds for autonomous car development. Below is a video showing an earlier Acura RLX autonomous prototype testing at the facility.
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Leading analytics and software-as-a-service provider Acxiom Corporation ACXM reported relatively healthy fourth-quarter fiscal 2016 results with successful execution of operational plans. The solid quarterly performance capped off an eventful year for the company and strengthened its prospects for a similar performance in fiscal 2017.
Adjusted earnings (with stock-based compensation adjustments) of 8 cents per share for fourth-quarter fiscal 2016 comfortably beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3 cents.
GAAP loss for the reported quarter narrowed to $1.6 million or loss of 2 cents per share from a loss of $6.0 million or 8 cents per share in the year-ago period. The year-over-year improvement was primarily due to higher revenues.
For fiscal 2016, Acxiom reported a net income of $6.7 million or 9 cents per share as against a loss of $11.0 million or loss of 14 cents per share in fiscal 2015.
Quarter Details
Total revenue for fourth-quarter fiscal 2016 was $224.7 million, up 9.2% compared with the prior-year quarter. The year-over-year increase in revenues was due to an overall growth in each of the operating segments. Quarterly revenues exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $214 million.
While domestic revenues of $205 million were up 11% year over year, international revenues of $20 million increased 2% on a constant currency basis. For fiscal 2016, Acxiom recorded revenues of $850.1 million compared with $804.9 million in fiscal 2015.
Sale from the Marketing Services segment increased 3.4% year over year to $113.3 million due to expansion of the business. Segment sales from the U.S. markets were approximately $104 million, up about 4%.
The Audience Solutions segment revenue increased to $80.1 million from $76.8 million in the year-ago quarter due to solid revenue from the use of data in the digital ecosystem.
The Connectivity segment continued to show strong momentum, as revenues were up an impressive 61.9% year over year to $31.2 million, driven by new customer additions and 40 new partner integrations.
Gross profit for the reported quarter improved to $101.0 million from $78.0 million in the year-ago quarter, resulting in a gross margin of 45.0%, up from 37.9%. The improvement was largely driven by growth in the Connectivity segment.
Other Significant Developments in the Quarter
During fourth-quarter fiscal 2016, Acxiom strengthened its Connectivity segment by signing over 50 deals and adding more than15 new direct customers, resulting in a direct customer count of about 285.
The company collaborated with technology firm Adobe Systems Inc. ADBE to offer an integrated marketing program for its clients. The strategic partnership will enable Acxiom to offer Adobe Marketing Cloud clients greater flexibility to execute seamless cross-channel marketing campaign for their consumers.
During the quarter, Acxiom also formed a strategic alliance with the social media firm Twitter, Inc. TWTR to facilitate advertisers to gauge the efficacy of advertising campaigns on offline sales. The collaboration intends to analyze exposure and client sales data to determine audience delivery (advertising reach), audience response (conversion rates), and campaign lift (sales increase). A detailed analysis report and key insights from the study will be provided thereafter to advertisers to help them understand the effectiveness of their campaigns. Such focused initiatives are likely to further augment revenues in the long run.
Balance Sheet and Cash Flow
At fiscal-end 2016, Acxiom had cash and cash equivalents of $189.6 million compared with $141.0 million in the prior-year period. Long-term debt was $157.9 million at fiscal-end 2016 compared with $244.7 million in the year-ago period.
Net cash provided by operating activities aggregated $43.3 million during the quarter compared with $29.4 million in the prior-year period, bringing the respective tallies for the years to $113.6 million and $61.1 million. Free cash flow to equity was $17 million for the reported quarter.
During the quarter under review, Acxiom repurchased approximately 731,000 shares for $15 million. Since Aug 2011, the company has repurchased 15.5 million shares for $255 million under its share repurchase program.
Outlook
For fiscal 2017, Acxiom expects revenues to be within $870 million and $890 million. Non-GAAP earnings are expected to be in the vicinity of 55 cents per share.
We remain impressed by the bullish guidance of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock. Another player in the same industry worth considering includes RELX NV RENX, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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Its not often that a big American auteur takes home the Palme dOr from the Cannes Film Festival, but this year might be the time with Jim Jarmuschs Paterson, in which Adam Driver stars as a bus driver named Paterson who lives in Paterson, NJ. He enjoys a simple life with his wonderful wife and writes beautiful poetry on the side, with no intent of becoming established.
Given this years thespian-heavy jury, which includes Kirsten Dunst, Mads Mikkelsen, Donald Sutherland, Valeria Golino and Vanessa Paradis, they conceivably could be drawn to the unaffected, charming performances delivered by Driver and Iranian star Golshifteh Farahani in Paterson.
I really like that hes a creature of habit, and that allows him to do his art in private. I understood that, Driver said of what struck him about the character. His main objective in the movie is to listen, and that was really exciting to me.
In our video interview (click the photo above to watch), Driver told us that boarding Paterson was a no-brainer given his adoration for Jarmuschs work some of the actors fave films being Down by Law and Stranger Than Paradise. But also, if its a character that you havent typically played before, thats a bonus on top of it, he said.
Collaboration can be a word thats overused by actors to describe their work with a director, but Driver clarifies: Words (in the Paterson script) are kind of a guideline. But theyre so good, youd be doing a disservice to change them to add something on top of it.
Nonetheless, with Jarmusch, If an idea comes up that he wasnt imaging before, its indicative of really good directors that theyve done all the work but are prepared to throw it all away for the sake of a better idea.
Critics have savored how the backdrop in Paterson harks back to a more innocent time in America a la the 1950s. The beauty and normalcy its a bit about that and [the couples] relationship and how they give each other freedom, said Driver. Theyre equally inspired by each other. Its not a special effects-driven movie or a lot of action. His main activity is to listen to people and to take in the world around him; thats a rare thing to get to play.
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Amid Drivers commercial breakout success with Star Wars: The Force Awakens as the tragic soul Kylo Ren following his absurdist and sometimes acerbic turn as boyfriend Adam Sackler on HBOs Girls (he talks about the takeaway of working with Lena Dunham here), the former Marine and Juilliard alum has quickly arrived as one of the revolutionary actors of his generation, given his ability to shift between fierce and nuanced tones with the greatest of ease. In addition to Paterson, Driver is starring in Martin Scorseses Silence as Father Francisco Garrpe, one of two 17th century Portuguese Jesuit Catholic priests who travel to Japan to spread the good word. Driver also is set to star in Terry Gilliams The Man Who Killed Don Quixote as an ad exec who Michael Palins Don Quixote believes is Sancho Panza, the central character from Do Miguel de Cervantes 1605 novel.
Ahead of its Monday world premiere here at the Cannes Film Festival, Paterson sold a number of key offshore territories via K5 International.
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Miami (AFP) - Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is widely considered a condition that affects children, but some people may not develop it until they become adults, international researchers said Wednesday.
Two separate studies from Britain and Brazil, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Psychiatry, suggest that late-onset ADHD may be its own distinct disorder, since many young adults diagnosed with ADHD did not have the disorder as children.
And when adults were diagnosed with ADHD, often the symptoms of inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsive behaviors were more severe than those seen in children, and tended to be accompanied by more traffic accidents, incarceration and criminal behavior, researchers said.
"Our research sheds new light on the development and onset of ADHD, but it also brings up many questions about ADHD that arises after childhood," said co-author Louise Arseneault, a professor at Kings College London.
"How similar or different is 'late-onset' ADHD compared with ADHD that begins in childhood? How and why does late-onset ADHD arise? What treatments are most effective for late-onset ADHD? These are the questions we should now be seeking to answer."
ADHD is believed to occur in about four percent of adults.
It is defined in clinical terms when a child under 12 shows at least six inattentive or impulsive behaviors that interfere with functioning and development for six months straight.
- Two syndromes -
In the British study of more than 2,000 twins, a total of 166 individuals were found to have adult ADHD, and 68 percent of those "not meet criteria for ADHD at any assessment in childhood."
The study measured ADHD in children based on mother and teacher reports collected at ages 5, 7, 10 and 12.
For adults, who were between 18 and 19 when studied, a diagnosis was derived following an interview in which subjects discussed their own symptoms and behaviors.
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Researchers at King's College London found among adults "a smaller group with persistent ADHD." that endured from childhood.
Perhaps childhood-onset and late-onset adult ADHD have different causes, which "has implications for genetic studies and treatment of ADHD," said the study.
Analyzing the twins' data, researchers also found that adult ADHD was less likely to run in the family than childhood ADHD, and was almost as common in men as in women.
Typically, childhood ADHD is far more common in boys.
"We found that those with late-onset ADHD exhibit elevated rates of anxiety, depression, and marijuana and alcohol dependence," added the study.
The Brazil study, which followed more than 5,000 people beginning in 1993, found very few adults (12 percent) with ADHD had been diagnosed as children, and very few children diagnosed with ADHD (17 percent) continued to have the syndrome as adults.
This suggests "the existence of two syndromes that have distinct developmental trajectories," said the study.
Those who were diagnosed with late-onset ADHD showed "high levels of symptoms, impairment and other mental health disorders," said the study.
More researchers is needed to uncover other factors that may contribute to adult ADHD, and whether it should be considered a distinct disorder, separate from childhood ADHD.
- 'Provocative, premature' -
An accompanying editorial by Stephen Faraone of SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York and Joseph Biederman of Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts called the conclusions "provocative," but "premature."
The ADHD diagnoses in young adults were derived from self-reported symptoms, which are "less reliable" than reports by parents and teachers, they said.
"The adults in the Brazil and UK studies were aged 18 to 19 years. That is too small a slice of adulthood to draw firm conclusions."
Instead, researchers should consider the data a "call to arms" to pursue more rigorous study of ADHD, and doctors who treat patients should be aware that adult-onset ADHD exists and deserves treatment -- even if the medical literature says it must be diagnosed by age 12.
"The current age-at-onset criterion for ADHD, although based on the best data available, may not be correct," they wrote.
"We hope that future research will determine whether and how it should be modified."
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Getty Image / Sony Pictures Classics
Woody Allen is getting a lot of heat and defenders for allegedly abusing his adopted daughter Dylan and getting away with it, especially while promoting his new film Cafe Society at Cannes. Theres the French comedian who joked about Allen shooting films in Europe when he wasnt convicted of rape in the United States, and theres Susan Sarandon proclaiming, I have nothing to say about him, because she believes he committed sexual assault. Then there are the actors like Adrien Brody who make painfully equivocal statements on these charges.
According to CNN, Brody decided to not only toss some defense to Allen, but also Roman Polanski and Billy Cosby on Jenny McCarthys radio show. This is what he said:
I look to collaborate with artistic people and to go into an endeavor without judgment and to hopefully be treated with the same, he said. Its an artistic pursuit, and Polanski, for instance, had a very complicated and difficult life. It would be unfair of me to delve into something as complicated as the past that was brought up in the media.
Basically, life is very complicated, as Brody prefaces his remarks with.
Life is complicated indeed, and sure, Allen was never convicted of this crime, but one can argue that such shades of gray shouldnt really apply when were talking rape and molestation. Brody isnt the first person to grapple with whether we can consume the art of people who may or may not have done very bad things, though.
McCarthy asks him to comment on Allen experiencing no repercussions to his career for these allegations while Cosby hasnt enjoyed the same privilege. Brody replies that he doesnt pay attention to accusations like that, calling them fodder. Again, understandable if you dont want to come down on hard about whether somebody is guilty of a crime or not, but it seems dismissive of rape victims.
(via CNN)
By Mirwais Harooni KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan signed a draft agreement with the Hezb-e-Islami militant group on Wednesday that the government hopes could lead to a full peace accord with one of the most notorious warlords in the insurgency. Hezb-e-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is a veteran of decades of Afghan war and rights groups have accused his group of widespread abuses, particularly during the civil war of the early 1990s, when he briefly served as prime minister. The United States has also linked the group to al Qaeda and the Taliban, and put Hekmatyar on its designated terrorist list. Hezb-e-Islami has played only a minor role in the Taliban-led insurgency in recent years and the deal is unlikely to have any immediate practical impact on security. But with little sign that the Taliban are ready to join peace talks, the deal offers President Ashraf Ghani's government a concrete sign that it is making headway in drawing insurgent groups away from the battlefield and into the political process. Mohammad Khan, deputy to government Chief Executive Abdullah, said the draft accord was a positive step but more work would be needed for a final deal. "We are optimistic about this agreement and we strongly support it," he told reporters before the accord was signed by a delegation from Hekmatyar's party and officials from Afghanistan's High Peace Council. But he added: "This doesn't mean it's finalised." A tweet from Ghani's deputy spokesman said the accord was at the stage of endorsement and verification but had not been signed by the president. The announcement came as officials from Pakistan, the United States, China and Afghanistan held another round of meetings in Pakistan, aimed at laying the ground for peace talks with the Taliban, who have refused to join the talks. Human rights groups have criticised the move towards a deal with Hekmatyar's group but the pressure on the government for some sign of progress in bringing peace appears to have outweighed the concerns. U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said that while Hekmatyar was still designated, the United States welcomed the steps to engage in talks with Hezb-e-Islami. "Obviously we hope that it can lead to a better, less violent outcome for the Afghan people," he told a regular news briefing. The U.S. State Department included Hekmatyar on its terrorist list in 2003, accusing him of participating in and supporting attacks by al Qaeda and the Taliban. His group was most recently blamed for a 2013 attack in Kabul in which two U.S. soldiers and four U.S. civilian contractors as well as eight Afghans were killed. Under the draft, members of Hezb-e-Islami would be offered an amnesty, similar to that offered in 2007 to warlords accused of war crimes, as well as a release of prisoners held by Afghan authorities. The government would also work to have the group removed from a U.N. blacklist. The group, which for years had close ties with Pakistan, would not join the government but would be recognised as a political party and be involved in major political decisions. (Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington; Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Sandra Maler)
Vilnius (AFP) - A 22-year-old Afghan man who received Taliban death threats over his work for the Lithuanian army in the war-torn country has won asylum in the Baltic state after reaching out on social media, the interior ministry said Wednesday.
Abdul Basir Yoususi, who worked as an interpreter for Lithuania's NATO contingent in the central province of Ghor, fled his homeland earlier this year, embarking on a dangerous two-month journey to Europe.
He launched an emotional appeal on YouTube from a refugee camp in Greece in March, asking Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite for asylum.
Yoususi, who has a two-year-old daughter, said he had faced death threats from the hardline Taliban militia after Lithuanian forces left Ghor in 2013.
"Everything changed when the Taliban sent me a threatening letter. They said I was Catholic not a Muslim so they would chop off my head, hang me," he told local media earlier this month.
"I turned to local police and I was told that neither they nor the military could do anything. They suggested I get a pistol."
Lithuanian Deputy Interior Minister Elvinas Jankevicius told AFP that the authorities had checked out his claims.
"He is indeed in danger, so we granted him international protection and refugee status," Jankevicius said.
- 'War all the time' -
A grateful Yoususi, who picked up Lithuanian after initially working for the troops as a cleaner, said he is now waiting for his family to join him from Afghanistan.
"I'm not exactly sure how they're doing. I haven't been in touch with them for 10 days," he told the Baltic News Service on Wednesday.
"The situation is really bad there. There's no safety, there is war all the time."
Yoususi is one of thousands of Afghan interpreters who risked their lives for foreign troops over the years and who have since sought asylum or visas to escape Taliban reprisals.
Some of the interpreters who managed to emigrate have notably called on the British and US governments to not abandon their colleagues back home.
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Lithuania first sent troops to Afghanistan in 2002 after the US-led overthrow of the Taliban regime there.
Lithuanian soldier Jurgis Norvaisa, who was posted in Afghanistan in 2012, said he recognised Yoususi when he saw the video circulating on social media.
"He interpreted from Lithuanian to Dari Persian and vice versa. He helped us in our contact with the local people," Norvaisa told AFP last month.
Lithuania has agreed to welcome 1,105 migrants over two years under an EU relocation programme for asylum seekers to help ease Europe's migration crisis.
So far only 11 refugees from Iraq and Syria have arrived in the EU member of three million people, Jankevicius said.
More than one million people entered Europe last year, many fleeing war and poverty in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other parts of the Middle East and Africa.
Bernie Sanders took another state from Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primaries with a win in Oregon on Tuesday night. Democratic voters also headed to the polls in Kentucky, where Clinton finished off the night with a slight edge.
This victory wont dent Clintons lead, but an undaunted Sanders promised to remain a loud presence heading into the last weeks of the primary at an election night rally.
Heading into these two states, Sanders needed to win over 67 percent of all the remaining pledged delegates to pass Clinton. In other words, he needed a pair of landslides to meaningfully close the gap with Clinton. Anything else meant falling short.
Speaking before results were finalized, Sanders insisted there is a possibility he could pull ahead of Clinton. He acknowledged this would be improbable and would take multiple major victories among the six states that will vote on June 7. Nevertheless, Sanders vowed to take his fight to the partys nominating convention, which will take place in Philadelphia in late July.
Bernie Sanders at a rally in New Brunswick, N.J. (Photo: Dennis Van Tine/STAR MAX/IPx/AP)
We have the possibility. It will be a steep climb, I recognize that, but we have the possibility of going to Philadelphia with a majority of the pledged delegates, Sanders said. Some people say that weve got a steep hill to climb to do that. And you know what? That is absolutely true. But you know what? Together we have been climbing that steep hill from day one in this campaign.
Clinton did not make a speech, but she sent out a tweet declaring victory in Kentucky before the Associated Press called the results there. In that brief message, Clinton emphasized party unity.
We just won Kentucky! Thanks to everyone who turned out. Were always stronger united, she wrote.
Polling was scant in both Kentucky and Oregon. Clinton may have been slightly favored to win in Kentucky. Her campaign made a push to win the state in the last two weeks leading up to the primary. Both Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, campaigned in Kentucky. Her team also reversed course and launched a television ad campaign in the state after previously indicating it would no longer be spending money on commercials for the primary. This strategic shift by Clinton provided a dramatic example of the protracted battle with Sanders preventing her from making a planned pivot to the general election.
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Both Kentucky and Oregon were closed primaries, meaning only previously registered Democrats could vote. This dynamic has generally favored Clinton, while Sanders does better in open primaries. However, Kentucky and Oregon were potentially fertile ground for Sanders. He has done well in the Pacific Northwest, which has a white and liberal electorate. Sanders has also performed well in states similar to Kentucky, including his win in last weeks primary in neighboring West Virginia.
Hillary Clinton waves to the crowd before speaking during a campaign stop in Bowling Green, Ky., on May 16, 2016. (Austin Anthony/Daily News via AP)
Sanders chance of winning the nomination is now incredibly slim. But he has repeatedly vowed to stay in the race until the convention. Sanders had already moved forward on Tuesday. He made his election night speech from California, the biggest remaining state on the primary calendar. And in it, Sanders made it clear he isnt going anywhere.
Many of the pundits and politicians, they say Bernie Sanders should drop out, the people of California should not have the right to determine who the next president will be, Sanders said. Well, let me be as clear as I can be: We are in till the last ballot is cast!
And as long as Sanders remains in the Democratic primary, he presents an obstacle for Clinton.
Sanders and his team have increasingly criticized the Democratic Partys primary process and leadership. This dissent in the ranks could make it harder for Clinton to ultimately achieve party unity. Though Clinton dominated early in the primary calendar and in the delegate-rich states of New York and Florida, she has been unable to score a big enough margin to finish off Sanders.
The Vermont senator has said he hopes to help reform the way Democrats choose their nominees going forward. He wants to eliminate closed primaries in favor of open races. Sanders also called for the party to rethink its superdelegate system. The Democrats have over 700 superdelegates, party officials and elected leaders who may pick a candidate regardless of how their respective states voted. Clinton currently has an overwhelming lead among these party insiders, with over 500 superdelegates, while Sanders has only 40.
Along with calling for reform, the Sanders campaign has raised questions about voting issues in various states won by Clinton. Sanders calls for superdelegate reform and other critiques of the process have fanned flames of anger among some of his supporters who believe Clinton has had an unfair advantage. However, the elements of the primary process Sanders has disputed do not seem to be the reasons he is in second place.
SLIDESHOW The campaign for Oregon and Kentucky >>>
Superdelegates are generally expected to back whoever gets the most pledged delegates from the state primaries, and Sanders has a significant deficit even counting only pledged delegates. A CNN analysis published Tuesday showed that Sanders would still be behind Clinton if some of the reforms hes pushing for were already in place for this years election. And Sanders campaign has actually attempted to take advantage of the current system by encouraging superdelegates to switch sides in spite of the election results. The Sanders teams superdelegate pitch is based on some national polls showing he would perform better than Clinton in a hypothetical matchup against Republican frontrunner Donald Trump.
Tensions between Sanders supporters and the party establishment boiled over during the weekend at Nevadas state Democratic convention. There were allegations that furious Sanders supporters resorted to throwing chairs and making death threats online over disagreements with party leadership. Clinton won Nevada in February, but Sanders campaign made a push to win over delegates and emerge out of the convention ahead.
And Sanders hasnt exactly pushed for peace. On Tuesday evening, he issued a striking statement in which he said it was nonsense for local Nevada Democrats to suggest his campaign has a penchant for violence. He also accused the states Democratic leadership of using its power to prevent a fair and transparent process from taking place.
I condemn any and all forms of violence, including the personal harassment of individuals, Sanders said. But when we speak of violence, I should add here that months ago, during the Nevada campaign, shots were fired into my campaign office in Nevada, and the apartment housing complex my campaign staff lived in was broken into and ransacked.
Clinton may need to heal some of these wounds if she manages to fend off Sanders and secure the nomination. And while Clinton remains in a contentious primary, Trump has already cemented his presumptive-nominee status.
In a fundraising email sent to supporters last week, top Clinton campaign staffer Marlon Marshall lamented the position they are in. Marshall explained that Clinton is essentially fighting a two-front war.
Were opening offices every week in battleground states like Ohio and Florida, AND were fighting every day before the California primary, Marshall wrote, adding, Heres the deal: Bernies not opening field offices in Ohio, because hes only focused on the primary. Donald Trump isnt opening field offices in California, because hes only focused on the general. Were the only ones running two races, which means we need this team to step up twice as much.
Clintons latest win makes it even more likely she will survive this dual battle for now. But it also seems clear her inability to decisively finish Sanders off earlier will cost her in the meantime. During his speech in California, Sanders was briefly interrupted by supporters who chanted Bernie or bust! The slogan is popular among Sanders backers who say they will never vote for Clinton.
Sanders didnt respond to the chant. He simply smiled.
Air Products APD has launched a new business unit, Hydrogen Services Business, to help customers increase productivity and reliability at their own hydrogen plants. The company has been delivering operational excellence for years. It has addressed the demand set forth by customers and formalized the provision of this service by launching this new business.
Hydrogen plants across the globe face problems related to operations, costs and efficiencies. Air Products is packaging all of its skill and technical expertise to aid the turnaround of these plants. The new Hydrogen Services Business will be lending its expertise in a number of areas, including the quantity of hydrogen to be produced from steam methane reformers (SMR), devising SMR turnarounds, increasing fuel efficiency, feedstock flexibility and mechanical integrity improvements, to name a few.
Air Products operates more than 100 hydrogen plants, producing nearly 3 billion standard cubic feet of hydrogen daily. The company has gained enough experience with its own plants, solving various issues, which it can now apply with modifications in other plants. To highlight some of its successful turnarounds, the company de-bottlenecked its California plant for additional production, regenerated its Texas plant to generate higher capacity despite impurities, and updated a plant after productivity assessment without capital expenditure and minimum expenses for technical hours.
Air Products has also provided similar services to its customers in the past. A North American refiner approached the company for a SMR turnaround to boost energy efficiency and increase production. Air Products completed a detailed assessment of the plant as well as a performance test, increasing production capacity by 20% and efficiency by over 10%.
The company has shown its expertise globally. It helped a South Asian firm, constrained in terms of time and budget, produce additional 50% hydrogen. Air Products expanded the companys plant, de-bottlenecking and integrating the reforming capacity and purification sections of the plant, ahead of schedule at a much lower cost. In Europe, the company did wonders for a refiner by turning down the plants operations, as requested, and converted the hydrogen plant feedstock from expensive butane to a much more pocket-friendly natural gas. The feedstock conversion required minimal retrofit equipment, being simple and cost effective.
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Air Products saw higher profits in the second quarter of fiscal 2016 (ended Mar 31, 2016), backed by restructuring and self-help measures. Adjusted earnings of $1.82 per share for the quarter beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate, while revenues of $2,271.2 million missed the same. The company reported double-digit EPS growth for the seventh consecutive quarter.
Air Products expects earnings from continuing operations in the third quarter of fiscal 2016 to be higher than the prior-year quarter by 1316%. The company raised the earnings guidance for fiscal 2016 from $7.25$7.50 to $7.40$7.55 per share. However, the company lowered its capital expenditure guidance by $0.1 billion to $1.2 billion.
Air Products currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked companies in the chemical space include Innophos Holdings Inc IPHS, Innospec Inc. IOSP and BASF SE BASFY, all sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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The past week saw quite a few updates in the airline space. In a widely-expected move, the Atlanta, Georgia-based Delta Air Lines DAL hiked its quarterly dividend and trimmed its capacity growth plan for the second half of the year. Moreover, the carrier said in a presentation that it intends to complete the existing $5 billion repurchase plan by May 2017.
Apart from these, the headlines were also dominated by developments like the release of a forecast by Airlines for America (A4A) the largest airline trade association in the U.S. According to the projection, the upcoming summer season (Jun 1Aug 31) will be the busiest one for U.S. carriers in terms of air travel.
Strong demand for travel and low fuel costs are expected to drive passenger volumes during summer to an all-time high. Moreover, the expected total volume (231.1 million) is 4% higher than the year-ago figure. Furthermore, JetBlue Airways Corporations JBLU April load factor (% of seats filled with passengers) declined as traffic growth was outpaced by capacity expansion.
On the earnings front, Latin American carrier GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. GOL reported encouraging first-quarter 2016 results. However, the carriers traffic results for April continued to be sluggish, hurt by a weak economy.
Read the last Airline Stock Roundup for May 11, 2016.
Recap of the Past Weeks Most Important Stories
1. JetBlue Airways posted a rise in traffic to the tune of 8.6% on 10.8% capacity expansion. Load factor decreased 160 basis points to 84.1%. Revenue per available seat mile (RASM) in the month fell 12.5% on a year-over-year basis (read more:JetBlue April Traffic Improves, RASM Declines 12.5%).
2. According to a forecast released by Airlines for America (A4A) the largest airline trade association in the U.S. the ongoing summer (June-August) will be the busiest of all times for American carriers in terms of air travel. The trade organization has predicted that approximately 231.1 million passengers will be transported by various U.S. carriers in the three months under consideration.
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The air travel estimate for the summer season, which translates into 2.51 million fliers per day, represents a 4% increase from the comparable year-ago figure. The organization has also predicted that passenger volume on international flights will touch 30.5 million or 331,000 per day this summer. To meet the surge in travel demand, U.S. carriers are increasing the number of available seats. With carriers making substantial investments in aircraft, they will offer larger planes this summer to meet the surge in demand. In a customer-friendly move, the organization has called on U.S. Transportation Security Administration to avoid long queues at airports through proper staff management
3. GOL Linhas reported earnings of 27 cents per share in the first quarter of 2016 which compared favorably with the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $1.20. Net revenue climbed 8.3% year over year to approximately $ $696.7 million (read more: GOL Linhas Posts Q1 Profit, Revenues Up; Keeps View).
On a separate note, the carrier reported disappointing traffic results for April. Traffic measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) stood at 2.53 billion, down 18.4% from 3.1 billion recorded a year ago. Also, on a year-over-year basis, consolidated capacity (or available seat kilometers/ASKs) was down 15.4% to 3.34 billion (read more: GOL Linhas April Traffic Tanks 18.4%, Capacity Down).
4. Delta Air Lines raised its cash quarterly dividend to over 20 cents per share (81 cents per share annualized), representing an increase of 50% over the previous quarterly payout of 13.5 cents per share (54 cents per share annualized). The new dividend, which has been approved by the companys board of directors, will be paid to investors from the third quarter of 2016. The carrier also intends to accelerate its buyback program. The company has managed to reduce its net debt significantly from the 2009 levels. The airline behemoth, which has deferred the delivery of 4 wide-bodied aircraft from 2018 to 2019/20, intends to reduce capacity growth to below 2% in the second half of 2016. Delta Air Lines, which trimmed its capacity growth plan by approximately 1% for the final quarter of 2016, expects to be the first network carrier to return to positive unit revenue growth later this year (read more: Delta Air Lines to Hike Dividend, Close Buyback Plan).
5 The antitrust unit of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked for more information on Alaska Air Groups ALK proposed buyout of Virgin America VA from both the companies. The request, which the companies believe is part of the DOJ review process, has not worried the companies as they are co-operating fully with the DOJ. They are confident of receiving the requisite regulatory approvals to close the deal by the originally scheduled date of Jan1, 2017. In April this year, Alaska Air Group inked a deal to buy Virgin America.
Performance
The following table shows the price movement of the major airline players over the past week and during the last 6 months.
Company Past Week Last 6 months HA -3.90% 17.18% UAL -3.50% -21.94% GOL 0.0% -10.91% DAL 1.58% -8.54% JBLU -5.27% -28.03% AAL -3.37% -21.82% SAVE 0.27% 16.49% LUV -1.88% -8.87% VA -0.90% 50.86% ALK -5.86% -16.20%
The table above shows that most airline stocks traded in the red over the past week leading to the NYSE ARCA Airline index declining 2.05% to $84.78 over the past 5 trading days as oil prices move north. Shares of Alaska Air Group depreciated the most (5.86%) while Delta Air Lines emerged as the biggest gainer (1.58%) as investors seemed to be pleased with the carriers bullish update.
Over the past six months too most airline stocks have lost value with the NYSE ARCA Airline index declining 5.67%. Shares of Virgin America appreciated the most (50.86%) during the period while JetBlue Airways emerged as the biggest laggard (28.03%).
What's Next in the Airline Space?
Investors will keenly watch presentations by airline heavyweights like American Airlines Group AAL and also keep an eye on shareholder friendly announcements. Focus will also be on updates pertaining to Southwest Airlines LUV dispute with its pilots.
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Los Angeles (AFP) - French rider Julian Alaphilippe won the third stage of the Tour of California on Tuesday, producing a perfectly timed late burst on a gruelling final climb to overhaul American rider Peter Stetina.
The 23-year-old Etixx-Quick Step racer waited patiently before reeling in Stetina inside the final half-mile of the rugged 104.1-mile (167.5km) course from Thousand Oaks to Santa Barbara, northwest of Los Angeles.
Alaphilippe, runner-up in the general classification last year behind eventual champion Peter Sagan, finished in 4hr 36min 59sec, with Trek-Segafredo rider Stetina 15 seconds back.
George Bennett of the Lotto NL-Jumbo team was third with Brent Bookwalter (BMC Racing) fourth and rising teenage star Neilson Powless (Axeon Hagens Berman) in fifth.
Alaphilippe's victory catapulted him into the overall lead of the general classification, with a total time of 12:49:47, 19 seconds clear of Stetina who moved up to second. Bennett is third, 31 seconds off the pace.
Alaphilippe's win was the climax of a thrilling closing battle which heated up when American youngster Powless broke away with around six miles to go.
For a while it looked as if Powless might hang on for an unlikely victory as he gradually increased his lead over the peloton.
But the teenager was finally caught with just over two miles to go as Stetina and Australia's Lachlan Morton (Jelly Belly-Maxxis) reached him.
Stetina, who suffered a career-threatening injury in April last year when he crashed on the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, breaking his leg and shattering his kneecap, then looked to mount a decisive attack with around 1.2 miles left.
Morton and Powless were quickly left behind but Alaphilippe had stealthily made his way into position before powering to victory in the final few hundred meters.
Wednesday's fourth stage will see the peloton travel 134.8 miles up California's famous Pacific Coast Highway, moving from the seaside town of Morro Bay and passing through Big Sur before wrapping up at the Laguna Seca motorsport circuit.
New York (AFP) - If Frank Sinatra enjoyed such adulation that he was called simply "The Voice," Bob Dylan has been virtually the opposite, a legend famous in spite of his gritty timbre.
But on his new album, Dylan is pursuing an unlikely late-career incarnation as a 21st century Sinatra, interpreting songs made popular by the late singing icon and remolding the tunes with a rugged intimacy that is classically Dylan.
"Fallen Angels," which comes out on Friday, is the 37th studio album by the folk rock legend and his second in a row devoted to Sinatra's pop standards.
Dylan, who turns 75 on May 24, opens the album with "Young at Heart" -- the title track from Sinatra's 1954 film with Doris Day that has since been frequently covered.
But whereas Sinatra's "Young at Heart," with its orchestral backdrop, was sunny and light -- the lyrics, after all, contemplate living up to age 105 -- Dylan's disposition is moodier, with the song sounding like a lonesome cowboy's reflections backed by the effect of the steel guitar.
The somber yet steamy feel of "Fallen Angels" is even more apparent on "Melancholy Mood," one of the more obscure tracks in Sinatra's vast collection, which Dylan chose as the album's first single.
Dylan's previous album, "Shadows in the Night," followed much the same format with the towering force of 1960s rock counterculture plucking from the back catalog of Ol' Blue Eyes, to many a quintessential establishment musician.
Yet Dylan did not simply pick Sinatra hits. If the tracks on "Shadows in the Night" had underlying themes of life transition, "Fallen Angels" revolves more around feelings of longing, as with the track "On a Little Street in Singapore."
Despite a backup band, Dylan throughout the album is spare and direct, the delicacy of his guitar taking on a touch of Django Reinhardt on "Polka Dots and Moonbeams."
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- Gritty turn for Sinatra -
And then there is Dylan's singing, reaching nasal heights on "Skylark," a pop standard that is the only track on "Fallen Angels" not recorded by Sinatra.
Dylan became a voice of his generation with seminal tracks such as "The Times They Are A-Changin'" and "Blowin' in the Wind," but his voice in the literal sense has been much more contested.
The late David Bowie, in a song in homage to Dylan, credited him with delivering "words of truthful vengeance" -- but "with a voice like sand and glue."
Dylan, known for his reticence when not singing, stunned the music industry when he delivered a lengthy, unscheduled speech at a ceremony ahead of the Grammy Awards last year -- and he took aim at detractors.
"Some of the music critics say I can't sing. I croak. Sound like a frog. Why don't these same critics say similar things about Tom Waits?" he said, also charging that Leonard Cohen did not face the same level of scrutiny over his voice.
- Songs that rock couldn't destroy -
Cover albums are increasingly commonplace for artists in mature stretches of their career. Yet Dylan remains active as an artist, releasing his last album of new material, the dark and experimental "Tempest," in 2012 -- and, two years later, a boxed set of his legendary 1967 "basement tapes" with The Band.
Dylan, in a rare interview last year to the magazine of AARP, the US association of seniors, said he had always wanted to record his own takes of songs from his childhood.
He voiced disappointment at interpretations by other stars, naming Rod Stewart, who he said relied too much on modern studio techniques and orchestration.
The rock icon acknowledged that he was performing "the same songs that rock 'n' roll came to destroy."
But he credited Sinatra, who died in 1998 but whose birth centennial was celebrated with fanfare in December, with his great staying power.
"Certainly nobody worshipped Frank Sinatra in the '60s like they did in the '40s. But he never went away," Dylan said.
"All those other things that we thought were here to stay, they did go away. But he never did."
By John Ruwitch SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's chief Jack Ma has cancelled a speech at an anti-counterfeiting conference in the United States after the trade group behind it suspended the e-commerce giant's recently gained membership. Alibaba has been dogged for years by accusations that its online shopping platforms were conduits for counterfeiters and critics say it has not done nearly enough to stop the problem. At least three members of the Washington-based International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition, including board member Tiffany & Co, quit the group in protest and others threatened to leave after Alibaba was admitted as a member in April. On Friday, the IACC suspended the new category in which Alibaba was admitted, effectively terminating its membership. "Given the IACC's desire for additional time to reflect upon the viability of its general membership category, Alibaba feels it best that Jack Ma postpone his appearance," Jennifer Kuperman, head of international corporate communications, said in a statement. Alibaba Group President Michael Evans will speak at the conference in Orlando, Florida instead. Kuperman reiterated Alibaba's stance that it is "firmly committed to the protection of intellectual property rights and combating counterfeits". 'DAMAGING ADVERSARY' On Tuesday - the same day as the cancellation - Ma had lunch with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House, an Alibaba source with knowledge of the situation said. China's biggest e-commerce firm has pledged to fight fake goods and has hired an army of employees to root them out, but many brands say the problem is still widespread, particularly on the hugely popular shopping site Taobao. In a letter to the IACC explaining its decision to leave the group, luxury brand Michael Kors called Alibaba "the largest marketplace for counterfeit merchandise the world has ever seen" and blasted the IACC for providing "cover to our most dangerous and damaging adversary". Last week Taobao said it was tightening controls on the sale of luxury goods, requiring sellers to show proof of authenticity as a way to try to combat the sale of fakes,. Fake products are widespread in China - both online and in bricks-and-mortar shops. The official People's Daily newspaper said this month Chinese authorities would launch a campaign to clean up e-commerce, targeting trademark violations, counterfeit and poor quality products, in a move potentially affecting Alibaba as well as rivals JD.com Inc and Baidu Inc. (Reporting by John Ruwitch in Shanghai and Aurindom Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Brown, Edwina Gibbs and Kim Coghill)
* Alibaba had just recently gained membership of the group
* At least three members quit in protest of Alibaba's membership
* Alibaba's Evans to speak at conference instead (Adds White House visit, paragraph 8-9)
By John Ruwitch
SHANGHAI, May 18 (Reuters) - Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's chief Jack Ma has cancelled a speech at an anti-counterfeiting conference in the United States after the trade group behind it suspended the e-commerce giant's recently gained membership.
Alibaba has been dogged for years by accusations that its online shopping platforms were conduits for counterfeiters and critics say it has not done nearly enough to stop the problem.
At least three members of the Washington-based International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition, including board member Tiffany & Co, quit the group in protest and others threatened to leave after Alibaba was admitted as a member in April.
On Friday, the IACC suspended the new category in which Alibaba was admitted, effectively terminating its membership.
"Given the IACC's desire for additional time to reflect upon the viability of its general membership category, Alibaba feels it best that Jack Ma postpone his appearance," Jennifer Kuperman, head of international corporate communications, said in a statement.
Alibaba Group President Michael Evans will speak at the conference in Orlando, Florida instead.
Kuperman reiterated Alibaba's stance that it is "firmly committed to the protection of intellectual property rights and combating counterfeits".
'DAMAGING ADVERSARY'
On Tuesday - the same day as the cancellation - Ma had lunch with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House, an Alibaba source with knowledge of the situation said.
China's biggest e-commerce firm has pledged to fight fake goods and has hired an army of employees to root them out, but many brands say the problem is still widespread, particularly on the hugely popular shopping site Taobao.
In a letter to the IACC explaining its decision to leave the group, luxury brand Michael Kors called Alibaba "the largest marketplace for counterfeit merchandise the world has ever seen" and blasted the IACC for providing "cover to our most dangerous and damaging adversary".
Story continues
Last week Taobao said it was tightening controls on the sale of luxury goods, requiring sellers to show proof of authenticity as a way to try to combat the sale of fakes,.
Fake products are widespread in China - both online and in bricks-and-mortar shops.
The official People's Daily newspaper said this month Chinese authorities would launch a campaign to clean up e-commerce, targeting trademark violations, counterfeit and poor quality products, in a move potentially affecting Alibaba as well as rivals JD.com Inc and Baidu Inc.
(Reporting by John Ruwitch in Shanghai and Aurindom Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Brown, Edwina Gibbs and Kim Coghill)
Amazon Studios rolled into Cannes with five major Festival titles: Woody Allens Cafe Society, Nicolas Winding Refns The Neon Demon, Jim Jarmuschs Paterson and his Iggy Pop documentary Gimme Danger and Park Chan-wooks The Handmaiden. The presence of so many top contenders and high-profile auteur works from the streaming services was not lost on some Cannes observers, whove touted this as a revolution, a notion quickly dismissed by Cannes fest chief Thierry Fremaux as well as Jason Ropell, Amazon Studios worldwide head of motion pictures.
Ropell said Amazon was not coming to the South of France looking to disrupt Cannes, adding, You have to approach Cannes on its own terms. This includes, says Ropell, the traditional elements of the business such as negotiations and meeting with filmmakers. The truth is, we are there pretty much like everyone else, competing in the existing eco-system.
That eco-system is, in Ropells view, the greatest launchpad in the world and despite all the chatter about the marketplace disruptions caused by the streaming services arrival as major players, Ropell again points to the traditional aspects of Cannes, where he notes, Theres no better platform than the films themselves.
Though Ropells modest assessment of Amazons impact on the business as usual aspects of Cannes may be technically accurate, when questioned about the hordes of filmmakers hungry for financing and distribution, he does acknowledge the fact that our teams dance cards are packed.
Its a good problem to have, says Ropell, noting with a chuckle, we get to go to great parties! But the serious upside of being the hot shop is what Ropell describes access to the best. At a time when the top film festivals are inundated with thousands of feature entries, how does Ropell figure out whats best and whats worth skipping for, say, a great party?
Ted, Julie and Scott ( film chief Ted Hope, development executives Julie Rapaport and Scott Foundas) are great at their jobs and theyre the best filter in the business. They tell me which meetings I should be taking. We are delighted that people are reacting well to what were doing, but that means we have to double down on being respectful of peoples time and their interest in doing business with us.
Story continues
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Amazon has struck a deal with Sony Pictures Television to take the exclusive broadcast rights to AMCs Preacher for the UK, Germany, Austria and Japan. The show, produced by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and showrunner Sam Catlin, will be available to Amazon Prime members a day after its U.S. launch on May 23, with subsequent episodes made available from June 6, only a day after they air in the U.S.
The show is based on Garth Ennis and Steve Dillons graphic novel and follows a West Texas preacher named Jesse Custer. Dominic Cooper (Warcraft) plays the lead character, who is inhabited by a mysterious entity that causes him to develop a highly unusual power.
Preacher is one of the most ambitious and highly-anticipated new series of the year, and exactly the kind of show we want to bring our Prime members around the world, said Brad Beale, vp of worldwide television acquisition for Amazon. Sitting alongside shows like The Man in the High Castle, Transparent, Mr Robot, Fear The Walking Dead and the upcoming Clarkson, Hammond and May show, The Grand Tour, Preacher is another great addition to our lineup and we think our customers are going to love it.
The show has also sold to Viaplay across the Nordics, OSN across the Middle East and D-Smart in Turkey.
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Dubai (AFP) - Amnesty International on Wednesday accused Yemeni rebels of carrying out a "brutal" campaign of arbitrary arrests and torture of opponents since they seized the capital Sanaa in 2014.
Shiite Huthi insurgents, who are backed by troops loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh, have "carried out a wave of arrests of... opponents, arbitrarily seizing critics at gunpoint and subjecting some to enforced disappearance," the rights watchdog said.
Amnesty, in a statement, said "a spree of arbitrary arrests, disappearances and torture by Huthi forces to persecute opponents" was part of a "chilling campaign to quash dissent".
Its report, named "Where is my father? Detention and disappearance in Huthi-controlled Yemen," was based on detailed examination of 60 cases of detention in Taez, Ibb and Hodeida, Amnesty said.
The warring parties at talks in Kuwait have discussed a deal to release half of the detainees and prisoners they hold before the start of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in early June.
But the deal was in jeopardy on Tuesday after Yemen's government suspended its participation in the peace talks, ongoing since almost a month.
The Iran-backed Shiite rebels overran Sanaa unopposed in September 2014 and went on to expand their control in the impoverished country, advancing to southern provinces.
"Huthi forces have presided over a brutal and deliberate campaign targeting their political opponents and other critics since December 2014," charged regional deputy director James Lynch.
"Enforced disappearance is an abhorrent crime and cannot be justified under any circumstances," he said.
Amnesty said that some detainees have been held for up to 17 months without being brought before a prosecutor or a judge.
It said the majority of those targeted are activists, journalists and figures affiliated to the Sunni Islamist party Islah (reform).
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A Saudi-led Arab coalition launched in March 2015 a military campaign against the rebels after they advanced on the refuge of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in Yemen's second city, Aden.
Loyalists have since managed to push rebels out of Aden and four other southern provinces, but the Huthis and their allies remain in control of Sanaa and the bulk of the north.
The conflict has left more than 6,400 people dead and 2.8 million displaced since March last year, according to the United Nations.
What Drove Eli Lilly's 1Q16 Revenue Growth?
(Continued from Prior Part)
Other developments
We discussed Eli Lillys (LLY) corporate developments and regulatory developments during 1Q16 in the last part of the series. In this article, well discuss other developments including clinical and business developments during 1Q16.
Clinical developments
The clinical developments during 1Q16 were:
Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca (AZN) announced that the Amaranth study will continue to phase three. The study involves AZD3293, an oral BACE inhibitor used to treat patients with early stages of Alzheimers disease.
Amendments for Expedition3 trials that evaluated solanezumab for the use in the treatment of mild Alzheimers disease were announced. As per the amendments, the study will include a single primary endpoint of cognition while the functional outcomes will be evaluated as secondary endpoints.
Two new clinical trials were announced for Jardiance, a diabetes drug, for the treatment of patients with chronic heart failure. The clinical trials will be in collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim.
Business developments
The business developments during 1Q16 were:
Elanco, the animal healthcare arm of Eli Lilly, received exclusive and global rights to develop and commercialize Aratanas (PETX) Gallipart, a drug for the treatment of osteoarthritis in dogs. For the US markets, Gallipart will be co-promoted by Aratana and Eli Lilly.
Graft-versus-host disease (or GVHD) is a rare disease where the patient receives bone marrow cells or tissues from the donor during an allogeneic bone marrow or stem cell transplant. In order to provide Incyte Pharmaceuticals (INCY) the rights to develop and commercialize the drug Jakafi for the treatment of GVHD, the company modified its existing agreements for baricitinib. However, Eli Lilly retained all rights to develop and commercialize baricitinib for the treatment of patients with GVHD.
Eli Lilly repurchased ~$300 million of its stock in 1Q16. $2.7 billion repurchases remain as per the $5 billion repurchase plan.
Story continues
Investors can consider ETFs like the Vanguard Healthcare ETF (VHT), which holds ~2.2% of its total assets in Eli Lilly, ~6.1% of its total assets in Pfizer (PFE), ~3.8% of its total assets in Amgen (AMGN), and ~3.1% of its total assets in AbbVie (ABBV). Investors can also consider the iShares Morningstar Large Value ETF (JKF), which holds ~1.7% of its total assets in Eli Lilly, in order to divest company-specific risk.
Continue to Next Part
Browse this series on Market Realist:
Google's annual developers conference is underway in California, and Google has just announced its biggest smartwatch update yet: here's Android Wear 2.0.
DONT MISS: Live coverage: Watch the Google I/O 2016 keynote right here
In Android Wear 2.0, Google is making several important smartwatch upgrades which should make your overall Wear experience even better.
The main feature of Android Wear 2.0 is support for standalone apps. That means the smartwatch doesnt need the smartphone to offer full functionality. Android Wear 2.0 watches will work with Android and iPhone, in case you want to pair them with Apples phone, but theyll work just fine without a companion phone.
Android Wear 2.0s improvements affect access to quick information and people, but also concerns health and fitness.
Googles David Singleton revealed that in Android Wear 2.0 youll be able to add data from any apps to any watch face, raising complications to a whole new level.
Google is also looking the redesign the messaging experience on Android Wear. Sadly, that involves adding a tiny keyboard that has Swipe-like features. Thats probably going to be one of the most annoying features of Android Wear 2.0.
Handwriting support is even sillier, but Android Wear 2.0 will support it. Youll probably be better off without it as well.
Things are looking much better when it comes to fitness. Android Wear 2.0 will be able to recognize automatically the type of exercise youre about to perform. Just start running, and the watch will keep track of your fitness.
Furthermore, third-party fitness app will be able to talk with Google Fit, if thats something you want to do.
Developers will have access to a preview of Android Wear 2.0 today while users will get their hands on the update later this fall, likely after Android N rolls out.
For more news and coverage from Google's developers event, check our Google I/O 2016 hub.
Related stories
Google unveils a new Virtual Reality platform called 'Daydream'
Story continues
Here's how to get the brand new Android N beta being released today
Google announces brand new features coming to Android N
More from BGR: Live coverage: Watch the Google I/O 2016 keynote right here
This article was originally published on BGR.com
By Amy Tennery
(Reuters) - Google's (GOOGL.O) Android ran afoul of social media users on Wednesday after encouraging people to nominate a word starting with the letter "N" for the latest version of its mobile operating platform.
An Android website asked for submissions for "any tasty ideas that start with the letter N" for its new "Android N" operating platform, which was unveiled at its Google I/O developers conference on Wednesday.
The backlash ranged from gentle ribbing to invocations of the term "the n-word," which is frequently used as a stand-in for an offensive racial slur.
"Google please do not ask the internet to send you n-words," tweeted Jon Hendren (@fart) a so-called "DevOps thought leader."
A representative for Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc, declined to comment.
"Android Nope #NameAndroidN," tweeted Schrodinger Cait (@stimpyjaycat).
"I think it's obvious how #nameandroidn can go terribly wrong lol," tweeted Tm (@skullisnull).
Gizmodo reported on Wednesday that the online anonymous message board 4chan was flooding the Android's name submission site with suggestions akin to an offensive epithet for black people.
Some social media users suggested "nachos," "Nutella" and "nectarine."
(Reporting By Amy Tennery; Editing by Toni Reinhold)
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
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fstory%2fthumbnail%2f9144%2fscreen_shot_2016-05-18_at_5.21.57_pm
If you've got an old, dead iPhone laying around, ever thought of just feeding it to the fishies?
That's what the people behind the YouTube channel How Ridiculous appear to have done, using the Apple device as a lure while fishing in Dunsborough, located in the south-west of Western Australia.
The video shows a salmon being caught with the aid of the iPhone, although it is something we're unable to verify independently. The area does get plenty of salmon around this time of year, however.
Brett Stanford from How Ridiculous told Mashable Australia via email that he was fishing for around 15 minutes before catching the fish, which was captured on camera.
"It took about two and a half minutes to get the fish in but I had to play it pretty safe as I didn't want to lose my lure," Stanford said, who mentioned that other lures didn't do the job that day.
"They often take lures, but on this particular day lots of lure types weren't working, which is what makes it even more amazing that the iPhone did work. Apple have obviously done something right," he said.
The fish weighed around five kilograms, and was released back into the ocean after its brief encounter with the gadget. Just madness.
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By Hugh Bronstein
BUENOS AIRES, May 18 (Reuters) - Argentine soy growers urged the country's government on Wednesday to strike a deal with Monsanto Co, a day after the U.S. seed company suspended the launch of a new variety of soybean seed that would help ensure the country's international competitiveness.
Virtually all the soy grown in the South American grains powerhouse is based on genetically modified (GMO) seeds. Since the start of harvest in March, Monsanto and the Argentine government have been at loggerheads over the best way to inspect soy cargoes to ensure royalties are paid on Monsanto's Intacta beans.
The government says Monsanto has yet to submit a proposal for an inspection system. The company says it is waiting for the government to outline its inspection requirements.
The conflict is playing out six months into the government of Mauricio Macri, who won the presidency on promises of freeing the economy from years of heavy-handed trade and currency controls.
The dispute escalated on Tuesday when Monsanto said it would not sell its newest soy technology, known as Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans, in Argentina, a move that could limit output of the country's main cash crop. Argentina is the world's No. 3 soybean exporter and No. 1 supplier of soymeal livestock feed.
"The government needs to strike a deal, because not having Xtend is going to be terrible for the country," said Ruben Sgalippa, owner of a family farm in the bread basket province of Buenos Aires. "If it costs a lot it costs a lot, but this kind of technology is what we need to keep innovating and growing."
Monsanto has agreements with export companies and other grains handlers to inspect export cargos.
But farmers and the government both object to private sector actors playing such an enforcement role.
"It will take more time to find a solution. Remember this is happening during a major transition in government," said Juan Casanas, a grower in Tucuman province and representative from the Macri-allied Radical party in the lower house of Congress. "It seems that Monsanto is trying to bully its way to a solution."
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A spokeswoman from the company declined to comment, but Brett Begemann, the company's president, said at BMO Capital Markets' Annual Farm to Market Conference in New York on Wednesday that company officials would "continue to work with" farmers and government officials in Argentina.
"If there's a country that does not want to pay for the IP [intellectual property], we're not going to take our technology there," he added.
Soy farming has spread rapidly across Argentina's Pampas agricultural belt over the last 20 years, thanks in large part to the country's embrace of genetically modified seeds. The technology makes soy plants resistant to glyphosate herbicide, which kills most of the weeds that grow in Argentina.
Monsanto's withdrawal leaves Argentine growers without the company's new "Xtend" technology, aimed at increasing soy yields and controlling glyphosate-resistant broad leaf weeds.
"There are other methods of killing broad leaf weeds, but they are more expensive, and that's what would put us at a disadvantage against soy farmers in countries that have Xtend," said Ricardo Bergman, who manages thousands of hectares of Buenos Aires farmland. "Competitiveness is about technology."
The onus is on both Monsanto and the government to come up with an inspection system, said another Buenos Aires farmer David Hughes. "It should be the government or an independent body rather than a private company. Not Monsanto or anyone else." (Reporting by Hugh Bronstein; additional reporting by P.J. Huffstutter in Chicago and Rod Nickel in New York; Editing by Christian Plumb and Diane Craft)
(Adds Thai project detail, dairy union comment)
By Olga Popova and Polina Devitt
BYKOVO, Russia, May 18 (Reuters) - Asian businesses plan to invest about $4 billion in milk and dairy production in Russia, helping Moscow to replace imports hit by trade sanctions on traditional suppliers.
Russia banned many Western food imports, including dairy, in 2014 in retaliation for sanctions over Ukraine, creating supply shortfalls and spurring investments in its agricultural sector.
Vietnamese dairy producer TH Group began building milk farms in the Moscow region on Wednesday as part of a $2.7 billion 10-year project.
The first stage, costing $500 million, will lead to the production of 800 tonnes a day of milk and other products that are expected to reach the Russian market next year, TH Group's chairman, Thai Huong, said at a ceremony marking the start of construction.
Separately, the state-backed Russia Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) on Wednesday signed an agreement with Thailand's Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group) and China's Banner Infant Dairy Products on joint investments in the construction of a $1 billion milk and dairy complex in the Ryazan region of Russia.
Its total annual production capacity will be 400,000 tonnes of milk, cheese and sour-milk products, RDIF said.
The complex will put CP Group among the top five dairy producers in Russia, Andrey Danilenko, Chairman of Russia's National Dairy Producers Union, told Reuters.
Together with the Vietnamese project, it will help to fill the gap left by banned EU dairy imports and ease dependence on Belarus, Uruguay, New Zealand and Argentina.
The biggest dairy producers in Russia are France's Danone and U.S. company PepsiCo Inc.
(Additional reporting by Oksana Kobzeva and Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Adrian Croft and David Goodman)
LONDON, May 18 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca's recently approved ovarian cancer drug Lynparza failed to increase overall survival significantly when given with chemotherapy to patients with gastric cancer in a late-stage trial, the drugmaker said on Wednesday.
The news is a setback for the British drugmaker, which reported positive results with an experimental acute asthma drug on Tuesday, although the result may have limited read-across for Lynparza in other cancer settings.
AstraZeneca said it was disappointed, but noted this particular trial was unusual in using a low dose and combining Lynparza with a standard chemotherapy.
The company has high hopes for Lynparza, which is central to its goal of building a portfolio of compounds targeting DNA damage response (DDR) mechanisms in cancer cells.
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Mark Potter)
Australia's immigration minister was accused of xenophobia Wednesday after he said increasing the nation's refugee intake would lead to "illiterate and innumerate" people claiming welfare or taking local jobs.
Peter Dutton was responding to proposals by the Labor opposition to boost Australia's annual refugee intake from 13,750 to 27,000 while the Greens want it raised to 50,000 as they outline policies ahead of national elections on July 2.
"For many people they won't be numerate or literate in their own language let alone English and this is a difficulty," Dutton told Sky News late Tuesday.
"Now, these people would be taking Australian jobs, there's no question about that.
"And for many of them they would be unemployed, they would languish in unemployment queues and on Medicare and the rest of it. So there would be a huge cost and there's no sense in sugarcoating that."
Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen, a former immigration minister, said the country had benefited hugely from the contribution of refugees over the years and criticised Dutton's comments.
"There are hundreds of thousands of refugees in Australia who've worked hard, who've educated themselves and their children and they will be shaking their heads at their minister today, in disgust frankly," he told reporters.
"If Peter Dutton owes anybody an apology it's not the Labor Party, it's them."
Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young went further, accusing Dutton of xenophobia.
"These are vile and nasty (comments) and what it does is it exposes the Liberal Party's current thinking on people who come to our country seeking protection," she said.
"Peter Dutton says people are either going to steal Australian jobs or be waiting in the dole queue. Which one is it? It is nasty and steeped purely in xenophobia."
But Dutton won support from Foreign Minister Julie Bishop who said he was only being realistic about the cost of resettling even more refugees.
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"Peter Dutton is pointing out the very real cost involved in issuing humanitarian and refugee visas," she said.
"Often the people who come to Australia on these visas are from very troubled backgrounds -- particularly from Afghanistan but also Pakistan and beyond -- and there is an extremely high cost involved in ensuring they be a contributing member of society.
"Let's have a reality check here."
While Canberra has a hard-line policy on asylum-seekers arriving by boat, sending them to Pacific island camps and refusing to settle them in Australia, it agreed last September to a special intake of an additional 12,000 refugees from the Syria-Iraq conflict.
It is also gradually lifting its annual refugee intake -- to 16,250 in 201718 and to 18,750 the following year.
By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's immigration minister brought border security and immigration to the center of the 2016 election campaign, warning that resettling "illiterate and innumerate" refugees would strain the social safety network and take Australian jobs. Border security and immigration are hot political issues in Australia that have swayed past elections and resulted in a bipartisan policy under which asylum seekers arriving by boat are sent to South Pacific island detention camps in tiny Nauru and Papua New Guinea and are deemed ineligible for resettlement. The number of refugees attempting to reach Australia pales in comparison to those flooding into Europe from the Middle East, and the United Nations has criticized its detention camps. The conservative government last year pledged to take 12,000 refugees from Syria on top of its 13,750 annual quota. The center-left opposition Labor Party says it will double the annual quota to 27,000 by 2025 if it wins elections on July 2. "They won't be numerate or literate in their own language, let alone English. These people would be taking Australian jobs, there's no question about that," Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said when asked about the proposed increase in the humanitarian intake quota. "For many of them that would be unemployed, they would languish in unemployment queues ... and the rest of it so there would be huge cost and there's no sense in sugar-coating that, that's the scenario," he told Sky News late on Tuesday. The comments drew sharp reactions from Labor and the small left-wing opposition Greens Party, which is arguing for the intake quota to be increased to 50,000 people. Labor leader Bill Shorten blasted Dutton and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for lowering the tone of the election. "Mr Dutton didn't just insult refugees when he made those comments. He insulted the millions of migrants who've contributed to making this a truly great country," Shorten told reporters. Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young called the comments "xenophobic" in a Twitter post. POLL HEADACHE FOR PM Labor says it will continue the government's immigration policy, but Turnbull is seeking to portray Labor as weak on border security. Behnam Satah, a 30-year-old asylum seeker detained on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, said many in the camp were well educated and would be a boon to the Australian economy. "If one day we go to Australia, history will prove this. And that day I will go to (Dutton) and say: 'what do you say now?'," said Satah, who was studying a Master's Degree in English Education before fleeing his native Iran. The Nauru and Manus Island camps have become a headache for Turnbull. In the past month, two asylum seekers have set themselves on fire in protest against their treatment on Nauru. One of them, an Iranian man, died. Papua New Guinea has also said it plans to close the Manus Island center after its Supreme Court ruled it unlawful, raising questions about where the refugees would be resettled. (Reporting by Matt Siegel; Editing by Michael Perry and Paul Tait)
* Return to operations expected to be gradual
* Next export cargoes not likely until June (Adds detail, background, prices)
By Henning Gloystein
SINGAPORE, May 18 (Reuters) - Chevron has begun to restart its Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Australia following an unplanned shutdown in April, the U.S. energy major said.
"We confirm start-up activities are underway on Gorgon train one with a plan to safely resume production in the coming weeks," a Chevron spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday.
The $54 billion Gorgon project shut down in April following technical problems, shortly after starting up first production.
Traders had thought the shutdown would help to support Asian LNG prices, but despite the loss of the expected new source of supply, spot cargo prices (LNG-AS) are still running at nearly 80 percent less than a peak hit in early 2014.
Sources said the facility's return to operation would be gradual, and that the next export cargo was still weeks away, possibly not until June or later.
Chevron had said on April 6, shortly after the facility was shut down, that a restart of the LNG export plant was expected within 30-60 days.
Gorgon's first cargo, shipped in March, was exported to Japanese utility Chubu Electric.
The Gorgon project on Barrow Island off the northwest coast of Western Australia is a joint venture involving the Australian subsidiaries of operator Chevron with 47.3 percent, ExxonMobil and Shell with 25 percent each, Osaka Gas at 1.25 percent, Tokyo Gas at 1 percent and Chubu Electric Power at less than 0.5 percent.
Gorgon will have the capacity to produce 15.6 million tonnes of LNG per year once all three production trains are operating.
Gorgon was initially expected to cost $37 billion and start exports in 2014, but delays and soaring costs pushed the start-date back and the price tag up.
Gorgon is part of a huge expansion in Australian LNG production which, together with emerging exports out of the United States, contributed to a fall in Asian spot LNG prices since February 2014 from more than $20 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) to below $5 per mmBtu.
(Reporting by Henning Gloystein; Editing by Tom Hogue)
(Repeats story published late Wednesday; no changes to text)
* Return to operations expected to be gradual
* Next export cargoes not likely until June
By Henning Gloystein
SINGAPORE, May 18 (Reuters) - Chevron has begun to restart its Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Australia following an unplanned shutdown in April, the U.S. energy major said.
"We confirm start-up activities are underway on Gorgon train one with a plan to safely resume production in the coming weeks," a Chevron spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday.
The $54 billion Gorgon project shut down in April following technical problems, shortly after starting up first production.
Traders had thought the shutdown would help to support Asian LNG prices, but despite the loss of the expected new source of supply, spot cargo prices (LNG-AS) are still running at nearly 80 percent less than a peak hit in early 2014.
Sources said the facility's return to operation would be gradual, and that the next export cargo was still weeks away, possibly not until June or later.
Chevron had said on April 6, shortly after the facility was shut down, that a restart of the LNG export plant was expected within 30-60 days.
Gorgon's first cargo, shipped in March, was exported to Japanese utility Chubu Electric.
The Gorgon project on Barrow Island off the northwest coast of Western Australia is a joint venture involving the Australian subsidiaries of operator Chevron with 47.3 percent, ExxonMobil and Shell with 25 percent each, Osaka Gas at 1.25 percent, Tokyo Gas at 1 percent and Chubu Electric Power at less than 0.5 percent.
Gorgon will have the capacity to produce 15.6 million tonnes of LNG per year once all three production trains are operating.
Gorgon was initially expected to cost $37 billion and start exports in 2014, but delays and soaring costs pushed the start-date back and the price tag up.
Gorgon is part of a huge expansion in Australian LNG production which, together with emerging exports out of the United States, contributed to a fall in Asian spot LNG prices since February 2014 from more than $20 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) to below $5 per mmBtu.
(Reporting by Henning Gloystein; Editing by Tom Hogue)
Vienna (AFP) - Austrian Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling said Wednesday an agreement in principle had been reached with the stricken Hypo bank's creditors that had threatened to bankrupt the state of Carinthia.
"We're drawing a definitive line under the Hypo affair" the minister told journalists, referring to state bank Hypo Group Alpe Adria (HGAA), which has saddled Carinthia with 11 billion euros in debt.
The deal will see creditors receive 75 percent of the face value of the HGAA bonds they own. They will be offered to buy that value of Austrian government bonds at 75 percent face value.
The proposal is better than the one creditors rejected in March as the Austrian government bonds mature in 13 instead of 18 years.
Schelling said an agreement in principle has been signed with a portion of creditors and compensation could be launched in September.
The creditors include Germany's Commerzbank and a Dexia unit, according to Bloomberg.
The saga is a legacy of late Austrian far-right political Joerg Haider, formerly premier of Carinthia, who died in 2008.
Under Haider, HGAA expanded into the Balkans as well as Italy and Germany via acquisitions and risky investments, expanding its balance sheet fourfold to some 40 billion euros.
Bavaria's state lender BayernLB bought a majority stake in 2007 in HGAA but two years later, as the global financial crisis raged, the bank came close to collapse and Austria nationalised it.
After a long and bitter dispute, Austria finally agreed last November to pay Bavaria 1.23 billion euros to put an end to the feud.
donald trump
Donald Trump has reached the phase of his campaign where he tries to solicit huge checks from Wall Street barons.
Coincidentally, Trump says that he will soon release a bank-regulation plan that will come "close to dismantling Dodd-Frank," the 2010 law that imposed new regulations and restrictions on banks. Dodd-Frank is, naturally, much disliked on Wall Street.
"Dodd-Frank has made it impossible for bankers to function," he told Reuters on Tuesday. "It makes it very hard for bankers to loan money for people to create jobs, for people with businesses to create jobs. And that has to stop."
Bankers should be wary before they decide to invest in Trump as a pro-bank candidate. As some of them know from lending money to him in the past, Donald Trump's ideas about keeping promises to bankers are situationally dependent.
Just two weeks ago, Trump was talking about how he's borrowed money in the past knowing that he'd be able to get banks to cut him a break if he had trouble repaying in full. As with those promises to repay loans, bankers should expect Trump's promise to be nice to them as president to depend on the circumstances.
Trump's specific offer about Dodd-Frank is actually pretty credible. If Trump is somehow elected note: very unlikely he will almost surely have a Republican majority in Congress. Republicans have long said that they want to repeal Dodd-Frank, and they'd probably send him a repeal bill. It would be awkward for him to do anything other than sign it.
Presidential discretion
But the broader implication that he'd take the reins off banks is a wild card. Dodd-Frank or no Dodd-Frank, decisions about bank regulation will be subject to great discretion by the president and his appointees at the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, and other regulators.
Story continues
How might a President Trump use and abuse that discretion? Well, consider how he's talked about other sectors of the economy.
Trump has threatened to use a much heavier hand in punishing companies that aren't acting in line with his policy priorities. He has attacked individual companies, like Ford and Carrier Corp., for relocating factories overseas, saying he'd slap a 40% tariff on Ford for making cars in Mexico.
When The Washington Post covered him in ways he disliked, he responded by threatening Amazon, whose founder, Jeff Bezos, owns The Post, over tax and antitrust issues. (Disclosure: Bezos is also an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company, Bezos Expeditions.)
Does anyone doubt that Trump would use the powers of the presidency to stick it to Wall Street banks if that became politically expedient whether or not they deserved it?
Hillary Clinton
Bank shareholders clearly believe that Dodd-Frank has eaten into profits, and they don't like it. They probably don't feel good about the rules they'd have to operate under with President Hillary Clinton.
But as with Ford, Carrier, and Amazon, a Trump presidency would likely mean doing business under an undefined and ever-changing set of rules that is subject to the president's whims. Who knows whether that would be more or less costly to bankers than the existing rules they don't like?
Bankers are supposed to be averse to risk. They should be pricing that risk into a model of a Trump presidency as they decide whether to invest in it.
NOW WATCH: Trump is fuming over this attack ad from a pro-Hillary super PAC
More From Business Insider
Barbra Streisand and Ronald Perelman, co-founders of the Women's Heart Alliance, have written an op-ed for The Hill urging the Senate to pass bipartisan legislation that would improve the analysis and reporting of sex and gender in medical research. The impassioned essay in the daily Washington, D.C. newspaper entitled "Sex and Gender Equity in Research Saves Money and Saves Lives," argues that because sex is a biological variable that makes a difference in a number of deadly diseases (including lung cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer's), now is the time to bring equity to medical research.
"Women's bodies are different than men's, which can result in health differences," the pair write. "Yet for too long, women have been absent from or overlooked in clinical studies. That's why, in 1990, Sen. Barbara Mikulski and a bipartisan group of female colleagues demanded the creation of the National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women's Health. The results have been tremendous, from significant reductions in the incidence of breast cancer to new guidelines for reducing stroke risks for women to more women in clinical trials than ever before."
Barbra Streisand Announces Movie Star Duets Album & 2016 Tour Dates
But, they say, inclusion isn't just about equal numbers, it is also about what researchers do with that data. "Time and funding spent on analyzing not one sex but two increases the value of our research investments, spurring innovation toward better diagnostics, treatments and cures. Conversely, when we fail to disaggregate, analyze and report data separately by sex, we're leaving critical knowledge on the table, and losing chances to save more lives."
They noted that in April 2014, sparked by a report from the Connors Center at the Brigham and Women's Institute and others, 10 members of Congress from both sides of the aisle asked the Government Accountability Office to examine progress on analyzing and reporting sex differences in NIH clinical trials. The report, which was released last October, showed that sex and gender imbalances persist, and that there is still work to do to improve reporting and analysis to ensure women are accurately represented.
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"Our nation can't afford not to make this a priority," they say. "The value proposition is clear. The personal toll of diseases like Alzheimer's, cancer and cardiovascular disease is incalculable, but the economic cost of missed research opportunities is apparent every day.
[[{"fid":"613234","view_mode":"media_original","type":"media","attributes":{"height":320,"width":640,"class":"media-element file-media-original"}}]]
"Consider heart disease, the No. 1 killer of women, killing more women than all cancers combined. If we can do more to prevent, treat and cure cardiovascular disease, more women will live longer, more families will stay together, more workers will stay productive, and we'll save money on treating a condition that costs the U.S. nearly a billion dollars a day.
"Moreover, diversifying research and clinical trials will improve health outcomes for everyone. Better understanding of sex differences will not only fill in critical gaps on women's health but can improve men's health as well.
"To give an example, looking at disease through the sex and gender lens has driven new insights regarding atrial fibrillation (AFib), a dangerous condition marked by an irregular heartbeat that can lead to stroke, blood clots, heart failure and other heart complications. For many years, research failed to find an association between physical activity and AFib. Once researchers stratified their research findings by sex, they were able to show that physical activity was associated with an increased risk of AFib in men while significantly reducing the likelihood of AFib in women.
Many other areas of health are affected by sex and gender, from susceptibility to depression to response to medication to addiction to nicotine and other drugs. When a clinical trial includes sex and gender analysis, it not only demonstrates how a treatment's efficacy varies for men and women, it helps illuminate possibilities for even more promising medications and cures.
"Last month, the U.S. Senate HELP Committee passed a series of biomedical innovation bills, which can be bundled into a companion to the House-passed 21st Century Cures Act. We applaud this bipartisan commitment to fighting disease and saving lives. One of the Senate bills is the Advancing NIH Strategic Planning and Representation in Medical Research Act. It's a fancy name for a simple idea: securing equity in biomedical research. Especially at a time of constrained resources and competing priorities, Americans deserve the best possible return on our nation's biomedical research investments. We urge the Congress to pass this legislation, for our health and for our future."
Click here for the full text of the op-ed.
Barcelona (AFP) - Barcelona blasted a Madrid-imposed ban on Catalan flags being flown at Sunday's Copa del Rey final as an attack on freedom of expression on Wednesday.
The final against Sevilla is being played at the Vicente Calderon, the home of Atletico Madrid, in the Spanish capital.
But the Community of Madrid authorities have told Barcelona that the Estelada independence flags cannot be flown.
"FC Barcelona expresses, in the most absolute terms, its total and complete disagreement with the announcement," said a statement released by the Spanish champions.
"FC Barcelona considers the decision to be an attack on the freedom of expression, the fundamental right of each and every individual to express their ideas and opinions freely and without censorship, a right which is recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."
The club called for an immediate rethink on the ban which is likely to be enforced by body searches of Barcelona fans at the stadium.
"FC Barcelona calls for the use of common sense and responsibility and demands the government representatives cooperation in creating the good atmosphere a match such as the Copa del Rey final deserves," said the statement.
"FC Barcelona also implores the representative (of the Spanish government) to respect the honour of the institutions involved in this final and to avoid causing any uncomfortable situations."
One of Spain's 17 semi-autonomous regions with its own language and customs, Catalonia enjoys a large degree of freedom in education, health and policing.
But fed up after years of demands for greater autonomy on the taxation front -- complaining it pays more to Madrid than it gets back -- the region has veered towards separatism.
Pedestrians will soon have more options in Barcelona.
Air pollution, noise, and pedestrian accidents plague Barcelona. Like many modern urban areas, the Spanish city has consistently failed to meet air quality standards set by the World Health Organization, and studies attribute more than 3,500 deaths per year in Barcelona to the citys polluted air. High noise levels from traffic and tourists, as well as scores of pedestrian injuries and deaths, have pushed city officials to create a bold plan they hope will set an example for the rest of the world.
Superblocks are at the core of the new plan, which was first outlined in a 102-page report in 2014. By limiting cars and buses to main thoroughfares in the city, urban planners are hoping to encourage people to walk and bicycle more than they do now. Barcelona will add 200 km (124 miles) of bike path to the citys current total of 100 km (62 miles), and will reroute busses so that all residents have a bus stop within 250 meters of their home.
More room for pedestrian activities. (Urban Mobility Plan of Barcelona PMU, 2013-2018)
Barcelonas Urban Mobility Plan will be implemented in phases, and starts by targeting the most congested neighborhoods. The Eixample neighborhood, which was built in the mid-1800s to relieve the density of the overcrowded Old City, will be the first to adopt superblocks, according to The Guardian. The neighborhood has only 1.85 square meters of green space per inhabitant, far below the WHOs suggestion of 9 square meters (97 square feet), while the rest of Barcelona has only 6.6 square meters (71 square feet) of green space per inhabitant, on average.
An aerial view of the Eixample neighborhood. (Alhzeiia/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0)
Eixample, which literally means expansion, is composed of distinctive octagonal blocks. Nine of these blocks, housing 5,000 to 6,000 people total, will make up one superblock in the citys new plan. The internal intersections, devoid of cars, will become municipal squares. Each superblock will contain 160 of these squares, which will add a lot of green space.
This plan sums up the essence of urban ecology, Janet Sanz, a city councillor for ecology, urbanism and mobility, told The Guardian. Public spaces need to be spaces to play, where green is not an anecdotewhere the neighborhoods history and local life have a presence.
Story continues
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Amgen's Valuation Drivers in 2016: The Inside Story
(Continued from Prior Part)
Migraine segment
In partnership with Novartis, Amgen (AMGN) is exploring an investigational drug that is a CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor) antibody, AMG 334, for the treatment of episodic and chronic migraine headaches. Currently in Phase 1 clinical trials, Amgen and Novartis are also exploring a PAC-1 receptor antibody, AMG 301, for preventing migraines.
With 26 million people in the US suffering from migraine headaches and 8 million10 million of them not dedicated to any one regimen, Amgen believes that there are substantial growth opportunities for its migraine drugs.
If approved by the regulatory authorities, AMG 334 is expected to prove tough competition to other migraine drugs such as Novartiss (NVS) Lopressor, Pfizers (PFE) Corgard, and GlaxoSmithKlines (GSK) Imigran. (For more on Amgens migraine research programs, please refer to Amgens Research Pipeline in Neuroscience and Inflammation.)
Episodic migraine
The above diagram shows the results obtained in the Phase 2 clinical trials of AMG 334, including testing efficacy and safety in patients suffering from episodic migraines. After administering a 70 mg dose to test subjects who suffered an average of eight migraine days per month, it was observed that more than 60% of the patients witnessed a 50% drop in the number of migraine days on a monthly basis over the course of one year. About 20% experienced no migraine days in the twelfth month of treatment. This clinically significant test result was further supported by the demonstrated safety profile of AMG 334, which was similar to that of placebo.
Data from Phase 3 clinical trials testing AMG 334 in episodic migraine patients is expected in 2H16. Amgen expects AMG 334 to have a strong position in the migraine market on account of its efficacy, safety, and convenient administration profile.
Chronic migraines
Amgen and Novartis also expect data from the Phase 2b trials testing AMG 334 in chronic migraine patients in mid-2016. If the results are positive, they will be used for expanding the approved indications of AMG 334.
Story continues
Notably, Amgen makes up 0.89% of the iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF (IVW).
Now lets analyze Amgens guidance for 2016.
Continue to Next Part
Browse this series on Market Realist:
It takes a long time to handcraft a high-end 1911 semi-automatic pistol. In the case of Cabot Guns Big Bang pistol set, it took 4 billion years. Thats how long the Gibeon meteorite was flying through spacean arduous journey that made the cosmic rock a challenging material from which to create a pair of handguns. In fact, these are the first mechanical devices made from a meteorite in the history of mankind.
Gibeon is the premium nonrusting meteorite, Cabot metallurgist Jay Morely tells Robb Report. But it was heat-treated by Godborn in enormous heat, frozen solid in space, heated again as it blasted into Earths atmosphere, and then cooled again. Its relatively soft and full of inclusions, bits of debris that hit the meteor at thousands of miles an hour millions of years ago.
In other words, creating a working mirror pistol set (left- and right-handed versions) from a chunk of the Gibeon meteorite was an enormous technical challengeone which Cabot Guns made after fitting meteorite grips to another standard 1911, despite the risk that the meteorite would crack or even explode during production. Cabots small, highly skilled team used X-rays, 3-D modeling, electron-beam welding, EDM wire cutting, and endless hours of expert care to fashion the first-ever meteorite firearms. Just to be sure, Cabot built a stainless-steel clone to test its production processes and to avoid costly, even irreversible mistakes.
Not to coin a phrase, says Rob Bianchin, founder and president of the Pennsylvania gun maker, but we were sweating bullets. That first cut, when we sliced the meteorite chunk in two, was really scary.
The only parts of the Big Bang pistol set that arent made of meteorite are the springs, sears, barrels, hammer strut, pins, screws, and slide rails. Everything elseslides, frames, triggers, magazine release, and gripsis pure Gibeon. Speaking of frightening, the guns first test firing was a bit daunting.
I shot one freehand, says Cabots head engineer Mike Hebor, who is right-handed. I held the gun with my left hand, with my right hand behind my backyou know, just in case.
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Its doubtful (but not impossible) that the guns eventual owner will use a Big Bang gun for self-defense or target shooting. An aspiring buyer offered Cabot $1 million for the one-of-a-kind pistol set, sight unseen. The eventual purchase price$4.5 million for the pairwould make them the most-expensive guns ever, if sold.
More than its rarity, the Big Bang pistol set is aesthetically astounding. Cabot acid-etched the meteor to bring out the Gibeons Widmanstatten crystalline patternfamed as the most desirable among iron meteorites. The company also left the meteors bark (outside surface) visible on strategic surfaces, such as the trigger and within the high-polish grips.
The Big Bang pistols are a never-to-be-repeated landmark achievement. In addition to their cosmic history, these firearms trace their roots to prehistoric times here on Earth: Ancient Africans used the Gibeon meteorite to create some of humanitys first weapons. Plus ca change. (cabotgun.com)
Robert Farago is the publisher of TheTruthAboutGuns.com.
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President Barack Obama was on to something last week when, at the Nordic Leaders Summit, he suggested that we just put all these small countries in charge for a while. He commended the Nordic nations for providing opportunity for all people, through education, health care, and equal opportunity--including for women. And a new ranking released Wednesday bears out that praise.
A report by job site Glassdoor and Llewellyn Consulting on 17 European countries and the United States ranked three Nordic nations--Sweden, Norway, and Finland--the best in terms of gender equality in the workplace. The study measures nations based on their female-to-male labor force participation, the share of managers who are women, and the gender gap in employment rates by education level, along with other factors.
Sweden, Norway, and Finland earned the accolade, in part, because they have nearly as many working women as working men, and women are well represented--relatively speaking, of course--in manager roles and on the boards of listed companies.
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Norway is the leader based on the share of board seats belonging to women--36%--which is likely due to the quota system it introduced in 2006. Finland and Sweden, along with France, recorded about 30% female representation on corporate boards. On the other end of the spectrum is Ireland, Portugal, and Greece, where the proportion is between 13% and 10%. In Estonia, women hold a measly 8% of board seats.
The reports most interesting stat, meanwhile, is the cost of motherhood in each country, which measures how the gender pay gap changes when childbirth is factored in.
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On that front, women in Ireland have it bad, with their pay gap worsening 31 percentage points if they have a child. The cost of having a kid is nearly negligible in Italy, Spain, and Belgium, where its 3 points or less.
While the United States lands near the middle of the pack for workplace gender equality when all factors are considered, its fifth-worst when it comes to the cost of motherhood. The Glassdoor report attributes the penalty placed on working moms to social and family structures and childcare costs that are high relative to earnings. That latter point has become a hot-button issue in the on-going race for the White House after Hillary Clinton made reducing childcare costs a hallmark of her campaign. Last week, she vowed to cap families' child care expenses to 10% of income. In most parts of the U.S., families spend more on childcare than they do on rent.
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CANNES Belgiums second biggest distributor, the 79-year old Belga Films, is getting ready to step into English-language production and exhibition.
Fabrice Delville, founder and managing director of Belga Production and Belga Productions, said the company is currently developing a roster of mainstream English-language movies and will deliver one to two pics per year. Although the films wont have to be creatively linked to Belgium, theyll either shoot or do post-prod there.
The strategic shift will complement Belgas distribution business and film financing. The company, which has outperformed Warner, Disney, Sony Pictures, Paramount and Universal for the last three years, is the Netherlands top distributor of indie movies. It has output deals with EuropaCorp and Lionsgate and releases about 20 films per year 90% of which are English-language fare, notably Paddington, 12 Years a Slave, The Hunger Games series and Sicario.
The outfit will also be launching a multiplex of eight screens in Bruxelles in October. The state-of-the-art multiplex will be housed in a commercial mall, said Delville.
The company is involved in line producing films through Belga Productions and securing their financing via its tax credit company Belga Films Fund which was created last year. The banner raised 6 million Euros in 2015 for five films including Ben Stassens Studiocanal-repped animated feature Son of Bigfoot and expects to double that amount next year.
Belga Productions for instance line produced Steven Quales The Lake produced by Luc Bessons EuropaCorp. The movie production spent 4 months in Belgium, shooting underwater in one of the worlds biggest lake, and did post-production work locally.
The Belgian tax shelter is one of Europes most attractive incentives. Open to all European films, the fund brings more than 40% net financing movies that are either produced in Belgium or do the post-production there.
Belgas distribution slate includes two Cannes pics: Sean Penns The Last Face and Shane Blacks The Nice Guys with Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling.
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By Philip Blenkinsop
ANTWERP (Reuters) - Mining group Anglo American has retained De Beers as a prize asset after a radical overhaul in the belief that surging Chinese and Indian demand for diamonds will outstrip dwindling supply even after a 2015 crunch.
The group, in which Anglo American has an 85 percent stake, has seen its market share fall from over 80 percent in the 1980s to about a third now, losing it control of supply and unleashing price volatility.
Its challenges are compounded by competition from synthetic diamonds and uncertain demand from customers in the "millennial" generation, aged roughly 18 to 34.
Anglo has cut the value of De Beers assets in its books each year since 2012, after it had paid $5.1 billion (3.4 billion pounds) for a 40 percent stake.
But it remains the largest diamond producer by value ahead of Russia's Alrosa, securing access to top mines through close ties to countries such as Namibia, with which signed a 10-year sales deal this week, and Botswana.
It repeatedly points to growing wealth in China and India drawing in ever more consumers while output gradually declines from 2020.
This is the basis of Anglo American's case for retaining De Beers in a drastic overhaul. Bernstein Securities analyst Paul Gait says Anglo is seeking to make itself attractive to a buyer, although De Beers' ties with states and and joint ventures could make any sale complex.
"Most mining companies like diamonds," he said. "The basic reason why they've not been able to get bigger diamond positions speaks to the fundamental attractiveness of the industry."
SPECIAL "SIGHT" SALES
Anglo has steadily increased its disclosures on De Beers since its consolidation in 2012, with earlier annual report entries giving a broad overview of the business while the 2015 report offers greater detail on financials and its performance in different countries. It also now publishes the results of its periodic diamond sales.
Even so, diamonds are not traded on an open exchange and are vulnerable to consumer whim.
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De Beers offers boxes of rough, or unpolished, diamonds to around 80 selected "sightholders" at sales known as "sights" -- but that cosy relationship loosened last year.
Global demand for diamond jewellery hit a high of $81 billion in 2014, but production jumped too, leaving the market flooded by 2015 just as Chinese retailers, such as Chow Tai Fook, stopped expanding.
"Sightholders couldn't make a profit and they gradually started refusing," said Christopher Germerchak, editor of The Diamond Loupe in Antwerp, where largely Jewish and Indian dealers clustered on three traffic-free streets represent the heart of the global diamond trade.
SYNTHETICS UNDERMINE
De Beers sees subdued prices in 2016, but production is likely to peak in 2017 after two Canadian mines come on stream.
However, diamonds are only scarce if you ignore laboratory-grown stones. Used largely in cutting tools, their share of diamond gem sales, though just 2-3 percent now, is growing.
"Producers can say a million times that it's not the same thing. That may have been so before, but it's not true any more. It's a diamond, full stop," said Chaim Even-Zohar, editor of Diamond Intelligence, who believes synthetics will erode the power of producers.
Lab-grown diamonds, such as those made by California's Diamond Foundry with Leonardo Di Caprio as a backer, typically trade at a modest discount to natural stones.
De Beers head of strategy, Gareth Mostyn, told Reuters De Beers was not ignoring the competition from synthetics but was clear on consumer preferences.
"If they have a choice between a diamond that was created three billion years ago by nature and one grown in a factory last week, customers want the real thing," he said.
75 MILLION NEW INDIAN BUYERS
De Beers says some 75 million new Indian households will see their incomes rise to $5,000-$6,000 per year in the next decade, a level at which they may start buying diamonds.
However, it needs to persuade them and younger "millennial" shoppers in the United States, the largest market, to buy.
De Beers used to pump $150-$200 million a year into generic diamond marketing, telling consumers a diamond was forever and making them the must-have gem for engagements.
"The diamond sector cannot take the demand curve for granted," said Anish Aggarwal, partner at consultancy Gemdax. Diamonds "are competing with holidays, gadgets, handbags, even cars" to tap the spending power of the millenials.
Aggarwal said seven major producers banded together a year ago to promote natural stones. With an initial $6 million budget, it plans to target the 'millenials' in Las Vegas next month.
Investec analyst Marc Elliott says diamond demand will logically grow as a late in the development cycle of economies such as China and India.
"Synthetics have a role to play... If they grow consumption in diamonds anywhere near what they did in other commodities, there won't be nearly enough diamonds from the ground to support that demand."
(Additional reporting by Barbara Lewis; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
Washington (AFP) - Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos fired back Wednesday at Donald Trump, calling the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's barbs at him not "appropriate."
Bezos, appearing at a Washington Post question-and-answer session, responded to a series of critical remarks by Trump, ranging from Amazon's taxes to the Post's reporting on the candidate.
Bezos said it was proper for the newspaper to carry out its role of investigating presidential candidates.
"We want a society where any of us ... can scrutinize, examine and criticize an elected official, especially a candidate for president of the most powerful country on earth," Bezos said at the forum under questioning by Post executive editor Martin Baron.
"What would be shocking and disturbing if you were not doing that ... the Post has a long tradition of examining presidential candidates and there's no way that's going to change."
Baron asked about comments made by Trump that Amazon was avoiding taxes, suggesting the online giant could have "problems" if he were elected and that Bezos had bought the Post as a tax dodge.
"My view is that's not an appropriate way for a presidential candidate to behave," Bezos said.
Asked about the specifics of Amazon's business practices, he said, "I'm very, very comfortable with all of Amazon's approaches and behaviors."
The comments came after a series of comments and tweetstorms by Trump targeting Bezos and Amazon starting last year.
Trump had argued that the online retailer was not paying its fair share of taxes, that Bezos had bought the Post as a "tax shelter" and to keep politicians from raising taxes on Amazon.
Bezos, who also owns the private space firm Blue Origin, tweeted in December that he would "still reserve him (Trump) a seat on the Blue Origin rocket."
GENEVA, May 18 (Reuters) - The "Oppenheimer Blue", the largest and finest fancy vivid blue diamond ever offered at auction, sold for a world record 56.837 million Swiss francs ($57.6 million) on Wednesday after dramatic see-saw bidding, Christie's said.
"It's the most expensive jewel ever sold at auction," Christie's spokeswoman Alexandra Kindermann told Reuters.
The rare rectangular-cut stone, which weighs 14.62 carats, previously belonged to Sir Philip Oppenheimer, who controlled the Diamond Syndicate in London. It had a pre-sale estimate of $38 million-$45 million.
The packed Geneva saleroom broke into applause as Rahul Kadakia, Christie's International Head of Jewellery, brought down the hammer after two phone bidders ended a 20-minute battle for the gem. The buyer's identity was not immediately known. ($1 = 0.9866 Swiss francs) (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The "Oppenheimer Blue", a large and rare diamond, sold for 56.837 million Swiss francs ($57.6 million) at auction on Wednesday, setting a world record for any gem after a dramatic see-saw bidding process, Christie's in Geneva said. "It's the most expensive jewel ever sold at auction," Christie's spokeswoman Alexandra Kindermann told Reuters. The previous record was held by the "Blue Moon Diamond", sold at rival Sotheby's for $48.6 million last November. The new Hong Kong owner renamed that stone the "Blue Moon Josephine". The Oppenheimer, the largest fancy vivid blue diamond ever offered at auction, is a rectangular diamond weighing 14.62 carats that previously belonged to Sir Philip Oppenheimer, who controlled the Diamond Syndicate in London. It had a pre-sale estimate of $38 million-$45 million. The packed Geneva saleroom broke into applause as Rahul Kadakia, Christie's International Head of Jewellery, brought down the hammer after two phone bidders ended a 20-minute battle. The buyer's identity was not immediately known. Bidding opened at 30 million Swiss francs for the blue diamond, the top lot at the half-yearly sale, and amid the long pauses between telephone bids, Kadakia quipped: "These stones come along once in a lifetime. We have to wait." "As head of the London-based Central Selling Organization for 45 years and serving as Chairman for the Diamond Trading Company branch, Sir Philip oversaw a diamond sales cartel set up by De Beers to keep strict control over the diamond supply worldwide," the Christie's catalog said. "Oriental Sunrise", a pair of orange-yellow diamond drop earrings sold for 11.36 million Swiss francs ($11.52 million), a spokeswoman said. At Sotheby's on Tuesday, a rare pear-shaped vivid pink diamond fetched 30.8 million Swiss francs, purchased by a private Asian collector. Christie's sale netted a total of 146.8 million Swiss francs ($148.69 million), falling short of Sotheby's $175.2 million. "Two days of highly successful auctions that momentarily made us forget about a quiet market with their good results, even very good," Eric Valdieu, a Geneva-based jewelry dealer formerly with Christie's, told Reuters. "Geneva auctions have reached new heights in total value, it's unheard of," he added. Christie's is owned by French retail magnate Francois Pinault's holding company Artemis SA. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Alan Crosby)
DUBAI (Reuters) - Blumberg Grain is looking to sign a deal within the coming weeks with Algeria's state grain agency OAIC to build high-tech wheat silos that can store up to 1 million tonnes of the grain. "We are looking to sign something within the next few weeks, before the start of Ramadan," David Blumberg, CEO of Blumberg Grain Middle East and North Africa, told Reuters on the sidelines of the Global Grain conference in Dubai. The new storage facilities would help to lower post-harvest losses, that waste around 20 percent of Algeria's local wheat. Blumberg Grain has finished building silos to store over 770,000 tonnes of wheat in neighbouring Egypt and is awaiting the award of a second phase of that project which will allow it to handle that country's entire crop by 2018. "The design in Algeria will be different from the ones in Egypt as in Egypt they don't have the capability to transport wheat in bulk," Blumberg said. "We are still working through the details of the project in terms of actual contracting negotations but we have come up with a joint proposal on the subject to establish 200 units across the country to store 1 million metric tonnes," he said. Algeria has more than 400 sites for locally harvested crop but they are open air pits and sheds which provide for poor quality storage. (Reporting by Maha El Dahan, editing by Louise Heavens)
By Maha El Dahan DUBAI (Reuters) - Blumberg Grain is looking to sign a deal within the coming weeks with Algeria's state grain agency OAIC to build high-tech wheat silos that can store up to 1 million tonnes of the grain. "We are looking to sign something within the next few weeks, before the start of Ramadan," David Blumberg, CEO of Blumberg Grain Middle East and North Africa, told Reuters on the sidelines of the Global Grain conference in Dubai. The new storage facilities would help to lower post-harvest losses, that waste around 20 percent of Algeria's local wheat. Blumberg Grain has finished building silos to store over 770,000 tonnes of wheat in neighbouring Egypt and is awaiting the award of a second phase of that project which will allow it to handle that country's entire crop by 2018. "The design in Algeria will be different from the ones in Egypt as in Egypt they don't have the capability to transport wheat in bulk," Blumberg said. "We are still working through the details of the project in terms of actual contracting negotiations but we have come up with a joint proposal on the subject to establish 200 units across the country to store 1 million metric tonnes," he said. Algeria has more than 400 sites for locally harvested crop but they are open air pits and sheds which provide for poor quality storage. The government currently has around 2 million tonnes of local wheat storage capacity. Blumberg Grain has been meeting with the Algerian government in the past months to discuss and design the project. "The prime minister has stood by his word to rapidly advance the discussions on this project so that we may get underway quickly," Blumberg said. The Algerian silos project comes at a time when Blumberg Grain is "imminently going to decide where we are locating our hub and headquarters for the Middle East and Africa," he said. (Reporting by Maha El Dahan, editing by Louise Heavens and David Evans)
Cannes (France) (AFP) - The Brazilian director of the movie "Aquarius", in competition at Cannes, hit out at his country's new leaders Wednesday for "extinguishing" the culture ministry and for their stance on women.
Kleber Mendonca Filho said the political turmoil which had led to ousting of Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff had caused a "dramatic divide" in the country.
"It is terrible -- it is bringing out the worst on both sides and particularly from the right, with notions of fascism, people in congress saying that women shouldn't work because they get pregnant and shocking ideas like that," he said.
Brazilian interim president Michel Temer angered many by appointing an all-white, all-male government last week.
Filho also slammed Temer's move to merge the education and culture ministries, which has stirred anger among artists in Brazil.
"It's the wrong month to extinguish the ministry of culture because a film made with public funds -- with very honest funds -- is representing Brazil at the Cannes film festival in competition."
Temer, 75, has inherited a country stuck in its deepest recession in decades and has resorted to stiff measures to cut costs.
He cut the cabinet to 23 ministers from 32 and has promised to slash 5,000 civil service jobs.
"This coup is setting us years back," said renowned Brazilian filmmaker Rui Guerra, 84, at a protest in Brazil this week against the merging of the ministries.
The anger of Brazilian artists at the ousting of Rousseff was laid out on the red carpet for all to see at the Cannes premiere of "Aquarius" when the stars staged a protest.
The actors held up sheets of paper with the slogans "Stop the coup in Brazil" and "Brazil is not a democracy anymore" after turning to face photographers before the premiere of "Aquarius".
One opened his tuxedo shirt to reveal a T-shirt showing an image of "Super Dilma".
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Rousseff tweeted to the cast after their protest, saying "Thank you for your support!"
Filho told a press conference that the idea for the protest had come from a large group of Brazilian filmmakers and producers who were present at the world's top film festival.
"It was basically to let people know that yeah, there is something going on in Brazil right now and the narrative that comes from Brazilian media is completely biased," said Filho.
"Cannes has many cameras and powerful long lenses and it worked beautifully."
The film's lead actress, "Kiss of the Spider Woman" star Sonia Braga, said: "It is very important also to understand that Brazil is divided now, and this hadn't happened since" the end of the country's dictatorship in 1985.
"Aquarius", which has been well-received by critics, is one of 21 films in the running for the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
Brasilia (AFP) - The foreign minister for Brazil's new government following the suspension of president Dilma Rousseff said Wednesday that Brasilia will now pursue economic interests over leftist ideological goals.
Jose Serra, nominated by acting president Michel Temer in the wake of Rousseff's suspension for an impeachment trial, signalled that Brazil would no longer be part of the loose leftist alliance that exists across several Latin American countries.
"Diplomacy will return to transparently and firmly reflecting the legitimate values of Brazilian society and the interests of its economy, serving Brazil as a whole and no longer the ... ideological preferences of a political party and its foreign allies," he said.
Serra last week confronted the governments of Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela, which had denounced Temer's takeover as a coup against Rousseff.
Serra said Wednesday that Brazil would play "a pioneering role" in climate change policies, underlining the country's role as guardian of most of the Amazon rain forest and some of the world's biggest supplies of fresh water.
Rousseff was forced aside by the Senate May 12 to face trial on charges of illegally manipulating government accounts. She will be removed from power if the Senate trial ends with a two-thirds majority vote against her.
Her suspension ends 13 straight years of rule by the leftist Workers' Party. Temer, a market-oriented centrist, is from the center-right PMDB party.
London (AFP) - A British vote to leave the European Union in next month's referendum would put almost A1 billion in EU research funds to Britain at risk, a new study warned Wednesday.
Competitive research funding from the EU and European Research Council to Britain amounted to A967 million (1.24 billion euros, $1.39 billion) in 2015, according to research company Digital Science.
Britain is the second largest recipient of EU research funds after Germany, receiving A8.04 billion in the past decade compared to A8.34 billion for Germany.
This represents 7.4 percent of Britain's net contribution to the EU budget over the same period.
The report authors said the extent of EU funds concealed the fact that, despite its world-class reputation, Britain does not invest as much in research as other competitors.
Germany spent 2.85 percent of GDP on research in 2013, according to the latest figures from the World Bank, while Britain spent just 1.63 percent.
"EU funds have been used to prop up and cover systemic issues with how we chose to fund research in the UK both at a governmental and corporate level," said Daniel Hook, managing director of Digital Science.
"Brexit, and the loss of EU funding for the UK's research base, represents a number of severe threats to leading British success stories in the research sector, unless the UK government makes up the shortfall."
The study added that 41 percent of public funding over the past ten years for cancer research came from the EU, although this excludes contributions from major charitable sponsors the Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research UK.
Some 67 percent of funding for evolutionary biology over the past decade came from the EU, and 62 percent of nanotechnology funding.
British businesses have also benefited, including Rolls-Royce, which received A51 million from the EU between 2006 and 2015, or 12.9 percent of its total British and EU government funding.
Britons vote on June 23 on whether to stay in or leave the European Union. Opinion polls suggest the Remain camp, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, has a slight lead.
Award-winning songwriters and musicians are calling for music licensing reform in light of the digital streaming landscape in Washington, D.C.
Steven Tyler Pens Copyright Op-Ed: 'We Need Change'
"Copyright is starting to mean nothing," songwriter MoZella, who co-wrote Miley Cyrus' Number One hit "Wrecking Ball," tells Rolling Stone. "We've had over 250 million streams of 'Wrecking Ball' on Pandora, and I made about $3,000 on my writers' share. The industry can't survive if the hit writers are each making about $10,000 after taxes from all the big streaming services online combined. This is serious."
The American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers (ASCAP) is presenting a 575,000-signature petition urging policymakers to update WWII-era federal laws that regulate how songwriters license their works. Some of the petition's signatories include Pat Benatar, Nate Ruess of Fun. and Omi, best known for his hit "Cheerleader."
"We're asking policymakers to stand with songwriters at a time when our future livelihoods and the future of American music are both in jeopardy," ASCAP President and Chairman Paul Williams said in a statement. "Streaming has vastly changed music listening habits but licensing laws haven't kept up with the way people consume music today, so songwriters are struggling."
MoZella is joined by Brian McKnight, Monica, Desmond Child (Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Kiss), Brett James (Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride), Priscilla Renea (Nick Jonas, Demi Lovato), Needlz (Bruno Mars, The Lonely Island), Savan Kotecha (Madonna, Ariana Grande, One Direction) and others today in D.C.
"My 'a-ha' moment was when I was told how many times my music is streamed per month and then consequently how much actual revenue I was actually receiving," McKnight tells Rolling Stone.
Legendary hit songwriter Desmond Child echoed McKnight's sentiment: "Even though our music is being played more and more, it seems to be valued less and less by the companies that use it," he tells Rolling Stone. "The laws that govern how songwriters license our work were written long before the Internet or iPhones or streaming even existed."
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To address Desmond's point about songwriters facing antiquated U.S. law, ASCAP released a PSA-style video featuring its songwriter members highlighting the ways American culture has changed including the invention of Frosted Flakes and the introduction of Hawaii as the 50th state since the licensing laws went into affect in 1941.
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LONDON (Reuters) - It will be up to British voters on June 23 to decide whether the country stays in the European Union, but international bodies and foreign leaders have joined the debate, mostly to urge the country not to the leave the bloc. Below is a summary of comments ranging from institutions such as the International Monetary Fund to China's premier. U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA Obama told Britain on April 22 that it would go to "the back of the queue" for trade talks with Washington if it left the EU. He combined the blunt warning with praise for Britain's influence within the 28-nation bloc, something Washington considered important to its own interests. U.S. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton also wants Britain to stay in the EU. U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE DONALD TRUMP Trump said on May 5 that Britain would be better off outside the EU because of high levels of migration. "I think the migration has been a horrible thing for Europe. A lot of that was pushed by the EU. I would say that they're better off without it personally, but I'm not making that as a recommendation - just my feeling," he told Fox News. On May 15 he said Britain would not be at the back of the queue for trade deals if he becomes president. RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN'S SPOKESMAN The Kremlin said on May 18 that Putin was being dragged into Britain's EU debate to score points. "We are used to the Russian factor being one of the regular tools used in the U.S. electoral campaign, but for us it's a new thing that the Russian factor or President Putin is being used in the Brexit debate," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Several British politicians campaigning for Britain to remain in the EU, including Prime Minister David Cameron, have suggested that Putin would favour a Brexit. Putin has not made his views on the issue public. JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER SHINZO ABE Abe used a visit to London on May 5 to warn Britain that a vote to leave the EU would make Britain less attractive for Japanese investors. "Japan very clearly would prefer Britain to remain within the EU," he said "Many Japanese companies set up their operations in the UK precisely because the UK is a gateway to the EU ... A vote to leave would make the UK less attractive as a destination for Japanese investment." GERMAN FINANCE MINISTER WOLFGANG SCHAEUBLE Schaeuble said on March 3 it would be extremely difficult or even impossible for Britain to negotiate a "special deal" on trade with the EU if it left the bloc. "Imagine the negotiations that would have to take place after a Brexit decision. For the years to come all this bureaucratic stuff. Good luck!" he said. FRENCH FINANCE MINISTER MICHEL SAPIN London's status as a global financial centre would probably be affected to some extent if Britain votes to leave the European Union, Sapin said on May 12. "The City is a considerable financial force and I don't think that (Brexit) would transform all the elements that constitute its strength," Sapin said through a translator during a visit to London. "But I don't think that it would be without effects which would have to be seen." IMF MANAGING DIRECTOR CHRISTINE LAGARDE International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said on May 13 there were no economic positives to Britain leaving the European Union and that the impact would range from "pretty bad to very, very bad". The fund said an exit vote would "precipitate a protracted period of heightened uncertainty, leading to financial market volatility and a hit to output." The global economy watchdog had earlier made an unusual incursion into a national political issue on April 12 when it said a Brexit could "do severe regional and global damage by disrupting established trading relationships." ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT The OECD said Britons would face a "Brexit tax" if they left the EU, equivalent to a month's salary by 2020, given the likely hit to the economy. Its secretary general urged Britons to think carefully about how they would fare outside the 28-country bloc. "Britain, look at yourself in the mirror, naked. Do you like what you see? Mostly I hope you come out saying: not too much," Angel Gurria said. EU ECONOMICS COMMISSIONER PIERRE MOSCOVICI Britain leaving the EU would amount to a "lose-lose" situation, Moscovici said on May 8. "I wish passionately for Great Britain to remain in the European Union," he told France's BFM TV. "I think it would be lose-lose, a loss for them and a loss for us, if Britain left." CHINESE PREMIER XI JINPING China, which is sensitive to comments from abroad and usually does not talk about other countries' domestic affairs, issued a veiled call on Britain to stay in the EU when its leader Xi Jinping visited the country in October. "China hopes to see a prosperous Europe and a united EU, and hopes Britain, as an important member of the EU, can play an even more positive and constructive role in promoting the deepening development of China-EU ties," he said. COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT JUAN MANUEL SANTOS Santos said on May 11 it would be a "big mistake" for Britain to leave. "I lived here for 10 years. I consider London my second home and from my personal point of view, it would be a very big mistake to leave the European Union," he said at a meeting with investors in London. DALLAS FEDERAL RESERVE PRESIDENT ROBERT KAPLAN Kaplan told reporters in London that uncertainty about Brexit could affect whether the Fed raised rates for the first time since December at its June 15 meeting. He said: "There is no question that if it were to occur, it would open up potential tail risk, including the sudden or rapid depreciation of the currency which might in fact have ripple effects in other countries." GROUP OF 20 ECONOMIES Finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 of the world's leading economies put Brexit on their list of dangers to the world economy when they met in February. G20 officials said Brexit was added on the insistence of Britain. (Writing by William Schomberg and David Milliken; editing by Estelle Shirbon and Guy Faulconbridge)
A subsidiary of Brown & Brown BRO, Brown & Brown Wholesale, has entered into an agreement to purchase all operating assets of Morstan General Agency.
Founded in 1964, Morstan is a wholesale MGA/NGU which offers various products in commercial lines, personal lines, employee benefits and life insurance products. The company is headquartered in Manhasset, NY and has offices in New York City, New Jersey, and Florida. The company reported total revenue of approximately $34 million in 2015. Post acquisition, the new profit center will retain the Morstan name and operate from its headquarters in Manhasset.
Morstan has been instrumental in enhancing value for its strategic partners through innovative insurance solutions, while maintaining a strong relationship with carriers and retain agents. This has been a key driver of the companys successful performance. This deal will give Morstan the opportunity to function from a much larger platform given Brown & Browns position as the sixth largest independent insurance intermediary in the U.S.
Brown & Brown, along with its subsidiaries, has been making numerous strategic acquisitions to boost inorganic growth. This Feburary, The Advocator Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Brown & Brown, acquired almost all equity interests of Social Security Advocates for the Disabled. This is the fourth acquisition by the company in 2016 and first one in the second quarter. Its strategic buyouts are well supported by a strong liquidity position.
Companies in the insurance sector have been actively pursuing acquisitions for inorganic growth. Recently Arthur J. Gallagher AJG acquired Hogan Insurance Services, Inc. to boost its Western Region brokerage operations.
Currently the insurance broker carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the industry are Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd. SSREY and FBL Financial Group FFG. Both these stocks hold a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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Four minutes into All the Way, the actor Bryan Cranston, playing Lyndon B. Johnson, walks into the Oval Office. The camera cuts back and forth between the 36th presidents point of view and a tight shot of his face as he slowly moves through the room, which is filled with the belongings of the recently dead John F. Kennedy. Its Johnsons first time entering the room as president. The scene is silent. For a full minute, its just Cranston, a camera, and some music. Its a powerful moment, one that wasnt in the Broadway version of All the Way, which also starred Cranston, and was, like the HBO original movie premiering May 21, written by Robert Schenkkan.
Youd have a hard time making that work onstage, says Schenkkan. Its a film moment. Thats what I looked to create.
The Oval Office scene notwithstanding, turning All the Way from a Tony Award-winning play into a movie involved more trims than additions. The play is nearly three hours long, while the movie is a tighter two hours and 10 minutes. But the film is no condensed-soup version of the play. In style and structure, HBOs All the Way is every ounce a movie.
Reworked for the screen, All the Way serves the same two essential functions the play did it turns the mid-1960s into a prismatic mirror of our current moment in history, and it gives Bryan Cranston a vehicle to show, once again, why he holds the belt for most surprising actor on television. As if he needed one.
Schenkkan and the films director, Jay Roach, are both, like Johnson, native Texans. They are also both deep political nerds whove donated big chunks of their careers to earning their bona fides in that department. Cranston is neither. He was still in grade school when Johnsons greatest achievements the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act and the Great Society legislation became reality. Cranston was not yet a teenager when Johnson exited office through the fog of the Vietnam War.
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All the Way came to Cranston in the mundane way that most material comes to actors: his agents sent it to him. He was shooting the penultimate season of Breaking Bad when he first read it.
Peter Bohler for Variety
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival premiered the play in 2012 after commissioning it from Schenkkan, and the producers were on the hunt for a Hollywood star to carry the play through out-of-town tryouts in Boston, then on to New York. Cranston was on the hunt for stage work.
The Boston production began previews two weeks before the Breaking Bad series finale aired, and sold out before Cranston ever stepped on stage as Johnson.
Sometimes you just get really lucky, Schenkkan says. I dont think any of us, including Bryan, honestly, had any idea really how much the ending of Breaking Bad what a media event that was going to be.
The show catapulted Cranston from sitcom dad on Malcolm in the Middle to the most decorated TV actor of his moment, earning four Emmy Awards for lead actor in a drama. The finale drew 10.3 million people in Nielsen overnight ratings making it the third most-watched end to a cable series ever, behind only The Sopranos and Sex and the City.
But lucky wasnt what Cranston felt as All the Way began to take shape in Boston. I got scared, he says. I started to panic. I didnt look at the lines or start memorizing before I got to Boston.
He had become myopically focused on researching Johnson reading books about him, visiting his presidential library in Austin, talking with people who had known him. Meanwhile, hed neglected the script. At the start of four weeks of rehearsal, he hadnt memorized one line.
Cranston had last been onstage in 2006, in Sam Shepards The God of Hell with Jason Alexander. He was accustomed to the stop-start nature of TV production, where if you forget a line, the world does not spin off its axis.
One week into rehearsal on All the Way, he met with Schenkkan and the plays director, Bill Rauch.
I said, I feel like Im underwater here, he recalls. They said, What are you talking about? And I said, Were now starting week two, second act. I dont remember the first act. And Bill, to his credit, supported by Robert, said, Just trust the process. The brain opens up, you feed it, you rest.
Cranston did as he was told. He ate meals with the script in hand, ran lines during pauses in rehearsal. The only scheduled breaks from the script he gave himself were to shower, to run every other day, and to watch Breaking Bad on Sunday nights.
We watched each episode during that month, and the rest of the time I was just running lines, he says.
The process worked. Cranston went on to win a Tony for All the Way. When the play opened on Broadway in March 2014, Schenkkan sat in the audience with Nancy Pelosi behind him and Steven Spielberg in front of him.
Schenkkan had worked with Spielberg on The Pacific for HBO, and it was through Spielbergs Amblin Television that All the Way made it to the network.
Steven was just coming off Lincoln when he first read All the Way, says Justin Falvey, who, with Darryl Frank, heads Amblin Television. It was very clear that this was very easily adaptable, and would make for a remarkable film. Like Lincoln, All the Way focuses on a president trying to work all the levers at his disposal to get what he wants.
Roachs film version of All the Way arrives just five months before the next presidential election. Len Amato, president of HBO Films, insists that the timing is a coincidence. Its really hard to make movies and predict when a film is going to successfully come together, he says.
It would have been even harder to predict the nature of the current presidential election. Donald Trumps ascendance and the civil war it has set off in the Republican Party provide an uncanny backdrop for All the Way, which takes place between Kennedys assassination in 1963 and Johnsons victory in the presidential election the following year.
To secure the Democratic nomination, Johnson had to overcome a challenge from George Wallace, the populist Alabama governor whose campaign was driven by large rallies and a pro-segregation, anti-Washington message designed to whip working-class, white voters into a frenzy. In the play, Wallace is one of a fleet of characters. He is seen delivering speeches and even speaking with Johnson. In the film, he becomes a specter, often talked about in fearful tones but rarely seen. When he is shown, its in vintage footage of his campaign events that Johnson watches on TV. The effect is that Wallace becomes a dreaded force, a manifestation of everything Johnson is trying to claim victory over by passing the Civil Rights Act.
Wallace calls Trump to mind.
It was truly Ali-Frazier. Every time I finished
a scene, I wanted to shake his hand.
Anthony Mackie
We knew going in that I was going to have to reduce the story, Schenkkan says. Transforming Wallace from flesh-and-blood to a broadcast image helped accomplish that. But it also did a number of things. It underlined the importance of television, which was just coming into its own as a primary campaign tool, [and] the whole idea of the media how thats going to affect the race. The best solutions solve many problems, not just one.
Roach, whose history with HBO includes the election-politics movies Recount and Game Change, came to the project at the suggestion of Spielberg. Before he signed on to direct, he and Schenkkan had multiple conversations about how to adapt the play.
Part of what makes All the Way feel so unlike a play is how close Roachs camera stays to his actors particularly to Cranston, who is under layers of transformative makeup. Roach had just come off working with Cranston on Trumbo (I hope this Trumbo film works out, because if it doesnt, its going to be awkward, Roach recalls thinking) and had faith that intense scrutiny from the camera would bring out the best in the actor.
I thought what might make it cinematic would be very close-up coverage over the shoulder or over the face, Roach says. I knew Bryan, I knew what he was capable of, and suspected we would get access to a whole other range that might not have been available for audiences on stage.
The approach worked.
It was truly Ali-Frazier, Anthony Mackie, who plays Martin Luther King Jr. in the film, says of working with Cranston. Ive never been opposite someone who, every time I finished a scene, I wanted to get up and shake his hand. He delivers a performance in this movie that every actor dreams of delivering.
But all those tight shots did more than give Cranston a chance to do work more nuanced than is possible in a 1,300-seat Broadway theater. It also gave viewers an approximation of the way Johnson operated. Johnson was known for employing everything in his arsenal including but not limited to his imposing physical stature to compel rivals and allies to move where he wanted them. By keeping the camera in Cranstons face, Roach gives viewers an approximation of the discomfort that politicos felt on the receiving end of Johnsons Texas Twist.
All the Way presents Johnson as flawed and deeply insecure, a person who, at his worst, was willing to turn his closest friends into roadkill. But it also celebrates his political genius his resourcefulness and doggedness, his willingness to stop short of nothing to achieve what he thought was right. By doing so, it portrays Johnson as using his influence across party lines, the opposite of todays political leaders, for whom partisanship is all.
Theres a compare-and-contrast thing, Roach says when asked about parallels between All the Way and current politics. On the compare end is the power of populism and the lingering infection of racism in our body politic. On the contrast side is Johnson himself.
Its inspiring to see Lyndon Johnson use his persuasiveness to cut across factional lines, Roach says. The man lived to try to improve the lives of Americans through government. He believed that good government is good, and if we can harness it for our own purposes as were meant to do then we can accomplish incredible things, right many of the injustices, and improve peoples lives. That is a seemingly lost conviction.
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Bunge Beat Its 1Q16 Earnings Estimates: Strong Start in 2016
(Continued from Prior Part)
Earnings growth
Bunge Limited (BG) expects 2016 to be a year of earnings and cash flow growth even though the second half of the year is expected to be seasonally weak. Management feels that with a strong start to the year, the company will be able to achieve its full earnings growth for 2016. In the Agribusiness segment, the second quarter doesnt look so favorable due to weather conditions in South America. The weather hasnt been favorable for crops in Brazil and Argentina. Ultimately, it will cause lower crush activity in Argentina and lower origination in export volumes in both countries.
However, this is expected to help the margins in North America and the Black Sea in 3Q16 and 4Q16. It will also benefit oil seed processing, grain origination, distribution, and port elevation.
Segmental expectations
In the Food & Ingredients segment, the company expects better 2016 results led by its operational excellence initiatives and recent acquisitions. The company remains optimistic that improved volumes and margins in the Brazilian operations will continue in 2H16 as well.
The Fertilizer segment is projected to benefit from increased purchases of crop inputs later in 2016 due to improved farmer economics in Argentina. A weaker peso and the removal of export taxes on grains contributed to improved farmer economics.
In the Sugar & Bioenergy segment, the company expects good earnings and cash flow growth due to the development of the sugarcane crop. The growth is also due to sugar price hedges and the Brazilian ethanol pricing outlook.
Competitors
Bunges peers in the food industry include ConAgra Foods (CAG), WhiteWave Foods (WWAV), and Treehouse Foods (THS). They saw returns of 6.5%, 5.1%, and 13.6%, respectively, on a year-to-date basis. The iShares S&P Global Consumer Staples ETF (KXI) invests 0.47% of its portfolio in ConAgra Foods.
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CAA has hired multicultural marketing expert Talitha Watkins to boost its business strategies with respect to diversity, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Watkins will be working as an executive in CAA's lifestyle group, but she will advise the agency's motion picture, television, music and marketing clients on minority audiences and markets.
Watkins spent the last six years as Universal Pictures' vp multicultural, where she deployed multiple marketing strategies to help the studio become a winner among black audiences with films including Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7, Straight Outta Compton, The Best Man Holiday and Ride Along.
Before that, Watkins was an assistant general manager at Telepictures Productions, where she oversaw operations, sales and marketing for the websites for The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Extra and The Tyra Banks Show. She also worked in development for Essence's website. Watkins also previously spent three years in digital marketing and business development at English-language Latino cable network Si TV.
Read More: CAA Marketing Sets New Leadership Structure
Ottawa (AFP) - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a formal apology Wednesday for an incident in which a shipload of Indians were refused entry into Canada more than 100 years ago.
More than 300 Indians were barred from Canada in 1914 after an immigration dispute, only for some to be killed in protests on their return to India.
"Today I rise in this House to offer an apology on behalf of the government of Canada for our role in the Komagata Maru incident," Trudeau said in parliament, referring to the name of the ship.
"More than a century ago a great injustice took place," he said.
After crossing the Pacific ocean aboard the Japanese liner Komagata Maru, the crew and nearly 300 Hindu, Muslim and Sikh passengers sailed into Vancouver harbour.
The ship sat anchored offshore for two months before being escorted out to sea under the guns of a Canadian navy cruiser in July of that year.
Upon their return to India, passengers were arrested and British colonial officials planned to send them back home to the northern state of Punjab.
Some refused to go and 20 were killed when police opened fire on a demonstration.
"Those passengers, like millions of immigrants to Canada before and since, came seeking better lives for their families, greater opportunities, a chance to contribute to their new home. Those passengers chose Canada and when they arrived here, they were rejected."
Trudeau cited "discriminatory" laws that effectively barred migrants from Asia.
"Canada does not bear alone the responsibility for every tragic mistake that occurred with the Komagata Maru and its passengers, but Canada's government was, without question, responsible for the laws that prevented these passengers from immigrating peacefully and securely.
"For that," he said, "we are sorry."
Ottawa (AFP) - Tens of thousands of evacuees from the wildfire-ravaged Canadian oil city of Fort McMurray received word Wednesday that they can return home next month if conditions are favorable.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley told a televised press conference that re-entry would start on June 1 and wrap up by June 15.
"Many hazards remain in Fort McMurray," Notley said. "We need to address all of them before it is safe for residents to begin to return, and we are doing this."
But she added, many of the conditions needed to be met "are beyond human control."
"If conditions change, as they did just this week, the voluntary re-entry may begin later than June 1," she said.
Some 100,000 residents and oil workers were evacuated from Fort McMurray and its surroundings two weeks ago, as the flames advanced.
They took refuge in nearby villages, indigenous communities, campsites and at emergency shelters in Calgary and Edmonton.
Firefighters had beaten back the blaze as temperatures cooled last week, but a recent uptick in winds and heat reinvigorated the massive forest fire, which has nearly doubled in size since Monday.
Thick smoke also hindered efforts to restore basic services and utilities in the city.
Now, officials say rain in the forecast over the coming days should weaken the fire, which has grown to more than 423,000 hectares.
In her update, Notley said electricity, gas and water have been mostly restored, although a boil water advisory would remain in effect.
A new plan -- after the first one was derailed -- to reopen retail outlets such as grocery stores in order to serve residents upon their return is also being considered.
And it is hoped the city's hospital will be able to offer emergency medical care.
"To be clear," Notley said, "the community that residents will be returning to will have basic services. But full services may not be fully restored immediately."
"So residents who choose to return should plan to bring the things they need with them," she added, citing a long list that included medical prescriptions, nonperishable food and water for people and pets for up to seven days, rubber boots, a flash light, and a camera to document property damage for insurance claims.
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A recent assessment of the damage in the city found most of its structures -- 89 percent -- are "safe to occupy," according to Notley.
Air pollution caused by the smoke has fallen to more acceptable levels but is "still very high," said Notley.
It had soared to more than three times safe levels in recent days, posing a risk to firefighters and delaying both repairs to damaged Fort McMurray infrastructure and the return of residents.
- Oil production at risk -
Hopes of soon restarting 1.2 million barrels of oil production per day, meanwhile, remain up in the air.
Late Monday, 8,000 workers were ordered out of the oil patch north of Fort McMurray as fires spread and intensified.
The blaze destroyed a 665-room lodge housing oil workers.
Westerly winds, meanwhile, pushed the fire to the edge of major oil facilities operated by Suncor and Syncrude.
Officials described a wall of flames closing in on the facilities.
However, a large swath of land surrounding the facilities have been deforested to create a buffer against wildfires.
Suncor, Canada's largest petroleum company, was forced to shutter its base camp, which processes bitumen from two nearby mines.
Production at its MacKay River facility was also suspended.
The Canadian cutbacks have sent crude prices climbing towards the US$50 mark, by helping to reduce a global supply glut.
Since Tuesday, 12 new fires have started, bringing to 18 the total number burning in the province. Three are out of control, Notley said.
Cost estimates by the Conference Board of Canada predict the loss to the Canadian economy due to the temporary oil sands production shutdown will be 0.06 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
The forecast released Tuesday, however, did not take into account this week's evacuations.
Other reports have suggested the hit could be as much as 0.5 percent, if the fires persist through the summer.
The oil sector accounts for four percent of Canada's GDP.
Brazilian director Kleber Mendonca Filho began his career as a film critic, attending Cannes for the first time in 1999. He hasnt missed a year since, debuting his short Green Vinyl at Directors Fortnight in 2004. His first feature, Neighboring Sounds, positioned him as one of Brazils top talents, paving the way for follow-up, Aquarius.
In Neighboring Sounds, you worked with a number of non-professional actors. How did you come to cast Sonia Braga for this film?
Initially, I was playing with the idea of finding some amazing unknown sixtysomething woman who could play the role, but its too demanding. Were with the character almost 100% of the time. She lives in the last old-style building on the safe side of Recife. (Neighboring Sounds was maybe 150 meters inland, whereas Aquarius takes place on the waterfront.) This construction company wants to buy her apartment so they can tear it down and build a modern building, and she doesnt really like the idea.
An early synopsis suggests that Bragas character has the ability to time travel. Can you explain?
Im 47 now, and as I grow older, I have started to think of people as time machines. We pick up so many things throughout the years, and we start to feel a bit too experienced with life, and I thought a lot about that as I was writing the script. Also, film itself is like the perfect time machine in a way. You can do anything with time in film.
Speaking of film, you shot Neighboring Sounds on celluloid. What about Aquarius?
Up until two weeks before shooting, we were still trying to shoot on film, but we kept hearing stories that the labs had all been shut down, or else the more experienced people have left, or the machines werent working. Once I realized that, we went for the best possible digital camera there is, the Alexa, but it was not an artistic choice, and I think its sad that the market made the decision. Thats one of the themes thats very strong in the film: the idea that a character is forced to comply with other peoples plans.
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Youd actually written another script before Aquarius. Whats the latest with that?
The next film is called Bacurau, and we should be shooting later this year or early next year. Its a horror thriller that takes place in a very small community in the Brazilian outback a few years from now.
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The title shot of Inversion is an image of a metropolitan landscape so thick with smog that the skyscrapers seem to be melting right into the chalky-white air. It looks like the establishing shot of downtown L.A. that weve seen in a thousand films only this isnt Los Angeles, its Tehran. Irans capital city has yet to become a global icon of toxic air pollution on the level of, say, Beijing, but Behnam Behzadis new film suggests that it may be fast on its way there. (The title refers to the state of thermal inversion that, on bad days, pushes the poison in Tehrans atmosphere to maximum density.) Its an oppressive situation the citizens of Tehran simply live with, like lousy weather (or government crackdowns), but in Inversion, the pollution sets off a chain reaction of familial discord that closes in on the heroine, Niloofar (Sahar Dowlatshahi), until it forces her to find a new source of air.
Niloofar, a very pretty woman who has never married, owns a tailoring shop that employs a dozen workers, and early on she goes on a date with a pleasant, handsome, middle-aged fellow (Ali Reza Aghakhani), and its clear the two are smitten with each other. In her single-woman-in-the-city way, she seems to be living the Iranian version of the feminist dream. Her freedom, however, is illusory and provisional. She shares an apartment with her mother, Mahin (Shirin Yazdanbakhsh), who suffers from chronic pulmonary disease and is therefore not even allowed to walk through the city. But shes stubborn and does anyway, and after one too many polluted whiffs, she collapses and lands in the hospital. The doctors orders: She must leave Tehran, and permanently. Its decided that shell move up north and live in the vacation villa owned by one of Niloofars siblings. Its also decided that Niloofar will abandon her beloved Tehran and live there with her. But even as all this is happening, the heroine starts to come to the claustrophobic realization that her entire life is now being decided for her.
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Sahar Dowlatshahi is a beautiful and dynamic actress with an open, laughing face and darkly expressive doe eyes that have a way of dominating every shot theyre in. Under her head scarf, her hair lays against her forehead in a way that gives her a striking resemblance to Audrey Hepburn and this is one case where an actresss impish radiance serves a vital thematic function. The audience looks at Niloofar and feels so connected to her eager vitality that we want her to be everything that she can be. But shes living in a society where that desire must take a back seatto just about everything else.
Niloofar plans to keep running her business from out of town, but since she has agreed to leave the city, her brother, the petty brute Farhad (Ali Mosaffa), decides that hell pay off his debts by renting out her shop. And with the support of his other, married sister and a few additional relatives, he does. Just like that, the business that Niloofar has nurtured for 10 years and that has nurtured her goes up in smoke. Starting in the 90s, the movies that emerged from the new wave of Iranian cinema films such as Jafar Panahis The Circle (2001) often told the story of the subjugation of women in Iranian society. Inversion depicts that same moral crisis in a moment of eager, precarious, baby-steps transition, with Niloofar forced to learn that as an unmarried woman seeking to go her own way, her desires have almost no value. Overnight, she loses everything, and since no one in her family appears to give a damn, this is all expressed in the storm clouds that gather across Sahar Dowlatshahis face.
Behzadi, who has made more than 20 films (including shorts and television productions), works in a vintage Iranian mode of what might be called the clandestine suspense of the everyday. Nothing that happens in Inversion is overstated or even overtly dramatized, yet theres an invisible tension that pulls us through the movie, and thats our investment in seeing how Niloofar can liberate herself from seemingly random events that suddenly add up to a fate that is pulling her down like quicksand. When she learns that her suitor is hiding the fact that he has a young son, the oppression of her life begins to look almost conspiratorial. How can she get herself back to a state of what felt like freedom? The missing element in her thinking, however, is her very own will; she must try to create her own inversion. The film ends on a note of ambiguity that may leave some audiences as puzzled as they are uplifted. (The puzzlement derives from the fact that the uplift is there..but not, perhaps, as much as we might want it to be.) Yet theres a resonance to Inversion that comes from the moment in Iran it captures, when women are more liberated than theyve ever been, but not to the point where they can totally breathe free.
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After recreating the 2001 Dos Palmas kidnapping incident by Islamic separatists in Captive (2012), Filipo auteur Brillante Mendozas Ma Rosa is an equally political hostage drama in which small-time drug-sellers are detained by police extorting a payout. As an indictment of the ubiquity of the countrys corruption and the banality of evil, its neither as harrowing as his own Kinatay nor as stylish as compatriot Erik Mattis noir crime thrillers. Still, as in most of the directors repertoire, he portrays working class family relations with unpretentious warmth. Boasting a simple, coherent plot shot with real-time, handheld verismo, its a work of understated confidence that will not disappoint his festival acolytes, but probably wont win many new converts.
Crafted with input from screenwriting guru Armando Bing Lao (who collaborated with Mendoza on Serbis and Kinatay), the structure of Troy Espiritus script harks back to the hyper-realism of Slingshot, the directors last film to portray the sprawling urban slum of Metro Manila. A decade after that feature was made, his latest outing still adheres to Laos theories of setting a story in a unified location, within a time frame not exceeding a few days. Encompassing torrential rain in real locations that often look under-exposed under natural light, with sporadically blurry cinematography, the deliberately grubby aesthetics appear more vintage than edgy, especially when a young generation of Filipino directors (many inspired by Mendoza) have branched out to a wider range of subjects, styles and locations.
When portraying poverty, Mendoza gets down to the nitty-gritty as the eponymous heroine Rosa Reyes (Jaclyn Jose) first appears counting every penny at the supermarket where she buys goods to resell at the sari-sari store she runs in a Mandaluyong shantytown, east of Manila. Anything that would earn a few extra pesos would be readily embraced by the Reyes. Thus, peddling ice (a form of crystal meth) in small quantities is a way of supplementing their income, no different from renting out their beloved karaoke set to the neighbors to have a singalong. Nor does Rosa raise an eyebrow at the casual drug-taking of husband Nestor (Julio Diaz). Haggling seems to be second nature to all the characters, and part-and-parcel of a life that must be fought ceaselessly to be preserved.
On the eve of Nestors birthday, the cops raid Rosas tiny convenience store, easily finding evidence to arrest the couple. As soon as they arrive at the station, theyre taken through a side entrance into a back room. Instead of following standard protocol, Officer Lopez (Baron Geisler) and his underlings threaten to jail Rosa and her husband unless they pay a private settlement of 200,000 pesos. Their prolonged negotiations are conducted in a business-like way that make the polices blood-sucking greed all the more sickening. When the couple cant pay up, they are asked to turn over their supplier, Jomar (Kristoffer King), so the police can bust him and extort him as well.
Whereas Kinatay raised the polices abuse of power to a nauseating level of on-screen violence, here its built up more skillfully, allowing their genial masks finally peel away to reveal ruthless thuggery. However, while capturing the awkwardness of the Reyeses being tucked away in an adjoining room while Jomar is being blackmailed, Mendoza neither explores their moral turmoil nor imbues the situation with enough tension.
The film takes a more engaging turn when the Reyeses three children Jackson (Felix Roco), Erwin (Jomari Angeles) and Raquel (Andy Eigenmann) are tasked with raising the money to bail out their parents. That theres been no outward show of affection between any of the family members makes their instant assumption of duty surprisingly touching. While Jackson and Erwin look like mamas boys at first, they prove more enterprising and resourceful than expected, lifting the mood out of total bleakness.
TV veteran Jose, reunited with Diaz after Slingshot,embodies the careworn yet resilient matriarch with naturalistic grace, but she exudes less charisma than Mendozas other female leads, notably Nora Aunor (Taklub), Maria Isabel Lopez (Kinatay) or Mercedes Cabral (Serbis). Incidentally, Lopez and Cabral have small roles that add a sizzle to the low-humming rhythm. Diaz, whos appeared in four of Mendozas films (but is now hospitalized for a brain aneurysm), is Joses effective foil as the lax loafer who lets his wife wear the pants. While the three young actors performances could be faulted for bordering on expressionless, it could be argued that the approach best conveys the childrens silent stoicism.
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Jean-Luc Lagarce was 38 when he died of AIDS, four years older than Louis, the protagonist of his play Its Only the End of the World. Though he never comes right out and names the disease, Louis is going home to tell his family that he is dying. What he doesnt realize is that they dont want to hear it, or maybe they already know. After disappearing for 12 long years, Louis may as well already be dead to his family, and how does someone in that position tell his mother that hes going to die?
Adapted for the screen by Canadian director Xavier Dolan, Lagarces play permits the ambitious young helmer (whose burning desire to win Cannes coveted Palme dOr was merely stoked by the jury prize he shared with Jean-Luc Godard in 2014) to assemble a dream cast of great French actors: Nathalie Baye, Vincent Cassel, Marion Cotillard, Lea Seydoux and Gaspard Ulliel. Shooting them almost exclusively in claustrophobically tight closeup, Dolan has tried not unsuccessfully, mind you, though in the most taxing way imaginable to break free from the theatricality of the source material, while preserving the tricky language of Lagarces text (spoken in actual French, rather than his usual Canadian accents).
The result is a frequently excruciating dramatic experience in which characters seem almost never to stop talking, and when they do, the exasperated Louis cant bring himself to confess what hes come there to say. It doesnt help that the scripts strengths are almost entirely lost in a too-literal translation that strains to approximate the conversational nuances of the play. For example, a miscast Cotillards overly polite dance between the familiar tu and formal vous simply doesnt have an English equivalent, and no amount of empty staring can convey the full meaning of her double-edged question, How much time?
Still, failure to communicate is the point here, and though theres an entire contingent of critics who love to hate Dolan, the director is right to describe the project as my first as a man (as he does in the Cannes press notes). There is a welcome maturity to Its Only the End of the World that was absent in his five previous features and also a rare restraint.
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Dolans earlier work is defined by its impulsive combustibility, which was the very subject of his barely-seen debut, I Killed My Mother. His characters have a way of flying off the handle, of losing their temper and saying everything thats on their minds, accompanied by dynamic camera moves and jacked-up musical choices. While people still get angry in Its Only the End of the World, with the exception of Louis hot-head brother Antoine (Cassel), most of what theyre really trying to say is spoken in subtext. This is Dolans attempt to do what came so naturally to Tom Ford on A Single Man, forgoing over-stimulated pastiche in the attempt to craft a film with a single, unified artistic vision.
For many a gay man, seemingly the hardest thing he can possibly share with his immediate family is the infamous coming out conversation. For far too many of those newly liberated men, however, that challenge has been eclipsed by a far heavier burden, as they struggle to find a way to open up about their HIV-positive status to the same loved ones brothers, sisters and parents who often struggled to suspend their judgment, only to confront a diagnosis that is often cruelly interpreted as punishment for the wrong lifestyle choice.
In Louis case, hes been away from home for more than a decade, maintaining only the most superficial communication: postcards sent for birthdays and holidays, with seemingly less time spent on their terse hand-written messages than in choosing the eclectic images on front. Its an antiquated form of contact (especially in the current internet age, although a pre-film chyron specifies that it takes place a while ago already, which presumably explains the lack of e-mail or smartphones), but one that comfortably allows Louis to maintain a one-way dynamic with his family members. And once we meet them, who can blame him although the film relies far too heavily on us to fill in the history of their dysfunction.
Baye plays Louis mother, a frightening gargoyle of a woman who paints her eyelids and fingernails the same cobalt blue as her necklace. Though Louis sister Suzanne (Blue Is the Warmest Color star Seydoux) and sister-in-law Catherine (Cotillard) stand anxiously awaiting his arrival in the foyer of his childhood home, they seem at a loss of what to say when he actually gets there. His older brother by at least 15 years, Antoine simmers with his back to Louis, leaving his wife to fill the air with awkward small talk about their children. On first viewing, its hard to read the actual dynamics of this early reunion scene, though in retrospect, we can assume that Catherine and Antoine have already figured out what Louis has come to say (a clue involving an old boyfriends cancer suggests that theyre aware of the risk, at least), and they may be trying to protect their mother from the news.
But its agonizing to know Louis agenda, which he reveals via voiceover in the opening scene, only to be forced to scan reams of subtitles in which everyone knows he has something important to say, but seems determined to prevent him from spilling the news. His mom finds things to busy herself in the kitchen; Catherine offers updates about nephews in whom the selfish Louis never showed much interest; and Suzanne takes comfort in a joint. All the while, d.p. Andre Turpins camera presses in far too close to the characters, crowding their faces with an intimacy that proves unflattering even to beauties as stunning as Cotillard and Seydoux models for Dior and Louis Vuitton, respectively, made to look like painted harlequins under the films harsh lighting and oppressive proximity (yet one more veneer in a film that amps up the music, makeup, costume and set choices to disguise its stagnant staginess).
Ulliel, who starred in Bertrand Bonellos Saint Laurent, subsumes his natural sex appeal to play Louis as meek as possible, and as such, he earns our sympathies (hes dying, after all!). But as the play unfolds, the visit home starts to increasingly feel like a selfish act, while Antoine whom Cassel plays to maximum unbearability proves to be the only one capable of saying whats really on his mind. It all explodes in a powerful climactic confrontation that, for all its pyrotechnic energy, manages to keep firmly, elegantly within the aesthetic parameters Dolan has set for the film, the camera never taking its distance as the lighting turns a fiery orange. Here, in cinemas most unpleasant genre (the dysfunctional family gathering), Dolan has found a way to exasperate and exhaust his audience, but he has also achieved a completely unexpected catharsis at the end of an agonizing hour and a half. Standing there on the grave of dreams, he knows why the caged bird sings.
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In Jean Pierre and Luc Dardennes very best films, you know exactly what youre getting until the quiet dramatic pivot that gently ensures you dont. In The Unknown Girl, only the first half of that assessment is true, though what we get is largely exemplary: a simple but urgent objective threaded with needling observations of social imbalance, a camera that gazes with steady intent into story-bearing faces, and an especially riveting example of one in their gifted, toughly tranquil leading lady Adele Haenel. Whats missing, however, from this stoically humane procedural tale of a guilt-racked GP investigating a nameless passer-bys passing, is any great sense of narrative or emotional surprise: Its a film that skilfully makes us feel precisely what we expect to feel from moment to moment, up to and including the long-forestalled waterworks. Though it will receive the broad distribution practically guaranteed the Belgian brothers work these days, the film is unlikely to prove one of their sensations more the healthy arthouse equivalent of a biennial checkup.
It may follow in the Dardennes tradition of sensibly prosaic titles, but The Unknown Girl would also be a good fit for a film noir which, in a thoroughly dressed-down, cleanly lit way, their tenth feature kind of is. Though it benefited from a performance of unvarnished authenticity by Marion Cotillard, 2014s Two Days, One Night was arguably the brothers most narratively contrived film to date, built on a neat structure of staggered confrontations that eventually yielded the required catharsis. Landing with critics, audiences and even Academy voters alike, it was a successful shift in register, so its not altogether surprising to see them now meshing their signature social realism with tentative genre trappings.
She may tote a stethoscope rather than a handgun, and favors a particularly shaggy plaid variation on a trenchcoat, but fresh-faced Dr. Jenny Davin (Haenel) is, to all intents and purposes, the protagonist in an old-school, hard-boiled detective movie right down to her fixation on the face of a dead woman whom she has only seen in images (or, in this case, an agonizingly short burst of CCTV footage). The woman in question, unidentified for much of the running time, is evidently an African immigrant, captured banging desperately one evening on the front door of Davins surgery in Liege; shortly afterwards, shes found dead of a fractured skull in the banks of the Meuse. As the police, devoid of leads, turn to Davin for details, she realises with horror that she was in during the womans attempted after-hours entrance and remembers deliberately ignoring the buzzer.
Unable to shake the idea that answering the door might have saved the womans life, and distraught at the idea of her being buried without a name, Davin embarks on an insistent amateur investigation of her own. Its one that leads her to skim the drab surface of Lieges underworld, but more often into the modest homes of local residents her own patients among them. Mixing some gumshoe work into her house calls, she demonstrates an interrogation style as calm and unflappable as her bedside manner. Emotional involvement leads to a bad diagnosis, she chides her less assured intern Julien (newcomer Olivier Bonnaud) near the start of proceedings, though Davin finds it increasingly difficult to maintain that clinical distance as her non-medical quest pushes on toward a moving but mostly expected resolution.
The Dardennes typically unfussy, clear-spoken script breaks up the grim determination of Davins search with regular vignettes from her working day. Each one extends our understanding of the citys hard-wearing social fabric, be it a middle-class teen resiliently battling leukemia or a language-challenged burn victim who fears deportation if he visits a hospital for his grievous injuries. Though the film resists direct political or administrative commentary, Davin tellingly rejects a loftier hospital appointment in favor of maintaining a threatened practice for patients on medical insurance rates. The gulf between her generally unimpeachable virtue as a doctor and the moral self-loathing she feels over once turning a blind eye to one in need, however, is heavily inscribed throughout, while a subplot that sees her attempting to revive a disenchanted Juliens passion for medicine is rather too patly drawn.
Though The Unknown Woman features a veritable alumni gathering of past and regular players from the Dardennes films Olivier Gourmet, Fabrizio Rongione, Jeremie Renier, Thomas Doret, Jean-Michel Bathazar in roles that range from passingly to piquantly minor, the film serves chiefly as a showcase for the wonderful Haenel. Proving, in her first collaboration with the brothers, an intuitive thespian match for their delicate, not-overly-demonstrative emotional intelligence, she works softly against the grain of her characters general goodness playing up the moments of cold internal panic and silent judgment that lead her, not always fairly, to doubt her own compassion.
As ever, the Dardennes filmmaking proves serenely accomplished in deflecting attention away from itself. Alain Marcoens even-keeled, easy-breathing lensing often achieves the effect of complete stillness while understatedly directing the viewers gaze to fine, expressive details of an actors countenance. Marie-Helene Dozos editing likewise shapes and paces human encounters in ways that feel entirely organic, working up anxious cinematic tension without ever seeming beholden to a rigid storytelling structure. The Dardennes may not currently be working in a vein of the strictest realism, but the results still feel markedly, airily natural.
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Actress Sigrid Bouaziz, director Olivier Assayas, actress Kristen Stewart, actress Nora von Waldstaetten and actor Anders Danielsen Lie at the Personal Shopper premiere on Tuesday (Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images)
By Chris Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter
Personal Shopper, starring Kristen Stewart, received a four-and-a-half-minute standing ovation Tuesday night at the psychological thrillers premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
Following the screening, a happy Stewart, who changed into sneakers after walking the red carpet in heels and a Chanel dress, was seen hugging her co-stars and the films director, Olivier Assayas, while the crowd applauded.
The Paris-set ghost story triggered both boos and applause when it first screened for critics on Monday. In the film, Stewart plays a young American in Paris who half-believes shes in contact with her late twin brother. While discussing the Cannes competition entry during the festival, Stewart said: Its a ghost story, sure, but the supernatural aspects of it just lead you to very basic questions.
As for the boos, Assayas, who also directed Stewart in 2014 Cannes competition entry The Clouds of Sils Maria, said ahead of Tuesday nights premiere, It happens to me once in a while, where people just dont get the ending. He added, When you come to Cannes, you have to be prepared for everything.
Stewart also pointed out, Everybody did not boo. Lets be clear.
The actress also appeared in the festival opener Cafe Society from Woody Allen. Read The Hollywood Reporters review of Personal Shopper here.
Related: Read the complete coverage of Cannes
Kristen Stewart, Assayas receive 4:30 min standing o for #PersonalShopper. #KStew looks stoked, hugging costars pic.twitter.com/aKg6Huejgz Chris Gardner (@chrissgardner) May 17, 2016
The puparazzi are set to descend on the U.K. Pavillion May 20 for what is billed as Cannes' pawmost awards ceremony, the Palm Dog.
Since 2001 (making it around 90 in dog years), this annual event sees a select group of mutt-loving rufferees pick out the most celebrated canine acting talent from this year's festival lineup, with the eventual winner receiving a special trophy collar.
Unfortunately, following a rather sad tail, this year's hot favorite isn't going to be available to claim the prize, as Nellie, the breakout British bulldog star from competition entry Paterson, has made her final bowwow.
"Nellie, may she rest in peace," co-star Adam Driver tells THR. "She died a couple of months ago."
Read More: 'Paterson': Cannes Review
With Palm Dog founder Toby Rose dedicating this year's award to Nellie, also hailed for portraying a male dog in the film (Jim Jarmusch said she was "playing transgender"), many might think the award already is sewn up.
But other Cannes poochy performances are worthy of appaws. The dalmatian from Critics' Week opener In Bed With Victoria has been singled out ("Eat your dog bowl out, Madonna," says Rose), as has the three-legged mongrel in Ken Loach's Palme-tipped I, Daniel Blake.
On the more pup-corn side, the fart-propelled corgis from The BFG could do what Up's Dug did in 2009 and see the prize head to Disney.
But will anyone really bet against Nellie, who would become the Palm Dog's first post-canis winner? "With her clear potential for transitioning, she could have been the Caitlyn Jenner of the dog acting community," laments Rose.
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A new French law, enacted April 13, legalized solicitation but criminalized the purchase of sex in an effort to put the onus onto paying customers. But it hasn't crimped business on the Croisette.
"The atmosphere is fun and I have had a lot of work during the week," says "Katia," an escort who comes down from Paris for two weeks surrounding the festival. "The festival is always busier than usual, and this year is no different." Katia, who gave her age as 27 though it's listed on her website as 24, has attended a red-carpet premiere and several parties during the fest's first week as part of the "girlfriend experience" she offers for 550 euros ($620) an hour. She also has a strict "4- and 5-star only" hotel policy, but skips yacht parties that she feels have a more hostile environment. (Clients are 50-50 French and foreign, including some American execs.)
For more than four years, local law enforcement has fought visible prostitution with nightly monitoring: "We fight it every night," says Pierre Boutillon, deputy director of the municipal police."We have a night service that monitors any activity. You will not find any street prostitution in downtown Cannes," At hotels, however, "even the security doesn't know what is happening in the rooms," he adds. "It's hard for us to check that when you have modern prostitution with internet and cellphones." A young Russian named "Kate," who is based in the area year-round, agrees: "[Men] contact me through a website and discuss on the phone. I don't understand how anyone could enforce this."
Read More: Cannes: Female Producer's Baby Turned Away From Film Market
A version of this story first appeared in the May 27 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
julieta almodovar
Cannes Film Festival
Even as I trashed Andrea Arnolds American Honey in my report from day four, I bemoaned the lack of female directors in this years Competition slate. (I was not particularly blown away by the other two womens films, From The Land Of The Moon and Toni Erdmann, but that somehow feels beside the point.) As with pretty much everything in life, women have historically gotten the short shrift at Cannes; the only female director to ever take home the prized Palme dOr is Jane Campion for her romantic drama The Piano, and even then, she shared the award at the 1993 festival with Chen Kaige when the hung jury couldnt decide between her film and the male directors Farewell My Concubine.
This years lineup of titles in Competition includes three female directors alongside eighteen men, and while this clear imbalance is reflective of more sweeping inequalities in the film industry at large which is, in turn, reflective of a deck stacked against women on a society-wide, global scale this festival has had no shortage of tour de force performances from actresses in male-directed films. Kristen Stewart wowed just last night as a celeb stylist with ghost issues in Personal Shopper while Ruth Negga knocked her role in the socially-conscious period piece Loving out of the park with yards to spare. Hell, even if I wasnt so hot on Toni Erdmann as a whole, theres no denying the well-measured relatability of its lead actress Sandra Hullers turn as a daughter dreading a visit from her overbearing dad.
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Today introduced three more contenders into what is becoming an almost comically crowded race for the festivals Best Actress prize, albeit all in films with men behind the camera. It comes as no surprise that Julieta, the latest film from Spains Pedro Almodovar, revolves around a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown (much like his breakout film Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown.) Almodovar without generously empathetic portrayals of femininity would be like Tarantino without pop-culture references, or Michael Bay without tanned, sweaty man-muscles simply incomplete.
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His newest subject is Julieta, a character forged from three separate short stories in Alice Munros collection Runaway, portrayed in her youth by Adriana Ugarte and as an adult by Emma Suarez. The double-casting further complicates a character already resisting understanding both from the men in her life and the audience; when she declares seemingly out of the blue that she cant joint her lover Lorenzo (Dario Grandinetti) on a trip to Portugal one day before theyre set to head out, hes respectful of her wishes but befuddled by her reasoning. The viewers know how he feels.
But while that may be frustrating to a guy suddenly taking a solo vacation, that tantalizing unknowability makes the film into a captivating tarantella of romance and melancholy. Julietas got a lot on her mind: though she loves Lorenzo, she still pines for her deceased husband Xoan (Daniel Grao, radiating erotic energy from beneath a scraggly beard, a thing only Spaniards are capable of doing) and is nearly reduced to a puddle when her long-since-disappeared daughter makes secondhand contact through a friend.
She spends the film wracked with sadness intense enough to give her the shakes, but rather than abject misery, it manifests more like unrequited love. (Which is, all things considered, what it is.) The stylistic makeup of the film matches the sensuousness defining her state of emotional disarray, too; Almodovar trains his lens on fabrics and textures with the adoring gaze of a lover, swathing his cherished leading lady in a world as fashionably woeful as she is. Theres a palpable sense of abiding world-weariness here, the clear mark of an artist gracefully transitioning to his late-career phase at age 66. Minor Almodovar this aint.
Aquarius
Cannes Film Festival
A weekly kvetch-sesh over mimosas and bloody marys with Clara (Sonia Braga), the lead of Kleber Mendonca Filhos Aquarius, would likely do Julieta a world of good. Both women fear that the world has left them behind, but while Julieta dwells on the absences of her loved ones, Clara suspects that society itself has begun to nudge her into obsolescence. A cancer survivor whos lost one breast and a retired music critic, she tells a reporter asking about her quaint attachment to physical media that shes got nothing against MP3s and wants only to peacefully coexist alongside them. The unstoppable tomorrow of change threatens Claras way of life more immediately when developers forcefully suggest she vacate the Brazilian apartment complex shes lived in all her life so that they may tear it down to build a bigger, shinier, and more expensive one. Obviously, she doesnt submit to the agents of gentrification without a fight, but the forward march of progress will not be denied.
Bragas commendable performance halfway redeems a premise this critic in particular had trouble engaging with. She makes for an endlessly watchable spitfire who refuses to acknowledge that she may be on her last legs; in the clear highlight scene, she glugs some red wine and fires back against neighbors having a noisy party by putting on Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen and slinking around her cherished apartment. But that apartments the rub; Filho expects the audience to feel for her though she clearly has the socioeconomic stability to relocate with minimal hassle, counting on us to share in her sentimental attachment to the space over all else. But watching someone get priced out of their apartment a relatively universal experience among city-dwellers carries greater dramatic potency when the party in question cant simply move with minimal hassle. (Aside from the usual hassles of moving, which are not slight, in all fairness.)
Her principled stand resembles common stubbornness more and more as the film goes on, and by the time shes actively made her own life more difficult than it ever needed to be, she had lost me. I wish to disclaim that this seems to be a personal issue more than anything, however, and Im sure plenty of viewers wont be irked by it. By my own admission, Im just some guy, a guy who doesnt understand why someone would get attached to real estate to the point of self-sabotage.
Ma-Rosa
Cannes Film Festival
As the title matriarch of Brillante Mendozas Ma Rosa, Jaclyn Jose doesnt command the screen quite like the actresses praised above, but she serves her story faithfully and knows her place in it. Rather than a character study in the traditional sense, the neorealist drama sketches a full portrait of the impoverished, corruption-choked corner of the Philippines that Rosas family calls home. The whole clan runs a humble convenience store in an urbanized area, but to make ends meet, they deal a little crystal meth under the table. No harm and no foul, until someone tips off the cops about their side operation. The local police couldnt give less of a damn about whos dealing drugs and to whom; they bring in Rosa and her husband Nestor (Julio Diaz) so that they can extort a big fat bribe out of the modest-living couple.
Watching them empty out their bank accounts just to avoid a prison sentence is heartbreaking enough, until their children are saddled with the burden of coughing up the difference. They then embark on a mad dash around their derelict Filipino ghetto in search of someone, anyone, who can lend them enough pesos to buy their parents freedom. (Side note: did you know the peso is the official currency of the Philippines, and not the same thing as a Mexican peso? I didnt! Isnt broadening your horizons great?)
Employing unsophisticated equipment and shooting by the seat of his pants, Mendoza accesses the grimy soul of the streets by cramming his handheld camera right in the faces of the crooked officers, drug pushers, and weather-beaten villagers that populate this downtrodden milieu. Both in form and content, Mendoza works like an embedded reporter, providing ground-level commentary on the social ills afflicting a people that white Western audiences would rarely consider otherwise. But the brutal challenges that Rosa and her family face wont be too alien to American audiences; a particularly vicious beating that ends with the cops shrugging and delivering the time-honored, baldfaced lie of it was in self-defense! (the dog ate my homework of police brutality) sends a familiar chill down the spine. One would hope kinder elements than being subjected to gross injustice from our state-appointed protectors would unite viewers in disparate culture, but I guess this is the world in which we live.
Tomorrow: The Super Smash Dardennes Bros. will debut their latest laugh riot The Unknown Girl (thats a joke; its about a doctor seeking out the identity of a deceased patient who was refused surgery), Quebecois enfant terrible and Adele pal Xavier Dolan premieres Its Only The End Of The World, and Japanese talent Hirokazu Kore-eda runs the Un Certain Regard section with After The Storm.
Xavier Dolan is in the rare position of being both a young, up-and-coming director and a veteran filmmaker with six movies under his belt. After winning the Cannes Jury Prize for his last effort, Mommy, in 2014 (sharing the prize with French cinema legend Jean-Luc Godard), the 27-year-old is back on the Croisette - for the fifth time! - with It's Only the End of the World.
The adaptation of a play by Jean-Luc Lagarce, follows a terminally ill writer who returns home to tell his family he is dying. The competition movie is Dolan's biggest to date and his first to feature genuine stars in the form of French A-listers Marion Cotillard, Lea Seydoux, Gaspard Ulliel, Nathalie Baye and Vincent Cassel.
The Hollywood Reporter's European News Editor Scott Roxborough spoke to Dolan ahead of the film's Cannes premiere May 19 about his experience on the Cannes jury last year, why he designs his own costumes and his love of Home Alone.
"It's Only the End of the World" is based on the Jean-Luc Lagarce play. He wrote it in 1990 when you were, if my math is correct, just 1 year old. When did you first come across the play and what is it about it that made you want to turn it into a film?
He did write that when I was frolicking in a Quebec strawberry field, dressed in my fanciest Pampers, discovering the joys of pollen allergies and filling my face with homemade tarts and meat loaf. Little did I know that, 20 years later, (Mommy actress) Anne Dorval would bring up that play to me, saying it was basically tailor-made for me to adapt into a film. So I read it in 2010, for the first time, but didn't connect with the material, oddly enough. Four years later, after Mommy, I loved it. I guess a lot happened in that window of time and changed my way of reading the play. You sometimes grow inclinations and a sensibility you didn't suspect you'd have for things you didn't suspect you'd love. I'm talking about cerebral plays, not BDSM or other erotic practices.
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What changes, if any, did you make to update the story and to make it your own?
I tried to keep the idiosyncrasies and the singularity of Lagarce's vernacular as much as I could. That didn't change much. The play is verbose, the language nervous, and prolix. The characters correct their own grammar constantly, beating themselves up, rewording their own sentences. I kept all that as is, basically - but evidently had to cut down many monologues in size, and some episodes were of course dropped. What was really reshaped is the structure. The second half of the play is almost entirely abstract. Characters talk to everyone and no one, all on stage, yet in different places It was very theatrical, I guess, and didn't provide us with a proper build-up. The climax in the play is only between the lead role and his brother, and is 8 pages long So I had to recycle bits and pieces from earlier scenes, omitted scenes and scenes I invented from scratch in order to write a second half, and the end.
It's Only the End of the World is your biggest film to date, with the most high-profile cast you've ever directed. What's behind the decision to go bigger/more commercial with this film?
There was never such a decision made. It started with the story. The desire to adapt that play, which can only, at least as a movie, be acted by French actors, and in French. Then came the cast. But the size and scale were not determined by a desire to go big or commercial, but by the inherent needs of the story and the talent we sought. The budgets of It's Only the End of the World and Mommy are basically the same, though.
Read More: Cannes: Xavier Dolan Wants to Look Past the "Glittery, Cheap Thrills"
What sort of pressure do you feel ahead of its premiere in Cannes?
None. I enjoy my work, and I enjoy sharing it with the public and the press. This film is completely and entirely incomparable to any other I've shot before. This my first film about family, more widely, and not only mothers and sons, but tensions between siblings, also, bitterness, loneliness, our incapacity to listen to the people we love, and the despair that stems from horizonless lifestyles. Aesthetically, the film certainly isn't colorful like the others. It is, very exactly, brown and blue, and orange towards the end. But people will see things unlike I have designed them, and that's okay. What people write and say belongs to them, and from now, this film belongs to them as well. Without their regard, it is invisible. It will live and thrive in the hearts of people as a forgettable effort, or something that can last, and who knows yet which it will be. But I don't care. I am proud of this film, I love Cannes, it is a good life, and right now, I feel blessed by the fact that I have before my eyes a film that tells me : you are not stagnating as a human being, you are becoming an adult, you are meeting inspiring actors and actresses, so I feel no pressure from this, but only fulfillment, and bliss.
This will be your fifth film to premiere in Cannes, and you're still just 27. Do you still feel like a novice or an old veteran heading to the Croisette this year?
I've been "just 20-something" for seven years, now.
What did your experience on the Cannes Jury last year teach about the whole process behind the Palme d'Or? Does it change how you feel going in this year?
A jury works in mysterious ways Nevertheless, ours last year operated quite simply : we spoke freely, had no political agenda whatsoever, we had fun, laughed, cried (I did and I know Sienna Miller did), and I don't recall fighting for or against anything, as we were united in taste, humor and in the emotional work we felt like acknowledging. We also agreed we wouldn't wallow in hatred and contempt - although I myself couldn't resist one or two opportunities. It was the most deepening, interesting experience of my entire life. I've never had such lengthy, nuanced and humane conversations on films, and for someone like me who has such a limited culture, it was life-changing. It didn't change how I feel going in this year though, but it did confirm how I wanted to make movies, knowing how people look at them, and with which tools and standards they read them - although the jury members read those movies like the public does, for the most part. Not with their brains, but with their feelings.
In your previous movies, you've always designed the costumes yourself. What insight does costume give you into character?
Everything! I love to think costumes are a character's first lines. Before an actor opens his or her mouth, the costume has spoken. And the public may not say that or verbalize it, but they feel every bit of it. I don't understand directors who dismiss the wardrobe department and think it's some woman's or gay guy's job, and do not have an opinion on the matter. Hair and wardrobe are the first things I think of for a character. They can tell you if a woman is seeing herself as an object, or if a man has been raped, or if a child is looking for a sense of structure in his life, if he lacks a father figure, or if a mother has never grown up! Then it affects their gait, their accent, their choice of words. These physical and stylistic choices that they make are always the point of departure.
Any plans for a second career as a fashion designer?
Very unlikely. Now, that's a stressful job! I guess I get the best out of both worlds designing just the things I love and making them for my own films.
Where do you find your inspiration?
I hardly have any. I just emulate Titanic and Home Alone. Although at this point it isn't clear whether it's rip-off or rape. The real answer is that I find most of my inspiration in paintings and photography - imagery of all kinds. But the first part of the answer is also true.
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A number of critics saw Mommy as a milestone in your development as a filmmaker. How do you think it compares to your earlier movies?
It compares in too many ways to be enumerated. But how it does not compare, I think, to the first two or three, is in how we decided to solely focus on the storytelling and the characters, and the acting. Everything aesthetic was second position. May be hard to believe, but it's true. Of course, the light, the cheap songs and the aspect-ratio are what people think stands out the most. But to me, to us, when we did the film, it was all about the characters, and telling their stories right.
You've had incredibly critical success, including winning the Grand Jury prize in Cannes two years ago. How important is commercial success for you?
It's extremely important. Without the public, your film founders. Only the public can decide whether your work will remain, or disappear. Without the approval of the audience, their laughs, their tears, their applauds, you are making movies to please yourself. I respect artists who do that when it's not entirely selfish, and when it's about not giving in to the pressure of conformity, and common taste. I don't myself think I am common. But I do not think I am an intellectual filmmaker, or a very original voice. I focus on basic themes, I love good acting, good-looking films, and entertaining stories. I don't pretend I'll change anything, or invent anything. So I admire whoever claims he or she will, and wants to. I'm just not that person, and to me, the goal of my film is that it is seen, and remembered.
You're next film, The Death and Life of John F Donovan, will be both your first English-language film and the first shot in the U.S.. How is it coming along and what has the experience been like so far?
It's all very exciting. We are in prep and start shooting in Montreal on July 9th for 40 days. Then, Prague and London in September and October, and New York for a split-second before Thanksgiving. So it's mostly shot outside of the US. But it's an American story, to be precise. So far, it's been great, but we have a huge cast, not only in terms of notoriety, but in terms of the number of actors flying in and out of our set. It's just very challenging to orchestrate all this, and still not make accommodating choices that compromise the film artistically or narratively speaking. But we're doing good, I think. It's been great with all the cast, and I'm excited about working with each of them.
Tripoli (AFP) - Eighteen fighters loyal to Libya's unity government were killed in clashes with Islamic State group jihadists and a car bombing Wednesday near the IS stronghold of Sirte, the military said.
An official in an operations room set up by the new Government of National Unity (GNA), asking not to be named, told AFP that "the toll is 18 martyrs and more than 20 wounded in the battles with IS militants and a car bombing".
Seven died in a car bomb attack in Buairat el-Hassun, 60 kilometres (35 miles) west of Sirte, the operations room said on its Facebook page. The others were killed in an IS foray in Abu Grein, further west, that the GNA recaptured on Tuesday.
The GNA on Tuesday called for warplanes to bomb IS after world powers showed readiness to arm it.
On Monday, the United States, Italy and Libya's allies and neighbours agreed in Vienna to arm the GNA to confront the threat from IS.
Clashes on Tuesday claimed the lives of seven members of the GNA forces and wounded 15.
IS overran Abu Grein on May 5 as part of a series of forays into territory controlled by the UN-backed government, including a deadly attack a week later on a checkpoint at Saddada, 50 kilometres to the west.
The latest fighting comes as IS seeks to expand westwards out of Sirte, slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi's hometown on the Mediterranean coast, which it has controlled since last June.
Europe fears the jihadists could use Sirte's port and airport as a springboard to attack the continent.
The international community, particularly European powers, are also concerned about a stream of refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean from Libya's unsecured coast.
CBS made its presentation of the networks fall TV schedule on Wednesday, and the network has released trailers of its new shows. Lets look at them with a sharp eye. Note: All judgments are based solely on the clips, and are not reviews of entire episodes, which are not yet available.
MacGyver
From the folks who brought you the re-make of Hawaii Five-O comes the remake of MacGyver, whose logo uses a Swiss Army knife for the v in its title, so you know its clever. Star Lucas Till looks impish in this trailer, and whether that will remain charming over the long haul is the big challenge for a show based entirely on its star and his gimmicky inventiveness.
Training Day
I like Bill Paxton, you like Bill Paxton, who doesnt like Bill Paxton? Well, maybe some of us, in this particular role. Hes taking the Denzel Washington part in this TV adaptation of the movie, as a tough L.A. cop training a rookie, played by Justin Cornwell. But because this is weekly television on CBS, Paxtons cop cant be as brutally corrupt as Denzels was, so in this trailer hes branded as merely a rogue. Which, along with all the wisecracks and would-be catchphrases here (Im the test nobody passes), could be tedious very quickly.
Bull
Michael Weatherly is playing a version of the young Dr. Phil in this new drama Dr. Phil was a trial consultant before he was an Oprah-fied TV star. The trailer is notable for a couple of things: it seems to give away an entire episode, from trial to verdict (spoiler alert?), and Weatherly talks in a low rumble throughout. Is this the way hes going to distinguish himself from his NCIS role? A mumble and some stubble?
Pure Genius
A tech billionaire funds his own hospital to do cutting-edge medical procedures. He hires Dermot Mulroneyplaying a distinguished doctorto join his project. The young billionaire, played with a brave lack of charm here by Augustus Prew, is clearly going to clash with Mulroneys doc just on a personal-style level the rich kid is touchy-feely; Mulroneys character is stiff and proper. Honestly, if I didnt know this was overseen by producer Jason Katims (Parenthood, Friday Night Lights), Id have dismissed it after seeing this trailer, which seems edited to be intentionally maudlin.
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The Great Indoors
Joel McHale as a rugged outdoorsman whos a reporter for an (online-only?) magazine, culture-clashing with his much-younger, indoors-y staff. See, the humor comes from the fact that the young staffers all think Joel McHale is old! Hilarious, right? Theres a level on which this sitcom is just a reworking of Tim Allens Last Man Standing. Theres another level on which this is just a lousy-looking sitcom. Still, Im glad to see McHale and the great Stephen Fry (who seems to be a publisher or something) making big, fat CBS salaries.
Man With a Plan
Matt LeBlanc plays a guy new to being a stay-at-home dador, to judge from this trailer, new to parenthood itself. The laughs here are built around the idea that hes shocked to discover his kids are spoiled, non-communicative, internet-addicted whiners. LeBlanc is as likable as always, but did you laugh much? I didnt. (Note: Jenna Fischer who appears in the clip, has exited the show and that role will be recast.)
Kevin Can Wait
Kevin James is awfully good at reproducing everything he did in King of Queens, so its a little pointless to say that Kevin Can Wait in which he plays a cop taking early retirement isnt exactly a cutting-edge sitcom. If you like James, youll like this show, dont you think, after seeing the joke-packed trailer? Well, maybe not the Taylor Swift joke, which seems kind of out of character for James, but perhaps they had to throw in something different so you knew you werent watching a King of Queens rerun.
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation today announced a $2 million general-operating grant to The Center for Public Integrity to support the Centers groundbreaking investigative reporting work on domestic and international issues. The grant was part of a larger commitment by the MacArthur Foundation to strengthen professional nonprofit reporting, with grants of nearly $25 million to a core group of journalism non-profits.
General support is vital to the health of the entire non-profit news sector where growth has often been stymied by a lack of investment in efficient and modern management. This support from MacArthur will help the Center for Public Integrity in its mission to become the most modern and impactful investigative journalism organization worldwide through Public Integrity journalism and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, said Peter Bale, Chief Executive Officer of The Center for Public Integrity.
The Center for Public Integrity and its worldwide arm, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, are at the forefront of new non-profit models for journalism built on big data journalism and a new collaborative model exemplified by the Panama Papers, Bale added.
In announcing the grant, the MacArthur Foundation said it was helping support in-depth journalism and documentary storytelling while also supporting innovation and experimentation and building diversity in the field.
"Independent media plays an important role in how Americans understand their community and the world, the decisions they make, and whether and how they exercise their responsibility as citizens, said MacArthur President Julia Stasch, who announced the new commitment today at the PBS Annual Meeting. MacArthurs investments will strengthen and enlarge the ecosystem of independent journalism, enabling even more entrepreneurial work that makes available factual reporting, authentic stories, and diverse voices to help inform a robust public civic dialogue.
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The Center for Public Integrity has an unrivaled record of award-winning and impactful investigative journalism. Just this year its international reporting project, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, has completed and published a yearlong investigation into a massive leaked cache of 11.5 million financial records, known as the Panama Papers. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists helped to expose the offshore holdings of 12 current and former world leaders and revealed how associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin secretly shuffled $2 billion through banks and shadow companies. The investigation also revealed details of offshore financial dealings of 128 more politicians and public officials around the world, leading to arrests, investigations and resignations.
The far-reaching investigation was carried out by the ICIJ, German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and about 370 journalists from more than 70 countries. ICIJ, a global network of investigative reporters who collaborate on in-depth investigative stories, is a project of the Center for Public Integrity, the Pulitzer Prize-winning organization funded by philanthropy and individuals committed to unbiased investigative journalism.
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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.
Maiduguri (Nigeria) (AFP) - Campaigners on Friday questioned a Nigerian military claim that a second Chibok schoolgirl had been rescued, but the army maintained she was one of the 219 abducted by Boko Haram.
Yakubu Nkeki, the head of the Chibok Abducted Girls Parents group, said the military contacted him before an announcement was made on Wednesday about the discovery of the first girl, Amina Ali.
"We were able to identify her and then establish her parents," he told AFP. But there was no call before Nigeria's army announced late Thursday that a second schoolgirl had been rescued.
She was said to be Serah Luka, who was among 97 women and children rescued earlier that day in the Damboa area of the northeastern state of Borno.
She told troops and civilian vigilantes she was a Christian pastor's daughter originally from Madagali, in neighbouring Adamawa state, and had been in Chibok to sit her exams.
Nkeki said his records showed only two girls with the surname Luka.
"These are Kauna Luka Yana and Naomi Luka Dzakwa. Among the list of parents we have only four priests and none of them is Luka," he added.
"Among the girls none of them is from Madagali. They were either from Chibok, Damboa, Askira and Uba (all in Borno state). So I can say... that this girl is not among the abducted Chibok girls.
"We were never contacted by the military for verification of the girl's identity before the announcement was made."
A human rights activist in Mubi, Adamawa, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of his work, also said a Serah Luka was not on the list of the missing.
A senior Nigerian military source said it was "beyond reasonable doubt" that the schoolgirl was among the 219 held by the Islamists since the kidnapping on April 14, 2014.
"The military personnel who carried out the rescue operation and the civilian vigilantes who assisted them and those who know the girl confirmed that she is among those abducted," he said.
"We can only change our position if the principal of the school or the government of Borno state come out and refute this established identity of the girl."
CHICAGO, May 18 (Reuters) - Chicago will sell up to $600 million of bonds despite a stiff market penalty after the issue won final approval on Wednesday from the Chicago City Council.
The new-money general obligation bonds will be priced through Goldman, Sachs & Co in the third quarter or sooner depending on market conditions and other factors, a city official said on Monday. Goldman Sachs will also price up to $650 million of GO bonds the council approved in January to free up money for the city's budget.
Chicago's sinking credit ratings due to its nagging budget deficit and $20 billion unfunded pension liability have led investors to demand hefty yields for the city's debt.
The city's GO bonds have been trading in the U.S. municipal market at a so-called credit spread of 286 basis points to more than 300 basis points over Municipal Market Data's triple-A benchmark yield scale.
That is higher than the 200-basis-point range over the scale Chicago Chief Financial Officer Carole Brown estimated for the new bonds in her presentation to the council's finance committee on Monday.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel told reporters on Wednesday he is continuing discussions with unions on "a responsible way to fund" the city's municipal and laborers retirement systems. The Illinois Supreme Court in March tossed out cost-saving reforms meant to prevent those two funds from becoming insolvent.
A bill that popped up in the Illinois Legislature this week aims to get Chicago's municipal system 90 percent funded in 40 years, according to State Representative Elaine Nekritz, the legislation's sponsor. The bill would also withhold state money due Chicago if it fails to make required pension payments.
"I appreciate the state (representative's) desire to see the city step up ... and we are literally in the midst of conversations today to responsibly fund (pensions) so taxpayers don't have to bear the burden alone," Emanuel said.
Proceeds from the $600 million of bonds will fund equipment purchases and capital improvements in 2016 and 2017, with $100 million earmarked for legal settlements.
The city council also approved a Debt Transactions Accountability Ordinance that requires reports detailing the risks, benefits and costs of a debt issue prior to sale. The ordinance sets out time lines for city council deliberations and public hearings on bond sales and requires annual post-sale financial performance reports by the city's CFO.
(Reporting By Karen Pierog and Dave McKinney)
By Justin Madden
Chicago (Reuters) - Chicago on Wednesday agreed to pay $3.2 million to settle cases where a black man and a Hispanic man were each fatally shot by police officers who were part of a department now under fire for racial bias and the excessive use of force.
The settlements come as the third-biggest U.S. city's police department grapples with a strained relationship between officers and minority communities, and a federal probe that was launched after the release last fall of a video showing a white police officer fatally shooting a black teenager.
Chicago has paid more than $500 million in police misconduct payments since 2004, said Bill McCaffrey, a spokesman for the city's law department.
On Wednesday, Chicago's city council agreed to pay the family of Ryan Rogers $1 million.
Rogers, a 27-year-old father of two, was shot in 2013 after he tried to drive away from his East Hazel Crest apartment, which police had been staking out as part of an investigation into a cellphone robbery ring, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Rogers' family argued in a lawsuit that police officers were out of their jurisdiction and failed to identify themselves when they approached Rogers and a female friend, according to court documents. Rogers was black and the three officers involved were white, McCaffrey said.
Gregory Kulis, attorney for the family, declined to comment, saying his clients wanted to move on.
The council also approved a $2.2 million payment to the estate of Emmanuel Lopez.
Lopez, 23, was shot in 2005 after he forced an off-duty officer's vehicle into oncoming traffic, hit another car and then pinned a different officer with his vehicle, according to the Chicago Tribune. The Hispanic man was in the United States illegally, the newspaper reported.
Four white officers and one Hispanic officer were involved in the incident, McCaffrey said.
Terry Ekl, attorney for the Lopez family, could not be reached to comment. He previously said the officers had concocted a defense for shooting an unarmed man, the Tribune reported.
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Protests erupted in Chicago late last year following the delayed release of the video of white officer Jason Van Dyke's 2014 shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald. Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder in November.
The U.S. Justice Department began an investigation into Chicago police's use of deadly force following the McDonald shooting.
(Reporting by Justin Madden; Editing by Ben Klayman and Alistair Bell)
* China April home prices rise 6.2 pct y/y
* Shenzhen prices rise 62.4 pct
* Smaller cities reverse declines
* Some signs tightening in hot major cities taking effect
* 46 cities post y/y gains vs 40 in March (Adds more details)
By Clare Jim and Brenda Goh
HONG KONG, May 18 (Reuters) - China's home prices posted their fastest growth in two years in April, with gains in regional centres indicating a broader recovery in the country's housing market beyond the major cities.
However, while Shanghai and Shenzhen remained the country's two hottest housing markets, there are signs recent tightening measures are beginning to temper demand in those cities.
Average new home prices in 70 cities climbed 6.2 percent in April from a year ago, up from March's 4.9 percent rise, according to Reuters calculations based on data released by the National Statistics Bureau (NBS) on Wednesday.
That was the quickest year-on-year increase since April 2014, while 46 of 70 major cities tracked by the NBS saw annual price gains, increasing from 40 in March.
"(Price) growth in first and second-tier cities continued to accelerate, while third-tier cities reversed declines to post growth," Liu Jianwei, a senior statistician at the NBS, said in a statement accompanying the data.
The recovery in China's property market since late last year has been a rare bright spot in the world's second largest economy, which has been slowing amid internal restructuring and weak global demand.
However, rising debt levels in the country have also been a source of angst for policymakers who have publicly warned against excessive lending.
Shenzhen and Shanghai were still the two top performers, with home prices rising 62.4 percent and 28 percent from a year ago, respectively.
Compared with March, however, price gains slowed, suggesting recent tightening policies might be gaining traction, with Shenzhen growth easing to 2.3 percent from 3.7 percent, while Shanghai growth slowed to 3.1 percent from 3.6 percent.
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Both cities tightened downpayment requirements for second homes and raised the eligibility bar for non-residents in late March.
"A change was observed in the growth trend among cities... secondary homes in Shenzhen even posted a month-on-month drop, while growth in some of the second-tier cities accelerated and exceeded first tiers," Liu said.
Realtors said home sales in Shenzhen and Shanghai have plunged as much as 60 percent after the new policies.
China's housing market bottomed out in the second half of the year on a series of government support measures, although most smaller cities haven't been able to clear their oversupply issues, prompting many local authorities to push for even more stimulus.
Property professionals in some lower-tier cities said prices have been recovering, helped by the slew of support measures.
"Prices have been on the rise since the start of this year after the loosening of mortgage rate and purchase restriction," said Chen Ruisheng, a property development manager in the eastern coastal city of Wenzhou.
"Many developments are completing sales...government stimulus and subsidies must have some positive impact."
The area of property sold in the January to April period grew at the fastest pace in three years, rising 36.5 percent, according to official data on Saturday.
Property investment in April grew 9.7 percent, maintaining March's pace, as developers continued project starts in response to surging home sales, which are giving a much-needed boost to the slowing economy.
(eporting by Clare Jim in Hong Kong and Brenda Goh in Wenzhou; Editing by Sam Holmes)
China's military has staged at least three landing exercises in the country's southeast this month, state-run media reported Wednesday ahead of the inauguration of Taiwan's Beijing-sceptic president-elect Tsai Ing-wen.
The operations appear to be Beijing's latest warnings to Tsai, chairwoman of the traditionally pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, who will be sworn in on Friday and whose political message revolves around the importance of Taiwanese identity.
China and Taiwan split in 1949 after the Kuomintang nationalist forces lost a civil war to the Communists. But Beijing has always seen the island as a renegade province awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.
The largest and most recent of the drills was carried out by a regiment under the 31st Group Army, based in Fujian province opposite Taiwan, reported China Daily, the military's official mouthpiece.
Footage posted on the website of state broadcaster CCTV late Tuesday showed squadrons of attack helicopters bombarded ground targets with missiles and rockets, and landing craft charging towards a beach.
Troops fired grappling hooks to climb up cliffs, heavily camouflaged soldiers used sniper rifles, and tanks rolled through fields.
The live-fire exercises were intended to "demonstrate and test the joint landing operation capability of a basic combat unit", the Daily said, citing Lieutenant Colonel Chen Xiaoming, commander of the regiment.
The report, headlined "iron fist strikes on targets like splitting bamboo", said the drill involved several different PLA service arms and featured information warfare.
The China Daily cited an unnamed Chinese military expert as saying: "The rapid development and modernisation of the PLA now allow us to fulfil a landing operation using only a couple of hours and with few casualties," referring the the People's Liberation Army.
At least two other landing exercises have been mounted this month, one in the southern province of Guangdong and another by the navy's South Sea Fleet using Zubr-class hovercraft, the report added.
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Beijing has been sending assertive messages across the Taiwan Strait since Tsai was elected in January.
It has warned against any attempt to formally declare independence and the Taiwan Affairs Office recently said responsibility for any cross-strait crisis "must be shouldered by those who change the status quo", a thinly veiled threat to Tsai not to rock the boat.
China's defence ministry denied Wednesday that the military exercises were aimed at any particular entity, adding they should not be over-interpreted.
"It is routine arrangement to execute military drills in the southeast of China according to annual training plan, and these drills are not aimed at any specific target," it said on its website.
Japan's Olympic committee on Wednesday announced its own probe of $2 million allegedly paid to secure the 2020 Games -- some of which was used to buy luxury watches, according to French investigators.
The JOC will set up a special team to look into the payments, which are already being investigated by French prosecutors and have been linked to a son of disgraced ex-world athletics chief Lamine Diack.
Allegations the payments were improper, first reported by Britain's Guardian newspaper last week, have rocked Japan, which beat Istanbul and Madrid in the race to host the Summer Games in 2013.
The JOC sent the money in two tranches to the now-defunct, Singapore-based Black Tidings company, either side of the International Olympic Committee vote which awarded Tokyo the 2020 Games.
Diack, whose son Papa Massata Diack has denied receiving the money, was an IOC member at the time. Both men already face corruption charges in France related to the alleged cover-up of Russian doping cases.
"We decided to launch an investigation team, including outside lawyers, to probe whether there was illegality in the (consultants') contract," JOC president Tsunekazu Takeda, who led Tokyo's bid, told lawmakers during a third straight day of questioning in parliament.
Takeda said the JOC probe will involve "hearings from former officials of the bid committee", which dissolved after it landed the right to host the Games.
On Tuesday, Takeda refused to disclose details of the consultancy contract to lawmakers, citing a "confidentiality obligation".
Japanese officials, while acknowledging the money was paid, have denied wrongdoing and stress that the money was for consulting services related to the bid.
- Spending spree -
French prosecutors said last week that they suspect the 2.8 million Singapore dollars (1.8 million euros, $2 million) was intended to help secure the 2020 Olympics.
A source close to the French investigation told AFP that Papa Massata Diack received cash transfers from Asia in 2013, with the funds withdrawn in Paris.
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He bought 130,000 euros worth of luxury items including watches in Paris in July 2013, the source added. The IOC vote was held that September.
Black Tidings was headed by consultant Ian Tan Tong Han, an associate of Papa Massata Diack since the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The World Anti-Doping Agency initially raised the alarm about the bidding process in January, after uncovering evidence during an investigation into claims of widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs.
French prosecutors have said the alleged payments were discovered as part of an inquiry into allegations that the Diacks organised bribes to cover up failed dope tests by Russian athletes. France became involved as the money may have been laundered in Paris.
The controversy follows earlier problems surrounding the Tokyo Olympics. Organisers were forced to scrap their original main stadium design due to its high cost, and also had to weather plagiarism accusations over the Games' logo.
(Adds capacity cuts in paragraph 5, related story links)
* U.S. slaps 500 pct duties on some Chinese steel products
* China says to maintain steel export tax rebates
* Exports needed to help fund costly industry restructuring
* U.S. a small export market for China steel
By Ruby Lian and David Lawder
SHANGHAI/WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) - China said it would persist with controversial tax rebates to steel exporters to support the sector's painful restructuring, defying a United States move to impose punitive import duties on Chinese steel products.
A worldwide steel glut has become a major trade irritant, with China under fire from global rivals who say it is dumping cheap exports after a slowdown in demand at home.
In a marked escalation of the spat, the United States on Tuesday said it would impose duties of more than 500 percent on Chinese cold-rolled flat steel, widely used for car body panels, appliances and in construction.
However, China's Ministry of Finance said it would "continue to implement a tax rebate policy on steel exports" as it tries to finance a costly capacity closure plan.
By far the world's largest steel producer, China plans to eliminate 100-150 million tonnes of annual production - more than the U.S. produces per year - over the next five years. The cabinet said central government-controlled firms will cut steel and coal production capacity by a tenth in 2016-17.
The finance ministry said China was making special funds available to curb overcapacity in both steel and coal and would reward local authorities for exceeding their targets and meeting them early.
The policy document, though dated May 10, was published just hours after the U.S. tariffs were announced. It is the latest policy announced by different departments including the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security to push forward capacity cuts.
ON G7 MENU
The U.S. Commerce Department said the new duties effectively increase more than five-fold the import prices on Chinese-made cold-rolled flat steel products, which totaled $272.3 million in 2015. It found that products were being sold in the U.S. below cost and with unfair subsidies.
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China's Commerce Ministry expressed its "strong dissatisfaction" with the U.S. ruling, and said the United States should rectify its mistakes as soon as possible.
"The United States adopted many unfair methods during the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese products, including the refusal to grant Chinese state-owned firms a differentiated tax rate," it said.
The Group of Seven rich nations plans to address the steel glut when it meets in Japan later this month, in a move seen likely to add to pressure on China.
Analysts said the potential closing off of the U.S. market would not substantially reduce China's exports, accounting for just 2 percent of its total shipments.
"The duty will not have a big impact on China's overall steel exports because the volume to the United States is very small... but because of anti-dumping, export destinations are becoming more and more dispersed," said Kevin Bai, an analyst with CRU in Beijing.
CHINA DENIES FLOODING MARKETS
While a flood of cheap Chinese steel has been blamed for putting some overseas producers out of business, China denies its mills have been dumping their products on foreign markets, stressing that local steelmakers are more efficient and enjoy far lower costs than their international counterparts.
China has also denied there are any inducements in place that encourage steelmakers to sell their products overseas, saying trade flows are determined by the market.
"Global demand is increasing, and Chinese steel products are very competitive, so exports are increasing a little, but the steel sector is mainly used to satisfy domestic demand and there has never been any policy support for large volumes of exports," China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) chairman Ma Guoqiang said at a conference this week.
However, a vaguely-worded statement from the central bank and several other government bodies last month said China would encourage exports and provide financing for steel and coal firms looking to move overseas.
While the government has offered as much as 100 billion yuan ($15 billion) to help handle worker layoffs, China's debt-ridden steel sector cannot afford to abandon the financial lifeline provided by exports.
Foreign sales reached a record 112.4 million tonnes last year, up 19 percent, though total value fell 10.5 percent to $62.8 billion as a result of plunging prices.
More than half of large steel mills still made losses last year, according to the CISA.
Steelmakers have called on more proactive support for the export business, with Chen Ying, the general manager of Jiangsu Shagang, telling a conference on Monday that boosting foreign sales would help speed up the country's restructuring efforts.
"China should support exports - steel product exports and moving projects and plants abroad," she said.
($1 = 6.5335 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Ruby Lian and David Lawder, with additional reporting by David Stanway and Michael Martina; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Ian Geoghegan)
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's Central Military Commision, the country's top military leadership body, has dispatched corruption inspectors to the armed forces and its military academies to conduct "re-examinations," state news agency Xinhua said. The inspections cover the army, navy, air force, rocket force, Academy of Military Science, National Defense University, National University of Defense Technology and the armed police, Xinhua reported late on Tuesday. Previous inspections found issues with leading officials including lax discipline and misconduct in procurement and housing assignments, according to Xinhua. President Xi Jinping has made his fight against corruption, including in the military, a top priority. Serving and retired officers have warned that the problem is so pervasive it could undermine China's ability to wage war. At the same time, Xi has unveiled a broad-brush outline for military reforms, seeking further modernization of the command structure of the world's largest armed forces. In April, China accused Guo Boxiong, a former vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, of taking "huge" bribes in return for promotions. (Reporting By Nathaniel Taplin; Editing by Michael Perry)
* Midea intends to raise Kuka stake to above 30 percent
* Says to leave Kuka management in charge
* No plans to delist Kuka
* Kuka shares hit record high (Adds government comments, think tank comment, details on Kuka statement)
By Edward Taylor and Ludwig Burger
FRANKFURT, May 18 (Reuters) - Chinese home appliance maker Midea Group made an offer on Wednesday to buy German factory robot manufacturer Kuka AG, the latest bid by a Chinese investor to gain control of cutting-edge German industrial technology.
The 115 euro per share offer values Kuka at around 4.5 billion euros ($5.07 billion) and represents a premium of 36 percent to Kuka's share price of 84.41 euros at close on Tuesday. Shares in Kuka rose by over 30 percent on the news.
Kuka is one of the world's largest producers of industrial robots and a poster child of Germany's drive to upgrade its manufacturing sector to master the industrial internet.
It is the latest in a series of German industrial groups to be targeted by Chinese buyers as the world's second-largest economy tries to make the transition from a low-cost factory location into a high-tech industrial hub.
Midea said it wanted to keep Kuka's management intact and not delist the German company. Following a pattern set by Chinese suitors seeking to avoid disruption to better understand and adopt Western technology, it said it would not implement a so-called profit transfer and domination agreement.
"KUKA is in excellent condition today and we are committed to investing in KUKA's employees, brand, intellectual property and facilities to further support the company's development," Midea Chairman and Chief Executive Paul Fang said in a statement.
Midea said it aimed to expand Kuka's know-how in robotics for general industry and logistics applications and open doors for better access to Chinese markets.
"One of the leading rationales for the deal is rising labour costs. This means efficiency becomes more important for growing our business and for the Chinese economy as a whole," Andy Gu, Vice President for Midea's international business, told Reuters.
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"We want to keep Kuka's separate identity as a German company," he said. "Where we can help Kuka is mostly in China. Kuka management has plans to grow in China. Given our meaningful footprint in China we can help them accelerate growth in terms of our customer base and supply chain."
KUKA SHARES SURGE
Other Chinese investment in Germany this year includes an agreement in January by a consortium led by ChemChina to buy industrial machinery manufacturer KraussMaffei Group for about $1 billion.
In 2012, China's Sany Heavy Industry bought German concrete pump maker Putzmeister for $698 million, while Weichai Power took a 25 percent stake forklift truck maker Kion in 2012.
Germany depends on manufacturing for a larger share of the economy than any of its western European neighbours, with tens of thousands of family-owned businesses building the bedrock of its export-driven success.
The government wants to foster adoption of the fast-evolving industrial Internet, in which smart factory systems are becoming increasingly connected. Kuka has branded itself as one of the pioneers.
Kuka shares jumped as much as 35.5 percent to a record high on Wednesday and traded 32 percent higher at 0743 GMT on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Midea said it had a 13.5 percent stake in Kuka and was seeking to become the largest shareholder by raising its stake beyond 30 percent.
Augsburg Kuka has three large shareholders including Friedhelm Loh, a German entrepreneur who owns 10 percent, and Voith Group which holds 25.1 percent.
Kuka said it had been informed by Midea that Midea would invite the major German shareholders to stay invested and that it wants to preserve Kuka's sites and staff.
Kuka would carefully assess the full takeover offer once it is available, it added.
NO INTERVENTION BY BERLIN
An ally of chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin would not intervene as German companies were also buying stakes in Chinese and other foreign companies.
"We live in a free market economy and expose ourselves to global competition," said Michael Fuchs, deputy leader of Merkel's CDU/CSU parliamentary group in Germany's lower house.
In terms of direct investment in property, plants and equipment, Germany's private sector has spent almost 60 billion euros in China, dwarfing the 2 billion euros that Chinese groups have invested in Germany, according to the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Jost Wuebbecke of Berlin-based China-focused think tank Merics, which is backed by the Schmidt family behind retailer Metro, said Chinese foreign direct investment in Germany was welcome in principle but Kuka was an exception because of its role in the industrial Internet.
"From a German point of view it's not necessarily an advantage to share the technology because of Germany's very considerable lead in this area," Wuebbecke said.
Under German takeover rules, any shareholder gaining control of more than 30 percent in a listed company must make an offer to all shareholders. Midea Group raised its stake in Kuka to 10.2 percent in February, saying at the time that it wanted to further increase its shareholding.
($1 = 0.8868 euros)
(Additional reporting by Tina Bellon and Alexander Huebner in Frankfurt; Andreas Rinke, Rene Wagner and Madeline Chambers in Berlin, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Gregg Lemkau
Chinese companies have been buying up foreign businesses, including in the US, at an unprecedented rate but they could probably use a little help.
That's according to Goldman Sachs' cohead of global mergers and acquisitions, Gregg Lemkau, who spoke about the role that bankers can play in an interview with Bloomberg TV's Alix Steel.
"I think a lot of these companies are still learning how to do M&A," Lemkau said.
He said he is heading over to China this week with a team of bankers to speak to clients about how to organize financing, get regulatory approvals, and win over Western companies that could be skeptical about their ability to close deals.
Lemkau noted that, recently, many of the major transactions have involved Chinese companies encroaching on existing deals, or buying assets that were already up for sale.
"They're saying, 'Here's something that's actionable I know it's for sale because they've announced a transaction with somebody else; I know what the price is, so all I have to do is pay a slightly higher price; and I know that someone has come along and done due diligence on the asset, so it must be clean,'" Lemkau said.
That was the case for Anbang's $14 bid for Starwood Hotels. The hotel chain had already agreed to sell itself to Marriott International when the Chinese insurance giant showed up with a higher offer.
It may not sound like a bad strategy but it hasn't always worked out for the Chinese bidders. After engaging Marriott in a bidding war, for example, Anbang ultimately had to walk away from Starwood deal.
So it makes sense for banks like Goldman to be pitching Chinese clients right now. Especially if they believe the buying spree will be an ongoing trend.
Lemkau has repeatedly said this activity feels "centrally-driven." That is to say that the Chinese government is supporting this kind of dealmaking.
If that's the case, it won't be going away anytime soon.
Head to Bloomberg for the full interview
NOW WATCH: Be sure to learn the actual meaning of these real estate 'code words' before looking for a new place
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By Donny Kwok
HONG KONG, May 18 (Reuters) - When Chinese white goods giant Haier Group bought a 20 percent stake in Fisher & Paykel Appliances in 2009, the heavily-indebted New Zealand company was at the mercy of its banks, hit by a depressed housing market and an ill-timed factory relocation overseas.
Its full acquisition three years later not only helped keep Fisher & Paykel afloat, but also put privately-owned Haier in control of one-fifth of Australia's markets for fridges, washing machines and dishwashers, up from less than 5 percent in 2010. Rivals such as Electrolux AB and LG Electronics Inc lost market share in various kinds of products during the period, according to data from Euromonitor.
Haier's advance in Australia, largely fueled by its own deep pockets, may be an indication of how it could stir up the U.S. market after its deal to buy General Electric Co's appliance business for $5.4 billion in January.
Under Haier control, Fisher & Paykel has been able to do large product launches and its research and development budget has increased, Carnegie Investment Bank said in a recent note. Carnegie said it expected Haier will use the same strategy in the U.S. market. The group's global R&D spending jumped to 3.05 billion yuan (467 million) in 2015, a rise of 53 percent since 2012.
Qingdao Haier Co Ltd, the publicly traded core subsidiary of the Chinese group, has spent 9.7 billion yuan since 2011 in acquiring home appliance assets, according to its annual report.
WEAK SPOT
Haier is not alone. Major Chinese white goods makers such as Hisense Electric Co Ltd and Midea Group Co Ltd , have been on an overseas spending spree this year, as they seek to snap up foreign brands to tap faster-growing markets as growth slows at home.
"Access to other markets helps them find new sources of growth as the domestic market slows," said James Roy, associate principal of Shanghai-based China Market Research Group.
"It's also an opportunity to gain additional know-how to succeed in China, where competition is becoming fairly intense."
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For rivals such as Whirlpool Corp, Electrolux, LG and Samsung Electronics - some of the biggest names it will come up against in the United States - one aspect of Haier's rise in Australia will give some cause for comfort.
Despite integration of their sales, logistics and customer care operations, the deal has yet to lead to larger market share gains for Haier's own brand, highlighting challenges the group faces as it seeks to build market share in the mid-tier segment of the market.
"The high-end market is the weak spot for Chinese home appliance makers," said Juliette Liu, analyst at Yuanta Research in Taipei.
A search on Australian home appliance retailer The Good Guys has Fisher & Paykel on the top line of its listed brands, while Haier's own brand is nowhere to be seen. Haier did not respond to a request for comment about its strategy in Australia.
"There have not been any questions about that brand," said Mitch Konno, assistant store manager at a Sydney outlet of privately-owned whitegoods chain Bing Lee, which carries Fisher & Paykel products but not Haier.
"Fisher & Paykel is the more well known brand and I don't think consumers know they're the same company," added Konno.
A Sydney outlet of The Good Guys was displaying just one Haier clothes washer among the 50 different machines it was trying to sell during a recent visit by a Reuters reporter. Floor staff for the company said they were not permitted to comment.
M&A BOOM
China's top domestic players, including Haier, Hisense, Midea, Gree Electric Appliances Inc and Joyoung Co Ltd opened their wallets to fund this overseas push.
Since the start of 2014, they spent over $31 billion on deals, a nearly six-fold increase from the $5.4 billion recorded between 2010 and 2013, according to Thomson Reuters data. Latest deals include Midea's $473 million purchase of Toshiba's white goods business, and Hisense's acquisition of Sharp Corp's TV factory in Mexico. On Wednesday, Midea said it had offered to buy German industrial robots maker Kuka AG in a deal that values Kuka at around 4.5 billion euros.
More deals are likely to follow, as some global players exit the market amid growing competition from the low-cost Chinese manufacturers, who are also under pressure from the government in Beijing to improve product quality and standards.
"We will aggressively look for and capture M&A opportunities that may arise globally, in a bid to further enhance our global competitiveness," said Jiang Peng, a spokesman for Midea.
And their solid profit generation ability will help Chinese firms lead further consolidation. Midea logged an operating profit margin of 13.8 percent in 2015, and Haier posted a margin of 7.2 percent, higher than Electrolux's 2.2 percent and Whirlpool's 6.2 percent, according to CLSA and company reports.
($1 = 6.5346 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Additional reporting by Byron Kaye in SYDNEY and Matthew Miller in BEIJING; Writing by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Martin Howell)
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Nazir Razak, the brother of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, will resume his duties as the chairman of CIMB Group Holdings Bhd after an independent review found that he had not misused his position at the bank in transferring political funds from his personal account. Nazir announced on April 18 that he was taking a voluntary leave of absence and that a review would be conducted into reports that he had helped disburse $7 million in funds to ruling party politicians on the instructions of his elder brother Najib before the 2013 elections. CIMB, Malaysia's second-biggest lender by assets, said in a statement on Wednesday the findings of the review concluded that Nazir "did not misuse his position" and there was no inappropriate use of the banks resources. However, the bank said the review had identified some process shortcomings which would be rectified. Nazir, a leading Malaysian corporate figure, had said earlier that he believed the money came from legitimate fund-raising, and that nothing he did was illegal or compromised his position at CIMB. But the revelations dragged Nazir into a multi-billion dollar graft scandal around state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad and the transfer of $681 million into the personal bank account of the prime minister. Najib has denied any wrongdoing, saying that he had not taken any money for personal gain. (Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Nick Macfie)
(BOGOTA, Colombia) Colombias government is giving pharmaceutical giant Novartis a few weeks to lower prices on a popular cancer drug or see its monopoly on production of the medicine broken and competition thrown open to generic rivals.
Health Minister Alejandro Gavirias remarks in an interview Tuesday are the strongest yet in an increasingly public fight with the worlds biggest drugmaker that could set a precedent for middle-income countries grappling to contain rising prices for complex drugs.
Memos leaked last week to a nonprofit group, written from the Colombian Embassy in Washington, describe intense lobbying pressure on Colombia, a staunch U.S. ally, from the pharmaceutical industry and its allies in the U.S. Congress.
In one memo, the embassy warns that breaking Novartis patent for the leukemia drug Gleevec could hurt U.S. support for Colombias bid to join the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade zone and even jeopardize $450 million in U.S. assistance for a peace deal with leftist rebels. The memos followed meetings between Colombian diplomats and officials from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and a Republican staffer on the Senate Finance Committee whose chairman, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, has close ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
Read More: Big Drug Companies Hiked Prices on Popular Medications, Report Finds
Gaviria, an economist by training, said the pressure shows the forceful steps that the pharmaceutical industry is willing to take to protect its commercial interests.
Theyre very afraid that Colombia could become an example that spreads across the region, he said.
Government health programs in many countries are being squeezed by high prices for newly launched drugs and by annual price hikes of 10 percent or more for medicines long on the market, and they are increasingly pushing back by demanding big discounts or setting price caps on ultra-expensive drugs.
Story continues
Gaviria denies he is trying to set a precedent in the global fight for lower prices.
For us, its a question of survival, he said. He noted Colombias health care system guarantees patients access to all approved drugs and the budget is straining after years of price rises. In 2009, the government declared a public health emergency after spending on sophisticated drugs had risen tenfold in just a few years.
Read More: The Unintended Side Effect of Lower Drug Prices
As the state, you cant just buy everything at the price set by whoever is selling. But unfortunately thats what happened many times, Gaviria said.
Novartis has rejected Gavirias proposal to reduce the price for Gleevec to 140 pesos (5 U.S. cents) per milligram. That is less than half the current regulated price but still well above what generic versions cost before they were banned when, after a decade of litigation, a Colombian court in 2012 awarded Novartis an exclusive patent on one of two forms of the drug.
In an April 20 letter, Novartis local affiliate said that it doesnt consider it convenient to initiate negotiations over prices and that the decision to override patents should be taken only in exceptional circumstances and not used as a bargaining tool.
Gaviria said he is giving Novartis a little time to reconsider. But if the Swiss company doesnt, he said, he plans to declare access to the leukemia medicine a matter of public interest when he returns from a trip next week to Geneva to attend a meeting of the World Health Organization.
Gleevec has been the top-selling drug for Novartis since 2012, bringing in $4.7 billion worldwide last year, or about 10 percent of the companys total revenue. It wont be the top seller much longer, though. Gleevec got generic competition on Feb. 1 in the U.S., which accounts for half of its sales. As a result, in 2016s first quarter, Gleevec sales fell 40 percent in the U.S. and 20 percent worldwide.
In Colombia, the patent is due to expire in July 2018.
Novartis spokesman Eric Althoff declined to answer questions on what his company is trying to achieve in its talks with the Colombian government. He also would not say whether Novartis enlisted U.S. officials to push the government against ending its patent here for the drug, which is called Glivec inColombia and some other countries.
Read More: Former Hedge Fund Manager Wont Lower Price of $750 AIDS Drug Anytime Soon
The company is actively seeking a resolution to discussions around our Glivec patent in Colombia that benefits patients, innovation and the health care system, Althoff said in an email.
Novartis says that the drug has been subject to Colombian price controls since 2011 and that two generic versions exist. But the Health Ministry says generic competition that previously existed has been all but driven out by Novartis aggressive marketing and competitors fear of prosecution for infringing the patent.
Whats not in dispute is how much Colombia stands to save from issuing so-called compulsory licenses. Cost for treatment with Glivec is about $15,000 a year, or about twice the average Colombian workers income. According to a study by the ministry, without competition from generics, the government would have to pay an extra $15 million a year supplying Glivec.
More than 100 lawyers and health experts from around the world sent a letter to Colombiasgovernment this week to support its efforts.
The pressure against Colombia is bogus but its real, said Andrew Goldman, a counsel for Knowledge Ecology International, the Washington-based group that first obtained the embassy memos. We always assume that this kind of intervention is happening behind the scenes but rarely do you get the chance to see it up close.
___
Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman reported this story in Bogota and AP Medical Writer Linda A. Johnson reported from Trenton, New Jersey.
Rome (AFP) - A letter penned by Christopher Columbus in 1493 was returned to its rightful resting place in Italy Wednesday, ending a years-long investigation into its theft and forgery.
The rare missive in which the Italian explorer describes his voyage to the Americas was tracked down several years ago in the Library of Congress in Washington.
"Five hundred years after it was written, the letter has made the same trip back from America," Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said at a ceremony in Rome to mark the handover, thanking US authorities for helping to return the precious document.
Columbus wrote the original letter to his patrons King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, a year after embarking on his historic journey across the Atlantic.
The explorer likely drafted the letter while voyaging back to Europe, dating it March 4, 1493, the day he landed in Lisbon.
The letter was then translated into Latin, the lingua franca of the time, and copies were made for distribution around Europe where it played a key role in expanding knowledge of the "New World."
Eleven copies were made in 1493 and six others between 1494 and 1497. The printer Stephan Plannck published two of the first editions in Rome, and one copy became the property of the Riccardiana Library in Florence. At an unknown date, it was stolen from there and replaced with a forgery.
After receiving a tip off alerting them to the fraud in 2010, American investigators confirmed that a New York-based antiquarian book dealer had bought the letter in 1990.
Two years later it sold at auction for $300,000 to a buyer who donated it to the Library of Congress.
The file on the original theft remains open. The stolen letter will return to Florence and go on public display. No one knows what happened to the original Spanish text.
Spaces, an L.A. startup developing virtual-reality and mixed-reality experiences, announced $3 million in initial funding led by Comcast Ventures.
The companys two co-founders, CEO Shiraz Akmal and CTO Brad Herman, both hail from DreamWorks Animation, where they worked on the studios VR content experiences. In addition to Comcast Ventures, Spaces investors include Boost VC, Canyon Creek Capital, Colopl VR Fund, GREE, Kai Huang, the Venture Reality Fund, the Sinovation Fund, Youku Global Media Fund and CRCM VC.
Spaces, officially formed in January 2016, says its already working on a range of VR and mixed-reality projects with companies including NBCUniversal, Microsoft, Big Blue Bubble and the Hettema Group. Platforms its developing for include Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Microsoft HoloLens, Samsung Gear VR, PlayStation VR and Google Cardboard.
Spaces has a compelling and clear vision to be the catalyst for companies looking to create VR and MxR (mixed reality) experiences, Comcast Ventures managing director Michael Yang said in a statement. Spaces is combining remarkable capabilities, tools and creativity to push the boundaries of the VR frontier.
Comcast Ventures also is an investor in AltspaceVR, a startup building social spaces in VR.
Based in Santa Monica, Calif., Spaces currently has nine employees, who have various backgrounds in filmmaking, video games and theme parks. Akmal previously was head of business and product development for DreamWorks Animations DreamLab, and before that was VP of product development operations for video game company THQ. Herman headed up DreamLab, and previously worked in DWA movies Turbo and Kung Fu Panda 2. In addition, Spaces executive creative director Dean Orion previously created interactive, location-based attractions for DWA and Walt Disney Imagineering.
The combination of experience and creativity is rare in this brand-new virtual reality industry, and the work the Spaces team has accomplished sets them apart in an exciting way, said Ryan Cheung, VP of finance for Chinese Internet giant Youku Tudou, which is now part of Alibaba Group.
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The Spaces team also has enlisted an advisory board that includes attorney Dan Offner, an angel investor and Oculus VRs former general counsel; Keith Boesky, former president of Eidos Interactive and the principal of Boesky & Company; and Indian film actor and entrepreneur Rana Daggubati, star of Baahubali: The Beginning, among the highest-grossing films in Indias history.
The company takes its name from the industry term for the base unit of VR experiences. Virtual reality spaces offer creative challenges weve never seen before: to build fully dimensional spaces in which viewers can completely interact, Akmal said.
Collectively, the Spaces executive team has previously led the development and creation of such projects as a widely acclaimed Dragons VR flying experience for Oculus Rift; the initial version of DreamWorks Color, an augmented-reality app that brings kids 2D creations to life; and the DreamWorks VR app.
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ticking clocks
June is on the table for a rate hike.
The minutes of the Federal Reserve's April meeting released on Wednesday showed that the Federal Open Market Committee could raise its benchmark interest rate next month if the economic data warrant it.
Most members of the policy-setting committee said that they would be willing to vote for a hike if the labor market keeps getting better and inflation continues to approach their 2% target.
But as expected, committee members were divided over whether the data would call for a June rate hike.
This is the key portion of the minutes (emphasis added):
Participants expressed a range of views about the likelihood that incoming information would make it appropriate to adjust the stance of policy at the time of the next meeting. Several participants were concerned that the incoming information might not provide sufficiently clear signals to determine by mid-June whether an increase in the target range for the federal funds rate would be warranted.
Some participants expressed more confidence that incoming data would prove broadly consistent with economic conditions that would make an increase in the target range in June appropriate. Some participants were concerned that market participants may not have properly assessed the likelihood of an increase in the target range at the June meeting, and they emphasized the importance of communicating clearly over the intermeeting period how the Committee intends to respond to economic and financial developments.
In essence, the Fed debated whether June would be too soon, and whether markets really believe that it can raise rates twice this year as it indicated in March.
Hawkish FOMC members, who want rates to rise sooner rather than later, thought that there were risks to financial stability if the Fed waits too long:
A couple of participants were concerned that further postponement of action to raise the federal funds rate might confuse the public about the economic considerations that influence the Committee's policy decisions and potentially erode the Committee's credibility.
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As the minutes crossed, the Dow gave up a 100-point gain, suggesting that there's some concern about forthcoming higher rates. Bonds sold off and the yield on the benchmark 10-year note rose nine basis points to as high as 1.852%.
To recap the big news from the FOMC meeting three weeks ago, the statement removed language showing that the Fed was concerned about global-market risks to the US economy. As expected, the FOMC left its benchmark rate unchanged.
The Fed's forthcoming meeting in June is one that markets really consider "live" partly because it will be followed by a press conference with chair Janet Yellen.
And so, these minutes are the last joint communication from the FOMC that markets can parse to get clues about what the Fed may do.
Here's the full text of the minutes:
The Relationship between Monetary Policy and Financial Stability
The staff presented several briefings on a special topic, the relationship between monetary policy and financial stability. The presentations began with an overview of the possible linkages among monetary policy, macroprudential tools, and financial stability, drawing on both academic research and experience with such tools in various countries. The staff then reviewed empirical literature on the linkages between the stance of monetary policy and financial stability. Lastly, the staff presented illustrative simulation results from a specific macroeconomic model to explore whether and how monetary policy should react to financial imbalances as well as the extent to which monetary and macroprudential policies should be coordinated to best achieve macroeconomic goals and financial stability goals.
In their comments on the briefings and in their discussion of the relationship between monetary policy and financial stability, FOMC participants noted that more stringent regulatory and supervisory policies implemented since the financial crisis, including enhanced capital and liquidity requirements for some types of financial institutions, had significantly increased the resilience of the financial system to shocks. Participants emphasized the importance of macroprudential tools in promoting financial stability, and they generally expressed the view that such tools should be the primary means to address financial stability risks. However, it was noted that relatively few macroprudential tools are available to financial regulators in the United States and that, for the most part, such tools are untested. Moreover, a number of institutional factors, including the dispersion of responsibilities across regulatory agencies, differences in mandates among those agencies, and resulting coordination challenges, may make it difficult to deploy macroprudential tools expeditiously in the United States and may lessen their effectiveness. Some participants noted that these considerations would be less significant for tools that were likely to be adjusted only infrequently. Most participants judged that the benefits of using monetary policy to address threats to financial stability would typically be outweighed by the costs associated with deviations from the Committee's employment and price-stability objectives induced by such actions; some also noted that the benefits are highly uncertain. Nonetheless, participants generally agreed that the Committee should not completely rule out the possibility of using monetary policy to address financial stability risks, particularly in circumstances in which such risks significantly threatened the achievement of its dual mandate and when macroprudential tools had been or were likely to be ineffective at mitigating those risks. Finally, participants stressed the need for further research and analysis to advance understanding of the relationship between monetary policy and financial stability and to help identify situations in which it might be desirable to incorporate financial stability considerations in the design of monetary policy.
Developments in Financial Markets and Open Market Operations
The manager of the System Open Market Account (SOMA) reported on developments in domestic and foreign financial markets, including changes in market participants' expectations for the course of U.S. monetary policy. The deputy manager provided a briefing on money market developments and System open market operations conducted by the Open Market Desk during the period since the Committee met on March 15-16, 2016. Except for the March quarter-end, the daily effective federal funds rate had again remained very close to the center of the Committee's 1/4 to 1/2 percent target range over the intermeeting period. The manager then briefed the Committee on a routine review by the staff of the process for managing foreign currency reserves and a resulting proposal for an enhanced analytical framework for the management of those reserves.
The Committee voted unanimously to renew the reciprocal currency arrangements with the Bank of Canada and the Bank of Mexico; these arrangements are associated with the Federal Reserve's participation in the North American Framework Agreement of 1994. In addition, the Committee voted unanimously to renew the dollar and foreign currency liquidity swap arrangements with the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, and the Swiss National Bank. The votes to renew the Federal Reserve's participation in these standing arrangements are taken annually at the April FOMC meeting.
By unanimous vote, the Committee ratified the Desk's domestic transactions over the intermeeting period. There were no intervention operations in foreign currencies for the System's account during the intermeeting period.
Staff Review of the Economic Situation
The information reviewed for the April 26-27 FOMC meeting indicated that labor market conditions improved further in the first quarter even though growth in real gross domestic product (GDP) appeared to have slowed. Consumer price inflation continued to run below the Committee's longer-run objective of 2 percent, restrained in part by earlier decreases in energy prices and declining prices of non-energy imports. Survey-based measures of longer-run inflation expectations were little changed, on balance, in recent months, while market-based measures of inflation compensation were still low.
Total nonfarm payroll employment expanded at a solid pace in March, and labor market conditions generally continued to strengthen. Although the unemployment rate edged up to 5.0 percent, both the labor force participation rate and the employment-to-population ratio continued to increase. The share of workers employed part time for economic reasons rose slightly but had been about flat, on balance, over recent months. The rates of private-sector hires and quits moved up in February, while the rate of job openings declined a little but was still at an elevated level. In late March and early April, the four-week moving average of initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits was essentially unchanged, on net, at a low level. Labor productivity growth appeared to have remained slow over the four quarters ending in the first quarter of this year. Measures of labor compensation continued to rise at a modest pace, as average hourly earnings for all employees increased 2-1/4 percent over the 12 months ending in March.
Total industrial production declined in February and March. Manufacturing output decreased, partly reflecting the effects on export demand of earlier appreciation of the foreign exchange value of the dollar. Meanwhile, mining output continued to contract as a result of further declines in drilling activity associated with low crude oil prices. Moreover, unseasonably warm weather in February and March held down the output of utilities. Automakers' assembly schedules and broader indicators of manufacturing production, such as the readings on new orders from national and regional manufacturing surveys, mostly pointed to only modest gains in factory output over the next few months. Information on extraction and drilling activity for crude oil and natural gas in early April was consistent with further declines in mining output.
Growth in real personal consumption expenditures (PCE) appeared to have slowed in the first quarter. Real PCE rose moderately in February after being flat in January. The components of the nominal retail sales data used by the Bureau of Economic Analysis to construct its estimate of PCE moved sideways in March, and the rate of sales of new light motor vehicles decreased markedly. Nevertheless, recent readings on key factors that influence consumer spending were consistent with a pickup in real PCE growth in the coming months. Gains in real disposable income continued to be solid in February. Households' net worth was boosted by the rise in equity prices over the intermeeting period and by further strong increases in home values through February. Also, consumer sentiment as measured by the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers remained upbeat in early April.
Recent information on housing activity was broadly consistent with a continued slow recovery in this sector. Starts and building permits for new single-family homes declined in March, but both measures were higher in the first quarter as a whole than in the fourth quarter of 2015. However, starts of multifamily units continued to decrease in March. Sales of existing homes rose in March after decreasing in February, while new home sales moved lower in both months; nonetheless, sales of both new and existing homes in the first quarter as a whole were above those in the fourth quarter.
Real private expenditures for business equipment and intellectual property appeared to decline further in the first quarter. Nominal shipments of nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft decreased, on net, in February and March. Forward-looking indicators of equipment spending, such as new orders for nondefense capital goods along with recent readings from national and regional surveys of business conditions, continued to be soft. Firms' nominal spending for nonresidential structures excluding drilling and mining decreased in February. Indicators of spending for structures in the drilling and mining sector, such as the number of oil and gas rigs in operation, continued to fall through early April. The available data suggested that inventory investment moved down in the first quarter.
Total real government purchases seemed to have risen modestly in the first quarter. Federal government spending for defense appeared to have declined. However, the payrolls of state and local governments increased in the first quarter, and nominal construction spending by these governments rose, on net, in the first two months of the quarter.
The U.S. international trade deficit widened in February, as imports rose more than exports; however, preliminary data on trade in goods suggested that the deficit narrowed substantially in March, with imports falling back sharply even as exports declined. Large increases in both exports and imports of consumer goods in February were more than reversed in March. Also, imports of capital goods dropped sharply in March after increasing in February. In all, the recent data indicated that net exports probably continued to be a moderate drag on real GDP growth in the first quarter.
Total U.S. consumer prices, as measured by the PCE price index, increased 1 percent over the 12 months ending in February, partly restrained by declines in consumer energy prices. Core PCE price inflation, which excludes changes in food and energy prices, was 1-3/4 percent over the same 12-month period, held down in part by falling prices of non-energy imports and the pass-through of declines in energy prices to prices of other goods and services. Over the 12 months ending in March, total consumer prices as measured by the consumer price index (CPI) rose 1 percent, while core CPI inflation was 2-1/4 percent. In light of the CPI data, both total and core PCE price inflation on a 12-month basis appeared to slow a bit in March. Survey measures of longer-run inflation expectations--including those from the Michigan survey along with the Desk's Survey of Primary Dealers and Survey of Market Participants--were generally little changed, on balance, in recent months, although the reading from the Michigan survey in early April was at the low end of its historical range.
Recent indicators suggested that foreign real GDP growth had picked up in the first quarter after a lackluster performance last year. Economic growth in Canada appeared to have rebounded from a very weak fourth quarter. Recent data on industrial production and retail sales pointed to a pickup in economic growth in the euro area. Although weak economic performance persisted in Japan and South America, the weakness appeared to have abated somewhat. In contrast, economic growth in China moderated in the first quarter, although economic indicators in March were more upbeat than in the earlier months of the year. In the advanced foreign economies (AFEs), headline inflation remained low, held down by earlier declines in energy prices. With inflation generally running below the target rates in these economies, monetary policies remained very accommodative. By contrast, overall inflation in emerging market economies (EMEs) rose in the first quarter, largely reflecting increases in inflation in much of Latin America along with an increase in inflation in China that was driven by higher food prices.
Staff Review of the Financial Situation
Financial market conditions improved further, on balance, over the intermeeting period, with investors appearing to respond to Federal Reserve communications that were viewed as more accommodative than anticipated and to somewhat better-than-expected incoming data on foreign economic activity. Risk sentiment also appeared to improve further, on net, accompanied by a decline in financial market volatility and higher oil prices. Domestic economic data releases over the period had, on balance, a limited effect on asset prices.
Federal Reserve communications following the March FOMC meeting were interpreted by market participants as more accommodative than expected. In particular, investors were attentive to the larger-than-expected downward revisions to the projections of the federal funds rate in the FOMC's Summary of Economic Projections as well as to references in the March FOMC statement and the Chair's prepared remarks at the press conference to risks to the U.S. economic outlook stemming from global economic and financial developments. Meanwhile, domestic data releases were mixed and elicited only modest market reactions. On net, financial market quotes implied that the federal funds rate path expected by investors flattened notably, and that their estimated probability of a rate hike by the June FOMC meeting declined significantly. In the Survey of Market Participants, the median investor's modal path for the federal funds rate also moved down substantially, while in the Survey of Primary Dealers, the median dealer's modal path was little changed.
Consistent with the flatter path for the federal funds rate implied by market quotes, yields on nominal Treasury securities with maturities up to 10 years declined slightly over the period since the March FOMC meeting. Measures of inflation compensation based on Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities increased somewhat but remained at low levels. Credit conditions in municipal bond markets continued to be stable even as the situation facing Puerto Rico and its creditors deteriorated further.
Over the intermeeting period, broad U.S. equity price indexes moved up, on net, likely because of investors' views that monetary policy would be more accommodative than previously expected along with an improvement in risk sentiment. Stock prices increased broadly across industries, including the energy sector. One-month-ahead implied volatility on the S&P 500 index--the VIX--moved down and ended the period below its historical median. Spreads on 10-year corporate bond yields over yields on comparable-maturity Treasury securities for both triple-B-rated and speculative-grade issuers declined, on balance, but remained at levels near the high end of their ranges since 2012, as the outlook for corporate earnings deteriorated somewhat over the period. In light of available earnings reports of some companies in the S&P 500 index along with equity analysts' forecasts for companies that had not yet issued reports, corporate earnings in the first quarter appeared to have decreased markedly relative to the previous quarter.
Financing conditions for U.S. nonfinancial businesses remained generally accommodative for investment-grade issuers, and those for speculative-grade firms improved somewhat after showing strains earlier in the year. Corporate bond issuance by speculative-grade firms rebounded in March from the sluggish pace in January and February. Growth of commercial and industrial (C&I) loans on banks' books remained strong and continued to be driven by lending to investment-grade borrowers by large banks. Nonetheless, according to the most recent Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices (SLOOS), on balance, banks further tightened their lending standards on C&I loans to large and middle-market firms in the first quarter, while demand for such loans weakened. The SLOOS indicated that banks expected an increase this year in delinquencies and charge-offs on existing loans to firms in the energy sector; banks also noted some deterioration in credit quality of loans to non-energy businesses located in U.S. regions that were dependent on the energy sector.
A significant number of SLOOS respondents reported tightening their lending standards on all major categories of commercial real estate (CRE) loans during the first quarter. However, demand for CRE loans reportedly strengthened, and CRE loans on banks' books continued to grow at a robust pace over the first quarter. In response to wider and more volatile spreads on commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) since the summer of 2015, CMBS issuance was subdued in the first quarter, consistent with reports from banks in the SLOOS. Over the intermeeting period, CMBS spreads narrowed markedly but remained elevated.
Growth of residential real estate (RRE) loans on banks' books continued to be low through the first quarter, and credit conditions stayed tight for mortgage borrowers with low credit scores, hard-to-document income, or relatively high debt-to-income ratios. A significant number of SLOOS respondents reportedly eased lending standards on residential mortgages eligible for purchase by the government-sponsored enterprises, and a significant number also experienced stronger demand overall for RRE loans in the first quarter. Over the intermeeting period, rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages for well-qualified borrowers edged down in line with yields on mortgage-backed securities and comparable-duration Treasury securities and were near their all-time lows at the end of the period.
Financing conditions in consumer credit markets were little changed and remained largely accommodative in the first quarter, with student and auto loans continuing to be broadly available. Credit card lending conditions were still relatively tight, particularly for borrowers with subprime credit scores. Responses to the SLOOS indicated that during the first quarter, while credit card lending standards were little changed, a modest number of banks eased standards on auto and other consumer loans. Over the same period, demand for auto loans reportedly strengthened further at many banks. Consumer loan balances continued to increase at a robust pace through February, and data on bank lending activities suggested further growth through March. Issuance of asset-backed securities continued to be strong in the first quarter. Spreads on such securities remained at levels that were a bit higher than usual.
Since the March FOMC meeting, foreign financial market conditions eased, on net, and overall risk sentiment appeared to have improved. A number of factors likely contributed to the improvement, including expectations of more accommodative monetary policy in the United States. Sentiment was also likely boosted by the release of generally favorable foreign economic data. Against this backdrop, stock prices rose in most countries, with the equity indexes of the EMEs outperforming those of the AFEs. Changes in longer-term yields in the AFEs were mixed: Ten-year sovereign yields decreased slightly in Germany and Japan but increased in Canada and in the United Kingdom. The foreign exchange value of the dollar depreciated against most currencies, in part because higher oil prices supported the currencies of oil exporters.
In its latest report on potential risks to the stability of the U.S. financial system, the staff continued to judge that vulnerabilities were moderate overall. In particular, leverage and maturity transformation in the financial sector were subdued relative to historical levels, and growth of aggregate private nonfinancial-sector credit was modest. These indicators suggested that the financial system was fairly resilient, as did the absence of a significant increase in funding stresses or margin calls earlier this year when prices of risky assets fell and volatility rose sharply. Since then, prices of risky assets rebounded notably, and valuation pressures rose somewhat. Term premiums remained very low, and CRE valuations were elevated. In addition, corporate debt positions were high, although the issuance of low-rated debt had slowed.
Staff Economic Outlook
In the U.S. economic forecast prepared by the staff for the April FOMC meeting, real GDP growth in the first quarter of this year was estimated to have been much slower than in the forecast prepared for the March meeting, although projected real GDP growth in the second quarter was revised up a little. Beyond the near term, real GDP was expected to increase slightly faster than in the previous forecast, largely reflecting a somewhat higher projected trajectory for equity prices and lower assumed paths for both longer-term interest rates and the foreign exchange value of the dollar. The staff continued to project that real GDP would expand at a modestly faster pace than potential output in 2016 through 2018, supported primarily by increases in consumer spending. The unemployment rate was expected to gradually decline further and to run somewhat below the staff's estimate of its longer-run natural rate over this period.
The staff's forecast for inflation was little changed from the previous projection. The staff continued to project that inflation would increase over the next several years, as energy prices and the prices of non-energy imports were expected to begin steadily rising this year, but inflation was still projected to be slightly below the Committee's longer-run objective of 2 percent in 2018.
The staff viewed the uncertainty around its April projections for real GDP growth, the unemployment rate, and inflation as similar to the average of the past 20 years. The risks to the forecast for real GDP were seen as tilted to the downside, reflecting the staff's assessment that neither monetary nor fiscal policy was well positioned to help the economy withstand substantial adverse shocks. In addition, while there had been recent improvements in global financial and economic conditions, downside risks to the forecast from developments abroad, though smaller, remained. Consistent with the downside risk to aggregate demand, the staff viewed the risks to its outlook for the unemployment rate as skewed to the upside. The risks to the projection for inflation were still judged as weighted to the downside, reflecting the possibility that longer-term inflation expectations may have edged down.
Participants' Views on Current Conditions and the Economic Outlook
In their discussion of the economic situation and the outlook, meeting participants agreed that the information received over the intermeeting period indicated that labor market conditions improved further even as growth in economic activity appeared to have slowed. Growth in household spending had moderated, although households' real income had risen at a solid rate and consumer sentiment remained high. Since the beginning of the year, the housing sector had improved further, but business fixed investment and net exports had been soft. A range of indicators, including strong job gains, pointed to additional strengthening of the labor market. Inflation had continued to run below the Committee's 2 percent longer-run objective, partly reflecting earlier declines in energy prices and falling prices of non-energy imports. Market-based measures of inflation compensation remained low; survey-based measures of longer-run inflation expectations were little changed, on balance, in recent months. Domestic and global financial conditions eased over the intermeeting period, the incoming news on the foreign economic outlook was generally positive, and investor sentiment improved.
Although the incoming data suggested that aggregate spending in the first quarter had been weaker than expected, participants continued to anticipate that economic activity would expand at a moderate pace over the medium term and that labor market indicators would continue to strengthen. Inflation was expected to remain low in the near term, in part because of earlier declines in energy prices, but to rise to 2 percent over the medium term as the transitory effects of the declines in energy and import prices dissipated and the labor market strengthened further. Participants generally saw the risks stemming from global economic and financial developments as having diminished over the intermeeting period but as continuing to warrant close monitoring.
Participants indicated that their assessments of the medium-term economic outlook had not changed materially since March and discussed a number of factors suggesting that the apparent softness in spending in the first quarter was unlikely to persist. Most pointed to the steady improvement in the labor market as an indicator that the underlying pace of economic activity had likely not deteriorated as much as was suggested by the recent data on spending and production. Notably, solid job gains and real income growth, along with a high level of household wealth and relatively upbeat consumer sentiment, were expected to support a pickup in consumer spending after its slowdown in the first quarter. In addition, the easing of financial conditions in recent months was anticipated to provide some support for consumer spending and business investment going forward. Many also thought that, as had apparently been the case in recent years, a low reading on seasonally adjusted first-quarter GDP growth could partly reflect measurement problems and, if so, would likely be followed by stronger GDP growth in subsequent quarters. However, some participants were concerned that transitory factors may not fully explain the softness in consumer spending or the broad-based declines in business investment in recent months. They saw a risk that a more persistent slowdown in economic growth might be under way, which could hinder further improvement in labor market conditions.
Participants generally agreed that the risks to the economic outlook posed by global economic and financial developments had receded over the intermeeting period. The public appeared to have interpreted Federal Reserve communications following the March FOMC meeting as indicating that achieving the Committee's economic objectives would likely require a somewhat more gradual pace of increases in the federal funds rate than anticipated earlier. The shift in policy expectations, along with incoming data showing that economic growth abroad picked up during the first quarter of the year, seemed to contribute to the improved tone in global financial markets. Several FOMC participants judged that the risks to the economic outlook were now roughly balanced. However, many others indicated that they continued to see downside risks to the outlook either because of concerns that the recent slowdown in domestic spending might persist or because of remaining concerns about the global economic and financial outlook. Some participants noted that global financial markets could be sensitive to the upcoming British referendum on membership in the European Union or to unanticipated developments associated with China's management of its exchange rate.
While the recent data suggested markedly slower growth in consumer spending in the first quarter than seen in 2015, most participants expected to see a pickup in the growth rate of consumer spending in coming months in light of the still-solid fundamental determinants of household spending. Ongoing strong gains in employment and low energy prices were boosting aggregate household real income, and the level of household wealth was relatively high. It was noted that the slowdown in consumer spending early this year was primarily due to weaker expenditures for goods while outlays for services continued to increase in line with recent trends. Although a couple of participants noted that consumers' caution in recent months might have been the result of financial market turmoil in the first two months of this year, they and others observed that financial conditions had since improved and that consumer confidence remained at a relatively high level. Reports from District contacts on consumer spending were generally positive.
In the housing sector, indicators of sales and starts of new single-family homes were up, on balance, from their fourth-quarter levels. Activity in the multifamily sector appeared to have slowed during the first quarter, although demographic trends should continue to support this sector going forward. Business contacts in a number of Districts noted an improvement in housing activity and a continued rise in house prices, although their reports showed that the pace of sales and construction varied across regions.
Participants summarized survey readings and anecdotal reports on business conditions that were, on balance, mixed. According to several District surveys, activity in services industries continued to expand, and in some Districts, surveys and reports from business contacts indicated that manufacturing activity had strengthened or stabilized. Motor vehicle production remained at a high level. Nonetheless, manufacturing industries dependent on exports or the energy sector were still experiencing weak demand. The low level of oil prices continued to depress activity in the domestic energy sector, and a couple of participants suggested that, even with the ongoing cutbacks in production and potential increases in global demand, the imbalance of supply of crude oil relative to demand could last into 2017 and lead to further reductions in capital investment by energy firms. One participant noted that bankruptcies were rising among natural gas and coal producers as well as among firms engaged in oil exploration and extraction. A few participants also reported that low prices for agricultural commodities continued to strain the profitability of farming operations in their Districts.
Business fixed investment declined in the fourth quarter of 2015 and appeared to have dropped further in early 2016. As noted by a number of participants, the weakness in capital spending in recent quarters was in part due to the ongoing contraction in drilling activity and weak demand from abroad for goods manufactured in the United States. More broadly, several participants commented that their business contacts had expressed considerable caution about the economic outlook or had indicated that their firms were focused on cost-cutting measures that included delaying major expenditures, despite relatively favorable financial conditions. However, some other participants were more positive about the outlook for business spending, pointing to the optimism reported in a number of business surveys or to rising business investment in both equipment and commercial structures in their Districts.
Labor market conditions strengthened further in recent months. Increases in nonfarm payroll employment averaged almost 210,000 per month over the first three months of 2016. Although the unemployment rate changed little over that period, the labor force participation rate moved up and the pool of potential workers, which includes the unemployed as well as those who would like a job but are not actively looking, continued to shrink. Many participants judged that labor market conditions had reached or were quite close to those consistent with their interpretation of the Committee's objective of maximum employment. Several of them reported that businesses in their Districts had seen a pickup in wages, shortages of workers in selected occupations, or pressures to retain or train workers for hard-to-fill jobs. Many other participants continued to see scope for reducing labor market slack as labor demand continued to expand. In that regard, a number of participants indicated that the recent rise in the participation rate was a positive development, suggesting that a tighter labor market could potentially draw more individuals back into the workforce on a sustained basis without adding to inflationary pressures and thus increase the productive capacity of the economy. It was also noted that businesses might satisfy increases in labor demand in part by converting involuntary part-time jobs to full-time positions.
Over the past five years, employment and hours worked rose relatively strongly while the pace of the expansion in output was moderate, resulting in measured productivity growth of slightly less than 1/2 percent per year on average. It was noted that participants' projections of the longer-run growth rate of real GDP, shown in the Summary of Economic Projections, appeared to assume that productivity growth would strengthen. While acknowledging uncertainty about the reasons for the slowdown in productivity growth in recent years and whether it would persist, many participants commented on a range of possible outcomes that could result from slower-than-expected productivity growth. Some saw the possibility that, even with real GDP growth remaining relatively slow, the unemployment rate might decline more quickly and inflation might rise a bit more rapidly than expected if productivity growth continued to disappoint in coming quarters while hiring remained strong. In that case, monetary policy accommodation might need to be removed more quickly than currently anticipated. Alternatively, continued low productivity growth for a time might instead lead to slower-than-anticipated growth in household income and business sales, thereby resulting in paths for the unemployment rate and the federal funds rate little different than currently expected. Moreover, several participants noted that if trend productivity growth remained permanently lower--a development that could be quite difficult to identify in only a few quarters--the likely implication for monetary policy would be a reduction in the longer-run equilibrium federal funds rate.
The incoming information on inflation over the intermeeting period showed that the earlier declines in energy prices and falling prices of non-energy imports were still contributing importantly to low headline inflation. The 12-month change in core PCE prices also continued to run below 2 percent, but it moved up to 1.7 percent in January and February from 1.4 percent at the end of 2015. Despite the recent rise in core inflation, some participants continued to see progress toward the Committee's 2 percent inflation objective as likely to be gradual. They noted that, as they had expected, the March CPI data showed that the high monthly readings on some components of core prices in January and February were transitory, and that the March CPI data suggested that the 12-month change in core PCE prices likely moved down in March. Several commented that the stronger labor market still appeared to be exerting little upward pressure on wage or price inflation. Moreover, several continued to see important downside risks to inflation in light of the still-low readings on market-based measures of inflation compensation and the slippage in the past couple of years in some survey measures of expected longer-run inflation. However, for many other participants, the recent developments provided greater confidence that inflation would rise to 2 percent over the medium term. Some viewed the recent firming in core inflation as broadly based and unlikely to unwind, with several noting recent increases in alternative measures of the trend in inflation, such as the trimmed mean PCE and the median CPI, or citing evidence that wage growth was picking up. In addition to the ongoing tightening of resource utilization, the recent depreciation of the dollar and the firming in oil prices suggested that the downward pressures on both core and headline inflation from declining prices of non-oil imports and energy should begin to subside.
U.S. and global financial conditions improved significantly over the intermeeting period, marked by a rise in equity indexes, more positive risk sentiment, and a decline in financial market volatility. During their discussion of these developments, participants cited several factors that likely contributed to the easing in financial conditions. In the view of many FOMC participants, Federal Reserve communications after the March FOMC meeting led financial market participants to shift down their expectations concerning the likely path of the Committee's target for the federal funds rate. In addition, the recent depreciation of the dollar and indications of a rebound of economic growth in China appeared to reduce pressures on the renminbi. More broadly, signs of a pickup in growth in economic activity in some AFEs and emerging Asian economies other than China also appeared to contribute to the improvement in sentiment in financial markets. Participants generally agreed that the easing in financial conditions in the United States would provide some support for consumer spending and business investment going forward and had reduced the downside risks to the outlook. Moreover, a number of participants cited reports from business contacts in their Districts of favorable credit conditions for household and business borrowers.
Several participants pointed out that U.S. firms and financial markets had come through the period of elevated financial market volatility earlier in the year looking relatively resilient. However, several noted the ongoing need to remain alert to vulnerabilities in the financial system. In that regard, a few cited concerns about rapidly rising prices of CRE, including multifamily properties, or about illiquidity of the assets of some mutual funds. It was also noted that the debt situation in Puerto Rico had deteriorated further over the intermeeting period and remained unresolved. To date, the situation had not led to strains in broader financial markets and was not expected to do so.
Participants discussed whether their current assessments of economic conditions and the medium-term outlook warranted increasing the target range for the federal funds rate at this meeting. Participants agreed that incoming indicators regarding labor market developments continued to be encouraging. They generally concurred that data releases during the intermeeting period on components of private domestic demand had been disappointing, but most participants judged that the slowdown in growth of domestic spending would be temporary, citing possible measurement problems and other transitory factors. Financial market conditions continued to improve, providing support to aggregate demand and suggesting that market participants saw some reduction in downside risks to the outlook: Equity prices rose further, credit spreads declined somewhat, and the dollar depreciated over the intermeeting period. Taking these developments into account, participants generally judged that the medium-term outlook for economic activity and the labor market had not changed appreciably since the previous meeting. Furthermore, most participants continued to expect that, with labor markets continuing to strengthen, the dollar no longer appreciating, and energy prices apparently having bottomed out, inflation would move up to the Committee's 2 percent objective in the medium run.
Still, with 12-month PCE inflation continuing to run below the Committee's 2 percent objective, a number of participants judged that it would be appropriate to proceed cautiously in removing policy accommodation. Some participants pointed to the risk that the recent weak data on domestic spending could reflect a loss of momentum in the economy that might hinder further gains in the labor market and raise the likelihood that inflation could fail to increase as expected. Accordingly, these participants believed that it would be important to evaluate whether incoming information was consistent with their expectation that economic growth would pick up and thus support continued improvement in the labor market. In addition, a number of participants judged that the risks to the outlook for inflation remained tilted to the downside in light of low readings on measures of inflation compensation and the fall over the past year in some survey measures of longer-term inflation expectations. Also, many participants noted that downside risks emanating from developments abroad, while reduced, still warranted close monitoring. For these reasons, participants generally saw maintaining the target range for the federal funds rate at 1/4 to 1/2 percent at this meeting and continuing to assess developments carefully as consistent with setting policy in a data-dependent manner and as leaving open the possibility of an increase in the federal funds rate at the June FOMC meeting.
Some participants saw limited costs to maintaining a patient posture at this meeting but noted the risks--including potential risks to financial stability--of waiting too long to resume the process of removing policy accommodation, especially given the lags with which monetary policy affects the economy. A couple of participants were concerned that further postponement of action to raise the federal funds rate might confuse the public about the economic considerations that influence the Committee's policy decisions and potentially erode the Committee's credibility.
A few participants judged it appropriate to increase the target range for the federal funds rate at this meeting, citing their assessments that downside risks associated with global economic and financial developments had diminished substantially since early this year, that labor market conditions were consistent with the Committee's maximum-employment objective, and that inflation was likely to rise this year toward the Committee's 2 percent objective. Two participants noted that several standard policy benchmarks, such as a number of interest rate rules and some measures of the equilibrium real interest rate, continued to imply values for the federal funds rate well above the current target range. Such large and persistent deviations of the federal funds rate from these benchmarks, in their view, posed a risk that the removal of policy accommodation was proceeding too slowly and that the Committee might, in the future, find it necessary to raise the federal funds rate quickly to combat inflation pressures, potentially unduly disrupting economic or financial activity. Overly accommodative policy could also induce imprudent risk-taking in financial markets, posing additional risks to achieving the Committee's goals in the future.
Participants agreed that their ongoing assessments of the data and other incoming information, as well as the implications for the outlook, would determine the timing and pace of future adjustments to the stance of monetary policy. Most participants judged that if incoming data were consistent with economic growth picking up in the second quarter, labor market conditions continuing to strengthen, and inflation making progress toward the Committee's 2 percent objective, then it likely would be appropriate for the Committee to increase the target range for the federal funds rate in June. Participants expressed a range of views about the likelihood that incoming information would make it appropriate to adjust the stance of policy at the time of the next meeting. Several participants were concerned that the incoming information might not provide sufficiently clear signals to determine by mid-June whether an increase in the target range for the federal funds rate would be warranted. Some participants expressed more confidence that incoming data would prove broadly consistent with economic conditions that would make an increase in the target range in June appropriate. Some participants were concerned that market participants may not have properly assessed the likelihood of an increase in the target range at the June meeting, and they emphasized the importance of communicating clearly over the intermeeting period how the Committee intends to respond to economic and financial developments.
Committee Policy Action
In their discussion of monetary policy for the period ahead, members judged that information received since the FOMC met in March indicated that labor market conditions had improved further even as growth in economic activity had appeared to slow. They noted that growth in household spending had moderated, although households' real income had risen at a solid rate and consumer sentiment had remained high. They also agreed that since the beginning of the year, the housing sector had improved further, but business fixed investment and net exports had been soft. Members saw a range of recent indicators, including strong job gains, as pointing to additional strengthening of the labor market. Members noted that inflation had continued to run below the Committee's 2 percent longer-run objective, partly reflecting earlier declines in energy prices and falling prices of non-energy imports. Market-based measures of inflation compensation remained low. Survey-based measures of longer-term inflation expectations were little changed, on balance, in recent months.
With respect to the economic outlook and its implications for monetary policy, members continued to expect that, with gradual adjustments in the stance of monetary policy, economic activity would expand at a moderate pace and labor market indicators would continue to strengthen. Although the recent spending and production data had been disappointing, members generally judged this weakness to be temporary, though some members noted the risk that it might persist, potentially undermining further improvement in the labor market. Members also continued to expect inflation to remain low in the near term, in part because of earlier declines in energy prices, but to rise to 2 percent over the medium term as the transitory effects of declines in energy and import prices dissipated and the labor market strengthened further. In its postmeeting statement, rather than stating that global economic and financial developments continued to pose risks, the Committee decided to indicate that it would continue to closely monitor inflation indicators and global economic and financial developments. This change in language was intended to convey the Committee's sense that the risks associated with global developments had diminished somewhat since the March FOMC meeting without characterizing the overall balance of risks.
Against the backdrop of its discussion of current conditions, the economic outlook, and the risks and uncertainties surrounding the outlook, the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 1/4 to 1/2 percent at this meeting. Members generally agreed that, in light of the recent weak readings on spending and production, and with inflation below the Committee's objective, it would be prudent to wait for additional information bearing on the medium-term outlook before deciding whether to raise the target range for the federal funds rate. One member, however, preferred to raise the target range for the federal funds rate at this meeting, noting that downside risks to the outlook had diminished and that the outlook was for outcomes consistent with the Committee's objectives.
Members again agreed that, in determining the timing and size of future adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate, the Committee would assess realized and expected economic conditions relative to its objectives of maximum employment and 2 percent inflation. This assessment would take into account a wide range of information, including measures of labor market conditions, indicators of inflation pressures and inflation expectations, and readings on financial and international developments. In light of the current shortfall of inflation from 2 percent, the Committee agreed that it would carefully monitor actual and expected progress toward its inflation goal. The Committee expected that economic conditions would evolve in a manner that would warrant only gradual increases in the federal funds rate, and that the federal funds rate was likely to remain, for some time, below levels that were expected to prevail in the longer run. Regarding the possibility of adjustments in the stance of policy at the next meeting, members generally judged it appropriate to leave their policy options open and maintain the flexibility to make this decision based on how the incoming data and developments shaped their outlook for the labor market and inflation as well as their evolving assessments of the balance of risks around that outlook. It was noted that communications could help the public understand how the Committee might respond to incoming data and developments over the upcoming intermeeting period. Some members expressed concern that the likelihood implied by market pricing that the Committee would increase the target range for the federal funds rate at the June meeting might be unduly low.
The Committee also decided to maintain its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities and of rolling over maturing Treasury securities at auction, and it anticipated doing so until normalization of the level of the federal funds rate is well under way. This policy, by keeping the Committee's holdings of longer-term securities at sizable levels, should help maintain accommodative financial conditions.
At the conclusion of the discussion, the Committee voted to authorize and direct the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, until it was instructed otherwise, to execute transactions in the SOMA in accordance with the following domestic policy directive, to be released at 2:00 p.m.:
"Effective April 28, 2016, the Federal Open Market Committee directs the Desk to undertake open market operations as necessary to maintain the federal funds rate in a target range of 1/4 to 1/2 percent, including overnight reverse repurchase operations (and reverse repurchase operations with maturities of more than one day when necessary to accommodate weekend, holiday, or similar trading conventions) at an offering rate of 0.25 percent, in amounts limited only by the value of Treasury securities held outright in the System Open Market Account that are available for such operations and by a per-counterparty limit of $30 billion per day.
The Committee directs the Desk to continue rolling over maturing Treasury securities at auction and to continue reinvesting principal payments on all agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities. The Committee also directs the Desk to engage in dollar roll and coupon swap transactions as necessary to facilitate settlement of the Federal Reserve's agency mortgage-backed securities transactions."
The vote also encompassed approval of the statement below to be released at 2:00 p.m.:
"Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in March indicates that labor market conditions have improved further even as growth in economic activity appears to have slowed. Growth in household spending has moderated, although households' real income has risen at a solid rate and consumer sentiment remains high. Since the beginning of the year, the housing sector has improved further but business fixed investment and net exports have been soft. A range of recent indicators, including strong job gains, points to additional strengthening of the labor market. Inflation has continued to run below the Committee's 2 percent longer-run objective, partly reflecting earlier declines in energy prices and falling prices of non-energy imports. Market-based measures of inflation compensation remain low; survey-based measures of longer-term inflation expectations are little changed, on balance, in recent months.
Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability. The Committee currently expects that, with gradual adjustments in the stance of monetary policy, economic activity will expand at a moderate pace and labor market indicators will continue to strengthen. Inflation is expected to remain low in the near term, in part because of earlier declines in energy prices, but to rise to 2 percent over the medium term as the transitory effects of declines in energy and import prices dissipate and the labor market strengthens further. The Committee continues to closely monitor inflation indicators and global economic and financial developments.
Against this backdrop, the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 1/4 to 1/2 percent. The stance of monetary policy remains accommodative, thereby supporting further improvement in labor market conditions and a return to 2 percent inflation.
In determining the timing and size of future adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate, the Committee will assess realized and expected economic conditions relative to its objectives of maximum employment and 2 percent inflation. This assessment will take into account a wide range of information, including measures of labor market conditions, indicators of inflation pressures and inflation expectations, and readings on financial and international developments. In light of the current shortfall of inflation from 2 percent, the Committee will carefully monitor actual and expected progress toward its inflation goal. The Committee expects that economic conditions will evolve in a manner that will warrant only gradual increases in the federal funds rate; the federal funds rate is likely to remain, for some time, below levels that are expected to prevail in the longer run. However, the actual path of the federal funds rate will depend on the economic outlook as informed by incoming data.
The Committee is maintaining its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities and of rolling over maturing Treasury securities at auction, and it anticipates doing so until normalization of the level of the federal funds rate is well under way. This policy, by keeping the Committee's holdings of longer-term securities at sizable levels, should help maintain accommodative financial conditions."
Voting for this action: Janet L. Yellen, William C. Dudley, Lael Brainard, James Bullard, Stanley Fischer, Loretta J. Mester, Jerome H. Powell, Eric Rosengren, and Daniel K. Tarullo.
Voting against this action: Esther L. George.
Ms. George dissented because she believed that a 25 basis point increase in the target range for the federal funds rate was appropriate at this meeting. Potential downside risks to the economic outlook had diminished since the March FOMC meeting, and the modal outlook was for economic growth, employment, and inflation outcomes consistent with the Committee's statutory objectives. She believed that monetary policy should respond to these developments by gradually removing accommodation and noted that several frameworks for assessing the appropriate stance of monetary policy, such as prescriptions from various policy rules and some estimates of equilibrium interest rates, also suggested that a reduction in monetary policy accommodation would be appropriate.
Consistent with the Committee's decision to leave the target range for the federal funds rate unchanged, the Board of Governors took no action to change the interest rates on reserves or discount rates.
It was agreed that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on Tuesday-Wednesday, June 14-15, 2016. The meeting adjourned at 10:05 a.m. on April 27, 2016.
Notation Vote
By notation vote completed on April 5, 2016, the Committee unanimously approved the minutes of the Committee meeting held on March 15-16, 2016.
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The interim government additionally announced it would reduce funding for housing, education and poverty reduction programs, as well as eliminate the Ministry of Women, Racial Equality, and Human Rights, which became a sub-ministry of the Ministry of Justice.
White men represent 21.9% of Brazil's population, while women account for 51.4% and non-white men 26.7%.
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"There's an explosion of TV programming," Bewkes said. "People love it, whether they're watching it on an iPad or on their TV."
Most of the core Turner Broadcasting audience is still watching on actual televisions, Bewkes said, adding that "everybody likes a big screen." Thanks to improving broadband, the TV ecosystem, as he put it, is adjusting to on-demand needs of consumers.
But by the year 2018, eMarketer predicts that one in five Americans won't subscribe to a cable TV package. Hulu, for example, is working on a cable-like service to offer more channels than Sling TV, at $30 a month. The streaming service is in advanced talks with two of its owners, Disney and Fox. While Time Warner is not involved, Bewkes said to "wait and see".
Time Warner counts CNN, HBO, TNT AND TBS, as brands that inspire particular loyalty. When customers are shopping for new bundles, whether it's through Comcast or Verizon or Sling, he said, his networks are sure to be a part of the decision.
"Could you live without any of those networks?" Bewkes asked, rhetorically. "No."
Another point of optimism is upfront season. Television networks host a series of events at critical advertising sales periods, allowing marketers to buy commercial airtime months before a television season begins.
"I was blown away by our upfront," Bewkes said, adding that he thinks the company will sell more ad space than last year. "You probably want to get in early this year. Demand is going up."
HBO has been a particular bright spot with room for growth going forward, he said. There are 70 million homes in America that are hooked up to a cable subscription yet don't have HBO, Bewkes said.
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"We're attacking all of those," he said, adding that he thinks HBO is the biggest source of growth going forward. "All they've got to do is add it to that cable package, they don't need another distribution method to do it."
Bewkes dismissed the notion of splitting up these networks, which activist investors suggest might allow better functioning for networks. No way, he said, they operate best as a team.
"They gain a lot of strength and the ability to help each other when they go together in distribution," Bewkes said. "There are tremendous advantages and if you think about these together."
More From CNBC
Note: This article is courtesy of Iris.xyz
By Alliance Bernstein
In a fiercely competitive world, active managers are constantly looking for ways to advance their performance edge. One good place to focus on is how to become better forecasters.
If just looking at averages, the active management industry has a spotty record. But some active investors manage to beat the market consistently, suggesting that they possess some degree of skill. If you can identify them or become one of them, the payoff is large. The question is, what separates skilled investors from unskilled ones?
Many people will answer that question by pointing to credentials or other markers: the manager seems especially smart, acts more authoritatively than others, shows more conviction or appears on TV more frequently.
The problem is that none of these factors is necessarily correlated with increased predictive capabilities. In fact, some of them have a mildly negative relationship to it. In a world engulfed in random noise, performance itself is a fairly unreliable measure of skill in the short run.
So what, then, are the traits common to the most skillful investors?
Click here to read more on Iris.xyz.
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California nanny Carmen Perez wasnt about to let go of the stroller carrying the four-month-old daughter of her new employers.
He went straight to me, like he wants to get the baby. I just started running, Perez told KCBS-TV.
Read: Father-Son Duo Arrested After Kidnapping Utah Mother and Her 4 Teenage Daughters: Cops
The man, identified by police as 35-year-old Edgar Valdez, was apprehended by a local security guard, who placed the man in handcuffs until San Bernardino police arrived, according to Lt. Rich Lawhead.
Perez said the man chased her, threw her to the ground and tried to pry the stroller from her hands, but she refused to let go.
The stroller toppled over as well, but the baby strapped inside was not hurt, authorities said.
Perez suffered some scrapes and bruises, but was otherwise fine.
Read: Woman Pleads Guilty to Murdering New Mother So she Could Steal Her Infant
She had just started her nanny job two weeks ago.
Valdez faces several charges, including attempted kidnapping and child cruelty. He is being held in lieu of $50,000. It was not clear whether he had entered a plea.
Watch: Carlie Trent Reunites With Men Who Rescued Her As Uncle Is Charged With Kidnapping
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By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A woman who has accused Bill Cosby of drugging and molesting her at a Playboy Mansion party in 2008, when she was a minor, has filed a second lawsuit accusing Playboy founder Hugh Hefner of conspiring in the assault. Chloe Goins, one of dozens of women who have made allegations against Cosby, 78, claimed in her Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that Hefner was liable because he hosted the party and suggested she and a friend have drinks with the comic. "Additionally, defendant Hefner knew or should have known that defendant Cosby over the years had a propensity for intoxicating and or drugging young women and taking advantage of them sexually and against their will or while they were unconscious," Goins asserted in the lawsuit. A spokesman for Cosby declined to comment on the lawsuit. Representatives for Hefner, 90, could not be reached for comment on Tuesday afternoon. In October 2015 Goins, who has said she was 17 at the time of the alleged assault, sued Cosby in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, claiming "childhood sexual abuse" and seeking more than $75,000 in damages. The New York Daily News reported that Goins, now 26, withdrew that case in February as she prepared to file the new action naming Hefner. Goins' attorney, Spencer Kuvin, could not immediately be reached for comment on the lawsuit. Los Angeles prosecutors in January declined to file criminal charges against Cosby in connection with the alleged incident, citing insufficient evidence and the statute of limitations. Goins is among more than 50 women who have made accusations against Cosby that include drugging, sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape. In most cases, the incidents date back decades, putting them outside the statute of limitations for legal action. Last month a California judge refused Cosby's second attempt to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a woman who accused the entertainer of sexually abusing her at the Playboy Mansion when she was 15. In New York, a federal judge ruled against Cosby's effort to compel the publisher of New York magazine to provide access to unedited interviews of six women who are suing him. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb)
Dirt: It's brown, full of worms and when it gets wet, it turns to mud YUCK!
But did you know that science might one day use it to cure a host of infectious diseases and even cancer?
Scientists from the University of Oklahoma are asking people from around the United States to send in samples of dirt from their own backyards with the hope that fungi cultured from the ground could hold the magic bullet against diseases.
"If you pick up an average handful of soil, you've literally got tens of thousands of microbes living in it," University of Oklahoma professor, Robert Cichewicz, told local KFOR. "When the dirt comes in, we culture the fungi out of those soil samples. We grow them up into a form that we can then extract the molecules and test them against these different disease targets."
Source: Mic/Pixabay
It's not the first time science has sought magical cure-alls from the Earth.
In January, researchers in Canada, suggested that a rare clay found in British Columbia could be the key to defeating antibiotic resistant bacteria. Indeed, the very first antibiotics, were derived from fungus by Alexander Flemming in the 1920s.
Now for the hard part!
Shipping all that dirt around the country doesn't come cheap. The university is hoping to raise $15,000 in donations to cover the cost of shipping and handling for soil collection kits so that participants don't have to front the postage themselves.
From Esquire
What the hell is wrong with these people?
(Warning: Tiger Beat On The Potomac link.)
"The people will have a chance to vote. If Donald Trump is elected president there will be a great opportunity to sit down and have a conversation about what that agenda looks like," explained Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), who has long backed Hillary Clinton. "If he's president, we're going to have disagreement. But we'd better all figure out how to come up with an agenda for the American people."
Great Screaming Christ, somebody get me a fifth of Virginia Gentleman and a Xanax the size of a cantaloupe, STAT!
Getting ready for a potential Trump presidency in their home states may just be good politics for moderate senators such as Heitkamp, Jon Tester of Montana and West Virginia's Joe Manchin. They'll be top targets for Republicans in 2018, a midterm year that could favor the GOP if recent trends of lower turnouts in nonpresidential elections continue. And it's a good bet that they'll need Trump voters to keep their jobs.
First of all, I choose not to worry about the fcking 2018 midterms quite yet. Anyone who does-and who is not personally or professionally involved with one of the candidates in question-needs close supervision by the appropriate authorities. Second, the odds are about 50-50 that, in the cataclysmic event of a President He, Trump, the Republican brand will become so toxic over the first two years that no Democratic incumbent is in any real peril. But, anyway, and regardless, stop saying stuff like this. Can somebody in the party actually be a politician, please?
Take Tester, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, whose job description calls for retaking the Senate by relentlessly linking incumbent Republicans to Trump in purple and blue states this year. But should Trump shock the pundits and win, Tester acknowledges that there are "for sure" things he can come together with Trump on, "as long as they're good deals for AmericaThis place doesn't work very well unless you're able to work with folks. So I would hope so. I mean he's got some pretty goofy opinions, but hopefully we've got some stuff we can work on," Tester said.
These are nicer things than any Republican has said recently about their party's presumptive presidential nominee, and they're being said by the guy who's in charge of the effort to retake the Senate for the Democratic party. These are three Democratic senators who are standing there, waving and laughing at the monkey show, while Republicans are fleeing from the circus tent in abject horror. Yeesh.
Click here to respond to this post on the official Esquire Politics Facebook page.
After more than a decade of global dominance, South Korea's shipbuilders face an unprecedented crisis that threatens the very survival of one of the flagship industries of Asia's fourth largest economy.
South Korea's "Big Three" shipbuilders were once considered the holy trinity of Korea Inc. -- controlling nearly 70 percent of the global market after seeing off their European and Japanese rivals in the 1980s and 1990s.
Year after year, the shipyards of Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewoo Marine and Shipbuilding, and Samsung Heavy Industries churned out massive cargo ships, oil tankers and offshore drillers for shipping firms and energy giants around the world.
But a prolonged slump in oil prices and the global economic slowdown sapped demand for tankers and container ships, while overcapacity, regional rivalry and competition from cheaper Chinese shipbuilders squeezed profit margins.
The three firms racked up a collective loss of 8.5 trillion won ($7.4 billion) last year, while outstanding orders among all South Korean shipbuilders hit their lowest level in 11 years in February.
"Orders are drying up. We are faced with an unimaginable situation at which our dock may soon be empty," Hyundai Heavy chairman Choi Kil-Seon said in a letter to employees in March.
"Even banks are so reluctant to lend to us. This is the harsh, undeniable reality we are facing today," Choi said.
- 'Oversized and complacent' -
Hyundai -- the world's top shipbuilder by sales -- has reported a net loss for two straight years, totalling 5.0 trillion won.
It posted its first net profit for more than two years in the first quarter of 2016, but Choi said that was largely thanks to lower raw material prices and a weaker Korean currency.
The company became "oversized and complacent" during the boom years of the 2000s, he said, urging "bone-crushing efforts" to compete against Chinese shipbuilders that won more than half of all new global orders this year.
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"If we can't compete against Chinese ... our jobs will be eliminated," he said.
Yang Jong-Seo, analyst at the Export-Import Bank of Korea, said the next two years would be the "worst years ever" for the shipbuilders as they embark on a period of painful, state-led restructuring.
In return for state aid and debt extensions, Seoul's financial regulators have pressed for more asset sales, mass layoffs, pay reductions and streamlined business plans.
"I think the situation will hit the bottom in the latter half of 2017 and revive in 2018. The key question is whether the shipbuilders can manage to stay alive until then," Yang told AFP.
"If they end up falling apart, I'm afraid the pillar of the global shipbuilding industry will really shift to China," he said.
- Storm to come -
The knock-on effect of any such collapse would be enormous.
The southern port of Ulsan and Geoje island -- home to the three shipbuilders' main docks -- are the bedrock of a regional economy that relies heavily on the industry for tax revenues and consumer spending by nearly 200,000 workers.
Hyundai shed more than 1,000 jobs at its Ulsan shipyard in 2015 and is reportedly planning to lay off around 3,000 workers this year. Their suppliers that hire tens of thousands of workers are being pushed to the brink of collapse.
The situation is even bleaker at the number two shipbuilder Daewoo. The firm has failed to win a single order so far in 2016, after suffering a record net loss of 5.5 trillion won last year.
Daewoo -- partially owned by the state-run Korea Development Bank -- has proposed laying off 3,000 workers by 2019 but the government is demanding an even bigger job cut.
"The whole city is a big community of shipbuilding workers and their families. And we are all feeling the pinch," an official at the Geoje city council told AFP.
More than two thirds of the city's 250,000 population either work for Daewoo or Samsung or are family members of those who do.
- Tears of Ulsan? -
Most area businesses, especially restaurants and retail shops, have reported a sharp double-digit fall in sales and many are on the brink of closure, said the city official who declined to be named.
"Many people here bought a house and a nice car and sent their kids to college when things were good...and people are worrying whether those days are coming to an end," she said.
The same sense of impending loss is growing in Ulsan -- a vibrant blue-collar city that is the home to the Hyundai Heavy shipyard as well as Hyundai Motor's main plant.
Thanks to fat paychecks from Hyundai, the city has boasted the highest per-capita income in the country for years.
Some say it now faces the same fate as the Swedish port of Malmo, once known for its robust shipbuilding industry.
Malmo's iconic, 128 metre-tall Kockums Crane -- a symbol of its manufacturing industry -- was sold to Hyundai in 2002. The crane was nicknamed the "Tears of Malmo" after residents reportedly cried at the sight of its being shipped to Ulsan.
"Now we are shedding the 'Tears of Ulsan,'" said Jun Young-Do, the head of the Ulsan city's chamber of commerce.
Megyn Kelly Presents averaged 4.7 million viewers on Tuesday night, but based on the reviews, the majority of them may have been disappointed.
Critics described the Fox News anchors broadcast debut on Fox as awkward, pointless, boring and unimpressive. A few even took issue with Kelly plugging her upcoming autobiography, instead of pressing her biggest guest, presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, on important issues.
Last night brought the no-news interview and an unabashed promotion for what she disclosed (lucky viewers) would be an upcoming autobiography, including her year of torment with Trump, Vanity Fairs James Warren wrote, while Los Angeles Times Mary McNamara said Kelly only invited [Trump] to costar in an hourlong infomercial for her new book.
Also Read: Donald Trump Thanks Megyn Kelly for Toughening Him Up
Laverne Cox, Michael Douglas and Robert Shapiro also spoke with Kelly.
The reviews for the primetime special, and an unimpressive rating in the coveted 18-49 viewer demographic, wont help Kelly on what appears to be an effort to become the next Barbara Walters, who retired from TV journalism two years ago.
However, there were some positive reviews. Lloyd Grove from The Daily Beast stated Kelly did not disappoint in her interview with Donald Trump. And Daniel DAddarios review for Time was mixed, claiming that the interview was a signpost of her ambition, and a signal that she has the raw skill to carry out whatever may come after Fox News.
Liberated from the tight time constraints of cable news, Kelly relaxed into her role as heir to Barbara Walters, TVNewsers Mark Joyella wrote. She also used silence to great effect, letting moments hang to let them breathe-and to see what would happen.
Also Read: JK Rowling Defends Donald Trump's 'Fundamental Right' to Be 'Bigoted and Offensive'
Read 7 of the worst reviews below.
Hank Stuever, The Washington Post:
Greeting her viewers from what appeared to be the bridge of a spaceship made of nutrition-free marshmallow, Fox News Channels Megyn Kelly made an awkward and unimpressive landing with her first hour-long interview special Tuesday night on the Fox network. Lets just dive right in, she said, and then proceeded to never dive into much of anything, even during her ultra-hyped interview with Donald Trump, the presumed Republican presidential nominee.
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Mary McNamara, The Los Angeles Times:
After the weeks of hype and the queasy hopes of an anxious nation, it all became clear: Megyn Kelly didnt ask Donald Trump to headline her Fox special Megyn Kelly Presents so she could pin him down on foreign and domestic policy issues, or even confront him about the months-long troll attack he launched after she dared question him during the first Republican debate about his penchant for misogynistic language. No, she invited him to costar in an hourlong infomercial for her new book.
Sam Sanders, NPR:
Tuesday night, when Fox broadcast Kellys interview with Trump, there seemed to be a truce, but no new information. Trump didnt actually apologize for anything hes done or said, and Kelly didnt push him too hard on anything. You could view it as a bit of a letdown after all the drama between the two.
Brian Lowry, CNN:
In keeping with the conventions of primetime interviews, though, Kelly kept the conversation personal, not political. In fact, there wasnt a single policy question, or even anything close to one; rather, the Trump talk ranged from potential regrets about things hes said or done during the campaign to failed marriages to the death of his older brother.
See Video: Trump Today: The Donald Insists He Isn't Stupid
Isaac Chotiner, Salon:
For all the disgusting insults Donald Trump has lobbed at Fox News Channel anchor Megyn Kellyfrom retweeting someone calling her a bimbo, to implying she was on her period while moderating a debateeven the most naive observer of politics and media in the Age of Trump must have known that Tuesday night was inevitable. And by Tuesday night, I dont just mean a television specialthis particular one on the Fox broadcast network, and moderated by Kelly with Trump as her star guest. Equally preordained was the fact that, at a time when Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes, and most of the Fox News Channel have made their peace with Trump, Kelly would eventually conduct a fawning, boring, and pointless interview with the presumptive Republican nominee.
Daniel DAddario, Time:
The special was haunted by a sense that perhaps she went too big and broad too fast. Four interview subjects in an hour that includes the standard ad-breaks is a lot, even for the most gifted of interviewers. Segments were edited together in a manner that brought to mind a businesslike brusqueness: A segment with Robert Shapiro, a member of O.J. Simpsons Dream Team, rushed from questions about Shapiros experience of the Simpson trial to the untimely death of his son so quickly that this viewer felt disoriented. And the line of questioning to Laverne Cox about her suicide attempt came so early in the interview that most viewers were likely still figuring out who Cox was when the actress said, I didnt think youd be going there!'
James Warren, Vanity Fair:
At minimum, the soft-as-a-grape session on the Fox broadcast network climaxed one of the more impressive acts of self-and corporate promotion in recent times. You remember the tumultuous Fox News debate, her seemingly steely questions about his misogyny, the nasty Trump responses, his faux boycott of Fox News, and the Trump back-and-forth with Fox guru Roger Ailes? It seems so very long ago. Then came the Kelly crosstown Manhattan pilgrimage to Trump Tower, the wink-wink hint of a detente and, then, bingo, announcement that hed surface for her first big Barbara Walters-like celebrity special. Last night brought the no-news interview and an unabashed promotion for what she disclosed (lucky viewers) would be an upcoming autobiography, including her year of torment with Trump!
Related stories from TheWrap:
Jennifer Lawrence to Donald Trump: 'F You!'
7 Revelations About Donald Trump's Relationship With Women From NY Times Expose
Do Megyn Kelly's Ratings for Trump Interview Mean She's Ready for Primetime? (Updated)
And upper-floor factory unit sales hit 10-year low.
Singapore's start-up scene received a boost on Thursday, after the government said it will provide funds to four large local enterprises to match their investments in fledgling local companies. Read more here.
Indonesia is turning to Singapores Temasek Holdings Pte. as a model to create a sovereign investment company to drive development in Southeast Asias biggest economy. The government is considering starting an investment holding company for four or five state-owned entities, which could then buy shares in Indonesian companies, Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said in an interview in Jakarta on Monday. Read more here.
Overall demand for upper-floor strata-titled factory units in Singapore slumped during the first quarter to its lowest level in 10 years, according to the latest research bulletin by Knight Frank released this month. Read more here.
More From Singapore Business Review
freaks and geeks
Wall Street is changing fast.
Investment banks are having a torrid time. Investors are in the ascendancy. Technology is changing everything.
Boston Consulting Group tackled some of these issues in a big report on capital markets and investment banking.
One interesting takeaway is that investment banks are now in an information business, rather than a capital business.
In times gone by, big banks had big balance sheets and would take big positions in the markets. Those days are over, as postcrisis regulations have crimped their ability to put their balance sheets to work in the same way.
That has coincided with changes in market structure. More and more asset classes are becoming transparent and standardized, and are shifting to electronic trading platforms.
That creates a huge amount of data, and now banks need to think about how to make use of it all.
Here's BCG (emphasis added):
The role of capital itself is changing. Escalating capital costs, occurring simultaneously with the growth of buy-side assets and revenues, indicate that the industry is moving toward leveraging benchmarks and other index products aimed at passive investors. Both the ability to discover liquidity and the demand for risk transformation services are becoming less dependent on capital. If investment banks are to compete, they must recognize their ability to generate revenues as information companies.
There is a big problem, though: The banks don't typically own that financial data. Instead, information providers and exchanges do. That puts these companies in a strong position to grow.
BCG estimates that growth in electronic trading, the use of central clearing, and increased demand for market information and analytics will drive the revenue pool for information providers and exchanges to $125 billion by 2020. That would represent 19% of the total revenue pool, up from just 8% in 2006.
It doesn't end there. Information providers and trading venues have the potential to expand to new business lines, potentially competing with investment banks.
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Here is BCG (emphasis added):
Very few elements of the value chain will be off-limits to information service providers and to exchanges. There will be a greater push for liquidity to form on trading venues such as swap execution facilities. Exchanges will focus more on bolstering intellectual-property assets and on expanding their post-trade capabilities. As the role of the human trader declines, information service providers will cease to give away desktop applications and software in the hope of generating demand for chargeable data. As machine-to-machine trading proliferates, these providers will seek out new opportunities across the technology stack. There will be a greater focus on diversifying and developing dormant intellectual property.
The chart below shows the potential for information providers and trading venues to move into adjacent business lines. Core business lines for different financial institutions are in green, and new potential growth fields are in blue and yellow.
Information service providers could end up having a finger in every pie on Wall Street.
The geeks are taking over Wall Street.
Screen Shot 2016 05 18 at 9.28.36 AM
NOW WATCH: The most important question you should ask before hiring a financial adviser
More From Business Insider
On May 18, 1860, former Congressman Abraham Lincoln upset the Republican front runner, William Seward, at the partys second convention in Chicago, setting in motion the eventual regional split that became the Civil War.
lincoln1860
Lincoln in 1860
At that time, the newly formed Republican Party was concentrated in the Northern and Midwestern states, and almost any of its nominees would have attracted a strong negative reaction from the Southern states.
Lincoln, however, was a moderate in the GOP and quickly built up a regional reputation after his 1858 debates with Democratic leader Stephen A. Douglas and a stirring speech at New Yorks Cooper Union.
The New York Times, which supported Seward, had mute praise for Lincoln the day after his nomination: Lincoln had a stump canvass [in 1858] with Mr. Douglas in which he was beaten. He is not very strong at the west, but is unassailable in his character.
A rival newspaper, the New York Tribune, reported that the news wasnt welcome in Washington, D.C., at the Senate, where Douglas and others had been led to believe Seward was the nominee. Douglas called Lincoln a gifted candidate, and the Douglas supporters understood that Lincoln would do much better in the Midwest than other GOP candidates nullifying Douglas strength there.
In the days before the convention, Lincoln was seen as a leading candidate to be the vice president on a ticket with Seward. Lincoln came in second in vice presidential balloting at the 1856 Republican convention in Philadelphia, and it was widely understood that Seward had the most votes heading into the 1860 convention in Chicago.
Unfortunately for Seward, he didnt have the majority of convention votes for a first ballot win and his limited strength in the North foreshadowed an 1860 presidential loss if he only took the states where he was strongest.
Seward had also offended many Southern states with his prior remarks about ending slavery. In 1858, Seward gave a well-publicized New York campaign speech where he called the regional fight over slavery an irrepressible conflict that could only lead to a condition where the United States must and will become either entirely a slave-holding nation or entirely a free-labor nation. By May 1860, he lost support in other factions of the Republican Party when he moved to a more centrist position.
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The Lincoln election team, led by future Supreme Court Justice David Davis, lobbied three states hard, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Indiana, arguing that Lincoln was the best choice to win a national election against a divided Democratic Party.
As the convention opened in a large temporary structure called the Wigman, the Lincoln organizers outmaneuvered the Seward supporters in the hall, and in some cases, got their supporters into the 10,000 seat arena using counterfeit tickets. Davis also assured that Lincoln would be the second choice in states where he didnt lead Seward, other than the two other candidates: Ohios Salmon Chase and Missouris Edward Bates.
On the first ballot, Seward led Lincoln by a 173 to 102 margin, with Chase, Bates and Pennsylvanias Simon Cameron controlling about 150 additional votes, with 233 votes needed for the nomination. But on the second ballot, Cameron and Pennsylvania swung its votes to Lincoln, virtually deadlocking the race between Seward and Lincoln.
As the third ballot started, Lincoln appeared to be just short of the nomination, and his campaigners convinced a handful of Ohio delegates to switch sides, assuring Lincolns win. (The Lincoln supporters used promises of patronage without the candidates apparent knowledge Lincoln was back home in Springfield.)
Absent from the convention were representatives of nine southern states, while Virginia had a limited delegation in Chicago (which mostly supported Lincoln).
The New Orleans Picayune, in the Deep South, said that little was known about Lincoln, but it quoted part of his Lincolns 1858 Senate nomination speech to show an extract from one of his speeches in which the irrepressible conflict of Mr. Seward is avowed in terms hardily less emphatic.
The quote was, A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved I do not expect the house to fall but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.
In November 1860, Lincoln won the general election by almost sweeping all the electoral votes in the free states. Douglas took one state in the Midwest.
Scott Bomboy is the editor in chief of the National Constitution Center.
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In April, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said that it would review marijuanas classification as a Schedule I drug, considered the most dangerous class of substances.
While the DEAs announcement is a positive sign, many drug-policy experts think that its unlikely the agency will actually decide to change marijuanas classification, despite a dramatic shift in public sentiment about the drug.
Marijuanas position in the top tier of the scheduling system which organizes drugs by their acceptable medical use and abuse or dependency potential has endured since the 1970s.
DEA will carry out its assessment of the FDA recommendation in accordance with the [Controlled Substances Act] and hopes to release its determination in the first half of 2016," the DEA said in a letter to a group of Democratic senators, first obtained by The Huffington Post.
The DEAs statement was in response to a letter from Elizabeth Warren and other Democratic senators calling for the federal government to facilitate medical-marijuana research, which the Schedule I classification severely hinders.
Rescheduling marijuana into a different classification wouldnt undo the prohibition on the drug, but it would likely result in increased access to the drug for scientific purposes. Currently, the University of Mississippi is the only institution licensed to cultivate marijuana for research, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The announcement comes amid a broader reconsideration and embrace of marijuana for medicinal and recreational uses.
That clearly is not appropriate
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The national conversation on marijuana has been shifting for more than 20 years. In late 2015, 58% of Americans said that marijuana use should be legal. As recently as the mid-1990s, only about 25% of Americans held the same position.
And since California began allowing medical marijuana in 1996, 22 other states and Washington, DC, have followed suit, permitting the medical use of the drug in some form.
Organizations like the American Medical Association and American Academy of Pediatrics have recognized marijuanas therapeutic uses and called on the DEA to reschedule it. Even members of the federal government have joined the push recently.
"I certainly think it ought to be rescheduled, former US Attorney General Eric Holder said in a February 2016 interview. You know, we treat marijuana in the same way we treat heroin now, and that clearly is not appropriate.
That groundswell of support, however, does not appear to be the impetus for the DEAs review. The agency is acting on an administrative requirement, according to John Hudak, deputy director of the Center for Effective Public Management at the Brookings Institution.
The advocacy community has suggested that DEAs statement that they would decide on the Gregoire-Chafee rescheduling petition this summer is a sign that they are moving toward reforming policy with regard to marijuana, Hudak told Business Insider, referring to a 2011 petition from Govs. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Christine Gregoire of Washington state.
The reality is that DEAs statement offers no such signal, Hudak said. The petition has been before the US government for about five years, and DEA has an obligation to rule with the regard to a basic question: Is cannabis properly scheduled?
The DEA has reviewed marijuanas classification in the past, deciding in 2001 and 2006 to keep the drug at Schedule I putting it ahead of drugs like cocaine, meth, oxycodone, and anabolic steroids, all of which are on Schedule II or III, though legal penalties related to those drugs differ.
I would be surprised if DEA recommended rescheduling, Hudak said.
Statements from the DEAs acting chief would seem to back up Hudaks impression.
What really bothers me is the notion that marijuana is also medicinal because its not, acting DEA chief Chuck Rosenberg said in November 2015. We can have an intellectually honest debate about whether we should legalize something that is bad and dangerous, but dont call it medicine that is a joke.
Rosenberg and the DEA seem wedded to this position despite pushback by scientists and changing public opinion.
The DEA appears to be dragged into this kicking and screaming, said Sanho Tree, director of the Drug Policy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank focused on social-justice issues.
Clearly there are medical uses for cannabis, Tree told Business Insider. Legislators and others arent going to stop asking the question, so they have to do something.
'A potent third-rail issue
Despite the publics increasing opposition to marijuana prohibition, political calculations may trump scientific and public opinion and keep the federal government committed to prohibition.
Tree said that broad public support for decriminalization or legalization has yet to carry over to the majority of legislators with notable exceptions since they have to worry about reelection and drugs are still perceived to be a potent third-rail issue with which to smear opponents.
Federal-government reluctance seems unlikely to slow the roll of officials and businesses at the state and local level, however. Fourteen states have legal marijuana on the ballot in 2016, and a recent report showed that, under certain circumstances, legalization could generate $28 billion in tax revenue at the federal, state, and local levels.
Colorado earned more than $135 million in taxes and fees last year, and Washington state could earn more than $270 million in taxes by the end of this year.
Nationwide, between 21,000 and 33,000 businesses get some or all of their revenue from the marijuana industry.
Legalization efforts have also proved hearty in the face of legal challenges.
In March, the US Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to Colorados legalization of the drug, and, in May, the US Department of Justice dropped its four-year effort to shutter Harborside Health Center the largest medical-marijuana dispensary in the country.
Both parties will search for new wedge issues, but it will be harder to include drugs among them, Tree told Business Insider. Once we tame the black market and show people a formerly illegal substance can be legalized and regulated, it becomes harder to use the same scare tactics.
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* Saab CEO questions whether defence industry can cope
* Tensions with Russia, Islamic State end spending cuts
* 16 NATO allies spent more on defence in real terms in 2015
By Tim Hepher and Robin Emmott
LINKOPING, Sweden/BRUSSELS, May 18 (Reuters) - Pressure from the United States on NATO allies to increase their defence spending could strain the capacity of the arms industry to keep up with demand, the head of Swedish fighter jet and submarine builder Saab said.
While many analysts believe European arms makers have plenty of spare capacity, Saab Chief Executive Hakan Buskhe pointed to tensions over Russia's actions in Ukraine and said alliance members would have to respond to the U.S. demands.
Military spending stagnated for so long after the Cold War that the budgets of many states are well below a NATO target of 2 percent of gross domestic product, putting them at odds with Washington, Buskhe noted.
"I believe that due to the rather tense situation in many areas we will see a big increase in spending in Europe," he told reporters as Saab prepared to unveil a more powerful version of its Gripen fighter on Wednesday.
"That will lead to a new situation, a new normal," he said at the Gripen plant in the southern Swedish city of Linkoping. "You can really question whether the defence industry can deliver such a big volume on short notice, having had a long period of decreasing capabilities."
Saab largely supplies the militaries of Sweden and developing countries such as Brazil, but NATO members are also among its customers.
According to NATO data, four out of the 28 alliance countries apart from the United States met the 2 percent threshold last year: Britain and Greece plus eastern European members Estonia and Poland.
Former Soviet bloc countries fearful of Russia are proportionately big spenders while other allies such as Italy are still cutting to reduce the strain on their budgets following the euro zone crisis.
By contrast, the United States is by far the biggest contributor, spending 3.6 percent of its national output on defence. There the issue has surfaced in campaigning for the presidential election later this year.
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Republican candidate Donald Trump has said the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation costs the United States too much and that laggardly members should "pay up or get out".
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has accused Trump of putting the alliance at risk, but has also urged European allies to absorb a bigger share of NATO's costs.
"If Trump or Hillary stick to what they are saying ... then we will have huge demand on the whole supply chain," Buskhe said, adding that the defence industry will have to shorten long lead times for building new products.
Saab says its new Gripen E fighter has been designed to shorten the time it takes to add upgrades, while sticking to an 11 billion Swedish crown ($1.3 billion) development budget.
NATO allies agreed at a 2014 summit to hold spending at 2 percent of GDP or fill any budget shortfalls within a decade, and the issue will resurface when alliance leaders meet again this year in Poland.
"We've seen since the NATO summit in Wales that the defence cuts have pretty much halted across the alliance. Many allies have committed to increasing spending to get to, or towards, 2 percent," said one NATO diplomat.
"But clearly there is more work to do and defence spending will be a big priority at the Warsaw summit in July."
DRAGGED DOWN BY ITALY
NATO's defence spending as a share of economic output fell 1.5 percent in 2015, the sixth straight year of cuts, dragged down by a 12 percent decrease in Italy. The United States accounts for almost three-quarters of NATO military spending.
Still, 16 allies spent more on defence in real terms in 2015 and there was an increase in spending on new equipment. Poland's decision to raise spending by almost a quarter, as well as a strong showing in the Baltic nations that want more NATO troops in the region, helped to offset Italy and smaller reductions in Britain, Belgium and France.
Some U.S. arms makers are already straining to meet surging demand for precision missiles and other weapons being used in the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State and other conflicts in the Middle East, according to senior U.S. officials.
On Sweden's own borders, tensions in the Baltic region have reached their highest levels since the Cold War.
Non-NATO Sweden has decided to raise defence spending 19 percent over five years to 56.2 billion crowns by 2020, though that will still be close to 1 percent of GDP due to economic growth.
Buskhe's predictions of a bottleneck in defence capability contrast with what many analysts describe as a glut of European defence capacity due to economic rivalries.
"I don't see any risk of that because there has been overcapacity," Pieter Wezeman, senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), referring to the prospect of a strain on capacity.
"I would find it surprising if they can't ramp up production quite fast if we have a steady increase in the market."
Efforts by European Union policymakers to forge a single defence market have been obstructed by individual governments which jealously protect national industries and jobs. ($1 = 8.2942 Swedish crowns) (Additional reporting by Bjorn Rundstrom; editing by David Stamp)
By Tim Hepher and Robin Emmott LINKOPING, Sweden/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Pressure from the United States on NATO allies to increase their defense spending could strain the capacity of the arms industry to keep up with demand, the head of Swedish fighter jet and submarine builder Saab said. While many analysts believe European arms makers have plenty of spare capacity, Saab Chief Executive Hakan Buskhe pointed to tensions over Russia's actions in Ukraine and said alliance members would have to respond to the U.S. demands. Military spending stagnated for so long after the Cold War that the budgets of many states are well below a NATO target of 2 percent of gross domestic product, putting them at odds with Washington, Buskhe noted. "I believe that due to the rather tense situation in many areas we will see a big increase in spending in Europe," he told reporters as Saab prepared to unveil a more powerful version of its Gripen fighter on Wednesday. "That will lead to a new situation, a new normal," he said at the Gripen plant in the southern Swedish city of Linkoping. "You can really question whether the defense industry can deliver such a big volume on short notice, having had a long period of decreasing capabilities." Saab largely supplies the militaries of Sweden and developing countries such as Brazil, but NATO members are also among its customers. According to NATO data, four out of the 28 alliance countries apart from the United States met the 2 percent threshold last year: Britain and Greece plus eastern European members Estonia and Poland. Former Soviet bloc countries fearful of Russia are proportionately big spenders while other allies such as Italy are still cutting to reduce the strain on their budgets following the euro zone crisis. By contrast, the United States is by far the biggest contributor, spending 3.6 percent of its national output on defense. There the issue has surfaced in campaigning for the presidential election later this year. Republican candidate Donald Trump has said the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation costs the United States too much and that laggardly members should "pay up or get out". Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has accused Trump of putting the alliance at risk, but has also urged European allies to absorb a bigger share of NATO's costs. "If Trump or Hillary stick to what they are saying ... then we will have huge demand on the whole supply chain," Buskhe said, adding that the defense industry will have to shorten long lead times for building new products. Saab says its new Gripen E fighter has been designed to shorten the time it takes to add upgrades, while sticking to an 11 billion Swedish crown ($1.3 billion) development budget. NATO allies agreed at a 2014 summit to hold spending at 2 percent of GDP or fill any budget shortfalls within a decade, and the issue will resurface when alliance leaders meet again this year in Poland. "We've seen since the NATO summit in Wales that the defense cuts have pretty much halted across the alliance. Many allies have committed to increasing spending to get to, or towards, 2 percent," said one NATO diplomat. "But clearly there is more work to do and defense spending will be a big priority at the Warsaw summit in July." DRAGGED DOWN BY ITALY NATO's defense spending as a share of economic output fell 1.5 percent in 2015, the sixth straight year of cuts, dragged down by a 12 percent decrease in Italy. The United States accounts for almost three-quarters of NATO military spending. Still, 16 allies spent more on defense in real terms in 2015 and there was an increase in spending on new equipment. Poland's decision to raise spending by almost a quarter, as well as a strong showing in the Baltic nations that want more NATO troops in the region, helped to offset Italy and smaller reductions in Britain, Belgium and France. Some U.S. arms makers are already straining to meet surging demand for precision missiles and other weapons being used in the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State and other conflicts in the Middle East, according to senior U.S. officials. On Sweden's own borders, tensions in the Baltic region have reached their highest levels since the Cold War. Non-NATO Sweden has decided to raise defense spending 19 percent over five years to 56.2 billion crowns by 2020, though that will still be close to 1 percent of GDP due to economic growth. Buskhe's predictions of a bottleneck in defense capability contrast with what many analysts describe as a glut of European defense capacity due to economic rivalries. "I don't see any risk of that because there has been overcapacity," Pieter Wezeman, senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), referring to the prospect of a strain on capacity. "I would find it surprising if they can't ramp up production quite fast if we have a steady increase in the market." Efforts by European Union policymakers to forge a single defense market have been obstructed by individual governments which jealously protect national industries and jobs. ($1 = 8.2942 Swedish crowns) (Additional reporting by Bjorn Rundstrom; editing by David Stamp)
SAO PAULO, May 18 (Reuters) - Demand for loans among Brazilian companies slumped in April, credit research company Serasa Experian said on Wednesday, a sign that the highest borrowing costs in nine years and the harshest recession in eight decades hampered their ability to take on fresh credit.
The number of requests for new loans dropped 11.6 percent in April from the prior month, and fell 4.2 percent from the same month a year earlier, Serasa said in a statement. In the first four months, demand for consumer credit dropped 8.1 percent.
The data underscores how borrowing in Brazil is reeling from the country's downturn, slumping commodities prices and fallout from a corruption scandal at state firms.
With bankruptcy filings doubling this year and the economy poised to contract by about 4 percent for a second year in a row, banks are also cutting credit access for small and large corporate borrowers, or refinancing loans only for existing clients.
Moody's Investors Service said this month that the number of Brazilian companies facing high funding risks rose to 33 percent last year, from 28 percent in 2014. More debt is maturing than companies can generate cash to make payments, while banks are refinancing fewer loans, the report showed.
Banks had about 130 billion reais ($367 billion) in refinanced and restructured loans on their books last year, according to central bank data.
The combination of restricted credit supply and weak demand could lead banking industry profits to post their largest annual decline this year since at least 2000, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc analysts.
($1 = 3.5269 Brazilian reais) (Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal; Editing by David Gregorio)
Who would have guessed things would turn out this way: After sidelining a crowded field of rivals, Donald Trump is the last man standing in the Republican presidential race, while Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders continue to fight it out in a Democratic primary that has grown increasingly ugly.
Tensions between Clinton and Sanders supporters are running especially high after the former secretary of state edged out the Vermont senator in a competition for delegates at the Nevada State Democratic Convention over the weekend. Chaos broke out amid protests from Sanders supporters that party officials rigged the process in Clintons favor. But in his analysis of the frenzied event, veteran Nevada political reporter Jon Ralston concluded, Sanders folks disregarded the rules, then when shown the truth, attacked organizers and party officials as tools of a conspiracy to defraud the senator of what was never rightfully his in the first place. The state Democratic chairwoman even faced a flood of insults and threats of violence in the aftermath of the event.
The incident is nevertheless sure to fuel broader concerns that Sanders supporters have been raising throughout the primary contest. Many believe the election has effectively been bought and paid for by the Democratic establishment. But while Clinton opened up an extremely large early lead over Sanders in superdelegates, she has also won far more votes3 million more than the senator so far. The system is not rigged, said Josh Putnam, a political-science lecturer at the University of Georgia. The simple truth is that Clinton has won this nominationand fair and square at that.
What happened in Nevada could mark the most intense escalation of anger and frustration on display during the Democratic primary. Or it could be a signal of whats to come at the national convention this summer. As the Sanders campaign presses forward, it must carefully consider whether the senators ambition for a political revolution is a goal best achieved by actively stoking the anger of his supportersand, in a sense, encouraging them to tear it all down. That consideration, in turn, will need to be weighed against whether or not to suggest that Clinton and her team are engaged in illegitimate tacticsan argument that will make it far more difficult for the party to eventually unify and take on Trump.
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In a statement Tuesday, Sanders said that the the campaign believes in nonviolent change, and it goes without saying that I condemn any and all forms of violence, including the personal harassment of individuals. But he also added, If the Democratic Party is to be successful in November, it is imperative that all state parties treat our campaign supporters with fairness and the respect that they have earned.
Its true that the odds have always been against Sanders. But there is a difference between a candidate who amasses a competitive advantage playing by the rules and a candidate who actively breaks the rules. Part of what could make the rift between Clinton and Sanders supporters so hard to repair is that the two camps dont necessarily agree on what side of that distinction each candidate is on, or whether or not there is even a meaningful distinction to be made. Many Sanders supporters believe that elements of the political landscape, such as the campaign-finance system, are fundamentally corrupt. So, in their eyes, even playing by the rules could signal corruptionfor example, by relying on money from super PACs. The Clinton wing of the party, on the other hand, adopts a far more pragmatic approach, arguing that its necessary to play by the current rules to win the presidency and ultimately enact reform. But the more that Clinton is seen as a corrupt figureas opposed to a politician simply advocating for a different, more incrementalist model of political changethe harder it will be for her to successfully extend an olive branch to disaffected Democrats and angry Sanders supporters.
If the process is set up to produce an unfair, one-sided result, we are prepared to mobilize our delegates.
There have been increasing indications that the upcoming Democratic Party convention may devolve into protests amid accusations from Sanders proponents that the primary process has been unfair. In early May, Sanders wrote to Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz expressing concern that his supporters would not be adequately represented at the convention. If the process is set up to produce an unfair, one-sided result, we are prepared to mobilize our delegates to force as many votes as necessary to amend the platform and rules on the floor of the convention, he warned.
The superdelegate system could easily become a major point of dispute at the convention. For many of the Sanders faithful, allowing party elites to throw their weight behind any candidate they like is emblematic of a broken political process. In reality, its very unlikely that superdelegates, in the aggregate, would defy the will of the people. Earlier this month, Jeff Stein at Vox put it this way: [S]uperdelegates are not the reason Clinton is going to win the nomination. Clinton is going to win the nomination because she is getting many more votes than her rivaland thus winning the pledged delegate total. There is a theoretical world in which the superdelegates subvert the will of the voters and give Clinton the nomination ... We are not living in that world.
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Its not wrong for Sanders to see corruption baked into the law and the political process as it currently exists. Nor is it out of bounds for his campaign to point out the very flaws he is fighting to change. But the campaign should remain cognizant of the fact that suggesting the entire political process is unfair is quite different from drawing policy contrastsand more likely to have negative and destabilizing consequences for the party as a whole. Its easy to understand the temptation to lash out: Sanders fans feel that their voices are not being heard in the political process. But anger and frustration are far more likely to create chaos and confusion than they are to facilitate a productive discussion about common goalslike keeping a Republican out of the White House. If Sanders and his supporters were able to view Clinton as a politician who takes a different approach to politics without vilifying her campaign and her allies, that might not bring about political revolution, but it would provide a better path forward for the partyand put it in better position to beat Trump in November.
Read more from The Atlantic:
This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
By Ginger Gibson and Emily Stephenson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders each picked up primary wins on Tuesday in yet another demonstration of how divided the party is in the drawn-out national race to win the nomination for November's general election. Clinton narrowly defeated Sanders in Kentucky, a state where she was not expected to win. Sanders bested her in Oregon, a state that played to his strengths. In Kentucky, the two candidates will likely split the 55 delegates up for grabs. In Oregon, Sanders will take only a handful more of the 61 delegates that were awarded. Clintons sizeable lead in delegates means it is likely she will eventually be her party's nominee, but she remains more than 100 delegates short of sealing the deal. The Democratic primary now hits a two-week lull, with the final set major contests, including California, scheduled for June 7. Clinton, who spent the past two days campaigning in Kentucky, would like to lock up the nomination and turn her attention to the Nov. 8 general election and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Trump has begun to organize his general election campaign. On Tuesday, he signed a joint fundraising agreement with the Republican National Committee. The agreement allows him to raise $449,400 from a single donor by splitting the funds between his campaign, the RNC and state Republican parties. Trump, who eschewed donations in the political system through the primary, has thus far insisted on mostly self-funding his campaign. The shift to a more traditional fundraising approach could draw the ire of some supporters. Trump, in an interview with Megyn Kelly that aired on Fox News Tuesday night, said he did have regrets about his actions during the Republican primary process. "I could have used different language in a couple of instances, but overall Im happy with the outcome," Trump said. NEVADA STILL RANKLES Sanders supporters became angry when Nevada state party officials chose to end their convention and block efforts to award the U.S. senator from Vermont more delegates than he initially won in the February caucus. Clinton won the caucus. The Nevada incident was a warning about the potential for fireworks at July's Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Clinton's campaign continued to express confidence that she would be able to unify the party. "Hillary Clinton is grateful to the thousands of Nevadans who came out to participate in the caucuses and convention process," Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said. "She believes every voice should be heard and no one should be intimidated, harassed or threatened in this process. When the primary process is complete, our party must come together and ensure a Democrat is elected to serve as our next president," Mook said. Sanders on Tuesday joined his supporters in criticizing the Nevada Democratic Party after Saturday's events. One Sanders supporter threw a chair, unhappy about being blocked in a rules vote that was part of the effort to help the senator win more delegates to the national convention. Others drew chalk graffiti on a party building, while the state's party chairwoman has been receiving death threats. Sanders framed Nevada's incident as a warning. "If the Democratic Party is to be successful in November, it is imperative that all state parties treat our campaign supporters with fairness and the respect that they have earned," Sanders said in a statement on the Nevada incident. Sanders - who said he condemns violence and personal harassment of individuals - leveled some of the same complaints his supporters did, arguing that state party Chairwoman Roberta Lange did not allow a headcount on a disputed rules change. He also argued that 64 delegates to the state convention were not given a hearing before being ruled ineligible. THREATS OF VIOLENCE The state party disputed the Sanders campaign's interpretation of the events. It said some delegates did not show up at the convention and others were disqualified because they were not registered as Democrats in time. "The Sanders campaign is continuing to be dishonest about what happened Saturday and is failing to adequately denounce the threats of violence of his supporters," the Nevada Democratic Party said in a statement. Sanders supporters began circulating a picture of Lange on the internet that included her cellphone number and encouraged others to contact her to express their unhappiness. Lange said on MSNBC she had been receiving death threats, including many containing vulgar language. Public messages sent to her Twitter account included a barrage of derogatory statements. MSNBC played some of the voicemails, including one saying people like you should be hung in a public execution. What you heard is a few of the thousands of emails and texts and Facebook messages and Twitter messages that Ive gotten," Lange said on MSNBC. "Threats to my family, to my grandson, to my husband. Sanders' continued presence in the race is prompting concerns among Clinton allies that he will damage her ability to take on Trump and hurt her in the fall. But Sanders supporters shrug off that worry, arguing that Trump is such a flawed candidate that Clinton will easily dispatch with him if she faces him in the Nov. 8 election. Clinton's camp seems to agree. "Ultimately, we are confident that the passion and energy from the primary will be united in a common purpose to move forward the ideals of our party and keep the White House out of Donald Trumps hands," her campaign manager Mook said. (Additional reporting by Luciana Lopez in New York and Doina Chiacu, John Whitesides and Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Editing by Caren Bohan, Jonathan Oatis, Leslie Adler, Michael Perry and Paul Tait)
F 35A
Danish officials recently issued the results of a long and intensive evaluation, concluding that the F-35 Joint Strike fighter beat out the F-18 Hornet and the Eurofighter Typhoon as the nation's best strategic, economic, industrial, and military replacement for their aging fleet of F-16s.
The Danish acknowledged that their F-16s were reaching the end of their lifespan, noting that they will have been operational for 40 years in a longer report on the aircraft's respective capabilities.
As a result of their findings, the Danish Prime Minister and Defense Ministers are recommending the nation buy 27 of the Joint Strike Fighters at a price around $3 billion. Though the F-35 has frequently taken a hammering in the press for the program's cost and time overruns, the order from Denmark make shows that it still has bright prospects as an export.
Additionally, the F-35 handily outperformed the other jets in the evaluation carried out by a wide range of experts. The graphic below shows the F-35 beating the jets out in all military aspects.
F-35 evaluation
So the F-35 proved to be the most survivable, effective on missions, and compatible with weapons systems of the future. Only in the area of risk did the F-35 narrowly lose out to the F-18, whose service with other forces around the world means that it's risks have largely been addressed, according to the Danish report.
F-35 cost effective
The Danish officials cited the F-35's stealthy design and advanced sensors and equipment as increasing the survivability of the plane when under attack from enemies.
Importantly, despite the F-35 costing significantly more than a single F-18 or Eurofighter, Danish officials concluded that they could buy fewer of the F-35s, ultimately saving money.
Several factors contribute to the F-35's low cost over the lifetime of the project. The F-35 is designed to fly more hours than the F-18, and it has an internal diagnostic system that makes maintenance easier.
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The fact that the F-35 and Eurofighter are single seaters also save on hours needed to instruct the pilots.
"The F-35 Lightning II will help ensure Denmarks national security, and also positions Danish industry to capture long-term work throughout the life of the program," a spokesperson for Lockheed Martin said.
Denmark would join the UK, Australia, Turkey, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Israel, South Korea and Japan as customers for the US-made F-35.
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Washington (AFP) - Kentucky Derby champion Nyquist was made a 3-to-5 favorite Wednesday for the 141st Preakness, with the unbeaten bay colt starting third from the rail in Saturday's race.
"It's perfect," said Nyquist trainer Doug O'Neill of his horse's start gate in the 11-horse field at Pimlico.
Nyquist, 8-0, is trying to become the 13th horse to sweep US flat racing's Triple Crown by taking the Derby, Preakness and next month's Belmont Stakes.
American Pharoah won the Triple Crown last year to end a 37-year drought.
The 1 3/16ths-of-a-mile Preakness is the shortest event of the three.
Derby runner-up Exaggerator, who lost by 1 1/4 lengths at Churchill Downs, was second in the eyes of oddsmakers at 3-1 and drew the fifth position with Stradivari, made the third choice at 8-1, starting on the outside.
Japanese-bred Lani, ninth in the Derby, will start sixth.
The field also includes Cherry Wine, Uncle Lino, Awesome Speed, Collected, Laoban, Fellowship and Abiding Star.
Nyquist jogged two miles Wednesday at Pimlico.
"He looked great," O'Neill said. "We're just looking for him to continue what he has been doing here since he's been in Baltimore -- keep his appetite up, stay injury-free and stay loose."
Nyquist owner J. Paul Reddam, O'Neill and jockey Mario Gutierrez also won the Derby in 2012 with I'll Have Another, which won the Derby and Preakness but scratched with a tendon injury the morning before the Belmont Stakes.
Nyquist is set to gallop Thursday morning and jog Friday at Pimlico.
Exaggerator trainer Keith Desormeaux is optimistic about his horse's chances.
"Exaggerator has much more racing experience, therefore fitness and the attribute of recovering quickly," Desormeaux said. "So I think I have the fitter horse and, to tell you the truth, the fresher horse going into Saturday."
Nyquist, a son of Uncle Mo and named after Detroit Red Wings forward Gustav Nyquist, is seeking to become the second undefeated Triple Crown winner, joining Seattle Slew in 1977.
Photo: Getty Images
Im in a warm room full of people, sitting cross-legged with my hand on my heart. My yoga instructor is on the mat in front of me, leading the group through breathing exercises. On the exhale, we chant: I am.
If youd told me 40 days ago that Id be doing this in all seriousness and actually enjoying it I mightve laughed at you. But here I am, after practicing yoga every day for 40 days, and I feel like a new person. I am calm and grounded.
I had recently moved to an apartment in walking distance to a yoga studio, and Id decided it was time to make my haphazard, once-in-a-while practice more regular. The only thing keeping me from doing so was the fear that, after putting yoga on the backburner during school, I would go to the classes and, surrounded by seasoned yogis doing all kinds of poses, feel exposed, inadequate, and foolish.
I knew the only way to get over my anxieties about practicing yoga one of the few exercises I knew I really enjoyed was to dive into it headfirst, and by honoring a commitment to myself. When I saw my yoga studio advertise a 40-day yoga challenge, I put my name down on their sticker chart (yes, we all giddily put moon and star stickers on a chart for each day completed) and got to it.
Heres what I learned after completing 40 consecutive days of in-studio yoga:
There isnt just one type of yoga body.
One of my yoga instructors talked a lot about how the yoga industry perpetuates a false image of what a yoga body is. While yoga magazines and videos tend to show yogis with slim, lean physiques in contorted poses, this is just not indicative of yoga practitioners at large. Every class I attended was full of people of all ages and sizes. I was just as likely to have my mat set up next to a woman or man in their sixties as I was someone my age. Seeing the diversity in peoples bodies and all they could do made me realize you dont need to look a certain way to do yoga.
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Breathing exercises are no gimmick. Theyre exceptionally healing.
I must admit, when I first started yoga, I didnt really think breathing exercises could be that beneficial. I just wanted to get a good workout in my hatha classes, and breathing came secondary. I learned fairly quickly how backwards this approach was. While yoga is super healthy for your body in a physical sense, its also incredibly balancing for your mental state. Im an anxious person, and incorporating breathing exercises into my life through yoga classes (and now at home) has calmed me in a way that no other coping mechanism has.
Youre going to mess up or feel silly, and thats okay.
Im someone who worries about messing up or looking foolish in front of other people, but yoga has helped me reconcile the fact that sometimes its just bound to happen, and thats okay. During one of my hot yoga classes, I felt a debilitating cramp in one of my legs. I wrestled with this for a few moments, thinking I could just push through it. But I remembered how the instructors, before each class, encourage us all to take a break when our bodies are giving us signals to stop. I paused and took a sip of water, knowing the cramp was likely a sign of dehydration. This sort of thing happens all the time in yoga classes, and I found theres a mutual understanding among teachers and students that everyone has their own bodily limitations and needs from day to day, so its important (and not embarrassing!) to honor them.
Youll start caring about things you didnt pay much attention to before.
I knew yoga would encourage me to take care of my body through proper rest and nutrition. But what I didnt expect was that Id start to care more about my consumption in other ways as well. I started buying from organic skincare and cosmetic companies. I even bought yoga leggings made from recycled plastic bottles. Theyre more comfortable than they sound!
Youll practice more self-compassion.
Ive struggled with body dysmorphia for most of my life. I often feel that Im much bigger than I am, but yoga has helped me be kinder to myself when I look in the mirror. While its still an uphill battle, I find myself scrutinizing my thighs less and instead feeling proud of how my body exhibits my newfound capabilities my shoulders are stronger from doing all those sun salutations, and it shows!
Yoga doesnt have to be so serious.
One of the most refreshing things Ive found about yoga is that, while my instructors and fellow students are totally engrossed by yoga as a lifelong practice, they still manage to make it fun. My favorite instructors are the ones who take time to relate stories about their own days or tell jokes to make difficult poses a little more bearable. One of them even treats us to hip hop playlists on Friday nights.
While it may not be practical to hit the yoga studio every day after completing the challenge, I now realize yoga doesnt have to be such an intimidating feat its really just a way to feel good in body and mind, even if its just for 10 minutes on your mat at home.
The post I did yoga for 40 consecutive days heres what I learned appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Acclaimed Philippine filmmaker Brillante Mendoza is back at Cannes this year with another gritty take on his homeland, this time exploring drugs, poverty and corruption through shopkeepers trying to make ends meet.
Mendoza, 55, is taking part in the world's top movie festival for the fourth time, having won the best director award in 2009 for another tale of Manila's dark underside.
His latest film, "Ma' Rosa", tells the story of a poor Manila neighbourhood stall holder who sells drugs on the side with her husband to make ends meet.
The couple get arrested, leaving their four children to try and buy their parents' freedom from corrupt policemen.
Mendoza was an advertising industry production designer who only began making films in his mid-40s. In the decade since he has made a dozen full-length features.
He is known for choosing controversial topics, crafting stories of ordinary people in scenarios that range from prostitution to homosexuality and corruption.
Known by his nickname Dante, Mendoza set up his own film production outfit in 2005 "that aims to reinvent Filipino cinema by producing meaningful and relevant films".
His 2009 award-winner, "Kinatay" ("The Execution of P"), graphically depicted the rape, murder and dismemberment of a prostitute.
Mendoza refused to distribute the film commercially in the Philippines after Cannes because it ran into trouble with conservative government censors who initially prevented its showing at a Manila university.
"I don't think the majority would appreciate this kind of film," he said at the time. "By their standards, it's too dark, it's not glossy, it doesn't have famous actors, the camera is a bit jerky."
However, his films are highly appreciated in Europe, giving the continent's audiences a glimpse of contemporary Philippine society.
Mendoza's first Cannes entry in 2008, "Serbis" (Service), told the story of a family living in a porn movie theatre.
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His "Taklub", a fictionalised account of three survivors of the Super Typhoon Haiyan that devastated the Philippine city of Tacloban and nearby areas in 2013, was also shown at Cannes last year.
"Thy Womb" won an award at the Venice film festival in 2012, while another film, "Tirador" (Slingshot), also won an award at Berlin in 2007.
His Cannes victory earned Mendoza a knighthood from France.
He was awarded the Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) in 2014, the first Filipino director to earn it.
From ELLE
Drake has a new album, a new face, and now he also has a whiskey to call his own. Called Virginia Black, it was created in collaboration with Brent Hocking, who makes the whiskey himself. Have a drink with Drake? Don't mind if I do. Jimmy Fallon did:
Celebrity alcohol is nothing new. But what are we supposed to make of a beverage like Virginia Black? Obviously, you can pour yourself a nightcap and get pleasantly buzzed. And it's also sending a message: You might not be Drake, but you can drink him! That's the point, right? This whiskey is basically Drake in liquid form: fancy, smooth, and, frankly, kind of raunchy. It's all about the flavor of the thing.
Here are five celebrity drinks and what we think they say about the celeb in question.
Drake's Virginia Black
What is it? Drake's liquor has the tagline "Decadent American Whiskey." Everything from the gold lettering on the box to the bottle that holds the liquid (it's modeled on a cologne bottle) is meant to elicit a sense of luxury and glamour. Additionally, though, it's really easy to drink-there's very little bite.
What does it say about him? Everything about this beverage is smooth. (Too smooth? Winky face.) All is chill. You know? At a tasting, Hocking told us, "If Drake were to come through right now, he'd be pouring shots. He just wants everyone to have a good time." Thanks, Drizzy!
Beyonce's WTRMLN WTR
What is it? Apart from having a name that looks like what your mom texts you when she's driving (not safe, mom), the cold-pressed "hydration sensation" that Queen Bey recently invested in is hip and wholesome. It's made from ripe watermelon and contains antioxidants like vitamin C. In a statement, Bey said her involvement with the company was "an investment in female leaders, fitness, American farmers, and the health of people and our planet."
What does it say about her? Sure, it might keep you hydrated, but what you get with this product isn't just about your bod. It's also about feminism, business, agriculture, and public health. Simple. As you might expect when dealing with the Queen, WTRMLN WTR is never only WTRMLN WTR.
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Mariah Carey's Butterfly
What is it? Remember Mimi's foray into the world of drinkables? Not quite a soda, not quite a juice, Butterfly came in a festive pink bottle and was supposed to be enjoyed in a champagne flute. But perhaps most excitingly, if you scanned a code on the bottle, you got access to exclusive social content from Mariah.
What does it say about her? Many agreed that this "melodic beverage" inspired by everyone's favorite diva was incredibly sweet and very pink. Just like Mariah! Also, she is super famous and people will pay to get access to her.
50 Cent's Effen Vodka
What is it? This "light, crisp vodka experience" comes in four flavors, including cucumber and black cherry. "Effen" means smooth in Dutch, and the name refers both to the silky quality of the liquor as well as the Dutch origins of the wheat that goes into the vodka.
What does it say about him? Effen reflects the smoothness of Fiddy's charisma. Even if you sound like an angry English person when you say the name of the beverage out loud.
Sofia Coppola's Sofia Blanc de Blancs
What is it? Technically, it wasn't director Sofia Coppola who was responsible for this sparkling wine, but her father, Francis Ford Coppola. Created for Sofia's wedding by winemaker Corey Beck, it's a light Prosecco-style tipple that, importantly, also comes in a can.
What does it say about her? While it's refined and refreshing, and perfect for a huge celebration, girl will also come along with you anywhere.
If you're told an acquaintance has died in his or her sleep, it might mean the cause of death is unclear -- or the family just wants to maintain privacy. But when somebody close to you is found dead in bed for no apparent reason -- especially a younger adult who was considered healthy -- it's important to find answers.
For grieving survivors, certainty about why someone died helps bring closure. And for family members, being aware of a genetic cause can potentially lead them to lifesaving treatment. Below, experts describe the chain of events that follow a sudden, unexplained death.
[See: 17 Ways Heart Health Varies in Women and Men.]
"Anybody who dies at home, unwitnessed, is going to be reported to the medical examiner's office," says Dr. Candace Schoppe, a forensic pathologist and medical examiner for Dallas County. "Whether or not we take jurisdiction depends on how much medical history the person has and what the circumstances are."
The age of the deceased is an important consideration, Schoppe says. The younger a person is, the more likely there will be an autopsy. If it's an adult in his or her mid- to late 50s or older with a known medical condition, who's found in bed with nothing remarkable at the scene, an autopsy is unlikely.
A suspicious death with the possibility of homicide is different. "Someone that's dead in bed -- if there's something amiss with the scene, or there's something in the history or the person's real young and has no history -- I would always keep that in the back of my mind," Schoppe says.
Accidental overdose is another possibility to consider, she says, with the "skyrocketing" number of people misusing or abusing prescription painkillers, usually opioids.
Household Tragedies
Every year brings tragic sudden deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning, says Dr. Patrick Lantz, a professor of pathology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and a regional forensic pathologist and medical examiner in North Carolina. A malfunctioning furnace could emit carbon monoxide throughout the home. "People can die in their sleep from that very easily," he says.
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Or, people with an enclosed garage in the house may turn on the car to warm it up, leaving the garage door closed. "It can build up carbon monoxide pretty quickly," Lantz says. With silent engines, a person might leave the motor running without realizing it.
Strange cases happen: Someone could get electrocuted from a faulty wire in an appliance like a hairdryer. "They could have touched that in the bathroom, and their irregular heartbeat may not start right away," Lantz says. "It may give them enough time to lie down on the bed and fall asleep or fall down on the bed. They might not be found right next to the device that caused the electrocution."
[See: Was That a Seizure?]
If you ever find somebody who has died in bed, the next course of action depends on the circumstances, Lantz says: "If it's someone who had known disease like cancer or long-term heart disease, probably the best thing to do is to call the individual's physician."
However, if death was unexpected, it's essential to call 911, Lantz says. "Not only will law enforcement arrive, but probably a rescue squad will arrive, just to make sure the person is really dead," he says. "Because they could just not be breathing very much and have a pulse that you couldn't detect. So it's really important to have a professional to assess if a person has died in his or her sleep."
Starts at the Heart
Adult cases of natural death that go to autopsy tend to be people between 20 and 55 who had very little reported medical history, Schoppe says. "They may just have a history of slightly high blood pressure, or maybe just diabetes, or maybe just obesity," she says. "And in the vast majority of [cases], what we've been finding is undiagnosed cardiovascular disease."
Cases where a person suddenly drops dead, whether at night or during the day, are more likely due to a heart arrhythmia, Schoppe says. With these abnormal heart rhythms, the electrical supply of the heart is disrupted. Autopsy of the heart may reveal old scarring, she says, "or a person's heart has become really large, either because they consumed a lot of alcohol or they're obese." The heart could also be enlarged due to congenital heart conditions.
Undetected Disease in the Family
Understanding the reason for a loved one's sudden death is important, Lantz says. "Number one, it helps the family with closure to give an explanation why this individual actually died," he says. "Especially if there's any genetic component."
Genetic conditions that can lead to sudden death include "channelopathies." This group of diseases involves disruption in the flow of ions such as potassium, sodium and calcium across cells. Channelopathies are responsible for some fatal heart arrhythmias in younger people, Schoppe says. Certain channelopathies are associated with death occurring during sleep.
Brugada syndrome, for example, may cause abnormal rhythms in the lower chambers of the heart. Sometimes inherited, Brugada syndrome occurs more frequently in Asians. Because it can be present without symptoms, people may not realize they have the potentially fatal condition.
Lifesaving Treatment
Autopsy results can steer family members to medical screening to catch serious genetic conditions and spur treatment, which might be observation or medication. When certain arrhythmias are found, Lantz says, patients may need to have an implantable defibrillator placed around their heart.
Diseases of the wall of the aorta -- the large, central artery that carries blood from the heart to the body -- can lead to tears, rupture and sudden death. Risk for aortic aneurysms can run in families. "The family members can actually be screened with echocardiograms and CTs or MRIs, and when they see the aortas start to dilate, they can go have preventive surgery," Lantz says. "And that will prevent sudden , unexpected death of those people."
Schoppe says when inheritable conditions are the suspected cause of sudden death, her office alerts family members. "I make a point to actually speak, at least over the phone, to the next of kin and explain to them," she says. "And I also note in the autopsy report that this is likely a genetic mutation that is inherited and recommend that immediate family members -- usually parents, siblings and children -- seek the advice of their physicians regarding the need for individual testing."
Mental Health Questions
Taking mental health into account is part of the process to differentiate between natural and unnatural death. "That really falls back on the medical examiner or coroner service to make sure a thorough investigation is done, in talking to the family," Lantz says. "Has someone been depressed? Were there any drugs available? Had the person had any suicidal ideation?"
If so, that affects decision-making. "If we had any information like that, that this person had been depressed and had suicidal ideation, I think any examiner, no matter what the person's age, would probably bring them in to do an autopsy, just to rule [suicide] out," he says.
[See: 9 Things to Do or Say When a Loved One Talks About Taking Their Life.]
How Common Really?
Brain conditions linked to sudden, unexpected death include massive stroke or massive bleeding from a brain aneurysm, Lantz says. Although infections such as meningitis and encephalitis can be fatal, he says, people have symptoms leading up to their death.
"Epilepsy is notorious for causing death during sleep," Schoppe says. That's probably due to reduced oxygen level to the brain inducing a seizure. Usually, she says, the person has had a prior history of seizures.
How often seemingly healthy people die suddenly in bed depends on what people perceive as "healthy," Schoppe says. Obesity is a significant factor in sudden death, she says: "The number of people now that I'm seeing with really bad coronary artery disease, or clogging of their arteries -- it just seems to get younger and younger and younger." In some cases, she says, a person with poor access to health care may die without any medical history whatsover -- because he or she hasn't seen a doctor in the past 15 years.
"It's very uncommon for people to die in their sleep suddenly and unexpectedly," Lantz says. "But it can happen. In most cases when it is truly unexpected, the vast majority of medical examiners will investigate those thoroughly. And hopefully, most of the time an autopsy will be done to give more information to the families."
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.
Washington (AFP) - Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump claimed again Tuesday that he is worth "in excess of $10 billion" -- more than twice the level of independent estimates.
The New York real estate tycoon said he filed his personal financial disclosure (PFD) form with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), a step every White House aspirant must take to qualify as a candidate.
The commission has yet to release the document but is expected to do so within 30 days.
The Trump campaign said his net worth has increased since his last PFD was filed last July and is now "in excess of $10 billion."
"I filed my PFD, which I am proud to say is the largest in the history of the FEC," Trump declared in the statement.
"I have built an incredible company and have accumulated one of the greatest portfolios of real estate assets, many of which are considered to be among the finest and most iconic properties in the world," he added.
"This is the kind of thinking the country needs."
Bill and Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, also released financial statements, disclosing late Tuesday that they raked in a combined $6.75 million in paid speeches, US media reported.
Clinton, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, has been roundly criticized over her massive paydays for speeches to big banks and investment firms since leaving the State Department.
Her opponent for the nomination, socialist Bernie Sanders, has called on Clinton to release transcripts of her speeches, suggesting that the texts would reveal cozy ties with American corporations -- a political liability for a Democratic standard bearer.
According to campaign documents cited by ABC News, Clinton last year gave six paid speeches for a total income of $1.475 million.
Her biggest payday was for a March 3, 2015 speech to eBay, which earned her $315,000.
Clinton has not given any paid speeches since announcing her presidential campaign in April of last year.
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The document also shows that Bill Clinton gave 22 paid speeches last year for a total of $5.25 million, ABC reported.
- 500 companies -
The Trump campaign, meanwhile, said his revenues increased by some $190 million, and that as reported in his latest statement, the billionaire's income stood in excess of $557 million, excluding dividends, interest, capital gains, rents and royalties.
In July, one month after he launched his presidential bid, Trump's disclosure said he held positions with more than 500 companies and organizations, and had 168 different assets and sources of income.
The form showed he claimed $362 million in income in 2014.
Researchers for the magazine Forbes argued last year that Trump is worth no more than $4 billion, pointing out that he lost a string of business deals after offending millions by calling Mexicans rapists and drug traffickers.
Trump's personal financial disclosure is not a release of tax returns.
Most presidential candidates have released their tax returns as a traditional step in their campaign but Trump has not, citing an ongoing audit of his finances.
On Friday when pressed by ABC about his tax rate, Trump said it was "none of your business," but added that he would release his returns when the audit was complete.
His refusal has prompted criticism from Democrats, as well as prominent Republicans including 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who has warned that Trump might be hiding a "bombshell" in his tax returns.
All bickering was cast aside as Donald Trump and Fox News Megyn Kelly talked through their issues during an interview airing Tuesday night.
Kelly's sit-down with the GOP presidential frontrunner was a network special titled, "Megyn Kelly Presents."
Read: Carrie Prejean Rips Trump 'Times' Article
The elephant in the room was the situation between Kelly and Trump, where the two have sparred in the press since she hosted the first Republican debate in August.
During the session at Trump Tower in Manhattan, Kelly told the real estate tycoon, "lets talk about us. She brought up the August debate when she asked about his history of name-calling against women.
Trump said he felt Kelly was being unfair during her line of questioning at the time.
Kelly fired back, saying, "I thought it was a fair question. Why didn't you?"
Trump responded that it was a statement more than question and believed it was unfair.
Kelly then pushed him on his use of the word bimbo, a word he has called her in the past.
"Did I say that?" Trump asked before adding: "[It's] not the most horrible thing. Over your life, you've been called much worse."
After watching the interview from his home, the billionaire once again took to Twitter, this time to proclaim how he and Kelly are moving on.
Well, that is it. Well done Megyn --- and they all lived happily ever after! Now let us all see how "THE MOVEMENT" does in Oregon tonight! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2016
She said the pair reached a truce in order to have the interview last month.
The two discussed a variety of topics including mistakes made on the campaign and his regrets.
Absolutely I have regrets. I dont think I want to discuss what they are, Trump said. I could have done things differently, I could have maybe used different language in a couple of instances. Overall Im very happy with the outcome.
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Trump, who famously criticized Sen. John McCain last summer about being captured during the Vietnam War and made disparaging comments about former rival Carly Fiornias face, said he uses his tongue as a weapon to defend himself when he feels wounded.
When Im wounded, I go after people hard. I try and unwound myself, he said.
Read: Obituary Says Woman 'Chose' Death Over Voting For Trump or Clinton
He did admit that he doesnt wish he did something different.
If I didnt conduct myself in the way Ive done, I dont think I would have been successful, said Trump. If I were soft, if I were presidential. In a way its a bad word, because theres nothing wrong with being presidential.
He admitted that his biggest fault is often what he happens to retweet.
"The thing that gets me in trouble is retweets. The retweet is really more of a killer. The tweets, I seem to do pretty well with," he said.
Watch: Trump's Former Exec Barbara Res: I'll Be Voting For Hillary Clinton
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Donald Trump does everything in bold strokes, and his tax proposal is no exception. Trump is calling for massive tax cuts that would reduce tax revenues by roughly $10 trillion over 10 years. Everyone would get a break, but the wealthiest would get the lions share. The economy would get a boost, but the federal debt would soar, with record deficits for years to come.
The Fiscal Times asked a panel of experts in tax and fiscal policy to review the Trump tax plan: William G. Gale, the Arjay and Francis Miller Chair in Federal Economic Policy at the Brookings Institution and co-director of the Tax Policy Center; Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former Congressional Budget Office Director; and G. William Hoagland, a vice president of the Bipartisan Policy Center and a former Republican Senate budget official. A summary of their analysis is below:
Donald Trump
Tax Proposal Report Card Gale Hoagland Holtz-Eakin Category average Legislative feasibility D C F D Economic growth D C C C- Fiscal responsibility D D F D- Impact on taxpayers F C C D+ Expert average D- C- D-
We've broken down each expert's analysis in the three report cards below:
Donald Trump's Tax Proposal
Analyst: William C. Gale
Co-Director, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center Legislative feasibility D This is pie-in-the-sky nonsense, losing an enormous amount of revenue by cutting taxes dramatically for the very rich. The plan would dramatically increase deficits. Even a Republican-controlled legislature wouldnt have the guts to pass this. Economic growth D Haven't we been down this road before? Deficit-financed tax cuts are not good at generating economic growth. The skyrocketing effect on debt will hurt growth. Fiscal responsibility D Again, these are "huuuuuge" tax cuts. Even if one assumes some positive growth effect, the net revenue losses are enormous. Impact on taxpayers F The tax cuts have to be paid for. Growth will not finance the cuts. That means that some combination of spending cuts or future deficits will finance the tax cuts. The spending cuts will be borne mainly by middle and low-income households. The deficits will be borne by future generations.
Donald Trump's Tax Proposal
Analyst: William Hoagland
Senior Vice President, Bipartisan Policy Center Legislative feasibility C Given significant loss of revenue over next decade, poor chance as proposed that this would ever become law. 15% corporate tax rate outside the range of bipartisan support. Economic growth C Positive aspects relative to lower corporate tax rate, though likely would be negotiated higher than 15%, closer to 25%. Positive aspects, however, are offset by significant increases in debt and deficits with increasing interest costs in the future. Fiscal responsibility D Significant increases in debt and deficits not offset by any major reductions in federal mandatory spending programs. Very poor fiscal long-term plan. Impact on taxpayers C No tax bracket would see a negative impact, though disproportionately overweighed toward top bracket, top 1% of taxpayers. Additional comments Concern that such a tax plan if enacted would further increase tension over income distribution issues while not addressing lower income issues. Could result in growing social and economic unrest, increasing dangerous economic polarization.
Donald Trump's Tax Proposal
Analyst: Douglas Holtz-Eakin
President, American Action Forum Legislative feasibility F The plan loses too much revenue to even be considered and lacks the cohesion of a genuine tax reform. Economic growth C The corporate reform would have dramatic impacts and the lower marginal rates are beneficial. It would be an A if it was paired with a realistic spending side of the budget and reforms that broadened the base. Fiscal responsibility F It cannot be paired with a commitment to not reform either Social Security or Medicare. Impact on taxpayers C It reduces taxes for everyone, but at the expense of future taxpayers.
More on the Clinton and Trump tax plans:
The scariest part of Emily Vorlands relatively uneventful 2009 deployment to Iraq was that the enemy wore Army green, just like she did. When a higher-ranking male officer sexually harassed her, her commander told Vorland to file a formal complaint. So she did. Lieutenant Vorland was grateful when higher-ups ordered her alleged abuser to stop contacting her. But as the investigation continued, Vorland says the Army seemed to shift its focus to her.
It concluded she had acted inappropriately, engaged in consensual sex and was lying about it. A lesbian, she was concerned that her best defense was one that would end her military career because the dont ask, dont tell rules were still in place. The Army used her acknowledgement that she should have been more careful in detailing what happened to generate a letter of reprimand, which it used to boot her out with a general discharge for unacceptable conduct, after her unit returned to its Texas base in 2010.
Her less-than-honorable discharge kept her out of the National Guard, barred her from transition assistance, and denied her six months of free post-military health care. Finding a job proved tough, because shed be asked for her discharge papers to prove she had served. So I avoided jobs where they wanted to see your DD-214, she says, referring to the Pentagons discharge form.
I wasnt happy about it, but at the time I didnt see it as being very impactful, she says. There was this sense of Just go to the discharge review board and youll be fine, she remembers hearing about upgrading her discharge. Thats when she ran into an even more implacable Army foe: the stacked maze veterans must endure to try have their discharges upgraded.
Vorland got a preview of the process as she waited to appear before such a board in Dallas in 2013 and heard shouting from inside the closed-door hearing, where a young vet was seeking an upgraded discharge. Suddenly, rescue personnel rushed into the building. The guy apparently became so undone that he threw up in the hearing, Jo Ann Merica, Vorlands lawyer, says. We saw him carried out to an ambulance.
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The process that unfolded once Vorland and her lawyer got inside the hearing room also made them sick. The panels chairwoman, an Army colonel, was joined by several other Army personnel via video. They just continued the retaliation, going into who I was as a person and asking me if Id lied, Vorland says. Merica was flabbergasted by what she called a witch huntwhere her pro-bono client was the one at the stake. It was a weird atmosphere, and seemed like they already had their decision made, says Chief Warrant Officer Norma Garza, a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter pilot who was Vorlands roommate in Iraq and testified for her at the hearing. She got discharged from the Army when she wasnt at fault.
Ive been in a lot of courtrooms before, and Ive appeared before some very cranky federal judges, says Merica, who handled the case pro bono. But I was almost immediately disabused of the notion that this hearing was going to be conducted with the same type of decorum.
Less than two weeks later, the board rejected Vorlands petition.
Even as the military scrambles under congressional pressure to prevent future cases of sexual abuse, past victims are suffering for having stood up for themselves. Thousands of victims have been pushed out of the service with less-than-honorable discharges, which can leave them with no or reduced benefits, poor job prospects and a lifetime of stigma. Worse, when they try to rectify their situation, as Vorland did, fewer than 10% of them succeed, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch estimates (the Pentagon doesnt compile such data).
Military personnel who report a sexual assault frequently find that their military career is the biggest casualty, the group says in a new study. It spoke to 163 veterans ousted from the military between 1966 and 2015 after complaining about sexual abuse, ranging from harassment to rape. Our interviews suggest that all too often superior officers choose to expeditiously discharge sexual-assault victims rather than support their recovery and help them keep their position. The nonprofit group will release its report into the process Thursday in Washington.
For far too many years, the service members and veterans who have survived military sexual trauma have been re-victimized by improper discharges and an ineffective and discriminatory claims-review process, Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the senior Democrat on the veterans affairs committee, tells TIME. These survivors deserve better.
A Pentagon inspector generals report released Tuesday made clear that the military process for those leaving the service after complaining about sexual abuse could use tidying up. Two of every three personnel files the IG requested from the services were incomplete, and one of every five could not be found. The IG conducted the inquiry after Congress said, in last years defense bill, that it was concerned about early discharges of service members who have made a report of sexual assault.
The Pentagon process for reviewing discharges is stacked against the discharged, through a byzantine and skewed process that, by default, contends their ouster was proper. This is one of the weakest links in the American system of justice, says Eugene Fidell of Yale Law School, a former president of the National Institute of Military Justice who says he has represented scores of veterans seeking upgraded discharges.
The Navy, for example, says it will always presume the original discharge was correct, and that unhappy ex-sailors must produce clear and substantial evidence the service was wrong. Many service members reported being singled out for discipline for minor infractions following a sexual assault report in an effort, they believe, to create a record justifying a misconduct discharge, the study says.
Responding to the report, the Pentagon says recent changes mean liberal consideration will be given to veterans seeking upgraded discharges, including those alleging sexual abuse. The Defense Department gives the services wide latitude in ensuring their high standards are met, but provides oversight through the extensive procedural requirements and appeal options available to service members who face separations, says Air Force Major Ben Sakrisson, a Pentagon spokesman.
Such less-than-honorable discharges are on the rise. About 125,000 veterans who served in Afghanistan and Iraq have such bad paper discharges that deny them VA benefits. That translates into a rate nearly double as those who served in Vietnam, and four times as likely as those who served in World War II, according to a recent report from Swords to Plowshares, a veterans advocacy group.
Military discharges fall into several categories. More than 85% are honorable discharges. General discharges, a step down, are awarded either under honorable or less than honorable conditions. Bad conduct and dishonorable discharges are the worst, generally stemming from courts martial, and cant be changed by review boards. The Human Rights Watch report also notes that many sexual-assault survivors are booted out for personality disorders. Between 2001 and 2010, there were more than 31,000 of these discharges. Such blemished discharges have been linked to homelessness, imprisonment and suicide. Poor discharges also can deny veterans suffering from mental distress resulting from sexual assault from receiving the care from the Department of Veterans Affairs (about 33% of sexual-assault victims experience post-traumatic stress disorder, compared to an estimated 15% of combat veterans).
Heath Phillips enlisted in the Navy in 1988 at 17, and says repeated sexual assaults by fellow sailors forced him to go absent without leave from the USS Butte, an ammo-supply ship. I was so messed up I tried hanging myself in a storage room, he says. You think as a sailor I would know how to tie a knot, but I didnt know how to tie a slipknot. Ultimately, the service gave him a choice: six months confinement aboard ship with his abusers, or his signature on discharge papers that would get him off the ship and out of the Navy. I felt that if I stayed aboard the ship, Id be killed, or kill one of them, Phillips says. I would have signed a deal with the devil to get off that ship.
He says a Navy lawyer assured him that his other-than-honorable-discharge would be automatically upgraded after six months, but it never happened. I was a teenager and very naive, says Phillips, now 44. I didnt know any better. Phillips, suffering from PTSD, spent more than a decade mired in liquor and drugs. Now married with six children (none of them want to go into the military) and living in upstate New York, Phillips has filed written petitions with the Navy twice seeking to upgrade his discharge without success. We always bring up the sexual assaults, he says, but they never do.
Veterans can seek an upgraded discharge from discharge review boards, either in writing or in person, within 15 years of leaving the military. Beyond that time frame, or if the military-staffed review board has denied an upgrade, the veteran can file an appeal with the services board for the correction of military records. But the process is confusing. The boards rarely hold hearings and lack full documentation of their proceedings, which makes prevailing (most vets do not have lawyers) difficult.
While the boards decisions can be appealed to federal courts, only a handful of vets do so, because of the financial and emotional toll involved. Only 56 former soldiers appealed the tens of thousands of decisions made by the Armys Board for the Correction of Military Records between 2008 and 2013; the courts reversed 12, at least in part. The chance of a court reversing board decisions is so negligible and deferential as to be nearly non-existent, providing little incentive for boards to create credible decisions that can withstand scrutiny, Human Rights Watch concludes.
The boards, created by Congress in 1946, make a certain amount of sense. Commanders dont have time to deal with troublemakers, especially on the front lines, and are given leeway to force troops out. But that makes the boards oversight, acting as a check on commanders authority, critical. In the civilian world, you have protections against being unfairly fired, but that doesnt happen in the military, says Sara Darehshori, the reports author. The boards for the correction of military records, staffed by civilians, are supposed to provide such protection, but the process has been overtaken by military staff who do all the decision-making for the boards rubber stamp.
The low success rate also deters vets from seeking upgrades. Liz Luras says she was raped by a military colleague while attending military-intelligence school in Arizona in 2000 and suffered retaliation when she complained about it. After about a year in uniformwhile still in trainingshe says her drill sergeant told her the relationship was consensual and that it was grounds for her discharge. It was absolutely out of the blue, Luras recalls. I was forced to sign my papers, and they already had a ticket for my flight home and a shuttle waiting to take me to the airport. She was kicked out of the Army for a personality disorder that ended up on her honorable-discharge document. No licensed professional ever evaluated me, yet its stamped on my record. She says the label has worsened her PTSD and made it hard to find work. The slim chances of winning an upgrade have kept Luras from trying.
Human Rights Watch concludes that there needs to be wholesale changes in how the military reviews such discharges, including the right to hearings where military personnel can tell their stories. Cases should be recorded, summarized and available to petitioners to help guide their appeals.
Back in Texas, veteran Vorland works as a physical therapist in Austin, 70 miles south of Fort Hood, where her Army career ended more than five years ago. Despite the passage of time, her nightmare continues. The Army insists she repay $4,000 of the ROTC grant she used to attend the University of Iowa due to her early ouster.
I still feel pride in my service, but theres a sense of humiliation, Vorland says. I did the right thing, so how has this happened? However, she savors small victories. The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, citing her bad paper, denied her a veterans license plate. But she convinced the DMV shed earned one, which is now proudly fastened above the rear bumper of her 2008 Nissan Sentra.
Lausanne (AFP) - IOC president Thomas Bach said Wednesday that athletes and federations face tough sanctions up to a lifetime ban as he warned that doping has hit "an unprecedented level of criminality".
The International Olympic Committee leader also stepped up calls on Russia to clear up accusations of interference in testing at its doping laboratory during the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.
In a new sign of pressure on Russian sport, the New York Times said US prosecutors have started an investigation into doping by Russian athletes.
With 31 athletes from 12 countries already facing a ban from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August after new tests on samples from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Bach warned of new punishment if accusations against Russia were proved.
The allegations against the Sochi laboratory are "very detailed and therefore very worrying", Bach said in a commentary published in newspapers around the world.
"Should the investigation prove the allegations true it would represent a shocking new dimension in doping with an ...unprecedented level of criminality," added Bach.
He said sanctions "could range from life-long Olympic bans for any implicated person, to tough financial sanctions, to acceptance of suspension or exclusion of entire national federations like the already existing one for the Russian athletics federation."
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) suspended Russia in November after the World Anti-Doping Agency said there was a "state-sponsored" doping campaign in Russian athletics.
Bach warned that a WADA inquiry into Russia's actions in Sochi in 2014 could "greatly influence" whether its athletes are allowed to return for Rio.
"Should there be evidence of an organised system contaminating other sports, the international federations and the IOC would have to make the difficult decision between collective responsibility and individual justice."
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Bach even said sporting authorities would have to consider whether the 'innocent until guilty' maxim should still be applied to the "contaminated" federations.
With doping scandals mounting, the IOC announced Tuesday that 31 athletes from the 2008 Beijing Olympics had failed tests after their samples were reexamined.
The athletes are from 12 countries.
Some 454 Beijing tests were re-examined and the results from 250 samples retested from the 2012 London Games will be announced in a week, IOC officials said.
Bach said: "This decisive action will most likely stop some dozens of doped athletes participating in the Rio Olympic Games."
He said in a separate briefing that the new testing had uncovered athletes "who participated in Beijing and in London and may have qualified for Rio."
The IOC executive board has demanded that WADA start "a fully fledged investigation" into allegations that Russia's secret services and sports ministry subverted testing at the laboratory for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
This has been alleged by a former head of the Russian anti-doping agency now in hiding in the United States.
The IOC has instructed its lab in Lausanne to re-examine samples from Sochi "using the most modern and efficient methods at its disposal."
The Sochi samples are stored for 10 years in the facility in Lausanne.
Russian authorities have strongly denied any wrongdoing. But it faces a desperate struggle to get back into the IAAF so its athletes can compete in Rio.
The IAAF is to take a decision on June 17 on whether to let the All-Russian Athletics Federation back into the global body.
He said he had not had any communication from President Vladimir Putin over the sporting scandal however.
Russia's Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said on Sunday that his country was "sorry" and "ashamed" over the doping violations.
But he added that it was "absurd" to believe that Russian athletes were involved in systematic doping at the Sochi Olympics.
Mutko insisted it would be unfair to stop Russian athletes competing in Rio.
US authorities have meanwhile opened an investigation into the allegations of government-orchestrated doping in Russia, the New York Times reported, quoting two people with knowledge of the probe led by the US attorney's office in New York.
Prosecutors are investigating Russian government officials, athletes, coaches, anti-doping authorities and others who could stand to profit, said the Times.
Even though the case involves people living outside the United States, US courts allow prosecutors to bring cases against foreigners abroad if there is at least a tenuous connection to the United States.
Naypyidaw (Myanmar) (AFP) - Myanmar police on Wednesday arrested dozens of activists and factory workers as they broke up a labour rights march on the capital, the latest rally to test freedoms under Aung San Suu Kyi's new civilian government.
Around 200 police moved in on the demonstrators, many wearing bamboo hats and waving banners calling for worker rights, as they entered the outskirts of Naypyidaw -- where they hoped to speak to the government.
"We arrested about 60 protesters today. We tried to do it without hurting anyone," Naypyidaw region police chief Ko Ko Aung told AFP.
"We will not take further action against all of them, just those trying to cause violence," he said.
Suu Kyi's party is stacked with former dissidents who served prison time for their opposition to Myanmar's military governments during decades of repressive rule.
Since taking the helm following a landslide November election victory, the administration has freed scores of activists and political prisoners and signalled its determination to repeal oppressive laws.
But police have launched legal action against activists involved in several recent demonstrations, and rights groups have expressed concern over efforts to amend draconian protest laws.
The protesters in Naypyidaw have been marching for about three weeks from northern Sagaing Region, where around 100 workers have recently been fired from a timber factory.
They are appealing to the government to help reinstate many of those jobs and to recognise their newly-formed employment union.
The demonstrators were met by a wall of security forces as they tried to enter the capital and after a brief stand-off, officers began rounding up demonstrators, which led to scuffles.
"We didn't do anything wrong by protesting. Arresting us is unfair," one of the activists called out to reporters as she was arrested.
Earlier this week police announced plans to take action against five leaders of an interfaith rally in Yangon because the campaigners had deviated from the agreed protest route.
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Yangon police have also begun legal action against seven leaders of an unauthorised protest by Buddhist nationalists outside the US embassy last month.
Rights groups have raised alarm bells over a number of provisions in a draft amendment to the Peaceful Assembly Act that is due to be debated in parliament in the coming days.
They fear these will continue to penalise non-violent demonstrations, albeit with shorter jail terms.
The proposed draft would mean protesters must still give local police 48 hours' notice of the place and time of any rally, as well as details of planned speeches and slogans.
Those who protest without giving prior notice could be imprisoned for three months, while repeat offenders could face a year behind bars.
Well, who didnt see this coming? After The Cleveland Cavaliers completely crushed The Toronto Raptors on Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, 115-84, Raptors ambassador and noted bandwagon jumper Drake is being trolled on social media. You can call it karma since the Champagne Papi celebrated the Raptors beating out the Pacers to advance to the Conference Finals by photoshopping a tear on Paul Georges face.
The 6 Gods home squad and their We The North slogan were handed an epic beating by LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and the rest of Cavs, who were favorites to win going in anyway. What wasnt expected was how big they won, after they led by 22 at the half and made a cakewalk out of the disappointing match-up. Yes, there were nothing but smiles for once in the Factory of Sadness, but fans far and wide delighted in the chance to gloat at the expense of Drake, everyones favorite meme ting.
Drake watching the game right now like pic.twitter.com/IZkrpjbeu8 J (@Auhsoj___) May 18, 2016
Drake right now pic.twitter.com/G9RUzNpvUe Shooter McGavin (@ShooterMcGavin_) May 18, 2016
Drake right now with his reversible raptors/ cavs jersey #CavsRaptors pic.twitter.com/Y9aLDbZ11x Lee (@_Beautiful_Lee) May 18, 2016
Accurate representation of what the Cavs are doing to the Raptors #ECF pic.twitter.com/YfZvL79k6p Los (@RichHomieChapo) May 18, 2016
RT @Nigel_D:Can y'all give the Raptors some respect for making it this far?https://t.co/MPgHDXImwh Los (@RichHomieChapo) May 18, 2016
Drake after the Raptors vs Cavs game pic.twitter.com/NNalD1uu8y Chris Pennell (@c_pennell18) May 18, 2016
Drake right now with his reversible raptors/ cavs jersey #CavsRaptors pic.twitter.com/Y9aLDbZ11x Lee (@_Beautiful_Lee) May 18, 2016
Drakes currently keeping a low profile on social media, which differs from his usual celebratory posts and well-known courtside shenanigans. The Raptors have another chance to make their mans dem proud and tie the series when they play again on Thursday.
By Andrew M. Seaman (Reuters Health) - Having cereal and bread manufacturers add folic acid to their products may not be enough to help prevent certain birth defects, suggests a study from California. Since 1998, the U.S. has required companies to add folic acid to cereal grains to prevent birth defects in the brain and spine. But the new study found that a decrease in these defects actually slowed after the regulation took effect. By 1998, doctors had already been advising women for years to take folic acid supplements, which might explain the findings, said Dr. Irina Burd, an associate professor of gynecology and obstetrics and neurology at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore who was not involved in the study. "We shouldn't be changing our behaviors or recommendations at all based on this study," said lead researcher Gary Shaw, of Stanford University in California. "We dont want any message to get out there that folic acid is a bad thing," Shaw told Reuters Health. Instead, he said, "we need to know more." The 1998 mandate from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration calling for folic acid fortification of grains has been tied to a 36 percent reduction in neural tube defects, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But some have questioned whether fortification of grains was responsible for that change, or if it was partly due to an already falling rate of birth defects. For the new study, the researchers looked at data from all live births and stillbirths in central California between 1989 and 2010. Before fortification in 1998, neural tube defects had been falling by a rate of about nine cases per 100,000 births per year and that slowed to about two cases per 100,000 births per year after fortification. Other types of congenital defects began to decline, however. The rate of gastroschisis, for example, had been rising by about four cases per 100,000 births per year but slowed to about one case per 100,000 births per year after fortification. The researchers also found that cleft lips and cleft palates were increasing before fortification but started to decrease after fortification, according to a paper released May 18 by the journal Birth Defects Research Part A. The study did not account for the fact that women of childbearing age were already being told to supplement with folic acid since the early 1990s, Burd told Reuters Health. "I think its a great study when you look at 1999 to 2009 and you say fortification is working, but its harder to compare it to the earlier (years)," said Burd, who was not involved in the new study. "Its missing this history behind it," she said. Shaw noted that other factors might have influenced the results. Rising obesity could explain a slower decrease in rates of spine and brain defects and a slower increase in gastroschisis, for example. Additionally, the researchers didn't have data on birth defects among terminated pregnancies, which could skew the results. Shaw said more research is needed to know how folic acid fortification affects rates of birth defects. "These kinds of studies, they dont nail down the specifics," he said. "They nail down the grand overarching view of something as a signal to look here. Its not saying anything is good or bad here." Women should still follow the U.S. recommendations for folic acid, he said. Currently, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force advises women who are pregnant or capable of becoming pregnant to take a daily supplement containing 400 to 800 micrograms of folic acid. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1qtxSWW Birth Defects Research Part A: Clinical and Molecular Teratology 2016.
Asolo (Italy) (AFP) - Dutchman Tom Dumoulin, who wore the race leader's pink jersey over the first weeks of the Giro d'Italia, pulled out the race during the 11th stage on Wednesday, according to organisers.
Dumoulin, who rides for Giant, had been suffering from pain in his perineum in recent days and had been using an antiobiotic cream.
But the pain became too much for Dumoulin, who pulled out 95 kilometres into the 227 km 11th stage between Modena and Sestola.
Dumoulin, considered among the possible contenders for overall victory in Turin on May 29, won the opening stage time trial of the race to offer a jubilant start to the Netherlands, who hosted the opening three stages of the 99th edition.
In total he wore the pink jersey for six days. Dumoulin, 25, is now set to turn his focus to reaching peak form for the Rio Olympics road race time trial.
(Reuters) - Another leading contender for the Giro d'Italia pulled out on Wednesday with Dutchman Tom Dumoulin succumbing to saddle sores. "Unfortunately Tom has been forced to abandon the Giro due to saddle sores," his Giant Alpecin team said on Twitter. On Tuesday Spaniard Mikel Landa of Team Sky abandoned because of illness. Dumoulin won the Giro's opening stage on home soil in Apeldoorn and held the leader's jersey for three stages until losing it on Saturday. He lost more than 10 minutes on Tuesday's stage and climbed off his bike after struggling again during stage 11. (Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Mitch Phillips)
The Babel Fish of Douglas Adams dreams may soon be a reality. A company called Waverly Labs is looking to bring a real-time, in-ear language translator to market in September.
Its going to be called The Pilot and pre-orders start at $129. By the time it hits shelves, Waverly Labs expects it to retail for somewhere between $249 and $299. Excited fans are being asked to get on a waitlist for the translators launch and theres more than a few of them scattered across the Internet.
finally! a real babel fish. https://t.co/MSY71qQLBE Louise Hildebrand (@LouHildebrand) May 18, 2016
This is amazing! I want one ! https://t.co/qweFoOBTwk Stepfanie Kramer (@StepfanieKramer) May 17, 2016
Star Trek's universal translator.coming to a store near you. Soon!! I am floored by this! https://t.co/Y49RDkGe3T Nora Sheffield (@LNoraSheffield) May 18, 2016
Waverly Labs CEO Andrew Ochea said he was inspired to make his translator when he met a French girl and couldnt communicate with her. Fittingly, the translator will only handle a few Romance languages (French, Spanish, Italian) and English upon launching. However, Waverly Labs says they plan to expand the systems vocabulary with premium language packs for East Indian, Asian, Semitic, Slavic and African languages.
The in-ear translator will initially work via two earpieces. Both people need to wear one for the translator to work. Users toggle through languages using a smartphone app. The company says its working on figuring out how to make a translator that grabs speech from the environment, but they arent there yet.
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As with all things this seemingly futuristic, Waverly Labs claims should be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism. Their website is pretty rudimentary for a company creating something so high-tech. And one Forbes reporter spoke with Ochea and came away thinking that the whole thing might be a sham.
Ochea insisted that the company wasnt trying to trick people, they simply didnt expect the level of excitement their product generated.
Were not hucksters. We want to be transparent, he said. [The Pilot] is only going to work in certain conditions.
(Via Forbes)
Why Go: Although Spicer in Spicer Mansion officially recalls its former owner, seafaring captain Elihu Spicer Jr., the moniker conveniently suggests a culinary bent. When this eight-room inn opens May 28, its restaurant will be one of New Englands most sought-after. Food & Beverage Magazine quoted the president and group managing director of Ocean House Management, Daniel A. Hostettler, touting that Spicer Mansions restaurant will be the East Coasts answer to the West Coasts French Laundry.
Chef Jennifer Backman honed skills locally for 17 years, cooking in other hotels under Ocean House Management, including Ocean Houses Seasons and Weekapaug Inns The Restaurant. Long-time relationships with local farms and Ocean Houses Food Forager facilitate nightly changes to the restaurants six-course tasting menu (from $115), which will feature Backmans specialty, homemade pasta, as well as artisanal meats and fresh seafood. Only hotel patrons and invited guests may book tables.
What to Expect: Blissfully satiated following the 2.5-hour meal, guests retire to the inns speakeasy-style cocktail bar or to rooms and suites outfitted with Duxiana beds and HD TVs linked to complimentary Netflix accounts. Between meals, Spicer Mansion suggests a helicopter ride over the Rhode Island Coast for a picnic on Block Island. Deep-sea and fly-fishing excursions, as well as sailing trips and yacht cruises down the Mystic River, can be arranged. For spa appointments and beach access, guests are welcome at Ocean House, just a half-hour drive north in Westerly, R.I. Spicers immediate surroundings in charming Mystichistoric storefronts, steamed lobsters on the docks, tall ships, the Mystic Seaport maritime museumalso beg exploration.
How to Get There: The hotels chauffeur-driven BMW 750Li can make the five-minute transfer from Mystic Train Station to the hotel. Guests can drive from New York City in 2.5 hours, from Boston in under two hours, or from the nearest major airport in Providence, R.I., in 45 minutes. Helicopter flights via Wings Air from NYC start at under $5,000. (spicermansion.com)
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Note: This article appears on the ETFtrends.com Strategist Channel
By Bryan Novak
The last two years have done little to instill investor confidence, and the past nine months have likely made the situation worse. To be sure, the most recent survey by AAII (American Association of Individual Investors) shows the % bullish levels similar to when the markets were near their lows in February. According to a recent study by State Street , investors continue to be wary about reinvesting in the market as show by cash holdings of nearly 40% in their portfolios. The fact even small dips make big headlines is not helping to calm nerves either. Of course, when the end goal is return, abandoning a long-term game plan is not an effective way to combat risk and volatility. So what are the options? I believe tactical asset allocation strategies can provide a solution for risk management. Combining a tactical strategy with a traditionally allocated portfolio is a way an investor can address risk concerns, help achieve long-term growth, and even calm nerves along the way.
If youre not familiar with tactical asset allocation, it is a type of strategy that has been used for decades to manage portfolio risk exposure by adjusting asset allocations based on a defined set of criteria. The criteria will dictate both a portfolios response to market conditions and therefore attempt to accomplish a specific outcome. Generally speaking, the primary goals for tactical strategies are to 1) reduce portfolio volatility when warranted and 2) by doing so, to reduce participation in substantial drawdowns such as what was experienced in 2008.
Related: Value Stocks in Various Periods
To achieve these goals (which it is important to note may differ), market price is often be used as a trigger for change. Weakening or strengthening price trends may guide investment decisions. In this discipline, the decision tree is often somewhat binomial, as a price is either above or below another price. To smooth out the signal and integrate a larger data set, multiple time series can be blended together. Either way, the input can be impacted by volatile short-term market activity which may subject a portfolio to frequent signal flipping. In recent months, many strategies using price inputs have likely been whipsawed by the short-term fluctuations of the broad equity markets.
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A separate and distinct way to manage portfolios is to focus on macro (or fundamental) trend indicatorsrather than market priceas the trigger for adjusting positions. Think of it as focusing on the why behind the market movement as economic growth is closely correlated to financial market direction. By comparing current values of a data point to a defined historical period, an investor can see which direction the data is trending (there are obviously no assurances that trends can or will be duplicated in the future). Aggregating multiple key data sets of economic reports in this way can build out a broader picture of the economy.
Related: Is Your Smart Beta ETF Smart?
Why is this distinction important when it comes to investing and managing risk? If equities are predominantly the proxy for risk assets, we are investing in an asset that is generally valued based on growth rates (of companies on a micro level and the economy on a macro level). Increasing growth generally leads to higher asset values, while decreasing growth should lead to decreasing values. My experience and research has demonstrated that the market generally responds, or correlates, to these trends throughout the full business cycle. This information can be a meaningful way to make risk adjustment decisions for an investment portfolio. Whats more, when markets are volatile against a fairly stable economic backdrop, this approach may keep a portfolio allocation constant instead of subjected to frequent shifts due to market movement.
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Focusing on the up/ down movement (i.e. trend) of economic data regardless of absolute levels can act as a GPS to tell you where you are at currently. I prefer this approach over attempting to forecast what might (or might not) happen in six months or looking in the rear-view mirror to analyze what happened yesterday. Think of the economy this way: A 100-car freight train is massive. It weighs more than 13,000 tons and is heading down the track at 200 miles an hour. According to the thresholds of the engine and brakes, there is a maximum rate at which it can slow down or speed up by itself. It cannot stop on a dime and it cannot take a sharp turn without derailing. If I want to know whether the train is accelerating or decelerating, I need to know two things: how fast it was going before, and how fast is it going now. Without that information, I have a number with no frame of reference. With the information, I can tell you with a much higher degree of probability what that train will be doing in the near future (i.e. slowing down or speeding up).
Does it work? A look back at the financial crisis in 2008 is a great place to find the answer. The 50%+ drawdown in the S&P 500 Index from 2007-2009 did not occur overnight, and throughout the decline I think the economy offered many clues to what was happening. Macroeconomic trends were already giving signals of a declining economy even before 2007 was over. Rather than continuing to invest, portfolio managers focusing on this context were starting to reduce market exposure. No one knew what was coming down the track, but it appeared the train was slowing down. As a result, I believe much of the losses experienced by investors were avoidable and, more importantly, detectable.
Related: The Rise of the ETF Strategist
Fast forward to 2015-2016. The sharp drops experienced over the last few quarters have challenged the nerves of many investors. Reducing exposure modestly to lessen volatility was likely prudent, but I do not believe the recent environment warranted large allocation changes. I saw a stock market telling one thing while the economy was saying something different. Two months after investors were questioning if the market decline was the next 2008, benchmarks (e.g. S&P 500 Index) were within earshot of all-time highs again. Macroeconomic trends provided the why behind what was happening, not the what. The economy was not accelerating, but it was not falling off a cliff either, as the market movement led many to believe might be happening. Applying a defined process of macroeconomic analysis may have taken some of the uncertainty out of the equation by offering guidance to stay put and avoid the whipsaw.
History has shown us that short-term volatility is part of the deal, no matter which way the market is moving on a longer timeframe. Unless you are a day trader or trying to time the market (and have a strong stomach for risk), responding to these types of moves with large allocation adjustments at any given point may cause as much distress as the market itself. Understanding and appropriately combining the various strategies and varieties of tactical asset allocation can help investors more effectively manage market volatility, reduce risk and, ultimately, maintain a long-term discipline that helps achieve an optimal investment outcome.
Bryan Novak is the Senior Managing Director & Portfolio Manager at Astor Investment Management , a participant in the ETF Strategist Channel .
Senior police officer, Vibhuti Narain Rais Hindi language novella, Shahar Mein Curfew (1988) was translated into English and brought out by Penguin this year. The book is set during the 1980 Hindu Muslim riots that took place in Allahabad, and Rai brings to light the religious prejudices that existed in the police force, due to which people were targeted because of their religion. The portrayal of how various families dealt with the riots and its aftermath, led the Hindu organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) to denounce it for being anti-Hindu, burn his effigy, and call for a ban of the book.
Rais novella is just one among a number of books that have had religious groups up in arms, calling for a fatwa or for their bans. In many cases, fearing a communal backlash, Governments have also rushed to have the books banned in the country.
Here are eight controversial books that have been banned in India on religious grounds:
The Ramayana, Aubrey Menen: The Indian-Irish authors light-hearted and satirical version of the Ramayana was banned in 1956 by the Jawaharlal Nehru Government, as devout Hindus were unhappy with the liberties he took with the text. In the book, Menen suggested the Brahmins had altered the epic poem, while rewriting it, and what it ends up saying is completely opposite to what poet Valmiki had originally meant. The book was the first one to be banned in independent India.
Shivaji Hindu King in Muslim India, James Laine: American author and professor of religious studies, James Laines Shivaji Hindu King in Muslim India, speaks about how the 17th century Maratha king, Chhatrapati Shivaji, has been appropriated for centuries, by different communities for their own benefits. It also raises several questions on the leaders personal life, which caused widespread controversy. The book angered the Shiv Sena and other religious fundamentalist group, who accused it of bein derogatory ot the ruler and Marathas, and in November 2003, the Oxford University Press withdrew it from the market. In January 2004, a group called Sabhaji Brigade, attacked the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) in Pune, destroying priceless manuscripts and artifacts. BORI was attacked because Laine had acknowledged it in his book as his scholarly home in India. Though the ban was lifted by the Bombay High Court in 2007, and the decision was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2010, the book still remains unavailable in India.
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Understanding Islam Through Hadis, Ram Swarup: A study of the Sahih Muslim, the second most important collection of the Hadiths - a record of the sayings of Prophet Muhammad - the book was first published in the United States. In 1987, author Ram Swarups friend Sita Ram Goel printed an edition of the book in India, and tried to publish a Hindi translation as well. Goel was arrested on the basis of a complaint that had been lodged, and all copies of the Hindi translation were seized from the printers shop. At the police station, Goel was informed that the book would cause a riot. The impounded copies were never returned to Goel and, after the Jamaat-e-Islami weekly, Radiance, claimed that the book was offensive to Muslims, the Hindi translation was banned in1990. In March 1991, the English version was also banned.
The True Furqan: Attributed to authors who go by the pseudonyms Al Saffee and Al Mahdee, the book was translated into English from the original Arabic by Palestinian Evangelical Christian, Anis Shorrosh. The True Furqan, according to Shorrosh, is intended to challenge the Quran, and incorporates traditional Christian teachings into it. The book was banned in 2005, following allegations that it mocked Islam.
The Hindus An Alternative History, Wendy Doniger: American Indologist, Wendy Donigers book on Hinduism, titled The Hindus An Alternative History, raised quite a storm when it was first published. Described as an alternate narrative to the history of Hinduism, Doniger portrays Hinduism from the point of view of women, dogs, horses and outcastes. A case was filed by the Hindu group, Shiksha Bachao Aandolan Samiti, founded by Dinanath Batra in February 2014, and the book was withdrawn by the publisher, Penguin India, and all remaining copies were pulped. A huge outrage spread in the country, with the nation split between those who supported the ban, and those who felt that it was a classic case of how the countrys right to free speech was being curtailed.
Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie: Controversial author Salman Riushdies fourth novel, Satanic Verses, caused a huge uproar in the Muslim world with many death threats issued on him and the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issuing a fatwa calling for his death, in February 1989. The title of Rushdies 1988 novel, Satanic Verses was itself controversial. It refers to a legend where certain verses supposedly spoken by Prophet Mohammad as part of the Quran, were withdrawn as they were believed to have been from the devil to deceive Prophet Mohammad into thinking that they had been spoken by God. Rushdie was placed under police protection, and there were several assassination attempts made against him. The Japanese translator of the book, Hitoshi Igarashi was also stabbed and killed by unknown assailants.
Lajja, Taslima Nasrin: Taslima Nasrins 1993 book, Lajja, or Shame, speaks about the story of a Hindu family, which was prosecuted by Muslims. Bangladeshi Muslims called for a ban on the book, and Nasrin was subjected to many attacks. An Islamic fundamentalist group called the Council of Islamic Soldiers also placed a bounty for her death. Nasrin fled Bangladesh in 1993 and spent ten years in exile in Kolkata. The All India Muslim Personal Board (Jadeed) offered a prize of Rs. five lakhs rupees for her beheading in March 2007. In November 2007, she had to leave Kolkata, when a violent protest led by the militant Islamist group, All India Minority Forum, caused riots in the city and the army had to be deployed to restore order.
The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown: The book, written by Dan Brown, which later got made into a movie, caused a controversy, after Christian groups accused it of speculations and misrepresentation of the core aspects of Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church. One of the criticisms of the book is that it wrongly claims that the Holy Grail is not a chalice, but is a bloodline that arose from the marital union of Mary Magdalene and Jesus Christ. Historians and other scholars have criticised this claim for being without evidence. The book also claims that Christianity has suppressed the idea of the sacred feminine, and the idea that a matriarchal culture existed in Christianity before the Church, under Constantine, suppressed it. The book was banned by the Nagaland Government.
Why Estee Lauder Has Fallen 2 Weeks after Its Fiscal 3Q16 Results
(Continued from Prior Part)
Estee Lauders 3Q16 revenue in line
As discussed earlier, Estee Lauders (EL) fiscal 3Q16 net revenue rose 2.9% to $2.7 billion compared to $2.6 billion in fiscal 3Q15. Excluding the impact of foreign currency translations, its net revenue rose 6% in fiscal 3Q16.
After beating revenue estimates last quarter, Estee Lauder came in line with consensus Wall Street Estimates on revenue in fiscal 3Q16. Analysts had also projected revenue of $2.7 billion for the company.
Revenue versus peers
The rise in revenue was helped by ELs newest brand By Kilians acquisition, which contributed approximately 10 basis points to its sales growth. In addition, strategic resource allocation and constant currency gains across the board in all regions, especially in the makeup and fragrance categories, helped revenue growth.
Estee Lauders global travel retail channel rose 9% in 1Q16, driven by countries in Europe and Asia and partially offset by continued net sales falls in Hong Kong, Brazil, and the United States.
However, Cotys (COTY) total net revenue for fiscal 3Q16 fell 1% like-for-like following improvements in its fragrance segments revenue trend. Procter & Gambles (PG) revenue fell 6.9% to $15.8 billion in fiscal 3Q16. Its reported revenue was negatively impacted by a 5% fall in foreign exchange.
Avons (AVP) 1Q16 revenue fell 27.1% to $1.3 billion. Excluding currency impacts, its net sales rose 2%.
Specialty-multi channels
The company continues to invest in fast-growing channels by opening new freestanding stores and launching several E&M (electronic and mobile) commerce sites for its brands, mostly with retail (XRT) vendors. For example, GLAMGLOW started selling its products on Nordstroms website.
In addition, Estee Lauder increased its presence in specialty-multi channels. For example, in the United States, Estee Lauder launched its Estee Edit product line in Sephora, Clinique continued to expand in Ulta, and other brands added more Bluemercury locations. In Shanghai, Isetan opened a specialty-multi store displaying several of ELs brands.
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EL makes up 0.7% of the iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF (QUAL).
In the coming parts, well focus on ELs product category revenue and geographical presence in fiscal 3Q16.
Continue to Next Part
Browse this series on Market Realist:
SAO PAULO, May 18 (Reuters) - Shares in Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA fell for a third straight day on Wednesday, reflecting concern over a potential government rescue of Brazil's state-controlled power holding company and an expected delisting of its New York-traded stock.
Eletrobras, as the Rio de Janeiro-based firm is known, fell as much as 7.1 percent to 11.20 reais, on top of drops of 3.8 percent and 4.2 percent in the prior two days. This week's declines have pared year-to-date gains in the stock to 15 percent.
Trading in American depositary receipts of Eletrobras was suspended on Wednesday after the company told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it would not file financial statements due to accounting problems. The government is concerned that Eletrobras' debt ratings could be cut as a result, triggering early debt repayment clauses.
Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said the government would consider injecting fresh capital into Eletrobras, which has been struggling with a two-year recession and policy goals that have drained cash. The company also got ensnared in a sweeping corruption probe on state firms.
Eletrobras has underperformed other shares in the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange in recent days, partly on speculation as to whether the government may need to inject money into the company, analyst Pedro Manfredini of Itau BBA said in a note to clients on Wednesday.
Traders said the value of minority shareholdings could fall should the government participate actively in a capital injection plan for Eletrobras.
'CAR WASH' PROBE
Brazil's so-called "Operation Car Wash" corruption investigation accelerated the suspension last week of President Dilma Rousseff while the Senate conducts an impeachment trail.
Prosecutors in the probe say construction firms that bribed politicians and executives at state-controlled oil producer Petroleo Brasileiro SA in return for bloated contracts likely repeated the scheme at Eletrobras.
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An internal investigation led by law firms Hogan Lovells and WFaria Advogados is not "sufficiently complete" for Eletrobras to determine the impact of the scheme on the company's finances, resulting in a delay in regulatory filings, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
Petrobras and Eletrobras are both listed on the New York Stock Exchange and are subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which aims to prevent graft by companies linked to the United States.
(Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal; Additional reporting by Reese Ewing in Sao Paulo; Editing by Richard Chang)
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Shares in Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA fell for a third straight day on Wednesday, reflecting concern over a potential government rescue of Brazil's state-controlled power holding company and an expected delisting of its New York-traded stock.
Eletrobras , as the Rio de Janeiro-based firm is known, fell as much as 7.1 percent to 11.20 reais, on top of drops of 3.8 percent and 4.2 percent in the prior two days. This week's declines have pared year-to-date gains in the stock to 15 percent.
Trading in American depositary receipts of Eletrobras (EBR.N) was suspended on Wednesday after the company told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it would not file financial statements due to accounting problems. The government is concerned that Eletrobras' debt ratings could be cut as a result, triggering early debt repayment clauses.
Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said the government would consider injecting fresh capital into Eletrobras, which has been struggling with a two-year recession and policy goals that have drained cash. The company also got ensnared in a sweeping corruption probe on state firms.
Eletrobras has underperformed other shares in the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange in recent days, partly on speculation as to whether the government may need to inject money into the company, analyst Pedro Manfredini of Itau BBA said in a note to clients on Wednesday.
Traders said the value of minority shareholdings could fall should the government participate actively in a capital injection plan for Eletrobras.
'CAR WASH' PROBE
Brazil's so-called "Operation Car Wash" corruption investigation accelerated the suspension last week of President Dilma Rousseff while the Senate conducts an impeachment trail.
Prosecutors in the probe say construction firms that bribed politicians and executives at state-controlled oil producer Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4.SA) in return for bloated contracts likely repeated the scheme at Eletrobras.
Story continues
An internal investigation led by law firms Hogan Lovells and WFaria Advogados is not "sufficiently complete" for Eletrobras to determine the impact of the scheme on the company's finances, resulting in a delay in regulatory filings, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
Petrobras and Eletrobras are both listed on the New York Stock Exchange and are subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which aims to prevent graft by companies linked to the United States.
(Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal; Additional reporting by Reese Ewing in Sao Paulo; Editing by Richard Chang)
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU states virtually ignored a European Commission target for them to take in some 20,000 asylum seekers from Greece and Italy by mid-May, the bloc's executive said on Wednesday, renewing a call for more action. In a regular report on its emergency relocation scheme, which aims to move refugees from the Mediterranean frontline to the rest of the European Union, the EU executive's data showed only 563 asylum seekers had been moved since it set the 20,000 target two months ago -- only 3 percent of the increase needed. In total, 1,500 people have now been relocated since the scheme began late last year, a tiny fraction of the 160,000 that governments agreed to take after fractious negotiations in the face of an unprecedented surge in arrivals in Italy and Greece. Noting that, since the closure of the Balkan route to Germany, some 46,000 migrants are now in Greece waiting for asylum claims to be processed, Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said: "We cannot be satisfied with the results achieved so far. More has to be done, and swiftly." Some of the 28 member states, notably formerly communist countries in the east, have fiercely opposed Commission pressure on them to take in refugees, while most other governments have shown little enthusiasm for a scheme unpopular with many voters. (Reporting by Alastair Macdonald; @macdonaldrtr; Editing by Alison Williams)
Brussels (AFP) - The European Union's executive arm warned Wednesday it could take further action against Poland over its commitment to the rule of law, unless Warsaw's conservative government makes "significant" progress.
The Law and Justice (PiS) government plunged Poland into a political crisis in December, within weeks of winning power, when it pushed through legislation to overhaul the constitutional court and modify its decision-making rules.
In January, the European Commission launched an unheard-of probe to see if the changes -- seen by critics as endangering the institution's independence -- violated EU democracy rules and merited punitive measures.
"If there is no significant progress by May 23, then the First Vice-President (Frans Timmermans) has been empowered to adopt the draft rule of law opinion," the commission, the EU's executive arm, said in a statement.
The exact contents of the so-called opinion is not known, but if Poland fails to address the issues raised, Warsaw could eventually face a suspension of its voting rights in the European council of ministers, the EU's most important decision-making body.
Warsaw downplayed the move, insisting Brussels had "not issued an ultimatum".
"The European Commission will issue an opinion (by Monday), but we know it already" from ongoing consultations, Poland's deputy foreign minister Konrad Szymanski told reporters in Warsaw.
Despite the palpable cooling of ties between Warsaw and Brussels in recent months, Szymanski said relations were "friendly" and "satisfactory".
Since taking office in November 2015, Poland's conservatives have pushed through several pieces of controversial legislation, including strengthening state controls over public broadcasters and now seeking to tighten already limited access to abortions.
Earlier this month, around a quarter of a million Poles marched to defend their country's place in the European Union and protest against the right-wing government.
By Yeganeh Torbati and Joel Schectman
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has a simple answer for executives of European banks scratching their heads over whether it is now legal for them to do business with Iran: Just ask.
Any firm concerned whether a prospective business deal with Iran would be legal, Secretary of State John Kerry said before a meeting with British bankers in London last week, should call the U.S. agency in charge of sanctions, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, known as OFAC.
"It really shouldn't be complicated," he told reporters, according to a transcript of his comments. "It's clearly defined, and when people have a question, we are available to answer those questions."
If only it were that simple.
Sanctions lawyers say OFAC does not do enough to clear up the ambiguity caused by a maze of overlapping sanctions and exemptions. In interviews, nearly a dozen attorneys who regularly deal with the agency said the recommendations they receive are often vague and noncommittal.
The United States reached a deal with Iran last July that lifts some sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear programme, including letting non-U.S. banks operate in Iran. But it maintains restrictions based on terrorism and human rights concerns, and U.S. banks are still forbidden to do business with Iran.
The resulting uncertainty is contributing to companies' reluctance to restart or launch relationships with Iran. Firms have also been reluctant to return to Cuba and Myanmar, two other countries subject to U.S. sanctions.
U.S. sanctions programs, enacted via legislation or executive order, are intended to be coercive economic tools, not regulatory hurdles, and the ambiguity often serves to heighten the impact of sanctions by scaring businesses away from America's foes.
The remaining sanctions on Iran bar transactions with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and with more than 200 other groups or individuals categorized as designated entities or specially designated nationals. Organizations owned by the IRGC, as well as by the other individuals or companies, are off-limits to any bank that wants access to the U.S. financial system.
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"Banks in Europe are allowed to open accounts for Iran; banks in Europe are allowed to do business; banks in Europe can fund programs, lend money," Kerry said. "That's absolutely open for business as long as it's not a designated entity. Period. Very simple."
Since some sanctions were lifted, Iran has agreed to deals worth a total of at least $37 billion (25.3 billion) in sectors such as construction, aviation and car manufacturing, with companies including planemaker Airbus (AIR.PA), carmaker Peugeot (PEUP.PA) and Italian steel firm Danieli (DANI.MI). Dozens of other companies have said they are in talks or have signed provisional agreements with Iranian partners.
But lawyers say those deals will be difficult or impossible to carry out if large European banks refuse to finance them or transfer money in and out of the country, for fear that doing so might violate the remaining sanctions or that the restrictions might "snap back" if Iran violates the nuclear agreement.
Part of the problem is that knowing if a company or person is blacklisted or owned by a blacklisted person or company is difficult in a place such as Iran, attorneys said.
"The problem is the IRGC doesn't walk out there waving a flag and saying, 'Hey, I own 51.4 percent of this company; don't deal with me,'" said Aaron Hutman, a sanctions attorney at Pillsbury in Washington. "The banks are being asked to deal in a world where you have very sophisticated players who over the course of years of sanctions have become very good at hiding themselves."
With some of the sanctions on Iran, Cuba and Myanmar now being rolled back, OFAC finds itself in an unfamiliar role as a regulator of trade with countries where America is seeking to mend relations.
The Treasury Department declined an interview request, but a spokeswoman said in an emailed statement that government officials have travelled to at least 18 countries to talk about Iran and held roundtables with banks "to clarify their specific concerns."
A State Department spokesman said in a statement that since the Iran nuclear deal was reached last July, officials have engaged with financial firms, foreign governments and the public to make clear what sanctions would be lifted and who would be removed from the U.S. blacklist.
Farhad Alavi, a sanctions attorney at Akrivis Law Group in Washington, said he often can get some sense of whether a transaction would be allowed by calling OFAC's hotline. But getting written guidance on whether a transaction would constitute assisting in the violation of sanctions called facilitation can take a year or more, he said.
In one instance, Alavi said it took him a full year and a half to receive permission to speak to an Iranian media outlet.
"There is just this bottleneck caused by OFAC's inability to respond quickly because of the flood of applications and inquiries," he said.
Banks often need such written assurances to conduct transactions tied even indirectly to Iran. A lengthy wait means the window for a business opportunity is likely to close before a response comes through.
"The banks have to hear something along the lines of 'If you act in good faith, you can expect that we are not going to engage in any heavy-handed enforcement,'" Hutman said. "That's not the message you get. The message you get is, 'We plan to vigorously enforce our Iran-related laws.'"
(Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by John Walcott and Leslie Adler)
By Gabriela Baczynska and Wiktor Szary BRUSSELS/WARSAW (Reuters) - The European Commission took another step on Wednesday in its unprecedented investigation into the rule of law in Poland, saying it would send its criticisms to Warsaw by Monday unless it saw "significant progress" by then. Poland said it would need more time, though it added that the two sides had narrowed some of their differences. The EU executive launched its inquiry into whether the rule of law is under threat in Poland after the nationalist-minded government sought changes in the constitutional court that critics said undermined democratic checks and balances. This has led to an effective paralysis of the tribunal, which has become the focus of heated political dispute. The Commission has not disclosed the contents of the text, or 'opinion', it plans to send to Warsaw but it has expressed concern over conflicts around the appointment of judges to the tribunal and over new disputed laws amending the court's work that have undermined its ability to review new legislation. "As long as Poland's Constitutional Tribunal is prevented from fully ensuring an effective constitutional review, there can be no effective scrutiny of compliance with fundamental rights of legislative acts," the Commission said in a statement. The Commission said Warsaw would have two weeks from Monday to respond to the 'opinion' and then should work with Brussels to remedy problems it has identified. If that does not happen in a "reasonable time", the Commission can set Warsaw a formal deadline to deliver. Deputy Foreign Minister Konrad Szymanski said Poland needed more time. "The consultation process (between Poland and the Commission) has been going on for many weeks. I am under the impression that it has brought about a meaningful bridging of the gap between our positions," Szymanski told reporters. "But we certainly need more time ... For example legislative changes require parliamentary work, so it seems Monday should be seen as an auxiliary date, not an ultimatum for sure." Since the Commission launched its probe, the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) has agreed to reverse some but not all of the changes affecting the court. The opposition has branded the PiS move as "political theater". STRAINING TIES If Poland fails to resolve the constitutional deadlock, Brussels could move toward the maximum sanction of stripping Warsaw of its voting rights in the European Council, which groups EU governments. This is seen as unlikely. Some EU countries, already annoyed with Poland over its refusal to show greater solidarity in tackling Europe's migration crisis, have threatened to use a looming review of the EU's joint budget to siphon some funds away from the bloc's largest eastern state. Others, however, say Brussels should avoid a spat with Poland at a time when the migration crisis is testing EU unity and fuelling Euro-scepticism across the continent. The Euro-sceptic government in Warsaw has so far offered few concessions to Brussels, saying it has a strong electoral mandate to carry out changes it deems necessary. It also says the top court had been too closely allied with the former centrist, pro-EU government. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - The European Court of Human Rights said Wednesday it has asked Italy to respond to accusations of unfair treatment by Amanda Knox, acquitted last year of her British housemate's gruesome murder.
The American exchange student served four years in prison after her initial conviction for participating in the 2007 killing of Meredith Kercher, before being released on appeal and then definitively acquitted last year.
Kercher, 21, died after being stabbed 47 times and having her throat slashed.
The ECHR has asked the Italian authorities to respond to a request Knox submitted in November 2013 regarding "the lack of fairness in the criminal procedure", a spokeswoman told AFP.
Knox's 2009 conviction of involvement in the murder, described as a drug-fuelled orgy gone terribly wrong, was upheld on appeal in 2014.
Her sentence was stiffened to 28-and-a-half years for murder and three years for slandering her Congolese employer at a bar where she worked part-time, whom she initially accused of the killing.
Now a journalist in her hometown of Seattle, Washington, Knox told the ECHR she underwent hours of questioning without an interpreter or a lawyer, and that her interrogators slapped her on the head.
The 28-year-old retains a conviction for slandering the bar owner. She later said that claim had been extracted under duress.
Along with her Italian ex-lover Raffaele Sollecito, she was definitively acquitted of Kercher's murder in March 2015 when Italy's high court ruled there had been "major flaws" in the investigation.
Ivory Coast-born drifter Rudy Guede was jailed for the murder in 2008 but, in a decision that was to have serious implications for Knox and Sollecito, the judge in his trial ruled he could not have acted alone.
Falcons
Just a few years ago in 2012, the Falcons were knocking on the door of the Super Bowl. We started out strong against Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers, but a few mistakes let them back in and sent us into the offseason disappointed.
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That particular Atlanta Falcons defense had its ups and downs, and in the end, it couldnt provide enough to get the team to their first Super Bowl appearance since 1998. The Falcons obviously did some much-needed reconstruction to the roster and after Dan Quinn stepped on board, he made several personnel changes of his own.
In fact, there are only two remaining active defensive players that were on the 2012 team Jonathan Babineaux and fan favorite Sean Weatherspoon.
Weatherspoon was signed during the offseason after a brief period with the Arizona Cardinals. His health and durability have always been a concern, but theres no doubt hes a playmaker when hes on the field.
A low risk (1/$1.5 million) contract was put into place for this very reason. At the very least, Spoon will be a locker room asset and will mentor newly acquired rookie LB, Deion Jones.
If Weatherspoon can play 40-45 snaps a game and play in 12+ games for us, I dont see any reason that he doesnt make an immediate impact and earn himself another two or three year extension.
Spoon fits the fast and physical mantra that Quinn has been preaching and can make plays from sideline to sideline.
Sean Weatherspoon is a fierce competitor and should make his presence felt in the locker room, on the field, and even throughout the stadium when the fans yell SPOOOOOOOOOON!
The post Evaluating the return of Sean Weatherspoon appeared first on Cover32.
Former beauty queen Carrie Prejean, whose name appeared in the controversial New York Times article about Donald Trumps behaviors with women is blasting the newspaper.
Read: Who Is Rowanne Brewer Lane? Trump's Ex-Flame at Center of 'Times' Article Becomes Media Sensation
Prejean, the former Miss California USA, was fuming as she spoke to Fox News' Sean Hannity Tuesday night.
I basically wouldn't give them a story and so they came out with their own version of it, she said. They took something out of my book and totally twisted it and made it something negative.
Saturdays Times article portrays Trump as making "unwelcome romantic advances" and engaging in "crude" behavior in the past.
It quotes from Prejean's 2009 book, Still Standing: The Untold Story of My Fight Against Gossip, Hate, and Political Attacks, when she described how Trump inspected the contestants at the 2009 Miss USA Pageant "closer than any general ever inspected a platoon... Many of the girls found the exercise humiliating."
On Tuesday night, she let it all out, telling Hannity: Let's put it in context here, Sean. This was a beauty pageant. They're making a big deal that he walked across the stage and was looking at us? Are you kidding me? That's ridiculous!
Prejean came under fire after the 2009 Miss USA pageant when she was asked a question about same-sex unions, and declared it was her belief that marriage should be between a man and a woman.
While Trump initially defended her over the remarks and a subsequent racy photo scandal, he ultimately fired her.
Prejeans criticism comes after Trump's former girlfriend Rowanne Brewer Lane also accused The Times of distorting her comments.
Trump's daughter, Ivanka, also weighed in on The Times controversy on CBS This Morning Wednesday, saying: This is an article that is widely being discredited.
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She added: The lead person who was interviewed for the story and that the story opens up with was all over the news yesterday, saying that they manipulated what she was saying. So you know, I don't find it that meaningful to comment on this particular story because I think the facts are starting to speak for themselves."
Read: Rowanne Brewer Lane Says She Was Flattered to Be Called 'A Stunning Trump Girl' at Pool Party
Trump's wife, Melania, is also making headlines.
In an interview with Du Jour magazine, she was asked what gift Bill and Hillary Clinton gave when they attended her wedding.
"I don't think they sent a gift," she said. "Some people didn't send gifts."
Melania was also asked about MSNBC's Chris Matthews caught ogling her on a hot mic during a Trump victory speech two weeks ago.
"Unbelievable," Melania said. "Im not only a beauty, Im smart. I have brains. I'm intelligent. I would just say, men will be men."
Watch: Man Who Says He is Melania Trump's First Boyfriend in Slovenia Recalls Their Teen Romance
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Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said that Donald Trump might come to regret his comments about womens looks because there are probably more ugly women in America than attractive women.
Rendell, 72, made the remark in an interview with the Washington Post published Wednesday while discussing the presumptive Republican presidential candidates chances with voters in the suburbs of Philadelphia, where Rendell served as mayor from 1992 to 2000.
Will he have some appeal to working-class Dems in Levittown or Bristol? Sure. For every one hell lose one and a half, two Republican women, he said to the paper.
Then Rendell, a Hillary Clinton supporter, stepped into a controversy of his own while arguing that Trumps comments about womens looks over the course of his career as a businessman and reality TV star could disrupt his 2016 bid for the White House.
Trumps comments like, You cant be a 10 if youre flat-chested, thatll come back to haunt him, he said. There are probably more ugly women in America than attractive women. People take that stuff personally.
David Weigel, the author of the Washington Post article, defended Rendell after his quote went viral. He said that Rendell was just making a funny point by being snarky.
I did not intend that! I thought he was making a funny point. https://t.co/y1Vk3aHBMr daveweigel (@daveweigel) May 18, 2016
Rendell was being snarky. He quoted one of Trumps remarks on female hotness then made that joke. https://t.co/ica6Bf8rCG daveweigel (@daveweigel) May 18, 2016
This is not the first time Rendells words have incited controversy.
In 2010, he lamented that the U.S. had become a nation of wusses after a Philadelphia Eagles game was postponed because of a blizzard. He named his first book A Nation of Wusses two years later.
Rendell, who served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee during the 2000 presidential campaign, could not immediately be reached for comment.
By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former United Nations General Assembly president accused by U.S. prosecutors of taking $1.3 million in bribes from Chinese businessmen is in plea talks to resolve his case, according to a court filing on Wednesday. The talks involving John Ashe, a former U.N. ambassador from Antigua and Barbuda who served as General Assembly president from 2013 to 2014, were disclosed in a letter filed in federal court in Manhattan by his lawyer. Jeremy Schneider, Ashe's lawyer, characterized the talks as ongoing in the letter. But he noted that prosecutors are considering bringing further charges, which could "seriously hinder the pre-trial plea negotiations." Schneider declined to elaborate in a brief interview but confirmed that plea talks were underway. A spokesman for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, whose office is prosecuting Ashe, declined comment. Ashe, 61, is one of seven individuals charged since October in connection with the bribery scheme, which has also ensnared a billionaire real estate developer in Macau, Ng Lap Seng. Prosecutors said Ng paid Ashe more than $500,000 through intermediaries to seek U.N. support of a United Nations-sponsored conference center in Macau that his company would develop. The intermediaries included Francis Lorenzo, a suspended deputy U.N. ambassador from the Dominican Republic, and Jeff Yin, Ng's assistant, prosecutors said. Lorenzo pleaded guilty in March. Ng and Yin have pleaded not guilty. Ashe also received more than $800,000 from Chinese businessmen to support their interests within the U.N. and Antigua, prosecutors said. Those bribes were arranged through Sheri Yan, who was the Global Sustainability Foundation's chief executive, and Heidi Hong Piao, the non-governmental organization's finance director, prosecutors said. Both women pleaded guilty in January. To date, Ashe has only been charged with tax fraud in connection with the bribes, amid questions about whether diplomatic immunity may preclude any bribery charges. But at a May 9 hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Richenthal said prosecutors were planning to seek a new indictment in the case against Ashe. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Tom Brown)
It was midmorning on Sunday May 8 when the rockets began to fall on the abandoned town. At first there was the thud of the shells, followed by black and white smoke and an acrid smell. The police officers deployed in the deserted town later said they began to feel pains in their chests and their airways close up. They called for urgent medical help, and were evacuated to a hospital in the next town.
In interviews two days after the shelling, two police officials who were on the scene during the attack and a physician who treated the victims said the rockets contained chemical weapons, possibly sulfur mustard (so-called mustard gas) or chlorine. A police report obtained by TIME says that rockets fired by Islamic State militants on May 8 landed in Bashir, just south of the city of Kirkuk, releasing toxic gasses. The report also lists the names of 46 people wounded in the attack.
The attack is the most recent in a series of alleged chemical attacks by ISIS in both Iraq and Syria. The assault also illustrates the immense difficulty ahead for Iraqs rival armed forces as they attempt to reclaim and hold territory previously occupied by ISIS.
Backed by the United States armed forces, the Iraqi national army and rival Kurdish and Shiite armed groups are engaged in a slow and grinding war to reassert control over the vast chunks of Iraqi territory that fell to ISIS during the jihadists lighting advance across the country in 2014. Even though the jihadists are in retreat, they maintain the ability to stage brutal attacks on combatants and civilians alike.
Before it fell to ISIS, Bashir was a town of more than 5,000 people, mainly ethnic Turkmen. It was retaken in May by a loose coalition that included Kurdish fighters and local Turkmen militiamen. After multiple attempts to retake the town, fighters from the two groups pushed across a narrow bridge spanning a canal that had constituted the front line, and then swept into the town.
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Today, Bashir is all but deserted. In the center of the town, a single black-uniformed police officer stands at his post in front of a basic shop, the metal doors painted purple. Across the street, an Iraqi flag is planted in a pile of rubble where a house had stood. Leaning on one side of the shop is a large green militia billboard displaying portraits of men killed in the battle for the town. The front line is less than two miles away and bursts of nearby explosions punctuate the stillness.
The suspected chemical attack came just days after the recapture of the town. Police commander Mahmoud Ali had been sitting in a bullet-riddled concrete building that serves as the police station in Bashir when the attack began, he tells TIME. Ali, a rugged man in his forties, had been dispatched from Kirkuk to oversee security in Bashir after the ISIS fighters had been expelled. The commander remembers counting 22 shells before he felt the effects of the gas.
We smelled it, and then we became dizzy, he says. It smelled spicy. It smelled bad. Some of his men began to vomit.
According to Ali, the majority of the rockets fell in a field near the police station. At least three shells landed in the immediate vicinity of the station. Three small craters remain, surrounded by ash. The police burned tires on top of the shells, thinking the smoke would limit the effects of the gas.
TIME was not able to observe shell debris but two days after the attack, a distinct, acrid odor could be detected in the air. Even to venture near the impact craters, the officers put on white surgical masks, a thin layer of protection from the possible remains of the chemicals.
ISIS staged an earlier chemical attack on the neighboring town of Taza on March 8. At least 600 people were wounded at the time, according to the Associated Press. According one doctor at the local hospital, at least 2,000 people were treated for exposure to the gas over the course of a month and a half.
We began to treat them as an allergic condition. But when the cases became more and more, we got in our mind that there was something wrong. Because there is no allergic reaction that occurs suddenly with hundreds of cases, said Dr. Naim Sabah Mohamed at the Primary Health Care Center in Taza. Another Taza resident provided photos that showed police officers in the hospital on the day of the attack, apparently breathing oxygen through masks strapped to their faces.
When the second attack took place in Bashir on May 8, Dr. Mohamed said he treated the patients, who numbered between 50 and 60 in total, for the same symptoms as the first attack: dizziness, shortness of breath, blurred vision, vomiting. Lab technicians informed him that the first attack included both mustard and chlorine, and he surmised that the same could be true of the second bombing. He and other officials in the area are concerned more will follow.
This area is about 30,000 people. What can you do? Can you take all of them out of this area? It is very difficult. They have their agriculture, their animals, their shops, he said.
Reports of chemical weapons attacks by ISIS have increased in recent months. In addition to the attacks in Iraq, Syrian state media also reported in April that ISIS used mustard gas on regime troops at an air base near the city of Deir el-Zour, which has been a theater of intense fighting between the two sides over the last several months.
The head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, an international watchdog group, said last week that it has confirmed that sulfur mustard had been used by ISIS in both Iraq and Syria. There are strong suspicions that the IS may have used the mustard gas, said OPCW chief Ahmet Uzumcu in an interview with a Slovenian news agency.
First used as a weapon in the first World War, mustard gas is one of a range of lethal chemical weapons outlawed by the Geneva Conventions and other international treaties. OPCW officials say ISIS may be producing sulfur mustard of its own, as it is unlikely the group obtained the chemical from government stockpiles. These weapons are lower quality, but still lethal and should be of the highest concern, said OPCW spokesperson Deepti Choubey in a phone interview.
In Iraq, the use of the gas raises traumatic memories of past chemical weapons attacks under the regime of Saddam Hussein. The regime deployed sulfur mustard against Iranian troops during the long war between Iraq and Iran and also against its own Kurdish population, killing thousands.
ISIS has also reportedly used chemical weapons against Syrian rebels and Kurdish forces currently fighting in northern Iraq. Laboratory tests confirmed at least one case in which the jihadists deployed mustard gas against Kurdish troops, according to Reuters.
In March U.S. officials said special forces had captured an alleged chief engineer of ISIS chemical weapons program. The officials told the Guardian that Sleiman Daoud al-Afari had been a member of the military under Saddam Hussein and had joined ISIS early in the organizations existence.
Col. Steve Warren, the spokesman in Baghdad for the U.S.-led military coalition against ISIS said in an email, Weve had reports of the chemical strike you describe but we have not confirmed with testing. They have conducted such strikes in the past and we believe they will continue to conduct them. This is why we have struck their chemical weapons facilities and captured their chemical weapons emir.
The ongoing attacks show that even once territory is reclaimed in Iraq, then another even more complex set of problems begin for the forces on the ground. The triple car bombing in Baghdad on May 11 was yet another instance of the groups strategy of inflicting horror on civilian populations, even as it loses ground on the battlefield.
By Emily Flitter and Steve Holland NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican presidential contender Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would renegotiate Americas role in the U.N. global climate accord, spelling potential doom for an agreement many view as a last chance to turn the tide on global warming. A pull-out by the worlds second biggest carbon-emitting country would hobble the deal reached in Paris last December by 177 nations, who for the first time in more than two decades found a common vision for curbing greenhouse gas emissions. "I will be looking at that very, very seriously, and at a minimum I will be renegotiating those agreements, at a minimum. And at a maximum I may do something else," the New York real estate mogul said in an interview with Reuters. "But those agreements are one-sided agreements and they are bad for the United States." Trump said he did not believe China, the worlds top emitter of the carbon dioxide gas that many scientists believe is contributing to global climate change, would adhere to its pledge under the Paris deal. Not a big fan because other countries dont adhere to it, and China doesnt adhere to it, and Chinas spewing into the atmosphere, he said. The accord to transform the world's fossil-fuel driven economy was a potent signal to investors. It seeks to limit a rise in global temperatures to less than 2 degrees Celsius through combined national pledges to cut emissions, and provide funding for developing nations to mitigate the damaging effects of a sea level rise and climate change. The Obama administration pledged a 26 to 28 percent domestic reduction in greenhouse gases by 2025 compared to 2005, while China promised it would halt increases in carbon emissions by 2030. Both countries have promised to ratify the deal this year. Many U.S. Republicans have found fault with the deal for over reacting to what they see as an uncertain threat. Former French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, who helped broker the deal, said this month that the U.S. election was critical to its future. "If a climate change denier was to be elected, it would threaten dramatically global action against climate disruption," he said. Trump has said that he believes global warming is a concept that was invented by China to hurt the competitiveness of U.S. business. One of his energy policy advisers is a climate change sceptic, U.S. Congressman Kevin Cramer of North Dakota. Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic contender for the White House, has advocated shifting the country to 50 percent clean energy by 2030. The Paris agreement has an article built into it meant to protect countries in the accord in the event that a new government comes in and wants to dismantle it. The clause says any nation wanting to withdraw will first have to wait four years. U.S. chief climate envoy Jonathan Pershing said last week that regardless of the outcome of the U.S. election, other countries were likely to be bound by the pact. (Additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici, writing by Richard Valdmanis, editing by Ross Colvin)
SAO PAULO, May 17 (Reuters) - Brazil's new Minister of Transparency and Oversight said he was suspending negotiations of leniency agreements sought by engineering and construction companies caught up in a massive corruption investigation.
The minister, Fabiano Silveira, said in a Globo News television interview aired on Tuesday that interim President Michel Temer's government wants prosecutors and the federal audit court to be part of the negotiations.
That would require the new government to sponsor legislation that would have to pass Congress before talks can resume.
Thirty-one contractors, including Brazil's largest builders, have been banned from signing new contracts with state-run Petrobras since late 2014 due to accusations they colluded to overcharge the oil company and used the extra funds to bribe politicians.
About half of those, including Latin America's largest engineering conglomerate Odebrecht, were known to be negotiating leniency agreements with the federal government, a measure permitted under Brazil's anti-corruption law.
The agreements would allow companies to bid for new government contracts as long as they admitted wrongdoing, collaborated with investigators and paid a fine.
Companies that do not ink deals risk the same fate as Mendes Junior Engenharia, which was banned on April 28 from public tenders for at least two years, the first builder to be punished by the government.
Suspended President Dilma Rousseff, whom the Senate last week voted to put on trial on charges of breaking budget laws, last year proposed a measure to speed up the leniency deals. Her government argued the deals were needed to avoid further damage to an economy already deep in recession.
But prosecutors who discovered the graft scheme at Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as Petrobras is formally known, criticized the scheme. They argued that without their participation in the negotiations, the government would let companies off too easily and give them no incentive to avoid committing crimes.
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"The more legitimate actors that participate in this process, the better. This offers more security for the prevention and prosecution of the offense," Silveira said.
Temer folded the comptroller general's office, which was negotiating leniency deals, into a new Transparency and Oversight ministry, which went into action on Tuesday with federal police in an anti-fraud operation in Santa Catarina state.
The ministry said in its first press release on Tuesday that four people were arrested and document seized in the investigation of graft in municipal sanitation contracts.
(Reporting by Caroline Stauffer and Anthony Boadle; Editing by Richard Chang)
The Student Loan Ranger gets questions from curious readers daily. Some of them are too useful to other consumers to keep to ourselves. This week, we answer questions about disability discharges and student loan repayment penalties.
Dear Student Loan Ranger: I understand that if I'm collecting Social Security disability benefits, I can fast-track a disability discharge of my student loans under certain conditions.
I became disabled in 2004 and began receiving Social Security disability in 2006. From as best as I can tell, I was categorized for a review every 5-7 years as "improvement expected." Apparently this does not put me in the group of disabled persons who can fast-track a discharge of their student loans.
Since 2006, I have never had my case reviewed by Social Security. During the last 10 years, I have made numerous applications for discharge of my student loans. Every time I had an application pending, the Department of Education did the same thing: They asked for more information and then told me that I did not supply enough information, that more information was needed. And then, after 90 days, my application expired.
I read in the discussion of the new law regarding fast-tracking that if I could show I was disabled for a continuous period of 60 months that I would qualify. In addition, my doctor has represented with each application that I am totally and permanently disabled.
My question: Is there a way to get Social Security to reclassify my review category, given that I am still disabled and that they have not ever reviewed me? It has been more than 10 years since I was awarded Social Security disability, and that was my last review. I am 63 years old now. -T.
Dear T.: Let's clarify a few things before we dig into your next steps. First, there is no new law for disability discharge for student loans. The U.S. Department of Education recently announced it is proactively reaching out to those borrowers who could be eligible, rather than waiting for these borrowers to figure out for themselves that student loan discharge might be an option.
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Second, this isn't a fast track whatsoever. Potentially eligible borrowers will still have to go through the application process and submit to documentation requests for the three-year conditional period that follows initial approval. What borrowers in this Social Security status don't have to do is get a doctor to certify their application for disability discharge or submit proof of their Social Security status if the education department already has that.
Now, this doesn't mean you're not eligible, but it sounds like applying under the Social Security eligibility clause may be iffy for you. You can also apply at disabilitydischarge.com by having your physician certify your eligibility. Just make sure the doctor fills it out completely and that you follow up promptly with any additional information the Department of Education may request.
As you saw in past attempts, failure to do either of those things results in a rejected application. Unfortunately, due to past fraud on behalf of a few consumers, the department must ensure that all requirements are followed and all documentation of eligibility is very clear.
We have no experience with Social Security benefits so unfortunately we cannot provide advice on whether to attempt to change your status.
In the meantime, you should consider one of the income-driven repayment options as with your minimal income, it will ensure the payments stay affordable, and still have that forgiveness component. -Student Loan Ranger
[Discover five steps to file a student loan complaint.]
Dear Student Loan Ranger: My son owes a small fortune. He paid and paid, then their condo fell into the pit of upside down. They were in economic distress, he quit paying his loan. Now, when back on his feet, he has been trying to catch up -- but in the negotiation process, penalties have piled up and he now owes more than he did -- way more.
This is insane. I know they have tried to repair this, but I don't think he should be penalized so heavily when he is trying to make amends. Any suggestions? -Concerned Mom
[Learn how to avoid turning into a scary student loan statistic.]
Dear Concerned Mom: It's true that failing to pay one's student loans can lead to a significant increase in the balance. Not only does interest continue to accrue and capitalize once the loan defaults, but up to 24 percent can also be added in collection costs -- and up to 40 percent for some federal Perkins loans.
It's unfortunate and very stressful to be in the position your son, and many others, were in several years ago. While it may be tempting to worry about the unaffordable bills, such as student loans, later, the price of that delay might be more than you bargained for.
The great thing about federal student loans is the access to lower payment and deferment or forbearance options that can prevent default and ensure that payments are either affordable or postponed. In some cases interest is even deferred or subsidized.
If you or your son, or any other readers, find yourself in this position in the future or now, contact your loan holder right away to find the best way to ensure you don't end up in default with a significantly higher balance and few options.
Now, let's get back to your son. Thankfully, there's a program called rehabilitation that will not only lower the collection costs on the loan to 16 percent, but it will also remove the default line from your son's credit report. Once the loan is out of default, he will again be eligible for lower payments and other options that will help him keep the loan affordable and on track. -Student Loan Ranger
Betsy Mayotte, director of regulatory compliance for American Student Assistance, regularly advises consumers on planning and paying for college. Mayotte, who received a B.S. in business communications from Bentley College, is a frequent contributor to ASA's SALT Blog; responds to public inquiries via the advice resource "Just Ask;" and is frequently quoted in traditional and social media on the topics of student loans and financial aid.
By Luke Mintz LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The first of more than 200 schoolgirls missing after being kidnapped by Boko Haram militants from Chibok in northeast Nigeria more than two years ago has been found, a parents' spokesman told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Wednesday. Lawan Zannah, secretary of the association of parents of missing Chibok girls, said teenager Amina Ali, carrying a baby, was found on Tuesday near the Sambisa forest. Here are five key facts about the Chibok schoolgirls: 1. On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram militants kidnapped 276 school girls, mostly aged between 16 and 18, from a secondary school in Chibok in Borno State, northeast Nigeria. About 50 of the girls escaped but 219 were captured. 2. Nigeria's government and military faced heavy criticism for their handling of the incident, with towns and cities across the nation witnessing protests. 3. The kidnappings prompted a strong social media reaction, with the phrase #bringbackourgirls tweeted around 3.3 million times by mid-May 2014. U.S. first lady Michelle Obama joined the campaign, as did Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl shot by the Taliban after campaigning for girls' education. 4. Hope for the girls was briefly raised in April, 2015, when the Nigerian military announced it had rescued 200 girls and 93 women from the Sambisa forest. It was later revealed that the Chibok girls were not among them. 5. About 2,000 girls and boys have been kidnapped by Boko Haram since the beginning of 2014, according to Amnesty International, which says they are used as cooks, sex slaves, fighters and even suicide bombers. (Reporting by Luke Mintz, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit www.news.trust.org)
By Emma Batha COPENHAGEN (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Investing in women's health, education and economic empowerment is critical for ending global poverty, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim told a major women's health and rights conference on Wednesday. More than 5,500 delegates are attending the Women Deliver conference in Copenhagen a major global conference on the health, rights and wellbeing of women and girls. Here are some facts: *Girls and women spend 90 percent of their earned income on their families while men spend 30-40 percent. *Giving female farmers the same access to resources as men could lift up to 150 million people out of hunger. *When 10 percent more girls go to school, a country's GDP increases by an average of 3 percent. *Each additional year of secondary schooling leads to a 15-25 percent increase in a girl's potential income. *Eliminating barriers to employment for girls and women could raise labor productivity by 25 percent in some countries. *Investing $9.4 billion annually to fully meet the need for modern contraceptive services would reduce unintended pregnancies by 70 percent, unsafe abortions by 74 percent, maternal deaths by 25 percent and newborn deaths by 18 percent. *The economic returns associated with narrowing the gender gap are six to eight times higher than the social spending required. *$12 trillion could be added to global GDP in 2025 if all countries matched the historical progress toward gender parity achieved by the fastest improving country in their region. Sources: Women Deliver, McKinsey Global Institute (Editing by Ros Russell; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.)
Today the National Academy of Sciences released a 420-page response to public concerns about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture. The report is a leap forward in the discussion, capturing a comprehensive review of two decades of scientific literature as well as perspectives from academia, industry, activists, and those in betweenon implications for the global economy, human rights, and the continued existence of species, human and otherwise.
The findings are important in that they refuse to participate in popular binary argumentsthough that critical point has not fully come across in news coverage. As The New York Times reported today, Genetically Engineered Crops Are Safe, Analysis Finds, in that genetically engineered crops appear to be safe to eat and safe for the environment. The AP reported much the same, that the message of the high-powered science advisory board is that genetically manipulated food remains generally safe for humans and the environment.
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This isnt entirely accurate as a reflection of the stated intent of the academy. Nor is it, I think, a productive sentiment. It stands to perpetuate divisions among people, while the overall takeaway is more nuanced.
When it is possible to speak of genetically engineered crops as a broad category, its of about as much use as reporting that cars are safe, or that pets are safe. Both of those things are generally true, but the statements are so expansive as to be meaningless. (And there are enormous caveats.)
The academy did report that it found no cohesive evidence that genetically engineered crops have contributed to obesity, diabetes, kidney disease, autism, celiac disease, or food allergies in the United States. This is an important finding, especially for people who previously suspected that the case might be otherwise. But it is not the thrust of the report. As the chair of the academy committee Fred Gould wrote in the preface, We received impassioned requests to give the public a simple, general, authoritative answer about G.E. crops. Given the complexity of G.E. issues, we did not see that as appropriate.
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Rather, the idea that GMOs are safe is predicated on the premise that the academy sought today to abandon. The emphasis of the report is that it is impossible to lump all genetically engineered crops together. Each novel plantproduced by conventional breeding or newer techniqueswarrants careful consideration and safety testing. For example, when the committee was writing this report, genetically engineered soybeans being used in the U.S. had resistance to a herbicide, but no resistance to insects. In India, genetically engineered cotton had some resistance to insects, but not to herbicide. The agronomic, environmental, and health effects of those two traits are different the academy notes, but the distinction is lost if the two are treated as one entity.
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Emerging technologies stand to only further challenge existing definitions and regulation by blurring the distinction between genetic engineering and conventional plant breeding, the scientists argue, while enabling ever more profound alterations of plant metabolism, composition, and ecology.
For instance, genome editing techniques like CRISPR will bring about many new plants that will render obsolete the current distinctions between the genetically engineered and the non-genetically engineered. Parsing the subtleties will become only more untenable as the potential outcomes span the conceivable. And the extent of any particular genetic changeby any type of engineering or conventional breedinghas little bearing on the outcome that is seen in the plant. Changes in the characteristics of plants, whether intentional or not, warrant assessments for risks to health and ecosystems. The academy supports the perspective of the National Research Council in arguing that it is the product, not the process, that should be regulated.
Further epitomizing nuance, the report explains that sweeping statements are problematic because the formation of policies for genetically engineered crops involves not just technical risk assessment, but legal issues, economic incentives, social institutions and structures, and diverse cultural and personal values.
Blanket declarations of safety also tend to be an ineffective argument in the eyes of people who are concerned by any and all manner of genetic engineering. More likely, these concerned people are either well aware that all GMOs are not equivalent in their potential for benefit or detriment. Others feel alienated from a scientific establishment that they have come to see as monolithic and corrupt. Downplaying the complexity of the situation feeds that sentiment.
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While the academy found no specific concerns for human health at the moment, the report speaks mainly on the difficulty of assessing the risk of novel allergens and long-term bodily outcomes. This is true for crops engineered by any means. While the report found no large-scale environmental concerns inherent to the act of genetic engineering, the report discusses at length the importance of context. For example, pest-resistant crops might lead to less pesticide use (and, so, greater biodiversity) in some cases, the pest-resistant crops may also lead to other untoward imbalances in ecosystems.
With todays report, the National Academies has set a precedent for the only sustainable path forward for this discussion: information being accessible to people public and private, expert and lay, in an ongoing, collaborative discourse about all potential risks and benefits of specific plants in specific contexts. Creating enough food to sustain the exploding global population is the fundamental challenge before us. It requires action and investment and a willingness to acknowledge complexity in a world where safety is relative. Trust is not built on sweeping decrees.
Read more from The Atlantic:
This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Gregg Sulkin is staying put at MTV.
The Faking It star has sold a script for a new comedy to the Viacom-owned cable network, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Read More: 'Faking It' Creator Reveals What Would Have Happened in Emotional Letter to Fans (Exclusive)
Called F-Unemployed, Sulkin will star in and co-write the half-hour script. The comedy tells the story of a once-popular British child actor who falls from the limelight after a stint in rehab. Now that he's broke and unemployed, he has to rely on the help of his childhood best friend and new neighbors to navigate a normal life.
Sulkin, who starred for three seasons as Liam on Carter Covington's MTV comedy Faking It, will co-write the script alongside Drew Hancock (Suburgatory, Blue Mountain State). Hancock will exec produce, while Sulkin will also co-exec produce.
The deal for F-Unemployed keeps Sulkin at MTV after the cabler opted against a fourth season of critical darling Faking It, which wrapped its run Tuesday night.
Sulkin, who was born in London, made his film debut at age 10 and later starred on Disney Channel's Wizards of Waverly Place and As the Bell Rings.
Read More: Carter Covington Explains Why MTV Is Ending 'Faking It' With Season 3 (Exclusive)
Sulkin joins Covington with comedies in development at MTV. Covington is developing #Blessed and Click Bait at the cabler, reuniting with writers from Faking It on both projects.
Sulkin is repped by UTA, D2 Management and Bruce Gellman.
Basel (Switzerland) (AFP) - Fighting between rival sets of Liverpool and Sevilla supporters broke out minutes before the start of the Europa League final on Wednesday.
The incidents, at St Jakob-Park, the home of FC Basel, occurred behind the Liverpool goal as the teams warmed up before the 1845 GMT final.
Stewards stepped in to try and break up the trouble, and minutes later dozens of riot police arrived to ward off further trouble.
The police, wearing protective helmets and wielding batons, lined themselves up on the stairwell behind the Liverpool goal in a bid to keep rivals sets of fans apart.
Sevilla are the two-time defending champions from 2014 and 2015 and they also won the competition in 2006 and 2007.
Liverpool, former three-time winners, are looking for their first European trophy since winning the Champions League in 2005.
The Soldiers of Odin a far-right, ultra-nationalist vigilante group operating in Finland and Sweden has become synonymous with Europes xenophobic backlash to the migrant crisis. Famous for wearing black jackets adorned with a symbol of a Viking, the group has made a name for itself with its racist rhetoric and nightly street patrols aimed at purportedly protecting locals from asylum-seekers coming to northern Europe.
But if one Finnish university student gets her way, the Soldiers of Odin will become synonymous with something completely different: unicorns and glitter.
Riikka Yrttiaho, a 27-year-old Finnish student studying international politics at Stockholm University in Sweden, noticed that the vigilante group hadnt trademarked its name. She decided to take it for herself, using the Soldiers of Odin name to launch a glitter-covered clothing line featuring cute and cuddly critters.
There will be lots of unicorns and glitter and maybe even some kittens, too, Yrttiaho told Foreign Policy from Stockholm via Skype. I want this to be soft and pretty because those are the things that society in Sweden and Finland needs right now.
What originally began as an effort to prevent the Soldiers of Odin from being able to sell merchandise has since morphed into a political protest. Yrttiaho says she got the idea to buy the Soldiers of Odin name after the group registered itself with the Finnish government but, crucially, failed to patent its name.
Its a fun project and we want to protest through humor, said Yrttiaho. But of course there is a deeper message that we want to stop the normalization of racism in Finland and Sweden.
Founded in 2015 in Kemi a northern Finnish town near the border where many asylum-seekers were crossing from Sweden to Finland the Soldiers of Odin have spread across Finland and even into Sweden and Norway. Members of the group blame migrants from the Middle East and North Africa for an increase in crime and sexual attacks against local women. Their patrols and protests made headlines across Finland this year, as did their vehemently anti-immigrant message.
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In our opinion, Islamist intruders cause insecurity and increase crime, the group said on its website, which has since been taken down following reports in the Finnish press about some members criminal backgrounds and links to neo-Nazi organizations.
Yrttiahos trademark application was approved in April and made public this week by Yle, Finlands national broadcaster, after the news organization noticed that someone had officially filed a patent claim on the Soldiers of Odin name. The 250 euros needed for the trademark were crowdsourced on Yrttiahos Facebook page. The small donations were enough for Yrttiaho to buy the patent and fund the clothing-line, and friends have chipped in to grow her unicorn-themed brands social media presence. Meanwhile, artists in Finland and Sweden have contributed designs and professionals with experience in the clothing business have offered their help to get the clothing line in production and ready for distribution.
One design, seen below, has already been crafted.
Known for high living standards and generous social policies, asylum-seekers have been drawn to Northern Europe, particularly Finland and Sweden. More than 160,000 asylum seekers arrived in Sweden in 2015, more per capita than any other country in Europe. Stockholm originally tried to integrate the influx of migrants, but has since enacted new restrictions, such as border controls with Denmark, to curb the the flow of asylum-seekers. Finland, meanwhile, received 32,000 asylum seekers in 2015, a leap from 3,600 in 2014. Helsinki has similarly enacted restrictions to deter asylum-seekers, tightening its immigration policies and even offering to fly migrants back home for free.
Yrttiahos clothing line is not the first attempt to protest the Soldiers of Odin using comedy. A troupe of clowns who call themselves the Loldiers of Odin emerged in early 2016 to ridicule the vigilantes. The loldiers made international headlines for their creative protests, which involved the troupe finding the Soldiers of Odin out on patrol, skipping around them while dressed as clowns, singing childrens songs, and mocking them with oversized lollipops and feather dusters.
Photo credit: SAM KINGSLEY/AFP/Getty Images
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said that the TV business was at a make or break point, characterizing the agencys recent regulatory moves as an effort to ensure competition to the benefit of consumers while some established players seek to maintain the status quo.
We are at a make or break point where there is a choice, Wheeler said on Wednesday at INTX, formerly known as the Cable Show. Are you going to say No, and do everything possible [to prevent change], or are you going to say, How are we going to make this work for consumers first?'
Wheelers remarks at the annual event held by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association come as he has proposed opening up the cable set-top box, in which source codes would be made available on an open platform so manufactures could make and sell rival devices.
The proposal is bitterly opposed by the NCTA, as well as Hollywood studios and some guilds, like SAG AFTRA, who warn of its impact on the protection of copyright. NCTA President and CEO Michael Powell, himself a former FCC chairman, on Monday blasted the FCCs actions, accusing the agency of a relentless government assault on the industry.
But in a Q&A session with C-SPANs Peter Slen, Wheeler said that the job of government is to promote competition and let consumers enjoy the benefits of that, with the understanding that those who are incumbents never like change.
Wheeler noted that he led the cable trade association in the 1970s and 80s, when the pay TV industry was the voice of innovation and competition.
Those who did not want things to change used government to maintain the status quo to the detriment of consumers, said Wheeler, citing Hollywood studios, broadcasters and the telephone company.
He credited the NCTA for rebranding the Cable Show into INTX reflecting the shift to broadband but he also suggested that Powells rhetoric was part of the lobbying process.
I think that the way in which lobbying campaigns tend to work these days is first you set up a scenario in which there is too much being done. We are being persecuted,' Wheeler said, adding that it is followed by imaginary scenarios of what will happen if a change is about to be made.
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There is an important step that has to follow, which is that it is not enough to say, Were against this. This is awful,' he said, adding that the industry and regulators had to work to find solutions, not just slogans.
He acknowledged that when Powell was FCC chairman and he led the wireless industrys trade association, there was at least one incident in which he wishes he had been presenting more solutions.
Wheeler says that the set-top box proposal would open up competition, as most consumers are now forced to rent their boxes from their cable or satellite provider and make payments well after the time that the cost has been recovered. Opponents note that the industry already is moving away from the box, through the offering of apps and other online navigation. He said that the governments role was to ensure, encourage competition, so that the government can then step out.
He said that there is the potential for the next few years to see the best era ever for consumers, with more ways for them to access content and with the possibility of options for smaller bundles of content.
Wheeler, a self-described amateur historian, said that he has been studying the history of networks, and has concluded that there is an absolute truth, which is that those who tried to stop the change always fail. I dont mean most of the time. I mean always.
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Days after his colleague was butchered by Islamist extremists at their university in Bangladesh, Mahbub Alam answered a call from a mystery number that made his blood run cold.
"The person on the other side of the line said to me: 'Your life has come to an end. You've gone too far. Wait and see what happens to you.'," said Alam, a professor of public administration at Rajshahi University.
"I've never been connected to any type of activity except teaching. I've no idea what I've done to receive such a threat.
"It's OK when someone confronts you face-to-face. But if someone attacks you from behind, what can you do except live in fear?"
Normally a hive of activity, the university campus has been largely deserted since English professor Rezaul Karim Siddique was hacked to death late last month while walking from his home to a bus stop.
His attackers ambushed the 58-year-old from behind before flaying him with machetes in broad daylight, nearly severing his neck in the process.
It was the latest in a string of gruesome murders carried out by Islamist extremists in the last three years, with other victims including secular bloggers and members of the mainly Muslim country's religious minorities.
- Extremist target -
But professors teaching at Rajshahi in northwestern Bangladesh, which has a reputation as one of the country's most liberal universities, have been a target of extremists for more than a decade.
Four have been killed since 2004 while more than 50 teachers say they have received threats from Islamist extremists.
After Siddique's murder, teachers went on an unofficial strike which prompted most of the university's 33,000 students to head home and begin their summer holidays early.
When an AFP correspondent visited the 752-acre (300-hectare) campus last week, the lecture halls were empty and the only significant gathering was at a rally attended by teachers and students to protest Siddique's slaughter.
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Much of the anger was directed at the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina which has been accused of showing little sympathy towards the victims and doing little to improve security.
Nearly all recent attacks have been claimed by Al-Qaeda's local branch or the Islamic State organisation but the government insists neither group has got a foothold in Bangladesh, blaming its domestic opponents instead.
"We are feeling very isolated and are all in a bit of a panic," sociology professor Nilufar Sultana told AFP.
"The authorities are not assuring any security. They aren't even saying that they're looking for the killers. It's deeply frustrating."
Mamunul Habib, who was taught by Siddique, said that no one could concentrate on their studies for the moment.
"We can't pick up weapons to protect ourselves and of course it's not for us to do that anyway," said Habib.
"It's impossible mentally to study and work in such a climate, especially as you can't help feeling that you could be the next target."
After Siddique's killing, it emerged that a hit-list with the names of 10 people -- including the university's vice-chancellor -- had been distributed on a leaflet in the nearby town of Natore.
- 'We feel helpless' -
The leaflet bore the name of an obscure group called the Islami Liberation Front which said its objective was to establish an Islamic caliphate by toppling what it called the "repressive" government.
No one has so far been charged with Siddique's murder although police have made four arrests and say one of those has confessed to taking part in the killing.
Rajshahi police commissioner Mohammad Shamsuddin acknowledged people felt nervous but said his officers were doing all they could to avoid a repeat.
"This sense of panic will gradually fade and we are working very hard to provide security to everyone in the city," Shamsuddin told AFP.
However the murder on May 6 of a local leader of the Sufi Muslim minority around 40 kilometres (25 miles) away has heightened fears that the killers may still be at large, with the victim also hacked to death.
"We now feel very helpless," said Professor Moloy Voumik, another of Siddique's former colleagues who admits he is living in fear.
"I know if these targeted killings continue, then my name will definitely find a place on their hit-list."
2001 Ferrari 550 Barchetta Pininfarina manual transmission
There isn't much growth left in the classic Ferrari market after nearly a decade of record prices but for those that are willing to look, there are a few opportunities left.
Craig Jackson, CEO of auction powerhouse Barrett-Jackson, was happy to offer what he thinks is one of the last remaining bright spots in the Ferrari back-catalog: late-model stick shift cars.
It's not a new trend, but it is becoming increasingly more pronounced: late model cars with manual transmissions, even in models that haven't earned "classic" status yet, are bringing a strong premium over cars with semi-automatic paddle shifters, Jackson told Business Insider.
"People are getting sick of just clicking [paddle shifters]," Jackson said. "They want to mash the gears and drop the clutch. Feel the gates."
And because the final Ferrari model sold with a manual transmission a 599 GTB and one of only 30 not fitted with the F1 transmission left the factory in 2012, drivers looking for a modern Ferrari experience with a stick are clamoring for what would otherwise be relatively unexceptional Ferrari models, giving them a certain rarity.
In effect, the cars have become unintentional "limited edition" models.
"There were very few California Spiders specified with a manual transmission," Hans Wurl of Gooding & Co. told Business Insider.
ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
"Ferrari marketed their semi-automatic transmission as the 'F1,' wanting to relate it to the technology of their grand prix cars," Wurl said.
"A few of these savvy collectors, whether they were smart or just wanted the manual experience, got a car that wound up being very desirable."
Most cars which eventually become collectible experience a latency period in which they are, in effect, just used cars.
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In the meantime, it's up to the savvy collector to decide which models will one day be the most desirable.
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(Adds context, details about conduct)
By Suzanne Barlyn
May 18 (Reuters) - Wall Street's industry-funded watchdog has fined Raymond James Financial Inc $17 million for widespread failures in anti-money laundering compliance, the regulator said on Wednesday.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) also suspended the company's former anti-money laundering compliance officer, Linda Busby, for three months and fined her $25,000, the regulator said.
The fine is the regulator's largest ever for anti-money laundering compliance violations, said FINRA spokeswoman Michelle Ong.
Raymond James and Busby both agreed to the sanctions in settlements with FINRA, without admitting nor denying FINRA's charges, FINRA said.
Raymond James' processes to prevent money laundering did not match its business growth from 2006-14, FINRA said. Instead, the company relied on a "patchwork" of procedures and systems to detect suspicious activity.
As a result, the firm missed certain "red flags" in the process and failed to investigate others, FINRA said. Those included a $250,000 wire transfer to a Panamanian bank account - purportedly for a banana shipment - that followed previous account activity purportedly related to gold mining, according to the settlement.
The Raymond James U.S. anti-money laundering program has "undergone significant resource, process and technology enhancements" aligned with the firm's growth strategy, Steve Hollister, a Raymond James spokesman, said in a statement.
The firm has boosted its anti-money laundering staff, hiring a new chief anti-money laundering officer, and is using a new monitoring software to detect suspicious activity, Hollister said. Raymond James has also begun the process of exiting its U.S. third-party foreign correspondent business, excluding operations in Europe and Canada, Hollister said.
FINRA, during its investigation, had found among other things that Raymond James failed to conduct mandatory due diligence reviews for foreign financial institutions to whom it provided services.
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Busby left Raymond James last year, after 11 years with the firm. She is not presently employed in the securities industry, according to a regulatory filing. Lawyers for Busby could not be immediately reached for comment.
Raymond James' failures were "particularly concerning," given that FINRA had sanctioned the firm in 2012 for inadequate anti-money laundering procedures, the regulator said on Wednesday.
At the time, Raymond James had agreed to review its program and procedures, and certify that they were reasonably designed to achieve compliance, FINRA said.
(Reporting by Suzanne Barlyn; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and G Crosse)
By Mike Wood NEW YORK (Reuters) - Commuter train passengers braced for a crowded ride home from New York City's Grand Central Terminal on Wednesday, with Metro-North Railroad service still only partially restored after a massive four-alarm fire disrupted the evening rush hour the evening before. The New York City Fire Department ruled that the cause of the fire, involving elevated track at Park Avenue and 118th Street, was gasoline spilled on a hot generator at a garden supply store beneath the tracks. While repairs were under way - possibly until Friday - trains serving tens of thousands of Metro North passengers from the city's northern suburbs and Connecticut were operating on a limited weekend schedule. Fire department investigators determined the fire broke out when heat from the generator ignited gasoline fumes, which set ablaze wooden pallets and other debris, said a Fire Department spokesman. "They were trying to refuel when the generator was hot," he said. "It was accidental." During the morning rush hour, customers on standing-room-only trains said the suburban train trip was more like a packed New York City subway ride. "I'm surprised we got here at all," said Lisa Bucci of Norwalk, Connecticut, who works in clothing sales, as her train crawled into the station, doubling her morning commute to more than two hours. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates Metro North, was investigating what materials were being stored under the elevated tracks, spokesman Aaron Donovan said on Wednesday. "We need to understand why they are being put there," Donovan said. The Fire Department did not immediately respond to questions about the fire. Train service during the evening rush hour on Tuesday was halted as firefighters battled the blaze. Metro-North crews worked throughout the night, repairing and restoring two of the four tracks for the morning rush hour. MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast told one TV station the fire caused severe damage to a vertical column that supports the structure and especially the two center tracks. We were able ascertain that the two outside tracks and the structure supporting them are sound." Trains were operating on the two outside tracks at reduced maximum speeds of 30 miles (80 km) per hour, instead of the usual 60 mph. (Additional reporting by David Gregorio and Barbara Goldberg in New York, Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee and Suzannah Gonzales in Chicago; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Steve Orlofsky)
By Lanre Ola MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - A Nigerian teenager kidnapped by Boko Haram more than two years ago has been rescued, the first of more than 200 girls seized in a raid on their school in Chibok town to return from captivity in the insurgents' forest lair, officials said on Wednesday. Soldiers working together with a civilian vigilante group rescued the girl and her four-month-old baby near Damboa in the remote northeast, army spokesman Sani Usman said. They also detained a "suspected Boko Haram terrorist" called Mohammed Hayatu who claimed to be the girl's husband, he added. "Preliminary investigation shows that she is indeed one of the Chibok schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram terrorists on 14th April 2014 in Chibok," Usman said in a statement. Rights activists named the girl as Amina Ali Darsha Nkeki. They quoted her as saying her schoolmates remained in the Sambisa forest in the northeast, Boko Haram's biggest stronghold. The girl will meet President Muhammadu Buhari in the capital, Abuja, on Thursday, his spokesman said, adding that she would be accompanied by the governor of Borno, the northeastern state in which Chibok is located. A Reuters witness who saw the girl at the governor's office, in Maiduguri, said she seemed tired and was limping. Her age has not been disclosed but she appeared to be in her late teens. Her rescue may give a boost to Buhari, a former military ruler who made crushing the Islamist militant Boko Haram insurgency a key pillar of his election campaign in 2015. The military released a photograph of the girl, who was seated, clad in a Muslim headscarf and cradling a baby wrapped in a cloth while holding a plate of food. Boko Haram seized 276 girls from their school in Chibok, northeast Nigeria, in April 2014, part of a seven-year-old insurgency to set up an Islamic state in the north that has killed some 15,000 people and displaced more than 2 million. Dozens of the girls escaped in the initial melee in 2014 but more than 200 remained unaccounted for. Parents accused former president Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria's leader at the time of the mass kidnapping, of not doing enough to track down the girls and bring them home. "She (Amina) says all of the others are still in the Sambisa forest area, that they are heavily guarded," activists at #Bringbackourgirls said in a statement confirming her release. Hoses Tsambido, chairman of the Chibok Community in the capital Abuja, told Reuters the girl was found on Tuesday in the Kulakasha area on the fringes of Sambisa Forest. Usman said Ali and her alleged husband had been brought to Maiduguri "for further medical attention and screening". Boko Haram, who last year pledged loyalty to Islamic State, have kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children in their campaign to carve out a mediaeval Islamist caliphate. Under Buhari's command and aided by Nigeria's neighbors, the army has recaptured most territory once lost to Boko Haram but the group still regularly stages suicide bombings. (Reporting by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani of Thomson Reuters Foundation, Lanre Ola and Ulf Laessing; Writing by Ed Cropley, Ulf Laessing and Alexis Akwagyiram, Editing by Mark Heinrich)
ABUJA (Reuters) - The first of more than 200 schoolgirls missing for over two years after they were kidnapped by Boko Haram militants in Chibok in northeast Nigeria has been found, a parents group and local officials said on Wednesday. Lawan Zannah, secretary of an association of parents of the missing girls, said teenager Amina Ali was found on Tuesday near the Sambisa forest close to the border with Cameroon. "She was carrying a baby but I do not know whether it is a boy or girl," Zannah told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Chibok. Hoses Tsambido, chairman of the Chibok Community in the capital Abuja, confirmed the discovery but did not provide details. "It is true that one of the Chibok girls has been found and rescued," he told Reuters. "Her name is Amina Ali Darsha. She was found yesterday in an area of Kulakasha at the fringes of Sambisa forest. Right now she is with the military in Damboa." Ali was sitting in a military vehicle at the area commander's residence in Chibok, Zannah said. He was not allowed to question her beyond exchanging greetings in their local language, Kibaku, he added. Boko Haram militants captured a total of 276 girls in a raid on their school in Chibok in April 2014. Dozens of them escaped in the initial melee but more than 200 remained unaccounted for. Three mothers of abductees said they recognised their daughters in a video released in April. The insurgents have killed an estimated 15,000 people and kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children in their six-year campaign to carve out a mediaeval Islamic caliphate in northeast Nigeria. Zannah said he had first heard of Ali's rescue from Yakubu Nkeki, chairman of the parents association, who had received a call from members of a vigilante group in Chibok saying they had found one of the missing girls. Borno state governor Kashim Shettima told reporters Ali was on her way to the state capital, Maiduguri. The rescue will give a boost to President Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler who had made crushing the Boko Haram insurgency a central pillar of his campaign for the leadership of Africa's most populous nation. (Reporting by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani of Thomson Reuters Foundation, Lanre Ola and Ulf Laessing, Writing by Ed Cropley, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
By Orathai Sriring and Satawasin Staporncharnchai
RAYONG, Thailand (Reuters) - Everywhere you look on Thailand's Amata industrial estate in Rayong you see signs in Chinese. It's a similar story just along the coast in the tourist resort of Pattaya, where Mandarin is increasingly visible alongside English and Russian.
As China's economy slows, its investors are looking abroad for growth and Thailand, home to one of the world's largest ethnic Chinese minorities and a gateway to Southeast Asia's 600 million consumers, is a hot investment destination in everything from industry to condominiums.
"Thailand is usually the first stop for Chinese tourists and investors," said Xu Gen Luo, who runs the Thai-Chinese Rayong Industrial Zone, about 200 km (120 miles) south east of Bangkok. Dozens of new Chinese-owned solar, rubber and industrial manufacturing plants have opened in the zone since 2012.
"Thailand's investment environment, especially its investment promotion policies, are among the best worldwide," he said, adding that labour costs were higher in China.
Since a May 2014 coup, Thailand and China have drawn closer diplomatically and militarily as the ruling generals seek to counterbalance the country's cooling ties with Washington.
Chinese investors have found a warm welcome in an economy that has seen investment crimped by a decade of political turmoil, and where the junta has struggled to revive exports and domestic demand in the two years since seizing power.
Investment pledges from China jumped fivefold in the first quarter from a year earlier to 5.7 billion baht ($163 million), from just 1.1 billion baht, giving China the third largest investment slate during the period as Chinese firms raced to meet a tax break deadline and U.S. investors held back.
That was still some way behind Japan, which pledged 15.6 billion baht. Japan and China jostle for influence in Southeast Asia and Tokyo has long been Thailand's largest investor, with several large car plants accounting for much of the investment.
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"LOST IN THAILAND"
But Chinese investment is growing strongly, in part due to Beijing's policy of encouraging manufacturers to shift production abroad to deal with industrial overcapacity at home.
"What we've seen so far in Chinese investment into Thailand is small compared to what's coming," said Joe Horn-Phathanothai, chief executive of Strategy613, a strategic advisor focussed on Chinese and Thai corporate investments.
"Hand-in-hand with the slowdown in China we'll see an increase in the number of deals the Chinese do abroad."
Last year China was the fourth biggest foreign investor in Thailand, behind Japan, the United States and Singapore.
Tourist numbers have also jumped, helped by the huge success in China of the 2012 slapstick comedy "Lost in Thailand". About 7.9 million Chinese visited the "Land of Smiles" last year, up 71 percent from 2014, when unrest in Bangkok that preceded the coup scared tourists away, and Thailand expects more this year.
There has been no slowdown in the number of tourists due to the economic deceleration in China, helped by the growth of budget airlines, tour operators say.
"Our products are relatively cheap. We have good food and culture and no political problems with their government, unlike Japan and Taiwan," Ronnarong Chewinsiriamnuai, president of the Thai-Chinese Tourism Alliance Association.
Thailand is expecting a record 33 million tourists in 2016, with China providing the bulk of the increase from the record set in 2015 of just below 30 million.
"ONE BELT, ONE ROAD"
Xu expects the number of Chinese firms at his park - jointly developed by China's Holley Group and Thai industrial estate developer Amata Corp (AMATA.BK) - to increase to about 100 this year, from 75 currently, and to 500 in the next five years.
In March, China's Trina Solar (TSL.N), the world's No. 1 solar panel maker, opened a manufacturing facility there.
Moving to Thailand can also help companies in industries such as solar and chemicals sidestep anti-dumping measures, industry experts said.
"China is facing trade barriers from many countries, particularly on solar, so many Chinese firms are coming to invest in Thailand," said Visnu Limwibul, chairman of a Thai electronics and telecommunications industry group.
State-owned Gang Yan Diamond Tools (Thailand), which makes precision manufacturing blades, followed Beijing's "One Belt, One Road" policy to rebuild ancient Silk Road trade links with Asia and Europe and set up in Thailand in 2014.
"When we first came, we were concerned about the political situation and social instability. We are still concerned now," said board chairman Zhao Gang, but added the strength of the Chinese business community in Thailand helped overcome those concerns.
China and Thailand are discussing cooperation on the Thai section of a rail project under the "One Belt, One Road" plan that would eventually connect Kunming in southwest China with Singapore, but have to date failed to agree on terms.
As the expatriate Chinese community grows and more Chinese look for holiday homes in Thailand, real estate investment is on the rise.
Bundit Sirithunyhong runs the Suttangrak Group, which has just joined with Chinese firms to develop housing projects worth 5 billion baht ($140 million) to sell as time-shares to Chinese buyers.
"I think they are not just investing in real estate, but starting to use Thailand as a base for business in Southeast Asia," he said. "Here they can stay and work as their second homes. It's a step further in business expansion."
(Additional reporting by Pairat Temphairojana, Jutarat Skulpichetrat and Simon Webb in BANGKOK and Kevin Yao in BEIJING; Editing by Simon Webb and Alex Richardson)
Cherry Creek is one of Denver's most popular residential neighborhoods, coveted for its picturesque landscaping, walkability and proximity to downtown. With two distinct shopping areas, the Cherry Creek shopping center (a high-end mall) and Cherry Creek North (an outdoor collection of boutiques) the neighborhood is a mecca for fashionistas. In the summer, it is also home to one of the city's best farmer's markets and boasts direct access to the Cherry Creek bike path. Not surprisingly, due to low housing inventory and high prices, this high-end neighborhood is also known to have one of the toughest real estate markets in the city.
It's easy to understand why Cherry Creek isn't exactly a paradise for those looking to buy their very first home. However, that's not to say that the Cherry Creek dream is impossible for first-time homebuyers. There are a variety of ways to get your foot in the door of a Cherry Creek home, even if you aren't able to bring piles of cash to the table. Nate Postlethwait with LIV Sotheby's International Realty says, "There are many pockets of Cherry Creek that still prove to be great investments at or under the $500,000 mark. You have to watch these closely, as they tend to have multiple and immediate offers."
Using data provided by OpenHouse Realty (a U.S. News partner), we identified some of the highest performing real estate agents in the neighborhood and asked them to share their tips on buying a house in Cherry Creek. Here's what they recommend.
[See: The 20 Best Places to Live in the U.S.]
Choose a savvy real estate agent. Creating a strong, serious initial offer is a critical step for buyer's hoping to get under contract in a competitive, high-end neighborhood like Cherry Creek. One way for an unexperienced buyer to achieve this is to work with a local real estate agent who can help navigate the complicated contract process.
Besides cash offers, there are a number of ways to assure a seller you're motivated and serious. Despite the fact that Denver is currently a seller's market, more than 20 percent of offers fall out of contract. Susie Best, with the Porch Light Real Estate Group, specializes in helping first-time buyers find their first home, she says it's about "understanding what the seller's fears are and trying to alleviate those."
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Best continues, "Another mistake sellers make is they believe a cash offer is a much safer bet and that's a misnomer. Many times, if people can afford cash, then they can afford to leave earnest money on the table and they can afford to be more impulsive and withdraw an offer."
Have the courage to make a compelling offer. In order for an offer to be considered seriously, it needs to be thorough and compelling. "It's a competitive market and it's common [for sellers] to get 20-plus offers on the first day. We advise clients not to work with sloppy offers," says Aaron Lebovic, with Keller Williams Real Estate. He encourages clients to pique a seller's interest by offering to cover the appraisal gap, and buyers should be prepared to offer "$5,000 to $10,000 more than the listing price," and also promise "$5,000 to $10,000 over the appraised value to make the offer more attractive."
Postlethwait agrees. "If you write an offer, go all in on your first offer. Do not risk a lower offer and anticipate a counter. There will be others waiting behind you," he emphasizes.
In order to feel comfortable with such creative pricing tactics, Best reminds first-time buyers to "make sure they get pre-approved for the highest amount possible and not just what they want the final payment to be, so if they have to go a little bit higher they can." She also advises first-timers to begin their home search in a price range that's slightly lower than they are really willing to pay to ensure a comfortable amount of wiggle room for the offer.
[See: The 20 Most Desirable Places to Live in the U.S.]
Make the seller's life easier. Another way to succeed at buying your first home in Cherry Creek is to be flexible and forgiving with things like appraisals and inspections. Best advises buyers to, "stick to deadlines and schedule inspections quickly. That's what makes a difference in getting offers accepted or not."
Lebovic agrees that "Buying 'as is' helps buyers get ahead," and notes that, "A big challenge for inexperienced buyers is to accept that every home has faults." He also warns against asking the seller for too many repairs.
Shelley Bridge, a real estate agent with Re/Max of Cherry Creek, encourages clients preparing offers to "write them over asking [price] and with as few contingencies as possible. We often try and remove as many contingencies as we can so they (the seller) feel confidant."
Consider a condominium. "If it's a condo, we especially might remove inspection contingency," Bridge explains. "If [a homeowner's association] is taking care of it, you don't have to worry about things like the roof or the furnace."
In fact, Bridge suggests that first-time buyers look at condominiums in Cherry Creek as opposed to single family houses for more affordable and attainable options. "Condos are primarily what's affordable there as even half-duplexes in the area start in the 900s," she says.
[See: The 20 Best Afforable Places to Live in the U.S.]
Not only are condos typically less expensive than single-family homes, but they provide appealing amenities to first-time homeowners, including low-level maintenance and community features like swimming pools and fitness centers. They also tend to be more updated, as many of the single-family homes in Cherry Creek are now 20 to 25 years old and may require updates, which many first-time homebuyer's won't be able to afford right away.
Katie Hearsum is a freelance writer based in the Denver area.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just fired a well-regarded defense minister known for his close ties to Washington and replaced him with one known for his close ties to Moscow and jaw-droppingly harsh anti-Arab rhetoric.
Here are five things to know about Avigdor Lieberman, the Moldovan-born former nightclub bouncer now charged with overseeing the Middle Easts most powerful military.
1) He wants to behead disloyal Arabs.
Lieberman has spent years calling for the death penalty for convicted terrorists. Hes recently given a sense of how he thinks some of those militants should be put to death, and it isnt pretty.
Those who are with us deserve everything, but those who are against us deserve to have their heads chopped off with an axe, he said at an election rally in February.
Ahmad Tibi, a prominent Israeli-Arab politician, promptly replied that Lieberman was the Jewish Islamic State.
2) He wants to exile some Israeli-Arab politicians.
During a heated televised debate last year, Lieberman brutally attacked Iman Odeh, the leader of the Joint List, an alliance of Israeli-Arab political parties that is one of the largest blocs in the Israeli Knesset.
According to a report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Lieberman told Odeh that he was part of a fifth column, and said youre not wanted here and should go to Gaza. He also referred to Odeh as a liar and a traitor.
Lieberman has previously called for Arab citizens of Israel to take a loyalty oath, an idea many rejected out of hand. Hes also talked about making several Israeli-Arab towns part of a future state of Palestine regardless of whether its inhabitants wanted to remain part of Israel.
3) He really likes Vladimir Putin.
Lieberman has repeatedly refused to criticize the behavior of the Russian strongman, who he describes as a rare leader who truly understands the threat posed by Islamist extremism.
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Russia, more than anyone, is very familiar with terror, Lieberman said during a 2009 trip to Moscow said. Russia itself has suffered from double standards.
Two years later, Lieberman, then serving as Israels foreign minister, broke with most of his diplomatic colleagues by praising Russias controversial parliamentary elections as free and democratic. By way of contrast, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the vote was neither free nor fair.
And its more than just warm words: when Putin annexed Ukraines Crimean Peninsula in 2014, Israeli diplomats from Liebermans Foreign Ministry abstained from a largely-symbolic vote condemning the Russian invasion.
4) He really doesnt like Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In January, Lieberman derided the hard-line Turkish president as an anti-Semitic, neighborhood bully. He said that Europes refusal to condemn Erdogan for some of his past rhetoric takes us back to the 1930s a clear reference to the harassment and persecution of Jews in Germany in the run-up to the Holocaust.
After years of escalating tensions, Netanyahu is working hard to repair ties with Ankara, especially when it comes to military-to-military cooperation. Liebermans appointment to the defense ministry probably wont help.
5) He doesnt technically live in Israel.
Lieberman lives in Nokdim, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, making him perhaps the only defense minister in the world who doesnt live in the recognized borders of his own country.
In November 2014, four Hamas militants were arrested and charged with planning to kill Lieberman with an anti-tank rocket while he drove to his home.
Photo credit: URIEL SINAI/Getty Images
Chew on this, food truck aficionados: The trucks serving up trendy grub might be dirtier than one would like to think, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Over the past two years, roughly 1 in 3 Los Angeles food trucks received grades lower than A from the LA County Department of Public Health.
And even sidewalk food carts are outperforming food trucks when it comes to food safety. Around 18% of food carts got below an A grade. Meanwhile, fewer than five percent of brick-and-mortar restaurants earned under an A.
Source: Ben Poston/LA Times/Lost Angeles County Department of Public Health
In the past year, the health department has closed over 70 food trucks. After passing follow-up inspections, the trucks are allowed to reopen.
What causes a less-than-perfect grade? The county's grading system assesses food providers' cleanliness and food-handling practices. Poor employee hygiene, inadequate food storage temperatures and contaminated equipment all could lead to food-borne illness and factor into an inspector's grading.
Running a clean truck, poses unique challenges for owners and employees. The vehicles are cramped and often don't have the same equipment that a regular restaurant has, though James Dragan, LA's chief environmental health specialist for consultative services, told the LA Times that the health department has not yet studied the data.
It's possible that some trucks roll on through without inspection. The health department requires that trucks clue inspectors in on their routes, but it can still be tough to conduct the random inspections. Inspectors only examined roughly 70% of food trucks in the last fiscal year.
Wondering if it's safe to grab a bite from a vehicle that has a kitchen area smaller than the smallest Manhattan apartment kitchens? It's worth peeking at a truck's grade (if the city requires them New York City, for example, appears to be working on it) before digging in.
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libyan military forces said on Tuesday they had recaptured one of the main checkpoints south of the city of Misrata from Islamic State, reversing some of the gains the militant group made earlier this month. Three members of the armed forces were killed and 10 wounded in a mine explosion as they took control of the checkpoint at Abu Grain, said Mohamed al-Gasri, a spokesman for an operation room set up by Libya's U.N.-backed unity government. Islamic State fighters had overrun the Abu Grain checkpoint, town and several nearby villages after carrying out coordinated suicide bomb attacks on May 5. Abu Grain is about 140 km (85 miles) west of Islamic State's Libyan stronghold of Sirte, on the main road leading south from port city of Misrata. The military have yet to take full control of the area, however. "There are skirmishes from time to time against the militants," said Gasri. "We will keep making progress to clean Abu Grain town of those militants". The unity government arrived in Tripoli in late March. Western states hope it will replace two rival administrations that have competed for power in Libya since 2014, and unite the armed brigades that supported them to take on Islamic State. The new government has moved to establish itself in western Libya with the backing of key brigades from Misrata, which gained power due to its central role in the uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The new government's operations room says it is preparing an offensive to recapture Sirte, which has been controlled by Islamic State since last year. The unity government has so far struggled to win formal backing from factions in eastern Libya, however, where military forces also say they are preparing for an offensive against Sirte. Islamic State controls a strip of coast about 250 km (155 miles) long around Sirte but it has struggled to hold ground elsewhere in the country. (Reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
HELSINKI (Reuters) - A Finnish court handed down a suspended sentence of 18 months on Wednesday to one of the founders of the anti-immigrant 'Soldiers of Odin' group for assaulting a man last June. The Soldiers of Odin, founded late last year by a group of young men in the northern Finnish town of Kemi, have patrolled the streets of cities in Finland and other Nordic and Baltic countries, saying they want to protect locals from immigrants. Mika Ranta, 29, was sentenced for aggravated assault on one man and assault on a woman who tried to stop the attack, both of them Finns. He declined to comment on the sentence. The Soldiers of Odin, named after the king of the gods in Norse mythology, have triggered fears of a rise in vigilante movements in the Nordic countries after 250,000 asylum seekers moved into the region over the last year. Members of the group have said they want to serve as eyes and ears for the police who they say are struggling to fulfill their duties. The group has expanded from Finland to its neighboring Nordic and Baltic countries, and its Facebook page says it has chapters also in at least 10 countries, including the United Kingdom, France and the United States. In Finland, no clashes have been reported between the Soldiers of Odin patrols and immigrants, but police have said they are keeping a close eye on the group. (Reporting by Tuomas Forsell; Editing by Jussi Rosendahl and Tom Heneghan)
By Mehreen Zahra-Malik ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A fifth round of four-nation talks aimed at laying the ground for a negotiated end to the Afghan war began in Pakistan on Wednesday, as hopes faded for bringing the Taliban insurgents to the table quickly. The Afghan government declined to send a delegation from Kabul for the new talks, saying its ambassador in Islamabad would represent the government until Pakistan lives up to promises to crack down on Afghan Taliban sheltering on its soil. The Quadrilateral Coordination Group, made up of officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China, have been engaged in efforts to facilitate direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. The Taliban, who now control or contest more territory than at any time since they was ousted by a U.S.-led intervention in 2001, have attended none of the group's meetings. A spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Afghanistan would not be sending a delegation from Kabul. "The Afghan delegation that participated from Afghanistan will not participate until Pakistan fulfils its promises made during previous meetings," Dawa Khan Menapal said. Pakistan had expressed confidence it could pressure Taliban representatives to return to the negotiating table by March, but the insurgents released a statement in late February refusing to join. Ghani angrily demanded that Pakistan use force to expel Taliban and allied insurgents from its territory last month after a big truck bomb killed 64 people in Kabul. Pakistan, battling Pakistani Taliban militants, denies harboring Afghan Taliban leaders on its soil. Afghan Taliban forces have stepped up their campaign in the last year to topple the Kabul government, which has struggled since most foreign troops left at the end of 2014. High-profile suicide attacks and Taliban territorial gains in Helmand province have underlined how far Afghanistan remains from peace. The ultimate goal of the diplomatic maneuvering is to bring Taliban into direct negotiations with the Kabul government. The Taliban remain split on whether to participate in the talks. The first formal peace talks with the Taliban since the latest phase of Afghan war began in 2001 collapsed last year after it was announced their founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar, had been dead for two years, throwing the militant group into disarray. The Taliban have since been riven by factional infighting. (Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni in Kabul; Writing by Mehreen Zahra-Malik; Editing by Robert Birsel)
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Four Turkish soldiers were killed and nine wounded on Wednesday when a bomb was detonated as their vehicle traveled past in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country, the military said. The army deployed troops backed by helicopters to the area, located about 70 km (45 miles) from the town of Semdinli near the Iraqi border, to launch an operation in the wake of the attack, security sources said. Explosives had been laid in the road in advance of the soldiers' convoy, the military said on its website. Security forces have been battling militants in the armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the southeast since a ceasefire collapsed in July 2015, wrecking a peace process aimed at resolving one of Europe's longest-running insurgencies. Hundreds of soldiers and PKK fighters, as well as 500 or more civilians, have been killed in the violence. Earlier in on Wednesday, a soldier was killed in Nusaybin, situated at the Syrian border some 500 km (310 miles) away, when militants opened fire on him. The town of 100,000 people has been under a round-the-clock curfew for more than two months as security forces try to root out militants. Turkish warplanes hit PKK targets overnight in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq, killing at least 10 fighters, security sources said. The military has been carrying out regular air strikes against positions of the outlawed group in mountainous northern Iraq, where it has camps near the Turkish border. (Reporting by Seyhmus Cakan; Writing by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by David Dolan/Mark Heinrich)
Frankfurt (AFP) - Deutsche Boerse and LSE, the operators of the Frankfurt and London stock exchanges, said Wednesday they intend to seal their planned merger to create a new global player in July.
In a brief joint statement, the companies outlined the timetable for the next stages in the tie-up.
The detailed shareholder documents will be published in June; LSE shareholders will vote on the plans at a meeting in July; and Deutsche Boerse's offer to LSE shareholders will expire in July, the statement said.
The tie-up, which both sides describe as a "merger of equals", will create one of the world's biggest stock exchanges.
Under the agreed terms, Deutsche Boerse shareholders will end up with 54.4 percent of the new holding company's capital, and LSE shareholders with 45.6 percent.
The LSE and Deutsche Boerse are to become intermediate subsidiaries of the combined group, which will have headquarters in both London and Frankfurt and the board would have "equal representation" from both sides.
It will be headed by Deutsche Boerse chief Carsten Kengeter.
The deal has still to be approved by the EU, with some observers suggesting that the individual strengths of both companies in some derivatives could pose a problem.
Another potential obstacle -- a possible rival bid from another player -- appears to have disappeared when US global markets operator Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) announced earlier this month that it had decided not to make an offer for LSE.
The Frankfurt and London operators insist the tie-up will succeed irrespective of the outcome of the Brexit vote on Britain's future in the EU next month.
Tomoya Ugajin's freak goal gave Urawa Red Diamonds a 1-0 win over FC Seoul and boosted their chances of reaching the AFC Champions League quarter-finals in their Round of 16 first leg on Wednesday.
Ugajin was alone on the edge of the box when he received Ryota Moriwaki's raking cross, and he looked as surprised as anyone when his hopeful volley looped unstoppably into the far corner.
It was an unexpected but welcome dose of good fortune for the 2007 champions from Japan, who will hope it is a good omen for next week's return leg in the South Korean capital.
Ugajin's cross-cum-shot carried shades of Dutch legend Marco van Basten's stunner in the Euro 1988 final -- apart from the huge dose of luck that put it into the net.
FC Seoul created plenty in reply but Brazilian striker Adriano, after scoring 10 in the group stage, was out of sorts and he ballooned a golden chance over the bar late in the first half.
Seoul goalkeeper Yu Sang-Hun saved sharply at the feet of Yosuke Kashiwagi early in the second period, before Osmar Barba blazed over at the other end on 67 minutes.
With two minutes left, Adriano had another chance to level the scores. But his shot was smothered and a pulsating game finished 1-0, to the delight of the vocal Saitama crowd.
FC Seoul reached the Asian final in 2013 and after their free-scoring romp through the group phase, they will be confident of making amends on home soil next week.
- Delicately poised -
Sydney FC's first appearance in the knock-out stages ended in a 1-1 draw against Shandong Luneng, who fought back from behind after missing an early penalty.
After Vedran Janjetovic got down well to stop Walter Montillo's spot-kick, Australia international David Carney nodded the visitors in front on the quarter-hour.
But the Chinese team, led by ex-Brazil coach Mano Menezes, came back firing. After Li Wei thundered a shot against the crossbar, Diego Tardelli equalised in the 57th minute.
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The Brazilian forward half-volleyed a corner into the roof of the net for his sixth goal of the tournament to leave the tie delicately poised ahead of next week's second leg.
Meanwhile in West Asia, Iran's Zobahan snatched a 71st-minute equaliser against UAE giants Al Ain to acquit themselves well with a 1-1 draw in their first-leg clash.
Hosts Al Ain had gone ahead in the ninth minute when Brazilian Dyanfres Douglas struck off an assist by Ismail Ahmed before Mohamedreza Abbasi's header gave the Iranians a vital draw and a slender advantage going into the return leg next week.
Al Ain were on the offensive from the outset with the Zobahan defence forced to make a couple of desperate early interventions, but the hosts were not to be denied for long when Douglas struck from three yards out after a Felipe Bastos cross from the right was steered into his path by Ahmed.
Both teams saw a couple of chances go to waste before a moment of defensive confusion 14 minutes from the end saw Abbasi's downward header cross the line to give the Iranians a boost.
Paris (AFP) - A rare rally of police officers against "anti-cop hatred" in France descended into violence as counter-demonstrators smashed and torched a police car, forcing two officers to flee.
Police were demonstrating across France against violence suffered during a wave of protests in recent months, opposing reforms proposed by the deeply unpopular government of President Francois Hollande.
Police say their resources are dangerously stretched as they oversee stepped-up security measures following last year's Islamist attacks and try to ensure safety at increasingly restive protests.
And there was continued unrest at Wednesday's police demo as protesters smashed a police vehicle with iron bars before hurling an explosive device into it, forcing the two officers inside to flee before the car went up in flames.
Paris police chief Michel Cadot said the officers "were in the car when the explosive device was thrown inside", an account that was confirmed by a surveillance video seen by AFP.
A placard was later left in front of the burned-out car that said "free roast chickens", an AFP journalist said.
Cadot described the incident as "particularly shocking" and said it "marked an escalation in the gratuitous and brutal violence" against the security forces.
Prosecutors have opened an investigation for attempted murder, and interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said four arrests had been made and more were expected to follow.
Police and judicial sources said at least three of those arrested were men aged between 19 and 21.
The incident came as some 300 people defied a ban to march through the streets chanting "Cops, pigs, killers!" as police forced the demonstrators back with volleys of tear gas.
The march took place in the capital's Place de la Republique, the focal point for the youth-driven "Up All Night" movement that sprang from the protests against the Socialist government's controversial reforms.
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Officials had banned the counter-demonstration over concerns it would "fuel tensions and seriously threaten public order".
- Frayed relations -
Public support for the police soared after last year's jihadist attacks in Paris, and generally remains high.
Despite the tensions, the French police still scored an enviable 82-percent approval rating in a recent opinion poll.
But relations have frayed following months of near-weekly anti-government protests.
Fuelling anti-police sentiment was a video widely shared on social media in March showing two officers holding up a 15-year-old boy while another punched him.
Around 30 investigations have been opened into alleged police brutality, and left-wing politicians as well as unions have strongly criticised the government for its handling of the protests.
But Alexandre Langlois, head of the police section of the CGT union, said the police's reputation had been "smeared" and officers had become "scapegoats for social anger".
Security was exceptionally tight for Wednesday's demonstration, with some 400 police manning barriers around the square while a few hundred attended the rally.
Over the past two months, some 350 members of the security forces have been injured during protests against the proposed labour reforms, which were forced through the lower house of parliament last week without a vote.
A plainclothes officer was seriously injured after being hit in the head by a projectile at a Paris protest last month.
"You can see why these security forces are a bit exasperated," national police chief Jean-Marc Falcone said Wednesday.
Antoine, 31, one of the officers at the Paris rally, stressed how hard it was to police the recent demonstrations.
"Everything's a bit chaotic and you're put right in the middle of it. You have trouble sometimes knowing who's who, and people blame you.
"They have a go at you physically, they throw Molotov cocktails at you, stones," which could injure or even kill officers, he added.
President Hollande sent a "clear message of support to all police forces during a difficult time", his spokesman said, adding: "A balance must be perfectly preserved between maintaining order and respecting our rights."
Prime Minister Manuel Valls tweeted that to attack the police "is to attack all of us".
Paris (AFP) - French President Francois Hollande vowed to stick with his controversial attempts to reform the labour market, even as a new round of violent protests broke out.
Police fired tear gas in central Paris as an initially peaceful protest organised by unions and students was disrupted by a more radical fringe.
The labour reforms have sparked two months of protests on France's streets, drawing 68,000 nationwide on Tuesday, authorities said, while organisers put the turnout at 220,000.
"Withdraw, withdraw this law of the wealthy, it's the law of the bosses," was the message blasted from loudspeakers at the Paris march.
But Hollande said the battle against unemployment was not yet won and he placed the need to reform over his personal popularity, which remains at near-record lows a year ahead of a possible bid for re-election.
"I will not give way, because too many (previous) governments have backed down," Hollande said in an hour-long interview with Europe 1 radio.
"I prefer that people have an image of a president who made reforms rather than a president who did nothing," he said.
Police were quick to act as violence by masked youths broke out during the march in central Paris, kicking off another week of nationwide strikes and demonstrations against the package of reforms. Some 87 people were arrested.
Demonstrations were also reported in cities across the country from Marseille in the south to central Lyon and Lille in the north.
Lorry drivers blocked roads and ports in northern and western France, and there were clashes between protesters and police in the western cities of Nantes and Rennes, where thousands more took to the streets.
"We have been ignored, so we will work even harder to make our voices heard," said Philippe Martinez, head of the CGT union, at the Paris rally.
The government argues the changes contained in the draft law will make France's notoriously rigid labour market more flexible, but opponents say it will erode job security and do little to bring down the unemployment rate, stuck at 10 percent and nearly 25 percent for young people.
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The labour reform, which would make it easier for employers to hire and fire workers, is likely the last major piece of legislation for Hollande, the least popular leader in modern French history who faces a re-election next May.
- 'No alternative' -
Hollande has pledged to decide by the end of this year whether to run for a second term, but he said Tuesday he saw "no alternative" to himself on the left of French politics.
"If I am not there... if the left is not re-elected, the right or the extreme-right will win," he said.
Hollande is staking his bid on bringing down the jobless rate.
"It takes time for those reforms to take effect," he said.
"The battle is not won. It will only be won when we have, over several months, a sustained fall in unemployment," he said. "I am fighting the battle every day."
The Socialist government last week survived a vote of no-confidence, called by the centre-right opposition, after it forced through the labour market reform bill without parliament's approval.
The draft law will now be debated in the Senate, the upper house of parliament.
A defiant Hollande said the draft law "is going to go through because it has been debated, agreed on and amended".
- Transport strikes -
The president also promised tougher action against troublemakers who infiltrate street protests against the reforms and provoke confrontations with the police.
Hollande said more than 1,000 people had already been arrested and that 350 police officers had been injured in the violence.
A police demonstration was set for Wednesday to protest "anti-cop hatred" in the months of clashes over the labour reforms.
Police unions called on officers not on duty to gather in some 60 locations across France, including the Place de la Republique in Paris.
Despite the clashes over labour reform, 82 percent of the French have a positive opinion of the police, according to an Odoxa survey.
Major travel disruption is expected through the week, with rail unions holding several strikes and airport unions planning a walk-out on Thursday that will see some 15 percent of flights cancelled at Paris Orly airport, the capital's second largest.
Ports are again due to be blocked on Thursday, and rail unions said strikes would resume at the end of the month.
Bogota (AFP) - The ashes of Latin American literary great Gabriel Garcia Marquez have arrived in his native Colombia ahead of a Sunday ceremony at their final resting place, his son told AFP.
The Nobel-winning author of the groundbreaking epic "One Hundred Years of Solitude," died in Mexico City in April 2014, at the age of 87.
"The ashes are in Colombia," Gonzalo Garcia Barcha, one of Marquez's two sons, told AFP Tuesday.
The ceremony will be held at the historic La Merced Cloister, a former convent which is now part of the University of Cartagena.
During the ceremony a monument to Marquez will be dedicated. It includes a bust of the author in which his ashes will be stored.
"Cartagena is the city where the Garcia Marquez family is centered. This is where my grandparents are buried. So it seemed natural that my father's ashes would be here as well," Garcia Barcha explained over the phone from France, where he lives.
Marquez -- generally seen as Latin America's greatest writer of the 20th century -- began his career as a journalist and made frequent visits to the Caribbean city of Cartagena where he founded the New Ibero-American Journalism Foundation (FNPI) to train young journalists in the region.
The university said that "at the request of the family, the ceremony will be simple," with writers and journalists among the invitees. President Juan Manuel Santos has been invited although his attendance is not yet confirmed.
(Adds detail about margin effect of Alstom acquisition)
By Alwyn Scott
NEW YORK, May 18 (Reuters) - General Electric Co expects to hit its 2016 earnings targets despite tough conditions in its oil and gas business, lower industrial margins and slower revenue growth, Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said on Wednesday.
Immelt affirmed the diversified industrial company's target of $1.45 to $1.55 per share this year in a presentation at the Electrical Products Group conference in Florida.
But GE's industrial segment profit growth will fall to 5 percent in coming years from a recent annual average of 6 percent, and industrial profit margins will decline to a range of 14 to 14.5 percent this year from 14.8 percent in 2015, he said.
Excluding the lower-margin Alstom business GE acquired last year, GE's industrial profit margins were 15.3 percent in 2015 and are expected to rise to 15.8 percent this year, GE said.
Asked if margins will fall in 2017 when GE ramps up production of its LEAP aircraft engine with partner Safran SA of France, Immelt said he expected GE to maintain or increase aviation business margins during that period.
"I'd be really horribly disappointed," Immelt said. "The LEAP is a big launch. But you have real adults that are doing this. They're as good a technical, manufacturing, engineering team as I've ever seen."
Immelt saw further pressure from low oil and gas prices, which have depressed sales of GE's prospecting and development equipment. The market likely will stabilize in 2017 before it grows again, Immelt said.
But he said he expected "very strong orders" in the second half of 2016 from other businesses, including power generation, renewable energy and services.
GE shares were little changed after the presentation, down 11 cents at $29.60.
(Reporting by Alwyn Scott; Editing by Richard Chang and Andrew Hay)
BERLIN (Reuters) - The German cabinet approved new incentives and tax breaks on Wednesday to boost demand for electric cars in an attempt to
meet its target of bringing 1 million of them onto its roads by the end of the decade.
Under the new plans, electric cars will be exempt from paying vehicle tax for ten years with retroactive effect from Jan. 1, 2016. This is up from a previous exemption of five years.
Employees who charge their electric vehicles at work will also pay a reduced tax rate of 25 percent on this non-cash benefit, the Finance Ministry said.
The tax breaks come on top of plans agreed last month between government ministers and the car industry to give buyers of electric cars a 4,000 euro incentive, while buyers of plug-in hybrid cars will get a premium of 3,000 euros.
The costs of about 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) will be shared equally between the government and the car industry.
The program includes 300 million euros of spending on charging stations.
"The key for a breakthrough in electromobility is nationwide charging infrastructure," Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt said in a statement.
Germany, the biggest carmaker in Europe, currently has only about 50,000 purely battery powered vehicles and plug-in hybrids among the 45 million cars using its roads.
The government hopes the new incentives will help sell an additional 400,000 electric cars.
Other countries in Europe already have incentive schemes in place to get more consumers to buy electric vehicles, including Norway, the Netherlands, France and the UK.
(Reporting by Caroline Copley and Andreas Rinke, editing by Louise Heavens)
A German comedy has emerged as the favourite to win Cannes' Palme d'Or, with critics also lauding a US indie movie featuring "Star Wars" villain Adam Driver and a stirring US drama on an interracial couple's battle for equal rights.
As the race for the top prize reaches its halfway point, AFP spotlights the best received movies so far:
'Toni Erdmann'
That rarest of movies, a three-hour-long German comedy with international appeal, soared to the top of reviewers' polls early at the 12-day festival, delighting reviewers with a bittersweet father-daughter tale that races to a touching and riotously funny final act.
Lead actress Sandra Hueller warbled her way into critics' hearts with her rendition of a cheesy Whitney Houston hit, prompting a mid-screening ovation, while her Austrian co-star Peter Simonischek created an indelible portrait of the sad clown.
The Daily Telegraph gave the "exquisite" movie five out of five stars. "Not only does German humour exist, it might just save your life", it said.
'Paterson'
US indie legend Jim Jarmusch drew some of the best reviews of his late career for this gentle portrait of a bus driver with a poetic streak.
Critics raved about lead actor Adam Driver, best known to global audiences as Kylo Ren from the latest "Star Wars" movie, and his quiet soulful performance.
Driver plays a former soldier who transcends his workaday life with artistic inspiration and a tender love for his wife with big dreams of her own (Iranian-born actress Golshifteh Farahani).
Movie website Indiewire said it was Driver's "finest performance" and the "most intimate film" by Jarmusch, on his seventh outing in the Cannes competition after hits such as "Broken Flowers" and "Only Lovers Left Alive".
The Guardian called it "a delight: a prose-poem of gentle comic humility and acceptance of life".
'Loving'
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Another US independent picture sending Cannes audiences into raptures was Jeff Nichols' "Loving", a slow-burn drama telling the true story of an interracial couple from the American South who fought before the Supreme Court in 1967 for their right to marry.
Knockout performances by the two stars, Ethiopian-Irish actress Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton, sparked speculation about acting prizes in Cannes and even Oscar glory next February.
The Daily Beast website said "Loving" served as a searing, deeply relevant reminder of America's toxic history of racism, and of Richard and Mildred Loving's optimistic dignity.
"There's little doubt that thousands will be moved by Loving's success in depicting a couple's quiet heroism -- and the performances that will help to enshrine their legacy."
'Sieranevada'
The Romanian new wave is back in force this year with two Cannes contenders, nine years after Cristian Mungiu's harrowing abortion drama "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" clinched the top prize.
Cristi Puiu's "Sieranevada", a three-hour-long feature that opened the competition, captivated critics with its dissection of tensions within a family as they gather in a claustrophobic Bucharest apartment after the patriarch dies.
"Granted, this is not multiplex fare," British trade magazine Screen wrote.
"But those who aren't put off by the extensive subtitling will find themselves swept away by this family reunion which offers not only a masterful portrait of the contemporary Romanian middle-class, but also a whole set of smart, perceptive reflections on the relativity of truth, on the failings of memory, the interpretation of history, the significance of religion and much more."
- 'Different universes' -
"Mad Max" director George Miller, the Cannes jury president, told AFP his nine-member panel was spoilt for choice ahead of awards night on Sunday.
"Already what has been so striking to me is how different everything is. Some of the films feel like they come from different universes, not only different nationalities," he said.
But he said he was looking for a movie that haunts his thoughts for days.
"The sum has to be greater than the parts," he said.
BERLIN (Reuters) - German lawmakers risk angering Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and jeopardizing an EU-Turkey migrant deal by backing a planned resolution branding as "genocide" the mass killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces a century ago. The vote, expected to be held in the first week of June, comes at a particularly sensitive time, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel keen to ensure that Erdogan remains committed to implementing the migrant deal she has championed. Critics accuse her of going soft on Turkey over human rights because she is desperate to stem the flow of migrants to Germany. She drew fire from critics for allowing a German court to go ahead with investigations against a comedian whom Turkey wants charged for mocking Erdogan in a sexually crude poem. Merkel's conservatives, their junior coalition partner the Social Democrats and the opposition Greens are finalizing the wording of the largely symbolic resolution. Conservative Franz Joseph Jung said the term "genocide" would be in both the headline and the text of the resolution. "We want to contribute to reconciliation but I think we want to correctly describe a historic fact," he told Deutschlandfunk radio on Tuesday, adding it was separate from the migrant deal. Turkey denies that the massacres, which took place as Ottoman and Russian forces fought in the east of the Ottoman Empire, constituted genocide. It argues that the there was no organized campaign to wipe out the Armenians, who are Christian, and no evidence of any such orders from the Ottoman authorities. Turkey's ambassador to Germany, Huseyin Avni Karslioglu, has already criticized the move. "It's not the job of national parliaments to judge history," he told the Rheinische Post daily. There are also fears that the resolution could stir tensions with the some 3.5 million people of Turkish origin who live in Germany. Last year, German President Joachim Gauck condemned the killings of Armenians as genocide in a speech to mark the 100th anniversary of the massacres. Germany had previously avoided using the word 'genocide' to describe the killings. Lawmakers then discussed a resolution but there was no vote and the parties have been working on the text since then. (Reporting by Madeline Chambers, additional reporting by Andreas Rinke; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Frankfurt (AFP) - Unions and employers in Germany's construction industry on Wednesday agreed a pay hike of around five percent for some 750,000 workers in the sector.
The employers' federation, ZDB, and the union IG Bau said they have agreed a pay increase of 4.6 percent for workers in the west of the country in two stages over a period of 22 months. And workers in the east of the country will receive an increase of 5.3 percent.
The deal was reached after an "extremely tough" 14-hour round of negotiations that lasted until the early hours of Wednesday, the union said.
It comes just days after unions and employers struck a 4.8-percent deal for 3.8 million workers in the powerful metalworking industry, setting the tone for most other key sectors of Europe's biggest economy.
With consumer spending also becoming an increasingly important pillar of economic recovery in Germany, economists hope the rising wages will provide additional momentum to growth as households' purchasing power increases.
In the past, salaries in Germany have risen only moderately, helping to boost the competitiveness of German companies.
But with many sectors of industry increasingly complaining about a shortage of qualified manpower, unions have used this as leverage to secure bigger pay increases.
Terry Gilliam is returning to longterm project "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" this October, when filming gets underway for a reworked movie starring Adam Driver, Olga Kurylenko and Michael Palin.
Driver, of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and Jim Jarmusch's current Cannes prospect "Paterson," is to play main character Toby -- Sancho Panza -- in a modernization of Miguel de Cervantes' classic Spanish novel; "Monty Python" collaborator Palin will become the new version of Don Quixote.
That much was known last week, and now, at Cannes, Ukranian-born French actress Olga Kurylenko of "Quantum of Solace" has been confirmed as the film's third main principal, with October the shoot's start date.
The dream appears to be very much alive.
"We should be here in Cannes next year with the finished film," Gilliam said (per IndieWire), after teasing the movie's composition: "Nobody is who they seem in this movie."
The feature, previously attempted in 1999, had at one point starred Johnny Depp opposite John Rochefort and Vanessa Paradis. On-set calamities prevented meaningful progress but resulted in award-winning documentary "Lost in La Mancha."
Albert Skip Rizzo greets me with a fist bump. The ponytailed 60-year-old rides a Harley and gives off a 1970s vibe despite his staid, light pink button-down and jeans. Were on the fourth floor of the University of Southern Californias Institute for Creative Technologies a sleek building in Los Angeles tech hub, with Facebook, Google and Yahoo just next door where Rizzo is the director of medical virtual reality.
Rizzos office is a veritable VR graveyard: clunky headsets, skull knickknacks, piles of books and awards. He tosses me the Oculus Rift, Facebooks virtual reality headset. Suddenly Im in Connecticut, sitting at his familys Christmas dinner table while his father says grace.
This trained psychologist and virtual reality pioneer has been at the forefront of medical applications of the technology using VR to treat everything from brain injuries to autism and post-traumatic stress disorder for more than two decades. At last, the time seems ripe; a recent report by Goldman Sachs predicts an $80 billion VR market by 2025, the size of todays desktop PC market. Last year, Rizzo received the Pioneer in Medicine Award from the Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics and the Brain Mapping Foundation. Michael Roy, director of military internal medicine at the Uniformed Services University, who met Rizzo 12 years ago, calls him the godfather of virtual reality. Another calls him the king, a very special guy with a special energy thats Barbara Rothbaum, the first to file a patent for the psychological application of VR and vice chair of clinical research in psychiatry at Emory University, where she works with veterans. If hes the king, shes the queen.
There could be a virtual reality for every mass trauma, from rocket attacks in Syria to Boko Haram suicide bombings in northern Nigeria.
Rizzo does much of his research with help from $20 million in grants from the militarys Army Research Lab, and is best known for his Bravemind system, a virtual reality battlefield used to treat combat veterans with PTSD in more than 40 hospitals. The idea: VR amplifies a therapists ability to treat patients using exposure therapy, a popular technique where patients gradually relive bad experiences to decrease triggered fears. In Rizzos virtual Iraq and Afghanistan populated by images of military helicopters, mass graves and IED explosions the therapist can tailor encounters to a wide range of stimuli and control how long or graphic the experience is.
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As Rizzo shows me his collection of outdated devices, he talks me through a 30-year timeline of ups and downs in his world. Until maybe five years ago, Rizzo says, periods of dashed hope followed swells of investor buzz. Rizzo first began thinking about the VR and psych combo while working as a rehabilitation therapist in the early 1990s. Young patients with traumatic brain injuries wouldnt do their exercises, but did love their Game Boys. It clicked.
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Source: Sean Culligan/OZY
Along with gadget sightings in the lab come glimpses of men in Army fatigues. A former Vietnam protester, Rizzo, like many in his love-not-war generation, grew up seeing veterans in small-town Connecticut. But hes not solely focused on assisting people out of their combat daze hell soon turn to victims of other mass traumas. Hes already created a VR mock-up of last years terrorist attacks at Paris Bataclan concert hall. Its disturbingly real. Theres that alleyway, the one on news broadcasts worldwide, with people spilling out into the street, some bleeding or limping and others running. Im stricken. For Rizzo, though, theres a certain official distance from the horrors, filled in by a giddiness for the potential power of the technology on the human psyche. He may as well be showing me a new video game. And to him this is just the beginning there could be a virtual reality for every mass trauma, from rocket attacks in Syria to Boko Haram suicide bombings in northern Nigeria. He will play with these realities right along the ones he invents to help autistic adults practice interview skills.
Understandably, the methods have their detractors. The biggest skepticism, says Rizzo, comes from some of the world leaders in traditional exposure therapy, like its creator, Edna Foa. Its too expensive and distracting from the therapists objectives, they argue. Others question effectiveness after a certain time period away from the traumatic event. Which may be why the military hasnt yet provided funding for a Vietnam version of Bravemind, says Roy. (Neither Foa nor the Department of Defense provided comment.)
Here, he and his team ideate, prototype, publish and release their work, open source, into the wild in keeping with the democratic tech zeitgeist. One such release came from Palmer Luckey, who worked in Rizzos lab for a summer. Soon after he left, he launched a crowdfunding campaign for what would become the Oculus; in 2014, Facebook acquired Oculus for $2 billion. Rizzo says better tech in the world is good for all of us. But, well he wouldnt mind a little credit. Especially because of what hes up to now: seeking more funding, by doing as Luckey did turning to the crowdfunding masses.
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By Jessica Meiselman
Princes back-catalog of legal disputes is nearly as dazzling as his celebrated discography. Yet for an artist so conscious of his intellectual property rights and willing to go great lengths to protect them, it is a tragic irony that Princes biggest legal battle will be resolved without him.
Prince spent years and probably hundreds of thousands of dollars chasing down fans who made unauthorized uses of his music and continually disputed control over his works with record labels. However, in his final chapter, it appears that he failed to leave a will, which could have instructed how these rights were to be managed in the future.
Prince was no stranger to the courtroom; in 2014 he sued 22 fans who had posted download links to bootleg performances and pirated recordings, asking the court to award him no less than $1 million per defendant. In the midst of what would become an eight-year battle, springing from a mothers 29-second post of her children dancing to a Prince song, Prince announced his intention to sue YouTube, eBay, and The Pirate Bay in an attempt to reclaim his art on the internet.
In 2013, Prince became one of the first artists to take advantage of a newly applicable statute enabling him to reclaim the rights to his music previously held by his record label. Under the Copyright Act of 1976 (which actually came into effect in 1978), artists are able to claw back ownership of their own masters after the first 35 years of copyright protection. For Prince, this meant that from 2013, his masters released in 1978 and after became available for re-appropriation. He used this leverage to negotiate the pre-emptive return of his works and in exchange, Warner Brothers would handle the re-issue of Purple Rain. Many artists have since taken advantage of this provision, and most, like Prince, have benefited by entering into negotiations with their labels instead of court battles.
When Prince announced that he had obtained ownership of his music, he also announced that he had re-signed to Warner Brothers Records. This was a strange turn of events, given that prior disputes with the label surrounding the release of his music had culminated in Prince changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol whose meaning has not been identified, in an attempt to dodge his contractual obligations. In the heat of this quarrel twenty years earlier, Prince likened these contractual obligations to slavery and famously performed with the word SLAVE written across his face. After announcing in 2015 that his newest release would available only on Tidal, he declared Record contracts are just likeIm gonna say the wordslavery I would tell any young artist dont sign.
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After Princes death, millions of fans flocked to the internet to listen to his music and were disappointed to find that none of his songs or performances were available on Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube.
After Princes death, millions of fans flocked to the internet to listen to his music and were disappointed to find that none of his songs or performances were available on Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube. It was no mistake that only a few of his records could be found for sale on iTunes, and some were available for stream only on Tidal. Other Prince works cannot be found on mainstream digital platforms at all. Princeonce declaring that the internet is completely overkept a remarkably tight hand on digital exploitation of his copyrighted works.
He also kept a keen eye on uses of his likeness, often enlisting lawyers to send takedown notices requesting that fan websites remove any photos of or references to him, and once, requesting a fan website even remove photos of Prince-inspired tattoos. These are examples of situations in which Prince invoked his right of publicity, or the right to control the commercial exploitation of his identity. Some states, like California and Indiana, allow heirs to inherit publicity rights so that they may control commercial use of a celebrity after death. However, Minnesota law does not currently provide a statute or have any caselaw protecting publicity rights after death. It is therefore unclear whether his estate will have the ability to continue to control these unauthorized uses.
Some fans have already begun to sell merchandise with Princes image and likeness, and the heirs are considering filing a test case to see where a Minnesota Court would come out on the issue. This week, Minnesota lawmakers introduced a bill entitled PRINCE, an acronym for Personal Rights In Names Can Endure, clearly aimed at preserving the rights to Princes name and likeness beyond his death. The bill explicitly covers his voice, name, signature, photograph, and likeness and prevents commercial use of these characteristics for at least 50 years after death. If the bill becomes law, it will allow his estate to control his likeness. If not, Princes estate could be left powerless in the face of this type of exploitation he fought so hard to avert.
Princeonce declaring that the internet is overkept a remarkably tight hand on digital exploitation of his copyrighted works.
Unless a will is found, most of Princes assets, including his portfolio of trademarks and copyrights, his back-catalog and any unpublished music, will be divided amongst his siblings and half-siblings. In Minnesota, inheritance statutes treat half-siblings the same as whole siblings. As these rights will be subject to the explicit control of his heirs, without a will to the contrary, we can expect to see a notable change in the way Princes IP rights are exploited. Without a financial incentive to withhold, it is likely that Princes digital restrictions will be loosened and his music will become available on more platforms. The outcome of this saga is markedly important to fans eagerly hoping to hear 36 years worth of unreleased material in the vault Prince kept at his Paisley Park estate. At this stage, it seems likely to take a very long time for the copyrights to be distributed and the heirs to come to an agreement surrounding a release.
Additionally, it is questionable whether or not Princes heirs will pursue his fierce legacy of using legal action to combat certain uses of his name, likeness and copyrights if they are not guaranteed to be financially lucrative. At times he certainly exaggerated his own rights, requesting removal of user-generated content that was likely covered by fair use. In 2013, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit organization designed to [defend] civil liberties in the digital world created The Raspberry Beret Lifetime Aggrievement Award for extraordinary abuses of the takedown process in the name of silencing speech and awarded it to Prince.
The legal battle between siblings and other claimants is poised to remain in our headlines for months, if not years. Prince clarified in 2015 in an interview with The Guardian that when he said that the internet was over, what he meant was that the internet was over for anyone who wants to get paid. Perhaps the omission of a will was simply Princes final surrender to the digital shift of the music industry, or maybe it is a clear message that only Prince is able to exercise the control he saw necessary to protect his art.
The post Whats Going to Happen to Princes Music? appeared first on Pigeons & Planes.
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By Swati Pandey
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Asset Management is considering the sale of its Australian equities and fixed income businesses, people familiar with the plans said on Wednesday, as it looks to exit one of the country's most intensely competitive markets.
The Wall Street bank is conducting a strategic review of its Australian asset management business but has not made a decision on the sale, the sources told Reuters on Wednesday on condition of anonymity as the discussions were private.
Goldman's Australian fund management business oversees about A$9 billion ($6.6 billion), making it a relatively small player in Australia's A$2.6 trillion wealth management industry where scale is often critical. The U.S. firm also operates investment banking and corporate advisory businesses in Australia.
A Goldman Sachs spokeswoman declined to comment.
If it goes ahead with a sale, Goldman will be following in the footsteps of Swiss bank UBS which offloaded its private bank in Australia last year after a review of its underperforming businesses.
It also would not be the first sale of this kind for Goldman Sachs in Asia. Last year, it sold its Indian fund management unit for $37.5 million, following a series of similar exits by foreign players from the crowded market.
But whereas in India it was a total sale, its plans suggest the institutional business in Australia is worth persisting with.
Unlike the banking industry which is dominated by four big lenders, the Australian wealth management industry is alive with competition from new boutique fund managers with relatively low cost bases. The A$1.7 trillion pension industry is also setting up in-house teams to manage funds, in another challenge to big investment banks.
Options being considered by Goldman Asset Management include a sale to a third party or a management buyout, with Australian equities team head Dion Hershan and associates setting up a boutique, the source added. Even after the sale, Goldman would continue to sell global products to its institutional clients, the source added.
Story continues
In investment banking, Goldman Sachs dropped to 22nd position in the Australian equity capital market underwriting business, from No.1 in the same period a year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters data. In M&A, Goldman has maintained its No. 3 position so far this year.
($1 = 1.3727 Australian dollars)
(Additional reporting by Byron Kaye; Writing by Denny Thomas in Hong Kong; Editing by Stephen Coates)
Say goodbye to Time Warner, and hello to Charter.
Time Warner Cable, holder of the worst customer-service score in any industry, according to a 2015 survey, is being phased out, spokesperson Alex Dudley told Bloomberg on Wednesday. The much-maligned brand will be a victim of Charter Communications Inc.'s $55.1 billion purchase of Time Warner Cable Inc., which closes this week. The deal was announced last year.
In the coming months, Charter will transition Time Warner Cable and Bright House to Spectrum, its own cable TV and broadcast services. It'll take awhile, so customers won't notice any changes right away. That said, Charter is acquiring about 16 million Time Warner Cable subscribers in markets like New York and Los Angeles, and about 2.5 million Bright House customers in states like Florida, Bloomberg reported.
Credit.com reached out to Time Warner Cable for comment on whether the change will affect automatic payments, but hadn't heard back at press time.
As with any change to a service provider, it's smart to keep track of payments throughout the transition to avoid being hit with late charges or, worse, missing a bill altogether, which can be reported to the credit bureaus and lower your credit score. You should also keep an eye on your mail for an important notifications about your plan.
Remember, too, if you are ever considering switching cable providers, you should check your credit before shopping around. Many cable companies require credit checks before enrolling and will waive certain fees or offer better packages to people with good credit scores. You can see where you currently stand by viewing your two free credit scores, updated each month, on Credit.com. And, if your score is in rough shape, you might be able to fix your credit by disputing errors on your credit reports, paying down high credit card balances and limiting new credit inquiries in the short-term.
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Google campus android
Today, Google announced that it's actually having a hard time finding a suitable dessert name for the forthcoming "Android N" operating system.
And so, the search giant is inviting the world to submit their ideas for Google's consideration.
Android N is slated to release later in 2016, in the summer or fall, Google says. Today, it made a new beta edition available to Android app developers, so they can get their footing.
But before Android N releases out into the real world, it needs a proper name, based on a popular dessert with the same initial: The previous Android was called Android Marshmallow, and before that, it was Android Lollipop.
It's a big deal. Each new Android release gets a new statue on the lawn of the Googleplex, themed to the dessert.
Still, the boilerplate for the contest confirms that there's no prize for the winner. Indeed, it looks like there won't even be a poll: Google is looking for ideas; there are almost definitely going to be multiple people submitting the same "N" name.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai actually hinted at this in December 2015, saying during a visit to India that the search giant might put it up to a poll. Back in March 2016, Android boss Hiroshi Lockheimer had indicated that Google was leaning towards a "nut" name.
I'm sure Google means well, but if the "Boaty McBoatface" phenomenon is any indication, people will probably not take Google's request for an Android name terribly seriously.
Meanwhile, here are some ideas, just off the top of my head: "Nougat," "Nutella," "Nutritious Well-Balanced Breakfast."
NOW WATCH: Here's why Android Auto is far superior to Apple CarPlay
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Android
Google imagines a world where you could use an Android app without actually downloading anything.
The company previewed a new project called Android Instant Apps at its IO developers' conference on Wednesday which will let people tap on a URL and open an Android app instantly without having to install it.
The company's vision is that you could get the full experience of using an app, without the commitment or smartphone space required to download. The rationale is, if you only want to use the capabilities of a given app once a month, should it really take up space on your phone? And letting people use apps without making the download would give developers access to more potential users.
Instant Apps are a similar concept to the mobile app streaming Google started testing with a few beta partners last fall, but created with different technology.
Park and Pay Device with Meter
"This is a big change, so it's going to take some time," the company says in its blog post on the news.
Google has been working with a small set of partners, including Buzzfeed and Hotel Tonight, and says that developers won't have to build separate apps, but just update their existing ones.
For Google's part, Instant Apps also help protect its search business. Google has spent the last two years convincing app makers to "index" their content to allow it to be searchable by its algorithms in a process called "deep linking." Without deep linking, Google's web crawlers can't include an apps info in its search results.
Google recently announced that more than half of its search queries come from mobile. But that stat crashes into another one: That people spend most of their time on smartphones within specific apps so much that app usage now represents 90% of time spent on mobile, according to analytic company Flurry.
Google wants users to start their search for "best hotels in Chicago" through its engine rather than starting on HotelTonight, because that allows it to sell ads against those searches.
Story continues
NOW WATCH: Virtual reality could help the stock market reach all-time highs in 2016 and 2017
More From Business Insider
(Adds material on VR, moves up reference to Allo, changes headline)
By Deborah M. Todd
MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, May 18 (Reuters) - Alphabet's Google Inc unveiled its answer to Amazon's Alexa virtual assistant along with new messaging and virtual reality products at its annual I/O developer conference on Wednesday, doubling down on artificial intelligence and machine learning as the keys to its future.
Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai introduced Google Assistant, a virtual personal assistant, along with the tabletop speaker appliance Google Home.
He also unveiled Allo, a new messaging service that will compete with Facebook's WhatsApp and Messenger products and feature a chatbot powered by the Google Assistant. Allo, like WhatsApp, will also have end-to-end encryption when it is rolled out this summer.
Amazon's Echo, a surprise hit that has other tech giants racing to match it, uses a virtual assistant called Alexa, a cloud-based system that controls the Echo speaker and responds to voice-controlled commands by users.
Like Alexa, Google Assistant can search the internet and adjust your schedule. However, Pichai said Google Assistant can use images and other information to provide more intuitive results.
"You can be in front of this structure in Chicago and ask Google who designed this and it will understand in this context that the name of that designer is Anish Kapoor," said Pichai, pointing toward a photo of Chicago's Cloud Gate sculpture.
For Google Home, the Google Assistant merges with Chromecast and smart home devices to control televisions, thermostats and other products. Google did not offer a specific release date or pricing for Google Home, saying only that it will be available later this year.
VIRTUAL REALITY
Google's other big announcement at Wednesday's event, held at an outdoor amphitheatre near Google's headquarters, was a virtual reality platform called Daydream designed to work with the Android mobile operating system.
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Daydream addresses latency and other issues affecting playback on smartphones, according to Clay Bavor, Google's vice president of virtual reality.
Bavor also announced a virtual reality headset powered by a smooth, two-button controller with orientation sensors that help determine positioning in virtual environments. Facebook is also making a big push in virtual reality with its Oculus headset, and Apple has indicated its interest in VR technology as well.
Bavor also said the division has "rebuilt YouTube from the ground up" to feature improved audio to support virtual reality screening.
Google offered no timetable on the VR headset, but said Daydream-ready phones would likely hit the market by autumn.
(Reporting by Deborah M. Todd in Mountain View and Narottam Medhora in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Crosby and Marguerita Choy)
By Deborah M. Todd
MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (Reuters) - Alphabet's Google Inc (GOOGL.O) unveiled its answer to Amazon's (AMZN.O) Alexa virtual assistant along with new messaging and virtual reality products at its annual I/O developer conference on Wednesday, doubling down on artificial intelligence and machine learning as the keys to its future.
Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai introduced Google Assistant, a virtual personal assistant, along with the tabletop speaker appliance Google Home.
He also unveiled Allo, a new messaging service that will compete with Facebook's WhatsApp and Messenger products and feature a chatbot powered by the Google Assistant. Allo, like WhatsApp, will also have end-to-end encryption when it is rolled out this summer.
Amazon's Echo, a surprise hit that has other tech giants racing to match it, uses a virtual assistant called Alexa, a cloud-based system that controls the Echo speaker and responds to voice-controlled commands by users.
Like Alexa, Google Assistant can search the internet and adjust your schedule. However, Pichai said Google Assistant can use images and other information to provide more intuitive results.
"You can be in front of this structure in Chicago and ask Google who designed this and it will understand in this context that the name of that designer is Anish Kapoor," said Pichai, pointing towards a photo of Chicago's Cloud Gate sculpture.
For Google Home, the Google Assistant merges with Chromecast and smart home devices to control televisions, thermostats and other products. Google did not offer a specific release date or pricing for Google Home, saying only that it will be available later this year.
VIRTUAL REALITY
Google's other big announcement at Wednesday's event, held at an outdoor amphitheatre near Google's headquarters, was a virtual reality platform called Daydream designed to work with the Android mobile operating system.
Daydream addresses latency and other issues affecting playback on smartphones, according to Clay Bavor, Google's vice president of virtual reality.
Story continues
Bavor also announced a virtual reality headset powered by a smooth, two-button controller with orientation sensors that help determine positioning in virtual environments. Facebook is also making a big push in virtual reality with its Oculus headset, and Apple has indicated its interest in VR technology as well.
Bavor also said the division has "rebuilt YouTube from the ground up" to feature improved audio to support virtual reality screening.
Google offered no timetable on the VR headset, but said Daydream-ready phones would likely hit the market by autumn.
(Reporting by Deborah M. Todd in Mountain View and Narottam Medhora in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Crosby and Marguerita Choy)
Donald trump miss universe
The Federal Election Commission on Wednesday released a 104-page personal financial-disclosure report filed by Donald Trump. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee's campaign says that it shows his "massive" wealth is in excess of $10 billion.
"I have built an incredible company and have accumulated one of the greatest portfolios of real estate assets, many of which are considered to be among the finest and most iconic properties in the world. This is the kind of thinking the country needs," Trump said in a Tuesday statement.
The report makes the true scope of Trump's wealth ultimately unclear, as items are capped in worth at $50 million and above. Any holding worth more than $50 million is listed under that category.
It lists more than 530 entities to which Trump is a trustee, president, chairman, or member. Roughly 400 of those entities include the Trump name or his initials. It also includes his vast stock portfolio, which includes a wide array of tech companies, financial firms, and defense contractors.
Trump said on Tuesday that the document showed an income of $557 million. According to the report, some of the largest sources of income include about $30 million from his Mar-a-Lago resort, $132 million from his resort in Doral, Florida, and approximately $13 million from his Central Park ice rink.
A Wall Street Journal analysis of his past financial-disclosure release in July found that his assets were worth at least $1.5 billion. Trump's personal wealth is an issue of much contention between the business mogul and outside analysts. For example, while Trump has insisted that his net worth is in excess of $10 billion, Forbes lists his net worth at $4 billion.
Trump's campaign called the recent filing "the largest in the history of the FEC."
The release comes at a time when Trump is facing increased scrutiny for refusing to release his tax returns. The business mogul said that he will release the forms after a routine audit is completed by the IRS. That may or may not come before the election.
Story continues
NOW WATCH: FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: Why I won't vote for Donald Trump
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London (AFP) - Some 28 artworks by the Spanish painter Joan Miro will be auctioned in London on Thursday, with the profits going towards helping refugees.
The Miro sale at Christie's auction house in London is aiming to raise 50,000 euros ($56,600) for the Red Cross humanitarian organisation.
The Barcelona painter's grandson told AFP that he would donate the proceeds of the sale because that is what Miro would have wanted.
"I consider myself as the torch-bearer for his wishes and try to do what he would do if he was still alive," Joan Punyet Miro said.
"Miro was a man who endured many hardships throughout his life. He went hungry, and lived in exile through the Spanish Civil War."
He was also conscious of the Spanish refugees living in camps across the border in southern France during the 1936-1939 conflict, and of the 2,000-odd of their number who sailed from France to Chile on board the SS Winnipeg.
Miro, who had Republican sympathies in the civil war divide, was in France when the conflict broke out, and decided to stay in Paris.
His wife and daughter joined him and lived in France until 1940, when the invasion of Nazi Germany saw him flee back to Spain.
"He always wanted to help the most disadvantaged, the refugees and those in exile, and would be aware that what is happening today in Syria could happen tomorrow in Spain," said Punyet.
Since the Syria conflict erupted in 2011, more than 4.8 million refugees have fled the country.
Miro, who died in 1983 aged 90, had personal reasons to be grateful for the work of the Red Cross.
A doctor from the international organisation saved the leg of his only child, Punyet's then 34-year-old mother, after a nasty car accident in 1965.
She recovered after spending a year in bed.
"My grandfather made a tapestry for the Red Cross in gratitude, because they had saved his daughter, his only child," said Punyet.
Barcelona's Mayoral Galeria d'Art, which is working on the fundraising effort, has exhibited the works in several art spaces.
From Esquire
First of all, congratulations to Rosalind Helderman and Tom Hamburger of The Washington Post. This is a newspaper lede to die for.
On the 24th floor of Trump Tower, in an office two floors below Donald Trump, Felix Sater was trying to revive his career. The Russian-born businessman had already done a stint in prison for stabbing a man in the face with the stem of a margarita glass, and he was now awaiting sentencing for his role in a Mafia-orchestrated stock fraud scheme-all the while serving as a government informant on the mob and mysterious matters of national security.
It's "margarita glass" that makes it art, by the way.
Ladies and gentlemen, the running buddy of your presumptive presidential nominee.
Trump has repeatedly said he barely remembers Sater. In sworn testimony in 2013, Trump said he wouldn't recognize Sater if they were sitting in the same room. In an interview last year with the Associated Press, he said, "Felix Sater, boy, I have to even think about it." Sater, in previously unreported sworn testimony reviewed by The Washington Post, described a closer relationship. Sater said he popped into Trump's office frequently over a six-year period to talk business. He recalled flying to Colorado with Trump and said that Trump once asked him to escort his children Donald Jr. and Ivanka around Moscow. Sater's account, which came during a deposition in a libel case Trump brought against a book author, offers new insights into Trump's relationship with a complicated figure. Sater has both been accused by former business associates of threatening to kill them and praised by top government officials for information that has led to numerous mob convictions and national security gains.
There is going to be a lot of this over the next six months and, of course, it's a pick 'em whether or not the elite political media simply gets numb to it and forgets to do its job. Of course, He, Trump doesn't care because, dammit, he has all the best friends. Like that Alex Jones guy on the radio. He's got the 411 on everything becauseoh, hell, even I can't go on with this. Click the link if you dare.
This campaign is like a giant catch basin for all the worst things in American culture, let alone American politics. The freak flags flying have begun to blot out the sky.
Click here to respond to this post on the official Esquire Politics Facebook page.
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 18, 2016 / Gunpowder Capital Corp., (CSE: GPC), (the "Corporation") wishes to remind its shareholders that effective at market open today, Silver Shield Resources Corp., will be known as "Gunpowder Capital Corp.", and that the common shares of the Corporation which formally traded under the trading symbol "SSR" will now trade under the new name, and under the new corresponding trading symbol, "GPC". Furthermore, the Corporation would also like to remind its shareholders that its new website address is www.gunpowdercapitalcorp.com.
The CSE approved the Corporation's fundamental change on Monday May 16th, 2016. The press release announcing the approval can be viewed on Corporation's SEDAR profile page at www.sedar.com or on the homepage of the Corporation's website by visiting www.gunpowdercapitalcorp.com.
For further information please contact:
Mr. Frank Kordy
Interim CEO
T: (647) 466-4037
E: frank.kordy@gunpowdercapitalcorp.com
Forward-Looking Statements
Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made as of the date of this document and the Corporation 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 legislation. 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. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such. Neither CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
SOURCE: Gunpowder Capital Corp.
DENVER, CO / ACCESSWIRE / May 18, 2016 / Hangover Joe's Holding Corporation (HJOE), developers of Hangover Recovery Shot and Git-R-Done-Energy, along with Git-R-Done Productions, Inc. and Larry the Cable Guy, is pleased to announce agreement with Shearer's Snacks, Massillon, Ohio for the SMS SpecMark/Hangover Joe's dealer network to now offer the Larry the Cable Guy Potato Chip brand to stores dealers service throughout the USA. "This was a perfect match for us," said CEO Matthew Veal of Hangover Joe's. "We have really been increasing our dealer network and adding new markets. We are already going into the stores with our Git R Done healthy energy shot and The Hangover Recovery Shot, so this was a good added brand extension for both companies. We are reaching into so many stores in many markets around the country coast to coast. This gives are dealers and the Company another added profit stream and it helps with building our brands and company as a functional lifestyle brand."
"This just made good sense," said Shawn Adamson Co-founder and head of national sales for Hangover Joe's. "These potato chips taste really good and are excellent quality and we're going to sell the most popular flavors and give our dealers more products as we go forward. Our Git R Done Energy & The Hangover Recovery Shot will always be the main focus of our company but were going to expand our reach and offer more products and become a full service functional lifestyle brand. We have always envisioned the company this way. I worked with Randy Johnson, Vice President of Sales for Shearer's Snacks to bring this opportunity to our dealer network. We are going into so many stores in many different markets and we could reach into many independent c-stores and grocery stores and other type of retailers to help increase sales for the potato chips so it was a good thing for both of our companies. Our two companies met a few years ago at the National Convenience Store Show (NACS) in Las Vegas and discussed about a mutual relationship were we could grow the Larry the Cable Guy brand. Since we had the Git R Done Energy Shot and they have the Potato chips we keep in close touch to see if there was a possibility for success in the future. Once we started to really expand our dealer network and markets it only made sense to give the dealers another profit stream and the company, plus this will help reinforce both of our brands in the stores and retail locations throughout the USA."
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"We are growing dealerships at a very nice rate", said Mike Jaynes, Co-founder and the head of new product development. "This made perfect sense. We're expanding our reach and the more products that are good sellers and high quality that we can bring to our dealers network, the more opportunity for success and the company. We are all about growing our company and creating more value for our dealers and shareholders. We look forward to getting the Potato chips into the Hangover Joe's network of dealerships and retailers. We are going into a variety of different retailers, we have expanded the reach of our brands, so this made good sense to introduce the Larry the Cable Guy brand of potato chips at this time. We will start by offering Cheeseburger Tater Chips, Buffalo Wing Tater Chips, Biscuits & Gravy Tater Chips, Fried Dill Pickle Tater Chips, and Tater Salad Tater Chips. SpecMark will make these available to dealers with our Hangover Recovery Shot & Git R Done Energy retailers will have now also the added options of the Git R Done Tater Chip brand." Larry and his people like what SpecMark Dealers are doing, particularly in local and regional accounts throughout the USA. We are excited to make the chips available to our dealers to distribute.
Interested in a Dealer/Distributorship to sell HJOE products? Contact SMS at www.smsdealerships.com. Hangover Joe's is the exclusive producer of "The Hangover" Recovery Shot, and one of the nation's top selling anti-hangover recover drink & hangover recovery shot. Git R Done Energy is the nation's leading Healthy Energy Drink! Hangover Joe's is a publicly traded company and is trading on the OTCPK as HJOE Additional details of the Company's business, finances, appointments and agreements can be found as part of the Company's public disclosure as a reporting issuer with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") available at www.sec.gov.
For more information, visit our website at www.HangoverJoes.com - www.GitRDoneEnergy.com or, FB https://www.facebook.com/hangoverrecovery/ on twitter @TheHangoverShot and on Instagram: HangoverJoescom or check us out on YouTube. @GitRDoneEnergy
Want information on Hangover Joe's stock (HJOE) go to http://investorshangout.com/Hangover-Joes-Holding-Corporation-HJOE-57917/
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking statements." Statements in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking statements include, among other things, the Company's expectations regarding the development of marketing and sales relations nationally. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with developing new products and operating as a development stage Company, our ability to raise the additional funding we will need to continue to pursue our business and product development plans, competition in the industry in which we operate and market conditions. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law, including the securities laws of the United States. Although we believe that any beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in the reports and other documents we file with the SEC, available at www.sec.gov.
Hangover Joe's
Info@HangoverJoes.com
SOURCE: Hangover Joe's Holding Corporation
In this electoral season even more than ever, it appears the first qualification voters seek in a politician is that they not be politicians.
Donald Trump can certainly claim that mantle. Even Hillary Clinton, twice elected to the Senate, feigned chagrin during a debate in March to admit that she is not a natural politician. She implies that she would rather be able to claim better political skills, but that she will have to live with her deficiencies in guile, deflection and the rest of the politicians dark arts.
These candidates are responding to a public that has made clear its disgust with whats popularly derided as politics as usual. But its not a new instinct, and before making any fateful decisions voters may want to consider what it means to actually send a political neophyte to the White House.
Thats just what happened in 1928. At the crest of the Roaring Twenties, when popular culture was awash in fads and bathtub gin, voters believed they had found the genuine article, a candidate who had never stooped to serve, who had scored achievements in the real world and whose character and record in public life promised a sound and sober administration. That candidate was Herbert Hoover, and his one-term presidency should remind us all to be careful what we wish for.
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Hoover was all he was cracked up to bea policy wonk and a tireless workerbut also a terrible politician. A consummate administrator, he was better placed as Secretary of Commerce, the office he held for seven years under Calvin Coolidge, where his love of policy innovation got free reign and his fear of crowds went unnoticed. On the campaign trail, his aloofness and stoicism had been his strengths, proving him to be a true anti-politician. But once he took office, his aversion to politics and his inexperience became his greatest weakness.
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Aside from the bad luck to be elected on the verge of an historic economic crisis, his administration was in trouble even before the Great Depression set in. His skin was too thin, his resentments too heartfelt, his frustrations too stifling. Henry Stimson, Hoovers Secretary of State, learned to fear the presidents moods. I am afraid that he is in the situation of a man who does not like to fight, Stimson mused at one point, and once he gets started to fighting, he fights foolishly.
Hoovers greatest failures were rooted in his own character and his principal mistake was to run for elective office in the first place. Hoover was hamstrung in the rough-and-tumble of workaday Washington. Growing up as a penniless orphan, left to make his own way in the world, Hoover found success in business and government, but never lost his feelings of loneliness and isolation. When the crisis came, Hoover indulged in anger and self-pity and could not muster the fortitude and outward optimism to rally a fearful populace.
What may have been Hoovers greatest failing in office came early in his term, in his first wrangling with Congress over tariff schedules. Hoover was a moderate protectionist, and sought new tariffs to protect American agriculture, which was getting hammered by global price declines. In Congress, however, tariff revision quickly devolved into a feeding frenzy, with thousands of manufacturers seeking special favors. The result was the Smoot-Hawley tariff, a measure that did not cause the Depression but which dampened trade and raised hackles abroad. By the end of his first year in office Hoovers political foes were gloating over a president who could not, or would not, lead his party.
MORE: See Herbert Hoover on the cover of TIME in 1939
It was no secret that Hoover was sinking in office, rather than swimming, but Hoover felt unable to respond, other than to double down on toil. As to public exercise of leadership, Hoover wasnt willing even to try. You cant make a Teddy Roosevelt out of me, he insisted.
Fine for the president, if that was his determination, but not so for his backers. They recognized early on that Hoovers troubles in office would demolish the thesis that having a non-politician in office was the antidote to politics-as-usual. Your triumph is essential to putting in a minor place selfish politicians and unscrupulous partisans, a Republican newspaper editor wrote privately to the president. I mean that unless you do succeed in a measurable way, the politicians, perhaps for generations to come, will have the excuse that we need a politician rather than an accomplished man of affairs in the presidential office.
That prognostication was borne out in the next election, when Americans elected a true political master in Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes distinguished the difference between expertise and leadership when he remarked of Roosevelt, He has a second-class intellect, but a first-class temperament. Responding to a personality that seemed attuned to their yearnings, voters forgot about their revulsion for politics and elected FDR three more times.
Today the political landscape has shifted and voters again appear determined to reject the political class. But before the moment of decision they might do well to pause and consider: how do such candidates really differ from the standard-issue, sweet-talking politician? Other than time in elected office, what do they lack?
Perhaps the clearest legacy from Hoovers presidency is cautionary. Now, as in Hoovers time, voters are skeptical of the political arts as practiced by veteran officeholders. They regard the subtleties of compromise and conciliation as simple pandering, and obstinacy as ideological purity. But as Americans found after Hoovers landslide election, the cool remote demeanor of the organizational administrator is just the opposite of the warmth, confidence, optimism and open nature that can rally a nation in time of need.
Charles Rappleye is the author of the new book Herbert Hoover in the White House: The Ordeal of the Presidency, available now.
In April, at the invitation of the Vatican, some 85 theologians, priests, bishops, religious sisters, and nonviolent activists (including representatives of the RECONCILE Peace Institute, Kairos Palestine, and the American Friends Service Committee) gathered at a modest retreat house on the outskirts of Rome with an unprecedented agenda: to challenge the Catholic Churchs doctrine of just war.
Developed in the fifth century A.D. by St. Augustine, the doctrine empowers rulers to wage war only as a last resort to confront grave wrongs. As he wrote: Peace should be the object of your desire; war should be waged only as a necessity. Later, the Summa Theologica, written by St. Thomas Aquinas in the 1260s and 1270s, clarified that war could only be waged by a properly instituted authority like the state, that it could not occur for purposes of self-gain, and that attaining peace must be its central aim.
Though the Catholic Churchs just war doctrine has been modified over the centuries accounting for things like new technologies and the changing nature of warfare its basic principles remain the same. As the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church describes, in order for the church to sanction engaging in a war, the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain; all other means of putting an end to [the conflict] must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective; there must be serious prospects of success; [and] the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated.
But it seems that Pope Francis who is by all accounts a progressive thinker, unafraid to challenge old church doctrines might welcome a debate over the churchs foundational tenets on war and peace. Faith and violence are incompatible, he repeated in a 2013 mass prayer gathering at the Vatican. Like his predecessors of the past 50 years, he has called for the abolition of war. But this pontiff has gone one step further in pressing for nonviolent alternatives. In his letter to the Rome conference, he exhorted participants to revitalize the tools of active nonviolence. It was a call, in other words, to challenge the idea of just war and to propose an alternative paradigm.
The concept of just peace is not new. It first emerged in the United States in the mid-1980s, when an interdenominational group of Christian scholars advanced alternatives to war that culminated in a just-peace framework. It included practices like supporting nonviolent direct action; cooperative conflict resolution; advancing democracy, human rights, and religious liberty; fostering just and sustainable economic development; and encouraging grassroots peacemaking groups and voluntary associations. The inter-religious dialogue expanded to include Jewish and Islamic traditions, focusing on the scriptural and practical meanings of just peace in the three Abrahamic traditions. The scholarly dialogue resulted in the creation of an Abrahamic framing of an interfaith just-peacemaking paradigm that was later published in book form.
Given the power of modern warfare, and the second- and third-order effects of unleashing conflicts (even for presumably just causes), many participants at the Rome conference came seeking a bold new direction for the church. The fact that most came from contexts of extreme violence and injustice in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East made the conversations all the more visceral and meaningful.
For some at the Rome conference, the popes endorsement of the gathering was long overdue for the church. Many of those in attendance, like Sister Nazek Matty from Erbil, Iraq, had known war for years and were sick of it. She and other participants pressed the church to place greater focus on nonmilitary responses to the Islamic State and expand the creative imagination to fight injustices with active nonviolent means. During one of the plenary sessions, Rev. Francisco Jose de Roux, a Jesuit priest from Colombia, decried how, since the mid-1960s, supporters of both the government and FARC insurgents, including local priests, have justified violence in the name of a just war. The outcome? Nearly 50 years of civil war. Other Catholic leaders in Colombia have supported nonviolent civic action and zones of peace to keep armed groups out of local communities and have helped advance peace talks expected to culminate in a final settlement later this year. By putting a just-peace approach at the center of its work, the Catholic Church in Colombia opened multiple avenues to effective nonviolent action.
One key exchange at the conference illustrated how just peace could make a big difference. Ugandan Archbishop John Baptist Odama of Gulu described how, after a round of bloody tit-for-tat killings in the governments long-running war against Joseph Konys Lords Resistance Army, an inter-religious group won the trust of the two sides and employed effective shuttle diplomacy to stop the violence. The group helped mediate a cease-fire between the two sides, showing that nonviolent tools can open channels of communication and produce results even in the fight against extremism.
If dialogue and mediation are two critical skills in a just-peace arsenal, so, too, is nonviolent resistance, whose tactics include marches, boycotts, and strikes. Jean-Marie Muller, the French leader of the Movement for a Nonviolent Alternative, described how nonviolent action through history has laid the necessary groundwork for successful negotiations between conflicting parties. He cited Martin Luther King Jr.s Letter From a Birmingham Jail, which highlighted the complementary nature of dialogue and direct action. Pietro Ameglio, a Uruguayan activist working with SERPAJ Mexico, a human rights organization, insisted during the conference that only organized civil disobedience would sufficiently pressure drug lords and government authorities to stop rampant abuses in Mexico. Responding to the participants demands for solutions, the final document produced by the conference called on the church to promote nonviolent practices and strategies, including nonviolent resistance, restorative justice, trauma healing, unarmed civilian protection, conflict transformation, and peacebuilding strategies. As envisioned in the document, these approaches could then be integrated at all levels in churches, universities, and field-based activities.
Advocates of a shift from just war to just peace will inevitably be confronted with tough cases, like what to do about the Islamic State. Although no pope since the 1960s has invoked just-war criteria to defend a war, what church leaders say about the use of military force carries weight. When Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy Sees ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, said in 2015 that force is necessary to protect minorities against genocide at the hands of the Islamic State, it was considered an unusually blunt statement. Similarly, Pope Benedict XVIs strong endorsement of the responsibility to protect (R2P) the 2005 U.N. General Assembly resolution that permits international military intervention in instances of genocide and crimes against humanity was significant. However, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops refused to support military action in Libya on R2P grounds, a sign that the church is hardly a monolithic, single-minded organization on critical issues.
While one could argue that the just-war doctrine helps policymakers and ordinary citizens navigate the most difficult situations, many at the Vatican conference disagreed, arguing instead that the emphasis on just war limited the potential for creative alternatives to violence. Cardinal Peter Turkson, the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, one of the two co-conveners of the conference along with Pax Christi International, a peace-building organization, expressed concern that just war has too often been used to rationalize wars that produce more harm than good. Marie Dennis, co-president of Pax Christi, similarly noted that just war has been used and abused by political leaders.
The reality is that just peace has long been a potent force in the churchs history, despite the prevailing power of just war. The conference should build on this very real legacy. To be sure, the Roman Catholic Church has, at times, sided with dictatorships and other repressive regimes. But Catholic leaders and institutions have also stood on the front lines of a number of nonviolent struggles for peace and dignity. Pope John Paul II sided firmly with the Polish Solidarity movement during its nonviolent resistance to communist dictatorship in the 1980s. When East Timor, vying for self-determination and independence from Indonesia, challenged its brutal occupation nonviolently and was met with violence, church leaders vocally denounced Jakartas human right abuses.
The church was boldest in its support for nonviolent resistance against Ferdinand Marcoss dictatorship in the Philippines in the 1980s. Although a rebel force, the New Peoples Army attempted to topple Marcoss corrupt and oppressive regime with violence; church leaders, by contrast, insisted on unarmed resistance. As two of the Rome conference organizers, Revs. John Dear and Ken Butigan, noted, in this case rhetoric was backed by action. First, the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, an ecumenical Christian organization dedicated to nonviolent social change, led dozens of nonviolent action workshops across the Philippines. After attending a workshop, Cardinal Jaime Sin, the highest-ranking Catholic official in the country, joined the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines in calling for a nonviolent struggle for justice. These trainings, along with a sophisticated election-monitoring mission led by nuns and priests, paved the way for the mass people power movement that prevented Marcos from stealing the 1986 presidential elections. More than a million unarmed Filipinos, together with units of the military that refused orders to shoot at the peaceful protestors, challenged violence with nonviolent resistance and won.
To take its work on just peace to the next, practical level, the church should prioritize investment in teaching and training that brings together these dialogical and action-oriented nonviolent approaches. Empirical evidence that nonviolent resistance is overwhelmingly more effective than armed struggle was already cited in the conferences final document. While the conference cited Pope Franciss massive prayer vigil in St. Peters Square in September 2013 to condemn military action in Syria, what if the church galvanized similar support for those Syrians (including Christians) who have, since March 2011, been committed to nonviolently challenging both dictatorship and violent extremism?
But it can also begin the hard work of forcing political leaders to consider new options now. Rather than getting bogged down in debates over whether military force to save the Yazidis is justified (a debate that would likely prove to be unnecessarily divisive), the church should call for nonviolent, nonmilitary options to confront violent extremism. For example, there are numerous ways to erode or undermine the moral and material power of the Islamic State, Boko Haram in Nigeria, and al-Shabab in Kenya and the Horn of Africa that dont involve military strikes. Amplifying the voices of defectors, financially supporting local self-organization, investing in strategic satire, and transferring knowledge and skills about how organized nonviolent resistance targeting these groups has won small victories in Syria, Iraq, and Kenya are only a few nonmilitary tools.
The church should work with academics and practitioners to establish a firm evidence base for these nonmilitary interventions and then advocate for them locally, regionally, and internationally. That would be a concrete way to put meat on the bones of just peace while mainstreaming the principles, tools, and approaches at all levels of the church from the Vatican to national bishops conferences to dioceses and local parishes. Catholic universities and peace-building organizations like Pax Christi, Mercy Corps, Caritas International, and Catholic Relief Services are well-placed to integrate dialogue with nonviolent collective action approaches in their education and field operations. They could ally with umbrella organizations like the Alliance for Peacebuilding, plus nonviolent action and movement-building organizations like Rhize and the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, and civilian protection organizations like Nonviolent Peaceforce that are advancing effective nonmilitary solutions on the ground. If the church joined forces with other Christian denominations, along with Muslim and Jewish leaders and institutions, to prioritize areas of collaboration focused on Abrahamic peacemaking, the effect would be even more powerful.
One doesnt need to be Catholic or even a religious person to appreciate what went down in Rome. But now, the sense of grassroots urgency needs to be channeled into focused planning and coalition building in order to shift resources and give just peace a fighting chance.
Photo Credit: Andrea Franceschini / Contributor
The west side of Hawaiis Big Island boasts ritzy five-star resorts, some of this states most beautiful beaches and turquoise waters that lap the soft sugar sand of Hapuna Beach Park. All the while, youll find copious amounts of coffee although increasingly these days, theres a foreign flavor mixing in with what used to be just a popular local crop.
Despite being Americas last arrival to statehood, Hawaii is no stranger to powerful private interests steering public policy or local consumption habits. Its a group of islands where youll find mom-and-pop shops next to major corporations, much like other landlocked regions, though theres something different about a recent conflict among small Kona coffee farmers and their larger competition. Unlike places such as Cameroon and Colombia, where farmers lambast their leaders over economic policies they say are crippling them in a global market often led by Brazil, Indonesia and Vietnam, the small Kona coffee growers arent asking for subsidies or infrastructure. They just want to level the local playing field, they say.
If the consumers dont like the type of labeling or the product itself, theyll stop purchasing it. Rep. Clift Tsuji, a Democrat for Hilo-Waiakea
Here, 1-pound bags with the Kona coffee label vary wildly in price from as little as around $5 for the mass-produced blends made possible with cheap land and labor in developing countries, up to $40 for the pure beans and grounds grown on local property. The problem, according to the 250-plus small growers of the Kona Coffee Farmers Association, is that the big producers label their packaging almost the same way as the pure coffee producers, except for small print on the bag that says its a 10 percent blend. And this year could be the associations best (and last) chance to have a state law revised that would require these blends to include at least 51 percent Kona coffee and disclose where the rest of the product comes from. The danger is, these blends are going to drive Kona coffee to extinction, says Bruce Corker, the association president who owns a 4-acre farm of his own.
Its enough of a challenge to make money from coffee when countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam hold an advantage, thanks to a relative low cost of land less than $3,000 an acre in some places, compared to the $40,000 per acre it can cost for farmland in Hawaii. Labor can run 80 percent less in Southeast Asia as well, the reason even Colombian coffee farmers have gone on strike several times in the last few years while they demanded better subsidies.
Going up against the big guys in Hawaii is another battle. In the past, major sellers never used to have to label their bags with the fraction of their product that was made up of Kona coffee. Smaller growers lobbied fiercely for a 51 percent minimum, and while a new law passed in the early 1990s, it required only 10 percent Kona coffee in the blends. (Hawaii Coffee Company, one of the big coffee producers, declined to comment on the law.)
Gettyimages 94582446
David Wilkinson, owner of Kona Star Farms, rakes coffee beans laid out for drying at his farm in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
Source: Chip Chipman/Getty
Recently, Rep. Clift Tsuji, a Democrat for Hilo-Waiakea, had the power to spark change through a bill that would have addressed this issue. Yet he says he let it die in the House Committee on Agriculture, which he chairs, because the group was running out of time but also because of faith in the free market system. Tsuji notes small farmers and big producers can come to a compromise on their own: If the consumers dont like the type of labeling or the product itself, theyll stop purchasing it, he tells OZY.
The Kona association prepared to address concerns during the latest legislative session in a number of ways, including less-than-subtle tactics, such as pooling funds together to pay for a study that suggests big producers have an unfair advantage by using almost the same labeling as their smaller competitors. But Corker also believes the law might help his groups cause. The Harvard-educated labor litigator, who worked at Perkins Coie of Seattle for more than 25 years, has examined court rulings that might apply to this particular case. One rare spot of positive precedence: Less than two years ago a California judge ruled that Coca-Cola (which wouldnt comment here) could no longer use Pomegranate Blueberry in its labeling of a juice with only 0.3 percent pomegranate juice because it allegedly misled consumers and hurt POM Wonderful, which produces the real juice.
While the association waits to find out if it can take its case to court, it has had mixed results on its grassroots efforts to raise awareness about this issue. One protest several years ago in front of a Kona grocery chain led to TV news coverage and a label on the store shelves alerting customers to which coffees were a blend and which were fully Kona-grown. But it wasnt enough to start a statewide movement with other stores and resorts.
Still, today, Corker has a more pressing issue to deal with a pest on his farm, Rancho Aloha. It was only about six years ago when a certain coffee beaneating beetle arrived to this area, killing up to a quarter of some farmers crops. After Corker breaks open one of the few beans left from last seasons harvest, to show the beetle and the damage its done to the inner fruit, he tosses the damaged cherry and returns to the house. Its an uphill trek, at around 45 degrees, and brings us roughly a hundred feet higher than where we were just standing a few moments earlier. Thats the thing about this area: It takes a bit of effort to get to the top.
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By Ronnie Cohen (Reuters Health) - When cigarette smokers quit, societal healthcare costs immediately plunge, a new study shows. If 10 percent of American smokers gave up cigarettes and the rest cut back by 10 percent, the U.S. could shave $63 billion off medical costs the next year, the analysis found. "You start to see the benefits quickly, and they're huge because healthcare costs are so gigantic," study coauthor Stanton Glantz told Reuters Health. He directs the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco. The study is the first to project cost savings within a year of smoking reductions throughout all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Reuters Health that the study adds to the evidence showing a payoff for tobacco-control interventions. "This study is another good documentation that tobacco control really is a best buy," said Frieden, who was not involved in the study. "We need to invest in it because it will save lives and save money." The analysis makes the case for tobacco-control policies as "a very good form of health care and societal investment by governments," according to the authors of an editorial accompanying the study in PLOS Medicine. The report points out that California and Arizona slashed healthcare costs following smoking reductions. Research also has shown that smokers who quit cut their risk of heart and asthma attacks within a month, and pregnant women who stopped smoking were more likely to deliver infants at healthy birth weights than smokers, Glantz said. The new study found that regions with lower smoking rates had substantially lower medical costs from 1992 through 2009. Californians spent $15.4 billion less on healthcare in 2009 than they would have if they smoked as much as the national average, the analysis estimates. At the other extreme, Kentucky residents spent an estimated $1.7 billion more than the national average on healthcare because they smoked more. (See state by state map here: http://bit.ly/1XgElkW.) The study quantifies how varying regional smoking rates might translate into healthcare costs. Using 2012 data, it estimates a $6.3 billion drop in healthcare spending following a 10 percent relative reduction in smoking prevalence based on state and national averages in a single year. Tobacco control in addition to being good public policy in the long run is an important contributor to medical cost-containment in the short run, Glantz said. When the U.S. Surgeon General first linked smoking to lung cancer in 1964, 43 percent of American adults were smokers; today that proportion is 18 percent, according to the CDC. Despite the decline, smoking still kills more than 480,000 Americans a year, and thousands of the nations youth take up the habit every day, Wayne Hall from the University of Queensland, Australia and Chris Doran from Central Queensland University write in their editorial. Smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S., and it is driving up our healthcare costs, Frieden said. On the flip side, tobacco-control measures save lives and save money. The states that do more on tobacco control see their people live longer and cost less in health care. Tobacco-control measures include raising cigarette taxes, creating smoke-free environments, airing hard-hitting anti-smoking ads and helping smokers quit. Tobaccos financial toll in the U.S. today amounts to an annual $300 billion, with nearly $170 billion in direct medical care for adults and more than $156 billion in lost productivity, the editorialists write. U.S. states spend only a small fraction of the $3.3 billion the CDC recommends for tobacco control, they continue. Appropriate state expenditure would accelerate the decline in tobacco use in youth and adults and bring forward an end to the tobacco smoking epidemic while saving billions of dollars in avoidable health care costs, they conclude. The tobacco industry spends a million dollars every hour to promote its products, Frieden said, adding: We in public health need to do everything we can to promote the facts. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/21XNlMR and http://bit.ly/23IBKAC PLOS Medicine, online May 10, 2016.
By Svea Herbst-Bayliss
BOSTON, May 18 (Reuters) - Boaz Weinstein's hedge fund Saba Capital has been pulling in new money this year even as many rival investors are being asked to return cash to their clients.
The bulk of money went into Saba's newly launched portfolio that invests in closed-end bond funds, a person familiar with the firm said on Tuesday.
A spokesman for the firm declined to comment.
An anchor investor wrote a $70 million check in February while other clients have put in $20 million, the person said. This leaves the six-month old Saba Capital CEF Opportunities fund with $100 million in assets.
Indeed all of Saba's portfolios have seen fresh demand this year as returns are in the double digits. Assets have grown by $400 million over the last 12 months, putting the firm's total assets at $1.8 billion, the person said.
The inflows come at a time the hedge fund industry is facing its biggest wave of redemptions since the financial crisis. Research firm eVestment said on Wednesday that $17.7 billion in assets have been pulled out of the $2.8 trillion industry in the first quarter.
To be sure Saba's assets are still far below its roughly $6 billion peak, reached in 2012 after Weinstein, and other hedge funds, took the opposite side of JP Morgan's so-called London Whale Trade which cost the bank some $6 billion.
But after three down years, Weinstein's Saba Capital performance looks to be making a comeback. In 2015, Saba gained some 3 percent when the average fund was losing money and this year returns are even better.
The new fund is up nearly 11 percent through early May while the Saba Capital Master fund is up nearly 14 percent, the person familiar with the performance said.
Weinstein, who spoke on a panel at the SkyBridge Alternatives Conference in Las Vegas last week, said he is seeing the best capital structure arbitrage opportunities since 2002. Specifically, Weinstein has been betting on battered energy company bonds while also betting against their stock.
Weinstein also got some good news this week when a New York Supreme Court judge threw out a Canadian pension fund's third claim that Saba had breached its fiduciary duty. Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board last year sued Saba, saying the fund and Weinstein had marked down some assets after the pension asked for money back.
(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Diane Craft)
Copenhagen (AFP) - The World Health Organization on Wednesday urged Europe to be vigilant ahead of a possible summer outbreak of the Zika virus, especially in the Black Sea coastal areas of Georgia and Russia.
"The likelihood of local Zika virus transmission, if no measures are taken to mitigate the threat, is ... high in limited geographical areas: the (Portuguese) island of Madeira (off Africa) and the northeastern coast of the Black Sea," WHO said.
The reason for the high-level threat in those areas is the presence of the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which carry the Zika virus that causes birth defects if contracted by a woman during pregnancy, the UN global health agency said.
Another 18 countries in Europe "have a moderate likelihood" of a Zika virus outbreak, WHO warned.
"The overall risk of a Zika virus outbreak across the WHO European Region is low to moderate during late spring and summer," it said.
That was largely due to the presence of another mosquito species in those countries, the Aedes albopictus, which is less likely to cause outbreaks than its cousin in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to research by the Pasteur Institute.
Within the "moderate likelihood" group, France, Italy and Malta had the top three transmission likelihood scores.
The score was based on factors including climatic suitability for the mosquitoes, shipping and air connectivity, population density, urbanisation and history of previous outbreaks of viruses transmitted by insects or other animals.
"With this risk assessment, we at WHO want to inform and target preparedness work in each European country based on its level of risk," said Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO regional director for Europe.
"We call particularly on countries at higher risk to strengthen their national capacities and prioritise the activities that will prevent a large Zika outbreak."
- No winter outbreak -
Paul Hunter, a professor of health protection at Britain's University of East Anglia, said in a statement that any outbreak in Europe would be "relatively short-lived" since it was "very unlikely to continue over winter."
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"Nevertheless an outbreak occurring in the Mediterranean area could still have repercussions throughout Europe if pregnant holidaymakers acquire the infection, or if males then pass the infection sexually to their pregnant partners," he said.
Another expert -- Derek Gatherer, a lecturer at Lancaster University's Division of Biomedical and Life Sciences -- said the wealth and infrastructure of developed countries made them less susceptible to mosquito-borne diseases.
"The ideal stagnant water habitat of the mosquito larva is less present in our cities; our houses are less likely to have many indoor insects; we can afford insect repellents and other devices for keeping fly numbers down and so on," he said.
"It is worth remembering that mosquito-borne diseases were more prevalent in Europe in the past," he added.
Recent scientific consensus is that Zika causes microcephaly, a form of severe brain damage in newborns, as well as adult-onset neurological problems which can lead to paralysis and even death.
There is no vaccine or treatment for the virus, which in most people causes only mild symptoms -- a rash, joint pain or fever.
Brazil has been the epicentre of the Zika outbreak now affecting 58 countries and territories, with around 1.5 million people infected in the country since 2015.
The WHO last week urged pregnant women not to travel to Rio for the Olympics and told athletes and visitors to the Games to take precautions to avoid the infection.
Those making the trip to the Olympics and Paralympics, set for August 5 through September 18, should wear body-covering clothing and insect repellant, and avoid visiting impoverished and overcrowded areas with poor sanitation where the risk of mosquito bites is higher, it said.
From Cosmopolitan
Erik and Rebecca Herrera, a couple from Gainesville, Florida, had been trying to conceive for five years when Rebecca finally got pregnant after their most recent round of IVF. Erik wanted to announce that they're expecting in a memorable way, so he scripted and shot a movie trailer called "Pregnancy: Official Trailer," done in the style of Honest Trailers. The couple even managed to get voiceover actor Jon Bailey to work with them on the cute clip.
The trailer traces the Herreras' journey from being a happily chill married couple who gets to sleep late and eat out to being stressed but totally ~in love~ expectant parents.
"It has been a very emotional roller coaster for the both of us," Herrera told TODAY Parents. "It's so hard as a husband to hear the phone ring, not hear what the person on the other end is saying, and then see my wife just break down into tears. I wanted to scream to the world that we were pregnant, and this video was my way of doing that."
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A top Chinese official said Hong Kong can have "peace of mind" that its autonomy will be preserved, but hit out at independence activists during a highly-charged visit that sparked protests Wednesday.
The three-day trip by Zhang Dejiang, who chairs China's communist-controlled legislature, is the first by such a senior official for four years. It comes as concerns grow that freedoms are under threat in semi-autonomous Hong Kong as China tightens its grip.
Zhang's visit was ostensibly for an economic conference Wednesday, but has been widely seen as a conciliatory effort as frustration over lack of political reform has sparked a fledgling independence movement, condemned by authorities in both Hong Kong and mainland China.
At a banquet for legislators Wednesday but boycotted by pro-democracy lawmakers, Zhang said Hong Kong would not be "mainlandised" by China.
"Those saying the central government wants to mainlandise Hong Kong or even turn 'one country, two systems' into 'one country, one system' have no grounds," he said, referring to the city's semi-autonomous system of government.
"'One country, two systems' is in the best interest of the country and Hong Kong. The central government will implement it unwaveringly. Hong Kong society can have a complete peace of mind."
However, Zhang criticised the city's "localism" movement which is calling for more autonomy from the mainland, with some campaigners calling for a complete breakaway.
"There is a minority of people advocating for the independence of Hong Kong and resisting the central government," said Zhang.
"It is not a question of localism, it is an effort to separate the city from China under the name of localism," he added, saying society should "strongly condemn" actions that breach the rule of law.
Before the banquet, Zhang had met lawmakers, including four pro-democracy legislators, after promising to listen to political demands from across society.
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The lawmakers said they had expressed their views to Zhang, but said he gave only standard replies.
"The overall atmosphere was very civilised but (there was) nothing unexpected," said Civic Party legislator Alan Leong.
"Zhang seemed to brush aside our observations."
- Protest anger -
Roads around Zhang's hotel and the convention centre where he attended the conference and banquet were cordoned off with huge water-filled barricades, infuriating protesters who were kept out of sight in designated areas.
Around 200 pro-democracy protesters and rival pro-China demonstrators gathered in one of the zones Wednesday evening as Zhang gave his banquet speech.
Beijing supporters waved national flags and played patriotic songs on loudspeakers.
Pro-democracy supporters shouted at them to "go back to China" as well as calling for free elections and an end to one-party rule.
They expressed anger they could not make themselves heard to Zhang.
"Zhang didn't come here to hear the real people's views," veteran activist Lee Cheuk-yan told the crowd, asking him to come to the protest area.
Some also questioned why there was such a massive police presence -- thousands of officers were mobilised to protect Zhang.
On Tuesday police arrested seven members of the pro-democracy League of Social Democrats party for unfurling protest banners on hills and flyovers.
They also wrestled a leading pro-democracy activist to the ground near Zhang's hotel as he tried to breach a barrier.
Human Rights Watch said Wednesday authorities had "sharply limited" the public's opportunities to voice criticism of Zhang's visit.
It added Hong Kong officials should challenge Zhang "to make concrete commitments to respect Hong Kong's autonomy on human rights and democratic rule".
Hong Kong is semi-autonomous after being handed back to China by Britain in 1997 and enjoys freedoms unseen on the mainland, but there are concerns Beijing's interference is growing in a range of areas, from politics to education and the media.
Zhang's is expected to visit a public housing estate Thursday after saying he wanted to understand the lives of Hongkongers before leaving Thursday afternoon.
Minnesota, Austin-based Hormel Foods Corporation (HRL) is a prominent meat products firm, conducting trade in the global consumer goods sector. The company sells superior-branded high-quality convenient, nutritious and flavorful edible products to its global customers. HRL shares high brand value in the market but is also exposed to certain risks of external market uncertainties.
Currently, HRL has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) but that could change following its second-quarter fiscal 2016 (ended April 2016) earnings report which has just released. We have highlighted some of the key details from the just-released announcement below:
Earnings: HRL beat on earnings. Earnings per share came in at 40 cents per share, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 38 cents.
Revenue: Revenues of $2,300.2 million came below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2,330 million.
Key Stats: HRL has raised its full-year fiscal 2016 earnings guidance to $1.56$1.60 per share from $1.50$1.56, after considering the benefits reaps from its improving Grocery Products, Specialty Foods, Jennie-O Turkey Store and Refrigerated Foods business. The company aims to accrue higher earnings and revenues in the quarters ahead with the help of favorable input prices and sound marketing strategies.
Stock Price: Shares of HRL were down 3.58% ahead of the earnings report while no movement has been recorded in the pre-market trading session.
Check back later for our full write up on this HRL earnings report later!
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Wealth manager Ron Carson was recently at the Kentucky Derby with a client, an owner of Kendall-Jackson Wines. A horse that finishes in a strong position can turn out to be a pretty good investment for the wealthy. Think of a horse purchased for tens of thousands of dollars as a value stock, and the stud fees, that can reach into the millions, as dividends that will pay back the owner for years. Yet no one in the economic class that Carson was hobnobbing with at the Derby would consider a horse as a true investment, even one like Curlin, which earned $60 million throughout his career and was an investment of the Kendall-Jackson family.
"The horses are the play money," Carson, founder and CEO of Carson Wealth Management said. The problem right now, though, is that these "massively wealthy" clients, as Carson described them, are making more money from their playthings than actual investments. And having much more fun during a day at the races than watching the markets move back and forth.
"The general consensus of clients and people at the Derby is that the economy is in a twilight zone. No one really understands it," Carson said. "We are in another world. We don't know what is real."
That view matches millionaires recently surveyed by CNBC. For millionaires who can't afford to dabble in Derby horses the majority of America's wealthy nothing in the markets is looking very good right now, and expectations for investment performance are deflated.
The percentage of American millionaires who expect the S&P 500 will finish the year in positive territory declined by 6 percent overall since the previous CNBC Millionaire Survey, in fall 2015, while the percentage of those who believe the S&P will finish at best flat, or down for the year, increased by 5 percent. The biggest jump was in millionaires who think the S&P will be flat, which increased from 25 percent to 28 percent. Less than half of millionaires (43 percent) believe the S&P 500 will finish the year up 5 percent to 10 percent.
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This view of the markets leads to another downbeat conclusion about the power of investing right now among America's wealthy: Just over half of millionaires believe the value of their assets will not change this year, and that spiked from 42 percent in the previous survey to 51 percent in the late April 2016 survey.
"People are in a wait-and-see mode and won't do a lot of investing," said Tom Wynn, director of research at Spectrem Group, which conducted the Millionaire Survey for CNBC.
In Carson's view, central banking policy is the key to uncertainty among millionaires.
"The Fed has pushed things to such an extreme with rates, and there are negative rates around the world. ... Investors look around and are not sure what to do," Carson said. "They hate sitting on cash yielding zero but don't want to take too much risk right now," he said. "It's a lot of heavy lifting to get returns. If the market takes off, they are content to not catch it. They don't want to give back a big chunk of principal if the market goes south instead."
In the fall 2015 survey, the overall markets and economic outlook of millionaires was pessimistic , and the more recent results reinforced that view among the wealthy. There was an increase, while in most cases minor, in the key pessimistic findings. The percentage of millionaires who said the economy will be stronger when surveyed in April declined to 29 percent (from 34 percent in the previous survey).
Sixty-nine percent of millionaires expect a rate of investment return no better than 2 percent to 6 percent this year.
Wynn and other wealth advisors are paying more attention to the election season and, in particular, this campaign cycle's negative rhetoric.
"I'm used to getting a lot of calls about the state of the economy, but never so many about the elections," said Karen Altfest, principal advisor and executive vice president of client relations at New York Citybased wealth management firm Altfest. "People are uncomfortable with the level of rhetoric," Altfest said. "We used to not even talk about elections."
There is a long history of election seasons pulling money to the sidelines that goes for individuals and businesses.
Altfest is taking the election more seriously as an investor issue than she ever has before. In fact, her firm already has booked a New York Times campaign reporter to come in and talk with clients the week after the presidential election is over. Altfest has never done that before. Altfest has led talks herself after elections but felt that wouldn't be enough. And while she said part of the idea was born in how interesting the events on the campaign trail have been this year, she said "bringing some sanity to clients is the goal, to calm people down and say, 'We won't know everything right away. We'll have to wait and see."
Altfest said she has tried to remind clients that a portfolio that is up 2 percent to 2.5 percent this year isn't so bad. But she said some wealthy investors already made the decision to cash out. "They aren't giving up on one risk to take another. They are just saying, 'Get me out because of the economy and election," Altfest said. "Nobody ever wants to give everything back, but now they don't even want the risk of $100,000 going to $99,000."
Carson is not a big believer that elections move millionaires, or markets. "We have a ton of discussions on the election, but I can tell you, people aren't going to invest one way or the other based on whether Hillary or Trump is in office," he said. "What I'm hearing is just more that we are in uncharted territory and people are not sure how it ends, and they are really quite content to stay neutral to slightly defensively postured."
Wynn said that recent historical data from Spectrem's Affluent Index on millionaire investing sentiment does show more pessimism in the lead-up to Election Day. In 2004 the highest months for the percentage of "Not Investing" for Americans with $500,000 or more were September and October. The same was true in 2008, but that also coincided with the global economic downturn.
Altfest has picked up on one theme underlying client concerns: "Lots of people are making up their own rules, whether it's not seeing a Supreme Court nominee or another political issue."
The idea that rules are being made up does, in a sense, match Carson's take on the world and what he is hearing from clients: "It's the craziness of irresponsible central bankers and how it all ends that will drive the next bear market," he said. "We're not smart enough to know if it comes in three months or three years from now, but you need to be hedged so you can buy assets at a reasonable price, and assets are not reasonably priced right now."
Altfest said investors have been bruised by their belief that a single stock like Apple will always do well (it's the No. 1 holding among millionaires surveyed by CNBC), and many are making the mistake of thinking the "safe" way to play this market is large-cap U.S. stocks and nothing else. ( Goldman Sachs moved to neutral on the U.S. stock market on Wednesday and said credit is a better bet right now.)
The most alarming move to "safety investments" that Altfest is seeing among clients, though, is people actually putting fences around their houses (country homes in the case of her New York City clients). "Clients are telling me they need $50,000 for a fence. It's not a majority of Americans, but I've heard it more than once," Altfest said.
This surprise is one reason that when Altfest does have the New York Times reporter come in to discuss the election with clients, she will invite more clients to the talk than she ever has before.
"It may not be attractive to sit in stocks that are fully valued or overvalued, but I don't believe in going minute by minute or month by month with investments. When we get a new president, I don't think the world will implode. I don't think you need to start burying food in the backyard. I don't think it will be as scary as it seems out there right now, and that view is not the best way to take care of our futures."
If you don't believe her, build a fence or buy a horse.
More From CNBC
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican and Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a resolution reaffirming American support for NATO on Wednesday, in a rebuke of criticism of the alliance by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. The resolution introduced by Republican Adam Kinzinger and Democrat John Delaney says that the North American Treaty Organization is central to the national security interest of the United States. Campaigning for president, Trump has said the 67-year-old alliance is obsolete and costs the United States too much, and that European nations should look after their own defense. "The world is safer with an engaged America, and I firmly believe our participation in NATO greatly matters to Americas national security," Kinzinger said in a statement. Including the two lead sponsors, the resolution was backed by two Republicans and 18 Democrats. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
More than 200 families are missing in the western Sri Lankan region of Kegalle about 75 km from the capital Colombo after a landslide buried three villages late Tuesday evening local time.
The Sri Lankan Red Cross says that the villages of Siripura, Pallebage and Elagipitya were buried in the landslide and that rescue work has been made difficult because electricity has been cut off. It said that it had rescued 180 people, who were being cared for in a nearby temple. Government search teams have rescued several hundred more.
Reports say that 13 bodies have been recovered so far, but authorities expect the death toll to rise.
The landslides were caused by days of torrential rain. Pradeep Kodippili, a spokesman for the countrys disaster-management center, told Reuters that the rain was the worst since 2010. The severe weather and flooding have so far displaced more than 137,000 people from their homes.
The Hague (AFP) - War crimes prosecutors on Wednesday called for former Congolese vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba to be jailed for "at least 25 years" for a slew of rapes and murders in Central African Republic over a decade ago.
Bemba, who was found guilty in March on five charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, is the highest-level person to face sentencing at the International Criminal Court that was set up in 2002 to try the world's worst atrocities.
The former feared rebel leader sat stony-faced at the end of three days of hearings, as the ICC's chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda rejected defence calls for a reduced sentence.
"The sentence recommended by the prosecution... should not be less than 25 years of imprisonment," she told the court in The Hague.
That would be justified by "the gravity of the offences committed by Mr Bemba and his degree of culpability" as the commander of militia troops who rampaged through part of CAR from October 2002 to March 2003.
But the defence said Bemba has already spent eight years in jail during his trial and "his detention should be ended." The prosecution argued that would only translate to a sentence of 12 to 14 years, allowing for time served.
After a lengthy trial which opened in November 2010, the judges convicted Bemba in March, agreeing he had retained "effective command and control" over 1,500 men he sent into CAR to quell an attempted coup against the then president.
His Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) carried out a brutal series of rapes and murders in a campaign of terror, which experts testified would have long-term traumatic effects on the victims.
The crimes were committed against "particularly defenceless victims" and "with particular cruelty," another prosecutor Jean-Jacques Badibanga told the court.
- 'Selective justice' -
Judges will pass sentence at a later date, but Bemba's defence team insisted that a 25-year term would fly in the face of jurisprudence set by other international tribunals which have tried and convicted military commanders.
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They argued the prosecution had painted a false picture of Bemba who "became a sort of mythical figure for many, a god to be feared, a bogeyman", insisting it was an image that was "far from the reality".
Bemba "did not participate in the crimes. He was not standing there and encouraging his troops... Mr Bemba was not even in the same country," said defence lawyer Peter Haynes.
His "culpability arises from his failure to control a small fraction of his troops who were thousands of miles away".
Bemba is only the third person to be sentenced by the world's only permanent war crimes court -- and if he is jailed for 25 years, it would be its toughest penalty to date.
Former Congolese warlord Germain Katanga was sentenced last year to 12 years in jail for a 2003 attack on an Ituri village which left 200 dead.
Thomas Lubanga, another warlord and one-time adversary of Katanga, was jailed for 14 years in July 2012 for recruiting and enlisting child soldiers. Both men have since been transferred to Kinshasa.
Bemba's MLC, which has now morphed into the DR Congo's second-largest opposition party, reacted angrily to the call for a stiff sentence.
"It must be remembered that it was not Jean-Pierre Bemba who committed these crimes," MLC secretary general Eve Bazaiba told AFP, decrying what she called the ICC's "selective and discriminatory justice".
Prosecutor Badibanga insisted however that a lesser sentence would have the "absurd consequences" of seeing a more lenient term applied by the ICC than by national courts trying people for murder and rape.
After the conflict in CAR, Bemba, a wealthy businessman-turned-warlor, became one of four vice presidents in President Joseph Kabila's transitional government.
In 2006, he lost to Kabila in a presidential run-off. He fled the next year to Europe and was arrested in Brussels in 2008 and handed over to the ICC.
His defence lawyer vowed Bemba would never again head an army, or return to politics.
Muslim groups on Wednesday slammed a directive from India's Hindu nationalist government for participants in International Yoga Day to chant "Om", citing religious bias.
The mass outdoor yoga session, to be held in June for its second year, is an initiative spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is seeking to reclaim the practice as an historic part of Indian culture.
"Yogic practise shall start with a prayer or prayerful mood to enhance benefits of the practise," read a note issued by Ayush ministry, which works for the promotion of yoga, as shown by television networks.
The ministry said participants should chant the sacred sound "Om" and Hindu vedic hymns at the start and end of the 45-minute event on June 21.
Muslim groups reacted with anger, saying such chants were against their faith and accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of seeking to impose a hardline Hindu agenda.
"We are not against yoga but India is a secular country and the state has no religion," Zafaryab Jilani, a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board told AFP.
"If they are imposing a Hindu religious practice on the rest of us, it is unconstitutional."
The government waded into a similar controversy last year after it made the surya namaskar pose (sun salutation) part of the event.
Muslim groups say certain yoga poses and chants have clear Hindu overtones and are against Islam.
"They are again and again trying to impose a Hindutva ("Hinduness") agenda. This order should be cancelled immediately," Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali, a top Muslim cleric said.
The opposition also weighed in, accusing the government of seeking to impose a narrow vision on the ancient tradition, which commands huge global popularity.
"Yoga has achieved the status of an international art form and by imposing such conditions the government is killing its essence," Manish Tewari, a leader of the main opposition Congress party said.
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"People from different religions do it and the practitioner should decide what to chant."
Following the outcry, the Ayush ministry issued a clarification saying the directive was not compulsory.
Indian scholars believe yoga dates back 5,000 years, based on archaeological evidence of poses found inscribed on stones and references to Yogic teachings in the ancient Hindu scriptures of the Vedas.
In 2014 the United Nations accepted India's proposal to declare June 21 as International Yoga Day, highlighting its health benefits.
Thousands gathered in dozens of cities around the world to celebrate the inaugural event last year, with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon performing yoga at Times Square in New York.
By Randy Fabi and Kanupriya Kapoor JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's military elite are openly stoking public anxiety about communism, gays and other 'foreign influences', a drive critics say is aimed at seizing a greater role in civilian affairs of the world's third-largest democracy. However, the military's crackdown on suspected communist activity and ambitions to create a massive civilian defense force are beginning to create unease within President Joko Widodo's administration. Widodo last week publicly rebuked the military after it detained a handful of Indonesians suspected of spreading communist ideology, the first public resistance by the president to the military's growing influence in everyday life. "The president has firmly and clearly told the military and police chiefs to bring their forces to order," Cabinet Secretary and presidential aide Pramono Anung told reporters. Under Widodo, the military has joined the nation's fight against drugs, terrorism and corruption, areas previously reserved for the police. But a line was crossed this month when soldiers briefly detained two student activists in eastern Indonesia for wearing red T-shirts emblazoned with a picture of a hammer and sickle inside a coffee cup. It was the latest in a string of military and police raids against suspected left-wing radicals. "The reason the local military command gave (for the detentions) was that the men were spreading communism through T-shirts," said Abdon Nababan, head of the organization to which the two activists in North Maluku province belong. "We protested because military soldiers cannot arrest, interrogate and confiscate property of civilians." A local military spokesman declined to comment on the detentions. Security forces have also recently begun seizing leftist books from citizens in an apparent attempt to prevent a feared revival of communism. Armed Forces spokesman Tatang Sulaiman said the military is working within the law. "If we find groups spreading communist ideology...or materials that can influence the thinking of the public, then we will act according to the law. Our role is to help the police, he told Reuters. INVESTIGATE MASSACRE The crackdown has coincided with Widodo's order for an investigation into an anti-communist purge of 1965, a move that irked some within the military elite. Historians say at least a half-million people were killed in violence that began in October 1965, after suspected communists killed six generals in an attempted coup against then president Sukarno. Successive governments have refused to apologize or accept that death toll. Indonesia back then had the largest non-ruling communist party in the world, and it was supported by China. Under the authoritarian Suharto who took over from Sukarno, the party was dissolved and all leftist materials and symbols -- even Chinese characters on signs and in the media -- were banned. Critics heard echoes of that era in the central Javanese city of Yogyakarta, where an anti-communist group that included children of military and police officials recently prevented the screening of a workers' rights movie deemed too left-leaning. "The event was not at all about communism. It was a film about workers," said Suarjono, an organizer of the screening. For the military, memories of 1965 are still raw. "Who was it that rioted and killed military generals at the time? It was the PKI (the communist party)," Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu told Reuters in an interview. "Don't look for justification. I don't like that." "We tried to eradicate them (communists) in the past so it's possible they want to get revenge," Ryacudu said. "Definitely, there is a connection with 1965," he said when asked about the recent increase in suspected communist activity. DEFEND THE COUNTRY Ryacudu said the military hoped to establish nearly 900 training centers this year for a civilian defense corps known as "Bela Negara" (defend the country). Its mission is to defend against "proxy wars" waged by communists, gays, religious militants and other "foreign influences", who want to divide the country and degrade its moral and nationalist values, the military says. The training centers will teach millions of students, doctors, civil servants and others survival skills, first aid, and Indonesian history - but no weapons training. "Bela Negara is a direct response to the threats we face from proxy wars," said Hartin Asri, a military officer in charge of the program. The Indonesian military has a history of being involved in civilian affairs dating back to independence from the Dutch in 1947. Under a doctrine known as dwifungsi (dual function), the military was granted power over civil and political affairs to promote nationalism and development. The doctrine was largely jettisoned after Suharto fell from power in 1998, but it still has adherents in the military. "There are efforts within the senior ranks of the military to create this sense of paranoia that suggest that Indonesian nationalism needs to be re-ignited," said Sidney Jones, a Jakarta-based security expert. "The military genuinely believes it has the solution to getting Indonesia back on track." (Additional reporting by Agustinus Beo Da Costa and Yuddy Cahya. Editing by Bill Tarrant)
Inequality is an underlying issue in much of what we cover, whether it is the contribution tax avoidance makes to global inequality uncovered by the Panama Papers or the growing erosion of the middle class in the United States, as exposed by much of our money-in-politics-led reporting.
Net access as a human right
One coverage area that has enabled us to link policy to inequality is access to broadband in the United States. Rather than look at it through a purely speed or net neutrality lens, Allan Holmes has written about the social and economic implications of poor U.S broadband quality and access.
This week Allan launched a series combined with an entirely new data set on the problem from Ben Wieder showing how high-quality broadband availability mysteriously stops on the border of poorer suburbs across America. Its a story built on reporting, a human narrative and importantly on data. The national perspective on the problem cannot be ignored if you look at the amazing national map of broadband access developed by Chris Zubak-Skees. I suspect that map, based on a new compilation of data described here by Ben, will become a definitive resource.
The video on the story by Eleanor Bell Fox is a strong exposition of the problem in a different medium.
Why do we care? Because, as one of the sources in the story says, access to broadband is now a necessity, not a luxury. Internet accessis the civil rights issue of our time. Huffington Post, our co-pubishing partner on the story recognized the importance of the piece with "front page" treatment.
The Broadband project is supported by the Ford Foundation, whose president Darren Walker last year committed the organization to more strongly work to combat inequality worldwide. There is significant international interest in this entire area of broadband access with places like Estonia declaring it a human right and the United Nations debating it.
World Bank recognition and Panama Papers
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has rightly dominated these notes and the much of the world news agenda in recent weeks with the Panama Papers.
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A story which keeps on giving though is the ICIJ investigation into World Bank policies that trigger displacement of millions around the world. A project with the Huffington Post, Evicted & Abandoned, led on our side by Michael Hudson and Sasha Chavkin, won the New York Press Club Golden Keyboard award a couple of weeks after it also won the Whitman Bassow award at the Overseas Press Club.
On the Panama Papers it is worth noting that the New York Times and Washington Post are now officially inside the consortium working on the project as reported by the NiemanLab. In a note last week I commented on the release by the leaker of a manifesto for blowing the whistle on the avoidance and evasion.
This week the ICIJ launched what amounts to phase two of the project with a vast release of the underlying structures of the Russian doll company structures and the people behind them. Its a massive undertaking and another huge credit to the work of the ICIJ data team led by Mar Cabra out of Spain. Read Marina Guevara Walkers explanation.
This story is part of Inside Publici. Stories were working on, the impact of our investigations, news about our fundraising efforts, and other issues that shape our work. Click here to read more stories in this topic.
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Back in the USA
Executive Editor Gordon Witkin calls out members of the team:
Fred Schulte for a story on a GAO report that essentially confirmed Freds terrific Medicare Advantage stories. The pickup also underscored the power of Freds work, and the respect it commands in health-care world. The piece was reprinted by NPRs SHOTS blog, and picked up by Kaiser Health News, POLITICO and STAT. Freds ongoing Medicare reporting also got a shout-out from the Washington Post.
More long hours and rich, quick-turnaround work from our federal politics teamJohn Dunbar, Dave Levinthal, Carrie Levine and Michael Beckel with assists from Chris Zubak-Skees and Jared Bennett. They crunched numbers from Kantar Media/CMAG and The Tracking Firm to provide a preview of the spending in the Indiana primary.
After the votes came in, they published a follow-up, which found that Ted Cruz and his allies spent about $10 per vote in Indiana (and lost), while Trump spent only about $1.50 for vote on ads in his wining effort. The story was co-published with NBC News. The piece was cited by AL.com.
Carrie Levine had a readable piece on Trump campaign counsel Don McGahn. We co-published it with the Huffington Post, Newsweek and the Atlantic City paper.
What were reading and thinking about
Public Integrity reporter Kristen Lombardi features in a passionate piece in the Huffington Post about a new book: Catholic Women Confront Their Church. Kristen was among the first to report on the scandal of Catholic priests in Boston when she was at the Phoenix the subject that eventually became the film Spotlight.
I welcome feedback on this note.
Peter Bale, CEO
The Center for Public Integrity,
@peterbale
This story is part of Inside Publici. Stories were working on, the impact of our investigations, news about our fundraising efforts, and other issues that shape our work. Click here to read more stories in this topic.
Related stories
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.
European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst will serve as commander of the International Space Station in 2018, making him the first German to hold the job, the agency said.
ESA Director General Jan Woerner said Wednesday that Gerst will lead the orbital station during a six-month mission starting in May 2018. German Chancellor Angela Merker joined the announcement at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne.
Gerst is a geophysicist and volcanologist. He previously spent six months on the ISS as a flight engineer in 2014 for ESAs Blue Dot mission, during which he conducted experiments focused on physical science, biology, and human physiology. He also took 12,500 pictures to make this six-minute timelapse:
Gerst will be the second European astronaut to serve as commander in the history of the station. Frank De Winne, of Belgium, held the job in 2009. Russian cosmonauts and American astronauts have taken turns commanding the station since humans began living there in 2000. Chris Hadfield became the first Canadian ISS commander in 2013.
Read more from The Atlantic:
This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
These days it's easy to go it alone with personal finances and investing. Play with a few online calculators and some money management software, pick a few broad market index funds and, well, that's it.
Going it alone is suitable for people with a do-it-yourself bent, have enough time and can live with setbacks, says Tom Warschauer, financial services professor at San Diego State University.
"If the answer to those questions is yes, go for it," he says. "Discount brokerages with some artificial intelligence-type robo-advisors make it much easier." Those are calculators that use your inputs -- assets, income, age, financial goals and tolerance for risk, etc. -- to recommend a mix of investments such as mutual funds of various types.
[See: 8 Stocks to Buy For a Starter Portfolio.]
For many people, though, financial management is daunting.
"If you're not interested in considering tax-incentivized products, reweighting your portfolio, diversifying away from unintended concentrations in your portfolio or adjusting your investments over time as life changes and goals shift, then going it alone is a perfectly acceptable path," says Min Zhang, chief financial officer of Totum Wealth Management in Los Angeles. "However, most people still find comfort in engaging with a human and want to rest assured that an expert is managing their wealth, rather than letting the proverbial buck stop with oneself."
Think about why you might need a pro. The more complicated your finances, and the less you know about saving, investing, budgeting, taxes and insurance, the better the odds professional advice will be worth the cost.
You can limit the cost by hiring one or more experts for just those things you really can't do yourself. If you have a straightforward retirement savings plan at work but are overwhelmed by your tax return, hire a tax preparer, not a soup-to-nuts financial conglomerate.
Also, if you have investments, your brokerage or mutual fund company may offer free or inexpensive advice. And you may be entitled to some free help from the firm that provides your 401(k) or 403(b) at work, though that's likely to be general education rather than advice tailored to your specific situation.
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Then, if a paid pro seems essential, consider what type suits your needs. Advisors, of course, must be paid, and each approach has pros and cons:
Commission-based advisors. The system used by traditional stockbrokers charges a fee for each transaction such as a stock purchase or sale, and the fee pays for the recommendation. This can be inexpensive if you have very few transactions -- if you buy a set of mutual funds and just hold them for retirement, for example. The danger is that an unscrupulous advisor may "churn" the account, pressing you to buy or sell more than necessary to boost commissions. Deep-discount brokers -- the kind that charge just $5 or $10 a trade -- typically don't offer investment advice but are a good choice if you hire someone else to devise a strategy you will implement yourself.
Asset-based advisors. These advisors charge an annual fee, such 1 percent to 3 percent of the value of the assets under management. This is fine if you need lots of advice and trade frequently, but it can be expensive if most of your holdings use a buy-and-hold strategy that requires little guidance after investments are chosen.
"No one is worth more than 1 percent of assets under management," Warschauer says.
[Read: 7 Stocks That Should Grow With Millennials.]
Fee-only advisors. These advisors charge a flat rate or hourly fee to give advice. This is a good option if you need help setting up a master plan that you could then implement yourself with a fund company or discount broker. It could get expensive if you need ongoing help. Note that some advisors use the "fee-only" label but actually employ an asset-based billing system.
Warschauer says it's reasonable to pay 0.25 percent of assets involved for advice on an investment plan you will implement yourself using index mutual funds or exchange-traded funds, and 0.5 percent if you will use actively managed funds. One percent would be the maximum he'd advise paying for a full plan implemented by a pro.
Many experts say asking trusted friends, relatives or coworkers for referrals is the best way to find a good advisor, but that assumes the recommendation comes from someone who knows enough to gauge the advisor's performance. Jeff Motske, president and CEO of Trilogy Financial in Huntington Beach, California, suggests getting referrals from professionals you already trust -- a lawyer, tax preparer or accountant, for instance.
Financial advisors use an alphabet soup of professional designations. Most experts recommend using a certified financial planner, a designation with a broad range of education requirements covering many money-management concerns. For a fee-only advisor, use the referral service provided by the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors.
Also check with FIRNA and the Security and Exchange Commission to see that your candidate has not been disciplined or convicted of fraud.
"You can find a treasure trove of information on your prospect" by using those sources, says Matt Hylland, a financial planner with Hylland Capital Management in Virginia Beach, Virginia. "Initially, make sure they are indeed registered in your state. From here you can access the advisor's history, which will show their education, exam history, work history, criminal past or if they have had any rule violations or complaints against them."
Build a list of prospects, talk to each on the phone and then meet a few finalists in person. Anyone who charges for an initial consultation should be crossed off the list.
"If the advisor becomes irritated when asked detailed questions, this can be a red flag," says John Bucsek, managing partner of New York-based MetLife Solutions Group. "This may be obvious, but in my experience, a patient advisor is normally a better advisor."
Beware advisors who want authority to trade without your advance approval, or who pressure you to make quick decisions. Long-term financial strategy does not involve day trading.
Once you've settled on a few candidates, ask some questions face-to-face:
-- What is the scope of your services? Retirement planning? Insurance? Saving for college? Budgeting? Estate planning?
-- What do they cost?
-- Are you accustomed to serving clients with issues, income and assets like mine?
-- What will be our benchmark for gauging performance?
-- What is your investment philosophy?
-- How will you balance risk versus return?
-- How accessible will you be? How often will we talk?
-- Who will you use for specialized advice you don't provide, like tax preparation or estate planning?
-- Do you provide in-house products like mutual funds? How will I know you are not favoring those over other companies' products that might be better? In what cases will you recommend an actively managed fund over a comparable index fund or ETF?
-- Why are you interested in my business?
Ideally, you'll have several suitable candidates, and the choice may boil down to convenience and chemistry.
[See: 8 of the Most Incredible Investments of the 21st Century.]
"You should do the talking and they should be listening and asking the right questions," Motske says. "How do you know if they are the right questions? If they ask you about things you've never thought of before, that's a good indicator."
Jeff Brown spent nearly 40 years as a newspaper reporter, columnist and editor, including 20 years writing about investing, personal finance, the economy and financial markets. He spent 20 years at The Philadelphia Inquirer and has been freelancing since 2007.
ZHANGZHOU, CHINA / ACCESSWIRE / May 18, 2016 / China Zenix Auto International Limited (ZX) will host a conference call to discuss the results of the first quarter 2016, to be held Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 8:00 AM Eastern Time.
To participate in this event, dial 877-407-0782 domestically, or 201-689-8567 internationally, approximately 5 to 10 minutes before the beginning of the call.
You may access the teleconference replay by dialing 877-660-6853 domestically or 201-612-7415 internationally, referencing conference ID # 13636877. The replay will be available beginning approximately 2 hours after the completion of the live event, ending at midnight Eastern on June 19, 2016.
About China Zenix Auto International Limited
China Zenix Auto International Limited is the largest commercial vehicle wheel manufacturer in China in both the aftermarket and OEM market by sales volume. With a large intellectual property portfolio, the Company offers more than 510 series of tubed steel wheels, tubeless steel wheels, and off-road steel wheels in the aftermarket and OEM markets in China and internationally. The Company's customers include large PRC commercial vehicle manufacturers, and it also exports products to over 80 distributors in more than 30 countries worldwide. With five large, strategically located manufacturing facilities in multiple regions across China, the Company has an aggregate annual production capacity of approximately 15.5 million units of steel wheels as of March 31, 2015. For more information, please visit: zenixauto.investorroom.com/.
SOURCE: Investor Calendar
By Parisa Hafezi ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said on Wednesday many Iranians have volunteered to fight in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad's war against "terrorism", the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. Shi'ite-dominated Iran is Assad's main regional ally and has provided military and economic support for his conflict with range of Sunni Muslim rebel and militant groups including Islamic State and the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front. "Many young Iranians from different parts of the country and of different ethnicities have volunteered to go to Syria ... to help the Syrian government and the Syrian people in their fight against terrorism...," Tasnim quoted the head of the IRGC's public relations office, General Ramezan Sharif, as saying. Sharif gave no figures for the number of volunteers. Assad's government has branded all those seeking his removal - whether Islamist or relatively secular insurgents, as well as the pro-democracy demonstrators whose peaceful uprising launched Syria's conflict in 2011 - as "terrorists". The Islamic Republic denies having any conventional armed forces in Syria, but has acknowledged having military advisers and volunteers from the IRGC there to help Assad's forces. Last month, however, Tehran said military commandos had also been dispatched to Syria as advisers, suggesting it was using its regular army as well as forces from the IRGC. However, Iran's army chief later said those personnel were volunteers working under IRGC supervision, and that the regular army was not directly involved. Iran has two distinct armed forces - a regular army serving as a national defense force, and the IRGC that was created after the 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the Islamic Republic against both internal and external adversaries. In the past few months Iran has sustained serious losses in Syria, including several high-ranking members of the IRGC. Iranian media have reported the death of over 100 members of the IRGC and its affiliated volunteer, the Basij militia, in Syria. The United States, Saudi Arabia and some other Western and Gulf states plus Turkey back rebels fighting to remove Assad, who has military support from Russia and Iran. "Syria is the golden ring of resistance front," Ali Akbar Velayati, top adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told Iran's Student News Agency ISNA. "If Assad and the Syrian people fail in their fight against Takfiri (hardline Sunni Islamist) groups..., their next target will be (Shi'ite-led) Iraq, followed by Iran," he said. (Editing by Mark Heinrich)
By Aaron Sheldrick and Osamu Tsukimori
TOKYO (Reuters) - Iran's oil exports are set to surge in May, climbing nearly 60 percent from a year ago, with European shipments recovering to about half of pre-sanction levels, according to a source with knowledge of the country's crude lifting plans.
This shows Tehran is regaining market share at a faster pace than analysts had projected as it battles with Saudi Arabia for customers by cutting its prices. April loadings at 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd) were around 15 percent higher than the International Energy Agency estimated earlier this month.
May shipments are set to jump to 2.1 million bpd from 1.3 million bpd during the same month in 2015, when Iranian exports were constrained by Western sanctions imposed because of the country's nuclear programme. The April loadings were the highest since January 2012.
The increase in loadings suggests that Iran has overcome a tanker shortage that threatened to derail attempts to regain market share after the sanctions were lifted in January.
Saudi Arabia will feel the surge in Iranian exports most keenly as it struggles for regional supremacy with Iran, with the oil market becoming a key battleground.
Saudi Arabia plans to boost production in the coming months to squeeze the Iranians, said Ian Bremmer, the president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, who spoke recently with executives and a member of the ruling family.
The production increase could also boost returns for the planned Saudi Aramco share sale and help ensure a smooth succession for deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, Bremmer told Reuters on Wednesday.
Increases of as much as 1 million bpd were mentioned, Bremmer said, though he was sceptical about the higher targets.
"The challenge against Iran will mean an expanded effort to work with Asian economies," he said.
That will mean investing in refineries in the Asian market, "something the Iranians can't do, given both their resource limitations and the remaining sanctions environment," he said.
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In the meantime, Iranian exports are rapidly returning to near pre-sanctions levels. Loadings to Asia were 1.7 million bpd in April, about a third higher than a year ago and the most since 2011, according to the source.
Loadings will stay near that level for May, with 1.6 million bpd scheduled.
Loadings for China, Iran's biggest customer, were nearly 840,000 bpd in April and more than 620,000 bpd are planned for May.
Iran's sales to Europe, including Turkey, are also rising fast, according to the source. April loadings to Europe totalled 487,000 bpd and are set for 400,000 bpd this month. European countries were buying as much as 800,000 bpd before 2012.
Oil major Total SA is set to take 160,000 bpd of crude in May, down from the 240,000 bpd loaded in April. The company, along with Spain's Cepsa, signed import deals with state-owned National Iranian Oil Co soon after the sanctions were lifted in January.
Loadings to Spain are set for 32,000 bpd in May, while Greece will take 65,000 bpd.
(Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Writing by Aaron Sheldrick; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
By Aaron Sheldrick and Osamu Tsukimori
TOKYO (Reuters) - Iran's oil exports are set to surge in May, climbing nearly 60 percent from a year ago, with European shipments recovering to about half of pre-sanction levels, according to a source with knowledge of the country's crude lifting plans.
This shows Tehran is regaining market share at a faster pace than analysts had projected as it battles with Saudi Arabia for customers by cutting its prices. April loadings at 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd) were around 15 percent higher than the International Energy Agency estimated earlier this month.
May shipments are set to jump to 2.1 million bpd from 1.3 million bpd during the same month in 2015, when Iranian exports were constrained by Western sanctions imposed because of the country's nuclear programme. The April loadings were the highest since January 2012.
The increase in loadings suggests that Iran has overcome a tanker shortage that threatened to derail attempts to regain market share after the sanctions were lifted in January.
Saudi Arabia will feel the surge in Iranian exports most keenly as it struggles for regional supremacy with Iran, with the oil market becoming a key battleground.
Saudi Arabia plans to boost production in the coming months to squeeze the Iranians, said Ian Bremmer, the president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, who spoke recently with executives and a member of the ruling family.
The production increase could also boost returns for the planned Saudi Aramco share sale and help ensure a smooth succession for deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, Bremmer told Reuters on Wednesday.
Increases of as much as 1 million bpd were mentioned, Bremmer said, though he was sceptical about the higher targets.
"The challenge against Iran will mean an expanded effort to work with Asian economies," he said.
That will mean investing in refineries in the Asian market, "something the Iranians can't do, given both their resource limitations and the remaining sanctions environment," he said.
Story continues
In the meantime, Iranian exports are rapidly returning to near pre-sanctions levels. Loadings to Asia were 1.7 million bpd in April, about a third higher than a year ago and the most since 2011, according to the source.
Loadings will stay near that level for May, with 1.6 million bpd scheduled.
Loadings for China, Iran's biggest customer, were nearly 840,000 bpd in April and more than 620,000 bpd are planned for May.
Iran's sales to Europe, including Turkey, are also rising fast, according to the source. April loadings to Europe totalled 487,000 bpd and are set for 400,000 bpd this month. European countries were buying as much as 800,000 bpd before 2012.
Oil major Total SA (TOTF.PA) is set to take 160,000 bpd of crude in May, down from the 240,000 bpd loaded in April. The company, along with Spain's Cepsa, signed import deals with state-owned National Iranian Oil Co soon after the sanctions were lifted in January.
Loadings to Spain are set for 32,000 bpd in May, while Greece will take 65,000 bpd.
(Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Writing by Aaron Sheldrick; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched talks with rightwing hardliner Avigdor Lieberman to join his coalition Wednesday, shattering the prospects of a unity government working for a Palestinian peace deal.
The surprise development comes after opposition head and Labour chief Isaac Herzog had indicated his willingness to join Netanyahu's rightwing-led coalition.
But Netanyahu's Likud party said he and former foreign minister Lieberman had decided to form negotiating teams for the latter's six-seat opposition Israel Beitenu to join the 61-member coalition.
Since forming his government a year ago, Netanyahu has not concealed his ambition to expand his razor-thin majority in Israel's 120-member parliament.
Months of secret talks between Netanyahu and Herzog, whose party forms the Zionist Union along with the centrist Hatnuah, made headlines in recent days.
The Labour leader insisted that a national unity government could help advance peace with the Palestinians, amid fierce opposition from members of his party to joining the coalition.
But in a press conference on Wednesday, Lieberman -- who since its inception in May 2015 has branded the coalition as "defeatist" -- said he would be open to joining Netanyahu's team if key demands were met.
Netanyahu summoned him to a meeting a short while later.
For his part, Herzog said Netanyahu was faced with "a historic choice" to "either embark on a journey of war and funerals" with Lieberman or choose a path of "hope for all (Israeli) citizens".
"We won't negotiate in parallel to Lieberman," he stressed.
Labour members criticised Herzog for what they termed his failed attempt to "crawl into the coalition", as reports emerged that Netanyahu had offered Lieberman the coveted defence portfolio.
In a stormy address later in the night, Herzog accused "violent extremist leftwing elements" in his party of thwarting his talks with Netanyahu thus paving the way for Lieberman to join the government, vowing he would make things for the coalition "a nightmare".
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- History of controversy -
Lieberman's entry into the government would be closely watched by the international community and the Palestinians.
In remarks made just a month ago, he said that if he were defence minister, he would give Hamas's Gaza leader Ismail Haniya "48 hours to return the soldiers' bodies (from the 2014 war) and (Israeli) civilians (held in Gaza), or you're dead".
Himself a settler, Lieberman has long expressed mistrust in Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and called for his removal.
The former foreign minister also has a history of controversial statements about Arab Israelis. In March 2015, Lieberman said of Arab Israelis who are "against us" that "one must take an axe and chop their heads off".
The Palestinian Authority ensuingly demanded his arrest and prosecution before the International Criminal Court, to which Lieberman responded: "They will get an answer to that from me as defence minister."
The current defence minister is Moshe Yaalon, a level-headed former army chief of staff who has been at loggerheads with Netanyahu after insisting that senior military officers should "speak their mind".
His remarks were perceived as a public show of support for Major General Yair Golan, deputy head of the armed forces, who enraged Netanyahu with comments comparing contemporary Israeli society to Nazi Germany.
The outspoken Lieberman has publicly supported a soldier accused of manslaughter for shooting dead a wounded and prone Palestinian assailant, in contrast to both Netanyahu and Yaalon who condemned the killing.
Sitting in the courtroom with the soldier's family during initial hearings, Lieberman said he sought to "balance the crude intervention of the prime minister and defence minister" in the case.
The stocky 57-year-old Moldova native stepped down as foreign minister in 2012 for nearly a year to fight corruption charges, and in 2015 joined the opposition ranks.
Ministers from the Likud were swift to welcome the move to join Lieberman to the coalition and afford it stability.
Many of the more hardline ministers had been critical of Yaalon's conduct as defence minister, demanding harsher measures against Palestinians in the recent wave of violence.
But Benny Begin, a veteran and respected Likud member, lashed out at the idea of Lieberman being appointed defence minister, calling it "delusional" and "irresponsible" on Channel 2 television.
(Adds Noble comment)
JERUSALEM, May 18 (Reuters) - Israel has reached a new deal with Texas-based Noble Energy and Israel's Delek Group that will allow the firms to move forward with development of the huge Leviathan natural gas field, Israel's finance minister said on Wednesday.
The Leviathan project hit a major obstacle in March when Israel's Supreme Court blocked a previous agreement that bound the state to the terms of the deal for 10 years. The agreement had meant the government would be committed not to change taxes, export quotas or other regulation.
The court's objection also rattled the broader exploration sector where companies have been waiting to see how the saga plays out before investing in new offshore drilling.
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said the new agreement, which will be brought to the government for final approval in the coming days, gives the state more leeway to change policies if needed.
"The new version gives future government space to judge whether to change policies in the field of natural gas, should this be required," he said in a statement.
Noble said in a statement that it had held discussions with the government "to formulate stability language which enables us to continue to progress the Leviathan project on timelines previously indicated."
"This is an important milestone in creating a stable investment environment," it said.
Delek declined comment.
Noble had warned that the court ruling could delay development of Leviathan, which it hoped to complete by the end of 2019. Steinitz said he hopes the new agreement will allow the companies to stay on schedule and push others to renew exploration.
(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch, editing by David Evans, Alexandra Hudson and Adrian Croft)
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel has successfully tested a maritime missile interception system dubbed the Iron Dome of the Sea, the military announced on Wednesday.
The system, which the military said can shoot down short-range rockets similar to those fired from Gaza, successfully destroyed "several" missiles, Ariel Shir, head of operational systems in the navy, said.
He said the test, which took place two weeks ago, "proved the Israeli navy's ability to protect Israel's strategic assets at sea against short-range ballistic rockets".
During the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip, Israel deployed its Iron Dome system on land to shoot down rockets fired across the border.
A similar system has been in development for several years and was revealed to the public on Wednesday.
A video provided by the army showed a rocket launcher installed on a ship firing at targets in the sky and later intercepting a missile.
Shir said they had tested the system from a ship moving at speed and it had succeeded.
"The Sea Iron Dome, as we call it, can intercept threats from a moving naval ship," he said.
He added that the system was operational now, but it would take "a little bit more time" to fully integrate into the navy's systems.
Israel has a number of assets at sea, including a major offshore gas rig around 16 nautical miles from Gaza.
Hamas has previously targeted the installation unsuccessfully.
Any damage to the rig could be potentially hugely damaging to the Israeli economy, since it provides large amounts of the country's energy needs.
Tokyo (AFP) - Japan sidestepped a recession after its economy grew in the first quarter, preliminary data showed Wednesday, but efforts to cement recovery in the world's number three economy were gaining little traction.
Gross domestic product expanded by 0.4 percent between January and March -- or 1.7 percent at an annualised rate -- after a contraction in the last three months of 2015.
A consumer spending rebound helped drive the better than expected figures, but the leap year added another day of production -- and spending -- to the economy's performance.
The fresh data will do little to buoy hopes for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's faltering growth blitz.
His bid to revive Japan's once-soaring economy, dubbed Abenomics, was shaken by a bloodbath on equity markets at the start of the year and a resurgent yen which has taken a bite out of Japan Inc's profits.
Local media have suggested Abe will delay plans to raise Japan's consumption tax over concerns it could damage the already fragile economy.
But the premier on Wednesday insisted his growth plan was making headway, and that no final decision has been made on the levy increase.
"I will make the appropriate decision at an appropriate time," he told reporters.
A consumption tax rise in 2014 -- seen as key to helping pay down Japan's enormous national debt -- was blamed for ushering in a brief recession.
This week the government approved a 778 billion yen ($7.1 billion) extra budget in response to April's deadly earthquakes, which prompted factory shutdowns in southern Japan.
"But even if the government delays the tax hike, it still needs to set a course for getting public finances on a sound footing, which is not an easy job," said Yoko Takeda, chief economist at Mitsubishi Research Institute.
"The economy is in a tough situation with the strong yen hurting corporate earnings, stalled wages and a lack of confidence among consumers. There are going to be some tough times ahead."
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- Growth challenge -
Wednesday's figures came days before Japan hosts a meeting of the Group of Seven finance chiefs, followed by a summit of their leaders next week.
The finance group -- including US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi -- converge at a hot springs town north of Tokyo, where two days of meetings kick off on Friday.
Topping the agenda will be how the group of rich nations can help kickstart global growth, as the host struggles to light a fire under its own economy.
Abe's growth plan -- big government spending, central bank monetary easing and reforms to the highly regulated economy -- initially appeared to bear fruit after he came to power in late 2012 elections.
The yen weakened sharply, which boosted Japanese exporters' profits and sparked a huge stock market rally.
But sustained growth has been elusive and Abe's efforts to overhaul the economy have been widely criticised as half-hearted.
Key to the plan is a massive monetary easing campaign from the Bank of Japan aimed at dragging Japan out of years of deflation -- a spiral of falling prices that held back growth.
In January the central bank shocked markets with a negative interest rate policy designed to boost lending to people and businesses. But the move was widely criticised as a desperate bid to prop up Tokyo's faltering economic plan.
The uptick in demand for durable goods such as cars and household appliances is good news, but the GDP figures suggest the BoJ's rate policy was having little impact on the economy, said Shotaro Kugo, an economist at Daiwa Institute of Research.
"We don't really see the policy working, as both private residential and non-residential investment (capital spending) shrank during that time," he told AFP.
In April a closely watched BoJ survey showed sentiment among Japan's biggest manufacturers dropped to its lowest level since Abe started his much-vaunted programme to boost growth.
The International Monetary Fund last month cut its growth forecast for Japan, and warned that inflation would sink into negative territory this year.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's economy dodged recession in the January-March quarter, expanding an annualised 1.7 percent thanks to firm exports and a boost from the extra day from the leap year, government data showed on Wednesday.
The preliminary figure for gross domestic product compared with the median estimate of a 0.2 percent expansion in a Reuters poll of economists.
It followed a revised 1.7 percent annualised decline in October-December, dodging two straight quarters of contraction, which is defined as a technical recession.
On quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy grew 0.4 percent in the first quarter.
To view the full tables, go to the Cabinet Office's website:
http://www.esri.cao.go.jp/en/sna/sokuhou/sokuhou_top.html
(Reporting by Leika Kihara, Tetsushi Kajimoto, Stanley White; Editing by Chris Gallagher)
JCPenney's Turnaround Story Sours in 1Q16: Can It Turn Again?
(Continued from Prior Part)
Decline in same-store sales
JCPenneys (JCP) same-store sales declined by 0.4% in 1Q16 ended April 30, 2016. This marked the first decline in JCPenneys same-store sales in ten quarters. In the companys 1Q16 conference call, CEO Marvin R. Ellison stated that an excessive reliance on apparel hurt the company in certain instances during 1Q16, particularly when weather patterns were not favorable for apparel sales. JCPenney is looking for sales growth in several categories beyond apparel, including its Sephora beauty business and home merchandise.
Macys (M), Dillards (DDS), and Kohls (KSS) reported declines of 6.1%, 5%, and 3.9%, respectively, in their 1Q16 same-store sales.
Growth in the Sephora business
The Sephora beauty stores inside JCPenney stores have been one of the companys key growth drivers in recent times. Sephora is owned by the luxury group LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMUY) (MC.PA). JCPenney opened 28 new Sephora locations at the end of April, bringing the total number of Sephora locations to 546. In the companys 1Q16 conference call, the CEO stated that the first few weeks of the selling season in the new locations exceeded the companys expectations.
JCPenney is also adding new brands in its Sephora shops. Some of the brands that the company launched in its Sephora locations in 1Q16 include Origins, LOccitane, Marc Jacobs, Fresh, and Bumble and bumble. JCPenney is scheduled to open another 30 Sephora locations in mid-June and two new locations later in 2016. The iShares U.S. Consumer Services ETF (IYC) has a 0.1% exposure to JCPenney.
Interesting additions in the home category
JCPenney aims to enhance its home business by offering a wide choice of major appliances, window treatments, furniture, and flooring. On May 9, JCPenney announced that it will be adding appliance showrooms in nearly 500 of its stores. This decision followed a positive response to a pilot that the company commenced in February 2016 in 22 locations. According to the company, the average transaction was over $1,200 and the appliances business added low-single-digit same-store sales at pilot locations. JCPenney is also expanding its window treatment offering, which it believes offers a $200 million sales opportunity. The company has also entered into a partnership with Ashleys Furniture, pursuant to which it will test 21 of Ashleys signature collections in select stores by Memorial Day weekend. The company has also entered into an arrangement with Empire Today flooring and will test this in-store concept in two markets within the Tampa and Washington metropolitan areas. Read on to learn about the companys 1Q16 margins.
Story continues
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If any film has emerged from Cannes thus far as having the necessary legs to last the next nine months of Oscar conversation, its Jeff Nichols Loving, which premiered Monday night to a rapturous Palais crowd. Its the story of Mildred and Richard Loving, an interracial couple in 60s Virginia who were arrested and convicted for that states anti-miscegenation laws, having married in Washington DC. With the help of Bobby Kennedy and the ACLU, the Lovings took their case all the way to the Supreme Court and won; as Ruth Negga says in the video above, they changed the constitution with their fight.
But Nichols film deals in the simple heart of the case: the love these two people shared. Before the festival, Nichols had told me that the project started for him with a phone call from Martin Scorsese, and Nichols pitch that it be about the love story, and not a civil rights tale nor a courtroom drama. The resulting film might feel too small for some: there are no grand pronouncements and no emotional breakdowns. But it captures the Lovings for the people they were, and celebrates their quietness. They didnt set out to change the world; they just wanted to live together and raise a family. Their revolution was in their convention.
The film is made by stunning lead performances from Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga. After the premiere, Nichols told me hed written the parts for Richard and Mildred Loving, and his challenge in casting the movie was finding actors who could live up to that. Edgerton feels like a lock on a nomination for a measured, honest performance, but its Negga who proves to be the revelation. This is a major breakthrough for the Ethiopian-Irish star, previously best known for Marvels Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
In the sunshine of the Majestic Beach, the two actors and Nichols walk me through their interest in the movie, their love for the Lovings, and how they realized Cannes most touching, most unassuming feature.
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By Marcus E. Howard
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New Jersey supporter of Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump can keep displaying Trump flags above his home, his attorney said on Wednesday, noting a judge dismissed a complaint that resulted in a municipal citation and fine for his client.
Joseph Hornick had faced a $2,000 fine and up to 90 days in jail for flying two blue flags emblazoned with the billionaire candidate's name over his home in West Long Branch, New Jersey, about 50 miles south of New York City, after police cited him for a code violation in March.
On Wednesday, prosecutor Gerald Massell asked Municipal Court Judge Louis Garippo Jr. to dismiss the complaint on the basis that the flags are not political signs, and the judge agreed, according to Hornick's lawyer, Eric Sherman.
The town ordinance prohibits the display of political signs more than 30 days ahead of New Jersey's primary on June 7.
Sherman, who had argued that the ordinance violated his client's constitutional right to free speech, said the town's city council recently agreed not to enforce the ordinance on the recommendation of the town's attorney.
"There will be no more enforcement of this ordinance and the borough will go about the business of coming up with a different ordinance that does not offend the First Amendment," Sherman said in an interview.
For weeks, the former firefighter had displayed the flags that featured Trump's "Make America Great Again!" campaign slogan on a pole outside his two-story house at a busy intersection near Monmouth University in a show of his support for Trump.
Another resident of the coastal town complained to police, and Hornick was issued a summons on March 25. A court date was scheduled, but a defiant Hornick refused to remove the flags.
Hornick received support from the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.
"I'm very pleased, and the flags were going to stay up no matter what," Hornick said Wednesday after the hearing.
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On Thursday, Trump, who is likely to face Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 election, is scheduled to appear with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at a fundraiser in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.
In 2006, Trump faced his own flag controversy when his sprawling Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Florida, was cited for flying an oversized American flag 20 feet higher than a town ordinance allowed. Ultimately, Trump agreed to relocate and lower the flag in a compromise.
(Reporting by Marcus E. Howard; Editing by David Gregorio)
Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden spoke candidly about their special bond and the family tragedy that drew them even closer together in Popular Mechanics' June 2016 issue.
The father-son pair have been each other's biggest supporters through the years. This became especially true when Joe's first wife, Neilia Hunter, and 13-month-old daughter, Naomi, were killed in a car crash in 1972. The accident occurred one week before Christmas and shortly after Joe was elected to the Senate. Hunter, then 2, was in the vehicle with his older brother, Beau, 3, but they survived.
PHOTOS: Famous Celebrity Families
"After that, we had a rule, with Beau and I, which was that no matter what, as long as we were sincere about it and not trying to get out of something but even sometimes if we were if we wanted to go to work with Dad, we could go with him," Hunter, 46, told Popular Mechanics.
Joe would let his sons choose any day of the week to visit him. "I think I hope I was an attentive father when their mommy was alive," Joe, 73, said. (He later married Jill Biden in 1977. The couple are parents to daughter Ashley, 34.) "By the way, there's a distinction: There's Mom, that's Jill, and Mommy, that's Neilia. There's no step-anything in our family. I hope I was a good father, and I know their mommy, Neilia, was an incredible mother."
PHOTOS: Stars Gone Too Soon
"What the boys have done for me from the accident on, it's always been, 'You OK, Dad Come here, Dad. Dad, you're not getting enough sleep,'" he added. "Every time I'd wanna just pack it in, all of a sudden I'd feel one of them climbing in bed I mean, even when they were 15 years old. 'Hey, Dad, come on, you OK?'"
Joe was just as much of a support system for Hunter. "The single best thing is, family comes first. Over everything. I can't think of anything that has been more pervasive and played a larger part in my life than that simple lesson he didn't have to teach it by saying it," Hunter told the mag. "After we lost my mom and my sister in the accident that my brother and I were also in, he was ever-present."
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The two men experienced another tough blow in May 2015, when Beau died of brain cancer at the age of 46. President Barack Obama joined the Biden family as they remembered the Delaware Attorney General in Wilmington, Delaware, on June 6. POTUS tearfully embraced Joe and gave a eulogy at the funeral. Three months later, Joe told Stephen Colbert that the support of his loved ones helped him get through the dark time.
PHOTOS: First Children
"We have an expression in our family: If you have to ask for help, it's too late. We're there for each other," the VP told Popular Mechanics. "I have a rule for every single staff member who's ever worked for me in 42 years: If you ever come to work when your kid has an important function, no matter what you're doing for me if you ever show up for me and you miss your wife's birthday or your husband's birthday or your kid's thing, don't work for me. And I mean it. That is the God's truth. I can swear on my word as a Biden."
While some wrestling fans are enjoying a blissful, John Cena-free WWE, and others (okay, just me) are enjoying him in his rightful place on morning network television, the fact is a John Cena return is inevitable. The WWE Superstar already tweeted that hell return to television on May 30, but we still dont know when hell be stepping back into the ring to Attitudinally Adjust all our faves.
Vince McMahon himself confirmed that Cena will be returning soon alongside three other major Superstars, but according to Cena, hes not quite there yet. Via TMZ:
Im probably 30% off of what I was operating at November 2015 but being at 70% is still pretty damn good.
Cena was sidelined back in November 2015 by a long-overdue shoulder surgery. While recovery time was estimated at around nine months, Cena is rehabbing his injury down at Hard Nocks South, and pushing to be back before then. For a normal person, 70% would still be far from a return, but as we all know, John Cena is far from what you would consider a normal person. As of now, hes still rumored to be facing off against former New Japan Pro Wrestling megastar Shinsuke Nakamura at a WWE Live event in Hawaii.
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) on Wednesday won dismissal of a lawsuit brought by former customers of Bernard Madoff who blamed the U.S. bank for playing an active role in his Ponzi scheme and ignoring red flags of his fraud.
U.S. District Judge John Koeltl in Manhattan said the plaintiffs failed to show that JPMorgan had specific control over Madoff's fraud.
He also said the allegations suggested at most that JPMorgan and its employees "were negligent, not fraudulent" in dealing with Madoff, a major client for two decades prior to his December 2008 arrest.
Koeltl also dismissed several state law claims, saying they were preempted by federal law.
Helen Chaitman, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
JPMorgan spokesman Brian Marchiony said the New York-based bank is pleased with the decision.
The lawsuit was brought on behalf of an estimated 2,500 "net winners" who withdrew more money from their accounts at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC than they invested.
They sought to hold JPMorgan liable for failing to end its relationship with Madoff although it knew or should have known his business was a fraud, and failing to report suspicious activity to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Many net winners say Irving Picard, a court-appointed trustee liquidating Madoff's firm, undervalued their claims and have filed lawsuits to hold other individuals and companies that dealt with Madoff liable for their alleged losses.
The JPMorgan lawsuit began in March 2014, after the bank agreed to pay $2.6 billion to settle other Madoff litigation, and in a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. government acknowledged responsibility for failing to stop Madoff.
Madoff, 78, is serving a 150-year prison term.
The case is Friedman et al v. JPMorgan Chase & Co et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 15-05899.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Will Dunham and Steve Orlofsky)
By Promit Mukherjee
MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's JSW Steel Ltd, the flagship company of steel tycoon Sajjan Jindal, has started talks with Sandur Manganese about a long-term iron ore supply agreement, a company official said on Wednesday.
These discussions are a part of the company's efforts to ensure iron ore availability for its 18 million tonne (mt) steel capacity which is spread across three locations in India.
"We are going to have a long-term tie-up with them (Sandur Manganese) for supply of iron ore. They have a capacity of 1.6 mt now, but they can reach up to 3 mt," Vinod Nowal, deputy managing director of JSW Steel, told Reuters.
"Discussions are still going on and we want to tie-up for the entire 3 mt," he added.
A top ranking official from Sandur Manganese confirmed that it was in talks with JSW Steel but said no decision has been reached until now. He spoke on condition of anonymity.
JSW will also be bidding aggressively in an iron ore mine auction in July in the southern-western state of Karnataka, Nowal added. It needs 30 million tonnes of iron ore annually to produce 18 million tonnes of steel.
JSW Steel is India's biggest steel company in terms of domestic capacity but unlike companies such as Steel Authority of India Ltd and Tata Steel Ltd, it does not have access to its own iron ore mines -- one of the most important raw material required for viable steel making.
The group has operations across steel, power, ports and cement businesses across India. It has bid for Tata Steel UK's assets and is among one of the seven short-listed companies.
The mines of Sandur Manganese are located in the Bellary district and are very close to JSW Steel's Vijayanagar unit, according to Sandur's website.
For the quarter ended March 2016, the company posted a consolidated net profit of 1.71 billion rupees (17.5 million pounds), up from 623.8 million rupees a year ago. It posted net sales of 104 billion rupees, which came down by 15 percent mainly on the back of lower steel prices.
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Keith Weir)
(Reuters) - A man convicted of the 2013 killings of four people including a mother and her 18-month-old daughter on a Kansas farm, was sentenced to death on Wednesday, according to court documents.
A jury had recommended the death sentence for Kyle Flack, 30, after convicting him in March of capital murder in the shotgun slayings of Kaylie Bailey, and her daughter Lana, and additional murder charges in the killings of Andrew Stout and Steven White.
The four killings took place between April 20 and May 1, 2013, in Ottawa, Kansas, at a farm house where Stout and White lived and where Flack sometimes stayed, according to filings during the trial.
"An infant was slain. How anyone makes sense of that is beyond me," Franklin County District Judge Eric Godderz said in handing down the sentence, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.
Flack made no statement at the sentencing, the newspaper said. The victims were unarmed and shot in the back at close range, according to the report, which gave Stout's age as 30, White's age as 31 and Kaylie Bailey's as 21.
According to court documents, Flack killed White on about April 20. He then killed Stout on April 29, hid his body and used his phone to send text messages to Kaylie Bailey, Stout's girlfriend, to lure her to the residence, where he killed her and her child.
Flack hid the three adult bodies on the farm and put the child's body in a suitcase which was found floating in a creek, according to reports by local media.
There are 10 people on death row in Kansas at this time, according to the Death Penalty Information Center website, but the state has not carried out any executions since it brought back the death penalty in 1994.
(Reporting by Fiona Ortiz in Chicago; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton proclaimed victory over Bernie Sanders in Tuesday's Kentucky primary even as the race remained officially too close to call, seeking to turn the tables a week after she lost to him in West Virginia.
While the Associated Press has yet to issue a call in the race, Clinton declared a win at 10:39 p.m., three and a half hours after polls closed.
We just won Kentucky! Thanks to everyone who turned out. We're always stronger united. http://hrc.io/1swOL50 pic.twitter.com/elNUP4nFoO https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CitLgrSWEAAWIRd.jpg:large
With 99% of precincts reporting, Clinton led Sanders 46.8% to 46.3%, per the New York Times' tally. Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes a supporter of Clinton's campaign told CNN Tuesday evening that Clinton was the "unofficial winner" of the contest, and NBC News has declared Clinton the "apparent winner."
Clinton led Sanders by a comfortable 283 delegates (not including superdelegates) coming into the Kentucky battle, per RealClearPolitics. The Bluegrass State has 55 delegates to award.
Still, Clinton hit the trail in hopes of a Kentucky win that would prevent a three-state Sanders winning streak, make clear she's left Sanders no path to the nomination and encourage Democrats to trade intraparty acrimony for a united focus on the November general election.
Despite the deep fervor of his supporters and the fact that California doesn't vote until June 7, the delegate math suggests it will be difficult if not impossible for the Vermonter to stop Clinton now.
Source: Andrew Harnik/AP
Clinton, who carried the state in her first White House bid, campaigned with Grimes and former Gov. Steve Beshear.
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She also played up the fact that her husband was the last Democrat to win Kentucky in a presidential election, having scored victories there in both 1992 and 1996. She said she'd put Bill Clinton in charge of revitalizing the economy and played up financial themes after having stirred anger by saying she'd drive coal miners "out of business."
A Kentucky parent earning the minimum wage spends 40% of their income on child care. Let's make sure no family has to spend more than 10%.
The Democratic nominee is all but sure to face Republican Donald Trump in November.
CAIRO (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held brief talks with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo on Wednesday, a day after the Egyptian leader proposed new efforts to try to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Kerry had already been scheduled to meet with Sisi to discuss a series of meetings on the Libya and Syria conflicts which took place earlier this week in Vienna. A U.S. official said Kerry would explore in more detail Sisi's proposal, made on Tuesday during a speech, to mediate a reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions to pave the way toward a lasting peace accord with the Israelis. In a statement after the meeting, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said they had discussed a "range of bilateral and regional issues, including recent developments on Libya and Syria." During the meeting Kerry "stressed the importance of Egypt's role as a regional partner", Toner said. Egypt was the first of a handful of Arab countries to recognize Israel with a U.S.-sponsored peace accord in 1979, but Egyptian attitudes toward their neighbor remain chilly. Sisi's proposal, made during an impromptu speech at an economic conference, came as France pushes for an international conference to launch peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told France's foreign minister on Sunday that his country remained opposed to Paris's initiative, which was born of French frustration over the absence of movement toward a two-state solution since U.S.-brokered talks collapsed in 2014. Kerry spoke by phone with Netanyahu on Tuesday and with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas earlier in the week, the U.S. official said, without elaborating. During the meetings in Vienna on Monday and Tuesday, world powers said they were ready to consider demands from Libya's new unity government for exemptions from a U.N. arms embargo to help take control of the lawless country. The West is counting on the U.N.-backed unity government to tackle Islamic State in Libya and to stop new flows of migrants heading across the Mediterranean, though the newly instated leaders are still not in control of the capital city Tripoli. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton)
Cairo (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry met in Cairo on Wednesday with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, after Egypt called for a renewal of the Middle East peace process.
Even before Sisi raised the issue, Kerry had planned a visit to discuss the Libya and Syria crises and to raise concerns about Egypt's harsh crackdown on dissent, issues the top US diplomat's office said were discussed in the meeting.
But Kerry was also keen to hear more from the Egyptian leader about how he intends to help broker peace between his Israeli and Palestinian neighbours.
"He's interested in hearing a bit more directly from the president about what role he has in mind," a senior US official told reporters before the talks, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"The Secretary expressed his appreciation for the president's recent statement of strong support for advancing Arab-Israeli peace," State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said afterwards, without providing details.
On Tuesday, in a televised speech, Sisi urged Israelis and Palestinians to seize what he said was a "real opportunity" and hailed his own country's peace deal with Israel.
Sisi urged Israeli parties and leaders to "please, reach an agreement so a solution can be found" and called for "a real reconciliation, and quickly" between Palestinian factions, offering Cairo's full support.
Arab League deputy secretary general Ahmed Ben Helli on Wednesday welcomed Sisi's offer to mediate between Palestinian factions for a speedy reconciliation to pave the way to revive the peace process.
In 1979, Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel after years of conflict, and today it remains an influential player in the region.
Washington believes the only way to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is a negotiated settlement resulting in two states side-by-side within recognised borders.
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- Frustrations at US approach -
But the US does not believe the time is yet ripe to resume direct dialogue, preferring instead to lobby both to make confidence-building measures to reduce violence and calm tensions.
Some in the international community are becoming frustrated with that approach, and France -- and now Egypt -- are pushing for a quicker resumption of efforts to seek a final deal.
There is sympathy for that goal in Washington, and an acceptance that there is a risk that the process could become unsalvageable if it is allowed to fester, but there is also caution about pushing too fast.
"We've said repeatedly that we believe negotiations are the only way to solve the problem. We've also said that we're not ourselves trying to resume negotiations at this point," the US official said.
"The secretary is very interested in hearing some more about the details of what President Sisi has in mind."
Supporters of the peace process have been dismayed in recent months by Israel's ongoing construction of settlements on Palestinian land and by Palestinian knife and gun attacks on Israelis.
Both these actions stir anger and boost support for hardliners on both sides of the dispute, making an eventual negotiated deal harder to imagine.
"I think we've also made very clear our concerns about some of the steps that have been taken on the ground that call into question the viability of a two-state solution," the US official said.
"That will also be part of our discussion here."
Kerry spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by telephone on Monday and to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas earlier in the week.
After meeting Sisi on Wednesday, Kerry left for a NATO meeting in Brussels.
There have been persistent but unconfirmed reports in Washington that US President Barack Obama is considering making a major speech to emphasise and better define US support for the two-state solution.
But with barely eight months left in office, even if he decides to act, Obama has little time and space to tackle a challenge that frustrated so many of his predecessors.
The freed son of a former Pakistani prime minister Wednesday revealed details of the raid by US and Afghan forces last week which rescued him three years after he was captured by Al-Qaeda operatives.
Ali Haider Gilani, son of Yousaf Raza Gilani, was found during a counter-terror operation in eastern Afghanistan three years after he was kidnapped on the outskirts of the Pakistani city of Multan.
Talking to the media in his hometown of Multan, Gilani said his captors told him they were expecting a US raid on May 9 and moved him to another location, but they were being monitored.
"There was an awesome combat between Al-Qaeda and US security forces in the night of May 9, 2016," he said, as he described seeing the eyes of the soldiers and green lights from their helicopters in the darkness.
"I could only see the red eyes of US soldiers and the Al-Qaeda operatives left me alone in a deserted mountain area," he said.
"I fell down myself on the ground when US soldiers captured me" as drones hovered overhead, he added.
"The cobra helicopters appeared from another direction and shone green lights," he said.
The US forces then transmitted his picture to Bagram Airfield.
"At last, I was identified as the son of Pakistan's former prime minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani," he told reporters at his residence, hailing the US soldier who found him as his "saviour".
NATO has said he was rescued by US Special Operations Forces and Afghan commandos.
Talking about his abduction, Gilani said he was kidnapped by Al-Qaeda to be exchanged for the release of high profile Al-Qaeda operatives.
He spent most of his captivity in the Pakistani tribal district of North Waziristan, where the military has been battling Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants, before being taken across the border to the Afghan province of Paktika.
"I spent the last 40 days of my captivity in Afghanistan and I had served two-and-a-half years in North Waziristan," he said.
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Gilani said he was kept in caves and sometimes in vehicles to keep him safe from drone attacks.
Despite the ordeal, he said the cool weather in the mountains was a pleasant contrast to Multan, Pakistan's hottest city.
Gilani, who is a triplet, said he was working on writing a book about his captivity.
He was kidnapped on May 9, 2013, just two days before a bitterly contested national election in which he was campaigning.
After a long and eventful decline in prices, the crude-oil market has suddenly been experiencing the other side of the supply-demand coin, something that it has not had to deal with in a while: a bull run cobbled together from a series of unplanned supply outages.
It started last month, with the Kuwait oil workers' strike, and those lost barrels were added to lost production from seemingly everywhere, ranging from the North Sea to Libya and Nigeria .
The ongoing wildfire in the tar sands region of Canada was another outlier event, knocking out over 1 million barrels of production per day.
Venezuela has been on the precipice of economic Armageddon for several months, now, and its production has steadily fallen, and, until the recent financial rescue by China , it appeared ready to fall off a cliff.
The steady decline in U.S. shale production from 9.4 million barrels per day to just under 8.9 million barrels has made all of these events matter again. During the height of the production glut, neither Venezuela nor Nigeria could give their oil away. Nigeria, in particular, had scores of cargoes on the high seas, in search of a buyer, at times.
Oil prices have been gripped by bull-market fever, of late, with bullish events being seized upon and bearish elements, such as the continued rise in overall OPEC output, to record levels, ignored.
Offsetting these outages has been the rapid return of Iran to the market, reaching pre-sanction production levels much quicker than most had expected.
The newly bullish set-up seems to have gotten to Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), which turned from bullish to bearish, after the rash of supply disruption events.
Depending on how you tally up the lost production, it can reach as high as 3.75 million barrels per day, which is a lot. But these will not be lasting disruptions.
There have been several fits-and-starts in Libya, but as the past several years have shown, once a fragile peace takes hold, the oil flows. Just last week a cargo sailed from its eastern port.
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Until the Alberta wildfire kicked up, again, over the past couple of days, oil infrastructure was already being returned to service. And the oil market has lived for decades, now, with the occasional flare-up of hostilities on the Nigerian Delta, usually interrupting some inland production, only for a time.
The market will likely be seeing more overall output from OPEC, in the months ahead. Saudi Arabia has stated its ability and intention to raise output to 11.5 million barrels per day, which would represent a 1 million barrel-per-day increase, from current levels, mostly to satisfy its summertime, internal demand. And that is significant.
The analyst community, for whatever reason, has historically doubted both Saudi resolve and capabilities. Do yourself a favor, when handicapping the oil market: Start by taking the Saudis at their word. More often than not, they put (or remove) their oil where their mouth is.
The rash of outages is not to be dismissed, and the current market reaction is not unjustified. When the bulls or bears get on a winning streak, lucky strikes occur, but that should not necessarily alter your world view, or flip your medium- or longer-term view.
This price rebound will bring desperate owners and producers of oil out of the woodwork to sell barrels and stay alive, financially. Not to mention, that the rosy demand growth estimates out there, also supportive of prices, of late, seem to discount the significant headwinds currently faced by the key demand growth region: Asia.
If the outages don't resolve rapidly, then oil prices will remain well-supported. But history has shown that industry is incredibly resilient and incredibly able to return to service, after all kinds of adverse episodes. The market could become well-oversupplied, again, causing prices to easily correct back to $35 per barrel. True clearing of the supply-demand balance is unlikely until 2017.
Commentary by John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital, an investment-management firm that specializes in commodities. Follow him on Twitter @KilduffReport.
For the latest commentary on the markets in U.S. and around the world, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
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The indefatigable Kool & the Gang, which has been celebrating its 50th anniversary, will be "Keeping the Funk Alive" this summer. That's the name of the multiple-award-winning band's upcoming tour, featuring a supporting cast that includes Prince proteges Morris Day & the Time, Bootsy's Rubber Band, Doug E. Fresh and Big Daddy Kane. The eight-date run starts July 22 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and ends Aug. 28 in Los Angeles. Additional information is available through KoolAndTheGang.com.
Kool & the Gang on 'Keeping the Brand Alive,' the Origin of 'Celebration' and Being the Most-Sampled Band in History
Three-time Grammy Award winner Lalah Hathaway is currently on a 17-city trek. Upcoming stops (LalahHathaway.com) include Austin, Texas (May 29), Newark, New Jersey (June 10), New Orleans (Essence Festival, June 30-July 3), Los Angeles (July 22) and Chattanooga, Tennessee (Aug. 20). Beforehand, Hathaway -- who won her third consecutive Grammy in February for best traditional R&B performance (cover of dad Donny's "Little Ghetto Boy") -- will guest on TV talk show The Real on May 23, performing "Little Ghetto Boy" featuring Snoop Dogg and Terrace Martin.
Critically acclaimed trio KING will re-release their debut album We Are KING on vinyl July 12. In the meantime, KING's twin sisters Paris and Amber Strother have added collaborations with Corinne Bailey Rae and Robert Glasper to their repertoire. The pair count production, performance and co-writing credits on Rae's new Capitol album The Heart Speaks in Whispers via several tracks, among them "Green Aphrodisiac," "Been to the Moon" and "Tell Me." For Glasper's forthcoming Miles Davis-inspired Sony album, Everything's Beautiful (May 27), KING wrote, produced and arranged the track "Song for Selim." Stevie Wonder, also featured on Glasper's project, has invited KING as special guests -- along with Pharrell Williams and Rae -- for his British Summer Time festival gig at London's Hyde Park on July 10. Now extended through the summer, KING's tour schedule includes a June 11 performance at New York's SummerStage (WeAreKING.com).
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Wednesday that participants in Britain's pre-referendum debate over whether to leave the European Union were using "the Russian factor" and President Vladimir Putin to try to score points. Putin's spokesman made the comments a day after British Prime Minister David Cameron said he thought Putin "might be happy" if Britons voted to leave the EU in a June 23 referendum. "We are used to the Russian factor being one of the regular tools used in the U.S. electoral campaign, but for us it's a new thing that the Russian factor or the President Putin factor is being used in the Brexit debate," Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told reporters. "It is a new phenomenon ... and let's not forget that President Putin has spoken more than once about our interest in forging good partner-like and mutually beneficial relations with EU nations." British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in March that the only country wanting Britain to leave the EU was Russia, while David Cameron has previously said that what he called Putin's aggression meant it was no time to drop out of the EU. The Russian embassy in London has complained, saying Moscow was being dragged into an emotive debate and that the Russian government had no opinion on Britain's place in the EU. Putin, unlike other world leaders such as U.S. President Barack Obama, has not made his feelings on the Brexit debate public. (Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova and Andrew Osborn; Editing by Dmitry Solovyov)
MOSCOW, May 18 (Reuters) - Russia does not accept the application of U.S. justice outside Washington's jurisdiction, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, after the U.S. Justice Department opened an investigation into allegations of state-sponsored doping by Russian athletes. "We treat with a certain scepticism and a certain degree of incomprehension and aversion the cases of extra-territorial application of the jurisdiction of U.S. courts which have become pretty widespread lately," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with journalists when asked about the U.S. doping investigation. (Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Christian Lowe)
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), an illegal armed group waging an insurgency in Turkey, on Tuesday said it carried out a May 12 car bomb attack that wounded seven people in Istanbul. A parked car exploded on a boulevard in the outlying Sancaktepe district as a bus carrying Turkish military personnel passed by. A civilian driver was among those hurt, the army said at the time. The PKK, deemed a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Turkey, claimed responsibility for the attack on its website. The group has waged an armed campaign against the state since 1984, and violence has reached its worst levels since the PKK abandoned a ceasefire in July. (Reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Nick Tattersall)
An A-list cast of German actors has joined the cast of Babylon Berlin, the upcoming period crime series co-written and co-directed by A Hologram for The King helmer Tom Tykwer.
Lars Eidinger, currently appearing alongside Kristen Stewart in Cannes competition title Personal Shopper, will co-star in the new project, together with Victoria star Frederick Lau, Karl Markovics (The Counterfeiters) and Christian Friedel (The White Ribbon).
Hannah Herzsprung (Four Minutes), Sebastian Urzendowski (Borgia) and Matthias Brandt (Counterparts) are also part of the ensemble cast of the new series, which Tykwer co-wrote and is co-directing with Hendrik Handloegten, screenwriter on the Golden Globe-nominated Good Bye Lenin! and Achim von Borries, who penned the script to Emma Thompson/Brendan Gleeson starrer Alone in Berlin.
Volker Bruch, whose credits include roles in The Reader and The Baader Meinhof Complex, stars in Babylon Berlin as Gereon Rath, a police inspector in Berlin in the Roaring Twenties, when the city was a world capital of art and social emancipation but also of crime and political extremism. Liv Lisa Fries (The Wave) will play his lover, Charlotte. The show is based on the series of best-selling novels by German writer Volker Kutscher.
Babylon Berlin is currently in production, with the first two eight-episode seasons set for delivery next year. Tykwer's production shingle X Filme is producing together with German public broadcaster ARD, pay-TV outlet Sky and Beta Film, which also is handling international sales. Sky will broadcast the series in 2017 and ARD in 2018.
Stefan Arndt, Uwe Schott, and Michael Polle are producing Babylon Berlin for X Filme, with Jan Mojto and Dirk Schurhoff of Beta Film as co-producers.
With a budget of just under &euro40 million ($45 million), Babylon Berlin is one of the most expensive series ever made in Germany. The producers are planning a 200-day shoot for the first two seasons, with more than 250 speaking roles and some 5,000 extras. Production designer and frequent Tykwer collaborator Uli Hanisch (A Hologram for the King, Perfume - The Story of a Murderer) has been tasked with recreating both the Art Nouveau glitter and the grimy back alleys of 1920s Berlin.
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Judging by the first image of the show (above) provided exclusively to The Hollywood Reporter, Hanisch and the producers are going for a Peaky Blinders-style period cool. The picture, shot by Tykwer himself, shows Bruch in a grey fedora, his face in shadows, lit only by fuzzy neon lights behind him spelling out the film's title.
Read More: Tom Tykwer Drama 'Babylon Berlin' to Air on Sky Deutschland in 2017
Brasilia (AFP) - A leading ally of Brazil's leftist icon and ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sentenced Wednesday to 23 years in prison for his part in a giant corruption scheme that has shaken the country's elite.
Jose Dirceu, a former chief of staff under Lula and a co-founder with the ex-president of the Workers' Party, was sentenced for "crimes of corruption, money laundering an membership of a criminal group," Judge Sergio Moro said in the sentencing document.
The sentence of 23 years and three months can be appealed.
Prosecutors say Dirceu, 70, was a ringleader of a vast scam centered on state-oil company Petrobras in which contractors paid bribes to receive inflated contracts, and stolen money was funneled to politicians and political parties.
Another 10 people were sentenced along with Dirceu, including Workers' Party former treasurer Joao Vaccari Neto, who was given nine years prison.
The hefty sentence against Dirceu was the latest blow struck by Moro, who heads the Petrobras investigation, known as Operation Car Wash.
Dozens of top executives and politicians at both the Workers' Party and its rivals have been charged or probed with involvement in the scheme, which flourished for much of Lula's 2003-2010 presidency.
The scandal has unfolded in parallel with the fall from power of president Dilma Rousseff, who took over from Lula. She was suspended from office last week for an impeachment trial, potentially ending 13 years of Workers' Party rule.
Rousseff, facing impeachment on charges of government accounting misdeeds, is not accused of corruption personally but is being investigated for possible obstruction of justice.
Lula faces a corruption case related to the Petrobras scandal and is being probed for an allegedly much wider role in the scheme.
Others facing probes include several members of the new government headed by acting president Michel Temer, who took over from Rousseff after her suspension.
Beirut (AFP) - A Lebanon military judge Wednesday sentenced 106 men to death over clashes between the army and jihadists two years ago in the east of the country, a judicial source said.
Judge Najat Abou Chakra convicted 73 Syrians, 32 Lebanese and one Palestinian of belonging to "terrorist organisations", attacking the town of Arsal near the Syrian border, and kidnapping and attempting to kill Lebanese soldiers and policemen, the source said.
Seventy-seven of those convicted are in custody but the other 29 remain at large.
They include Abu Malek al-Talli, the leader in the cross-border area of Qalamun of Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate, Al-Nusra Front.
In August 2014, the Lebanese army clashed with the Islamic State jihadist group and Al-Nusra in Arsal.
IS and Al-Nusra kidnapped 30 soldiers and policemen as they withdrew.
After lengthy negotiations, 16 of the captured men were released in early December in exchange for Islamist prisoners jailed in Lebanon.
Since the start of the five-year conflict in Syria, Lebanon has become home to more than one million Syrian refugees.
It has also been the scene of deadly bombings, including attacks targeting the Shiite group Hezbollah, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
By Ayman al-Sahli MISRATA, Libya (Reuters) - Forces loyal to Libya's U.N.-backed unity government pushed Islamic State fighters back toward their stronghold of Sirte on Wednesday but lost more than 30 men, including seven killed in a car bombing, officials said. In a televised statement from the streets of Abu Grain, military spokesman Mohamed al-Gasri said the forces had "liberated" the small town and two nearby villages after heavy fighting. Western powers are counting on the new government to unify Libya's political and armed factions to take on Islamic State. The government arrived in Tripoli in late March and is still trying to establish its authority. Islamic State gained control over Sirte last year and has built up its most important base outside Syria and Iraq in the Libyan coastal city. However, it has struggled to hold on to territory elsewhere in Libya. Islamic State militants overran the town of Abu Grain and several villages after staging suicide attacks against checkpoints in the area on May 5. The unity government then created a new operations room in Misrata, which announced a campaign to recapture Sirte. Abu Grain is about 140 km (85 miles) west of Sirte and about 100 km south of Misrata. The operations room said 32 of its forces had been killed and 50 wounded in Wednesday's fighting, according to a brief statement sent to journalists. Seven died in a car bombing in Buayrat al-Hasun, about 90 km west of Sirte. The advance came a day after military forces retook Abu Grain checkpoint. They now also control the villages of Abu Najaym and Zamzam, Gasri said. "We declare the completion of the first stage of al-Bonyan al-Marsous after we pushed the militants of Daesh (Islamic State) back to the outskirts of Sirte," he said, referring to the name the operations room gave to the campaign for Sirte. A report published on Wednesday by campaign group Human Rights Watch found that Islamic State in Sirte had unlawfully executed at least 49 people accused of offences including spying, sorcery, and blasphemy over one year from February 2015. It quoted a military intelligence officer in Misrata as saying Islamic State had some 1,800 fighters in Sirte and that at least 70 percent of them were foreign. Some two-thirds of the city's 80,000 residents have fled, the report said. (Reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Gareth Jones and Alan Crosby)
By Claire Milhench
LONDON (Reuters) - A dispute between Libya's $67 billion (46 billion pounds) sovereign wealth fund and Societe Generale over alleged bribes paid to the company of a middleman linked to the Gaddafi family will be back in London's High Court on May 19 for a pre-trial hearing.
In the ongoing litigation, the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) is pursuing Societe Generale for some $2.1 billion in relation to a series of disputed trades, including derivatives, entered into between late 2007 and 2009, before Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was ousted.
The hearing may provide an update on the timing of the case, which was expected to go to trial in January 2017.
SocGen is the second international bank to be pursued by the LIA in UK courts: it is also suing Goldman Sachs over advice given on $1 billion of trades made in 2008, claiming they were unsuitable and ultimately "worthless".
Goldman Sachs has denied the LIA's allegations and is contesting the case.
The LIA claims Societe Generale paid at least $58.5 million to a Panamanian-registered company called Lenaida for advisory services related to the disputed trades.
At the time, Lenaida was controlled by Libyan businessman Walid Giahmi, who is said to have been close to Gaddafi's son Saif. Giahmi is also named as a defendant in the suit.
Giahmi's representatives did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Lenaida has no representation and could not be contacted.
The sovereign fund claims that neither Lenaida nor Giahmi provided any legitimate services to Societe Generale. Rather, it alleges that the payments were bribes with the aim of influencing the LIA's decision to enter into the trades.
It cited no specific evidence but maintained that neither Lenaida or Giahmi had any discernible expertise in advising or structuring financial derivative transactions.
The French bank declined to comment on these specific allegations. However, in its annual report published in March, it said it refutes the allegations, and "any claim tending to question the lawfulness of these investments".
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On April 8, 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice served Societe Generale with a subpoena requesting it produce documents relating to transactions with Libyan entities and individuals, including the LIA.
Societe Generale said it was cooperating with the U.S. authorities.
(Reporting by Claire Milhench Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libyan military forces said on Tuesday they recaptured one of the main checkpoints south of the city of Misrata from Islamic State, reversing some of the gains the militant group made earlier this month. Seven members of the armed forces were killed and 19 were wounded, including three who died in a mine explosion as they took control of the checkpoint of Abu Grain, Misrata hospital spokesman Aziz Issa said. Islamic State fighters had overrun the Abu Grain checkpoint, town and several nearby villages after carrying out coordinated suicide bomb attacks on May 5. Abu Grain is about 140 km (85 miles) west of Islamic State's Libyan stronghold of Sirte, on the main road leading south from the port city of Misrata. The military has yet to take full control of the area, however. "There are skirmishes from time to time against the militants," said Mohamed al-Gasri, a spokesman for an operation room set up by Libya's U.N.-backed unity government. "We will keep making progress to clean Abu Grain town of those militants". The unity government arrived in Tripoli in late March. Western states hope it will replace two rival administrations that have competed for power in Libya since 2014 and unite the armed brigades that supported them to take on Islamic State. The new government has moved to establish itself in western Libya with the backing of brigades from Misrata, which gained power due to its central role in the uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The new government's operations room says it is preparing an offensive to recapture Sirte, which has been controlled by Islamic State since last year. The unity government, however, has so far struggled to win formal backing from factions in eastern Libya, where military forces also say they are preparing for an offensive against Sirte. Islamic State controls a strip of coast about 250 km (155 miles) long around Sirte but it has struggled to hold ground elsewhere in the country. (Reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Dan Grebler)
New York (AFP) - Two documents signed by Abraham Lincoln in his drive to abolish slavery in 19th century America go on auction next week, expected to fetch up to $5 million.
Limited edition copies of the Emancipation Proclamation delivered on January 1, 1863 and the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery two years later, were issued by the man whom many still consider the greatest US president.
Sotheby's, which is conducting the sale on May 25 in New York, said the documents "represent crucial milestones" in American history and remain pertinent today amid renewed debate about racism in the United States.
In the proclamation, Lincoln ordered that all people held as slaves "henceforward shall be free."
The emancipation immediately set as many as 50,000 men, women and children free, and transformed the mission of the American Civil War from one of restoration of the Union to one of liberation.
The copy of the proclamation on sale is worth $1.5 to $2 million, and the copy of the 13th amendment $2-3 million, Sotheby's said. Both documents are framed.
Signed copies of the proclamation were advertised for $10 each in 1864 and sold to benefit the United States Sanitary Commission, considered a forbearer of both the Red Cross and the United Service Organization, Sotheby's said.
Lincoln signed the 13th amendment, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States, on February 1 1865, the culmination of 70 years of discord over the status of slaves.
The copy on sale is one of 14 signed by Lincoln, his vice president, the speaker of the house Schuyler Colfax and in this case, by 36 senators.
Lincoln's historical importance and the enormous regard that he commands has often translated into high prices on the auction block.
In 2009, a manuscript of a Lincoln speech urging the country to unite amid civil war sold in New York for $3.4 million, which Christie's said was then a record for a US historical document.
Last November, the final passage of his second inaugural address, which Lincoln wrote out and signed for a 10-year-old child weeks before he was assassinated in a theater in April 1865, sold in New York for $2.2 million.
The 2012 Hollywood movie, "Lincoln," directed by Steven Spielberg won an Oscar for British actor Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role.
Lincoln Motor Company has once again turned to actor Matthew McConaughey for its ad campaign, with this latest series focused on the automaker's updated MKZ mid-size sedan.
The MKZ was given more than a thorough nip and tuck for 2017, something Lincoln highlights in the new series of three commercials. The ads began running earlier this week both digitally and on television in the United States and in Canada.
Like the last run of ads featuring the actor famous for his gentle Texas drawl, this series is relatively dark and focuses as much on McConaughey as it does the luxury sedan itself. Lincoln says the ads are designed to use common experiences to highlight the MKZ's improved precision and handling. They utilize the tagline "it's like that" at the end right before the Lincoln logo pops onto the screen.
More than anything, however, the ads set a tone of moody sophisticationespecially since they don't contain any dialog from McConaughey. In only one of the ads, "Ensemble," is there any real personality. In that spot, the band Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings plays a cover of the song Midnight Rider, and a cut to McConaughey reveals his trademark smirk as he hustles the sedan down a winding road.
Lincoln and McConaughey have been working together for nearly two years now on ads, which began with more dialog than car and later took a dive into the noir.
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Earlier this year, a Yelp employee publicly complained to the CEO that she couldn't afford to buy groceries, thanks to the combination of making an $8.15-an-hour after-tax salary while living in the notoriously expensive San Francisco Bay Area.
Hours later, she was fired, which sparked a lively dialogue.
It also intensified the minimum-wage debate, as Talia Jane (not her full name) certainly isn't the only one having trouble making ends meet.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4% of all hourly paid workers (3 million people) earn the before-tax $7.25-an-hour federal minimum wage or less.
Pew Research Center found that 30% of hourly workers (about 20.6 million people) are "near minimum wage" workers those who make more than the minimum wage in their state but less than $10.10 an hour.
I decided to simulate living on Jane's salary for 30 days to see how hard it actually is to make ends meet with a "near minimum wage" or otherwise-limited salary. After taking my fixed costs out of my "new salary," I was left with exactly $150 for the month.
My experience was worlds away from the millions of Americans who live on minimum or nearly minimum wage day in and day out after all, I did have a safety net of savings and my challenge had a 30-day "timer" on it but it gave me a small glimpse of what it's like to make ends meet with limited income in an expensive city.
Spoiler alert: It was difficult.
The hardest part was something I didn't see coming, and something that many of us continually delude ourselves about: There are always unexpected costs and they can ruin your budget in an instant.
New York City Central Park
My unexpected cost happened to be my best friend's birthday it ate up over half of my monthly budget and left me with a mere $34 of spending money for the remaining 2 1/2 weeks of the 30-day challenge.
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And this wasn't an isolated incident I could have picked any month to live off $8.15 an hour and there would have been something to account for: a wedding, flight home, or moving expenses, for instance.
These unexpected costs aren't necessarily emergencies, and they aren't even always unexpected (I knew it was my best friend's birthday), but they aren't consistent, like rent or cable, and they can wreck your budget.
As my experience attests, I haven't figured out the best way to accommodate these costs, but Ramit Sethi, author of "I Will Teach You to Be Rich," suggests one solution: designating a sub-savings account for nonemergency, unplanned expenses.
His rule of thumb is to add 15% to your estimate of your fixed costs to cover the unplanned or surprise expenses, starting with $50 each month.
Sethi writes:
You'll soon realize that this cartoonishly low figure [$50/month] is not enough. But with some time, you'll have a better idea of what the figure should actually be and can change the amount accordingly ... After about a year or two (remember, think long term), you'll have a very accurate understanding of how to project. The beginning is the hard part, but it only gets easier.
I failed to plan for the biggest, most significant unexpected expense, but I learned from the birthday mishap and planned ahead for other necessities I would face throughout the month. For example, I knew I had to get to the airport the third week of April; as soon as I realized that, I immediately put the necessary fare ($11) on my MetroCard so I wouldn't even have the chance to spend that travel money elsewhere.
Moving forward, I can use this strategy for the bigger, unexpected costs. I'll never be able to plan everything to a tee, but I can look at each month from a big-picture standpoint, anticipate certain inconsistent costs, and set aside an appropriate chunk of money to accommodate those costs.
NOW WATCH: A neuroscientist explains why going to a chiropractor may be a waste of money
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PHOENIX, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / May 18, 2016 / Lotus Bio-Technology Development, Corp. (OTC: LBTD) a Bio-naturals company specializing in exploring for opportunities in the refining of organic materials for the production of consumer related products, announces today the Grand Opening of the Company's new corporate office in China, and the appointment of Michael Palethorpe as the Company's new Chief Executive Officer and President.
Having established a long and proven track record of profitable business building in a wide range of corporate environments, Mr. Palethorpe brings to the Company a diverse range of executive and managerial skills that are expected to strengthen Lotus Bio-Technology as the Company advances toward significant growth and expansion.
Mr. Palethorpe brings to the table a wealth of experience he has acquired over the past nearly three decades. He has founded several successful companies since 1998, including what in 1999 developed into a global leader in XML technologies. Also among his accomplishments was also the launch of what came to become the world's second largest mountain bike website, boasting over 20,000 unique users per day in the year 2000, and also served as a Regional Manager of a global education enterprise, doubling participation in the Company's courses in 2004 and 2005. More recently Micheal also managed a sales team that yielded in excess of $1,000,000 annual revenues of Metasoft Systems, Inc. He most recently spent 6 years running a private marketing Company, followed by a 3 year tenure as President and CEO of New Media Insight Group.
In anticipation of the Company's growth strategy, Lotus Bio-Technology has established the corporate office in Yong Zhou City to serve as a headquarters for its daily business activity.
About Lotus Bio-Technology Development Corp.: Lotus Bio-Technology is actively seeking new opportunities in the emerging bio-natural industry in China. Our mandate is to grow various plants under strict organic standards to be refined into various consumer products which are completely natural. The products will strike a balance between affordability and produced from an environmentally responsible manner, void of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, anti-biotics, growth hormones and any other dangerous chemicals.
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For more information please visit: www.Lotusbiotechnologies.com
or for Investor Relations contact: Michael@lotusbiotechnologies.com
Ph. 480-275-2294
Forward Looking Statements: This news release includes "forward looking statements", as that term is defined in Section 27A of the Unites States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the United States Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that are subject to assumptions, risks and uncertainties. Statements in this news release that are not purely historical are forward looking statements, including without limitation any statements concerning the Company's intentions, plans, estimates, expectations or beliefs regarding the future. Although the Company believes that any forward looking statements in this news release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such forward looking statements will prove to be accurate. The Company cautions readers that all forward looking statements, including without limitation those relating to the Company's future operations and business prospects, are based on assumptions none of which can be assured, and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward looking statements. Readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such risks and uncertainties and should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements.
Any forward looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update the forward looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual events or results could or do differ from those projected in the forward looking statements. Except as required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to update any forward looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
SOURCE: Lotus Bio-Technology Development, Corp.
Another positive earnings report from a home improvement retailer. Lowe's says both earnings and revenue came in above expectations. Lowe's says both indoor and outdoor products sold well. Yesterday, Home Depot beat earnings expectations Tuesday. Goldman Sachs is issuing a word of warning this morning. The investment bank is telling clients to forget about equities for the next 12 months and look to credit for returns instead. Goldman says equities are neutral and in slow growth environment there may not be much upside. Credit, especially high-yield bonds, have much more favorable valuations, according to Goldman. Valeant is said to be considering selling its skin and cancer drugs to reduce debt. Bloomberg reports the sale could raise as much as $1 billion and would attract other drugmakers with interests in those areas. Valeant's new CEO Joe Papa is seeking to turnaround the company which has been battered by an accounting scandal and government investigations.
Didi Kualdi
The transportation war has become increasingly brutal in China, with Uber playing catch up since its launch there in 2013.
Uber logged only 1 million daily rides in China in 2015. Didi Chuxing said it handles more than 11 million rides a day.
The San Francisco-based ride-hailing company is burning $1 billion a year to compete against its No. 1 rival, Didi Chuxing (formerly Didi Kuaidi).
To put that number into perspective, $1 billion is about how much Uber earned per year in its top 30 cities around the world.
Didi heavily armed with financing from local tech giants like Alibaba and Tencent is dominating the market. Didi Chuxing raised about $2 billion in its latest round of funding, Bloomberg News reported.
Apple also jumped in, pumping $1 billion into Didi recently. Apple CEO Tim Cook told Reuters that this investment is a way to boost the company's presence in China.
Both Uber and Didi are putting up a costly fight in a bid to attract more drivers to sign up through subsidies and to attract more passengers through cash-back deals. But it's more than just a money game.
Unlike Uber, which focuses on private car rides in China, Didi allows users to be picked up by taxi, private car, shared car, shuttle van or bus.
The average employee in Beijing travels about 9 miles to work, which takes about 44 minutes at an average speed of about 12 mph, according to a research report by HSBC. "There is a significant transport vacuum across China as the experience on local buses, subways or taxis is generally poor," Herald van der Linde wrote in that report.
Didi is casting a wider net both in terms of geographic coverage and commuting options, and it's working out so far.
Here's Linde:
Importantly, the large taxi apps don't receive any transaction fee from the taxi drivers. This improves acceptance among taxi drivers. But for a private car hire, a 3% transaction fee is charged and it is this that generates revenue for most of these apps.
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To be sure, offering taxi-like services in private cars isn't new, but this is less disruptive in China than in some other cities, such as Paris. The government is also more tolerant of taxi disrupters regardless of their local or foreign roots, according to Linde.
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said the startup has not faced major regulatory challenges in China so far, though the transport minister is getting fidgety about unfair competition from subsidies by ride-hailing companies.
One bright spot is the development of autonomous driving features and their incorporation into the ride-hailing app's fleet. Linde noted in the HSBC report:
In the future, car-pooling may be a new option, with people sharing journeys to the shops or offices. Another growth driver is the establishment of self-driving cars. Some believe that the first models could start to appear in China within 1-2 years.
Uber is already shopping around for driverless cars, while Didi is in good hands with its deep-pocketed backers and working on a platform to partner with self-driving-technology developers.
Whether Uber can sail through China's tough regulatory environment and outpace Didi in the driverless-car race will be key.
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By Scott Malone
BOSTON (Reuters) - A major Boston academic hospital said on Wednesday it would become the first in the northeastern United States to begin performing gender-reassignment surgery on transgender patients.
Boston Medical Center, which has been providing transgender patients with hormone therapy and facial and chest surgery since the 1990s, said it would begin performing a male-to-female procedure it calls "gender affirmation" surgery beginning this summer.
BMC's move comes at a time of intense debate in the United States over the rights of transgender people, exemplified by a North Carolina law mandating that people use restrooms in public buildings and schools that correspond with their birth genders. That measure has sparked a legal battle with the Obama administration and prompted some top entertainers and large corporations to cut or cut back business in the state.
Dr. Joshua Safer, who will help oversee BMC's Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery, said the facility made the move because of a growing realization that hospitals were not keeping up with the needs of transgender patients.
"This was not just a neglected population, but an unnecessarily neglected population because there was a gap between what conventional medicine knows and what conventional hospitals were providing," Safer said in a phone interview.
Even before publicly revealing its plans, the hospital had developed an informal backlog of about 100 patients interested in the surgery, Safer said.
The surgery will be available to adults 18 or older who have been living as the other gender for at least a year, subject to a review of their mental and physical suitability, BMC said. Given that the hospital initially intends to perform just one or two of the surgeries per month, many patients will have to wait longer, Safer said.
There are no firm statistics on how many transgender people live in the United States, but a March paper by researchers at UCLA's Williams Center estimated that 300,000 transgender people aged 13 and up live in 15 states including North Carolina that were considering transgender-related laws.
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Proponents of laws including North Carolina's describe them as necessary to protect the restroom users' privacy and to prevent sexual assaults.
Transgender-rights advocates said BMC's move could promote understanding of the needs of transgender people.
"Having a major hospital system recognize this and put in place both the expertise and the infrastructure to offer care to the transgender community is a really exciting recognition of those needs," said Angela Mazaris, director of Wake Forest University's LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Questioning) Center, in a phone interview.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Frances Kerry)
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia is able to impose a three-year travel ban on its citizens who discredit or ridicule the government, the Star newspaper reported on Wednesday, as criticism against the scandal-tainted Prime Minister Najib Razak grows. Malaysia's immigration department enforced this ruling several months ago in a move to safeguard the country's image, the newspaper said, quoting an unnamed source. The immigration director general Sakib Kusmi confirmed to the paper the existence of such a provision. Reuters could not independently verify the report that the penalty had been used. It was not immediately clear who the provision had been used against as Kusmi did not comment and the newspaper did not say. The report comes after outrage this month over a prominent activist being barred from traveling outside the country. Maria Chin Abdullah, the chairwoman of pro-democracy group Bersih, was not allowed to travel to South Korea to receive an award, the group said. Bersih organized street protests calling for Najib's resignation last year which drew more than 200,000 people. The prime minister has resisted calls to step down over a multi-billion dollar scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and $681 million that was transferred to his personal bank account. Najib has denied any wrongdoing, and has said he has taken no money for personal gain. He has sacked critics within his ruling party and has used a different law, the Sedition Act, which has been criticized by rights groups, against opposition party leaders, activists and lawyers. His government also passed the National Security Act last year, which critics say gave sweeping powers to the prime minister, imperiling democracy and human rights. "A travel ban on critics will mark a dangerous escalation in the governments ongoing crackdown on dissent," said Josef Benedict, Amnesty Internationals deputy director for South East Asia and the Pacific. "The right to freedom of speech is a key human right which the Malaysian people deserve to enjoy just like any other people." Opposition leaders said the provision is another sign of the government abusing its powers. (Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Alison Williams)
A desperate fisherman threw spanners and spark plugs to fight off circling crocodiles after his friend drowned when one of the animals capsized their small boat, reports said Wednesday.
The holidaymakers were pulling in crab pots Tuesday in Leaders Creek, 38 kilometres northeast of Darwin, when their boat was nudged by a saltwater croc, tipping it over.
The men tried to get back on board but it flipped again, trapping one of them underneath, drowning him, the Northern Territory News said.
The survivor, 72, told rescuers he tried to pull the boat to shore before getting stuck waist-deep in mud with three or four crocodiles circling him.
"He was using spanners and spark plugs to hold them at bay," said Ian Badham from CareFlight, an Australian aeromedical charity which flew him to a Darwin hospital.
He managed to make it into nearby mangroves and spent three hours there before some fellow crabbers heard his cries for help.
"The man has been left suffering from severe shock and dehydration and exposure," added Badham, who was speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Crocodiles are common in Australia's tropical north and they kill an average of two people each year.
Crocodile numbers have increased since the introduction of protection laws in 1971, with estimates putting the Northern Territory's population in the wild at about 100,000.
Despite the dangers they pose for swimmers, boaters and fishermen, the Australian government in 2014 rejected the idea of crocodile safari hunts -- saying there was a danger of "cruel and inhumane" behaviour.
Earlier this year, a 19-year-old on a family camping holiday in the Northern Territory had a lucky escape when he fought off a crocodile which bit into his foot as he slept.
In January, a crocodile crunched off a woman's arm in a "death roll" at a creek in a small town in neighbouring Western Australia state.
By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than half the Democrats in the Senate, including many of President Barack Obama's strongest supporters, signed a letter to him on Wednesday urging him to move more quickly to admit Syrian refugees into the United States. Despite Obama's pledge to admit 10,000 of the people fleeing Syria's civil war in the year ending this September, only 1,736 have been allowed into the country so far. In contrast, more than 6,000 have been admitted from Myanmar and more than 5,000 have been admitted from Iraq. "We urge your Administration to devote the necessary resources to expeditiously and safely resettle refugees from Syria," the 27 senators wrote in the letter, which was seen by Reuters. "We are deeply concerned about the slow pace of admissions for Syrian refugees in the first seven months of the fiscal year," the letter said. The lead signers on the letter included Senator Richard Durbin, the number two Democrat in the Senate, and Senator Amy Klobuchar. The letter was signed by 25 other members of the Democratic caucus, including presidential candidate Bernie Sanders It requested an update on specific measures the administration plans to take to fulfill its commitment to resettle the remaining 8,264 Syrians within five months. Obama said in late April that he expected the United States to meet his goal of admitting 10,000 Syrian refugees before Sept. 30, the end of the federal fiscal year. But Obama's promise sparked a firestorm of criticism in the United States, mostly from Republicans who say that violent militants could enter the country by posing as refugees. More than 30 governors, most of them Republicans, have tried to block refugees from coming to their states. The United States has offered refuge to far fewer of the millions fleeing war in Syria and Iraq than many of its closest allies. Germany has taken in hundreds of thousands. Canada admitted 26,859 Syrian refugees between Nov. 4, 2015, and May 1, 2016. "Other nations, including ours, can and should do much more," the senators said in the letter. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Entrepreneur Mark Cuban took aim at Donald Trump 's social media skills Wednesday on CNBC's "Squawk Alley."
"People say 'Donald Trump has really leveraged social media.' No, he hasn't he's horrible on Twitter (TWTR)," Cuban said of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. "He doesn't understand Twitter whatsoever, and if he was really into social media, he'd be using every other social media source as well."
While Trump makes the occasional appearance on Facebook (FB), Cuban called the thought of seeing Trump on Instagram or Snapchat "hysterical."
"The people who follow Trump, they're not looking for substance, and he's smart not to provide some," Cuban said.
Cuban accused the business mogul of hurling harmless insults like "nerf balls" against technology CEOs like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg to stir up support. Cuban, a dot-com founder and "Shark Tank" investor, called Trump's campaign a "campaign about nothing."
"I love to mess with Donald on Twitter because he doesn't get it. He doesn't understand the way Twitter works," Cuban said.
A Trump campaign spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to "Shark Tank."
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Hillary Clinton held a slight lead over Bernie Sanders in the Kentucky primary on Tuesday, as the waning weeks of the Democratic contest have turned particularly bitter among supporters and surrogates.
The race was still close to call with about 99% of the votes counted. Clinton claimed victory late Tuesday.
Sanders won the primary in Oregon, in line with expectations that the states liberal voting base was expected to favor the Vermont senator.
Speaking to supporters in Carson, Calif., where backers lined up hours before his event at a tennis stadium, Sanders said that we are in until the last ballot is cast.
He predicted victory in California, which holds its primary on June 7.
But Clintons apparent victory in Kentucky is a rebound from losses to Sanders in recent primaries in West Virginia and Indiana. A loss would have been embarassing for her campaign, although it wouldnt have disrupted her path to the nomination.
Some of Clintons supporters are expressing increasing frustration with Sanders, particularly after last weekends chaotic state convention in Nevada. Sanders supporters booed Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), one reportedly threw a chair, and the state party leader complained of receiving death threats.
In a statement on Tuesday, Sanders said that the Democratic leadership in Nevada used its power to prevent a fair and transparent process from taking place. He also called the claim that his campaign has a penchant for violence nonsense.
Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz told CNN that she was deeply disturbed by what happened in Nevada, and called Sanders response anything but acceptable.
Clintons backers increasingly worry that Sanders presence in the race, even when his chances of capturing the nomination are very slim, is only exacerbating divisions and preventing her from focusing on the general election and presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.
The acrimony among Democrats has been an increasing media focus in recent days, with questions of whether the rifts could spill over into the Democratic Convention in July.
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It also is a bit ironic, in that much of the media attention throughout the primary has been of rifts within the GOP and whether there would be a contested convention.
Instead, Trump is on the cusp of clinching the nomination.
On Tuesday, Trump, whose rivals have all dropped out or suspended their campaign, won in Oregon and now is less than 100 delegates from securing the nomination.
The heated nature of the race was reflected in some of the reactions to celebrity supporters.
I believe Sen Sanders has right 2fight 2 Dem convention,but when I saw video footage of Nevada violence ,it looked More Like Trump Rally, Cher tweeted on Monday. She, too, got some nasty tweets back.
If people always gave up when their chances got slim, we wouldnt have heroes. Or progress. Or a 4 minute mile, Sarah Silverman, a Sanders supporter, wrote in a tweet.
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Paris-based trio of Christophe Caurret, Fabrice Brovelli and Isabelle Tardieu has taken over Palais red-carpet music at this year's festival, after being handpicked by Cannes director Thierry Fremaux when he spotted them at a music festival in Bayonne last summer.
The collective spends the morning searching for new tracks to prepare for three red carpets a day, selecting tunes that will reflect the guests. They also spin selections from the soundtracks as requested by the films' directors.
That's how E-40's "Choices (Yup)," a tune from American Honey, ended up sparking an impromptu dance party on the top of the stairs during its premiere on May 15.
"It was so cool, and they just kept on dancing," says Tardieu. The trio keeps four turntables at the ready for the moment the emcee announces each guest.
Read more: Cannes: Watch Kristen Stewart, Shia LaBeouf's Impromptu Dance Party Before 'American Honey' Premiere
Donald Trump announced 11 of his potential Supreme Court picks on Wednesday, each notable for different achievements. But only one of them has a spectacular Twitter account.
Don Willett, a justice on Texas Supreme Court, was dubbed the Tweeter Laureate of Texas by the state legislature in 2015. He described his affection for the medium to Law360: I think people just find it remarkable that a high court justice would step out from behind the bench and have a persona thats not the traditional, stodgy, fuddy-duddy persona, but actually comes across as authentic and engaging, he said.
Still, Willett has some rules he holds himself to to make sure his Twitter stays fun, but not controversial.
I dont talk about matters that could come before the court, I dont throw partisan sharp elbows or try to score cheap political points, he told Law360. I resolutely try to stay above the fray and keep things light and comical and entertaining, and sometimes even informative.
That doesnt mean he hasnt mentioned 2016 politics, including Trump. Here are a few of his most relevant tweets:
Others are about his kids:
And some are just random observations and jokes:
A Memphis, Tennessee, man allegedly shot a 3-year-old girl on Sunday after being turned down by a woman. The toddler is now in critical condition at a local hospital.
According to local NBC affiliate WMC, "[A] woman was approached as she sat in her car with a child and another woman .... When she told the man she was not interested in him, he started firing into the car."
LocalMemphis.com reported that the girl's mother had been trying to get away from the situation when the man opened fire. "He can't handle his rage," local parent Dineshia Smith told LocalMemphis.com. The man reportedly fled police.
The story seems to be yet another tragic entry in an ongoing list of violent attacks committed by men who've been rejected by women. Just this past February, Christopher O'Kroley his coworker Caroline Nosal after she rejected his advances and filed a harassment complaint against him. O'Kroley later said it was "easy to kill" Nosal.
Incidents like this are further proof that, for many women, turning down men's advances isn't a matter of etiquette, it can be a matter of life and death.
Hillary Clinton greets supporters at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, on May 16, 2016. (Photo: Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters)
Hillary Clintons path-breaking bid for the presidency is facing resistance from men, especially white men, who are backing Republican rival Donald Trump in droves. Clinton is losing men to Trump by 11 points in a national poll out this week, and exit polling in the Democratic primaries shows that Clinton has done particularly poorly with white men so far, winning 44 percent of their vote on average compared to Sen. Bernie Sanders 56 percent.
But Clinton is being offered help with her man problem from a very unlikely supporter.
Warren Farrell is the father of the mens rights movement, and has dedicated his lifes work to countering the feminist message that we live in a patriarchal society where the rules are made by men to benefit men. In his 1993 book, The Myth of Male Power, he argued that womens sexual power eclipsed any societal disadvantages they had, and that men were becoming the new subservient class in America, forced to chivalrously give up their seats to women while losing out to them in legal arenas such as child custody and domestic violence courts.
Farrell finds himself powerfully attracted to Trumps provocative message on gender issues. He agrees with the former real estate tycoon that Clinton has been playing her womans card by devoting a significant part of her message to womens issues, like the gender pay gap. He is also happy that Trump recently said women have it better today than men do, a core belief of mens rights activists. Most men feel today that their perspective on the world is being completely neglected, Farrell said in an interview.
But Farrell, now in his 70s, is also a lifelong liberal who started out his career in gender issues as a feminist. (He was friends with Gloria Steinem and served on the board of the National Organization for Women before becoming disillusioned with feminism.) Farrell has also distanced himself from the misogyny of some in the mens rights movement who mingle their ideas about mens suffering with a belief that women are shallow and intellectually inferior to them. Its not about mens rights for me; its about both sexes being able to hear each other and be there for each other, Farrell said.
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Hes also been a fan of Hillary Clinton for decades. At a New Years Eve party in 2006, he got to meet her and Bill Clinton, and pressed upon her his most recent book, Why Men Earn MoreAnd What Women Can Do About It. In it, he argues that men earn fatter paychecks than women largely because of the professions they choose not gender discrimination. I gave that book directly to Hillary, Farrell said. Hes donated the maximum allowable amount to her primary bid.
But like a lot of people in his movement, Farrell recoils at some of Clintons feminist rhetoric and fears that her winning the presidency will further fuel what he sees as mens decline in power and status in society. Theres a huge number of women who are feminists in their orientation who only look at the world the way Hillary is articulating it, and that is going to create even more of this rift that Trump is articulating, Farrell said.
And yet, Farrell cant fathom a Trump presidency, and says he abhors most of Trumps policy positions. Id rather have somebody who doesnt understand my issues who I believe will run a good economy, who I believe will be able to negotiate with the Mideast, he said.
So Farrell and some of his ideological compatriots including Mark Sherman, a retired psychology professor who writes about gender issues are on a mission to educate the Clinton campaign about men. They have been lobbying Team Clinton to explicitly address mens issues, which they believe would help her attract more male voters. They want her to talk about how men are doing worse than women in college attendance and in suicide rates, among other issues. (Both Sherman and Farrell are part of a bipartisan group that is lobbying the Obama administration to create a White House Council on Boys and Men to mirror the group it created for girls.)
I do think for a lot of men, it does seem to us that were not a concern of hers, Sherman said. A lot of guys feel shes just not talking to us.
Warren Farrell and Hillary Clinton on New Years Eve in 2006. (Courtesy of Warren Farrell)
Farrell has pointed out that on a recent call with supporters, Clinton took five questions, all from women, and that at a recent fundraiser in San Francisco he attended, most of her introducers were women. She needs to start saying things like, women need the support of fathers, Farrell said.
Sherman, who hasnt decided whether to back Clinton or Sanders, wrote to Amanda Renteria, Clintons national political director, in December to urge the former secretary of state to speak about men.
He included some suggested text for Clinton. I have always been a champion for girls and women across the globe, and here at home, and I will continue to be, Sherman suggested Clinton say. But our boys and young men are not doing very well, and the role of fathers who can make a huge difference in the lives of daughters as well as sons has not been fully recognized and appreciated. Our nations future depends on how our families are doing, and that includes all of us.
Renteria replied politely. I know the Secretary agrees with you on the importance of boys and young men, she said. Truth is, her statements on women and girls seem to make the press, but she is always talking about families.
Asked to comment on Farrells suggestions, Clinton spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa said the former secretary of states focus on education, college affordability, criminal justice reform, gun violence prevention, quality health care, and good-paying jobs would help the lives of both men and women. Hillary Clinton is committed to helping all Americans male and female reach their full potential, she said.
So far, Clinton has not heeded her mens rights supporters advice. And its unclear if it would make strategic sense for her to do so.
Its true that her performance with men is worrisome, especially in a recent Quinnipiac poll of three swing states, where she won just a quarter of white mens support in Florida. Twenty-five percent of the vote is not real good, said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. Trumps doing better among men than shes doing among women. Thats the gender gap that doesnt get talked about a lot.
But national polls suggest that overall, Trump appears to be more underwater with women than Clinton is with men. She trails him with men by 11 points, but hes behind her with women by 15 points.
Trumps objective appears to be to run up the score, shoring up as much support among men as possible to counter Clintons advantage among women. He has cornered the market on mens issues, playing his own man card of sorts. Earlier this month, he deflected attacks on his comments criticizing women for their appearance as political correctness, and said men are petrified to talk to women because someone could accuse them of raising their voice.
Trump is playing a gender card, said Susan J. Carroll, a political science professor at Rutgers University. Hes playing to that feeling among some white men that other groups are getting more advantages and attention, and their lot has been declining.
The problem with this strategy? Ten million more women than men voted in the last presidential election.
The numbers arent on Trumps side, Carroll said.
That might help explain why, to Farrells chagrin, Clinton appears to be running up the score with women as Trump courts men. Clinton now yells, Deal me in! about Trumps womans card critique on the stump, and her audiences cry the words out loud with her.
At a fundraiser Farrell attended earlier this month, the crowd went wild when Clinton said she planned to close the pay gap between men and women. She said, Wow, thats always my biggest standing ovation, Farrell recalled.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misstated the title of one of Farrells books.
Last weekend, the New York Times published one of what will be many takes on President Barack Obamas legacy as commander in chief. Retroactively shoehorning seven-plus years of varied military operations into one coherent doctrine is impossible, but dozens of articles will soon attempt to do so.
There is one significant aspect of this doctrine, however, that is rarely mentioned by the media and never by Obama: the unprecedented use of private contractors to support foreign military operations.
Obama has authorized the continuation or re-emergence of two of the most contractor-dependent wars (or overseas contingency operations in Pentagon-speak) in U.S. history. As noted previously, there are roughly three contractors (28,626) for every U.S. troops (9,800) in Afghanistan, far above the contractor per uniformed military personnel average of Americas previous wars. In Iraq today, 7,773 contractors support U.S. government operations and 4,087 U.S. troops. These numbers do not include contractors supporting CIA or other intelligence community activities, either abroad or in the United States. On April 5, Adm. Michael Rogers, commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, declared during a Senate hearing that contractors made up 25 percent of his workforce.
Under Obama, more private military contractors have died in Iraq and Afghanistan than all the U.S. troops deployed to those countries. Between Jan. 1, 2009, and March 31, 2016, 1,540 contractors were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan (176 in Iraq and 1,364 in Afghanistan). During that period, 1,301 U.S. troops were killed in Afghanistan and Iraq (289 in Iraq and 1,012 in Afghanistan). Last year was even more skewed toward contractors than the preceding six years; 58 contractors died in Afghanistan or Iraq, while less than half as many U.S. troops did (27) fighting in either country, including Syria.
The first thing you learn when studying the role contractors play in U.S. military operations is theres no easy way to do so. The U.S. government offers no practical overview, especially for the decade after 9/11. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) began to release data on contractors only in the second half of 2007 no other geographic combatant command provides such data for their area of operations. In 2011, the Government Accountability Office found, Although all [State Department, USAID, and DOD] are required to track the number of personnel killed or wounded while working on contracts and assistance instruments in Iraq or Afghanistan, DOD still does not have a system that reliably tracks killed and wounded contractor personnel. Just last month, an especially exasperated John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told acting Secretary of the Army Patrick Murphy, We look forward to the day you can tell us how many contractors are employed by [the Department of Defense].
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Moreover, the role, scope, and size of military contractors are never mentioned when there is a new announcement of a U.S. troop deployment to Iraq or Syria. Journalists rarely ask Pentagon spokespersons or military commanders how many contractors will be deployed alongside the troops. On the rare occasions they do, the military representative never has any estimates available. In February 2015, when asked whether outside companies were involved in screening Syrian opposition fighters, the response of Rear Adm. John Kirby, then spokesman for the Department of Defense, neatly encapsulated this utter lack of transparency: Whether theres contractors involved, I just couldnt say.
Not only is it impossible to get reliable, cumulative numbers for contractors deployed or killed, but there are no available government estimates for how many of the deceased war-zone contractors were U.S. citizens. According to one estimate by the Professional Services Council, an industry trade group, only about 32 percent of contractor fatalities between 2001 and 2010 were citizens. The remaining 68 percent are non-Americans who are hired by U.S. or non-U.S. firms that have won a military contract.
When U.S. troops die in service of their country abroad, a detailed Pentagon news release with the service members deaths appears on the constantly updated casualty status website, which categorizes the operation they were supporting and whether they were killed in action or through non-hostile means.
When U.S. citizen or non-citizen contractors die supporting those troops, their employer is, in theory, required to report the incident to the Labor Departments Division of Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation (DLHWC) within 10 days. Alternatively, a family member can file a claim for insurance compensation. The DLHWC then creates a case, and the contractor death is included in the divisions Defense Base Act database, which is updated daily but released to the public only quarterly. In 2011, the DOL inspector general estimated that 68 percent of employers do not report injuries in a timely manner. What complicates matters is that sometimes the contracting activities are subcontracted to host-nation nationals, who fail to report deaths to the original contractor due to a lack of literacy or improper documentation. Thus, contractor fatality numbers are almost certainly undercounted.
There is also limited congressional oversight of contractors, except when a foreign employee accidentally kills a U.S. service member, and for egregious cases of waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer resources. In May 2008, there was a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing, Defense Base Act Insurance: Are Taxpayers Paying Too Much? There was also a series of congressional hearings in 2011 after the multiyear Commission on Wartime Contracting found that at least $31 billion, and as much as $60 billion, had been lost as a result of contract waste and fraud. However, for roughly a decade, there has not been a single hearing focused on the overall responsibilities borne by contractors in U.S. military activities.
In the broader political world, contractors similarly receive zero attention. In the 28 presidential debates held thus far, there was just one mention of military contractors, and then only when Ohio Gov. John Kasich decried big contractors that were charging thousands of dollars for hammers and screwdrivers and ripping us off. There were no opinions offered on those individuals who are most likely to be killed when supporting military operations abroad.
During the next five months you will read a lot about the Obama doctrine, in particular the supposed light military footprint he endorses. However, you will not read about the far larger numbers of war-zone contractors, or the dangerous responsibilities they fulfill. Were it not for these contractors, Obamas light footprint would suddenly be two or three times as large. When the government refuses to provide consistent information about contractors, and when the news media neglect to bring attention to their role and sacrifices, the human costs of fighting Americas wars seem less significant than they actually are.
Photo credit: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's president on Tuesday proposed allowing same sex marriage nationally, the latest in a series of progressive policies in a traditionally conservative country. The presidency said on Twitter that President Enrique Pena Nieto had "announced the signing of a reform initiative which includes the recognition of the right to get married without any form of discrimination." Same sex marriage is currently permitted in Mexico City, as well as in several states including Coahuila, Quintana Roo, Jalisco, Nayarit, Chihuahua and Sonora. Mexico's Supreme Court said last year that laws restricting marriage to a man and woman were unconstitutional and a Supreme Court judge urged states to legalize gay marriage. However, many state legislatures have not changed their statutes to comply, meaning couples must file legal challenges case by case to get married. Gay marriage is still banned under local laws in many of Mexico's 31 states. The president's office asked Congress to change Mexico's constitution to guarantee adults the right to marry without restrictions based on gender, sexual preference, or other reasons. Both the presidency and Pena Nieto's Twitter avatars were overlaid with the rainbow flag of gay pride to mark the international day against homophobia and transphobia. Banners on Pena Nieto's Twitter account read #Sinhomofobia or #Nohomophobia. The announcement came just weeks after Pena Nieto proposed relaxing laws on marijuana. Grappling with deadly drug cartel violence, Pena Nieto last month sent a proposal to Congress to permit the use and importation of marijuana-based medicines. He also proposed raising the amount that marijuana users can legally carry to 28 grams from 5 grams. Growing and selling marijuana is illegal in Mexico but is the mainstay business of violent drug gangs. Pena Nieto has not said where consumers would be able to obtain the marijuana they would be allowed to carry. The proposal on marijuana is languishing in Congress. (Reporting by Mexico Newsroom; Writing by Simon Gardner; Editing by Dan Grebler)
(Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) said it is selling its entry-level feature phone assets to FIH Mobile Ltd and HMD Global Oy for $350 million.
FIH Mobile, a subsidiary of Hon Hai/Foxconn Technology Co Ltd (2354.TW), would also acquire Microsoft Mobile Vietnam as a part of this deal, Microsoft said.
The company said its 4,500 employees from Vietnam will transfer to or will have an opportunity to join FIH Mobile or HMD Global Oy.
Microsoft will transfer all of its feature phone assets, including brands, software and services, care network and other assets, customer contracts, and critical supply agreements to both the companies as a part of the deal.
Microsoft will continue to develop Windows 10 Mobile and support Lumia phones from OEM partners, the company said.
(Reporting by Sangameswaran S in Bengaluru; Editing by Sunil Nair)
Geneva (AFP) - Millions of refugees worldwide risk living on the street due to a lack of funds for shelters, the United Nations warned Wednesday, urging the private sector to help amid surging displacement.
Launching a global campaign called "Nobody Left Outside", the UN refugee agency said it still needed half a billion dollars (441 million euros) to provide adequate shelter.
"Without a major increase in funding and global support, millions of people fleeing war and persecution face homelessness or inadequate housing in countries such as Lebanon, Mexico and Tanzania," UNHCR said in a statement.
"Without a safe place to eat, sleep, study, store belongings and have privacy, the consequences to their health and welfare can be profound," it warned.
Conflicts, including the five-year war in Syria, have fuelled a global crisis with some 60 million people displaced from their homes worldwide.
Nearly 20 million of them have been forced to flee across international borders as refugees.
The UNHCR campaign aims to raise funds from the private sector to build or improve shelters for around two million refugees by 2018.
The agency each year purchases 70,000 tents and more than two million tarpaulins, and outside of camps helps refugees find housing and pay rent.
These operations are expected to cost $728 million this year alone, but UNHCR said so far only $158 million was available for use.
"Shelter is the foundation stone for refugees to survive and recover, and should be considered a non-negotiable human right," UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said in the statement.
"As we tackle worldwide displacement on a level not seen since World War II, no refugee should be left outside," he insisted.
And at a time when anti-refugee sentiments have flared in many overburdened host communities, Grandi said ensuring that refugees are properly housed is a good way to ease tensions.
"Proper shelter for everyone is central to social cohesion," he said, stressing that "good homes make good neighbours."
By Letitia Stein
(Reuters) - Mississippi's schools chief backed away on Wednesday from federal guidance to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choice amid pushback from state leaders.
Education superintendent Carey Wright said in a statement that her department would "follow the lead of state leadership and take no action at this time."
The department previously said it intended to follow the non-binding guidance issued to U.S. schools by the Obama administration last week. In a statement on Friday, the department said "a safe and caring school environment is critical to a students ability to learn and achieve."
In response, Mississippi Republican Governor Phil Bryant urged state education officials to disregard the guidance, which comes at a time of escalating tension over the civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals.
"Because these decisions are better left to the states, and not made at the point of a federal bayonet, Mississippi's public schools should not participate in the president's social experiment, Bryant said in a statement on Friday.
The Obama administration's letter to U.S. schools has received mixed response. Advocates for transgender students have cheered the directive, while conservatives have vowed to fight the administration's position that U.S. laws against sex discrimination in schools include gender identity.
The debate is especially heated in Mississippi, which recently passed a law seen as discriminatory to LGBT rights, allowing people to deny wedding services to same-sex couples based on religious objections. Bryant signed the wide-ranging measure, calling it necessary to protect religious beliefs. Due to take effect in July, the law faces a legal challenge.
(Reporting by Letitia Stein; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Tokyo (AFP) - Mitsubishi Motors said Wednesday that its president would resign over a fuel economy cheating scandal that has left the Japanese automaker's reputation in tatters.
Mitsubishi president "Tetsuro Aikawa... has offered to resign from the post of president as of June 24 because the company caused serious problems for customers and stakeholders," it said in a statement.
(Reuters) - Mitsubishi Motors Corp (7211.T) President Tetsuro Aikawa will step down to take responsibility for the fuel economy data scandal, the Nikkei reported.
Aikawa, who temporarily will be succeeded by Chairman Osamu Masuko, is set to leave around the time the third-party investigative committee compiles the final report in July or the stockholders meeting in June, the paper reported.
Masuko would continue in the dual role until the completion of Nissan Motor Co's acquisition of a stake in Mitsubishi, the Nikkei added.
Mitsubishi Motors and Nissan could not be immediately reached for a comment.
Nissan would appoint one of its directors to head Mitsubishi Motors' product development division after Mitsubishi Motors' regular shareholder meeting on June 24, the paper reported.
Japan's sixth-largest automaker, Mitsubishi, admitted in April it had overstated the fuel efficiency of 625,000 cars, wiping off around 40 percent of its market value, or $3.2 billion in three days.
Mitsubishi Motors plans to decrease its own directors from 13 to 11, while Nissan is set to nominate four directors, including the chairman, the paper added.
(Reporting by Rishika Sadam in Bengaluru; Editing by Stephen Coates)
Model Olivia Ku died while diving. (Photo: CEN)
Olivia Ku, from Taipei, allegedly suffered an asthma attack in Taiwans southern waters near Hengchun Township.
The 25-year-old was a popular model and amateur diver with at least three years of experience. According to Central European News (CEN), a photographer asked Ku to take off her breathing mask for a photo, making Ku hold her breath underwater.
While the exact cause of her death has not been confirmed, there have been suspicions of human error. Veteran divers told CEN, Kus modeling agency should have had professional divers on set during the shoot.
CEN said Ku had volunteered in the exact waters before, helping to pick up rubbish from the ocean floor.
Model Olivia Ku was an amateur diver. (Photo: CEN)
The late Kus husband took to Facebook to express his grief, Your life was cut too short at the age of 25, but you will always be in the hearts of our big family, he said. She is survived by her husband and child, Chiu.
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This is not a column about reform. This is not a column bemoaning the corrosive influence of money in politics. This is a column that just looks at the way campaigns have evolved over the past few years and asks a very simple question is money still really that important in campaigns?
When people talk about the influence of money in politics, theyre specifically talking about a culture that empowers major donors to influence elections through independent expenditures and a culture that encourages pay to play governance by incentivizing politicians to dole out favors to donors in return for campaign contributions. The money mainly goes to one thing television commercials. When you hear about the millions of dollars raised for congressional campaigns or the two billion dollars that will be spent collectively by the nominees for President, youre really hearing about the money allocated to the tv buy.
But viewership is rapidly declining and fewer and fewer people are watching live tv (no one pauses the DVR to watch a political ad). Senior citizens (who are prime, coveted voters) are now more and more technically fluent, meaning you can reach them through ways other than tv spots. And as more and more people watch Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime and fewer watch CBS, TNT or even ESPN, the efficacy of tv ads in campaigns is becoming questionable at best.
Donald Trump has barely run tv spots and hes on his way to capturing the Republican nomination. In last weeks New York primary, Bernie Sanders outspent Hillary Clinton on tv 2-1 and still lost by a 60-40 margin. Jeb Bush outraised and outspent his rivals by a mile and barely made a dent in the electorate. So maybe our focus on removing the influence of money in politics is misplaced.
The odds of passing major, truly meaningful campaign finance reform in Congress (or most state legislatures) are low. The odds of the Supreme Court reversing Buckley v. Valeo or Citizens United arent much higher. And even campaign finance systems praised by policy experts like New York Citys public finance matching system can easily be circumvented, as the multiple criminal investigations into Mayor Bill de Blasios fundraising operation clearly shows. But maybe we dont need major systematic reform or legal change. Maybe we just need campaigns and candidates to start realizing they dont need that much money in the first place.
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Apart from tv ads, the major components of a serious campaign digital ads, grassroots outreach, a campaign staff, polling, collateral like signs and buttons only make up a modest percentage of most campaign budgets. And yet the time devoted to raising the money for tv ads is vast. Candidates (and sitting elected officials) right now spend far too many waking hours raising money (just ask them). Their decisions around legislation and policy are influenced by donors, by lobbyists (who are counted on to raise money) and by interest groups (who threaten to run negative ads if they dont get what they want). And many of those same politicians are then accused of engaging in pay to play politics, with some finding themselves under criminal investigation for it.
None of this may be necessary. A sophisticated digital, pr and grassroots campaign often reaches more voters, with more efficacy, at a fraction of the cost (and the vast majority of todays political tv spots are hackneyed, and therefore fairly ineffective anyway). Yes, its harder for PACs and outside groups to reach as many voters or strike fear in as many candidates without the tool of television, so theyll use it for as long as they can. But their influence is solely dependent on the perception of their strength, which is a direct correlation with the perception of the power of television ads. So as candidates, sitting elected officials, campaign staff, reporters, political operatives and others in the system start to realize that the thing they value the most in campaigns isnt nearly as important as they thought it was, the influence of money in politics and the need for money in politics will wane with it.
Sure, some who directly benefit from the status quo (tv stations, ad makers and buyers) will scoff and argue that tv matters as much as ever. What else are they going to say? But one look at the way todays campaigns are playing out tells you theyre wrong. And the sooner we realize that, the sooner well end up with a more honest, more democratic system. In other words, saving our democracy probably doesnt require radical reform. It just requires opening our eyes.
Bradley Tusk is the founder and CEO of Tusk Holdings, the parent company of Tusk Strategies, Tusk Ventures, Kronos Archives, the Ivory Gaming Group and the Tusk Montgomery Family Foundation.
Prior to creating Tusk Strategies in 2010, Bradley served as Mike Bloombergs campaign manager, guiding Mayor Bloomberg to a third term. In 2016 he advised Bloomberg on a potential presidential run.
Earlier in his career, he created and ran Lehman Brothers lottery privatization group. His career in the public sector began at the New York City Parks Department in 1995, acting as spokesman and then senior advisor to Commissioner Henry Stern. Bradley then served as Communications Director for U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, before becoming Special Advisor to Mayor Bloomberg at City Hall. From 2003-2006, Bradley was Deputy Governor of Illinois.
Bradley received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1995 and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1999. He serves on the boards of Creative Time, StoryCorps, and the New York Advisory Board of the Trust for Public Land.
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By Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez COLOMBO (Reuters) - Around 150 people are feared dead after more than three days of heavy rain triggered two landslides in central Sri Lanka, disaster officials said on Wednesday as rescuers stopped work after recovering more than a dozen bodies. Torrential rains have forced more than 223,000 people from their homes across the South Asian country, the latest official data showed. Seventeen bodies have been recovered, bringing the official death toll to 37, although that figure is likely to rise sharply. Rescue efforts have focused on the town of Aranayaka, 100 km (60 miles) northeast of the capital, Colombo, where three villages were buried late on Tuesday in the central district of Kegalle. "As at 1800 hours, 134 are still missing and 14 bodies recovered so far from the landslide site in Aranayaka," Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe, officer in charge of rescue operation told Reuters. "We have stopped the operations for the day since it's dark and the operation continued for over 20 hours. We will start again tomorrow morning." More than 350 people were plucked to safety during rescue operations in landslide-affected areas early on Wednesday, officials said. A Red Cross official who attended a disaster meeting at the Aranayaka landslide site said earlier it was feared the death toll would be "around 300-400". Police said another landslide at Bulathkopitiya, also in Kegalle district, had buried at least 16 people. Only three bodies were found from this site. In Kegalle district alone, 20 people were killed, disaster management centre data showed. Military Spokesman Jayanath Jayaweera said 150 people who were rescued from Aranayaka had been sent to six camps set up for displaced people in the area. Troops using boats and helicopters also pulled to safety more than 200 people trapped in the northwestern coastal district of Puttalam, Jayaweera said. Flooding and drought are cyclical in Sri Lanka, which is battered by a southern monsoon between May and September, while a northeastern monsoon runs from December to February. (Writing by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Catherine Evans)
Rabat (AFP) - Morocco's foreign ministry summoned the US ambassador on Wednesday to express anger over a "scandalous" State Department report on human rights in the North African kingdom.
The ministry said in a statement it protested to the ambassador, Dwight Bush, over "manipulation and flagrant factual errors" in the report released on April 13.
It questioned "the true aims and motivation" behind the critical report.
"Morocco is a state of institutions and has national structures whose credibility and seriousness are widely acknowledged," the ministry said.
"Serious allegations such as those contained in the State Department report give the impression that these institutions do not fulfil their duties."
It said Morocco was "ready to go all the way to confront" the charges in the report, point by point, before the relevant US authorities.
On Tuesday, the interior ministry branded the report "scandalous" and said Rabat had already in past years complained to Washington over the "biased character" of the annual State Department country reports on human rights.
In the latest report, the State Department highlights alleged "corruption and widespread disregard for the rule of law by security forces" in Morocco.
"The government abridged civil liberties by infringing on freedom of speech and press, including by harassing and arresting of print and Internet journalists," it charged.
The report also pointed to "few examples and no high-profile reports of investigations or prosecutions of abuse or corruption by officials".
Mother of 2 Dies After Brazilian Butt Lift: What Are the Risks?
Plastic surgery rates have soared over the past decade, and with these treatments happening so frequently, patients tend to feel more at ease than ever with their decision to go under the knife. Luckily, many people experience wonderful results; however, there is always the chance of a botched surgery or worse fatality.
Sadly, for one West Virginia mother of two, her plastic surgery procedure took the latter route, devastating her family in the process.
Heather Meadows traveled to Florida for the increasingly popular Brazilian butt lift procedure at Encore Plastic Surgery, a medical center in northern Miami. The procedure appeared simple enough: Doctors perform liposuction on other parts of the body to pull the patients own fat and inject it into the buttocks area. But something went wrong during the surgery on 29-year-old Meadows, and she was consequently rushed to the emergency room, where she later died.
According to the medical examiners director of operations, Darren Caparara, Meadows experienced fat clots that caused her organs to fail. Caparara listed complications from the lipid transfer in which fat particles entered her bloodstream through a vein during the fat transfer process, the Associated Press reported.
Unfortunately, this isnt the only reported circumstance of a Brazilian butt lift gone tragically wrong. In 2014, a British woman contracted a flesh-eating bacteria from a botched Brazilian butt lift, while a mother of five also died due to a lung embolism during her procedure in 2013. These are absolutely terrifying instances, but this choice in surgery is typically a safe and popular option for people looking to give their behind a boost.
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Heather Meadows died after liposuction and buttocks augmentation surgery caused clots | Daily Mail Online: https://t.co/FsURWe11Iy pops (@pops131) May 17, 2016
Because of the high success rate (or maybe the fact that celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Nicki Minaj, and Jennifer Lopez have made larger behinds popular), this has become an increasingly sought-after surgery. In only 2015, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons report accounts for a whopping 14,705 butt augmentations performed, giving it a 28 percent increase from 2014.
Again, Meadows experience is rare, but its certainly something to keep in mind before heading in for your own surgical appointment. According to Dr. Karen Soika, a Cosmetic Surgeon in Greenwich, Connecticut, theres a risk with any surgery, but when it comes to butt augmentations, its a relatively safe option for healthy patients. This is VERY rare, she confirms, adding that surgeons should always aspirate their syringe first before ever blindly injecting to ensure that they arent inserting fat into a blood vessel.
Although, before undergoing any surgical procedure, its vital to do your homework. Consider the risks very carefully, and search for a trusted surgeon at a reputable facility. With the right research and extensive planning, patients should be able to trust that theyll leave their doctors office with the results they desired.
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May 18 (Reuters) - Union Bank, an arm of Tokyo-based Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc , said on Wednesday it had hired Simone Branigan, Ralph Dickman and Mary Murray to its private wealth management team in California.
The trio will serve as private wealth advisers and vice presidents, the bank said.
Branigan, based in Beverly Hills, is serving the Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and Pacific Palisades markets. She returns to Union Bank after a stint with City National Bank as a private client adviser.
Dickman, based in San Jose, is serving the San Jose and Palo Alto markets. Most recently, he was a private client adviser at City National Bank.
Murray, based in Rancho Santa Fe, is serving the Rancho Santa Fe and Northern San Diego markets. She has spent more than three decades with Wells Fargo, most recently as a wealth management adviser.
Union Bank provides a wide spectrum of corporate, commercial and retail banking and wealth management services.
(Reporting by Natalie Grover)
MAPUTO (Reuters) - Mozambique's opposition on Wednesday demanded an independent investigation into a spate of unexplained killings and the possible existence of a police death squad. Afonso Dhlakama, leader of the main opposition party Renamo, said an inquiry separate from a police investigation was needed into the killing of 15 people last month in the Gorongosa region, north of the capital Maputo. Renamo accuses the ruling Frelimo party of burning homes and killing civilians in a campaign against Renamo guerrillas, violence that has forced thousands of Mozambicans to flee into neighboring Malawi. Each party accuses the other of attacks on their members in various parts of the country as a simmering conflict between the old civil war foes has escalated since a fiercely contested national election in 2014. "We need Frelimo to accept the creation of a commission of inquiry (into the 15 deaths) not just composed of members of parliament, but also members of civil society and journalists," Dhlakama said in an interview with television channel STV. Police spokesman Inacio Dimas said an investigation into the deaths was ongoing and that the government did not oppose any independent probe. Renamo and Frelimo fought a civil war from 1976 to 1992 in which a million people died and a million fled to Malawi. (Writing by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by James Macharia and Robin Pomeroy)
By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A NASA fuel tank arrived at a port on Wednesday ahead of a planned mission this weekend to tow the giant apparatus through the streets of Los Angeles and display it with the space shuttle Endeavour at a science center. The California Science Center, the museum where the external tank known as ET-94 will be placed on exhibit, posted photos online of the 154-foot-long (47-metre) chamber fixed to a barge docking in Marina del Rey on the border with Los Angeles. The orange fuel tank, which the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has donated to the center for display with Endeavour, was designed to carry propellants to thrust a space shuttle into orbit and then detach, mostly disintegrating as it fell to the ocean. This one, the last of its kind, was never used. It has already traveled 4,400 nautical miles (8,149 km) from New Orleans through the Panama Canal and north along the Pacific Coast to Southern California. The Los Angeles-based California Science Reenter is calling the transport of the gas tank "ET Comes Home," in a play on words referencing the 1982 classic movie "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," and the project has become popular on social media. On Saturday, the 66,000-pound (29,937-kg) fuel tank, which is empty, will be placed on dollies and pulled by truck for 16 miles (26 km) through the streets of Los Angeles and its suburb of Inglewood to reach the Science Center, according to the museum. The journey was a sequel of sorts to Endeavour's journey in 2012 over L.A. streets to the science center, which drew crowds of captivated residents and drew national media attention. But the tank is neither as wide nor as tall as Endeavour, so science center officials have said workers will be able to squeeze the apparatus past public utilities with less disruptions than were caused by the space shuttle's transport four years ago. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Brussels (AFP) - NATO will on Thursday sign an accession agreement with Montenegro, paving the way for the small Balkan country to become the transantlantic alliance's 29th member state, alliance head Jens Stoltenberg said.
Montenegro's membership is "a clear sign that NATO countries continue to build stability and security in the western Balkans," Stoltenberg told a press briefing Wednesday ahead of a two-day NATO foreign ministers meeting at alliance HQ in Brussels.
The move also shows that "NATO's door remains open," he added, as the alliance prepares for a set-piece summit in Warsaw in July which will sign off on a major NATO military revamp agreed in response to the Ukraine crisis and Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Diplomatic sources say they expect it will take the 28 member states 18 months to ratify the Montenegro accession accord, which Russia has condemned as another case of NATO encroaching on its strategic interests.
While ties with Russia are badly strained by the Ukraine crisis, Stoltenberg rejected any suggestion that NATO membership for Montenegro was a hostile move, insisting that all countries have the right to decide their own future.
"The fundamental principle is that every nation has the right to decide its own path... including to decide what security arrangements it wants to be part of," he said.
"Therefore any sanctions or reactions from Russia would be absolutely unjustified," he added.
NATO formally invited Montenegro to join in December, sparking a warning from Moscow that it would have to respond to protect its security interests in the Balkans, home to several of its historic Slavic allies.
Among the other states of the former Yugoslavia, Croatia and Slovenia have both joined NATO, while many of the former communist states in eastern Europe once ruled from Moscow have also become members.
Russia sees this process, backed by a NATO military build-up in response to the Ukraine crisis, as a threat to its security.
Brussels (AFP) - NATO does not expect to formally join the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, even if it will cooperate on a practical and "niche" level, the US ambassador to the alliance said Wednesday.
"We're not hung up on being declared a member or not. We're simply interested in practical support," Douglas Lute said ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.
In April US President Barack Obama told an audience in Germany that Washington needed "a strong Europe to bear its share of the burden" in the fight against the Islamic State jihadists.
US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said in February -- also at a NATO meeting in Brussels -- that the 28 alliance members were exploring the possibility of NATO becoming a member of the anti-IS coalition itself.
Lute said the ministers meeting in Brussels will "ask the more practical question of, are there ways .. in capacity support and other niche capabilities .. that we can contribute?"
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said: "We will discuss what more NATO can do to support Iraq. We are already training several hundred Iraqi officers in Jordan.
"We have received a request from (Iraqi) Prime Minister al-Abadi to expand our training mission into Iraq itself. And we will consider this request," added the NATO chief.
The US ambassador also broached the possibility of training missions or support for the defence sector or army reform in Libya -- if the new government asks for it -- or in Tunisia.
NATO's AWACS monitoring aircraft could also help provide intelligence about what is happening in the skies over Iraq or Syria -- even if they only remain over Turkey, according to a diplomatic source.
Lute said that at this stage the anti-IS coalition does not need the alliance AWACS to be deployed in Syrian or Iraqi airspace, a prospect which would cause concern in certain European capitals.
Brussels (AFP) - NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday called for avoiding a new arms race, as the US-led alliance pushes ahead with its biggest military revamp since the Cold War to counter a more assertive Russia.
Russian intervention in Ukraine and its 2014 annexation of Crimea stung NATO leaders into action after years of complacency and defence cuts following the fall of the Soviet Union.
Russia, however, says that it is NATO which is acting aggressively, encroaching on its borders while, worse still, the United States builds a European missile defence shield which undercuts Moscow's nuclear deterrent.
Stoltenberg insisted that while NATO was justifiably boosting its readiness and resources, "it is in everyone's interest to avoid a new arms race."
If NATO was building up its forces, it was also strongly committed to keeping channels for dialogue open with Russia.
"NATO does not seek confrontation," he told a press briefing ahead of a two-day NATO foreign ministers meeting at its headquarters in Brussels.
US Ambassador to NATO Douglas Lute said separately foreign ministers would have a "very sober discussion on dealing with Russia ... which essentially has thrown out the rulebook."
"This is not the predictable partner we thought we had" after the Cold War, Lute said.
At the same time, while "we might not have a partner open to dialogue we have to show NATO is always open to dialogue," he added.
NATO suspended all practical cooperation with Russia in 2014 but left what is known as the NATO-Russia Council in place.
Last month, NATO held its first NRC since June 2014, providing what Stoltenberg said was a "frank" but also "useful" exchange with the Russian ambassador to the alliance.
NATO diplomatic sources said some of its 28 member states favour holding another NRC before a July leaders summit in Warsaw, if only to prove the alliance's good faith.
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Others are reluctant, believing little was achieved in April and seeing no reason to cut Moscow any slack, the sources said.
The Warsaw summit will sign-off on NATO's increased commitment on its eastern flank, with host Poland in particular pushing a hard line on relations with Russia.
The alliance must also face up to growing security challenges to its South, highlighted by the bloody conflict in Syria right next to key NATO power Turkey.
The situations in North Africa, especially Libya, and in Afghanistan where NATO has wound down its longest ever military campaign are also on the meeting's agenda, along with discussions on how to increase cooperation with the European Union to tackle some of these problems.
Another focal point will be the signing Thursday of an accession accord with Montenegro -- another bone of contention with Russia over the future of the Balkans, home to historic Slav allies and strategic interests.
After more than 300 episodes, NCIS bid farewell to Michael Weatherly with a bittersweet goodbye -- but not before NCIS Special Agent Tony DiNozzo was hit with two life-changing events on Tuesday's finale.
First, Tony lost his one true love, Ziva David, in a violent fire in Tel Aviv. (Sob!) Then, without having a moment to grieve her death, he discovered that Ziva had a secret baby named Tali (named after Ziva's late sister), and he is the father. (What?!)
RELATED: 'NCIS' Star Sean Murray on Michael Weatherly's Final Episode: 'People Are Afraid of Change'
Now a single dad, Tony was faced with the biggest question of his storied career: Should he return to work with the NCIS crew and be satisfied with putting his young daughter in danger? At first, it seemed to be a simple answer: Yes, of course. But as time went on, Tony started to have doubts, especially after walking down memory lane.
"We had a connection, and obviously a very fond farewell," Tony says of Ziva in a rare moment of vulnerability with his colleague Timothy McGee (Sean Murray). "I loved her Tim."
The episode was filled with nostalgic moments for 'shippers of the beloved couple, and though former NCIS star Cote de Pablo didn't return to film any new scenes, the emotional resonance was there.
RELATED: Michael Weatherly Jokes He's 'Overstayed His Welcome' on 'NCIS'
CBS
In one of the episode's most touching moments, a black-and-white photo of the couple prompted Tali to identify him as her father, or "aba" in Hebrew, which just made the revelation even more sentimental.
At the end of the day, Tony's decision not to return to work became a pretty simple one.
"All I wanted to do was take care of Tali. Everything that she had in her life was gone, except me. I'm it. I'm everything to that little girl now and I've never been anyone's anything before," Tony tells his boss Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon). "That's it, I'm done now."
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RELATED: Michael Weatherly Celebrates 300 Episodes of 'NCIS'
After turning in his gun and badge, Tony said goodbye for the last time to Abby, Ducky, Vance, Bishop and McGee. And that was that!
Following the episode, Weatherly shared several sweet snaps on Twitter with de Pablo, with whom he reunited. "Thank you and I love you all- Cote is here with me now!" he captioned one pic.
Thank you and I love you all- Cote is here with me now! pic.twitter.com/RsmWInjMSl Michael Weatherly (@M_Weatherly) May 18, 2016
Ahead of the finale, Weatherly sat down with ET's Kevin Frazier, saying Tony's farewell "is a very emotional episode but it's also very uplifting. If you remember how Tony DiNozzo got his job at NCIS, then that will be a good indication of how he leaves NCIS."
With NCIS now behind him, the 47-year-old actor knew his time on the popular series had neared its end.
"The character had to leave at some point," he explained. "I should've left years ago, but I was having so much fun I overstayed my welcome horribly -- like that guest who won't leave and keeps digging into your fridge."
What were your favorite moments from Weatherly's final episode of NCIS? Tell us on Twitter at @ETnow!
NCIS returns for season 14 this fall on CBS.
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CBS NCIS went all in on Tuesday night, crafting a storyline that would understandably usher Special Agent Tony DiNozzo off the canvas, in original cast member Michael Weatherlys final episode.
TVLine spoke with showrunner Gary Glasberg about uncorking this huge (but adorably wee) twist, as well as the possibility that Talis Imah is in fact alive and well.
RELATEDNCIS Season 13 Finale Recap: An Obviously Very Fond Farewell Grade Michael Weatherlys Final Episode
TVLINE | I must admit, you greatly surprised me with that finale. I figured wed get some token Ziva references, maybe a scare that shed been killed, and that would nudge Tony to do some introspection. But no, you went all in.
We did. It was all in. This is a huge deal for the show, and Michael leaving is huge, so we felt that at the end of the day we needed to do this properly. We gave it our all, and lot of people participated and were invested in coming up with this storyline. At the end of the day, were pleased with what we delivered.
TVLINE | If I may fittingly evoke Dayenu, it would have been sufficient to mention Ziva, it would have been sufficient to dramatically kill her. But you went and brought on her and Tonys daughter. How far into the process of breaking this story did you latch onto the Tali idea?
That was pretty early on. We knew all along that we had to come up with something enormously significant, that would make Tony leave his NCIS family.
TVLINE | To give him the push hes needed for perhaps more years than hed admit.
Yeah, yeah. And the only thing that we could come up with was this idea of someone for whom he was suddenly responsible. Even if it was a relationship or being in love with someone, that reason wasnt enough. It literally had to be a child. We started talking about that very early on, and we started to do a little research and have conversations with agents, law enforcement officers who are single parents. We asked them, Does it change your perspective when you go to work and strap on your sidearm every day, knowing who is waiting for you at home? And it absolutely does. So it started to make sense to us. And then in talking to Michael, talking with the other writers, the other producers, this was the direction we decided to go.
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TVLINE | And Michael was on board with the idea?
Michael is a total pro and was on board and working with us. There was tremendous conversation back and forth about nuances of dialogue and specific moments and lines that were chosen. This was absolutely a group process, and we came at it not only trying to satisfy our own needs but Michaels needs, the other cast members needs and the viewers needs as well.
VIDEOSNCIS Michael Weatherly Bids an LOL Farewell to Fans WATCH
TVLINE | Cote de Pablo of course recently said some things indicating, at the very least, that she was approached about returning in-person for the finale. Do you want to clear the air about what was or was not in play?
When we came up with this child storyline, there was never specifically a conversation about Cote coming back this season, so we just proceeded along those lines that we would probably use flashbacks and do the things that you actually saw. Once we came up with this storyline, once it was all about the daughter, that was the storyline we stuck with. To this day, we believe that the correct choice was really focusing on this little girl, the love that Tony develops for this little girl, and what she represents to him as family and as the living part of his relationship with Ziva.
TVLINE | One of the reasons I ask is because Ducky said no remains were found, Tony used the present-tense Ziva loves Paris, and then, You gotta believe what you gotta believe. You seemed to lay the foundation for the theory that Ziva is in fact alive.
Again, we put tremendous time into choosing some of the dialogue Tony says. I would say to stick with, You gotta believe what you gotta believe!
TVLINE | That would certainly give you a juicy sweeps storyline for some future date!
Welcome to my brain!
Want more scoop on NCIS, or for any other show? Email insideline@tvline.com and your question may be answered via Matts Inside Line.
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JAKARTA, May 18 (Reuters) - Indonesia's transportation ministry on Wednesday said it plans to suspend the in-house ground handling operations of budget carriers Lion Air and Indonesia AirAsia at two of the country's biggest airports while it investigates possible handling errors.
Ministry spokesman Hemi Pamuraharjo at a briefing said the airlines have until Tuesday to hire other handling services before its investigation begins. He said, without elaborating, that the possible errors involved passenger handling.
The suspension will apply to Lion Air at Jakarta's main airport and to AirAsia in the resort island of Bali, he said, declining to disclose the duration of the investigation.
Lion Air is Indonesia's biggest budget carrier, while Indonesia AirAsia is an affiliate of Malaysia's AirAsia Bhd , Asia's biggest low-cost carrier.
Local media reported this week that Lion Air and Indonesia AirAsia allowed passengers on two international flights to disembark at domestic terminals, and that airport security officials had to redirect the passengers for immigration checks.
Flight numbers the ministry identified as involving possible passenger handling errors matched those in the media reports.
Lion Air declined to comment on the reports when contacted by Reuters. In a statement on Wednesday, Director Edward Sirait said the airline would continue to operate normally.
"We urge our passengers not to worry about this decision because all of our operations are running normally," he said.
Indonesia AirAsia was not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
In Michael Weatherlys final NCIS episode, Special Agent Tony DiNozzo followed his heart, and then his head, setting the stage for the original cast members exit.
RELATEDNCIS Boss Talks DiNozzos Enormously Significant Reason for Leaving, Zivas (Alive?) Fate and More Burning Qs
No sooner had the news broken about the bombing of the Davids farmhouse in Israel, Tony was making tracks for the airport when Abby and McGee intercepted him at his home, to relay the very bad news from Vance: Ziva indeed was killed in the attack. (Sorry, 84 percent of TVLine poll respondents.) Life rarely ends the way we imagine, Ducky observes as the rest of the team mourns their former colleague back at the office.
Tony returns to HQ in an angry spiral, lambasting Gibbs for the seeming lack of all hands on deck to confirm facts and exact vengeance. Shes more than an agent to you, Boss affirms, before ordering his agent to get home and cool his jets. Later, McGee reminds Gibbs of something he once said, about agents united in a cause always getting a job done and when it comes to doing right by critically injured Fornell and now dearly departed Ziva, Well get it done.
DiNozzo returns to work the next day, and its a good thing he did, because a pint-sized bombshell awaited him, introduced by Mossad director Orli Elbaz: Tali, the daughter Ziva gave birth to years ago, with Tony the only biological possibility as dad. (Bravo to the 29 percent who almost got that whopper right!) And soon enough, during a casual chat with Palmer over strained peas or some such, Tony is prompted to give some thought to his new title, of Dad, being an agent in the line of fire and all. When DiNozzo shrugs off the notion of any life detour, Palmer unwittingly paints a not-so-rosy picture of 10 years into the future, where Tony has Gibbs job and is happy. Hmmm.
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Later, a question on DiNozzos mind is unexpectedly answered, when Sr. comes across a framed photo of Ziva with Tony whom Tali points to and IDs as Imah and Abba, exploding literally every ovary in the continental United States (and some abroad). So the little one had been told about her pappy!
RELATEDMichael Weatherly Announces Exit From NCIS
When the team Tony included finally tracks down Kort, the turncoat claims, I had no idea shed be in the farmhouse. It was nothing personal to which Tony countered, She was my family. Kort then goes for his gun, inviting a hail of bullets from every nearby agents gun. As we at home clapped.
Toward episodes end, Tony visits Gibbs basement to relay a decision hes made. Seems to me youve known a while, Gibbs responds. Only now youve got a daughter to think of. Indeed, Tony shares that upon hearing theyd found Kort, All I wanted was to take care of Tali. Im everything to that little girl now, and Ive never been anybodys everything before.
Thats it, he adds. Im done now. To which Gibbs replies, You gotta do whatcha gotta do, before delivering a rare, big hug. DiNozzo says his next stop is Israel, to get some answers, and then a visit to the Paris that Ziva loves. But first, one final tour through the office, where he dubs his neighbor Very Special Agent Timothy McGee and shares kinds words for Bishop as well, while Abby makes clear that Tony knows just how much Ziva loved him.
Thank you and I love you all- Cote is here with me now! pic.twitter.com/RsmWInjMSl Michael Weatherly (@M_Weatherly) May 18, 2016
Previewing how the finale might leave fans feeling, Weatherly recently offered, Im sure that out of the tens of millions who watch the show around the world, certainly there will be some different points of view. But if people share my feelings about it, I think [the reaction] is going to be overwhelmingly positive. NCIS boss Gary Glasberg meanwhile advised having tissues handy, saying, People should absolutely be planning on some really serious, heart-wrenching moments. Im very proud of the emotional resonance of what this is.
So what say you, NCIS fans? Emotional resonance or what?
Launch Gallery: PHOTOS: Michael Weatherly's Final 'NCIS' Episode
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With the Oakland Raiders stadium situation continuously in limbo, I thought I would take the time to comment on one of the more consistent questions to arise surrounding the stadium:
Whos fault is it that Mark Davis and the Raiders cannot get a stadium deal done in Oakland?
Depending on who you ask, it is 100% Mark Davis fault or 100% Oaklands fault. There are also those who would argue for a more even share of the blame. But what if I told you NO ONE is to blame other than reality.
The fact of the matter is, we are talking about two entities who have very divergent interests. The Raiders under Mark Davis have made it abundantly clear that they want a nice new stadium but dont want to have to pay for it. I mean, who wouldnt want stuff for free?
Meanwhile, Oakland has said repeatedly that they would love for the Raiders to stay in Oakland but not if the only way to get that done is by just handing over tax payer money. Hell, theyve even said tax money could be used but only under an agreement where it would be paid back. In other words, theyll offer a loan, just not a gift. Sounds like smart business to me.
Guess what? Neither of these stances are unreasonable!!!
You could argue that Oakland is unreasonable because the Raiders will bring in money. That ignores the fact that the land many want the city to gift to the Raiders is INCREDIBLY valuable. Id invite people to take a drive through Oakland and look at the obscene number of high rise apartment complexes, bars, restaurants and other construction that is occurring. Thanks to the tech industry running out of room, Oakland has benefited massively. Hell, Uber is even in the middle of a multi million dollar renovation of an old building in downtown Oakland as they prepare to move their headquarters.
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If the City of Oakland does not keep the Raiders, they can sell the land to a developer (I know Floyd Kephart would love to buy it). That would earn a large amount of money through the sale of the land, provide new jobs through the creation of new business on the property and would create tax revenue, likely both in the form of sales taxes as well as property taxes.
You could argue that Mark Davis is a millionaire who is trying to get the public to pay for his stadium and is therefore wrong. But let me ask you this. Think about if you were a millionaire owner of a franchise where the rest of the owners are billionaires and you are constantly at a disadvantage because of that. Now someone tells you that you can either take out a loan to build your stadium or move to a city that is happy to pay for the stadium, would you REALLY sacrifice all of that money? Really?
The fact of the matter is, we have two sides with different interests, both of whom are perfectly justified in trying to protect those interest. And what makes this harder for many fans is that neither Oakland nor Mark Davis puts the Raider fans at the center of their interests. But again, thats understandable.
I know that with the frustration surrounding the issue, people want someone to blame. But as much as this is hard for some to hear, neither Oakland nor Mark Davis are wrong. Theyre both simply doing what they believe to be best for their own future, the same thing you and I do nearly every single day.
The post Neither Mark Davis nor Oakland is wrong about the stadium appeared first on Cover32.
Jerusalem (AFP) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is close to agreeing a unity government with the main opposition leader, Israeli media said Wednesday, in a move that could help revive peace talks with the Palestinians.
The head of the rightwing Likud has reportedly been engaged in intense negotiations with Labour Party chief Isaac Herzog in recent weeks in a bid to form a government of national unity.
Herzog, whose party forms the Zionist Union along with the centrist Hatnuah, could present a possible coalition agreement to his party in the coming days, the reports said.
His entry into the government would be closely watched by the international community for its potential impact on the moribund peace process with the Palestinians.
An advocate of an independent Palestinian state, Herzog has been touted as a potential foreign minister -- a role currently assumed by Netanyahu in a temporary capacity on top of his role as premier.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Tuesday urged Israelis and Palestinians to take historic steps to achieve peace, comments which some analysts interpreted as an attempt to boost the idea of Herzog joining the government.
If a national unity government is formed Netanyahu and Herzog could visit Egypt to launch a new peace initiative under the auspices of the Egyptian president, the Jerusalem Post cited anonymous officials from both parties as saying.
But resistance to the coalition is strong within both camps and commentators stressed an agreement was far from certain.
Herzog's main rival in the Labour Party, Shelly Yachimovich, described the possible alliance as a "blood wedding".
She promised on her Facebook page to fight for "justice, clean government, ideology, and the honour of the party".
Within Likud, several members said they would prefer an alliance with the nationalist party Israel Beiteinu rather than Labour.
The Zionist Union was formed in the run-up to the 2015 election in a bid to unseat Netanyahu but failed, with the premier later forming one of the most rightwing governments in Israel's history.
However Netanyahu's coalition has just a one seat majority in parliament and he would benefit from wider backing -- with members of the coalition currently able to hold him to ransom.
By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Benjamin Netanyahu met on Wednesday with ultra-nationalist politician Avigdor Lieberman to try to recruit him into Israel's government, and political sources said the prime minister agreed to his demand to be appointed defense minister. Netanyahu, who won a fourth term last year, governs by a majority of one in the 120-member Knesset, making his administration vulnerable to any falling-out among his political allies, so he is keen to add to their ranks. It had appeared for the past several days that a course had been set for Isaac Herzog's center-left Zionist Union party, which has 24 lawmakers, to agree on an alliance with Netanyahu's right-wing Likud. But in a surprise move, Lieberman, who heads the far-right Yisrael Beitenu party and previously served as foreign minister, convened a news conference on Wednesday to say he was ready to negotiate a pact with Netanyahu. Lieberman, whose party has six Knesset seats, demanded the defense portfolio as well as new legislation that would impose capital punishment on Palestinians carrying out fatal attacks. While saying Netanyahu acquiesced to Lieberman's demand to be appointed defense minister, the political sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, noted that other issues remained unresolved and a deal has yet to be finalized. Lieberman, who twice served as foreign minister in previous Netanyahu-led governments and has had testy relationship with the prime minister, has drawn headlines by repeatedly questioning the loyalty of Israel's Arab minority. In the past, he has proposed transferring some Israeli Arab towns to a future Palestinian state in return for Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. After hearing of the Lieberman-Netanyahu meeting, Herzog froze his own talks with the premier. In a speech televised in prime time, Herzog said that bringing in Lieberman would lead to a government whose "policies are on the brink of madness". If appointed, Lieberman would replace Moshe Yaalon, a Likud member and former armed forces chief. Yaalon has drawn sharp criticism from far-right partners in Netanyahu's coalition for backing the army's decision to level manslaughter charges against a soldier who shot dead a wounded Palestinian attacker in the West Bank in March. Enlisting the Zionist Union, which has 24 legislators, would have given Netanyahu a comfortable political cushion and put a more moderate face on his right-wing government at a time when Israeli is grappling with mounting international calls to renew peace talks with the Palestinians that collapsed in 2014. (Editing by Mark Heinrich)
(Adds details, spokeswoman's comment)
May 18 (Reuters) - Netflix Inc said on Wednesday that it had launched a website to check the speed of a mobile or broadband internet connection.
The service, called fast.com, works like other internet connection measurement tools such as speedtest.net, Netflix said in a blog post. (http://nflx.it/1rTLyvD)
"We all want a faster, better internet, yet internet speeds vary greatly and can be affected by other users on your network or congestion with your Internet service provider," David Fullagar, vice president of content delivery architecture, said in the post.
Fast.com performs a series of downloads from Netflix servers to make its internet speed estimate, and also links users to speedtest.net to compare the results.
"Right now it's a standalone website, though we will look to evolve it down the road," Netflix spokeswoman Anne Marie Squeo said in an email to Reuters.
The video streaming company separately also has a monthly ISP Speed Index, which updates subscribers on which Internet Service Providers (ISPs) provide the best Netflix streaming experience during prime-time hours.
Earlier in May, the company introduced a tool to help its subscribers control how much data they used when streaming on cellular networks.
(Reporting by Anya George Tharakan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Sriraj Kalluvila)
Netflix is jumping on the El Chapo bandwagon.
The streamer is teaming with Univision on new drama series 'El Chapo' based on the life story of the notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
Univision Story House, the new development and production arm of Univision Communications Inc., together with the streaming platform will co-produce the series, which will be available to Netflix subscribers in the U.S. after its first airing on UniMas in 2017. In the rest of the world, episodes of El Chapo will premiere exclusively on Netflix.
"El Chapo is a great example of how Univision continues to innovate and evolve with premium storytelling formats. The IP we've developed from more than 50 years of award-winning news and investigations gives us unique and innovative ways to tell stories in a way no other network can," said Randy Falco, president and CEO of Univision Communications Inc. "We are pleased to deliver this groundbreaking series to audiences in the U.S. and around the world."
Read More: El Chapo Drama Series in the Works at History
"We are thrilled to partner with the award-winning Univision Story House on the timely and globally relevant drama series based on the life story of El Chapo," added Netflix's chief content officer Ted Sarandos.
The series would join #Cartel, another drama centered on the drug kingpin from former Narcos showrunner Chris Brancato that's in the works at History, should it be ordered to series.
El Chapo made headlines recently for his capture, escape and recapture from prison, not to mention his clandestine meeting with Sean Penn and actress Kate del Castillo. He most recently was the subject of an Reelz documentary, El Chapo & Sean Penn: Bungle in the Jungle.
Possible Treatment for Glaucoma
POMONA, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 18, 2016 / Primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) is a major cause of irreversible blindness worldwide and is expected to become more prevalent as lifespan increases. Angle-closure produces a rapid rise in intraocular pressure (IOP), which results in retinal ischemia and retinal ganglion cell (RGC) death. While there has been significant progress in the understanding of the molecular/cellular mechanisms underlying RGC death, there are currently no treatments directly targeting these mechanisms. NeurAegis recently reported results with its selective calpain-2 inhibitor, NA 101, on a mouse model of acute glaucoma in a publication in Neurobiology of Disease: (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969996116301012).
NeurAegis scientists have identified a critical enzyme, calpain-2, which is activated early following increased intraocular pressure and is responsible for producing neuronal death. The company also found that a single systemic or intraocular injection of a selective calpain-2 inhibitor given 2 hours following increased IOP, prevented RGC death and loss of vision in mice. These results suggest the possibility of developing selective calpain-2 inhibitors for the treatment of acute glaucoma.
The company is currently pursuing the preclinical studies required to bring a selective calpain-2 inhibitor to the clinic for the treatment of acute glaucoma within the next 2-3 years.
About NeurAegis
NeurAegis has been founded to translate fundamental discoveries on the mechanisms of synaptic plasticity and neuronal survival/cell death into clinical applications. These discoveries are the results of over 30 years of research by the scientific co-founders, Michel Baudry, PhD, Dean of the Graduate College of Biomedical Sciences (Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA), and graduate from Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, France (X68), and Xiaoning Bi, MD, PhD, Professor, COMP (Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA), directed at understanding the roles of selective biochemical cascades in both synaptic plasticity and neuroprotection/neurodegeneration. NeurAegis has identified neuroprotection as a key focus for research and development, because of the high unmet needs and tremendous research potential in this therapeutic area. Much work has been conducted to identify the mechanisms underlying neuronal death and significant progress has been made over the last 10-20 years. Nevertheless, there is still no drug on the market that provides any significant degree of neuroprotection, especially within the crucial minutes to maximum of several hours following any brain insult that results in neuronal loss.
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Contact information:
Michel Baudry, CEO, NeurAegis:
m.baudry@neuraegis.com
909.469.8271
SOURCE: NeurAegis
By Camillus Eboh and Sharon Ogunleye ABUJA/LAGOS (Reuters) - A Nigerian union defied a court ban to launch a general strike on Wednesday in protest at a planned hefty increase in fuel prices, though many businesses and government offices opened as normal. The government hopes lifting costly fuel subsidies, causing prices to rise by up to two thirds at the pumps, will help alleviate the worst crisis in decades in Africa's biggest economy. A wave of strikes ensued the last time Nigeria tried to introduce a similar measure in 2012, and authorities eventually reinstated some subsidies. This time around the Nigerian Industrial Court blocked industrial action due to the risk of civil disorder, but late on Tuesday the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said it would go ahead with its planned indefinite strike anyway, starting on Wednesday. "The government was not ready to accede to our demands, so we walked out of the meeting," Chris Uyot, deputy general secretary of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), told Reuters. A second union, the Trade Union Congress (TUC), abandoned its strike plans in response to the court ruling. Reuters witnessed government offices, shops and banks in the capital Abuja mostly opening as normal on Wednesday. Some 300 union activists gathered there to stage a march, and some 200 protested in the commercial capital Lagos, where some banks and many shops were also doing business. 'LEFT WITH NO CHOICE' A fall in oil prices has eaten into the foreign reserves of Nigeria, which relies on crude sales for around 70 percent of national income. The central bank has adopted a fixed exchange rate to protect further depletion of reserves. On Tuesday, vice president Yemi Osinbajo said President Muhammadu Buhari had been "left with no choice" but to raise petrol prices. "What can we do if we don't have foreign currency? We have to import fuel," Osinbajo said. Nigeria needs to import almost all of its fuel as its refineries are largely out of action after years of neglect and mismanagement. There were some flight delays on Wednesday as airlines struggled to get jet fuel, but airports in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt in the oil-producing Niger Delta were operational (Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram and Ulf Laessing; Editing by John Stonestreet)
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Nigeria hopes to use a proposed Islamic bonds issuance programme to help fund big infrastructure needs in Africa's biggest economy, aiming to tie the transaction to one of several projects, a Nigerian finance official told Reuters. Nigeria plans to borrow as much as $10 billion from debt markets, with about half of that coming from foreign sources, to help fund a budget deficit worsened by the slump in oil prices that has slashed revenues and weakened the naira. The federal government is working on a sovereign sukuk with details expected within the year as part of diversifying its funding sources, Alhaji Mahmoud Isa-Dutse, Nigeria's permanent secretary of finance, said on Wednesday. "We want to use debt more efficiently than we used to in the past. We are looking to borrow, but tied to infrastructure projects," Isa-Dutse said on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Islamic Development Bank in Jakarta. The government wants to primarily access concessionary sources to fill its funding needs, but any shortfall would be covered through the capital markets, he added. "Out of those debt plans, hopefully sukuk will be one of the sources - either domestic or foreign," he said, adding sukuk could be linked to a wide range of projects, from power plants to railways. Issuance of a sovereign sukuk is part of a strategic plan developed by the country's debt management office to develop alternative sources of funding and to establish a benchmark curve for corporates to follow. In 2013, Nigeria's Osun State issued 10 billion naira ($62 million) of sukuk, but no other sukuk transactions have followed. (Reporting by Bernardo Vizcaino; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Nigeria's army on Wednesday confirmed that a girl rescued in a Boko Haram enclave in the northeast was one of 219 abducted from their school in Chibok more than two years ago.
Soldiers and civilian vigilantes were deployed at Baale, near the town of Damboa, and "rescued one Miss Amini Ali and a suspected Boko Haram terrorist, Mohammed Hayatu, who claimed to be her husband", army spokesman Sani Usman said in a statement.
"Both were brought to Headquarters 25 Task Force Brigade Damboa at about 2:30 pm (1330 GMT) today (Wednesday).
"Preliminary investigation shows that she is indeed one of the abducted Chibok School girls."
Usman had earlier said only soldiers rescued the teenager and said her name was Falmata Mbalala. Chibok community leaders and activists maintained her name was Amina Ali.
The spokesman said Ali was found with a four-month-old baby girl named Safiya.
"Both the suspected Boko Haram terrorist and the nursing mother have been taken to (the Borno state capital) Maiduguri for further medical attention and screening," he added.
Boko Haram seized 276 girls from the Government Girls Secondary School in the remote town of Chibok on the night of April 14, 2014.
Fifty-seven managed to escape soon afterwards but 219 had been held ever since.
Ali was taken by the vigilantes to her home town of Mbalala, near Chibok, where she was briefly reunited with her mother and identified by the school's vice-principal.
By Camillus Eboh and Sharon Ogunleye ABUJA/LAGOS (Reuters) - A Nigerian union defied a court ban to launch a general strike on Wednesday in protest at a planned hefty increase in fuel prices, though many businesses and government offices opened as normal. The government hopes lifting costly fuel subsidies, causing prices to rise by up to two thirds at the pumps, will help alleviate the worst crisis in decades in Africa's biggest economy. A wave of strikes ensued the last time Nigeria tried to introduce a similar measure in 2012, and authorities eventually reinstated some subsidies. This time around the Nigerian Industrial Court blocked industrial action due to the risk of civil disorder, but late on Tuesday the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said it would go ahead with its planned indefinite strike anyway, starting on Wednesday. "The government was not ready to accede to our demands, so we walked out of the meeting," Chris Uyot, deputy general secretary of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), told Reuters. A second union, the Trade Union Congress (TUC), abandoned its strike plans in response to the court ruling. Reuters witnessed government offices, shops and banks in the capital Abuja mostly opening as normal on Wednesday. Some 300 union activists gathered there to stage a march, and some 200 protested in the commercial capital Lagos, where some banks and many shops were also doing business. 'LEFT WITH NO CHOICE' A fall in oil prices has eaten into the foreign reserves of Nigeria, which relies on crude sales for around 70 percent of national income. The central bank has adopted a fixed exchange rate to protect further depletion of reserves. On Tuesday, vice president Yemi Osinbajo said President Muhammadu Buhari had been "left with no choice" but to raise petrol prices. "What can we do if we don't have foreign currency? We have to import fuel," Osinbajo said. Nigeria needs to import almost all of its fuel as its refineries are largely out of action after years of neglect and mismanagement. There were some flight delays on Wednesday as airlines struggled to get jet fuel, but airports in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt in the oil-producing Niger Delta were operational. (Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram and Ulf Laessing; Editing by John Stonestreet)
By Osamu Tsukimori and Ritsuko Shimizu
TOKYO (Reuters) - The Group of Seven (G7) nations should assist China with their experience to cut excess steel capacity instead of criticizing the world's top producer for the current global glut, said a senior official at Japan's Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp.
World steel producers claim China has been dumping excess output abroad as consumption at home wanes and, on Tuesday, the United States slapped punitive duties on shipments from China. The latter, however, says it has done enough to reduce capacity and blames global excess and weak demand for the sector's woes.
"Criticizing China alone will invite their opposition. Europe, U.S., Japan should offer their experience of cutting capacity in the past to make it easier for China to tackle the problems," Nippon Steel's executive vice-president, Toshiharu Sakae, told Reuters in an interview on Monday.
The G7 nations plan to take steps to combat the global steel glut when they meet on May 26-27 in Ise-Shima near Nagoya in Japan, a major car production and steel manufacturing centre, according to a draft text obtained by Reuters.
Just last month, China, which manufactures half the world's steel, and other major producers failed to agree on measures to address the overcapacity crisis.
Sakae believes the G7 countries can "provide China with useful experience from the past" and help it curb overcapacity.
"Europe, the United States and Japan all experienced the transition to stable growth from high growth that led to overcapacity and have experience in reducing that."
China, with a steel capacity surplus at around 400 million tonnes and average utilisation rates under 70 percent, has vowed to cut overcapacity by 100-150 million over the next five years.
But its output hit a record in March as rising prices at the time and better margins prompted mills that had been shut or suspended to resume production.
Hot-rolled coil and sheet prices in Asia rose to around $410 per tonne by late April from around $290 in November-December, partly due to the injection of speculative funds, Sakae said.
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Sakae's interview was a day before the United States slapped duties of more than 500 percent and 71 percent on cold-rolled flat steel imports from China and Japan, respectively.
Among Japanese producers affected by the U.S. move are Nippon Steel and JFE Steel Corp. A spokesman at Nippon Steel, the world's No.2 steelmaker, however, declined to comment on this when contacted on Wednesday.
(Editing by Aaron Sheldrick and Himani Sarkar)
Washington (AFP) - Russia's military strength in Syria has barely changed since President Vladimir Putin announced a partial withdrawal from the war-torn country in March, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
"Their capabilities are largely the same, or almost identical, frankly," Baghdad-based military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said.
"They continue to have air power there, they continue to have ground forces, they continue to have artillery. They still have Spetsnaz (special forces) providing advice and assistance to the Syrian regime."
Putin surprised the West in March when he ordered the "main part" of his forces to pull out of Syria, where Moscow has been conducting a bombing campaign to back up ally President Bashar al-Assad.
Warren said Russian forces appeared to have established some sort of forward operating base near Palmyra, an ancient city whose Roman ruins were largely destroyed by Islamic State jihadists during the 10 months they held the town.
"Too early to tell whether or not they intend it to be a long term or short term venture," Warren said.
"They've established an operating base outside of Palmyra... And they're still building it up."
Warren said Russian forces had started to target IS fighters more actively, whereas their initial focus when they entered the fray last fall was on rebels opposed to Assad.
By Jussi Rosendahl
HELSINKI (Reuters) - The Nokia name will return to the mobile phone market after a company backed by one of its former executives teamed up with manufacturer Foxconn (2354.TW) to buy the rights to the brand for mobile devices.
Nokia (NOKIA.HE), once the world's biggest maker of mobile phones, was wrong footed by the rise of smartphones and eclipsed by Apple and Samsung. It sold its entire handset business to Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) in 2014 and now focuses on telecoms network equipment.
But it held on to its phone patents with a view to eventually striking a licensing deal, though it had to wait due to a non-compete deal with Microsoft.
Nokia said on Wednesday it had signed an exclusive 10-year licensing agreement for newly formed Finnish company HMD global Oy to create Nokia-branded smartphones and tablets. HMD is owned by Smart Connect LP, a private equity fund run by former Nokia executive Jean-Francois Baril, and its management.
The products will be made by Taiwan's Foxconn and Nokia will receive an undisclosed royalty on sales, covering both brand and intellectual property rights.
Microsoft announced simultaneously it would sell its entry-level phones business to HMD and Foxconn subsidiary FIH Mobile for $350 million.
Nokia, whose global market share in handsets peaked at around 40 percent in 2008, said its brand remained widely recognized, especially in developing markets.
"The areas where we believe the brand is strongest are Asia, South America and parts of Europe. Clearly China will be one of the target markets," Ramzi Haidamus, chief executive of the Nokia Technologies unit, told Reuters.
Nokia stock rose 2.9 percent to 4.67 euros.
"Nokia seems to have put together a very elegant deal in order to maximize the potential to drive some revenue from the handset business, with no risk in terms of hardware," said Ben Wood, an analyst at research firm CCS Insight.
"The brand is strong in the feature phone space, but does it stand for a cutting-edge future proof smartphone? That's unclear. ... It's a brand that has lost its lustre," he added.
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HMD, which will focus on branding and design in the partnership with Foxconn, said it would put 500 million euros ($564 million) into marketing over the next three years.
Nokia declined to provide revenue targets related to the licensing deal, nor a timetable for new devices, which will use Google's Android platform. The deal between Microsoft, Foxconn and HMD is expected to close in the second half of 2016.
Jukka Oksaharju, a strategist at brokerage Nordnet, said annual licensing revenues for Nokia would likely be in the tens of millions.
Microsoft has struggled with phones after the 2014 deal with Nokia, and last year it wrote off $7.5 billion from the business. Microsoft said on Wednesday it would continue to develop its Lumia smartphones.
(Additional reporting by Tuomas Forsell; Editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter)
LONDON (Reuters) - NuGen expects electricity generation to start at its new nuclear project in Cumbria, Britain in 2025, the company said on Wednesday.
The time frame means NuGen's project could over-take EDF's Hinkley C as the first new nuclear plant operating in the country in a generation.
"These projects are coming up together at roughly the same time," Robert Armour, Deputy chairman of NuGen said on the sidelines of a Platts nuclear conference.
"(Hinkley) still has a few hurdles to go and the other projects are coming up behind quite quickly," he said.
NuGen, a joint venture between Toshiba's Westinghouse and France's Engie, plans to build three AP1000 reactors in Cumbria which, when up and running, will be called the Moorside Nuclear Project.
It is expected to have a capacity of up to 3.8 gigawatts (GW) when all three reactors are built, around 7 percent of Britain's total electricity demand.
The government has said new plants are needed to help replace the country's coal plants which are scheduled to close by 2025 and its aging nuclear fleet, but no new nuclear plants have been built in the country in the last twenty years.
EDF's 18 billion pound Hinkley C project was expected to begin production in 2023, but a final investment decision has been delayed as EDF secures partners and financing.
Paul Spence, director of strategy at EDF's British subsidiary EDF Energy, said at the event the company still expects generation to start at Hinkley C in 2025.
EDF last week said the project would take 9.5 years to build once a decision has been taken.
This means if the decision is taken in September, as suggested by Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron, Hinkley C would start up at the earliest in spring 2026.
NuGen still has to secure approval for its AP1000 reactor under the country's Generic Design Assessment approval process, which Armour said should be complete by the first quarter of 2017.
A final investment decision will then be taken on the project in 2018, he said.
A third new nuclear plant, Hitachi's Horizon, is also slated to start production in Britain in the 2020s.
(Reporting By Susanna Twidale; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
A UniCredit logo is seen in downtown Rome, May 10, 2016. REUTERS/Tony Gentile
By Paola Arosio and Gianluca Semeraro
MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's biggest bank, UniCredit, is to start looking for a potential external successor to Chief Executive Federico Ghizzoni to head off pressure from top investors and soothe government concerns, sources said on Wednesday.
A group of disgruntled shareholders asked UniCredit Chairman Giuseppe Vita to begin a search for a new CEO in a closed-door meeting on Monday, the sources said.
The Italian government, which hastily set up a bank rescue fund last month, is keeping a wary eye on developments at the bank given that prolonged uncertainty at UniCredit could unsettle the whole sector, one of the sources said.
UniCredit plans to hire a headhunter to find a successor to Ghizzoni, three sources said. Ghizzoni faces growing discontent over the bank's weak share price, stretched capital position and low profitability compared to rival Intesa Sanpaolo.
Some of the bank's leading shareholders want to find a new chief who can carry out a restructuring, said a source familiar with Monday's discussions. They are open to hiring a foreigner, though they would prefer another Italian, the source added.
However, there is a consensus among the shareholders that candidates should come from outside the bank, the sources said.
A UniCredit spokesman declined to comment.
Among those seen as potential successors, sources have cited UBS's investment banking boss, Andrea Orcel, the head of Mediobanca, Alberto Nagel, and Merrill Lynch's Italy chief, Marco Morelli.
Nagel and Morelli were not immediately available for comment. UBS said it does not comment on market speculation.
Reports of investor dissatisfaction with Ghizzoni have dogged the bank for months as UniCredit, Italy's only globally systemically important financial institution, has failed to put to rest worries it may need a capital increase.
Pressure grew on Ghizzoni last week after UniCredit reported a dip in its core capital at the end of the first quarter. The stock has lost 44 percent this year, faring worse than Italy's banking index.
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The bank's decision to be the sole guarantor of a risky 1.5 billion euros (1.2 billion pounds) capital increase at mid-tier lender Banca Popolare di Vicenza has also been questioned.
UniCredit, whose biggest shareholder is Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Aabar, risked having to raise capital of its own to cover the Vicenza share sale, but was saved by the state-backed rescue fund which ended up subscribing to 99 percent of the issue.
An Italian official has said banks like UniCredit need to reform and can't rely on Atlante to solve long-term problems.
Lenders need to overhaul their business models to survive in the zero interest rate world of the euro zone, he said in comments made this month.
Asked about reports of his possible exit, Ghizzoni said on May 10 that it was up to shareholders and the board to decide.
He said the bank had followed standard procedures for the underwriting of the Vicenza cash call and that the UniCredit board "appreciated the explanations I provided and understood the sense of the transaction."
(Additional reporting by Pamela Barbaglia, Joshua Franklin, Francesca Landini; Writing by Mark Bendeich; Editing by Alexander Smith/Ruth Pitchford)
Republican U.S. presidential candidate and businessman Donald Trump speaks to supporters after his rival, Senator Ted Cruz, dropped out of the race following the results of the Indiana state primary, at Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York, U.S., May 3, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
The mayor of Oakland, California, wasted no time coming up with a pertinent response to Donald Trump saying calling the city "dangerous."
"Let me be clear, regarding @nytimes story, the most dangerous place in America is Donald Trump's mouth," Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf tweeted Wednesday afternoon.
She was responding to a story published the same day in The New York Times that quoted Trump, who is now the presumptive Republican nominee for president, talking about the most dangerous places he's been to in the world.
Here's the relevant excerpt from the Times story:
"Whats the most dangerous place in the world youve been to?"
He contemplated this for a second. "Brooklyn," he said, laughing. "No," he went on, "there are places in America that are among the most dangerous in the world. You go to places like Oakland. Or Ferguson. The crime numbers are worse. Seriously."
While Oakland and St. Louis, which is near Ferguson, do rank on lists of the most dangerous cities in the US, Oakland has recently seen a dramatic drop in violent crime. And neither city breaks the top-10 most violent in the world.
The most violent places in the world are overwhelmingly in Latin America, according to a yearly ranking by the Mexico Citizens Council for Public Security.
NOW WATCH: Ted Cruz just released a bizarre attack ad featuring a terrifying Hillary Clinton impersonator
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Washington (AFP) - The White House on Wednesday announced the extension of overtime pay benefits to 4.2 million American workers labelled managers but compelled to work long hours for relatively low wages.
The move addresses a decades-long trend of businesses requiring 50- and 60-hour weeks of a growing body of workers classified as managers and supervisors but paid barely more than those on low hourly wages.
The rule, which comes into force on December 1, is expected to raise the workforce cost for many businesses already facing pressure to increase their minimum hourly pay as well.
The action increases the pay threshold below which employees must be paid overtime wages after working 40 hours a week.
Held at $455 a week for more than a decade, the threshold will double to $913 a week, the equivalent of nearly $47,500 a year.
The level will be adjusted every three years to reflect economic conditions.
"If you work more than 40 hours a week, you should get paid for it or get extra time off to spend with your family and loved ones," President Barack Obama said in a statement. "It's one of the most important steps we're taking to help grow middle-class wages."
He cited the case of Elizabeth Paredes, an assistant manager in a Tucson, Arizona, sandwich shop who had worked up to 70 hours a week but never earned any overtime pay because her salary was over the $455-a-week threshold.
"This policy just hasn't kept up with the times," Obama said.
Only seven percent of Americans qualify for overtime under the old threshold, the White House said, compared with 60 percent of workers in 1975 who could earn overtime benefits -- usually a 50 percent premium on their hourly wages.
That erosion has contributed to the stagnation of wages for lower- and middle-class workers nationally, and the shrinking of the middle class, analysts say.
US business groups were quick to blast the new policy as excessive and harmful to small firms.
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The rule "represents another regrettable burden being piled on employers as they attempt to grow in a tepid economy," US Chamber of Commerce senior vice president Randy Johnson said.
"There are severe repercussions associated with this for both employers and employees," said Lizzy Simmons, senior director for government relations at the National Retail Federation.
The NRF and others argue workers would suffer from being reclassified from managers to hourly workers, and lose flexibility in their daily work.
But officials and workers' groups rejected those arguments.
"When you pay workers a fair wage, you have a much more productive workforce," Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said.
Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO labor federation, said the rules will "ensure working people get paid for all the hours we work."
"Taking this step to restore overtime is one of the many ways we are beginning to change the rules of our economy that are rigged in favor of Wall Street," he added.
Up to 12.5 million salaried workers could benefit from the new rules because the higher threshold will make it harder for employers to classify them as managerial, the pro-labor Economic Policy Institute said.
"Employer willingness to push the limits of the law have resulted in widespread noncompliance and misclassification."
Is Hillary Clinton dishonest, as so many Americans think? One clue is her position on President Obamas ramped-up deportations of immigrants. Clinton claims to be adamantly opposed, saying, Large-scale raids are not productive and do not reflect who we are as a country." But Hillary knows full well that President Obamas deportation program is critical to getting her elected. Shes just making the right noises.
The. Obama administration faces another and even larger crowd of Central Americans trying to cross the border this summer, reminiscent of the uncontrolled surge in 2014. While the number of Mexicans illegally entering the country has dropped, there has been a steady rise in people coming in from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Border Patrol statistics show that in the past six months (October 2015 to March of this year) some 32,117 migrants have been apprehended at our southern border up 131 percent over last years tally.
The border collapse two years ago horrified Americans who actually believed official statements that our boundaries are secure. A repeat with primetime footage of refugees swarming across the Rio Grande -- would be invaluable for Donald Trump, who has promised to solve our immigration problems once and for all. Consequently, the White House is desperate to stem the flow.
Related: Supreme Court Appears Split Over Obama's Immigration Plan
By deporting some families back to Central America, they hope that the word will spread: dont bother coming north. White House spokesperson Josh Earnest recently admitted as much, saying of the deportation scheme, If this serves to discourage people from considering making this journey, that would be a good thing. Representative Louis Gutierrez of Illinois confirms, saying the administration was leaking word of the deportations to scare people away from coming to the United States.
They know the message will quickly percolate south, because thats what happened in 2012 in response to President Obamas DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. That initiative was passed five months before Mr. Obamas reelection bid, when frustrated Hispanics were wavering in their support of the president. Not only did his measure inspire another strong turnout of Latino voters, it unleashed a wave of in-migration from Central America. Since the start of 2014, some 100,000 families from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador have entered the U.S.
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The DACA signaled, in particular, a softer stance on young illegals. Consequently, the number of unaccompanied minors from Honduras surged from 2,997 in 2012 to 18,244 in 2014. The number coming in illegally from El Salvador and Guatemala rose from 7,149 to 33,461.
Horrified by video of our border guards overwhelmed by tens of thousands of people simply walking into the country, Americans hardened their stance on immigration, and booted Democrats out of the Senate. To turn the tide, President Obama asked our southern neighbors for help; Mexico obliged by rounding up families en route to the U.S. Obama also sent VP Joe Biden to Central America to broadcast the fact that our doors were closed. The message was heard, and the number of migrants dropped in 2015.
Related: US Says Cubans' Favorable Immigration Status to Stay in Place
They are rising again today for two reasons. First, a judge in California last summer outlawed holding people in unlicensed or secure centers for more than a few days, while their applications for asylum were considered. As a result, thousands of families were released, and told to appear in court at a later date. Not surprisingly, many promptly disappeared. Moreover, many who were denied asylum estimated at as many as 15,000 families stayed in the country despite being ordered to leave. Once again, the message went out: it is a good time to come.
At the same time, Obamas opening of relations with Cuba has caused thousands of people from that country to travel to the U.S. through Central America. Cubans are worried that the thawing of relations between the two countries might end existing policies which grant automatic sanctuary to refugees. According to one report, for instance, The number of Cuban migrants crossing through Panama has increased from 1,154 in 2012 to 35,905 through March 2016.
The Obama administration thus continues what has been seven years of vacillation on immigration policy. On the one hand, he has issued executive orders to protect millions from deportation, the largest of which is now under review by the Supreme Court. On the other, Obama has deported more people than any of his predecessors 414,481 last year alone, down slightly from the year before. The prior record was 358,886, in 2008 when George W. Bush was president. The current round of deportations targets those whose application for asylum has been denied. In January, 121 women and children were arrested in a raid; thats apparently just the beginning.
Related: Republicans, Obama Immigration Chief Clash Over Criminal Immigrants
Despite this uneven record, Latinos continue to support Democrats, and are an essential part of the Obama coalition. The number of Hispanics likely to vote in this years election is estimated at 13.1 million, up from 9.7 million in 2008. Their vote is especially critical in numerous swing states like Nevada, Florida and Colorado. Hillary Clinton, who is struggling to attract young people who were another pillar of the Obama coalition, must keep Latino support. Donald Trumps candidacy has pumped up registration in this group, but widespread deportations wont help her cause.
Hillary Clinton is in a bind. She must oppose the raids that incense Latinos and immigration advocates, but shes well aware that a serious confrontation this summer at the border could cost her the election. As usual, she is parsing her words: Im against large-scale raids that tear families apart, she has said, adding that families should be given a full opportunity to seek relief.
Careful words indeed. According to Homeland Security, they have had that chance, and failed.
Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Th ma administration on Wednesday will issue an update to a long-neglected Department of Labor regulation, which will extend overtime pay protections to more than 4 million Americans currently ineligible for them. The administration estimates the shift will increase wages for workers by over the
The updated rule, which goes into effect in December, doubles the current salary threshold under which employers are required by law to pay their workers overtime, raising it from $23,660 to $47,476 per year.
The rule has been updated only once in the past 40 years, and the share of workers covered by it has fallen from over today, according to the The new salary threshold is set at the 40th percentile of what full-time salaried workers earn in the region of the United States with the lowest income.
Workers covered in accordance with Fair Labor Standards Act, which was passed in 1938, must be paid 1.5 times their regular pay rate for every hour they work beyond a 40-hour workweek. Hourly workers in most blue-collar and service industry jobs are covered by the FLSA.
Read more: Obamacare Just Made History for the Best Possible Reason
Salaried workers, however, are subject to different rules. If they make less than the salary threshold, they are guaranteed overtime pay, but if they make more than the threshold and they fall into the categories of executive, administrator, or professional, their overtime work can be exempt. The logic is that white-collar workers typically have the kind of pay and power in determining their work schedule, so that merits an exception to overtime protections.
Source: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Advocates for worker rights were hoping that the rules regarding the white-collar exception would be updated as well, but the Obama administration has refrained from doing so, citing concerns that it would upset the business community.
The criteria for sorting workers into the exempt white-collar categories commonly called "duties tests" are notoriously prone to exploitation by employers. For example, many businesses are known to categorize poorly-paid, low-skilled workers as managers, even though their jobs only nominally involve high-level duties such as supervision or employee training. As the Economic Policy Institute notes: "[A]n assistant manager at a fast-food restaurant with a salary of $24,000 and who spends 95% of his (or her) time cooking fries, running a cash register and sweeping floors can be required to work 60 or 70 hours a week and yet be denied any overtime pay, simply because he's classified as a manager."
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Mixed feelings: The administration's failure to revisit the white-collar exemptions has left some advocates dissatisfied.
"They're doing half of the job the bright line part of it," Judy Conti, the federal advocacy coordinator at the National Employment Law Project said in a phone . "What the Obama administration is doing is great, and if they had to do one or the other part of overtime regulation, this is the one to do, but it's also important to look at the duties test."
Conti said that the duties test should be reformed so that only people whose actual day-to-day work is mostly composed of high-level work like management should be considered eligible for exemption.
"We hope the next administration will finish the job," she said.
The new salary threshold is a few thousand dollars lower than the one that the Obama administration floated last year, and significantly lower than the ones called for by some progressive advocates, such as the $69,000 floor that the billionaire entrepreneur Nick Hanauer proposed in 2014.
"Let labor standards go for too long, you really can't catch up again." Judy Conti
A crucial element of the update is that the threshold is now set to automatically increase every three years to continue to match the 40th percentile of full-time salaried workers in the country's lowest income region. The White House estimates that in 2020 the new threshold will rise to over $51,000.
The new threshold still covers a far smaller share of the workforce than overtime protections did during their 1979 peak. But given the Obama administration's fear over pushback from the business community, a bigger jump in the salary threshold would have to come from a future administration.
"We're a victim right now of how much the regulation has eroded over time," Conti said. "It would be really hard to get it up [as high as it was in 1979] let labor standards go for too long, you really can't catch up again."
HOUSTON, May 18 (Reuters) - Shares of U.S. independent oil and gas producer Apache Corp rose more than 3 percent early on Wednesday to $56.84 each, partly on an unverified report it was the takeover target of Occidental Petroleum Corp. .
Occidental said it had no knowledge of any pending transaction, while Apache declined to comment on what it called rumors.
Apache added that it was holding a town hall meeting with employees in the North Sea in Europe on Wednesday to announce the layoffs of 37 workers.
"We don't have any knowledge around this topic," said Occidental spokeswoman Melissa Schoeb.
One energy banker said he was doubtful that Apache would sell itself to Occidential's new CEO Vicki Hollub.
Oilandgaspeople.com, a jobs site for the energy industry, posted a note on Wednesday about the purported acquisition, saying Apache would soon announced the deal to its employees.
The web site said the combined two companies would create a "super major," even though their joint output would be around 1.1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, less than half the output of Chevron Corp..
(Reporting By Houston Newsroom)
Heres a sure bet for the regional theater circuit a play about a play that shocked Broadway and landed both the shows producer and its leading man in jail. Indecent is what critics called the 1922 production of The God of Vengeance when this Yiddish play by Sholem Asch moved uptown from the Village. Indecent, now playing at Off Broadways Vineyard Theater, is also the name Paula Vogel has given the riveting backstage drama shes written (with director Rebecca Taichman) about the intertwined lives of an acting company and the roles they played in this scandalous production.
Despite its sordid plot about a respectable family that builds a flourishing business from the brothel they operate in their basement no eyebrows were raised when Gott fun Nekoma was performed by the Jewish acting troupe that brought the Yiddish play to New York. But when Aschs drama was translated into English as The God of Vengeance and moved uptown from the Provincetown Playhouse to Broadway in 1922, even a worldly theater critic like Heywood Broun was made to feel a little sick.
It wasnt the brothel scenes that disturbed critics, shocked audiences and dragged the shows producer and leading man into an obscenity trial. There were plenty of titillating so-called brothel plays in New York in those days. It was the enthusiastic (and unrepentant) lesbian romance between the daughter of the brothel owner and one of his working girls that shocked uptown audiences.
Vogels layered text puts that infamous 1922 production of God of Vengeance in the broadest possible context. So while we dont actually see the play performed, were left with a vivid impression of the drama, beginning with its origins in Warsaw in 1906. Were also made to feel the powerful impact of a critical lesbian love scene, played in the rain with singular grace by the alluring Katrina Lenk and Adina Verson. (In translation, its an austerely beautiful scene.)
Thanks to Taichmans impressionistic direction and David Dorfmans stylized choreography, a troupe of long-slumbering Yiddish actors rise from the ashes and stiffly come to life to play their parts in this drama. (Credit Christopher Akerlind for the eerie lighting design that has this phantom troupe suspended somewhere beyond time and space.)
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Once animated, the company ceremonially enacts the origins of the play: its creation by neophyte playwright Sholem Asch (Max Gordon Moore), the acquisition of a troupe of professional actors (headed by the excellent Tom Nelis), and even the services of an inexperienced but eager stage manager (the outstanding Richard Topol).
But The God of Vengeance was not an easy sell to these seasoned Yiddish theater professionals. Asch makes a strong case for the merits of his play: We need plays in Yiddish that are universal! he insists. But even within the company there are arguments about fueling anti-Semitism by depicting Jews as prostitutes and pimps.
This is not a linear production, so scenes in real time bleed into times past and future, and backstage scenes echo scenes within the play. But from time to time the audience cant help but apply its own knowledge of the ominous threat of Hitlers gathering power in Germany, for example to scenes in which the company calmly discusses whether to bring their successful play to the United States.
We already know the outcome of their professional arguments. But such is the tension of the production, you want to stand up and warn this brave little troupe to catch that ship before it sails.
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The world's oil market is rebalancing faster than expected due to several serious outages, but for now there is enough oil in storage and excess capacity to keep prices from spiking.
"We've strung together an impressive number of outages and supply disruptions for the moment, but there's every incentive in the dire straits the industry's been in to get these barrels on line," said John Kilduff, partner with Again Capital.
Outages and supply disruptions in Canada, Nigeria, Venezuela, and other producing regions have reduced oil production by an estimated 3.8 million barrels a day. Some of those outages should be temporary, and could bring a wall of oil back to the market once they are resolved. There is also the potential for more production from Saudi Arabia, Iran and even the U.S. - if prices rise enough to enable America's shale producers to restart some drilling.
"Some of it's temporary, and if it goes on long enough, there will be longer lasting implications," said Michael Cohen, head of energy commodities research at Barclays. In Canada, an estimated 1.2 million barrels a day are offline due to forest fires in Alberta . The uncontrolled fire, covering 704,000 acres, moved toward energy production facilities Tuesday, after jumping a fire break area=.
Suncor shut down its base plant, and said it had not sustained any damage, while Enbridge's Cheecham crude tank farm was less than a mile away from fire but fire fighters had the fire there under control, according to Reuters.
"This is bad," said Cohen, adding it's the biggest disruption in North America since Hurricane Ike in 2008. "It looks like it's getting worse before it gets any better...It's hard to say. Is it two weeks? Is it four weeks? If it goes on for another two weeks we're going to have some medium term implications for some of the projects up there."
The industry had been hopeful the fires would be out and they would start sending workers back to their jobs just several days ago. "We had this big U-turn in events over the past 48 hours," said Jackie Forrest, vice president energy research at Arc Financial Corp. "It's getting difficult to predict when this wild fire will be put out." She said the fact it has moved north means it will take longer for the industry to restart oil sands production, now down by about 50 percent.
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Fires were reported at a worker camp, but Forrest said there was oversupply of camp space since they were built for the construction workers at the oil sands, not the smaller workforce that operates it.
The Canadian situation is different from other outages in that it is seen as a short-term problem, due to an act of nature, and while uncertain, the situations in Nigeria or Venezuela could be harder to predict.
In Nigeria, militants have knocked oil production offline as the country struggles with the impact of lower oil prices on its economy.
"If Nigeria goes offline, it's sticky. These armed militants are very intent on shutting down production. They have the capacity to do so," said Helima Croft, head of commodities research at RBC Capital Markets.
Croft said the government's decision to prosecute the militants has resulted in increased activity. Unknown attackers were reported to have blown up a gas pipeline owned by Italy's ENI in Nigeria's Niger Delta, the latest attack on an energy facility in the region.
Nigerian oil production is now down about 800,000 barrels a day, and Croft said the outages could be prolonged.
"This is a decision they made to engage this confrontation. No one looks like they're blinking yet," she said. "A small number of well-armed men in Nigeria can do significant damage to the energy sector."
Venezuela is another trouble spot, politically and economically. It is producing about 2.3 million barrels a day, but analysts see it as in a state of decline.
"Things are falling apart. People aren't getting paid. Equipment is not being brought in, and that's precipitating production declines," said Eric Lee, an energy analyst at Citigroup. He said the situation could lead to failures in infrastructure, such as ports, pipelines and refineries. Venezuelan officials this week said they were able to secure a better loan-for-oil deal from China, buying time on debt payments.
"When prices are low, you strip out the oil revenue and things start to gum up," said Cohen. "You've got people upset in Nigeria, Iraq and Libya, and part of it is they're not getting paid offYou've got Kirkuk oil field off line and you have a government in Iraq that is in a serious state of disarray."
But Cohen said oil could return to the market from disruptions and that could send prices lower again. Brent crude was trading just under $50 Wednesday, and West Texas Intermediate was at about $48.70, up about 11 percent in the past week.
Prices were steady even though U.S. inventory data showed a surprise increase of 1.3 million barrels of crude stockpiles.
"There's just too much oil around even with the big draw down in gasoline inventories today. We're just so well supplied," said Kilduff.
The outages, however, are outweighing the bearish forces for now, he said.
On the other side of the supply equation, there are also major producers that could add production.
One of those is Libya, and news of a deal to solve the crisis at the Marsa al Hariga terminal could lead to the resumption of some production.
"It's a good sign if the government in the east is going to recognize the UN government, but we'll have to see on this. The story changes day to day," said Croft. "They're at 150,000 and they have capacity at 1.6 million," she said. "Is it really a sustainable situation that you can get back to 600,000 or 700,000 on a longer term basis?" She said Libya could get back to production of about 350,000 barrels a day.
"I look at Libya and I'm still a pessimist for now. This is plan "B" for ISIS," she said. The presence of ISIS near the oil facilities is a threat. "They're not going to try to operate it. They're trying to make it inoperable."
Besides Libya's expected increase in production, Iran has been returning oil to the market more quickly than expected.
Saudi Arabia has said it could add another million barrels to the market this year, and analysts are watching to see if it will do that. Saudi Arabia has made clear it is ready to ramp up production to meet customer demand but it changed the dynamic of the market when it pushed OPEC to move to let the market set pricing instead of adjusting output.
That strategy led to a collapse in oil prices that took WTI to $26 per barrel. Oil has since been recovering from that low, and has received an extra lift from the outages.
"The political change in Saudi Arabia is going to change not only Saudi Arabia but the oil market," said Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of IHS. "In terms of achieving their objectives, they want to enhance their position of being the low cost supplier."
Yergin said it's striking that the oil disruptions have had such little impact. "You still have a big overhang of inventories, but after 18 months, the market is turning and it was time for a turn," he said. "Supply and demand in the second half is pointing to around $50 a barrel. But that's barring any major disruption. If we see further disruption that could put more upward pressure on prices."
Yergin said U.S. shale producers could start to resume some drilling activity and that could add barrels to the market. "Certainly at $50 that's the number that starts to stabilize U.S. shale. I think people come back and start putting on more drilling rigs. People, at $50, will be a lot more efficient than they were before," he said.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported another weekly drop in U.S. production Wednesday to 8.79 million barrels a day from 8.80 million the week earlier. A year ago, production was 9.35 million barrels a day.
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By Barani Krishnan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices retreated from 2016 highs and snapped a two-day rally on Wednesday, hurt by a surge in the dollar after the U.S. Federal Reserve signalled it could raise interest rates next month.
Brent and U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures had advanced closer to $50 a barrel on Wednesday after large gasoline and distillate drawdowns were announced by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
But minutes from the Fed's April 26-27 policy meeting, released in late afternoon trading of oil, sent the dollar (.DXY) rallying against a basket of currencies and the crude benchmarks into negative territory. [FRX/]
The minutes showed the central bank was likely to raise rates in June if economic data pointed to stronger second-quarter growth and firmer inflation and employment.
"We think people really had a June rate hike off the table," said Tariq Zahir, crude trader and managing partner at Tyche Capital Advisors in New York. "But with the Fed disputing that, we could have a much stronger dollar from here, which is typically bearish for oil and other commodities."
Brent (LCOc1) settled down 35 cents at $48.93 a barrel. Earlier, it came within 15 cents of striking the $50 target coveted by oil bulls. That session's peak of $49.85 was the highest for Brent since November.
WTI (CLc1) closed down 12 cents at $48.19 a barrel after reaching $48.95 - its highest level since mid-October.
U.S. gasoline stockpiles (USOILG=ECI) fell by 2.5 million barrels last week, versus a draw of 150,000 barrels expected by analysts in a Reuters poll.
Inventories of distillates (USOILD=ECI), which include diesel and heating oil, slumped by 3.2 million barrels, versus expectations for a 642,000-barrel drop.
The draws took the market's attention from a crude build (USOILC=ECI) of 1.3 million barrels, which analysts said should have been bearish for crude prices. The Reuters poll forecast a decrease of 2.8 million barrels in crude stocks last week. Preliminary data on Tuesday from the American Petroleum Institute, a trade group, showed a crude draw of 1.1 million barrels. [EIA/S] [API/S]
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Oil prices are up about 80 percent or more from 12-year lows of around $27 for Brent in January and about $26 for WTI in February. The rebound has been fuelled by declining U.S. crude output, a wildfire that has restricted Canadian oil exports to the United States and outages in Libyan and Nigerian supply.
Some analysts worry the higher prices will lead to more production and another major oil glut, similar to the kind that forced prices down from highs above $100 a barrel in mid-2014.
(Additional reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar in London and Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Paul Simao)
A shop clerk (2nd R) carries a box of shoes under sale signboards at a shoes retail store at a shopping district in Tokyo, Japan, April 28, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Yuya Shino/Files
By Leika Kihara and Tetsushi Kajimoto
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's economy expanded at the fastest pace in a year in the first quarter, thanks in part to a leap year consumption boost, but analysts say the rebound is not strong enough to dispel concerns over a contraction this quarter.
With private consumption making only a feeble recovery from last quarter's slump, the data keeps alive market expectations that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will delay a scheduled sales tax hike next year, analysts said.
The world's third-largest economy expanded by an annualised 1.7 percent in January-March, much more than a median market forecast for a 0.2 percent increase and rebounding from a 1.7 percent contraction in the previous quarter, Cabinet Office data showed on Wednesday.
Analysts had worried that the January-March period would not produce enough growth to avert recession - defined as two straight quarters of contraction - after stripping out the estimated boost from the leap year.
"Taking into account the effects of the extra day from the leap year, which pushed up the quarter-on-quarter growth rate by 0.3 percentage point, growth is not as strong as the headline number shows," said Hidenobu Tokuda, senior economist at Mizuho Research Institute.
"The GDP data will likely press Abe to decide to delay a planned sales tax hike next year and to roll out additional fiscal stimulus worth at least 5 trillion yen ($45.76 billion). I also expect the Bank of Japan to ease policy further in July given weak growth and tame inflation."
Following the data, Koichi Hamada, an emeritus professor of economics at Yale University and key economic adviser to Abe, reiterated his opposition to the planned tax hike, which he told lawmakers would cause "quite a confusion".
Abe said there was no change to his plan to proceed with the tax increase, unless Japan is hit by a huge earthquake or a shock of the scale of the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.
But he acknowledged that private consumption was weaker than expected since it was hit by the first tax hike in 2014.
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WEAK CONSUMPTION
Private consumption, which makes up 60 percent of GDP, rose 0.5 percent, more than double the median market forecast, as households boosted spending on televisions, food and beverage, and recreation, the data showed. But the rebound failed to make up for a 0.8 percent drop the previous quarter.
Government officials have said the data will be crucial in Abe's decision on whether to postpone a sales tax hike scheduled for next year.
The data also comes ahead of a Group of Seven leaders' summit Abe will host in western Japan next week, where he hopes to foster agreement on the need for global coordination of policies to jump-start growth.
Japan's economy contracted in the final quarter of last year as slow wage growth hurt private consumption, while exports felt the pinch from sluggish emerging market demand and the pain of a strong yen.
Abe raised the sales tax to 8 percent from 5 percent in 2014, which tipped the economy into recession. That led Abe to delay a second tax hike to 10 percent by 18 months.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara and Tetsushi Kajimoto; Additional reporting by Stanley White and Yoshifumi Takemoto; Editing by Eric Meijer and Jacqueline Wong)
Safra Catz
When Oracle CEO Safra Catz ran into Google's top lawyer Kent Walker at a bat mitzvah party, she had a very sternly-worded message for him, she says: "Thou shalt not steal."
Catz told this story during her testimony on Tuesday on the stand for Oracle's ongoing lawsuit against Google. It was reported by Electronic Frontier Foundation Director of Copyright Activism Parker Higgins via Twitter.
At the heart of Oracle's lawsuit is the allegation that Google improperly used pieces of Java technology in Android without paying properly for the privilege. Oracle is seeking $8.8 billion in damages.
On the stand, Catz described "thou shalt not steal" as "an oldie but a goodie." Given that it's one of the Biblical ten commandments, it's especially appropriate for a bat mitzvah a celebration of a Jewish teenager's first time being called up to read from the Torah.
Catz on the stand explains, "that's like a bar mitzvah, but for girls." Also described "Thou shalt not steal" as "an oldie but a goodie." Parker Higgins (@xor) May 17, 2016
The bat mitzvah testimony has proven to be a hot topic at the trial, and it was even re-visited on Wednesday.
An Oracle spokesperson tells Business Insider that the judge gave Google the opportunity to bring Walker to court for a narrowly focused 60-second appearance in case he wanted to refute Catz's account, but that Google declined.
In motions right now, we're discussing the bat mitzvah again T__T sarah jeong (@sarahjeong) May 18, 2016
Google is saying that Catz's account is wrong but that they don't want to counter it, subtext being fear that Oracle has set up a trap sarah jeong (@sarahjeong) May 18, 2016
Google's use of Java had Oracle pretty steamed, Catz testified.
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Java was originally invented as a way to make it easy to write apps and software that work across multiple devices super-easily, no muss, no fuss. Although it evolved and ended up being more prominent in other areas, mobile phone makers paid Sun (and later Oracle) licensing fees to use it.
Catz testified that Google's decision to license Android for free caused Oracle's revenue to "plummet," and she gave an example that Samsung went from paying about $40 million a year to $1 million a year for the privilege, according to Reuters' coverage of the testimony.
For its part, Google is arguing "fair use" that it's allowed to use Oracle's Java code, whether or not it's copyrighted. The lawsuit is ongoing.
NOW WATCH: Israel banned a book featuring an Arab-Jew romance, so Arabs and Jews responded by kissing on camera
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Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton in the Oregon Democratic primary on Tuesday, notching a victory in a state that was tailor-made for his progressive-themed campaign.
The Associated Press called the race for the Vermont senator at 11:37 p.m. Eastern, a little more than half an hour after polls closed:
BREAKING: Sanders wins the Democratic primary in Oregon. @AP race call at 11:37 p.m. EDT. #Election2016 #APracecallpic.twitter.com/8qxS6IdB7V https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CitZriZXEAAbbiN.jpg:large
No Bernout just yet: Sanders' triumph in the Beaver State follows victories in Indiana and West Virginia this month, though his likely defeat in the Kentucky primary on Tuesday dashed hopes of a May winning streak.
At any rate, Sanders' recent wins don't alter Clinton's forbidding lead in the race for the delegates, but they underscore the frontrunner's persistent vulnerabilities heading into her general election battle with presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
With a restive left wing disillusioned by Clinton's ties to the financial industry and her hawkish foreign policy record, the former secretary of state may struggle to unite supporters of Sanders' anti-establishment bid behind her campaign. Not only is there a risk that many Sanders backers will stay home or vote for protest candidates in November, but Trump has begun courting Sanders supporters with a populist-toned pitch.
Source: Dennis Van Tine/STAR MAX/IPx/AP
For now, though, Clinton is still on track to make it to the starting gate. Heading into Tuesday, Clinton had won 2,240 delegates to Sanders' 1,473, meaning she only needed to win about 14% of the remaining delegates up for grabs to reach the 2,383 required to clinch the Democratic nod.
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How Bernie won: Undaunted, Sanders came to Oregon with high hopes of scoring a victory that would bolster his left-wing movement's position heading into the Democratic National Convention in July.
The state's progressive politics and demographic profile proved an excellent fit for Sanders, who aims to foment a "political revolution" against what he calls "the billionaire class." That message hasn't penetrated as much as Sanders needed it to in most large, demographically diverse states. But with a Democratic electorate that's about 87% white, according to data from FiveThirtyEight, Oregon's voter pool was more Sanders-friendly.
Oregon is also home to Jeff Merkley, the only United States senator to publicly endorse Sanders.
Clinton all but conceded that the fundamentals of the state favored Sanders, spending few resources in the state ahead of the vote and devoting most of her attention to the Kentucky primary.
The Democrats' next contests will not come for nearly three weeks. Democrats will caucus in the Virgin Islands on June 4, while Puerto Rican Democrats will vote in their primary the next day.
The last major prize is California's June 7 primary, where 172 pledged delegates are at stake and polls show Clinton leading Sanders by about 10 percentage points.
Just yesterday Organic Avenue, the only organic, plant-based, and grab-and-go brand in the U.S., reopened its Bleecker street doors, after shutting down briefly in 2014. Denise Mari, the original founder, has partnered with Steven Fisher, founder of Fisher Capital Investments, to rebuild Organic Avenue.
Her mission? To change the world of health by transitioning the mainstream into a healthy plant-based lifestyle by creating a unique offering of wellness all under one roof, she said. Fisher is also thrilled to be involved in reviving the brand, helping it reach its potential, and is looking forward to the months ahead as more Organic Avenue locations reopen across Manhattan."
Check out America's best vegan restaurants.
The new stores will also serve as mini markets, selling everything from fresh juices, and smoothies and smoothie bowls, to nut-based cheeses, and vegan entrees and snacks, such as bean chili, cheezy polenta, and Mexican and Mediterranean salads.
Lovers of high-quality, healthy fare will be pleased to know that Organic Avenue also has the energizing, yet mysterious beverage (at least to me), kombucha, with four flavors on tap! For those of you that have a sweet tooth, your favorite, guilt-free, indulgent treat, the chocolate avocado pudding, is back!
More offerings include a vegan cafe where cold-pressed juice meets coffee. The cafe has a full line-up of organic espresso and fair-trade coffee beverages paired with homemade nut Mylks instead of your normal dairy creamers. People who prefer tea will be pleased by the selection of super-herbs, a class of medicinal herbs, teas and tinctures.
For more New York City dining and travel news, click here.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 18, 2016 / ParcelPal Technology Inc. ("ParcelPal" or the "Company"), (CSE: PKG) is pleased to report several corporate goals being met. ParcelPal is a mobile application and desktop computer service enabling businesses and individuals to quickly and affordably have items delivered locally though crowd-sourced couriers. ParcelPal has established the following corporate goals to complete by year end:
National Roll-out in Major Cities Canada-wide by Q4.
Special Business Acquisition Marketing Program.
ParcelPal API (Application Protocol Interface) availability.
Launch of the iPhone ParcelPal App.
ParcelPal Peer-to-Peer shipping.
Following the Company's previous announcement on April 7, 2016 regarding the successful launch of ParcelPal mobile crowd-sourced courier service in Vancouver, the Company has now registered over 1250 couriers and several dozen businesses utilizing the service on a daily basis. Customers can now ship any item under 50 pounds as far as 200 kilometers from Downtown Vancouver.
ParcelPal is currently making a marketing push to acquire new clients by offering a limited time 5 (five) free package deliveries within Downtown Vancouver with no obligation. Businesses or individuals interested in taking advantage of this offer can visit http://try.parcelpal.com/free-trial/ to get started.
The Company is now beta testing the ParcelPal API which will enable online shopping services the ability to offer ParcelPal as a shipping method. The sales and marketing team at ParcelPal intend to make in-roads with major brands and online stores in North America.
In addition, ParcelPal will have plugins available to Wordpress and Woocommerce users. Wordpress is the world's most popular content management system used by ecommerce web sites and bloggers while Woocommerce is one of the most popular shopping cart systems for Wordpress used by millions of web sites. We believe the ParcelPal API to be a critical service and will multiply deliveries nation-wide positioning the Company to meet our revenue expectations in 2016.
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The development team at ParcelPal is pleased to launch the beta iPhone ParcelPal App which will be made available in the Apple iStore imminently. While ParcelPal is already available for the Google Android and desktop computers platforms, the iPhone App is just being released. The launch of the iPhone App will likely add hundreds of new delivery people in the coming months making ParcelPal the largest local courier service in British Columbia.
ParcelPal is currently preparing its expansion strategy in to each major Canadian city by the end of this year. The rapid expansion and implementation throughout Canada will create new client offerings such as national delivery service from coast-to-coast as well as delivery of items over the 30 pound limit for long haul truckers utilizing the ParcelPal App.
President and CEO Jason Moreau states, "We are extremely pleased with the progress we've made in the past few months, this rapid development of our product and the business is owed to our team of loyal and dedicated staff as well as the shareholders who helped finance our vision to become a major player in the transportation and logistics business in Canada and soon the USA."
About ParcelPal Technology Inc.
ParcelPal is an iPhone, Android and desktop computer service enabling businesses and individuals to quickly and affordably have items delivered locally though crowd-sourced couriers. The Company offers same-day delivery of merchandise for leading retailers in Vancouver and soon in major cities Canada-wide.
ParcelPal: www.parcelpal.com
The Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") or any other securities regulatory authority has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release that has been prepared by management.
CSE - Symbol: PKG
Shares issued: 25,401,511
Contact:
Jason Moreau
President
ParcelPal Technology, Inc.
604-401-8700
Forward Looking Information
This news release contains forward looking statements relating to the Proposed Transaction, and the future potential of ParcelPal. Forward looking statements are often identified by terms such as "will", "may", "should", "intends", "anticipates", "expects", "plans" and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release are forward looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the risk that the Proposed Transaction will not be completed due to, among other things, failure to execute definitive documentation, failure to complete satisfactory due diligence, failure to receive the approval of the CSE and the risk that ParcelPal will not be successful due to, among other things, general risks relating to the mobile application industry, failure of ParcelPal to gain market acceptance and potential challenges to the intellectual property utilized in ParcelPal. There can be no assurance that any forward looking statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.
The Company cannot guarantee that any forward looking statement will materialize and the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward looking information. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company will only update or revise publicly any of the included forward looking statements as expressly required by Canadian securities laws.
SOURCE: ParcelPal Technology Inc.
* Crucial phase for firm, two years after seeing off Pfizer
* New drugs needed as patent losses erode $17 bln of sales
* Move to Cambridge pivots AstraZeneca firmly to science
By Ben Hirschler
LONDON, May 18 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca Chief Executive Pascal Soriot is a big believer in science, and the biggest experiment of his career is the reinvention of the drugmaker.
The $500 million corporate headquarters and research hub emerging amid cranes on the southern edge of the university town of Cambridge symbolises his aim to create a science-led company with uniquely close ties to academia.
For employees, these are uncomfortable times. Thousands of job have been cut globally at the company in the past three years, with more to come. Some staff are also reluctant to move to Cambridge, with its high house prices, from north-west England where the company has a strong presence dating from its time as part of the old ICI chemicals empire.
Soriot, however, relishes the chance to shake things up by setting up home near world-renowned university labs - where he says the firm is better placed to hire the "best of the best" - while shrinking its operations to focus on core areas like cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular disease.
"In the past, we've had too much stability," the CEO said in an interview with Reuters that gives some of the clearest indications yet of the scale of the cultural change he intends to push through at the company.
"We had people who never moved and turnover of 1 or 2 percent. That might sound good but it's actually not, because you don't have new ideas flowing through the place."
The stakes are high. Two years after spurning a $100 billion bid from Pfizer, AstraZeneca is going through the biggest "cliff" of patent expiries the drug industry has ever seen, wiping off more than half of its sales - or $17 billion - in 2011-2017.
That has forced Soriot to seek new routes to profit and his overhaul of the company is now entering a pivotal phase, with make-or-break trial results and drug approvals due over the next 12 months, coinciding with the move to Cambridge.
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As with any experiment, the outcome of Soriot's reinvention is uncertain - and investors are divided.
Neil Woodford of Woodford Investment Management, the seventh largest AstraZeneca shareholder, is convinced the company will re-emerge as a successful player focused on specialty drugs like cancer treatments rather than mass-market medicines. He has added to his stake recently.
But Andy Smith, chief investment officer at fund manager Mann Bioinvest, says Soriot has yet to prove his plan will pay off. "The big question hanging over his tenure is how close he can get to showing actual value from the pipeline, rather than promised value," he said.
'IMPLODING'
No other pharmaceutical company has moved itself wholesale to an academic centre. Soriot argues the move is already paying off for some 1,600 staff, nearly a quarter of its UK workforce, now in rented space around Cambridge who are liaising far more closely with academic researchers.
"It is fundamentally changing the way we operate," said the 56-year-old, who trained as a veterinarian in France. Most of the staff will move into the new building from late 2017.
Soriot said he had no choice but to overhaul AstraZeneca when he took over in October 2012, due to the patent "cliff".
"The company was imploding," he said bluntly.
His answer has been to invest in internal research and bolt-on acquisitions, including more than $7 billion of deals at the end of 2015, to rebuild the company's drug pipeline.
This includes cancer drugs that boost the immune system, which are the hottest area of drug research right now, although AstraZeneca also has high hopes for other approaches to fighting tumours.
That makes oncology the area with the greatest potential to drive future sales at AstraZeneca, as the company grapples with a wave of patent expiries on older products, such as its cholesterol fighter Crestor and stomach acid pill Nexium.
Investors are anxious for proof Soriot's prescription will work, since AstraZeneca shares are languishing 28 percent below the 55 pounds offered by Pfizer and earnings are expected to fall in 2016 and 2017.
AstraZeneca has also had to cope recently with some senior executive departures, including the loss this week of its North America head to Novartis.
At the height of the takeover battle, the company went public with a forecast that sales would rise by three-quarters to $45 billion by 2023 - a hostage to fortune, perhaps, but a target Soriot remains confident will be met.
"I might not be here to see if we achieve that in 2023 but people won't have to wait until then. If we succeed, the share price will reflect the value of the company much earlier than that," he said. "I think it is going to take another 12 months and then hopefully we can show people what they want to see."
STEPS FORWARD, BACK
So far, there have been some steps forward, like success with new cancer drugs Tagrisso and Lynparza. The company ticked another box in its recovery story on Tuesday with good results for a new asthma drug.
But there have also been setbacks, including the loss of a fast-to-market opportunity for AstraZeneca's big immuno-oncology hope durvalumab.
The latter has increased the pressure to prove that a combination treatment mixing durvalumab and tremelimumab can help in lung cancer, giving AstraZeneca a foothold in a market currently dominated by Bristol-Myers Squibb.
"Pascal has played his hand well but now he's at the point where it gets harder," said one top executive at a rival company. "He's going down to the valley floor on earnings and we don't know how the clinical data will play out to get the business up the other side."
AstraZeneca has also used so-called externalisation income from licensing out non-core products to underpin profits, leading to criticism over earnings quality from some analysts.
With R&D spending equivalent to 24 percent of sales, AstraZeneca's science budget exceeds the industry average. But Soriot aims to push selling, general and administrative expenses down to 30-32 percent from 35 percent.
The CEO says investors need patience to see through a turnaround story that, with luck, will mirror the recovery Bristol-Myers, now the star of the pharma sector.
"There will be a tipping point where people see a sufficient number of projects progressing positively and then they can see the future is bright."
(Editing by Pravin Char)
By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - AstraZeneca Chief Executive Pascal Soriot is a big believer in science, and the biggest experiment of his career is the reinvention of the drugmaker. The $500 million corporate headquarters and research hub emerging amid cranes on the southern edge of the university town of Cambridge symbolizes his aim to create a science-led company with uniquely close ties to academia. For employees, these are uncomfortable times. Thousands of job have been cut globally at the company in the past three years, with more to come. Some staff are also reluctant to move to Cambridge, with its high house prices, from north-west England where the company has a strong presence dating from its time as part of the old ICI chemicals empire. Soriot, however, relishes the chance to shake things up by setting up home near world-renowned university labs - where he says the firm is better placed to hire the "best of the best" - while shrinking its operations to focus on core areas like cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular disease. "In the past, we've had too much stability," the CEO said in an interview with Reuters that gives some of the clearest indications yet of the scale of the cultural change he intends to push through at the company. "We had people who never moved and turnover of 1 or 2 percent. That might sound good but it's actually not, because you don't have new ideas flowing through the place." The stakes are high. Two years after spurning a $100 billion bid from Pfizer, AstraZeneca is going through the biggest "cliff" of patent expiries the drug industry has ever seen, wiping off more than half of its sales - or $17 billion - in 2011-2017. That has forced Soriot to seek new routes to profit and his overhaul of the company is now entering a pivotal phase, with make-or-break trial results and drug approvals due over the next 12 months, coinciding with the move to Cambridge. As with any experiment, the outcome of Soriot's reinvention is uncertain - and investors are divided. Neil Woodford of Woodford Investment Management, the seventh largest AstraZeneca shareholder, is convinced the company will re-emerge as a successful player focused on specialty drugs like cancer treatments rather than mass-market medicines. He has added to his stake recently. But Andy Smith, chief investment officer at fund manager Mann Bioinvest, says Soriot has yet to prove his plan will pay off. "The big question hanging over his tenure is how close he can get to showing actual value from the pipeline, rather than promised value," he said. 'IMPLODING' No other pharmaceutical company has moved itself wholesale to an academic center. Soriot argues the move is already paying off for some 1,600 staff, nearly a quarter of its UK workforce, now in rented space around Cambridge who are liaising far more closely with academic researchers. "It is fundamentally changing the way we operate," said the 56-year-old, who trained as a veterinarian in France. Most of the staff will move into the new building from late 2017. Soriot said he had no choice but to overhaul AstraZeneca when he took over in October 2012, due to the patent "cliff". "The company was imploding," he said bluntly. His answer has been to invest in internal research and bolt-on acquisitions, including more than $7 billion of deals at the end of 2015, to rebuild the company's drug pipeline. This includes cancer drugs that boost the immune system, which are the hottest area of drug research right now, although AstraZeneca also has high hopes for other approaches to fighting tumors. That makes oncology the area with the greatest potential to drive future sales at AstraZeneca, as the company grapples with a wave of patent expiries on older products, such as its cholesterol fighter Crestor and stomach acid pill Nexium. Investors are anxious for proof Soriot's prescription will work, since AstraZeneca shares are languishing 28 percent below the 55 pounds offered by Pfizer and earnings are expected to fall in 2016 and 2017. AstraZeneca has also had to cope recently with some senior executive departures, including the loss on Tuesday of its North America head to Novartis. At the height of the takeover battle, the company went public with a forecast that sales would rise by three-quarters to $45 billion by 2023 - a hostage to fortune, perhaps, but a target Soriot remains confident will be met. "I might not be here to see if we achieve that in 2023 but people won't have to wait until then. If we succeed, the share price will reflect the value of the company much earlier than that," he said. "I think it is going to take another 12 months and then hopefully we can show people what they want to see." STEPS FORWARD, BACK So far, there have been some steps forward, like success with lung cancer drug Tagrisso and with good results for a new asthma drug. But there have also been setbacks, including the loss of a fast-to-market opportunity for AstraZeneca's big immuno-oncology hope durvalumab. The latter has increased the pressure to prove that a combination treatment mixing durvalumab and tremelimumab can help in lung cancer, giving AstraZeneca a foothold in a market currently dominated by Bristol-Myers Squibb. "Pascal has played his hand well but now he's at the point where it gets harder," said one top executive at a rival company. "He's going down to the valley floor on earnings and we don't know how the clinical data will play out to get the business up the other side." AstraZeneca has also used so-called externalization income from licensing out non-core products to underpin profits, leading to criticism over earnings quality from some analysts. With R&D spending equivalent to 24 percent of sales, AstraZeneca's science budget exceeds the industry average. But Soriot aims to push selling, general and administrative expenses down to 30-32 percent from 35 percent. The CEO says investors need patience to see through a turnaround story that, with luck, will mirror the recovery Bristol-Myers, now the star of the pharma sector. "There will be a tipping point where people see a sufficient number of projects progressing positively and then they can see the future is bright." (Editing by Pravin Char)
TipRanks
Considering the tough macro environment and its impact on the markets, investors can be forgiven for some indecision when it comes to choosing stocks right now. But there are clues, hints that will point out the right stocks, even in an unsettled market. The simplest move, of course, is to look for quality stocks that have fallen sharply in recent months, down to bargain-level prices. The adage is 'buy low and sell high,' and fundamentally sound stocks that have fallen 50% or more in less than a
People magazine has selected their hottest celebrity bodies of the year for their forthcoming issue, and you can thank them later.
Among them is a pregnant Hilaria Baldwin, showing off her yoga moves for the magazine.
Read: Meet The Fit Mom Who's Turned Her Daily Routine Into a Workout Regimen
People writer Ana Calderone told Inside Edition: "[Baldwin] is always posing in crazy yoga poses on Instagram. Now that she is pregnant, we thought it would be a good way to show off her natural body in this stage."
Jennifer Lopez has her derriere insured and at 46, she proves why.
#ALLIHAVE #JLoVegas #ifyouhadmylove #theglamorouslife A photo posted by Jennifer Lopez (@jlo) on Jan 28, 2016 at 3:35pm PST
The boys of the upcoming Baywatch movie Zac Efron and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson clearly went the extra mile to look good on the beach, and it has paid off.
Read: Former Baywatch Star: I'll Never Wear a Swimsuit on TV Again After Finding God
Calderone told IE: "Zac did not eat any carbs or sugar and only grass-fed beef and greens. It takes a lot of hard work to look that good."
The issue also shows off the to-die-for washboard abs of the U.S. Men's Gymnastics team, who will go for the gold in Rio de Janeiro during the Olympics this summer.
#squad #meanmuggin A photo posted by Danell J Leyva (@danelljleyva) on Jan 13, 2016 at 2:31pm PST
This year's body issue also features plus size model Ashley Graham.
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A photo posted by A S H L E Y G R A H A M (@theashleygraham) on Dec 5, 2015 at 7:59am PST
People will also highlight the sizzling bodies of Beyonce, Gwen Stefani, Kate Hudson and DWTS contestant Nyle Demarco.
The issue hits newsstands Friday.
Watch: Five Ways to Exercise at Your Desk in 10 Minutes Or Less
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Even in retreat from advancing Iraqi forces, who have retaken nearly half the territory seized by terrorists, the Islamic State still leaves a deadly legacy: The group is using booby traps and mines to bog down Iraqs military and delay the return of internally displaced Iraqis.
The job of clearing villages rigged with such explosives is immensely dangerous, even for experts. On Tuesday, an Australian mine-clearing specialist died after a bomb he was defusing exploded in Daquq, a mixed Arab-Kurdish village in Kirkuk province that was retaken in April 2015.
The Australian, whose name has not been released, was working for the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action, a non-profit helping the Iraqi government clear recaptured villages of explosives a primary obstacle to resettling many of the 3.3 million Iraqis displaced by conflict caused by the Islamic State.
The gentleman was known to us as a very senior, very experienced, very safe operator. This is a complete shock to us, to his family and all who knew him, said the groups director, Hansjoerg Eberle, in a press statement.
The Swiss Foundation for Mine Action has sent three Australians, each of them expert bomb technicians with decades of military experience, to train locals and defuse IEDs.
So far, the organization has worked only in the village of Daquq, which had a pre-war population of approximately 10,000. There, the foundation has cleared 400-500 IEDs in the span of three-and-a-half months, according to Deputy Director General Ben Truniger.
We have found so many IEDs [in Daquq] in such short time that it indicates there are thousands, he told Foreign Policy. While leaving, they left bombs basically everywhere, within all buildings that had been housing or command centers.
Islamic State militants use whatever explosives they can find, Truniger said, and learn how to devise bombs as part of basic training.
Whatever you can imagine, is therepressure, trip wire, electric, some even remote controlled [mines], Truniger said, adding that defusing the improvised devices is an unusually dangerous and difficult task.
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The foundation has trained a local staff of about 50 to hunt IEDs, before calling in one of the foreign specialists, who do the nerve-wracking technical work of defusing them. Truniger said the foundation works under the mutual consent of authorities in Baghdad and Erbil, and is not beholden to any armed group.
Local forces also try to dismantle bombs, but given a lack of technical expertise, their efforts can often backfire. Kurdish militia commanders claimed to have defused more than 7,000 IEDs in 2015 in Kirkuk, but in that same year, up to 182 peshmerga fighters died while trying to defuse the explosives, according to internal documents obtained by the Kurdish television network NRT TV.
After Iraqi forces recaptured the strategic city of Ramadi in late 2015, backed by hundreds of U.S. airstrikes, the U.S. government awarded a $5 million contract to Janus Global Operations, a Tennessee-based mine-clearance company, to clear the thousands of IEDs planted throughout the city.
That company is working in two groups of 40 and training locals, but the job, it said, could still take years, if not decades to complete.
Photo credit: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images
Philippine communist rebels waging one of Asia's longest insurgencies said Wednesday they would enter into peace talks with president-elect Rodrigo Duterte and ask him to add four of their political allies to his cabinet.
Duterte, who won a landslide victory in last week's elections, had offered four cabinet posts to the insurgents and expressed willingness to free ailing guerrillas from prison to jumpstart peace negotiations that had stalled three years ago.
"We applaud the plans and programmes announced by president-elect Duterte. We believe these would be key factors to achieving peace," Luis Jalandoni, the rebels' exiled chief peace negotiator told Manila radio station DZMM by telephone.
Netherlands-based Jalandoni said the rebels were expected to shortly exchange delegation visits with the Duterte camp "as part of the process for preparing the resumption of peace talks" as well as to iron out terms of cooperation.
Duterte, the mayor of the southern city of Davao, on Monday welcomed plans by Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison to end nearly 30 years of Dutch exile to take part in the peace talks.
He said the return of Sison, his former political science professor at a Manila university, would be important in helping to end the rebellion, which has claimed an estimated 30,000 lives since the 1960s.
Both Jalandoni and Sison said no guerrillas would actually serve in Duterte's cabinet prior to reaching a political settlement, when the insurgents hoped to lay down arms and join a coalition government.
"We have relayed to president-elect Duterte that (guerrilla) personnel themselves would not be taking up government posts, but we will recommend a list of qualified, competent and dedicated persons that could fill the posts," Jalandoni said.
He said this would include nominees to the labour, social welfare, environment, and agrarian reform portfolios that were offered to them by Duterte, who takes office on June 30.
Jalandoni also told DZMM the rebels would consider a ceasefire and would ask the Duterte government to release 543 "political prisoners", the insurgents' term for imprisoned comrades.
Incumbent leader Benigno Aquino ended talks with the communists in 2013 over the rebels' demand for the unconditional release of their detained comrades that his government was unwilling to grant.
Security is tight in Wan Chai.
The most powerful Chinese official to visit Hong Kong in over four years is being met by protests, and protected by thousands of police officers, as anger simmers in the semi-autonomous city over Beijings heavy-handed rule.
Zhang Dejiang, the third-ranked official in the Communist Partys top decision-making body, was behind the unpopular ruling on Hong Kongs elections that sparked the 2014 Umbrella Movement.The conditions surrounding Zhangs three-day visit to Hong Kong, which started today (May 17), show how badly relations have deteriorated with Beijing since then.
As he stepped off a plane at noon at Hong Kong airport, Zhang said he is visiting to see, listen, and speak. But the Wan Chai neighborhood where he is staying has been turned into a veritable fortress, and security is so tight that hes unlikely to see or hear anything from Hong Kong citizens at all.
So, some protestors are planning to break the rules to get his attention.
At least four protests are planned for his trip in approved protest zones, blocks from the convention center and hotel complex where Zhang will be. The convention center area is almost completely closed off by massive barricades, which make free travel through it nearly impossible:
Harbour Road, Hong Kong, May 17. (Josh Horwitz)
Buildings and streets surrounding the convention center have been barricaded thoroughly and office workers need to plead with police to get through:
(Quartz)
Even before Zhang got to the center of town, activists were pushing outside their approved spots.
At about 12:30pm, police stopped three who were running down blockaded streets carrying makeshift signs that said I want true general elections and other pro-democracy slogans.
Nathan Law of Demosisto, left, with Keith Chan and Terry Chan, two other activists. (Quartz)
Police and activists tussled, and at least one was wrestled to the ground. Then police collected the activists personal information and explained why they had been held stopped. They did not make any arrests.
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Slack for iOS Upload(5)
The protest areas are too remote to have any impact, Nathan Law, one protester and member of the pro-democracy political party Demosisto said.
The designated protest areas are places you can barely see, Law told Quartz. We have to have some direct action which breaks the rulesto make it visible to the world and Zhang Dejiang and officials in China.
Meanwhile, police arrested a total of seven activists near the North Lantau Highway and the Tsing Ma bridge after they hung pro-democracy banners along the roads leading from the airport to Hong Kong Island. Avery Ng Man-yuen and three other members of the pro-democracy League of Social Democrats party intended to time the stunts so Zhang would pass by the banners as he traveled from airport towards the city. But authorities removed them before Zhangs car set forth. On Facebook, Ng live-streamed his arrest, which police carried forth on the grounds that he violated traffic laws.
About 6,000 Hong Kong police officers are being dispatched every day of Zhangs visit to keep the peacea huge number for a city that employs less than 29,000 officers.
Security SO tight for Zhang Dejiang HK visit starting today: 2 cops watch from Central Plaza sky lobby 46 floors up pic.twitter.com/c8czjtCC9c Kelvin Chan (@chanman) May 17, 2016
In addition to uniformed officers, there are dozens of fit, tall, short-haired men milling around the area, dressed in plain clothes but wearing earpieces.
Slack for iOS Upload(2)
When asked why he was standing in the area, one said his boss had told him to come to the location for security. Thats all I can tell you, he said.
Officials in nearby Shenzhen have already arrested five men who were allegedly planning to buy a drone to create a nuisance during Zhangs visit, the South China Morning Post reported. Hong Kong authorities have equated protests with terrorism ahead of Zhangs visit.
Lion Rock, which overlooks Kowloon on the citys north side, is a popular spot for citizens to post political messages. Despite the fact that police camped out on the hillside overnight, a banner went up Tuesday morning:
9 police camped on top of #LionRock fail to stop"I want real universal suffrage" banner from appearing #ZhangDejiang pic.twitter.com/5fMiS1gMo3 Yuen Chan (@xinwenxiaojie) May 17, 2016
In order to prevent protestors from pulling up bricks, presumably to hurl at police or Zhang, glue was applied over sidewalks in the area where he is staying:
All glued down. (EPA/Jerome Favre)
All this over-whelming security has inspired satire:
And drawn unfavorable comparisons to Queen Elizabeths much more casual visit in 1975, when the British still ruled Hong Kong:
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On May 18, 1896, the Supreme Courts Plessy v. Ferguson decision upheld the legality of racial segregation in America. Plessy was later overturned, and it holds a controversial place in the Courts legacy.
The Plessy Court
Legal experts and historians have relegated Plessy to the dustbin of history. Back in 2009, journalist David Savage, writing for the ABA Journal, looked at how liberals, moderates, and conservatives viewed controversial Supreme Court cases.
Depending on ideology, cases involving the outcome of the 2000 presidential election, abortion, marijuana usage, eminent domain, campaign contributions and Social Security were on the worst-case lists, Savage said. But a special place was reserved for what he called crossover cases.
Historians and court scholars agree on a pair of 19th century opinions: Dred Scott v. Sandford, the 1857 ruling that upheld slavery even in the free states, and Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, which condoned segregation as separate but equal. The World War II decision Korematsu v. United States (1944) is usually cited as well, Savage said.
In the Plessy case, a man named Homer Plessy refused to give up his seat on a train in New Orleans, as he was required to do by Louisiana state law. He told the conductor he was 1/8th African-American. Plessy was arrested. Plessy claimed the Louisiana law separating blacks from whites violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The Supreme Court decided by a 7-1 margin that separate but equal public facilities could be provided to different racial groups.
In his majority opinion, Justice Henry Billings Brown pointed to schools as an example of the legality of segregation.
The most common instance of this is connected with the establishment of separate schools for white and colored children, which has been held to be a valid exercise of the legislative power even by courts of States where the political rights of the colored race have been longest and most earnestly enforced, he said.
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Brown added the telling remarks that have characterized the Courts decision since.
The argument also assumes that social prejudice may be overcome by legislation, and that equal rights cannot be secured except by an enforced commingling of the two races, Brown said. If the civil and political rights of both races be equal, one cannot be inferior to the other civilly or politically. If one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them upon the same plane.
The lone dissenter, Justice John Marshall Harlan, wrote, In my opinion, the judgment this day rendered will, in time, prove to be quite as pernicious as the decision made by this tribunal in the Dred Scott Case (referencing the controversial 1857 decision about slavery).
Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens, he added.
The decision of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka on May 17, 1954, overturned a Plessy decision that extended the Jim Crow era of discrimination for decades.
Chief Justice Earl Warren, writing for a unanimous Brown court in 1954, said that We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of separate but equal has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. The Court said the defendants were deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.
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By Diane Bartz
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. judge who stopped Staples Inc's (SPLS.O) proposed merger with Office Depot Inc (ODP.O) last week agreed with antitrust enforcers that the deal would have meant higher prices for big business customers and that Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) entry into office supplies would have done little to counter that.
Judge Emmet Sullivan's opinion, released in redacted form on Tuesday, closely followed the Federal Trade Commission's arguments and took swipes at Staples' decision not to present a defence.
The two companies scrapped the $6.3 billion (4.4 billion) merger on May 10 after Judge Sullivan issued an order temporarily stopping the deal.
The judge at least twice noted a decision by Staples' attorney, Diane Sullivan, to scrap plans to present a defence after saying that the FTC failed to prove its case.
Judge Sullivan wrote: "Defendants could have presented expert testimony to support" their position.
The Staples attorney took issue with an FTC witness' reasoning to support the government's case, but Judge Sullivan noted that "defendants produced no expert evidence during the hearing to rebut that methodology."
The FTC had stopped a previous merger attempt between the two companies in 1997. Since then, Amazon and other online sellers exploded onto the scene, while megastores such as Costco Wholesale Corp (COST.O) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) further crowded the market.
Staples was more recently emboldened to offer to buy Office Depot after the smaller chain succeeded in buying No. 3 OfficeMax in November 2013 with no divestitures.
(Editing by Matthew Lewis)
By Nate Raymond
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday revoked the bail of a California man once dubbed "Porn's New King" after authorities brought charges against him over his alleged role in a scheme targeting investors and a Native American tribe.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan had argued for Jason Galanis' bail to be revoked after accusing him of running the scheme after being arrested in September on separate charges of stock fraud.
Galanis, 45, is awaiting a Sept. 12 trial to face charges that he engaged in a pump-and-dump swindle that cost investors in the reinsurer Gerova Financial Group Ltd nearly $20 million. He has pleaded not guilty.
U.S. authorities last Wednesday accused Galanis of enlisting six others to defraud clients who invested in over $60 million in bonds issued by the Wakpamni Lake Community Corp, an affiliate of the Oglala Sioux Nation in South Dakota.
Rather than invest the proceeds, Galanis and his accomplices spent the money on other investments, support for a technology company's initial public offering, and luxury goods at retailers such as Gucci and Prada, authorities said.
U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel ordered Galanis' $10 million bail revoked.
"It's a danger to have somebody commit the crime of conspiracy to commit securities fraud while on release," he said of Galanis, who in 2004 was dubbed Porn's New King by Forbes magazine after buying the nation's largest processor of credit card payments for Internet pornography.
The cases in U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, are U.S. v. Galanis, No. 15-cr-00643, and U.S. v. Galanis, No. 16-mj-02978.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Andrew Hay)
On May 7, government officials in Portugal turned off its power nationwide. But the outage didn't leave its citizens in the dark: For four days straight, all of Portugal's electricity needs were powered by renewable energy. Using solar and hydro power alone for 107 hours, the country set a clean energy record.
In 2015, 30.7% of the country's energy came from renewable sources, including 22.5% in wind power, according to Portugal's Association of Renewable Energy.
"We are seeing trends like this spread across Europe last year with Denmark and now in Portugal," Wind Europe trade association Oliver Joy told the berian peninsula is a great resource for renewables and wind energy, not just for the region but for the whole of Europe."
A solar power plant in Portugal
Scientists around the world are discovering new sources of renewable energy all the time and figuring out how to harness them. In April, Denmark company Wavestar developed technology to use the energy from ocean waves to power a generator, and earlier this year, French officials announced plans to pave a 620-mile road with solar cells. Recently, Germany achieved its own milestone when it used so much clean energy the country's energy prices went negative.
So how does the United States stack up?
According to the U.S Energy Information Administration, in 2015 renewable energy accounted for just 13% of energy generation. U.S. officials might consider taking a page from Europe's book.
Such measures, said Joy, are within reach: "With the right policies in place, wind could meet a quarter of Europe's power needs in the next 15 years."
By Amy Tennery (Reuters) - A Texas judge identified by Donald Trump on Wednesday as one of 11 people he would consider nominating to the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly mocked the presumptive Republican presidential nominee on social media. Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett last month likened Trump to "Star Wars" villain Darth Vader in a Twitter post. "'We'll rebuild the Death Star. It'll be amazing, believe me. And the rebels will pay for it.' Darth Trump," Willett tweeted last month with a photo of the Death Star, the giant spherical spaceship built to carry a planet-destroying weapon in the first "Star Wars" movie. Willett also linked Trump to liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. "Can't wait till Trump rips off his face Mission Impossible-style & reveals a laughing Ruth Bader Ginsburg," Willett posted on Twitter last August. Last June he mocked Trump's judgment on picking a nominee to the high court. "Donald Trump haiku Who would the Donald Name to #SCOTUS? The mind reels. *weepscan't finish tweet*" tweeted Willett (@JusticeWillett) on the same day Trump launched his candidacy. SCOTUS refers to the Supreme Court of the United States. Asked to comment on Willett's Twitter remarks, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said, "Mr. Trumps sole focus is considering the best potential individuals based on their constitutional principles." Alabama U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions, a key Trump backer, was asked on Fox News Channel about the judge's Twitter posts, replying, I doubt he cares. Sessions said it was more important to ask whether Willett follows the Constitution, is a good scholar, has integrity and meets the high standards expected of a Supreme Court justice. Willett's enthusiastic tweeting would be a pivot from the current social media presence of Supreme Court justices. None of the eight sitting justices has a verified Twitter account. Willett did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment. (Reporting by Amy Tennery; Additional reporting by Eric Beech in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham)
Geneva (AFP) - A growing number of Europeans are living in "relative poverty", the UN labour agency said Wednesday, warning that a lack of quality jobs worldwide was threatening to undo decades of progress in poverty reduction.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) also lamented that, while poverty had declined dramatically in middle-income countries it remained "stubbornly" high in Africa and much of Asia, with nearly two-thirds of Africans still in extreme or moderate poverty.
Overall a new ILO report found that relative poverty -- defined as household income below 60 percent of the national median income -- was on the rise in wealthy nations.
"In the developed world there has been an absolute increase in poverty, notably in this continent of Europe," ILO chief Guy Ryder told reporters.
In 2012, 22 percent of inhabitants in developed countries -- a full 300 million people -- were living in relative poverty, with more than one third of all children in these wealthy nations considered poor, ILO's 2016 World Employment Social Outlook Report found.
The situation was particularly dramatic in the European Union, which had seen its relative poverty level remain stable at around 16.5 percent for a number of years leading up to the 2008 global financial crisis.
But in 2012 relative poverty in the bloc swelled to 16.8 percent and by 2014 it had hit 17.2 percent, the report said.
The United States also saw its relative poverty rate shoot up by nearly a percentage point from 23.8 percent in 2005 to 24.6 percent in 2012, but it had remained stable since then, the statistics showed.
The findings are bad news after decades of dramatic global progress cutting poverty, especially in the world's poorer nations.
- Decent job deficit -
Today, nearly two billion people live in extreme poverty (less than $1.90 a day) or moderate poverty (less than $3.10 a day), accounting for around 36 percent of the population in emerging and developing countries.
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That is down from 67.2 percent in 1990.
"The world has made significant progress in the reduction of poverty," Ryder said, warning though that the "progress has been uneven and it is fragile."
While poverty has declined rapidly in middle-income countries like China and in Latin America, it has remained "stubbornly high" in Africa and much of Asia, he said, pointing out that 64 percent of Africans still live in extreme or moderate poverty.
A major obstacle to eradicating poverty, both in wealthy and in poorer nations, is a devastating lack of decent, reliable jobs, offering job and income security, and other rights.
For example, nearly one third of people living in extreme and moderate poverty in emerging and developing countries actually have a job, the ILO report showed.
"Addressing the decent work deficits, and they are considerable, is a necessary condition for ending poverty in all its forms," Ryder said.
Growing inequality is also a major stumbling block, said Raymond Torres, ILO expert on social and economic issues.
Pointing out that the 30 percent of the global population considered poor holds just two percent of global income, he said it was "past time to reflect on the responsibility of rich nations and individuals in perpetuation of poverty."
If the global community wants to make good on its commitment to eradicate extreme and moderate poverty completely by 2030, ILO has estimated that some $600 billion needs to be spent annually -- or $10 trillion over the next 15 years.
That amounts to 0.8 percent of the global gross domestic product, but Ryder stressed the burden was drastically uneven.
For developing countries in general, the ambitious target would require investments amounting to 21 percent of their GDPs, while for Malawi, for instance, 78 percent of its GDP would be needed, he said.
Amazon Prime has snapped up streaming rights to AMCs darkly comedic drama Preacher for U.K., Austria, Germany and Japan.
Members of the service will be able to watch the program from May 23, with subsequent episodes launching on Mondays from June 6, one day after the show unspools on AMC in the U.S.
Produced by Seth Rogan, Evan Goldberg (Superbad, Bad Neighbours) and show runner Sam Catlin (Breaking Bad) and based on Garth Ennis and Steve Dillons comic book, Preacher is a supernatural drama that follows a west Texas preacher named Jesse Custer, who is inhabited by a mysterious entity that causes him to develop a highly unusual power.
Dominic Cooper stars alongside Ruth Negga and Joseph Gilgun.
Deal was negotiated with Sony Pictures Television for Amazon Prime Video in the U.K., Austria, Germany and Japan.
Preacher is one of the most ambitious and highly-anticipated new series of the year and exactly the kind of show we want to bring to our Prime members around the world, said Brad Beale, vice president of worldwide television acquisition for Amazon. Sitting alongside shows like The Man in the High Castle, Transparent, Mr Robot, Fear the Walking Dead and the upcoming Clarkson, Hammond and May show, The Grand Tour, Preacher is another great addition to our line-up and we think our customers are going to love it.
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From Cosmopolitan
Sarah Iler, 26, was on the way to the hospital Wednesday with her husband Matt Rider to deliver her baby when a tanker struck another car in front of them and caused their car to overturn, the Southeast Missourian reports. Iler was killed on impact, but emergency responders gave her CPR and brought her to the hospital to help her baby live.
According to a GoFundMe started by Iler's sister, Iler, who was 39 weeks pregnant at the time of the crash, was "extremely excited to become a mother for the first time." Baby Maddyson was born weighing 4 pounds, 15 ounces, and was immediately placed on a ventilator. She remains in critical condition.
Rider was flown to a St. Louis hospital from the Cape Girardeau, Missouri, hospital where Iler and Maddyson were brought. He too suffered "extensive injuries," ABC News reports, but his condition has been upgraded from critical to fair. He and Iler were reportedly separated for a while but had reconciled recently in preparation for Maddyson's birth.
"She had her whole life ahead of her," Iler's mother Patricia Knight told the Southeastern Missourian. "And now the baby has to grow up without her mother." Her sister added, "The thought never once entered my head that that baby might die. I felt my sister gave her life to save this baby."
The family is raising money for Iler's funeral and Maddyson's increasing medical bills. You can donate here.
Follow Tess on Twitter.
Priyanka rocks the red carpet look at an ABC event! Priyanka rocks the red carpet look at an ABC event!
Priyanka Chopra is the right combination of beauty, charm and wit. She has been a forerunner from Indian cinema to have bagged lead roles in the West. The star was the first Indian to have been chosen by ABC Network to play the lead in their show, Quantico. Her portrayal as Alex Parish has won her rave reviews from across the globe. She has recently wrapped up the shoot of its season. Priyanka has also been signed on to work with Dwayne Johnson for the upcoming Baywatch film.
Recommended Read: Priyanka Chopra Pays a Tribute to Prince With A Sizzling Performance!
At the ABC upfront in New York, the powerhouse performer stunned one and all by her red carpet look. Looking every bit diva, she rocked on the red carpet. Priyanka is all set to return to India to start work on her Bollywood assignments. There has been a strong buzz that she is being considered as a lead heroine for Sanjay Bhansalis next.
Hundreds of pro-China protesters led by gang leader turned politician "White Wolf" rallied in Taiwan's capital Wednesday, calling on new president Tsai Ing-wen to preserve friendly ties with Beijing, days before she takes office.
China-sceptic Tsai is facing questions over how she will handle cross-strait relations which are already growing rapidly frosty as she prepares to take the helm after an eight-year rapprochement under her Beijing-friendly predecessor Ma Ying-jeou.
Although a fully fledged democracy, self-ruling Taiwan has never formally declared independence and China still sees it as part of its territory.
Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party is traditionally pro-independence and was voted in by a landslide after voters turned their backs on Ma's Beijing-centred approach for fear the island's sovereignty was being eroded.
Led by infamous activist "White Wolf" Chang An-lo -- who heads a small pro-unification party and regularly organises rallies in support of Beijing -- protesters waved banners and Chinese flags outside DPP headquarters.
"We respect Taiwan's democratic freedom, but we can't accept a lack of unity, lack of peace," said Lu Yueh-hsiang of the pro-Beijing China Production Party.
Outgoing president Ma accepted a tacit agreement -- known as the "1992 consensus" -- between his Kuomintang party and Beijing which acknowledges there is only "one China".
That paved the way for a slew of trade deals and a tourist boom as mainland visitors flocked to the island.
Tsai and the DPP have never recognised the agreement and are under pressure from Beijing to do so, with fears China will squeeze Taiwan economically if no compromise can be reached.
"If you accept the '92 consensus, everything can be open for discussion," Chang told AFP.
"Only the '92 consensus can give Taiwan's economy a way forward."
Chang was imprisoned for 10 years in the United States for drug trafficking and then lived in exile for 17 years in China before returning to Taiwan in 2013.
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He and his followers have often clashed with China-sceptic protesters, including at the 2014 occupation of parliament by students opposing a controversial trade pact with China.
But Wednesday's rally was calm, as around 300 supporters waved placards and listened to speeches and dance performances on a makeshift stage.
Cross-strait relations have already cooled since Tsai's election victory in January, despite her pledge to maintain the "status quo" with Beijing.
Her inauguration speech when she takes office on Friday will be closely watched by China for how she characterises cross-strait relations.
A tangle of super PACs that supported U.S. Sen. Ted Cruzs presidential bid still have more than $20 million in the bank and must now decide whether to back Donald Trump, close shop or play politics elsewhere.
Nearly all the remaining money is held by half a dozen loosely affiliated super PACs known as the Keep the Promise network, several members of which were controlled by individual megadonors and their families.
Overall, outside groups raised $62.4 million to support Cruz, and they spent $43.3 million, according to federal disclosures.
At least two of the groups those spearheaded by wealthy Republican benefactors Toby Neugebauer and Robert Mercer might support other candidates.
Another group, Keep the Promise III, which received $15 million from the Wilks family, fracking billionaires from Texas, did not respond to questions about its plans. According to Bloomberg, the Wilks family will sit out the remainder of the presidential race.
This story is part of Buying of the President 2016. Tracking the candidates, political committees and nonprofits that are making this presidential election the most expensive in history. Click here to read more stories in this investigation.
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At least two other groups Keep the Promise PAC, overseen by evangelical activist David Barton, and Trusted Leadership PAC, also part of the Keep the Promise network said theyre closing down.
Were just wrapping everything up, and were talking to the donors too and trying to work out something if were going to return money or if its going to somewhere else, said Kristina Hernandez, a spokeswoman for Trusted Leadership PAC.
Trusted Leadership PAC controlled $1.1 million as of March 31, the most recent campaign finance report filed, but a new report covering its April activity is due later this week.
Both Trusted Leadership PAC and Keep the Promise PAC received seven-figure contributions from businessman Richard Uihlein, a prominent GOP donor.
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Laura Barnett, a spokeswoman for Keep the Promise PAC, said that its group, too, is winding down.
The super PAC boasted nearly $600,000 entering April, but Barnett in an e-mail said it will have nearly nothing after paying outstanding bills.
If any money remains, Keep the Promise PAC will donate it to charities that assist and advance what Senator Cruz supported and advocated, she said, listing veterans groups and religious liberties groups as possible recipients.
The Keep the Promise super PAC network model produced mixed results. It established Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas who will now seek re-election in 2018, as a candidate with a major war chest.
But Cruz openly expressed frustration with his inability to control how the money was spent. The Cruz campaign took to urging the super PACs to spend the millions of dollars in their coffers on the candidates behalf as Trump continued to pull away from a once-crowded GOP field.
Federal Election Commission rules prohibit a candidate from coordinating certain activities with outside spending groups like super PACs.
Related story: Ted Cruz and friends spent $10 per vote in Indiana. Trump won anyway.
The approach stood in stark contrast to that of Trump, who actively discouraged super PACs. He accepted supporters contributions, but relied mostly on his own wealth to finance his primary campaign.
Meanwhile, the Cruz super PAC networks strategy wasnt always clear, leading to questions about whether there were too many cooks in the pro-Cruz kitchen.
Each of the Keep the Promise groups were supposed to have their own niche, said Hernandez, though there was some overlap.
For example, Keep the Promise PAC was mainly responsible for rallies, Keep the Promise I specialized in the ground game and Keep the Promise III focused on digital outreach. Several of the groups sponsored ads.
The groups conducted regular conference calls to coordinate with one another.
It probably worked better than you thought it would, Hernandez said.
Nevertheless, issues arose.
For one, Neugebauer, who contributed $10 million to Keep the Promise II, proved reluctant to spend the money, despite prodding by prominent Cruz supporters. The group ended March with about $9 million still in the bank.
Neugebauer has since endorsed businessman Donald Trump, the all-but-certain Republican nominee.
In an email, Neugebauer said he has not yet focused on the future of the super PAC he controls, and did not respond to a question from the Center for Public Integrity about whether he intends to spend money to boost Trump.
Don't miss another Politics investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email.
In an e-mailed statement, Kellyanne Conway, the political operative who runs Keep the Promise I, the super PAC controlled by the Mercer family, said the PAC will continue to support candidates for federal office. All options remain open.
Mercer gave $13.5 million to Keep the Promise I, making him one of the 2016 election cycles biggest donors.
Like several of the super PACs in the Keep the Promise network, Keep the Promise I also received some contributions from other donors, and the groups also transferred money among themselves.
Not all the Cruz-supporting super PACs affiliated with the Keep the Promise network: Two other super PACs with remaining cash as of the end of March were Stand for Principle, which raised roughly $250,000, and Stand for Truth Inc., which raised a little more than $11 million.
Stand for Principle is still assessing next steps, according to Maria Strollo Zack, the Georgia lobbyist and former Newt Gingrich presidential campaign staffer who controlled it.
Were sitting in a situation where were looking at all of our options and well figure out what we do next, Zack said.
The organizers of Stand for Truth Inc. did not respond to emails and phone calls requesting comment.
This story was co-published with the Dallas Morning News.
This story is part of Buying of the President 2016. Tracking the candidates, political committees and nonprofits that are making this presidential election the most expensive in history. Click here to read more stories in this investigation.
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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.
(Adds AMBAC statement)
By Nick Brown
SAN JUAN, May 18 (Reuters) - Puerto Rico's governor on Wednesday declared a state of emergency at the U.S. territory's highway authority, an effort to keep the agency functioning by directing revenue toward operational costs rather than debt payments.
The order from Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla does not declare a moratorium on debt payments at the Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority (PRHTA), which owes $2.2 billion in total debt.
Instead it restricts PRHTA from transferring toll revenue and other income to bondholders in favor of maintaining supply contracts and other operational costs. It also imposes a stay on lawsuits from bondholders.
Puerto Rico, hamstrung by a surge in emigration and a 45 percent poverty rate, faces $70 billion in total debt. Garcia Padilla previously declared a state of emergency at the Government Development Bank, Puerto Rico's primary fiscal agent, before the bank defaulted on most of a $422 million debt payment earlier this month.
A law passed in April allows the governor to declare a state of emergency, as well as a moratorium on debt payments, at any agency as he sees fit.
The latest order followed a lawsuit from the company Ambac over PRHTA's granting of a lease extension for the operation of two toll roads. Ambac, which insures some PRHTA debt, alleged that the extension could wrongly divert $115 million out of PRHTA's estate. Ambac sought a receiver for the highway authority's operations.
"Today's actions by the Governor reinforce the merits of our lawsuits against HTA and the government," Nader Tavakoli, the chief executive officer of bond insurer Ambac Financial , said in a statement.
"We are disappointed that rather than doing everything it can to meet its financial obligations and negotiate in good faith with creditors for consensual solutions, the government, on the advice of bankruptcy advisors, is engaging in further machinations to advance its lobbying campaign ahead of Congressional action," said Tavakoli.
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Ambac at the end of the first quarter reported $471.6 million in net exposure to the HTA bonds.
"With this order, the administration ... reaffirms its position to prioritize the continuation of essential services to its citizens," Garcia Padilla said in a Spanish-language statement.
Puerto Rico's economic future is a key focal point in municipal debt markets and in Washington, where federal lawmakers are debating how to address the island's crisis before July 1, when it faces a $1.9 billion debt payment that Garcia Padilla has said it cannot afford to make.
The Obama administration has called on Congress to legislate a mechanism for Puerto Rico to restructure its debt, while putting the island's finances under federal oversight.
The Republican-led House Natural Resources Committee has crafted a bill aimed at achieving those goals, but it has stalled.
(Additional reporting by Daniel Bases in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Matthew Lewis)
By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Long-awaited legislation will be introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday to address Puerto Rico's deepening debt crisis, according to the chairman of a committee overseeing the territory.
Speaking to reporters, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop said, "There will be a bill today," but added that decisions still must be made on how to appoint members of a board that would oversee the restructuring of Puerto Rico's $70 billion debt.
"Congress has very little appetite to actually pick any sort of winners or losers or to propose any real policy conditions here. All they really want to do is pass off the decisions about what gets done to a control board and do so with a view that the control board has the tools to do the job correctly," said Height Securities analyst Daniel Hanson.
Backers of legislation hope Congress finishes a bill that President Barack Obama could accept before July 1, when the island-territory faces a $1.9 billion debt payment.
It already has missed a May 1 debt payment of around $400 million to the Government Development Bank. On Wednesday, Puerto Rican Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla declared a state of emergency at the U.S. territory's highway authority and directed that revenues be dedicated to operations and not debt payments.
In addition, Puerto Rico is reeling from a Zika virus outbreak that is hurting its tourism industry, while more residents relocate to the U.S. mainland, further hurting the economy.
Bishop said the new bill closely resembles the previous version, which stalled in committee and was criticized by some Republican senators as lacking adequate protections for some creditors.
He said the new bill still includes provisions that could allow Puerto Rico to cut repayments to creditors without their consent, known as a cramdown.
Bishop, a Republican, hesitated to say whether the Democratic Obama White House has signed off on the intended bill.
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"We are moving forward, there is a deal," Bishop said to reporters. But he said that the process for making board appointments was unresolved.
"There will be a solution that I think (the Obama administration) will find profitable," Bishop said.
It was unclear when the HNRC would debate and vote on the legislation.
Bishop said amendments to his bill will be allowed to be debated both in committee and during debate in the full House.
"Nobody is happy with the bill because so many different people are being asked to compromise on so many different things," said Hanson.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan in Washington; Additional reporting by Daniel Bases in New York.; Editing by David Gregorio and Diane Craft)
Last week, a hunter in the town of Churchill in Manitoba, Canada, named Didji Ishalook, shot an extremely rare grizzly-polar bear hybrid, according to CBC News. Other than its big brown paws, it has the white fur of a polar bear, only smaller sized. Its head also more closely resembles a grizzly.
Unofficially, it's called a grolar bear or pizzly bear, depending on which the sire is.
This interbreeding is most likely a result of climate change, which is pushing the two bear populations to now overlap in the pursuit of caribou, researcher Dave Garshelis told CBC News. The two species have similar genetics, probably diverging less than 2 million years ago, according to National Geographic.
Both grizzlies and polar bears have an extensive reproducing process, which requires mating multiple times and spending time together before that.
A photo posted by North American Wildlife (@north_american_wildlife_) on Jan 18, 2016 at 11:24am PST
Grolar bears are also reportedly extra aggressive, according to the Toronto Star.
Garshelis knew the bear wasn't albino because its eyes, nose and claws are dark, he told CBC News.
Ishalook thought the bear was a little polar bear or Arctic fox. In some parts of Canada, polar bear hunting, which is traditional Inuit activity, is legal and monitored closely.
Climate change is also making other bear species, such as American black bears, to travel northward.
But in the last decade in northern Canada, only three sightings of these grolar bears have ever been reported one in 2010 and the other in 2006, according to CBC News in 2012. These hybridizations will most likely never really become a thing because of how difficult it would be to normalize themselves in a habitat thanks to us humans, a 2015 study found.
The new faces of the TBS comedy slate Samantha Bee, Jason Jones and Rashida Jones joined Conan OBrien at an FYC event on Tuesday at New York Citys New Museum.
Moderated by CNNs Jake Tapper, the panel highlighted clips from each of the four shows, and hit on topics like gender equality in comedy and handling serious geopolitical issues from a comedic angle. Following the panel, the four stayed to celebrate and socialize at an after-party on the museums seventh floor Sky Room.
Since her show Full Frontal started airing in February, Bee has already established herself as a leading voice for political satire. On the red carpet before the panel, she told Variety that election coverage will continue full-force, even if it entails unusual living accommodations. Im looking forward to going to the conventions, Bee said. Im trying to convince TBS to brand a tour bus for us. Because we were so late out of the gate, there arent too many hotel rooms in any of the cities were going to. So they have to rent us a fleet of tour busses to live in for a couple of days.
Bee and her Full Frontal showrunner Jo Miller spent many years together at The Daily Show under Jon Stewart, which she says helped them hone their point of view and prepared them to make their own show. We just spent so much time there figuring out and sharpening our skills while we were in the service of some elses show, Bee said. Now we have our own. All we can really do is kick the door down, and so I think thats what we have accomplished.
OBrien has been in the late-night game for over two decades, and despite his popularity among millennials, he joked about being well aware of this seniority. Im not trying to be young, and in fact I go out of my way to explain to my young fans exactly how old I am. And that they should probably move on, he joked.
Following up on last years trip to Cuba, this is year Conan traveled to South Korea. OBrien said his experiences traveling around with Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead) opened his eyes to tensions in the country, like walking down a path with mine fields on either side. I dont like to look for those serious moments so much, but acknowledge them when theyre there. I think they can coexist.
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Jones said that starring in the Steve and Nancy Carell show Angie Tribeca has been a refreshing break from playing best friend characters, and the voice of reason in otherwise insane sitcom universes like The Office and Parks and Recreation.
Its been kind of nice to be the center of comedy, she said, but quickly followed up that she is still playing a straight man of sorts. Being in a funny show means Im never going to be the funny one, she laughed. The writer and actress seemed baffled that women are still frequently overlooked in comedy. Why should we be fighting for the rights of half of the population? she asked. It should just exist.
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Militant commander Hazar Khan gave up his 15-year insurgency in Pakistan's Balochistan last year, and now he hopes for a job with the very government he stood against, as the province prepares for a great leap forward fuelled by Chinese investment.
"We people came because our life has already passed in the mountains and now our children's lives should be better," Khan, who has returned to his old tribal life of farming as he seeks government employment, told AFP.
"Now, nobody from my family is in mountains, all have surrendered along with me."
The decision, he said, was sweetened by the government's offer to pay him 300,000 rupees ($3,000) under a "General Amnesty Scheme" authorities say has convinced hundreds of insurgents to surrender -- though, Khan added, he has yet to see the money.
Balochistan has been wracked for years by Islamist, sectarian and separatist violence that in the past rendered the province virtually a no-go zone for outsiders. The province is Pakistan's most unstable and underdeveloped province, with the majority of its estimated 8.5 million people living in poverty.
Suppressing the rebellion by force in the desolate province, much of which is desert and mountains, has proven difficult.
But an ambitious bid by Beijing to gain greater access to the Middle East, Africa and Europe through Pakistan has given new impetus to the push for stability.
The $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is set to culminate in the Baloch fishing port of Gwadar.
With its dusty moonscape and shining new port, officials have repeatedly suggested the city is another Dubai in the making.
- Price of security -
Property prices are soaring there and in provincial capital Quetta as Baloch authorities claim they have restored peace to the majority of the province.
Small businesses driven from Quetta by violence over the years are also returning, ready to take advantage of increased security and China's interest.
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A decade ago the security situation was "very bad", said Nadir Hussain, owner of a printing and publishing house in Quetta, adding that he had considered leaving like his fellow businessmen.
With increased stability, however, "people have come back and started small businesses, opened small shops... It is improving, slowly," he told AFP.
"We have restored peace in 95 per cent of Balochistan," Akbar Durrani, the provincial home secretary, told AFP.
Some 600 insurgents have surrendered since the government began offering the compensation package last year, he said: 1.5 million rupees to commanders, 1 million rupees to their deputies, and 500,000 rupees to foot soldiers.
The scheme could backfire, however.
"The authorities are not paying the promised compensation of 500,000 rupees," said Nawab Changez Marri, chief of the Marri tribe and provincial irrigation minister.
"They are paying them only 100,000 rupees and then leave them on their own without even ensuring security," he said, adding that in some cases insurgents have killed the families of those who surrendered.
Marri said he had helped persuade many militants to surrender -- but that the failures have seen others who were ready to lay down their arms change their minds.
Security issues have mired CPEC in the past, with separatist rebels -- who oppose Gwadar's development while the province is not independent -- blowing up numerous gas pipelines and trains, and attacking Chinese engineers.
- 'Fate-changer' -
China says it is confident the Pakistani military -- which has been repeatedly accused by international rights groups of abuses in Balochistan -- is in control of the issue.
"I believe the security situation has improved to a great extent," Zhao Lijian, Acting Chinese Ambassador told a conference on CPEC in Gwadar in April, crediting the army.
In the long-term, ensuring stability and the success of CPEC could depend on the government's ability to make sure the Baloch population -- rather than the establishment in Punjab -- benefit, observers say.
Profits will have to be shared with Balochistan -- "otherwise we resist", one senior Baloch leader said on the sidelines of April's conference in Gwadar.
Provincial ministers and military leaders at the conference were bombarded with questions from a lively audience concerned that CPEC gains would bypass them.
"Security issues and political differences are casting doubts about (the corridor's) future," Mir Muhammad Akbar Mengal, senior vice president of the provincial Chamber of Small Traders and Industries, told AFP in Quetta.
"Its success is local people's success," Atta Muhammad Jaffer, a retired senior government official and a livestock trader, said.
Mengal said the Baloch have high hopes for the corridor.
"(Success) only depends on the government's commitment... The people of Balochistan are ready for cooperation," he said.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has formed a committee of provincial chief ministers to address the concerns and officials remain bullish about the Herculean task before them.
"This CPEC project is a fate changer," says Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, a spokesman for the Balochistan government.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Aid from the Red Cross and Syrian Red Crescent entered the besieged Damascus suburb of Harasta for the first time in four years on Wednesday, a spokesman said. A convoy of trucks jointly organised with the United Nations carried food, hygiene equipment and medicine destined for Harasta's entire population of around 10,000 people, Pawel Krzysiek said in a statement. Harasta is in the Eastern Ghouta region, east of Damascus, which is under rebel control. It is one of several areas around the Syrian capital which are sealed off by government forces. (Reporting by John Davison; Editing by Catherine Evans)
(Refiles for wider distribution)
By Will Caiger-Smith
NEW YORK, May 18 (IFR) - Smaller, middle-market focused banks are hiring new bond traders and salespeople, sensing a growth opportunity as bulge-bracket firms cut resources and become pickier about their clients.
Regulations like the Dodd-Frank Act and the Volcker Rule have made bond trading less profitable and driven larger banks to cut risk-taking, trading volumes and client lists.
According to a survey by Greenwich Associates, bulge bracket banks' share of secondary US bond trading volume dropped from 85% in 2012 to 77% in 2015.
Banks are also taking less risk in trading. Primary dealer net positions in investment grade and high yield bonds have plummeted by 80% since the start of 2015, to just US$3bn.
While banks' that are willing to take risk on bond trades are still a big draw for investors, smaller firms that are more accustomed to simply matching buyers and sellers are well placed to expand, say market participants.
"The bigger banks are stepping back," said Phil Jacoby, chief investment officer at Spectrum Asset Management, which focuses on bank capital and hybrid securities.
"New firms are emerging and growing, and becoming good at research and trading with little capital."
Smaller dealers like Imperial Capital, KeyBanc Capital Markets, Brean Capital and Jefferies have all made new sales and trading hires over the past year as larger banks have cut jobs.
"With the cutbacks that have been going on, the quality of people we have been interviewing and hiring over the last year has improved dramatically," said Tom Corcoran, president of Imperial Capital.
"The playing field has been leveled out more and more over the last couple of years with the big banks committing less capital than they used to."
NEW FACES
Imperial hired Tom Crystal, formerly head of US high yield sales at HSBC, Peter Siedem, previously a managing director in distressed credit sales at JP Morgan, and Andrew Gold, former head of emerging markets distribution at Barclays.
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In London, it also hired Eric Ohayon, formerly a managing director in high yield sales at Nomura.
As the banks they leave reduce their coverage, new hires are able to bring more clients with them, said Corcoran.
"People are operational much quicker now than they would have been in the past," he said.
KeyBanc, the corporate and investment banking arm of Ohio-based KeyCorp, has also staffed up over recent months.
The firm has built a seven-person sales and trading team in New York to take advantage of opportunities in mortgage-backed securities, another area where primary dealer positions have dropped.
Joe Vaccaro and Michael Corsi, both formerly of Royal Bank of Canada, joined as co-heads in trading and sales respectively, alongside five other senior hires from firms including Credit Suisse and Amherst Pierpont.
Jefferies, meanwhile, recently hired Anthony Bugliari, previously head of high grade bond trading at Barclays.
And Brean, already a well-known player in the structured finance space, has increased its headcount in corporate bonds over the past year, hiring three traders and two analysts.
Such firms are particularly attractive to smaller and mid-sized investors whose coverage has suffered amid Wall Street's trading retreat.
"You could be a smallish client for a bulge bracket firm but a pretty meaty client for a regional," said Kevin McPartland, head of research for market structure and technology at Greenwich Associates.
They can also offer a more dedicated service in less liquid securities.
"If you have to trade an off-the-run bond, sometimes the smaller dealers will focus on it more than the large banks," said Tim Grant, head investment grade trader at PineBridge Investments.
They can move bonds quickly "through good dialogue, based on research and a view," according to Jacoby.
Some of them, like KeyBanc, have increased the amount of balance sheet they can use for trading.
Balance sheet capability is still highly prized by investors, said Bill Hines. "Where balance sheet is provided, that is where we're going for trades," he said.
At the same time, bulge-bracket banks are increasingly adopting the regional bank trading model to adapt to their shrinking balance sheet capacity, said Neil Sutherland, a portfolio manager at Schroders.
"They've had to change their skill set," he told IFR. "Now they're trading more closely to what the regionals did historically."
"They've become a bit better at playing them at their own game." (Reporting by Will Caiger-Smith; Editing by Shankar Ramakrishnan and Jack Doran)
London (AFP) - Britain's press regulator ruled Wednesday that The Sun newspaper was "misleading" in suggesting that Queen Elizabeth II backs leaving the EU in next month's referendum -- but the tabloid stood by the story.
The top-selling newspaper sparked a rare complaint from Buckingham Palace with its front-page headline "Queen backs Brexit" on March 9, which challenged the monarch's long-held position of political neutrality.
In a ruling, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) said the claim that the monarch wanted Britain to leave the European Union in the June 23 referendum was not supported by the accompanying story suggesting she had expressed concerns about the bloc in 2011.
"The headline -- both in print and online was not supported by the text and was significantly misleading," the IPSO regulator concluded.
"The headline contained a serious and unsupported allegation that the queen had fundamentally breached her constitutional obligations in the context of a vitally important national debate."
As ordered by IPSO, The Sun ran a small headline at the bottom of its front page reporting the regulator's ruling.
However, the newspaper's editor in chief, Tony Gallagher, said: "I don't accept that we made an error at all. We made a judgment that the headline was right and that it was backed up by the story."
He told BBC radio: "I don't think, were I doing this again tomorrow, I would act in any way differently whatsoever.
"Given what I know about the detail of the sourcing and given what I know about the detail of the conversation, frankly, we would be better packing up and going home as journalists if we didn't actually put these things in the public domain."
Citing an anonymous senior source, the tabloid had reported that the queen told then deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, a fervent pro-European, during a lunch in 2011 that the EU was "heading in the wrong direction".
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The paper also claimed that she told lawmakers "with quite some venom and emotion" that "she did not understand Europe".
Clegg said he had "no recollection" of the incident and said the report was "nonsense".
The IPSO ruling said: "The print headline went much further than referring to a claim about what the queen might think."
Entrepreneur Bo Peabody is a man on a mission: to completely revolutionize the world of rating high-end restaurants. Because as it currently stands, he believes, the system is broken.
The ratings and reviews ecosystem is antiquated, the venture capitalist and partner in several Massachusetts restaurants, told us during a recent call. On the media side, theres no brand that defines what it is to love luxury restaurants. Architectural Digest is for architecture, but theres nothing for high-end restaurants. Michelin is grossly subjective, and Zagat ratings are from a lot of unqualified people who dont have the proper context to critique the restaurant. If you want to critique top-100 restaurants, you need a large set of data for it to be statistically relevant, and the diners need to be qualified to make observations.
And thats where Renzell, Peabodys new app, data-based ratings system, and invite-only club, comes into play. Heres how it works, in a nutshell: Regulars at handpicked high-end restaurants are invited to take a 75-question survey, ranking aspects of their experience on a 100-point scale (the member base is capped at 1,000, and they cant be in the food media or restaurant industry). The more surveys these diners take, the more points they earn, which can be redeemed for perks like complimentary private group dinners.
Participating restaurants, in exchange for providing these complimentary group dinners, receive regular reports on the eight topics diners are surveyed on: cocktails, design, food, hospitality, service, value, vibe, and wine/ sake (a service report, for example, can note that overall service scores are lower on parties of five or more than 59% of Renzell restaurants and 73% of your cohort). The report can also provide demographic breakdowns and an average diner snapshot.
The company is currently delivering its data reports to about a dozen New York restaurants (including Marea, Betony and Hearth) in exchange for events. Overall, Renzell compiles surveys at and will produce ratings on fifty-three New York City restaurants. This summer they will expand to Chicago and San Francisco, setting themselves up to compete directly with Michelin in the U.S.
Whats in it for the average diner, the guy who isnt taking the surveys, but might want to spend a special occasion at one of these restaurants? Well find out in September, when Renzells first set of official restaurant ratings, cobbled together from all the data gleaned from every survey, is released to the public.
Critiquing art is a complicated business, Peabody continued. At its core, Renzell just wants to make everybodys restaurant experience better.
By Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani ABUJA, Nigeria (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A Nigerian schoolgirl rescued after two years of being held captive by Boko Haram militants will meet with President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday amid hopes that she can help shed light on the whereabouts of more than 200 other missing girls. Soldiers working with a civilian vigilante group rescued the girl, named as Amina Ali Darsha Nkeki, on Tuesday near Damboa in the remote northeast with officials confirming she was one of 219 girls abducted from a secondary school in Chibok. An army spokesman said she was found with her four-month old baby and a "suspected Boko Haram terrorist" called Mohammed Hayatu, who claimed to be the girl's husband, was also detained. Her mother in an interview last year said Ali's father had died some months after her daughter was kidnapped with the stress taking a toll on his health. Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that the girl is currently in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, but will be brought to the national capital Abuja to meet Buhari. Ali's rescue should give a boost to Buhari, a former military ruler who made crushing the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency a pillar of his presidential campaign in 2015. Boko Haram captured 276 girls from a school in Chibok, northeast Nigeria, in April 2014, as part of a seven-year-old insurgency to set up an Islamic state in the north which has killed some 15,000 people and displaced more than 2 million. Some girls escaped in the melee but parents of the remaining missing girls accused former President Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria's then leader, of not doing enough to find their daughters whose disappearance sparked a global campaign #bringbackourgirls. Jonathan lost office in an election in March 2015. Ali's mother, Binta Ali Nkeki, last year spoke of her daughter's fear of Boko Haram but of her enjoyment of attending school and doing well at her studies. Her mother told the Murtala Muhammed Foundation, a Nigerian non-profit organization researching a book on the missing Chibok girls, that she was not sure of the age of Ali, the youngest of her 13 children although only three survived their early years. "She always sewed her own clothes," said her mother in the interview released to the Thomson Reuters Foundation by Aisha Oyebode of the Murtala Muhammed Foundation. Binta said Ali's father died some months after his daughter was abducted. "After Amina was kidnapped, only two (of our children) are left alive," she said, adding that her other son and daughter both live in Lagos. She said she constantly thought of her lost daughter who had always helped her around the house. "(My son) said I should take it easy and stop crying," she told the Foundation. "He reminded me that I am not the only parent who lost a child." (Editing by Belinda Goldsmith; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
By Justin Madden
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Mel Reynolds, a former U.S. congressman who has had numerous legal troubles, has changed his mind and will plead not guilty to federal income tax charges, he told a judge in a handwritten letter made public on Tuesday.
"I am not guilty," he wrote to U.S. District Judge John Darrah. The letter was written last week and entered in the court's online filings on Tuesday.
Reynolds, 64, also apologized to the court for "any confusion caused" by a previous letter, made public last week, about his intention to plead guilty.
In the latest letter, Reynolds filed a motion for a mistrial, claiming federal prosecutors received private and lawyer-client privileged information from Homeland Security agents after they searched his computer.
Last week, Reynolds, who is representing himself after firing his attorney in April, told the judge he had been unable to prepare for the case because he has been in solitary confinement due to death threats. He affirmed in the most recent letter that he still could not properly prepare for his case.
His next court appearance is scheduled for June 7. A trial date is set for June 20.
Joseph Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, declined to comment on the recent court filing.
Reynolds was arrested by U.S. marshals last month at an Atlanta airport for violating the conditions of his pretrial release after he arrived from South Africa.
He pleaded not guilty in July to misdemeanor charges of failing to file income tax returns for 2009 through 2012.
He was indicted in June and faces up to a year in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the four counts against him.
A Rhodes scholar and one-time rising star in the Democratic Party, Reynolds was first elected to Congress in 1992.
In August 1994, he was indicted for having a relationship with a 16-year-old campaign worker but was re-elected that year in his Chicago district without opposition. The case ended with a conviction on sexual assault and child pornography charges in 1995 and Reynolds resigned.
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Before his scheduled release from prison in 1997, Reynolds was convicted of bank fraud and misusing campaign funds and sentenced to serve additional time. He was released in 2001.
Reynolds tried politics again but in 2013 lost a bid for the U.S. House of Representatives seat of Jesse Jackson Jr., who had resigned before pleading guilty to fraud charges.
(Editing by Ben Klayman and Matthew Lewis)
Last week's Book Expo America, a forward-looking gathering touting upcoming titles to bookstore buyers and librarians, is a great place to launch a book. Maria Semple got a great reception for her follow-up to the bestselling Where'd You Go, Bernadette. Also attracting attention is the incredible true-life tale of the CIA operative who disappeared in Iran nine years ago and is still missing. The U.S. government refused to admit for years that he was working for the CIA.
More on this week's books:
Today Will Be Different (Little, Brown) by Maria Semple
Agency: UTA
Semple got a rousing reception at May's Book Expo America for the follow-up to her 2012 novel, Where'd You Go, Bernadette (to be directed by Richard Linklater). She calls the story "funny craziness about a nut job" trying to make it through a day of misadventure. A preview chapter can be read here.
Missing Man (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) by Barry Meier
Agency: CAA
The veteran New York Times investigative reporter weaves a thriller about how Robert Levinson, who disappeared in Iran in 2007, wasn't acknowledged by the U.S. as a CIA operative until 2013 - and still is missing. The Times did an excerpt.
This story first appeared in the May 27 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
Read More: Rights Available! Twin Assumes the Life of Her Deceased Sister in New Novel
weiner IFC films
Anthony Weiner watches in horror from his living room as a TV news report shows him flipping off a reporter.
His wife, Huma Abedin, sits in the dining room eating a slice of pizza, trying to ignore it all.
The moment is caught on camera for a documentary about Weiner and his failed New York City mayoral candidacy.
I cant believe I gave a reporter the finger, Weiner mumbles to himself.
The filmmaker, Josh Kriegman, asks him, Why are you letting me film this?
Its one of those moments that make the new movie Weiner which is out this weekend and won the grand jury documentary prize this year at the Sundance Film Festival a joy to watch.
In an era in which people of power attempt to keep everything about their lives hidden behind a veil of orchestrated social-media posts and safe appearances, Weiner allows so much access into his life for the movie that you wonder if the former congressman regrets any of it.
But while clearly a political miscalculation, the movie is perhaps Weiners self-inflicted penance for past transgressions.
Weiner came to notoriety thanks to the passion he brought to the floor of Congress on issues he appeared to care very deeply about, especially in 2010, when his displeasure with Republicans opposing the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act which would provide funds for sick 9/11 first responders went viral.
Less than a year later, Weiner's political career crumbled after he tweeted a sexually explicit photo of himself. After several days of denying he sent it, he admitted to posting the photo. In June 2011 he resigned from Congress.
But America loves a comeback story, and Weiner was ready to be its latest when in 2013 he ran for mayor of New York.
Directors Kreigman and Elyse Steinberg were there with cameras in hand to capture what would become Weiner. I imagine they sold it to Weiner as a way to show his underdog story. Think of the 2005 documentary Street Fight, director Marshall Currys look at the successful campaign of Cory Booker to become mayor of Newark, New Jersey.
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lost in la mancha100
Instead, "Weiner" is basically the political equivalent of the 2002 documentary Lost in La Mancha, in which filmmakers document Terry Gilliam making his passion project The Man Who Killed Don Quixote with Johnny Depp, and instead the project is ruined by actor injuries, horrible weather, and fighter jets flying overhead.
But while Gilliam had the universe to blame for his failure, Weiner can only blame himself.
As the campaign for mayor looks to be going strong at the beginning of the movie, a few months into the election, news breaks that Weiner sent explicit photos of himself to a 22-year-old a year after he left Congress, under the alias "Carlos Danger."
You may remember the constant late-night TV jokes about the scandal during the summer of 2013, but reliving it behind the scenes of the campaign and seeing Weiners personal life with Abedin (who is a close adviser to Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton) provide a unique perspective.
Weiner allows cameras to show the damage control that attempts to extinguish the latest scandal. The biggest question: When did he send the photos? As cameras capture, he told most of the press at the beginning of the campaign that he had stopped sending sexual photos of himself after he left Congress.
In one scene, his publicist is reading him questions from a reporter. One asks if he thinks he is a sex addict.
The moments that made me cringe the most were conversations Weiner had with Huma. In some cases, Weiner asked cameras to be tuned off, but there are other times when the cameras are there, such as when they decide what Huma should say at the press conference addressing the latest photo scandal, and if she should continue going to campaign functions. In those instances, Huma says little, but her face and demeanor speak volumes.
In many of these cases, Weiner looks less like an understanding husband and more like a politician seeking votes and needing his supportive wife by his side to do so.
Then theres the conclusion of the movie, which I wont give away, but its on my top-five all-time documentary endings.
Weiner certainly proves that sometimes real life is stranger than fiction. But it also shows what its like to be on the wrong side of celebrity.
Weiner shrugs that he doesnt know why hes letting Josh film him react to the news report about him giving the finger. But it may be the same reason why, earlier in the movie, he lets Josh film him watching a video (with glee) of his appearance on a political show in which Weiner and the host engage in a screaming match. It seems like Weiner gets a kick out of the attention, good or bad.
The movie suggests the scary notion that many people who crave fame or power simply love it when people are always talking about them. Weiner takes that principle to a shocking level with his transparency in the movie.
But as with his scandals, he can't really cry foul. After all, he brought it on himself.
NOW WATCH: Watch Christie beg to be Trumps vice president on 'Saturday Night Live'
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Mitt Romney has ruled out an independent bid for president, and is not actively recruiting any more potential candidates to do so at the moment, though he remains hopeful someone will emerge, allies told Yahoo News Tuesday.
Romney feels like America hangs in the balance. Hes very distraught about [Trump], said one Romney adviser. He thinks Trump is this vulgar, dangerous, principle-less, value-less opportunist putting it mildly.
The 2012 Republican nominee for president has been the most outspoken GOP figure continuing to steadfastly oppose Trump. Romney has been asked to consider running for president himself, but did not seriously consider it, those who know him said. But he remains alarmed at the prospect of a Trump candidacy, even as hope appears to be fading that any alternative can be found.
Its not just Trump, said the Romney adviser. Its the lack of alarmed reaction to Trump. As an example, the adviser cited Trumps comments about Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos last week, the latest ina series of remarks by Trump intimating that he would use the power of the federal government to hurt the business interests of Bezos, because of articles written by the newspaper Bezos owns, the Washington Post.
The general lack of concern over Trumps pattern of threatening rhetoric toward political opponents and critics is one of the main things that freaks [Romney] out a little bit.
Where is the outrage? said the Romney adviser. This isnt Venezuela. A politician cant say I dont like the press coverage of this paper so Im going to threaten the business of the person who owns it. That is [former Venezuelan President Hugo] Chavez.
This past weekend, the Post reported that Romney had spoken to Ohio Gov. John Kasich and to freshman Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NB) and encouraged them to mount an independent bid for the presidency.
Romney sent [Kasich] an email first urging him to run as an independent and saying he would do anything he needed to help, a Kasich adviser told Yahoo News Tuesday.
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They spoke on the phone after that and [Kasich] demurred, the adviser said, adding, Under no circumstances would [Kasich] be Donald Trumps running mate.
But there are signs of concern with Romneys inner circle that his role in the stop Trump effort is being exaggerated or overplayed. Several key Romney confidantes did not respond to requests for comment for this article, funneling requests to one source close to Romney who said in an e-mail that Romney is not now engaged in an effort to recruit a third party candidate.
And while Romney remains motivated to help the stop Trump cause, a person involved in the stop-Trump discussions said that Romney is not calling or e-mailing any of the people who are still considering a run. A few potential candidates remain, the source said, though none at the moment are live prospects.
He thinks someone should run. Thats his role. Thats the beginning and end of it, the Romney adviser said. Is he organizing it? No. But hes talked to people who have thought about it.
Adding to the impression that Romney is a central player in the anti-Trump effort, some close to him most notably Stuart Stevens, a close political adviser are also actively involved in casting about for an alternative to both Trump and likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, according to reports and interviews with people involved.
And just two months ago, Romney gave a high-profile formal speech at the University of Utah that he devoted to publicly condemning Trump as a phony and a fraud who was playing the American public for suckers.
In that speech, Romney talked about a Trump presidency in apocalyptic language. He quoted founding father John Adams as saying, There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide, and said that Trump was promoting the very brand of anger that has led other nations into the abyss.
Though there were many factors that led up to Romneys decision to give that speech, it was Trumps interview with CNNs Jake Tapper on Feb. 28 in which he pretended not to know who white supremacist David Duke was and declined to reject political support from Duke and the Ku Klux Klan that prompted Romney to go forward with his speech, said those familiar with Romneys thinking.
Lanhee Chen, who was Romneys policy adviser on the 2012 campaign and remains in contact with the former Massachusetts governor, said that he did not perceive Romneys anti-Trump sentiment to be driven by revenge or anger over the way Trump behaved in 2012 toward Romney. On the day that Trump endorsed Romney for president four years ago, Romneys senior advisers felt Trump showed up their candidate by having his plane emblazoned with the Trump name in large white letters parked on the tarmac directly behind where Romney disembarked from his chartered jet, so that it was in every news photograph.
I dont think its personal. I really dont. Ive never really known him to hold personal grudges against anybody. I think its really an observation about how Trump comports himself, and the fact that he hasnt shown himself to be a conservative in the policy sense too. I think both those things are troubling to him, Chen said.
Of course, Romney could feel some sense of responsibility for having encouraged Trumps gradual entry into the realm of political legitimacy. Even as Trump declared in 2012 that the question of President Obamas birthplace was the most important thing in the presidential election, Romney flew to Las Vegas to accept his endorsement and declared himself honored and pleased with Trumps support.
I spent my life in the private sector. Not quite as successful as this guy. But successful nonetheless, Romney said of Trump at the time . In return, Trump hosted a fundraiser later that year for Romneys candidacy that a Trump spokesman claimed had raised $600,000.
This last March, however, Romney sniffed with disdain that Trump inherited his business, he didnt create it.
A business genius he is not, Romney said of Trump.
Ultimately, it appears a Romney candidacy never went anywhere seriously this year for the same reasons others do not want to run: any independent candidate would almost certainly be blamed for electing Clinton. Those close to Romney feared the short term personal cost on the leader they are fiercely loyal to, and the long term consequences for his name and reputation.
Yet Romney and others continue to struggle forward looking for some alternative candidate or scenario in which multiple candidates might run in different states.
The Kasich adviser, summing up the conventional wisdom on the matter, compared the anti-Trump effort to Captain Ahabs doomed quest to kill the white whale, Moby Dick.
Its almost like [Romney] never read Melville, the Kasich adviser said.
Moscow (AFP) - Russian performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky refused to testify in court on Wednesday at the first full hearing of his trial for setting fire to the security service headquarters in a political protest.
The 32-year-old performance artist, best known for nailing his scrotum to the cobblestones of Red Square in 2013, stared into space and refused to answer the judge's questions during the trial at Moscow's Meshchansky district court.
In November Pavlensky doused the door of the FSB building with gasoline and set it alight in a protest against the powerful security service -- the successor to the KGB -- which he says imposes total control and terrorises Russia.
He faces up to three years in prison on charges of causing damage to a cultural heritage site.
A gaunt-looking Pavlensky told the courtroom that he would not testify until his offence is reclassified as an act of "terrorism," a demand he has voiced repeatedly.
"I won't speak any more," Pavlensky said from the defendant's cage, after refusing judge Yelena Gudoshnikova's request that he stand.
"I prefer being a witness or an observer," the artist told journalists as he was brought into court, saying he did not want to support "a bureaucratic ritual that is pointless on the one hand and collusion on the other."
He described his trial as "defining the frontiers of political art."
Pavlensky argues that his case should be tried as terrorism because a Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov was last year convicted of terrorism for arson attacks on pro-Kremlin party offices in Russia-annexed Crimea.
"I think that Pyotr did an important and needed thing," Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina, sentenced to two years in prison in 2012 for performing an anti-Putin anthem in a Moscow church, told AFP outside the courthouse.
"Pyotr is right to say that a prison is not only where there are bars, but that they are also in other places in our country."
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The prosecutor said Pavlensky's protest had caused some 481,000 rubles ($6,616) in material damage to the door of the looming FSB building on Lubyanka square in central Moscow where those repressed under Soviet leader Josef Stalin were interrogated and shot.
Pavlensky's lawyers attempted to disprove that the door was part of a cultural heritage site.
Pavlensky, who is currently being held in isolation at Moscow's Medvedkovo prison, said Tuesday that the guards conveying him from court several days ago had beaten him, cracking his rib and injuring his knee.
"I feel fine," he said before the start of the hearing, adding that doctors had examined his injuries but had not treated his knee.
He said the injuries had been caused by guards taking him back to prison from Moscow City Court, whose spokeswoman in turn insisted that its staff do not accompany prison convoys. Instead police are responsible for this, the court said.
OAKVILLE, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 18, 2016 / Sarissa Resources Inc. ("Sarissa" [SRSR:OTCPK], or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Mr. Otto Pichler has been appointed on the board of the Company. Mr. Pichler replaces Dr. Cam Cheriton, who has resigned as a director of the Company.
Mr. Pichler has more than 35 years of hands on experience; 16 years in senior management roles (Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer) for several global companies with annual revenues up to US$700 Million Dollars. Mr. Pichler holds a degree in chemical engineering and has managed infrastructure projects with capital expenditure of up to US$450 Million Dollars.
Dan Byrnes, director of the Company, stated, "I welcome Mr. Pichler to the board of the Company, Mr. Pichler is a significant long term shareholder and has extensive executive expertise in developing and operating businesses. Mr. Pichler's appointment to the board is the first step of many which will refocus the company on building shareholder value through the development of the Company's Nio-Star subsidiarys wholly owned Nemegosenda Niobium property into an operating mine."
Mr. Pichler stated, "Today marks the beginning of a fresh start for the company. As a long term investor and significant shareholder of the company, I look forward to ushering in a new era for the Company, one with a strong emphasis on corporate governance, transparency and the building of shareholder value."
About Sarissa Resources Inc.
Sarissa Resources Inc. is a junior exploration Company with interests in properties in Northern Ontario, Canada. Sarissa and Nio-Star are specifically focused on the development of the Nemegosenda niobium project as well as the Shining Tree Resources Corp. gold projects. Visit www.sarissaresources.ca for additional information.
Safe Harbor
This press release contains statements, which may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of Sarissa Resources Inc. and Nio-Star Corp., as well as members of their respective management, in addition to the assumptions on which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Important factors currently known to management that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-statements include fluctuation of financial results and positions, the ability to compete successfully and the ability to complete above-referenced exploration and testing, as well as business transactions. Neither Sarissa nor Nio-Star undertakes any obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results.
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For further information contact
Sarissa Resources Inc.
Telephone: 866-307-1331
Email: ir@niostar.com
SOURCE: Sarissa Resources Inc.
By Katie Paul and Tom Arnold
RIYADH/DUBAI, May 18 (Reuters) - Construction firm Saudi Binladin Group has secured a 2.5 billion riyal ($667 million) loan from local banks to ease its financial pressures, banking sources aware of the matter said on Wednesday.
Arab National Bank and Saudi British Bank are providing the loan, which Binladin is using to cover redundancy costs for workers it is laying off, back salaries and severance costs, the sources said.
The loan is one of several recent signs of relief for Binladin, one of the Middle East's largest construction groups, which has faced severe financial problems since last year.
Binladin has declined to describe its financial situation publicly, but Gulf commercial bankers have said they believe it owes local and international banks a total of about $30 billion, and some think it may have to restructure some of that debt.
In September, the Saudi government barred Binladin from bidding for new state contracts after one of its cranes fell in Mecca's Grand Mosque during a storm, killing 107 people. This ban was not lifted until about three weeks ago.
A Binladin spokesman said in an emailed response to Reuters that the company doesn't comment on its financial issues or relationships with business partners.
"We remain focused and committed to carry out our promise and deliver the contracted projects to the highest standards and satisfaction of our clients, as we have always been doing."
Two of the sources, declining to be named because of commercial sensitivities, said Binladin had pledged land as collateral for the loan. They did not elaborate on the size or location of the land, or how long the loan was for.
Bankers with knowledge of the loan said the inclusion of the collateral pledge was linked to persistent concerns about the Saudi construction sector.
"Nobody in their right mind would lend unsecured at the moment to a contractor," said one.
Binladin has been hit by a general slump in construction as the government has cut spending in response to low oil prices. Many builders in Saudi Arabia have reported shrunken ministry budgets and delays in payments by the state for projects.
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Since last year Binladin, which before the crisis had a workforce fluctuating around 200,000 to 250,000, has cut about 69,000 jobs, including resignations and departures that will occur by early June. Some of its workers have not been paid for months, and have staged public protests.
When the government lifted the ban on bidding for state projects, it also removed a travel ban imposed on top Binladin executives after the disaster. Days later, Binladin made delayed salary payments to some 10,000 workers.
The Binladin spokesman confirmed earlier this week that there were unresolved "disagreements" with the government over payments at the King Abdullah Financial District project, where work by the company has been halted since early 2016.
(Editing by Andrew Torchia and Alexander Smith)
OSLO (Reuters) - A Norwegian group of climate scientists will form an alliance on Thursday with investors including BlackRock Inc and the World Bank to try to assess the financial risks of rising global temperatures.
The Center for International Climate and Environmental Research, Oslo (CICERO) said it wanted to help investors judge risks from global warming such as more heatwaves, floods, downpours, the extinction of animals and plants and rising seas.
The head of CICERO, Kristin Halvorsen, said the aim was to help investors and researchers to "understand each other more easily so that the financial sector can define climate risks".
"We speak very different languages. Research and investment are two different worlds," Halvorsen, a former Norwegian finance minister, told Reuters on Wednesday, noting that the financial sector's main concern was the return on its investments.
Representatives of BlackRock, the world's largest asset management company, World Bank Treasury, Swedish pension fund AP2, Nordic bank SEB and Norwegian bank DNB would be among those on an advisory board for the CICERO Climate Finance project, to be launched on Thursday.
The first meeting would work to define common projects. Some investors, for instance, are pulling out of companies that mine or generate power from coal, reckoning that reserves of coal will steadily lose value from a shift to cleaner energies.
And extreme events such as wildfires, heatwaves or floods can disrupt investments in infrastructure, ranging from road bridges to oil pipelines. But it is hard to assess risks for individual places.
"If extreme events become more frequent, what does that mean for infrastructure?" said Christa Clapp of CICERO, an expert in assessing the environmental quality of green bonds.
Ulrika Danielson, spokeswoman for AP2 which has about 300 billion Swedish crowns (24 billion pounds) under management, welcomed the plan to do more to unite research and investment.
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"We look at climate change as a risk in our portfolio," she said.
Halvorsen said interest from investors to learn about climate change had risen after 195 nations agreed a global deal in Paris last December to combat climate change, shifting the global economy from fossil fuels.
(Reporting By Alister Doyle; Editing by Gareth Jones)
OSLO (Reuters) - A Norwegian group of climate scientists will form an alliance on Thursday with investors including BlackRock Inc and the World Bank to try to assess the financial risks of rising global temperatures. The Center for International Climate and Environmental Research, Oslo (CICERO) said it wanted to help investors judge risks from global warming such as more heatwaves, floods, downpours, the extinction of animals and plants and rising seas. The head of CICERO, Kristin Halvorsen, said the aim was to help investors and researchers to "understand each other more easily so that the financial sector can define climate risks". "We speak very different languages. Research and investment are two different worlds," Halvorsen, a former Norwegian finance minister, told Reuters on Wednesday, noting that the financial sector's main concern was the return on its investments. Representatives of BlackRock, the world's largest asset management company, World Bank Treasury, Swedish pension fund AP2, Nordic bank SEB and Norwegian bank DNB would be among those on an advisory board for the CICERO Climate Finance project, to be launched on Thursday. The first meeting would work to define common projects. Some investors, for instance, are pulling out of companies that mine or generate power from coal, reckoning that reserves of coal will steadily lose value from a shift to cleaner energies. And extreme events such as wildfires, heatwaves or floods can disrupt investments in infrastructure, ranging from road bridges to oil pipelines. But it is hard to assess risks for individual places. "If extreme events become more frequent, what does that mean for infrastructure?" said Christa Clapp of CICERO, an expert in assessing the environmental quality of green bonds. Ulrika Danielson, spokeswoman for AP2 which has about 300 billion Swedish crowns ($36.19 billion) under management, welcomed the plan to do more to unite research and investment. "We look at climate change as a risk in our portfolio," she said. Halvorsen said interest from investors to learn about climate change had risen after 195 nations agreed a global deal in Paris last December to combat climate change, shifting the global economy from fossil fuels. (Reporting By Alister Doyle; Editing by Gareth Jones)
MYRTLE PLATFORM IN THE GULF OF MEXICO (Mexico) (AFP) - Sharks swim around a platform off Mexico's east coast as scientists drill deep into the ocean floor, extracting the remains of the asteroid widely blamed for the demise of the dinosaurs.
Some 30 meters (98 feet) above the ocean floor, the researchers pull out cylinders filled with rocks that could unlock the mysteries of life and death caused by the cataclysmic crash in the Gulf of Mexico some 66 million years ago.
The remains of the space rock might even give them clues about the possibility of life on other planets.
The $15 million Expedition 364, an international team at sea since April, is the first to peer into the offshore side of the 200-kilometer wide Chicxulub crater. The crater is large enough to also straddle part of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula.
"One of the exciting questions is what caused the environmental changes that led to a mass extinction and what insights arise from biologic recovery in the Paleogene (period)," Sean Gulick, professor at the Institute of Geophysics of the University of Texas, told AFP in the first visit for journalists to the platform.
The search is like looking for a needle in a haystack because the asteroid was pulverized by its apocalyptic impact, which destroyed 75 percent of life on Earth.
A team of 30 geologists, paleontologists and microbiologists from the United States, Mexico, Japan, China, Australia, Canada and Europe are working on the platform, which is located 33 kilometers off the Mexican coastline.
The scientists are drilling 1.5 kilometers (one mile) below the ocean floor, seeking microfossils and remains from the space rock.
- Life in other planets? -
Wearing helmets and protective gear, the scientists communicate with hand signals or by screaming over the loud noise from the heavy machinery as they work around the clock on the L/B Myrtle platform, a flat, seagoing vessel that jacks up on three pillars.
As they removed dark rocks from a meter-long tube, Auriol Rae, a geologist from the Imperial College of London, could hardly contain his excitement.
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"These are the rocks we expected, but 30 meters shallower than we thought it would be," Rae said, staring at the material that will later be cleaned, refrigerated and analyzed.
The rocks will be sent to Bremen, Germany, when the mission ends in early June, so that scientists can write about their discoveries.
For now, they know that the asteroid's impact was so powerful caused material to fly into orbit and fall back into Earth like fireballs. Later, ash covered the skies, turning the planet into a dark and cold place.
"This created a chain of extinction. Months later, the dust fell on the continents and oceans, changing the chemistry of the oceans," said expedition chief Jaime Urrutia, president of the Mexican Science Academy.
While there are still debates about whether the asteroid is solely to blame for the disappearance of dinosaurs, scientists agree that it caused great destruction and had a role in how life evolved after its crash.
The scientists of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) hope that Expedition 364 can provide more answers about how life was extinguished on Earth, and then revived following the asteroid's crash.
They have extracted thin and clear or black and shiny rocky material, as well as yellowish or green sediment.
Each layer corresponds to a moment in time between the Cretaceous -- the last period of the dinosaurs -- and Paleogene periods, said Ligia Perez, of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
The crater has a circle of mountains known as the "peak ring" that are up to 500 meters high. The Myrtle platform's three pillars stand on top of one of those peaks.
"There's so much fracturing of rocks inside the peak ring that you think hot fluids rushed through it, that we might anticipate that there's a great place for microbial life to occupy," Gulick said.
"If it turns out that impacts are great places for life then maybe that's why we should be looking for microbial life in other planets," he said.
Joanna Morgan, a British scientist, said that before the impact the ocean's microorganisms were diverse, large and complex.
But they became "much smaller and simpler" immediately after the asteroid's hit.
- Drilling angers fishermen -
Scientists may be excited about their work on the platform, but local fishermen are not pleased with the presence of the foreign object in their seas.
Guadalupe Alvarez, leader of a fishing cooperative, said the drilling noise has scared away fish such as red or yellowtail snapper.
"In places we used to catch 100 kilos, now we catch nothing," Alvarez said.
The local government has agreed to pay 30 liters of fuel to each of the 1,000 fishermen because they have to travel farther to find fish.
But Urrutia said the machines were barely making any noise because the engines are on the platform.
A video taken by a submarine showed little fish swimming around the undersea drill as it perforated the soil.
Tim Cook Spaceship
Apple is expanding rapidly in Silicon Valley because it needs more space to house its fast-growing research and development workforce, possibly for the long-rumored Apple Car.
One of its new secret facilities is a former FedEx distribution center in Santa Clara that Apple leased last year. It's codenamed "Magnolia."
Turns out, that warehouse could become part of a eminent domain fight, says Nathan Donato-Weinstein in a report for the Silicon Valley Business Journal.
Various government bodies have indicated in the past that the specific location is necessary for building BART Silicon Valley, an extension of the light rail system that will eventually connect San Francisco and San Jose.
Construction on the BART extension is expected to start in 2018 and plans are not yet final. Funding for the extension may come down to a vote later this year and environmental studies and other permits must be acquired before plans are finalized.
An official for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority told the Business Journal that Apple's work at the facility is "a bump we're going to have to negotiate."
The BART tracks won't run directly through the site, but plans from 2007 indicate that it's important for staging construction materials. Other plans, according to the report, indicate that it could be a transit hub with a "mixed-use village that drives mass transit ridership" including both a BART station and a Caltrain station.
Valley Transportation Authority documents from 2007 describe a 12-acre station where the Apple facility currently stands.
If government were to decide to take the eminent domain route, it could be expensive. Although Apple doesn't own the site, it's reportedly entered into a long-term lease and has started to spend millions to improve the location, including installing an "regenerative thermal oxidizer" and other industrial tools.
Permits filed last summer show that Apple plans to run a "Cathode/Anode Operation" out of the site.
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Apple Project Magnolia
Apple has said that it supports commuting alternatives to cars, and has a 34% participation goal for public transport participation at its new "spaceship" headquarters. The new Cupertino campus will have a "mass transit shuttle link" that transports employees to BART, Caltrain, and other light rail stops.
NOW WATCH: This 309-square-foot micro apartment has a home theater, full kitchen, and even a guest bedroom
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By Emma Batha COPENHAGEN (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Self-injectable contraceptives, which are being trialled in Uganda and Senegal, could revolutionise women's lives in rural Africa and dramatically cut maternal and newborn deaths, health experts said on Tuesday. The disposable $1 device consists of a small needle connected to a plastic bubble containing the contraceptive Depo-Provera which can be squeezed to inject a dose that lasts three months. Self-injectables could have a major impact on the lives of women who cannot access clinics or who face opposition to contraceptive use from their partners, said the global health organisation PATH which has designed the device called Sayana Press. "This is a life-saver. This is a game-changer for family planning," PATH's Emmanuel Mugisha told the Thomson Reuters Foundation at Women Deliver, the world's biggest women's health and rights conference in a decade. About a third of maternal deaths could be avoided by delaying motherhood, spacing births, preventing unintended pregnancies, and avoiding unsafe abortions, according to PATH. Unwanted pregnancies also cut short girls' education and stop them reaching their potential. Mugisha, PATH's Uganda director, said women in rural areas could spend an entire day trekking to a clinic and queuing for contraceptives only to discover they were out of stock. "In Africa, one of the hindrances with family planning is access. The second hindrance is us men," he said. "Most men don't want family planning. Some want more children, but others think it interferes with their sex life. "With Sayana Press a woman has the freedom to decide when she wants children and when she doesn't, and the man will have no control; the man will not know, which is very good." Mugisha said self-injectable contraceptives would also reduce the high numbers of women dying during botched abortions in Uganda. UNMET NEED Some 225 million women in developing countries have an unmet need for family planning, according to U.N. data. If this need were met, unintended pregnancies would fall by 70 percent, unsafe abortions by 74 percent, maternal deaths by 25 percent and newborn deaths by 18 percent. Trials with Sayana Press, which is manufactured by Pfizer, are being carried out to ensure women can remember to take it, administer it correctly and dispose of the device safely so that it does not get picked up by children. Nomi Fuchs-Montgomery, an expert on contraceptive technology at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which is helping support the trials, said early indications were very positive. "We see so much promise with this," she added. "This is really the future." Fuchs-Montgomery said increasing the availability of contraception had a major role to play in meeting many of the Sustainable Developing Goals - the U.N. goals agreed last year for ending inequality and extreme poverty. Access to contraception allows women to complete their education, follow careers and participate economically which has "an incredible knock-on effect" on their wider communities and national development, she added. PATH is also conducting trials in Burkina Faso and Niger where community health workers are using the device to deliver contraceptives to women. Some 5,500 delegates from over 160 countries - including policy makers, business leaders, health workers, activists and celebrities - are attending the Women Deliver conference which ends on Thursday. (Editing by xxxxxx; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.)
With more than a few not-so-positive headlines related to LGBTQ issues in the news, it's important to point out the good news. The U.S. Senate on Tuesday evening confirmed Eric Fanning as the first out gay Army secretary.
That makes Fanning the first gay person to lead a military service. LGBTQ advocates heralded Fanning's confirmation as a welcomed sign of progress.
Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, called Fanning's confirmation "a demonstration of the continued progress towards fairness and equality in our nation's armed forces," in a statement released Tuesday.
Eric Fanning is the highest-ranking, Senate-confirmed openly-LGBT presidential appointee. RT to congratulate himhttp://www.hrc.org/blog/eric-fanning-is-the-first-openly-gay-secretary-of-the-us-army ...
It's bee n eight months since President Barack Obama nominated Fanning to the post. His candidacy was held back for con firmation, not because of his sexual orientation, but bec ause of Ka nsas Sen. Pat Roberts' o bjection to the pres ident's plans to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Roberts, a Republican who opposed a policy that would relocate people detained in Guantanamo to U.S. soil , lifted a procedural hold on Fanning's confirmation Tuesday, the Washington Post reported. He cited a conversation he had with Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work that the president has run out of time to implement his policy bef ore he leaves the White House in January.
But Fanning's confirmation marks yet another successful effort by the Obama administration to elevate and expand gay and lesbian rights, both inside and outside of the military. Army secretary is a high-ranking position that works alongside the general, together running the largest military branch.
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Acting U.S. Secretary of the Army arrives for a Senate confirmation hearing in January.
Fanning, 47, has been a defense and national security specialist for over 25 years at the Pentagon. His new role comes just a few years after Congress a nd the Defense Department e nded the "don't ask, don't tel l" polic y barri ng ou t gay and lesbians from serving in the armed forces. Military leaders are still wrestling with how to allow transgender troops to serve openly.
The confirmation of Fanning follows the historic trend of the U.S. armed services often leading the way on social progress from racial integration of troops before the end of Jim Crow in the early 1950s to pay equity between male and female service members.
Stocks (^DJI, ^GSPC, ^IXIC) are trading sideways at midday, with telecom (IYZ) and financials (XLF) leading while consumer staples (XLP) are mostly in the red for the second day in a row. Keith Bliss of Cuttone and Co. joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange.
To discuss the other big stories of the day, Alexis Christoforous is joined by Yahoo Finance Editor in Chief, Andy Serwer and Yahoo Tech Founder, David Pogue.
Bling comes to tech
Would you buy a $12,000 Apple Watch? How about a $40,000 Vertu phone? Tech has officially gone luxury, as gadget makers are putting a bit of bling in their latest offerings.
Pay your bills with your watch
Fitbit (FIT) is stepping up their game by making a big acquisition. Theyre purchasing the assets of the company, Coin. This will give them the ability to add a mobile payments feature into their Fitbit bands. CEO James Park has already said that the new tech wont be integrated till at least next year.
Streaming video goes full circle
Once youre tired of counting your steps, you can go watch a Netflix (NFLX) show on broadcast television. The Netflix original series Narcos will air on Univision. The largest Spanish language broadcaster will air the first full season of the show. The deal allows Univision to broadcast the show, but not to feature it on-demand.
London (AFP) - Benin winger Stephane Sessegnon and Nigeria striker Victor Anichebe will leave West Bromwich Albion after the Premier League club decided not to offer the duo new contracts.
Sessegnon made 92 appearances and scored eight goals for Albion after signing from Sunderland in 2013, but he was unable to convince boss Tony Pulis he was worthy of a contract extension.
The 31-year-old made 30 appearances and scored one goal as Albion comfortably avoided relegation this season.
Anichebe had announced on Twitter earlier this week that he would be leaving and Pulis has now confirmed the former Everton forward's departure.
The 28-year-old played 63 times for Albion and found the net nine times after joining the club during the same transfer window as Sessegnon.
"The two lads worked really hard for me and were as good as gold. Everybody at the club wishes them all the best in their future careers," Pulis told Albion's website.
Meanwhile, Albion remain in talks with Scotland midfielder James Morrison about extending his stay at the Hawthorns.
Morrison, whose contract expires shortly, has been with West Brom for nine years and made over 275 appearances for the club.
Ever since North Carolina passed House Bill 2 in March, whether or not transgender people should be allowed to use the restroom of their choice has become one of the countrys most politicized issues. While N.C. Governor Pat McCrory and the U.S. Justice Department sue each other into oblivion, the Obama administrations recent ruling that all trans students at public schools across the country must be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice has ignited yet another battle this time with Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Hence why Late Night host Seth Meyers decided to tackle the brewing controversy with his shows popular A Closer Look segment.
Like many other news and comedy programs, Meyers gave a quick rundown of where things currently stand. Some of the information is stuff many of us already know, but Meyers really sets himself apart from the rest by delving into the countrys long history of using bathrooms to scare people, and the beginnings of gendered bathrooms in the 1800s. From the first mens and womens restrooms, to Jim Crow laws and the AIDS-induced public scare in the 80s, many have used public bathrooms as a battleground on which to brandish their misogyny, racism and homophobia:
When conservatives claim that trans people are preying on children and that they shouldnt be allowed to use the bathroom they want to use, its not a response to an actual problem. Its an age-old scam used to mobilize people against a vulnerable minority group. But attacking someone whos different than you doesnt make you a protector of children. It makes you a villager in a Disney movie. You know who actually needs protection? Trans people.
Meyers followed up his statements about protecting transgender people, and not the hypothetical innocent children being paraded around by Republican politicians and pundits, with statistics pulled from a recent Washington Post article debunking five major myths about the transgender community. The first myth addressed? That transgender people pose a threat in public bathrooms. According to op-ed columnist Jack Drescher, a practicing psychiatrist who specializes in gender identity and sexuality, such a belief is flat-out wrong.
For example, many cities and schools in the state of Maryland ban bathroom discrimination of any kind. Using Politifact numbers, Drescher undermined this conservative claim with the fact that there have been no reported cases of such laws leading to harassment. Instead, bathroom bills like HB2 might actually prove dangerous for trans people, as 70 percent claimed in one study theyd been harassed, assaulted or denied access when attempting to use a public bathroom.
(Via Late Night with Seth Meyers and the Washington Post)
For a certain generation of comic book readers, Preacher means everything. Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's twisted tale about a hard-fighting holy man on a quest to literally find God captivated imaginations with its take-no-prisoners sense of humor, its brutal barrage of blood and bullets, its skeptical eye toward the powers that guide us and its depiction of the highs and lows that come part and parcel with the human experience.
Count Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg as two of the many young comic book readers who discovered Preacher during its run from 1995 through 2000, enthralled by the actual and veritable angels and demons found throughout Ennis and Dillon's genre-bending yarn. The longtime collaborators and fans of the comic revealed that their attempts to adapt the Vertigo Comics classic extend back all the way to the start of their careers.
"The first time we had a meeting for it was as soon as we were able to have a meeting for something like this," said Rogen, adding that it was right around the release of his 2008 stoner action-comedy Pineapple Express. "I remember we had a meeting with whoever controlled the property at the time. We showed them the fight from Pineapple Express, to show them that we can execute action and comedy in some capacity."
Read More: 'Preacher' Premiere: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg Tease "Unpredictable" New AMC Series
The pitch went up in smoke, as so many things do in Pineapple Express - and just as the heavenly entity at the heart of Preacher passes through different human hosts before landing on the right one, the property itself passed through many hands, including directors Sam Mendes and Mark Steven Johnson. Throughout it all, Rogen and Goldberg never gave up the quest to chase down Jesse Custer.
"We were always very vocal that we were big fans of it, and we thought we could do a good job of adapting it in some way," Rogen told reporters, including The Hollywood Reporter, during a press conference.
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Rogen and Goldberg eventually found Preacher thanks to a different adaptation: The Green Hornet. They teamed on that pic with Neal H. Moritz of Original Films, who, according to Rogen, "started controlling the property eventually; he heard us talking about it nonstop." Eventually, the lifelong Preacher fans became the guardians of the comic, even if they were not immediately sure on how to adapt what many others had tried and failed to bring to life.
"When it was in movie format, it was just too brief; it didn't make sense as a movie, we couldn't jam it all in," said Goldberg. "Initially, we thought we would do a Band of Brothers 10-part miniseries, because shows like this didn't exist yet."
But once they acquired the property, "there was a thing called cable television that was very popular," Rogen said with a laugh. Soon, they were in league with Breaking Bad veteran Sam Catlin, who they agreed to work with based solely on their love of the Walter White crystal-meth drama.
"The first time we ever met [Catlin] in real life was at the pitch, in the lobby of the television network," said Rogen. "We just pitched the comic. We didn't even talk about what we were going to do. We just pitched the comic, panel-for-panel of what happens in the comic, basically. Afterward, Sam was like, 'We're not doing that, are we?' And we were like, 'Oh, we have no idea what we're doing! We're just trying to sell the show, then we'll figure all that stuff out.'"
Read More: 'Preacher' Will Take Departures From the Comic But Reward Diehard Fans
The show and the comics ultimately took divergent paths, thanks in part to Catlin's detached view of the source material, but also largely due to the creators of the comic.
"[Garth] was a big advocate of taking a new path to allow a new audience to discover the show, and not strictly adhere to the comics," said Rogen. "I think we were all maybe thinking it, and too afraid to say it. He was the one who was like, 'You can't just do this. I don't think it'll time out. I don't think you'll get enough episodes. You have to change it.'"
While story details differ between the two versions of Preacher, Rogen and Goldberg insist that the show's content remains as vile and vulgar as what's depicted in Ennis and Dillon's wickedly twisted work, thanks in large part to AMC's other flagship comic book adaptation.
"The Walking Dead has given us a lot of precedent to do a lot of stuff we might not have otherwise been able to do," said Rogen, adding that network notes typically lean more on story and less on limiting violence. "They call and talk and explain what they like and what they're trying to do. Pretty much every time, we've gotten to do everything we've wanted."
Rogen and Goldberg certainly got what they wanted when they stepped behind the camera to direct the pilot episode of Preacher, not only adapting one of their favorite stories from their childhood but also crossing off another item on the bucket list: mastering the fight scene.
"We've directed a lot of action and big visual effects sequences, but we've never done a fight scene that we've been incredibly proud of," said Rogen, pointing at Pineapple Express and This Is the End as examples. "As fans of action movies, it was disappointing that we would watch our fight scenes and not be thrilled with them. We put a huge amount of thought and energy and time into thinking about how to stage them and choreograph them and shoot them and really try to get it to a standard that we ourselves were incredibly proud of."
Read More: 'Preacher': 7 Things to Know About AMC's Violent Comic Book Adaptation
The pilot features no fewer than three bone-breaking brawls, each one focusing on a different principal character: Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper), the show's titular disenchanted preacher who eventually comes to speak with the word of God; Tulip O'Hare (Ruth Negga), Jesse's trigger-happy ex-girlfriend who returns to town at the height of Custer's crisis of faith; and Cassidy (Joe Gilgun), the hard-drinking Irish vampire poised to become the show's breakout character.
Rogen said that he and Goldberg first met Gilgun during a Skype call, "and it was like talking to Cassidy. He was the guy. There was no one who was even close to a second choice for that role. If we hadn't gotten him, I don't know what the f - we would've done."
If Preacher succeeds, then early adopters of the comic will feel the surreal sensation of watching the static images of precious source material come to life - and for Rogen and Goldberg, at least, those feelings are still stirring, even with shooting on the first 10-episode season complete.
"I still watch it and go, 'Wow, this is bonkers,'" said Rogen, "and that's what Preacher should be."
Preacher premieres Sunday, May 22, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on AMC. Watch the first four minutes of the series premiere, below. (Warning: graphic content.)
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 18, 2016 / Attorney Advertising--Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is investigating potential claims on behalf of purchasers of the American Depository Receipts of Gerdau S.A. ("Gerdau" or the "Company") (GGB). Such investors are advised to contact Peretz Bronstein or his investor relations analyst Yael Hurwitz at info@bgandg.com or 212-697-6484.
The investigation concerns whether Gerdau and certain of its officers and/or directors have violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Around March 26, 2015, news sources said that the Gerdau was raided by Brazilian Federal Police in connection with "Operation Zelotes," an investigation of suspected tax fraud by several Brazilian companies. Gerdau allegedly defrauded tax authorities of more than $380 million and bribed tax authorities. Following this news Gerdau's American Depository Receipts ("ADRs") dropped $0.38 per share, or over 11%, to close on March 27, 2015 at $3.06 per share on unusually heavy volume.
Around February 23 - February 26, 2016, Gerdau was again raided by Brazilian authorities in connection with Operation Zelotes. Brazilian authorities said Gerdau was targeted in a new stage of investigation implicating bribes to the Board of Tax Appeals ("CARF"). Police carried out "20 court orders for testimonies and 18 search warrants in Rio Grande do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Pernambuco and Brasilia." Following this news Gerday's ADRs dropped $0.19, or nearly 18%, over four trading days, to close at $0.87 per share on February 26, 2016.
On May 16, 2016, several news sources reported that Brazil's federal police charged Gerdau of evading $429 million in taxes and prosecuted Gerdau executives, including Chief Executive Officer Andre Gerdau Johannpeter, for corruption. The charges included bribery, money laundering, and influence peddling. Following this news Gerdau's ADRs dropped $0.13, or over 7%, to close at $1.72 per share on May 16, 2016.
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If you are aware of any facts relating to this investigation, or purchased Gerdau ADR's, you can assist this investigation by visiting the firm's site: http://www.bgandg.com/#!ggb/pnju1. You can also contact Peretz Bronstein or his Investor Relations Analyst, Yael Hurwitz of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC: 212-697-6484 or via email info@bgandg.com. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, email and telephone number.
Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a corporate litigation boutique. Our primary expertise is the aggressive pursuit of litigation claims on behalf of our clients. In addition to representing institutions and other investor plaintiffs in class action security litigation, the firm's expertise includes general corporate and commercial litigation, as well as securities arbitration. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
Contact:
Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC
Peretz Bronstein or Yael Hurwitz
212-697-6484 | info@bgandg.com
SOURCE: Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC
Discovery has released the gory details of its annual feeding frenzy that is Shark Week. The toothy programming block turns 28 this year and again will be unleashed in prime beachgoing season this time June 26-July 3. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.
Among the fresh meat this year is Discovery VR, an immersive virtual-reality offering that lets human victims digest Shark Week from many of the filmmakers perspectives. It will include an augmented reality experience where fans can swim with and learn about sharks and unlock geo-based experiences and games when visiting events across the country.
Eli Roth is resurfacing as host of the nightly wrapup show Shark After Dark. Here is a deep dive into Shark Week 2016, with synopses provided by Discovery Channel:
RelatedEli Roth Back As Host Of Shark Weeks Shark After Dark
Air Jaws: Night Stalker
Famed shark photographer Chris Fallows embarks on his 8th Air Jaws adventure with shark expert Jeff Kurr and sharkbiologist Neil Hammerschlag as they discover how great white sharks hunt in total darkness. Narrated by Lena Headey (Game of Thrones), it turns out that great whites can hunt effectively with or without any sun or moonlight but how do they do that?
Deadliest Shark
Using cutting-edge research and thrilling historical evidence, Dr. Michael Domeier and Dr. Barry Bruce go looking for rare oceanic white tip sharks, to see if the species deserve the reputation as the Worlds Deadliest Shark. History says they are and when the scientists dive in the Bahamas and off Hawaii, theyre spooked by this very dangerous shark.
Isle of Jaws
In 2016, award-winning shark cinematographer Andy Casagrande discovered that great white sharks had strangely and completely disappeared from the Neptune Islands off South Australia. Where did the sharks go? Searching west along the known great white migration route, he stumbles upon an incredible discovery a concentration of all male great white sharksoff an uncharted island. Andy calls in marine biologist Dr. Jonathan Werry, and together they get up close and personal with a dozen large great whites in the hopes of solving two of the most closely guarded of all the great whites secrets where they mate and where they have their young. Within this program, viewers will be able to immerse themselves into the adventure with virtual reality by using the DiscoveryVR app.
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Jaws of the Deep
Marine biologist Greg Skomal and the REMUS SharkCam team return to Guadalupe to find the worlds largest great whiteshark, Deep Blue. This time, they deploy two robot subs: one that dives to 300 feet, and another that goes to 2000. Together, they build a profile of how the great white uses the entire water column. The team uncovers hunting techniques and strategies great whites use to ambush their prey and film a great whites attack on the sub!
Jungle Shark
Marine biologist Dr. Craig OConnell and Andy Casagrande travel up the Serena River in the rainforests of Costa Rica to try and find out why young bull sharks swim up the river, and how they avoid the 12-14 American crocodiles living there. OConnell deduces the sharks smell the crocs and creates a first-of-its-kind croc scent-based bull shark repellant andSHARK WEEK reveals a possible important discovery that could save human lives.
Nuclear Sharks
Grandson to legendary underwater explorer and filmmaker Jacques Cousteau, Philippe Cousteau, and his wife Ashlan Gorse Cousteau travel with marine biologist Luke Tipple to Bikini Atoll to explore a marine environment once destroyed by nuclear testing during the Cold War. The nuclear devices detonated across the atoll vaporized two islands and destroyed everything living. Today, nature has proved resilient and restored the marine ecosystem, re-populating the atoll with reef sharks. But since reef sharks are considered non-migratory, where did they come from? Tagging shows they do, indeed migrate atoll-to-atoll and also uncovers an illegal fishing fleet taking sharks from inside one of the largest shark sanctuaries in the Pacific.
Shallow Water Invasion
Using a self-propelled shark cage called The Explorer, marine biologists Mauricio Hoyos and Grant Johnson will investigate a recent discovery at Guadalupe Island great whites moving into shallow waters at night. This movement shows that sharks entering shallow water are normal behavior which would account for some of the shark encounters happening with greater frequency in the shallows along coastlines.
Shark Bait
Theres been a war going on between seal and great whites for millions of years. Now theres a new battleground on the map called Cape Cod. Its different in every way from the usual rocky islands where sharks and seals usually face off in other parts of the world. The great whites have had to learn new ways to hunt seals here. Dr. Greg Skomal and his team wonder, what are the sharks doing here, how do they get here, and how do more sharks learn of Cape Cods bounty of seals? And more importantly: if the number of seals and sharks continue to increase at the present rate, whats the future?
Sharks Among Us
Shark encounters are increasing around the globe. The solutions to deal with the publics growing anxiety range from culling to using nets and drumlins all of which kill sharks. Dr. Craig OConnell believes he has developed a system that will prove once and for all that sharks and people can peacefully coexist and live!
Sharks vs. Dolphins: Face Off
Sharks and dolphins have shared the ocean for ages, but only recently, scientists have begun to understand the true nature of the relationship between these two masters of the sea. Its hostile, and dangerous, mainly for dolphins. Dolphins would rather eat fish and swim with humans; sharks would rather eat dolphins and anything they can sink their teeth into. Dr. Mike Heithaus and his team bring new research that may solve why sharks attack dolphins far more than we ever knew.
Sharksanity
We scour the seas to bring you the greatest moments from SHARK WEEK 2016! Only the closest calls, biggest bites, and greatest gadgets made the cut! Then, were revealing your top picks for the best of SHARK WEEK history.
Sharktacular
This year, Eli Roth will also return as host of hour-long special, SHARK WEEK Sharktactular. In this official countdown toSHARK WEEK, Roth will introduce viewers to the greatest sharks in SHARK WEEK history, fan-submitted viral videos and exclusive sneak peeks of the most jaw-dropping moments that will be featured on this years SHARK WEEK.
Sharktopia
Famed marine biologist and shark expert Barbara Block has been studying the white sharks off of California for more than 27 years. Now, with breakthrough camera technology and tracking technology, shes giving scientists and viewers a portrait of a formerly unseen domain. She calls it the Blue Serengeti its a vast, rich, and hidden world, now more visible thanks to new camera tags deployed on both predator and prey.
The Killing Games
Dr. Jonathan Werry and shark cinematographer Andy Casagrande travel to a special location in South Australia to research a new great white hunting strategy, where they no longer wait for seals to enter the ocean they come out of the water and snatch them from the shore! But is this unique to Australia? It isnt; sharks are smarter than we thought and can learn new things when theres food involved.
The Return of Monster Mako
Professional shark tagger Keith Poe, and marine biologists Greg Stuntz, Matt Ajemain and their team use state-of-the-art technology to try to document a live-predation of a thousand-pound mako shark what fishermen call a grander. Granders are enormous makos that make a kind of transformation when they reach 10 feet and 1000 pounds they become more secretive and begin to hunt bigger prey, like seals. And theyre hard to find on the East Coast until Joe Romeiro and team jump in the water after dark and come face to face with them.
Tiger Beach
Dr. Neil Hammerschlag is the worlds leading tiger shark expert. Now, hes on a quest to answer what he calls the trifecta of tiger shark science: where do these giant sharks mate, where do the pregnant females gestate, and where do they give birth? He hopes to find answers by tagging and tracking 40 individuals across a shallow area off the Bahamas called Tiger Beach. Second only to great whites, the tiger sharks killing power and voracious appetite is legendary and Neil has to deal with some aggressive sharks while on expedition.
Wrath of a Great White Serial Killer
A newcomer has taken residence in the waters of the Pacific Northwest the great white shark. Shark expert Ralph Collier and Brandon McMillian seek answers to the main questions in this case why are great white sharks traveling so far north and why are these encounters focused on this one particular place?
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By Ron Bousso
LONDON (Reuters) - Two investor advisory firms have recommended Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) shareholders oppose the CEO's 2015 remuneration, in the latest sign of rising discontent over pay amid falling oil prices.
Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden's 2015 remuneration fell 8 percent to 5.135 million euros (4 million) last year, when the company's revenue dropped sharply due to low oil prices.
Proxy adviser Glass Lewis said in a report it remains "concerned by the disconnect between bonus payouts and financial performance, and the bonus scheme structure more generally".
In a separate report, adviser PIRC said "the ratio of CEO pay compared to average employee pay is 37:1, which is unacceptable".
Both firms recommended shareholders oppose the remuneration packages in a vote at Shell's annual general meeting in The Hague next week.
A Shell spokesman said Shell's executive compensation "reflects delivery of our strategy, measured by both short-term and long-term targets. There is a clear alignment between the company's performance and our compensation policies".
Shareholders have become increasingly vocal over executive salaries and bonuses amid slumping earnings and lower commodity prices.
Last month, BP's (BP.L) shareholders voted against Chief Executive Bob Dudley's $20 million (13.8 million) pay deal for 2015, a rare investor revolt for such a major company, after it recorded a record annual loss.
Van Beurden's total 2015 package, including pension and tax equalisation, was 5.576 million euros, down from 24.198 million euros in the previous year, mainly due to a significant fall in van Beurden's pension which was positively affected in 2014 by promotion to chief executive.
In April last year, Shell launched a bid for smaller rival BG Group which it completed in February this year for $54 billion.
(Reporting by Ron Bousso; editing by Susan Thomas)
woman balancing sunrise
In a commencement speech at UC Berkeley on Saturday, May 14, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg shared some psychological insights that have helped her cope with her husband's death.
Dave Goldberg died suddenly on May 1, 2015, during a trip to Mexico. The commencement speech marked the first time Sandberg had spoken publicly about her experience.
Sandberg cited research by Martin Seligman, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who is widely considered the founding father of the positive psychology movement. Seligman and colleagues proposed that our ability to deal with setbacks is largely determined by three P's: personalization, pervasiveness, and permanence.
Personalization refers to whether you attribute a negative event to internal or external factors in other words, whether it's your fault.
Here's how Sandberg explained personalization: "This is the lesson that not everything that happens to us happens because of us" (emphasis ours).
Sandberg said that after Dave died unexpectedly from a cardiac arrhythmia, she blamed herself: "I pored over his medical records asking what I could have or should have done."
Once she read about personalization, however, she accepted that she couldn't have prevented his death: "His doctors had not identified his coronary artery disease. I was an economics major; how could I have?"
Pervasiveness refers to whether you see negative experiences as global or specific, or as Sandberg says, whether "an event will affect all areas of your life."
Sandberg said she went back to work at Facebook 10 days after Dave died and for a split second during a meeting, she was able to forget her grief and get absorbed in the discussion. At that moment, she realized that her professional life could still be rewarding and worthwhile, even after tragedy had struck in her personal life.
Sheryl Sandberg Berkeley May 2016
Permanence explains whether you see an event as stable or unstable, or how long you think the negative feelings will last.
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For months after Dave's death, Sandberg said, "no matter what I did, it felt like the crushing grief would always be there."
Gradually, Sandberg said she learned that "we should accept our feelings but recognize that they will not last forever." In other words, you don't have to deny that you're feeling sad or hopeless but you can also take heart that one day soon, you'll feel a little less sad and hopeless.
Seligman and his colleagues suggested that there are probably individual differences in how people approach negative experiences. Some might be more inclined than others to see those events as personal, permanent, and pervasive.
But as Sandberg's experience with the death of her husband demonstrates, it's entirely possible to change your style.
"Just as our bodies have a physiological immune system," she said, "our brains have a psychological immune system and there are steps you can take to help kick it into gear."
Perhaps learning about and understanding the three P's is the first step you can take. Falling down after you've been pushed, and feeling like you can't get up, is only human. But it's also human to learn how to stand again, one foot at a time, so you're ready to face the next shove stronger.
NOW WATCH: The longest study on happiness revealed that people who did this lived longer, happier lives
More From Business Insider
By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - Turing Pharmaceuticals does not have to recall thousands of bottles of a life-saving medicine that became the flashpoint of a pricing controversy after former Chief Executive Martin Shkreli raised its price by over 5,000 percent, a U.S. judge ruled on Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos in Manhattan denied a request by Impax Laboratories Inc to enjoin Turing from selling over 3,500 Daraprim bottles and recall potentially thousands more that carried the label of one of Impax's units. Impax, which sued Turing earlier this month, argued an injunction was necessary to protect it from significant regulatory liability linked to Turing's decision to raise the price of Daraprim. But Ramos said that while Turing was likely to be ultimately found liable, Impax had failed to demonstrate it would be irreparably harmed. "What we're left with is the very unfortunate situation for Impax, a situation which can be remedied with money," Ramos said. The case stems from Turing's decision last year under Shkreli's leadership to raise the price of Daraprim, which has been available since 1953, by over 5,000 percent to $750 a pill from $13.50, sparking a public debate over drug pricing. Shkreli stepped down as Turing's CEO in December after being indicted on charges that he engaged in a Ponzi-like scheme at a hedge fund and Retrophin Inc, a company he once headed. He has pleaded not guilty. Turing acquired the rights to Daraprim, which is used to treat an infection called toxoplasmosis in AIDS patients, from Impax in August 2015 for $55 million, along with the rights to sell its existing inventory. Because the bottles in the inventory bore Impax labeling, Impax was still required to report pricing data to the federal government and to pay rebates to federal and state Medicaid agencies arising from the drug's coverage. Impax said Turing, as a result, was required to provide it with pricing information so it could compy with reporting requirements and cover any rebate liability. But it said Turing has failed to provide data and hindered its ability to meet reporting requirements. Turing also refuses to pay its $30.4 million in rebate liabilities, Impax said. Turing countered that an injunction could cause a public health crisis, as its stock of Daraprim under Turing's own label was insufficient to meet any demand increase. "They are using this as a chance to get away from us," said Daniel Weiner, Turing's lawyer. "Everyone knows why no one wants to be in the room with us." The case is Impax Laboratories Inc v. Turing Pharmaceuticals AG, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 16-03241. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Tom Brown)
Singapore (AFP) - Singapore is expected to hang a Malaysian murder convict on Friday despite last-minute clemency pleas, his family and human rights groups said.
Kho Jabing, 31, was sentenced to death in 2010 for killing a Chinese construction worker in a robbery gone wrong and spent the next six years on a legal roller-coaster trying to avoid the gallows.
In a news conference late Tuesday, his sister Kho Jumai, 27, said the family was told in a letter from the Singapore Prisons Service that her brother would be executed on May 20.
Executions in Singapore are normally carried out at Changi Prison before dawn on Fridays.
The prison did not immediately respond to AFP's requests for confirmation of the execution date.
Only the Singapore president, on the advice of the cabinet, can grant clemency.
The president said last week that he will not grant clemency although the family is pleading for a last minute reprieve.
"I've done everything I can, I've sent letters all over the government, to anyone who would listen. Whether the letters were really received, I don't know because I don't have much education," said Kho's mother Lenduk Baling, speaking through an interpreter.
Malaysia also has capital punishment, executing murderers and drug traffickers by hanging, a system like in Singapore that dates back to British colonial rule.
Amnesty International Malaysia and Human Rights Watch have both released statements calling on Singapore to halt the execution and review the case.
After Kho was sentenced to death in 2010, Singapore amended its mandatory death penalty for murder, giving judges the discretion to impose life imprisonment under certain circumstances.
His case was reviewed and Kho was re-sentenced to a life term in 2013.
But after an appeal by prosecutors, Kho's death sentence was reinstated in January 2015.
An appeal was thrown out by a five-judge court last month, setting the stage for Friday's hanging.
Singapore executed four people in 2015, one for murder and three for drug offences, according to Singapore prison officials.
Rights groups have called on Singapore to abolish capital punishment but the government has rejected such calls, arguing death sentences are a deterrent to crime.
The sister of Ugandan former presidential candidate Kizza Besigye spoke briefly to the media outside Nakawa Court in Kampala on May 18 after he was formally charged with treason. Olive Kobusingye said she did not expect to arrive at the courthouse at 8.30am, 30 minutes before the alotted time of Besigyes appearance, to find the session had already finished.
By the time I walked to the court gates, it was, I think, quarter to nine, twenty to nine, and the vehicles were speeding out. I gathered that the court proceedings were over, she said. This is not what we expected. Maybe we should be wiser with this government.
Colonel Kizza Besigye was a runner-up in Ugandas February 2016 presidential election, losing out to Yoweri Museveni, who is currently serving his fifth term as president.
Februarys elections were overshadowed by accusations of ballot fraud and delayed arrivals of voting cards to multiple polling stations. Presidential hopefuls running against Museveni also experienced tactics of intimidation and violence on election day.
A former Uganda Supreme Court justice, George Kanyeihamba, reportedly called for an explanation into Besigyes most recent arrest and charge of treason. Credit: Twitter/FDC Official
Pentagon gains by Obama losing. The Senate finally confirmed Eric Fanning as Secretary of the Army on Tuesday, after his nomination was blocked for months over one senators concerns that prisoners from Guantanamo Bay would be sent to detention facilities in his state. Kansas Republican Pat Roberts lifted his hold after Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work told him, essentially, that the administration would fail in its efforts to close the facility by time President Barack Obama leaves office in January. Practically speaking, the clock has run out for the president, Roberts said on the Senate floor.
Works statement was a little more circumspect. He said he told Roberts, there is limited time left, in this administration to win congressional support (and funding) to move detainees to facilities in the U.S. But, a jab: I made clear that we have not taken any location off the table for relocating Guantanamo detainees, he said. Fanning was nominated in September, and is the first openly gay civilian to head a branch of the U.S. armed forces.
Medals for participation. How involved should former generals and admirals be in presidential politics? The 2016 election has been a strange one, and the number of retired and active-duty leaders who have been sucked into the fray or jumped in willingly has been higher than ever. FPs Yochi Dreazen, Dan De Luce and Molly OToole dive into the scrum themselves, pointing out that two retired officers, Adm. Mike Mullen and Gen. James Mattis, have already been recruited to run. Mullen seriously considered acting as New York City Mayor Michael Bloombergs running mate before deciding against it, and Mattis has rebuffed efforts from Republicans to mount a last-minute campaign for president as a counter-weight to Donald Trump. With Trump and Hillary Clinton still looking for running mates, who knows whatll happen next.
No control. Almost half of Americans think that U.S. involvement in the Middle East is doing more harm than good, but no one quite seems to know what to do about it. Thats the upshot of a new Point Taken- Marist Poll which finds 49 percent of Americans take this dim view, with Republicans leading the way at 57 percent, and 42 percent of Democrats. Heres where it gets tricky, however. Given the choice where Washington should concentrate its diplomatic and military efforts, 53 percent said the Middle East, which includes 58 percent of Republicans, 53 percent Democrats, and 55 percent Independents. So, theres that.
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Spy games. Accused spy, U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lin, pleaded not guilty to espionage charges and requested a trial by jury during a military court appearance in Norfolk, Va. Tuesday. The government has charged Lin with giving classified information to Taiwan and possibly China. But as FP reported earlier this month, Lins civilian lawyer says that the FBI entrapped his client in a sting operation, and maintains he didnt pass on any classified information.
Thanks for clicking on through as we tear through 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
Well, heres an item the Pentagon might be able to add to next years report on the strength of Chinas navy. Beijing is working on a pretty serious new kind of anti-access/area denial system designed to keep American submarines at bay. IHS Janes has gotten its hands on the China State Shipbuilding Corporation pitch for an Underwater Great Wall. The system would comprise a network of sensors both above and below the water to listen for the approach of enemy subs. The components of the package include sonar systems, ships, and unmanned undersea vehicles, among others.
Russia
U.S. tanks being shipped to Europe, American infantry units training to fight in the continents eastern precincts, U.S. Army tank crews losing gunnery competitions to the Germans. Sure sounds like the Cold War. But now we can add another hit from the 80s to the list: missile trains. In response to the opening of a NATO missile defense site in Romania, with another under construction in Poland, Russia is apparently dusting off its old rail missile systems, but this time, theyll be harder to detect than their lumbering, Soviet-era grandfathers.
Each train which Russian officials say will be operational by 2020 will be stacked with six MS-26 Rubezh missiles. The trains themselves, which were taken out of service in 2007, have received some serious upgrades. While the multiple engines required to haul old-school missiles around made the train an easy mark through satellite imagery, new, lighter missiles will allegedly make the trains indistinguishable from normal, non-ballistic trains
Libya
A new Human Rights Watch report goes into painful detail about what life looks like on the ground for civilians in the Islamic State stronghold of Sirte, Libya. The group which has at least 1,800 fighters in and around the city, has diverted food and medicine to its own fighters, and carried out dozens of executions of civilians since August. The rights group reports that Sirte residents described scenes of horrorpublic beheadings, corpses in orange jumpsuits hanging from scaffolding in what they referred to as crucifixions, and masked fighters snatching men from their beds in the night. U.S. intelligence officials have estimated that there are as many as 6,000 ISIS militants in Libya, but the Libyan government on Tuesday said they had captured a key ISIS checkpoint near the city of Misrata.
Syria
The AP gets a little bit more info on the new Russian base in Palmyra. Moscow says its outpost, established after a Russian-backed offensive kicked the Islamic State out of the ancient city, is only temporary and is being used to house explosive ordnance disposal experts who are currently removing mines and booby-traps left behind by the jihadist group. Russia built the base on a UNESCO World Heritage site, a choice with which Syrias Antiquities and Museums Chief, Maamoun Abdulkarim, is not entirely pleased. Nonetheless, a Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman says Russian forces got the okay for the base from the Syrian government.
Iraq
Tensions among powerful Shiite political factions are rising and threatening to break out into open conflict, Reuters reports. According to the wire service, armed gunmen from the Saraya al-Khorasani militia took positions around protesters aligned with Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr earlier this month after they broke into Baghdads fortified Green Zone. The menacing move raised the prospect of Iraq returning to the bad old days of 2008 when Sadr-aligned forces duked it out with Iraqi troops in the city of Basra.
Army
The Army is investigating claims by researcher Brian Siddall that the late Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley may have made worn unearned awards and exaggerated his service record, according to a report from Military.com. Plumley was one of the men depicted in the book by Joe Galloway and retired Lt. Gen. Harold Moore We Were Soldiers Once And Young, later made into a Hollywood movie in 2002. The Army awarded Plumley a Silver Star for his actions during the 1965 battle in the Ia Drang valley in Vietnam for removing a flare and putting out fires in a box of grenades while under intense fire. Siddall contends that later in life Plumley wore two Silver Stars and two Bronze Stars, among other alleged exaggerations.
Afghanistan
What does an investment of $50 million buy you in Afghanistan? A long-running program that no one is sure is really working. After years of offering Taliban fighters cash payments for laying down their arms, the American-funded program has only had 11,077 militants take the offer, and officials of what is called the High Peace Council cant be sure how many remained loyal to the government, according to a report in the Washington Post. Whats more, in a country awash in weapons, only 9,800 have been handed over. Auditors have also struggled to track of how the public-works money, including $50 million from the United States, has been spent. Sounds about right for how Washington has spent money in Afghanistan over the years.
Whos where when
2:00 p.m. The Center for Strategic and International Studies hosts, Chemical Weapons in the Middle East: Accountability and Deterrence at their HQ in Washington. The panel includes Wael Alzayat, senior policy advisor to the U.S. Permanent Representative to the U.N.; Dr. Mohamad Katoub, Turkey advocacy manager, Syrian American Medical Society; Shaun Coughlin, foreign affairs officer, Office of Global Criminal Justice, State Department; and Robert Friedman of the Legal Advisers Office for Nonproliferation and Arms Control, State Department. As a read-ahead, theres this: The Syrian American Medical Society released a report in March contending that since 2012, there have been 161 chemical attacks in Syria, with 14,581 victims, and at least 1,141 deaths.
Bots o war
The Washington Posts Monkey Cage blog runs a piece by the University of Oklahomas Aqil Shah about his recent field research on drone strikes in Pakistan. The piece challenges the popular argument that drone strikes create a blowback effect by predominantly killing civilians, rather than militants, and driving up terrorist recruitment from popular outrage. Shah interviewed 147 people from Waziristan and found that 79 percent of the respondents endorsed drones, and a further 56 percent stated their belief that the strikes didnt often hit civilians.
The Navy is preparing to send robots to do some underwater explosive ordnance disposal. Defense One reports on the services new Saab Waterborne Anti-IED Security Platform, conveniently acronymed as SEA WASP, made by Saab. The SEA WASPs are relatively small at just 200 pounds and will be used to dive in vital waterways to hunt for mines placed by enemy forces.
Photo Credit: STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images
Two Kiribati fishermen lost at sea for days were found Wednesday just six minutes into a search that targeted a massive patch of ocean, New Zealand rescue officials said.
Search coordinator Mike Roberts described it as a "fantastic" outcome after a New Zealand Air Force Orion located the men 480 kilometres (298 miles) from Nauru, the nearest land, five days after they went missing.
"I can't recall another search being successful so quickly," Roberts said, adding that the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand determined the most likely area to look for the men who failed to return from a fishing trip on Friday.
Rescuers had marked 43,000 square kilometres of ocean to scour for the operation.
"The search area was obviously correct and the aircraft has made its approach from precisely the right direction. While there is an element of luck involved, the Orion crew have done a fantastic job."
A survival pack of food, water and a radio was dropped from the plane and a rescue vessel from Kiribati was heading to the area to pick up the men who were in a 4.5 metre (14 foot) boat and appeared to be in good health.
It was the second successful rescue mission this month involving fishermen from the tiny equatorial Pacific nation of Kiribati.
On Saturday, three men were found drifting at sea, seven days after being reported missing.
Donald Trump said in an interview with Reuters this week that he was prepared to meet North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. There is certainly room for more proactive strategic thinking as North Korea rushes towards further nuclear weapons capability, but a presidential summit belongs in the vey bad idea category. Heres why.
Kim wont abandon nuclear weapons. This has been obvious to anyone who has negotiated with the North over the past 25 years, but Pyongyang helpfully erased any doubt by conducting four nuclear tests since 2006, and is poised to carry out a fifth in the near future. North Korea changed its constitution in 2012 to enshrine its nuclear weapons status, and the Korean Workers Party Congress reaffirmed that position last month. No level of real estate negotiating acumen is going to change that.
A presidential summit would legitimize the Norths nuclear status. Pyongyang has declared that it would be prepared to enter into arms control negotiations with the United States as a fellow nuclear weapons state. The United States would have to acknowledge Pyongyangs nuclear weapons status, cease sanctions, end the nuclear umbrella over Japan and South Korea, end criticism of the Norths human rights abuses, and have the president personally guarantee these commitments in an agreement with the North Korean leader. These have been the Norths demands since at least 2002, when I was with our delegation as we confronted the regime with evidence of its cheating on the previous Agreed Framework.
Our allies would lose confidence in extended deterrence. If the plan is to get Tokyo and Seoul to go nuclear, this would be an effective shortcut. In the past, Trump said he would be open to this, but I doubt he really meant it.
Kim would control the reality show. Kim Jong Un does not do summits outside of North Korea, even with erstwhile ally China. And as Madeleine Albright, Jimmy Carter, and numerous other leaders have found, Kim will stage-manage the show to ensure maximum propaganda advantage for his regime. The narrative would be that of a tribute mission to the Great Marshall. This is not like holding the Miss Universe contest in Moscow.
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The summit would cause despair for millions of suffering North Koreans. North Koreas horrific human rights record has finally seen a growing crescendo of criticism, including a damning report by a United Nations commission of inquiry, U.S. legislation, and greater pressure from Asia and Europe. The North would use a U.S. presidential summit to dissipate that momentum and to deflate the meager hope growing in the hearts of the North Korean people.
It was Barack Obamas idea. The first presidential candidate to campaign on a promise to meet unconditionally with Kim Jong Un was Barack Obama. After reviewing the negotiating record with the North and receiving the intelligence briefings that President George W. Bush had received, President Obama dropped the idea like a hot potato. Trump would be wise to do the same as soon as possible
Photo credits: CHRISTOPHER FURLONG/Getty Images; KCNA VIA KNS/AFP/Getty Images
Paris (AFP) - A rapidly melting glacier atop East Antarctica is on track to lift oceans at least two metres, and could soon pass a "tipping point" of no return, researchers said Wednesday.
To date, scientists have mostly worried about the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets as dangerous drivers of sea level rise.
But the new study, following up on earlier work by the same team, has identified a third major threat to hundreds of millions of people living in coastal areas around the world.
"I predict that before the end of the century the great global cities of our planet near the sea will have two- or three-metre (6.5 - 10 feet) high sea defences all around them," said Martin Siegert, co-director of the Grantham Institute and Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London, and the study's senior author.
From the air, the contours of Totten Glacier -- roughly the size of France -- are invisible because the entire Antarctic continent is covered by a seamless, kilometres-thick blanket of snow and ice.
Geologically, however, it is a distinct -- and volatile -- beast.
- Disintegration accelerating -
Last year, Siegert and colleagues revealed that the underbelly of the glacier -- most of which sits below sea level -- is being eroded by warm, salty sea water flowing hundreds of kilometres inland after passing through underwater "gateways".
As it does, the portion of the glacier resting on water rather than rock increases, accelerating the pace of disintegration.
The new study, published in Nature, used satellite data to map the hidden geological contours of the region.
The researchers found evidence that Totten similarly melted during an earlier period of natural global warming a few million years ago -- a possible dress rehearsal for what is happening today.
"During the Pliocene epoch, temperatures were two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than they are right now, and CO2 levels in the atmosphere were 400 ppm," or parts per million, Siegert said.
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Sea levels during the Pliocene peaked at levels more than 20 metres (65 feet) higher than today.
"We are at 400 ppm right now, and if we do nothing about climate change we're going to get 2C more warming too," he added.
- Critical threshold -
Indeed, even when pledges by 195 nations to cut greenhouse gases -- submitted ahead of the landmark Paris Agreement last December -- are taken into account, temperatures are still set to increase an additional two degrees, The United Nations has said.
Other scientists not involved in the research said its findings should be a wakeup call.
"Totten Glacier is a slumbering giant," said Andy Shepherd, Director of the NERC Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at the University of Leeds in England.
The "strong evidence" that the glacier has been unstable in the past, coupled with signs that it is melting now, are "a clear warning that changes might be on the horizon," he said.
Up to now, estimates of how much Antarctica will contribute to global sea level rise before 2100 have been conservative.
The latest report from the UN's climate science panel put that number at about a dozen centimetres (five inches), all of it from a relatively small section of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which is itself 10 times smaller than East Antarctica.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted that total sea level rise from all sources -- expansion of warming water, glaciers, Greenland -- would probably not top a metre.
But the low figure for Antarctica has more to do with gaps in knowledge than differences of opinion.
As recently as 2000, the IPCC forecast that East Antarctica would gain mass, a scenario that few scientists believe today.
Siegert's greatest concern is that Totten Glaciers, and other massive ice bodies, "could cross a critical threshold within the next century, entering an irreversible period of very rapid retreat."
The problem is that science is unable to say when that might happen -- or if it has happened already.
"These are issues that we have to resolve in our society today," he said by phone. "They are pressing right now."
LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - Slovenian police said on Wednesday they were investigating a foreigner over an attempted cyber-heist in which criminals unsuccessfully tried to send money from a Vietnamese bank to a Slovenian one in December. Police declined to identify the suspect or the Slovenian bank but said it was based in the northeastern city of Murska Sobota and had not suffered any losses. The foreigner was suspected of theft and money laundering, and the Slovenian bank had alerted the police, force spokeswoman Suzana Raus said. Le Manh Hung, head of the State Bank of Vietnam's (SBV) Information Technology Department, told Reuters on Tuesday that the Dec. 8 transfer - for 1.2 million euros via the SWIFT network - was the only attempt to steal funds detected by Tien Phong Bank (TPBank). Unlisted TPBank revealed the interrupted cyber heist in response to Reuters inquiries on Sunday. It involved the use of bogus SWIFT messages, the technique at the heart of a massive theft in February from the Bangladesh central bank. SWIFT, a linchpin of the global financial system, is used by about 11,000 banks and financial institutions for transactions. (Reporting By Marja Novak; Editing by John Stonestreet and Andrew Heavens)
The logo of Swiss drugmaker Novartis is seen at its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland October 22, 2013. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo
By John Miller and Ben Hirschler
ZURICH/LONDON (Reuters) - Novartis is splitting its pharmaceuticals division into two business units, one focused on cancer and the second on other drugs, while switching out its current pharma head in the second high-profile management reshuffle this year.
David Epstein, the American head of Novartis Pharmaceuticals and a 27-year veteran with the group, will leave the company to "explore new challenges from the U.S.", Novartis said.
Epstein's re-location to the United States implies he is not in the running to replace Andrew Witty as chief executive of British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline next year, as some have speculated. GSK has said it expects to choose a new CEO towards the end of the 2016.
Novartis' reorganization of its main drugs unit, which accounts for about two-thirds of its $49 billion in annual sales, shows the growing importance of oncology to the company, after it bought GSK's marketed cancer drugs for $16 billion last year.
It comes as Novartis struggles with the patent expiration of blood cancer drug Glivec and slower-than-expected revenue from its new heart failure medicine, Entresto.
Epstein is the second high-ranking Novartis official to exit within months. Ex-Hospira chief Michael Ball replaced Jeff George at the company's struggling Alcon eye care business in January as its sales declined again.
"Novartis expects this change to help drive our growth and innovation strategy, with an increased focus and improved execution," the company said in a statement.
"The new structure reflects the importance of oncology to Novartis following the successful integration of the oncology assets acquired from GlaxoSmithKline."
Industry analysts said the division should improve the transparency of the component parts of the drugmaker's business and could help convince investors of the value of Novartis' large oncology operations.
Cancer drugs tend to enjoy high profit margins and the therapy area is highly valued by investors at present, thanks to recent advances in fighting the disease and the premium prices commanded by cancer treatments.
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"A split makes sense because oncology now has critical mass, following the GSK deal, and oncology is in many ways becoming a differentiated business from the rest of pharmaceuticals," said Mick Cooper, an analyst at equity research firm Trinity Delta.
HEART DRUG FALLS SHORT
Epstein, who took over the pharmaceuticals division in 2010, will be replaced by two people.
Paul Hudson, currently AstraZeneca's North America head, will run the pharmaceuticals business, and Bruno Strigini, head of Novartis Oncology, will lead the newly created oncology business unit.
A Novartis spokesman said on Tuesday the divisional reshuffle will not result in "big costs", though he did not name a figure.
Additionally, a small number of jobs will be moved as part of the changes to the Basel headquarters from Novartis facilities in New Jersey in the United States.
An AstraZeneca spokesman said Hudson had made a positive impact during his time at the British company and his decision was a personal one. He declined to comment further.
Novartis shares have fallen 16 percent this year, due in part to disappointment over the performance of Entresto, which had been hailed by Epstein as a breakthrough for heart failure but has fallen well short of sales expectations.
Novartis still expects the drug will eventually top $5 billion in annual sales, but Epstein disappointed analysts earlier this year when he said 2016 sales would be just $200 million, far lower than estimates, as insurance companies resist paying and U.S. doctors are slow to prescribe.
Novartis said last month it was increasing the marketing push behind Entresto and hiring more sales people to get over the slow take-up.
Before taking over at Novartis Pharmaceuticals six years ago, Epstein was in charge of the group's cancer portfolio. He originally joined Sandoz, one of the drug companies that merged to form Novartis, in 1989.
(Reporting by John Miller, editing by Susan Thomas and Alexandra Hudson)
By Wendell Roelf CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa's Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Wednesday he did not know whether a wealthy family with ties to President Jacob Zuma was being investigated on allegations of illegally moving money out of the country. Gordhan rejected opposition claims that the state was dragging its feet over demands to investigate the finances of the Guptas, a family of India-born businessmen who have been criticised for wielding undue political influence over Zuma. South African law limits the amount of money businesses and individuals can ship out of the country. The opposition charges the Guptas have breached that limit, although it hasn't said how much they are supposed to have moved offshore and it is unclear what their limit might be. The main opposition group, the Democratic Alliance, says it has written to the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) requesting that it investigate the Guptas. When he was asked in parliament to confirm whether an investigation was under way, Gordhan said both he and the head of the FIC were prohibited from knowing whom the FIC was investigating. "Nobody is obfuscating," Gordhan said. "Let me give you the assurance that we will do ... what is required by the law without fear or favour." At a separate event, the mines minister, Mosebenzi Zwane, said he had spoken to banks to try to restore services to Oakbay Investments, the Gupta family holding company. Several companies, including the country's four main banks, last month ended their relationships with Oakbay Investments, amid allegations over the family's influence with Zuma. Zuma and the Guptas deny the claims. Zwane said he was trying to save the jobs at Oakbay. "We are the government of the people. We will not allow our people to just lose their jobs," he told reporters. The Guptas own businesses ranging from media and mining. Concern over political meddling in key economic departments has weighed on South African assets. The rand fell nearly 10 percent in December after Zuma replaced Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene with a little-known politician, then recalled Gordhan, who served at the ministry in 2009-2014. Ratings agencies have warned of credit rating downgrades should Pretoria show a lack of commitment to reining in its budget deficit, seen at 3.2 percent of GDP this year. Gordhan told parliament the Treasury was on track to cut the shortfall to 2.4 percent of GDP by 2018/19. "We are managing our deficit well ... we do not have unsustainable debt," Gordhan told parliament. (Additional reporting by Zandi Shabalala; Writing by Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by James Macharia, Larry King)
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The chief executive of Impala Platinum (Implats) will step down in December this year after six years at the helm, the company said on Wednesday, without immediately naming a successor. During his tenure, Terence Goodlace oversaw the scaling down of operations by the world's second-largest platinum producer in a bid to survive lower platinum prices. Platinum producers struggled financially as the metal's spot price pursued a relentless decline to new six-year lows near the $1,000 level mid last year. Implats raised 4 billion rand ($254 million) in 2015 to develop two of its most important shafts while closing other projects and cutting jobs due to tough market conditions. Implats, along with Anglo American Platinum and Lonmin, are still reeling from the effects of a record five-month wage strike which crippled output in 2014. The platinum industry is preparing to begin a new round of wage negotiations in the next few weeks, as the sector faces pressure from rising costs. ($1 = 15.7280 rand) (Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; Editing by James Macharia)
On May 16, 2016, we issued an updated research report on Southwest Airlines Co. LUV, a low-fare, low-cost passenger carrier operating primarily on point-to-point routes.
The company reported better-than-expected earnings and revenues in the first quarter of 2016. Results were aided by low fuel costs. Moreover, healthy increases in passenger and other revenues were witnessed during the quarter. Furthermore, there was an increase in load factor during the quarter as traffic growth outpaced capacity expansion. We are also impressed by Southwest Airlines' constant efforts to expand its business.
Apart from these, the company's efforts to return value to stockholders through share buybacks and dividend payments are encouraging. Its board of directors has cleared a fresh $1.5 billion buyback program recently.
However, the airline industry is both capital and labor intensive. Also, most employees at Southwest Airlines are unionized, depending on various U.S. labor organizations. Failure to amend terms and conditions suitably with these unions may lead to work stoppages or strikes and hamper operations. Furthermore, the charged levied by the U.S. Transportation Department against five major American carriers including Southwest Airlines and its rivals, Delta Air Lines Inc. DAL, United Continental Holdings Inc. UAL and American Airlines Group Inc. AAL is a major concern.
On the other hand, the spread of mosquito-borne Zika virus earlier this year to multiple countries set off alarm bells, causing many carriers to offer rescheduling/refunds. The outbreak was a major setback for Southwest Airlines' expansion plans. Similar setbacks in the future may weigh heavily on the stock.
Southwest Airlines currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
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NASA's last existing external tank built to launch the space shuttle has made landfall in Los Angeles after a five-week ocean journey.
The massive orange-brown tank, which left New Orleans atop a barge April 12, arrived in Marina del Rey, California Wednesday morning (May 18). The space artifact's 5,000-mile (8,000 kilometers) sea voyage included transiting the Panama Canal to cross from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
"[The tank] has entered the breakwater of the marina!" the California Science Center stated on Twitter. "Can't believe this journey!!" [NASA's Space Shuttle Program in Pictures: A Tribute]
The tugboat Shannon Dann led the barge transporting the tank into the marina just after 6 a.m. PDT (9:00 a.m. EDT; 1300 GMT), eventually docking next to Fisherman's Village. A second tugboat, American Spirit, pushed the barge, Gulfmaster I, from behind.
The external tank, known by its assembly number ET-94, is destined for display with the space shuttle Endeavour at the California Science Center. In 2019, the museum plans to open the Samuel Oschin Air & Space Center, featuring the world's only exhibition of a fully authentic space shuttle stack as it appeared on the launch pad.
To get from the marina to the Science Center, ET-94 will trade its sea legs for road wheels, departing on a 15.5-mile (25 km) trek through the streets of L.A. beginning just after midnight PDT (3 a.m. EDT; 0700 GMT) on Saturday (May 21). A custom-built Mack track will tow the dolly-mounted tank on its road trip, which is expected to take between 19 and 21 hours to reach its new home in Exposition Park.
Moving at a brisk walking pace not to exceed 5 mph (8 km/h), the tank will be accompanied for much of its "parade" by a cadre of former NASA space shuttleastronauts and a convoy of about 10 to 12 support vehicles. Technicians will work ahead of and behind the tank to clear and restore any obstacles along its way.
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"A lot of the work on the utilities will be done just ahead of the transport, so we will be running a crew out in front of it moving utilities, and a crew behind it restoring them," said Jeff Rudolph, president of the California Science Center, in an interview with collectSPACE. "Where there are things to be moved, like signal lights, we have already gone around and loosened all the bolts and checked them to make sure we don't run into problems."
At 154 feet long and 32 feet wide (47 by 10 meters), the external tank is expected to draw out crowds of spectators, similar to previous large object moves, including the space shuttle Endeavour and a 340-ton boulder delivered to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to be the centerpiece of an art sculpture. Thousands of people lined the streets to see both moves in 2012. [Space Shuttle Endeavour Soars Over California Landmarks (Video)]
"We think the number is going to be somewhere between the space shuttle Endeavour and 'the rock,'" said Rudolph. "We are pretty confident we are going to have a lot more than [the rock]. I don't think we are going to have as many as we did for Endeavour, but we are getting tremendous interest."
The Science Center is hosting its annual Discovery Ball at the marina on Friday night (May 20) to celebrate the tank's arrival and give it a proper send-off before it exits onto the streets of Los Angeles.
Leaving the parking lot at Marina del Ray, ET-94's route will follow Fiji Way to Lincoln Boulevard to Mindanao Way. From there, it will take California State Route 90 (CA-90) to Culver Boulevard, back to Lincoln and then onto Loyola Boulevard.
Turning onto Westchester Parkway, which turns into Arbor Vitae Street at Airport Boulevard, the tank will then take La Brea Avenue to Manchester Boulevard. From there, ET-94 will take Vermont Avenue to Martin Luther King Boulevard to Exposition Park, where the Science Center is located.
ET-94's now-completed ocean journey began at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana, where it was built. The tank crossed the Panama Canal on April 25 and 26 before heading up the coast of Mexico. Along the way, the Shannon Dann was able to rescue the four-person crew of a charter fishing boat that sank.
The external tank made its first West Coast landfall in San Diego on Sunday (May 15) to clear through U.S. Customs, before continuing on its way to Marina del Rey.
The external tank served as the structural backbone of the space shuttle and fed liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen to the three main engines mounted to the aft of the orbiter.
The only external tank built for flight but never used, ET-94 became a test article, used to validate modifications made to the tanks that enabled the shuttle fleet to safely return to flight after the loss of space shuttle Columbia in 2003.
Watch a video of the space shuttle external tank ET-94 arriving at Marina del Rey at collectSPACE.
Follow collectSPACE.com on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2016 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.
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COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka will cancel plans for a 500 megawatt Indian-built coal-fired power plant at its strategic eastern port city of Trincomalee and will instead opt for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plant, a cabinet minister said late on Tuesday.
Chandima Weerakkody, Sri Lanka's petroleum minister, said President Maithripala Sirisena told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the decision at a meeting on Saturday during Sirisena's visit to the island nation's larger neighbour.
"We do not want to hurt India. So President Sirisena in his visit has offered an LNG plant instead of the coal plant," Weerakkody told Reuters. "This has been discussed at the highest level and there is consensus."
Sri Lanka is trying to increase its power generation capacity after a recent blackout that was the worst in 20 years, government officials say.
B.M.S. Batagoda, the energy ministry secretary said the switch to LNG was proposed after ten years of opposition to a coal-fired power plant by the residents of Sampur, a village near Trincomalee, where India has already proposed to build South Asia's largest petroleum hub.
Area residents and environmental groups have resisted the coal power plant ever since it was originally proposed in 2006 due to worries about land clearance and pollution.
Plans for the $500 million coal power plant project were finalised in 2011, when state-run Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and India's state-run National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC) agreed to form a joint venture for its construction.
It is not clear which Indian companies would be considered as partners on the proposal to build a gas-fired power plant. Natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel than coal, but there would be the added hurdle that Sri Lanka has no LNG import infrastructure.
Sri Lanka's only coal-fired power plant with 900 MW capacity was built with a $1.4 billion loan from China in two phases. However, the Chinese plant has faced frequent repairs.
India and China have been increasingly loaning funds to Sri Lanka over the last few years, mainly for infrastructure projects. Since the island's civil war ended in 2009, the two rivals have been competing for influence in Sri Lanka, which sits right off one of the world's busiest shipping routes.
(Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Tom Hogue)
Sri Lanka for the first time included minority Tamils in ceremonies Wednesday marking the anniversary of the end of its civil war, but a leading think-tank said moves towards reconciliation and accountability had stalled.
Tamils living in the northern part of the island which saw most of the violence held public commemorations for the first time since the end in 2009 of the decades-long conflict, after the lifting of draconian restrictions imposed under then-president Mahinda Rajapakse.
President Maithripala Sirisena, who replaced him in January 2015, has also abandoned a controversial annual military "victory" parade in the capital for a more sombre remembrance ceremony set to include the minority Tamils.
But the International Crisis Group said his pledges to bring about accountability and post-war reconciliation between the Tamils and the Sinhalese majority remained largely unfulfilled.
"The enormity of the crimes, especially in the final weeks of the war, makes them impossible to ignore but hard for the military and most (majority) Sinhalese to acknowledge or accept responsibility for," the ICG said in a new report.
It called on Colombo to set a timeline for training judges, lawyers and investigators for special war crimes courts and for passing legislation to establish responsibility for war crimes.
The government must also end military involvement in running hotels and shops and vacate occupied private land in former war zones, it said.
Government forces killed the leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels Velupillai Prabhakaran on May 18, 2009 after a brutal military crackdown, and declared an end to the 37-year conflict which claimed at least 100,000 lives.
The Tamils, who under Rajapakse were barred even from holding private ceremonies of remembrance in their own homes, were for the first time allowed to light candles near the spot where he died to commemorate their war dead.
"There were low-key ceremonies in many areas of the north and the east," an official in the northern Mullaittivu region, where the final stand-off took place, said by telephone.
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- No longer pariah -
Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi said the government had scrapped the military parade to show its commitment to healing ethnic wounds.
"We are having a cultural show instead of the military victory parade that was practised in the past six years," Hettiarachchi said.
"This is to establish reconciliation among all races."
Previous parades celebrated the victory of the largely Sinhalese military over the minority Tamils, who were banned from remembering their dead as commemoration of fallen rebels was thought anti-state.
Sirisena has adopted a far more conciliatory tone than Rajapakse.
The government has agreed to a UN call to set up a special court to investigate wartime atrocities, but has rejected pressure for foreign judges to be involved.
It has secured international support for ethnic peace, while high-profile visits by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US Secretary of State John Kerry last year effectively ended Sri Lanka's pariah status.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which fought for independence for Sri Lanka's main ethnic minority, were known for their suicide bombings.
At the height of their power, the rebels ran a de facto separate state comprising a third of the Indian Ocean island's territory.
Under Rajapakse's orders, the army defeated the Tigers in a no-holds-barred military campaign that attracted international censure.
The UN's special rapporteur on torture, Juan E. Mendez, said recently that atrocities continued after the end of the conflict.
On a visit to Sri Lanka earlier this month he cited "credible evidence" of forced disappearances of Tamils and detainees being sexually tortured since 2009.
The independent Sri Lanka Campaign, a rights group, said there had been an "undeniable" improvement in the country since the change in government, but more needed to be done.
In war-affected regions, "a combination of ongoing militarisation and impunity mean that a climate of intimidation and fear persists", it said.
It was a week where oil prices hit a fresh six-month high but natural gas barely budged.
On the news front, Royal Dutch Shell plc RDS.A is toying with the idea of a $40 billion spin-off of non-core assets, while Range Resources Corp. RRC agreed to acquire Memorial Resource Development Corp. in a $4.4 billion deal.
Overall, it was a mixed week for the sector. While West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 3.5% to close at $46.21 per barrel, natural gas prices remained essentially unchanged at $2.096 per million Btu (MMBtu). (See the last Oil & Gas Stock Roundup here: Shell, EOG Withstands Crude Crash to Q1 Beat.)
Oil prices moved north for the fifth time in 6 weeks on supply disruptions in Nigeria and Libya. A report by Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA), projecting the global oil inventory overhang to fade notably in the second half of the year, also propped up the commodity. Things were further helped by the Baker Hughes report that showed another drop in oil-directed rigs - indicating a break in shale drilling activities.
On the other hand, natural gas stayed flat after an encouraging inventory report was offset by mild temperatures across most parts of the country that restricted the commoditys requirement for power burn.
Recap of the Weeks Most Important Stories
1. Europes largest oil company Royal Dutch Shell plc is contemplating the sale of non-core assets worth $40 billion via a stock exchange listing in order to strengthen its cash position to repay debts and meet future investment commitments.
In Feb 2016, Shell closed a $50 billion merger with BG Group plc a leading upstream energy player in the UK. The transaction was completed just weeks after a massive decline in oil prices to a 13-year low of nearly $27 a barrel. Post the merger, the companys long-term debt burden increased to the current level of around $73 billion, while its liquidity declined.
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Meanwhile, management is planning an initial public offering (IPO) of the companys mature assets in order to benefit from a sustained oil price recovery and refocus on core assets. The new entity, referred to as Baby Shell, will likely consist of upstream assets in the UK, Norway, New Zealand, Italy and Nigeria. Also, the confirmation of an IPO is expected within the next 12 months.
2. Natural gas producer Range Resources Corp. has agreed to acquire smaller rival Memorial Resource Development Corp. for $4.4 billion, including the assumption of $1.1 billion in debt.
Under the terms of the agreement, Memorial shareholders will receive 0.375 shares of Range Resources common stock for each share they hold. This offer values Memorial shares at a 17% premium to the pre-announcement closing price. The transaction has been okayed by the boards of both companies but awaits regulatory and shareholder approval. We expect the buyout to conclude in the second half.
If the deal goes through, Range Resources will be able to add Memorials North Louisiana operations to its projects in the Appalachian basin.
3. Premier energy infrastructure provider in North America, Williams Companies Inc. WMB has filed a suit against Energy Transfer Equity L.P. to ensure that their merger remains on track. The company took the legal step when the latter expressed concerns over the merger citing that the deal had not secured the necessary legal opinion to make the transaction tax-free to shareholders.
Williams sued Energy Transfer Equity in the Delaware Court of Chancery to prevent the latter from canceling the merger over tax issues, so that the deal materializes on Jun 28 as scheduled.
The deal originally valued at $33 billion has been watered down to $14 billion due to sharp decline in oil prices. However, the cash component of $6 billion has not changed, making the pending merger a nightmare for Energy Transfer Equity. As such, it is suffering from buyers remorse and is searching for ways to escape the deal in deteriorating financing markets. (See More: Williams Sues Energy Transfer Equity over Merger.)
4. Oil giant BP plc BP has increased its stake by twofold in the Maersk Oil-operated Culzean high-pressure high-temperature development in the UK Central North Sea, following the acquisition of an additional 16% interest from JX Nippon Exploration & Production.
As a result of this acquisition, BPs interest in the development has augmented to 32% from 16%. The Culzean field development was approved at the end of Aug 2015. It is estimated to produce adequate gas to meet 5% of total UK demand at peak production from 202021.
The gas condensate field, discovered in 2008, is scheduled to come online in 2019. The fields production life is projected to continue into the 2030s. During its plateau, it is estimated to produce 60,00090,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The field is expected to hold reserves of about 250300 million barrels of oil equivalent. (See More: BP's Interest in Culzean Field Development Rises by Twofold.)
5. U.S. energy major Chevron Corp. CVX announced that it is planning to reduce its workforce by 800 in the Thailand region amid low oil prices. The company intends to make savings of $500 million in costs so as to continue its operations in Thailand. This is in sync with the companys late last years announcement of a significant headcount reduction plan at its upstream business.
The job cut, which is expected to be effective from Aug 1, is in addition to the layoff of around 100 employees earlier this year. In Thailand, Chevron has around 2,200 staff and 1,700 contractors, and caters to about half of the country's natural gas demand.
Notably, Chevron is in discussions with the Thai government to extend concessions for several oil and gas license blocks which it operates in the Gulf of Thailand beyond the 2022 expiration date. Chevron expects the government to take a decision by early 2017.
Price Performance
The following table shows the price movement of the major oil and gas players over the past week and during the last 6 months.
Company Last Week Last 6 Months XOM +0.88% +12.02% CVX +0.79% +12.37% COP +5.68% -18.22% OXY +0.64% +3.07% SLB +1.88% -3.57% RIG -5.37% -34.67% VLO -1.10% -21.16% TSO +1.48% -31.49%
Over the course of last week, The Energy Select Sector SPDR was up 2.75% on diminishing inventory overhang. Consequently, investors witnessed a buying spree in most large companies. The best performer was Houston-based energy major ConocoPhillips COP that added 5.68% to its stock price.
Longer-term, over the last 6 months, the sector tracker is down 3.07%. offshore drilling giant Transocean Ltd. RIG was the main casualty during this period, experiencing a 34.67% price decrease.
Whats Next in the Energy World?
As usual, market participants will be closely tracking the regular weekly releases i.e. the U.S. government data on oil and natural gas. And with the 2016 Q1 earnings season winding down, oil prices will again guide market proceedings to a significant extent.
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Staples Inc. SPLS reported first-quarter fiscal 2016 earnings per share of 17 cents, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny but remained flat year over year. On the other hand, the companys revenues declined 3.1% year over year to $5,101 million but came in above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5,080 million.
Notably, both the top line and the bottom line of Staples showed improvement from the weakness experienced in fourth-quarter fiscal 2015.
Also, including $66 million of pre-tax charges associated with the Office Depot, Inc. ODP buyout and store closures, as well as $32 million related to the impending sale of the Staples Print Solutions business, earnings per share came in at 6 cents. The company had reported earnings of 9 cents per share in the year-ago quarter. Excluding the impact of store closures and currency fluctuations, revenues dipped 1% year over year.
For the fiscal second quarter, the company anticipates sales to fall from the prior-year quarter level. Adjusted earnings per share is projected in the range of 1113 cents. The earnings guidance excludes cost-related impact from the companys planned acquisition of Office Depot as well as the effect of the continuing store closure.
Gross profit decreased 4.4% to $1,288 million, while gross margin contracted approximately 40 basis points (bps) to 25.2%.
Staples adjusted operating income inched up 1.2% to $175 million, while its adjusted operating margin came in at 3.4% compared with year-ago figure of 3.3%.
In North America, Staples closed about 14 stores during the first quarter. In 2015, the company closed 73 stores. In 2016, the company plans to shut down nearly 50 stores in North America.
Segment Details
Sales at North American Stores and Online, which include its retail stores and Staples.com businesses in the U.S. and Canada, declined 5.2% to $2,247 million. During the fiscal quarter, comparable-store sales (comps) decreased 4% owing to a 2% fall in traffic and 2% dip in average order size from the prior-year quarter. The company registered Staples.com sales (comparable sales) growth of 1% in the reported quarter. Operating income plunged 17.3% to $62 million and operating margin came in at 2.8% as against 3.2% in the year-earlier quarter.
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Sales at North American Commercial, which includes Staples contract operations in the U.S. and Canada, inched up 0.3% to $2,116 million. Increase in sales of promotional products, breakroom supplies and facilities supplies primarily drove the upside.
Operating profit of $148 million increased 10.4% year over year, while margin expanded 60 bps to 7.0%.
International operations remained under pressure. Revenues fell 5.6% to $738 million, primarily due to a decline in sales in Europe, which partially overshadowed double-digit growth in China. The segment reported operating loss of $18 million, narrower than an operating loss of $20 million in the prior-year quarter.
Other Financial Details
Staples ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $946 million. The companys long-term debt (net of current maturities) was $3,489 million (as against $1,018 million as of Jan 30, 2016), while shareholders equity was $5,489 million at the end of the reported quarter.
As of Apr 30, 2016, Staples generated operating cash flow of about $276 million and incurred capital expenditures of $44 million, which resulted in free cash flow of $232 million. In 2016, the company expects to generate free cash flow of nearly $600 million.
Merger Falls Through
In a highly unfavorable development for investors of both Staples and Office Depot, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled out the merger of the companies. The companies had taken several steps to get a clearance from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) after the regulatory body rejected the revised offer from Staples for the purchase of Office Depot. However, those efforts were not sufficient to change FTCs decision.
Per the merger agreement, Staples will compensate Office Depot with $250 million as merger break-up fee. According to the FTC, the deal would lower competition nationwide and result in price hikes and fewer options for large corporate houses that usually make bulk purchases. However, had the merger materialized, the two companies would have created a retail chain with approximately $36 billion in annual revenues and thousands of stores.
Whats Next for Staples?
Following, the verdict on the merger, Staples outlined certain plans to increase long-term value. In order to acquire new customers, the company intends to increase its offering of products as well as services beyond office supplies. Staples expects to improve its supply chain capabilities through the addition of more than 1,000 associates to its mid-market sales team.
Since 2011, Staples has closed more than 300 stores in North America. The company is planning to close minimum of 50 stores in North America in 2016. The company not only intends to increase productivity but also hopes to preserve profitability in North America by expanding its services, increasing customer base, shutting down underperforming stores and decreasing fixed costs.
The company plans to initiate a new cost-saving program to garner nearly $300 million of pre-tax cost savings annually by the end of 2018. The company will also resume share repurchase during the second quarter of 2016 and intends to return roughly $100 million to shareholders in 2016.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Staples currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked retail stocks include Cabela's Incorporated CAB and ULTA Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. ULTA. Both stocks hold a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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Point72 Asset Management, the $11 billion family-office hedge fund led by Steven A. Cohen, has begun targeting college sophomores in its recruiting efforts.
On May 20th, the fund will host its inaugural Sophomore Summit, a one-day investment education program for a highly select group of undergraduate sophomores held at Point72s Stamford, Connecticut headquarters.
The idea for the program was to identify 20 of the most promising sophomores in the country and introduce them to our industry, said Jonathan Jones, head of investment talent development for Point72. Its really part of our effort to reach out early to candidates who show great promise.
During the summit, the students will engage in a hand-on learning experience alongside Point72's investment professionals where theyll go over the fundamentals, learn how to develop an investment thesis, and pitch a stock idea.
For its inaugural summit, Point72 received approximately 400 applications from students at 40 different universities from a variety of different academic backgrounds.
We were very deliberate about the fact that we were looking for students with an interest in markets and investing. We really wanted to focus on students motivated around research, said Jones, noting that they had students majoring in molecular biology, computer science, physics, political science, as well as the traditional finance and economic majors.
Point72s step toward targeting top tier talent earlier on is unprecedented in the hedge fund space. Traditionally, the path to a hedge fund job has been to spend two years after college in an investment banking analyst program before making the transition to the buy-side.
These days, however, hedge fund recruiting has been facing its own unique set of challenges as investment banking classes have been shrinking and more young workers have been forgoing Wall Street careers for lucrative tech jobs in Silicon Valley. In other words, theres a shortage of top talent.
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With recruiting from the sell-side under pressure, some funds have turned to grooming or farming their own talent. Point72 in particular has been investing heavily in developing its own talent.
A year ago, the fund launched its namesake Point72 Academy, a 15-month paid program that trains college graduates for potential analyst positions at the firm. The first class is now approaching the end of its training through the academy. Theyre currently in the midst of rotating with some of the portfolio teams as a precursor to where they might be placed.
The newly launched Sophomore Summit is just one piece of a three-stage journey for Point72 recruits. College juniors are eligible for the full summer internship program. That program in turns builds upon the opportunity to join the Point72 Academy after graduation.
As a family office, Point72 manages the money of Cohen and some of the firms employees. The funds growth is based strictly on returns, or the P&L that the talent generates.
Speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles earlier this month, Cohen said that talent is very thin in the hedge fund space these days.
Our view at Point72 is that talent is very thin. We winnow down the funnel to 2 to 4 percent of the actual candidates we might be interested in. Frankly, Im blown away by the lack of talent. Its not easy to find great people, said Cohen.
To be clear, Cohens comments at Milken relate to the challenge of finding experienced and talented portfolio managers. However, analysts are just is important because investment ideas are born out of fundamental research and idea generation from research analysts. Its exactly why the fund is focused on developing them.
This is consistent with our desire to create the greatest opportunities for the greatest talent, said Jones.
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Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance.
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Megyn Kelly's very public feud with Donald Trump might have come to an end May 17, when the two had a congenial sit-down during her Fox primetime special, but the spat served to establish the Fox News anchor as the face of feminism in the political media. Still, when it comes to guests on her popular show The Kelly File, she's not exactly a crusader for women, according to a report on the proportions of male and female analysts on TV. Data collected from Feb. 29 through May 13 reveals Kelly File had the lowest percentage of female analysts (15 percent) compared with five other Fox, CNN and MSNBC shows observed in the study.
Even more, when Trump accused Hillary Clinton of playing "the woman card," Kelly File was one of three shows that featured an all-male panel discussing the remarks. "She doesn't have a lot of guests, but when she does, they tend to be men," says Gina Glantz, founder of GenderAvenger, which conducted the study with the Center for American Women and Politics and the Women's Media Center. "It's a sad reflection of the coverage today." While CNN's Anderson Cooper is by far the most balanced host with nearly 50 percent female representation on Anderson Cooper 360 and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow is a close second with nearly 40 percent, the other shows' male-to-female ratios are only marginally better than Kelly's. "It's disappointing in that most of them are very consistently under 30 percent at a time when there are so many really smart, experienced women analysts, journalists and political consultants," says Glantz, who will be keeping track of the numbers through November.
This story first appeared in the May 27 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
Read More: Megyn Kelly Sits Down With Donald Trump; Talks Family, Social Media and Their Bad Blood
By Minami Funakoshi
TOKYO (Reuters) - Suzuki Motor Corp used the wrong methods to test the fuel economy of its cars in Japan, it said on Wednesday, widening a testing scandal that has already rocked smaller rival Mitsubishi Motors Corp.
Japan's transport ministry ordered widespread checks to industry methods after Mitsubishi Motors admitted last month it manipulated fuel economy data for at least four mini-vehicle models, overstating their efficiency.
Mitsubishi Motors' president, Tetsuro Aikawa, said on Wednesday he would step down over that scandal, becoming the first senior departure since it broke, battering the company's reputation and wiping billions off its market value.
Worries over similar damage for Suzuki sent shares in Japan's fourth-largest carmaker down as much as 15 percent during the day.
Suzuki said it would continue selling its mini-cars and saw no impact on its earnings. The correct readings, it said, were not significantly different to those it submitted.
Japanese authorities, however, have asked for further details from Suzuki before May 31, calling its use of non-compliant tests "outrageous".
"The company apologises for the fact that we did not follow rules set by the country," CEO Osamu Suzuki told reporters, adding 2.1 million vehicles were affected.
The company denied using the tests to make its fuel economy data look better. It blamed the decision to cobble together readings from individual car parts - rather than a single reading - on its windy testing location on a coastal hill that made readings erratic. The individual parts were tested indoors, it said.
Suzuki specialises in mini-vehicles, which have engines of up to 660cc and get preferential tax treatment under Japanese law. It has roughly a third of the country's mini-vehicle market. It also has a successful Indian subsidiary, Maruti Suzuki.
MITSUBISHI'S WOES
The transport ministry, which had asked all automakers operating in Japan to re-submit fuel economy readings on all models by Wednesday, said no other carmakers had manipulated data or used improper tests.
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It is still awaiting further detail, however, from Suzuki. It said it has yet to decide whether to penalise Mitsubishi Motors and, if so, by how much.
Mitsubishi Motors' admission that it cheated on the fuel economy tests is its third major scandal in under two decades, and has prompted the automaker to agree to sell a one-third controlling stake to Nissan Motor Co.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Mitsubishi Motors blamed excessive pressure, less time spent on research and development and high expectations for fuel efficiency.
"There was no direct order from top management," CEO Osamu Masuko said. "But top management did not have a firm grasp on the proceedings at the R&D department." He said there were several chances for the company to stop its workers - but it did not.
Masuko, who has been at the helm of Mitsubishi Motors since 2005, has been named by Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn as Mitsubishi Motors' "pilot".
UNDER SCRUTINY
Emissions and fuel economy have come under increasing scrutiny from regulators globally after Volkswagen admitted last year it used "defeat devices" on 11 million diesel vehicles to lower emissions during tests.
France, which ordered tests on a random sample of about 100 diesel cars last year, has said some vehicles made by Renault, Fiat, Mercedes, VW, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Nissan, Opel and Ford failed to comply fully with its emissions regulations.
South Korea, which has tested 20 diesel vehicle models, said on Monday it would punish Nissan with a fine and a recall of its Qashqai diesel sport utility vehicles, accusing it of manipulating emissions. Nissan denied the allegation.
In the United States, the Justice Department is investigating Daimler, the maker of Mercedes vehicles, over emissions testing.
(Reporting by Minami Funakoshi, Maki Shiraki, and Chris Gallagher, with additional reporting by Joshua Hunt; Writing by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
TOKYO (Reuters) - Suzuki Motor Corp <7269.T> said on Wednesday it had used emission and fuel efficiency testing methods that were different from Japanese regulations on 16 models now sold in the country, but that proper testing showed no need to amend the data.
Japan's fourth-largest automaker said the improper testing method dated back to 2010 and that around 2.1 million vehicles were affected.
The discrepancy does not affect any Suzuki-badged vehicles overseas, it said in a statement.
Its announcement comes after Japan's transport ministry ordered all domestic automakers to investigate their fuel economy testing methods in the wake of revelations that Mitsubishi Motors Corp <7211.T> used methods that did not comply with regulations.
(Reporting by Chris Gallagher, Chang-Ran Kim, Minami Funakoshi; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
By Ethan Lou and Tanisha Heiberg TORONTO/JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Swaziland King Mswati III's official plane has been detained in Canada for the second time in two years due to a debt dispute, according to Canadian court documents. Singaporean entrepreneur Shanmuga Rethenam, a former business partner of Mswati, detained the plane this month through Canadian courts in his latest bid to freeze the king's foreign assets as he tries to claim nearly $8 million he says he is owed. Swaziland government spokesman Percy Simelane on Wednesday noted the king has said he does not owe money to Rethenam, adding he could not go into details because the matter is before the courts. On May 5, a Toronto court ordered Mswati's McDonnell Douglas DC-9-87 to be confined to the Canadian province of Ontario, where it has been serviced by a local firm, according to legal files. Rethenam said he sold Mswati the plane in 2010, according to court documents, and then paid for modifications and refinancing totaling nearly $6.5 million. Rethenam's subsequent legal action in Canada detained the plane for four months last year before Mswati's side agreed to surrender $3.5 million to be held in place of the plane. Rethenam returned this year with a "worldwide freezing order" from a judge in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), where his aviation firm is registered, according to Canadian court files. A BVI court had ordered some of Mswati's foreign assets frozen until it makes a decision on Rethenam's claim, according to a copy of a judgment he provided. That case is still ongoing. CHARGES IN SWAZILAND Rethenam has been separately charged with misappropriating funds while he operated a Swazi mining venture with Mswati between 2011 and 2014, according to a Swaziland government prosecutor, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The prosecutor said Rethenam is to report to the Swazi High Court by June 30 for a pre-trial conference, and added the charges are unrelated to Rethenam's debt dispute with the king. Rethenam said in an interview on Wednesday that the timing of the fraud, theft and tax evasion charges, laid on Monday, was suspicious and he believed they were being used to "retaliate" against him. Simelane declined to comment on the charges. Swaziland's Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs could not be immediately reached for comment.
As the markets wade through heightened volatility, many have capitalized on the wild swings with leveraged and inverse exchange traded funds to juice returns.
However, while the strategies may generate lucrative returns, investors should fully understand how these products work and the risks involved. Leveraged and inverse ETFs utilize derivatives to achieve their exponential or inverse returns. The derivatives include instruments like swap agreements, futures and forward contracts, and put and call options.
For instance, a double, 2x or 200% leveraged ETFs price would increase or decrease twice as much as the price of the underlying non-leveraged market or index in any given day. If the underlying index rises 2% in a day, the leveraged ETF would gain 4%. There are also a number of leveraged ETFs that provide 3x or 300% leverage, which would rise or fall three times as much as the underlying market.
Potential traders should keep in mind that these leveraged ETFs are designed to produce double or triple the performance of the underlying market on a daily basis. Consequently, when investors look at the long-term performance of a typical leveraged ETF, people may notice that the funds do not perfectly reflect their intended strategies.
For example, the ProShares Ultra S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SSO), which attempts to deliver twice the daily returns of the S&P 500 index, has more or less closely followed its intended 2x multiplier over the shorter term - over the past three months, SSO gained 19.3% as the S&P 500 rose 9.6%.
A strong bull market without long interruptions and relative low volatility helped maintain positive gains in the leveraged ETF. Since the ETFs rebalance on a daily basis, the compounding effect benefits leveraged ETFs in a upward-trending market. In an upward-trending market, compounding can generate longer-term returns that are greater than the sum of the individual daily returns. Similarly, in a downward-trending market, compounding can generate longer-term returns that are less negative than the sum of the individual daily returns.
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On the other hand, in times of increased volatility, leveraged ETF returns can fall behind their intended 2x or 3x strategies. Over the long-term or during periods of intense volatility, compounding can generate longer-term returns that are less than the sum of the individual daily returns. For example, SSO returned an average 19.7% over the past five years while the S&P 500 returned an average 11.6%.
Currently, the Chinese A-Shares market, oil swings and its effect on the energy sector, a potential Federal Reserve rate hike ahead and ongoing concerns in Europe, notably from Russia and Greece, have all contributed to short-term volatility.
Nevertheless, traders have utilized leveraged and inverse ETFs to capture areas of interest in a tactical portfolio when political or event-driven decisions may affect a market over the short-term. For instance, the ProShares UltraShort S&P500 ETF (NYSE:SDS), which tries to reflect the -2x or -200% daily performance of the S&P 500, and ProShares UltraPro Short S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPXU), which also takes the -300% daily performance of the S&P 500, have grown in popularity as a hedge against the so-called most hated bull market ever.
The heightened volatility may also help support gold prices and further bolster the mining sector. For instance, the Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bull 2x Shares ETF (NYSE:NUGT) and Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bull 3x Shares (NYSE:JNUG) have been popular long bets among gold ETF traders.
While these types of leveraged and inverse ETFs may help traders capitalize on short-term moves, investors should be aware of the risks and potential divergence between these geared products and their underlying assets over the long haul and during periods of heightened volatility.
Visit ETFtrends.com for more ETF news, strategy and commentary.
Related Articles
May 19 marks the 100-year anniversary of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, signed by diplomats Sir Mark Sykes and Francois Georges-Picot to help Britain and France divide the lands of the disintegrating Ottoman Empire. Sykes-Picot began to set the boundaries of what became countries like Iraq and Syriaand thats been tragic for their citizens.
Read More: These 5 Facts Explain the Massive Political Fallout from the Panama Papers
In the past half century, Iraq has passed from decades of Sunni dominance under Saddam Hussein through a war with Iran, a war with the U.S., years of sanctions, another war with the U.S., a Shiite-dominated government, a Sunni insurgency and general misrule. Oil is flowing again, offering hope that political progress might finally bring lasting economic gains. But for now, the political dysfunction and violence continue.
Read More: These 5 Facts Explain the Strange Politics of Natural Disasters
Before its civil war began, Syria was home to 22 million people. More than half of those people have been forced from their homes. Some 470,000 have been killed, 4.8 million have fled the country, and another 6.5 million are internally displaced. The countrys economy is less than half its prewar size.
Kurds remain the worlds largest stateless minority. About 30 million live within Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey, though there are significant cultural and linguistic differences. Iraqs Kurds inch their way toward independence, while the Kurds of Syria are fighting both President Bashar Assad and ISIS. In Turkey, Kurds are divided between those who want an active role in Turkish politics and others who want independence. The only force engaged in a bid to create new borders in the region is ISIS, which is losing ground in its bid to establish its caliphate.
Sykes and Picot arent fully to blame for todays instability. Its not as if borders carefully drawn by locals with greater sensitivity to ethnic, religious and linguistic differences could have secured a stable Middle East after the Ottomans. Could new borders ease todays conflicts? We wont find out soon, because no one in the region can agree where they should fall. Outsiders can play a role in forming a solution, but they cant impose one.
Yet access to modern tools of communication ensures that borders will eventually appear on their own, created
from the political and cultural affinities that bring people together in the virtual world. Translating those borders into internationally recognized boundaries that delineate nations will produce more turmoil in the short term, but the result will be far more durable than diplomats or demographers could devise.
This appears in the May 30, 2016 issue of TIME.
By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices retreated from 2016 highs and snapped a two-day rally on Wednesday, hurt by a surge in the dollar after the U.S. Federal Reserve signalled it could raise interest rates next month. Brent and U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures had advanced closer to $50 a barrel on Wednesday after large gasoline and distillate drawdowns were announced by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). But minutes from the Fed's April 26-27 policy meeting, released in late afternoon trading of oil, sent the dollar <.DXY> rallying against a basket of currencies and the crude benchmarks into negative territory. [FRX/] The minutes showed the central bank was likely to raise rates in June if economic data pointed to stronger second-quarter growth and firmer inflation and employment. "We think people really had a June rate hike off the table," said Tariq Zahir, crude trader and managing partner at Tyche Capital Advisors in New York. "But with the Fed disputing that, we could have a much stronger dollar from here, which is typically bearish for oil and other commodities." Brent settled down 35 cents at $48.93 a barrel. Earlier, it came within 15 cents of striking the $50 target coveted by oil bulls. That session's peak of $49.85 was the highest for Brent since November. WTI closed down 12 cents at $48.19 a barrel after reaching $48.95 - its highest level since mid-October. U.S. gasoline stockpiles fell by 2.5 million barrels last week, versus a draw of 150,000 barrels expected by analysts in a Reuters poll. Inventories of distillates , which include diesel and heating oil, slumped by 3.2 million barrels, versus expectations for a 642,000-barrel drop. The draws took the market's attention from a crude build of 1.3 million barrels, which analysts said should have been bearish for crude prices. The Reuters poll forecast a decrease of 2.8 million barrels in crude stocks last week. Preliminary data on Tuesday from the American Petroleum Institute, a trade group, showed a crude draw of 1.1 million barrels. [EIA/S] [API/S] Oil prices are up about 80 percent or more from 12-year lows of around $27 for Brent in January and about $26 for WTI in February. The rebound has been fuelled by declining U.S. crude output, a wildfire that has restricted Canadian oil exports to the United States and outages in Libyan and Nigerian supply. Some analysts worry the higher prices will lead to more production and another major oil glut, similar to the kind that forced prices down from highs above $100 a barrel in mid-2014. (Additional reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar in London and Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Paul Simao)
Growing through acquisitions has been one of the key strategies of Synopsys Inc. SNPS. Keeping with this, the company recently announced the buyout of Simpleware Ltd. Financial terms of the deal were, however, not disclosed.
Simpleware is a privately owned company providing software products that help converting 3D scan data into high-quality computer models used for engineering design and simulation. The companys software is used across a wide range of industries including Life Sciences, Materials Science, Industrial Reverse Engineering and Non-Destructive Evaluation, and Oil & Gas.
Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Exeter, UK, the company has a long list of customers ranging from global blue chip companies to research institutes and universities around the globe. Therefore, integration of Simpleware will not only enhance Synopsys product portfolio, but also add the formers customers, thereby boosting the top line.
The recent acquisition is in line with Synopsys continued investments toward enhancing its electronic design automation (EDA) software product portfolio. Synopsys sells EDA software to the semiconductor and electronics industries. In the current economic scenario, customers are strengthening their supplier relationships while focusing on cost efficiencies, which have led many to select Synopsys as their primary EDA partner.
Acquisitions are central to the companys growth strategy and give it access to newer markets and technologies. Some of its notable buyouts include Codenomicon, Coverity and Target Compiler Technologies.
Also, with intensifying competition making the EDA market tougher to penetrate, acquisitions have gone a long way in helping Synopsys accelerate top-line growth. In the first quarter of fiscal 2016, the company witnessed a 5% year-over-year increase in its revenues.
We believe that the companys sustained focus on product launches, acquisitions and deal wins will drive results, going ahead. Apart from this, unique intellectual properties and global support provided by the company will boost its performance. Additionally, the companys acquisitions will expand its reach in the software quality, testing and security tools market.
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However, competition from Cadence Design Systems Inc. CDNS and Mentor Graphics Corp. MENT, along with a challenging technology spending environment and uncertainty regarding the exact time of realizing acquisition synergies, keep us concerned.
Currently, Synopsys has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Another favorably anked stock in the technology sector is DST Systems Inc. DST sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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Beirut (AFP) - A regime air strike killed at least 13 members of the same family, including eight children, in central Syria on Wednesday, a monitor said.
The raid hit a residential neighbourhood in Rastan, one of the last rebel strongholds in the central province of Homs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The toll is likely to increase as several people are missing and others are gravely injured, the Britain-based monitor said.
Rebel groups seized Rastan in 2012 and the town has been under full siege by regime forces, who control most of the Homs province, since the beginning of this year.
The Observatory relies on a wide network of sources inside Syria to gather its information on the five-year-old conflict, which has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced millions.
It says it determines whether strikes were carried out by Syrian, Russian or US-led coalition aircraft based on the location of the raids, flight patterns and the types of planes and munitions involved.
Vienna (AFP) - The UN's Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura expressed optimism on Wednesday that the stalled peace talks could resume, but stressed it had to happen in "soon" to avoid losing momentum.
His comments came a day after talks between world powers on ending the five-year conflict failed to make a clear breakthrough in Vienna.
At the end of the meeting, the 17-nation International Syria Support Group (ISSG) -- co-chaired by the US and Russia -- vowed to bolster the ravaged nation's shaky ceasefire and send humanitarian relief.
However, the group also admitted it had been unable to set a fresh date for negotiations between the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian opposition.
But de Mistura insisted: "There is hope" despite the slow progress.
"I can feel sufficient comfort to explain to the Syrian people and to the international community that we can re-launch the talks... because it is clear there is no military solution," he told reporters in the Austrian capital.
"But we need to do it soon, not late, otherwise we lose the momentum," the UN envoy said.
He said negotiators had to "bear in mind" that the month-long Muslim fasting month of Ramadan would start around June 6 "in that part of the world".
After Tuesday's talks, de Mistura had warned the UN-mediated talks in Geneva would have little purpose if the killing continued.
The Syrian conflict erupted in early 2011 when Assad's forces staged a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests, sparking violence that has since claimed more than 270,000 lives.
Millions have been driven from their homes and hundreds of thousands of refugees have flooded into Europe, sparking a humanitarian and political crisis.
- Consequences for violations -
On the ground, US allies like Saudi Arabia and Turkey back some of the rebel factions, while Russia has dispatched war planes and advisors to back Assad, who is also supported by troops from Iran.
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In late February, Washington and Moscow chivvied regime and rebel forces into agreeing a shaky ceasefire, but pockets of violence remain.
On Tuesday, the ISSG said there would be consequences for parties breaching the truce and pledged to maintain pressure on Assad.
Washington regularly accuses the Syrian strongman of violating the truce and of bombing civilians, whereas Russia blames rebel factions for carrying out massacres.
Divisions between the two world powers have hampered efforts to agree a framework, under which Syria would "transition" away from Assad's rule.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Air raids carried out by Syrian government warplanes killed at least 13 people from one family in a town in the west of the country on Wednesday, a monitoring group said. The air strikes hit the town of Rastan in Homs province and were part of a heavy bombardment in the area, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Eight children were among those killed, it said. Government warplanes have targeted Rastan and other towns and villages under rebel control in the area, which lies midway between the government-held cities of Hama and Homs. (Reporting by John Davison)
Taco Bell Urban Edge
Taco Bell is redesigning its restaurants.
The company is rolling out four different store models "modern explorer," "California sol," "heritage" and "urban edge" and they look nothing like the fast-food chain we know.
The new designs are all pretty similar to one another.
They feature open kitchens and lounge seating areas with rustic wood and metal finishes, as well as fancy lighting fixtures and chandeliers that look like they came from Restoration Hardware.
The new designs will debut in several restaurants in Orange County, California this summer. A broader roll-out is planned in the last half of 2016.
Taco Bell Heritage
"
Building new restaurants is a key component to the overall growth and evolution of Taco Bell, Taco Bell CEO Brian Niccol said in a statement. Great design, great food and great economics is at the heart of our growth."
Taco Bell California Sol
Here's how the company describes each model:
Heritage: "Inspired by its culinary roots in Mexican-inspired food with a twist, this style is a modern interpretation of Taco Bells original Mission Revival style characterized by warm white walls with classic materials in the tile and heavy timbers. "
Taco Bell Heritage2
Modern explorer: "This rustic modern style is a refined version of the brands Cantina Explorer restaurants and can easily fit into a suburban or rural environment. Inspired by the farms that make our food, this style reinforces Taco Bells commitment to the best ingredients, authenticity and transparency of materials and dining preparation.
"California sol: "Inspired by Taco Bells California roots and the California lifestyle, this design blurs the lines between indoor and outdoor. Its a celebration of dining al fresco and embraces a laid-back beachy feel both inside and out." Urban edge: "This design represents an eclectic mix of international and street style done the Taco Bell way. This style is inspired by timeless design married with cutting-edge elements of the urban environment."
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Taco Bell Modern Explorer2
Taco Bell California Sol2
Taco Bell Urban Edge3
NOW WATCH: Heres how many calories are in 6 of the most popular fast-food kids meals
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Target (TGT) The retailer reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit, but slowing sales fell below estimates. Sales at stores open for at least a year climbed 1.2%, less than the streets consensus of 1.6%. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) will report first-quarter earnings before the opening bell on Thursday.
Tesla Motors (TSLA) - Goldman Sachs upgraded the electric carmaker to buy from neutral and raised its six-month price target to $250. In a note to clients on Wednesday, Goldman said following a 23% decline in the share price post the Model 3 unveil, we do not believe Tesla shares are fully capturing the companys disruptive potential.
Charter Communications (CHTR) Its now the second largest cable company after completing its $55 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable (TWC). Charters deal comes 13 months after Comcast (CMCSA) was forced to drop its bid to buy Time Warner Cable due to regulatory concerns.
Staples (SPLS) The office supplies retailer topped first-quarter earnings estimate, with adjusted earnings per share of $0.17 on revenue of $5.1 billion. Sales at existing stores fell 4% in the quarter.
Verizon (VZ) The company will hold contract talks in Washington, D.C. this week with the striking unions. The talks come after approximately 40,000 workers in the companys Fios unit walked off the job last month.
Microsoft (MSFT) The company is ditching Nokias feature phone business, selling its assets to FIH Mobile, a unit of Foxconn, for $350 million. Microsoft says it will continue to work on Windows 10 Mobile and support Lumia phones from OEM partners.
Here are some of the stocks the Yahoo Finance team will be watching for you today.
Target (TGT) shares were sharply lower in early trading. The department store chain posted earnings that beat forecasts, but revenue missed estimates for the first quarter due to weaker-than-expected same-store sales growth. Target, like other traditional retailers, is struggling to increase foot traffic as shoppers head online for purchases.
On the flipside, Lowe's (LOW) shares rose this morning. The home improvement retailer raised its profit outlook for the year after it reported earnings and revenue that topped analysts' estimates for the first quarter. Revenue jumped nearly 8% thanks to stronger-than-expected same-store sales growth. This comes after rival Home Depot (HD) also reported better-than-expected quarterly results on Tuesday.
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Staples (SPLS), which abandoned its plans to buy Office Depot (ODP) last week, delivered earnings and revenue that came in slightly above expectations. However, a strong dollar and store closures took a toll on overall sales and profit.
Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) is in the spotlight this morning as the company gets set to kick off its three-day annual developers' conference. The technology giant is expected to unveil a voice assistant named "Chirp" that competes directly with Amazon's (AMZN) Echo as well as other products.
We are also keeping close tabs on U.S. steel companies after the U.S. raised its import duties on Chinese steelmakers by more than 500%. America and Europe have accused China of flooding the global markets with steel that is below market prices.
Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Binta Ali hadn't seen her daughter Amina since she was abducted with more than 200 classmates from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, northeast Nigeria, more than two years ago.
Amina and her brother Mai were Binta's only living children. The other 11 had died.
And while Amina was being held by Boko Haram Islamists, Binta, in her sixties, also lost her husband Ali, one of 18 parents of the 219 kidnapped girls to die since the abduction on April 14, 2014.
"He died of high blood pressure," said Yakubu Nkeki, head of the Abducted Chibok Parents' group.
Those parents have been hanging on to hope for their daughters' return. On Tuesday, Binta's prayers were answered when Amina was found by soldiers and civilian vigilantes.
"They (the vigilantes) took her to her village and parked the vehicle outside her house," said Ayuba Alamson Chibok, a Chibok community leader.
"They sent for the mother and told her to go to the vehicle and see if the girl inside is her daughter.
"When the mother approached the car the girl stepped out and her mother exclaimed, 'Amina! Is that you?' They ran towards each other and hugged. The mother burst in tears.
"Relatives and neighbours quickly gathered around the duo and began to celebrate and singing praises to God for rescuing the girl."
- Joint operations -
News of the reunion spread like wildfire through the ramshackle market town of Mbalala and to Chibok, a short drive away along a dusty, unpaved road.
Mbalala, like Chibok, has only a patchy mobile phone signal, making communication further afield difficult; troops on the look-out for militants patrol the roads.
The Nigerian Army said troops from 25 Brigade stationed in Damboa, nearly 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Chibok, were deployed on Tuesday with civilian vigilantes in Baale.
"Vigilantes from Chibok and Damboa regularly team up and raid Boko Haram camps in and around nearby Sambisa Forest where ongoing military operations are forcing Boko Haram out," said Alamson.
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They saw about a dozen people near Kilakesa village at the edge of the former game reserve where Boko Haram is known to have camps and they appeared to be fleeing.
Among them was a young girl in a hijab resembling those worn by the Chibok girls in previous Boko Haram video messages. She was carrying a baby.
The vigilantes, most of whom are volunteers and equipped only with rudimentary weapons including single-shot muskets, slingshots and sticks, caught the group and began to question them.
Alamson said the girl told them her name was Amina Ali and that she was one of the Chibok girls.
She then pointed to a man whom she identified as her husband, Mohammed Hayatu, from Mubi in Adamawa state. The military described him as "a suspected Boko Haram terrorist".
- 'Very deep joy' -
Binta and Amina's brief reunion outside the family home -- a single-storey mud-brick dwelling with a corrugated iron roof -- came after one of the vigilantes recognised Amina.
"He asked her if she was the daughter of the late Ali, from Mbalala, and she answered, 'Yes'," said Chibok.
Amina, Hayatu and a four-month-old baby girl named Safiya were taken to 25 Brigade headquarters in Damboa at about 2:30 pm (1330 GMT) on Wednesday.
They were then transferred to the Borno state capital, Maiduguri for "further medical attention and screening", said army spokesman Sani Usman.
Nkeki said Amina's release had brought "very deep joy" to a place that has suffered so much and which has become a symbol of the conflict.
Amina was 17 when she was kidnapped. She is now 19 and, according to the military, a mother. Few can imagine what she has endured in captivity.
But Nkeki said both Amina and her daughter would be accepted back into the community.
"We will accept her into the family as one of our own daughters." he said.
Mark Hamill with Jamie Harkin (Facebook)
Mark Hamill has really taken his Jedi training to heart. The Star Wars star has helped raise over $2 million for UNICEF, lobbied for a terminally ill fan to see Force Awakens before it was released, and visited a childrens hospital in Los Angeles. And thats all in the past six months.
The man eternally identified with his alter ego Luke Skywalker does it all quietly (occasionally just with a deep stare) until the press catches on. The tipster behind Hamills latest good deed, though, also happens to be the recipient.
Jamie Harkin, a 17-year-old Irish teen suffering from Hodgkins Lymphoma, recounted in a touching Facebook post the surprise visit he received from Hamill earlier this week. Im speechless, Harkin wrote on his page, Jamies Journie, where he documents his battle with cancer and uses it to support other teens affected by the disease. I dont know how Im ever going to write a status that will ever do justice to what just happened and how Im feeling. Even now theres a wealth of emotions running through me, Im definitely still in shock, Im absolutely elated, incredibly humbled, honoured and just completely overwhelmed.
Harkin said that he had lobbied for just about any other person who has ever had anything to do with Star Wars to visit him while the cast and crew were in rural Ireland filming the upcoming Rian Johnson-directed sequel Episode VIII. He didnt get just any cast- or crewmember, though.
I finally met my idol today, he wrote. I had breakfast with Luke Skywalker, Mark Hamill himself. People say that you should never meet your idols, because you build them up in your head so much that when you do meet them, they are a let down, and to that, I say, Youre wrong. Mark was everything I ever imagined him to be and then some.
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Harkin posted 30 photos from Hamills visit, which you can check out on his Facebook page. Give him a follow and some words of encouragement while youre at it. Hamill may play a hero on the movie screen, but he plays one every day in real life.
Editors Note: This post incorrectly referred to Jamie as a she. Weve updated the error.
zara shopper
Teens are demanding customers.
Earlier this month, Neil Saunders, CEO of consulting firm Conlumino, told Business Insider the three things that retailers can do to win the hearts and wallets of teens.
One in particular stands out.
"Constant newness to engage and stimulate is one of" the ways to win over teens, Saunders told Business Insider via email.
Another way of phrasing that? Fast fashion is key.
Teen Friends Walking
Fast fashion has transformed the way teens (and adults) shop for apparel. Stores like Zara churn out runway-inspired styles at rapid fire speeds at affordable prices. Zara, for instance, even recently produced Yeezy knockoffs, though the line provoked some disdain of some consumers.
Zara is arguably the beacon of fast fashion, as it consistently updates its collections and stocks very little, giving consumers a new reason to come back every time. The company avoids fashion misfires, thanks to its data center that tracks sales data and customer feedback.
Zara's smart business model should have other retailers shaking in their boots.
"We believe that Inditex has the best business model in apparel and expect Inditex to deliver double-digit earnings growth per year over the next five years," Bernstein analysts wrote, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Additionally, the other ways to engage teens, Saunders explained, also involve strategies that incidentally have helped Zara beat retailers.
"A good digital strategy in terms of marketing and shopping is another," he wrote. Zara has an excellent Instagram strategy. Shoppers see new apparel on Instagram and want it immediately; this works in tandem with Zara's in-store strategy of swiftly bringing in styles.
Other retailers even those who don't target teens like Banana Republic have taken cues from this model, by putting runway styles on sale immediately.
But Banana Republic doesn't have Zara's sweet price point, and Saunders said that "value for money is definitely a third: teens have so many things they want to buy so what they have to spend on particular items is often constrained." Zara is undoubtedly known for its affordable prices, as are other fast fashion behemoths, like Forever 21 and H&M.
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But the latter isn't particularly new; when teens have money, they often want to get the most they can.
"I think back to when I was young," Gabriella Santaniello, founder of consulting firm A Line Partners told Business Insider recently, "if you had 50 dollars, you wanted to buy as many units as possible. 'How much can I get for 50 dollars?'"
But while stores like Zara and Forever 21 are built on the model of selling cheap, dispensable apparel, other retailers who have been around before the proliferation of fast fashion are not.
"And at some points, it's not sustainable for these larger retailers who have hundreds of stores to provide [a] product that's that cheap," Santaniello said.
NOW WATCH: Video Of Teens Reading Texts They Sent To Friends Takes An Unexpected Turn
More From Business Insider
Updated: After nearly two decades of missteps and mishaps, filming on the latest iteration of Terry Gilliams ill-fated The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is due to start in October, with former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko added to a new cast that includes Adam Driver and Michael Palin.
Gilliam announced Wednesday that preparation on his pet project would begin next month and would be shot in Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands, to be finished by Christmas. Portuguese producer Paulo Branco signed up earlier this year on the film, which is budgeted at $19 million.
I want to get this film out of my life so I can get on with the rest of my life, a jovial and relaxed-looking Gilliam said at a press conference in Cannes.
He told Variety that the film kept nagging at him despite his having completed other movies in the interim, such as 2013s The Zero Theorem.
When they finish, Quixote comes creeping back through the back of my skull, he said. It just wont go away. I can see the film so clearly, and I think weve written a good script, and I hate the idea of that work going for naught.
The project has suffered a series of misadventures worthy of the man of La Mancha himself. Disasters on set, unexpected illnesses and financial problems have caused production to be canceled or delayed several times since work first started on the movie 18 years ago. Gilliam has cast a succession of actors, including Johnny Depp, Robert Duvall and Ewan McGregor, in the films various incarnations.
In the new version, Driver is set to play Toby, a jaded young advertising executive who returns to the Spanish village where, as a student, he made a film based on Cervantes masterpiece. The consequences of that film have been catastrophic, and sweep Toby up in a fantastic extravaganza complete with damsels in distress, knights and giants.
Palin, one of Gilliams fellow Monty Python founders, plays a villager who believes himself to be Don Quixote. Kurylenko plays the wife of Tobys boss.
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Gilliam said he was adjusting the script to better suit his new cast, especially his new young leading actor, who has taken over the role originally played by Depp. Driver has been reading the book and sending Gilliam notes.
Johnny is so good at creating I wouldnt say cartoon characters, but theyre extreme characters. Adam isnt that kind of guy. Hes more solid, so I alter those, Gilliam told Variety.
Other alterations are based on current events. Theres a lot of Muslims in this film suddenly. I react to whats going on in the world, he said, adding: They may or may not be real, just like most of the terrorists in the world.
As for casting his old pal Palin, Gilliam quipped to reporters: I thought Id resurrect him. Hes not quite dead.
The new version, scheduled for release next year, is expected to showcase the Gilliam-esque flights of fancy seen in the directors previous films, such as Brazil and Twelve Monkeys.
The problems besetting Gilliams pet project were the subject of their own movie, the well-regarded 2002 documentary Lost in La Mancha. Flash floods and the illness of actor Jean Rochefort helped scrap the first attempt at making The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. A reboot announced last year was also suspended because of illness, after actor John Hurt received a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at the Texas Republican Convention in Dallas. (Photo: LM Otero/AP)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has waded into the national debate over transgender bathroom use by comparing the White Houses commitment to LGBT rights to U.S. space exploration.
JFK wanted to send a man to the moon. Obama wants to send a man to the womens restroom, Abbott tweeted on Tuesday morning shortly after the president issued a statement marking the 13th annual International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. We must get our country back on track.
At last weeks Texas GOP convention in Dallas, Abbott and his fellow Longhorn State Republicans said they were prepared to stand with North Carolina, which recently passed a bill limiting bathroom access for transgender people.
Obama is turning bathrooms into courtroom issues, Abbott told attendees. I want you to know, I am working with the governor of North Carolina, and we are going to fight back.
He added: Our country is in crisis, and Texas must lead the way forward.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Justice Department warned North Carolina that its controversial law is discriminatory. The legislation requires people to use public restrooms that correspond to the gender on their birth certificates.
Days later, North Carolina filed suit against the Justice Department for what Gov. Pat McCrory called a baseless and blatant overreach of government based on a radical reinterpretation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In turn, the Justice Department filed suit against North Carolina on the same day.
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, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said at a news conference announcing the countersuit. None of us can stand by when a state enters the business of legislating identity and insists that a person pretend to be something or someone that they are not.
A similar legal battle could soon be waged in Texas.
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As the Guardian reports, Abbott, a former Texas Supreme Court justice, likes to tout his record of frequently suing the Obama administration. As state attorney general, he did so around 30 times.
But the White House isnt likely to back down anytime soon.
Last Thursday, the administration sent a letter ordering all public schools to allow transgender students access to restrooms that match their identities.
A school may provide separate facilities on the basis of sex, but must allow transgender students access to such facilities consistent with their gender identity, the letter reads. 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.
In his statement on the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, Obama reaffirmed the administrations commitment to advancing LGBT rights.
There is much work to be done to combat homophobia and transphobia, both at home and abroad, Obama said. In too many places, LGBT individuals grow up forced to conceal or deny who they truly are for fear of persecution, discrimination, and violence. All nations and all communities can, and must, do better.
By Jon Herskovitz
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas man who managed an orphanage in Malawi pleaded guilty in a U.S. court on Wednesday to sexually abusing children in his care and giving some of them money to keep them quiet about the abuse, U.S. prosecutors said.
Gerald Campbell, 66, of Odessa could face up to life in prison, according to papers filed in federal court in Texas. No date has been set for his sentencing.
Campbell admitted to sexually abusing the children when he was managing the Victory Christian Children's Home orphanage in the southern African country between 1997 and 2009, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas said in a statement.
An attorney for Campbell was not immediately available for comment.
A U.S. Department of Homeland Security agent said in an affidavit presented in court that: "Campbell also admitted he was wrong and knew he was 'in charge' at this orphanage; he also explained he could 'buy' his way out of it."
The affidavit said Campbell admitted that he gave money and things of value to two of the children to keep them from disclosing the abuse.
Among the victims were at least five boys thought to have been sexually abused by Campbell, the affidavit said.
He told U.S. investigators he lured children, including one infected with HIV, into his home to sexually abuse them. The home had more amenities than the orphanage, and he used that to entice a few of the children to live with him for several months, it said.
He was indicted by a grand jury in October 2015 after an investigation by U.S. authorities.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Move over, traditional beauty contests. (Photo: MPTV Images)
Beauty pageants have come a long way, baby.
Just for starters, Israel is hosting its first transgender beauty competition, Miss Trans Israel 2016, on May 27 in Tel Aviv, which has become one of the worlds most gay-friendly travel destinations. Organizer Israela Stephanie Lev was inspired to create the contest after hearing about the 2012 Miss Universe Canada controversy in which contender Jenna Talackova was initially removed from the competition when she was found to be transgender. That led to an official rules change, which allowed Miss Universe contestants not biologically born female the chance to participate.
When I read about the change in rules, my eyes lit up, Lev told Haaretz. This breakthrough shook me up. I thought to myself OK, we have an option here for transgender women to compete for the Miss Universe title, so why cant it happen here?
Lev told Haaretz that she hopes the Miss Trans Israel contest becomes a permanent feature. We would like it to be a normal event, appealing to everyone, she said.
Israels new transgender beauty competition joins several others like it, including Miss International Queen, which has been held in Thailand since 2004, and Miss Trans Star International in Barcelona, Spain, and Miss Trans Europe in Naples, Italy.
Contestants in the Miss Trans Israel 2016 transgender beauty pageant. (Photo: AP)
But transgender beauty pageants arent the only competitions making strides. In 2015, Miss Iraq was crowned for the first time since 1972, boosting morale in the country. Im very happy to see Iraq going forward, the newly crowned beauty queen Shaymaa Abdelrahman, a 20-year-old from Iraqs multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk, said after the pageant. This event was huge and put a smile on the faces of the Iraqis.
The crowned winner of the 2015 Miss Iraq beauty competition, Shaymaa Abdelrahman. (Photo: AP)
Added veteran human rights activist Hana Edwar: I think it is wonderful; it makes you feel things can come back to normal.
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There are also now fashion shows for more conservative cultures that care about style but want to reveal less, rather than more, skin. Just last week, Turkey hosted International Modest Fashion Week a two-day event that focuses on conservative wear, a growing market for Muslim women.
[We want] to create mainstream fashion out of modest fashion and to energize Islamic communities to produce [clothing] for Muslim women, Modanisa chief executive officer Kerim Ture said. They want to have their rules but they also want to look chic.
A model walks the runway in during International Modest Fashion Week in Turkey. (Photo: AP)
Not everyone is a fan of the covered-up looks on the catwalk, of course. In a society that said public space is neutral, religiously neutral, you now have conservative fashion week, said Mary Lou ONeil, director of the Gender and Womens Studies Research Center at Kadir Has University in Istanbul. (Its) a visually stunning development for a lot of people, and it certainly bothers a lot of people.
Here in the U.S., the Miss Amazing Pageant, launched in 2007 by founder and CEO Jordan Somer, is focused on building self-esteem, social skills, and confidence for disabled girls and women. The contest, which takes place in 30 states, has an evening wear competition and a talent showcase, but unlike other pageants, the entry free is only five cans of food, which are then donated to charity. I would like to redefine the word beauty, Miss Amazing Chief Operating Officer Ellie Lorenzen says on a video on the pageants website. So much with celebrities and Hollywood beauty is just a materialist thing, but beauty really comes from within. Its not just outward appearance. Its confidence. Its your heart. Its your soul that really makes you beautiful.
Lets keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Mitt Romney criticizes Donald Trump during a speech at the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah on March 3. (Photo: Jim Urquhart/Reuters)
Mitt Romney has ruled out an independent bid for president and is not actively recruiting any more potential candidates to do so at the moment, though he remains hopeful someone will emerge, allies told Yahoo News Tuesday.
Romney feels like America hangs in the balance. Hes very distraught about [Trump], said one Romney adviser. He thinks Trump is this vulgar, dangerous, principle-less, value-less opportunist putting it mildly.
The 2012 Republican nominee for president has been the most outspoken GOP figure to consistently, steadfastly oppose Trump. Romney has been asked to consider running for president himself but did not seriously consider it, those who know him said. He remains alarmed at the prospect of a Trump candidacy, though, even as hope appears to be fading that an alternative will be found.
Its not just Trump, said the Romney adviser. Its the lack of [concerned] reaction to Trump. As an example, the adviser cited Trumps comments about Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos last week, the latest in a series of remarks by Trump intimating that he would use the power of the federal government to hurt the business interests of Bezos, because of articles written by a newspaper Bezos owns, the Washington Post.
The general lack of concern over Trumps pattern of threatening rhetoric toward political opponents and critics is one of the main things that freaks [Romney] out a little bit.
Where is the outrage? said the Romney adviser. This isnt Venezuela. A politician cant say I dont like the press coverage of this paper so Im going to threaten the business of the person who owns it. That is [former Venezuelan President Hugo] Chavez.
This past weekend, the Post reported that Romney had spoken to Ohio Gov. John Kasich and to freshman Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., and encouraged them to mount an independent bid for the presidency.
Romney sent [Kasich] an email first urging him to run as an independent and saying he would do anything he needed to help, a Kasich adviser told Yahoo News Tuesday.
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They spoke on the phone after that and [Kasich] demurred, the adviser said, adding, Under no circumstances would [Kasich] be Donald Trumps running mate.
There are signs of concern with Romneys inner circle that his role in the stop Trump effort is being exaggerated or overplayed. Several key Romney confidantes did not respond to requests for comment for this article, funneling requests to one source close to Romney who said in an email that Romney is not now engaged in an effort to recruit a third-party candidate.
And while Romney remains motivated to help the stop Trump cause, a person involved in the stop-Trump discussions said that Romney is not calling or emailing any of the people who are still considering a run. A few potential candidates remain, the source said, although none at the moment are live prospects.
He thinks someone should run. Thats his role. Thats the beginning and end of it, the Romney adviser said. Is he organizing it? No. But he has talked to people who have thought about it.
Additionally, some figures close to Romney most notably Stuart Stevens, a close political adviser are also publicly casting about for an alternative to both Trump and likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
And just two months ago, Romney gave a high-profile formal speech at the University of Utah that he devoted to publicly condemning Trump as a phony and a fraud who was playing the American public for suckers.
In that speech, Romney talked about a Trump presidency in apocalyptic language. He quoted founding father John Adams as saying, There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide, and said that Trump was promoting the very brand of anger that has led other nations into the abyss.
While there were many factors that led up to Romneys decision to give that speech, it was Trumps interview with CNNs Jake Tapper on Feb. 28 in which he pretended not to know who white supremacist David Duke was and declined to reject political support from Duke and the Ku Klux Klan that prompted Romney to go forward with his speech, said those familiar with Romneys thinking.
Lanhee Chen, who was Romneys policy adviser on the 2012 campaign and remains in contact with the former Massachusetts governor, said that he did not perceive Romneys anti-Trump sentiment to be driven by revenge or anger over the way Trump behaved in 2012 toward Romney. On the day that Trump endorsed Romney for president four years ago, Romneys senior advisers felt Trump showed up their candidate by having his plane emblazoned with the Trump name in large white letters parked on the tarmac directly behind where Romney disembarked from his chartered jet, so that it was in every news photograph.
I dont think its personal. I really dont. Ive never really known him to hold personal grudges against anybody. I think its really an observation about how Trump comports himself. I think he finds that troubling, Chen said.
Of course, Romney could feel some sense of responsibility for having encouraged Trumps gradual entry into the realm of political legitimacy. Even as Trump declared in 2012 that the question of President Obamas birthplace was the most important thing in the presidential election, Romney flew to Las Vegas to accept his endorsement and declared himself honored and pleased with Trumps support.
I spent my life in the private sector. Not quite as successful as this guy. But successful nonetheless, Romney said of Trump at the time. In return, Trump hosted a fundraiser later that year for Romneys candidacy that a Trump spokesman claimed had raised $600,000.
This last March, however, Romney sniffed with disdain that Trump inherited his business, he didnt create it.
A business genius he is not, Romney said of Trump.
Ultimately, it appears a Romney candidacy never went anywhere seriously this year for the same reasons others do not want to run: Any independent candidate would almost certainly be blamed for electing Clinton. Those close to Romney did not want to be responsible for laying that burden on his shoulders.
Yet Romney and others continue to struggle forward looking for some alternative candidate or scenario in which multiple candidates might run in different states.
The Kasich adviser, summing up the conventional wisdom on the matter, compared the anti-Trump effort to Captain Ahabs doomed quest to kill the white whale, Moby Dick.
Its almost like [Romney] never read Melville, the Kasich adviser said.
A Los Angeles printmaker says her financial savvy skills as a teenager of the Great Recession influenced her decision to pick a traditional plan over an income-driven plan for repaying her student loans.
"I'm doing my monthly payments without doing something like PAYE or REPAYE -- it's just a consistent $111 a month," says Madison Zenzel who graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University last year with around $11,000 in federal student loans.
Pay As You Earn, or PAYE, and Revised Pay As You Earn, called REPAYE, are two income-driven repayment plans for federal student loan borrowers that cap monthly payments to 10 percent of that borrower's discretionary income. These plans are also linked to loan forgiveness with a couple of caveats.
The standard 10-year plan divides the amount owed over 120 monthly payments.
Zenzel says she was offered zero dollars a month under REPAYE, but decided against enrolling in the plan, selecting the standard plan instead.
"One of my biggest concerns with REPAYE was I could reap the benefits now, but later I might be in a really terrible position by having to pay a lot at once," says the 21-year-old , who will pay off her loans in about nine years.
Here's what borrowers need to know about REPAYE.
[Read more about expanded Pay As You Earn eligibility.]
PAYE and REPAYE have some differences. The Department of Education introduced REPAYE in December 2015 to expand pay as you earn to all federal student loan borrowers.
REPAYE closes the gap in income-driven plans, the department says.
Unlike REPAYE, PAYE is limited to borrowers who took out loans after October 2007, and PAYE is tied to partial financial hardship.
Borrowers qualify for PAYE if they have a partial financial hardship -- defined as when the annual amount they would owe under a standard 10-year repayment plan is more than 10 percent of the difference between their income and 150 percent of the poverty line.
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Under both PAYE and REPAYE, the government pays the interest for up to three years.
[Learn how to avoid turning into a scarystudent loan statistic.]
The standard 10-year plan pays the loan faster with less interest. Borrowers with a high income-to-debt ratio are usually served better with the standard plan, says Jan Miller, president of Miller Student Loan Consulting, who advises borrowers on debt strategies.
"There are circumstances where it's best to hunker down and pay the loan off," Miller says.
Brendan McGrail, a publicist at the Hermitage Club, chose a standard 10-year plan over an income-based plan, and says REPAYE is a "good marketing product."
"If I had extended my loans out with the 25 years, I would have had much lower payments, but for 15 extra years." McGrail says, who owes $40,000 in student loans from earning two graduate degrees.
The 40-year-old publicist says it was better for him to pick the 10-year plan since the monthly payments stay at a fixed amount while income rises over time.
Student loan experts say REPAYE doesn't make sense for borrowers if the monthly payment is only slightly lower than the standard monthly payment. Under those circumstances, it's increasing the life of the loan and adding interest.
Plan First monthly payment Last monthly payment Total amount paid Projected loan forgiveness Repayment period Standard $371.23 $371.23 $44,547.49 $0.00 120 REPAYE $227.00 $478.00 $48,658.00 $0.00 147
The table above on a "Standard 10-Year Plan Versus REPAYE," is based on the estimated repayment of a college graduate, earning $45,000 a year with $35,000 in student loans at 5 percent interest.
There are financial pitfalls with the pay as you earn plans. Both REPAYE and PAYE offer loan forgiveness, but the forgiven amount is considered taxable income after 20 or 25 years of payments. If a borrower has $100,000 in debt after 25 years, for example, then that amount is taxed as income.
"There's a psychological factor in seeing your balance grow," Miller says. "It could also result a in tax bomb."
Another caveat: Stretching out payments over a greater number of years increases the cost of the loan -- particularly if the borrower doesn't qualify for loan forgiveness, say Stephen Dash, CEO and founder of Credible, a student loan resource website.
[Discover more methods ofstudent loan forgiveness.]
REPAYE or PAYE may benefit borrowers with a high debt-to-income ratio. Student loan experts say that the loan forgiveness under these plans in some cases may offset accrued interest for borrowers with a high debt load.
"This could reduce your future obligations if your income does not rise to pay off the loans in full," says Kevin Wallace, a wealth advisor at Janney Montgomery Scott, a Philadelphia-based financial services firm.
Borrowers with a high debt-to-income ratio may benefit from the forgiveness option, provided they save for the taxable portion when the debt is forgiven, Miller says.
"It's not the right decision for everyone, it depends on income-debt ratio and cost of living," he says, and that borrowers should save for a big tax bill when the debt is forgiven.
Trying to fund your education? Get tips and more in the U.S. News Paying for College center.
Farran Powell is an education reporter at U.S. News, covering paying for college and graduate school. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at fpowell@usnews.com.
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Bank guards shot dead three people as they tried to disperse a crowd of hundreds of people queuing for cash outside a bank in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Wednesday, a security official said. Libyan banks have been suffering from severe liquidity problems, which bankers say is partly caused by people withdrawing cash and keeping it at home due to concerns over security. For months, long queues have formed daily outside banks across the country, and in some cases people have begun queuing overnight. Banks have placed limits on withdrawals, with residents in the capital currently restricted to taking out a maximum of 200 Libyan dinars at a time. That is the equivalent of about $145 at the official exchange rate, but just $50 at black market rates. Wednesday's shooting happened outside the North Africa Bank in Tripoli's Qaser Bin Ghasir neighborhood, said Salah Eddin Al-Marghani, a security official for southern Tripoli. "One of six members of security team securing the bank shot in the air when there was a stampede among the crowd, but mistakenly hit the building and then the people," he said. The guards had been placed under investigation, Marghani said. Libya's economy has been severely damaged due to political strife and conflict following the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The country is largely dependent on oil revenues, but these have slumped as prices have fallen and labor disputes, factional rivalries and militant attacks have slashed production. (Reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
By James Pomfret and Clare Baldwin HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's number three official Zhang Dejiang said in Hong Kong on Wednesday that Beijing was aware of problems in the city but would respect Hong Kong's autonomy as protesters hit the streets to oppose Chinese attempts to squeeze local freedoms. Zhang's visit, which comes at a time of mounting political tensions in Hong Kong, is the first by a senior state leader since tens of thousands of people mounted a massive but ultimately unsuccessful push to pressure Beijing to grant full democracy during the 'Occupy Central' street protests in late 2014. Thousands of police were deployed across Hong Kong, preventing protesters from coming near Zhang as he toured a science park and a harbourfront exhibition center where he addressed an economic summit. "The argument that the Central Government is trying to turn Hong Kong into mainland (China), or to turn 'one country, two systems' into 'one country, one system' is totally baseless," Zhang said during an evening banquet, in unusually direct comments from a state leader on recent challenges and tensions in Hong Kong. Zhang also addressed the trend of more radical activists forming political groupings and staging disruptive protests to call for greater Hong Kong nationalism and even independence from China; an issue that might become more mainstream when city-wide legislative council elections are held in September. The idea of Hong Kong independence is anathema to Beijing, which fears any separatist or sweeping democratic demands spilling into China to undermine its rule. Zhang conceded that a small minority of people in Hong Kong had been calling for independence, but said China would "unswervingly" maintain the current "one country two systems" model of governance for Hong Kong, that guarantees a high degree of autonomy in Hong Kong since it switched from British to Chinese rule in 1997. While the recent suspected kidnapping of a bookseller in Hong Kong by Chinese security agents had undermined public and diplomatic confidence in the city's autonomy, Zhang stressed the rule of law was a "core value" and that if this bottom line was compromised, "how do we continue the prosperity and stability?" A feature of Zhang's trip has also been repeated pledges of a more engaged Beijing actively listening to public concerns about Hong Kong's core relationship with China. "For the problems that are being exposed now, some are new and some have been around for years and there won't be an immediate solution. But we can't question, feel hesitant, or even deny 'one country, two systems' because of that," Zhang said. Despite a massive police presence, small, scattered groups of protesters took to the streets at various locations to demand Beijing respect the city's freedoms. A massive yellow banner was unfurled from a hilltop demanding full democracy, while others held up black banners calling for China to end its "dictatorial rule" and to "stop interfering with Hong Kong affairs". A few others burned a portrait of Zhang and called on him to "get the hell out of Hong Kong" Some pro-Beijing groups, however, denounced the democracy activists for jeopardizing Hong Kong's economic interests by opposing Beijing, and held up blue banners with the words: "Oppose splitting up Hong Kong." Zhang, the head of China's parliament, the National People's Congress and Beijing's point person on Hong Kong affairs, leaves Hong Kong on Thursday. (Additional reporting by Stella Tsang, Donny Kwok, Tara Joseph, Yimou Lee; Editing by Dominic Evans)
TNT is ready to get its Bard on.
The Turner-owned cable network has picked up William Shakespeare drama Will to series and ordered a pilot for modern Civil War drama Civil, the cabler announced Wednesday ahead of its upfront presentation to Madison Avenue ad buyers.
The 10-episode project, whose order comes a year after TNT commissioned the pilot, tells the wild story of a young Shakespeare. Newcomer Laurie Davidson stars as the poet in the period drama that opens with a young Will arriving onto the punk-rock theater scene in 16th century London. TNT is billing the series as a contemporary version of Shakespeare's life that is played to a modern soundtrack. It will premiere in 2017.
Read More: TNT Orders 'Foreign Bodies' Travel Dramedy Series
Olivia DeJonge (The Visit, Hiding), Colm Meaney (Hell on Wheels), Mattias Inwood (The Shanara Chronicles), Jamie Campbell Bower (Twilight) and Ewen Bremner (Snowpiercer) co-star in the drama from showrunner Craig Pearce (Romeo + Juliet) and Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth), with the latter directing the pilot. (Watch the trailer, below.)
"Will has an energy and style that is unlike anything else on television today," said Sarah Aubrey, executive vp original programming for TNT. "Shakespeare was a 16th century rock star, and Will perfectly captures in contemporary terms what that must have felt like for the young writer and his fans. We are delighted to be working with such an extraordinary team of executive producers and cast in putting a fresh, bold spin on the story of Shakespeare."
This marks the second Shakespeare-themed project ordered to series in the past week. ABC also picked up Shondaland's Still Star-Crossed, a period drama that picks up after the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. That will debut midseason.
Read More: 'Tales From the Crypt' Anthology a Go at TNT With "Reinvented" Crypt Keeper
For TNT, Will comes as the cable network continues to differentiate itself under new topper Kevin Reilly. It joins a roster of dramas that includes fellow newbies Animal Kingdom, Good Behavior, The Alienist and the Tales From the Crypt horror block as well as staples The Last Ship, The Librarians, Major Crimes, Murder in the First and the final season of Rizzoli & Isles. Will, originally ordered straight to series at Pivot in 2013, becomes TNT's latest redeveloped project following Animal Kingdom (originally developed for Showtime).
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Civil, meanwhile, takes place in the wake of a hotly contested presidential election as America finds itself plunging uncontrollably into a modern-day Civil War. The series weaves together the personal stories of citizens from all walks of life, whose actions - amplified in an age of instant media - add fuel to the conflict and affect the fate of the entire country.
Read More: Kevin Reilly on Turner Turnaround, 'Narcos' Envy and Conan's Future (Q&A)
The drama is written by Oscar nominee Scott Smith (A Simple Plan) and directed by Emmy nominee Allen Coulter (Damages, Nurse Jackie). TNT Originals will produce Civil in association with MGM Television. Whalerock Industries' Lloyd Braun will executive produce and Andrew Mittman is on board as a co-executive producer. Thomas Kelly will serve as showrunner, with Smith also set as an exec producer. Civil becomes TNT's second pilot order in the works this season. It joins Rashida Jones and Will McCormack dramedy Claws, with the cabler also announcing that Scream Queens and Getting On favorite Niecy Nash would star in the pilot set at a nail salon.
For MGM TV, Civil becomes the company's latest scripted entry. It joins FX's Fargo, History's Vikings, MTV's Teen Wolf and Hulu's Handmaid's Tale.
Executive producer and film financier Tommy Vlahopoulos has signed across the board with CAA, along with his company Tommy V Productions. Producer Matthew Lamothe will spearhead Tommy V Productions Los Angeles operations, with Vlahopoulos based out of the companys New York office.
CAA brings exceptional filmmaking opportunities and extensive Hollywood relationships to the Tommy V Productions slate. said CEO Tommy Vlahopoulos. We are looking forward to collaborating on all our future projects and packaging films movie-goers will enjoy.
On Tommy V Productions current slate is the successful horror-thriller Intruders, distributed through Momentum Pictures, the urban legend horror-thriller The Rake, directed by Tony Wash, and Crawl To Me, the adaptation of the graphic novel by Alan Roberts published by IDW.
Tommy V Productions is also repped by attorney Matthew Salloway of Salloway Law Group in New York.
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Michael Green, who was a top adviser on Asia to former President George W. Bush, said Wednesday that Donald Trumps plan to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is a very bad idea.
Greens comments, published in a Foreign Policy column Wednesday, come after Trump said in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday that he is willing to talk to the North Korean leader to try to stop Pyongyangs nuclear program.
I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him, Trump said during the interview, though he declined to share more specific details about his plans to deal with the country.
There is certainly room for more proactive strategic thinking as North Korea rushes towards further nuclear weapons capability, but a presidential summit belongs in the (very) bad idea category, Green wrote, arguing that Kim wont abandon nuclear weapons and would maximize the opportunity for regime propaganda. This is not like holding the Miss Universe contest in Moscow, said Green, who was a special assistant to Bush and served as the senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council.
Green argued that a meeting between a President Trump and Kim would cause U.S. allies to lose confidence and would cause suffering North Koreans to lose hope, while legitimizing the countrys nuclear status.
Pyongyang has declared that it would be prepared to enter into arms control negotiations with the United States as a fellow nuclear weapons state, Green wrote. The United States would have to acknowledge Pyongyangs nuclear weapons status, cease sanctions, end the nuclear umbrella over Japan and South Korea, end criticism of the Norths human rights abuses, and have the president personally guarantee these commitments in an agreement with the North Korean leader.
hillary clinton west virginia
Ahead of a likely general-election matchup between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, a top pro-Clinton super PAC has already spent $136 million in ad reservations to gird for the fight ahead.
Priorities USA was founded to help re-elect President Barack Obama in the 2012 election.
However, it spent "roughly $70-80 million" during that campaign, according to Justin Barasky, the group's communications director.
This year, it "will be at least $136 million," Barasky told Business Insider in a recent interview. "Obviously, we anticipate spending more, but I dont have exactly how much."
Business Insider asked Barasky whether this is reflective of a recognition from Priorities USA that Clinton's likely campaign against Trump would be tougher than Obama's 2012 fight against Mitt Romney.
"The Republicans tend to have more money every cycle, so we feel we should raise more every cycle. The other day, Sheldon Adelson said he was going to spend $100 million himself on Donald Trump," Barasky said.
However, Trump, who recently said he wouldn't self-fund his general-election campaign like he did the primary, could have fundraising issues of his own. While the billionaire Adelson's commitment to the presumptive Republican nominee is very significant, it does not necessarily mean that other Republican donors will follow.
I look at Sheldons support as meaningful but not necessarily decisive, GOP consultant Rick Wilson, a prominent Trump critic, told Newsweek. A lot of these guys have different sets of interests and outlooks, and so they are not saying, 'A trade war with China is great news for me.
'Preaching to the choir'
Barasky also said the increased spending this year was the result of the super PAC deliberately "preaching to the choir" of core Democratic voters, as well as undecided and independent voters.
"Weve got to make sure that not only are we convincing people, changing minds, but that we speak to our core voters, so they know whats at stake and they come out to vote," Barasky said.
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Barasky explained this tactic is necessary to increase voting numbers. By targeting African-Americans, Hispanics, millennials, and women which Priorities USA sees as core Democrat voters it hopes to increase turnout. Trump, whose strength comes from white, working-class voters, would be at a huge disadvantage with higher turnout numbers.
"If those four constituency groups turn out in high numbers, were going to win," Barasky said.
Targeted online ads
To reach those types of voters, the super PAC is spending a significant portion of its budget on "robust digital advertising," unlike in 2012, Barasky said.
Donald Trump
Of the $136 million it has committed to spend so far, the pro-Clinton group told Business Insider it has allocated $35 million on digital ads. It is planning to spend another $96 million on traditional TV ads and $5.5 million on radio.
The majority of the digital budget is going on "non-skippable pre-roll video."
"Were confident that we will expose Trump as the con man that he is," Barasky said of the advertising push.
"I would say were ready. We anticipate a close and competitive election; that's why we put down $136 million in reservations," Barasky added.
"We are confident that we will make the case against Donald Trump, but were taking nothing for granted. And thats why we begun spending so high."
NOW WATCH: Trump is fuming over this attack ad from a pro-Hillary super PAC
More From Business Insider
F the bison incident, now this: Video evidence has surfaced that shows four young men walking on the
The men walked off of the boardwalk from which tourists are supposed to view the "ecologically sensitive and incredibly dangerous" hot spring, which is the largest in the nation, Oregon Live reported.
Did someone put out a "hey, let's trash our National Parks" APB this week?http://www.ktvq.com/story/31986483/men-walk-on-grand-prismatic-spring-in-yellowstone-national-park ...
Punishment for treading on the spring has historically been variable: Tourists have paid thousands for assaulting it with drones, according to the Huffington Post. Three of the four Canadians identified Charles Ryker Gamble, Alexey Andriyovych Lyakh and Justis Cooper Price-Brown belong to High on Life SundayFundayz, the merry band of adventurers-slash-videographers-slash-clothing-retailers who had a little too much fun at Yellowstone.
"We would like to apologize to our community," the group wrote on Facebook Tuesday. "We got overzealous in our enthusiasm for this wonderful place. When standing at the face of such natural wonder, we were drawn to it. In an attempt to get the perfect shot, we acted in a way that doesn't reflect our respect for the environment we were trying to capture."
While no specific punishment has been announced for these "tourist bros" as the Huffington Post reported, there's a warrant out for their arrest and they will face criminal charges. Walking on the rainbow-colored spring can cause to those who amble off the boardwalk (which is there to keep visitors safe). They'll also face a potential fine for filming without a permit.
The boardwalk, from which tourists are permitted to view the very hot Grand Prismatic Spring.
The transgression comes just days after Yellowstone tourists packed a bison calf into the back of their SUV because the animal looked "too cold." They delivered it to park rangers, who attempted to reintroduce the calf into its herd, which rejected the baby beast. Ultimately, it was euthanized.
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Yellowstone tourists: This is why you can't have nice things.
(Adds details on production halt and damage)
By Jim Forsyth
SAN ANTONIO, May 18 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp temporarily halted production at its sprawling San Antonio pickup truck plant on Wednesday due to storm damage at the facility, which was hit by lashing rain and strong winds, a company spokesman said.
The plant sustained some roof damage that allowed water to enter the plant, Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Texas spokesman Mario Lozoya said. Production would be halted at least into Thursday, he added.
The problems began when a major storm blew through the region earlier in the day, knocking out electrical power at the plant, according to Lozoya.
"Now that we have some power back in some areas, we are starting to see the real damage, and a lot of it is water-related," Lozoya said.
He says the first shift was told not to report on Wednesday, as managers went through the 2.2 million-square-foot (236,800- square-metre) facility inspecting the damage.
"Our concern is that there may be water in the electrical systems," Lozoya said. "We want to make sure those things are safe."
The National Weather Service said the area south of San Antonio, where the plant is located, reported winds of about 80 miles per hour (130 km per hour) during the storm, which dumped drenching rain and hail across the San Antonio area.
The Toyota plant, which opened about a decade ago, employs 2,600 people and builds the company's full-sized Tundra pickups and mid-sized Tacoma pickups.
The trucks sold in Texas can come with a sticker reading "Born in Texas, Built by Texans." (Reporting by Jim Forsyth; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by W Simon and Jonathan Oatis)
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued an apology on Wednesday, May 18, for the Komagata Maru incident in 1914 during a session of the House of Commons.
The incident involved when 353 passengers of a steamship mainly Sikh, Muslim and Hindu were denied entry into Canada. The ship was turned around and sent back to India where the passengers faced an uncertain future. Canadian exclusion laws at the time denied immigration to those of Asian descent.
Canada does not bear alone the responsibility for every tragic mistake that occurred with the Komagata Maru and its passengers, but Canadas government was without question responsible for the laws that prevented these passengers from immigrating peacefully and securely, for that, and for every regrettable consequence that followed, we, are, sorry, Trudeau said.
Trudeau also thanked Minister of Defense Harjit Singh Sajjan, who is a Sikh, for his leadership in bringing attention to the Komagata Maru incident. Sajjan also had commanded the same regiment that was responsible for forcing the steamship to turn around.
Then Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized for the incident in 2008 during an appearance in British Columbia, but members of the Sikh community had been unsatisfied because the apology had not been issued in Parliament. Credit: YouTube/Prime Minister of Canada
Qatar Airways will expand service in the United States wherever it is needed, and is not concerned about a possible Donald Trump presidency, its CEO said Tuesday.
The presumptive GOP nominee has called to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the U.S. However, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker believes Trump only said that for political gain.
"I don't think Trump means what he says. He does not realize that he has a lot of investment in Muslim countries and at the same time there is a very huge Muslim population in the United States," he said in an interview with CNBC's " Closing Bell ."
"Like all politicians, he says everything but once he gets elected, he will change his mind."
The Middle Eastbased airline is growing rapidly in the United States, with its latest route between Atlanta and Doha set to take off June 1. The move has ruffled the feathers of some U.S. carriers like Delta, which is based in Atlanta.
However, Al Baker said, "We are here to do business. We are not here to challenge anybody."
He also disputed allegations made by U.S. airlines that Qatar Airways received subsidies to drive down ticket prices.
"We have provided all information that [the U.S. government] needs to prove that this is ill-founded allegations and that we are not subsidized or depending on any subsidy from anybody," said Al Baker.
And he's not letting his detractors stop the airline's growth, pointing out that the business is allowed to operate in the United States under the Open Skies agreement.
"We will go wherever we have opportunity. Wherever we feel that there is business for us. Wherever we feel that the people require high-class services that Qatar Airways provides. We will go there," he said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
More From CNBC
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump appeared to change tack on Tuesday about his future ties with British Prime Minister David Cameron, saying he expects them to have "a good relationship" if he becomes the U.S. president, after predicting the opposite in an interview aired just the day before in response to criticism from the UK leader. "Hes got plenty of problems, and I think he was inappropriate. So that's fine. ... Im sure Ill have a good relationship with him," Trump told Reuters in an interview. On Monday, in an interview broadcast on Britain's ITV television station, Trump said, "It looks like we're not going to have a very good relationship, who knows?" when asked how ties would fare if he won the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 8. Cameron criticized Trump in the British parliament over his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, calling him "divisive, stupid and wrong." The prime minister suggested that the New York billionaire, who is now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, would unite Britain against him if he visited. Asked which foreign leader he would like to meet first, Trump told Reuters: "I have no preference in terms of timing. I'll meet them, we'll have a better relationship with foreign countries than we have right now. We don't have a good relationship. Every one of them rips us off but we still don't have a good relationship." (Reporting by Steve Holland; Writing by Eric Walsh; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Because America hadn't already reserved box seats to the end of human civilization, '80s movie villain-turned-Republican hopeful Donald Trump just picked North Dakota Republican Rep. as his new energy adviser.
You can practically hear a flock of doves falling out of the sky.
Given Trump's own history of calling climate change an invention of "the Chinese," this appointment shouldn't be a huge surprise. But what should scare the shit out of anyone who cares about the planet is the sheer vehemence of Cramer's anti-environmentalism. As America gets closer than ever to a real-life Simpsons parody, here are the five things you should know about the man who'd roll out the red carpet for global warming to change life as we know it.
1. He's dangerously skeptical of climate change
Source: J. Scott Applewhite/AP
In 2015, Cramer begged off a real answer when the subject of climate change came up. "I don't even participate in that 'climate-change-is-real, climate-change-isn't-real' debate," said the 55-year-old congressman. "It doesn't matter to me whether it's real or it isn't real."
What does matter to him is vehemently opposing government efforts to fight climate change, like President Obama's Clean Power Plan, which would reduce carbon dioxide emissions 32% by 2030. Cramer called the plan a "one-size-fits-all sledgehammer on the fossil fuel industry."
Cramer wants to replace the Clean Power Plan with a small carbon tax, called a "hands-off government approach" an effort to loosen the constraints on the fossil fuel industry. Interesting, because fossil fuel companies are infamous for bucking against climate change regulations for profit.
2. He doesn't think America should have to help the rest of the planet
Source: Mark Wilson/Getty Images
In practically the same breath as his statement about climate change, real or otherwise, Cramer also said he rejects "the notion that somehow the power sector in the United States of America is going to bear the burden and the responsibility for fixing the entire world."
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As of 2013, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the U.S. was the highest consumer of petroleum in the world and the second-highest consumer of coal and electricity behind only China and far ahead of any other country. So when Cramer says the U.S. isn't responsible, he sounds like a roommate who fills the sink with dirty dishes, then pitches a hissy fit when asked to load someone else's fork in the dishwasher.
3. He thinks the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is bogus
Source: Mario Tama/Getty Images
In 2012, Cramer took a jab at the Environmental Protection Agency for, in his eyes, using bogus science to describe climate change.
"These mandates and these wind farms are all based on this fraudulent science from the EPA, meaning their claim that CO2 is a pollutant and is causing global warming," he said in a radio interview.
a strange thing to call out as "fraudulent." NASA agrees with the EPA's evidence that carbon dioxide accelerates climate change, and asserts in a scientific consensus that humans are almost definitely the cause.
F
I agree with @GinaEPA 's quote today- "The Clean Power Plan is not the most elegant of tools." It's more like turning a screw with a hammer!
4. He's pro-fossil fuels
Source: Charles Rex Arbogast/AP
Calling Cramer "pro oil and gas" doesn't really do Cramer justice. Oil and gas pay the guy's bills. That's like saying the guy who sold you your burger is "pro Five Guys." In the campaign season, Cramer has received $113,500 from the oil and gas industry Of those, his top contributor petroleum refinery company T , a company that released 1.6 million pounds of toxic chemicals in 2010.
5. He doesn't care about the National Park System
Source: Cadence Cook/AP
In 2015, he introduced a bill that would give the secretary of the interior the right to say whether or not natural gas pipelines could run through national parks including Yosemite, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon.
H to develop any sort of energy resource they want. It leaves legislation open so
If you wanted another reason to oppose a Trump presidency besides the racism, discrimination and, hell, all this here it is, burning a hole in the ozone layer.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said that if elected in November he would "most likely" choose a U.S. Supreme Court justice from the list of 11 people he released on Wednesday. "We are going to choose from, most likely from this list. But at a minimum we will keep people within this general realm," Trump said in an excerpt of an interview to be broadcast Wednesday night on Fox News. (Reporting by Tim Ahmann; Writing by Eric Beech; Editing by Eric Walsh)
(WASHINGTON) Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says hes open to speaking with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try to halt the communist nations nuclear program.
I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him, Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, told Reuters in an interview Tuesday.
At the same time I would put a lot of pressure on China because economically we have tremendous power over China, he added.
It was unclear whether Trump was referring to bilateral talks between the U.S. and North Korea or a face-to-face meeting. But either would mark a significant departure from the current situation. There has been little dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea since Pyongyang pulled out of international aid-for-disarmament negotiations with the U.S. and other nations in 2008.
The Obama administration says it has been willing to resume those talks, but only if the North commits to the aim of giving up nuclear weapons. Kim Jong Un has instead doubled down on his nuclear program, holding two nuclear test explosions since he took power four years ago. Hes also launched long-range rockets into space, intensifying fears that the North is moving closer to have a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile that could threaten the American mainland. In response, the U.S. has led the international effort to step up sanctions on the North.
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clintons campaign jumped on Trumps remarks.
Let me get this straight, said Clinton adviser Jake Sullivan. Donald Trump insults the leader of our closest ally, then turns around and says hed love to talk to Kim Jong Un? Sullivan was referring to Trumps recent feud with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Sullivan added: I suppose that makes sense for him, since he also praised Kim Jong Un for executing his uncle and seems to have a bizarre fascination with foreign strongmen like (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and Kim. But his approach to foreign policy makes no sense for the rest of us.
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No sitting U.S. president has met with the leader of North Korea, although former U.S. presidents have met with Kim Jong Uns predecessors on visits to the isolated nation. Jimmy Carter met in 1994 with Kim Il Sung, the current leaders grandfather a meeting that paved the way for a disarmament agreement negotiated by the Clinton administration that later collapsed. Bill Clinton met with Kim Jong Il, the current leaders father, in 2009 when he traveled to Pyongyang to secure the release of two detained American journalists.
As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama was criticized by both Republican and Democratic rivals for saying he would be willing to meet with leaders of nations like Iran, Cuba and North Korea without preconditions. Hillary Clinton said at the time that Obamas position was naive and irresponsible.
Obama cast his position as a break from President George W. Bushs foreign policy and the notion that the U.S. could punish a country by not talking to its leaders.
Now in his eighth year as president, Obama has never met with North Koreas leaders. He has met with Cuban President Raul Castro, including in Havana this year, though their first meeting came only after negotiations between their countries about normalizing relations.
Obama was willing to meet with Irans President Hassan Rouhani at the United Nations in 2013, but the Iranian leader turned down the meeting. The two did speak by phone days later, a call that came as the U.S. eyed nuclear talks with its longtime foe.
In the Reuters interview, Trump also called for a renegotiation of the Paris climate accord, a global effort aimed at reducing carbon emissions, and said that, if elected president, he would dismantle most of the Dodd-Frank financial regulations that were put in place after the financial crisis.
He also said hes planning to release a detailed policy platform on the economy in two weeks.
___
Colvin reported from New Jersey. Associated Press writer Julie Pace contributed to this report.
By Alister Doyle and Valerie Volcovici OSLO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump's vow to renegotiate the global accord on climate change if elected U.S. president caused dismay abroad on Wednesday, with supporters of the deal saying it was in his interests to embrace a plan that seeks to end dependence on fossil fuels. U.S. insistence on renegotiation could unravel a 195-nation compromise to curb greenhouse gas emissions reached in Paris in December after fraught talks between nations as different as China, the United States, small island states and OPEC members. "The Paris Agreement is as much in the United States interests as any other country," said Tony de Brum, ambassador for climate change of the Marshall Islands who, as his country's foreign minister, helped broker the U.N. deal. "Seeking to unravel it would not only threaten the U.S. economy, damage its environment, and weaken its security, but it would do a great disservice to all of humanity," he said. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, told Reuters on Tuesday he was "not a big fan" of the climate accord. He said China and other countries would not stick to the "one-sided" deal, which seeks to transform the world economy from fossil fuels in coming decades to slow global warming. "I will be looking at that very, very seriously, and at a minimum I will be renegotiating those agreements, at a minimum. And at a maximum I may do something else," he said. Trump has said in the past he believes global warming is a concept that was invented by China to hurt the competitiveness of U.S. business. Government officials meeting in Bonn, Germany, from May 16-26 to find ways to implement the deal, raised concerns about Trump's comments but doubted he would take serious action. That's because the deal imposes no real constraints on the United States - it lets all nations define their own actions for fighting climate change. President Barack Obama has promised to cut emissions by 2025, but his successors will face no penalties if they do not comply, meaning little incentive to challenge the U.N. deal. Many officials also say it is in U.S. interests to limit greenhouse gas emissions, partly because cuts in the use of fossil fuels also means less air pollution, a big cause of disease. Even many nations traditionally sceptical that man-made greenhouse emissions stoke climate change, like OPEC countries, have gone along with the Paris Agreement. RENEGOTIATING UNTHINKABLE George David Banks, a senior climate change adviser to President George W. Bush and a Trump supporter, said Trump could try to force countries like China to pledge deeper emissions cuts by renegotiating the agreement. That's wishful thinking, according to John Coequyt, director of green group the Sierra Clubs international climate campaigns. "You can't get more than 190 countries to renegotiate a deal they are implementing, he said. The Paris Agreement will formally enter into force when 55 nations representing at least 55 percent of world greenhouse gas emissions have ratified it. China and the United States, representing 38 percent, say they will join this year. If the deal enters into force before the next U.S. president takes office next year, it will in theory be harder to pull out. Article 28 says any nation wanting to leave has to wait four years from the date of entry into force - the length of a U.S. presidential term. Trump's easiest option is to neglect the deal if elected, legal experts say. Trump could ignore the targets set by Obama and promise instead to help developing nations cope with global warming. The Paris Agreement's flexible approach, allowing all to set their own goals, is radically different from the U.N.'s 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which set mandatory targets for developed nations to cut emissions until 2012. The United States did not take part in Kyoto - President George W. Bush denounced it as an economic straitjacket that, he said, unfairly omitted targets for developing nations led by China and India. Former French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, who helped broker the Paris deal, said this month that the U.S. election was critical to its future. "If a climate change denier was to be elected, it would threaten dramatically global action against climate disruption," he said. But U.S. chief climate envoy Jonathan Pershing said last week that other nations were likely to push ahead with the Paris Agreement whoever wins the White House. (Reporting By Alister Doyle; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Ross Colvin)
Only fair.
As part of a massive education improvement plan (pdf) announced Monday (May 16), the British government is proposing an unusual, but not unworkable, idea: make college more like any other consumer product.
The UK wants to let some universities charge more for tuition than others based on the quality of its teaching. So if a schools quality of teaching is deemed high enough, it would be allowed to charge a fee above the current 9,000 ($12,900) cap. Such a policy would ideally encourage competition among schoolsand lead to better consumer value for students.
It also means newer colleges that offer high-quality experiences but arent as firmly planted in the countrys higher-education landscape as, say, Oxford or Cambridge, could point to outside, supposedly objective criteria as a reason to charge students as much as themor even more.
We want a globally competitive market that supports diversity, where anyone who demonstrates they have the potential to offer excellent teaching and clears our high quality bar can compete on a level playing field, the proposal, presented by UK universities minister Jo Johnson, specifically notes.
This is the first time Britain has ever considered linking teaching standards to tuition rates, though the idea has been floated by college leaders in the past.
Of course, the quality-based pricing model is not without its critics, who worry that itd lead to an increase in student debtno doubt looking at Americas unfortunate situation as an ominous example.
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Tunis (AFP) - A Tunisian court Wednesday overturned a six-month suspended jail term for a popular comedian, a television host and a colleague for identity theft, fraud and insulting the head of state.
"The court of appeal decided a dismissal in our favour. We expected this decision because the only thing we did was investigative journalism," TV host Moez Ben Gharbia told AFP.
Ben Gharbia, satirist Wassim Lahrissi known as "Migalo" and their colleague Abdelhak Toumi were originally sentenced in March 2015.
Ben Gharbia had allegedly asked Migalo to use his impersonation skills to imitate President Beji Caid Essebsi during a telephone conversation with a prominent businessman.
Their lawyers had argued that the trio were "journalists who were investigating a corruption" case.
Essebsi won Tunisia's first free presidential election in December 2014, capping a transition to democracy in the birthplace of the Arab Spring.
As part of that transition, Tunisia adopted a new constitution guaranteeing the right to freedom of conscience and expression.
An offence against the president is punishable by three years in prison, misrepresentation of identity by two years and fraud by five years.
At the time of the original trial, Essebsi's office denied any involvement in the legal proceedings, saying "freedom of the press and expression are acquisitions the president... is committed to defending, he being its principal guarantor."
Ankara (AFP) - Turkey's ruling party will meet on Thursday to announce a candidate to replace outgoing Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu who is stepping down after a power struggle with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reports said.
According to initial indications, Transport Minister Binali Yildirim, a close ally of Erdogan, has emerged as the clear favourite to replace Davutoglu as chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and prime minister.
The AKP central executive committee will meet at 0800 GMT on Thursday to announce a single candidate for party leadership, the state-run Anatolia news agency said.
The candidate will then be approved as new AKP leader by an extraordinary congress of the party on Sunday.
According to AKP convention, the posts of party chief and head of government automatically go to the same figure.
Erdogan will then give the new AKP leader the mandate to serve as prime minister early next week, after which a new cabinet will be announced.
Yildirim, 60, is seen as one of Erdogan's closest longtime confidants, and has served an almost unbroken stint from 2002-2013 and again from 2015 as transport minister.
According to Turkish media reports, Yildirm's name emerged as the overwhelming favourite in meetings this week of regional AKP officials.
The Hurriyet daily reported that AKP members have sought an appointment from Erdogan to share the party's views about the possible candidate.
But presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin denied the reports, saying: "There is no such request for an appointment we have received."
The shock departure of Davutoglu, a former foreign minister who became premier when Erdogan was elected president in 2014, was seen by critics as a sign of the strongman's ambition to tighten his grip on power.
Divisions between Davutoglu and Erdogan had been kept behind closed doors but boiling for months over a series of issues including Turkey's peace process with the Kurdish militants as well as shift from parliamentary to presidential system.
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Analysts expect that Yildirim -- who has never stepped out of line with the president on a policy issue -- will prove a far for pliable figure for the president than Davutoglu.
Despite the shock of Davutoglu's announcement earlier this month he was stepping down, the AKP has been keen to show a public front of unity and that business is carrying on as usual.
However financial markets have not appreciated the political uncertainty, with the Turkish lira losing five percent in value against the US dollar over the last month.
By Humeyra Pamuk ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish journalist has been sentenced to 20 months in jail and stripped of legal rights over her children for breaching the confidentiality of a court case, her lawyer said on Wednesday, raising further concern about deteriorating press freedoms. Arzu Yildiz was sued by the state after publishing footage in May 2015 from a court hearing at which four prosecutors were on trial for ordering a search of trucks belonging to Turkey's MIT intelligence agency as they traveled to Syria in 2014. The incident was highly sensitive for President Tayyip Erdogan and the government. Erdogan said the searching of the trucks and some of the media coverage of it was part of a plot by his political enemies to undermine him and embarrass Turkey. Two prominent journalists were sentenced to at least five years in jail for revealing state secrets in a separate case this month after publishing footage which purported to show the trucks carrying weapons to Syria. The ruling against Yildiz, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, said she would be deprived of legal guardianship of her children, invoking an article in Turkey's penal code which allows courts to strip jailed individuals of such rights. Her lawyer said the decision meant she would not be able to register her children in school, open bank accounts for them or take them abroad alone and could only do so in conjunction with their father. Yildiz is married with two children. "This was an act of revenge," the lawyer, Alpdeger Tanriverdi, told Reuters by telephone. "There are many cases in which the court does not execute this article of the penal code. They didn't have to do it." The court could not immediately be reached for comment. The sentence is pending approval from the court of appeals. PRESS FREEDOM CONCERNS The case against the two other journalists sentenced this month in relation to the searching of the MIT trucks - Can Dundar and Erdem Gul, editor-in-chief and Ankara bureau chief respectively of the Cumhuriyet daily - brought condemnation from global rights groups and heightened concern about press freedom. Several Turkish opposition newspapers have been shut over the past six months and broadcasters taken off air. Prosecutors have meanwhile opened more than 1,800 cases against people for insulting Erdogan since he became president in 2014, including journalists, cartoonists and teenagers. Erdogan has acknowledged that the MIT trucks, which were stopped by gendarmerie and police officers en route to the Syrian border, belonged to the intelligence agency and said they were carrying aid to Turkmen fighters in Syria. But he has said that prosecutors had no authority to order the trucks be searched and that they were part of a "parallel state" run by his ally-turned-foe Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based Islamic cleric with a network of followers who Erdogan says is bent on discrediting him. The prosecutors have denied the allegations. Gulen has denied plotting against the government. (Editing by Nick Tattersall and Gareth Jones)
If every TV pilot episode serves as a shows calling card, dropping clues about its overall tone and potential, then Preachers is singed around the edges, and sulfur-scented. In the 90-minute premiere of the new hour-long AMC series, someone spontaneously combusts into a shower of goo; one of the main protagonists guzzles blood directly out of a mans chest; and a child responds to witnessing a death-blow by grinning and yelling, Awesome! Its precisely what fans of the controversial cult comic-book, which debuted in 1995, expect.
There are a number of reasons Preacher hasnt been made into a film or TV series before now. Strictly adhering to the original story, as created by writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon (who serve as co-executive producers on the TV series), is an unwieldy and expensive proposition. Various cinematic versions of the tale have been bouncing around in development hell since 1998, but none of the entities that toyed with the property managed to corral Preachers dark, sacrilegious tone and also tame the plots sprawl.
Fans should be relieved that the job of realizing Preacher as a series fell into the laps of creators and executive producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, childhood friends and professed super-fans of the comic books, whose previous collaborations include This Is the End and writing for Da Ali G Show. Rogen and Goldberg clearly understand the careful dance between impertinent humor and extreme violence contained in the source material, and they honor that off-kilter tone in the pilot without being so married to the comic books structure that the show loses focus.
The first issues of the comics, published under DCs Vertigo imprint, took the action to locales around the country as well as to distant realms, including a very structured Heaven. The pilot handles some of these diversions by opening with an animated, tongue-in-cheek homage to 50s sci-fi schlock like It Came From Outer Space, and depicts a strange force swinging by the outer planets in the solar system before touching down in Africa, Russia, and, eventually, Texas. In general, though, comic-book purists should be aware that Preacher captures the spirit of the comics instead of hewing closely to that material; although the key elements of the original are present, its best to think of the series opening chapters a prequel.
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On some level, Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper) wants to be good, if not altogether God-fearing. Custer has recently returned to Annville, Texas, to assume the ministerial duties at his late fathers small church, All Saints Congregational. But his tiny flock is as unenthusiastic about his preaching as he is, in spite of the unwavering support of the churchs most devoted assistant, Custers friend, Emily (Lucy Griffiths).
Jesse has a checkered past hes trying to leave behind. That may be impossible after his hellion ex-girlfriend, Tulip (Ruth Negga), arrives in town, not long after a strange Irishman named Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) also drops into his life. In the midst of all this, during a dark night of the soul, Jesse is confronted by an odd force that enters his body and grants him an overwhelming power near-absolute influence over others. Wielding this power, which Jesse cant control at first and then begins to question, results in some truly perverse situations.
Polarizing as its subject may seem, Preacher nevertheless feels perfectly on brand for AMC. Those tuning in are likely to be won over by its bawdy humor and fascinated by the crisp, frenetic choreography during the premieres numerous fight scenes; literally every central character gets a chance to get his or her licks in.
What remains to be seen is whether those who fall for Preachers premiere have the patience to stick with it after the pace slows, which it does quite noticeably by episode two. Mind you, that doesnt mean the blood flow is stanched entirely; one wild confrontation spills so much red that it quickly devolves into slip-and-slide slapstick.
Its tough to find fault with Preachers casting. Negga brings a rugged femininity and insouciance to Tulip, a woman who roars into her exs life with sex and fury. Cooper similarly cuts a compelling figure as Jesse, a man tragically keen to cultivate his faith, but who cant conceal a cocky smile as he expertly rams his fist into a brutes jaw during a bar fight.
Gilgun, though, is the real scene stealer, exuding puckish joy in every moment of his performance, but in the quieter moments between Cassidy and Custer, when they gently spar over the validity of basic moral values, he really shines.
Beneath its veneer of savagery, at times Preacher aspires to carry on a conversation about the nature of faith, though it doesnt filter those debates through any specific dogma. Some of that conversation plays out through depictions of the people of Annville, including the towns deformed pariah, Eugene (Ian Colletti), and his hard-hearted father, Sheriff Root (W. Earl Brown).
Other figures, particularly two strange men known as DeBlanc (Anatol Yusef) and Fiore (Tom Brooke), lurk around the storys edges, and characters merely alluded to in the pilot, one of whom is played by Jackie Earle Haley, will impact the saga down the road.
Its unclear how dominant, or effective, those tangential elements of the series will be. Whats certain is that Preachers pilot leaves no space for middle-of-the-road sentiment; youre either all in or youre not. That also means Rogen and Goldberg succeeded in realizing what was heretofore considered to be an impossible project and theyve done so with amazing panache.
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JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Impala Platinum (Implats) said on Wednesday that two workers were missing after a shaft collapsed at its Rustenburg mine in South Africa. Operations at the shaft were suspended when the shaft collapsed on Tuesday, trapping a total of nine workers underground before seven were rescued, Implats' investor relations officer Alice Lourens told Reuters. She said the company - the world's second-biggest platinum producer - was trying to find the missing workers. It was not immediately clear how much output the company had lost following the closure of the shaft, she said. "It's difficult to quantify, it depends on an investigation ... It's to early to say," said Lourens. The cause of the collapse at the mine had not yet been established, the company said. Four employees were killed in January at one of Implats' Rustenburg shafts following a fire. (Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; Editing by James Macharia)
Photo: Olamikan Gbemiga/ AP Photo.
Two years after their mass kidnapping by Boko Haram, the first of the missing Chibok schoolgirls has been rescued, according to the BBC.
Amina Ali Nkek was rescued by a vigilante group set up to fight Boko Haram on Tuesday, after a member of the group recognised her. She was found in the Sambisa Forest, near the border with Cameroon.
Her uncle told The Associated Press that the now-19-year-old is pregnant and traumatised. She was reunited with her mother in Chibok on Tuesday night.
Nkek is one of 276 teenage girls who were kidnapped from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Nigeria in April of 2014. The girls, who were preparing to take science exams, were abducted in a late-night raid on dormitories by gunmen associated with Boko Haram. While a few dozen managed to escape by jumping out of trucks and hiding in bushes, 219 remained missing for more than two years.
The abduction received international attention and criticism over what was seen as a weak commitment to rescuing the girls. Over the next two years, protesters and activists continued to keep the girls plight in the news, and called on the government to take action to rescue them. The ousting of Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, in May 2015 was attributable in part to the governments failure to rescue the girls, according to The Guardian.
While Nkek is the first girl confirmed to have been rescued, Chibok community leader Pogu Bitrus told the AP that other girls may also have been rescued by soldiers hunting Boko Haram in the region. He told the news agency that he is working with officials to establish their identities.
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From Popular Mechanics
A recent competition hosted in part by the U.S. Army and designed to test core tank crew skills saw European crews take the top honors, while crews from the U.S. Army failed to place. The results raise the question of whether the Army-after more than a decade of focusing on guerrilla warfare-has devoted adequate training to address "big war" skills.
Held from May 10 to 12 and jointly hosted by the U.S. Army and the German Bundeswher at the Grafenwoehr Training Area in Germany, the the Strong Europe Tank Challenge included challengers from six NATO countries: Denmark, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Slovenia-which sent tank platoons of four tanks each to compete- and the United States, which sent two platoons.
The competition involved tank crews conducting both offensive and defensive operations, and both mounted and dismounted activities. Crews fired ten main gun rounds from various positions. In one event, crews had to correctly identify 25 friendly and unfriendly (read: Russian) vehicles while traveling a course. Other events involved operating in the aftermath of a chemical weapons attack, dealing with improvised explosive devices, and medical emergencies.
A German tank crew from Mountain Panzer Battalion 7, Panzer Brigade 12 took top honors, followed by a Danish crew from their country's 1st Tank Battalion in second. Third place went to a Polish crew from the 34th Armored Cavalry brigade. It's unknown where the American crews placed, only that they weren't in the top three.
NATO sponsored tank challenges like this were routine during the Cold War-including the famous Canadian Army Trophy-but the Strong Europe Tank Challenge is the first multinational tank challenge to take place since 1991, the year the Soviet Union dissolved.
As for the tanks themselves, the German platoon brought Leopard 2A6 tanks. An upgrade of the Cold War Leopard 2, the -A6 model features modified turret armor, giving the turret a more angular appearance. The -A6 also features enhanced mine protection and a 20 percent longer main gun barrel, imparting a higher velocity to projectiles.
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Both Denmark and Poland brought Leopard 2A5 tanks, slightly older models but ones with largely with the same capabilities as the -A6. Italy brought a platoon of home-grown Ariete tanks. Slovenia brought M84 tanks, a copy of the Russian T-72 manufactured by Yugoslavia before the country's civil war. The United States brought its M1A2 Abrams tanks.
This isn't the first time U.S. Army tankers have found themselves in an embarrassing situation. North Carolina National Guard tankers beat their Regular Army counterparts-and crews from the U.S. Marine Corps and Canadian Army-at the U.S. Army's 2016 Sullivan Cup. A tank crew consisting of an insurance adjustor, Pepsi truck driver, college student, and aspiring police officer beat fifteen other reserve and active duty tank crews to place first.
For decades, the U.S. Army's Armor Corps was a pillar of land power expected to fight the tank forces of Soviet Union on the European battlefield. After 9/11, with the exception of the invasion of Iraq, fighting so-called "high intensity conflict" took a back seat to fighting insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. While most of the countries involved in the Strong Tank Challenge also sent ground forces to both countries, their commitments largely allowed their tankers to stay oriented on training and operation related to more traditional tank missions-i.e. fighting in big wars against other tanks.
The results in both competitions echo recent comments made by Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley and published in last Sunday's New York Times. Milley stated, "Today, a major in the Army knows nothing but fighting terrorists and guerrillas, because he came into the Army after 9/11. But as we get into the higher-end threats, our skills have atrophied over 15 years."
The primary "higher-end threat" is Russia. Russian land power is clawing back from two decades of neglect. Moscow is building several new families of armored vehicles, including the T-14 Armata main battle tank, T-15 heavy infantry fighting vehicle, Kurganets-25 infantry fighting vehicle, and Bumerang family of wheeled armored personnel carriers. Russian campaigns in Ukraine and Syria, and aggressiveness against border states, has shown that President Vladimir Putin can and will use his army to achieve state goals.
Suddenly, the skills tested in the Strong Tank Challenge are more relevant than they've been in fifteen years. Although the loss must sting, it's at least a list of places to start when making much needed improvements. And, hopefully, making them fast.
Source: Washington Post
(Adds details, GM reaction)
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - U.S. auto safety regulators will oversee General Motors Co's decision-making about potential vehicle safety issues for another year, until May 2017, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) told the automaker in a letter made public on Tuesday.
The Detroit automaker agreed to monthly meetings and enhanced oversight in 2014 and was fined $35 million by NHTSA over its delayed response to an ignition switch defect in millions of vehicles that was linked to 399 deaths and injuries. The agency in a Friday letter, which was reviewed by Reuters, exercised its right to extend the agreement for a third and final year.
GM's costs related to the ignition switch defects topped $2 billion, including a $900 million settlement with the U.S. Justice Department in September 2015, which also included a separate three-year consent decree and oversight by an outside independent monitor.
Under the 2014 agreement with NHTSA, GM must provide a written list every month of all safety issues under review by the automaker's investigators - often before the company decides whether to launch a recall.
Other automakers do not typically need to disclose safety issues until they determine the issues pose an unreasonable risk to drivers and vehicles must be recalled.
NHTSA said in its letter Friday that GM shares its belief that the meetings "have been useful to proactively and expeditiously address potential safety-related defects and to facilitate communication."
GM spokesman Jim Cain said the automaker is committed to working closely with NHTSA.
"We have worked hard to build a productive and highly effective working relationship with the agency," Cain said.
The monthly meetings and disclosures have at times helped prompt GM recalls.
GM agreed to recall 317,000 2013-2016 Chevrolet Sonic and Trax vehicles and 2013-2015 Chevrolet Spark vehicles in the United States equipped with a "Bring Your Own Media" radio, documents posted Monday by NHTSA show. The recall came after at least two discussions between GM and NHTSA on the issue in March.
The radios may fail to provide a warning chime when the driver, after turning off the ignition and leaving the key in, waits 10 minutes or longer to open the door. That fails to comply with U.S. theft protection rules. The recall also impacted about 44,000 vehicles in China.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Leslie Adler)
(New throughout, adds details, background, link to factbox)
By Tom Polansek
May 18 (Reuters) - Loss-making U.S. grain handler Andersons Inc on Wednesday rejected a $1 billion takeover offer from HC2 Holdings Inc as too low, calling the bid an attempt to capitalize on a sharp downturn in the agricultural economy.
With the U.S. farm sector drowning in supplies that have depressed crop prices, the Ohio-based agribusiness said it was better off remaining a "standalone entity" than selling to the holding company run by former hedge fund manager Philip Falcone.
HC2's takeover offers "represent an opportunistic attempt to acquire the company at a low point in the industry cycle," Chairman Mike Anderson said in a statement. HC2 had no immediate response.
Grain companies, including larger rivals Archer Daniels Midland Co and Bunge Ltd, have suffered as the global glut has hurt U.S. exports and encouraged farmers to keep their harvests in storage, rather than selling them to merchants.
Andersons, which buys grain, produces ethanol and leases rail cars, swung to a net loss in 2015 and in the first quarter of 2016. Before HC2's bid became public, Andersons' stock price was down nearly 45 percent over the past two years.
Shares were up 26.3 percent at $32.75 in afternoon trading and rose as high as $35.29, shy of HC2's latest offer of $37 a share. HC2 shares rose 1.5 percent to $4.05.
Mike Anderson, grandson of the grain company's founder, denied HC2's claim that it had not substantively responded to the offer. In January, HC2 offered $35, according to his statement.
"The offers are not credible, significantly understate the company's true value and are not in the best interests of our shareholders," he said.
If Falcone's persistence pays off, he would acquire a company that has grown to control the eighth largest U.S. network of commercial grain elevators by capacity since its start about 70 years ago. Andersons also runs the eighth-largest privately owned fleet of rail cars.
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The value of such strategic assets should increase when overseas demand for U.S. crops recovers.
Some agricultural companies, which are more traditional bidders for farm assets, are interested in deals, too.
Last month, Chinese state-owned trader COFCO said it was in talks over potential partnerships or acquisitions in North America as it works to increase export capacity.
In the most recent agricultural deal, commodity trader Glencore PLC sold a 40 percent stake in its agribusiness to Canadian pension fund CPPIB for $2.5 billion.
Last year, Richardson International, one of Canada's largest grain handlers, said it was interested in Andersons as part of a push to expand in the United States.
Andersons handles crops and owns rail cars that serve the export market, although its business is mainly domestic.
HC2 said on Tuesday it would assume $402 million of the company's debt as part of its takeover offer.
The holding company also said it was willing to buy the company's grain and rail businesses for $950 million as an alternative. HC2 said it would make stalking horse bids for each of Andersons' remaining assets.
A "stalking horse" bid is an opening offer that other interested bidders must surpass if they want to buy the company.
Last fall, Andersons hired a new chief executive and president, Patrick Bowe, from global trader Cargill Inc . On Monday, he told Reuters the company was not looking to be acquired and that its diversified operations were an asset.
"I like growth," Bowe said in an interview. "That's been in my DNA."
Deutsche Bank is acting as a financial advisor for Andersons and Kirkland & Ellis is acting as a legal advisor. Credit Suisse is HC2's financial advisor and Jefferies is its legal advisor.
(Additional reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru and Lawrence Delevingne in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)
The classic caps-in-the-air graduation photo opportunity is just too dangerous, a British university has reportedly warned its students.
The University of East Anglia (UEA) said the throwing of hats is an unacceptable risk as students have apparently been injured in the past, the Guardian reports, citing a piece in the student news website the Tab.
But thanks to advances in image-editing technology, grads in the United Kingdom can still bag the photo without risking a mortarboard to the eye.
We will be asking everyone to mime the throwing of their hats in the air and we will Photoshop them in above the group before printing, Penguin Photograph reportedly told law graduands at UEA. As well as being safer, this will have the added advantage that even more of the students faces will be see in the photograph.
Unsurprisingly, the memo has not gone down too well with the prospective graduates.
If Ive paid 45 ($64) to hire a bit of cloth and card for the day, I should be able to chuck my hat in the air! Louisa Baldwin, the Law Society president at UAE, told the Tab.
According to the Guardian, other colleges in Britain have also raised concerns over the safety of the tradition, with Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge warning of the particularly nasty injuries that can ensue when the corner of a thrown mortarboard hits someone.
[Guardian]
The U.S. Department of Commerce ("DOC") made its final determinations on anti-dumping investigations on imports of cold-rolled steel from China and Japan yesterday and concluded that both countries are selling these products in the American market below their fair values and therefore, are subject to anti-dumping duties.
The DOC, on Tuesday, imposed a hefty final anti-dumping duty rate of 265.79% on imports of cold-rolled steel from China. Chinese companies did not respond to the DOCs request for information and thus, got punished with big tariffs. Japanese exporters including JFE Steel Corporation and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation received a final duty of 71.35%.
The commerce department, yesterday, also issued its final rulings on countervailing duty investigations on imports of cold-rolled steel from China. The DOC levied a massive final countervailing duty rate of 256.44% on Chinese imports, higher than the preliminary duty rate of 227.29% imposed in Dec 2015.
This will badly hit Chinese exporters such as Angang Group Hong Kong Co., Ltd., Benxi Iron and Steel (Group) Special Steel Co., Ltd. and Qian'an Golden Point Trading Co., Ltd. who failed to respond to the DOCs requests for information. Beijing has reportedly criticized these punitive trade actions, calling them excessive.
Combined exports of cold-rolled steel from China and Japan to the U.S. market were valued at an estimated $410.9 million in 2015.
Yesterdays final rulings mark another victory for crisis-hit U.S. steel companies in their ongoing battle against unfairly-traded, cheap imports that continue to make inroads into the American market.
The biggest U.S. steel producers U.S. Steel X, AK Steel AKS, Nucor NUE, Steel Dynamics STLD and ArcelorMittal USA, a part of ArcelorMittal MT filed anti-dumping petitions in Jul 2015 with the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) and the DOC against eight countries (Brazil, China, India, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, South Korea and the UK) alleged for illegally dumping cold-rolled steel that is used to make automotive products and appliances, among others.
The petitions charge that an influx of subsidized imports of cold-rolled steel from these foreign producers is causing significant injury to the countrys steel industry. These imports have captured an increasing share of the U.S. market, thereby hurting production, shipments, selling prices and margins of U.S. steel makers.
The USITC terminated the investigation on imports from the Netherlands in Sep 2015 after concluding that the quantity of imports of cold-rolled steel from the country was negligible and hence did not cause or threatened to cause injury to the U.S. industry.
The DOC will now instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to start requiring cash deposits based on the final anti-dumping duty rates for cold-rolled steel imports from China and Japan. The commerce department will also order the CBP to require cash deposits (based on the final countervailing duty rate) should the USITC issues an affirmative injury determination.
The commerce department is now expected to issue its final rulings on imports of cold-rolled steel from Brazil, India, Korea, Russia, and the UK on July 13. The USITC is also expected to make its final injury ruling on China and Japan on June 30.
U.S. steel companies have been hammered by a tide of cheap imports over the past few years that largely contributed to a slump in steel prices. These producers are struggling to cope with lower steel prices as a result of the combined impact of imports and overcapacity in the industry. Low costs of production have enabled foreign producers (especially China) to sell their products at cheaper rates, leading to an industry-wide price decline.
China has been repeatedly slammed by the U.S. and the European Union for dumping its excess steel capacity (backed by unfair government subsidies) in the overseas markets at low prices amid weakening domestic demand.
China, which accounts for around half of global steel output, continues to pose a threat to the global steel industry. The Chinese steel industry continues to reel under massive excess capacity and worsening gap between supply and demand with barely any signs of recovery.
Chinas total steel exports clocked 112.4 million tons in 2015 (per data released by the General Administration of Customs), topping 100 million tons for the first time. Notwithstanding a recovery in domestic steel prices, the countrys steel exports jumped 7.6% year over year in the first four months of 2016 (per customs data), signalling continued demand weakness at home.
In April, U.S. Steel lodged a complaint with the USITC, asking the regulator to start an investigation against biggest Chinese steel makers and their distributors. The company has accused these producers and distributors for unfair competition and is seeking the exclusion of all unfairly traded Chinese steel products from the U.S. market.
Nevertheless, steel market conditions in the U.S. have somewhat improved of late, driven by favorable rulings (that led to levy of tariffs on imports) on steel trade cases in the recent past.
The DOC, in Dec 2015, slapped preliminary anti-dumping duties on imports of corrosion-resistant steel from China, India, Italy and South Korea including a staggering anti-dumping duty rate of 255.80% on imports of these products from China. Final determinations on this trade case is expected in Jul 2016.
The DOC, in Mar 2016, also imposed preliminary anti-dumping duties on imports of certain hot-rolled steel flat products by seven countries. A final ruling by the DOC on this case is expected in August.
Positive final rulings in these trade cases will ensure a fairer and more competitive market for U.S. steel makers and workers and also help in restoring fair trade conditions for steel products made in America.
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By David Lawder
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. International Trade Commission on Wednesday said it launched an investigation into whether Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) and its subsidiaries infringed hybrid electric vehicle patents owned by Baltimore-based Paice LLC.
The commission said it has not made any decisions on the merits of the case. But a ruling against Volkswagen could be a significant setback to the automaker's strategy to shift towards hybrid vehicles after a crushing emissions fraud scandal halted sales of its diesel vehicles in the United States last year.
Paice is seeking an ITC order that would block the import and sale of Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche brand hybrid vehicles in the U.S. market. It filed its initial request on April 15.
After a similar ITC complaint and federal lawsuits against Toyota Motor Corp, Paice struck a licensing deal in 2010 with Toyota that covers 23 hybrid electrical control patents. In 2015, it said it reached similar licensing agreements with Hyundai Motor Co Ltd and Kia Motors Corp .
Paice claims on its website that it shared with Volkswagen its patented hybrid technology, including computer modeling and control algorithms with Volkswagen from 2001 to 2004 in a
"But after learning everything it needed from Paice, VW abruptly ended the collaboration and never licensed Paice's technology," the company said, adding that the automaker shifted its efforts to develop diesel technology instead.
Paice, founded in the early 1990s by Soviet-trained electrical engineer Alex Severinsky, said it holds 29 U.S. and foreign patents related to hybrid vehicle technology. The firm is partly owned by the non-profit Abell Foundation in Baltimore, which has provided over $25 million in funding support and is also listed as a complainant in the ITC case.
The Baltimore firm also has pursued patent litigation against Ford Motor Co. (F.N) since 2014. In that case, however, Ford has managed to get some of Paice's infringement claims dismissed by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, while several other challenges are pending.
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In Germany, a VW spokesman said the company "does not comment in principal in ongoing legal disputes".
In comments submitted on the ITC website, lawyers for Volkswagen and its subsidiaries described Paice's patents as "weak" and said pursuing an investigation was against the public interest.
A submission from Edgar Haug, a lawyer for Porsche AG, said that Paice's complaint relies too heavily on investments made by Hyundai and Kia as part of their technology licenses with the firm.
"Neither Hyundai nor Kia sell competitive articles that replace or are a substitute for Porsche's accused vehicles," Haug wrote.
(Reporting By David Lawder, additional reporting by Jan Schwartz in Hamburg, Germany; Editing by Alistair Bell)
(Adds details on Volkswagen response, Ford litigation)
By David Lawder
WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. International Trade Commission on Wednesday said it launched an investigation into whether Volkswagen AG and its subsidiaries infringed hybrid electric vehicle patents owned by Baltimore-based Paice LLC.
The commission said it has not made any decisions on the merits of the case. But a ruling against Volkswagen could be a significant setback to the automaker's strategy to shift towards hybrid vehicles after a crushing emissions fraud scandal halted sales of its diesel vehicles in the United States last year.
Paice is seeking an ITC order that would block the import and sale of Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche brand hybrid vehicles in the U.S. market. It filed its initial request on April 15.
After a similar ITC complaint and federal lawsuits against Toyota Motor Corp, Paice struck a licensing deal in 2010 with Toyota that covers 23 hybrid electrical control patents. In 2015, it said it reached similar licensing agreements with Hyundai Motor Co Ltd and Kia Motors Corp.
Paice claims on its website that it shared with Volkswagen its patented hybrid technology, including computer modeling and control algorithms with Volkswagen from 2001 to 2004 in a
"But after learning everything it needed from Paice, VW abruptly ended the collaboration and never licensed Paice's technology," the company said, adding that the automaker shifted its efforts to develop diesel technology instead.
Paice, founded in the early 1990s by Soviet-trained electrical engineer Alex Severinsky, said it holds 29 U.S. and foreign patents related to hybrid vehicle technology. The firm is partly owned by the non-profit Abell Foundation in Baltimore, which has provided over $25 million in funding support and is also listed as a complainant in the ITC case.
The Baltimore firm also has pursued patent litigation against Ford Motor Co. since 2014. In that case, however, Ford has managed to get some of Paice's infringement claims dismissed by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, while several other challenges are pending.
Story continues
In Germany, a VW spokesman said the company "does not comment in principal in ongoing legal disputes". In comments submitted on the ITC website, lawyers for Volkswagen and its subsidiaries described Paice's patents as "weak" and said pursuing an investigation was against the public interest.
A submission from Edgar Haug, a lawyer for Porsche AG, said that Paice's complaint relies too heavily on investments made by Hyundai and Kia as part of their technology licenses with the firm.
"Neither Hyundai nor Kia sell competitive articles that replace or are a substitute for Porsche's accused vehicles," Haug wrote.
(Reporting By David Lawder, additional reporting by Jan Schwartz in Hamburg, Germany; Editing by Alistair Bell)
American commanders are growing concerned that a recent spate of deadly bombings in Baghdad will cause the Iraqi government to lose focus on an upcoming assault on Mosul, the Islamic State held city which government troops have been encircling for weeks.
In response to the attacks which have killed over 100 civilians and deeply unnerved the capital city Iraqi officials were considering pulling some troops back to Baghdad for added security. But U.S. advisors cautioned against it, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Baghdad told reporters Wednesday.
We said Hey, we think you should keep the forces out in the field. And thats what they ended up doing, said U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren.
In a tactic reminiscent of the bloodiest days of the American occupation in the mid-2000s, the Islamic State has used car and suicide bombers to hit Shiite neighborhoods Baghdad. The strikes mark a shift in how the Islamic State is conducting its war in Iraq, moving from gaining and holding ground in the Sunni north and west to direct assaults on the predominately Shiite capital.
On his way to Iraq and other points in the Middle East, Gen. Joseph Votel, head of U.S. Central Command, told reporters traveling with him Wednesday he believes the attacks are a product of battlefield losses elsewhere in Iraq, and ISIS is looking for ways to start to regain their momentum or regain the initiative. He added, They believe it will cause the Iraqi government to divert forces, divert effort, divert intellectual horsepower to Baghdad.
But as much as half of the Iraqi security forces are already in positions in and around the capital.
The U.S.-led coalition has trained about 31,000 Iraqi security forces to date with another 3,800 currently in the pipeline. Over 1,000 Kurdish peshmerga fighters have completed training over the past month, and another 1,100 are currently in training. Many of those are expected to fight in Mosul, Warren said.
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Iraqi government and Kurdish forces have been amassing around Mosul in recent weeks in preparation for the eventual assault, which many believe wont happen until next year. American advisors and commandos are also deployed near the city, with a company of U.S. Marines launching artillery strikes to support Iraqi offensives in the area. Since March, a Marine and a Navy SEAL have been killed in fighting around Mosul.
Tensions in the capital have been high in recent weeks as Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has tried and failed to replace his cabinet in a bid to curb rampant corruption that has stained the image of the government. The graft and the economic crisis brought on by the fall in oil prices have brought thousands of Shiite protesters to the streets. Late last month, supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stormed the Green Zone, the hub of government activity in Baghdad, only pulling out on Sadrs orders.
Just after the protest, Sadr left the country for Tehran, in a move that was seen by many as Iran ordering him back before the situation spiraled out of control. In a statement on Tuesday, Sadr called the recent spate of bombings the clearest evidence that your government has become incapable of protecting you and providing you with security.
His own militia, Saraya al-Salam, or the Peace Brigade, has been out in force in Baghdad in recent days, patrolling Shiite neighborhoods in trucks mounted with heavy machine guns, and setting up checkpoints to inspect cars and pedestrians for bombs. But on Wednesday, his fighters pulled back from some neighborhoods after he ordered that no arm be displayed in public, avoid friction with the security forces and avoid being dragged into violence, one aide told Reuters.
Photo Credit: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images
Ride-sharing app Uber is partnering with the owners of a San Francisco real estate development to give residents a $100 monthly stipend to give up their cars.
Residents of the Parkmerced complex who sign up for the program can use the cash for public transportation, taxis and car-sharing services, with at least $30 per month being spent on Uber, according to a report on The Verge. The nearly 9,000 people who live in Parkmerced will also have access to discounted Uber Pool fares.
Related: 5 Reasons Apple Invested $1 Billion in the Uber of China
The partnership is the first of its kind, but follows other aggressive deals by the car-sharing app to make it the transportation of choice. Last month, the company started giving a 25 percent discounts to riders in Altamonte Springs, Florida, if they use the service to get to public transportation.
A March report by the American Public Transportation Association found that the more people use car-sharing, the less likely they are to own cars and the less money they spend overall on transportation.
An analysis by FiveThirtyEight last fall found that New York City residents making 15 percent of their trips via Uber and 85 percent via public transportation would spend about the same amount as to the cost of owning a car in the city.
Competitor Lyft is also looking for new partnerships to grow its customer base. Last month, it signed a deal with Southwest Airlines to give discounts to the carriers customers for using Lyft.
Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Uber launched Wednesday a carpooling service in Jakarta allowing commuters to share journeys, as competition between ride-hailing apps intensifies in the traffic-choked Indonesian capital.
It's the first time the service -- known as uberPOOL -- has been offered in Southeast Asia and continues Uber's expansion in Indonesia, one of its fastest-growing markets worldwide.
The carpooling function will match passengers in the same area travelling in the same direction, enabling them to split the fare by sharing the car.
Although it adds travel time, Uber says carpooling fares can be 25 percent cheaper than their regular service. Drivers also benefit as they collect more passengers for each journey.
"Every seat is an opportunity to make money," Uber's regional general manager for Asia-Pacific Mike Brown told reporters.
"It starts to become as competitive as taking a bus."
If it takes off, Uber believes carpooling could ease traffic in the sprawling capital, routinely ranked among the world's worst.
The scheme has proved popular elsewhere, with 20 million uberPOOL trips made every month in China, company data shows. In San Francisco, nearly half of all Uber trips are shared by passengers.
US company Uber, one of the world's most valuable start-ups, has high hopes for Jakarta.
A combination of poor public transport, notorious traffic gridlock and high smartphone use by tech-savvy citizens has seen the popularity of ride-hailing apps explode in recent years.
The launch of uberPOOL came just weeks after the start-up introduced a motorbike taxi service in Jakarta.
The contest between Uber and its rivals -- chiefly local startup Go-Jek and Southeast Asian company Grab -- has been fierce. New services are constantly being offered and prices kept low, as the competing outfits battle for the millions in Jakarta who rely on their service every day.
Like in other parts of the world, all have met with resistance from traditional taxi companies, who complain the tech-based services operate illegally and threaten their livelihoods.
Thousands of taxi drivers staged a violent protest in March, blocking major roads in the capital, clashing with rivals and setting tyres alight.
Uber meets with government officials on a weekly basis to ensure it is meeting local regulations, a process Brown said "is going very well".
By Tim Hepher
LINKOPING, Sweden (Reuters) - Sweden's Saab expressed optimism about fighter exports to nations including India as it unveiled a new version of its Gripen combat jet being developed for Sweden and Brazil.
The revamped Gripen E is one of five aircraft which has attracted Finland's interest as it weighs an order for dozens of jets, according to industry executives.
Boeing's (BA.N) F-18, Dassault Aviation's (AVMD.PA) Rafale, Lockheed Martin's (LMT.N) F-35 and the Eurofighter Typhoon, involving BAE Systems (BAES.L), may also be considered.
Saab said it is also monitoring possible fighter purchases in India, which some say could seek almost 100 warplanes once it completes a delayed order for 36 French Rafales.
"I think we have a very good opportunity in India. We can make an attractive offer that would suit the Indians with their Make in India concept," Saab aeronautics head Ulf Nilsson said in an interview.
Sweden appears willing to meet India's demands for a sweeping transfer of technology, echoing a deal to sell 28 Gripen Es and 8 twin-seater Gripen Fs to Brazil.
"The solution we did there ... could very well be suitable for India," Nilsson told Reuters. He said Saab is talking to potential Indian partners, but declined to give details.
After years of indecision, some analysts believe India could seek both single-engine jets like the Gripen and Lockheed Martin F-16 and twin-engine aircraft like the Rafale or F-18.
That could give Gripen an edge against the older F-16, used by India's arch-rival Pakistan, but diplomats warn the shape of any future contest is unclear and could take time.
The latest Gripen is designed to carry more weapons further, and to track multiple threats using the latest type of radar.
Saab unveiled the jet at its fighter plant to an audience of several hundred suppliers, media and customers on Wednesday.
"The Gripen E ensures that Gripen as a brand keeps going against the Rafale, Typhoon and F-35," said Francis Tusa, editor of Defence Analysis.
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Selling for about $85 million excluding arms, the Gripen E is slightly cheaper than Rafale or Typhoon and significantly cheaper than the single-engined F-35, which is marketed for stealth, he added.
Critics say the Gripen lacks the flexibility of twin-engined rivals or the same geopolitical support as U.S., French or pan-European alternatives.
The first aircraft will fly around end-year.
Saab said it would continue to invest in the older and cheaper Gripen C/D model to attract a different tier of buyers.
It aims to complete a deal to supply 8 jets to Slovakia soon and has its sights on others including Croatia and Bulgaria.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher; editing by Adrian Croft)
Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye was formally charged with treason at Nakawa Chief Magistrates Court in Kampala on May 18, five days after a treason charge was filed at Moroto Chief Magistrates Court. This video shows Besigye being driven away from the courthouse after the charge. He is to be transferred to a maximum-security prison in Kampala.
Colonel Kizza Besigye was a runner-up in Ugandas February 2016 presidential election, losing out to Yoweri Museveni, who is currently serving his fifth term as president.
Februarys elections were overshadowed by accusations of ballot fraud and delayed arrivals of voting cards to multiple polling stations. Presidential hopefuls running against Museveni also experienced tactics of intimidation and violence on election day. Credit: Michael OHagan
LONDON (Reuters) - One of Britain's most influential architects of banking reform resumed a spat with the Bank of England on Wednesday, arguing that policymakers have gone too easy on the size of mandatory buffers aimed at protecting balance sheets in times of stress.
The Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) chaired by John Vickers has recommended a systemic risk buffer for banks equivalent to 3 percent of risk-weighted assets, while the Bank of England says the level should be 1.3 percent.
"The Bank's analysis for the right levels of capital assumes average risk conditions, which is not the right assumption. It's like testing flood defences by assuming the weather is average," Vickers told reporters, responding to a 13-page letter to Parliament in April from BoE governor Mark Carney which said banks were, in general, adequately capitalised.
Vickers, a former BoE chief economist, said all major British banks should introduce a minimum 3 percent systemic risk buffer.
The BoE's models also place too much faith in the effectiveness of bank resolution rules designed to ensure smooth unwinding of banks in the event of insolvency, Vickers said.
The BoE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The ongoing spat between Vickers and the BoE over capital levels has irked the central bank and prompted parliament's Treasury Select Committee to review bank capital requirements.
Banks in general have argued for lower capital requirements, since holding more capital can reduce their ability to generate returns.
Vickers however said that the financial cost of increasing capital buffers is low, while the potential benefits of helping to avert another major banking crisis were huge.
"From society's point of view, this is almost free insurance," he said.
(Reporting by Lawrence White, editing by Sinead Cruise and Adrian Croft)
By Andrew MacAskill and Jim Finkle LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England ordered UK banks to detail steps taken to secure computers connected to the SWIFT bank messaging network about two months after a still-unidentified group used the system to steal $81 million from Bank Bangladesh, according to three people familiar with the effort. The central bank sent the request to update cyber security measures to all banks it regulates in mid-to-late April, according to these people, who were not authorized to discuss the confidential communications. The previously unreported action marks the earliest known case of a central bank in a major economy to order its member banks to conduct a formal security review in response to the Bangladesh theft, which has shaken the global system for transferring money among both commercial and central banks. The Bank of England, one of the G10 central banks that oversee Brussels-based SWIFT, said it had no immediate comment. The FBI, authorities in Dhaka and private forensic experts are investigating the February cyber heist in Bangladesh where thieves raided a central bank account kept at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, stealing $81 million. They installed malware inside the bank's Dhaka headquarters that hid traces of their attack in a bid to delay discovery so they could access the funds, according to police and private security firms. The Bank of England told banks to conduct a "compliance check" to confirm whether they are following security practices recommended by SWIFT, which the firm recently reissued to members in the wake of the February heist, one of the people said. SWIFT declined to comment. The group has previously declined to release those guidelines, which were issued in private communications. The checks called for by the Bank of England include conducting what are known as user entitlement reviews, which ensure that only authorized staff have access to SWIFT applications and the service's messaging gateway, that person said. Banks were also told to review computer logs for digital evidence known as "indicators of compromise," including IP addresses and email addresses linked to recent attacks. Those indicators include technical details included in reports from several private cyber security firms, including Britain's BAE Systems PLC. The communication from the Bank of England asked banks to respond by early May and provide details about plans for installing a security update to SWIFT Alliance Access software, according to the person. The messaging group last month released the update and asked members to install by May 16 Meanwhile, Sweden's Riksbank on Wednesday called on all users of the central bank's RIX payments system for large transaction to follow the SWIFT recommendations, a central bank spokesman told Reuters. Earlier this week, Singapore's central bank asked banks to maintain a high level of security for their critical IT systems following recent cyber attacks using the SWIFT financial messaging system. In the Philippines, a senior central bank official said on Tuesday that regulators were crafting regulations to help banks and other financial institutions fend off cyber heists and minimize damage after any systems breach. (Reporting by Andrew MacAskill in London, Jim Finkle in Washington; Additional reporting by Daniel Dickson in Stockholm; editing by Edward Tobin)
London (AFP) - Britain's government and the trade union representing junior doctors have sealed an agreement on resolving a contract dispute that has prompted 10 days of strikes this year, mediators ACAS said Wednesday.
"ACAS confirms the agreement... which, subject to a referendum of relevant BMA (British Medical Association trade union) members, forms the basis for a new contract in 2016," it said in a statement.
The breakthrough was welcomed by Prime Minister David Cameron's government and junior doctors' representatives, who said it was "the best and final way" of resolving the dispute.
The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) said that the full details of the new contract would be published at the end of this month.
In April, junior doctors held two days of all-out strikes which included emergency care for the first time in the history of the state-run National Health Service (NHS), representing an escalation of previous stoppages.
Cameron's government is seeking to reform junior doctors' contracts, a move ministers say is needed to ensure the quality of care for patients is as high at weekends as during the week.
But junior doctors complain of underfunding and understaffing in the NHS, while they had also voiced concerns about how much they should get paid for working on Saturdays.
Junior doctors are medical graduates with years of experience who work full-time in the NHS but have not yet completed their professional qualifications.
- 'Definitive step forward' -
The breakthrough came after 10 days of talks called in a bid to resolve the row, which had been growing increasingly bitter.
"We welcome this significant agreement which delivers important changes to the junior doctors' contract necessary to deliver a safer seven-day NHS," said Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
"This deal represents a definitive step forward for patients, for doctors and for the NHS as a whole."
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The breakthrough was also hailed by Johann Malawana, the chairman of the BMA's junior doctors' committee.
"This represents the best and final way of resolving the dispute and this is what I will be saying to junior doctors in the weeks leading up to the referendum on the new contract," Malawana said.
The referendum is expected to be held in mid to late June.
Under the deal, Saturdays and Sundays will be paid at a normal rate between 9am and 9pm, with extra pay for overnight work seven days a week.
The taxpayer-funded NHS, established in 1948, is one of Britain's most respected institutions, providing medical care largely free at the point of delivery.
While it has been protected from austerity cuts under Cameron, experts warn it still faces increasing financial strain due to factors like rising treatment costs and an ageing population.
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain announced plans on Wednesday for new motor insurance laws designed to encourage investment in driverless cars, as the government looks to capture a leading role in the nascent industry.
The market for autonomous driving is worth 900 billion pounds worldwide, according to the government, but needs to overcome legal obstacles including determining who would be responsible in the event of an accident.
Queen Elizabeth, setting out the government's legislative agenda for the next 12 months, said there would be new laws designed to keep the country at the forefront of technology for new forms of transport, including autonomous vehicles.
A spokesman for the Department for Transport said the laws would extend the existing compulsory insurance regime, which states that drivers must have insurance, to cover product liability. That would then ensure that owners of driverless cars would be insured for any accidents, he said.
Britain is currently testing driverless cars in four areas of the country, with the first such vehicles expected to take to the road later this year. Further details of the bill would be published in due course, the spokesman said.
(Reporting by William James, editing by Estelle Shirbon)
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asked Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday to reconsider his decision to close two refugee camps, including the world's largest, and send Somali refugees home.
In a telephone conversation, Ban urged Kenyatta to continue to abide by a November 2013 agreement with the Somali government and the UN High Commissioner on Refugees "as a basis for the voluntary return of Somali refugees in safety and dignity."
Kenya hosts around 600,000 refugees, some of whom have lived in the country for a quarter century.
It says it wants to close the Dadaab and Kakuma camps because they have become breeding grounds for the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shebab militant group and centers of crime and contraband.
Dadaab, located on the Kenya-Somalia border, is home to around 350,000 people. Kakuma in northwestern Kenya hosts around 180,000 people, almost a third of them Somalis.
Ban also said he supported a proposal by the UNHCR for a "high-level bilateral review on the refugee situation," adding that High Commissioner on Refugees Filippo Grandi would travel to Nairobi at the end of May with deputy UN Secretary General Jan Eliasson.
"They look forward to discussing this issue forward with the government of Kenya, and will underline the readiness of the United Nations to garner the support of the international community in addressing Kenyas refugee challenges, with consideration for the host communities in Kenya as well as the sub-regional security concerns," Ban said, according to a UN statement.
Since the 2013 agreement on refugee returns went into effect, only several thousand Somali refugees have gone home voluntarily.
Frustration over the lack of movement prompted the Kenyan government to announce earlier this month it would no longer taken in refugees, and would move quickly to close the two main refugee camps in the country.
The decision was criticized by Somalia and by non-governmental organizations active in the refugee camps.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - A former number two at the US Department of Homeland Security is forcing the United Nations to confront one of the worst crises in its history: sexual abuse by peacekeepers.
Jane Holl Lute, who also served on the White House's national security council, is pushing what she describes as a "get-tough agenda" to end a wave of allegations of child rape and sexual exploitation that has hit UN peacekeeping, in particular the UN mission in the Central African Republic.
"It is shocking," she said in an interview on Tuesday.
"The things that we find ourselves speaking about in the halls of this house that have gone on in the field: it's stunning."
Lute was appointed in February as the UN's special coordinator on improving the response to sexual abuse in peacekeeping, a position created after an independent panel found the world body had grossly mishandled the cases.
She has made fact-finding visits to the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo since then and met several times with troop-contributing countries and UN officials at all levels.
"We need to create an environment of intolerance for these kinds of actions," she said.
Lute's trip to Bangui and Kinshasa gave her a close-up look at the two missions with the highest incidence of sexual abuse by peacekeepers.
"There was a breakdown in command and control for those units," she said of the many cases in the Central African Republic mission, known as MINUSCA.
There have been 29 allegations of sexual abuse reported already this year in MINUSCA, up from 22 in 2015, although most of those date back to previous years.
"We fully expect that we will uncover more cases," Lute said, promising that any new incidents will "immediately get the senior-most attention" at the United Nations.
- Curfews and bed checks-
The shift in approach involves tightening rules for military and police units serving in missions to impose non-fraternization rules, curfews and enforcing bed checks.
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Lute, who held several senior UN peacekeeping positions from 2003 to 2009, said she has come across "pockets of resistance" from some mission officials unwilling to take on the new responsibility of preventing sexual abuse.
To those who deny problems in their missions or organizations, she says, "Baloney. We all have to worry about it."
Troop-contributing countries are under pressure to meet deadlines for completing investigations, setting up joint investigative teams with the United Nations and taking action to prosecute when allegations found are credible.
Some are responding.
South Africa announced it will set up courts-martial in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where at least seven soldiers face allegations of sexual abuse.
Egypt recently sentenced one of its soldiers convicted of sexual assault in the Central African Republic to five years in jail after a 29-day investigation the United Nations hailed as a record.
Norway has contributed $125,000 to a newly created trust fund to provide emergency assistance to victims, who are being urged to come forward and end their silence over abuse.
Sri Lanka has also made a one-time payment to a victim and her child to cover a paternity claim from a soldier who served in a UN mission in Haiti.
UN officials are currently considering proposals for mandatory DNA testing and withholding the wages of peacekeepers facing credible allegations of sex abuse.
"We have made a lot of progress," Lute said. "We have more to do."
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - A senior UN official on Wednesday welcomed the freeing of a Nigerian schoolgirl abducted more than two years ago by Boko Haram, but said the jihadist group still holds thousands more people.
One of 219 schoolgirls kidnapped in Chibok in northeast Nigeria in April 2014, Amina Ali is the first to be recovered safe and sound.
She was found Tuesday and reunited with her family.
The girl's return was a "wonderful piece of news," UN emergency relief coordinator Stephen O'Brien told reporters during a telephone conversation from the nearby city Maiduguri.
"There is a sense of solidarity and a real sense of hope that this is a step toward the future," he said.
"Let us not forget the other thousands of boys and girls and women who have been abducted," he added. "It is vital to continue every effort to find those."
The United Nations is working closely with Nigerian federal and state authorities on those cases, O'Brien said.
Boko Haram has been accused of kidnapping at least 2,000 people since 2009 during an insurgency that has claimed the lives of 20,000 people and displaced more than 2.6 million others.
O'Brien is on a tour of the region, visiting Niger and northern Nigeria. He was expected to travel to Abuja on Wednesday before attending a World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul next week.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday welcomed the release of two human rights activists from prison in Mauritania by a decision of the Supreme Court.
Ban "commends efforts by the Mauritanian authorities to strengthen the rule of law and urges the judicial authorities to pursue their efforts to carefully investigate the circumstances that led to the arrests of the activists," a UN statement said.
"The secretary-general also encourages the Mauritanian Government to pursue its efforts to promote national unity and social cohesion," it added.
The anti-slavery activists, Biram Dah Abeid and Brahim Ould Bilal, campaigned against practices they said continued to exist in the country despite an official ban.
Sentenced to two years in prison in 2015, they were released Tuesday after the Supreme Court ruled their punishment to be excessive.
Although Mauritania officially abolished slavery in 1981, some of its practices persist.
The government enacted a new law last year that makes slavery a crime against humanity, doubling the maximum punishment to 20 years in prison.
Baghdad (AFP) - The Islamic State group, on the defensive and under heavy pressure in Iraq, has struck back with bloody attacks in Baghdad, where persistent gaps in security increase the city's exposure.
In doing so, IS can portray itself as still being on the offensive, draw attention away from the setbacks it has suffered, and obtain media attention unrelated to losses.
The spike in Baghdad attacks -- which have killed more than 140 people in the city over the past seven days -- also comes at a time of high political tension in the capital that affords militants an opportunity to sow further discord.
Carrying out bombings is not a new strategy for IS -- it has been a key part of the jihadists' offensive and defensive tactics for years, and the group never fully stopped attacks in Baghdad.
But IS's attention was increasingly focused outside Baghdad after it overran large areas north and west of the city in 2014, and attacks in the capital decreased.
"Baghdad is now being targeted because the group is on the defensive and they can still hurt the government in their capital," said Patrick Skinner, a former CIA case officer who is now with The Soufan Group consultancy.
"They still use (bombs) in assaults... But there's clearly some car and vest bomb makers in the Baghdad belt and in the capital, leading to the increased and likely sustained carnage," Skinner said.
Colonel Steve Warren, the spokesman for the international operation against IS, cited jihadist battlefield setbacks as the primary motivation for the increase in Baghdad attacks.
But he also said that IS may see political turmoil in the capital as "an opportunity they can try to exploit using truck bombs."
The increase in attacks coincides with a political crisis over Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's efforts to replace the current cabinet.
The crisis has paralysed the legislature for weeks, and demonstrators angered by lawmakers' lack of progress stormed parliament last month.
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The deadliest of the recent attacks were triple car bombings that hit Baghdad last Thursday, killing at least 94 people, while attacks in three areas of the city on Tuesday killed at least 48 more.
- Fake bomb detectors -
Iraqi security forces performed dismally during the early days of IS's 2014 offensive, abandoning large quantities of weapons and vehicles as they fled.
But Baghdad's forces have since regained significant ground from IS with the backing of US-led air support and training, retaking the cities of Tikrit and Ramadi as well as numerous towns and villages.
While the coalition has trained around 22,000 Iraqi security personnel, its efforts have focused on readying troops for offensive operations against IS, not on the forces in Baghdad.
Both Warren and Iraqi security spokesman Yahya Rasool said that coalition-trained forces are not deployed in the capital.
Though bombings in Baghdad decreased after June 2014, IS never lost the ability to carry out attacks in the capital.
While no security forces can completely secure a city against bombings by militants, flaws in Baghdad security procedures make IS's task easier than it might otherwise be.
Fake bomb detectors are still in widespread use in Baghdad, even though James McCormick, the man who marketed them to Iraq, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2013 for fraud in connection with the devices.
Some Iraqi officials have been reluctant to admit the failure of the "detectors," and former premier Nuri al-Maliki even insisted at one point that some of them were actually functional.
The devices are often used as the primary means of detecting explosives and weapons at Baghdad checkpoints, checks of IDs and searches of vehicles in the city are cursory if they take place at all, and weapons are frequently not kept close to hand.
Anger over the attacks adds to pressure on Abadi, who reacted Tuesday by directing Iraqi forces to step up efforts to uncover cells behind the bombings, and ordered the arrest of a security official responsible for one area that was targeted.
"It's a bloody confluence of trends," Skinner said of the increase in Baghdad attacks.
The jihadists are "under massive military pressure" while there is "a political crisis that they can tie into for maximum chaos," he said.
The illegal ivory trade has far more to do with violence than it has to do with pachyderms.
For me, wildlife trafficking is not a wildlife story, its a crime story, Bryan Christy, a fellow and chief correspondent at National Geographic, said at Fortunes Brainstorm E conference on Tuesday about his expos? on the black market for elephant tusks.
Christy, whose story appeared in a National Geographic cover story last fall, tracked the movement of the animal good around Africa to reveal how its traffickers dealings finance terrorism in the country. He spoke about the origins of the investigation on stage during a panel titled The Ivory Wars.
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The first thing I did when I talked to my team was to stop talking about elephants and to start thinking about other forms of crime, he told the audience in Carlsbad, Calif. When you want to use the word elephant, use the word cocaine. If you use the word cocaine when youre talking about ivory, youll start to understand--youll start framing this in your mind the way I want you to.
Two video clips from Christys documentary film, Warlords of Ivory, were played during the session. The first introduced how the team crafted a fake tusk with an embedded GPS tracker. The device allowed them to watch the movement of smugglers who thought it was real.
The second clip showed Christy on the ground in the Democratic Republic of Congo speaking with local rangers whose job is to protect a national park and its inhabitants. At one point, Christy points out a fragment of a human skull half-buried in the dirt, a casualty of the poaching trade.
After the clip ended, Christy revealed that one of the men he spoke to on screen was killed soon after the segment was filmed. Another five from the same group were killed later on, he said.
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I knew the organized crime side of it; I knew the business side of it; but I didnt understand the violence, Christy said about when he started his research. This project was an effort to peel back--to pull back the curtain on the level of violence in central Africa.
In an earlier feature story for National Geographic, Christy had followed the trade to black markets in China. In the latest investigation, he aimed to take a different approach, he said.
I wanted to tell in this project the role that rangers are playing on the front lines to protect not just these animals--but theyre protecting the villagers, he said.
The stability, such that there is in central Africa, is often because of rangers like this, he added. Theyre the only order that exists in these areas so, as a result, when terrorist groups or other occupiers are coming in, the first thing they want to do is take [them] out.
Jennifer Reingold, senior editor at Fortune, led the discussion, which also featured Jean Case, who chairs the National Geographic Society. Case is also the CEO of the Case Foundation as well as the wife of Steve Case, co-founder and former CEO of AOL.
Some people have said they count Bryans work as among the top 10 most important things that National Geographic has ever done to change the world, Case said of the project.
Its not an animal issue, Christy said. One of the things were trying to do is use animal stories to tell bigger stories, social stories.
See original article on Fortune.com
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Otis, a unit of United Technologies Corp. UTX, was recently awarded a contract to install its high-speed elevators at the esteemed Altair project in Colombo, Sri Lanka. On completion, this will be the tallest residential building in Sri Lanka, having the country's fastest elevators. Elevators Private Limited, a joint venture (JV) entity between Otis and Aitken Spence, has taken up the Altair project.
Per the plan, the project will likely consist of 68 floors, including two towers with one leaning against the other. Otis is expected to install 19 super fast elevators, which will travel at a speed of 5 meters per second. Out of these 19 elevators, 7 will be exported to Sri Lanka from Otis India's Bengaluru factory.
Altairs innovative structure makes installation of elevators challenging, But Otis technical know-how and credentials make it the right choice for the project. Otis has a history of providing best-in-class escalators and elevators across the globe.
Earlier this year, Otis China announced that it will be building a new elevator test tower in Shanghai. This test center will be a part of its new global research and development (R&D) facility. The test center is expected to be approximately 270 meters in height and is likely to be the tallest test tower in the world upon completion. The much anticipated R&D facility is slated to be completed and functioning by the end of 2018.
With constant focus on innovation and expansion, Otis is likely to procure more such prime contracts in the near future. Since it is already one of the most trusted elevator and escalator companies in the world, its sustained R&D focus will augment top-line growth.
Otis is a leading provider of elevator and escalator services. The company offers its services to over 200 countries and territories. Alongside, it maintains more that 1.9 million elevators and escalators worldwide.
United Technologies, the parent company of Otis, currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the same space include CLARCOR Inc. CLC, Honeywell International Inc. HON and Koninklijke KPN N.V. KKPNF. All three stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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Prohibition ended in 1933 with the repeal of the Volstead Act, and drinking in the United Stateswhich had, of course, never entirely endedreturned with fervor. By the following year, The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book was published. It was a revision of a 1931 book, Old Waldorf Bar Days, which had been compiled by Albert Stevens Crocketta newspaperman whod never worked in a bar. Both books contained hundreds of cocktail recipes from the bar at the great hotel. Unlike most other cocktail books of its era, The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book never went out of print, although its recipes were never terrific from the start. Over the years, the books usefulness became increasingly questionable as drinking preferences and ingredient availability changed over the decades.
Now, more than 80 years later, The Waldorf Astoria Bar Book has been thoroughly updated (appropriately dropping Old from the title as well as the hyphen, which the hotel no longer uses) and is now essential reading for professional and at-home bartenders alike. Frank Caiafa, who has served as the bar manager of the hotels Peacock Alley bar since 2005, spent years testing the old tomes recipes and updating them to suit modern drinking styles. Caiafa includes notes on each drinks history and also introduces his own creations, such as the Cole Porter, which is a twist on the whiskey sour and is named for one of the hotels most notable former residents. Bar Book also includes practical advice for at-home bartenders from how to stock your home bar to basic drink-making techniques.
Heres Bar Books updated version of a classic along with a modern variation from Peacock Alley and Caiafas notes on both.
Astor
1 1/2 ounce Bombay London dry gin
1 ounce Kronan Swedish Punsch
1/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/4 ounce fresh orange juice
1 dash Angostura bitters
Add all ingredients to mixing glass. Add ice and stir for 30 seconds. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with brandied cherry.
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Doctor (Peacock Alley adaptation)
1 1/2 ounce Kronan Swedish Punsch
1 ounce Smith & Cross navy-strength rum
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/2 ounce fresh lime juice
1/2 ounce fresh orange juice
Add all ingredients to mixing glass. Add ice and shake well. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with brandied cherry.
This recipe was adapted from Old Waldorf Bar Days, in which Crockett writes, Perhaps [named] after John Jacob of that name; perhaps after William Waldorf, his cousin; however, chances are, it was originated either at the old Astor House or the Astor Hotel, and took its name from its bar of nativity. Its also one of the rare drinks (though there are a few in this book) in which citrus is added less as an ingredient and more as a vehicle for tannin and acidity. This is why I recommend stirring when preparing, as I would think they did at the Old Bar. I also took the liberty of adding a touch of aromatic bitters for some complexity. In the summer, I often add another quarter ounce of each ingredient and shake it for a lighter, refreshing variation that can be served on the rocks. Try them both.
Swedish punsch can connect its lineage to its base, Batavia arrack (a rum relative) and to the 18th century. Its sweet and spicy flavor profile makes a nice addition to many cocktails. I like to float a small amount on the top of a standard Collins or daiquiri, though you may be as adventurous as you like. The traditional recipe for the Doctor recorded equal parts Swedish punsch and lime juice. That was it. I feel that there is certainly room for improvement there. After sampling a dozen or so variations, and numerous degrees of lime, lemon, and orange juice, I think the recipe above represents a fine evolution of this drink. The higher proof Smith & Cross rum is the perfect pairing here, though any good Jamaican rum will bring the desired flavor profile.
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Even after 15 years of U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan, there appears to be no end in sight to the fighting that racks the country. And now an international effort designed to reduce violence by disarming and de-radicalizing Taliban militants is about to run out of cash.
The Washington Post reports that the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program, a six-year-old effort that the U.S. and other countries have funded with about $200 million, has been suspended while officials reexamine its goals.
Related: US Spent $760 Million on Afghan Education but No One Knows If It Helped
An integral part of the program was to pay militants to transfer their loyalty, and their weapons, to the Afghan government in order to serve as informal peacekeepers in a country dominated by militias.
However, only 11,077 militants have signed up for the program a minority of the 30,000 to 50,000 Taliban fighters estimated to be in Afghanistan and local officials cant be sure how many are loyal to Kabul. In addition, only 9,800 weapons have been turned over, a small number given the proliferation of arms in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, auditors have struggled to track how the money, which includes $50 million from the U.S., has been spent, and some are wondering whether the program is worth the expense.
Related: 7 Ways the US Screwed Up Rebuilding Afghanistan
One important premise that underpinned the overall strategy was that peace was imminent, Douglas Keh, country director for the U.N. Development Program, which oversees the effort, told the Post. At the time, the international community had its reason to be guided by this assumption, but what was hoped for did not come about.
A report last year from the U.S. Institute of Peace, quoted in the Post, said that although violent extremist groups in Afghanistan are unpopular, their ideologies have not been effectively countered by the Afghan government and the international community.
Related: US Taxpayers Paid Millions for Shoddy, Unsafe Buildings in Afghanistan
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New funds for the program would need to be raised at an international summit in Brussels in October. The reintegration program would need at least $50 million to $75 million, which will be tough given the global economic picture and the uncertainty about the programs effectiveness.
In the meantime, the administration is also spending roughly $33 million in Afghanistan on programs to counter violent extremism, from giving skateboard lessons to under-the-table payments to moderate clerics.
Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
The US announced Tuesday it was easing economic sanctions on Myanmar after the country returned power to an elected civilian government after more than five decades under repressive military control.
The transfer of power to a civilian-led government steered by Aung San Suu Kyi and her pro-democracy party last year is a "historic milestone," said US Treasury Under Secretary Adam Szubin.
"Our actions today demonstrate our strong support for this political and economic progress," he said in a statement.
A senior US administration official said the election of a civilian government was "an objective long sought-after" by the sanctions policy.
The new actions remove restrictions on regular trade and financial activities of Americans living in Myanmar, also called by its former name Burma.
They also remove from the sanctions blacklist three banks, making it legal for Americans to do business with any bank in the country.
And seven state enterprises previously blacklisted for being part of the former milliary regime are being delisted mostly because they are now reporting to civilian ministries under the new government, the Treasury said.
The actions will remove tough constraints on Americans wanting to invest and trade in the resource-rich Southeast Asian country.
"These steps will help to facilitate trade with non-sanctioned businesses and, in turn, help the people and government of Burma achieve a more inclusive and prosperous future," said Szubin.
The Treasury left in place sanctions on a number of individuals especially associated with the previous regime, and businesses, including some gem miners.
It also said that Myanmar business tycoon Steven Law, whose late father Lo Hsing Han was a notorious heroin trafficker, remains blacklisted since 2008 along with companies in his huge Asia World business group.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The United States and the European Union are protesting a UN decision to bar at least 20 non-governmental groups from taking part in a major AIDS conference next month.
US Ambassador Samantha Power said the NGOs taken off the list of participants "appear to have been chosen for their involvement in LGBTI, transgender or youth advocacy."
In a letter to UN General Assembly president Mogens Lykketoft, Power requested that these groups, including the US-based Global Action for Trans Equality, be allowed to take part in the June 8-10 high-level meeting on HIV/AIDS.
European Union Ambassador Joao Vale de Almeida said the NGOs had been struck from the list following objections from member states and requested information on which countries opposed their presence.
One of the European NGOs that has been barred from taking part is the Eurasian Coalition on Male Health, based in Estonia, which has been vocal on gay rights in Russia and other former Soviet republics.
Egypt requested that 11 groups be barred from attending the AIDS conference, in a request sent on behalf of 51 countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), according to a letter seen by AFP on Tuesday.
Aside from the Estonian and US gay activist groups, Egypt objected to the participation of Ishtar Men Who Have Sex With Men group from Kenya and the Asia Pacific Transgender Network from Thailand.
The list cited groups from Egypt, Guyana, Jamaica, Peru, Ukraine as well as African Men for Sexual Health and Rights, a coalition of 18 LGBT groups across Africa.
The EU ambassador wrote in his letter sent last week that changes to an initial list of delegations were made without consulting member states.
"Given that transgender people are 49 times more likely to be living with HIV than the general population, their exclusion from the high-level meeting will only impede global progress in combatting the HIV/AIDS pandemic and achieving the goal of an AIDS-free generation," Power wrote in her letter.
The high-level meeting is aimed at fast-tracking measures to end the HIV epidemic by 2030.
Washington (AFP) - The US Senate approved legislation that would allow September 11 victims and their relatives to sue Saudi Arabia over its possible role in the 2001 attacks, a bill which could trigger a diplomatic firestorm.
Senators unanimously approved the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act which now heads to the House of Representatives, where Speaker Paul Ryan has voiced reservations.
The White House has repeatedly stated that President Barack Obama, who visited the kingdom in April in a bid to soothe strained ties, opposes the law because it would essentially waive the doctrine of sovereign immunity.
"This legislation would change long-standing, international law regarding sovereign immunity. And the president of the United States continues to harbor serious concerns that this legislation would make the United States vulnerable in other court systems around the world," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
He explained that the United States was more engaged internationally "than any other country in the world," particularly in peacekeeping and humanitarian operations.
Undermining immunity, he said, would put Americans working abroad at risk.
The bill would allow 9/11 families to pursue cases in federal court against foreign governments, notably Saudi Arabia, and demand compensation if such governments are proven to bear some responsibility for the attacks.
Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi citizens. But no official Saudi complicity in the Al-Qaeda attacks has been proven, and the kingdom has never been formally implicated.
In February Zacarias Moussaoui, dubbed the 20th hijacker, told US lawyers that members of the Saudi royal family donated millions of dollars to Al-Qaeda in the 1990s.
The Saudi Embassy denied Moussaoui's claims. But his accusations revived debate over whether the Obama administration should release a still-classified 28-page section of the 9/11 Commission Report.
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The New York Times reported last month that Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told lawmakers in Washington that the kingdom would be forced to sell up to $750 billion in treasury securities and other assets in the United States to avoid having them frozen by federal courts.
House Speaker Ryan, a Republican, has expressed hesitation about bringing the bill to the floor for a vote.
"I think we need to review it to make sure that, that we're not making mistakes with our allies," he told reporters in April.
The two Democratic presidential candidates, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders, have expressed support for the bill, whose main sponsors are Democrat Chuck Schumer and his Republican colleague John Cornyn.
Washington (AFP) - The head of the Organization of American States accused Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro of betraying his people Wednesday, and warned he will become a "petty dictator" if he impedes a recall referendum this year.
"To deny the people that vote, to deny them the possibility of deciding, would make you just another petty dictator, like so many this Hemisphere has had," OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro wrote in an open letter, according to an official English translation.
Almagro's scathing denunciation came a day after Maduro declared that an opposition-backed bid to hold a vote this year on whether he should remain in office was "not viable."
The OPEC country, which has the world's largest oil reserves, is mired in a deepening political and economic crisis, beset by shortages of food and medicine, soaring inflation and rampant crime.
The opposition, which has raised 1.8 million signatures in support of the recall election, has accused the government of delaying tactics aimed at preventing a vote from being held.
An opposition march Wednesday on the headquarters of the country's National Election Council to press demands for the referendum was blocked by dozens of riot police.
"I hope that no one commits the folly of carrying out a coup detat against you, but also that you yourself do not do so," Almagro said.
"You have an obligation to public decency to hold the recall referendum in 2016, because when politics are polarized the decision must go back to the people. That is what the Constitution says."
Responding to accusations Maduro made against him, the Uruguayan diplomat turned them against the Venezuelan president.
"You betray your people and your supposed ideology with your rambling tirades, you are a traitor to ethics in politics with your lies and you betray the most sacred principle in politics, which is to subject yourself to the scrutiny of your people."
Destin Cramer and Noah Rice place a sticker on the door at the opening of a gender-neutral bathroom at Nathan Hale High School in Seattle, on May 17, 2016. (Photo: Elaine Thompson/AP)
High school students in rural Vermont are at odds with a new school policy that permits transgender students to use the bathroom of their choosing.
The superintendent at Green Mountain Union High School announced the new policy last week after complaints about transgender student A.J. Jacksons use of the boys bathroom sparked protests, according to the New York Times. Classmates argued that Jackson, who identifies as male, should be free to use the same bathroom as his fellow male students. Amid heated national dialogue over the transgender bathroom issue, one day after Green Mountains policy was announced, President Obama issued a similar directive to all public schools in the U.S., mandating that transgender students be allowed to choose which bathroom they use.
The new policy, however, has since resulted in counterprotests from students who feel that their opinions are being overshadowed by the demands of a small minority.
Its like me going into a girls bathroom wearing a wig, 15-year-old Tanner Bischofberger, who disagrees with the schools policy, told the Times. Its just weird.
Bischofberger was one of several students at Green Mountain this week who sported a T-shirt with the words Straight Pride printed beneath the male and female stick figures typically used to demarcate public bathrooms.
Jackson, who was born female, says he realized in sixth grade that he actually identified as male. But, he told the Times, hed only been using the boys bathroom for less than a month when someone made an anonymous complaint.
I use a stall, and I wait till everybodys gone to get up and leave, Jackson told the Times. The guys, they look at me like Im some kind of freak, or theyre concerned or scared.
The tensions unfolding at Green Mountain are just a part of the ongoing fallout from North Carolinas controversial House Bill 2. Better known as the Bathroom Bill, since its passage this March, HB2 has sparked nationwide debate over the rights of transgender individuals and whether states can regulate who goes to the bathroom where.
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On the one hand, North Carolina has been the subject of backlash from the bills opponents, including a number of major corporations, musicians, Hollywood producers, and the federal government. But, recently, supporters of the controversial legislation have also been taking a stand throughout the country, boycotting businesses like Target for implementing their own, inclusive bathroom policies and even calling out people whom they (often incorrectly) perceive to be transgender.
As the Times notes in its story, the debate at Green Mountain could serve as a microcosm for how the rest of the country is responding to the transgender bathroom question.
As we move forward as a community, there has to be compassion on both sides, Deb Brown, a mother of one of Jacksons classmates and a member of the Green Mountain school board, told the paper. He needs to understand that this has been 15 years that students have known him one way. Its obviously his choice, but maybe he should have respect for his classmates right now.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks on as Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena (L) adjusts his earphones during a seminar at the Simhastha Kumbh Mela in Ujjain, India, May 14, 2016. REUTERS/Jitendra Prakash
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka will cancel plans for a 500 megawatt Indian-built coal-fired power plant at its strategic eastern port city of Trincomalee and will instead opt for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plant, a cabinet minister said late on Tuesday.
Chandima Weerakkody, Sri Lanka's petroleum minister, said President Maithripala Sirisena told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the decision at a meeting on Saturday during Sirisena's visit to the island nation's larger neighbour.
"We do not want to hurt India. So President Sirisena in his visit has offered an LNG plant instead of the coal plant," Weerakkody told Reuters. "This has been discussed at the highest level and there is consensus."
Sri Lanka is trying to increase its power generation capacity after a recent blackout that was the worst in 20 years, government officials say.
B.M.S. Batagoda, the energy ministry secretary said the switch to LNG was proposed after ten years of opposition to a coal-fired power plant by the residents of Sampur, a village near Trincomalee, where India has already proposed to build South Asia's largest petroleum hub.
Area residents and environmental groups have resisted the coal power plant ever since it was originally proposed in 2006 due to worries about land clearance and pollution.
Plans for the $500 million coal power plant project were finalised in 2011, when state-run Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and India's state-run National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC) agreed to form a joint venture for its construction.
It is not clear which Indian companies would be considered as partners on the proposal to build a gas-fired power plant. Natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel than coal, but there would be the added hurdle that Sri Lanka has no LNG import infrastructure.
Sri Lanka's only coal-fired power plant with 900 MW capacity was built with a $1.4 billion loan from China in two phases. However, the Chinese plant has faced frequent repairs.
India and China have been increasingly loaning funds to Sri Lanka over the last few years, mainly for infrastructure projects. Since the island's civil war ended in 2009, the two rivals have been competing for influence in Sri Lanka, which sits right off one of the world's busiest shipping routes.
(Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Tom Hogue)
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Vietnamese Facebook users had problems accessing the popular social network over the past weekend, apparently due to an ongoing protest that the government has been trying to suppress.
For the past two weekends in a row, hundreds of people have been protesting in Vietnam's two major cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, as well as in smaller cities like Nha Trang, Vung Tau and Da Nang.
The protests were prompted by millions of dead fish washing up on its shores since April which local media and protesters have blamed on Formosa Plastics, a Taiwanese firm.
SEE ALSO: WhatsApp is blocked in Brazil again
Image: AFP/Getty Images
Formosa has denied responsibility. Vietnam's environment minister admitted the company had an illegal waste pipe at one of its steel plants in Vietnam, and was ordered to dig it up. He said the pipe hasn't conclusively been linked to the fish deaths, but protesters are seeing red over the firm.
Image: HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/Getty Images
So over the weekend, when protesters were expected to rally for the third time, Facebook was inaccessible to locals, who had been using the platform to organise.
People also had problems accessing Facebook's Instagram service.
Israeli VPN service Hola posted a statement saying it saw a surge of about 200,000 users from Vietnam on its system over the weekend, using it to access Facebook.
Despite the block, rallies still continued, albeit in smaller numbers than in previous weeks, according to blogs. Protesters were also rounded up by the police.
Dead fish continue to float up in the rivers, according to the latest reports. On Tuesday morning, a major canal in Ho Chi Minh City was filled with dead fish. Authorities say 70 metric tons of fish have been retrieved in the 8.7 km Nhieu LocThi Nghe canal alone so far since April.
The director of the agriculture department, Nguyen Phuoc Trung, told reporters the fish were killed by polluted water in the canal.
But this has happened in 2015 and 2014's May rainy seasons in the polluted canal. Nhieu LocThi Nghe is connected to a sewage system that discharges wastewater into it, and is often stagnant.
We've reached out to Facebook for comment.
By Matt Gooderick
CANNES, France (Reuters) - Virtual reality movie-making is taking flight at this year's Cannes Film Festival alongside traditional film offerings.
A pavilion is dedicated to the immersive technology, with virtual reality film screenings and discussions as part of the festival's tandem Marche du Film sessions.
Among those showing virtual reality films -- all short productions for which viewers must don a headset -- is "Madagascar" co-director Eric Darnell, whose six-minute "Invasion!" tells the story of a mythical world invaded by aliens then outsmarted by a rabbit.
"It's not in my mind just an extension of cinema, it is its own thing and we have to discover so much about what are the tools in our toolbox," Darnell told Reuters.
"It really is just a brand new language."
Another virtual reality film showing in Cannes is "Giant", whose director Milica Zec says the immersive experience means audiences can choose where they look and what they see.
"You have to think that now you have 360 degrees that you have to cover," she said. "When you have a regular standard film, the screen is in front of you but here it feels like you're inside of the screen as a viewer."
Zec and Darnell agree the technology still has a long way to go but virtual reality films will one day become the norm.
However, not everyone is a fan. Director Steven Spielberg said such movies will "take hold in a profound way" but said it was "a dangerous medium".
"The only reason I say it is dangerous is because it gives the viewer a lot of latitude not to take direction from the storytellers but make their own choices of where to look," he said in an interview.
"I just hope it doesn't forget the story when it starts enveloping us in a world that we can see all around us and make our own choices of what to look at."
In other signs that Cannes is embracing the new this year, it has also partly opened the door for streaming video giants, allowing Amazon (AMZN.O) to make its debut. It kicked off with Woody Allen's 'Cafe Society', one of five Amazon films selected.
(Reporting By Matt Gooderick in Cannes, Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) senior managers agree with many of the criticisms made by British hedge fund TCI about the performance of Europe's largest carmaker, according to a letter seen by Reuters.
In a letter sent by Volkswagen Chief Financial Officer Frank Witter on May 17, addressed to Sir Chris Hohn, Europe's largest carmaker responded to criticism that it was in need of a performance hike and a new governance structure.
"The Volkswagen Group always welcomes constructive dialogue with its investors and we appreciate that you have taken the time to set out your views," a copy of the letter, seen by Reuters said.
Volkswagen told TCI that the reforms made in the wake of its diesel emissions testing scandal were dragging on.
"We are all frustrated at the time this is taking," the letter said.
Volkswagen has however made significant progress implementing a new structure for the company and the VW brand.
"In particular we would like to highlight the introduction of product line management where the best ideas from Porsche are being introduced into the engineering processes of the Volkswagen brand," the letter said.
Management incentives and bonuses would also be looked at as part of a process of devising a new strategy 2025 which is due to be unveiled before summer.
(Reporting by Jan Schwartz, writing by Edward Taylor; Editing by Harro ten Wolde)
From Esquire
As we mentioned earlier on Tuesday, Oregon has pushed back against the national momentum by making it easier for Oregonian voters to cast a ballot. Back in the day, Oregon and Wisconsin often were partners in the Progressive Era reforms that mitigated the damage of our previous Gilded Age. In fact, during Wisconsin Senator Bob LaFollette's epic 1916 filibuster against Woodrow Wilson's Armed Ships Bill, when a Kentucky senator named Ollie James rushed at LaFollette while packing a sidearm, Oregon's Harry Lane jumped between them, brandishing a sharpened rat-tail file.
Guns and shanks in the Senate! Them was the days.
Anyway, that was then and this is now, and Scott Walker, the goggle-eyed homunculus hired by Koch Industries to manage their Midwest subsidiary formerly known as the state of Wisconsin, has conspired with his pet state legislature to make it harder for Wisconsinites to vote. There are people who have taken Wisconsin's voter suppression laws to federal court. The trial opened on Monday. Per the Capital Times, a former Republican legislative staffer turned the kitty loose from the burlap.
Todd Allbaugh, who served as chief of staff to then-Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, when the state's voter ID law was passed in 2011, said there initially wasn't much enthusiasm among Senate Republicans to pass the bill. Sen. Mary Lazich, R-New Berlin, argued on the bill's behalf to her colleagues in a closed caucus meeting, Allbaugh testified. "She got up out of her chair and she hit her finger on the table and said, 'Hey, we've got to think about what this could mean for the neighborhoods around Milwaukee and the college campuses around the state,'" Allbaugh said. Schultz, who did not seek re-election in 2014, voiced some opposition to the bill and what it might do to voting rights, Allbaugh said. His opposition was met by a spirited defense from then-Sen. Glenn Grothman, now a member of Congress. "At that point, Sen. Grothman cut him off and said, 'What I'm concerned about is winning. You know as well as I do the Democrats would do this if they had power so we better get this done while we have the opportunity,'" Allbaugh said. Allbaugh said Sen. Leah Vukmir, R-Wauwatosa, and then-Sen. Randy Hopper, R-Fond du Lac, were "giddy" and "politically frothing at the mouth" over the bill.
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This self-evident truth, I remind you, was hallowed by oath. Grothman, by the way, is a thoroughgoing fool who now is a United States Congressman, where he is now allowed to be a thoroughgoing national fool. To belabor the historical obvious, contra Grothman, the Democratic Party "had the power" to do this several times in the past century, and they didn't do it. The stupid is strong with this one. As the years have gone by, and especially since John Roberts declared the Day of Jubilee, the people pushing these laws have become far more open about the purpose of the new regime of election laws.
It is about keeping the people you don't want to have voting away from voting. Period.
Click here to respond to this post on the official Esquire Politics Facebook page.
Novlette Haughton woke up before the sun started rising over Baltimore.
She put on jeans and a beige T-shirt. Tattoos of her sons' names peeked out from under her sleeves as she collected her phone and Bluetooth headset. It was almost time for the 39-year-old to catch the bus for her hour-long trek across town for work.
Tuesday is payday at a business neighbouring Cafe Lorraine, the breakfast and lunch spot she manages. That means a rush of customers treating themselves to omelettes, burgers, and homemade chilli. As usual, she braced herself for a busy day behind the yellow-accented counter. "Cafe Lorraine: Cozy Place. Affordable + Delicious," a sign inside boasts.
But this Tuesday was different. For the first time in her life, Haughton was going to engage in one of the most fundamental aspects of American democracy: voting. Haughton spent a third of her life in prison. Despite having done her time, she wasn't able to cast a ballot after her release because she was a convicted felon on parole. But all that changed this year.
Im excited, she said as she rode back across the city during the mid-morning lull in business, so she could cast a ballot at her neighbourhood polling place. "Never been before, so it holds a lot of anxiety, nervousness, newness, and excitement."
Haughton is one of an estimated 40,000 felony offenders on probation or parole who won back the right to vote in the state of Maryland just weeks ahead of the states April 26 primary election this year. She registered to vote using a link she found on Facebook with her sister's help.
Its allowing me to get one step closer to feeling normal, Houghton said. I pay taxes, now Im allowed to vote, next Im going to be a homeowner. Now that Im able to [vote], I feel that Im contributing.
The change in Maryland delivered when state legislators rallied to override a veto by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is one of several major victories scored recently by advocates fighting to end voter disenfranchisement based on criminal records. Virginia followed suit in late April, when Gov. Terry McAuliffe issued a sweeping executive order restoring the right to vote for an estimated 200,000 people. The restrictions there had been in place for 150 years.
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But the battle is far from over. An estimated 5.85 million people nationwide were barred from voting because of criminal records as of the start of 2016, according to The Sentencing Project. The group's executive director estimates that 10% of those ex-offenders more than 500,000 are women. Eleven states allow prohibitions on voting even after completion of probation or parole. Just two Vermont and Maine allow voting while incarcerated on felony charges.
Its fundamentally a question of democracy, Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project, told Refinery29. When we talk about who gets to participate in our democracy, its a messy process, but fundamentally, everyone has the right to vote, to engage. While people are going to be punished for the crimes they are convicted of, we dont typically take away someones fundamental rights of citizenship.
We have to restore faith in the system. I think theres a lot of people who think the system is completely broken.
Haughton went to prison when she was 21, sentenced to 50 years for second-degree murder and gun charges. She grew up with no shortage of opportunities, she said, attending private school and going on exciting trips, but family problems pushed her away from her home in Brooklyn and toward a series of bad choices. She started selling drugs, travelling up and down the I-95 corridor that runs through New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Then a man was killed in the Cherry Hill neighbourhood of Baltimore. Haughton was implicated and convicted of the crime, which she maintains she didnt commit.
For the next 13 years, Houghton watched the world change from inside the walls of the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women, the Jessup facility where she said 144 female inmates were crammed into a unit with just 27 windows. The U.S. invaded Iraq. Her sons grew into young men. Hit shows, like The Office and Breaking Bad, premiered and wrapped. America elected its first Black president, and then re-elected him to a second term.
Then, in 2014, a new attorney successfully petitioned for Haughton's sentence to be modified. She was released in Baltimore, thousands of miles from her sons, who had since moved to Florida with their dad. She had nowhere to live, no job, no credit. And she was still relegated to the sidelines of democracy. It left her feeling less than human.
You told me I was a returning citizen, she lamented, frustration in her typically bubbly voice. I should be treated with the same equality as any other citizen. But that wasnt the case.
Novlette Haughton closes out the register at Cafe Lorraine. Photographed by Chandler West.
People who are convicted of serious crimes have long been denied equal access to voting booths. The concept of disenfranchisement based on criminal records dates back to ancient Greece, as the National Conference of State Legislatures notes.
The practice began in what is now America after English colonists brought to the continent parts of a crime-and-punishment approach called "civil death," which continued in some places after the American Revolution, NCSL explains. But a number of states enacted felony disenfranchisement laws following the Civil War. Those policies were clearly designed to keep Black voters from the polls, according to Susan Greenbaum, a professor emerita at the University of South Florida.
The way the criminal justice system operated in the South after the Civil War was a self-conscious re-enslavement process, Greenbaum told Refinery29. There were vastly disparate rules for the kind of crimes they would charge Black people with versus white people.
The laws have continued to disproportionately affect the Black community. Today, 1 in 13 Black Americans of voting age have lost the right to cast a ballot because of a felony conviction, according to The Sentencing Project. The rate for white Americans is 1 in 56.
It is a really difficult legacy, and it has huge effects, Greenbaum said.
Supporters of keeping restrictions in place for convicted felons say the policy isnt about race its about upholding consequences for breaking the law.
It was like somebody stole my bike and I got it back again and now I can ride it. Thats what it felt like.
"These are people who have destroyed other people's lives," Maryland Delegate Chris West, a Republican who opposed the change in law there, said at the time of the debate. There are certainly things that facilitate re-entry into society. Voting is not one of them. It's something that takes place on one day once every two years. This is something that should be a reward."
But advocates say restoring the right to vote for people like Houghton is an important part of the re-entry process for ex-offenders. Some research has shown that voting can decrease recidivism rates. And voting can give residents in historically disadvantaged areas, including poor and minority communities, more political power to demand that local, state, and federal officials address the issues impacting their lives.
Voting gives me the ability to decide how money is spent in my city and state, Nicole Hanson, an ex-offender who advocated for the change in law in Maryland, told Refinery29. Voting gives you the ability to hire and fire individuals who are not doing their job.
Hanson, 33, served a short sentence after she was convicted of felony theft and was devastated when she missed out on the opportunity to bring her daughter to the polls to vote for Barack Obama in 2012.
Now, shes hoping to make a difference by working to get other ex-offenders involved in pushing for change through politics, including better support for the offender community and police reform in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray.
We have very strong advocates who are in Annapolis every day educating legislators, rallying the people, emailing, phone-banking, and doing whatever it takes to get the message out, she said. As long as we have individuals like that, groups like that, things will change.
Perry Hopkins of Communities United set up tables outside of busy transportation hubs in hopes of registering more ex-felony offenders to vote. Photographed by Chandler West.
In places like Baltimore, where an estimated 20,000 residents on probation or parole couldnt vote because of their past convictions, it can have a big impact.
They could actually, as a voting bloc, be one of the single largest voting blocs in the city forcing change around issues important to them, DeRay Mckesson, a prominent Black Lives Matter activist who ran unsuccessfully for mayor, told Refinery29 ahead of the primary.
But getting former felons registered and to the polls isnt easy, even once laws have been updated. Efforts like the Hip Hop Caucus Respect My Vote! campaign are working across the country to spread awareness of the various laws. The group, which enlists rappers like 2 Chainz and Charlamagne as spokespeople, registered more than 30,000 people in 2008. Half the battle, they said, is persuading people to put their trust in politics again.
We have to restore faith in the system, said Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., who leads the campaign. I think theres a lot of people who think the system is completely broken.
In Baltimore, the local get-out-the-felon-vote effort was led in part by Maryland Communities United. For weeks, the nonprofit set up voter registration tables at busy intersections, including the Penn North Light Rail stop, adding more than 1,000 voters to the polls. They created a platform of political demands from the ex-offender community, and staged a forum where newly registered voters could ask questions of candidates for mayor. Like Houghton, many of the ex-offenders in attendance expressed frustration about the difficulties they faced in finding housing and jobs post-release.
What are we going to do about housing for ex-offenders that come out of prison and have nowhere to go?" one man asked.
Nationwide, an estimated 5.8 million people will be barred from voting in this year's presidential elections because of their felony records.
One goal of that forum was to energise those new voters to actually cast a ballot, according to Perry Hopkins, a Communities United field organiser. Hopkins said he witnessed the change that came with casting a ballot firsthand when he visited polling sites in the communities he had been working with. He saw "a different person coming out after having made their vote" than had gone in.
And he could relate. Hopkins, a youthful 55, voted for the first time in the primary election, too.
When I went in there and filled out that paper, I felt completely, completely vindicated, he said. It was like somebody stole my bike and I got it back again and now I can ride it. Thats what it felt like.
Over decades of run-ins with the law, Hopkins was barred from city, state, and national elections.
Due to my past, some mistakes that I made, some bad choices that I made, Ive been punished, he said. But me going in there, feeling like everybody else, knowing that I did something to participate in the process thats going to matter, not only for my life, but in this community, was empowering. I felt like the scales are closer to being levelled again in my life as a citizen.
Houghton also feels like voting is the latest step in her journey toward normalcy. After running into initial struggles finding a job, she found work at Cafe Lorraine through a roundtable run by Alternative Directions, a re-entry support program she worked with post-release. Shes now been at the cafe for several months, earning the managers trust to open and close. Shes in the process of completing an associate degree, with plans to pursue a bachelor's in criminal justice. She said she just got a scholarship to help pay for books and other expenses next year.
As she walked outside the red brick church where she was registered to vote, Haughton burst into smiles and laughter. She peeled off the back of her I Voted sticker and stuck it on her shirt. She had to get back to the cafe before the midday rush, but she planned to call her son during her lunch break to tell him what shed done.
I feel accomplished, she said. I am going to vote every opportunity I get. November 2016 is my next time voting.
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Wall Street headed higher after a sluggish start to the day. All three major averages (^DJI, ^GSPC, ^IXIC) bounced back into the plus column in early trading, with financial shares leading the advance as investors await the release of the Fed minutes this afternoon for any clues of a June interest rate hike.
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Military training has become a centerpiece of Western counterterrorism and state-building efforts around the world. From Tunisia and Mali to Afghanistan and Iraq, U.S. and U.K. personnel are hard at work to professionalize national armed forces and develop specialist counterterrorism units. The thinking is straightforward: an effective military can bolster a troubled state, allow its institutions to function, and secure its countryside to facilitate economic regeneration.
The track record of these programs has been patchy at best, but few have been as disastrous as in Yemen. Eight years of Western training not only failed to build a military that could defend the state, but led to a myopic focus on counterterrorism that accelerated its implosion. The mistakes made in Yemen where military trainers were deployed without consideration for local political dynamics provide a clear demonstration of the unintended consequences of a military-centric approach to the war on terror. Throughout the period of U.S. and U.K. military assistance to Yemen, al Qaeda expanded both its territory and membership year on year.
The initial battle against al Qaeda in Yemen was remarkably successful. Between 2001 and 2005, U.K. and U.S. special forces, in conjunction with the Yemeni government, rapidly shut down jihadist training camps and imprisoned al Qaeda leaders. Deeming the mission accomplished, policymakers in Washington and London severely curtailed military assistance to Yemen, and turned their attention to democratization. This infuriated President Saleh, who lost access to considerable funds and opportunities for patronage. Then, in 2006, 23 senior al Qaeda militants escaped from a Yemeni jail. Al Qaeda had returned and with it came renewed Western military aid.
The response set the worst possible precedent. It effectively tied millions of dollars in aid and the corresponding support for President Saleh not to al Qaedas elimination, but to its continued presence. From that moment, Yemeni efforts to confront the insurgency lost their previous vigor.
I went in thinking that we had a reasonable partnership with the government of Ali Abdullah Saleh, explained Stephen Seche, U.S. Ambassador to Yemen from 2007-2010. He was an extraordinary manipulator. He was continuously sounding the alarm, [warning] that al Qaeda was encroaching further in territory that was thought to be secured. That captured the imagination of CIA and Department of Defense officials who would go back to Washington with a firm determination to provide more assistance, more training.
Britain deployed a training team to the capital of Sanaa to work alongside Yemens paramilitary Central Security Forces (CSF), and another team to Aden to mentor the coast guard. U.S. trainers were responsible for the Yemeni army and special forces.
The training program was comprehensive, covering weapons skills, logistics, intelligence procedures, and urban and desert warfare maneuvers. We brought it back to first principles, one of the British trainers told us. We started teaching them our targeting cycle: find, fix, finish, exploit and analyze.
Under British guidance, the CSF set up a Counterterrorism Unit (CTU) and an Intelligence Fusion Center, recruiting the first female section in the Yemeni military to track down al Qaeda fixers and facilitators.
But as the unit expanded, the number of missions undertaken was cut back to around two per month, baffling Western officials. There was a real reluctance to use them. I never got to the bottom of why, one officer recalled.
The reason was twofold. In the first place, eradicating al Qaeda would have removed the justification for these units existence. The second reason was that the government lacked the political capital to conduct extensive operations across the rural hinterland without coming into conflict with Yemens tribal groups, which locally hold much of the political power.
They very sporadically deployed to some of these sensitive regions and then came back without any permanent presence established, said Seche.
The coalition between extremist groups and tribal units made it difficult to fight the terrorists, said Colonel Yahya Saleh, nephew of then-President Saleh, who commanded the CSF until 2012. Some tribes sympathized with the terrorists.
Tribal sympathies not only caused the tribes to oppose the Yemeni military but also caused problems within the CSF. As soon as they knew they were going [on an operation], the members of the Counterterrorism Unit who had family connections with the target were already on the phone to tell them that they were being scrambled, one British soldier recalled. So when the CSF actually got there, the target had done a runner!
Frustrated by the reluctance of Yemeni units to confront al Qaeda, U.S. and British forces began to conduct their own operations. Initially these were highly secretive. As soon as theyd done the hit, explained a British soldier involved in the operations, theyd scramble the [Yemeni] Counterterrorism Unit, whod turn up and claim the kill.
Eventually they moved to more overt intervention. Colonel Saleh said that the limitations of the CSF meant the Yemeni government had to work with the American drone program. But this further alienated tribal groups from the central government, and strengthened al Qaedas claim to be fighting on the behalf of local people.
There were mistakes that killed civilians and there was no excuse for them. Al Qaeda would exploit these to recruit angry people, said Colonel Saleh. It got out of control, which provoked religious groups to oppose the state and helped to spread extremism.
It was hoped that humanitarian aid would win over key constituencies. The U.K.s Department for International Development funded irrigation, Germany worked on archaeological sites to boost tourism, and USAID had a wide-ranging portfolio of projects. But as al Qaeda began to take hostages, many of these programs were stopped, and the rest were relegated to a lower priority than counterterrorism, as it was felt that little could be done so long as it was unsafe for aid workers to leave the capital. We just found that there was a non-permissive environment, making it difficult for us to move into areas where the development needs were the greatest, said Seche.
A senior Yemeni diplomat, who wanted to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of ongoing negotiations, noted how tribes would occasionally stir up trouble to get attention from the government to build roads, schools or irrigation. What they increasingly received instead were air strikes.
The myopic focus on counterterrorism blinded Western officials to Yemens real crisis, which was first and foremost political. Al Qaeda had a foothold because it was sheltered by tribal groups hostile to the government, not because it was in itself powerful enough to oppose government forces.
For years, President Saleh had been amassing political power for himself, his family, and his allies. Western military training programs only extended this power, allowing him to attack his enemies more forcefully and thus engendering fiercer opposition. Saleh loyalists were trained at Sandhurst and other Western military academies and given command of units including the CSF and the National Security Bureau, Yemens main intelligence agency. Salehs family members held these positions before 2006, but by making Western training a benchmark for promotion to senior ranks, and selecting Salehs allies to participate, the training programs entrenched their position. As a result, key posts went to people who had the least interest in addressing Yemens imbalance of power and resources.
When the Arab Spring swept through Yemen in 2011, threatening Salehs 34-year rule, the political loyalties of the Western-trained officers became all too apparent the British-trained and equipped Public Order Battalion, a subunit of the CSF, set about assaulting demonstrators with gusto. Although British trainers had emphasized rules of engagement and human rights law, and tried to train the CSF to control rather than to confront crowds, this advice was politely received and rejected.
Eventually, some military units began to take up the cause of the demonstrators. Alarmed at the deteriorating security situation, the British and the Americans encouraged Saleh to agree to a deal negotiated by the Gulf Cooperation Council in which he would leave office, so long as he could stay in Yemen. In February 2012 the former vice president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, took power at the head of a transitional government.
That government was riven by infighting within Yemens military and political elite, even as it presided over an economic catastrophe. Senior officers were chased from their posts, opportunities to dismiss Saleh loyalists were taken, and clashes broke out between different units of the Yemeni military. But at a time when the government was most in need of good relations and support from tribal groups, 2012 saw a massive escalation in the Western campaign of direct strikes against al Qaeda, which led to a rapidly growing list of civilian casualties.
Western efforts in Yemen remained tightly focused on counterterrorism. Few resources were reallocated from the counterterrorism program to supporting the political transition. Stephen Seche, by then back in Washington, noted how there were fires running all over the region from Tunisia to Libya, to Egypt, to Syria and if there was any prospect of a process in Yemen not requiring the fire brigades to go rushing in, we would say fine, let the Yemenis sort this out.
What emerged the U.N.-led National Dialogue Conference achieved little in terms of distributing power or mending the rift between the government and tribal groups. Shortly afterwards, the Houthis, a Zaydi Shia political movement, went into revolt, supported by tribes allied to former President Saleh. In September 2014, they drove the government from the capital, precipitating the collapse of the Yemeni state.
Throughout this period, CSF personnel who were highly skilled and well equipped, having been drilled for eight years by U.K. and U.S. trainers remained in their barracks, entirely impotent. They were unable to act, not because they could not fight, or lacked weapons, but because it was politically impossible to deploy them, as their command was divided between Yemens vying political factions.
Washington and London had sought to increase training and assistance to the bitter end, but without political reform, it had been rendered entirely useless. Today, al Qaeda is in direct control of a large swathe of southern Yemen and is no longer entirely dependent on its tribal allies.
The futility of the Western training program is reflected in the bitter recollection of some British personnel who took part. One lamented the fact that most of the guys we were mentoring are dead now. There are two who I know are working for Yemeni headquarters in Saudi, but the rest of them are dead.
What happened in Yemen, explained another British official, was just a lot of money spent, a lot of time wasted, and nothing whatsoever was achieved.
In the photo, members of Yemens counterterrorism unit train in a suburb of Sanaa on July 7, 2007.
Photo credit: KHALED FAZAA/AFP/Getty Images
CBS has released the trailers for the new shows debuting during the networks 2016-17 season, including the upcoming revival of Star Trek. The first look teaser for the sci-fi series had no footage, but promised new crews, new villains, new heroes, new worlds.
Though the logo simply says Star Trek, Variety has learned that the series will have a more specific title to be unveiled at a later date. Later installments in the Star Trek television franchise had titles that differentiated them from the original series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise.
CBS also unveiled promos for the remakes of MacGyver and Training Day, and new comedies starring Kevin James and Matt LeBlanc, among others.
Check out the videos for the new series below.
Star Trek
FALL DRAMAS:
MacGyver, a reimagining of the classic series, is an action-adventure drama about 20-something Angus Mac MacGyver (Lucas Till) who creates a clandestine organization within the U.S. government where he uses his extraordinary talent for unconventional problem solving and vast scientific knowledge to save lives. Joining his team on high-risk missions around the globe is maverick former CIA agent Lincoln (George Eads). Under the aegis of the Department of External Affairs, MacGyver takes on the responsibility of saving the world, armed to the teeth with resourcefulness and little more than bubble gum and a paper clip. Peter Lenkov, Golden Globe Award winner Henry Winkler, Lee Zlotoff, James Wan and Michael Clear are executive producers for CBS Television Studios in association with Lionsgate.
Bull stars NCIS alum Michael Weatherly as Dr. Jason Bull in a drama inspired by the early career of Dr. Phil McGraw, the founder of one of the most prolific trial consulting firms of all time. Brilliant, brash and charming, Dr. Bull is the ultimate puppet master as he combines psychology, human intuition and high tech data to learn what makes jurors, attorneys, witnesses and the accused tick. Bull employs an enviable team of experts at Trial Analysis Corporation to shape successful narratives down to the very last detail. They include his quick-witted brother-in-law, Benny Colon (Freddy Rodriguez), who plays a defense attorney in mock trials; Marissa Morgan (Geneva Carr), a cutting-edge neurolinguistics expert from the Department of Homeland Security; former NYPD detective Danny James (Jaime Lee Kirchner), the firms tough but relatable investigator; haughty millennial hacker Cable McCrory (Annabelle Attanasio), who is responsible for gathering cyber intelligence; and Chunk Palmer (Chris Jackson), a fashion-conscious stylist and former All-American lineman who fine tunes clients appearances for trial. In high-stakes trials, Bulls combination of remarkable insight into human nature, three Ph.D.s and a top-notch staff creates winning strategies that tip the scales of justice in his clients favor. Paul Attanasio, Dr. Phillip C. McGraw, Steven Spielberg, Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank, Jay McGraw, Mark Goffman and Rodrigo Garcia are executive producers for CBS Television Studios. Garcia directed the pilot.
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Pure Genius is a cutting-edge medical drama about a young Silicon Valley tech titan who enlists an exceptional veteran surgeon with a controversial past to run a state-of-the-art hospital with an ultramodern approach to medicine. Billionaire genius James Bell (Augustus Prew) built Bunker Hill Hospital determined to revolutionize healthcare and treat the rarest and most challenging medical mysteries, at no charge. Bell persuades maverick surgeon Dr. Walter Wallace (Dermot Mulroney) to be his Chief of Staff, who believed medicine is a human endeavor, not technological, until a eureka moment at the hospital convinced him otherwise. Bells team of trailblazers includes Dr. Zoe Brockett (Odette Annable), an exceptional, fearlessly frank physician; Dr. Talaikha Channarayapatra (Reshma Shetty), an idealistic, maddeningly literal neurosurgeon who believes the hospital is a beacon for change; Dr. Malik Verlaine (Aaron Jennings), a former gangbanger now spearheading efforts to provide 24/7 health monitoring in poor neighborhoods via computer; Dr. Scott Strauss (Ward Horton), an intense neurologist with an Ivy league pedigree; and Angie Cheng (Brenda Song), an enthusiastic 3-D printer programming whiz. At Bunker Hill, Bell pairs the most brilliant minds in medicine with the most forward thinkers in technology, and cuts bureaucracy out of the equation, all in the interest of saving lives, including his own. Jason Katims, Michelle Lee and David Semel are executive producers for Universal Television in association with CBS Television Studios. Semel directed the pilot.
FALL COMEDIES:
Kevin Can Wait stars Kevin James as a newly retired police officer looking forward to spending carefree, quality time with his wife and three kids, only to discover he faces tougher challenges at home than he ever did on the streets. Kevins retirement plans consist of chilling with his family and having epic adventures with fellow retirees Goody (Leonard Earl Howze), his former partner and close friend, and Duffy (Lenny Venito), his oldest pal, as well as his brother, Kyle (Gary Valentine), a fireman whose closest encounter with a blaze would be a grease fire in the firehouse kitchen. However, Kevins dream is jeopardized when he discovers that Donna (Erinn Hayes), his wonderful wife of 20 years, has shielded him from key family info while he worked overtime protecting the community. Their usually reliable eldest, Kendra (Taylor Spreitler), is dropping out of college so she can support her unemployed fiance, Chale (Ryan Cartwright), while he designs the next big app; his teenage daughter, Sara (Mary-Charles Jones), is having issues at school; and their youngest, Jack (James DiGiacomo), is a bit of a hypochondriac. For now, his plans for a cushy life will have to wait, because Kevin has work to do, and this time, his family is his beat. James, Bruce Helford, Rock Reuben, Jeff Sussman and Andy Fickman are executive producers for CBS Television Studios in association with Sony Pictures Television. Fickman directed the pilot.
Man with a Plan stars Matt LeBlanc in a comedy about a contractor who starts spending more time with his kids when his wife goes back to work and discovers the truth every parent eventually realizes: their little angels are maniacs. Adam (LeBlanc) feels fully equipped to take on more parenting responsibilities while his self-assured wife, Andi, returns to the work force after being a stay at home mom for 13 years. However, Adams blindsided by how tough it is to wrangle three messy kids who cant live without Wi-Fi. Their pre-teen daughter, Kate (Grace Kaufman), is a master manipulator and initially thrilled that daddy fun times is taking over, middle child Teddy (Matthew McCann) cant seem to keep his hands out of his pants despite constant reminders, and their precious youngest, Emme (Hala Finley), is nervous about starting kindergarten. But with Andis encouragement and advice from a couple of equally stressed parents, Marie (Jessica Chaffin) and Lowell (Matt Cook), Adam takes charge of his brood, lays down the law and discovers hes going to nail this job. LeBlanc, Jeff & Jackie Filgo, Michael Rotenberg and Troy Zien are executive producers for CBS Television Studios. James Burrows directed the pilot.
The Great Indoors stars Joel McHale in a comedy about a renowned adventure reporter for an outdoor magazine who must adapt to the times when he becomes the desk-bound boss to a group of millennials in the digital department of the publication. Jack has led a thrilling outdoorsy life exploring the edges of the earth while chronicling his adventures for Outdoor Limits. But his globe-trotting days end when the magazines charismatic founder and outdoor legend, Roland (Stephen Fry), announces the publications move to web-only and assigns Jack to supervise their online team of journalists. Jacks eager 20-something colleagues include Clark (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), a tech nerd who knows everything about surviving on Mars and a zombie apocalypse; Emma (Christine Ko), their social media expert who views Jack as the human version of dial-up; and Mason (Shaun Brown), a hipster-lumberjack who hasnt spent any actual time outside. Jack reports to Rolands daughter, Brooke (Susannah Fielding), an ex-flame who caters to the sensitive staffers by giving them all trophies just for working hard. Jacks best friend, Eddie (Chris Williams), runs the local dive bar thats popular with the younger set and helps Jack decode his co-workers. Jack is baffled by the world of click-bait and listicles, but if hes patient, he may be able to show these kids that the outside world is much more than something on a screen if he doesnt beat them with their selfie-sticks first. Mike Gibbons, Chris Harris and Andy Ackerman are executive producers for CBS Television Studios. Ackerman directed the pilot.
UPCOMING SERIES:
Training Day is a crime thriller that begins 15 years after the events of the feature film, about a young, idealistic police officer who is tapped to go undercover in an elite squad of the LAPD where he partners with a veteran, morally ambiguous detective. Detective Frank Rourke (Bill Paxton) is the maverick head of the Special Investigation Section (S.I.S.) that hunts the citys most dangerous criminals, and is one of the finest investigators the department has ever produced. However, when the LAPD brass notices Rourkes penchant for operating in a gray area to fight the war on crime, they assign Kyle Craig (Justin Cornwell), a heroic, untarnished cop, to pose as Franks trainee to spy on him and report on his off-book methods. The members of Franks loyal team include Rebecca Lee (Katrina Law), a formidable officer with killer aim and a dark past, and Tommy Campbell (Drew Van Acker), a former pro surfer who follows Franks orders without hesitation. Providing Frank with intel is his girlfriend, Holly Butler (Julie Benz), a well-connected, unapologetic Hollywood madam. While LAPD Deputy Chief Joy Lockhart (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) coolly puts Kyle in danger in her mission to take down Frank, Kyles schoolteacher wife, Alyse (Lex Scott Davis), worries her husbands resolve to avenge the murder of his father, a cop, may be his undoing. As Frank starts teaching his principled trainee the way of the streets, where the ends often justify the means, they form an uneasy alliance that will irrevocably change the course of both their lives. Based on the feature film from Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures. Jerry Bruckheimer, Antoine Fuqua, Will Beall, Barry Schindel, Jonathan Littman and Danny Cannon are executive producers for Jerry Bruckheimer Television and Fuqua Films in association with Warner Bros. Television. Cannon directed the pilot.
A trailer for Doubt has yet to be released. Doubt stars Katherine Heigl as Sadie Ellis, a brilliant attorney at a boutique firm who starts to fall for her charismatic client, Billy Brennan (Steven Pasquale), an altruistic pediatric surgeon recently accused of murdering his girlfriend 24 years ago. Sadie is hiding her growing feelings from everyone, including her close friend and colleague, Albert Cobb (Dule Hill), who thinks he knows everything about her. Working on other cases at the practice is Cameron Wirth (Laverne Cox), a transgender Ivy League graduate who fights passionately for her clients since shes experienced injustice first hand; Tiffany Simon (Dreama Walker), a second-year associate who is quickly learning the ropes from Wirth; and Nick (Kobi Libii), a former felon who earned his degree while serving time. They all consider it a privilege to work for Isaiah Roth (Elliott Gould), a revered legal lion and lefty legend, whose approval is their holy grail. Sadies decision to become involved with her client could put her career, as well as her happiness, at risk if Billy is found guilty, which means she needs to work all the harder to prove reasonable doubt, even if she has some herself. Tony Phelan & Joan Rater, Emmy Award winner Adam Bernstein, Carl Beverly and Sarah Timberman are executive producers for CBS Television Studios. Bernstein directed the pilot.
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From ELLE
This article was originally published on Lenny.
Five glamorous girlfriends sit at an outdoor cafe sipping lemonades and talking about sex. "Last night Edem and I used the pullout method," says one to the horror of the others. "What are you - in high school?" another woman asks, before a third chimes in: "The only time you will hear me support the pullout method is when happily discussing the British pulling out of Ghana in 1957."
Welcome to An African City, the brainchild of 34-year-old Ghanaian creator Nicole Amarteifio, who writes and directs the show. (Amarteifio is also an executive producer, along with native New Yorker Millie Monyo.) The web series has been dubbed Africa's answer to Sex and the City - with a few twists. Instead of Manhattan, the show is set in Accra, Ghana's capital city. Instead of Carrie Bradshaw and company, it follows the exploits of a 30-year-old journalist, Nana Yaa (played by Ghanaian-American actress MaameYaa Boafo), and her four BFFs, all "returnees" - women of African descent who have left their lives abroad to come home to "the continent," where they must learn to cope with malaria outbreaks, fuel shortages, power outages, noisy generators, and nosy aunties. But life in Accra also has its pros: perfect weather, beautiful beaches, mangos, "and then there are the men dark and chocolatey. YUM!" says sexy banker Sade (played by Nana Mensah, channeling Samantha Jones). "Big biceps, big hands, big "
Like Sex and the City, An African City is about sex, but it's as much about the search for identity in a traditional culture. It's a theme that resonates. Since An African City premiered on YouTube in March of 2014 and reached one million views within a few weeks (season two is available for $19.99, and they're hoping for a third season), the show has gained fans around the world. "We've been getting emails from women in Korea, Puerto Rico, Italy," Amarteifio says. "It just shows that women carry similarities across ethnicity, across race."
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Like Sex and the City, An African City is about sex, but it's as much about the search for identity in a traditional culture.
The show especially hits home with Ghanaian, or "GH," women and other viewers of African origin who have taken to cultural forums like GhanaWeb as well as Twitter, Facebook, and personal blogs to voice reactions ranging from total adoration to total outrage. "As a Cameroonian girl living in Amsterdam I am LOVING this!!!!" one commenter gushed after watching the first season on YouTube. "SHOWS LIKE THIS WILL MAKE GH WOMEN MORE PROMISCUOUS," another viewer fumed on GhanaWeb, before ranting about how Sex and the City ruined American women.
It's late February when Amarteifio and I chat, and soon she will be en route from New York City to Accra - it's a journey she knows well. "Oh my goodness, I've been doing the move back and forth for a hundred years," says Amarteifio, formerly a social-media strategist for the Africa Region at the World Bank. Born in Ghana, she relocated with her parents to London shortly after the coup of 1981, later moving to Westchester County, New York, where she was raised until the age of 15. She spent the next few years ping-ponging between countries: she attended Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, before once again returning to Ghana post-college, and eventually she earned her master's degree in corporate communications and public relations from Georgetown University. Although Amarteifio identifies as Ghanaian, "I have this kind of dual consciousness," she says.
She's not alone. Despite instability in recent years, Ghana's economy has lured a steady tide of young professionals seeking better jobs and lifestyles. Many feel a loyalty to the country that their parents fled: by the mid-1990s, an estimated 10 to 20 percent of Ghana's population (then around 20 million) was living abroad. It's difficult to know the precise number of returnees, since many have dual citizenship and don't need to register, but the country is experiencing a considerable "brain gain."
Like the characters on An African City, the real-life repats often come home with advanced degrees and American or European sensibilities, but Amarteifio wasn't seeing their stories reflected onscreen (not by Nollywood or Gollywood, the respective film industries of Nigeria and Ghana). Tired of hearing a single narrative about the impoverished and diseased African woman, she was watching Sex and the City one day when the idea occurred to her. "I'm pretty sure Samantha was doing something absolutely crazy when I just said, 'My goodness, I have friends like this in Accra. What would it be like putting this on television with Ghanaian and Nigerian characters?'"
Amarteifio is a firm believer in writing what she knows, and that's exactly what she has done in episodes like "Got Goat Meat?," in which vegetarian Ngozi (played by Esosa E) gets a cooking lesson from her girlfriends. "When you are an African woman, whether Ghanaian, Rwandan, or Malawian, you are often told that your ability to be a domestic goddess is very important," Nana Yaa, the show's narrator, tells us. "Your whole future - if your end goal is marriage - hinges on it."
But the show also touches on deeper issues. In the episode "Forwards Ever," one of the characters, Makena (played by Marie Humbert), is raped by a handsome, wealthy man she is dating. "Her way of handling it was, in a way, not handling it. She didn't go to the police. She didn't report it," says Amarteifio, who wrote a powerful scene in which Makena finally tells her girlfriends about the assault, which didn't seem violent to her at the time. "I kept hearing myself say 'no,' and I kept thinking, Why isn't he hearing what I'm saying? My 'no' didn't matter," Makena confides.
When one of the women begins to question how it could be rape if he was "gentle," another girlfriend, Zainab (played by Maame Adjei), shuts her down: "The point is she said 'no.' I don't care if she screamed it, whispered it, or said it in fucking sign language." This is a scene inspired by real-life headlines in Ghana. "A couple years ago, there was a date-rape issue in Accra, and a lot of people were blaming the woman: she was in his room; she was wearing a short skirt; all the things that make people blame women," Amarteifio says. "I'm tired of the onus being put on the woman."
This is a scene inspired by real-life headlines in Ghana.
At times, the show functions as a consciousness-raising session, or at least a PSA. (Spoiler alert: in that episode about pulling out, Nana Yaa and her partner eventually decide to use condoms. "The educator in me comes out," Amarteifio says.) At other times, it doubles as a platform for celebrating African artists and authors, with the characters wearing must-have dresses by Ghanaian designers like Christie Brown (on the show's Instagram, viewers can shop different looks, from ethereal caftans to colorful, bold prints) and reading novels like Americanah by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Most of all, the show is a love letter to Ghana, and it has inspired homesickness in many Ghanaian viewers abroad. Amarteifio understands the feeling. "I come to America and have to pick up a cardboard box of coconut water - it's just such a strange experience because you want to drink coconut water out of a coconut," she says.
Bouncing between cultures has led to bigger revelations as well, particularly when it comes to beauty. "In Ghana, I was always told I was beautiful, and in the United States I felt like I wasn't told that," Amarteifio says."There were too many times when my color, or my hair type, was not right. That's unfortunate. I don't know how black Americans do it every day, because I always have Ghana to go back to."
Bouncing between cultures has led to bigger revelations as well, particularly when it comes to beauty.
With An African City, she aims to broaden viewers' perceptions of attractiveness. "Let me bring it back to hair politics," says Amarteifio, who is proud of the fact that four out of five of the show's main characters choose natural hair over wigs, weaves, and extensions. "I love the fact that these women are rocking their natural hair because, especially in Hollywood, natural hair is reserved for women in a period piece on slavery. There's nothing wrong with black women's hair in its natural state. I think natural hair is glamorous, beautiful."
In fact, some critics have complained that Nana Yaa and her friends are too glamorous. Representing Accra's 1 percent, the five returnees live in the chicest apartments and dine at the swankiest restaurants, their good fortune flowing as freely as their Moet & Chandon (as it happens, the brand is one of season two's corporate sponsors). And while An African City has no shortage of fans obsessing over the characters' fabulous flats and wardrobes, it's also the subject of deeper scrutiny among many Ghanaian viewers like Malaka Grant, a 38-year-old writer who grew up in Accra and now lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
"Most of my Ghanaian friends in Atlanta love the show because it's a different portrayal than what we're used to seeing in the media as far as Ghana or even Africa as a whole is concerned," says Grant, who wrote an article called, "The Trouble with 'An African City'" on her blog, MindofMalaka. "My issues with the show just come from upbringing: I didn't grow up elite. I grew up lower middle class, so I don't really identify with the main characters. I'm more likely to identify with the waiter or the housekeeper or the driver."
Critiquing the show for the website Okayafrica, Akinyi Ochieng, a Yale-educated writer and researcher with Gambian and Kenyan roots, urged viewers to remember that An African City is, above all, a fantasy. "As we indulge in this bourgeois tableau of urban African life," she writes in her article, "we risk forgetting that [the] independence of Nana Yaa, Ngozi, Zainab, Makena, and Sade is a rare privilege in a world in which African women experience fear more than freedom."
While Amarteifio is sensitive to such concerns, she isn't about to apologize for her characters. "It was very important for me to have these women who are successful and independent and at the far extreme of the 'single story' of Africa, which tends to be about war, poverty, and famine," she says, alluding to Adichie's famous TED Talk. "These women do exist. Let's have that be the face of black beauty. Actually, forget 'black' beauty - of beauty, period."
Brooke Hauser (@brookehauser) is the author of Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman, out now from Harper.
London (AFP) - West Ham have cancelled a fixture involving their women's team to ensure the club's Premier League victory over Manchester United will remain the last fixture ever played at Upton Park.
The east London outfit had agreed to allow West Ham Ladies to play against an "All-Star" team on June 5, but decided to call off the match after being criticised by a section of the club's supporters.
The Hammers are moving to the Olympic Stadium at Stratford in time for next season after 112 years at the Boleyn Ground and their final home match was a dramatic 3-2 win against United on May 10.
Many fans felt that memorable encounter, which climaxed with a lengthy post-match celebration in the stadium, was a fitting finale for the famous old venue and the club have bowed to their wishes.
"The proposed game between West Ham Ladies and a West Ham 'All Stars' team scheduled for Sunday June 5 has been cancelled," a West Ham statement said.
"The club has taken the decision to call off the match in response to direct comments from supporters, a poll conducted on the official website and fan feedback on social media.
"West Ham Ladies played under the lights at the Boleyn Ground back in March when they faced Tottenham Ladies and dialogue remains open between West Ham Ladies and the club with regards to the hosting of future fixtures."
West Ham Ladies joint-chairman Stephen Hunt hopes another fixture can be arranged once the club move to the Olympic Stadium.
"Obviously the Ladies are disappointed, but myself and Jack Sullivan (son of joint-chairman David) will get together over the summer to see what else we can do in the future," he said.
Western Refining Inc. WNR has proposed the syndication of new senior secured term loan credit facility. The proposed loan, which is referred to as Term Loan B-2, is estimated to be worth $500 million and will mature in seven years. Also, the new term loan will be placed on the same footing as the existing term loan Term Loan B-1.
Western Refining intends to use the proceeds from Term Loan B-2 to partially fund its acquisition in Northern Tier Energy LP NTI. Moreover, the new term loan is expected to close in the same period as the closure of Northern Tiers acquisition in late June.
Western Refining, which already had 38% interest in Northern Tier, signed an agreement with the latter last year to purchase the remaining outstanding common units of the partnership. Per the accord, Northern Tier unitholders will get $15 in cash along with 0.2986 share of Western Refining for every unit of the partnership. Once the deal is closed by the first half of 2016, the partnerships units will no longer be traded publicly and the partnerships unitholders will gain 15% ownership of Western Refining. Western Refining intends to raise funds for this acquisition using proceeds from the new term loan and balance sheet cash.
The Term Loan B-2 is subject to various customary closing conditions, and consent of lenders under Western Refinerys existing credit facilities. The terms under which the loan will be extended are subject to changes with no assurance that the loan will actually be extended.
Founded in 2005, El Paso, TX-headquartered Western Refining is an independent refiner and marketer of refined petroleum products in the Southwestern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S. Western Refining has a combined crude oil processing capacity of approximately 151,000 Bbl/d.
The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), implying that it will perform in line with the broader U.S. equity market over the next one to three months.
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Some better-ranked players in the energy sector are McDermott International Inc. MDR and Pembina Pipeline Corporation PBA. Both these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump released Wednesday a list of 11 potential Supreme Court candidates he might choose if elected president -- all of them white and conservative.
The presumptive Republican nominee's wish list for the top court was also overwhelmingly male, with three women compared to eight men.
His shortlist included William Pryor, a Catholic federal judge who called the decision to legalize abortion the "worst abomination of constitutional law in our history."
Trump also listed Texas State Supreme Court Justice Don Willett, whose tweets include pictures of a shooting range target riddled with gunshots.
The list is made up of both federal judges and justices sitting on state supreme courts, and closely resembles a list proposed by the conservative Washington-based Heritage Foundation, a group Trump said had advised him on who to choose.
Normally nine-strong, the US Supreme Court is currently one justice short following the February 13th death of the conservative Antonin Scalia.
The White House and Republican senators are currently facing off over the nomination of his successor. The high-stakes decision will tip the political balance of the court which is currently evenly split between conservatives and progressives.
Republicans who hold a majority in the Senate have refused to consider Judge Merrick Garland, who President Barack Obama nominated in March to fill the empty seat.
The next president could have the chance to nominate several justices in the coming years, as current court members retire or pass away.
The names Trump announced Wednesday hold little real-world weight, but could satisfy conservative leaders who fear Trump might lean too moderate if he becomes president.
"I would be surprised if there are any Democrats who would describe any of those 11 individuals as a consensus nominee," said White House Spokesperson Josh Earnest.
In contrast, Earnest noted that "the individual that President Obama has put forward is somebody that Republicans have described as a consensus nominee."
The other names released by Trump are: Diane Sykes, federal judge from Wisconsin; Steven Colloton, federal judge from Iowa; Thomas Lee, Utah Supreme Court justice and brother of the ultra-conservative senator Mike Lee; Allison Eid, Colorado Supreme Court justice; Raymond Gruender, federal judge from Missouri; Thomas Hardiman, federal judge from Pennsylvania; Raymond Kethledge, federal judge from Michigan; Joan Larsen, Michigan Supreme Court justice; David Stras, Minnesota Supreme Court justice.
Observers noted that Willett of Texas -- one of Trump's candidates and an active tweeter -- has a history of mocking the billionaire on social media, and posted a haiku ridiculing the Republican frontrunner following the list's release.
Donald Trump was sharply condemned by Democrats and the news media earlier this year for fomenting violence at his campaign events by targeting protesters and critics to be roughed up and ejected. Yet many of those episodes at Trump-sponsored events were no worse than the melee that broke out in Las Vegas on Saturday, as angry Bernie Sanders supporters protested the delegate selection proceedings after concluding that Hillary Clinton forces including state party officials had rigged the process.
Related: Sanders Attacks Are Taking a Serious Toll on Clinton
Its no secret that the Sanders camp has gone from optimistic to frustrated to irate as it sees the Vermont senators prospects for winning the nomination fast slipping away. Clinton continues to rack up the delegates she needs to claim the nomination, even as Sanders is winning most of the late-inning contests. After beating Sanders by a hair in Kentucky, 46.8 percent to 46.3 percent, and losing to Sanders in Oregon, 54 percent to 45 percent, Clintons nationwide delegate tally reached 2,291 Wednesday morning. That leaves her just 92 delegates shy of the majority she needs to claim the nomination.
As the incident in Las Vegas illustrated, the nerves of many of Sanderss most ardent supporters are already frayed. If Clinton locks up the nomination and controls the flow of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this summer, which now seems likely, then the prospects for real fireworks at the convention might be high.
According to a report by the Associated Press, Sanders supporters in Las Vegas shouted down the keynote speaker, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and others they thought were tilting the rules in Clinton's favor. The protesters also shouted obscenities and rushed the dais to protest rulings. The convention finally had to be ended after Sanders supporters started throwing chairs.
Related: While Clinton Sets Her Sight on Trump, Sanders Pulls Her Back
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Even worse, Roberta Lange, the state Democratic Party chair, said she and her family received thousands of abusive calls, messages, texts, email and Facebook postings and even a death threat on her voice mail.
One phone message from an unidentified woman said: I just wanted to let you know that people like you should be hung in a public execution to retaliate for political corruption. Another caller demanded that Lange resign as party chair because you are bad for America and bad for the Democratic party. A third caller, another woman, said: Roberta, you have thousands of people [who] watched what you did today at the convention and if you dont think that thats coming back to bite you in the ass, youve got another thing coming.
Sanders, like Trump, has complained for months that his partys primary and caucus rules for choosing delegates were stacked against him. Sanders has been especially upset about rules in many states that prevented independents from voting for him in primaries because they hadnt registered as Democrats.
Related: Heres Why Clinton Will Lose the Election to Donald Trump
Sanders campaign officials have also complained about procedures followed at the state level after the primaries and caucuses to select the individuals who will actually attend the national convention in July and cast votes. Its not uncommon for delegate slots won by one candidate to be filled with someone who actually favors the other candidate.
The Sanders camp had protested rules that helped Clinton win more Nevada pledged delegates than Sanders won, according to the AP. Clinton won the state's caucuses in February, 53 percent to 47 percent, but Sanders backers had hoped to pick up extra delegates by packing the county and state party gatherings.
Top Sanders advisers were still fuming Tuesday about how the state convention was conducted on Saturday, according to media reports, but Lange said it was simply a matter of Clinton forces outmaneuvering Sanders supporters.
At our convention, it was a matter of numbers, Lange told MSNBC. The Clinton people turned out 98 percent of their delegates, the Sanders people were short by [many] delegates. They didnt turn out their people. And so that was the division in the house that day and thats why Secretary Clinton won Nevada.
Related: Why Democrats Need Bernie Sanders to Stay in the Race
On the eve of the state convention, Sanders issued a statement urging his supporters to work together respectively and constructively at the state convention. But Lange and other state party officials asserted in a letter to the Democratic National Committees Rules and By-laws Committee that the outburst occurred because some of the Sanders delegates arrived at the convention behaving like a vanguard intent upon sparking a street-fight rather than attending an orderly political party process.
Lange said today that the letter was sent to alert the national Democratic Party that the violence and threats from Sanders forces threaten to carry into the DNC convention this summer. In other words, the Democratic convention might turn out to be as rowdy or more rowdy than the GOP gathering.
Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz issued a tough statement, saying that both campaigns should speak out against the threats and disorder at the state convention. Our democracy is undermined any time threats, intimidation, physical violence or damage to property are present, said Wasserman Schultz, a House member from Florida. If there are legitimate concerns, they must be addressed in an orderly, civil and peaceful manner.
Related: Cant Vote for Trump or Clinton? Here Are Some Third Party Options
Sanders appeared combatant in responding to criticism suggesting that his campaign organization has a penchant for violence, which he called nonsense.
I condemn any and all forms of violence, including the personal harassment of individuals, he said in a statement. But when we speak of violence, I should add here that, months ago, during the Nevada campaign, shots were fired into my campaign office in Nevada and an apartment housing my campaign staff was broken into and ransacked. He went on to complain that Democratic leaders had prevented the Nevada convention process from being fair and transparent.
There has been widespread controversy within the party about whether Sanders is hurting Clintons chances of beating Trump this fall by continuing what most people view as a quixotic attempt to overcome Clintons massive delegate lead and continue to attack her policies and record.
Related: Sanders Berns Clinton on Minimum Wage Issue
Sanders insists that he has a right and duty to continue his campaign through early June and until every state has voted. Then, he said, he will make his case to the national delegates this summer that he would be a far stronger candidate than Clinton to take on Trump, as many recent polls suggest. He also will insist that many of his liberal views and proposals on health care, education, the minimum wage and Social Security expansion, among others be made part of the Democrats platform.
Sander has said he would work tirelessly this fall to defeat Trump, regardless of who wins the Democratic nomination. But in order to do that, he will have to persuade millions of liberals, college students and independents who enthusiastically enlisted in his revolution to ultimately back a far more conventional and moderate candidate. Some Sanders supporters have said already that they could never bring themselves to vote for Clinton.
This article was updated on May 18 at 11:00 am.
Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton split the primaries in Oregon and Kentucky Tuesday, as Clinton avoided going weeks without a victory. But as Clinton is set to secure the Democratic nomination on June 7, the rift in the party is deeper than ever.
Facing criticism over violence and threats from his supporters as last weeks Nevada GOP state convention, Sanders dodged press questions, before issuing a statement that appeared to justify his supporters actions, asserting that the process was rigged by Clinton supporters against his own backers. As Clinton and the DNC condemned their developments, the events were a cautionary signal to Democratic state parties across the country, and for the Democratic convention in Philadelphia that Sanders supporters remain deeply committed and wont just fall in line once Clinton secures the requisite number of delegates. Its the latest indication that Clinton, immersed in a two-front political battle, has yet to find a way to outreach to Sanders supporters other than stoking their fears about GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump.
Trump and Clinton released their personal financial disclosure statements, with the Republican claiming more than $500 million in income in 2015 and a net-worth over $10 billion. Clintons financials showed she took in millions in book royalties and paid speeches last year. But Trump is continuing to refuse to release his tax returns which would provide additional justification for his haul. Sanders requested a 90-day extension to file.
Trump may have largely self-funded his primary campaign, lending himself tens of millions on top of millions in small-dollar donations and promotional sales. But he has inked a pair of joint fundraising agreements with the Republican National Committee and some state parties that will allow him to raise up to $449,400 from top donors.
Trump proposes rolling back Dodd-Frank and talking to Kim Jong-un. Melania Trump says her husband isnt Hitler. And Jeb Bush has some thoughts about Trumps taco bowl tweet.
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Here are your must-reads:
Must Reads
Why a Civil Case Over Emails Could Hurt Hillary Clinton More Than the FBI
TIMEs Massimo Calabresi reports on the case in which two top aides will be deposed
Why Donald Trump Is Targeting Security Moms
But experts doubt the strategy will work, TIMEs Jay Newton-Small reports
On the Lonely Island of Never Trump
Across Washington, stalwarts of the GOP foreign-policy establishment find themselves suddenly adrift. Could they really vote forgulpHillary? [Politico]
Trump Preparing Plan to Dismantle Obamas Wall Street Reform Law
A populist candidate does a solid for the big banks [Reuters]
Bucking Trends, Trump Sends Teams to Democrat-Leaning States
Looking to expand the general election map [Associated Press]
Sound Off
What Trump did was so insensitive. First, not all Hispanics are Mexican. Secondly, not all Hispanics eat tacos. Thirdly, showing your sensitivity by eating an American dish is the most insensitive thing you can do. Fourthly, to say this, next to all things he already said, is a further insult. Its like eating a watermelon and saying I love African-Americans. Jeb Bush to Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad on Donald Trumps taco bowl tweet
We know the truth. Hes not Hitler. He wants to help America. He wants to unite people. They think he doesnt but he does. Even with the Muslims, its temporary. Melania Trump on her husband, Donald Trump
Bits and Bites
Kathleen Sebelius Hails Supreme Court Decision as a Win for Women [TIME]
Jeb Bush Has Some Thoughts On Trumps Cinco De Mayo Tweet [Huffington Post]
Donald Trump and Megyn Kelly Spar Over Bimbo Retweet [TIME]
Trump Willing to Talk to North Koreas Kim, Wants to Renegotiate Climate Accord [Reuters]
Melania Trump: Husband Is not Hitler, Reporter Provoked Anti-Semitic Attacks [CNN]
Sanders Dodges Question About Convention Disturbance [NBC]
Could 2016 Be a Turnaround Year for IAMGOLD?
(Continued from Prior Part)
Challenges at the Westwood mine
IAMGOLDs (IAG) Westwood project is located in southwest Quebec, Canada. This site started production in the first quarter of 2013. It achieved commercial production in 2014, producing 70,000 ounces in the first two quarters of the year.
During the early stages of the mines ramp-up, a seismic event occurred, which left part of the operation in a rehabilitative state for most of 2015. This led to lower production at higher costs in 2015.
Based on its revised plan for the mine, for 2016, IAMGOLD is focused on underground development to expand the mining area and on doing remedial work in the area impacted by the seismic event.
The company has guided that the mill will operate on a reduced schedule throughout 2016 due to the low level of mining taking place. Its ramp-up to full capacity is expected by 2019.
Gold production during 1Q16
As expected, the gold production at the Westwood mine during 1Q16 was 15,000 ounces, 32% lower than in 1Q15.
IAG reduced inventory costs by $6.1 million in 1Q16 to normalize for the amount of fixed overhead on a per-unit basis due to abnormally low production.
Cash costs per ounce and all-in sustaining costs (or AISC) for 1Q16 were $857 per ounce and $890 per ounce, respectively. These were falls of 24% and 41% YoY, respectively. The company expects to continue with this normalization for the rest of 2016 for Westwood.
IAMGOLDs CEO mentioned during the companys earnings call that Westwood is making excellent progress with the revised ramp-up plan. The company still expects Westwood to be the lowest-cost operation with at least a 20-year mine life.
Westwood mine remains key
For next year, the company expects to significantly increase its production due to better grades. A ramp-up to full production of between 180,000 and 200,000 ounces per year is expected by 2019.
The structure of IAMGOLDs Essakane and Rosebel mines remains high-cost due to the presence of hard rock, while Sadiola is marching toward the end of its mine life unless extended through capex (capital expenditure). Under these circumstances, Westwood remains key for IAMGOLD to increase its production while reducing costs.
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IAGs peer Eldorado Gold (EGO) is also facing issues regarding its mines in Greece, while New Golds (NGD) capex requirements for its key project Rainy River are creeping higher.
Investors looking to invest in gold may also want to look at leveraged ETFs such as the Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Bull 3X ETF (JNUG) and the Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bull 3X ETF (NUGT).
Continue to Next Part
Browse this series on Market Realist:
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 18, 2016 / Wi2Wi Corporation (Wi2Wi or the Company) (YTY.V), a leading global developer and manufacturer of integrated wireless connectivity solutions, high precision frequency control, timing, and microwave filter devices, announces the FC7 series of highly customizable clock oscillator.
Phase Loop Lock (PLL) technology used in FC7 series allows customization to desired output frequency with precision and stability over a wide range of temperatures with multiple logic output types; LVCMOS, LVDS, or LVPECL. The product is packaged in a 5mm x 7mm, rugged ceramic leadless chip carrier (LCC) and comes in two different voltage options, 2.5V and 3.3V. The stability and performance of the FC7 over wide temperature range makes it highly suitable for various applications in Avionics, Space and Military such as high resolution cockpit displays, and intelligent munitions. FC7 series also address various applications in general frequency control market and Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) applications.
This state of the art capability allows Wi2Wi to program any required frequency in house for fast delivery of samples to our customers. Samples are available for immediate delivery with the following temperature and stability ranges.
-40C to +85C, stability of 20ppm
-55C to +105C, stability of 50ppm
-55C to +125C, stability of 100ppm
"We are proud to have this capability as the demand for higher frequency low phase noise and jitter applications continue to grow with the added benefit of reacting quickly to the market place. This will allow us to be a leading industry supplier to offer a device with these capabilities over extended temperature ranges," said Mr. Barry Arneson, Vice President of Engineering, Frequency Control Device.
"We are excited about the introduction of the new FC7 series of products. This product family enables the Company to react quickly to customer demands and capture early design wins," said Zachariah Mathews, President and CEO of the Company.
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For further information, please contact:
Zachariah Mathews
President and Chief Executive Officer
408 416 4202
zach@wi2wi.com
About IoT and M2M
Essentially, IoT and M2M describe the network of physical objects or "things" embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity, which enables these objects to collect and exchange data. Driven by several factors including the growth in the availability of Broadband Internet, which reduces the cost of connecting, and the related increase in Wi-Fi capabilities as well as sensors built into myriad technologies, this has been described as the "perfect storm" for the IoT. Almost any device with an on and off switch that can be connected to the Internet (and/or to each other) - anything from cell phones, coffee makers, washing machines, headphones, lamps, wearable devices, cars, as well as machine components in the engine of a jet airplane or the drill of an oil rig. According to analyst firm Gartner, by 2020 there will be over 26 billion connected devices. Others think this figure could be too conservative by a factor of four.
About Wi2Wi Corporation
Wi2Wi is a vertically-integrated technology company which designs, manufactures and markets high performance, low power wireless connectivity solutions, global navigation satellite system (GNSS) modules, and frequency control devices. The Company's products and services address numerous applications in the markets of Internet of Things (IoT), Machine to Machine (M2M), Avionics, Space, and Government Sponsored Projects. Wi2Wi's products and value-added services provide highly integrated, rugged, robust, and reliable multiprotocol wireless actuators with embedded software, along with customized timing and frequency control devices for customers, worldwide. The Company was founded in 2005 and is strategically headquartered in San Jose, California with satellite offices in Middleton, Wisconsin and Hyderabad, India. Wi2Wi's manufacturing operations, its laboratory for reliability and quality control, together with design and engineering for timing and frequency control devices are located in Middleton, WI. The branch office, located in Hyderabad, India, focuses on the development of wireless connectivity; both hardware and software. Wi2Wi's strategic objective is to service the unique needs of each customer by providing end to end wireless integration solutions and highly customizable timing and frequency control devices. Wi2Wi distinguishes itself from commodity grade products, with best in the market performance, highly reliable, low power wireless connectivity products with integrated software that supports broader temperature ranges and a longer product life cycle. Furthermore, Wi2Wi's end to end product solutions helps the customer substantially reduce their end product expense, certification cost, and overall R&D investment, in addition to substantially reducing the time to market. Wi2Wi has partnered with best in class global leaders in technology, manufacturing, and sales. The Company uses a wide network of manufacturer's representatives, worldwide, to promote its products and services, and has partnered with world class distributors for the fulfillment of orders along with direct sales.
Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including management's assessment of future plans and operations, and the timing thereof, that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the Company's control. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, risks associated with the ability to access sufficient capital, the impact of general economic conditions in Canada, the United States and overseas, industry conditions, stock market volatility. The Company's actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements and, 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, including the amount of proceeds, that the Company will derive there from. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. Additional information on these and other factors that could affect the Company's operations and financial results are included in reports on file with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and may be accessed through the SEDAR website (www.sedar.com). Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date the statements are made and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements and if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as required by applicable law. All subsequent forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, attributable to the Company or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. Furthermore, 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 included forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities laws.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
SOURCE: Wi2Wi Corporation
A wildfire continued to ravage the area around Fort McMurray, Alberta, on Tuesday, May 17. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said the fire was out of control, and had destroyed an oil sands camp north of the town and damaged homes. The Alberta government has put plans for people to return to their homes on hold. The uploader said he was evacuated after taking this video as the fire approached the site.
The ongoing wildfire has forced more than 80,000 people out of Fort McMurray and caused serious air pollution. Credit: Cody Street
Singaporeans love their Australian wines.
At nearly 40 percent, Australian wines dominate the import market in Singapore, thanks in large part to geographical proximity.
Following Australian wines, the second biggest source market for imported wines is Chile followed by France.
Those are among some of the highlights out of a Vinexpo study which paints a portrait of consumption trends up to 2019.
In the run-up to Vinexpo Hong Kong, the biggest and most important wine trade event in Asia taking place next week, here's a closer look at consumption trends in Singapore, one of six countries in Asia-Pacific profiled ahead of the event:
- Still red wine represents 70 percent of the market in Singapore, with 645,000 9-liter cases consumed in 2014, and forecast to remain stable through to 2019.
- While 251,000 cases of white wine were consumed in 2014, that figure is set to grow slightly to 1.2 percent to 2019.
- Australia holds 38.5 percent of market share for imported wines; Chile has a slight leading edge over France with 16.5 percent versus 16 percent.
-Whisky is Singapore's favorite spirit and is expected to grow between 2015 and 2019 by 14 percent.
- Cognac and Armagnac, which are the second most popular spirits, are forecast to decline nearly 6 percent over the next five years, mainly due to the declining numbers of Chinese tourists.
- Gin and tequila are the fourth and fifth most popular spirits, with consumption predicted to spike through to 2019: gin is predicted to grow by 29 percent, tequila 23 percent.
Vinexpo Hong Kong runs May 24 to 26.
Each day ETFtrends.com publishes news, strategy and commentary on ETFs in the realms of Commodities, Currency, Equities and Smart-Beta to name a few.
Heres a look at the Top 15 Most Viewed Articles of the Week on ETF Trends, May 16-20, 2016.
Click the headline to read the full article enjoy!
1. A Very Positive Forecast for Gold ETFs
Gold prices closed slightly lower Wednesday after meeting minutes from the Federal Reserve revealed the central bank could raise interest rates following its June meeting. For now, one rate hike might not be enough to derail exchange traded funds such as the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) , iShares Gold Trust (IAU) and ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares (SGOL) . Click to read more!
2. Muni Bond ETFs to Pad Fixed-Income Portfolios
Fixed-income investors who follow the benchmark Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index may be missing out on the stability and yield opportunity found in municipal debt securities. For example, the iShares National AMT-Free Muni Bond ETF (MUB) , the largest muni-related ETF, has a 1.32% 30-day SEC yield but that comes out to a 2.33% taxable equivalent 30-day SEC yield for those in the highest income bracket. For instance, MUB and Vanguard Tax-Exempt Bond Index Fund (VTEB) both track the same benchmark S&P National AMT-Free Municipal Bond Index, which is comprised of investment-grade muni debt. A long-term muni fund like the VanEck Vectors AMT-Free Long Municipal Index ETF (MLN) comes with a more attractive 2.46% 30-day SEC yield. Investors interested in tapping into the muni bond market can also look to the Deutsche X-Trackers Municipal Infrastructure Revenue Bond Fund (NYSEArca: RVNU). Lastly, muni investors can also squeeze out greater returns through high-yield options, like the VanEck Vectors High Yield Municipal Index ETF (HYD) and SPDR Nuveen S&P High Yield Municipal Bond ETF (HYMB) . Click to read more!
3. Soaring Gold, Silver, Platinum ETFs Power Up
Somewhat lost in the well-deserved fervor surrounding the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) , the iShares Silver Trust (NYSEArca: SLV ) and other gold and silver exchange traded products this year are the impressive performances being notched by platinum and palladium equivalents. The ETFS Physical Platinum Shares (NYSEArca: PPLT) has been particularly impressive. Click to read more!
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4. Resisting the Temptation of Biotech ETFs
After rallying late in the first quarter and to start the current quarter, it looked liked as though biotechnology stocks and exchange traded funds were shaking the doldrums that have plagued the group dating back to last year. It appears as though investors will have to wait some more for ETFs such as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) to legitimately enter new bull markets. In recent weeks, IBB, the largest biotech ETF, has been scuffling. The same can be said of rivals, such as the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) and the First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index Fund (FBT) . Click to read more!
5. 31 ETFs for Maximized Fixed-Income Investing
Investors seeking an easy way to fill out a fixed-income portfolio may start off with an aggregate or total bond market exchange traded fund that provides diversified exposure to U.S. government and corporate debt securities. Investors seeking a core fixed-income portfolio position may take a look at a number of broad aggregate bond or total bond market ETFs. Diversified bond ETFs include iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG), Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND), Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF (BSV), Vanguard Intermediate-term Bond ETF (BIV), Vanguard Total International Bond ETF (BNDX) and Schwab U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (SCHZ). Click to read more!
6. MLP ETFs are Showing Signs of Life
Exchange traded products tracking master limited partnerships (MLPs) were thrashed when oil prices tumbled over the past two years, but with crude rebounding in 2016, some income investors are renewing their affinity for products such as the JPMorgan Alerian MLP Index ETN (AMJ) and the ALPS Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP) . Click to read more!
7. ETF vs. Mutual Fund: The Same, But (Very) Different
Exchange traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds can accurately be characterized as sister investment products because of their many similarities. Both are basically baskets of investments and offer a diverse range of investment types and strategies. Click to read more!
8. 16 Glistening Gold ETFs Investors Should Follow
Gold exchange traded funds dulled Wednesday after minutes from the Federal Reserves latest meeting showed that the central bank could hike interest rates in June if conditions are right. The Fed minutes revealed that the policy makers are less concerned about risks posed by the global economic and financial conditions and pointed to strengthening U.S. labor market, the Wall Street Journal reports. Click to read more!
9. The Fed is Really Helping 3 High-Yielding ETFs
The weaker dollar, sliding Treasury yields and the Federal Reserves inability to raise interest rates to this point this year are combining for a perfect storm for high-yielding asset classes, including preferred stocks.
Last year, exchange traded funds such as the iShares U.S. Preferred Stock ETF (NYSEArca: PFF ) and the PowerShares Preferred Portfolio (NYSEArca: PGX ) were stung by speculation the Fed would move forward with multiple rate hikes in 2016, but there has not been a single rate increase through the first four-plus months of the year. Click to read more!
10. Navigating Risks of Leveraged, Inverse ETF Play
As the markets wade through heightened volatility, many have capitalized on the wild swings with leveraged and inverse exchange traded funds (ETFs) to juice returns. However, while the strategies may generate lucrative returns, investors should fully understand how these products work and the risks involved. Click to read more!
11. The Ins and Outs of Pricey Dividend ETFs
Exchange traded funds with an emphasis on dividends have become increasingly popular. Not to mention dividend ETFs contributed a substantial portion of the growth experienced by smart beta or intelligent index ETFs. But all dividend ETFs are not created equal and some sport higher expense ratios that can erode yields and total returns. Cost-conscious income investors need to be aware of this scenario with ETFs such as the First Trust Value Line Dividend Index Fund (FVD) . Click to read more!
12. Believe It: The Lone Greece ETF is on Fire
The Global X MSCI Greece ETF (GREK) , the lone exchange traded fund dedicated to Greek stocks, has been notoriously volatile over the past several years, but to its credit, GREK is up more than 37% over the past 90 days and some market observers believe now is the time to invest in Greece. Click to read more!
13. 2 Big Oil ETFs Ready for Pullbacks
The United States Oil Fund (USO) , which tracks West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures, and the the United States Brent Oil Fund (BNO) , which tracks Brent crude oil futures, are among this years standout commodities exchange traded products, but some energy market observers believe crude is ready to retreat. Click to read more!
14. Risks for These 2 High-Yielding REIT ETFs
High-yielding, income-generating asset classes are benefiting this year as Treasury yields decline and the Federal Reserve puts off another interest rate increase. The group of beneficiaries includes exchange traded funds holding mortgage real estate investment trusts (mREITs), such as the iShares Mortgage Real Estate Capped ETF (REM) and the Market Vectors Mortgage REIT Income ETF (NYSEArca: MORT) . Click to read more!
15. 44 Best REITs ETFs to Generate Yields
Real estate investment trusts (REITs) and sector-related exchange traded funds (ETFs) are a good source of attractive payouts in a low-yield environment.
REITs are securities that trade like a stock and invest in real estate directly through property ownership or mortgages. Consequently, revenue are mainly generated through rents or interest on mortgage loans. To qualify for special tax considerations, the asset also distributes the majority of income, about 90% of taxable profits, to investors as dividends. Click to read more!
Earlier this month Russias Mariinsky Theatre orchestra held a concert amid the ancient ruins of the Syrian city of Palmyra to celebrate its liberation from the grip of the Islamic State. A few weeks later, it looks like Russian President Vladimir Putin is orchestrating a different kind of show there entirely.
Newly released satellite imagery shows that Russia is building a military base near the ruins of a Roman necropolis inside the protected area of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. ISIS staged a mass execution nearby last year.
Related: 14 Deadly Weapons Russia Has Sent To Syria
Syrian and Iranian ground troops, backed by Russia airstrikes, captured Palmyra in March, though sporadic fighting dots the area as ISIS forces try to retake the archaeological site.
The new Russian outpost appears to include armored vehicles, air defenses and a brand new helicopter pad, according to a report from the American School of Oriental Research Cultural Heritage Initiative and DigitalGlobe, a private analytics firm.
Maamoun Abdulkarim, head of the Antiquities and Museums Department in Damascus, told the Associated Press that the Russians are building small barracks that includes offices and clinics.
In addition to being a potential violation of international law, the sites construction is another sign that Moscows military adventure in Syria that began last September is far from over.
In March, Putin made a great show of announcing that the Kremlin would withdraw the main part of its military forces after accomplishing its mission of shoring up the Assad government. However, a recent analysis found that Moscow has continued sending military hardware to Syria and its capability is roughly the same as before it announced the drawdown.
Related: How Many Russian Troops Are In Syria? An Order for Medals Gives a Clue
Meanwhile, Russias airbase near the Syrian port of Latakia still boasts fighters, bomber, attack helicopters and the S-400 missile defense system, according to The Economist.
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Osama al-Khatib, a Syrian opposition activist from Palmyra who lives in Turkey, told the AP that the new base is located just a few hundred yards from the Arch of Triumph, which was built under the Roman emperor Septimius Severus between A.D. 193 and A.D. 211, and that the barracks appear to be near historical graves.
Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
(Adds World Bank statement)
TUNIS, May 18 (Reuters) - The World Bank approved a five-year plan to lend Tunisia up to $5 billion to support economic reforms aimed at reviving growth and creating jobs, the bank said on Wednesday.
The North African country is struggling with lower tourism revenue after Islamist militant attacks last year, protests over unemployment and slow progress on economic reforms that have lagged political advances made since its 2011 uprising.
Tunisia's parliament recently approved laws on banking and on strengthening central bank autonomy to shield its board from political interference, two reforms sought by the country's international lenders.
"(The) new five-year strategy of support... will provide up to $5 billion in loans to Tunisia to restore economic growth and create jobs," the bank said in statement.
The economy has faltered since the 2011 revolt against autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, which sparked the Arab Spring revolutions across North Africa and the Middle East.
Problems have been exacerbated by last year's attacks by militants who targeted the tourism industry, which accounts for about 7 percent of gross domestic product. Gunmen killed foreign visitors at a museum in Tunis and a beach resort in Sousse, forcing tour companies to suspend some operations.
(Reporting By Tarek Amara; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Good morning, WMPW readers! Sexual harassment is rife in France, India has a new female power broker, and Diane von Furstenberg has named an heir. Want to share some news about an exceptional woman? Find me on Twitter at @laurascohn. Enjoy your Wednesday!
See original article on Fortune.com
More from Fortune.com
THE BIG STORY
[bs-title]Sexual harassment in France[/bs-title]
[bs-content]With all the attention on Donald Trump's attitude towards women, it's worth noting that sexual harassment is not confined to the U.S. business world. In France, the deputy speaker of the National Assembly, Denis Baupin, resigned recently on such claims. And now, the Paris bureau chief of the Financial Times has penned her own cringe-worthy tale of experiences with French bankers and businessmen. Anne-Sylvaine Chassany writes that in her years working as a business journalist in Paris, she has come across inappropriate behavior from men in power time and again. Consider this: A senior cabinet adviser once sent her a text saying she was "delicious, pretty and lively" and asked her to drinks. She declined. Chassany writes that she did not run into such behavior when she worked in London.[/bs-content]
[bs-link link="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/582e9f8e-18f0-11e6-b197-a4af20d5575e.html?siteedition=intl#axzz48jegNcMb" source="Financial Times"]
[bs-share text="Sexual harassment in France via @FortuneMagazine's World's Most Powerful Women newsletter" link="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/582e9f8e-18f0-11e6-b197-a4af20d5575e.html?siteedition=intl#axzz48jegNcMb"]
EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA
[bs-title]Shut down in Iran[/bs-title][bs-content]In Iran, eight people were arrested for working for the online modeling business while not donning mandatory head scarfs. Former model Elham Arab, who had become a star for her now-closed Instagram account of her modeling bridal gowns, was questioned by prosecutors on live TV and said she had "bitter experiences" with the industry. Those comments come in disturbing contrast to the image she had portrayed online.[/bs-content][bs-link link="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/world/middleeast/irans-hard-liners-crack-down-on-models-not-wearing-head-scarves.html?hpw&rref=fashion&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-regionion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well" source="New York Times"]
[bs-seperator]
Story continues
[bs-title]Where Nordic nations rule[/bs-title][bs-content]All hail the Nordic nations. A new study shows that Sweden, Norway, and Finland have the best gender equality in the workplace. The report, which measures female-to-male labor force participation and other factors, also found the "cost of motherhood" was nearly negligible in Italy, Spain, and Belgium.[/bs-content][bs-link link="http://fortune.com/2016/05/17/working-moms-gender-pay-gaps/" source="Fortune"]
[bs-seperator]
[bs-title]Life after spice[/bs-title]
[bs-content]I'll admit it: I always liked the Spice Girls and the girl power they stood for. Turns out, Geri Horner (Ginger Spice) is still practicing what the group preached. She's written children's books and is a spokeswoman for a writing competition backed by Mattel and parenting site Netmums.[/bs-content]
[bs-link link="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/may/16/former-spice-girl-geri-i-like-myself-a-bit-better-now?CMP=twt_gu" source="Guardian"]
ASIA-PACIFIC
[bs-title]India's next powerful woman[/bs-title]
[bs-content]India has had a history of elevating women to powerful political positions, and Mamata Banerjee appears the latest to ascend. The chief minister of West Bengal has taken on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tax policies and is expected to clinch another term.[/bs-content]
[bs-link link="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-16/from-jumping-on-cars-to-hunger-strikes-maverick-politician-shakes-up-india-s-status-quo" source="Bloomberg"]
[bs-seperator]
[bs-title]Park's prowess[/bs-title]
[bs-content]South Korean President Park Geun-hye's efforts to foster entrepreneurship and end reliance on the large business groups called "chaebols" appears to be paying off. She says her country has seen tech startups spring up and that VC investment reached its highest level in 15 years in 2015. [/bs-content]
[bs-link link="http://www.scmp.com/business/article/1946153/south-koreas-park-urges-global-leaders-embrace-innovation-green-technology" source="South China Morning Post"]
[bs-seperator]
[bs-title]Designs on China[/bs-title]
[bs-content]Remember that long yellow cape gown Rihanna wore to the Met gala last year? It was designed by China's Guo Pei, who is getting plenty of competition from other female designers in the country's burgeoning fashion industry.[/bs-content]
[bs-link link="http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-luxury/article/1944595/5-chinese-fashion-designers-established-and-emerging-who" source="South China Morning Post"]
THE AMERICAS
[bs-title]Downgrading progress[/bs-title]
[bs-content]Sadly, women aren't making as much progress in U.S. boardrooms as previously thought. Heidrick & Struggles Board Monitor says it no longer expects women to make up half of the new directors in 2024, and instead extended the projection to 2026.[/bs-content][bs-link link="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/business/dealbook/corporate-boards-minorities-women.html" source="New York Times"]
[bs-seperator]
[bs-title]A philanthropic princess[/bs-title]
[bs-content]They bonded on a trip to New Delhi to speak with female patients with HIV. And now, with a nod to the VC-model, Maverick Collective CEO Kate Roberts and the Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway are recruiting female investors for projects for girls and women in developing countries.[/bs-content][bs-link link="http://www.fastcompany.com/3058981/most-creative-people/how-a-princess-and-a-ceo-are-applying-the-vc-model-to-philanthropy" source="Fast Company"]
[bs-seperator]
[bs-title]An heir to the wrap dress[/bs-title]
[bs-content]Diane von Furstenberg, who famously created the wrap dress, has named an heir. It's a man: British designer Jonathan Saunders.[/bs-content]
[bs-link link="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/16/fashion/diane-von-furstenberg-jonathan-saunders-heir.html?ribbon-ad-idx=2&rref=fashion&module=Ribbon&version=originion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Fashion%20%26%20Style&pgtype=article" source="New York Times"]
IN BRIEF
[bs-title size="small"]Highly-educated women in the U.S. have a persistent pay gap[/bs-title]
[bs-link link="http://www.wsj.com/articles/women-in-elite-jobs-face-stubborn-pay-gap-1463502938" source="Wall Street Journal"]
[bs-title size="small"]Donald Trump, Megyn Kelly of Fox News end feud in TV special[/bs-title]
[bs-link link="http://fortune.com/2016/05/17/trump-megyn-kelly-interview/?iid=leftrail" source="Fortune"]
[bs-title size="small"]Female Bank of America exec sues over "egregious pay disparity"[/bs-title]
[bs-link link="http://fortune.com/2016/05/17/bank-of-america-lawsuit-bros-club/" source="Fortune"]
[bs-title size="small"]Melinda Gates announces $80m in funding for gender gap data[/bs-title]
[bs-link link="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-bill--melinda-gates-foundation-announces-80-million-commitment-to-close-gender-data-gaps-and-accelerate-progress-for-women-and-girls-300269774.html" source="PR Newswire"]
[bs-title size="small"]Kathleen Sebelius says U.S. Supreme Court's Obamacare decision is good for women[/bs-title]
[bs-link link="http://time.com/4338183/kathleen-sebelius-obamacare-supreme-court-affordable-care-act/?xid=homepage" source="Time"]
[bs-title size="small"]Villain in "Iron Man 3" was supposed to be a woman[/bs-title]
[bs-link link="http://fortune.com/2016/05/16/iron-man-3-female-villain/" source="Fortune"]
PARTING WORDS
[bs-quote link="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/a06b4536-15fd-11e6-b197-a4af20d5575e.html#axzz48jegNcMb" author="-- Engie CEO Isabelle Kocher, the only woman to head a company in France's benchmark CAC40 index"] I understand that my nomination represents something, but to be honest I was never very feminist and I never suffered from being a woman in my career. Really, it was never much of an issue for me.[/bs-quote]
gold switzerland
The world's biggest bank by assets just bought a secret gold vault in London.
China's ICBC Standard Bank agreed to buy one of Europe's largest gold vaults from Barclays, according to Bloomberg.
The deal is expected to be completed in July, although no additional financial details were given.
The vault is in a "secret" location and can hold up to 2,000 metric tons of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. It was opened by Barclays in 2012.
The BBC reports that ICBC Standard Bank's head of commodities, Mark Buncombe, said that buying the vault "enables us to better execute on our strategy to become one of the largest Chinese banks in the precious metals market."
Notably, China's appetite for gold seems to have grown over the last few months.
In April, the country launched a gold-price benchmark in order to have greater influence over the price of the commodity, according to the Financial Times. This could eventually reduce the influence of the London gold price, wrote the FT's Henry Sanderson.
Moreover, the World Gold Council reports that inflows into gold-backed ETFs in China have risen "exponentially" in recent months.
"Although they still only account for a very small proportion of the 1,974t held in these products globally, Chinese gold-backed ETFs on aggregate attracted 11.1t of inflows during the first quarter, more than doubling their holdings in the process," according to the WGC.
It added:
Huaan Yifu Gold ETF surpassed all other funds in Asia: total holdings at quarter-end were 13.5t, up 10.3t from the end of 2015. Although institutional investors were reportedly the driving force behind this flood of inflows, retail investors were also a considerable contributor, looking to gold for diversification and wealth protection.
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Gold is up 0.2% at $1,276.45 per ounce as of 1:15 p.m. EST.
Screen Shot 2016 05 17 at 1.16.38 PM
Check out the full story at Bloomberg.
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Montenegro Minister Defense Milica Pejanovic Foreign Minister Igor Luksic NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg
Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic will travel to Brussels on Wednesday to meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and sign an accession agreement, the AFP reports.
The agreement will be the first step towards making Montenegro the 29th member of NATO.
"It is an historic day for the alliance, for Montenegro and for the stability of the Western Balkans," Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels, the AFP notes.
"The enlargement of NATO with Montenegro confirms that NATOs door is open."
After signing the agreement, which is slated to take place on Thursday, Montenegro will be a party to NATO meetings, like July's coming Warsaw summit, as an observer until all 28 existing members ratify their membership, which could take up to 18 months.
NATO would be the third Balkan state in NATO, joining Croatia and Romania.
NATO's expansion comes after Russia illegally annexed Crimea and used a form of hybrid warfare to destabilize Ukraine by backing anti-western rebels.
Screen Shot 2016 05 18 at 5.01.38 PM
Russia has repeatedly threatened military actions to counter the buildup of NATO, but top NATO officials say that Russia will have absolutely no say in Montenegro's decision.
"The fundamental principle is that every nation has the right to decide its own path ... including to decide what security arrangements it wants to be part of," Slotenberg said.
"Any sanctions or reactions from Russia will be absolutely unjustified, because its about respecting the sovereign decision of a sovereign nation, Montenegro, to decide on its own path and that should be respected by everyone," Stoltenberg continued.
Additionally, Georgia, Macedonia, and the Ukraine have expressed interest in joining NATO.
Story continues
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Microsoft erased another part of its massive Nokia mistake this morning, selling its feature phone business for $350 million to Chinese manufacturer Foxconn. Microsoft had already written off the entire value of the original acquisition, and has scaled back its phone business dramatically in the last year.
As this chart from Statista shows, Nokia's smartphone business was already on a steep decline when Microsoft bought it in 2014. Nokia's total phone sales peaked in late 2010 at over 120 million. The company signed its smartphone platform deal with Microsoft the following quarter. But by the time Microsoft bought it, its annual sales had already been cut in half. It would've taken a miracle or a serious misstep by competitors like Apple or the Android handset makers for Microsoft to turn that business around.
20160518_Nokia
NOW WATCH: This smart earpiece translates languages as they are spoken
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One of the Arizona Diamondbacks' offseason additions took an encouraging step forward in their second game against the New York Yankees to help secure their first series win against the AL club since the 2001 World Series.
They're hoping another new arm can do the same Wednesday night at home as the Diamondbacks try to secure a three-game sweep.
Zack Greinke led Arizona (19-23) to Tuesday's 5-3 win by allowing three runs in seven innings and trimming his ERA from 5.26 to 5.08.
Shelby Miller is next up having turned in a few starts that haven't been great but have at least dropped his ERA. Miller (1-4, 6.94 ERA) gave up three runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings of Friday's 3-1 home loss to San Francisco.
The right-hander has gone 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA in his last two starts and limited himself to four walks in 11 2/3 innings. That's not ideal, but it's better than the absurd 11.68 walks per nine innings he'd averaged over his previous four starts.
Even so, falling behind caught up to him again as Joe Panik hit a 3-0 pitch for a three-run homer in the sixth inning.
"I thought he threw the ball well," manager Chip Hale said. "Panik ambushed him there 3-0. Other than that, he threw the ball well."
Miller had all sorts of problems in his only career start against the Yankees, surrendering seven runs and nine hits in five innings of a 7-4 loss on May 28, 2014. Jacoby Ellsbury is 3 for 3 against him, but newcomer Starlin Castro (1 for 11 with four strikeouts) and Brian McCann (1 for 8) have struggled.
Miller faces Nathan Eovaldi, whose last start was quite a bit like his counterpart's but ended with a victory. Eovaldi (3-2, 4.85) gave up three runs and eight hits in five innings of Thursday's 7-3 home win over Kansas City.
The right-hander is 3-0 with a 3.96 ERA in his last four starts and felt the numbers in his latest weren't indicative of his stuff.
"I felt really good out there," Eovaldi told MLB's official website. "I felt I got hit around when I was ahead in the counts tonight, but overall I'm really pleased with the outing. I thought our guys did a great job offensively and on defense."
Story continues
He's 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA in four starts against the Diamondbacks, all of which have come in Arizona with Paul Goldschmidt going 2 for 10 with four strikeouts.
Arizona has won the first two games to secure its first ever regular-season series win over the Yankees. The Diamondbacks beat New York in the World Series 15 years ago, but their regular-season record stands at 6-11 with three straight wins.
The Diamondbacks had lost five straight before the start of this series. Goldschmidt was 2 for 3 after going 2 for 18 in his previous five games. Jean Segura and Nick Ahmed are 4 for 9 in the series. The latter entered with a .125 average in his prior 20 games.
New York (16-22) will again have to wait for its first road series win. The Yankees are 4-12 away from home with 2.7 runs per game and a .215 average.
Riyadh (AFP) - Yemen's Prime Minister Ahmed bin Dagher on Wednesday rejected a unity government proposed by Iran-backed rebels whom he accused of bringing the country's economy to the brink of collapse.
At a cabinet meeting in the Saudi capital, Dagher insisted that the rebels surrender their weapons and withdraw from seized territory in line with a UN Security Council resolution adopted in April last year.
The Shiite Huthi rebels and their allies overran the capital Sanaa in September 2014 and went on to seize control of several regions, forcing President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee to Saudi Arabia.
Riyadh formed a regional coalition that began air strikes against the rebels in March last year and later sent in ground forces to support Hadi's government.
"The retreat (of the rebels) from state institutions is non-negotiable," the premier said.
The meeting was held inside a Saudi government hall where Dagher read from a statement, with cabinet ministers seated at a long table in front of him.
At UN-brokered peace talks which began on April 21 in Kuwait, the rebels made a transitional government of consensus a precondition for applying Security Council Resolution 2216.
But the prime minister attacked "those who want a national unity government before handing over the weapons" which constitutionally belong in state hands.
He added that the country was "in a terrible state of economic and monetary collapse" after the rebels spent $3 billion, almost the entire monetary reserves of Yemen, "in their war efforts".
He said the rebels also arranged to print more money, leading to a collapse in the value of the rial and a spike in prices.
Residents say the cost of fruit and vegetables has risen by at least 20 percent in recent days, while essentials like flour are up by more than 30 percent.
On Tuesday, Yemen's government threatened to quit the peace talks unless UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed can provide a written guarantee from the rebels that they recognise Resolution 2216 and the "legitimacy" of Hadi's administration.
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Foreign Minister Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi said his team will stay in Kuwait until the weekend and then take a decision.
One foreign diplomat told AFP he was "not optimistic", while raising the possibility of international pressure on the government to show greater flexibility over rebel disarmament and the transitional government proposal.
Another diplomatic source was more positive.
"I don't think we're looking at it really being over yet," although neither side had been particularly flexible, the source said.
He added that Hadi's future appears to be a factor in discussion of the proposed "consensus" government.
"My guess is that Hadi just doesn't feel that he would be part of that consensus government," the source said.
Kuwait's emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, on Wednesday called on the two sides to continue negotiating to "reach positive results".
Fighting has killed more than 6,400 people, displaced about 2.8 million and left 82 percent of Yemen's population in need of aid, the UN says.
A New York City man popped the question to his girlfriend with an over-the-top proposal, right in the middle of Times Square.
A.J. Hall, 29, a TV producer, said he went to great lengths to make sure the proposal would be a complete surprise to his girlfriend, Nicole Pagano, 29. He got her friends, family, and boss in on the planning.
Read: Woman Announces Pregnancy With IVF Needles to Highlight How Tough It Can Be to Conceive
"Nicole is very good at sniffing out things," he told InsideEdition.com.
So Hall masterminded several events on Saturday night, the evening he proposed, so that she wouldn't have a clue. One plan included having her friend schedule an outing with a bunch of their friends that night. "I asked her to send an email to all her friends and set up a fake date night so she thinks we're all going out," he said.
Her boss, also in on the plot, asked her to head to Times Square that same night to check out a promotional video on one of the big screens. She was bummed she had to work that night, Hall said.
What she didn't know was that Hall had rented out one of the largest digital billboards to play a video he'd created just for her. While they were out that night, she slyly asked him, "Tonight's not going to be the night, is it? I would have gotten my nails done,'" said Hall. He flat-out said no, and she went along with it, he said.
When they arrived at the big screen, the video turned out to be a sweet story of their relationship that included photos from some of their most memorable times. Meanwhile, Hall slowly pulled a ring out of his pocket.
At the end of the video, a picture popped up of Hall holding a sign saying, "Marry Me?"
Read: Cancer-Free Leah Still Takes to the Dance Floor At Dad Devon's Wedding
Family members from both sides had been hiding in the crowd, waiting for the couple to arrive, and when Hall got down on one knee to propose, they all suddenly surrounded the adorable couple.
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Pagano screamed out loud in excitement, and immediately said yes. "Her reaction was completely priceless. I don't think I could have surprised her any bigger or grander. It took a couple of months to plan, but it was worth it!" he said.
"I've never seen her so excited in my life. She was crying, and full of excitement," he said.
Asked if it was too soon to inquire about wedding plans, Hall laughed, saying, "The next day, she woke up at 6 a.m., and wanted to talk about it. I said, 'You have no idea what it took to plan that off. I need a day to chill out!'"
Hall said they're planning on getting married in New Jersey at the end of next year, around Christmas time, and are floating Bora Bora as a possible honeymoon destination.
"I'm excited. It's been a whirlwind!" he said.
Watch: Mom of 5 Surprises Husband With Pregnancy News On His Birthday Cake
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For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL May 18, 2016 Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses the Restaurants, (Part 2), including Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (BWLD), The Wendy's Company (WEN), Papa John's International Inc. (PZZA), Jack in the Box Inc. (JACK) and Domino's Pizza, Inc. (DPZ).
Industry: Restaurants, (Part 2)
Link: https://www.zacks.com//commentary/81063/restaurants-seeking-to-boost-revenues-time-to-invest
According to the National Restaurant Association, 2016 could be the seventh consecutive year of real sales growth in the restaurant industry. The industry generates sales that account for 4% of U.S. GDP. It is expected to counter headwinds on the back of strong sales initiatives.
Given past trends and growth prospects of the industry, we have highlighted some of the positives to help investors decide whether they should increase their investments in the space.
Improving U.S. Economic Growth: An improving economy and employment picture, along with growing consumer confidence, have led to a slow but steady recovery in the restaurant industry. Despite global concerns, the U.S. economy is improving. While the decline in oil prices raised concerns of a global deflation and an economic slowdown, it is actually driving consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic growth. Stepped-up economic activities, improving business conditions, renewed optimism as a result of housing recovery and rising consumer confidence are expected to keep investors confidence high in 2016.
Sales Strategies: Restaurants strive to improve sales by targeting higher footfall and delivering something unique. Having stabilized their financial positions, the operators are constantly striving to add new items to their menu to cater to the ever-changing palates of customers while making food presentation better. Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (BWLD), The Wendy's Company (WEN), Papa John's International Inc. (PZZA) and Jack in the Box Inc. ( JACK) are some of the restaurateurs playing this card.
Another initiative undertaken by the food chains is re-imaging the stores, which has received overwhelming response from guests. Wendy's and Domino's Pizza, Inc. (DPZ) have been working on these lines. Reimaging stores aims to create a more appealing but differentiated concept that connects the brand better to guests, especially millennials.
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LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia's new price-based mineral royalty tax will enhance the collection of government revenue rather than compromise it, the Chamber of Mines said on Tuesday, defending the new levy after recent criticism. The chamber's president Nathan Chishimba was reacting to a statement by civil society organisations advising against the new tax regime on the grounds it was investor-led and would not maximise revenue in times of commodity price booms. "One cannot separate mining tax revenue from mining investment, because it is the mining investment which ultimately produces the tax revenue," Chishimba said in a statement. Zambia's amended mines bill proposes to reduce copper royalties to a variable tax of 4 to 6 percent, depending on the price of the metal. The royalty tax would be 4 percent when the price of copper is below $4,500 a tonne, 5 percent between $4,500 and $6,000 and 6 percent above $6,000. "The largest amount of tax revenue is always generated over the longer term, and this can only happen if mining companies are incentivised to invest over the longer term," he said. Chishimba added that mineral royalties were a tax on production, which was not designed to maximise revenues in times of commodity price booms, whereas the government would benefit during booms thanks to 30 percent taxes on company profits. "One has to balance taking as much as one can now with having a thriving industry into the future, and the government has at last recognised this," Chishimba said. Mining lobbies had asked for a price-based royalty structure to ease the tax burden during a period of depressed prices. In June last year, Zambia cut mineral royalties for underground mines to 6 percent from 9 percent and those for open cast mines to 9 percent from 20 percent following an outcry by mining firms. (Reporting by Chris Mfula; editing by David Clarke)
Top Chinese Communist Zhang Dejiang, currently visiting Hong Kong, studied economics in North Korea and went on to run China's richest and most populous province before ascending to the highest levels of the ruling party.
Now 69, he was born in Liaoning in the northeast and was "sent down" to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution -- which was declared 50 years ago on Monday.
After his studies at Kim Il-Sung University in Pyongyang he became an administrator at Yanbian University in Jilin province, and started to rise up the Communist ranks.
He now chairs the National People's Congress, China's Communist-controlled legislature, and is consistently named third in official media reports of party activity, putting him in that position in the hierarchy, although actual power can vary.
He is reportedly head of the party's organ overseeing Hong Kong affairs.
Zhang was the top official in Guangdong province, which borders Hong Kong, from 2002 to 2007.
Critics blame him for the cover-up of the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which emerged in Guangdong in late 2002 before spreading to Hong Kong and around the world the following year, killing more than 800 people.
He has also been accused of strangling liberal local media outlets, including the high-profile Southern Weekly newspaper.
Zhang's term saw clashes between Guangdong villagers and police over compensation for land requisitioned by the government.
In 2005, paramilitary forces opened fire on residents protesting against the construction of a large coal-fired power plant in Dongzhou, killing as many as 30 according to locals.
State media reported at the time that protesters attacked police with knives, batons and homemade weapons including explosives.
Guangdong governor Huang Huahua -- Zhang's number two in the provincial Communist party -- later told reporters that disputes were a result of rapid economic development.
"We can say Guangdong's economy is at a golden development period, a peak period for cases to develop, a period for readjustments of interests and a period where a lot of contradictions happen," Huang said.
Nonetheless Zhang was promoted to the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, the party's top body, at its five-yearly congress in 2012, appearing third in the line-up behind President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.
By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - The Zika virus, an infectious disease linked to severe birth defects in babies, may spread into Europe as the weather gets warmer, although the risk is low, health officials said on Wednesday. In its first assessment of the threat Zika poses to the region, the World Health Organization's European office said the overall risk was small to moderate. It is highest in areas where Aedes mosquitoes thrive, in particular on the island of Madeira and the north-eastern coast of the Black Sea. "There is a risk of spread of Zika virus disease in the European Region and ... this risk varies from country to country, said Zsuzsanna Jakab, the WHO's regional director for Europe. "We call particularly on countries at higher risk to strengthen their national capacities and prioritize the activities that will prevent a large Zika outbreak." The WHO's European region covers 53 countries and a population of nearly 900 million. It stretches from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Mediterranean Sea in the south and from the Atlantic in the west to the Pacific in the east. A large and spreading outbreak of Zika that began in Brazil has caused global alarm. The virus has been linked to thousands of cases of a birth defect known as microcephaly in babies of women who become infected with Zika while pregnant. The WHO has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults. The WHO's Geneva headquarters in February declared the Zika outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), warning it was spreading "explosively" in the Americas. The WHO's European office said that if no measures are taken to mitigate the threat, the presence of the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that can carry the virus mean the likelihood of local Zika transmission is moderate in 18 countries in the region. A further 36 countries have low, very low or no likelihood, the assessment found. Aedes mosquitoes are not found in those countries and their climates would not be suitable for the mosquitoes to establish themselves. Countries with high and moderate risk of Zika should improve vector-control measures to prevent the spread of mosquitoes and reduce their density, WHO Europe said. They should also equip health workers to detect cases early, report them swiftly, and help people at risk - notably pregnant women - protect themselves from infection, it added. The WHO's Zika risk warning was "timely and real", said Paul Hunter, a professor of health protection at Britain's University of East Anglia, although he added that any outbreak would probably be relatively short-lived. "The risk is mostly in southern Europe and especially around the Mediterranean coast," he said. "However, even if Zika did start to spread in Europe, it is unlikely to become established as an outbreak is very unlikely to continue over winter." The WHO's European risk analysis took in multiple factors, among them the presence of Zika-transmitting mosquitoes, suitable climates for the mosquito, previous history of transmission of dengue or chikungunya, ship and flight connections, and population density and urbanization. It also considered the capacity of the country to contain transmission at an early stage, based on four main factors: vector control, clinical surveillance, laboratory capacity and emergency risk communications. (Reporting by Kate Kelland, editing by Larry King)
From Cosmopolitan
My mother loves to shop. You should have seen our Christmas tree - a zillion beautifully wrapped gifts with handwritten notes from Santa strewn across the floor, stockings stuffed so high they refused to hang from the mantel. Back-to-school shopping became a game of One for You, One for Me. Name your occasion, my sister and I received a gift - Valentine's treats, Easter baskets, Halloween costumes. Trips to thrift shops yielded garbage bags full of vintage and secondhand scores.
Showering us with possessions, our mother's compulsion became an extension of her many emotions. Her feelings were, and still are, abundant - and everywhere.
Every nook and cranny is home to a sliver of history. My baby booties live next to the toaster oven. It's been 20 years since high school graduation, and my honor roll certificates are still proudly displayed on the fridge, slightly tattered and stained. I can't help but smile. This is love. This is someone who doesn't want to let go of anything that's ever meant something special. This is someone who loves her piles of stuff so much she can't help but grow them.
Because I am my mother's daughter, I used to feel comfortable with clutter. It felt normal. Cramped urban living reinforced this feeling. The tiny studio apartment my boyfriend and I shared in Bushwick, Brooklyn, was crammed full of stuff. Walls lined with hooks and hangers were draped with every piece of clothing a person could ever want. Shoe boxes like skyscrapers towered overhead. Jewelry spilled out of chests and into vinyl record crates. Music equipment, wigs, every single essay I'd ever written since high school stacked in piles. Art everywhere.
But after 13 years in New York City, talks of moving far away, traveling the world, and starting anew inspired me to get rid of the stuff. All of it. Collecting experiences became more intriguing than collecting tangible objects.
My boyfriend and I decided to move to Central America. So, I quit my job and started selling. I dragged bags of clothes to local buy-sell-trade shops every other day for three weeks, posted ads on Craigslist, emailed my network, and threw a virtual yard sale on Instagram and Facebook. I sold everything, big and small - my old garbage can for $10, my entire CD collection for $500, a bunch of clothes, old ticket stubs for $30 and a box of empty wine bottles for $12.
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Throughout the process of throwing everything away, the occasional shot of tequila helped take the edge off of the emotional dust that got kicked around during the excavation.
The items I couldn't sell, I gave away to friends, neighbors, and my favorite local charity. I kept at it until the only thing left was two suitcases. Everything we owned fit in a Kia Amanti. In total, we made $7,000 selling off our possessions before we headed to Nicaragua.
I rode my bicycle along the beach while looking for Howler monkeys. I watched the red full moon set into the ocean at midnight. It was all magical and fascinating, and thinking back on owning things induced panic in me.
Thinking back on owning things induced panic in me.
Other than a random piece here or there, I didn't really miss a thing. In fact, I wanted to get rid of more. My suitcase was overflowing with bikinis (old habits die hard). I had to sit on it to zip it shut. We had everything we needed - each other, fresh fruits and veggies, a roof over our head, gratitude. Tempted to stay forever, we prepared ourselves for the possibility.
However, safety became a concern (the government's plan to build a 173-mile canal through Lake Nicaragua caused quite an upset with the locals) and after seven months, we returned to our homeland to figure out next steps. I was happy to not have stuff waiting for us. In fact, it made the next three months of traveling around the United States easier. We found a furnished condo in Siesta Key, Florida, and lived there for a while before moving again to Oregon.
When it was time to settle down again, the idea of buying things was incredibly overwhelming. We needed a place to sit. We needed a place to sleep. We'd have to buy things people own: pots, pans, dishes, a couch, a bed, a table. And since my beach wardrobe was no match for the Pacific Northwest's weather, I bought some boots, a few pairs of jeans, and sweaters to keep me warm.
It's been almost a year in the new apartment, and we still don't have any art on the walls. We like it like that. I'm vigilant about reducing clutter and purposeful with my purchases in a way I never was before we left New York City. Minimalism suits me well. And I've found a new balance: I own things, but they no longer own me.
I'd do it all over again. In fact, the next time I want to jump ship and explore a different continent, I'll know exactly how to do it swiftly. Happily, I'll trade in things for new adventures.
The tech community was waiting with bated breath ahead of this year's Google I/O event, but I don't think anyone expected it to be quite as action-packed as it was. Google covered so much during this year's big Google I/O 2016 keynote, and even though we were already expecting much of what was covered, there were definitely a few surprises in store. In fact, aside from the famous Larry Page speech at Google I/O 2013, this was easily the best show in years.
Let's go over all of the biggest announcements from the Google I/O 2016 keynote.
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Google Assistant
Welcome to the next generation of search.
Google search changed the world, literally. Now, Google Assistant is the natural extension of search, supporting "conversational understanding" to make search more natural and to better support voice searches. Say something like "What time is the Yankee game tonight?" and the conversation doesn't have to end there. Continue by saying "Who's the starting pitcher?" and Google's next-generation search will continue the conversation without skipping a beat. That's just one little example the possibilities are practically endless.
Learn more about Google Assistant right here.
Google Home
Google's Amazon Echo competitor surprised no one since we all knew it was coming due to leaks, but that doesn't make it any less impressive.
The Google Home speaker will be released later this year, and it will service as a portal into the Google Assistant experience. It will also let you control connected devices within the home, and you'll be able to cast content with the speaker as well. Say "play Fast and Furious on my TV" and the movie will appear on your screen.
The entire experience is hands-free, powered entirely by voice. In fact, it doesn't even have any buttons. Simple voice commands will control every aspect of the Home, as is the case with the Amazon Echo. Home even integrates with third-party services, allowing you to do things like call an Uber car or book a restaurant reservation using OpenTable.
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Check out our earlier post to find out more about Google Home.
Google Allo
Meet Google's new messaging app, Allo.
Google has fallen way behind top rivals like Facebook in the messaging space. Allo is the company's new offering that includes a number of features Google hopes will help set its new app apart.
For example, the app has a whisper/shout feature that changes the size of the text you send using a slider to help communicate volume. Want to "yell" something? This feature lets you enlarge the text instead of using caps. Feel like "whispering" instead? Shrink text down with the same slider.
Another cool feature is smart replies, which create canned responses that evolve over time based on your conversations. Smart replies are even generated in response to photos thanks to Google's photo analysis capabilities.
Also included, of course, is bot support. From right within the app, users can interact with a wide range of bots. For example, an OpenTable bot will allow users to choose a restaurant and book a reservation without ever leaving an Allo chat. And of course, there's also a Google Assistant search bot. Want to search for a cute cat GIF from within a chat? No problem.
Lastly, Allo includes an incognito mode. All Allo chats are encrypted but incognito mode offers end-to-end encryption and an option to send messages that self-destruct. Additionally, once you close a chat, the entire conversation is deleted forever.
The app launches this summer on Android and iOS, and you can check out our earlier coverage for more details on Allo.
Google Duo
Duo is Google's companion app for Allo that adds in video calling. And yes, it has some very nifty new features.
For example, Knock Knock lets users see the incoming video call feed before even answering the call. This way, the receiving party can see who's calling and where they are before they even pick up the call.
Duo also switches seamlessly between cellular and Wi-Fi connections, and it manages video and audio in real-time to adjust quality on the fly when available bandwidth increases or decreases.
Like Allo, Duo launches this summer on both Android and iOS. Learn more right here.
Android N
Google's next major mobile software release is Android N, and it's going to be a huge update when it's released later this year.
Performance and graphics improvements are a big part of Android N, which is extremely important when you consider how much smoother iOS still is despite all of the multi-core processors and gobs of RAM on leading Android phones. Vulcan is the software that powers these improvements on the graphics side, while a series of software optimizations boost performance elsewhere.
Android N also introduces file-based encryption instead of block-based encryption. This is a much more secure method, and it's just one way Android N is more secure than earlier versions.
Most impressively perhaps, Android N will download and install system updates automatically.
Moving on to the app switcher screen, Android will automatically remove apps from the UI when it determines the app is no longer needed. This way, the app switcher UI is decluttered and it's easier to find the app you're looking for. There's also a new quick switch function accessed by double-tapping the recents button on a phone or tablet.
N's window management framework has also been redesigned to support both split-screen apps (side by side) and picture in picture (a small windows in the corner of the screen). The former will work across phones and tablets while the latter is for Android TV only.
Where notifications are concerned, Android N has a new direct reply feature that lets users reply to messages right from the notification. Unicode 9 emoji will also be supported in Android N, complete with support for all skin tones.
Android N will be released to the public later this summer, but a beta has already been pushed out. Check out more details in this post and you can find out how to download and install the Android N beta right here.
Google Daydream
Virtual reality is a huge component of Android N, and the new VR platform is called Google Daydream.
At its core, Daydream is an optimized virtual reality platform that aims to standardize the mobile-based VR experience. It also spans both software and hardware; Google is making a reference design for a VR headset and a controller, and it'll sell them directly beginning in the late summer.
Learn more about Google's big VR push in this post.
Android Wear 2.0
Android Wear has had a bumpy ride thus far, but Google will look to give its wearables platform a big shot of adrenaline with version 2.0.
The big news here is that Android Wear 2.0 can function independently of a smartphone. So for example, apps no longer need a connected smartphone in order to function. With a phone completely powered off or even left behind, apps can function and even communicate without a phone, as long as the wearable device is connected to the internet via cellular or Wi-Fi.
Android Wear 2.0 details can be found right here.
Instant Apps
If you stuck with the keynote all the way to the end, you saw a preview of one of the coolest advancements in app distribution technology since Apple first launched the App Store. With Instant Apps, users can begin using an app instantly from right within the Google Play store without even having to download and install the app.
It's pretty crazy tech, and you can read more about it in this post.
Related stories
In the future, you won't even have to install Android apps to use them
Android Wear 2.0: Google's biggest smartwatch update yet
Google unveils a new virtual reality platform called 'Daydream'
More from BGR: Live coverage: Watch the Google I/O 2016 keynote right here
This article was originally published on BGR.com
Apple CEO Tim Cook has announced plans to build an app design facility in the southern Indian city of Bangalore (AFP Photo/Josh Edelson) (AFP/File)
Apple chief executive Tim Cook announced Wednesday a new app design centre in India as he kicked off his first visit to the Asian giant seeking to tap into its roll-out of 4G networks.
Cook landed in the Indian financial capital Mumbai shortly before midnight on Tuesday by private jet from China, where he made a $1 billion announcement.
After an early morning visit to a Hindu temple in Mumbai, Cook announced the US technology behemoth was planning to build the app design facility in the southern city of Bangalore.
"India is home to one of the most vibrant and entrepreneurial iOS development communities in the world," the Apple boss said in a statement, adding that it would open early next year.
"With the opening of this new facility in Bengaluru, we're giving developers access to tools which will help them create innovative apps for customers around the world," Cook said, referring to IT hub Bangalore.
Cook's four-day visit comes as Apple eyes India's fast-growing market as increasingly key to its fortunes, with sales in China and the United States slowing.
The 55-year-old made a trip to Mumbai's Shree Siddhivinayak temple, according to the Indian Express newspaper, which posted a picture of Cook wearing a religious cloth around his neck.
While an Apple spokesperson refused to confirm Cook's schedule to AFP, local media reported he had lined up meetings with a number of prominent businessmen, including Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry.
Cook will also reportedly meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while the Business Standard newspaper said he planned to hold discussions with Airtel CEO Sunil Mittal.
Airtel, along with other Indian telecoms companies Reliance and Vodafone, are currently rolling out 4G networks across the country.
Cook has previously stated that the onset of fast phone networks in India would boost sales of the Apple iPhone there.
In April the tech firm reported its first drop in global iPhone sales since launching the smartphone in 2007. But revenues from sales in India grew by 56 percent in the first three months of 2016 compared to the previous year.
During his trip to China, Cook announced Apple had invested $1 billion in Chinese ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing, the bitter rival of US-based Uber.
This week is going to be an important one for Apple AAPL as far as its India growth chapter is concerned. CEO Tim Cook is on a visit to the country. We expect a meeting with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a few other key people, which would be crucial for carving a growth track for the company in the booming market.
Since last year, Apple has been increasing its focus on India in order to claim a greater share of the vast market, of which it holds only 2% as of now. In the last reported quarter, Apples iPhone shipments in India rose 56% over the year-ago quarter. Going ahead, Apple can get a bigger share of the Indian market with its new budget friendly offerings like iPhone SE.
However, unlike China, Indias per capita GDP is much lower. Moreover, the availability of lower-priced smartphones also makes it challenging for Apple to capture a sizeable portion of the market. Nonetheless, given the impressive scope for growth, Apple is taking a slew of initiatives to push further into the market.
Lets have a look at the recent developments:
Tim Cooks First Visit to India: Per media reports, Cook is visiting India in order to lay out plans for Apples growth in the country. It is speculated that a prime agenda for the talks will be regarding the sale of refurbished iPhones in the country. Last month, Apple was denied permission for the same by regulators. The other key points of the discussion will likely be the opening of Apple retail stores and development centers in the country. While the company has not made any official disclosure regarding Cooks plans for the visit, media reports suggest that he will be visiting New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. These apart, Cook will probably be meeting some telecom network providers.
iOS App Design and Development Accelerator: Apple recently declared that it will be setting up a center to support and enhance numerous iOS developers and related startups in the region. Cook stated With the opening of this new facility in Bengaluru, were giving developers access to tools, which will help them create innovative apps for customers around the world. This proposed iOS App Design and Development Accelerator is scheduled to be operational early next year. Bengaluru is the tech hub of India and has a huge base of skilled professionals, which can be leveraged by Apple to drive growth over the long run.
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iPhone Manufacturing Plant: Media reports from last week suggest that Apple supplier Foxconn is eyeing a $10 billion, 1200 acres site in the state of Maharashtra in India for setting up an iPhone production plant . This initiative would significantly lower the costs for Apple devices in India and allow the company to get a better foothold in a price sensitive market. Furthermore, this initiative would be in line with the Indian governments Make in India initiative, which is intended to increase manufacturing employment in the country.
Digital Mapping Development Center: There are talks that Apple will be inaugurating its first technology development center outside the U.S. in India. Per local media reports, the new digital mapping development center will be based in the Telangana region of India. A Telangana state official confirmed that the Apple team is coming. But we do not know who are the members of the team which is coming on May 19 (Thursday) for the launch of the facility." The center hosting nearly 2,500 employees will start on a 100K square-foot leased space whwith plans for expanding the area to over 250K square feet by 2017.
Bottom Line
Tim Cooks first visit to India comes amid slowing iPhone demand in most of the regions either because of competition or regulatory hurdles (China) or market saturation (the U.S). As such, it makes sense for Apple to solidify its position in a developing nation like India, which is projected to become the second largest smartphone market in the world. In 2016, the smartphone market in India is projected to grow 25% over the 100 million units sold last year. Furthermore, a younger (and skilled) population and increasing investment in broadband network by the government also make India an attractive growth opportunity for Apple over the long run.
Apple, of course, is not the only tech player eyeing India for growth. Some other major companies that have invested in India include Facebook FB, Alphabet GOOGL and Amazon AMZN.
At present, Apple has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
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A phone running the Uber application is held above the traffic in central Bangkok December 10, 2014. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj/Files
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand has ordered Uber Technologies and Grab to halt their motorcycle taxi-hailing services, a senior transport official said on Tuesday.
The services are popular in Thailand's grid-locked cities, where bikes weaving through traffic jams get people around in a fraction of the time a car takes.
There are more than 186,000 motorcycles registered to provide taxi services in Thailand, almost half in the capital, Bangkok, government data shows.
UberMoto and Grab Bike services had caused conflict with those registered to provide taxi services, said Nunthapong Cherdchoo, a senior official at the transport ministry.
Grab Bike said it was working with the government to resolve the issues, while UberMoto said it would temporarily suspend services.
"Grab Bike offers a service that reduces traffic in Bangkok, one of the world's most congested cities," Singapore-headquartered Grab said in a statement. "Staff are well-trained and insured."
Uber's Asia-Pacific spokeswoman Amy Kunrojpanya told Reuters, "We will temporarily suspend UberMoto services. We are doing it because we respect Thai laws. We see the need to cooperate with related agencies and have the intention to operate under the existing law."
Uber launched its services in Bangkok in February.
Authorities have arrested 66 motorcycle drivers working for Uber and Grab Bike, Nunthapong said. They will face fines of up to 4,000 baht ($112) for first-time offences and have their licenses suspended for repeat offences.
San Francisco-based Uber has grown rapidly around the world but has faced protests, bans and restrictions in a number of cities.
(Reporting by Pairat Temphairojana; Writing by Simon Webb; Editing by Adrian Croft and Clarence Fernandez)
"Walking" across the landscape of a painting's surface with "Paint Walker," at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
NEW YORK Walking across a highly magnified Van Gogh painting of sunflowers. Playing an 18th-century piano. Painting 3D worlds. These were some of the digital experiences delivered by the Metropolitan Museum of Art last week.
The Met showed off new technologies at an open house on Friday (May 13), to enhance how visitors experience and interpret art in its many forms.
Virtual reality, social networking with mobile devices, and tabletop gaming were just a few of the methods employed in a number of media prototypes that museumgoers could use to interact with objects in the collection and with each other. [5 Delightfully Tech-y Dresses from the 2016 Met Gala]
Gamers familiar with the blocky world of "Minecraft" would have felt right at home in "MetCraft: Antiquity Adventure," a "Minecraft" map inspired by several Met rooms the Great Hall, the Greek and Roman wing, the Egyptian wing, and the Temple of Dendur. Players could explore the rooms and objects, and perform activities that drew from information provided during a tour of the actual spaces in the museum. The new media projects were created by the Met Digital Department and Met MediaLab, in collaboration with graduate students at the New York University Game Center.
With the Met Music app still in beta users could take a turn at playing notes recorded from the oldest surviving hammer-action piano crafted by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1720 on an iPhone touch screen. Just as Cristofori's novel hammer mechanism allowed musicians to modulate the volume of a struck key (for the first time), the app enabled users to play a series of notes from the 18th-century piano at different volumes.
What might some of the fine artists featured in the Met's collection have done with virtual-reality tools at their disposal? Museum visitors experimented with building their own immersive artwork at the "Experiments in Tilt Brush" station, where the HTC Vive virtual-reality technology was paired with the Google art program Tilt Brush. Players used handheld controllers to "paint" strokes that were suspended in 3D space, using a range of colors and textured "brushes" that simulated ink, paper, taffy, fire and sparkling stars, to name a few.
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For visitors who preferred to experience their art up close, "Paint Walker" provided the unique virtual experience of strolling across the highly magnified surface of a painting. A reproduction of one of Vincent van Gogh's richly colored sunflower paintings was scanned at high resolution and loaded into a program for users to explore in virtual reality or on a monitor using a conventional game controller. Once the camera zoomed in, the textured paint appeared as a mountainous, cratered landscape to run and jump across.
These experiences represent several of the recent initiatives developed by the Met MediaLab to explore the intersection of technology and culture, and to find new ways for visitors of all ages to appreciate masterpieces from the past and discover applications for digital media in artistic expression of the future.
Follow Mindy Weisberger on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
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US intelligence director James Clapper announced his resignation on November 17, 2016, adding to the list of officials that President-elect Donald Trump will need to replace before taking office on January 20, 2017 (AFP Photo/Molly Riley) (AFP/File)
Washington (AFP) - Cyber attackers are targeting the campaigns of Democratic and Republican presidential contenders, US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Wednesday.
"We already have some indications of that," he said during a cyber-security discussion at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington.
"I anticipate that as the campaign intensifies, we are probably going to have more of it."
The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are doing "what they can" to educate both campaigns against potential cyber threats ahead of the general election in November, when Republican Donald Trump will likely face off against Democrat Hillary Clinton, Clapper said.
"There is a long-standing practice of briefing each of the candidates once they are officially designated, and that shifts in to a higher gear in terms of details after the president-elect is known," he added.
Asked for details about specific incidents, Clapper's office referred questions to the FBI.
"We're aware that campaigns and related organizations and individuals are targeted by actors with a variety of motivations -- from philosophical differences to espionage," FBI spokesman Brian Hale later said.
Those attacks ranged from "from defacements to intrusions," he added. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for additional details.
The national intelligence director advises the president and oversees the activity of 17 US intelligence agencies.
By Narottam Medhora (Reuters) - Fitbit users could soon make payments with a flick of the wrist, as the maker of the simple yet hugely popular fitness bands races to pack in more features in its products. Fitbit Inc said on Wednesday it bought wearable payment technology assets from Silicon Valley startup Coin, which makes devices that use near-field communication (NFC). Fitbit, though, is not the first wearable device maker to foray into this technology, which allows users to make payments through their smartphones, smartwatches or fitness bands. Rival Jawbone has already tied up with American Express Co to let users pay through its premium UP4 fitness band. NFC has featured prominently in some mobile devices and is used in the Apple Watch as well as payment services such as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Google Wallet. For Fitbit, which dominates the wearable devices market, the deal could help it catch up on a technology that is becoming increasingly popular with users and retailers. The company, however, said on Wednesday it had no plans to introduce the technology to its devices this year, but may integrate it in future gadgets. Fitbit said the deal with Coin, which debuted on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter in 2013, includes key personnel and intellectual property. The terms of the deal, which was completed on May 12, were not disclosed. A Fitbit spokeswoman told Reuters the deal would not materially affect the company. The deal does not include Coin 2.0, a payment device that combines debit, credit and gift cards. Coin said it would discontinue the device. Fitbit retained its strong grasp on the wearables market in the first quarter, accounting for nearly a quarter of it, according to an IDC report released on Monday. However, the Apple Watch, which supports Apple Pay, remains the most popular smartwatch, with an estimated 1.5 million devices shipped in the quarter according to IDC. Fitbit also said on Wednesday that it would make its Fitbit Blaze and Fitbit Alta smartwatches available in China. Fitbit's shares were unchanged in afternoon trading on Wednesday. (Reporting by Narottam Medhora in Bengaluru; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
Google officially announced its own smart loudspeaker dubbed Google Home at its Google I/O developer conference in Mountain View, California Wednesday. Google Home is a Wifi speaker that can be used to ask Google for information, control devices in ones home and query ones calendar.
In may ways, it works similar to Amazons Echo, which Google CEO Sundar Pichai credited for bringing a lot of excitement to this space. However, Google clearly thinks it has an edge over Amazon by tapping into the voice recognition technology it has developed for mobile phones. Google Home is unmatched in far-field voice recognition, said Google VP Mario Queiroz, who is also in charge of Google Chromecast and Android TV.
Speaking of which: Google Home comes with Google Cast support, the same technology that also powers Googles Chromecast and Chromecast Audio adapters. This makes it instantly compatible with numerous audio apps, making it possible to stream music apps like Spotify and Pandora. Google Home will also be able to interact and work with other Cast devices, and for example start video playback on Chromecast with a voice command.
The announcement came as part of the keynote at Googles annual Google I/O developer conference in Mountain View, California Wednesday. Its also part of a bigger move to get better at conversational voice assistance, something that the company calls Google Assistant.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that 20 percent of Googles search queries on its Android app in the U.S. are already voice queries. We have invested the last decade in building the best natural language processing capabilities. He claimed that Google is far ahead of everyone else, an obvious swipe at Amazon and the natural language recognition capabilities of its Alexa digital assistant.
Reports about Google introducing an Echo competitor first surfaced this March. This week, the New York Times reported that the device would be called Google Home.
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Google's Biggest Ace in the Hole for Virtual Reality May Just Be Content
Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks during Google I/O 2016 on May 19, 2016 (AFP Photo/Justin Sullivan) (Getty/AFP)
Mountain View (United States) (AFP) - Google on Wednesday unveiled a smartphone messaging application infused with artificial intelligence as it moves to stay in tune with busy mobile Internet lifestyles.
"Allo" will be released later this year, along with the "Duo" application for video calls, Google engineering director Erik Kay said at the Internet giant's annual developers conference in the Silicon Valley city of Mountain View.
"Allo is fast, smart and secure," Kay said.
"It will be the first home for the Google assistant, bringing the richness of Google right into your chats," he continued, referring to artificial intelligence capabilities being woven into the Internet giant's offerings.
Many internet companies are probing the possibilities of artificial intelligence, for example, smartphone applications that can learn a user's habits and anticipate searches and requests.
Facebook has been testing a virtual assistant called M in its popular Messenger application for smartphones.
Allo virtual assistants "understand your world" in ways that allow people to ask questions or give directives the same way one might speak with an aide, according to Kay.
"It learns, over time, to make conversations easier, more expressive and more productive," Kay said.
Both applications, which will be free, are based on users' mobile phone numbers.
Features built into Allo include "Whisper and Shout" that lets users make message contents larger or smaller with a swipe.
"No more yelling in all caps to get your point across," Kay quipped.
Allo can suggest replies during text conversations, recognize contents of pictures and customize itself over time to how individuals express themselves.
Kay demonstrated how Allo can conduct online searches and make restaurant reservations on the Open Table website.
Users can chat directly with virtual assistants by typing messages to @google.
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Allo also allows for "incognito" chats that are encrypted end-to-end and users can have messages self-destruct after specified amounts of time.
"So you control how long private messages stick around," Kay said.
"When you delete a private message, it is gone forever."
Duo video calling is also encrypted end-to-end for privacy and security, and has a "knock-knock" feature allowing users to see live streams of callers before answering.
By Deborah M. Todd MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (Reuters) - Alphabet's Google Inc unveiled its answer to Amazon's Alexa virtual assistant along with new messaging and virtual reality products at its annual I/O developer conference on Wednesday, doubling down on artificial intelligence and machine learning as the keys to its future. Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai introduced Google Assistant, a virtual personal assistant designed to perform voice-controlled tasks, along with the tabletop speaker appliance Google Home. Amazon's Echo, a surprise hit that has other tech giants racing to match it, uses a virtual assistant called Alexa, a cloud-based system that controls the Echo speaker and responds to voice-controlled commands by users. Like Alexa, Google Assistant can search the internet and adjust your schedule. However, Pichai said Google Assistant can use images and other information to provide more intuitive results. "You can be in front of this structure in Chicago and ask Google who designed this and it will understand in this context that the name of that designer is Anish Kapoor," said Pichai, pointing toward a photo of Chicago's Cloud Gate sculpture. For Google Home, the Google Assistant merges with Chromecast and smart home devices to control televisions, thermostats and other products. It will also connect to Google's new Allo messaging App, which is scheduled for release this summer. Allo, a rival to Facebook's WhatsApp and other messaging services, will feature end-to-end encryption. Google did not offer a specific release date or pricing for Google Home, saying only that it will be available later this year. (Reporting by Deborah M. Todd in Mountain View and Narottam Medhora in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Alan Crosby)
Google Home and Amazon's Alexa-powered speakers are battling in the emerging market for voice-based shopping (AFP Photo/Glenn CHAPMAN)
Mountain View (United States) (AFP) - Google on Wednesday unveiled a virtual home assistant device that will challenge Amazon Echo as the Internet giant laid out a future rich with artificial intelligence.
Google Home, about the size of a stout vase, will hit the market later this year, vice president of product management Mario Queiroz promised at the opening of the Internet giant's annual developers conference in the Silicon Valley city of Mountain View.
Home devices will incorporate new Google virtual assistant software introduced by chief executive Sundar Pichai.
"Our ability to do conversational understanding is far ahead of what other virtual assistants can do," Pichai told a packed audience at the Shoreline Amphitheatre, a venue known more for concerts than for gatherings of developers.
"We are an order of magnitude ahead of everyone else."
Home devices combine machine learning, online search, voice recognition and more to allow people to get answers to questions, manage tasks, or control devices by speaking naturally, demonstrations showed.
"When I walk into my house, I should be able to interact with Google assistant hands free, using voice, without taking out my phone," Queiroz said.
"Google Home will become more and more a control center for your whole home."
Home will synch with Chromecast devices that allow remote control of televisions or stereo systems, and with "smart" devices made by Google-owned Nest and other companies, according to Queiroz.
"It's like having a voice-controlled remote control to the real world whenever you need it," he said.
He demonstrated Home answering homework questions, changing restaurant bookings, checking commute traffic, playing music selections and more.
"It is really exciting to see Google assistant come to life with Google Home," Pichai said of the artificial intelligence capabilities being built into the company's mobile offerings.
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Google did not disclose pricing on Home devices.
- Google 2.0 -
When Home hits, it will challenge Amazon Echo voice-controlled assistants that have proven to be a hit since the Seattle-based online retail colossus unveiled them two years ago.
"Google Home could be a major force and could also dramatically decrease the sales potential of Amazon Echo," said analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights and Strategy.
"The biggest sales determinant could be the quality of the AI (artificial intelligence) experience, and in the end, Google will likely win over Amazon."
Google is building on advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence to transform established services such as online search into two-way conversations in which users can chat easily with software that understands what they want.
Due to advances in the ways machines can recognize objects and understand context in conversations, as well as what is being said, Google is transforming search into a dialogue instead of a one-sided delivery of query results, Search Engine Land founding editor Danny Sullivan said after the keynote.
"This really is a big deal. If you want to call it Google 2.0 that might be one way to think of it," Sullivan said.
"So far, the big players here - Microsoft and Facebook - are making big promises. Now, Google is coming and saying they can do that."
Microsoft has created Cortana artificial intelligence, while Facebook has been testing a virtual assistant called M in its popular Messenger application for smartphones.
And, Sullivan noted, instead of using a "bot" reference that has been applied to AI software programmed to interact like people, the California-based Internet veteran is branding it simply Google assistant.
- Hello Allo -
Google also unveiled a smartphone messaging application infused with artificial intelligence as it moves to stay in tune with busy mobile Internet lifestyles.
"Allo" will be released later this year, along with the "Duo" application for video calls, Google engineering director Erik Kay told the conference in Mountain View.
"Allo is fast, smart and secure," Kay said.
"It will be the first home for the Google assistant, bringing the richness of Google right into your chats," he continued, referring to artificial intelligence capabilities being woven into the Internet giant's offerings.
Many Internet companies are probing the possibilities of artificial intelligence -- for example, smartphone applications that can learn a user's habits and anticipate searches and requests.
Allo virtual assistants "understand your world" in ways that allow people to ask questions or give directives the same way one might speak with an aide, according to Kay.
Both applications, which will be free, are based on users' mobile phone numbers.
Allo can suggest replies during text conversations, recognize contents of pictures and customize itself over time to how individuals express themselves.
Allo also allows for "incognito" chats that are encrypted end-to-end and users can have messages self-destruct after specified amounts of time.
HOUSTON, TX--(Marketwired - May 18, 2016) - TrendMiner, which delivers big data search and advanced predictive analytics tools to the process industry, today announced that it has officially established its U.S. headquarters in Houston, TX. The announcement comes as the company, an OSIsoft ISV partner, is actively moving forward with plans to broaden its U.S. customer base.
TrendMiner has already on-boarded its first U.S. customers and is already expanding the local team with open senior sales executive positions. Prior to year-end, the company is also expecting to add senior U.S. executives to their V.P. team and Board. TrendMiner has forecasted its global annual recurring revenue to quadruple this year with more than 30 percent of this expected growth to be generated by U.S.-based customers.
"The OSIsoft's PI System customers have vast repositories of valuable data ideal for advanced analytics investigations. The added value TrendMiner can bring was acknowledged by the great responses from customers at the Global OSIsoft User Conference last April," said Niels Verheijen, TrendMiner's Vice President of Global Sales and manager of the U.S. office.
Demonstrating increased market recognition for TrendMiner is also the recent announcement that company CEO Bert Baeck has received the 2016 Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award which is sponsored by the Junior Chamber International (JCI). The JCI is a global non-profit organization with more than 200,000 members. Baeck was honored for his eloquence, energy and entrepreneurship.
"We see Bert as a true visionary," Verheijen continued. "His leadership has inspired TrendMiner to become a recognized technology disrupter through new ways of supporting the process industry in leveraging operational intelligence. We look forward to bringing that vision to more and more customers in the U.S. with our new office in Houston."
TrendMiner is a high performance discovery analytics engine for process measurement data. Through an intuitive web-based trend client, process engineers and operators can easily search for trends using TrendMiner's patent pending pattern recognition and machine learning big data technologies, without the need for a data scientist.
About TrendMiner
TrendMiner, with U.S. headquarters in Houston, TX, delivers Discovery, Diagnostic and Predictive analytics and real time monitoring tools for the process industry. Its flagship software is based on a high performance analytics engine for process data. Through an intuitive web-based trend client, process engineers and operators can easily search for trends using TrendMiner's patent pending pattern recognition and machine learning big data technologies, without the support of a data scientist. The TrendMiner plug and play solution adds value immediately after deployment eliminating expensive investments in big data infrastructure or long implementation projects. TrendMiner, founded in 2008, is a global software company, with global headquarters in Belgium and offices in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and the U.S. Visit us at: www.trendminer.com
A photo illustration of a man silhouetted against a Nokia logo
Nokia is making a return, of sorts, to the business that once made it a household name.
Today (May 18), Nokia announced the sale of the feature phone business that Microsoft bought from it to Taiwans Foxconn, the contract manufacturer to almost every mobile brand in the world. Also involved in the $350 million deal is HMD Global, a new company led by Nokia and Microsoft alumni. Nokia will license its brand to these low-end handsets.
Microsoft bought Nokias once-dominant mobile business in 2014 for $7.2 billion, a deal that didnt turn out well, as todays sale price reveals. Microsofts smartphone business, with Windows software running on Nokia hardware, is still struggling.
And then there are the dumb phones, basic handsets that do little more than send messages and make calls. These phones are still branded Nokia, because Microsoft has been licensing the brand from the Finnish firm. The deal announced today transfers those branding rights, plus the associated technologies to Foxconn and HMD Global. HMD says it will invest $500 million over the next three years to build and distribute a full range of Nokia-branded feature phones, smartphones and tablets.
The value of the Nokia brand is a far cry from what Microsoft paid for it a few years ago, to say nothing of the Finnish firms peak market cap of around $300 billion (paywall) at the turn of the century. Learning its lessons, Nokia now acts purely as an intellectual property licensor, through Nokia Technologies, which has become essentially a patent and branding agency.
After receding from prominence following the sale of its phone business, Nokia has been in the process of remaking itself. Last month it made its first big move back into the consumer space, buying French internet-of-things and wearables maker Withings for $191 million. With this new phone deal, it will hope to push its famous handsets back into consumer consciousness.
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Nokia was the world's leading mobile phone maker from 1998 until 2011 when it bet on Microsoft's Windows mobile platform which proved to be a flop (AFP Photo/Fred Dufour)
Helsinki (AFP) - Nokia, once the world's top mobile phone maker, on Wednesday announced its return to the fiercely competitive handsets and tablets market years after being crushed there by Samsung and Apple.
Nokia, which is now a leading telecom equipment maker, said it would licence its brand to a new Finnish company which will produce phones and tablets under the Nokia name.
The new company, HMD Global, "has been founded to provide a focused, independent home for a full range of Nokia-branded feature phones, smartphones and tablets," Nokia said in a statement.
As part of the process, HMD Global and its Taiwanese partner, FIH Mobile of FoxConn Technology Group, will take over Microsoft's feature phone business for $350 million (310.5 million euros), Microsoft said separately. The US company had bought the business from Nokia in 2014.
Nokia was the world's leading mobile phone maker from 1998 until 2011 when it bet on Microsoft's Windows mobile platform which proved to be a flop. Analysts say the company failed to grasp the growing importance of smartphone apps compared to hardware. The new product portfolio will be based on Google's Android.
The Finnish company sold its unprofitable handset unit in 2014 for some $7.2 billion to Microsoft, which dropped the Nokia name from its Lumia smartphone handsets.
Meanwhile Nokia has concentrated on developing its mobile network equipment business by acquiring its French-American rival Alcatel-Lucent.
With the new deal, Nokia eyes some new revenues from its still valuable consumer-brand, without having to bear the financial risks related to it.
"Working with HMD and FIH will let us participate in one of the largest consumer electronics markets in the world while staying true to our licensing business model," Ramzi Haidamus, president of Nokia Technologies business unit, said.
HMD is a private venture in which Nokia will not hold equity. But the company is well-stacked with former Nokia executives.
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- Harsh competition -
A senior analyst at Nordea Markets, Sami Sarkamies, told AFP that Nokia "could only win" with the deal.
"Certainly Nokia's brand still has some appeal in some markets, but competition is harsh. However, Nokia won't bear any of the risks," Sarkamies said, estimating the extra revenues would be counted in tens, not hundreds, of millions of euros.
The risks instead fall on Chinese FoxConn, which will be in charge of manufacturing, sales and distribution of the new products through its subsidiary FIH.
As for Microsoft, the deal could mean the end of of its short-lived venture into smartphones.
"The deal again highlights Microsofts continued failure in mobile. Its smartphone future is up in the air," IHS Technology wrote in its analysis.
IHS said the new Nokia-branded devices were more likely to succeed in emerging markets.
"The Nokia brand is very strong in certain markets too and HMD will likely target these emerging markets instead of the already saturated developed markets," it estimated.
HMD is to be led by Finn Arto Nummela who has previously held senior positions both at Nokia and Microsoft.
The conditional deal between Microsoft and Nokia's new brand-licensing partners is expected to close in the second half of 2016.
Nokia's share advanced 2.91 percent to close at 4.67 euros on the Helsinki stock exchange.
Tech brand Nokia is getting back into the smartphone and tablet arena, but its new range will be based on Android rather than Windows or Symbian.
It's a new company, HMD, which will be producing what it describes as being a "full range of Nokia-branded feature phones, smartphones and tablets."
The deal won't be done until the second half of 2016, but when it is, HMD can set about producing mobile devices using the Nokia label.
So who's involved with HMD? Its CEO is Arto Nummela, who worked for Nokia before transitioning to Microsoft -- which bought Nokia's mobile division in 2013 and put it to work on a Windows-powered line of devices -- where he oversaw the megacorp's mobile business in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Nokia has already developed and distributed an Android-powered tablet, the N1, in China and Taiwan in 2015.
By Martin Lindstam STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The mysterious suspected sabotage of three telecommunications masts, key parts of Sweden's infrastructure, has reignited fears of foreign spies and the readiness of depleted security services in a country on the frontline of growing tensions with Russia. A 300-metre high mast in southwestern Sweden collapsed on Sunday in what police say was sabotage. Police suspect either a prankster, local extremists or international saboteurs and have contacted the country's spy service to investigate. "We are 100 percent certain the tower has been sabotaged," police investigator head Jan Johansson told Aftonbladet newspaper. "It could be something international, that they want to test what happens when taking out a mast like this." The state-owned Teracom telecommunications company has upped security and surveillance after Sunday's incident. In early May, a cable to another mast in the same region, dedicated to rescue services communications was cut off. On Tuesday, the bomb squad was called into the look into a suspicious package near another mast in central Sweden, police told local media. Police told Reuters there were two suspected incidents of sabotage on May 4 and on Sunday but did not confirm possible international links. Officials were not immediately available for comment to Reuters about the reports of the bomb squad being deployed on Tuesday. However, regardless of who ultimately proves to be responsible for the incidents, for most Swedes, any official pointing the finger at "international" sabotage immediately signals Russia amid a return to the kind of Cold War paranoia that once permeated the Nordic region. "I would guess there is an international link," analyst Hans Brun of the Swedish National Defense College told Swedish radio. "To be really honest it's just a judgment and isn't based on research, but in that case it is only Russia you can think would be interested." Sweden has for years seen Russia as its biggest geopolitical threat and only in April Russia's Foreign Ministry warned of consequences if Sweden joined NATO. In reporting the sabotage, Dagens Nyheter, one of Sweden biggest selling newspapers, underscored how security services warned this year of Russian agents spying on important infrastructure. Since the Ukraine crisis, Sweden has seen increasing tensions with Russia, heightened by Russian warplanes buzzing its borders as well as a hunt for a suspected submarine off Stockholm in 2014. In March, cyber attacks on major Swedish newspapers also awoke fears of Russian meddling. Reuters contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry seeking comment. There was no immediate reply. Svenska Dagbladet newspaper said the collapse of the mast left some 85,000 households without TV broadcasts. The masts are also used by the police and military as well as transmissions of public emergency announcements. "The sabotage puts a finger on a sore spot in Swedish defense when the armed forces have chronic manpower problems and the police are busy checking passports at the Oresund Bridge?" commentator Linda Nordlund wrote in the newspaper, referring to the introduction of border controls with Denmark to deal with an influx of asylum seekers. (Added reporting by Daniel Dickson; Writing by Alistair Scrutton; Additional reporting by Maria Tsvetkova in Moscow; Editing by Alison Williams)
Consumers will probably still need their cable boxes for a while. (Rob Pegoraro)
BOSTON The cable industry is finally moving to give its viewers a way to watch the channels they want without also having to pay rent on a cable box they dont want. At the same time, the industry is outraged by the governments attempts to unlock the box and let viewers tune in with the hardware and apps of their choice.
In a speech that opened the industrys INTX trade show, National Cable & Telecommunications Association president and CEO Michael Powell made both points with a fair amount of heat.
Powell former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission praised recent moves by cable operators to provide box-free viewing options: "Consumers now see every screen as a television."
However, then Powell tore into the FCCs recent attempts to require cable and satellite operators to provide a way for third-party devices and apps to tune into their content.
We find ourselves the target of a relentless regulatory assault, the former FCC chairman said. He denounced current FCC chair Tom Wheelers unlock the box initiative, the commissions implementation of net-neutrality rules and other recent moves as thundering tectonic shifts that crumbled decades of settled policy.
A new area of app activity: TV
Major cable operators have spent the past few years shipping a variety of apps with one thing in common: They dont actually let you watch TV on your TV, instead limiting you to phone or tablet viewing of shows streamed over the internet.
A few cable operators at INTX said theyre trying to find ways to let you use these apps on your actual TV, but for most of us its way too soon to stop renting a cable box.
Comcasts (CMCSA) oversized exhibit had the most promising exhibition, where the nations largest TV service and internet provider showed an Android app running on a Nvidia Shield streaming-media player and an HTML5 app running on a Samsung smart TV.
Both bring your entire cable lineup, streamed over a private internet connection thats free of stuttering or buffering video. Both provide a searchable, browsable program grid that looks and works like the one on Comcasts X1 boxes (on the TV, you can also find Comcast programs using Samsungs universal search) and include a cloud-based DVR.
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Dont get too excited, though: Comcast is only treating the Android app as a research project for now, and the HTML5 app on display couldnt play live TV. And Comcast wasnt ready to show off the Roku app it has said it will ship.
Comcast wont commit to a ship date for these apps more specific than the end of this year. Still, it would be a major advance if it could deliver an app that matches every basic function of the X1 box save the voice-controlled remote that it introduced at last years INTX show in Chicago.
For now, having this intention at least gives Comcast some standing to assert that, as CEO Brian Roberts said in a press conference, We don't feel the government needs to get into the box business.
Two other cable operators soon to be merged into one had smaller exhibits of box-free TV viewing that were less impressive on a closer inspection.
Time Warner Cable (TWC) demonstrated the Roku app it now offers to New York City viewers; below the Roku player, a placard noted the app doesnt include a DVR and also leaves out pay-per-view and video-on-demand viewing but we're working on those. A nearby demo from TWC purchaser Charter (CHTR) of its Spectrum app for Roku players revealed similar limitations. And in most markets, the app wont work unless you have one cable box.
Tune in later?
While the cable industrys enthusiasm for app-based viewing is commendable, it could have come to this realization years earlier. Like, four years earlier, at the cable industrys 2012 show, which is when I saw a demo in this same convention center of a Samsung smart TV receiving Cablevisions full channel lineup over the internet.
Even now, the industrys fondness for apps is nowhere near universal. If your TV provider is not Comcast, TWC or Charter, you may have to wait a while longer to be liberated from your cable box. Cox, which uses Comcasts X1 software on its boxes, may follow sooner than most; spokesman Todd Smith told me in an email the company plans to follow Comcasts product road map. However, Verizon (VZ) recently took a step back by axing Xbox and smart-TV apps that had allowed box-free viewing of some channels on its Fios TV service.
Meanwhile, the FCCs unlock-the-box move itself shouldnt be news. That was foreshadowed over 20 years ago by a section in the Telecom Act of 1996 in which Congress told the FCC to establish a retail market for pay-TV hardware, and it follows an earlier FCC requirement that cable operators allow third-party boxes like TiVo DVRs to tune into digital cable with help from CableCards provided by them.
The only surprise here should be that its taken this long to have this argument break out in public.
Email Rob at rob@robpegoraro.com; follow him on Twitter at @robpegoraro.
Online success stories like ride-sharing app Uber and Airbnb have caused major disruptions in Europe, with taxi drivers and hotel owners furious at the inroads made by frims into their markets (AFP Photo/Roslan Rahman) (AFP/File)
Jakarta (AFP) - Uber launched Wednesday a carpooling service in Jakarta allowing commuters to share journeys, as competition between ride-hailing apps intensifies in the traffic-choked Indonesian capital.
It's the first time the service -- known as uberPOOL -- has been offered in Southeast Asia and continues Uber's expansion in Indonesia, one of its fastest-growing markets worldwide.
The carpooling function will match passengers in the same area travelling in the same direction, enabling them to split the fare by sharing the car.
Although it adds travel time, Uber says carpooling fares can be 25 percent cheaper than their regular service. Drivers also benefit as they collect more passengers for each journey.
"Every seat is an opportunity to make money," Uber's regional general manager for Asia-Pacific Mike Brown told reporters.
"It starts to become as competitive as taking a bus."
If it takes off, Uber believes carpooling could ease traffic in the sprawling capital, routinely ranked among the world's worst.
The scheme has proved popular elsewhere, with 20 million uberPOOL trips made every month in China, company data shows. In San Francisco, nearly half of all Uber trips are shared by passengers.
US company Uber, one of the world's most valuable start-ups, has high hopes for Jakarta.
A combination of poor public transport, notorious traffic gridlock and high smartphone use by tech-savvy citizens has seen the popularity of ride-hailing apps explode in recent years.
The launch of uberPOOL came just weeks after the start-up introduced a motorbike taxi service in Jakarta.
The contest between Uber and its rivals -- chiefly local startup Go-Jek and Southeast Asian company Grab -- has been fierce. New services are constantly being offered and prices kept low, as the competing outfits battle for the millions in Jakarta who rely on their service every day.
Like in other parts of the world, all have met with resistance from traditional taxi companies, who complain the tech-based services operate illegally and threaten their livelihoods.
Thousands of taxi drivers staged a violent protest in March, blocking major roads in the capital, clashing with rivals and setting tyres alight.
Uber meets with government officials on a weekly basis to ensure it is meeting local regulations, a process Brown said "is going very well".
Members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) picket in front of Verizon Communications Inc. corporate offices during a strike in New York City, April 13, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
(Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) and representatives from two striking unions will continue contract discussions in Washington this week with the help of the U.S. Department of Labor, the regulator said.
The groups during these talks will not make any public statements, nor will there be comments from the federal officials involved, the Labor department said on Tuesday.
About 40,000 network technicians and customer service representatives in the company's Fios Internet, telephone and television services unit walked off the job in mid-April in the largest U.S. strike in recent years.
The action was called by the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
Sticking points in contract negotiations had included offshoring call-center jobs, pensions and healthcare coverage.
"I'm encouraged by the parties' continued commitment to remain at the bargaining table and work toward a resolution," U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez said on Tuesday.
"We will continue to facilitate conversations to help the unions and the company reach an agreement," he added.
The company and the unions returned to the negotiating table after a weekend meeting with Perez.
Verizon and the unions could not be immediately reached for a comment.
(Reporting by Rishika Sadam in Bengaluru and Anna Driver in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
The relationship between a company's earnings and its stock price can be complicated. High profits don't necessarily mean a high stock price, and big losses don't always lead to a low stock price. Of course, without earnings it is hard for companies to stay in business for long. You could say that two of the major factors that influence stock price are current earnings and the promise of future earnings.
Tip Generally speaking, an increase in a company's earnings will also help raise the overall earnings per share value.
Earnings Per Share
The first step in understanding the relationship between the price of a stock and its earnings is to look at its earnings per share, or EPS. The EPS tells you how much income the company generated for each share of stock. For example and let's assume the company pays no dividends if a company has $10,000 in earnings, and 1,000 shares, the EPS would be $10,000 divided by 1,000, or $10. You can find a company's quarterly and yearly EPS by looking at the investor relations page on its website or typing in its ticker symbol on most financial websites.
Price to Earnings Ratio
The direct relationship between the price of a stock and its earnings is known as the price per earnings ratio, or P/E. To calculate P/E, simply divide the stock price by the EPS, typically over the most recent four quarters. For example, if the price of a stock is $50 and the EPS are $1, the P/E would be 50. You can find a company's P/E ratio on any financial website. The P/E tells you how much an investor must pay to capture $1 of earnings for a company. According to the Seeking Alpha financial website, the average P/E ratio in the 2000s was 20.2, up from an average of 19.6 in the 1990s.
A high P/E means that investors are paying more to capture $1 of earnings, but also means the market believes the company is capable of significant future growth. It is also important to note that while a company can have negative EPS, it cannot have a negative P/E. If a company has lost money, a P/E cannot be calculated.
Earnings vs. Projections
One way earnings influence the price of the stock is how well a company performs against expectations. Before most companies report their quarterly financial results, analysts predict the EPS for the quarter based on the company's guidance and other factors. It is a common practice to underestimate EPS; if a company beats the projected earnings, its stock price will usually go up.
But if a company fails to reach the projected earnings, its stock price will most likely decline. A company could have a very profitable quarter, but if it makes less than was projected the stock price is likely to fall. Similarly, if a company loses money but the losses are lower than projected the stock price is likely to go up.
Impact of Earnings on Stock Price
If a company doesn't produce consistent earnings growth or lower its P/E ratio over time, investors might choose to sell the stock, sending its price lower. Young or growth-oriented companies that have extremely high P/E ratios or lose money might have a high stock price due to projected future growth. But a lack of earnings over a long period of time will usually (but not always) drive a stock price down and the company potentially out of business.
One example of an exception to this rule is Amazon. Amazon, in June of 2014, had a P/E ratio of 511.06, and a stock price of $334.48 per share. This P/E may seem high, meaning the stock could be overvalued, however, in the case of Amazon, the company drastically cut profit in order to expand operations. Using P/E, in this instance, as the sole indicator of whether or not you should have bought the stock, would not have given you a reasonable idea of its value.
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The leaked cabinet document, reportedly signed-off on by Premier Kathleen Wynne, lists a jaw-dropping 80 or so policies including: The eventual ban on heating new homes and buildings with natural gas, with only electric or geothermal being legal; $4 billion to be doled out by a "green bank," funded by carbon taxes, to subsidize retrofits of buildings to get them off natural gas; the requirement that homes undergo an "energy-efficiency audit" before they can be sold; and a stack of rules, regulations and handouts to get an electric car into every two-car household within eight years, including rebates, free electric charging, and plug-in stations at every liquor store. Naturally, there will be billions more in traditional government-spending programs on public transit, bike paths, upgrades for schools and hospitals, and "research" funds and centres of climate excellence, not to mention new ethanol fuel standards that will gratify the Liberals' top corporate donors in the biofuel lobby.
Kevin Libin: Ontarios big, green assisted economic suicide plan
...this new plan, billed by the Liberals as a "once-in-a-lifetime transformation" for Ontario's economy, may also prove the end of Ontario's lifetime of economic progress. In an era where assisted dying is the big thing with Liberals, this could be the first case where it's tried on a province.The leaked cabinet document, reportedly signed-off on by Premier Kathleen Wynne, lists a jaw-dropping 80 or so policies including: The eventual ban on heating new homes and buildings with natural gas, with only electric or geothermal being legal; $4 billion to be doled out by a "green bank," funded by carbon taxes, to subsidize retrofits of buildings to get them off natural gas; the requirement that homes undergo an "energy-efficiency audit" before they can be sold; and a stack of rules, regulations and handouts to get an electric car into every two-car household within eight years, including rebates, free electric charging, and plug-in stations at every liquor store. Naturally, there will be billions more in traditional government-spending programs on public transit, bike paths, upgrades for schools and hospitals, and "research" funds and centres of climate excellence, not to mention new ethanol fuel standards that will gratify the Liberals' top corporate donors in the biofuel lobby.
Wynne's Brother-in-law the new CEO of EHealth, BUT he also has deep ties to the Wind Industry
By Kate on May 17, 2016 9:11 AM | 43 Comments
A vote for Remain is a vote for mass immigration from Turkey
17 May 2016The Telegraph This referendum is a once in a generation chance for us to take back control of our country.When the British people enter the polling booths on June 23rd, border controls, our ability to make our own laws and our huge EU membership fees will all be major factors.But more than that, the referendum will also be a vote on whether we want to be in political union with Turkey. David Cameron supports Turkeys accession to the EU , as does Angela Merkel. And yet, the EUs own report says today that Turkish visa free movement within the EU rashly agreed as part of a package in March to tackle the migrant crisis and speed up the accession process will increase the risk of terrorism in Europe.This only reinforces the fact that EU membership puts UK national security at risk Turkeys 77 million citizens will have the right to enter the Schengen zone for up to 90 days from the end of June. And when they become EU citizens at some time at the end of this decade or the beginning of the next, they will all be granted EU passports giving them the right to come to Britain.This is a country that has a porous border with Iran, Iraq and Syria, curbs the freedom of the press and abuses human rights. Only three per cent of the countrys landmass lies within the Europe, but we, the UK, the home of liberal parliamentary democracy, will be in political union with it under a European flag if we stay in the EU.The consequences could be grave. We will open our borders to a rapidly growing Turkish population. It grew from under 50 million in 1985 to 77 million in 2015. It is projected to overtake Germanys declining population by 2018 and reach over 95 million by 2050.Turkey would therefore have the largest population in the EU, have the largest group of MEPs in the European Parliament and the largest voting power of any member state under the Qualified Majority Voting system.Our pitiful influence within the EU will be further undermined. Turkey will have more voting rights in the Council of Ministers and more MEPs in the European Parliament than the UK.And then there are the economics. Turkey has a GDP per capita less than one quarter of the UKs and on a par with Romania and Bulgaria. Our living standards and the national minimum wage have proved a magnet for Romanian and Bulgarian economic migrants and will prove the same for over 77 million Turkish migrants as will George Osborne's national living wage of 9 per hour promised by 2020.Despite all of this, the Prime Minister reaffirmed last October that his government supported Turkey's membership of the EU.The EUs own analysis of granting Turkey visa free access , just the latest stepping stone on their route to fully fledged membership, should tell us all we need to know.The only way we protect ourselves from the thousands of Isil sponsored terrorists that Europol say are roaming free within an increasingly borderless EU is by voting for Brexit.It is the only way we get back control of our borders. Anything else will increase the chance of terrorism on our shores.
'Oh, would I like to put you in a Dumpster?'; Ohio man threw puppy out of 6th floor windowPeter Holley, Washington PostFirst posted: Tuesday, May 17, 2016 03:11 PM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, May 17, 2016 03:43 PM EDTMunicipal Court Judge Michael Cicconetti is known for doling out creative and occasionally humiliating punishments to the offenders who set foot in his courtroom in Painesville, Ohio.If it had been up to Cicconetti, Michael Sutton would have been the latest recipient of his wrath.I know what a lot of people would like to do to you, he said.Sutton pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges last week after police said he admitted to throwing a puppy out of a sixth-floor window of an apartment complex May 3. Building staff found the dogs body in a trash compactor and notified police, who tracked down Sutton and arrested him.The 23-year-old Ohio man told investigators he killed his dog a lab-pit bull mix named Knox because the puppy went to the bathroom on his bed, according to Fox affiliate WJW. The station reported that a humane officer called it the worst case of animal cruelty shed ever investigated.By the time Sutton stood in front of Cicconetti on Monday, the outspoken judge admitted that he had a distinct idea of how hed like to see the pet killer pay for his crime, according to video footage published by NBC affiliate WKYC.You are just vicious, he said while Sutton handcuffed and solemn-looking stood before him. You are revolting. You are cruel. You are inhuman, what you did here.He added: Oh, would I like to put you in a Dumpster? Oh, yeah. I would love to do that.But Cicconetti noted that he was unable to administer one of his creative sentences because Sutton was not a first-time offender.The judges unusual punishments are reserved for a small percentage of first-time offenders and always come with an alternative sentence usually jail time, community service, fines, or some combination thereof.The judge maintains that he has seen very few repeat offenders since he began handing out unorthodox punishments in the mid-1990s, according to the News-Herald.There was the time he forced a woman who abandoned sickly kittens to spend a night alone in the woods without water, food or entertainment.Or the time a man caught with a loaded gun was ordered to go to the local morgue to view corpses.On another occasion in 2002, a man who had referred to a police officer as a pig was order to stand beside a live pig with a sign that read, This is not a police officer.Ten years ago, Cicconetti offered to cut the sentence of a man who shot his Great Dane in the head but only if the owner of the slain dog agreed to wear a Safety Pup costume and visit Painesvilles elementary schools.We started small, the judge told the News-Herald in 2012. It was more out of frustration because after a year or two years, we were seeing the same people come back, with the same offences. I thought, There has to be a better way to do this.Some people, lets face it, youre never going to deter their conduct. It took me awhile to figure that out, too. I cant be the saviour of all, because some people dont want to be saved.On Monday, Cicconetti appeared to imply that Sutton fell into that category as well, saying he had no choice but to sentence him to six months in jail and give him five years probation, according to WKYC footage.The judge also forbade Sutton from ever owning an animal again.I wish I could say youre not allowed to be around people, cause look what you do, Cicconetti said.I will guarantee you that after you get out, theres going to be another offence, he added, prompting Sutton to nod in agreement.The offenders criminal record includes two domestic violence cases and pleading guilty to misdemeanour charges of criminal damaging or endangering and discharging firearms, according to the News-Herald. He is no longer allowed in his own mothers home, the paper noted.During a previous court appearance, the News-Herald reported, Sutton maintained he was very compassionate to animals, said he was very emotional when the incident occurred and noted that he needs help getting back on unspecified medication.Dismissing Suttons mental illness defence, Cicconetti said the young man had already had plenty of time to get on medication.I am sick and tired of people coming in here and blaming this on mental illness, he said. Then we have to get you medication. We have to pay for it, and then you dont take it. Where does that leave a court? I know what Id like to do.He added: Id like to give you one of those creative sentences, but thats for people who can be rehabilitated, people who are first offenders. You are not. You are not one of those people. You are just brutal and savage, and thats all there is to it.23-year-old Michael Sutton was found guilty of animal cruelty for throwing a puppy out of a window. (Painesville Police)
For 33 years, Kurk Shrader has encouraged high school students to be the best they can be with soft-spoken words and gentle, caring mannerisms.
The past 30 years, Shrader served as a business teacher at Elmwood-Murdock High School and Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) sponsor.
His expertise as a teacher is reflected in the success of his students, 325 who have qualified for competitions at National FBLA Conventions and 53 who ended up as top finalists in these competitions. Out of the 53, six ended up as national champions in the events they competed in, and nine became state FBLA officers.
In addition, the FBLA students over the years have completed many service oriented projects such as renovating the one-room schoolhouse, raising funds for a mural to be painted on the side of the Murdock Museum, changing the name of Highway 34 from Eagle to Highway 1 to the Bess Streeter Aldrich Highway, and of course, the barn quilt project featuring quilt patterns painted on the sides of barns throughout Cass County.
Hes also adapted to many changes in teaching over the years. Before he was hired as a teacher, he had to take a short-hand class. Then Dictaphones took its place.
There was a time when there were 26 IBM Selectric typewriters in his classroom, and then that changed to a room full of computers. Now kids have 1 to 1. They have their own laptops. I keep about three computers in the room just in case one of the students forgets his laptop, Shrader said.
No matter what the changes his students encountered, they excelled under his leadership.
Its a respect issue for me, Shrader explained. I want them to know I care about them. Part of the success is because I want the best for them. Some of the neatest experiences teachers have are when kids come back and say they appreciate what youve done for them. Teachers dont always hear that.
Despite the successes, Shrader said there are times when teachers, including himself, feel like they are not getting through to their students.
So its really a thrill when one decides to go into teaching, Shrader said.
Shrader recently experienced that thrill when 2015 Elmwood-Murdock graduate, Brenna Backemeyer, in the College of Business Administration Honors Academy at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, decided to switch her major to become a business education teacher.
I bet your ears were burning, Brennas mother, Cindy Backemeyer, told him.
In addition to teaching motivated students such as Brenna Backemeyer, Shrader credits Elmwood-Murdocks longtime Superintendent Dr. Dan Novak. I am so blessed. He is the best administrator. He hired me and has been here the whole time. Hes very education-oriented, Shrader said.
His fellow teachers and the parents of the students also hold the expectation bar high.
If youre missing one of those elements it can hurt your school, he said.
Now, after teaching for more than three decades, Shrader has decided to change professions. When you teach business, you have a gnawing to be an entrepreneur, he said.
Shrader more than dabbled with the idea when he started Bits and Pieces thrift store in a building he owns on Elmwoods main thoroughfare. The Christian Church Disciples of Christ rent the building and use the profits to help others. Shrader and his wife Kris operate the store along with many volunteers, including students.
Im proud of how Ive helped train kids to be service oriented, he said. Now, Im called to do something on a more personal level.
First off, Shrader is the Elmwood-Murdock Merchants Association (EMMA) president. In that position, he will continue to promote the 60-plus business members in the two towns and surrounding area.
He and Kris also plan to establish an Air B & B in Elmwood. An Air B&B is a place you can stay like an apartment if you want to go to area attractions like Safari Park, he said. We want to make the space versatile and have educational workshops there as well.
Workshops could showcase talented people in the area. They could offer a workshop on their craft. We will partner with FBLA and its members can teach workshops on how to use social media, Kurk explained. Part of Bits and Pieces will be redone. We want to showcase what is unique in the area.
One of his student teachers, Jacob Shaffer, will be replacing him at the school. Like Shrader, Shaffer will work alongside Laura Rikli, another business teacher. I know there will be people here to keep the program running, he said.
Last but certainly not least, pursuing a new career will also allow him time to help at his church and live his faith. Were adding on to our church, so I wanted to volunteer to help with the cleaning. Ill be the janitor. You train kids to be community oriented and this is something I want to do myself, he said.
Shrader continues to want to help the community and people in it. I feel like I want to make a difference, he said.
Reflecting upon his career as a teacher, Shrader said, Its been a good ride.
Aly Eveland is helping other people realize their dreams.
As a staff member of Habitat for Humanity of Omaha, Eveland helps get volunteers involved with building projects and has assisted with the endeavors herself. Evelands work has even taken her to Argentina.
Now, the former resident of Ames is among staffers getting ready for a Builders Blitz which starts June 1. With the help of multiple Omaha-based construction companies and hundreds of volunteers, the agency plans to complete eight houses in a seven- to eight-day time frame in Omaha.
This most recent undertaking will be part of an odyssey that Eveland began years ago.
A 1996 graduate of North Bend Central High School, Eveland went to Denver where she worked for two years.
I came back and worked for the Omaha Symphony doing sales and marketing and then ended up at Habitat in 2012, she said.
At Habitat, she first worked in the development department, then became office manager. Part of her duties involve providing support to the chief executive officer, Amanda Brewer, whom she describes as awesome.
Shes a real forward thinker, Eveland said. She sees the big picture. Shes a visionary. She sees how we can grow.
Evelands endeavors also have taken her to another country.
In October 2015, Eveland was part of a team of nine Habitat staff and volunteers who took a Global Village trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina. The group was there for 11 days. The first day, the team went sightseeing and learned about the culture. The team went to the work site on the second day.
We met the family and were taught (under the supervision of a mason) how to mix mortar and lay brick to construct the walls of the house, she said. The family worked alongside us. We got to know them very well.
Besides building a house, the Habitat team built a bond with the family of four.
I never expected how closely we would bond with the family, Eveland said. They were so welcoming. It was incredible.
The team worked on the house during the day and Eveland was very tired the first night. But in the evenings, the team had the opportunity to experience different restaurants and cultural aspects of the city. Eveland went to a museum and toured an opera house.
Team members saw both poverty and prosperity in the South American country.
It was tough to see how difficult life was for the family for whom they were building the home. All four family members slept on one mattress on the floor in one room.
We take so much for granted, she said.
The team finished the brick walls of the house. No windows or roof was complete when they left.
Now, however, the house has a roof and is almost finished so family members will be able to move into their home.
Theyre very excited that they have the opportunity to have their own home, Eveland said. Theyre a great family.
Eveland said the experience was life-changing and shed like to go on another trip.
In the meantime, shes been busy in Omaha. Last Friday, she was part of a Staff Build Day in which office staffers assist at a build site for the day.
She looks forward to the Builders Blitz in June. The process is amazing, said Eveland, who can watch the progress from a webcam when shes not able to be at the site.
When at the site, she helps serve lunches.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner is served every day, and typically 300 to 400 volunteers, family partners, Habitat staff and additional construction workers are fed each meal, she said.
Eveland enjoys her job.
Theres something new every day, she said.
Looking back, Eveland had many ideas of what she wanted to do in life. She thought she might work in a corporate setting.
But shes discovered a passion for non-profit organizations.
I never thought I would be where I ended up, she said. I love it.
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.
Each year, the Fremont Health Auxiliary awards $2,000 scholarships to area high school graduates who have demonstrated outstanding ability and interest in a health career. The selection of recipients is also based on leadership and character.
The scholarships may be used at any two or four year college or university. The scholarship recipients for the 2016-2017 year are:
* Noah Springer, from Cedar Bluffs High School, who plans to attend Metro Community College. He is the son of Jeff and Deni Springer.
* Lane DeGroff, from Archbishop Bergan High School, who will attend the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He is the son of Ryan and Jennifer DeGroff.
* Mandi Stansberry, from Cedar Bluffs High School, who will attend Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. She is the daughter of Janelle Stansberry and Terry Stansberry.
* Kialynne Jorgensen, from Fremont High School, who will attend Midland University. She is the daughter of Taron Jorgensen.
Fremont Health has 240 volunteers, 107 of whom are members of the Auxiliary. For more information about becoming a volunteer, call 402-727-3844 or visit www.fremonthealth.com/volunteer.
The American Red Cross will be having a blood drive from noon to 6 p.m. Monday and 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Fremont City Auditorium.
Donors of all blood types are needed. Every day, the Red Cross must collect approximately 14,000 blood donations to meet the needs of trauma patients and others with serious medical conditions.
To schedule an appointment, download the free Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit www.redcrossblood.org or call 800-733-2767. Donors also can visit www.redcrossblood.org/cedarfair to enter to win one of two grand prize packages for four to Knotts Berry Farm in California or Cedar Point in Ohio.
Sen. Ben Sasse said Tuesday he understands that a lot of Nebraskans are frustrated with me over his refusal to support presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, but he said most Nebraskans agree with the concerns that drove him to that decision.
What I experience at grocery stores, gas stations, at church is that a vast majority of people have the same position I hold on the need for limited government and separation of powers accompanied by concern for the danger of executive overreach, Sasse said.
The lesser of two evils is not the conversation we need, Nebraskas freshman Republican senator said during a telephone interview from Washington.
Sasse said he cannot vote for either Trump or the likely Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, in November and he will not back away from that position despite continuing pressure to do so.
I dont trust either of them, Sasse said.
The oath I have taken is to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, he said, and neither of the likely party nominees believes in executive restraint or separation of powers.
I know that people active in party politics want to circle the wagons and get to unity and so they are frustrated with me, Sasse acknowledged.
Last weekend, delegates to the Republican state convention in Omaha approved a resolution aimed at Sasse that opposed any effort by a Republican officeholder or party official to encourage a third-party presidential candidate or alternative choice.
Directly prior to Sasses address to the convention, Sen. Deb Fischer urged Republicans to rally around Trump, declaring that the people are fed up with the wise men of Washington telling them who to vote for.
Asked about those convention events, Sasse said: I dont spend much time focusing on one resolution on one weekend.
Sasse said he has not been actively seeking a third candidate after calling for a presidential alternative I posted two open letters on Facebook and he believes its probably not possible now for an alternative Republican candidate to mount a successful challenge to Trump at the GOP national convention.
Although he wont talk about it, some notable Republicans including 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney reportedly have approached Sasse about being a third alternative.
Ive had some outreach, Sasse acknowledged, but Im not the right guy. I have only two callings now: three little kids to help raise and Nebraskans to serve in the Senate.
I am not doing this because of any one election, he said. Its about what we are trying to build in the future, and I think Nebraskans are overwhelmingly with me in that conversation.
We live in a bumpy time, Sasse said, and neither party is very effective. Trump tapped into that, but hes not the solution.
Sasse said hell continue to do what he promised during his 2014 Senate campaign: Always vote my conscience, promote limited government and separation of powers, check executive overreach.
None of this now is anything different than the promises I made.
'Homefront' was released in 2011 by Kaos Studios and THQ. Kaos as a company did not survive the dissolution of THQ, and the intellectual property was purchased at auction by Crytek. Crytek charged their UK office, formerly known as Free Radical Design, with the creation of a 'Homefront' sequel. Sadly, Crytek UK was also axed and the studio was purchased lock, stock, and barrel by Deep Silver. Now known as Dambuster Studios, the Crytek UK people have finally finished 'Homefront: Revolution'.
The Game Itself: Our Reviewer's Take
In the near future setting of 'Homefront', America has been invaded and occupied by the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, which has successfully reunified the Korean peninsula. The newly minted Greater Korean Republic has been financing their aggressive foreign policy with the exportation of consumer electronics and also by making puppet states all over eastern Asia. They have turned much of the US into a squalid ghetto where civil liberties are a relic and any opposition is met with widespread execution. The campaign is set in Philadelphia, or whats left of it after the KPA have trampled everything down.
Instead of the linear experience of the first game, 'Revolution' is an open world. The districts of Philadelphia are are classified by how thick a KPA presence they have, with red being a bombed-out ruin occupied by the resistance and green being the idyllic Korean quarter. Most citizens live in the heavily patrolled yellow district. As a mute, generic resistance fighter, my job was to single-handedly fight back the KPA presence with pipe bombs, molotovs, and smuggled guns. There are stealth mechanics, like silent takedowns and firecracker distractions, but they are so unreliable that I gave up after a few missions and took my chances with rote shotgunning. Its a shame too because I wanted to play around with a silenced pistol or perhaps SMG, sneaking around in the back alleys and hiding in dumpsters (I mean who doesnt want to do that?), but these Korean overlords have unnaturally good vision and can apparently materialize from thin air.
The open world opportunities are a pretty authentic replica of most games that have come before it. Theres a standard checklist of base capturing and item collecting, but without the stealth options of a 'Far Cry' or the lore-riddled exploration of a 'Fallout'. I just had to use a bolt cutter on the door, shoot a few soldier dudes, grab a laptop, and that was it. One base invasion took all of three minutes, and there were only a half-dozen or so in that district. The enemies have a weak AI that mostly consists of moving towards the player - they rarely flanked to flush me out of cover or use the terrain to their advantage.
The revolutionary story behind all of this is decently written but very familiar. It conveys patriotism while mostly avoiding the pitfalls of jingoism or cheap satire, and the invaders are portrayed as cunning adversaries at least as often as a vague yellow terror (even if the soldier AI has trouble keeping up with the cunning part). Unfortunately, the cutscenes dont evolve beyond the stock "walk really fast with the protagonist somewhere and explain the next mission while also trading barbs with each other" mentality. It never caught me up in the revolutionary spirit or made me care about any of these people. One of the higher-ups in the revolution, Doc Burnett, is so anti-revolutionary that he might as well be a Korean sympathizer. His messages to me came off as more naggy than conflicted, quickly fizzling out one of the few interesting plotlines. The other characters are sometimes entertaining but have a tendency to be one-sided, and they love spamming my in-game cell with texts after every mission.
OSAGE | State Sen. Rob Hogg, Democratic candidate for the United States Senate, visited constituents in Osage on Wednesday during his tour of 16 Iowa communities this week to encourage Iowans to vote in the Democratic primary on June 7.
Those in attendance were members of the Tri-County Democrats (Mitchell, Howard and Worth counties) along with Democrats from Floyd County and across North Iowa.
Also in attendance were state Sen. Mary Jo Wilhelm, D-Cresco, and state Rep. Todd Prichard, D-Charles City.
This election is all about Iowans, Hogg said. I believe we must change the way politics is done in this country. Its why I am visiting 16 Iowa communities this week, and its why I encourage Iowans to vote in the June 7 primary. We need to uplift our democracy so our country can achieve in this generation a safe, healthy, peaceful, prosperous, inclusive and environmental sustainable future for all Americans.
Hogg, 49, is serving his third term in the Iowa Senate after two terms in the Iowa House. As a state legislator, Hogg said he had been a strong advocate for education, renewable energy, clean water, public health including mental health and public safety.
Prichard announced he had already vote absentee for Hogg and told party members in attendance to encourage voters to do the same.
Hogg announced his candidacy on Sept. 22 in Callender, Iowa, where his grandmother was born in 1902. He has been endorsed by over 90 current and former state legislators. He was recently endorsed by the Iowa Federation of Labor and AFSCME Iowa Council 61.
Congress is not doing the job it needs to be doing, said Hogg. I want to see it get done by being elected to the U.S. Senate.
Other candidates in the Democratic Senate primary June 7 are Tom Fiegen, D-Clarence; Patty Judge, D-Albia, and Bob Krause, D-Fairfield.
MASON CITY The Mason City Council voted Tuesday to approve a quarter-million-dollar loan to help move Younkers Home Store within Southbridge Mall in preparation for the proposed downtown arena project.
It also heard from many people during the public comments session after the meeting adjourned, regarding the recently defeated hog-processing plant project that had been proposed for Mason City.
With more than 100 people potentially lined up to speak, many of those up first said they disagreed with the councils decision at its last meeting to turn down the $240 million project that had promised to bring 1,000 to 1,700 jobs to the community.
People in the audience had not been allowed to speak about the project during the meeting because the Prestage Farms proposal was not on the agenda.
The topic did come up briefly during the meeting, however.
During the discussion on setting the hearing date for the citys fiscal year budget, Councilman Travis Hickey who had voted in favor of the plant project asked city Administrator Brent Trout about the effects of killing the proposal.
We would have been able to lower taxes, Trout said.
The May 3 City Council vote on the Prestage proposal was 3-3, but it takes a majority to pass a measure so a tie is a defeat.
The only council members who would be able to bring the topic back up for reconsideration are those who voted against it, since theirs was the side that prevailed.
Voting against the plant were council members Bill Schickel, Alex Kuhn and John Lee. Voting in favor were Hickey, Janet Solberg and Brett Schoneman.
Younkers loan
In a 5-0 vote with council member Alex Kuhn abstaining, the council approved a $250,000 forgivable loan to Younkers parent company Bon-Ton Department Stores Inc. for the Home Store relocation.
The Home Store will be moved from its current location near the former JC Penney Store which is proposed to be demolished for the ice area/multipurpose center project to the site of the former Cinema V theaters, next to Younkers main store in the mall.
Hickey asked Trout if this was the first time the city had extended a loan to a company to relocate without creating jobs.
MASON CITY Frances Fran E. Nelson, 89, of Mason City, died Monday, May 16, 2016, at Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa. Memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, at Major Erickson Funeral Home, 111 N. Pennsylvania Ave. Inurnment will take place in Oklahoma at a later date. Memorials may be directed to the Frances Nelson Memorial Fund in care of the family.
STACYVILLE Marcia Carlson, 63, of Stacyville, died Monday, May 16, 2016, at Mitchell County Regional Health Center Hospice Unit in Osage.
Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Toeterville, with Pastor Lance Kittleson officiating. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at Champion-Bucheit Funeral Home in Osage.
Everyone wont agree on this by any means, but Im glad that President Obama will be making a stop at Hiroshima during his imminent trip to Japan.
Im less concerned about whether such a visit would look like an apology to Japan than I am about our willingness to use the brutal deaths of many thousands of people as part of an argument, 71 years later, about who was right and who was wrong.
That fact is, the mass destruction of a large civilian population, such as the one that occurred at Hiroshima, ought to be considered and commemorated apart from the political and military circumstances in which it occurred.
I decline to take a position on whether Hiroshima was justified or necessary, or whether the deaths of 140,000 mostly non-combatant civilians balances with the many thousands or hundreds of thousands of American and Japanese lives that would probably have been lost during an invasion of Japan.
Ghastly calculations such as this one distract from the breathtaking event itself. On Aug. 6, 1945, the Enola Gay, a B-29 based in Tinian, reached Hiroshima after a six-hour flight and dropped Little Boy, a small atomic bomb by todays standards, at 8:15 a.m.
The bomb detonated about 2,000 feet above the citys center. The classic account of the explosions impact is in John Herseys short book, Hiroshima, published in 1946. Hersey interviewed survivors of the blast and recounted the stories of six of them, ordinary people attending to ordinary tasks on an ordinary day.
In some respects, Hiroshima was an experiment. During the war, the city had been largely spared from bomb damage and the atomic bomb itself had been rushed through development. No one could be certain precisely what would happen when it was used for the first time against a target.
But even the comparatively small Little Boy was surprisingly effective: the citys center was essentially flattened; 80,000 people were killed almost immediately; within a few months the death toll reached 140,000; and after another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki a few days later, the long war with Japan came to an end.
And whos to say this wasnt a fitting ending to our global historys most brutal and destructive war?
Hiroshima gets special consideration because of the first use of the atomic bomb, but it wasnt the most destructive episode of the war, even for a single air raid. On March 9, 1945, 300 B-29s dropped 1,665 tons of incendiary bombs on Tokyo, producing an immense firestorm that killed, by some estimates, 200,000 people.
When it comes to mass destruction of civilians, the Japanese, of course, arent entirely innocent. In a prequel to World War II, during six weeks in 1937, Japanese soldiers killed an estimated 300,000 unarmed Chinese civilians in Nanking.
In fact, given enough time, the human capacity for the destruction of other humans is incredulous. During World War II, the Nazis killed six million Jews. As the time frame gets longer and the numbers get higher, estimates of the destruction get hazier: Over the several centuries of the conquest of North America by Europeans, the death toll for American Indians soars into the uncountable tens of millions.
My point isnt that all of these genocides were necessarily equivalent.
But at the time the destruction was being carried out, it had a rationale, whether good or bad, and few of the perpetrators were spending much time wondering if their actions, decades or centuries later, would be something that future generations would regret or need to apologize for.
As much as anything, Hiroshima says that we should be careful with the enormous destructive capacity that lies at our fingertips, which is why presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trumps cavalier attitude toward the proliferation and use of nuclear weapons is particularly worrisome.
So, yes, Im happy that President Obama is visiting Hiroshima. If the opportunity arises, so should Trump. And Hillary Clinton.
So should we all.
Combining GNSS with V2X ranging creates "V2X-Enhanced GNSS" to ensure security, accuracy, and reliability of positioning information in difficult urban environments
Lane-level accuracy in urban canyons, tunnels, and parking structures will enable the development of new applications, such as autonomous on-street and in-garage parking and available-spot identification
Geneva, Switzerland and Kfar Netter, Israel, May 18, 2016 -STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, and Israel-based Autotalks, a V2X-chipset market pioneer and leader in the first wave of V2X deployments, have announced their fusion of GNSS technology and V2X ranging. The new "V2X-Enhanced GNSS" ensures authenticated and secure vehicle localization for extreme accuracy and reliability of positioning information, especially in urban canyons, tunnels, and parking structures, where accurate absolute and relative positioning-to other vehicles and infrastructure-is critical in progress toward semi- and fully-autonomous vehicles.
Autotalks' and ST's development of V2X-Enhanced GNSS builds on the companies' existing successes in co-developing a world-class V2X chipset that connects vehicles to other vehicles and infrastructure within wireless range for safety and mobility applications. The promise of efficient, coordinated, and safe driving of autonomous cars can result only from the accurate positioning that the fusion of GNSS with V2X technology achieves.
"Autotalks fully recognizes that autonomous driving requires equal measures of reliability, accuracy, and security and no driver would sacrifice any of these," said Hagai Zyss, CEO of Autotalks.
"Our solutions have been architected from the beginning to enable automated driving and because we recognize positioning for autonomous vehicles as critical, Autotalks, with ST, continues to optimize accurate V2X positioning-and we believe that our customers understand the value and potential."
V2X-Enhanced GNSS technology, when coupled with V2X-enabled infrastructure, can uniquely provide absolute positioning to vehicles to assure lane-level accuracy. This precision improves navigation in urban canyons and tunnels and is also being used to develop myriad new applications, such as autonomous on-street and in-garage parking and available-spot identification.
"To fully realize the safety, convenience, and other benefits of autonomous driving, we need confidence in the security, reliability, and accuracy of the communications between our vehicle and its surroundings to know precisely how close we are to things, whether-and in what direction-they are moving, and what they are telling us-such as when there are roadworks or an accident ahead," said Antonio Radaelli, Director, Infotainment, Automotive Digital Division, STMicroelectronics. "Building upon our successful collaboration with Autotalks, we are combining ST's state-of-the-art positioning technology and roadmap for high-precision Automotive GNSS supporting satellite signal authentication with Autotalks' expertise in advanced signal-processing algorithms for ranging, to smoothly pave the road to secure, accurate, and reliable V2X-Enhanced GNSS."
Field trials in an Asian country, monitored by a government agency, are being used to test this technology in 2016.
Technical notes for editors
V2X ranging between vehicles and roadside infrastructure provides an additional level of absolute accuracy beyond that offered by GNSS, which can vary significantly because of atmospheric signal interference, the number and angle of constellation satellites in view, multi-path reflection, antenna configuration, and other factors. US government data suggest that a high-quality Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Standard Positioning Service (SPS) receiver provides better than 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) horizontal accuracy. Connection of GNSS with a secure V2X chipset, and fusion of the two technologies, GNSS and V2X ranging, offer a trusted positioning reference, in which vehicle localization is authenticated and secure, as well as the link between GNSS and the V2X chipset.
About STMicroelectronics
ST is a global semiconductor leader delivering intelligent and energy-efficient products and solutions that power the electronics at the heart of everyday life. ST's products are found everywhere today, and together with our customers, we are enabling smarter driving and smarter factories, cities and homes, along with the next generation of mobile and Internet of Things devices.
By getting more from technology to get more from life, ST stands for life.augmented.
In 2015, the Company's net revenues were $6.90 billion, serving more than 100,000 customers worldwide. Further information can be found at www.st.com.
About Autotalks Ltd.
Autotalks enables the vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication revolution by providing automotive qualified VLSI solutions, containing the entire ECU functionality. The unique technology of Autotalks addresses V2X challenges: communication reliability, communication security, positioning accuracy and vehicle installation while maintaining flexibility for V2X system cost optimization. Further information can be found at www.auto-talks.com
For Press Information Contact:
STMicroelectronics
Michael Markowitz
Director Technical Media Relations
+1 781 591 0354
michael.markowitz@st.com
GNSS = Global Navigation Satellite System V2X is alternately defined as "Vehicle-to-Everything" or as the combination of "Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V)" and "Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I)" communication.
Ram Shallom, Director of Marketing+972-9-8865-300
WOODBRIDGE, N.J., May 18, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EMRISE CORPORATION (formerly traded on OTCQB under the symbol EMRI) (EMRISE or the Company), announced today that the Company, as planned, has reduced the size of its Board of Directors from three Directors to one with the resignations of Julie A. Abraham and Otis W. Baskin, effective, May 17, 2016. Frank P. Russomanno will remain on the Board and continue to serve as the Executive Director of the Company.
The planned reduction in the size of the Board follows the previously announced closing on February 18, 2016, of the Companys sale of its remaining business unit, CXR Anderson Jacobson S.A.S., based in France (CXR-AJ), to Carmine T. Oliva and Georgeann Oliva (the CXR-AJ Transaction), and the second liquidation distribution to EMRISE stockholders announced on April 19, 2016.
Russomanno noted that the resignations of Abraham and Baskin were part of the Boards strategy and continuing commitment to reduce and control the costs of administering the previously approved and announced plan of liquidation and dissolution (the Plan of Dissolution) and to deliver the best possible return to the Companys stockholders.
I would like to thank Julie and Otis for their committed, long-term and valuable service to the Company and its stockholders, Russomanno added. We must now move forward with the remaining steps needed to complete the execution of the Plan of Dissolution. I believe this is also an appropriate time to provide our stockholders an update on the Plan of Dissolution that includes a review of the important financial and administrative highlights.
EMRISE stockholders voted to approve the Companys Plan of Dissolution at a special meeting of stockholders held on June 25, 2015 (Special Meeting). On July 1, 2015, the Company filed a Certificate of Dissolution with the Secretary of State of Delaware. Under Delaware Law, following a dissolution a corporation only exists for the purpose of winding up its affairs, which includes disposing of and conveying the corporations property, discharging liabilities and resolving any legal claims or other obligations (the Obligations), paying Federal and State taxes on the sale of its assets (the Taxes) and paying other costs associated with the Plan of Dissolution (Other Costs). The remainder of the funds received from the sale of a corporations assets are to be distributed to its stockholders.
In the Proxy Statement EMRISE sent to its stockholders in early May 2015, the Company also described in detail and asked its stockholders to vote to approve the sale of its Electronic Devices business unit at the Special Meeting, which the stockholders so approved. The Proxy also stated that the Companys Board of Directors anticipated an initial liquidation distribution to EMRISE stockholders of approximately $0.95 to $1.00 per share and, at the discretion of the Board, a subsequent distribution following the sale of CXR-AJ.
EMRISE has been and remains committed to making the liquidation distributions to its stockholders in the shortest time possible while complying with its Obligations and providing for the payment of the Taxes and Other Costs associated with the Plan of Dissolution.
Update on Plan of Dissolution as of May 17, 2016
Financial Highlights
The Proxy stated that the Company anticipated that after satisfying obligations for repayments of debt, transaction costs and related expenses, severance payments, taxes and other expenses related to the Plan of Dissolution, that approximately $11 million, excluding amounts to be held in escrow, would be available for an initial distribution to shareholders. EMRISE can report that progress to date is in line with that expectation. Following are the important highlights of the Companys progress to date including approximated dollar amounts:
Total gross proceeds generated from the sale of the Companys Electronic Devices business unit in England on June 30, 2015, were $22 million, and $1.3 million was generated from the sale of the Companys CXR-AJ subsidiary in France on February 18, 2016 (the Transactions). Repayment of debt to the Companys vendors and note holders: $3.8 million. Severance costs: $1.8 million. Transaction fees and expenses associated with the Transactions including those for investment banking, consulting, accounting, legal and related services, Federal and State taxes and Other Costs related to the execution of the Plan of Dissolution that have been paid: $2.7 million. Remaining to be paid: $1.8 million. Current reserves held to meet specific remaining estimated Obligations, Taxes and Other Costs that will be paid over the remaining period of the dissolution: $1.8 million. $400,000 of the $1.3 million held in escrow under the terms of the sale of the Company's Electronic Devices business unit has been released to the Company to date, leaving $900,000 currently held in escrow. The net proceeds from the sale of CXR-AJ, the $400,000 released from escrow, and the reserves needed to finish winding up the Company were all considered in determining the amount that could prudently be distributed in the second liquidation distribution to stockholders and avoid the risk to EMRISE stockholders of a clawback. In accordance with the Plan of Dissolution, the aggregate total of the amounts distributed to the Companys stockholders to date in two separate liquidation distributions is $1.11 per share of EMRISE common, or a total of $12.1 million.
Administrative Highlights
In order to reduce costs and maximize the amount available for distribution to shareholders:
EMRISE no longer has any employees. The Board has been reduced from three Directors to one, who continues to serve as Executive Director. All administrative, legal, accounting, consulting and other services related to the Plan of Dissolution have been and will continue to be purchased by the Company, as needed, from outside service providers. EMRISE no longer owns, leases or rents any real estate.
Subsequent Distribution
EMRISE anticipates making a final liquidation distribution to its stockholders; however, if made, the timing and amount of a subsequent distribution will depend on many factors including the receipt of further monies in connection with the CXR-AJ Transaction; the amount of funds released from the $900,000 of escrow funds held to secure certain indemnification obligations of the Company under the purchase agreement related to the sale of the Companys Electronic Devices business unit; the final determination and the payment of State and Federal taxes in the U.S.; and other Dissolution Costs. A further update on any subsequent distribution should occur in late 2016.
ONLY HOLDERS OF RECORD OF THE COMPANYS COMMON STOCK AS OF THE CLOSE OF BUSINESS ON JULY 7, 2015 ARE ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE DISTRIBUTIONS OF FUNDS FROM THE SALE OF THE COMPANYS ASSETS, IN CONNECTION WITH THE COMPANYS DISSOLUTION.
A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PLAN OF DISSOLUTION AND THE MATTERS RELATING TO IT, STOCKHOLDERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO READ CAREFULLY THE COMPANYS PROXY STATEMENT DATED MAY 11, 2015, ITS NEWS RELEASE DATED JUNE 30, 2015, ITS FORM 8-K FILED WITH THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION ON JULY 1, 2015, AND ITS NEWS RELEASE DATED NOVEMBER 16, 2015.
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release and oral statements made from time to time by representatives of EMRISE regarding the Transactions and the dissolution and liquidation of the Company, the liabilities of EMRISE, the net proceeds anticipated to be available for distribution to the Companys stockholders, the distribution of funds to stockholders and other matters, all of which are based on information currently available to the Companys management as well as managements assumptions and beliefs, are forward-looking statements (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. For this purpose, any such statements that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding the Companys expectations, beliefs, or intentions that are signified by terminology such as subject to, believes, anticipates, plans, expects, intends, estimates, may, will, should, can, the negatives thereof, variations thereon and similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements reflect the Companys current views with respect to future events, based on what the Company believes are reasonable assumptions; however, such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Certain of these risks and uncertainties are described in greater detail in EMRISEs filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or review any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The Company undertakes no obligation to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third-parties in respect of the Company, the Transaction or the Companys dissolution and related transactions pursuant to the Plan.
ORLANDO, Fla., May 18, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Immune Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCQB:IMUN), a clinical-stage biotech company providing immunotherapy solutions for the treatment of infectious and non-infectious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS and cancer, with a focus on emerging nations, today announced its attendance at the 69th World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Switzerland to promote LodonalTM.
The WHA is the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO). It is attended by delegations from all WHO member states and focuses on a specific health agenda prepared by the executive board. The main functions of the WHA are to determine the policies of the organization, appoint the Director-General, supervise financial policies, and review and approve the proposed programme budget (www.who.int/mediacentre/events/2016/wha69/en/).
In association with The Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU) and GB Pharma Holdings, Immune Therapeutics, Inc. (Immune Therapeutics) is hosting a welcome reception on Monday, May 23rd in Geneva, Switzerland at the WHA. Guests will include leadership from the U.S. & Foreign Health Delegations and Corporate Stakeholders. During and following this event, Immune Therapeutics and GB Pharma Holdings will focus on engaging with the heads of delegations representing primary targets for distribution of LodonalTM.
Following successful achievement of two major milestones for LodonalTM in Nigeria this year, we are going to the WHA next week with momentum, said Noreen Griffin, Chief Executive Officer of Immune Therapeutics.
Earlier this year Immune Therapeutics announced its clinical study in Nigeria. This study met primary and secondary endpoints for both efficacy and safety. On April 27th, Immune Therapeutics announced that Nigerias National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) approved LodonalTM as an over the counter, non-toxic adjunct therapy in the treatment of HIV/AIDS and immune regulator. Immune Therapeutics Agent for all of Africa, GB Pharma Holdings, will be spearheading LodonalTM distribution in Africa.
Dr. Arikana Chihombori, the Chair of the African Union-African Diaspora Health Initiative (AU-ADHI), supports the initiative with LodonalTM and stated that the WHA is an excellent platform to expose and position LodonalTM within the global health dialogue, present Immune Therapeutics progress in Nigeria and ambition to bring this economically sound and effective treatment to all in need in Africa.
The WHA brings together one of the largest global gatherings of international policy makers, health professionals and political representatives to discuss all global health concerns. Dr. Gloria B. Herndon, President and CEO of GB Pharma Holdings, noted that it is imperative that our initiative with LodonalTM is brought to the foreground of strategic discussions regarding global health.
Forward Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ from those projected due to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to the possibility that some or all of the matters and transactions considered by Immune Therapeutics may not proceed as contemplated, and by all other matters specified in Immune Therapeutics filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These statements are made based upon current expectations that are subject to risk and uncertainty. Immune Therapeutics does not undertake to update forward-looking statements in this news release to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting such forward-looking information. Assumptions and other information that could cause results to differ from those set forth in the forward-looking information can be found in Immune Therapeutics filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its recent periodic reports.
About Immune Therapeutics:
Immune Therapeutics is a biotechnology company working to combat chronic, life-threatening diseases through the activation and modulation of the body's immune system using its patented immunotherapy. Its products and immunotherapy technologies are designed to harness the power of the immune system to improve the treatment of cancer, infections such as HIV/AIDS, chronic inflammatory diseases, and autoimmune diseases.
Immune Therapeutics proprietary technology, therapies and patents include the treatment of a wide range of cancers. Its most advanced clinical programs involve immunotherapy with met-enkephalin (MENK) (sometimes referred to as opioid growth factor) and its Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) product or LodonalTM, which have been shown to stimulate the immune system even in patients with advanced cancer.
Even though management considers any condition that results in altered-immune response a target for investigation, management will most likely pursue additional investigations for MENK and LDN as valuable candidates in the treatment of autoimmune states such as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis; as an adjunct in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, radiation treatments or surgery; and as a complement to antibiotics in the treatment of a variety of infectious diseases, including patients with HIV/AIDS, in combination with retroviral drug therapy.
About TNI BioTech International, Ltd.:
TNI BioTech International, Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Immune Therapeutics, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, is responsible for managing Immune Therapeutics international clinical development and marketing and distribution of therapies in emerging nations.
About GB Pharma Holdings:
GB Pharma Holdings is a Washington D.C. global pharmaceutical company with expertise in defining policies, facilitating approvals, distribution and cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practices) and introducing innovative therapies to Africa. GB Pharma Holdings was established in order to be on the forefront of change and is dedicated to bringing cost effective and quality products to Africa. GB Pharma Holdings is able to link new technologies, science and education together to be a cause for good. Its core focus is twofold; manufacturing cGMP quality pharmaceuticals and helping existing government agencies develop testing and regulations to purge counterfeit and sub-potent products out of their respective countries.
Additionally, GB Pharma Holdings sources products directly from manufacturers able to provide quality pharmaceuticals and medical products. GB Pharma Holdings is able to provide pedigree of any products it provides. Quality of products it distributes is guaranteed through testing reports, closed loop network and meticulous tracking from acquisition to final delivery on every product it provides. GB Pharma Holdings has relationships with several universities in the United States and teaching Hospitals, which keeps it on the cutting edge of proven new trends and technologies. Additionally, GB Pharma Holdings have an excellent relationship with international agencies and regulatory bodies.
New Yorkers who rely on Access-A-Ride to get around the city were left stranded over 31,000 times in 2015and the MTA's Paratransit division has failed to correct such widespread problems with the service, according to an audit by Comptroller Scott Stringer's office.
The MTA subcontracts Access-A-Ride to a number of providers, most of which must pick up passengers within 30 minutes of the time given when a passenger calls for a ride (subcontracted livery cabs have just five minutes leeway). If providers are later than that more than 8% of the time each month, they're subject to penalties or corrective action from the MTA. But this audit found that providers had manipulated their own records in 2.5 million of 9.3 million pick-ups and drop-offs to make it like they'd arrived earlier than their GPS data indicated.
The audit found that in 31,492 cases, drivers simply didn't arrive to pick up a passenger who had requested a ride. In many cases, providers have apparently been reporting driver no-shows as customer no-showsa serious mistake, given that a customer who accumulates too many no-shows can be suspended from using the service altogether. And the MTA has been relying on this self-reported data, rather than monitoring their subcontracted providers, according to Stringer's office.
Citing "widespread mismanagement, waste, and service failures," Stringer said that "Access-A-Ride is absolutely essential for thousands of people to get around New York City every single day, yet this program stranded thousands of people, wasted millions of taxpayer dollars and caused untold harm and distress...After years of mismanagement, it's on the MTA to take action now."
News of Access-A-Ride's failings doesn't come as a surprise to disability rights advocates. Michelle Caiola, Managing Attorney at Disability Rights Advocates' New York office, said that for years, Access-A-Ride's poor service has been one of the top complaints she hears from constituents.
"This is a service that many people rely on for general independence," Caiola said. "The freedom to travel where they need to get to, and beyond that, it's just absolutely crucial for them to be able to hold down jobs or get to medical appointments or any sort of meetingattending school events for their child, and so on. So often, people are left stranded."
When Access-A-Ride doesn't show, there isn't always another option for someone with a disability: less than a quarter of the city's subway stations are accessible, and only a fraction of the city's taxis are accessible. And the city's buses, which are all wheelchair-accessible, aren't always the best option, either.
"You have to think about different elements," said Shakeya Britton, who lives in Clinton Hill and relies on Access-A-Ride to get to Manhattan for school and to other parts of Brooklyn for doctor's appointments. "When it snows or rains, it's hard for people who use wheelchairs to access bus stops." Britton, who is in her mid-twenties and studying for her Master's in disability studies, said Access-A-Ride is often excessively late, once so much so that she was two hours late to a final exam.
When a driver is a no-show, she said, Access-A-Ride tells her to take a taxi, pay out of pocket, and apply for reimbursement laterbut that can pose a hardship.
"Myself and other users live on limited income, so we can't pay out of pocket for taxi, which may cost $40 or $50 one way," Britton said.
Ridesharing services also aren't always good options for many people with disabilities: earlier this year, Dustin Jones, founder of United for Equal Access New York, filed a complaint with the city's Human Rights Commission, alleging that Uber discriminates against people with disabilities. In a statement, Jones said that while he applauds Stringer's audit, he hopes the Comptroller will similarly audit Uber, as "Uber would provide an important alternative to Access-a-Ride if it stopped discriminating and started providing 100% accessible service."
Caiola said that Disability Rights Advocates' New York office has been looking into Access-A-Ride for quite some time, looking to take action, but was running into difficulties pursuing action: "Legally, it's been very hard to prove these cases because you have to have people show a very high percentage of no-shows and late and delayed travel experiences," she explained. "This audit just shows us why getting that all together has been so difficult, because there have been contractors dropping the ball, and the MTA hasn't been providing the appropriate oversight for these contractors."
Stringer's office said that on April 29th, they asked the MTA's Paratransit division to formally respond to this audit by May 13th, but they never heard back. Similarly, the MTA did not respond to our request for comment, but we'll update if they do.
American Girl Place, home of $115 vinyl dolls and their very expensive accessories, is moving to a 40,000-square-foot space at 75 Rockefeller Plaza, doubling the size of their current space a few blocks south. This is only important news if you have a small doll-obsessed child or are George Costanza's dead fiancee. But now that Rockefeller Center is becoming Doll Central, it's worth taking a look back at every '90s child's favorite overpriced toy.
American Girl Dolls first came to be in 1986, the soft-bellied brainchildren of former schoolteacher and children's publisher/writer Pleasant Rowland. Rowland was inspired to launch her biz, dubbed Pleasant Company, after visiting Colonial Williamsburg, which explains why one of the earlier dolls, the ginger Felicity Merriman, lives in Williamsburg around the time of the American Revolution. She noticed there weren't enough dolls for children that focused on girlhood, and thus, the American Girl was born.
Other dolls from the OG collection include Kirsten, a blonde who moves from Sweden to Minnesota with her family; Addy, an escaped slave; Molly, a bespectacled creature growing up during World War II; and Samantha, a super rich orphan living in Victorian New York. Each doll was accompanied by a series of six booksa "Meet [Blank]" book, a school story, a Christmas story, a springtime birthday story, a summer tale and a winter story. Those books had corresponding outfits and accessories (doll-sized hoop skirts! And petit fours! And abacuses!).
There were also non-historical "American Girl of Today" dolls with hair, eye and skin colors you could mix and match as you pleased, along with tiny backyard grills, '90s-style sweaters, scrunchies, and plastic lunch trays and milk cartons for purchase. The company also started manufacturing "Bitty Babies," adorable baby dolls who came with their own sweet little accessories. But in the '90s, the historical dolls were The Thing, and each doll had a personality that tended to correspond with that of their human owner. I was more of a Molly (total nerd), but ended up with Samantha (popular pretty girl) for reasons that still don't make sense.
I got Samantha on my seventh birthday, in September 1996. I like to think of this period as Peak American Girl Doll, but that's probably because I happened to be the target audience at the time. She came in a cardboard box that looked remarkably like a coffin and it took me a small lifetime to free her from it, an experience I have to relive each time I purchase a new pair of earbuds. I still remember how sweet she smelled, and how soft and clean her vinyl skin was, and her pristine hair, slightly curled at the bottom and held half back by a gingham ribbon that matched her dress.
Note: this is a modernized version of Samantha Parkington, ft. a different dress.
Of course, after only a few weeks of owning her, that perfect hair looked akin to a small bird's nest. A year in, her skin was smeared with dirt and, probably, my tears and mucus. I tried to pierce her ears a few times, and at some point her arm fell off and we had to send her to the special American Girl doll hospital, from which she returned with a fresh hairdo and a miniature balloon. But she sustained all that abuse because I loved her, and dragged her around with me, and made her the talk of my stuffed animal town.
Not long after I got Samantha, the company introduced Josefina, who hailed from New Mexico around the time Mexico became a federalist republic, and a million more dolls have followed sinceKit Kittredge, an aspiring journalist during the Great Depression; Kaya, a Native American; Julie, a San Franciscan flower child; and a whole bunch of friend-dolls that popped up in the historical novels. In 2009, eleven years after I wrote them a letter begging them to creature a Jewish historical doll who lived on the Lower East Side, they introduced a Russian Jewish immigrant girl who, you guessed it, lives on the Lower East Side. Her name is Rebecca, and I am still waiting for my royalties.
In the '90s, the dolls cost $82 plus shipping and handling. I know this because I spent years trying to save my 50-cent-a-week allowance to purchase another one but never got around to it. Some girls in my class had the full five-to-six doll collection, with a modern American Girl doll to bootbased on information from some of my former babysitting charges and day camp campers, that doll glut appears to be even more common now. Pleasant Company's also gone through some changesin 1998, Rowland sold the company to Mattel, and now the clothes and accessories more closely resemble the violent pink-and-sparkly crap you'd find in a Barbie discount bin, which is a huge bummer.
Some dolls, like Samantha and Kirsten, have been archived and reintroduced a few years later. There's more emphasis on the modern dolls, now called Truly Me, while the historical dolls have been rebranded as the BeForever collection. There is now a rotating Girl of the Year doll, a modern girl who gets her own storyline and set of books. Though once upon a time you could only order dolls through the catalog, a number of American Girl stores have opened around the country, including the current space at 609 5th Avenue, which boasts a bookstore, tea room and cafe and doll hair salon, in addition to the retail store.
These days American Girl seems like more in the business of making money than in the business of empowering and educating young girls, but maybe that's just because I grew up, or they grew up, who knows. The new mammoth American Girl Place space will include a media studio, private event rooms, and salons, according to Commercial Observer; it's set to open in fall 2017.
On Monday morning, the driver of a late-model Nissan made a left turn onto East 164th Street a block from Yankee Stadium and drove straight into 3-year-old Mariam Dansoko. Paramedics tried to save the little girl, and they drove her to Lincoln Medical Center, but doctors there pronounced her dead.
Two days later, the driver has not been ticketed or charged with a crime, and some in the NYPD seem to be taking pains to let the world know that the toddler was at fault. Police told the Daily News that Dansoko was trailing behind her mother, who was pushing another child in a stroller at the time, by about 12 feet, and that she was crossing against the light. The Bronx District Attorney's Office, too, has taken no action against the driver.
"Our office is investigating the incident with the NYPD Accident Investigation Squad, as we do with any fatality or serious injury when a pedestrian is struck," spokeswoman Patrice O'Shaugnessy said.
Notably, the NYPD renamed the Accident Investigation Squad the Collision Investigation Squad in 2013 to avoid, as then-commissioner Ray Kelly put it, "the inaccurate impression or connotation that there is no fault or liability associated with a specific event."
When I pointed this out to O'Shaugnessy, she wrote back, "Old habits die hard!"
Indeed, police and prosecutors have long been reluctant to bring charges in cases where drivers' reckless actions cost lives. According to a report issued last year by the road-safety group Transportation Alternatives, fewer than 1 percent of the drivers involved in roughly 4,000 hit-and-run crashes in 2015 that resulted in injury or death were charged with a crime. For perspective, this figure is under the regime of Mayor Bill de Blasio, who shortly after taking office announced the beginning of Vision Zero, a traffic safety initiative that he said would include "more consequences for bad behavior that could endanger human life."
In the case of the death of little Mariam Dansoko, whose mother described her as "a smart girl" who "[loved] school," the charge of vehicular manslaughter would be off the table unless the driver was found to be drunk or on drugs. Prosecutors rarely bring regular manslaughter charges against reckless drivers because a conviction requires proving "moral blameworthiness," meaning showing that a driver knew he or she was driving recklessly. Reckless driving, on the other hand, is a misdemeanor that simply consists of "unreasonably [interfering] with the free and proper use of the [road], or unreasonably [endangering]" road users.
New York City's recently-passed Right of Way Law makes it a misdemeanor to fail to yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk with the right of way, punishable by a fine of up to $250 and 30 days in jail if the dangerous driving results in injury or death.
In a statement, Transportation Alternatives director Paul Steely White condemned the "not-so-subtle" anonymous NYPD victim-blaming, and called for police Commissioner Bill Bratton to charge more drivers under the Right of Way Law.
"Our crosswalks must be safe at all times for New Yorkers of all ages," he said. "The NYPD must show Vision Zero leadership by holding drivers accountable when they fail to yield the right of way."
A police spokeswoman told us that Dansoko crossed against the walk signal, but that it's not clear from the information she has whether or not that means the light was red. If what officers leaked to the News is accurate and Dansoko was crossing against the light, the driver would have been running a red. There is no indication he has been ticketed for that, either.
Since 2006, two condos have been slated to go up just west of Brooklyn Bride Park's Pier 6, and though they were originally planned as luxury developments akin to those at Pier 1, 30% was reserved for affordable housing after Mayor de Blasio was elected and intervened. Now, the state's Empire State Development agency, whose support is critical to the project, has backed out of the plan that it had until recently supported, citing concerns over conflicts of interest: the developer chosen for the project apparently donated to de Blasio's now-disbanded Campaign for One New York, which has been under intense scrutiny in recent months.
The ESD was supposed to vote on changes to the plan for Pier 6, which would include affordable housing for some 130 middle-income families making $67,100 to $138,440 each year. According to Politico New York, ESD appeared to be supporting the plan and was expected to approve it todaybut on Monday, state officials abruptly cancelled the vote and told City Hall that the project would not be moving forward.
An ESD spokesperson said that "we take our responsibility as stewards of the general project plan for Brooklyn Bridge Park very seriously, and we will not move forward with any changes until we are fully confident that all newly raised concerns have been addressed."
Those concerns are apparently that the developer, RAL Development Services, donated $10,000 to Campaign for One New York a month before it was selected for the Pier 6 project in 2015. Campaign for One New York is currently under a federal corruption investigation, after a watchdog group accused de Blasio of using the nonprofit to run a "shadow government."
A second concern seems to be that China Vanke, a Chinese company that's invested in the project, was also involved in the Rivington House deal, which is currently under investigation: the company purchased 45 Rivington Street for $116 million after the buildings former owners, who ran it as a nursing home, paid the city $16.15 million to lift the deed. De Blasio has said that he wasn't aware of the deed modification at the time.
As several have noted, neither China Vanke's role in Rivington House nor RAL's donation to Campaign for One New York are new revelations, so it's not entirely clear why they're suddenly cause for concern.
But the plan for Pier 6 had already been a source of controversy, though not so much as the development at Pier 1, which includes luxury condos, a hotel, and a rooftop bar, but not a single unit of affordable housing. Some local residents don't want any housing going up at all in the park, and the project brought a lawsuit from a community group who objected to the modification of the original plan and demanded that the project submit a new application and undergo a new environmental review. Last summer, a judge denied the request for a new review but ruled that the plan would have to be formally amended. It was those amendments that ESD was set to vote on this week.
It looks like the city may go ahead with its plan anyway, even without the state's cooperation: Alicia Glen, who's deputy mayor for housing and economic development and also chair of Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation, told the New York Times that We're going forward anyway... We stand by the rationale for the project. It puts the park in a better position to address its maritime and capital needs. And we have an obligation to build affordable housing, particularly in these expensive and rapidly changing neighborhoods."
The plan can apparently proceed just under BBPC's authority, Glen said, but others, such as City Council Member Stephen Levin and State Senator Daniel Squadron, are warning that the city shouldn't proceed without state approval, and the Times notes that such a move could prompt another lawsuit over the project.
If the city does move ahead with the plan, it will create two condo towers with 30% affordable housing, as well as a pre-kindergarten, public restrooms, a community facility space, and a parking garage. The towers will be 315 and 155 feet each.
A transgender man was assaulted by two men in Park Slope last weekend, and police are investigating it as a hate crime.
The incident happened around 11:10 a.m. on Friday as the 32-year-old victim, who identifies as male, was walking northbound on 9th Street near 7th Avenue. He told cops that two suspects yelled at him as he was passing by: "What are you looking at, white faggot?"
The suspects then blocked his path, and started assaulting him, repeatedly punching him in the face before fleeing the scene. The victim was taken to Methodist Hospital where he was treated for serious physical injuries to his left eye.
Cops describe one suspect as in his 30s, approximately 5'10", with black hair and eyes; the other suspect is reportedly in his 20s, approximately 5'11" with short black hair.
Last month, a man pleaded guilty to killing a woman in Harlem named Islan Nettles, in 2013, because she was transgender.
And in another incident last month, transgender woman Pearl Love recorded a video of a random woman berating and assaulting her on the subway.
The public has an opportunity to meet the four finalists for the Helena Public Schools interim school superintendent position Thursday night at an informal meet-and-greet reception.
The finalists are Greg Upham, Keith Meyer, Lona Carter-Scanlon and Jack Copps. Their resumes are posted with this story online at helenair.com.
If people have individual questions for the candidates, they will have an opportunity to find them and ask those questions personally, said Helena Public Schools Board Chairman Aidan Myhre.
The reception is 6 to 7 p.m., Thursday, May 19, on the fourth floor of the Montana School Board Association Building, 863 Great Northern Blvd.
Interviews start the next day, Friday, beginning at 9 a.m. at Ray Bjork Learning Center, 1600 Eighth Ave.
The interviews with the board are open to the public, and are scheduled as follows:
9-10 a.m.: Greg Upham
10:15 a.m.-11:15 a.m.: Keith Meyer
11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Lona Carter-Scanlon
1-2 p.m.: Jack Copps
The public can give written comment at the meet-and-greet reception on written forms that will be provided. These will also be available the next day at the interview sessions.
The public can also make verbal comments during the public comment period following the interviews on Friday. Or they can email comments to the board by going to the school district website:
The school district will be videotaping Fridays interviews and will be posting them on its website at http://helenaschools.org/board-of-trustees/.
We are not going to select a superintendent Friday, Myhre said of the boards hiring decision. We are not trying to rush it ... but in a perfect world (the board will decide) by the end of next week.
The board wants to allow an adequate time for comment and has not yet set a meeting, she said.
CASPER, Wyo. -- A French Canadian who put a bison calf in his car at Yellowstone National Park because he thought the animal was cold told a park ranger he realized what he did was wrong.
The man who took the calf is identified as Shamash Kassam of Quebec in documents filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court of Wyoming. Park officials cited Kassam for disturbing wildlife. He was fined $110 and is required to appear in court June 2 at the Yellowstone Justice Center.
Yellowstone officials euthanized the bison calf after the human interaction caused the animal to be rejected by its herd, the park said Monday.
According to the citation, Kassam told a park ranger he saw the baby bison in the middle of the road near Buffalo Ranch. Kassam said the calf was wet and shivering. He said he did not see any other bison in the vicinity and he waited 20 minutes to see if any adult bison would come back for the calf. Kassam said the animal appeared to be seeking warmth from his cars engine.
Kassam told the park ranger he picked up the calf because otherwise it would have been roadkill, the citation states. When the ranger made contact with Kassam at the Buffalo Ranch, he saw the calf lying in the back of Kassams Toyota Sequoia.
The park ranger told Kassam that park visitors are not permitted to intervene with wildlife and that by removing the calf he was preventing the mother from locating it and possibly altering its ability to survive in the wild.
Kasam stated that he understood what he did was wrong and he would never pick up or disturb any wildlife again, the citation states.
The ranger located a bison herd near where Kassam had picked up the calf and released the calf back into the herd, according to the citation. The ranger then notified National Park Service bison management.
Rangers repeatedly tried to reunite the calf with its herd, according to a statement released by Yellowstone. The efforts failed, and the calf was later euthanized because it was abandoned and approaching people and cars along the road.
Human interference can cause mothers to reject their offspring, the park said.
Yellowstone released a statement Monday after receiving criticism for euthanizing the calf. In order for the calf to leave the park, it would have had to spend months in quarantine to be monitored for brucellosis, a disease that causes bison, elk and cattle to miscarry. No approved quarantine facilities exist, and the park said it doesn't have the capacity to care for a calf that's too young to forage on its own.
"Nor is it the mission of the National Park Service to rescue animals: our goal is to maintain the ecological processes of Yellowstone," the statement said. "Even though humans were involved in this case, it is not uncommon for bison, especially young mothers, to lose or abandon their calves. Those animals typically die of starvation or predation."
A Yellowstone spokeswoman said the park would like visitors to respect wildlife and to know and follow the safety regulations.
I am supporting Kim Abbott for HD83 in the Montana Legislature because Kim is a proven leader on issues important to my family, to Helena, and to the state of Montana.
Kim led efforts to increase the minimum wage in Montana and support working families to better meet their needs while strengthening our economy with prudent investments in our infrastructure and schools. She rallied support for expanding access to affordable health care for all Montanans, especially important to our seniors and persons with disabilities. She knows how important reproductive health care is to Montana families. Kim has courageously led the way to ensure equality for all. Kim has worked tirelessly to make sure our Helena schools receive the support they need.
What makes Kim standout as a candidate is that she has done the hard work for years, leading the way often in the face of fierce opposition, showing up day in, day out putting in the long hours that leads to progress and success on these important issues. Kim is a proven, hardworking leader -- we need her to represent Helena in the Legislature. Please give her your vote for HD83. Thank you.
Michael O'Neil
Helena
Bernie Sanders is a man of spirit and courage. He is the only candidate in the field who has not waffled and pandered. He is honest, scandal free, and he does not change his convictions when politically convenient. Polls have consistently shown that Sanders is more electable than Mrs. Clinton against Trump.
Sanders has brought an amazing percentage of the Democratic electorate to realize just how decent and timely his proposals really are. They include: Medicare for everyone; a $15 per hour minimum wage; free public education through college; a need to address rampant inequality; and the need for real campaign finance reform. These are not pie-in-the-sky proposals, but a significant and sensible agenda for progressives. Even Mrs. Clinton has partially embraced them, assuming she does not drift back to her establishment, middle-of-the-road comfort zone if nominated.
Sanders, for instance, is a leader in the campaign finance reform movement. Our democracy has been sold. The giant weight of money has bent it to serve the interests of a tiny percentage of the electorate that provides the overwhelming bulk of campaign money. How many concerned citizens do you know give $2,700 to the candidates of their choice? How many give the legal maximum of $30,000 to the party of their choice? How many give $100,000 or $350,000 to the dark money PAC of their choice?
Have you donated your $30,000? Your $100,000? If not, why not? Arent you patriotic?
This is a millionaires game. Why should the millionaires rule? Sanders has raised oflot of money, but it is the small stuff. The average donation is around $35. Do you think $35 can even the score with $30,000? Why are these rich people privileged to have this kind of political influence? These millionaires do not vote for politicians, they invest in them. They buy positions in the Capitol and expect a good rate of return on their investments. This is why it is called Capitol-ism. It is a game of legalized bribery, not a game for the 95 percent.
Sanders is not a billionaire nor a millionairess. He was elected mayor of Burlington, Vermont, and then elected to Congress for 26 years. He was elected as an independent, unsponsored by either party, and he was elected as a self proclaimed socialist, probably the most deadly thing you could say about yourself in American politics. Yet he earned an 83 percent approval rating from his constituents, higher than any other congressman in the country.
Sanders had the good judgment to vote against the Iraq war, which has proved to be an unmitigated disaster, the consequences of which we are still dealing with in the Middle East and the streets of Paris and Belgium. The hawkish Mrs. Clinton, with all her experience, voted in favor of it.
Bernie Sanders will not be able to get his agenda through a hostile Congress, but neither will Mrs. Clinton. But Sanders will have an effect because he stands for something other than just getting into office. It is something worth voting for.
Stanley Speck
Helena
Here is a recent quote from a major political figure: "Set up the guillotines over income inequality." Bernie Sanders, you ask? Nope, Michael Bloomberg.
Bloomberg advocates finding ways to make the young, the poor and the homeless as productive as we possibly can. We must give them the dignity of a job, and make sure they have the wherewithal to support their families. If we dont, someday people are going to set up the guillotines. We simply cannot allow this rich-poor divide to persist in our country. This sounds like something out of Bernie Sanders' playbook.
There are good reasons why Sanders has won the overwhelming support of voters under 29 years of age. He has often won (and continues to win) the youth vote by more than 50 points in primaries and caucuses. And in Bernie's home state of Vermont, he beat Clinton by 95 percent to 5 percent among young voters!
It is obvious that young voters who represent the future of our country are sick and tired of politics-as-usual that has robbed them of their hope to achieve the "American Dream." As noted author Thomas Picketty recently warned about the widening income gap between rich and poor: "Beware, the pitchforks are coming!"
It is obvious that the richest among us have rigged the system against the young, poor, middle-class and the homeless. They need to start changing their ways, otherwise -- pitchforks or guillotines -- the results will likely be the same.
Bob Balhiser
Helena
Montana officials said they will ask a federal judge for an immediate stay on a Tuesday ruling that allowed political parties to contribute unlimited amounts of cash to campaigns.
In seeking the stay, state Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl said he worried about the chaos that could result if political parties launch a spending frenzy.
"There could be unlimited amounts of money contributed to political candidates. And that money could come from anywhere, from wealthy individuals from across the United States," Motl said. "It would undercut Montana's hundred-year history of keeping campaign financing within the reach of ordinary people."
The state will seek the stay from U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell, the same judge who on Tuesday struck down as unconstitutional for the second time the contribution limits approved by voters in 1994.
Earlier in the day, Motl dismissed a four-year-old complaint against former gubernatorial candidate Rick Hill after Lovell, in his ruling, called the allegations against Hill a moot point. Motl previously said he would defer to the court's ruling.
The complaint against Hill arose when Gov. Steve Bullock's campaign manager alleged Hill violated campaign finance laws by accepting a $500,000 donation from the Montana Republican Party after Lovell first struck down the state's limits in October 2012.
Until Tuesday, state law capped total contributions from political party committees to candidates, ranging from $850 per election for a state House candidate to $23,350 for a gubernatorial candidate. But Tuesday's ruling did away with those limits.
The repercussions from Lovell's ruling are still largely unknown, as candidates in contested races campaign for the June 7 primary.
The chair of the Montana Republican Party, Rep. Jeff Essmann of Billings, said in an email that party officials were still reviewing the court's decision and "have not made any plans on spending at this point."
All donations to the party will be disclosed in compliance with campaign finance laws, Essmann said.
Nancy Keenan, the executive director for the Montana Democratic Party, pledged that her party would abide by limits in place before Tuesday's ruling.
Democrats, including Gov. Steve Bullock, had called on Attorney General Tim Fox, a Republican, to appeal Lovell's ruling.
Motl conferred with the attorney general's office prior to announcing that state officials would be seeking a stay, which he said would be limited to the judge's ruling on political parties. He said there were no immediate plans to seek a stay on contribution limits for individuals and political action committees.
Limits on individual contributions will rise modestly, but the cap on political action committees will jump dramatically - particularly in gubernatorial campaigns.
PACs can now contribute as much as $10,610 per election cycle instead of the $1,320 that had been in place earlier this week for contested races. PAC limits will also rise to $2,650 for other statewide offices, up from $640. The limit goes up to $800 for the state Senate and $400 for the House - instead of the previous $340 limit for both chambers.
"It's a pretty good jump," Motl said. "But at least there are still limits that everybody can see and deal with."
Individuals can now contribute as much as $1,990 to gubernatorial candidates and up to $990 for other statewide contests per election cycle, which includes primary and general elections.
If money begins pouring into campaigns, it won't be immediately known. The next campaign finance deadline is Monday for political parties, ballot issues and independent committees, covering contributions from April 27 through May 18.
Although the popular junior high lyrics about them being a musical fruit have long been forgotten, soybeans are providing some sweet music to farmers who were looking at a financially depressing year.
With University of Illinois farm management specialist Gary Schnitkey saying beans have been and will be more profitable than planting corn on high quality Central Illinois farmland, there is a glimmer of financial hope for 2016 soybean production.
Soybeans have held onto a bullish attitude since the end of March, when the U.s. Department of Agriculture indicated farmer intentions were a preference for planting a near record number of corn acres. After the recent USDA Supply-Demand Report, soybean futures touched limit up levels and closed about 50-cents higher on the day. In the 10 weeks since an early March low, soybeans have gained $2 in value, nearly 25 percent more than what they were worth on March 2.
Some random farmer thoughts, collected from Twitter, about soybean prices indicated the bean market had caught their attention:
--My last 100 acres of corn just got switched to beans (after beans), and I sold 83 percent of expected production.
--Is it too late to tear up some corn I planted?
--At $3.75 corn and $10.50 soybeans, and with soybeans projected $85 per acre more profitable than corn in central IL, is it time to stop planting corn?
Thanks to a corn starch salesman from back east convincing Central Illinois farmers to grow soybeans for the protein-bearing seed instead of just for livestock fodder, the world has come to depend on soybeans as a major food source.
Although their profitability as a commodity crop has been above and below the breakeven line, there soon will be a day when beans will always give a positive return on investment for farmers.
Consider the USDAs long-term vision for soybeans, which projects world trade in soybeans to increase by 22percent by 2025, with meal trade up by 20 percent and soybean oil trade up by 30 percent. The USDA says, The primary factors driving global soybean and products trade include population and income growth, which are driving the worlds increasing demand for livestock products, as well as policies implemented by major agricultural importers and exporters.
One only has to look at a few nations to become increasingly interested in soybeans. China is now buying 3 billion bushels of soybeans per year to provide enough high-quality protein feed for its pork and poultry industries to satisfy its growing middle class. And by 2025, the USDA projects that volume to increase to 4 billion bushels.
Another nation is India, where population growth is at a higher rate than in China, and the economy is comparably strong. In 2013, India surpassed China as the worlds largest soybean oil importer and by 2025 will be importing four times the volume of soybean oil as does China.
Shipload after shipload of soybean meal dock at Rotterdam, since the European Union is the worlds largest importer of soybean meal. The EUs appetite for meat surpasses its ability to produce enough livestock feed. And while the EU is a mature market, its citizenry will always be a strong market for high quality cuisine that includes high-quality protein meats.
And Southeast Asia, the fastest growing area of the world, with a growing economy and a growing appetite for high-quality meat, also needs protein feeds because of insufficient agricultural production. That is why many of those nations have reduced tariffs on soybean meal to less than 8 percent so meal can be imported, so livestock can be raised, and consumers can be satisfied.
Quite a legacy A. E. Staley left for us in that musical and profitable fruit, and a legacy full of future dividends.
DECATUR A former Decatur police chief is asking for a special prosecutor to investigate City Manager Tim Gleason for his use last year of a police car and driver for a personal trip.
Mark Barthelemy filed a petition Tuesday in Macon County Circuit Court to appoint a special prosecutor to look into the incident, arguing that Macon County State's Attorney Jay Scott has a conflict of interest that prevents him from pursuing it.
But Scott said Tuesday that he referred the allegations against Gleason to the Illinois State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor's Office last month. He said he's also referred a report related to former Decatur Police Chief Brad Sweeney to the prosecutor's office but declined to provide more information about that matter.
We, at the beginning, decided this is not a case that we should be in the middle of because of our ties to everybody involved, Scott said.
A representative at the state prosecutor's office could not immediately provide the status of either case Tuesday afternoon.
Barthelemy said Tuesday evening that he knew Scott's office had referred the Sweeney case to the special prosecutor but was unaware that it had also sent the information connected to Gleason. He said he wanted to know that something was being done.
Gleason did not comment, saying he hadn't seen the latest filing.
His use of the police car became public knowledge through Sweeney's ongoing lawsuit against the city. Sweeney claims his Feb. 4 firing was retaliation by Gleason for, among other reasons, objecting to Gleason's use of the car and driver.
Barthelemy's petition is unrelated but cites documents filed in the Sweeney case. He asserts that Gleason's conduct appears to violate the Illinois Criminal Code and State Officials and Employee Ethics Act.
Gleason has acknowledged that he used a police car and driver to travel to St. Louis on May 7, 2015, immediately following the Greater Decatur Chamber of Commerce State of the City breakfast event that day.
He had previously scheduled a trip to California for an event related to his son's service in the Army. Gleason changed his travel plans to fly out of St. Louis so he also could attend the breakfast, which fell less than two months after he became city manager.
During a deposition taken by Sweeney's attorney in that case, Gleason said former Mayor Mike McElroy, who died in July, told him to use a police car and driver to accommodate the new plans. Otherwise, Gleason would have left a vehicle stranded in St. Louis, because he had kept his original return flight to Peoria.
Barthelemy served for 30 years in the Decatur Police Department, more than four as its chief. Following that position, he worked as the city's human rights officer for eight years, retiring in 2014.
Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe said she didn't understand why Barthelemy filed the petition, as she thought the state's attorney's office had already referred both cases to the state prosecutor's office.
She said she was not concerned about Gleason potentially being investigated by that office. This is the system, she said. I believe in our system, and I think the truth will come out.
She said she did not think there was any wrongdoing involved in Gleason's use of the car.
(Gleason) was performing an official duty, so to get him to be able to do that duty, the mayor at the time did what he thought was best and came up with an idea, she said.
Attorneys for both sides in the Sweeney lawsuit declined to comment.
Taxpayers are in danger once again of having an unfair and expensive labor agreement forced upon them by the General Assembly.
On Monday afternoon, Gov. Bruce Rauner rightfully vetoed SB580, a terrible piece of legislation that would force the government and AFSCME into binding arbitration. That move would almost certainly result in a lucrative contract for the about 30,000 employees that are represented by AFSCME. This is a thinly disguised political move; the legislation would sunset at the end of Rauners term.
The General Assembly is expected to consider overriding the veto as early as today. If that happens, taxpayers will end up paying a pretty hefty bill.
The Rauner administration estimates that the latest proposal by AFSCME would cost taxpayers an additional $3 billion a year. Thats money the state doesnt have and that taxpayers cant afford.
Rauner, in a letter being sent to employees, did stretch credibility a bit when he said he was vetoing the bill to protect the pension system that you are counting on for your retirement. Its become clear in the last year that the Constitutionally-guaranteed pension will remain.
However, this is still a terrible piece of legislation. It removes negotiations from the hands of an elected governor and makes them the responsibility of appointed arbitrators.
In addition, it would give AFSCME workers a better contract than other state unions that have reached agreements with the Rauner administration that are reasonable and fair to both sides and to taxpayers. Everyone wants a fair contract, but whats at risk is a contract that will saddle taxpayers with additional expenses.
The arbitrators decision would also most likely increase the differences between wages and benefits received by state workers and those in the private sector. State workers in Illinois are the highest paid in the nation when considering the cost of living between states, according to the Illinois Policy Institute. While the pay of private sector employees has remained relatively flat over the last decade, AFSCME workers have seen their wages increase more than 40 percent, the policy institute said. Many state workers are able to retire in their 50s and receive free health insurance during their retirements. Those benefits are rare in the private sector.
Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, voted for the bill and indicated he would vote in favor of the override. He said he supported the bill because I think it brings balance to a situation that could result in a strike or a lockout of state workers.
But who, Sen. Manar, is looking out for the taxpayers? Wheres the balance between public and private workers, both of whom pay the taxes for these contracts? No one represents the taxpayers in an arbitration decision.
An identical bill failed in an override attempt last year by three votes in the House. This override attempt will be close, because Democrats hold veto-proof margins in the House and Senate.
Hopefully, there will be some courageous legislators that will understand that this is simply a ploy to provide state workers with a lucrative deal the state simply cant afford.
SPRINGFIELD Following the Illinois Senates recent passage of a Democratic plan to overhaul the states school funding formula, a Republican lawmaker whos been critical of that proposal has presented his colleagues with a potential path to compromise.
State Sen. Jason Barickman of Bloomington sent a letter to all members of the General Assembly on Tuesday laying out a plan to merge some aspects of the Senate Democrats proposal, sponsored by state Sen. Andy Manar of Bunker Hill, with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauners call to fully elementary and secondary schools next year under the existing formula.
Nearly everyone acknowledges the current formula does a poor job of getting state funding to the districts that need it most.
Barickman said his plan could serve as a bridge to the evidenced-based funding model that he and members of the education community have been calling for, something he believes could be in place by the 2017-18 school year. That model would use measures such as class sizes and the number of students who require special education services to determine how much money each district receives.
My goal is to provide a path forward that I believe helps solve a problem and can generate bipartisan support, Barickman said Wednesday.
A main Democratic criticism of Rauners proposal to fully fund the foundation level set by the current formula $6,119 per student has been that many districts with high poverty rates and low property values would see their state funding drop. Manars plan is designed to funnel more state money to many of those same districts.
We should acknowledge that fully funding the foundation level underscores the need to reform the existing formula, Barickman wrote to his fellow lawmakers.
He recommends drawing on Manars bill and other legislation to provide additional money to districts that would lose funding under Rauners budget proposal, thereby lifting them to a funding level otherwise not achievable through the current formula.
Barickman acknowledges that this would take additional funding beyond the $55 million increase the governor has proposed.
An aspect of Manars plan that has drawn much ire from Republicans, including Barickman, is its proposal to have the state pick up the tab for the employer portion of Chicago Public Schools teacher pensions, something it already does for every other school district.
Barickman said that issue should be addressed separately, pointing out that House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, in the past has supported shifting responsibility for teachers pensions from the state to local school districts.
Manar, who also supports the evidence-based model and included provisions in his bill that would shift that state in that direction over the long term, said Barickmans written commitment to addressing school funding helps bring us closer to a solution.
The question then becomes where we start from in terms of funding levels, Manar said. And we cant start from where we are today.
He also said that teacher pensions need to be part of the conversation and need to be dealt with the same way statewide, whether that means the state covering Chicagos portion or other districts taking on that cost.
Meanwhile, House Democrats are working on their own school funding plan, which could be filed as soon as this week.
House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, who chaired a task force on education funding, said she appreciated Barickmans letter.
He clearly makes a distinction between what we might do today and what our long-range plan might be, which I think is reasonable, Currie said. But I would be happier if we included more of a long-range (plan) in whatever it is we do this year.
SPRINGFIELD Illinois legislative leaders have agreed in principle to budget negotiations that involve both a tax increase and some items from Gov. Bruce Rauners pro-business, union-weakening turnaround agenda.
But anyone expecting Democrats to capitulate to the first-term Republican on issues such as the collective bargaining rights of government employees is likely to be disappointed.
After Rauner and the four leaders met Tuesday for about an hour, House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, issued a statement saying Rauners continued insistence on passage of his agenda that hurts the middle class is a clear indication he is not interested in passing and implementing comprehensive, full-year budgets that do not decimate needed services relied upon by the people of Illinois.
Madigan will, however, appoint members to a bipartisan working group that will discuss Rauners reform proposals.
A few hours after the meeting, House Democrats voted for nearly the 20th time to reject a Rauner-backed proposal to tie a property tax freeze to a measure that would give local governments control over what issues they negotiate with their employees. As they have previously, Republicans decried the vote as a sham.
Tuesdays meeting came as the clock is winding down for lawmakers to pass a budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 on a simple majority vote. If thats not done by May 31, the budget would require a three-fifths majority. The pressure is especially high because lawmakers and the governor still havent agreed on a full budget for the current fiscal year, now in its 11th month.
The meeting was the first of its kind since rank-and-file lawmakers last week presented leaders and the governor with a framework for a balanced budget for next year. That outline included roughly $2.4 billion in spending cuts and $5.4 billion in new revenue, which would be generated in part by raising the states personal income tax rate from 3.75 percent to 4.85 percent.
After the meeting, Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said Rauner reiterated his willingness to raise new revenue to balance the budget.
Thats, I think, very helpful, Cullerton said, because if you dont have revenue, you could never possibly come to a balanced budget.
Cullerton said the governor declined to go into specifics about what revenue proposals he would support. The package lawmakers presented also included expanding the state sales tax to some services, an idea Rauner campaigned on.
House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, and Senate Minority Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, were cautiously optimistic immediately following the meeting.
Durkin said he was pleased to say that after many, many months of objection by the speaker to discuss any type of reform, Madigan indicated he was willing to negotiate on changes to workers compensation laws, collective bargaining rights for local government workers and public employee pensions.
Those are the key to breaking the impasse, Durkin said.
While Radogno appreciated Madigans shift in tone, she said shes pretty skeptical about how negotiations will progress.
Weve had a lot of working groups, and he disavows any knowledge or interest of them every time, she said. This will be one more go-around.
I think ultimately the working group needs to be the speaker himself and the leaders because he manipulates the process, and then nothing happens.
Rauner did not speak to reporters following the meeting.
Meanwhile, just a short time after the gathering ended, Madigan introduced a bill on the House floor that would fully fund grants to low-income college students through the Monetary Award Program.
A stopgap funding measure Rauner signed into law late last month included $167.6 million for the grants, but Madigans plan would provide the remaining $227.2 million.
Madigan said the measure, which was approved on a 68-45 vote, is needed to provide stability for universities and students.
But Republicans said it was another example of Democrats passing a spending bill without specific funding attached. Rauner has already vetoed several similar bills.
Relatives of Robert Nazaryan, president of Armenias Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) own a number of businesses in the Czech Republic.
Nazaryan served as Yerevans mayor from 2001-2003 before being appointed PSRC head.
LEMAR INVEST
On August 14, 2008, Levon Nazaryan (Robert Nazaryans son), and his wife Marine Gevorgyan, found LEMAR INVEST Ltd. in Prague. The company is involved in real estate and the leasing of apartments and office space. Charter capital amounted to 200,000 Czech korunas. At first, the couple split the shares equally, but Marine Gevorgyan has owned 100% since January 2014.
Until 2009, LEMAR INVEST was registered in the Prague neighborhood of Zizkov and later moved to Varhulikove 1579/16 in the Holesovice neighborhood.
Marine Gevorgyan owns an apartment in the above building where the company is registered. The couple are citizens of Armenia and have a residency registered at 39 Arabkir Street. Levons parents Robert Nazaryan and Svetlana Kharatyan are registered at the same address.
There is no information regarding Levon Nazaryan in the financial disclosures filed by his father with Armenias Ethics Committee for Top Officials since father and married son are not regarded as linked individuals even though they officially share the same Yerevan residence.
Pohodlne Bydleni
Levon Nazaryan founded Pohodlne Bydleni Ltd. (Comfortable Housing) in Prague on February 26, 2014. Russian citizen Ksenya Boyko, who had temporary Czech residency status, served as Levon Nazaryans representative when the company was founded. This company, also founded with 200,000 Czech korunas, deals in real estate as well. Levon Nazaryan is the companys director and sole shareholder.
This company is registered at Varhulikove 1579/16 as well.
BORANO SCI Finance a family business
Levon Nazaryan also has an interest in another Czech registered company. Since 2011, hes served on the board of BORANO SCI Finance.
This company was founded in May 2007 and was originally called AFTER DARK. Charter capital amounted to 2 million Czech korunas and it also engages in real estate. Management of the company fell into Armenian hands on December 21, 2011 when Boris Hovhannisyan, a 60-year-old resident of the Kotayk village of Arinj, became a board member, along with his son Norayr Hovhannisyan, and Levon Nazaryan. The Czech Corporate Registry only has shareholder information on the company from 2007-2010. The wives of Boris Hovhannisyan and Levon Nazaryan became observer members of the board on December 21 as well. So too did Kim Yeganyan, the 35-year-old nephew of Gagik Yeganyan, chief of Armenias State Migration Service.
BORANO an Armenian relay team
DOLLARSTONE CZ Ltd., another company with Armenian roots, is registered at the above address in Prague. It was founded in August 2006 by Prague residents Mher Gamdjyan (20% shares) and Artem Sahakyan (20%), along with Armenian citizen Lilit Asatryan (60%).
Lilit is the wife of Robert Yeritsyan, son of businessman Albert Yeritsyan. Robert Yeritsyan is now on the run from law enforcement authorities in Armenia. Hetq has written about Robert Yeritsyan and his wife, as well as Mher Gamdjyan.
Until 2008, the company engaged in specialized retail and general trade, and since 2008 in trade and services. Boris Hovhannisyan obtained the company in April 2007, and was later joined by his son Norayr. Boris then changed the name to BORANO Ltd. Prior to 2009, the company was registered at the address of Mher Gamdjyan, and in July 2009, the address was changed to Varhulikove 1579/16. According to the Czech Real Estate Registry, the company owns an apartment at this address.
Aleksan Zakaryan purchased the company from Hovhannisyan on November 24, 2015. (Aleksan Zakaryan and his brother Gourgen own companies that install speed/traffic cameras and security systems in Armenia)
Zakaryans Elfnet Group
On November 5, 2008, Yerevan residents Aleksan and Gourgen Zakaryan and their wives Gayane Verdyan and Karine Zakaryan, found Elfnet Group Ltd. in Prague. While initially solely a real estate company, it later branched out into manufacturing, trade and services. Aleksan Zakaryan, the company director, owns a 70% stake.
Elfnet Group is registered at Taboritska 464/10 in Prague. The company owns one apartment, one commercial space, and an auto garage at this location.
On May 19, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the OSCE Mission will conduct a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan in the eastern direction of Martakert.
From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring will be conducted by staff member of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Peter Svedberg (Sweden) and Personal Assistant to the Personal Representative of the CiO Simon Tiller (Great Britain), as well as by representative of the OSCE High-Level Planning Group (HLPG), Colonel Andrey Barashkin (Russia).
The NKR authorities have expressed their readiness to assist in conducting the monitoring and to ensure the security of the OSCE Mission members.
By Katherine Berjikian
I recently went on a four-day trip to Nagorno-Karabakh, the area between Armenia and Azerbaijan with a majority Armenian population, and which recently saw an escalation of violence on their disputed boarder with Azerbaijan.
While I was there, I was shocked about how almost everyone I spoke with wanted to talk about the recent four day war, and how they felt about the possibility of an even longer and more violent war with Azerbaijan.
One of the most memorable experiences while I was there was a conversation a group of friends and I had with a family that invited us into their home in Stepanakertfor a couple drinks. While we were drinking with them, one of the men in the family told us a story of when he fought in the Nagorno-Karabakh war in the 90s. He stated that when he fought he and his fellow soldiers spoke to the Azeri troops and decided that they shouldnt be fighting, that the war was just a political game and that neither of them wanted to die. After they spoke they decided to stop fighting and called for a ceasefire.
At the end of the conversation he made a toast. He said that he wanted to pray for not only the safety of the children in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, but also to the children in Azerbaijan. That he hoped that there would be no more war, and that they would be safe and live long lives as well.
I did not expect to hear that in Nagorno-Karabakh.
While I was in Nagorno-Karabakh, I stayed in a town named Shushi, a town a short distance from Stepanakert,Nagorno-Karabakhs capital. I stayed with a woman named Valia Avagyan. She was born and raised in Shushi, and had spent much of her adult life there.
I stayed with her for four days. This was set up by a program I am part with called Tebi Hayk, or Birthright Armenia. For several years, a couple time a year, Valia opens her doors to Diasporian Armenians from around the world as they visit Nagorno-Karabakh.
While I stayed with her, we spoke for several hours and way into to the night and early morning about the wars in the 90s, the recent four day war, Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh, and her son, an eighteen year old soldier on the front lines.
The following article is a summary of that conversation
Her thoughts about the war and the recent escalation of violence is hers alone. I do not know if they are unique compared to other inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh, or Shushi. However, I do know that while we spoke she seemed passionate and determined about the conflict. After mentioning that I worked for Hetq.am and would like to do an interview with her, she insisted that we do it almost immediately. It was almost midnight when I mentioned that I would like to do an interview.
Before I start, I would like to state that I am not fluent in Armenian, and much of this conversation was translated by Meli Masmainian and later transcribed by Nirva Karen Aydin.
Memories from the First War
Valiawas not in Nagorno-Karabakh during the first war in the 90s. In the beginning of the war, she and her children went to Georgia for her and their safety. However, she did this by herself. Her husband and his family and friends volunteered to fight in Nagorno-Karabakh once they saw that the violence was escalating and wouldnt stop any time soon.
Because of this, she experienced the war in the 90s from afar. However, she did glimpse one moment of war that has stuck with her to this day.
Valia didnt return to Nagorno-Karabakh until August 1993. At this point most of the war was slowing down. Because of this, and several years spent in the safety of Georgia, she was unaware of the potential danger of war in Nagorno-Karabakh. In August, shortly after her return, she decided to walk from Sushi to Stepanakert with her children.
(Sushi and Stepanakert are very close. Shushioverlooks Stepanakert. During the height of the war, Azerbaijani troops heldShushiand bombed Stepanakert from above.)
When she was walking down this hill with her children, she noticed a plane flying low to ground approaching them. When she saw this she was more distracted by it then anything else. However, when it got closer she noticed that a lot of people around her were afraid of the plane and were started running into caves near the road almost immediately after seeing it.
A man ran up to her when he noticed that she was not running for cover with her children. He yelled at her and demanded that she give him her children so he can take them into the caves. She was shocked and let him take them.
(During the 90s, a plane flying close to the ground inNagorno-Karabakh could have meant the possibility of an airstrike.
At this point in the story, she jumped from this moment to a confrontation she had with her husband shortly after the incident. She did not tell me if there was an airstrike or not.)
When she got home with her children she quickly told this story to her husband. Her husband had been in Nagorno-Karabakh the whole time, and new what a plane flying close to the ground would mean.
He told her that it wasnt safe to walk outside for long periods of time, especially with the children. She stated that she did not know what had happened, and she said he then explained that they were at war still, and it was not safe.
She then described an incident that happened near the end of the first war. At the end of the war, several tanks rolled into Sushi when she saw this she became afraid. She thought that they belonged to Azerbaijan and that they were going to try to recapture Shushi. According to her, the other inhabitants of the town thought the same thing and started to panic. However, they then noticed that the tanks werent shooting, and that the men on them were speaking Armenian. They were Armenian tanks, not Azeri tanks.
That was the turn of the war.
Whose fault is it?
When she spoke of the recent escalation of violence and the four day war in Nagorno-Karabakh. She stated that this war is different because is a maneuvering war. When the Armenian military moves their troops, the Azeri population moves theirsaway from the border.
However, this does not mean that she was not afraid of this escalation of violence. During our conversation, she made a point to state that she was afraid because of how she sees the Azeri soldiers now.
While we spoke she mentioned a photo that Hetq.am published during the beginning of the war. This photo she mentioned was taken of a couple who had been killed by Azeri troops during the fighting. They were elderly and after they were killed the Azeri troops cut off their ears. She stated that if the Azeris want to go someplace, they dont just move around a village that might be in its way, they go through it and kill everyone inside it.
However, she also seemed to have sympathy for the Azeri troops, similarly to how the man who toasted to for the safety of the children in Azerbaijan.
Later during our conversation she stated the following: Azeris - they have so many minority groups in their country. Their schools are in bad shape, nothing gets done to help the minorities in Azerbaijan. The government is basically performing a small genocide towards their minority groups. The government has two goals, one to take Karabakh, and two to get rid of the minorities of their country. They're sending the young eighteen to nineteen year old members of these minority groups to the front lines . Basically to die.
Valiadid not stop at criticizing the Azeri government. After this statement, she then made another comment.
I am not sure if she it was directed at the Armenian government, the government of Nagorno-Karabakh, or both.
They're building churches, this country is filled with churches, we need to focus on strengthening our borders. Creating jobs for our people, and having the best Armenians work these jobs. We have many riches: textiles, metal work, gold, grains, we have it all but no one uses these riches for themselves. They're exporting these things, where are they sending them? We need these things here, let's think about ourselves. But the four day war showed one thing. We are all equal, there is no rich or poor here. Armenians, Karabakh, we have many things here that we should use for ourselves but from above they're not allowing it. Our money goes to them, we get poorer, and they get richer. Why? Why not let your people benefit from these things?
The Soldiers on the Front Lines
When I asked Valia about the soldiers on the front I thought she would mention her son first and how she felt with him fighting in the war. However, she first spoke about the soldiers in general, not just her son. She stated that this past war so many young boys went to the boarder to fights. She made a point to mention that they were so little, most of which were around eighteen, seventeen. She was concerned about them because they were so young and that this was their first war. She mentioned that they did not even know how to use their weapons.
While we spoke, she recounted a story she heard of a young boy she knows who went to the front. When he went there, he heard a noise near him and became scared. He accidently fired his weapon and shot and killed an Azeri soldier. While this probably saved his life, it really troubled him because as she stated, it was just an accident. He didnt really know what he was doing.
Her son, who is eighteen, is currently at the border. One of the problems she states, is that information travels slowly from the boarder to the civilians in Shushi. Because of this, she stated, they listen rumors more than facts, and this makes her afraid, because the rumors she hears talk about military movement and the high possibility that this will be much more than an isolated incident. It takes a week to here news about the soldiers and the people that they know.
Valiatalks to her son almost every day. However, it is usually for fifteen minutes.
When asked to describe the conversation, she gave a comical example to describe the conversations she usually have with him.
Valia: Hi, how are you?
Son: Fine?
Valia: How is the weather? How is the sky?
Son: Oh, its blue.
Valia: No, its not blue.
Son: Ah, youre right, its not blue.
She than stated that he says Everything will be good at the end of each conversation.
She gave his anecdote to point out that the information she gets is not accurate, she does not know what exactly is happening to her son on the boarder.
The only thing she does know for sure is that he is friendly with the other soldier. She knows this because when she asked how the other soldiers are treating him. He stated Fine.
One of the reasons she does not know much information is because she is afraid that the phone wire might be tapped. That if she finds out where her son is stationed, it might inform the Azeri soldiers where her son is, and he could get hurt or killed.
Communication with her son is fright with fear that she or he might let something slip, and that might cause her sons death. She stated that they are told to act this way, to not let information out.
Even though this must be hard on any parent, she does not seem like she is bitter about it. When I asked her how she feels about it, she stated that of course she is sad about it, but that she is happy that he is there.
This surprised me.
She stated that her son wasnt safe. He wouldnt have been safe at home if there werent boys at the border protecting it, and hes not going to be safe if he goes there.
Last thoughts
After speaking about her son, I decided to end the interview and go to bed. However, Valiastopped me and made a point to say the following statement before I turned off the tape recorder and left.
We are tired of this war, how much longer is this going to go on? Our young 18-19 year old boys, standing on the front lines are the ones getting hurt and killed for this, until when?...This conflict has to be settled for good. We are either going to continue to be broken down, or we're going to take care of them once and for all. They're either going to continue to sit comfortably in their homes, or they are going to be one with the ground. We will be the winners, and they will be the ones crying. This time Azeris will be the one at Putin's feet begging for help. But the people of Karabakh will not listen, no Karabakh resident standing on the front line will listen to the orders coming from above. All of them are volunteers, coming at their own will. They will stand strong until the very end. The Azeris are claiming that after they 4 day war they were able to obtain 2 posts - so much land. What did you get? You got 200 meters of land. For that small amount of land they (Azeris) lost 2,000 lives, they have tons of injuries. A doctor of their hospital is saying they don't understand what type of weapons Armenians are using. 40-45% of their injuries are very critical.
Top photo: Valia Avagyan
(Katherine Berjikian is a Birthright Armenia volunteer from the U.S. now working at Hetq)
Judith Faulkner spoke to Healthcare IT News about the issue of interoperability.
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TOWN OF BURLINGTON Mystery still surrounds Saturdays house explosion in the Town of Burlington.
Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling said the department had no new information Tuesday evening. Investigators are still sifting through the rubble to find remains of a possible third victim in the blast.
Milwaukee resident Kayla Lambert said Tuesday that her father, Craig Lambert, his girlfriend, Kimberly Howe and Howes son Nicholas, all lived in the house at 29235 Ketterhagen Road, which exploded Saturday. Lambert said all three have been missing since then.
The sheriffs department has confirmed locating only two bodies on the property, but their identities have not been determined. That might take weeks or even months, according to Racine County Medical Examiner Michael Payne, because the bodies are in such bad shape from the blast.
Dental records would make the process more expedient, but if we have to resort to DNA, that would be a more lengthy process, he said Tuesday.
Investigators have said the explosion was of suspicious nature.
They do not believe this was an accident or natural cause, Lambert said. They cannot find any evidence due to the fact everything is so far burnt up.
Her statements echo what Schmaling confirmed Monday, and the fact that three people occupied the home. He said his department will continue to treat the investigation as a crime until dissuaded by evidence.
Lambert said investigators and neighbors provided her with insight into what might have happened.
We do know there was at least one confirmed explosion after the fire was already started, she said. Neighbors reported black smoke and flames coming out of every window before the explosion. The propane tank outside did not explode but was on its side shooting flames when firemen arrived on the scene.
In a television interview with Channel 12-WISN, Howes mother, Yvonne Seichter, suggested Craig Lambert could be at fault because he was suicidal and would want to take the house away from Howe something Lambert rejected.
Its hard to believe he would do this to himselflet alone her and the whole house, despite the rumors shes spreading about him being suicidal, Kayla Lambert said. I know he didnt do this.
Kayla Lambert said they were going to get married.
The Journal Times could not reach Seichter for comment.
The family owned two dogs, according to Lambert. One died in the fire, but another, a husky-Rottweiler mix named Mufasa, has not been found.
We are hoping the dog that was always chained up outside somehow got loose and ran away or someone grabbed him for safety, Lambert said. He was always outside because he couldnt stand to be in the house.
Family members dedicated two GoFundMe pages to support potential funeral costs for the victims. Lambert created one for her father, while Shelly Bink, who Lambert says is her stepsisters boyfriends mother, made one for Kimberly and Nicholas.
Billiards league director reflects
Craig Lambert and Kimberly Howe are or were accomplished pool players, according to the director of a billiards league they participated in from 2014 to 2015.
Chris Rossing, who owns and operates the Southeastern Wisconsin chapter of the American Poolplayers Association, said, They were just really nice, caring people, she said. Down to earth, no phony baloney, good people.
Wisconsins highest court will review a decision to deny an appeal by a Minnesota man serving consecutive life terms for the 2012 murders of a father and son at their downtown La Crosse camera store.
Jeffrey Lepsch, now 43, appealed the District 4 Court of Appeals decision in November to uphold his convictions for the killings of Paul Petras, 56, and his 19-year-old son, A.J., on Sept. 15 at the now-shuttered Mays Photo on Main Street.
The state Supreme Court will hear arguments from attorneys in late summer, said Lepschs attorney, Steven Zaleski. It will either affirm the Court of Appeals decision or grant Lepsch a new trial.
Its rare for the Supreme Court to accept cases, Zaleski said. But the case is rich with issues and problems.
Lepsch argued on appeal that nine of the 12 jurors either believed he was guilty before they heard the case or found law enforcement more credible than other witnesses. He also argued that he wasnt present when the clerk of court read an oath to jurors, a violation of his right to an impartial jury and public trial.
Attorneys selected the jury in less than six hours, a process that was fast and short, especially considering the gravity of the charges and the extent of the pre-trial publicity, Zaleski argued in documents to the Supreme Court.
Perhaps both a reason for and a consequence of such an abbreviated process is that the trial court did not provide for a comprehensive examination of each prospective juror, especially those who presented beliefs or opinions which made them ripe for dismissal, he stated.
Zaleski argues to the Supreme Court that the jurors did not meet the standard of impartiality required by the U.S. Constitution.
It is a problem if a juror may arguably meet the Wisconsin standard for impartiality but not the federal standard, he stated.
The jury, after a six-day trial in La Crosse County Circuit Court in July 2013, found that Lepsch shot Paul and A.J. Petras, then emptied display cases of 27 pieces of camera equipment worth $17,000 and walked from the store with four bags to his minivan at Fourth and Main streets.
Police found A.J. Petras body near the stores safe and his fathers in the bathroom hours later when Sherri Petras went to check on her husband and son.
Surveillance video, cellphone and vehicle records led investigators to Lepsch, a broke, unemployed hobby photographer living in Dakota, Minn., at the time of the killings.
Investigators traced every piece of equipment stolen from Mays to Lepsch in his home, his van or sold online to support his family of five.
He is serving consecutive life terms without the possibility of release plus 30 years, the maximum possible.
Prosecutors contend Lepsch failed to prove jurors were biased, pointing out they said they would base their verdict on evidence presented at trial. His rights were not violated when the jury was sworn outside his presence because the administration of the oath is not part of jury selection under state statute, prosecutors wrote.
The appellate court rejected Lepschs argument that the jury sworn outside his presence violated his rights and ruled none of the jurors was biased, finding they told the court they would judge the credibility of all witnesses equally, would decide their verdict on the evidence and understood the presumption of innocence.
PRAIRIE DU SAC Vintners in southern Wisconsin are reeling from a weekend cold snap that ruined huge swaths of their grapes.
Temperatures dipped below freezing in much of those areas late Saturday and early Sunday, wiping out grape shoots that had emerged early due to a warm spring. The cold turned the water in the shoots cells to ice, killing the tissue, said Amaya Atucha, a UW-Madison assistant horticulture professor.
Steve Johnson, head of the Wisconsin Grape Growers Association, said Tuesday that vineyards west of Madison suffered the worst. An informal survey of growers shows at least 30 vineyards in that area lost more than 50 percent of their crops, he said.
Wollersheim Winery in Prairie du Sac lost 75 percent of its red grapes and 25 percent of its white, said co-owner Julie Coquard. Her husband, vintner Philippe Coquard, said he has never seen such a bad frost so late in the year in his 32 years of making wine.
Starting around 2 a.m. Sunday, Philippe Coquard and vineyard manager Bruce Reeve dragged a frost dragon propane-fueled heater across the winerys 30 acres of vineyards, to no avail.
The year was looking so good, Julie Coquard said. Thats whats so frustrating. Its so sad to see the grapevines get gray and black at the ends.
The mercury dipped as low as 27 degrees Sunday, Julie Coquard said, and the frost lasted more than four hours a duration to be expected in April, but not mid-May.
This was especially bad, she said. Theres not a lot we can do. We cant stop the weather.
At Botham Vineyards & Winery near Barneveld, temperatures dipped to 30 degrees over the weekend, co-owner Peter Botham said. About 75 percent of his vines had begun forming fruit, and Botham estimated that half of those grapes were lost, mostly in low-lying areas.
Botham said he used to tear his hair out over frost losses but has come to accept hard frosts as part of growing grapes in the state.
Johnson said some wineries may yet see secondary grape buds on their vines, though its unclear how much fruit they might bear as the plants recover from the freeze, he said. Generally, though, each lost acre of grapes amounts to a loss of about $7,000 to $8,000 and 3,000 bottles of wine, he said.
The freeze shouldnt lead to any immediate, large-scale wine shortages for consumers. The freeze-out was extremely localized, UW-Madisons Atucha noted.
At Wollersheim, the impact mostly would be to the vineyards estate reds such as the popular Domaine du Sac, Julie Coquard said. Due to the loss of white grapes, a decision may have to be made about whether production is possible for Wollersheims ice wine or brandy, each of which are made from those grapes.
We have other Wisconsin growers, but quite a few of those were hit by frost, too, she said. Certain pockets of the state were colder than others.
She said the winery also purchases grapes from out-of-state vineyards whose crops have not been adversely affected.
Growers also could hope the secondary buds produce fruit, but those shoots likely wont flower for another month, pushing harvest back into October. That increases the chances cold temperatures could prevent the grapes from ripening or kill them outright, however, forcing growers to decide whether to invest the time and money in raising that crop, Atucha said.
Botham noted that his most recent hard frost was in 2011, a year that ended up producing one of his best harvests.
If you can recover and not have any more problems, it can be a positive, he said.
Department of Corrections officials and law enforcement are investigating the death of an inmate earlier this month at a state prison in Oshkosh, DOC officials confirmed Tuesday.
Daniel Tanner, 31, died on May 5 while serving a sentence at the Oshkosh Correctional Institution, DOC spokesman Tristan Cook confirmed on Tuesday.
Cook said in an email DOC contacted the Oshkosh Police Department, which launched an investigation into Tanner's death. Police department officials declined to comment.
Cook said DOC also is conducting an internal investigation into Tanner's death, but declined to answer questions about how and when Tanner's body was found or if Tanner had a history of illness.
State records show Tanner was convicted in 2005 of selling cocaine and possessing THC.
With help from federal authorities, Madison police are making headway on a string of shootings that have claimed the lives of three people in the last month.
At a press conference Wednesday, Mayor Paul Soglin and Police Chief Mike Koval outlined steps police, government officials and community activists are taking to stem the problem of gun violence, including collaborating with federal agencies, such as the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshals Service.
If folks ... continue to engage in illegal activity, I think its very clear that they have got really to contend with two forces. One force is law enforcement, and the other is the strength of Madison people whove said, Weve had enough, Soglin said.
Koval said 11 people have been arrested in connection with three recent homicides including some affiliates of suspects and material witnesses and other recent non-fatal shootings.
He said forensic evidence in the homicides is being fast-tracked at the state crime lab, and the ATF is helping out with ballistic analysis.
Police have said the three fatal shootings in the past month are related and involve two factions at odds with each other. The first happened early April 19 when Martez Moore, 30, was shot outside a Far West Side tavern.
Koval said Darius M. Haynes, 38, was summarily executed, when someone shot him as he sat in a car at a gas station on Verona Road on May 10.
The following day, Elijah Washington III, 28, was fatally shot at a gas station in the town of Madison.
Kortney Moore, 28, the brother of the victim of the first homicide and who police say shot Washington, turned himself in to authorities late Sunday.
Koval said Wednesday that a federal agency is also working to enhance security footage from the BP station at 4501 Verona Road where Haynes was shot. He said there are witnesses in that shooting who have provided substantial information and that he hopes it encourages others to step forward.
I think it only worthy to advise those who think the cops havent figured this out, we do have witnesses who have no allegiances to any of these parties, Koval said about the Haynes homicide.
The sequence of events will leave you chilled, to see it so mechanically contrived, to see a man assassinated, Koval added.
Community and government leaders have introduced proposals in the past week to prevent violence and provide more opportunities, particularly for young people of color. Proposals include increasing summer employment opportunities, strengthening mentor programs and creating a citizen-led group to work with police on violence prevention.
On Wednesday, Soglin said he supported the proposals, especially those aimed at job creation and training. He said in the next couple of weeks the city will be engaging in activities to educate people about gun violence and the dangers of improperly stored firearms.
With work beginning soon on the next years budget, Soglin said its important to have a robust conversation about which proposals could get funded.
I want to point out, however, that proposals that deal with youth, youth engagement, youth employment, to which we are fully committed, are not going to have much of an effect on 20- and 30-year-olds, he said.
To reach this age group, Soglin said, more affordable housing, considering past criminals for employment and finding ways to remediate citations and fines are steps that can be taken to reduce violence and create stability for adults at risk of committing crimes.
You have a choice. You can either be a part of the community and become engaged in doing something constructive, or you better find a way out of here, he said.
Next week, Soglin said he will be attending a gun violence prevention seminar in Washington, D.C., where he will make the point that what has been happening in Madison is part of a larger, regional picture.
In a tri-state area of Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin, we need some sort of comprehensive plan to deal with gun violence that crosses, not just municipal, but crosses state lines, Soglin said.
Koval said the first of the three recent homicides mainly involved people from the Madison area, but police believe subsequent violence could involve people from outside of the city.
The spin-off on everything thereafter, there certainly is an undeniable nexus that were seeing more and more to a Chicago connection, Koval said. Its become an extended beef.
He said the very viable theory that people from the Chicago area are involved makes cooperation with federal authorities more important.State Journal reporter Bill Novak contributed to this report.
Janesville police have arrested an 18-year-old man who allegedly stabbed his step-grandfather early Wednesday morning on the city's West Side.
Gavin Roettger was taken into custody from the stabbing scene at 554 N. Oakhill Avenue, tentatively charged with first-degree intentional homicide, police said.
Police were called at about 5 a.m. and responding officers found David Fancher suffering from three stab wounds to his chest and abdomen.
"A witness said David was stabbed by his step-grandson Gavin," said Lt. Keith Lawver. The weapon allegedly used by Roettger was recovered.
Fancher was taken to Mercy Hospital for treatment.
"Detectives interviewed Roettger at the police department and he confessed to the crime," Lawver said.
Roettger is in custody at the Rock County Jail.
UW-Madison has suspended the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and ordered its members to take part in diversity training after an investigation found students in the chapter repeatedly used racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic slurs, then ostracized a black member who told them to stop, officials said Tuesday.
The fraternity will not be allowed to hold a fall recruitment or take part in events with the rest of the UW-Madison Greek community through Nov. 1 as a result of the decision by the campus Committee on Student Organizations.
An unnamed former member of the fraternity came forward in March with allegations that his fellow members casually used a racial slur for African-Americans from the fall of 2014 through February of this year, according to documents UW officials provided to the State Journal on Tuesday.
The student, who is black, said he heard members use the slur while singing along with music, while introducing the student to others and, in one case from March 2015, while running down State Street, according to a report written by Will Chapman, UW-Madisons assistant director of student conduct. Members used homophobic and anti-Semitic language as well, the student said.
He also accused another fraternity member of assaulting him in a racially motivated attack.
UW officials said the fraternity took some action in response to specific incidents. The member in the State Street incident was thrown out of the fraternity, and the member accused in the assault was disciplined before he graduated from the university.
But those actions were insufficient to improve the overall environment, a UW-Madison spokesman said.
Members continued to use slurs, while the student who complained about the language said he felt isolated from the fraternity as members criticized him for posting about the incidents on social media.
After a hearing in April, committee members found the fraternity, which was already on probation for an unrelated event involving underage drinking, violated student organization rules prohibiting racial discrimination.
The suspension is the latest controversy for Sigma Alpha Epsilon nationally.
Its chapter at the University of Oklahoma was disbanded after a video surfaced last year showing members singing a racist chant that referenced lynchings and said blacks would never be a part of the fraternity.
I am deeply disappointed in the (UW-Madison) chapters failure to address persistent reports of discriminatory behavior, as well as the national bodys inability to address discrimination within its chapters, Chancellor Rebecca Blank wrote in a letter Tuesday to the Illinois-based fraternitys executive director, Blaine Ayers.
Referring to the incident in Oklahoma, Blank wrote, Clearly incidents such as these persist within SAE.
Chapmans report refers to interviews with fraternity members, whose names have been redacted, in which the students acknowledge using slurs, but said the language was not used in an intentionally derogatory way, but as slang that many in the fraternity are familiar with.
When the student told fellow members to stop using the slur for African-Americans, UW officials said, they responded that they could use the word because of how progressive they were.
No one answered the door at the fraternitys house, at 627 N. Lake St., Tuesday afternoon. A national spokesman did not respond to messages seeking a comment on the suspension.
The investigation into Sigma Alpha Epsilon unfolded as minority students at UW-Madison protested racist incidents that rocked the campus this spring and pushed administrators for changes to improve their experiences at the predominantly white institution.
The fraternitys members will be required to receive training on diversity, inclusion and mental health before their chapter will be reinstated, campus officials said.
Blank also requested that Ayers and the chapters president meet with her before the suspension is lifted to explain how the fraternity will prevent a recurrence of these issues and bring about lasting change.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon can appeal the decision to the UW-Madison Division of Student Life.
The university terminated the fraternity chapter in 2006 after what officials said was a dangerous Halloween party the year before; it later returned after a four-year ban.
Madison gained its first African sister city Tuesday.
City Council members unanimously approved the relationship with Kanifing, Gambia.
Ald. Samba Baldeh, 17th District, moved from Gambia to the United States 16 years ago. He introduced visiting delegates from the West African country and said a relationship between the two cities would benefit each culturally.
The representatives from Gambia gifted council members with a painting and a carved, wooden crocodile, while council President Mike Verveer, 4th District, gave the visitors a book about Madisons history.
A resolution urging U.S. senators to take up a hearing on U.S. Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland also was approved. At the May 3 council meeting, the same resolution failed to pass by one vote, but Ald. Larry Palm, 12th District, asked for it to be reconsidered.
The resolution passed almost unanimously Tuesday, with Ald. Amanda Hall, 3rd District, the lone no vote.
Hall said she does not believe a non-partisan city council is an appropriate place to take such action. She said she also thought the resolution represented political grandstanding, and the council should focus on more substantive approaches to change.
Mayor Paul Soglin gave a speech to council members prior to the vote, expressing his frustration with the U.S. Senate for not yet considering Garland, who was nominated by President Barack Obama in March to fill the vacancy resulting from the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
Soglin said he received a call from a representative of Obama asking for the City Council to take up the matter.
Also during the meeting, council members approved extending a pilot program, which expired at the end of April, to allow on-leash dogs in 13 additional Madison parks. The program will last until the end of the year, with the possibility of more parks being added this summer.
Council members also approved city staff and the Local Food Committee to explore the idea of constructing a building for the Madison Public Market project on the lot containing the Washington Plaza Shopping Center.
The shopping center at the corner of First Street and Washington Avenue is already slated for redevelopment. City staff can now see if constructing a building on that lot would meet their needs, versus putting the market in a renovated Fleet Services Building at 200 N. First St.
Days after a report recommended closing the oldest part of Dane County Jail with due haste, a committee directed consultants to study options to follow through with their advice.
The countys Public Protection and Judiciary Committee on Tuesday unanimously authorized consultants Mead and Hunt, Potter Lawson, and Pulitzer/Bogard and Associates to begin formulating two plans that would allow the county to close the part of the jail on the City-County Buildings sixth and seventh floors.
The consultants report released Friday estimated it would cost more than $47 million to bring that part of the jail up to current building code, safety standards and supervision requirements, with at least $16.5 million of those costs recurring annually. That figure does not include removal of lead and asbestos possibly present in that portion of the jail, which was opened in 1954.
Sheriff Dave Mahoney, who has spent years asking county officials to address jail safety issues, finally expressed satisfaction with the direction of jail planning.
That is a huge step forward because it will allow us not only to address the life and safety issues, but it will allow us to address the solitary confinement demands that have been placed on us because of lack of adequate and proper housing, he said.
The Dane County Jail is housed across three buildings: the Downtown Public Safety Building and City-County Building, which are connected by a tunnel under South Carroll Street, and the work-release Ferris Center on the citys South Side.
The consultants report dealt only with the City-County Building portion and found that conditions there put the county at significant risk for liability in the event of suicides, inmate sexual assaults and fire.
In order to continue using the facilities in the City-County Building, the report called for replacement of the jail cell bar fronts, which can serve as anchors for suicide attempts. It also found the current layout and staffing offer inmates only intermittent and indirect supervision, making it impossible for the facility to meet federal Prison Rape Elimination Act recommendations.
Of the 338 cells in the City-County Building, the report found that 117 do not meet the current state Department of Corrections standard of 35 square feet of unencumbered floor space. Standards also require inmates to be within a maximum distance from an escape exit in the case of an emergency.
The report found 48 of the jails cells currently exceed that maximum distance.
The report determined many of the buildings systems are outdated and in need of continuous repair due to age. It noted repairs are often difficult because many of the parts, such as the original door hardware, are hard to find or require manufacturing because they are obsolete.
Instead of pursuing costly renovations, the committee directed consultants to create two plans to remodel the Public Safety Building to accommodate the maximum security and special needs uses that have existed in the City-County Building.
In 2014, Mahoney extensively lobbied County Board members to consider building a new jail, but with a price tag estimated as high as $150 million, his plea found little political will and was not included in County Executive Joe Parisis 2015 capital budget.
That year, a Mead and Hunt report estimated doubling the height of the four-story Public Safety Building and expanding into a parking lot to the south would cost between $122 million and $135 million.
On Tuesday, Mahoney said he was unsure whether a renovated and expanded Public Safety Building would prove any cheaper than a new jail at a greenfield site away from Downtown.
We really dont know the exact numbers that will come back. Thats why its important to explore these numbers, he said.
The looming cost of whatever recommendation the consultants might make continued to draw ire from jail reform advocates.
During a public hearing, dozens of people criticized investing money in an updated jail and said the money would be better spent addressing the root causes of racial disparities and crime.
You have a choice right now and over the next few months to choose, are you going to put $160 million in reinventing a cage? Or are you going to put $160 million in fundamentally addressing racial disparities that will significantly reduce the jail population, making much of these proposed renovation unnecessary? said M Adams, of local community activism group Freedom Inc.
Mahoney said he was unsure of a timeline for the consultants to return their plans.
Wisconsin election laws on trial in federal court this week likely violate the federal Voting Rights Act by disproportionately affecting voting by minority, young and low-income voters, a report by a UW-Madison professor concludes.
Political science professor Barry Burden filed the report on behalf of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. His testimony took up much of the second day of the nine-day trial at Wisconsins U.S. Western District courthouse Tuesday.
Burdens report concludes that recent election-law changes in Wisconsin depart from the states long history of facilitating voter participation, calling them an abrupt and unjustified interruption of the states success in administering elections.
The lawsuit, filed by One Wisconsin Institute, Citizen Action of Wisconsin and others, challenges a smorgasbord of election changes by Gov. Scott Walker and GOP lawmakers since 2011, starting with voter ID. It also questions the process the Department of Transportation uses to provide IDs to those who lack both an ID and the documentation to obtain a free one from the state.
The suit also challenges new restrictions on early and absentee voting, additional requirements for voter registration, and the elimination of straight-ticket voting and corroboration, the process by which a voter can vouch for anothers residency when they register.
The state Attorney Generals office contends the changes do not discriminate and make modest demands for the purpose of preventing voter fraud.
Burdens report assesses factors laid out by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to determine if local voting laws violate the Voting Rights Act, the federal law that prohibits discrimination in voting. It finds the laws at issue in the court case, including voter ID, are not justified because voter fraud is rare in Wisconsin especially voter impersonation fraud, the primary type of fraud that voter ID can prevent.
That type of fraud generally is viewed as the least common type of voter fraud, Burden testified in court Tuesday. Theres just a lot at risk, and its not guaranteed to be successful, Burden said.
Fifty-seven allegations of voter fraud in Wisconsin were reported between 2000 and 2013, with no convictions for voter impersonation fraud, according to a study Burden cited by a group based at Arizona State University.
People of color are disproportionately affected by voter ID because theyre less likely to drive and thus less likely to have a drivers license, Burdens study found.
A Wisconsin woman who traveled to Honduras has the first confirmed case of Zika virus in the state, health officials said Wednesday.
Health officials didnt release information about the womans age, residence or condition of her illness.
There have been no cases of Zika acquired in the continental United States, and none are expected in Wisconsin this year. The mosquitoes that can carry the virus generally arent thought to travel this far north, though researchers plan to set up traps in southern counties to check.
Wisconsin is one of the last states to have a confirmed case of Zika virus infection detected in a resident, but we have been actively preparing for the likelihood that this day would come, Karen McKeown, state health officer, said in a statement.
More than 300 people from Wisconsin who have traveled to countries with known Zika virus transmission have been tested, McKeown said.
Because Zika virus poses the greatest risk to pregnant women and their unborn babies, the state Department of Health Services has targeted outreach to health care providers caring for pregnant women. An infected mother may pass the Zika virus to a baby during pregnancy.
Zika virus may cause microcephaly in the infant, which is a medical condition in which the size of the head is smaller than normal because the brain has not developed properly.
A federal judge has dismissed claims from two sisters from Mount Horeb that a cervical cancer vaccine caused their ovaries to fail.
But the ruling, from a court in Washington, D.C., that evaluates claims of harm from vaccines, leaves open the question of whether premature ovarian failure can be claimed as an injury from Gardasil, a vaccine against human papillomavirus, or HPV.
The cases involving Madelyne Meylor, 23, and Olivia Meylor, 22, were the first in the country making the claim to be heard, in 2013, in what is known as vaccine court.
The judge said Monday that some of the womens symptoms appeared to begin before they were immunized in their early teens, said Mark Krueger, the Meylors attorney. But the judge didnt rule on whether ovarian failure is a legitimate injury from the vaccine, said Krueger, who plans to appeal the dismissals.
We were expecting a ruling on causation, said Krueger, of Middleton. But theres still no case that has decided whether premature ovarian failure is a possible adverse reaction to the HPV vaccine.
Madelyne, who graduated last week from UW-Madison, and Olivia, who graduated this month from UW-Platteville, are disappointed, said their mother, Joen Meylor.
She said her daughters, who are living at home in Mount Horeb as they interview for jobs, werent available for comment Wednesday.
Theyre carrying on. Theyre strong women, Joen Meylor said. However, were extremely frustrated ... Weve been fighting for six years, and were not going to give up.
Health officials recommend three doses of the vaccine against HPV, a sexually transmitted virus, for girls and boys ages 11 and 12 to protect against cervical cancer, throat cancer, genital warts and other conditions.
Gardasil was approved in 2006, Cervarix was approved in 2009, and another version of Gardasil was approved in 2014.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the vaccines are safe.
Of about 80 million doses given between 2006 and 2015, roughly 33,000 adverse reactions were reported nationally. About 93 percent of the reactions including the most common ones, fainting, dizziness and nausea were not serious, the CDC said.
The serious reactions included seizures, strokes and paralysis, but such reactions were no more common than in similar people who didnt get the vaccine, the CDC said.
The CDC says there is no evidence the vaccine can cause premature ovarian failure.
The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, connected to the vaccine court, has awarded payments for HPV vaccine injuries in 94 cases and dismissed 92 cases, with 130 pending.
A 2013 report from the advocacy group Judicial Watch said 49 of the claims had resulted in $5.9 million in payments. Updated payment information was not available Wednesday.
Madelyne Meylor, who received the vaccine when she was 14 and 15, had irregular periods beforehand. Afterward, they became more irregular and stopped, causing her to undergo premature menopause, Krueger said.
Olivia Meylor was immunized before having her first period at 15. She had one more period but was diagnosed with premature ovarian failure at 16, according to a brief filed in her case.
Tests for genetic causes of the condition were negative for both women. Though they have little or no chance of getting pregnant, they could carry a baby conceived through infertility treatments.
The ruling by Lisa Hamilton-Fieldman, a special master with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, wont be publicly available for a few weeks, as is customary for the special court.
Krueger said the judge said Madelynes irregular periods and reports that Olivia experienced stress and difficulty sleeping before their vaccinations suggested their conditions began beforehand.
Krueger said he argued that Madelynes periods didnt become unusually irregular until after the immunizations, when she developed hot flashes and other signs of menopause. He said Olivias stress and sleeping troubles werent unusual for a girl of 13.
Krueger has filed about 20 cases alleging premature ovarian failure from Gardasil. Nine, including the two involving the Meylors, have been dismissed. The others could lead to a broader ruling about ovarian failure, he said.
WASHINGTON Lets examine what Bernie Sanders supporters did in his name this past weekend.
As the Nevada Democratic convention voted to award a majority of delegates to Hillary Clinton an accurate reflection of her victory in the states February caucuses Sanders backers charged the stage, threw chairs and shouted vulgar epithets at speakers. Security agents had to protect the dais and ultimately clear the room.
Sanders supporters publicized the cellphone number of the party chairwoman, Roberta Lange, resulting in thousands of abusive text messages and threats:
Praying to God someone shoots you in the FACE and blows your democracy-stealing head off!
Hey b----. ... We know where you live. Where you work. Where you eat. Where your kids go to school/grandkids... Prepare for hell.
Veteran Nevada reporter Jon Ralston transcribed some of the choice voicemail messages for the chairwoman, some with vulgar labels for women and their anatomy:
I think people like you should be hung in a public execution. ... You are a sick, twisted piece of s--- and I hope you burn for this!
You f---ing stupid b----! What the hell are you doing? Youre a f---ing corrupt b----!
The day after the convention, Sanders supporters vandalized party headquarters with messages saying, among other things, you are scum.
And the candidates response to the violent and misogynistic behavior of his backers? Mostly defiance. Asked by reporters Tuesday about the convention chaos in which operatives from his national campaign participated Sanders walked away in the middle of the question.
Finally, mid-afternoon Tuesday, Sanders released a statement saying, I condemn any and all forms of violence, including the personal harassment of individuals. But he blamed the Nevada party for preventing a fair and transparent process, and he threatened Democrats: If the Democratic Party is to be successful in November, it is imperative that all state parties treat our campaign supporters with fairness and the respect that they have earned.
It is no longer accurate to say Sanders is campaigning against Clinton, who has essentially locked up the nomination. The Vermont socialist is now running against the Democratic Party. And thats excellent news for one Donald J. Trump.
The Sanders campaign spent its time either ignoring or profiting from the chaos it did much to create, the Nevada Democratic Party wrote in a formal complaint to the Democratic National Committee. Part of the approach by the Sanders campaign was to employ these easily incensed delegates as shock troops.
The Nevada Democrats, warning of similar disruptions at the national convention in July, accused the Sanders campaign of inciting disruption and, yes, violence.
A few weeks ago, I wrote that I wasnt concerned about Sanders remaining in the race until the very end, because he doesnt wish to see a President Trump and will ultimately throw his full support to Clinton. Sanders has, indeed, lightened up on Clinton and is instead trying to shape the Democrats platform and direction.
But his attacks on the party have released something just as damaging to the causes he professes to represent. Coupled with his refusal to raise money for the party, his increasingly harsh rhetoric could hurt Democrats up and down the ballot in November and beyond.
We are taking on virtually the entire Democratic establishment, Sanders proclaims.
The Democratic Party has to reach a fundamental conclusion: Are we on the side of working people or big-money interests? he asks.
The Democratic Party up to now has not been clear about which side they are on on the major issues facing this country, he announces.
This was Ralph Naders argument in 2000: There isnt much difference between the two parties. It produced President George W. Bush. Sanders said at the start of his campaign he wouldnt do what Nader did, because there is a difference between the parties.
Yet now his supporters, the Nevada Democratic Party says, are behind physical threats and intimidation, scuffles, screams from bullhorns, and profane insults and numerous medical emergencies among delegates pressed up against the dais.
This, even though they were wrong on the merits. Ralston writes that the Sanders folks disregarded rules, then when shown the truth, attacked organizers and party officials as tools of a conspiracy to defraud the senator of what was never rightfully his in the first place.
And this, despite only two additional delegates being at stake, as The Washington Posts Philip Bump points out not enough to make a difference in the race. No grievance justifies what happened in Nevada. Yet Sanders, recklessly, is fueling the fire.
You probably recall the case where a woman sued McDonalds because the coffee she was served was too hot. There was an obvious logic to that lawsuit, because we all understand that coffee served too hot can burn your lips and mouth.
When we read recently that a woman was suing Starbucks because her cold coffee drink had too much ice in it, we wondered for a moment if wed inadvertently clicked to the website of The Onion, the satirical newspaper with fictional stories.
But no, it was MSNBC.com, which reported Monday that an Illinois woman, Stacy Pincus, has filed suit in Northern Illinois Federal Court against Starbucks for $5 million over the amount of ice used in its drinks.
Pincus suit says because of the amount of ice Starbucks uses in its iced beverages, customers often end up with half of the amount of drink that is listed on Starbucks menus in fluid ounces. The suit alleges that Starbucks is purposefully tricking customers into paying for more product than what they are provided with.
The word beverage is defined as a drinkable liquid. Ice is not a beverage by definition. Accordingly, Starbucks actually gives the customer much less beverage in the cold drinks they order and pay for, the lawsuit says.
This has all the indicators of a lawsuit intended to do nothing more than get money out of a multibillion-dollar corporation, either through a jurys verdict or an out-of-court settlement.
Setting aside our cynical interpretation of the actions of Pincus and her legal representatives, Hart McLaughlin & Eldridge LLC of Chicago, lets presume for a moment that Pincus outrage is legitimate. Did she not, even for a moment, consider returning the iced coffee drink and requesting one with less ice in its place?
If she didnt, was this her first-ever visit to Starbucks?
Because if youve ever stood in line behind someone ordering, as an anonymous barista quoted by MatadorNetwork.com put it, a triple grande half-caf two-pump vanilla two-pump hazelnut half-soy half-nonfat 1.5 Splenda latte, you know full well that Starbucks, and the other chain restaurants with $4 coffee drinks on the menu, will make every drink to every customers exacting specifications. ...
Starbucks spokeswoman Jaime Riley told NBC News that Pincus claims are without merit.
Our customers understand and expect that ice is an essential component of any iced beverage, Riley said. If a customer is not satisfied with their beverage preparation, we will gladly remake it.
Starbucks isnt unique in the business world. If you are dissatisfied with your purchase, the overwhelming majority of businesses, large or small, will replace the item with something more to your liking, or otherwise work with you to achieve customer satisfaction. Which is why we strongly suspect Pincus isnt quite as outraged about the ice in her drink as her lawsuit would suggest.
If this is found to be a frivolous lawsuit, as we suspect, Pincus should be ordered to pay all legal costs.
The decision to sue a business should be a last resort, to be set aside in favor of first seeking satisfaction as a customer.
Lets try harder to be business owners and customers, not defendants and plaintiffs.
Senate Republicans were giddy about tightening voting rules in Wisconsin during a closed-door meeting in 2011, a former GOP staffer testified in federal court this week.
Republican Sens. Mary Lazich of New Berlin and Glenn Grothman (now a congressman from Campbellsport) stressed to their partisan colleagues that a photo ID requirement could limit voting in the Democratic stronghold of Milwaukee and on college campuses, giving Republicans a competitive advantage.
What Im concerned about here is winning, Grothman said back then, according to former Senate staffer Todd Allbaugh, who testified at the start of a trial Monday over a lawsuit contending voter ID and other restrictions illegally discriminate against students and minorities.
Other Republican senators in the room five years ago dispute Allbaughs recollections, with their attorney dismissing his testimony as hearsay. U.S. District Judge James Peterson is sorting it all out.
But this much is clear: Large groups of lawmakers shouldnt be huddling in secret to discuss anything related to major public policy proposals. No other government decision-making body in Wisconsin not school boards, city councils, county boards or even obscure subcommittees is allowed such a blanket exemption from Wisconsins open meetings law.
Yet the Legislature grants itself this glaring loophole: Republicans and Democrats in each legislative house can routinely meet behind closed doors as partisan groups, often with a majority of senators or representatives present. No members of the opposite political party, news reporters or the public are allowed to sit and listen.
This secrecy lets the majority party now the Republicans, previously the Democrats debate and count votes on what they plan to do before moving to the floor of the Senate or Assembly to make it official with a united front. The partisan privacy makes it easier for legislative leaders to pressure members to follow the party line and cut deals. Its part of the reason fierce partisanship is so rampant on both sides of the aisle.
Secret meetings at the state Capitol also make it harder for citizens to follow what their elected leaders are doing and hold them accountable for decisions.
Past efforts to apply the same open meetings standards to lawmakers that other public officials must follow have failed, despite bipartisan support. Only public pressure will force more openness. And Senate Republicans just provided another prime example of why legislative party caucuses should always be open. Its in these meetings where the big decisions about spending money and adopting policy are made.
Two Madison aldermen just ran afoul of the states open meetings law by discussing changes to city committees without posting the required public notice. The two sit on a three-member subcommittee, so they formed a quorum.
If thats a violation and it should be, to ensure the public knows what its elected officials are up to then surely a majority of the Wisconsin Senate huddled in a back room of the state Capitol demands the light of day.
SPRINGFIELD - Collective bargaining is the issue thousands of AFSCME workers will be pressing with House and Senate members today - pushing for them to support an override of the Governor's veto to stymie forced arbitration and put Illinois taxpayers into an approximate $3 billion tighter bind to pay for the four percent pay hike AFSCME workers are demanding.
Senator Melissa Bush tweeted a photo of the streets crowded with AFSCME workers in front of the Capitol Wednesday:
Another angle:
Wednesday night, the committee is expected via conference call to confirm the platform they will be recommending to party delegates this weekend IL GOP State Convention in Peoria. The new platform is expected to have the following section removed:
Illinois Review just received a copy of the proposed wording for the family section of the platform. See below:
CHICAGO - Eleven of the 18 members of the Illinois Republican Party platform committee reportedly are agreed that the one-man, one-woman marriage plank should be removed from the 2016 platform.
Committee members that support removing the section say the IL GOP's position preferring one-man/one-woman marriage over same sex marriage is viewed negatively by younger voters that are more libertarian on the issue.
Others argue that since the Supreme Court ruled on same sex marriage, states are not allowed to hold positions differing from the decision, thus the position is irrelevant. Still others insist the Republican Party boasts a "big tent" that should welcome anyone with any position on the sanctity of marriage.
Former IL GOP state chairman Pat Brady is on this year's IL GOP platform committee representing the 6th CD. Brady lobbied Republican lawmakers on behalf of the ACLU to legalize same sex marriage in Illinois.
In 2013, the Bloomington Pantagraph reported Brady told the local Rotary Club that he thought the Republican Party needed to change and be open and inclusive rather than focus on the issues that divide and not unite. Brady added, If we dont (change), well lose.
Those supporting the plank removal besides Pat Brady (6th CD) reportedly include platform members from the Chicago area and surrounding congressional districts, and the most vocal advocates include U.S. Senator Mark Kirk staffer Cindy Burke (5th CD) and Schaumburg Township GOP Committeeman Ryan Higgins (8th CD).
Pointing to the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to confirm same sex marriage no more takes the issue off the discussion table than did the 1973 Roe vs Wade decision take abortion out of debate, one member said.
No IL GOP Platform Committee member would go on record with Illinois Review, but encouraged concerned Republicans to voice their opinions on the IL GOP website before Wednesday night's conference call.
Platform Committee suggestion page HERE.
On the other hand, a committee member said, it looks like the IL GOP's pro-life plank will remain intact, although there is confusion over whether the platform's call for the overturn of Roe vs Wade would be in the platform's final version.
Contact information on Platform Committee HERE: Download Platform Committee
UPDATE x1: The proposed wording for the 2016 platform
Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India (HMSI) on Wednesday signed an MoU with the bank in order to offer retail financing to its customers on all Honda two-wheelers.
By India Today Web Desk: Providing further stimulus to its domestic growth, Honda Motorcycles & Scooters India (HMSI), on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with IndusInd Bank, offering retail finance to its customers at an attractive rate of interest on all Honda two-wheeler models.
Y.S. Guleria, Senior VP, Sales & Marketing, HMSI said, "In two wheeler industry, retail finance penetration is increasing and more & more customers are looking at finance options. Riding on the aggressive network expansion plan and increased product portfolio, we will continue to create options that will enable customers to buy their favourite two wheeler."
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With this MoU, Honda customers cannot only buy a Honda two wheeler at an attractive rate of interest, but can also reap the benefits of up to Rs 7,500 through this scheme with the IndusInd bank.
S. V. Parthasarathy, Senior EVP, Head- Consumer Finance Division, IndusInd Bank said, " This alliance is part of our strategy to remain a leading player in the field of two wheeler financing. This association will bring in about a synergetic benefit for the customers.
IndusInd bank will offer financing facilities to all eligible customers for purchasing Honda two wheelers throughout its network of 1000 braches spread pan India.
Moreover, customers can also avail loan of up to Rs 90 per cent of the product value, with a repayment period of 36 months. Moreover, other benefits include zero processing fee and quick loan approval in just 1 hour.
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By PTI: Hyderabad, May 17 (PTI) Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) today seized 1.99 kg of cocaine, estimated to be worth around Rs 10 crore, from a woman passenger at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) at Shamshabad here.
Based on specific intelligence, officers of the DRI (Hyderabad Zonal Unit) intercepted one woman passenger, who arrived from Dubai by Emirates flight at RGIA this morning, Additional Director General M K Singh said.
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"The officers recovered substance in the form of white lumpy powder, which tested positive for cocaine by the field drug test kit. The drug was deftly concealed inside the covers of five books lined with aluminium foils being carried by her in the hand baggage," he said.
The cocaine, valued at about Rs 10 crore, has been seized under NDPS Act 1985.
"The woman has been detained and her statement is being recorded," Singh said.
Further investigation in the case are underway, he added. PTI VVK NRB DIP SRE
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A week after the BJP lost its shot at power in Uttarakhand, its core group met today at the party's Ashoka Road headquarters to discuss the future course of action in Uttarakhand amid the changed political scenario.
By Brijesh Pandey: With the nine rebel MLAs formally joining BJP after the Uttarakhand fiasco, there is major dissatisfaction in the party's state unit.
A week after the BJP lost its shot at power in Uttarakhand, its core group met today at the party's Ashoka Road headquarters to discuss the future course of action in Uttarakhand amid the changed political scenario. The group comprised the state president, organisation secretary, five MPs and BJP president Amit Shah.
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The meeting began at around 3 and was reportedly progressing smoothly till the issue of inducting the nine rebel MLAs cropped up. At this moment, several MLAs are said to have voiced their disapproval at the proposed inclusion.
Amit Shah interferes
The dominant view was that inducting these MLAs will put a lot of them in an uncomfortable situation. The core group members said that since they had been campaigning against the alleged charges of 'corruption' by the likes of Vijay Bahuguna and Harak Singh Rawat, inducting these very faces would blunt their fight against the Congress.
They also objected to the kind of language used by some rebel MLAs against BJP and RSS pracharaks. The final decision on the rebels however, was left to party president Amit Shah.
According to sources, one neta expressed unhappiness over the way the entire operation had been conducted and suggested that party trusted too much the kind of information being supplied by the rebels.
The party president gave everyone a patient hearing and it was decided that if the rebels have to join the BJP, then this was the best time for it. Interestingly, the reasons for the party's failure in Uttarakhand weren't discussed at all.
Apart from these developments, the core group also decided that the BJP will launch a state-wide agitation against the Congress party.
The plans include sending vans equipped with TVs to various places and show the sting operation against CM Harish Rawat and expose the alleged horse trading. For the time being, it's Congress 1, BJP 0 in Uttarakhand, but the fight is far from over for the BJP, both from within and outside.
ALSO READ: After Uttarakhand crisis, a red-faced BJP isolates rebel MLAs
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By PTI: Jaipur, May 18 (PTI) The Anti Corruption Bureau of Rajasthan today conducted raids at the residence and office of IAS officer Neeraj K Pawan and three other officers on a complaint of "irregularities" in tendering process in NRHM.
"The raid is going on at 15 premises that includes home and offices of the officers," IG ACB Dinesh MN said.
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He said there was a complaint of irregularities in the process of tendering against Pawan when he was Additional Director for National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).
Pawan, an IAS officer of 2003-batch, is currently posted as commissioner in the Agriculture Department.
The others who are under the radar of the ACB are Additional Director, Accounts Officer and store keeper at the NRHM office when Pawan was posted there, he said. PTI SDA TIR DV TIR
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By Javed M. Ansari : In a major twist to the multi-crore AgustaWestland helicopter scam, Gautam Khaitan, one of the main accused in the case could turn approver. India Today has learnt from sources close to Gautam Khaitan that the Delhi-based lawyer is considering turning an approver in the AugustaWestland case. He is one of the main accused in chopper purchase scandal and is alleged to have routed bribe through shell companies abroad.
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CBI has grilled Khaitan
Gautam Khaitan has been grilled by the CBI in the past couple weeks. However, the agency has denied having approached him to turn an approver in the case. Sources in the government have told India Today that the agencies probing the scandal will accept Khaitan's proposal if he decides to formally approach the agencies. However, a formal proposal has still not been made to either ED or the CBI by Khaitan or those close to him.
The Delhi-based lawyer was arrested on September 3 2014 and later released on bail on January 9, 2015. He was a board member of Aeromatrix and is said to have received money from Grido Hascheke and Carlo Gerosa. He has allegedly routed the bribe money in the AgustaWestland deal through shell companies in tax havens abroad and parked it in Mauritius. Khaitan on his part has denied that the money was a part of the kickbacks in the AgustaWestland deal.
Water-tight case
The government is hoping to build a water-tight case against the recipients of the bribe and since Gautam Khaitan stands accused of floating shell companies to route back money into India, his turning approver could help investigating agencies come up with evidence against those who received kickbacks and give an impetus to investigations.
Recently, Defence minister Manohar Parrikar in an explosive interview to India Today said only a minor sum was routed back to India from Tunisia and Mauritius. The major part of the kickbacks were paid overseas. However, sources concede so far there isn't anything concrete to link political entities with the kick backs.
The AgustaWestland issue has dominated the political landscape of the country for the past couple of weeks. The government and the BJP have insinuated that the Congress leadership and those close to it, were involved in swinging the deal in the favor of AgustaWestland, though so far there is little by way of proof to substantiate those allegations. With both the Government and the Congress admitting that bribes were indeed paid to ensure that the deal went to the Italian company. While the identity of the bribe givers is known the identity of the bribe takers is still a matter of investigation.
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According to reports, Akshay Kumar will replace Arshad Warsi in Jolly LLB sequel.
By India Today Web Desk: Akshay Kumar, who is riding high after the success of Airlift, will be part of Jolly LLB 2.
ALSO READ: Akshay Kumar wants to watch first day first show of Rajinikanth's Kabali in Chennai
ALSO READ: Enakku Inoru Per Iruku - Akshay Kumar unveils the album of GV Prakash's next
According to the reports, Akshay Kumar will join Jolly LLB 2 shooting after completing Robot 2 and Namastey England.
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Arshad Warsi, who essayed the role of advocate Jagdish Tyagi, will now be replaced by Akshay Kumar.
Fox Star Studios which originally produced the previous film was looking for a superstar to replace Arshad Warsi.
A source was quoted telling DNA, "Arshad Warsi and Boman Irani were in Jolly LLB and both had received a lot of critical acclaim but the makers were skeptical about repeating Arshad for the sequel, as his last few films didn't do well. They wanted a bigger star and had apparently approached Saif Ali Khan also for the same.
But it finally fell into Akshay's lap. There are also reports that instead of Boman Irani, Paresh Rawal will play the other important character in the sequel", said the source.
If the reports are to be believed the Khiladi of Bollywood has apparently given his nod to play a lawyer in the film.
However, no such confirmation has come from the director or the actor's side.
When the daily got in touch with the director to know the development he refused to divulge any details and said, "Can't comment on it right now."
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Kejriwal made the comments while making public a draft for Delhi's statehood on which he sought people's comments by June 30 so as to take the process forward.
By Indo-Asian News Service: Delhi must get the status of a full state minus the small areas with the NDMC and Delhi Cantonment Board, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday.
Kejriwal made the comments while making public a draft for Delhi's statehood on which he sought people's comments by June 30 so as to take the process forward.
The NDMC
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The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), founded in 1927, presides over the heart of the capital. The Delhi Cantonment Board, born in 1914, looks after the Cantonment area. The rest of Delhi comes under the jurisdiction of the now trifurcated Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
"All other areas except those that come under NDMC (and Cantonment) should be governed by the elected government of Delhi," Kejriwal said, and added that he hoped to achieve a consensus over the issue.
The areas of policing, law and order and land in the NDMC and Cantonment areas can be with the central government, he said.
The NDMC area is home to India's VVIPs including the President and Prime Minister. This is also where the central government is located.
Full statehood for Delhi
Kejriwal underlined that the demand for full statehood for Delhi had been repeatedly raised by the BJP and Congress.
"All political parties, including the BJP and Congress, have aspired and struggled for statehood. In the last 22 years, both promised statehood for Delhi repeatedly."
He said that BJP leaders including Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma, L.K. Advani, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Vijay Goel and Harsh Vardhan had raised the demand at various times.
The Congress too has been agitating for Delhi's statehood, he added.
"There should be no politics on this issue. This has been a long-pending demand. We are fully confident that everyone will get together and take it forward."
Kejriwal, whose Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has 67 of the 70 seats in the Delhi assembly, said the assembly would pass a resolution for Delhi's statehood after building a consensus and send it to the central government.
AAP vs Centre
The central government will need to bring about constitutional amendments to make Delhi a full-fledged state, he said.
Kejriwal and his government have been feuding with the central government since taking power in February 2015 over issues of governance.
Because of the capital's unique status, police and many other agencies do not report to the Delhi but to the central government.
The draft of "State of Delhi Bill 2016" has been uploaded on the Delhi government's website seeking suggestions by June 30.
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Kejriwal said he would write to or meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and Congress leaders on the issue besides calling an all-party meeting.
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By PTI: Geneva, May 18 (PTI) An Asian man has paid a record USD 31.6 million for an extremely rare 15.38 carat pear-shaped pink diamond auctioned at Sothebys, making it the most expensive fancy vivid pink diamond ever to go under the hammer.
The rare gem called the Unique Pink is set in a simple ring and was bought yesterday by an Asian private buyer who bid for it over the telephone and whose identity has not been disclosed.
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"The Unique Pink set a new world record for a fancy vivid pink diamond... Its the highest price ever paid for a fancy vivid pink diamond," David Bennett, worldwide chairman of Sothebys international jewellery division, told reporters.
"It is difficult to imagine a diamond that better illustrates the term vivid pink than this outstanding stone...the color is simply astonishing," Bennett was quoted as saying by the CNN today.
The seller was the New York-based company Cora International.
The most expensive pink diamond ever to sell at auction remains the 24.78 carat Graff Pink, which sold for USD 46.2 million at Sothebys in November 2010.
However, yesterdays Unique Pink sale eclipsed the previous record for a fancy vivid pink diamond, set by the Sweet Josephine auctioned in November last year.
The 16.08 carat diamond had sold for USD 28.5 million to Hong Kong billionaire Joseph Lau, who purchased it for his then 7-year-old daughter.
The Unique Pink was discovered nearly five years ago in a South African mine. The seller was the New York-based company Cora International. PTI MRJ AKJ MRJ
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The Congress' response comes in the wake of actor Rishi Kapoor's tirade against naming major assets of the country after the Gandhi-Nehru family members.
By India Today Web Desk: The verbal duel between actor Rishi Kapoor and Congress over naming of country's assets after Gandhi-Nehru family went up a notch today.
Hundreds of Congress party members protested outside the actor's residence in Bandra, raised slogans against him and abused him over his comment. They also staged sit-ins. The Congress' response comes in the wake of Kapoor's tirade against naming major assets of the country after the Gandhi family members.
Launching a scathing attack on Kapoor, the Congress said the veteran actor is not aware of the family's contribution towards nation-building.
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"Rishi Kapoor fails to realise the contribution of the Gandhi family towards nation building," Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) chief Sanjay Nirupam said. "Some people say anything for the sake of power and due to their parochial attitude," he said, attacking the 63-year-old actor.
"I have sent him a list of airports in the country, named after several important leaders from Maharana Pratap and Shivaji Maharaj to Lal Bhadur Shastri. Saying that everything is named after the Gandhi family is not correct," Nirupam said.
"Maybe he is not aware of the pioneering work done by late Rajiv Gandhi in areas of women empowerment and panchayat raj," Nirupam, a former Member of Parliament, said.
In a series of tweets, Kapoor had slammed the Congress for naming national assets after Gandhi family during their rule. The actor said the names of the prominent places should be changed after those who worked for the welfare of the country.
"Change Gandhi family assets named by Congress. Bandra/Worli Sea Link to Lata Mangeshkar or JRD Tata link road. Baap ka maal samjh rakha tha? (Did they consider it family property?).
"We must name important assets of the country who have contributed to society. Har cheez Gandhi ke naam? I don't agree. Sochna log!," he tweeted.
ALSO READ: Rishi Kapoor attacks Gandhis on public spaces named after them: Baap ka maal samajh rakha tha?
Kapoor had slammed the Congress for naming national assets after Gandhi family during their rule Congress party members protested outside actor Rishi Kapoor's residence in Bandra Congress workers raised slogans against Rishi Kapoor and abused him over his comment Rishi Kapoor fails to realise the contribution of the Gandhi family towards nation building: Sanjay Nirupam Rishi Kapoor is not aware of the pioneering work done by late Rajiv Gandhi: Sanjay Nirupam
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Hyder Syed Noor Irani from Pune allegedly targeted women in Gnanabharathi, Banaswadi, Chandra Layout, Peenya, Vijayanagar and Yeshwanthpura localities. He would snatch chains and leave the city by evening in a train to Pune.
By Mail Today: The Bengaluru police have been successful in arresting a notorious chain-snatcher, who was wanted in connection with 25 cases in the city. The police recovered stolen gold chains worth Rs 27 lakhs from him.
Hoodwinking Irani gang
Hyder Syed Noor Irani (24) from Pune allegedly targeted women in Gnanabharathi, Banaswadi, Chandra Layout, Peenya, Vijayanagar and Yeshwanthpura localities. He would snatch chains and leave the city by evening in a train to Pune. He is supposed to be a member of the Irani gang, which is known for hoodwinking women and stealing their jewellery. A majority of the Irani gang members are already behind the bars.
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Probe begins
Based on credible information, the Bengaluru Central Crime Branch laid an elaborate trap for Hyder. He has been remanded into judicial custody. The police are interrogating him to find out how he disposed the stolen chains. The first quarter of the current financial year saw 3-4 chain-snatching incidents in Bengaluru and the police suspected involvement of Hyder in them.
Also Read:
Chain snatchers have a field day in Bengaluru
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The former chief of army has backed his potentially explosive suggestion saying Maharana Pratap was "truly secular" and has motivated Indians for generations.
By Gaurav C Sawant: Insisting that Maharana Pratap of Mewar, one of the greatest Rajput kings of India has not been given due recognition, General (retd) V K Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs has written a letter to Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu seeking the renaming of Akbar Road to Maharana Pratap Road.
The general has backed his potentially explosive suggestion saying Maharana Pratap was truly secular and motivated Indians for generations.
Honor the 'Secular King'
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"I do find that one historical personality that has motivated generations. Maharana Pratap has not been given his due. You would be aware that he was not only instrumental in stopping the might of the Mughal king Akbar but he was truly secular and a man of the masses,'' the minister said in his letter.
India Today has accessed the letter. In his letter, Singh says Maharana Pratap's army was led by a Pathan and he had Bhils, adivasis and others who formed a part of his army. "The Vaishya (trader) community led by Bhamashah provided him material support in his fight to retain independence from the Mughals,'' he says.
"In view of this, I would request you to honour this great son of India by naming Akbar Road as Maharana Pratap Road or a suitably important road in the Lutyens' Zone in his name. This would provide recognition to his valour and spirit of secularism which makes our country great. I do feel that important personalities like Maharana Pratap and Chhatrapati Shivaji deserve greater recognition than they have been given thus far,'' he adds.
Singh requested Naidu to accept this suggestion to honour the 'great role played by the Rajput King' in fighting the Mughals.
Swamy echoes
Singh's views have been echoed by Dr Subramanian Swamy, BJP's firebrand MP in the Rajya Sabha. "The General is absolutely right. There isn't a single road in New Delhi after Maharana Pratap, one of India's biggest heroes when it comes to love for motherland and sacrifice. He preferred to live in poverty in jungles but did not compromise on his principles and patriotism. But there are roads named after Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. Somewhere down the line the real heroes need to be recognised,'' he told India Today
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By PTI: New Delhi, May 18 (PTI) The burden of mental illness is likely to increase by 23 per cent in India by 2025, a study said.
The study published in Lancet today said according to estimates 38.1 million healthy life years will be lost to mental illness in India by 2025 which is a 23 per cent increase from the data of 2013.
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"In laymans terms it (healthy life years lost) reflects the disability caused by mental, neurological and substance abuse disorders.
"On their own, such disorders cannot lead to direct mortality, however, it leads to premature mortality and a loss of healthy, fully-functioning life. A person living with MNS disorder does not lead a full, healthy life and the measure of that is YLD (Years Lived with Disability) and YLL (Years of Life Lost)," Dr Rahul Shidhaye of Public Health Foundation of India told PTI.
Lead author of the study Vikram Patel who is Director Public Health Foundation of India and Joint Director, Centre for Global Mental Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said while India has progressive policies regarding mental health care, the actual implementation of comprehensive community oriented services is patchy and the treatment gaps, especially in rural areas, are very large.
Shidhaye said the overall population growth in India explains a greater proportion of the increase in mental, neurological, and substance use disorder burden from 1990 to 2013 (44 per cent) than in China (20 per cent).
"...however, as we were unable to incorporate changes in prevalence of mental, neurological, and substance use disorders between 1990 and 2013 in our projections through to 2025, the final projections are ab underestimation," he said. PTI ABS PLB ABS RCJ
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It has been stated in a report that Army will protect defence installation and paramilitary forces will guard the civilian installations which are of importance within 25-km radius from the LoC.
By Brijesh Pandey: An important meet related to Jammu and Kashmir issue took place at Home Minsiter Rajnath Singh's residence and was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, MoS PMO Jitendra Singh, National General Secretary Ram Madhav, NSA Ajit Doval and the Home Secretary.
Deployment of the paramillitary forces at the Line of Control (LoC) was discussed in the meeting, said sources. A detailed report was made by the NSA after the Pathankot attack and there were three major gap points which were found along the LoC in J&K and Punjab border.
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As of now, paramilitary forces alongside the Army is deployed across the LoC. However, according to a new plan, Army will be at the first line of defence and then the paramilitary will be stretched along these three gap points.
Apart from this, it has been stated in the report that Army will protect defence installation and paramilitary forces will guard the civilian installations which are of importance within 25-km radius from the LoC.
Though no final decision has been taken in this regard, but this is the second time this proposal has been discussed.
The disbursement of funds from the Centre to the state was also discussed in the meeting. According to reports, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti made it very clear that she is not happy with the disbursement process and wants it be a quicker.
The meeting also focussed on terror groups in the state. It has been revealed that there are 5 active terror camps which have been identified by the intelligence agencies.
Another important topic which was part of the discussion was cooperation of the state government to prevent luring of the Kashmiri youth towards these camps and internet freedom in the valley.
The government is working on a policy for the state where they will prevent radicalisation through web but at the same time give the youth of Kashmir, complete access to the world.
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China says it will 'work' with the members of the 48-nation grouping as well as India to find a solution for India's entry into it.
By Press Trust of India: China denied that it was blocking India's bid for a membership in elite NSG and said it will "work" with the members of the 48-nation grouping as well as India to find a solution for India's entry into it.
HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Liu Zhenmin, China's Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, also said that the issue needs to be deliberated on among among relevant parties. "That's not true. I think, the membership of NSG is not a new issue. It has been an issue for many years. This should be sorted out together with the members of the NPT," Liu said when asked whether China was blocking India's entry to the elite club. "Members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group should be party to NPT. So, I think China will also work with others including Indian colleagues together to find a solution, Liu added. "This should be consulted among relevant parties. As a very friendly country, China wants to have good cooperation with India at the international arena on all issues," the Chinese minister said. Earlier this week, China claimed that several members of the group shared its view that signing of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was an "important" standard for NSGs expansion. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang in Beijing had 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. The Chinese action is apparently at the behest of Pakistan, which is also seeking an entry into the bloc. India is not a party to Nuclear Proliferation Treaty, the international pact aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, maintaining that it was discriminatory.
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Also Read | China to US: Stay out of border dispute with India
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By PTI: New Delhi, May 18 (PTI) Congress today sought four weeks time from the Central Information Commission to respond to a notice issued to its President Sonia Gandhi on a complaint filed by an activist on issues including donations to the party even as it questioned why she is targeted.
In a response filed by treasurer Motilal Vora, the party also asked the Commission to revisit its order bringing the party under RTI in the light of a Supreme Court judgement.
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The party cited the apex court judgement to claim that merely providing subsidies, grants, exemptions, privileges, etc. to a body cannot be brought under the definition of "substantial funding" for a body to exist and be answerable under RTI.
The party also claimed that an RTI amendment bill was introduced to keep political parties out of the ambit of the transparency law.
However, under the law, the CIC cannot review its decision and its orders can only be challenged through a writ petition before the High Courts or Supreme Court.
During a full bench hearing at the Commission, counsel for Congress K C Mittal said Gandhi was being targeted in isolation as there are five other parties which were declared public authorities by the CIC.
He also said that complainant R K Jain has provided him new information which needs to be considered before giving its further response for which he needs four weeks of time. The Commission has fixed next date of hearing on June 20. Jain told the Bench comprising Information Commissioners--Sridhar Acharyulu, Sudhir Bhargava and Bimal Julka--that he has already moved an application on May 16 to include Chiefs of BJP, BSP, NCP, CPI and CPM in the matter.
He also said since Congress has not named any one in the party who should be responsible for answering RTI queries, the notices were sent to its President.
He also annexed a letter from Election Commission of April 1, 2016 in which it had transferred a separate RTI application to the "The President, Indian National Congress..." to buttress his point that the party was considered a public authority even by the Election Commission.
The matter related to RTI application filed by Jain with Congress in February, 2014 seeking details of financing, donations, elections in the party among other details.
It was not responded to following which he approached CIC with a complaint under the RTI Act against the party. He also approached Delhi High Court seeking directions for the CIC to hear his petition.
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The Commission recently issued fresh notice to Gandhi after the orders of the Delhi High Court which had directed in August 2014 that the "complaint filed by the petitioner be considered expeditiously and preferably within a period of six months". PTI ABS VSC
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Kishor's unconventional ways don't seem to be going down too well with many Congress leaders.
Newly appointed Congress strategist Prashant Kishor today dismissed all rumours that he may quit the party if his ideas were not implemented in full.
WILD SPECULATION
Kishor, who was instrumental in BJP's and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's landslide wins in Assembly elections, said, "Question of quitting is nothing but wild speculation. We are deeply honoured by the responsibility and totally committed to the job. Grateful for the opportunity and trust shown by the Congress, its leadership and each and every worker for their faith in us."
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Kishor's unconventional ways don't seem to be going down too well with the Congress brass in UP. He is said to have irked many Congress leaders by trying to implement his ideas in a bid to improve the party's position.
The political strategist has also managed to rile the entire Uttar Pradesh Congress unit by demanding a completely new team.
TAKING ON THE CAPTAIN
The first confrontation happened with Captain Amarinder Singh who reportedly showed a red flag to Kishor by asserting that it was he who 'ran the party' in Punjab.
In order to contain the situation, Kishor was even asked to meet Amarinder and explain his position.
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Journalism student says the goons harassed & thrashed her in south Delhi while police initially refused to act.
By Ankur Sharma: A Group of drunken men sexually harassed her in south Delhi. When she dared to object, they smashed a beer bottle on her head. The police came, but not to her rescue. They took her away, ignoring the attackers.
This account of a 23-year-old journalism student adds to a grim litany of sexual attacks against women in the city and subsequent police apathy.
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Girl molested, Police drag feet
The alleged incident took place at 1.30 am on Tuesday at Sant Nagar, adjoining the tony Greater Kailash. The young woman says the police, who initially wanted her to strike a compromise, swung into action and registered a case only after a friend posted the matter on Twitter with photographs.
The two cops who had reached the spot took her to the police station and from there she was accompanied by a female constable and a male colleague to a hospital for a medical test. "My friend, accompanied by a male friend, was reaching her home.
As she walked back to the car to get her mobile phone, a group of young men drinking a few metres away from her house started abusing her," said a friend of the victim. "When she objected, the men hit her and her male friend with beer bottles on their head. They brutally thrashed them."
No end to sexual assault in country's capital
Crimes against women have dominated the discourse in India since the fatal gang rape of a young physiotherapist in the Capital more than three years ago. The incident sparked widespread public protests and prompted Parliament to toughen laws. However, several studies show women in the city do not feel much safer.
According to the victim, there was no help from the police when she complained. However, the department rejected the accusations of the victim and her friend, saying normal legal procedures were followed.
"We are verifying the facts and the allegations made," said DCP South East, MS Randhawa. When asked about the public drinking, officials said they will have a detailed conversation with the victim on Wednesday.
The victim's friend who is a witness in the case also alleged that the men often taunt and harass women after consuming alcohol in full view.
"I am also a victim of eve-teasing," she said. "These men abuse women and comment on their clothes every day. I have faced filthy remarks from them but would ignore them. They crossed the limit on Tuesday morning and thrashed my friend. They also attacked another friend who has refused to join any legal action."
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Patriarchy to be blamed?
Analysts say while a host of measures have been introduced to improve safety, violence against women in India is a deep-seated problem, rooted in a predominantly patriarchal culture, which cannot be solved in a short time.
Police have registered a case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt).
According to officials, the accused men have alleged that the victim and her friend attacked a woman who was with the group when the incident took place.
Later, a verbal spat turned violent and the group assaulted the duo, a police official said.
Also read:
Delhi: Belgian national says she was molested by Ola cab driver
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SBI management's arrogant and high handedness approach has forced employees of all five associate banks of SBI, affiliated to All India Bank Employees Association, to protest against forceful closure and take over of associate banks by SBI.
The boards of 5 associate banks of SBI, that is, State Bank of Travancore (SBT), State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH), State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ) and State Bank of Patiala (SBP) met on May 17 in Mumbai, to discuss an agenda that was purported to have been decided earlier.
However without any prior intimation or notice a table agenda was brought in the board meeting at the dictates of SBI to close down the associate banks and acquire the same by SBI.
In the meeting, the agenda was opposed by all the AIBEA's workman directors and few other independent directors of associate banks.
Palahniuk will co-write the screenplay with director Andy Mingo, and he will serve as executive producer too. On the other hand, Josh Leake will be the producer of the film.
By India Today Web Desk: Fight Club novelist Chuck Palahniuk has launched an online crowdfunding campaign to make a low-budget movie based on his 2002 novel Lullaby.
The 30-day campaign on popular online funding platform Kickstarter aims to raise $250,000 to fund production, reports variety.com.
Palahniuk will co-write the screenplay with director Andy Mingo, and he will serve as executive producer too. On the other hand, Josh Leake will be the producer of the film .
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Lullaby centers on an ageing reporter, whose family mysteriously died years earlier. Palahniuk wrote the novel during the trial of a man who was convicted of murdering his father.
"This project is also important to Chuck," the campaign page said.
"He began writing Lullaby during the trial of his father's murderer in 1999. The prosecutor came to Chuck and asked him if he wanted to advocate for the death penalty. This idea spawned the culling song, or the power of the word to cast a spell, and the story of Lullaby was created," it continued.
Premiums include $30 for the donor's name in the credits, $45 for a T-shirt, $5,000 to be a featured extra in the film and $15,000 to advertise the donor's business in the film.
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Manorama, the mother of Rocky Yadav, has been remanded to judicial custody for 14 days in Gaya.
By Giridhar Jha: After absconding for about a week, suspended Janata Dal-(United) legislator Manorama Devi has finally surrendered before court on Tuesday. She has been remanded to judicial custody for 14 days in Gaya.
Manorama, the mother of Rocky Yadav, who is the prime accused in the Aditya Sachdeva road rage killing, had gone into hiding after the recovery of liquor bottles from her house during a search operation.
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The police had gone to her house to track down Rocky, who had escaped after shooting Aditya dead for overtaking his car, on May 7. A case against her was lodged under the recently amended Excise Act. Her house has been sealed too.
Manorama, who arrived in court in the morning, claimed innocence, asserting that she has been framed in the case because of political reasons. "No liquor was recovered from my place," she said. "Do I drink alcohol that I will store it at home?" Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of having implicated her in the case, she claimed that her name did not even feature in the FIR.
The Gaya Police had earlier issued an arrest warrant against her and moved court to attach her property. She had also moved the court for an anticipatory bail.
Gaya Jail, a veritable home for the MLC
With her arrest, the Gaya Central Jail has turned into a veritable home for the MLC, as her son, husband Bindeshwari Yadav and nephew Teni Yadav are already behind bars in connection with the Aditya murder case!
A day after the killing, police had arrested Bindeshwari on charges of aiding and abetting Rocky after he allegedly shot Aditya with his licensed Baretta pistol and escaped. Manorama's official bodyguard Rajesh Kumar, who was with Rocky at the time of the incident, was also taken into custody. On Monday, Teni Yadav, who was said to have been with Rocky, surrendered in court.
The Gaya Police claimed that Manorama had surrendered because of mounting police pressure. On Monday, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had enunciated that nobody could escape the long arms of the law after committing a crime in Bihar. "There is a rule of law in Bihar," he said.
The Opposition, however, accused Nitish of having lost control over law and order. Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi raised questions on why the JD(U) MLC had not been arrested the day liquor bottles were recovered from her house. Union minister and Lok Janshakti Party president Ram Vilas Paswan said that Nitish should also recommend a CBI probe into the Aditya murder case.
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A delegation of BJP leaders submitted a memorandum to Governor Ramnath Govind demanding his intervention. Among other things, the party leaders sought shift of the Rashtriya Janata Dal's jailed former MP Mohammed Shahabuddin from Siwan jail to Bhagalpur jail.
Bihar BJP president Mangal Pandey said that Shahabuddin was using his influence to create an atmosphere of fear in Siwan. Leader of the Opposition Prem Kumar said that the Nitish government had become a mute spectator to incidents of crime.
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The Godhra train burning is perceived to be the trigger for the violence that followed in which nearly 1000 Muslims were killed while Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat.
By India Today Web Desk: The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) today arrested Farooq Mohammad Bhana, alleged to be the main conspirator of the Godhra train burning case who was absconding since the incident in 2002.
On the morning of February 27 2002, 59 people died in a fire inside the Sabarmati Express train near Godhra railway station. The victims were mainly Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya where they attended an event held by the VHP at the disputed Babri Masjid site.
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The case against Bhana
According to ATS officials, Bhana was a corporator in Godhra when the incident took place. To evade arrest, he then moved to Mumbai where he became a property broker.
"Based on a tip-off, we nabbed Bhana at a toll plaza near Kalol town of Panchmahal district when he was going to Godhra from Mumbai today. He was the key conspirator of Godhra carnage," an ATS official said.
In the FIR, Bhana was charged with conspiracy to put the S-6 coach on fire during a meeting with others accused at the Aman Guest House near Godhra Railway Station.
He, along with another corporator Bilal Haji, allegedly instructed the others accused to put the train coach on fire as per the instruction received from Maulana Umerji, who was arrested as a mastermind behind the incident but was later released.
A court had convicted 31 Muslims for the incident and conspiracy for the crime, although the actual cause of the fire is yet to be proven conclusively.
The massacre
An inquiry commission headed by Justice Nanavati was set up by Gujarat government to investigate the train burning. It concluded six years later in 2008 that the fire was arson committed by a mob of about 2000 people.
Later, another commission under Justice UC Banerjee appointed by the Centre stated that the fire was an accident. The panel was later held to be unconstitutional by the court.
The Godhra train burning is perceived to be the trigger for the violence that followed in which nearly 1000 Muslims were killed while Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat.
Also read:
Fuelling the fire
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By PTI: Los Angeles, May 18 (PTI) India needs to modernise and reform its economic governance to expand trade and attract the kind of foreign direct investment it needs to build infrastructure, a top US official has said.
"For India to attract the investment it needs, and to expand trade, it will first need to modernise and reform its economic governance -- to improve its ease of doing business," said Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Nisha Desai Biswal.
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Delivering the 33rd Annual Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Lecture at the University of California in San Diego, she said important steps can ensure that the country attracts the capital it needs to build the India of 2030.
Talking about the measures that India needs to take, Biswal said steps like updating its intellectual property regime so that technology and innovations have adequate safeguards, ensuring transparency, predictability, and consistency in its corporate tax code, and providing for an efficient system of adjudicating disputes are needed.
"We have already seen some steps in the right direction, and we are seeing a faster flow of investment as a result. And we are hopeful that by pursuing a bilateral investment treaty and passing a national Goods and Services Tax (GST) -- two priorities of the Modi Government -- India will further boost investor confidence," Biswal said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she said has also put a strong focus on clean energy -- setting an ambitious target of 175 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2022.
He emerged as a leading voice amongst developing nations for combating climate change and played a key role in ushering in the ground-breaking agreement in Paris last year, she said.
The US is committed to partnering with India in realising its ambitious target and tackling pressing challenges of air pollution and environmental degradation, Biswal said.
She said with cutting-edge American technology and companies that bring the best in corporate standards and practices, commercial relationship is a big part of the India-US engagement.
"With India, our trade has increased by a factor of five over the past 15 years, to over USD 100 billion per year. And were laying the groundwork now to expand that trade to USD 500 billion annually," she said.
"Given Indias monumental rise, it is no surprise that US companies have invested nearly USD 30 billion dollars in the last decade and a half. And Indian companies themselves have invested over USD 11 billion in the US, creating close to 100,000 American jobs. So a major expansion of two-way trade is in our mutual interest," she said. MORE PTI LKJ ASK ASK
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By PTI: From Shirish B Pradhan
Kathmandu, May 17 (PTI) India has provided 45.66 million rupees in financial assistance to Nepal for a newly-built hostel of a vocational school here that will help students from outside the Kathmandu Valley in completing their education.
The three-storeyed hostel of the MadanAshrit Memorial Technical School will facilitate the students in improving their professional skills and become economically independent, said a statement released by the Indian embassy here.
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The hostel building has been constructed with the financial support of NRs 45.66 million by India, it said.
Run by the Madan-Ashrit Foundation, the hostel was jointly inaugurated yesterday by Indian Ambassador Ranjit Rae and senior CPN-UML leader Pradip Nepal, who is also the chairman of the non-profit social organisation.
The new building has been named after CPN-UML general secretary Madan Bhandari and senior leader Jeev Raj Ashrit, who were killed in a road mishap over two decades ago in Chitwan area.
The school, established in 2009, conducts vocational courses as well as other community-oriented short-term vocational training with the help of Centre for Technical Education, and Vocational Training (CTEVT), Govt of Nepal. PTI SBP ABH AKJ ABH
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By PTI: Dubai, May 18 (PTI) An Indian sales executive and his 11- year-old son have been killed and his wife along with younger son injured in a tragic road accident in Dubai, a media report said today.
The car crash occurred when the family members were on their way back to home after visiting a church in Dubai.
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CD Sunny, 46, had been working as a sales executive in Dubai for 24 years, Gulf News quoted the victims family friends as saying.
"Apparently a 4WD car banged their car from behind when they reached Muhaisna," said Praveen Jose, a neighbour of Sunnys family from Kecheri in Kerala.
He said the elder son of Sunny, 11-year-old Alvin, was thrown out of the car due to the impact of the crash and died on the spot. Sunny died on the way to hospital, he said.
Sunnys wife Jolly and second son Edwin, four, have been admitted to Rashid Hospital.
"Edwin has fractured his leg... Jolly is completely shattered and is under sedation. The neighbour said Sunnys family used to live in Dubai earlier. They relocated to Kerala a few years ago.
"The wife and children had come here on a visit due to school vacation in India. They came on April 23 and were scheduled to fly back on this 28th," Jose added. PTI CPS AKJ CPS
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In-form Virat Kohli, who suffered a split webbing, smashed his fourth century this season to power Bangalore to a thumping victory over Punjab and keep their chances alive in the tournament.
By India Today Web Desk: Hello and welcome to the LIVE coverage from Match 50 of the Indian Premier League between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab. (Scorecard | Ball-By-Ball Commentary)
Highlights:
Royal Challengers Bangalore 211/3 (Kohli 113, Gayle 73) hammer Kings XI Punjab 120/9 (Saha 24, Yuzvendra Chahal 4/25) by 82 runs via D/L in a rain-curtailed IPL clash to jump to the second spot in the points table.
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A thumping win for Bangalore! They continue with their ruthless form and are still in the hunt for playoffs. The rain gods gave a real scare at the start but then the rain eased out and it was reduced to a 15-over per side match. Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle then scared the Punjab bowlers with their outstanding hitting and powered Bangalore to a gigantic total. Skipper Kohli went on to notch up yet another century this season and batted with utmost authority.
00.29 IST: The match has been called off handing RCB a big win over Kings XI.
00.27 IST: Rain stops play again at the Chinnaswamy stadium. Kings XI 120/9 in 14 overs, need 92 runs from 6 balls.
00.19 IST: Strategic time-out! Kings XI Punjab now have the impossible task of getting 107 runs in the final 18 balls of the match with just 2 wickets in hand. Big win on the cards for RCB
00.16 IST: WICKET!! Sharp catch from Gayle at first slip ends Gurkeerat Mann's stay at the crease. Chahal gets his 4th wicket. Kings XI 96/8 in 11 overs, need 116 runs from 24 balls.
00.14 IST: Chris Gayle finishes his over in a flash, just 6 runs came off it. Kings XI 90/7 in 10 overs, need 122 runs from 30 balls.
00.09 IST: Kings XI's collapse continues! Kyle Abbot c de Villiers b Chahal 0 (1b). Kings XI 80/7 in 8.5 overs.
00.06 IST: That's Out!! Farhaan Behardien departs first ball. Yuzvendra Chahal gets the wicket. Kings XI 79/6 in 8.2 overs.
00.04 IST: Terrific over from Shane Watson, just 2 runs and a wicket came off it. Kings XI 78/5 in 8 overs, need 134 runs from 42 balls.
00.02 IST: WICKET! Shane Watson picks up his second wicket of the match. Axar Patel c Kohli b Watson 13 (9b, 1x4, 1x6)
00.00 IST: 17 runs came off the over from Varun Aaron. Kings XI 75/4 in 7 overs, need 136 runs to win from 48 balls.
23.58 IST: FOUR! Gurkeerat Singh Mann cuts Aaron for a four over the point fielder. 16 runs off the over so far.
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23.55 IST: SIX! Axar Patel deposits Varun Aaron's first delivery for a big six over long-on. Kings XI 65/4 in 6.1 overs.
23.49 IST: That's Out!! Shane Watson strikes with his first delivery in the match. David Miller c de Villiers b Watson 3 (6b)
23.40 IST: WICKET!! A superb diving catch from Chris Jordan ends Amla's stay at the crease. Hashim Amla c Jordan b Aravind 9 (6b). Kings XI 53/3 in 4.4 overs, need 159 runs from 62 balls.
23.36 IST: WICKET!! Yuzvendra Chahal gets his man as he traps Saha plumb in front with a googly. Wriddhiman Saha lbw b Chahal 24 (10b, 5x4s). Kings XI 44/2 in 4 overs.
23.33 IST: FOUR! Saha is dealing in boundaries at the moment. Hits Yuzvendra Chahal for a hat-trick of boundaries.
23.32 IST: Wriddhiman Saha smacked two boundaries in that over from Chris Jordan. Kings XI 31/1 in 3 overs.
23.27 IST: Successful over from Aravind comes to an end. Kings XI 19/1 in 2 overs.
23.25 IST: WICKET! Murali Vijay plays a short delivery from Aravind on to his stumps. Murali Vijay b Aravind 16 (8b, 2x4s, 1x6)
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23.21 IST: Good start for Kings XI. Score 11/0 in 1 over.
23.19 IST: FOUR! Vijay starts of the run chase with a couple of boundaries
23.17 IST: Murali Vijay and Hashim Amla have a mountain to climb now. Stuart Binny takes the new ball for RCB.
That was quite an innings! After having a game on our hand with that rain-delayed start. Bangalore went berserk from the ball one. Chris Gayle and Kohli played their strokes to all parts of the park and kept notching boundaries in ease. Both the openers got to their yet another League fifties. Gayle got out after his mad innings and the stand was broken on 146. In came de Villiers departed cheaply but Kohli went on to score his 4th hundred in this season. After his dismissal. Rahul played few cheeky shot to cross the 210 mark.
23.03 IST: FOUR to finish! Lokesh Rahul hits a boundary off the last ball as Royal Challengers Bangalore reach 211/3 in 15 overs against Kings XI Punjab.
22.57 IST: WICKET! Virat Kohli's breathtaking innings comes to an end as he holes out at long-off. Virat Kohli c Miller b Sandeep Sharma 113 (50b, 12x4s, 8x6s). RCB 199/3 in 14 overs.
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22.53 IST: Unbelievable from the Run-Machine! Virat Kohli notches up his fourth hundred of the season. Just 47 balls were needed.
22.51 IST: 15 runs came off that over from Mohit Sharma. Just 12 more balls are left in the innings with Virat Kohli on 95 off 44 balls. RCB 181/2 in 13 overs.
22.49 IST: Hat-Trick of boundaries from Virat Kohli, he moves on to 93 from 42 balls.
22.46 IST: FOUR! Lokesh Rahul takes full advantage of the free-hit from Kyle Abbott and smacks it for a boundary. RCB 166/2 in 12 overs.
22.41 IST: BOWLED'EM!! AB de Villiers b Kyle Abbott 0 (2b). Rare failure for the South African legend. RCB 154/2 in 11.4 overs.
22.36 IST: Finally a Wicket for Kings XI! Chris Gayle holes out at long-off going for a big hit. Chris Gayle c Miller b Axar 73 (32b, 4x4s, 8x6s)
22.34 IST: Kings XI bowlers suffering heavily at the hands of Gayle and Kohli. Consecutive from Chris Gayle now. Axar Patel getting hammered.
22.32 IST; After the rain come the sixes in Bangalore! Virat Kohli hits consecutive sixes both on the leg-side. KC Cariappa is the unfortunate bowler. RCB 129/0 in 10 overs.
22.29 IST; FIFTY FOR CHRIS GAYLE. RCB 111/0 in 9 overs.
Virat Kohli becomes the first batsman to reach 800 runs in a single IPL season.
22.26 IST; FIFTY FOR VIRAT KOHLI
22.23 IST: RCB 93/0 in 8 overs
22.22 IST: Virat Kohli needs 5 more runs to complete 800 runs in the IPL this season.
22.19 IST: SIX!! Kohli deposits the free-hit for a big hit straight back past the bowler. RCB 82/0 in 7 overs.
22.18 IST: SIX and a FREE-HIT!! Kohli hits a waist-high full toss for a six on the leg-side.
22.17 IST: RCB dealing in boundaries!! Virat Kohli hits an inside-out shot off KC Cariappa for a boundary over the cover fielders.
22.14 IST: FOUR!FOUR! Consecutive boundaries for Virat Kohli on the off-side. Powerplay completed. RCB 63/0 in 6 overs.
22.11 IST: Another 18-run over conceded by Kings XI, this time its KC Cariappa. RCB 53/0 in 5 overs.
22.10 IST: Fifty up for RCB thanks to a six over covers from Virat Kohli this time.
22.09 IST: Runs flowing for RCB! Gayle welcomes KC Cariappa into the bowling attack with a six and a four.
22.07 IST: Kyle Abbott's first over goes for 18 runs courtesy the 'Universe Boss'. RCB 35/0 in 4 overs.
22.05 IST: FOUR! Gayle hits a full-toss from Abbott for a four over covers.
22.03 IST: GAYLE SMASH!! Hits consecutive sixes off Kyle Abbott, both on the off-side.
22.02 IST: Six runs came off that over from Sandeep Sharma. RCB 17/0 in 3 overs.
22.00 IST: FOUR!! Virat Kohli hits Sandeep Sharma over his head and down the ground for a boundary.
21.56 IST: GAYLE SMASH!! Chris Gayle opens up his arms and smashes the ball for a four on the leg-side. RCB 11/0 in 2 overs.
21.52 IST: FOUR! Virat Kohli ends the first over with a boundary through the covers. RCB 5/0 in 1 over.
21.51 IST: Revised Playing Conditions - Mandatory powerplay for 5 overs. Each bowler can bowl a maximum of 3 overs.
21.47 IST: Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli are out in the middle already for RCB. Birthday boy Sandeep Sharma has the new ball for KXIP.
Kings XI Punjab: Hashim Amla, Murali Vijay, David Miller, Wriddhiman Saha, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Kyle Abbott, Axar Patel, Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Sharma, Farhaan Behardien, KC Cariappa
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Shane Watson, Lokesh Rahul, Sachin Baby, Stuart Binny, Chris Jordan, Varun Aaron, Sreenath Aravind, Yuzvendra Chahal
Kings XI Team Changes - Farhaan Behardien, Kyle Abbott and KC Cariappa are in. Glenn Mxwell, Marcus Stoinis and Anureet Singh are out.
Royal Challengers Team Changes - Varun Aaron replaces Iqbal Abdullah.
21.36 IST: TOSS!! Kings XI Punjab opt to bowl first against Royal Challengers Bangalore. The match has been reduced to 15-overs-a-side.
21.30 IST: The toss will take place in the next two minutes. Match will start at 9.45pm
21.25 IST: The umpires are out in the middle for their inspection. The ground seems to have dried up considerably. Covers are also coming off and the stands are starting to fill up.
21.05 IST; There will be an inspection at 9.25 pm
20.50 IST: Rain seems to have stopped in Bangalore. The groundstaff now has a big task in their hands to get this match started as soon as possible.
20.40 IST: Officials are supervising the groundstaff, who are busy clearing the water off the covers. Steady drizzle continues.
20.25 IST: The super soppers are at work but the drizzling hasn't still stopped. However, that has not subdued the crowds, who are chanting Aaar-Ceee-Beee. They can still hope of course as the KSCA curator feels the rain will stop soon and he can get the match started in the next 45 minutes.
20.05 IST: Judging by these numbers, Virat Kohli has had an amazing IPL season so far is an understatement.
Virat Kohli in #IPL 2016
Dots: 129
1s: 242
2s: 46
3s: 2
4s: 61
6s: 28
Balls: 508
Runs: 752
---
dot%: 25.39
1-3%: 57.09
4-6%: 17.52#RCBvKXIP Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) May 18, 2016
20.00 IST: KSCA chief curator feels the rain will stop by 8.30 pm. "Let the rain stop, give me 45 minutes and we'll have at least 15 overs in," he adds.
19.48 IST: Meanwhile the teams have arrived at the Chinnaswamy stadium. Sehwag seems to be having a great time getting wet in the rain.
19.45 IST: Cut-off time for the match being called off is 11.15 pm IST.
Oops, raining in Bengaluru? Not good for #RCB. But you can even start a 5 over game at around 11.15 so lots of time still. Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 18, 2016
19:37 IST: If the match does get abandoned, imagine what Virat Kohli would go through. He has done everything a captain could have - three hundreds, a record-breaking 752 runs and it could all count for nothing.
19.34 IST: This is what the M Chinnaswamy stadium looks like at the moment.
19.30 IST: Toss has been delayed and the teams are yet to reach the venue. The rain has eased down a bit but there are huge puddles everywhere on the ground.
19.23 IST: Still raining pretty heavily in Bangalore. RCB will be gutted if the match gets washed out as their chances of making the play-offs will be all but over in that case.
18:50 IST: Bad news trickling down from Bangalore, it's raining heavily. We are 40 minutes away from the toss and looks like there will be a delay. As of now, fingers crossed.
Preview: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will look to build on their two emphatic consecutive victories as they continue their push for an Indian Premier League (IPL) play-off berth in a match against laggards Kings XI Punjab.
Placed at the fifth spot with six wins from 12 matches, the Bangalore franchise has gained momentum at the right time with two massive victories in their previous two outings against Gujarat Lions (by 144 runs) and Kolkata Knight Riders (by nine wickets).
On the other hand, languishing at bottom of the table, Punjab received another massive jolt on Tuesday when in-form Australian batsman Glenn Maxwell was ruled out with a side strain.
Going into Wednesday's encounter at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, RCB will be aiming to go all guns blazing to seal their berth in the play-offs. The team will once again bank on another solid batting effort from the marauding trio of Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers.
Kohli, who sustained a split webbing in his left hand while going for a diving catch against KKR, is the top run-getter with three centuries so far in the tournament coupled with as many half centuries.
South African star de Villers has been equally impressive and has been the backbone of RCB's batting while Gayle found his touch with a 31-ball 49 back in the previous game. Lokesh Rahul, who opened the batting in Gayle's absence has also been among the runs while veteran Aussie Shane Watson and Sachin Baby have contributed in the limited opportunities they got.
Bangalore's weak link is their bowling, which has time and again fallen apart in crunch situation. Legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal and Watson have been the most impressive for the franchise with 12 and 14 wickets in the tournament so far.
Allrounder Stuart Binny has been far from impressive with the new ball while England's Chris Jordan has bowled decently in bits and pieces.
On the flip side, a depleted Punjab will be aiming to finish another IPL edition on a high. Left with nothing to lose and just four wins from 12, the side could turn out to be party spoilers for RCB.
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In-form Virat Kohli, who suffered a split webbing, is set to play as Royal Challengers Bangalore host Kings XI Punjab in a must-win game.
By Indo-Asian News Service: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will look to build on their two emphatic consecutive victories as they continue their push for an Indian Premier League (IPL) play-off berth in a match against laggards Kings XI Punjab here on Wednesday. (Full IPL Coverage | Points Table)
Placed at the fifth spot with six wins from 12 matches, the Bangalore franchise has gained momentum at the right time with two massive victories in their previous two outings against Gujarat Lions (by 144 runs) and Kolkata Knight Riders (by nine wickets).
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On the other hand, languishing at bottom of the table, Punjab received another massive jolt on Tuesday when in-form Australian batsman Glenn Maxwell was ruled out with a side strain.
Going into Wednesday's encounter at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here, RCB will be aiming to go all guns blazing to seal their berth in the play-offs. The team will once again bank on another solid batting effort from the marauding trio of Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers.
SPLIT WEBBING
Kohli, who sustained a split webbing in his left hand while going for a diving catch against KKR, is the top run-getter with three centuries so far in the tournament coupled with as many half centuries.
South African star de Villers has been equally impressive and has been the backbone of RCB's batting while Gayle found his touch with a 31-ball 49 back in the previous game.
Lokesh Rahul, who opened the batting in Gayle's absence has also been among the runs while veteran Aussie Shane Watson and Sachin Baby have contributed in the limited opportunities they got.
WEAK LINK
Bangalore's weak link is their bowling, which has time and again fallen apart in crunch situation. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and Watson have been the most impressive for the franchise with 12 and 14 wickets in the tournament so far.
All-rounder Stuart Binny has been far from impressive with the new ball while England's Chris Jordan has bowled decently in bits and pieces.
MAXWELL BLOW
On the flip side, a depleted Punjab will be aiming to finish another IPL edition on a high. Left with nothing to lose and just four wins from 12, the side could turn out to be party spoilers for RCB.
The team's batting will depend on skipper Murali Vijay and Protea Hashim Amla, who hit a brilliant 96 in the previous match against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
With Maxwell out of the tournament, David Miller, stumper Wriddhiman Saha, all-rounder Marcus Stoinis are expected to bolster the middle order.
The bowing will centre around seamers Sandeep Sharma (13 wickets) and Mohit Sharma (12 wickets). Left-arm spinner Axar Patel with 11 wickets, including a hat-trick, has not been bad either but somehow failed to click as a team.
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Leg-spinner KC Cariappa has also been impressive and the team will wish him to come successful against the right-handed duo of Kohli and de Villiers.
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All is not well between India's Got Talent hosts Sidharth Shukla and Bharti Singh. Here's the reason.
By India Today Web Desk: Balika Vadhu star Sidharth Shukla, who recently won Khatron Ke Khiladi 7, is currently hosting Colors' recently-launched talent reality show India's Got Talent with comedian Bharti Singh.
While he seems to be getting the best in his professional life, the actor is not really happy these days. Want to know the reason? Someone on the sets of IGT is the root cause of his unhappiness; it's none other than comedy queen Bharti Singh who has miffed Sidharth. Reason? Apparently, among the two hosts, Bharti gets the maximum screen-time, as she speaks more and delivers maximum punches. So much so that the actor doesn't get to deliver his lines, reports TellyChakkar.
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Also read: Malaika Arora asks India's Got Talent team to remove Khan from her surname?
According to reports, Sidharth is making no efforts to hide his displeasure and this has led to a lot of discomfort between the two hosts. Bharti and Sidharth couldn't be reached for a comment.
Hope they resolve their differences soon.
Also read: India's Got Talent 7 review: It's one notch short of a perfect weekend watch
India's Got Talent airs every Saturday and Sunday at 9pm on Colors.
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Afreen Rehman, 25, says she got married in 2014 after finding a match through a matrimonial portal. However, "after two-three months my in-laws started mentally harassing me, demanding dowry," ANI quoted her as saying.
By Asian News International: A woman from Jaipur has moved Supreme Court after she was allegedly divorced via speed post.
How It Happened
Afreen Rehman, 25, says she got married in 2014 after finding a match through a matrimonial portal. However, "after two-three months my in-laws started mentally harassing me, demanding dowry," ANI quoted her as saying.
"Later they even started beating me and in September they asked me to leave their house."
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"I went back to my parents' home and now I received a letter via speed post announcing a divorce," she said.
The triple talaq by post has left Afreen fuming.
"This is completely wrong, unfair and unacceptable. I've filed a petition in SC seeking the court's intervention in the matter," Afreen said.
25-yr old Afreen Rehman frm Jaipur claims she has been divorced through a speed post,moves SC against 'triple talaq' pic.twitter.com/10fT2Dz5IJ&; ANI (@ANI_news) May 18, 2016
Other Cases
In March, the Madras High Court came to the rescue of a Muslim woman by staying the order of a lower court in Periyakulam which upheld the "triple talaq" sent by her husband through telegram in 2009 .
In November 2015, a fatwa by Dar-ul-Uloom in Deoband had ruled that talaq uttered thrice by a Muslim man on a mobile phone will be considered valid even if his wife is unable to hear it all the three times due to network and other problems.
Also read:
From India Today Magazine: Divorced from justice
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Two IAF Mi-17 helicopters were pressed into service to battle wildfires on the Trikuta Hills near the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir.
By India Today Web Desk: Indian Air Force helicopters on Wednesday battled wildfires on the Trikuta Hills near the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir.
The helicopters were deployed to assist the paramilitary forces and the fire service engaged in battling the leaping flames over the past two days.
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW
On the request of Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine Board, two IAF Mi-17 helicopters were pressed into service. The choppers have already undertaken five to six sorties, picking up water from the Salal hydro project in Reasi to control the fire. Sources said around 15 thousand to 20 thousand litres of water used to control the fire. There is heavy smoke around the ridge but it has not impacted the movement of choppers. An official said the wild fires had been spreading but "are likely to be controlled in a few hours. There is no reason to panic". As a precaution, all civilian helicopters which ferry pilgrims from Katra town to the Vaishno Devi shrine on the Trikuta Hills were on Tuesday moved to the campus of the Mata Vaishno Devi University. Ajeet Sahu, CEO of the Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine Board, said that routine helicopter service between Katra and Sanji Chhat was plying smoothly. He claimed that 40 per cent of the forest fire has been controlled on Trikuta hills. Apart from the security forces, Sahu said more than 200 employees of the Shrine Board have also been deployed to control the fire. The yatra has not been affected. Heavy rush of pilgrims continues and the daily average footfall is around 35,000. Meanwhile, another forest fire broke out in the Uttarkashi area of Uttarakhand. A total of 159 hectares of land has been affected so far. Recently, multiple forest fires broke out in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. These fires destroyed thousands of hectares of land.
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ALSO READ | Katra crash: Rs 3 lakh compensation each for dead Vaishno Devi pilgrims
- With IANS inputs
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Putting vaseline all over the blackboard so that the teacher can't use chalk is old school prank. However, in Japan, a 16-year-old student took this to the next level, shutting down 444 school websites.
By Mohak Gupta:
A 16-year-old student took down not one, but 444 school websites just to tell teachers how incompetent he felt they all were.
He seemed to be enacting this legendary Pink Floyd song.
The student used DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) technique to shut down the websites including elementary schools, junior highs, and other schools in the area. The attack was targeted against the Osaka Board of Education.
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UNDERSTANDING DDoS
A Distributed Denial of Service attack is a way through which a hacker makes an online service (web portals/websites) unavailable by crippling it with enormous web traffic.
In other words, the hacker builds a network of rogue computers called botnets. A single botnet is capable of having millions of rogue computers, ready to flood the victim's online service/website with a massive amount of traffic, which crashes the website.
Here's a short video to understand the attack better:
The boy said, "I hate how the teachers talk down to us and never let us express ourselves. So, I thought I would remind them of their own incompetence. It felt good to see them have problems. I did it several times."
The teen also told the police that he wanted to join the hacking group Anonymous, that has been associated with many major hackings.
Anonymous' most famous attack was Operation Payback in 2010 against PayPal. They declared PayPal a target because they cut off service to WikiLeaks for publishing secret information. WikiLeaks' creator Julian Assange, who is currently in political asylum, is known for 'exposing governments' by leaking classified information.
Julian Assange wearing Anonymous mask
The Japanese teen has been arrested by Osaka Police. This also marked the first time in Japan's history that a cyber attack was launched against a local government.
Punishment could be a maximum of three years in prison or a 500,000 yen (Rs 3 lakh) fine.
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Arjun Rampal, who has begun shooting for Sujoy Ghosh's Kahaani 2, got injured on the sets of the upcoming suspense thriller.
By India Today Web Desk: Arjun Rampal is the new addition to the Kahaani 2 team and filming for the suspense thriller hasn't been a cake walk for the the 36-year-old actor. Arjun, who will share screen space with Vidya Balan for the first time, has injured his knee on the sets of the film.
ALSO READ: Vidya Balan and Sujoy Ghosh to return with Kahaani 2 in November
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ALSO READ: Vidya Balan, Arjun Rampal begin shooting for Kahaani 2
The Roy actor was filming a chase sequence, when he "busted" his knee. He also shared a photograph of his injury on Twitter and said that there is no gain without pain.
Busted my knee today,while filming a chase sequence.Finished the shoot.Now in agony.But then #nopainnogain #kahaani2 pic.twitter.com/yArvdLllI5 arjun rampal (@rampalarjun) May 17, 2016
Directed by Sujoy Ghosh, Kahaani 2 is a sequel to the 2012 film Kahaani, which revolved around a pregnant woman named Vidya Bagchi, who comes to Kolkata from London in search of her missing husband.
Another mother of a story ..... pic.twitter.com/CNMmLhzeXL vidya balan (@vidya_balan) May 9, 2016
After a gap of years, Vidya and Sujoy have reunited for another gripping story and if the teaser of the film is to be believed, Kahaani 2 is "another mother of a story". The film is set to hit the screens on November 25.
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Kejriwal made the comments while making public a draft for Delhi's statehood on which he sought people's comments by June 30 so as to take the process forward.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday released a draft statehood bill for Delhi even as his political opponents questioned his competence for staking claims on greater powers.
At a news conference, Kejriwal announced the draft had been posted online as he invited public suggestions on fullstatehood.delhi@gov.in and fullstatehood. delhi@gmail till June 30.
The proposed legislation seeks to bring police and land under the Delhi government's control. The draft keeps the NDMC and cantonment parts out of its jurisdiction for security and municipal purposes.
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Kejriwal said he would call an all-party meeting soon to discuss the proposal.
Kejriwal, however, devoted a good amount of time to recalling the unsuccessful efforts of the previous Delhi governments to secure full statehood for the national capital.
He said he would reach out to the prime minister, the home minister and Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to seek their support.
Delhi's full statehood has been one of the election promises of the Aam Aadmi Party.
The draft bill seeks to reduce the powers of the lieutenant-governor. It recommends the title be renamed as governor who should perform his/her administrative functions in accordance with the advice of the state cabinet.
As chief minister, Kejriwal has often complained about a deficit of land for execution of his government projects.
Most of Delhi's land comes under the centrally-administered DDA. The draft statehood bill seeks the Delhi government be authorized to use it for civic projects.
Also, the draft recommends police, currently reporting to the LG, report to the Delhi government in areas other than cantonment and NDMC zones.
His opponents, however, are not impressed with his demands.
The BJP rejected the idea, citing Kejriwal's alleged confrontations with bureaucrats and Delhi's police.
The saffron party ruled out its support for the full statehood under the AAP government.
Congress leader and Kejriwal's predecessor Sheila Dikshit echoed similar views as she accused Kejriwal of under-performance in departments already under his governance.
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Lots of silver and contouring followed Kim Kardashian to the French Riviera.
By Hemul Goel: With the Cannes Film Festival in full flow, Keeping Up with the Kardashians' star, Kim Kardashian finally graced the French Riviera with her presence.
Also read: Loved Sonam Kapoor at Cannes? Get her look with these step-by-step tips from her makeup artist
The reality TV star headed straight to the festival after attending the Webby awards, where she picked up the Break the Internet award, attired in an asymmetrical Vivenne Westwood dress.
The trip seemed to have tired Kim. Picture courtesy: Instagram/@kimkardashian
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The entrepreneur made a detour to Cannes in a luxurious private jet, with the whole ordeal turning out to be so stressful for her that she was "cramped"!
Kim admires the massive diamond. Picture courtesy: Instagram/@kimkardashian
Her childlike excitement was very much evident when she got the opportunity to see one of the 30 largest top quality rough diamonds ever found, weighing 404 carats. And Kim has seen some BIG diamonds!
Also read: These shots of Aishwarya getting ready for Cannes prove she's the most beautiful woman in the world
The night saw her turn into a diamond herself, as she glittered in a Lanyu Couture gown finished with deGRISOGONO jewels at the deGRISOGONO party in Cannes. We were left wondering if Kim didn't get the memo about the theme NOT being the same as the Met Gala. Having seen her done much better, this look left us unimpressed.
The reality TV star glittered in her gown. Picture courtesy: Instagram/@kimkardashian
Kim's mother, Kris Jenner, also attended the party with her daughter Kourtney Kardashian's ex, Scott Disick, whom they still consider family.
Kris Jenner with Scott Disick. Picture courtesy: Instagram/@krisjenner
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Rijiju, 45, became the third minister to fly in Sukhoi-30MKI, the most potent fighter in the IAF combat fleet, after Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Rao Inderjit Singh.
By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju today lived his dream of flying a Sukhoi-30MKI supersonic fighter jet from the Halwara airbase today in Punjab.
At 44, Kiren Rijiju is one of the youngest and the fittest of Modi's ministers. On his return to Delhi, Rijiju said, "It was an amazing experience like no other. Your body weight is different. Airforce plot were very happy. You need to be fit." The junior minister was medically tested and declared fit, before he flew the fighter jet.
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The 30-minute flight in the Sukhoi included various flight manoeuvres such as barrel-rolls and loops. Rijiju said, "A sharp elevation from 4000 ft to 9000 ft in few seconds can make a person dizzy."
Rijiju, became the third minister to fly in Sukhoi-30MKI, the most potent fighter in the IAF combat fleet, after Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Rao Inderjit Singh. Former Presidents like APJ Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil also flew in the fighter in 2006 and 2009, respectively.
Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju
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By PTI: Colombo, May 18 (PTI) Sri Lankas Tamil-dominated Northern province today commemorated the civilians who died during the civil war between the LTTE and the army on the 7th anniversary of the end of the three-decade long brutal conflict, with chief minister C V Wigneswaran asserting that "not everyone who died during the war was a terrorist."
Addressing a ceremony held at Vellamullivaikkal in the northeastern Mullaithivu district to mark the seventh death anniversary of the civilians who died during the civil war, Wigneswaran said, "Not everyone who died during the war was a terrorist. We are here to commemorate the civilians. It is necessary to seek out what happened to these people since a lot of civilians lost their lives due to the war."
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Wigneswaran said those in the South of the country interpreted the commemoration ceremony as a "tribute to the terrorists" who were killed during the conflict.
A five-minute silence was observed in memory of the victims as well as religious observances.
A similar commemoration was also held in the Jaffna University.
The government has banned the commemoration of the fallen LTTE cadres in the conflict. The LTTE remains a banned terrorist organisation in Sri Lanka.
Government forces killed the Tamil Tiger rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on May 18, 2009 after a brutal military crackdown, and declared an end to the 37-year conflict which claimed at least 100,000 lives.
President Maithripala Sirisena took power in January 2015 promising reconciliation, to reduce the militarys involvement in public life and pledging that those guilty of war crimes would be held accountable.
The new government has abandoned a controversial military "victory" parade for a more sombre remembrance ceremony to mark the day.
Earlier, parades celebrated the victory of the Sinhalese military over the minority Tamils, who were banned from remembering their dead as commemoration of fallen rebels was thought anti-state. PTI CORR PMS AKJ PMS TRK
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By PTI: Kuala Lumpur, May 18 (PTI) Malaysia plans to introduce facial recognition CCTV cameras to nab criminals following a rapid surge in the number of street crimes in the country.
The move comes as snatch theft cases recorded almost a 50 per cent rise in the first four months this year compared to 2015.
Deputy Home Minister Jazlan Mohamed said the existing CCTV cameras were ineffective for the purpose as they only provided visual capabilities.
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"We are looking at installation of cameras at hotspots that allow for facial recognition," he told reporters.
"This will allow us to develop a database of the people coming and going into the area which can then be cross-referenced with the police database," he said.
Based on police statistics, a total of 1,031 snatch theft cases were reported for the first four months of this year compared to 742 cases for the same period last year.
This represented a 48.7 per cent increase in snatch theft cases. PTI JB ABH
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The report by DxO, which benchmarks camera hardware and performance, states that the Moto G4 Plus camera scores 84 points in its tests. In comparison, in the same tests the iPhone 6S had scored 82 points.
By Javed Anwer: Lenovo, which owns the Moto brand, has immensely highlighted the camera performance of its latest phone -- Moto G4 Plus. But how good it actually is? According to a report, damn good! In fact so good that theoretically the Moto G4 Plus has a better camera than one in the iPhone 6S, which is Apple's latest and greatest iPhone.
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The report by DxO, which benchmarks camera hardware and performance, states that the Moto G4 Plus camera scores 84 points in its tests. In comparison, in the same tests the iPhone 6S had scored 82 points. Although, the iPhone 6S Plus, which has optical stabilisation that iPhone 6S lacks, and the Nexus 6P too score 84 points.
Currently the leader-board at the DxO website is dominated by HTC 10 and the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge that have 88 points each. The DxO report for the Moto G4 Plus has not been yet made public. Although, Motorola did show the numbers while launching the phones at an event in New Delhi.
While the Moto G4 Plus scores high in DxO benchmarks, keep in mind that DxO has a very particular way to test cameras. It focuses more on the hardware and raw capabilities of the phone, including aspects like edge-to-edge sharpness, noise behaviour and micro-contrast etc in ideal conditions. While all of this matters in the real-world use, a lot also depends on how a user utilises the functionality provided in the phone's camera. Similarly, software, especially in challenging conditions, plays an important role.
While reviewing the Moto G4 Plus we did find the camera in it very good. It clicks fantastically detailed images that have good colours. Although, it doesn't handle the HDR or very challenging lighting conditions as well as the Nexus phones, which have better image sensor. It's exposure too can do with some fine-tuning because it trumps the iPhone 6S in benchmarks, in real world the iPhone 6S is more consistent.
Yet, it is important to see all of this with some context. The phones that we are comparing here with the Moto G4 Plus are all very expensive phones. The Moto G4 Plus costs just 25 per cent of what Apple asks for the iPhone 6S. The fact that it can even compete with the latest iPhone, in an area where Apple is traditionally strong, highlights how hard Motorola -- or Lenovo, if you prefer -- has worked on the camera of its new mainstream phone.
Also read: Moto G4 Plus review: Two steps forward, one step back
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By PTI: Mumbai, May 18 (PTI) Actor Uday Chopra says he shares a "close" friendship with Nargis Fakhri amid reports that the "Azhar" actress has gone back to her home in New York post their split.
While Uday, 43, and Nargis have always stayed mum on their relationship status, the reports of them being a couple have been doing the rounds for a few years now.
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Recent reports, however, said that Nargis left the country after failing to deal with her break-up from Uday.
Branding the media reports "untrue", Uday today issued a statement, saying, "I normally dont respond to gossip, but the press has been reporting a lot of fiction disguised as fact. I would just like to clarify that Nargis and I have been and still are very close friends.
"The press has done a wonderful job of creating stories out of thin air and I applaud their creativity. However these are all untrue."
Nargis spokesperson had released a statement saying that bad health and a few injuries forced the actress to take a break from work and go home.
According to her spokesperson, Nargis will be back in action after a month. PTI PSH BK
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According to the Delhi Police, the crime was preplanned and the assailants were familiar to the victim.
By Ankur Sharma: A powerful lobby aiming for a lease extension worth hundreds of crores for a prominent Connaught Place hotel could be the behind the murder of an NDMC law officer as investigators are trying to determine whether he was targeted for refusing a bribe.
The family of Mohammad Moin Khan, who was shot dead on Monday evening, claims that the civic officer was getting threat calls as he did not succumb to pressure and rejected kickbacks repeatedly.
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The incident took place outside Khan's residence in southeast Delhi's Jamia Nagar around 7.30 pm when he was driving home.
Stopped and shot
Two motorcycle-borne men stopped him on the pretext of seeking directions and shot him twice in the chest when he rolled down the window of his car. The killers then fled the scene.
Meanwhile, the victim's daughter Iqra Khan, a medical student said her father was under constant threat. "He had told us that he got an offer of Rs 3 crore to grant the lease extension at a lower price. My father refused and said he would work as per law. This may be the cause of his killing," she said.
With no specific leads, the police have asked the hotel staff to join the investigation following allegations by the victim's family. "So far, no arrests have been made. The killers will be arrested soon," DCP south east, MS Randhawa said.
Planned murder
Iqra also claimed that Khan was under pressure from his seniors. While the investigators are working on this angle, there has been no breakthrough.
NDMC chairman Naresh Kumar said Khan had told him that he was being pressured. "He was handling various sensitive cases. He told me that he is under pressure. But right now I cannot blame anyone," Kumar told the media.
According to the police, the crime appears to be a targeted killing and the assassins were familiar with Khan. They also had carried out a reconnaissance.
"It was a wellplanned murder as the killers fired just in front of his house. They were waiting a few metres away from his residence. We are scrutinising the CCTV footage," a senior police official said.
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By PTI: From Shirish B Pradhan
Kathmandu, May 18 (PTI) Nepal will host an international Buddhist seminar from tomorrow to mark the 2,560th birth anniversary of Lord Buddha to be attended by about 1,000 delegates, including from India, aimed to position the country as the prime destination of Buddhist pilgrimage globally.
Around 400 international delegates, including 200 monks from 28 different countries will participate in the two-day seminar on Buddhism from May 19-20, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
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"Nepal is not only the birth land of Lord Buddha, the apostle of peace, but it is also the country, from where the philosophy originate, Buddhism originate more than two and a half millennium ago," said Minister for Tourism and Culture Ananda Prasad Pokharel, addressing a press briefing on the eve of the programme.
The seminar is aimed at positioning Nepal as the fountain of Buddhism in the world and to popularise the country as the prime destination of Buddhist pilgrimage, he said.
Some 1,000 representatives, including 400 foreign delegates are taking part in the conference.
Buddhist monks, scholars, government officials, tourism entrepreneurs and media persons from more than two dozen Buddhist countries including Bhutan, India, China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka are attending the conference.
Some 300 Buddhist monks, including 200 foreign monks are taking part in the conference. Ministerial level delegation is arriving from Sri Lanka and Thailand to attend the seminar, according to the organisers.
From India, prominent Buddhist scholars and monks are attending the programme.
A special programme will be organised at Lumbini, the birth place of Lord Buddha, situated 250 km south-west of Kathmandu on Saturday, coinciding with the 2,560th Buddha Jayanti.
President Bidya Devi Bhandari will be the chief guest on the occasion. Around 10,000 people are expected to arrive in Lumbini to mark the occasion.
During the event, the president will announce the winner of Lord Buddha Peace Prize worth USD 50,000. PTI SBP AJR AKJ AJR
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By PTI: Washington, May 17 (PTI) Researchers, including one of Indian-origin, have developed a new method for producing truly random numbers - a breakthrough that could be used to encrypt data and improve cybersecurity.
Computer scientists at the University of Texas at Austin developed the method that can be used to make electronic voting more secure, conduct statistically significant polls and more accurately simulate complex systems such as Earths climate.
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The method creates truly random numbers with less computational effort than other methods, which could facilitate significantly higher levels of security for everything from consumer credit card transactions to military communications.
The new method developed by Professor David Zuckerman and graduate student Eshan Chattopadhyay takes two weakly random sequences of numbers and turns them into one sequence of truly random numbers.
Weakly random sequences, such as air temperatures and stock market prices sampled over time, harbour predictable patterns. Truly random sequences have nothing predictable about them, like a coin toss.
Previous versions of randomness extractors were less practical because they either required that one of the two source sequences be truly random (which presents a chicken or the egg problem) or that both source sequences be close to truly random, researchers said.
This new method sidesteps both of those restrictions and allows the use of two sequences that are only weakly random.
An important application for random numbers is in generating keys for data encryption that are hard for hackers to crack, researchers said.
Data encryption is critical for making secure credit card purchases and bank transactions, keeping personal medical data private and shielding military communications from enemies, among many practical applications.
Zuckerman said that although there are already methods for producing high-quality random numbers, they are very computationally demanding. His method produces higher quality randomness with less effort.
"One common way that encryption is misused is by not using high-quality randomness. So in that sense, by making it easier to get high-quality randomness, our methods could improve security," said Zuckerman. PTI SAR SAR
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By PTI: London, May 18 (PTI) A new tool that calculates how much energy is consumed by gadgets such as smartphones when connecting to the internet to use apps and games, has been developed by a scientist in Sweden.
Ekhiotz Jon Vergara from Linkoping University showed that there is a great potential for energy savings in the software side.
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"Until now, app developers did not care all that much about the energy consumption of their apps, but more and more have started to consider this issue, such as Spotify," said Vergara.
He developed EnergyBox, a tool that quantifies the energy consumption of mobile devices due to data communication.
The tool simulates the consumption of wireless interfaces considering the aspects that impact the communication from the network operator and mobile device side, he said.
Vergara compared how much energy various apps, computer games, and chat services use, and proposed energy-efficient solutions.
He found that the energy consumption does not only depend on how much data is sent, but also on how it is sent.
When two systems are to send data back and forth, they start with a handshake, he said.
This procedure can be long and energy-intensive or quick and energy-efficient. How often the systems shake hands with each other depends on how the data is sent and also the configuration of the network operator, he said.
For example, Vergara tested a number of different messaging services using the same conversation such as Kik, Google Hangout, Skype and Messenger.
He measured both how much data was sent to convey the content in the message, and how much energy was consumed.
"The amount of data sent is not proportional to the energy consumption. Messenger sends a lot of data and uses a lot of energy, Google Hangout sends significantly less data and is more energy-efficient, while Kik, for example, sends very little data but uses a lot of energy," he said.
According to him, one simple way of saving energy in chats is queueing the message for a second.
"Often we write, send, write, send - but if the application can queue what we are writing and then send everything at once, we can save up to 43 per cent of the energy," said Vergara.
In the next step, he tested 20 different mobile games - both online multiplayer games and games played by only one person. Some of them also contained advertisements. Each game was played 5 times for 15 minutes.
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"In principle, online multiplayer games consume more energy - that is logical - but several single-player games that do not have ads are still top energy consumers. There is not any linear connection here, either," Vergara said.
All the single-player games turned out to work just as well without an internet connection, which means that there is a large potential for energy savings, he said. PTI SAN SAR SAR
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By PTI: From Yoshita Singh United Nations, May 18 (PTI) TheUN received 44 allegations of sexual abuse in all peacekeeping and special political missions so far in 2016 even as no Indian soldiers faced any charges of misconduct, according to the latest update on abuse allegations against peacekeepers.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moons spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters here yesterday that for 2016, the number of allegations recorded so far in peacekeeping and special political missions is 44.
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Indian peacekeepers maintained their clean record of serving with dignity and conduct in peacekeeping missions with no reports of allegations of sexual exploitation or abuse against them so far this year.
In 2015 also, when 69 allegations were recorded against peacekeepers, no Indians was accused of any wrongdoing.
This year reports of sexual exploitation and abuse have been made against uniformed personnel from Congo, Niger, Morocco, South Africa, Benin, Bangladesh and Burundi.
India has strongly maintained that instances of sexual abuse and exploitation by UN peacekeepers are "abhorrent and repugnant" and has underscored that it has a zero tolerance policy on such cases.
Indias Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin had said in March during a Security Council meeting on UN Peacekeeping Operations: Sexual Exploitation and Abuse that India has contributed its troops because it sees peacekeeping as a "shining example" of the international communitys commitment to collective security.
Dujarric added that there is an update on the progress being made on key initiatives, including the vetting of all individuals being deployed for any prior misconduct and the establishment of Immediate Response Teams to gather evidence following reports of sexual exploitation and abuse.
The UN has set up a Trust Fund for victim assistance in March, and the first pledge to that fund has been made by Norway in the amount of USD 125,000, and the UN encourages others to contribute as well.
Three investigations have been completed, two involving military personnel and one involving civilian personnel. These allegations were substantiated and were reported in the UN Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), he said.
The UN said 41 investigations are ongoing, of which 11 are being conducted by troop contributing countries. PTI YAS KUN
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By Javed Anwer: Call it the return of the prodigal son. Or the new great hope. Or something like that. But in a big announcement today Nokia, the company which has not been sold to Microsoft, has said that it is returning to the phone business with Android phones and tablets.
To reenter the market, Nokia is working with a Finland-based company HMD that will make and sell Nokia-branded phones based on Google's Android operating system.
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"HMD has been founded to provide a focused, independent home for a full range of Nokia-branded feature phones, smartphones and tablets. HMD's new smartphone and tablet portfolio will be based on Android, uniting one of the world's iconic mobile brands with the leading mobile operating system and app development community," the company said in a statement.
Nokia's announcement came minutes after Microsoft said that it would sell its feature phone business to Foxconn.
In fact, the whole deal involving Nokia, Foxconn, HMD and Microsoft is quite complex. When Microsoft bought Nokia's phone business in 2013, the company also acquired rights to use Nokia brand. The agreement also forbade Nokia from using the brand name on a mobile phone. However, Microsoft gradually phased out the Nokia branding from Mobile phones, limiting it to feature phones like the Nokia 130. Instead, the company used Lumia branding.
Now Nokia is saying that HMD has acquired the rights to use Nokia brand. "HMD has been founded to provide a focused, independent home for a full range of Nokia-branded feature phones, smartphones and tablets. To complete its portfolio of Nokia branding rights, HMD announced today that it has conditionally agreed to acquire from Microsoft the rights to use the Nokia brand on feature phones, and certain related design rights. The Microsoft transaction is expected to close in H2 2016," Nokia said in a statement.
The Nokia-branded phones will be possibly made by Foxconn at the facility that the Chinese manufacturer bought from Microsoft on Wednesday. Earlier, Nokia and Foxconn had partnered to create the N1 tablet.
Nokia has said that HMD is an independent company. "Nokia will provide HMD with branding rights and cellular standard essential patent licenses in return for royalty payments, but will not be making a financial investment or holding equity in HMD," said the company. "Nokia Technologies will take a seat on the Board of Directors of HMD and set mandatory brand requirements and performance related provisions to ensure that all Nokia-branded products exemplify consumer expectations of Nokia devices, including quality, design and consumer focused innovation."
The Nokia-branded phones will be made by Foxconn at the facility that the Chinese manufacturer bought from Microsoft on Wednesday. Earlier, Nokia and Foxconn had partnered to create the N1 tablet
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Interestingly HMD will be managed by some senior executives who currently manage business at Microsoft Mobiles. "HMD would be led, once the Microsoft transaction closes, by Arto Nummela as CEO, who previously held senior positions at Nokia and is currently the head of Microsoft's Mobile Devices business for Greater Asia, Middle East and Africa, as well as Microsoft's global Feature Phones business. HMD's president on closing would be Florian Seiche, who is currently Senior Vice President for Europe Sales and Marketing at Microsoft Mobile, and previously held key roles at Nokia, HTC and other global brands," Nokia said in a statement.
While all this business maneuvering is cool, the key question is when consumers will be able to buy a Nokia smartphone again. This, given the timelines shared by Nokia, is expected to be by the end of this year. However, the success of dominance that Nokia once enjoyed is not a given factor here, even though there might be a number of users looking forward to a Nokia phone running on Android. The phone business has changed significantly in the last several years and with the tough competition in most markets, including India where now Samsung etc rule the market, it will not be easy for Nokia to regain the lost ground.
Also read: Nokia profitable after selling mobile phone business to Microsoft
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By PTI: Bhubaneswar, May 18 (PTI) Odisha government today rejected the estimation of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on tiger population in the state and claimed that there are at least 40 big cats, including three melanistic types, in Similipal Tiger Reserve.
"The 40 tigers include 13 males, 24 females and three cubs. Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR), is considered as the only habitat in the world to have dark-striped melanistic tigers," said Forest and Environment Department Secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra.
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The state governments estimation report, which was released today, also found 318 leopards in Odisha, he said.
The report said Similipal region housed 29 Royal Bengal Tigers with 26 of those in Similipal Wildlife Division and three others in Karanjia Division. Of the 26 Royal Bengal Tigers in Similipal, 14 are females, nine males and three cubs, the report said.
There are four big cats in Sunabeda Wildlife Division, two in Satkosia Tiger Reserve, three in Keonjhar Wildlife Division (Hadgarh) and one each in Khariar and Sundargarh divisions, the report stated.
Earlier, the state government had rejected the NTCAs claim of only 28 tigers in the state in 2014.
The statewide tiger/leopard estimation exercise, 2016 was carried out in eight circles and 46 divisions between February 5-10, officials said.
A total of 20,174 PIPs (Pug Impression Pads) were laid and 448 trap cameras including 315 cameras in Similipal, were installed to reaffirm the estimated tiger population in the Similipal Tiger Reserve, they said.
Although, the exercise was carried out in STR in February, a dispute over the numbers prompted the Wildlife Wing to take up the exercise once again in April during which 420 camera traps were used apart from 11,370 PIPs, officials said.
A five-member technical committee headed by Anup Kumar Nayak, the then Regional Chief Conservator of Forest cum Field Director Satkosia Tiger Reserve, analysed and scrutinised the data obtained during field survey.
In 2010, NTCA had put the number of Royal Bengal Tigers in Odisha at 32 and 45 in 2006. PTI AAM DKB NSD LNS
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Some 220 families reported missing on Wednesday, the Sri Lankan Red Cross said.
Sixteen bodies have already been recovered and about 180 people rescued from the enormous piles of mud.
More than 300 soldiers were deployed to search for survivors in the villages of Siripura, Pallebage and Elagipitya in Kegalle District.
A total of 1,141 people who escaped the disaster sheltering and being treated for minor injuries at a nearby school and a Buddhist temple.
Heavy fog and continuing rain, along with electricity outages and the instability of the ground complicating rescue efforts.
State TV showed images of huge mounds of earth covering houses, while torrents of muddy water gushed from hilltops above. Villagers said 66 houses buried or damaged.
The same rains have also caused severe flooding in cities including Colombo, where tens of thousands of homes were at least partially inundated.
Sri Lanka's disaster management center had reported 11 deaths from lightning strikes and smaller landslides elsewhere in the Indian Ocean island nation.
Nearly 135,000 people across the country have been displaced and were being housed in temporary shelters.
By PTI: Mumbai, May 18 (PTI) Opposition Congress and NCP today demanded ouster of Maharashtra Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse, whose PA was arrested by the ACB in a land allotment case.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials had, on Friday, arrested Gajanan Patil, who claimed to be Khadses personal assistant, for demanding Rs 30 crore from economist Ramesh Jadhav, who had sought an NOC from Khadses office regarding the land allotment at Nilje village in Kalyan taluka in Thane district.
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Khadse had claimed that the value of the two plots of land in question was Rs 5.53 crore and Rs 77.40 lakh respectively and there was "no question of anybody" demanding illegal gratification of Rs 30 crore.
However, Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant today said as per the current ready reckoner rates, the value of the 10.7 hectares in Kalyans Nilje village is Rs 152 crore.
"The minister (Khadse) had recently said the value of the concerned land in Nilje village is Rs 5 crore, so there was no question of demanding a bribe of Rs 30 crore. But, as per the R R rates, he is blatantly lying. The current value of the land is Rs 152 crore," Sawant told reporters here.
"If you go as per the market value of that piece of land, it goes upto Rs 405 crore. There are many business houses requiring such tracts of land. Can the government not make money by officially giving the land to them," he asked.
Meanwhile, NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said ACB action on Gajanan Patil, Khadses PA was only under pressure from the Lokayukta.
"Dr Ramesh Jadhav had filed the complaint seven months back, but the ACB kept dilly dallying. This shows the government was protecting Khadse. The CM should immediately intervene and ask the minister to step down until he is proven innocent," Malik said.
He added that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should immediately convene a special cabinet meeting and accept the recommendations of Justice (retd) P B Gaikwad to give teeth to the Lokayukta.
Two days back, Khadse had said that he would file a defamation suit against the complainant who has a "tendency" to level corruption charges. PTI MM NP PVI SRE
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In an interview to BBC Urdu, Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah said that while pro-establishment groups have been declared proscribed organisation and can no longer carry out any activity in the province, it is not possible for the government to take any action as state itself remains involved.
By India Today Web Desk: Pakistan's Punjab province minister today ruled out possibility of any legal action against terror groups like Jamaat-ud-Dawah( JuD) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) stating that 'the state itself has been involved with these groups.
In an interview to BBC Urdu, Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah said that while pro-establishment groups have been declared proscribed organisation and can no longer carry out any activity in the province, it is not possible for the government to take any action as state itself remains involved.
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A senior minister of Pakistan's Punjab province has said the Pakistan government cannot take legal action against terror groups like Jamaat-ud-Dawah or JuD and the Jaish-e-Mohammad or JeM, as the "state itself remained involved" with them.
"How can you prosecute a group with whom the state itself has been involved with?" said Sanaullah.
'State' of denial
While Pakistan continues to deny patronising terror groups which have carried out multiple terror attacks in India, Sanaullah's revelation is expected to increase international pressure on Pakistan to act against all militants groups including the Haqqani network, which is active in Afghanistan.
Pakistan media, quoting officials in Pakistan, have scoffed at evidence presented by India showing the involvement JEM in the Pathankot air base attack. Also, even after India inviting pakistan to probe into Pathankot attack, Pakistan failed to reciprocate the gesture. The National Investigation Agency still awaits the clearance.
Earlier, Pakistan had also refused to act against Hafiz Sayeed, the chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawa and the terror group Lashkar e Taiba, who is also the mastermind of the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, which killed 160 people.
Lands into 'No landing'
Meanwhile, European Union has asked its representatives in Pakistan to investigate the comments made by Sanaullah. Once the verification of the comments is completed, EU will ban landing rights for Pakistani Airlines to the European Union.
The European Union, which has been so far liberal towards Pakistan's support to terror groups, is one of Pakistan's leading trading blocs.
With inputs from PTI
ALSO READ:
26/11 Mumbai attacks: Ex-Pakistan envoy to US Husain Haqqani's explosive revelations
Pakistan, India discuss key issues, informally
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By PTI: Kolkata, May 18 (PTI) The Enforcement Branch of the Kolkata Police has seized counterfeit VIMAL suitings and ready-to-stitch boxes from a shop in Burrabazar area.
An official of EB said that acting on a tip-off, police, along with executives of Reliance, raided the shop yesterday and found around 110 rolls of counterfeit VIMAL suitings rolls and ready-to-stitch boxes.
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The person who was present in the shop claimed he was not the owner. Police will now issue a notice to the owner under Sec 41 of CrPC for deposing before EB, the official told PTI.
Paresh Naik of Reliance Textile Division said this was the first time that counterfeit VIMAL products were seized in Kolkata.
He alleged that numerous fictitious companies in Bhilwara were manufacturing counterfeit VIMAL products and selling them in rural and semi-urban areas at half prices.
Naik said the company filed an FIR against the shopowner. PTI dc MD GVS
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Another breathtaking century from Virat Kohli setup a thumping win for Royal Challengers Bangalore in a rain-curtailed IPL clash at the M Chinnaswamy stadium.
By India Today Web Desk: Skipper Virat Kohli scripted yet another magnificent century to power Royal Challengers Bangalore to a dominating 82-run win over bottom-placed Kings XI Punjab via Duckworth Lewis method in a rain-hit IPL clash and stay on course for a play-off berth, on Wednesday. (Virat Kohli all time leading run-scorer after record fourth ton)
Kohli (113 off 50 balls) battled immense physical pain to notch up his fourth century in the ongoing IPL season and also became the only batsman to score more than 800 runs in a single edition. His tally stands at 865 runs from 13 matches.
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Kohli, who had sustained multiple stitches due to a split webbing in his left hand, hit 12 fours and eight sixes and alongwith Chris Gayle (73) amassed a whirlwind 147-run opening stand to help RCB post an imposing 211-3 after the match was reduced to a 15-over affair following rain. (This is how Kohli's breathtaking ton kept RCB's campaign alive)
RCB JUMP TO SECOND SPOT
The hosts then returned to restrict Kings XI for 120 in 14 overs to register their seventh win and reach the second spot in points table with 14 points in 13 matches. They are now tied at 14 points with Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Lions. (Points Table)
Chasing a mammoth 212 to win, none of the Kings XI batsmen could stitch a partnership as the pressure to hit big shots saw them make their back way to the hut. Wriddhiman Saha (24) was the top-scorer for Punjab.
For Bangalore, spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (4/25) returned with a four-wicket haul, while Sreenath Aravind (2/18) and Shane Watson (2/7) scalped two wickets each. (Full IPL Coverage)
In the end, Punjab were 120-9 with just one over to go when heavens opened up again and the result of the match was decided by the Duckworth Lewis method.
KOHLI, GAYLE DESTROY KINGS XI ATTCK
Earlier, Put to bat by Kings XI skipper Murali Vijay, who opted to field despite winning the toss, RCB piled up a whopping 211 runs for three wickets in 15 overs.
Skipper Kohli set a new record by scoring his fourth century (113 in 50 balls) in this IPL season and Gayle returned to form to hit 73 in 32 balls with 8 sixes and 4 fours.
Gayle and Kolhi were involved in a record 147-run partnership for the first wicket in 67 balls, by hitting all over the ground at will from the first over, treating a packed stadium of 25,000 frezined fans with mighty sixes and massive fours.
ALL EFFORTS FROM VIJAY WENT IN VAIN
Desperate efforts by Vijay to break the partnership or get either of them out early failed as Kolhi and Gayle were in full cry and batted with disdain.
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While the first 50 came in 4.4 overs of the six-over power play, the first 100 of RCB's innings came in 8.5 overs.
Though Vijay used as many as five bowlers to contain the openers, there was no respite for Kings till Gayle got caught by David Miller of Arshad Patel ball in 11 over when RCB score was147 on the board.
RARE FAILURE FOR AB BUT RAHUL ENDS WITH A FLOURISH
After in-form AB de Villiers was bowled for a duck in 12th over, keeper K.L Rahul joined Kohli to take the score to 199 when the skipper was caught by Miller off Sandeep Sharma ball at 113 comprising 8 sixes and 12 fours in just 50 balls.
Rahul and Kohli were involved in a 45-run third wicket partnership in 15 balls.
Rahul remained till the end at 16 not out.
Patel, Sharma and Abbot shared one wicket each of RCB's batters.
Breif Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 211/3 (Kohli 113, Gayle 73) hammer Kings XI Punjab 120/9 (Saha 24, Yuzvendra Chahal 4/25) by 82 runs via D/L in a rain-curtailed IPL clash.
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Separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani and Muhammad Yasin Malik alleged the policy makers of India want to change demography of Jammu and Kashmir as soon as possible and for this purpose new communal government will use its entire force and machinery.
By Naseer Ganai: The separatist political parties today displayed a rare united show to corner Jammu and Kashmir government over establishing of Sainik colony, separate townships for Kashmiri Pandits and industrial policy even though the state government has stated that it has no plans to construct any such colony in Kashmir and will revise the industrial policy.
Hard-line Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Geelani and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik met in Srinagar at the residence of Geelani.
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"The meeting thoroughly discussed establishment of Sainik Colonies, separate townships for the Kashmiri Pandits, induction of the New Industrial Policy, construction of shelters for the non-state labourers. It was decided that pro-freedom organizations will jointly resist implementation of the RSS agendas and a disciplined and an effective course of action will be formulated in this regard," a Hurriyat spokesman said after the meeting.
"Geelani and Malik unanimously agreed that a do or die like situation has been created for Kashmiri nation", the Hurriyat spokesman said. He said if the resistance will not be shown to thwart it, Kashmiris would be rendered homeless like Palestinians.
"Both the leaders stated that the policy makers of India want to change demography of Jammu and Kashmir as soon as possible and for this purpose new communal government will use its entire force and machinery," the spokesman alleged.
ALSO READ: J&K has special status, can't be treated like other states, says Geelani on SC's order on NEET
"Peoples Democratic Party is extending every possible support to the RSS as this party has sold entire Kashmiri nation for being in power. Miss Mehbooba Mufti and few of her ministers are absolutely lying to the people and they are keeping the public in dark with regarding to the dangerous policies of New Delhi," the spokesman said.
On the same issue last week National Conference president Dr. Farooq Abdullah asked Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti not act like "pliant, puppet leaders who connived against the State's political rights to remain in power."
"There is a larger, more sinister plan to destroy Article 370 by rendering it irrelevant", Dr Abdullah had said referring to issue of establishing of Sainik Colony in Srinagar, industrial policy and extending National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) to the state.
However, J&K government has maintained that it has no proposal to establish Sainik colony in Kashmir.
The government has assured to review the industrial policy that allows granting of land on lease to non-local entrepreneurs and has put previous policy passed in three month Governor's rule in abeyance. The government has also accused the NC working president Omar Abdullah of trying to set "Kashmir on fire, destroy its tourism industry and economy" by issuing "proactive" statements on Sainik colony and industrial policy issues.
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Early this month Omar had said, "considering their record of over the past one year, people have serious apprehensions. It could be a ruse to settle non-state subjects in Kashmir and hence bypass Article 370."
ALSO READ:
Kashmir map issue: Mind your own business, India tells Pakistan
Hard-line Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Geelani and JKLF chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik discussed over establishment of Sainik Colonies, separate townships for the Kashmiri Pandits, induction of the New Industrial Policy, construction of shelters for the non-state labourers Both Geelani and Malik decided that pro-freedom organisations will jointly resist implementation of the RSS agendas and a disciplined and an effective course of action will be formulated in this regard Geelani and Malik unanimously agreed that a do or die like situation has been created for Kashmiri nation Policy makers of India want to change demography of Jammu and Kashmir as soon as possible and for this purpose new communal government will use its entire force and machinery: Geelani and Malik
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The Saudis, who deny responsibility for the 2001 attacks, strongly object to the bill. They had said they might sell up to $750 billion in US securities and other American assets in retaliation if it became law.
By Reuters: The US Senate passed legislation on Tuesday that would allow families of September 11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia's government for damages, setting up a potential showdown with the White House, which has threatened a veto.
The Saudis, who deny responsibility for the 2001 attacks, strongly object to the bill. They had said they might sell up to $750 billion in US securities and other American assets in retaliation if it became law.
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The "Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act," or JASTA, passed the Senate by unanimous voice vote. It must next be taken up by the US House of Representatives, where the Judiciary Committee intends to hold a hearing on the measure in the near future, a committee aide said.
If it became law, JASTA would remove the sovereign immunity, preventing lawsuits against governments, for countries found to be involved in terrorist attacks on US soil. It would allow survivors of the attacks, and relatives of those killed in the attacks, to seek damages from other countries.
In this case, it would allow lawsuits to proceed in federal court in New York as lawyers try to prove that the Saudis were involved in the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed al-Jubeir has said his country's objection to the bill is based on principles of international relations. "What (Congress is) doing is stripping the principle of sovereign immunities which would turn the world for international law into the law of the jungle," he said in a statement on Tuesday.
James Kreindler, a prominent trial lawyer who represents 9/11 families and won large payouts for the victims of the 1988 bombing of Pan American Airways Flight 103 over Scotland, said he expected the bill to pass the House and become law.
"It would be crazy for (President Barack) Obama to veto bipartisan legislation (which would) open (US) courts to victims of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history," Kreindler said.
Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat and a JASTA co-sponsor, said the bill is overdue.
"Today the Senate has spoken loudly and unanimously that the families of victims of terrorist attacks should be able to hold the perpetrators, even if it's a country, a nation, accountable," Schumer told a news conference.
Classified pages of 9/11 report
Republican Senator John Cornyn, also a sponsor of the bill, said JASTA does not target the Saudis, although he alluded to a still-classified section of a report on the Sept. 11 attacks that Saudi critics say might implicate Riyadh.
"We have yet to see the 28 pages that have not been yet released about the 9/11 report, and that may well be instructive," Cornyn said at the news conference.
Other lawmakers who have seen the 28 pages have said releasing them would quiet such rumors.
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Cornyn said it was up to the court to decide whether the Saudis were liable. "I don't believe that this will be destructive of the relationship that we have with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia," he said.
The White House said Obama still plans to veto JASTA.
"This legislation would change long-standing, international law regarding sovereign immunity," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told a daily press briefing.
"And the president of the United States continues to harbor serious concerns that this legislation would make the United States vulnerable in other court systems around the world."
Asked if Senate Democrats would back a veto, Schumer said he would vote against Obama.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who had opposed the bill, said the version passed on Tuesday eased his worries that it might leave U.S. allies more vulnerable to lawsuits, for example if groups based within their borders but not supported by their governments were behind a terrorist attack.
"We don't want to alienate allies, but we do want to create redress if a nation-state was involved in helping a terrorist organization attack American interests, and I think they should be held liable," Graham said in a brief interview.
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As most of northern and central India reels under an intense heat wave, an orange alert was declared in New Delhi after the capital touched 47 degrees today.
By India Today Web Desk: Keeping in view the heat wave conditions, the Met department has issued red alert in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Vidarbha region in Maharashtra for next 3 days.
Searing heat prevailed across Rajasthan today with Churu recording the state's highest day temperature at 49.1 degrees Celsius.
As most of northern and central India reels under an intense heat wave, an orange alert was declared in New Delhi after the capital touched 47 degrees today.
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Delhi streets wore a deserted look in the afternoon as hot winds added to the woes of the people.
Met department declares 'Orange Alert'
The Met department declared an 'Orange Alert' in the capital, asking people to take precautions against the heat wave after the mercury touched a scorching 47 degrees Celsius in Delhi and parts of NCR.
'Severe heat wave' warning
The weatherman has issued a "severe heat wave" warning for parts of north and central India over the next three days even as the onset of monsoon is predicted to be delayed by six days.
"The (heat) intensity is likely to reduce thereafter and gradually abate around May 27 to 31."
Meanwhile, several parts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry continued to receive rains for the third day today owing to a depression.
Red alert in Ahmedabad
Days after an orange alert, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation on Tuesday issued a red alert for two days, cautioning the citizens to stay indoors to avoid heat stroke.
Currently, the city is sizzling at 45 degrees Celsius.
309 heat-related deaths in Telangana
According to the state disaster management department, as many as 309 heat-related deaths have been reported in Telangana since the beginning of summer this year with Nalgonda topping the chart.
"Nalgonda has witnessed 90 deaths followed by Mahbubnagar with 44 and Khammam 37," a disaster management official said.
In view of the rising mercury in Telangana, the state government had earlier issued heatwave alerts to all districts, asking them to take precautionary measures.
The government had also announced an ex-gratia amount of Rs 50,000 to the kin of the deceased.
Most of schools have been shut due to the intense heat wave and water crisis.
Odisha, Bengal, Andhra worst-hit
Extreme heat wave has claimed many lives in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. In Odisha, Titlagarh has touched 48 degree Celsius while Sonepur is the second hottest place at 47 degrees Celsius.
A lot of residents took to Twitter to complain about the heat, many posting screenshots to show the scorching temperatures.
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ALSO READ:
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The raid came after the opposition BJP alleged the role of jailed former Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Mohammad Shahabuddin, who has been lodged in Siwan jail, in the murder of Rajdeo Ranjan.
The raid signalled that police officials involved in the investigation are not ready to take any chances, said an official. According to official sources, Shahabuddin's cell was searched during the police raid.
Shahabuddin, a criminal-turned-politician, locally known as Bahubali, has been lodged in Siwan jail for over a decade. He has only twice been shifted to Bhagalpur and Gaya jail for brief periods.
Ranjan, Siwan bureau chief of Hindi newspaper Hindustan, which is part of the HT Media, was shot dead at a busy market near Station Road last Friday night.
"A police team led by Siwan district magistrate and superintendent of police have raided Siwan jail, where Shahabuddin is lodged, in connection with the killing of Rajdeo," a district police official said.
Police have already arrested Upender Singh, an aide of Shahabuddin, and are likely to take him on remand to quiz him in connection with the killing. Singh is known as a sharpshooter of Shahabuddin.
Police in Siwan said that Ranjan's killing was part of a pre-planned conspiracy. Singh was sent to jail on charges of violation of the new Excise Act.
Meanwhile, Bihar Director General of Police PK Thakur said that police have identified the shooters involved in the killing of the journalist. Five police teams have been constituted to investigate the case.
The Bihar government led by Nitish Kumar has already recommended a CBI probe into the journalist's killing. The state government has constituted a special investigation team of two DSPs, three inspectors and five sub-inspectors to trace the killers.
By PTI: Balrampur (UP), May 18 (PTI) Opposition BJP MP Daddan Mishra has hit out at the ruling Samajwadi Party terming it as a "one family party".
Addressing mediapersons last night here, the Shrawasti MP said the SP "neither has an ideology nor organisation" and it is a "party of a family".
"SP is neither a political party nor an organisation. It is like (there are) terrorist and Maoist organisations in Kashmir and Nepal, similarly there is Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh," Mishra told reporters here.
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He also attacked the SP over the candidates it announced yesterday for Rajya Sabha polls, including Amar Singh, Beni Prasad Verma and controversial Lucknow-based builder Sanjay Seth.
"Those raising slogans of samajawd (socialism) have nothing to do with it...When it comes to sending leaders in Rajya Sabha and Vidhan Parishad they prefer capitalists," he added.
Mishra said the state government is "creating hindrance" in developmental projects to "defame" the Centre. PTI CORR ABN TIR RT TIR
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Suresh Raina, who recently became a father, returned home to India and he will be expected to lead Gujarat Lions' charge against Kolkata Knight Riders tomorrow. It's a must-win game for both teams, who are eyeing playoff berths in the Indian Premier League.
By India Today Web Desk: Skipper Suresh Raina's return could not have been better-timed as Gujarat Lions, jolted by the tournament's biggest-ever defeat, seek to revive their campaign when they face off against Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League on Thursday. (Full Coverage | Points Table)
Raina returned to India on Monday after being with his wife in Holland for the birth of their daughter Gracia.
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The hard-hitting southpaw missed Gujarat Lions' last match against Royal Challengers Bangalore where his side was hammered by Virat Kohli and Co. by 144 runs in Bangalore .
This was the first time that Raina had missed a match in the cash-rich league since its inception in 2008. The Uttar Pradesh batsman is the all-time leading run-scorer in the IPL but is being tailed closely by the rampaging Kohli.
Raina, who played for Chennai Super Kings for seven years, was named skipper of the newly-formed Gujarat franchise after CSK was banned from the IPL for two seasons on charges of corruption.
Under Raina, Gujarat have performed beyond expectations and are currently fourth in the points table.
Against two-time champions KKR, Gujarat will be looking to boost their chances of qualifying for the playoffs. Raina's presence should be a huge morale-boost for a team, which is hard-pressed to overcome the thrashing at the hands of Kohli and AB de Villiers.
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By PTI: Bern/New Delhi, May 18 (PTI) Switzerland today started the process for an ordinance to put in place a mechanism for automatic exchange of tax information with India and other countries.
As part of global efforts to curb flow of illegal funds in the financial system, Switzerland has agreed to be part of the automatic tax information exchange framework.
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The Swiss Federal Council today initiated the consultation on the ordinance on the International Automatic Exchange of Information in Tax Matters (AEOI Act).
The consultation process would be on till September 9.
In a release, Swiss government said the ordinance contains the Federal Councils implementing provisions for the Federal Act on the AEOI Act.
"The ordinance mentions in particular other non-reporting financial institutions and exempt accounts, and regulates details with regard to the reporting and due diligence requirements for reporting Swiss financial institutions," it said.
Besides, the ordinance has provisions that are required to implement the automatic exchange of information, including implementing provisions on the tasks of the Federal Tax Administration (FTA).
Having an automatic tax information exchange mechanism with Switzerland would help India in its clamp down on illicit fund flows.
Both countries have stepped up their cooperation on tax matters related to black money allegedly stashed by Indians there.
Almost 100 countries and territories, including India, have declared their intention to the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes to implement the AEOI standard.
"The AEOI should be introduced in 2017 so that the first exchange of data with selected partner states can take place from 2018," the release said.
With respect to introduction of AEOI standard, the Swiss Federal Assembly adopted two agreements in December last year. They were the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (administrative assistance convention) and the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA).
According to the release, AEOI system must be activated bilaterally so that it can be introduced with a partner state.
So far, Switzerland has signed an agreement on the introduction of the AEOI with the European Union, as well as joint declarations on the basis of the MCAA with a number of other countries and territories, it noted. (MORE) PTI RAM ABK
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By PTI: New Delhi, May 18 (PTI) The ongoing Rs 10,000-crore tax dispute between the Indian government and Nokia will not have any bearing on sales of Nokia brand phones through new entity HMD Global, Indian Cellular Association National President Pankaj Mohindroo today said.
"Tax demand is an independent issue which the government of India and Nokia are trying to resolve amicably. It will not have any impact on sales of Nokia phones in India. A separate entity HMD Global has plans to sell Nokia brand phones," Mohindroo told PTI.
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The income tax department has tentatively raised a Rs 10,000-crore demand from Nokia, which the company has contested.
In the latest development, US technology major Microsoft, the owner of Nokias mobile device business, has agreed to sell the latters branding rights to Finnish firm HMD Global and contract manufacturer Foxconn for USD 350 million.
Microsoft, which kept Nokia brand to only feature phones while selling smartphones under Lumia, acquired Nokia device business for USD 7.2 billion and the deal was closed in April 2014.
HMD intends to invest over USD 500 million over the next three years to support the global marketing of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets, funded via its investors and profits from the acquired feature phone business.
In a separate agreement, Nokia Technologies will grant HMD Global Oy (HMD), a newly-founded company based in Finland, the exclusive global licence to create Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets for the next 10 years.
Under the pact, Nokia Technologies will receive royalty payments from HMD for sales of Nokia-branded mobile products, covering both the brand and the intellectual property rights.
As part of the deal between Microsoft and FIH Mobile, the latter will acquire Microsoft Mobile Vietnam, the companys Hanoi manufacturing facility. Foxconn has been a vendor for Nokia and also produced Nokia N1 tablets in a licensing agreement with Nokia Technologies.
"Nokia is very strong brand in feature phone segment. Foxconn is already making Nokia feature phones in India. With the kind of capacity they have in India and Vietnam, Nokia phones exports can also be started from here. Foxconns lots of capacity in India are unutilised," Mohindroo said.
HMD and Nokia Technologies have signed the pact with FIH to establish a collaboration framework to support the building of a global business for Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets.
"With this deal, I also dont see any impact on Microsofts mobile phone business. It is there strategy to sell Windows based phones which they are continuing to do so through Lumia smartphones," Mohindroo said.
Post closure of this deal between Microsoft, FIH and HMD, some 4,500 employees will move to or have the opportunity to join FIH Mobile or HMD Global Oy subject to compliance with local laws.
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Microsoft will continue to develop Windows 10 Mobile and support Lumia phones such as Lumia 650, Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, and phones from OEM partners like Acer, Alcatel, HP, Trinity and VAIO. PTI PRS ARD
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Taiwanese couple Forrest Lu and Agnes Chien tried their hand at making a spoof of the 'Follow Me' photo series. The result, might we say, is absolutely hilarious.
A photo from the 'Follow Me' series (Murad Osmann via Instagram)/ The Taiwanese couple's spoof (Forrest Lu via Facebook).
By India Today Web Desk: Remember the eye-pleasing photographs of the series Follow Me, in which Russian photographer Murad Osmann captures girlfriend taking him by his hand around the beautiful heritages around the world?
As incredible and soul-stirring as it was, this spoof of that photo series might just impress you a tad bit more.
Taiwanese couple Forrest Lu and Agnes Chien, while holidaying in Hawaii, tried their hand at the 'Follow Me' style photography, adding a flair of their own to it.
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The results uploaded on Facebook, might we say, are absolutely hilarious. See for yourself:
Instead of going for the old-school, hand-holding technique, Agnes decided to try a fist full of her husband's hair:
Source: Forrest Lu via Facebook
She dragged him further through the scenic beauties of the mountains (which husband Forrest Lu does not seem to be enjoying quite a lot).
Source: Forrest Lu via Facebook
Next, she tried to 'sweep him off his feet' by tagging him along by his ear.
Source: Forrest Lu via Facebook
When that didn't work, she stuffed her fingers into his nostrils and tried to take him sight-seeing that way
Source: Forrest Lu via Facebook
We wonder if photographer Murad Osmann will be inspired by this and try it out for his next photo series.
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By PTI: London, May 18 (PTI) Like plants, trees too "sleep" at night, according to a new study which measured the sleep movement of fully grown trees using a time series of laser scanning point clouds.
Most living organisms adapt their behaviour to the rhythm of day and night. Plants are no exception - flowers open in the morning and some tree leaves close during the night.
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Researchers have been studying the day and night cycle in plants for a long time and observed that flowers in a dark cellar continued to open and close.
However, to this day, such studies have only been done with small plants grown in pots, and nobody knew whether trees sleep as well.
Researchers measured the sleep movement of fully grown trees using a time series of laser scanning point clouds consisting of millions of points each.
"Our results show that the whole tree droops during night which can be seen as position change in leaves and branches," said Eetu Puttonen from the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute.
"The changes are not too large, only up to 10 centimetres for trees with a height of about 5 metres, but they were systematic and well within the accuracy of our instrument," said Puttonen.
To rule out effects of weather and location, the experiment was done twice with two different trees. The first tree was surveyed in Finland and the other in Austria.
Both tests were done close to solar equinox, under calm conditions with no wind or condensation. The leaves and branches were shown to droop gradually, with the lowest position reached a couple of hours before sunrise.
In the morning, the trees returned to their original position within a few hours. It is not yet clear whether they were "woken up" by the sun or by their own internal rhythm.
"Plant movement is always closely connected with the water balance of individual cells, which is affected by the availability of light through photosynthesis," said Andras Zlinszky from Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
"But changes in the shape of the plant are difficult to document even for small herbs as classical photography uses visible light that interferes with the sleep movement," said Zlinszky.
With a laser scanner, plant disturbance is minimal. The scanners use infrared light, which is reflected by the leaves.
Individual points on a plant are only illuminated for fractions of a second. With this laser scanning technique, a full-sized tree can be automatically mapped within minutes with sub-centimetre resolution, researchers said.
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"We believe that laser scanning point clouds will allow us to develop a deeper understanding of plant sleep patterns and to extend our measurement scope from individual plants to larger areas, like orchards or forest plots," said Norbert Pfeifer from Vienna University of Technology.
The findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science. PTI SAN SAR SAR
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By PTI: From Lalit K Jha
Washington, May 18 (PTI) Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has filed his personal financial disclosure which shows that the real estate tycoons net worth stands at over USD10 billion.
"Trumps income as reported in the personal financial disclosure (PFD) statement is in excess of USD557 million (which does not include dividends, interest, capital gains, rents and royalties)," his campaign said in a statement yesterday.
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"Trumps net worth has increased since the last statement was filed in July of 2015. As of this date, Trumps net worth is in excess of USD10 billion," it added.
This is his second filing before the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
The first one was filed soon after he announced to run for presidency.
"I filed my PFD, which I am proud to say is the largest in the history of the FEC.Despite the fact that I am allowed extensions, I have again filed my report, which is 104 pages, on time," Trump said.
The GOP presumptive nominee lashed out at Bernie Sanders, the Democratic presidential candidate, for seeking an extension on his filing.
"Bernie Sanders has requested, on the other hand, an extension for his small report. This is the difference between a businessman and the all talk, no action politicians that have failed the American people for far too long," he said.
"I have built an incredible company and have accumulated one of the greatest portfolios of real estate assets, many of which are considered to be among the finest and most iconic properties in the world. This is the kind of thinking the country needs," Trump said.
The Donald Trumps Campaign said the newly filed PFD shows a tremendous cash flow, and a revenue increase of approximately USD190 million dollars (which does not include dividends, interest, capital gains, rents and royalties).
This income was utilized, among other things, for the funding of construction projects at various multi-million dollar developments, reduction of debt and the funding of the campaign, the statement said. PTI LKJ DBS
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The Modi government is using its two-year anniversary to launch a blitzkrieg campaign in Uttar Pradesh.
By Brijesh Pandey: When Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take the centre stage to address a rally in western Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur district on May 26, he will be talking about the achievements of his government as it completes two years.
But, in reality, Modi will be blowing the BJP's election bugle for the all-important state, which his party swept in the 2014 Lok Sabha election and where he now plans his next victory in the Assembly polls next year.
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To celebrate two years of Modi government, the BJP has formed 30 teams of 4-5 people each which will visit five to six places in as many states. The team will consist of a Cabinet Minister, a Minister of State (MoS), a senior BJP leader and a couple of members of the concerned state unit.
Mantris' mandatory stop in UP
Though the exact details of their itinerary are yet to be announced, a closer look at the list reveals an interesting detail: all the Cabinet ministers and MoS have a mandatory stop in Uttar Pradesh.
So, while Sushma Swaraj along with Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi will visit Noida, Arun Jaitley will visit capital Lucknow along with Upendra Kushwaha. Venkaih Naidu and Jayant Sinha will go to Allahabad, whereas Nitin Gadkari with YS Chaudhary are set to visit Kanpur.
ALSO READ | #TwoYearsofModi: Prime Minister's governance record scuffed
Defence Minister Manohar Parikar along with MoS Vijay Sampla will visit Ghaziabad, while Suresh Prabhu, Sanjeev Balyan and Ram Madhav will visit Meerut. Sadananda Gowda and Nihalchand will go to Aligarh, while Uma Bharti, GM Siddeshwara and Murlidhar Rao will visit Bareilly.
It is clear from the itinerary that the government is using the two-year anniversary to launch a blitzkrieg campaign in Uttar Pradesh, which saw them win 71 of 80 seats in 2014 and provided a roller coaster ride to the throne in Delhi.
Why winning UP matters most for BJP
For the BJP, winning Uttar Pradesh is a must if it wants to approach the 2019 general election on a political high and there is a feeling within the party that it has been long since a politically-important state like Uttar Pradesh has seen a BJP government.
The last BJP government in UP, headed by the present Home Minister Rajnath Singh, was ousted by Bahujan Samaj Party's Mayawati in 2002 election.
Apart from the official engagements, BJP president Amit Shah will also be attending a few events in the state apart from keeping a close watch, knowing well that it was his performance in UP that won him the title of Chanakya in 2014. Losing the state will pretty much undo most of the political capital Shah has earned since 2014.
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According to a senior BJP leader, both Modi and Shah will go with all they have for the Assembly election in UP as they know how much the victory will mean for the morale of the cadre and the fortune of the party, especially because 2017 is not too far from 2019 when the general elections will be held.
He, however, also sounded a word of caution that putting all eggs in one UP basket may result in a Delhi-like disaster.
Is this an overkill?
In the Delhi election last year, every BJP MP and Cabinet minister was asked to address at least six rallies in the national capital. It was close to a whopping 2,000 rallies for just 70 Assembly seats; the BJP won just three.
The caution of overkill notwithstanding, the BJP and the government has decided to go all guns blazing when it comes to Uttar Pradesh, hoping that the results will be commensurate to the effort. The party has already pressed its 325 NDA MPs to take the message that this government is for the poor and their development only.
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Also, whether UP will be a centralised campaign or left mostly to state leaders will depend on how the BJP does in Assam, the only state it hopes to win as results for five states will be counted on Thursday.
ALSO READ | Two years of Modi: BJP plans 15-day gala from May 26
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Uday Chopra has rubbished the break-up rumours with rumoured girlfriend Nargis Fakhri. In fact, he maintains that the two are still good friends.
By India Today Web Desk: Uday Chopra found himself in the middle of a controversy soon after his rumoured girlfriend Nargis Fakhri left Mumbai overnight. Buzz has it that Uday had called off his wedding with Nargis and she was left heartbroken. And Nargis left for New York overnight to nurse her broken heart.
ALSO READ: Did Uday Chopra break-up with Nargis Fakhri over WhatsApp?
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ALSO READ: Nargis Fakhri leaves for US after her break-up with Uday Chopra?
Though the Azhar actor's spokesperson had rubbished the rumours saying that Nargis has moved to New York for a month to address a few health issues and would soon return to Mumbai. But not many were ready to buy this statement. And the speculations even continued post the statement.
And to finally put an end to the entire drama, Uday has broken his silence and rubbished the rumours surrounding his alleged break-up with Nargis.
The 43-year-old actor issued a statement clarifying his stance and maintained that he is still good friends with Nargis.
"I normally don't respond to gossip, but the press has been reporting a lot of fiction disguised as fact. I would just like to clarify that Nargis and I have been and still are very close friends. The press has done a wonderful job of creating stories out of thin air and I applaud their creativity. However these are all untrue," read the statement.
A report in DNA recently suggested that Uday broke up with Nargis on a text over WhatsApp. In fact, rumour has it that Nargis was much in love with Uday and the actor was all set to announce her wedding with Uday. But the Dhoom actor took her by surprise when he messaged her to inform that he was calling off their relationship as well as the wedding.
However, with Uday's official statement, it seems all is still well between the lovebirds and maybe Nargis has actually left for New York due to health issues.
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The Sainsbury ad requested for "an ambitious artist" who would be willing to volunteer in exchange of getting paid with "experience" instead of money.
By India Today Web Desk: Sainsbury, one of the largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, has yet again offended people with one of their ads.
The big-time retailer put up an ad seeking for "an ambitious artist" to do a painting job for free. Sainsbury, which is said to be worth 5.2 billion pounds, said the "volunteers" would earn in experience instead of money.
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The ad stressed that for budding artists, this was an "opportunity to build your career and develop your reputation,".
Take a peek at Sainsbury's ad:
Sainbury's ad. Source: Clive Chenery via Facebook
Artists' response
Although Sainsbury later apologised for the ad, many raised the question whether they would sell their products in exchange of "experience".
Hence, some artists responded to the supermarket giant with their own advert.
With the perfect tone of sass, the ad asks supermarkets to "voluntarily restock kitchens", in exchange of getting their "brand recognised".
"No qualifications or experience is required as we are simply intrigued and excited about the free stuff you can offer us," reads the ad.
Now, that's how artists roll.
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Mail Today has found people who kept visiting banks and failed to secure loan under the scheme launched by PM Narendra Modi in April 2015. It was also found that many people who got the loans did not meet the scheme criteria.
By Kumar Vikram: The government has claimed that it has distributed Rs 1.25 lakh crore under the Mudra Bank Loan Scheme to small entrepreneurs, but the ground reality isn't that rosy.
Mail Today has found people who kept visiting banks and failed to secure loan under the scheme launched by PM Narendra Modi in April 2015. It was also found that many people who got the loans did not meet the scheme criteria.
Thumbs Down: It has been alleged that some banks have just maintained the records by distributing money to existing account holders or converting NPAs into Mudra loans. Many banks have been found telling people that they are not even aware of the government's scheme. People complain that some banks have refused sanctioning loan on one or the other pretext. It has been alleged that many existing account holders have managed to get loan under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojna even when they don't need it.
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Missing the plot
The government's claim of disbursing Rs 1.25 lakh under the scheme were explained by sources in the know of things as they claimed that many banks have simply maintained the records by distributing money to existing account holders or converting non-performing assets (NPAs) into Mudra loans.
At the launch, the PM had said the Mudra scheme was aimed at "funding the unfunded" but about one year after the roll out, people complained about the role of banks in disbursing the money.
Loans are offered in three categories under Mudra scheme - Shishu: loans up to Rs 50,000, Kishor: loans above Rs 50,000 and up to Rs 5 lakh and Tarun: loans above Rs 5 lakh and up to Rs 10 lakh THIS MAIL TODAY reporter also met a few people who got Mudra loan even as they were not eligible for it. Raju, who works in an office of a financial consultant in Central Delhi, claimed that he got a loan of Rs 50,000 recently under this scheme.
He revealed that his boss knows the manager of a nationalised bank and he and many others in his office got the loan only through him.
While people complained of banks refusing to provide Mudra loans on one or the other pretext, a bank employee revealed altogether a different fact about disbursal of money by banks.
"It is true that banks have disbursed huge money under Mudra loan, but, they have partly done this by converting existing loans into Mudra loan. They concentrated more on meeting the target," he said requesting anonymity.
Explaining further he said, "Suppose you are an existing customer of any bank and you have already taken a loan of a few lakh from the bank. The bank converts some part of the existing loan into Mudra scheme. This is being done to meet the target."
Scheme being misused
Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) also agreed that the most historic scheme of the Modi government is being misused.
"Loans under Mudra for more than one lakh crore have been disbursed so far but it is also a fact that very neglected percentage of last mile borrowers have got the real benefit under Mudra. It appears that out of more than Rs.1 lakh crore so far disbursed under Mudra, the major financing has been done to existing borrowers and it is yet to reach the last mile borrower who is deprived of funds and for whom the scheme was launched."
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Khandelwal said that in Mudra mandate, major thrust was devolved upon micro finance institutions and non-banking finance companies for giving loans to small businesses but instead of bringing them under the umbrella of Mudra, the banks preferred giving loans under the scheme. Mudra through the banking sector has failed to provide financial assistance to small businesses so far," he added.
Also Read:
Modi's Start Up India scheme receives positive response from entrepreneurs
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By PTI: Lucknow, May 18 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Government has declared eight districts, seven of them in Bundelkhand region, as drought-hit, even as Congress and BJP attacked the ruling SP, saying the decision should have been taken "long ago".
The decision was taken last night, a spokesman said here today.
The districts declared are -- Banda, Mahoba, Jhansi, Chitrakoot, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Lalitpur, all falling in Bundelkhand region, and Kanpur for the rabi crop session, he said.
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Meanwhile BJP and Congress today lashed out at the Uttar Pradesh government for having a non-serious attitude towards the water scarce Bundelkhand region.
"The state government has been misleading the people by launching a canard that the Centre is not extending relief package to Bundelkhand but it has failed to promptly declare the districts falling in this region as drought-hit which was done only last night", BJP spokesman Harishchand Srivastava said.
"Had the state government been serious about the problems in Bundelkhand, it would have declared it as drought-hit long ago, so that proper arrangements could have started there to deal with the massive problems," he said.
The delay goes on to prove that the state government is not serious and had only been misleading the people by launching a false propaganda against the Centre, Srivastava said.
Chairman of Congress communications department Satyadev Tripathi alleged that Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has fallen prey to statistics presented by the officials and has gone by what they told him over the decision to declaring eight districts as drought-hit.
"He should have done this long ago as the situation in Bundelkhand is very bad," Tripathi said, adding that, today the entire state is in a very bad shape and needed to be declared as drought-hit."
"I demand that the government declare the whole state as drought-hit so that steps can be taken up for providing relief to all," he said. PTI SAB ASV KND ASV
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These people are trolling Trump like bosses, and encouraging the US of A to do the same.
By Vishakha Saxena: America is gearing up for an election spectacle, possibly the most controversial of them all - all thanks to Donald Trump.
The billionaire's candidacy was a matter of anger and ridicule, ever since campaigning kicked off, but what no one saw coming was people swarming to his support. Results of primaries and caucuses (USA's candidate selection procedure) show Trump now has a very strong chance of becoming the Republican presidential candidate.
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That escalated quickly, huh?
The world is now trying to open the American voter's eyes towards the elephant in the room - Trump may have the PR strength to garner votes, but his statements show him to be racist, bigoted, and confusingly unclear about his policies. While some are pointing out the discrepancies in his campaign, others are just on a mission to troll Trump.
So we decided to bring you 17 hilariously creative instances of people rejecting Trump, and encouraging America to do the same:
1. This EPIC billboard advertisement by The Economist magazine
Economist 1. Trump 0.
2. This obit for the woman who didn't want to choose between Clinton and Trump
Yo I'm really crying pic.twitter.com/3ExjaZM6uRBudget Cuts (@NonProphet_) May 17, 2016
3. Not to miss, Clump
*presented without comments*
4. This Trump urinal Photoshop gag
Paris' Belushi sports bar was known for it's iconic Rolling Stones-inspired urinal. That was until some Photoshop-genius went on to superimpose Trump's face on one of the urinals.
Yep, if it were real, it'll be like peeing in a billionaire's mouth.
5. These hilarious emojis made by online comic The Oatmeal
Source: theoatmeal.com
6. The terrifying Darth Trump
7. This mindblowing autotune remix of Trump's limited-vocab-speech
"bing bing bong bong"
8. An iPhone game that lets you build the great wall of Mexico
'cause he'll be the greatest jobs president of all time!!!
9. Trumpkins, for when your Halloween jack-o'-lantern isn't scary enough
Source: Reddit
10. And Trumptendo... to make Nintendo great again
Source: trumptendo.com
These edgy, genius games were the brainchild of Jeff Hong, a storyboard artist who has worked for Nickelodeon Animation and Disney Feature Animation.
11. Kids 98657463. Trump 0.
The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon asked homeowners to get their kids to impersonate Trump. Now, kids don't need to think twice, or be politically correct, or worry about being sued for ridiculously impossible reasons. That combined with their penchant for mischief produced PRICELESS results.
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YouTube was flooooooded with hilarious videos of kids doing a Trump. Here's Fallon's selection:
"It's gonna be a hoooot"
12. John Oliver's #MakeDonaldDrumpfAgain
No one delivers a BURN like John Oliver. The hilarious host of popular American TV show "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" dug into Trump's records and found that his last name actually is Donald Drumpf - not Trump.
You read that right.
"The sound produced when a morbidly obese pigeon flies into the window of a foreclosed Old Navy," he called it. He went on to ask America to "make Donald Drumpf again". He turned it into a hashtag, put it on caps for giveaway, got a copyright on the word 'drumpf' and set up a website called donaldjdrumpf.com. He even released a Chrome extension called Drumpfinator that would change any mention of 'Trump' in your browser to 'Drumpf'.
How epic is that anthem at the end?
13. Jimmy Kimmel's advertisement for Trump... by 'the poorly educated'
All hail Merica's leeder against the terists.
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14. A Donald Trump biopic starring **Johnny Depp**
The movie was made by Emmy-winning comedy video website Funny Or Die.
15. The greatest Game of Thrones mashup of all time
Winter is truly trumping.
16. This Instagram account that gives cats a Trump-esque makeover
Source: instagram.com/trumpyourcat
17. And finally, this brilliant graffiti of Trump kissing Putin
Source: Getty
The owner of the Lithunian restaurant who commissioned the work of art, told Agence France-Presse he sees a few similarities between the two politicians.
Bravo, sir!
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The fight is again between Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi.
Voting is over in Tamil Nadu and now all eyes are set for big Thursday.
National parties had succumbed to defeat even before the voting. The Congress Party has contested as a junior partner of DMK. The BJP tried hard to forge an alliance with Anbumani Ramadoss-led PMK but it couldn't happen.
The Captain had abandoned NDA ship with after defeat in 2014 elections.
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As for the state, the battle is clearly between ruling the AIADMK and DMK. Yet, new coalition convened by Vaiko called People's Welfare Front, a coalition of Left parties and GK Vasan's Congress, Vaiko's MDMK under the leadership of Captain VijayKanth presented themselves as a better choice. In a way, The PWF constituents are the parties couldn't ally either with the AIADMK and or the DMK.
So, the fight is again between Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi.
While Jayalalithaa's manifesto promises free cell phones, free power, and a host of other subsidies, Karuna's manifesto speaks of implementing of prohibition and nationalisation of mineral quarries. It also promises to bring down milk price by 7 rupees a litre.
However, the Election Commission slapped a notice on both parties asking for an explanation as to how they would fulfil their promises just a day before the voting.
Kanimozi, Karunanidhi's daughter said that it is quite possible. DMK plans to nationalise mineral quarries and the revenue generated will be used for Public Welfare Distribution. On the other side, AIADMK Spokesperson said, "Whatever Amma promises she fulfils it as she is for the people and made by the people".
The political analysts are extremely confused and confounded about the outcome this election. There seems no anti-incumbency on the grounds. Except for Chennai, rest have also forgotten about the floods. If they wished for a change, DMK could come to power otherwise Tamil Nadu will remain Amma Nadu.
Soon we would get to know who the winner is..
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By PTI: From Sudipto Chowdhury
Kolkata, May 18 (PTI) She travelled from one country to another alone for treatment of her three-month old daughter, a thalassemic patient, a decision for which her husband and in-laws abandoned her.
Mamata Yasmin, a housewife and resident of Bangladeshs capital Dhaka visited Kolkata alone with her daughter Aamira (name changed) when doctors recommended her a "better treatment" across the border.
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"Aamira was only three-month old when she was detected to be thalassemic. Doctors told us that she can be treated but we should not be impatient," Yasmin told PTI.
"My husband and in-laws told me that there was no point in watering a dead plant and I must not press them for treating Aamira," the 30-year-old mother said.
Determined to cure her daughter, Mamata returned to her fathers house who promised to help her financially.
"My father sold his land and other belongings and gave me a few lakh rupees for Aamiras treatment and I arrived here in India in 2012," Mamata said.
Alone in the city with nobody to help her, Mamata rented a room at Rajarhat and started taking Aamira, now a four-year-old, to a renowned medical facility where expenses hit the roof.
"Blood transfusions and iron chelations were becoming quite painful when I heard about the bone marrow treatment which can treat thalassemia completely. But that was expensive... Then I decided to give it a try at Apollo Gleneagles Hospital.
The doctors at the hospital decided to undertake bone marrow transplant, the only known cure for thalassemia, to address the situation.
"Aamiras eight-year-old elder brother was identified as a perfect HLA match and was prepared for the transplant," Haemato-Oncologist and specialist in bone marrow transplantation Dr Shilpa Bhartia said. MORE PTI SCH SUS PR DV
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The Ayush Ministry however, later said chanting of Om and other Vedic mantras before the yoga session on International Yoga Day on June 21 is not compulsory but voluntary.
By India Today Web Desk: Last year, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself led a mega show on New Delhi's Rajpath as part of the first ever Yoga Day on June 21, a controversy over Surya Namaskar had snowballed into a major political slugfest with the opposition blaming the BJP-led government of trying to impose its Hindutva agenda.
With a month to go for the second edition of the Yoga Day next month, a similar row has erupted over a 45-minute protocol released by the Centre's Ayush ministry, which includes the chanting of Hindu mantra Om during the event.
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The Ayush Ministry however, later said chanting of Om and other Vedic mantras before the yoga session on International Yoga Day on June 21 is not compulsory but voluntary.
Is chanting Om communal in nature?
Karan Thapar on his show, To The Point, today discussed the issue of chanting Om on Yoga Day.
Seshadri Chari, member of the BJP National Executive defended the move and said that the circular does not say it is mandatory to chant Om on Yoga Day.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari on the other hand argued that yoga has now become a global movement and putting a template on it is not right. "Why should anybody put a template to yoga, it is not about one specific religion, it's about a global movement," said Tewari.
"The BJP's intent is political in nature, the party is trying to enforce its idea on everyone," added Tewari.
Senior journalist Sidhartha Bhatia feels that the aggregate of all that has been going on has also impacted the move. " The tendency to constantly intervene creates a template that certain kind of ideology is being imposed," said Bhatia.
Journalist Ashok Malik agreed with Manish Tewari that there are several versions of yoga and suggesting something specific is certainly not a good idea.
Renaming of roads:
Underlining the issue of Yoga Day, the panel also discussed the demand raised by General VK Singh to rename Akbar Road as Maharana Pratap Road.
"There is nothing wrong in renaming a road. Akbar Road is long enough to be divided in 2 parts and can have 2 separate names," said Seshadri Chari.
While Manish Tewari feels all these things are just to deflect attention from core governance issues that Modi government failed to achieve in its 2 years. "Naming the roads is a Municipal function and not the work of a minister," said Tewari.
"We need to strive towards a mature understanding of our complex history," said Ashok Malik on renaming of roads.
Insisting that Maharana Pratap of Mewar, one of the greatest Rajput kings of India has not been given due recognition, General (retd) VK Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs had written a letter to Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu seeking the renaming of Akbar Road to Maharana Pratap Road.
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These superfruits are all you need to get through the summer season.
By Nikita Bhalla: Since summer is a time when fresh fruits are your best bet against the hot, hot weather, we thought of coming up with a whole list of fruits that could add a dose of good health to your life.
We contacted Dr Muffazal Lakdawala, founder and director, Centre for Obesity and Digestive Surgery, Mumbai, and asked him to share the benefits of eating summer fruits. Here's a list of fruits that he suggested for you to eat regularly, so you can beat the heat and keep your body energised throughout the day.
LYCHEE: Lychee is a very good source of B-complex vitamins, which are essential for energy production. Researches suggest that a low molecular weight polyphenol, called Oligonol, can be found abundantly in lychees. Oligonol helps improve blood flow to organs, reduces weight and protects the skin from harmful UV rays of the sun. MUSK MELON: This melon is loaded with phytochemicals, which have anti-inflammatory qualities. Consuming this fruit can help prevent oxidative stress on your joints and bones, thereby reducing inflammation. MANGO: Mango is an excellent source of vitamin A and flavonoids, which are very essential for vision. It is packed with antioxidants like vitamin A, C and E, which are know for enhancing immunity. PEACHES: Consuming peach on a regular basis helps control cholesterol content in the blood. In addition, it contains bio-active compounds that help fight metabolic syndrome, a combination of risk factors that cause inflammation, obesity and heart problems. WATERMELON: Watermelon is loaded with water and electrolytes that help the body remain hydrated. Research shows that watermelons can reduce skin damage to a great extent as a result of its high-lycopene content. It is good for wound healing, as it is rich in L-citrulline, an amino acid that body converts to L-arginine that helps relax blood vessels and improve circulation. GRAPES: Grapes increase nitric oxide levels in the blood, which prevents blood clots. Therefore, grapes are an effective way to reduce the chances of heart attacks. Grapes are classified as a laxative fruit because they contain organic acid, sugar and cellulose, which proves to be very helpful in relieving chronic constipation. KIWI: This exotic fruit with its attractive green colour contains actinidain--a protein-dissolving enzyme that helps in digestion. It also helps one sleep sound, as a study reported that consuming kiwi may improve sleep onset, duration and efficiency in adults with self-reported sleep disturbances. ORANGES: A low calorie and high-fibre fruit, oranges are very good for weight loss. Oranges have significant amounts of antioxidants, the most important one being herperidin, as it has shown to lower high blood pressure problems as well as cholesterol in animal studies. Oranges also have strong anti-inflammatory properties.
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By India Today Web Desk: Fort Aguada has always been one of the prime attractions of Goa. Indians still get reminded of the epic Dil Chahta Hai shot when they visit this place. Well, the movie is not the only reason to love it. The square shaped citadel at the hilltop offers one of the most stunning views of the Arabian Sea.
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Right below the fort is the Aguada Central Jail, which has always caught the attention of tourists due to its interesting location overlooking the sea. Till sometime back, it used to be the largest prison in Goa. Enough time passed, and the state government realised the tourism potential of the place. The Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) has now decided to convert the jail into a museum. Also read: Royal rumble: explore hidden Goa on motorcycle
Last year, the prison moved its inmates to the new jail at Colvale. When developed into the proposed tourism spot, the jail will serve the purpose of being a heritage site apart from just being a tourist attraction. In order to ensure the revival and restoration of the site's history, GTDC has involved both the Goa Heritage Action Group (GHAG) and Goa's freedom fighters in this project.
According to several media reports, the master plan of the Aguada Jail Museum tourism project includes the creation of activity zones, viewing galleries, amenity zones, tourist information centres, renovation of temple and chapel areas, renovation of the prison cells, prison corridors, walls, pathways, seating, water fountains, new and improved lighting of the jail campus, a well-equipped caf and a lot more.
TravelBizmonitor.com quoted Nilesh Cabral, Chairman, GTDC, commenting on this plan: "The old Central Jail at Aguada, Sinquerim is very well known not only as a prison but for its history and heritage. Now a vacant structure, GTDC has requested the government to make it a tourist spot and the Corporation has started working on a project that will preserve the heritage structure and showcase Goa's freedom struggle and be a true tribute to the heroic deeds and glorious sacrifices of all those who took part in Goa's Liberation."
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The infectious disease linked to severe birth defects in babies may spread into areas where Aedes mosquitoes thrive, in particular on the island of Madeira and the north-eastern coast of the Black Sea.
By Reuters: The Zika virus, an infectious disease linked to severe birth defects in babies, may spread into Europe as the weather gets warmer, although the risk is low, health officials said on Wednesday.
In its first assessment of the threat Zika poses to the region, the World Health Organization's (WHO) European office said the overall risk was small to moderate. It is highest in areas where Aedes mosquitoes thrive, in particular on the island of Madeira and the north-eastern coast of the Black Sea.
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"There is a risk of spread of Zika virus disease in the European Region and ... this risk varies from country to country, said Zsuzsanna Jakab, the WHO's regional director for Europe.
ALSO READ: Scientists develop clone to fight against Zika Virus: Know all about the breakthrough
"We call particularly on countries at higher risk to strengthen their national capacities and prioritize the activities that will prevent a large Zika outbreak."
The WHO's European region covers 53 countries and a population of nearly 900 million. It stretches from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Mediterranean Sea in the south and from the Atlantic in the west to the Pacific in the east.
A large and spreading outbreak of Zika that began in Brazil has caused global alarm. The virus has been linked to thousands of cases of a birth defect known as microcephaly in babies of women who become infected with Zika while pregnant.
The WHO has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults.
The WHO's Geneva headquarters in February declared the Zika outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), warning it was spreading "explosively" in the Americas .
The WHO's European office said that if no measures are taken to mitigate the threat, the presence of the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that can carry the virus mean the likelihood of local Zika transmission is moderate in 18 countries in the region.
ALSO READ: Australian team briefed on Zika virus ahead of West Indies tour
A further 36 countries have low, very low or no likelihood, the assessment found. Aedes mosquitoes are not found in those countries and their climates would not be suitable for the mosquitoes to establish themselves.
Countries with high and moderate risk of Zika should improve vector-control measures to prevent the spread of mosquitoes and reduce their density, WHO Europe said. They also should equip health workers to detect cases early, report them swiftly, and help people at risk - notably pregnant women - protect themselves from infection, it said.
The WHO's European risk analysis took in multiple factors, among them the presence of Zika-transmitting mosquitoes, suitable climates for the mosquito, previous history of transmission of dengue or chikungunya, ship and flight connections, and population density and urbanization.
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It also considered the capacity of the country to contain transmission at an early stage, based on four main factors: vector control, clinical surveillance, laboratory capacity and emergency risk communications.
The WHO's regional office is convening a meeting of European health experts in Portugal from June 22-24 to discuss the Zika threat further.
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By Saurabh Singh: Ahead of its expected unveiling on May 30, Taiwan-based company Asus has teased brief profiles of its third-generation ZenFones, aka the ZenFone 3, ZenFone 3 Deluxe and ZenFone 3 Max. The profiles, although brief, highlight the new design scheme that the ZenFone 3 phones will employ, over their predecessors.
As per a teaser video shared by the company on YouTube, the ZenFone 3, ZenFone 3 Deluxe and ZenFone 3 Max will all sport distinct outer metal frames (and most likely a full-metal unibody design) and rear-mounted fingerprint scanners. These phones will most likely vary in size with the ZenFone 3 and ZenFone 3 Deluxe being more or less on similar lines, and the Max, well, the biggest of the lot.
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Each phone also has a distinct punch line, that is, clarity, desire, and unlimited. While 'desire' could indicate the Deluxe's (more) premium design over the general ZenFone 3, and 'unlimited' could stand for the myriad possibilities that the Max's 'huge' size should entail in.
Also Read: It's official: Asus ZenFone 3 coming in June, to cost more than ZenFone 2
Asus will most likely 'unveil' its new ZenFones at its Zenvolution event on May 30 in Taiwan. To recall, company CEO Jerry Shen had previously said that the ZenFone 3 family of phones will be available in June, probably highlighting their market availability and not an official launch per se.
Since the Zenvolution event invite clearly has a mention of Intel on it and the new ZenFone 3s will have either Qualcomm or MediaTek chips inside, chances are the company will launch more products on May 30. We could be looking at more ZenPads or even a new ZenWatch.
According to Shen, 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. Asus expects the ZenFone Max to be the cream of the crop as far as sales are concerned accounting for about two thirds of shipments.
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After arriving in Mumbai, Tim Cook headed to iconic Taj Mahal Hotel, where he is staying in the Grand Luxury Suite which reportedly costs Rs 87,000 per night.
In the early hours of Wednesday Tim Cook steeped out and visited the Siddhivinayak temple. Inside the temple he met priests, performed rituals and got a taste of Indian hospitality and culture as he mingled with devotees.
At the temple, Cook also ran into Mukesh Ambani's son Anant Ambani. We are not sure if it was a coincidence or if the two planned to meet. We are also not sure if any business was discussed between the two or not, although Cook is very keenly watching the Jio 4G network that Reliance is rolling out in the country because according to the Apple CEO it may help the company sell more iPhones.
Along with Apple COO Jeff Williams, Cook met filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and took a tour of Mehboob Studio.
Later in the day, Cook met iOS app developers in Mumbai. "Great to hear from some of India's top iOS developers today. Innovative apps and many ideas for the future," he wrote on Twitter.
In his hotel, Cook held meetings with Indian business leaders. He reportedly met Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry, TCS managing director N Chandrasekaran and Vodafone chief executive Sunil Sood at the Taj Mahal Hotel.
Apple is probably trying to bring its Pay service in India and that could be the reason why Cook headed to ICICI headquarters in Mumbai on Wednesday and had a meeting with ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar.
The Apple CEO reportedly had lunch at Mukesh Ambani's residence Antilla. On this occasion we think that business was discussed. As Jio 4G service rolls out in India, it is possible that Apple and Reliance may enter into a partnership to offer iPhone with bundled Jio data plans.
The AmerKat explaining the relevance of
last week's decision on patent procedure
to whomever will listen...
Will this warning from Lord Justice Rix hold true following Positec?
What is the probative value of the material that could be produced? What is the cost of providing this probative material, in the context of the proceedings as a whole? In light of all the above, would disclosure be fair, proportionate and in the interest of justice (i.e. in accordance with the overriding objective)?
But if you are missing reading through
reams of inventors' notebooks, you can
purchase this handsome version here
on Amazon.
"Experience in IPEC shows that the obligation to disclose documents which may be adverse to a party's case can be preserved as a critical aspect of a fair trial at common law within an issue by issue based disclosure regime in which disclosure on some issues, such as obviousness, is not ordered because the likely probative value of what is produced is not worth the cost. Applying what I perceive to be the right approach under the Civil Procedure Rules as they now are, I am not satisfied that an order for standard disclosure, or an order for issue based disclosure including the issue of obviousness, would be in accordance with the overriding objective in this case. This is an ordinary obviousness case with no special features which might make such disclosure worth the cost."
of Mr Justice Birss inthat she forgot to write about it. Why the interest? Well, it has to do with a long-standing and "notorious" point in English patent law - disclosure.Positec wish to sell robotic lawnmowers in the UK. They are seeking to clear the path of Husqvarna's EP 1 512 053 ('053 Patent) relating to a method for operating an automatic device, such as a robotic lawnmower, under the guidance of an electronic "directing" system. Postiec therefore commenced a revocation action and declaration of non infringement. They claim that the '053 Patent is invalid in light of an earlier patent application (WO 99/59042, known as "Peless"). Their Grounds of Invalidity also refer to the common general knowledge (CGK), but they have yet to confirm whether their case is that the '053 Patent is obvious over the CGK alone or just over Peless in light of the CGK. That will be confirmed in due course by a Statement of Case.Husqvarna's Disclosure Report was prepared on the basis that disclosure on validity would be in accordance with paragraph 6.1 of the Practice Direction to Civil Procedure Rules 63 which requires disclosure of documents that came into existence within the four year window (i.e. two years either side of the priority date). However, when later trying to agree the Order for Directions (i.e. the order which governs the deadlines in English litigation, including disclosure and evidence), Husqvarna argued that no validity disclosure should be ordered.What is the correct approach to disclosure in light of CPR 31.5 ? How does that approach apply to the question of whether to order disclosure of documents arising from the making of the invention in an obviousness case?Mr Justice Birss commenced with a history of disclosure in obviousness cases. Whether or not an invention is obvious is judged by the notional skilled person. The skilled person, a legal construct, may have characteristics based in reality , but is not a real person. These nerds know all CGK, read obscure public documents and foresee only what is obvious (not what is inventive). They are not the real skilled person. They are not the inventor. Evidence of what the inventor actually did "can often be of little value" and is at risk of hindsight. The value of this secondary evidence (as opposed to primary expert evidence ) was discussed at length by Lord Justice Jacob in [2007] EWCA Civ 74 1. Although sometimes this secondary evidence can win a case, i.e. by telling the invention story of how the inventor toiled away in the dark (figuratively) before arriving at the invention (see [2010] EWCA 819 ), it is often a "costly distraction".There had previously been an attempt to limit disclosure on obviousness. First, an attempt by Mr Gratwick QC failed in the Court of Appeal in[1982] RPC 497. The issue was tackled again by the Patents Court in the 1990s, but again it was felt that a crucial aspect of common law disclosure is the ability to obtain documents that may be adverse to a party's case. A balance therefore needed to be struck. Cue the introduction of the RSC in 1995 (which would become para 6.1 of the Practice Direction to CPR 63). This limited disclosure by initially replacing disclosure on infringement by way of a product or process description (PPD) and providing a four year window for validity disclosure. This practice was well established by the mid-2000s.But validity disclosure still haunted parties and the courts. In 2007, Mr Justice Pumfrey tried to do away with disclosure on obviousness in. In the Court of Appeal, Lord Justice Jacob agreed stating that the principle of proportionality - which runs through the Civil Procedure Rules - normally requires that "such disclosure should not be ordered". However Rix and Pill LJJ reluctantly refused to follow him on the basis that easily revealed documents known to exist which prejudice a case would not be disclosed allowing "dishonest or cavalier litigants" the possibility to "reap an unmerited advantage, contrary to the interests of justice". However, any concerns about such sharp practice did not bear fruit, continued Mr Justice Birss, as exemplified by the experience in the Intellectual Property and Enterprise Court (IPEC) where there is no automatic right of disclosure and disclosure is addressed at the CMC on an issue-based approach. No complaints so far received .The 2013 amendments to CPR 31 (Disclosure and Inspection), following the Jackson review , have made a material difference to the application ofIn particular CPR 31.5(7) which provides a menu of potential disclosure options governed by the preface that the court needs to have regard for the overriding objective and the need to "limit disclosure to that which is necessary to deal with case justly" before determining which of the orders to make. Standard disclosure is no longer the default option. However, given the nature of patent cases, the judge commented, issue-based disclosure on obviousness, is the same as standard disclosure.At paragraph 25, Mr Justice Birss outlined the questions that need to be answered by the court when deciding whether and what disclosure to order:On the first question - probative value - Husqvarna confirmed that it would not be relying on commercial success, calling the inventor, relying on the reactions of others to the invention or rely on its own internal documents to support its case on inventive step. If they had, Birss J concluded, these would be reasons to order disclosure.Disclosure will not be probative for purposes of cross-examination. Putting documents to witnesses in cross-examination that show what the inventor did assumes that the inventor is equivalent to the notional person skilled in the art (which he may or may not be). This does little to answer the question as to what the notional person skilled in the art would have done based on the prior art and/or CGK. Further, an expert's opinion on the steps that the inventor actually took, again. is not probative. This is because it assumes that the expert has not thought of an obvious path from the prior art to the invention in the first place. Such an approach is potentially tainted with hindsight and adds little to the cross-examination point.Positec argued that a particular way of thinking on the basis of the prior art would be what the notional skilled person would do. If this particular thinking and path was reflected by the inventor's documents, then this would support Positec's case that the invention was obvious. However, again, the relevance of this disclosure depends on how close the notional skilled person is to the inventor(s) and their working context. Importantly, held the judge, in this case it was unclear if this point was even in issue. If and when it arises, provision could be made for disclosure on this point if it was considered to be required after the exchange of fact evidence and experts' reports (a point reiterated again by Mr Justice Birss at paragraph 42).The judge also rejected the contention that Husqvarna arguing that disclosure should not be ordered, despite serving a Disclosure Report signed by a statement of truth, was indicative of a party who found a "smoking gun". Mr Justice Birss stated that "in the vast majority of the minority of cases in which obviousness disclosure from a patentee plays any material role in litigation at all, it helps the patentee."On the second question - cost - Husqvarna, by way of its solicitor's witness statement, tried to argue that the value and importance of the dispute was low. However, the judge held that the picture this painted was wrong. The case is not at the very low or very high end of cases in the Patents Court, but it concerned rival manufacturers of consumer products in a substantial market with a likely turnover in the millions, if not tens of millions. The costs budgets filed in the case ranged from 0.8-1.1 million of which a minimum amount of 90,000 was estimated by the judge to be attributable to disclosure on obviousness. This amount was "not a very substantial aspect of the costs of this litigation but neither is it in any sense a trivial sum of money".On the final question - the overriding objective - the judged refused disclosure. He acknowledged that this runs counter to the Court of Appeal in, but that the change to CPR 31.5(7) means it is not a binding authority. He concluded:The AmeriKat understands that, so far, Positec have not appealed the decision so this case may stand as the new (or at least reported) approach to obviousness disclosure in the UK Patents Court. So, has Mr Justice Birss finally achieved what those before him tried and failed to do? Will much really change in the Patents Court, given that some judges (shout out to Mr Justice Arnold) have been refusing or extremely restricting disclosure in patent cases? Will parties be scrambling to argue that their obviousness cases have "special features" ripe for disclosure? Are English patent litigators actually a bit more like their Continental cousins than they care to admit when it comes to disclosure? Is this all getting us into shape for the UPC?Despite all the questions (some of which are tongue in cheek), it is clear that following this decision parties need to be alive the test and considerations outlined by Mr Justice Birss when seeking or resisting obviousness disclosure. In light of CPR 31.5(7), even if parties agree that disclosure should be provided, if they have a very active judge at their CMC, they may need to be prepared to answer the questions posed above. Merpel wonders whether, if they take some of the cues from this decision, parties may agree to address the question of disclosure after exchange of expert reports, at which point the issues should be narrowed and targeted issue-based disclosure more easily ordered. Now that would be something....
The Maldives believes that the policies that Iranian Government pursues in the Middle East, and in particular, in the Arabian Gulf region, is detrimental to peace and security in the region, which, in many ways, is also linked to stability, peace and security of the Maldives, The Maldives Foreign Ministry said in a statement, according to Sputnik.
Last month an Islamic Summit in Turkey attended by many of the regions states called on Iran to respect national sovereignty and practice good neighborliness. Despite these pleas Iran has continued to interfere across borders. Fermenting dissent across the Persian Gulf in Bahrain, supplying weapons to Houthi rebels in Yemen and supporting the ailing dictator Bashar al Assad in Syria.
The tiny island, known as Kings Island, is the second state in recent weeks to cool diplomatic relations with Iran after Jordan recalled their ambassador in April over fears of intervention in the domestic affairs of Arab countries. Saudi Arabia and Iran severed ties earlier in January following an attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran.
Mehdi Afravi, a street vendor in Naderi Street in the city of Ahwaz in southern Iran, committed suicide by throwing himself in front of a speeding train on May 6. He too had had his goods confiscated by municipal officers, after which he was left without a means to provide income for his family.
At least four other people committed suicide on May 14 and 15 alone. On Saturday, May 14, a 21-year-old student of linguistics and English literature in Shiraz University, along with two from Minoudasht in the city of Gorgan, committed suicide, while a 57-year-old man killed himself on May 15 in Aliabad of Boukan.
Also in May, a 65-year-old man by the name of Javad hanged himself from the pedestrian bridge over Mirdamad Street. A suicide note was found in his pocket which explained that while working at a motel he developed glaucoma but lacked the financial means to obtain medical treatment. Seeing no way to continue to support himself after the loss of his eyesight, he resolved to end his own life.
In the recent weeks, there have been many pictures and videos posted to social media illustrating cases of suicide or self-immolation. Some Iran watchers say the rising rate of suicide in the country is a result of poverty, unemployment and extensive suppression. The number of suicides has Iranian regime authorities worried since it is regarded as a form of protest.
Kazem Jalali, a parliamentarian, noted in his remarks to the regimes assembly on May 15: We need to acknowledge that the countrys situation, especially regarding livelihood and economy, is not coherent with the renowned name of the Islamic Republic in the world and the region. The countrys economic growth has been very low, if not negative. The unemployment of the young, especially the educated, is like a time bomb that is about to explode.
Ahmad Shojaei, the head of the countrys forensics organization, declared the number of suicides in the previous Persian year, ending on March 19, 2016, as 4,020. According to these official statistics, an average of 11 people ended their lives each day throughout that year.
Kazem Malakouti, head of Scientific Assembly to Prevent Suicide, acknowledged in his interview with the state-run ILNA News Agency on May 9: When someone kills himself in a crowded place like a bridge or subway, his action is not only dangerous but a form of protest.
Khamenei has ordered seven thousand more morality police in Tehran to target women who are mal-veiled and has ordered more crackdowns on social media and the press.
Stevenson said that as Western countries applaud the Iranian regimes President Hassan Rouhani, we must not forget that since he took office in 2013 over 2,300 men and 66 women have been executed in the country, many of which were hanged in public. He reminded that last month alone over 57 people were hanged and a woman was publically flogged in the city of Golpayegan. A young man, already blinded by the regime in one eye, has been sentenced to be blinded in the other eye and all because he wouldnt pay blood money to the alleged victim. A 39-year-old man had his fingers amputated earlier this month after being accused of theft. Stevenson said: This is the nature of law and justice in the rotten and decaying regime of velayat-e-faqih (absolute clerical rule), dominated by the fascist mullahs.
He highlights that now the West is keen to work with the regime, drooling at the prospect of rich profits to be reaped following the ending of sanctions in the wake of the nuclear deal. Last month Federica Mogherini, the EUs High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, was in Iran with seven EU commissioners to discuss trade and areas of cooperation. During this trip there was no comment about the human rights abuse, the oppression of women, the suppression of workers, the imprisonment of journalists and the barbaric punishments that have become an everyday occurrence.
We are still spellbound by Iran, Stevenson said. We are still pursuing the failed policy of appeasement of the mullahs. President Barack Obamas nuclear deal with Iran was pushed through to secure his footnote in history. He swept aside all warnings and fears and signed an agreement that effectively ended sanctions on Iran and released billions of dollars of frozen assets, providing a windfall for a government that was teetering on the brink of economic collapse. But far from investing in its own people, the mullah-led regime has used this money to redouble its spending on weapons and on exporting terror through Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and Quds Force, both of which are listed terrorist organizations in the West and both of which are involved in almost every conflict in the Middle East, particularly in Syria.
Stevenson mentioned Rouhanis trip to Kerman in South-Eastern Iran last week where he heaped praise on Qasem Soleimani, the Quds Force commander a leading terrorist who has been involved with some of the most horrendous atrocities seen in Iraq and Syria.
The West is wanting to make deals with a country that is ruled by theocracy and with a regime that supplies arms, money and military personnel to Middle Eastern conflict zones.
Stevenson called on Western companies to realise that when dealing with Iran, they are effectively dealing with the Revolutionary Guards Corps. Irans economy, he explained, is largely controlled by Khameneis gang and the IRGC. Trading with this deeply corrupt regime is a high-risk venture; the absence of political and economic stability make investing in Iran a precarious business. Any money the regime gets is quickly rolled over into warmongering and terrorism.
Stevenson highlighted that the Iranian opposition recently revealed that after the nuclear deal was signed, Tehran contributed several billion dollars to Assad so he could purchase weapons from Russia, allowing him to continue his bloody civil war in Syria. Our governments would do well to think long and hard before they do business with Tehran. Those who put profits before people and human rights will not be quickly forgotten when this criminal regime is toppled and freedom and democracy are restored in Iran.
Stevenson is a former member of the European Parliament and former chair of the Parliaments Delegation for Relations with Iraq.
The 17 nation group renewed calls for a national cessation of hostilities and the allowance of humanitarian aid throughout the country. These two objectives seem to have a modicum of support across the board, however a third objective was a sticking point. The framework for a political transition is incredibly contentious, with Russia and the United States ever at loggerheads of how to resolve the issue.
The target for August is to have a framework in place, a framework agreed, for a political transition. Were talking to the Russians, trying to get a better environment for the political negotiations, particularly on the regime side, a US official said, according to The Local Austria.
US officials are adamant Assad should go, aiming for an August 1 deadline on the framework for doing so. Yet support from Iran and Russia for the beleaguered dictator has given the war months, if not years, more to run. United Nations talks in Geneva headed by the UNs Envoy for the region Staffan de Mistura have failed.
A pessimistic atmosphere pervaded the meeting in Vienna between countries that support President Bashar al-Assad and his enemies, all of which have committed to reviving a ceasefire and peace process that have been unraveling since last month.
In a joint statement after the meeting attended by the United States, European and Middle East powers that oppose Assad as well as Russia and Iran which support him, the powers called for a full cessation of hostilities and access for aid.
In stronger language than in the past, they warned the warring factions that if they repeatedly broke the truce they risked forgoing the protection of the February 27 cessation of hostilities agreement sponsored by Washington and Moscow.
They also directed the U.N.s World Food Programme to air drop food, medicine and water to besieged communities starting on June 1 if humanitarian access was denied by either side.
But they did not agree on a date for peace talks to resume.
Irans position at the ISSG has also been criticized.
Some Syrians have also expressed anger at the support given to Assad by Iranian forces.
Some still living in Syria have posted photos of themselves holding signs telling the ISSG that inviting the Iranian delegation is the same as inviting their killers to the meeting, according to The Local.
The message written on one sign calls for the Iranian regime to be held accountable for their crimes committed in Syria in the past five years.
The Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) described the inviting of Irans Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to the talks as tantamount to asking an arsonist to take part in putting out the fire.
The Iranian regime has been the main reason for the Assad dictatorships survival. Without the mullahs massive military intervention and full-fledged support for Assad, his regime would have been overthrown a long time ago, said the NCRIs Shahin Gobadi in a statement to The Local Austria. (Based in part on wire reports)
ABC News(ROME) -- The European Court of Human Rights has accepted an appeal by Amanda Knox's lawyers.
In the appeal, Knox says she was subjected to an unfair trial in Italy and maltreated during the 2007 investigation into the death of British student Meredith Kercher.
Knox and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were at first sentenced to more than 25 years in prison for the murder of Kercher. Eight years later, Italy's top appeals court fully acquitted the pair.
Knox says she was questioned for hours without a lawyer or official translator, and was smacked on the head during questioning leading up to her first trial.
Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
This commentary has been characterized by opponents of the deal as proof that the Obama administrations Iran policy and its perspective on the Iranian regime itself were misrepresented to the American public. A number of critics have suggested that in absence of the Rhodes narrative about nascent Iranian moderation, the White House would have had a much more difficult time winning approval from the US Congress for the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. As it stands, that approval was won only very narrowly, with a minority of the legislature exploiting congressional rules to defeat majority support for a resolution of disapproval.
Naturally, members of that majority opposition to the deal have been eager to question Ben Rhodes and other administration figures in the midst of ongoing discussion about the Times profile. As such, Oversight Committee chairman Jason Chaffetz requested that Rhodes testify before Tuesdays hearing, but the White House rejected the request. Chaffetz, a Republican representative from the state of Utah, even attempted to entice the administration into changing its mind by offering to also hear testimony from Senator Tom Cotton, whom White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest had accused of misrepresenting the nuclear agreement on the Republican side.
Chaffetz reportedly sent a message to Cotton saying that his attendance at the hearing would be contingent upon Rhodes accepting his invitation. But the White House remained unmoved and Fox News reported that White House counsel had cited what appeared to be an executive privilege-related claim, asserting that such a senior presidential advisers appearance threatens the independence and autonomy of the President, as well as his ability to receive candid advice and counsel.
Fox News also noted that the discord over Rhodes non-attendance signified an expanding feud between the Obama administration and members of Congress who remain opposed to the JCPOA. That agreement exchanged limits on Irans nuclear stockpiles and enrichment activities for large-scale relief from US-led economic sanctions. Common concerns among opponents of the deal include the notion that Iran will use its access to tens of billions of dollars in unfrozen assets in order to finance other dangerous and destabilizing activities in the region.
Tuesdays hearing also gave foreign policy experts an opportunity to highlight additional perceived effects of the agreement. For instance, Townhall quoted Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute as saying that the vague wording of some of the deals terms opened up the door for Iran to pursue formerly illicit arms sales with foreign countries including major adversaries of the US.
Rubin noted that under the agreement, Iran is still barred from buying offensive weapons for five years, but the deal does not define what offensive means. He went on to allege that because of this, Iran is on a shopping spree in Russia and China right now.
Prior to the conclusion of JCPOA negotiations, Russia announced that it would be seizing upon the new global environment to resume a transaction that had been initiated with Iran in 2009 for the sale of an advanced S-300 missile defense system. Delivery of that system finally began last month, but around the same time, officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran publicly expressed interest in a wide range of other Russian weapons that they would be interested in purchasing, including tanks and fighter jets.
Rubins commentary contributes to the perception among the deals detractors, that the Obama administration has been excessively conciliatory toward the regime, and has gotten little in return. Such criticism extends beyond the nuclear deal itself, with some critics even going so far as to accuse the administration of maintaining a policy of appeasement.
Both with respect to the nuclear deal and the broader environment of Iran-US relations, these same critics have suggested that the West has gotten very little in return for these policies from Iran. This criticism is underscored by the apparent fact that Iranian propaganda and provocations toward the US and some of its allies have actually increased in both frequency and intensity since the conclusion of nuclear negotiations.
One oft-cited example of this is the January incident in which the naval forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps seized 10 American sailors who had mistakenly strayed into Iranian territorial waters. The Obama administration consistently downplayed the incident, suggesting that the contacts made with the Iranian government during nuclear negotiations helped to secure the sailors release in less than 24 hours. However, the IRGC and other Iranian hardliners portrayed the incident as a victory over the US and repeatedly broadcast images and video of the captives on state media.
These broadcasts were decried by a number of US congressmen and other commentators who pointed out that in wartime, such use of prisoners in state propaganda would constitute a violation of the Geneva Conventions.
Now, the Washington Free Beacon has reported that the initial reports of the treatment of these captive sailors were severely incomplete. According to Randy Forbes of the House Armed Services Committee, the classified details of the incident describe treatment that will likely be shocking to most Americans once that information comes out.
But this is not expected to happen for as long as a year, ostensibly because the Obama administration is actively keeping the full details under wraps. This interpretation of the situation lends further credence to critics claims that the administration has swept information under the rug when it threatened to conflict with the moderation narrative laid out by Ben Rhodes.
Arguably, some of this information relates to Tehrans apparent willingness to go along with the restrictions imposed by the JCPOA over the long term. On Monday, The Tower reported that Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Agency of Iran, said that the country was currently in the process of advancing its nuclear enrichment technology and boosting its theoretical capability to enrich large volumes of highly enriched uranium in a small window of time.
Representative Forbes has made efforts to introduce legislation that would increase sanctions on Iran in response to the alleged mistreatment of American sailors. Under the JCPOA, the US is technically allowed to continue imposing sanctions in response to matters unrelated to the nuclear deal, although Iranian officials have variously insisted that they would regard any new sanctions whatsoever as reason enough to cancel the deal
In pushing for new sanctions measures, Forbes criticized the administration for having actually thanked the Iranian government after the sailors were released, something that he described as a slap in the sailors face. He added, Instead of thanking them the administration should be standing up and saying its wrong.
Forbes sanctions measure is only one in a series of efforts that Congress has taken in order to push for enhanced pressure on the Islamic Republic, in absence of leadership from President Obama. Over the past several months, these measures have generally tended to be defeated by the presidents supporters in Congress, although even if they were to proceed they would almost certainly face a presidential veto. Nonetheless, those efforts serve to maintain political pressure on the Obama administration, and they may also encourage state-level governments to contribute to congressional efforts to limit the effects of sanctions relief.
As one example of this, the Statesman reported on Monday that Texas Governor Greg Abbott had pointedly rejected calls from the Obama administration for states to lift their own Iran sanctions, which are separate from those previously imposed by the federal government. Approximately 30 states maintain such sanctions, which prevent government retirement accounts and other state investments from investing in companies that do business with the Islamic Republic. Some of these restrictions were specifically imposed in response to strong majority opposition to the removal of federal sanctions, or to Obamas Iran policy in general.
[May 17, 2016] Denali Holding Inc. Announces Pricing of Private Offering of $20.0 Billion of First Lien Notes
Denali Holding Inc. (the "Company") today announced the pricing of the previously announced offering by two of its wholly-owned subsidiaries as co-issuers (the "co-issuers") of $3,750,000,000 3.480 percent First Lien Notes due 2019 (the "2019 Notes"), $4,500,000,000 4.420 percent First Lien Notes due 2021 (the "2021 Notes"), $3,750,000,000 5.450 percent First Lien Notes due 2023 (the "2023 Notes"), $4,500,000,000 6.020 percent First Lien Notes due 2026 (the "2026 Notes"), $1,500,000,000 8.100 percent First Lien Notes due 2036 (the "2036 Notes") and $2,000,000,000 8.350 percent First Lien Notes due 2046 (the "2046 Notes" and, together with the 2019 Notes, the 2021 Notes, the 2023 Notes, the 2026 Notes and the 2036 Notes, the "Notes"). The 2019 Notes will bear interest at 3.480 percent per annum and will mature on June 1, 2019. The 2021 Notes will bear interest at 4.420 percent per annum and will mature on June 15, 2021. The 2023 Notes will bear interest at 5.450 percent per annum and will mature on June 15, 2023. The 2026 Notes will bear interest at 6.020 percent per annum and will mature on June 15, 2026. The 2036 Notes will bear interest at 8.100 percent per annum and will mature on July 15, 2036. The 2046 Notes will bear interest at 8.350 percent per annum and will mature on July 15, 2046. Interest on the 2019 Notes will be payable semi-annually on June 1 and December 1 of each year, beginning on December 1, 2016. Interest on the 2021 Notes, the 2023 Notes and the 2026 Notes will be payable semi-annually on June 15 and December 15 of each year, beginning on December 15, 2016. Interest on the 2036 Notes and the 2046 Notes will be payable semi-annually on January 15 and July 15 of each year, beginning on January 15, 2017. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering of the Notes as part of its financing for its previously-announced acquisition of EMC Corporation (News - Alert) (the "Dell-EMC Merger"). The offering is expected to close on or around June 1, 2016 subject to customary closing conditions. It is expected that the proceeds of the offering will be deposited in escrow, with such proceeds to be released to finance the consummation of the Dell (News - Alert)-EMC Merger subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions. Upon consummation of the Dell-EMC Merger, Dell International L.L.C., a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of the Company, and EMC Corporation will assume all of the co-issuers' obligations under the Notes. The Notes will be guaranteed on a joint and several basis by the Company, Denali Intermediate Inc., Dell Inc. and each of Denali Intermediate Inc.'s wholly-owned domestic subsidiaries (including EMC Corporation's wholly-owned domestic subsidiaries following consummation of the Dell-EMC Merger) that guarantees obligations under the new senior secured credit facilities that will be entered into in connection with the Dell-EMC Merger. The offering of the Notes will be made in a private transaction in reliance upon an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), in the United States only to investors who are "qualified institutiona buyers," as that term is defined in Rule 144A under the Securities Act, or outside the United States pursuant to Regulation S under the Securities Act. The Notes have not been registered under the Securities Act or the securities laws of any other jurisdiction and may not be offered or sold in the United States without registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements.
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of any of the Notes in any jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. Dell is a trademark of Dell Inc.
Dell disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others.
Denali Holding, Inc. Disclosure Regarding Forward Looking Statements This communication contains forward-looking statements, which reflect Denali Holding Inc.'s current expectations. In some cases, you can identify these statements by such forward-looking words as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "confidence," "may," "plan," "potential," "should," "will" and "would," or similar expressions. Factors or risks that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the results we anticipate include, but are not limited to: (i) the failure to consummate or delay in consummating the proposed transaction; (ii) the risk that a condition to closing of the proposed transaction may not be satisfied or that required financing for the proposed transaction may not be available or may be delayed; (iii) the risk that a regulatory approval that may be required for the proposed transaction is delayed, is not obtained, or is obtained subject to conditions that are not anticipated; (iv) risk as to the trading price of Class V Common Stock to be issued by Denali Holding Inc. in the proposed transaction relative to the trading price of shares of VMware, Inc. common stock; (v) the effect of the announcement of the proposed transaction on Denali Holding Inc.'s relationships with its customers, operating results and business generally; and (vi) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions. Denali Holding Inc. undertakes no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law. Additional Information and Where to Find It This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and otherwise in accordance with applicable law. This communication is being made in respect of the proposed business combination transaction between EMC Corporation and Denali Holding Inc. The proposed transaction will be submitted to the shareholders of EMC Corporation for their consideration. In connection with the issuance of Class V Common Stock of Denali Holding Inc. in the proposed transaction, Denali Holding Inc. has filed with the SEC (News - Alert) a Registration Statement on Form S-4 (File No. 333-208524) that includes a preliminary proxy statement/prospectus regarding the proposed transaction, and each of Denali Holding Inc. and EMC Corporation plans to file with the SEC other documents regarding the proposed transaction. After the registration statement has been declared effective by the SEC, a definitive proxy statement/prospectus will be mailed to each EMC Corporation shareholder entitled to vote at the special meeting in connection with the proposed transaction. INVESTORS ARE URGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS AND ANY OTHER DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE TRANSACTION FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY IF AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Investors may obtain copies of the preliminary proxy statement/prospectus and all other documents filed with the SEC regarding the proposed transaction, free of charge, at the SEC's website (http://www.sec.gov). Investors may also obtain these documents, free of charge, from EMC Corporation's website (http://www.EMC.com) under the link "Investor Relations" and then under the tab "Financials" then "SEC Filings", from Denali Holding Inc.'s website (http://www.dell.com/futurereadydell), or by directing a request to: EMC Corporation, 176 South Street, Hopkinton, Massachusetts, 01748, Attn: Investor Relations, 866-362-6973. Participants in the Solicitation Denali Holding Inc. and certain of its directors, officers and employees may participate in the solicitation of proxies from EMC Corporation shareholders in connection with the proposed transaction without additional compensation. Additional information regarding the persons who may, under the rules of the SEC, participate in the solicitation of EMC Corporation shareholders in connection with the proposed transaction and a description of their direct and indirect interest, by security holdings or otherwise, is set forth in the proxy statement/prospectus filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed transaction. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160517006729/en/
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[May 18, 2016] 87% of Mexican and 84% of Brazilian IT Decision Makers Say their Organization is Vulnerable to Data Threats
SAN JOSE, Calif., May 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Vormetric, a Thales company, and a leader in enterprise data protection for physical, virtual, big data, and cloud environments, today announced the results of the Mexico and Brazil Edition of the 2016 Vormetric Data Threat Report (DTR). The report is issued in conjunction with analyst firm 451 Research with polling for the report featuring the responses of 1,100 senior IT security executives at large enterprises worldwide, including over 100 each in Mexico and Brazil. This edition of the 4th annual report extends earlier findings in the global report with detailed findings for Mexico and Brazil about perceptions of threats to data, rates of data breach failures, data security stances and IT security spending plans. Critical findings: Enterprises feel vulnerable to data threats: 87 percent in Mexico and 84 percent in Brazil
(up from 69 percent in Brazil for 2015).
and 84 percent in (up from 69 percent in for 2015). 65 percent in Mexico and 62 percent in Brazil had experienced a past data breach, indicating that there are good reasons for this fear.
and 62 percent in had experienced a past data breach, indicating that there are good reasons for this fear. The top external threats identified were attacks by cybercriminals out for financial gain at 31 percent for Mexico and 45 percent for Brazil .
and 45 percent for . Spending is increasing to offset these threats, with 65 percent in Mexico and 73 percent in Brazil increasing spending to protect data.
and 73 percent in increasing spending to protect data. But spending is increasing fastest on defenses that are no longer completely effective at protecting data: In Mexico network and endpoint defenses at 52 percent each, and in Brazil network defenses at 60 percent and endpoint defenses at 58 percent.
Click to Tweet: Data Threats in Mexico and Brazil: Enterprises at Risk #2016DataThreat http://bit.ly/1Oe1Civ
"Data breaches were a problem in every region we surveyed," said Garrett Bekker, senior analyst, information security, at 451 Research and the author of the report. "Clearly, IT security leaders in both Mexico and Brazil are worried about data breaches, but are being held back from adding data centric security by a perception of complexity (Mexico 49 percent, Brazil 50 percent) and lack of staff (Mexico 45 percent, Brazil 46 percent), while also increasing spending the most in legacy technologies like network and anti-virus security tools that are not able to ensure the safety of data once attackers compromise networks and systems." Internal and external threats External threats Just as in the US and elsewhere across the world, organizations in Mexico and Brazil selected cybercriminals out for financial gain as the top external threat: Mexico 31 percent
31 percent Brazil 45 percent
45 percent U.S. 41 percent Internal threats Ratings for the risks from insiders were a different story, while elsewhere in the world privileged users are the top concern, in Mexico and Brazil executives were rated as the top risk. Elsewhere organizations identified privileged users as the top threat, and with good reason. Because their roles give them access to all the data available to the systems or applications they manage, they are a primary risk for data theft internally, and their account information is a highly desired target for external attackers attempting to steal data. Top selections for the most dangerous insiders: Executives: Mexico 58 percent, Brazil 54 percent, U.S. 46 percent
58 percent, 54 percent, U.S. 46 percent Privileged users: Mexico 53 percent, Brazil 51 percent, U.S. 63 percent Compliance is a priority but compliance is not enough Compliance standards are a business reality, and a fundamental requirement for many organizations. The problem is that these standards are slow moving, and quickly fall behind fast evolving attacks. In fact, breaches have occurred time after time at organizations that were certified compliant with PCI DSS or other standards. Yet high percentages of respondents viewed compliance requirements as either 'very' or 'extremely' effective in preventing data breaches. Ratings for compliance as 'very' or 'extremely' effective at stopping data breaches: Brazil 83 percent (highest percentage globally)
83 percent (highest percentage globally) Mexico 57 percent
57 percent U.S. 67 percent Old IT security spending habits continue even as their effectiveness at protecting data falls For enterprises in both Mexico and Brazil, the study found that increases in IT security spending to protect data are concentrated in tools that consistently fail to stop today's multi-layer attacks: network and endpoint defenses, with data-at-rest defense spending a lower priority. Planned increases in spending over the next 12 months to protect data: Network defenses: Brazil 60 percent, Mexico 52 percent
60 percent, 52 percent Endpoint and mobile defenses: Brazil 58 percent, Mexico 52 percent
58 percent, 52 percent Data-at-rest defenses: Brazil 48 percent, Mexico 40 percent Sensitive data in the cloud Organizations in Mexico and Brazil are planning to use sensitive data within cloud environments at much higher rates than the average across the world, and are worried about it with 80 percent of enterprises in Mexico and 79 percent in Brazil very or extremely concerned about potential exposures from use of sensitive data in cloud environments. Rates of storage of sensitive data in cloud environments: Software as a Service (SaaS): Mexico 64 percent, Brazil 71 percent, global 53 percent
64 percent, 71 percent, global 53 percent Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Mexico 61 percent, Brazil 60 percent, global 53 percent
61 percent, 60 percent, global 53 percent Platform as a Service (PaaS): Mexico 50 percent, Brazil 63 percent, global 49 percent The good news for Mexico and Brazil A real positive is the top driver for IT security spending in both countries, unlike the U.S where compliance is the top driver (52 percent), in Mexico and Brazil reputation and brand protection are the highest priorities (Mexico 53 percent, Brazil 54 percent). This is good news because a focus beyond compliance on protecting data can lead to a more effective data security stance than compliance alone can give. Other positives include: Increases in spending to protect sensitive data: 64 percent in Mexico and 62 percent in Brazil
and 62 percent in Plans to invest in data-at-rest defenses this year: 40 percent in Mexico and 48 percent in Brazil Data-at-rest security tool plans Many are also planning to implement 'newer' security tools that are more effective at protecting data even when other defenses have been compromised. These include tokenization (44 percent Mexico, 54 percent Brazil), application encryption (48 percent Mexico, 50 percent Brazil) security event and information management (SIEM) systems (50 percent Mexico, 45 percent Brazil) and privileged user access management (36 percent Mexico, 30 percent Brazil) "IT security leaders in both countries are investing to help solve the problem, but surprisingly, are failing to connect the dots about the best solutions to use," said Tina Stewart, Vormetric vice president of marketing. "Low levels of spending on data-at-rest security controls, and outdated investments in IT security technologies that are less effective at protecting data, are putting their organizations at risk." The research report is available from Vormetric and can be found here. About 451 Research 451 Research is a preeminent information technology research and advisory company. With a core focus on technology innovation and market disruption, we provide essential insight for leaders of the digital economy. More than 100 analysts and consultants deliver that insight via syndicated research, advisory services and live events to over 1,000 client organizations in North America, Europe and around the world. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in New York, 451 Research is a division of The 451 Group. About Vormetric, a Thales company Vormetric's comprehensive high-performance data protection platform helps companies move confidently and quickly. Our seamless and scalable platform is the most effective way to protect data wherever it residesany file, database and application, in any server environment. Advanced transparent encryption, powerful access controls and centralized key management let organizations encrypt everything efficiently, with minimal disruption. Regardless of content, database or applicationwhether physical, virtual or in the cloudVormetric Data Security enables confidence, speed and trust by encrypting the data that builds business. Vormetric Data Security was recently acquired by Thales Group and is now a Thales company. Please visit: www.vormetric.com and find us on Twitter @Vormetric. About Thales
Thales is a global technology leader for the Aerospace, Transport, Defence and Security markets. With 62,000 employees in 56 countries, Thales reported sales of 14 billion in 2015. With over 22,000 engineers and researchers, Thales has a unique capability to design and deploy equipment, systems and services to meet the most complex security requirements. Its exceptional international footprint allows it to work closely with its customers all over the world. Positioned as a value-added systems integrator, equipment supplier and service provider, Thales is one of Europe's leading players in the security market. The Group's security teams work with government agencies, local authorities and enterprise customers to develop and deploy integrated, resilient solutions to protect citizens, sensitive data and critical infrastructure. Drawing on its strong cryptographic capabilities, Thales is a global leader in data protection and one of the world leaders in cybersecurity products and solutions for defence, critical infrastructure and telecommunication operators, industrial and financial companies. Covering the entire cybersecurity chain, Thales offers a comprehensive range of services and solutions that includes: cybersecurity consulting and testing, cyber-secured software centric system design / development / integration and certification, provision and through-life management of data protection products and services, secured IT outsourcing and cloud computing solutions, as well as managed security services based on our network of Security Operation Centers in France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130626/SF38541LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/87-of-mexican-and-84-of-brazilian-it-decision-makers-say-their-organization-is-vulnerable-to-data-threats-300270543.html SOURCE Vormetric
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[May 18, 2016] Genus and Caribou Biosciences Announce Exclusive Collaboration for Leading CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing Technology in Livestock Species
Genus plc (LSE: GNS) ("Genus"), a global pioneer in animal genetics, and Caribou Biosciences, Inc. ("Caribou"), a leader in the revolutionary field of CRISPR-Cas gene editing, are pleased to announce a multi-year strategic collaboration where Genus receives a worldwide, exclusive license to Caribou's leading CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology platform in certain livestock species. This is a significant move for Genus and marks the largest technology-driven alliance that Genus has made to date. The partnership positions Caribou at the forefront of an emerging market for which CRISPR-Cas9 could have profound benefits to animal welfare and society. Caribou's market-leading CRISPR-Cas9 technology accurately targets and cuts DNA to produce precise and controllable changes to the genome. This partnership further strengthens Genus' leadership in applying gene editing technology to improve animal health and well-being. It will provide Caribou with opportunities within the animal genetics space and offers a novel gateway to apply its technology to help improve the welfare of food-producing animals. The agreement gives Genus exclusive access to Caribou's CRISPR-Cas9 technology for the development of new traits in pigs, cattle and potentially other livestock species. In addition to an upfront payment, Caribou is eligible to receive regulatory and commercial milestone payments as well as royalties on licensed product sales from Genus. Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Caribou and Genus will collaborate during a four-year research program, funded by Genus, which may be extended for an additional three years. Among the first targets of the program will be the further development and optimization of Genus' Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus ("PRRSv") resistant pigs, the discovery of which was announced by Genus in December 2015. PRRSv is a devastating disease that can cause persistent infection in pigs and lead to reproductive failure, reduced growth, and premature death. There is currently no cure for the disease, which causes the suffering or death of millions of pigs and piglets each year. Gene editing with CRISPR-Cas9 technology allows precise changes to be made in the genome of an animal without introducing genetic material from another organism. In the case of the PRRSv resistant pigs, a small change can be mde to inactivate a single pig gene that produces a protein, known as CD163, which the PRRS virus requires for infection to occur. The gene editing technology used to create protection from PRRSv does not involve transplanting genes from one species to another.
The strategic collaboration and license agreement will enable the acceleration of multiple research and development projects across Genus' bovine and porcine businesses. Additionally, Genus has invested $5 million in Caribou's recently completed Series B equity funding round. The decision to partner with, and invest in, Caribou reflects Genus' continued aim to be a global pioneer in animal genetic improvement to help nourish the world. Speaking about the collaboration with Caribou, Dr. Jonathan Lightner, Chief Scientific Officer and Head of R&D of Genus, said:
"This latest investment into genome editing ensures Genus will remain at the forefront of the development and application of technology to support the well-being of livestock. Caribou's CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing platform and its unique skills are significant to Genus as they provide the capabilities necessary to achieve the next stage of our PRRSv and other gene editing pipeline programs. This relationship will enable new and exciting research opportunities that will strengthen and accelerate Genus' gene editing capabilities. We look forward to working closely with the Caribou team." Dr. Rachel Haurwitz, President and Chief Executive Officer of Caribou said: "We are delighted to have entered into this collaboration with Genus, a leader in the animal genetics industry. We look forward to working collaboratively with Genus to apply our CRISPR-Cas9 technology platform to help improve animal health. We believe this partnership validates our leadership in the CRISPR-Cas technology field and exemplifies a key component of our strategy to work with world-class partners who are aligned with our vision to deploy the technology in responsible and ethical ways to solve important problems in healthcare, agriculture, and industrial biotechnology. Genus is clearly such a partner." This announcement and more information about Genus and Caribou are available on the Genus website (www.genusplc.com) and the Caribou website (www.cariboubio.com), respectively. About Genus plc:
Genus is headquartered in Basingstoke, United Kingdom and is a world-leading pioneer in animal genetics. The company helps nourish the world through the responsible exploration of new technologies that benefit its customers, the well-being of livestock, and ultimately consumers. Genus' subsidiary PIC is the global leader in providing genetically superior pig breeding stock and technical support for maximising genetic potential to commercial pork producers. Genus' customers' animals produce offspring with greater production efficiency, and quality, and use these to supply the animal protein supply chain. Genus companies operate in over 25 countries on six continents, with research laboratories located in Madison, Wisconsin. About Caribou Biosciences, Inc.:
Caribou is a developer of cellular engineering and analysis solutions based on CRISPR technologies located in Berkeley, California. The company was founded by pioneers of CRISPR-Cas biology based on research carried out in the Doudna Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. Caribou has generated substantial intellectual property around CRISPR systems and its applications. In addition, Caribou has in-licensed intellectual property from multiple entities including the University of California, the University of Vienna, and E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. "Caribou Biosciences" and Caribou's logo are trademarks of Caribou Biosciences, Inc. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160518005311/en/
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[May 18, 2016] SMIC, UC-Riverside and SHRIME/PKU launch the Joint Center for ESD Protection Design
SHANGHAI, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation ("SMIC", NYSE: SMI; SEHK: 981), China's largest and most advanced semiconductor foundry and one of the world's largest foundries, University of California, Riverside ("UCR"), and Shanghai Research Institute of Microelectronics, Peking University ("SHRIME/PKU"), jointly announced the opening of "the SMIC-UCR-SHRIME/PKU Joint Center For ESD Protection Design" ("ESD Center"). Prof. Yangyuan Wang, an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and former Chairman of the Board of Directors of SMIC, and Dr. Tzu-Yin Chiu, the SMIC CEO, jointly inaugurated the ESD Center at its opening ceremony. Dr. Tianshen Tang, Senior VP of SMIC, Prof. Albert Wang, Director of the Integrated Circuit and System Laboratory at UCR, Prof. Yuhua Cheng, Dean of SHRIME/PKU and other guests from the industry participated in the opening ceremony. Utilizing the complementary and collective strengths of SMIC, UCR and SHRIME/PKU, the ESD Center aims to develop advanced ESD protection design methodologies, and provide reliable and cost-effective ESD protection solutions for customers through industrial-academic and international collaboration. The ESD Center consists of three sites, located at SMIC, UCR and SHRIME/PKU, which will be jointly managed by three Co-Directors: Dr. Tianshen Tang, Prof. Albert Wang and Prof. Yuhua Cheng, respectively. The ESD Center has an Advisory Board formed by Dr. Tzu-Yin Chiu, Prof. Michael Pazzani (Vice Chancellor of Research and Economic Development of UCR) and Prof. Yangyuan Wang. In addition to the existing collaboration, SMIC will invest at least US$1.5M annually in the next three years including IC fabrication, equipment, engineering resource and funding to support the research activities at the ESD Center, particularly the R&D efforts for on-chip ESD protection for advanced FinFET technologies and RF ICs for wireless communications. "The semiconductor industry is facing mounting technical challenges, which call for international collaboration to ensure technology advances. Such industrial-academic collaboration will serve to bridge the gap in R&D activities between the academia and the industry and speed-up technology transfers", stated Prof. Yangyuan Wang, who also noted that he highly values the model of international collaboration, and hopes to take advantage of complementary expertise to lead ESD protection R&D activities and accelerate commercialization of the research outcomes. Dr. Tzu-Yin Chiu also highly praised the collaboration efforts. Dr. Chiu said that "one of our missions is to drive technology advancement and provide excellent services to our customers. ESD protection has become so complicated that we must collaborate with the academia at international scale to address the technical challenges. Prof. Albert Wang and Prof. Yuhua Cheng are IEEE Fellows, and Dr. Tang is an industry veteran. I am confident that they will lead the Center to success." Dr. Tianshen Tang, Prof. Albert Wang and Prof. Yuhua Cheng echoed on the urgent need for comprehensive collaboration in ESD protection designs. Dr. Tang said, "ESD is one of the key factors in the IC design ecosystem. W must continuously invest heavily to provide the better ESD solutions to our customers." With a brief review on global status of ESD protection research activities, Prof. Wang stated that "ESD protection design involves complex multiple coupling effects at process, device, circuit, layout and system levels, which requires comprehensive co-design efforts." Prof. Yuhua Cheng summarized the prior collaboration achievements and outlined the further plan for the ESD Center. He concluded that "Our previous joint work has resulted in encouraging outcomes in ESD protection designs at 28nm technology. We will continue to leverage complementary expertise to develop optimized solutions of ESD protections for future process technologies."
About SMIC Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation ("SMIC"; NYSE: SMI; SEHK: 981) is one of the leading semiconductor foundries in the world and the largest and most advanced foundry in mainland China. SMIC provides integrated circuit (IC) foundry and technology services at 0.35-micron to 28-nanometer. Headquartered in Shanghai, China, SMIC has a 300mm wafer fabrication facility (fab) and a 200mm mega-fab in Shanghai; a 300mm mega-fab and a second majority owned 300mm fab for advance nodes in Beijing; and 200mm fabs in Tianjin and Shenzhen. SMIC also has marketing and customer service offices in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Taiwan, and a representative office in Hong Kong.
Safe Harbor Statements
(Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995)
This press release contains, in addition to historical information, "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements, including statements under "Second Quarter 2016 Guidance", "CapEx Summary" and the statements contained in the quotes of our CEO regarding our target for sustained profit, our revenue growth, continued demand strength and high utilization and our strategy to capture growth opportunities brought by specific markets and products are based on SMIC's current assumptions, expectations and projections about future events. SMIC uses words like "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "expect," "project," "target" and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks, both known and unknown, uncertainties and other factors that may cause SMIC's actual performance, financial condition or results of operations to be materially different from those suggested by the forward-looking statements including, among others, risks associated with the cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry, changes in demand for our products, competition in our markets, our reliance on a small number of customers, orders or judgments from pending litigation, intensive intellectual property lawsuits in semiconductor industry, financial stability in end markets, general economic conditions and fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Investors should consider the information contained in SMIC's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including its annual report on 20-F filed with the SEC on April 25, 2016, especially the consolidated financial statements, and such other documents that SMIC may file with the SEC or The Hong Kong Stock Exchange Limited ("SEHK") from time to time, including current reports on Form 6-K. Other unknown or unpredictable factors also could have material adverse effects on SMIC's future results, performance or achievements. In light of these risks, uncertainties, assumptions and factors, the forward-looking events discussed in this press release may not occur. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date stated, or if no date is stated, as of the date of this press release. Except as may be required by law, SMIC undertakes no obligation and does not intend to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
SMIC Media Contact:
Terry Ding
Tel: +86-21-3861-0000 x16812
Email: [email protected] About the University of California, Riverside (UCR)
The University of California opened its doors in 1869. Today, the UC system includes more than 238,000 students and more than 190,000 faculty and staff, with more than 1.7 million alumni living and working around the world. The University of California, Riverside (UCR) is one of 10 universities within the prestigious University of California system. UCR is located in Southern California, approximately 50 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. For more information, please visit www.ucr.edu and www.universityofcalifornia.edu. UCR Contact: Office of the Vice Chancellor of Research and Economic Development
+1-951-827-5535
About Shanghai Research Institute of Microelectronics, Peking University (SHRIME/PKU) Shanghai Research Institute of Microelectronics, Peking University (SHRIME/PKU), is established jointly by Peking University and Shanghai Pudong New District government. SHRIME/PKU aims at research and development of core technologies on microelectronics, and promotes technology transfer to the semiconductor industry. Located in Zhangjiang High Tech Park, SHIRME/PKU started operations in April of 2007. SHRIME/PKU relies on the academic strengths of Peking University and strong supports of Shanghai governments at all levels. SHRIME/PKU Contact: Administration Office of Shanghai Research Institute of Microelectronics, Peking University;
+86-21-6109-1006 x 813. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/smic-uc-riverside-and-shrimepku-launch-the-joint-center-for-esd-protection-design-300270735.html SOURCE Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation
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[May 18, 2016] Enyx introduces nxTCP Financial Edition and nxMAC + nxPCS Financial Edition, best-in-class ultra-low latency TCP/IP, MAC and PCS full hardware IP Cores for Altera and Xilinx FPGAs
Enyx is unveiling an ultra-low latency optimized version of its acclaimed TCP/IP, MAC and PCS FPGA Intellectual Property (IP) Cores, respectively introduced as the Financial Edition of nxTCP and nxMAC + nxPCS. This new edition is available for top-of-the-line Altera and Xilinx FPGAs. Enyx, a world-class pioneer in ultra-low latency solutions for the financial industry, has released the Financial Edition set of IP cores for hardware designers who work on custom FPGA-enabled projects requiring ultra-low latency network connectivity. End customer profiles include hedge funds, investment banks and propietary trading firms with FPGA development capabilities.
"We are proud to present the financial industry with a new line of IP Cores specifically designed to fully satisfy a growing demand for ultra-low latency optimizations while maintaining our acclaimed standards for the high quality and reliability of our IP Core products," said Eric Rovira Ricard, VP Business Development in charge of the Technology/IP branch at Enyx. Enyx nxTCP Financial Edition features full RTL ISO layers 1 to 4 ultra-low latency implementations compliant with IEEE 802.3 standards, which include 10G PCS, MAC, ARP, IPv4, ICMP and TCP protocols. Similarly, Enyx nxMAC + nxPCS includes the above 10G PCS and MAC layers.
Enyx nxTCP Financial Edition latency:
- TOTAL: 168.32 ns (TX) and 164.84 ns (RX), measured from the wire to layer 4, which is composed of:
- TCP/IP: 124 ns (TX) and 108.2 ns (RX)
- MAC: 16 ns (TX) and 16 ns (RX)
- PCS: 18.62 ns (TX) and 37.25 ns (RX)
- Altera (News - Alert) Stratix V PMA: 9.70 ns (TX) and 3.39 ns (RX) Enyx nxMAC + nxPCS Financial Edition latency:
- TOTAL: 44.32 ns (TX) and 56.64 ns (RX), measured from the wire to layer 2, which is composed of MAC, PCS and PMA values from above. Measurement conditions: Altera Stratix V FPGA, 10G connectivity, MAC and TCP/IP blocks running at 250 MHz, 1-byte payload. Enyx IP Cores today have over 40 customers worldwide, including hedge funds, exchanges, top-tier investment banks, telecom operators, research labs, universities, and technology manufacturers for the defense, aeronautics, aerospace, and high performance computing industries. Enyx IP Cores can be purchased directly from Enyx or from certified board partners and distributors, and include a variety of integration examples and reference designs for their boards. Enyx made this announcement today at the Trading Show Chicago 2016 exhibition and conference at Navy Pier, where it is currently presenting all its product lines. About Enyx Enyx is a leading developer and provider of ultra-low latency technologies and solutions primarily focused on the financial industry. Enyx's FPGA-enabled products deliver the next generation of cutting-edge technology. Enyx provides both off-the-shelf trading and telecom solutions and IP Cores, and assists in their integration and deployment into the customer's infrastructure. Our clients include financial technology service providers, exchanges, investment banks and funds. www.enyx.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160518005617/en/
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[May 18, 2016] Dell Introduces Zero-Day Malware Prevention for Thin Clients and Virtual Desktops, Providing Businesses Highly Secure VDI and Virtual Workspace Solutions from the Data Center to the Edge
Dell (News - Alert) Cloud Client-Computing, the No. 1 provider of secure thin-client solutionsi and the expert in VDI, today announced the addition of two new security solutions to provide organizations with advanced threat prevention that spans from the endpoints to the data center for Windows-based thin clients and virtual desktops. Leveraging IP from its award-winning Dell Data Protection portfolio of security solutions, Dell is applying its endpoint security expertise beyond the PC to the thin client and virtual machines, to give customers an industry-leading approach to comprehensively securing their data. "While other vendors depend on a 'detect and remediate' approach that alerts IT staff to an attack after the damage has been done," said Jeff McNaught, executive director and chief strategy officer, Dell Cloud Client-Computing, "Dell employs a 'prevent and protect' approach that prevents these attacks from succeeding, and has been shown to be 99 percent effective against even zero-day and polymorphic malware attacks, well above the catch rate of traditional anti-virus products based on malware signature recognitionii." Dell Data Protection | Threat Defense for Windows-based thin clients and Dell Data Protection | Endpoint Security Suite Enterprise provide a superior layer of advanced threat protection to an already secure computing environment, ensuring that all facets of an organization's Windows-based VDI environment are protected. Many organizations mistakenly believe that thin clients based on popular OSs are a 'set and forget' solution, and that they do not require maintenance and regular software updates. While data does not reside on the edge with a VDI solution, that does not preclude malware from potentially infiltrating a network through a locally-accessed web browser, USB stick or other locally connected peripheral device. With 95 percent of threats originating on an endpointiii, typically due to employee error, spear phishing, malware embedded in attachments or web sites, all endpoints need to have advanced threat protection, regardless of whether the data resides on the endpoint or in the data center. Dell Data Protection | Threat Defense and Endpoint Security Suite Enterprise both feature advanced threat protection technology based on machine learning and artificial intelligence to analyze the files prior to their execution, and determine what is safe and what isn't before they can even run. That means that they don't rely on signature updates, and provide a much greater efficacy than traditional anti-virus solutions against the latest malware includng ransomware and zero-day threats. Unlike other traditional anti-virus solutions, Threat Defense uses very little CPU and RAM resources, thus having no impact on end user productivity, which makes it ideal for use with thin clients.
Endpoint Security Suite Enterprise also includes authentication and data encryption to protect the data at rest or when it travels between people and devices. This additional level of protection is more effective than simple disk encryption, and prevents attackers from getting usable data in the event of a breach. This solution is available across all Windows virtual desktops running Citrix (News - Alert), Microsoft or VMware software, and provides organizations with a single, comprehensive solution to simplify management and compliance for overburdened IT departments. It allows IT departments to remotely manage all security components using a single, non-disruptive console, and easily generate compliance reports to satisfy industry standards including PCI (News - Alert) DSS, HIPAA and HITECH. With this solution, Dell is the only tier one hardware vendor offering integrated authentication, encryption and advanced threat protection from a single source. As many organizations have heterogeneous IT environments, Threat Defense and Endpoint Security Suite Enterprise can be deployed across Dell and non-Dell systems alike. Threat Defense will be available bundled with Wyse Windows-based thin clients, and will also be available for organizations deploying Windows thin clients from any compatible manufacturer, as well as Dell and non-Dell PCs. These solutions enhance the already robust Dell Wyse portfolio of secure thin client solutions that include virus-resistant Wyse ThinOS and zero clients, and reinforce the company's commitment to provide the most secure compute environments available to enable safe and flexible productivity for users.
Supporting Quotes: Steve Lalla, VP, Commercial Client Software and Solutions, Dell "Ensuring data security is at the forefront of all of our customers' minds, and with 95 percent of data breaches originating on the endpointiii, advanced threat protection solutions are increasingly important for any device. The integration of our Dell Data Protection solutions into Windows-based thin clients and virtual desktops provides customers with an additional layer of security to protect their entire IT environment from the endpoint to the data center against the latest attack vectors." Rodney Clark, General Manager, IoT Device Experience, Microsoft Corp. "With the number of data breaches on the rise, securing the endpoint against the latest advanced threats and malware has never been more important. Windows is the leading operating system for thin clients today, and with Dell, we are committed to providing customers a secure VDI infrastructure." Sumit Dhawan, senior vice president and general manager, Desktop Products, End-User Computing, VMware "Delivering a secure digital workspace is an important requirement for organizations of all sizes, as they look to provide end-users with greater flexibility while providing a secure experience. The integration of Dell Data Protection solutions into Windows-based thin clients running on VMware Horizon is a great step forward in empowering customers to be secure on the endpoint, as well as in the data center." Steve Blacklock, vice president Global Strategic Alliance, Citrix "Effective security in the modern workplace means organizations must not only protect apps and data, but also make sure that protection enables people to work effectively from anywhere. That commitment to protect data remains a cornerstone for Citrix and our focus on the secure delivery of apps and data. Dell's integration of advanced threat protection in Windows-based thin clients shows a dedication to protect data and apps at the endpoint so that our joint customers can enjoy a fully secure VDI infrastructure." Availability Dell Data Protection | Threat Defense and Dell Data Protection | Endpoint Security Suite Enterprise will be available for Windows-based thin clients and Windows virtual desktops in July 2016. About Dell Dell Inc. listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services that give them the power to do more. For more information, visit www.dell.com. Dell, Wyse and ThinOS are trademarks of Dell Inc. Dell disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. VMware and Horizon are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions. i IDC (News - Alert) Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Client Device Tracker, 2015Q4
ii Results from Cylance Unbelievable Demo Tour, Austin, Houston and Dallas Texas, May 2015
iii Verizon (News - Alert), "2015 Data Breach Investigations Report," 2015, www.verizonenterprise.com/DBIR/2015/ View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160518006193/en/
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URBANA Soybean, and to some extent corn prices, continue to recover from the recent lows. July 2016 soybean futures increased $2 per bushel, or 23 percent, from the close on March 1 to the close on May 13. July 2016 corn futures increased 35 cents, or 10 percent, from the close on March 31 to the close on May 13.
According to a University of Illinois agricultural economist, soybean basis levels have generally weakened over the past two and a half months so that cash prices have increased less than futures prices. Corn basis has been variable, but generally steady since late March.
A number of factors have contributed to the price rally, says Darrel Good. The most recent support came from the USDAs May World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WADSE) report. As expected, that report contained smaller forecasts of the size of the South American corn and soybean crops.
The forecast of combined soybean production in Brazil and Argentina was reduced by almost 130 million bushels, or just over 2 percent, from the April forecast. The forecast of combined corn production for the two countries was reduced by 157 million bushels, or nearly 4 percent.
It seems likely that the forecast size of the Brazilian corn crop will decline further as drought conditions continue to intensify in northern growing areas, even as southern areas receive heavy rainfall.
The lower South American production forecasts contribute to prospects for larger U.S. corn and soybean exports during the current marketing year as well as during the 2016-17 marketing year. The USDA now forecasts U.S. corn exports during the current year at 1.725 billion bushels, 75 million more than forecast last month.
The pace of shipments and new sales certainly support the larger forecast, Good says.
Exports during the 2016-17 marketing year are projected at 1.9 billion bushels, slightly above the average magnitude of exports of the past 41 years. Soybean exports during the current year are forecast at 1.74 billion bushels, 35 million bushels above the April projection.
Exports during the 2016-17 marketing year are projected at 1.885 billion bushels, 42 million bushels larger than the record exports during the 2014-15 marketing year. The large forecast for 2016-17 reflects expectations for only a modest increase in South American soybean production in 2017 and continued strong import demand from China.
Chinese soybean imports from all sources during the upcoming marketing year are forecast at 3.2 billion bushels, up from the record 3.05 billion expected this year. China is expected to account for 64 percent of total world soybean imports, representing 28 percent of the soybeans produced outside of China.
In addition to larger exports, domestic consumption of corn and soybeans is expected to increase during the 2016-17 marketing year. The domestic soybean crush is expected to increase by 35 million bushels from the record crush of 1.88 billion bushels during the current marketing year on the strength of expanding livestock production and slightly larger exports due to less competition from South America.
Corn used for ethanol during the upcoming year is forecast at 5.3 billion bushels, up 50 million bushels expected for the current year. The increase reflects expectations of continued increases in domestic gasoline consumption and less competition from sorghum as an ethanol feedstock, Good says.
Feed and residual use of corn is projected at a 9-year high of 5.55 billion bushels, 300 million above the forecast for the current year. The large forecast reflects expectations of abundant corn supplies, increasing livestock production, and a small reduction in feed use of other grains.
With planted acreage at the level indicated in the USDAs March 31, Prospective Plantings report and yields at trend levels, the May WASDE report forecast that year-ending stocks of soybeans will decline from 400 million bushels this year to 305 million bushels next year. Year-ending stocks of corn are expected to increase from 1.8 to 2.15 billion bushels. Projections for both crops are much smaller than generally expected.
With demand for U.S. corn and soybeans expected to be bolstered by smaller crops in South America, robust Chinese demand for soybeans, and expanding livestock production in the United States, the focus will once again turn back to the prospective size of U.S. crops, Good says.
The first issue is the magnitude of planted acreage, with two unsettled questions. The first question is whether the magnitude of total acreage of spring-planted crops will exceed intentions reported in March. The second question is about the magnitude of corn and soybean acreage. With soybean prices increasing more than corn prices since the planting intentions survey was conducted, and with the delay in corn planting in some areas, expectations are for there to be some switching from corn to soybeans.
The most likely areas for that to happen are where corn planting is expected to be the most delayed, including Ohio and Indiana. Planting intention for those two states were reported at 9.35 million acres for corn and 10.2 million acres for soybeans. The USDAs Crop Progress report indicated that only 22 percent of those 19.55 million acres had been planted as of May 8.
Within a fairly wide range of acreage, the size of the 2016 U.S. corn and soybean crops will mostly depend on the nature of the growing season and average yields, Good says.
For much of the winter and early spring, the consensus seemed to be that without a weather issue this summer that resulted in below-trend yields, corn and soybean prices would continue to decline. If the USDAs demand projections are correct, it now seems appropriate to reverse that thinking. Without large U.S. crops this year, prices will likely move higher.
MATTOON -- The City Council is scheduled tonight to consider taking action related to a grant application for funding to pave the Lincoln Prairie Grass Trail.
City Administrator Kyle Gill said the council will consider authorizing $130,000 in matching funds as part of an application for $800,000 in federal funds administered by the Illinois Department of Transportation. He said Charleston also will provide matching funds for this effort to pave the gravel portion of the trail between the two cities.
Gill said the grant would help pay for extending the trail west from 10th to 16th streets to connect to the Mattoon Area Family YMCA, as well. He said this funding also would cover creating routes from the trail to sites in both cities, including the Cross County Mall and Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center.
In other matters, the council will consider hiring the Upchurch Group of Mattoon to provide construction engineering assistance for the reconstruction of Marshall Avenue from Sixth to Ninth streets and appropriating up to $50,000 in motor fuel tax funds to pay for this servicde.
The intersecting section of south Ninth Street is the location of Mattoon Middle School and Williams Elementary School. Gill said the Marshall street reconstruction will start right after the school year ends later this month.
Tonight's meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in City Hall, 208 N. 19th St. Other proposed actions on the council agenda include:
Acknowledging the retirement of Capt. Brian Hoenes from the Mattoon Fire Department after more than 26 years of service and promoting Engineer James Donnell to captain with the department.
Authorizing the employment of Clinton Lawrence as a probationary police officer with the Mattoon Police Department.
Approving a $15,000 grant from the hotel/motel tax fund to the Mattoon Cobras for four softball tournaments. These events are the 11th Annual Mothers Day Tournament on May 6-8, 2016; USSSA Schools Out Blowout on June 3-5, 2016; USSSA State Tournament on June 17-19; and 2016 USSSA Fall Tournament on Oct. 8-9.
Approving a $15,000 grant to the Mattoon Pride Softball for three softball tournaments. These events are the Spring Round Robin Season Opener on April 9-10; Mattoon NSA World Series Qualifier on June 10-12; and Mattoon Bagelfest Tournament on July 22-24.
Approving a $2,500 tourism grant to the Coles County Modified Midget Racing Association for the 60th Anniversary Celebration on July 1-2 and a $1,163 grant to the Lake Mattoon Sailing Association for the Lake Mattoon Riviera Regatta on June 10-12.
Ratifying the appointment of Greg Ray to the Mattoon Public Library Board for an unexpired term ending June 30.
CHARLESTON -- The involvement of two men in a large fight outside a Charleston tavern last year was mostly not obeying police orders to stop, according to a prosecutor.
That helped lead to the agreement in which Osiris S. Johnson and Sharrod L. Peoples pleaded guilty to reduced charges in connection with the fight outside the Panther Paw, Coles County State's Attorney Brian Bower said.
The Oct. 10 fight outside the tavern at 1412 Fourth St. reportedly included one person with a knife and ended with two groups totaling 10 people arrested.
All the suspects were originally charged with mob action, a felony offense. Bower said more information about the various roles in the fight led to reduced charges against some suspects, however.
Johnson, 26, for whom court records list an address of 1074 10th St., Charleston, and Peoples, 24, whose address on record is in Chicago, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges.
With the agreement reached in their cases, each was sentenced to six months of conditional discharge. The sentence is a form of supervision similar to probation but with fewer restrictions.
Terms of the sentences included a month in jail for Johnson and about two weeks of jail time for Peoples, for which he won't have to report until Monday. Coles County Circuit Judge Teresa imposed the sentences, accepting plea agreements that Bower and defense attorney Todd Reardon recommended.
Bower said the investigation showed that Johnson and Peoples "were involved in the general melee" but didn't take part in the fight physically.
The charges to which they pleaded guilty, also mob action, accused them of not following police instructions when officers arrived and tried to break up the fight, Bower explained.
He also noted that Johnson was cut by a knife during the fight, which he said was apparently wielded by Demonte M. Dillon, 25, for whom records list an address of 106 N. 11th St., Apt. 6, Mattoon. Dillon received probation when he pleaded guilty to a felony mob action charge in February.
Bower also mentioned a "lesser degree of involvement" when another suspect pleaded guilty to a reduced charge last month.
Brian T. Griffin, 28, whose address on record is an apartment at 2002 10th St., Charleston, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge. He received jail time for the offense and also a new probation term for an earlier drug conviction.
Also pleading guilty and receiving probation in February were Demonte E. James, 24, whose most recent address on record is 800 Wabash Ave., Mattoon, and Kazeem A. Lawal, 29, for whom records list an address at 4 University Apartments, Charleston.
Bower said the dispute involved one group of people from Charleston and one from Mattoon and might have also been connected to a shooting incident in Mattoon, also on Oct. 10.
During that incident, shots were reportedly fired at a vehicle in the 800 block of Dakota Avenue, which was near the residence of one member of group from Mattoon, Bower said. He said no one has been arrested in connection with the shooting.
The other suspects from the Panther Paw incident are also charged with mob action and their cases are pending.
Oh, so many things on which to comment, and oh, so little space in which to do so.
But you know I'll find a way.
One story in particular caught my eye Wednesday. Let me share it with you:
Stuck on hot: Earth breaks 12th straight monthly heat record
WASHINGTON (AP) Earth's heat is stuck on high.
Thanks to a combination of global warming and an El Nino, the planet shattered monthly heat records for an unprecedented 12th straight month, as April smashed the old record by half a degree, according to federal scientists.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's monthly climate calculation said Earth's average temperature in April was 56.7 degrees (13.7 degrees Celsius). That's 2 degrees (1. 1 degrees Celsius) warmer than the 20th century average and well past the old record set in 2010. The Southern Hemisphere led the way, with Africa, South America and Asia all having their warmest Aprils on record, NOAA climate scientist Ahira Sanchez-Lugo said. NASA was among other organizations that said April was the hottest on record.
The last month that wasn't record hot was April 2015. The last month Earth wasn't hotter than the 20th-century average was December 1984, and the last time Earth set a monthly cold record was almost a hundred years ago, in December 1916, according to NOAA records.
"These kinds of records may not be that interesting, but so many in a row that break the previous records by so much indicates that we're entering uncharted climatic territory (for modern human society)," Texas A&M University climate scientist Andrew Dessler said in an email.
At NOAA's climate monitoring headquarters in Asheville, North Carolina, "we are feeling like broken records stating the same thing" each month, Sanchez-Lugo said.
And more heat meant record low snow for the Northern Hemisphere in April, according to NOAA and the Rutgers Global Snow Lab. Snow coverage in April was 890,000 square miles below the 30-year average.
Sanchez-Lugo and other scientists say ever-increasing man-made global warming is pushing temperatures higher, and the weather oscillation El Nino -- a warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean that changes weather worldwide -- makes it even hotter.
The current El Nino, which is fading, is one of the strongest on records and is about as strong as the 1997-1998 El Nino. But 2016 so far is 0.81 degrees (0.45 degrees Celsius) warmer than 1998 so "you can definitely see that climate change has an impact," Sanchez-Lugo said.
Given that each month this year has been record hot, it is not surprising that the average of the first four months of 2016 were 2.05 degrees (1.14 degrees Celsius) higher than the 20th-century average and beat last year's record by 0.54 degrees (0.3 degrees Celsius).
Last year was the hottest year by far, beating out 2014, which also was a record. But 2016's start "is unprecedented basically" and in general half a degree warmer than 2015, Sanchez-Lugo said.
Even though El Nino is fading and its cooler flip side La Nina is forecast to take hold later this year, Sanchez-Lugo predicted that 2016 will end up the hottest year on record for the third straight year. That's because there's a lag time for those changes to show up in global temperatures and because 2016 has started off so much hotter than 2015, she said.
-- -- --
Still don't believe in climate change significantly contributed to by human beings? Oh honey. Get with the program.
So many scientists can't be completely wrong. I'm a skeptic at heart, but there's ample evidence that what humans do -- burning fossil fuels, mostly -- has a heavy effect on the Earth's climate.
Scientists, however, may be overlooking one of the major causes of this change: And America is to blame ...
... well, American politics, anyway. The heated rhetoric in this presidential election cycle that's upset all traditional expectations of presidential election cycles is no doubt warming up the entire globe, too.
Look for that to do nothing but increase between now and November, y'all.
In Washington, D.C., another hot topic surely is a factor in keeping more people sweating more months of the year than usual (although you sure couldn't tell that this month in Illinois, could you?).
In case you missed it, here's an excerpt:
GOP blocks provision to require women to register for draft
WASHINGTON (AP) Buckling under conservative pressure, House Republicans pulled a legislative sleight of hand Tuesday and stripped a provision from the annual defense policy bill that would have required young women to sign up for a military draft.
The decision triggered an outcry from Democrats, who cast the move as a GOP attempt to avoid a contentious vote on equality for women. But GOP lawmakers argued much more study is required before reversing the longstanding prohibition on including women in the Selective Service. They also questioned whether the Selective Service, which needs $23 million annually to operate, should be abolished altogether with an all-volunteer force.
The Senate defense bill does include a version of the provision, so the congressional discussion over whether women should register isn't over. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., weighed in Tuesday, saying it would be appropriate for women to register for the draft "just like men do."
But Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Rules Committee, said he is "adamantly opposed to coercing America's daughters to sign up for the Selective Service at 18 years of age."
...
Including women in a potential mass mobilization has roiled social conservatives. They see such a mandate as another step toward blurring gender lines similar to allowing transgender people to use public lavatories and locker rooms of their choosing.
But proponents see the requirement as a sensible step toward gender equality. They point to the Pentagon's decision late last year to open all front-line combat jobs to women as removing any justification for gender restrictions on draft registration. ...
-- -- --
Well, it's no surprise that Republicans don't want to do something that might get women closer to equality with men. And that "more study is needed" line is nonsense -- just another way to say that women are valued less as an entire gender than men.
If Selective Service continues to exist, women should bear an equal burden. If some women aren't physically fit enough to handle the duty, then they will be weeded out through the normal process, as men are.
This is why I go fishing a lot.
All the big issues of the day don't follow me to the lake when I'm waiting on my bobber to indicate a fish is after the bait. But with all these heated topics roiling about, I wonder if someday I'll catch a fish carrying one of those tiny little personal fans and covered in sunscreen.
Whew. Now we know: I've been out in the heat too long, too.
Nancy Haberstich sees bugs everywhere.
Not insects, but invisible microbes -- bacteria, viruses and fungi -- lurking in our kitchen sinks, having orgies in our damp dishcloths and lying in wait on the skins of fruits and vegetables.
She calls them Nanobugs and in 2007 launched her own business (Nanobugs, Inc.) with the goal of making microbiology practical.
Nanobugs (a.k.a. Microbes with Attitude) are cartoonish, but scientifically accurate, microbial characters meant to personify bacteria, fungi and viruses, in memorable and meaningful ways.
Nanobugs are an inevitable component of nature.
But in human hands and digestive systems, they can be bothersome, debilitating, even lethal, Haberstich said.
Serial killers. Or as in the case of bacillus cereus, cereal killers, she said, making a pun.
Her goal? To turn everyday moms, dads and kids into Nanobug profilers.
Being a profiler is just smart, Haberstich said.
But many people are intimidated by the bugs giant, hard to pronounce -- and even harder to spell -- names: listeria monocytogenes, escherichia coli 0157:H7, staphylococcus aureus ...
We seek comfort in our naivety: What we dont know cant hurt us.
Except, it can. Most of us have no clue what these nasty critters are, or how they operate -- until there is an outbreak of foodborne illness or a massive recall like the current one affecting hundreds of frozen vegetable products across the country.
One in six people will get a foodborne illness this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Thats 48 million Americans.
Of those 128,000 will be hospitalized and 3,000 will die -- the majority of them pregnant women, children, elderly and with weakened immune systems, the CDC said.
Too often we vilify the food distributor, the restaurant, the food service worker -- when the real blame is the bug, Haberstich said.
As schools let out for summer, temperatures heat up and life is filled with picnics, potlucks, grilling and outdoor excursions, Haberstich is launching a summerlong, communitywide Lincoln Food Safety Initiative.
For many bugs, summer, with its heat and humidity, is their favorite time of the year.
The idea is not to scare people -- or criticize their hygiene habits -- but to educate them on why we are nagged to wash our hands, clean our produce and buy pasteurized dairy products, Haberstich said. To raise awareness of why we need to wash our reusable grocery sacks, microwave our kitchen sponge, and do away with the old 5-second rule when food falls on the floor.
If people know why they do things, and how to do things, they will be more apt to actually do those things, Haberstich said.
Haberstich and Nanobugs Inc. will kick off the Lincoln Food Safety Initiative Thursday with a fundraiser at Raising Cane's, 403 N. 48th St. There will be Nanobug tattoos and coloring pages, and the restaurant will donate 20 percent of its proceeds from 5 to 8 p.m. to the Food Safety Initiative when they mention Nanobugs at the time of their food order.
Each Wednesday this summer, the Lincoln Journal Star will publish practical food safety tips courtesy of Nanobugs and Haberstichs forthcoming book Nanobugs in the Kitchen: A food safety guide for busy mothers.
In addition, Haberstich and Nanobugs is looking to partner with other Lincoln businesses and organizations to promote food safety in relevant, fun and memorable ways.
Haberstich wants her Nanobugs to do for microbes what Michael Crichton and Jurassic Park did for dinosaurs -- make them as recognizable and understood as a Tyrannosaurus rex and a pterodactyl.
Because the truth is, these microscopic bugs can be far more deadly and dangerous than a T. rex, and much harder to stop than a Velociraptor unless you know how they migrate.
Haberstich said personifying microbes will promote self directed learning and compliance with food safety rules.
People say yeah, you need to wash your hands, cover your cough, wear a condom my point is how can you get them self directed in compliance: I think it is by understanding the microbe, Haberstich said.
And its by realizing we will never win a war to eliminate microbes -- There are more of them than us, Haberstich said. In fact there are more microbes than cells in our bodies.
But by being smarter -- and safer -- we can keep the upper hand.
So let us introduce you to Nanobugs and the foodborne microorganisms that dwell among us.
Bacillus cereus
(a.k.a. B. cereus)
Slogan: Be serious about cooking and chilling your rice and grains, or you could end up with stomach pains.
Habitat: Found in rice, cereal products and starchy foods like potatoes. When contaminated foods are left at room temperature, the spores germinate and produce toxin.; Once the toxins are released into the food, refrigeration wont help prevent illness.
Common food sources: Rice and other starchy foods like potatoes and pasta; sauces and gravy that have been left at room temperature for too long. Also, meat, fish and milk, including infant formula.
Illness: Abdominal pain, vomiting occurring 30 minutes to 6 hours after eating, or diarrhea 6 to 15 hours after eating. Lasts 24 hours.
How to avoid: Cook rice and grains thoroughly and store in a refrigerator; keep hot food hot on buffet tables and potlucks.
Campylobacter jejuni
(a.k.a. Campy)
Slogan: If I camp out in your guts, Ill drive you nuts.
Habitat: Lives in the intestinal tract of animals, especially chickens. Also found in raw milk and untreated water. Campy is quite sensitive to the environment like drying, heating and the amount of oxygen in the air.
Common food sources: Raw or undercooked poultry, unpasteurized milk, contaminated food or water
Illness: It causes fever, stomach cramps, vomiting and diarrhea, even bloody diarrhea beginning 2-5 days after eating contaminated food; the illness can last 2-10 days.
How to avoid: Wash hands well after handling animals or pets or touching raw poultry and eggs. Cook meat and poultry thoroughly. Wash knives and cutting surfaces with hot soapy water after cutting raw poultry. Store leftover turkey and poultry in the refrigerator. Drink only pasteurized milk. Chlorinate or filter water when you are camping.
Clostridium botulinum
(a.k.a C. botulinum)
Slogan: If your canned beans arent sterilized, I can make you paralyzed. So if the can is bulging, dont be indulging.
Habitat: Lives primarily in soil and is also found on plants and the outside covering of fish and animals.
Common food sources: Improperly canned foods, especially home-canned vegetables, fermented fish, baked potatoes in aluminum foil; foods with low acid.
Illness: It causes foodborne botulism when the toxins produced by this bacterium are eaten with food. Toxins are extremely potent and a very small amount can cause paralysis or death. Symptoms include weakness, paralysis, double vision, impaired speech and difficulty swallowing.
Infant botulism can occur from eating honey which is contaminated with the spores.
How to avoid: Use caution when eating home-canned vegetables, home-cured meats, fermented fish and other preserved foods. Do not feed honey to infants under the age of 1.
Clostridium perfringens
(a.k.a. C. perfringens)
Slogan: Cook your stew through and through, or the leftovers could have you crying, Boo-Hoo!
Habitat: Found in the gut of humans and animals, and in meat and meat products kept at room temperature after cooking. Grows in low oxygen food.
Common food sources: Meats, poultry, gravy, dried or pre-cooked food, time- or temperature-abused foods
Illness: It causes intense abdominal cramping and watery diarrhea lasting up to 24 hours. Anyone is at risk, especially the elderly, infants, and anyone with a compromised immune system.
How to avoid: Thoroughly cook all meats and gravy. Do not allow meat to sit at room temperatures after cooking. Use caution when preparing home-canned vegetables and home-cured meats.
Escherichia coli
(a.k.a. E. coli)
Slogan: You may think Im foul cause I live in the bowel.
Habitat: Lives in the intestines of humans and animals. It is widely distributed in the environment in soil and water. It can be found on plants and raw foods handled by people.
Common food sources: Water or food contaminated with human or animal feces.
Illness: In the bowel, E. coli helps with digestion of food and generally does not cause disease. Some strains, however produce enterotoxins and cause illness with diarrhea and fever. E. coli is a major cause of travelers diarrhea in people from industrialized countries and it is a leading cause of dehydrating diarrhea in children in developing countries.
How to avoid: Wash hands, especially after using the toilet and before preparing food. Women and girls should wipe themselves from front-to-back or dab with toilet paper after using the toilet.
Escherichia coli 0157:h7
(a.k.a. E. coli 0157)
Slogan: On spinach leaf, or undercooked ground beef, I can cause children a world of grief.
Habitat: Lives in the intestines of dairy and beef cattle. Can contaminate human food either directly in fields or during food processing.
Common food sources: Under-cooked beef (especially hamburger), unpasteurized milk and juice, raw fruits and vegetables (especially sprouts), and contaminated water.
Illness: It causes severe intestinal infection with bloody diarrhea. Can lead to severe kidney problems, especially in young children. The incubation period is 2-10 days. The bacteria can be excreted from infected individuals for one to three weeks. The disease is most severe in children.
How to avoid: Cook beef to 160 F. Wash all produce before eating it raw. Drink only pasteurized milk and apple cider. Wash hands before preparing or serving food.
Hepatitis A
(a.k.a. Hep A or HAV)
Slogan: Im spread by poor hygiene, but now theres a vaccine."
Habitat: The Hep A virus is often found in toilets, sewer lines and restrooms because people sick with the the virus shed it in their diarrhea.
Common food sources: Raw shellfish from contaminated waters, raw produce, contaminated drinking water, undercooked or cooked foods that are not reheated after contact with an infected food handler.
Illness: The infection causes inflammation of the liver. Symptoms include diarrhea, dark colored urine, jaundice and flu-like symptoms (fever, headache, nausea and abdominal pain). The illness may vary from mild to serious liver disease, lasting from two weeks to three months
How to avoid: The vaccine is recommended for children and for people traveling to underdeveloped countries. Protect yourself and others by washing your hands, especially after going to the bathroom, changing diapers and before preparing and eating food.
Lactobacillus acidophius
(a.k.a. Lacto)
Slogan: There isnt any question. I help with your digestion.
Habitat: A friendly bacteria in the human gastrointestinal tract and the female vagina. Healthy intestines have several trillion of these bacteria, referred to a probiotic.
Common food sources: Fermented foods like yogurt (unpasteurized), aged cheese, Kefir (a fermented milk drink), sauerkraut (unpasteurized), Kimchi, Miso (a Japanese seasoning), Kombucha (fermented tea drink), Tempeh (fermented soybean product) and certain pickles.
Illness: Does not cause illness. As a probiotic it counteracts damage done to the intestines by antibiotics. It also produces lactase to help with digestion, and it helps prevent vaginal yeast infections.
Healthy uses: Replaces the friendly intestinal bacteria destroyed by antibiotics; aids digestion and helps suppress disease-causing bacteria.
Listeria monocytogenes
(a.k.a. Listeria)
Slogan: "Im not a fool; I grow where its cool.
Habitat: Lives in cold, moist environments -- even in the refrigerator.
Common food sources: Unpasteurized milk, soft cheeses made with unpasteurized milk, ready-to-eat deli meats, deli meats, sprouts, hot dogs, raw or under-cooked fish, smoked seafood, and ice cream.
Illness: Usually causes only a minor illness (fever and diarrhea) in adults. People at higher risk due to chronic illness or a weakened immune system can develop fever, muscle aches, stiff neck, confusion and even convulsions. This bacterium is especially dangerous to pregnant women because it can cause miscarriages and can be passed on to the unborn baby.
How to avoid: Rinse produce well and scrub firm produce like melons and cucumbers with a brush and dry them. Separate meat and poultry from other foods. Check the label on soft cheeses to make sure they are made from pasteurized milk. Heat ready-to-eat processed meats (lunch meat) before eating to kill Listeria if it is present.
Norovirus
Slogan: Let me tell you what I do. I act just like the stomach flu.
Habitat: Norovirus is very contagious and can spread easily from person to person especially in closed spaces like on cruise ships, classrooms, daycare centers and nursing homes. Outbreaks of norovirus are more common from November to April. Both the feces and vomit are highly infectious and an infected person can shed the virus for a long time after their symptoms disappear.
Common food sources: Raw produce, contaminated drinking water and commercial ice, undercooked or cooked foods that that are not reheated after contact with an infected food handler, shellfish from contaminated waters.
Illness: Nausea, vomiting (more in children), diarrhea (more in adults), stomach cramps, low grade fever and chills; illness usually starts suddenly and lasts for 12-60 hours; can cause severe dehydration that can be fatal, especially in young children and old people. Anyone can contract norovirus through contaminated food or touching contaminated surfaces and then putting their hands in mouth. No immunity develops after infection, so infections occur repeatedly throughout life.
How to avoid: Wash hands well and frequently especially before preparing or eating food. Wash fruits and vegetables before eating; steam or cook oysters before eating. Dont prepare food for others of at least three days after symptoms of norovirus are gone. Use 10 percent bleach solution to clean up surfaces soiled with vomit or feces.
Salmonella Enteritidis
(a.k.a. Salmonella)
Slogan: Cook your chicken or Ill make you a sick un.
Habitat: Lives naturally in domestic and wild animals, including poultry, pigs and cattle, rodents and pets, especially turtles, iguanas, chicks, dogs and cats. Infection is usually linked to foods of animal origin or to direct contact with animals or contaminated water.
Common food sources: Poultry, eggs, cheese and contaminated raw fruits and vegetables.
Illness: It causes intestinal infections with diarrhea, severe stomach cramp vomiting and fever. Illness starts six to 72 hours after eating contaminated food or other exposure (handling pets or zoo animals without washing hands). Usually lasts four to seven days. Anyone who is exposed to the bacteria or eats contaminated food is at risk.
How to avoid: Wash hands well after handling animals or pets or touching raw poultry and eggs. Cook meat, poultry and eggs thoroughly (eggs should be cooked until the yolks do not run). Wash knives and cutting surfaces with hot soapy water after cutting raw poultry. Store leftover turkey and poultry in the refrigerator. Drink only pasteurized milk. Wash hands before preparing or eating food.
Shigella sonnei
(a.k.a. Shigella)
Slogan: To the toilet youll run when I have my fun.
Habitat: Humans and other large primates are the only carriers of this bacterium found in sewage and manure.
Common food sources: Raw produce, contaminated drinking water, uncooked or cooked foods that are not reheated after contact with infected food handler.
Illness: Just a small number of these bacteria can make a person very sick. Shigella causes severe diarrhea with blood and pus in the stools. People get sick with shigella from eating or drinking contaminated food or water.
How to avoid: Wash hands frequently, especially after using the toilet and changing diapers, and before preparing food or beverages. People with diarrhea should not prepare food for others. Avoid swallowing swimming pool water.
Staphylococcus aureus
(a.k.a. Staph aureus)
Slogan: Im OK on your skin, but dont let me get in.
Habitat: Lives on the human body, especially on the skin and in the nose. Also found in pimples on the face, boils or infected cuts on the hands; and also lives on animals.
Common food sources: Unrefrigerated or improperly refrigerated meats, potato or egg salads, and cream pastries.
Illness: Staph food poisoning starts with a sudden onset of severe nausea and vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea and possibly fever. Stomach cramps begin one to six hours after eating contaminated food and the illness can last for 24 to 48 hours.
How to avoid: Keep skin cuts and wounds clean. Practice good handwashing and personal hygiene after playing with pets, and before handling food. Refrigerate food and avoid contamination.
Defending champion Creighton Prep.
Top district team performances Papillion-La Vista 115 points (A-1), Millard North 119 (A-2), Kearney 121 (A-3), Millard West 141 (A-4).
Athletes to watch
KJ Cotton, Papillion-La Vista The junior won both the 100 and 200 all-class gold medals last season and has the top times in Class A this season in both events (:10.57 in the 100 and :21.76 in the 200).
Austin Telecky, Grand Island After all-class golds by the Islanders Steven and Kevin Cahoy three of the past four years, the senior looks to keep the pole vault title in Grand Island. Leads the state with a 15- earlier this season.
Wyatt McLeod, Lincoln Northeast A foot injury sidelined the Rocket senior last season, but hes bounced back to lead the state in the 3,200 this spring (9:24.27).
Catherine Mick, BDS The Nebraska recruit has won three straight state pole vault titles, including last year when she went 12-3 to move into sixth on the all-time charts. She also swept both hurdle events at state last season and leads Class D in both heading into state (:14.9 in the 100s and :44.7 in the 300s). Her 300 time is the best in the state regardless of class.
Claude Donald Sutton Jr., "Don" passed away peacefully Sunday afternoon (5/15/2016), in the company of his wife, Patricia, and children. Don was born in Omaha on September 27, 1944, to Claude and Miriam (nee Lawrence) Sutton. The family lived in North Omaha and Don attended Miller Park Elementary and North High School. Don was in the orchestra and jazz band playing double bass and guitar.
After graduation in 1962, he studied philosophy at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. While living in Lincoln he performed with the rock band Antelope Pavilion and enjoyed time touring the country with his guitar. Don worked in many different careers, beginning with Hinky Dinky.
After his time with the grocery chain he moved to Brunswick as a quality control engineer and started his own wholesale tropical fish business, Land and Sea. Don later moved to work as an associate at the Pet Ark, pet store and retired from Super Saver Grocery as a grocery manager.
Married to his wife of 34 years, Don and Patricia helmed a family of five children, 14 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Don enjoyed spending time visiting family, woodworking, and listening to music.
Don is survived by his wife Patricia and children Ian (Elisa Muchmore) Sutton, Jessie (Tim) Andre, Stella (Mike) Wichman, Christy (Don) Watson and Michael (Chyrel) Kritikos; mother Miriam Sutton; sister Diana (Dennis) Nakamura and many grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his father, Claude Sr.
Celebration of life services at a later date. Memorials to the family for future designation. Condolences may be left at www.bmlfh.com.
A 24-year-old college senior who drunkenly crashed into a mailbox, a parked car, an SUV in a driveway and finally a tree got 180 days in jail Tuesday for third-offense DUI.
Trevor A. Wright was told to report to jail May 24. He'll be able to apply for release to go to his classes at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He hopes to graduate in December.
When he was arrested on April 1, 2015, Wright's blood alcohol tested at .289 percent, roughly 3 times the legal limit to drive, police said.
Since then, he has completed in-patient treatment and has been living in a three-quarter house -- a sober environment seen as a final step to independent living -- for almost 10 months.
In court Tuesday, Wright told Lancaster County District Judge Robert Otte he has made drastic changes in the way he lives and came to realize that if he didn't deal with it now he might not get a chance later.
Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Dan Zieg asked the judge to send a message that DUIs aren't something minor, and Otte said his first instinct was to send Wright to prison. But, he said, Wright has done more than almost anyone he's seen to turn around his life and he wanted to recognize that.
He sentenced Wright to six months in jail, revoked his license for 15 years and ordered him to pay a $1,000 fine.
Tracey Heritage said she is devastated for the families of Tina Jensen and Norma Voges, the two women her brother Ronald Heritage killed before shooting himself in his northeast Lincoln home last weekend.
In a letter sent to the Journal Star Wednesday, she said her brother's actions left her heartbroken and in disbelief.
"My feelings are he should have killed himself if he needed to, but taking those beautiful women with him is unbearable," she wrote. "He knew it, too."
Members of Jensen's family found her body and those of Voges and Ronald Blake Heritage inside the house at 6715 Bethany Park Drive Sunday after going to check on her, police said.
Investigators believe he shot the two multiple times before killing himself.
Lincoln Police Chief Jeff Bliemeister said Ronald Heritage bought the gun legally in 2015.
Tracey Heritage, who lives in Colorado, wrote in her letter titled "From Ronnie's Sister" that she didn't know he had one.
"If there hadnt have been a gun, no one would be dead," she wrote, adding that she believes her brother, who had bouts of depression, wouldn't have had the courage to kill Voges and Jensen any other way.
Still, she said in an interview, she doesn't fault anyone for selling him a gun because there was no way to know he would do this.
Ronald Heritage seemed older than his 50 years, his only sister said -- withdrawn and serious at times but soft and sincere at others.
"Now I know I didnt know him well enough. Not well enough to step in and help or well enough to know I needed to."
Tracey Heritage called the killings "senseless and unimaginable."
"We will have an impossible time in forgiving Ronnie," she wrote. "We understand if you do, too."
MILFORD -- A year after Southeast Community College increased its budget 11.5 percent -- paid for chiefly through a 26 percent hike to its tax levy -- taxpayers arent likely to see an additional tax increase this year.
In a preliminary plan introduced to the SCC Board of Governors Tuesday, the community college will hold its budget increase to 0.35 percent for the 2016-17 school year, bringing its total operations to $86.4 million.
One of the things we wanted to be able to do this year was have a budget that did not reflect any increase in the tax levy, SCC President Paul Illich said. That was one of our working assumptions.
While the levy will remain flat, SCC is projecting a property valuation increase of less than 3 percent next year, meaning taxes will rise somewhat, but far below the 8.8 percent increase taxpayers saw in this fiscal year.
By holding its levy flat, SCC will rely on a $1 increase to its tuition rate and a 2.6 percent increase to its state aid to add instructors and staff members across its three campuses and six learning centers.
Nebraska students attending SCC can expect to pay $61.50 per credit hour next year -- the lowest rate among the states community colleges -- while out-of-state students will pay $74.50 per credit hour.
Illich said SCC is cutting from other areas of its budget, particularly its equipment expenditures, and shifting part of its levy from the capital improvement fund to the community colleges general fund as an additional measure to cover costs next year.
SCC will still need to find $165,000 in cuts from its budget before the Board of Governors convenes to approve the plan later this summer.
Adding instructors for courses with waiting lists will help serve more students, Illich said, while the college is adding instructors in other high-demand areas.
As the colleges learning centers begin to open up in six Southeast Nebraska towns this year -- York, Wahoo, Plattsmouth, Nebraska City, Falls City and Hebron -- SCC will also hire part time administrative positions to staff those locations morning, afternoon and night, Illich said.
The relatively flat budget the Board of Governors will work with comes after state lawmakers briefly considered imposing limits on how much Nebraskas community colleges could increase its budget authority in a single year.
SCC had been sitting on about $33 million in unused growth, which it built up by maintaining lower amounts of spending in previous years before the Gov. Pete Ricketts proposed imposing more limits on community college boards that were ultimately stripped from the final bill.
Putting forth a flat budget this year was not a reaction to those talks, Illich said.
I believe our board has always trended towards being more conservative, he said. We still have the lowest tax levy of the six community colleges in the state.
Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government. -- Thomas Jefferson, 1789
Responsible voters -- those who aspire to live up to the hopes of our nations founders -- have their work cut out for them in the 21st century.
The challenges that face voters was underscored earlier this month by the boast of one of President Barack Obamas security advisors that he created an echo chamber to drum up support for the presidents deal with Iran, which is aimed at curtailing its nuclear program.
According to Ben Rhodes it was easy. His team just fed talking points to experts who were predisposed to support the deal. And the information flowed on multiple channels -- Twitter and other social media and in the traditional media.
We live in an age of echo chambers.
Donald Trump is a spewing found of misinformation. FactCheck.org said that its 12 years of existence, weve never seen his match. He stands out not only for the sheer number of his factually false claims, but also for his brazen refusals to admit error when proven wrong.
The world is saturated with news and information. A few years ago Google founder Eric Schmidt provoked controversy by asserting, There was 5 exabytes of information created between the dawn of civilization through 2003, but that much information is now created every 2 days, and the pace is increasing.
Schmidt was challenged on the specifics, but his main point was unassailable: information is available basically for free. Its been devalued. Dont like someones facts? You can collect your own talking points, factual or not, with a few clicks.
It wasnt that long ago that gatekeepers ruled the flow of information. As the end of the 20th century came into view most Americans obtained most of their information from a few sources. Most communities had one or two newspapers and a few radio stations. There were three broadcast channels. A handful of news magazine circulated nationally.
Traditional news gathering organization this includes the Journal Star, of course still hew to time-honored traditions of double and triple-checking sources and presenting information and views from a variety of sources on the political spectrum.
Unfortunately, in a world awash in information its easier for voters to disregard facts that dont fit their preconceptions.
More than ever the nation needs voters who are willing to do the hard work of sorting out truth from fiction.
If voters cant, or won't, insist on getting it right, the republic truly is in danger.
Reports suggesting that the search for a third candidate has stalled, lacks money or faces insurmountable hurdles to qualifying for ballots in 50 states are inaccurate.
Bill Kristol, editor of Weekly Standard and one of several Republicans driving the search, recently told this column: "Our research and groundwork show an independent bid is doable. I think someone credible will seize the moment within the next couple of weeks." And yet the problem of finding an actual candidate has dogged the group.
There is no doubt that Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., is a favorite among the third-candidate advocates. At the American Enterprise Institute, Sasse, in remarks prepared for delivery Monday night, told the conservative think-tankers: "Both parties are only interested in punching each other in the face. I think we face a crisis of political vision that flows from the fact that we have two exhausted parties in Washington right now. Democrats pretend like we can make America Europe again by expanding 1960s entitlement programs, and too many Republicans believe that we can solve the problem by making America 1950 again."
That sure sounds like a man ready to challenge both parties. He continued: "When you talk to 18-to-22-year-old kids, they're pretty dispirited. They know that Republicans have largely left the field, and Democrats have a terrible product. My party isn't selling an optimistic vision, and the other party is trying to sell centralization in the age of Uber."
So is Sasse the candidate? His pluses are obvious: At 44 years old, he is more than 20 years younger than both major-party candidates; he's not a life-long pol, although he has worked in the executive branch, on the Hill, in private industry and as a university president. (He also has a PhD from Yale.) He's articulate, upbeat and engaging.
But he also has a bright future in the GOP (or whatever follows it) and young children. He'll have 20 years or so to run for president. From the perspective of the country and the conservative movement, he would be providing a great service; from his own vantage point and his family's, it would be a gamble and a sacrifice.
If Sasse does not run (and I'd put the odds at 50-50), there remains a backup, Mitt Romney. He has run before, has a donor network and has virtually 100 percent name ID. He has an impressive record of private charity and public service. He is widely credited with being right on a number of issues in the 2012 campaign, including Russia. However, Republicans know all too well his limitations as a candidate. A campaign run to please the right wing of his party and that focuses on business owners (instead of employees) would have little chance of success.
His pitch would need to be centrist, more akin to Gov. Romney of Massachusetts than the versions we saw in 2008 and 2012. That might not thrill many conservatives. For an agenda, Romney might adopt his former running mate Paul Ryan's reform-minded agenda due out by convention time. Romney would need to eschew consultants, run as his own man, offer interviews to virtually anyone and offer his opponents the chance to debate anytime, anywhere.
Romney, of course, would be doing this as a final chapter in his public service. He might even pledge to serve only one term and to find Democrats to put in prominent positions. But with Romney, the third-candidate effort would take on a nostalgic, symbolic tone.
Both Sasse and Romney are long shots, certainly. That said, with Trump at the top of the ticket, the GOP is doomed to lose the White House and likely the Senate. At the very least, either of these candidates would demonstrate that Trump is not the face of the conservative movement.
While either Sasse or Romney would give conservatives and centrists an opportunity to vote for someone who is capable of doing the job and is personally admirable, Sasse would give them someone who could generate real excitement, an actual competitor for votes of the disaffected. That would be a welcome, surprising turn of events.
I am writing in response to Cal Thomas' column titled "North Carolina fights back" (May 13). Much of the rhetoric in his column, as well as the concerns expressed by conservative leaders who support HB2, focus on only one part of the law, the bathroom mandate, and use absolute hyperbole to justify their position. It is ludicrous to expect that a wave of cisgender male predators can pretend to be transgender women in a convincing fashion, or that transgender people are any more likely to be sexual predators than cisgender people. Besides the bathrooms, there are other parts of the law that are far more harmful not only to transgender people, but all LGBTQ people in North Carolina.
HB2 repeals all existing local laws giving workplace protections or public accommodations to LGBTQ people, and prevents them from passing any such laws in the future. This gives full control over the matter to a state legislature that clearly does not have the civil rights of these people in mind.
Rather than specifically targeting LGBTQ people, the law bans discrimination on the basis of things such as race and religion, but conveniently omits gender identity and sexual orientation. This is a tactic used to make the law more difficult to overturn.
In effect, the law is a license to discriminate. Employers in North Carolina are allowed to fire employees or refuse a job to an applicant solely for being homosexual, and local governments can't do anything about it. Yet here we are, having rigorous debate over who's allowed to excrete in which places. This is all a massive deflection and fear mongering tactic. Please focus on the more impactful provisions of this regressive law that uses authoritative muscle to enforce salutary neglect. Calling HB2 a "bathroom law" is disgraceful and misguided.
Michael Funk, Lincoln
Lets give Franklin Graham a warm Nebraska welcome as he appears on the north side of the capital at noon on Wednesday ("Graham prayer rally slated," Feb. 6). He will remind us to pray for our nation as we move towards the election in November. He will also present the Gospel message and encourage us to run for a local, state or national office.
A retired district court judge and two state senators who supported repeal of the death penalty in Nebraska pushed the point at a news conference Wednesday that a convicted murderer with a mandatory life sentence would never get out of prison.
The Legislature examined life imprisonment extensively for years, and we are crystal clear that we have a strong life sentence that guarantees those with that sentence die in prison, said Lincoln Sen. Colby Coash, who helped lead the effort in the Legislature to repeal the death penalty last year.
But Nebraskans for the Death Penalty countered after the news conference that the claim is "simply untrue." The state Board of Pardons has -- as recently as 2013 -- commuted a life sentence, which allowed a convicted murderer to be paroled, said Bob Evnen, a founding member of the group.
Retain A Just Nebraska, which supports the death penalty repeal, made its point Wednesday because of concerns raised by opponents that a person sentenced to life could someday get out of prison.
The retain-the-repeal campaign is traveling the state to deliver the message and plans cable TV and radio advertising this summer, said spokesman Dan Parsons.
Nebraskans for the Death Penalty will conduct its own grassroots campaign this summer and fall, Evnen said, and it could also extend to television and radio ads.
"We will be reaffirming with people why it does work and why it is a proper punishment in the most extreme and heinous cases," he said. "And (that) we ought to protect those who protect us."
Retired District Court Judge Ronald Reagan, who served on the bench for more than 32 years and sentenced John Joubert to death in the electric chair for killing two boys, said at the news conference he has no doubt that Nebraska's life imprisonment law will keep first-degree murderers behind bars -- for life.
I want to make sure there is no legal confusion that life imprisonment means life in prison, no chance of parole," Reagan said. "Anything else is political posturing and has no grounding in the legal realities."
Reagan has said he always opposed the death penalty but felt that as a judge he must remain silent. He said he has seen the worst of the worst cases in Nebraska and has studied the laws carefully.
When someone is sentenced to life, he said, that person dies in prison.
And, Reagan said, the Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed it.
In 2014, in State v. Juan Castaneda, the court said a life sentence in Nebraska is no different than a sentence of life without parole, he said.
Lincoln Sen. Adam Morfeld, a member of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee, said those who want to bring back the death penalty are trying to confuse voters by suggesting that people who are sentenced to life could get out.
You will hear those who want to keep the death penalty say that if we get rid of it, people are going to get out. This is simply untrue," Morfeld said.
But Evnen noted that in 2013, the Pardons board -- made up then of Gov. Dave Heineman, Attorney General Jon Bruning and Secretary of State John Gale -- commuted the life sentence of a man convicted of first-degree murder in 1973. Laddie Dittrich was paroled the next year and arrested seven months later for third-degree sexual assault of a child. Now 70, he's back in prison.
"The Pardons Board is a very, very powerful body. ... No court can reverse or even review the decisions of the Pardons Board," Evnen said.
Retain A Just Nebraska spokesman Parsons said Dittrich's commutation was "terrible judgment" by the Pardons Board.
"They should be held accountable," he said. "I suspect future Pardons Boards won't make the same mistake."
Evnen also said that while people opposed to the death penalty are trying to guarantee that life means life, at the same time they are arguing in Nebraska courts that life without parole is a cruel and unusual sentence, and unconstitutional.
The death penalty repeal bill passed last year with 16 Republican votes, 13 Democratic votes and one independent vote, Coash said. The Legislature overrode the governor's veto of the bill.
A year ago, Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson issued a legal opinion on whether the absence of the words "without the possibility of parole" would open the possibility of parole for an inmate sentenced to life.
"Under current Nebraska law," he said, "a sentence of life imprisonment is effectively life imprisonment without parole."
Because of a successful petition initiative, Nebraskans will vote in November on whether to retain the repeal of the death penalty.
The ACLU of Nebraska is cautioning group homes not to deny service to young people in the juvenile justice system based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
A letter mailed Tuesday to 30 group homes lists three anonymous accounts of young people being treated differently, asked to keep their orientation private or denied service outright because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
"These incidents would be concerning from a general child welfare perspective, but when an agency receives state or federal funding to provide residential care for juveniles, there are separate legal consequences that can be triggered," wrote Amy Miller, legal director for ACLU of Nebraska.
The organization declined to name specific cases or identify group homes, saying reports came from probation officers or legal guardians who aren't supposed to speak publicly about the young people they serve.
"We believe its important for everyone to advocate for the equal rights of all children," said Kara Neuverth, a spokeswoman for Boys Town.
Miller's letter asks group homes to review their written policies to accommodate LGBT juveniles, and to ensure those policies are followed by staff.
The threat of lost federal funding was raised earlier this year during a debate over whether faith-based foster care and adoption agencies could refuse to place children with LGBT parents.
Opponents argued that a bill brought by state Sen. Mark Kolterman of Seward would endanger federal funds by protecting faith-based agencies from losing state contracts if they declined to work with certain families on religious grounds.
Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson sided with the measure's supporters, but opponents disputed Peterson's opinion and Kolterman eventually withdrew the bill from consideration by the Legislature.
Tuesday's letter went to many of the same agencies involved in the foster care issue.
Miller argued while LGBT juveniles are at "heightened risk" of abuse, "there is no rational basis to treat LGBT youth differently than other children, and they have the constitutional right to equal protection of the law."
ACLU of Nebraska spokesman Tyler Richard said the organization hopes anyone who knows of group homes turning away LGBT people will come forward.
"We would like to know if this is ... an isolated situation (or) if this is widespread," he said.
Each triplet is responsible for at least one aspect of the business. They said they all work together on some things, including what days to open and keeping track of inventory.
Brad Fiala is watching grass grow.
And it makes him nervous.
Im happy right now with the rains weve gotten and everything being green but if we dont get rain (in June and July) as predicted, Im going to be really nervous come July, said the Ainsworth Fire and Rescue Chief.
As the spring growth dries out, Fiala said, it could create enough fuel to feed a blaze in the Niobrara River Valley bigger than the 2012 wildfire that burned more than 76,000 acres over 10 days.
Nationally, wildfires have grown tremendously in recent decades and experts are blaming climate change.
Fire seasons are an average of 78 days longer now than they were in 1970, and the average number of acres burned annually has doubled since 1980, according to the U.S. Forest Service, which is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
During a news conference Tuesday, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell called on Congress to allow wildfires to be declared natural disasters like tornadoes and hurricanes.
The time is now for these major forest fires to be treated as the natural disaster they are and be funded as such, which would then provide additional resources and certainty in the Forest Service budget, Tidwell said.
Last year the U.S. Forest Service spent $2.6 billion fighting more than 68,000 fires that destroyed 4,500 homes and killed seven firefighters, Vilsack said.
California is particularly fraught with peril this year with an estimated 40 million dead trees, after 29 million succumbed during the past year to five years of drought.
The growing fire danger is steadily consuming the U.S. Forest Services budget.
Created to manage the countrys 193 million acres of national forests, the service allocated more than 50 percent of its budget last year to fighting fires, up from 16 percent in 1995. The Forest Service regularly burns through its firefighting budget before the end of the wildfire season, forcing it to abandon restoration and improvement projects.
Nebraska had its worst wildfire season on record during the 2012 drought, when nearly 1,600 fires burned more than 500,000 acres. Costs climbed to $12 million for firefighting and 65 structures burned, according to state officials.
Plentiful rain last year helped reduce the risk to 624 fires that burned 41,760 acres, according to the Nebraska Forest Service.
But its only a matter of time before Nebraska experiences another record year, said Justin Nickless, an Ainsworth-based fire management specialist for the Nebraska Forest Service.
Every year is different," he said. "It all depends on the weather and the climate. Weve been in a cycle of every six or so years is when we historically have been getting large fire seasons.
The Nebraska Forest Service doesnt have a fire suppression force of its own, so fighting the fires falls to a network of 476 rural fire districts that rely on local taxes and fundraising. Of the 1.6 million acres of forested land in Nebraska, 88 percent is owned privately.
With fire danger growing, Nickless called on state lawmakers to help fund those rural districts, which sometimes struggle to keep equipment maintained and up to date, as well as find volunteers whose jobs allow them to leave at a moment's notice.
BURLINGTON A company called Applied Materials Solutions, which started manufacturing this week, plans to create 147 jobs in Burlington in the next few years.
The Racine County Economic Development Corp. said Applied Materials considered several locations in northern Illinois and southeastern Wisconsin before purchasing 1956 S. Pine St., Burlington. AMS is currently undertaking almost $3.7 million in renovations at the 124,000-square-foot facility.
Previously, AMS operated in only about 20,000 square feet of space in Mundelein, Ill., AMS President Tom Rebernak said Wednesday.
Our ownership group brings over 130 years combined experience in industrial and chemical technologies and manufacturing, stated AMS owner Jim Athans. We look forward to growing AMS and our product lines in Burlington.
RCEDC said the company was formed in early 2015 through the acquisition of Trans-Chemo of Bristol and Performance Processing of Mundelein, according to a news release issued late Tuesday night.
AMS manufactures and blends anti-foam and defoaming products, treated silicas and chemicals. The products are used in a variety of industries, including pulp and paper, paint and coatings, food processing, mining, metalworking and wastewater treatment industries.
According to AMS, treated silicas have many uses including in coatings and paints, printing inks, fire extinguisher powder and table salt.
Rebernak said Wednesday that nearly all of the companys customers have nondisclosure agreements about releasing their names. However, he said: Theyre names that you would recognize some are fairly large players in agribusiness.
AMS started manufacturing this week with about 10 employees and one manufacturing cell, Rebernak said. (Employment) will increase pretty rapidly in the next six months, he said.
Employees hired by AMS come in with backgrounds in such fields as electrical, controls engineering, chemical operations, and fabrication and welding, Rebernak said.
We are pleased AMS owners have chosen to locate in Burlington, stated Burlington Mayor Jeannie Hefty in a news release. The companys investment in revitalizing an underutilized facility in our community and bringing valuable new job opportunities for area residents is within our vision for the Citys development plans.
AMS joins a robust industrial community in western Racine County that includes companies such as Nestle, Echo Lake Foods, Lavelle Industries and many others, stated Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave in a news release.
MOUNT PLEASANT CNH Industrial and the United Auto Workers union have achieved six more years of labor peace for the Mount Pleasant tractor plant and two others, both sides reported Tuesday.
On Monday UAW locals 180 in Mount Pleasant, 807 in Burlington, Iowa, and 152 in Burr Ridge, Ill., ratified a new six-year collective bargaining agreement that will affect approximately 800 active union workers at the three facilities, Local 180 President Jeff Vassh said in a written statement.
CNH Industrial has been notified by the United Auto Workers that its members have ratified a new contract agreement with the capital goods company, CNH spokeswoman Kathleen Prause said in a written statement.
The company is pleased to have a new long-term contract in place that is fair and equitable to its UAW-represented employees, Prause continued. This contract will enable CNH Industrial to be competitive in the global marketplace it serves, ensuring a secure future for its U.S. employees and the local communities in which it operates.
The tentative contract was reached during the night of May 1, just two hours after the previous six-year contract lapsed but it was a mere proposal until the three unions members vote to take it. Vassh said UAW members approved the contract settlement by 58 percent to 42 percent in the voting done at all three plants, on all three shifts, that took most of Monday to complete.
The ratification vote erases any possibility of a strike, such as the one that began in late 2004. That action led to a winter-long company lockout that paralyzed production for 4 months before a contract settlement in March 2005.
Had the proposed settlement been rejected Monday, Vassh said, a strike would have been a high probability.
The Mount Pleasant tractor plant, 7000 Durand Ave., manufactures Case IH Magnum and New Holland T8 tractors.
In addition to the plants more than 400 active workers, more than 200 others are currently laid off because of the slowness of agricultural equipment sales worldwide and across the industry. The last layoff came in January and affected about 105 local employees.
Contract provisions
The primary focus of the negotiations, Vassh wrote, was to close the wage gap between the two-tier workers that was established in 2004. Workers hired post-2004 will receive annual wage increases of 3 percent to 4 percent, which will raise their base wage every time.
In contrast, Vassh said union members hired before 2004 will receive annual payments of 3 percent to 4 percent but their base wages will remain the same. This should close the wage gap considerably, but it is far from eliminating it, he stated.
Wages were the largest concern for our membership who feel that even with the general wage increases, no cost-of-living allowance, and increased health care costs we are below industry standard for machining and assembly within the heavy manufacturing sector, Vassh continued.
He declined to give the wage range of plant workers.
We were also able to maintain and achieve parity (between the two tiers of workers) on a traditional health care plan with a slight increase in premium sharing, Vassh stated. All active members will be on the same plan which will cost the pre-2004 hires a little more, but give substantial relief, especially in prescription drug costs to our post-2004 members, he said.
Our union workforce was also able to maintain the large majority of our seniority rights, improve our disability benefits, slightly increase vacation allocation, and maintain the current retiree health care under the same structure as the previous agreement, Vassh added.
The best part of the process was that our membership had a voice in their future, Vassh stated. We as a UAW membership had the opportunity to bring our issues forward and advance our standards. Only in a union would a group of workers be able to have this type of influence with a multi-billion dollar corporation.
Nearly 15 percent of Racine County residents are age 65 and older, and the 26th Aging Well Conference, which will be held June 3 at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, will offer resources and ideas to help older adults live fulfilling, healthy lives.
The daylong conference is geared toward older adults, caregivers for elderly persons, and professionals specializing in aging issues. The event will include speakers, workshops and exhibits.
The conference originally began as a continuing education event for gerontology professionals, but it has expanded its focus to address broader trends and best practices in aging, explained Susan Bogar, a UW-Parkside continuing education program associate.
Its primary focus remains to bring the latest information to our area for professionals to provide the best care possible to their patients and families, and for anyone serving in a caregiving role who would also like the opportunity to network and learn, Bogar said.
Creative strategies for assisting elderly adults who have memory loss, complementary and holistic health care, and tackling food insecurity among older adults are among the topics that will be covered.
The sessions that are most popular this year are focused on creativity and how to engage people with memory loss through the use of visual imagery and sensory stimulation with art and music, the power of positive thinking, and traditional Chinese medicine, Bogar said.
Speakers, exhibits
The conference will feature three keynote speakers, each with a different expertise in aging issues.
Barbara Bendlin, Ph.D., an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, will discuss how to reduce the risk of Alzheimers disease. Digital health consultant Laura Mitchell will talk about disruptive technologies that can assist aging adults. Filmmaker Jim Vanden Bosch, founder of Terra Nova Films and an associate editor of arts and humanities for The Gerontologist, will address how perceptions of dementia have evolved over the years, as well as how the arts can be used to help people with dementia express themselves and stay connected with their loved ones.
Attendees also can peruse exhibits featuring tools and resources for elderly adults and their caregivers. AARP Wisconsin, Aging and Disability Resource Center of Racine County, Brookdale Senior Living, Hospice Alliance, Parkside Manor and Societys Assets are among the organizations that will be showcasing their services. New this year will be massage chairs available for any attendee who wants to de-stress between sessions with a quick massage.
One exhibitor, Right at Home, is an example of a resource that can help older adults age well. The company offers in-home services to elderly adults such as meal preparation, medication reminders, and bathing assistance that can enable elderly adults to stay in their own home, explained Mike Callaghan, owner of the Right at Home Kenosha-Racine branch.
At the conference we will be providing information on our services and discussing the different ways we can help someone maintain their independence while keep them safe and secure, Callaghan said.
While aging well may mean different things to different people, the core idea is to make the most of ones later years, noted Bogar.
To age well means that well into your retirement years you have your health, your faculties, and the financial resources to stay vibrant and active, Bogar said. It is not as much genetics as it is personal lifestyle choices.
The conference is from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on June 3 at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside Student Center, 900 Wood Road, Kenosha. The cost is $109; to register, go to the event website (http://bit.ly/1NxZUVf) and click on the registration link.
RACINE A Racine man faces two counts of felony burglary for allegedly stealing almost $2,000 last year from an office he used to help clean.
Oscar Bueno Sr., 51, of the 1900 block of Geneva Street, appeared in Racine County Circuit Court Tuesday to face the charges filed in connection with separate alleged incidents last August and last October.
According to the criminal complaint, Bueno allegedly took $375 that was in an envelope from a desk at ZMac Transportation, 510 College Ave., on Oct. 5, 2015. The burglary was captured by a surveillance camera, the complaint said.
The cameras were installed after more than $1,400 that was in an envelope was stolen from a desk in the office sometime between Aug. 21 and 25, 2015, the complaint states.
Office employees told the Racine Police Department they suspected someone on the cleaning crew in the burglaries because of how the burglars entered the building, the complaint said.
Bueno was identified on the surveillance tape by the manager of the cleaning company, the complaint said.
Bueno was interviewed by Racine Police last December and admitted he took the money to pay for gas and to fix his vehicle, the complaint said. But Bueno also told police that the envelope in August contained only $65 and the one in October had only $30, the complaint said.
A preliminary hearing was scheduled for June 2, court record showed.
RACINE A Racine Unified School District student who has tried to leave the district 12 times under the states open enrollment program is one of six special-needs students highlighted in a federal lawsuit, alleging the program discriminates against special-needs students.
Oral arguments in the suit, filed against State School Superintendent Tony Evers and several school districts, are scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 17, in federal court in Madison.
The Racine Unified student, identified as P.F. in a lawsuit filed by Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty in November 2014, was most recently rejected for open enrollment by the Muskego-Norway School District, the lawsuit said.
We, along with our clients, strongly believe in the merits of this case and believe that a victory would finally give special-needs children equal access to the open enrollment program, said CJ Szafir, WILLs vice president for policy.
About 1,000 students each year are denied access to the open enrollment program because they have a disability, WILL alleges in the lawsuit. School districts named in the lawsuit, originally filed Nov. 19, 2014 and since amended, are Elkhorn, Greendale, Muskego-Norway, Paris, and Shorewood.
In January 2014, Muskego-Norway decided to approve 55 open enrollment spaces, but zero for children with disabilities, including P.F., the lawsuit said. Also, Racine Unified blocked P.F.s application to transfer to Muskego-Norway asserting that the transfer would result in an undue financial burden on the Racine district, the lawsuit said.
In 2013 P.F. applied to transfer into the Union Grove School District, but was denied enrollment there as well, the lawsuit said.
State open enrollment laws
School districts have never been able to deny open enrollment simply because the student has a disability, according to the state Department of Public Instruction officials.
Initially, districts could deny enrollment because of space constraints, financial burden, or unavailability of programs.
But under new DPI guidelines approved in January, districts can deny open enrollment for only one reason: If there is no space in the special education program at the receiving district, said DPI communications director Tom McCarthy.
The changes go into effect in the 2016-2017 school year, McCarthy said.
Not that long ago, it all seemed simple: There was a boys room and a girls room. You either go in the boys room or the girls room.
You didnt even think about it.
Now it seems public officials cannot stop thinking about it and analyzing it.
It all started to blow up when North Carolina passed its law mandating the people must use the bathroom of the sex that they were born.
In the newest chapter of this tale, President Barack Obamas administration has stepped in.
A joint letter from the Departments of Education and Justice that went to schools last week states, Under Title IX, a school must treat students consistent with their gender identity even if their education records or identification documents indicate a different sex.
It goes on to state: A school may provide separate facilities on the basis of sex, but must allow transgender students access to such facilities consistent with their gender identity.
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.
A school may, however, make individual-user options available to all students who voluntarily seek additional privacy.
Honestly that doesnt really make any sense. Yet, if schools dont comply, they could risk losing federal funding.
According to The New York Times, in defending this on Monday, Obama told reporters, I think that it is part of our obligation as a society to make sure that everybody is treated fairly, and our kids are all loved, and that theyre protected and that their dignity is affirmed.
Some people truly do identify as the opposite sex and they should be treated with respect just like everyone else and not discriminated against. No one deserves to be bullied or harassed.
Unfortunately, going into one bathroom versus the other is not going to stop bullying. It actually could add to it.
The Racine Unified School District had it right earlier this year when it approved a new policy for transgender and gender-conforming students which directed schools to make accommodations when needed.
The policy, which administrators say was already the de facto practice in schools, sets a standard of allowing students uncomfortable with their regular bathroom or locker room, regardless of which sex they identify with, to be able to use a private, single-occupant facility upon request.
That sounds reasonable.
The federal government shouldnt be telling us what to do on this. They have enough other issues to deal with.
Continuing to cut higher education funding will hurt Wisconsins economy by reducing research and innovation on college campuses, according to a new report from the state organization that advises lawmakers on science and technology.
The Wisconsin Technology Council argues that legislators should instead make it a priority to increase state support for the University of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Technical College systems.
Their campuses act as economic engines and talent factories in their communities, council president Tom Still said, and are a boon to Wisconsins economy.
But funding cuts have gone past the point of making colleges and universities more efficient and now threaten their quality, which is one of the states competitive advantages, the council wrote in The Value of Higher Education to Wisconsins Economy, the report it released Monday.
Lawmakers have reduced funding for the UW System in five of the last six state budgets, including a $250 million cut in the 2015-17 budget.
If the slide in higher education funding effort continues, the academic (research and development) infrastructure in Wisconsin could deteriorate, the council wrote. Further cuts would harm access, affect overall quality and erode economic competitiveness.
Still said the organization was not recommending lawmakers increase UW and technical college system funding by a specific amount, but more generally said they must invest wisely in higher education.
Higher education in Wisconsin is a huge economic driver, and its important for policymakers not to lose sight of that, Still said.
The council is made up of a bipartisan group of business and education officials, several of whom come from UW and the technical colleges. UW System President Ray Cross is a member, as is James Zylstra, the Wisconsin Technical College Systems vice president for finance.
Along with its recommendations for higher education funding, the councils report says colleges and universities could make several changes to improve their relationships with local businesses.
Still said colleges should clarify their conflict-of-interest rules for professors and researchers, and recommended more institutions follow the lead of UW-Madisons Office of Corporate Relations, to make it easier for businesses to connect with campuses.
20 stranded Nepali workers deported, Malaysian company buys air tickets
Malaysias mobile service provider Digii Telecommunications has supported the deportation of 20 Nepali migrant workers who were left stranded after completing jail terms.
Armed with drones, aid workers seek faster response to disasters
For weeks after Nepals worst earthquake in 80 years, the skies above the Himalayan nation vibrated with military helicopters ferrying relief, airplanes bringing in aid workers, and drones.
Big cats face fresh danger with poachers back on the prowl
Intel reports that tribal gypsy groups from India are entering the Nepali territory in Bardiya and Kailali have put park authorities and security officials on high alert.
Briton released from custody
British national Martin Travers was released on Tuesday as his involvement in the Madhesi-Janajati protest was not proved.
Encouraged, protesters to keep stir flame alive
Madhesi and Janajati groups affiliated with the Sanghiya Gathabandhan are considering more Kathmandu-centric protests after the conclusion of their first round of demonstrations with a sit-in at Shanti Batika, Ratnapark, on Wednesday.
Food shortage looms in Mugu
Villagers of 24 VDCs in Mugu district are likely to face food shortage this year due to decline in winter crops production.
Gang involved in colouring green vegetables busted
Three Indian nationals have been arrested with four sacks of pointed gourd that was being put for sale after painting green with inedible colour.
Gems, jewellery expo slated to start May 20
Nepal International Gems and Jewellery Expo 2016, slated to open on May 20 and run for three days, promises to delight jewellery lovers with a wide-ranging display of domestic gold and silver jewellery along with ornaments made of precious stones.
Govt urged to scrap controversial plan
Nepali Congress lawmaker Gagan Thapa on Tuesday urged the government to scrap its controversial plan to increase the amount of money provided to Members of Parliament (MPs) to develop their constituencies.
Grinding on
People are fed up with the frequent changes in government without any purpose
House rebuilding aid delayed in Dolakha district
Local units of the political parties have been pressing the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) to stop signing housing reconstruction aid agreements with the earthquake survivors charging that engineers have not included many genuine victims in the recipients list.
Leicester City arrive in Bangkok to heroes' welcome
Newly-crowned English Premier League champions Leicester City have arrived in Bangkok for a celebratory tour.
Nationalism and its discontents
Challenge of national integration grows as political power becomes centralised and decision-making opaque
NTNC, ZSL sign tiger conservation agreement
National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) on Tuesday signed an agreement with Zoological Society of London (ZSL) to launch awareness raising activities in national parks and wildlife reserves in Tarai region, stretched along the Nepal-India border.
Pvt schools charging high fees
A majority of the private schools are charging exorbitant fees, flouting the fee ceiling set by the government, according to the Ministry of Education.
Rs 410 billion to come from donors
Even as the government is struggling to transform donors pledges for post-earthquake reconstruction into reality, National Reconstruction Authoritys (NRA) recovery and reconstruction works will largely be funded by the donors money.
Ryan Gosling quits smoking
Actor Ryan Gosling, who recently welcomed his second daughter with partner Eva Mendes, has decided to give up smoking.
Sanghiya Gathabandhan to protest for another 10 days
The Sanghiya Gathbandhan , or a federal alliance formed by the Madhesi and Janajati forces, has decided to protest in the valley for the next 10 days.
Sri Lanka mudslide leaves scores missing
Rescuers in Sri Lanka are searching for scores of people missing after massive landslides following days of rain.
The Gulf that engulfs Nepalis
The streets near the Tribhuvan International Airport are full of Nepalis every day, with garlands around their necks and red tika on their foreheads. With luggage and a heavy heart, they make their way into the gate to board in a budget aircraft to a gulf country.
Three manhandling former MP arrested
Police has arrested three people on the charge of their involvement in the incident of beating of a former lawmaker.
Unleashing potential
Whether the revised NTIS list will help meet export targets remains to be seen
US election: Donald Trump open to talks with North Korea
US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he is willing to meet the North Korean leader to discuss Pyongyang's nuclear programme.
Victims response spurs on CIEDP
The Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) has registered 1,146 complaints from conflict victims, about 77 percent of the 1,522 documented cases of disappearance at the Ministry of Peace.
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?
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Prominent members of the countrys fashion industry using Instagram are being targeted in a cyber crackdown by the Tehran regime.
A leading model in Iran has been forced to publicly denounce herself after being charged with promoting western promiscuity for posting pictures online of her without a headscarf.
Elham Arab, wearing a black chador over her head, told a hearing at the Iranian Revolutionary Court that she now regretted entering the fashion business and described it as a mistake.
Iranian Model, Elham Arab, answering to Tehran attorney for posting her pictures without scarf on Instagram pic.twitter.com/y1CSM4FrYQ potkin azarmehr (@potkazar) May 16, 2016
Other reports from Iran said the model confessed voluntarily.
She is among a series of models and other prominent figures in the fashion industry caught up in a cyber crackdown by the Tehran authorities, code-named Spider II, against those who post images of themselves on Instagram and other social media sites.
Questioned by the prosecutor during the televised hearing, Ms Arab said: I think all humans are interested in admiring beauty and becoming famous.
But they must first consider at what cost and what they will lose in return.
For an Iranian film star they may not lose much but for a model she will certainly lose her hijab and honour.
In recent years, Iranian women in Tehran especially have increasingly worn the mandatory scarf loosely on their head, drawing criticism from hardliners amid broader tensions within society over the future direction of the country.
Up until the launch of the crackdown at the start of the year, a large number of models and fashion agencies used Instagram to promote themselves.
Among those to be arrested include the top Iranian model Elnaz Golrokh, who has subsequently left Iran and is now based in Dubai.
In a statement issued at the time, Ms Golrokh said: Unfortunately for the moment I will not be active in Iran, but I will continue my work outside Iran.
The crackdown on the fashion industry forms part of a wider move by the regime to control online expression in the county, through censorship and filtering of the internet.
In 2014, the authorities arrested a group of young Iranian men and women for an online video of them dancing to Pharrell Williams song Happy.
Even though the arrests drew widespread criticism, including from the musician himself, those involved were each given suspended sentences of six months in prison and 91 lashes.
Journalists, filmmakers, writers and activists have also been detained, sentenced or imprisoned.
Sky News
Former FDC president Dr Kiiza Besigye has arrived at the Nakawa Magistrates Court under tight security.
He has been delivered to the court in a tinted bus, accompanied by three police patrol vehicles, prison vehicles.
Meanwhile security has been tightened with access to the court premises restricted.
In a rather unusual move, the courts gate has been closed and members of the public and journalists denied access.
Most of the roads leading to the court have also been blocked with access limited to security personnel.
The former FDC presidential candidate is appearing before the Nakawa chief magistrate Remmy Mawanda for mention of treason charges labeled against him.
On Monday this week Moroto Chief Magistrate, Charles Yeteise granted state prayers to transfer Dr. Besigye from Moroto to Luzira Prisons, prompting the chief registrar Paul Gadenya to allocate the case file to Nakawa Magistrates Court.
Story by Ruth Anderah
On 19 April 2016, KNX Luxembourg celebrated its 5th anniversary with a meeting at the countrys most prominent KNX training center, CNFPC (Centre National de Formation Professionnelle Continue).
The meeting consisted of a formal part, the annual General Assembly and an informal part. The informal part began with a presentation given by Mr. Demarest, CTO of the KNX Association, which provided detailed information on the highlights presented at the recent Light Building fair, including ETS Inside, KNX IoT (KNX Web services) as well as KNX Secure. The informal part was concluded with a toast to the success of KNX in Luxembourg, networking possibilities, as well as product demonstrations by local representatives of KNX members.
www.knx.org/lu-fr
South Korea hosted an official ceremony to mark the 36th anniversary of a key popular uprising that played an instrumental part in transforming the country into a liberal democracy, amid on-going squabbles over the status of a controversial song used at the event.
On May 18, 1980, more than 200,000 citizens of Gwangju, 329 kilometers south of Seoul, rose up against the military junta led by Gen. Chun Doo-hwan, who took power following the turmoil left by the assassination of then-President Park Chung-hee the previous year. The late president had ruled the country for 18 years before his death and is the father of incumbent President Park Geun-hye, while Chun went onto to become a South Korean president as well.
Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn and officials from the ruling and opposition parties all gathered in Gwangju to express their condolences to the victims' families.
"We have struggled to establish a liberal and righteous country under the democracy built on the spirit of the May 18 movement," Hwang said, adding the government will make efforts to generate jobs and lend support to the livelihood of the people based on such achievements.
"We will also root out corruption and unreasonable customs that harm the trust and unity of the public. By building a fair and transparent society that does not tolerate privileges and violations, we will continue to support the spirit of the democracy movement," he added.
As announced earlier, the organizer did not obligate all attendees to sing the song that commemorates the uprising that resulted in a large number of deaths.
Since 1997, the uprising's signature song "March for the Beloved" had been officially sung by attendees of the national ceremony every year, but the government of former President Lee Myung-bak decided in 2009 to have a choir perform the song.
People could sing along if they wished, but the choice to do so was left to each individual.
This practice set by the conservative president was continued by the Park administration despite strong urging to alter it by liberals.
The government's stance sparked controversy here, with some claiming that the decision has damaged the spirit of the democracy uprising.
Reflecting the heated debate, Patriots and Veterans Affairs Minister Park Sung-choon, whose office manages the event, was barred from taking part in the event by relatives of those killed in the democracy movement. The minister, citing the need to be even-handed and respect conservative elements of society, made a decision to not switch back to the old system of all participants singing the song.
The controversy around the song derives from a wider public debate over the uprising, which conservatives downplay as a an illegal armed revolt against the government.
Some conservative South Koreans express discontent against the music as local labor unions and workers often play or sing the song when they stage protest rallies, even in events not related to the democracy movement.
The president, meanwhile, did not participate in the event. She participated in the annual ceremony only in her first year of office in 2013. (Yonhap)
ANGOLA A man serving time in the Ohio Department of Corrections was sentenced to 28 more years Tuesday afternoon in Steuben Superior Court.
Alando Lee Smith, 45, was arrested in Ohio for drug manufacturing and trafficking when a warrant was served for a Steuben County drug dealing allegation in 2014. He is currently housed at Belmont Correctional Institution in Clairsville, Ohio, serving a seven-year sentence that will be completed in 2022.
He was brought to Angola to complete four pending charges in the Steuben County courts.
He pleaded guilty to dealing in methamphetamine and habitual substance offender, and under a fixed-term plea agreement took the maximum sentence 28 years. In exchange, the other pending charges, including a higher, Class A felony drug-dealing charge, were dismissed.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Travis Musser noted Smiths extensive criminal record, which stretches to the 1990s. His most recent convictions included mainly drug-related charges. He admitted to selling meth on April 30, 2014, in Steuben County.
Fee accepted the plea agreement. Smiths attorney, Adam Squiller, suggested that sentencing in Indiana run concurrent to his Ohio sentence, noting that he would be serving more than a decade on drug charges. Squiller also requested rehabilitation services in the Indiana Department of Correction; Smiths wife testified that he had some success with sobriety but he became mired in his addiction after they lost an unborn child.
Fee ordered that Smith be admitted to the DOCs Therapeutic Communities, which would allow him to consider a sentence reduction after Smith successfully completes the program.
I think everybody deserves a shot at recovery, said Fee.
Because the crimes in Indiana and Ohio were completely separate from one another, Fee said consecutive sentencing was not appropriate. Once Smith completes his Ohio time he must serve the 28-year sentence in Indiana with any good time credit he accrues.
Kendallville, IN (46755)
Today
Partly cloudy skies during the morning hours will give way to occasional showers in the afternoon. High 73F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%..
Tonight
A steady rain in the evening. Showers continuing late. Low 53F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.
There will be a meeting of St. Malachys Cemetery Association on Sunday, May 22 at St. Kevins Catholic Church in Melrose immediately following the 8 a.m. Mass.
All those interested in the care of the cemetery are urged to attend. The cemetery is located in the town of Irving in Jackson County. For more information, contact Mary I. Woods at (608) 488-5981 or the parish office at (608) 488-3001.
The Friends of the Black River will host a river paddle on Morrison Creek from Highway 54 put-in to the No. 6 take-out on Sunday, May 22. Paddlers should meet at the pow-wow grounds east of Black River Falls at noon.
The paddle is estimated to take about one and a half hours. Some equipment is available for those who dont have it. To arrange for the use of watercraft, contact Jeff Polzin by calling or texting (715) 896-5534.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is looking for elk monitoring volunteers for its herds near Black River Falls and Clam Lake this summer.
The trail camera monitoring will add to other cameras instituted in 2015, and volunteers are needed to help maintain the camera grid. The department would like willing property owners to place cameras on their property to assist as more elk are born that wont have radio collars for monitoring.
These trail cameras and the methods behind them are being used more and more and more, and the hope is that we can use these as a cost-effective monitoring tool, said Dan Storm, a DNR deer and elk researcher. Weve already got about two dozen volunteer inquiries in each area in both Clam Lake and another two dozen or so in Black River Falls, but theres still more need.
Weve got a good start, but we have a need of more for sure.
Jackson Countys second round of elk will be released from their acclimation pen east of Black River Falls this summer to add to the existing herd that was transported from Kentucky the previous year. Elk have been in Clam Lake since a university project helped reintroduce them in Wisconsin more than 20 years ago.
Volunteer monitoring will save the DNR money and staff resources, and it also engages the public in the ongoing project, Storm said.
It goes with a lot of things that we do in that the DNR is trying to engage the public and trying to get them involved and have them sort of invested in the project, he said. Its sort of a fun thing to do, and its a way for the interested public to get more involved in the monitoring.
If interested in volunteering, contact Susan Frett at (608) 221-6323.
The Black River Falls School District recently received more than $24,000 to help fund improvements to technology education lab equipment at the high school.
The 2015-17 state budget implemented the Fabrication Laboratories Program, which made $500,000 available to school districts through the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. WEDC expanded the program to accommodate a large number of grant applications, which allowed an additional $101,000 to the initiative that involved awards for 25 school districts, including Black River Falls.
The $24,804 BRF received will go toward two pieces of equipment for the metals lab. The school began to order the equipment the first week of May and should have it installed and operational for the beginning of the 2016-17 school year.
We are very excited to receive this grant funding, said BRF tech ed teacher Andy Richard.
WEDCs Fab Labs Program requires matching funds from each school district and is designed to prepare students for manufacturing jobs in the future. WEDC recently announced the statewide recipients of its Fab Lab funding to support the purchase of Fab Lab equipment for instructional and educational purposes by elementary, middle, junior or high school students.
Guaranteeing our students have the skills necessary to compete in our rapidly-growing, technology-driven world is critical to our economy, Gov. Scott Walker said in a statement. Fab Labs provide hands-on learning to the next generation of workers to provide our students with the skills they need to obtain good-paying jobs. This ensures everyone who wants a job in Wisconsin can find a job.
Richard said the school also found funding for another piece of equipment that should be ready for next school year.
Mr. Richard and the tech ed department have done an outstanding job of connecting our programs to the businesses in our community. Theyve created partnerships that provide opportunities for our students that were previously unavailable, BRF Superintendent Shelly Severson said. The further development of our Fab Lab is going to continue to draw a wide variety of students into the department to experience this hands-on learning. We believe that once they get a taste of it, their interest will grow and new career possibilities will open for them.
For more information on Fab Labs, visit www.inwisconsin.com/fablabs.
U.S. Rep. Ron Kind has won the support of student leaders at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
As her last official act, two-term Student Association President Kaylee Otterbacher honored Kind with the Higher Education Advocate of the Year Award at a ceremony on the UW-L campus. At a time when passion for higher education and the UW System has been hard to find, she said Kind has been a big supporter of the university and its students.
How fortunate we are to have a legislator who is an advocate of higher education, she said.
Otterbacher and the student association didnt give out an award last year. At the time, Otterbacher said it was hard to find someone who showed a passion for higher education and students at a time of budget cuts and attacks on higher education.
The Student Association saw many UW System advocates throughout the budgeting process, but not to the extent that students needed these past few months, student association public relations director Chris Stackhouse said last year when the announcement was made. Students needed a champion during this past budget cycle and moving forward, and we look forward to finding that champion of students and higher education in Wisconsin.
This year, Kind, D-La Crosse, stood out for his commitment to higher education and to UW-L specifically, Otterbacher said. He formally announced his higher education affordability proposals earlier this year on the UW-L campus and has made efforts to speak to students about higher education issues, not just other politicians and campus administrators.
He also was one of the few legislators that listened when the Student Association went to Capitol Hill to lobby in January, Otterbacher said. Students and Kinds views on higher education and student debt are aligned, and Kind honored the students of UW-L by inviting her to attend this years State of the Union as his guest, she said.
He is one of our biggest advocates, she said. Students need a champion this coming budget cycle and moving forward.
After accepting the award, Kind said it has been a joy to work with the students at UW-L, who are emblematic of the quality of the campus. With six of the 11 UW System campuses in his congressional district, Kind said college affordability is one of his priorities, and he is focused on helping to make student loans more affordable through refinancing and on protecting the Pell Grant program.
Wisconsins frac sand mining industry isnt going away, but industry experts say not all mines will survive as market forces change the business model.
Advances in a gas and oil mining technique known as hydraulic fracturing created enormous demand during the past decade for the round, silica sand prevalent throughout western Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. In response, the number of mines jumped from just a handful to 129, according to the latest count by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
But when oil prices fell, so did demand for silica, and some experts say the new economics will leave some operators in the dust.
There were a lot of mines that should never have been built, said Joel Schneyer, managing director for the investment banking firm Headwaters MB. There were mines built that dont make sense.
Schneyer was the keynote speaker for a recent two-day industry convention at the La Crosse Center. He spoke to about 70 people, noting attendance was much better than recent industry addresses he gave in New York and Minneapolis.
The convention, put on by the trade publication Rock Products, is billed as a beacon of hope for producers weathering a sandstorm, as low oil prices have sapped demand for the fine-grained sand used to open cracks in underground rocks, releasing hard-to-reach oil and natural gas reserves.
Keith Rauch, a mining geologist and La Crosse-based consultant, offered a briefing on how to open a mine, though he conceded there is not much interest in that now.
Its a tough business, he said. Were at the low point hopefully.
Schneyer estimates consumption of frac sand was near 40 percent of capacity last year and will fall to around 35 percent in 2016 which is the reason its so painful out there, he told conference goers.
But the industry is not dead, Schneyer said: With oil prices below $40 a barrel, producers are concentrating on their most productive wells, drilling farther and using more sand; EOG Resources, one of the nations largest oil and gas producers, is using about twice as much sand per well as its competitors.
Shale is not going away, he said. Each well you drill you gain a little more knowledge.
With lagging demand and depressed prices, there is no longer enough profit margin to support both mines and shippers, or the existing model, where efficient mines attempt to supply the entire industry.
Thats not how we sell the sand anymore, Schneyer said.
During the boom, when frac sand was a $33 billion industry, publicly-traded mining companies were making a profit of $35 per ton. By the end of 2015, that pre-tax margin had fallen to $7 a ton.
Now successful mines need to own loading terminals and sell their product in the shale basins where they can ship it most efficiently. For producers in the upper Midwest, that means sending sand to the Bakken formation of North Dakota, where product can be hauled directly on major railroads like Canadian Pacific and BNSF.
A million tons of sand on a rail line is worth more than a billion tons 20 miles away, Rauch said.
But its not enough to be near a rail line, Schneyer said.
To maximize efficiency, producers need to fill entire trains with their product, and even some of the mines with rail terminals cant accommodate these mile-long unit trains.
Mines that rely on trucks to haul their product to a rail terminal are too high on the cost curve, Schneyer said, adding that local officials should have been asking potential operators tougher questions about their business models.
Most operations are located along rail corridors, but a Tribune analysis of DNR data suggests there are at least 30 permitted facilities and another two with pending applications more than five miles from a rail line.
Schneyer said there will likely be consolidation, re-adjustment and re-alignment as the industry recovers, as mines can easily be re-opened when demand returns, so long as the permits dont expire.
But not every mine will be viable.
Theres a lot of mistakes out there, Rauch said.
A group of local residents heard the state of Wisconsin wanted to add prison beds to its correctional system in the 1980s.
With hard work and lobbying, medium-security Jackson Correctional Institution opened at its site in the town of Brockway in 1996.
They felt that Jackson County would be a good site for a prison and that it would have economic impacts for the county, said current JCI Warden Lizzie Tegels, whos led the prison since 2013.
They did see it as an economic boost and a job source for the county.
JCI celebrated its 20th anniversary earlier this month with a ceremony at the prison, which sits on a 40-acre site in rural Black River Falls and houses an average of 960 male inmates on a daily basis.
The facilitys history began in the 1980s and ramped up in 1991 when an advisory referendum found a majority of residents casting votes supported the addition of the prison.
Two years later the county traded the lane to allow for the site and it opened in 1996. There only has been one building addition since the prisons inception a barracks building with 152 beds. The institution, like all those overseen by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, works to rehabilitate offenders and assist with reintegrating them into the community upon release, said Tristan Cook, DOCs communications director.
We really want to address the reasons the inmates are at our institution in the first place, he said. Our strong desire is every inmate that gets released to give them the tools they need to (transition back) into the community.
JCI has a variety of programming that includes an annual transition fair designed to help connect inmates to community and job resources to help them integrate back into the community after release.
The transition fair, I think, is one of the biggest and best in the state, Tegels said. It just continues to grow.
Its our thought that the first day they come in here they need to be thinking about their last day here about an effective release into the community.
The prison, staffed by nearly 300 employees, also provides alcohol and substance abuse programming, anger management and domestic violence resources. In addition, there are education programs, recreation and opportunities to donate back to the community.
Inmates make teddy bears for law enforcement to give to children, knit afghans to donate to local events and also participate in their own run/walk to generate money to donate to organizations, like the local American Cancer Societys run/walk.
The men who are able to take part in those activities really feel like they have an opportunity to give back to the community. They know theyve done wrong and there is a part that wants to atone for what they have done, Tegels said. It gives back in some way
Jackson County Clerk Kyle Deno said the addition of the prison has been a boom to the countys economy in terms of jobs and revenue generated from employees living and working in the area.
The addition of nearly 1,000 people to the population that wouldnt have been here otherwise also can have a small but important impact on state and federal dollars the county receives that are based on residents, she said.
Youve got the benefit of that, said Deno, whose husband Dick retired from JCI a handful of years ago.
Tegels said JCI plans to keep its focus on safety and security and maintain and possibly expand programming as budget funding allows as the facility looks to the future.
I think its obviously to maintain a safe, secure environment not only for staff and inmates here but for the community at-large as well. Its first and foremost for us, she said. We intend to continue to provide and expand the treatment opportunities we have for the men who are in our care and custody.
What are you
getting with
your tax money?
Judy and I have kept track of our property taxes for the 51 years we have been on this farm. Nothing has changed as far as new buildings or anything to change our property taxes in the past 10 years. The last four years of Gov. Doyle, our taxes averaged $3,323. The next five years of Gov. Walker, they averaged $3,841.
This figures an average of $518 more per year. We voted for the new school in the Alma Center-Humbird-Merrillan School District, which amounted to $102 per year for the last five years. This leaves $416 per year under Gov. Walker more than under Gov. Doyle.
In the meantime, we have lost $200,000 in state aid in our school district each year the past five years for a total of $1 million. Lets see, where did our tax money go? The Milwaukee Bucks benefitted, John Menard benefitted, the vouchers for private, religious and charter schools benefitted and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation lost millions of dollars in bad loans and so on.
So our school district is looking at a referendum in the future to make up for lost state aid. So what has your school district lost in state aid? Even though 83 percent of Wisconsins students attend public schools, it seems to me Gov. Walker and the Republican Party have put our property taxes to very poor use concerning public education in Wisconsin.
SPARTA Authorities have made an arrest in connection with a fatal shooting Tuesday morning in Sparta.
Authorities were called to 508 N. Water St. at about 8 a.m., according to the Sparta Police Department, where they found a male on the floor, unconscious and apparently shot. He was taken to Mayo Clinic Health System in Sparta, where he was pronounced dead.
Later Tuesday, authorities arrested a possible suspect in Juneau County.
An autopsy is being conducted in Madison, and the Wisconsin Crime Lab, the Division of Criminal Investigations, Monroe County Sheriffs Department, FBI and Wisconsin State Patrol are assisting in the investigation.
Sparta Police Chief David Kuderer called the shooting an isolated incident and said the community was not in immediate danger.
Prosecutors Tuesday charged an employee of an Onalaska assisted-living facility with sexually assaulting a resident.
David Brandt, 41, of La Crosse molested the woman late last year while working at SpringBrook Assisted Living, according to the complaint filed in La Crosse County Circuit Court.
The facilitys director suspended him Feb. 16, the day the victim reported the conduct. Prosecutors said in court Tuesday there could be additional victims.
Brandt, who is no longer working at the facility, also exposed himself to the resident and talked to her about sadomasochistic behavior. He showed her pictures of knife carvings he made in a persons back and a nude picture in which he held large knives, according to the complaint.
Hope Sternberg wants to become a nurse.
The senior Health Science Academy student said she became interested in the field after job shadowing a nurse last year as part of the academys curriculum and plans to study nursing at Viterbo University next fall. Sternberg was one of about 80 HSA students Tuesday who presented their year-end projects on their academy experiences at Gundersen Health Systems Integrated Center for Education.
The academy is a two-year program open to juniors and seniors with students from the La Crosse, Onalaska, Holmen and West Salem school districts, as well as Aquinas Catholic Schools. Students take extra coursework, are required to volunteer 20 hours, and are exposed to field experiences and job shadow opportunities. The year-end presentations give the students an opportunity to reflect on all their different experiences and accomplishments, said Annette OHern, La Crosse supervisor of choice and career education programs.
A day like today gives students the opportunity to reflect and apply, she said. They get to reflect on the past year and how this applies to their goals for the future.
Sternbergs year-end project focused on her medical technology and terminology classes, which are part of the HSA coursework. The courses were really rigorous, she said, and helped her learn a lot thats needed in different healthcare fields.
Her presentation also highlighted the HSAs summer trips to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, where students learned about the Lakota people, participated in a suicide awareness run/walk and did activities with Lakota youth to teach them about wellness.
It kinda just shows what the HSA has given to all of us, she said of the year-end presentations. All the work we have done and the time put into everything.
Brandon Le presented on his junior year in the academy, which included job shadowing at Fort McCoy. Le said he got to learn about what it was like to be a combat medic and participated in simulations at the bases medical training center.
He also volunteered with the Mayo Clinic Health System in the human resources department and as a patient liaison the cancer center. He also got to watch surgeries while job shadowing in Gundersens anesthesiology department, and said the different experiences have pushed him towards cardiology as a career choice.
The (HSA) is definitely challenging, he said during his presentation. But with that comes so many great opportunities you cant get in a traditional school.
Despite the crackling sounds of a fire, the roar of a potential back draft and the screech of a smoke alarm, the dozen or so children didnt panic, even though they were trapped on the second floor of a small La Crosse house as dense smoke enveloped them.
Rather, they knelt on the floor as Matthew Helgeseon dutifully felt the door to see whether it was hot, which would indicate a blaze on the other side and warn him not to open the door.
Finding it cool, the West Salem Elementary School third-grader opened it and led his classmates down the steps and to safety at Erickson Park in La Crosse.
The fire wasnt real, but the La Crosse Fire Departments mobile Fire Safety House duplicated the conditions the youngsters might encounter in a fire as part of Gundersen Health Systems annual Slide into Safety event Wednesday.
Before their exit, fire Lt. Steve Cash asked what their posture would be, and several answered that they would be on their hands and knees to stay below the billowing smoke. Cash asked whether they would they go down the steps head-first or with their feet in the lead.
Feet first, the third-graders replied almost in unison, although they took different approaches, with some backing down on their hands and knees, and others easing down on their bums, step by step.
Nine-year-old Matthew, who acknowledged that he wouldnt have known what to do before the teaching moment, also said, It wasnt as suspenseful as I thought it would be, but it was kinda neat because I was leading.
Once the students regrouped outside, Fire Capt. Kyle Soden debriefed them, a small portion of the 822 third-graders from 14 schools in La Crosse and Vernon counties in Wisconsin and Fillmore County, Minn., who would go through the fire education and queue up at 11 other safety stations during the day.
Soden advised that families should have a designated meeting place outside for a nose count in an emergency.
That said, he grilled them on whether to go back into a burning house under any condition, with the answer being no.
What if Mom and Dad didnt make it back to the meeting place? Still no just tell firefighters.
What if a pet is still in the house? Regrettably for the pet, nada.
What if you left your homework in the house? No, they replied, with a parent chaperone adding, That would be a good excuse.
In response to a students question about what people who live in duplexes should do, Soden advised ringing the neighbors doorbell or knocking on the door to make sure nobody is still inside.
The training, which also included seat belt, boating, water, playground, pedestrian and bike safety, as well as cautionary tales about animals, ATVs, wearing helmets and hydration, is especially appropriate at this time of the year, said Erica Kane, a trauma and injury prevention specialist at Gundersen.
Unfortunately, the summer months are when 50 percent of pediatric injuries happen, even though it is only 25 percent of the year, Kane said.
The boo-boos occur because kids are more likely to be unattended and/or they are involved in potentially perilous activities such as boating, swimming and other activities in which injuries happen, Kane said.
The students observed a vivid example of what happens when a person doesnt wear a seat belt with the La Crosse County Sheriffs Departments Rollover Convincer, basically the cab of a vehicle holding two dummies that rotates.
The adult dummy wasnt wearing a seat belt, while the child passenger was.
La Crosse County Deputy Bauer explained that he would use a control not unlike a video game toggle to crank the cab up to the equivalent of a 30 to 35 mph rollover crash that might happen on a city street.
Not that the kids have anything against adults, but several of them rejoiced when the seat belt held the dummy child secure, and the adult went flying out the window after a few rolls.
When Bauer asked the fate of the big dummy, a third-grader said, I can tell he died, to which the deputy responded, Well, he could have died or been injured.
Bauer noted that the speed was far less than interstate speeds of 70 to 75 mph, which brought pleas from the students to really crank it up to see what would happen.
The deputy demurred, saying it probably would fling the dummy immediately, and at least 50 to 60 feet.
As if to prove that the demonstration drove home the importance of seat belts, Bauer asked whether any of the students ever have to remind their parents or grandparents to buckle up.
A surprising number of students raised their hands or yelled in the affirmative.
The invitation to schools to send students to attend Slide into Safety went far and wide, Gundersens Kane said, to all schools in a 50-mile radius of La Crosse.
Co-sponsoring the event with Gundersen were the Safe Kids Coulee Region Coalition, the Wisconsin Bike Federation, La Crosse County Health Department, Safe Routes to School, Boys and Girls Club of Greater La Crosse, La Crosse Fire Department, La Crosse County Sheriffs Department, Mayo Clinic Health System-Franciscan Healthcare, the Coulee Humane Region Humane Society, Big E and La Crosse Area YMCA.
Unfortunately, the summer months are when 50 percent of pediatric injuries happen, even though it is only
25 percent of the year. Erica Kane, a trauma and injury prevention specialist at Gundersen Health
Nathan Hansen has been the Education Reporter for the Tribune since 2014. Prior to that, he covered education, agriculture and business topics for the Winona Daily News. He is always on the lookout for news tips and can be contacted at 608-791-8234.
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WASHINGTON Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders battled to a neck-and-neck outcome in Kentuckys presidential primary Tuesday, as Clinton declared victory and sought to blunt the momentum of her Democratic rival ahead of a likely general election matchup against Republican Donald Trump. Sanders won Oregon and vowed to soldier on.
The race in Kentucky was too close to call, but Clinton wrote on her Twitter feed: We just won Kentucky! Thanks to everyone who turned out. Were always stronger united. With almost all the votes counted, Clinton held a narrow lead of less than one-half of 1 percent as she tried to avoid ending the primary season with a string of losses to the Vermont senator.
Trump won the sole GOP contest in Oregon, where Sanders was declared the winner shortly after the polls closed in the liberal-leaning state.
Rallying supporters in California, Sanders said he would end up with about half of the delegates in Kentucky and promised to press forward even though he would need to win about two-thirds of the remaining pledged delegates to end the primary season in a tie.
Before we will have the opportunity to defeat Donald Trump, were going to have to defeat Secretary Clinton, Sanders said to cheers in Carson, California.
Clinton holds a commanding lead of nearly 300 pledged delegates over Sanders and a dominant advantage among party officials and elected leaders known as superdelegates. The outcomes in Kentucky and Oregon were not expected to change that and the former secretary of state remains on track to clinch the nomination in early June.
Tuesdays elections took place amid new questions about party unity following a divisive weekend state party convention in Nevada. Supporters of Sanders tossed chairs and made death threats against the Nevada party chairwoman at the event in Las Vegas, arguing the party leadership rigged the results of the convention in favor of Clinton.
In a sign of the tensions between the two sides, Sanders issued a defiant statement Tuesday dismissing complaints from Nevada Democrats as nonsense and said his supporters were not being treated with fairness and respect.
In California, Sanders urged the party to be welcoming to voters who are prepared to fight for real economic and social change. Addressing the partys leadership, Sanders declared, Open the doors, let the people in.
Trump won the sole GOP contest in Oregon. The billionaire businessman picked up nine delegates earlier Tuesday in Guam, which held its territorial convention in March, and had 1,143 delegates heading into the Oregon contest fewer than 100 delegates short of the 1,237 he needs to clinch the nomination.
For Democrats, 55 delegates were up for grabs in Kentucky and 61 delegates were at stake in Oregon. Clinton and Sanders will each pick up at least 25 delegates in Kentucky, with five delegates remaining to be allocated pending final vote tallies.
The Sanders campaign did not immediately saying whether it will challenge the results in Kentucky, which does not have an automatic recount.
In Kentucky, the former secretary of state visited black churches, a small-town diner and held rallies on Sunday and Monday in an effort to break up Sanders momentum after his recent victories in Indiana and West Virginia.
Clintons husband, former President Bill Clinton, was the last Democrat to carry the state in a presidential election he won Kentucky in 1992 and 1996 and the former first lady tried to emphasize those ties in the days leading up to the primary.
Im excited about the primary but weve got to turn a lot of people out, Clinton told a packed diner in Paducah, Ky., on Monday. Ill tell you this. Im not going to give up on Kentucky in November. I want to help to bring back the kind of economy that worked for everybody in the 1990s.
Nearing the end of a long primary slog, the two Democratic candidates are preparing for June 7 primaries in California, New Jersey and four other states and then the District of Columbia primary on June 14. When pledged delegates and superdelegates are combined, Clinton is now about 95 percent of the way toward securing the Democratic nomination.
President Barack Obama just had a change of heart on offshore energy development.
Last year, the president put forward a blueprint to expand oil and gas exploration off the Atlantic Coast. This month, he shelved the plan.
Environmentalists are celebrating. But its a loss for the country. Obama has passed on an important opportunity to secure Americas energy future and create thousands of jobs.
The president has a long history of siding with environmentalists over working Americans. While campaigning for the presidency in 2008, for instance, Obama stated proudly that under my plan electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.
Upon taking office, the president wasted little time in pursuing this goal. After his attempt to get a cap-and-trade bill through Congress failed, he said that was just one way of skinning the cat and tasked the Environmental Protection Agency with carrying out his agenda through executive fiat.
The EPA responded with the Clean Power Plan, a sweeping carbon dioxide reduction scheme based on an imaginative interpretation of the Clean Air Act. Among other things, the plan promised to slash power plants carbon emissions by 32 percent by 2030.
By restricting the use of low-cost fossil fuels and forcing the construction of expensive new generation, the EPAs plan effectively mandates that Americans pay more for energy. Fortunately, in February, the Supreme Court halted the enforcement of this scheme until legal challenges are resolved.
When the president isnt championing the cause of high energy prices, he can be found ignoring the real economic benefits of fossil-fuel development. As recently as 2012, he argued, We cant just drill our way to lower gas prices. Of course, he was wrong.
Thanks to the shale-energy boom of recent years, America has emerged as the worlds leading producer of oil and natural gas. Crude oil production alone has increased 72 percent over the past seven years.
As domestic production has soared, gasoline prices have fallen. According to the latest analysis by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, gas is expected to remain at about $2 a gallon on average for the rest of the year.
In other words, Obama was wrong about the relationship between oil development and energy prices. Nevertheless, he continues to block drilling projects at every turn.
For instance, the administration has erected new barriers to drilling on federal land. Applying for the relevant drilling permit now takes nearly 100 days longer than it did before the president took office.
Not surprisingly, while crude-oil exploration on state and private land increased by nearly 90 percent from 2010 to 2014, drilling on federal lands actually fell 10 percent. Natural gas development on federal lands, meanwhile, dropped more than 30 percent.
And so it came as some surprise last year when the administration proposed leasing a segment of the Atlantic coast stretching from Virginia to Georgia for offshore drilling projects.
The reasons for supporting the plan were clear from the beginning. South Carolina alone would gain an estimated 35,000 new jobs by 2035. For Virginia, the economic gains flowing from offshore exploration would total more than $2 billion in that same period.
The administrations decision was also the first step toward tapping the 4.7 billion barrels of oil and 37.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas trapped beneath the Atlantic coast. Developing these resources would secure Americas energy independence while creating around 280,000 new jobs across the country in the coming decades.
One was tempted to believe that the president had finally placed the interests of real Americans above the demands of the green movement. This proved to be too much to hope for.
More than a year after releasing its initial Atlantic drilling plan, the administration has officially reversed its position. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell defended this about-face, calling the new policy a balanced proposal that protects sensitive resources. By sensitive resources, one assumes she means the presidents allies in the green movement, whose goal seems to be to make energy more expensive in order to limit Americans use of it.
Once again, the administration has placed the extreme views of a radical few before the wealth and security of the nation as a whole. Had it acted otherwise, America would have a better future.
The bipartisan pick of Michael Haas as Wisconsins chief election official may be rejected by the GOP-led state Senate, its majority leader, Scott Fitzgerald, predicted Wednesday.
Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said some Republican senators have concerns with placing Haas who heads the election arm of the Government Accountability Board at the helm of the new election commission. It and a new ethics commission were created in December to replace the board.
The concern stems from the boards involvement in the John Doe investigation of Gov. Scott Walkers 2012 recall campaign, Fitzgerald said, and means Haas may have a difficult time winning their support.
Theres still an uneasiness among some of the Republican senators about those issues, Fitzgerald told the Wisconsin State Journal on Wednesday.
Haas responded, in part, by disputing Fitzgeralds separate claim that Haas will resign the administrator post after the November election.
The exchange could be an early sign of turmoil for the states new election agency, the creation of Walker and Republican lawmakers.
The bipartisan commission announced last week that it had picked Haas to be its chief administrator when it begins operating June 30. But state law requires the Senate to vote to confirm him if he is to serve a full four-year term. A confirmation vote is expected in early 2017.
As the highest-ranking election official in the state, Haas would be responsible for overseeing and administering elections in Wisconsin. He would answer to the commission, which could fire him or another administrator with a majority vote.
Some conservatives panned the Haas pick immediately after it was announced last week. Others, including the Assembly sponsor of the bill creating the commissions, Rep. Dean Knudson, R-Hudson, praised it.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, told Wisconsin Public Radio on Monday that the selection of Haas undermines Democrats predictions that the new election and ethics commissions would operate in a partisan fashion.
Commissioners felt Mike Haas was the best-qualified candidate to ensure that we have a smooth, orderly transition, Vos said. Im not going to second-guess their decision.
Focused on election
Haas told the State Journal that, before addressing a confirmation vote next year, hes focused on a successful transition to the new commission and administering the high-turnout presidential election this year.
Our first focus, as Ive told others, is going to be on the fall elections, Haas said.
The commission, in announcing Haas hiring, said it will evaluate him after the 2016 election and before confirmation hearings in the Senate in 2017.
Only four of the six members of the new elections commission have been named. But all four two Republican appointees and two Democrats voted earlier this month to hire Haas, including Fitzgeralds appointee to the commission, Don Millis.
Millis said in a statement last week that Haas ability to hit the ground running and maintain continuity was a key component in our consideration.
We were very impressed with his grasp of the duties and responsibilities of the new commission, Millis said.
Haas said in an interview that he expects to eventually meet with lawmakers, including Fitzgerald.
My intent is to have conversations with the Legislature about their expectations for the agency and how we plan to operate, Haas said. I look at this transition as an opportunity for the election agency to maybe reset its relationship with some people in the Legislature.
Fitzgerald said Wednesday that hes not certain if he would vote to confirm Haas.
Id have to sit down and talk to him, Fitzgerald said.
The law creating the new commissions does not specify what would happen if the Senate votes against confirming Haas or any other administrator, accountability board spokesman Reid Magney said. He said Haas believes a Senate vote against confirmation would immediately vacate the position and require the commission to submit another candidate for the job.
Fitzgerald was quoted by the conservative Wisconsin Watchdog website last week as saying Haas would resign as election administrator after the November general election.
Haas said Wednesday that he has no plans to do so.
Ive never made any statement or intended to leave after the November elections, Haas said.
Fitzgerald didnt directly answer a question about why he made the statement.
Haas ran for Assembly
Walker and Republican lawmakers created the commissions with the passage of a law in December.
They and other critics of the accountability board decried it as unaccountable and biased toward Democrats, and were especially critical of its role in the John Doe investigation.
Haas, who has worked for the accountability board since 2008, had partisan affiliations dating back more than two decades. He worked for several Democratic state lawmakers and unsuccessfully ran for state Assembly twice as a Democrat, in 1992 and 1994.
Haas said Wednesday that his only partisan activities since his 1994 Assembly campaign were contributions he made to both Democratic and Republican candidates.
Fitzgerald said Wednesday that GOP senators concerns with Haas are not linked to his partisan past.
The administrator of the accountability boards elections division since 2013, Haas said he hasnt faced any complaints from lawmakers concerning his professionalism or fairness.
I think its actually been a benefit to have that experience as a candidate, Haas said. I would hope (lawmakers) evaluations would be based on my performance.
Excitement! Austin Haugh found Troll No. 1 in Westbys Little Free Library.
The Haugh family came in the library late last Wednesday evening as the Syttende Mai fever began to grip our little town. They were very happy to find the first clue on Facebook, since Austins mom, Nikki, is a smartphone diva. The family wasted no time in searching stopping first at Bekkum Library because the clue was: The rent is free, though theres not much space of course they thought of their hometown library, where borrowing really is free. but the Little Free Library at 20 inches wide is tighter on space than Bekkum Library, and Austin hit the jackpot there. That blue and white rosemaled (thanks to Karen Hankee) library sits in front of City Hall at the corner of Melby and Main streets. We hope that visitors to Syttende Mai were able to find items they enjoyed in our L.F.L.! Wouldnt it be fun to find our books returned to a L.F.L. in another state? I wonder if that has ever happened?
Kids Color Run is coming May 31 at 3:30 p.m. Westbys first color run will kick off summer reading at Bekkum Library. Get your T-shirt stained like a rainbow! This event is for kids 12 and under. There will be two tracks created in the parking lot behind the Westby Community Room. Each runner will get a slice of pizza and a coupon for a fountain drink, courtesy of the Westby Cenex convenience store. Registration for the summer reading program is open now at www.wrlsweb.org/westby > programs > childrens programs > summer reading registration.
Bekkum Library Board will now meet on the second Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. We meet below the library in the community room. Join us June 14 at 5:30 p.m. Board meetings are open to the public.
Fourth Friday Editions book group will discuss "The Dog Who Wouldnt Be" by Farley Mowat on May 27 at 10 a.m. in the librarys reading area.
The library will be closed for the Memorial Day weekend. We will close at 5 p.m., Friday, May 27, and will re-open at 11 a.m. Tuesday, May 31.
New books: "Troublemaker" by Linda Howard; "LaRose" by Louise Erdrich; "The Pier Falls" by Mark Haddon; "The Beginners Photography Guide" published by DK Books; "Boar Island" by Nevada Barr; "Traces of Guilt" by Dee Henderson; "The Betrayed Fiancee" by Wanda Brunstetter; "Anchor in the Storm" by Sarah Sundin; "Messenger by Moonlight" by Stephanie Grace Whitson; "Now Go Out There (and get curious)" by Mary Karr; "An Irish Doctor in Peace and at War" by Patrick Taylor.
New DVDs: "Where to Invade Next"; "The Witch"; "Lou Grant Season, No. 1"; "Norm of the North"; "Janis: Little Girl Blue" (Blu-ray edition); "The Lady in the Van"; "Ip Man 3"; "The Jim Gaffigan Show, Season No. 1"; "Mustang"; "Jane Got a Gun"; "Krampus"; "Joy"; "Woodlawn"; "My All-American"; "Deadpool"; "Kindergarten Cop 2."
Dont have a library card? They are free and available at any library. For help or information you can call 634-4419 or email bekkuml@wrlsweb.org.
Library hours
Monday-Thursday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Friday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.
This week, we continue with the history of the town of Stark, with much of the information taken from the book, "History of Vernon County, Wisconsin 1884."
The village of Star, otherwise known as Seeleyburg, was platted in 1867. It was located in the section 20 north of what is now La Farge and was named after Dempster Seeley. Seeley was born in New York in 1820. He removed to Waukesha County, Wis., in 1840. In 1844, he moved to Jefferson County, Wis., and lived there until 1863. Seeley was a sawyer and a farmer, and in 1863 purchased land in section 20 on the east fork of the Kickapoo where he erected a home, barn and saw mill. His mill was quite successful, as there was a building boom at the time of his arrival. The couple had four children; two of which died in infancy. Dempster died in 1893 and his wife, Maryette, died in 1904.
Chauncey W. Lawton built the first house in 1859. He built and operated the first store, built in 1863. Other storekeepers include Joseph Mc Henry, A. W. Sprague, Joseph Cowan and H. H. Wyatt.
Thomas De Jean arrived in the town of Stark in 1855. He was also a millwright and farmer. He and his son Anson operated a saw mill near Seeleyburg beginning in 1863. Thomas held the offices of town assessor and postmaster. The post office was established in 1858 and discontinued in 1902.
The La Farge post office was established in 1863. Samuel W. Green was the first postmaster. In 1871 he was compensated with $10 for the year. A third post office, called Weister was established in the northern portion of the town in 1855. Justus Smith was the first postmaster. It was discontinued in 1874.
Information about La Farge can be found in the book, "Vernon County Heritage," published in 1994. When Samuel Green was appointed postmaster in 1863, it was his duty to name the post office. He had come across the name La Farge in some reading and decided this French name had a strangeness to it. No other post office in the country had this name, so it was chosen.
La Farge was platted on land that once belonged to Dredsel H. Bean, John Bailey, Thomas De Jean and Thomas Hayes. In 1896, La Farge had a general store, a harness shop, a barber shop, two hotels, a grade school and a stave and heading bolt factory.
Dredsel Bean was instrumental in extending the railroad to La Farge and the first train arrived in on Oct. 11, 1897. Goods were shipped in and out of the village which allowed it to prosper. Much of the growth of the village occurred from 1897-1906. The railroad was discontinued in the 1930s due to trucking, the wider use of automobiles and flooding. Many businesses have come and gone but one, Nuzum Lumber, still exists. It began operation in 1898.
La Farge officially became a village on July 11, 1899. Anson W. De Jean was elected president, Dill Sherman was elected clerk and Henry C. Millard, treasurer.
For additional information on the town of Stark, La Farge, or its early settlers, you may visit the Vernon County Museum research room. Beginning June 1, the museums hours will change to the summer schedule of Monday through Friday, noon to 4 p.m., plus Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
In partnership with the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin, Discovery Farms Wisconsin is hosting three water quality tours around the state. Stops on each tour will include a farm, business and wastewater treatment plant.
Tours will be held in Cashton June 7, Green Bay June 14 and Oconomowoc June 21. All interested in learning more about innovative and collaborative water quality partnerships are welcome.
Each tour is from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Lunch and transportation are included in the $30 registration fee. Space is limited, so register soon. To register, visit www.pdpw.org or call 800-947-7379.
Sixty-two years after a U.S. Supreme Court decision banned segregation, American schools remain divided by race.
That is the opinion of Valerie Jarrett, a special advisor to President Barack Obama. She met with educators on Wednesday to mark the anniversary of the court ruling.
In 1954, the Supreme Court decided that public schools could not separate students by race. The case was known as Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.
Chief Justice wrote the opinion of the courts nine members. "We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place, he said. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) helped families fight racial segregation laws. The family of student Linda Brown objected to her being sent to a school far from her home. They said they wanted her to attend a good school closer to home where white children went.
"To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone," wrote Justice Warren.
Laws that permitted racial segregation were called Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow was the name of a black slave in a stage play in the 1830s. His character was dull and meant to represent blacks in America.
Blacks were brought to America against their will as slaves in the 17th and 18th centuries. Although slavery was banned after the U.S. Civil War, segregation and discrimination did not stop.
Jim Crow laws were in effect for many years, mostly in the southern United States. They enforced separate schools and restrooms for blacks and whites. Some Jim Crow laws created rules and taxes on blacks who tried to vote. That enabled white males to remain in power.
While the Supreme Court ruled against segregation in the Brown vs. Board of Education case, it continued. In Little Rock, Arkansas, the governor ordered National Guard troops to prevent black students from entering schools for whites in 1957.
By 1958, seven states still had laws segregating public schools, and three states did in 1961.
On Wednesday, educators gathered at the White House to talk about how segregation continues in this century in education and other places.
For example, in Cleveland, Mississippi, schools are divided by race. Schools on the east side of town are black; schools on the west side are mostly white. Last Friday, a federal court ordered the schools integrated, ending that division, according to CNN.com.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigated other places like Cleveland, Mississippi. It found that in areas where people are poor, and where students were black or Hispanic, schools were more isolated.
Isolated schools are where 75 percent or more of students are of the same race or economic class.
Hispanic students, the GAO said, were triple segregated by race, economics and language, reported the newspaper USA Today.
Im Marsha James.
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Words in This Story
segregation - n. the tradition of keeping people of different races or religions separated
vs. - prep. short form of verses, meaning against or as opposed to
doctrine - n. a set of ideas or beliefs that are taught or believed to be true
inherently - adj.belonging to the basic nature of someone or something
character - n. the way someone thinks, feels, behaves
dull - adj. not exciting or interesting
integrated -adj. having different parts working together as a unit
isolated - adj. separate from others.
triple - v. to cause something to become three times as great or as many
A rare painting showing the moments after U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated has been cleaned, repaired and restored.
The oil painting is named Lincoln Borne by Loving Hands.
German artist Carl Bersch witnessed the scene outside Ford's Theatre the night of April 14, 1865. As a group of men carried Lincoln out of the theater, Bersch drew the scene as he sat on a porch near the theater.
Bersch later developed the drawing into his painting.
It is the only known painting by an eyewitness that captures the historic evening.
Lincoln was shot while watching a play at the theater. The wounded president was carried to the Petersen boarding house across the street. He died the following morning.
The painting looks back at the moment Lincoln was carried across the street.
Lincolns beard is visible. A woman's face shows her horror. Around her a crowd has gathered, their faces lit by the glow of a street light. American flags and red, white and blue banners hang from balconies and the street light poles. A man and a child look out an upstairs window.
The painting is owned by the U.S. National Park Service. It has a large collection of artwork and artifacts of historic and cultural importance.
Laura Anderson is the museum curator with the National Park Service at Fords Theatre. She said Bersch was initially sketching a parade on the street that night, celebrating the end of the American Civil War. But his attention was soon drawn to the dramatic event unfolding before his eyes.
Anderson said Bersch knew immediately it was a momentous scene that he was witnessing as he saw the president carried out onto the street."
The painting is more than 150 years old. The painting has undergone several restorations. Some restorations did not properly clean, repair and restore the painting.
The Park Service asked David Olin to clean, repair and restore the painting. Olin is a conservator. A conservator is a person who protects and cares for artwork. He and his team spent about six months restoring the painting.
The first phase was to clean the painting. The restorers removed the previous layers without damaging the original content.
The second phase was doing structural repair. The third phase involved painting preexisting areas that were damaged or aged.
So the objective, once the painting is cleaned and stabilized, is to bring back the artist's intent, Olin said.
In almost 30 years of doing art conservation, I have never seen a rendering of the event that took place outside of Ford's Theatre, recalling and capturing the aftermath of Lincolns assassination," said Olin. "So to me, it's a very unique painting.
Olin says he was excited "by the way that Carl Bersch captured not only Lincoln being carried out, but Lincoln is a very small part of the overall design."
"I think the artist has really captured what was going on ... the impact it had on the nation, with the activity in the background and the very dark, strong shadows," he explained.
Tamara Luzeckyj, one of the team members who worked on the painting, was pleased with the final result.
Weve removed everything that's been obscuring that [painting] over the past hundred-something years, she said.
The artwork now hangs in the Fords Theatre museum, near the site where President Lincoln was assassinated.
Anderson hopes that when visitors see the painting, they will think about what happened that night at Ford's Theatre.
Anderson said: "It was a momentous occasion. It was the first time a president was assassinated; there was a peaceful transfer of power, and it was a very sad event and it was clearly felt by the artist who painted this painting.
Many regard Lincoln as one of Americas greatest and most-liked presidents.
Im Anne Ball.
And Im Bryan Lynn.
Julie Taboh wrote the story for VOA News. Jim Dresbach adapted her report for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.
We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or visit our Facebook page.
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Words in This Story
assassination n. the act of killing someone, such as a famous or important person usually for political reasons
porch n. a structure attached to the entrance of a building that has a roof and that may or may not have walls
horror n. a very strong feeling of fear, dread and shock
glow n. a soft and steady light
banners n. large strips of cloth with a design, picture or writing on it
balconies n. raised platforms that are connected to the side of a building and surrounded by a low wall or railing
artifacts n. simple objects, such as tools or weapons, that were made by people in the past
curator n. a person who is in charge of the things in a museum
restoration n. the act or process of returning something to its original condition by repairing it and cleaning it
rendering n. a description, explanation or translation
More than 200 families are reported missing in central Sri Lanka after landslides.
Heavy rains caused the slides which buried three farming villages near the town of Aranayaka in Kegalle district. The Sri Lankan Red Cross said rescuers had found 180 people so far. It also said 14 bodies were recovered.
Local civilians joined police and hundreds of soldiers in digging through the mud with their hands, sticks and shovels to search for survivors. Officials halted the operation when night came. The search and rescue effort is to re-start in the morning.
Continuing rain, heavy fog and electrical outages in the area interfered with the search work. Officials warned that the rain could cause additional landslides.
The Red Cross said that some people listed as missing may have left the area earlier after warnings of possible landslides.
One woman, 70-year-old A.G. Alice from the village of Siripura, said she did not know where any of her nine children are.
In the same village, a man said four members of his family were in the same house when the landslide hit. He said he cannot find any.
A government official said hundreds of people escaped the disaster. The official said they are being treated for minor injuries.
Villagers said they began hearing and seeing the huge piles of mud and debris crash around their homes Tuesday afternoon.
I heard a huge sound like a plane crashing into the earth, said 52-year-old A.G. Kamala. She had just returned to her home in Siripura village. I opened my door. I could not believe my eyes, as I saw something like a huge fireball rolling down the mountain and again a huge sound.
The rain has caused flooding in areas across Sri Lanka, including the countrys capital Colombo. Officials said about 135,000 Sri Lankans had to flee their homes and are now in temporary shelters.
Sri Lankas Disaster Management Center said lightning strikes and smaller landslides also killed at least 11 people over the past few days.
Im Bryan Lynn.
Esha Sarai reported on this story for VOANews.com. Additional material for the report came from the Associated Press. Bryan Lynn adapted it for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.
We want to hear from you. Leave your thoughts in the comment section below, and post on our Facebook page.
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Words in This Story
landslide n. the sliding down of a mass of earth and rock
mud n. soft, wet dirt
shovel n. a tool with a blade at the bottom used to move dirt or other materials
unaccounted for adj. to be lost or missing
debris n. the pieces of something left over after something has been destroyed
fireball n. a ball of flame or fire
A missing Chibok girl has been found alive after being kidnapped two years ago in Nigeria by the Islamist terror group Boko Haram.
The girl is among 276 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram from the Government Secondary School in Chibok in April 2014.
Some details of her rescue remain unclear.
An Army spokesman said Nigerian soldiers rescued the girl in a village near the town of Damboa.
However, the leader of a vigilante group in Chibok said his group found the girl near the Sambisa forest, where the girls were reportedly taken. It is said to be a stronghold of Boko Haram.
Vigilante Aboku Gaji said his men found her while they hid, waiting for militants to appear.
He said the girls mother confirmed her identity. He said the girl told him that six of the kidnapped Chibok girls had died in captivity.
He added that, She told us that the other girls were still in the Sambrisa.
There are conflicting reports on the girls name. The army identified her as Falmata Mbalala, but the vigilante leader says her name is Amina Ali.
The girls uncle told the Associated Press that the girl was found wandering in the forest. He said she appeared to be pregnant. He said she seemed traumatized.
Gaji said the girl had a baby with her and that she was with her husband, another Boko Haram captive, whom she married in captivity.
She was brought to Chibok on Tuesday night and reunited with her family. The girl was 17 years old when she was kidnapped.
In April, Nigerias Director of Defense Information, Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar, spoke to VOA about Boko Haram kidnappings in Nigeria. He said the countrys military would not be deterred in its efforts to rescue all civilians, including the Chibok girls, who were abducted by the Islamist terror group. The U.S. State Department has named Boko Haram as a terrorist group.
The Chibok kidnapping gained attention around the world.
It sparked protests across Nigeria, where people took to the streets, calling on the government to bring back our girls.
Im Mario Ritter.
Aline Barros and Chris Stein reported this story for VOA News. Mario Ritter adapted it for VOA Learning English with material from AP. Kathleen Struck was the editor.
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Words in This Story
vigilante n. a civilian who tries to act as a law enforcement official by attempting to catch and punish criminals
stronghold n. a place where a group is able to militarily defend itself
traumatized adj. to have suffered from severe experiences and to show physical or emotional effects of those experiences
abduct v. to take away by force and without permission
deter v. to prevent
Rodrigo Duterte -- newly elected Philippine President -- is promising major changes for his countrys 102 million people.
Including himself.
His tough campaign for president led some to call him the Donald Trump of the Philippines. Like Trump, Duterte sometimes made crude statements during his campaign for his nations top elected office.
One week after he won the election, Duterte met with reporters in his hometown of Davao, where he was mayor for 22 years.
Duterte, who takes office June 30, talked about what he would do as president. He suggested his own behavior would change.
He promised a return of the death penalty, allowing police to shoot people involved with organized crime, a ban on smoking and drinking in public areas, and punishing parents who allow children out after 10 p.m.
The government would also crack down on speeding and drunken driving and reduce noise at night, such as loud music so people can sleep, Duterte said. And he promised to fight corruption.
Duterte also seemed to say he would not be the same person who, as a candidate, cursed and made jokes some considered tasteless.
I have to get used to being the top honcho of the Philippines, he said.
Patricio Abinales, director of the Asia Studies Program at the University of Hawaii, said many compare Duterte to Trump.
But he disagrees. Unlike Trump, a successful businessman who is running for president as an outsider, Duterte has been an elected government official mayor for 22 years, Abinales said.
His promise to reduce crime appealed to voters, Abinales said. As mayor, he put in place tough penalties for crime. But Human Rights Watch said he went too far, using death squads to kill more than 1,000 people.
During his meeting with reporters this week, Duterte talked about hanging people for crimes and letting the public watch.
While running for president, Duterte angered some officials in Australia, the United States and Singapore.
Australian officials criticized him after he told a crude joke about a lay minister from Australia who was held hostage, raped, and then had her throat slashed in 1989.
Duterte said: I was angry because she was raped, thats one thing. But she was so beautiful, the mayor should have been first. What a waste. Duterte later apologized.
About Singapore, Duterte became angry when Singapores government said reports that its leaders supported him were not true. Duterte reacted by saying hed like to burn Singapores flag.
Duterte also questioned what role the United States played in the 2002 bombing at a Davao hotel.
The bombing was linked to an American man, who escaped. Duterte questioned if the United States government helped the man escape. Last year, he said, the bombing made him feel a hatred for the United States.
Abinales of the University of Hawaii said relations between Duterte and the United States probably will be good if the U.S. explains what it knows about the bombing.
Donald Emmerson is director of Stanford Universitys Southeast Asia Program. As is the case with Trump, Emmerson said, it is hard to say what kind of foreign policy Duterte will put together.
One can argue that the rhetoric in the American presidential campaign also fits the caveat, which is it is not what you say when you are trying to be elected, but what you end up saying and doing when you are in office, Emmerson said.
Duterte met this week with the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines. He said the meeting is good sign relations between his country and China will improve.
Philippine relations with China have been tense over Chinas claims in the South China Sea. The dispute over one of the worlds most important waterways also involves Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.
Some in the United States worry the Philippines might negotiate to give China control over the Scarborough Shoal in return for more investment in the Philippines.
Emmerson said it is not at all clear what position Duterte will take. But he said it is clear the Philippines and its new president will have more to say because, in 2017, the Philippines becomes chair of the Association of Southeast Asian nations.
In his meeting with reporters this week, Duterte said he plans to be a different kind of president. He said he would use his own pickup truck, rather than the limousine or big car provided the president.
This is not royalty Im your president. I would just consider me equal to you in terms of rights and responsibilities, Duterte said.
I'm Anne Ball.
We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or share your views on our Facebook page.
Bruce Alpert reported on this story for VOA Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.
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Words in This Story
crude adj. rude in a way that makes people uncomfortable especially talking about sexual matters in a rude way
crack down v. serious attempt to punish people for doing something that is not allowed
curse v. to use offensive words when you speak
honcho - n. the top person in an organization or group
rhetoric n. language that is intended to influence people and that may not be honest or reasonable
caveat n. an explanation or warning that should be remembered when you are doing or thinking about something
royalty n. members of the royal family
Nokia-branded smartphones and tablets are coming. The company has announced that it will license its name and intellectual property to a new company called HMD global Oy, which will have the rights to build and sell products using the Nokia name for the next 10 years.
HMD plans to produce Android smartphones and tablets, and the company also plans to acquire the rights to use the Nokia name on feature phones from Microsoft which, incidentally, has announced that its getting out of the feature phone space altogether and selling that portion of its business to Foxconn subsidiary FIH Mobile.
In other words, we could see the Nokia name on a lot of new devices in the coming years. But none of them will actually be built by Nokia.
Nokia was one of the big players in the early days of the cellphone space. But the company struggled in the smartphone space after iOS and Android started to take off. Nokia tried to compete by producing phones running operating systems such as Symbian, Maemo, and MeeGo, before ultimately adopting Windows Mobile and then selling its phone business to Microsoft.
Now Microsoft continues to produce Lumia-branded phones that run Windows software. The company will continue to support those phones (although Microsofts announcement curiously does not mention any plans to build new Lumia phones). But Microsoft will transfer ownership of a Vietnamese manufacturing facility as well as 4,500 employees to FIH as part of a $350 million deal to sell its feature phone business.
All told, HMD will be the company in charge of selling, marketing, and distributing all Nokia-branded smartphones, feature phones and tablets in the coming years.
Nokia, meanwhile, continues to exist as a separate company. But under this arrangement, Nokia wont actually be making any hardware. Instead, the company will collect royalties for use of its name and patent licenses.
HMDs CEO will be former Nokia and Microsoft Mobile Devices executive Arto Nummela, and Nokia will have a place on HMDs board of directors. But HMD is a new, standalone company. Nokia isnt making any investments in HMD, and the new companys primarily relationship with Nokia will be in licensing its intellectual property.
In other words Nokia is returning to the mobile space but in name only.
We arent the first to accuse Gov. Ducey and the legislative majority of playing politics with an institution the Arizona Supreme Court that citizens have a right to expect to be insulated from such concerns.
But now that the 10-day window for the governor to either sign or veto a bill expanding the court from five to seven justices is nearing a close, well add our voice to those calling the expansion unnecessary and destabilizing.
If the justices said they were overworked or there was an imbalance of judicial philosophies on the bench, an expansion might seem justified.
But neither is the case Chief Justice Scott Bales has said specifically that the current workload of cases is manageable with five. In part that is because of a recent expansion of the Court of Appeals, which has more justices and staff to hear and decide cases with timely and definitive rulings that the Supreme Court can confidently rely on without itself having to rehear the case.
And since Bales is the only justice appointed by a Democratic governor, Ducey would need to appoint Democrats, not Republicans, were he concerned with balance.
But no one expects that to happen, in part because of the governors track record on the last appointment an aggressive, free-market litigator at the libertarian-leaning Goldwater Institute. Ducey is also a favorite of the Koch Brothers, who have invited him during his years as treasurer and now governor to their annual conferences that unveil new strategies to further their low-tax, less-government causes.
By itself, there is nothing objectionable about a governor networking with political and financial backers who share his priorities. But as this last legislative session has shown, the solid Republican majorities have created a political climate in which packing the Supreme Court for purposes of partisan advantage is justified simply on the basis of their ability to do so. The bill to add two justices was treated as just another brokered deal in which pay raises went to judges and staff in the lower courts in exchange for Bales backing off his objections.
Because the proposal came from the governor, it is puzzling that he did not sign the bill immediately. Maybe he is just waiting until the polls close on Prop. 123 so as to avoid a distraction. Or perhaps he is weighing its costs as well as the concerns that have come from the legal community, many of whom are Republicans.
Ducey has also had to intervene with vetoes of some of the most extreme special-interest bills of the session and he has rightly been praised from all sides of the political spectrum. One involved a developer companys plans for thousands of new homes outside Sierra Vista, even though it could not guarantee the required 100-year sustainable water supply. It convinced Republican lawmakers to waive the requirement, creating a loophole in state groundwater management standards that Ducey rightly pointed out could be exploited by other developers in the future.
Another vetoed bill proposed by builders would have allowed developers to unilaterally form and levy taxes in special districts independent of city oversight. Ducey echoed Democrats in pointing out that residents of those districts would have no recourse to elected officials over higher taxes or how they were spent.
A third was a scheme by Flagstaffs own Bob Thorpe to head off more restrictive gun laws in Arizona by forming an interstate gun rights compact that would trump ballot initiatives, especially those funded by outsiders. In addition to being constitutionally suspect, the plan, as Ducey pointed out, unnecessarily ceded Arizonas sovereignty on an issue that did not depend on interstate cooperation, such as water or cross-border food safety. Arizonans, he said in his veto message, should be trusted to settle issues like gun rights and controls on their own terms implying that he is ready to counter any initiative campaign that Richard Bloomberg or others might launch in Arizona.
A seven-member Supreme Court, however, does not need to go to the voters. Politics is indeed the arena in which power is sorted out, but courthouses traditionally are not that arena. A compromise of sorts would have Ducey sign the bill into law but not make the appointments leaving the option open to his successor or perhaps the governor after that. Packing a state supreme court may seem worth the short-term political advantage. But if Ducey has an eye on higher office and building a broader political movement based on the tone of moderation his recent vetoes have set, hell take a pass. Courts, like elections, should be tamper-proof, and voters have long memories when they arent.
For a while now, there have been rumours aplenty about Nargis Fakhri and Uday Chopra.
It began with Nargis reportedly frail appearance during promotional appearances for her film Azhar. Media outlets reported that Nargis refused to perform on stage along with her co-stars Emraan Hashmi and Prachi Desai when the Azhar team visited the sets of a TV talent hunt show.
Then, there was buzz that Nargis backed out of a publicity appearance in Dubai (also for Azhar), and that the local sponsor of the event was very upset over this.
In the midst of this, Nargis jetted off to New York, prompting gossip websites to conjecture that it was affairs of the heart more specifically, the breakdown of her rumoured relationship with Uday Chopra that had led to her sudden exit from Mumbai.
Still other reports mentioned that Nargis was experiencing some health issues, brought on by a case of overwork, and that she had only gone to New York so she could get some much-deserved rest.
However, the speculation over Nargis absence continued unabated. The most recent stories were all about how Uday Chopra broke up with her over a Whatsapp message.
Anonymous inside sources said Nargis blow hot-blow cold attitude was what had triggered Udays message.
On Wednesday afternoon, however, Uday Chopra issued a statement denying these reports.
I normally dont respond to gossip, but the press has been reporting a lot of fiction disguised as fact. I would just like to clarify that Nargis and I have been and still are very close friends, Uday said in his statement.
The press has done a wonderful job of creating stories out of thin air and I applaud their creativity. However these are all untrue, he added.
Uday did not send his statement over a Whatsapp message. He chose to have it emailed through his spokesperson.
Rishi Kapoor is a man not known to mince his words. He believes in speaking his mind and on Twitter, where he tweets under the handle of @chintskap, and has over 1 million followers he has quite the audience for sharing his mann ki baat.
In the night hours, especially, Rishi is known to be quite the prolific tweeter, taking on everything that happens to have invited his ire.
Most recently, the Kapoor & Sons actor, has a bee in his bonnet over the renaming of public institutions after politicians. Specifically, the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.
In a series of tweets on Tuesday night, Rishi attacked this trend, and wondered why the names of illustrious cultural ambassadors such as Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey, Lata Mangeshkar, Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan or eminent industrialists like JRD Tata, were not used for more public institutions.
Among the institutions whose names he took umbrage with were the Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link (better and more prosaically known to Mumbai residents as the Bandra-Worli Sea Link) and the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.
We must name important assets of the country (after people) who have contributed to society. Har cheez Gandhi ke naam? I don't agree. Sochna log! Rishi tweeted, adding in another post, Baap ka maal samajh rakha hai?
This is not the first time Rishi has tweeted his thoughts about the Gandhi family. A few days ago, he had tweeted about the AgustaWestland scam, while in April 2015, when there was a lot of media attention on Rahul Gandhi's return to India after a sabbatical, the veteran actor had tweeted: "Why this fuss and hullabaloo? Someone just back after a holiday yaar give him a break. When is he to enjoy his money? In faltu days na? Samjho".
Read the tweets by Rishi Kapoor here:
Los Angeles: India needs to modernise and reform its economic governance to expand trade and attract the kind of foreign direct investment it needs to build infrastructure, a top US official has said.
"For India to attract the investment it needs, and to expand trade, it will first need to modernise and reform its
economic governance -- to improve its ease of doing business," said Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Nisha Desai Biswal.
Delivering the 33rd Annual Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Lecture at the University of California in San Diego, she said important steps can ensure that the country attracts the capital it needs to build the India of 2030.
Talking about the measures that India needs to take, Biswal said steps like updating its intellectual property regime so that technology and innovations have adequate safeguards, ensuring transparency, predictability, and consistency in its corporate tax code, and providing for an efficient system of adjudicating disputes are needed.
"We have already seen some steps in the right direction, and we are seeing a faster flow of investment as a result. And we are hopeful that by pursuing a bilateral investment treaty and passing a national Goods and Services Tax (GST) -- two priorities of the Modi Government -- India will further boost investor confidence," Biswal said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she said has also put a strong focus on clean energy -- setting an ambitious target of
175 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2022.
He emerged as a leading voice amongst developing nations for combating climate change and played a key role in ushering in the ground-breaking agreement in Paris last year, she said.
The US is committed to partnering with India in realising its ambitious target and tackling pressing challenges of air
pollution and environmental degradation, Biswal said.
She said with cutting-edge American technology and companies that bring the best in corporate standards and practices, commercial relationship is a big part of the India-US engagement.
"With India, our trade has increased by a factor of five over the past 15 years, to over $100 billion per year. And
we're laying the groundwork now to expand that trade to $500 billion annually," she said.
"Given India's monumental rise, it is no surprise that US companies have invested nearly $30 billion dollars in the last decade and a half. And Indian companies themselves have invested over $11 billion in the US, creating close to 100,000 American jobs. So a major expansion of two-way trade is in our mutual interest," she said.
Biswal said as is the case for India, every single country in the region is also grappling with the challenges of
uneven and unsustainable growth.
"They must manage the skills gap so that they can build a workforce that can compete in the global market place. They must ensure that their human development indicators match their economic growth ambitions so that they can marshal the strength of all segments of their society," Biswal said.
"And they must create an inclusive society where all of their citizens can participate in the economic, political and
social fabric of their country, irrespective of gender, ethnicity, race, or religion," she said.
"Because a youth demographic that can power the economy can also lead to its destruction if young people are
disconnected and disillusioned and if fear and frustration guide their actions and inform their decisions. This is as
true in Dhaka as it is in Dushanbe," Biswal said.
Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), unveiled a new hardware device called Google Home at the company's annual conference on Wednesday.
The device, a portable speaker powered by the company's search engine, would offer competition to Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) Echo.
The device will be launched later this year, Google said.
Amazon launched "Amazon Echo" in November 2014, a speaker one can leave on all day and give it voice directions, like Siri on an Apple iPhone.
(Reporting by Narottam Medhora in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
As many as nine newborn babies have died at a hospital in Ajmer in Rajasthan in a matter of days, news reports said. The deaths have put the spotlight on the poor state of public health in several parts of the country.
All the infants who died had been undergoing treatment at the government-run Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital at Ajmer. They had been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), ANI reported.
As parents of the newborn babies have alleged negligence in treatment, Congress and ABVP workers held protests demanding action against the erring doctors, Hindustan Times reported. However, the superintendent of the hospital Dr PC Verma was reported as saying that the babies were brought to the hospital with multiple complications and that they did not respond to treatment.
On 15 May, five newborns admitted to the neonatal unit of the hospital in Ajmer died, prompting authorities to start a probe.
The newborns were from Bhilwara, Merta city, Pisangan, Nasirabad and Beawar. They were suffering from septicemia, premature birth and respiratory problems, Dr KK Soni, CMHO Ajmer said.
"A committee of three doctors has been formed today to probe the matter and it will submit its report to the district Collector in the evening," Dr Soni said. Collector Gaurav Goyal has made an assurance of stringent action against the guilty, ANI reported.
Following the deaths, the authorities have asked doctors to be extra vigilant. The drugs that had been administered to the babies have been isolated and are being tested, as per a report in The Indian Express.
With inputs from PTI
Patna: Police on Wednesday raided Bihar's Siwan jail in connection with the probe into the killing of journalist Rajdeo Ranjan, and are reported to have searched the cell of former RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin, who is lodged there.
The raid came after the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged the role of jailed former Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Mohammad Shahabuddin, who has been lodged in Siwan jail, in the murder of Rajdeo Ranjan.
The raid signalled that police officials involved in the investigation are not ready to take any chances, said an official.
Shahabuddin, a criminal-turned-politician, locally known as Bahubali, has been lodged in Siwan jail for over a decade. He has only twice been shifted to Bhagalpur and Gaya jail for brief periods.
Ranjan, Siwan bureau chief of Hindi newspaper Hindustan, which is part of the HT Media, was shot dead at a busy market near Station Road last Friday night.
"A police team led by Siwan district magistrate and superintendent of police have raided Siwan jail, where Shahabuddin is lodged, in connection with the killing of Rajdeo," a district police official said.
According to official sources, Shahabuddin's cell was searched during the police raid.
Police have already arrested Upender Singh, an aide of Shahabuddin, and are likely to take him on remand to quiz him in connection with the killing. Singh is known as a sharpshooter of Shahabuddin.
Singh was sent to jail on charges of violation of the new Excise Act.
Police in Siwan said that Ranjan's killing was part of a pre-planned conspiracy.
Meanwhile, Bihar Director General of Police PK Thakur said that police have identified the shooters involved in the killing of the journalist.
Five police teams have been constituted to investigate the case. "Each team has been working on different angles," he said.
The state government has constituted a special investigation team of two DSPs, three inspectors and five sub-inspectors to trace the killers.
Protests against the killing continued in Patna and other parts of the state also. The protesters, including mediapersons, have demanded justice for the family of Ranjan.
The Bihar government led by Nitish Kumar has already recommended a CBI probe into the journalist's killing.
Chatra (Jharkhand): The Police on Tuesday claimed that the news channel journalist Akhilesh Pratap Singh was shot dead by activists of the ultra outfit Trutiya Prastuti Committee (TPC) for not meeting their demands for levy.
According to a report by The Hindu, Singh, who was a district correspondent for regional Hindi news channel Taaza TV, was once a Maoist. He used to be an area commander in Barachatti of Bihar.
Addressing a press conference, Chatra district Superintendent of Police Anjani Jha said one person arrested on Tuesday in this connection turned out to be a local representative of Simaria BJP MLA Ganesh Ganju.
Police was still in search of the shooter in the case who was identified as Munesh Ganju, mastermind of the incident Mukesh Ganju and another TPC ultra, Jha said adding the accused had demanded Rs seven lakh levy for a contract, which the journalist had reportedly bagged.
The murdered journalist used to do some contract work for DVC in Rajpur police station limits, he said.
The Police had already arrested Birbal Sao, a native of Mayurhund block, and Jhaman Kumar of Lawalong on Monday. Suraj Sao, the representative of MLA Ganesh Ganju, was arrested on Tuesday, the SP said.
In the mean time, on Tuesday MLA Ganju demanded for CBI probe into the killing of journalist Akhilesh Singh (35), who was shot dead by unknown assailants near Dewaria panchayat secretariat on 12 May, triggering widespread condemnation of the attacks on journalists across the country.
To ensure a fair and impartial probe, I would request you to recommend a CBI probe into the killing of the journalist to provide justice to the family members as well as the journalist fraternity, Ganju in a letter to Chief Minister Raghubar Das, said.
No innocent should be implicated in the case and culprits should not go free, he said.
Earlier, Chief Minister Das had asked Director General of Police D K Pandey to arrest the culprits at the earliest.
A delegation of local journalists had met Deputy Commissioner Amit Kumar and Superintendent of Police Anjani Jha following the incident and demanded adequate compensation for the family of the victim.
With inputs from PTI
New Delhi: Taking a dig at Union Minister VK Singh who has pitched for renaming Akbar Road as Maharana Pratap Road, Congress on Wednesday said that renaming roads "is the job of the Municipal Corporation" and ministers should work for the welfare of people.
"If they have the penchant of renaming roads, why do they get elected to Parliament?" Party spokesman Manish Tewari asked.
Tewari reminded the BJP leaders like Singh that renaming roads "is the job of the Municipal Corporation."
"Why they get elected to Parliament, why are they running the Central Government? That is the job of the Municipal Corporation. They should have got elected to the Municipal Corporation," Tewari said.
He said that those in the ruling party should work for their constituencies and those in the government should work for the welfare of people through their ministries.
The Congress leader felt that such demands showed a tokenism mind-set, a frivolous mind-set which is not able to grapple with the complexities and challenges of governance.
"Therefore, they resort to every kind of chicanery in order to cover up for their ineptitude and mal-governance."
Tewari spoke in similar vein when asked about demands like renaming Aurangabad and Ahmedabad on the plea that they have been named after foreign invaders.
"They should try to fulfill their promises to the people," the Congress leader said.
Government today spurned the demand for renaming Akbar Road as Maharana Pratap Road, saying "naming and renaming of streets was not on the agenda".
"Naming and renaming of street is not the subject matter of the Urban Development Ministry. It is not on the government's agenda. Government's focus is only development," Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters.
Singh has pitched for renaming Akbar Road in Lutyens Zone after the doughty Mewar ruler Maharana Pratap and written to Naidu in this regard.
His demand comes amid reports that Haryana government too had sought renaming of Akbar road after the Mewar ruler.
Playing down Singh's comments, BJP said everyone has a right to express his opinion but the government's priority was solving the country's problems and its development.
The MET office has forecast heavy rains in parts of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu as the depression over southwest Bay of Bengal may intensify into a cyclone. The depression moved north-northwest and lay centred about 120 km south by southeast of Chennai, the India Meteorological Department said on Tuesday evening.
"The system is likely to move north northwestwards towards north Tamil Nadu, south Andhra Pradesh coast and further intensify into a deep depression during next 24 hours. The system is likely to be close to Chennai during morning hours of 18 May. It will move northwards and then recurve north northeastwards and may intensify into a cyclonic storm during subsequent 24 hours," it said.
Strong winds with speed reaching 50 to 60 km per hour are likely along and off south and north coastal Andhra. Heavy rainfall will continue in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry during the next 24 hours, said the weather department on Wednesday.
It is expected to move north-northeastwards and intensify into a deep depression and further into a cyclonic storm over the next 48 hours. Rainfall is also predicted over south coastal and interior Tamil Nadu durning the next 24 hours.
"The depression over Southwest Bay of Bengal moved nearly northwards in past six hours and today it is located about 90 km east of Chennai and 70 kms from the (eastern) Coast", the Met department said.
Similarly, heavy rainfall is predicted over south Andhra Pradesh coast during the next 48 hours. According to the IMD, wind speed reaching 55-65 km per hour gusting to 75 km per hour would prevail along and off north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry during the next 24 hours and south Andhra Pradesh coast during next 48 hours.
According to the official blog of the UK MET office, up to 400mm of rain is possible in a 24-hour period.
Fishermen are advised not to venture into the sea as sea condition will be very rough during the next 48 hours. Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government has deputed senior officers to areas that may experience heavy rainfall to oversee precautionary measures.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu also directed all district Collectors to take precautionary measures in view of the cyclone threat to southern and northern parts of the state. "District Collectors are directed to take necessary steps like keeping food and water packets ready," said Naidu, who was at Rajamahendravaram on a day's visit to participate in several programmes.
He also ordered state Chief Secretary SP Thakkar to take all necessary steps in this regard and said authorities concerned should direct fishermen not to venture into the sea.
The IMD advised fishermen not to venture into the sea as sea condition is likely to be rough along and off coastal Andhra, Puducherry and north Tamil Nadu.
The MET office has forecast heavy rain at isolated places in the districts of Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore of coastal Andhra Pradesh and Chittoor, Anantapur, Kadapa and Kurnool of Rayalaseema on Thursday and Friday.
The MET department has warned of heavy rains in coastal and interior Tamil Nadu and Puducherry over the next 24 hours. It has also warned of heavy rainfall in isolated regions of south coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema and coastal Karnataka over the next 48 hours.
However the UK MET blog also mentioned that such "tropical depressions and storms in the North Indian Ocean are not particularly unusual." and that they usually occur in the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon period.
Hyderabad Meteorological Centre has forecast thunderstorm accompanies with squalls at isolated places in Telangana till 21 May.
Meanwhile, there was appreciable rise in maximum temperatures at one or two places in Telangana.
Adilabad was the hottest place in the state with maximum temperature of 43.8 degrees Celsius. Ramagundam recorded 43 degrees Celsius.
The heat wave in Telangana has claimed 300 lives this season but rains over past few days significantly brought down the mercury.
Read the full statement on IMD here:
indian_1463558725 by Firstpost
With inputs from agencies
Panaji: Goa legislator Atanasio Monserratte, who was arrested for allegedly buying and raping a minor girl, has been granted bail by a local court on Wednesday.
District and Sessions Judge Pramod Kamat granted bail to Monserratte, and also the girl's mother and another woman, Rosy Ferros, arrested for allegedly selling her to the MLA for Rs 50 lakh.
The St Cruz legislator has been asked to furnish bail amount of Rs one lakh and a surety of the like amount. He has been asked to appear before Crime Branch for next seven days.
The two other accused women were asked to furnish bail amount of Rs 25,000 each and sureties of the like amount.
They were also asked to report to the Crime Branch for seven days.
The legislator, who had been expelled from Congress in 2015, was arrested on 5 May.
Goa police is investigating the case against Monserratte who has been booked for buying the 16-year-old girl and raping her in March.
He was booked under IPC sections 376 (rape), 328 (poisoning), 342 (wrongful confinement), 370 (A) (trafficking), provisions of Goa Children Act and Protection of Children From Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The MLA's counsel Rajiv Gomes had argued against slapping of section 370 of IPC and section 8(2) of Goa Children's Act in the FIR against the MLA.
Referring to the statement recorded by the girl, Gomes said there was no sexual assault in this case as the girl never claimed or disclosed about it in her complaint.
He also challenged the arrest of Monserratte on 5 May, the day he appeared before police, by an officer who was not
investigating the case.
Gomes had pointed out that the arrest was executed by Police Inspector Dattaguru Sawant, while the case was
investigated by Sawant's colleague Sudiksha Naik.
The lawyer had claimed that the investigation was conducted at the behest of political opponents of the accused.
He also said that by charging the legislator with rape, the police were making the girl as "rape victim" and
"tarnishing her image".
In his bail plea, the MLA said the charge of rape against him was a "fertile imagination of investigating officer".
Dehradun: Soaring temperatures in Uttarakhand reignited forest fires in the hill state on Wednesday, with nearly 180 hectares of green cover gutted in the fresh fire incidents in Uttarkashi district.
Currently 180 hectares of forest land spread over 111 places in the district are in flames, Uttarkashi District Magistrate Shridhar Babu Addanki said.
"Rangers and Divisional Forest Officers have been asked to rush to the spots where fires are active and extinguish the flames as soon as possible," he said.
DFO Barkot DK Singh and DFO Purola Sandeep Kumar said there is no dearth of funds and equipment and they expect to control the blazes soon.
Uttarakhand is reeling under heat wave conditions for over a week now with most places recording temperatures which are four to five degrees above normal for this time of the year, MeT director Vikram Singh told PTI.
That may be one of the factors behind the fresh forest fires in parts of the state, he said advising caution.
Forest fires this season, which began in February have so far destroyed nearly 4048 hectares of land in Uttarakhand in 1857 incidents.
The rising trend in temperature is likely to continue for a few days more with the temperature of Dehradun which recorded a maximum of 40.2 degrees Celsius on Tuesday likely to hover around 41 degrees today, he said, adding there is no respite from heat likely over the next 48 hours.
When was the last time your drinking buddy asked you if you'd like one for the road? You might have obliged or politely declined, but the few pegs or pints you gulped down until then could cause an unbridgeable void between you and your dream holiday, degree or job. Some hangouts put up signs appealing to their customers not to drink and drive. But how many of us pay attention to those signs?
The Hyderabad city police has been mulling the idea of sharing the data of those convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol with different consulates and also government organisations.
Hyderabad is one of the important Information Technology (IT) hubs in the country with major global firms having set up offices in the city, and a large number of IT professionals from the city are deputed to the US and other countries for work. Thousands of students in the city, who seek plush careers and higher education abroad, too are likely to risk their opportunities due to drunk driving.
The conviction of drunk driving will be used for preventing the grant of visas and also employment, especially in government jobs. To hell with the pleasures bestowed by Bacchus!
Police officials strongly feel that this can be a great deterrent, so that nobody would venture to be at the wheel or riding a motorcycle in an inebriated condition.
The Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety in its order of 22 March, 2016 ruled: The committee desires that in cases of driving under the influence of drink or drugs, the police should in every case prosecute the offender and seek imprisonment and levy of fine as prescribed under Section 185 of MV Act 1988 and suspension of licence under Section 25 of MV Act.
On the permissible limits of alcohol in blood, the law says: Any person under the influence of alcohol or drugs, driving or attempting to drive a motor vehicle found to have an alcohol level exceeding 30 mg per 100 ml of blood detected by a breathalyser shall be punishable. Those who think they have consumed just one peg or just one pint too may unwittingly have overshot the prescribed limit though.
Cases of violation of other traffic rules too are under consideration for inclusion in the background checks for government jobs. The commissioner of Hyderabad City Police M Mahender Reddy recently suggested that he had left instructions with special branch police to share the conviction data of drunk driving offenders with the prospective employer (government departments).
Drunk driving cases attract a punishment of up to three months imprisonment.
Official statistics put the total number of convictions for drunk driving at over 7,700 since 2011 in Hyderabad. Whats intriguing is over 1,500 people have been given imprisonment as the punishment in 2016 so far a whopping number. The neighbouring Cyberabad accounted for 480 cases of imprisonment this year.
Those applying for a passport must mention the jail term, if awarded for drunk driving, in the application, lest they would attract punishment for perjury. For, the government records can easily collate the data and catch the offender.
Conviction under drunk driving is taken seriously by the consulates of foreign countries.
The in-charge Commissioner of Hyderabad City Police Anjani Kumar told Firstpost: All the conviction details of drunk driving will be made available on the public domain, which can be accessed by anyone including any agency like a consulate of any country. We are in the process of implementing this. We will not physically share the details of information on the conviction. But, the consulates can access it as the data is posted on the public domain. If a person is convicted of drunk driving, chances are that he/she may not get a visa.
Though driving under the influence of alcohol alone per se may not be a reason for denial of a visa, it surely comes in the way.
Jamie Fouss, consular chief, US Consulate in Hyderabad, in response to an email query of Firstpost said: The United States of America views drunk driving/driving under the influence, driving while intoxicated, and similar arrests (DUI arrests) as serious offences. Driving under the influence poses a significant public safety hazard and constitutes a possible visa ineligibility on the basis of a physical or mental disorder with associated harmful behaviour.
Consular officers are required to refer any non-immigrant visa applicant with one alcohol related arrest in the last five years, or two or more in the last 10 years, to the panel physician for a medical examination prior to visa issuance to rule out a medical ineligibility. As mentioned on the Department of State website, the Visa Office implemented the requirement for consular officers to prudentially revoke non-immigrant visas for driving under the influence, driving while intoxicated, or similar arrests/convictions (DUI arrests) subsequent to visa issuance because driving under the influence is indicative of a possible ineligibility under section 212(a)(1)(A)(iii) of the U.S. immigration and Nationality Act (INA). More detailed information is available on the website: fam.state.gov.
In fact, traffic violation convictions have become part of background check for government jobs over a year ago. There were instances where a few people lost their government jobs for being convicted and imprisoned for more than 20 days in 2015. Close to half of those (over 62,000) caught for drunk driving since 2011 are in the bracket of 18 to 20 years of age and their bright career prospects are doomed because of the punishment for drunk driving.
Commissioner of Cyberabad Police CV Anand said that the same rule applies in Cyberabad area also. In fact, all the IT activity and the offshoots of new economy are all under the purview of the Cyberabad commissionerate.
While convictions alone would be shared in the public domain, the cases where penal fee is levied will not be put up in public domain. However, three penalties attract a jail term and that is more serious. Once a person is jailed for violation of traffic law, including driving under the influence of alcohol, he will lose his drivers license, said Anjani Kumar.
The murder of an 18-year-old student Aditya Sachdevaallegedly shot dead by the son of a Janata Dal (United) politician for overtaking his carand journalist Rajdev Ranjan are public manifestations of a deterioration of law and order in Bihar over the last six years.
Conviction of criminals in Bihar declined 68%, from 14,311 in 2010 to 4,513 in 2015, and cognizable crimesthose that the police can investigate without a magistrates orderrose 42% over the same period, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of Bihar police data.
The period overlaps the 10-year rule of the JD(U), whose leader Nitish Kumar first became chief minister in 2005eight of those years in an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)winning the last election in November 2015 in alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
Kidnappings up by 98%, most for forced marriages
As many as 7,127 kidnapping cases were registered in 2015, an increase of 98%, from 3,602 cases in 2010.
The majority of kidnappings were for forced marriages: 3,001 kidnappings registered (42%) were for forced marriages in 2015; in 2012, 63% of kidnappings were for such marriages, the highest-ever over the past six years.
Kidnappings for marriages have been a concern in Bihar. It is termed pakadwa shaadi (marriage by kidnap) where young males are kidnapped and forced to marry girls at gunpoint.
Experts said that groom kidnappings are declining but the number of reported cases has gone up compared to the previous decade, primarily because of increased awareness and greater reporting.
Pakadwa shaadi was rampant in Bihar, particularly in the Bhumihar caste, a decade ago. With power changing hands, things have changed for the good. Since the state machinery has started functioning, more and more people are registering cases against the groom kidnappers, Shaibal Gupta, a sociologist based in Patna told Al-Jazeera.
Murders down by 11% in three years
Murders in Bihar declined 11%, from 3,566 in 2012 to 3,178 in 2015, remaining largely in the 3,000-3,400 range annually from 2005-2015, indicating a constant rate.
At 795, rapes reported were lowest in 2010 during the period 2005 to 2015. In other years, the number of rapes has mostly remained in the range of 1,000-1,100.
Thefts rose by 90% in 10 years, riots up 73%
While thefts surged 90%, from 11,809 in 2005 to 22,461 in 2015, riots rose 73%, from 7,704 in 2005 to 13,311 in 2015.
(Devanik Saha is a freelance journalist based in New Delhi.)
(Indiaspend.org is a data-driven, public-interest journalism non-profit.)
Jammu: A major forest fire broke out in Trikuta hills, the abode of Mata Vaishno Devi, in Katra town of Reasi district following which the Air Force on Wednesday pressed into service two MI-17 helicopters to douse the blaze.
"A massive forest fire broke out at several places in the forests of Katra town, adjoining Banganga area, the base camp of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine on Tuesday," SSP Reasi Sujit Kumar said.
He said following the fire the helicopters used for ferrying the pilgrims to the cave shrine had to be shifted to safer places.
"On Tuesday, the yatra was affected as the chopper service remained suspended, Wednesday also it remained suspended for some time but now the fire at several places has been contained so the service was re-started", Kumar said.
Following the massive fire that spread to several areas, the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board requested the Air Force to help douse the fire.
"At around 6:30 am on Tuesday, Air Force Station Udhampur received a distress call from Shrine Board requesting help to douse the fire. Two MI-17 helicopters were pressed into service to lift water from Reasi Dam to be sprinkled on areas engulfed by the forest fire", a defence spokesman said.
He said the two MI-17 helicopters have been continuously making sorties and lifting water to douse the fire.
"With the help of the Air Force, we have been able to extinguish the fire to a great extent. Barring few far off areas, the fire has been controlled in most of the areas on Trikuta hills", the SSP said.
He said no loss of life or property was reported due to the forest fire.
New Delhi: Legal consultations are being held over implementation of Supreme Court-ordered NEET as the sole entrance test for admissions to medical colleges following opposition by several states and there will be a decision in two days, the Centre said on Wednesday.
"Very soon we are coming out with a solution. Phase-1 of NEET is over. Phase-II will take place. Three issues are there--the issue of ongoing examinations, syllabus and language. These need to be addressed.
"We are going in the right direction. We are going for legal consultations. In next day or two, we will arrive at the course which needs to be taken over this issue. Solution will be reached through talks only," Union Health Minister JP Nadda told PTI.
He said the reason behind bringing National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admissions to medical and dental colleges across the country was to tackle the corruption and malpractices and the government has moved in that direction already and things will be clear within two days.
Nadda's comments came against the backdrop of reports that the government is mulling bringing an Ordinance to defer by one year the implementation of NEET.
Sources in the government had said that the Ordinance could be brought to "postpone the effect of the Supreme Court judgement by 12 months".
Observing that the consensus in the government is that issues which have been raised should be addressed, Nadda said that it is only after arriving at a consensus with the persons concerned in the government that the Health Ministry is going forward in this direction.
"Second phase (of NEET) will happen on 24 July," Nadda asserted and said "All processes are on," when asked whether the government will take a legal route on the issue.
Major political parties and several states have favoured deferring implementation of the apex court verdict by one year. The Centre has already kicked off consultations on the issue, asserting the matter was essentially in "executive domain".
After making successful trips to Sunni kingdoms of Saudi Arabia and UAE, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Iran, their traditional Shia rival in the region and the new destination for all eager investors after 36 years of economic sanctions were lifted by the US and European countries.
The success of the visit would be measured by Modis ability to get the much delayed and much discussed Chabahar Port Project agreement finalized and signed during his official visit. Modis grand vision of India as a regional power requires him to once again wear the hat of a statesman and launch Chabahar project without delay.
Chabahar project is not like any other infrastructure proposal between two countries. It is a project that was conceived 13 years ago and today holds the key to changing the dynamics of Indias relations with Iran, Indias engagement with Afghanistan and Central Asia by bypassing Pakistan.
Chabahar Free Trade Zone, located on the coast of Gulf of Oman is close to Indias western ports with Kandla 550 nautical miles away and Mumbai, 790 nautical miles. It is Irans closest point to the Indian Ocean and the Iranian regime is seriously working towards getting major global investments and to get the Chabahar FTZ operational.
Iran has had historic ties with India whose leadership and people have immense respect and admiration for the country. This writer has personally witnessed Iranians admiration for India when my father was posted as Iran correspondent of All India Radio during the Islamic Revolution. Contrary to perception of some in India Iran is a Shia-majority state which sees Sunni Saudi Arabia as a rival and has mostly sided with India over Pakistan.
Therefore, Irans desire to develop Chabahar with Indian partnership assumes greater urgency and Modi needs to get this project off the ground.
In the run-up to Modis Iran visit the Pakistani media has reported concern expressed by their experts and security analysts about the reason behind Indias eagerness to build Chabahar. On May 16 The News International reported that naval experts believe that India was unnerved by the China-built Gwadar port project and they smell a rat in Modis keenness to operationalize it.
At a time when Iran was treated as a pariah State by US and other western countries India showed keenness to partner in the development of the port project. Decided in 2003 it got delayed due to western sanctions on Iran. But, in the last two years when negotiations between Iran and western countries plus China and Russia progressed on putting a stop on Tehrans nuclear ambitions, the government of the Islamic Republic started pressuring India to stitch up the loose ends. But, the legendary Indian red tape treated this agreement like any other and dragged its feet causing Iran to threaten walk out and it started wooing China.
Beijing was quick to grab the opportunity and announced the setting up of a Chinese industrial project in Chabahar. An Iranian official at the Chabahar Free Trade Zone recently told Iranian news agency IRNA that the Chinese side had already signed an MOU on the construction of an industrial town in a phased manner.
It is the closest point of Iran to the Indian Ocean and Iran has devised serious plans to turn it into a transit hub for immediate access to markets in the northern parts of the Indian Ocean and Central Asia.
A McKinsey study done for Indias shipping ministry has stated that Chabahar could plug demand and production gaps for several commodities such as petrochem intermediaries and urea due to its closeness to Kandla and Mumbai ports.
In recent months three Indian companies have joined forces with an Iranian bank to construct a urea plant in Chabahar. Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF), Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers and Chemicals (GNFC) and Gujarat State Fertilizers Corporation (GSFC) have selected Bank Pasargad as the Iranian investor for the construction of Chabahars planned fertilizer plant, according to official IRNA news agency.
The plant, which will feed on natural gas, is expected to produce an annual volume of 1.3 million tons of urea.
Chabahars launch will also give a greater impetus to Indias engagement with Afghanistan which currently hinges on Pakistan which has refused to allow overland trade between New Delhi and Kabul. Pakistans generals will never allow India to get access to Afghanistan through their country, notwithstanding commitments to help the war-torn country made at international conferences like Heart of Asia.
At the last meeting in Islamabad foreign minister Sushma Swarajs plea to include India in the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit and Trade Agreement were met with silence.
Chabahar provides India a historic opportunity as the proposal to link the port through a road link from Iran to Afghanistan. Reports state that the condition of the road built by India from Zaranj to Delaram in 2009 has been impacted by Taliban-Afghan forces fighting. However, the plan to connect Chabahar port to Afghanistan and beyond to Central Asia holds immense possibilities for India and Afghanistan to trade and access natural gas reserves in the region.
After Iran pressured India to push the project the Union Cabinet cleared setting up of a joint venture between Jawahalal Nehru Port Trust and the Kandla Port Trust. Approval was given for an annual revenue expenditure of $22.95 million to support operational activities of the Indian JV. The Cabinet has also cleared a credit of $150 million from EXIM Bank.
The proposed plan involves setting up of a JV for equipping two fully-constructed berths at Chabahar port. The Indian JV would lease these two berths for a period of 10 years which will be renewed by mutual agreement. The port will be developed through a SPV which will invest $85.21 million to convert these berths into a container terminal and a multi-purpose cargo terminal.
At the end of 10 years India would transfer ownership of the equipment to be provided through the investment to Irans Port and Maritime Organisation (P&MO) without any payment.
Iran sees Chabahar free trade area becoming an international trade hub.
If India gets the Chabahar port project going then it will gain greater confidence of Iran which has tremendous influence over the Shia Muslim community and has taken on Sunni ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria.
Police on Tuesday said that they have arrested a man for posting a doctored image on Facebook, showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi bowing before a controversial Muslim leader.
Mohammed Mehboob, 25, was arrested on Sunday on charges of "promoting enmity between religious groups" after workers for Modi's party in Karnataka's Koppal district complained about the post.
"We acted on a complaint filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers and arrested him," the investigating officer Kali Krishna told AFP.
The image showed Modi touching the feet of Akbaruddin Owaisi, a controversial Muslim legislator from Telangana, who has been prosecuted for making derogatory remarks about Modi in the past.
In March, police in central India arrested two Muslim men on charges of obscenity over a doctored image of RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat.
The image showed Bhagwat dressed in a tight pair of women's trousers and black high heels, an apparent reference to the group's decision to change their trademark khaki shorts for brown trousers.
Bhopal: Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, who was given a clean chit by the National Investigation Agency in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blasts case, has decided to call off her fast after she got clearance to bathe in the Shipra river.
Amidst high security measures, Sadhvi Pragya left on Wednesday for Ujjain to participate in the Simhastha Kumbh Mela. The Dewas District Court on Tuesday gave the go-ahead to her request to bathe in the river.
The Sadhvi, who was lodged in Bhopal Central Jail, had threatened to fast unto death if she was not allowed to bathe in the river. She was admitted to a local ayurvedic hospital after her health deteriorated.
Superintendent of Police Rajesh Bhadoria told reporters: "We have offered adequate security to Sadhvi Pragya and medical experts are also accompanying her. All security and medical arrangements are in compliance with the Dewas court decision."
Bhagvan Jha, her close aide, said: "Sadhvi Pragya has decided to call off the hunger strike as a Dewas court on Tuesday allowed her to take a dip in the Shipra. She is under heavy security and is travelling to Ujjain in an ambulance to attend the Kumbh Mela."
He added: "Her health is stable, she has consumed only water and medicines. She has refrained from eating anything solid."
According to hospital staff, Sadhvi Pragya's two-day hunger strike had worsened her health and she was not in a fit condition to travel. Her blood pressure was low and she had been advised medication for the condition, a doctor said.
The Simhastha Kumbh Mela, which began on 22 April, will end on 21 May. Sadhvi Pragya had protested against the authorities for not allowing her to bathe in the Shipra.
Sadhvi Pragya is accused of involvement in the murder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionary Sunil Joshi and is facing trial in the case. She is currently imprisoned at Central Jail in Bhopal and is undergoing treatment in Pandit Khushilal Ayurveda Hospital there.
Apple CEO Tim Cook, who arrived in Delhi on his first visit as Apple CEO on Tuesday night, seems to have his diary full with visits to various places in Gurgaon, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.
Cooks visit to India comes at a time when the US technology giant is hit by slower growth in global sales of its flagship products iPhone, iPad and Mac computers. Cook landed in Mumbai at 11.45 pm on Tuesday, and headed straight to the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, according to this Economic Times report.
His suite in the famous hotel is rumoured to have cost close to Rs 87,000 a night. Cook is expected to stay at the Grand Luxury Suite in the Heritage Wing of the iconic hotel. In New Delhi, he is expected to stay at The Leela Palace.
Here's a look at the Apple head honcho's week-long itinerary:
Meeting with Modi and other VIPs
He is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. He had met Modi at a Silicon Valley event in the U.S. last September, where they discussed manufacturing plans under Modis Make in India initiative.
This ET report further adds that Cook's meetings in India will include one with Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal, besides top industry executives, employees and trade partners, sources said. He is also expected to meet senior officials from Reliance Industries.
Spotboye reports that Tim Cook will attend a bash hosted by Shah Rukh Khan in Mannat on Wednesday night. It is expected to be a starry affair with all the Hindi film industry bigwigs.
A trip to Siddhivinayak temple
Can a trip to Mumbai be complete without a visit to this iconic temple? Before a morning of business meetings, Cook visited Siddhivinayak temple, and even ran into Anant Ambani, the son of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, reports Indian Express.
Launching a development centre in Hyderabad
Meanwhile, officials in Hyderabad said that Apple will launch its development centre there on Thursday. The facility will commence operations on one lakh square feet leased space in WaveRock, a building owned by real estate giant Tishman Speyer at Nanakramguda.
However, it was not confirmed if Cook will be present to inaugurate the companys first development centre in India.
Telangana IT minister KT Rama Rao tweeted:
Will share a Big news with you all day after tomorrow. Suspense till then KTR (@KTRTRS) May 17, 2016
The US-based firm plans to expand the facility to 2.5 lakh square feet by next year. It will have 2,500 employees, sources said.
Here's what to expect
Cook may raise the issue of allowing Apple to import and sell refurbished iPhones at a cheaper price in India. This will give Apple a slot in mid and low-price segment.
What not to expect
A definitive statement on Section 377 or sexual minorities in India. Or who knows? Cook may surprise us.
The only thing left in Cook's itinerary is to visit the Taj Mahal and maybe ride an elephant. Any takers?
(With inputs from agencies)
Editor's note: This article was originally published on 18 March, 2016. It is being republished in light of the Supreme Court of India's landmark ruling to legalise euthanasia.
The campaign for the right to die with dignity in India actually begins with Minoo (Minocher) Masani (1905-1998) who formed the Society for the Right to Die with Dignity (SRDD) during the 1960s. Minoo was a three-term Member of Parliament (in the second, third and fourth Lok Sabha). He was also a member of the Constituent Assembly of India and introduced a proposal for a Uniform Civil Code. Before this, he was mayor of Mumbai (1943), and was a diehard liberal. He along with C Rajagopalachari and NG Ranga formed the Swatantra Party (a collection of his speeches was published as Congress Misrule and Swatantra Alternative) and he thus earned the wrath of Indira Gandhi, former prime minister, who threw him into prison along with other politicians from opposition parties.
To raise funds for promoting the cause for the right to die with dignity, Masani put in his own money to premier the screening of the film, Whose life is it anyway? which deals with the same subject. He brought out the first draft of the Living Will (Icchha Maran) in this country. After his death, SRDD was looked after by both the late SV Raju, the late Dr BN Colabawalla, and later by Dr Nagraj Huilgol, chief radiation oncologist, Nanavati Hospital. The author of this article is closely associated with SRDD today.
The Aruna Shanbag case
Between the time Masani promoted the cause of dying with dignity and today, there was one major interest which galvanised the entire nation. It was the Aruna Shanbag (1 June 1948 18 May 2015) case. Aruna was a junior nurse working at KEM Hospital, when in 1973 she was sexually assaulted by a ward boy. She slipped into a coma and remained in a persistent vegetative state for 42 years thereafter. On 24 January, 2011, the Supreme Court of India responded to a plea (by journalist, Pinki Virani) for euthanasia after Aruna had been in this vegetative state for 37 years. The court rejected the petition on 7 March, 2011. However, in its landmark opinion, it implicitly allowed for passive euthanasia in India. Shanbaug died from pneumonia on 18 May, 2015 after being in a persistent vegetative state for nearly 42 years, according to Asia Converge.
In their verdict, the Supreme Court justices observed,
We have no indication of Aruna Shanbaugs views or wishes with respect to life-sustaining treatments for a permanent vegetative state . . .[Thus] any decision regarding her treatment will have to be taken by a surrogate. [It is] the staff of the KEM hospital [who] have looked after her for 37 years, after she was abandoned by her family. We believe that the dean of the KEM Hospital (representing the staff of hospital) is an appropriate surrogate. If the doctors treating Aruna Shanbaug and the dean of the KEM Hospital, together acting in the best interest of the patient, feel that life sustaining treatments should continue, their decision should be respected. If the doctors treating Aruna Shanbaug and the dean of the KEM Hospital, together acting in the best interest of the patient, feel that withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatments is the appropriate course of action, they should be allowed to do so, and their actions should not be considered unlawful.
The implication was that had Aruna Shanbag left behind a Living Will or executed a medical power of attorney (appointing a surrogate to take decisions), the court would consider it.
So should euthanasia be allowed?
The Supreme Court urged the government to draft suitable legislation which would decriminalise attempted suicide. As Justice VA Mohta, former chief justice of Orissa High Court once remarked, Suicide is a criminal offence only when the person attempting it does not succeed. Even the Law Commission of India (in its Report No 210 delivered on 17 October, 2008) stated that there is an urgent need for Humanisation and decriminalisation of the attempt to suicide.
In fact, one of the finest descriptions of what a doctors role should be has been expressed by the legendary Dr. Christian Barnard:
It is not true that we become doctors in order to prolong life, We become doctors in order to improve the quality of life, to give the patient a more enjoyable life . . . And the same is true when we are dealing with terminally ill patients: what we should ask ourselves is whether there is still any quality of life left. The doctor who is unconcerned about the quality of life is inhumane; and the real enemy is not death but inhumanity.
In India, even today, when confronted with a terminally ill, or an acutely suffering patient with no known cure, good doctors recommend to the family that the patient be kept at home. They are advised to look after him. The doctors treat such patients with painkillers if the need arises. They recognise the need to let the patient die in the least painful manner.
This is also passive euthanasia. It prevents unnecessary anxiety and waste at a hospital. It also allows a patient to stay in surroundings that he is most comfortable in. It finally allows for a dignified death. Most importantly, in most cases, it safeguards a middle class family from becoming financially insolvent because of needless hospitalisation charges.
But most doctors, who practice passive euthanasia, dont talk about this, because it does not have legal sanction.
In any case, few people realise that while Article 21 of the Indian Constitution does make the right to life a fundamental right, it already allows for death subject to judicial process. It is this judicial process that allows a government or the court to order a soldier to the battlefield, even if it means death. It is the same process that allows a court to condemn to death a convicted criminal. Thus the right to live is not an unlimited or an absolute right. It is subject to legal caveats and conventions.
But the right to die is implicit in other ways. The law permits a person to refuse treatment, even if such a refusal may result in cutting short the life of the patient. Thus, a critical patient who refuses a life-saving line of treatment can technically be guilty of an attempt to suicide. But as he has the right to refuse treatment, it does not invite the provisions of Section 309 of the IPC.
Historically, India is no stranger to the right to die. Unlike the west, where giving up ones life is a sin, a criminal act, in India, as in most Oriental cultures, opting to die is often an act of honour, of salvation.
Cultural practices like santhara among the Jain community allows a person to conclude that his work in this world is done and over with, and that he must now prepare for the souls onward journey, namely death. Such a person stops consuming food and water, and allows his body to waste away.
Unlike a suicide (which is often done in secrecy), santhara is practised with the full knowledge and often consent of the entire community. It is a practice that is revered and honoured in much the same manner in which a soldier is honoured for dying on the battlefield.
Even Hinduism permits this. Hindu saints are known to take sanyas and even opt for samadhi. This convention and belief involves a saint holding his very breath, and through meditation allows the body and the soul to get separated. In many ways, even the vanaprastha stage advocated by Hinduism allows for a person to leave the material world and wander into the forest, where he is no longer distracted by the world of attachments. How the person eventually dies, remains unknown. It is another practice that is both voluntary and immensely venerated.
Public good is critically important
There is also the issue of public good. In the case of Aruna Shanbag, one hospital bed was reserved for her for 42 years, which could have been used by thousands of patients, all legitimately claiming the right to live. If the situation is beyond the scope of normal medical treatment and cure, should any hospital bed be blocked for ever? Would it not make sense to allow the patient palliative care even at home instead? The matter even applies to members of the legislative assembly who have been put on life support systems for years.
That is also the reason why even the former Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, the highest official of that country, was hospitalised when he went into a coma. But, after the doctors realised that there was little more that they could do to alleviate his condition, his family was eventually asked to take him home, He finally died in January 2014 after being in coma for eight years.
This is because a hospital bed is meant for patients who have a reasonable chance for recovery. For the rest, there are palliative care homes, hospices and residences. No person should be allowed to use taxpayers' funds on the one hand, and on the other deny hospital beds to more deserving patients.
Can the law be misused?
Will any law on the Living Will or even euthanasia open the floodgates to more irresponsible killings?
Some doctors say yes. In an attempt to grab the wealth of their parents, children will consign them to death. One of the doctors on a television show also said that the recently promulgated laws which penalise children for not looking after their parents was inconsistent with this ruling which seeks to legalise passive euthanasia.
However, such fears can be quite misplaced, even exaggerated. For one, euthanasia is already being practised quietly, by many doctors of patients in consultation with the rest of the family.
Second, global experience has shown that wherever euthanasia has been legalised, the number of deaths has not risen alarmingly at all. Figures produced by Dignitas of Switzerland (which allows assisted suicode after a panel of doctors has convinced itself that the patient suffers from an incurable and debilitating illness) confirm this.
On the contrary, the Living Will or Advance Directive (it has been legalised in most developed countries), will minimise the abuse of this clandestine euthanasia and will allow for speedier decision making without recourse to the courts.
Also do remember that such fears were also voiced about abortions. In reality, anything can be misused right from a matchstick to a knife. A sensible government does not ban, but creates laws, measures, safeguards and processes to prevent misuse. This way as the saying goes you dont make the good an enemy of the best.
In fact, this is what The Transplantation of Human Organs Act (THOA) 1994 does to promote cadaver organ donations. It allows an authorised panel of doctors to examine a patient to certify that he is brain dead. The process takes six-24 hours. If euthanasia can be misused, so can THOA 1994. A patient in coma, who is not brain dead, may be declared brain dead by the unscrupulous. The remedy lies in trust, good processes, appropriate safeguards and stringent punishment for any violation of the law.
The fact is that cadaver organ donation has continued since 1994, without much fuss of misuse. But the cumbersome processes for passive euthanasia for the terminally ill, recommended by the SC bench in March 2011 has resulted in not a single case being reported since then.
A second myth is that life is sacred and that termination of life should not be easily allowed. Marriages too were considered sacred once. So was conception and sex only after marriage. Abortion was murder. But values change. Society and the courts need to recognise that.
Even Mahatma Gandhi is on record supporting this right.
That is why legalising the Living Will is crucial. It protects doctors and a patients relatives. And it allows for a death with dignity.
(Disclosure: The author is a senior journalist with Firstpost and is also Hon. Secretary of the Society for the Right to Die with Dignity)
The Firstpost series on Euthanasia will include more anecdotes and views.
Part I: Relieving a human life from agony is not Himsa
Part II: All you need to know about how other countries dealt with 'right to die'
In Part IV, read about the incidents of euthanasia that rocked the world
New Delhi: The apex body for tiger conservation, NTCA, has found alleged violation of laws in construction of tiger safari in Madhya Pradesh's Pench National Park and expressed fears that it would expose the animal to poaching.
The national park is famous as home to Mowgli, the protagonist in English writer Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority, a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, has written to the state government saying the ongoing construction of tiger safari inside the national park "is detrimental to tiger dispersal" and "exposes them to
poaching".
The Madhya Pradesh forest department has failed to take "prior approval" from the Central Zoo Authority before construction of tiger safari in Pench and Bandhavgarh, it said.
The move assumes significance as many wildlife activists have been objecting to the creation of tiger safari in Pench and in Bandhavgarh national parks claiming it harmful for the big cats.
The state government's plan to cut over 550 trees in Pench to make way for the tiger safari was also criticised by them.
Existing guidelines allow establishment of tiger safari in buffer area of a national park or a reserve, in order to reduce pressure from core or critical habitat of the wild cats.
"The ongoing construction of the tiger safari in Pench, in violation of various rules and regulation, is detrimental to tiger dispersal which has altered their land tenure dynamics, resulting in tiger dispersal in human dominated landscapes which exposes them to poaching events.
"A similar case may arise with the proposed safari at Bandhavgarh tiger reserve," the NTCA said in a letter to Chief Wildlife Warden of Madhya Pradesh. Eight tigers have been reportedly killed in and around Pench in last eight months.
It said that any tiger safari has to be in accordance with guidelines formulated by the NTCA, in the line of Central Zoo Authority guidelines. The state government has been asked to take necessary action in this regard.
"The state government is violating green norms to promote unlawful tourism inside the tiger reserve. It may pose danger for tigers living inside them," claimed Ajay Dubey, wild life activist, adding "Madhya Pradesh government must take action against guilty officials".
Dubey had late 2015 written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan against the construction of tiger safari in Pench and in Bandhavgarh national parks.
There are six tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Panna, Bori-Satpura, Sanjay-Dubri and Pench which have at least 257 big cats.
While the tiger population in the country was estimated at 1,706 in 2010, it had risen to 2,226 in 2014. Madhya Pradesh ranks third after Karnataka and Uttarakhand in tiger population in the country.
Here's a statistic to give you an idea as to how significant the results of the five assembly elections, which will be decided on Thursday, are.
If the four states and one union territory were to be a country, it would be the fifth most populous in the world more than Brazil. The results of the elections in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, West Bengal and Puducherry can make or break careers, reshape alliances and possibly create history.
The polls have high stakes involved, and they could as well be seen as a mini mandate for or against the Union government. The single largest opposition party at the Centre the Congress will also be viewing the elections as an acid test, and an opportunity to reassert their presence on the political landscape. Here are some of the things to look out for on 19 May:
Political parties' and their fortunes
In Tamil Nadu and Kerala, political observers are keenly watching if the trend of alternating political fronts will end. In West Bengal, we will know if Mamata Banerjee's call for 'poriborton' still resonates with the people. For Assam, the election may be a historic one if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) becomes part of a winning coalition. The election in Puducherry will reveal if Chief Minister N Rangasamy's welfare measures will help him retain his hold on the popular mandate in the Union Territory.
Alliances
In Tamil Nadu, for the first time, an alternative front has taken shape, with the stated objective of ending the hegemony of the DMK and AIADMK. While the coalition was hastily put together by political parties which have had divergent histories, they appear to have put their differences aside for now. But will their new-found camaraderie convince voters, is the big question.
Much attention will also be focused on Assam, where the BJP has entered into an alliance with the Asom Gana Parishad and the Bodo People's Front. The alliance had raised the political pitch on the emotionally fraught issue of illegal immigrants. There is expected to be much polarisation of votes between the BJP-led alliance on one hand, and the AIUDF-led by Badruddin Ajmal. The election will reveal whether the BJP's strategy of aligning with regional players, which found success in Jammu and Kashmir, will work its magic again.
Individuals
The elections will also decide the fate of DMK's ageing patriarch M Karunanidhi and reveal whether he can still swing voters in his favour. Tamil Nadu is known to vote alternatively between the two major Dravidian parties in the state. Even though majority of exit polls predicted a DMK sweep in the southern state, there is a strong possibility that Jayalalithaa might come back in a historical win for a second term.
While Karunanidhi has not lost a single assembly election in his long political career, he might have a tough time reviving the DMK's fortunes this time.
Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee had created electoral history in 2011 when she ended the 34-year-long Communist rule in West Bengal. However, after a series of corruption scandals and allegations of political violence, her popularity is now under serious question. However, the exit polls predicted a TMC sweep in the state. Interestingly, all exit polls predicted anti-incumbent mood in all states except West Bengal.
The Assam election has seen a high-pitched fight between Sarbananda Sonowal and Badruddin Ajmal. Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa and Kerala CM Oommen Chandy are facing allegations of corruption, as do several ministers in the Mamata Banerjee government. It remains to be seen whether the charges affect their electoral fortunes.
The elections are also seen as a test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as he has campaigned in West Bengal, Assam and Kerala. These have been states where the BJP has not made major inroads till now. The polls will reveal whether the Modi wave still has the force that it did in 2014. The results on 19 May will also determine how the remaining three years of PM Modi's tenure will shape up.
Watch us for a detailed analysis on the election results on Thursday morning.
In 2014, Narendra Modi raised the slogan of a 'Congress-mukt Bharat' and waltzed his way to the Prime Minister's chair. Two years into the stint, Modi's slogan is the biggest trap BJP finds itself in.
Replacing Congress as the mainstream centrist party India's default operating system in Rahul Gandhi's words was Modi's biggest aim. The trouble is, when you keep fixating on a particular point to the exclusion of everything else, the rest of the world seems to fade away and disappear. Science calls it the Troxler Effect.
Even as Modi set about erasing the Congress and replacing it with BJP as the new national alternative, he failed to notice one crucial change already taking place in India. The Congress has ceased to matter.
Under the 'able' leadership of the Gandhis, the Grand Old Party's presence remains in just seven states and it is well on its way to relinquish power in most of these. The three northeastern states in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur have very little say in New Delhi's power equation. That leaves us with Kerala, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Assembly elections in Assam have concluded.
Exit polls indicate that the Left Front may return to power in Kerala. In Uttarakhand, Harish Rawat has staved off a BJP attempt at usurping power aided by some intervention from the Supreme Court but he faces a stiff fight with nine rebel MLAs set to join opposition ranks. The election isn't too far away.
In Karnataka, BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa is waiting in the wings to take over from Siddaramaiah. Going by the Congress Chief Minister's track record and recent dalliances with graft, it's not a stretch to imagine that this state too may go the saffron way. Yeddyurappa, no stranger to corruption himself, has a strong backing of the local Lingayat community.
In Himachal Pradesh, Virbhadra Singh is battling a CBI inquiry. Badgered by charges of corruption, he is a low-hanging fruit to be picked up by BJP's rising star Anurag Thakur.
That leaves us with Assam. Congress, say the exit polls, are on their way out and BJP is tipped to win. In sum, in case Modi didn't notice, India is already nearly Congress-mukt and in the foreseeable future, INC may just remain a letterhead. More so if the alliance with Left in West Bengal fails to unseat Mamata Banerjee.
The Grand Old Party is looking to go the dinosaur way. Politics, however, abhors vacuum. If the BJP seeks to replace the Congress as the new national alternative both in terms of power and ideology, it should know that its biggest threat now lies with regional satraps.
The fulcrum of the anti-BJP force will now lie with state power brokers such as Nitish Kumar, Mamata Banerjee, Mulayam Singh Yadav (depending on next year's results in UP) and even Arvind Kejriwal (if AAP manages to wrest Punjab). Most of these leaders are extremely ambitious and may find common ground, despite their political or ideological differences, in their hatred for Modi.
Politically, they wont have to do much except to figure out who among them shall be the Prime Ministerial candidate for 2019. Ideologically, they are well suited to replace Congress since all of these are so-called "secular forces". With the Grand Old Party ceding its space, the mainstreaming of the mythical Third Front in Indian politics has begun.
The BJP perhaps understands this. 'Market-friendly' Modi has increased social sector spending manifold and Arun Jaitley recently came out with a pro-farmer budget. Ideologically, if a party wants to move to the centrist position in India, it must slant a little to the left simply because that is still where the median of Indian politics lies, a remnant of the deeply socialist mores of the decades since Independence.
But has the BJP done enough in terms of organisational strength to increase its space in non-Hindi speaking states to meet the challenge of its rivals? BJP's strength and simultaneously its biggest weakness lie in the fact that it is still perceived as a party that indulges in majoritarian politics. And in both scenarios, that automatically makes it unviable for local, strategic tie-ups. Potential allies (like Shiv Sena) see it as a threat and provincial powers like Trinamool Congress fear losing the Muslim votebank.
BJP's pan-Indian identity is also a challenge to regionalism. The provincial powers did not feel threatened by the accommodative nature of the Congress and its dole-based policies and were thus not averse to need-based dalliances. BJP's focus on nationalism and tough stance towards corruption present a mortal threat to some of these forces who have used graft and caste equations in equal measure to survive.
It stands to reason, therefore, that the BJP has to go it alone. The Bihar debacle should teach it that airlifting New Delhi-based leaders is unlikely to reap political dividends unless there is a strong, local, identifiable leader around which the campaign may revolve.
This is where the BJP must focus all its energies if the party wants to be a true alternative to the Congress in the long run. The Modi tsunami that gave it a once-in-30-year mandate in 2014 is unlikely to be ever repeated. BJP and party president Amit Shah's task, therefore, is cut out.
New Delhi: Congress leaders and party candidates who emerged victorious in MCD bypolls on Wednesday met Sonia Gandhi.
The elected ward councilors of the party who accompanied Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken, were also introduced to the party president during their meeting at her 10 Janpath residence.
Congress has termed the victory in the bypolls as a message of people of Delhi for its comeback in the city, where it was routed in 2015 Assembly polls. It said it has started planning for a "far more grand" performance in the civic body polls in 2017.
The results for the bypoll were declared on Tuesday.
Congress won 4 seats and secured nearly 25 per cent of the over 3 lakh votes polled on 15 May.
The Congress rebel Rajender Singh Tanwar who won in Bhati ward was also present during the meet with the party chief on Wednesday.
Maken, at a media briefing on Tuesday, had said that Tanwar has joined the party. Tanwar was also present there.
Ruling Aam Admi Party in Delhi won five wards while BJP secured three seats.
Much before a flurry of exit polls predicted a big win for the BJP-led alliance in Assam, the Congress appeared to have had thrown in the towel.
Although poll pundits have chosen to stay away from making any 'bold' predictions in the state's most unpredictable election in decades, not many disagree that it is a visibly jittery chief minister Tarun Gogoi who is giving himself away even before the actual results are declared on 19 May.
Ready to retire?
On 14 May, when Gogoi's autobiography was released, many saw it as another way of announcing his retirement, a declaration of defeat. If whispers in the Congress corridors are to be believed, Turnaround: Leading Assam From The Front, is nothing but a quickly churned ghostwritten autobiography just in time for release ahead of the poll results.
While it's easy to read between the lines Gogoi's acceptance of the fact that election promises are not so easy to fulfil, the book mostly reads like an annual report card of the state government's performance.
But in all fairness to the writer (of course, we mean Gogoi), there are some interesting accounts as well. For instance, Gogoi says he wrote a letter to the then PM PV Narasimha Rao criticising his handling of the Babri Masjid demolition (December 1992), but never got a reply.
Being too casual
Gogoi and the Congress could have handled these last few days (ahead of the poll verdict) much more sensibly than just reiterating that they are confident of a record fourth victory.
Even as the state continues to grapple with serious crises, including the brutal rape and murder of a gorkha girl in Tinsukia district that led to widespread protests and bandhs, the Congress government once again not just failed to ensure women's safety in Assam, but also appeared quite unaffected by the law and order situation arising as a result.
If that was not enough, the incident of a three-year-old boy, who acquired HIV infection following blood transfusion in Guwhati Medical College and Hospital, exposed some glaring inadequacies in hospitals across the state. While all this was happening, Gogoi, as the Chief Minister, failed to assure his people that his government cares enough.
Courting AGP
While the BJP has been claiming that the heavy voter turnout (in the normal course, a high turnout reflects anti-incumbency) is an indication in its favour, insiders in Asom Gana Parishad, BJP's alliance partner, say that the Congress has already sent feelers on a possible post-poll partnership. There have been whispers that the Congress, in wake of its imminent defeat, may be more than willing to give outside support to an AGP government for the sake of defeating "communal forces".
In 2010, speaking at a function to release his official biography, Gogoi had graciously admitted, "I believe politicians make mistakes. Mistakes will be made. Only through mistakes can one learn."
Six years on, if he has learnt enough from his mistakes will be seen only on 19 May.
For now, Gogoi's hoping against hope that the exit polls turn out to be as accurate as the ones in Bihar.
Although voting in Kerala on Tuesday went without violent incidents, the alleged attack on the widow of a slain rebel Communist leader on the last day of the campaign stood out as a grim reminder of the reality of political violence in the state. As in the previous cases, it smacked of medieval rancour thats inconsistent with a modern democracy.
The victim of the attack was KK Rama, the widow of a former CPM local leader turned rebel, who was hacked to death for which a killer gang and two CPM leaders were sentenced to life. Chandrasekharans murder, as the court noted, was purely political and was masterminded by the CPM, although the party distanced itself from it even while supporting the convicts. The attack on Rama gained considerable visibility because she continued her husbands fight for an alternative communist path, and her electoral presence posed a direct threat to the CPM candidates chances.
The supporters of both Rama and the CPM circulated videos accusing each other. Either way, what was visible in the video was pure political hostility.
Chandrasekharan was an outlier because the victims of such political violence in the state are either from the CPM or the RSS. In a limited number of cases, people from other parties also could die. But mostly, its either the CPM or the RSS and the theatre of violence is Kannur in northern Kerala with its echoes sometimes reaching Kozhikode where the slain leader lived. For years, people have been theorising why the politics in Kannur is so violent. CPM is certainly a common factor. Its always CPM vs the others.
But the CPM leaders play the victim card and reaffirm that they dont support violence, and at best, only resist it. They say its the RSS which is attacking them unprovoked. In terms of the number of victims, probably the CPM may have lost more people, but its certainly not simple resistance, but planned retribution that results in such killings.
The reason is the CPMs obsessive control over its strangleholds in Kannur and even in some parts of Kozhikode which are better known as party villages, the veritable one party communes. The party has absolute authority over these places and nobody can defy its diktat. The RSS and some Muslim outfits try to make inroads to these pockets and they get fierce resistance. It leads to violence, deaths and retribution. The cycle never stops. More over, the leaders keep the hostility simmering and young cadres and local leaders fall dead on the wayside, at public places and at home. Some, even die in classrooms in front of their students.
In such situations, you cant even be politically neutral, let alone side with somebody else, without risking severe ostracisation. There are documented cases of relentless social boycott, bordering on violence, that lasted years. And learning from the CPM, the RSS too wants to create such pockets for themselves.
Well known Malayali writer Paul Zachariah compares these party pockets with Stalin era Gulags. "The left rules this area like the Gulag [cruel labour camps in 1930-1950 run by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin] and the RSS is no less dogmatic, bloody and narrow minded, so violence is inevitable, he told the BBC .
The latest in the series of political killings was an RSS boy felled by a gang of 20 men at his home in front of his parents in February. As usual, the CPM denied any involvement and its state secretary even suggested that it was because of a local dispute involving the harassment of a girl. In the TP Chandrasekharan case, the CPM leaders had come up with various conspiracy theories, including communal and extra-marital angles.
But some of the CPM local toughies slip up from time to time. P Jayarajan, a former MLA and a veteran leader from Kannur, who is booked for two political murders in the district, recently admitted that the party does payback when the 'debt' mounts. This man is under CBI investigation for the murders and had just come out of judicial custody. In a recent interview with NDTV former chief minister VS Achuthanandan also admitted that his party is sometimes forced to pay RSS 'in the same coin'.
In the cases involving the CPM, the families of the victims never get complete justice because the investigators are threatened and the accused are set up. In the courts, most of the real culprits get away and whoever go to jail are looked after well. This is a well oiled extra-constitutional system that has been running for years.
The RSS is equally or more brutal, but they dont have the massive social, institutional and even government muscle of the CPM. Some media reports that tallied the killings say that the CPM lost more cadres than the RSS.
Possibly true. However, the disturbing reality is that RSS is not going to rule Kerala, but the CPM is. Therefore, at least in some parts, its a case of todays killer becoming tomorrows ruler. And its really scary.
Telangana is all set to get a new English-language newspaper. And the one launching it is none other than the state chief minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao. The paper, named Telangana Today, is ready to hit the stands in July, reported Hindustan Times. The paper will be published by Rao's publication house, Telangana Publications Private Limited.
The report added that the local media is fearful that the paper will act as a party mouthpiece, but Telangana Today Editor K Srinivas Reddy told Hindustan Times that the publication will not do so; it will simply take the side of the people.
The development comes at a time when India's youngest state is all set to celebrate its second anniversary on 2 June. According to a report in the Deccan Chronicle, the state government has planned a grand fireworks display on the banks of the Hussainsagar Lake. Relatives of the 1969 Telangana movement's martyrs will be honoured, while special lifetime achievement awards will be given to 50 eminent personalities of the state.
All government establishments will have to be beautifully decorated, while public places like malls, cinema halls, hotels and hospitals have also been directed to join the celebrations, The Hindu reported. KCR has also directed officials to distribute food at homes for the destitute and at schools for the blind.
According to The New Indian Express, CM Rao invited Governor ESL Narsimhan for the formation day event on 2 June.
Editor's note: This article was originally published on 18 May, 2016. It is being re-published in the wake of the crisis in the Samajwadi Party and the important role Amar Singh plays in it.
Perhaps one of the perfect examples of the funny and ever-changing alliances in politics is the fact that more than six years after the Samajwadi Party (SP) expelled Amar Singh, it "unanimously" declared him as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls on Wednesday, setting the stage for his possible return to the party.
Once the general secretary of the party and one of the most important leaders, Amar Singh along with his close associate Jaya Prada was expelled from the SP in February, 2010. He floated his own political party, Rashtriya Lok Manch, in 2011, and fielded a large number of candidates in 2012 UP Assembly polls. However, none of his candidates won. He had joined the Rashtriya Lok Dal and contested the 2014 Lok Sabha poll from Fatehpur Sikri but lost.
Before he was expelled from SP, Amar Singh served as the main face of the party in Delhi, according to this Firstpost article. Even in 2015, SP was affected by Singh missing from the party as its ties with other parties took a hit without him. Singh was also credited with bringing a lot of industrialists close to the Mulayam Singh family. His Bollywood connection also added to his image as he rubbed shoulders with actors Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt.
Singh was assigned to look after former UP CM Vir Bahadur in 1985. He first met Mulayam Singh Yadav at Vir Bahadur's residence and joined the SP in 1996. After that, Singh's rise in the party was meteoric.
An article in Catch News said that Amar Singh's greatest achievement during his time in the SP was the transformation of Mulayam's image. "He turned this anti-English, anti-modern regional leader into a major player on the national stage. Amar Singh's lavish lifestyle may have been objectionable to Mulayam's Lohiaite ideology, but the SP supremo had to accept glamour-loving Singh as his most effective translator and intermediary in meetings with business tycoons, film stars and the media," the article said.
"SP was a traditional party till 1996. The basic organizational network of SP was in rural and semi urban areas, but after Amar Singh joined in 1996, he brought glamour, political connections, Bollywood, network with big industrial houses and bling with him to the party. He managed to change the basic image of the party," Livemint quoted a senior SP leader based in Lucknow as saying.
However, as important as Singh was to the party, with his larger-than-life persona, he had created strong enemies within the party. Even today, after the SP declared him its candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls, senior SP leader and UP minister Azam Khan expressed disappointment over the decision.
"As far as I think, this whole incident is unfortunate. Netaji malik hai aur malik ke faisle ko chunauti dena mere adhikar chetra ke bahar hai (Mulayam Singh is the party chief and to challenge his decision is beyond my rights)," DNA quoted Khan as saying.
Even last year, SP leaders like Ram Gopal Yadav and Naresh Agrawal were against Amar Singh. After leaving SP, Singh had also levelled allegations of serious nature against Mulayam Singh Yadav and had even threatened to expose him.
However, according to this report in The Indian Express, Singh now wants to revive the SP's network with the other parties. The report also said that the return of Amar Singh will be benefitial for the SP because the party needs a mass leader and a political manager at the national level for the crucial 2017 UP Assembly polls. Amar Singh, who is a Thakur, could help the SP oppose Home Minister Rajnath Singh, also a Thakur and considered to be the UP CM candidate of the BJP.
Amar Singh might not be the ideal politician and there might still be many in the SP who will be against his return. But the SP needs someone with the kind of image and flair that Amar Singh has had and his return will most probably cause new ripples in Indian politics.
With inputs from PTI
Kolkata: During Assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry, BJP was the most discussed political party while West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee the most talked about political
leader on Facebook.
An analysis of conversations on Facebook regarding the Assembly polls across all states done by the social media giant shows that BJP featured in 61 per cent of them, while Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee was the top leader, figuring in 22 per cent of the conversations.
Overall, 2.2 crore netizens discussed elections on the social media platform leading to 14.2 crore interactions, Facebook said.
The data is for the period from 12 February to 10 May and covers top political parties, politicians, states and top issues, the social media giant said.
With 47 per cent mentions, Congress was second followed by AAP - 25 per cent. Interestingly, DMK and CPI-M featured in only 6 per cent of online conversations.
In the list of most talked about politicians, Banerjee was followed by Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy who featured in 20 per cent of the conversation.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, DMK patriarch M Karunandhi and BJP's Sarbananda Sonowal were the other talked about leaders, Facebook said, adding among the states, Assam was most popular with conversation of 28 per cent figured around it.
Crime seemed to be of utmost concern to Facebook users as one-third of election-related conversations featured the issue. Defence came a close second with 31 per cent. Foreign affairs, education and transport were other major issues.
"Facebook is making it easier for people to participate in electoral debates and have a real impact. It has become a place for people to get to know their candidates better and discuss issues they care about," a Facebook spokesperson said.
"By providing a platform for engagement and discussion, Facebook is empowering people in India on Facebook to engage in the elections," the spokesperson said.
Kano: The first of one of 219 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram in Chibok, northeast Nigeria, more than two years ago has been found, the military and activists said Wednesday, raising hopes for those still being held.
Amina Ali was discovered on Tuesday in the Sambisa Forest area of Borno state by civilian vigilantes assisting the military and was brought back to her home town of Mbalala, near Chibok.
Yakubu Nkeki, head of the Abducted Chibok Girls Parents' group, said the teenager, who was 17 when she was abducted in April 2014, was brought to his house where she was reunited with her mother.
She was then handed over to the military and taken to the nearby town of Damboa, from where she was expected to be transferred to the state capital, Maiduguri, he told AFP.
The BringBackOurGirls campaign group said Ali was identified by her school vice-principal.
"She (Ali) provided useful information that her other classmates are still held under heavy terrorist captivity in the Sambisa Forest area," said spokesman Sesugh Akume.
But she was quoted as saying by Chibok community leader Tsambido Hoseana Abana that "six were already dead", while Nkeki and other community leaders said she was found with a baby.
Forest enclave
The Sambisa Forest has long been known to contain Boko Haram camps. Other abducted women rescued from the former game reserve over the last year have reported seeing some of the Chibok girls.
Army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman confirmed Ali's rescue, although he gave a different name Falmata Mbalala and said she was found by troops in Baale, near Damboa.
Manaseh Allan, a Chibok youth leader, said it was not uncommon for children in the town to use different names at home and at school.
The leader of the BringBackOurGirls group in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, former education minister Oby Ezekwesili, welcomed Ali's rescue, tweeting: "#218ShallBeBack because #HopeEndures."
The group has mounted daily vigils in the capital since the abduction calling for the release of the schoolgirls and hundreds of other hostages.
Boko Haram has used kidnapping as a weapon of war, seizing thousands of women and young girls, forcing them to become sex slaves and even suicide bombers.
Men and young boys have been forcibly conscripted to the Islamists' ranks.
UNICEF spokeswoman in West and Central Africa Helene Sandbu Ryeng said for Ali and others rescued, "being freed from Boko Haram and returning home is only the first step".
"Children in this situation typically require medical assistance and psycho-social support to help them cope with what they have been through while they were in captivity," she said.
"Many of them need help to re-integrate their family and their community" with the risk of "mistrust, stigma and rejection" high when they return, she added.
Previous sightings
Boko Haram, which opposes Western education, seized 276 students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok on the night of April 14, 2014.
Fifty-seven managed to escape in the immediate aftermath.
The abduction sparked outrage worldwide and brought global attention to the Boko Haram insurgency, which has killed at least 20,000 people and made more than 2.6 million homeless since 2009.
Nothing had been heard from the 219 since a video published by the Islamists in May 2014, until an apparent "proof of life" message was sent to the Nigerian government earlier this year.
Fifteen of the girls, wearing black hijabs, were seen in the video, which was purportedly shot on 25 December, Christmas Day, last year.
But despite the identities of the girls being confirmed by mothers and a classmate, the government said it was cautious about raising hopes of their release.
Prisoner swap
There have been previous claims of talks with Boko Haram, whose leader Abubakar Shekau has said he would release the hostages if Islamist fighters held in Nigerian custody were released.
But the talks appear to have been with factions of the group, without the approval of the high command.
The video gave weight to theories the girls were split up after the abduction and were being held in separate locations, complicating any possible talks or a rescue bid.
The girls were taken as Boko Haram captured swathes of territory in northeastern states in 2014. But the insurgents have been pushed out by a military fight-back in the last 15 months.
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, who has said Boko Haram is "technically" defeated, has said success in the campaign would be measured on the return of the Chibok girls and other abductees.
New Delhi: China today denied that it was blocking India's bid for a membership in elite Nuclear Suppliers Group and said it will "work" with the members of the 48-nation grouping as well as India to find a solution for India's entry into it.
Liu Zhenmin, China's Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, also said that the issue needs to be deliberated on among among relevant parties.
"That's not true. I think, the membership of NSG is not a new issue. It has been an issue for many years. This should be sorted out together with the members of the NPT," Liu told PTI when asked whether China was blocking India's entry to the elite club.
"Members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group should be party to NPT. So, I think China will also work with others including Indian colleagues together to find a solution.
"This should be consulted among relevant parties. As a very friendly country, China wants to have good cooperation with India at the international arena on all issues," the Chinese minister said. He is here to attend a multi-lateral legal meet.
Earlier this week, China claimed that several members of the group shared its view that signing of the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was an "important" standard for NSG's expansion.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang in Beijing had 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. The Chinese action is apparently at the behest of Pakistan, which is also seeking an entry into the bloc.
India is not a party to Nuclear Proliferation Treaty, the international pact aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, maintaining that it was discriminatory.
Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia is barring three years travel abroad for citizens who criticise or ridicule the government to "safeguard the country's image", officials said on Wednesday.
"Anyone who runs down the government or 'memburukkan kerajaan' in any manner, will be barred from going abroad," the immigration department told the Star daily.
The three-year ban has been in force for several months, Immigration Director Sakib Kusmi said.
"The Malaysian international passport is a travel document issued by the government... so, the government has the discretion to either issue, defer or revoke the travel document," claimed Sakib, without disclosing the number of people who have been affected by the move so far.
In the last few months, activists, detractors and dissidents have been detained without any explanations by immigration authorities when they have been about to leave the country.
Some of the people who were affected by this move include lawmaker Tony Pua from the Democratic Action Party, critical of Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has been embroiled in a corruption scandal involving diversion of a billion dollars from a state fund into his personal accounts.
Others hit by the travel ban include Maria Chin Abdullah, one of the leaders of the Bersih 2.0 movement, which demands free and fair elections, and activist Hishamuddin Rais, who dodged a prison sentence this week over a sedition charge.
Washington: Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump claimed again Tuesday that he is worth "in excess of $10 billion" more than twice the level of independent estimates.
The New York real estate tycoon said he filed his personal financial disclosure (PFD) form with the Federal Election Commission, a step every White House aspirant must take to qualify as a candidate.
The FEC has yet to release the document but is expected to do so within 30 days.
The Trump campaign said his net worth has increased since his last PFD was filed last July and is now "in excess of $10 billion."
"I filed my PFD, which I am proud to say is the largest in the history of the FEC," Trump declared in the statement.
"I have built an incredible company and have accumulated one of the greatest portfolios of real estate assets, many of which are considered to be among the finest and most iconic properties in the world," he added.
"This is the kind of thinking the country needs."
The campaign said Trump's revenues increased by some $190 million, and that as reported in his latest statement, Trump's income stood in excess of $557 million, excluding dividends, interest, capital gains, rents and royalties.
In July, one month after he launched what has amounted to a remarkable presidential bid, Trump's FEC disclosure said he held positions with more than 500 companies and organizations, and had 168 different assets and sources of income.
The form showed he claimed $362 million in income in 2014.
Researchers for the magazine Forbes argued last year that Trump is worth no more than $4 billion, pointing out that he lost a string of business deals after offending millions by calling Mexicans rapists and drug traffickers.
Trump's personal financial disclosure is not a release of tax returns.
Most presidential candidates have released their tax returns as a traditional step in their campaign but Trump has not, citing an ongoing audit of his finances.
On Friday when pressed by ABC about his tax rate, Trump said it was "none of your business," but added that he would release his returns when the audit was complete.
His refusal has prompted criticism from Democrats, as well as prominent Republicans including 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who has warned that Trump might be hiding a "bombshell" in his tax returns.
Washington: Donald Trump, not usually one to back away from a fight, has made peace with US television news star Megyn Kelly after describing her in the past as a "bimbo" and worse.
Trump during the primary campaign on Tuesday resorted to unusually extreme rhetoric including a distasteful reference to menstruation in his attacks on Kelly, one of the most powerful women in American television and the star of her own cable news show.
After being branded a misogynist and xenophobe during the bruising primary campaign, the apparent Republican nominee has been softening his image, and in a recorded interview broadcast late on Tuesday publicly buried the hatchet with Kelly.
"When I'm wounded, I fight back hard," Trump explained when pressed by Kelly about the reason for his bare knuckles, no-holds-barred style, describing himself as a "counter-puncher" on the campaign trail.
Kelly, a former corporate litigator, joined Fox News in 2004 as a television reporter from Washington DC, rising rapidly through the ranks thanks to her good looks, fierce ambition and keen intellect.
In 2014 she was the only female journalist listed on Time magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people.
Her run-in with Trump last August during the first Republican TV debate of the 2016 election catapulted her to even wider fame.
She and two male colleagues moderated the debate, which attracted a record 24 million viewers. Trump took offense to her tough questions, insinuating that she treated him unfairly because she was menstruating.
"You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her - wherever," he told CNN after the debate.
In hindsight Trump conceded on Tuesday that he might have been a little rough in his handling of Kelly and others at whom he has directed his attacks during the campaign.
"I could have done certain things differently. I could have maybe used different language in a couple of instances," Trump said.
But, having vanquished all 16 other Republican contenders and having brought an initially reluctant party establishment largely on side, "I have to be very happy with the outcome," he added.
As recently as March Fox News called out the brash billionaire for having a "sick obsession" with their glamorous marquee star.
"Donald Trump's vitriolic attacks against Megyn Kelly and his extreme, sick obsession with her is beneath the dignity of a presidential candidate who wants to occupy the highest office in the land," Fox News said in a statement, accusing Trump of an "endless barrage of crude and sexist verbal assaults" against her.
The 45-year-old blonde mother of three who was attacked not only by Trump, but also online by legions of his followers took the initiative in trying to reach a truce.
Trenton: Presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump is helping dig former rival Chris Christie and the New Jersey Republican Party out of big debt they incurred from the George Washington Bridge scandal and the governor's presidential campaign.
Trump on Thursday will attend a $25,000-per-person fundraiser for the state GOP to help it pay off about $500,000 incurred in legal fees responding to legislative subpoenas in the bridge scandal. Trump and Christie will headline the event as well as a separate, $200 per-person fundraiser to pay down Christie's roughly $250,000 presidential campaign debt.
"Governor Christie has been very supportive of Mr. Trump," said Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks. "Mr. Trump looks forward to raising money for the governor and spending time with the great people of New Jersey on Thursday night."
The hand-in-hand fund raising help is a sharp turnabout from five months ago, when Trump said Christie "totally knew" that some of his allies had shut down access lanes to bridge to retaliate against a Democratic mayor who wouldn't support Christie's re-election, as prosecutors allege. Two former Christie allies have pleaded not guilty to federal wire fraud and civil rights charges. Christie has not been charged and denies involvement.
Christie has since folded his presidential campaign and taken the big political risk of endorsing Trump, and the billionaire has tapped the governor to head his White House transition team.
Now Trump, eager to show support for the Republican Party, is making what some members of the GOP see as a helpful gesture.
"We certainly take it as a demonstration of their long and deep friendship," said Bill Palatucci, a long-time Christie adviser and New Jersey Republican National Committeeman. "Whether it's a thank-you or not, we appreciate it nonetheless."
The events, both held at the National Guard Armory in Lawrenceville, are expected to draw roughly 1,000 people for the presidential debt fundraiser and 15 to 20 for the state party fundraiser, Palatucci said. The fundraisers, he says, are expected to retire the debt almost entirely, if not completely.
Trump is coming to New Jersey as the bridge scandal is in headlines again this week after a federal appeals court delayed the release of a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the scheme sought by media organizations, including The Associated Press.
New Jersey taxpayers have spent more than $10 million for legal services for the Christie administration. Christie's 2013 gubernatorial campaign also still owes nearly $1 million for legal services. None of the money raised Thursday will go toward those costs, according to Palatucci.
Asked about the fundraisers this week by a reporter, Christie shook his head and laughed but refused to comment.
Hicks did not address whether Trump still believes Christie knew about the lane closures.
In recent comments Christie has highlighted his friendship with Trump, which goes back more than a decade, and insisted support doesn't stem from political expediency.
"This is not like some political marriage," Christie said. "This is a guy I've known and been friends with for 14 years."
The state party is praising Trump ahead of his first visit to the state since he has become the presumptive nominee.
"We are proud that Mr. Trump has shown his commitment to growing our party here in New Jersey," said Pete Sheridan, executive director of the Republican State Committee.
Christie's presidential campaign was a magnet for New Jersey Republicans with most of the party establishment backing him. He raised nearly $4 million from New Jersey donors, far more than any other Republican candidate, according to federal records. That produced a squeeze on contributors, which likely cost other Republicans running for office in the state, according to political experts.
"It really created a vacuum in the last years," Montclair State University political science professor Brigid Harrison said. "There was this kind of sucking from New Jersey donors to his campaign at the cost of down-ballot candidates."
Rajshahi, Bangladesh: Days after his colleague was butchered by Islamist extremists at their university in Bangladesh, Mahbub Alam answered a call from a mystery number that made his blood run cold.
"The person on the other side of the line said to me: 'Your life has come to an end. You've gone too far. Wait and see what happens to you.'," said Alam, a professor of public administration at Rajshahi University.
"I've never been connected to any type of activity except teaching. I've no idea what I've done to receive such a threat.
"It's OK when someone confronts you face-to-face. But if someone attacks you from behind, what can you do except live in fear?"
Normally a hive of activity, the university campus has been largely deserted since English professor Rezaul Karim Siddique was hacked to death late last month while walking from his home to a bus stop.
His attackers ambushed the 58-year-old from behind before flaying him with machetes in broad daylight, nearly severing his neck in the process.
It was the latest in a string of gruesome murders carried out by Islamist extremists in the last three years, with other victims including secular bloggers and members of the mainly Muslim country's religious minorities.
Extremist target
But professors teaching at Rajshahi in northwestern Bangladesh, which has a reputation as one of the country's most liberal universities, have been a target of extremists for more than a decade.
Four have been killed since 2004 while more than 50 teachers say they have received threats from Islamist extremists.
After Siddique's murder, teachers went on an unofficial strike which prompted most of the university's 33,000 students to head home and begin their summer holidays early.
When an AFP correspondent visited the 752-acre (300-hectare) campus last week, the lecture halls were empty and the only significant gathering was at a rally attended by teachers and students to protest Siddique's slaughter.
Much of the anger was directed at the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina which has been accused of showing little sympathy towards the victims and doing little to improve security.
Nearly all recent attacks have been claimed by Al-Qaeda's local branch or the Islamic State organisation but the government insists neither group has got a foothold in Bangladesh, blaming its domestic opponents instead.
"We are feeling very isolated and are all in a bit of a panic," sociology professor Nilufar Sultana told AFP.
"The authorities are not assuring any security. They aren't even saying that they're looking for the killers. It's deeply frustrating."
Mamunul Habib, who was taught by Siddique, said that no one could concentrate on their studies for the moment.
"We can't pick up weapons to protect ourselves and of course it's not for us to do that anyway," said Habib.
"It's impossible mentally to study and work in such a climate, especially as you can't help feeling that you could be the next target."
After Siddique's killing, it emerged that a hit-list with the names of 10 people including the university's vice-chancellor had been distributed on a leaflet in the nearby town of Natore.
'We feel helpless'
The leaflet bore the name of an obscure group called the Islami Liberation Front which said its objective was to establish an Islamic caliphate by toppling what it called the "repressive" government.
No one has so far been charged with Siddique's murder although police have made four arrests and say one of those has confessed to taking part in the killing.
Rajshahi police commissioner Mohammad Shamsuddin acknowledged people felt nervous but said his officers were doing all they could to avoid a repeat.
"This sense of panic will gradually fade and we are working very hard to provide security to everyone in the city," Shamsuddin told AFP.
However the murder on May 6 of a local leader of the Sufi Muslim minority around 40 kilometres (25 miles) away has heightened fears that the killers may still be at large, with the victim also hacked to death.
"We now feel very helpless," said Professor Moloy Voumik, another of Siddique's former colleagues who admits he is living in fear.
"I know if these targeted killings continue, then my name will definitely find a place on their hit-list."
Kano: The first of 219 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram from Chibok in northeast Nigeria more than two years ago has been found, activists, the head of a support group and a community leader said Wednesday.
Amina Ali was discovered on Tuesday in the Sambisa Forest area of Borno state by civilian vigilantes assisting the military and brought back to her home town of Mbalala, near Chibok.
"She met her parents, who recognised their daughter before she was taken to the military base in Damboa," Ayuba Alamson Chibok, a community leader in Chibok, told AFP.
"Her father's name is Ali and the girl's name is Amina. I know the family very well because I have worked with them, being a spokesman for the families of the Chibok girls."
Yakubu Nkeki, head of the Abducted Chibok Girls Parents' group, also confirmed her name and said she was 17 when she was abducted.
He added: "She's the daughter of my neighbour... They brought her to my house."
Tsambido Hosea Abana, a Chibok community leader in the capital, Abuja, from the BringBackOurGirls pressure group, was the first to give details about the discovery.
All three men said the teenager appeared to have given birth while in captivity while Abana said other kidnapped girls were in the forest, which the military has been targeting for several weeks.
There was no immediate word from the Nigerian authorities.
Boko Haram seized 276 students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok on the night of 14 April, 2014. Fifty-seven managed to escape in the immediate aftermath.
Nothing had been heard from the 219 still held captive since a video published by the Islamists in May 2014 until an apparent "proof of life" message was sent to the Nigerian government earlier this year.
The abduction sparked outrage worldwide and brought global attention to the Boko Haram insurgency, which has killed at least 20,000 people and made more than 2.6 million homeless since 2009.
Paris: On Wednesday, police across France will demonstrate against the "anti-cop hatred" they say they have endured during a wave of anti-government protests since early March.
Rallies are being planned in around 60 towns and cities, with the Paris event to be held in the Place de la Republique, the venue of the youth-driven "Up All Night" movement that emerged from the protests against the Socialist government's labour reforms.
However, activists were denied permission to stage a counter-demonstration against police violence in the same square ahead of the rally.
Some 350 members of the security forces have been injured during the protests against the labour reforms, including one who lost the use of an eye.
Eleven were injured yesterday during the latest protests against the reforms, which are seen as too pro-business and were forced through without a parliamentary vote.
"You can see why these security forces are a bit exasperated," national police chief Jean-Marc Falcone said on French radio on Wednesday.
He noted that police have been under "great pressure" since 167 people were killed in jihadist attacks, first on the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly and a Jewish supermarket in January 2015, followed 10 months later by attacks on several Paris targets in November.
The anti-government protests have often turned violent, notably when small groups of hooded youths have joined in, apparently well-organised and determined to clash with police.
On the other side, a video emerged in late March showing two policemen holding up a 15-year-old boy, while another violently punched him.
The video, which went viral, was followed in mid-April by a poster printed by a union to denounce alleged police brutality, reading "Police should protect citizens, not hit them stop the violence".
In the wider population, French police enjoy an enviable reputation, scoring an 82 percent approval rating in a recent opinion poll.
The police have called on the government to respond firmly to the hooded "casseurs" literally breakers, or troublemakers.
"I've never seen this before," a riot policeman told AFP. "The casseurs... are perfectly organised... to hurt cops."
President Francois Hollande on Tuesday warned the rioters: "Enough is enough, and it cannot go on without a response."
Paris: A rare rally of police officers against "anti-cop hatred" in France descended into violence Wednesday as counter-demonstrators forced two policemen out of a car and torched it.
Police were demonstrating across France against violence suffered at the hands of anti-government protesters in recent months.
France has been gripped by a wave of furious protests and strikes against reforms proposed by the deeply unpopular government of President Francois Hollande, many of which have erupted into violence.
Police say their resources are dangerously stretched as they oversee stepped-up security measures following last year's Islamist attacks and try to ensure safety at increasingly violent protests.
And Wednesday's police demo also turned violent as protesters smashed a police vehicle with iron bars, forcing the two officers inside to flee the car, before hurling a petrol bomb into it, an AFP journalist reported.
Prosecutors have opened an investigation for attempted murder.
The attack came as some 300 people defied a ban to march through the streets chanting "Cops, pigs, killers!" Police forced the demonstrators back with volleys of tear gas.
The march took place in the capital's Place de la Republique, the focal point for the youth-driven "Up All Night" movement that sprang from the protests against the Socialist government's controversial reforms.
Officials had banned the counter-demonstration over concerns it would "fuel tensions and seriously threaten public order".
Frayed relations
Public support for the police soared after last year's jihadist attacks in Paris, and generally remains high.
Despite the tensions, the French police still scored an enviable 82-percent approval rating in a recent opinion poll.
But relations have frayed following months of the near-weekly anti-government protests, which have increasingly strained police resources at a time of unprecedented security threats and tight budgets.
The state of emergency imposed after the November terror attacks that killed 130 people has also placed extra demands on the security forces, which have themselves come under fire for using undue force.
But Alexandre Langlois, head of the police section of the CGT union, said the police's reputation had been "smeared" and officers had become "scapegoats for social anger".
Hollande sent a "clear message of support to all police forces during a difficult time," his spokesman said, adding: "A balance must be perfectly preserved between maintaining order and respecting our rights."
Prime Minister Manuel Valls tweeted that to attack the police "is to attack all of us".
Security was exceptionally tight for the Paris demonstration, with some 400 police manning barriers around the square while a few hundred attended the rally.
A five-minute video showed clips of past demonstrations where protesters hurled petrol bombs, chunks of concrete and bottles at police.
Over the past two months, some 350 members of the security forces have been injured during protests against the proposed labour reforms, which were forced through the lower house of parliament last week without a vote.
A plainclothes officer was seriously injured after being hit in the head by a projectile at a Paris protest last month.
"You can see why these security forces are a bit exasperated," national police chief Jean-Marc Falcone said Wednesday.
Antoine, 31, one of the officers at the Paris rally, stressed how hard it was to police the recent demonstrations.
"Everything's a bit chaotic and you're put right in the middle of it. You have trouble sometimes knowing who's who, and people blame you.
"They have a go at you physically, they throw Molotov cocktails at you, stones," things that can could injure or even kill officers, he added.
Hooded troublemakers
Violence at the anti-government protests have often been instigated by small groups of hooded youths -- known as "casseurs" -- apparently well organised and determined to clash with police.
Fuelling anti-police sentiment was a video widely shared on social media in March showing two officers holding up a 15-year-old boy while another punched him.
Around 30 investigations have been opened into alleged police brutality, and left-wing politicians as well as unions have strongly criticised the government for its handling of the protests.
The police have called on the government to respond firmly to the hooded "casseurs" -- literally breakers, or troublemakers -- at protests.
Washington: Hillary Clinton filed financial documents Tuesday night showing that in 2015 she earned more than $5 million in royalties from her book Hard Choices and about $1.5 million in speaking fees before she launched her presidential campaign.
Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, continued his lucrative speaking tour through last November, reaping more than $5 million from banking, tech and other corporate interests.
Hillary Clinton released the candidate financial disclosure form she filed to the Federal Election Commission earlier this week. The 11-page document shows that most of her personal wealth is held in a Vanguard 500 Index Fund and a separate JP Morgan Custody Account, both valued at $5 million to $25 million.
Clinton's campaign released her disclosure publicly hours after Republican Donald Trump put out financial documents describing his personal wealth at $10 billion. Clinton used the release to sting Trump for refusing to publicly release his tax returns, a theme she has repeated in recent days. Last year, Clinton released her own family tax returns covering 1977 to 2014.
"Despite Donald Trump's boasting, submitting his personal financial disclosure form is no breakthrough for transparency," Clinton campaign spokeswoman Christina Reynolds said. "The true test for Donald Trump is whether he will adhere to the precedent followed by every presidential candidate in the modern era and make his tax returns available, as Hillary Clinton has done."
Clinton's speeches to Wall Street interests between 2013 and 2015 spurred questions about her own transparency, leading to repeated calls from her Democratic rival, Bernie Sanders, for transcripts of her talks to banks, investment houses and other financial interests.
The five speeches disclosed in Clinton's latest documents include the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce paying her $150,000 for a talk in January 2015, following two other speeches in Canada that also were co-sponsored by the bank. Bill Clinton listed a February 2015 appearance in Nashville for UBS Wealth Management Americas a Swiss international bank that Hillary Clinton also spoke to in July 2013.
Hillary Clinton's disclosure also shows that her husband made an undisclosed amount of money last year in consulting roles for two foreign interests the Dubai-based Varkey GEMS Foundation and Laureate Education Inc, a global for-profit education firm. Clinton ended his relationship with Laureate last year after earning $16.5 million as the operation's honorary chancellor, according to previously-released Clinton tax records. Bill Clinton also has made more than $5.6 million in an honorary role for the GEMS foundation.
Washington: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders battled to a neck-and-neck outcome in Kentucky's presidential primary Tuesday, as Clinton declared victory and sought to blunt the momentum of her Democratic rival ahead of a likely general election matchup against Republican Donald Trump. Sanders won Oregon and vowed to soldier on.
The race in Kentucky was too close to call, but Clinton wrote on her Twitter feed: "We just won Kentucky! Thanks to everyone who turned out. We're always stronger united." With almost all the votes counted, Clinton held a narrow lead of less than one-half of 1 percent as she tried to avoid ending the primary season with a string of losses to the Vermont senator.
Trump won the sole GOP contest in Oregon, where Sanders was declared the winner shortly after the polls closed in the liberal-leaning state.
Rallying supporters in California, Sanders said he would end up with about half of the delegates in Kentucky and promised to press forward even though he would need to win about two-thirds of the remaining pledged delegates to end the primary season in a tie.
"Before we will have the opportunity to defeat Donald Trump, we're going to have to defeat Secretary Clinton," Sanders said to cheers in Carson, California.
Clinton holds a commanding lead of nearly 300 pledged delegates over Sanders and a dominant advantage among party officials and elected leaders known as superdelegates. The outcomes in Kentucky and Oregon were not expected to change that and the former secretary of state remains on track to clinch the nomination in early June.
Tuesday's elections took place amid new questions about party unity following a divisive weekend state party convention in Nevada. Supporters of Sanders tossed chairs and made death threats against the Nevada party chairwoman at the event in Las Vegas, arguing the party leadership rigged the results of the convention in favor of Clinton.
In a sign of the tensions between the two sides, Sanders issued a defiant statement Tuesday dismissing complaints from Nevada Democrats as "nonsense" and said his supporters were not being treated with "fairness and respect."
In California, Sanders urged the party to be welcoming to voters who are "prepared to fight for real economic and social change." Addressing the party's leadership, Sanders declared, "Open the doors, let the people in."
Trump won the sole GOP contest in Oregon. The billionaire businessman picked up nine delegates earlier Tuesday in Guam, which held its territorial convention in March, and had 1,143 delegates heading into the Oregon contest fewer than 100 delegates short of the 1,237 he needs to clinch the nomination.
For Democrats, 55 delegates were up for grabs in Kentucky and 61 delegates were at stake in Oregon. Clinton and Sanders will each pick up at least 25 delegates in Kentucky, with five delegates remaining to be allocated pending final vote tallies.
The Sanders campaign did not immediately saying whether it will challenge the results in Kentucky, which does not have an automatic recount.
In Kentucky, the former secretary of state visited black churches, a small-town diner and held rallies on Sunday and Monday in an effort to break up Sanders' momentum after his recent victories in Indiana and West Virginia.
Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, was the last Democrat to carry the state in a presidential election he won Kentucky in 1992 and 1996 and the former first lady tried to emphasize those ties in the days leading up to the primary.
"I'm excited about the primary but we've got to turn a lot of people out," Clinton told a packed diner in Paducah, Ky., on Monday. "I'll tell you this. I'm not going to give up on Kentucky in November. I want to help to bring back the kind of economy that worked for everybody in the 1990s."
Nearing the end of a long primary slog, the two Democratic candidates are preparing for 7 June primaries in California, New Jersey and four other states and then the District of Columbia primary on 14 June. When pledged delegates and superdelegates are combined, Clinton is now about 95 percent of the way toward securing the Democratic nomination.
New Delhi: India is in talks with "certain" countries in Africa for possible export of the indigenous Light Combat Helicopters even as the Defence Ministry has set a target of USD 2 billion worth of exports over the next two years.
The weapons trial of the LCH is planned in July-August this year. While the Army has placed an order for 114 LCH with state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the IAF has ordered 65.
The successful demonstration of the LCH in firing 70 mm rockets was conducted during the Iron Fist exercise of the IAF held recently.
The certification trials with integration of mission sensors such as electro optical system, helmet pointing system and weapon system like air to air missiles, turret gun and rockets are planned between July and August this year.
"We are in talks with certain countries in Africa who have evinced interest in the LCH. With great value for money, the helicopter is an attractive buy for many countries," a senior defence official said.
Asked why the countries would be interested in a chopper which is yet to get final certification, the official said, "The certification is a formal process. The countries interested in the LCH in the current form do not need high features like air to air missiles. For them turret gun along with some other features work."
LCH is a 5.5-tonne class combat helicopter designed and developed by HAL.
Its features include sleek and narrow fuselage, tri-cycle crash worthy landing gear, crash worthy and self-sealing fuel tanks, armour protection, nuclear and low visibility features which makes the LCH lethal, agile and survivable.
Designed for anti-tank and anti-infantry roles with a maximum speed of 275 kilometers per hour, the LCH is also capable of high-altitude warfare since its operational ceiling will be 16,000 to 18,000 feet.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had on 14 May said government is pushing for defence exports and plans to export Tejas fighter aircraft as well.
"I know it is not easy. Weapons and export of defence goods have double problems. One is whom you are exporting to and the second is one has to go on checking all international requirements," he had said.
Explaining that push for exports has started showing results, Parrikar said, "From a meager 140-150 million dollars, this year, I think we have crossed 330 odd million dollars. We have doubled the export. I have set a target for myself. In the next two years, why not touch USD 2 billion. It is not an impossible target.
Tehran: Iranian lawmakers on Tuesday approved outlines of a bill to oblige President Hassan Rouhani's administration to seek compensation from the US over Washington's "damaging" policies against Iran and its nationals.
If the bill is signed into law, Rouhani's administration would be required to urge Washington to compensate for its "misappropriating of Iranian assets frozen in the US banks under various pretexts," Xinhua quoted a report in the Press TV as saying.
In April, the US Supreme Court ruled that almost $2 billion in frozen Iranian assets must be turned over to US citizens killed in the 1983 bombing of a US Marine Corps barracks in the Lebanese capital of Beirut and other attacks blamed on Iran.
The assets belong to the Central Bank of Iran, which has been blocked under US sanctions.
On Tuesday, Iranian hardliner legislator Hamid Rasaei also proposed a complementary to the bill that obliges Iran to "seize US assets" passing through the strategic Straight of Hormuz in response to the US hostile acts.
"If the US should seek to misappropriate the Iranian nation's assets, the strait must be turned into an insecure place for them and US vessels be banned from passing through it," he was quoted as saying.
Cairo:A leading international rights group on today released a report documenting atrocities committed by Libya's Islamic State affiliate in the country's coastal city of Sirte, a stronghold of the militants.
In the report, Human Rights Watch recounts "scenes of horror" described by witnesses atrocities that date back to February 2015 and include beheadings of dozens of residents accused by IS militants of being spies.
The Islamic State has gained a foothold in Libya amid the chaos that engulfed the country over the past few years, torn between rival governments and a myriad of militias backing either side.
The report by the New York-based watchdog also recounts instances of "crucifixions" and floggings of men for acts such as smoking or listening to music.The report is based on HRW interviews of 45 residents of Sirte conducted in March last year. The residents were among the two thirds of the city's 80,000-strong population that fled after IS overran Sirte.
"While the world's attention is focused on atrocities in Syria and Iraq, ISIS is also getting away with murder in Libya," said Letta Tayler, a senior terrorism and counter-terrorism researcher at HRW, using an alternative acronym for the Islamic State group.
US military experts estimated in April that the Islamic State group has up to 6,000 fighters in Libya. However, Libyan military intelligence officials have told HRW that the affiliate's numbers do not exceed 2,000 70 per cent of whom are foreigners.
Estimates by other Libyan security analysts put the number of IS fighters in the country at 3,000.
In running Sirte, HRW said IS gave homes and all the goods seized from residents who fled to its fighters. Those who were accused of being spies or sorcerers were brutally killed, the right group said.
The report comes just days after the United States and other Western countries threw their support behind Libya's newly formed and UN-brokered government, saying they would supply the government with weapons to counter the Islamic State group.
This has sparked concerns of more arms being poured into this North African country already awash in weapons.
ROME A group of migrants set fire to a shelter on the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa on Tuesday that caused no injuries, an Italian fire official said, marking an increase in tensions in Italy's packed centres as arrivals continue.
Lampedusa's mayor, Giusi Nicolini, said one building was set ablaze and the four men suspected of lighting it had been identified. Several mattresses were set on fire, but the extent of the damage was not yet determined, a fire department spokesman said.
Two other times, in 2009 and in 2011, fire destroyed portions of the migrant centre, which has been the first port of call for tens of thousands of boat migrants sailing to Europe from Africa.
In the past two years, more than 320,000 boat migrants have arrived on Italian shores and many made their way north, bypassing European Union rules.
So far this year, more than 31,000 have arrived and Italian shelters are bursting at the seams even before the expected summer surge.
There have been other migrant protests in recent months against the Lampedusa shelter and EU asylum rules.
The island centre is a so-called "hot spot," where EU and Italian officials work together to identify and fingerprint asylum seekers before they are moved to the mainland.
European law says migrants must stay in the country where they first enter the bloc, and that is determined by where they give their fingerprints, prompting protests by asylum seekers who do not want to stay in Italy.
(Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Washington: The court-martial for Bowe Bergdahl, the US Army sergeant held captive in Afghanistan for five years before being freed in a prisoner swap, has been delayed until next year, officials said.
The 6 February 2017 start date to Bergdahl's trial was set during a brief hearing Tuesday at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, the Army said in a statement. The trial was initially due to start in August, but a military judge delayed proceedings to allow legal teams more time to prepare.
In its statement, the Army noted the date could be subject to further change.
If convicted on a charge of desertion, Bergdahl could serve up to five years in prison, receive a dishonorable discharge, lose his rank and forfeit all pay. But he also faces a second more serious charge, "misbehavior before the enemy," that could carry a life sentence.
A new commander-in-chief will be in charge when Army Sgt Bowe Bergdahl is court-martialed in February.
The new trial date set by a military judge today could give the proceedings a higher profile, coming only weeks after the new president probably either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump is sworn into office.
The likely Democratic nominee is already being criticised by Trump supporters for supporting the Taliban prisoner swap that brought Bergdahl home after five years in captivity.
Bergdahl's defence team, meanwhile, says the presumptive Republican nominee has already damaged the soldier's chances for a fair trial by calling him a "dirty, rotten traitor" who "should have been executed."
The concern is that a President Trump could influence Army brass to exert "undue command influence" on the trial, Rachel VanLandingham, a former Air Force lawyer who teaches at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles.
Lawyers will have to try to figure out whether the Army judge or jury deciding Bergdahl's fate have taken Trump's harsh comments to heart, said Eric Carpenter, a former Army helicopter pilot and lawyer who now teaches at Florida International University College of Law in Miami.
"If Trump is elected, it doesn't matter that he made the statements before becoming the commander-in-chief," Carpenter said.
"The key is that the panel is free from members who have been influenced by Trump's statements."
"The military judge would allow the defense team to question the jurors, find the ones that have been influenced, and then remove them from the panel," he added.
Bergdahl also could choose to be tried by a judge alone.
Bergdahl said he was trying to alert superior officers to problems in his unit when he walked away from his combat outpost in Afghanistan in 2009. He disappeared from Combat Outpost Mest-Malak in Paktika Province, Afghanistan on June 20, 2009.After departing, the soldier was quickly captured by militants from the feared Haqqani faction, a Taliban-lined outfit blamed for many deadly attacks on US soldiers. Bergdahl's disappearance triggered a massive search operation. He remained a prisoner until President Barack Obama exchanged five Guantanamo Bay detainees for his safe return two years ago.
Obama said the US "does not ever leave our men and women in uniform behind," but the swap was harshly criticized. Some members of Congress said it jeopardized national security.
Clinton was no longer secretary of state by then, but she has defended the deal as a hard but noble decision to retrieve a US soldier who might otherwise have died in captivity.
Bergdahl sat attentively today in his dress blue formal uniform, his infantry cord looped under the epaulet on his right shoulder, during the brief hearing.
The judge, Col Jeffrey Nance, delayed the trial date from August to resolve any disputes over classified documents.
Colombo: Sri Lanka's president mourned the island's "devastating loss" Wednesday as the death toll from three days of torrential rain and landslides rose to 37, with more than 150 missing and rescuers still pulling bodies from the mud.
President Maithripala Sirisena flew to a central tea-growing area where images taken from a helicopter showed floodwaters engulfing entire villages and forested hills deluged with reddish mud.
"The loss is devastating," the president posted on Twitter.
The Disaster Management Centre's updated toll came after bodies were pulled out of the mud in the central village of Aranayake and neighbouring Bulathkohupitiya.
"A total of 37 people have been killed, 28 wounded... in weather-related incidents in the past three days," DMC spokesman Pradeep Kodippili said.
The president met with people who had lost their loved ones as well as seen their homes destroyed, an official who travelled with him told AFP.
Sirisena has ordered troops to help evacuate people living on slopes or in flood-hit areas, while the navy and the air force have also been called in to help with relief operations.
In the area worst hit by landslides, 134 people were still unaccounted for. "We have got complaints from relatives about their loved ones missing," a police officer in the area told AFP by telephone.
In total 155 people are still missing.
Meanwhile about 150 people living above the landslide-hit area have been rescued, military spokesman Jayanath Jayaweera told reporters.
"Army commandos rescued all of them this morning," Jayaweera said, adding that 266 troops in total have been deployed for relief and rescue operations in the worst-affected central district of Kegalle.
Kegalle was prone to landslides and many people living there had fled their homes after the rains, DMC's Kodippili said.
He countered a tweet from the Sri Lankan Red Cross that more than 200 families were missing, saying most had been accounted for and the death toll was not expected to rise significantly.
Sri Lanka Red Cross spokesmen Mahieash Johnny told AFP that there had earlier been confusion about the number of people missing.
But Johnny said the latest updates from the scene suggested that an estimated 225 families were affected by the landslides and "most of those families have moved to four relief camps in the area".
Police said many residents had fled the tea-growing and farming area before the landslides hit.
Over 350,000 people have been hit by flooding in Sri Lanka and 223,000 are sheltering in state-run welfare centres.
The meteorological department said the heavy rains were caused by a depression in the Bay of Bengal and were expected to subside on Wednesday.
Colombo: Sri Lanka's Tamil-dominated Northern province on Wednesday commemorated the civilians who died during the civil war between the LTTE and the army. The ceremony was held on the 7th anniversary of the end of the three-decade long brutal conflict, with chief minister CV Wigneswaran asserting that "not everyone who died during the war was a terrorist."
Addressing a ceremony held at Vellamullivaikkal, in the northeastern Mullaitivu district, Wigneswaran said, "We are here to commemorate the civilians. It is necessary to seek out what happened to these people, since a lot of civilians lost their lives due to the war."
Wigneswaran said that those in the South of the country interpreted the commemoration ceremony as a "tribute to the terrorists", who were killed during the conflict.
A five-minute silence was observed in memory of the victims as well as religious observances.
A similar commemoration was also held at Jaffna University.
The government has banned the commemoration of the fallen LTTE cadres in the conflict and it remains a banned terrorist organisation in Sri Lanka.
Government forces killed the Tamil Tiger rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on 18 May 2009, after a brutal military crackdown, and put an end to the 37-year conflict, which claimed at least 1,00,000 lives.
President Maithripala Sirisena took power in January 2015 promising reconciliation and a reduction in the military's involvement in public life and pledging that those guilty of war crimes would be held accountable.
The new government has abandoned a controversial military "victory" parade and has instead gone in for a more sombre remembrance ceremony to mark the day.
Earlier, parades celebrated the victory of the Sinhalese military over the minority Tamils, who were banned from remembering their dead as commemoration of fallen rebels was thought anti-state.
Washington: The US has said "tangible progress" has been made against Islamic State in Iraq as the dreaded terror group is driven out of the 40 per cent of its previously-controlled territory.
"Iraq's security forces, backed by coalition military airpower and advice and assistance of coalition militaries from around the world, has been effective in driving IS out of territory that they previously controlled," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.
"We know that ISIS has been driven out of about 40 per cent of the populated areas that ISIS previously controlled in Iraq. That's tangible progress," he said.
Earnest's remarks came hours after capital Baghdad was rocked by one of the deadliest ISIS bombings targeting markets and a restaurant in Shiite-dominated neighborhoods, killing at least 69 people.
Noting that the coalition is committed to keep up the momentum and continue to pressure IS, Earnest also said it will provide the Iraqi central government necessary resources to rebuild those areas that the terror outfit had taken over.
"We know that in places like Ramadi, IS didn't just occupy that community-they essentially destroyed it. And rebuilding that infrastructure and rebuilding those communities so that people feel confident in moving back home is going to be critical to our longer-term success of bringing some stability to that region of the world," he said.
"The important financial contributions that have been made by countries around the world are also an important part of our strategy, but they're all predicated on the Iraqi people and the international community having confidence in the effectiveness of the Iraqi central government," Earnest added.
He said the US troops in Iraq are to degrade and ultimately destroy IS.
"They are focused on missions that involve protecting the embassy, carrying out military air operations against ISIS targets, in some cases providing training and advice and assistance to Iraqi security forces, and there's a small number of special operators that have been organised into these expeditionary forces that can carry out raids against senior IS figures," Earnest said.
"We've been very clear about the mission that US forces in Iraq are pursuing," he said, adding that the US strongly condemns Tuesday's IS bombings.
"We extend our deepest condolences to the victims and their families. These string of attacks by IS is latest reminder of the danger that this group poses to all Iraqis and the importance of Iraqi leaders from all communities, working together against a common enemy," he said.
Earnest said the US has been encouraged over the last year and a half by the efforts that the Iraqi government has undertaken to unify the country and pursue the kind of inclusive governing agenda that can inspire the confidence of Iraq's diverse population that the central government in Baghdad is looking out for their best interests.
"We believe that will have a corresponding impact on the effectiveness and resilience of Iraq's security forces," he said.
NEW YORK Donald Trump appeared to change tack on Tuesday about his future ties with British Prime Minister David Cameron, saying he expects them to have "a good relationship" if he becomes the U.S. president, after predicting the opposite in an interview aired just the day before in response to criticism from the UK leader.
"Hes got plenty of problems, and I think he was inappropriate. So that's fine. ... Im sure Ill have a good relationship with him," Trump told Reuters in an interview.
On Monday, in an interview broadcast on Britain's ITV television station, Trump said, "It looks like we're not going to have a very good relationship, who knows?" when asked how ties would fare if he won the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 8.
Cameron criticized Trump in the British parliament over his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, calling him "divisive, stupid and wrong." The prime minister suggested that the New York billionaire, who is now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, would unite Britain against him if he visited.
Asked which foreign leader he would like to meet first, Trump told Reuters: "I have no preference in terms of timing. I'll meet them, we'll have a better relationship with foreign countries than we have right now. We don't have a good relationship. Every one of them rips us off but we still don't have a good relationship."
(Reporting by Steve Holland; Writing by Eric Walsh; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Washington: The US has asked China to reassess its policies which impose restrictions on religious freedom in Tibet, days after a top American diplomat concluded his visit to the Communist nation and discussed issues of human rights' violations and religious freedom with the Chinese officials.
Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom David Saperstein was on an eight day visit, starting from 20 August to China.
Saperstein raised a number of ongoing concerns of the US regarding the Chinese government's human rights violations pertaining to religious freedom during his visit to Beijing, Shijiazhuang, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Hong Kong, a statement said.
He called for an end in the ongoing campaign church demolitions in Zhejiang province and harassment of members from unregistered religious groups.
"He urged Chinese authorities to reassess counterproductive policies, including restrictions on the religious practice of Tibetan Buddhists and Uighur Muslims," a statement said, adding that Saperstein also conveyed the US government's deep concern over the recent detentions of many human rights defenders and religious leaders.
In meetings with government officials, Saperstein noted positive developments, including the growth of religious communities in China.
He also recognised the significant increase in the contributions of faith-based organisations to Chinese society, especially in the provision of social services, the statement said.
Washington: The US Senate has passed a bill that would allow families of victims of 9/11 attacks to sue Saudi Arabia even as the White House said President Barack Obama would veto the legislation.
Saudi Arabia has reportedly threatened to withdraw its USD 750 billion worth of investments in America if it became law.
While the bill is yet to be passed by the House of Representatives before it lands up on the table of Obama to sign it into law, the White House has said that Obama would veto it.
"This legislation would change longstanding international law regarding sovereign immunity," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said yesterday after the Senate passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA).
"The President of the United States continues to harbor serious concerns that this legislation would make the United States vulnerable in other court systems around the world," he said.
"Given the concerns that we have expressed, it's difficult to imagine the President signing this legislation. That continues to be true," he said in response to a question.
Earnest said there is also a concern that hasn't gotten as much attention about the potential vulnerability that is created for some of US allies and partners in US courts.
"The concern is related to the fact that sovereign immunity is a principle that is critical to our national security. The United States is more engaged in activities in other countries than any other country in the world," he said.
"Typically, those are actually activities that other countries benefit from significantly. These are peacekeeping activities, or humanitarian relief activities, or other activities in which the United States is supporting the national security activities of other countries, and the national security of other countries is enhanced by the involvement of the United States," Earnest said.
Sponsored by Democratic Senator Charles Schumer and Republican John Cornyn, who is also co-chair of the Senate India Caucus would allow victims of terror attacks on US soil or surviving family members to bring lawsuits against nation-states for activities.
"The United States needs to use every tool available to stop the financing of terrorism. Victims and families who have lost loved ones in terror attacks deserve the opportunity to seek justice," Cornyn said.
"JASTA is a long-overdue fixa responsible, balanced fixto a law that has extended too large a shield to foreign actors who finance and enable terrorism on a massive scale.
The victims of 9/11 and other terrorist attacks have suffered such pain and heartache, but they should not be denied justice and so, I will fight hard in Congress until the House passes this bill and it is signed into law," Schumer said after the passage of the bill.
JASTA amends the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) so that foreign sponsors of terrorism cannot invoke "sovereign
immunity" in cases arising from a terrorist attack that kills someone on American soil.
It also amends the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) so that civil suits against foreign sponsors of terrorism can be held accountable in US courts where their conduct materially supports an attack that kills an American.
JASTA allows terrorism victims, like victims of the September 11th attacks, the opportunity to pursue foreign states who sponsor terrorism in federal court. The bill allows Americans to direct financial damage claims against those who funded the attacks. The legislation would also afford this opportunity to families of other victims of terrorism on US soil that occurred after September 11, 2001.
It also includes an important new tool for the Executive Branch to stay litigation including related cases, not against the foreign state itself if the government certifies that it is involved in good faith discussions to resolve the matter. This stay can be extended, the Senator's office said.
Caracas: Protests were to take place across Venezuela on Wednesday against President Nicolas Maduro in the first challenge to sweeping powers he has decreed for police and soldiers under a state of emergency.
The opposition-led marches in Caracas and other cities were to demand that authorities validate a recall referendum seeking Maduro's ouster. But the 53-year-old president has dismissed the push against him.
On Tuesday he said the referendum was 'not viable' and a petition it was based on with 1.8 million signatures was riddled with 'fraud'.
The 60-day state of emergency was imposed from Monday to tackle what Maduro said were threats to security, as well as food and energy shortages. Many of the measures rely on Venezuela's army and police being deployed to carry them out.
It notably suspends many constitutional protections by opening the way to expropriations and almost any action deemed necessary to maintain public order.
Individuals, companies and non-governmental organisations in Venezuela with links to foreign groups are also to be put under scrutiny and risk having their finances frozen, according to the decree.
The opposition-controlled congress on Tuesday rejected the decree in a vote, saying it undermined democracy. But the Supreme Court may overrule that, as it has with other congressional decisions.
Maduro has accused Washington of having "imperial" designs on Venezuela, and said that a US AWACS surveillance plane had twice violated his country's airspace last week.
Maduro has separately ordered military exercises for Saturday. Despite his decree, there have so far been no signs of increased military presence in the streets.
But Wednesday's demonstrations could face a robust police deployment. A Caracas march last week, before the emergency decree, was halted in its tracks by riot police firing tear gas. Venezuela's opposition has urged the public to defy the state of emergency and called on the army to decide whether it sides "with the constitution or with Maduro."
The opposition, which controls congress but has little real power because of Maduro's sway over the government, Supreme Court and security forces, says the emergency decree is an attempt by the president to put himself above the constitution.
London: The Zika virus is expected to spread to Europe by this summer, but the risk will be "low to moderate", the World Health Organization has said.
WHO said there was a "high" chance the virus will appear in areas where a type of mosquito called the Aedes aegypti lives.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said the mosquito type has been recently reported in Madeira, the Netherlands and the north-eastern Black Sea coast (southern Russia and Georgia), Sky News reported on Wednesday.
There is a "moderate" chance the virus will appear in the 18 European countries where another type of mosquito the Aedes albopictus is endemic.
Those countries are: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Israel, Italy, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Romania, San Marino, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and Vatican City.
WHO said there was a "low, very low or no" likelihood that Zika will occur in 36 other European countries, including Britain.
When combined with the abilities of those countries' health services to cope with an outbreak, WHO said the risk to their populations was "low to moderate during late spring and summer".
It said 41 out of 53 European countries have "good or very good" capacity for coping with an outbreak.
Experts said Zika, which has spread widely throughout South and Central America, is responsible for a type of birth defect called microcephaly, which results in newborns having small heads.
It has also been strongly linked to Guillain-Barre syndrome, which attacks the nervous system and can lead to paralysis.
Women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant have been advised to avoid parts of South and Central America because of the virus.
People travelling to all areas at risk of infection are being told to pay attention to health advice.
There have already been cases of Zika reported in Europe in people who have returned from travelling in the Americas, including people whose babies have suffered birth defects.
Experts have previously warned that Zika-infected mosquitoes could travel to Europe on planes.
WHO has called on European countries which could suffer outbreaks to follow a series of recommendations to reduce the likelihood.
MIAMI InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), one of the world's leading global hotel companies, today announces the latest additions to the growing Holiday Inn Express portfolio with the signing of two new-build properties in Peru: one in Lima, the country's capital city, and a second in Piura, a strategic business center in the northern part of the country.
Both properties are expected to open in 2019 and will be developed through a joint-venture between Grupo Centenario and Grupo Agrisal. Grupo Centenario is an 85 year-old publicly-traded Peruvian real estate company, and Grupo Agrisal is one of Central America's most respected enterprises as well as a key IHG development partner with seven hotels open in the region.
Jorge Apaez, Chief Operating Officer, Mexico, Latin America and Caribbean, IHG said: "IHG is extremely pleased to further expand our brands in Peru, a country which has excellent growth opportunities. We are also proud that when Grupo Centenario decided to diversify into the hospitality sector, it chose IHG as its partner. This also represents an expansion of our relationship with Grupo Agrisal, a testament to our long-standing partnership and commitment to our brands' success in the region."
The 164-room Holiday Inn Express Lima San Isidro hotel will be located within the municipality of San Isidro, known as the financial center of Lima. It is home to the country's largest and most important banks and insurance companies, as well as national and international corporations. The property is conveniently located near major thoroughfares and less than 30 minutes from the Lima International Airport.
The 120-room Holiday Inn Express Piura hotel will be built within the Plaza de la Luna complex, a major shopping center in Piura, the largest city in northern Peru. The city is located just 40 minutes from Talara, one of the country's most important ports, and is only a 90 minute flight from Lima.
Gonzalo Sarmiento, General Manager, Grupo Centenario said: "We are consistently evaluating opportunities to diversify our holdings. We have concluded that the hospitality sector provides excellent opportunities to support Peru's ongoing need for internationally-flagged hotels, and we are proud of our relationship with both Grupo Agrisal and IHG."
Eduardo Quinonez, Director, Agrisal Hoteles, said: "Having the opportunity to partner with Grupo Centenario is an important strategic decision for both organizations as we each look to diversify our interests. We have a very strong track record with IHG and are extremely confident in the future success of both hotels."
Grupo Centenario's holdings include planned communities, multi-family housing and urban developments, among others. Grupo Agrisal's primary business focus is to develop and operate hotels and commercial real estate projects in Latin America.
Agrisal Hoteles, the hotel management arm of Grupo Agrisal, currently manages the Crowne Plaza San Salvador and Holiday Inn San Salvador hotels in El Salvador, the Holiday Inn San Jose Escazu and Holiday Inn Express San Jose Forum hotels in Costa Rica, the Holiday Inn Express Panama Distrito Financiero hotel in Panama, the Holiday Inn Express Managua hotel in Nicaragua, and the Holiday Inn Express Tegucigalpa hotel in Honduras.
About IHG
IHG Hotels & Resorts [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global hospitality company, with a purpose to provide True Hospitality for Good.
With a family of 17 hotel brands and IHG Rewards, one of the world's largest hotel loyalty programmes, IHG has over 6,000 open hotels in more than 100 countries, and a further 1,800 in the development pipeline.
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated and registered in England and Wales. Approximately 350,000 people work across IHG's hotels and corporate offices globally.
Visit us online for more about our hotels and reservations and IHG Rewards. For our latest news, visit our Newsroom and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
Neil Hirsch
IHG
+1 770 604 5775
IHG
For anyone who has ever had to stay back in the office to meet a deadline, the commute home can feel like travelling home in an alternate universe where you keep wondering, "where is everyone?"
There is no doubt that we need more capacity in our transport network the Sydney Metro and CBD Light Rail projects will help to address this but as a whole community we also need to take action to spread peak demand to ensure we getter better use out of our trains, buses, ferries, light rail and indeed the road network.
Last week's IPART report on Opal fares proposed increasing fares to recover some of the costs of operating an expanding network but also, more importantly, proposed increasing the savings for off-peak travel. The government should seize this opportunity with both hands. Using price to change behaviour can be an effective and necessary tool, but it needs to be used alongside other tools to support commuters.
The biggest driver of peak demand for public transport is undoubtedly driven by the retention of traditional core office hours occurring between 8.30am and 5.30pm. Rethinking our approach to working hours staggering starting and finishing times and encouraging flexibility for employees shouldn't be dismissed as nice to have but too hard to implement.
The swelling tide of tourists to a Thai island has brought it to the brink of irreversible damage, say Thai officials. The tourists, in other words, are destroying what they came to see.
This week, the director general of Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation said that Koh Tachai - an increasingly popular destination, especially for scuba divers - would not reopen after the incoming monsoon season.
Koh Tachai is the northernmost of the Similan Islands, in the Andaman Sea, which are known for their idyllic white sand beaches, crystalline waters and delicate coral reefs. The Similan Islands are often reached by boat from the giant tourist hub in Phuket.
During peak season, tour companies sell diving packages to tourists who come to the island and support a fledgling pop-up economy there. According to a Bangkok Post article, a university dean who spoke Sunday at a tourism fair organised by the government said 14 companies were still selling packages to Koh Tachai.
This election campaign was meant to be a breeze for the Coalition. But now, as belief in an easy victory yields to mild panic, a tactical manoeuvre may prove personally costly for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Peter Dutton's incendiary claim that refugees are often innumerate and illiterate, that they would take Australian jobs, and become a net drain on the economy, reeks of the Tampa-like exaggerations of 2001. And it appears every bit as calculating. Obviously the specifics are different, but the broad subject matter is the same, as is the political motive: to bring to the surface community anxiety that hordes of intruders could overwhelm Australia taking our jobs, and yet dragging us down.
Ostensibly, Dutton's comments were addressed to the Greens policy of dramatically increasing the intake to 50,000. And at least in the narrow fiscal sense, there is truth in the fact that that resettlement costs would be higher if the intake were significantly higher.
If Bill Shorten's minders have their way, the Opposition Leader might walk right into government on July 2.
Usually fraught with risk for political leaders, the staged photo opportunities just keep getting better and better for Mr Shorten this week.
After demands of a kiss and a cuddle from a passerby in Adelaide on Tuesday, a Sydney event turned into another made for television moment on Wednesday as he met performer Ester Arador on Queen Street in Campbelltown.
Mr Feeney told ABC radio on Wednesday that he had written to request his Register of Members Interests be updated and insisted the assertion he had been dishonest was "nonsense".
"I've racked my mind about how this omission came to be, I can only put it down to the fact that I was elected in September in 2013 and we bought the property in December of 2013, in that maelstrom of events I failed to update my register," he said.
He did not explain why he had updated his register twice in the 44th Parliament but did not declare the property and pointed out former prime minister Tony Abbott had once failed to update the register about changes to his mortgage.
"I'm not saying it's an excuse, I'm merely making the point that this is something that does occur."
As Labor promises to end negative gearing on existing properties if it is elected - a policy that would grandfather arrangements for those currently negatively geared such as Mr Feeney - the MP would not say if he would stop the practice.
Labor MP David Feeney's own tenants have turned on him and urged locals in the Melbourne seat of Batman to vote for Greens candidate Alex Bhathal.
In another blow to the Labor frontbencher, who is locked in a bitter struggle to hang on to his seat, a Greens placard has been posted in the front yard of his $2.3 million Northcote investment property - which Fairfax Media revealed on Tuesday was undeclared on the Register of Members Interests.
The billboard promoting Ms Bhathal was erected on Wednesday after The Age newspaper splashed the story on its front page on Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has backed comments by her colleague Peter Dutton that "illiterate and innumerate" refugees would take Australian jobs or "languish" on the dole if Australia was to significantly increase its humanitarian intake.
Labor and the Greens have blasted the Immigration Minister's comments as "deeply offensive" and "xenophobic". But Ms Bishop said Mr Dutton was making the "self-evident" point that it is highly expensive to resettle refugees and that it is time for a "reality check" on the issue.
Facing demands to slap down his Immigration Minister, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull refused to comment on Mr Dutton's statements at a press conference on Wednesday, saying he would only take questions from local journalists.
For Kelly, whose feud with Trump has made her more famous than she was when the campaign started, the interview was a ratings magnet for the debut of "Megyn Kelly Presents", a Barbara Walters-style show on the Fox broadcasting network. Miss California 2009 Carrie Prejean was surprised to find Trump took a personal interest in contestants. Credit:Instagram For 11 months, Fox News has often served as a megaphone for Trump's candidacy. Sean Hannity, Greta Van Susteren, the hosts of "Fox & Friends" and other personalities on the network have given Trump a friendly forum to reach an audience of millions, boosting network ratings along the way. But Kelly infuriated Trump when she asked him in a debate last August about his history of calling women fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals, along with his remark to a contestant on his game show that it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Hillary Clinton Credit:Bloomberg
Trump told Kelly on Tuesday the question was unfair. "I'm saying to myself, 'I don't really blame you, because you're doing your thing,' but from my standpoint, I don't have to like it," said Trump, who has called Kelly a biased, overrated "lightweight" and "third-rate reporter". Asked if he had any regrets about the campaign, Trump said he did, but declined to say what they were. "I could have maybe used different language in a couple of instances, but overall I have to be very happy with the outcome," he told Kelly. There's "nothing wrong with being presidential", he added, "but if I would not have fought back the way I fought back, I don't think I would have been successful." The day after Kelly challenged him in the August debate, Trump told CNN: "I have no respect for her ... You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever".
That remark, widely taken as referring to menstruation despite Trump's denials, resurfaced in two TV ads that a pro-Clinton super PAC started airing this week in the battleground states of Ohio, Florida, Nevada and Virginia. One of the ads features a woman mouthing Trump's words as he says, in his own voice, that Kelly had "blood coming out of her wherever". Another woman, also mouthing words to Trump's voice, says that "a person that is flat-chested is very hard to be a 10". A third embodies Trump saying "you can tell them to go (silence) themselves", a remark he once made about China. Trump reacted angrily on Twitter, writing: "The pathetic new hit ad against me misrepresents the final line. 'You can tell them to go BLANK themselves' - was about China, NOT WOMEN!" Trump has been trying to undercut Clinton's lopsided advantage among women by accusing her of maligning women with whom her husband, former President Bill Clinton, was accused of having extramarital affairs. After asking Kelly to excuse him for calling her a bimbo, Trump tried to make light of the moment.
Washington: The seeming inevitability of a showdown between America and its fabulously wealthy but disgruntled ally Saudi Arabia firmed on Tuesday, when the US Senate voted unanimously to allow victim families to sue the kingdom for any part it might have had in the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Previously the preserve of the White House and the House of Saud, the relationship between Washington and Riyadh is becoming increasingly mired in the American political and legal processes.
President Barack Obama lobbied against the 9/11 bill and is threatening to veto it; and in the event that he fails, the Saudis are threatening to sell $US750 billion ($1.025 trillion) in US Treasury securities and other assets, to protect them from the kind of US court-ordered freeze for which Riyadh customarily sits back, and takes pleasure in seeing inflicted on its neighbour, Iran.
The Senate bill now goes to the House, where it also is expected to pass and then to Mr Obama's desk for his signature. In the event that he refuses, Mr Obama will find himself in a standoff with the 9/11 families, one of the country's most powerful lobbies, at the same time as he confronts a Congress that, given Tuesday's Senate vote, likely could muster the two-thirds majority that is needed to override his veto.
The court-martial of U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl for alleged desertion has been postponed until February.
Bergdahl, 30, was to have been put on trial in August on charges of walking away from his post in Afghanistan in 2009. But a military judge at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, put off the trial for six months to give legal teams more time to prepare.
The Taliban quickly captured Bergdahl after he left his outpost. He was freed from captivity in 2014 as part of a prisoner swap involving inmates at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Bergdahl's lawyers say he walked away from his post to warn officers about problems in his unit. But the U.S. Army says that could have put his fellow soldiers in grave danger.
His defense team says it is upset at the postponement because they say the trial will now take place after a new president takes office. They say their case may have been poisoned by likely Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has called Bergdahl a "dirty rotten traitor" who should be executed.
Democrat Hillary Clinton, who leads in the delegate count in her party's presidential nominee selection process, has not publicly commented on the court-martial, but she defended the prisoner swap at the time.
Egyptian journalists say a new draft bill regulating the media will likely bring the demise of dozens of low-budget, online media outlets.
Planning Minister Ashraf el-Araby announced the government's adoption of the long-awaited bill on Monday. It will be sent to parliament for final approval.
The bill sets conditions for starting up media outlets, including the creation of a shareholding company with a minimum initial capital of 500,000 pounds (about $50,000), a sum that is far beyond the reach of the typically young entrepreneurs and journalists behind such enterprises.
Doaa Sultan, editor of the independent online media site "Plus 18,'' described the bill Wednesday as a "disaster.'' Plus 18, like others like it, serves as an outlet for young and liberal writers at a time of eroding freedoms in Egypt.
A Palestinian boy the Israelis caught near the Gaza border last month turned out to be a treasure trove of deep intelligence about Hamas tunnels into Israel.
The boy, whom the Israel Security Agency identified only as a minor from Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip, joined Hamas armed forces several years ago. His instructors prepared him for offensive operations as part of a concept that the next combat would be on Israeli territory, Israels security agency reported.
Some tunnels Hamas has been digging are supposed to penetrate Israel deep under the fences that surround the Gaza Strip. The boy knew the routes of tunnels that Hamas elite units were to use and the location of numerous tunnel shafts. The digging was so secret that workers were instructed to wash up and change their dusty clothes before leaving the tunnels.
But earlier this month the boy's revelations may have led to one of the most serious confrontations between Hamas and Israel since 2014.
Strategic weapon
The tunnels are an especially important weapon for Hamas because the Palestinians have no tanks, artillery, air force or navy.
In light of the balance of power, which shifted towards Israel, we had to be creative in finding innovative ways. The tunnels were one of our innovations, Hamas leader Khaled Mashal told Vanity Fair magazine in an article a few years ago.
Adnan Abu Amer, a dean at the Al Ummah University in Gaza, wrote in Al Monitor that he was shown a document distributed to Palestinian militants saying the tactic was to surprise the enemy and strike it a deadly blow that doesnt allow a chance for survival or escape or allow him a chance to confront and defend himself.
As Ismail Haniyeh, who heads the government in Gaza put it, thousands of fighters above ground and thousands of fighters underground have been preparing ... for the campaign to liberate Palestine, an Israel army report noted.
The Palestinians started digging tunnels in the 1990s from the then Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip to Egypt. Some tunnels were even used to smuggle cars and animals into Gaza. A few ended under fortified Israeli positions, which the Palestinians blew up.
After Israel withdrew from Gaza, Hamas used a tunnel to enter Israel and kidnap a soldier. In 2014 Hamas fighters penetrated an Israeli border post, killed five soldiers and made it back to the tunnel.
During the 2014 Operation Protective Edge Israel destroyed 34 cross-border tunnels, military spokeswoman Libby Weiss said.
Search leads to confrontation
Finding the tunnels was difficult because land-penetrating radar, microphones, and sensors were only effective against tunnels a few meters deep.
Not anymore, it seems. In the past month the Israelis discovered two cross-border tunnels, one 30 meters deep and the other 28.
How they do it is classified as "Top Secret", but Colonel Atay Shelah, who commanded the Engineering Corps Special Operations Unit, told Israel TV the system comprises intelligence, operational and technological elements.
There are several components, not just technology, he said.
The discovery led to skirmishes with Hamas because Israeli bulldozers, drilling and other equipment entered the Gaza Strip to destroy them. An Israel army spokesman, Peter Lerner, said the units were working within a 100 meter perimeter in accordance with understandings reached in 2014.
This area is a jumping ground for terrorist attacks, laying explosive charges and firing anti-tank missiles. We have to operate on both sides, Lerner told VOA.
But Hamas military arm, the Ezzeddeen al-Qassam Brigades, says the Israelis ventured more than 100 meters from the border into Gaza.
The Palestinians opened mortar fire, but Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said they were warning shots. Israel retaliated with air and tank attacks. The mutual shelling lasted four days and killed two people.
As tension mounted Egypt, Qatar, the United Nations and Turkey intervened, the Israelis withdrew and the shooting stopped, but it may be a temporary lull.
Searches for more tunnels along the 51 kilometer border are continuing and Yaalon served noticed if there will be a need to go back and enter the perimeter to find tunnels, we will enter."
They are violating our sovereignty (by digging tunnels into Israel) and they shouldnt come with complaints about our breach of sovereignty when we are busy looking for the tunnels, he stressed.
Chechnya, one of the republics in Russias North Caucasus region, is increasingly separating itself from the countrys legal framework, human rights activists say.
Russian media reported last weekend that Chechen security forces had surrounded the village of Kenkhi in an effort to find one of its residents, Ramazan Dzhalaldinov, who in April had posted a video addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin accusing local authorities of embezzling funds and extorting bribes.
Last Thursday, unidentified persons in camouflage uniforms and masks burned down Dzhalaldinovs house. Dzhalaldinov has reportedly fled Chechnya for the neighboring republic of Dagestan after receiving anonymous death threats, and has been joined there by his wife and children.
Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov denied Dzhalaldinovs home was deliberately burned down, and Kadyrov's spokesman, Alvi Karimov, dismissed reports that Kenkhi had been blockaded as deliberate misinformation and outright lies.
However, allegations of lawlessness and violence on the part of the Chechen authorities are far from isolated. Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, a Caucasus expert with the International Crisis Group and member of the board of the Memorial human rights group, said Chechnya had moved outside of Russias legal space.
"It's simply carefully hidden, which misleads uninformed people," she told VOAs Russian service. An insane atmosphere of fear reigns in Chechnya. People are persecuted for any dissent. For delivering any impartial information to the outside world, they are subjected to the most severe reprisals, including eviction from their homes, torture, criminal cases [launched] under false pretenses, having narcotics planted on them and so forth."
Families penalized
In addition, the Chechen authorities are employing collective punishment, targeting not only individuals but also their closest relatives, she said.
"Therefore, information from the republic is extremely scarce," Sokiryanskaya said. Still, she said, reports of human rights abuses are increasing because Kadyrov is behaving more and more blatantly and openly, without any regard for the federal government.
Sokiryanskaya said the fact that Putin reappointed Kadyrov as Chechnyas governor in March has given the Chechen ruler a new carte blanche and convinced him that he still has the full support of the Kremlin."
Igor Kalyapin, the head of the Committee to Prevent Torture, a Russian NGO, told VOA that Chechnya separated itself from Russias legal framework long ago.
"It did not happen yesterday, so this in itself is not a great revelation, he said. The worst thing is that this trend is worsening every month, if not every day. It is becoming more and more noticeable.
According to Kalyapin, Chechnya has moved away from Russia in both the legal realm and in terms of administrative control. So while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has called for "an immediate law enforcement response to the burning down of Dzhalaldinovs house, Kalyapin said he strongly doubted an objective investigation was possible in Chechnya.
"I believe exactly the opposite," he said. I have no reason to believe that it is possible to conduct an unbiased investigation in the Chechen Republic. All of our work in Chechnya suggests that it is impossible. It used to be hard, and starting sometime in 2005 it became impossible.
Last March, during a visit to the Chechen capital, Grozny, Kalyapin was attacked by a group of unidentified assailants who punched and kicked him and pelted him with eggs, flour and an antiseptic liquid. Several weeks earlier, two of Kalyapins staffers and two Western journalists were hospitalized after a group of masked men armed with knives and clubs attacked them as they tried to enter Chechnya from the neighboring region of Ingushetia.
TWIN FALLS Twin Falls County Sheriff Tom Carter crushed his opponent in Tuesdays GOP primary, winning by 19 points.
Cliff Katona jumped to a head start in the campaign when he announced his candidacy in January 2015. With both candidates having more than two decades of law enforcement experience in Idaho, it appeared the race could be close.
It wasnt.
Unofficial results came in with 59 percent 4,527 voting for Carter and 40 percent 3,084 for Katona. Without a Democratic opponent, Carter has secured his third term as Twin Falls County sheriff.
I am thrilled that I still have the opportunity to serve the countys citizens, Carter said. I will stay as long as theyll have me.
The sheriff says it was his nearly 24 years of experience with the sheriffs office, his dedication and his staff that won him the race.
This isnt about me, he said. This is about the sheriffs office.
Greg Carter, who voted at the Heritage Alliance Church on Sixth Avenue North in Twin Falls, said the sheriffs race was the main one that drew him to the polls. Carter said he met Sheriff Carter (no relation) years ago and was impressed.
The sheriff has lived in the Magic Valley nearly his entire life and worked six years with the Twin Falls Police Department prior to 23 years with the Twin Falls Sheriffs Office. He was last re-elected in 2012.
Carters focus moving forward will include developing a drone program and narcotics- and records-management programs. The record system makes it easier for patrol officers to access background checks and criminal records, he previously told the Times-News.
Katona has 28 years of law enforcement experience in Idaho and has lived 24 years in the Magic Valley. He was an officer with the Pocatello Police Department before working for the Idaho State Police as a trooper for three years and a detective for 19.
Katona centered his campaign around the message of being a visible, approachable sheriff. In April, he told the Times-News editorial board his first priority would be to move his office to the first floor of the old county courthouse.
He also touted his plan to start a youth program within the sheriffs department, and wanted to create sheriffs substations in Murtaugh and Castleford.
Katona did not return a call for comment on Tuesday night. Carter said his opponent ran a good campaign.
Earlier this year, some of Katonas supporters drew attention to lawsuits filed against the sheriffs office over the past few years. Carter defended himself against accusations that he was racist or sexist and said he was confident citizens knew his character.
KIMBERLY Kimberly voters narrowly approved $14 million bond Tuesday for a new elementary school and a 10-year levy to pay for building maintenance.
Nearly 68 percent of voters supported the bond, narrowly clearing the required two-thirds supermajority. And 70 percent supported a 10-year, $300,000 annual plant facilities levy.
Its good news for us, Superintendent Luke Schroeder said Tuesday night, adding hed like to thank everyone who helped with the planning process and spreading the word about the election.
With all the support we continue to get from our patrons, we will return that by doing a great job in building process, he said, and providing an excellent education for children.
Tax rates are expected to remain steady. Thats because an existing bond for Kimberly High School will be paid off this year, three years sooner than expected.
The districts $300,000 annual supplemental levy, used for basic operating expenses, expired this spring. Instead of asking voters to renew it, school officials sought a levy for building maintenance.
The bond will pay for a new 50,000-square-foot elementary school, upgrades to the existing Kimberly Elementary School campus and buying land for a future school site.
Building a new elementary school will cost about $11 million and is slated for completion by June 2018. School officials are considering five possible locations. Theres already money set aside to buy land, so that wont come out of bond funding.
About $3 million will pay for a cosmetic facelift and upgrading safety features at the existing Kimberly Elementary. Work will be completed by January 2019.
Across the Kimberly School District, enrollment has doubled over the past 20 years. And the district, with more than 1,800 students, grew 4 percent this year alone.
The existing Kimberly Elementary School has about 900 students and is one of the largest elementary schools in Idaho.
TWIN FALLS Two Magic Valley Republican lawmakers beat right-wing primary challengers Tuesday night.
Rep. Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, got about 70 percent of the vote in her race against challenger Reggy Sternes. And Rep. Stephen Hartgen, R-Twin Falls, beat challenger Mary Bello with 59 percent of the vote.
Rudy Cordova, the Democrat who filed to run against the Bell-Sternes winner as a write-in in the primary, got 40 write-in votes, according to the unofficial results, which puts him 10 short of what he needed for his name to appear on the Democratic line on the November ballot. Hartgen will face Democrat Catherine Talkington this November in a rematch of the 2014 election.
Bell is one of the Legislatures longest-serving members, having been first elected in 1988, and co-chairs the powerful budget-setting Joint Finance Appropriations Committee along with Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, who is facing her own primary challenge from the right from Glenn Rohrer. The results of that race werent available late Tuesday night.
I have felt a little guilty about assuming I was anointed or something, Bell said Tuesday after being informed of her win. Im really grateful the people were so kind to me.
Bell said she almost didnt run again but changed her mind because of the turnover on JFAC 2016 was Keoughs first year as co-chairwoman and to work on issues such as the Magic Valleys water needs and funding for the College of Southern Idaho and for a mental health crisis center in Twin Falls. Many of the Magic Valleys other House members, she said, have committee chairmanships or other leadership positions of their own, and likely wouldnt move onto JFAC were she to leave.
I just felt that, should I not be there, there wouldnt be anybody from the Magic Valley (on) Appropriations, she said.
Hartgen and Bell survived what was, when it comes to legislative races, a turbulent night in some parts of the state.
Seven incumbent Republican House members were trailing behind their primary challengers late Tuesday, including both representatives in neighboring District 23, which includes part of western Twin Falls County Rep. Pete Nielsen, R-Mountain Home, was losing by more than 2-to-1 to challenger Megan Blanksma, and Rep. Rich Wills, R-Glenns Ferry, was a bit behind challenger Christy Zito.
Sternes, the owner of Sternes Realty and a Jerome High School graduate and 21-year U.S. Navy veteran, said he was motivated to run by Bells low score on the Idaho Freedom Foundations Freedom Index and promised to vote in a more conservative way.
The conservative IFF scores bills based on criteria such as whether they raise spending or grow government, and ranks lawmakers on their votes. Bell got an F-minus on the IFFs scale; most of the Magic Valleys Republicans got similarly low scores. The handful of lawmakers who get high ratings are mostly more conservative Republicans from northern Idaho.
Hartgen, a former Times-News publisher, has been in the Legislature since 2010. Bello runs runs Saddle Up Kids, a business giving children horseback riding lessons, and had run as more conservative than Hartgen.
I think the fact that I won reflects that people looked at the race and chose a common-sense conservative to continue to represent them, Hartgen said.
District 24 includes the city of Twin Falls and some areas just outside of it, while District 25 covers all of Jerome County plus much of Twin Falls County outside of the City of Twin Falls.
As for the other District 24 seats, incumbents Sen. Lee Heider and Rep. Lance Clow, both R-Twin Falls, will face Democrats Deborah Silver and Dale Varney, respectively, in November. In 25, Sen. Jim Patrick, R-Twin Falls, will face Democrat Scott McClure, and Rep. Clark Kauffman, R-Filer, is running for re-election unopposed.
TWIN FALLS Challengers Don Hall and Jack Johnson beat incumbent Twin Falls county commissioners Leon Mills and George Urie in Tuesdays Republican primary.
Hall got almost 62 percent of the vote and Johnson got 55 percent, according to unofficial results. Johnson will face Democrat Jill Skeem in the race for District 3 in the fall, and nobody else is running in District 2, meaning Hall will be the next commissioner, barring something unforeseen.
Johnson thanked the voters, and also Urie, who Johnson said ran a clean campaign.
Were very excited and were really pleased with the race that me and my campaign team ran, Johnson said.
Hall attributed his win to being widely known and active in the community, to his support for economic development, and to his supporters, who he said ran a positive campaign.
I really appreciate the support that Ive received from the community, that they have the confidence that I will work very hard for them, and their confidence will not be undeserved, Hall said.
Commissioners are required to live in zones based on population District 2 takes in much of the city of Twin Falls, while District 3 includes a bit of the city but is more centered on the smaller communities to the east but are elected at-large countywide. It is a full-time job in Twin Falls County, paying a little more than $74,000 a year.
District 1 is represented by Castleford Republican Terry Kramer, who wasnt up for re-election this year. Terms are staggered, varying between two and four years in length.
Mills, who worked at a lumber yard and then at ConAgra before his election and has been involved in numerous volunteer efforts around town, was elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014, surviving a challenge that year from independent candidate Tom Mikesell.
Hall, a U.S. Marine veteran and longtime Twin Falls city councilman who recently finished a two-year stint as mayor, is retired from the city police department and now works as a law enforcement instructor at the College of Southern Idaho. He plans to step down from the City Council in January, and the mayor would appoint his replacement, subject to Council confirmation.
Urie was a city councilman and mayor in Hansen before being elected commissioner in 2006. Johnson, who lives in Murtaugh, is chief deputy at the Jerome County Sheriffs Office and unsuccessfully challenged Twin Falls County Sheriff Tom Carter in the 2012 GOP primary for sheriff.
Hall and Johnson ran independent campaigns, although there was overlap in support for the two of them.
TWIN FALLS Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs easily won re-election Tuesday, taking nearly 70 percent of the vote.
Loebs, who has served as Twin Falls County prosecutor for 19 years, was opposed by attorney and lifelong Magic Valley resident Mark Guerry. Pleagued by gaffes from the start, Guerry eventually acknowledged his campaign was a chance for voters to protest Loebs.
Unofficial results for the county reported 5,104 votes going to Loebs and 2,236 votes to Guerry.
I believe (voters) believe Ive done a competent job in protecting their interests in court as a prosecutor, Loebs said. We run an office efficiently and know what were doing.
Loebs was appointed county prosecutor in 1997 and has won five elections since 1998.
You never know what to expect, he said.
He has 23 years of experience in the county prosecutors office and previously worked for a decade as a legislative assistant to a U.S. senator and special assistant to the assistant secretary of defense.
Loebs said his experience in the position is valuable to voters, and he appreciates the opportunity to continue putting the interests of the county and its citizens first.
During his time as prosecutor, Loebs formed the first dedicated drug prosecution unit in the Magic Valleys history, he said. His office prosecutes 700 felonies annually, along with misdemeanors and infractions, Loebs said.
Loebs intends to continue advising elected officials and fostering his relationships with law enforcement and federal officials, he said.
Guerry is an attorney, farmer and rancher whos practiced law for 25 years with experience as a trial attorney and litigator.
Guerry dropped out of the race for several days in April, saying he wanted to focus on defending himself after a complaint was filed against him with the Idaho Bar Association. The complaint followed accusations Guerry posted on his Facebook alleging misconduct by Loebs and District Judge Richard Bevan.
Guerry later re-entered, saying in a voicemail to the Times-News that he would give an opportunity for his supporters to vote for him even if its simply a protest vote.
Guerry did not return phone calls for comment on Tuesday night.
Loebs name will appear on the general election ballot. He faces no Democratic opponent.
Speaking at an infrastructure conference in Assiut, Egypt, President Sisi said a peace agreement between Israel and Palestine will make the region a safer place as he renewed his countrys determination to continue mediation efforts. I say we will achieve a warmer peace if we resolve the issue of our Palestinian brothers, probably referring to reconciling Hamas and Fatah, and give hope to the Palestinians as to the establishment of a state in a deal with Israel. Sisi said his government is willing to make all efforts to help find a solution as he noted that there is an Arab initiative, a French initiative and American efforts to end the conflict.
Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel earlier this week rejected the French initiative and Paris yesterday announced the conference was postponed to summer instead of holding it at the end of the month as scheduled. Netanyahu welcomed Sisis proposal and work before stating his willingness to make every effort to advance a future of peace and security between us and the Palestinians and the peoples of the region. He added that Israel is ready to participate with Egypt and other Arab states in advancing both the diplomatic process and stability in the region.
Sisi said the moment is a genuine opportunity for both parties but urged Palestines different factions to unite in order to achieve reconciliation and quickly. Hamas and the Palestinian authority welcomed the proposal.
Egypt has been a key stakeholder in mediating between Hamas and Fatah as well as between Palestinian and Israeli authorities. All parties have always been willing to cooperate with Cairo but the arrival of President Sisi marked a thorny period in relations with Hamas as the Palestinian movement was accused of supporting extremist groups in the Sinai Peninsula. Hamas had close ties with President Morsi who was ousted in a military-back coup detat led by Sisi.
The delegation of the Yemeni government has withdrawn from the UN-led talks with the Houhti Movement in Kuwait and blamed the latter for time wasting.
Foreign minister and head of the delegation, Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi, tweeted that the rebels torpedoed the talks completely with a U-turn on their commitments, which, he said, includes rejecting the references and other foundations such as the legitimacy of the government.
The Tuesday session was cancelled and hours later, the Yemeni delegation held a press conference during which Mikhlafi stated that UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has been informed to bring a document signed by the rebels wherein they recognize the basic references and the UN Security Council resolutions. The fate of the month long talks seems to be tied to it because Mikhlafi underlined that if they sign and comply, we will go back to the talks If they dont comply, the talks will then have no meaning They become a waste of time.
The Houthi Movement is yet to release a statement or comment on the latest developments as the Yemeni delegation accuses them of being only interested in transitional power-sharing discussions instead of focusing on key issues amongst which is U.N Security Council resolution 2216 that calls for the withdrawal of rebel troops in occupied territories and handing over of arms.
The setback came two days after special envoy Ismail said he was optimistic of a peace deal but Mikhlafi warned that the talks in Kuwait are facing their last chance.
The war in Yemen has been going on for more than a year with an estimated 6,400 people killed and 2.8milion displaced according to UN data.
Lebanons Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh in a statement about the anti-Hezbollah US sanctions law act stressed that banks operating in the country should comply with it for achieving the interest of Lebanon and its economy, for the sake of the Lebanese and their savings. The economic oriented sanction voted last month by the US bars the Lebanese-based politico-military group from the global financial market under the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act in order to paralyze the groups activities.
Salameh explained that although it is an American law to be implemented globally, in Lebanon it would be in accordance with Memo 137 issued by the Central Bank at the beginning of the month which itself is a Lebanese legal obligation. He called on banks to offer justifications and consult the Central Bank before suspending the accounts suspected of violating the sanctions law and await the findings of its Special Investigation Committee.
The effect of the law on the economy is still unclear, but it is expected to affect more than 100 individuals and entities linked to Hezbollah. Lebanons banking sector accounts for around 6% of gross domestic product. The law is expected to target those funding the activities of the group which has openly admitted that it is present in the Syrian and Iraqi war against Islamist extremist groups. Hezbollah is a major political force in the country and has played a role in the presidential stand-off that has lasted for more than two years.
Ahead of the implementation of Memo 137 which confirms the compatibility of the work of banks in Lebanon with the international obligations, Salameh added that article 70 of the Monetary and Credit Act requires the Central Bank to ensure credit stability which cannot be secured without implementing this US law. US Treasury officials will visit Beirut for talks with the central bank before the implementation begins.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain
While it is well established that childhood ADHD may continue into adulthood, new research by King's College London suggests that for some people the disorder does not emerge until after childhood.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a developmental disorder marked by inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity and is one of the most common behavioural disorders in children. It is widely believed that adult ADHD is the continuation of the disorder from childhood.
However, researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's found that nearly 70 per cent of the young adults with ADHD in their study did not meet criteria for the disorder at any of the childhood assessments. Adults with this 'late-onset' ADHD had high levels of symptoms, impairment and other mental health disorders.
Published today in JAMA Psychiatry, these findings have important implications for our understanding of ADHD, as ADHD that onsets in adulthood could have different causes to childhood ADHD.
Findings from this UK cohort are confirmed by evidence for adult-onset ADHD world-wide: a study from Brazil will be published by JAMA Psychiatry alongside this research, which also identified a large proportion of adults with ADHD as not having the disorder in childhood. Both the UK and Brazilian studies support previous findings from a New Zealand cohort.
The research sample in the King's College London study included more than 2,200 British twins from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study. Symptoms of childhood ADHD were measured at the ages of 5, 7, 10 and 12 through mother and teacher reports. Young adults were interviewed at the age of 18 to assess ADHD symptoms and any associated impairments, as well as the existence of other mental health disorders.
As the study was a cohort of twins, the researchers were also able to examine the genetic basis of ADHD. They found that adult ADHD was less heritable than childhood ADHD, and that having a twin with childhood ADHD did not place individuals at a higher risk of developing late-onset ADHD.
Dr Jessica Agnew-Blais from the IoPPN at King's College London said: "We were very interested by this large 'late-onset' ADHD group, as ADHD is generally seen as a childhood-onset neurodevelopmental disorder. We speculated about the nature of late-onset ADHD: the disorder could have been masked in childhood due to protective factors, such as a supportive family environment. Or it could be entirely explained by other mental health problems. Alternatively, late-onset ADHD could be a distinct disorder altogether. We think it is important that we continue to investigate the underlying causes of late-onset ADHD.
"Although ADHD occurs in approximately 4 per cent of adults, relatively few adults receive a diagnosis or treatment for the disorder. It is crucial that we take a developmental approach to understanding ADHD, and that the absence of a childhood diagnosis should not prevent adults with ADHD from receiving clinical attention."
Professor Louise Arseneault, also from the IoPPN at King's College London, said: "Our research sheds new light on the development and onset of ADHD, but it also brings up many questions about ADHD that arises after childhood. How similar or different is 'late-onset' ADHD compared with ADHD that begins in childhood? How and why does late-onset ADHD arise? What treatments are most effective for late-onset ADHD? These are the questions we should now be seeking to answer."
"In this issue of JAMA Psychiatry, two large, longitudinal, population studies from Brazil and the United Kingdom propose a paradigmatic shift in our understanding of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They conclude, not only that the onset of ADHD can occur in adulthood, but that childhood-onset and adult-onset ADHD may be distinct syndromes. ... For researchers, these new data are a 'call to arms' to study adult-onset ADHD, determine whether and how to incorporate age at onset into future diagnostic criteria, and clarify how it emerges from subthreshold ADHD and other neurodevelopmental anomalies in childhood. The current age-at-onset criterion for ADHD, although based on the best data available, may not be correct. We hope that future research will determine whether and how it should be modified," write Stephen V. Faraone, Ph.D., of SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, N.Y., and Joseph Biederman, M.D., of Harvard Medical School, Boston in a related Editorial.
Explore further Research shows association among childhood ADHD, sex and obesity
Micrograph showing cortical pseudolaminar necrosis, a finding seen in strokes on medical imaging and at autopsy. H&E-LFB stain. Credit: Nephron/Wikipedia
Using aspirin urgently could substantially reduce the risk of major strokes in patients who have minor 'warning' events, a group of European researchers has found. Writing in the Lancet, the team say that immediate self-treatment when patients experience stroke-like symptoms would considerably reduce the risk of major stroke over the next few days.
Aspirin is already given to people who have had a stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA - often called a 'mini-stroke') to prevent further strokes after they have been assessed in hospital and in the longer-term, reducing the subsequent stroke risk by about 15%. However, based on a previous study in Oxford (the EXPRESS Study) the team suspected that the benefits of more immediate treatment with aspirin could be much greater.
Lead researcher Professor Peter Rothwell, a stroke expert from the University of Oxford, explained: 'The risk of a major stroke is very high immediately after a TIA or a minor stroke (about 1000 times higher than the background rate), but only for a few days. We showed previously in the 'EXPRESS Study' that urgent medical treatment with a 'cocktail' of different drugs could reduce the one-week risk of stroke from about 10% to about 2%, but we didn't know which component of the 'cocktail' was most important.'
'One of the treatments that we used was aspirin, but we know from other trials that the long-term benefit of aspirin in preventing stroke is relatively modest. We suspected that the early benefit might be much greater. If so, taking aspirin as soon as possible after 'warning symptoms' event could be very worthwhile.'
The team - from Oxford (UK), University Medical Center Utrecht (Netherlands), University Duisburg-Essen (Germany), and Lund University (Sweden) - therefore revisited the individual patient data from twelve trials (about 16,000 people) of aspirin for long-term secondary prevention - that is, to prevent a further stroke - and data on about 40,000 people from three trials of aspirin in treatment of acute stroke.
They found that almost all of the benefit of aspirin in reducing the risk of another stroke was in the first few weeks, and that aspirin also reduced the severity of these early strokes. Rather than the 15% overall reduction in longer-term risk reported previously in these trials, aspirin reduced the early risk of a fatal or disabling stroke by about 70-80% over the first few days and weeks.
Professor Rothwell said: 'Our findings confirm the effectiveness of urgent treatment after TIA and minor stroke - and show that aspirin is the most important component. Immediate treatment with aspirin can substantially reduce the risk and severity of early recurrent stroke. This finding has implications for doctors, who should give aspirin immediately if a TIA or minor stroke is suspected, rather than waiting for specialist assessment and investigations.'
'The findings also have implications for public education. Public information campaigns have worked in getting more people to seek help sooner after a major stroke, but have been less effective in people who have had minor strokes or TIAs. Many patients don't seek medical attention at all and many delay for a few days. Half of recurrent strokes in people who have a TIA happen before they seek medical attention for the TIA. Encouraging people to take aspirin if they think they may have had a TIA or minor stroke - experiencing sudden-onset unfamiliar neurological symptoms - could help to address this situation, particularly if urgent medical help is unavailable.'
Dr Dale Webb, Director of Research and Information at the Stroke Association, said: 'A TIA is a medical emergency and urgent neurological assessment must always be sought. We welcome this research which shows that taking aspirin after TIA can dramatically reduce the risk and severity of further stroke. The findings suggest that anyone who has stroke symptoms, which are improving while they are awaiting urgent medical attention can, if they are able, take one dose of 300 mg aspirin.
'The research findings are also timely, as the stroke community is currently working to develop a new set of national clinical guidelines on stroke.'
Explore further Study points to challenges, hopes of helping vulnerable patients avoid stroke
More information: Effects of aspirin on risk and severity of early recurrent stroke after transient ischaemic attack and ischaemic stroke: time-course analysis of randomised trials, is published in the Lancet, DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(16)30511-6 Journal information: The Lancet Effects of aspirin on risk and severity of early recurrent stroke after transient ischaemic attack and ischaemic stroke: time-course analysis of randomised trials, is published in the
UCSF Health doctors have performed a first-of-its-kind elbow transplant between the same patient's arms. Experts say the April 2016 surgery could transform treatment for trauma patients, injured veterans and others with elbow and joint conditions.
"The fact that the donor elbow came from the same patienta mirror image elbowis what makes this procedure unique and the first of its kind," UCSF Health surgeon Dr. Lisa Lattanza said of the April 15 transplant on 37-year-old Reginald Cook.
A Novel Surgery
The 12-hour procedure at UCSF Medical Center at Parnassus involved five surgeons, two orthopaedic upper-arm extremity specialists and three plastic/microvascular surgeons. The doctors worked on both of Cook's arms simultaneously to remove and connect bone, muscles, blood vessels, nerves and skin.
"This surgery was a bit like ballet," said Lattanza, who led the team that transplanted Cook's left elbow into his right arm. "Everybody knew their part and performed flawlessly at just the right time."
A 2009 car accident left Cook, of El Paso, Texas, in a coma for months. He sustained brain trauma, several broken bones in his neck and paralysis in his legs, necessitating a wheelchair.
Cook also suffered a complete detachment of the brachial plexus, a network of nerves, in his left arm and failed to recover any nerve function. Despite multiple reconstructive procedures to repair a shattered elbow in his right arm, Cook found himself with no elbow joint and only half the bone in that limb after an implanted elbow joint became infected.
As a result, he could no longer control the arm for even simple tasks like eating, although he did have good movement of his right hand. Cook relied on his sister and a visiting nurse for care.
Doctors examine Reginald Cook's arm before his elbow transplant surgery.
An Unusual Collaboration
"He did not have use of either arm," said Dr. Eric Sides, Cook's orthopaedic surgeon in Texas who worked with Lattanza on the case. "His right arm was basically frozen at 90 degrees, and his left arm was completely nonfunctional."
Sides, an assistant professor at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso, first met Lattanza in the mid-1990s when the two were residents at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He contacted Lattanza after Cook suggested the idea of an elbow transplant, hoping to regain use of one of his arms.
Sides and Cook traveled to San Francisco to meet with Lattanza in November 2015. The procedure was potentially risky since Cook could lose function in his right hand, due to possible nerve damage during the operation, as well as scar tissue from the previous infection and surgeries.
In the months leading up to the procedure, Lattanza worked with UCSF colleagues and consultants around the world to devise the novel surgery, which would remove Cook's left arm above the elbow and transplant that elbow to his right arm. The team also used 3-D computer modeling software from Belgian company Materialise to help plan the surgery.
The UCSF Health surgical team included Dr. Scott Hansen, Dr. Charles Lee, Dr. Michael Terry and Dr. Samantha Piper. Alyssa Ricker, principal clinical engineer for Materialise, served as imaging consultant.
Despite extensive planning, Lattanza and her team made adjustments on the fly during the surgery because Cook's anatomy had changed since his initial visit.
"The bones came back together well, the joint is working well and the flap is alive," Lattanza said of Cook's surgery. "He's moving his right hand, so there was no nerve damage during the operation. We're all very hopeful on the outcome."
A UCSF Health surgical team performs Reginald Cook's elbow transplant.
She added that, one month after the transplant, Cook was able to lift his hand to his face and mouth on his own.
Hope for the Future
"I'm now feeling touch and sensations," said Cook, who was scheduled to stay in San Francisco for several weeks after the surgery, while doctors monitored his progress.
Once Cook returns to Texas, Sides says he hopes his patient can regain the ability to dress and feed himself over the next yearand potentially even walk again.
"If we can make the arm strong enough, he should be okay to walk with a cane," Sides said.
Cook will restart physical therapy in his right arm, and his left arm now has suitable anchoring for a prosthesis if desired, his doctors said.
"I can't wait to be independent and give my 14-year-old daughter a big hug," said Cook, who hopes to become a motivational speaker. "This has been life changing for me."
Explore further Double arm transplant involves one arm above the elbow
Researchers from the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) and City University London say the findings of a study on female genital mutilation could help prevent the practise in the UK.
The study led by Dr Aida Abzhaparova (UWE Bristol) and Professor Debra Salmon (City University London) was based on a survey and focus groups with members of affected communities across Bristol.
Groups of mothers, fathers and young people took part in a series of events, discussing the effectiveness and impact of national public health messages aimed at eradicating FGM.
Participants highlighted not only visible aspects of campaigns but areas not previously discussed. This included the stigma and stereotyping, attached to targeting communities with anti-FGM messages, in particular the role of men in ending the practice. Participants also highlighted the negative implications of using criminalisation as a central focus of campaigns rather than concentration on education or the empowerment of girls and women.
Criminalisation was thought to encourage the practice to go underground, preventing the identification of girls at risk or encouraging communities to discuss how to end the practice. Participants raised questions about where authority lies in terms of ending the practice, the role of affected communities themselves and shaping future messages within campaign strategies to increase their effectiveness.
The findings of the study have resulted in a number of key recommendations:
To increase attention on already existing efforts of members of affected communities in tackling FGM locally within campaign messaging
To work directly with communities to develop appropriate public health messages and strategies
To recognise the broader debates about the role of women and girls, that does not alienate or stigmatise men within affected communities and identify opportunities to harnesses their support.
To think more carefully about spatial context in which targeted population are exposed to messages and how the messages are understood by wider society
Dr Aida Abzhaparova, a Senior Lecturer in International Relations, said: "FGM takes place in private, yet it is discussed, debated and criticised in public. We aim to demonstrate how our research, informed by the members of affected communities, can help to bridge the gap between public and personal spaces. Our study concerns itself with how FGM can be successfully eradicated and abolished without negative impacts on the wider public health, of the individual and the wider community."
Debra Salmon, Professor of Community Health at City University London, said: "Our work has revealed a number of key findings and recommendations that we can use to help prevent the practice of FGM. By raising and addressing challenging, sensitive, yet important issues about how to tackle FGM without causing insecurities in those who are targeted we hope that our findings will have a real impact on British public health practice by employing community informed national campaigns in eradicating FGM. By speaking to all groups of people, and not just affected women, we hope our work can benefit members of affected communities, frontline professionals and the broader public."
A public engagement event entitled 'Tackling Female Genital Mutilation and the Voices of Affected Communities' was held at the Watershed media centre in Bristol on Tuesday to discuss the research findings.
Among those in attendance at the event was Marvin Rees, the newly elected Mayor of Bristol.
He said: "Having University research that assesses the effectiveness of our campaigns to eliminate FGM is essential. We must have an evidence base for what works and what does not. I was struck by the suggestion that working with the community for a cultural shift was felt by respondents to be the most effective intervention. Of course we must continue to enforce the law - FGM is illegal and this must be understood. However, the campaign requires education and behaviour change that cannot be delivered through prosecution alone."
Explore further WHO issues first guidelines on treating female genital mutilation victims
Professor Andre Ng, Professor of Cardiac Electrophysiology at the University of Leicester and Consultant Cardiologist and Electrophysiologist at Leicesters Hospitals carrying out UKs first heart operations using a novel software platform to pinpoint the source of the heart condition. Credit: University of Leicester
The UK's first heart operations using a novel software platform to pinpoint the source of the heart condition have been carried out in Leicester thanks to research at the University of Leicester.
Professor Andre Ng, Professor of Cardiac Electrophysiology at the University of Leicester and Consultant Cardiologist and Electrophysiologist at Leicester's Hospitals, has carried out three operations since November 2015.
The patients suffered from a condition known as atrial fibrillation (AF) the commonest heart rhythm disturbance affecting more than 1 million people in the UK.
All three patients have now returned home following the operations which were completed successfully.
AF is a condition that causes the upper chambers of the heart (atria) to beat very fast and irregularly due to chaotic electrical activity. As a result the atria do not beat in an organised way and pump less efficiently, increasing the likelihood of stroke and heart failure.
Electrical activity in the heart is an area of specialist research at the University of Leicester, spearheaded by Professor Ng and his research team in the University's Department of Cardiovascular Sciences. Professor Ng has been researching this field for several years and this latest technique that he is applying on a patient will help to further enhance his research.
Professor Ng said the UK first at Leicester exemplifies how research at the University of Leicester was providing benefits for patients thanks to the partnership between the University and Leicester's Hospitals and the support of the NIHR Leicester Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit.
Commenting on the heart condition known as AF, Professor Ng said: "Initial treatment for AF is with medication to control the heart rate or reduce AF episodes using drugs. In many patients, AF fails to be controlled by medication and continues to cause debilitating symptoms.
Professor Andre Ng, Professor of Cardiac Electrophysiology at the University of Leicester and Consultant Cardiologist and Electrophysiologist at Leicesters Hospitals carrying out UKs first heart operations using a novel software platform to pinpoint the source of the heart condition. Credit: University of Leicester
"Catheter ablation has been increasingly used in patients with AF over the past decade or so. The procedure involves inserting electrical wires called catheters into the heart to ablate (or 'burn') the abnormal areas in the heart that are causing or sustaining AF. In patients who are in an early phase of the condition, this procedure has been shown to be reasonably effective requiring limited burning in well-defined heart regions (e.g. pulmonary veins).
"However, the results of AF ablation in patients with more advanced form of the condition is less than ideal with variable results and patients often need to undergo several procedures with suboptimal long term outcome. The conventional approach involves extensive ablation on many different atrial locations due to the seemingly chaotic electrical activity seen. More recent data support the presence of focal or rotational sources (or rotors) which may be driving the chaotic process."
Describing his research and the technique that he deployed for the first time in the UK, Professor Ng added: "Topera is a new software platform developed to "decode" the chaotic electrical signals and represent the activity in the form of rotor maps allowing us to see the rotors and the centres of rotation analogous to the "eye of the storm".
"The location of these rotors are different in different patients and hence this new software platform allows a personalised or precision approach to target localised sources for ablation rather than having to ablate over a wide area in the atrial chambers. The initial results from studies conducted in USA and some European centres e.g. Germany are promising and suggest better efficacy than the conventional approach with extensive ablation.
"We are very pleased to have used this new system at Leicester for the first time in UK. We managed to use the Topera system to analyse the electrical activity during AF in our patients. We are very pleased that AF stopped when we did the ablation and the patients returned to normal rhythm, which was the best possible result and desired procedural outcome for our patients.
"This approach is related to our ongoing research at the University of Leicester aimed at understanding the substrate underlying recurrent persistent atrial fibrillation. The map generated with the Topera system is quite unique and there is much research to be done to fully understand the different behaviour of these maps in different patients. Having access to this new software algorithm allows us to examine the response to AF ablation using this approach in our patients first hand. It is hoped that we will achieve better results with more focussed targets and therefore less ablation required.
"At the University of Leicester and Leicester's Hospitals, we are very pleased to be the first UK centre, based at Glenfield Hospital, with access to this new technology. AF ablation in patients with more advanced form of the condition is challenging using the current approach, often needing extensive ablation.
"This new software platform uses mathematical processing techniques to 'decode' the chaotic behaviour to reveal the underlying focal or rotational activity which are believed to be the driver of the rhythm disturbance. Hence it is hoped that targeting these localised critical circuits would lead to better results and less ablation required which should be translated to better patient outcome.
"The variable results from the current approach to AF ablation highlights that there is a significant component of individual difference between patients which needs a personalised or precision medicine approach to identify the unique characteristics in the particular patient that we are treating. This new platform appears to be able to go some way towards this aim and we are very keen to be able to establish more evidence with future specific research studies at the University."
Explore further Poor outcome for rotor ablation in A-fib in randomized trial
Electron micrographs of hepatitis C virus purified from cell culture. Scale bar is 50 nanometers. Credit: Center for the Study of Hepatitis C, The Rockefeller University.
An international team of researchers has shed light on the potential impact of new drugs for hepatitis C virus (HCV).
HCV is an important cause of liver cancer and is transmitted through blood to blood contact. People who inject drugs (PWID) and men who have sex with men (MSM), who are also infected with HIV, are key risk groups for HCV infection in UK.
New HCV treatments are highly effective, with cure rates often better than 90 per cent, but treatment is expensive and patients with severe liver disease are being prioritised by NHS England.
The team, supported by funding from the NIHR and NIH, including researchers from the University of San Diego, University of Bristol, Public Health England as well as collaborators from London, Cambridge, Scotland, and Australia, has published a series of studies assessing the potential of HCV treatment in preventing HCV transmission, as well as future liver disease.
In a study looking specifically at HCV infection rates in HIV-positive gay men, the researchers found the proportion of HIV positive gay men with HCV increased slightly from 2004 to 2011, and that current treatment rates were unlikely to reduce HCV transmission over time.Professor Peter Vickerman, from the University of Bristol's School of Social and Community Medicine, said: "Our results, based on modelling, suggest a combination of scaling up HCV treatment and behaviour modification may be required to have a substantial impact on HCV transmission among gay men."
Using an economic model, the team also examined which patients should be prioritised for early HCV treatment. Professor Vickerman said: "The model suggests that in most settings in the UK, the most cost-effective group to treat early were people who inject drugs with moderate or mild disease, due to the prevention benefit of reducing onward infection. For example, if chronic HCV infection was 20 per cent among PWID, then for every one PWID treated for HCV, two new HCV infections are averted. In contrast, if the risk of re-infection is high then HCV treatment should be delayed."
Dr Natasha Martin, from the Division of Global Public Health at the University of California in San Diego said: "We also studied the cost-effectiveness of HCV case finding among prisoners. That study suggested that increasing testing could be cost-effective with shorter duration HCV treatments, especially if HCV treatment rates were increased. The prevention benefit in the community of HCV treatment increases the cost-effectiveness of case-finding in prisons.
"Earlier analyses had suggested that HCV testing in prison was unlikely to be cost-effective, because continuity of care between prison and community couldn't be guaranteed, as most prison sentences would exceed the average duration of treatment with traditional therapies."
The team's final study showed that HCV treatments need to be increased in order to reduce the number of cases of End Stage Liver Disease (ESLD) or HCV-related cancers or deaths. Strategies that target people with severe disease are unlikely to have any impact on reducing HCV transmission; while strategies that target people with mild disease, which is necessary to reduce HCV transmission, will have virtually no impact on ESLD within short to medium term.
Professor Matthew Hickman, from the School of Social and Community Medicine, said: "The studies collectively show the potential benefits of HCV treatment for prevention. They are not intended, however, to question the targeting of scarce resources - while drug treatments remain expensivefor people with serious HCV related disease."
"Reversing trends in HCV-related mortality and morbidity should be the priority. "However, our studies raise important hypotheses on the use of HCV treatment as prevention in combination with other interventions, which should be tested in order to guide future clinical and public health policy and practice. There is good evidence that HCV treatments have very high cure rates, but we need better evidence through research that HCV treatment also can reduce the incidence of disease."
Explore further Transmission of hepatitis C virus following antiviral treatment
More information: 'How should HCV treatment be prioritized in the direct-acting antiviral era? An economic evaluation including population prevention benefit' by Natasha K Martin et al in Journal of Hepatology 'How should HCV treatment be prioritized in the direct-acting antiviral era? An economic evaluation including population prevention benefit' by Natasha K Martin et al in 'New treatments for hepatitis C virus (HCV): scope for preventing liver disease and HCV transmission in England' by R J Harris et al in The Journal of Viral Hepatitis 'Can Hepatitis C virus (HCV) direct-acting antiviral treatment as prevention reverse the HCV epidemic among men who have sex with men in the United Kingdom? Epidemiological and modelling insights' by Natasha K Martin & Alicia Thornton et al in Clinical Infectious Diseases 'Is increased hepatitis C virus case-finding combined with current or 8-week to 12-week direct-acting antiviral therapy cost-effective in UK prisons? A prevention benefit analysis' by Natasha K Martin et al in Hepatology Journal information: Clinical Infectious Diseases , Hepatology
Turkish companies keen to transport cargos via Caspian Sea
A number of private Turkish companies are interested in operating in the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan's Transportation Minister Ziya Mammadov told reporters May 11 in Baku.In particular, the private transportation companies of Turkey are interested in the cargo transit via the Baku-Aktau-Baku and the Baku-Turkmenbashi-Baku routes, he added."This issue is currently under discussion," said Mammadov, adding that national and business interests should also be taken into account."If the proposals put forward by the Turkish companies meet Azerbaijan's interests, it will be possible to fulfil them," he said. "Otherwise, this issue won't be discussed."Earlier, Turkey's Economy Minister Mustafa Elitas told Trend that the crisis in relations between Russia and Turkey increases the relevance of the Trans-Caspian corridor in the transportation of cargos through Azerbaijan to the markets in Central Asia.He said the Trans-Caspian corridor should become a priority in the cargo transportations.Elitas also said Turkey held meetings with the representatives of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan on the effective use of the Trans-Caspian transportation corridor.
Death toll in Georgia
By Messenger Staff
Georgias deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Shalva Khutsishvili has stated that on average, 550-600 people die in accidents annually in Georgia.The official announced there were 1,200,000 registered cars in Georgia and the annual death toll in accidents was quite high compared with other countries of Eastern Europe.The Deputy Minister said that traffic safety was one of the top priorities for the Ministry, and various projects had been launched to address road safety-related problems.In this context, the official named a large-scaled road safety campaign For Your Sake, For Your Safety and a pilot project at schools.We have also initiated a draft over road safety, Khutsishvili said.We are carrying out several projects related to road safety; one of them concerns raising childrens awareness over road safety issues at schools. Through the project, patrol police representatives, fire-fighters and 112 emergency service staff will deliver lectures at schools, Khutsishvili said.The Deputy Minister said the pilot project would initially cover 30 schools of Tbilisi and gradually all Georgian schools would be involved in the project.Road accidents are one of the most painful and frequent social issues in Georgia.Raising awareness over road safety issues is essential, and there should be an even more active campaign over the issue.Herewith, patrol police must be intolerant to traffic violations as Georgians still require discipline in this regard.The country should also provide better parking spaces and take measures to ease traffic congestion, especially in Tbilisi.In addition, there are many outdated cars in Georgia that are dangerous to both public health and the environment.
The News in Brief
Eka Mishveladze appointed as Presidents Press-speaker
Journalist Eka Mishveladze has been appointed as the Presidents press-speaker. Following the announcement, the head of the Presidential Administration, Giorgi Abashishvili, presented her to the reporters.
Eka Mishveladze has been appointed as the press-speaker. She will be the person that will intensively cooperate with you. She has experience in terms of working in the state sector as well as 25-years of experience in journalism. Therefore I am sure she will be a vital member of the presidential team and administration, Abashishvili said.
In turn, Eka Mishveladze has thanked the administration for trusting her. (IPN)
President: Proposed Constitutional Bar on Same-Sex Marriage is Storm in Teacup
The constitutional bill proposed by the Georgian Dream party to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman is not an issue at all in Georgia, and it was floated for the purpose of diverting public attention from real problems in the country, President Giorgi Margvelashvili said on May 10.
I believe this is an invented issue, he said. Why stir a storm in a teacup? The answer is simple: in order not to talk about jobs; in order not to talk about education; in order not to talk about culture; in order not to talk about occupied [territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia].
The government's position on marriage is already defined same-sax marriage is unacceptable for 99.9 per cent of Georgias population; it is defined in the Georgian legislation; there is a consensus in the Parliament so why speak about it when some are hungry and Georgian territories are still under occupation? You should not be provoked by a politician who tells you that this is an important issue there are thousands of things which are more important, he said while meeting pupils in one of Tbilisis public schools when asked if he supports same-sex marriage.
Proposal to introduce the constitutional amendment was first voiced by then PM Irakli Garibashvili in March 2014 and refloated by current PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili in early March, 2016. The constitutional amendment was initiated by 80 lawmakers most of them MPs from the GD parliamentary majority group, as well 7 out of the Free Democrats opposition partys 8 lawmakers. The Republican Party, a member of the GD ruling coalition, distanced itself from the process of initiating of the proposal, but two of its lawmakers put signatures on initiation of the bill.
The bill was discussed and backed by the parliamentary committee for human rights on May 5. During the hearing, a co-sponsor of the bill, Zviad Dzidziguri of the Conservative Party, was citing the need to strengthen families and childrens rights when speaking about the arguments in favour of the proposal.
We have a grave demographic situation in Georgia, he said This amendment is very important because we have to take care of our children and I believe that it is the right of children to have a female mother and male father.
Rights groups say the initiative is a populist move ahead of the parliamentary elections aimed at winning support of Georgias predominantly conservative society. Rights activists, who were present at the parliamentary committee hearing, were telling lawmakers that the initiative was further marginalizing the LGBT community and causing a further rise in homophobic sentiment in the country. Gay rights activists also say that right to same-sex marriage has never been high on their agenda in the country, where LGBT people face much more pressing problems such as physical, psychological and verbal abuse.
Article 36 of the Georgian constitution currently reads: Marriage shall be based upon equality of rights and free will of spouses.
The proposal to amend the constitution offers the following wording: Marriage, which is a voluntary union of a woman and a man with the purpose of creating a family, shall be based on the equal rights of spouses.
Georgias civil code already specifies that marriage is a voluntary union of man and woman, effectively banning same-sex marriage.
Any constitutional amendment requires support of at least 113 MPs in the 150-seat Parliament. The amendment has to be passed with three readings, which cannot be held during the one plenary session cycle. If the amendment is approved with the first and second hearing during the spring session of the parliament, the final vote should be held during the autumn session, no earlier than three months from the first two votes. (Civil.ge)
Israel investigates a corruption case with former Georgian minister of defence
Gal Hirsch, an Israeli suspect in bribing the former minister of defence, Davit Kezerashvili, was questioned under caution by the Israeli Polices fraud squad, Haaretzreported.
Mr Hirsch was a brigadier general in the Israeli aAmy before he started the private security consulting company, Defensive Shield. He and four other senior company executives were questioned for several hours on Tuesday over deals in Georgia that raised suspicions of bribery, aggravated fraud, money laundering and tax offences.
In September 2015, Mr Hirschs candidature for the chief of Israels police was withdrawn following a growing scandal around Defensive Shield and the corruption probe involving Davit Kezerashvili.
Haaretz writes that police suspect the executives of Defensive Shield used fraud and bribery to obtain contracts worth tens of millions of dollars. The person they are suspected of bribing is Davit Kezerashvili. Police believe the bribes were mediated by a personal friend of Kezerashvili who knows Hirsch. Police also suspect that in one particular project, the executives fraudulently obtained payments much larger than those to which they were entitled.
Davit Kezerashvili was a high official in the UNMs government and formerly a minister of defence. He iswanted by the Prosecutors Office of Georgia in connection to a number of crimes, including exceeding official authority,appropriation of a company, and embezzlement. His name was featured in Panama Papers, which sheds some light on his path to becoming an oligarch.
He is currently residing in the UK. In April, a London court refused to extradite Mr Kezerashvili to Georgia arguing that the charges are politically motivated and bear signs of ongoing political persecution. (DF watch)
After 16 years on Florida's death row in connection with a triple murder in Broward County, Pablo Ibar has won his fight to have his sentence vacated and will receive a new trial.
Ibar, 44, a former Hollywood resident, was convicted of killing three people in a home invasion robbery in Miramar in 1994 in what became known as the "Casey's Nickelodeon" murders. One of the murder victims, Casey Kucharski, operated a bar in Pembroke Park by that name and the killings took place in his home. The other two victims were Sharon Anderson and Marie Rogers.
The Florida Supreme Court ordered Ibar's death sentence vacated in February, but the state asked for a hearing, and the court sealed Ibar's legal victory Monday by denying that request in a 6-1 decision, with Justice Charles Canady the lone dissenter.
In siding with Ibar's attorney, Benjamin Waxman of Miami, the Supreme Court cited numerous deficiencies by Ibar's attorney and expressed serious doubt about Ibar's guilt.
"In this case, there was a lack of physical evidence connecting Ibar to the triple murders," the court wrote in February. "Ibar's DNA was not found on a blue T-shirt recovered from the crime scene which was allegedly to partially cover the face of the perpetrator whom the state claimed to have been Ibar. Ibar never confessed to the crime as he steadfastly proclaimed his innocence, presented an alibi as to his whereabouts, and has always maintained his innocence."
A surveillance videotape figured prominently in Ibar's case. The court also noted that a key prosecution witness, Raymond Evans, a facial identification expert, testified that based on the video images, it was not possible to say "with certainty" that Ibar and the perpetrator were the same person.
Ibar's first trial ended in a hung jury. His co-defendant, Seth Penalver, was acquitted at a retrial 20 years after the murders took place.
Carlos Beruff bluntly declares politicians "worthless" in television commercials and proclaims himself an outsider ready to change Washington as Florida's next senator.
But a Times/Herald analysis of campaign donations shows the Manatee County land developer has been a major fundraiser for local, state and federal politicians. Since 2002, Beruff and his business holdings have made more than 730 campaign donations to support 103 political candidates including a few Democrats totaling just over $1 million. Congressional candidates, governors, county commissioners and presidential contenders have all benefitted.
While Senate rivals say the donations prove Beruff, 58, is the ultimate insider wielding a checkbook to gain influence, Beruff says he is the hunt for good governance.
"Giving money doesn't make you an insider," Beruff said. "If that's considered being an insider, I guess Donald Trump is an insider. That doesn't make sense."
Among the beneficiaries: Gov. Rick Scott, a super PAC that supported Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential bid, then-Republican U.S. Senate candidate Charlie Crist, a political committee run by former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, former President George W. Bush and two-time presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Full Story Here
@MichaelAuslen
Dr. Celeste Philip, who has been acting surgeon general since March, was on Wednesday appointed to the permanent job running the Florida Department of Health.
Gov. Rick Scott first named Philip as the temporary replacement for Dr. John Armstrong, who the Senate refused to confirm for the job.
Since then, she has gone on a tour of health facilities across the state and announced a healthy baby initiative. She has also faced tough questions from members of Congress about changes to the state's count of new HIV cases.
"Dr. Philip has also been working diligently with county health departments and local mosquito control districts to ensure our state is ready to combat the possible spread of the Zika virus," Scott said in a statement.
The surgeon general, also the secretary of DOH, is the top public health official in the state. Philip takes over full-time control of the department at a crucial time as it faces the threat of a Zika outbreak, and questions about the initial roll-out of a medical marijuana program and the count of new HIV cases.
In an interview with the Tampa Bay Times last week, Philip said she was confident the HIV data, which was revised downward earlier this year, had not been manipulated.
She also said HIV remained a top priority for the department.
We just conducted a strategic planning process over the last eight months and looking at our HIV data, we decided to continue our efforts to make sure we identify people that are HIV positive but dont know it, and make sure we help them get into treatment, she said.
Previously, Philip was deputy secretary for health, overseeing the Children's Medical Services program and communicable diseases such as HIV. Those programs were among those that concerned members of the Senate who did not confirm Armstrong to stay in the job.
She also was acting surgeon general when Armstrong took a leave of absence last fall to undergo treatment for colon cancer.
In a statement Thursday, Philip said she will be committed to improving public health in Florida.
"With our state and local partners, we will maintain our commitment to addressing community health needs, developing HIV reduction and prevention strategies and preparing our state to combat viruses like Zika," she said.
Philip, a family and preventative medicine doctor, also has advanced training in public health.
Her appointment is effective immediately, but she must be confirmed by the Florida Senate by the 2018 legislative session.
Tampa Bay Times reporter Kathleen McGrory contributed to this report.
@JeremySWallace
Two months after Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature agreed to remove a Confederate Army general's statue from the U.S. Capitol Building, the hunt for a replacement is officially on.
The Florida Department of State announced on Wednesday it has created an online survey to begin accepting names of Floridians who could replace the statue of General Edmund Kirby Smith in the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall. From now until June 10, the state will take names and then submit them to a committee tasked with trimming the list to 3 people. The Legislature would then decide whose statue will be made to replace Smith.
Since 1922, Smith has been one of two figures meant to represent Florida in National Statuary Hall, a regular stop for tours of Washington, D.C. by school groups and tourists.
But earlier this spring the Legislature passed a bill to remove Smith's statue. Bill sponsors argued that because he spent most of his life living outside of Florida the state should have someone more representative of Florida's past. Smith, who was born in St. Augustine, left Florida at a young age in the 1830s before Florida was even a state. Smith lived much of his adult life in Tennessee and was one of the last major commanding officers in the Confederate Army to surrender during the Civil War. Smith, a Lieutenant General fighting in Texas, did not surrender until June 2, 1865 in Galveston nearly two months after General Robert E. Lee surrendered to the Union Army in Virginia.
Bill sponsors, Sen. John Legg, R-Trinity and Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, R-Miami, insisted that they are not removing Smith because he was a Confederate general as critics have contended. They both said Florida needs someone who better represents Florida. Henry Flagler, Walt Disney and Marjory Stoneman Douglas are among the names offered during debates as potential replacements.
The state is recommending people pick only figures who have been citizens of Florida and those who have been dead for at least 10 years.
"No recommendations of fictional characters, animals, plants, structures, or other non-human entities or beings will be considered by the committee," the Department of State warns people before submitting the survey.
Those who would rather mail proposals can submit them to:
Division of Historical Resources
ATTN: National Statuary Hall
3rd Floor, R.A. Gray Building
500 S. Bronough Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0250
via @JenStaletovich
Miami-Dade County will spend the next month combing through a massive trove of data submitted by Florida Power & Light this week to justify its plan for cleaning up leaky cooling canals at the utilitys Turkey Point nuclear power plant.
The county has also hired a University of Florida hydrologist to ensure the plan stops an underground plume of saltwater threatening drinking water supplies and leaking into Biscayne Bay.
Were not looking to just stop the hypersaline plume, were looking to draw it back, Mayor Carlos Gimenez told commissioners during an update at Tuesdays county commission meeting, a day after FPL turned over its plan to county environmental regulators. Were actually looking to make it much better and getting back to original conditions.
FPL has been grappling with problems at the plant, the sixth largest in the nation, since 2014 when temperatures in the canals spiked during a regional drought. The crisis, which twice caused the plants two nuclear reactors to power down, shed light on a thornier problem for decades, salinity in canals used to cool the plant has been creeping up and causing an underground plume of saltwater to spread. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, canal water has now migrated more than five miles west of the canals, closing in a wellfield that supplies drinking water to the Florida Keys.
But fixing the problem has been a complex process, complicated by science and politics.
In a report requested by Commissioner Rebeca Sosa and finalized last week, University of Miami hydrologist David Chin faulted the utility for doing too little to ensure the canals would work properly before it uprated the plants two reactors to produce more energy. Story here.
@PatriciaMazzei
Count Miami Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart among the Florida Republican members of Congress skeptical of President Obama's request for $1.9 billion in emergency funding to combat Zika.
"I believe we need to provide and spend every dollar needed for Zika prevention, treatment, and response programs, and not one penny less," Diaz-Balart said in a statement to the Miami Herald.
The Senate on Tuesday passed a compromise measure setting aside $1.1 billion to fight the mosquito-borne virus, with both Florida senators, Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Marco Rubio, reluctantly voting in favor. The two men want the full $1.9 billion.
The House of Representatives, meanwhile, is considering a $622 million funding measure the White House has threatened to veto as inadequate. Obama's press secretary, Josh Earnest, specifically called out Florida Republicans in the House on Tuesday for failing to push for more money.
Diaz-Balart stressed that the $622 million proposed in the House is in addition to the $590 million already set aside this budget year for Zika efforts (from money that had been allocated to fighting Ebola).
"This will total almost $1.3 billion to combat Zika this fiscal year alone," he said in his statement. "Congress has a responsibility to make sure taxpayer dollars are spent effectively, unlike the fiasco that happened with the 'shovel-ready' projects. Once the Obama administration provides full details as to how they will spend these funds, we can then determine what if any additional resources are required."
Diaz-Balart's fellow Miami Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo told the Herald last week he supports Obama's request, though he hasn't taken a lead in pushing for it. The third local GOP member of Congress, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, did not respond to requests for comment.
@PatriciaMazzei
The Democratic race for Floridas most competitive congressional district looks like former U.S. Rep. Joe Garcias to lose.
Garcia holds a 25-point lead over rival Annette Taddeo, according to a new internal poll by Garcias campaign. Thats 15 percentage points higher than it was in January, when Garcias team surveyed the match-up before he launched his candidacy for the 26th congressional district.
This poll reflects the strong support this community has for Joe Garcia, campaign spokesman Javier Hernandez said in a statement released with a two-page summary of the latest results. The people of this district know that when they choose Joe Garcia, their voices will be heard in Washington.
Garcia bests Taddeo by 53-28 percent, with 19 percent of likely Democratic primary voters undecided , according to the poll conducted by the campaigns pollster, Pete Brodnitz of Expedition Strategies. The January poll by Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling, an outside firm, pegged Garcias lead at 34-24 percent, with 42 percent undecided.
The new lead jibes with an internal poll by Taddeos campaign shared in its entirety with the Miami Herald. That survey had Garcia ahead 48-27 percent by 21 points with 25 percent undecided.
But Taddeos poll also showed her doing far better than Garcia once voters learned about Taddeos personal background as the Colombian immigrant daughter of a Colombian mother and an American father, and about her positions on issues important to progressives.
More here.
Photo credit: Roberto Koltun, el Nuevo Herald
@JeremySWallace
All five Republicans running for Florida's open U.S. Senate seat now have a super PAC ready to help them. On Tuesday, a committee created earlier this year called Restore American Leadership stated on its website that it is supporting former CIA officer and Army veteran Todd Wilcox.
The PAC, first reported by The National Journal, had not raised or spent any money as of March 31, according to the last Federal Election Commission filings.
Wilcox sees no issue with a super PAC forming to help him even though he's tried to position himself as an outsider running against the political establishment. His campaign made clear they did not form the super PAC. His campaign spokeswoman Eric Isaac said the support shows Wilcox's growing momentum in the race.
Now all five Republican candidates have super PACs ready to help.
A committee called Fighting for Florida Fund is aiding U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Ponte Vedra Beach. FloridAmerican Conservatives is backing U.S. Rep. David Jolly, R-Indian Shores. Reform Washington is supporting Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera. And Lets Clean Up Washington formed in March to support Manatee County land developer Carlos Beruff.
The Montana House will host a Look Listen and Learn presentation by Chris Peterson, editor and photographer for the Hungry Horse News, at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Montana House in Glacier National Park's Apgar Village.
Peterson will feature photos of a 240-mile journey he took last year retracing a trip previously done by author Mary Roberts Rinehart in 1915 through Glacier National Park. After the presentation, he will be available to sign copies of his book, "Through Glacier Park 1915-2015."
The event is free, but seating is limited so reservations are needed. Call 406-888-5393 or email 1960mthouse@qwestoffice.net.
Gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte and Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Elsie Arntzen unveiled a four-pronged education initiative on Tuesday that centered on expanding computer science classes to every Montana high school.
After touring Missoula classrooms that incorporate technology, the Republicans headed to Kalispell to announce their joint proposal at Depot Park. They suggested that computer science should qualify as a core science course toward meeting graduation requirements, that coding classes likewise should fulfill foreign language requirements and that state colleges should offer a computer science teaching certificate so that more instructors can be trained. They also suggested leveraging the existing Montana Digital Academy to bring courses to more schools.
Gianforte, an entrepreneur who became a millionaire after selling his Bozeman-based tech company to Oracle for $1.8 billion in 2011, called the initiative common-sense policy changes that fit into the existing system.
I firmly believe that computers are here to stay, and we have to teach our young people not just how to use technology but how to author technology, because its the authoring thats critically important so that they can be prepared for the jobs of the future, he said at Hellgate Elementary in Missoula on Tuesday morning. Computers are infiltrating every single industry, from agriculture to manufacturing, and we certainly have a burgeoning high-tech sector in the state.
Arntzen is a state senator and elementary school teacher in Billings. She's running against Helena teacher and Democrat Melissa Romano for the Office of Public Instruction seat.
As educators, its important for us to recognize that the needs of our students and teachers change as the economy and technology changes, Arntzen said in a campaign statement. The fact is that our students need computer skills if they are going to succeed in the 21st century economy. Computer science is now an important part of a well-rounded education.
The announcement was not a surprise for those following Gianfortes campaign. At events he often references his philanthropic work to improve computer science education, his leadership on the board of Bozemans private Christian Petra Academy or the success of RightNow, the technology company he founded with his wife.
Throughout his campaign, Gianforte has focused his education comments on giving students the skills they need to stay in Montana after graduation and to bring back those who have left. He has not yet announced any other formal education policy proposals nor provided detailed answers about how he might manage school funding and recruitment issues that have been the top focus of education advocacy groups during the legislative interim. Gianforte often notes that he is still seeking input from around the state and that he would work with legislators to find solutions if elected.
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Democrats have argued that Gianforte is not a friend of public education, pointing to his volunteer and charitable support of Christian academies, as well as advocacy arguing that publicly supported scholarships and vouchers should help students attend private schools.
Jason Pitt, spokesman for campaigns of Montana Democrats, said in a statement that Gianforte's proposal to lower income tax rates would "slash school funding back to the 20th century" and noted that Gov. Steve Bullock was among dozens of state and technology leaders who signed a petition in April that called on Congress to expand funding for computer science education.
Romano said in a written statement that Montana schools "need to be on the cutting edge in all subject areas." She argued that Arntzen "has consistently voted to take away our children's education funding and dismantle public schools."
The broad swipe echoed criticisms from the state teacher's union, which has given Arntzen a low score for her voting record. Among other issues, the group has dinged Arntzen for opposing a bill to raise the mandatory school enrollment age to 18 and for supporting a bill later vetoed by the governor that would have used state and local funding to provide tuition vouchers for students to attend private schools.
During a telephone town hall Monday night, Gianforte said teachers need more resources, and students need more avenues to good-paying jobs feeding into his campaign last summer to bring high-salary jobs to the state through telecommuting.
Gianforte said the initiative announced Tuesday wouldnt be cost-prohibitive. He noted that CodeMontana, which develops computer science curricula for schools, cost only tens of thousands of dollars to launch.
It just didnt cost that much money, so I dont think these proposals require a lot of resources, he said. We do need to fund it; Im not saying were not going to fund it.
He also suggested that until more teachers are trained in computer science that the Digital Academy should expand to add more computer science courses, which are offered to students in all districts in the state via an online platform.
Executive Director Bob Currie said the academy already has been looking at ways to expand those types of course offerings.
He noted that web design, which includes some coding instruction, was one of the first classes offered when the academy launched in 2010. In 2014, they started offering a more technical computer science course designed in partnership with Montana State Universitys program.
Were poised to expand those courses further as students identify that as something of interest, he said, noting that to-date the computer science class has not seen enough demand to expand beyond one 25-student section.
This academic year, 34 students from 18 high schools took either a fall or spring course on computer science. Likewise, 30 students from 25 schools completed the web design class. Participating students attended schools of all sizes from border to border, from Arlee to Bainville and Billings to Whitefish.
Currie said the academy has not yet talked with Gianforte or Arntzen about their ideas for an academy expansion, but noted that the program is designed to supplement classes offered in-person by districts. It does not have the capacity to offer whole programs for districts, which would teach all classes for all students in a particular subject area, he said.
Some of the smallest districts with graduating classes of 20 or fewer might use the academy as their only source of foreign language instruction, for example, while Currie said larger districts might enroll a handful of students in that same class to offer them scheduling flexibility. Academy teachers also teach traditional classes at dozens of districts, and the program is not designed to operate as a fully online school with its own staff, Currie said.
Thats an entirely different model than we have now, he said, noting that such an idea differs from all discussions to-date with the Office of Public Instruction and other state leaders. If their proposal is something that would really, really expand enrollment exponentially then obviously we would want to be involved in planning at the early stages because that isnt what we do right now.
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During the tour of Hellgate, Gianforte and Arntzen saw examples of how some teachers already incorporate technology and computer science curriculum into their lessons.
The fifth-grade classes of teachers David Bixby and Erin Ellis demonstrated how they use iPads in their daily education, from attendance to choosing school lunch to math lessons.
They headed to Jamie Blixt's broadcasting class at the middle school, where students learn about journalism, how to shoot video and use the industry-standard Adobe Creative Suite software. The candidates also watched Tim Mosbacher's programming class, where students were putting the finishing touches on video games.
"If you look at the tradition of education, where we've been, where we are, where we're going to go, they have all of that here," Arntzen said of Hellgate.
Gianforte praised the programming course as an example of the direction more Montana schools should take.
Theres a distinction between the use of technology versus authoring technology, he said. We need to do both, but were light right now on the authoring of technology.
This week, the Montana Board of Regents conducts performance reviews of three of its top administrators, although in closed executive sessions.
The reviews of Commissioner Clay Christian, University of Montana President Royce Engstrom, and Montana State University President Waded Cruzado take place Wednesday, according to the regents' agenda.
In their public sessions streamed online Thursday, regents take up a request to spend $2.2 million to remodel the Liberal Arts Building at UM, with $2 million paid for out of the UM Foundation, and $200,000 paid for by UM, according to materials posted online with the agenda.
"They will have the authority, once this is approved, to start moving forward on this now," said Kevin McRae, deputy commissioner of communications for the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education.
The work will include the remodel of an auditorium, student lounge spaces, basement offices, "two to six classrooms on upper floors," an entryway off the Oval, and fire sprinkler systems for code compliance.
"This work follows recent private gifts from the same donor that remodeled six classrooms with new finishes, air conditioning, windows and presentation technology for students and faculty," reads the request. "That renovation along the vertical 'corridor' created two new classrooms per floor for faculty and student use."
The UM Facilities Services director could not be reached Tuesday for the project timeline.
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This week, regents also will review an enrollment report from the 2016 fiscal year.
Enrollment declined across the Montana University System by 780 students from 2015 to 2016, according to figures in a report for regents. However, enrollment has grown 7 percent, or by 2,500 full-time equivalents, in the past 10 years.
MSU is at the top of the list for growth compared to last year, with 381 more students; UM is at the bottom, with 441 fewer students.
By the numbers, 10 campuses lost students and five gained since the 2015 fiscal year.
The numbers show that enrollment in two-year colleges plays a large part in the trend across the system, McRae said.
At this meeting, the regents are not taking up compensation for Engstrom. Last November, the board renewed its $500,000 "deferred compensation" plan for Cruzado (a benefit of $50,000 per year for 10 years, to be paid from age 65 to 75, if the president serves five years), and McRae anticipated the regents would consider the same for Engstrom in 2016, possibly 10 or 11 months later, or roughly five years after the president's hire.
The next full board meeting will take place in September; the July meeting is listed as a planning session, and it calls for "emergency consent items only."
Sarah Rae McKnight, one of two people charged in the December killing of one woman and attack on another, pleaded guilty to all five of her felony charges Tuesday.
McKnight, 32, changed her pleas, with no plea agreement being offered, during a hearing before District Court Judge Robert Dusty Deschamps.
You understand if you plead guilty today youre throwing yourself at my mercy? Deschamps said.
She is charged with five felonies stemming from the Dec. 21 attack including deliberate homicide, accountability for deliberate homicide, conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and theft.
McKnights codefendant Scott Austin Price also is charged with five felonies from the incident. He shares the same deliberate homicide, conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping and evidence tampering charges as McKnight. He is also charged with solicitation to commit theft and attempted deliberate homicide.
According to affidavits in the case, McKnight met Price in Great Falls a week before the Missoula incidents, and they drove to Missoula in her Honda. McKnight said she was using drugs at the time, and she and Price bought zip ties and duct tape, intending to steal a car and money in order to get more drugs. She said she wishes she would have asked for help in the months leading up to the December homicide.
The morning of Dec. 21, McKnight waited in the drivers seat of her car as Price attacked a woman in the parking lot of Missoula Fresh Market on Reserve Street, stabbing her in the stomach and hand. He then got back into McKnights car and they fled the scene, driving to the Super 8 motel, where they found Lonette Keehner cleaning a room.
McKnight sobbed as she read a prepared written statement to the court Tuesday.
She said Price had pushed Keehner into the bathtub and was holding a knife at her telling her to hand over her keys and the other items in her pockets. McKnight then waited outside in the car, and didnt know Price had killed her until he got into the vehicle holding a bloody knife. The two of them were arrested the next day in Idaho after they left town in Keehners stolen car.
I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I didnt think anybody would die, she said Tuesday. I want to take responsibility for my actions that day.
She concluded her statement by apologizing to her own family, including her husband and children, as well as Keehners family.
McKnight also has a pending federal counterfeiting charge in Montana, but prosecutors previously have said they intend to let all state proceedings against her conclude before moving forward in that case.
Price also faces a homicide charge stemming from the Dec. 14 stabbing death of 78-year-old Ed Martin in Miles City, as well as charges in the assault and kidnapping of Martins wife, who was found beaten and locked in the basement of their house.
Deschamps did not set a sentencing date for McKnight during Tuesdays court appearance. Chief Deputy County Attorney Jason Marks requested the sentencing not take place until after Prices trial in October, where they intend to call her as a witness, but McKnights public defender Lisa Kauffman objected to the request.
Kauffman said her client was not doing well in the Missoula County jail due to mental health and anxiety issues. She said delaying sentencing without a specific reason might be a violation of McKnights due process rights.
Shes had a very difficult and challenging time emotionally since this happened, Kauffman said.
Deschamps asked Marks to explore other options for McKnights placement pending sentencing and said after he sees what options are available, he would set a sentencing date.
I would like to respond to Evan Barretts well-written but slightly-flawed-in-argument guest editorial of April 29th. Barretts call to unite behind the Democratic party nominee to prevent the victory of a greater evil (Donald Trump), as he and others did in 1968 by supporting Hubert Humphrey against Richard Nixon, might make sense if indeed the circumstances we face today were the same as those we faced in 68. However, the world we live in right now is extremely different from then, in ways that cannot tolerate the election of another President who would support the economic, industrial and political status quo, or only support slow, politically safe, incremental change.
At this moment in world history, all life on our planet is facing the very real possibility of near-term extinction due to excessive CO2, methane, and other elements in our atmosphere, the acidification of our oceans, rising sea levels, continuously record-breaking temperatures, longer droughts, increasing wildfires, and all of the other interconnected impacts of climate change caused by unsustainable human activities. Any political candidate who denies this reality or prioritizes the maintenance and perpetuation of the current, corporate-controlled, freedom-robbing, life-destroying economic and political systems over sustaining our true source of life the planetary bio-systems that our bodies came from, which continually give us life itself, and to which we belong is not fit to hold office at this crucial time.
Of all the candidates running for President of the U.S. right now, only Bernie Sanders and Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party come close to acknowledging the seriousness of this situation and admitting that we need deep systemic and cultural change toward sustainability, rather than continued unsustainable levels of production and consumption of toxic materials. Jill Stein has shown a greater level of understanding of this reality for many years, as have some previous Green Party candidates, but Bernie Sanders has the real potential to bring the rest of the country toward this awareness and actually win the 2016 election. I know that every time Bernie wins a state primary or caucus the mainstream media treats it as a tragic perpetuation of delusion, but the fact remains that Bernie and the People can keep winning primaries and persuade the superdelegates at the Democratic convention in July that Bernie is the better, more realistic choice to defeat Trump in November.
Was 1968 really a time to rally around the Democratic Party machines chosen candidate, Hubert Humphrey, to prevent Nixon from coming to office? While there was a sharp contrast between Humphrey and Nixon on civil rights issues (Humphrey was the first to introduce anti-segregation into a Democratic Party platform, way back in 1948), on other key issues both men were quite similar. Both Humphrey and Nixon were staunch anti-communists (Humphrey once recommended putting American Communist Party members in concentration camps and making Communist Party membership a felony), and both firmly supported the Vietnam War. More importantly, Humphrey and Nixon both had little concern for what modern industrial consumer society was doing to the environment and neither would have done anything substantially different to help prevent our current crisis. The same can be said for the two candidates who are running against Bernie Sanders today, who both support the industrial, over-consumption, money-first-above-life, status quo system that is leading us to oblivion.
Had the Democrats chosen Eugene McCarthy at their convention (or, if Robert Kennedy had not been assassinated immediately after winning the California primary and they had been able to choose him), the Democrats might have actually won in 1968, with the help of the large, enthusiastic youth vote (very similar to what Bernie Sanders has now). But the Democratic party insiders selected Humphrey, even though he had basically skipped the primaries (due mainly to coming in late, at the end of April, after Lyndon Johnson surprisingly dropped out), leading many young people and other advocates for progressive change to turn away from the party and, like Evan Barrett said, choose not to vote in November. Why blame the People for not rallying around the candidate whom the party bosses selected for them, instead of the party for not following the will of the people?
Montanans have a fundamental choice right now that will dictate how competitive our energy economy will be for decades to come. Do we take charge of our energy future, or do we bury our heads in the sand and wait to see what happens?
The thing is, our energy economy is in crisis. More than half of all electricity generated in Montana is exported to buyers in Oregon, Washington, and California. The majority of that is coal-powered electricity. But demand for coal-powered electricity is drying up as West Coast states gradually phase more renewable energy into their portfolios.
Our first instinct might be to dig in and protect the status quo. But if we sit around complaining and resisting for too long, the market for our electricity is going to dry up before our eyes. Then well have to figure out what Montana looks like without all that energy revenue and those energy jobs.
At the same time, Montanas clean energy resources are abundant but underutilized. Our wind resource is second best in the nation, but were only 21st in terms of wind energy development. And while solar provides only a small fraction of Montanas electricity today, the cost of solar power has dropped by half in the last five years, putting energy self-reliance within reach for Montana homeowners and businesses and kicking off a boom in the solar market around the country. Nationwide there are three times as many jobs in solar as there are in coal mining, and solar jobs are growing 10 times faster than the national average employment rate. Thats an opportunity Montana cant afford to pass up.
Together, wind, solar, and energy efficiency have the potential to meet demand while creating jobs in Montana, diversifying our energy portfolio, and keeping Montana competitive in the energy industry for decades to come.
Coal isnt going away tomorrow, but Montana has a narrow window of opportunity to prepare for the future. Montanas major energy customers are telling us what type of energy they will buy ten and twenty years from now. California plans to obtain 50 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Oregon will reach 50 percent by 2040, and its two largest utilities are required to phase out of coal-fired electricity by 2035. And in Washington State, lawmakers have created a fund to pay for the retirement costs of Colstrip Units I and II.
As these states phase out coal powered electricity, they will be demanding more clean energy. Where will they buy it from? Well, thats kind of up to us.
The biggest challenge to building a clean energy economy isnt cost or logistics. Its finding the political courage to recognize and engage in this new energy economy. This is understandable coal has been an important part of Montanas economy for a long time. But we have to separate the big picture debate (old vs. new, coal vs. renewable) from the situation right here in Montana. We cant sell our coal power. What can we sell instead?
For Montanans, clean energy is not a threat to our energy economy. It is the solution to a threat to our energy economy.
Thats why the Montana Renewable Energy Association and Renewable Northwest launched a new campaign calledCharge! last month. Because we dont think we can afford to wait and see what happens as regional and global markets shift around us.
Charge! is about focusing the conversation on whats really driving change in Montanas energy economy and taking control of our energy future. The question isnt whether things are changing, its how to respond. Fortunately, Montanas next energy boom has been here all along, blowing through our fields and shining down on our rooftops.
If we play our cards right, we can take advantage of a new energy boom that creates thousands of new jobs and millions of dollars in new revenue. Or we can settle for nothing. The choice is ours. Go to ChargeMT.org and tell us what you think.
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. Manzell successfully got Senate Bill 37 to the governor's desk. This bill would have required the state to properly notify all landowners of the procedures for filing their water rights claims: a bill that would have helped every landowner 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.
June 11 marks the 105th anniversary of the founding of the nonpartisan Montana People's Power League, which initiated the effort to give us the direct primary. Republicans, independents, socialists and Democrats, representing every county in Montana, banded together to curb the backroom influence of the Anaconda Company, which had been working through both major political parties to decide which candidates could have access to the General Election ballot.
June 9, two days after the June 7 primary, Montanans of any political stripe will be able to walk into the County Committee meeting of their local Democrat Party, sign a statement of support and then vote to choose Clinton or Sanders delegates from their home county to the Montana State Democrat Convention in Helena. At that June 11 state convention, the 105th anniversary of the Peoples Power League, those chosen county delegates will in turn choose 21 of 27 Montana delegates to the Democrat National Convention in Philadelphia. Some of the six at-large delegates have already been voted upon in earlier elections.
In this year for rearranging party lines and political house rules, every Montanan has a chance to help choose that small handful of delegates who will be the difference in deciding whether Clinton or Sanders will face Trump.
John B. Driscoll,
Helena
HELENA The state will file a stay in an attempt to reinstate limits on campaign continuations from political parties.
A federal judge on Tuesday struck down Montana's campaign contribution limits, just three weeks before the state's primary.
On Wednesday, Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl said the state will ask for a stay "at the earliest opportunity" to restore the limits.
U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell said Tuesday the contribution limits in state law are unconstitutional.
In a policy issued Tuesday and updated Wednesday, Motl said the new limits on what individuals and political committees can give in the 2016 election are, including general and primary:
$1,990 for governor/lieutenant governor.
$990 for other statewide offices.
$530 for District Court judge, Public Service Commission and state Senate.
$330 for all other elected offices, including the House.
Lovell's order got rid of any limits on contributions from political committees, something Motl expressed deep concern over Tuesday.
However, GOP attorney Matthew Monforton said the limits put in place Tuesday constitute "defiance yet again by Commissioner Motl of a federal court order. He should anticipate renewed litigation if he continues to give the finger to Judge Lovell."
Monforton said Lovell's ruling should mean there are no caps on contributions from any source. There could be other individuals or political groups that may join new litigation if Motl doesn't lift the limits, Monforton said.
Motl said Tuesday he wouldn't appeal the limits on what individuals and political committees can give, saying he wants to give candidates and contributors a sense of "stability" this election and avoid the chaos of 2012.
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In a separate move Wednesday, Motl dismissed a complaint against former candidate for governor Rick Hill related to contributions Hill received and spent in 2012 in a nine-day period where Lovell lifted contribution limits, only to have them put back in place after an emergency injunction.
Motl on Wednesday said litigation has reached a point at which basic justice requires Hill "be released from any consequence of his 2012 election activity."
In that election, Lovell ruled Montana's campaign contribution limits as unconstitutional, a move he repeated Tuesday. Lovell's 2012 order stood for nine days, and in that time Hill received $500,000 from the Montana Republican Party and spent some of the funds.
A complaint was filed in Motl's office by Keven O'Brien in 2012. O'Brien had said Hill should not have spent the money, while Hill argued what he did was legal at the time.
Montana GOP attorney Matthew Monforton said Wednesday the decision is a relief for Hill.
Hill ran against Gov. Steve Bullock in 2012, losing with 47.3 percent of the vote to Bullocks 48.9. OBrien, who filed the complaint in October of that year, was named Bullocks chief of staff after the November election.
"Rick and Betti (Hill) can finally move on with their lives after almost four years of illegal threats by Motl and other Montana bureaucrats," Monforton said.
"Unfortunately, dozens of Montana candidates and nonprofits still live under the cloud of equally baseless charges leveled by an unhinged, out-of-control censor who is hellbent on silencing conservative speech."
At the start of that campaign cycle, the maximum contribution to a governor candidate from a political party committee was $23,350. Motl contended that Hill should have been held to that limit, even though he took in the money when the limit was lifted.
Motl wrote that his decision doesnt give 2016 candidates the authority to act without regard to contribution limits, which he put in place Tuesday after Lovells order. His staff started contacting candidates after the ruling to notify them of the new rules.
CASPER, Wyo. A French Canadian who put a bison calf in his vehicle at Yellowstone National Park because he thought the animal was cold told a park ranger he realized what he did was wrong.
The man who took the calf is identified as Shamash Kassam of Quebec in documents filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court of Wyoming. Park officials cited Kassam for disturbing wildlife. He was fined $110 and is required to appear in court June 2 at the Yellowstone Justice Center.
Yellowstone officials euthanized the bison calf after the human interaction caused the animal to be rejected by its herd, the park said Monday.
According to the citation, Kassam told a park ranger he saw the baby bison in the middle of the road near Buffalo Ranch. Kassam said the calf was wet and shivering. He said he did not see any other bison in the vicinity and he waited 20 minutes to see if any adult bison would come back for the calf. Kassam said the animal appeared to be seeking warmth from his cars engine.
Kassam told the park ranger he picked up the calf because otherwise it would have been roadkill, the citation states. When the ranger made contact with Kassam at the Buffalo Ranch, he saw the calf lying in the back of Kassams Toyota Sequoia.
The park ranger told Kassam that park visitors are not permitted to intervene with wildlife and that by removing the calf he was preventing the mother from locating it and possibly altering its ability to survive in the wild.
Kasam stated that he understood what he did was wrong and he would never pick up or disturb any wildlife again, the citation states.
The ranger located a bison herd near where Kassam had picked up the calf and released the calf back into the herd, according to the citation. The ranger then notified National Park Service bison management.
Rangers repeatedly tried to reunite the calf with its herd, according to a statement released by Yellowstone. The efforts failed, and the calf was later euthanized because it was abandoned and approaching people and cars along the road.
Human interference can cause mothers to reject their offspring, the park said.
Yellowstone released a statement Monday after receiving criticism for euthanizing the calf. In order for the calf to leave the park, it would have had to spend months in quarantine to be monitored for brucellosis, a disease that causes bison, elk and cattle to miscarry. No approved quarantine facilities exist, and the park said it doesn't have the capacity to care for a calf that's too young to forage on its own.
"Nor is it the mission of the National Park Service to rescue animals: our goal is to maintain the ecological processes of Yellowstone," the statement said. "Even though humans were involved in this case, it is not uncommon for bison, especially young mothers, to lose or abandon their calves. Those animals typically die of starvation or predation."
A Yellowstone spokeswoman said the park would like visitors to respect wildlife and to know and follow the safety regulations.
The visitors put themselves in danger because adult animals are protective of their young and will act aggressively to defend them, the park said. Last year, five visitors were seriously injured when they approached bison. Bison harm more visitors to Yellowstone than any other animal harms visitors.
Park regulations require visitors to stay at least 25 yards from all wildlife and at least 100 yards from bears and wolves.
Disregarding these regulations can result in fines, injury and even death, the release said. The safety of these animals, as well as human safety, depends on everyone using good judgment and following these simple rules.
A business that served as the heart of the tiny community of Condon burned to the ground early Wednesday morning.
The Mission Mountains Mercantile, a grocery store and the only gas station in town, was fully engulfed in fire just a little after midnight and has been determined to be a total loss by firefighters. Condon had a population of 343 as of the 2010 Census, and there are around 50 registered businesses.
The 911 call came in at 12:22 in the morning, said Brenda Bassett, public information officer for the Missoula County Sheriffs Office.
When firefighters arrived on the scene, the blaze was toward the back of the building but quickly moved to the front of the structure. By then it was too late to save the building, and only a charred shell remains.
Its very sad, said Leanna Grubaugh, whose husband Rip works at the Mercantile. They called our house at about 1:15 in the morning and my husband went down there.
Grubaugh said she doesnt even know her husbands job status right now.
I did the majority of my shopping there, and now were going to have to drive 30 miles one way to Seeley or 45 miles to Bigfork for gas, she said. Its going to be darn inconvenient. Its the town center. We dont have a town anyway, as far as buildings. Its very difficult.
The Mercantile was located at 7217 on Highway 83. A fire marshal is investigating the scene.
Calls to the Swan Valley Fire Department and to the Condon Volunteer Fire Department were not returned.
"It's terrible," said Anne Dahl of Condon when she heard the news. Dahl said there are other places to buy small ingredients in town but the Mercantile was the main source for groceries without having to drive to Seeley.
KALISPELL (AP) A Montana judge has dismissed an assault on a peace officer charge filed against a military veteran after his defense attorney argued Kalispell officers did not give him enough time to react to an order to drop his weapon before shooting him.
Police were called to Ryan Pengelly's house in January to a report of a suicidal and homicidal woman. Officers were trying to take his mother into custody when she yelled. Pengelly has said he was asleep when he heard the commotion and grabbed a rifle.
Officers ordered him to drop the weapon and when he didn't they fired at least four shots, badly injuring Pengelly. The wounds required several operations.
Attorney Peter Leander argued that Pengelly suffered a traumatic brain injury in Iraq that slowed his visual and mental reaction time.
Earlier this month, Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House and a presidential candidate in 2012, released a set of recommendations for Republicans running for election this year. Gingrich put together the 22-page manifesto, 2016 Election Principles, at the request of the Republican National Committee.
The document in essence a master plan that comes with the strong endorsement of Reince Priebus, the chairman of the R.N.C. stresses the need for widespread inclusion of ethnic groups. It sounds remarkably like an across-the-board renunciation of Donald Trumps campaign strategy.
This presents something of a paradox, though, because Gingrich claims to be one of Trumps strongest supporters. In March, well before it was clear that Trump would go on to win the nomination, Gingrich told Slate that
Trump has had the nerve to raise questions in a clear language because he represents the millions of Americans who are sick and tired of being told that they have to be guilt-ridden and keep their mouth shut.
Since then, Gingrich has made it official, telling Fox Newss Sean Hannity on May 11:
Let me start by saying that, clearly, to anybody whos watched, you know, I endorse Donald Trump. Im going to work very hard for the Republican nominee.
Given the fact that it would be hard to imagine an approach to campaigning more diametrically opposed to Gingrichs plan than what Trump has done so far, Gingrichs enthusiasm for Trump appears almost inexplicable.
Gingrichs 2016 election proposal echoes the now familiar 2013 Republican autopsy, also known as the Growth and Opportunity Project report, which warned Republicans that in the aftermath of President Obamas second election victory they had to gain support among Hispanics, gays and women in order to remain competitive in national contests against the Democrats.
CANNES, France Critics have called Julieta, the latest by the Spanish director Pedro Almodovar in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, his most subdued film yet. But what has not been subdued is the reaction in Spain to the directors appearance in the Panama Papers, leaked documents from a law firm that managed offshore accounts.
In an interview here on Wednesday, Mr. Almodovar said that his brother and business manager, Augustin, had been advised to set up an offshore company to facilitate international movie deals and co-productions at a time before the euro made that easier. (His brother released a statement in April affirming this.) The move was not intended to avoid taxes, he said.
To say that I didnt know about it is not any sort of excuse, Mr. Almodovar said of the company, which operated in the British Virgin Islands from 1991 to 1994. So if there is any sort of responsibility to assume, then I assume it completely, given that caveat.
It was a tool for negotiation that we didnt actually need, he said.
And also my brother already had his doubts about it even from the very beginning, he added. It disappeared on its own for a lack of transactions because we didnt use it.
PARIS On Monday, the Western world may well wake up to the news that, for the first time since the defeat of Nazism, a European country has democratically elected a far-right head of state. Norbert Hofer, of the Austrian Freedom Party, claimed 35 percent of the vote in the first round of the presidential election on April 24. Now he is heading into the second round on Sunday with the two mainstream parties having been eliminated from the runoff and the Social Democratic chancellor, Werner Faymann, having resigned.
One month later, Europeans may wake up to the news that British voters have decided, in their June 23 referendum, that their country should become the first member state to leave the European Union. Many observers fear that would be fatal to the European project itself.
And on April 24, 2017, exactly a year after Mr. Hofers first-round victory, the French may well wake up to the news that Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front, has come out on top in the first round of Frances presidential election. That is what polls say we could expect if the election were held today.
In the meantime, it is not impossible that Donald J. Trump, however low his odds seem now, will have moved into the White House.
The Mount News Center
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Butte Police Reports
PUNCHES THROWN
An intoxicated woman who allegedly punched several people inside a residence and told them to shoot her was arrested Tuesday night, police said.
Police say Devon Oleta Parke, 31, of Butte was highly intoxicated when she started hitting others in the residence in the 1300 block of Joy Lane. She left on foot and officers stopped her around 7:30 p.m. near Warren Avenue and Sunset Road.
She resisted arrested and while on the ground tried to get to one officers gun and then the other officers weapon, police said. She was taken to jail and booked on three misdemeanor complaints of simple assault, one misdemeanor for resisting arrest and a felony probation violation.
She was still in jail as of late Wednesday morning with bond set at $2,090.
TOLD TO COOL IT
Police told a Butte woman to calm down at least twice Tuesday but took her to jail that night after responding to a third call.
Terri Reneelynn Waller, 28, of Butte, was arrested outside her residence in the 2000 block of Walnut while arguing about ownership of a vehicle. She was screaming I want my car (expletive) and would not stop when police arrested her around 8:15 p.m. on a misdemeanor complaint of disorderly conduct. She was released after posting $185 bail.
SMOKING WEED? SURE ENOUGH
A person called police around noon Tuesday to say he thought the neighbors might be smoking weed in their house.
Police checked it out and sure enough, the caller was right. Weed was being smoked, but the smoker had a valid medical marijuana card, police left and that was that.
DRIVE-BY PAINT SHOOTING
Someone in a passing car riddled four vehicles parked outside of P&M Transmission on Iron Street with paint balls, but a video surveillance camera caught the act. Police responded to the incident and are investigating after video footage showed the passing vehicle to be a dark gray or black Toyota Camry.
BILLINGS A day after a federal judge in an order striking down Montana's campaign contribution limits as unconstitutional criticized the state's Commissioner of Political Practice's investigations into former candidate for governor Rick Hill, the commissioner dismissed a complaint against Hill.
Jonathan Motl on Wednesday said litigation has reached a point where basic justice requires Hill "be released from any consequence of his 2012 election activity."
In that election, Judge Charles Lovell ruled Montana's campaign contribution limits as unconstitutional, a move he repeated Tuesday. Lovell's 2012 order stood for nine days, and in that time Hill received and spent $500,000 from the Montana Republican Party.
A complaint was filed in Motl's office by Keven O'Brien in 2012. O'Brien had said Hill should not have spent the money, while Hill argued what he did was legal at the time.
Montana GOP attorney Matthew Monforton said Wednesday the decision is a relief for Hill, who can now move on with his life.
Hill ran against Gov. Steve Bullock in 2012, losing with 47.3 percent of the vote to Bullocks 48.9. OBrien, who filed the complaint in October of that year, was named Bullocks chief of staff after the November election. At the start of that campaign cycle, the maximum contribution to a governor candidate from a political party committee was $23,350. O'Brien contended that Hill should have been held to that limit, even though he took in the money when the limit was lifted.
Motl wrote that his decision doesnt give 2016 candidates the authority to act without regard to contribution limits, which he put in place Tuesday after Lovells order. His staff started contacting candidates after the ruling to notify them of the new rules.
Monforton argued that Lovells ruling means there should be no limits whatsoever.
"Rick and Betti can finally move on with their lives after almost four years of illegal threats by Motl and other Montana bureaucrats," Monforton said. "Unfortunately, dozens of Montana candidates and nonprofits still live under the cloud of equally baseless charges level by an unhinged, out-of-control censor who is hellbent on silencing conservative speech."
A Butte police officer running for Sheriff Ed Lesters job is questioning why the undersheriff and three captains are paid thousands of dollars a year for being on-call, saying its legal but not right.
Lester, who won his first term as sheriff in 2012, said the policy has been in place since at least 2005 and probably before that. And it makes sense, he said, to have a top police administrator a phone call away 24/7 to deal with major crimes or emergency situations at any moment.
The on-call administrator is pretty important if you need to start making certain decisions, said Lester, who is seeking a second term this year. You have to have contingency plans and the shift commander cant be making those decisions because he is handling whats going on at the scene.
Butte police officer Russ Robertson, who is running against Lester this year, mailed campaign fliers questioning the policy.
Since the current sheriff took office, the undersheriff and 3 captains have been paid over $125,000 for non-worked time (this is over & above their regular salary, says the mailer, which features a photo of Robertson and other campaign statements and pledges by him.
The statement cites Census figures saying the average annual household income in Butte-Silver Bow is $37,654 and says Solution: I will eliminate pay for non-worked time for sworn administrators.
Robertson told The Standard the policy allows the undersheriff (George Skuletich) and three captains to each get $9,000 or more a year extra simply for being on call.
Rank-and-file officers who work overtime can take pay at time-and-a-half their normal hourly wage or get compensation time at time-and-a-half, Robertson said. The departments other 48 officers cashed out for about $89,000 in overtime pay in the last calendar year, he said.
Yet just four officers can be paid for 20 hours straight time a week for each week they are on call, plus their regular wages, even if they are never called or never have to come in, he said.
By the letter of the law that is legal, Robertson said, But nobody can tell me that is right.
They are on call but theyre also working during the week, he said. They get called out maybe 10 times a year not just one of them, that is all four of them.
Robertson said if one is on call and needs to leave the county, he simply asks another administrator to take the on-call duty.
If it is worked time, nobody is saying that is not allowed, but half a weeks pay for being on call? he said.
Each year when we get to the end of the year the captains say to us, You need to cut down on overtime, Robertson said. All of our officers are saying, Are you kidding me?
County Attorney Eileen Joyce said the issue dates back to at least 2008.
In 2008, Butte-Silver Bows personnel director at the time Tim Clark - asked the Butte law firm of Poore, Roth & Robinson for an independent legal opinion on the sheriffs authority to make personnel and policy decisions about days off, etc. unique to the Law Enforcement Division.
The research and analysis by the firms Thomas Welsh concluded that the Butte-Silver Bow sheriff has powers similar to those of a mayor in a mayor-council form of government. It also says the sheriff can establish a work period other than the typical 40-hour work week.
Lester said Robertsons mailer implies that he - Lester - implements the policy that pays the undersheriff and captains 20 hours of straight time for each week they are on call.
But the policy dates back to at least 2005, Lester said, when John Walsh was sheriff.
It says the captains, the undersheriff and sheriff will rotate mandatory on-call duty status for an assigned week. While on call, they are subject to duty at any time and must maintain contact by phone or cellular phone at all times, and they must stay in the county.
They must respond as necessary to any situation, and can use their department vehicles when needed, the policy says.
Lester said he inherited the policy and even if he wanted to change it, he would first check with county attorney Joyce to make sure it was OK to do so.
According to figures from the countys Budget and Finance Department, 952 hours of on-call time was paid in calendar year 2015. Lester said salaries of the undersheriff and captains vary, but an average of their wages means they collectively were paid about $36,690 for being on call last year.
Although he takes every fifth week for being on call, he does not get paid for it. His salary is set at $82,719 this year.
Lester said although the others get 20 hours of straight time for each week they are on call, they are actually on call 24 hours a day for those seven consecutive days. When every hour is accounted for, he said, they make an average of $4.18 per hour for being on call.
If one must leave the county, it is OK to have another take the on-call duty. But Lester said it makes sense to always have an administrator on call.
Say there is a hostage situation or someone is barricaded inside the shift commander takes control of the scene and the administrator on call is usually called out, Lester said. The commander controls the scene while the administrator makes other decisions such as calling in additional officers or even shifts, he said.
But they are often called out for other matters, including suspected homicides or complex crime scenes, Lester said.
Some shift commanders seek help or guidance from on-call administrators more than others, he said, but he disputed Robertsons claim that collectively they are only called out 10 times a year or so. Some weeks are quiet, but its also common for the administrator to be summoned four or five times in a week, he said.
Lester said it came down to a philosophical difference between himself and Robertson on whether officers should get some compensation for being on call.
Because Lester and Robertson are the only ones running for county sheriff this year, both will advance past the primary and be on the general election ballot in November.
Gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte and Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Elsie Arntzen unveiled a four-pronged education initiative on Tuesday that centered on expanding computer science classes to every Montana high school.
After touring Missoula classrooms that incorporate technology, the Republicans headed to Kalispell to announce their joint proposal at Depot Park. They suggested that computer science should qualify as a core science course toward meeting graduation requirements, that coding classes likewise should fulfill foreign language requirements and that state colleges should offer a computer science teaching certificate so that more instructors can be trained. They also suggested leveraging the existing Montana Digital Academy to bring courses to more schools.
Gianforte, an entrepreneur who became a millionaire after selling his Bozeman-based tech company to Oracle for $1.8 billion in 2011, called the initiative common-sense policy changes that fit into the existing system.
I firmly believe that computers are here to stay, and we have to teach our young people not just how to use technology but how to author technology, because its the authoring thats critically important so that they can be prepared for the jobs of the future, he said at Hellgate Elementary in Missoula on Tuesday morning. Computers are infiltrating every single industry, from agriculture to manufacturing, and we certainly have a burgeoning high-tech sector in the state.
Arntzen is a state senator and elementary school teacher in Billings. She's running against Helena teacher and Democrat Melissa Romano for the Office of Public Instruction seat.
As educators, its important for us to recognize that the needs of our students and teachers change as the economy and technology changes, Arntzen said in a campaign statement. The fact is that our students need computer skills if they are going to succeed in the 21st century economy. Computer science is now an important part of a well-rounded education.
The announcement was not a surprise for those following Gianfortes campaign. At events he often references his philanthropic work to improve computer science education, his leadership on the board of Bozemans private Christian Petra Academy or the success of RightNow, the technology company he founded with his wife.
Throughout his campaign, Gianforte has focused his education comments on giving students the skills they need to stay in Montana after graduation and to bring back those who have left. He has not yet announced any other formal education policy proposals nor provided detailed answers about how he might manage school funding and recruitment issues that have been the top focus of education advocacy groups during the legislative interim. Gianforte often notes that he is still seeking input from around the state and that he would work with legislators to find solutions if elected.
Democrats have argued that Gianforte is not a friend of public education, pointing to his volunteer and charitable support of Christian academies, as well as advocacy arguing that publicly supported scholarships and vouchers should help students attend private schools.
Jason Pitt, spokesman for campaigns of Montana Democrats, said in a statement that Gianforte's proposal to lower income tax rates would "slash school funding back to the 20th century" and noted that Gov. Steve Bullock was among dozens of state and technology leaders who signed a petition in April that called on Congress to expand funding for computer science education.
Romano said in a written statement that Montana schools "need to be on the cutting edge in all subject areas." She argued that Arntzen "has consistently voted to take away our children's education funding and dismantle public schools."
The broad swipe echoed criticisms from the state teacher's union, which has given Arntzen a low score for her voting recording. Among other issues, the group has dinged Arntzen for opposing a bill to raise the mandatory school enrollment age to 18 and for supporting a bill later vetoed by the governor that would have used state and local funding to provide tuition vouchers for students to attend private schools.
During a telephone town hall Monday night, Gianforte said teachers need more resources, and students need more avenues to good-paying jobs feeding into his campaign last summer to bring high-salary jobs to the state through telecommuting.
Gianforte said the initiative announced Tuesday wouldnt be cost-prohibitive. He noted that CodeMontana, which develops computer science curricula for schools, cost only tens of thousands of dollars to launch.
It just didnt cost that much money, so I dont think these proposals require a lot of resources, he said. We do need to fund it; Im not saying were not going to fund it.
He also suggested that until more teachers are trained in computer science that the Digital Academy should expand to add more computer science courses, which are offered to students in all districts in the state via an online platform.
Executive Director Bob Currie said the academy already has been looking at ways to expand those types of course offerings.
He noted that web design, which includes some coding instruction, was one of the first classes offered when the academy launched in 2010. In 2014, they started offering a more technical computer science course designed in partnership with Montana State Universitys program.
Were poised to expand those courses further as students identify that as something of interest, he said, noting that to-date the computer science class has not seen enough demand to expand beyond one 25-student section.
Currie said the academy has not yet talked with Gianforte or Arntzen about their ideas for an academy expansion, but noted that the program is designed to supplement classes offered in-person by districts. It does not have the capacity to offer whole programs for districts, which would teach all classes for all students in a particular subject area, he said.
Some of the smallest districts with graduating classes of 20 or fewer might use the academy as their only source of foreign language instruction, for example, while Currie said larger districts might enroll a handful of students in that same class to offer them scheduling flexibility. Academy teachers also teach traditional classes at dozens of districts, and the program is not designed to operate as a fully online school with its own staff, Currie said.
Thats an entirely different model than we have now, he said, noting that such an idea differs from all discussions to-date with the Office of Public Instruction and other state leaders. If their proposal is something that would really, really expand enrollment exponentially then obviously we would want to be involved in planning at the early stages because that isnt what we do right now.
During the tour of Hellgate, Gianforte and Arntzen saw examples of how some teachers already incorporate technology and computer science curriculum into their lessons.
The fifth-grade classes of teachers David Bixby and Erin Ellis demonstrated how they use iPads in their daily education, from attendance to choosing school lunch to math lessons.
They headed to Jamie Blixt's broadcasting class at the middle school, where students learn about journalism, how to shoot video and use the industry-standard Adobe Creative Suite software. The candidates also watched Tim Mosbacher's programming class, where students were putting the finishing touches on video games.
"If you look at the tradition of education, where we've been, where we are, where we're going to go, they have all of that here," Arntzen said of Hellgate.
Gianforte praised the programming course as an example of the direction more Montana schools should take.
Theres a distinction between the use of technology versus authoring technology, he said. We need to do both, but were light right now on the authoring of technology.
Jefferson High Schools Superintendent Tim Norbeck recently received the Montana SkillsUSA Administrator of the Year award.
He was selected from among the administrators of the 36 chapters present at the recent 46th annual Skills and Leadership Conference in Havre.
Norbeck was nominated by the JHS chapter members, and supported by advisers statewide. Jefferson High School, in Boulder, also won four medals in the competitions, with one student headed to Louisville, Ky., for the nationals.
It was a great year for our SkillsUSA club said Dave Heinmann, adviser.
Dennis Andariese, veteran CTE teacher at Jefferson High School, said Norbeck frequently will tour the classes unannounced, viewing students at work.
Not every student is going to pursue a bachelors degree, and a computer is not going to do every job. It is important that students realize that CTE classes are also valuable. His frequent presence reinforces this, Andariese said.
Since Norbeck arrived as superintendent at Jefferson High School, he has enabled dual credit CTE classes in Architectural Drafting, Welding 2 and Welding 3 in concert with Helena College. Later this school year, he will be exploring the possibility of instituting dual credit classes in residential construction in conjunction with Highlands College in Butte. In this manner, students can receive college credit for these classes without making the long drives north or south.
I was truly humbled by my nomination for the award, said Norbeck, of Butte. I am a big fan of Career and Technical Ed programs because they do offer an avenue for students who do not follow a college track. These classes and programs provide skill opportunities in many areas.
SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce.
Lilly Sorensen, 3, and her grandmother Debbie Sorensen celebrate Norwegian Constitution Day in the rotunda of the Butte-Silver Bow courthouse on Tuesday morning. Sorensen is a scribe for the Daughters of Norway, whose members gathered in the courthouse to celebrate Scandinavian heritage and Norway's independence from Sweden. Members handed out traditional Scandinavian cookies in the rotunda while the Norwegian flag was hoisted outside to sounds of the country's national anthem.
Kennedy School kindergartner Tavyn Smith and her teacher, Jacolyn Delaney, are pictured Wednesday in curriculum director Jim O'Neill's office during an inaugural event celebrating student writing. Tavyn and six other students read aloud personal narratives, ate pizza and shared writing experiences. Teachers selected the honored students. The others were first-grader Jaymie Campell, Emerson, for "Snowman; second-grader Lexa Thompson, Whittier, for "The Sparkly Day; third-grader Corinne Fredlund of West for "Bacon; fourth-grader Sonya Trudnowski, West, for "My New Puppy; fifth-grader Frankie Cox of Hillcrest for "Winning the Art Contest; and sixth-grader Cesca Bartsch, Margaret Leary, for "My Fifth-Grade Hall of Fame." Smiths piece was titled Sledding. ONeill told the students: I hope you continue to believe in yourself. Writing can take you a lot of places.
I am responding to the recent suspension of the Butte-Silver Bow 4-H leaders. I will begin by saying that no one asked me to write this letter: I chose to because I saw something that was wrong and knew I had a responsibility to speak up. I am currently a sophomore at Montana State University-Bozeman. Prior to attending MSU, I spent 11 years in the B-SB 4-H program. Through 4-H, I found my confidence and voice, which I attribute largely to my 4-H leader, Diana Widhalm, who treated me with kindness and respect. During my senior year of high school, I was named Montana State 4-H Ambassador President, the highest position a Montana 4-H youth member can hold.
I would like to share some of my experiences with the B-SB County 4-H program and the 4-H leaders that I believe are relevant to the current situation, particularly in regards to the allegations of disrespect towards the MSU Extension Office by the B-SB 4-H leaders. The B-SB County 4-H leaders that I knew from my years in the program do not sound like the people described by the MSU Extension Office.
As the Montana State 4-H Ambassador President, I had the opportunity to travel to other county 4-H programs throughout Montana and observe how they operated, and visit with them about the B-SB County 4-H program. I soon realized that B-SB County had one of the best 4-H programs in the state: out of the entire state, we had one of the highest retention of high school aged youth members. At state 4-H events, I saw the Silver Bow 4-H members in leadership roles and in addition to myself, many other Silver Bow 4-H members have been part of the state ambassador teams. Other counties knew this and wanted to know how we did it. My first answer was always that Diana and the other Silver Bow 4-H volunteer leaders treated the members with respect, taught us to think independently, and how to be leaders. In turn, they earned our respect as kind, thoughtful, and dedicated leaders and role models. That is a key thing about respect: it is earned, not demanded.
I hope that as a community, we can all understand the value of earning respect instead of demanding it. We should continue to be proud of our 4-H program and the reputation that it has always held across the state, as a program that values its youth and effectively teaches confidence, respect for others, and leadership.
The four Hs in 4-H stand for Head, Hands, Heart, and Health. Diana, Don and the other 4-H leaders exemplify these traits. The leaders encourage us to use our heads to think through any situation. Hands, with getting ready for the fair and community service projects; Diana and Don are right there working alongside the members. Heart, I have yet to meet a person with a bigger heart than Diana. She taught us and continues to teach us the picture of loyalty. Even though I am no longer a member, I know if I ever needed anything, Diana would be there. Health, shows us how to incorporate everything they have taught us into our daily lives, to make them better.
I would like to close by thanking Diana and Don for everything they have done for the Butte Silver Bow County 4-H program. I know that without them I truly would not be who I am today and the Silver Bow 4-H program would not be what it is, an organization that promotes the youth of Silver Bow County in a positive and respectful light.
-- Caleb Reichhardt, of Butte, a student at Montana State University-Bozeman, will serve an internship this summer at the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor. He will be a junior at MSU in the fall.
When Republican Presidential candidates Ted Cruz and John Kasich suspended their campaigns after being badly beaten in Indiana, the last person standing for the Republicans was Donald J. Trump.
If you look at it closely, we really should applaud what Trump did. He whipped 16 of the best and brightest the GOP had to offer.
Think about that. Trump beat Republican royalty like Jeb Bush. He beat seasoned presidential candidates like Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum. He bested Scott Walker the governor of Wisconsin. He beat the young gun Marco Rubio, and he kicked the rear of former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and current Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.
Thats not bad for a few months' work. He brought the Republican Party down to their knees, and worst of all for the Republicans, Trump paid for it himself.
Even when 2012 Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney came out against Trump calling him, among other things, a misogynist, and saying he mocked a female reporter attributing her questions to her menstrual cycle, Trump continued to win and win.
On May 3, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus threw in the towel when he tweeted, @realDonaldTrump will be presumptive @GOP nominee, we all need to unite and focus on defeating @HillaryClinton.
Some of us moderate and independent voters who have supported Republican candidates in the past are getting a good laugh at the shenanigans from Trump. He has beaten the establishment Republicans at their own little game and hes not even a politician hes just rich!
Democrats have to be loving this if Hillary Clinton stays out of federal prison over her emails, Benghazi, and other things that Republicans throw at her, she should easily win this race against Trump.
The Republican Party here in Montana and the Republicans all across the fruited plains kind of deserve Trump as their leader for a few reasons.
In the past few years, weve seen some Republicans in Montana be accused of making jokes about our first black President by showing "Obama traps" with watermelons; weve seen an outhouse peppered with bullet holes paraded around Montana with the sign that reads Obama Presidential Library on it. Theres just a lot of hatred from those on the right toward Obama and folks who may not walk the straight and narrow path of the conservatives.
That hatred seems to fit Trump to the T.
Trump has been called a con artist, a phony, a bully, vulgar, a pathological liar, a race-baiting xenophobic religious bigot. Ironically, those were just remarks made by fellow Republicans.
It looks like the Republican Party has the nominee in Trump that they deserve. They basically imploded in front of all America.
Trumps taking down of the Grand Old Party is making the regional and state battles about some candidates being a Republican In Name Only (RINO) seem even more ridiculous. The GOP now has the biggest RINO of all. Donald Trump has assumed the Republican mantle.
Good luck with that.
-- Jackie M. Mike Brown lives in Great Falls and writes for the blog TheWesternWord.com. Brown is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and a former staffer to the late U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns. Reach him at Western_Word@Yahoo.com.
When you're craving comfort food, there's no better way to indulge than with a creamy, delicious bowl of pasta. From a simple bowl of mac and cheese to spaghetti bolognese, from gnocci to lasagna, the Italian staple can satisfy any pang of hunger.
Of course, usually when you decide to order a pasta dish, you know that it's not going to be a light meal. But there are some dishes that are so far on the calorific side of the spectrum that they equal almost a full day's worth of meals.
With this in mind, HealthGrove, a Graphiq site, aggregated the most caloric pasta dishes at 10 nationally known chain restaurants. The data is pulled from menus as of 5/12/16.
Pastas with cheesy sauces dominate the list especially mac and cheeses and alfredo pastas, which consist of 28 percent of the most calorific dishes. So when you're out and looking for the comfort of a creamy pasta dish, make sure you know exactly what you're biting into.
ORIGINAL NOTICE FOR PUBLICATION
JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association
Plaintiff,
vs.
Ruth Champagne; Parties in Possession; Unknown spouse, if any, of Ruth Champagne, et al.
Defendants.
You are notified that a petition has been filed in the office of this court naming you as a defendant in this action. The petition was filed on March 29, 2016, and prays for foreclosure of Plaintiffs mortgage in favor of the Plaintiff on the property described in this notice and judgment for the unpaid principal amount of $109,925.22, with 5% per annum interest thereon from August 1, 2015, together with late charges, advances and the costs of the action including (but not limited to) title costs and reasonable attorney's fees, as well as a request that said sums be declared a lien upon the following described premises from June 19, 2009, located in Muscatine county, Iowa:
The West 180 feet of the following described tract of land, to-wit: Commencing at a point on the East line of Columbus Street in the City of West Liberty, Iowa, which is 30 feet East and 76 1/2 feet North of the center Section 12, Township 78 North, Range 4 West of the 5th Principal Meridian, and running thence East 180 feet, thence South 76 1/2 feet to the quarter section line, thence East along the quarter section line, 806.7 feet, thence North 146 1/2 feet, thence West 986 1/2 feet to the East line of Columbus Street, thence South along the said Street line to the point of beginning, commonly known as 804 North Columbus Street, West Liberty, IA 52776 (the "Property")
The petition further prays that the mortgage on the above described real estate be foreclosed, that a special execution issue for the sale of as much of the mortgaged premises as is necessary to satisfy the judgment and for other relief as the Court deems just and equitable. For further details, please review the petition on file in the clerk's office. The Plaintiffs attorney is Halley Ryherd, of SouthLaw, P.C.; whose address is 1401 50th Street, Suite 100, West Des Moines, IA 50266.
NOTICE
THE PLAINTIFF HAS ELECTED FORECLOSURE WITHOUT REDEMPTION. THIS MEANS THAT THE SALE OF THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY WILL OCCUR PROMPTLY AFTER ENTRY OF JUDGMENT UNLESS YOU FILE WITH THE COURT A WRITTEN DEMAND TO DELAY THE SALE. IF YOU FILE A WRITTEN DEMAND, THE SALE WILL BE DELAYED UNTIL TWELVE MONTHS (OR SIX MONTHS IF THE PETITION INCLUDES A WAIVER OF DEFICIENCY JUDGMENT) FROM THE ENTRY OF JUDGMENT IF THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY IS YOUR RESIDENCE AND IS A ONE-FAMILY OR TWO-FAMILY DWELLING OR UNTIL TWO MONTHS FROM ENTRY OF JUDGMENT IF THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY IS NOT YOUR RESIDENCE OR IS YOUR RESIDENCE BUT NOT A ONE-FAMILY OR TWO-FAMILY DWELLING. YOU WILL HAVE NO RIGHT OF REDEMPTION AFTER THE SALE. THE PURCHASER AT THE SALE WILL BE ENTITLED TO IMMEDIATE POSSESSION OF THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY. YOU MAY PURCHASE AT THE SALE.
You must serve a motion or answer on or before 15th day of June, 2016, and within a reasonable time thereafter file your motion or answer with the Clerk of Court for Muscatine County, at the county courthouse in Muscatine, Iowa. If you do not, judgment by default may be rendered against you for the relief demanded in the petition.
If you require the assistance of auxiliary aids or services to participate in a court action because of a disability, immediately call your District ADA Coordinator at 563-326-8783. If you are hearing impaired, call Relay Iowa TTY at 1-800-735-2942.
By: Jeff Tollenaer
CLERK OF THE ABOVE COURT
Muscatine County Courthouse
401 East 3rd Street,
Muscatine, IA 52761
IMPORTANT:
YOU ARE ADVISED TO SEEK LEGAL ADVICE AT ONCE TO PROTECT YOUR INTERESTS.
MUSCATINE, Iowa The Muscatine Police Department is releasing additional information about a Friday, May 13 hit and run accident that occurred at the intersection of East Fifth and Sycamore streets.
Authorities are searching for a copper-colored PT Cruiser HHR (station wagon style) with a noticeable dent on the passenger side rear bumper. The driver is described as a female between the ages of 16 and 20.
The teenage victim was taken to UnityPoint Health Trinity Muscatine emergency room for treatment of non-life threatening injuries, according to a press release from police.
The incident was reported at 3:38 p.m. Friday.
The police are asking for the public's help in locating the hit and run driver. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the Muscatine Police Department at 563-263-9922 Ext. 247. Persons providing information may remain anonymous.
Peggy Senzarino of the Muscatine Journal
MUSCATINE, Iowa Police are investigating a sexual assault which occurred at a Muscatine residence at 1 a.m. Tuesday, May 17.
According to a press release from the Muscatine Police Department, Phillip Allan Manske, 35, of Muscatine, was taken into custody at 6:36 p.m. Tuesday at a residence in the 500 block of Walnut Street. Manske was charged with third-degree sexual abuse, first-degree burglary, assault on a peace officer causing injury, and the violation of a no-contact order out of the state of Florida.
Manske allegedly broke into a residence in the 400 block of West Sixth Street and allegedly performed a sex act by force or against the will of the victim, according to the criminal complaint. The victim has been identified as a 29-year-old female who knew Manske. She was taken by private vehicle to UnityPoint Health Trinity Muscatine for treatment.
She had a protective order against Manske out of Florida, according to the press release.
An officer was injured while taking the suspect into custody Tuesday night and was transported to the hospital. Muscatine police declined to release the name of the injured officer but a spokesperson did confirm the officer was transported to Trinity Muscatine for treatment.'
Anyone with information about the alleged incident is asked to contact Lt. Tim Hull of the Muscatine Police Department at 563-263-9922 ext. 608. Callers may remain anonymous.
Additional information about the case will be released as it becomes available, according to police.
WEST LIBERTY, Iowa City council chambers were filled to overflowing Tuesday night in West Liberty, apparently by residents who have issues with City Manager Lawrence McNaul.
The second reading of an ordinance amendment that would require the city manager to live within city limits failed to pass during the May 3 council meeting on a 2-2 vote. McNaul lives just outside the city limits.
Mayor Robert Hartman warned Tuesday night's overflow crowd that comments about personnel would not be tolerated. He also took issue with a critical article about McNaul that appeared on Facebook. "That was slanderous and not appropriate," Hartman told the crowd. "There are certain issues you don't have the right to know."
With those ground rules established, Hartman then invited comments, but only one person spoke. Sanded Buy see Baker said she's in support of McNaul. "I understand there's been some critical discussion at council meetings about where the city manager should or should not live," Baker said. She added she would support a residency requirement being in the city manager's contract but not in city code.
No other comments were heard, and the overflow crowd gradually dwindled during the remainder of the meeting.
On a related note, the council unanimously approved the second reading of an ordinance amendment clarifying the process of filling unexpired terms of both elected and appointed officials.
IN OTHER BUSINESS
The council approved payment of claims totaling $1,178,069.
The council approved Pay Estimate No. 5 of $277,758 to Ricklefs Excavating of Anamosa for the Wastewater Treatment Plant Improvements Project.
The council approved an agreement with Alta Ventures of Iowa City for a development on the west side of West Liberty and authorizing TIF funding for the project.
The council approved a request to expand the area for the Farmers Market.
The council went into closed session to discuss a possible real estate transaction.
WAPELLO, Iowa Bid notices to separate the former Louisa County Jail in Wapello and renovate a newer addition for additional county office space can now be posted, the Louisa County Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday.
The board acted after county engineer Larry Roehl reported he had completed the final specifications and bid documents for the work.
Roehl indicated some details, such as specifications for paint, flooring, cabinets and other items would need to be finalized later, but said the major design work had been completed.
There are still a lot of moving pieces, he said.
Despite that, the supervisors directed county auditor Sandi Elliott to post bid notices with a June 14 bid opening. Work would need to be completed by September.
In the meantime, the supervisors said they would continue to discuss the renovation work with several county offices that could be moving into the new quarters.
Supervisor Chris Ball said he had recently talked to emergency management director Staci Griffin, whose office is currently at the Louisa County Complex northeast of Wapello.
Shes was fine with it, he reported.
Supervisor Randy Griffin said the emergency management commission would also be discussing the move at an upcoming meeting.
Board members also indicated they would be talking with community services director Bobbi Wulf and general assistance coordinator Cyndi Mears about moving their programs to the renovated annex.
Buckman said Elliott would be contacted all department to explain the proposed plans for the renovation were now in her office.
(She) will put an email out to all departments to come and review and make comments, Buckman said.
The county supervisors agreed several months ago, after failing to sell the building and deciding against demolition, to separate the older historic jail from the newer addition and to renovate the addition.
In other action Tuesday, the supervisors also approved transferring $76,609 in revenue collected by the Louisa County Conservation Board (LCCB) to the countys Conservation Reserve Fund.
LCCB members Sherry Humphreys and Stan Staats, along with LCCB Executive Director Katie Hammond presented the request, which included a copy of the Iowa Code that specifies the transfer could not be less than the amount of fees, charges, donations and other revenue received by the board.
Hammond said the LCCB had actually received over $103,000 in revenue as of May 1, but a portion of that revenue had been used for general fund operations. The transfer raised the total balance in the reserve fund to $197,804, which concerned Griffin.
The conservation board is spending a lot of money and I have taxpayers who question it all the time, he said.
Buckman however said the board was helping to promote an important county feature.
Environmental tourism is supposed to be one of our strong points, she said, pointing out the LCCB request was the minimum the Iowa Code required.
According to the request, the LCCB expects to use the reserve funds to develop the Langwood Education Center, Eden Park and to purchase vehicles and equipment.
The board also held a public hearing and approved a FY16 budget amendment, adding $142,400 in revenue and $104,781 in expenses to this years budget.
The one-lot Fryville Subdivision in Columbus City Township was also approved.
In final action, the board met with County Sheriff Brad Turner and Tim McCleary and Dwight Brockhouse, both of Muscatine, and agreed to continue investigating a new water filtering system for the county complex.
MUSCATINE, Iowa Nearly 300 students received their diplomas from Muscatine Community College Tuesday night during the school's 85th graduation ceremony.
"Graduates, your success is the most important thing we do at Muscatine Community College," said Don Doucette, chancellor of the Eastern Iowa Community College District which includes MCC, Scott Community College and Clinton Community College.
"Tonight is your night. I hope that makes you feel like tonight is a very special night."
Brandon Carle of Muscatine graduated with an associate in arts degree and an associate in science. He plans to attend Grandview University in Des Moines in the fall to study biochemistry and hopefully become a physician's assistant.
Carle was given the Gerhard F. Koch Memorial Award as the college's outstanding chemistry student for 2015-2016.
"It's been great. I actually went to the University of Iowa for a semester and I came back because I didn't like the size. MCC kind of helped me understand that I actually wanted a smaller school. That's why I chose Grandview. It's a lot smaller. They've (MCC) helped to finalize the idea that I really wanted to go into a medical background."
Whitley Frieden of Joy, Illinois will be attending Iowa State University in the fall for ag studies.
She completed MCC's agri-business management program..
"I grew up on a farm so I've always been involved with agriculture and everything that comes with it. Iowa State is really well-known for its ag programs so that was the obvious choice for me to go there," Frieden said.
She is looking to the future.
"I think it's exciting but it will also be a little different for me to move away from home and to be at such a big school and to be away from home. I think it will be good though," Frieden said.
Doucette told the assembled graduates, their friends and families, that education is the key to success and upward mobility adding that the American dream is alive and well.
"Education is the only thing that no one can take away from you."
The ceremony was held at Calvary Church in Muscatine.
Les emplois a Rennes sont abondants et varies. Il y a quelque chose pour tout le monde. Que vous soyez a la recherche dun emploi []
Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes []
MultiChoice will be opening the History channel on DStv for a month from 13 June to all DStv Compact subscribers.
A+E Networks UK supplies the History (DStv 186) channel to MultiChoices DStv satellite pay-TV platform in South Africa and the rest of the continent and has appointed Yusuf Nabee who is taking over responsibility for A+E Networks UKs TV channels in Africa as general manager.
A+E Networks UK and MultiChoice want more DStv subscribers to sample the History channel and is opening the channel usually just available to DStv Premium subscribers from 13 June to 11 July for DStv Compact subscribers as well to co-incide with the start of the new miniseries remake, Roots, starting on the channel on 15 June.
After its start on History, Roots will also repeat on A+E Networks UKs sister-channel, Lifetime (DStv 131) from 19 June.
The new 8-episode miniseries produced by A+E Studios is a remake of the late 1970s multi-generational story of a captured African slave fighting for freedom in America.
The SABC, along with shows like The Cosby Show and others, banned the original Roots with LeVar Burton and Louis Gossett Jr. from being broadcast in South Africa.
Part of the new version of Roots with Laurence Fishburne, Forest Whitaker and Malachi Kirby were filmed in South Africa.
Mtunzinis Umlalazi River and the Dlinza Forest near Eshowe in KwaZulu-Natal were used for filming to stand in for areas in Gambia and along the Kambay Bolongo River where the character of Kinte is captured and put onto a ship to be sent to America.
Channel24
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A record $330bn has been invested in renewable energy after the crash of oil and gas prices, according to Michael Liebreich, chairperson of the advisory board for Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).
Liebreich took part in a discussion on global energy trends on Tuesday during the first day of the African Utility Week, which is taking place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC).
Previously, when oil and gas prices dropped, investment in clean energy also stalled, Liebreich said. But not this time around. Were in a low-cost-of-oil environment for the foreseeable future, but this is not stopping renewable energy investment.
He reminded the audience that he had said five years ago that renewable energy is not too expensive, nor a rich mans indulgence as some believed. Already then I said wind power and solar were much cheaper in places.. compared to what Africans were paying for their energy at the time.
The cost of solar energy has recently dipped in Mexico, where the Italian power company Enel recently bid a price of 3.6 US cents per kilowatt-hour. Wind energy also came in below 3c/kWh in an auction in Morocco earlier this year, said Liebreich.
And 3c is not going to be the cheapest youve ever seen. All of the technology needed for a clean energy revolution will follow this path.
He acknowledged that the transition to clean energy is like rebuilding the engine of an aeroplane when in flight. In Africa its even more difficult. Here youre trying to rebuild the engine when youre in take-off. Thats a great challenge.
He added though that African countries are fully able to attract investment in clean energy, despite the commodity price bust and credit ratings downgrades in places where the economy was surging some time ago. But that too will pass, he said, urging African governments to put in an effort to ensure the creditworthiness of their energy utilities.
Anton Eberhard, energy expert and professor at the University of Cape Towns management programme in infrastructure reform and regulation, concluded the discussion by saying that business models for electricity generation which have worked for centuries are now being challenged.
Renewable energy is breaking through in a way traditional power utilities cannot ignore any longer, Eberhard said. Due to their variability, renewables are not suitable for base load generation, he added, but they are becoming cheaper and well have to maximise their contribution to the grid.
Fin24
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Choosing the best laptop for your budget is an exercise in weighing trade-offs between weight, battery life, performance, and price.
Sites like NotebookCheck offer rankings of notebooks, and segment them into various classes to group these trade-offs together.
The lists below show the top ultrabooks, sub-notebooks, business notebooks, and multimedia laptops that are readily available in South Africa.
A similar list of the top gaming notebook computers in South Africa is available on MyGaming.
Best ultrabooks
An ultrabook, as specified by Intel in 2011, is a highly-mobile device with a slim case and decent performance (Core i processors) for almost every display size, states NotebookCheck.
Here are the best ultrabooks available in SA.
Lenovo ThinkPad T460s
Specifications Price R33,370 Rating 91% Display 14 Touch full HD (1,920 x 1,080) CPU Intel Core i7-6600U RAM 8GB DDR4 Storage 512GB SSD Weight 1.4kg
Dell Latitude 14 7000 Series E7470
Specifications Price R29,000 Rating 89% Display 14 Touch QHD (2,560 x 1,440) CPU Intel Core i5-6300U RAM 8GB DDR4 Storage 256GB SSD Weight 1.7kg
Dell XPS 13 9350
Specifications Price R40,266 Rating 88% Display 13.3 QHD Touch Infinity Edge (3,200 x 1,800) CPU Intel Core i7-6560U RAM 16GB DDR3L Storage 512GB SSD Weight 1.3kg
Best sub-notebooks
Sub-notebooks are devices that bridge the gap between the performance of large laptops and smaller mobile devices like tablets.
Two versions of the Dell XPS 139350 rank in the best ultrabook and sub-notebook categories.
Dell XPS 139350
Specifications Price R34,890 Rating 90% Display 13.3 QHD Touch Infinity Edge (3,200 x 1,800) CPU Intel Core i5-6200U RAM 8GB DDR3L Storage 256GB SSD Weight 1.2kg
Apple MacBook 12 (Early 2015) 1.1GHz
Specifications Price R18,999 Rating 89% Display 12 IPS Retina (2,304 x 1,440) CPU Dual-core Intel Core M RAM 8GB LPDDR3 Storage 256GB SSD Weight 0.9kg
HP Elitebook 820 G2
Specifications Price R26,017 Rating 88% Display 12.5 full HD (1,920 x 1,080) CPU Intel Core i7-5500U RAM 8GB DDR3L Storage 256GB SSD Weight 1.34kg
Best multimedia notebooks
Multimedia notebooks are devices with 14-inch or larger displays that have been designed as all-round laptops by the manufacturer, and come with graphics cards up to the GTX 960M.
Dell XPS 159550 i7
Specifications Price R40,600 Rating 86% Display 15.6 UHD (3,840 x 2,160) CPU Intel Core i7-6700HQ RAM 16GB DDR4 Storage 1TB Hard Drive + 32GB SSD Weight 2.1kg
Acer Aspire V Nitro Black Edition
Specifications Price R19,869 Rating 86% Display 17.3 full HD (1,920 x 1,080) CPU Intel Core i7-6700HQ RAM 16GB DDR4 Storage 2TB Hard Drive + 256GB SSD Weight 2.35kg
Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15-inch 2015
Specifications Price R48,999 Rating 85% Display 15.4 IPS Retina (2,880 x 1,800) CPU Intel Core i7-4870HQ RAM 16GB DDR3L Storage 512GB SSD Weight 2.04kg
Best business notebooks
Many of the top ultrabooks also made NotebookChecks ranking of the best business notebooks.
Lenovo ThinkPad T460s
Specifications Price R33,370 Rating 91% Display 14 Touch full HD (1,920 x 1,080) CPU Intel Core i7-6600U RAM 8GB DDR4 Storage 512GB SSD Weight 1.4kg
Dell Latitude 14 7000 Series E7470
Specifications Price R29,000 Rating 89% Display 14 Touch QHD (2,560 x 1,440) CPU Intel Core i5-6300U RAM 8GB DDR4 Storage 256GB SSD Weight 1.7kg
Acer Travelmate P645
Specifications Price R21,931 Rating 88% Display 14 full HD (1,920 x 1,080) CPU Intel Core i7-5500U RAM 8GB DDR3 Storage 1TB Hard Drive Weight 1.5kg
More hardware news
Asus VivoBook Flip coming to South Africa
Upgraded Apple MacBook revealed
HP unveils worlds thinnest laptop HP Spectre
Dell XPS 13 laptop comes with Ubuntu 14.04
The world of technology continues to grow and Euphoria is at the cutting edge of innovation here in South Africa.
Giving world class technology products and excellent customer service to businesses in our country is critical to our mission says Golding, CEO of Euphoria Telecom.
The rapid uptake and confidence in Euphorias product has earned the company a strong reputation in the industry.
Starting out in 2010, the company now proudly hosts over 1000 business customers in South Africa, including listed companies and well known corporate brands like Galaxy & Co, Famous Brands and Groupon.
The growth and success of our company is grounded in our business culture and ethos. Our work place is a place of inspiration, team effort, strong relationships and a belief that every persons individual contribution can have a positive impact says Golding.
The business has adopted its own unique business and management style, creating an environment where people can truly enjoy their work.
There is huge emphasis placed on self-management, job satisfaction and creating value for both the business and more importantly for employees.
Conrad de Wet, Euphoria CTO said the following:
We are more like a family than just work colleagues. As a team, we focus more time and energy on being productive and adding value, instead of conforming to the status quo. We live in the age of technology, which means our team members dont need to be desk bound, strapped in and bored by their surroundings, we can work from anywhere, as long as we are adding value at the end of each day. You have to remember that people spend a third or more of their lives working, we make sure our team is excited about work while maintaining a health work life balance. This is especially important for our software developers, who need the freedom to think outside the box and bring inspiration to the table. We dont expect our developers to think outside the box from inside a cubicle!
Pizza Fridays at Euphoria might sound a bit cheesy but those are the days when the team gets a chance to come together, catch up on all sorts of things, foster relationships and share ideas.
And it doesnt end there, regular days out on the town with the team and their familys make it easier to find that perfect work life balance by integrating work and personal.
In the past, it was expected that a person would be different at work and again at home.
This isnt the reality Euphoria knows this and encourages work life balance.
Euphoria is growing rapidly is looking for software developers who arent satisfied with developing just anything.
We seek out individuals who are a natural fit to our culture, who are inspired by what we do and who are willing to commit to our mission and vision.
The most important quality is to show up with passion for the cause that is what makes our employees true Euphorians.
For more information on positions available and to submit your application, visit Euphorias careers page.
Perhaps, Shenzhen in Guangdong province is the best reflection of Chinese urbanization in the past decades.
Now one of China's key economic hubs, the city, which was countryside more than 30 years ago, is often seen as lacking in rich history as it is seen as an immigrants' city.
So, when the 12th China International Cultural Industries Fair was held there from May 12 to 16, it was a pleasant surprise to see its intangible cultural heritage on show.
For instance, He Hong, 50, brought her paper cutouts to the fair.
The woman, who hails from Ji'an, in Jiangxi province - but now lives in Shenzhen - learned to make paper cutouts in her teens.
She established Hoho Culture & Art in 2015 to promote this traditional art form.
Chinese paper cutouts were recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2010, and there are many sub-genres in the country.
Speaking of her work, she says: "You have to use creativity and a sense of modern design to preserve traditions, even with materials used," referring to a portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in her studio, which was cut from layers of xuanzhi, a rice paper typically used for calligraphy and Chinese paintings.
Revealing how she keeps this intangible cultural heritage alive even as others struggle, she says her recipe is simple: What is produced need to be put in supermarkets rather than in museums.
Describing her creations, where she explores multiple ways to use paper cutouts in daily life, like indoor decorations, she says: "The items carry the spirit of Chinese paper cutouts, and represent Chinese philosophy and aspirations. This cannot be changed, no matter what."
He, who has 200 apprentices working for her, says new ideas have kept coming through the years.
For example, she now uses specially processed paper, which can be used to transfer designs to porcelain pieces.
When the paper cutouts are burned at high temperatures, the designs get transferred onto the ceramic piece.
Meanwhile, given Shen-zhen's metropolitan character, it should come as no surprise that fading traditional crafts are being resurrected using modern industrial methods.
Narrating his story, Liu Quanhui, a fifth-generation porcelain maker from Chao-zhou, in Guangdong province, who likes to call himself "an entrepreneur", says: "When I first went to Saudi Arabia for an expo in 1993, I found that Chinese porcelain, which was once considered the best in the world, was far behind our counterparts from Japan and Europe.
"That was my first time abroad, and this (ranking of Chinese porcelain) greatly shocked me. So, I decided to exert myself to take Chinese porcelain back to the top of the world.
"It's also my family's duty to preserve the skill."
So, as most porcelain-making in China at that time, which was represented by Jingdezhen, in Jiangxi province, focused on state-of-the-art techniques to draw patterns on porcelain pieces, Liu took another path.
Explaining what he did, he says: "Given that a major problem was that traditional material used to make Chinese porcelain was too rough for modern aesthetics, we needed improvements."
With that in mind, he moved to Shenzhen in 2000.
Justifying why he feels modern production methods are needed, he says: "When I visited Japan, I found artisans there very proud of their work, unlike Chinese studios, where things are often done in a very disorderly fashion.
"Attitude is also important. That's why modern enterprise management has to be introduced in traditional craftsmanship as well."
Nevertheless, despite his success, some professionals, who attended a training program held by the Beijing-based International Training Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific region under the auspices of UNESCO at the industry fair, were concerned about introducing modern manufacturing practices to improve traditional crafts.
One of those who expressed reservations was Wang Chenyang, deputy director of the intangible cultural heritage department under the Ministry of Culture.
Outlining his concerns, he says: "While development of intangible cultural heritage can create wide space for economic growth, when reviving it, one should go back to the origin and review its functionality."
Wang also pointed to the necessity of protecting the heritage from industrialization.
Despite such views, He and Liu have followed their instincts to modernize while preserving the heritage.
As He wants her paper cutouts to be accessed by more people, her company has opened DIY workshops for the public to experience them.
"Perhaps, most will treat it only as a hobby," she says. "But, even if a small group from among a growing population take paper cutouts seriously and are willing to join the industry, the craftsmanship will survive and thrive.
"Maybe, I'm not the best paper cutout artist there is, but at least I want to be its best promoter," she says.
wangkaihao@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 05/18/2016 page18)
Why always Bungoma County?
The County is once again on the spot over apparent misuse of public funds. According to reports, the county government splashed Sh 2.7 Million to acquire a governors seat and stool.
Governor Kenneth Lusaka has since issued a statement denying the extravagant purchase.
The County Government of Bungoma has not purchased any governors seat or stool at all The governors office therefore requests the architect of the said propaganda to forthwith stop the ongoing misinformation, read the statement.
However, county officials admitted that plans were underway to purchase an executive seat for the governor. The purchase is still under the tender process.
Here is a photo of the seat and stool that has been circulating on social media:
This in not the first time that the county is making headlines over misuse of funds. In September 2015, there was an uproar over the Bungoma Agriculture ministrys purchase of ten wheelbarrows at Sh109,000 each.
Outspoken activist and politician Orie Rogo Manduli has no kind words for the new crop of Kenyas TV anchors. The former beauty queen says we dont have news anchors anymore.
We dont have news anchors anymore. They obviously lost it a long time ago, said Manduli, adding that she hardly watches news nowadays.
Manduli blames everything on over-exposed flesh and materialism.
I feel sorry for them. I dont even believe or listen to what they say because of the things they do. Every time I see one on screen I think of what I read about them on social media, she said.
We have enough rot in the country. We dont need any more of it from TV girls who are being watched by our daughters in school. Their materialism is particularly getting out of hand.
She added that media owners need to come up with rules that govern screen girls dress codes and behaviour in public.
Markley Cove is the latest Lake Berryessa resort to be put out to bid for a possible new operator amid the long-running federal attempt to reshape the reservoirs recreation experience.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced the bidding period is open through June 27. With the addition of Markley Cove, the bureau is seeking to award new concessionaire contracts for six of the lakes seven resorts.
But, unlike other resorts targeted for redevelopment, Markley Cove may not have its marina, store, office and other infrastructure removed. It may not face a drastic makeover.
A successful bidder could opt to start from scratch and build its own infrastructure on the 120-acre site. But Jonathan Friedman of the bureau said the winner will also have the option of keeping the existing infrastructure.
The operation at Markley Cove is very popular, said Warren Kasper of the bureau. It gives people a place to launch and moor their boats and have access to marina-related services.
Delayed ballots to arrive this week
Local residents have found a barrage of slick fliers from various June 7 election candidates and causes in their mailboxes over the past week, but no vote-by-mail ballots yet.
Napa County Registrar of Voters John Tuteur said Monday that the vote-by-mail ballots will soon be on their way to the voters who use them about 90 percent of voters overall. They should arrive at peoples homes by the end of the week.
The ballots will arrive about a week later than planned. Tuteur said his office likes to get them to homes 29 days before the election, though state law gives a leeway of 10 days.
Our vendor is having some production issues, he said.
Napa County has a new ballot that looks the same to voters, but has a different kind of paper and ink, Tuteur said. The vendor, ProVote Solutions, has only one printing machine for the ballots and that machine had some production problems. Only four of the counties it serves use this ballot.
Commission endorses B&B in historic home
A historic First Street mansion, built around 1868, could become the citys next bed-and-breakfast inn.
The citys Cultural Heritage Commission is recommending approval of a plan to create a seven-room inn at 1929 First St. in what is known as the William Smith house.
A lot of the most beautiful buildings of this era are B&Bs, said project spokesman Dan Vinatieri. You need the money to keep them up to that level. I think this project is going to do that. Its going to make it an asset to the neighborhood.
The owner of the home, Shahin Shahabi of Stonehedge Winery, had submitted the project to the commission in 2015, but did not receive approval at that time. The commission thought a proposed back deck was too large, and questioned parking and traffic, among other issues.
Neighbors and nearby B&B owners also expressed concern about traffic and noise.
To mitigate those concerns Shahabi and his representatives revised their proposal, making a number of changes, including a smaller deck, a revamped landscaping plan, a reduced number of rooms from 10 to seven and agreed to preserve certain interior design features.
In its new home, Napa Bike Fest spreads its wings
Napas new bicycle celebration was the same as the old celebration but against a bigger, roomier and more scenic backdrop than before.
For its fifth year, the Napa Bike Fest left its old home in the Copia parking lot for the spacious surroundings of the Oxbow Commons, the downtown park that opened last summer. Organizers with the Napa County Bicycle Coalition said more than 1,400 cyclists young, old and in between arrived to take part in a variety of activities or set off on two-wheeled tours down the street, past historic homes or all the way to Skyline Wilderness Park.
The festival, which debuted in 2012, was among the events to take advantage of First Street parking made plentiful by the closure of the former Copia wine, food and art center. But the buildings planned revival as a satellite of the Culinary Institute of America led the bike coalition to turn its gaze a short distance away, toward the green space the city created while carving a winter waterway to keep the river from overrunning its banks.
Restored Latino mural to return downtown
The outdoor artwork paying tribute to Napa Countys Latino community will go back on display by the fall, according to leaders of a restoration effort.
Freshening work on the 14-year-old Napa Latino Heritage Mural is about 60 percent complete and is expected to last until late July or early August, Ed Shenk, co-chairman of the restoration campaign, said.
The mural, which depicts prominent people and events from the valleys Latino past, is scheduled for re-mounting on the First Street facade of the Carithers Building in downtown Napa in time for Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 16.
Jose Charles, one of the murals three artists, is overseeing a makeover that will brighten faded colors, add the figures of Mexican-American farmworkers, and add a frame and backing intended to protect the painting for another two to three decades.
District pushes for funds to finish flood project
Wrapping up the remaining Napa River flood control projects within the city of Napa is going to take longer than anticipated, maybe years longer. Until then, some 2,000 parcels remain vulnerable in a major flood.
About 3 miles of flood walls and a pump station remain unbuilt. Napa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District officials estimate the entire package wont be finished until 2023 in a best-case scenario and perhaps not until 2027.
For years and years, it was always assumed the projects would be completed in 2018, District Engineer Phil Miller said. Its become increasingly clear thats not going to be the case.
Winery bookkeeper sentenced for embezzlement
The bookkeeper accused of stealing more than $220,000 from a Rutherford winery was sentenced to a year in jail, according to court documents.
Susan Jean Moore, 46, of Napa pleaded no contest to one count of felony embezzlement from JJ Cohn Estate LLC. Moore was charged with an additional 78 counts, including embezzlement and grand theft, which were dismissed during sentencing on April 26 in Napa County Superior Court, according to court documents.
Moore was arrested in April 2015 after an internal investigation revealed that more than $220,000 had been stolen from her longtime client, JJ Cohn Estate LLC, owner of Scarecrow Wine in Rutherford.
She stole the money by writing checks to herself and making false QuickBooks (an electronic bookkeeping system) entries, according to the police report.
Napa State staff protests mandatory overtime
A typical workday is supposed to last about eight hours, but what if youre asked to stay and work another eight hours? Thanks to mandatory overtime, this can happen to nurses and psychiatric technicians at Napa State Hospital.
The practice of mandatory overtime has been used at medical facilities for years. It was outlawed in the private sector in 2001, but not at state medical facilities, prompting picketing Thursday by employees at Napa State Hospital.
Picketers wearing purple colors of the hospitals Service Employees International Union (SEIU) received encouragement from passing motorists who beeped their horns and called out in support.
Outsiders really dont know know how much this issue is affecting workers and patients, said Sheri Hinkle, a health service specialist at Napa State, who is also the senior union steward.
Elections officials will count signatures
Backers of two proposed local November ballot measures one designed to better protect watersheds and the other animal shelter animals have passed their first major tests.
Both groups spent several months collecting signatures. They each need 3,900 signatures from Napa County registered voters as confirmed by the county to qualify their measures.
On Wednesday, the groups submitted their petitions to the county. Now its up to the county Election Division to rule whether the threshold for valid signatures has been met.
The county will make its calculations using a random sample of 500 signatures from each initiative. Registrar of Voters John Tuteur said his department has until June 23 to finish the task, but he intends to finish earlier.
If enough signatures are valid, Tuteur will present the initiatives to the Board of Supervisors. The board can adopt the initiatives into law or place them on the November ballot. It can also ask for a report analyzing fiscal and other potential impacts to the county.
City planners and leaders are starting to spell out the possible rules and locations for Napas future sellers of medical marijuana even as California voters prepare to potentially throw the doors open to much wider legal use of the drug.
The City Council began reviewing a set of regulations Tuesday night would allow one or more dispensaries to offer cannabis products in certain districts, set minimum distances away from homes and schools, and govern sellers operating hours and the minimum age of customers. The regulations also may determine the rules for Napans with doctors recommendations for marijuana who want to grow the plants at home.
The discussion revives a long-running debate over medical marijuanas place in Napa, which has seen the council set rules for a dispensary in 2010 only to abandon them three years later. Hovering over the debate, however, are the wholesale rule changes that may loom in November, when state voters may face ballot measures to legalize pot even for recreational use.
Loose ends remained in the prospective law after more than two hours of debate among city officials and Napa residents, and no new ordinance is expected until after the election. But council members appeared mostly comfortable with allowing a medicinal cannabis seller in town, given enough oversight to reassure neighbors.
This is an easing-in process, where we have to get the community comfortable with where were going, said Peter Mott of the ordinance-in-progress. Once you have a dispensary thats a well-run business, we can revisit it. Its about (dealing with) fear, fear of change.
Council members in 2010 passed an ordinance designed to govern a marijuana dispensary within the town, but retracted it in 2013 amid concerns about prosecution from the federal government, which continues to declare the drug illegal.
In October 2015, however, the passage of a landmark California bill launched the setup of a regulatory system for cannabis, whose medicinal use the state first legalized in 1996. The Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act will create a statewide program to oversee the drugs cultivation, manufacture, testing, transport and sale, with a new governing body to be formed as early as 2018.
With that new backstop of state regulation, in February, Napa revived its drive to create a new marijuana ordinance. Despite the looming ballot initiatives, Community Development Director Rick Tooker urged the city to clarify its law to avoid delaying legal sellers once state regulation takes full effect.
The new proposal is in some ways more restrictive than the rules of the 2010 ordinance. Tooker suggested limiting marijuana sellers to zones marked for medical offices, light industry or corporate parks; the previous ordinance would have permitted dispensaries in some commercial areas.
He also recommended capping operating hours from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., though the earlier law would have allowed a dispensary to open as early as 7 a.m.
One of Napas most vocal marijuana advocates urged the city to allow later hours, partly to serve patients entering from surrounding towns with no dispensaries of their own.
If you have a 9-to-5 job and youre coming from out of town say, American Canyon you may not be able to get to the dispensary by 7 oclock, said James Hinton, a Napa County Board of Supervisors candidate, who suggested letting sellers do business as late as 8 or 9 p.m.
Other speakers worried that a planned 1,000-foot minimum buffer around dispensaries designed to create separation from homes, schools, parks and other sellers would rule out nearly all possible store locations in Napa. In response, Councilwoman Juliana Inman offered a smaller setback for cannabis shops, though she also sought to restrict them from opening in industrial areas easily seen from major boulevards.
Unlike the 2010 effort that sought to allow only one dispensary to open initially, the latest ordinance would not directly cap the number of cannabis stores, relying instead on zoning to avoid saturating the city. Avoiding a hard limit should head off any complaints that the city is interfering with state regulation, and also give the city a way out if the first local seller proves unsatisfactory, according to Tooker.
If we limit the number, the first one that gets to a complete application ends up being the only one, he told the council. And we dont know if thats the one that will best serve the community.
One Napan hoping to sell medical cannabis in her hometown declared her future business would not threaten Napas high-class image among tourists, but augment it. Alicia Rose, a local winery consultant who opened the HerbaBuena dispensary in San Rafael, said she would support a minimum age of 21 for customers, and also asked the city to authorize in-store samplings supervised by employees, modeled after wine sampling at local tasting rooms.
As someone who has conducted hundreds of wine tastings and dozens of cannabis tastings, Ive seen firsthand the power of offering our people, especially our elders in the community, the chance to experience this medicine in a safe and guided setting, she told the council.
After the meeting, Rose said she has met with Councilwoman Mary Luros for counsel on possible dispensary plans if and when cannabis-based businesses become legal in Napa. Luros, a local attorney, recused herself from Tuesdays discussion, as she did during the councils earlier talks in February.
Mike OConnor shouldnt be alive and for days in the hospital, people kept reminding him of it. He had suffered what his doctors and nurses called a widowmaker heart attack.
People kept using that term over the next couple of weeks, he says, now half a year after his near-fatal heart attack. They were surprised I was alive. It was disconcerting.
OConnor was one of six medical success stories highlighted Tuesday at the fifth annual Survivors Reunion, sponsored by the Napa County EMS Society. The event featured stories where teamwork from quick-thinking bystanders to emergency responders to doctors and nurses in area hospitals helped save a life.
One thing youll realize is how many people it takes to save a life, said Dr. Andrew Nothmann, an emergency physician at Queen of the Valley Medical Center and master of ceremonies for the event at Black Stallion Estate Winery in Napa, as he introduced the key players in each of the six stories.
OConnor awoke early one morning last fall in his Calistoga home feeling an unfamiliar discomfort. After taking aspirin and hoping the feeling would pass, it became obvious that something was wrong. His wife Vicki, a nurse at St. Helena Hospital, called 911 and OConnor was taken to St. Helena Hospital.
There, he suffered a massive heart attack, one that should have killed him. But thanks to quick work from his wife and first responders and hospital workers, he is not only alive to see his two children finish high school, he is back to work and even running lightly.
In the hospital people kept looking at me, kept poking me, he recalls. They thought I was dead.
For Napa resident Robert Porter Jr., the story was very different, but the outcome was equally happy. Last spring, two would-be robbers entered his workplace, Napa Valley Jewelers, and began beating the longtime employee. Owner Kent Gardella fought off the attackers with a metal tool, but not before his friend and employee had suffered a major heart attack.
Amid the chaos caused by the attack, Gardella administered CPR, under the direction of a dispatcher, while firefighters from the nearby Napa station, including Porters long-time friend Capt. Steve Stuart, raced to the scene.
I believe in God and he was in control of everything, said Porter, now recovered and returned to work. He put the people in the right place at the right time.
Porter says he remembers nothing of the attack and relatively little of the days afterward as he struggled to recover. But, he said, he is grateful for everyone involved in saving him.
I just say thank you very much thank you for saving my life, Porter said. Theres not a whole lot you can say.
Stuart recalls hearing the call and knowing his friend was badly hurt.
I prayed and drove at the same time, he said.
Events like the annual survivors reunion are good for victims and rescuers alike, said Stuart, who recently retired from the department. Even for seasoned emergency workers, he said, it is humbling to see how much goes into saving a life.
You get to see the team youre on, he said. You know how Hollywood likes to make heroes? There are no heroes (in real cases). There are 30 people on the team that makes this possible.
Others featured at Tuesday evenings event, sponsored in part by the Napa Valley Register, included 3-year-old Carlos Benji Manzo of Napa, who wandered out of his home and fell into a swimming pool while his grandfather was helping another child who had been injured in a bike wreck. His grandfather was able to pluck the toddler from the water and bring him to the emergency workers attending to the other child. Benji has made a full recovery.
John Jack Corrigan of Napa collapsed at his gym, where he was a regular sight, with a major heart attack. Bystanders performed CPR and medical workers saved his life. Today, he is back to his regular workouts.
Jeanette Mahoney of Napa awoke in the middle of the night feeling ill, then collapsed in her bed. Fiance Bill McClendon relied on his decades-old experience as a military medic, assisted by an emergency dispatcher, to keep her alive until help could arrive. After a year of recovery, she said she feels normal again.
Calistoga restaurant owner Mary Cardoza felt crabby while preparing for lunch service one day. She called boyfriend Mark Porter, who brought firefighters to her aid. She suffered a major heart attack as she was being treated in the hospital, but today she is mostly recovered. She said the experience has changed her outlook on life she has cut back on her work hours and is considering selling her restaurant: I dont want to die in there, she said with a laugh.
One uniting theme of the stories, in addition to the broad range of rescue and medical skills needed to save a life, was the importance of quick action by civilians bystanders and loved-ones alike.
If you dont know CPR, please learn it because it happens so fast, McClendon told the crowd at the ceremony. Its easy, and you can really save a life.
Once, during the era when Yosemites Ahwahnee Hotel was attracting well-heeled nature-lovers into the California wilderness, the Napa Valley had its own attraction Bothes Paradise Park.
People would fly in to its adjacent airstrip, eat in the vast wood-paneled Paradise Lodge, toast each other at the rustic, well-stocked bar, lounge around by a blazing fire in the stone fireplace, or during warm weather take a leisurely dip in the spring-fed swimming pool. Then they might rent one of the many cabins that stretched back into the redwoods.
For a decade Bothes Paradise Park offered a taste of the Napa Valley to travelers and vacationers. Then, Paradise was lost closed for seven years. Lost, but not forgotten.
Reinhold and Jeanne Bothe had built Paradise Park in 1929 out of the estate of Lillie Hitchcock Coit (for whom Coit Tower in San Francisco was named). They were said to have fallen in love with the areas trails and springs. And so, For more than a decade their wealthy friends wined and dined in the large dining area, drank at a spectacular 80-foot bar, and enjoyed the beauty of this unique outdoor experience. This is according to a history of Paradise Park written by Cara ONeill for the Bothe-Napa Valley State Park Association.
But WWII interrupted that high-flying style and the park closed and fell into limbo. The Bothes sold and then resold the park several times, according to ONeill.
Then in March 1949, there was a small announcement in The Weekly Calistogan: Jean and Ren Bothe Announce That They Are Now Open At Bothes Paradise Park. However, this time the park also was catering to road-weary adventurers who were looking for a beautiful place to set up camp. And for 10 more years the park sputtered along. It was still a paradise, but now it was increasingly for campers and day-hikers.
Marlene Zimmerman remembered Paradise Park as a child in a letter to the Bothe-Napa Valley State Park Association. On our way home from Mendocino County, our stopping point after the long trek down the mountains via Mount St. Helena was Paradise Park. We would go into the beautiful Lodge and talk about our adventures over a cool Shirley Temple and then we would swim in the pool, she wrote.
But then Paradise Park was nearly lost again.
By 1958 the Bothes were once again looking for a buyer of their park. According to ONeill, there was a joke floating around Calistoga: Looks like Bothe is making a living out of selling Paradise Park, the joke went, according to ONeill.
But this time, as found in the park archives, the Bothes were selling the park to the State of California. And after much negotiation, Bothes Paradise Park became the property of the state. That was in July 1960.
The large Paradise Park sign was removed that same year, ONeill wrote. In its place now stands the Bothe-Napa Valley State Park sign.
Of the original Paradise Park Lodge, according to ONeill, The upper floor of the once glamorous Lodge was lowered in two parts to be sold intact and moved across Hwy. 29. Cabins from the property were also sold off to individuals. And the airstrip across the highway was turned into vineyards.
So though Bothes Paradise Park has been lost to history, the trails and springs that once attracted the Bothes are still open for hikers at Bothe-Napa Valley State Park.
Today the park is run by the Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District with its partner, Napa Valley State Parks Association. It hosts campsites and camping yurts as well as new this year remodeled cabins. The spring-fed swimming pool from the days of Paradise Park is still in use, and there is the Tucker House Visitor Center with displays, brochures, trail maps and gift items.
Bothe-Napa Valley State Park is located at 3801 St. Helena Highway just outside of Calistoga, For information about Bothe-Napa Valley State Park, visit NapaValleyStateParks.org. Reservations for campsites and yurts can be made up to seven months in advance through Reserve America at ReserveAmerica.com.
PG&E is reaching out to the city of St. Helena and property owners during a comprehensive review of trees located near the citys natural gas transmission line.
In cooperation with each owner, PG&E will perform a tree-by-tree review over the next three to six months as part of the companys Community Pipeline Safety Initiative.
Depending on whether each tree is deemed manageable, options could range from keeping it to removing it, with specific mitigation measures (such as replanting) tailored to each tree. No trees will be removed without a signed agreement with the property owner.
The process will consider each trees distance to the pipe, whether the roots are interacting with the pipe, whether the tree blocks access to the pipe, and the risk of a lightning strike.
The goal is to make the pipe safer and ensure that workers have adequate access to the pipe. Much like cars cant park in front of a fire hydrant, workers need to be able to get to the pipe in an emergency.
The high-pressure steel gas line was installed in the 1940s and is buried between 3 and 6 feet underground.
It runs north into town along Highway 29, turns left on Mitchell Drive, right on Oak Avenue, right on Madrona Avenue, and left on Highway 29 out of town. Theres also a short stub along Highway 29 between Mitchell Drive and Pope Street.
PG&Es survey concerns trees within 14 feet of the line: 66 trees on private property and 27 on public property. Out of the 27 on public property, only one will need to be replaced. The elm tunnel will not be affected.
The pipe is buried under one lane of the road (for example, under the southbound lane of Highway 29 in south St. Helena), so the 14-foot radius only involves trees on one side of the road.
PG&E guidelines generally seek to have no trees within 5 feet of the pipe. Outside 5 feet, trees may be allowed on a case-by-case basis, based on their size, root structure and other factors.
In a presentation to St. Helenas Tree Committee last Thursday, PG&E representatives stressed that the project is still in the early stages. There will be additional public outreach, and no decisions have been made about individual trees.
PG&Es primary goals are to make the pipeline safe and save as many trees as possible, said PG&E spokesman Mark Van Gorder.
When were done with the program, wed love for the city and the community in general to say, You know what, PG&E did a good job and did right by the city of St. Helena, Van Gorder said.
PG&E regularly inspects the line from the air (helicopter and plane) and from specially outfitted Picarro gas-sniffing cars, which will be coming through the Upvalley in June.
Van Gorder reminded people to call 811 before digging anywhere, to ensure that no gas lines will be affected.
When I walked around Stonehenge, I said, I have seen the Pyramids, the Great Wall and now Stonehenge, the greatest constructions of ancient mankind.
Several people replied, But now you have to see Machu Picchu in Peru.
So I called Jenny Sercu at Napa Valley College Trips and Tours and arranged to travel to Peru with Collette Vacations.
We experienced several hours of turbulence as we flew through Dallas-Fort Worth on our way to Lima, Peru, the City of Kings.
Situated on the arid plains of the Pacific coast, Lima has 43 districts and 43 mayors. Driving through the massive honking traffic, I saw the Auyaca Pacyllama ruins, the historic Spanish colonial Plaza de Aramas, the San Francisco monastery and catacombs.
In 1532, a small army of conquistadores, led by Francisco Pizzaro, captured and killed the Inca emperor and thus began Spanish rule over Peru until their independence in 1821.
The tour group of 39 included three people from Britain, two from Ireland, two from Canada, and 32 from around the U.S. Barbara Keene expertly managed the tour with experienced drivers and knowledgeable local guides.
I expected Peru to have simple, spicy food. Instead, there was a variety of beautifully presented appetizers and main dishes, often with some of the 780 types of potatoes grown in Peru. You could even try their specialties of alpaca or guinea pig. A delicious dessert accompanied by coca tea or a pisco sour might be followed by dancers or flute music. We did have to use bottled water to drink and brush our teeth.
Flying to Cusco, we immediately noticed the thinner air at 11,500 feet. A bus took us even higher into the majestic Andes to the Sacred Valley of the Incas, the agricultural center of Peru.
Following the Urubamba River, we stopped at Awana Kancha museum and the Pisac market to see the variety of llamas, alpacas, colorful weaving and handicrafts. We also visited Pablo Seminarios ceramic studio to learn how this internationally renowned artist uses Peruvian techniques in his sculptures.
We stayed at a former Franciscan monastery in the Sacred Valley, where we were visited by a family of alpacas before going to a huge indoor market. Generations of families have worked at the market. We saw one potato that was red, white and red like the Peruvian flag.
An Inca settlement that is still inhabited is at the base of the Ollantaytambo ruins. Many in our group climbed the terraced complex, admired the stone panels and how closely the stones fit together. The view was amazing as well.
A special treat was a visit to a small mountain village, where we were greeted with music, dancing, and a potato, cheese and coca tea snack. A demonstration followed of how the women clean, dye, wrap and weave llama and alpaca wool into blankets, hats, scarves and purses. It takes 55 days to weave one small blanket. The weavings and hats that the women wear represent their village.
Finally, the day that I had been anticipating arrived. It began with a ride on the Machu Picchu train, followed by a bus ride into the Andes to see the Lost City of the Incas.
In July of 1911, Hiram Bingham, a historian from Yale, rediscovered Machu Picchu, Old Mountain. It was a crystal-clear day as we walked into and around spectacular Machu Picchu. Agricultural terraces, residential ruins, a palace, the Temple of the Sun, the Sacred Square, the Temple of the Three Windows, and the Main Square with llamas grazing under the Maynapicchu mountain: They were magical to see and experience. It was difficult walking on the uneven stones and squares, but so worth the effort.
We had an overnight stay at the fancy five-star hotel Sumaq, in the cute little town of Machu Picchu. It was a perfect ending to the day. We looked out at a double rainbow over a raging river while having tea, a cooking demonstration, dinner and a pisco sour.
On the way back to Cusco, we traveled again by the Machu Picchu train, which included a fashion show, then a bus to Hagar-Mercedes Orphanage, which is supported by Collette Cares. The tour group donated gifts to the girls, and I gave them Spanish and English copies of my six childrens books about my dog, Tristan. I wonder what they thought of all the special care he receives.
Cusco was the former capital of the Inca empire. It has a population of 500,000 and spreads out over the hills up to the sacred ruins of Sacsayhuaman Fortress. We learned that the Spanish took many stones from Inca sites and built their cathedrals, like Santa Domingo and Qorikancha, over the Inca temples.
It was difficult for me, especially in Cusco, to see the many homeless and uncared-for dogs running around the city streets, scrounging for food and sleeping on the sidewalks. The Peruvians just ignore them. Peruvian mothers nurse and carry their children on their backs until they are 3 years old, but I never saw the children receive any comfort when upset.
Another Peru flight took us to Puno, along the shores of Lake Titicaca, the second highest lake in the world at 12,500 feet. Ancient legends say that Lago Titicaca was the birthplace of the Inca empire. Humans were created from stone by the god Viracocha, and at death their souls return to the lake. The lake supports 2,000 Uros people who live on floating islands and in huts made from tortura reeds. We enjoyed walking on the spongy islands, seeing how the Uros live and riding in their special boats.
Our final tour had us huffing and puffing from the altitude as we walked up a hill to Chullpas de Sillustani archaeological site with 13th-century funerary monuments, surrounded by another beautiful lake and views.
In museums, we learned about the pre-Inca and Inca weaving, pottery, metalwork and architecture.
The owners of one of Napa Valleys icons, Far Niente Winery, are selling a majority ownership to GI Partners, the San Francisco investment company that cut a similar deal for Duckhorn Vineyards for a reported $250 million in 2007.
The principals wouldnt disclose the price paid for Far Niente.
The investment includes the Far Niente winery, as well as Nickel & Nickel, Dolce, EnRoute and Bella Union.
Longtime winery owners Beth Nickel, Erik Nickel, director of winemaking and CEO Dirk Hampson and president Larry Maguire will remain minority shareholders.
GI took over management of Duckhorn and has greatly expanded production of Duckhorn and its other wines, including hot Decoy wines. But Far Niente President Larry Maguire said that its senior sales, marketing and production employees will remain in place.
Far Niente was reborn in 1979, when Oklahoma wholesale nursery owner Gil Nickel and his wife, Beth, bought the winery, which was built in 1885 and abandoned at the start of Prohibition in 1919. They soon started making luxury cabernet and chardonnay wines.
They also bought the adjacent Stelling Vineyard and developed the first man-made wine cave in North America in the 20th century.
The company later launched Dolce, the only North American wine company devoted to a single-late harvest Napa Valley wine in 1989 and Nickel & Nickel, focused on single-vineyard, 100-percent varietal Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon in 1997.
Gil Nickel died of melanoma in 2003, but his widow and son Erik remained owners and executives. Another son, Jeremy, who was not involved in the winery management but owned one-third of its stock, sued board members other than his mother over their compensation. That suit was settled in 2011.
Mary Grace, spokesperson for the winery, said that Jeremy Nickel will no longer be an owner once the deal is closed, likely in June.
The Nickels and Far Niente created EnRoute in the Russian River Valley to produce pinot noir and chardonnay in 2007 and Bella Union, devoted to Napa Valley cabernet in Rutherford, with the 2012.
These wineries, plus its vineyard management arm Vinescape, comprise Far Niente Wine Estates.
Maguire said that all of the wineries long-held relationships, including those with growers, distributors and accounts, will continue.
David Mace, managing director of GI Partners, added, We are proud to align ourselves with the Far Niente team, and we share their vision and long term goals to continue as an independent fine wine company. Our investment supports the focus on ongoing consistent production of high-quality wines as well as the teams continued dedication to the business they have successfully nurtured for decades.
Founded in 2001, GI Partners is a middle-market private equity firm that manages more than $12 billion in capital private equity and real estate for institutional investors.
s creative output as a composer has been quite overshadowed by the late piano legends decades-long role as a beloved public radio host. Pianistaims to help put that right with her new album One for Marian: Celebrating Marian McPartland, to be released by Thirteenth Note Records on June 10.Roberta Piket is an absolutely essential creative voice in modern jazz piano, says Todd Barkan, who produced the new CD. And Robertas One for Marian sings and swings to serve as an invaluable celebration of Lady McPartlands unique gifts as one of the most compelling composers of our time.Marian always felt regretful that her tunes werent played more, Piket says. She felt a little unrecognized in that regard. She wrote so many great tunes.An uncommonly probing improviser in both free and straight-ahead settings, Piket has garnered considerable attention in recent years with a pair of enthralling solo piano recordings. But on One for Marian she returns to a larger ensemble format. The albums cast couldnt be better equipped to interpret Pikets lush arrangements and McPartlands melodically charged compositions. Featuringon alto sax and flute,on tenor sax and clarinet,on trumpet and flugelhorn, bassist Harvie S, and drummer and percussionist, One for Marian grew out of a concert that Piket performed at the 2014 Wall Street Jazz Festival.McPartlands Twilight World, with lyrics by Johnny Mercer, is a feature for guest vocalist. The idea of a special duet between Karrin and myself came from Todd Barkan, Piket told CD annotator Bob Bernotas, just one of several examples of Todds wisdom and experience that can be heard on this recording.The album opens with Ambiance, a haunting melody full of thick, mysterious harmonies. In the Days of Our Love, a McPartland tune so lovely thatfelt inspired to write lyrics for it, features exquisite solos by Mobley and Mayhew, who croon the bittersweet melody with their horns.Piket first recorded McPartlands loving portrait of, Threnody, on her debut album in a trio context, while this quartet version showcases Wilsons expressive flute work.Piket also offers two pieces of her own in honor of McPartlandthe title track, a briskly swinging number with an intricate melodic line that features some particularly tasty drum work by Mintz, and Saying Goodbye, an elegiac caress of a farewell. Fittingly, Piket closes the album with her lively arrangement of McPartlands Kaleidoscope, the theme song for NPRs Piano Jazz, which leaves listeners wanting more while summoning the salty spirit of jazzs grande dame.One for Marian is something of a departure for Piket as her first album dedicated to the work of another composer. From the early stages of her career, shes distinguished herself as a gifted writer (she placed second in the 1993 Thelonious Monk BMI Composers Competition). Over the years, Piket has performed as a sidewoman with many of jazzs greatest figures, including David Liebman, Rufus Reid, Michael Formanek, Lionel Hampton, Mickey Roker, Eliot Zigmund, Benny Golson, and Ted Curson.Born in Queens, New York (1965), Roberta Piket inherited a passion for music from both of her parents. Her father was the Austrian composer Frederick Piket, who made significant contributions to both the musical liturgy of Reform Judaism and the concert hall with works performed by the New York Philharmonic under conductor Dimitri Metropolis. From her mother, Cynthia, she absorbed the glories of the American Songbook, learning by ear the tunes of Porter, Gershwin, Kern, Rodgers, and Berlin (as well as the accompanying lyrics).Piket attended the joint five-year double-degree program at Tufts University and New England Conservatory, graduating with a degree in computer science at the former and a degree in jazz piano from the latter. After a year as a software engineer, however, she realized that her calling was music, and she returned to New York, where an NEA grant set her up to study with pianist Richie Beirach.Marian McPartland heard the young pianist at the Thelonious Monk Composers Competition and invited her to appear as a featured guest on NPRs Piano Jazz, Pikets first of three appearances on the show. Beginning with Pikets first recording under her own name, 1996s Unbroken Line (Criss Cross) with Donny McCaslin and Michael Formanek, shes recorded McPartlands music. With One for Marian, she makes an incontrovertible case for the enduring beauty of McPartlands compositions.Roberta Piket will be performing several CD release shows in the NYC area, beginning with 6/4 IBeam Brooklyn (full band from the CD, with Shunzo Ohno replacing Mobley); then 6/10 Trumpets, Montclair, NJ (full band, with Anton Denner replacing Wilson); 7/14 Mezzrow, NYC (duo with Steve Wilson); and 9/8 Smalls, NYC (full band, with alto sax TBD).
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Finale of first season of 'House of the Dragon' leaked online
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
Norberto Balekian wins Argentine championship with Boca Juniors (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
Marukyan: Why are you so nervous about expected international presence in Armenia if you aren't planning new aggression?
Taylor Swift's new album breaks Spotify's record for most streams in day
Cheap Xiaomi 12T Pro outperforms Apple and Samsung flagships in Genshin Impact
Driver dies in hospital 25 days after Armenia road accident
Gold weakly appreciates
231 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia past one week
Komsomolskaya Pravda: PM Pashinyan is handing over Karabakh in order to take Armenia to the West
Yerevan State Medical University rector: Birth rate is 1.656 in Armenia, 1.86 in Azerbaijan, 1.75 in Georgia
Filming of 'Joker' with Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga is due to start in November
Vedomosti daily: Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia leaders to hold face-to-face talks
Kanye West says he will love Kim Kardashian 'for life'
Russia to evade G7 plan to cap oil prices, export 90% of its oil?
Polls in private chats, avatars and speeding up audio messages: new WhatsApp features
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
Mbappe to get 630M from PSG in 3 years?
La Liga: Barca win big
Zelenskyy: If Moscow says Ukraine is making dirty bomb, then Russia made it
Newspaper: Anti-CSTO consolidation initiative group of Armenia sends petition to parliament speaker
World oil prices going up
Newspaper: Armenia PM forbids political teammates to say anything about Karabakh
Azerbaijan opens fire at Armenia positions
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
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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
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Saudi Arabia forum set to draw American business leaders despite existing tensions
YEREVAN. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the US government are hopeful that the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents possible meeting in June will lead to what everyone is striving for: a comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
US Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills told about the above-said to reporters, and along the lines of Wednesdays US-Armenia Business Conference being held in capital city Yerevan.
As per the American diplomat, the news from Viennawhere the two presidents met on Mondaywas very encouraging.
Mills noted that this was an achievement, since both parties confirmed their willingness to adhere to the 1994-1995 agreement on ceasefire.
In his words, the willingness to work toward creating mechanisms for investigating ceasefire incidents likewise needs to be assessed positively, and this is a demonstration of the good will and readiness by the conflicting parties.
Richard Mills added that the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs stand ready to be consistent and to develop this trend.
At the meeting in Vienna, Azerbaijan agreed to strengthen the ceasefire regime to continue future negotiations.
Novruz Mammadov, deputy head of the Azerbaijani presidential administration and chief of the administrations foreign relations department, told the abovementioned to ANS television of Azerbaijan.
Most importantly, to continue to respect the ceasefire regime, to avoid provocations, and to begin negotiations in June, Mammadov added.
And commenting on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group Co-Chairs statements on the expansion of the powers of the office of Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, Personal Representative to the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Mammadov said: There cant be any significant changes in Andrzej Kasprzyks powers. This is the Minsk Groups position, and we have not taken any obligations regarding the issue.
To note, the word is about expanding Andrzej Kasprzyks team so as to consolidate the ceasefire. As a result, even though Azerbaijan declares that it supports this process, it actually works against it.
YEREVAN. Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) was not participating in the meeting in Vienna two days, since Azerbaijan did not want that, ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) MP Artak Davtyan said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Azerbaijan has removed Artsakh from the negotiation process by blackmail, he said. And the blackmail as follows: it will come out; it will do nothing at all.
To the remark by opposition Free Democrats Party Vice-chairwoman Anush Sedrakyan, who stated that the Azerbaijani side has violated the status quo and it should be punished for this, the RPA deputy responded: We [i.e. the Armenian side] will punish [Azerbaijan] by obligating that Artsakh return to the negotiating table. And the one to punish shall be the [Armenian] army.
As per Artak Davtyan, although the Armenian side wishes that Nagorno-Karabakh becomes a party to negotiations again, when you speak with the opposite party, you need to consider its view, too.
If you dont take its view into account, this meeting [in Vienna, and between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan,] would not have taken place, he added. What was stated previously, happened.
Two lecturers of the pedagogical university Phra Nakhon, located on the northern suburb of Bangkok, were killed by shots from a pistol in an auditorium, RIA Novosti reported quoting the third national TV channel.
The murder took place in one of the auditoriums of the building of the Buddhist philosophy faculty.
According to the TV channel, the incident witnesses heard that three lecturers who were at the auditorium were arguing loudly and then a gun went off. The police officers arriving at the scene managed to establish that the third lecturer taking part in the dispute was Wan Chai Danaytamonut who has disappeared from the scene.
The statement says that he is the main suspect.
Both dead lecturers, 50-year-old Dr. Phi Chay Songkram and his age-mate Dr. Natapkhon Chumvoratkhani, have been working at the university for many years.
The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) members will decide by consensus on whether another country may join this organization.
Tatiana Valovaya, Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC)which is the executive body of the EAEUBoard member and Minister in charge of the Development of Integration and Macroeconomics of the EEC, said the aforementioned in Moscow, speaking to Armenian reporters.
Valovaya noted this when asked how she assesses the Russian officials statements on the importance of Azerbaijan joining the EAEU.
In her words, even though the representatives of EAEU members Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus can declare that another country can become an EAEU member, no one would prohibitanother EAEU memberArmenia from stating that it would be good if Iran were to join this organization.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan [with respect to Nagorno-Karabakh] will be resolved sooner or later, and new opportunities could open, Tatiana Valovaya added. Any EAEU member country can express a position on the country with which it is developing normal trade and economic relations. But this doesnt mean that one [EAEU member country] will pressure another on a matter.
At the same time, Valovaya stressed that the EAEU is not holding talks on the enlargement of this organization.
The Eurasian Economic Union comprises Armenia Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
YEREVAN. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, on Wednesday attended and delivered a statement at the 126th Session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which is held in the Bulgarian capital city of Sofia.
I would like to congratulate Bulgaria on its productive chairmanship at the Committee of Ministers and to thank Minister Mitov for the excellent ogranisation of this meeting.
I would also like to express our appreciation to the Secretary General for presenting his third annual report on the State of Democracy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Europe. We share Mr. Jaglands view on the concept of Democratic Security, according to which the democracies are less likely to go to war. Obviously, authoritarian regimes do not face such a dilemma.
Such case was most recently witnessed in early April when Azerbaijan launched large-scale military offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh, resulting in many killed and wounded, along with gross violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
The tense situation of early April and possibilities of addressing its consequences were discussed two days ago in Vienna in a meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan attended by the Secretary of State of the United States, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia and State Secretary for European Affairs of France representing the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries.
In their joint statement the Co-Chair countries insisted on the importance of respecting the 1994 and 1995 ceasefire agreements. The Presidents reiterated their commitment to the ceasefire and the peaceful settlement of the conflict. To reduce the risk of further violence, they agreed to finalize in the shortest possible time an OSCE investigative mechanism. The Presidents also agreed to the expansion of the existing Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman in Office. This could pave a way for resumption of the negotiations for the resolution of the conflict.
Up until now Azerbaijan has been continuously hindering the implementation of such proposals of the Co-chair countries and even reached agreements. We hope that this time Azerbaijan would not deceive the hopes of the Co-Chair countries and the expectations of the international community.
Dear colleagues,
It is the primary goal of Council of Europe to safeguard common values and individual rights at pan-European level. We share the belief of many in this room that rights of individuals guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights must not be dependent on the status of the territory where peoples live. In this regard, we appreciate recent initiatives to discuss the subject of ensuring human rights in conflict zones.
Today violent extremism and radicalisation leading to terrorism are direct threats to our values. To succeed in the fight against these appalling phenomena we should start with the root causes. Fight against racism, xenophobia and intolerance are essential in this regard. Armenia has been vocal in condemning hate speech and xenophobia, especially the kind, used in a political discourse. Combating these phenomena has been a priority for Armenia during our Chairmanship at this Committee and it continues to remain as such.
2016 marks the 15th Anniversary of Armenias accession to the Council of Europe. These have been years of fruitful cooperation in various areas of mutual interest. In a few days we will officially launch the Council of Europe 2015-2018 Action Plan for Armenia, which will further promote reform process in our country.
In conclusion, I would also like to join the previous speakers in wishing every success to the incoming Chairmanship of Estonia, the Armenian FM specifically said in his statement.
YEREVAN. All the names, which are discussed in Armenia as monopolists, will be included in the Ministry of Economy report, but I would have to submit a reasoned analysis.
Minister of Economy Artsvik Minasyan told the aforementioned to reporters, and along the lines of Wednesdays US-Armenia Business Conference being held in capital city Yerevan.
In the ministers words, although the time period specified by the Prime Minister of Armenia is enough to outline the main issues, these problems require radical solutions.
We [i.e. the Armenian government] must take numerous [respective] actions, Minasyan noted. We [also] have petitioned to international organizations.
In the ministers conviction, however, the three weeks specified by the PM are a very little time for the fight against monopolies in Armenia.
But it is enough [time] for forming a level playing field, [and] developing a roadmap for the transformation of the entire monopolistic economic order [in the country], Artsvik Minasyan added.
YEREVAN. U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills said that the reforms conducted in Armenia during the last decade give an opportunity to make large investments in the country.
Reforms in tax and customs spheres, in the sphere of protection of intellectual property rights are being carried out, the diplomat told journalists during US - Armenia business conference on Wednesday.
Mills noted that the main purpose of the business conference is to present the opportunities existing in Armenia to the large American companies invited to Yerevan.
According to the diplomat, these companies, which have a wide experience of activity in the former Soviet Union, represent different spheres consumer goods, engineering, and information technologies.
YEREVAN. Indeed there is a problem of corruption in Armenia, US Ambassador Richard Mills told reporters, and along the lines of Wednesdays US-Armenia Business Conference being held in capital city Yerevan.
Mills recalled that the Prime Minister of Armenia likewise spoke about the aforementioned last week, and as per the diplomat, the American entrepreneurs need to consider this fact.
In the US ambassadors view, the best way for combating corruption in business is the examples that will show how economic activity can be carried out with success, but without corruption.
Richard Mills added that the American companies can serve such an example, and expressed the hope that it will be possible to draw new entrepreneurs and new businesses toward Armenia.
German MPs raised the issue of heavy weapons sold by Russia to Azerbaijan at a meeting with the head of the Armenian NA Standing Committee on European Integration Naira Zohrabyan .
The National Assembly informed NEWS.am that the Bundestag MP Ulla Yelpke, Hamburg parliament MP Martin Doltser, and the representative of Altona (Hamburg) Hassan Burgujoghlu attended the meeting.
Naira Zohrabyan introduced the crimes perpetrated by Azerbaijan during the first days of April war. She presented documents to the German MPs pictures that confirm military crimes committed by Azerbaijan , and informed that the relatives of tortured and beheaded soldiers have already initiated a legal process to qualify the actions of the Azerbaijani forces as a military crime in international instances.
She stressed the importance of the work of the Armenian and German parliamentarians in the international structures , noting that , unfortunately , the work of the German delegation in PACE is somewhat constrained, because of the biased and pro-Azerbaijan position of some members of the German delegation.
They also discussed issues related to the draft resolution on the Armenian Genocide in the German Bundestag on June 2 . Naira Zohrabyan noted that Germany, which had the power to recognize the Holocaust , thus once again proving its strength, is simply obliged to recognize the Armenian Genocide , no matter, as it is a clearly evident today, how much Turkey has an impact on Germany.
German MPs also raised the issue of heavy weapons sold by Russia to Azerbaijan . Naira Zohrabyan noted that this is a rather sensitive issue in Armenia , which was referred to and still will be . Ulla Yelpke noted that their political authority , the Left Party is against the military actions. He emphasized the importance of a peaceful resolution to problems .
He also spoke about a need to include materials on Armenian Genocide in the German educational programs. Yelpken attached a special importance to their visit to Karabakh to get acquainted with Artsakh issues on the spot.
YEREVAN. Armenias Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Tigran Seiranian, on Monday delivered a lecture during the traditional Diplomatic Forum at the Anglo-American University in the Czech capital city of Prague.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia informed NEWS.am that the event brought together lecturers, university students, analysts, reporters, and members of the local Armenian community.
In particular, Seiranian thoroughly presented the current situation as a result of the large-scale hostilities which Baku had unleashed in early April, and along the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact. In this context, the Armenian diplomat stressed that the Azerbaijani regime remains committed to its policy of making heroes out of killers.
Ambassador Seiranian also noted that the four-day war in April greatly undermined the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.
In addition, the Armenian diplomat responded to the numerous questions posed by those in attendance to this forum.
The Atlanta Business Chronicle has selected Emory health sciences physicians, nurses and researchers as winners or finalists in its annual Health Care Heroes Awards competition.
William G. Woods
William G. Woods, MD, winner in the Lifetime Achievement category, directed the Aflac Cancer Center at Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory University School of Medicine for 15 years until his recent retirement. The center grew to become a top-ranked national program and grew from 18 to 80 faculty members and researchers, generating about $18 million annually in grants. Woods also was chief of hematology/ oncology/BMT (blood and marrow transplant) in the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine.
Prior to joining Childrens and Emory, Woods directed the South Carolina Cancer Center in conjunction with the University of South Carolina. He is responsible for major advances in the treatment of children with pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML), leading two national clinical trials that transformed the treatment of AML in children, resulting in a cure rate increase from 35 percent to 50 percent. He also was principal investigator for the Quebec Neuroblastoma Screening Project, a large international collaboration and population-based study of neonatal screening for neuroblastoma.
Wendy Armstrong
Wendy Armstrong, MD, winner in the Physician category, is medical director of Grady Health Systems Ponce de Leon Infectious Disease Clinic and a professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. She is at the forefront of efforts to combat the HIV/AIDS crisis and provide affected populations with the treatment and knowledge they need to prevent the spread of the virus. She directs the care of nearly 5,000 AIDS patients who come to the center for medical care and mental health, substance abuse and dental treatment.
As co-chair of the Fulton County Task Force on HIV/AIDS, Armstrong helped develop Fultons plan to address the growing number of HIV/AIDS cases in the county and has championed the creation of a new clinic that will provide the HIV prevention drug, Truvada, free to people with a high risk of contracting the disease. Armstrong is chair-elect of the national HIV Medicine Association, chair of the Training Program Directors Committee of the Infectious Disease Society of America, program director for Emorys Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program and is active in the Emory Center for AIDS Research.
Nitika Gupta, MD, finalist in the Physician category, is a pediatric hepatologist, director of Childrens Healthcare of Atlantas Adolescent Transplant Program and associate professor of pediatrics in Emory University School of Medicine. Gupta has a special interest in post-transplant medical issues and easing the transition from pediatric care to adult care for post-transplant patients or patients waiting for transplant. Patients in the Adolescent Transplant Program, established in 2015, have appointments each month at Childrens and also work with specialists at Emory University Hospital to promote seamless care.
Amelia Langston, MD, finalist in the Physician category, is medical director of the Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Program at Winship Cancer Institute and professor of hematology and medical oncology in Emory School of Medicine. Langston leads a team of specialists who treat the most complicated cases of blood cancer, and they will soon celebrate the 5,000th bone marrow transplant at Emory University Hospital. Langston joined the Winship team in 1998. She is known for her passion and enthusiasm in working with both patients and colleagues and for her keen understanding of the science behind transplant medicine and how to relate that to clinical care.
Lisa Muirhead, DNP, APN- BC, finalist in the Allied Health Professional category, is clinical assistant professor and adult nurse practitioner in Emorys Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. In collaboration with the Atlanta VA Medical Center, she leads a program that provides specialty education in veteran care for undergraduate nursing students and creates new faculty positions held by VAMC nurses who train academically at Emory. Now in its third year, the VA Nursing Academic Partnership program is using a $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to fund 10 new faculty positions and add 100 BSN students over five years.
Emorys TAVR Team, including Vasilis Babaliaros, MD, Peter Block, MD, Robert Guyton, MD and Vinod Thourani, MD, are finalists in the Health Care Innovation category. Since 2007, this team of Emory physicians has helped revolutionize the treatment of severe aortic stenosis, leading the national effort to study and advance a new nonsurgical procedure called transcatheter aortic valve replacement or TAVR. TAVR is a lifesaving alternative for patients at high risk for open-heart surgery, allowing a physician to replace a failing aortic valve through a catheter inserted through a small incision in the thigh or the side of the chest and delivering a fully collapsible replacement valve to the diseased valve site. Emory physicians laid the groundwork for TAVR years ago, and the team has spent nearly a decade bringing it to critically ill patients, performing approximately 1,500 TAVR procedures to date, publishing numerous studies and amassing the largest body of experience in the Southeast and among the top five U.S. sites.
David Weiss, PhD, finalist in the Rising Star category, is director of the Emory Antibiotic Resistance Center and assistant professor of medicine at Emory School of Medicine and Yerkes National Primate Research Center. Recognizing Emorys broad expertise in infectious diseases, Weiss has helped researchers and clinicians join together to combat what he calls the antibiotic resistance crisis. The centers comprehensive approach includes microbiologists probing mechanisms of resistance, chemists searching for new antibiotics, and pathologists refining methods for detecting dangerous bacteria. Public health experts are working with physicians on better antibiotic stewardship, expanded surveillance, and strategies to help health care systems avoid infections in the first place.
Judith Wold PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN, a finalist in the Community Outreach category, is distinguished professor for education leadership in Emorys Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. Wold is best known for leading the Farm Worker Family Health Program to provide health care services to migrant individuals in Moultrie, Georgia. Each June, up to 80 Emory nursing students spend two weeks in Moultrie caring for 1,000 men, women, and children. The program has provided health care to more than 13,000 people since its formation in 1993. Under Wolds leadership, the program expanded its services by including students and faculty from Clayton State University, Darton State College, West Georgia Technical College, Georgia State University, and the University of Georgia. Students and faculty provide primary care, dental hygiene, pharmacology, psychology, physical therapy, and other services for seasonal farm workers who have limited access to health care.
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BENGALURU: Moving in line with the global enterprise storage exigencies, Intel India elucidates its focus on offering Indian enterprises the enhanced technologies and products through Intel Cloud For All, allowing faster and easier adoption of modern clouds based on Software Defined Infrastructure (SDI). The company also introduces a high performing x86 platform for software defined datacenter solutions to its customers in the country, including the Intel Xeon E5 2600v4 family and Intel SSDC P3520/3320 & D3700/3600 family. These technologies enable customers to move to fully automated SDI-based modern clouds with greater visibility and control capability.
Commenting on the event, Srinivas Tadigadapa, Director of Enterprise Solutions, Intel South Asia asserts, Today, both cloud service providers and enterprises are looking at SDI as it would allow businesses to adopt new type of cloud easier and faster. India is a budding ground for startups, and most of these cloud born start-ups prefer to hire software based services (xAAS). For enterprises, the need is different. To be able to keep pace, they must evolve to an agile infrastructure that allows businesses to remain viable either expanding the use of public cloud, deploying their own private cloud, or both. The result is pent-up demand for software-defined infrastructure. Intel is investing to mature SDI solutions and provide a faster path for businesses of all sizes to reap the benefits of the cloud,
Dell, a long-time collaborator of Intel, will offer product and solutions based on Intel Xeon E5 2600v4 processors to enterprise customers, targeting at the traditional enterprise sector. Manish Gupta, Head Dell Enterprise Solutions Group says, The emergence of e-commerce sector and higher adoption of big data and analytics in India has increased the workload demands of the datacentre. To address these workload demands, with a focus on delivering end-to-end datacentre capabilities, Dell offers customers with multiple software defined infrastructure options by working closely with companies such as Intel, where Dell infrastructure, services and support are integral to the solutions. With integration of Intel Xeon E5 2600v4 processors into our server solutions, we believe that Dell-Intel collaboration will benefit customers seeking an integrated IT approach, offering simple deployment, management and scale as and when needed.
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Carlo Rovelli offers in his new book enlightening lessons about modern science. [Photo by Basso Cannarsa/Provided to China Daily]
Italian theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli, one of the founders of a popular theory called loop quantum gravity, reads mostly classic literature.
In an e-mail reply to China Daily, the 60-year-old scientist says he loves the Chinese classics Dream of the Red Chamber and Journey to the West. Besides, he also reads a lot of essays on anthropology, studies of the brain, philosophy and so on. His favorite writer is Joseph Conrad.
Heading the quantum gravity research group at the Centre de Physique Theorique of Aix-Marseille University in Provence, Rovelli is now the author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics. The book outsold the erotic best-selling novel Fifty Shades of Grey in Italy. It's been translated into 34 languages and a Chinese version is coming out.
"Originally, we were very curious about how a physics book of a mere 96 pages can beat a best-selling erotic novel," says Wu Wenjuan, editor in charge of introducing the book at China South Booky Culture Media Co.
"But after reading it, we found such an elegant and concise book full of passion inspiring you to understand the world from a totally different angle and urging you to think about your existence and the limit of your knowledge."
The volume actually contains only six lessons on physics themes, including Albert Einstein's general relativity, quantum mechanics, the structure of the cosmos, elementary particles, grains of space, and black-hole thermodynamics.
The last chapter returns to human beings: How humans understand the world as an impossibly minor player that "will not last long" on Earth, because "We belong to a short-lived genus of species. All of our cousins are already extinct. What's more, we do damage", as he puts in the book.
In graceful language, Rovelli concisely explains the greatest revolution in physics in the 20th century, depicting not only the reach and beauty of science but also "reveal (ing) to us just how vast is the extent of which is still not known", as he writes in the book.
Li Miao, professor at the School of Physics and Astronomy of Sun Yet-Sen University, writes in the preview of the Chinese version: "There is not a single difficult expression that will exclude readers who know little of modern sciences."
Li proofread the book and has also written his own books to popularize physics in China. "Meanwhile, the poetic writing is full of passion."
Inspired by his girlfriend, two years ago Rovelli started writing short articles about quantum, gravity, and his research on quantum gravity for Il Sole 24 Ore, an Italian financial newspaper.
WASHINGTON: The world's first artificial intelligence lawyer has been employed by a law firm in the U.S., which will use the robot to assist its various teams in legal research.
The robot called 'ROSS' is built upon Watson, IBM's cognitive computer. With the support of Watson's cognitive computing and natural language processing capabilities, lawyers can ask ROSS their research question and the robot reads through the law, gathers evidence, draws inferences and returns highly relevant, evidence-based answers.
ROSS also monitors the law around the clock to notify users of new court decisions that can affect a case.
The programme continually learns from the lawyers who use it to bring back better results each time.
BakerHostetler, a US-based law firm, will license ROSS for use in its Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Creditors' Rights team.
"At BakerHostetler, we believe that emerging technologies like cognitive computing and other forms of machine learning can help enhance the services we deliver to our clients," said Bob Craig, Chief Information Officer.
ROSS Intelligence, the company that built ROSS, began out of research at the University of Toronto in 2014 with the goal of building an artificial intelligence legal research assistant to allow lawyers to enhance and scale their abilities.
Just ten months after they began teaching ROSS bankruptcy law, the company has been commercialising its first offering.
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UF's Kratzer selected for ROTC Hall of Fame
Dave Kratzer, vice president for student affairs at the University of Florida, has been selected for induction into the 2016 inaugural class of the U.S. Army ROTC National Hall of Fame.
Hall of Fame induction is awarded to alumni whose character and distinguished service epitomize the qualities Army ROTC embodies. This years induction ceremony coincides with the organizations Centennial Commemoration Ceremony.
Kratzer retired from the Army in 2006 with the rank of major general. He continues to support the military veteran community through various volunteer roles including serving as chair of the Military Advisory Committee for the Veterans Entrepreneurship Program and senior mentor to the UF Collegiate Veterans Society.
Since 2012, Kratzer has served as vice president for student affairs at UF, where he is responsible for developing and leading effective student services and programs. He will retire from his position in June.
The induction ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. on June 10 at Fort Knox, Ky.
The well marked Low Pressure Area over Sri Lanka and Adjoiningareas of Gulf of Manar and Southwest Bay of Bengal moved North Northwestwards andconcentrated into a depression todayand lay centred around 240 Km South SouthEast of Chennai. It is likely to move in North North-West wards in next 12 hours and then move in northwardsalong North Tamil Nadu-South Andhra Pradesh and further intensify into a Deep Depression in the next 48 Hours and cross the coast. Regional Meteorological Centre here said Rainfall is very likely to occur at most places over Coastal Tamil Nadu and many places over Interior Tamil Nadu. The Centre had forecast Heavy to very Heavy Rainfall at few places over North Tamil and Puducherry tomorrow. Squally weather wind speed reaching 5-60 kmph gusting to 70 kmph is likely along and offTamil Nadu and Puducherry Coasts during the next 24 hours. Fishermen were advised not to venture into sea in the next 48 hours. Nannilam (in Tiruvarur Dist) received the highest rainfall of 14 CM followed by Tiruvarur (Tiruvarur Dist), Chembarabakkam (Tiruvallur Dist) 12 each, Sirkali (Nagapattinam Dist), Chembarambakkam arg (Tiruvallur Dist) 11 each and Cuddalore (Cuddalore Dist), Mayiladuthurai (Nagapattinam Dist), Kodavasal (Tiruvarur Dist) 10 each.UNI CS CNR1455 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-736926.Xml
Britain's High Commissioner to India, Sir Dominic Asquith, made his first visit to Lucknow today, where he met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to discuss how UK and Uttar Pradesh could work more closely together. The High Commissioner welcomed the first applicants of the new UK visa service in Lucknow, which was inaugurated today. The new visa service, available on the third Tuesday of each month, allows customers to apply for their UK visas in Lucknow for the first time. The service is based at the Golden Tulip Hotel, where customers can submit their UK visa applications and give their biometric information. Sir Dominic Asquith said:"I am delighted to visit India's most populous state to find out how Uttar Pradesh and the UK can work more closely together.The UK already has more Visa Application Centres in India than we have in any other country, and I am pleased that we are expanding our footprint into Uttar Pradesh. There has been a growing demand for UK visas from the state, and we hope that it will encourage more people from Uttar Pradesh to think of the UK for tourism, study, trade and investment." UKVI's Regional Director for South and Southeast Asia Nick Crouch said: "The new visa centre was announced during the UK Immigration Minister's visit to India. During the visit he also announced a number of other improvements including a new application form for visitors and allowing first-time visitors to use the Priority Visa service. These improvements have been well received and are all part of UKVI's strategy to make it quicker and easier for Indian customers to apply for UK visas. UKVI and our commercial partner VFS Global will continue to monitor demand for the Lucknow visa service and look to adjust it accordingly." Customers will be able to apply for their visas in all routes and in the coming months UKVI will look to roll out more premium services to customers in Lucknow including the 3 - 5 day Priority Visa service. (ANI)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday lashed out at Pakistan for raising objections to India's proposed Geospatial Bill, saying Islamabad has no right to comment on the internal matters of New Delhi. "It is a right of our nation to make our own laws. It was very important for India to propose the Geospatial Bill because every publication used to create a different map of our country," BJP leader Shrikant Sharma told ANI. "Pakistan has no right to comment on the internal matters of India. Who is Pakistan to raise objections or to comment on this?" he added. India has strongly rejected Pakistan's repeated and increasing attempts to impose on the international community matters that India wants to address bilaterally with Pakistan. Responding to media query on Pakistan Foreign Office reaction on India's Geospatial Bill, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the proposed bill is an entirely an internal legislative matter of India as Jammu and Kashmir is its integral part. Pakistan has expressed serious concern over India's efforts to pass the controversial Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, which aims to restrict geographical depictions of India and disputed Kashmir to the UN Secretary General and the President of the UN Security Council (UNSC). Zakaria asserted that with the passage of the Bill, New Delhi would be able to penalise the individuals and organisations that depict Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) as a disputed territory in accordance with UNSC resolutions. Although, New Delhi already imposes tight restrictions on maps but if it becomes law, it would impose specific penalties for the first time. In a letter sent to the UN in this regard by Pakistan's permanent representative in New York, Islamabad calls on the body to uphold the UNSC resolutions and urged India to stop acts that are in violation of international law. Islamabad has also urged the international community and the UN to fulfill their commitment to the people of Azad Jammu and Kashmir by holding an independent and impartial plebiscite under UN auspices. (ANI)
Met Department has issued severe heat wave warnings for parts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi for the rest of the week.
Maximum temperatures could touch 45 to 47 degrees Celsius in a severe heat wave condition.
Most parts of Gujarat continued to reel under hot weather conditions with mercury levels in many cities hovering between 42 and 45 degrees Celsius during the day.
A severe heatwave gripped Ahmedabad and adjoining Gandhinagar yesterday as maximum temperature in both the cities was 45 degrees Celsius.
In Himachal Pradesh, the people in lower hills continued to reel under scorching heat as mercury rose due to dry weather.
In plains the Una town was the warmest with maximum temperature stayed at 42.8 degree Celsius. The met office has predicted dry weather during next six days.
Both minimum and maximum temperatures are being recorded four to five degree Celsius above normal in the state these days.
Nahan, Sundernagar, Dharamshala, Bhuntar and Solan town recorded maximum temperature in-between 32 to 36 degree Celsius.
People in several parts of the tribal district Kinnaur are also feeling sweltering heat. The mercury would rise further due to dry weather predictions in the coming few days.
Haryana sizzled under scorching heat as Hisar remained the hottest at 45.4 degrees Celsius yesterday.
Narnaul braved an extremely hot day at 43.3 degrees Celsius, two notches above normal while Karnal sweltered at 42.4 degrees Celsius.
In Punjab, heat wave swept holy city Amritsar, which recorded a maximum temperature of 43.2 degrees Celsius, three degrees above normal.
Ludhiana recorded a maximum temperature of 42.6 degrees Celsius and Patiala residents also braved the hot weather at 42.3 degrees Celsius, three degrees above normal.
The maximum temperature in Chandigarh, ettled at 41.7 degrees Celsius, four notches up than normal.
Banda sizzled at 47 degrees celsius as heat wave continued in Uttar Pradesh yesterday. Day temperature rose in Meerut, Kanpur, Aligarh, Shahjahanpur, Kheri, Ballia, Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Varanasi divisions.
Heat wave conditions intensified in desert areas of Rajasthan with Barmer recording the highest temperature of 47.5 degrees Celsius, followed by Jaisalmer where the mercury touched 47 degrees. Scorching heat continued to affect normal life in other parts of the state.
Heat wave conditions persisted in western Odisha yesterday with Sambalpur recording a high of 42.2 degree Celsius, while the coastal part of the state experienced respite as the mercury descended in the region.
In Bhubaneswar, the maximum temperature was 39.3 degrees Celsius while Cuttack recorded 36.3 degrees Celsius. (ANI)
The incident took place around 7.30 p.m., when assistant legal advisor with the NDMC, Mohammad Moin Khan, was returning home. The helmet wearing assailants intercepted Khan's car and shot at him from a close range, before fleeing from the spot.
Khan was rushed to a nearby hospital by nearby onlookers, where doctors declared him dead. He is said to have died due to a bullet that hit his chest. His body has been sent for post-mortem examination.
Reports say that Khan's family have told police that he used to receive calls from unknown people during odd hours of the day.
Khan was working as an assistant legal advisor with the NDMC for more than five years. (ANI)
Actor and stand up comedian Veer Das has said that censorship is loosing its relevance in the country. Speaking to UNI, Das, who was here to perform in an event, said,'' I do not believe in it (censorship) and do not think its possible. If you cut it out from movie, people will find it on youtube. If its removed from youtube, people will find it on whatsapp. If you remove it from whatsapp, people will still whisper with each other in parties. Its wrong and the most offensive thing in India is censorship. Its losing its relevance.'' ''You cannot control over what people think. I do not think people now a days care. People are reasonably accepting comedy these days. There are only fringe elements who have objection to contents but they have always been there. India is a large country with 1.2 billion people.'' When asked was it difficult to make somebody laugh, he said,'' its not. Everybody basically wants to laugh. I have not met a human being who says I do not want to laugh. I think connection of laughter much stronger than any other human emotion. So I think if I am able to make somebody laugh I consider myself lucky. '' On scene of English comedy, he said ''there are enough people to keep watching English comedian. Kapil Sharma is operating on a scale that I do not think anybody is operating. He is a no 1 comedian and has numbers greater than more comedians in the world. He should be given full credit for what is doing. He sells 36,000 tickets in Toronto in one night. When I go to Toronto its 6,500 or 7,000 tickets. Then there is language barrier but having said that I sold half a million tickets in India during the last two years and I do not think that those who had attended the show would repeat. But with that I think at least one and half million people will come tomy show. Therefore, I do think there is lack of warmness among the audiences.'' Das said its too philosophical and scary to say that its best time for comedy.'' You have to keep writing jokes. I do not think its required to think whether its best era or not. My focus has been micro not macro. I do not think big picture, reputation and scene,'' he stated. The popular comedian and entertainer said digital media was contributing more that even television to stand up comedy. ''Its nice that you are able to reach large no of people. I have a property called Vir Das' POTCAST wherein every fortnight I tell jokes. We get 800,000 to 900,000 views for each episode. Those views come from Pakistan, Africa, Sri Lanka, Japan. Normally I have to fly to Japan to perform before a Japanese crowd. Digital media has made reaching to people easier. Sharing development on his acting front, he informed that he has five releases lined up in next two years. ''For Bollywood its like being promoted in office. You start as an intern and eventually you work your way upto board room. I am not in a board room yet. In Bollywood I am like a junior Vice President of sales. In every movie there has been better and significantly larger role and I have been working harder. The films lined up'1984'. It's a drama. After that its Khanna Patel with Rishi Kapoor and Paresh Rawal. Then Ajay Devgan's film Shivaay.'' On stand comedy scene in India he said its healthy sign that more comedian are emerging every year. ''I think two of every seven videos watched on youtube is of comedy which is a good sign,'' said the actor. UNI AKM NV SB NS1245 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-738324.Xml
Police said many vehicles and houses were reportedly damaged allegedly by CPI (M), who retaliated the attack on their cadre last night.
Security has been tightened in the locality to avoid further escalation of violence.
Counting of votes polled in the May 16 assembly poll is slated to begin in the state tomorrow.UNI PCH CNR ADB1309
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Unidentified miscreants have looted Rs nine lakh from an account manager of a private construction company in Maharana Pratap Singh Nagar here, police said. Two motorcycle-borne looters snatched the bag containing the amount from Satyapal Singh while he was repairing his motorcycle yesterday. Singh withdrew the amount from a branch of SBI and went to his company on Hoshangabad road here. When he came out from his office, he saw that his motorcycle was punctured and when he went for repairing the two-wheeler, the looters took away the cash-filled bag and fled with it.UNI BAG-BDG -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-738443.Xml
Concerned over the reports that drugs banned by the Centre were still being sold in Jammu and Kashmir, the State Accountability Commission (SAC) has sought detailed information from the state government. There were media reports that about 344 drug combinations banned by the Government of India, are reportedly being sold across Jammu and Kashmir. Exercising its suo-motu powers, the Deputy Registrar, SAC, has written to the Commissioner-Secretary Health, Director Health Services Kashmir and Drug Controller, J&K seeking their response within a week on what stops them from banning these drugs in the state. The Deputy Registrar has also asked the officers of the Health department to evolve a mechanism for detecting unsafe and adulterated drugs being sold on medicine counters in the state. The Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) has also alleged that fake drugs were being sold in the state.UNI ABS SB NS1323 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-738457.Xml
A local court here today granted a bail to former Education Minister and incumbent Member of Legislative Assembly Babush Atanasio Monserrate in a rape case.It also granted bail to two other accused- victim's mother and her neighbour. The court granted bail on the condition that the MLA would report to Crime Branch for seven days and deposit a surety amount of Rs one lakh.Monserrate had been in police custody for the last 13 days after he surrendered before the Crime Branch of Goa Police and was subsequently arrested on May 5.The MLA was arrested following a complaint by a girl, a native of Nepal and resident of the MLA's constituency, that she was trafficked to the MLA for a sum of Rs 50 lakh and was raped by him.Along with the MLA, victim's mother and a neighbour aunty was also arrested.While the MLA has been booked under sections 342 (Wrongful Confinement), 328 (Causing Hurt), 370 (Detaining Against Will), 376 (Rape) and some sections of the Protection of Children from SexualOffences Act (POSCO) and the Goa Children's Act, the victim's mother has been booked for human trafficking and criminal conspiracy. UNI AKM NV SB VN1356 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-738468.Xml
Apple CEO Tim Cook, who landed in India late on Tuesday said the company would establish a Design and Development Accelerator in Bengaluru, the home of India's startup scene.
"India is home to one of the most vibrant and entrepreneurial iOS development communities in the world," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO.
"With the opening of this new facility in Bengaluru, we're giving developers access to tools which will help them create innovative apps for customers around the world," Cook added.
Cook who is on power-packed schedule apart from meeting with heads of leading telcos, is expected to meet Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry and Tata Consultancy Services CEO N Chandrasekaran. While in Mumbai, he could also meet with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Tim Cook is expected to land in Telangana on Thursday where he has setup meetings with Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and IT minister KT Rama Rao. Apple has already announced the setting up of its maps development centre in Hyderabad.
On the last leg of his visit he is the expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital on Saturday. (ANI)
The stage is set for counting of votes tomorrow for Assembly elections in West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Union territory of Pondicherry in which the major national players and regional parties have high stakes. Early trends are expected by 1100 hrs and by afternoon, a picture of winners and losers would be broadly clear.According to Election Commission officials, the counting of votes would begin at 0800 hrs, and was likely to be completed in almost all constituencies by 1500 hrs. After the exit polls predicted the results on Monday, the projected winners are hoping their predictions to be true, while the losers are placing all their hopes on the projections to go wrong. The polling process for the election in all the states had been completed on Monday after about two months'' high voltage campaign for an election in which prestige of both the ruling BJP at the Centre and main Opposition Congress besides the Left and regional parties like the Trinamool Congres, AIADMK, DMK was involved. The battle was very crucial for regional supremos like Mamata Bannerjee who heads the Trinammol Congress in West Bengal , AIADMK Chief Minister J Jayalalitha in Tamil Nadu, and the Congress'' Tarun Gogoi who is ruling Assam for over a decade. Mr Oommen Chandy heading a Congress-led UDF Government in Kerala had also to wage a fierce battle with the Left front to retain power. The exit polls suggest that voters in Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala would be voting for a change, but in West Bengal, they would be reposing their faith in Mamata Bannerjee Government this time again. In Assam, they have predicted a first time victory for the BJP, while in Kerala, they show the Left replacing the UDF Government, and in Tamil Nadu, the DMK has been projected to dislodge the Jayalalithaa Government.UNI NAZ SV ADG 1425 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0103-738687.Xml
The Election Commission has put in place all arrangements for the counting of votes polled in May 16 polls to elect 232 members to the 15th Tamil Nadu Assembly. Counting would be taken up in 68 counting centres across the state and they have come under multi-tiersecurity system. A total of 80 companies of security personnel have been deployed on security to man the counting centres,along with the State police and armed forces. Out of this, three centres--Loyola College, Queen Mary's College and Anna University--were located in Chennai. Talking to reporters here today, Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhoni said the counting would beginat 0800 hrs tomorrow and trends would be available from the next one hour. The entire process was expected to get over by evening. Mr Lakhoni said postal ballots will be counted first. ''In case there are any identification marks on the ballot paper or the voter has not signed it properly or the attestation is not clear, there are chances of the vote getting rejected'', he added. After postal votes, the votes cast on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be counted. He said a total of 9,621 officials have been deployed on counting duty. He also announced that cell phones will not be allowed inside counting centres and officials without identity cards will be prohibited from entering the counting centre. Mr Lakhoni said the results would be updated on the official website of the ECI every five minutes. He said for every 500 ballots, there would be one table. Sholinganallur, the largest assembly segment,would have 24 tables. Each table would have a micro observer and only after obtaining his signature, the results of each round be declared, Mr Lakhoni said. District Election Officer B Chandramohan said the EVMs have been randomised for counting and the votes would be counted in the presence of an observer.UNI GV CNR ADB1438 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-738719.Xml
The new Philippine administration will bar private traders from importing rice and aims to stamp out rampant smuggling of the grain into the country, fuelling trader speculation of reduced demand from the world's third-biggest buyer of the grain.The task of importing rice to ensure food security will now be solely in the hands of the state grains agency, the National Food Authority (NFA), President-elect Rodrigo Duterte's choice for agriculture minister, Emmanuel Pinol, said.Rice imports are politically sensitive in the Philippines, with the government pushing to keep tariffs high to protect local farmers but also sometimes needing to quickly import thousands of tonnes to ensure adequate domestic supplies.Private traders are currently allowed to bring in up to 805,200 tonnes annually, with a 35 percent tariff, under a World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement."The directive of our president-elect is that there will be no more rice importation by the private sector. It will only be the NFA. And I can assure the Filipino people that rice smuggling will be stopped," Pinol, a former governor of a southern Philippine province, said in a radio interview.Rice importation is regulated by the NFA, which issues permits and allocations to private traders via auctions, a practice prone to abuse because permits can be sold on by importers or officials can only award them to favoured traders.In 2014, the Philippines moved to loosen restrictions on rice imports by reducing tariffs to 35 percent from 40 percent and increasing the so-called annual minimum access volume (MAV) covered by such tariffs to 805,200 tonnes from 350,000 tonnes.A Manila-based rice broker said that getting around the WTO agreement could be an obstacle to Pinol's plans.Private rice importers under the scheme can buy a maximum of 293,100 tonnes each from Thailand and Vietnam, as well as 50,000 tonnes each from China, India and Pakistan. Importers can also buy up to 15,000 tonnes from Australia, 4,000 tonnes from El Salvador and up to 50,000 tonnes from other countries.LOWER DEMAND?Rice traders in Thailand and Vietnam were monitoring the situation but some expressed concern about reduced demand."It doesn't make much difference on who buys, what is important is how much they buy," said a Bangkok-based trader.In Vietnam, a trader said Manila's ban on private sector importation could mean lower demand if Vietnam had to only work with the NFA for deals.The new plans for rice trading come as benchmark Thai rice prices < RI-THBKN5-P1 > hit a two-year high on Tuesday, as drought cuts the output of Asia's top growers.Last week, Duterte's campaign spokesman Peter Lavina said a plan by the incumbent government to import an additional 500,000 tonnes of rice this year would be reviewed and said there was a preference for more government-to-government deals.The Philippines regularly imports more than a million tonnes a year of rice for its growing population, although Lavina said the Duterte government wants the country to become self sufficient in one to two years. REUTERS AKC VN1446 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-738760.Xml
The district administration had recently ordered shifting of Cab ( Sumos and Xylo) vehicles stand from the main chowk to other places for smooth traffic movement in the town.
However, large number of drivers today staged a dharna at main chowk near the office of Deputy Commissioner, protesting against the shifting of their stand.
Hundreds of people, including employees, students and other workers got stranded as drivers did not allow any traffic on Kupwara-Sopore-Srinagar road.
Raising slogans in support of their demands, the drivers alleged that shifting of their stand from the main chowk will badly affect their business.
Students, studying in Sopore and Srinagar could not attend their educational institutions because of road block by drivers.
A traffic police official said that traffic was resumed on the Kupwara-Sopore road at 1215 hrs after the senior officials from civil administration and police assured that their demand will be considered.UNI BAS sSB AN1432
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Congress today expressed its disappointment over the Narendra Modi Government's performance during its two-year regime and asserted that the Prime Minister himself has exposed the hollowness of his own claims by messing upon every front. "Mr Narendra Modi came to power on the back of promising phenomenal economic growth,..the nation believed him,..but, over the last 2 years he has exposed the hollowness of his own claims by messing upon every front", the principal opposition party said in a communique. For instance, exports have been falling continuously for the last 17 months and Indian Rupee value dipped as low as Rs 68 per US Dollar, the party said adding "But, the Government has no answers". Under his tenure, there has been a simple re-packaging of old Congress led UPA legislations like GST, Real Estate Bill and Insurance Bill..,..It bears noting that the BJP opposed each of these when in Opposition and changed its views the moment they sat on Treasury benches, as was clearly evident from its volte face on Aadhaar and MGNREGA", the party said. The Modi Government has proven itself to be one that is devoid of any original thinking and has based itself totally on rhetoric and inaction. At the start itself, in 2014, the Modi administration had run out of ideas. So, they borrowed heavily from UPA's tenure..,..from the Direct Benefit Transfer and Aadhaar schemes, the recently re-branded Jan Dhan Yojana, to the Goods and Services Tax, FDI in Insurance and Real Estate Regulation Bill, Modi Government picked up schemes and legislation of Congress led UPA, it claimed in the communique. "Their mind worked faster when it came to "managing headlines", rather than doing real work. The first act of the Modi Government was to change the methodology by which GDP was calculated..,..It was through this number jugglery that BJP claimed 7 per cent plus GDP growth rates", the party quipped. ''Under this regime, industrial growth has slowed down to a dismal 2 per cent for the current fiscal..,..this has had its impact on the manufacturing sector, which saw negative index of industrial production(IIP) numbers for 3 months in November, December and January. ''Exports have been falling for the last 17 months, and there seems no respite in sight. Modi Government's inaction on this front has hurt manufacturing and job creation. ''An economy is only abstract numbers on a sheet, unless it translates into jobs & income. Modi Government came to power promising 2 crore jobs a year. In 2015, Mr Modi, with all his wonderful rhetoric, could only deliver 1.35 lakh jobs. This coupled with his complete abandoning of the Indian farmers has left the common man completely out in the dust,'' the party alleged. "The unimaginative and sub-par performance by the BJP Government and Mr Modi has come when the international crude price is at historic lows.,..To hide its poor performance, the Government has constantly been increasing tax on crude, and making windfall profits..,..This is done to hide the fact that shortfall of Direct Tax Collection has been Rs 64,000 crore and profits for private companies have been dismal", the Opposition party further said. "Who does this Government work for? Schemes like Smart City sound wonderful, but it stops there..,..PM Modi's Government does not have a sustainable model for economic development. India's governance seems to be running on an ad-hoc basis", the Congress said.UNI SS RSA 1533 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0089-738809.Xml
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said his government has prepared a draft of the Bill seeking full statehood for Delhi, on which the opinion of people of the national Capital would be sought till June 30. ''The Delhi Government has made a draft bill seeking full statehood status for Delhi. We have uploaded the draft bill on our website. We have sought suggestions from the public and other stakeholders on the draft till June 30,'' Mr Kejriwal told mediapersons here. Noting that full statehood for Delhi has been a longstanding demand of all political parties, Mr Kejriwal requested that there should not be any politics over the matter. ''Full statehood for Delhi has been a longstanding demand of all political parties in Delhi, including the Congress and the BJP,'' Mr Kejriwal said and expressed hope that all the political parties would work together in the direction of achieving full statehood for Delhi. ''We do not want to do politics on the issue. I am confident that all the political parties will work in the direction of achieving full statehood for Delhi,'' Mr Kejriwal said. Last week, Mr Kejriwal sought to make public the draft Bill for Delhi's full statehood, including control over police, DDA and transfer and postings of bureaucrats, a move that may set stage for another confrontation with the Centre. He said the draft would be sent to the Prime Minister, the President, all political parties and various stakeholders for discussion. The Chief Minister said the draft statehood Bill suggests that NDMC area, which houses the Rashtrapati Bhavan, residences of the Vice-President, the Prime Minister, parliamentarians and foreign missions will remain under the control of the Central Government. Mr Kejriwal said in the draft bill, the AAP dispensation will ensure that institutions such as the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and Delhi Police will be accountable to the state government. "Once the draft bill is passed by the Cabinet, it will then be tabled in Delhi Assembly. Thereafter, the House will pass a resolution in favour of full statehood for Delhi and then send it to the Centre for Constitutional amendment," Mr Kejriwal said, adding that Parliament will take the final decision on the issue. Mr Kejriwal said the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had introduced a bill in Parliament in 2003 to confer full statehood to Delhi, which was never passed. Last year, AAP had planned to hold a referendum on the issue, which was later shelved after constitutional experts said anything of that sort would be "unconstitutional". In its manifesto, AAP had declared that it will push for full statehood acting within the constitutional framework, using its moral and political authority.UNI SHS/AR RSA 1546 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0092-738875.Xml
Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Ltd, has been awarded the prestigious Othmer Gold Medal for his entrepreneurial leadership.Specifically, the award has been given to Mr Ambani in recognition of his leadership role in the expansion of India's petroleum refining industry, creation of the Jamnagar Refinery in Gujarat the largest grassroots petroleum refinery in the world --, and path-breaking initiatives in oil and gas exploration, , the company said in a statement today.The award was handed over to Mr Ambani on May 16, the Heritage Day of The Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF), by Carsten Reinhardt, President & CEO of CHF, and Raj Gupta, Chairman of Delphi Automotive (formerly Chairman, President & CEO of Rohm and Hass). Following the award ceremony at Philadelphia on Monday evening, Mr Ambani was feted at a glittering dinner hosted by Tom Ridge, Pennsylvania Governor and former Secretary of Homeland Security. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Ambani dedicated the award to the indomitable spirit of his father, Dhirubhai Ambani, the founder of Reliance Group, who went on to become a legend in his lifetime, and to each member of the great Reliance Family. Late Dhirubhai encouraged Mr Ambani to pursue chemical engineering at a time when Reliance only dealt in textiles. Talking about the interests of the people of India and the US, Mr Ambani said he was confident that the two pluralist societies will be at the heart of a new world of shared prosperity and peace. "As I see the world in the 21st century, there will be two very fiercely fought wars one for prosperity and a better life, and the other for talent and security. We can win both these wars with a comprehensive India-US partnership." CHF fosters dialogue on science and technology in society. The medal commemorates Donald Othmer (19041995), noted researcher, consultant, editor, engineer, inventor, philanthropist, professor, and co-editor of the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology. UNI NM RSA 1610 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0426-738916.Xml
Special Judge PC Sharma convicted the 10 accused yesterday.
According to the prosecution, the convicts shot dead Piyush Raghvanshi at a roadside eatery in the wee hours following a dispute on June 1, 2013. Piyush was rushed to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
Press Thana police produced challan against 11 accused but one Abhisek Rathore died during hearing.UNI XC-BDG RSA AN1634
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A love triangle claimed the life of a local doctor here but all the players involved in the plot of a jilted lover to eliminate his rival, have been arrested, police said today. The killing occurred on May 13 in Palam area when a 55-year-old doctor Balwan Singh Ramawat was shot dead at his own clinic. Leaving no stone unturned, police touched upon every possible angle including personal enmity, extra-marital affair, business rivalry and modus-operandi of accused for initial leads. During investigation, it emerged that Ramawat had close relations with one woman Priya (real name withheld), aged about 42 yrs. However, when call detail records of the deceased and the woman were scanned, it was revealed that one Hariom Sharma, a property dealer, also had close relations with Priya. Following this clue, Sharma was grilled at length which revealed that he had close relations with Priya since 2007. The first and second wives of Sharma left him due to his close intimacy with Priya. The relations between Sharma and Priya had soured due to some financial issues and Priya got registered a criminal case of molestation against Sharma while Hariom filed a suit against Priya in a cheque bounce case. Meanwhile, Priya got into intimate relations with the deceased. Hariom got jealous due to this and felt spurned by Priya. Hence, he decided to eliminate Balwan Singh Ramawat so that Priya could revert to him. He sought help from his old friend Vikrant, who demanded Rs 2 Lakh to kill the deceased. Sharma paid Rs 87,000 as advance to Vikrant and got him identified the clinic of deceased. Vikrant further hired Angad and Sonu and also did a recce around the clinic of the deceased with them . Sonu arranged a bike and a desi katta ( country-made pistol) and cartridges. As per plan, Angad and Sonu reached the clinic on the bike and Angad entered into the clinic on May 13. He fired upon the deceased while Sonu waited on bike outside the clinic. Immediately after shooting the deceased, taking advantage of congested place and narrow streets, both the assailants fled. "Vikrant, Angad and Sonu were arrested on the instance of Hariom Sharma. The bike used by the shooters has been recovered. Investigation of the case is in progress," said Surender Kumar, DCP, South-West Delhi. UNI RG RSA 1605 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0104-738982.Xml
Close on the heels of the arrest of top Assam Rifles official in robbery of 52 kgs of gold bars, customs officials here have seized 13.998 kgs of gold being smuggled from Myanmar. Customs officials intercepted an Aizawl-bound maxicab coming from Mizoram-Myanmar border town at their check-gate at Seling, about 40 kms from here yesterday and recovered the gold bars worth Rs 4.27 crore. A Myanmarese national Zoliansanga, a resident of Tahan A Group in Rakhine state, was arrested in this connection The gold bars have been found to be genuine after they were tested by a local goldsmith. Meanwhile, one C S Thanga, an alleged key player in the robbery of 52 gold bars on the outskirts of Aizawl on the night of December 14 last year was granted anticipatory bail by the Aizawl District Court yesterday. Thanga, a resident of Kanan Veng locality in Aizawl, has confessed to have convinced the 39 Assam Rifles commandant Colonel Jasjit Singh to detail his rifleman for the heist. All the three accused Mathipi, Baid and Col Jasjit Singh have been arrested by the Mizoram police special investigation team. Both Mathipi and Baid were granted bail for one month on May 13 on medical grounds, while the court granted police remand for Co Jasjit Singh for another two days on Monday. Other accused in the case four civilians and eight Assam Rifles personnel have been remanded to judicial custody. Interestingly, Thanga had sought for anticipatory bail on May 3, two days before Col Singh was arrested. He was granted an interim bail and the hearing for his plea was fixed yesterday. UNI ZS AD ADG CS1639 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0108-738892.Xml
The Meghalaya government has written a letter to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to have a bottling plant in the state in the wake of the severe shortage of cooking gas cylinders. Consumers in Shillong and its suburbs are facing a severe shortage of cooking gas as distribution of LPG cylinders has become irregular. "I have written to the ministry of petroleum and natural gas urging them to set up a bottling plant in the state to meet the state's requirement," chief secretary K S Kropha told UNI over phone. East Khasi Hills deputy commissioner Peter S Dkhar said that he had received complaints from consumers about the shortage. However, consumers alleged that LPG cylinders are being sold in the black market, though the distributors claim that the shortage is due to short supply from the bottling plant of IOC in Guwahati. The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), however assured that shortage of LPG cylinder in Shillong would be resolved soon as an additional bottling plant was earmarked to distributors from here to lift the cylinders. "The situation would improve very soon. The IOC has allowed distributors from Shillong to lift LPG cylinders from Salpara in Assam apart from the bottling plant in North Guwahati," an IOC official told reporters. There are nine distributors in the state capital which are struggling to give the allocated quota of LPG cylinders to the consumers in various parts of the state capital. They have complained of shortage of supply from Guwahati's bottling plant. Earlier, the Hyniewtrep Petroleum workers' union had urged the government to take up the matter with the IOC to ensure a depot in Ri Bhoi in the interest of the state. It also demanded that there should a bottling plant in Shillong and Tura in Garo hills to ensure uninterrupted supply of petrol, diesel and LPG in the state. UNI RRK AKM ADG AS1734 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-738987.Xml
: Air Pegasus, an aviation company, concentrating on its operations in four Southern States, has commenced its operations to Bangalore from the city today. . Air Peagasus Managing Director and CEO Shyson Thomas said after the successful operations to over 24 destinations, the company had started its operations from Kochi to Bangalore, with single daily return flights. "Apart from the centre of Spice trade in India, Kochi is also the commercial capital of Kerala and connecting it with the IT Capital on a daily basis was long overdue to boost the economy of Kochi to the next level. Considering the high demand of IT professionals, apart from the trade community, among others, emancipating from Kerala, we are hopeful that Kochi will be an important part of our expansion plan in Kerala and in the South " Mr Thomas reasoned. The Kochi flight from Bangalore would be the second city in Kerala to be connected after Trivandrum and the seventh for Air Pegasus in South India in its second year of operations, the MD said, a second flight would also be operational very soon, as connecting to Kochi would be vital, considering the rise in industrial and food processing activity in that region. The flight would leave Bangalore at 1710 hours and reach Kochi at 1830 hours, while in return, it would depart from Kochi at 1850 hours and reach Bangalore at 2020 hours. Apart from Kochi, Air Peagasus would also commence its operations to Goa from Bangalore in June, he said, adding, the Airline would also launch its operations to Mangalore, Chennai and Madurai soon from the city. Pointing out that currently the company was operating its service with three flights of 80 seating capacity, Mr Thomas said the company would invest Rs 200 crore this year and would acquire two more flights, one which would arrive in two months, as part of its future expansion plan. Claiming that the company within one year operations had carried 2.8 lakh passengers, with the operations of 24 sectors daily, the CEO said the southern states had good potential for such regional carriers, as there were 33 operating airports in these four Southern states. Asked about the loading factor, Mr Thomas claimed that most of its flights are flying with 89 per cent seating-capacity. The promotional fare for Kochi-Bangalore sector would be Rs 1234 and the average price would be around Rs 3000, he said, adding, currently the air carriers are operating in Tiruvananthapurm, Bangalore, Madurai, Chennai, Mangalore and Hubli. Mr Thomas also lauded the CIAL authorities for exempting the carrier from landing and parking charges.UNI CGV KVV AK 2015 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-739626.Xml
Senior Samajwadi party leader and Uttar Pradesh minority affairs minister Mohammad Azam Khan has criticised the nomination of Amar Singh as the party candidate for Rajya Sabha. SP leader in Rajya Sabha Ram Gopal Yadav ,who is brother of Samajwadi party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, has also vehemently opposing the candidature of Amar Singh. "Its most unfortunate thing to have happened in the Samajwadi party. It will immensely damage the party in the long run. `Lekin Yah Faisala malik Ka hai (but it's the decision of the top boss of the party) said Mr Khan here last night. He sarcasticaly commented," Nobody has the right to challenge the decision of the top boss. Mulayam Singh Yadav is the owner of the party, he can decide what he desires, none can challenge him''. Mr Khan reached here last evening after the meeting of parliamentary board. Azam Khan registered his strong protest in the meeting of the parliamentary board when his name was proposed. SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav also supported Azam Khan but decided to stay cool and left the meeting. Soon after the meeting Ram Gopal Yadav left for Delhi. Samajwadi party sources however said the leaders like Azam Khan are more concerned for their own clout, status and survival rather than in the well being of the party. `Netaji's decision to nominate Amar Singh as one of the seven candidates for the Rajya Sabha comes as a political resurrection of the 60-year old wily Thakur who is master strategist of the SP, ahead of the 2017 state assembly elections and party needs the services of Amar Singh for the crucial battle ahead'Questioning the political acumen and relevance of Azam Khan in the party the SP leader said ``SP was a traditional party till 1996. The basic organisational network of SP was in rural and semi urban areas, but after Amar Singh joined in 1996, he brought glamour, political connections, Bollywood, network with big industrial houses. He managed to change the basic image of the party," said the SP leader, who requested anonymity.Defending the nomination of Amar Singh, the SP leader said ``there is one quality of Mulayam Singh Yadav which cannot be matched by any other politician. If a person has been with Mulayam Singh Yadav during his good and bad times, the SP chief doesn't forget it. He doesn't care if the public perception of the person is good or bad, he will return the favour if he thinks the person has served him well. And Amar Singh is one such person who continues to remain very close to Mulayam Singh Yadav," Other Samajwadi party leaders echoing the similar sentiments said `` most of the SP leaders, including Ram Gopal Yadav, Azam Khan and many others may not be very pleased with the decision of Mulayam Singh, SP is a typical regional party headed by a patriarch, the entire politics of the organisation revolves around the patriarch. Amar Singh became the eyes and ears of Mulayam Singh Yadav and this made a lot of leaders jealous of him''.Amar Singh's political career saw a downward spiral after his expulsion from the SP following fallout with Yadav in January 2010. Amar Singh floated his own political party, the Rashtriya Lok Manch, in 2011, and unsuccessfully fielded a number of candidates in the 2012 UP assembly elections. He tried to revive his career again in 2014, ahead of parliamentary elections, when he and former Bollywood star Jaya Prada joined Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) but failed again as Singh lost the Lok Sabha poll from the Fatehpur Sikri seat. Mulayam Singh Yadav by nominating him for the Rajya Sabha has given a new lease to his political life. This will be his fourth term in Rajya Sabha.UNI MB CJ PR 2050 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0421-739788.Xml
More than a dozen people, including some security personnel were injured in the stone pelting.
Official sources said the trouble started when some students were brought down some students from a vehicle and allegedly beaten up by police personnel at Ganderbal.
Students of different educational institutions took to streets, demanding action against the police personnel involved in beating students. However, when the students refused to disperse, security forces resorted to lathicharge to disperse the stone pelting students.
Later security forces burst teargas shells as students were regrouping again and pelting stones. Later senior police officers and civil administration met the agitated students and normalcy returned in the area.UNI ABS CJ PR SB2136
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In 2013, 2014 and 2015 cyber criminals have looted nearly 50 lakhs rupees from nearly 160 victims, living in different parts of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.Information obtained using RTI by one of Andaman's RTI activists, Mr Sunder Selvam shows that how serious threat, this cyber crime is, for these remote Islands.Considering the growing news of cyber fraud cases, it is believed that this year the number of cases of cyber crime will be even more.Although the Andaman and Nicobar police has launched a massive campaign to spread awareness about cyber crimes and to educate people regarding use of ATM and importance of ATM PIN numbers, yet some people out of greed of earning easy money share their bank details to cyber frauds while some others because of lack of knowledge about cyber crime, become easy victim.Nearly two years back, the CID unit was successful in catching one such group of cyber criminals from Jharkhand but after that local police got no major success although a few teams were sent behind the cyber criminals in Mainland India. UNI SKR AKM CJ PR SB2148 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-739656.Xml
Odisha government today requested the visiting World Bank team to continue its assistance for improvement of quality in higher education, skill development and employment generation in the handloom and handicraft sector. Odisha chief secretary A P Padhi told newsmen after the nine-member team of the world bank board of executive directors discussed about the achievements of the ongoing world bank assisted projects in Khurda and Ganjam district with the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The team which was on a two day visit to the state to gain firsthand experience about the implementation of the world bank supported projects visited Ganjam and Khurda district and saw the disaster mitigation and post disaster recovery work under the national cyclone risk mitigation project phase-1, the Odisha disaster recovery project and the energy efficient street lighting project in Bhubaneswar. During the visit, the local community members in Borisahi in Khurda district displayed their enhanced capacity to respond to disasters. Volunteers demonstrated mock exercise to display their ability to conduct efficient search and rescue operation and in providing first aid to injured in the event of a disaster. The team members also interacted with the beneficiaries of reconstructed houses in Upulapati in Chhatrapur block of Ganjam district affected by cyclonic storm Phailin in 2013. In Bhubaneswar, the Bhubaneswar municipal corporation presented the highlights of LED efficient lighting system for saving electricity and reducing GHG emission being implemented with financial support of the International Finance Corporation, the private arm of the world bank. The project included features like metre based billing, remote switching, replacement of existing luminaries with energy efficient technology and inventory management under a public private partnership.UNI BD-DP PR PM2211 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-739840.Xml
A two members World Bank team including Mr Milan, the ICZMP (section head of India project) and A Ramkrishna today paid a visit to sea erosion prone Pentha village at Rajnagar to access the ongoing project of geo synthetic sea wall, Orissa's first ever geo-synthetic tube sea wall work at Bay of Bengal near Pentha beach. The world bank officials expressed their satisfaction over the progress of the ongoing geo synthetic sea wall project, executive engineer of Aul saline embankment Jugal Kishore Tripathy said. According to Mr Tripathy, the Pune-based Garware wall ropes ltd has been entrusted for the project with an estimated cost of Rs 32.95 crores. While 75 per cent of the project cost have been provided by the world bank 15 per cent of the project's cost is funded by central government and 10 per cent by the state water resources department. All the 234 numbers of geo tubes have been laid in Pentha sea beach for the construction of Geo synthetic tube sea wall to protect nearly 35,000 sea erosion prone villagers of 36 villages in Rajnagar block from the onslaught of sea erosion. "Due to paucity of funds, some stone gabion package works is yet to be completed. We have requested the government of India to disburse Rs 13 crores for completing the stone Gabion packing and to clear the pending arrears. The sea wall project work would be completed before June 15 next, Mr Tripathy said. All the 234 laid geo tubes having length of 20 metres and height of 7.4 metres each have been fitted on a 505-metre stretch to stop the sea waves from eroding the coastline at Pentha.Notably, Sand-water mixture(commonly a slurry) is filled on the typical fabric geo tube with the help of machine pumping for applying pressure . when the slurry is filled ,the water contains came out from the geo tube and only sand remains on the tube. UNI XC-DP AKM PR PM2217 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-739845.Xml
Police arrested Maskawat Hasan alias Sakib alias Abdullah, JMB operational commander of Rajshahi region from Gaibandha yesterday.
Md Shamsuddin, Rajshahi Metropolitan Police Commissioner today said that Abdullah confessed to his involvement with the killing, reports the Daily Star.
Shamsuddin said that three other Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh men were also arrested by the law enforcers from Kharkhari area yesterday.
He however, did not disclose their names.
The trio aided the killers but did not take part in the killing directly.
Shamsuddin added that the law enforcers seized a motorcycle used during the killing operation, and two sharp weapons from the possession of the arrestees.
So far, the law enforcers have arrested seven people in connection with the killing.
On April 23, Professor Siddiquee was hacked to death while waiting was waiting for the university bus in Shalbagan area of Rajshahi city.
Soon after, his son Riyasat Imtiaz Shourav filed a case with Boalia police station accusing unnamed people for the murder.
Police investigations found three youths, who went to the killing spot by a motorcycle, orchestrated the murder.
According to US-based SITE Intelligence Group, militant group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.(ANI)
Iranian lawmakers on Tuesday approved outlines of a bill to oblige President Hassan Rouhani's administration to seek compensation from the US over Washington's "damaging" policies against Iran and its nationals. If the bill is signed into law, Rouhani's administration would be required to urge Washington to compensate for its "misappropriating of Iranian assets frozen in the US banks under various pretexts," Xinhua quoted a report in the Press TV as saying. In April, the US Supreme Court ruled that almost $2 billion in frozen Iranian assets must be turned over to US citizens killed in the 1983 bombing of a US Marine Corps barracks in the Lebanese capital of Beirut and other attacks blamed on Iran. The assets belong to the Central Bank of Iran, which has been blocked under US sanctions. On Tuesday, Iranian hardliner legislator Hamid Rasaei also proposed a complementary to the bill that obliges Iran to "seize US assets" passing through the strategic Straight of Hormuz in response to the US hostile acts. "If the US should seek to misappropriate the Iranian nation's assets, the strait must be turned into an insecure place for them and US vessels be banned from passing through it," he was quoted as saying. --IANS sku/ ( 216 Words) 2016-05-18-03:40:04 (IANS)
A Houston-based pipeline company has been indicted in California on 46 criminal charges stemming from a major oil spill last year that forced beach closures and fouled miles of shoreline near Santa Barbara, prosecutors said today.The indictment returned by a Santa Barbara County grand jury on Monday accuses Plains All American Pipeline LP of four felonies, including knowingly discharging a pollutant into state waters, county District Attorney Joyce Dudley told a news conference.The bulk of the remaining 42 misdemeanor counts contained in the indictment relate to wildlife losses blamed on the May 19, 2015, rupture of an oil pipeline that federal inspectors have found was badly worn by corrosion, officials said.The latest tally of wildlife deaths linked to the spill includes 221 seabirds - mostly brown pelicans, common murres and Pacific loons - and 138 marine mammals, principally California sea lions, state officials said yesterday.Both the company and one of its employees, James Buchanan, 41, an environmental and regulatory compliance specialist, were charged with misdemeanor violations of failing to provide timely notice of the spill to authorities.Dudley declined to discuss the charges further until the indictment is unsealed, likely within a few weeks. An arraignment is set for June 6.Attorney General Kamala Harris said the company, if convicted, faces penalties of 1 million dollars to 2.8 million dollars. Buchanan could face up to three years in prison if found guilty.Plains said criminal prosecution was unwarranted, adding it has spent more than 150 million dollars on spill response, cleanup and related efforts."Plains believes that neither the company nor any of its employees engaged in any criminal behavior at any time in connection with this accident," it said.Harris said the indictment sends the message that "any company that is operating in our state and transporting crude oil and doing it in a way that is irresponsible and in violation of the law will be held accountable."Federal authorities reported 1,700 to 2,500 barrels of crude gushed onto the shore and into the Pacific when Plains' underground pipeline, Line 901, burst along a coastal highway about (32 km) west of Santa Barbara. The company later revised its upper estimate of the spill to 3,400 barrels.Experts say the spill ranks as the largest to hit the ecologically sensitive but energy-rich coastline northwest of Los Angeles since a massive 1969 offshore blowout dumped up to 100,000 barrels into the Santa Barbara Channel.The 2015 spill occurred at the edge of a national marine sanctuary and state-designated underwater preserve teeming with marine mammals, birds and fish. The area also hosts nearly two dozen offshore oil platforms. REUTERS DS PM0421 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0139-738143.Xml
The new Philippines administration will bar private traders from importing rice and aims to stamp out rampant smuggling of the grain in the world's third-biggest importer, incoming Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol said.The task of importing rice to ensure food security will now be solely in the hands of the state grains agency, the National Food Authority NFA, Pinol said in a radio interview after the announcement of his appointment by President-elect Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday.Rice imports are politically sensitive in the Philippines, with the government pushing to keep tariffs high to protect local farmers but also sometimes needing to quickly import thousands of tonnes to ensure adequate domestic supplies."The directive of our president-elect is that there will be no more rice importation by the private sector. It will only be the NFA. And I can assure the Filipino people that rice smuggling will be stopped," said Pinol, a former governor of a southern Philippine province.Private traders are currently allowed to bring in annual shipments of up to 805,200 tonnes with a 35 percent tariff.Rice importation is regulated by the NFA, which issues import permits and allocations to private traders via auctions, a practice prone to abuse because importers with permits can offer other importers and brokers the use of their permits for a fee.In 2014, the Philippines moved to loosen restrictions on rice imports by reducing tariffs to 35 percent from 40 percent and increasing the volume of annual shipments covered by such tariffs to 805,200 tonnes from 350,000 tonnes.Last week, Duterte's campaign spokesman Peter Lavina told Reuters a plan by the incumbent government to import an additional 500,000 tonnes of rice this year to beef up state reserves would be reviewed.Lavina also said the new administration prefered to enter into the more transparent government-to-government deals in transacting rice imports.The Philippines regularly imports more than a million tonnes a year of the food staple to meet demand from its growing population. Vietnam is the country's main supplier, though Thailand also usually ships in some rice.REUTERS RSD NS0945 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0435-738195.Xml
Gul was executed yesterday and was found guilty of trafficking heroin into the kingdom, the Saudi Interior Ministry said, reports the Express Tribune.
Murder and drug trafficking cases account for the majority of executions in the Saudi kingdom. However, in January 47 people were put to death for "terrorism" on a single day.
According to rights group Amnesty International, Saudi Arabia had the third-highest number of executions last year.
However, that was far behind Pakistan which executed 326, and Saudi Arabia's regional rival Iran, which executed at least 977, said Amnesty. (ANI)
Acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar has dismissed allegations of his links with an offshore company in the 1990s that appeared in the Panama Papers saying he was not a major player in the revelations.The names of Almodovar and his brother appeared in connection with the leak prompting extensive coverage in the Spanish media."Spanish newspapers are treating as leading players (in the Panama Papers)," Almodovar said yesterday at a press conference at the 69th Cannes film festival."But we would be only extras if we were to make a movie on it," the director added."Our names are some of the least important names that appear in the Panama Papers," Almodovar explained after the screening of his new film 'Julieta' in the Cannes competition section.'Julieta', the celebrated filmmaker's 20th feature film in a career spanning early four decades, is about the troubled relationship between a mother and daughter. Based on three short stories by Nobel Prize-winning Canadian author Alice Munro, the film is vying for the Palme d'Or, the top prize in Cannes that has eluded the filmmaker."There is a great deal of mystery about short stories written by Alice Munro. So I wrote to her seeking her permission to make a movie based on her stories," he added."The origin of my film is the three short stories. I was fascinated by them when I read them," he said.Almodovar said his 20 films were "20 steps that represent me". "I began to realise it was No.20 when I had finished 'Julieta'. What is important in any film is not a number, but the story itself," he said.Asked why he was interested in being in the race for the Palme d'Or when master filmmakers Woody Allen and Steven Spielberg choose to remain outside the competition section in the festival, he said he preferred to be in the competition."I don't have the talent of Woody Allen or Steven Spielberg. But because I am in Cannes, I prefer to be in the competition." Almodovar said. "It is more exciting for me." UNI XC RSA 1719 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0421-738763.Xml
A senior provincial Minister in Pakistan has said that legal action against militant groups such as Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) is not possible as the state itself is involved. In an interview to BBC Urdu, Law Minister of Punjab Rana Sanaullah said "How can you prosecute a group with whom the state itself has been involved with?" He was replying to a question as to why action has never been taken against pro-Pakistan and anti-India groups such as JuD and JeM. He, however, said that these organizations have been banned and they can no longer carry out any activities in Punjab province. Refuting allegations that raids and operations against extremist elements are not conducted in Punjab as they are in other provinces, the minister said more people were arrested and prosecuted in Punjab than any other province. "This is why the law and order situation in the province is better than the rest of the country," he added. When asked about South Punjab's link to militancy, Sanaullah said the whole country was plagued with extremism. "The impression that South Punjab is the hub of militancy is not correct," he said. Sanaullah said PPP government had given a freehand to militants in the region in return for political gains. Refusing to give a time-frame for the ongoing operation in the province, Sanaullah said, "The operation will continue till terrorist havens are eliminated and that may take a few years to complete." UNI XC SHK 2000 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0430-739689.Xml
A one-time chief of staff for former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sentenced to 23 years in prison today for corruption, money-laundering and conspiracy in a vast bribery scandal at the state-run oil company.Jose Dirceu, a top power broker in the leftist Workers Party that governed Brazil from 2003 until last week, previously had been sentenced separately by the Supreme Court to over 10 years in prison for running a congressional vote-buying operation."Not even a conviction by the country's highest court could inhibit criminal relapse," federal judge Sergio Moro wrote in his sentencing decision, noting that Dirceu had been taking part in the bribery scheme even after he was convicted for vote-buying.Moro is overseeing the probe of state-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA, commonly known as Petrobras.The corruption investigation, Brazil's biggest ever, has led to the imprisonment of business executives and veteran politicians, contributed to its worst recession in decades and stirred public outrage that fanned an impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff.Brazil's Senate last week suspended Rousseff, Lula's hand-picked successor, pending the outcome of a trial in the chamber for violating budget rules. The move cleared the way for a more business-friendly government to take power on an interim basis.Rousseff has not been accused of wrongdoing as part of the Petrobras case. Lula, who founded the Workers Party along with Dirceu and other left-wing activists in the 1980s, is under investigation because of accusations he received favors paid for by companies indicted in the probe.Both Lula and Rousseff deny they have done anything wrong.REUTERS CJ PM2210 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-739880.Xml
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ISTANBUL, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Turkey and China, two countries at the ends of the ancient Silk Road, are joined together once again through their respective efforts to revive and expand the economic belt.
To their delight, China's "Belt and Road" initiative and Turkey's "Middle Corridor" plans can be aligned in their execution.
"Our vision for the region is focused on building a Modern Silk Road, upgrading the existing transportation infrastructure and building new ones, and removing the impediments to intercontinental transport and trade," said Ambassador Ayse Sinirlioglu, Turkish Foreign Ministry's deputy undersecretary for economic affairs.
"We are pleased that the 'Belt and Road' initiative shares many of our aims: to contribute to regional development and connectivity, provide new employment opportunities, enhance energy security, facilitate cultural exchanges and people-to-people contacts," she told Xinhua in an interview by email.
China's initiative, which comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was first brought up by President Xi Jinping in 2013, with the aim of building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road routes.
In remarks delivered late April, Xi voiced hope for all countries along the routes to "actually feel the benefit brought by the initiative."
Turkey signed with China last November a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the harmonization of the "Belt and Road" with the "Middle Corridor."
Turkey's initiative is seeking a modern revival of the ancient Silk Road, which started from China and ended in Turkey, by means of linking Turkey, the Caucasus and the Central Asian states via the Caspian Sea.
Sinirlioglu described Turkey's joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as a founding member with a capital investment of 2.6 billion U.S. dollars as "another important step forward for our cooperation within Belt and Road initiative."
"We are committed to move forward to realize cooperation under the framework of this MOU," she said.
"It will be a cost-effective route linking Europe and Asia," she added, referring to Turkey's plan. "Trade between Asia and Europe continues to expand. We view the Middle Corridor as complementary to existing routes which will all need to be utilized in order to facilitate this growing commerce."
She noted that the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway link, which will be operational by the end of this year, connects Beijing to London through the Caspian and the Bosphorus.
Turkey and China have agreed on a high-speed rail linking Kars in Turkey's east with the country's western city of Edirne.
"The Edirne-Kars high-speed railway will be an important component of the Middle Corridor," noted Sinirlioglu.
"Realization of a Modern Silk Road, in other words connecting 'London to Beijing' using the Middle Corridor, will contribute not only to our bilateral trade volume but also to our cooperation in the region," she added.
"Collaboration in railroad projects is the best way to further Turkish-Chinese cooperation," observed Altay Atli, a research fellow with the Asian Studies Center of Bogazici University in Istanbul.
In his view, there is "a favorable environment" in Turkey "for future projects to hold," as the country's policy-makers have stated their "positive view" of China's initiative while the business community has "great enthusiasm" toward it.
Turkey's economy continues to grow and it is making efforts to escape the middle-income trap, so projects through the Road and Belt "will significantly contribute to Turkish economy in this respect," said Atli.
China's project "would be a great opportunity for Ankara and Beijing to upgrade their trade relation, which has always been the basic parameter of the two countries' relations, and strengthen their cultural and military ties," said Cumhur Simsek, chief representative of the Turkish Chinese Industrialists-Businessmen Association.
"There is no doubt this project may open the door for expanding global economy not only for China as well as for other countries," remarked Erdogan Topuz, a retired Boeing engineer and entrepreneur.
In the view of Kadir Temiz, a research assistant with Bogazici University, "a new project, which would bring an alternative economic dynamism and new partners for Turkey, is so critical in these days," as Turkey's traditional economic partners like the EU and Middle Eastern countries are in "big trouble."
Geographically a bridge linking Asia and Europe, Turkey can become an "economic, social and cultural hub" in the Belt and Road projects, observed Temiz.
Ambassador Sinirlioglu voiced readiness to work with China and others to improve border facilities and custom cooperation, simplify and shorten border crossing procedures, develop logistic hubs and hinterland connections, adopt computerized clearance systems and assure harmonization with EU standards, homework needed to be done for better execution of the "Belt and Road" initiative.
She called for the AIIB and the Silk Road Fund to play their parts in helping fund important infrastructure projects.
Referring to the fact that almost all the countries along the route are being beset by political instability or violent conflict, Atli warned that the problems can "negatively" affect the implementation of projects.
He called for Turkey and China, in particular, to overcome the problems facing them so as to provide "much better ground" for cooperation on "Belt and Road" projects.
In Atli's view, lack of dialogue is the biggest one confronting the two countries.
He voiced support for the establishment of a joint commission to help the two sides to consult regularly "within a systematic and institutionalized setting."
BISHKEK, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Kyrgyzstan welcomes Chinese investors to come and explore business and investment opportunities in the Central Asian country, a Kyrgyz government official told Xinhua in an interview here Wednesday.
Alymbek Orozbekov, director of the Kyrgyz investment department under the Economy Ministry, said that the cooperation between the two countries has become increasingly active thanks to the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.
Like many other countries in the region, Kyrgyzstan has been trying to attract Chinese investments and forge a sound business climate, he said.
The initiative "is a new and beneficial concept for the region," Orozbekov said, adding his country fully supports the initiative.
In the past two years, China has been assisting Kyrgyzstan in undertaking a series of projects to promote inter-connections, such as the road construction and repair project around Lake Issyk-Kul, the opening of an oil refinery factory, and the "Datka-Kemin" 500kV power transmission line, which, built by the Chinese company TBEA, has provided the Kyrgyz people with more convenient access to electricity and helped the country gain its highly sought-after energy independence.
Although there were some problems at the beginning of these projects, the Kyrgyz government said it fully understands them and after discussing them, almost all difficulties had been settled.
"We don't have any conceptual problems or challenges" now, he said.
Orozbekov hoped that the visit to his country earlier this May by the Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong, during which the delegation signed a memorandum of understanding with his department, could help boost cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and China.
HONG KONG, May 18, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, delivers a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Summit sponsored by the government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), in Hong Kong, south China, May 18, 2016. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)
KONG HONG, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Zhang Dejiang delivered a keynote speech at the Belt and Road Summit on Wednesday sponsored by the government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR).
The following is the full text of Zhang's speech:
Distinguished Guests,
Friends,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning. I am much delighted to join you here in Hong Kong to discuss the Belt and Road Initiative. Let me begin by expressing, on behalf of President Xi Jinping and the Chinese government, sincere congratulations on the opening of this summit and a warm welcome and cordial greetings to all our guests and both old and new friends from home and abroad!
In the autumn of 2013, President Xi Jinping raised the initiative of jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. This Belt and Road Initiative has drawn wide attention and gained positive response from the international community. The Belt and Road Initiative responds to the call of the times for world peace and development, and meets the need of all countries for faster development.
It will contribute to economic development of countries along the routes and global prosperity as well as people-to-people exchanges and world peace. The Belt and Road development is a profound endeavor to carry forward the historical heritage and jointly create a brighter future.
Over 2,000 years ago, there were already interactions between the two ends of the Eurasian continent, and that was when the ancient Silk Road began. The road had taken shape by the time of the Qin and Han dynasties of China, and was most prosperous during the Sui and Tang dynasties. During the Tang and Song dynasties, our ancestors developed advanced navigation techniques, and successfully opened up the Silk Road on the Sea that extended all the way to the West.
Through bustling trade, the countries along that route brought their civilizations closer and lived in peace and prosperity. This period of history gives us something we should carry forward, i.e. the open and inclusive spirit of the Silk Road for peace, mutual learning and win-win cooperation. To maintain sound development of the Chinese economy and realize the "two centenary goals", China must be more open to the world in the future.
The Belt and Road Initiative answers the call of our times for joint response to risks and joint efforts to strengthen global economic recovery. Development is a major issue facing the world. The shadow of the international financial crisis is not far behind, and the world economic recovery lacks momentum. To avert risks and boost recovery, countries must cooperate in good faith to build up synergy.
The Belt and Road Initiative will boost mutual investment and trade between China and countries along the routes, facilitate connectivity between those countries and support their pursuit of a new-type of industrialization. The initiative will also promote common development and bring real benefits to the peoples along the routes, thus giving positive energy and new impetus to world economic recovery.
The Belt and Road Initiative meets the needs for coordinated development of different regions and a new development pattern that brings shared benefits. Stretching along the Eurasian Continent and having connectivity on its agenda, the Belt and Road links up more tightly the prospering East Asian economies and the highly developed European economies at the two ends. This will galvanize growth of the vast interior of the Eurasian continent.
The initiative can also encourage the countries along the routes to jointly create growth opportunities and share development fruits. The Belt and Road Initiative helps to find the common interests between China and countries along the routes, while addressing different needs. The initiative thus better coordinates development strategies and will contribute to the building of an inclusive and balanced regional cooperation framework that delivers benefits for all. Such an initiative can therefore better serve the fundamental interests of the mankind.
The Belt and Road Initiative is an important move to enhance friendship between countries and promote mutual learning between different civilizations. In history, the ancient Silk Road was not only a route of trade, but also a path of friendship that facilitated the dialogue and mutual learning between different civilizations.
The vast land along the ancient Silk Road was home to important cradles of human civilization. From the Yellow River to the Ganges, from the Nile to the blue Mediterranean, the flowers of ancient civilizations had bloomed in the course of mutual learning and became the shared memory of countries along the routes. The virtues of our ancestors must be cherished and kept alive.
Today, in a world where the economy and society have developed like unseen before, we, the builders of this global village, have every reason and the responsibility to increase exchanges and mutual learning between our peoples.
Let us carry on our civilization of glory into the future. The friendship between peoples is the foundation of state to state relations. The Belt and Road Initiative will advance both economic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges, promote the friendly interactions between the peoples of China and countries along the routes, and expand practical cooperation in culture, education, arts, science and technology, tourism, health and sports.
This will enhance mutual recognition, mutual understanding and mutual respect between peoples along the routes and lay a solid popular basis for the building of the Belt and Road and world peace and development.
The Belt and Road Initiative is a major move of China to pursue all dimensional opening-up under the new historical circumstances. It will align China's development with that of the countries along the routes, and combine the Chinese Dream and the dream of their peoples.
China is the initiator, but this is not a one man's show. The Belt and Road Initiative is about win-win cooperation and common development, not a solo performance or a zero-sum game. The Belt and Road are not private exclusive roads but wide and open avenues for us all.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In March 2015, China's National Development and Reform Commission, joined by other government departments, issued the Vision and Actions on Jointly Building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
Following this roadmap, we had a good beginning during the past year. Between China and the countries along the routes, there were frequent mutual visits at high levels of the government as well as closer interactions between governments, parliaments, political parties and at sub-national levels.
Common understanding was reached in a number of areas, and over 30 cooperation agreements were signed. China and those countries worked hand in hand to seek the largest denominator in win-win cooperation and common development.
A package of major projects has started in the building of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. An overall plan is being made for the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor, partnering a number of cooperation projects. In pursuit of infrastructure connectivity, China's international cooperation on production capacity is well underway in more than 10 key areas, including equipment manufacturing, automobile and electronics. Over a thousand container trains have traveled between China and Central Asia or Europe.
A functional international transport mechanism linking the two ends of the Eurasian continent is up and running. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has entered into operation, and the Silk Road Fund and several other multilateral or bilateral cooperation funds are providing continuous financing support to the Belt and Road Initiative. The RMB cross-border trading has expanded. The joint application to inscribe the portion of the Silk Road that passes through China and Central Asia on the World Heritage List was successful, and the application for the maritime Silk Road has been made.
Interactions have increased in culture, education, science and technology, tourism, business and other areas. All these have proved that the Belt and Road Initiative enjoys a promising future.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This summit on the Belt and Road takes place in Hong Kong not only because Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China, but also because it is a key link for the Belt and Road.
In designing its 13th Five-Year Plan and the Vision and Actions for the Belt and Road, the central government has made it a major policy to support Hong Kong's participation in the Belt and Road development.
We believe that Hong Kong, with the following unique advantages, will be able to make important contribution to this endeavor.
First, advantages from Hong Kong's location. In terms of maritime transport, Hong Kong sits on the busiest international sea route and boasts developed port economy. It is also an important gateway in the landscape of China's opening-up. On the land, Hong Kong is next to Guangdong Province.
With modern means of connectivity, Hong Kong has easy, efficient and economic access to China's mainland, thus serves as a hub of transportation and international communication. In terms of air transport, Hong Kong has the world's busiest international airport, topping the list in passenger and goods transport.
Furthermore, Hong Kong borders on the Pearl River Delta, one of the three economic growth poles of China and the pioneer of China's institutional and structural reform and the country's pursuit of innovation-driven development.
Moreover, Hong Kong is next to Shenzhen, a center for innovation and entrepreneurship. As a natural partner, Hong Kong can join forces with China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone, the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation zone and Fujian Province, which is a core area for the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Hong Kong's strength in the service sector and that of its neighboring provinces in manufacturing have great potential in exploring the international markets.
Second, advantages as first mover of opening-up and cooperation. As a free port from the very beginning and the world's freest economy for 22 years in a run, Hong Kong maintains close economic and trade relations with most countries and regions in the world.
After the return of Hong Kong to the motherland, an all-round, wide-ranging and high-level form of exchange and cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong has taken shape. Many opening-up policies of the mainland were first experimented and practiced in Hong Kong.
This has brought experience for the mainland to open wider, and offered rare opportunities for Hong Kong itself. This offers a good foundation for Hong Kong to seize new opportunities arising from the Belt and Road Initiative and achieve new progress.
Third, advantages in professional services. Hong Kong is a developed economy with a diverse and advanced service sector, an important international financial, shipping and trade center with the world's largest offshore RMB market, and one of the world's most favorite places of arbitration.
In accounting, law, consultancy, tourism, infrastructure development, engineering design and other fields, Hong Kong may offer a variety of services to countries along the Belt and Road routes.
I understand that Hong Kong consultancy companies were appointed by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce as project supervisors in two Chinese assistance infrastructure projects in Nepal and Cambodia.
Many buildings in Nepal collapsed in the devastating earthquake, yet the projects under their supervision were largely intact. This shows the superior quality of Hong Kong's professional services, and proves that such services have a big role to play in the Belt and Road development.
Fourth, advantages gained from cultural and people-to-people interactions. For decades, Hong Kong has been an important window for cultural exchanges between the East and the West, and for interaction among various civilizations. This has created a distinctive culture that integrates the Chinese and Western civilizations.
In an open and inclusive cultural atmosphere, Hong Kong has inherited and carried forward the traditional Chinese culture, and created a modern culture of its own, represented by movies, TV and music programs, that has a major influence in the wider Chinese language circle. Hong Kong's martial arts movies have loyal fans across the world and have influenced generations of people.
Southeast Asia is an important region for Belt and Road development thanks to people-to-people connections. Lots of ethnic Chinese went there from Guangdong via Hong Kong in the early years, and many ethnic Chinese doing business there have their origin in Guangdong, which like Hong Kong, is part of the Cantonese culture circle. This laid down the cultural foundation for deepening exchange and cooperation.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The central government attaches great importance to Hong Kong's prosperity and stability, and its role in the national strategy. We will support Hong Kong in building on its existing strengths and exploring new advantages, support closer exchange and cooperation between Hong Kong and the mainland, and support Hong Kong in expanding economic and trade ties with the world.
Hong Kong, for its part, also needs to take a more active part in the national development strategy. I noticed that during this year's annual NPC and CPPCC sessions, many NPC delegates and CPPCC members from Hong Kong contributed their ideas on Hong Kong's role and participation in the Belt and Road development.
The Chief Executive and the SAR government regard the participation in the Belt and Road development as a major opportunity for Hong Kong's development, and have introduced many policies. There are also lively discussions on this topic in the Hong Kong society.
I hope that Hong Kong, with a broader mind and vision, would fully seize the major opportunities of the Belt and Road, link its own development with the Belt and Road, and further bring out its own advantages. The central government will support Hong Kong in playing an active role in the following aspects:
First, respond to the Belt and Road, and build a platform of comprehensive services. We support Hong Kong's agencies and professionals in offering accounting, design, consultancy and other professional services to the Belt and Road.
We support Hong Kong's efforts to build a center for international legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia Pacific, in order to provide legal and arbitration services to the Belt and Road.
We support Hong Kong in developing high added-value shipping industry, and building a multi-functional shipping center for the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. And we support Hong Kong companies in leveraging their competitiveness in research, development, management, innovative industry, marketing and logistics, and participating in real economy cooperation such as production capacity cooperation along the Belt and Road. This will help secure Hong Kong's competitiveness in international division of labor.
Second, facilitate capital flows and promote RMB internationalization and the development of the Belt and Road investment and financing platform.
We will encourage mainland companies to use Hong Kong's platform to offer more low-cost capitals for the Belt and Road. We support Hong Kong in strengthening its position as a hub for global offshore RMB business, and develop RMB business along the Belt and Road.
We support Hong Kong's assistance in investment, financing, asset management and other financial services for infrastructure projects, so as to widen the financial channels for the Belt and Road. And we support Hong Kong in offering insurance and reinsurance services for the Belt and Road to offset and reduce risks.
Third, promote cultural exchanges for greater mutual understanding among the people along the Belt and Road. We support different forms of cultural and educational cooperation between Hong Kong and the countries along the routes, and the development of a platform for personnel exchange.
We support friendly and closer people-to-people exchanges between Hong Kong and the cities along the Belt and Road.
We encourage Hong Kong's business associations, social groups, think tanks and other organizations in organizing research, promotion, training, study tours and other events related to the Belt and Road. These exchange and cooperation will help increase mutual understanding among the peoples along the Belt and Road.
Fourth, deepen cooperation with the mainland and jointly develop markets along the Belt and Road. We support Hong Kong in fully tapping its advantages as the center in multiple areas, deepening cooperation with coastal provinces and cities in professional services and talents with global vision, and elevating cooperation through innovative models.
We encourage Hong Kong to work with inland provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in developing overseas businesses, build a multi-level form of cooperation at different parts of the value chain, and jointly explore markets along the Belt and Road.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This is the first year for the implementation of China's 13th Five-Year Plan, and an important year for the Belt and Road development. "A huge tree that fills one's arms grows from a tiny seedling; a nine-storied tower rises from a heap of earth."
This summit in Hong Kong is of great significance for building consensus for cooperation along the Belt and Road. I hope that all forum participants, as outstanding representatives from countries along the Belt and Road, will fully participate and share your wisdom in the following activities, to contribute to the joint effort for Belt and Road development.
Finally, let me wish Hong Kong greater achievements in its participation in the Belt and Road development, and wish this Summit a complete success. Thank you!
Hunt continues for killer
While relatives were reluctant to speak to reporters yesterday, police told Newsday that officers led by ACP Surujdeen Persad and Inspector (Crime) Ken Lutchman were still daily searching the forested area near Balandra in search of the suspect.
Police sources told Newsday they believe the suspect was being assisted by persons unknown in the forest. Inspector Lutchman advised members of the public that if they know of the assailants whereabouts, they should immediately contact the police.
Ramkissoon and his son were among 14 persons murdered in this country between last Friday and Monday.
According to reports, Lloyd was at his home last Thursday evening when he was attacked and bitten by a pitbull owned by the killer.
He later complained to the owner of the dog and an argument ensued. While Lloyd did not seek medical attention for the bite, he confronted the owner of the dog again on Friday last. Lloyd was standing with his son Ryan when he asked the dog owner to secure the animal properly.
The man became so enraged that he drew a firearm from his waist pocket and shot both Lloyd and his son multiple times before running off into the forests. Both father and son were rushed to the Sangre Grande Hospital where they were pronounced dead on arrival.
The suspect is considered armed and dangerous.
Shot cop awarded $136,000
Justice Frank Seepersad made the call yesterday as he ruled that a soldier on one of these patrols was negligent in the discharge of his firearm which led to the injury of a senior police officer on the exercise.
Justice Seepersad also found that Army Cpl Lindon Davidson wilfully refused to abide by the direction given to him by Ag Inspector of Police Ronald Williams, who was shot in the chest, arm and leg after the soldiers gun discharged accidentally while they were on an exercise in the Rio Claro district in 2011.
In an oral ruling delivered at the Port-of-Spain High Court yesterday, Justice Seepersad said if joint police/army patrols are to continue, urgent change on the way such exercises are carried out was required.
He said there must be precision and strict adherence to the directives and objectives of such exercises, adding that there was no room for individual dissent.
The catharsis of criminal activities require mature actions.
Our responses cannot be reactionary.
A proactive approach must be taken, he said. In his ruling, the judge ordered that Ag Insp Williams, who is still on active duty, receive $150,000 in general damages as well as $3,660 in special damages.
According to Williams claim, he and a party of police officers and civilians were on October 16, 2011, in search of one of his relatives who had gone missing.
They were joined by other police officers and members of the Defence Force.
While on a search at Jeffers Lane, Tabaquite Road, Rio Claro, they apprehended a man for a narcotic offence but Williams said prior to this he had cause to speak to Davidson about the safety lever being off on his MP5 firearm. His instructions to the soldier were not complied with.
While crossing a ravine, Davidson, who was last person to cross, an explosion was heard and Williams sustained three gunshot injuries.
During the one-day trial, Davidson insisted that the safety was on and it was only disengaged when they saw the suspect.
The judge found that having disarmed the suspect they apprehended, there was no need for Davidson to not re-engage the safety on his weapon as there was no other evidence to have warranted the solider to be in a reactionary mode.
Williams was represented by attorney Sushma Gopeesingh while Christie Modeste appeared for Davidson and the Attorney General.
No law barring criminally insane from hanging
The two-day hearing may set an international precedent that could prevent the execution of people on death row who have been diagnosed as intellectually disabled. In his submissions before Lady Hale, Lord Kerr, Lord Clarke, Lord Hughes, Lord Toulson, Knox countered arguments advanced by the prisoners lawyer that convicted killer suffering from an unsound mind should not suffer death by hanging.
The rule applied not the pronouncement of the sentence but the carrying out of the sentence, Knox argued. According to Knox, the text books do not support the argument that there was a common law jurisdiction to prevent the imposition of the sentence on the insane.
There is jurisdiction to prevent the carrying out of a sentence but no jurisdiction to impose the sentence, he noted.
There are steps that can be taken afterward to stop the execution, but there is no common law power to not pass sentence, he said, reminding the law lords that unlike other jurisdictions, death by hanging was mandatory, not discretionary, in Trinidad and Tobago. According to the States lawyer, there were reprieves in carrying out the death sentence on pregnant women and the insane.
He said in the cases of Pitman and Hernandez, the sentences of death were correctly imposed by the local courts. Knox also argued that intellectually disabled, as was the case of both Pitman and Hernandez, was not the same as being criminal insane. He also pointed out that Section 70 of the Criminal Procedure Act of TT, allowed for the power of pardon.
The common law power to stop the execution was taken away by statue, Knox advanced. He also said the law in England provided for criminal lunacy not mere intellectually disability, but there were no such equivalent law in TT. He said persons found to be intellectually disabled were still capable of knowing what they did and what were the consequences on conviction for murder, as they called upon to speak if before sentence is passed.
An insane person is in such a state that he does not know what he is facing. His execution will offend humanity but it will not necessarily be the case with the intellectually disabled, he noted.
The real reason for the prohibition is because an insane person does not know what he is about to face but this is not the same with the intellectually disabled, Knox added, noting that all the case law does not apply to a man with a low IQ.
The line must stay where it has been for donkey years, he said in response to the call by the appellants attorneys for the development of the law.
Throat-cutter to know fate May 31
Creft, 35, of Fyzabad was found guilty by a jury of nine members, although his common-law wife Tricia Anthony, 25, was deemed a hostile witness when she refused to give evidence in accordance with the testimony given at the Preliminary Inquiry in the Siparia Magistrates Court. Other witnesses as well, said they could not remember details of the attack on June 19, 2010. State Attorneys Mauriceia Joseph and Brandon Sookoo prosecuted the case in which it was alleged Creft attacked Anthony with a knife in the presence of their then two-year-old son at her mothers house in Fyzabad. Creft and Anthony were estranged. He slashed her throat with a knife and stabbed her several times.
During her evidence, Anthony told Justice Wilson and the jury, that she had forgiven Creft but more so persistently said she could not remember what had happened.
Her mother as well, testified that she too could not remember details of the incident. Nevertheless, the jury found Creft guilty and the judge remanded him into custody for sentencing yesterday. The judge remanded Creft into custody to be brought back on May 31 at 11 am when the State as well, is expected to reply to the submissions.
SLWA hosts fine Mothers Day Luncheon
It would thus seem that they have been called to feed.
In 2010 the group dedicated the production of Ahlen (Arabic for Welcome), a compilation of the womens favourite recipes in a 300-page cookbook, To our courageous, pioneering mothers who have taught us everything we know. A gift to Trinidad and Tobago on the associations 60th anniversary, in an attempt to bring the art of their Trinidad-style, Arabic cooking into West Indian kitchens.
In 2011, the beautiful hardcover cookbook received international recognition when it was awarded the prestigious Gourmand Best in World title for cookbooks in this region.
The proceeds of this book continue to be disbursed to local charities.
For many years the association has organised a luncheon on Mothers Day, the most important in its calendar as members encourage the women to sit back, relax and enjoy each others company. Monday, May 9 was the day chosen this year and the group, said president Sophia Laquis, brought Mothers Day back to the Hilton ballroom, as she declared Mona Hadeed the associations Mother Of The Year 2016. Guests of honour were Sharon Rowley, wife of the Prime Minister Keith Rowley, and Zalayhar Hassanali wife of late president Noor Hassanali.
The recently-elected executive committee, comprised of a team of very youthful members, to whom the original members now approaching their eighties and nineties have unhesitatingly passed the baton, did an excellent job as hosts to all mothers who were surrounded by their offspring at large family tables.
Guests gathered from as early as 10.30 am and were entertained by members in song, the highlight were renditions by the senior members of the Nightingale Choir.
The lunch buffet started with a Create Your Own Salad Bar of mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumber, corn, red onions, carrots, chickpeas, olives, feta, nuts, croutons and assorted dressings.
Already prepared salads were Chicken Thai Noodle Salad, Cucumber & Baby Shrimp Salad, Cous cous & Vegetable Salad.
The main entrees were Flank Steak with Cilantro Chimichurri Sauce, Chicken Curry in Pineapple, Red skin Potatoes with Rosemary & Garlic Butter, Grilled Vegetables in Balsamic Glaze and Rice Pilaf. Desserts included Fresh Fruit Tarts, Chocolate Cake, Vanilla Pannacotta, Tiramisu and Seasonal Fruit Salad.
The association is involved in numerous feeding projects.
Through its monthly hamper distribution, over 65 food boxes are distributed to needy families who have been identified by trusted members of our larger society. These boxes are paid for by members and distributed through community groups.
The donors are anonymous, as are the recipients. The Christmas hamper distribution which has become the largest project undertaken by SLWA is the brainchild of two members in the late seventies. Annually the association undertakes the mammoth task of packing 1,500 food boxes and distributing them across the length and breadth of Trinidad and Tobago.
Members and their offspring assist in this project from which hampers reach every area of our country.
An association started in 1950 by a group of eight women who lived in Port-of-Spain with the idea that the Arab women of Trinidad and Tobago should be knitted together as a strong community and that they should reach out in charity to their fellow countrymen, is today a body of more than 350 members raising contribution of over $500,000 annually.
NAKED GIRLS IN VAN
According to reports, at about 10.50 am, a party of officers led by Ag Sgt Ramlogan and including PC Leelum and others were on an exercise when they observed a heavily tinted black Nissan Navara van parked in an abandoned Caroni Ltd cane field near Cedar Hill Estate in Barrackpore. Officers instructed the driver to come out of the vehicle and submit to a search, but he instead started the engine and drove off at high speed. Officers gave chase and the van was intercepted and forced to stop a short distance away. The officers quickly surrounded the van. What they saw inside made them recoil in horror and revulsion. They saw a 14-yearold girl, naked and lying on her back on the front passenger seat which was reclined. On the backseat, also naked and lying down, was a nine-year-old girl. Both children appeared disoriented.
Officers found quantities of alcohol inside the vehicle, leading them to theorise that the man made the girls drink in order to impair their senses and make them easy victims.
Police sources told Newsday the sisters were unaware of their surroundings when they were rescued.
The 39-year-old man who is from Princes Town, was clad in a boxer shorts and jersey. He was arrested and taken to the Princes Town police station.
The children were allowed to put back on their clothing which was found in the van and taken to the Barrackpore Police Station where a Woman Police officer from the Child Protection Unit (CPU) spoke to them and later accompanied them to the District Medical Officer.
A medical exam, Newsday was told, later revealed the nine-yearold was sexually assaulted and there appeared to be a hickey (love bite) on her neck.
Medical tests on the 14-year-old girl found no sign of sexual activity.
The teen later told police the man had carried out indecent acts including grievous sexual assault on her and at the time the police intervened, he was about to rape her.
The suspect, who is a technician, is said to be a long time friend of the childrens father and reports revealed the children were sent by their mother to purchase some items in the Princes Town area when the man, who was driving his van near to where the sisters were walking, called them to the vehicle and told them, lets go for a ride. Knowing he was a friend of their father, the girls got into the van.
Police sources said the childrens mother, when contacted began to sob on being told by police of the incident. She told officers she trusted the man even with her own life and never expected him to prey on her daughters. She said she read stories in the newspapers about children being sexually assaulted, but never thought for a moment, it would hit home as she considered herself to be an extremely cautious parent when it comes to her children. Yesterday, head of Police Southern Division Snr Supt Irwin Hackshaw commended the officers for their keen sense of observation which allowed for a predator to be held and two children being rescued.
He added that any sexual act committed against children is extremely serious and he and his officers have adopted a zero tolerance against this and all kinds of crime.
Snr Supt Hackshaw advised parents to be especially careful who they allow their children to be with.
Police said criminal charges are expected to follow when the investigation is completed. Recently, officials from the Childrens Authority stated that within a nine-month period, over 1,000 cases of sexual assault on children were reported.
Officials spoke of sex predators on the loose and pointed to low detection rates of this and other crimes against the nations innocent.
Alexandrov: Im not the only one
Alexandrov was correcting a statement attributed to him in yesterdays Newsday, in which he was quoted as saying, I am the only forensic pathologist. Addressing the impression given in the Newsday story, Alexandrov said, I never said that I was the only forensic pathologist in the country. What I said is that we have an abnormal workload and we are in need of more forensic pathologists.
Unfortunately, Trinidad does not have many forensic pathologists.
At the moment there are only two forensic pathologists at the Forensic Sciences Centre. Alexandrov went on to express his concerns regarding administrative challenges, including a shortage of staff, at the centre.
International standards dictate that a forensic pathologist should conduct no more than 250 autopsies per year, he said.
Last year this office performed in excess of 1,000 autopsies. Alexandrov suggested placing graduate doctors as house officers at the Centre in order to alleviate the strain on forensic pathologists.
In doing this, not only will we ease the workload on the forensic pathologists, but we will also be training a second generation of forensic pathologists to fill the gap, he added.
No-confidence motion gets green light
The Government and Opposition have been exchanging barbs over the motion since it was filed for approval last week. Al-Rawi has said he plans to trounce the motion by simply presenting facts, while Moonilal yesterday expressed confidence in the measure, which has no chance of being approved without Government MPs backing it. I am ready to flog the AG, Moonilal said yesterday. Now that the motion has been approved with amendments, I am confident we can advance this motion with success.
Minister: TT grossly unhealthy
Speaking yesterday at a Portof- Spain Rotary Club luncheon at Lions Civic Centre, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said since the signing of the Portof- Spain Declaration in 2007, we have made very little progress.
What we have had are PR (public relations) stunts which never have lasting impressions on the psychology of the people to change their habits, he said.
The minister said the challenge for NCDs was not building more hospitals to amputate more legs, but it was one of societal change, and how we as a society could make the change that needed to be made to stifle the surge of NCDs. Our health means becoming wholeheartedly engaged with our own health care. When you accept what society is offering you, you are outsourcing your health to an outside agency, he said.
Deyalsingh said in times of economic challenges we had to innovate and this did not mean technology or more money but the willingness and the ability to prepare to do things differently.
He said this could be done by changing habits and creating new opportunities to take care of oneself.
He added that the burden of NCDs was not only financial, but a great part of it was paid for by the State.
Colm: Energy Ministry shooting itself in foot
You are shooting yourself in the foot, said Imbert, the chairman of Parliaments Joint Select Committee on Energy Affairs.
He said the number of rig days fell from 5,622 in 2006 to double digits in 2010.
What went on there? What happened? Imbert asked officials of the Ministry, including Permanent Secretary Selwyn Lashley. I would think you need to be focused on finding new oil.
How else can you find oil except by drilling? Independent Senator David Small said the numbers have been skewed by developmental drilling. The metric may be a deceptive metric, Lashley said.
Minister of Works Franklin Khan, a committee member, said, You need to go back to your drilling. He said a significant portion of prospective acreage was covered by three companies.
You have to engage them to come up with a robust exploration because they are on the productive acreage, the Minister, a committee member, said.
Small said oil companies often tend to revise their working agreements with the State aggressively yet the State does not aggressively seek the interests of its primary stakeholder: the citizenry.
We should adopt a similar strategy, Small said. When these companies have their issues and want terms changed they come knocking and they come knocking very hard. In your most diplomatic way you must engage them with fervour. The Committee heard that some incentives currently in force such as a 100 percent tax write-off have been in force since 1988.
Acting Senior Energy Analyst Ivor Superville said this dated back to the Finance Act 1988.
This is a decision taken by the Board of Inland Revenue, Superville said. As to why they have taken that decision we dont know why. Imbert said, That is a long time ago. Should we revisit this? No one around this table was in Government in 1988 and therefore that is not the policy of the Government. Lashley replied, Yes, we fully agree. The Committee examined the case of one company which gained from a tax deferral of $103 million. It also heard of an audit backlog of 385 pending examinations.
Two additional personnel are planned to deal with the backlog, though 13 persons are also proposed, said Deputy Permanent Secretary Heidi Wong. Lashley said the Audit Unit of the Ministry is one of its challenges.
Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon said audits are needed to ensure contractors are in compliance.
Cuffie: Govt committed to ICT development
He gave the assurance in a statement as TT joined with 193 countries of the United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in commemorating World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, the theme of which is ICT Entrepreneurship for Social Impact.
ICT, he said, is transforming the way TT and entire world, interact, recreate and conduct business. In fact, the successful adoption and use of new technologies are critical to developing a more competitive economy.
If we are to examine the economies of developing and developed countries, we would see that they have been transformed due in great measure to the incorporation of ICTs by the private sector, as well as the state sector.
Many local businesses may have already incorporated ICTs into their operations; however, some small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and even some of the larger entities, are still reluctant to embrace new forms of technology. This is due in great part to some of the barriers to the adoption of e-business methods.
However, as a country, all is not lost as we have been making small but important steps by incorporating ICTs into the entrepreneurial process: TT BizLink, FairShare and the Community- Based Incubators (IBIS) are examples of these platforms.
He said the initiation of the free island-wide public broadband wireless network, starting with free public hotspots in popular areas by the Ministry of Public Administration and Communications in the next few months, will not only reduce the digital divide by providing greater access but will foster the creation of a knowledge-based, information driven society.
The economic reality of our country has therefore created an ideal opportunity for citizens, especially youths with innovative ideas to enhance their business capabilities through creative and cost effective means. The accelerated growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) locally, will indeed benefit Trinidad and Tobago as we seek to diversify our economy in a meaningful way, Cuffie said.
World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) has been celebrated annually on May 17 since 1969.
It commemorates the establishment of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention in 1865. The purpose of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day is to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide.
China criticizes Pentagon annual report on Chinese military island-building, cybersecurity breaches
(Cyberwar.news) BEIJING (Reuters) China condemned the U.S. Defense Departments annual report on the Chinese military on Sunday, calling it deliberate distortion that has severely damaged mutual trust.
In its annual report to Congress on Chinese military activities, the U.S. Defense Department said on Friday that China is expected to add substantial military infrastructure, including communications and surveillance systems, to artificial islands in the South China Sea this year.
Chinas Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun expressed strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to the Pentagon report and said it has severely damaged mutual trust, state news agency Xinhua reported.
The report hyped up Chinas military threat and lack of transparency, deliberately distorted Chinese defense policies and unfairly depicted Chinese activities in the East and South China seas, Yang was quoted as saying.
China follows a national defense policy that is defensive in nature, Yang said, adding that the countrys military build-up and reforms are aimed at maintaining sovereignty, security and territorial integrity and guaranteeing Chinas peaceful development.
It is the United States that has always been suspicious and flexing its military muscle by frequently sending military aircraft and warships to the region, Yang said.
Despite its calls for freedom of navigation and restraint for peace, the U.S. has pushed forward militarization of the South China Sea with an intention to exert hegemony, Yang added.
RECLAMATION WORK
The Pentagon report said the planned addition of military infrastructure would give China long-term civil-military bases in the contested waters.
It estimated that Chinas 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.
The report said China had completed its major reclamation efforts in October, switching focus to infrastructure development, including three 9,800 foot-long (3,000 meter) airstrips that can accommodate advanced fighter jets.
Yang, the spokesman, defended the construction, saying it serves mostly civilian purposes and helps fulfill Chinas international responsibilities and obligations by providing more public goods.
The Pentagon 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 U.S report renewed accusations against Chinas government and military for cyber attacks against U.S. government computer systems, a charge Beijing denies. The Pentagon said attacks in 2015 appeared focused on intelligence collection.
Reporting by Benjamin Kang Lim; Editing by Richard Borsuk
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Obama aid comes clean to the NY Times: The White House manipulates media, planting stories that clueless reports pick up
Ben Rhodes grew up wanting to be a fiction writer and was on track to earn a MFA from NYU when the twin towers exploded in an avalanche of nanothermite toxic dust. In that moment, he decided hed concentrate on international affairs. His mothers friend had connections with the journal Foreign Policy, so he got an introduction. Today, Ben Rhodes is Obamas deputy national security advisor for strategic communications. Its been quite the journey, but hes still writing fiction. The New York Times reports:
Rhodes writes the presidents speeches, plans his trips abroad and runs communications strategy across the White House, tasks that, taken individually, give little sense of the importance of his role. He is, according to the consensus of the two dozen current and former White House insiders I talked to, the single most influential voice shaping American foreign policy aside from Potus himself
Like Obama, Rhodes is a storyteller who uses a writers tools to advance an agenda that is packaged as politics but is often quite personal. He is adept at constructing overarching plotlines with heroes and villains, their conflicts and motivations supported by flurries of carefully chosen adjectives, quotations and leaks from named and unnamed senior officials. He is the master shaper and retailer of Obamas foreign-policy narratives
Rhodes worked his way up as the chief note taker and writer for the Iraq Study Group
Rhodes sent his resume to Foreign Policy attached with a piece of fiction from his MFA days. This landed in the lap of former Indiana Congressman Lee Hamilton, who was impressed with Rhodes writing prowess and hired him to work for the Wilson Center, a non partisan think tank. Rhodes ability as a note taker was key, as reported in The New York Times:
Hamilton says, [Rhodes] had a keen understanding of what was going on and a talent for putting the positions of distinguished participants down on paper. I immediately understood that its a very important quality for a staffer, Hamilton explained, that he could come into a meeting and decide what was decided.'
After the Iraq Study Group, Ben Rhodes was hired by the Obama campaign in 2007 where he became known as strategic and defiant in knowing what then Senator Barack Obama would say, or not say, or would like or not like. When he came to the White House, he realized that it would be his job to help the new President of the United States communicate with the public, media and all points in between. Deciding what was decided, even if its massaged with fiction, became even more strategic.
Rhodes admits to a mind meld with Obama. He doesnt know where he begins or Obama ends
From The New York Times:
The Obama [Rhodes] talks about in public is, in part, a character that he has helped to create based on a real person, of course and is embedded in story lines that he personally constructs and manages
[Like the] message [bouncing] from Rhodess brain to the three big briefing podiums the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon and across the Twitterverse, where it springs to life in dozens of insta-stories [and then to] mainstream outlets.
One of the bigger stories Ben Rhodes shaped was the Iran deal. And what Americans have heard, is mostly, well, fiction. NYT.com reports that even where the particulars of that [Iran] story are true, the implications that readers and viewers are encouraged to take away from those particulars are often misleading or false .
Seems like Karl Roves quote about creating their own reality still lives on.
(Photo credit: Steven Crowley New York Times)
Sources:
Science.NaturalNews.com
NYTmes.com
GoodReads.com
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Public school students forced to use gender-neutral pronouns or be PUNISHED!
Chicago Public Schools are telling employees and even students that they will be punished if they dont use government-directed language when debating or talking about sex and gender.
(Article by Warner Todd, republished from //www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/05/15/transgender-chicago-schools-language/)
The new rules have gone all-in to push the gender identity ideology and transgender agenda by demanding that everyone in the school system must use the scientifically incorrect pronouns and made-up names preferred by a tiny minority of people who say they prefer to be treated as members of the opposite sex.
The guidelines released today will help ensure every student and adult in the CPS family can participate in an environment of complete tolerance and respect, CPS Chief Education Officer Dr. Janice K. Jackson said in a press release.
Official say the new rules are needed to comply with federal Title IX laws craft to prevent sex discrimination. Thats the same claim made by President Barack Obama with his recent decree that all schools in America be forced to provide pro-transgender bathroom and locker room facilities or face the removal of federal education dollars.
Under these new guidelines, students and CPS employees must turn informer and are required to make sure any incident of discrimination, harassment, or violence is given immediate attention, including investigating the incident and taking appropriate corrective action.
If students dont inform on instances of discrimination, for example where a make who wants to be a female is called he or him in science class or if they themselves violate these guidelines, there will be punishment. The CPS warns:
the intentional or persistent refusal by students or school staff to respect a students gender identity (for example, intentionally referring to the student by a name or pronoun that does not correspond to the students gender identity) is a violation of these Guidelines, the Student Code of Conduct, and Comprehensive Non-Discrimination, Title IX and Sexual Harassment Policy.
Even scarier for parents, the new guidelines tell CPS employees that they must conceal from parents evidence that their child is claiming to be transgender and is experimenting with gender-switching while in school, if the child wants the parents excluded.
The guidelines state that when talking to parents or legal guardians school staff should not disclose a students preferred name, pronoun, or other confidential information pertaining to the students transgender or gender nonconforming status without the students permission, unless authorized to do so by the Law Department.
Officials promotion of the gender-fluid agenda has prompted protests from normal students. In Missouri, for example, more than 100 students at Hillsboro High School, near St Louis, walked out of class in September 2015 to protest the schools decision to allow a 17-year-old boy to pretend hes a girl. As part of the policy, the youth, who now calls himself Lila, was allowed into the girls bathrooms and locker rooms.
The federal government only contributes about 7 to 10 cents of each education dollar for school budgets across the country. But with that less than ten percent of funding comes thousands of strict federal rules forcing schools to conform to demands from Washington bypassing parents, local administrators and school boards alike.
In her public statement, CPS administrator Jackson went on to claim much of the country has now become far more aware of the needs and experiences of the transgender community and that the CPS move was meant to foster healthy and supportive learning opportunities for CPS kids.
Even though no student who has claimed to be transgenderor in the latest term gender non-conforminghas ever been denied the opportunity to take physical education classes in the CPS, Jackson went on to tout the districts pledge for such students to be provided the same opportunities to participate in physical education, sexual health education, sports, clubs and school events as all other students.
Read more at: //www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/05/15/transgender-chicago-schools-language/
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Physicists are putting themselves out of a job, using artificial intelligence to run a complex experiment.
The experiment, developed by physicists from The Australian National University (ANU) and UNSW ADFA, created an extremely cold gas trapped in a laser beam, known as a Bose-Einstein condensate, replicating the experiment that won the 2001 Nobel Prize.
I didnt expect the machine could learn to do the experiment itself, from scratch, in under an hour, said co-lead researcher Paul Wigley from the ANU Research School of Physics and Engineering.
A simple computer program would have taken longer than the age of the Universe to run through all the combinations and work this out.
Bose-Einstein condensates are some of the coldest places in the Universe, far colder than outer space, typically less than a billionth of a degree above absolute zero.
They could be used for mineral exploration or navigation systems as they are extremely sensitive to external disturbances, which allows them to make very precise measurements such as tiny changes in the Earths magnetic field or gravity.
The experiment, featuring the small red glow of a BEC trapped in infrared laser beams. CREDIT Stuart Hay, ANU
The artificial intelligence systems ability to set itself up quickly every morning and compensate for any overnight fluctuations would make this fragile technology much more useful for field measurements, said co-lead researcher Dr Michael Hush from UNSW ADFA.
You could make a working device to measure gravity that you could take in the back of a car, and the artificial intelligence would recalibrate and fix itself no matter what, he said.
Its cheaper than taking a physicist everywhere with you.
The team cooled the gas to around 1 microkelvin, and then handed control of the three laser beams over to the artificial intelligence to cool the trapped gas down to nanokelvin.
Researchers were surprised by the methods the system came up with to ramp down the power of the lasers.
It did things a person wouldnt guess, such as changing one lasers power up and down, and compensating with another, said Mr Wigley.
It may be able to come up with complicated ways humans havent thought of to get experiments colder and make measurements more precise.
The new technique will lead to bigger and better experiments, said Dr Hush.
Next we plan to employ the artificial intelligence to build an even larger Bose-Einstein condensate faster than weve seen ever before, he said.
SOURCE Australian National University, Eurekalert
On May 16, 2016, the bread loaf-sized Miniature X-Ray Solar Spectrometer, or MinXSS, CubeSat deployed from an airlock on the International Space Station to begin its journey into space. The NASA-funded MinXSS studies emissions from the sun that can affect our communications systems. MinXSS will operate for up to 12 months. The CubeSat observes soft X-rays from the sun, which can disrupt Earths upper atmosphere and hamper radio and GPS signals traveling through the region. The intensity of the soft x-ray emissions emitted from the sun is continuously changing over a large range with peak emission levels occurring during large eruptions on the sun called solar flares.
MinXSS data will also help us understand the physics behind solar flares. The soft X-rays carry information about the temperature, density and chemical composition of material in the suns atmosphere, allowing scientists to trace how events like flares and other processes heat the surrounding material in the suns atmosphere which are still being debated among solar scientists.
On May 16, 2016, the NASA-funded MinXSS CubeSat deployed from an airlock of the International Space Station to enter an orbit around Earth. MinXSS observes soft X-rays from the sun such X-rays can disturb the ionosphere and thereby hamper radio and GPS signals. CREDIT Credits: ESA/NASA
CubeSats are a new, low-cost tool for space science missions. Instead of the traditional space science missions that carry a significant number of custom-built, state-of-the-art instruments, CubeSats are designed to take narrowly targeted scientific observations, with only a few instruments, often built from off-the-shelf components. For example, MinXSS uses a commercially purchased X-ray spectrometer for a detector and an extendable tape measure as a radio antenna. The MinXSS development program was funded by the NASA Science Mission Directorate CubeSat Initiative Program and implemented by the University of Colorado Boulder under the leadership of Principal Investigator Tom Woods.
MinXSS was launched via the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative program on Dec. 6, 2015, aboard Orbital ATKs Cygnus spacecraft through NASAs Commercial Resupply Services contract. Since its inception in 2010, the CSLI has selected more than 120 CubeSats for launch and deployed 43 small satellites as part of the agencys Launch Services Programs Educational Launch of Nanosatellite Missions.
SOURCES ESA, NASA, Eurekalert
The US Navy is building an upcoming Virginia-class attack submarine, the future USS South Dakota (SSN-790), with acoustic superiority features for the fleet to test out and ultimately include in both attack and ballistic missile submarines in the future.
Richard said the under-construction South Dakota will feature a large vertical array, a special coating and machinery quieting improvements inside the boat. The boat is on track to deliver early despite the changes, he said. Once South Dakota joins the fleet in 2018, according to the boats commissioning committee lessons learned from the acoustic superiority features will help inform enhancements built into future Virginia class boats and the Ohio Replacement Program boomers, as well as the legacy Ohio-class ballistic missile subs and some Virginia-class boats.
Stealth is the cover charge, stealth is the price of admission, and while we have great access now we dont take that for granted either, Richard said.
Making the right investments to maintain acoustic superiority over a potential adversary is of high importance to the Navy today, and the South Dakota project represents a clear national investment in acoustic superiority.
Program Executive Officer for Submarines Rear Adm. Michael Jabaley told USNI News in a March 3 interview that acoustic superiority items, some of which will be built into the ship and some of which will be added during the ships post shakedown availability, will kind of become the standard for what we do in various forms between Ohio Replacement, future Virginias and even backfit some on the Ohios and some of the delivered Virginias to make sure that submarine force is pacing the threat of these new highly capable submarines that are being delivered from other navies like Russia and China.
Jabaley added that as the Navy looks at its next class of attack submarines, the SSN(X), stealth will be a key factor in the design and could lead to the Navy selecting an electric drive or other advanced propulsion system to eliminate as much noise as possible.
Im not just talking about the propeller or propulsor, its the whole propulsion system from power generation to motion through the water, he said in the interview.
Electric drive is a propulsion system that uses an electric motor which turns the propeller of a ship/submarine. It is part of a wider (Integrated electric power) concept whose aim is to create an all electric ship. Electric drive should reduce the life cycle cost of submarines while at the same time improving acoustic performance
The British Royal Navy Successor submarine (the class replacing the Vanguard class SSBNs) state that the submarines may have submarine shaftless drive (SSD) with an electric motor mounted outside the pressure hull. SSD was evaluated by the U.S. Navy as well but it remains unknown whether the Ohio class replacement will feature it. On contemporary nuclear submarines steam turbines are linked to reduction gears and a shaft rotating the propeller/pump-jet propulsor. With SSD, steam would drive electric turbogenerators (i.e., generators powered by steam turbines) which would be connected to a non-penetrating electric junction at the aft end of the pressure hull, with a watertight electric motor mounted externally (perhaps in an Integrated Motor Propulsor arrangement), powering the pump-jet propulsor, although SSD concepts without pump-jet propulsors also exist. More recent data, including a Ohio Replacement scale model displayed at the Navy Leagues 2015 Sea-Air-Space Exposition, indicates that the Ohio Replacement will feature a pump-jet propulsor visually similar to the one used on Virginia class SSNs. The class will share components from the Virginia class in order to reduce risk and cost of construction.
The British Royal Navy Successor submarine concept also includes a next-generation Naval Propulsion Plant, with extensive passive features and designed for disposal; extensive use of automation for submarine control, damage control and condition monitoring; full electric propulsion with shaftless drive; externally mounted tactical weapons; electrical actuation of control surfaces; and replacement of obsolete technologies with military and commercial off-the-shelf equipment.
The Advanced Hull Form submarine concept uses modular design techniques and advanced hydrodynamics to create an unorthodox external hull form, which offers enhanced signatures, manoeuvring and safety, and large volumes for payloads and equipment outside the pressure hull. This gives exceptional flexibility in design and operation, with the maximum opportunity for rapid role change or upgrading.
The Advanced Hull Form has been designed for low-cost fabrication using largely flat or single curvature surfaces. This approach also allows rapid repair and modification, giving the basis for a flexible, economical and resilient platform.
There are some various shaftless designs and analysis from around 2006.
There is funded research on advanced submarine technology
The US Navy is researching advanced propulsion and ship concept developments.
Shaftless Propulsion and Radical Ship HM and E Infrastructure Reduction. Develop submarine alternative propulsion and stern configurations with potential to significantly reduce submarine acquisition costs. Demonstrate critical performance parameters through appropriate scale demonstrators in realistic environmental conditions. Evaluate integration of technologies and approaches for cost reduction in future submarines. Develop understanding of ship concept studies and submarine cost drivers and model analysis. Develop and demonstrate technologies for future submarines in areas of hull and platform technologies, propulsors, ship control, electric actuation, sensors, and self defense
SOURCES USNI, US Navy, MIT
The China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) has proposed the construction of a network of ship and subsurface sensors that could significantly erode the undersea warfare advantage held by US and Russian submarines and contribute greatly to future Chinese ability to control the South China Sea (SCS).
Details of the network of sensors, called the Underwater Great Wall Project, were revealed in a CSSC booth at a public exhibition in China in late 2015.
While some elements of this network have been known for some time, CSSC is now in effect proposing an improved Chinese version of the Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) that for a time gave the US a significant advantage in countering Soviet submarines during the Cold War. The system proposed by CSSC is likely being obtained by Chinas Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) but may also be offered for export.
SOSUS, an acronym for sound surveillance system, is a chain of underwater listening posts located around the world in places such as the Atlantic Ocean near Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdomthe GIUK gapand at various locations in the Pacific Ocean. The United States Navys initial intent for the system was for tracking Soviet submarines, which had to pass through the gap to attack targets further west. It was later supplemented by mobile assets such as the Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS), and became part of the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS).
SOSUS consists of high-gain long fixed arrays in the deep ocean basins
BEAM accesses form beams from multiple hydrophone arrays trained on the seafloor to provide signal gain obtained through beam forming.
PHONE accesses individual hydrophones from arrays throughout the oceans provides omni-directional coverage.
CSSC says that, among other things, its objective is to provide customers with a package solution in terms of underwater environment monitoring and collection, real-time location, tracing of surface and underwater targets, warning of seaquakes, tsunamis, and other disasters as well as marine scientific research.
The corporation says in the document that its R and D and production bases in Beijing and Wuxi [have] the ability to support the whole industry chain covering fundamental research, key technology development, solution design, overall system integration, core equipment development, production, and operation service support.
The shipbuilding conglomerate says it has 10 series of products on offer that include systems relating to marine observation, oceanographic instrumentation, underwater robotics, and ship support.
Specific components of CSSCs surveillance system include surface ships, sonar systems, underwater security equipment, marine oil and gas exploration equipment, underwater unmanned equipment, and marine instrument electronic equipment.
US Anti-submarine Warfare
From a Statemeent before the house armed services seapower and projection subcommittee on Game Changers Undersea Warfare
October 27,2015 Bryan Clark, Senior Fellow, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments
When the Soviet Navy began fielding nuclear submarines, the American Navy exploited its first mover advantage in passive sonar to establish the passive Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) network off the U.S. coast and at key chokepoints between the Soviet Union and the open ocean.
The combination of passive sonar Anti submarine Warfare (ASW) systems and its own sound-silencing efforts gave the U.S. Navy a significant advantage over relatively noisy Soviet submarines. This overmatch, however, slowly began to erode in the mid-1970s after the Soviet Union learned of their submarines acoustic vulnerability from the John Walker-led spy ring and obtained technology for submarine quieting from a variety of sources. Newer Soviet submarines such as the Akula and Sierra classes were much quieter than their predecessors, but were only fielded in small numbers before the Soviet economy began to falter, leading to delayed construction and inadequate sustainment.
Efforts to protect submarines from being detected since the Cold War have emphasized quieting, since passive sonar is the predominant sensor used for ASW. But today a growing number of new ASW systems do not listen for a submarines radiated noise. For example, low-frequency active sonar is now widely used by European and Asian navies in variable depth sonar (VDS) systems and will be part of the U.S. Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) ASW mission package. Non-acoustic ASW technologies that detect chemical or radiological emissions or bounce laser light off a submarine are becoming more operationally useful due to improved computer processing and modeling of the undersea environment.
These active sonar and non-acoustic capabilities are likely to be best exploited by mobile platforms such as unmanned vehicles, aircraft, and ships because they are smaller than passive sonar systems. In contrast, to achieve long detection ranges passive sonars must be physically large so they can hear faint noise at the lower frequencies that suffer less attenuation. This makes fixed systems on the sea floor like SOSUS or towed systems such as SURTASS better able to exploit passive sonar improvements.
The same advancements that are improving ASW capabilities will also enable a new generation of sophisticated counter-detection technologies and techniques. For example, against passive sonar a submarine or unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) could emit sound to reduce its radiated noise using a technique similar to that of noise cancelling headphones. Against active sonars, undersea platforms couldby themselves or in concert with UUVs and other stationary or floating systemsconduct acoustic jamming or decoy
operations similar to those done by electronic warfare systems against radar.
New power and control technologies are improving the endurance and reliability of UUVs, which will likely be able to operate unrefueled for months within the next decade. The autonomy of UUVs will remain constrained, however, by imperfect situational awareness. For example, while a UUV may have the computer algorithms and control systems to avoid safety hazards or security threats, it may not be able to understand with certainty where hazards and threats are and what they are doing. In the face of uncertain data, a human operator can make choices and be accountable for the results
The U.S. surface naval force employs state-of-the-art ASW technology aboard numerous Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. The SQQ-89A(V)15 Combat System, which will be aboard 64 destroyers by 2020, and the new MFTA (multi-function towed arrays) are game-changers in ASW operations. The combined capabilities alter how the surface Navy searches and tracks submarines. With enhanced sensor capability and data processing, the surface naval forces have an increased role in integrated ASW operations.
ASW surface ships can remain longer on station in comparison to aircraft and provide real-time command and control capability beyond that of a submarine, he wrote. In stride with the surface Navys technological advancements, the aviation community has new platforms to meet the ASW mission. The MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter and P-8A Poseidon aircraft are to be fully integrated in the fleet by 2020 [and] are already providing an improved ASW capability in fleet operations The rotary aircraft has an enhanced active dipping sonar to increase detection ranges from three to seven times compared to legacy systems.
The P-8A adds an improved sensor search capability by utilizing a multi-static active coherent (MAC) system, which comprises sonobuoys (source and receiver) and advanced processing. In addition to the new platforms and technological advancements, all ASW ships and aircraft in the future will employ the Mk 54 lightweight torpedo, which integrates several years of weapons technology. By 2020, these new improvements collectively in the surface and aviation communities will create a powerful ASW capability. The Navy must further improve requisite training to meet the new capabilities and foster a fleetwide culture that prioritizes the ASW mission.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., has been pursuing two ASW programs: Distributed Agile Submarine Hunting (DASH) and ASW Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV). DASH was designed to reverse the asymmetric advantage of the threat from quiet new submarines through the development of advanced standoff sensing from unmanned systems.
Future undersea competition
Some operational features of this competition are:
A new predominant sensing technology. The effectiveness of traditional passive sonar will decline as submarines become quieter, their stealth is enhanced with countermeasures, and rivals deploy more unmanned systems that radiate little noise. While ASW relied primarily on passive sonar for the last 50 years, the dominant detection method by the 2020s may be lowfrequency active sonar, non-acoustic detection, or some other previously unexploited technique made possible by ongoing technological advances.
Undersea families of systems. Submarines will increasingly need to shift from being front-line tactical platforms like aircraft to being host and coordination platforms like aircraft carriers. Large UUVs and other deployed systems that are smaller and less detectable could increasingly be used instead of manned submarines for tactical missions close to enemy shores including coastal intelligence gathering, surveillance, mining, or electronic warfare.
Undersea battle networks. New longer-range sensors and emerging undersea communication capabilities will enable undersea fire control network operations analogous to those that use radio signals above the surface of the water. Undersea networks could also enable coordinated surveillance or attack operations by swarms of UUVs operating autonomously or controlled from a manned submarine or other platform.
Seabed warfare: U.S. forces will need more immediately available undersea capacity inside areas contested by adversary surface and air A2/AD networks.
Deployed and fixed sensors, payload modules, and UUVs supported by systems like FDECO could augment U.S. submarine capacity and be managed by them during a conflict. Increased reliance on these capabilities will create a competition in the ability to place or eliminate systems on the coastal seabed, including capabilities for rapidly surveying and assessing the sea floor.
SOURCES IHS Janes, military aerospace, Statemeent before the house armed services seapower and projection subcommittee on Game Changers Undersea Warfare October 27,2015 Bryan Clark, Senior Fellow, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, global Security, Wikipedia
Nebraska is facing one of the worst droughts in years. We see the effects of this drought in our everyday lives. When driving down the highway, we see our once verdant landscape replaced with yellowing and desiccated crops and plant life. This dryness provokes hardships for the economy and a
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The Algerian President has launched a lawsuit against French Paper le Monde for having published in April on its front page a picture of the Algerian President at the side of world leaders cited in the Panama Paper leaks.
President Bouteflikas lawyers have reportedly demanded 10,000 for compensation for moral prejudice suffered by the Algerian President following the publication of his picture. Presidents lawyers also demanded a condemnation of Le Mondes Director Louis Dryfus for defamation and payment of 1 for compensation.
The case is to be settled on June 3, in Paris criminal court.
The information confirms a report by Jeune Afrique which last month indicated that President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika and his entourage sued le Monde for publishing the Presidents picture in a financial scandal.
Forces loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) claimed Tuesday they retook control of the Abu Grein crossroads, south of Libyas third city Misrata, where the coastal highway meets the main road south into the desert interior.
The crossroads laying 140km west of Sirte where IS has established its stronghold has been overrun by militants of the terrorist group last month.
GNAs forces on facebook indicated that aside from taking back the strategic point, they also advanced 50 km towards Sirte.
Seven military personnel were lost and more than 15 wounded in the clashes, the forces further revealed.
After arriving in Tripoli, end of March, the GNA has established a military operations room to lead the fight against the militants who have lost some ground over the past weeks.
While GNA forces advance towards Sirte, forces of Libyan National Army led by Gen. Khalifa Haftar loyal to the rival government in the East, are also gearing up to take on ISs Sirte nerve-center after defeating the militants in part of Benghazi and Derna.
Monday, GNA received assurance from 25 countries including the US to ease the arms embargo imposed on the country since 2011 in order to help loyal forces acquire the weaponry needed to evict IS from Libya.
ISs advances in Libya, and its control of Sirtes airport and port, a hundred mile away from Europes South coasts have alarmed Western countries which have pledged to help the unity government now to overcome the terror group.
Meanwhile France Tuesday suggested that embargo be maintained as it warned that arms and military equipment to be purchased by the GNA may fall in wrong hands.
As was decided in Vienna, it is essential to help the national unity government to control and ensure the security of Libyan territory, the French foreign ministry said.
[But] the arms embargo must be maintained, it said, although the GNA can legitimately request exemptions.
The Egyptian President Tuesday offered Egypts help to cement ranks between Palestinian rivals and called on Palestinians and Israelis to seize the golden opportunity of peace making proposed by France.
I say to our Palestinian brothers, you must unite the different factions in order to achieve reconciliation the soonest, President al-Sis said in a televised address during the inauguration of eight energy plants in the southern city of Assiut.
He said Egypt is prepared to take on this reconciliation role. It is a real opportunity to find a long-awaited solution. After throwing his support behind Frances peace initiative plan presented to regional leaders and both Palestinians and Israeli, al-Sisi urged both rivals to seize the opportunity adding that reaching peace agreement will give hope to Palestinians and security to Israelis.
France has embarked on diplomatic efforts to resurrect peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis which collapsed 2 years ago, in April 2014 before the Gaza conflict.
Sunday visit by French Foreign Minister Jean Marc Ayrault in the West Bank and Israel to promote the initiative was cold-shouldered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who rejected the move saying that only direct talks between the two camps can yield progress and peace.
The French-proposed international conference initially scheduled for the end of this month has been postponed to next Summer because of the heavy schedule of US Secretary of State John Kerry.
The Mauritania Supreme Court Tuesday demanded the immediate release of anti-slavery activists arrested two years ago and sentenced to two years in prison, reports say.
Biram ould Abeid and Brahim ould Bilal respectively President and deputy President of IRA Mauritanie, an NGO combatting slavery in the country, have been ordered free by the Supreme Court which has requalified charges pressed against them during previous court hearing.
The two activists were formerly accused of belonging to non-licenced organization and staging a rebellion rally in January and August. The Supreme Court requalified the charges against the two: peaceful rally. The court argued that given the new definition of charges, the defendants should only be jailed for two months or one year, and given that they have already been jailed for 18 months, they should be set immediately free.
The court, according to the activists lawyer Brahim Ould Ebetty, referred the case to the court of appeal which is expected to give its final ruling.
A source at the prison where the activists are held told French AFP that measures are being taken for their release.
Biram ould Abeid and Brahim ould Bilal were arrested in November 2014 in the South of the country as they were campaigning against the continued phenomenon of slavery in Mauritania. They were sent to jail and handed two years in prison in January and in August following an appeal last year.
Authorities accused them of belonging to a non-licenced organization and plotting against the regime.
Mauritania abolished slavery in 1981 but the practice, according to human rights groups, is still perpetuated by some groups of people.
The countrys parliament last year adopted a strong stance against the phenomenon criminalizing the practice as crime against humanity. They increased prison sentences up to 20 years instead of five years adopted decades ago.
Morocco, a key ally of the United States and the West in the war against terrorism, has rejected the latest U.S. State Departments report on human rights in the North African kingdom, saying it includes lies.
The contents of the report published on April 13, 2016 by the State Department are truly scandalous. The reports allegations went from approximation of information to pure and simple invention, from erroneous appreciation to lies, said the Moroccan interior ministry.
In a press release, the ministry slammed the sources used to compile the report describing it as unreliable and politically hostile.
Morocco TV channels showed Tuesday footage of a meeting between Interior Minister Mohamed Hassad and U.S. Ambassador Dwight Bush on the report. The State Department issues a country-by-country report each year on human rights around the world.
In recent years, the Moroccan government has continued to draw the attention of US authorities to the unfair () content of the State Departments report on Human Rights, said the Moroccan interior ministry.
Often, the cited exclusive sources are unreliable, politically motivated and baseless, added communique, denouncing the reports hasty conclusions.
Morocco, which is confident in the evolution of its societal model, conceived and implemented by Moroccans and for Moroccans, does not accept lessons from anyone, stressed the interior ministry statement, noting that Morocco welcomes constructive criticism but cannot accept fabricated facts and false claims
The communique also referred to a dialogue opened by Moroccan authorities with American officials to provide comprehensive details on any case, but to no avail.
Morocco wants no more evasive responses, but precise case by case answers, said the statement.
Therefore, Moroccan authorities said they are compelled to explore all possible paths to expose the reports errors and are prepared to go to the end, not excluding taking its case to the highest authorities in the different national American institutions.
But the government of the North African country pins high hopes that its American partners will restore truth, unmask the lies and recognize the major strides made by the Kingdom in all fields, including human rights protection.
Shade thrown. Photo: Robyn Beck/Getty Images; Leigh Vogel/Getty Images
Debbie Wasserman Schultz probably wont be sending Bernie Sanders a Hanukkah card this year.
At Nevadas Democratic convention this past Saturday, 56 pro-Sanders delegates were disqualified for failing to register with the state party by May 1 (eight Clinton delegates suffered a similar fate). Hillary Clinton then won the convention by a 33-vote margin. This swung a grand total of four delegates from Sanders to Clinton. Bernie-backers proceeded to storm the stage, throw chairs, and say swear words until security kicked them out. Later, someone published Nevada Democratic Party chairwoman Roberta Langes personal contact information, and Americas worst social democrats harassed her with obscene messages and death threats.
This gave the Democratic leadership nightmares about a similar revolt happening in Philadelphia, on national television, during the partys late-July weeklong infomercial. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid demanded Sanders disavow his supporters behavior. On Tuesday, the Vermont senator condemned the violence and harassment while also decrying the rigged system that inspired it.
Sanders statement on Nevada, condemning violence and harassment. pic.twitter.com/burSXITw5R Gideon Resnick (@GideonResnick) May 17, 2016
That was not the statement that the DNC chair was hoping for.
The senators response was anything but acceptable, Wasserman Schultz told CNN Wednesday. It certainly did not condemn his supporters for acting violently or engaging in intimidation tactics and instead added more fuel to the fire It is never OK for violence and intimidation to be the response to that frustration. Thats what happens with the Trump campaign.
Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver then reiterated the campaigns antipathy for violence.
He categorically condemns any kind of threats that went on absolutely unacceptable, Weaver told CNN, before accusing the DNC chair of throwing shade on the Sanders campaign from the very beginning.
Look, I gotta say its not the DNC, he added. You know, by and large, people at the DNC have been very good to us. Debbie Wasserman Schultz really is the exception.
But Wasserman Schultzs dissatisfaction with Sanderss initial statement is unexceptional.
Bernie should say something not have some silly statement. Bernie is better than that. Bernie should say something not have some statement someone else prepared for him, Reid told CNN Tuesday. Im surprised by his statement. I thought he was going to do something different.
We were robbed! sentiment among Sanders supporters is getting out of control. Photo: Eric Thayer/Getty Images
Bernie Sanders gained a split decision in Tuesdays presidential primaries, losing to Hillary Clinton by an eyelash in Kentucky and beating her by a more comfortable but reasonably close margin in Oregon. The net results wont significantly reduce Clintons lead in pledged delegates, leaving Sanders with a nearly impossible task of winning the June 7 primaries by huge margins to overtake her. But again, it remains unclear whether Sanders will pack it in if he loses pledged delegates. Indeed, in a speech Tuesday night in California, Sanders simultaneously discussed the tough odds against winning a majority of pledged delegates and promised to take the fight to Philadelphia, apparently no matter what.
This ambiguous situation needs to be understood in the context of what happened this weekend in Nevada, where an ugly and fractious scene emerged at a state convention where four delegates to the Democratic National Convention were being selected. Veteran Nevada political reporter Jon Ralston watched it all and came away convinced the Sanders campaign had deliberately fed supporters spurious grievances over the rules in order to rationalize what was actually a fair-and-square Clinton victory in organizing for the event, which after all, simply confirmed Clintons earlier win in the February caucuses.
By the time hotel security shut down the event late Saturday evening, the Sanders delegates had hurled ugly epithets at Clinton surrogate Barbara Boxer and used a sign to block her from being shown on big screens; they had screamed vulgarities at state chairwoman Roberta Lange, who later received death threats after Sanders sympathizers posted her cellphone number and home address online; and they threw chairs at the stage as they rushed forward to try to take control of a convention they had lost, just as Sanders was defeated at the February 20 caucus by Clinton in a decisive result.
Ralston suspects this atmosphere of paranoia and self-pity could easily carry over to the national convention, assuming Clinton arrives there as the presumptive nominee via a narrow lead in pledged delegates. Id say thats a reasonable suspicion if Bernie Sanders and his campaign operatives continue to insinuate that the nomination is being stolen from him. The Nevada Democratic Party agreed in a letter to the DNC after Saturdays near-riot:
We believe, unfortunately, that the tactics and behavior on display here in Nevada are harbingers of things to come as Democrats gather in Philadelphia in July for our National Convention. We write to alert you to what we perceive as the Sanders Campaigns penchant for extra-parliamentary behavior indeed, actual violence in place of democratic conduct in a convention setting, and furthermore what we can only describe as their encouragement of, and complicity in, a very dangerous atmosphere that ended in chaos and physical threats to fellow Democrats.
And its not just mainstream media folk and Establishment Democrats who feel this way. Esquires Charles Pierce, a Sanders supporter, was upset enough about Nevada to urge Sanders to pack up and go home:
[T]he Sanders people should know better than to conclude what has been a brilliant and important campaign by turning it into an extended temper tantrum. I voted for Bernie Sanders But if anybody thinks that, somehow, he is having the nomination stolen from him, they are idiots.
Nevada aside, consider the three arguments heard most often from the Sanders campaign against the unfair conditions it has endured.
The first is that DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz conspired to limit opportunities for candidate debates. Thats probably true. But theres no particular evidence these events disproportionately benefited Sanders, who had no trouble getting to the starting gate with high name ID and plenty of support (viz the virtual tie in Iowa and his big win in New Hampshire). And she was forced to add some debates. Dont know about you, but I feel like I heard from the candidates enough.
The second is that closed primaries (aggravated in some states by very early deadlines for changing party affiliation) disenfranchised many Sanders supporters. Lets be clear about this: None of the primary participation rules were set after the Clinton-Sanders competition emerged. States with closed primaries have for the most part always had closed primaries. Until this cycle, moreover, it was typically Democratic progressives, not centrist Democrats, who favored closed primaries as a way to elevate the influence of base as opposed to swing voters. In no way, shape or form were these rules set to thwart Sanders or candidates like him.
And the third is that superdelegates (who at present overwhelmingly support Clinton) have tilted the playing field away from the people-powered Sanders all along. But Bernies people have a clean hands problem in making this argument, since they are simultaneously appealing to superdelegates to be prepared to deny the nomination to the pledged delegate winner (almost certainly Clinton) based on elites superior understanding of electability criteria. Beyond that, this is the ninth presidential cycle in which Democrats have given superdelegates a role in the nominating process. Its not like its a nasty surprise sprung on the poor Sanders campaign at the last minute to seize the nomination for Clinton.
But even if these arguments for a big Bernie grievance are pretty empty, you can appreciate that the close nature of this years nominating contest makes it easy to assume something fishy happened, particularly if you begin with the assumption, as some Sanders supporters do, that your opponents are unprincipled corporate shills. Its like Florida 2000: In a race this close, you can blame the outcome on anything that makes you mad, from Joe Liebermans support for counting overseas military ballots to Ralph Naders presence on the ballot to dozens of single events like the Brooks Brothers Riot.
Unfortunately, in a statement Sanders issued after the torrent of criticism over his supporters behavior in Nevada, the candidate was defiant, perfunctorily disclaiming violence and identifying closed primaries with dependence on corrupt big money cash. Prominent progressive blogger Josh Marshall read it and commented on Twitter:
One thing is largely indisputable: Bernie Sanders himself could help clear the air by informing his supporters that while there are many things about the Democratic nomination process that ought to be changed, no one has stolen the nomination from him or from them. Perhaps a thousand small things gave Hillary Clinton an unfair advantage in this contest, but they were mostly baked into the cake, not contrived to throw cold water on the Bern. And the best step Sanders supporters could take to promote their long-term interests in the Democratic Party would be to get a grip before they wind up helping Donald Trump win the presidency. And Bernie Sanders himself has a responsibility to talk his devoted followers off the ledge.
Eric Fanning was confirmed unanimously. Photo: Alex Wong/2016 Getty Images
On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate made history when it confirmed Eric Fanning to the position of Army secretary. As the New York Times reports, Fannings confirmation makes him the first openly gay person to hold that post and the highest-ranking openly gay official ever at the Pentagon. Over the years, Fanning has held many senior positions in the military, including special assistant to Defense Secretary Ash Carter, acting secretary of the Air Force, and deputy undersecretary of the Navy. His confirmation vote was unanimous.
President Obama nominated Fanning to the position back in September, but his Senate confirmation was put off thanks to (what else?) politics. Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas refused to confirm Fanning until Obamas administration assured him that reassigned detainees from Guantanamo Bay wouldnt be sent to his state once the prison was closed. My issue has never been with Mr. Fannings character, his courage or his capability, Roberts reportedly said on the Senate floor. He will be a tremendous leader.
In a Defense Department statement in July, Fanning said hes seen attitudes shift since he came out in 1993. There is a much larger community out there that is looking for opportunities to show its support of us thats certainly been my experience as Ive come out in my professional network, and its picking up steam, he said. Its gone from tolerance to acceptance to embrace.
And although gay-rights group leaders told the Huffington Post Fannings sexual orientation has absolutely no bearing on his ability to do his job; nor was it the reason for his nomination, theyre nonetheless optimistic about the tone of understanding and respect throughout the armed services that his appointment will inspire.
Hare Krishna leader Radhanath Swami. Photo: Bobby Doherty/New York Magazine
Its early Saturday evening at the Rubin Museum of Art, located around the corner from Barneys New York in Chelsea. Every seat in the sleek basement theater is filled by an earnest crowd of limber New Yorkers, many tattooed and top-knotted, wrists heavy with looping strands of wooden beads. They are gathered for a talk by Radhanath Swami, who has been for 20 years a leader of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, better known as the Hare Krishna, that Age of Aquarius enlightenment craze with the cultish vibe, which has grown up and successfully adapted itself to our Age of Lululemon. Tonight, Radhanath, who is in town for the summer from Mumbai, is being interviewed about his new spiritual guidebook, The Journey Within out this month from Mandala Publishing by Dana Flynn, described by the Rubin website as an international yoga figure and social activist, who wears her gray hair in an anime pompadour and founded the stylish Laughing Lotus Yoga Centers in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and San Francisco.
The swami is a patiently smiling, rigorously kindly man with a shaved head who looks a little like Stanley Tucci playing the role of guru. Flynn seems spiritually smitten, confessing her faults and simmering in awe as much as interviewing him. He parries her with self-deprecation (Your description of the book is better than the book itself) and more patient laughter. The audience responds with modern and ancient modes of supplication: lots of iPhone pictures of the stage, occasional prayer hands raised to their third eye at moments of agreement.
The Journey Within was blurbed by Russell Brand and Cornel West Radhanath is, for all his humbleness, an intellectual ambassador for a movement, a general in the saffron army, as one of his friends described him to me. Radhanath later tells me that hes spoken at Princeton and Oxford, before the British Parliament, and at the Milken Conference in Beverly Hills. Hes even chatted with President Obama.
I used to think maybe peace was boring, Flynn admits. Even the idea of being pure, I would think: puritanical. And now, being around you, I think, I want to be more pure! She speaks of moments in the book when Radhanath decides to give things up: Youre not missing anything by renouncing pot or women. The audience laughs. This is a crowd bedeviled by what Radhanath calls weapons of mass distraction.
Im not able to explain it better than you just did, he replies. Its not just giving up something, but accepting a higher thing.
To spiritual skeptics, or people more intellectually inured to what seems like the unfolding complexity of life, this might all sound like prechewed profundity. And The Journey Within can feel like a book-length version of those uplifting little homilies a certain kind of yoga teacher spills out over the sweaty captive class at the start of Savasana. But theres a reason everyone keeps going back to yoga. There are lots of idealists trying to get by in the city, rubbed raw by the effort of contentment and self-improvement in a relentless world.
The Hare Krishna movement was founded here in New York. The legend goes that, in 1966, the Indian immigrant guru Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (but you can call him Prabhupada) sat under a tree in Tompkins Square Park chanting daily. Then one day some young people brought over some instruments. Eventually the drum circle turned to guru-talk about Krishna, and within a few years, troupes of chanting saffron-robed youths were set loose across the land. Celebrity devotee-dabblers included Allen Ginsberg and George Harrison, who gave them a mansion in London. (Its where Radhanath met Brand, who had just gotten sober.)
Prabhupadas movement is a variation on the Hindu sect of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. It recommends no sex outside marriage, no alcohol, no caffeine. But the theology plays well with Western reference points: Hare Krishna believe all gods are manifestations of the same god, Krishna, sidestepping the more pantheistic Hindu traditions and reworking Vedic texts to sound a bit more allegorical, like the New Testament.
And in fact, Radhanath, who grew up Jewish in suburban Chicago, continuously switches between the Bibles lessons and parallel ones from his adopted tradition. One thing he deftly elides in our conversation is the groups post-Aquarian hangover period: By 2000, the Hare Krishnas numbers had massively dwindled to fewer than a thousand in the U.S. In 2001, a class-action lawsuit was filed alleging institutionally overlooked sexual abuse, among other charges, in the churchs schools in the 70s and 80s. (The group went bankrupt the following year.) These days, the airport chanting has been curtailed hard to say what the TSA would think of that, anyway although you can still come upon disciples proselytizing in Union Square.
But the real change in the movement is demographic: The hippies have grown old, and their values have suffused our entire culture. Meanwhile, the movements numbers in this country have been supplemented by the rise in South Asian immigrants (whom the group reportedly has courted aggressively). Many Krishna Consciousness temples have been transformed by this diaspora from hippie relics into melting pots. Back in Mumbai, Radhanaths congregation, he says, includes 10,000 people and runs an orphanage, a hospital, and an eco-village to teach sustainable farming.
Prabhupadas first temple is still there, in fact, on lower Second Avenue, not far from where I live: For years, I had assumed it was a kind of museum, or perhaps a vegan bakery. A block east of the original temple is the Bhakti Center, the six-story local headquarters of the modern Hare Krishna movement. The swami and I meet for tea in the restaurant there. Upstairs, adherents are seated on the floor, making flowery necklaces for the altar statues of Krishna and the female deity Radha.
The Journey Within is a kind of follow-up to his memoir, The Journey Home, which told the story of how the young idealist Richard Slavin became a cave-dwelling mendicant monk in India. His story is
a familiar trope: a 19-year-old college student in 1970, the height of hippiedom, radicalized by the civil-rights movement and Vietnam. He took to Europe to hitchhike around with some friends. We talk about how the culture has changed since then: There is a strong resistance, almost like an allergic reaction, by many thinking people to anything which appears sectarian, he says. But spirituality is on the rise: Witness the simultaneous popularity of yoga. The nature of those exercises is to bring us deeper and deeper into our own spiritual identity, he says. The Bible says, Seek and you shall find following it up with something from his tradition, which he then translates: As we approach God, God reciprocates accordingly. If we approach for divine eternal love, we get divine eternal love. The yoga I practice, Bakhti yoga, is about awakening that divine, ecstatic love, expressed through devotional service. He goes on to explain that he learned it from celibate monks living in caves in the Himalayas, who did it so they could sit in their poses for meditation longer.
I tell him I do yoga so I can sit in front of my computer longer. He pauses, looking at me patiently and acceptingly, his hands folded in front of him. He hasnt finished his tea, I notice. Id gulped mine. Whatever your purpose is, it will work accordingly.
The night at the Rubin, the group ends with some chanting. Two people come up onstage, one with a drum, the other a harmonium, and Radhanath begins to sing: hare Krishna hare Krishna. Everybody! the swami implores the crowd, and they join in as it loops around again, a joyful frenzy. I keep quiet at first, politely observing from my seat. But when we are asked to link pinkies the woman next to me smiling gently, sweetly proffering hers I cant help it and join the simple, hypnotic, ecstatic song: Rama Rama hare.
*This article appears in the May 16, 2016 issue of New York Magazine.
Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Its mostly a great time to be female in the military: All combat roles were recently opened to women, making officials reconsider male-driven titles (yeoman, yeowoman, yeoperson?). But to the top military officers who want women to register for the draft, that isnt happening (yet).
On Tuesday, House Republicans pulled a provision from an annual defense policy bill that would have required young women to register for a military draft like every 18-year-old American male. One GOP lawmaker called it a reckless policy requiring further study, while Democrats protested that Republicans were avoiding a vote on equality for women.
Meanwhile, another defense bill in the Senate includes a version of the draft provision for women, so this discussion is ongoing. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell voiced support for the move on Tuesday, saying: Given where we are today, with women in the military performing virtually all kinds of functions, I personally think it would be appropriate for them to register just like men do.
If the draft requirement (set to start in January 2018) makes it through the Senate, it will go to a House-Senate conference committee. Right now the U.S. military recruits army men and women on a volunteer basis (the U.S. hasnt had a draft since 1973, during the Vietnam War). Hoping it stays that way?
Melinda Gates. Photo: Women Deliver
On Tuesday at the opening of the Women Deliver conference in Copenhagen, Melinda Gates announced that the foundation she co-chairs with her husband, Bill, will invest $80 million over the next three years in women and girls. Specifically, researchers will seek previously unreported data on the lives of women in the developing world. In her speech, Gates said, We know that empowered women and girls absolutely transform societies, so the thrust of the foundations investment is to reveal where womens needs are not being met, and how the global community can better serve them. Im not saying that data alone is going to change womens lives, Gates said, but she wants the world to be held accountable on womens rights.
Before she left Copenhagen for Berlin, Gates sat down with the Cut to talk about what she hopes to find in the data, how men can contribute to closing the many gender gaps, and what to do about it all. For more updates from the Women Deliver conference, see here.
When deciding how to allocate these funds for women, how did you decide that data was the important thing to invest in?
It is the piece that underlies everything else. If you dont have data, you dont know where to make good investments. So were going to make other investments on behalf of women and girls, I just dont know yet where. I first have to see what the data suggests: Where could we make those investments? Where could we have a big impact?
How do you pitch data as a sexy or interesting idea? It seems like talking about it could be kind of dry.
To me, data is kind of sexy! Think of all the things in the U.S. that big data is being used for today. Were leading a digital trail behind us everywhere we go; the analysis thats being done on it is kind of profound. So how do we make sure that we have a cell phone in a womans hands so you start collecting that kind of data as well? Because that will change things a lot. When you think about how we use data in the U.S., the ideas are pretty bold. We can also take that to the development space.
How do you determine which pieces of data were looking for? What are you hoping youll find?
Part of it is you dont know where the data is going to lead you. Were very evidence-based. Were going to collect as much data as we can, and then well see where that evidence takes us as to where we ought to make investments. Heres an example: Theres good data collected by the Population Council down in South Africa. One of the things that it shows is that mobility for girls actually shrinks when they enter puberty. So they might travel ten kilometers before puberty, but as soon as puberty comes, their world shrinks down to about two kilometers. Theyre not allowed outside of their circles. Whereas a boy, when he hits puberty, his mobility starts [growing]. [Thats] one piece of data that you wouldnt even think about, that a girls world shrinks when she goes into puberty. Why is that, and what might you do about that? Thats just one example. Well see.
One of the things that well have to do first, which I talked about in my speech, is un-bias some of the data. So when you go into a survey situation today they ask basically who is the head of the household and who earns the income. They never look at the womans assets and what she has and where she has assets. We dont even think about how we might service her; we only think about how we might service the head of the household. That doesnt make any sense to me.
I know what youve really been focusing on in that regard is time poverty. While we do have some rudimentary information about how much time is spent on domestic duties for men versus women, how do we use the information to close that gap?
First, I think you look at the data and you say, Okay, how wide is the gap? We have a sense of how wide that is. Then you have to pivot to the other things and say, We recognize the problem, but what can we do to reduce it? What tools could we apply to reduce it? And then how do you redistribute it? A washing machine at home makes a profound difference for a woman. Or even new fabrics. My mom used to iron cotton sheets, right? I dont think anybody irons their sheets anymore (that I know of). So all of those appliances and tools that come into the home, we need to get those to women. Or even energy, so they dont go collect firewood, they dont carry water anymore. They have a running faucet. But theres also a redistributing conversation that has to happen in the home, whether youre in the United States or whether youre in the developing world.
How do we encourage men to engage with that? How do we say, Okay, men, you need to start picking up the slack?
I think it depends on the home, and it depends on where you are. For instance, in the United States, one of the things were learning from the great data that comes out of the Nordic countries is that if the man actually interacts and takes family leave early with his infant, it changes his whole trajectory with how involved he is with that child over the course of their lifetime. Its a healthier relationship for the dad and the son or the daughter.
One thing in the developing world is having men see that their sons or daughters will live longer because they do something for their wife, like carrying water so she can nurse the baby more. I know a family in the developing world where the man came home and the woman had her bags packed on her front doorstep. She said, Im going to leave, and he said, Well what do you mean? They loved each other. She said, Weve had our first son, and there is no water here, and Im going four hours a day to get water, and I cant nurse our son. So when she finally said this to him, he asked what it would take, and she said, Well, youd have to carry water, and he did. Once he started carrying the water, he was made fun of by all the other men in the village because its a womans duty, but then they started walking with him and they all figured out, well, actually, we could all take bicycles and go get the water, and then they figured out: We could plan this as a community and we could dig water pans in our community. Men and women. So they looked at how to reduce the time; they redistributed it. That is exactly the kind of conversation you have to have.
Some discrimination can also be sort of unquantifiable. Do you think we can bridge that gap by using this data? Especially in the Western world, where we believe that men and women are equal, but theyre not.
We all have biases, wherever you are in the world, men and women sometimes even when we think we dont. One of the things that I like is that you can look at it as Is it a tool you can put in place, or is it by design? You can change the design of something. Heres a great example: In the U.S., the SAT, as you know, has been redesigned. Girls scores are coming up because girls wont take the risk that a boy will to answer a question. If they dont know the answers, they dont want to take the risk because there used to be points off on the SAT. Now, with the redesigned SAT, there is no penalty for guessing. [Girls] didnt take the risk, so we had a biased test against girls. Just by redesigning the SAT, we made it equal.
So its all about reconfiguring the tools that we have at our disposal.
Have you heard about the Philharmonic Orchestra that they have in Philadelphia?
With the blind auditions, right?
It wasnt just putting the curtain down and doing the blind auditions. It wasnt until they realized that men and women who were on the other side of the curtain listening to the auditions could hear the footsteps [and tell] whether it was a man or a woman. As soon as they got rid of the footsteps and you truly couldnt tell if it was a man or a woman, then the numbers came up. Talk about the bias in the system. You can redesign things to get rid of the bias.
Theres been an emphasis here at the conference, as well as in the United States lately, on this word empowerment. Could tell me what empowerment as a word means to you? How does your foundation engage with it?
To me, empowerment means if a woman has her voice and her agency. Can she say what she thinks needs to be said in any setting? Does she have the agency to make decisions on behalf of herself and her family? If you sit on a corporate board and you dont think you can voice what youre seeing on that board or in that corporation that is wrong, then you dont have your voice. I first started looking at these issues in the developing world, and I would say, Well, okay, if this was like the U.S. then women would have this and that. But then I had to ask myself, Well, how far are we in the U.S.? Are we as far as I want to go? No. When a woman in the U.S. gets on a corporate board, when theres one of her, shes not going to make a change. When there are two or three, then she has agency and she has her voice because theres a power in the collective. Then they get the other men on the board with her who are also saying, Hey, were seeing the same things, and they come forward as a group. Theres a power in the collective of the group. Men have had these natural networks for a long time. Women have tons of social networks, but its not until you get them together, and get them together in the right way, that they give women their voice and their agency.
The tech industry is a place where women are really at a disadvantage in the States right now. How do we change that?
When I was in college, it was almost right at the peak. We were on our way up. We got to 34 percent of computer-science degrees were given to women. We all thought it was on the rise, just like doctors and lawyers. Now its down at 17 percent. We have to get women in the tech space. Theres a lot of loss points for women. One is, when games switched from being very gender-neutral to being very male, that was a huge switch for women. Another point is that its not very welcoming. We dont see professional women. The great colleges are actually scooping women up and starting to graduate them. University of Washington, Stanford, etc., they have phenomenal programs that lots of freshmen women enter and see female professors there. We have to look at all those things.
There are two reasons why it is absolutely fundamental that women go into technology: One is that they are some of the highest-paying jobs in the United States, so that should be open to women. Secondly, thats where all the new innovations are coming from. When I was a kid, we didnt dream of having a computer in our pocket. I got one on my desk, that was early, really early. I was in college when the flip went from typewriter which I took to college to computer. When you think about where were going talk about big data we have all these health apps. They measure your footsteps, they measure your sleep, your heart rate; some of them come out and dont measure womens menstrual cycle. How could that be? Its because you dont have women at the table. If you have a woman at the table, shes not going to let a health app come out that doesnt talk about something that happens to every woman every month. When I think about where artificial intelligence is going, if were training artificial intelligence just with males right now, and yet thats going to be part of the service industry or taking care of old people, how do we not have a female voice in that? Are you kidding me?
You also have to look at women starting businesses. Why arent women getting more patents? The fact is that venture capital is not very welcoming for women. Were not getting capital in the hands of women. Its just like in the developing world: You have to get capital in the hands of women. In the tech space, you have to get capital in the hands of women so they can start all these great next apps and innovations.
There have been lots of things written about what its like for these women working at places like Facebook, where maybe there is one woman in the room. How do we get that woman to stay in the room? How do we get her to bring other women into the room?
I think its hard. Its very hard when shes alone. Shes got to try to bring other women in by mentoring and sponsoring them. But the women who are there and this is what Im seeing in the last six months are starting to push all around the edges. Youre starting to see the transparency. Any time you want a cultural change, you have to have transparency, and youve got to have commitment. Women are asking now about the numbers in tech, and youre starting to see that companies are having to publish them. If theyre not, theyre being shamed into it. You get some very enlightened leaders; you get a Marc Benioff saying, Hey, I want to be transparent about the data, this is what I found. Im going to change the pay inside of my company. Youre starting to see a host of women fund around the venture-capitalist space. In Washington State, weve got so many kids trying to go into computer science, male and female now, that the colleges cant take them all. So its about getting those colleges to disperse their lessons to other universities.
Do you think that its happening fast enough?
Change is never fast. There needs to be more done, but Im starting to see it happen.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
Clockwise from top left: New Yorkers wearing black in 1903, 2016, 1981, 2016, 1968, 2000, and 2000.
In Funny Face, Kay Thompson (doing her Diana Vreeland imitation) rides the elevator to her high-up Manhattan office. Think pink, think pink! she announces. Now, I wouldnt presume to tell a woman what a woman ought to think, but tell her: If shes gotta think, think pink! When will you start wearing pink? she is asked. Me? she says. I wouldnt be caught dead.
And thats how it is. In New York, we make culture and then we export it. We are too knowing to endlessly buy in, and so we wear black, a neat backdrop that keeps us from getting distracted (and allows us to navigate the fact that so many of us do not have easy access to a washing machine and the place where we live is dirty and grimy and gray). If you have moved to New York City and youd like to signal that fact to your friends back home, you can do this very easily and simply by wearing black. Lou Reed used to wear only black, and Laurie Anderson still does. If you look at the front row of a fashion show, youll notice that Grace Coddington wears only black, and at the end of a fashion show, youll notice that the designer Michael Kors, Alexander Wang takes a bow wearing all black, too.
Clockwise from top left: From 1933, 1965, 1975, 1975, 1960, 1996, and 1958.
We wear black because its slimming in a city that overvalues slimness. And because it confers a no-nonsense power, and were certainly interested in that. We wear black because its sexy possibly the legacy of lingerie. We wear black because were not tourists here to see a show; because we are, in a sense, with the band. The band is New York, and the color is black.
How did this happen? If you ask Jessica Regan, a curator at the Costume Institute at the Met, you will learn that the duke of Burgundy was, in the 15th century, the first to wear black after the end of a mourning period; the color afterward became a symbol of power, elegance, and luxury (at the time, black dye was incredibly costly). By the 19th century, black was more affordable, and available, and not just for mourning: Dyed-black glossy fabrics like velvet and satin were considered ideal for a portrait session because of the clean lines and strong silhouettes. In 1926, American Vogue published an illustration of a calf-length straight black dress and called it Chanels Ford, suggesting that it would become the standard-bearer for all women of taste.
Which means that while New York might own black, we didnt invent it. No surprise: This city has always looked across the ocean for inspiration. There, the message was clear. Christian Dior is much-quoted as calling black the most slimming of all colors. It is the most flattering. You can wear black at any time. You can wear it at any age. You can wear it for almost any occasion. I could write a book about black.
Clockwise from top left: From 1986, 1932, 2016, 1963, 1953, and 1900.
By midcentury, the color had become the thing to wear in New York if you were knowing, creative, or powerful. Also, notably, masculine. Jackson Pollock exemplified the supremely macho artist, and he exemplified this while wearing black jeans and a black T-shirt. Black was the uniform of the jazz musician, then the downtown beatnik, then the punk. The kid with the Mohawk panhandling on St. Marks wears black, which makes it all the more remarkable that the Park Avenue hostess does too, knowing she could never go wrong if she just wore it with pearls. Shed be taking her cue from Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffanys, who, never mind that she was a hooker, was the picture of refinement when dressed by Hubert de Givenchy. Black is modest and arrogant at the same time, the Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto has said. But above all, black says this: I dont bother you, you dont bother me. Was he in fact writing a manifesto for this city?
*This article appears in the May 16, 2016 issue of New York Magazine.
...and two of them are dead: Michael, Prince and Madonna.
She can join them.
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soon, hopefully
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Wow
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delete yourself and your profile
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You are disgusting.
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you first :)
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I gaged
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Well, she makes a good argument. I actually agree with her.
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me too
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chased his limo halfway down 51st Street with her dancers in tow
omg
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idts
wendy's criticized madonna a lot before
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this scripted ass audience. BYE @ the audience saying "no" to janelle monae, the only one who SHOULD be honoring him.
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Lol ok
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I love Janelle but I'm worried she's not well known enough to do it idk
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ikr? I could almost imagine prince choosing janelle himself. he's shown her more love than I've seen him show anybody else. seems like a total no-brainer.
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uhm, i thought The Voice, The Legend, The Sweetheart of a Nation, was the third member of the Pop Trinity, not this madonna character
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Prince, Madonna and MJ were all born the same summer.
Madonna never fell apart due to drugs.
Edited at 2016-05-18 06:49 pm (UTC)
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idk i don't hate madonna like a lot of people on ontd but i find whitney more culturally relevant.
prince, mj, and whitney still get plays on the rare occasion i listen to the radio. i've never heard madonna once.
i'm still going to listen to "like it or not" tho
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This isn't a cute comment at all. Whitney is legendary.
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mte! Madonna is overrated idec
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MTE this WOC erasure. What about Janet!
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MTE Ignorant people
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Rme at those sheep saying no to Janelle Monae.
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sign away kiddies, it wont prevent anything.
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Good luck with that sweetie lol
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MTE on sheila E. Madonna should recruit the old band back together.
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I agree with all of these.
And yeah, Madonna is fine, but shouldn't be the sole person to tribute.
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chubby haters can seethe all they want. It will still go on as planned. chubby haters can seethe all they want. It will still go on as planned.
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Must be a hoot to go to this kind of TV shows as audience
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She's not wrong since they're contemporaries anyone else would be under qualified.
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Uh yea nah
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Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ
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Oil and natural gas producers cannot catch a break of late it seems. A few years after the onset of the natural gas glut, Europe is experiencing a similar phenomenon with Russia and Norway using tactics akin to those used by the Saudis with oil. The result is rock bottom prices on natural gas that are benefiting utility companies across the continent. The effective result of these actions is also hitting LNG terminal development economics in the U.S. and minimizing growth of imports from Qatar.
In a remarkable development, gas in the UK has fallen 37 percent in the last year just as Cheniere Energy has started offering exports of U.S. LNG to Europe. While Russia and Norway both deny specifically targeting market share through their business approach, it is clear that national firms in both countries are low cost producers that are proving to be the last men standing as prices continue to tumble. Neither countrys producers need to take specific actions to drive market share all they have to do is be willing to sell at the markets defined prices and as those prices fall, natural volume declines from other producers leads to increased share. Related:Oklahoma Oil Industry About To Lose Tax Rebates
While there are still geopolitical reasons to avoid buying Russian gas, increasingly European firms are finding themselves choosing between a more expensive but politically palpable supplier in the form of the U.S., and the cheaper but odious Russian suppliers. This dichotomy is becoming increasingly untenable for many buyers who would otherwise prefer to buy from the U.S. The problem for Russia of course is that its market share is only sustainable so long as it gives up its leverage on natural gas both politically and in the form of price. As soon as Russia seeks to exploit its position as a supplier, buyers may turn to the U.S. again. In that sense then, contestability of the market and the threat of entrants matters as much as actual competition in the market. Related: Oil Edges Higher Ahead Of Weekly Inventory Report
Despite the fall in natural gas prices, Europe as a whole should be cheering. Not only does the cheaper gas provide a much needed economic boost (albeit a small one) in nations like Greece, but it also provides a route to decreased carbon emissions over time. Much of the decrease in carbon emissions in the U.S. in the last decade has come from increased adoption of natural gas rather than use of alternative fuel sources. Yet natural gas users are rarely using the fuel for environmental reasons. Instead they are making a rational economic choice based on prices. Related: Did The Saudis Exaggerate Their U.S. Treasury Holdings?
Europe may follow this same path. As natural gas prices collapse, coal-fired power plants in Germany will have increasing reason to convert to natural gas. Similarly, Frances long heralded nuclear industry will probably face significantly higher economic barrier to the construction of new nuclear plants. None of this is driven by environmental concerns, but rather by companies seeking to maximize profits by minimizing cost through the use of cleaner burning (versus coal) and potentially safer or at least less controversial (versus nuclear power) natural gas. This scenario is what played out in the U.S. a decade ago, and now it appears to be repeating in Europe. Investors should take note.
By Michael McDonald of Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
A massive wildfire raging through the northern part of Alberta has swelled in size and surged north of Fort McMurray, destroying an evacuated oil sands camp on Tuesday and it is projected to encroach on major facilities shortly.
The flames consumed a 665-room oil-sands work camp north of the city, the Blacksands Executive Lodge, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said Tuesday. The lodge is owned by Horizon North Logistics Inc. of Calgary. Related: Russia Remains Determined To Stop Israel-Turkey Pipeline Deal
Image courtesy of Nairaland.com
Officials said Wednesday they expected the fire to move east towards plants owned by Suncor Energy (TSX:SU) and its Syncrude subsidiary, CBC News reports. They added that the operations themselves are unlikely to be damaged by the flames as they are well isolated by wide barriers of cleared firebreak and gravel, and are employing their own firefighting crews.
Image courtesy of Nairaland.com
By 6:00 am local time Wednesday, the fire had grown to approximately 422,898 hectares in size. Related: Oklahoma Oil Industry About To Lose Tax Rebates
Its pretty significant growth, provincial wildfire official Travis Fairweather said in a televised interview with CBC. Weve just been seeing really extreme fire conditions over the last couple of days. Its been really burning intensely and the winds have been carrying it.
The wildfire, which destroyed whole sections of Fort McMurray earlier this month, is also expected to reach the neighbouring province of Saskatchewan.
Image Cameron Strandberg | Flickr CC by 2.0
So far, it has forced more than 88,000 people to leave the area, with about 8,000 of them evacuating Monday night as the resurgent fire shifted directions, posing fresh threats to oil sands complexes and worker camps. Related: Can Supply Outages Drive Oil To $50?
About a million barrels per day of oil sands crude production has been shut down as a precaution and because of disruptions to regional pipelines. Much of that production remains offline.
But according to the Conference Board of Canada, such outages will have a minimal impact on the countrys economic growth. In a report released Tuesday, the Ottawa-based think tank said the while May production will be hit, the industry will likely make up that lost output next month, assuming operations resume.
In recent days, oil sands workers had begun returning to the camps north of Fort McMurray, as companies wanted to resume normal production. But this weeks evacuations and the volatile nature of the blaze have raised concerns that the region may suffer a prolonged production outage, which has helped to disrupt global oil supplies and prices.
By Cecilia Jamasmie via Mining.com
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After years of debate, political jockeying and acrimony, a major pipeline project to bring natural gas to Southern Europe has broken ground.
The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) will connect the Caspian Sea to European markets, providing Europe with another large source of natural gas that will help the continent diversify away from Russia. The route begins at the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan, where the South Caucuses Pipeline will carry Caspian gas from the large Shah Deniz-2 gas field, delivering it to the border with Turkey. From Turkey the gas will tie into the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP), which will take the gas across Turkey to the border with Greece where it will meet up with the aforementioned Trans-Adriatic Pipeline. The Caspian gas will then travel through TAP across Greece, beneath the Adriatic Sea and onto Italy.
(Click to enlarge)
South Caucuses Pipeline to TANAP to TAP
(Click to enlarge)
The TAP route
Related: Are The Saudis Facing A Full-Blown Liquidity Crisis?
The pipeline projects are part of what is often referred to as the Southern Corridor for European gas. For years Europe has pressed for a gas pipeline through the southern corridor that would offer it an alternative to Russian gas. But TAP was not always an inevitability before the consortium of companies took up the project, the European Union favored the Nabucco Pipeline, which instead of sending Caspian gas to Italy, would have resulted in a pipeline snaking its way through the Balkans to Central Europe.
And back when Nabucco was in vogue, Russia pushed hard for its own route through Southern Europe. The so-called South Stream Pipeline would have sent Russian gas beneath the Black Sea to Bulgaria. European regulators worked hard to derail that pipeline on anti-competition grounds. Shortly after the death of South Stream, and following in the wake of Russias standoff with Europe over its incursion into Ukraine, Russia pushed the Turkish Stream project, which would have sent Russian gas to Turkey and then onto Southern Europe. But the project was more of an idea than a reality, and due to a set of differences between Russia and Turkey, not the least of which was the cost of the pipeline and how it would be paid for, the project never really went anywhere. Related: Why Jim Chanos is Shorting the Oil Majors
The complexity of pipeline politics and the web of pipeline routes can be confusing, but suffice it to say the Turkish-Greece-Italy route has won out, through the TANAP and TAP pipelines. On May 17, TAP broke ground in Thessaloniki, Greece. Construction will take several years, but when the $45 billion project is completed in 2020, it will deliver 10 billion cubic meters per year of natural gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was in attendance for the groundbreaking event, as were top officials from Georgia, Azerbaijan, Albania, the EU and even the U.S. State Department. Each have their own reasons for supporting the project. The project developers BP, the Azerbaijan state-owned oil company SOCAR, and others obviously have direct profit motives in mind. The national governments see economic opportunities through construction and transit fees. For Greece, in particular, the EU sees TAP as providing an economic stimulus to the indebted nation at a time when debt negotiations continue to torment both sides. Related: Who Will Benefit From The Electrification Of Transport?
From the perspective of the U.S. government, TAP will reduce Europes dependence on and vulnerability to Russia; in essence, it is a major geopolitical victory. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in a congratulatory letter to Greeces Prime Minister, said that TAP is a prime example of infrastructure that enhances European energy security.
Diversity of supply has become one of Europes key energy security objectives, along with building an energy union between EU member states.
A single European energy market will allow us to increase our security of supply by allowing energy to flow freely across our borders, European Commission Vice President for Energy Union Maros Sef?ovi? said at the ceremony. It will allow us to better negotiate with our external partners, given that the EU is the largest energy importer in the world.
By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com
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Greece has officially started construction on its 550-kilometer section of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), hailing the event as a lifeline for the flailing economy, a major step towards energy security and an instant employment booster.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony held in Thessaloniki on Tuesday, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras outlined the main benefits the gas project will have for the national economy.
TAP is one of the greatest direct foreign investment projects carried out in Greece. The Greek economy really needs these jobs, he said, referring to the 8,000 jobs the 1.5 billion Euro investment will create in the country alone.
Related: Can Oil Prices Hold Onto Gains At $50 Per Barrel?
TAP, which is set to become operational in 2019, will ship gas from Azerbaijans sprawling Shah Deniz 2 field up to Georgia, through Turkey, continuing on through Greece and Albania, and terminating in southern Italy.
The pipeline will be 870 kilometers, with its specific starting point in Komotini, Greeceat the Turkish borderand its end point in Puglia, Italy.
TAP will take over gas shipments from Turkey-operated, 1,850-kilometer Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP).
Related: Will U.S. Shale Stage A Comeback As Oil Nears $50?
At the launch ceremony, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak labeled TAP and TANAP as success stories. "The Turkish government will continue to be in full support of both projects," he said, emphasizing both projects are planned to be expanded in the future as part of what is called the Southern Gas Corridor designed to enhance competition, resource variability and energy security.
TAP will have an initial annual capacity of 10 billion cubic meters, meeting needs of about 7 million households. The pipeline will play a major role in the European energy landscape, officials in Brussels also highlighted. Once completed, TAP will be a major asset in the European energy security tool box, said European Union Vice-President Maros Sefcovic, who was also present at the ceremony.
By opening up access to gas from Azerbaijan, the TAP will allow many countries, including Central and South East Europe to diversify their sources of gas, he added.
By James Burgess of Oilprice.com
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Falklands oil and gas producer Rockhopper Exploration Plc has announced that its net contingent oil reserves have doubled to more than 300 million barrels, and independent experts are now eyeing this as nearly billion-barrel basin.
Rockhopper owns more than 50 percent of two oilfields, Sea Lion and Isobel Elaine, which are now estimated to hold 747 million barrels of oil and gas reserves, according to the independent audit that was prepared by ERCE.
Rockhopper has a 24 percent interest in the wells, but this will rise to 64 percent once it completes its merger with Falkland Oil & Gas.
Falkland Oil Basins. Image courtesy: Rockhopper Exploration
Last November, Rockhopper agreed to buy Falkland Oil & Gas in an all-share deal that values the explorer at $87 million.
Related: Oil Price Spike Is Not As Far Away As Many Think
Argentinian politicians have long promised to throw a spanner in the works. Under British control since 1841, the Falklands Islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas, have long been in dispute between the two sides.
But there are some indications that Argentina may take a softer stance on this territorial dispute now that a new president is at the helm.
Rockhoppers takeover of Falkland Oil & Gas was announced within a day of pro-oil Mauricio Macris presidential election victory in Argentina, and he has indicated he would adopt a milder attitude with the UK over the Falklands.
His predecessor, former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, had used the Falklands as a campaign tool and had threatened to seize US$156 million in property and bank holdings of oil companies drilling on the islands. Among the targets were Rockhopper and Falkland Oil & Gas.
Related: Can Oil Prices Hold Onto Gains At $50 Per Barrel?
Foreign Ministry officials in Buenos Aires have said the British energy companies would face prosecution for what they called illegal operations in Argentine territory.
A March ruling by the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf could worsen the dispute. The commission expanded Argentinian maritime territory in the South Atlantic Ocean by 35 percent to include the disputed Falkland Islands and beyond.
By Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com
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She said/she said is a series of rapid reviews written by the intrepid duo, Lori Fredrich (the foodie) and Carolynn Buser (the socialite). Tune in regularly for our latest meanderings on hot spots around town.
Destination: La Merenda, 125 E. National Ave.
Reason for visiting: Happy hour, which takes place on Wednesdays from 4-6 p.m.
Specials: $7 cocktails and $6 pours on select wines; abbreviated small plates menu at the bar
Pro Tip: Visit on Mondays for half-off bottles of wine
Mood: Comfortable and casual with a friendly vibe and an eclectic interior
Go here when
Lori: If you need a mid-week pick-me-up, La Merenda is a great place to find it (the fact that La Merenda only hosts happy hour once a week only makes it more special).
Ive not typically ordered cocktails when I dine at La Merenda, but the "Wait-y Katie" I ordered on our visit was delicious. Made with vodka, limoncello, grapefruit liqueur and lime juice, it was fresh, bright and full of citrus flavor ($7); my only regret was that it wasnt warm enough to enjoy on the patio.
Carolynn: I was still trying to kick a cold the day of our visit -- like the rest of Milwaukee was -- so I opted for the "Hone-In." The Makers Mark, simple syrup, lemon juice, lavender bitters ($7) was soothing and also calmed whatever cough I still had in me. The mushroom lumpia was also delicious. This Filipino-style "egg roll" was light and crisp and filled with flavorful mushrooms and cilantro ($6), perfect for snacking.
Go back for
Lori: La Merenda is one of my favorite casual spots in the city. Theres always something different on the menu, so youll never be bored.
On our visit, my favorite was the seafood polenta, featuring grilled polenta covered in a stew of halibut and sablefish in an andouille sausage cream sauce. Rich, but delicious and perfectly portioned for two ($8).
I'd also recommend ordering the La Clare goat cheese curds with Tia Paquita chorizo cream sauce if theyre on the menu ($9.50); theyre absolutely fantastic. And when the weather is warm, dont neglect to ask for a seat on the patio -- which I think is one of the best in the city. I also highly recommend La Merenda as a lunch option; theyre open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Carolynn: A menu that keeps rotating in new dishes always keep people coming back. But La Merenda just does it so exceedingly well that they are almost always at the top of my list. The tapas style allows you to explore so many dishes from all over the world and you never have to leave Milwaukee! The patio is stellar -- don't miss it -- and don't you dare leave without ordering their Irish Car Bomb dessert. It is da bomb.
Overall Rating
Lori: I love sharing food with others, so La Merenda is always a win in my book. Once one of Milwaukees best hidden gems, the restaurant has grown to be an institution. Quality has remained high over the years, and Im always happy to go and be surprised by new interesting items on the menu.
Carolynn: La Merenda is proof that location isn't everything -- they were doing this long before Walker's Point became the dining destination that it is today -- and they do everything so very well! Two huge thumbs all the way up.
The following flow chart explains it all--precisely how and why the 126,000 Brooklyn voters were purged! Please take ten minutes really soon to talk to editors in the press and media in general, because most of them have little knowledge of the fatally flawed NY primary, the petition to New York's Attorney General to do it all over, and the probable cause evidence that the purges were orchestrated by Bernie's opponent.
This flow chart was presented to the New York Attorney General in Albany and to the Bernie Sanders Campaign lawyer, Brad Deutsch, in Washington DC, with more meticulously compiled evidence and a timeline, we hope published soon at OpEdNews.
This Probable Cause could become the next scandal in a very long series of scandals for Bernie's opponent as well as the first salvo in a Federal Court hearing to grant a new New York Primary. Please discuss this in brief phone calls asking for further coverage with some of your press friends and other media editors, plus the Bureau Chief of your nearest Associated Press office, even if your primary has already been held. A few of these calls means you have become one of our press liaisons for an honest and clean repeat NY Primary. Thank you! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10208875786353820&set=gm.622578524560092&type=3&theater See also Stephen Fox's latest article: "Those Pledged Super Delegates would run like rats from a sinking ship" ---NY Primary Redo Could Win it for Bernie http://www.opednews.com/"/Those-Pledged-Super-Deleg-by-Step"
FOR A LEGIBLE VERSION OF THIS CHART, PLEASE GO TO: click here. This schematic shows the relationships and probable motives of those involved:
Hillary Clinton, the Probable Cause of Brooklyn Voter Purges
(Image by Netra Halperin) Details DMCA
(Article changed on May 19, 2016 at 12:08)
Reprinted from Common Dreams
Legendary human rights lawyer Michael Ratner died last Wednesday. His pathbreaking legal and political work on behalf of the poor and oppressed around the world is unmatched. His death is an incalculable loss for the cause of freedom, peace and justice.
The last time I saw Michael was shortly before he was diagnosed with cancer. We were in New York for the annual dinner of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG). Both of us had served as NLG presidents, he during the Reagan years, I during the George W. Bush administration. When we met in New York, Michael had just returned from Cuba, where he had a wonderful visit with Gerardo Hernandez, one of the Cuban Five. I was about to leave for Cuba, where I would meet with Rene Gonzalez and Antonio Guerrero, two other members of the Cuban Five.
The Five had traveled to Miami to gather intelligence about terrorist plots against Cuba. When they turned over their data to the FBI, they were rewarded with arrests, convictions and incarceration. In Cuba, the Five ("Los Cinco") are considered national heroes. One of the conditions for the historic detente between Barack Obama and Raul Castro in December 2014 was the United States' release of the members of the Cuban Five who still remained in custody.
Michael raved about his Cuba trip. A longtime friend and ally of the Cuban Revolution, Michael had first traveled to Cuba in the 1970s. He later co-authored the book, "Who Killed Che?" in which he and Michael Smith concluded, based on U.S. government documents, that the CIA was behind the assassination. When Cuba opened its embassy in Washington, D.C. last July, Michael was there. He told "Democracy Now!" host Amy Goodman that "other than the birth of my children, this is perhaps one of the most exciting days of my life. ... This is a major, major victory for the Cuban people, and that should be understood. We are standing at a moment that I never expected to see in our history."
Indeed, Michael will probably be best remembered for his victory in gaining the right to habeas corpus for U.S. detainees held in Cuba at Guantanamo. Michael was lead counsel in the 2004 case of Rasul v. Bush, in which the Supreme Court upheld the right of those detained as "enemy combatants" at Guantanamo to have their petitions for habeas corpus heard by U.S. courts. The Bush administration had argued that since the detainees were being held on Cuban soil, they had no right of access to U.S. federal courts to challenge their confinement. But the court held that the United States exercises complete jurisdiction and control over the Guantanamo Bay base. As Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority, "Aliens held at the base, no less than American citizens, are entitled to invoke the federal court's authority" under the federal habeas corpus statute."
"We went into court with a very straightforward proposition -- that habeas corpus meant every single person detained has a right to go into court and say to the government: 'Tell me why you are detaining me and give me the legal justification,' " Michael wrote in his chapter published in my book, "The United States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration, and Abuse."
Michael also wrote that "[p]reventive detention is a line that should never be crossed. A central aspect of human liberty that has taken centuries to win is that no person shall be imprisoned unless he or she is charged and tried." Michael added, "If you can take away those rights and simply grab someone by the scruff of the neck and throw them into some offshore penal colony because they are non-citizen Muslims, those deprivations of rights will be employed against all. ... This is the power of a police state and not a democracy."
In his chapter, Michael advocated "accountability by means of criminal prosecutions" of Bush, Dick Cheney, George Tenet and Donald Rumsfeld for their torture program. "Until this occurs," Michael wrote, "a future president can, with the stroke of a pen, put the United States back in the torture business."
Michael sued Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Rumsfeld, the FBI and the Pentagon for their violations of law. He challenged U.S. policy in Cuba, Iraq, Haiti, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Puerto Rico and Israel/Palestine. He was lead counsel for whistleblower Julian Assange. As David Cole wrote in The Nation, Michael "knew that when you sue the powerful, you will often lose. But he also understood that such suits could prompt political action, and that advocacy inspired by a lawsuit was often more important in achieving justice than the litigation itself."
Jules Lobel, who followed Michael as president of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), said on "Democracy Now!" that Michael "never backed down from a fight against oppression, against injustice, no matter how difficult the odds, no matter how hopeless the case seemed to be." Lobel added, "Michael was brilliant in combining legal advocacy and political advocacy. " He loved people all around the globe. He represented them, met with them, shared their misery, shared their suffering."
As NLG president in the early 1980s, Michael initiated the guild's challenges to Reaganism, including U.S. interventions in Central America and the Caribbean. When he was president of CCR, he choreographed litigation that essentially ended New York City's draconian stop-and-frisk policing policy.
Fellow past NLG president Barbara Dudley noted, "Michael leavened his brilliant mind and his creative legal skills with love and humor and an abundant energy. His work, his laugh, his irony and his enduring belief in the revolutionary spirit will live on."
Vince Warren, CCR's executive director, called Michael "one of the great justice warriors of our time," noting that family members said Michael was born with the "empathy gene."
In 2002, Michael presciently told The New York Times, "A permanent war abroad means permanent anger against the United States by those countries and people that will be devastated by U.S. military actions. Hate will increase, not lessen; and the terrible consequences of that hate will be used, in turn, as justification for more restrictions on civil liberties in the United States."
We will not see the likes of him again.
Reprinted from The Guardian
The president has reached the dubious milestone of being at war longer than any of his predecessors. And the conflicts aren't ending anytime soon
Drone War
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Barack Obama has now been at war longer than any president in United States history, as the New York Times pointed out on Sunday. Barring some sort of peace miracle in the next six months, he will be the only president who ever served two full terms in office while constantly being at war. And given how he has transformed how the US fights overseas, his wars will likely continue long after he leaves office.
Anytime the media writes about Obama and war, it's apparently a rule that the author must mention that Obama supposedly fights his wars more reluctantly than his predecessors. But in many contexts, this is misleading. Obama hasn't attempted to avoid war; he has merely redefined it. In some ways, he has fought them in a far more aggressively than any president before him, just with different tools.
Gone are the battalions of tens of thousands of soldiers, torching everything in their paths. Obama's wars are fought with special forces, drones and other high-tech weaponry that, he argues, lead to fewer American deaths. But they pose the same dangers to world peace that the wars in Vietnam and Iraq once did, while making them far easier to fight.
Obama's hallmark has been drone strikes, which he has used to bomb at least seven countries since becoming president. For all the talk of their precision and pin-pointedness, though, drones regularly kill additional people and have resulted in hundreds of civilian deaths. These strikes cause blowback and stoke anti-American hatred in virtually every country they fly in, and many former officials say the program does more harm than good.
But it's not just drones. Instead of being straightforward with the public, his administration hides behind secrecy and word gymnastics in all facets of its war policy, keeping the number of exact number of troops in the Middle East hidden from the public, and re-defining words like "combat" and "boots on the ground" and "civilians" to mask how much killing is really going on.
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Chemically-based farming for the poisoning of soil, environment and our food for the interest and profit of the multinational chemical corporations under the present unjust financial-economic system is a crime against humanity!
Our farmer's motto is: "SAVE LIFE, HEALTH AND PROTECT OUR PLANET -- PROMOTE NATURAL & ORGANIC ALTERNATIVES" in support to economic alternatives, monetary reform and proposals, for the survival of the poor Filipino families and children in our region.
We are hoping that we share the common central objectives, projects and alternatives in building a sustainable life through organic farming especially for the economically marginalized poor farmers in our human community.
We also hope that we can explore a more combination of our efforts and initiatives towards the success of organic farming in our countries, poverty alleviation, security and economic democracy for the poor organic farmers and may other farmers in the whole world be freed themselves from the tragedy of chemically-based and intensive farming that only cause poisoning of soil, environment, our food leading to tremendous health problems with difficult cure and expensive medicines that only in fact for the benefit of chemical and drug industries and tycoons.
It is an irony that most of our Filipino farmers now in the villages cannot plant rice, corn, vegetables and fruit trees without, as being conditioned, pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals that they borrow in advance at interest from chemical agricultural stores and suppliers -- the agents of multinational chemical companies. Because of brainwashing of chemical companies and aggravated by the constant pressures on money problem for survival, most farmers here forget the organic farming, which is the most safest and better for health. If there are no chemicals for planting, they have no farming jobs, because they depend on chemicals and as a result, there is no employment and therefore there is no money for the survival of their families and of course contribute to tragedy of poverty. Some farmers because of chemically-based farming bankruptcy due to debts, sell their land and instead do businesses in the town or city selling artificial foods and other consumption products (also cause health problems to consumers) for immediate income. But many of these Filipino farmers who have turned town-city businessmen do not usually last long; in fact oftentimes suffer the same bankruptcy and a litany of miseries afterwards. In our keen observation and even from the experiences of our poor family farming members, relatives and friends in the villages, the chemical companies for chemicalised intensive farming are not interested to health and survival of the poor Filipino farmers, but purely PROFIT. They are only marginalizing the poor farmers, in fact, killing them. One of the major causes of POVERTY in the Philippines is Environmental Problem or Deterioration.
There is a constant environmental deterioration or exploitation because of monetary pressure under the present defective-debt-based-economic and chemicalised farming. Of course there are other underlying causes of environmental destruction. But we want to dwell on directly to the cruel effects of intensive or chemicalised farming.
The chemicals have destroyed the natural fertility of our Philippine soil. Farmers don't want or can't plant without chemicals. Farmers are already 'chemical addicts'. And as a result is the fact of destroying our environment and poisoning our body that lead to tremendous health problems such as cancer and other degenerative/autoimmune diseases. What a crime?
Chemicalised poisoning-environmentally-destructive farming for profit-oriented motives of the multinational chemical corporations have terribly destroyed, discouraged and despaired ORGANIC FARMING AGRICULTURE in the countryside, particularly in the villages, making the lives of the poor Filipino farmers and their families MISERABLY UNSUSTAINABLE THAN EVER. Millions of poor Filipino farmers are shackled and pressured to keep their plantations, rice fields, cornfields (owned or rented or by tenancy) UNDER DEBTS FOR HERBICIDES, PESTICIDES AND ARTIFICIAL FERTILISERS.
Increasing numbers of Filipino farmers in the village are sick, under or mal or lack of nourishment, and in fact, suffering some serious diseases like cancer of the skin, lungs, nostrils and even blindness or other degenerative diseases. But alas without any health aid, insurance or any forms of government assistance/support nor any commiseration or any sympathy from these multinational chemical corporations.
And as our Philippine soil and environment is destroyed and toxic-stricken that contaminates our food, it is usually followed by the growing strange illnesses among the inhabitants -- where most of the diseases are very risky, life threatening, if not impossible to cure, but very difficult and costly to cure. Most of the poor Filipino farmers cannot afford for medical treatment either through complementary/alternative medicines or traditional medicines. And so, the result is the increasing death rates among the poor Filipino farmers without any assistance from the government, without any justice and security to their impoverished poor family members and children left behind. These are some of the ironic side-effects of the chemicalised farming: Poisoning the environment, the poor farmers and the consumers with the diseases terribly increasing in numbers, bringing us down into the dungeon of miseries and financial calamities. Multinational chemical corporations like global mega-bankers, as profit-oriented and sucking billions of profit annually, do not care the miserable plight of these poor and sick Filipino farmers and their groaning and moaning families in hopelessness. It is very unfortunate that Philippine Dept. of Agriculture's Annual budget is only allocated for chemicalised farming subsidizing the government-controlled chemicalised farming schools, colleges and mega-projects, but without any assistance or encouragement to save the Philippine natural soil fertility through environmentally good organic farming.
The crucial question is: How can we persuade the Philippine government to turn our farming into total organic method? One multinational chemical company in the world named MONSANTO on herbicides, etc., is very influential in the Philippine government departments and officials, to almost Filipino scientists, agriculturists and economists for the promise of high yields. Its latest trick in the Philippines is to convince the farmers, and the government is to put native crops into instinct and instead patronize GM crops.
There was a report that American taxpayers are forced to fund Monsanto's poisoning of the third-world people by promoting chemically-based farming and GM products. Government policies, programs, projects due to internal and external pressures on agriculture or vested interest, are most of the times favorable to MEGA-INTEREST of these multinational chemical/ drug companies or poisoning companies destroying the environment, soil and health of the native inhabitants, astutely and adroitly clamoring for foods, health and hope but actually and evidently poison, disease and death and despair to Flipino people and to all third world inhabitants and to planet's environment.
Genetically modified organisms or GMO or artificial foods or artificially grown foods are a racketeering industry. It is surely for the profit of these poisoning companies killing innocent lives and families. Imagine what a damned thing to brainwash poor Filipino and third-world farmers towards death of organic farming. To set aside native plants or seeds or crops and be replaced by artificial plants or chemically-based food growing and abusive animal raising is a crime against humanity. GMO cannot solve hunger, poverty and economic insecurity in the Philippines and in the third world. GMO is not for justice. It is not for the poor. It is not for farmers. It is all about profit and monopoly on farming for the mega-profit and interest of the greedy tycoons of the multinationals and ultimately for the long-term or even lifetime destruction of the environment in which the next Filipino and third-world generations will, for certain, suffer tremendously. And despite or in spite of the promises on prosperity and alleviation from poverty, Philippine farming has been in the holocaust of torturous and disappointing situation. There are around 15-20 million, currently increasing in numbers, Filipino farmers in dreadful poverty, under the very vicious cycle of nightmarish economic crisis and political tomfoolery in the countryside.
The Philippine government economic and political policies are mostly favorable to chemically-based farming but smugly ignoring organic farming as ancient and non-productive and non-profitable way of industry. It must be admitted that the Philippine government and the Filipino people are helplessly deceived and obsessed, mesmerized, bamboozled and misled in a greater degree by delusive, false hopes and empty promises of the international bankers and multinational chemical corporations on its economic direction-almost no more direction"!
Many Filipino farmers are still landless, asset less, penniless, homeless, and hopeless and to some, tremendously disease-stricken without any assistance from the government or any help from the local, national and international aid agencies.
Bernie & Jane Sanders will be moving to the White House
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Bernie is going to win the July convention. That's because polls already are and will even more dramatically show that Hillary will lose to Trump, but not just the White House. She will cost the Democrats a majority in the Senate, the Supreme Court and a stronger position in the House. Over the weeks before the Democratic convention, Hillary will slide to a worse and worse position. Her "win" in Kentucky is emblematic. In 2008 she defeated Obama by over 200,000 votes. She squeaked out a victory by 1800 votes last night. The slide will be in full bloom, like the reek of a cesspool, by convention time. The superdelegates will be faced with a decision-- go with Hillary, with many many polls showing a disaster about to unfold, or go with Bernie and win the Senate, take the Supreme court and make major headway in the House.
Hillary's slide is just starting. It will get worse, a lot worse. To foresee where she's heading look to polls of states, some swing, some usually red, comparing Clinton and Sanders running against Trump.
Here are recent national polls from RealClearPolitics (updated 5/20)
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Quinnipiac shows Clinton losing to Trump in Ohio and statistically tying Trump in Florida and Pennsylvania. Bernie Sanders beats Trump by 2 in Ohio and Florida, and by six in Pennsylvania, compared to Hillary's one point lead.
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In New Hampshire, Clinton squeaks by Trump, while Sanders trounces him, with a 16 or 21 point difference.
Clinton loses to Trump in Arizona, a red state. Sanders squeaks a win-- a five point difference from Hillary.
These differences are important, and they will grow. They really matter when it comes to Senate races.
In New Hampshire, the race between Ayotte and Hassan is very close. Can you image that Sanders sixteen or 21 point leads could make the difference, coat-tail-wise, in helping Democratic senate candidate Maggie Hassan pull ahead of incumbent Republican Kelly Ayotte?
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In Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania the Senate races are all very close. Sander's stronger pull among independents and the youth vote will absolutely make the difference in enabling Democratic challengers to Senate incumbents in PA and OH to win, and to help insure a win in the Florida race where candidates are competing to replace Marco Rubio.
But take a look at that Arizona poll. Sanders on the ballot could put the Arizona senate race into play. That would force Republicans to spend a lot more money in a traditionally red state. Then there's Georgia.
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Here's another traditional red state that Bernie Sanders puts into serious play. Again, it will force the GOP to spend a lot more to try to hold on to Georgia.
Remember, Trump is just getting started going after Hillary. Her slide into defeat and being thrashed in the polls nationally and in key states is just getting started. It will get much worse as we get closer to the July convention in Philly. By the time the superdelegates arrive they will be faced with a difficult choice-- support Hillary and hand complete control of the nation-- White House, Senate, Supreme Court and the House-- over to Donald Trump and the GOP, or switch to supporting Bernie Sanders.
Bernie may not even have a lead in pledged delegates. But he'll have cut Hillary's lead enough so between the 150 not yet committed Superdelegates and the ones smart enough to see the writing on the wall who switch from Hillary, he will win the primary. Clinton and her Hillbots will scream bloody murder, but the stark reality-- that allowing her to become the candidate will doom the Democratic party-- will enable Bernie to win the convention and move forward into the general.
Update 5/17: 1) Several people have pointed out in the comments and otherwise that the DNC and superdelegates may be more interested in tending to where their bread is buttered-- their corporate leash-holders-- than in securing a winning candidate. They'll screw women and minorities and stay with Hillary. 2) Polls have been really off this election season, a Hillary supporter scoffs. That's true, but almost every poll that was off predicted that Hillary would do better than she actually did. That means that when a poll suggests that Hillary is up a few points over Trump, or even five or six, based on past performance of almost all the polls, she'll actually do far worse than that. This further supports my analysis.
Update 5/20:
The polls keep coming in proving my point. Trump's negatives are dropping. Hillary's are holding. New polls are showing Hillary loses to Trump.
Donald Trump
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This is not addressed not to those Republicans who think Donald Trump is an appropriate kind of person to be President of the United States. If you like what you see, go ahead and vote for him.
It is addressed rather, to those Republicans who have regarded Mr. Trump unfavorably because they saw him as lacking the character and temperament necessary for our nation's highest office. (Reports indicated not so long ago that quite a few Republicans felt that way.)
I would like to ask those Republicans: Given what you saw about your party's nominee, can you now vote for him?
Three reasons occur to me why you might.
1) As you've seen more of Trump, you've changed your mind about what kind of person he is.
This would surprise me, as his conduct has been rather consistent. Although some expected Trump would shift toward acting "presidential" once he had the nomination sown up, he has done nothing of the sort. So why would anyone change their mind?
2) Supporting your party's nominee is a matter of party loyalty.
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Two years ago, when his connecting flight from Turkey to Africa was delayed by three hours, Anadi Sharma, Senior Manager of social media at digital agency Razorfish, tweeted his anger at Turkish Airlines. As he boarded the plane, he was upgraded to business class - yes, the airline had read his rant on Twitter. This is a fine example of using social media to turn an aggrieved customer into a delighted one, in real time.
Customer feedback forms on company websites are passe; Facebook and Twitter have emerged as efficient ways for customers to interact with companies. Jet Airways has launched a feature for customers to check fares and flight status and even book tickets and check-in to their flights all through a single tweet. One member of the airline's social media team is present at the control centre to announce changes in flight timings on social media in real time, informs Belson Coutinho, VP-Marketing, E-commerce and Innovations.
Data from social media analytics firm Unmetric shows that Vodafone got 45,000 and Jet Airways got 10,000 mentions in tweets in the month of April this year. The analysis shows that Vodafone responds to 75 per cent of its tweets within 15 minutes of a user sending it; certain outlier tweets take up to 14 hours. Jet Airways is known to reply to 42 per cent of all user tweets within one hour, and the rest within 24 hours.
It can be tedious for companies to track comments about brands on social media manually. There are social listening tools such as Radian6 and Sysomos available that collate all brand mentions and help in tracking conversations. "The queries can be digitally forwarded to the team member best suited to provide the answer without having the need to manually copy, paste and e-mail," says Namrata Balwani, the Delhi head of customer engagement agency OgilvyOne Worldwide. What helps is that these tools also do a predictive analysis of conversations and notify in advance when there is a propensity for things to get blown up.
Recently, OYO Rooms won the Quest Customer Experience Award, organised by OneDirect and Twitter, for resolving 93 per cent of complaints and queries within 30 minutes. COO Abhinav Sinha informs that the company has divided the escalations on different levels based on their severity. Since a social media team mostly has junior members, this allows queries to be resolved by the right person.
For companies that get queries in high volumes, Balwani suggests having separate teams for customer service on social media and for other channels such as the company's website. Since people expect an instant answer on Facebook and Twitter, mentioning the average time taken to answer the queries on the brand pages is critical. Keeping standard answers ready for common queries is a good idea. Sharma suggests that queries be consolidated at the end of each month, so the answers are updated regularly. Team members can also do a quick check of the social profile of the person to get an idea of his/ her personality type and modify their answers accordingly. This is especially helpful because there is a swarm of people making a mountain out of a molehill to get an extra service from the company - whether it is a free meal at a restaurant or a flight upgrade.
Facebook has a feature wherein brands can hide unfavourable comments from their pages such that the comments are visible only to those who post them. Another way to resolve an issue is to take the discussion offline. It works best with people who are merely trying to be difficult and helps avoid a public spectacle.
Listening Post
Content-Savvy
Professional networking service LinkedIn is planning to introduce a new feature that would allow the network to publish content on its own platform instead of links that lead the user to the publisher's site, BuzzFeed News reported recently. The feature, quite similar to Facebooks Instant Articles, will allow a reader quick access to the content page and reduce the time taken for redirection and loading of a page. Lately, social networking sites have been bullish on content push, with many introducing features to make posting content easier for publishers. Apart from Facebook's Instant Articles, others such as Snapchat Discover, Apple News and Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages offer a similar feature.
Nazi Obsession
Nearly 80 per cent of active Reddit threads with more than a thousand comments have mentions of 'Hitler' and 'Nazi', says a data scientist who goes by the pen name 'Curious Gnu', on his blog. The source of this revelation, the blog says, is the Reddit data set that is publicly available on Google BigQuery. The analyst found out that even after excluding History subreddits, a Reddit thread mentions Hitler or Nazi once at least. Once a thread hits 101 comments, there is roughly a 15 per cent chance of a Hitler mention. "Unsurprisingly, the probability of a Nazi reference increases as the threads get bigger. Nevertheless, I didn't expect that the probability would be over 70 per cent for a thread with more than 1,000 comments," Gnu says, on his blog.
Digital Dashboard
What Happens Online in 60 Seconds?
The Bell Museum at the University of Minnesota has launched the first web portal providing access to all of its biodiversity collections. Credit: Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas and the Bell Museum of Natural History (bellatlas.umn.edu)
The Bell Museum at the University of Minnesota has launched the first web portal providing access to all of its biodiversity collections. The Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas is an online digital resource offering public access to hundreds of thousands of plant and animal specimens, from algae to zebras. The Atlasthe midwest's first portal to integrate such disparate collectionshouses over 5 terabytes of data from the museum's botanical and zoological collections. More than 16,000 species from Minnesota and around the world are represented such as the calypso orchid and the emerald shiner.
"Museums all over are putting their collections online, just as libraries did two decades ago," said Bell Museum scientific director and curator of plants George Weiblen. "The problem is that museums tend to compartmentalize their collections in separate databasesone for mammals, one for birds, etc. This makes it hard to see the big picture when it comes to biodiversity, especially in a unique place like Minnesota, where four biomes come together along with an incredible variety of life."
The project, funded by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, makes available products of the Minnesota Biological Survey, other state agencies, and University researchers studying plants, wildlife, and microorganisms in Minnesota. The Atlas serves critical needs like guiding field surveys, providing images for identification in the field, and enabling conservation planning by partners including the Department of Natural Resources and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
"This is one of the greatest research and conservation resources at the University of Minnesota, and now it's the most accessible," said Keith Barker, principal investigator and Bell curator of birds and genetic resources. "With a few clicks, anyone from nature enthusiasts to educators can locate records of life in Minnesota and beyond."
An emerald shiner specimen located in Red Wing, MN. Credit: Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas and the Bell Museum of Natural History at the University of Minnesota
Museum specimens provide the best record of historical distribution of life. The Bell Museum has accumulated more than 750,000 specimens of wildlife, plants and fungi from the Mississippi and western Great Lakes region over the past 125 years. The debut of the Atlas already contains over 400,000 biodiversity records and 175,000 high resolution specimen images that span from the founding of the museum in 1872 to the present.
"The Biodiversity Atlas can help us be global citizens and good stewards of Minnesota's biodiversity," said Professor Rob Blair, UMN professor and leader of a citizen science project on Minnesota bees that will eventually share its data via the Atlas. "Sharing this information with partners in Minnesota and elsewhere holds promise for discovery and solutions to environmental challenges like climate change."
Much work remains to document, curate, and georeference specimen records. Many specimens were collected at times prior to the alteration of the land and represent the way things were before extensive European settlement. However, most of the information on these specimens is handwritten and requires transcription. This August, the Bell Museum plans to turn to crowdsourcing, launching a massive transcription effort online with the help of volunteer citizen scientists to enter and verify data through Zooniverse.org.
"The Bell Museum is a place where people of all ages can engage in activities like citizen science and take part in building a better future for our world," Weiblen said. "Plus, it's pretty fun to explore the biodiversity map. Do you know how many species are known from your hometown? I didn't until I checked the Atlas: 1,038 from Minneapolis!"
Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). The Trust Fund is a permanent fund constitutionally established by the citizens of Minnesota to assist in the protection, conservation, preservation, and enhancement of the state's air, water, land, fish, wildlife and other natural resources.
Explore further New database features 710,000 natural history records from Canadian Museum of Nature
Michele Buzon, a Purdue University associate professor of anthropology, is excavating pyramid tombs in Tombos, Sudan to study Egyptian and Nubian cultures from thousands of years ago in the Nile River Valley. Credit: Purdue University/Charles Jischke
New bioarchaeological evidence shows that Nubians and Egyptians integrated into a community, and even married, in ancient Sudan, according to new research from a Purdue University anthropologist.
"There are not many archaeological sites that date to this time period, so we have not known what people were doing or what happened to these communities when the Egyptians withdrew," said Michele Buzon, an associate professor of anthropology, who is excavating Nubian burial sites in the Nile River Valley to better understand the relationship between Nubians and Egyptians during the New Kingdom Empire.
The findings are published in American Anthropologist, and this work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration. Buzon also collaborated with Stuart Tyson Smith from the University of California, Santa Barbara, on this UCSB-Purdue led project. Antonio Simonetti from the University of Notre Dame also is a study co-author.
Egyptians colonized the area in 1500 BCE to gain access to trade routes on the Nile River. This is known as the New Kingdom Empire, and most research focuses on the Egyptians and their legacy.
"It's been presumed that Nubians absorbed Egyptian cultural features because they had to, but we found cultural entanglement ? that there was a new identity that combined aspects of their Nubian and Egyptian heritages. And based on biological and isotopic features, we believe they were interacting, intermarrying and eventually becoming a community of Egyptians and Nubians," said Buzon, who just returned from the excavation site.
During the New Kingdom Period, from about 1400-1050 BCE, Egyptians ruled Tombos in the Nile River Valley's Nubian Desert in the far north of Sudan. In about 1050 BCE, the Egyptians lost power during the Third Intermediate Period. At the end of this period, Nubia gained power again and defeated Egypt to rule as the 25th dynasty.
"We now have a sense of what happened when the New Kingdom Empire fell apart, and while there had been assumptions that Nubia didn't function very well without the Egyptian administration, the evidence from our site says otherwise," said Buzon, who has been working at this site since 2000, focusing on the burial features and skeletal health analysis. "We found that Tombos continued to be a prosperous community. We have the continuation of an Egyptian Nubian community that is successful even when Egypt is playing no political role there anymore."
Human remains and burial practices from 24 units were analyzed for this study.
The tombs, known as tumulus graves, show how the cultures merged. The tombs' physical structure, which are mounded, round graves with stones and a shaft underneath, reflect Nubian culture.
"They are Nubian in superstructure, but inside the tombs reflect Egyptian cultural features, such as the way the body is positioned," Buzon said. "Egyptians are buried in an extended position; on their back with their arms and legs extended. Nubians are generally on their side with their arms and legs flexed. We found some that combine a mixture of traditions. For instance, bodies were placed on a wooden bed, a Nubian tradition, and then placed in an Egyptian pose in an Egyptian coffin."
Skeletal markers also supported that the two cultures merged.
"This community developed over a few hundred years and people living there were the descendants of that community that started with Egyptian immigrants and local Nubians," Buzon said. "They weren't living separately at same site, but living together in the community."
Explore further Archaeologist begins dig in the Sudan, Nile River Valley area
More information: Michele R. Buzon et al, Entanglement and the Formation of the Ancient Nubian Napatan State, American Anthropologist (2016). Michele R. Buzon et al, Entanglement and the Formation of the Ancient Nubian Napatan State,(2016). DOI: 10.1111/aman.12524
Peter De Costa, assistant professor in the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages, and Lorena Valmori, a recent Ph.D. graduate of the second language studies program. Credit: Photo by G.L. Kohuth
Foreign language teachers play a pivotal role in creating global citizens, but some teachers lack confidence in their ability to speak in their nonnative tongue, which could undermine the quality of language instruction, Michigan State University researchers argue.
Peter De Costa, assistant professor in the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages, and Lorena Valmori, a recent Ph.D. graduate of the second language studies program, surveyed nine teachers in an Italian high school system, some of whom taught in college prep schools and some in vocational schools. The study, published recently in the journal System, is the first qualitative study examining how teachers maintain foreign language proficiency.
"Good language learning only takes place if there's good language teaching," De Costa said. "For that to happen, language teachers need to be proficient, confident and motivated."
In the study, foreign language teachers stated over time their speaking skills had declined since teaching required them to concentrate more on accuracy, such as the mechanical and semantic aspects of language, and less on speaking and fluency.
In addition, students' needs dictated teachers' desires to improve. Those teaching in a college prep setting focus on skills students need in college, such as vocabulary and grammar rules, while those teaching at the vocational school are less focused on grammar, feeling the language bar was lower.
Combined, the two scenarios lead to feelings of inadequacy for teachers, the College of Arts and Letters researchers said. The solution? Professional development.
But unfortunately, the demographic and social constructs of a school often determine teachers' access to resources, both in levels of support and materials, said De Costa and Valmori, both of whom are former high school teachers. As such, teachers in low-income districts or in vocational schools could be at a disadvantage.
In the study, teachers in college prep high schools formed active networks of foreign language teachers, while those in vocational education were frustrated by the lack of interest in doing so. In fact, vocational teachers reported feeling isolated, saying available resources didn't cater to teachers with different needs.
Other key takeaways:
Contrary to what many foreign language teachers believe, students don't expect them to have perfect command of a language.
In some cases, nonnative speakers of a foreign language are more empathic to students' needs, having been former language learners themselves.
To seek out professional development, teachers must be motivated to improve.
Professional development programs should: be designed to meet differing needs, keep teachers motivated and raise teachers' awareness of their potential.
Professional development doesn't have to be expensive (i.e. attending a conference), but can instead be conducted among districts. Teachers can learn by collaborating.
Although conducted in Italy, the researchers argue the issues addressed in their study are universal to all teachers.
"Our study is part of the larger narrative about how teachers need assistance and support from schools and the wider education system," De Costa said. "We'd like to see more dialogue among teachers. Teachers don't often talk to each other so they forget they're probably their best helpers."
Explore further American teacher panel surveys teachers' knowledge and perceptions of state standards
More information: Lorena Valmori et al, How do foreign language teachers maintain their proficiency? A grounded theory investigation, System (2016). Lorena Valmori et al, How do foreign language teachers maintain their proficiency? A grounded theory investigation,(2016). DOI: 10.1016/j.system.2016.02.003
While populations of moose have been declining in much of their North American range, research from the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) shows how these icons of the northern boreal forest are finding success by moving south into farmers' fields.
"Thirty years ago, seeing moose in the farmland of Saskatchewan would have been very rare but over time they have expanded to these new areas," said Ryan Brook, a wildlife biologist with the Department of Animal and Poultry Science at the U of S. "It's unique to see populations well-established in areas with less than one per cent forest cover and dominated by crop production."
Brook, who leads the Saskatchewan Farmland Moose Project, is working with colleagues to discover how the moose are succeeding in what used to be considered highly unsuitable habitat. The research team used a net gun fired from a helicopter to capture 40 adult cow moose and fit them with GPS satellite collars in 2013 and 2014 to track the animals' movements for four years.
The team found that the animals are taking advantage of the area's "knob and kettle" land forms, that is, rolling hills with plentiful tree-ringed sloughs and wetlands. During the heat of the summer days"hot" for a moose being above 14 Cthe animals retreat to shade and water, coming out to feed once it cools off.
The team's finding are published in the Journal of Wildlife Management. Brook explained this is the first paper ever published on farmland moose, detailing specific ways that moose select habitat. It also maps overall habitat quality in both summer and winter, which will help support management efforts.
Unfortunately for farmers, what the moose are feeding on is often crops, particularly cereals but also oilseeds such as canola. Crop damage is becoming a concern, particularly in the south central part of Saskatchewan.
Moose are also hazardous for drivers, particularly in Saskatchewan, which has the largest municipal grid road network in Canada. The animals' long legs and high centre of gravity create a high risk of driving the main body of the animal through the windshield. Since cows can weigh up to 360 kg and bulls up to 700 kg, collisions can be catastrophic.
Brook explained that since moose have only recently started moving south, there has been little information available to guide management efforts, which makes the study vitally important.
"There has not been any previous research on farmland moose, so a first step is to understand the ecology of these animals to understand habitat selection," he said.
Brook and his colleagues hypothesize that the moose are also doing well because farmland areas have few or no large predators like wolves or bears that keep populations in check in the boreal forest.
For now, the province has instituted moose hunting seasons in the affected areas. When feasible, farmers can also protect their crops by fencing off sloughs and associated treed areas to deprive moose of their daytime refuges.
Explore further Twentieth century warming allowed moose to colonize the Alaskan tundra
More information: Michel P. Laforge et al. Habitat selection by female moose in the Canadian prairie ecozone, The Journal of Wildlife Management (2016). Journal information: Journal of Wildlife Management Michel P. Laforge et al. Habitat selection by female moose in the Canadian prairie ecozone,(2016). DOI: 10.1002/jwmg.21095
The American brown-headed cowbird lays its eggs in other birds' nests and leaves its young to the foster parents. If the host birds reject the eggs the cowbird turns nasty: It destroys the nest and by this forces the victims to accept its eggs in the future. Credit: 123RF/S. Byland
The brown-headed cowbird is nothing short of a nightmare for its hosts: If they eject the brood parasite's eggs from the nest, it punishes them by destroying their entire clutch. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plon and Harvard University have designed a mathematical model for analyzing the interaction between avian brood parasites and their hosts. The model calculations show that birds only accept a brood parasite's eggs in their nests if they are forced to do so by retaliation on the part of the invader.
The mafia hypothesis provides an explanation as to why some host birds do not remove parasites' eggs from their nests. The cuckoo lays its eggs in other birds' nests to spare itself the effort of raising its own young. However, some parasitic avian species like the North American brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) or the European great spotted cuckoo (Clamator glandarius) depredate their hosts' nests out of revenge when the hosts do not accept their eggs. Under these circumstances, it makes sense for the host birds to tolerate the additional work involved in raising the cuckoos in the nest to avoid endangering the lives of their own offspring.
Host birds can have different reactions to brood parasites: while some basically accept other birds' eggs, others weed them out immediately. Others again only accept parasitic eggs when their nests have already been depredated on one occasion. Which of these behavioural strategies is most successful depends on the prevailing environmental conditions and on how often the adversary arises in a population: if there are a lot of mafia parasites around, it is worthwhile for the hosts to accept the parasitic eggs without resistance. However, if the parasites do not retaliate, host birds that remove the cuckoo eggs from their nests immediately are at an advantage. As a result, the frequency of the different behavioural strategies fluctuates in regular cycles.
Not all scientists support the mafia hypothesis, however. It is also possible that parasitic birds depredate other birds' nests so that the hosts will be forced to produce a new clutch, in which they can then place their own eggs at a time that suits them best. This behaviour, which is known as 'farming', is not always easy to distinguish from retaliation in practice. Hence it is not entirely clear whether retaliation or 'farming' is a better strategy for ensuring the toleration of parasitic eggs by host birds.
The Max Planck researchers reconstructed the interaction between farming and retaliation and conditional and unconditional tolerance with the help of a computer model. The results they obtained suggest that hosts only tolerate cuckoo eggs in their nests when the parasites punish them by adopting a strategy of retaliation. "In contrast, farming behaviour that is the depredation of mature clutches without the hosts being able to learn from it results in the rejection of parasitic eggs by the hosts. In the absence of mafia parasites, it makes more sense for the hosts to throw cuckoo eggs out of the nest," explains Maria Abou Chakra from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology.
The frequency of the four behaviours fluctuates cyclically depending on the prevailing environmental conditions. Hosts and parasites compete against each other in a constant evolutionary race. Each strategy is met with a counter-strategy. "There is no optimal behaviour in such host-parasite relations. Neither party can outsmart the other on a permanent basis," says Arne Traulsen, Director of the Department for Evolutionary Theory at the Max Planck Institute in Plon.
Explore further Fear of the cuckoo mafia
More information: Maria Abou Chakra et al. Coevolutionary interactions between farmers and mafia induce host acceptance of avian brood parasites, Royal Society Open Science (2016). Journal information: Royal Society Open Science Maria Abou Chakra et al. Coevolutionary interactions between farmers and mafia induce host acceptance of avian brood parasites,(2016). DOI: 10.1098/rsos.160036
VTT's printed electronics pilot plant in Finland has moved into a new era - an industrial internet-based solution, the first for the printed electronics production in the world, has been installed for the control of the plant.. Environmental conditions affecting sensitive roll-to-roll production can be monitored, and temperature, humidity and pressure measurements can be performed. The measurement results are collected wirelessly to a cloud service, enabling the analysis and presentation of data on mobile devices. This enables the faster and lower-risk introduction of new products and services onto the market.
The pilot plant in Oulu serves various purposes, including research and development in relation to diagnostics for the health care and well-being sector, wearable electronics, smart lighting and IoT technology for industry and buildings.
"Cutting-edge IoT technology had never been used at the pilot plant, or by surprisingly many other electronics production lines. We wanted to change this by developing an easily installed sensor and visualisation system for the electronics production line, facilitating data-related added value services for interfaces with the outside world," says Principal Scientist Marko Jurvansuu of VTT.
The pilot plant offers a unique research environment for enterprises, where new sensor and IoT solutions can be customised and tested in a pre-commercial production environment. This lowers the threshold for practical implementation by companies in their own environments, and speeds up the introduction of new products.
"The industrial internet solution enables access to continuous real-time data on the performance and condition of the production processes, individual equipment as well as the whole production line. "The process quality can be improved for example by faster and more rational preventive maintenance based on the measured data" says Team Leader Kari Ronka.
The solution also facilitates major changes in operating methods since, thanks to measurement data, monitoring the condition of a printing machine and preventive maintenance, among other activities, can be partially outsourced.
Offcode, whose ADN IoT platform is integrated into the system, is the first company to use VTT's solution. The system combines collected sensor data, enabling each party to pick the items of information that are of interest to them.
"The industrial internet is the model based on which industrial companies will operate in the future. Business is moving towards services and data that generate higher added value than the actual physical products. This system provides access to this new world," says Jurvansuu.
In future, data from a printing machine will be accessible through a cloud service to companies that offer services related to data processing. When the scale of printing accuracy is in the range of tens of micrometres, even the most minor issues can influence the end result.
The system developed for the pilot plant is in itself a prototype product that can be duplicated for printed electronics production lines worldwide.
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has been engaged in the long-term development of printed electronics for over 15 years. VTT sells services to companies all over the globe, for the development and production of printed electronics products.
Explore further Intelligent electronics to become durable, flexible and functional through new technology
For Immediate Release
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today cautiously welcomed an international agreement to facilitate aid deliveries in Syrias besieged cities and towns, including a provision that if Syrias government does not permit immediate access by June 1, the UN may begin airdropping supplies. Throughout the conflict, PHR has called for an end to sieges and open, unhindered access for humanitarian supply convoys.
The following statement is PHRs reaction to the agreement negotiated at a meeting of the International Syria Support Group in Vienna attributable to PHR Director of Programs Widney Brown:
We are cautiously optimistic that this latest agreement will bring life-saving aid to hundreds of thousands of Syrians who continue to suffer under siege. The real test is whether there is a willingness on the part of the members of the International Syria Support Group to make this work particularly Russia.
So many previous promises of aid delivery have fallen far short. And even if aid flows, it is too little, too late for countless civilians who have died as a result of the barbaric and unlawful practice of besieging communities literally blocking food and medicines from civilians under siege, most of whom live in opposition-held areas.
Whats more, the agreement fails to end the root cause of this suffering: the sieges themselves. For years, the UN Security Council has demanded that all parties to the conflict end the sieges. Nearly two years ago, the Security Council gave the UN full authorization to deliver aid without the Syrian governments approval, yet deliveries continue to be blocked. Dozens, perhaps hundreds of people have died as warehouses filled with food and medical aid sit just a short drive away.
This latest agreement is a chance to show Syrians that the world isnt ignoring their suffering and will take concrete actions, albeit belatedly, to ensure that no one else dies for lack of basic food or medical supplies. But the international community cannot be duped again. If the Syrian government, in order to prevent airdrops, purports to grant access to humanitarian convoys and then resumes its practice of stripping convoys of basic supplies, the suffering will not end.
Without enforcement, this agreement will be seen as more political posturing by world leaders who are too spineless to take a stand for Syrias civilians and stop war crimes that have been committed for years under their watch.
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a New York-based advocacy organization that uses science and medicine to prevent mass atrocities and severe human rights violations. Learn more here.
MONALEESA-2 trial of Novartis' LEE011 (ribociclib) stopped due to positive efficacy results at interim analysis in HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer
Details Category: Small Molecules Published on Wednesday, 18 May 2016 08:26 Hits: 2240
Independent Data Monitoring Committee recommends stopping the trial early as it met the primary endpoint, significantly extending progression-free survival (PFS) compared to letrozole alone, at pre-planned interim analysis[1]
LEE011 (ribociclib), a CDK4/6 inhibitor, in combination with letrozole, showed clinically meaningful improvement in PFS in postmenopausal women who had received no prior therapy for advanced breast cancer[1]
Full results will be presented at an upcoming medical congress; Novartis will initiate discussions with regulatory authorities worldwide
BASEL, Switzerland I May 18, 2016 I Novartis announced today that the MONALEESA-2 independent Data Monitoring Committee recommended stopping the trial early as results of a pre-planned interim analysis showed the trial met the primary endpoint of clinically meaningful improvement in PFS[1]. MONALEESA-2 is a pivotal Phase III trial of LEE011(ribociclib), a cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor (CDK4/6), in combination with letrozole, compared to letrozole alone in postmenopausal women who had received no prior therapy for their hormone receptor positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 negative (HR+/HER2-) advanced breast cancer[1].
"We are excited that these results validate our belief that LEE011 in combination with letrozole can be a beneficial treatment option for women diagnosed with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer," said Alessandro Riva, Global Head, Oncology Development and Medical Affairs, Novartis Oncology. "Novartis is dedicated to continuing to discover and develop innovative targeted therapies that help improve and extend the lives of women living with this disease."
As part of the company's ongoing commitment to addressing the needs of patients living with advanced breast cancer, Novartis will be evaluating possible expanded access programs in some regions to help ensure women who may benefit from LEE011 have access to it.
The adverse events observed with LEE011 in combination with letrozole in MONALEESA-2 were generally consistent with their respective known adverse event profiles[1].
The MONALEESA-2 trial will continue to assess overall survival data. Detailed efficacy and safety data will be submitted for presentation at a major medical congress and Novartis will begin discussions with global health authorities about regulatory filings. About MONALEESA-2
MONALEESA-2 (Mammary ONcology Assessment of LEE011's Efficacy and SAfety-2) is a Phase III randomized, double blind, placebo controlled, multicenter global registration trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of LEE011 in combination with letrozole compared to letrozole alone in postmenopausal women with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer who received no prior therapy for their advanced breast cancer[1].
The trial was conducted at 294 clinical trial sites globally and randomized 668 patients in a 1:1 ratio stratified by the presence of liver and/or lung metastases[1]. Patients received LEE011 600 mg/daily (three weeks on and one week off), or placebo, in combination with letrozole 2.5 mg/daily per the approved label[1].
The primary endpoint of the trial was PFS[1]. Secondary endpoints included: overall survival, overall response rate, clinical benefit rate, health-related quality of life, safety and tolerability[1].
About LEE011 (ribociclib)
LEE011 (ribociclib) is a cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor (CDKi), a new class of drugs that help slow the progression of cancer by inhibiting two proteins called cyclin dependent kinase 4 and 6 (CDK4/6). These proteins, when over-activated in a cell, can enable cancer cells to grow and divide too quickly.
LEE011 has been studied in non-clinical models and is currently being evaluated in combination with additional endocrine agents as part of the MONALEESA clinical trial program. LEE011 is not approved for any indication in any market at this time.
The MONALEESA-3 trial is evaluating LEE011 in combination with fulvestrant compared to fulvestrant alone in men and post-menopausal women with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer who have received no or a maximum of one prior endocrine therapy. The MONALEESA-7 trial is investigating LEE011 in combination with endocrine therapy and goserelin compared to endocrine therapy and goserelin alone in pre-menopausal women with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer who have not previously received endocrine therapy. Both Phase III programs, MONALEESA-3 and MONALEESA-7 are recruiting patients worldwide.
LEE011 was developed by Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) under a research collaboration with Astex Pharmaceuticals.
About Novartis in advanced breast cancer
For more than 25 years, Novartis has been at the forefront of driving scientific advancements for breast cancer patients and improving clinical practice in partnership with the global community[1]. With one of the most diverse breast cancer pipelines and the largest number of breast cancer compounds in development, Novartis leads the industry in discovery of new therapies and combinations, especially in HR+ advanced breast cancer, the most common form of the disease[1].
About advanced breast cancer
Advanced breast cancer comprises metastatic breast cancer (stage IV) and locally advanced breast cancer (stage III)[2]. Metastatic breast cancer is the most serious form of the disease and occurs when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body, such as the brain, bones or liver[2]. Locally advanced breast cancer occurs when the cancer has spread to lymph nodes and/or other tissue in the area of the breast, but not to distant sites in the body[2].
HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer is the most common type of advanced breast cancer, with an estimated 220,000 women diagnosed globally each year[3],[4]. HR+ advanced breast cancer is a group of cancers that express receptors for certain hormones, such as estrogen and progesterone[5]. Cancer cell growth can be driven by these hormones[5].
Disclaimer
The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by words such as "will," "pursue," "belief," "dedicated," "continuing," "commitment," "possible," "may," "to evaluate," "being evaluated," "is evaluating," "is investigating," "are recruiting," or similar terms, or by express or implied discussions regarding potential new indications or labeling for LEE011, or regarding potential future revenues from LEE011. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs and expectations of management regarding future events, and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that LEE011 will be submitted or approved for any additional indications or labeling in any market, or at any particular time. Nor can there be any guarantee that LEE011 will be commercially successful in the future. In particular, management's expectations regarding LEE011 could be affected by, among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including unexpected clinical trial results and additional analysis of existing clinical data; unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; the company's ability to obtain or maintain proprietary intellectual property protection; general economic and industry conditions; competition in general; global trends toward health care cost containment, including ongoing pricing pressures; unexpected manufacturing, safety or quality issues, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
About Novartis
Novartis provides innovative healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines, eye care and cost-saving generic pharmaceuticals. Novartis is the only global company with leading positions in these areas. In 2015, the Group achieved net sales of USD 49.4 billion, while R&D throughout the Group amounted to approximately USD 8.9 billion (USD 8.7 billion excluding impairment and amortization charges). Novartis Group companies employ approximately 118,000 full-time-equivalent associates. Novartis products are available in more than 180 countries around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.novartis.com.
Novartis is on Twitter. Sign up to follow @Novartis at http://twitter.com/novartis.
For Novartis multimedia content, please visit www.novartis.com/news/media-library. For questions about the site or required registration, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
References
[1] Novartis Data on File.
[2] American Cancer Society. How do you determine the stage of breast cancer? Available at http://www.cancer.org/cancer/breastcancer/detailedguide/breast-cancer-staging. Accessed May 10, 2016.
[3] Dobrescu A, et al. Study of Estrogen Receptor and Progesterone Receptor Expression in Breast Ductal Carcinoma In Situ by Immunohistochemical Staining in ER/PgR-Negative Invasive Breast Cancer. International Scholarly Research Network. 2011;2011:1-5.
[4] Buckley N, et al. Breast Cancer. Decision Resources. March 2011:1-301.
[5] Redmond C. Breast Cancer Hormone Therapy Options. Available at http://christineredmond.suite101.com/breast-cancer-hormone-therapy-options-a197304. Accessed December 1, 2014.
SOURCE: Novartis
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The ongoing debate over who can use what bathroom has led to quasi protests around the country by people angered at the policies that some retailers have adopted.
Self-professed "street preachers" have been going in the stores to loudly voice their displeasure, and over the weekend one such person, who obviously by her southern accent ain't from around these parts, visited the Target store in Aviation Mall. Glen Falls, as she inaccurately termed the location.
The one or two patrons who were there seemed to pay no attention to her, and I'm almost wondering why I'm giving her any publicity. But it's making the rounds on social media, and one local woman got into a debate with her over Facebook about her local protest. So here it is. It looks like the same "street preacher" went to Rutland, Vermont, a day or two later to "preach" to high school students as well.
Officials with the Greater Capital Association of Realtors joined Realtors from across the country last week in Washington for the 2016 Realtor Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo.
Local real estate professionals met with regulators and lawmakers on Capitol Hill to advocate for specific issues, including protection of real estate-related tax policies, according to a prepared statement.
Nearly 9,000 Realtors attended the expo.
While in Washington, GCAR leaders met with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.; Congressman Paul Tonko, D-N.Y.; and Congressman Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook.
GCAR President-Elect, Joel Koval urged Tonko to preserve current real estate-related tax policies and extend the Mortgage Forgiveness Tax Relief Act, which prevents distressed homeowners from receiving excessive income tax bills on forgiven home loan debt.
Other important issues included reforming key Federal Housing Administration condo rules and ensuring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage guarantee fees are not extended, increased or diverted away for unrelated government spending.
Warren Countys recent celebration of Law Day included honors for a former local pediatrician and a late Family Court judge.
Dr. Kathleen Braico received the Warren County Bar Associations Liberty Bell Award for community service. She has been involved with numerous community programs, including efforts to create youth center in Hudson Falls and work with Double H Ranch, medical mission to Guatemala and the local American Red Cross.
The late Judge J. Timothy Breen was also honored, with a plaque in his honor installed at Warren County Family Court, where he presided for 16 years.
The Bar Association also honored Queensbury High students Morgan McDonald and Reigel Conway for winning the Bar Association/Warren County Youth Court essay contest, and the Lake George High School mock trial team was honored for winning the area contest and finishing second in a regional competition.
Glens Falls resident Kevin Bruen, a former Warren County assistant district attorney who is counsel and deputy commissioner for the state Department of Corrections & Community Supervision, gave the featured speech.
Members of the Bar Association are speaking at schools throughout the county during May about Law day and the role of law in life.
GLENS FALLS A project designed to help people in the community has earned a major regional award for the Crandall Public Library.
The Crandall Cares/Its Cold Out There project, which provided nearly 300 free scarves, pairs of mittens and gloves and hats, free for the taking, received one of two Program of the Year Awards at the Southern Adirondack Library Systems annual meeting.
I want to thank SALS for the recognition but Im even more proud that our staff and community found a way to knit together the joys of creating and giving, said library Director Kathy Naftaly, who accepted the award along with staffers Karen Tinney and Henry Ottenhoff.
A year ago, workers in the librarys reference department noticed that some patrons those in chronic and situational poverty, homeless people, and those with mental health challenges were scouring the librarys lost and found for warm clothes.
For several years, the library supported a knitting/crochet program, and the staff members brought the two together.
We instinctively understood that even creating one stitch at a time would encompass and embrace more of our library population, and it has, Naftaly said in a summary of the project.
On Jan. 14, with help from the city of Glens Falls, volunteers and homeless patrons of the library hung the donations with wooden clothespins. Other items were draped from the trees and bushes in City Park. The public was invited to take what they needed.
The librarys next-door neighbors, Spot Coffee, donated free hot beverages which were available both outside the building and in the library lobby, Naftaly said.
Naftaly said the response was overwhelmingly positive, including a note from one local elementary school principal, thanking the library because she said her school nurses were having trouble providing hats and mittens to youngsters for recess.
Community members have already come forward to help with the project in the coming year, she said.
The other Program of the Year award went to the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library for its partnership with Saratoga Bridges, an organization that provides support to individuals with developmental disabilities.
The group also gave Trustee of the Year awards to Ken Bollerud, who has been a trustee of the Saratoga Springs Public Library since 1981, and president of the board since 1988, and Tom Shaginaw of the Ballston Community Library.
SALS is a consortium of 34 libraries in Saratoga, Warren, Washington, and Hamilton counties.
A dog neglect complaint in Glens Falls has exposed confusion over the obligations of the local chapters of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and who is handling dog complaints in Glens Falls.
The SPCA of Upstate New York of Kingsbury has long had a contract with the city of Glens Falls for dog control services, but the upstart Warren County SPCA which reorganized under new management last year bid for the Glens Falls contract last year as well. The Glens Falls Common Council stayed with the Kingsbury organization, even though the cost was $160 less (corrected) and coverage hours were fewer.
Members of the public, though, and apparently Glens Falls Police, have not been sure which agency they should call as the Warren County SPCA has become more of a presence in recent months, adding a marked patrol car, getting contracts with several municipalities and announcing plans for a shelter.
That led to both SPCAs being involved in a recent animal neglect complaint, and questions being raised about whether the response was appropriate.
The case concerned a dog at a Maple Street home that some people thought appeared neglected. A number of callers who said they contacted the SPCA of Upstate New York reported their concerns were not addressed.
When complaints found their way to Glens Falls Police, they contacted the agency with which the city doesnt contract Warren County SPCA whose staff took possession of the dog.
The involvement of both agencies has led to questions about which one is responsible for covering Glens Falls.
There is a lot of confusion, said Cathy Cloutier, executive director of SPCA of Upstate New York.
You have two SPCAs two miles apart. People dont know who to call, said Jim Fitzgerald, Queensburys former animal control officer who is president of Warren County SPCA.
No charges were filed, and the dog was ultimately returned to its owners after it was licensed and received medical treatment for an apparent worm infestation.
But the situation became more muddled when the SPCA of Upstate New York gave the dog owner information on how to take legal action against the Warren County SPCA to have her dog returned.
She (SPCA representative) told me to go to the Warren County Bar Association and get a lawyer to take them (Warren County SPCA) to court, said dog owner Bobbie Jo Civitello.
Complaints
Concerns about the welfare of the pit bull terrier at 148 Maple St. dated back to mid-winter, and prompted Glens Falls Police to call Warren County SPCA for assistance.
Glens Falls Police contacted the Warren County SPCA instead of SPCA of Upstate New York, but Glens Falls Police Capt. Michelle Arnold said the officer involved accidentally called the wrong agency after doing an Internet search for the SPCAs phone number.
Numerous neighbors and passersby said they had contacted the SPCA of Upstate New York about the dogs situation, with numerous messages posted on Facebook about their calls.
Cloutier said she was aware of the claims her agency was contacted about the dog, but she said her agency logs incoming phone calls and did not get any calls about the dog.
She said she responded to the home after a photo of the dog was forwarded to her through Facebook, and learned when she went to the Maple Street home that Kim Polunci from Warren County SPCA had taken possession of the dog.
Cloutier said she was not sure what had occurred, because the dog owner did not have any paperwork to indicate the dog had been legally surrendered or a court order directing its confiscation.
Fitzgerald said the dog was turned over by the owner, so no paperwork was required, and the family later called to turn over another family members dog that was in need of assistance as well.
Civitello said a representative of the SPCA of Upstate New York, whose name she did not know, later told her to get a lawyer through the Warren County Bar Association to get her dog back.
Cloutier said she spoke to the dog owner, and the conversation occurred after the owner asked how she could get her dog back. Cloutier said she explained the proper legal channels to take.
So who should residents of Glens Falls contact with a dog issue?
Cloutier recommended that people with dog complaints contact police first, and police will notify the appropriate animal control agency. The SPCA of Upstate New York can be reached directly at 798-3500.
Her agency handles dog control issues, such as licensing, loose dogs or barking dog complaints, while the Warren County SPCA investigates animal cruelty throughout Warren County, including Glens Falls.
Calls about nuisance cats anywhere in Warren County can be directed to Warren County SPCA at 793-4048.
We had over 300 cat calls in Glens Falls last year alone, Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgeralds agency is in the process of building an animal shelter in Queensbury.
Meanwhile, Civitellos dog is back at her home, and she said she continues to be harassed by neighbors and others who questioned the familys care for it. Because it was kept on a short lead tied in front of the home and was a bit underweight, many concluded it was neglected when it wasnt, she said.
There was nothing wrong with the dog, she said. If there was, they wouldnt have given it back to us.
Staff writer Rhonda Triller contributed to this report.
QUEENSBURY More than 20,000 used clothing, household and furniture items will be on sale at a three-day thrift sale in Queensbury intended to demonstrate the value of collaboration between nonprofit agencies.
The sale, which begins at noon Friday at Warren, Washington & Albany ARC headquarters at 436 Quaker Road in Queensbury, is a joint effort between the ARC and the City Mission of Schenectady.
City Mission collected the items, and 100 disabled workers at the ARC workshop in Albany sorted the clothes by gender and size.
Proceeds from the sale will jointly benefit City Mission, an agency that provides services to the homeless and poor in Schenectady, and ARC programs that do not receive traditional funding.
Warren, Washington & Albany ARC provides services to the developmentally disabled.
There is also a benefit to working families, which can purchase a wardrobe of quality used clothing for about $5, said Queensbury at-Large Supervisor Rachel Seeber, who has been recruiting volunteers and volunteering herself for several weeks to prepare for the sale.
What a great service to the community thousands and thousands of items, clothing and furniture at bottom-line prices, she said.
The sale is a model the two agencies hope will eventually lead to a used clothing retail shop employing disabled workers to raise funds for City Mission, according to a news release.
The concept came about in 2015 when Gary Spadaro, a City Mission employee, saw a video on Facebook about Warren, Washington & Albany ARC and suggested the agency help the mission find an outlet for surplus clothing that is routinely donated.
Hours for the sale are noon to 5 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Volunteers, including Queensbury High School students and elected officials, assisted with setting up the sale.
They have received a tremendous amount of support from the community. But I think, really, its their effort and vision for this event that is most impressive, Seeber said.
Morgan Linen Services donated hangers.
Im sitting here in a quandary.
I will be heading to the polls shortly to vote on my districts school budget. The spending plan calls for $2.47 million more than it did last year, and while it is under the tax cap, it is this one sentence of analysis published in Sundays newspaper that disturbs me:
The budget preserves all programs and relies less on fund balance.
For that $2.47 million increase, the schools in my community wont be any better than they were last year.
That nags at me.
My son has graduated, so I could be one of those people who doesnt care any more, who votes no because I already got mine.
The reason I want to vote no is because Im not enamored with mediocrity.
Im not thrilled by the status quo.
Im not encouraged with a system where one of four children doesnt graduate from high school.
I want a third option on the ballot start over.
Maybe, we could be like Finland.
Over the past decade, the small Scandinavian country wedged between icebergs in Russia and Sweden has generally been recognized as having one of the best school systems in the world, but the process started five decades ago when the Finnish Parliament decided that investing in public education was its best shot at economic recovery. And that meant educating everyone, rich and poor alike.
The plan was relatively simple. There would be one system of comprehensive schools for children aged 7 through 16. Teachers from all around the country would contribute to a national curriculum that provides guidelines for instructors. Just recently, those guidelines were reduced to just 10 pages.
By 1979, the country required every teacher to earn a fifth-year masters degree that would be paid for by the state.
That requirement elevated the status of teachers to that of doctors and lawyers, and applicants began flooding the teaching programs, not only because the salary was high, but because of the respect and autonomy that came with the position.
According to an article on Smithsonian.com, there were 6,600 applicants for 660 primary school training slots in 2010.
In 2001, 2003 and 2006, Finland topped the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) world rankings, which was ironic because the Finns despise any type of standardized testing.
The United States was ranked 24th in reading and 36th in math in 2015.
The schools are publicly funded. There are no rankings, comparisons or competitions between students, schools or regions. The people in the government agencies that run the schools are educators instead of business people or career politicians.
The classroom experience is unusual, too.
Finnish teachers spend fewer hours at school and in the classroom than their American counterparts. They use the extra time to build curriculums and assess their students.
Children are not required to attend school until age 7 and young children spend a lot of time playing outside. There is little if any homework assigned. The Finns believe you cannot teach a child until he/she is ready.
Maybe most importantly, the government provides families with the means so all students have a chance.
Finland provides three years of maternity leave and subsidized day care to parents.
Preschool is provided for all 5-year-olds. Children begin some academics there and are provided with food, medical care, counseling and taxi service if needed.
The state pays parents 150 Euros a month for every child they have until age 17.
Ninety-three percent of Finns graduate from academic or vocational high schools, while the country spends 30 percent less than the U.S. on its public schools.
Critics here say it is unfair to compare a small country with just 5.4 million residents to the United States.
But neighboring Norway, which is of a similar size and makeup to Finland, has an education system mirroring ours. Its world ranking is equally mediocre.
So when I finally did vote Tuesday, I added this short note: Be more like Finland.
READ MORE: Dr. Abdul Issahaku to deliver first monetary policy address on May 16
"If a commercial bank is interested in buying back the debt, it can then be making the payment whiles we wait for the audit process to the completed," he added.
Addressing journalists at the monetary policy press conference in Accra, Dr. Nashiru Issahaku maintained that, the Bank of Ghana through the Registrar General has appointed Price WaterHouse Coopers to audit the accounts of DKM.
The Governor, however, indicated that BoG is treading cautiously to ensure that it does not send wrong signals to other companies in the industry and also the regulator will not be directly involved in the payment.
Meanwhile, some banking experts have kicked against this bailout strategy of the central bank.
Speaking on Radio Ghana on Tuesday night, May 17, Nana Konadu lashed out at the media for not doing enough to expose corruption in Ghana One major thing that I will say is that they should stop the sole sourcing for projects that will cut back on governmental corruption to a large extent.
And then we should also stop bribing everybody for them to keep quiet about issues that are happening. We are supposed to have a vibrant media."
Prince David Osei who recently went to Kumasi to shoot a movie, reacting to the statement on Hitz FMs Daybreak Hitz first accused the movie producer of taking movie from people without doing the job for which the money was given him.
The David Owusu we are talking about is a producer. He is one shoddy guy, a swindler, takes peoples money to produce movies for them and he doesnt do it. Hes been in police custody several times. The last time I remember working with him was in 2011. He couldnt even pay me so that guy wants attention, he noted.
Addressing why he went to Kumasi to shoot a movie, Prince David Osei said it was all geared towards erasing the perception that he is arrogant and to help bring unity between actors in Kumasi and those in Accra.
He could not understand why Mr Owusu would make such a statement.
Now with the issue of actors going to Kumasi, its quite unfortunate they are trying to bring this up. Some of us decided to go do movies in Kumasi just to foster unity and build this gradually dying industry of ours For the records, Van has been doing movies in Kumasi for some time now, Majid did it with Liwin I dont know why this story is coming up, he said.
Some have also cited the manner in which these contestants dress and flaunt body parts expected to be covered as the basis for their argument.
But speaking to Abrantepa on Radio Univers mid-morning show, Brunch2Lunch, Tuesday, Rebecca said the perceptions are false.
According to her, pageantry rather helps in among other things, educating and building the confidence level of participants.
With the society we are coming from, there is this misconception about pageantry. They think it is full of promiscuity and all that. They tend to discourage individuals who would want to take part. I have had an experience, I would say to them that they shouldnt listen to such claims. I would appeal to parents to give their kids the opportunity to come out, she noted.
Beauty pageantry empowers you to come out from your shell. It will also groom you to become a better person. You will learn a lot and at the same time, you will go places. We dont expose ourselves. Its never true. To be honest with you, we never wore bikini at Miss Africa. It shows you how decent you could be as a queen, the twenty-four year old added.
Rebecca, a dental hygienist, beat eleven finalists shortlisted from an original list of forty contestants from across the continent for the crown. The event came off in Johannesburg, South Africa on Saturday.
She is the first Ghanaian to win the contest. The first Runner-up was Michelo Malambo of Zambia, while South Africa's Jemimah Kandimiri was placed third.
Fred P. Hochberg, Chairman and President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM Bank), and Phillips Oduoza, CEO and Group Managing Director of United Bank for Africa (UBA) signed the MOU with the specific goal of expanding trade between the U.S. and sub-Saharan Africa at the (WEF) in Kigali.
EXIM Bank is proud to build on its decades long commitment to financing American exports to sub-Saharan Africa, said Chairman Hochberg. This memorandum signals to American exporters and African businesses alike that there are many more promising opportunities to work together, and EXIM stands ready to provide the financing needed to turn more of those opportunities into realities.
The two were joined by Uzoka Kennedy, Deputy Managing Director and Group Managing Director Designate, UBA and Sola Yomi-Ajayi, Group Head, Financial Institutions and International Organizations, UBA, who all participated in the signing ceremony.
Speaking on the MOU, ABiola Bawuah, MD/CEO, UBA Ghana said This deal will open up new opportunities for our customers to tap into the lucrative American market. It is also a testimony to the high regards that the UBA is held in the international financial community and the groups capacity to handle international transactions. I urge Ghanaian businesses to take advantage of this finance window to expand their trading activities with their American business partners.
The MOU is a statement of general intent between EXIM Bank and UBA to promote the availability of EXIM financing of up to $100 million in the region. EXIM Bank and UBA will work together to share information and develop export-financing opportunities in key sectors including commodities, agriculture and food products, spare parts, and large and small equipment purchases.
A teacher at the Berekum LA Basic and junior high school told Accra-based Joy FM: "I was teaching when all of a sudden we heard a loud bang noise with lots of dust rising and so everyone came out running. Then we saw that the two-storey building under construction had caved in."
"It may not get to even ten [years] and you may have to change it," she said in an interview on Radio Ghana.
She said her father was part of a team that framed the countrys seven-year development plan during Dr. Kwame Nkrumahs regime but it failed to realize its full potential.
"Realistically, our economics should tell us, which country on this earth puts together a 40-year development plan when you know conditions will change, situations, paradigms, levels will change.
"So you plan with a realistic view, dont bamboozle the people that you are planning for 40-years when you know that it may not get to even ten years and you may have to change it! Come on, we are not children. 40 years is unrealistic, unacceptable, waste of our money and its not going to work," the leader of the National Democratic Party (NDP) added.
The 40-year long-term development plan, which will be put before Parliament by the end of this year, is expected to be implemented between 2018 and 2057.
This coupled with fresh challenges to the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah have ensured that power supply to the Ashanti Region, parts of the Western Region and the Greater Accra Region has been curtailed.
The ECG in the Ashanti region confirmed that they were asked to shed load in the late hours of Monday when four out of five sub-stations had to be shut. The region is feeding on 40megawatts and a shortfall of 160MW.
In the Greater Accra Region, large residential areas like Achimota, Madina and Mallam, suffered power outages Monday night.
Adamudzi told Accra based Rainbow Radio that he is ready to face off with the NPP and has dared the party to deny or confirm the allegation.
According to him, he will strip the party naked if they should deny the claims and warned them not to do anything funny since they are under surveillance and will be jailed should they violate our laws.
"The NPP should send me anywhere they want to. I will prove to them that they are importing arms and ammunition to destabilise the country because they are well aware that they will lose the elections," says Adamudzi as quoted by rainbowradioonline.com.
He also said his allegation is true and will not hesitate to repeat it when he gets the chance on any platform.
According to him, the plot by the NPP to destabilise the nation will not see the light of day and has cautioned them to be careful.
When asked if he was not just making an unfounded allegation, he answered saying, "this not an allegation. Their own party chairman, Mr. Paul Afoko confirmed it. His interview with the African Watch Magazine confirms my assertion. Have you not read the magazine? Were you not in Ghana when he [Paul Afoko] accused the party of importing Serbians to train their supporters?"
In an interview with Accra-based Citi FM, Alban Bagbin said "The government made available in the budget over 800 million for the Electoral Commission and we are anticipating a supplementary budget which will be coming soon to the House to make up the gap between the over 800 million and the 1.2 million. But so far the release to the commission is still not proactive."
Wayo told Onua FM that "I will not advice the President to attend that debate, I have very incredible information that IEA is skimming to disgrace him (the president) with that debate, Ghanaians can jump at anything and glorify it, what is the credibility of the founder of that organization."
The IEA has come under intense pressure from some major political parties ahead of the November elections over what they describe as disrespectful and unfair arrangements adopted for this years presidential debate.
This was as a result of a decision arrived at by the IEA to hold a separate debate for presidential candidates of the two major political parties -- NDC and NPP. But the URP founder claims there is more to the IEAs decision than meets the eye.
"The founder of that 'azaa' organization is a die in wool NPP and a 'con man;' I know him very well and if Dr. Charles Mensa (founder and Chairman of the Institute of Economic Affairs) feels hurt by this, he can take me to court and I will show him all the dossiers I have about him," Mr. Wayo challenged.
Kofi Wayo said Dr. Charles Mensahs tenure at VALCO did not yield any dividend to the country but rather saw a steeper collapse of the once upon a time biggest Aluminum Smelter the country ever had.
Kofi Wayo also alleged that he was present when Dr. Charles Mensah approached Ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor to be given VALCO with the promise of transforming it, but "we all know the sorry state of that factory now," he posited.
"Therefore, if I tell you that man set up IEA to promote the agenda of the NPP you must know I have the facts. So Asempa, If this 'guy' (referring to Dr. Charles Mensah ) can do this, what justification does he have to be involving in government business.
Kweku Yeboah, the alleged leader of a brutal robbery attack near Sunyani on Monday 2 May 2016, escaped from police custody several days later whilst being nursed at a hospital for injuries he sustained during the incident.
With the suspect on the loose and fear rife in the community, the policeman under whose watch Yeboah escaped was instantly implicated and given a ten-day ultimatum to produce him or face disciplinary action.
According to Joshuas Facebook page, the policeman in question decided to seek Divine intervention by visiting Joshuas church after six days of frantic searching had elapsed without any sign of success.
I had a suspect escape from my custody in the hospital when I was detailed to guide him,Constable Edwin Akpalu is seen narrating in an accompanying video uploaded to Facebook, adding that he faced expulsion from the police and a probable prison sentence.
The police man vividly detailed how Yeboah, who escaped from the handcuffs which were tied to his hospital bed, covered himself with a white bed sheet whilst fleeing in the dead of night.
Akpalu had attempted to shoot the suspect as he was running hurriedly away but held back as a nurse was moving along the same corridor, fearing he might kill an innocent health official.
Some friends advised me to go for black magic, which I was contemplating, the constable admitted as days passed without any signs of Yeboahs recapture.
I told my dad about the issue. He told me I should not go and kneel down to any black power because God is the final authority, that I should come to The SCOAN to see Senior Prophet T.B. Joshua and whatever he says is final.
According to the Facebook post, Joshua sent a message to the embattled constable, assuring him that the suspect would be apprehended as he had been chained spiritually, proceeding to cover his transport costs with a gift of $1,000.
Akpalu collapsed on the floor upon hearing Joshuas pronouncement. Thank you Prophet T.B. Joshua for vindicating me, or else four days from now, I would be in jail, he tearfully acknowledged.
Commitment to providing customers with exceptional experience
The team engaged with customers in its retail outlets and key locations such as Market Circle and the Kotokraba market. They listened, encouraged and celebrated customers for making Airtel Ghana the telecom provider of choice in the country.
Speaking to some customers, Airtels Managing Director Lucy Quist reiterated the companys commitment to providing unparalleled solutions to meet customers telecommunications and lifestyle needs. She said providing customers with product and service offerings unmatched in quality and innovation and backed by exceptional customer service to enrich customers experience on our network is integral to our brand promise. We are reputed for our closeness to the customer, our commitment to listen to them and our openness to feedback from customers and the entire value chain.
This closeness provides us with valuable feedback and insights that enables us to constantly improve and to deliver solutions that meet customers needs and expectations.
Some customers the team interacted with commended Airtel Ghana for improving network quality and introducing innovations such as Airtel Money Bosea the first mobile phone based Nano loan scheme and Airtel Jara the first mobile phone based savings scheme for customers.
Providing the most competitive reward scheme for vendors and retailers
Vendors within the Western and Central regions who retail the Companys SIM cards, scratch cards as well as Airtel Money commended the company for introducing the most competitive incentive scheme for distributors and vendors. They indicated that the new scheme is a great incentive that will challenge them to grow their businesses.
Airtels Director for Sales and Distribution, Samuel Sarpong thanked the vendors and retailers for making the company one of the strongest in the two regions. He encouraged them to focus on growing their businesses and assured them of the companys commitment to support them with better incentives and building their capacity.
He said Ours is a business that believes in empowering everyone in our value chain to grow because we know that as you grow, our business grow too. We remain committed to supporting our distributors, vendors, retailers and everyone within the chain. Hand in hand, we will grow and soar together.
Investing in local communities to enrich lives and empower Ghanaians
The team paid a courtesy call on the Municipal Chief Executives for Sekondi-Takoradi and Cape Coast, Mrs. Charlotte Otuwa Odoom and Mrs. Priscilla Arhin-Korankye respectively. The Mayors were engaged on Airtels infrastructure and CSR investment in the two regions.
Speaking specifically on CSR investment, Ishmael Wiaboh, Airtels Zonal Sales Manager for the Western/Central regions said
Through our adopt a school programme through which we work with the government to make quality education accessible to vulnerable communities across the country, we have adopted the Himankrom Methodist Primary School in the Ahanta West District of the Western Region and over the years invested in renovating the school infrastructure, building a fully furnished library and in building capacity of the teaching body. Through our Evolve with STEM initiative, we are engaging pupils from the William De-Graft Preparatory School in Cape Coast and donating books to help improve teaching and learning in the school.
Both Mayors praised Airtel Ghana for its Corporate Social Responsibility programme and investment in education in the country notably the Evolve with STEM initiative that is focused on inspiring belief and empowering young people to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and Airtels adopt a school programme which seeks to invest in school infrastructure, libraries and ICT centers for primary and Junior High schools within the country.
Airtel is Ghanas fastest growing telecommunications network with superior communications, connectivity and collaborative solutions for all customer segments. The company is the industry leader in data and digital innovation providing exceptional experience for customers on the network.
Mobile data subscribers as at December 2015 stood at 18 million which is 61.47 percent, he added.
He made these comments at a digital family forum organised by the National Communications Authority to commemorate the World Telecommunications and Information Society Day (WTISD).
He acknowledged that we are already experiencing some of the innovation and creativity that he talked about. He cited the Mobile Money platform, E-commerce, E-health and E-education.
The event was held under the theme ICT entrepreneurship for social impact but the discussions centered on Addressing Challenges of the Communications Industry to promote growth and Development Focus on Domestic Roaming and OTT services.
Omane Boamah, who delivered the keynote address noted that the event affords Ghana the opportunity to take stock where we are as a country and how we can enhance and improve our relationship, services and products for the collective will of society.
He emphasized governments position to finding a better way to harness the use of OTT services and urged the media to support by conveying messages which have been released and to avoid colouring them for the purposes of boosting readership and listenership.
The government is not and has not in any way considered a ban on OTT services. We believe that as an emerging trend, the regulator, together with the operators and consumers should find a middle ground which befits our peculiar situation.
The minister also used the opportunity to educate participants on governments aim to consider the case for domestic roaming.
He said: the service will enable mobile users to switch from one network to the other in the event of network failure. Furthermore, this will ultimately be of an advantage to the police and other security officers in the event of crisis and mass information.
The event marks the anniversary of the signing of the first international Telegraph Convention in 1865 which led to the creation of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
Mr. William Tevie, Director General of the NCA who presented the ITUs Secretary General, Houlin Zhaos message, welcomed all participants and called upon all stakeholders governments, industry and technical experts to promote the role of small, young and innovative firms in the ICT sectors; encourage the spread of digital social innovation; prioritize economic policies which promote innovation; ensure the availability of necessary human capacity; support the establishment of comprehensive entrepreneurial ecosystem as well as assist entrepreneurs in moving from idea and innovation to sales and revenue.
The duo took to Twitter over the weekend to declare their love for each other.
ALSO READ: undefined
They shared a photo showing them both jetting out to Mauritius together for a romantic getaway celebrating the rappers birthday.
AKA, 28, and the 28-year-old media celebrity Bonang Matheba, are obviously smitten with each other.
Bonang on his birthday wrote, "@akaworldwide youre my favourite human being in all the world," while AKA replied with, "I love you."
ALSO READ: undefined
And its official!
Check out photos from their romantic getaway in Mauritius below.
The couple renewed their commitment on the terrace at the Cafe de l'Homme, in Paris after a decade of being together with a similar body art inscribed on their inner biceps that says "Tout mon coeur, tout ma vie which means "My whole heart, my whole life."
Spellings husband proposed to her again in the presence of their four kids with a stunning antique engagement ring.
"A Happy Girl in Paris!"My one true love asked me to marry him (again) in the city of romance with all my babies! Yes Yes Yes!" she wrote on Instagram.
This a good sign that their once troubled relationship is back and growing stronger.
Aimakhu took to Instagram today, May 18, 2016 to give her take on the baby mama trend, which has witnessed an influx in recent times.
She shared a meme with the text, Dont let sex turn you into a mother until love makes you a wife! Be with someone whos gonna change your life not just your relationship status and captioned it #word #goodnight #toyintitans."
ALSO READ: undefined
Do you think she's right?
Just recently Seun Egbegbe after making a veiled threat at his ex-lover Toyin Aimakhu a few months ago, has had to go back on his words.
The movie producer not only apologized for his words but also signed a police undertaking not to disturb Toyin Aimakhu.
Seun Egbegbe, who was asked to report to the office of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, on Monday, May 16, 2016, has now agreed to desist from disturbing the actress.
As for his apology Seun Egbegbe of Ebony Films wrote I hereby regret any inconveniences I might have caused Toyin Aimakhu. she's is an A-list actress, anyone who wants to do business with her should deal with her as a celebrated artist. I wish her the best.
Also speaking at the conference are industry experts like: Chude Jideonwo, Adaora Mbelu, Ono Bello, Audu Maikori, Subomi Plumptre, Femi Falodun, Chinedu Abili-Mordi, Joy Isi Bewaji, Oluseun Onigbinde, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Bankole Femi amongst others.
This 2nd edition of the conference will bring together key new media practitioners, corporate brands and digital media agencies for a comprehensive overview of the rapidly expanding Digital Media space, application and technology.The program line up will also include well moderated sessions, brand exhibitions and key takeaways. The 2016 Conference will attract over 300 participants.
The years theme is: Business Unusual: Nurturing a more Vibrant New Media industry in Nigeria, and will cover topics relevant such as Corporate branding, Digital Agency, Social Media Influence, tech blogging and New Media.
"This year's conference is particularly important," said conference organizer, Ms. Tosin Ajibade we are converging to articulate interests and inputs from stakeholders in the Nigerian online/digital media space and seeking to turn the results of that conversation to real-world uses."
Following the success of the maiden edition in 2015, we will be broadening and deepening the conversation in 2016. With the support and partnership of leading brands and experts, we are committed to empowering and enlightening individuals and corporate organizations with useful information and exposure towards a more rewarding new media practice in Nigeria.
We would be having NMC Showcase, where selected participants are allowed to showcase and exhibit ideas. The winner will get a scholarship worth N300,000 from Orange Academy.
NMC 2016 is supported by Orange Academy, HotSauce, Bella Naija and hosted by Oscar Gbemileke Oyinsan.
Official Digital Partner:
Nest Digital Agency
Partners: Pulse NG, Sesema PR, DesignHub, Alleb Media, The TrentOnline, Naij.com, Y!Naija, EbonyLife TV, Expoze, GoldMyne TV, Guardian Life, The Guardian, Guardian TV, Helen Events Blog, Moji Delano Blog, Hip TV, Information NG, Naijaloaded, NewsWireNGR, Ono Bello, R2TV, Jiji.ng.
The accused, Haruna Aliyu, was brought to the Court located in GRA Zaria, by the police on a one-count charge of attempt to commit rape.
The prosecutor, Sgt. Ibrahim Hussaini told the court that the accused was apprehended by the police at about 7:00p.m. on Monday with the woman.
He said that a lawyer, Aminu Adamu-Mohammed of Waff Road Sabongari, reported the case through a phone call to Sabongari Divisional Police Headquarters.
The prosecutor said the offence is punishable under Sections 226 and 116 of the Penal Code Law.
The accused however pleaded not guilty to the offence, and his counsel, Mr M. G. Sadiq requested the court to grant his client bail.
The Judge, Mustapha Umar granted the accused bail in the sum of N50, 000 with two sureties in like sum.
He ordered that one of the sureties must be a civil servant on GL 10 or a Village Head.
However, the operation did not save the life of her son, who died shortly as he was removed from the womb.
Lyuba's family expressed their grief in a statement which expressed a feeling of anger and disappointment.
Her brother, Aleksandr Katane, gave the statement which reads, "It's hard for us to once again hear the details of Lyuba's senseless murder. Her family, friends and loved ones feel deep sadness, loss and anger. "
"It has been especially difficult to learn that her son survived for a small time after the doctors tried to save him. Lyuba was going to name him Ellis,"
"We are assured knowing that we live in a country where justice will be served and we are grateful that the children are both safe and cared for by Lyuba's parents,"
"As the report states my sister Alisa, 14, escaped the house as Lyuba was murdered so we are relieved to know that she is also safe. "
"Currently the entire family is focused on celebrating Lyuba's life at her funeral and also caring for her two remaining children."
The statement acknowledged that the deceased had a difficult marriage with her husband, Yevgeniy.
Their focus is clearly on how to celebrate the life of Lyuba, who left behind two children.
"Lyuba was in a very difficult marriage and no stone will be left unturned as we look for answers. However at this time let's focus on celebrating her life, passions and coming together to set her children up for success."
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!
She said the need for raising awareness was necessary so that the public could know that tuberculosis could be diagnosed, managed and treated free of charge.
She said that her pet project, "Future Assured, which deals with health of the women and children, would collaborate with the NGO and wives of governors to check the spread of the disease.
"Thank you for choosing me to be one of your campaigner I will do it to the best of my ability using my office in collaboration with the wives of the governors to end the disease,'' she said.
She commended the Board of Stop TB Partnership Nigeria for organising the first tuberculosis conference in Nigeria.
UN Secretary-General Special Envoy on Tuberculosis Eric Goosby, said TB could be treated within six months after being diagnosed.
He said they would partner with Mrs Buharis pet project to get across to the people as women and children are the ones that are adversely affected.
He commended Mrs Buhari for working to improve the health of women and children, saying they would support project to achieve its set goals.
Also speaking, The Exercutive Director, Stop TB Partnership, Dr Lucica Ditiu, said Nigeria ranked fourth among countries with highest prevalence of TB in the world.
She, however, said the disease could be eradicated if priority was given to enlightenment on its spread and control.
Reports say the donation is in line with Mrs Buharis promise to give undefinedto the parents of the girls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram.
She said The day I launched my book, I promised that the proceed will be used to empower the parents of missing Chibok girls and the Buni Yadi boys.
And I am here today to present a cheque of N30 million to empower the parents of the girls and also a cheque of N25 million to empower the parents of the murdered Bunu Yadi boys.
Dolapo Osinbajo, wife of the Vice-President, also commended the gesture by the Presidents wife.
Mrs. Buhari gave a cheque of N30 million to parents of the girls, and N25 million to the parents of the murdered Bunu Yadi boys.
Aisha Buhari also decried poor access to health care services for women and children in the country.
Speaking in Abuja on Wednesday, May 18, while receiving the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Egypt, Dr Ahmed El-Tayeb, Buhari said that the loss of 14 local government areas to Boko Haram had greatly tarnished the reputation of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
He, however, noted that with measures taken by his administration to curb corruption and provide better weaponry, logistics, training and welfare for soldiers on the frontlines, the Nigerian military has now almost totally incapacitated Boko Haram as a fighting force.
"When we curbed corruption and removed the injustice in the military, we began to make progress, he said.
While welcoming the support of Muslims across the world for Nigeria's war against insurgency, the president said that the war against terrorism is also a war against injustice, and must be supported by Islam and all the major religions.
"You can't kill the innocent in churches or in mosques and shout Allahu Akbar, he added.
Buhari noted that the visit of El-Tayeb and his expression of solidarity with Nigeria in the war against terrorism is a clear indication of global Muslim support for Nigeria against the unjust killings of the innocent by terrorists.
The president reaffirmed his administration's determination to resettle all persons who were displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency.
Saraki was arraigned by the Federal Government on 16-count allegations of false asset declaration and money laundering, which he had pleaded not guilty.
At the resumed hearing of the case, one of the prosecuting counsel, Mr H.O.B Ejiga, told the tribunal that his principal was at the Federal High Court handling another matter.
Ejiga, therefore, urged the tribunal to stand down the matter for an hour to enable his principal attend to the proceedings in the interest of Justice.
In his response, Counsel to Saraki, Mr Paul Usoroh (SAN), said he had no objection to the request of the prosecution.
Usoroh said that they have already discussed the issue before the proceedings commence.
Giving the order in Abuja on Tuesday, May 17, the presiding Judge of the regional court, Justice Friday Chijioke Nwoke, said the court will ensure the case is accelerated in the interest of justice.
Dasuki had dragged the Federal Government to the ECOWAS court to challenge his alleged unlawful detention, unlawful seizure of properties and infringement on his fundamental rights to freedom of liberty.
At the resumed hearing, while ruling in a motion by Federal Government seeking to lead oral evidence against Dasuki to justify his detention, Justice Nwoke said that the regional court having granted expeditious hearing in the case of alleged abuse of fundamental rights, will not do anything to defeat the accelerated hearing order.
In the ruling, the judge granted the request of the Federal Government to call two witnesses, who are security operatives to lead oral evidence against Dasuki but ordered that the defense by government must be done within one day.
Justice Nwoke also ordered Dasuki to present his case on the abuse of his fundamental rights by government on Wednesday, May 18, while the Federal Government must put its defense at the disposal of the court on Thursday, May 19, 2016.
He said: Having listened to parties in this matter and the parties having filed and put all necessary documents and exhibits at the disposal of this court and having granted accelerated hearing in this matter, it is in the interest of justice that this case must be expeditiously dealt with.
In this regard, the plaintiff is hereby ordered to make out his case on Wednesday, May 18 and the defendant to ventilate its defense the following day, May 19 after which we will adjourn for judgment.
Dasuki, in his suit against the government asked the ECOWAS court to award him a sum of N500 million as compensatory damages for his alleged unlawful detention, the alleged unlawful invasion of his house, seizure of properties and infringement on his rights.
The ex-minister's aide, Jude Ndukwe, condemned the continued detention of his boss, describing the EFCC and the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration as "dictatorial, vengeful and vindictive".
"This tactic of keeping key and vocal members of the opposition out of circulation without due regard to our laws and harass them with charges that cannot stand the test of judicial requirements has got to stop. The sweet smelling savour of democracy will be polluted when the opposition is stifled," Ndukwe said in a statement issued on Tuesday, May 17.
"The continued holding of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode in EFCC custody for this long despite meeting his bail conditions goes a long way to show that this fight is not about corruption after all but all about silencing the opposition.
"We condemn in very strong terms these acts of intimidation and harassment and request that he be released forthwith even as we call on all well-meaning Nigerians to know who to hold responsible should anything untoward happen to Chief Femi Fani-Kayode!
"This act of executive rascality, at a time when Nigerians are groaning more than ever before over the economic hardship inflicted on them by this administration, is needless. It will achieve nothing but will only lead to a puerile end," he said.
Fani-Kayode, who was the spokesperson for the Goodluck Jonathan Presidential campaign organisation in 2015, was arrested for allegedly receiving N840million from the Director of Finance of the campaign organisation, Senator Nenadi Usman.
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, disclosed this while answering questions at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja on Wednesday, May 18.
Fashola said that the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is focusing on completing all strategic roads that demand urgent attention before undertaking other road rehabilitation projects.
There are roads that only sections of them are bad. There are roads that are really devastated that need to be totally rebuilt," the Minister said.
And so, that is why our target is to make about 2,000 km of roads motorable network this year.
So, the way I explained it then makes sense. We are not building 2,000 km roads. Our budget cannot build 2,000 kilometres of roads in one budget year.
But because there are bad sections, there are failed sections (and) there are sections that need to be repaired.
If we do all of that, then Nigerians will have a pleasant riding and travelling experience over about 2,000 kilometres of road network.
And we can do that year-on-year over the next three years."
Speaking on how the ministry intends to go about spending funds allocated for the rehabilitation of roads, Fashola said the current budgeting system was targeted at eliminating the incidence of abandoned roads.
He noted that funds released would be closely monitored to ensure no project is left uncompleted.
He said: What we have done in the past is to budget for every road without being mindful of its state of completion.
We must budget to complete projects that need special attention very quickly so that we are also not distracted in our capacity to monitor all projects.
So, this year, we are going to put more money on certain projects because they are strategic and they have made some progress.
And we think that we can finish them or nearly finish them either this year or next year.
That does not mean that other projects are not important; but it means that we perhaps have to wait a little so that we finish those strategic ones."
The NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) met with the Federal Government in a bid to reach a resolution but the meeting was said to have ended in a deadlock.
That was why the meeting ended in deadlock. FG proposed N120 per litre but the NLC insisted on total reversal to the old price, which is N86 per litre. They were not ready to accept the outrageous proposal, a source told Daily Post.
The outcome of the meeting with the Joe Ajaero-led group would determine the next line of action, the source added.
The TUC and the Joe Ajaero faction of the NLC eventually reached an agreement with the government but the Ayuba Wabba faction refused to budge after walking out of a peace meeting on Tuesday, May 17.
Wabba also told newsmen after the meeting that the indefinite strike would begin today in defiance of the court order.
Its amazing that Nigerias labour unions only decide to bare their fangs and fight when the government plans subsidy removal or increases the price of fuel.
Originally, a labour union, also trade union, is an organization of workers who come together to achieve common goals such as protecting the integrity of its trade, improving safety standards, achieving higher pay and benefits such as health care and retirement, increasing the number of employees an employer assigns to complete the work, and better working conditions.
The most common purpose of these unions is maintaining or improving conditions of employment. This may include the negotiation of wages, work rules, complaint procedures, rules governing hiring, firing and promotion of workers, benefits, workplace safety and policies.
Which of these original assignments are Nigerias trade unions fulfilling? Did they strike when a Nigerian worker died in a certain companys warehouse recently? Did they even speak up or offer to investigate? What have the unions done to address the indiscriminate sacking of Nigerian workers from several companies, most times without due process?
Is the NLC monitoring the way Nigerians are being treated in foreign companies? Does the NLC know that some companies split their staffs salaries in half after owing them for months? Do the labour unions even care that some companies are paying and treating university graduates like labourers?
Why hasnt the NLC gone on strike over the salaries being owed in Osun, Bayelsa, Ekiti and other states around the country? Why arent the unions pushing for Nigerian citizens to get paid overtime when they work at odd hours 7 days a week? Why is the NLC allowing our labour laws to be flouted regularly without redress?
Nigerias labour unions have lost their credibility, and this is why most citizens have no interest in their proposed strike. Some officials of the NLC even got stoned in Jos, Plateau Statewhile trying to mobilize protesters for the strike.
The fact that the labour leaders are only pushing for selfish interests can be seen clearly in the NLCs division into two factions, how then are Nigerians supposed to stand united behind them?
Labour in conjunction with other civil society groups in the state said they will protest against the increase in pump price of fuel.
According to the Edo NLC chairman, Emmanuel Ademokun, We are not aware of injunction. This actioin is a clarion call on the Federal Government of Nigeria to wake up to their responsibilities of providing better life for Nigerians whom they have pledged to serve. The excruciating economic situation in our country do not recognise the political divide.
Ademokun also advised businesses in Edo state to stay at home and observe the strike action.
The National Industrial Court issued an order stopping the planned strike action by labour leaders.
However, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) decided to proceed with the nationwide strike, beginning today, Wednesday, May 18, 2016.
Reports have also filtered in the the Federal Government in a bid to stop the strike action, has reached an agreement with the NLC faction led by Joe Ajaero
Speaking on Channels TV Sunrise Daily, earlier on Wednesday, the Vice President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Amechi Asugwuni, said "as we progress on the indefinite strike, it will expand itself."
The negotiation between the Ayuba Wabba-led Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Federal Government had ended in a deadlock on Tuesday, May 17.
Wabba stormed out of the meeting with his team after the government insisted it would not shift ground on the N145 pump price, and for recognizing the Joe Ajaero-led NLC faction, which reached an agreement with the government not to join the strike at an earlier meeting.
Following the failed negotiation, the NLC President, Wabba affirmed that it would go ahead with the strike, while the Federal Government invoked the 'no work, no pay' policy.
However, the first day of the NLC strike on Wednesday recorded low compliance as many workers and traders in various states went about their normal business.
NLC President Ayuba Wabba made this known while addressing newsmen after his group walked out of a meeting with the Federal Government representatives led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Babachir Lawal,
According to him, the government refused to reverse the N145 increase of petrol pump price, among other issues.
He said that the Federal Government failed to meet the demand of the National Executive Council of the NLC, including reversing the new petrol pump price of N145.
"The issue and the mandate we have is to the effect that the generality of Nigerian workers feel that the pump price of N145 per litre is too outrageous and out of proportion.
"Therefore, it is something that with the hard economic situation, it is very difficult for them to go by, especially in the context of the quantum of the increase.
"Therefore, even the attempt to try to see how this can be mitigated was not actually made possible at the meeting.
"We thought that we should not continue in a process where we think the end product has not been able to meet our minimum expectation and this would not bring succour to the larger Nigerian public.
"It is on this decision, we thought that it is not necessary for us to continue in the process as the mandate given to us by the NEC today is the effect of reversal of the pump price especially.
He added that the NLC position was to discontinue with the meeting and embark on the planned strike.
On the ruling of the Industrial Court restraining the NLC from embarking on the planned strke, Wabba said that the congress had not received any court ruling.
"We are not aware of any court ruling that has been served on NLC; we have not been served and I can say that as we are here, we have also informed them that we are not aware of any court ruling.
"We have not been put on notice and we are not aware, Wabba insisted.
In a separate news conference, Mr Bobboi Kaigama, the President, Trade Union Congress (TUC), pledged the union's support for the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government.
Kaigama said that TUC would no longer embark on the nationwide strike as earlier proposed, adding that the decision was taken at the National Executive Council meeting of the TUC.
"We want to say that we have disengaged ourselves from this strike because we have been duly educated on the benefits of the fuel subsidy removal.''
He pledged continued support for government policies that would benefit Nigerian workers.
A press release issued by Malam Abubakar Al-Sadique, Press Secretary to Governor Mohammed Abubakar, said the State Chief Executive had approved their suspension.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that among those affected were two Permanent Secretaries and six Directors.
Also suspended were all Pension Desk Officers in the 20 Local Government Areas of the state.
His Excellency has approved the immediate suspension of officers found wanting in the course of the verification in the state and other related issues.
"Pursuant to this, the Civil Service Commission and the Local Government Service Commission are to formalize the decisions where applicable.
"A committee to investigate the degree of culpability of all those found wanting, is to be set up, said the statement.
A correspondent of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) who visited some banks in Lagos reported that they all opened for business.
Normal activities were also reported in banks in Ojuelegba, Mushin and on Ikorodu Road.
Some of the workers told NAN that they resumed as usual as early as 7.00 am.
They said that some customers, who were not sure of the situation, arrived before the opening time of 8.00 am.
A staff in one of the banks said his bank had kept on assuring customers that the bank would open to customers.
You can see by yourself that activities in our branch are normal, we are law abiding organisation.
At another bank, a customer said that she was surprised that various banks opened.
First, I was in doubt if banks would open because of the speculation that a faction of the NLC would stage a protest today.
"But believe me, activities are normal, but just that security is tight probably because of the fact that miscreants may want to take advantage of the situation.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that apart some critical state and federal government establishments as well as other organisations are carrying out their regular day-to-day day activities.
NAN learnt that some state establishments like the Civil Service Commission, Board of Internal Revenue and the state secretariat remain open despite the NLCs action.
NAN also observed that all commercial banks, private schools, markets, filling stations and federal owned tertiary institutions, among others, were performing their regular duties.
Mr Haruna Garba, a civil servant, told NAN that the strike was unnecessary.
"My brother, there is no need for this strike because the Federal Government has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
"You cannot continue to pay tax payers money to rich oil dealers for services they have not rendered.``Fuel subsidy is a fraud and it must be removed, he said.
Ms Abigail James, an Accountant, said the officials of the NLC were no longer reliable.
"Look, Labour can no longer be using and dumping us for their selfish interest.
"You cant be inviting people for strike, only for you to go through the back door and receive bribe.
"You may recall that in 2012, Labour called for strike, but at the end they went and negotiated for themselves rather than Nigerians, she said.
Mr Raymond Enoch, a Development worker, blamed the non-compliance on lack of proper co-ordination from the NLC.
Reacting to the development, the state NLC Chairman, Mr Peter Gambo, however said there was partial, not total, compliance with the strike in the state.
Mr Babachir Lawal, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), said this in Abuja at a news conference after a meeting called to avert the planned strike by organised labour scheduled to start on Wednesday.The Federal Government representatives had met separately on Monday and Tuesday with representatives of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the two factions of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC).
He said that labour had expressed reservation in three broad areas which included review of the minimum wage and re-visiting the issue of the social investment as appropriated in the 2016 budget.
The SGF said that labour had also raised the issue of the delay in the reconstitution of the board of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).
According to him, labour has also advocated for the constitution of a technical committee with its representatives and that of the Federal Government.
"The government has no objection to all the issues raised and so we have agreed to set up a 15-man technical committee to look at issues earlier mentioned.
"This committee will comprise seven from organised labour and seven from the Federal Government with the chairman coming from the government side.
"The technical committee on the review of the minimum wage will work out the framework for the discussion and make recommendations to government and labour.
"The committee is expected to complete its work and report back to the committee of the whole house within six months, Lawal said.
Furthermore, he said that government had agreed with labour to constitute a technical committee on palliatives and make recommendations to the whole house within a period not exceeding two weeks.
Reports say suspected militants bombed a gas pipeline located at Ogbembiri in Southern Ijaw local government area of Bayelsa State, belonging to NAOC on Tuesday, May 17, 2016.
A source ,who spoke to Leadership about the development, said Agip awarded the contract for security surveillance and repairs of the pipeline in case of a breach to a contractor from the community.
So, the contractor enjoys dual contract of protecting the pipeline and also repairing it whenever there is a leakage. But it is baffling how the pipeline increasingly comes under attack.
A former leader of the Niger Delta Vigilante, Ateke Tom, has also called on the Federal Government to prosecute anyone found guilty of destroying oil facilities in the Niger Delta.
Meanwhile, the Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC) has told the Federal Government to address the issue of unequal allocation of oil blocs in the Niger Delta, or face more trouble in the region.
The NLC went ahead with the strike today, May 18, 2016, and protesters are said to have flooded the streets to register their displeasure at the recent fuel price increase, Daily Sun reports.
The demonstrators are said to be marching to Ikeja from the Yaba office of the NLC.
The Ayuba Wabba-led faction of the NLC had said that it would go ahead with the strike after peace talks with the government fell through.
The Wabba faction also vowed to defy an order of the National Industrial Court suspending the strike.
The Joe Ajaero-faction of the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have withdrawn from the strike.
Meanwhile, some officials of the NLC in Jos, Plateau State were said to have been stoned while trying to mobilize protesters for today's strike.
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The Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekwerenmadu, who presided over plenary, said the lawmakers arrived at the decision after an hour-long executive session.
Ekwerenmadu said the senate was interested in ensuring that Nigerians do not suffer hardship as a result of the strike.
"The Senate in a closed door session deliberated on the nationwide strike by labour and ways of resolving the issues to avoid untold hardships to Nigerians.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NLC began a nationwide strike on Wednesday to protest the increase in the pump price of petrol.
A faction of the NLC and some civil society groups, however, declined to join the strike action.
NAN also reports that the National Assembly was a bee-hive of activities, with the car parks filled to capacity.
NAN further reports that the senate considered five bills for first reading after the closed door session.
The bills considered are National Institute of Credit Administrators Bill 2016 by Sen. Ben Bruce (PDP-Bayelsa East) and Chartered Institute of Finance and Control Bill 2016 by Sen. David Umaru (APC-Niger East).
Others are Insurance Act 2003 (Amendment) Bill 2016 sponsored by Sen. Umaru Kurfi and National Health Insurance Act CAP 2003 (Repeal and re-enactment) Bill, 2016, sponsored by Sen. Olarenwaju Tejuoso (APC-Ogun Central).
The statement, obtained by The Cable, reads:
Increase in pump price of petroleum products does nothing other than add to the suffering of Nigerians but those in support of it have the constitutional rights to revere their chains.
Unjust policies must not be beclouded by political interests and political convenience. Campaign of calumny and blackmail against the NLC and Labour leaders simply for speaking out and standing up for their traditional constituents must stop.
We joined and applauded the NLC for leading a mass protest against increase in pump prices of petroleum products in the past. Its hypocritical to condemn them now for their principled stand on same issue. Our quests for justice and equity must not depend upon the Government or persons in power but must depend upon the matters of principles at hand.
The cloud of intimidation and blackmail against people for expressing their objections must end. We are now in a state whereby dissent is equated to disloyalty.
We must learn to tolerate views and positions different from our own no matter how unpopular. If we must all agree on all issues at all times, democracy couldnt have been invented. Democracy guarantees every citizen the fundamental right to free speech and to objection and this must be respected.
Its imperative for our people to understand that the political class define and view social justice in the colours of their personal interest. Those who stood against increase in price of petroleum products yesterday and stood for it today have betrayed the very principle which they claimed to represent.
If for political convenience we choose to divide or destroy the Labour unions today, we will be harming the very organ that stands as the guardian of democracy.
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The comments were contained in a six-point resolution reached by the PDPs National Executive Committee (NEC) on Tuesday, May 17, 2016.
The resolutions were as follows:
That the National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party will hold in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State at the Shark Stadium on Saturday, the 21st of May 2016 as earlier scheduled.
That in-line with the Report of the Ekweremadu Committee, the forthcoming National Convention will formerly ratify the zoning of the PDP Presidential Ticket for the 2019 Presidential Election to the North and the zoning of the National Chairmanship position to the South of the country, respectfully.
NEC also resolved that due to the issues arising from the just concluded congresses at the wards, local governments and states, especially in Sokoto, Lagos, Osun and Adamawa states, that a Special. Committee shall be constituted after the National Convention to look into the matter accordingly.
NEC observed and condemned in strong terms the arbitrary arrest and detention of PDP members on account of Party campaign funds by the Government of President Muhammadu Buhari and urged Nigerians and the International Community to request the APC Administration to investigate the campaign funds of its Party, the All Progressive Congress (APC) as some accusations of misuse of public funds are also levelled against some APC governors and stakeholders.
NEC further decried the selective probe of PDP members by the anti-graft agency under the administration of the APC as a case of witch-hunt and unnecessary oppression aimed at silencing members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
NEC therefore demands the immediate release of all members of the PDP in the custody of the anti-graft agency, the EFCC, or charge them to Court without further delay.
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Okupe disclosed this at the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja while testifying in the trial of Metuh on allegations of receiving N400 million from the office of former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki.
He told the court that Jonathan released the fund to Metuh after he (Metuh) presented ways to turn around the damaging image of the former president ahead of the official launch of his campaign.
According to him, Metuh and his team made a presentation alongside other consultants in a meeting attended by members of the Presidential Campaign Council including the president himself, his Vice, Namadi Sambo, the former National Chairman of the party, Adamu Mu'azu, former Senate President, David Mark, and former governors Liyel Imoke and Peter Obi among others.
Okupe said: Yes, around that time (November 2014) there was very deep concern in the Presidency and the government about the perception of Mr President and his administration, negative perception by the Nigerian public.
"This also included some perceived ineffectiveness of the administration and also a wrong perception in some parts of the country about the role of government and its actions or activities concerning the very security situation in the country then.
Therefore, in government, there was a general feeling that some actions needed to be taken urgently to address these issues, especially because of the coming elections.
It was in the course of my discussion with Mr President when I also expressed my own personal concerns too that he informed me that Chief Olisah Metuh had some suggestions and that he (Jonathan) had instructed him to bring a proposition on what he considered needed to be done and that when this is done, he would inform me so that we can go through it together.
Shortly after that, I was invited to a meeting in the State house where Chief Metuh in company of some consultants made presentations to the president. After the presentations, there were comments form those in attendance to add or improve in certain areas where they felt was important.
"The presentation was approved for action and the President said Mr. Metuh will be given part of the money that was in budget for the execution of the project."
Okupe, who was led in evidence by the lead defence counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu, explained how he knew that Jonathan gave Metuh the money.
He said: Yes, I know from two sources. First was the President himself who told me that he had instructed that Chief Metuh be mobilised. And that was during breakfast with Mr. President one morning. He told me that he had instructed that Chief Metuh be mobilised with N400 million. The following day, very early in the morning, I got a call from Chief Metuh who told me that he has received N400 million from the President."
Okupe however denied knowing that the money came through Dasuki when he was being cross-examined by the EFCC counsel, Sylvanus Tahir.
"I have seen the payment mandate from the office of the former NSA to Destra but this thing does not make any meaning to me. I want you to explain what is. I have already stated that the President confirmed to me that he gave the N400 million to Metuh," he said.
He said Jonathan enjoys tremendous goodwill from various individuals, which he said was demonstrated at the fundraising ceremony organised at the Villa before the election where the sum of N21 billion, and sums from other private sources where raised.
The president uses his tremendous goodwill, which he has, to assist his party or help to execute special programmes that are aimed at improving the fortunes the party and the government. It is natural that such payments (Metuh's) would have come from the various amounts of money he has received as donations towards his campaign, he said.
Speaking further, Okupe said after receiving the money, Metuh assembled a very large committee of various people, which included media experts and image consultants to work on Jonathan's public perception and that of his administration.
Wike said he has lost confidence in INEC to conduct free and fair elections anywhere in Nigeria.
He said I dont have confidence in the present INEC. It is too inconsistent and acts outside the law. We are encouraging every candidate to contest elections and emerge through popular votes. We will not allow impunity or imposition.
Wike also spoke on the upcoming elections in Edo state, saying From what we have seen on ground in Edo State, this is the best time to capture the state. We have sent independent assessors to the state and they have adjudged that the PDP has the opportunity to take over Edo.
The Governor expressed surprise that INEC will set up a committee to look into the rerun election which was cancelled.
Wike also said the All Progressives Congress (APC) deceived Nigerians in a bid to win the 2015 elections.
This is in protest of the recent fuel price hike. The union is taking the action with hopes of forcing the Federal Government to revert he pump price from N145 to N86.
This was contained in a letter dispatched to the members of the ASUU congress nationwide. The letter was read at the University of Ibadan Chapter yesterday, May 17.
Ogunyemi, explaining the reason for this action, said, ASUU members are called upon to according to our Unions principles, fully respect Article 2 of the Constitution of ASUU; that our Union and members shall work for the protection and advancement of the socio-economic interests of the nation. Branch Chairpersons are to conduct emergency congress meetings on Tuesday 17 May 2016 to mobilise our members for the action commencing on Wednesday. All branches of ASUU nationwide are to comply.
According to the students, the sudden fuel price increase has brought hardship on the Nigerian citizens especially students. The hike has led to an increase in prices of commodities including books and other study materials at the various schools.
Channels reports that Student Union leaders from higher institutions in the state comprising of students union governments in the tertiary institutions, zonal executive officers as well as national executive members of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) were part of the rally under security personnel supervision.
Senate President, National Association of Nigerian Students, Ochai Odoh Thomas, led other students leaders in the protest accused the government of betraying the trust of Nigerian students by the sudden increase in the pump price.
A meeting, which was attended by University teachers was held in Gombe State University (GSU).
The meeting was held with the purpose of exposing the dangers and effect of examination malpractices which to a great extent, accounts for the dwindling quality of school leavers, especially at the secondary and tertiary levels.
Dr. Abubakar Musa, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academics from Kano State University of Science and Technology, Wudil, in his paper titled The Effects of Examination Malpractices on National Development said, "The frequency of occurrence of examination malpractice indicates a state of hopelessness and helplessness for the nation because of the huge increasing number of people and institutions involved in the social malaise; and the penalty hitherto meted out to perpetrators does not seem to deter others from committing the same act any more.
He explained that this dangerous trend could cause a crisis situation in the educational sector while also adding that it will result in loss of confidence in certificates awarded by some institutions.
He also cited other effect of examination malpractices such as: loss of international credibility; failure in the fight against corruption; low work productivity and poor job performance; bribery and corruption; vast supply of non-credible human resource and embarrassing dismal termination and loss of position.
Musa also pointed out that if he examination malpractice trend is not curbed, we will end up with half-baked graduates; lowering of academic standard; and lack of confidence the countrys educational system.
Professor Musa said other adverse effects include breeding of a generation of fraudsters and other social vices; discouragement of students from hard work; certificate racketeering; and high dropout rates from our institutions of learning, urging the authorities and relevant stakeholders to be resolute in the efforts to stem the tide.
Vice Chancellor of Gombe State University and Chief host of the discourse, Professor Ibrahim Musa Umar corroborated his guests view on high rate of prevalence said it is common phenomenon the countrys academia faces always as any examination hardly goes by without incidence(s) of malpractice or misconduct.
The Chairperson of the Association, Mrs Beatrice Akhetuamen, said in Lagos that governments findings on the matter was victory for the college.
The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwukah, had last Friday cleared the accused teacher for lack of evidence against him.
Anwukah said that the investigation committee did not establish any credible evidence against the accused teacher, considering the fact that the said student alleged to have been affected remained unidentified, faceless and inaccessible.
An online blogger, OloriSupergal, had reported that a female student was allegedly harassed sexually by a male teacher, Mr Olaseni Osifala, and that the college was frantically trying to cover up the complaints.
The report generated a lot of row within and outside the college following which the Federal Ministry of Education on March 22, set up a committee to investigate the alleged sexual molestation.
According to Akhetuamen, the PTA of the college was overwhelmed with joy when the government released its White Paper over the issue.
I want to on behalf of the parents forum of this association commend the Federal Ministry of Education for doing a great job and intervening in the matter.
I feel particularly glad because to a large extent I have also been vindicated.
As the chairperson, I will always do all I can to protect the interest of the parents as well as the children under our care in this college.
I have always stood for the truth and I had vowed not to stop short at anything until we get to the root of this whole ugly incidence.
I still stand on my resolve that should any parent come forward with evidence over any of such issue, the PTA will rally round and give such parent all the necessary backing, she said.
Today a local tabloid newspaper is openly spreading a rumor, claiming that the Chinese use human meat to make corned beef and sell it to Africa. This is completely a malicious slandering and vilification which is absolutely unacceptable to usWe hereby express our utmost anger and the strongest condemnation over such an act," Youming said
The report sparked when an undisclosed Chinese woman stated that Chinese beef companies have run out of beef and are now opting for dead human flesh.
The woman claimed that dead human flesh are collected, marinated and packaged for sale across Africa. She warned Zambians to stay away from Chinese made corned beef.
Operations at the shaft were suspended when the shaft collapsed on Tuesday, trapping a total of nine workers underground before seven were rescued, Implats' investor relations officer Alice Lourens told Reuters.
She said the company - the world's second-biggest platinum producer - was trying to find the missing workers.
It was not immediately clear how much output the company had lost following the closure of the shaft, she said.
The cause of the collapse at the mine had not yet been established, the company said.
The chamber's president Nathan Chishimba was reacting to a statement by civil society organisations advising against the new tax regime on the grounds it was investor-led and would not maximise revenue in times of commodity price booms.
Zambia's amended mines bill proposes to reduce copper royalties to a variable tax of 4 to 6 percent, depending on the price of the metal.
The royalty tax would be 4 percent when the price of copper is below $4,500 a tonne, 5 percent between $4,500 and $6,000 and 6 percent above $6,000.
"The largest amount of tax revenue is always generated over the longer term, and this can only happen if mining companies are incentivised to invest over the longer term," he said.
Chishimba added that mineral royalties were a tax on production, which was not designed to maximise revenues in times of commodity price booms, whereas the government would benefit during booms thanks to 30 percent taxes on company profits.
"One has to balance taking as much as one can now with having a thriving industry into the future, and the government has at last recognised this," Chishimba said.
Mining lobbies had asked for a price-based royalty structure to ease the tax burden during a period of depressed prices.
Besigye lost to veteran leader Yoweri Museveni in presidential elections in February, but said the vote had been rigged. He was detained last week, then charged on Friday with being sworn in as president in a mock ceremony, a charge sheet showed.
The conduct of the election and treatment of opponents has drawn criticism from Western donors, who also value Uganda as an ally in the fight against Islamist militants. Ugandan troops are part of an African force battling al Shabaab in Somalia.
The opposition has staged sporadic protests since the vote, leading to clashes with police and dozens of arrests.
He is expected to return to court on June 1, Muyita added.
Besigye, a perennial loser to Museveni, has been detained many times over the years. He was also charged with treason in 2005.
If found guilty, Besigye could face the death penalty, although Uganda has not carried out an execution in years.
His lawyer, Moses Byamugisha, and allies said Besigye appeared without legal representation and said he was taken to court ahead of schedule early in the morning before being swiftly returned to Luzira maximum security prison near Kampala.
A government spokesman denied any such tactic.
Museveni was named winner of the election with 60 percent of the vote while Besigye came second with 35 percent.
The government denied charges that the election was rigged. But European Union monitors said the poll was carried out in an intimidating atmosphere orchestrated by state actors.
Judge Kim Wanker discharged the three-year-old drug case against Pahrump resident Heidi Fleiss on Friday.
In August of 2013, Fleiss was charged after Nye County Sheriffs deputies with an arrest warrant in hand, discovered close to 4oo marijuana plants at her home while searching for a wanted person.
Wanker told the court the deputy who found the plants did not follow proper law enforcement procedures, as arrest warrants differ from search warrants.
Defense Attorney Jason Earnest said the deputy committed what was essentially a flawed arrest.
It was a bad arrest to begin with and I want to give praise to Judge Wanker, he said. I give praise to judges whether I win or lose a case, as long as I get a fair shake.
Nye County Deputy District Attorney Michael Vieta-Kabell said the state will appeal Wankers decision.
The deputy was searching for an individual who had a felony arrest warrant out of Utah.
The persons last known whereabouts was Fleiss home on the far north end of town.
The fact that the deputy did not have a search warrant, did not justify Fleiss arrest, even though Wanker said Fleiss did break the law by possessing the plants.
Earnest commended the judges decision.
She reads more than any judge Ive ever been in front of in 19 years, he said. She was Magna cum laude at her law school and I wasnt. Im not afraid of the appeal because it was the correct righteous decision. It was an unlawful search and she should not have been arrested and she should not have been charged.
Fleiss, too, also hailed Wankers ruling.
The judge is very thorough, she said. I have a lot of experience in the courtroom and she was very thorough. It is so nice to be in front of a judge who does her homework.
Additionally, Fleiss said she is taking the proper steps to get her back life together after the entire ordeal.
Im trying so hard to clean up my life and get all of this craziness behind me, she said. I have such a wreckage in my past and its a real process to clean it up. This is just one step closer to getting eventually all cleaned up.
Fleiss also said she will continue to live in the Pahrump Valley as she wants to eventually establish a bird sanctuary in the community.
I love Pahrump and I want to build a multimillion-dollar bird foundation here, she said. Even though its not quite their natural climate, they get acclimated.
Prior to the hearing, Earnest said he wasnt certain how the judge would rule.
I had no idea how things would go because it could have gone either way, he said. I thought we had the right side of it. Judge Wanker is very closed lipped, therefore you dont get any signs about how she will rule on any given case.
Earnest also gave credit to a colleague who assisted in the case.
I want to say that Chris Arabia is my co-counsel and hes brilliant, he said. We both worked on this together and spend a lot of late nights bouncing things back and forth. Even though he wasnt here, he was here in spirit and I want to make sure that he gets credit for it too.
According to the sheriffs office, on Aug. 7, 2013, a deputy arrived at Fleiss residence and knocked on the open front door to the main house.
When no one answered, the deputy walked to the backyard, where he found some of the plants growing in pots.
After Fleiss gave permission for a search, he and other officers found more plants inside the home, police said.
Police said Fleiss told them she was growing marijuana to supply a cooperative in Las Vegas, but she could not produce the necessary documentation to support that claim.
A search of the rest of the property led to the discovery of 234 plants growing in the separate residence and 158 growing in the backyard, for a total of 392 plants in all.
With their win, Pahrump Valley has clinched a playoff spot in the 3A southern regional tournament. The Trojans need just one more win or a tie by Equipo Academy to lock up the No. 1 seed in the Mountain League.
My first encounter with the Pulitzer Prize was on April 18, 1977 at the Nevada Legislature when word arrived that the Nevada State Journal and Reno Evening Gazette (then jointly owned but separate newspapers) had received the award for a series of editorials denouncing a brothel owner that the newspapers had previously built up as a folk hero. The high school-style headline in that evenings Gazette became a classic: We win a Pulitzer Prize!
My first encounter with the Pulitzer Prize was on April 18, 1977 at the Nevada Legislature when word arrived that the Nevada State Journal and Reno Evening Gazette (then jointly owned but separate newspapers) had received the award for a series of editorials denouncing a brothel owner that the newspapers had previously built up as a folk hero. The high school-style headline in that evenings Gazette became a classic: We win a Pulitzer Prize!
One of the Journal/Gazette reporters covering the legislature that year was very upset. He said his newspaper did not deserve the prize, and its award seemed to him a terrible indicator of where our business was headed. He was so distressed that he sat in the public seating with one legislator and vented for an extended period of time. He eventually departed the newspaper, and journalism.
What was striking to me was that the Pulitzer jury plainly did not do any independent inquiry before awarding the prize. The newspapers letter to the Pulitzer organization had made a reference to the Journal/Gazettes previous lionizing of the brothel owner but had deemphasized it.
The letter also did not make clear that the newspaper was jumping onto a community bandwagon, not leading one. Independent probing would have brought that out.
So I was hardly surprised when a Pulitzer Prize this year was awarded to the Washington Post for its rather feeble database on citizens killed by police after the Prize jury had, the previous year, rejected Nevadas Fatal Encounters project for its more sweeping, more thorough database. Jumping on bandwagons still worksFatal Encounters began its work two years BEFORE Ferguson, the Post AFTER Ferguson.
Fatal Encounters, originally associated with the Reno News &Review, was started by my colleague and former editor Brian Burghart, who had noticed that there are lists all over the place, including public monuments, of police officers killed on duty. He checked and discovered that lists of people killed BY police are kept much more haphazardly, if at all.
He started Fatal Encounters, which quickly became the most professional and thorough such project and attracted attention from campuses, Congress, law enforcement, and journalists around the world. The FBI started improving its data collection on the matter.
When Ferguson happened, interest in Fatal Encounters exploded and Brian was interviewed endlessly, including by the Washington Post. He suggested to the Post that they start their own database, which it did, though it has never become as thorough as FE.
Data from Fatal Encounters is changing the way people look at victims of police shootings, particularly by producing better information on how many of the victims are mentally disturbed.
Back on the topic of the Pulitzer, the 1977 brothel award was not the first Nevada Pulitzer Prize. That had been won by Californias Sacramento Bee on May 6, 1935 for a series of reports by Arthur Waugh on political influence in the selection of two Nevada federal judges. It was a story that could not be reported in Nevada because newspapers in the silver state were very cozy with state political leaders.
When the Bee won the prize, it was downplayed by jealous Nevada news entities. The Reno Evening Gazette ran the news on page 7 and then18 days laterdenounced the award in an editorial.
On April 20 2009 the Las Vegas Sun received the third Nevada Pulitzer prize for its reports on Las Vegas casino construction deaths and the breakdown of protections for workers in government, management, and unions. It is in all ways, including its ongoing impact, an admirable award.
The Pulitzer organization has long pointed to the 1979 prize given to the Point Reyes Light in Marin County, California for its fine reporting on the fascist cult Synanon as proof that small publications can win Pulitzers. But that was 37 years ago.
Its time for them to stop living off that one award and start looking at all publications not for their circulation but for their skill and talent.
Dennis Myers is an award-winning journalist who has reported on Nevadas capital, government and politics for several decades. He has also served as Nevadas chief deputy secretary of state.
Five more men have filed court documents in federal court seeking the return of several pit bulls that were seized last month in connection with an alleged Quad-City dog-fighting ring.
Andre Lidell, DeMarlo McCoy, Willie Jackson, Algerron Goldsmith Sr., all of Rock Island, and Terrill McDuffy of Davenport, also want other items, such as dog leashes, muzzles, dog medication, phones, cameras and iPads, that they say were seized from their homes.
The claims were filed in U.S. District Court, Rock Island, in response to a civil forfeiture complaint filed April 15 by prosecutors in an effort to permanently seize the dogs.
On April 14, investigators and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals removed 44 adult pit bulls and 20 puppies from 12 homes in Rock Island and Davenport.
Two other men, Jaquan Jones and Sherrick Houston, filed claims to some of the dogs and other seized items last week.
No criminal charges have been filed in federal court in connection with the case.
However, federal prosecutors wrote in the forfeiture complaint that the dogs are subject to seizure because they were used as "gambling devices" and were involved in a violation of the Animal Welfare Act, which regulates the treatment of animals in research, exhibition, transport and by dealers.
McDuffy wrote in his claim filed Friday that nine dogs and other items were seized from his home. He wrote that he has not been fighting dogs or involved in dog fighting.
I haven't done anything wrong with my dogs," he wrote. "All were in good shape, looking good. Plenty food plenty water.
Jackson, who also filed a claim Friday, wrote that a 4-month-old female puppy and the dog's father, a 2-year-old male pit bull, were seized from his home.
Jackson wrote that the older dog is used as a guard dog to protect my property and family assets, as I live in a high crime neighborhood.
Jackson wrote that his home has been burglarized twice since the dogs were seized and that his children cry daily as they miss their puppy and her father, as do I.
Jackson denied the dogs have been involved dog fighting and said they are in good health and have had the proper care.
Goldsmith, who filed his claim Wednesday, wrote that investigators seized three females and one male ranging in age from 10 months to 5 years.
Goldsmith wrote that he has been involved with pit bulls for approximately 25 years and has bred them for 20 years. He denied that he is involved in dog fighting and said that I care very deeply for my dogs and I would like to have them back.
Goldsmith wrote that he also wanted other items that were seized, including a handgun, harness, chains and a computer.
The dogs will remain in the custody of the ASPCA until further order from the court.
According to the civil forfeiture complaint, confidential sources and cooperating witnesses provided information to law enforcement that several individuals in the area were involved or participated in an illegal dog-fighting operation, including gambling on dog fights, in Illinois, Iowa, Alabama and Mississippi.
They also have purchased and transported dogs from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Alabama and Mississippi, according to the complaint.
The men who have filed claims, along with several others, were named as participants in the alleged dog-fighting ring in the civil forfeiture complaint.
Jackson, 34, and Ryan M. Hickman, 41, were arrested the day of the dog seizures and indicted in Rock Island County Circuit Court on drug charges.
The number of shootings in Davenport this year has left city leaders, law enforcement, the judicial system and community organizations trying to find better ways to address the problem.
Since Jan. 1, police have responded to 59 shots-fired calls, up from 52 during the same period in 2015.
One case in March involved a Davenport man who shot at a woman and then was involved in a standoff with police before he was finally taken into custody.
Some in the community, including members of the Davenport City Council, expressed outraged when the man was released from the Scott County Jail two hours and 15 minutes later after posting $5,000 through a bail bond company.
The case, as well as other shootings in the city, prompted aldermen to appeal to the Iowa Judicial Council to change state law that would require cash-only bonds for defendants charged with firearms offenses.
We believe that the imposition of a cash-only bond ... would be an effective tool in disrupting the cycle of gun-related crimes," according to a letter aldermen sent to the council.
Will increasing bonds and bail act as a deterrent to gun crimes?
Not necessarily, some say.
Until they (shooting defendants) can change that mindset, Im not sure what you can do to deter it, Scott County Sheriffs Maj. Thomas Gibbs said.
In Iowa, there are two different types of bond. The first is a cash-only bond, which a judge may set if there is a belief that the defendant might flee, has unpaid fines from previous cases, or has a history of not appearing when for scheduled court dates.
A surety bond is where a third party usually a bail bond company pays the bond on behalf of the defendant, typically for a 10 percent fee of the total bond amount, to ensure the defendant appears in court.
Jail records received from the Scott County Sheriffs Office through an open records request show that 41 people were booked into the jail on offenses involving a firearm between Jan. 1 and May 1.
The offenses include carrying weapons, felon in possession of a firearm, domestic abuse with a weapon, robbery and assault while displaying a dangerous weapon.
Of those booked into the jail, 33 were given a surety bond while eight were given a cash-only bond. The bonds range in amount from $2,000 to $100,000.
Seventh Judicial District Chief Judge Marlita Greve said she understands the frustration in the community as more shootings occur. However, the primary purpose of the bonds is to ensure that the defendant shows up for each and every court appearance.
Its not supposed to be punitive in nature or be any kind of punishment, Greve said.
Judges in Iowa are encouraged to follow the uniform bond schedule, which lays out bond amounts for misdemeanor and felony offenses.
For example, the bond schedule amount for a Class B felony is $25,000, a Class C is $10,000, and a Class D is $5,000. The uniform bond schedule amount for an aggravated misdemeanor is $2,000.
Greve said judges can use discretion when setting bond.
We do, and I think all judges, will set bonds a little bit higher if we think that firearms are being used or if somebodys hurt just to make sure that person shows up to court, she said.
The last time the code was amended in 2007, which resulted in a decrease in the uniform amounts.
For example, a Class B felony was reduced from $32,500 to $25,000.
Josh Lederman has operated Lederman Bail Bonds, 504 W. 4th St., Davenport, since the 1990s. He estimated that his business has issued about 400 bonds so far this year.
Lederman said he turns down about half of the people who call his office.
Lederman said a surety bond is like applying for a short-term loan. His employees talk to the defendant, or their family or friends, to determine the amount of the bond set, who they are, and what ties they have to the community.
Lederman employees also use their own internal database and online court website to determine whether they can issue the bond, he said.
We only post bonds for people that are going to show up for court, Lederman said. Even if a guy is charged with a gun charge, if he shows up for court, the justice system has a chance to get their conviction. And then he goes to jail or he gets probation or whatever.
If a defendant does not show up in court, the bail bond company is on the hook for the entire bond amount.
Lederman said he, too, understands the frustration with the number of shootings in Davenport but said it is "misguided that we want to be punitive in the bond situation.
Thats why in the constitution it says you have a right to bail, he said. Just because youre charged doesnt mean you should be held indefinitely until your case is decided by the judge months later.
Lederman said a concern with requiring a cash-only bond in shooting cases, as recommended by the Davenport City Council, is that it unfairly targets low-income defendants who do not have the means to post bail.
An Iowa man is in custody, accused of breaking into a Mercer County church.
David Lee McCleary, 56, of Solon, was arrested Tuesday afternoon.
A Mercer County Sheriffs Deputy responded to a suspicious vehicle complaint in Joy, Ill., and a short time later discovered a burglary in progress at the Joy United Methodist Church.
The deputy sustained an injury during the incident and was transported to Genesis Medical Center Aledo, where he was treated and released for his injury.
McCleary is being held in the Mercer County Jail awaiting his initial court appearance.
The officers name has not been released.
A Scott County judge has postponed a July 5 retrial of Davenport murder defendant Stanley C. Liggins, due to his attorneys illness.
Chief Judge Marlita Greve also postponed a three-day hearing on pretrial hearings that was slated to begin May 25, according to an order filed May 10.
Liggins, 54, will be back in court June 24. A new trial date has not yet been set.
He is charged with first-degree murder, willful injury causing serious injury, first-degree sexual abuse, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree arson.
Prosecutors say Liggins strangled Jennifer Ann Lewis, 9, of Rock Island, and burned her remains on a Davenport school playground in 1990.
Liggins was tried twice in the girl's death in the 1990s, once in Scott County and the second in Dubuque after he was granted a change of venue.
He was convicted in both trials and sentenced to life in prison. The Iowa Supreme Court overturned the first conviction on a technicality. On Nov. 6, 2013, the Iowa Court of Appeals reversed the second conviction, and the Supreme Court decided not to hear the case.
Assistant State Public Defender Derek Jones filed a motion May 5 asking the judge to postpone the trial. Jones wrote in his motion that first-chair attorney, Chief Public Defender Phil Ramirez, has been in the hospital since April 29 and that it is unclear when he can return to work.
Jones, who has assumed supervisory duties of the public defenders office, wrote in his motion that he will not have sufficient time to take over first-chair responsibilities and prepare for a July 5 trial.
Assuming Ramirez is unable to return to try the case, another attorney will need to take over as second-chair, Jones wrote.
The discovery and investigative material in this case are unusually extensive, and a new second-chair attorney cannot realistically be prepared to assist with the trial of this case by the current date, Jones wrote.
Jones further wrote that Liggins, who waived his right to a speedy trial, did not object to postponing the trial.
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He never saw her in the halls or in class. That never was going to happen, since he went to Pleasant Valley High and she went to Davenport Central.
But Ryan Kane found himself next to Mary Ruhberg at Davenport Centrals homecoming dance in the fall of 2005.
He went with one of my friends, Mary recalled.
The rest is history. Well, not quite.
Nearly 11 years later, the couple is trying to start a family together after freakishly-similar life-threatening medical events sparked their special bond.
Ryan and Mary both have battled Hodgkin's lymphoma at separate times in their lives. Mary's cancer was discovered a few years after they started dating.
Thats when I knew I was going to be with her for the rest of my life, Ryan said. I know what cancer can do to people, and I knew what she had to go through. I didn't want to lose that one.
Today, Ryan, a freelance carpenter in town, has been in remission for 16 years, while Mary, an elementary teacher in the Davenport Community School District, has been in remission for almost seven years.
You wouldnt believe how many people thought it was contagious or that I got it from him, Mary said. Its just crazy, but I dont think we would be the couple that we are without having gone through it.
Heres a quick breakdown of the events, according to the Kanes:
Jan. 11, 2000: Ryan Kane, of Bettendorf, was diagnosed with stage four Hodgkins lymphoma at age 11.
2001: Ryan completes treatment after one year of chemotherapy and blood transfusions.
Fall 2005: Ryan, a Pleasant Valley High senior, meets Mary Ruhberg, a Davenport Central senior, at her homecoming dance, and the duo soon begins dating.
July 17, 2008: Mary, a St. Ambrose University student at the time, was diagnosed with stage two Hodgkins lymphoma.
2009: Mary completes treatment, which includes six months of chemotherapy and 30 days of radiation therapy.
June 6, 2010: Ryan proposes to Mary on National Cancer Survivors Day.
July 9, 2011: The couple ties the knot at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Bettendorf.
December, 2015: Ryan and Mary seek medical advice after two years of unsuccessful attempts at pregnancy. Ryan receives an infertility diagnosis due to his history of chemotherapy treatments.
May 14, 2016: Mary receives her first intrauterine insemination treatment.
At first, Ryan said he felt like he failed his wife.
Ive always wanted kids, and I know that I couldnt give that to her, so it took me a little while to get over it, he said.
Mary set the record straight.
"It was pretty tough, but we're at a good place now," she said, adding that they briefly looked into adopting a child. "But the process for that is so long, and I wanted the experience of pregnancy."
For now, almost a week after Saturday's procedure, they're "playing the waiting game," Mary said.
While 15 states, including Illinois, have passed laws that require insurers to either cover or offer coverage for infertility diagnosis and treatment, Iowa has not, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
To help pay for the expensive medical bills, Mary launched a GoFundMe page. As of Wednesday, the couple had raised $4,665 of their $25,000 goal.
Jamie Kane, who still remembers exactly where she was when her son called to break the news about Mary's diagnosis, helped organize a fundraiser for the couple this weekend at Coffee Hound in Bettendorf.
"I'm just happy they're here today," said Jamie Kane, who remembers the "fire" in her son's eye within the first six months of his relationship with Mary. "When you see them together, they're just adorable."
If there is one piece of reform that Republicans and Democrats alike should be able to get behind in Springfield this year, its changing the way Illinois distributes money to its public schools.
Yet, for reasons unknown, Republicans continue to argue against a school funding reform plan that while imperfect has garnered support from school districts statewide, as well as from parents, education advocates, school funding experts and newspaper editorial boards.
Why are they so reluctant to fix a broken system, even if it means helping thousands of students and families they were elected to represent?
During a debate in the Illinois Senate last week, several of my Republican colleagues offered up an array of excuses and misinformation in an attempt to kill a comprehensive school funding reform measure for yet another year. Senate Republicans killed Gov. Jim Edgars efforts in 1997, and theyre still at it today, alongside Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
They dont want any schools to lose money even the ones that spend double or nearly triple the state average on education. They want to help some school districts but not others. They argue theres no appropriation for the plan at the moment, so why bother. They say stakeholders havent had enough of a say and that wealthy Chicago suburbs are under siege. And they argue that the plan will never get a vote in the House.
Worst of all, they continue to cite faulty figures and outdated information in a concerted effort to confuse school superintendents, parents and taxpayers.
Fact: Under Senate Bill 231 no schools will lose money.
Fact: Senate Bill 231 is not a lifeline for one particular school district; its a lifeline for hundreds of school districts.
Fact: In all, 104 school districts would gain more money per pupil than Chicago Public Schools under Senate Bill 231, yet opponents continue to call it a bailout for Chicago.
Fact: Collectively, school districts represented by Republican state senators would benefit from an influx of $42.6 million under Senate Bill 231. That includes $5.2 million dollars more in Sen. Dave Luechtefelds southern Illinois district, $4.5 million more in Sen. Dale Righters east-central Illinois district, nearly $4 million more in Sen. Jim Oberweiss Aurora-area district, and $1.9 million more in Sen. Jason Barickmans central Illinois district.
Senate Bill 231 passed out of the Senate largely because of Democratic support and a recognition that someone in Springfield has to look out for our schools. Its not a perfect solution, but it is based on thorough research, input from school districts and experts, and a desire to correct a longstanding problem that already has affected a generation of students.
Senate Bill 231 is the only school funding reform plan on the table. Rauner, who says he wants to be the education governor, has offered no plan other than to urge schools to continue making do under the existing broken formula. Thats neither leadership nor a solution.
I expect Senate Bill 231 to undergo further changes as it makes its way through the legislative process. Thats OK; we have to start somewhere. Going forward, it is vital that stakeholders arm themselves with the correct information about the proposal. Its the only way we can have a debate that yields meaningful reform. Its also the only way to hold elected leaders accountable.
The time is right for this overhaul. Schools are hurting, and people want change. I urge them to deliver that message directly to their lawmakers and Gov. Rauner.
The first flash came at 8:15 on a Monday morning. Eyewitnesses remember it as a bolt of soundless light as if the sun had somehow touched down to the Earth.
And suddenly, Hiroshima was gone.
The second flash came that Thursday morning at 11:02. Eyewitnesses recall two thumps -- possibly the sound bouncing off the mountains that cradled the city -- and a flash of bluish light.
And Nagasaki was decimated.
Japan surrendered the following Wednesday, ending the Second World War.
Last week, when it was announced Barack Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, everyone from Salon to the National Review raised two important questions:
Will the president apologize for what America did 71 years ago this August? Should he?
The White House says the answer to the first question is No. For whatever it's worth, the answer to the second is, too.
It is a measure of the deep emotion this subject still stirs that that will be a controversial and divisive opinion. Many good and moral people will find it abhorrent. Of course, the opposite opinion would also have been controversial and divisive and would have appalled other people, equally good, equally moral.
In the end, then, one can only answer to conscience, and this particular conscience is disinclined to second guess the long-ago president and military commanders who felt the bombs might obviate the need to invade the Japanese home islands at a ruinous cost in American lives. Remember that the Japanese, inebriated by the "bushido" warrior code under which surrender equals shame and dishonor, had refused to capitulate, though defeat had long been a foregone conclusion.
Indeed, even after Hiroshima was leveled, it still took that nation nine days to give up.
That said, there is a more visceral reason the answer to the second question must be No: Any other answer would defame Americans who endured unimaginable cruelty at Japanese hands.
Should America apologize?
Ask Ray "Hap" Halloran, a B-29 navigator from Cincinnati who was beaten, stoned, starved, stripped naked and displayed in a cage at the Tokyo Zoo.
Ask Lester Tenney, a tanker from Chicago whose sleep was forever raddled with nightmares of a twitching, headless corpse -- a man he saw decapitated in the death march on Bataan.
And by all means, ask Forrest Knox, a sergeant from Janesville, Wisconsin. He was trapped with 500 other prisoners in the hold of a Japanese freighter where the heat topped 120 degrees and there was barely any water. Some of the men broke out in gibbering, howling fits of madness, prompting a Japanese threat to close off the hatch through which their meager air came if there was not silence.
The maddened men could not be reasoned with. So American men killed American men. Knox saw this. And participated. And for years afterward, he was haunted by dead men walking the streets of Janesville.
Should America apologize? No.
This was not slavery. This was not the Trail of Tears. This was not the incarceration of Japanese Americans. This was not, in other words, a case of the nation committing human-rights crimes against innocent peoples.
No, this was war, a fight for survival against a ruthless aggressor nation. Japan committed unspeakable atrocities. America did the same. Such is the nature of war. Seven decades later, the idea of an apology feels like moral impotence, a happy face Band-Aid that denies the awful immensity of it all.
There are two words that should be spoken, in fact, reverently whispered, with regard to Hiroshima and they are not "I'm sorry." No, the only words that matter are this promise and prayer:
Never again.
SPRINGFIELD Following the Illinois Senate's recent passage of a Democratic plan to overhaul the state's school funding formula, a Republican lawmaker who has been critical of that proposal has presented his colleagues with a potential path to compromise.
Sen. Jason Barickman of Bloomington sent a letter to all members of the General Assembly on Tuesday laying out a plan to merge some aspects of the Senate Democrats' proposal, sponsored by Sen. Andy Manar of Bunker Hill, with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's call to fully fund elementary and secondary schools next year under the existing formula, which nearly everyone acknowledges does a poor job of getting state funding to the districts that need it most.
Barickman said his plan could serve as a bridge to the "evidenced-based" funding model that he and members of the education community have been calling for, something he thinks could be in place by the 2017-18 school year. That model would use measures such as class sizes and the number of students who require special education services to determine how much money each district receives.
"My goal is to provide a path forward that I believe helps solve a problem and can generate bipartisan support," Barickman said Wednesday.
A main Democratic criticism of Rauner's proposal to fully fund the foundation level set by the current formula $6,119 per student has been that many districts with high poverty rates and low property values would see their state funding drop. Manar's plan is designed to funnel more state money to many of those same districts.
"We should acknowledge that fully funding the foundation level underscores the need to reform the existing formula," Barickman wrote to his fellow lawmakers.
He recommends drawing on Manar's bill and other legislation to provide additional money to districts that would lose funding under Rauner's budget proposal, "thereby lifting them to a funding level otherwise not achievable through the current formula."
Barickman acknowledges that this would take additional funding beyond the $55 million increase the governor has proposed.
An aspect of Manar's plan that has drawn much ire from Republicans, including Barickman, is its proposal to have the state pick up the tab for the employer portion of Chicago Public Schools' teacher pensions, something it does for every other school district.
Barickman said that issue should be addressed separately, pointing out that House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, in the past has supported shifting responsibility for teachers' pensions from the state to local school districts.
Manar, who also supports the evidence-based model and included provisions in his bill that would shift the state in that direction over the long term, said Barickman's written commitment to addressing school funding "helps bring us closer to a solution."
"The question then becomes where we start from" in terms of funding levels, Manar said. "And we can't start from where we are today."
He also said that teacher pensions need to be part of the conversation and need to be dealt with the same way statewide, whether that means the state covering Chicago's portion or other districts taking on that cost.
Meanwhile, House Democrats are working on their own school funding plan, which could be filed as soon as this week.
House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, who chaired a task force on education funding, said she appreciated Barickman's letter.
"He clearly makes a distinction between what we might do today and what our long-range plan might be, which I think is reasonable," Currie said. "But I would be happier if we included more of a long-range (plan) in whatever it is we do this year."
Twenty-one-year-old Jared Stone was booked into the Minnehaha County Jail on Tuesday night, after being extradited from Wyoming.
Stone was arrested in that state on April 27 after a five-day multistate manhunt.
Stone is accused of killing 28-year-old Baptiste White Eyes on April 22. It's not clear if he has an attorney. He's being held on $2 million bond.
A referendum vote scheduled for Tuesday that could have determined once and for all if alcohol could legally be sold and distributed on the Pine Ridge Reservation has been canceled.
Speaking from a conference in Montana, Oglala Sioux public relations officer Kevin Yellow Bird Steele said Tuesday that the tribal council voted 9 to 4, with one abstention, to strike down the referendum during a meeting on Monday.
Yellow Bird Steele said he does not expect the issue to be raised again during the eight remaining months of the administration of President John Yellow Bird Steele, who is opposed to alcohol legalization.
In order for it to come back up and be an agenda item, it needs to start from the beginning, and move from the law and order committee back up to the tribal council, who will decide if another referendum should be held, Kevin Yellow Bird Steele said.
The referendum was to be held Tuesday. Voters would have been asked to approve a resolution to authorize the possession, use, sale and distribution of all types of alcoholic beverages including beer, wine and spirits in Pine Ridge. If approved, alcohol sales and distribution would be licensed, regulated and taxed by the tribe, which was named in the resolution as the sole entity permitted to store, sell, and distribute alcoholic beverages on the Reservation.
Voters in Pine Ridge were first asked whether alcohol should be legal on the reservation in 2013. Though a majority of voters approved legalization then, the language of that original referendum was later determined to be not legally binding, Yellow Bird Steele said.
The results of that referendum have either been destroyed or gone missing.
We dont know what happened to them, Yellow Bird Steele said. But no one can find them.
With the 2013 results gone and todays referendum canceled, Yellow Bird Steele said alcohol remains illegal on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Well, all the nice things in the news story and column written about Anson Juelfs are correct.
But an early morning Wednesday phone call (I was just about to shave before heading to work) hit the big error in the print version of the story.
It's Anson and not Nathan Juelfs.
Nathan has my cell number and called to note that the story on Anson's national recognition as being the best supply soldier in the Army National Guard was nice, but had his name dropped into the piece.
Well, so much for shaving.
It was too late to correct the printed version of the story and column, but not too late to correct the online versions.
So I stormed into the office early and cranked up the computer.
Anyway, the news story originally had two photos correctly identifying Staff Sgt. Anson Juelfs.
I'd gone fishing in computer back-files to find a photo of Anson doing something instead of just smiling for the camera. After all, he got the recognition for what he does, not just for the smile.
I found one photo.
Meanwhile, the computer "search" brought up a couple dozen photos with Nathan who's also in the National Guard and in many other Belle Fourche activities.
So...
Mind blips (or whatever else you want to call it) and in getting the story out in good time, I hit the keyboard with the wrong name.
Talk about feeling reeeally bad? Yup.
Anson's award is pretty much unique.
Out of all the among officers, warrant officers, noncommissioned officers and Department of the Army civilians from all of the ARNG's 54 states and territories, he's top dog in keeping his unit supplied with whatever they need to do their jobs.
Period.
And I blew it.
Maybe I feel worse about it because I've covered the Army National Guard for so many years and literally generations of soldiers.
The 842nd also holds a special place in my concerns because I've been covering these folks for years and hold them all in high regard.
I'll never forget, for example, how they were in Wyoming for some heavy-duty training for going into harm's way in Afghanistan. It was training for a war zone, and that's a big deal.
But...
Pierre was flooding from high waters in the Missouri.
The 842nd got a call and soldiers were pulled from training, equipment rapidly readied and as I recall, it was almost literally overnight that the 842nd was on duty in Pierre to build berms to protect the community.
Consider the miles and the work to get people and equipment ready for work.
It's no small achievement.
A few months later the same folks were scattered all over Afghanistan in about as hostile an environment as anywhere in the world.
The 842nd is made up of about 160 soldiers whose mission is horizontal construction.
That basically means roadbuilding and otherwise moving earth for anything from a Black Hills National Forest parking lot to a fortified outpost in a war zone.
Anson Juelfs is full time with the 842nd and works out of the Spearfish armory. His job includes making sure that Sturgis, Spearfish and Belle Fourche detachments have what they need to operate.
This summer my understanding is that the unit will be training in a dynamic combat simulation.
Juelfs will make sure the supply chain works.
Sorry for the error. It happens sometimes, and sometimes it's more bothersome than others. This one bothered a lot.
Here's a tip of the hat to Anson and, by extension, to the whole unit that deserves our support and pride.
Special Olympics runners from eastern South Dakota will make their way through the Northern Hills and Belle Fourche beginning Thursday, May 19, and local law enforcement will have the chance to join them.
On that day, runners will begin at Belle Fourche City Hall at 4 p.m. and head 13 miles to Black Hills State University in Spearfish. They will run through downtown Belle Fourche, take 5th Avenue southbound to Spearfish, run through downtown Spearfish, and will end up at the Young Center on the BHSU campus.
There, opening ceremonies will begin at 7 p.m. for Special Olympics South Dakota. Special Olympics is held this year in in South Dakota at BHSU May 20 and 21.
Runners began their journey in Sioux Falls on May 16, running through various cities and towns along the way before getting to the Northern Hills which will include stops in Sturgis and Deadwood before heading to Belle Fourche.
Local representative for the run Jim Smit said locals can cheer on law enforcement officers who will take part in the run to Spearfish when they start the run, whether that's on Main Street or on 5th Avenue.
"Businesses could also allow employees to cheer on our law enforcement," he said of ways the community can become involved.
T-shirt sales are also available, and Smit can be contacted at (605) 591-9314 for more information or to order a shirt for $10.
About 3,000 people will take part in this year's summer games in Spearfish. Smit added that volunteers are more than welcome, and those interested can contact Chris Harwood at the Spearfish Recreation Center for more information.
PIERRE South Dakotas Highway Patrol has begun the search for its next group of state troopers.
Applications are being accepted now through July 8 and officials plan to hire a class of 15-20 new recruits. Successful applicants are informed of where they will be stationed prior to accepting their appointment. Certified law enforcement officers are eligible for a $3,000 hiring bonus.
Once selected, recruits who are not currently certified as a law enforcement officer in South Dakota or another state must first attend the 13-week South Dakota Law Enforcement Training Academy in Pierre. The second part of the training is the 10-week South Dakota Highway Patrol Recruit Academy followed by a 10-week field training program. It takes about a year from the initial application to graduation to become a state trooper.
The Highway Patrols selection process and training program is extensive, and it should be says Col. Craig Price, superintendent of the South Dakota Highway Patrol. We use this selection process to find the best men and women possible. Those who graduate from the Highway Patrol Recruit Academy are prepared for any situation.
Again this year, the Highway Patrol also will hold statewide seminars for women who are considering applying for the Highway Patrol. Information on those seminars will be announced later.
The trooper application can be found at http://bhr.sd.gov/workforus/law/hp/default.aspx . For more information on requirements and the application process, contact Lt. Randi Erickson, director of Training and Professional Standards Division, at 605-773-2231.
The Highway Patrol is part of the South Dakota Department of Public Safety.
The final moments of Jessica Rehfeld's life, and what happened to her after, are almost inconceivable.
And police say one man paid others to exact such carnage. In all, five area men have been charged in connection to Rehfeld's May 2015 killing and the disposal of her body.
Area authorities said Tuesday that as part of a murder-for-hire plot, Rehfeld, 22, was picked up by two men under the guise of taking the red-haired Rapid City Central High grad to her job at the north Rapid City Wal-Mart last May.
But instead, police say the two men took Rehfeld to an industrial area in northeast Rapid City, held her down, and stabbed her to death as they drove. They then put her body in a plastic bag, and after picking up another man, the trio drove to a remote area near Rockerville in the Black Hills and buried her in a shallow grave.
About two weeks or so later, police say, two other men and one of the murder suspects dug her up, shoveled out a new, deeper grave site nearby, and reburied her body, where it remained for nearly a year.
During a press conference Tuesday, Rapid City Police, the Pennington County Sheriffs Office and the Pennington County States Attorney announced that the body of Rehfeld, who had been reported missing on May 22, 2015, had been found, and several suspects were arrested.
On Tuesday, authorities said they had arrested three people on charges of first-degree murder in connection with her death.
They are: Jonathon Klinetobe, 26, of Sturgis, who reportedly masterminded the killing; and David Schneider, 24, of Rapid City; and Richard Hirth, 35, of Rapid City, who police say carried out the murder.
Arrested on accessory to murder charges were 24-year-old Michael Frye and 29-year-old Garland Brown, both of Rapid City, in connection to the moving of Rehfeld's body.
Authorities said Klinetobe was an ex-boyfriend of Rehfeld's. Police say they believe Klinetobe offered Schneider and Hirth "thousands of dollars" to murder Rehfeld. Court records show that Rehfeld had filed a restraining order against Klinetobe a short time before she went missing.
This investigation has turned up a shocking and terrifying narrative of how this homicide was orchestrated, Rapid City Police Department Capt. James Johns said Tuesday at the Pennington County Public Safety building.
Rehfeld was found Saturday in a remote, as-yet undisclosed location south of Rockerville by detectives with the Rapid City Police Department and investigators with the Pennington County Sheriff's Office. Authorities said a witness who came forward to authorities in Newcastle, Wyo., directed them to the victim's body.
Police said Rehfeld was last seen in the presence of two men at a Rapid City home on Hemlock Street on May 18, 2015; authorities say she was killed that day.
On May 22, 2015, Rapid City police asked the public for help in locating Rehfeld. But two days later, police issued another statement saying they did not believe Rehfeld was in immediate harm.
According to a police press release issued Tuesday, authorities were contacted by the Newcastle Police Department on Friday, May 13, that a witness had come forward with information about a homicide in 2015. After police contacted the witness, they conducted a search and found two grave sites. Rehfeld's body was found in one of them.
According to a police probable cause affidavit, around 9:45 p.m. on May 18, 2015, Schneider and Hirth offered to give Rehfeld a ride to work, but instead drove her to a secluded service road on Rapid City's northeast side. According to a court affidavit, Hirth and Schneider had conspired with Klinetobe at least a week prior to kidnap Rehfeld and murder her.
According to the report, Rehfeld was in the front passenger seat of Schneider's blue Dodge Avenger. Once they reached an industrial area northeast of town, police say Hirth stabbed Rehfeld repeatedly while still in the car. Schneider, though driving, held Rehfeld's legs down so Hirth could stab her, the affidavit says.
After that, Schneider and Hirth put Rehfeld's body in the trunk of the car, then picked up Klinetobe. Then, together, the three men drove to Hirth's house to get a shovel before they buried Rehfeld in the Black Hills National Forest, south of Rockerville.
Within a couple of weeks, Klinetobe enlisted two others to move the body to a second grave site located near the first one, and burying it in a deeper hole. Police believe the move was an attempt to keep the body hidden.
All of this information has come to light in a matter of days, thanks to the cooperative and dedicated work of dozens of personnel from multiple local law enforcement agencies, Johns said Tuesday. Hundreds of man-hours were spent over this past weekend to work to understand the details and motivations behind this homicide.
Police say Rehfeld's death remains an open investigation, and said anyone with further information can call 605-394-4134, or send an anonymous tip by texting the letters "RCPD" and information to 847411.
Vostochny Cosmodrome contractor's Board Chairman sentenced for embezzlement
MOSCOW, May 18 (RAPSI, Diana Gutsul) A court in Ussuriysk, a town in the Primorsky Krai, has sentenced Sergei Yudin, Chairman of the board of TMK (Pacific Bridge Building Company), a former contractor in the Vostochny Cosmodrome project, to 3 years and 4 months for embezzlement, Russia's Investigative Committee reported on Wednesday.
Moreover, Yudin has been fined one million rubles ($15,500).
According to investigators, from September 2014 to April 2015 Yudin organized embezzlement by Igor Nesterenko, ex-General Director of TMK, of nearly 104.5 million rubles ($1.6 million). The defendants siphoned the embezzled money off to shell companies.
In April, Nesterenko was sentenced to 3 years and 3 months.
Former chief executive of TMK Viktor Grebnev is under investigation as well.
According to investigators, from 2012 to the fall of 2014, Grebnev knowingly signed contracts of guarantee that were unprofitable for TMK, thereby embezzling over 288 million rubles ($4.5 million). Allegedly he also signed several contracts that caused TMK over 130 million rubles ($2 million) in losses.
Earlier, TMK said it failed to pay 96 million rubles ($1.5 million) in wages to workers because of the alleged embezzlement. Investigators claim that Grebnev used the money to buy yachts and a mansion.
The construction of the space center, due to become Russia's main launch site, began in 2012. The facility is planned to be completed in 2016.
Moscow Court refuses to release Domodedovo airport owner
MOSCOW, May 18 (RAPSI) The Moscow City Court on Wednesday upheld the house arrest of Dmitriy Kamenshchik, the Domodedovo airport owner charged in the case over 2011 terrorist attack that left 37 dead, RAPSI reports from the courtroom.
The billionaire will stay under house arrest until July 28.
Defense asked the court to release Kamenshchik on bail of 50 million rubles ($775,000). A prosecutor in turn demanded revocation of the preventive measure. Victims in the case changed their opinion and also sought release for Kamenshchik because Domodedovo owners had established a charity fund to pay the victims compensations.
According to investigators, Kamenshchik and several other ex-managers of Domodedovo have not provided sufficient security level that let the suicide bomber freely enter the arrival lounge and set off an explosive.
A suicide bomber detonated a bomb in the Domodedovo Airports international arrivals hall, killing 37 people and injuring 172, on January 24, 2011.
Doku Umarov, Russias most wanted terrorist at the time, claimed responsibility for the attack. Altogether, 28 men connected with the terrorist organization called the Caucasus Emirate were linked to the attack, according to the investigators. Seventeen of them were killed in special operations in 2011, and four were detained.
In November 2013, a Moscow Region court sentenced three men to life in prison and a fourth man to 10 years for their role in the suicide bombing.
St. Petersburg court frees woman with cancer from prison hospital
MOSCOW, May 18 (RAPSI, Diana Gutsul) The St. Petersburg ity ourt has granted an appeal filed by legal team of a woman suffering from cancer and has released her from the prison hospital, her lawyer Vitaliy Cherkasov told RAPSI on Wednesday.
The appeal was supported by representatives of the prosecution and the prison hospital. The Commissioner for Human Rights in Leningrad Region Sergey Shabanov was present during the hearings.
My client may now leave the prison and receive the qualified treatment in the specialized civil hospital, Cherkasov said.
In March, the Smolninsky District Court in St. Petersburg refused to release two women suffering from late stage cancer from prison. The appropriate appeals were filed with the European Court of Human Rights.
Cherkasov reminded that since April three women with cancer died in St. Petersburg prisons, all of them were denied release by the Smolninsky District Court.
Russian court upholds sentence against medic for killing patient with punch
MOSCOW, May 18 (RAPSI) The Belgorod Region Court on Wednesday upheld the sentence handed down to a local clinics ex-surgeon, Ilya Zelendinov who punched a patient with a lethal strike, RIA Novosti reported.
On March 24, Zelendinov was sentenced to 9 years and 2 months in penal colony. The court also prohibited Zelendinov from practicing medicine for three years.
Zelendinov and his defense lawyers appealed the sentence insisting on requalification of the article he was tried under to Causing death by accident.
According to investigators, the incident happened on December 29, 2015 when a man who later became a victim was put in a clinic. During one of the procedures a man allegedly kicked a nurse which prompted Zelendinov to come to her defense. Expertise showed that victim died from acute heart failure caused by a strike in the neck.
No signs of psychological disorders were found during Zelendinovs examination.
St. Petersburg Legal Forum supports Commercial Court for Shanghai Cooperation Organization
ST. PETERSBURG, May 18 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) Alexander Konovalov, the Russias Justice Minister, has supported an idea to establish a Commercial Court for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), speaking at the Rule of law concept in Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization conference, RAPSI correspondent reports from the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum (LF) venue on Wednesday.
Opening the Forum, the Minister stressed that in his opinion in 2016 the composition of participants of the LF in terms of their official positions and standing on the world legal market should bring on interesting discussions.
The conference on rule of law concept in SCO member states has confirmed the Ministers view.
Liu Zhiqiang, a Vice Minister representing the Ministry of Justice of the People's Republic of China, expressed his confidence that this meeting on SOC in St. Petersburg only confirmed the fact that the system of interaction between SOC Justice Ministers had already been formed.
According to the Vice Minister, the next necessary step should be the creation of a system of trust between states. At the moment we are creating a so called New Silk Road. This is an economic belt encompassing SOC member countries. Without a system of credible security, implementation of this concept is impossible, Liu Zhiqiang has told the conference participants.
The Chinese Vice Minister was supported by Mahmoud Abbasi, a Deputy Minister of Justice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who proposed to establish a SOC Commercial Court.
This body will settle economic problems arising between states. Both New Silk Road and other economic projects of SOC member countries will be difficult to implement without such commercial court. I hope the participants of this conference will support this proposition in their respective countries, - Abbassi has explained.
In his turn, the Russias Justice Minister stated that Russia was ready to discuss this initiative.
At the same time, he called upon the conference to treat the formation of a common legal framework with caution. Much has been said about approximation and harmonization of SOC countries legislations. However, we need first to realize what differences exist between our laws. And I shall tell you that they are very different across our countries, the Minister stressed. He proposed that it would be only logical to first create a database on legal practices in SOC member states and form basic guidelines of the regulatory environment later. In this way, according to Konovalov, a new approach to legal integration could be formed without mistakes made in the past.
VI St. Petersburg International Legal Forum is held in May 18 21, 2016. Plenary session and round tables will take place in the Eastern Wing of the General Staff Building, owned by the State Hermitage Museum. This year the event brings together delegates from over 80 countries. The Forum program includes presentations, open lectures, conferences, and over 50 round-table discussions.
Bitterroot College conducted their fifth graduation ceremony under the tent at the Daly Mansion in Hamilton, May 13.
The college graduated 29 students.
Victoria Clark, director, said the commencement was a celebration of educational achievement.
We celebrate the effort and commitment these students took, Clark said. We celebrate their courage to challenge and expand their understanding of themselves and the world around them. We celebrate their courage to engage in new experiences and new ways of thinking. We celebrate the joy, beauty and energy which education brings to light.
Faculty speaker Doug McConnaha challenged the graduates and audience to learn something new every day and do the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do. Non-traditional student Deanna Wise gave the student address, sharing her lifelong dream of return to school to further her education.
Regent Robert Nystuen gave the keynote address. He said the Montana University System is 16 different units spread across the state from Flathead Community College to Dawson Community College in Glendive.
It is about a $1.6 billion a year enterprise. It is huge, Nystuen said. It has 50,000 students, some of which we have here today.
Nystuen also told a brief history of his Norwegian family. He said that even generations ago they realized education was the gateway to a bright future.
Taylor Kelm, a veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard, went through the graduation ceremony for his Associates of Arts degree.
Bitterroot College was a great experience, Kelm said. All the staff were very open and helpful. I know how getting mass groups together to get something done is difficult.
Kelm said he will continue his education at the University of Montana in the fall and, with continued schooling, become a physicians assistant.
Kelm wore several cords with his cap and gown.
The gold cord is for my 3.9 GPA, I received straight As except for one B, he said. The red, white and blue cord is for my service in the military. In the Coast Guard I drove small boats, did search and rescue, was in law enforcement and am an emergency medical technician.
Kelm said that he came to Montana because his dad retired here and he came to fly fish.
Im an avid fisherman so fly-fishing brought me to the mountains, he said. Im an outdoor person and I love camping. I fly fish three or four times a week and have my own raft. I love the mountains, I love Montana and Im getting married in July.
Jenny Moore, Bitterroot College Health Care transformation specialist, received her hood for her masters degree from Roger Maclean, dean of the School of Extended and Lifelong Learning at the University of Montana. She received her masters of arts in organizational leadership, with an emphasis in training and development and higher education learning.
The Bitterroot College does not grant masters degrees so Moore did a two and a half-year online program through Lewis University in Chicago.
My hope is to continue to help students of all ages pursue their dreams and to support Bitterroot College in developing programs that support our local culture, values and dreams of everyone in the Bitterroot Valley, Moore said. The faculty and staff really do care about bettering the community by providing access to educational and professional opportunities.
Moore completed her degree while working a full-time job as a fourth grade teacher then at Bitterroot College.
John Robinson, chair of the Bitterroot College steering committee, received the colleges Champions Award.
Dixie Stark introduced him as an esteemed polymath.
Polymath means multiple genius, a renaissance man, Stark said. John is a retired school teacher, rancher, attorney, but he is not retired as one of the best friends of Bitterroot College. He is just bigger than life.
Robinson accepted the award and said, Everyone who worked for the start of this college is still working for the start of the college.
Everyone is working as hard as they can to make it the best college, he said. In about five years, Bitterroot College will be the Harvard of community colleges.
Patty Skinner, operations manager of the Bitterroot College, praised the Daly Mansion for hosting the graduation.
The Daly Mansion and the Bitterroot College are both under the umbrella of the University of Montana, Skinner said. It is a partnership to put this ceremony on every year and the mansion is just amazing and so accommodating of our wishes every year.
Kathmandu, Nepal: Japan has decided to extend financial assistance for improving living environment of communities in Kathmandu through prevention and pollution control of the Bagmati River.
The Japan government has extend the assistance of USD 133,709 (Rs 14.2 million) to SOMNEED, a Japanese NGO, to support the latters partner agency in Nepal, SOMNEED-Nepal for the implementation of the third phase of the project.
The grant contract ceremony is being held at Japanese embassy in Kathmandu on May 19. It said that the assistance was extended under the Grant Assistance for Japanese NGO Projects Scheme.
Prof. Dr Ashok Banskota
KATHMANDU, May 18: Prof. Dr Ashok Banskota of B&B Hospital has been honoured with 'World of Children Alumni Award 2016'. The award carries a purse of Rs 3.9 million.
The World of Children Inc, an American organization, awarded Dr Banskota for his significant contribution to the treatment of children with disabilities and their rehabilitation in society for the past 31 years.
At a program organized here on Wednesday, Dr Banskota, who has been treating children with disabilities by establishing Hospital and Rehabilitation Center for Disabled Children (HRDC), also known as Friends of Disabled (FoD) at Adhikari Gaon of Janagal of Kavre, said that the award has encouraged him for further contribution in the society.
The HRDC is the only program of the FoD with the vision to "create a society in which individuals (especially children) with disabilities and their guardians live as equal citizens with optimum quality of life, independence and participation." It started serving children with physical disabilities by 'enabling their abilities' so that the children can assert their rights for mobility and functional independence.
On the occasion, the information was shared that the HRDC has so far rehabilitated 67,617 disabled people in society and treated 20,000 children, who were injured in the April 25 earthquake and suffering from problems related to orthopedic in one year period.
Similarly, 45,200 people benefitted from health camps run at different quake-hit areas under the leadership of Dr Banskota. RSS
he Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA)
KATHMANDU, May 18: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Wednesday filed a corruption charge sheet at the Sepcial Court against Shuva Narayan Yadav, an engineer with the Waterborne Disease Prevention Division Office, Bhaktapur.
In the charge sheet, the engineer is accused of taking Rs 35,000 in kickback when providing money access to Bhanjyang Landslide Control Consumers' Committee of Changunarayan Municipality.
The Commission took Yadav into custody with subsequent investigation establishing the fact that he was involved in an act of corruption. The Commission has sought legal action against accused Yadav along with damage reparation. RSS
The developments in the Malegaon blasts case have shown that the Hindutva forces are succeeding. Articles by Subhas Gatade and by Julio Ribeiro are posted below
catch news - 16 May 2016
Why exoneration of Sadhvi Pragya should worry everyone who stands for justice
by Subhash Gatade
There are a few photographs which the bigwigs of the Hindutva Brigade/Sangh Parivar would like to be erased from public memory. One such photograph shows Sadhvi Pragya, an ex-member of the ABVP, sitting with Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Rajnath Singh and few others. As it was later revealed they had gathered to console the widow of a BJP leader from MP, who had just died.
Public memory is very short but one can stretch it a bit to recollect the tremendous consternation in BJP/RSS circles when Sadhvi Pragya was arrested by the Anti Terrorist Squad led by the legendary police office Hemant Karkare on 23 October, 2008 for her alleged role in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast. This photograph had suddenly gone viral when there were denials by many leaders of the saffron brigade that they had never met her.
Now that the NIA, the federal agency established by the government to combat terror in India, has given a clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya and few of her accomplices, should one expect that all those photographs showing her proximity to various leaders of the saffron establishment would be prominently exhibited? It must be remembered that leaders of BJP have even claimed that it was an act of "treason" to arrest her.
"Sadhvi Pragya is still accused in the murder of RSS Pracharak Sunil Joshi"
The Malegaon blast was one of the most high profile anti-terror cases in the last decade, which was able to put a temporary stop to the stigmatisation and terrorisation of the biggest minority community in the country that had become a norm post 9/11. But before coming to the NIAs about-turn in the case, it is important to underline that Sadhvi is no angel as her followers would like us to believe. She still remains the prime accused in the murder of a RSS Pracharak Sunil Joshi - who himself was part of a terror module which had planted bombs in Ajmer Sharief Dargah, Mecca Masjid etc.
The terror network
For close watchers of the Hindutva terror cases, there is nothing surprising about the NIAs new found wisdom and its raising questions about the investigations done earlier by Hemant Karkare, who is not there to defend himself. Karkare led the ATS (Anti Terrorist Squad) Maharashtra then and had in a meticulous way unearthed the pan-India (with tentacles outside the country also) Hindutva terror network which involved functionaries of RSS as well as other Hindutva organisations, military officers, doctors, saffron robed sadhus - one of them claiming himself to be a Shankaracharya - and even officials of the Bhonsla Military School that was started by a Hindutva stalwart called BS Moonje. Karkare was martyred during the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai, while defending his poorly armed colleagues under controversial circumstances.
It was in the mid of last year only that first concrete doubts were raised about the course and pace of the investigations into Hindutva terror related cases. A series of apparently unconnected developments had strengthened the belief that these investigations were changing course.
The first major indication of this were the revelations by Rohini Salian, public prosecutor in the Malegaon bomb blast case. She had gone public with the fact that she was being pressurised by the NIA to go slow on the case.
"Salian had said that soon after the NDA government came to power last year, she got a call from one of the NIA officers, asking to come over to speak with her. "He didnt want to talk over the phone. He came and said to me that there is a message that I should go soft."
(See more at:http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/sunday-story-the-importance-of-being-rohini-salian/)
Close on the heels of Salians revelations and her removal by the NIA from this responsibility had come the news of a number of witnesses turning hostile in the Ajmer bomb blast case (2007) and other Hindutva terror cases and the sudden decision of the NIA to shift the Sunil Joshi murder case back to Madhya Pradesh. It was the same period when news appeared that the NIA had finally decided to close the Modasa bomb blast case citing insufficient evidence.
Modasa blast
In fact, closing of the Modasa bomb blast case was the first concrete indication that with the BJP coming to power, Hindutva terror cases wont be pursued in the same manner. Perhaps an indication of the changed times was the statement then by a senior minister that there is "nothing like Hindu terror in the country" despite being aware of the fact that the NIA was still handling at least a 16 high profile cases supposedly involving Hindutva terrorists and many of the top bosses of these organisations were still under scanner.
Not very many people even know or remember that Modasa was a copycat bombing. It took place on the same day and at around same time as the much investigated Malegaon bomb blast (29 September, 2008), in a similar (Muslim majority) locality and in a similar manner (use of a two wheeler in planting the explosives).
The only difference was that Malegaon lies in Maharashtra, then ruled by the Congress-NCP alliance whereas Modasa, a tehsil in Gujarat then, was ruled by BJP. There were 8 casualties and injuries to more than 80 in the Malegaon case.
"Investigations into Hindutva terror cases seem to have been weakened after BJP came to power "
Even a layperson could see the obvious linkages between the two blasts and would conclude that it must be the same terror group which executed both these operations. It is a different matter that the investigations into the Malegaon bomb blast helped unearth the widespread Hindutva terror network whereas the Modasa blast probe was abandoned midway. Despite its apparent inability to crack the case, the Gujarat police did not deem it necessary to solicit help from ATS Maharashtra which had successfully cracked the Malegaon bomb blast case.
Leena Gita Reghunath, former editorial manager at The Caravan who has done painstaking work to bring forth the truth in the Hindu Terror cases had in an article written around the same time provided further details about how investigations in these cases were falling apart.
"A string of witnesses turned hostile in the Ajmer case, which is being tried at the NIA court in Jaipur. Most of these witnesses were from the rank and file of the Sangh, and one of them, Randhir Singh, is a minister in the BJPs Jharkhand government. The public prosecutor in the case, Ashwini Sharma, told the Indian Express that the testimonies of those who have turned hostile would have made for a watertight case. Despite tough cross-questioning, they refused to admit in court what they had once told the ATS or the magistrate. This considerably shakes the ground of the case.
The case surrounding the Samjhauta bomb blast, which was the most devastating in terms of casualties, with 68 people killed, has been similarly hampered by uncooperative witnesses. As of the second week of July, ten witnesses had turned hostile at the trial, being heard at the NIA court in Panchkula, Chandigarh. These included Bharat Mohan Rateshwar and his wife Kavita, who, according to the chargesheets, hosted crucial meetings at their home in Valsad district in Gujarat, thereby witnessing the planning of the attacks."
A key point raised by the NIA in exonerating Sadhvi Pragya is that although the bomb planted in Malegaon was on a motorcycle owned by her but she was not using it and it was with other accused. Question remains whether law can be applied differently in different cases. In the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, Rubina Memon was convicted as the car used to transport bombs was registered in her name. A Facebook post by well known filmmaker Rakesh Sharma poses an important question
"Rubina is 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!"
Perhaps the last word in this particular case would be reserved for Rohini Salian. When she was contacted by the Indian Express about the turn around by the NIA she simply said
"This chargesheet the NIA filed today is their opinion, its not a judgment. The order has to come from the court that will decide on the basis of evidence submitted to them earlier and now. They need to club the chargesheet filed earlier by the ATS and what has been given now by the NIA, and come to their own, independent conclusion and decision."
Edited by Aditya Menon
Subhash Gatade, writer, translator and activist, he writes in Hindi, English and Marathi and sometimes in Urdu. He has five books to his credit, two in English, two in Hindi and one in Gujarati
o o o
The Indian Express - May 18, 2016
Malegaon blasts case show that Hindutva forces are succeeding in widening Hindu-Muslim divide, writes Julio Ribeiro
Karkare is not alive to defend himself against all the forces that have been unleashed against him in his absence
Written by Julio Ribeiro
Hemant Karkare laid down his life for his friends. Every man and woman in the land was his friend. He did not discriminate between man and woman, Hindu and Muslim, this caste or that. He was a professional policeman. And he was a patriot. And that is what people expect of their public servants.
Karkare belonged incidentally to the topmost tier of the pecking order in the hierarchy of castes. That factor became irrelevant when he donned the uniform. Traditional culture was subsumed by a new apolicea culture, which demanded that all citizens are treated equally. In the eyes of the law all are equal. Any policeman true to his salt would follow this maxim, which becomes his adharmaa .
I knew Karkare well. He was one of the a now, unfortunately, diminishing number of a IPS officers who enjoyed an unsullied reputation for integrity, both financial and intellectual. People who wanted true justice would gravitate towards him. He did not know what it was to speak anything but the truth (or what he felt in his bones was the truth).
He came to meet me on November 25, 2008, a day before his life was extinguished by jihadi terrorists. He came to tell me he was disturbed. He was disturbed because L.K. Advani had the previous day, or a couple of days earlier, accused the Maharashtra Police Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), of which he was then the chief, of framing Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and others in the Malegaon blast case. He said he would not dream of framing anyone and I believed him because I knew he would do nothing wrong. I told him I would speak to Advani personally as I had faith in his integrity.
Karkare had brought the case papers to show me that his investigations had nailed the real culprits. I did not look into those files for lack of patience. I am sorry today that I did not take more interest in his findings. If I had done so I could have attempted to defend that good and honest man with concrete facts. He is not alive to defend himself against all the forces that have been unleashed against him in his absence.
But I cannot let these forces go unchallenged. I will not be able to refute them on the details but the police officers who knew him are sure that he was not one to concoct evidence. Investigations were conducted first by Karkareas predecessor in the ATS, then by the dead man himself and now by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The investigators seem to be hopelessly at odds with each other: The first set actually arresting the usual suspects, the second collaring a more plausible group with concrete proof in the shape of telephone intercepts and recorded conversations, and then the third watering down the evidence and charges against the alleged culprits named by the Karkare team. It is highly unusual for later investigators to weaken evidence in this manner. They are expected to strengthen cases, not do the opposite.
When the well-respected public prosecutor, Rohini Salian, bemoaned the attempt by the NIA to influence her to soften the case against the Hindutva ultras, I expected them to be let off. But, even in my wildest imagination, I could not have dreamt that to achieve this objective a national hero like my friend Hemant Karkare, would be sacrificed. His reputation was all that was left of him and that is being buried.
Hemantas wife died a natural death not many years after his assassination. The pain was too much for her to endure. If she was around she would have fought. I have no doubt about that. But in her absence and in the absence of his daughters who are abroad, it is left to old colleagues like me to come to Karkareas defence.
I have spoken to many officers and policemen who were disappointed with the NIAas decision to sully the fair name of a trustworthy and fair-minded colleague. It smacks of an attempt to snuggle up to those in power. I had sensed a similar disenchantment in the force when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), in the Ishrat Jahan case, named some Intelligence Bureau (IB) officers in the conspiracy to eliminate Ishrat. For the first time I saw one Central police agency trying to rope in a sister agencyas operatives in a criminal conspiracy when the ways of working of the latter agency are well known to the rank and file. aSnugglinga was apparent there too. If a law is in place to prevent apost- retirementa sinecures the tendency to asnuggle-upa will reduce.
The developments in the Malegaon blasts case have shown that the Hindutva forces are succeeding in widening the Hindu-Muslim divide.
When Karkare came out with his list of culprits it was easy for us Indians to proclaim that India was different from Pakistan. In that benighted country, jihadi terrorists are always protected if they act against the aenemya , that is us. We proudly proclaimed that ours was a land governed by the arule of lawa . Hindus killing Muslims would be dealt with as sternly as Muslims killing Hindus.
But that pride has to be discarded now. This emperor, too, has no clothes. We are slowly but relentlessly moving towards being bracketed with Pakistan in our attitude towards the law, terrorism, and the minorities. I doubt if we will ever get to sit on the high table if the law is not enforced equitably and fairly.
When the NIA finally came out with its conclusions in the Malegaon case, my Hindu friends kept a studied silence till I cajoled them to comment. A leading question on the denigration of Karkare evinced a tepid response. But when I identified Islamist extremism as the cause for the unexpected and unusual birth of Abhinav Bharat they were infinitely more enthusiastic. My Muslim and Christian friends, on the other hand, were eager for me to articulate my thoughts through the media. The divisions are sharpening. And that is not a good augury.
(This article first appeared in the print edition under the headline aBurying Karkarea)
The writer, a retired IPS officer, was Mumbai police commissioner, DGP Gujarat and DGP Punjab
See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/malegaon-blasts-2008-burying-hemnat-karkare-2805887/
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.
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Our motto is Salam Academy: Where Education Has No Limits. We believe our children are the future. Our school is dedicated to providing a quality education in both fields: the religious and the secular. Our unique education system has established our place as one of New Mexicos outstanding schools.
What is your greatest asset?
Salam Academy is an institution of learning aimed at maintaining the ethnic roots and moral values of Muslim and non-Muslim students. We serve students from 21 different ethnic backgrounds and nationalities.
What significant changes have you implemented recently?
We have recently purchased a new building for the school on Mountain, so we can accommodate more students We also now have a daycare and accept children at six months old. We will also be implementing Smart Board Interactive technology in each classroom within the year.
What successes in the past year are you most proud of accomplishing?
Our academic programs are very rigorous, and one of our 7th grade students recently won the regional spelling bee and will be headed to nationals in Chicago.
What are your growth goals?
We would like to grow our pre-school and pre-K program. We accept all students, Muslim and non-Muslim and those programs have room to grow.
To learn, understand and respect other cultures and beliefs including Judeo-Christian values.
To reach out to the local community by competing with other schools in activities and performing leadership activities and community service.
Our alumni have gone on to be valedictorians in high schools and top merit scholars in prestigious universities but, most importantly, a lot of them have become model citizens.
Anything else you would like to add?
Registration for our summer program is now open, as well as registration for the 2016/2017 school year. We offer a safe, bully-free, environment for children of all ages, and we strive to foster a deep respect for all students.
Vanishing population of the European hamster in Jaworzno will be strengthened by the animals from the Czech Republic
Vanishing population of the European hamster in Jaworzno (Silesia) will be strengthened by the animals brought for this purpose from the Czech Republic. The city authorities in collaboration with scientists take action to support this endangered species.
European hamster - wild living mammal, formerly considered a pest, is now severely threatened with extinction in the entire area of its occurrence. In Jaworzno its population is getting smaller - during the study carried out in 2015 researchers counted just over 100 burrows.
Research team led by Dr. Joanna Ziomek from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan calculated that the probability of extinction of the population within 50 years is high, and in unfavourable conditions it may occur even earlier - within 20-30 years.
"Unfortunately, hamsters are dying at an alarming rate, mortality is particularly high among the young. It is a pity, because the European hamster is needed in the ecosystem. If we failed to take action now, its fate in Jaworzno would be sealed" - told PAP Insp. Marcin Tosza from the Municipal Office in Jaworzno.
"It is estimated that only approx. 200 hamsters live in Jaworzno and the population is isolated. Although it is not inbreeding yet, genetic diversity is low, which means, among others, reduced resistance to disease. Hence the idea to bring animals from the Czech Republic to Jaworzno" - he added.
Among the reasons for the decline of the hamster population in Jaworzno are reduction of agricultural activity and the process of transformation of small fields into wasteland, while agricultural in the larger fields intensifies. Predators, including dogs and cats are also a threat to hamsters.
For several years the Jaworzno authorities have been taking action to protect the hamster in the area. In addition to scientific research, they are also educational campaigns addressed to farmers, school children and youth. In late April, the City Council decided to establish a 270 hectares ecological area "European hamster" to protect these animals.
Hamster reach up to 30 cm in length and weighs up to 1 kg. Its fur takes shades from yellow-brown to reddish and red with a black belly. The fur around the mouth, on the feet and on the sides of the body is white. A characteristic feature of this species is the presence of cheek pouches, in which it transports food to the storage chambers.
European hamster spends most of its life in a burrow under the ground. It consists of: nest chamber, storage chambers, latrines and corridors that connect them. Outside is a mound made of soil. Hamsters feed mainly on cereal grains, but also eat invertebrates and the eggs of birds nesting on the ground.
PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland
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Polish archaeologists discovered dozens of paintings in Sudan
Interior of the Church of Archangel Raphael in Dongola. Photo by M. Rekajtis, archives of the Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw
The largest group of paintings from the turn of the VIII/IX century has been discovered in Sudan by the mission of the Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw.
The discovery was made during excavations inside the Church of Raphael in the royal complex in Dongola, northern Sudan. The temple is located next to the relics of a medieval palace. Dongola was the capital of Makuria, a powerful kingdom, which existed from the sixth to the fourteenth century, between I and V cataracts of the Nile. Its power is evidenced by the fact that the army of Makuria stopped the pressure of Muslim army in the first half of the VII century.
The church was discovered in 2006. However, it was crucial for the researchers to secure the structure. It was not until last year that a roof was built, which allowed to begin excavations.
"The design is unique - it does not repeat the plans of other famous religious buildings of this type. Paintings are also unusual" - told PAP Prof. Wodzimierz Godlewski from the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw, a longtime researcher of Dongola.
The paintings depict images of archangels, angels, priests, saints and Nubian kingdom officials from the beginning of the IX century. Originally, at each of the figures was a "legend" describing each person and their function.
Prof. Godlewski drew attention to one of the inscriptions discovered on the wall of the baptistery, which in his opinion has great historical significance. "The inscription commemorates the meeting of the bishops of Makuria with the king and archbishop of Dongola that took place in this church. This record revealed the territorial division of the church in Makuria - it listed the names of the bishops from particular towns" - said Prof. Godlewski. The meeting was presided over by the king - also named in the inscription - who was formally the head of the church in this state. An interesting fact is that the meeting was attended by - endowed with the title of Metropolitan - bishop of Faras, where decades ago the Poles led by Prof. Kazimierz Michaowski discovered a cathedral with paintings, some of which can be admired today in the National Museum in Warsaw.
"The church was founded by King Joannes. Until now we did not know much about him. The inscription proves that he was an important person in the hierarchy of the church and had considerable political influence" - added the scientist.
In the Church of Raphael archaeologists also discovered the earliest known in Makuria image of the king made in the church - in this case, in the apse.
"It is the oldest example of the official iconography introduced into the sacred interior - we know a similar example from Faras, but it comes from a later period" - added Prof. Godlewski.
The scientist believes that in terms of technology the paintings from the Church of Raphael are superior to those from Faras. They were made on a smooth lime plaster. The artists also used a number of expensive pigments, among others, of blue colour - lapis lazuli, rock outcrops of which are very far away from today\'s Sudan.
Among the interesting discoveries scientist also mentions a pulpit made of granite blocks brought from a pharaonic temple. Hieroglyphic inscriptions are visible on one of the blocks.
Another important find is a fragment of an icon made on wood. "This is the first such object discovered in the history of Sudan" - says the researcher. The icon is double-sided. On one side there is the image of the Virgin with a prayer, and on the other - a historical figure, possibly a local ruler. The object comes from the golden age of the kingdom of Makuria, the VIII-XI century.
The study took place in February. It will continue in November, provided that the researchers have sufficient funds.
PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland
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May 18, 2016
So who would you like to see on Prez candidate Donald Trump's SCOTUS shortlist?
The question in the title of this post came to mind upon seeing this new National Review commentary by Jim Geraghty headlined "Where Is Trumps Supreme Court Shortlist?". Here are excerpts:
Back on March 21, Donald Trump, sensing there was some conservative anxiety about whom he would nominate to the Supreme Court, promise to compile and release a list of five to ten great conservative judges with great intellects. I will guarantee that those are going to be the first judges that I put up for nomination if I win, Trump said. And that should solve that problem. Its mid-May now, Senate Republicans are holding the line against hearings or a confirmation vote on President Obamas nominee, Merrick Garland, and there remains no sign that a list of potential Trump nominees is forthcoming. Trumps handling of the Supreme Court question is worrisome on three fronts. First, there is the simple failure to deliver on a public promise.... Second, he gives little indication hes spent more than a few minutes thinking about who would make a good pick for the Court, or about the role of the judiciary in our government.... Third, theres little sign that Trump or anyone around him grasps how important and consequential the issue of judicial appointees is, or how much good it would do him to reassure Republicans who arent jumping on board the bandwagon. If there were a way to be absolutely certain that Trump would appoint two, three, or four Antonin Scalia clones during his presidency, a lot of Trump-skeptic conservatives might immediately see one giant reason to vote for him. If nothing else, they could rest easy knowing that the Second Amendment wouldnt be effectively nullified or curtailed, that Citizens United would remain the law of the land, that voter-ID laws would be upheld, and that pro-lifers could continue to make progress in the courts.... And thats the real tragedy of Trumps rise: At a time when the future of the issues most vital to conservatives is more tied to the Courts composition than ever before, the Republican party is about to nominate a man who inspires little confidence in conservatives. There are still actions he can take to help allay conservative concerns, and theres still time for him to take them. But if he does, all evidence suggests it will be because theyre in his own best interests rather than the nations. Though its less than ideal, getting the right outcomes for the wrong reasons may be the best we can hope for now.
For a number of reasons, sentencing fans should be very interested in who will become the next Supreme Court Justice, and it is seemingly becoming more and more likely that it Justice Scalia's replacement will not be Judge Garland (at least not in 2016 before Election Day). And though I am not through this post trying to make any predictions about who is likely to be the next President, I can confidently predict that the next person nominating federal judges (both to SCOTUS and to lower courts) will have a "yuge" impact on the future of all sorts of sentencing jurisprudence.
So, dear SL&P readers, if you had The Donald's ear, what names would you whisper to him if and whenever he starts thinking seriously about judicial nominations?
UPDATE: Seemingly only a few minutes after I put up this post, Trump did release his SCOTUS shortlist. This AP article provides these details:
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, released Wednesday a list of 11 potential Supreme Court justices he plans to vet to fill the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia if he's elected to the White House. The list of conservative federal and state judges includes Steven Colloton of Iowa, Allison Eid of Colorado and Raymond Gruender of Missouri. Also on the list are: Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, Joan Larsen of Michigan, Thomas Lee of Utah, William Pryor of Alabama, David Stras of Minnesota, Diane Sykes of Wisconsin and Don Willett of Texas. Trump had previously named Pryor and Sykes as examples of kind of justices he would choose.... In a statement, Trump said the list "is representative of the kind of constitutional principles I value" and said that, as president, he would use it "as a guide to nominate our next United States Supreme Court Justices." His campaign stressed the list was compiled "first and foremost, based on constitutional principles, with input from highly respected conservatives and Republican Party leadership."... Apart from Sykes, who is 58, the others all are younger than 55 and David Stras is just 41. The eight men and three women on the list are all white.
As a commentor below has aleady suggested, I am disappointed (but not suprised) that there does not appear to be any person with a history as a criminal defense attorney on this list. But I am excited to see Judge Pryor on the list due to his thoughtful sentencing writings and his recent experiences as a member of the US Sentencing Commission (as well as my pleasant interactions with him).
May 18, 2016 at 12:53 PM | Permalink
Comments
No one.
And for the reasons you outline in your post. "At a time when the future of the issues most vital to conservatives is more tied to the Courts composition than ever before,"
That is the problem, right there. I hadn't given much thought to it before it actually happened but I'm becoming more and more convinced that having a 4-4 split on the court is probably the best way currently to stop our run amok judiciary.
Posted by: Daniel | May 18, 2016 1:15:48 PM
The Supreme Court takes very few cases.
If a "run amok judiciary" is a concern, a 4-4 Court will be of limited help in various respects. Appellate courts and district court judges will still have broad discretion, the thinly argued Supreme Court opinions doing little to restrain their discretion. And, when some appellate court -- like the 5CA regarding the immigration issue that started with a single judge throwing a wrench into the works -- "runs amok," the a 4-4 Supreme Court will be less likely to do anything about it. The result will be a bit more diversity given conflicting results will be more likely but not sure how far that goes here.
From what I can tell, Trump will likely pick standard conservative types (taking the names he tossed out as maybes to replace Scalia) but guess Kozinksi and Sutton would be good options in that respect. I would also suggest Garland actually as a good compromise pick as seen by Republicans putting it out there in the past. Of course, my choices would ideally be more liberal ... don't think that's too realistic though.
Posted by: Joe | May 18, 2016 1:52:29 PM
The list has been released:
http://bigstory.ap.org/c68d11041efe47cc918fe3d7d2da4edb
I'd be very pleased to see our host's interpretation of the list.
With this walking, talking cipher a stones throw from the white house it's becoming like kremlinology to figure out what what he'd do in office.
Posted by: Boffin | May 18, 2016 2:48:48 PM
The list seems fairly standard and I take the professor will be upset about that -- e.g., his desire for more public defender types.
Posted by: Joe | May 18, 2016 2:58:29 PM
Warren Buffett (to old?)
Bill Gates
Mark Zuckerberg
In sum, put a billionaire who made his/her own money there. It will insulate against corruption, none are partisan, and all have to have brains to have done what they did. As a bonus, none of them are as much of a buffoon as Trump seems to be.
Posted by: Allan | May 18, 2016 3:08:34 PM
@Joe "If a "run amok judiciary" is a concern, a 4-4 Court will be of limited help in various respects."
I enjoy how you respond to points that people don't make.
Of course it will be of limited help. But one has to start somewhere. Baby steps, baby steps.
Posted by: Daniel | May 18, 2016 4:53:34 PM
Given the number of flip flops from this walking talking cipher, this list should probably be treated as a "suggestion" subject to change if he is elected. In other words, today is mollify the base to avoid a nasty convention. In October, this list will be in the shredder.
Posted by: tmm | May 18, 2016 5:36:17 PM
@Daniel, you said "the best way currently to stop our run amok judiciary."
My reply was that it wouldn't do much and at times would encourage outlier judges/circuits to "run amok" (e.g., one outlier to stop for an extended period of time major national policies).
I'm sorry if this is not the sort of "response" you think warranted but it seemed to me germane enough. A response is not the same thing as a refutation either; it is simply a response. OTOH, you use words differently than me sometimes.
Posted by: Joe | May 18, 2016 5:51:19 PM
Nothing like putting out an update minutes after you put out a biased piece that refutes almost everything...And thats the real tragedy of Trumps rise...no bias here.
Posted by: DeanO | May 19, 2016 7:46:49 AM
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While the would-be art Jedi tries to make his return to San Francisco, the possibility of a George Lucas Museum Of Narrative Art in a new location on Treasure Island has already been met with mild praise, some criticism, and plenty of helpful suggestion. We learned over the weekend that Lucas, the filmmaker whose Star Wars 'n More museum idea is apparently at a perennial impasse in Chicago, had met with Mayor Lee to discuss the relocation to the largely barren island. It's just the latest episode in a long saga of Lucas' attempts to gift his museum at us: The original Presidio site fell through in somewhat dramatic, somewhat anticlimactic fashion, perhaps owing to its Beaux Arts/Spanish revival architectural style and certainly due to an inability to compromise or share a vision.
The Chronicle's John King was sort of feeling the new Treasure Island idea in his column... with a number of conditions. "If the billionaire filmmaker does turn his attention back to the Bay Area... and presents an imaginative vision for San Franciscos Treasure Island that emphasizes transportation every bit as much as architecture, it actually might turn out to be a force for good," the critic wrote. There, to avoid the dark side I guess, King has a suggestion:
Imagine if part of Lucas proposal were to buy and operate at least two ferries one connecting Treasure Island to the Ferry Building, the other serving the East Bay from Oaklands Jack London Square. Such service could be part of the museums ticketed experience, similar to the current link between Pier 35 and Alcatraz. Thered be no point in families or Star Wars geeks navigating the already molasses-like Bay Bridge, solving a huge potential problem.
While King doesn't have an architectural plan to criticize yet he manages to get a dig in about the Presidio renderings he recommends, like, a good architect. And he even notes that Supervisors Jane Kim and Aaron Peskin are possibly onboard. The museum could give Treasure Island a heart and a destination, Peskin reportedly said.
Another critic of a sort, the billionaire Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, wasn't really having it. As he took to Twitter:
If G Lucas does something for SF Schools, Hospitals, & Homeless then @mayoredlee @LondonBreed ok otherwise no way. pic.twitter.com/bYHseeMDay Marc Benioff (@Benioff) May 16, 2016
Of course, we'll cross that bridge, or ride that ferry, when we come to it. Writes King " any talks with San Francisco are at an early stage."
Previously: Oh For God's Sake: George Lucas Is Back, Wants To Build His Museum On Treasure Island Now
There are still a couple weeks to enter the 2016 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest, but unless your skills and access to helicopters is up to the level of some of these photographers, you may not stand a chance of winning. The magazine holds the contest to highlight travel experiences around the globe, and they ask hobbyist and professional photographers alike to "Show us photos that tell the story of a place or reveal insights about what inspires you when you travel." Here are just some of the entries so far, all gorgeous, that highlight our very own city and the Bay Area, which are cellphone background image-worthy, all.
The deadline for entries is May 27, and you can see the entry form here. The grand prize is a seven-day polar bear safari for two at Churchill Wild-Seal River Heritage Lodge in northern Manitoba, Canada.
Also, a first-prize winner will get a Sony a6300 camera.
A now-former Safeway security guard was arrested Monday following a March 16 incident in which he allegedly kicked a small Chihuahua mix twice the second time sending the dog fleeing into traffic where it was hit by a car. According to a press release sent out this afternoon by Animal Care & Control, the dog, Rosco, later died at the San Francisco Pet Hospital. Ex-security guard Charles Lamar Moore was arrested yesterday on felony animal cruelty charges and is being held on $50,000 bail.
The incident was reported on at the time by ABC 7, which spoke with Rosco's owner. "I'm just trying to get some milk for my coffee," Mike Hardesty recalled of the morning he walked into the 16th and Bryant Safeway. "And when I walk in there's a scuffle."
According to Hardesty, he saw Moore struggling with a shopper, and so Hardesty took out his cellphone and began to record the incident. "[Moore] makes a beeline to me and slaps my phone out of my hand cause I got it pointed at him," he told the channel. "He tagged me in the ear as hard as he could. My ears still rings."
It was then, Hardesty alleged, that Moore kicked Rosco. "He kicks my dog like he was trying to win the Super Bowl. And Rosco took off and I ran after him as fast as I could." Unfortunately for all involved, the terrified dog ran away and was hit by a car before Hardesty could locate him.
According to the Animal Care & Control press release, the entire incident was captured on security footage. If found guilty, Moore could be fined up to $20,000 and could possibly serve jail time. He was employed by G4S Security, a company that provides security guards for Safeway.
"Whomever the Good Samaritan was who tried to save my dog took him to the pound bless you brother." Said Hardesty of the person who, in an ultimately failed effort to save Rosco's life, took the dog to the animal hospital. "I really appreciate your help."
Related: Video: Woman 'Walking' Dog From Moving Car Sparks Animal Cruelty Probe In Stockton
If we can have less of them, Chief Suhr said of police shootings in an exclusive sit-down with the Chronicle, its a good thing for everybody. And, as the Department of Justice carries on a review of his department announced in February, Suhr says he is the best equipped to institute its recommended reforms, which though they will not be mandatory, he plans to treat as "binding."
There are a lot of things that are moving parts," Suhr said in the interview with the Chronicle's editorial board. He also invoked the three-judge Blue Ribbon Panel on Transparency, Accountability and Fairness which is examining the department. "I cant honestly think of somebody else who could get it all done as quickly as I can get it done, he said.
Others disagree with that sentiment. Jane Kim, who is one of four Supervisors now calling for the Chief to leave his post, said that: "Chief Greg Suhr has served San Francisco for over 30 years and we should thank him for that service... 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."
Suhr insists that his department, though not without its problems, has been hard at work for some time. To suggest that the department has been standing still for five years would be a little bit unfair, he said. The men and women in this department have been very smart and thoughtful in the way they do things. That said, there have been some that have been equally as dumb and thoughtless in the way they do things, and that tends to carry the day and the headlines and sully the rest of the officers.
According to Suhr, the SFPD's priorities include new use-of-force policies and body-worn camera implementation. The Chief was also questioned about two police killings the shooting of Mario Woods in the Bayview last December and that of Luis Gongora in the Mission in April.
Suhr admits being "shocked" by Mario Woods' shooting (officers fire on him perhaps as many as 27 times as he shuffled near them, visibly intoxicated, allegedly with a kitchen knife loosely at his side). Still, Suhr still defends his officers, and claims that Woods' death resulted in new changes to protocol: Officers are now instructed to fire once, at the pelvis rather than the chest, and then reassess the situation.
Gongora's killing, however, might call into question the department's progress in the several months between those shootings, when it comes to de-escalation. Gongora was shot within 30 seconds of officers' arrival. Suhr contests that his department has answered more than 20,000 mental health crisis calls in the past five years without resorting to the use of deadly force.
Returning to the Blue Ribbon Panel, which is the project of former police chief and current district attorney George Gascon, Chief Suhr couldn't help but get in a few digs. He referred to the frequent "yin and yang between police chiefs and district attorneys," and said that perhaps Gascon had some "leavers remorse" for the police chief job, adding "Certainly his strengths would be more as a police officer than as a prosecutor because he never did that before."
Related: Pressure Mounts On SFPD Chief As Four Supervisors Call For His Resignation
After a surprisingly successful test run selling "Gilroy Garlic Fries" earlier this month, global conglomerate McDonald's has brought back their version of the garlic-chunk covered fries to four locations. The fries were originally intended for a limited run as a test item in the South Bay only, but quickly sold out. According to KRON 4, if the fries keep selling at this rate we may see them at 250 Bay Area locations by August.
But could the national food media please get their geography straight? A lot of press went out about how "San Francisco" had been gobbling up all these new garlic fries, not understanding that San Jose is not that close to here, and this all started at just two McDonald's locations down there.
"The new fries are made-to-order in McDonalds kitchens," a company press release reads, "where restaurant employees toss French fries in stainless steel bowls with a puree mix that includes ingredients, such as chopped Gilroy garlic and olive oil, parmesan cheese, parsley, and a pinch of salt."
Take special note that the fries are made with "ingredients." That's how you know they're "food."
The four locations currently serving the fries are 3509 Homestead Road Santa Clara (two and a half stars on Yelp), 2191 Monterey Road San Jose (two Yelp stars),1398 W San Carlos Street San Jose (also two stars), and 4838 San Felipe Road San Jose (a super-fancy three stars).
They're back! Sold out during test run, #Gilroy Garlic Fries are again being served at 4 #McDonalds in San Jose pic.twitter.com/kUkjWpLQpm Rob Fladeboe (@KRON4RFladeboe) May 17, 2016
The garlic is actually being sourced from Gilroy-based Christopher Ranch, so at least there's an element of verisimilitude to the whole thing.
"It's been great for us," explained an unnamed store manager to KRON 4. "Just seeing the overwhelming customer demand, and people talking about it all over social media, and just the feedback has been great."
We're looking forward to the day when the an open-air drug market and stoner haven that is the Mickey D's at Haight and Stanyan discovers this new garlicky delicacy, and offers their reviews.
Previously: McDonald's Sells 'Gilroy Garlic Fries' In Bid For Bay Area Relevance
The real estate developer behind San Francisco's massive Parkmerced project announced today via press release a newly formed partnership with ride-hail giant Uber. On the face of it, the goal appears an attempt to incentivize future tenants of the 5,700-unit project to reduce dependency on car ownership a goal which both benefits developer Maximus (every nonexistent parking space means more room to build apartments), and, of course, Uber.
"This is a first-of-its-kind partnership between Uber and a real estate development company, designed to encourage car-free living at Parkmerced and establish a sustainable, multimodal transportation model for communities and developments across the United States and globally," reads the press release in part.
Both the Chronicle and Business Times report that developer Maximus will provide tenants with a $100 "subsidy" that can be used toward Clipper cards and Uber rides. The Times writes that "a minimum of $30 of the subsidy must be used on Uber, and the developer would be paying for the subsidy, not Uber, according to a source familiar with the arrangement."
The press release from Maximus, however, makes no mention of a subsidy, and instead refers to an "incentive." "New residents to Parkmerced will be able to reduce their private car use through a $100 monthly incentive to be used with Uber, the worlds leading rideshare company, and Clipper, an all-in-one Bay Area transit card providing access to Muni, Bart, Caltrain and more, with more transportation options to come." Uber's press release calls it a "stipend."
SFist reached out to Parkmerced spokesperson P.J. Johnston, Maximus spokesperson Mitch Breindel, and Uber in an attempt to clarify just exactly how the program will work. An Uber spokesperson informed SFist that the deal is optional for tenants, would be good for the life of the lease, and applies on a per-unit (not per-person) basis.
This agreement raises a number of obvious questions. Primarily, will the cost of the guaranteed $30 per month toward Uber simply be passed on to the renter in the form of higher rent? And do the credits expire monthly?
Interestingly, in receiving the $100 incentive renters are agreeing to be tracked by both Uber and their future landlord both while they live there and potentially even before they move in. "Parkmerced and Uber will undertake research regarding program participants driving habits before and during their participation, to add important real-world data about driving behavior, cost savings, use of public transportation, and associated environmental benefits," the Maximus press release reads.
Just what, exactly, does this mean?
These are all questions that are left unanswered by both the Chron and the Business Times. One thing, however, is for sure: Supervisor Scott Wiener is excited about Uber's foray into real estate.
By incentivizing multimodal transportation, this pioneering partnership between Uber and Parkmerced demonstrates the kind of innovative leadership that is needed to help solve San Franciscos, and other cities, pressing urban mobility challenges, the supervisor wrote in Maximus' release.
Oh, and for you Lyft fans out there, tough luck this deal is exclusive to Uber.
Related: Parkmerced Plan Narrowly Approved by Board of Supervisors
There are rumblings among Vine stars, ad execs, and "influencers" that Vine isn't, like, all that hot anymore, and the Wall Street Journal picks up on the story in an effort to convince us that it understands these things.
To wit:
Three years after it burst onto the scene to create a new breed of short-form comedy and give rise to a group of heartthrob stars, Vine is struggling. Marketers and ad buyers that paid creators to make sponsored Vines have soured on the app, which is owned by Twitter, and are directing dollars toward competitors like Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram. Video creators frustrated with Vine have followed the ad money, and some of the top Viners rarely post anymore as they focus on their other social media accounts.
This is of course more bad news for Twitter, and it may just be the latest in an onslaught of stories about the fickleness of social media users, and how no one yet seems to know where all of this is going when it comes to advertising and revenue generation.
Back in 2013, the big news was the teens were fleeing Facebook because their grandmothers were on there. Last year, a Pew Research Center poll found that wasn't really the case, and Facebook was still the most used social network among teens 13 to 17, with 71 percent saying they used it and 41 percent saying it was their most used site. Meanwhile 51 percent said they were using Instagram, and at the time, Vine was being used by just 24 percent, and Snapchat, 41 percent.
Now trends appear to have swung back around in Facebook's favor as they've worked to push video and Facebook Live, and Vine stars like Simone Shepard (3.1 million followers) have thus only posted three six-second videos in the last six months on Vine, preferring to create better content on Facebook instead. She tells the Journal she's heard this a lot from other Vine stars, saying, "At one point, none of us were on Facebook. We thought it was for like Grandma. Now, the majority of us are moving and making more content on Facebook and Facebook Live."
As Digital Trends noted last month, as Facebook rolled out Facebook live for mobile, in an effort to compete with apps like Periscope, "Video" now has replaced Messenger in the core app for a percentage of users.
Facebook is trying to lure as many broadcasters and content producers as they can in this early stage saying that live video is "truly authentic" and there's an advantage to getting on the platform early. AS Product Management Director for video Fidji Simo tells TechCrunch, "Were encouraging public figures and media companies to get in early and figure out what works."
Here's one of these early efforts, below, and in case you missed it, this guy just accidentally broadcast the birth of his child to the entire world.
Related: Facebook May Let You Add A Tip Jar To Your Posts
ORANGE CITY, Iowa | Spoiler alert: Thousands of Orange City tulips peaked one week ago.
I bear bad news.
There's good news, too. Thousands of tulips remain at their zenith this week as the 76th Orange City Tulip Festival begins Thursday under sunny skies and temperatures (finally!) inching into the 70s, a temperate experience for visitors strolling through Windmill Park and up and down Central Avenue for Dutch parades held twice daily.
I've visited the ghosts of Tulip Festivals past when flowers bloomed weeks ahead of the party. (I called it the Orange City Stem Festival in 2012, and kinda regret doing so.) I've also shivered, watching locals, their noses and cheeks raw, wash the streets, prepping for a parade that should celebrate the winter solstice.
That won't happen in 2016, a wacky weather year that sees Sioux County farmers planting corn with Orange Cityans awash in an array of orange, purple, white and pink.
Cardinal red and yellow tulips lining both sides of Central Avenue SW, just north of Northwestern College, rate best of show for me this week. If this were 1933, when locals unfurled the initial Orange City Tulip Show, those petals in Iowa State University colors would get top billing.
"This is the first day we've been out to see the park and the tulips," Karen Wynia, of nearby Maurice, Iowa, says. "It's been so windy this spring."
Wynia trots around the park, chasing her enthusiastic granddaughters, Selah Breen, 4, and Alexa Breen, 18 months.
Wynia is pleased so many tulips at Windmill Park withstood a flurry of cool, gusty punches this spring. "You can't control the weather," she says.
Thousands of visitors will also eye edible treats served throughout Orange City this week. Loren and Kathy Mulder keep busy around the clock staffing their Dutch Bakery, a flower bed or two from Windmill Park.
As Kathy rings up sales and keeps the coffee flowing up front on Tuesday, Loren and his kitchen staffers, Jeremy Van Den Berg and Fernando Ponce, on loan from the Mulders' bakery in nearby Rock Valley, Iowa, make and bake 3,000 almond patties.
"If the weather for the Tulip Festival is nice, we may have to make more almond patties for Saturday, the last day of the festival," Loren Mulder says.
This three-day stretch will be the busiest time of the year for the Dutch Bakery, says Mulder, who still maintains an interest in farming.
"Our daughter, Beatrice Mulder, is waiting on a part for the corn planter right now," Loren Mulder says. "Once we get the planter going, she'll plant our corn crop."
Loren and Kathy Mulder bought the Dutch Bakery six years ago after Loren suffered a broken neck in an automobile crash. He was hospitalized for five days, fearing paralysis.
He recovered, but had to give up the physical demands of milking 40 to 120 cows up to four times per day. "The accident wasn't a life-threatening event, it was a life-changing event," he says.
A life-changing event, the death of a husband, puts four Orange City women together at the Dutch Bakery every Tuesday. They convene to celebrate friendship while catching up on the week's events.
Coba Rens, Jean Goslinga, Eleanor Van Grouw and Geri De Jong sip coffee and talked of their Dutch heritage and this week's Tulip Festival. They agree the town's tulips, for the most part, hit their apex one week ago. That said, there are still thousands of tulips to enjoy this week, along with multiple parades, marching bands and "West Side Story," the popular Night Show musical.
There's also work to do. Rens, who is 94, joins Goslinga in saying the pig-in-a-blanket Dutch delicacy tops their list of Tulip Festival food favorites.
Their appetite creates work for Van Grouw, who lovingly labors this week to produce that savory staple. "I've already made 30 dozen this month," Van Grouw says.
As I depart, the baker and his wife, parents of six children, check on a tray of almond patties. The women in the Tuesday coffee klatsch out front, at my request, count the number of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren they've helped welcome into this world. It comes to 94.
Meantime, Grandma Wynia stays busy across the street, swinging her granddaughters, a rite of spring in Windmill Park.
And, the tulips? Orange City residents imported them from the Netherlands after settling this city on the plains of Northwest Iowa. Back home, the tulip symbolized prosperity.
Most, though not all, of the tulips stand and wave for this week's festival, and that's a good thing.
You just don't need beautiful flowers to see that people are prospering here.
BANCROFT, Neb. | Preparing meals for dozens of children every day, knowing that some of them won't like the food, is part of the job of being a school cook.
Becky Wortman has been doing this long enough not to take it personally.
"You can't please everybody," Wortman said with a shrug.
She doesn't let it bother her. What bothers her are the hairnets. Wortman does not like wearing the hairnets.
"I hate the hairnets," she said, adding it emphatically to her comments at the end of an interview.
On Thursday, Wortman will wear the hated hairnet for the last time as she prepares and serves her final meal after 34 years in food service at Bancroft-Rosalie Public School.
May is the time when another school year ends along with long careers spent inside those schools. We often hear of the beloved teachers or principals who are retiring.
But inside every school are people like Wortman -- food service workers, secretaries, custodians, bus drivers and others. They're not teachers, but many of these workers have spent decades working there, performing important tasks that keep every school running smoothly.
Tasks like preparing meals to give students the energy needed to pay attention and learn.
"We're not just cooks, we're a vital part of the educational system," Wortman said.
And, in Wortman's case, she's loved just about every minute of working in the kitchen, first in Rosalie beginning in 1982, then in Bancroft after the schools consolidated in 1983. For the past 30 years, she's been the district's food service manager, entrusted with making sure the lunches -- and since 2001, breakfasts, too -- served to 250-270 students every day are healthy and, hopefully, tasty.
"I think for the most part they like it," she said. "We just do their favorites and balance it through the week."
It's a tough balancing act. Nutrition guidelines change. New foods and ingredients get added to meet those requirements, but not always to the students' satisfaction. Sweet potato fries were one of those experiments, until the high school students piled all the uneaten fries onto a couple trays and returned them at the end of the lunch period to make their point.
"They just didn't want them," Wortman said.
There are plenty of items that are much more popular than the sweet potatoes. Chili and cinnamon rolls are always popular. Homemade pizza is a big hit. Students like the taco and super nacho bars, too.
"You need to follow the regulations, but you also need to feed the kids, keep them happy and give them healthy choices," Wortman said.
And document it all. Wortman won't miss all the record-keeping that goes into planning meals and ordering commodities. It's hard enough to cook and clean up the kitchen afterward.
"You're on your feet a lot, lifting a lot of heavy things," Wortman said. "It's a lot of stressful, heavy work."
And it's fun. Working in the kitchen allowed Wortman to see her own children, and now her grandchildren, in school every day.
"To get in with the school was kind of nice," said Wortman, whose mother was a teacher. She also has a sister teaching here. "The school system's been in my blood."
Wortman's husband, Jerry, retired from farming a couple years ago, and they'll continue to enjoy traveling and camping during the summer while fixing up a house in Maskell, Nebraska. There will be more time to see grandchildren.
Wortman will happily hang up the hairnet, but will take many fond memories with her.
"I'll miss the kids, and the staff is so great," she said. "It's like an extended family here."
A family for whom she's made thousands of meals.
SIOUX CITY | A daughter who is accused of abusing and stealing from her disabled father is facing felony charges.
Diane Davis-Sattizahn, 37, was arrested for stealing more than $30,000 from her disabled father in a retirement home, according to police.
Court documents state Davis-Sattizahn was acting as financial caretaker for her father, who is diagnosed with Parkinsons disease.
From December 2014 to January 2016, police allege Davis-Sattizahn did not pay for her fathers medication or care, resulting in $50,000 in debt.
Davis-Sattizahn also stole about $30,000 from her father's bank account during that time, police said.
Davis-Sattizahn is charged with first-degree theft and dependent adult abuse.
She was booked into the Woodbury County Jail Tuesday on $10,000 bond.
District Judge Patrick Carr on Monday dismissed the case against Derrick Roberts, 48, who had been arrested in April on a charge of second-degree sexual abuse in connection with a 2009 incident involving a 6-year-old girl.
Assistant Buena Vista County Attorney Ashley Bennett had filed a motion to dismiss the case, saying in her motion that prosecution was not justified, in part because of the sufficiency or insufficiency of the evidence.
SIOUX CITY | The Woodbury County Board of Supervisors will soon take ownership of a building in Anthon, Iowa, that's been used for free since the 1990s as a satellite courthouse.
For two decades, use of the so-called Little Courthouse in Anthon for county treasurer duties such as paying property taxes functioned on gentleman's agreement.
But with the building leaking and needing improvements, the Anthon City Council members on May 9 proposed moving ownership from the city to the county, so long as it continues to be used by the county. If the county were to stop offering the treasurer's office duties, the ownership would revert back to the city of Anthon.
The Woodbury County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday said they like the concept of taking ownership of the building. However, they debated whether the county should pay anything beyond the needed repairs, which are estimated to cost $7,440.
"I think we sort of are responsible ... They want more than a buck," County Supervisor Mark Monson said.
Monson said if the county decides to give Anthon money for the building, Anthon council members want the money to go to the fledgling Anthon Economic Development Corporation, which is looking for seed money to deliver to economic growth projects in the town.
The topic was only a discussion item in the Tuesday meeting, so Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeremy Taylor said an official vote will likely follow in a few weeks, once the contract is settled. Woodbury County Assistant Attorney Joshua Widman said the supervisors need to finalize the financial details before that contract is made.
The Little Courthouse, 105 N. Second St., is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Many rural residents use that option, rather than driving to Sioux City and doing those tasks in the county courthouse.
The county supervisors said they want to keep the Little Courthouse, since rural residents like it. Monson said people from not only Anthon but nearby Correctionville, Cushing and Danbury like the facility as an option.
The city of Anthon purchased the former U.S. Department of Agriculture building in 1995 for $21,000. Since that time, the city has paid to have the building insured and the county has paid nothing for using it.
County Treasurer Mike Clayton, who oversees the tasks handled out of the Little Courthouse, previously said there are no known documents setting specifications for county use of the building or for the payment of rent.
DES MOINES | Landowners along a Dakota Access pipeline are slated to meet this week to discuss Iowa's eminent domain process and available legal options if they are dissatisfied with the outcome of upcoming county compensation hearings in cases where they refuse to voluntarily sign easement agreements with the oil company.
Keith Puntenney of the Private Property Rights Coalition said Tuesday meetings have been planned in Des Moines on Wednesday and in Storm Lake on Thursday where attorneys with eminent domain expertise will help landowners prepare for their compensation hearings and provide advice on appraisals, experts and costs for representation.
"This is just to talk about process, so everybody's on the same page," said Puntenney, who noted that at least one compensation/condemnation hearing regarding the proposed underground oil pipeline has been slated in Cherokee County for June 13.
In addition to Cherokee, the pipeline route goes through portions of Buena Vista, Lyon, O'Brien and Sioux counties in Northwest Iowa.
State law grants eminent domain authority to government entities to take private property in return for fair-market compensation for use as a public utility, public right of way or public service, but critics say the Dakota Access does not fall under any of those categories as a private company.
"We expect a lot of litigation to come out of this going forward into district courts," Puntenney said in an interview Tuesday.
Dakota Access, a unit of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, won initial approval of a permit and eminent domain authority from the Iowa Utilities Board in March but construction on parcels where the company has voluntary easements has been delayed pending U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approval.
The company indicates it has voluntary easements for up to 88 percent of the 1,254 Iowa parcels held by 910 landowners along the 346-mile route through 18 Iowa counties. The proposed pipeline will transport up to 570,000 barrels of crude oil daily from North Dakota to a distribution hub in Patoka, Ill.
"Our best guess is that there are between 10 (percent) and 15 percent of the parcels out there that are still in the mix," said Puntenney, who is refusing to grant a voluntary easement on land he owns in Boone and Webster counties.
"We're only at the beginning, not anywhere close to the end," he said of a legal process he expects to end at the Iowa Supreme Court. "We're finally at the beginning where landowners have the right to go forward through the legal process."
The permit issued by the Iowa Utilities Board and agreed to by Dakota Access, calls for the developer to wait to begin construction until it has received permission from the Corps of Engineers. Dakota Access has requested to begin construction early.
The Corps of Engineers is evaluating parts of the pipeline route for cultural impacts as well as impacts to waterways and endangered species. The review was expected to take several more weeks.
SIOUX CITY | Eighty percent of people in downtown Sioux City who identified themselves as homeless have been arrested before, with about a third of the arrests stemming from public intoxication, a survey released Tuesday found.
About 20 percent of the homeless interviewed spent at least six hours per day searching for a place to sleep, according to the survey.
The findings were the topic of discussion at the Siouxland Street Project meeting Tuesday at the Sioux City Public Museum.
Representatives from dozens of local governments, businesses and other organizations were present as part of the six subcommittees for the project, each focused on different aspects of the homeless problem in Sioux City.
Presenting the survey was Julia Kleinschmit, clinical associate professor at the University of Iowa, who helped interview 97 homeless at the Sioux City Public Library.
We asked them questions like, 'Where do you sleep? How much time do you spend per day finding a place to stay?' Kleinschmit told the audience.
About 68 percent of the homeless interviewed said they wished to change their situation, but felt they lacked the support needed.
Forty-seven of those surveyed were Native American, many of whom said they did not feel welcome in certain areas and businesses in town.
Local Native American activist Frank LaMere said such discrimination is something he himself has faced numerous times.
This is important. I get disrespected in the same places, and we have to do something about this, LaMere said. Its the elephant in the room.
Reasons for homelessness varied from case to case, such as loss of a job or substance abuse. Many wish to have efficacy apartments but cannot find suitable living conditions.
Some of them were evicted because they didnt pay rent as a form of protest against landlords who wouldnt fix things or terrible living conditions, Kleinschmit said.
Many homeless said they had a set schedule of leaving shelters in the morning before walking to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Transportation Center to stay warm, then going to the library before finding lunch, then going back to the shelter to check in at night.
The last question asked was something they are proud of they would want people to know like military service, graduating college with a 4.0 GPA, and being transgender.
It only gets harder to get a job and a place to live the longer you are homeless and living so rough, Kleinschmit said.
As an incentive for taking the survey, each respondent was given $5 gift cards to Kum & Go, funded by Mercy Medical Center -- Sioux City.
Matt Ohman, executive director of the Siouxland Human Investment Partnership, one of the agencies taking part in the project, said they hoped the cards were not used by the homeless interviewees to buy alcohol.
Its possible they did, but its something we hoped they wouldnt spend the cards on, he said.
WINNEBAGO, Nebraska | A private contractor will take over management of the Winnebago, Nebraska hospital in an effort to improve the delivery of emergency health services to members of the Winnebago and Omaha tribes.
The Indian Health Service said Tuesday it has awarded a contract to Gilbert, Arizona-based AB Staffing Solutions LLC, to run emergency rooms at Winnebago and at tribal hospitals in Rosebud and Pine Ridge, South Dakota.
The deal is for one year, with an option for the company to renew it for up to four more years. At that length of service, the contract would be worth $60 million.
The move to privatize the ERs comes after federal inspectors found serious deficiencies at the three hospitals, which are all part of the IHS' Great Plains Area, headquartered in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
The awarding of the contract followed a nearly month-long bidding process overseen by the IHS.
This new contract underscores the IHS commitment to pursuing creative new solutions that ensure high quality care for our patients, who are our top priority, IHS Deputy Director Mary Smith said in a statement Tuesday. IHS recognizes that high quality emergency room services are critical to communities.
Under the contract, AB Staffing Solutions will provide additional ER staffing, operations support and management services at the hospitals.
At Winnebago, a doctor, nurses and a medical support assistant will be assigned to other departments to improve services and decrease patient wait times. Clinic hours will be expanded. IHS has yet to release the new hours.
Last July, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services terminated its contract with the Winnebago hospital after it failed to correct a series of deficiencies identified by federal inspectors that they said jeopardized patient safety. The move meant the hospital was no longer eligible for reimbursement for treating patients enrolled in the federal health care program for the elderly and disabled.
To fund its new ER personnel, IHS will use short-term funding. The federal agency will review the operations in the Great Plains Area to develop long-term solutions, according to a news release.
In an effort to attract more qualified hospital staffing, IHS said it has been approved to pay relocation costs and increase health insurance premiums and salaries for some positions at its tribal hospitals.
At the Pine Ridge hospital, at least 21 nurses and 10 medical support assistants in the ER will be transferred to other hospital outpatient clinics. This will mean, for the first time, the hospital will have Saturday clinics from noon to midnight.
In Rosebud, insufficient ER staffing led to patients diverted to other facilities for care. Other medical services in Rosebud have remained available.
Last Friday, IHS announced it had teamed up with the CMS to provide assistance to the three tribal hospitals through the Hospital Engagement Network, or HEN.
Capt. Jeff Salvon-Harman, IHS national director of HEN, said in an interview Tuesday the program will allow hospital staff to prevent hospital acquired infections and avoidable readmission.
Were committed to leveraging the opportunity to quality healthcare for all of our patients, Salvon-Harman said. Itll best help protect the patients.
Earlier this month, IHS sought bids for one- to four-year contracts for telehealth management to cover emergency services, specialty referrals and provider-to-provider consults at its seven hospitals in the Great Plains Area.
IHS has not disclosed whether any bids had been submitted for the telehealth services.
Local SEO is very different than your general SEO campaign, but it can be very beneficial. But, we will admit that local SEO is tough and can be very hard to understand. Luckily, weve sat down and come up with some unique and effective tips that you can use for your local business. With these simple and effective local SEO tips, you will be able to obtain a new level of organic search traffic.
Effective Local SEO Tips To Implement
Do the Keyword Research
I know, you are probably tired of hearing about keyword research, but its crucial. But I will give you this Im not just going to talk about keyword research I am going to show you how to perform it. First thing first, go to the AdWords tool and set up a campaign, if you need to. Once this is accomplished, use the keyword tool and put in your current website. From there, it should pull up for you a list of tons of keywords that you are likely associated with. From there, delete all of the Ad Groups (left-hand column), which do not relate to you. From there, you should have 5-15 groups of keyword phrase that you can rank for. You then want to highlight the different groups and make sure that you have a different page optimized for each group of phrases.
This is an example of what a finished product should look like:
Build Out Landing Pages for Groups of Phrases
After you finish your keyword research, you want to make sure that you have one web page for each group of phrases. Pick out which web page you want to optimize for each group, and then focus on that page for those groupings. If you do not have it, then you want to build out landing pages for each group. Once this is complete, you have to have the landing pages linked to from the navigation bar. You want each page to optimize for the group of phrases, using the following:
1. Meta title
2. Meta description
3. URL
4. H1 tag
5. Body content
Build Local Citations
Google has three things that they look at for local SEO: time that your business/domain has been active, the links/citations back to your site, and then reviews. Getting links will be important, but having local citations is important so that Google knows where you are located. You need local directories (named citations) that point to your site that all have the same information from your phone number, email, address, etc.
One way that you can do this well is to use a tool, such as White Spark or Moz Local. Or if you want a DIY solution, you can use a YEXT automated directory solution. However, we see much more results from tools like White Spark/Moz, and then our SEO services that make all of the local citations manually, one by one.
Build Local Editorial Links
In addition to citations, you also need editorial links without the nofollow tags inside them. All directories or citations contain their outbound links as rel=nofollow which tells Google to not crawl the link to your site. Therefore, you need to good do-follow links to your site. You can find very relevant local websites, such as local blogs, or even more national blogs that have to do with your industry. For instance, if you are a lawyer, you can Google search for Write for Us Law, Contributing Writers Law or Guest Contribution Law. This way Google can serve you results from websites that allow contributing writers. Then email them and secure a contributing writer spot and write content for them. Usually, they will nofollow the links in your bios, but your articles can contain links to your actual website.
Build Social Media Signals
Building social media signals is different than just doing social media. You need to post your blogs to your social media platforms and build relationships with your target market. Use retargeting to promote your content to website visitors, promote your content to people in your area (side note if you are not creating good content, then you need to start ASAP) and use the advertising tools to really get your content shares, likes, and views. This allows Google to see that people are talking about you and your content, and therefore, are a good source for the keywords that you have.
Obtain Reviews
One of the three big things that Google looks at is user generated content. They want to see what people say about you. Make sure that you send people over to your Google+ page and your Yelp page to write good reviews and look for review sites in your niche by searching on your keywords, plus reviews. Get good, real, and positive reviews and Google will value your site more than others, as long as you have the other two parts, which are links/citations and time you have been around.
Measure Your Traffic
Once you implement these tactics, be sure to measure your traffic so that you can benchmark your success. Use Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools to segment your organic search traffic. If your traffic, sales, and rankings are going up, you can be assured that your local SEO campaign is doing well.
Do you have any effective local SEO tips to share?
See Also: 62 Percent of Consumers Think Local Businesses Need Better Online Presence
Customer satisfaction is an elusive concept for every business, be it a huge corporation or a small startup. Companies have spent millions compiling statistics, research, interviews, focus groups, etc. trying to determine the magic formula for a loyal customer and repeat visitor.
Every client is different and therefore will be pleased or disappointed by a myriad of personal exchanges and outcomes. Needs are different for every customer. A single person generally wont have the same needs as a business. A small business will most likely have different needs than a large business. There is one thing in common for everyone though; they expect exceptional customer service from the business they are dealing with.
Exceptional Customer Service Tips
Every person wants to feel important, and like their needs and issues are being met with sincerity and competence. Customer service in the past meant greeting a customer when they walked in and addressed any concerns or questions in person. We are immersed in an almost entirely digital world. It is guaranteed while you may understand why your online business is unique and important; and you or your company are the right person for the job, thats hard to tell for an average consumer.
If your company is entirely online, whether a startup or an established corporation, you cant risk a bad customer experience. According to this American Express study (PDF) having exceptional customer service and satisfaction not only correlates to existing clients spending more money; it also means attracting new clients. Loyalty, word of mouth, and satisfaction are things that can sometimes make or break a business. A good reputation is important for growth and success. Thats why the customer experience should be one of if not the most important keystones of your marketing platform.
Start Off On the Right Customer Service Foot
If a potential customer has received no personal recommendations from a friend or colleague, they open up their computer, search for the product or service they want, and start to narrow down the data to find what might work for them. While your website or app might be sleek and beautiful, engaging and easy to use, people will still have questions. Your team may be impressive and come with high accolades, people will still have questions. An individual embarking on a new career path they might not be familiar with yet, will appreciate customer service the most. For instance, someone trying to grow their small business online with a mobile app or website design would appreciate feeling welcomed and encouraged the second they open your page.
This is where the opportunity to provide exceptional customer service experience from the very beginning first presents itself. A live chat option can be immensely helpful. It has the personal touch of speaking to a real person with the convenience of distancing yourself from a product you arent fully invested in yet. It makes a customer feel heard and acknowledged without the pressure of feeling the need to buy or upgrade. Often just a simple live chat icon somewhere visible on the page helps let the customer know right from the second they discover your page, you are willing to help.
Not all businesses implement live chat and not everyone needs to. However, having a Contact Us tab or a FAQ link viewable when first browsing a site is important. The customer has only begun to consider your business, and they already feel important and appreciated. Which is hopefully how you want them to feel!
Follow Through
A customer is interested in your business. They hopefully want what you are selling. You have already answered most of their questions with a help option of some kind. If it is an item they are buying you need to make sure the entire process is seamless. A person shouldnt have to select purchase, enter in their card information, and then find out the item is out of stock or discontinued. Purchasing an item already decided upon shouldnt take more than ten minutes.
For an online service such as design, app building, marketing, etc. alongside a website that shows your work and success; accessibility is key. For an optimum customer experience, you need to be accessible. Respond in a timely manner. Its infuriating to submit a question online but not receive a reply for three days, or worse an automated message that addresses zero concerns. After all someone is paying you for a service.
If you are a larger start up company and cant keep up with all the communication, hiring a third party site, a part time assistant, or even an intern can help. A customer who feels as if his needs are met during the process is more likely to use you for all their needs in the future. And as their business grows, so does your likelihood of good word of mouth from them to their colleagues, friends or family.
Recognize and Engage Feedback
It is reported that 88 percent of customers look at other reviews when deciding to buy an item or commit to a business. Of those over half will take some sort of positive action whether it is visiting the website or searching for further content.
Whatever social media your company utilizes; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc., it is important to acknowledge a customer or clients recognition, either good or bad. It takes an instant for someone to post a status or tweet an opinion about a company. It takes an instant for hundreds of people to see it. A business looks engaged and invested when they respond publicly to a compliment or complaint.
Alternatively, a poor response or none at all can tend to gain momentum, and can forever link your business with a poor opinion in a readers mind. Responding positively will be seen by others and place your brand in their mind for future choices. It doesnt hurt to remind the public of your business and likability. And often times it pays off with recognition and appreciation when businesses treat their clients as a priority. And lets be honest, it feels good as a client to be endorsed by a company youre working with.
Customer Dissatisfaction
Problems will happen. Things will go wrong. The most important part of a small online business is personal engagement and creating loyalty. Whether it is questions or complaints, to build a superior customer experience you need options. Some clients dont have the time to call in for a simple question or issue.
Other clients might not feel comfortable typing all their concerns and questions online. The most important thing is a response, preferably an engaging response. A person shouldnt have just one choice on how to reach a company. Ideally, there should be a social media option, an email option, and/ or a direct phone contact option. Live chats and additional strategies are added bonuses. When someone is dissatisfied they often just want recognition, an explanation, or a product exchange or refund. Providing a prompt and concerned response can settle a dispute and convince a customer they are valued and should keep their business with you.
Stay Innovative
As your customers grow and change, grow with them. Staying on top of their evolving needs is important. Once youve developed a client following and a method for attracting new business you are on the path to a successful future. Having a loyal client base means you get to take the kinds of innovative and exciting initiatives for the direction you want your company to head.
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
Film Review Love & Friendship Jane Austen anti-romance adds the wit of a modern sophisticate Whit Stillman, meet Jane Austen. Jane Austen, meet Whit Stillman. Yeah, its kind of astonishing that its taken so long for these two creative minds to cross paths.
Reel World New Mexico Post Alliance hosts another workshop, Joe Hill discusses his newest horror thriller, Kimo screens The Roaring Twenties and Gavin Hood screens and speaks at UWC.
GREENBELT, Md.
(May 18, 2016)Two brothers were sentenced to prison today for filing 46 fraudulent tax returns seeking refunds of over $224 million. U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm sentenced Sean Aude Gallman, age 39, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland to 11 years in prison, and Eric Maurice Gallman, age 42, of Huntersville, North Carolina, to four years in prison, both followed by three years of supervised release. The Gallmans previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud, mail fraud, and conspiring to commit money laundering. Sean Gallman also pleaded guilty to money laundering and aggravated identity theft.Judge Grimm also ordered Sean and Eric Gallman to pay restitution to the IRS of $16,512,492; and forfeit the amount of the refunds paid by the IRS, including $11,529,954 seized from numerous bank accounts; foreign currency and gold and silver coins seized from a residence in Upper Marlboro; nine residential properties located in Upper Marlboro and Laurel, Maryland, North Carolina and South Carolina; and two Mercedes-Benz vehicles and a Hyundai vehicle.The sentences were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Tax Division of the Department of Justice; and Special Agent in Charge Thomas Jankowski of the Internal Revenue ServiceCriminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office."These two criminals filed bogus tax returns claiming 'refunds' that were not owed, and stole over $16 million from the IRS," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. "Federal agents and prosecutors have a duty to pursue perpetrators of such fraud schemes and try to recover money stolen from the United States Treasury.""The Gallman brothers engaged in a willful and deliberate scheme to steal from the U.S. Treasury and in turn, U.S. taxpayers," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo. "The Department will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute individuals and entities engaged in this criminal conduct, and will seek substantial prison terms, fines and full restitution to hold defendants accountable and send a strong message to potential offenders.""Using the U.S. Treasury as a personal piggy bank to obtain millions of dollars in fraudulent refunds, the Gallman's not only showed their blatant disregard of the law, but also for the American taxpayer," said Thomas Jankowski, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Washington D.C. Field Office. "Today's sentencing's emphasize that such greed based criminal behavior comes with a cost."According to court documents and evidence presented at the sentencing hearing, Sean and Eric Gallman established trusts and business entities, and used mailboxes at numerous private commercial postal carrier stores in Maryland and North Carolina as the addresses for the trusts and business entities. The defendants, acting as trustees and agents, mailed fraudulent tax returns to the IRS in the names of the trusts and businesses requesting refunds.For example, in January 2013, Sean Gallman mailed to the IRS a fraudulent 2012 tax return in the name of the Gallman Charitable Trust, requesting a refund of $8,218,930. Also around this time, the defendants mailed to the IRS a fraudulent 2012 tax return in the name of LEA Group Holdings Trust, requesting a refund of $8,293,562. The defendants knew that the trusts were not entitled to the tax refunds. After receiving refund checks in these amounts, on February 15 and March 11, 2013, the defendants deposited the two refunds in bank accounts they controlled. To hide their receipt of these refunds, the defendants used cashier's checks and other financial instruments to transfer a portion of the money to third parties and other bank accounts.Altogether, the Gallman brothers filed approximately 46 fraudulent tax returns seeking refunds totaling $224,676,998, for which the IRS paid two refunds totaling $16,512,492.United States Attorney Rosenstein and Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo praised IRS-Criminal Investigation for its work in the investigation and thanked Assistant United States Attorney Thomas P. Windom and Trial Attorney Erin Pulice of the Department of Justice Tax Division, who prosecuted the case.
In June 2015, the marriage equality movement was celebrating what they had been fighting for, for years: the legalization of same-sex marriage across the country. Finally, LGBT couples could say I do and enjoy the rights that their neighbors, friends, and family had for so long.
However, even before the Supreme Court made its ruling, one group was already looking ahead to the next fight.
We started to kind of get together and put together some brainstorming: What were the things we learned from the marriage movement? remembers Matt McTighe, the executive director for Freedom for All Americans. How can we capture this momentum and make sure those lessons learned and some of the resources we had developed and [apply] it to this next big fight, which was winning nondiscrimination?
Freedom for All Americans is based off of the playbook of a marriage equality group -- Freedom to Marry -- and launched as a new campaign aiming to pass nondiscrimination protections around the time of last year's historic Supreme Court ruling. Right now, 28 states do not offer protections to LGBT people. In fact, states have been doing the exact opposite.
People are starting to realize the work is far from over, McTighe said.
Southern states such as North Carolina and Mississippi have passed laws that allow businesses to discriminate against LGBT people under the guise of religious freedom. People have been up in arms, refusing to do business with the states and celebrities such as Bruce Springsteen and Bryan Adams canceling concerts as a show of solidarity.
Freedom for All Americans is working on a longer term plan to slowly but surely pass non-discrimination laws state by state, hoping that in the way of marriage equality, there will be a tipping point. McTighe said they hope that in five years, at least half of states will have protections in place for LGBT people.
But for now, the group is busy: in the last year, more than 150 anti-LGBT bills have come forward.
Most of them have been defeated, some cases quietly and some cases more publically, McTighe said. For every Georgia where the governor did the right thing and vetoed it, you have a Mississippi where they signed something into law.
Using lessons that were garnered during the marriage equality movement, Freedom for All Americans wants to use targeted campaigns and positive strategies. Different communities have a different relationship with LGBT people, so a single message will not work. Also, working with businesses and municipalities has helped to bring the issue to the state level.
According to Equality Florida, 53 percent of Floridians live in a municipality that does not provide LGBT protections. Cities like Lake Worth, Miami, Miami Beach, Wilton Manors, West Palm Beach, and Tampa are leading the way by providing protections to people based on their sexual orientation as well as gender identity.
Gender identity is not always included by municipalities when they create nondiscrimination laws. The newest program for the group is the Transgender Freedom Project, which is an opportunity for transgender people to share their stories and humanize a community that so many may not be familiar with.
We need to be able to prepare for any of the attacks that come our way, but we also need to be able to put personal stories and a personal face on these issues, McTighe said. Most Americans have not met somebody who is transgender.
To learn more about Freedom for All Americans, or to participate in the Transgender Freedom project, visit FreedomForAllAmericans.org.
It was a glamorous night at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood on Friday night as the stars of South Floridas LGBT scene came out to celebrate diversity.
Organized by the Harvey Milk Foundation in cooperation with Pride Center at EqualityPark, the evening honored those taking bold steps in allowing every section of society a place at the table.
Stuart Milk, taking the podium for his late uncle Harvey, said the Milk Foundations message is visibility.
We must be visible, Milk said. If we are not visible, we will not be included and if we are not visible and authentic then we will not be able to fulfill our true potential.
Milk, who had a lot of stage time on Friday, paid special recognition to a group from Russia who he said were brilliantly claiming their authenticity against tremendous societal pressure not to. Milk said he had the privilege of working with the Russian LGBT network on the ground in Belarus and Ukraine. The group was one of many tables inside the Hard Rock decorated with guitars under low neon lights. To promote a new partnership with the Levi Strauss Company, live models wearing the popular garments were placed in boxes around the event.
Honorees for the evening included Celina Jaitly, from India, who accepted her award in memory of a magazine editor and his friend --- murdered last month in Bangladesh.
Around the world our LGBT brothers and sisters remain at risk, Jaitly said. In 76 countries it is still a criminal offense to be gay. Every year, thousands of people are killed or badly hurt in hate crimes.
Jaitly, who referred to her privileged background when speaking to the audience, said she hopes to be of use in her home country to decriminalize the status of simply being gay.
You have to be the change that you want to see, said Jaitly, describing her passion for LGBT rights.
Jaitly praised the work of the United Nations Free & Equal Council and condemned the killings of the Bangladesh activists.
Elsewhere in the program, local honorees included Enbar Cohen, a lesbian commissioner in Aventura, Broward County Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie, Hotspots Media Group Publisher Peter Clark, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge David Young, West Palm Beach attorney Rae Franks, fertility doctor Mark Denker and transgender youth Ryland Whittington. Last year SFGN publisher Norm Kent received a lifetime achievement award for his activism at the event.
Daisy Deadpetals opened the program with an elaborate entrance set to the 80s tune
Vogue by Madonna. Deadpetals was carried into the ballroom on a throne by four strong men.
Dress for the evening was black tie optional with a seated dinner which marked the second year Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood hosted this event.
We are very humbled to play host, said Susan Renneisen, Vice President of Community Affairs and Special Events at the location.
Tony Award winner Levi Kreis, who donated his time for the event, closed the program on the piano.
Our veterans are some of the most treasured warriors our country has, but a group has long been kept in the closet.
Its believed that more than 100,000 veterans have been kicked out of the military for being LGBT, and groups like American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER) are working to advocate for those who laid their lives on the line.
We need to [give them] support, especially after they've been serving in Afghanistan or Iraq or some place like this, where theyve been shot at and everything else, then they come back and some of them have PTSD and they come back and their families throw them out because theyre queer, said Lee Lawson, the president of AVERs Gold Coast chapter.
Lawson served in the Army from 1959 to 1962 during the Cold War. Working in intelligence engineering and mapping, he went to 23 different countries in the three years he served, including Germany the day the Berlin Wall went up.
I was fresh out of high school and it was an easy way to get an education and see the world, he said.
Growing up in Iowa, he said there was no such thing as being out, much less in the military. He barely even knew what being gay meant, and any of his attractions to men were kept a secret.
It would be the quickest way to get thrown out, he explained. Military life is a lot different than civilian life.
In fact, over the years and also thanks to Dont Ask, Dont Tell, many LGBT veterans have a less than honorable discharge on their records due to being LGBT. According to OutServe, an LGBT veterans advocacy group, some have it on their record that they were discharged due to homosexual acts. In the military world, a less than honorable discharge taints ones military record, a blazing scarlet letter.
Its believed that more than 100,000 veterans were kicked out of the military for being LGBT. With the repeal of DADT, the Obama administration directed the Department of Defense to upgrade LGBT veterans to an honorable discharge if being gay was the reason cited for being kicked out of the military. According to the New York Times, about 80 percent of the nearly 500 requests were granted an upgrade.
In January, an 82-year-old Ohio veterans record was finally upgraded to honorably discharged after he was kicked out of the Army in 1955 for being gay, according to the Associated Press. He was serving in Frankfurt, Germany at the time.
Transgender military personnel are a different story they are still not allowed to serve in the military, although Sec. of Defense Ash Carter made waves last summer when he called for the department whose rules he called outdated to conduct a study to observe the policy and readiness implications of welcoming transgender persons to serve openly.
Transgender men and women in uniform have been there with us, even as they often had to serve in silence alongside their fellow comrades in arms, he said in a statement.
There are also cases where an amendment is complicated. Rather than citing that a person is gay on his or her record, Lawson explained that some commanders would write another reason thinking they were doing the person a favor by not outing them on paper such as disobeying a direct order. There, it becomes difficult to upgrade when theres no proof that ones homosexuality was the reason they were discharged.
Oregon is paving the way for LGBT soldiers Sen. Sara Gelser created a special LGBT liaison in the states Department of Veterans Affairs to help LGBT veterans, especially with getting their less than honorable discharges upgraded.
It seemed a tremendous injustice, and I was particularly concerned about aging vets. I wanted them to have access to needed services, an apology for being mistreated, and a thank you for their generous service to our country, Gelser told SFGN.
Commanding officers also have the power to keep legally married same-sex couples apart during tours of duty even though DADT is repealed. Lawson said commanders have let their prejudices get the best of them and claim that there are no vacancies on military bases, forcing same-sex couples to live apart.
Thom Kostura and Ijpe DeKoe, an Army soldier, were married in 2011 when it was legal in New York, just three days before DeKoe was shipped out to Afghanistan for a nine-month deployment. When he returned, he was stationed in Tennessee - where their marriage was not recognized. They joined the list of plaintiffs going to the Supreme Court to fight the Defense of Marriage Act and won.
However, many of the issues facing LGBT veterans affect all veterans, particularly post traumatic stress disorder. Plus, Lawson has heard anecdotes of many veterans coming home from war, only to be kicked out of their homes when they come out.
The Gold Coast chapter of AVER hosts a drop-in group on the first, third, and fourth Tuesdays of the month from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at SunServe, 2312 Wilton Drive in Wilton Manors. Here, LGBT veterans can meet people who have been in their shoes and share their stories. Or, Lawson said, they dont have to talk about it at all sometimes just being in the presence of people you know have shared experiences can be powerful.
Another healing therapy AVER offers is its pet program. Sometimes having a pet, which depends on you and shows love and affection, can be a great part of healing.
Probably the biggest problem people have is loneliness. Even though theyre in a big crowd, theyre alone and it can be very hard on your mind ... Youve got to break out of it, Lawson said.
Also, its meetings are the second Tuesday of the month at the American Legion Post, 1620 W. Highway 84 in Fort Lauderdale. For more information, visit AVER-FGC.org or contact chapter president, Lee Lawson, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
It was a torrent of doughnuts and coffee that kicked off the LGBT equal rights movement.
Sure, the Stonewall riots of 1969 in New York City gets all the glory, but it was a smaller, nearly forgotten uprising at Cooper Donuts in Los Angeles in May 1959 that its roots can be traced.
John Rechy, an accomplished gay author who chronicles the Chicano culture in his books, was there the night of the riots. On his website, he wrote that two police officers asked for ID cards from some customers at the restaurant a typical way for them to harass LGBT people. Those who were picked out of the crowd, including Rechy, were two hustlers, two queens, and young man just cruising.
Something snapped in one of them enough was enough. He objected to the car being packed with five people and objected, leading to the customers at the donut shop to flood into the streets, throwing coffee cups, trash, spoons, anything they could get their hands on.
[The officers] fled into their car, called backups, and soon the street was bustling with disobedience. Gay people danced about the cars, Rechy wrote.
And history was made but like most people who are a part of history, it wasnt apparent how important their actions were until much later.
I would not describe it as a riot but more like an isolated patch of local social uprest that had lasting repercussions. I think less in its day, more as a lesson for us today, said Mark Thompson, a social historian who lived in the same neighborhood as Rechy, told Mirror in an email. LA is such a huge, sprawling city (even back then) so what happened in one district probably did not register elsewhere especially when issues of class and race are factored in.
Not too much is known about the uprising at Coopers Donuts, and as time passes, fewer of the storytellers of the time are around to share their experience. Rechy went on to write a number of books, and his 1963 novel City of Night he recounts living in the gay ghetto of Los Angeles.
Kepler 223 System NASA
The four planets of the Kepler-223 star system appeared to have little in common with the planets of our own solar system today.
But a new study using data from NASAs Kepler space telescope suggests a possible commonality in the distant past. The Kepler-223 planets orbit their star in the same configuration that Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune may have had in the early history of our solar system, before migrating to their current locations.
Exactly how and where planets form is an outstanding question in planetary science, said the studys lead author, Sean Mills, a graduate student in astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago in Illinois. Our work essentially tests a model for planet formation for a type of planet we dont have in our solar system.
The puffy, gaseous planets orbiting Kepler-223, all of which are far more massive than Earth, orbit close to their star. Thats why theres a big debate about how they formed, how they got there and why dont we have an analogous planet in our solar system, Mills said.
Mills and his collaborators used data from Kepler its mission is now known as K2 to analyze how the four planets block their stars light and change each others orbits. This information also gave researchers the planets sizes and masses. The team performed numerical simulations of planetary migration that generate this systems current architecture, similar to the migration suspected for the solar systems gas giants. These calculations are described in the May 11 Advance Online edition of Nature.
The orbital configuration of our own solar system seems to have evolved since its birth 4.6 billion years ago. The four known planets of the much older Kepler-223 system, however, have maintained a single orbital configuration for far longer.
Astronomers call the planets of Kepler-223 sub-Neptunes. They likely consist of a solid core and an envelope of gas, and they orbit their star in periods ranging from only seven to 19 days. They are the most common type of planets known in the galaxy, even though there is nothing quite like them around our sun.
Kepler-223s planets also are in resonance, meaning their gravitational influence on each other creates a periodic relationship between their orbits. Planets are in resonance when, for example, every time one of them orbits its sun once, the next one goes around twice. Three of Jupiters largest moons, where the phenomenon was discovered, display resonances. Kepler-223 is the first time that four planets in an extrasolar system have been confirmed to be in resonance.
This is the most extreme example of this phenomenon, said study co-author Daniel Fabrycky, an assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago.
Formation scenarios
The Kepler-223 system provides alternative scenarios for how planets form and migrate in a planetary system that is different from our own, said study co-author Howard Isaacson, a research astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley, and member of the California Planet Search Team.
Data from Kepler and the Keck Telescope were absolutely critical in this regard, Isaacson said. Thanks to observations of Kepler-223 and other exoplanetary systems, We now know of systems that are unlike our suns solar system, with hot Jupiters, planets closer than Mercury or in between the size of Earth and Neptune, none of which we see in our solar system. Other types of planets are very common.
Some stages of planet formation can involve violent processes. But during other stages, planets can evolve from gaseous disks in a smooth, gentle way, which is probably what the sub-Neptune planets of Kepler-223 did, Mills said.
We think that two planets migrate through this disk, get stuck and then keep migrating together; find a third planet, get stuck, migrate together; find a fourth planet and get stuck, Mills explained.
That process differs completely from the one that scientists believe led to the formation of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, which likely formed in their current orbital locations.
Earth formed from Mars-sized or moon-sized bodies smacking together, Mills said, in a violent and chaotic process. When planets form this way, their final orbital periods are not near a resonance.
Substantial movement
But scientists suspect that the solar systems larger, more distant planets of today Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune moved around substantially during their formation. They may have been knocked out of resonances that once resembled those of Kepler-223, possibly after interacting with numerous asteroids and small planets (planetesimals).
These resonances are extremely fragile, Fabrycky said. If bodies were flying around and hitting each other, then they would have dislodged the planets from the resonance. But Kepler-223s planets somehow managed to dodge this scattering of cosmic bodies.
NASAs Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, manages the Kepler and K2 missions for NASAs Science Mission Directorate. NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, managed Kepler mission development. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation operates the flight system with support from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
For more information about the Kepler and K2 missions, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/kepler
Mission Control for Nodes Cubesats NASA
After a five-month stay aboard the International Space Station, NASAs two Nodes satellites were deployed on May 16 from the NanoRacks platform and into low-Earth orbit to begin their much anticipated technology demonstration.
These tiny satellites have dimensions of only four by four by six inches. The ground controllers for the Nodes mission received confirmation that both satellites are transmitting and are in good health when they passed over the tracking station for the first time, soon after deployment. The first transmission of science data is expected by May 18.
Orbiting about 250 miles above Earth, Nodes will demonstrate the ability to receive and distribute commands in space from the ground, while periodically exchanging scientific data from their onboard radiation instruments, a first for small satellites. The satellites will be able to configure their data network autonomously by determining the best-suited of the two spacecraft to communicate with the ground each day of the mission. These demonstrations enable a path toward new network capabilities for operating swarms of small spacecraft in the future.
The purpose of the Nodes demonstration is to test out the potential for using a network of small, low-cost satellites to perform complex science missions, said Andrew Petro, program executive for the Small Spacecraft Technology Program (SSTP) in the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. If we can demonstrate that any single satellite can talk to the ground on behalf of a whole network of satellites, thats a great tool for creating new, more affordable space mission concepts.
Since deployment from the station, the Energetic Particle Integrating Space Environment Monitor (EPISEM) radiation sensor aboard each Nodes satellite is collecting data on the charged particle environment above Earth. Montana State University in Bozeman provided the EPISEM instruments under contract to NASA. The Nodes satellites will demonstrate their networking capabilities through communication of this space environment data with each other and the ground.
The technologies demonstrated during this mission are important, as they will show that a network of satellites can be controlled without communicating to each satellite directly, said Roger Hunter, program manager for SSTP at NASAs Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. Nodes will demonstrate inter-satellite communications and autonomous command and control; this will help enable future constellation command and control capabilities.
Networks of small satellites may open new horizons in astronomy, Earth observation and solar physics. Their range of applications includes multi-satellite science missions, the formation of synthetic aperture radars for Earth-sensing systems, as well as large aperture observatories for next-generation telescopes. They also can serve to collect science measurements distributed over space and time to study the Earth, the Earths magnetosphere, gravity field, and Earth-Sun interactions.
The two Nodes satellites launched to the International Space Station on the fourth Orbital ATK cargo mission on Dec. 6, 2015. As part of a partnership with Ames, Santa Clara University in California will conduct ground operations for the planned two-week mission. Acting as a ground station, the university will provide an online mission dashboard with current mission status, including operational status of satellite subsystems, ground segment communications status and satellite location tracking. Though the mission is scheduled to last for two weeks, the small satellites will remain in orbit for several more months before the satellites orbits decay, and they re-enter and burn up in the atmosphere.
As part of an education and outreach program run by Santa Clara University, both Nodes satellites will periodically broadcast packets of data, known as beacon broadcasts. When active, these transmissions will occur on the amateur radio frequency 437.1 MHz at intervals of either 30 or 60 seconds, depending on each satellites mode of operation.
Data packets will include information from the satellites science instruments as well as information on the status of spacecraft subsystems. Amateur radio operators are invited to be part of the Nodes community by receiving the packets and submitting them to Santa Clara University.
Nodes continues the legacy of the PhoneSat series of small satellites by using commercially developed Android smartphone technology augmented with additional custom software that enables the satellites to perform spacecraft functions.
The launch of the Nodes small satellites follows last years attempted launch of the eight small satellites of the Edison Demonstration of Smallsat Networks (EDSN) mission, which were lost in the failure of the U.S. Air Forces Super Strypi launch vehicle. However, the same team that developed the Nodes spacecraft at Ames developed the EDSN spacecraft, and many of the same capabilities will be demonstrated in the Nodes mission, with additional software enhancements.
The Nodes mission concept was an opportunity to leverage the excellent work done on EDSN, and extend the systems at low cost and effort, said David Korsmeyer, director of engineering at Ames. This is the value of the small satellite model quickly adapt to new opportunities and leverage systems for incremental missions.
Three CubeSats were selected to receive a flight opportunity through NASAs CubeSat Launch Initiative on the Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) IX mission, and were deployed on May 16 at the same time as Nodes: the University of Michigans CubeSat investigating space weather called the Atmospheric Density Response to Extreme driving (CADRE) mission; the University of Colorado Boulders Miniature X-Ray Solar Spectrometer (MinXSS) mission, a science investigation to study solar flares, active regions, the quiescent sun, and their impact on Earths upper atmosphere; and the STMSat-1, the first CubeSat developed by an elementary school.
The Nodes project is sponsored by the Small Spacecraft Technology Program, within NASAs Space Technology Mission Directorate, and received additional funding from the NASA Ames Research Center.
For more information about the mission and access the Nodes Mission Dashboard, visit: http://nodes.engr.scu.edu/
For more information about NASAs Small Spacecraft Technology Program, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/smallsats
In the fall of 2014, the Quebec City coffee scene was slowly finding its groove. In a town where civil servants still form a large part of the population, old traditions are tough to battle and only a few coffee mavericks were ready to gamble on a market for quality independent cafes in Quebec. This spring, our last visit showed that many of them are winning their wagers and that a few more have joined whats become a complete makeover of the citys coffee mapalthough you have to get away from the cobblestone streets of Old Town to find the best spots.
Assembled around the massive Chateau Frontenac (a Fairmont Hotel), Old Quebec was built in the 17th century on a rocky cape that dominates the St. Lawrence River. As the city grew, working families settled below the cape in poorer neighborhoods such as Saint-Roch and Limoilou. In recent years, an urban renewal of that part of downtown Quebec has been fueled by the arrival of a younger crowd who has transformed the city from a living museum to a vibrant working and living place. Those same people have been the perfect clientele for the recent coffee revolution.
Cafe Saint-Henri
Cafe Saint-Henri micro-torrefacteur has been a mainstay of the Montreal coffee scene for more than five years now with its atelier de torrefaction and four cafes. Their main locale, in the Saint-Henri neighborhood, will soon move a couple of blocks away, but it will still be the workshop where owner Jean-Francois Leduc and his team roast their micro-lots of quality coffee beans.
Always an entrepreneur, Leduc had been looking at ways to grow the reach of Cafe Saint-Henri outside of Montreal and the recent opening of a flagship-store in Quebec City is a big part of that strategy. Situated in a new building at the end of Saint-Joseph street in Saint-Roch, the new venture opened in February after months of extended renovations.
As Leduc explains: It is more than a cafe. There is also a roasting workshop, run by Nicholas Ladouceur (who previously worked at Bridgehead in Ottawa), that will produce our coffees for the local customers and other commercial clients in Quebec and the region. Leduc explains he also incorporated what he calls an in-house-micro-pop-up called SUMO, which provides artisanal doughnuts under the leadership of Genivieve Casaubon, former pastry chef at Vancouvers Elysian Room.
For the coffee, Leduc has given the reins to Julie Audet. She has been with us for more than a year, also working on the launch of our cafe at Marche Jean-Talon in Montreal, explains Leduc, Her local knowledge (she is from Quebec City) and great skills made her the perfect candidate to run our cafe. A winner of an important latte art competition in Montreal last fall, Audet will go to Japan this summer for a training session with 2014 World Barista Champion Hidenori Izaki.
In a city where many trendy spots occupy old historic buildings, the new cafe Saint-Henri sets itself apart with glass/steel exterior walls and a natural wood counter and furnishings. Bright and airy, the space is highlighted by a Kees Van der Westen Spirit espresso machine, the first of its kind in Quebec City. Like its counterpart in Montreal, the workshop will host tastings, training sessions, and other activities.
Cafe Maelstrm
Jean-Daniel Lajoie has long been recognized as one of the best baristas in Quebec City. After working at Brulerie de cafe de Quebec (now known as Cantook), he took some time off last year to work and launch a bottled cold brew, Maelstrm Cafe Infuse a Froid. The next obvious step was to create his own space, and he found willing partners in the citys bar and pub scene.
Last fall, Lajoie and three co-owners launched their new Cafe Maelstrm at the edge of Saint-Roch, close enough to the action, but still in a quiet sector of the neighborhood. Taking inspiration from all the owners backgrounds, the business is a hybrid: cafe during the day, bar at night. The coffee scene is very lively in Quebec and I feel we all have our space, as long as we work hard to make quality products and set ourselves apart, tells Lajoie. It is also important not to get stuck in a stereotype of what a coffee shop is supposed to be. Thats what we are trying to do here and the response has been very good up to now.
Marie-Eve Leclerc, one of the co-owners, is involved in Mouvement Raize, a group that promotes social and responsible consuming, and business. There are a lot of things going on in Quebec City right now and a place like this cafe/bar is a great example of the creativity of your young entrepreneurs.
Cafe Maelstrm is located in an old stone and brick building. The light wood coffee bar is relatively small, with a shiny La Marzocco Strada EE coffee machine taking up most of the space. There is a small selection of breakfast pastries and lunch items, but most of the customers come in to have a drink and the coffees are always made with care. At the end of the day, the action moves to the cocktail bar where you can even order some caffeinated drinks prepared with Maelstrm cold brew.
The cafe has quickly become a meeting place for the citys coffee community. There was an AeroPress competition and tasting here recently, and other activities are regularly organized, including a monthly drink and draw evening. All in all, Maelstrm is the kind of cafe that we will probably see more often, not only in Quebec.
Nektar Cafeologue
Since 2009, Nektar Cafeologue has been the go-to place in Quebec City for quality specialty coffees. The main locale, on Saint-Joseph street in Saint-Roch, is busy from early in the morning and many customers come here to buy from the outstanding selection of roasted coffees from many United States roasters: Intelligentsia Coffee and George Howell Coffee, as well as Canadas own 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters, Pilot Coffee Roasters, and Social Coffee and Tea Company, to name a few. The staff is knowledgablethanks to a great training programand they take pride in what they serve.
Guillaume Michaud, one of the three co-owners, lives with his family in nearby Limoilou and he decided to take Nektars winning formula to that up-and-coming sector of town. A second cafe was launched last fall on a relatively busy part of Third Avenue, close to other interesting shops. We feel here the same spirit, the same vitality, that we felt in Saint-Roch when we started Nektar a few years ago, explains Guillaume, and we think we can contribute to the growth of Limoilou.
Nektar Limoilou occupies the ground floor of a nice corner building, formerly a specialty chocolate shop. The owners have completely redone the interior, taking advantage of the bare locale to created an updated version of their Saint-Roch cafe. There are large wood counters and tables, metal stools and large bay windows, which create a very bright space even though the coffee counter is painted black.
Espresso drinks are prepared with a Nuova Simonelli Appia and there are various choices of filter brew methods. Like in the original Nektar cafe, the coffee selection is outstanding, with top products from quality Canadian and American roasters. And the staff members know their coffees. This is a good place to go if you want to see more of Quebec City.
Michel Marois (@MMcafeLP) is a sportswriter for La Presse, and a Sprudge.com contributor based in Montreal. Read more Michel Marois on Sprudge.
With additional photography by Jeff Frenette.
Shaheed El Hafed, May 16, 2016 (SPS) the National Secretariat (NS) of the Polisario Front has welcomed the consistent position of the African Union in favour of the decolonization of the last colony in Africa, Western Sahara.
In a statement sanctioning its second ordinary session, SN welcomed the position of the African Union, UN partner in the development and implementation of the settlement plan in Western Sahara and, in support for the decolonization of the last colony in Africa, which was confirmed by the recent meeting of President Joaquim Alberto Chissano with members of the Security Council.
SN praised the firm position of support of Algeria, people and government, under the leadership of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, to the Saharawi cause in all international forums and scenes.
It expressed gratitude to the movement of solidarity with the Saharawi issue throughout the world for its support and solidarity with the struggle of the Saharawi people for freedom and independence. (SPS)
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"The truth is that ISIS is growing stronger there, al-Qaeda is growing stronger there, the preexisting Islamist militia, based on tribes and places, are emboldened, and there is this patchwork balkanization of an important Mediterranean power that is going to continue, I believe," stated Galloway.
"Britain and America, although they may interpose special forces here or there, are not going to make the necessary commitment of ground forces to try and bring this situation under control, because the public opinion will not tolerate the inevitable level of casualties, which would be very considerable, the Libyans are very good at fighting," said Galloway.
What was Libya like before the fall of Gaddafi?
"Nobody could dispute that Libya today is far worse than it was before NATO led the destruction of the Libyan regime, and the predictions that Qaddafi made that he would be succeeded by al-Qaeda, of course, he did not know about ISIS then, who are even worse, the predictions that he made, and that he was laughed at for making, were all absolutely true," he said.
Nonetheless, Galloway did not paint a rosy picture of the countrys conditions under Gaddafi.
"The best thing that I can say for it was that it was one country, that it had one organ of state power, it had monopoly of weapons and armed forces within its territory, it controlled its borders both with Tunisia and Egypt and its Mediterranean coastline," explained Galloway.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)At least 49 people have been executed by the Daesh militant group since February 2015 in the Libyan Mediterranean city of Sirte controlled by terrorists, an international human rights organization said in a report published on Wednesday.
"In late 2014, members of the extremist armed group Islamic State, also known as Daesh, began filtering into Sirte, a Mediterranean port city on the northern coast of Libya. By August 2015, the group had turned Sirte into its largest stronghold outside of Iraq and Syria From mid-February 2015 to mid-February 2016, ISIS killed at least 49 people in the city of Sirte and outlying areas after largely secret proceedings that negate the most basic international fair-trial standards," Human Rights Watch (HRW) stressed.
The watchdog added that four of the executed were fighters from groups opposing Daesh, while 45 victims were accused of spying, sorcery and blasphemy.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)Cooperation between the Libyan Parliament in Tobruk and the Presidential Council in Tripoli will not be possible until the latter is recognized the relevant authorities, the parliament's president said.
"The relationship will depend on the approval of this government, the Presidential Council. At the moment, there will be no cooperation with it, as it has not been approved by the legislature," Aguila Saleh Issa told RIA Novosti in an interview.
The speaker added that the parliament has been calling on the Presidential Council to discuss the procedure for government formation to demonstrate to the Libyan people that it has not been imposed on the country by foreigners. The council has given no response as yet.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) One of the girls kidnapped by the Boko Haram terrorist group in the Nigerian town of Chibok two years ago has been found by a local vigilante group, media reports said Wednesday.
Amina Ali Nkek was found by the Civilian Joint Task Force near the Nigerian-Cameroonian border on Tuesday, the BBC reported, citing local activists.
NEW: A Chibok schoolgirl has been found 2 years after being kidnapped by Boko Haram, activist says. https://t.co/oVtRVijaLu NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) 18 2016 .
In April 2014, the Boko Haram militant group attacked a boarding school in Chibok, kidnapping 276 girls. Some of them managed to escape within hours after the kidnapping, but a total of 219 remained missing until Tuesday's rescue.
As well as the social stress of living under Daesh, the inhabitants of Sirte also face the scarcity of basic necessities such as food, medicine, fuel and cash, and the hardships they face are not necessarily reported by the media.
"There is way less information going out of Libya than there is going out of other strongholds of ISIS (Daesh) in Iraq and Syria, and that is probably because Libya is in such a state of chaos that journalists and human rights organizations can hardly set foot there."
"We sent our researchers to Misrata, which is 240 km away from Sirte, we have been able to interview a lot of people, and this enabled us to get information out."
"We only hope this information will shed the spotlight on the dramatic and catastrophic situation going on now in Sirte and there will be more international interest and concern over the situation in Libya."
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The 51-seat Council in the northeastern Italian region voted Wednesday 27-9 to pass a resolution that urged the national government to condemn EUs Crimea policy and work toward lifting sanctions against Russia.
We hope our today vote will shake the Prime Minister and all the central government, starting from Veneto, going through Italy, across French and Germany and all Europe, Berti Jacopo said.
The armed forces began using the dependable Russian-made RD-180 engines in the early 1990s, in conjunction with the Lockheed Martin Atlas V rocket, to deploy military satellites. The RD-180 proved both powerful and reliable, but the guiding force in purchasing the RD-180 was to keep Russian rocket scientists employed, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. US officials worried the brightest Russian astrophysicists would be tempted to join rogue states like North Korea, seeking advanced missile technology.
For nearly two decades, the policy of purchasing Russian rockets remained relatively uncontroversial, with relations between the two powers relaxed and even friendly. That changed in 2014 with the dispute over the lawful secession of Crimea from Ukraine, the result of a referendum in which 96% of voters voted in favor or reunification with Russia, following the US-supported ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
NEW DELHI (Sputnik) There is fun and furor galore in India as veteran Indian film actor Rishi Kapoor continues to trend on twitter for slamming the Indian National Congress for naming innumerable national assets in honor of Gandhi family members.
In a series of tweets, Kapoor questioned the rationale behind naming roads and institutions after former Prime Ministers Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi instead of freedom fighters and other prominent figures who have contributed to society. He tweeted "Baap Ka Maal samajh rakha tha?" meaning; "You thought they were your father's property?" A string of reactions followed under the tag #BaapKaMaal.
Change Gandhi family assets named by Congress.Bandra/Worli Sea Link to Lata Mangeshkar or JRD Tata link road. Baap ka maal samjh rakha tha? Rishi Kapoor (@chintskap) 17 May 2016
The twitterati had a good laugh at the wisecracks and witticisms that followed.
Dong Yuping, an economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, was quoted in the China Daily as saying "Xi's reiteration of supply-side structural reform reflects policymakers' judgment of the current situation," adding that, "Supply-side structural reform is the key to solving the problems facing the economy."
Niu Fengrui, who directs the Institute for Urban and Environmental Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that China is yet to implement any reform agenda. He said "That's why Xi has repeatedly called for strengthening of efforts to push the reform."
President Xi has stated that local governments are "missing the point," by focusing on aspects of the economy such as low profits, housing issues and bloated capacity. He believes Chinas energies would be better spent zeroing in on lowering corporate costs, decreasing leverage and stock, and strengthening weak links in state-owned enterprises.
"The Chinese economy may have cyclical and aggregate demand problems, but the main problems are structural ones, and the key issue still lies on the supply side." the President said on Chinese TV.
Although Xi has been consistent, the expressly vague language of "supply-side reform" has led to confusion among parliament members along with the misuse of critical funds.
Julian Evans-Pritchard, a China economist at Capital Economics in Singapore, told Reuters, "I think that's always been an issue in China. It's such a big country with so many layers of government it's a challenge to push the message forward to a local level and make sure implementation is done properly."
Opinions on how to bolster the Chinese economy range from outfitting the countrys many noodle shops with wireless internet, to having Chinese manufacturers produce toilets that Chinese people are currently buying from Japan in large quantities.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Tuesday, Dutton, asked what he thought of a proposal to increase Australias refugee intake, said that illiterate and innumerate migrants would either be taking Australian jobs or be a huge cost to the countrys budget.
"Peter Dutton is pointing out the very real cost involved in issuing humanitarian and refugee visas. Often the people who come to Australia on these visas come from very troubled backgroundsthere is an extraordinarily high cost in ensuring they can be a contributing member of society," Bishop told the Sky News television channel.
Australia detains refugees who come to the country to seek asylum on the islands of Manus in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, a practice which has been criticized by rights groups for leaving refugees living in inhumane conditions. The countrys refugee intake stands at around 13,700.
The Indian-developed and manufactured nuclear-capable missile was fired from a test range at Chandipur in the eastern coastal state of Odisha, the ministry said in a statement.
The Prithvi II missile has a strike range of 350 kilometers (217 miles) and is capable of carrying 500 kilograms to 1000 kilograms (1100-2200 pounds) of warheads. It is powered by liquid propulsion twin engines.
TOKYO (Sputnik) Earlier in May, Abe visited Russia's resort city of Sochi, held talks with Putin and presented the eight-point bilateral economic plan between the two countries, which covers such areas as oil and gas development and the modernization of ports and airports in the Far East.
"Japan pays significant attention to the relations with Russia, which is, in particular, reflected in the cooperation plan proposed at the highest level meeting, which includes eight points regarding the energy sector and industrial development in the Far East. While promoting this plan we are seeking to reach a general development of the Japan-Russia relations," Suga said at a meeting with Yury Trutnev, the Russian deputy prime minister and presidential plenipotentiary envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District, as quoted by the NHK TV broadcaster.
"This should be consulted among relevant parties. As a very friendly country, China wants to cooperate well with India in the international arena on all issues," the Chinese Minister said.
Earlier, US sources who work with the NSG claimed that China and Pakistan are closely coordinating their strategy against India's entry into the group. India and Pakistan are both seeking admission into the NSG. According to sources, the Chinese government assured Pakistan that either both or none of them will join the group.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)Afghan servicemen killed a total of 130 terrorists in the past 24 hours, the country's Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
"Over the past 24 hours, Afghan security forces with national defense carried out an offensive to crush insurgents and and protect people's lives in a number of districts.. with the result of 130 suspected terrorists killed, including seven local commanders, 76 injured and two people arrested," the ministry said in a statement.
The joint operation was carried out in 18 out of 34 Afghan provinces, the ministry stated, adding that 10 Afghan servicemen lost their lives during the operation.
NEW DELHI (Sputnik) Narendra Modi's government has been facing the daunting task of how to tackle drought and the consequent water crisis. Almost 11 Indian states are facing drought, and each state has its own demand and requirements. To tackle the drought situation in a unique way, Modi has been meeting state Chief Ministers and listening to their requirements and also sharing the strategy to solve the problem.
So far Modi has held meetings with the Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
PM chaired a meeting to discuss drought situation in Chhattisgarh. HM, C'garh CM were present in the meeting pic.twitter.com/bPVn5TDkkT HMO India (@HMOIndia) 17 May 2016
Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das and officials held meeting with Prime Minister Modi to find ways to mitigate the drought in the state.
"With utmost respect, let me invite President Putin to make a visit to Indonesia," Widodo said on the heels of negotiations at the Russian leaders summer residence in Sochi.
The presidents met ahead of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, which will take place in Sochi on May 19-20.
"This is one of the last vestiges of a bygone era," Joseph Liow, a senior fellow at the Center for East Asian Policy at the Brookings Institution, told McClatchy. "The symbolism is more important than the shopping list."
The US is not hiding its true intentions with the decision.
"I believe that Chinese behavior warrants us assisting them [Vietnam] in obtaining the ability to defend their rights as a nation," Arizona Senator John McCain said, according to McClatchy. McCain chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, which recently approved the language for such an agreement.
But there are alternative motives to the prospective deal. While Vietnam has not provided a specific shopping list, it would likely be interested in the same equipment currently being used by the Pentagon in the South China Sea, including surveillance aircraft like the P-3 Orion and C-130 Hercules.
TOKYO (Sputnik)Following reports on Suzuki's improper fuel economy tests, the automobile manufacturer's shares dropped by 15 percent in early afternoon trade in Tokyo to their lowest level since November 2013 and are trading around 8 percent at the moment.
In April, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) admitted falsifying fuel consumption rate tests on the company's mini-cars, which led to a significant decline in the company's stocks. After the scandal with MMC, the Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) ordered all the country's carmakers to provide reports on their fuel economy testing methods.
In 2014, the South Korean automobile companies, such as Hyundai and Kia, were involved in similar scandals related to the falsification of fuel economy tests.
In April, MMC admitted falsifying fuel consumption rate tests on the company's mini-cars, which led to a significant decline in MMC stocks. The company acknowledged it had rigged the fuel tests for some 25 years, and 625,000 mini-cars manufactured by MMC and distributed through Nissan Motors Corporation (NM), were sold with improper fuel consumption results.
"We inform you of the following: resignation of President and COO [chief operating officer] Tetsuro Aikawa," the car manufacturer said in a statement.
Asked whether Saudi Arabia may be implicated in plotting to squeeze out US shale producers, Pasechnik said that it can't be ruled out.
"Of course, Saudi Arabia could not reduce the world price of oil by itself. But they did not reduce their output, and the market saw a pattern of a surplus of oil building up. This was done by those who had the commercial advantage, in other words, those who enjoy a low cost of production. And the Americans proved unable to compete with Middle Eastern producers."
Moreover, the analyst added, "the lifting of sanctions against Iran also had an effect. Washington, in deciding to lift the restrictions, factually crashed the oil market. But they were playing their own game as well; standing on their own throats, they were trying to create even bigger problems for Russia. As is known, during the 'fat years', over half of our country's budget depended on profits from oil and gas."
"The US wanted to hit us with a double whammy sanctions, combined with falling commodity prices. They expected us to be weakened and to exhaust our reserves. But as we have seen, this did not happen, and they have almost collapsed their own shale industry."
Washington's apparent lack of concern for the domestic energy sector can be explained by its dual attitude toward the oil and gas sector, Pasechnik says.
On the one hand, "as a share of the economy and the federal budget, the oil and gas sector is rather small." At the same time, "the country consumes huge amounts of gasolineToday a gallon of gas costs about two times less than it did in early 2014. From this standpoint, low energy prices are good for the US, since they are also the largest importers of these products. So there are certain advantages in this situation. Their shale sector is collapsing, but in the macroeconomic sense, the US is feeling quite comfortable."
According to the statement, the sides intend to develop cooperation and study potential opportunities in the exploration and production of hydrocarbons, including implementation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.
There are strong fundamentals for this joint cooperation. NOVATEK has high quality resources for the implementation of new LNG projects, while PTT is expanding LNG supplies to Thailand and is interested in the sustainability of such supplies to their domestic markets. Im certain we will be able to establish an optimal framework for efficient joint business development of our companies, Chairman of Novateks Management Board Leonid Mikhelson said, as quoted in the statement.
Among priority projects, Medvedev listed agreements on agriculture, industrial cooperation, cooperation in the sphere of high technologies and large-scale projects in the field of transport infrastructure.
The Russian prime minister added that there are problematic economic issues that the sides agreed to pay attention to.
On Tuesday, Prayut, heading a delegation of the country's officials and businessmen, started a four-day visit to Russia. On May 19-20, the Thai officials are expected to visit the Russia-ASEAN summit in the Russian resort city of Sochi, where Medvedev and Prayut will once again discuss key issues of bilateral trade and economic cooperation.
According to the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, the trade between the two countries exceeded $2 billion in 2015.
The US Senate unanimously passed a bill allowing the families of people killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States to sue the government of Saudi Arabia. However, the White House has indicated that president Barack Obama would veto the measure.
Riyadh lambasted the US for allowing 9/11 victims to investigate the role it played in the conflict, threatening to sell its US debt assets and wreck financial havoc.
However, the US Treasury Department released a breakdown of Saudi Arabias holdings of US state debt after keeping the figures secret for more than four decades at the kingdom's request due to 1970s oil embargo-era pressure. It discovered that gas-rich Riyadh's threats were little more than hot air.
The rash of defamatory accusations against Putin being a new Hitler and Russia being a new Third Reich serves to inculcate an entirely misconceived understanding of the Second World War. How Nazi Germany was brought to power by Western capitalist powers; and how this genocidal war machine was eventually destroyed by courageous Russian sacrifice culminating in 25-30 million deaths.
By using specious historical comparisons with Hitler and Nazi Germany, not only is Russia slandered in current events and set up for attack by NATO; Russia is also slandered in the past and robbed of its glorious achievement in defeating European fascism. Moreover, the origins of Nazism and fascism as an extension of capitalist hegemony are conveniently erased from the publics historical understanding.
Getting back to Boris Johnson. What he actually said concerning the European Union was mildly controversial and not without reasonable grounds. Johnson, who is a leading voice in the campaign for a Brexit that is, Britain to leave the EU told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that historical attempts to forge a European superstate have always failed. He said: Napoleon, Hitler and various people tried this out and it ends tragically.
Johnson clearly did not equate the EU with Nazi Germany. He explicitly said that it uses different methods. But he added: Theres a very good argument against the lack of democracy in the EU.
Laura, a 50-year-old from South London, told Sputnik that she was more convinced than ever to vote to leave. "In general, I just feel talked down to by the pro-EU camp. When they do not ramble about economy, they go on about the Armageddon that would happen if Britain left," she said.
Many on the leave side, in effect, have complained about the so-called "Project Fear" carried out by the remain camp. Pro-stay campaigners have often warned of how Brexit would benefit Russias Putin, Turkey, and in general peace and stability, besides the UKs economy.
Just on Tuesday morning, PM Cameron said that Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the founder and leader of terrorist organization ISIS would be happy if the UK left. To be fair, the remarks sounded like an intentionally exaggerated riposte to Conservative Brexiteer Boris Johnson, who last week compared the EU to an Adolf Hitlers project.
Spirits running high are not good ahead of a referendum in which turnout is expected to play a key role, David Davis MP told Sputnik.
"I dont think this helps the debate. I think the PM started it when he talked of World War III [if Brexit happened]. It wasn't wise,and i don't think anybody believed it, and it didn't help his case. Hyping things up is not really good. Behind this whole referendum issue there is disaffection with the political establishment and I think its incumbent on us to be very careful, to not give people the impression we are taking them as fools. I think the more hyperbolic the debate, the more likely that damage is done."
MOSCOW (Sputnik) If you vote to stay we stay and thats itand if we vote to leave, we leave, thats it. You cant have neverendums," Cameron said at a World Economic Forum event on Tuesday, as quoted by The Wall Street Journal.
Camerons comments closely follow those of Nigel Farage, the head of the eurosceptic United Kingdom Independence Party, who claimed that if the UK public chose to remain in the European Union by 52 percent it could justify another vote.
UK citizens are set to vote on June 23 in a referendum on the country's EU membership, after UK Prime Minister David Cameron and the leaders of the 27 other EU member states reached a deal in February to grant the United Kingdom a special status within the bloc.
Queen Elizabeth II is also expected to mention the construction of the country's first spaceport among the government priorities.
The spaceport could be built by 2018 at one of eight sites, most of which are located in Scotland, including Kinloss Barracks, Leuchar and Lossiemouth military bases or Glasgow Prestwick Airport, as well as Welsh Llanbedr Airport or England's Newquay Cornwall Airport.
The project is estimated to cost 150 million pounds.
The Queen could also outline a bill to promote the use of driverless cars on British roads as well as drones in UK airspace.
Prison Reform
The Queen's speech is also expected to touch upon prison reforms in the United Kingdom.
Today Her Majesty The Queen will formally open @UKParliament and deliver the #QueensSpeech #StateOpening The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) 18 May 2016
A new framework for stronger prison governors is due to be announced. Governors' powers are expected to be expanded to include control over budgets. The bill stipulates that six prison facilities will obtain self-governing powers in the next 12 years.
According to the proposed bill, prisoners are also expected to be granted the right to serve "weekend jail" sentences with special transmitting devices controlling their movements outside correctional facilities.
Anti-Extremism Measures
The Queen is also expected to mention measures aimed at tackling extremism.
People who have been accused of inciting hatred will be banned from working with children and socially vulnerable groups.
The draft law also stipulates the prohibition of groups spreading hatred and the closure of religious organizations involved in such activities.
As the F-35 will only be fully developed in 2018, there will be a gap of three years, during which Denmark will be unable to execute its international duties, Defense Minister Peter Christensen acknowledged to the newspaper Fyens Stiftstidende . The new aircraft will only be "fully operational" in 2027, and thus Denmark be unable to play a direct role in international conflicts between 2022 and 2024, should NATO or the US ask for help.
When conservative politicians realized that Denmark will have to suspend its military plans in order to purchase new fighter jets, their irritation became obvious to the naked eye.
Defense Minister Peter Christensen described the situation as "unfortunate," while conservative Rasmus Jarlov, who earlier touted the new fighter jets as a remedy against "aggressive" Russia, found it "incomprehensible." Even Marie Krarup of the Danish People's Party said the situation was "problematic."
MOSCOW (Sputnik)Moscow has never been supportive of curtailing ties with the European Union, being in favor of diversification and development of these relations, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.
"Moscow has never been a supporter of severing ties in general with the European countries, with the European Union. Moscow has always been a supporter of the diversification and development of these relations, of giving a new impetus to these relations," Peskov told reporters when asked whether Moscow was ready to reach a compromise with Britain and the West on political and economic issues.
On Tuesday, a delegation of UK officials met with Russian government members in Moscow, during which Russian and British lawmakers agreed to resume contacts after a more than two-year break, according to Alexei Pushkov, the chairman of the international committee of the Russian State Duma.
Garavoglia does not believe that the EU will show flexibility on these issues, and that Ankara will have to accommodate the EU's demands, otherwise the promise of visa-free travel will continue to be postponed.
"The hope that both parties had was that Turkey would manage to fulfil these requirements by the end of June. This looks increasingly unlikely regarding these remaining benchmarks, so therefore the date for the start of the visa-free regime might be postponed to October."
"Indeed October was the date that was originally thought of, if you look at conclusions from the European Council and EU Commission from as early as November 2015."
Garavogli said that "the ball is clearly in Ankara's court" in terms of the implementation of the reform deal, and that if the reforms don't happen, he thinks the EU will suspend the deal.
"We are seeing a lot of domestic political turmoil within Turkey that will be the key issue. As you know, recently the Turkish President de facto fired its Prime Minister, and this was the Prime Minister that had struck the EU-Turkey deal. So there are a lot of questions being asked now that the Prime Minister has gone: will Erdogan stick to the agreement or will he try to drag his feet."
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russia is highly interested in restoring relations with the United Kingdom, which are currently in a deplorable state, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.
"Regarding specifically Britain, then, of course, we are interested in our relations, which are currently in a sorry plight, being livened up and becoming mutually beneficial. However, again, it was not Russia that rejected all cooperation in the area of fighting terrorism, it was not Russia that rejected all official contacts," Peskov told reporters.
The pine-clad cabin will be equipped by Finland's top-end sauna specialists Sunsauna and Iki-Kiuas for up to five passengers to enjoy the views of the Baltic Sea and Helsinki's neoclassical city center from up to 40 meters in the air.
Having a steam delight in the sky will not come cheap, however, as the company plans to charge up to 240 euros, with temperatures reaching 90C during a two-and-half-minute round journey. The organizers expect the overwhelming majority of customers to be local Finns, with the demand high: the sauna cabin is booked for months in advance.
The Finns are notorious sauna-fiends: the country is home to five million inhabitants and there are over three million saunas in Finland, yielding an average of one sauna per household. In Finland, the sauna is not a luxury, but a necessity, as well as a place for physical and mental relaxation as well. Saunas are an integral part of the Finnish way of life. They are found on the shores of Finland's numerous lakes, in private apartments, corporate headquarters, and even at the House of Parliament. There is an unwritten code of conduct for the sauna and before the rise of public health care, almost all Finnish mothers used to give birth in saunas.
For the SGP to work, all euro member states must have similar fiscal policies which they patently dont have.
At the height of the sovereign debt crisis of 2008-9, Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Cyprus were unable to repay or refinance their government debt or to bail out over-indebted banks without the assistance of third parties like other Eurozone countries, the European Central Bank (ECB), or the International Monetary Fund (IMF) otherwise known as the Troika.
One of the fundamental issues of sovereign debt crisis is that previously, when the countries all had their own currencies the governments would have devalued the currency to recover the situation. With a shared currency, they were unable to adopt that course of action.
#Eurozone growth at 0.5%, down from initial est. of 0.6%, but bolstered by Germany's strongest growth in 2 years pic.twitter.com/r9R4p8PCOI Prof. Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) 15 May 2016
With Greece teetering on the edge of its third bailout conditions, Spain and Portugal on the brink of being fined and Italy also warned, the Eurozone is facing fundamental problems, with many critics saying all the single currency member states will have to move towards ever closer union and adopt common fiscal and therefore political policies, if the currency is not to collapse.
For his part, Kiev-based political scientist Sergei Slobodchuk said that Groisman's concerns are understandable, since the risk of Ukraine becoming an agrarian backwater is very real.
"This is something the press writes about; it's something experts talk about; Groisman formulated things more harshly, because the next stage of the country's degradation is becoming a raw materials appendage that is, not even an agrarian state, but simply a supplier of raw materials; an agrarian country can at least produce food, which requires a materials processing industry, a primary processing industry, an agricultural industry"
Furthermore, Slobodchuk noted, even Groisman's expression of confidence about the agricultural sector, given in the same interview, was premature. "It's very symbolic that only yesterday, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy announced that Ukrainian maize producers had already reached their quota for the supply of its product to European markets for the yearand it's only May. That is, in four months the quotas have been filled and now we don't know where to sell the remainder of our production."
"In agricultural processing, things are not so good either," the analyst added. "Therefore, Ukraine faces being reduced to simply selling raw materials, and again, only where they are allowed. The quotas set by the EU are very strict, and very small, considering the size of the European market," and Ukrainian production capabilities.
Ultimately, Slobodchuk warned that Ukraine's economy risks becoming an impoverished third world backwater. "The Congo is a classic exampleIt's the richest country in Africa, and at the same time one of the poorest in the world. The country has everything diamonds, gold, uranium. But they sell only raw materials. That is, they do not have their own industry." Today, the analyst said, the industries capable of bringing high added value, "the industrial base required to do so, is deteriorating and falling apart."
KIEV (Sputnik)The Ukrainian government has passed a draft agreement on mutual customs assistance between Kiev and Washington, the country's finance minister announced Wednesday.
"The agreement defines the main areas of cooperation between the customs' administrations to prevent, identify and investigate customs violations," Oleksandr Danylyuk said during a government meeting.
Danylyuk added that the new customs agreement was supposed to replace the deal signed in 1990 between the United States and the Soviet Union, still in force in Ukraine.
On the island of Samos, where Pru and her team are currently based, a sleeping baby recently rolled out of a tent down a hill onto concrete ground after falling out of a tent pitched precariously on a hillside.
'Dirty Deal'
The deal between the EU and Turkey stipulated that from March 2016, any migrant arriving illegally in Greece will be sent back to Turkey if they do not qualify for asylum.
Under the one-for-one refugee deal, for every Syrian migrant returned to Turkey, the EU will resettle another Syrian refugee, meanwhile the number of asylum seekers continue to "swell" in Greeces hotspots.
Since the EU-Turkey deal, the number of migrants arriving on Samos has dropped from almost 1,000 every day to around 70. The problem now, according to Waldorf, is that the closed camps where they are supposed to be processed are too small and not fit for purpose.
Some photos from @EP_Justice visit at camps for #refugees in #Greece we need effective & inclusive solutions now! pic.twitter.com/aL8EYoolZU Peter Niedermuller (@NiedermullerMEP) 18 May 2016
"The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) do not process the asylum seekers, however the UNHCR do provide advice on immigration and asylum but this is actually the responsibility of European Asylum Support Office (EASO)," Waldorf told Sputnik.
She said that all the vulnerable unaccompanied child refugees were recently transferred to a separate enclosure with no supervision, no guardianship and no police presence ensuring their safety in an area which was neither locked nor secure.
"It was like they were shining a light on the location of where the most vulnerable and unprotected children are. When we when to inspect the place we would find adults just wondering around in there."
"No one is taking responsibility for basic needs, it's alarming how many child protection failings there are and no one is accountable. The UNHCR are not operating or acting, preferring instead to advocate and observe."
Charity Calais Action has been volunteering on the ground in Greece since 2015, having previously helped set up infrastructures in French refugee camps in Calais and Dunkirk.
"It was a real shock to see these conditions in Europe."
'Greece Abandoned by EU'
"Back in 2015, we witnessed thousands of people sleeping rough, children lying on bits of cloth, in conditions akin to pictures we saw on the television of refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan," Waldorf told Sputnik.
According to Finland's immigration authorities, who have re-assessed the security situation in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, major improvements have been noticed, thus making it safe for nationals to return to their home countries, Finnish national broadcaster Yle reported.
Curiously, Finland's Foreign Ministry still dissuades Finnish citizens from visiting these countries due to security risks. Meanwhile, Daesh still holds key cities and vast swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq, which it seized in 2014. Only yesterday, a total of four explosions took 44 lives and injured over 90 in Iraq, which seems to have plunged deeper into chaos and sectarian violence.
The silicon-valley team are making real headway and progressing in moving forward when it comes to matching the desperate need that the world seems to be facing in connection with the refugee crisis, as well as those impacted by natural disasters and they are not the only ones.
Apartment-letting website Airbnb are also progressing in assisting refugees who are in need of a place to live, after having to flee their homes.
In 2013, Airbnb launched a tool, allowing its hosts to offer free accommodation to disaster survivors and people aiding them. It was recently used to help those affected by April's earthquakes in Japan and Ecuador.
"We try to activate it within the first 24 to 72 hours of an event, we're still working through our process because we basically want enhancements to the product," said Kellie Bentz, Airbnb's head of global disaster relief.
.@Airbnb disaster response efforts succeed by leveraging local partnerships, assets to support communities in need. #CSR #CSCinDC Points of Light (@PointsofLight) February 23, 2016
The movement amongst the technology industry to help those in need of accommodation and employment is huge, as both Airbnb and LinkedIn have reached out in unique ways to offer much needed assistance to those in desperate need.
BRUSSELS (Sputnik) Any negative reactions coming from Moscow regarding Montenegro's accession to NATO would be unjustified, the alliance's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday.
"It is a fundamental principle that every nation, every independent sovereign nation has the right to decide its own path, including to decide what kind of security arrangements it wants to be part of. Therefore, I very strongly believe that there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to try to deny Montenegro that right to make their own independent, sovereign decisions. And therefore any sanctions or reactions from Russia will be absolutely unjustified," Stoltenberg told reporters.
He added that Montenegro had made its sovereign choice, which had been supported by all 28 NATO member states and Russia's concerns on the issue had no grounds.
The courts Wednesday decision is temporary. The final one is to be reached next week.
The judicial inquiry into the legitimacy of the parliaments dissolution was initiated by the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), the largest Albanian party in Macedonia that decided to boycott the coming elections.
Hollande is facing deep divisions within his own party and well as continuing mass protests by students and unions after surviving a no-confidence vote over his reforms to the country's labor laws and bypassing parliament to push them through.
France has been paralyzed by a series of nationwide strikes particularly by students against French President Francois Hollande's proposed reforms to the highly codified French labor laws known as the Code du Travail in order to give employers more flexibility.
BELGRADE (Sputnik) More than half of Montenegro's citizens are opposed to their country joining NATO, Democratic Front leader Milan Knezevic said Wednesday.
Knezevic's statement came after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's announcement that the country's accession agreement would be signed on May 19 by the foreign ministers of the alliance's member states and Montenegro.
"On our request pollsters carried out an unbiased and unprejudiced opinion poll Answering a question of whether Montenegro should become a NATO member, 45.3 percent said yes and 54.7 percent said no," Knezevic told RIA Novosti.
The delegation of lawmakers, led by Peter Niedermuller, from the Socialist & Democrats group are due to check the situation of refugees at the external borders of the EU and assess how the EU-Turkey deal to manage migrant and asylum seekers flows into the EU is being implemented.
The EU-Turkey deal allows for "irregular migrants" those not meeting the criteria for asylum in the EU to be returned to Turkey, in exchange one-for-one for Syrian refugees to be relocated from Turkey to EU member states.
In return, Turkish citizens would be allowed visa-free travel within the Schengen area and Turkey's accession into the EU would be accelerated. Part of the deal is that Turkey passes legislation to meet 72 demands from the EU, covering various areas, including a loosening of its controversial anti-terror law that has been used to target journalists and academics, a condition which Erdogan has refused to commit to.
About 150 kilos of ammonia leaked from the ventilation system at the Dafgards factory in western Sweden , in an accident that left at least 11 people hospitalized, media reports said.
"It happened when the ammonia was being transferred between two tanks," the Swedish public broadcaster SVT quoted police spokesperson Peter Adlersson as saying.
The factory's chief executive Magnus Dafgard said, in turn, that "everyone is a bit shocked, because there hasn't been an accident of this kind before," according to Swedish Radio.
Ceremonial searching of the cellars before State Opening recalls the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605 http://t.co/kRdRi2ytnR #InsidetheCommons House of Commons (@HouseofCommons) February 10, 2015
The costumes and technology haven't changed much in the intervening centuries either hence the frilly collars and paraffin lamps. The bodyguards also get paid in Port.
Parliamentary Hostage
Because of the way the UK Parliament is set up, the Queen isn't allowed to enter the House of Commons at all that's why she gives her speech in the neighboring House of Lords, with the members of the commons (MPs) in attendance.
Does anyone know if the Queen's Speech Parliamentary hostage gets free run of the place? Alistair Coleman (@scaryduck) May 18, 2016
As a result of all this, the Commons is traditionally not trusted to return the Queen in one piece, so the palace takes a hostage yes, an actual hostage for the duration, usually a government whip.
'Black Rod' Door-in-the-Face
This is probably the most important part of the whole day, as it symbolizes the independence of the House of Commons from the Monarch.
The "gentlemen usher of the Black Rod" also simply known as "Black Rod" gets the doors of parliament ceremoniously slammed in his face, he is only granted entry after he bangs on the door with his rod.
The door of @HouseofCommons has been slammed in Black Rod's face #QueensSpeech, symbolising the Commons independence. The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) May 18, 2016
Once Black Rod is allowed into the Commons, he summons the MPs to the House of Lords, for the Queen's speech.
Dennis Skinner's 'Quip'
Long-serving Labour MP Dennis Skinner, is unusual in that he provides one of the few traditions that are specific to just one person.
Researchers Mats Hammarstedt and Lina Alden of Linnaeus University in southern Sweden have rectified this mistake by compiling Sweden's first research that follows the migrants' impact upon public finances, individually and over an extended time period. By their own admission, the report is meant to be used as a basis for parliamentary scrutiny of the government's migration policy.
The study included all refugee arrivals to Sweden between 2005 and 2007 and followed the public net costs for every single refugee until 2012. The report was released by the Fiscal Policy Council on Monday and is the first of its kind in Sweden.
"Naturally, thematic research has been performed before, but no one has in fact followed the issue in an equally in-depth way as we. This is the first study that follows refugees from the time of their arrival for seven years to see the cost development in progress," Mats Hammarstedt told Nyheter Idag.
Fifty-one percent of migrants who arrived in Germany in 2014-2015 and had their asylum bids declined were sent out by the end of last year, the government said in its response to the Left partys information request seen by Die Welt newspaper.
Almost all Syrians, Eritreans and stateless applicants were allowed to stay, according to the outlet. Regulations are particularly lenient toward Syrian refugees who only need to fill in one questionnaire in order to be granted asylum.
The man has been in close contact with extremists, Berliner Morgenpost newspaper reported. German police shared their findings with the General Aviation Safety Authority for Berlin and Brandenburg in late 2014 with no consequences for the man.
He was reportedly fired in October 2015 for reasons not related to his Salafist connections when he tried to smuggle brass knuckles to the airport.
The main issues on the agenda of the conference are border security, fight against international terrorism, cyber crimes and interstate police cooperation, the organization said.
This conference is an opportunity for police throughout Europe to conduct meaningful discussions and deepen cooperation on measures to combat crime, terrorism and the criminals involved in the ongoing migration crisis, Czech Police Chief Maj. Gen. Tomas Tuhy said, as quoted in the press release.
In the nearby town of Winsen (on the Luhe), also in Lower Saxony, two Palestinians also converted to Christianity during the recent festival of Pentacost.
For many, the first contact with the Church is made by telephone or SMS. Evangelical and Catholic churches in the state have been catering to the interest by providing information about Christianity in Arabic and Persian languages, and preliminary courses newcomers can attend before they take the plunge.
Rainer Kiefer, chairman of the evangelical church board in Hannover, said that many of those who are considering the move have already been in contact with Christianity in their home countries.
"It is very important that the decision to convert to Christianity is well thought-out, with the help of pastoral workers," he said, and added that hope of a better chance of being granted asylum in Germany should not be the motivation to convert.
Next month's already under threat national election has now been placed in greater doubt after the constitutional court ruled that the dissolution of parliament ahead of the vote was unconstitutional.
The decision to suspend all election activity will be followed by a permanent ruling next week, and comes after a complaint from the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI).
Following the decision of the Constitutional Court, #Macedonia Parliament Speaker has re-called the dissolved Parliament for this afternoon Cvetin Chilimanov (@Cvetin) May 18, 2016
While the EU had brokered an agreement to hold elections in 2015, the DUI, along with the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) and the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA), had all announced they would boycott next month's vote, arguing conditions weren't in place for free and fair elections.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Sanctions imposed by several Western countries on Russia over its alleged involvement in fueling the Ukrainian crisis will be lifted sooner or later as they are the tools of politics rather than punishment, German Ambassador to Russia Ruediger von Fritsch said Wednesday.
"These sanctions are a political instrument rather than punishment. Therefore, they will be lifted someday. I would like to emphasize once again that they are a reaction rather than the measure of influence, so they will be lifted," the ambassador said at Russia's State University for the Humanities.
Earlier in the week, Minister President of Germany's Saxony Stanislaw Tillich urged to lift anti-Russia sanctions as soon as possible, with Russia being an important trade partner for Germany and the European Union in a long-term perspective.
EDINBURGH (Sputnik) The Irish republican party Sinn Fein will oppose the British Bill of Rights as it undermines the Anglo-Irish peace process by breaching the Good Friday Agreement, a representative of the party in the European Parliament said Wednesday.
"The 1998 Human Rights Act underpins the Good Friday Agreement, the internationally recognised peace treaty which helped usher in peace and power-sharing in the north of Ireland and is lodged formally with the United Nations," Martina Anderson said in a statement.
Anderson added that Sinn Fein sought specifically commissioned legal advice on the issue and its outcome confirmed that "a repeal of the Human Rights Act risks not only breaching the Good Friday Agreement in a technical sense, but infringing its spirit and leading to a loss of faith in the British Government's commitment to the peace process."
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Austria has to defend its borders, because Schengen zone lacks necessary protective mechanisms, a spokesperson for the People's Party (OVP) told Sputnik on Wednesday.
As long as the external borders arent protected sufficiently, there is a need for border controls, Tamara Hausl stated.
Hausl underlined that Austrias ability to host refugees is limited, as the country had already accepted over 100,000 migrants during the last year and a half.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Austrian People's Party (OVP) considers it necessary to proceed with the tight migration policy amid the appointment of the new chancellor, and to keep on minimizing the influx of migrants, a spokesperson for OVP told Sputnik on Wednesday.
There is a need to maintain the asylum policy that the government recently agreed on in order to minimize the flow of migrants and to meet the expectations of the Austrians, Tamara Hausl said, commenting on the countrys future migration policy to be implemented after Christian Kern appointment as the new chancellor.
From that possibility, Shirreff leaps to the conclusion that nuclear war would then be inevitable.
"The chilling fact is that because Russia hardwires nuclear thinking and capability to every aspect of their defense capability, this would be nuclear war," he told BBC Radio 4.
The general then went on to cite the continuously-refuted Western claims of "Russian aggression."
"We need to judge President Putin by his deeds not his words," the military general said. "He has invaded Georgia, he has invaded the Crimea, he has invaded Ukraine. He has used force and got [sic] away with it."
This argument, of course, ignores political realities, instead relying on myths of "reds under the bed" and other anti-Russian propaganda that has been continuously debunked by experts.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The UK government and the British Medical Association (BMA) reached a deal on Wednesday on junior doctors' contracts as a result of "constructive and positive" talks, British Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Wednesday.
After several days of talks, the UK government and BMA agreed to ensure that junior doctors would receive normal rate payment for Saturdays and Sundays with extra pay overnight for the whole week.
"We welcome this significant agreement which delivers important changes to the junior doctors' contract necessary to deliver a safer seven day NHS [the UK National Health Service]. The talks have been constructive and positive and highlighted many areas outside the contract where further work is necessary to value the vital role of junior doctors and improve the training and support they are given," Hunt said, as quoted by the UK Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service's press release.
PARIS (Sputnik) Paris air traffic controllers will join the ongoing nation-wide protests against labor reforms on Thursday which is expected to result in flight delays and cancellations, according to the statements by local airports and airlines.
Up to 15 percent of flights will be cancelled in Paris Orly airport, delays have been promised in Charles de Gaulle Airport. Ryanair airlines canceled 70 Thursday flights to and from France, reminding that this strike will become the fifth in the period of two months.
"Ryanair sincerely apologises for any inconvenience caused by these unjustified ATC [Air Traffic Control] disruptions which are entirely outside of our control," the statement issued by the company reads.
Despite the careful wording of the announcement, most people in Pripyat already knew that the radioactive conditions suddenly deteriorated because of a serious nuclear disaster two blasts at Reactor Unit 4 followed by fire, and that things were much more serious than they looked.
Nevertheless, even after the first deaths were reported and the first victims suffering from acute radiation sickness were rushed to the hospital, the authorities were not in a hurry to evacuate the citizens of Pripyat. Grocery stores, schools and kindergartens were still open until noon.
Vadim Kodubovsky, a former Pripyat resident and student at the time, said in an interview to Zhitomir.info channel on Youtube that there was almost no sense of urgency in the way his teachers acted that day.
At night my dad had to leave, responding to an emergency call. But in the morning we still went to school. Of course, there were no regular classes, we saw a demonstration of gas masks and were taught how to use them, it looked like some kind of training. Nobody said that anything had happened. Then, when we walked back from school, we saw fire trucks, firefighters were pouring water on pine trees. It looked weird.
As local authorities realized that radiation levels in the areas surrounding Chernobyl power plant were rising uncontrollably, and that they were in fact dealing with a risk of very serious radioactive contamination, a total evacuation of Pripyat was ordered. Police officers walked door-to-door to rush people to buses. According to locals, those who refused to leave immediately were literally dragged out of their homes, leaving behind their pets and belongings.
Thirty years after the disaster, Pripyat, a town which once had a population of 49 thousand, is still a ghost town. The levels of radiation dropped significantly since 1986 due to the decay of the short-lived isotopes released during the accident. Several Ukrainian companies offer guided tours to the alienation zone, and tourists can see for themselves how nature is reclaiming the place that many locals once called fairytale town for its modern design and prestigious jobs that young Soviet engineers were getting at the Chernobyl power plant.
Pripyat has inspired many writers, musicians, filmmakers and computer game designers. Its deserted streets can be seen in games like Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Call of Duty series and Stalker as well as in movies such as A good day to die hard and Chernobyl Diaries.
But for those who once lived in Pripyat, some of those images will probably bring back memories both sentimental and haunting about the years they spent in the citadel of the peaceful atom and April 1986 when their place of residence and their whole lives changed forever.
According to the TV Globo channels Tuesday report, Judge Marco Aurelio Mello said that he would submit a claim so that this motion will be reviewed by the court. Temer is reportedly being accused of crimes similar to those for which Rousseff was impeached.
Brazil's Senate voted 55-22 earlier this month to start impeachment proceedings against Rousseff after she was accused of concealing the countrys budget deficit ahead of the 2014 re-election. Rousseff called the impeachment process "a coup."
MEXICO CITY (Sputnik)Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has proposed that the international community totally eliminate all offshore tax havens.
"There is [the need for] a profound decision. If humankind has any decency, if there are any ethics to capitalist globalization, we have to adopt an international law banning tax havens," Correa said in a statement quoted by Venezuelan newspaper El Universal.
According to the Ecuadorian president, companies that use offshore schemes do so because they want to hide their operations.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Puerto Rican Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency for the Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority (ACT), restricting the agency from transferring money collected from toll payments to debt holders, the executives office said in a statement on Wednesday.
"With this state of emergency declaration, [I] suspend any obligations toward funding certain financial obligations and will authorize the implementation of extraordinary measures needed to guarantee the continuation of essential community services for [Puerto Rican] citizens," Padilla stated in the statement.
The move is intended to ensure the safety of the Puerto Ricos roads by allowing redirecting toll collections to construction projects rather than paying down the ACTs $2.2 billion debt, the statement explained.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The chief of staff for former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Jose Dirceu, was sentenced on Wednesday to 23 years in jail for fraud, money laundering and corruption.
According to the court ruling, the state-run oil company Petrobras top executives bribed Dirceu, who served under Lula da Silva between 2003 and 2005, even after he was found guilty of buying votes of Brazilian legislators in 2012.
"Even the Supreme Court's sentence did not stop the crime from repeating itself," Judge Sergio Moro said.
MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) Ecuador has recalled its ambassador in Brazil over the suspension of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Guillaume Long has announced.
"I summoned for consultations our ambassador in Brazil, with whom I will meet to discuss the political situation in that country," Long said on Wednesday, as quoted by El Comercio.
Ecuador is the third Latin American country, after El Salvador and Venezuela, to recall an ambassador from Brazil following Rousseffs suspension.
MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) Colombias state-run oil company Ecopetrol stopped pumping oil through the Cano Limon Covenas pipeline after a suspected attack carried out by the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group.
According to an Ecopetrol statement cited by Diario Gestion on Wednesday, the affected section of the pipeline is located in Saravena, a town in Colombias Arauca Department bordering Venezuela.
Last month, the bombing of the Cano Limon Covenas pipeline led to an oil spill into the Bojaba river near the border with Venezuela. The attack was also blamed on ELN.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi has called on the international community to unite and redouble efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.
"If we can all join forces in order to solve the Palestinian issue by creating hope for Palestinians and assuring security for Israelis, we will be able to write a new chapter that may prove to be more important than the peace accords between Israel and Egypt," Sisi said Tuesday as quoted by The Jerusalem Post newspaper.
The Egyptian leader called on Israel and Palestine to take advantage of this opportunity.
ANKARA (Sputnik)Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said following a meeting of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) in Vienna on Tuesday that there was plenty of evidence pointing out at Turkey setting up a large network on a 56-mile stretch of its border to supply Daesh terrorists operating in Syria.
"You are a serious diplomat, and one of the most experienced diplomat[s] among us. You should not rely upon such frivolous claims," Cavusoglu told Lavrov during the meeting, as quoted by Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency. "I am ready to resign if you have any evidence that Turkey helps Daesh, but if you cannot prove your claims, I invite you to Antalya [Cavusoglu's hometown] as a guest for the rest of your life."
Ankara has been accused by both Moscow and Damascus of sponsoring the Daesh terrorist group, which is outlawed in many countries, including Russia. In December, Russia presented evidence of oil smuggling by the group across the border with Turkey, while the United States blamed Turkey for failing to secure its border with Daesh-controlled Syrian territories.
CAIRO (Sputnik)The existing system of ceasefire monitoring in Syria is not perfect and international observers should monitor the implementation of the truce, a spokesman for Syrias Tomorrow, a liberal opposition faction, told Sputnik Wednesday.
"As for the monitoring of ceasefire violations, there are loopholes, when it is impossible to monitor the observance of the [ceasefire] agreement That's why, the monitoring system is not efficient. There should be observers on the ground not involved in the conflict, for example, the United Nations, which would implement the monitoring activities," Monzer Akbik said.
A US-Russia-brokered ceasefire came into force across Syria on February 27. It follows several months of a Russian counter-terrorist aerial campaign in Syria.
VIENNA (Sputnik), Anastasia LevchenkoOn Tuesday, ISSG issued a joint communique after the ministerial meeting, calling for transformation of the cessation of hostilities into a nationwide ceasefire and opening of the humanitarian access to all the besieged areas.
The atmosphere of safety needs to be recreated in Syria "in order to make the mission of [UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan] de Mistura [on finding settlement] possible," Kodmani said, commenting on whether the HNC was ready to restart proximity peace talks after the ISSG had agreed on strengthening ceasefire.
"We still need to see steps in implementing ISSG agreement," she stressed.
CAIRO (Sputnik)On Tuesday, the ISSG representatives held a meeting in the Austrian capital of Vienna. Following the meeting, the group issued a statement calling for the observance of the truce in the Middle Eastern nation, progress toward a peaceful political transition and sustained humanitarian access to the areas in need.
"The statement announced following the meeting in Vienna inspires optimism. However, after the recent failures in the implementation of ceasefire and deliveries of the humanitarian aid to besieged areas, we are cautious in our optimism," Monzer Akbik stressed.
The ISSG, co-chaired by Moscow and Washington, was formed in November 2015, shortly after the beginning of the Syria peace talks, as a panel of countries seeking to end bloodshed in Syria. The European Union, the Arab League, China, Iran, Turkey, and the United Nations are members of the group, among other participants.
The man also added that those who disobey this new regulation are usually sentenced to being lashed with a whip or a jail term of no less than three weeks, so that a transgressor would end up sporting a short beard by the end of his incarceration. Men are also forced to hem or roll up their pant legs so that they dont cover their ankles, just like Daesh militants do.
"All men in our city now have long beards. They want to blend in with the populace because they see how fast the military and the militia are advancing to liberate Mosul," he added.
Those men who shave are hunted down by the militants and dragged to Daesh courts for trial. Sometimes they get away with a fine of up to $400.
According to eyewitness reports, the local barbershops are now being closely monitored by the militants so that they only provide haircuts.
Another civilian who escaped from Fallujah told Sputnik that two young men were publicly lashed for shaving off their beards.
"A local Daesh judge imposed a fine of $400 [on someone] for shaving his beard. And in the Sabaa Nisan district, 15 men were arrested and taken away somewhere for wearing long pants and being beardless," he added.
VIENNA (Sputnik)The International Syria Support Group's (ISSG) proposal to start aid air drops to besieged areas of Syria by June 1 may become a "turning point" in providing assistance across all of the country, Jan Egeland, humanitarian adviser to UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, told Sputnik.
"I am hopeful that this would be a turning point to the better, and that will not happen any longer that besieged areas are staying without any assistance I have never before seen such a decision to endorse air drops if convoys are not allowed," Egeland said.
He described his hope "that ISSG members would now much more energetically and consistently ensure they are able to deliver in the coming weeks aid to all of the besieged areas without any exceptions."
The report by Amnesty International is based on 60 cases of arbitrary detention in several Yemeni cities under Houthi control, including the capital of Sanaa, conducted between December 2014 and March 2016.
"Houthi forces have presided over a brutal and deliberate campaign targeting their political opponents and other critics since December 2014. Hundreds of people have been rounded up and held without charge or trial, and in some cases they have been forcibly disappeared in flagrant violation of international law," James Lynch, the deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Amnesty International, was quoted as saying in the report.
CAIRO (Sputnik) The statement of International Syria Support Group (ISSG) on the importance of a timeframe for the political settlement of the Syrian crisis has been a positive step, one of the leaders of the Moscow-Cairo-formed opposition group told Sputnik Wednesday.
"Any effort by Russia and the international community is welcomed if it helps to restart talks between the sides in Geneva. It is good that the ISSG statement mentioned the importance of a timeframe for the political process, so it does not become endless and uncontrolled," Jihad Makdissi said.
The foreign ministers of the ISSG held a meeting on Tuesday. A statement was issued at the end of the meeting, calling for the observance of the Syrian ceasefire, progress toward a peaceful political transition and sustained humanitarian access to the areas in need.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Israeli police arrested three people in Jerusalem suspected of assisting a person, who had stabbed an Israeli man with a knife in the Old City in early May, to escape from the crime scene, the police said Wednesday.
"Three residents of the Old City were arrested several days ago, suspected of assisting the terrorist, who had carried out a terrorist attack near the Lions' Gate on May 2. They are being accused of helping the terrorist to escape from the scene," the police wrote on official Facebook account.
According to the law enforcement agency, these suspects provided the assailant with shelter and new clothes. The attacker himself was arrested late at night on May 2.
SULAYMANIYAH (Iraq) (Sputnik)The Daesh militants attacked the Peshmerga forces with bombs and mortar projectiles, the administrative head of PUK office in Mosul Ghayas Swrchi told the Union's media portal.
After the confrontation the Peshmerga managed to repel the attack killing three Daesh militants and wounding two others, according to Swrchi. The Kurds suffered no losses.
The portal also reported about a bombing attack perpetrated by Daesh terrorists at the village of Khirbardan, northern Iraq. The attack left three Kurdish soldiers of the Iraqi army injured.
BERLIN (Sputnik) The inaugural UN-proposed World Humanitarian Summit, to be held in Istanbul next week, will set out a short- and medium-term roadmap for tackling humanitarian crises, the German government spokesman said Wednesday.
The summit take place in the Turkish city of Istanbul on May 23-24. Turkey is hosting almost 3 million of Syrian refugees, making it one of the host countries with the largest refugee populations.
"One of the main goals of the summit is to create a paradigm of various humanitarian response mechanisms," Steffen Seibert told reporters in Berlin.
ANKARA (Sputnik) According to Kalin, shelling of Kilis "proves Turkey's rightfulness," while insisting to establish a security area in northern Syria.
"A total of 21 Turkish and Syrian citizens were killed in Kilis [in recent weeks]. We are developing two sets of reciprocal actions. First of all, we are negotiating with the [international] coalition partners, including the United States Over the last seven-ten days, the coalition and Turkey's forces have destroyed IS militants' missile systems Due to these measures Kilis has been in a lull in recent days. We will continue to do so," Kalin said at a briefing, adding that the second package of measures envisaged providing Kilis residents with assistance.
Kilis is hosting a large number of Syrian refugees, and the city has seen a lot of shelling from the Syrian territory this year, which is partly controlled by the IS terrorist group, outlawed in Russia and the United States among others.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)US-led Coalition against the Islamic State has eliminated two high-level terrorists in the Iraqi Anbar province last week, Operations Inherent Resolve spokesman Col. Steve Warren told reporters on Wednesday.
"On May 13, we struck and killed two high-value individuals," Warren stated.
"Local fighters thought highly of him as of a motivator and a leader," Warren added.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Two hundred Arab fighters in Syria will finish their training by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and join the Syrian Arab coalition, Operations Inherent Resolve spokesman Col. Steve Warren told reporters on Wednesday.
"This week the SDF training camp in northern Syria will graduate another group of 200 Arab fighters who will join the Syrian Arab coalition," Warren said.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) More than 1,000 Kurdish Peshmerga have finished military training over the last month, Operations Inherent Resolve spokesman Col. Steve Warren said on Wednesday.
"1,100 Peshmerga fighters have completed training with in the last 30 days. There are additional 1,100 in training right now," Warren stated.
Ian McKay
Behind every good cocktail is at least one good story. These stories can be used by loquacious bartenders to entertain and hold the attention of thirsty bar guests awaiting their first sip. The stories can be historical, fictional or technical. The purpose of this column is to provide a genealogy of, and relate the stories behind some of my favorite local cocktails. The first case study is one near and dear to me: Did you just call me Coltrane? from Sister Bar. Near, in that its stirred, poured and drunk two doors down from Alibi HQ. Dear, in that its the first cocktail I created for Sisters bar program.
This one is basically a jasmine tea infused riff on the classic cocktail, the Boulevardier. The Boulevardier is widely credited to Harry McElhone, the proprietor of the eponymously named Harrys New York Bar, Paris 1927. Its namesake was a popular Parisian literary magazine famous for publishing American expatriates. Originally comprised of equal parts Campari, sweet vermouth and Bourbon, the Boulevardier is stirred with ice, and either strained up or on the rocks, and garnished with a lemon twist. Astute (and gin-soaked) readers will notice that the recipe is basically a Negroni, substituting whiskey for gin. This story now hops down the Negroni rabbit hole.
The Negronis history is quite contentious and convoluted. Some claim it came from Senegal, but most agree it originated in Florence, Italy at the Caffe Casoni in 1919. Legend has it that one Count Camillo Negroni (again, his nobility is contested by others in the Famiglia Negroni) ordered a custom Americano cocktail. The Americano is a Campari, sweet vermouth cocktail, lightened up with a large splash of soda water (itself a sodafied version of its predecessor cocktail, the Milano-Torino). Count Negroni, fresh from a trip to the Wild West of America as a rodeo clown(!), wanted a more spirited cocktail, and asked for the taming soda water to be replaced by a more feral gin. A star was born.
Negronis are currently living in the cocktail limelight, the brightest point of which is next months bacchanal celebration that is Negroni Week (June 6-12), a seven-day long toast to all cocktails containing the boozy, bittersweet triumvirate. Given its current celebrity status, any self-respecting cocktail list has at least one iteration of this spirit-forward classic, which brings us back to Sister Bars Did you just call me Coltrane.
The name is an allusion to a line in Wes Andersons, The Royal Tenenbaums, but basically a cinematic pretense to have a cocktail whose nickname is The Coltrane. This version sees two parts jasmine tea-infused Old Overholt Rye, one part Campari and one part Spanish sweet vermouth, stirred with ice to dilute, strained over a big rock, and garnished with a nice, round orange twist. Its equally balanced between the spicy punch of American rye whiskey, the stark bitterness of Campari, and the round, herbal sweetness of the vermouth. The jasmine provides a fourth, floral aspect that accompanies all components seamlessly from initial sip to long, dry finish. For a cocktail with such a complex history and profile, its surprisingly easy going.
This is just one of countless riffs on the classic trinity that Count Negroni discovered almost a century ago, some of the best of which one can find in Albuquerque. Try Julian Martinez Churchill, the Artichoke Cafes decidedly drier, British take that features Earl Grey-infused gin and dry white port. Trey Cole and company at Scalo center theirs on Carpano Antica, one of the more brooding and powerful sweet vermouths. Feel free to substitute good dark rum, smoky mezcal or scotch to make your own contribution to classic cocktailia. Remember to garnish with a twist, and entertain your guests with a story or two while stirring away.
BRUSSELS (Sputnik) According to the NATO chief, the issue is on top of the agenda of the upcoming foreign ministerial meeting of the military bloc on May 19-20.
"The situation along the border between Turkey and Syria will be discussed, and of course we are concerned because we have seen several attacks and we have seen also a high number of civilian casualties, innocent people being killed," Stoltenberg said.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The US-led coalition against the Daesh terrorist group is presently training almost 4,000 Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), the biggest number in has trained at once so far, Operations Inherent Resolve spokesman Col. Steve Warren said on Wednesday.
"We continue to build partner capacity through our training sites across Iraq," Warren stated. "Today, this very day there are 3,800 Iraqi army soldiers in training which is the most weve had in training at one time to date."
ANKARA (Sputnik) Four Turkish soldiers were killed and nine were wounded in a bomb explosion carried out by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in southeastern Turkey, the country's General Staff said in a statement on Wednesday.
The General Staff reported that the bomb had been detonated in the afternoon on the Semdinli-Aktutun road in the Hakkari province.
"As a result of the explosion of the improvised explosive device, detonated by the members of the separatist terrorist organization [PKK], an armored vehicle was hit. Four soldiers were killed, nine were injured," the General Staff said.
The Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom) is planning to begin construction work on second and third nuclear reactor units at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant before the end of this year, RIA Novosti reported
"We are waiting for the Iranians to complete a seismic survey of the site, after which we plan to begin construction before the end of the year," a source at Rosatom told the agency.
Last month head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi said that work on the two reactors at Bushehr had been delayed for technical reasons, and disagreements in some areas.
BEIRUT (Sputnik) The Syrian government has supplied over 80 percent of all the humanitarian aid delivered to the population in areas controlled by terrorists, a political adviser to the Syrian Information minister said Wednesday.
"We are constantly helping our citizens, even if we do not consider this to be aid. Over 80 percent of the aid [distributed] to occupied regions comes from the Syrian government. The United States has no basis for accusing the Syrian authorities," Ali Ahmad told RIA Novosti.
On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that Damascus is preventing humanitarian access to populations caught in the crossfire of the Syrian conflict. The press secretary added that there are alleged instances of government troops raiding humanitarian convoys and that the US government has been working to "hold the Assad regime accountable for living up to the commitments that they made in the cessation of hostilities."
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The UN humanitarian aid coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory demanded on Wednesday that Israeli authorities stop destroying Palestinian homes and donor-funded construction materials, according to a statement issued by the the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Israeli authorities confiscated humanitarian aid and destroyed seven Palestinian homes on Monday, leaving 49 people without shelter. Among them were 22 children, the statement read.
"Despite the obligation on Israel under international law to facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of relief to those who need it, humanitarian relief to vulnerable communities like Jabal al Baba is increasingly under attack," Robert Piper said as quoted in the statement.
In August 2014, the Lebanese army clashed with Daesh and the Al-Nusra Front, in the town of Arsal. Extremists kidnapped 30 soldiers and policemen as they withdrew. An exchange was later made for 16 captives and the release of extremist prisoners jailed in Lebanon.
Since the start of the five-year civil war in Syria, Lebanon has become home to over a million Syrian refugees.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Political influence on Turkeys judiciary is likely responsible for a high-court decision on Wednesday to keep journalist Mehmet Baransu locked up as he awaits trial, the advocacy group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a press release.
"Mehmet Baransu is being treated as a dangerous criminal rather than as a journalist who did his job," CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova stated on Wednesday. "[W]e urge the Turkish judicial authorities to exercise their independence from political influence, free him immediately and ensure that he receives a fair and transparent trial."
Turkish authorities imprisoned Baransu, a columnist and correspondent for the privately owned daily newspaper Taraf, on March 1, 2015, on charges that he possessed classified documents.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Syrian government forces have repelled a tank attack carried out by al-Nusra Front radicals in Syrias Hama Governorate, the Russian center for Syrian reconciliation at the Hmeymim airbase said in a daily bulletin posted by the Russian Defense Ministry.
According to the Wednesday statement, al-Nusra Front militants "also shelled the positions of the Syrian army in the region of Marj al-sultan [north of Damascus]."
The Russian center for Syrian reconciliation stressed that Jabhat al-Nusra continues provocations aimed at disrupting the ceasefire regime in Syria.
"The [Syrian] government has to be a part of the solution. Without that sort of engagement, theres not going to be a solution and everybody knows that."
Still, the US has struggled to develop an effective strategy in the region, it is now considering a mysterious Plan B that could broaden the conflict.
"Others are suggesting that Plan B is the division of Syria and division of Iraq into ethnic lines. That, indeed, is going to create even further problems for a very long time," he says.
"It would create enclaves which would be opposed to one another and [that] will be continuously fighting one another."
According to the Navy, a 'certified ethical hacker' "is a skilled professional who understands and knows how to look for the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in networks and/or computer systems and uses the same knowledge and tools as a malicious hacker upon request from an organization."
A 'certified ethical hacker' differs from a black-hat hacker in no discernible way, except for being ordered to engage in hacking attacks at the behest of a government.
BANGKOK (Sputnik) The Royal Thai Armed Forces plan to replace outdated Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopters produced in the United States with Russia's Mi-17V5 helicopters , Thai Army's Commander-in-Chief Teerachai Nakwanich said Wednesday.
Earlier in May, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha said that Bangkok could purchase Russia's helicopters for its needs.
"We need helicopters to replace outdated US CH-47 Chinook that are used as main military transport helicopters. We do not have money to buy new Chinooks, our budget is very limited and Russia's helicopters meet our requirements both in their characteristics and prices," Nakwanich said in an interview with Fifth National TV channel of Thailand, commenting on the recent statements of the prime minister.
The secretary general "also announced the start of work in Poland on another Aegis Ashore system similar to the one that came online in Romania. The two land-based facilities are an addition to four US Navy Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense ships based at the Spanish base of Rota and deployed across the Mediterranean, the Black and Baltic seas, the powerful Aegis radar installation in Turkey and a command center in Germany."
Speaking at the ceremony, Stoltenberg sought to emphasize that "the site in Romania as well as the one in Poland are not directed against Russia. The interceptors are too few and located too far south or too close to Russia to be able to intercept Russian ICBMs."
"And what is the technology Stoltenberg is referring to?" Dinucci asked. "Both the ship- and land-based Aegis systems feature the Lockheed Martin Mark 41 vertical launching system, using tubes (located in the belly of the ship or in an underground bunker), launching the SM-3 interceptor missile."
Hence, the analyst notes, "this system, called a 'shield', actually has an offensive function. If the US managed to achieve a reliable ABM system, they could keep Russia under the threat of a nuclear first strike, relying on the ability of their 'shield' to neutralize any possibility of retaliation. In reality, this is not possible at this stage, because Russia and even China are now taking a series of measures to make it impossible to intercept all their nuclear warheads in a missile attack. What then, is the US really trying to achieve with its Europe-based Aegis system?"
A US-Russia brokered cessation of hostilities took effect in Syria on February 26, with dozens of militant groups having since joining in.
However, terrorist organizations such as the Nusra Front and the Daesh, which outlawed in numerous countries, including in Russia, are excluded from the cessation of hostilities deal.
In mid-March, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to start withdrawing most of Russia's military contingent from Syria after accomplishing its objective. Russia left a minor residual force in Syria.
Warren claimed, however, that Russias military capabilities in Syria remain largely the same.
WASHINGTON= (Sputnik) Additional US forces have not arrived to Iraq or Syria, Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Col. Steve Warren said in a briefing on Wednesday.
"No to both," Warren stated when asked whether US troops have reached Iraq and Syria.
On April 18, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced that the United States will deploy an additional 217 troops to Iraq to assist local forces in the fight to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State terror group.
Speaking to Radio Sputnik about this new development in global naval design, retired colonel Viktor Baranets, a prominent Russian military commentator for the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, suggested that the new destroyer's price tag is beyond the scope of reason, and its claims to invisibility ludicrous.
"With an annual defense budget of over $600 billion, the Pentagon can take the liberty of conducting various kinds of experiments, including spending $4.4 billion on a single destroyer. By comparison, one US [Virginia-class] nuclear submarine, the newest in the fleet, costs about $2.2 billion. In other words, they used the budget for two nuclear subs to build one Zumwalt. What can be said? Americans love grandiose projects which sometimes go beyond the scope of reason."
Baranets emphasized that the Zumwalt's stealth technology will not be able to fundamentally weaken large military powers' ability to detect the ship.
"With regard to its stealth, this is just a fairy tale for fools. Imagine a colossus with a solid wall the height of a sixteen-story building. Given the capabilities of current weapons using space and aerial reconnaissance, in addition to those of UAVs, this giant washtub cannot remain an inconspicuous target on the sea surface."
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Maldives has severed its diplomatic relations with Iran, claiming that Tehrans regional policies were detrimental to stability, the Maldivian Foreign Ministry said.
"The Government of Maldives has today decided to sever diplomatic relations with Iran. The Maldives believes that the policies that Iranian Government pursues in the Middle East, and in particular, in the Arabian Gulf region, is detrimental to peace and security in the region, which, in many ways, is also linked to stability, peace and security of the Maldives," the ministry said in a statement Tuesday.
The ministry cited last months Islamic Summit in Turkey, which called on Tehran to pursue relations of good neighborliness and non-interference with other nations.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The regional council of Italy's Venetos Wednesday vote on a resolution against the anti-Russia sanctions shows that the process of anti-Russian propaganda has reached a deadlock, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
On Wednesday, the regional council of Italy's Veneto is due to vote on the issue of the recognition of Crimea as part of the Russian Federation and the lifting of anti-Russia sanctions.
"The vote on the resolution in the regional Veneto council and other political processes they all show that the process of the anti-Russia propaganda in the context of Ukraine has not only reached an impasse but also is trying to unwind in the opposite direction and work against those who started it," Zakharova told the Izvestiya newspaper in an interview.
TOKYO (Sputnik) Russian and Japanese authorities have agreed to promote investment cooperation between the two countries to achieve the best results possible for the upcoming Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), the Russian deputy prime minister and presidential plenipotentiary envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District said Wednesday.
On Monday, Trutnev started a three-day visit to Japan. The deputy prime minister met Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga for negotiations.
"We discussed future development of our relations in the sector of investment of Japanese companies into the Russian Far East and agreed to try to do maximum amounts of work in the upcoming here months before the forum so we could sum everything up and to move on quickly and efficiently," Trutnev told reporters.
TOKYO (Sputnik)Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abes upcoming visit to Russia within the framework of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) will create extra conditions for Russian President Vladimir Putins visit to Japan, the Russian deputy prime minister and presidential plenipotentiary envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District, said Wednesday.
On Monday, Yuri Trutnev started a three-day visit to Japan. The second Eastern Economic Forum will be held on 2-3 September in Vladivostok.
"I am sure that the meeting which is planned between the Russian president and the Japanese prime minister in Vladivostok will be another step towards cooperation. It is completely evident that it will create extra conditions for organization of a counter-visit," Trutnev told reporters.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier this week, UK Prime Minister David Cameron suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin would benefit if the June Brexit vote passes.
"We have already got accustomed to the fact that the factor of Russia is a stable instrument in the US electoral campaign. But it is a new thing for us that the factor of Russia or President Putin is being used in the Brexit issue. It is a new phenomenon," Peskov told journalists.
Russia is interested in developing mutually beneficial relations with the West, he noted.
BRUSSELS (Sputnik) The Political and Security Committee of the European Union on Wednesday appointed a new commander of the bloc's naval anti-piracy mission conducted in the vicinity of Somalia, the Council of the European Union said in a press release.
"The Political and Security Committee appointed Brigadier Robert Magowan CBE, an officer from the British Royal Marines, as Operation Commander for the EU Naval Force Somalia- EU NAVFOR Operation Atalanta. Brigadier Magowan will replace Major General Martin Smith MBE," the press release reads.
Magowan is expected to take up his duties on June 3, 2016, according to the press release.
2016 marks 20 years since the launch of the ASEAN Russia Dialogue Partnership and the Sochi Summit will review the progress that has so far been achieved.
Dialogue ASEAN Russia was launched in July 1991 when Russian representatives where invited by the Malaysian Government to attend an ASEAN Ministerial Meeting.
Russia was subsequently elevated to a full Dialogue Partner of ASEAN in July 1996 at the 29th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Why ASEAN and Asia-Pacific Region are of a Particular Interest to Russia
ASEAN and Asia-Pacific Region are of a particular interest to Russia due to its rapid economic growth, deepening integration and modernization, Victor Sumsky, Director of the ASEAN Centre in Russias MGIMO University, told Radio Sputnik.
However another one of the most important characteristics is the political stability of each of its member states and of the region as a whole, he added.
Sumsky though noted that despite of it being a relatively stable zone compared to the Middle East, Eastern Europe or North Africa, the region also faces quite a number of threats and challenges.
Stoltenberg said he would report to the ministers on the outcome of the April meeting of the NATO-Russia Council. He stressed that the sides did not solve all the problems and "all the outstanding different challenges.but we had a useful meeting."
"At the same time, we continue to strive for more transparency in our relations with Russia on military matters, and reduce the risks of incidents or accidents spiraling out of control. NATO does not seek confrontation," he said.
In 2014, NATO foreign ministers decided to suspend civilian and military cooperation with Russia amid strained relations over the Ukrainian crisis, as the alliance accused Moscow of involvement in the conflict. Political dialogue in the NATO-Russia Council, however, was not halted.
ANKARA (Sputnik) Ankara must meet 72 requirements, including the revision of Turkeys national anti-terrorism laws and the state of press freedom in the country, set by the European Union in order for the visa-free regime between Ankara and Brussels to be put in place. The visa-free travel for Turkish citizens is also a part of a Brussels-Ankara deal on migrants swap.
"We have met 72 criteria, as promised. And now, the European Union asks us to change the approach to the struggle against terrorism. These recommendations indicate that the European Union has a vague picture of the situation in Turkey. The implementation of these recommendations means the encouragement, if not a support, of terrorism, a chance for terrorists to strengthen their positions. We cannot take such a step, this is out of question," Kalin told reporters.
The plan envisages the partition of Syria and empowering the country's "moderate opposition." It should be noted that Washington is well aware that the so-called moderates have no scruples about intermingling with al-Nusra Front terrorists from time to time.
As for Riyadh, it has repeatedly pledged its willingness to deploy Saudi boots on Syrian ground. In the eyes of Saudi Arabia, 'Plan B' will allow Riyadh to ultimately get rid of Bashar al-Assad, paving the way for undermining the Middle Eastern Shiite Crescent and "encircling" of Iran.
Actually, the roots of the US-Saudi 'Plan B' originated in the times of George W. Bush. After Iraq had been occupied by the US, Saudi Arabia urged Washington to shift its attention toward Iran and Syria, parts of the so-called Shiite Crescent in the Middle East.
"In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January [2007], Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that there is 'a new strategic alignment in the Middle East,' separating 'reformers' and 'extremists'; she pointed to the Sunni states as centers of moderation, and said that Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah were 'on the other side of that divide.' (Syria's Sunni majority is dominated by the Alawi sect.) Iran and Syria, she said, 'have made their choice and their choice is to destabilize'," Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh wrote in his 2007 article "The Redirection" for The New Yorker.
According to Kerry and al-Jubeir, Plan B would be implemented should the ceasefire in Syria collapse. As of yet the truce is holding despite numerous violations.
The recent 17-nation ISSG talks were devoted to discussing the stalled negotiations, suspended after the Saudi-backed opposition faction, the HNC, unilaterally withdrew from negotiations, demanding serious concessions from the Syrian government.
It seems that neither HNC, the Riyadh-sponsored "opposition" group, nor its Saudi masters are interested in further diplomatic efforts.
BRUSSELS (Sputnik) NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said earlier on Wednesday that the Alliance combines deterrence with dialogue in its approach to Russia.
"Russia is open for dialogueCertainly, the meetings of the Russia-NATO Council should bring added value, taking into account that we had a comprehensive exchange of views on key issues and security threats during the latest meeting on April 20," Grushko told Russian reporters in Brussels.
"However, it's also possible that Nuland will leave Moscow empty-handed, or with a minimum compensation. Because in reality, all she is offering is to ensure a vote in Ukraine's parliament, while the parties have to not only negotiate on the adoption of the law, but also its contents."
The current bill submitted to the Ukrainian parliament is out of sync with the Minsk agreements, according to the analyst. "But Ukrainian authorities and their Western partners could make it so that further discussions were held about its passing, rather than further changes to the bill. And then, if Kiev gave way and accepted the current version of the bill, it would be perceived as a maximum concession, and the Kremlin would have a difficult time requesting corrections."
The same thing might happen with the electoral law, the analyst warns. "Those familiar with the document say that it has rather sensible requirements."
"There are four main positions in this law," Opposition Bloc lawmaker Yuriy Boyko told Expert. "The election must be in accordance with Ukrainian legislation, Ukrainian media must be given access, electoral commissions must be formed and the elections must take place with the oversight of international observers."
However, Mirzayan notes, "the real question is how these requirements would be implemented." For their part, the analyst suggests, Ukrainian officials and analysts have openly said that the law would be deliberately designed to include a whole a series of nuances making it unacceptable to representatives from the breakaway regions.
This, according to Ukrainian political analyst Mikhail Pogrebinsky, "would enable Ukraine, at the Normandy format level, with the participation and support of the United States, to say that we are fulfilling our part of the agreement, but the Donbass is not, and therefore no elections will ever be held."
For its part, Mirzayan notes, Moscow "does not find this scenario to be acceptable. If the Minsk agreement cannot be implemented in full, the Kremlin may find it advantageous to simply freeze the situation until a new, more pragmatic government emerges in Kiev. Right now, time is on Russia's side, and the attitudes of the European and even American elites toward Ukraine are changing, and becoming more inclined to seek compromise with Russia."
Experts suggest that Clintons campaign network is the most vulnerable of the candidates, offering hackers the opportunity to extort the former Secretary of State.
Cybersecurity analysts have warned that Clinton, and to a lesser extent her Republican rival Donald Trump, need to upgrade campaign network security to eliminate the risk of foreign surveillance and sabotage. Despite warnings, campaign communications for Clinton appear to be an "open orchid on the internet," according to one hacker.
Russia and the United States chaired a meeting of the International Syria Support Group in Vienna yesterday but is the US planning the permanent division of Syria as part of it's so-called Plan B?
NATO military exercises kicked off in Poland yesterday involving more than 1,500 troops. This comes as the Polish Defense Minister has insisted on a permanent military presence along NATOs eastern flank that the country will reportedly call for during Julys NATO Summit in Warsaw. Daniel McAdams of the Ron Paul Institute For Peace and Prosperity joins Becker to discuss the importance of these war exercises.
It could be Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump going head to head in Novembers presidential election, but scandals continue to chase both of them.What does the fact that the two presumptive presidential nominees for both major parties are plagued by corruption allegations, a shared corporate address to avoid taxes and possible criminal charges say about the American political system? Kevin Akin, Secretary of California's Peace & Freedom Party, and author Eugene Puryear join Becker to discuss corruption in high places.
In an interview with Sputnik, Crimean lawmaker Vladislav Ganzhara touted the upgrade of an early warning radar station in Crimea as something that he said will add significantly to the country's ability to maintain security along its borders.
His remarks came after the Russian newspaper Izvestia quoted a source in the military-industrial complex as saying that the Russian Defense Ministry plans to restore and modernize the Dnepr early warning radar station near the city of Sevastopol in Crimea.
Ganzhara, for his part, said that everyone living on the Crimean Peninsula fully supports the idea of upgrading the Dnepr radar, which he said will contribute to Crimea's security.
A RC-135 US Air Force (USAF) strategic reconnaissance aircraft departed on Monday from Britain's Mildenhall Airbase and flew towards the coast of Russias northern region of Murmansk, according to the reports of military flight tracking websites.
Previously, such observation flights have primarily been monitored over the Black and the Baltic Seas along Russias southern and western borders, but this aircraft targeted Russias north.
The scout was accompanied by a refueling plane. The total duration of the flight, taking mid-air refueling into consideration, was estimated at 12 hours, seven of which the plane supposedly spent above the water of the Barents Sea in Russias north.
ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik)Russia is not planning to introduce a full ban on the import of agricultural products from Turkey, head of Russia's agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor Sergei Dankvert said Wednesday.
"No, they are constructively set to work, so we will work with them," Dankvert said.
"Our task is to ensure that our requirements are met. They are cooperating, so we continue to work," he added. "We are not closing all [imports] so far."
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Konovalov added that "bilateral agreements between our countries are, in fact, frozen and, taking into account the political dimension to the cases, the US authorities are unlikely to repatriate Bout and Yaroshenko to Russia."
"I do not rule it out, that Yaroshenko and Bout will turn again to US appeals court for repatriation to serve out their sentences in Russia, but I am not very optimistic about it: we do not have very good relations with the United States in terms of legal assistance," Konovalov said said during a justice forum in St. Petersburg.
Police confirm that the gunman has been shot by Special Forces and is dead. Authorities fired on the hostage-taker as he attempted to blow himself up, head of Moscow Police press service Sofia Khotyna told RIA Novosti. Police sources also reveal that his claims of having explosives was a hoax after a dog team failed to uncover anything.
"At first the room was inspected by a canine team, which did not reveal the presence of explosives. Then explosives experts examined the object [the gunman claimed to be a bomb] and revealed it to be a fake," sources revealed.
A source confirms that the incident resulted in zero casualties among police and hostages.
"We now have a whole network of nanolaboratories, comprising 70 facilities all across the country. These labs cooperate with each other and provide service support to other scientists and university researchers. Considering how important security is when nanotechnologies are concerned, a network called NanoSafety was also established in Iran. The Health Ministry now also has a Committee on Nanotechnology Development, dubbed Nano FDA, tasked with creating protocols regarding the safety of nano products As for standardization, weve already developed 40 state nanotechnology standards and registered three international standards with the ISO/TC229 Committee, with three more standards awaiting approval," he said.
Meanwhile, he added, a second ten-year plan has already been drafted which focuses on the manufacturing and commercialization of nano products.
"As you know, Iran has an oil-based economy, and now that the oil prices have sagged considerably, this dependence became painfully obvious. In any case, sooner or later Irans oil reserves will run out, so in order to create an alternative economic model for our country this second ten-year plan focuses on developing information, bio- and nanotechnologies as chief vectors of the Iranian economy," Beitollahi explained.
As Cook begins his five-day tour in India, he announced the creation of a dedicated ecosystem to accelerate the development of startups in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru, formerly Bangalore.
Great to hear from some of India's top iOS developers today. Innovative apps and many ideas for the future! pic.twitter.com/ZhEfE7wNW7 Tim Cook (@tim_cook) 18 May 2016
The Cupertino-based firm said its first-ever iOS App Design and Development Centre will be established in the city, which is often billed as the "Silicon Valley" of India.
Tim Cook is here to promote Make* In India.
*Mac Akshar (@AksharPathak) 18 May 2016
In a press statement released by Cook, just kick-starting the visit, he said: "India is home to one of the most vibrant and entrepreneurial iOS development communities in the world. With the opening of this new facility in Bengaluru, we are giving developers access to tools which will help them create innovative apps for customers around the world."
"It's also very useful as an alternative to a rocket for putting satellites into space," said Michael Smart, a hypersonic expert from the University of Queensland who is working on the test.
The next test is scheduled for 2017. If everything goes according to projections, in 2018 humans could potentially be able to fly from London to Sydney in two hours, and from New York to London in no more than 35 minutes.
There are several other teams working on hypersonic travel. Earlier this year a Canada-based team, Imaginactive, announced its Antipode plane, to travel at Mach 14. Several other designs, including the "Concorde-2" by Airbus, are below the hypersonic Mach 5 level.
Bryan Brunsting, 31, and Jason Branum, 35, were found guilty by a federal judge on Monday on charges including conspiracy to deprive an inmate of his civil rights, depriving him of his civil rights under color of authority, and falsifying records, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The charges came after a former recruit claimed that on his second day at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in 2010 his training officer, Brunsting, brought him to assault the inmate for leaving his cell without permission and mouthing off.
"We're going to teach him a lesson," the recruit, Josh Sather, recalled Brunsting saying.
The judge acknowledged that the case against Bundy Jr. is not as strong as the others, and that letters of support praised him as being kind, but noted that evidence suggests he was one of the ringleaders of an armed resistance.
Prosecutors argued that while Bundy was not armed himself, he wielded a great deal of influence over those who were, and encouraged the militia members to keep control of a specific area during a tense moment in the standoff, when law enforcement was outgunned.
"I just can't get away from the underlying fact that he directed supporters to take up the high ground," Ferenbach said. "He's a danger to the community. Specifically, to BLM employees."
Bundy, who has no previous criminal history, is a father of six and lives with his wife in Utah. He owns a construction company and is a licensed pilot who was working on his bachelors degree in aviation administration.
Bundys defense team argued that he has been critical of his familys actions, including during the more recent standoff in Burns, Oregon. They also claimed that he is being misrepresented, and acted as more of a peace officer, who did not himself carry a weapon.
The motion for release also noted that Bundy worked with the BLM in 2013 during a wildfire in Utah, allowing them to fill their helicopters with water on his land.
After the judge read her ruling, several of Bundys family members protested, accusing her of preparing her ruling before the hearing was held.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)US Senator Bernie Sanders said he would not abandon his hopes to secure the Democratic nomination for the US presidential election.
"There are a lot of people out there, many pundits and politicians, they say Bernie Sanders should drop out, the people of California should not have the right to determine who the next president will be. Well, let me be as clear as I can be. We are in till the last ballot is cast!," Sanders said at a rally in California, as quoted by the Los Angeles Times.
Sanders California speech came amid Democratic Party primary elections in the states of Oregon and Kentucky.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Clapper added that intelligence and law enforcement "anticipate that as the campaigns intensify, we will probably have more of them [attacks]."
"We have already had some indications of that," Clapper stated when asked if there had been attacks on website of the US presidential candidates.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik), Leandra Bernstein The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), allowing US victims of terrorism to sue Saudi Arabia, takes foreign policy out of the hands of the White House and into the courts, former House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers told Sputnik.
"I am generally concerned about taking foreign policy and relationships at that level and moving it to the judicial branch," Rogers said on Wednesday. "It may, in fact, stifle good outcomes in the end."
On Tuesday, the US Senate unanimously passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) that would clarify existing US law to allow victims of terrorism sue governments believed to be responsible for facilitating the act.
A group of families who lost a loved one or suffered damages during the September 11 attacks have a pending lawsuit against the government of Saudi Arabia, which has been repeatedly blocked as a result of Saudi claims to sovereign immunity.
Faced with the prospect of voting for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, Mary Anne Noland of Richmond chose, instead, to pass into the eternal love of God on Sunday, May 15, 2016, her obituary began.
The family of the former nurse a mother of three sons and grandmother of ten also asked that, in lieu of flowers, people donate to CARITAS, a Richmond-based organization that helps people struggling with homelessness and addiction.
The humor in the lead sentence of this memorial is pure Mary Anne, commented Dennis Wilder on the Richmond Times-Dispatch website. I will always remember her smile and her laugh.
Information labeled NOFORN does not mean that it is classified, as it is often information that can be found with a Google search. Many in the intelligence industry have complained over the years that the classification is merely an annoyance.
When it comes to our Commonwealth nations, its my belief we are just going to give up on the whole NOFORN thing and extend dual citizenship and privileges, responsibilities to our Five Eyes partners, wherever we find ourselves in each others intelligence footprints, Clapper said in a speech on Tuesday.
What Clapper is calling for would bring the intelligence community back to the standards of World War II, when the US shared virtually all intelligence with their closest allies, including on nuclear matters, Defense One reported.
Puryear added that Clintons questionable business ethics are part of a pattern that goes back decades.
"Theres a long history of things that Hilary Clinton has done around issues of financial and business malfeasance where there has never been any charges." He said, "It goes back to the controversy over her improperly trading cattle futures in the late 1970s, the Whitewater land deal."
Becker spoke about the recently-leaked Panama Papers, noting that Trumps name appears in the financial documents 3,540 times.
"[Trump] talks about making America great again, but really its just a smoke and mirrors sales pitch to the American people. He is a part of the 1%, or the.0001%, that has done so much to keep half of this country either in poverty or near poverty," Becker said.
Akin responded: "Donald Trump is using as one of his talking points the fact that hes been deeply involved in corruption and so he understands it and can fight it. Although he has no particular motive to fight it, since hes made so much money from it over the years."
Becker noted how the Bernie Sanders campaign, Clintons persistent rival, has called for progressive reform and politicized many young people. Despite this, Sanders has stated that, should he not receive the Democratic nomination, he will advise his supporters to vote for Clinton.
"Why would Sanders tell supporters to vote for Hillary when she and Trump have so much in common?" Becker asked Puryear.
"Its the price of admission for Sanders to have ongoing influence inside the Democratic Party" Puryear said, "He has to do something to endear himself to the party establishment, which has been willing to accept his challenge only under the [condition] that he brings people back into the big tent."
Under JASTA, any foreign nation that provides material support for terrorism against the United States or US citizens is subject to legal recourse for damages, and will not be immune from the jurisdiction of US courts.
Strada and a number of other 9/11 families have an outstanding lawsuit against the government of Saudi Arabia that has been repeatedly blocked from coming to trial by Saudi claims to diplomatic immunity. Such claims would lose effect under JASTA.
Terry Strada also claims that successful passage of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) will enable the families of September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to expose Saudi funding for the attacks.
If the legal case is allowed to proceed under JASTA, Strada explained on Wednesday, "I do believe there is evidence that will shed light on the level of activity the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had in these attacks."
"If JASTA is enacted, it will enable the courts to finally hear our lawsuit We can finally hold accountable the people that were financially responsible in giving logistical support to the 19 hijackers who carried out the September 11 attacks," Strada claimed.
"So as long as they can invoke sovereign immunity and not be held liable in a courtroom, we can't introduce our evidence," Strada noted.
If allowed to proceed with the case, Strada explained that the 9/11 families and victims "will get the justice we deserve," but also serve as a deterrent for future terrorist attacks.
"Right now there is no recourse," Strada said, adding that JASTA would dramatically change that. "If you fund terrorist attacks against United States citizens on American soil, we can and will hold you accountable in a US court."
The Polish news agency Polska Agencja Prasowa, in turn, quoted Duda as calling for "a full-fledged dialogue to reduce the risk of error, avoid conflicts and increase predictability in our relations."
According to Duda, interaction with Moscow "should not in any way affect" agreements within NATO on joint defense-related issues.
As for the dialogue, it should be based "on the principles of international law and respect for the territorial integrity of all countries," Duda pointed out.
Last week, Warsaw proposed to strengthen the security role of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in order to prevent dangerous confrontations of the kind which have become a regular occurrence during the past two months between Russian and NATO planes and warships near Russia's borders, according to the Russian newspaper Kommersant.
Speaking to the newspaper, Adam Bugajski, the head of the Polish mission to the UN Office and International Organizations in Vienna, warned that the recent escalation could easily become "a source of unnecessary confrontation," adding that everything possible must be done to reduce the risks of such a confrontation taking place.
Thus, a wide array of politicians and businessmen in Germany and France are saying that the anti-Russian sanctions have already weighed heavily on their countries' political and economic sectors.
They accuse the United States of using financial pressure to prevent them from abolishing these restrictive measures,
Hungary, Greece, Austria and Italy have also begun to oppose the punitive measures against Russia,
In Italy, the Council of its North-Eastern region of Veneto, with the administrative center in Venice, is set to vote on Wednesday on the recognition of Crimea as part of Russia and on lifting the sanctions.
Germanys top diplomat, Frank-Walter Steinmeier also recently said that when the EUs anti-Russia sanctions expire this summer, it will be far more difficult for the bloc to find common ground on the issue, as more of its members are now resisting the prolongation of the restrictive measures.
ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik)Foreign courts will continue to review requests to seize or freeze Russian assets abroad for up to two years over the case of the defunct Yukos oil company, Russian Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov said Tuesday.
"Even in those countries that were preparing to launch this process of The Hagues court decision, the courts of the United States and United Kingdom will most likely take up to one and a half to two years for this process. I think it will take longer because we believe that these processes will most likely be postponed until the final decision by the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court if an appeal is to follow, then I think it would be within one and a half to two years," Konovalov said at a justice forum in St. Petersburg.
In July 2014, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled unanimously to award the former shareholders of the now defunct Yukos company $50 billion to be paid by the Russian Federation.
"As for the European intelligence agencies, they are unable to manage the large flow of people moving across the border, something that was confirmed by the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels [earlier this year]," he said.
Goncharov was echoed by Middle East expert Vladimir Avatkov who did not rule out that Ankara continuing to exert pressure on the EU to force Brussels to make concessions on the EU-Turkey migrant deal.
The migrant deal is in jeopardy as Turkey refuses to change anti-terror laws to meet EU rules for visa-free travel. pic.twitter.com/PJ4vmb4R2B UK News (@UK__News) 11 2016 .
He recalled that Turkey had earlier used the Syrian refugees to pile pressure on the EU, with local special services reportedly providing them from other Arab countries with fake Syrian passports. This has led to a situation where both economic migrants as well as those fleeing the horrors of war are attempting to gain entry to Europe, according to Avatkov.
"Now, getting rid of unwanted persons will be even easier it's enough to give them citizenship. All illegal immigrants returning from Europe will either become grateful supporters of [Turkish President] Erdogan or they will again go to the EU but this time on Turkish passports. As a result, Europe's problems will be further exacerbated," he said.
Meanwhile, a European Commission report has warned that scrapping visa requirements for Turkey as part of the migration deal might raise the possibility of terrorist attacks in the European Union.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The number of migrants and asylum seekers registered in Greece since the beginning of the year has reached 54,574, the Greek migration agency's central coordinating body said Wednesday.
Most of the migrants, or some 29,000 people, are in Northern Greece, of whom 9,183 are being housed at the Idomeni camp, the body was quoted by the Ekathimerini news portal as saying. The Aegean islands in eastern Greece are hosting 8,549 migrants and refugees.
Greece is one of the most popular transit routes used by refugees from Middle East and Northern Africa to reach properous Northern Europe. More than 1.8 million migrants arrived in the European Union in 2015.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) A joint expedition organized by the Russian Defense Ministry and the Russian Geographical Society (RGS) has established two field camps on the island of Matua in the Kuril Islands chain to examine Japan's fortifications built during the World War II, Russias Eastern Military District (EMD) said Wednesday.
The expedition headed by Russia's Pacific Fleet Deputy Commander Rear Adm. Alexander Ryabukhin started on May 8 from Vladivostok in Russia's Far East. Some 200 people in total have arrived on Matua.
"Experts from a joint expedition of the Russian Defense Ministry and RGS have established two field camps on the island of Matua. Four tents have been put up at shore close to an air field. Before scientists will proceed with examining Japanese fortifications, their safety is due to be checked by experts from EMD's engineers," acting spokesman for the district Vadim Astafyev said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday that the alliance's foreign ministers would discuss Baghdad's request on the extension of NATO training program to the Iraqi territory during their upcoming meeting.
The NATO foreign ministers will meet on Thursday and Friday in the Belgian capital.
"We will discuss what more NATO can do to support Iraq. We are training several hundred Iraqi officers in Jordan. We have received a request from [Iraqi] Prime Minister [Haider] al-Abadi to expand our training mission into Iraq itself," Stoltenberg told reporters.
PARIS (Sputnik)On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of the ISSG held a meeting in the Austrian capital of Vienna. A statement was issued at the end of the meeting, calling for the observance of the Syrian ceasefire, progress toward a peaceful political transition and sustained humanitarian access to the areas in need.
"The communique adopted in Vienna on May 17 is a useful achievement and should be now implemented by all the sides," the statement reads.
It was added in the statement that the ministerial meeting of the ISSG continued the initiatives started at the meeting of the Friends of Syria group in Paris on May 9.
BRUSSELS (Sputnik)NATO deployment in Eastern Europe is and will be "far below" any "reasonable definition" of substantial forces and is in line with the NATO-Russia Founding Act, the alliance's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday.
"We have decided to increase our military presence in the eastern part of the alliance, that decision has already been taken. What we are discussing now is the scale and the scope of that increased military presenceWe have received advice from our military commanders advising us to have battalions in different countries in the eastern part of the alliance. We have not made any final decisions," Stoltenberg told reporters.
"Everything we do is defensive, it is proportionate and it is fully in line with our international obligations, including the NATO-Russia Founding Act. And I think it is important to remember that when the NATO-Russia founding act refers to 'substantial combat forces' what we are looking into is far below any reasonable definition of substantial combat forces," he added.
BERLIN (Sputnik) Earlier in May, the second International Holocaust Cartoon Contest commenced in the Iranian capital of Tehran.
"I would like to tell you here that westrongly condemn this contest," Schaefer said.
A meeting of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), attended by the US, Russia, European and Middle East powers, wrapped up in Vienna on Tuesday.
The powers called for a full cessation of hostilities and access for aid but failed to agree on a new date to resume the Syrian peace talks.
Meanwhile, the London-based pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat gave its reasons why the US is no longer a key player in the settlement of the conflict.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The new cap-and-trade regulation will increase heating bills by $5 a month, and add 4.3 cents to gasoline prices, Canadian Press reported.
The first auction of pollution credits, which is likely to raise $1.9 billion a year, will take place in 2017, according to media reports.
In April, more than 160 countries signed a climate agreement in Paris, France under the auspices of the United Nations. The agreement seeks to curb global warming by limiting global average temperatures to less than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) US Secretary of State John Kerry told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi that the United States is committed to helping Egypt defeat terrorism and boost economic growth, the US Department of State said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Secretary Kerry also stressed the importance of Egypt's role as a regional partner and reiterated US commitment to help Egypt fight terrorism, increase economic growth, strengthen democratic institutions and bolster regional security," the statement noted.
As many as 21 Iraqi refugees, primarily the elder people, were reportedly unable to adapt to new life, Teraz news portal reported, citing sources in the Slovak Interior Ministry.
In December, a group of 149 Iraqi Christians was resettled in Slovakia. The refugees were provided with temporary accommodation, jobs, were offered social and legal advice.
SOCHI (Sputnik) Jakarta and Moscow have agreed to expand security contacts in fight against terrorism as well as to strengthen military-technical ties, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said Wednesday.
"We have agreed to expand cooperation in exchange of intelligence data and intensify contacts between or security bodies [to counter terrorism threat]. We have also agreed with President Putin to strengthen our cooperation in the military-technical sector. We have agreed on technology transfer as well as on joint production [of defense products]," Widodo said following a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.
The Russian President holds talks with his Indonesian counterpart during the Association of South-East Nations (ASEAN) summit in Sochi May 18-19.
The names Jim Marino and Justin Currie are pretty well known in western Canadian harness racing circles, but they may need to introduce themselves to some of the folks at the new track where they are currently racing some stock.
Running Aces in Minnesota opened its 2016 meet of live racing on Tuesday, May 17 in front of a very large and enthusiastic crowd.
According to the track, Jim Marino has joined the Running Aces driving colony for the summer meet. The B.C. native has been among the top drivers in that region for many years. He has racked up 1,987 wins to date and has driven his mounts to over $10 million in purse earnings. Marinos best year to date came in 2012, when he won 192 races and steered his charges to just under $1.3 million.
Marinos stable of charges at Running Aces this summer along with fellow B.C. trainer Justin Currie include the accomplished pacing mares Make Three Wishes and Back Stock, plus the sharp geldings Del Rio Seelster, and Red Star Tyson, as well as two Open-level pacers Premium Stock and Comes home First.
The featured event on Running Aces opening card on Tuesday was the $11,000 Fillies & Mares Open, which was won by the nine-year-old distaffer Windsun T Bird. Trainer/driver Tim Maier led his charge to a wire-to-wire victory in 1:55.2 . The margin of victory was two lengths, and the fractions were cut in :28.3, :58 and 1:26.4. The mare is owned by Robin Clements, of Wilton, CA.
Astute handicappers cashed in big on opening night as well, as multiple winners split the late 50-cent Pick-4 wager, taking home $801.70 each, while the late 50-cent Pick 3 returned a very respectable $439.05 for a 50-cent play.
Running Aces will be racing every Tuesday night (7 p.m. CT ) and Saturday and Sunday nights (6 p.m. CT ) now through September 3, and will add Wednesday nights (7 p.m. CT) starting July 27.
(With files from Running Aces)
The buzz and excitement of live harness racing at Hoosier Park Racing & Casino continues with the announcement of two signature wagering opportunities for the 2016 harness racing season.
Beginning Wednesday, May 18, Hoosier Park will add a new $20,000 Guaranteed Trifecta to the wagering menu and will be offered in the opening leg of the pick-5 wager every Wednesday night.
In addition, Hoosier Park will also move the $10,000 Guaranteed Pick-4 pool, currently offered on Thursday nights, to Wednesday nights in races 3-6. In partnership with the United States Trotting Association Strategic Wagering program and the Indiana Standardbred Association, Hoosier Park will offer these signature wagers on Wednesdays throughout the live racing season.
Wednesday nights have proven to be strong nights in terms of wagering for Hoosier Park Racing & Casino, Hoosier Parks Vice President and General Manager of Racing, Rick Moore noted. We feel the addition of these guaranteed wagers will only reinforce the type of mid-week wagering activity we have seen on Hoosier Park throughout the simulcast world.
The $20,000 Guaranteed Trifecta, which offers a 50-cent minimum wager, will begin in the first race of the pick-5 sequence each Wednesday night. On a 14-race card, the guaranteed trifecta will be offered in the tenth race of the program with an approximate post time of 8:45 p.m. No superfecta wagering will be available on the race featuring the $20,000 Guaranteed Trifecta.
The Pick-4, which offers a 50-cent minimum wager, begins in the third race and will continue through the sixth race. Approximate post time for the first leg of the wager, the third race, is 6:25 p.m. Free past performances for the Pick-4 races will be available on Hoosier Parks website. Expert selections and handicapping tools are also available on Hoosier Parks website. The Pick-4 wager on Wednesday nights will offer a carryover if no one correctly selects four of four winners.
The USTA Strategic Wagering program, which began five years ago, is a cooperative program among the USTA and its member tracks that is designed to provide value to horseplayers by guaranteeing the size of designated betting pools.
(Hoosier Park)
RICHMOND, Va., May 18, 2016 / Standard Newswire / -- Today, Liberty Counsel filed a Petition for Appeal requesting that the Virginia Supreme Court hear the case against the School Board of Fairfax County regarding its illegal policy involving "sexual orientation," "gender identity," and "gender expression." Virginia civil rights laws explicitly prohibit local governing bodies from altering the state's nondiscrimination policy.The Fairfax County Circuit Court previously wrongfully dismissed Liberty Counsel's lawsuit claiming that a minor, his parents, and a local taxpayer did not have standing to sue. In effect, the Circuit Court said that a minor who now must have his educational rights diminished and his privacy invaded by having to share the bathroom, locker room, and showers with members of the opposite sex suffers no injury under the policy modifications. Liberty Counsel is asking the Virginia Supreme Court to hear this case and reverse the trial court's ruling, which leaves minors in Fairfax County subject to unconstitutional violations of their privacy and of their right to education."Virginia law requires uniformity throughout the state to avoid a patchwork of conflicting laws at the local level. The school board act of adding 'gender identity, expression, and sexual orientation' to the local policy violates state law and harms children. Allowing boys to use private facilities for girls violates the right to privacy and places girls at risk of sexual abuse," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "The strength of America's foundation is that no school may disregard our laws. Just as a board may not remove 'race' or 'religion' from its nondiscrimination clause, it cannot add groups that are not recognized by the Virginia Legislature. The officials tasked with protecting children in the public schools have now actually become the greatest threat to them with the imposition of this radical sexual agenda," said Staver.
Japanese dance/vocal group Da-iCE will make their American performance debut at FanimeCon later this month at the San Jose Convention Center, May 27-30. The groundbreaking five-member group has scored multiple chart-topping hits in Japan, becoming a pop music sensation for their multi-octave range, modern dance style, handsome looks, and sophisticated fashions. Their concert at FanimeCon will be the first chance for American fans to see the groups energetic stage show that has sold out concerts across Japan.
The five members of Da-iCE (pronounced Dice) Yudai, Sota, Taiki, Toru, and Hayate have visited the U.S. twice before for dance lessons with Americas top choreographers, and each member is looking forward to meeting American fans in the intimate Q&A and autograph sessions at FanimeCon. The San Jose concert (the groups first live show for non-Japanese audiences) will feature a full showcase of songs and dancing, matching the power of their recent tours.
Da-iCE will also bring limited quantities of official merchandise from Japan (available at the Kinokuniya booth) CDs, DVD, T-shirts, towels, mini-poster + ID card sets (first release at FanimeCon), tote bags, iPhone cases and there will be a rare and limited-admission Da-iCE photo session for fans who purchase a special goods package at the event.
Saturday, May 28 Autograph Session (11:30 am)
Saturday, May 28 Concert Showcase (Door s 6:15 pm || Start time : 7:00 pm)
Sunday, May 29 Q&A Panel (2:00 pm)
Sunday, May 29 Autograph Session (3:30 pm)
Event details at FanimeCons website: here
Johanson-Kubin graduates with BA
Jessica Johanson- Kubin, a 2012 graduate of R.A. Long High School, graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in public policy April 30 from the University of Michigan, Gerald Ford School of Public Policy, in Ann Arbor.
She is a member of Gamma Phi Beta Sorority, where she served on the Scholarship Committee. She also is a member of Kappa Alpha Pi Professional Pre-Law Fraternity and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.
In September, she will begin further studies at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle.
Credit union awards scholarships
Fibre Federal Credit Union scholarships totaling $11,000 recently were awarded to seven students who excel in academics and community service.
The awards consisted of six $1,500 scholarships and a $2,000 Jim Stacie Memorial Scholarship, named in memory of Jim Stacie, a Fibre Federal board chairman who served for 16 years. No restrictions are made on career choice or course of study and the scholarships are awarded based on academic standing, extracurricular activities, financial circumstances and the quality of the application. Leadership qualities also were considered for the Jim Stacie Memorial Scholarship.
Recipients maintained a 3.60 or higher grade-point average and were committed to serving the community with numerous projects such as the Holden Creek Clean-Up, the Wilson River Food Bank, GERMS (Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service), the DC Schools Project, Annual Senior Citizens Christmas Dinner, the Childrens Cancer Association Telethon, the Hawk Festival Salmon Derby, the Rainier Booster Club, the Ford Family Leadership program, Global Medical Brigades, Kappa Delta Sorority and Relay for Life.
Louis Gibson of Tillamook High School received the $2,000 Jim Stacie Memorial Scholarship, plans to study chemical engineering at the University of Washington.
The $1,500 scholarship winners are Alison Brennan, a Georgetown University student who previously attended St. Marys Academy in Portland, Nathan Eiche, a Washington State University student who previously attended Mark Morris High School; William Gilkerson, a Woodland High School senior; Samantha Holland, a Rainier High School senior; Leandra Putman, an Oregon State University student who previously attended Tillamok High School; and Alesha Scrivner, a City University of Seattle student who previously attended Mark Morris High School.
The Daily News
The Longview man accused of pistol whipping his ex-girlfriend and possibly firing at Cowlitz County sheriffs deputies early Monday morning has a long criminal record sheet that includes several allegedly racially motivated attacks on black men.
Brent Ward Luysters 32-year-old ex-girlfriend called police at 3 am. Monday to report that shed awakened to Luyster hitting her in the head and face with a pistol at his house at 123 Solo Drive. According to the ex-girlfriend, he grabbed her hair and dragged her down the hallway.
Deputies found her bleeding from the head. She was treated and released from St. John Medical Center.
When they approached Luysters house, deputies heard shots fired from the woods nearby and believed Luyster was shooting at them, according to a press release. He eventualy surrendered.
According to archives of The Columbian, Luyster has been involved in a drive-by shooting and taking a motor vehicle without permission. Hes been convicted of assault, malicious harassment, malicious mischief and theft.
In 2001, Luyster and his brother Robert A. Luyster punched, kicked and beat a 45-year-old black man from Vancouver with boards. Police called the crime racially motivated.
In 2005, Luyster and two other men were accused of yelling racial slurs at a black man before a fight ensued among two of the men. The victim was shot in the leg by one of the men with Luyster.
Luyster pleaded guilty in October 2014 for rioting with a weapon after he was accused of racially motivated threats at a Vancouver tavern in March 2013. He allegedly threatened to kill an interracial couple cuddling at the tavern and threatened another black man with a pistol outside the bar. He got 90 days in jail.
The Anti-Defamation League, which combats anti-Semitism and other bigotry, identified Luyster and his brother Robert A. Luyster as white supremacists.
Luyster is lodged in the Cowlitz County Jail on suspicion of second-degree assault, nine counts of unlawful possession of firearms and reckless endangerment, all felonies. His bail is set at $150,000.
His arraignment is scheduled for 9 a.m. May 24.
Today is May 18th, a date thats etched in memory of many local residents. At 8:32 a.m. 36 years ago today, Mount St. Helens exploded, killing nearly 60 people and forever changing the geological, social and political landscape of the region.
Heres a quick introduction or refresher course to the famous volcano.
What happened on May 18, 1980
At 8:32 a.m., a 5.1 magnitude earthquake jarred loose the volcanos unstable north flank, triggering a giant debris avalanche, a lateral blast that leveled an expanse of forest and sent a plume of ash around the earth. The volcanos north flank collapsed, causing the largest landslide in recorded history.
Mudflows raced down the North and South forks of the Toutle River, taking out bridges and 200 homes. The cement-like mixtures of water and volcanic soil picked up and tossed logs, railroad cars, trucks and buses as if they were toys.
Sediment clogged the Cowlitz and Columbia rivers, stopping shipping traffic for about a week.
The mud suffocated millions of fish. Spirit Lake steamed like a sorcerers cauldron. Seven thousand big game animals, along with hundreds of thousands of birds and fish had died.
The next day, the long wrenching process of searching for victims and rebuilding the area began.
Listen to the interview with Daily News Editor Andre Stepankowsky here:
Volcano Q and A
Q. How powerful was the May 18 blast?
A. The blasts initial velocity of about 220 mph quickly increased to about 670 mph. Near the volcano, trees were reduced to splinters. Scientists estimate the volcano unleashed 24 megatons of thermal energy that day.
Q. What was the size of the blast area?
A. 230 square miles, or one-fifth the size of Cowlitz County.
Q. How high did the ash cloud rise?
A. Estimates range from 12 to 15 miles. Thats 60,000 to 80,000 feet.
Q. How much timber was knocked down?
A. Enough to build nearly 500,000 homes.
Q. What effect did the eruption have on Spirit Lake?
A. When the north flank of the volcano tumbled away, it filled the valley below and displaced the water of Spirit Lake. When the slide first hit the lake, it caused a tsunami wave that splashed about 700 feet up the side of Mount Margaret to the north. As the water receded back into the basin, it carried blasted trees back with it. Thats why a large log raft still covers much of the lake.
The new lake bottom is nearly 100 feet higher than the old lake surface, and the lake is several times larger.
Q. How many eruptions have there been since 1980?
A. The mountain erupted explosively 21 times between 1980 and 1986, a time that saw growth of a lava dome in the mile-wide crater blasted out by the May 18 eruption.
Q. When was the most recent eruption?
A. An extended non-explosive eruption from 2004 to 2008 dramatically expanded the lava dome. The mountain hasnt erupted since 2008.
Q. How big is the lava dome?
A. About 1,000 feet tall.
Q. Does Mount St. Helens have glaciers?
A. It has one, the Crater Glacier, which wraps around the back of the lava dome. The glacier is 1.25 miles long and as much as 650 thick.
Q. How many people died?
A. The official death toll is 57. However, no one has ever found out who Paul Hiatt and Doug Thayer were, though their names are on the official death list. The names were likely called in during the frantic first few days after the eruption.
Also, someone flying overheard shortly before the eruption reported seeing a red pickup truck where no one could have survived. If so, someone never reported as missing might have died.
Q. How many volcano victims were in the volcano restricted zone?
A. Three: Harry Truman, Bev Weatherald and Bob Kasewater. They all had permission to be near Spirit Lake. All other known victims were outside the restricted area, a fact misstated by Gov. Dixy Lee Ray and then widely reported.
Q. How many homes were destroyed by the eruption?
A. 200 homes were destroyed by mud flows, either washed away or made uninhabitable.
Q. How much research did the volcano spawn?
A. Within days of the eruption, scientists flocked to the blast zone, eager to document the recovery of plants, fish and wildlife from huge devastation.
In 2014, scientists set off explosions around the peak to map the lava plumbing system under the peak.
Today, there are 20 to 30 individual geology studies and 15 to 20 long-term biological studies.
Q. What agency manages the land around the volcano?
A. The U.S. Forest Service, under a unique entity, the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. Some conservationists and tourism interests wanted the National Park Service to take over the area, but an advisory committee in 2009 recommended that the Forest Service stay in charge.
Q. What are the ongoing political and management issues concerning the volcano today?
A. The Army Corps of Engineers continues to cope with how to stem the flow of sediment down the North Fork of the Toutle River. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is working to re-establish runs of fish in that river. Tourism interests have proposed a new highway linking the upper part of Spirit Lake Memorial Highway with Highway 12, near Randle. And some hikers, hunters and anglers want fewer restrictions on where theyre allowed to walk in the blast zone.
Q. How many people climb the mountain?
A. About 14,500 people a year climb Mount St. Helens. The vast majority about 13,000 do so in the summer. Its one of the most-climbed peaks in the world, though Mount Hood gets more.
Q. For whom is Mount St. Helens named?
A. British diplomat Alleyne Fitzherbert (1753-1839), whose title was Baron St. Helens. The mountain was named by Commander George Vancouver and the officers of H.M.S. Discovery while they were surveying the northern Pacific Coast from 1792 to 1794. Fitzherbert never visited the Pacific Northwest.
Events Wednesday
Two presentations are scheduled Wednesday at the Johnston Ridge Observatory as the Forest Service commemorates the 36th anniversary of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.
Nathan Reynolds, ecologist for the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, will speak at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on mountain goats at the mountain and the tribes traditional culture.
Ken Creager of the Earth and Space Sciences department of the University of Washington will speak at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on the Imaging Magma under St. Helens (iMUSH) project, which is mapping underground lava passages.
The JRO is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily for the summer season.
tech2 News Staff
Tim Cook is finally focusing the energies of Apple in India. Tim Cook is in India, and in the process of visiting various officials. Announcements related to Apple stores, and an incubator program to encourage startups plugged in to the iOS ecosystem are expected. While there are signs that India has been taking to Apple, there are some major challenges that the company has to work around.
10. Refurbished iPhones: Apple's plans to sell refurbished iPhones in India has been rejected. Resale of refurbished iPhones is faced with stiff opposition from other local manufacturers, including Samsung, Micromax, Intex and Karbonn. Apple has to work around the perception that it's using India as an e-dump for disposing second hand products that will not find value elsewhere. Apple has tried to maintain that these are high quality used phones and meet the stringent quality specifications set by Apple for its new products. It also believes only low quality second hand phones lead to an e-waste problem. The refurbished phones are a good fit for a price sensitive or value conscious market such as India. As far as Apple is concerned, these lower price devices can lead to an upgrade to a higher priced device later on.
09. Slow 4G LTE Rollout: Apple's innovative technological products are dependent on a good 4G LTE network. Tim Cook considers the lack of an 4G LTE rollout as a big factor holding back the sale of Apple devices in India. This problem seems to be in the process of being solved, with major telecom companies deploying their 4G LTE networks. India is expected to have 9 crore 4G subscribers by 2018.
08. Distribution woes: For Apple in India, distribution has always been more of a problem than pricing. Apple has been working to incorporate small and medium retailers as part of its distribution channels. It has been tying up with major retail chains as well. Although the company has increased its retail network significantly, it needs to do more. Retail in India is not heavily credit dependent, which is not Ideal for Apple. In India, the retail is more dependent on cash or debit, and Apple needs to align its sales strategies to the Indian retail scenario.
07. Lack of Contracts: There is a lack of carrier contracts in India, in the same form as they exist in other markets. Contracts help lower the cost of the device. Users prefer to make up front payments, and stay independent of carriers. Reliance has been offering contract like EMI schemes that are bundled with carrier services. There was also an effort to support EMI payment through tie-ups with banking services. While these might seem to make devices affordable, it could also be seen as a tactic that exploits consumer aspirations and burdens users with unmanageable debt. The schemes were popular at times that Apple had to bring in additional stock.
06. Apple Service: Service is a major part of the Apple experience, and this is just missing in India. There are apple authorised service centers, but the service experience is not uniform across them. Offline stores often do not offer service for Apple phones sold online. There was confusion on the warranty status of devices used for consumers who preferred to import devices because of the lower prices. While these imported devices did have international warranty, Apple did not offer its international warranty in India.
05. Apple Stores: Apple has tied up with premium resellers before, but has never opened its own iconic Apple Stores in India. A big part of bringing an authentic Apple experience to India is the opening of Apple's own retail stores. The first official Apple Store in India has apparently got the green signal. The government should make an exception for Apple when it comes to sourcing norms, for Apple to be able to do this.
04. Lack of Credit Card use: Usage of credit cards in India has always been low. In fact, credit card usage peaked just before the global financial crisis last decade, and has not recovered since then. The Apple ecosystem, and delivery of apps and services is built around an economy that is based on credit. Apple will have to find new ways to tap into the market, and enable users without credit cards to make payments on its ecosystem. Mobile Wallets are a possible workaround.
03. Lack of Apple Accessories: Availability of Apple accessories are a major problem. A lot of hunting is required to get a particular accessory. Tie-ups with retail partners have tended to spin out into their own stores, and apart from a same few docks and cases in every store, the wide range of Apple accessories available in stores around the world are not available in India. We will know Apple has truly arrived when there is a dedicated third party store stocking only Apple accessories.
02. Lack of Applications: Although Apple is known for its ecosystem there are two major drawbacks in India. A lack of local applications, as well as a lack of international applications. The list of these applications keep changing, so any examples given may appear or disappear on the storefronts. Local applications and services tend to launch first on the Android, and at times do not get an Apple launch at all. The high cost of entry for publishing on the Apple store is one of these reasons. Distribution of apps is much easier for small teams and solo developers on Google's Play Store. Apple is apparently working on a startup incubator in Bangalore, that will help developers come up with applications and services around Apple products in India.
01. Stiff competition from Android: Call it an emerging market, or a price sensitive market, or a value sensitive market. Android phones dominates the market share, and Xiaomi, OnePlus, LeEco, Micromax have offerings attractive to the Indian market with the right balance of features and specifications. India has also been the focus for these manufacturers right from the beggening, and they were not as late to show their interest as Apple.
tech2 News Staff
We recently witnessed the launch of Motorola's new budget lineup in the form of the Moto G4 and the Moto G4 Plus in India while the US market saw the Moto G4 Play as well. And now that they are out, the attention now moves to Motorola's much-talked about flagship smartphone, the upcoming Moto X (2016). Oddly, a new report coming from VentureBeat reveals that the smartphone will get a name change as well and be rechristened as the 'Moto Z' instead.
Tipster Evan Blass wrote that the website got hold of new marketing material which indicates a new Moto Z branding for Motorola's flagship lineup. In the past, Motorola has launched a Moto X Play, Moto X Style and the Moto X Force, so the upcoming Motorola flagship could indeed be called the Moto Z Play (Vertex), the Moto Z Style (Vector Thin) and the Moto Z Force.
(Also Read: Moto G4 Plus First impressions: The budget maker grows up)
Currently only two of the three handsets have leaked out with no sign of the new branding anywhere. Both smartphones are expected to come with add-on accessories similar to what we have on the LG G5. These add-ons are expected to be called MotoMods and will connect to the smartphone via the connectors on the back plate.
News coming from the Xperia Blog pointed out that the Xperia M and C series will be dropped along with the Z series this year with Sony's newly launched X series holding the fort for its smartphone brand.
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Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's chief Jack Ma has cancelled a planned speech at an anti-counterfeiting conference in the United States after the trade group behind it suspended the e-commerce giant's recently gained membership. Alibaba has been dogged for years by accusations that its online shopping platforms were conduits for counterfeiters and critics say it has not done nearly enough to stop the problem.
At least three members of the Washington-based International Anti Counterfeiting Coalition, including board member Tiffany & Co, quit the group and others threatened to leave in protest after Alibaba was admitted as a member in April. On Friday, the IACC suspended the new category in which Alibaba was admitted, effectively terminating its membership.
"Given the IACC's desire for additional time to reflect upon the viability of its general membership category, Alibaba feels it best that Jack Ma postpone his appearance," Jennifer Kuperman, head of international corporate communications, said in a statement. Alibaba Group President Michael Evans will speak at the conference in Orlando, Florida instead. Kuperman reiterated Alibaba's stance that it is "firmly committed to the protection of intellectual property rights and combating counterfeits".
'DAMAGING ADVERSARY'
China's biggest e-commerce firm has pledged to fight fake goods and has hired an army of employees to root them out, but many brands say the problem is still widespread, particularly on the hugely popular shopping site Taobao. In a letter to the IACC explaining its decision to leave the group, luxury brand Michael Kors called Alibaba "the largest marketplace for counterfeit merchandise the world has ever seen" and blasted the IACC for providing "cover to our most dangerous and damaging adversary".
Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and other brands held by Paris-based Kering SA filed a suit in New York in May last year alleging that Alibaba had knowingly made it possible to sell fake products. Last week Taobao said it was tightening controls on the sale of luxury goods, requiring sellers to show proof of authenticity as a way to try to combat the sale of fakes,.
Fake products, ranging from Beats headphones to infant milk formula, are widespread in China - both online and in bricks-and-mortar shops. The official People's Daily newspaper said this month Chinese authorities would launch a campaign to clean up e-commerce, targeting trademark violations, counterfeit and poor quality products, in a move potentially affecting Alibaba as well as rivals JD.com Inc and Baidu Inc.
Reuters
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In a first, a team of physicists is using artificial intelligence (AI) to run a complex experiment to create an extremely cold gas trapped in a laser beam known as a Bose-Einstein condensate -- thus replicating the experiment that won the 2001 Nobel Prize. Bose-Einstein condensates are some of the coldest places in the universe -- far colder than outer space and typically less than a billionth of a degree above absolute zero. They can be used for mineral exploration or navigation systems as they are extremely sensitive to external disturbances, which allows them to make very precise measurements such as tiny changes in the Earth's magnetic field or gravity.
Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose, along with German-born theoretical physicist Albert Einstein, founded the basis for Bose-Einstein statistics. It describes the statistical distribution of identical particles with integer spin, now called subatomic particle or the God particle Boson. Britain's Peter Higgs and Belgian Francois Englert won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on the God particle.
I didn't expect the machine could learn to do the experiment itself, from scratch, in under an hour," said co-lead researcher Paul Wigley from the Canberra-based Australian National University (ANU). The experiment was developed by physicists from ANU and University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy (UNSW ADFA). "A simple computer programme would have taken longer than the age of the Universe to run through all the combinations and work this out, Wigley added. The artificial intelligence system's ability to set itself up quickly every morning and compensate for any overnight fluctuations would make this fragile technology much more useful for field measurements.
You could make a working device to measure gravity that you could take in the back of a car, and the artificial intelligence would recalibrate and fix itself no matter what," noted co-lead researcher Dr Michael Hush from UNSW ADFA. The team cooled the gas to around one microkelvin and then handed control of the three laser beams over to the artificial intelligence to cool the trapped gas down to nanokelvin. Researchers were surprised by the methods the system came up with to ramp down the power of the lasers. "It did things a person wouldn't guess such as changing one laser's power up and down and compensating with another," said Wigley.
We now plan to employ the artificial intelligence to build an even larger Bose-Einstein condensate faster than we've seen ever before," noted Dr Hush in a paper published in the Nature group journal Scientific Reports.
IANS
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With Tim Cook set to arrive in Delhi on his first visit as Apple CEO, his diary seems to be full with visits to various places in Gurgaon, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Cook's visit to India comes at a time when the US technology giant is hit by slower growth in global sales of its flagship products -- iPhone, iPad and Mac. He is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. He had met Modi at a Silicon Valley event in the US last September, where they discussed manufacturing plans under Modi's 'Make in India' initiative.
"In Delhi, after greeting employees at the Apple's corporate office at One Horizon Centre in Gurgaon, he is expected to visit iZen Store (Apple authorised reseller) in Green Park and the iWorld Store (Apple premium store) in Ambience Mall in Vasant Kunj," an Apple source told IANS on condition of anonymity. The source, however, did not give details of his meeting with Modi.
Meanwhile, officials in Hyderabad said that Apple will launch its development centre there on Thursday. The facility will commence operations on one lakh square feet leased space in WaveRock, a building owned by real estate giant Tishman Speyer at Nanakramguda. However, it was not confirmed if Cook will be present to inaugurate the company's first development centre in India. "Will share a big news with you all day after tomorrow. Suspense till then," tweeted Telangana IT minister K.T. Rama Rao.
The US-based firm plans to expand the facility to 2.5 lakh square feet by next year. It will have 2,500 employees, sources said. The company, which has taken the space on lease at WaveRock, is also planning to build its own campus. Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao or his son and IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao may make an announcement for allocation of land to Apple for its campus.
Cook is also expected to meet Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who is trying to attract big ticket investments for his state. The Apple CEO is flying to the country from China, where Apple announced a $1 billion investment in the local ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing. "The trip signifies how significant Indian market has become for Apple. Cook is coming here to announce technology for the future," Vishal Tripathi, research director at global market consultancy firm Gartner, told IANS.
Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn is already present here and is looking to set up a manufacturing base in the country. "If Cook announces concrete plans to set up a manufacturing unit here, this will create more jobs and bring in better competition in the smartphone and other devices market in the low-price segment," Tripathi added. According to him, Cook may raise the issue of allowing Apple to import and sell refurbished iPhones at a cheaper price in India. This will give Apple a slot in mid and low-price segment. "India is incredibly exciting. The population of India is incredibly young. Almost half the people in India are below 25. And so I see the demographics there also being incredibly great for a consumer brand and for people that really want the best products," Cook had said earlier this year.
Cook, who joined Apple in March 1998, was made chief executive of the company, succeeding Steve Jobs, on August 24, 2011. Hit by slower growth in the sale of its flagship products iPhone, iPad and Mac globally, Apple's revenue dropped for the first time since 2003 as the tech giant released earning reports for the second quarter of fiscal 2016 in March.
Revenue was down in both Americas and China -- Apple's two biggest territories. It declined around 10 percent in the Americas and 26 percent in China. According to reports, the company is looking for new growth markets like India after its sales declined.
After Modi became prime minister, top global executives have lined up to visit India. These include Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, India-born CEO of Microsoft Satya Nadella, Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, Chennai-born CEO of Google Sundar Pichai, and Alibaba chairman Jack Ma among others.
IANS
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Google is expected to dive deeper into virtual reality and artificial intelligence Wednesday during an annual conference that serves as a launching pad for its latest products and innovations.
Although Google keeps its plans under wraps until the big event, the conference agenda makes it clear that virtual reality and artificial intelligence, or "machine learning," will be among the focal points. That has spurred speculation that Google is getting ready to release a virtual-reality device to compete with Facebook's new Oculus Rift headset, as well as the Samsung's Gear VR and the Vive from HTC and Valve.
Reporters and bloggers from around the world will attend, ensuring that whatever the company unveils will also be featured in stories, pictures and video delivered to a vast audience of consumers. The three-day showcase also attracts thousands of computer programmers, giving Google an opportunity to convince them why they should design applications and other services that work with its gadgets and an array of software that includes the Chrome Web browser and Android operating system for mobile devices.
Android powers about 80 percent of the world's smartphones, largely because Google gives away the software for free to device makers. Google can afford to do that because it designs Android to feature its search engine, maps and other digital services, giving it more opportunities to show the digital ads that generate most of its revenue.
But Apple's iPhone carries more cachet with affluent consumers and often introduces features that Android copies. Apple will hold a similar conference in June to unveil its fall software plans.
Google is holding this year's conference, called Google I/O, at an amphitheater a few blocks from its Mountain View, California, headquarters. With more than 6,000 seats, the amphitheater could potentially accommodate a larger crowd than the San Francisco venue where Google held I/O in past years.
Google's bare-bones entry into the still-nascent field of virtual reality came two years ago when it unveiled a cheap headset made out of cardboard. The company may now be poised to get more serious, given far more sophisticated options available for sale. Analysts are touting virtual reality, a technology that casts its users into artificial, three-dimensional worlds, as one of the industry's most promising areas for growth.
Artificial intelligence, a term used to describe efforts to develop software that acts and behaves more like humans, has been a focal point of Google's for years. Progress in the field has helped Google's search engine comprehend the intent of people's inquiries more quickly and vastly improved the comprehension and responsiveness of its voice-recognition services.
Analysts have speculated that Google might tap into its artificial-intelligence research to introduce a virtual-assistant product that could be set up in homes to help people manage their lives and get information more quickly. Such a device would represent Google's response to the growing popularity of Amazon's Echo, a cylinder-like device equipped with speakers and an Internet-connected microphone that enables a virtual assistant called Alexa to interact with its users.
Associated Press
Naina Khedekar
Apple head honcho Tim Cook has been on a visit to neighboring China to meet the company heads of Didi Chuxing, the ride-sharing app in which Apple has invested $1 bn. But reports have been doing the rounds that he now plans to make a surprise visit to India. However, some reports floating online hint it could have been a well-planned visit to meet PM Modi over the recent conundrum over selling refurbished iPhones.
First reported by Reuters, the visit is believed to come at a crucial time as Apple looks for growth markets after its first ever decline in iPhone sales. But that's not the only reason, and the company is also said to be looking at local production unit to be a part of PM Modi's Make in India initiative, a possible accelerator program and more. Let's look at them one by one.
Maps centre in Hyderabad, accelerator in Bengaluru
Cook is believed to unveil a new development center for digital maps in Hyderabad, according to Livemint. The report, and also some previous reports, have been hinting at Apple's plans to introduce a startup accelerator in Bengaluru. It is said this will be a first of its kind initiative from Apple to incubate startups with ideas around iOS, and Apple's other software services. An accelerator program makes sense as Apple sees India at the same position where China was 6-8 year ago. It also clearly shows that India is now looked upon as an important market for Apple.
Meetings and discussions
Some reports also highlight Cook is set to meet telcos in the bid to look for partnerships for distribution and sales of its devices. Besides, he will also be meeting politicians and some leading businessmen In the earnings call, Tim Cook had explained how LTE rollout (in India) has been one of the factors that has been holding Apple back, as the potential and the power of its mighty devices cannot be unleashed on 2G. But with good networks coming in, things could change, he had said back then. He had also spoken about problems related to building good retail channels as phones are not tied to carriers here, like in developed nations. Now, citing sources related to the matter, the ET report further adds that Airtel is in talks with Apple and looking to team up for distribution/selling through retail stores, offers on devices and even training of personnel.
Apple Stores
We've been hearing about Apple's plans to bring its exclusive stores to India. In the past few months, we've heard of applications and re-applications being submitted to the government, talks with brokers for plush large format stores and more.
While it was unknown when the stores could likely make it to India, a new report by FactorDaily, citing sources, claims that Apple will be launching three stores in India over the next 18 months. While we've been trying to figure out where Apple could possibly open its stores, the new report also adds that locations are likely to be the Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai.
While Delhi and Mumbai were believed to be the top contenders in the Apple Stores race, Sanchit Vir Gogia, Chief Analyst and CEO, Greyhound Research had told us how other factors such as a city with capable tech support for Apple centres and corporate offices, hints at Bengaluru, which is also known as the tech hub of India being yet another contender.
The idea is to drive a large audience to experience the premium devices, and its not about sales. It is about an experience store wherein people and come and experience the devices and the ecosystem, Gogia had explained.
Refurbished iPhones
Another reason could be meet officials related to making policies and talk about its recently rejected plan to sell refurbished devices in India. India is the second largest phone market and Apple has only 2 percent market share here. Now, with slump in global shipments and slowing China market, the company is looking for inroads to sell its devices in India, which are priced too high for the price conscious Indian market. However, the Cupertino company's plans were denied by the Indian government.
It is said that rivals had a campaign against Apples request as it could mean making way to a slew of used electronics into the country, which will hamper the Make in India initiative. Afterall, the motive of Make in India is to encourage local manufacturing.
Apple is looking at India as a market which has potential to drive volumes for the Cupertino giant in future and hence taking steps to ramp up its operations. But unlike USA and China, India has been a highly price-conscious market with almost 70% of the smartphone sales being below $150. As a result, Apples higher priced iPhone portfolio has limited Apples opportunity to grow at the same pace as the market.As a result of this it is realigning its strategy in India to capture young highly aspirational audience through discounting previous flagships and at the same time expanding its reach within India," explains Tarun Pathak, Sr Analyst, Counterpoint Research.
"With apple ecosystem being robust than ever there is potentially a higher chance that the young consumers of its products and services become more mature smartphone users and hence an opportunity for Apple to upgrade them in near future," Pathak adds.
Set up local production
One of the announcements during Cook's visit might be around setting up local manufacturing plant in India. Apple is said to be close to inking a deal with Foxconn and the Indian government to start its manufacturing plant in India, exclusively for Apple products. Most companies have kickstarted their Make in India plans aligned with PM Modi's initiative. Apple, though slightly behind in the race, is now catching up in the bid to woo price sensitive Indian market as its global and China market has started to plateau.
"Apple has to control external factors which impact its pricing and this can very well be one of the agenda during discussion. Apart from this not only from manufacturing point of view Apples investment in India can range from R&D , investment in startup ecosystem and strengthening its partner network," Pathak adds.
There have been no confirmed reports as to when Cook is expect to land in India. We have only heard that it may be sometime this week or even today. So we can wait and watch.
tech2 News Staff
Microsoft has reached an agreement to spin off its entry level smartphone devices to a FIH Mobile Ltd which is a subsidiary of Foxconn Technology Group and HMD Global. HMD will acquire the rights to use the Nokia brand on its products over a period of 10 years.
While Nokia will not be investing in HMD, HMD will be paying Nokia royalties for using its brand name, patents, software and other properties. Nokia Technologies will be on the board of directors for the newly formed company. This is a way for Nokia to assure its customers that consumers will get the same experience and value from these new products, as they would have gotten from a Nokia device. Microsoft will meanwhile continue to manufacture its Lumia series of phones, as well as Windows Mobile.
Ramzi Haidamus, president of Nokia Technologies, said, "Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the Nokia brand in an industry where Nokia remains a truly iconic name. Instead of Nokia returning to manufacturing mobile phones itself, HMD plans to produce mobile phones and tablets that can leverage and grow the value of the Nokia brand in global markets. Working with HMD and FIH will let us participate in one of the largest consumer electronics markets in the world while staying true to our licensing business model."
This announcement signifies the return of Nokia branded devices to the smartphone market. HMD has exclusive rights to use the Nokia brand name locally, for the period of ten years. The deal is expected to be finalised in the second half of 2016. HMD plans to release Nokia branded smartphones, as well as tablets.
Naina Khedekar
In the past couple of years, there have been many firsts for India, at least in terms of the prominence we are getting as an upcoming tech market on the world map. We've seen global personalities throng the country in the bid to woo PM Modi as they put forth a helping hand and get their innovation aligned with the PM's vision of Digital India. With the latest in the list being none other than Apple chief, who is currently in Mumbai, with an agenda ranging from local manufacturing to setting up stores. Let's quickly take a look at some prominent faces in the tech space that visited India in the last couple of years.
Tim Cook
Tim Cook is here and has begun the day by visiting the Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai. He has a busy schedule lined up ahead with visits reportedly to Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Meanwhile, Apple has already announced its new startup accelerator in Bangalore. The visit may also include talks related to opening its first Apple stores in India, and the company is also believed to tie-up with Airtel and Reliance Jio for distribution. However, there is more than what meets the eye here. India, that was once ignored by the Apple, now sees potential in the second largest smartphone market as it faces first ever sales decline due to slowing markets. There are unconfirmed reports about Cook meeting PM Modi and sale of refurbished devices could be on agenda along with Apple's participation in Modi's Made in India initiative. It's this meeting that he may be looking forward to in order to give a push to the presence of Apple, synonymous to premium and luxury, in India.
Sundar Pichai
https://twitter.com/PIB_India/status/677447871168253952
It was not too long ago that Google chief, Sundar Pichai visited India. His first visit to the country as the Google CEO. He visited India in December 2015, just months after Modi's visit to the Silicon Valley in September wherein Pichai had a special welcome video for Modi. Interestingly, Pichai's visit came just when some ministries had raised concern over the balloon-based Loon Project. Besides its Android OS that dominates Indian smartphone market, Google has also been trying to connect billions in remote areas by making easy access to Internet, Wi-Fi for railway stations and so on. Besides, Pichai was also seen addressing and interacting with students. A session named Ask Sundar was planned in the Delhi Universitys Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC).
Satya Nadella
https://twitter.com/PMOIndia/status/548449105714757632
Satya Nadella, who made us all proud as he took the helms as the Microsoft chief visited India twice last year. He met PM Modi in December 2014, and was in Mumbai in November last year at the Future Unleashed programme wherein we saw him deliver a keynote address that brought together 3,000 industry leaders, enterprise heads, developers and entrepreneurs. Soon after that, he visited India to sign MoU with Andhra Pradesh in December. Under the MoU, Microsoft will support Andhra Pradesh in building of up to three proof-of-concept (POC) solutions in the fields of education, agriculture and eCitizen services. Nadella has often expressed how Microsoft is willing to be a part of India's Digital roadmap.
Mark Zuckerberg
https://twitter.com/PMOIndia/status/520575626529345537
We also saw founder and CEO of the world's biggest social network Mark Zuckerberg visit India last year. In October last year, amidst the conundrum over its Free Basics, Facebook CEO met PM Modi ditching his usual jeans, t-shirt and sneakers for a crisp suit. Zuckerberg expressed his interest in working with the government in the areas of heathcare and education. However, there is no denying that Zuckerberg was here to woo PM Modi and others and get a green signal for the Internet.org aka Free Basics initiative. He was also seen at a townhall in IIT Delhi wherein he explained how the initiative will connect the other billion who aren't online yet.
Jack Ma
In April 2015, in a bid to expand its presence in India, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibabas Chairman Jack Ma met PM Modi. It was his second India visit in just about four months. During his last India visit in November 2014, Ma could not meet Modi. Ma discussed how Alibaba can help empower small businesses in India. Alibaba has already made investments in Paytm and Snapdeal, and has been giving clear indications that they would like to build their own business here too. And, with the 100 percent FDI, Jack Ma could go all out, all dragons blazing, preparing to make way into the India market.
Though, Elon Musk, CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors met PM Modi during latter's Silicon Valley visit and also gave him tour of the Tesla factory. India is now among the list of countries that takes pre-orders for the Teslas Model 3 unveiled at $35,000.
Naina Khedekar
In the past couple of years, several global heads have visited India to meet PM Modi and express their desire for working towards a skilled and digital India. And Tim Cook's visit would be no different, or at least a part of the meeting could be around what Apple could do towards the 'Make in India' initiative. And, looks like Cook has already started his trip with lord Ganesha's blessings to elevate the falling sales by setting the ball rolling in India.
However, unlike other chiefs, Apple's visit is as discrete as its products before the launch. There are various reports floating online, but none confirming the exact details as to when Cook plans to meet Modi. So, will it be a closed door meeting? Well, let's wait and watch. After all, there's a reason that looks above everything else for his India visit refurbished iPhones.
The refurbished iPhone sale rejected by the Indian government is a huge setback for Apple. We've done the number crunching before, and there are realms written down (decline in sale, slowing China, India is second largest market and so on) about why once-ignored India is now the 'apple' of Tim Cook's eyes. But with the recent rejection, it was a low blow for Apple who now needs to expand its market, and refurbished phones could pave the way to bring its devices across price brackets. The motive of refurbished devices wasn't to drive sales, but get users (young, enthusiastic and older alike) to experience the Apple ecosystem. Meanwhile the company planned to strengthen its distribution network, experience stores. And, eventually turn those iPhone adopters into new buyers. However, now, the plan seems to be failing at the root level.
We had also heard how rivals like Samsung had launched a campaign against Apple's refurbished devices from entering India. The companies may well say it goes against 'Made in India' initiative or may have environmental hazards, but they do know what it would mean as competition if Apple enters the space and starts catering to every price bracket. This explains a lot why Cook-Modi visit could be of prime importance, at least to Cook.
It is also possible that Tim Cook's surprise visit, may have been actually well planned. Now, we may be wrong here, but there is no denying that the visit comes right after the whole refurbished conundrum. Cook has already announced a startup incubator in Bengaluru, is said to open a new development centre in Hyderabad and there are reports about local manufacturing in partnership with Foxconn.
While all the development from the accelerator and so on, would be a push to Modi's 'Make in India' initiative, Cook will want his share of bargain. This could most likely be a slightly tweaked way of selling its refurbished devices in India as it tried to expand its market presence.
Apple has big money bags, so investing into development, research, manufacturing and so on, wouldn't be a daunting task. While Apple could get its numbers going, the Modi government could actually manage to get a good share of bargain its 'Make in India' initiative. For customers, it will be a win-win situation.
Dateline: Tennessee
How has this not happened a million times before? A flight attendant from Memphis stands accused of stealing mini liquor bottles from work. The Shelby County District Attorneys Office said 28-year-old Rachel Trevor has been indicted on charges including theft of property over $10,000, unlawful sale of alcohol, unauthorized transportation of alcohol and unauthorized storage of liquor for sale after an investigation revealed she had stolen nearly 1,500 tiny bottles of booze while working at Endeavor Air, a regional affiliate of Delta Airlines. Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission investigators say Trevor would stuff her travel bag full of rum, vodka, gin and whiskey after each flight and then list the bottles for sale on Craigslist for $1 each. Trevor is no longer employed by Endeavor Air. She faces a minimum sentence of 3 to 15 years.
Dateline: Florida
According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, a man accidentally shot himself while cleaning his gunand didnt notice the wound until he changed his shirt two days later. Volusia County Sheriffs Office said deputies responded to a report of a shooting victim Saturday, May 7, at Florida Hospital Fish Memorial in Orange City. There officers spoke with 37-year-old Michael Blevins of Deltona. Blevins told deputies he was cleaning his .22 caliber pistol Thursday in his living room. Blevins said he was holding the weapon close to his chest to prevent his dog from jumping near it. The man said he felt a sharp pain in his back from a previous injury when he tried to stand up. He collapsed and struck his head against the edge of a coffee table, causing the gun to go off. Blevins said he didnt think the bullet had stuck him until Satuday, when he removed his long-sleeved shirt and discovered the entry and exit wounds on his arm. Blevins also said the medication he takes for his back injury may have prevented him from feeling any pain from the gunshot. He was released from the hospital later that day. Deputies accompanied Blevins to his home and concluded that the shooting was accidental.
Dateline: California
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, a man in northern California tried to rob a car wash with an empty potato chip bag. The Department of Public Safety in Rohnert Park, located some 50 miles north of San Francisco, issued a statement saying the unidentified man entered KaCees World of Water car wash on the night of Friday, May 13, and dropped an empty potato chip back on the counter. He told the cashier to fill the bag with money and warned the employee that he had a gun. Weirdly, the man tried to imply the gun was in the bag. The cashier picked it up and saw that it only had a piece of cardboard inside. He called out to coworkers in the parking lot for help and the suspect fled on foot. According to the Sonoma County Sheriffs office, the unsuccessful suspect is still on the loose.
Dateline: Nebraska
A Lincoln man is busy insisting he is alive after the Social Security Administration declared him dead. Charles Richard Zellers II told the Lincoln Journal Star he learned of his untimely passing in March after his Social Security deposit was removed from his bank account while he and his wife were on vacation in Arizona. Zellers drove to the Social Security office in Phoenix and spoke to a woman, asking why the regular deposit had been rescinded. Oh, by golly, you are dead, she reportedly said. She told me it could have been a funeral home declared you deceased, or that someone just put in a wrong keystroke or something like that, the non-deceased 73-year-old explained. Since March Zellers has been working on getting his credit, his VA benefits and other financial information restored. My accounts were suspended, Zellers told the Journal Star. One of the insurance companies was getting ready to pay me off, so I got that stopped. Since he returned home, proving that hes not dead to various government agencies has involved a lot of driving and a lot of calling.
Dateline: Kansas
Two people were shot during a high school graduation ceremony in what Augusta Police Chief Tyler Brewer categorized as a knucklehead situation. A 37-year-old male with a concealed carry permit was among the audience at Augusta High Schools graduation ceremony, held in the schools Hillier Stadium on Sunday, May 15. An individual sitting on the southern portion of the stadium had brought this gun into the stadium. It was in his sock, Brewer told the press. It was uncomfortable for him. He went to adjust his sock, and the weapon went off, striking him in the foot. According to police, the bullet then ricocheted off the ground and struck a 28-year-old woman in the calf. One witness told reporters she was bleeding like crazy. The gunman reportedly drove himself to a hospital, while the woman was taken to Wesley Medical Center. It doesnt look like they are life-threatening injuries at this point in time, Brewer said. We are still investigating. The school ceremony continued, uninterrupted, after the shooting. Authorities are considering whether to press charges. Although the man had a permit for the weapon, there was a sign clearly posted at the entrance to Hillier Stadium forbidding firearms on school property.
Pry education level to be elevated to class VIII
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid on Wednesday said the government has decided to elevate the level of primary education up to class VIII. According to the National Education Policy-2010, the primacy education level from class I to class VIII will now be under the jurisdiction of the Primary and Mass Education Ministry, Nahid told reporters after a meeting on Education Policy at the Secretariat. Primary and Mass Education Minister Mostafizur Rahman, Dhaka University Vice Chancellor AAMS Arefin Siddique, Dr Khaliquzzaman and high officials concerned of the ministry were, among others, present at the meeting held with Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid in the chair. Weve decided to extend the primary level up to class VIII and a summary of the decision will be sent to the Prime Minister soon, said Nahid. Replying to a question about the decision, the minister said, In the National Education Policy-2010, theres a directive to extend the level of primary education up to class VIII from class V by 2018, and now a process is underway to implement it. Replying to a query whether the students will sit for both the PSC and JSC examinations, Nahid said, There has been no decision yet in this regard and the Primary and Mass Education Ministry will take the decision later. Meanwhile, Mostafizur Rahman said, Therere some formalities to implement this important decision. Well implement it soon and all the educational activities up to class VIII will be under his ministry once it is implemented. -- Dhaka, May 18 (UNB)
No breakthrough at Syria talks as violence rages
US Secretary State John Kerry speaking at a news conference during Syria talks in Vienna.
AFP, Vienna :World power talks on ending the Syrian conflict close with no clear breakthrough Tuesday as new faction-fighting erupted and the death toll continued to mount.US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov said the Syria contact group they co-chair had agreed to bolster a shaky ceasefire.But underlying disagreements between Washington and Moscow on how to handle the crisis were apparent, and the United Nations failed to name a date for new peace talks.Meanwhile, human rights monitors said fierce new clashes between the rebel Jaish al-Islam and Al-Qaeda-backed factions had left 50 fighters and two civilians dead.United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura said he could not invite Bashar al-Assad's regime and the Syrian opposition back to peace talks without a "credible" ceasefire.Kerry said the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) had agreed there would be consequences for parties breaching the truce and vowed to maintain pressure on Assad.But Lavrov restated the Russian position that Assad's army is the best placed local faction to fight the Islamic State "terrorist" group and that Moscow would support it.Divisions between Russia and the United States have hampered efforts to agree a framework under which Syria would "transition" away from Assad's rule.And Kerry admitted the August 1 date set by the UN Security Council for agreement on the political framework was a "target" not a deadline, apparently softening the US stance.Nevertheless, Kerry said the ISSG had agreed to strengthen its system for monitoring the ceasefire and that violators risked being expelled from the process.Washington regularly accuses Assad's forces of violating the truce and of bombing civilians, whereas Russia accuses rebel factions of carrying out massacres."We have agreed consequences for any side's actions that have an agenda other than that of trying to reach an agreement and trying to reach peace," said Kerry as he again accused Assad's forces of deliberately starving besieged areas and said UN humanitarian agencies would be ordered to drop food.
US Senate passes bill allowing 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia
The Independent :The US senate has passed legislation that would allow the victims of the September 11 attacks to file lawsuits seeking damages from officials from Saudi Arabia - a move that sets the bill for a showdown with the White House.Fifteen of the nineteen men who hijacked four planes and flew them into targets in New York and Washington in 2001 were Saudi citizens, though Riyadh has always denied having any role in the attacks. A US commission established in the aftermath of the attacks also concluded there was no evidence of official Saudi connivance. However, the White House has been under pressure to declassify a 28-page section of the report that was never published on the grounds of national security.The families have been trying to use the courts to hold responsible members of the Saudi royal family, Saudi banks and charities. Yet these efforts have been largely blocked because of a 1976 law that gives foreign nations some immunity from lawsuits in American courts.The bill passed by the Senate would circumvent that earlier legislation. It now needs to go the House.The Saudis are furious over the bill and have threatened to sell up to $750bn in US securities and other American assets in retaliation if it becomes law. President Barack Obama has said he would veto the bill.Yet there appears to be significant public support for the legislation. If the bill becomes law, it would remove the sovereign immunity, preventing lawsuits against governments, for countries found to be involved in terrorist attacks on US soil. It would allow survivors of the attacks, and relatives of those killed in the attacks, to seek damages from other countries.Last week, the Guardian reported that a former member of the commission that investigated the attacks believed there was evidence that some Saudi officials had supported the hijackers.John Lehman, who sat on the 9/11 Commission from 2003 to 2004, said there was an "awful lot of circumstantial evidence" implicating several employees in the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs."There was an awful lot of participation by Saudi individuals in supporting the hijackers, and some of those people worked in the Saudi government," he said. Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York, a co-sponsor, said the bill was overdue and that, because it only applies to attacks on US soil, did not risk lawsuits against the United States."Today the Senate has spoken loudly and unanimously that the families of victims of terrorist attacks should be able to hold the perpetrators, even if it's a country, a nation, accountable," Mr Schumer told a news conference, according to Reuters.Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas, also a sponsor of the bill, said JASTA did not target the Saudis, although he alluded to a still-classified section of a report on the September 11 attacks that Saudi critics say might implicate Riyadh."We have yet to see the 28 pages that have not been yet released about the 9/11 report, and that may well be instructive," Mr Cornyn said.The Yanks should be careful what they wish for. As the biggest terrorist nation in the world they'd soon be bankrupted.
Trump open to talks with N Korea
BBC Online :
Presumptive US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he is willing to meet North Korea's leader to discuss its nuclear programme.
"I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him," the businessman said of Kim Jong-un.
Such a meeting would mark a significant change of US policy towards the politically isolated regime.
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton decried Mr Trump's "bizarre fascination with foreign strongmen".
The statement, delivered by one of her aides, added that Mr Trump's foreign policy "made no sense".
In a separate interview with Fox News, Mr Trump said he "absolutely had regrets" about his nine-month campaign, but that if had not conducted himself in the way he had, he would not have been successful.
The BBC has also learned that Mr Trump could visit the UK before the presidential election in November.
Diplomats expect his visit to the UK could happen after he formally becomes the Republican party candidate at a convention in July.
Earlier this week Mr Trump said "it looks like we're not going to have a very good relationship" with the UK.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and new London Mayor Sadiq Khan have harshly criticised Mr Trump's proposed ban on Muslims coming to the US.
Pressure on China
Mr Trump's comments about North Korea came in an interview with Reuters news agency late on Tuesday, in which he also expressed disapproval of Russian President Vladimir Putin's military actions in eastern Ukraine.
Mr Putin is a figure who Mr Trump has previously said he respects.
On the subject of North Korea, the New York property developer said he would pursue face-to-face talks and added that he would also put pressure on China, as North Korea's only major ally.
"I would put a lot of pressure on China because economically we have tremendous power over China. People don't realise that," he said.
Swadhinata Sangbadik Parishad formed a human chain in front of Jatiya Press Club on Wednesday in protest against interference of Pakistan and Turkey on war criminal trial in Bangladesh.
Are the parties on the same page?
Mohshin Habib :
Are there Islamic State militants in Bangladesh? Are they operating here through their Bangladeshi affiliates? Honestly, we, the Bangladeshi ordinary people have no idea whether the group furtively walking into our society. We are simply confused. Only the killing by the underground extremist groups is ostensible. However, the people do know that the government of Bangladesh has been deliberately denying the presence of IS without considering any possibility.
In recent times, machete-wielding assailants have hacked to death people ranging from secular bloggers, online activists, publishers, teachers, dissenters, foreigners and LGBT rights activists. USA has been strongly suggesting - after every occurrence -- that the murders are being carried out by IS, the Middle-East based terrorist organization. The Islamic State have also claimed responsibilities of the murders through their media outlet. The latest issue (14th edition) of Dabiq, the ISIS-run sophisticated online magazine, claimed that a command structure in Bangladesh has been set up with a view to incorporate the country within the IS Caliphate. The magazine also revealed the name of its Bangladesh commander. US based SITE Intelligence, led by Rita Katz also quoted IS after the murders.
However, Dhaka and Delhi have been singing the chorus "there is no trace of IS in Bangladesh. Only the Home-grown terrorist groups like Ansarullah Bangla team and JMB are responsible for the crimes." The government of Bangladesh, led by Awami League, have been trying to introduce Jamaat-e-Islam and BNP being the political powers behind this sinful acts. Unfortunately, the government seems more serious in denying IS presence than bring the criminals to justice.
The question of IS presence has got momentum after the killing of Xulhaz Mannan, a gay rights activist, once employed at the US embassy Dhaka. The US foreign office took the murder more seriously. After the killing of Xulhaz, Foreign Secretary John Kerry called Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and talked with her for 16 minutes demanding justice for slain men including Xulhaz and his friend Rabbi. Subsequently, in first week of May, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Disai Biswal arrived Dhaka for three-day unscheduled visit who met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and offered full cooperation to fight against terrorism. She also had an exclusive meeting with Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Mr. Harsha Bardhan Shringla on May 4. The Indian High Commissioner boldly told Biswal that "India does not want the Awami League Government to feel unstable for security and any other reason". However, one question remains unanswered: Would denying ISIS's presence make Bangladesh stable?
We hope all three parties want to see a stable-peaceful Bangladesh as US Ambassador in Dhaka Marcia Bernicat stated that "Our three governments - Bangladesh, India and United States -- all fighting extremism. We are all on the same page here."
The people of Bangladesh too would be glad to see the three on the same page. However it is unknown to us why "IS presence or absence" is a huge issue for all the parties. Why the debate getting stronger day by day!
After Biswal's visit, Indian Prime Minister has decided to send his Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar to Dhaka. Sources then said, "This is an emergency visit and Jaishankar is coming with a special message for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina assuring that India will stand by her government."
On Wednesday evening, right after arriving at Dhaka airport, Mr Jaishankar went to see Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. On the surface, it seems Indian Foreign Secretary conveys his government's message that it would stand by Bangladesh in the face of any attempts by terrorists and religious extremists to create instability. He also calls upon for stopping repression of religious minorities. Unfortunately, the masses are not buying this idea that Sri S. Jaishankar has arrived here to reiterate so simple words. The Indian Foreign Secretary, during his visit, expressed happiness with the progress in the power sector, land boundary agreements and LNG/LPG sectors. But it is obvious that his priority had been on security cooperation between the two countries.
Meanwhile, another US delegation is expected to visit Dhaka soon to discuss the counter-terrorism plan. So my quest is: If all three parties are on the same page, then why visit and counter-visit is going on? Why trilateral open discussion not taking place on security issues?
It would be pleasure for all of us if Dhaka and Delhi would be correct that there is no IS here in Bangladesh. However, the country will suffer a dire consequence in the future, if Dhaka and Delhi are wrong about IS's presence. However, US seriously insists the assailants, operating in Bangladesh, have links with international terrorist groups. We can't understand how and why India and Bangladesh are so sure that IS could not be here. IS is the strongest terrorist organization which has even reached in the Scandinavian countries. Not only it is economically strong but also it has tens of thousands of sympathizers across the word, especially in the Muslim word.
The EU Ambassador to Dhaka rightly said, "This debate will not serve any good purpose. The purpose is to contain this wave of violence. They are secretive. They are not a company. They are not registered anywhere. They have multiple faces, multiple names. They can change identity overtime."
It is obvious that US wants to see that the deal, whatever it is, is done as soon as possible. It wants to see the task finished before President Barack Obama left office. The body language of US authorities say: "Of course there is IS in Bangladesh. If not, there is no business for us over there."
On the other hand, India is obstinate not to agree with the idea that IS is operating in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is following the Indian path with closing her eyes. One thing we noticed in the statements which our authorities have been delivering for years: "We will never accept that the IS is operating here."
We the poor Bangladeshis are bewildered. We have no idea what the parties want to gain from 'there is IS and there is no' politics. I have heard some people's perception saying, in the name of fighting against IS, USA wants to physically run in to have a watchtower here to watch India and China due to Bangladesh is the most suitable geographical place. India apprehended it and decided not to acknowledge IS presence. I hope this perception is hypothetical. If India and US are real friends of ours, they will, I hope, help us to wipe out terrorism-extremism from our land without thinking of group's identity.
I totally agree with EU ambassador that they are not registered anywhere. They have multiple faces, multiple names. They can change identity overtime. But they have one permanent identity: Religious extremist. A slain man would not be happy to be killed by Ansarullah Bangla team instead of Islamic State.
(Mohshin Habib authored the book 'Bangladesh and Beyond: Odd Behavior of the States and the Communities').
Stern action planned
Teachers, students, artistes, writers join protest against humiliating N\'ganj teacher in front of Raju Sculpture in city organized by Bangladesh College-University Teachers\' Association on Wednesday.
SM Mizanur Rahman :
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid on Wednesday said that the government would take strong action against those, who were involved in humiliating the headmaster of a school at Narayanganj, after obtaining probe report.
"Such misbehaviour with a teacher can't be accepted. So, we have attached the highest importance to the issue and sent a probe body there. The probe body has returned from Narayanganj after working there for the whole night," he said.
"We will take a decision as soon as the probe report is available," said Nahid.
The government is highly annoyed at the humiliation of a Narayanganj school headmaster by local Jatiya Party lawmaker Selim Osman and all those who shared with him.
Several ministers including Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, Health Minister Mohammad Nasim, Law Minister Anisul Huq and Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu reacted sharply at the development and said that those who were responsible for humiliating the school headmaster in public would be punished.
On last Friday, Shyamal Kanti Bhakta, Headmaster of Piyar Sattar Latif High School in the Bandar area, was beaten up by a mob and made to squat holding his earlobes in presence of lawmaker AKM Selim Osman. The incident went viral on social media and drew widespread criticisms.
Later on Tuesday, school management suspended Shyamal Kanti Bhakta days after he was publicly humiliated on charge of criticising religion of Islam.
Replying to a query about the removal of the headmaster, the education minister said, the school management's decision to sack the teacher is beyond authority.
"The ministry doesn't have anything to do in this regard," he said. The committee began its investigation into the incident on Tuesday. Led by Yusuf Ali, director of Dhaka Zone Directorate of Education, the probe body recorded statements of members of the school's governing body, its teachers, students, union parishad chairman and eminent personalities last night.
Meanwhile, the High Court on Wednesday issued a suo moto rule asking the government to explain in two weeks as to why it should not be directed to take necessary legal actions against local lawmaker Selim Osman and others who were involved in humiliating a schoolteacher of Narayanganj.
The HC also asked Narayanganj superintendent of police to submit a report to it in three days regarding what steps had been taken against the persons responsible for the humiliation.
Senior Lawyer of Supreme Court (SC) and former Additional Attorney General MK Rahman and Senior Lawyer Mohsin Rashid placed the news stories published in different national dailies on teacher humiliation to the court. Deputy Attorney General Motahar Hossain Sazu was present during the period.
Home secretary, law secretary, deputy commissioner and superintendent of police of Narayanganj, upazila nirbahi officer concerned and officer in charge of Bandar Police Station have been respondents to the rule, deputy attorney general Motahar Hossain Sazu told journalists.
The court also directed the DC and SP of Narayanganj to investigate the issue and submit a report within the next three days, said Deputy Attorney General Motahar Hossain Saju.
The HC bench comprising Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir passed the order and issued rule a suo moto (own) rule in view of the reports published in different newspapers over the incident.
As the news spread, teachers, writers, artists, and students continued to protest and condemn the humiliation of a schoolteacher.
They also demanded punishment to MP AKM Salim Osman and his cohorts involved in the incident.
A banner read: "Not just one teacher, but the whole of Bangladesh was made to do sit-ups holding its ears."
A video clip of the incident has gone viral on social media, triggering public outrage and a firestorm of protests on social networking sites.
Infuriated, Facebook users began uploaded photos in their profiles, showing they were holding their ears in a token of apology shown to the headmaster with a "sorry sir" statement.
Missing textile official found dead in city
Staff Reporter :
Police have found the body of a textile mills officer, who went missing before 12 hours, in Nandipara area of Khilgaon in the capital.
The members of law enforcing agency recovered the body on Wednesday morning.
The corpse of Md Manirul Islam, 47, Assistant General Manager of Sayem Textile Mill in Gulshan. He used to live in Chowdhury para of Malibagh.
Quoting the deceased relatives, Abu Zafar Hawladar, Sub-Inspector of Sabujbagh Police Station, said, "Minarul had gone by his private car to a place at Dakkhingaon under Sabujbagh Police Station after office hours around 5:00pm on Tuesday. Since then his mobile phone was found switched off.
Keeping his driver there waiting, he went to an unknown direction. As Manirul did not come back even after a long time, the driver informed the matter to his (Manirul's) wife."
A general diary was lodged with Sabujbagh Police Station at night following the incident, the police official said.
The following morning, locals spotted the body lying on an open space at Sheikher Jaiga around 6:00am and informed police.
The family members identified the body at the police station, the SI said.
The nose and face of the body swelled while there were two spots under the eyes, he said.
However, the reason behind the killing could not be ascertained yet, the SI said.
The body was sent to the morgue of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) for an autopsy.
Ruling 14-Party for humiliated teacher given his job back
The 14-Party coalition led by the ruling Awami League has demanded that the teacher who has been sacked after public humiliation for alleged blasphemy be reinstated to his job.
Coalition Spokesperson Mohammed Nasim spoke to reporters after a meeting at the Awami League chief's political office in Dhaka on Wednesday amidst a wave of protests against the incident.
"An injustice has been done to the teacher by dismissing him from the job after humiliating, insulting
him on the pretext (of blasphemy)," the Awami League leader said. "I think he should get his job back," Nasim added. The headmaster of a school was made to do sit-ups holding his ears in public by Jatiya Party MP Salim Osman after being assaulted for his alleged remarks hurting religious sentiments in Narayanganj on Friday.
Shyamal Kanti Bhakta, headmaster of the Piyar Sattar Latif High School, was sacked on Tuesday.
People flooded the social media with photos of themselves holding ears and saying 'Sorry Sir' in a unique show of public condemnation. Human chains and other forms of protests were also held. Nasim, the health minister, said, "The Member of Parliament could not maintain his (own) honour.
"The role he played as an MP cannot be accepted in any way. He rather disgraced the other MPs," he said.
On another note, Nasim was critical of the BNP for backing its leader Aslam Chowdhury who has been arrested on charge of conspiring with Israel to topple the government. The coalition spokesperson slated Pakistan and Turkey for protesting against the execution of Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami for the war crimes he committed in 1971. He also announced anti-terrorism rallies in all districts on May 24.
Action against teacher assaulters if Nahid requests: Asad
Terming unexpected the humiliation of a Narayanganj school teacher by the local MP, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Wednesday said they will take action in this regard if the Education Ministry requests them.
"The Narayanganj incident is related to a teacher, and now the Education Minister is looking into it.
If he [Education Minister] requests us, then we'll take action in this regard," he said.
The minister further said, "Everybody respects teachers. What happened to the Narayanganj teacher is unexpected, and it's not descent. Those of us who saw the incident are shocked and worried."
Asaduzzaman came up with the remarks at Rajarbagh Police Lines Barrack ground in the afternoon after joining namaz-e-janaza for two police constables-Md Samidul Haque, 30, and Motahar Hossain, 28--who died in Mali in a cyclone on Sunday while serving under the UN peacekeeping mission there.
As his attention was drawn to a High Court rule upon his ministry and other authorities to take action against the Narayanganj MP, Kamal said, "If there's any direction from the High Court, we'll comply with it."
Earlier in the day, the High Court issued a rule asking the authorities concerned, including the Home and Law Ministries, to explain why action would not be taken against Narayanganj MP AKM Salim Osman and his associates for humiliating a school teacher in Bandar upazila of the district.
On May 13, locals beat Shyamal Kanti Bhakta, headmaster of Piyar Sattar Latif High School in Bandar area of Narayanganj, for allegedly hurting religious sentiment. At one stage, local MP AKM Salim Osman forced him to sit up and down holding his ears. The incident went viral on social media and sparked off widespread criticisms. About Comilla Victoria College student Tonu murder, he said the mystery behind the incident is unraveling gradually. "Our CID is properly looking into the matter, and it has the capability to do so."
He also hoped that the CID will complete their investigation in the right way unearthing the reasons behind the murder. Police recovered the body of Sohagi Jahan Tonu, 19, a second year history student of Victoria College and a member of Victoria College Theatre, from Comilla's Mynamati Cantonment area on March 22 this year.
A case was filed with Kotwali police station in Comilla the following day. Later, the case was shifted to the CID.
ATM booth scams detected afresh in city
Chinese man caught red handed with Tk 66,000: Abnormal withdrawals in more units found
Staff Reporter :Members of Rapid Action Battalion [RAB] on Wednesday detained a Chinese national from an ATM booth in the city for his involvement in suspected ATM [Automated Teller Machine] fraud. The man, identified as Zou Jian Hui, 38, was caught red-handed from a Prime Bank ATM booth at Elephant Road under New Market Police Station. Commander of RAB-2 Lieutenant Col Mohiuddin said, "The booth's security personnel informed bank authorities after Hui was taking unusually long time to complete transaction inside the booth. Later, the Prime Bank authorities informed the RAB.""The foreigner withdrew all together Tk 66,000 through some ATM cards. We nabbed him from the booth at about 11:30 am. We are yet to be sure whether the cards found in his possession were issued by overseas banks. He is being quizzed," Mohiuddin also said. According to RAB, the Chinese national used three cards. Of them, he threw away one card. He took 11 attempts to withdraw money from the booth using two cards of two international banks.Officials said the cards are not of Prime Bank. One card is issued by an international bank based in the USA. The issuing authority [bank] of another card could not be known immediately. The detained foreigner, during interrogation, informed the RAB that he had taken several attempts earlier to withdraw money from the booth.Security guard of the ATM booth informed the police that the Chinese man had offered him bribe not to catch him. But the security guard did not listen to him. When contacted, Officer-in-Charge [Investigation] of New Market Police Station, Mahbubur Rahman, told The New nation last night, "The detained Chinese national is now under custody of RAB. No case was filed in this connection till yesterday evening. We'll take steps as per law after RAB handovers the detainee."Apart from it, the Prime Bank authority yesterday also discovered at least two more incidents of card fraudulence in its two separate ATM booths hours after RAB detained the Chinese man, officials said.Major Ataur Rahman, Company Commander of RAB-2, said, "As per the information, more than Tk 2 lakh was withdrawn from the booths located at Panthapath and Farmgate around 6:30am. The bank came to know about the stealing in the afternoon when they were closing the accounts for the day."When asked, Rezaul Haque, Vice President of Prime Bank [Alternate Delivery Channel Division], said, 'Officials found abnormal transactions while closing businesses [of Wednesday]. The CCTV footage of booths showed foreign nationals withdrawing cash.".Bank officials suspected that a syndicated skimming had occurred simultaneously in the booths.It is not first ATM booth scam in the country. Rather, the fraudulent activities came under the spotlight when different kinds of 'freak transactions' using ATMs of several banks were reported in February and March , shocking the clients.A Polish citizen named Thomas Piotr and three City Bank card division officials were arrested on February 21 night and early February 22 for their alleged involvement in ATM card fraudulence.The incidents have reportedly cost several banks, including Eastern Bank Limited and City Bank, Premier Bank clients hundreds of millions of taka. Bangladesh Bank investigators have found that skimming devices were planted in six ATM booths of the banks to steal cash money.
Govt to appoint 28,000 panel pry teachers
Staff Reporter :
Primary and Mass Education Ministry is going to appoint 28,000 panel teachers in government primary schools across the country.
The ministry completed all the preparations to appoint the teachers soon, the ministry sources said.
It also sent letters to the Director General of the Education Directorate on Wednesday.
The copies of the letter would be sent to the deputy commissioners and district education officials.
Primary and Mass Education Minister Mostafizur Rahman told the journalists on Wednesday that the process is going on in this regard.
"The ministry is working to appoint the panel teachers," he said.
The ministry already published advertisement in the national dailies for required assistant teachers for Registered non-Government Primary Schools on April 11 in 2010. The written examination was held April 2012. A total of 42, 611 aspirants were selected for the appointment.
About 14,000 teachers were appointed. In the meantime the government nationalised the Registered non-Government Primary Schools. But the rest of the selected applicants were not appointed. After a long wait, the government has taken initiative to appoint them.
US Senate passes bill allowing 9/11 victims to sue S Arabia
The Independent :The US senate has passed legislation that would allow the victims of the September 11 attacks to file lawsuits seeking damages from officials from Saudi Arabia - a move that sets the bill for a showdown with the White House.Fifteen of the nineteen men who hijacked four planes and flew them into targets in New York and Washington in 2001 were Saudi citizens, though Riyadh has always denied having any role in the attacks. A US commission established in the aftermath of the attacks also concluded there was no evidence of official Saudi connivance. However, the White House has been under pressure to declassify a 28-page section of the report that was never published on the grounds of national security.The families have been trying to use the courts to hold responsible members of the Saudi royal family, Saudi banks and charities. Yet these efforts have been largely blocked because of a 1976 law that gives foreign nations some immunity from lawsuits in American courts.The bill passed by the Senate would circumvent that earlier legislation. It now needs to go the House.The Saudis are furious over the bill and have threatened to sell up to $750bn in US securities and other American assets in retaliation if it becomes law. President Barack Obama has said he would veto the bill.Yet there appears to be significant public support for the legislation. If the bill becomes law, it would remove the sovereign immunity, preventing lawsuits against governments, for countries found to be involved in terrorist attacks on US soil. It would allow survivors of the attacks, and relatives of those killed in the attacks, to seek damages from other countries.Last week, the Guardian reported that a former member of the commission that investigated the attacks believed there was evidence that some Saudi officials had supported the hijackers. John Lehman, who sat on the 9/11 Commission from 2003 to 2004, said there was an "awful lot of circumstantial evidence" implicating several employees in the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs."There was an awful lot of participation by Saudi individuals in supporting the hijackers, and some of those people worked in the Saudi government," he said.
MP`s action highly unbecoming
THE headmaster of a Narayangonj High School who was publicly humiliated for his alleged disparaging remarks on religion in presence of the local MP AKM Selim Osman of Jatiya Party has also been suspended now and put under police custody at a local hospital where he is taking treatment. It was indeed an ugly scene and the most improper treatment of a teacher. The newspapers say he was made to repeatedly stand and squat holding his ears with his hands until he fell to the ground. TV footage shows that the MP personally oversaw the punishment. As the teacher happens to be Hindu by faith, it is more disturbing because they deserve our special protection. It remains quite difficult to understand as to why the Member of the Parliament could not behave in a responsible manner. We hate to repeat it that politics has become such a foul business that respectable people are not prepared for positions like Member of the Parliament. Politics has become worst example for irresponsible behaviour. The MP should have controled the public anger and deal with the matter in a decent and respectable way. A teacher is to be highly respectable person for the students and the nation. But the bad influence of politicisation has also affected recruitment of right and respectable teachers. It is to be admitted that involvement of honourable persons in public life has become a rare thing. Teachers must behave like teachers and the students must behave like students. But not to show respect to respectable people is found widespread in public life. The High Court yesterday asked the government in a suo moto to take action against the lawmaker and report to the court in three days. It is a good example in the absence of responsible politics that the court should do what is right for them to do to protect the powerless people. We have to urge that the public representatives must learn to treat each other and the people respectfully. Those who are holding public positions must know how to handle situation in a just manner. The teacher should be first respectably restored to his position. Thereafter, if action is to be taken, it must be departmentally through lawful process.
BNP is a victim of oppression yet a roadblock to change
BNP is desperately seeking help of world leaders for democratic change, yet the party itself is most unwilling to rise above family considerations. If BNP cannot be democratic under democratic leadership it has no justification for seeking help from others.To Begum Khaleda Zia her motherly claim for her son prevailed over the political demands for the national interest. This decision has not made BNP strong but more vulnerable politically. One wonders what the political elements in BNP are doing. Cannot they see that the party is not now a force of change but a roadblock to change? When the need is of a democratic party for democratic change, BNP preferred to become absolutely a family affair under the joint leadership of mother and son. The BNP leadership has failed to engage in political reform for taking into consideration the dangerous trends in the political landscape of the country.Many others in BNP frustratingly know but not the leadership, that the easy game of coming to power by rotation without trying to be fit for democratic governance is over. It is true that both Awami League and BNP came to power by turn in the sure way of rotational change through a kind of election. Though none of the parties offered as democratic alternative. The change most needed is a democratic change for democratic good governance. Awami League too has become an extended family affair to continue in power. We have now in power one party socialism type authoritarian government by denying opposition in the parliament and politicising all the state institutions.Even the London based international weekly The Economist described the politicisation of police, army and civil servants under the present government. It is known to us that the journalists and lawyers were politicised soon after the liberation of Bangladesh.So we tried to say for a long time in one way or the other that we won the liberation but the goal of democratic politics became the casualty. The politicisation of journalists was the beginning of destroying our journey toward democracy in free Bangladesh. In short, the victory of the liberation was eventually a defeat for democracy.The system of automatic way of coming to power in rotation resulted in a clear political vacuum. The people's politics was replaced by bureaucratic dominance over the government. The government is becoming more and more isolated from the people everyday. Thus BNP has been ousted from the rotational power game. It has not become possible for it to reform itself to be a democratic opposition. So BNP does not pose a challenge to the present government on the ground of democracy. BNP is still pipe dreaming that the same rotational game of power change through elections will restore it to power under outside pressure. The calculation is, a free election means sure defeat of the present government making way for BNP to take over by default. So they are appealing to foreign countries for a free and fair election. They cannot realise that their demand for democracy lacks credibility. We are making such a long narrative on BNP for the reason that mere slogans for democracy do not make a party democratic fighting for the cause of democracy. The family politics of Awami League and BNP has made the beginning of the end of democracy.Not only us even the outside world fears that the country is fast descending into a terrible chaos and the growing armed extremism is a real threat to safety and security of the country.If the world comes to our help it will be for a democratic change. But BNP stands as a roadblock not being a democratic alternative. For its own weakness BNP leaders and workers are treated as easy victims of all kinds of harassment. If no reason is there then an excuse is created for taking revenge against the party ceasing to be a force for taking seriously. Even the election victories in local elections are set aside by implicating in false cases. One can cite the case of Sylhet Pourashava BNP Mayor in this respect. There is no evidence against him. Yet, BNP will not change to be a democratic party under democratic leadership.The frustration is all over the country that there is no democratic alternative for the needed change and violence remains the only alternative. The Awami League coalition government is in no mood to change its ways, but finds conspiracy for its overthrow everywhere.
LPD interim Chief Reginald Thomas Photos by Wynce Nolley
[Editor's Note: This story has been corrected to more accurately reflect what former Lafayette Police office Andres Landor said to the board at the end of the meeting.]
Interim Lafayette Police Chief Reginald Thomas will remain a placeholder until a qualified chief is hired. That was the result of the Lafayette Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Boards vote Wednesday at the end of a sometimes-trudging, frequently contentious, four-hour meeting.
Down one member following the recent, abrupt resignation of member Craig Forsyth, a UL sociology professor, board members Tommy Hays, Guy Lebreton, Chairman Jason Boudreaux and Ralph Peters voted unanimously to maintain the current qualifications for police chief: a bachelors degree and at least 10 years experience in law enforcement. The board simultaneously voted to abandon a motion approved last month that would have required that bachelors degree to be in criminal justice or a related field after Peters, who offered the motion in April, realized it would have eliminated five candidates who have already applied to take the chief test. But Peters said it would be a slap in the face to candidates who worked to obtain bachelors degrees if the board then voted to change the qualifications requirements and allow candidates without that level of education to take the test.
The Advertiser previously reported that seven Lafayette Police officers, five of them white, would have been qualified to test for chief under Peters more restrictive qualifications. Mayor-President Joel Robideaux had proposed a three-tier system for qualifying for chief that allowed exceptions to the four-year college degree in exchange for 25 years experience in law enforcement, qualifications that would have allowed Thomas to apply for the job. As The Advertiser has reported, nearly 60 LPD officers 43 white men, 11 black men, two white women and one black woman would have qualified to apply under Robideauxs three-tier system. But it was Thomas, appointed to the interim role in February, who was clearly Robideauxs favored candidate, and Robideauxs favored candidate clearly wanted the job.
Im very disappointed that [the board] didnt do anything with what the mayor put out, Thomas said after the meeting. Today is a disappointing day, but like I said Im focused on taking care of Lafayette and this community and, being focused on that, Ill get back to work and do what Im supposed to do and do my job.
Board members, from left, Tommy Hays, Guy Lebreton, Jason Boudreaux and Ralph Peters
Public comment at the meeting included a recommendation from Bob Lawrence of the Office of State Examiner for Fire and Police Civil Service that the board adopt the three-tier system proposed by Robideaux.
Have an even playing field for people who have education and experience, Lawrence told the board. What were proposing is getting a larger pool of applicants to the appointing authority.
Virtually everyone who addressed the board during the public comment portion spoke in favor of the board adopting Robideauxs three-tier system and giving Thomas a shot at becoming chief save for one: former Bossier City police officer Sammy Wyatt, who lives outside Baton Rouge and is working on a Ph.D at LSU. Wyatt argued vigorously for the bachelors degree requirement, presumably because he plans to apply for the Lafayette police job, although he left the meeting before it ended. Others who followed him to speak before the board questioned Wyatts motivation, some going so far as to accuse him of being an interloper.
In a surprise move, board member Guy Lebreton, a lieutenant with Lafayette Police, announced at the end of the meeting during the roll call that he would not seek the job of police chief. There had been much speculation within the community, especially within the black community that supported Thomas ascendancy to the job, that Lebreton wanted to maintain the bachelors degree requirement and even voted last month to make the qualifications more restrictive than they are currently because he wanted to apply for the job himself. He said as much not long after then-Chief Jim Craft announced plans to retire, according to his own testimony. But Lebretons change of heart appeared to have come during the meeting: Early in the meeting during public comment, Lebreton was asked if he planned to seek the chief job and he said he hadnt decided yet, eliciting an incredulous guffaw from some in the audience.
Lebreton was a lightning rod in the meeting, at least an hour of which was consumed by procedural bickering over whether the board could hear, investigate and/or vote on a complaint filed by the local NAACP accusing Lebreton of engaging in political activities. The complaint stemmed from a now since-removed Facebook post by Lebreton of a video that many interpreted to suggest that Democrats and/or blacks and/or women are lazy. He prefaced the video with the status update, How can any fine Republican not share this? But ultimately the board voted that the complaint had no merit, much to the chagrin of the civil rights activists in assembly, and the meeting slogged on.
Marja Broussard, at left, of the local NAACP
The meeting was punctuated by clashes between Marja Broussard, the local NAACP representative who filed the complaint against Lebreton, and board Chairman Boudreaux, who at least twice warned Broussard that she would be ejected from the meeting if she didnt refrain from speaking out of turn. Boudreaux also issued the same warning to other members of the contingent of roughly 20 civil rights activists who attended the meeting.
In fact, race was an inescapable component of a meeting that felt at times combative between the four white men on the board and the gathering of black activists who see the boards insistence on maintaining the bachelors degree requirement for police chief as a means of denying a qualified black candidate (Thomas) the opportunity to become Lafayettes first black police chief. Thomas didnt go that far himself, but he did note that when he served on the board roughly a decade ago it better reflected Lafayette.
Whats the difference between the board now and the board I served on? Diversity, Thomas said during his public commentary. We had a female and an African-American. We made good decisions and didnt argue and stuff. When you have white males over 40 years old all thinking the same thing, you have issues. What Im saying is diversity is important, and in the future whether Im chief or not Ill be working hard to bring diversity. This board should not look like it looks. Lafayette is 31 percent African-American and 50 percent female.
Andres Landor, a former Lafayette police officer and outspoken critic of both the board and of the regime of recently retired Chief Craft, approached the board at the end of the meeting for one final public comment. Leaning into the microphone, Landers told the panel it was obvious who they did not want as chief.
Pre-purchase property inspection is a relatively new thing in the United Kingdom. Its not something that most people have heard about, but it has become increasingly popular over the last few years with the rise in property prices and increased demand for high quality homes.
What are the benefits of pre-purchase building inspection? What can you expect to find out when you pay someone else to inspect your home before you buy it? And what should you look for during an inspection?
Many people want to know if theyre buying a house thats been well maintained or if its had any serious problems. If youve found a place on the market that seems attractive, but then discover some issues after moving in, you may not be as excited about buying it as you thought you were.
Its important to do your due diligence when looking at properties. A lot goes into making a property appealing to potential buyers, from the landscaping to the flooring to the kitchen appliances. The same applies when inspecting a property there are many things that need checking over to make sure everything is running smoothly.
Here are some of the benefits of performing a pre-purchase inspection:
You get to see exactly what will happen to your money
When you go shopping for a new car, youll probably be shown several different models. You might even be shown one that looks like a great value, but doesnt fit around all of the extra features that you want. When it comes time to actually buy the vehicle, however, you wont have seen how your money will be spent on it once you drive it off the showroom floor.
Likewise, when you shop for a new home, you dont really know what youre getting yourself into until you move in. In order to get a feel for whether the home youre considering is what you want, you normally have to spend quite a bit of time inside it. This allows you to learn more about everything that youre going to be spending your hard-earned cash on.
A pre-purchase building inspection gives you much the same kind of experience without having to spend thousands of dollars. Since youre paying for the service, you can expect to see exactly what youre paying for, instead of just seeing a vague idea of what you might end up with.
You find out about potential major repairs
Some buildings are very expensive to maintain, which means that owners often neglect them for the sake of saving money. While youre paying for a building inspection, youre also paying for a professional who knows how to spot signs of trouble and repair work that needs doing.
If you notice that a particular area of your new home needs fixing right away, you can call in an expert to take care of it quickly. If you find that theres something wrong with your boiler, you wont have to wait weeks for a plumber to come over and fix it. Instead, youll have access to a solution immediately.
You can save hundreds of pounds by finding out about potential problems early on
One of the biggest expenses when you first buy a home is the cost of moving in. Many people dont realize this until its too late. Buying a home involves not only paying for the actual house, but also for moving costs, furniture, and other items that have to be moved along with the home.
Having a good idea ahead of time of what youre likely to encounter can help you avoid these kinds of costs. If you know youll need to replace the plumbing system, for example, youll be able to put together a budget for the expense and plan accordingly.
You can protect your investment by finding out if the homes been well cared for
While there are plenty of people who think that houses always look better when theyre newly built, youd be surprised at how well maintained older residences can still look nice. Sometimes, though, those homes need some additional maintenance to keep them looking their best.
This could involve repairs that arent so noticeable or small improvements that you wouldnt consider otherwise. Even worse, some houses have fallen into disrepair without anyone noticing. This is why having a professional perform a building inspection prior to purchasing a home is such a big benefit.
Not only will it give you insight into the state of the property, but it will also give you peace of mind knowing youre not getting taken advantage of. As long as youre aware of the potential pitfalls, youll have less reason to worry about the state of your new home.
You can use information gathered during a building inspection to negotiate a lower price
If youre worried about buying a home because you suspect that it may need extensive renovation work, you may already have a rough idea of how much work youll need to do to bring it up to scratch. That knowledge can come in handy if you decide to buy the home.
You can use all of the details that you gather during a building inspection to present a realistic picture of what the home is worth to prospective buyers. If a potential buyer thinks that the home is worth more than what you paid for it, you can try negotiating a lower price.
You can sell your home faster and for more money
If you decide to list your home on the market soon after buying it, youll need to price it accurately in order to attract buyers. But if youve already done a thorough building inspection, youll know exactly what work is needed and what the current market conditions are.
In other words, youll be able to make a more accurate estimate of the amount of money youve invested in the home and how much its worth. If you find that youre selling your house for close to its full market value, you can use this information to convince the potential buyer that your home is worth the asking price.
Even if youre planning to stay in the home for a while before you decide to sell, the fact that you did a thorough building inspection will give you more confidence when listing it. Prospective buyers will know exactly what theyre paying for.
Your home will hold its value longer
As mentioned earlier, the value of a home depends heavily upon the condition of the building itself. If your home is in bad shape, potential buyers wont be interested in buying it. On the other hand, if youve performed a thorough building inspection and know what sort of repairs are necessary, you can offer your prospective buyer a compelling reason to invest in your property.
When you buy a home, youre essentially agreeing to have it inspected periodically to ensure that it stays in top shape. Not only does this allow you to avoid expensive repairs down the road, but it can also increase the value of your home.
You can make smart decisions about property investments
Buying real estate isnt as simple as just driving a couple of minutes to pick up a house. There are lots of considerations involved, ranging from location to cost. The same is true when youre investing in property.
If you find a house that meets all of your requirements, youll want to make sure that you have a solid understanding of where it stands with regards to the rest of the market. If you havent spent enough time researching the area, you could inadvertently end up with a bad deal.
There are lots of resources available online that can help you determine the overall level of competition in your area. They can also help you figure out if there are any properties that meet your requirements that you didnt know about.
If you own rental property, you can use the information to identify tenants who might cause damage
If you own rental property and youve noticed that certain tenants consistently cause damage, you can use the results of a building inspection to identify them. You can then contact them directly to let them know that youre watching them closely and that you dont appreciate the problem theyre causing.
They might start taking better care of their homes, which would be good news for everyone. It could also be the case that youll find out that theyre responsible for previous damages that werent caught during a previous visit.
You can make smarter decisions about hiring contractors
If youve hired contractors to build or repair your home, you might want to ask them for references. However, unless you perform a thorough building inspection, you might not know exactly what to look for.
For instance, maybe you only checked the roof for leaks or the walls for cracks. You might not have looked underneath the foundation for anything that could cause a future issue. By performing a building inspection, you can ensure that you hire reputable contractors who will be trustworthy with your money.
You can avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition
Of course, the main benefit of structural inspections perth is that it helps you avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition. Before you make the decision to buy a home, you should do whatever you can to find out about the state of the building.
You can also ask your realtor about what sorts of inspections are typically recommended. Some agents say that its standard practice to check the heating system, the roof, the electrical wiring, and the floors. Others will tell you that they recommend that you check the entire structure.
Either way, if you choose to hire an inspector, youll find out exactly what needs to be fixed and how much it will cost to do so.
As a result, it can be concluded that a pre-purchase building inspection is highly important for the buyers because it provides transparency regarding the current conditions of the structure. Additionally, the building owner is made aware of any upgrades or repairs that are required, which could lead to a fair deal throughout the purchasing and selling process.
President Joe Biden has decided to ban Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia's economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine. The United States generally imports about 100,000 barrels a day from Russia, only about 5% of Russia's crude oil exports, according to Rystad Energy. Last year, roughly 8% of U.S. imports of oil and petroleum products came from Russia. Gas prices have been rising for weeks due to the conflict and in anticipation of potential sanctions on the Russian energy sector. The U.S. national average for a gallon of gasoline soared 45 cents a gallon in the past week and topped $4.06 on Monday, according to auto club AAA. Should the US ban Russian oil imports over Ukraine war?
You voted:
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
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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.
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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.
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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.
MARION Eleven employees received a commemorative bell Tuesday night as they officially retired from the Marion Community Unit School District No. 2 with a combined experience of about 325 years, according to the president of the board of education.
Superintendent Keith Oates and the Marion Board of Education watched 11 employees 8 educators receive personalized bells as a token of appreciation for their dedication to the district. Several of the employees had more than 20 years of experience in the Marion district.
Oates said all the positions open by the retirements are filled.
All the experience we have leaving the district naturally leaves big shoes to fill, Oates said. After that happens, we have to do our very best to find quality people through our employment process.
He said although losing quality employees is tough, it is an annual process when working for a school district.
You are always sad and disheartened to see them leave, but you are also happy for them, Oates said. You are also happy about the new people you have found and then get ready for the upcoming year.
As for new faces, the board of education appointed a new board member Tuesday. B.W. Bruce was sworn in by Board President Michael Absher.
Absher said Bruce is former Marion High School graduate who has a bachelors degree in finance from the University of Illinois in 1992. Bruce is a financial adviser for Hilliard Lyons in Marion. He has three children in the school district and a fourth child who will start kindergarten in the fall.
He sufficiently convinced us of his earnest desire to help and serve the community, Absher said. He has some specific areas he believes he can bring value to the board.
Oates said Bruce is an excellent addition and his financial expertise will come into play.
With his background and professional skills, he will be able to add to any finance discussion that we have, he said.
HARRISBURG A Saline County Grand Jury handed down indictments against 16 people this week on 26 drug-related charges, States Attorney Mike Henshaw announced Tuesday.
All but three of those indicted have been apprehended, Henshaw said. Each of the charges allege unlawful delivery of a controlled substance or methamphetamine.
The charges vary in severity, some of them elevated because the alleged crime occurred in or near a public space, whether public housing or a church, Henshaw said. Charges range from Class 3 felonies to Class X.
In addition to methamphetamine, cocaine was among drugs allegedly being dealt. Most of the drugs, however, were prescription medicines, including one case involving morphine and another involving Oxycodone.
The indictments were handed down Monday.
Monday was a good day for the people of this county, Henshaw said.
Henshaw disclosed those who have been apprehended but is withholding the identity of those still at-large pending until they, too, are apprehended.
The alleged deal-making occurred across the county, primarily in Carrier Mills, Eldorado and Harrisburg.
Arrested and indicted were:
Desmond L. Nelson, indicted on three counts of unlawful delivery of cocaine within public housing;
Chanel R. Nelson, indicted on two counts of unlawful delivery of cocaine within public housing;
Steven H. Jakes, indicted on three counts, one of which alleges the crime occurred in public housing and another alleging Clonazepum was involved;
Scotty L. Wiseman, indicted for unlawful delivery of Diazepam;
Terry L. Smith, indicted on three counts involving Diazepam, Dihydrocodeinone and Pentazocine;
Quana M. Smith, indicted on two counts of unlawful delivery within 1,000 feet of a church. Drugs involved include Diazepam and Oxycodone;
Martin E. Davis, indicted on delivery of morphine in public housing;
Kristin M. Lewis, indicted on two counts of delivery of methamphetamine;
Mallory R. Ozment, indicted for delivery of methamphetamine and for delivery of Alprazolam;
Robert F. Sisky, indicted for delivery of Oxymorphone within 1,000 feet of a church;
James E. Summers, indicted for delivery of Dihydrocodeinone;
Kathy Williams, indicted on two counts of delivery of Dihydrocodeinone in public housing, and
Anthony J. Yates, indicted for delivery of methamphetamine.
The Nelsons are brother and sister. Jakes was a live-in with Chanel Nelson. The Smiths are husband and wife, said assistant states attorney Jason Olson.
The majority of the people indicted I would refer to as low-level or independent dealers, Olson said.
Henshaw said the indictments are the result of investigations over a span of months by agents of the Southern Illinois Drug Task Force with assistance from Saline County sheriffs deputies.
Henshaw said his office is seeing an uptick in the number of drug cases.
Our office always has been and always will be committed to prosecuting any individual who have been alleged to have participated in illegal drug activities in this county, Henshaw said. We are very vigilant.
A judge in Jonesboro has set an Aug. 15 trial date in a workplace retaliation lawsuit filed against U.S. Senate candidate Tammy Duckworth.
The Democratic congresswoman is challenging Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk in one of November's most competitive Senate races.
Two employees of a home for veterans say Duckworth violated state ethics laws by taking action against them when she was head of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.
Duckworth's supporters call the case a politically motivated nuisance lawsuit. They note it was dismissed twice before the current lawsuit was refiled in Union County.
Kirk's campaign has highlighted the case in TV ads accusing Duckworth of mistreating veterans and trying to silence whistleblowers.
Union County Judge Mark Boie said he'll hear the case Aug. 15-16.
The Associated Press
SPRINGFIELD Following the Illinois Senates recent passage of a Democratic plan to overhaul the states school funding formula, a Republican lawmaker whos been critical of that proposal has presented his colleagues with a potential path to compromise.
Sen. Jason Barickman of Bloomington sent a letter to all members of the General Assembly on Tuesday laying out a plan to merge some aspects of the Senate Democrats proposal, sponsored by Sen. Andy Manar of Bunker Hill, with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauners call to fully elementary and secondary schools next year under the existing formula, which nearly everyone acknowledges does a poor job of getting state funding to the districts that need it most.
Senate approves education funding overhaul SPRINGFIELD The Illinois Senate approved a bill Tuesday aimed at overhauling the way the s
Barickman said his plan could serve as a bridge to the evidenced-based funding model that he and members of the education community have been calling for, something he believes could be in place by the 2017-18 school year. That model would use measures such as class sizes and the number of students who require special education services to determine how much money each district receives.
My goal is to provide a path forward that I believe helps solve a problem and can generate bipartisan support, Barickman said Wednesday.
Republicans use state board figures to attack Manar education bill SPRINGFIELD Senate Republicans used the release of long-awaited figures from the Illinois
A main Democratic criticism of Rauners proposal to fully fund the foundation level set by the current formula $6,119 per student has been that many districts with high poverty rates and low property values would see their state funding drop. Manars plan is designed to funnel more state money to many of those same districts.
We should acknowledge that fully funding the foundation level underscores the need to reform the existing formula, Barickman wrote to his fellow lawmakers.
He recommends drawing on Manars bill and other legislation to provide additional money to districts that would lose funding under Rauners budget proposal, thereby lifting them to a funding level otherwise not achievable through the current formula.
Leaders, governor agree to outline for budget talks SPRINGFIELD Illinois legislative leaders have agreed in principle to budget negotiations
Barickman acknowledges that this would take additional funding beyond the $55 million increase the governor has proposed.
An aspect of Manars plan that has drawn much ire from Republicans, including Barickman, is its proposal to have the state pick up the tab for the employer portion of Chicago Public Schools teacher pensions, something it already does for every other school district.
Barickman said that issue should be addressed separately, pointing out that House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, in the past has supported shifting responsibility for teachers pensions from the state to local school districts.
Manar, who also supports the evidence-based model and included provisions in his bill that would shift that state in that direction over the long term, said Barickmans written commitment to addressing school funding helps bring us closer to a solution.
The question then becomes where we start from in terms of funding levels, Manar said. And we cant start from where we are today.
He also said that teacher pensions need to be part of the conversation and need to be dealt with the same way statewide, whether that means the state covering Chicagos portion or other districts taking on that cost.
Meanwhile, House Democrats are working on their own school funding plan, which could be filed as soon as this week.
House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, who chaired a task force on education funding, said she appreciated Barickmans letter.
He clearly makes a distinction between what we might do today and what our long-range plan might be, which I think is reasonable, Currie said. But I would be happier if we included more of a long-range (plan) in whatever it is we do this year.
WEST FRANKFORT -- There will be summer school for junior and high school students needing to catch up on their credits after all.
Board members of Frankfort Community Unit School District elected this week to maintain the summer school program this year despite budget challenges, Superintendent Greg Goins said.
At the end of the day the board decided that we had to do whats best for kids, and we have a lot of kids that need that extra instruction this summer, Goins said in summarizing the board meeting this week.
The district, as is the case with many across Southern Illinois, are facing budget crunches in large part because of state general aid cuts the last several years.
Goins said he expects no reduction in the number of students enrolling in the program, which varies little from year to year. Those who enroll are recommended by principals who identify students in need of the extra work.
The district will provide breakfast to students under a federal lunch program, for which it would be reimbursed, Goins said. He estimated about 60 percent of students will qualify, about the same as the entire student body in the district.
Other additional costs will include teacher and staff salaries; Goins could not immediately put a price tag on those costs.
Were in pretty bad financial shape like a lot of schools in our region because there is so much uncertainty with school funding, he said.
In March, the district did reduce staff by three full-time teacher and a full-time social worker, but Goins said he anticipates those employees returning for the start of the new school year.
PINCKNEYVILLE The Perry County Board of Commissioners expect to vote on establishing the annual prevailing wage rates for construction trades.
The board typically votes to use the state's established prevailing wage for various contractors, which sets an hourly rate for various trade workers.
County Clerk Josh Gross said the prevailing wage rates are only used for workers on bid projects that are accepted by the county.
The meeting begins at 2 p.m. Thursday in the County Board Room of the Perry County Government Building on Illinois 13/127.
Board members also plan to enter executive session to discuss collective bargaining negotiations with two bargaining groups in the Sheriff's Department. The Fraternal Order of Police and the maintenance department unions have been negotiating on contracts since theirs ended in December, according to board chairman Bobby Kelly.
They also plan to discuss resolutions for raffle licenses for the Du Quoin Elks Lodge No. 884 and the Perry County Agricultural Society.
Also up for vote are appointments and re-appointments to several boards, including the Perry County Housing Authority, McElvain Cemetery Association, Tamaroa Community Fire Protection District, IDOT Region 11 Human Services Transportation Committee and Cutler Community Fire Protection District.
This story has been updated to correct a quote by Gov. Bruce Rauner.
CARTERVILLE Gov. Bruce Rauner hosted a round-table discussion with representatives of small, local businesses Wednesday afternoon to talk about reforms needed to create jobs and reduce property taxes.
Gov. Rauner said there are fewer jobs in Illinois than there was 17 years ago, and spending has gone through the roof.
He also said that family incomes are lower and taxes are through the roof. In addition, Illinois is losing businesses to financially responsible states like Texas, Tennessee and Indiana.
Rauner pointed out that Indiana has the lowest workmans compensation costs in the country.
They are going there because regulations are more business friendly, Rauner said.
Panelist Kevin Pyle, general manager and executive vice president of Hamilton County Telephone Co-op in Dahlgren, said he wants to see a sense of responsibility among state legislators and for them to take ownership of Illinois problems.
Were trying to get people back to work, and our costs keep going up and up, Pyle said.
Rauner also talked about property tax reforms. He said the current school funding formula is unfair to downstate schools and smaller districts. The number of governing bodies also puts an extra burden on property owners.
Leaders, governor agree to outline for budget talks SPRINGFIELD Illinois legislative leaders have agreed in principle to budget negotiations
Walker's Bluff Owner Cynde Bunch, another panelist for the discussion, said the taxes on Legends at Walkers Bluff are $100,000 per year, with the other building taxed at about $120,000 per year.
Youve got to sell a whole lot of steak to make $120,000, Bunch said. Sometimes we have to go into our own money to pay taxes.
As we travel the state, the biggest problem is property taxes," Rauner countered. "Illinois has just overtaken New Jersey as the highest property taxes in the nation."
The property tax burden is because, in part, of the number of governing bodies. Illinois has 7,000 units of government compared to 5,000 for the next closest state.
If we structure our state government to look like other states, we could save $2 billion per year, Rauner said.
Later, the state budget impasse was also a topic of discussion.
My biggest customers are tied into the state, said another panelist George Sheffer, owner of Murdale True Value in Carbondale. Weve got to pay our bills, and weve got to do it now.
Rauner blamed Democrats saying we could have a budget now, and we could have had it in July.
Barickman floats school funding compromise SPRINGFIELD Following the Illinois Senates recent passage of a Democratic plan to overhau
Either the Democrats ought to help me cut spending which we can do, or we can put in a tax increase which I dont want to do. Thats not my first choice, but we can do it together. But we need the help of pro-growth reform, so you guys can grow your businesses if we are going to talk about more tax burden, Gov. Rauner said.
Rauner said Illinois going down the road Detroit, Michigan went down, adding that Illinois has to stop the deficit spending.
Illinois has not had a balanced budget in 25 years, which is unconstitutional. The Illinois State Constitution requires the state to have a balanced budget.
Rauner is hopeful, saying the infrastructure to help the state grow in in place. He gave research at SIU as an example of potential for growth. In addition, he would like to see a private foundation created to fix up the Du Quoin State Fairground.
These are kinds of reforms we need to get things done and use the private sector, Rauner said.
Rauner vetoes union arbitration bill SPRINGFIELD For the second time in less than a year, Gov. Bruce Rauner is vetoing a bill t
Also, he sees progress being made in budget negotiations between Democratic and Republican legislators. Rauner added that most reforms are already in legislative form, they will just need to come up for a vote in the house and senate.
Legislators will work seven days a week until May 31 to fix the budget impasse. After May 31, it needs a super majority to pass. Until then, it only needs a simple majority. Rauner expects any budget plan to cover fiscal year 2017, which begins July 1.
Other panelists included Kyle Harfst, executive director, Office of Economic and Regional Development, Dunn-Richmond Center, SIU; Bill Simonds, owner of E.T. Simonds Construction in Carbondale; Greg Cook, president of Cooks Portable Warehouses in Marion; Bob Bleyer, president of The Bank of Carbondale; Dan Bost, Bost Truck Service in Murphysboro; and Barry Adair, general manager and executive vice president of Wabash Telephone Co-op in Louisville.
SPRINGFIELD Union supporters plan to rally at the Illinois Capitol to protest Gov. Bruce Rauner's calls to change collective bargaining policies.
A coalition of labor groups plans to march by the governor's mansion Wednesday on their way to the state Capitol.
Rauner is in the midst of prolonged negotiations for a new labor contract with the largest union representing state workers, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
The march comes days after he vetoed a measure that would let an arbitrator settle state-employee wages and working conditions if union negotiations stalled.
Rauner said appointing an arbitrator would strip him of his power to represent taxpayers at the bargaining table.
The governor and AFSCME are making their case to the state labor board as to whether contract negotiations have stalled.
MARION It is easy to log onto the first available free Wi-Fi network that pops up on a phone, tablet or laptop after walking into any establishment. After all, saving money on that data plan is a good thing.
But, how free is that free Wi-Fi network?
Free Wi-Fi can be great, safe and enjoyable," said Marion Information Technology Director Terance Henry, "as long as you know how to protect yourself and know what to look for.
Henry said can set up a free hot spot by concealing a router and a power strip. From there, a person can monitor all the activity happening on that network from his or her laptop, he said.
They will go in a McDonald's and set up a hot spot and call it McDonalds Free Wi-Fi and people will instantly log onto it, Henry said. They have no idea that their data and all the things they are transferring through their laptops and cellphones are all being possibly recorded.
Downtown Wi-Fi in Marion free amenity for residents MARION The need to be online may have never been as important in recent times, and residen
He said the business owners wont know it is happening and most people dont think to ask about it.
Anything could be visible depending on how sophisticated the hackers software is. Henry said usernames and passwords can be seen if people are logging into an account. He also said many times people check banking information before making a purchase, and it would be visible to the hacker.
Henry cautions against auto-saving passwords on any device. He said it is easy for users to save passwords because of the need for so many, and each one has to be different, but logging into those automatically makes it easier for a hacker to obtain access to that account.
The main thing is that everyone needs to ask questions, Henry said. That will help safeguard a lot of things.
He said when consumers walk into a business, instead of immediately logging onto a network to save money, ask an employee if the establishment offers free Wi-Fi, and what it is called. If the employee says no, show them that the network is there and report it. He said it usually doesnt take long to figure out who is broadcasting the hot spot.
A lot of establishments will show a splash page before logging into a free Wi-Fi network. It is a page where the consumer is asked to accept the terms and conditions of the network. Henry said this can be cloned, too, so consumers shouldnt be fooled just because this pops up before logging in.
Another option for safeguarding against losing secure information on an open network is to turn off the ability to automatically connect to a Wi-Fi network, Henry said.
It is possible you can automatically connect to a Wi-Fi for somebody sitting in a van and your phone is in your pocket, and you dont even know it is happening, he said. Everybody has to be aware of this.
Fiber optics Internet planned for Marion MARION The competition for Internet service might have become a little stiffer Monday nigh
Business protection
Municipalities and business owners need to be aware of cybercrimes and protect themselves as well, Henry said. Protections can be within their own infrastructure, firewalls, anti-virus software and insurance.
If your data has been breached or hacked, one of the things that a business will have to do is notify all of their customers about how the information has been hacked, he said.
If somebodys credit report or banking information is compromised, then the business could open itself to a lawsuit, and without insurance, the business could pay large sums of money to those affected.
Protecting personal networks
Protecting a personal wireless network is also important. Hackers can access private information, view the content of transmissions, download unlawful content using a network or infect computers with viruses or spyware, according to the Federal Communications Commission.
The commission says hackers can also send spam, viruses or conduct illegal activity, and it can be traced back to the infected network.
Turning on a routers encryption setting and the firewall can be a safeguard to outside users, the commission says. It also recommends changing passwords regularly, changing the name of the network, and turning off the network name from broadcasting.
For more tips regarding wireless network protection, visit www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/protecting-your-wireless-network.
Tommy T. Langston, aka "G," of Marion was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for a crack cocaine offense, according to a news release from acting US Attorney for the Southern District James Porter.
The offense occurred between October 2014 and July 2015 in Williamson and Jackson counties. Evidence established Langston, who previously pleaded guilty to an indictment charging conspiracy to distribute 28 grams or more of crack cocaine, was involved with others in the distribution of crack cocaine in the Marion and Carbondale areas and sold the drug to confidential sources working for law enforcement during the investigation. At the sentencing, it was found Langston was responsible for the distribution of 154.2 grams of crack cocaine.
As Illinois approaches a whole year without a state budget, all social service agencies are struggling to find ways to continue to provide vital programs to the most vulnerable Illinoisans.
While parts of the budget have continued to operate due to court decrees, continuing appropriations and special budgets passed last year, there is still critical funding for human services that has remained trapped due to the 2016 budget impasse.
There are two ways the General Assembly can help save many indispensable social services immediately:
1. Release the federal pass-through funds.
2. Unlock special funds that are not part of the states General Revenue Fund.
As the General Assembly gets into the home stretch of the budgeting process for fiscal year 2017, members need to consider the positive precedence set last year when bipartisan budget bills were passed to free up federal and special funds. We understand piece-meal budgets are not popular in our current political environment, however, federal pass-through and special funds should not be unnecessarily held hostage.
Release the federal pass-through funds
Federal funds are appropriated by Congress and authorized for spending by the government. These funds are allocated to the states to provide services. Our General Assembly appropriates these federal pass-through funds to authorize the State of Illinois to actually spend the funds. Some of these federal funds may require a state match out of our general revenue fund while others do not.
The non-match federal funds represent a multibillion dollar revenue package that supports services and contributes to a large part of our states economy through jobs, infrastructure, goods and services. Not appropriating these funds before the beginning of the states fiscal year would be irresponsible on the part of lawmakers as these funds are already available for spending.
Unlock special funds that are not part of the states General Revenue Fund
Special funds are financed by fees and surcharges that are not part of the funding mechanism of the General Revenue Fund. For example, Illinois law requires regulated utilities to charge their customers a small fee to fund the states Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps low-income senior citizens, persons with disabilities and families with kids under the age of 6 pay their utilities.
The money the utilities collect is intended only for LIHEAP. And, even if the funds are not appropriated for spending, the utilities are still remitting the collected funds to the State of Illinois. The collected funds could be used to help people in need of utility assistance, instead of sitting idle as we wait for a budget solution.
Just like federal pass-through funds, special funds do not add to the structural deficit of the states operating budget.
The General Assembly must consider appropriating federal pass-through and special funds through a standalone budget should there not be an agreement on the 2017 budget. This will ensure that more than a million of Illinois most vulnerable residents who are seeking necessary programs and support from social services will be served.
Without the appropriation of this funding, some programs may have to close, putting vulnerable populations at risk of losing homes, jobs, etc.
While we believe that it is critical for the whole budget to be passed so that all programs and services are authorized for spending, we also believe that federal pass-through and special fund dollars should not be held up over unresolved issues with the 2017 state budget.
We are appealing to common sense in these trying and very politically divisive times and ask that the General Assembly appropriate these funds that will otherwise sit idle in an account.
Rep. Jerry Govan, D-Orangeburg, is one of two lawmakers who will be honored next month.
The South Carolina Caucus of Black School Board Members and Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence Inc. announced Govan has been named their S.C. Legislator of the Year. Rep. Rita Allison, R-Spartanburg, will be the recipient of the S.C. Childrens Champion Award.
Presentations will be made during the Moving Forward Together: A National Summit of Schools, Communities and Law Enforcement event on June 6 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.
Govan, who represents House District 95, serves on the S.C. House Education and Public Works Committee. He has served in the House since 1993.
Orangeburg Consolidated School District Five Superintendent Dr. Jesse Washington III said, Rep. Govan has dedicated his entire career to the service of his country, his state and his community.
He is committed to serving and protecting our families and communities.
COLUMBIA With dozens of farmers in the lobby and lawmakers cheering every speech, the South Carolina House on Tuesday voted to override Gov. Nikki Haleys veto of a bill offering $40 million in state aid to farmers who lost their crops in last years massive floods.
The 112-2 vote in the Republican-dominated House was a sharp rebuke of a rare veto by their GOP colleague and well beyond the two-thirds needed to send the veto on to the Senate. With a two-thirds vote in that chamber which passed the bill originally 33-3 the proposal becomes law.
More than a dozen House members spoke Tuesday, thanking farmers for their hard work in tough times.
Haleys veto had stunned the farmers. Many voted for the governor twice. And they remember her saying more than once after earlier disasters that South Carolina was going to demonstrate that the state had the backs of its farmers .
It broke my heart, Williamsburg County farmer Brian McClam said of Haleys veto.
McClam lost $800,000 in 2015. The first blow came just before the October flood when drought withered his cotton, corn, soybeans, peanuts and peas. Then came 24 1/2 inches of rain in three days. It took months for the water to finally drain from much of his 3,000 acres.
I cannot understand how a governor who runs a whole state doesnt understand how agriculture drives this state, McClam said.
In her veto message Monday, Haley said it wasnt fair for farmers to get help that wasnt available to all small businesses. She said farmers have crop insurance and federal aid to cover their losses.
The governor got poor advice, said Republican state Agriculture Secretary Hugh Weathers, who said all of the aid isnt near enough to help farmers who are on the hook for all the money lost from 2015 crops and for the money needed to get 2016 crops in the ground, all the while looking at lower market prices for what they do grow.
The $40 million proposal would allow farmers in disaster-declared counties to apply for grants of up to $100,000 each, covering no more than 20 percent of their total loss. A board will award the grants, and Weathers said if the Senate overrides the veto this week, that board could be picked by the end of the month.
South Carolina Farm Bureau President Harry Ott and over 100 farmers were at the Statehouse Tuesday encouraging House members to support the bill.
We are very happy with the vote in the House and look forward to talking to the senators tomorrow for the same outcome, Ott said.
Ott said the group did not take the vote for granted.
We have active grassroots organizations making phone calls to the senators as we speak, he said. Farmers also plan to visit on Wednesday to speak to senators.
Ott said if the Senate overrides the veto, he is hoping the money will begin to flow to farmers within the next 30 to 45 days.
Haley took a more conciliatory tone after Tuesdays vote.
There were no winners during last years 1,000 year flood, and we will continue doing our best to help all of our industries and property owners fairly through the recovery process, she said in a statement.
House Ways and Means Chairman Brian White was stunned the governor picked a fight over $40 million, saying the state routinely sends that kind of help to out-of-state corporations such as Volvo, which have or are building plants in South Carolina.
The interest payments alone on those bond payments are more than we are talking about to help farmers already in South Carolina, said White, R-Anderson.
The farm bill was a rare second-term veto for Haley, who outside the budget has only rejected two other bills since her re-election in November 2014. And her fellow Republicans werent shy about saying they were holding her accountable with their vote.
The day after the flood, the governor stood on the steps with her Cabinet and said were going to help every citizen in South Carolina. She didnt help you, said Rep. David Hiott, R-Pickens. Were here today to honor that commitment to you.
Recently, Donald Trump became the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party and the reaction by some GOP establishment leaders was not about the election but about the Supreme Court. Almost immediately, some of the most conservative pundits and some Republican elected officials began calling on their Senate Republican brethren to bring up the nomination of Merrick Garland and confirm him without delay.
Why the reaction? Because some conservatives, like writers at the well-known blog RedState, may be worried about the prospect of losing the presidential election, it is also likely they are finally hearing the calls of voters across the country.
Judge Garland was nominated two months ago to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia. Despite being described as a moderate, consensus choice with a lengthy record of praise from Democrats and Republicans alike, Judge Garland, the chief judge of the Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, has seen his nomination obstructed by Senate Republicans.
The intransigence of the Senate GOP leadership in moving President Barack Obamas nominees confirmation forward is at odds with the American public. For weeks, polling has been solidly on the side of the Senate moving forward on Garlands nomination and this week is no different. A new poll from GBA Strategies and the Center for American Progress tested the strongest messages from supporters of moving the nomination forward against the most frequently used messages in opposition. In a head to head match, a whopping 69 percent of voters support Judge Garland receiving a hearing and vote on his nomination.
Across five states and nationally, voters view senators who obstruct the process more unfavorably at a much higher clip than those who have a more favorable view. At least 38 percent of voters in Arizona, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin say they would view their senator less favorably if they obstructed the nomination, while no more than 21 percent say they would view their senator more favorably for holding that position.
But maybe the biggest takeaway from the recent data: issues matter. When voters were asked about potential 4-4 splits on cases that affected issues they cared about including civil rights, immigration and health care they were significantly more likely to get involved in the nomination process than not.
During the Obama administration, the Supreme Court has ruled on monumental issues that affect millions of Americans. Underscoring the importance of our judicial branch, the court twice upheld the Affordable Care Act, twice ruled in favor of LGBT rights, and has upheld some civil rights protections. By contrast, it also gutted the Voting Rights Act, opened the floodgates for money to influence our nations politics, and began to chip away at workers rights. In short: the court has been undeniably consequential under Chief Justice John Roberts. And this recent term is equally high stakes as the court hears issues around immigration policy, workers and womens rights, voting and democracy, and many more.
Sadly, under Republican chairman Chuck Grassley, the Senate Judiciary Committee has been one of the least productive in recent memory, moving lower court nominees through to confirmation at a glacial pace only six have been confirmed by the Senate this year, while 82 current vacancies remain, with more to come. And the Supreme Court is not exempt from the GOPs foot-dragging.
The months of Senate GOP work-stoppage on the nomination isnt just failing to win over support, they are simply losing the argument over whether to move forward in the confirmation process. And the result of their inaction is already taking a toll that will worsen.
The courts pace has slowed, as it is hearing fewer cases. There is a threat of split decisions that threaten to create a chaotic legal system across the country, and continuing uncertainty over when the court will ever be at full strength again tarnishes the publics confidence in the vitality and functionality of the highest court in the land.
Voters across the political spectrum believe the Senate should uphold its basic duty around Supreme Court nominations. Voters believe Obama has done his job in nominating Garland and now the Senate should do its job. Senate Republicans failure to act puts not only Americans faith in the judicial system in peril, but the fate of countless Americans whose lives are affected by the crucial issues the court considers day in and day out.
WASHINGTON -- Donald Trump's opponents in the primaries were right to call him a con artist, a narcissist and a pathological liar. Just ask "John Miller."
That's one of the names Trump used with journalists to burnish his status as a bold-faced Manhattan celebrity; he also called himself "John Barron." Both personae were supposedly publicists who just wanted to explain what a wonderful guy Mr. Trump was and how beautiful women seemed unable to resist his charms.
Last week, The Washington Post ran a story about the "Miller" and "Barron" ruses, which took place years ago, and posted a 1991 recording of "Miller" explaining why Trump was dumping Marla Maples. "He's coming out of a marriage, and he's starting to do tremendously well financially," the imaginary publicist says to a reporter from People magazine. "Actresses just call to see if they can go out with him and things." Madonna is ostentatiously name-dropped as someone who "wanted to go out with him."
The voice is Trump's. He denies it, for some reason -- "I don't think it was me," he said Friday, "it doesn't sound like me" -- but the timbre, cadence and word choice on the recording are pure Trump. It could only be him or his evil twin (as if he needed one).
The Post reported that "some reporters found the calls from Miller or Barron disturbing or even creepy; others thought they were just examples of Trump being playful." Put me firmly in the "creepy" camp.
I don't go so far as to think Trump could have believed these imaginary friends were real. But I do believe that Republican presidential contenders Marco Rubio (who called Trump a con artist), Bobby Jindal (who called him a narcissist) and Ted Cruz (who called him a pathological liar) should feel vindicated. And I believe the nation should be deeply worried about what sort of person the GOP is about to nominate for president.
Does it really matter if Trump had a bit of fun at the expense of some reporters two or three decades ago? It wouldn't if he were merely asking for another season of "The Apprentice." He wants us to make him the most powerful man in the world, and the "Miller" and "Barron" episodes -- along with the transparently untrue denials that they ever took place -- betray a level of ambition and insecurity that voters should find deeply alarming.
In my experience, most successful people could be described as needy in some sense. Trump, however, takes neediness to a bizarre and frightening extreme.
He's the son of a wealthy developer who expanded his father's empire. In his younger days, he was a rich and well-connected man about town. It is no surprise that he enjoyed the company of beautiful women. But that, apparently, wasn't nearly enough for Trump. He had to be widely seen with such women on his arm, and he had to be both envied and admired.
When he decided to trade a woman in for a newer model -- I know that sounds crude, but this was his modus operandi -- he used fake names to call reporters with his side of the story. Was he too cheap to hire a real publicist? Did he believe he was so much more clever than the journalists that they wouldn't know it was really him? (They knew.) Was he obsessed with being portrayed in the gossip columns as "a good guy," which is what "John Miller" calls him in the recording?
And why deny it now, given the clear evidence of the tape? Why not just laugh it off as a youthful or perhaps middle-aged indiscretion? Why not just say he was having a little fun at the media's expense? "It wasn't me" is only an effective defense absent proof beyond a reasonable doubt that, you know, it was.
I'm taking this seriously because Trump is asking to be taken seriously -- which means he wishes to be taken at his word. Someone should explain to him how this works.
He has built a remarkable career on bluster, branding and relentless self-promotion. Self-regard bordering on self-worship and a willingness to bend the truth may have been assets that helped his rise. Insecurity and a need to be loved could have given him motivation. For a vainglorious mogul who lives to plaster his name across the New York skyline -- and whose most consequential decision is whether to use travertine marble or Carrara -- these are useful traits.
For a president of the United States, they could be catastrophic.
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Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pak Ayeen has called on entrepreneurs and merchants from both countries to seize the chance to enjoy benefits of improved ties between Tehran and Baku.
Speaking about improved ties between Iran and Azerbaijan the ambassador advised entrepreneurs and merchants to gain advantage from the current opportunities, said the message of Iranian embassy in Baku.
Addressing a conference on economy in Baku May 17, Mohsen Pak Ayeen mentioned that official Tehran and Baku are determined to establish stronger ties.
The ambassador elaborated on the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and said the removal of sanctions against the Islamic Republic has created a proper chance to cement economic ties with Iran.
According to the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan the country's export to Iran almost doubled to $14.4 million in 1Q16 year-to-year, while imports increased from $19.4 million in 1Q15 to $27 million in 1Q16.
The JCPOA was implemented on January 16 followed by a nuclear deal last year curbing Iran's nuclear program in return for the removal of international sanctions.
/By Azernews/
By Fatma Babayeva
A decision of the resource-rich Azerbaijan to double its gas purchases from Russia raised a question whether the deal is economic or political.
State oil company SOCAR made a proposal for the purchase of additional 3-5 billion cubic meters of natural gas from the Russian gas giant Gazprom.
Analysts view the move as Azerbaijan's intention to test how its two gas storage facilities - Kalmaz and Garadagh function.
Michael Krutikhin, an analyst in the energy industry and partner of Rusenergy said in his interview to Moscow-Baku that Azerbaijan has enough gas.
"Most likely, Azerbaijan's main purpose in this procurement deal is to test the new installed volumes of the gas storage facilities. It is a beneficial deal for Azerbaijan as the gas prices are cheap in the market now, and a lower price can be negotiated," said Krutikhin.
Azerbaijan has almost doubled the capacity of its two gas storage facilities. Earlier, their volume amounted to 2.5 billion cubic meters, then expanded to 3.5 billion cubic meters, and now stands at 5.5 billion cubic meters.
Krutikhin noted that it is practically impossible for Azerbaijan to test how its gas storage facilities function in new volumes as the country does not have such free volume of natural gas. Thus, the country needs to buy additional volumes of gas.
In this regard, Azerbaijan also made a proposal to Iran. Nevertheless, Iranian side needs to expand the infrastructure firstly, and Russian side has no objections to it either.
Aleksey Miller, head of Russian Gazprom previously related Azerbaijan's gas purchases from Russia with the country's economy growth and increasing domestic demand.
Alexei Grivach, deputy director of the Russian National Energy Security Fund also evaluated this deal as an ordinary business deal.
On the contrary, Azer Mehtiyev, expert based in Baku, believes this deal is a political rather than an economic step.
The gas deal is intended to bring Russia and Azerbaijan politically closer, he noted.
Gazprom supplies 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year to Azerbaijan since September 2015 in accordance with the five-year contract which offers possibility of extension.
The average daily volume of gas deliveries amounted to around 6 million cubic meters.
Azerbaijan`s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has today made a statement on the white phosphorus bomb shelled by Armenian armed forces against civilians and civilian objects of Azerbaijan.
The statement says: In recent escalations and offensive actions starting from April 2, 2016, armed forces of Armenia among numerous instances of deliberate shelling on civilians and civilian objects of Azerbaijan with artillery and large-caliber weapons have also used shells containing chemicals such as white phosphorus.
One of such projectiles was shelled on Askipara village of the Tartar region of Azerbaijan, coincidentally it missed its prime target and landed on the cultivated cotton field and was found as an unexploded ordinance by Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) on May 10. If landed on the densely populated part of Askipara village, the projectile would have inflicted serious casualties and injuries among the civilians. Military attaches of foreign embassies accredited in Azerbaijan have been immediately informed on the fact of usage of such weapon by Armenia against the Azerbaijani civilians. This case was observed and well documented on May 11 2016, during the visit to Askipara village of 20 representatives and military attaches from 13 countries, as well as field assistants of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on the conflict dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference, the statement says.
The Ministry notes that the investigation has revealed that ammunition, which was fired by the armed forces of Armenia, is a D-4 type (smoke bomb) 122 mm artillery shell. It weights 27.07 kg and contains 3.6 kg of P4 (the chemical code of white phosphorus). Special Investigation Unit of the Republic of Azerbaijan Military Prosecutor's Office inspected the territory where the shell was found. The Republic of Azerbaijan Military Prosecutor's Office has initiated a criminal case upon this fact under the following articles of Azerbaijan's Criminal Code: Article 29,120.2.7 (attempt to kill two or more people), 29,120.2.12 (attempt to kill on ethnic, racial or religious grounds) and 116.0.16 (use of weapons, means and methods of warfare prohibited by interstate agreements during an armed conflict). A preliminary investigation into the fact is underway in the Republic of Azerbaijan Military Prosecutor's Office.
Witness accounts, photos of the case, video footage from the defuse of the shell (explosion emitted a dense white smoke) (please, view the video link http://mod.gov.az/index2.php?content=news/2016/20160511_attasecebhe ), as well as trajectory of fire presents numerous evidence that the shell which belonged to Armenia is a white phosphorus bomb and fired from the nearby positions of the armed forces of Armenia. It is well known that weapons containing white phosphorus are extremely toxic when inhaled, ingested, or absorbed through burned areas and can have severe negative impacts on human health. Such weapons cause severe, partial to full-thickness thermal and chemical burns upon contact with skin, often down to the bone. Absorbed through the skin white phosphorus can survive long enough in the human body to damage the heart, kidney or liver, leading to multiple organ failure or death, the Ministry says in the statement.
The Ministry says consonant with general international humanitarian law, attacks on civilians or civilian objects as are attacks on forests or other kinds of plant cover (like cultivated area in Askipara village) with White Phosphorus shells are prohibited under the Protocol III on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons of the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW or CCWC) of 1980. Armenia with the intentional strike at civilian objects of Azerbaijan using high-explosive white phosphorous grossly violates its obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, such as 1949 Geneva Conventions, and in particular the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Weapons containing white phosphorus can also qualify as incendiary weapon or device under the 1997 International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings which Armenia acceded in 2004. The Convention applies to any explosive or incendiary weapon or device that is designed, or has the capability, to cause death, serious bodily injury or substantial material damage or a weapon that has these effects through toxic chemicals, biological agents, toxins, or radiation, the statement says.
The Ministry added that: Alongside the Republic of Armenias responsibility as a State for internationally wrongful acts, violations by Armenia of international humanitarian and human rights law during the conflict amount to crimes under international criminal law. The Republic of Azerbaijan urges the international community to condemn Armenia for such blatant violations of international law.
President of Latvia Raimonds V?jonis has reaffirmed his country`s backing for Azerbaijan`s stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as he received credentials of Ambassador Javanshir Akhundov. He stressed that Latvia has supported and will always support the position of Azerbaijan on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Mr V?jonis also touched upon the bilateral relations. He expressed Latvia`s interest in strengthening cooperation with Azerbaijan in all areas. The President recalled his visits to Baku in the capacity of the Minister of Environment and Minister of Defence. The Latvian President also expressed his intention to visit Azerbaijan in 2017. The Azerbaijani-Latvian business forum is expected to be held as part of the visit.
Ambassador Akhundov said Azerbaijan highly appreciated Latvia`s unwavering position on the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.
The Ambassador emphasized that Latvia will host the Days of Azerbaijani Culture in 2017. The sides underlined that expansion of bilateral ties in the transport sector is very important for economic relations between the two countries.
/By Azernews/
Azerbaijan will celebrate a day of national pride - the 98th anniversary of the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) on May 28, 1918.
President of the Republic of Korea Park Geun-hye has congratulated Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev on the occasion of the Republic Day.
"On the occasion of the Republic Day, I would like to express my warm congratulations to Your Excellency and the people of the Republic of Azerbaijan," said Park Geun-hye in his congratulatory letter.
"I hope that the coming years will see the friendly and cooperative ties between our two countries as well as the bonds of friendship and happiness of our two peoples grow even further," he added.
"Please accept my best wishes for Your Excellency's continued good health and the enduring prosperity of your country," Park Geun-hye said.
King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands has also congratulated President Aliyev.
"As Azerbaijan celebrates its National Day, I extend to Your Excellency my congratulations and my best wishes for the well-being of the people of Azerbaijan," he said.
Azerbaijan's president also received congratulations from President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins.
"The people of Ireland join me in conveying to Your Excellency our sincere congratulations and warmest greetings on the occasion of your National Day," said Michael D. Higgins.
"We also avail ourselves of this opportunity to send best wishes for Your Excellency's personal well-being and for the happiness and prosperity of the people of Azerbaijan," he added.
President of the Republic of the Philippines Benigno S. Aquino III also congratulated Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev on the occasion of the Republic Day.
"On behalf of the people and Government of the Republic of the Philippines, I congratulate Your Excellency on the occasion of your National Day," he said.
"I look forward to the strengthening of our bilateral relations through enhanced cooperation especially in the political, economic, and cultural fields and through collaborative efforts on issues of mutual importance to our nations and the international community," Benigno S. Aquino III added.
"I wish Your Excellency good health and success as you lead the people of Azerbaijan to lasting peace and prosperity," he said.
Pope Francis congratulated President Ilham Aliyev on the occasion of the Republic Day.
"I am pleased to convey my sincere congratulations to you and your people on the occasion of the national day of the Republic of Azerbaijan," Pope Francis's message said.
"May Almighty God help you realize your efforts towards ensuring a happy and peaceful life for your citizens," the message said." "I wish your Excellency and the whole people of Azerbaijan plenty of God`s blessings."
President of the Republic of India Pranab Mukherjee also congratulated President Aliyev on the holiday.
"On behalf of the government, the people of India and on my own behalf, it gives me great pleasure to convey cordial greetings and felicitations to you and to the government and people of Azerbaijan on the occasion of your Republic Day," President Mukherjee's message said.
According to the message, India and Azerbaijan enjoy warm and friendly relations based on close historical and cultural ties.
"I am confident that through our cooperative endeavors our bilateral relations will continue to grow for the mutual benefit of our two peoples," the message said.
According to the message, India looks forward to further strengthening the country's multi-faceted engagement with Azerbaijan.
"I take this opportunity to extend my best wishes for Your Excellency's good health and well-being as well as for the prosperity and progress of the friendly people of Azerbaijan," the message said.
President of Montenegro Filip Vujanovic also congratulated President Aliyev on the holiday.
"I extend my cordial congratulations on the occasion of the national holiday of Azerbaijan, May 28 Republic Day," President Vujanovic's message said. "I wish for continued advance of Azerbaijan along prosperity for its citizens."
According to the message, the relations between Montenegro and Azerbaijan have always been cordial and friendly.
"I am confident that our future cooperation will further foster such relations between our states and nations," the message said.
"I avail myself of the opportunity to reiterate the expression of my high appreciation of the cooperation between our two countries, to which you have given huge personal contribution we are very grateful for," the message said.
"Esteemed Mr President, I wish you good health and success in performing your high duty," the message said.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto also congratulated President Aliyev on the holiday.
"It is my pleasure to extend to you my sincere congratulations on the occasion of the National Day of the Republic of Azerbaijan - Republic Day," the message said.
"I avail myself of this opportunity to reaffirm the commitment of the Mexican government to work together to strengthen and expand the bilateral relations for the welfare of our countries and societies," the message said.
"Dear Mr. President, please accept the assurances of my highest consideration," the message said.
Tarashaj named in provisional Swiss squad
, 18 May,
The 21-year-old will join up with his new team-mates on a full-time basis when the pre-season programme kicks off this summer after spending the last few months on loan at Grasshopper Zurich from where Roberto Martinez signed him in January.
Before then, however, Tarshaj hopes to be on the bus to France with the senior Swiss national team after impressing for their U21s over the past season.
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The total exports of US softwood lumber to the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region plunged to $20 million in 2015, down 40 per cent over the previous year, said a report.
However, markets around the globe continue to demand strong, high-quality lumber, particularly Southern Yellow Pine from the US, which suits a wide variety of applications, according to American Softwoods (Amso), the promotional partnership formed by three major US softwood trade associations.
Global exports of Southern Yellow Pine from the US reached a record $375 million in 2015, up seven per cent over the same period last year, stated the Amso report.
The wood is favourite among interior decorators and designers worldwide have discovered the appeal of using these wood indoors.
Southern Yellow Pine patterns feature a distinctive grain and excellent finishing properties that make it the ideal choice for flooring, panelling and ceilings. Accents such as wainscoting added to bathrooms and kitchens add texture and warmth to a space, said the report.
The top three destinations for Southern Yellow Pine exports remain unchanged from the previous year with Mexico ($163 million) up two per cent; China ($130 million) down 26 per cent; and the Dominican Republic ($48 million) up 17 per cent.
According to Amso, the Mena remains a key destination for American softwoods amidst the increasing demand from the regions booming construction and housing markets.
Charles Trevor, the consultant to American Softwoods, said: "In the past five years, global exports of Southern Yellow Pine have more than doubled. The latest design values have confirmed that Southern Yellow Pine remains comparable with other American softwood species used for structural applications. Further, its density remains unmatched, providing superior fastener-holding ability."
"As is the case across the globe, Southern Yellow Pine is the predominant species accounting for almost 80 per cent of sales throughout the Mena region," stated Trevor.
"The leading market is Egypt, where sales have held up relatively well despite restrictions on the availability of foreign exchange, followed by the UAE," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Six leading real estate developers from across the region, have been shortlisted for the 'Best Stand Award' at the Gulf Property Show, organised by Hilal Conferences and Exhibitions (HCE) in Bahrain.
The event was held under the patronage of HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Prime Minister of Bahrain, from April 26 to 28 at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre.
The shortlisted firms are Al Qaed, Bin Faqeeh, Diyar Al Muharraq, Eagle Hills, Eskan Bank and First Bahrain, said the organisers of the GCCs fastest growing exhibition for real estate sector.
"Each stand design from the six nominees boasts different concepts that represent a range of creativity and luxury style of the real estate sector," remarked exhibitions director Ahmed Suleiman.
The stand designs at this year's show were of high standards which made it difficult for the jury to pick the best six. The quality of this years stand designs is a reflection of the importance of the Gulf Property Show for the real estate sector," added Suleiman.
All the stand designs of the shortlisted firms will be available online at Gulf Property Show via Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GulfPropertyShow for the public to cast their vote to pick the winner of the Gulf Property Show Best Stand Award 2016.
The winner will be announced in October at the HCE Events 2017 Launch Party and later presented with the award.
Gulf Property Show is a dedicated boutique showcase for real estate and property development. It highlights present and future developments in Bahrain and the Northern Gulf, providing the opportunity to promote the kingdoms property assets as well as regional and international opportunities for investors in commercial and residential real estate.-TradeArabia News Service
Adecco, a global staffing services firm, will pick 50 candidates for its CEO for One Month programme launched at the ongoing Careers UAE in Dubai, UAE to work alongside senior management in the companys regional headquarters around the world.
Out of the chosen 50, just one talented young professional will be chosen to serve as Adeccos global CEO for a period of four weeks under the tutelage of current CEO Alain Dehaze.
The CEO for One Month internship programme, along with Adeccos Way to Work Internship programme, is aimed at providing recent graduates with hands-on experience and real-world insight into the management and daily operations of a Fortune 500 company.
Accepted candidates will gain unparalleled career experience. Additionally, the top performing applicant selected to serve as CEO for One Month at Adecco global headquarters will be remunerated with highly competitive salary.
Although the application window for potential candidates has closed in the US and Europe, there is still time for UAE hopefuls to put forth their CVs. Adecco is showcasing at this years Careers UAE 2016, held May 16-18 at Dubai World Trade Centre, hoping to attract young graduates and professionals to add to their cadre of interns.
In addition to Adecco, companies from around the region are offering unique opportunities at Careers UAE 2016, hunting for graduates and young professionals alike to participate in internships and junior professional programmes.
Top employers such as Emirates Group, DP World, Al-Futtaim and National Bank of Abu Dhabi, as well as human resources solutions providers such as Bayt.com and InternsME, are all present and keenly focused on recruiting young talent at Careers UAE. Last year the event drew 18,775 visitors, with the 2016 edition set to welcome more fresh talent. TradeArabia News Service
Etihad Rail, the developer and operator of the UAE's national rail network has signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi Vocational Education & Training Institute (Adveti) for occupational training and shared learning for students.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was co-signed with Etihad Rail DB, the operations and maintenance joint-venture for Stage One of the UAEs national railway network.
The MoU was signed by Saif Al Mazrouei, chief executive officer of Etihad Rail, Shadi Malak, Acting chief executive officer of Etihad Rail DB, and Dr Abdul Rahman Jassim Hammadi, Adveti managing director.
This agreement is of great significance, as it catalyses specialized training opportunities and vocational education for Emiratis in line with the goals of UAEs Emiratisation policy said Al Mazrouei.
We look forward to a longstanding strategic partnership between our three entities, which will witness the academic development and professional training of our nationals for opportunities in the fast-evolving railway industry.
Etihad Rail is a driving force behind efforts that contribute to the UAEs railway transportation sector, with ongoing combined efforts coupled with enhancing the industrys human capital at the cornerstone of the nations workforce and future socio-economic growth, he added.
The Etihad Rail DB vision brought together a team that best combines local talent and knowledge with the international best practice and expertise from Europes largest railway operator, and the success of this vision has been demonstrated through our management of Stage One operations and maintenance thus far, said Malak.
With that said, the critical role of UAE Nationals in driving the growth and prosperity of the rail industry from one generation to another is undeniable. Etihad Rail DB is proud to lead this evolution, and our team looks forward to cultivating the skills of the first generation of Emirati rail professionals, he added.
Dr Hammadi said: This MoU will serve the UAE national workforce by deploying a great number of Emirati students who will join Etihad Rail as maintenance & Mechanical Technicians. In addition, our students are known for their high standard of technical knowledge & hands-on training. The main purpose of Adveti is to graduate students who are demanded by the job market according to the geographical distribution, and this project is initiated in the Western Region so that our students there will benefit by enrolling into this important programme.
The Etihad Rail project is being delivered in three key stages of development, with the rail network spanning approximately 1,200 kilometres across the UAE once complete. Designed to provide both freight and passenger services, the network will connect urban and peripheral communities.
The network will also form a vital part of the GCC Railway Network, linking the UAE to Saudi Arabia Ghweifat in the West and Oman through Al Ain in the East. TradeArabia News Service
A top ministry official from the UAE recently met with a senior Mexican ministry member to explore and discuss possible agreements between the two countries, particularly in the sectors of trade and agriculture.
Eng Mohammed Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz Al Shehhi, undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy for Economic Affairs met with Jose Calzada Rovirosa, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food of Mexico at the UAE ministrys headquarters in Dubai, UAE, said a statement.
Humaid bin Butti Al Muhairi, assistant undersecretary of the UAEs Ministry of Economy for Commercial Affairs and Consumer Protection Sector, was also in attendance at the meeting along with several senior Mexican government officials, it added.
During the meeting, Al Shehhi discussed the prospects between the two countries in terms of expanding trade and investment between the Middle East and countries in Latin America, focusing on agriculture and food, tourism, aviation and private investments, it said.
Al Shehhi said: The UAE is keen to strengthen its economic and trade relations with countries in Latin America, particularly in fast emerging economies such as Mexico.
Mexico has a strong agricultural sector offering vast opportunities for growth domestically and internationally, which fits naturally with the UAEs economic agenda on food security, he said.
Rovirosa said that Mexico is looking to expand its international trade partners that have been traditionally captured by developed countries such as the US, Canada and Europe, added the statement.
The minister noted positive interest to increase the volume of his countrys existing trade with the UAE, given its steady position as a commercial hub in the region, particularly for the promotion of Mexicos agricultural exports such as meats and crops, it stated. TradeArabia News Service
Dubai World Central (DWC), Dubais second airport and the 20th busiest in the world for international air freight, yesterday (May 17) welcomed the worlds largest and most powerful aircraft, the Antonov 225 at 0200 pm.
The aircraft, named Mriya which means Dream in Ukrainian, made stops in Australia, Turkey and Malaysia before touching down in Dubai, said the statement from DWC.
The aircraft departed Dubai this morning for Leonardo da VinciFiumicino Airport in Italy, it added.
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. - TradeArabia News Service
The third edition of Arab Luxury World, the conference on the business of luxury in the Middle East, will see 700 regional and global professionals from the premium goods and services sector congregate in Dubai next month to discuss problems facing the sector and offer solutions.
Organised by Mediaquest, one of the leading publishing houses in the UAE, the two-day conference at The Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi on June 1 and 2 will dissect in depth all of the facets of the luxury industry through more than 30 panel discussions, presentations and private sessions.
The annual gathering will be attended by high-profile individuals and international experts spanning the entire sector, including entrepreneurial businesspeople, distributors, fashion designers, manufacturers and retailers, as well as consumers and decision-makers, from across the GCC region and beyond.
The collapse of old business models, disruptions from technological advances, strategic rethinks, rapid changes and the risks from an increasingly integrated global economy are just some of the factors that have led to The New Normal in the industry worldwide.
The conference will examine what this New Normal means for the premium goods and services sector in the wider Middle East in general, and GCC in particular.
Julien Hawari, co-CEO of Mediaquest, said: The 2016 Arab Luxury World conference will witness an assembly of basically anybody who is somebody in the business of luxury to discuss the challenges, opportunities and potential of the premium and ultra-premium goods and services markets.
For this years conference, weve decided to have an overarching theme of The New Normal, with more than 30 separate activities spread over the two days. Weve also invited luxury brands to provide us with an insight into their understanding of the luxury market, he added.
Some of the subjects and topics that will come up for debate in the panel discussions, presentations and private sessions are as follows: Digital Strategy, Effective Data Management, Fashion Trends, Focusing On The Core, Luxury Hidden Codes, Powering Saudi Arabia, Taxes, VAT and Consequences and The Rise Of Community Malls. - TradeArabia News Service
US private equity firm KKR and Saudi dairy company Almarai are among four rival groups shortlisted to bid for a majority stake in Abu Dhabi-based National Food Products Company, sources said, highlighting the appeal of the Gulf food and dairy sector.
With young, fast-growing populations and evolving culinary tastes, Gulf countries are seen as big potential growth markets for food.
Global milk prices are also low, making dairy a target for deals, and KKR has made successful investments in dairy in China in recent years.
NFPC, one of the largest food and dairy manufacturers in the UAE, whose brands include Milco, Lacnor and Oasis bottled water, appointed Emirates Investment Bank in October to arrange the sale, aimed at raising up to $1.5 billion.
For its bid, KKR is teaming up with Dubai-based Fajr Capital, which mainly pools sovereign funds to invest in Muslim countries.
Fajr announced this week it had completed the purchase of restaurant franchise company Cravia, which operates Cinnabon and Five Guys hamburger restaurants in the Gulf.
KKR and Fajr teamed up last year to bid for fashion retailer Azadea Group, which has stores for brands like the Gap and Intimissimi in the Middle East, although that deal has stalled. KKR was also part of a 2014 bid for Americana, operator of Middle East franchises for Pizza Hut and KFC restaurants.
The other bidders for NFPC include an international financial firm and an international industrial firm, the sources familiar with the shortlist said, without naming them.
NFPC and Fajr Capital declined to comment. KKR did not immediately respond to a request to comment.
Private equity bidders would face a strong rival in Almarai, the Gulf's largest dairy company, which said in April that it was interested in buying a controlling stake in NFPC and had already been invited to conduct due diligence.
NFPC, which also has a joint venture with Danish dairy giant Arla Foods, was founded by Lebanese-born businessman Fady Antonios and the local Bin Hamoodah group.
Antonios is looking to raise funds for the company's expansion and reduce his own stake in preparation for his eventual retirement, sources familiar with the matter have said.
NFPC has already started work on the first phase of a $400 million development of a production complex in Abu Dhabi's Khalifa Industrial Zone.
Almarai's potential acquisition in NFPC would help the Saudi company gain a strong foothold in the UAE, "where they are weaker versus peers", and boost their distribution into other Gulf countries such as Oman, Muhammad Faisal Potrik, head of research at Saudi Arabia's Riyad Capital, said in an email.
He said a rival dairy and juice company would be a better fit for NFPC than private equity firms like KKR, because of prior sector expertise and potential economies of scale.
"Private equity would need to bring in experienced management to run operations, something which existing operators already have," Potrik said.-Reuters
Tasjeel, a leading one-stop-shop for all vehicle testing and registration needs, has signed a contract with Al-Futtaim Logistics, one of the logistics pioneers in the UAE, as the sole provider for vehicle registration tests and requirements.
As part of the agreement, Tasjeel will provide top of the line vehicle inspection services prior to registration which enables a quick, reliable and secure registration process for Al-Futtaim Logistics extensive fleet.
Tasjeel is a key facet of Emirates National Oil Companys Retail segment, providing round-the-clock services to customers. Strategic agreements such as this one prove that collaborations between two uniquely UAE born entities are possible, said Burhan Al Hashemi, managing director, Enoc Retail. The partnership with Al-Futtaim Logistics is strategically aligned with Tasjeels values of safety and best-in-class customer service.
Established in 1980, Al-Futtaim Logistics provides integrated supply chain solutions for companies in a number of sectors. The company manages over 1.2 million sq m of warehousing and yard space with its own fleet and operational centres located in major air and sea hubs across the country.
Al-Futtaim Logistics owes its success to its longevity, extensive client network, and wide customer base, said Raman Kumar, managing director of Al-Futtaim Logistics.
Collaboration with Tasjeela company with a similar backgroundwill naturally yield in synergies. We hope that this partnership results in uninterrupted service to our customers, safer roads, knowledge sharing and success, he added.
A business unit of Enoc Retail, Tasjeel undertakes all mandatory tests that are required for vehicle registration. Tasjeel now owns and operates 11 sites and five mobile units which use state-of-the-art equipment. TradeArabia News Service
Iran's oil exports are set to surge in May, climbing nearly 60 percent from a year ago, with European shipments recovering to about half of pre-sanction levels, according to a source with knowledge of the country's crude lifting plans.
This shows Tehran is regaining market share at a faster pace than analysts had projected as it battles with Saudi Arabia for customers by cutting its prices. April loadings at 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd) were around 15 percent higher than the International Energy Agency estimated earlier this month.
May shipments are set to jump to 2.1 million bpd from 1.3 million bpd during the same month in 2015, when Iranian exports were constrained by Western sanctions imposed because of the country's nuclear programme. The April loadings were the highest since January 2012.
The increase in loadings suggests that Iran has overcome a tanker shortage that threatened to derail attempts to regain market share after the sanctions were lifted in January.
Saudi Arabia will feel the surge in Iranian exports most keenly as it struggles for regional supremacy with Iran, with the oil market becoming a key battleground.
Saudi Arabia plans to boost production in the coming months to squeeze the Iranians, said Ian Bremmer, the president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, who spoke recently with executives.
The production increase could also boost returns for the planned Saudi Aramco share sale, Bremmer told Reuters on Wednesday.
In the meantime, Iranian exports are rapidly returning to near pre-sanctions levels. Loadings to Asia were 1.7 million bpd in April, about a third higher than a year ago and the most since 2011, according to the source.
Loadings will stay near that level for May, with 1.6 million bpd scheduled.
Loadings for China, Iran's biggest customer, were nearly 840,000 bpd in April and more than 620,000 bpd are planned for May.
Iran's sales to Europe, including Turkey, are also rising fast, according to the source. April loadings to Europe totalled 487,000 bpd and are set for 400,000 bpd this month. European countries were buying as much as 800,000 bpd before 2012.
Oil major Total SA is set to take 160,000 bpd of crude in May, down from the 240,000 bpd loaded in April. The company, along with Spain's Cepsa, signed import deals with state-owned National Iranian Oil Co soon after the sanctions were lifted in January.
Loadings to Spain are set for 32,000 bpd in May, while Greece will take 65,000 bpd. - Reuters
A Nigerian union defied a court ban to launch a general strike on Wednesday in protest at a planned hefty increase in fuel prices, though many businesses and government offices opened as normal.
The government hopes lifting costly fuel subsidies, causing prices to rise by up to two thirds at the pumps, will help alleviate the worst crisis in decades in Africa's biggest economy.
A wave of strikes ensued the last time Nigeria tried to introduce a similar measure in 2012, and authorities eventually reinstated some subsidies.
This time around the Nigerian Industrial Court blocked industrial action due to the risk of civil disorder, but late on Tuesday the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said it would go ahead with its planned indefinite strike anyway, starting on Wednesday.
"The government was not ready to accede to our demands, so we walked out of the meeting," Chris Uyot, deputy general secretary of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), told Reuters.
A second union, the Trade Union Congress (TUC), abandoned its strike plans in response to the court ruling.
Reuters witnessed government offices, shops and banks in the capital Abuja mostly opening as normal on Wednesday.
Some 300 union activists gathered there to stage a march, and some 200 protested in the commercial capital Lagos, where some banks and many shops were also doing business.
'LEFT WITH NO CHOICE'
A fall in oil prices has eaten into the foreign reserves of Nigeria, which relies on crude sales for around 70 per cent of national income. The central bank has adopted a fixed exchange rate to protect further depletion of reserves.
On Tuesday, vice president Yemi Osinbajo said President Muhammadu Buhari had been "left with no choice" but to raise petrol prices.
"What can we do if we don't have foreign currency? We have to import fuel," Osinbajo said.
Nigeria needs to import almost all of its fuel as its refineries are largely out of action after years of neglect and mismanagement.
There were some flight delays on Wednesday as airlines struggled to get jet fuel, but airports in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt in the oil-producing Niger Delta were operational. Reuters
Some of the winners of the promotion
Emirates NBD, one of the leading banks in the region, recently gave away the grand prize, a Bentley Mulsanne, along with five Breitling GMT and 125 Breitling Colt watches to the winners of its mega customer promotion.
The promotion was aimed at encouraging a savings habit among customers and incentivising them with luxurious prizes. New and existing customers with deposit balances of at least Dh250,000 were eligible to enter the grand draw to win the Bentley Mulsanne with every increase of Dh 50,000 getting an entry.
Additionally, new and existing customers with account balances of at least Dh25,000 stood to win monthly prizes of premium Breitling watches, with every increase of Dh5,000 getting an entry.
The initiative was met with great success, according to a press release. A total of 131 customers received attractive gifts from the bank, which also promoted financial wellbeing, a key component of Emirates NBDs commitment to responsible banking.
Emirates NBD is now currently running a mega salary transfer promotion for new and existing customers till June 2016 where customers can win up to 12 months salary and their entire loan or credit card outstanding as bonus. TradeArabia News Service
Abu Dhabi-based Nirvana Travel and Tourism participated and acted as a platinum sponsor at the How to Rocket Event, which held in Dubai last week, to promote the companys extensive retail and commercial travel services.
Alaa Al Ali, general manager of Nirvana Travel and Tourism, said: How To Rocket enables networking with up and coming service related businesses across six business zones. The Nirvana team enjoyed engaging with other teams through the activities organised at the event.
The annual How to Rocket Dubai showcases the best quality brands of the UAE. Through seminars, presentations and workshops, businesses promote their products and services. How To Rocket provides an ideal platform for entrepreneurs and businesses who choose to spread brand awareness and product knowledge.
How To Rocket allows us to stay up-to-date on the trends of the market. We are excited to explore the variety of business models and strategies that were exhibited at the event, said Al Ali. - TradeArabia News Service
A delegation of Hilton general managers from Austria and Germany, alongside Jochem-Jan Sleiffer, vice president of Northern, Central & Eastern Europe, arrived in the Middle East this week, to meet with a number of Hiltons high profile travel clients in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The Hilton sales mission ties in with growing interest among operators eager to enhance their partnerships with Hiltons 20 hotels in Germany and four hotels in Austria, as a means to facilitate growing demand for travel to the European countries.
According to the Austrian National Tourist office, guests from UAE have increased by 130 per cent in the last four years, while the UAE is the biggest source of tourists from the Gulf region to Germany, accounting for 45 per cent of overnight visitors last year.
Sleiffer said: The UAE is a highly sought-after source market for hoteliers globally and remains a top market for Hiltons German and Austrian hotels. Outbound travellers from the UAE increased the number of room nights by a remarkable 60 per cent at Hilton hotels in Austria, between 2014 and 2015, and by 11 per cent in Germany.
Proven and growing demand for travel from the UAE to Germany and Austria is underpinned by improving travel accessibility and easing visa regulations such as the recent move to offer Emirati citizens visa-free access to Schengen states for up to 90 days, and Emirates airlines launch of the A380 aircraft on its Dubai-Vienna route with these measures impacting significantly on Emirati traveller choices.
Across Hiltons portfolio in Germany and Austria, special provisions are made to give an extra special welcome to Arab travellers, including extended room service hours, shisha lounges and outdoor areas, Arabic language television channels, as well as Arabic speaking team members, sourced from Hilton hotels across the Middle East, to meet and greet and connecting suites and larger room configurations for family stays. - TradeArabia News Service
Alitalia, Italy's national carrier in which Etihad Airways holds stake, has delivered strong progress in the 18 months since the launch of a major industrial plan to re-engineer the airline to compete effectively on the global aviation stage.
The new Alitalia began operations on January 1, 2015 following a 1.76 billion ($1.99 billion) recapitalisation that saw historic debt wiped out and a 560 million ($634 million) investment by Etihad Airways for a 49 per cent equity stake. The majority 51 per cent stake is held by Italian CAI.
A comprehensive three-year programme to rebuild the business and revitalise products and services in order to return it to profitability has seen, so far, the launch of new intercontinental, international and domestic routes; the introduction of new aircraft with new interiors; new airline partnerships and improved flight connections at Romes Fiumicino airport, plus a greater focus on customer service and improved products for air travellers in order to boost quality.
Alitalia unveiled contemporary new branding in 2015, and it today launched a new staff uniform and revealed its first major advertising campaign for seven years.
Alitalias chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo was joined by James Hogan, vice chairman of Alitalia and president and chief executive officer of Etihad Aviation Group, and Cramer Ball, the recently appointed chief executive officer of Alitalia, for two days of events in Rome and Milan. They briefed 2,500 Alitalia staff, members of the media and major corporate clients and travel agents on the latest developments in the business.
Montezemolo said: Positive and meaningful change continues at pace in every area of the business. Alitalia has a strong new commercial focus and greater emphasis than ever before on delivering signature Italian hospitality.
Everything we are achieving is a result of the dedication and commitment of the people of Alitalia and I publicly salute their incredible effort and hard work.
We are creating a bright future by delivering the transformation that we promised. Alitalia today is a modern, leaner and energised business. We are reducing losses and will be profitable by 2017 if we remain totally focused.
Alitalias recently released financial results for 2015 show that losses reduced by 381 million ($431.3 million) in 2015, in line with targets set in the industrial plan. Alitalias market share to and from Italy also grew to more than 30 per cent in 2015, up four per cent in 2014.
A factor in Alitalias new success has been the strength of its partnerships with Etihad Airways and participation in Etihad Airways Partners alongside Etihad Airways, airberlin, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Etihad Regional operated by Darwin Airline, Jet Airways and NIKI. The brand brings together partner airlines to offer customers more choice through improved networks and schedules and enhanced frequent flyer benefits.
More than 470,000 passengers since January 1, 2015 have been shared between Alitalia and Etihad Airways and more than 1.2 million passengers have been shared between Alitalia and Etihad Airways Partners airlines.
In addition, joint negotiation and procurement has saved Alitalia more than 13.5 million ($152.8 million) since January 1, 2015.
Alitalia codeshares with Etihad Airways, airberlin, Air Serbia, Jet Airways, Air Seychelles and Etihad Regional and provides ground handling in Rome for Etihad Airways, Air Serbia and airberlin. In addition, it manages the operations control centre for Etihad Regional.
Alitalia recently announced a strengthening of its commercial relationship with airberlin with a 25 per cent increase in weekly frequencies on non-stop flights from Italy. It will codeshare with airberlin on more than 1,400 flights per week on 91 routes, including 56 non-stop services and 750 weekly flights between Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Hogan said: Few airlines have undergone such radical change as the new Alitalia and it is now reaping the benefits of a robust new strategy built around dynamic and effective partnerships. After some difficult and challenging years, Alitalia has a great story to tell. We promised to create a world-class airline.
We are delivering on that promise and Alitalia today is as good as any airline in Europe. We are only half-way through a three-year journey to deliver profitability. The airline is already unrecognisable from its predecessor. Customers are winning through greater choice and better products and services.
Alitalias people are winning through a growing company that offers new career opportunities. Italy is winning as we build an airline Italians can be proud to fly and call their own. Alitalia is building a competitive and sustainably profitable future that will deliver financial stability and long-term growth.
Ball said: Alitalia is regaining strength and controlling its destiny, working hard with quality partners to drive revenue. As our evolution continues, we will remain totally focused on putting our customers at the heart of everything we do and deliver value through relevant and impressive services and products.
We are also firmly focused on our goal to become profitable because profit will enable further growth in the years ahead through reinvestment. That means fighting harder on cutting costs, increasing revenue, and increasing productivity by becoming more efficient.
Alitalia will invest a further 400 million ($452.8 million) in 2016 across its fleet and cabins and in the areas of technology and infrastructure.
New flights to world-class destinations will start. Alitalia began flying to Santiago at the start of May with new flights to Mexico City starting in June and flights to Beijing from July. Alitalia is equally committed to increase its domestic flying programme, growing in southern Italy, Sicily and Sardinia. The summer 2016 schedule will offer more than 400 weekly frequencies connecting southern and northern Italy.
To support the customer experience, more than 6,000 cabin crew and airport staff have undertaken new specialised customer service training. The emphasis on quality customer service has been further reinforced by a new Transit Team at Alitalias Rome Fiumicino hub, a 25 million ($28.3 million) investment in ground support equipment, new faster boarding procedures, and more staff on duty at airport gates.
Ball added: We are showing our customers that the new Alitalia stands for great service, quality and that it represents the best this great country has to offer. Our product, service and punctuality have changed to best-in-class and we are passionate about providing the highest levels of service and quality. We are the new smart choice in European air travel. - TradeArabia News Service
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Yellowstone National Park rangers have not been able to contact or locate a group of Canadian men accused of walking onto a sensitive hot spring, and its possible they have returned to Canada, a park official said Wednesday.
It looks like from their social media feed that they were already back in Canada when the warrants were issued, but it is just really hard to say, Yellowstone spokeswoman Charissa Reid said Wednesday.
Rangers filed a criminal complaint Monday against three members of the group known as High on Life SundayFundayz for leaving an established boardwalk and stepping onto a geothermal feature where they snapped selfies and took video of themselves last Saturday. Several of the groups members are from Vancouver, British Columbia, and have a clothing line that they promote.
The group initially posted pictures and video of their trek out on the Grand Prismatic Spring on social media, but all images that showed the men were later deleted.
The group posted an apology on its website and social networks, expressing regret for their actions and offering to donate up to $5,000 to the park.
In response to messages seeking comment about the matter, an email from one member of the group said they were not able to talk Wednesday and referenced the groups posted apology.
The criminal complaint names Charles Ryker Gamble, Alexey Andriyovych Lyakh and Justis Cooper Price-Brown. A witness provided pictures and video of the incident to rangers that show four men going about 25 yards off the boardwalk, according to the complaint.
Only three were charged because rangers were still trying to positively identify the fourth person involved, Reid said.
It wasnt immediately clear how the legal process will proceed if the men are back in Canada.
John Powell, spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys Office in Cheyenne, was out of the office Wednesday and unavailable for comment, according to the office.
Reid said Yellowstone officials are still assessing what damage may have been caused by the men walking onto the hot spring.
Hot springs have sensitive wet, soft bacterial mats that play a role in the colors associated with the spring, she said.
When people walk on them it actually makes like white footprints in the bacterial mat, Reid said. Not only does it damage the bacterial mat but it also means that other people may be tempted to walk the same path.
Yellowstone distributes literature to visitors and posts signs around geothermal features warning people not to stray off boardwalks and paths.
Casper could become home to a new brewery.
Skull Tree Brewing has applied for a liquor license to operate in the Oil City. Unlike the other microbreweries in town, Skull Tree wont have a restaurant at its location.
One of Skull Trees owners, Maximilian Ty Martinez, confirmed the brewerys intent to open in an interview Tuesday. He declined to comment further.
The Casper City Council is expected to hold a public hearing about the brewerys liquor license on June 7. The new brewery would be housed at 1530 Burlington Ave., according to city documents. The brewery would sit in the neighborhood of the Salvation Army and a variety of auto shops.
The city can offer up to 36 microbrewery permits, though only two have been used, according to city documents. Before working to open Skull Tree, Martinez was the head brewer at Wyoming State Brewing Company, located in the Wonder Bar. On its website, Wonder Bar describes the company as Caspers only premium microbrewery. The other microbrewery is Old Chicago, according to the city.
Carla Mills-Laatsch, the citys customer service supervisor, said Skull Tree still has some hurdles to clear, including approval from the state and local departments.
Its not going to be huge, I know that, Mills-Laatsch said about the brewerys size. We do have a plan in place, submitted from them. But its not going to be gigantic. And theyre not going to have food service or anything like that.
Breweries have sprouted up across Wyoming in the recent past. Some have remained small, but others, such as Black Tooth Brewing Company in Sheridan and Melvin Brewing in Jackson, are running sizable operations.
Casper is not home to breweries of that scale. But City Councilman Bob Hopkins thinks there could be enough support for another local brewery. He cited beer giants like Anheuser-Busch buying smaller craft breweries to learn their recipes as a sign that the market for smaller shops has grown.
I think locally, we could probably support one, Hopkins said. I think theres enough young folks that would like to go down there.
The City Council has recently tried to use liquor licenses to spur economic growth in portions of Casper. In 2014, they restricted the license for Urban Bottle Wine and Spirits to a location in the Old Yellowstone District. Last week, city leaders also agreed to limit a new retail liquor license to the downtown area.
Though its still early on in the conversation, Hopkins said he wished the brewery and its owners all the best.
Its something that downtown city of Casper would probably use, Hopkins said. Theres a lot of young folks that like to go in there and have one of their special brews. Its become a big thing.
A former campus supervisor at Dean Morgan Junior High has been charged with manslaughter based on allegations he caused a mans death last year by putting methamphetamine in his drink, court documents show.
Authorities also allege Jon Patrick Freiberg sold meth to young men in Casper and once sold the drug during a school lunch break. Court documents do not identify the school, but Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Director Steve Woodson said it was Dean Morgan.
Freiberg worked for the Natrona County School District until Feb. 3, when he resigned, district spokesman Kelly Eastes said. Authorities had searched his car two days earlier and reported finding methamphetamine, court documents show.
Freiberg, 53, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to involuntary manslaughter. Freiberg also entered not guilty pleas to multiple charges of possession and delivery of meth during his arraignment in Natrona County District Court.
Court documents allege Freiberg killed 46-year-old Richard Serafin in August after putting meth in a cup Serafin was drinking from at the Days Inn in Casper. The documents indicate Serafin consumed the drugs accidentally. Investigators spoke with multiple people who said Serafin never used drugs.
DCI agents interviewed young men who said they had gone to motel rooms with Freiberg to buy methamphetamine, according to the documents. The young men said Freiberg became sexually aggressive toward them, the documents state.
An autopsy revealed Serafin died of cardiac arrest due to acute stresses of methamphetamine intoxication, the documents state. Serafin had a heart condition that was apparently unknown at the time.
Police found Serafins body Aug. 28 inside a hot car parked outside the Days Inn, according to the documents. Investigators later spoke to a teenager who said he saw Freiberg carrying Serafin and putting him into the car. The 14-year-old told authorities Serafin needed help moving and appeared intoxicated.
A DCI agent reviewed text messages Freiberg had sent to another person, which stated a man Freiberg was with was overdosing, the documents state.
In January, an unnamed informant told DCI agents Freiberg wanted to sell him meth, according to the documents. Officials gave the informant money to buy drugs from Freiberg and put the man under audio and visual surveillance. When the man met Freiberg at the Natrona County Public Library to buy meth, Freiberg was heard saying he had put meth in a cup and Serafin had consumed it.
Freiberg also said Serafin did not use meth and had acted very messed up, the documents state. He said he did not call 911.
The informant told DCI that Freiberg offered to sell him meth during Freibergs lunch break at school on Feb. 1, according to the documents. Freiberg and the informant met at McDonalds on F Street and Freiberg sold him meth, the documents state.
Officials searched Freibergs car that same day and found two baggies of meth, as well as prerecorded funds DCI agents had given the informant to purchase drugs, according to the documents.
Prosecutors filed charges against Freiberg on April 4.
Freiberg is being represented by public defender Jared Holbrook. Natrona County District Attorney Michael Blonigen is prosecuting the case.
Involuntary manslaughter carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
Freiberg is being held in the Natrona County Detention Center in lieu of $100,000 bond. He appeared in court wearing orange jail scrubs. His hands and ankles were cuffed.
Bernie Sanders won Oregon's presidential primary and battled Hillary Clinton to a razor-thin margin in Kentucky, vowing to stay in the race until the end as Clinton aimed to blunt his momentum and prepare for a fall campaign against Republican Donald Trump.
The Democratic party displayed new signs that it could have trouble uniting around Clinton's candidacy as Sanders plows through the end of the primary calendar in mid-June. Sanders will need to win about two-thirds of the remaining pledged delegates to end the primary season in a tie but is not letting up.
"Before we will have the opportunity to defeat Donald Trump, we're going to have to defeat Secretary Clinton," Sanders said Tuesday night to cheers in Carson, California.
Clinton ended the night with a commanding lead of 279 pledged delegates over Sanders and a dominant advantage among party officials and elected leaders known as superdelegates. The outcomes in Kentucky and Oregon did not dramatically change the delegate count and the former secretary of state remains on track to clinch the nomination on June 7 in the New Jersey primary.
But Tuesday's elections followed a divisive weekend state party convention in Nevada in which supporters of Sanders were accused of tossing chairs and making death threats against the Nevada party chairwoman at the event in Las Vegas. Supporters argued that party leadership had rigged the results of the convention in favor of Clinton.
In a sign of the tensions between the two sides, Sanders issued a defiant statement Tuesday dismissing complaints from Nevada Democrats as "nonsense" and said his supporters were not being treated with "fairness and respect."
Efforts to control brucellosis in cattle around Yellowstone National Park may be focusing on the wrong wildlife suspects, according to new DNA research on the disease.
The study suggests elk are the most likely source of brucellosis outbreaks in domestic cattle. That complicates the work of officials around Yellowstone charged with controlling the spread of brucellosis. Suspicion that bison were the main spreaders of the disease to cattle prompted extensive restrictions on bison trying to migrate out of the park into grazing lands of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Those restrictions have included hazing the herds back into the park, and hunting, butchering or quarantining thousands of bison that could not be driven back into Yellowstone.
Of all the cases we had, we found no direct links from bison to livestock, said Pauline Kamath, U.S. Geological Survey ecologist and lead author of the study. Thats suggesting theres little transmission from bison to animals in other areas in the Greater Yellowstone.
Brucellosis causes infected females to abort their calves. Its presence in an area may require ranchers to quarantine their herds and incur expensive testing and vaccinations before the animals can be sold or moved. The Greater Yellowstone area is the last reservoir of the disease in North America, and about 20 private herds of cattle or bison have reported infections in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming since 2002.
The study was published in the journal Nature Communications on May 11. It traced 30 years of Brucella abortus genomic history in samples of cattle, bison and elk tissue. It found five distinct strains of the bacteria, all likely from historic cattle introductions. Four of those five strains are now mainly in elk herds that use Wyoming state winter feeding grounds.
This study provides the most definitive evidence to date that brucellosis is now self-sustaining in Montana elk and has spread at an increased rate in elk populations outside of the feeding grounds, Kamath said. While the bacteria strain most often found in bison has shown slow spread outside of Yellowstone, the elk strains have been radiating 2 to 4 miles a year.
Any attempt to control the rate of spread in wildlife must be evaluated at the ecosystem scale and include an effective strategy to address infection in elk across the greater Yellowstone area, said study co-author Rick Wallen, lead wildlife biologist for the bison program in Yellowstone National Park. Focus on bison alone, as was suggested in the past, will not meet the disease eradication objective and conserve wildlife.
Montana livestock and wildlife officials face big challenges in confronting brucellosis in elk. Although bison weigh two to four times as much as domestic cattle and are considered wildlife, they can be herded, fenced and managed similar to cattle. Elk, on the other hand, are allowed to roam free throughout the state. Because of elks popularity as a big-game animal, the state has extensive rules preventing landowners from interfering with elk populations.
The study found a substantial increase in the documented transmission events from elk to livestock (17 incidents), standing in contrast to none recorded in the previous decade. It also found that elk and bison pass the disease back and forth between species, complicating eradication efforts.
Changes in animal management also affected the spread of the disease. Brucellosis was originally detected in Yellowstone bison in 1917. A 1992 report by the Government Accountability Office found brucellosis present in just 12 percent of Yellowstone bison and no evidence of the disease in 151 elk studied. It noted that The National Park Service and Montana wildlife officials are unaware of any documented cases of brucellosis transmission from wildlife, including bison and elk, to livestock in the wild.
The study notes that the National Park Service stopped large-scale removals of bison and elk in the late 1960s from Yellowstone. The result was bison populations expanded from 400 to 3,500 and elk populations went from 3,000 to 18,000 between 1968 and 1990. Bison access to elk feeding grounds in Wyoming also resulted in increases in disease transfer.
The only woman seeking Wyomings U.S. House seat is opposed to women registering for the draft, an issue currently before Congress.
Republican Liz Cheney, an advocate for an aggressive national defense, declined to elaborate on why she opposes requiring women to register for the Selective Service. Cheney is the daughter of the hawkish former Vice President Dick Cheney and has written books with him about the need for powerful foreign policy and defending his positions in the White House.
Other candidates, including some who are military veterans, told the Star-Tribune they supported women registering for the draft.
Last week, the Senate Armed Services Committee advanced a provision, part of the annual defense policy bill, that would require women to sign up for the Selective Service within 30 days of turning 18. The requirement is the same for men. The provision would go into effect in January 2018. On Tuesday, House Republicans pulled the provision from its version of the bill, saying more study is required before reversing the longstanding prohibition on including women in the Selective Service.
GOP lawmakers also questioned whether the Selective Service, which needs $23 million annually to operate, should be abolished in favor of an all-volunteer force. Democrats cast the move as an attempt to avoid a contentious vote on equality for women.
Top brass in all branches of the military testified before Congress that they supported including women in conscription. Last year, the Pentagon opened all front-line combat jobs to women.
The military hasnt drafted anyone to service since 1973, at the end of the Vietnam War. Current law requires all men 18 to 25 to register. Men who dont register face up to five years behind bars and a fine of up to $250,000.
The mission of our brave men and women in uniform should be to defend our nation, not to conduct social experiments, Cheney said in a message to the Star-Tribune.
Cheney supports the military being an all-volunteer force. She opposes efforts like this that could force women into combat roles, she said. In addition, Americas all-volunteer force is the most effective and skilled in the world, and I do not believe we need the draft for either men or women.
The Star-Tribune asked why it would be problematic to have women in combat. Her campaign manager said Cheney would stick with her original comment.
Senteney
Republican Jason Senteney supports the proposal. Hes thought about it as a Marine and father to a 9-year-old daughter, he said.
I do believe its fair, he said. I believe women are more than capable of going into combat situations, and its been proven in some cases that women are better shots than men.
Senteney served from 1996 to 1997, in 2001 and 2003.
Ive served with some women who basically have more grit than some of the men I served with, the Yoder resident said. I would be proud to see women like that serving in a combat capacity.
Christensen
Republican Leland Christensen of Alta is also a veteran. He served for 15 years in the Army National Guard, in First Battalion of the 19th Special Forces Group Airborne.
Christensen said he saw men and women who served honorably. He respects their equal commitment and supports equalizing the Selective Service, he said.
Christensen noted the draft hasnt been needed in decades.
Heaven forbid we ever have to invoke it again; it will likely be a grave situation that will require all hands on deck, he said.
Stubson
Women signing up for the Selective Service makes sense in 2016, a time when the military has made an effort to open opportunities to women, Republican Tim Stubson said.
We are probably beyond that time when men should just be registered, he said.
But Stubson said the question is separate from whether women should be allowed to serve in combat.
There are all sorts of positions in the military other than combat, the Casper attorney and state legislator said. The requirement of women to register for the draft should probably be there because theres all sorts of roles to fill.
Greene
Ryan Greene, the only Democrat in the race, sees women registering for the Selective Service as part of larger equality issues.
I would support that provision, and I support equal rights in every avenue of life, from professional to civic responsibility, said Greene, a Rock Springs resident. This is part of a bigger movement I would support as Wyomings congressman. I think women deserve equal pay for equal work. I just think that they deserve equal treatment under the law, and Selective Service is part of that.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Casper has a gem in its University of Wyoming satellite campus.
The institution offers educational and career opportunities for many people in the city and county, and those opportunities are especially important in these economic times.
So when the community hears rumors that cast doubt on the future of UW-Casper, that anxiety is significant. The partnership between the university and its campus here is important, and when people wonder about its future, university officials should take those fears seriously. They should seek to reassure the community here that the states only four-year university is as invested in its most populated county as it has ever been.
University officials did reject the idea of closing UW-Casper, thankfully, but not without characterizing the suggestion as preposterous and saying they had no idea where this is coming from.
Given the states dire financial position, cuts will probably be unavoidable, they said, but they will target the programs with the lowest enrollment and highest costs in both Laramie and Casper. That explanation adds up.
But if its easy for community members to trace the sequence of events pain in the energy sector hitting state budgets hard and causing state leaders to talk about unprecedented cuts, plus the move of three elementary education faculty to Laramie and start asking questions, then university leaders should be able to follow the same path and anticipate and allay those worries.
Their failure to do so in this case suggests that its time to strengthen communication between UW and UW-Casper. As the state reels from layoffs in the energy sector, its a critical time for educational opportunities here, including this particular partnership. Strong communication from both sides is essential.
As the centrally located, second-largest city in a rural state with only one public four-year university, Casper needs the campus, and it needs to know that leaders in Laramie are committed to the satellite. Its presence here allows people to continue their jobs and their lives here while they study for the next step.
If that opportunity isnt available, they might leave Casper or Wyoming to pursue something else or they might never have the chance to pursue any higher education at all. That leaves both our people and our state poorer.
Plus, the state needs educated workers as it seeks to diversify its economy. UW has an obligation to the people and businesses of this state to prepare workers to succeed in the economy of today and tomorrow.
That means more than simply rejecting the idea that the campus will close, although that is certainly encouraging news. It also means understanding that a shell of a campus here is not enough. UW-Casper must remain vibrant, with faculty and staff on campus ready to assist students and would-be students as well as a robust array of educational opportunities. Death by 1,000 cuts is not the answer.
UW undoubtedly has some tough decisions to make, but this one should be simple: The university must never ease up on fulfilling its obligation to Wyoming, its economy and its people, and that means it cannot diminish UW-Casper or fail to strengthen that important partnership.
The cavernous metal building next door to Flying Leap Vineyards on Elgin Road is still a work in progress, but Mark Beres imagines exactly how it will look in a few months.
The big shiny tanks will be visible when you enter the Flying Leap distillery, he said one day last week, pointing to the empty space at the far end of the 8,000-square-foot building that by November will be filled with barrels of vodka, grappa, unaged (clear) brandy and white lightning, an unaged clear whiskey.
The barrel room, big enough to store up to 3,000 barrels, will have brandies that will age two to 12 years in oak; the first will be released in 2018. Whiskey will be cask-aged a minimum four years, with the inaugural release in 2020.
The distillery also includes a hammer mill room, where they will grind the grains used to make the whiskey. Visitors will be able to tour the facility and learn how grapes are made into brandy and grains are mixed and blended to make the genesis of whiskey. Beres said it is all part of the wine country experience for his customers.
People come up here to relax and enjoy themselves. We want to immerse them into the high-quality experience, he said.
The distillery is the latest addition to Flying Leap, which Beres and his partners Marc Moeller and Thomas Kitchens launched in 2010 on a 60-acre vineyard in Willcox. They now have vineyards in Willcox and Elgin, where they operate their winery and run one of six tasting rooms, with other locations including Tucson and Tombstone. They plan to open a seventh tasting room this summer in Sedona.
Two years ago, Flying Leap acquired Arizona Rub, a barbecue company out of Phoenix that sells specialized rubs for beef, pork, chicken and fish at boutique shops statewide. They recently signed on with a major distributor to sell the rubs outside of Arizona.
And now spirits.
The distillery is one of those things where we saw an opportunity. Once we saw an opportunity we seized on it, said Beres, who noted that they already have planted 10 acres of Ugni Blanc grapes used to make brandy on their Willcox vineyards.
We are a winery, and grape growing and wine is a core business for us, Beres said. The distillery is an extension of our wine business. ... Were trying to bring a new segment of our business thats seamlessly melded with our core business.
Flying Leap will invest several million dollars into the distillery and adjoining 3,000-square-foot events center, which will include a catering kitchen, a large open space for corporate events or private parties, and a private brides room for weddings, he said.
The events center, like the distillery, is a work in progress, and Beres expects it could be early September before it is open. He already has started booking weddings for spring 2017 and holiday gatherings.
Were looking at doing everything from wine events to distillery events, Beres said, looking at the view of the Chiricahua Mountains and Canelo Hills off in the distance. Our best asset is our view.
Flying Leap is one of 16 craft distillers in Arizona operating under a Class 18 license, and one of only two distilleries born of a winery, according to state liquor license documents. It is one of two distilleries in Elgin; the Elgin Distillery is a few doors down at 473 Elgin Road.
The name, Deep Sky Vineyard, conjures up images of deep space exploration and distant galaxies, and that was kind of the point.
Owners Kim and Philip Asmundson view Arizona winemaking as a big exploration, a journey to discover what the land can produce when you actually get your hands dirty.
Arizona wine is all about exploration. Nobody really knows how good it can be, Kim Asmundson said in explaining how she and her husband settled on the name when they planted their Willcox vineyard in 2011. So we decided that it was all about exploration.
Deep Sky Vineyard, one of Arizonas newest vineyards, is among 18 participating in this weekends spring Willcox Wine Festival. The couple also took part in the fall festival, showcasing their first vintage from 2013.
The Asmundsons have been in the wine-making business since 2010, when they took a trip to Argentina to celebrate Philip Asmundsons 50th birthday.
Instead of coming home with a T-shirt, we came home with a vineyard, his wife said of their Asmundson Family Vineyard east of the Andes Mountains in Uco Valley, Argentina.
Their so-called condominium vineyards 7,500 vines on three acres is part of the much larger Vines of Mendoza project, which has 1,500 acres under vine that is owned by 130 people from all over the world. The owners oversee their vineyards and have access to renowned Argentinean winemakers.
The Connecticut couple, who moved to Marana in 2012, usually goes back to Argentina each January or February to oversee the blending of their grapes.
Asmundson said her husband, a retired telecommunications specialist with Deloitte, first proposed growing grapes in Willcox because the terroir is similar to Argentina. Their goal from the start was to grow the best grapes in Arizona, so without a drawn-out business plan, they planted 20 acres of Malbec and other Rhone varietals in 2011.
They sold most of the fruit from their first harvest in 2013, keeping back some to make Deep Sky Big Bang (Malbec), Gravity (a syrah-petit sirah blend) and Orbit (made with grenache and syrah fruit). In 2014, they kept back a little more of their harvest, producing a rose they dubbed Nebula. Their hold from the 2015 harvest was 26 tons, Kim Asmundson said.
After two decades of doing kitschy fun Japanese food in the desert, Sushi Hama closed its doors at 3971 N. Oracle Road sometime last month.
The large restaurant space tucked back into a shopping center near the Tucson Mall sits vacant. All the furniture has been stripped out, and a small piece of paper scribbled with the word "closed" has been taped to the door.
Since sushi chef Bo H. Kim opened the restaurant in the late '90s, Sushi Hama had introduced raw fish to countless Tucsonans and University of Arizona college students. The colorful restaurant was well known for its techno themed happy birthday song, dramatic towel tossing and all-you-can-eat sushi for $18.95.
Kim, who went by the nickname "Pancho," sold the restaurant about a decade ago to open up Mido Sushi in Chandler. Since then the restaurant has gone through a couple different owners including Ramon Rafael Tovar, who was unable to reach by phone.
Meanwhile ...
Just a block up the road in the Home Depot shopping center, a new sushi joint called IOU Sushi is slated to open in the next few months. The name sounds like it's a reference to "Dumb and Dumber," but it's actually a foreign word from the tiny island Pohnpei in the South Pacific. (In the Pohnpeian language, it's pronounced e-yo and means "delicious," according to IOU's website.)
IOU Sushi's owner Rocketchun Holden was raised in the South Pacific, but currently operates two of these sushi restaurants in Boise, Idaho. The restaurant is going in here at 4280 N. Oracle Road, Suite 180.
PHOENIX Voters on Tuesday appeared ready to amend the Arizona Constitution in a bid to cut future pension costs for government public safety employees.
Proposition 124 is part of a series of changes adopted earlier this year by lawmakers to restore financial stability to the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System. It provides pension benefits for police and firefighters.
Many of the changes in the law are prospective, affecting only people who will be hired in the future.
But proponents of the change say it's also necessary to curb future cost-of-living increases for existing employees and those already retired.
The problem is an existing constitutional provision which says pension benefits for public employees "shall not be diminished or impaired. Proposition 124 gives lawmakers limited permission to make alterations.
There is no dispute the pension system is broken. Its obligations exceed its assets by more than $6 billion.
In an effort to bridge the gap and put the fund on financial footing, lawmakers previously voted to require participating governments to pay additional amounts to eventually make up the difference. The results, according to some city officials, have been little short of devastating.
The Flagstaff Fire Department, for example, pays premiums equal to 70 percent of its workers' salaries. For Prescott, its police pension obligations are at 72 percent. And Bisbee is paying almost as much in premiums as the salary obligations.
Actuaries who worked on the plan said the state can't do anything to wipe out the existing debt. But they said new limits on pensions for employees will help limit future obligations.
In early results, the measure was ahead 70 percent to 30 percent.
In early returns, more than 578,000 voters backed Proposition 124, compared to nearly 248,00 who voted against the measure statewide.
It is a huge win for first responders, said Bryan Jeffries, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Arizona.
A motorcyclist was killed in a collision Wednesday morning on the north side, authorities said.
Police were called to the scene of the crash at around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at North First Avenue and East River Road.
When they arrived a doctor and nurse were providing aid to the motorcycle rider. Tucson Fire paramedics arrived and continued treatment and took the rider to Banner-University Medical Center, where he later died from his injuries.
Police identified the rider as Daniel Harrington, 54.
Investigators determined that Harrington was riding a yellow 1999 Harley-Davidson motorcycle southbound on First near River. The driver of a 2009 Toyota RAV4 was northbound and set to make a westbound turn onto River. The light for northbound and southbound traffic was green. The RAV4 was waiting to turn when the driver slowly moved the vehicle too far into the intersection where it collided with the oncoming motorcycle, throwing the rider, police said.
PHOENIX Planned Parenthood could soon find itself in another legal battle to keep its Medicaid funding.
Gov. Doug Ducey on Tuesday signed legislation that gives the director of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the states Medicaid program, new powers to decide that certain individuals or entities cannot participate in the system.
That includes being found liable for the neglect of a patient that results in death or injury or failing to complete mandatory reports of sexual assault or statutory rape.
But the measure most significantly allows AHCCCS at its sole discretion to disqualify any entity that did not fully segregate the tax dollars it is getting to ensure none of those went to providing elective abortions. And that even includes accounting for all overhead expenses like rent, lights and heat. The new law is the latest effort to defund Planned Parenthood. Both state and federal laws already bar use of public funds for abortions that are not publicly necessary.
But Arizona, as part of its participation in the federal Medicaid program, provides family planning services for needy women. The federal government pays 90 percent, with the state picking up the balance. Medicaid statutes and regulations also permit eligible women to choose from any qualified provider, which has included Planned Parenthood.
In 2012, however, legislators amended the law to say any organization that provides abortions cannot be a qualified provider. Rep. Justin Olson, R-Mesa, said any money the government gives Planned Parenthood to pay for other expenses frees up funds for abortions.
A federal appellate court rejected that argument, saying there is no evidence that Planned Parenthood medical staffers are not qualified.
Christina Corieri, the governors health policy adviser, said this measure is legally distinguishable in that it does not bar Planned Parenthood from providing family planning services solely because it also does abortions. More to the point, she said its justified.
It has been longstanding policy that taxpayer funds cannot be used for abortions, she said. Corieri said this simply ensures that policy and the legal restrictions around public dollars remains in place.
Corieri said theres another difference. The 2012 law permanently barred abortion providers from participating in AHCCCS. The new law simply allows the agency to suspend any organization that does not adequately segregate its expenditures, meaning theres an ability to once again become part of the Medicaid program.
Despite that, a new lawsuit remains a possibility.
This is another attempt to prevent low-income women from coming to Planned Parenthood for services, said Bryan Howard, president of Planned Parenthood Arizona.
Pima Community Colleges biggest celebration of the year takes place Thursday at Tucson Convention Center where thousands are expected to gather for the schools 2016 graduation ceremony.
This years event honors the achievements of nearly 3,900 students who are receiving associate degrees, employment-related certificates, or both.
PCCs youngest graduate, Cody Belksma, 17, will receive an auto mechanics certificate. The eldest, Roger Christner, 75, will receive a certificate in social service substance use disorder specialty, a college news release said.
Graduate Francy Luna Diaz, who is receiving an associate degree in liberal arts and an honors certificate, will give the commencement address.
A member of the PCC chapter of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, she plans to study political science and Latin American studies at a university yet to be determined.
For those unable to attend, the college is recording part of this years ceremony for playback on Cox digital Channel 121 and on Comcast Channel 97.
The footage will air each Tuesday and Saturday at 6 p.m. until the end of June.
Although there is no statewide ban on texting while driving, Pima County has joined the cities of Tucson, Phoenix and Flagstaff and Coconino County in trying to curb the growing practice.
With a unanimous vote Tuesday morning, the Pima County Board of Supervisors approved an ordinance that prohibits drivers from using a handheld electronic device for any purpose other than to initiate, receive, or engage in voice communication, meaning making and receiving calls is still allowed while driving.
Before the vote, the supervisors heard from a number of residents, most of whom spoke in support of the measure.
Standing by a mangled bike to drive home his point, Brendan Lyons, who along with his girlfriend was struck by a distracted driver in 2013 , recounted his ordeal and the serious injuries he suffered.
I hope this makes an impact on all of you, he told the supervisors. This isnt about politics. This is about public safety.
The measure exempts law enforcement and emergency responders, those driving school buses and drivers in areas closed to the public. It also allows for all uses of cellphones while vehicles are stopped.
Violation of the ordinance is a civil traffic violation, punishable by a $100 when the driver is not involved in an accident and $250 if the driver is involved in an accident. The measure is to take effect 30 days after Tuesday.
Unlike Tucsons ban, the county ordinance makes violations a primary offense, meaning law enforcement officers can pull over any motorist they suspect is using a cell phone illegally.
In Tucson, officers must see motorists committing a primary offense before they can pull a driver over, according to Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos.
In the two years after Tucsons ban went into effect in 2012, just 50 citations were issued, leading some to question to impact of the measure.
Nanos said he hopes the county will have very few citations. Though the ordinance will give his deputies more power to pull drivers over, he said they will use a sense of reason when enforcing the ordinance.
The goal isnt to write a ticket, he added. The goal is to get compliance.
Nevertheless, several community members raised concerns about possible overreach.
Tucson resident Ken Rineer said the ordinance was vague and could be used to cite drivers for just holding a cellphone. Similarly, Mark Spear said the ordinance could be used as a pretext for stops.
Supervisors Ray Carroll and Sharon Bronson asked for a review of the ordinance after six months to evaluate its effectiveness.
Oro Valleys Town Council has put consideration of a similar measure on hold pending further research on the issue.
Of the roughly 29,400 collisions on Arizona state highways in 2015, distracted driving contributed to 2,729 of them, according to the Department of Public Safety.
Interstate 10 near San Simon has been re-opened Tuesday afternoon after an hours-long closure because of blowing dust. It's the third time in three days the 60-mile stretch of interstate has been closed to traffic.
ADOT employees and Arizona state troopers are stationed near the field at milepost 376 that is the source of the dust. ADOT and other agencies are working with the landowner to deal with the blowing dust, including spraying 320 acres of the field with water last week.
Eastbound traffic will detour on U.S. Highway 191 to Safford and then take U.S. 70 back to I-10 at Lordsburg, New Mexico. Westbound traffic will follow that route in the opposite direction. The detour is about 110 miles long.
The same stretch of I-10 was closed Sunday from about 10:30 a.m. to about 6:50 p.m. It was also closed for several hours Monday afternoon.
For tips on what to do if caught in a dust storm, visit: pullasidestayalive.org/
For updates on the latest highway conditions, visit the ADOT Traveler Information Center at az511.gov or call 511.
PHOENIX Opening statements are scheduled Wednesday at the trial of a founder of the Minuteman border-watch movement on charges that he sexually abused two young girls.
Christopher Allen Simcox, 55, is charged with molesting a 5-year-old girl and engaging in sexual conduct with a 6-year-old girl during an 11-month period ending in May 2013.
He denies the allegations and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
He drew the ire of prosecutors and victim representatives when he insisted that he should be allowed to personally question the girls while they are on the witness stand.
Simcox isn't an attorney, but he is nonetheless representing himself in the case.
Prosecutors argue that letting Simcox question the girls would cause them emotional distress. They wanted to have an attorney pose the questions on Simcox's behalf.
In the end, though, Simcox abandoned his plan to question the girls.
He has been in jail since his June 2013 arrest. He was denied bail because he was suspected of sexually abusing children younger than 15 allegations that make him ineligible for bond in Arizona.
The Minuteman movement stepped into the spotlight in 2005 as illegal immigration heated up as a national political issue and Minuteman volunteers fanned out along the nation's southern border to watch for illegal crossings and report them to federal agents.
The movement splintered after Simcox and another co-founder parted ways and headed up separate groups.
Simcox, who once served as publisher of the Tombstone Tumbleweed newspaper, went on to briefly enter Arizona's 2010 U.S. Senate primary against incumbent John McCain but dropped out of the race. His name didn't appear on the ballot.
State environmental officials are seeking fines of up to $10,000 a day from a landowner whose denuded field near San Simon is blamed for dust storms that resulted in three multiple-vehicle accidents and forced eight closures of Interstate 10.
The interstate east of Tucson has been shut down for up to five hours on each of the past three windy afternoons.
We thought we were working with someone who was cooperating, said Caroline Oppleman, spokeswoman for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. We expected this to be treated urgently.
The Phoenix-based landowner, David R. Turner, signed a consent decree Monday in which he agreed to cease any tillage of his land, water it and apply a chemical stabilizer that will form a crust over soil that has been blowing across I-10 intermittently for the past six weeks.
Oppleman said in an email that Turner has been slow to comply with the terms of the consent order. Therefore, we are redeploying state resources to mitigate the dust issue and will be pursuing escalated enforcement including penalties of up to $10,000/day.
Turner has not responded to repeated Arizona Daily Star requests for comment over the past two weeks.
In the consent agreement, Turner agreed to apply a tackifier to the 320 acres of the dusty acreage that are closest to I-10. Oppleman said the substance, one brand of which is called Gorilla-Snot, can last for up to six months, in which time a cover crop can be grown.
Solutions will probably come too late to avoid further interstate closures.
Wind is possible in the area again Wednesday and over the weekend, said Mike Cantin, chief meteorologist at the Tucson office of the National Weather Service.
Cantin said the weather service has been consulting on a daily basis with the Arizona Department of Transportation and the Arizona Department of Public Safety the agencies that make decisions about closures.
Trooper Kameron Lee, spokesman for the DPS, said the weather service has been spot on with its wind predictions, allowing his department and state highway officials to station observers and shut down the highway before accidents occur.
Lee said the closures have been happening mostly between noon and 5 p.m. Motorists with flexible travel plans should watch for weather forecasts and wind advisories and avoid those times on windy days, he said.
Cantin said the weather service has set a lower threshold for dust advisories at the site where dust starts to fly at 15 mph lower than usual.
The site is just west of San Simon, where Turners company began clearing land in late fall or early winter, according to witnesses.
More than half of the 640-acre plot closest to Interstate 10 would be treated with chemical stabilizer, according to the consent decree. The other half would be watered until is planted with trees and regularly irrigated.
The stretch of I-10 just north of the site has been closed three times for accidents since April 7 and closed five times as a precaution. That forces motorists on a 110-mile detour through Safford.
On July 27, Rijiju said in the Lok Sabha that the BJPs ideology on the uniform civil code should be taken as the country's ideology on the same. Basil Islam | TwoCircles.net NEW DELHI Union Minister Kiren Rijijus recent remarks on implementing the uniform civil code have re-ignited the debate on the viability of a uniform civil code and its possible...
Help India!
By Twocircles.net Special Correspondent
New Delhi: A 33-page report released last week by Helsinki-based United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) has revealed that when it comes to renting houses in Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida, Muslims find it more difficult than others.
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The report, authored by Saugato Datta and Vikram Pathania published under the title For whom does the phone (not) ring? Discrimination in the rental housing market in Delhi, India is based on an audit experiment carried out using one of Indias largest real estate and rental websites. We find strong evidence of discrimination against Muslim applicants, both in terms of probability of being contacted and the number of contacts, relative to upper-caste Hindu (UC) applicants, in the rental housing market in Delhi and its largest suburbs, the report says.
The study was conducted in the summer of 2015 over a two-month period and the authors scanned the most recently posted rental listings for Delhi and its two largest contiguous suburbs on this website and identified a convenience sample of 171 listings posted directly by landlords (i.e., not ones posted by an agent from a rental or property agency).
According to the report, a Muslim applicant must respond to 45.5 listings to receive 10 landlord callbacks, while an upper-caste applicant must respond to only 28.6 listings to receive the same number. A similar pattern obtains in the case of the number of callbacks. A Muslim applicant would need to send about 21 expressions of interest to get 10 callbacks, whereas an UC candidate would only need to send just over 12. Both these results point to significant disadvantages faced by Muslim applicants relative to upper-caste Hindus, who must expend significantly more effort to find housing, the report added. It also revealed that landlords offering 1-BHK properties are particularly reluctant to respond to Muslim applicants. Since male applicants for one-bedroom properties are commonly perceived to be single, this suggests that single Muslim men may be finding it especially challenging to find suitable housing in Delhi and its suburbs.
The report also mentioned that Muslim applicants are especially disadvantaged when applying to rent one-bedroom houses. There is an additional 20% point-reduction in the probability of a callback, the report says.
The report, also adds that in contrast to Muslims, we find no clear evidence that landlords are less likely to respond to Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes. However, the report also mentioned that we find some suggestive evidence that landlords wait longer to call Muslim (and to a lesser extent Scheduled Caste) applicants back after receiving a query from them than they do to call back upper- caste Hindus.
The issue of housing discrimination has been highlighted in the past too. Earlier this year, Leilani Farha, the UN Rapporteur for Housing had also highlighted the issue of discrimination against Muslims, saying, studies on access to private rental accommodation in the NCR shows that discrimination against Muslims (as well as Dalits) is a barrier to housing access. Private landlords, real estate brokers, and property dealers will often refuse to rent to someone who is Muslim, or impose unfair conditions.
In 2013, Twocircles.net had also showed how Muslims were discriminated against when it comes to renting houses. 99 acres, a leading real estate portal, had listed properties which categorically announced that these properties were not for Muslims. The website 99acres.com had also posted several ads that specifically say only Muslims allowed which was equally discriminatory.
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One day King Arthur will return, so the prophecy says
The legend of King Arthur has endured for centuries and rightly so. The reason the legend has endured is because its actually true.Unlike the fables of Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the Abominable Snowman, the true story of King Arthur can be found written in the annuals of the Ancient Khumry manuscripts, better known as the ancient historical manuscripts of British history.
Rediscovered by the historical detectives Alan Wilson and Baram Blackett, there have actually been five King Arthur's throughout British history, of which the first two were the most famous.
King Arthur I, who lived from 355AD to 388AD fought the Romans, son of Magnus Maximus, who himself was son of Constantine the Great. The second King Arthur was born in 503AD and died in 579AD, famed for fighting the Saxons, son of King Maurice, who himself was the son of King Theoderic.
Separating fact from Fiction, no sword was ever pulled from a stone and Merlin wasn't a wizard, but instead King Arthur II's mentor and teacher. Both King's I and II were directly related to each other, both in a long line of Kings reaching back to the first King of Britain, King Brutus and further back to the Holy Family, descended from Anne, sister of Mary, mother of Jesus Christ himself.
Written in the Coelbren language of the ancient British, (Welsh to be exact,) Alan Wilson and Baram Blackett contend that ancient British history is the most well recorded and chronicled history in the world.It would appear that throughout history the tales and deeds of both King Arthurs, first recounted by historian Geoffrey of Monmouth, had been rolled into one.
Boycott Guy Ritchie's King Arthur films
A growing movement of historical enthusiasts are calling for the boycotting of Guy Ritchie's new King Arthur movie set for release in 2017, criticising it for being based on the romantic rubbish of 15th Century French writer Chretien de Troyes, and peddled on behalf of a German royal dynasty.A growing band of patriotic Brits are claiming the real British history has been covered up since 1066, by a succession of foreign royal dynasties.
Richard Branson 'vooms' to the rescue
Just as there were two versions of the Robin Hood movies released at the same time, the 'Boycott Guy Ritchie's King Arthur Movie's community' have turned to Richard Branson's 1 Billion 'Voom' initiative to finance a new movie to rival Guy Ritchie's. With a budget of two million, movie producers hope to convince Richard Branson to invest his money in three blockbuster movies which tell the real story and what really happened during the Dark Ages.
From King Arthur II's birth in Wales, to his epic battles against the Picts and Saxons, which unified Britain, to his Summer Games, to the catastrophic asteroid debris which hit Britain in 562AD, to his escape to America in 575AD with a fleet of 700 ships, to his tragic assassination by a Red Indian in 579AD, it's sure to be a fantastic trio of films which will rewrite history forever.
This week a new adventure awaits on "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown" when season 7 continues with an episode titled, "Montana," that takes place in the gold and silver state. Tony visits a mine, talks with famous writer, Jim Harrison, who has since died and goes on a pheasant hunting trip with TV host, podcaster and comedian Joe Rogan. Bourdain also sits down with local hunters and land owners to discuss the issues of private and public land in an age of new hunting laws.
Anthony's take on Montana
Bourdain says at the start of the show that some people must live in great spaces and where people must bend to the land.
He's with Jim Harrison, who explains that 100 or 200 years ago the land they're standing on wasn't much different. Harrison, a poet, says that time is a mystery that can tip us upside down. Bourdain says that the talking bobblehead politicians on television want us to think that America is devolving into a burning moronic inferno. They also want us to question the greatness of our nation. Bourdain insists that you should come to Montana and see for yourself that this just isn't the case. Tony goes on to say that Montana is full of the purple mountains of majesty and is the destination that dreamers spoke about when formulating the American experience. Tony calls Montana one of the most beautiful places on earth.
It's certainly an entirely different landscape than two weeks ago when Bourdain visited Chicago.
Private land and hunting laws
Tony asks the big questions about who owns the land in Montana and who gets to use it. Tony meets with Bill Galt, who owns 100,000 acres in Montana of prime hunting and fishing land. Some of the best trout fishing on the planet is on Galt's property.
The Stream Access Law Montana passed in 1985 is a topic of discussion as Bourdain sits down to lunch with Bill and a few of his friends. Basically, if you can access a stream on public land you are entitled to use that same stream as it winds through private land, but only if you stay within the ordinary high water mark of the stream.
Bill asks the question of where the line should be drawn for private property, but his friends support the spirit of the law and politely disagree with his notion that private property should be entirely private in the matter of a river or stream. Galt says the spirit of the law is thievery.
Bourdain explores the mining culture
For 70 years the mining in Montana was hard rock mining, which requires digging deep into the ground with explosives. However, Bourdain explains that by the 1950's the mining moved above ground. The open pit mining operations meant fewer jobs for locals and a more visible footprint in the community. One such operation, the Berkeley pit, was the biggest copper mine in the world by 1955 and it eventually consumed all of the small towns that encompassed it.
When it was eventually flooded in 1983 with 30 billion gallons of water, it turned into a caustic and dangerous pool of sulfuric acid as all of the mine tailings and mineral refuse contaminated the pit. Tony said it was a monument to the greed and exploitation of the earth and at the same time tragically beautiful.
Terex to sell crane business, pursue talks with Chinese company Updated: 2016-05-18 02:03 (Agencies)
Terex Corp has agreed to sell its crane business to Finland's Konecranes for 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion), in a move that cancels a planned full merger and allows the US firm to pursue talks with a Chinese suitor.
The Westport, Connecticut-based Terex and Konecranes agreed to an all-share merger in August. But the deal was challenged in January when Terex received a non-binding cash bid from China's Zoomlion Heavy Industries Science and Technology Co which later increased its offer to $3.4 billion.
"The agreement provides Terex with the ability to continue to pursue discussions with Zoomlion," Terex said in a statement on Monday.
Terex has the right to terminate the deal before the end of the month for a fee of $37 million, if the US company and Zoomlion agree on a sale of Terex as a whole.
Zoomlion declined to comment on the deal or its talks with Terex, Reuters reported.
Road to business success passes through mainland Updated: 2016-05-18 08:04 By WANG XU and HU MEIDONG(China Daily)
A drone attracts young people at an innovation base created for startups from Taiwan in Xiamen, Fujian province, in April. CHEN LIJIE/CHINA DAILY
The irony is not lost on Yeh Chih-yu. Quitting his university mass communication course opened up an exciting, though unconventional route, into communication.
Bored by his course work, Yeh, 34, threw fate to the wind and started from scratch as a floor sweeper for a TV production team. A decade later, he had become a major television director in Taipei. But the urge to try something new was not sated. He yearned for the challenge of an even bigger market than the island. More important, he wanted people on the Chinese mainland to experience what he describes as southern dominated humor.
"Humorous works on the Chinese mainland are dominated by the northern style right nowlike crosstalk in Tianjin, and comic skits and errenzhuan, a song-and-dance duet performance popular in Northeast China. So I am trying to let more people know and appreciate the southern style of humor, especially humorous works from Fujian or Taiwan."
With an entrepreneurial wave sweeping the Chinese mainland, an increasing number of people from Taiwan are crossing the Straits to surf new opportunities for startups and ride the tide of mass innovation that a larger market provides.
In addition to high-technology entrepreneurs, some, like Yeh, are bringing a heightened sense of culture, rooted in a shared background and understanding of Chinese tradition, social customs and values.
Yeh's focus on humor is no joke. He believes a shared humor and outlook on life will enable him to make a splash in the commercial world of the Chinese mainland.
"People in southern Fujian and Taiwan speak the same dialect and share a common sense of humor. And I think there are certain advantages in southern humor," he said. "There are numerous puns and plays on words. They pay more attention to details and are better at using irony. Due to our common knowledge of Chinese history and similar life experiences, southern humor could be very attractive to people all over China."
Nearly two years after Premier Li Keqiang introduced the idea of mass innovation and entrepreneurship, there are a growing number of people unleashing their creativity, not only on the Chinese mainland, but also from the other side of the Straits.
According to the government, 4.44 million companies were set up on the Chinese mainland in 2015. By the end of 2015, there were more than 2,500 incubators for high-tech businesses and more than 4,000 innovation bases on the Chinese mainland.
In the coastal city of Xiamen, Fujian province, for example, there are three incubators especially created for startups from Taiwan that have been authorized by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.
One of them is First Maker, where Yeh's company is based with 100 other startups. Fifty percent of them, and the more than 100 people they accommodate, come from Taiwan.
Yeh, who directed the Chinese version of Duets and China's Got Talent, said the entrepreneurial wave is proving ever more popular.
"The mainland has a much bigger market compared with Taiwan, and the government here provides more favorable policies for new businesses, especially in their starting period. I think more people from Taiwan will come to the Chinese mainland to realize their entrepreneurial dreams," he said.
But his optimism does have a cautionary edge.
"I am afraid that the good basis for peaceful development may be destroyed after Tsai Ing-wen takes office this month. I hope the cross-Straits relationship maintains the status quo."
Also in the communication sector, but a different branch, is Cheng Sheng-lun.
A guide to Beijing museums on Int'l Museum Day Updated: 2016-05-17 14:39 (chinadaily.com.cn)
International Museum Day falls on tomorrow. Have you planned a museum visit yet? With the theme of "Museums and Cultural Landscapes", there will be a series of activities to celebrate the day.
According to the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage, 97 museums will open to the public for free on that day, and 91 theme activities will be held in Beijing. Here are some recommendations selected from those.
A painting, among the 36 most precious treasures of the museum, is on display at a press conference for the upcoming Int'l Museum Day. [Photo/cri.cn]
The Capital Museum
May 18
Admission: Free
The museum will put forward a "Museum Night" event in collaboration with Beijing Volunteer Federation. Tomorrow night the museum will keep all its exhibition halls open and invite over 1,000 volunteers from all walks of life to experience the night tour in the museum. Besides, the museum will also have interactive activities including oracle bookmark making, and writing on bamboo slips.
As May 18 also marks the 10th anniversary of its new museum building, it plans events to reward its followers on Weibo, and will send books to its readers who share their memories of the museum online.
High-level visit to HK to 'observe, listen and speak' Updated: 2016-05-18 07:04 (China Daily)
A view of Hong Kong's Central business district. Edmond Tang / China Daily
As China's top legislator pointed out soon after his plane landed in Hong Kong on Tuesday, one of the purposes of his visit was to bring people in the special administrative region the best wishes of the central government.
He conveyed the "warm regards" of President Xi Jinping to people of Hong Kong and said he brought "the care of the central government and all Chinese people".
From the guarantee of stable food supplies to Hong Kong in the 1950s and the pumping of fresh water from East River to ease Hong Kong's water shortage since the 1960s, to the introduction of the Individual Visitor Scheme in 2003 to invigorate Hong Kong's faltering economy following the SARS epidemic, the central government has continually demonstrated its care and concern for the people of Hong Kong.
Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, is the highest-ranking official to visit the special administrative region since 2012, when former president Hu Jintao came to preside over ceremonies marking the 15th anniversary of the return of Hong Kong to the motherland.
Zhang is on a three-day inspection tour of Hong Kong, and said he had come to "observe, listen and speak".
He will certainly seek to observe first-hand the current situation in the special administrative regionhis trip is an inspection tour after all.
And, among other occasions, he will speak at a Belt and Road Summit on Wednesday, outlining a clear picture of the initiative and the role Hong Kong can play in it.
The special administrative region has immense experience in foreign trade and is equipped with financial services expertise that will certainly enable it to fully contribute to the initiative, thereby finding the way forward for its currently troubled economy.
But listening is equally important on Zhang's agenda, and he is putting an emphasis on listening to the recommendations and requirements Hong Kong residents have about implementing the cardinal principle of "One Country, Two Systems".
He said he intends "to listen to all sectors of society", and he will speak with lawmakers, including some from the "pro-democracy" camp, political, business and community leaders in Hong Kong.
Whoever speaks with him should take full advantage of this opportunity to present to the NPC chairman their aspirations for the development of the SAR. For one cannot listen if nobody speaks.
Innovators, investors connect Updated: 2016-05-18 11:16 By May Zhou in Houston(China Daily USA)
From left: Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Chinese Consul General Li Qiangmin and US China Innovation Alliance chairman Bernard Harris attend the first US China Innovation and Investment Summit in Houston on Tuesday. May Zhou / China Daily
The leader of a Houston innovation group wants to build a high-level platform of communication and collaboration between the US and China.
Bernard Harris, chairman of the US China Innovation Alliance (UCIA), said on Tuesday that he also wants to help venture capitalists, accelerators and incubators from both countries to work together through the US China Innovation and Investment Summit.
"Most of us involved in innovation and technology know that the East Coast and West Coast in the US are well recognized," Harris said.
"This conference highlights what I call the third coast: the Gulf Coast. There are a lot of innovations in medicine, IT and aerospace. Houston is ripe for investors to come to take a look," he said.
Chinese investors got a close look at various US projects at the first USCIIS in Houston on Monday and Tuesday. About 400 people, including 150 from China, attended the event.
The summit, hosted by UCIA, the China Science and Technology Exchange Center and International Technology Transfer Network, was supported by more than 30 organizations, including the Houston Technology Center and Texas Medical Center.
Harris said that the UCIA intends to make the summit an annual event. It also plans in the next year to do road shows in China highlighting US companies and to host an international business plan competition.
Jin Xiaoming, director general at China's Ministry of Science and Technology, told the conference that the Chinese government has put innovation at the core of the country's development. The government is promoting innovation with policy as well as funding.
"In 2015, the Chinese R&D fund accounts for 2.1 percent of GDP. China ranks No 2 after the US in the world on R&D spending," Jin said.
Chinese Consul General Li Qiangmin said this summit rightly answers the needs of both Chinese and US enterprises.
"Trade and investment between China and the US have grown rapidly in recent years, and a high level and reliable innovation and investment matchmaking platform was much needed," Li said.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner encouraged the Chinese investors to invest more in the city.
"We are always looking for partners. The relationship between Houston and China has been a very good one, but there is a lot of room for additional growth," said Turner.
According to Julie Dai, one of the conference organizers, the summit pre-matched 100 US projects to Chinese companies and investors. During the conference, about 50 US innovative projects were presented to the Chinese delegates during tours to Texas Medical Center and Houston Technology Center as well as during B2B sessions.
Experts from both China and US discussed newest technologies in healthcare, energy and telecommunications, and shared their challenges and successes in cross-border innovation and investment.
Freya Preimesberger in Houston contributed to this story.
mayzhou@chinadailyusa.com
Duterte 'willing to improve ties' with Beijing Updated: 2016-05-18 03:41 By Mo Jingxi(China Daily)
Outsiders urged to remain neutral, objective
President-elect Rodrigo Duterte speaks during a news conference in his hometown Davao City in southern Philippines, May 16, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]
Philippines president-elect Rodrigo Duterte has told China's ambassador to Manila that he is willing to improve ties with Beijing, as Chinese diplomats urged nations outside the region to be hands-off and respect the efforts of the countries involved to resolve the issue.
Duterte, who will be sworn in on June 30, met on Monday in Davao City with Zhao Jianhua, the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines. The meeting followed Duterte's remark on Sunday that he is willing to have bilateral talks with China over the disputes in the South China Sea.
Zhao told reporters after the meeting that Duterte has expressed his willingness to improve and develop relations between China and the Philippines, and to strengthen bilateral cooperation to benefit the people of both countries.
Zhao, who was among the first ambassadors to meet with Duterte, said China and the Philippines are good neighbors and that China is looking forward to working with the new government to further enhance ties between the two countries.
Sino-Philippines relations worsened in 2013 after the Philippines unilaterally initiated a case against China in the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague over their disputes in the South China Sea.
Duterte said on Sunday that he wanted to cultivate friendly relations with China, and he confirmed that he was open to direct talks over the disputes in the South China Sea.
"If the ship of negotiations is in still waters and there is no wind to push the sail, I might just decide to talk bilaterally with China," he said.
Jia Duqiang, a Southeast Asian studies researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said, "The good signs indicate that the new leadership of the Philippines may change its dispute-solving mentality and stance over the South China Sea."
Slowdown hasn't hit Bay Area Updated: 2016-05-18 08:59 By Lia Zhu in San Francisco(China Daily USA)
The San Francisco Bay Area continues to maintain its strength since the 2008 recession thanks to its economic diversity, including a heated real estate market. Any impact from China's economic slowdown has not yet appeared, said an industry expert.
"We talk about that (China's slowdown) a lot. We talk about what the motivations of the Chinese are to take money out of the country, and I doubt any of those have changed significantly," Michael Covarrubias, chairman of the Bay Area Council, told China Daily during the organization's annual outlook conference on Tuesday in San Francisco.
"We are not seeing a slowdown. So far, I don't think we've seen it," he said.
California, particularly the Bay Area, has been a major destination of Chinese investment. By the end of 2015, Chinese-funded projects under construction or planned totaled at least $15 billion, ranging from multi-billion-dollar mixed-use projects in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area to smaller-scale developments in secondary markets, according to a recent report by the Asia Society and Rosen Consulting Group.
Covarrubias said he was not surprised at the figures.
"They (Chinese investors) are pretty active. I would say it's a pretty good trend," said Covarrubias, chairman and CEO of TMG Partners, one of the Bay Area's largest mixed-use property developers, which sold the two-tower First & Mission development site for $296 million to China-based Oceanwide Holdings early last year.
The newest investment came in late February this year from Landsea Holdings, the US subsidiary of one of China's largest homebuilders. It paid $186 million for a 24-acre Sunnyvale site entitled for 450 townhomes.
"Bay Area is one of a kind; there's no other place like it on the planet," he said. "The Bay Area is where the university system is. It's the home of technology; it's the China connection to San Francisco."
To facilitate bilateral trade and investment activity between China and Bay Area, the Bay Area Council, a business-sponsored, public policy advocacy organization for the nine-county region, has set up offices in Shanghai and Hangzhou.
"We made a great effort to be over there" to assist businesses in the Bay Area expand into the Chinese market as well as help Chinese investors and businesses engage in the Bay Area economy, Covarrubias said.
According to the latest report by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, the Bay Area is the 21st largest economy in the world with 2014 nominal GDP registered at $577 billion, equivalent to a midsized European nation.
"Bay Area GDP growth has outpaced that of the US in every quarter since 2010, with a compounded annual growth rate of 3.1 percent, more than double that of a group of peer regions that includes New York, Los Angeles, Austin, Boston, Seattle and San Diego," says the report.
liazhu@chinadailyusa.com
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Goods are unloaded at the Hai Phong Port. Viet Nam could reach upper-middle income status (US$22,000 purchasing power parity per capita) by 2035. VNA/VNS Photo Lam Khanh
Viet Nam News -HCM CITY Viet Nam could reach upper-middle income status (US$22,000 purchasing power parity per capita) by 2035 by growing with sustainability, equity and social inclusion, and being a capable and accountable State, a World Bank official has said.
Victoria Kwakwa, deputy president for WBs East Asia and Pacific Region, cited the key opportunities outlined in the WBs Viet Nam 2035 Report, which include trade agreements like the AEC, TPP and EV-FTA.
Within 10 years, China is expected to have a billion-strong middle class, while facing rapidly rising wages.
The country will see a flight of lower-end manufacturing go to other countries, Kwakwa told participants at a seminar on Viet Nams economic prospects, held by consulting firm Deloitte Viet Nam in HCM City yesterday.
Perhaps the biggest opportunity lies in completing the unfinished economic modernisation agenda, led by the private sector and with a focus on boosting productivity, she said.
She noted, however, that declining productivity growth might be the biggest challenge to 2035 income aspirations.
The growth rate fluctuated from the peak of almost 7 per cent in 1995 to around 3.5 per cent in 2013.
Weakening growth has been caused by public investment decisions that were inefficient due to fragmented state institutions and uncoordinated decision making, and by State-owned enterprises making unproductive use of scarce resources.
Meanwhile, the domestic private sector has become unproductive, with the commercialisation of State institutions being a key contributing factor.
An immediate priority should be given to boosting productivity of the domestic private sector by strengthening micro institutions of the market economy and competition policy and its enforcement.
A commercial approach to State ownership should also be adopted, she said.
Equitisation should be accelerated, and the playing field for the private sector leveled. Consolidation of corporate governance is also needed, she said.
Regarding the business environment, Bui Quang Vinh, former minister of planning and investment, said there was still not a small gap between the Governments instructions on reform procedures and the implementation by lower levels, such as in the field of customs.
He said recent regulations still enabled sub-licensing, which hinders creativity, negatively affects businesses and weakens competitiveness.
He also noted that access to capital sources, and land and mineral resources, by the private sector has not conformed to the market economy, causing difficulties to decent private businesses.
The fact that people having been putting their money in banking deposits indicates that the business start-up environment is not favourable, he said.
Vinh called on FDI businesses to implement their promises in various fields, including technology transfer, human resource development and research and development activities. VNS
Worker at the Hoa Sen-Phu My factory in the province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau. Photo hoasengroup.vn
Viet Nam News -HCM CITY Domestic private companies should get equitable treatment, especially in the context of the countrys increasing international integration, a seminar heard in HCM City on Monday.
Speaking at the Integration and globalisation seminar organised by the Viet Nam Youth Business Association, Le Phuoc Vu, chairman of Hoa Sen Group, said Domestic and foreign firms should be considered as the two legs of the Vietnamese economy, but we see foreign businesses develop strongly and local ones decline.
The Government has not been transparent or fair [in its treatment of] various economic sectors, and this is considered one of the main reasons for domestic companies limited development.
Poor management skills, lack of experience in production and limited funding are the other factors that have restricted the development of local companies, who account for only 30 per cent of total export turnover with foreign firms accounting for the rest.
Delegates at the conference urged policy makers to pay more attention to the private sector, resolve its problems and create favourable conditions for it to integrate with the global economy.
Since most domestic companies are small or medium-sized, they always face disadvantages, especially when trying to borrow, they said.
Besides seeking support from the Government, private enterprises must address three problems: poor human resources, management and awareness, Nam Phuong, deputy chairwoman of the a Nang Youth Business Association, was quoted as saying by Thoi bao Kinh te Viet Nam (Viet Nam Economic Times) newspaper.
The Government is trying to create a level playing field for all sectors by creating a transparent, fair and open business environment, she said.
Therefore, the private business community should improve its awareness to catch up with the changes.
To increase awareness, their managers should be educated, she said.
Awareness of Government workers must also be improved because they will be one of the most important factors in operating policies.
The seminar sought to discuss how private enterprises can exploit free trade agreements, one of themes that will be discussed at the upcoming Viet Nam Private Sector Forum (VPSF).
According to the VPSF, the Vietnamese economy will face three major issues related to its global integration before 2018: ending of WTO transition period, the Trans-pacific Partnership, and the European Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement.
By 2018 the competitive pressures will increase significantly and only foreign-invested companies can take advantage of the integration because they have better competitive ability than domestic ones, ao Huy Giam, the VPSFs chief consultant, said. VNS
LONDON Vietnamese Ambassador to Norway Le Thi Tuyet Mai urged Norwegian businesses to enhance investments in Viet Nam at a conference held by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries and the Vietnamese Embassy in Norway in Oslo, on Monday.
The Vietnamese Government is working to improve the business climate to attract foreign investment, intensify trade liberalisation and is aiming to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals, the ambassador said.
She noted that along with Viet Nams socio-economic development in recent years, the countrys plans for development between 2016 and 2020 would bring opportunities for the two nations to strengthen their co-operation.
Norwegian enterprises can expand their operations in Viet Nam, especially in fields like the maritime sector, renewable energy, environmental protection and science-technology, Mai said.
She affirmed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant agencies would work with Norwegian organisations to boost co-operation between the two countries while facilitating Norwegian investments in Viet Nam.
State Secretary of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tone Skogen expressed her desire to enhance the Norway Viet Nam relationship, saying that the two countries have potential for further bilateral and multilateral collaboration.
The Norwegian Government will continue to create favourable conditions for its enterprises to increase operations in Viet Nam, she said.
Since diplomatic ties were established in November 1971, Viet Nam and Norway have seen their relations actively progress across politics, economics, culture and society. The conference was held as part of activities celebrating the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations.- VNS
HCM CITY The logistics industry in Viet Nam, which is expected to develop strongly in coming years, needs a new legal framework that would address future growth and its participation in a more competitive international environment, an official of the Viet Nam Institute of Logistics said at a seminar held in HCM City yesterday.
Bui Quoc Nghia, director of the institute, said that Viet Nam had become a global manufacturing and processing hub by signing more free trade agreements (FTAs) in recent years.
Last year, the volume of exports going through the countrys seaports reached an estimated 427 million tonnes. The volume is expected to hit 470 million tonnes this year and about 560 million by 2020.
Speaking at the seminar, Vo Tan Thanh, director of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in HCM City, said that FTAs would lead to an increase in both imports and exports, furthering the need for professional logistics services.
Enterprises from mainland China, Taiwan, Japan and the US in recent months have visited Viet Nam to seek investment opportunities in a bid to take advantages of FTAs, he said.
Local enterprises are also implementing restructuring to improve competiveness both in domestic and foreign markets, increasing demand for logistics services, according to Nghia.
In recent years, the logistics sector has been growing at a rate of more than 20 per cent per year.
Foreign players, however, dominate the market, particularly the international transportation segment, with 80 foreign logistics firms accounting for more than 70-80 per cent of market share, Nghia said.
The country has nearly 2,000 domestic companies involved in the logistics sector, yet most of them are small- and medium-sized and lag behind their foreign counterparts in resources, human resources, management and IT use.
The domestics companies account for a modest ratio of total market share, he said.
According to experts, most Vietnamese enterprises usually sign import contracts under the Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF) form, and export contracts under Free on Board (FOB). As such, the majority of these goods are transported through foreign shipping companies.
Nghia said the logistics industry still has underdeveloped infrastructure and a shortage of qualified human resources, as well as high costs.
In recent years, the Government has invested more in infrastructure to improve freight transport, the seaport network and logistics services.
However, the poor connection between infrastructure and commodity centres has led to high logistics costs in Viet Nam compared to other countries like Thailand and China, he said.
The legal and institutional framework for logistics is also complex and in need of closer coordination between agencies.
He said the Government should devise a national strategy for development of the logistics industry.
Delegates at the seminar agreed that the Government should create a legal framework that would help to standardise services, upgrade infrastructure and improve the quality of human resources.
Domestic logistics enterprises should also work together to better compete with foreign players.
Thanh, the director of VCCI in HCM City, said that Vietnamese logistics firms must improve their competitiveness to expand their market share, particularly in an era of international integration. VNS
CULTURE VULTURE
A play titled Vit Troi Trung oc (Poisoned Wild Duck) was performed at the Opera House in the northern city of Hai Phong last night.
The play is based on Norwegian Henrik Ibsens The Wild Duck from 1884 and is a combination of actors and marionettes.
It is the first collaborative stage work by the Japanese Edo Marionette Theatre Youkiza and the Viet Nam Youth Theatre under a project funded by the Japan Foundation that aims at fostering human resources and providing technical co-operation in the field of culture and arts.
Culture Vulture interviewed Peoples Artist Le Khanh, deputy director of the Viet Nam Youth Theatre, on her role in Poisoned Wild Duck and how she and her colleagues benefited from the project.
You and Vietnamese actor Thanh Binh act with marionettes in the Poisoned Wild Duck. What difficulty did you face while enacting one of main roles in the play?
Actually, I had performed in the play The Ugly Duckling with the Viet Nam National Puppetry Theatre in 2005 on the occasion of the 200th birthday of Danish author Hans Andersen. But that play, which was small and simple, illustrated a story and did not convey major message.
In Poisoned Wild Duck, Im the only actress to perform, while actor Thanh Binh plays the wild duck. All other roles are performed by marionettes. The Vietnamese actors speak Vietnamese and the Japanese speak their language during the play which has subtitles.
But I had to learn by heart not only my words but also all the words spoken by all other characters in accompany with her co-performers. I was really stressed while trying to understand the meanings of the words. Ibsens The Wild Duck was translated into Japanese and it has many archaic words. Vietnamese translator o Quyen worked very hard to help Vietnamese actors understand the meaning.
Director Sakate Yoji is very demanding. He also wrote the plays script. He always requires actors to try their best to show their complete understanding of the play. I sometimes cry at night because it is so difficult.
How did you overcome the difficulty to play your role so well when the play debuted in Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre?
After long rehearsals I wandered on the streets in Japan until late night. I know I could not give up because it was a rare chance for me. I told myself I had to try my best and finally I overcame the struggle.
After the premiere in Tokyo, my Japanese teachers and friends held my hand tightly. Some people asked me how I could perform so well in harmony with the marionettes. I replied I didnt see them as marionettes. I told them I was also like a big marionette beside the smaller ones. I want to prove to spectators there is no barrier among art forms.
I want to mention the working team that staged this successful play, including prominent artists such as director Sakate, artist and director of Edo Marionette Theatre Youkiza Yuki Magosaburo, marionette maker Terakado Takayuki and musician Ota Keisuke. Violinist Ota is talented in improvisation. For each show he plays very lively music
Could you tell us about the co-operation between Vietnamese and Japanese theatres?
It began with a field trip to Japan of a group of Youth Theatre artists. We had a chance to visit and understand Japanese theatre in detail, not only from the seats but from also from the back.
During the four-month field trip in 2014, which was made by invitation, I visited many theatres in Japan and I proposed a tie-up to them
I was glad the Edo Marionette Theatre Youkiza agreed to co-operate with the Youth Theatre. I was charmed with the performances of the actors and the marionettes at the Edo Theatre and I expressed my desire to learn from the theatres artists who combined tradition and modernity in complete harmony.
Five members of the Youth Theatre, which comprises actors, sound, light technicians and stage designers, came to the Edo Theatre for learn how to produce a complete stage work in two months. We decided to choose The Wild Duck because it is not in Vietnamese or Japanese. We needed to create a stage performance based on a classic story that would never be out of date.
The play is a combination of orient and western cultures. I hope the play can be performed in many places in the world.
Puppetry has a long history and tradition in Viet Nam with different forms such as water puppets and string puppets. But the Vietnamese see it as being for children only. This co-operation proves there is endless creativity among different art forms.
The director of Edo Marionette Theatre Youkiza, artist Yuki Magosaburo, said there should have many performances of the Poisoned Wild Duck, instead of just the handful of shows in Japan and Viet Nam. What do you think?
We have six performances at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre. All the tickets have been sold and no ticket was given free. All the actors helped to sell the tickets by sending invitations on social networks to their friends. I myself contacted the Vietnamese embassy in Japan calling for the Vietnamese community to come to see the play.
It was after the performances in Ha Noi and Hai Phong that we considered selling tickets. -- VNS
HA NOI - The first volume of War Memoirs by late French President Charles de Gaulle was recently published in Vietnamese.
French and Vietnamese experts have gathered at the French cultural centre LEspace to discuss the book, which quickly became a classic of modern French literature after its publication.
The book, entitled War Memoirs: The Call to Honour, is the first of three volumes of de Gaulles War Memoirs, which were published in France in 1954.
In the first volume, the author, who resigned as Frances leader in 1969, talked about the militarys fight to Free France during World War II from 1940 to 1942.
The book recounts the confusion and despair triggered by Hitlers blitzkrieg takeover of France.
This first-person narrative reveals the magnitude of the task that the then General de Gaulle undertook as he launched his famous appeal of June 18, 1940, exhorting the French people to fight against Nazi Germany and the collaborationist Vichy regime.
Unlike many other leaders with memoirs, de Gaulle wrote the book himself. Through this book, readers can begin to understand the most important period of his life, including the difficulties, loneliness and despair he faced while in exile in London, as well as the long-lasting influence of his political visions on the French political scene.
The literary work was nominated for a Nobel Prize in 1963 for its refined and beautiful writing style.
In French history, only two presidents were true writers: Francois Mitterand and de Gaulle, said French historian Pierre Journoud, professor of contemporary history at the Paul-Valery Montpellier University.
Nguyen Van Khanh, history professor and rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, said he admired de Gaulle because he was a hero who helped liberate France from German Nazi invaders while living a very simple life.
Experts at the conference said de Gaulle had many similarities with Viet Nams President Ho Chi Minh.
They had many good virtues in common. They dedicated their lives to the independence of their countries, said Journoud. They were both talented politicians, great writers. They were both keen on preserving their dignity under all circumstances.
The life of de Gaulle is not only closely related to French history of the 20th century, but also incarnated the independent foreign policy of the Fifth Republic. His opposition to the military actions of the American army in Viet Nam less than 10 years after the ien Bien Phu battle proved his progressive vision towards international relations.
Experts said that through his activities he played an important part in developing the strong and durable bilateral relations between France and Viet Nam.
De Gaulles War Memoir, published in three separate volumes covering three distinct periods, encompasses his personal writings from the fall of France in 1940 to the aftermath of the war in 1946.
The Vietnamese version of the first volume, published by Alpha Books, is available in the countrys major libraries. VNS
HA NOI After 30 years of working abroad, Nguyen Ai Quoc (the pseudonym of President Ho Chi Minh) returned to Viet Nam in January 1941. He led the revolutionary movement from the front and gained independence for the Vietnamese people.
Upon returning to the Viet Nam-China border, he knelt down to kiss the beloved land of his country.
Every Vietnamese knows this story. The presidents rattan suitcase that he carried on the trip and a painting by Trinh Phong portraying the leader kissing the land still moves visitors to this day.
We can feel Uncle Hos patriotism and his great personality, Vu Manh Ha, director of the National Museum of History, said.
Many items relating to Ho Chi Minh are on display at an exhibition titled, Viet Minh Front National Solidarity, which opened yesterday at the museum.
The exhibition follows two themes: Nguyen Ai Quoc and the establishment of the Viet Nam League for Independence or the Viet Minh Front, a movement for national liberation.
The exhibition showcases nearly 200 objects, photos and documents that have been selected from the permanent collection of the National Museum of History and the Military History Museum.
The documents on display are precious, original versions, including regulations of the Viet Nam National Salvation Association of Women, Workers and Youth, the Viet Nams Independence Newspaper founded by Nguyen Ai Quoc in 1941, and reports of the Viet Minh Front. In particular, there are handwritten documents by Nguyen Ai Quoc, such as the Lich Su Viet Nam (History of Viet Nam) pocketbook used for training classes in Cao Bang Province.
Written in the popular six-eight-word metre, he summarised the 4,000-year long history of Viet Nam, making it easy to understand and remember, Ha said.
In the future, we will give copies of the book to students who visit the museum. They can then understand the national history in a simple way.
Weapons and flags used by Viet Minh soldiers and photos depicting how the Viet Minh Front united people along the country are also on display.
We expect the exhibition will provide domestic and foreign visitors a better understanding of the mission and the contribution of the Viet Minh Front to national solidarity during wartime, as well as the value of national solidarity in the construction, development and sovereign protection of the country, relevant even today, Ha said.
The Viet Minh Front was formed at the eighth conference of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Indochina, which was held in 1941 at the Pac Bo base in the northern province of Cao Bang.
For 10 years, from 1941 to 1951, the Viet Minh Front united people from all walks of life in the fight against the French colonists and Japanese fascists.
This culminated in the success of the August Revolution in 1945, the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam and the start of the resistance war against the French colonists to gain national independence.
The exhibition of the Viet Minh Front Movement for National Liberation (1941-51) coincides with the 75th anniversary of the Viet Minh Fronts establishment.
It will continue until August at the National Museum of History on 25 Tong an Street in Ha Noi. - VNS
Captions:
To fight: A sword used by a soldier in the northern province of Ninh Binh during a battle against Japanese fascists in 1945.
To plan: A calendar containing images of the Viet Minh Fronts revolutionary activities in 1947.
To share: A newspaper entitled Thong Nhat (Unification) from the northern province of Thanh Hoa printed in 1950.
TOKYO Japan has sidestepped a recession with modest first-quarter growth, preliminary data showed yesterday, but the reading underscored how Tokyos drive for a firm recovery in the worlds number three economy is not gaining traction.
The countrys gross domestic product expanded by 0.4 per cent between January and March or 1.7 per cent at an annualised rate after a contraction in the last three months of 2015.
A consumer spending rebound helped drive the better-than-expected figures, but the leap year added another day of production and spending to the economys performance.
The fresh data will do little to buoy hopes for Prime Minister Shinzo Abes faltering growth blitz.
His bid to revive Japans once-soaring economy, dubbed Abenomics, was shaken by a bloodbath on equity markets at the start of the year and a resurgent yen which has taken a bite out of Japan Incs profits.
The latest GDP figures will throw a renewed focus on plans to raise Japans consumption tax again.
Local media have suggested Abe will delay hiking the levy over concerns it could damage the already fragile economy.
A tax rise in 2014 seen as key to helping pay down Japans enormous national debt was blamed for ushering in a brief recession.
This week, the government approved a 778 billion yen (US$7.1 billion) extra budget in response to Aprils deadly earthquakes, which prompted factory shutdowns in southern Japan.
"But even if the government delays the tax hike, it still needs to set a course for getting public finances on a sound footing, which is not an easy job," said Yoko Takeda, chief economist at Mitsubishi Research Institute.
"The economy is in a tough situation with the strong yen hurting corporate earnings, stalled wages and a lack of confidence among consumers. There are going to be some tough times ahead."
Wednesdays figures came days before Japan hosts a meeting of the Group of Seven finance chiefs and a summit of their leaders next week.
The finance group including US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi converge at a hot spring town north of Tokyo where two days of meetings kick off on Friday.
Fading confidence
Topping the agenda will be how the group of rich nations can help kickstart global growth, as host Japan struggles to light a fire under its own economy.
Abes growth plan big government spending, central bank monetary easing and reforms to the highly regulated economy appeared to bear fruit at first, after he was ushered into power in late 2012 elections.
The yen weakened sharply, which boosted Japanese exporters profits and sparked a huge stock market rally.
But sustained growth has been elusive and Abes efforts to overhaul the economy have been widely criticised as half-hearted.
Key to the plan is a massive monetary easing campaign from the Bank of Japan aimed at dragging Japan out of years of deflation a spiral of falling prices that held back growth.
In January, the central bank shocked markets with a negative rate policy, which was designed to boost lending to people and businesses, but the move was widely criticised as a desperate bid to prop up Tokyos faltering economic plan. AFP
PANAMA CITY Panama on Tuesday officially signed on to comply with OECD standards on exchanging tax information, a move that comes more than a month after the Panama Papers data leak.
OECD officials say they have long tried to get Panama to agree to their common reporting standards on exchanging tax information, to no avail.
However Panamas Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that the country had inked its adhesion to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Developments reporting standards.
Foreign Minister Luis Miguel Hincapie delivered the document to OECD headquarters in Paris. The new membership however does not take practical effect until 2018.
The public gained its first access to the Panama Papers records of over 200,000 secret offshore companies when the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) put a searchable database online in May.
The database, built on just a portion of the 11.5 million documents leaked from Panamas Mossack Fonseca law firm, reveals more than 360,000 names of individuals and companies behind the anonymous shell firms.
The Panama Papers reveal the full extent to which the worlds wealthy, alongside criminals, create nominee companies to stash and transfer assets out of sight of the law and tax officials.
Reports already published in April based on the explosive dossier linked some of the worlds most powerful leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister David Cameron and others to unreported offshore companies. AFP
PARIS International donors and partner countries of the Ivory Coast meeting in Paris on Tuesday promised more than US$15 billion by 2020 to help finance the countrys development.
The Ivory Coast consultative group is meeting for two days of talks to seek financial aid for an ambitious 2016-2020 "national development plan" for the worlds top cocoa producer.
At the end of the first day, attended by Ivorian Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan, representatives of financial institutions and donor countries promised $15.4 billion in loans and donations, almost double Abidjans initial goal.
"This is in appreciation of the work already accomplished by the government of (President) Alassane Ouattara," Duncan told reporters, thanking the countrys donors.
Last month, the UN Security Council lifted the last remaining sanctions on Ivory Coast in the latest sign the West African country has bounced back from turmoil after it was wracked by crises under former president Laurent Gbagbo, in office from 2000 to 2011.
Some 3,000 people died during five months of unrest after an election in late 2010, when Gbagbo refused to step down following his defeat to Ouattara.
Gbagbo is currently on trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague for crimes against humanity over the violence.
The main contributor to the countrys development funding announced on Tuesday, the World Bank, promised up to $5 billion through various financing bodies.
Former colonial power France said it would provide more than $1.5 billion.
The development plan reflects Ivory Coasts ambition to become an emerging economy by 2020 with lower poverty rates and "a better redistribution of the fruits of growth," the government said.
The Paris conference is set to continue Wednesday with private investors looking at business opportunities in the country. AFP
MOSCOW Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked the Vietnamese and Russian legislative bodies to enhance co-operation in the international arena during a meeting with the Speaker of Russias State Duma, Sergei Naryshkin, in Moscow yesterday.
The Vietnamese leader, who is on his first official visit to Russia as Prime Minister, congratulated Russia on its socio-economic development and its growing standing in the world. The State Duma was crucial to those successes, he said.
Intensifying comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia is a Vietnamese priority, according to the Prime Minister.
The State Duma Speaker hailed Viet Nams impressive development. He also congratulated the Communist Party of Viet Nam on a successful 12th National Congress, which set forth major orientations for the countrys development for the coming years.
The Russian State Duma and all the parties that have seats in the lower house - including the United Russia party, the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, and the Fair Russia Party - supported reinforcing the comprehensive strategic partnership with Viet Nam, he noted.
At the meeting, both sides rejoiced over the flourishing partnership. The success of this partnership is evident in the tightened political relations with high mutual trust and in the regular delegation exchanges at all levels that have increased the countries all-faceted co-operation.
Both sides voiced delight at the close co-ordination between Viet Nams National Assembly and Russias Federal Assembly, which will celebrate the 60th anniversary of their co-operation relationship this year. They also applauded the two parliaments frequent meetings and sharing of information and experience, which have greatly contributed to growth in their respective nations.
PM Phuc asked the two parliaments to ensure the effects and enforceability of the international treaties that both Viet Nam and Russia have participated in, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
PM Phuc also delivered National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngans invitation for Sergei Naryshkin to visit Viet Nam.
The Vietnamese delegation laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a war memorial dedicated to Russian soldiers killed during World War II, in Moscow yesterday. They also paid homage to V.I. Lenin, the great leader of the working class and of the international Communist movement, at his mausoleum in the Russian capitol city.
Yesterday PM Phuc also called on Zarubezhneft one of Russias leading oil and gas groups.
The PM spoke highly of the effective co-operation between the Viet Nam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and Zarubezhneft, evidenced by their joint ventures Vietsovpetro and Rusvietpetro, considered a vivid symbol of the Viet Nam-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership.
The Vietnamese Government has always provided all possible support for sustainable, long-term and mutually-beneficial collaboration between the two countries, as well as between PetroVietnam and Zarubezhneft, he said.
In that spirit, he expressed his support of firms which study and expand the exploration of oil and gas in the two countries and in third-party countries.
The PM also suggested seeking new forms of co-operation, especially in processing petroleum products, manufacturing engine fuels and applying green technologies.
Talking with Zarubezhneft engineers and workers, the PM said the long-standing and close friendship between Viet Nam and Russia, and the PetroVietnam - Zarubezhneft co-operation, will progress further in the foreseeable future.
Warm relationship stressed
During his meeting with the President of the Russian Communist Party (RCP) G. Zyuganov earlier on Monday, PM Phuc emphasised the warm and trustworthy relationship between Viet Nam, the former Soviet Union and the current Russia.
At the meeting, the PM said the Government and people of Viet Nam always remember the sentiments and valuable support of Russian communists and people - during Viet Nams past struggle for national liberation and during current national defense and construction. Viet Nam has always wished to enhance the comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia, he said.
Zyuganov congratulated the Communist Party of Viet Nam on the success of the 12th Party Congress, where major development orientations were set forth for the country in the future. He suggested the two Parties share information and experience in Party work.
PM Phuc also met with representatives of the Russia-Viet Nam Friendship Association and the Association of Russian Former Military Experts. He reminisced with them about the sacrifice of many Russian experts, scientists, and citizens for Viet Nams independence.
PM Phuc briefed Russian war veterans and experts on achievements Viet Nam has attained after 30 years of reform, as well as on the countrys foreign policy. He said Viet Nam attached importance to developing relations with traditional friends, including Russia.
The heads of the two associations promised to make more contributions to the long-lasting relationship and comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries. VNS
Viet Nam News -HA NOI President of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan yesterday visited the Viet Nam Buddhist Sangha (VBS)s Executive Council on the occasion of Buddhas 2,560th birthday.
The VFF leader stressed Buddhisms long-lasting tradition within the nation and its contributions to the tradition of patriotism as well as to national construction and defence.
Viet Nam was now home to more than 48,000 Buddhist monks and nuns who are practicing the religion in over 17,000 Buddhist worshipping sites with each receiving up to 1,000 followers annually, Nhan noted.
Many monks have sat as National Assembly deputies, helping convey the voice of Buddhists nationwide to the legislature, he said, adding that Buddhisms strong development has mirrored religious freedom in the country.
Recalling Viet Nams hosting the UN Day of Vesak (the Buddhas birthday, Enlightenment and Passing Away) in 2014 and 2008, Nhan said through the event, international friends understood more about Buddhism as well as the Vietnamese land and its people.
The VFF President also highlighted Buddhists contributions to humanitarian activities, especially their support for people affected by natural disasters.
In 2015, 40 religious organisations and the VFF signed a co-operation programme for the first time, under which they committed to join hands in protecting the environment and coping with climate change during 2016-20.
On the occasion of Buddhas 2,560th birthday, the VBSs Supreme Patriarch had also appealed to Vietnamese Buddhist followers to engage in environmental protection and climate change response, he said.
Most Venerable Thich Thanh Nhieu, permanent deputy president of the VBSs Executive Council, reassured that the council and Buddhist followers at home and abroad would always unite with each other to carry forward the fine traditions of Vietnamese Buddhism, and make more contributions to national construction and defence, environmental protection, and climate change combat. VNS
MOSCOW Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked Vietnamese and Russian firms to raise two-way trade to US$10 billion by 2020 during a business forum in Moscow yesterday.
Viet Nam continually provides all possible support for Russian investors and Russia also facilitates Vietnamese investment in the country, he informed participants about the outcomes of his talks with leaders of the host country.
Reviewing bilateral ties in his speech, Phuc said Russia ranks 17th out of 112 countries and territories investing in Viet Nam with 114 valid projects worth $2.08 billion, mostly in the fields of energy, mining, machinery engineering and tourism.
Viet Nam has invested in 20 projects capitalised at $2.93 billion in Russia, focusing on oil, gas and services, among others.
He asked business circles to analyse obstacles to trade and propose policies conducive to business co-operation on the back of the signed Vietnam-Eurasian Economic Union Free Trade Agreement.
To shore up tourism links, he suggested increasing the frequency of flights between the two countries and promoting investment in this field.
The PM reminded Russian firms of Viet Nams advantages such as its membership of ASEAN and 13 major international trade agreements, together with a contingent of workers in the golden population stage and a large potential consumer market.
Meanwhile, he urged Vietnamese firms to export farm produce, electronic products and apparel to Russia and to import Russian goods at competitive prices.
He wished that the two governments would accelerate the fine-tuning of business mechanisms in the future.
A leader of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development also expressed willingness to share experience with Viet Nam in renewable energy and eco-friendly technology.
Russia welcomes Viet Nams projects in the country and will facilitate bilateral coordination, he said.
Dairy project kicks off
PM Phuc said Russia is a large potential market for dairy products at a ceremony marking the start of a Vietnamese dairy investment project in Russia yesterday.
TH True Milk began the first phase of its large-scale cow breeding and farming project in Moscow. It is the firms first offshore investment project, according to its chairwoman Thai Huong.
The firm set a budget of $2.7 billion for a ten-year investment in the three-phase project, of which $500 million has been earmarked for the first phase, reported Vietnam News Agency.
In the last phase, the company will expand its herd to 350,000 cows on 140,000ha of land. The project will be capable of processing 5,900 tonnes of milk on a daily basis.
The company also plans to run a distribution network of 300 stores across the country.
PM Phuc said the free trade agreement signed last year between Viet Nam and the Eurasian Economic Union will facilitate and stimulate cooperation in the sector.
The dairy project will create jobs and contribute to local agricultural development, he said. Both countries hope the dairy project will be a diverse and effective partnership for them.
Moscow Governor Andrey Vorobiev welcomed TH True Milks operations. He praised the firms efforts to launch the project on the agreed time schedule.
He expressed his confidence in the project, which he hopes will become an example for farming collaboration between the two countries.
He vowed to create favourable conditions for the implementation of all Vietnamese projects in his region.
Stronger legislative ties urged
Viet Nam and Russia should increase legislative ties through the exchange of information and experience in law-making and supervision activities, PM Phuc said at a meeting with Speaker of the Federation Council (Upper House) of Russias Parliament Valentina Matviyenko on Tuesday.
He noted with pleasure the rapid changes and significant achievements Russian people have attained during national development. These changes are mainly attributable to the Federation Council.
The PM conveyed National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngans invitation to the Russian Speaker to visit Viet Nam in 2016.
Stressing the Russian Parliaments backing for the comprehensive strategic partnership with Viet Nam, Matviyenko said the legislative body has always approved agreements and recommendations of the Russian State and Government about fostering multi-faceted cooperation with Viet Nam.
According to the Speaker, the councils Russia-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Group is helping Russian ministries, agencies and localities to actualise agreements with the Southeast Asian nation.
Host and guest said that bilateral relations have made big strides. The two sides are implementing multiple strategic cooperation agreements, economically benefiting the two countries and elevating their role and position in the region and the world.
The Vietnamese leader also visited Gazprom, one of the largest oil and gas companies in Russia.
Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller briefed PM Phuc on his companys operation, as well as on outcomes of cooperation with the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam).
Despite economic difficulties, the Russian State and Government have created optimal conditions for the oil and gas sector, as well as for collaboration with Viet Nam in this field, he said.
For his part, PM Phuc emphasised that energy cooperation is one of the major pillars of the Vietnam-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership.
The Vietnamese Government always creates the best possible conditions for Russian businesses, including Gazprom, to operate in the country, he said. He noted his hope that the group will increase their investments in traditional realms, like oil and gas exploration and exploitation and crude oil supply, while expanding its presence in new spheres, such as petrochemistry, and producing gas to power auto engines.
While in Russia, PM Phuc also visited the Vietnamese Embassy, where he praise the efforts of the diplomat and staff in beefing up relations between the two countries. VNS
Viet Nam News -HA NOI The Viet Nam River Network (VRN) has called for the cancellation of a transportation and hydroelectric project along the Hong (Red) River in the north of Viet Nam.
In a statement issued late last week, the group sought to cancel the project because of the potential negative impact to the biodiversity in the river basin, as well as the livelihood of residents in the project area and nearby.
Xuan Thien Co. Ltd, a private company based in northern Ninh Binh Province, proposed a US$1.1 billion mega-project to create a 288km transportation corridor along the Red River, stretching from the Chinese border in Lao Cai through Yen Bai, Phu Tho, Ha Noi and Hai Phong, and continuing to Nam inh Province.
The proposed plans call for the creation of at least three, and a maximum of six, hydroelectric reservoirs along the corridor, which expect to provide 912 million KWs of electricity per year, along with raising water levels on the river to allow large vessels to operate.
VRN added that the upper territory of the Red River is the breeding area for fish and home to aquatic life, and the building of the reservoirs could result in the extinction of these species.
They further charged that construction of the reservoirs would collapse part of the riverbed, causing a decrease of underground water in the basin. The ecology on the land will then be influenced, harming the biodiversity of the basin.
VRN said they expect the project would change the flow of the river and cause water shortages for agriculture and aquaculture, which might affect the livelihood of millions of residents of eight provinces in the Red River delta.
The low production of electricity, approximately one per cent contributed to the total national electricity production, are among the arguments mentioned by VRN. It said the six proposed hydropower plants would create harmful reservoirs, even as the potential for clean and renewal energy is not exploited.
The proposed project is said to have not been included in the master plan and electricity plan of the Red River Delta, claiming the project will harm the master plan.
VRN also expressed concern about the management by a private company, voicing concern that social benefits and environmental conservation norms will be secondary to seeking profits by the company.
According to the Vietnamese Enterprise Law, the project could be sold if the operating company has losses and creates potential danger to society and the nations defense.
VRN added that a decision by the government to cancel the project would help to save the biodiversity, ensure local livelihoods and keep the river as a natural resource for future generations.
Last Monday, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc issued an official note, affirming that the Government has not started the process of approving the project yet. VNS
Viet Nam News -HCM CITY To improve transport flows between District 12 and other districts in HCM City as well as other provinces, the Ministry of Transport plans to carry out multiple projects this year.
They are also meant to reduce congestion around a city gateway and make access to the north and the central and Central Highlands regions easier.
The projects include the elevated railway Line 5 under the public-private partnerships model. A joint venture formed by Yen Khanh, Cai Mep, Vinaconex, and Vinaconex PVC companies has been seeking approval to develop it.
Another is the VN514 billion (US$23 million) An Suong Tunnel, which, despite being approved by the transport department last October, has yet to see work begin. Thai Son, Khanh An, Vinaconex, and Vinaconex PVC companies have formed a joint venture to execute the project.
The others include construction of the Vam Thuan Bridge and widening of Vuon Lai Street. Viet Nam Infrastructure Investment and Development Company, HPCI Investment and Construction Consultant Company and Song a Corporation have been entrusted with the two projects, but again work is yet to begin.
Licogi, Vingroup and other companies have been urging the city to take control of these projects and adopt the build-transfer model.
The ministry is pondering over it too. VNS
A Memorandum of Understanding signed yesterday morning between the Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and the South Korean Ministry of Employment and Labour. Photo vnexpress.net
Viet Nam News -HA NOI South Korea will receive 3,500 Vietnamese labourers following the Employment Permit System this year, after a Memorandum of Understanding signed yesterday morning between the Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and the South Korean Ministry of Employment and Labour.
The initiative is resuming after three years of South Korean limits on Vietnamese labourers, due to the high rate of illegal Vietnamese workers in the country. The number of Vietnamese workers allowed into South Korea was reduced from 18,000 in late 2013 to 15,000 in late 2015, thanks to the efforts of both sides.
The two sides authorised agencies will work together to test Korean fluency and working skills of candidates soon.
The South Korean Ministry of Employment and Labour (MoEL) said it decided to resume this initiative because South Korean enterprises employing foreign labourers asked their government to sign the new MoU.
The companies said Vietnamese workers adapt well to the new working environment and quickly acquire the necessary skills. Meanwhile, Viet Nam has proposed a plan to improve the management of its workers and to curb the number of Vietnamese overstaying their visas in South Korea.
The Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs announced that illegal Vietnamese workers in South Korea who voluntarily return home between May 1 to September 30 this year will not have to pay administrative penalties.
The move is aimed at encouraging and facilitating the return of Vietnamese workers. It will also reduce the rate of Vietnamese workers staying and working illegally in South Korea.
The MoEL also reported that some 10,000 South Korean employees are working at 3,300 South Korean enterprises in Viet Nam.
Viet Nam recently tightened the process of granting visas to foreign workers, which could create difficulties for South Korean companies who want to send employees to work in Viet Nam.
Deputy Prime Minister Vu uc am yesterday received South Korean Minister of Employment and Labour Lee Ki-kweon, who is on a working visit to Viet Nam. am suggested that the two sides maintain close co-ordination in implementing measures to reduce the number of illegal Vietnamese guest workers in South Korea, including the provision of information about labourers whose work contracts have expired.
The Vietnamese Government will create favourable conditions for Korean citizens and investors to live and do business in Viet Nam, he said.
The Korean minister stated Vietnamese workers adapt well to the working environment in South Korea. The signing of the MoU will open up more opportunities for Vietnamese labourers who want to work in South Korea, and for those who are residing and working illegally in South Korea to voluntarily return home, he said. VNS
Gia Loc
HCM CITY Street food, for which Viet Nam is rightly famous, can be a financial boon to local communities, helping many people, especially the poor, increase their income.
However, hygiene at stalls has been a problem for years.
Seeking a solution that would benefit both sides, the city about two years ago launched a pilot programme in Binh Tan District and District 3 that provides food safety training and equipment to vendors in two wards.
The results have generally been positive, and the city has strengthened measures in recent months.
Vu, a resident of Binh Thanh District, stops at a street stall every morning to buy bread filled with chicken meat, pate and crunchy pickled vegetables for a quick and cheap breakfast.
I never tire of the food, Vu said, adding that he had once frequented a few favourite stalls until he suffered a few bouts of diarrhea. After that, he began to be more selective, and since then, has had no problems.
Nearly everyone in the city has sampled street food at one time or another.
More than 95 per cent of the citys residents have eaten street food, according the Nutrition Centre.
Foreigners are interested in street eats as well. The American magazine Food & Wine has listed HCM City one of the worlds best cities for street food.
Cary Vanderventer, a Canadian tourist, who visited Viet Nam recently, said that her favourite food on the street was com tam (broken rice), bun bo Hue (Hue-style spicy beef noodle soup), and banh xeo (Vietnamese crepes with shrimp, bean sprouts and crunchy garnishes).
Theyre wonderful, she said, adding that she liked to eat at street stalls instead of restaurants.
Ngo Thi My Anh, a specialist in charge of hospitality and restaurants at the citys Department of Tourism, said that international press often wants to report about street food in the country.
Independent livelihood
For the poor, HCM City is a magnet. It offers an opportunity to make a living, and one way is by setting up a stand on the street.
With just a small investment, food vendors can choose their location and work independently.
Du Phuoc Tan, a researcher at the HCM City Institute for Development Studies, told Cong An Nhan Dan (People Police) newspaper that women aged 36-55 accounted for more than 63 per cent of food vendors.
Half of the women are migrants with a low academic level.
Pham Thi Hue, 51, of the south-central province of Binh inh, moved to the city to sell food as a vendor more than 20 years ago.
At that time, I was teaching at my hometown and could not raise my two children on my income. My husbands income from farming was very low. So we left my hometown for the city, she said.
In the past, she and her husband sold glutinous rice balls on their bicycles in the neighbouring areas of District 6. Now, they sell fruit.
The money they make is enough to support their family and their childrens education.
Today, younger people, including students, are looking to the street as a way of earning money.
Le Anh uc, a student at the citys University of Economics, has opened a pavement stall to sell milk tea in front of his house.
I want to try to use what I learn at the university to do business. I also want to earn some income, he said.
According to the Health Departments Food Safety and Hygiene Division, more than 20,000 people have registered to sell street food.
Of these, 1,400 have failed to meet food safety and hygiene regulations.
Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai, deputy head of the food safety division, said that many vendors had not been trained in food hygiene and were not aware of food safety regulations.
Strict management
The deputy head of the citys Health Department, Nguyen Huu Hung, told local agencies in January to strengthen management and strictly impose fines on vendors and small street stalls that continue to violate regulations.
When someone sets up a street stall, they must ensure food safety and hygiene.
They have to follow 10 criteria. This includes having a hygienic selling place, covering and storing food hygienically, and wearing gloves. They should also have tools to pick up food.
Local agencies offer guidance and inspect stalls frequently, Hung said.
Fines are seldom imposed, but violators are given warnings.
Selling food on the street is a long-standing feature of our culture. It is difficult to get rid of it. Its important that we manage it and ensure hygienic food for customers. This is the responsibility of city agencies, including the health sector, Hung said.
Each city district has been encouraged to select one or two wards to set up a standard management model of selling food on the street.
This has occurred in Ward 2 in District 3 and An Lac A Ward in Binh Tan District. Hung said the programme should be expanded throughout the district.
Pilot programme
In November 2014, the peoples committees at the ward level in Binh Tan District and District 3 began working with the citys Food Safety and Hygiene Division to pilot the programme on forcing street food sellers to obey 10 criteria to ensure safety.
Mai said the street food sellers were given standard dustbins, face masks, gloves and other items.
They also attended training courses on maintaining food safety and hygiene during processing and selling, and were required to have health examinations.
The city gave the two wards several measuring tools that can rapidly test the safety of food.
By the end of 2015, an increased rate of sellers among the total of 203 street food vendors and shops in the two wards were obeying the 10 criteria, Mai said.
Total funding for the plot programme is VN30 million (US$1,333) per year for each ward.
With a total of 322 wards, it is difficult to expand the model because of a lack of funds. The districts, Hung said, would have to try to manage without the citys assistance.
In March, Tran The Thuan, the chairman of the Peoples Committee in District 1, said that a pilot plan for street food vendors was being carried out to ensure urban beauty and traffic safety and order in HCM City.
Under the plan, vendors gather on Nguyen Van Chiem and Ton uc Thang streets near Bach ang Wharf and sell food from 6am to 8 am, and 11 am to 1 pm.
Le Thi Tu Uyen, founder of the project 5000 Portable Bread Booths for Women to Earn a Sustainable Living on the Pavement, said that the citys plan was improper for vendors.
Phung Thi Hoi, a beverage vendor in District 1, said that selling at the designated time could not ensure an income for her family.
Le Dieu Anh of the Cities Alliance, a global partnership for poverty reduction and promotion of sustainable growth of cities, said the local government should develop solutions not only to promote urban civility but also to help food vendors earn a living.
Non-government organisations and non-profit enterprises will try to present some solutions to help the local government solve this problem effectively, Anh said. -- VNS
THANH HOA The foot-and-mouth disease has spread in the north central province of Thanh Hoa since May 14, local officials said.
Some 42 cows and buffaloes belonging to 18 households in Hieng Village in Ba Thuoc Districts Ky Tan Commune were affected by the disease.
The Peoples Committee of Ba Thuoc District has instructed local authorities to temporary halt the transportation, trade and slaughter of cows, buffaloes, pigs and goats during the outbreak. Control stations will be set up to prevent the sale, transportation and slaughter of diseased animals to other areas.
Local authorities have been asked to strengthen the management of infected livestock, disinfect farms and issue a warning on the foot-and-mouth disease.
Earlier, in March, the foot-and-mouth disease was also reported in Ba Thuoc Districts Thiet Ke Commune and Quan Hoa Districts Xuan Phu Commune, infecting some 35 animals. VNS
BAC NINH The first baby conceived via in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) in this northern province was born on Monday at the Bac Ninh Pediatrics and Obstetrics Hospital , hospital director Le Van Nam said.
The baby, who was born after 39 weeks, weighs 3.2kg.
The girl is the first child of Nguyen inh Long and Hoang Thi Huyen. Huyen became pregnant through intrauterine insemination (IUI) -- a fertility treatment that involves injecting sperm inside a womans uterus to facilitate fertilisation.
This is one of the complicated techniques that a few provincial can perform.
The birth of this child raises hopes for thousands of other married couples who are unable to conceive.
The hospital began operations last July.
As of May this year, the hospital has conducted IUI treatments on 30 couples, and six of them have become pregnant.
The success of the first IVF case in the province is a milestone for the hospitals doctors and nurses, Nam , who is also deputy head of the provincial Health Department, said.
According to the Ministry of Health, the infertility rate in Viet Nam is 7.7 per cent. Some 35-50 per cent of assisted reproduction cases are successful.
The first three IVF cases in the country resulted in three babies being born on April 30, 1998.
In a bid to lay its hands on part of the Rs 6,963-crore bank loan allegedly stashed away by embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has moved a special court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases seeking issuance of Letter Rogatory (LR) to seven nations where the agency believes Mallya might have diverted funds to.
The LR, a request for legal assistance, will ask the authorities of the seven countries Ireland, France, Mauritius, the US, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and South Africa to furnish information about Mallyas accounts.
We had filed the requisition in the PMLA court for the judicial assistance. Anticipating the court order by the first week of June, a senior ED official told Business Standard.
LR is typically sent to obtain evidences, related information with regard to purchase, registration and status of individual assets. The LR would be sent through the Ministry of External Affairs.
The ED is also working on the extradition process, a lengthy process, and can be initiated after a chargesheet has been filed before an appropriate court and the court has sought the presence of the accused to face trial in the case. All extradition requests must be supported by documents and information according to the provisions of the extradition treaty.
The agency has been wanting to make Mallya join investigations in the Rs 950-crore IDBI loan deal, in which it had registered a criminal case under the anti-money laundering law earlier this year.
Investigators have exhausted most of the legal options to make Mallya join the probe, including issuance of a non-bailable warrant against him from a PMLA court, based on which it made the requests for the revocation of his passport and subsequent deportation bid to bring back the businessman from UK.
The government of the has decided to sever 40-year-old diplomatic ties with Iran, saying the country's policies in the Middle-East are detrimental to peace and security in the region.
The foreign ministry said in a statement today night that peace in the Middle-East is also linked to the island nation's own peace, stability and security.
The decision by the Indian Ocean archipelago nation, whose population is predominantly Sunni Muslim, reflects its increasing closeness to Sunni-led Saudi Arabia, the long-time rival of Shiite-dominated Iran. Last year, Saudi Arabia opened an embassy in the .
Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties with Iran earlier this year after Iranians protesting the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric stormed Saudi diplomatic posts in Tehran and Mashhad.
CEDAR FALLS The operators of a nonprofit that brought nature and conservation shows to children across the country have been indicted on enticement charges.
A grand jury in Des Moines handed up indictments April 27 charging Barry Dean Devoll, 32, and Christopher Charles Kaiser, 38, with attempted enticement of a minor. Devoll also is charged with six counts of attempted sexual exploitation of a child/production of child pornography.
The two were detained May 11 and appeared in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. They were turned over to federal marshals and transferred to the Des Moines-based U.S. District Court for Iowas southern district where they appeared on Tuesday afternoon.
Devoll is president of the nonprofit The Blue Trunk Educational Series, and Kaiser is the organizations director, according to the organizations IRS filings from 2014. The filings list a Merner Avenue, Cedar Falls, home as the non-profits base, but property records show the house changed hands in December, a phone number for The Blue Trunk has been disconnected.
Court records allege that Devoll attempted to lure a teenage minor to engage in sexual conduct for the purpose of creating visual depictions. This allegedly occurred on Sept. 29, 2015; Oct. 3, 2015; Oct. 20, 2015; Oct. 26, 2015; Nov. 7, 2015; and Nov. 15, 2015.
Kaiser and Devoll are accused of attempting to persuade a minor to engage in sex between Sept. 25 and Nov. 5, 2015, court records state.
It wasnt clear if the charges are related to the non-profit.
The Blue Trunk sponsors educational shows that include exotic animals such as kangaroos and lemurs.
Devoll, a Cedar Falls native and former Courier 20 Under 40 award winner, had operated a magic store in downtown Cedar Falls and worked on a magic show in Branson, Mo., before returning to Iowa.
He started the educational series geared for elementary school students in the mid-2000s with financial help from Kaiser, according to Courier archives. The organizations main program is Bixbys Inflatable Rainforest starring Devoll as Bixby.
In January 2013, Bixbys Inflatable Rainforest show came to the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center for a two-day show. The following year, the organizations Give Back Wildly National Tour came to Cedar Falls High with proceeds going to North Cedar Elementary.
In recent years, Blue Trunks budget has been between $250,000 and $450,000, according to non-profit filings.
The companys websites - www.bixbyandfriends.com and www.bixbylive.com - Facebook page and YouTube channel are currently offline.
WATERLOO -- Residents are being encouraged to ride a bicycle to this year's first Friday'Loo.
Main Street Waterloo and the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective have organized the coming Friday event to coincide with Bike to Work Day as part of National Bicycle Month.
Several downtown merchants have donated prizes to be awarded in drawings during the second intermission of the Getaway City Band's performance at Friday'Loo, which is held from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. in Lincoln Park.
Person who park their bicycle in the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective's bike valet area can fill out an entry form to qualify for the drawing. There is not a charge to use the roped, secured valet area or enter the drawing.
WATERLOO Three Waterloo councilmen hope to avoid a special election to fill the vacant Ward 1 seat.
Councilmen Steve Schmitt, Tom Lind and Bruce Jacobs asked Mayor Quentin Hart to add an agenda item for Mondays meeting signaling the citys intent to appoint a replacement for David Jones, who resigned his council seat last month.
Ward 1 has been without representation long enough, Schmitt said. Its time to get the ball rolling.
Iowa law gives the remaining City Council members the option of appointing a replacement or calling for a special election when a council seat becomes vacant.
Schmitt said the three councilmen believe it would be quicker to make the appointment and avoid the estimated $5,000 cost of a special election.
If council members are unable to agree on an appointment, then they could call for an election, Schmitt said. If an appointment is made, Ward 1 electors could still petition for a special election within 14 days.
Assuming we can get four votes wed like to make an appointment, Schmitt said. Were not trying to circumvent the voters in Ward 1; theyve always got the right to call for an election.
Mayor Quentin Hart said he intends to have a council work session Monday for the six remaining members to discuss how they want to proceed. But he was not planning to put an action item on the agenda until council members decide which route to pursue.
It would take at least four votes to start a formal appointment process, so Schmitt, Lind and Jacobs would need the support of either Ron Welper, Pat Morrissey or Jerome Amos Jr.
I dont have a vote in this, Hart said. It is up to the City Council.
But I do believe in the Democratic process and placing the decision in the hands of the people of Ward 1, he added. I trust the community and think it would be nice if the voters of Ward 1 could choose who represents them.
The earliest date for a special election, based on Iowa law, would be July 5. If council members fail to call for a special election or make an appointment, the election would be scheduled automatically near the end of July.
WAVERLY With three weeks left until the primary election and voting already underway the Iowa House District 63 Democratic race is down to two candidates.
Matthew Glen Evans, a political newcomer, announced this week he is suspending his campaign for the state House seat. Iowa House District 63 covers Bremer County and the northern part of Black Hawk County.
I work seven days a week and barely see my family. Im lucky if I can have one meal a week with my fiancee. I still believe that this fact would uniquely qualify me to represent the people of our district, but it also makes me uniquely unqualified to run a successful campaign, Evans said in a statement announcing the end of his campaign.
Evans works at CBE Companies and OneNeck IT Solutions, both in Cedar Falls. His financee is Kara Steere, and together they are raising Steeres daughter Kloie half-time and their son Sam.
Along with suspending his campaign, Evans threw his support to primary opponent Eric Stromberg. Stromberg of Waverly also is making his first bid for office and is a substitute teacher.
With Evans exit, the race is down to Stromberg and Teresa Meyer, who are both vying to take on Iowa Rep. Sandy Salmon, R-Janesville, in the general election.
Meyer, a nurse and Waverly resident, previously ran against Salmon in 2014.
Evans said he sees Stromberg as the stronger candidate to take on Salmon, who was first elected in 2012.
Eric is the right guy for the job. Hes smart, and hes passionate about the issues, Evans said in the statement. Eric is the kind of guy that people will want to vote for, and hell be the kind of legislator who will fight for Iowa.
Stromberg said he is glad to get the support of Evans.
Im very excited and grateful for Matt Evans endorsement, Stromberg said. We have the same vision for Iowa, and Ive invited him to continue with our campaign in some future capacity.
Evans top issue was promoting financial literacy in the state, which Stromberg said he supports as well.
Meyer was not concerned about Evans giving his support to her primary opponent.
Anybody can run with a D behind their name, and it doesnt mean they are the real deal, Meyer said in a statement. Im a Democrat in its purest form, a progressive Democrat.
Meyer, who previously served as Bremer County Democratic chairwoman, said she has not only been an active Democrat in the county but across the nation advocating for working class people like myself for fairness and equality.
The remaining candidates are expected to meet for a debate hosted by Waverly Newspapers on June 2. The primary will be held June 7.
HIAWATHA Forget all the noise about which GOP elected officials might endorse Donald Trump.
Heres what matters to me: Who are you going to vote for in the fall? Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said at a GOP #UnitedIowa rally in Hiawatha.
Regardless of who has said they will endorse the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, I will guarantee you the party is behind him 100 percent," Kaufmann added.
Whether I say Im for Donald Trump or not pales in comparison to whether these 40 people are for him, Kaufmann added to cheers from a roomful of Republican stalwarts.
Kaufmann is making a tour of the state to promote party unity ahead of the Republican Party of Iowa convention May 21.
Obviously, there is some getting used to Trump as the GOP nominee, he continued. People have to get used to the person that they put their passion and all of their energy towards is not going to be the nominee.
He called it healthy that Republicans have had a difficult primary and that some people were caught off-guard by Donald Trump being our nominee (because) that means we listened to the people, Kaufmann said. We are going to unite around what the people want."
Ultimately, Kaufmann said, Iowa Republicans will come to grips with the reality of the Trump nomination for two reasons: Never Hillary and because when voters compare Trump to Clinton there will be no doubt he will nominate better candidates to the Supreme Court, there will be less over-regulation of business and industry and less taxation under a President Trump, Kaufmann said.
The specter of someone who is under serious federal investigation, a retread from the 90s is certainly going to be something to entice Republicans to remind us of what binds us together, Kaufmann said.
There also will be key down-ballot races. Kaufmann predicted Linn County is seriously going to be the epicenter in Iowa because of legislative races and the re-election of 1st District Rep. Rod Blum. The situation will be similar across Iowa with down-ballot races determine whether the GOP maintains control of the Iowa House and wins a Senate majority.
The party also will be united in sending Sen. Chuck Grassley back to Washington for a seventh term, Kaufmann added.
The Republican Party of Iowa will have record-breaking partnerships with the Republican National Committee and, in conjunction with the Trump campaign will mount the largest ground game in Iowa history for Republicans. That includes unity, energy and a walletful of funding.
WATERLOO Councilman Steve Schmitt voiced frustration this week about inaction on filling a City Council vacancy.
Speaking at the end of Mondays council meeting, Schmitt called for the issue to be part of next weeks agenda and criticized the lack of information since Ward 1 Councilman David Jones resigned his seat April 25 to take a job in Minnesota.
What does it take to get a discussion started? he said. Im kind of at a loss at whos running this conversation because I havent heard a word since Councilman (David) Jones left as far as whos deciding what.
I think we need to be talking about it rather than letting three months go by before its all said and done, Schmitt added.
City Clerk Suzy Schares said she has been talking with the Iowa Secretary of States Office and Black Hawk County Election Office about setting up a special election to replace Jones.
But Schmitt noted its up to the remaining six council members to determine whether to hold a special election or appoint a replacement.
Some have questioned whether the council members, who have divided 3-3 on many substantive issues this year, could agree on an appointment. But Schmitt suggested it was worth trying.
I know theres a thought we couldnt be able to come up with four votes, Schmitt said. I question that.
If we go that route and were not able to come up with it, then we can go the special election route, he said. Once we start down the special election route theres no turning back; thats what were going to do.
Mayor Quentin Hart said he favored moving forward with the special election to fill out the term, which runs through December 2017.
In theory it should be a decision by the people within Ward 1, who they would like to choose to represent them, he said.
State laws wont allow the vacancy to remain indefinitely.
Council members have until June 24 to fill the position by appointment or it would be automatically scheduled for a special election, presumably on July 26. If council members called for a special election now, the election would be held at the earliest practicable date.
County election officials said the earliest an election could be held is July 5, because of a blackout window for elections on either side of the June 7 primary election. The estimated cost of an election among Ward 1 voters is $5,000.
If council members successfully appoint a replacement, voters would have the option of petitioning for a special election by gathering 183 signatures from eligible Ward 1 electors within 14 days of the appointment.
Schmitt made a formal motion to put the issue on next weeks agenda, which was not given a chance for a vote. Schares said she would set up a work session for council members to discuss the issue next week.
WATERLOO Democratic 1st District congressional candidate Monica Vernon gained a new ally Tuesday in defending her record as more than the squat it has been deemed by her primary opponent Pat Murphy.
Former Iowa Lt. Gov. Sally Pederson praised Vernons history of working on progressive goals and her efforts during eight years on the Cedar Rapids City Council.
Im disappointed in Pat Murphy for belittling Monicas record, Pederson said in a statement. Monica has a strong record of working with people to get things done, and its time for Pat to stop trying to smear it.
Murphy, a former lawmaker from Dubuque, called Vernons record on progressive issues squat in an interview with the Des Moines Register last week, and the pair have sparred before and since on their respective records. Both Vernon and Murphy are vying to take on first-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Rod Blum, R-1st District.
Pederson, who has endorsed Vernon, pointed to Vernons history of building a small business while raising three children, leading efforts to build the first homeless shelter for women and children in Cedar Rapids and helping the city to recover from the historic 2008 flood.
Murphys spokesman Mike McLaughlin called Pedersons concern a distraction from the real issues Vernon has avoided talking about during her campaign for Congress.
(Its) three weeks today from the election, and Monica is continuing to not tell us if she supports progressive things or she supports conservative, old Republican ideas that the New Democrats support, so those are the real issues in the campaign, and I think those are the things we need to be looking at over the next couple weeks, McLaughlin said.
Murphys campaign has been calling on Vernon to release a questionnaire she sent to the pro-business New Democrats political action committee that endorsed her campaign. Among the questions it asked were about cutting Social Security and Medicare programs and support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
While Vernon has stated publicly her opposition to both entitlement cuts and the trade agreement, Murphys campaign questions her sincerity given she hasnt released her responses.
McLaughlin said Vernon also hasnt discussed her Republican voting history. Vernon became a Democrat in 2009.
McLaughlin continued to say her record is squat when it comes to the progressive issues shes been highlighting on the campaign trail, particularly questioning her record when it comes to raising the minimum wage.
I think this is just a distraction by Monica, because she doesnt want to have to answer those questions. She doesnt want to have to tell us where she stands on some of this stuff, McLaughlin said.
Pederson isnt the only one who has come to Vernons defense since the comments were first published. Emilys List, an abortion-rights group that supports women candidates including Vernon, also denounced Murphys comments, calling them offensive to women in Iowa and across the country.
Vernon also defended her record in the most recent 1st District Democratic debate, going on the offensive at the outset of the final forum before the June 7 primary. She, likewise, called the comments offensive to every hard-working women in this state.
Amid the Cold War of the 20th century, most Americans would have recoiled at the mention of socialism. Yet recent polls reveal a large percentage of the millennial generation and Democrats, in Iowa and elsewhere, are self-identifying as socialists.
In the popular mind, socialism was long associated with communist states like the Soviet Union, China and Cuba, although variations of democratic socialism gained a foothold in much of Europe with varying degrees of success.
The millennials, who came of age after the collapse of the Soviet state in December 1991, regard socialism with far less antipathy, according to a Harvard Institute of Politics survey in late April. While 42 percent of the 18- to 29-year-olds supported capitalism as an economic theory, 33 percent backed socialism.
A Selzer & Co. Iowa Poll in January found 43 percent of those likely to participate in the Feb. 1 Democratic Party caucuses described themselves as socialists, while only 38 percent identified as capitalists. Forty-four percent were anti-Wall Street.
Nationally, a New York Times/CBS News poll in November found 56 percent of Democratic primary voters had a positive view of socialism.
That could be an albatross in a national election based on a Gallup Poll last June indicating just 47 percent of Americans would vote for a socialist candidate. It wouldnt matter to 69 percent of millennials compared to a third of their parents.
According to Harvard polling, the trend among young people toward socialist concepts has been growing. Its poll of young people in 2014 found 42 percent agreed basic health insurance is a right for all people, increasing to 45 percent last year and 48 percent in April.
The statement basic necessities, such as food and shelter, are a right that government should provide to those unable to afford them grew from 43 percent a year ago to 47 percent and those who felt government should spend more to reduce poverty increased from 40 percent to 45 percent.
Those attitudes have fueled the campaign of democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who rails against casino capitalism. He was the only presidential candidate in the Harvard poll with a favorable rating among millennials.
All told, 54 percent had a favorable view of him, with 31 percent unfavorable. Fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton had a 53 percent unfavorable rating and 37 percent favorable. Presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump was viewed unfavorably by 74 percent, including 57 percent of young Republicans.
Head-to-head, Clinton led Trump, 61 percent to 25 percent, with 14 percent unsure. Forty percent said they were Democrats, 22 percent Republicans and 36 percent independent.
The socialist agenda includes single-payer health care, free higher and pre-kindergarten education, paid family and sick leave and government insurance against unexpected expenses and loss of income widening the current social safety net.
While conservatives rail against the costs and inefficiencies of Big Government, those wary of capitalism cite the growing income disparity in the country. The top 1 percent control 31.5 percent of all assets, according to a 2009 study by Federal Reserve Board economist Arthur Kennickell. A 2015 Pew Research study showed the American middle class shrank from 61 percent in 1971 to 50 percent in 2015.
The anti-Wall Street sentiment stems in great part from the shenanigans of the Big Banks during the 2008 economic crisis fueled by subprime loans in the housing market. Author Michael Lewis, whose account of that catastrophe in The Big Short became a hit movie, subsequently documented how some banks avoided government regulation in the aftermath by creating secretive dark pools of investment funds. Five big banks are among the millennials 10 most disliked brands.
That the millennials, who saw their parents jobs and home lost, would be wary of the economic system is understandable. They also are less likely to have employer-paid health insurance and pensions, and college graduates are burdened by large tuition debts.
Sanders has lauded the Scandinavian countries, where by and large, the government works for the ordinary people and the middle class, rather than, as is the case now in our country, for the billionaire class.
But when he cited Denmark as a model of democratic socialism, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen responded, I would like to make one thing clear. Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy.
The successful Scandinavian countries with extensive welfare state programs many reined in during recent years also boast thriving private sectors, unlike their Mediterranean brethren awash in fiscal problems.
However, a higher tax burden may temper the millennials interest in socialism.
A libertarian Reason-Rupe Poll in 2014 found 69 percent of millennials favored a government guarantee for health insurance and 54 percent for college education, along with 52 percent backing more government services.
Yet it also found 50 percent of millennials opposed income redistribution and government social spending when earning more than $40,000 annually.
In 2015, millennials defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as being born between 1981 and 1997 became our largest generation (75.4 million). By 2020, they are projected to be 36 percent of eligible voters. More than 70 percent favor same-sex marriage and legalization of marijuana, making both issues more palatable to left and center politicians.
Their views on socialism, though, present a conundrum for presumptive Democratic nominee Clinton. Rather than moving to the center, should she go left to court Sanders supporters or expect their vote regardless because of an overriding disdain for Trump?
Vote for Meyer
WAVERLY -- Teresa Meyer is running to represent Iowa House District 63. Teresa is the candidate our district needs in Des Moines in order to restore integrity and progress to our state government. Teresa has a lifelong record of serving our community not only as a nurse but also organizing labor on the front lines. The community knows Teresa and the kind of advocate she is. She never gave up of a fight to protect working families. Shes proven her grit in defending the people of this state. Having come from a rural background, she understands the concerns of rural communities and what they need in order to thrive and prosper. You can be sure that a vote Teresa Meyer in the June Democratic Primary is a vote for your family. A vote for good wages. A vote for strong education.
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If youre looking to try out an online casino, there are several things that will help you make a decision. Heres what you should look for when choosing an online casino
Are they regulated? A lot of the larger ones have licenses issued by the authorities in their respective regions, so its worth checking this first.
Do they offer games from different software providers? Some casinos just use one software provider and limit your selection. This is fine if you like playing those types of games but you may want to check other casinos as well.
What does their payout percentage look like? The payout rate refers to how much money you can expect to win after every bet. A high payout rate means youll be able to play more often without having to worry about losing all your money. Its also important to know the minimum and maximum bets allowed on each game. If youre going to play roulette, for example, then you probably dont want a casino with a minimum bet of less than $2.50 or even lower than that.
The players used to play the game slot online in the land based casinos in the past time. But now with time after the invention of the online casinos players play the game slot online. Online platform provide the players with the convenience in playing and even better winning. Even after keeping a good percentage of the profits, they distribute good funds to players.
How many games do they offer? There are lots of different types of games to choose from. Roulette, blackjack and poker are some of the most popular options, but you might find slots, video pokers, video bingo and others as well. You can usually filter these games down to only show the ones that interest you best, so make sure that your list isnt too long!
Is there a bonus offer? Many online casinos offer free bonuses as part of their welcome package which includes new players being awarded 100% up to $10 instantly, for example. These offers are great but not everyone has access to them all the time (and some require you to deposit real money). If youd prefer to avoid paying a fee, some casinos offer no-deposit bonuses where you can get a certain amount of funds before you need to put any actual money into the account. These are usually offered alongside welcome bonuses, so make sure you read both parts of the terms and conditions carefully before signing up.
Does it offer live dealer games? Live dealers are much preferred by many over regular virtual versions, so it pays to check this option out too. Most online casinos now offer live dealer games in addition to their regular offerings, allowing you to experience the thrill of the real thing without needing to leave home.
Now that youve got an idea of what to look for when choosing an online casino, heres some tips for making the right choice
It really comes down to personal preference. No two people are exactly alike, so everyone has an opinion on what they like and dislike about each casino. That said, here are some things to consider in order to narrow down your choices
Popularity. Check out reviews, forums and Facebook pages to see what other people think of the casino. Also, ask around at work or friends houses who they would recommend to you. You could always take a look at the casinos website too, to see what kind of information they provide about themselves.
Reputation. Find out what the general public thinks about the casino. Check out any customer reviews on sites like Trustpilot, Amazon and Google Play to find out more. As far as gaming goes, you can also check out the Better Business Bureau to see whether there have been any complaints against the casino.
Security. Make sure the casino uses SSL encryption to secure its transactions, meaning that your private data stays safe during transactions. Other than that, look for security seals on the site itself and verify that theyre legitimate. You can also check out the casinos privacy policy to see how they handle confidential information.
Payment methods. Its good to have multiple payment options available, especially if you plan to play frequently. Its also nice to find a casino that accepts cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. If youre worried about safety, you can always opt for a credit card or PayPal instead.
With all those criteria in mind, heres our top picks
Betway:
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Ladbrokes Casino:
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Paddy Power Casino:
Paddy Power is another Irish-owned casino that operates throughout Europe. Not only does Paddy Power Casino offer traditional casino games like blackjack, roulette and slots, but it also provides a full range of sports betting, including football, tennis, boxing and horse racing. New players can receive a massive 100% match bonus up to 200, while existing customers can claim 35% cashback on their first three deposits.
William Hill Casino:
William Hill Casino is one of the biggest names in the industry, operating in Europe, Asia and North America. Founded in 1984, this online casino has more than 400 games to choose from, including slots and table games, with a wide array of software providers like WagerLogic, Big Time Gaming and Rival.
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SAN JOSE, CA, May 18, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- After being in business for more than 25 years, The Halal Guys is expanding from New York City's most popular food cart to its first Northern California brick-and-mortar location in San Jose. The fast casual concept, known for its never-ending lines and a simple menu of various Middle Eastern dishes, has already been well received in Houston, Chicago and Southern California. Starting June 3rd, residents of San Jose and neighboring communities in the Bay Area will be able to nosh on gyro sandwiches, chicken-and-rice platters and world famous white sauce.
The NYC-based concept has signed a deal with Fransmart, who is known for building other popular concepts such as Five Guys, to bring franchised units to Northern California. The first location will open on Friday, June 3rd at 81 Curtner Ave #20, San Jose, CA 95125 with plans to expand all throughout Northern California. The first 100 guests in line will receive a free entree and the first 2,500 guests in line will receive a choice of a complimentary Halal Guys t-shirt or pair of sunglasses.
"Since living in New York City, I've always been a huge fan of The Halal Guys and I'm really excited to bring a NYC favorite to the Bay Area. San Jose's location is a strong anchor for the South Bay with great proximity to other South Bay neighborhoods, San Jose State University, Downtown San Jose, and centrally located between three highways for easy access," according to Patrick Mock, Operating Franchisee.
For fans who cannot wait to try this popular concept, The Halal Guys San Jose is taking delivery orders through Caviar, the Bay Area food delivery service. Fare like gyro sandwiches and chicken-and-rice platters are being delivered between 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. through May 20th.
The Halal Guys aim to be different and encourage patrons across America to ditch burgers for something unique. They pride themselves on only using high-quality products like their chicken, which has never been frozen and is marinated and seasoned overnight, then cooked and chopped on the grill and served directly to their plate to ensure a crave worthy meal that's piping hot. The Halal Guys' mission is to ensure that every customer leaves happy, with a smile on their face and a satisfaction that brings them back again.
ABOUT THE HALAL GUYS:
The Halal Guys grew from its humble beginnings as a food cart on the streets of New York City to a global icon known as the largest American halal street food concept in the world. This Manhattan-based landmark was created by three like-minded men from Egypt who came to America in search of a lucrative life. When the founders noticed many cab drivers in New York were looking for a place to buy meals in Manhattan, they created their first food cart and quickly grew into a leading tourist and native New Yorker destination for American hHalal fare. In 2013, The Halal Guys were ranked the most popular food truck reviewed on FourSquare and the third most Yelped restaurant in the United States in 2014 with more than 7,600 reviews and a 4.5 average star rating.
The Halal Guys have been recognized by TIME Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, The New York Times and The Huffington Post. For more information, visit: www.53rdand6th.com, www.thehalalguysfranchise.com.
For updates of the Bay Area locations follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
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May 17, 2016 | By Benedict
Prusa Research, the Czech 3D printer manufacturer behind the Prusa line of RepRap 3D printers, has unveiled its latest model: the Original Prusa i3 MK2. The kit is available for preorder at 739 ($833) for European market (including 21% VAT) and $699 for US customers (no VAT), with shipping due to begin May 18.
One of the most popular 3D printers in the RepRap universe, the Prusa i3, designed by Czech engineer Josef Prusa, was first introduced to the RepRap community in 2012. That machine, which had a build volume of 200 x 200 x 200 mm, has now been developed into the MK2, which boasts a 31% larger build volume of 250 x 210 x 200 mm, a new HeatBed MK42 print bed, 40% faster printing speeds, and many further improvements.
Although the Prusa remains an open-source 3D printer, Prusa Research began selling DIY kits for the Prusa i3 around a year ago. This business model has been highly successful, with Prusa Research now producing around 500 printers a month for its growing customer base. The MK2 is also being sold in kit form, allowing makers to assemble and modify their 3D printer to their own specifications. As a gesture of loyalty to owners of the i3, Prusa Research has worked hard to ensure that existing customers can upgrade to the MK2 without purchasing a new printer in its entirety.
An important new feature in the Original Prusa i3 MK2 is its heated print bed. The HeatBed MK42 uses three power zones, with the corners of the bed getting slightly warmer than the center to form a warm air shield at the print bed edge. This feature, combined with the larger build volume, purportedly equips the MK2 for the printing of much larger parts, reducing the chances of warping caused by uneven heat distribution. Additionally, the surface of the print bed now consists of indestructible Ultem PEI instead of glass, laminated directly on top of the heater traces, with the heatbed substrate increased to 3mm.
Another new feature of the MK2 is its integrated leadscrew Z axis, which has abolished the coupling of previous models to eliminate wobble and ensure perfect layer alignment. According to Prusa Research, the new Z axis contributes to faster printing, wear resistance, and the ability to use Z-Lift. Further construction improvements have also been made, including improved frame stability, a fully bolted bed, and a new easy access door to the electronics.
In response to user feedback on the original Prusa i3, Prusa Research has also introduced automatic calibration into the MK2. The team reworked its Marlin script to introduce 9 calibration points on the bed substrate. The 3D printer can then approximate a 3D grid representing the tilt and curvature of the print bed, helping to ensure a perfect first layer. Further adjustments to Marlin have resulted in an error diagnosis system (shown below) and a printer statistics tracker.
As part of the total printer revamp, the i3s E3D V6Lite hotend has been upgraded to the E3D V6Full, capable of faster plastic deposition. The temperature limit has consequently been increased to 300C, making the MK2 compatible with advanced polymers such as PC and other nylon blends.
In spite of the MK2 addition, the new Prusa 3D printer is being billed as a completely new machine: We had plenty of time and a few thousand printers to collect all the feedback on the already awesome Original i3, said Josef Prusa, CEO and founder of Prusa Research. We decided to push it even further. This is not just a simple upgrade. This is a new generation with completely new or highly upgraded features. Weve created the ultimate i3 design.
New features of the Original Prusa i3 MK2 3D printer:
HeatBed MK42 heated print bed
PEI print surface
Integrated leadscrew Z axis
Auto leveling
Improved construction
New E3D V6Full hotend
Improved firmware
Slicer support
Each Original Prusa i3 MK2 3D printer kit ordered from the Prusa online shop will ship with a free roll of filament.
Posted in 3D Printer
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Darrell wrote at 10/8/2016 9:20:24 PM:I bought this kit after assembling an amazon copy.. This printer is great! (ok its just an opinion) $699 + $72 for expedited shipping to the USA. Although not listed in the massive list to price compare, I think it should be there.Brian wrote at 9/1/2016 5:41:21 PM:Hi, Just want to say that I got this printer as a kit yesterday. It is my first 3D printer. I assembled it in 8 hours. The manuel is very good except the pictures are very small, so you will have to look at them online also to see the details in the pictures. No problems what so ever. But I still have not printed anything, but I cannot imagine that it will take very long.Doug Clark wrote at 8/15/2016 1:23:26 PM:This printer will melt when trying to print ABS. The build instructions are not clear and assembling will require an above average skill set. The company does not stand behind its product of a warranty claim is to be made, they are making me purchase replacement parts after owning the device for a month. The forum is full of trolls who have an amateur skill level at best. Buyer beware do not purchase this unit its not what you would expect.Hendrik wrote at 5/18/2016 4:53:26 PM:But where's the dual printhead they were contemplating?!Anja wrote at 5/18/2016 3:56:52 PM:@Steve: Thanks, the price is fixed.Steve wrote at 5/18/2016 3:26:23 PM:I think, there is a mistake in the price. It should be 699 or $846. Check the website!Ken wrote at 5/18/2016 8:12:29 AM:If it's so revolutionary ... why not call it the i4? ... The 'i' stands for Iteration.
May 18, 2016 | By Tess
Siemens, the global electronics and industrial conglomerate, has just announced an important partnership with HP Inc., which just yesterday unveiled its Jet Fusion 3D Printer. Together, the companies will work towards transforming additive manufacturing from a prototyping technology to a viable option for full production utilization. With the unveiling of the HP Jet Fusion 3D printer, which can print at 10 times the speed for half the cost of existing 3D printing systems, and Siemens additive manufacturing software, which is aimed at fulfilling the HP printers full potential, this transformation might just be around the corner.
According to a press release from the company, Siemens 3D printing software will allow for both multi-material and multi-color 3D printing on both the new Multi Jet Fusion system and HPs Jet Fusion 3D printers. The software, which is aimed at maximizing the high-precision printers potentials, is capable of increasing print control and controlling both color and material properties down to the voxel (3D pixel). These advantages, along with the quicker speeds and reduced costs of the new 3D printing systems, will make additive manufacturing a solid option for the manufacturing of final parts and product development.
Chuck Grindstaff, President and Chief Executive Offiver at Siemens PLM Software says of the collaboration, Additive manufacturing technology is bringing about an industrial revolution in manufacturing, allowing business to use 3D printing to realize creativity and innovation in product development. HPs new 3D printing technology driven by Siemens additive manufacturing software will provide engineers a new level of design freedom, customization and speed. Companies will be able develop products that perform better with less weight and more strength. They will be able to print assembly components as one part with varying characteristics, saving time and money while reducing the chance of manufacturing errors. These new capabilities will change how parts are made but more importantly how products are envisioned.
With the end goal of industrializing 3D printing technologies, Siemens has developed a software capable of keeping up with hardware advancements, which gives makers the ability to optimize their printers capabilities. As mentioned, the software offers designers and makers control of their design down to the voxel, which includes such properties as texture, density, strength, friction, and electrical and thermal characteristics. With voxel-like design precision, 3D printers such as HPs Jet Fusion can be used to make much higher quality parts with a greater design possibility. Siemens end-to-end design suite consists of PLM software, integrated automation, and manufacturing operations management.
Stephen Nigro, President of HPs 3D printing business explains, For customers to take full advantage of HPs new Multi Jet Fusion technologys ability to control material and part characteristics at the voxel level, CAD/CAM/CAE systems have to support advanced design and analysis techniques. Siemens software expertise in product lifecycle management combined with HP innovation will help elevate 3D printing from a prototyping solution into production.
The collaboration with HP Inc. is not Siemens first foray into additive manufacturing technologies as the company has been a proponent for a wide variety of 3D printing applications. For instance, earlier this year the global technology company invested 21.4 million to open a state-of-the-art metal 3D printing facility in Sweden, while just last month the company unveiled SiSpis, a cluster of 3D printing spider robots, as well as announced their partnership with Local Motors for a large-scale 3D printed car manufacturing development. With their latest innovation and partnership with HP Inc. who have just released one of the most promising 3D printer systems of late, there is little doubt Siemens is at the fore of industrializing additive manufacturing technologies.
Posted in 3D Printer Company
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May 18, 2016 | By Alec
It seems like the US Navy has become a 3D printing believer. After extensive 3D printing experiments on land and at sea, the Navy is already testing 3D printed components in the field. Just two months ago, they launched Trident II D5 Ballistic Missile with a 3D printed component, while the Navy has just revealed plans for a test flight with a Boeing V-22 Osprey with crucial 3D printed parts. The test has been organized by the Naval Air Systems Command (NavAir), and will take place in June.
This test has come as a surprise to NavAir themselves as well. According to Elizabeth McMichael, leader of the NavAir AM and Digital Thread Integrated Product Team (IPT), NavAir wanted to take a flight-critical 3D printed part into the air three years after development started. As she revealed, this 3D printed titanium part for the Boeing V-22 Osprey was completed in about half of that time.
The announcement was made at the Navys Sea-Air-Space Exposition earlier this week, during which McMichael also gave more insights into the Navys 3D printing activities and roadmap for the future. When we stood up AM and Digital Thread IPT at NavAir, we wanted to align a lot of efforts, McMichael said. A lot of people were using additive manufacturing in different pockets but what we were doing was often repeating things and sometimes not focusing on some of the big issues associated with AM and being able to use it for things like flight-critical parts. As its abilities became apparent, two main NavAir goals were singled out: making parts and certifying them for use.
The latter goal is especially remarkable. Though the technology has been on the navys radar for two decades, certification and qualification have remained constant issues. An airplanes engine nacelle and link attachment can be 3D printed in as little three days, McMichael said, but it can take three months to certify them. Thats not right, she said during the announcement. If I were queen for a day, I would make the certification process weeks or days. The NavAir group, which is planning to start working with stainless steel powders later this month, is therefore mostly focused on developing industry standards for 3D printed parts.
Hopefully, these NavAir efforts will provide insights that the entire military-industrial complex can use to set up a digital infrastructure to manage all 3D printing data. A disruptive technology like this requires a disruptive process to manage it and a disruptive infrastructure because it doesnt exist right now in NAVAIR, an infrastructure that is going to enable you to have all the data, secured, that is a single authoritative source that lets you make these parts, McMichael said. Thats what were trying to develop and demonstrate right now, in parallel with the additive manufacturing development.
But the last few years have also been insightful. [One of the key lessons learnt] is that this technology lets you go a lot faster than we thought, McMichael said. Dr. Bill Frazier, chief scientist of Air Vehicle Engineering agreed, and noted that their 3D printed aircraft parts showed no signs of fatigue and crack propagation whatsoever. He also shared a glimpse of their activities, explaining that their manufacturing efforts includes parts demonstration, statistically substantiated data development and taking all that knowledge and lessons learned and folding that into computational models that will help us define a quality processing envelope so that we can replicate this across machines and processes so you can assure yourself a product of quality, he said. Dont want to waste time and money doing things that cant be replicated.
Both see the test flight with the V-22 Osprey aircraft as an excellent first result. Specifically, several parts, links and fittings will be tested, made from titanium-aluminum alloy Ti-6Al-4V. We dont think there is a lot of risk to it, McMichael said of the test, adding that they have completely locked down the manufacturing process. This is not something we can do and just play around with nice little knobs and dials that you can adjust. Ultimately, I want to be able to print these parts wherever we need them, whenever we need them.
While significant work especially in terms of regulations and procedures is still necessary, this test flight will enable NavAir to see how far theyve come already. The data they can gather from the test will hopefully also serve to showcase a need for the government to work with industry partners on next-gen aircraft design, McMichael argued. It's as much an art right now as anything else, she said.
But those efforts can probably count on the new R&D climate Defense Secretary Ash Carter has been fostering within the defense sector. Just last Tuesday, he revealed plans to spend $72 billion in R&D in fiscal year 2017, up from $66 billion in 2014. We need to continue to invest in innovation and think outside our five-sided box, the secretary said. This massive investment is more than double what Apple, Intel and Google parent Alphabet combined spent on R&D in 2014. Military 3D printing applications, it seems, are about to receive a huge boost.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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John Galt Steel wrote at 5/25/2016 6:47:54 PM:YES Technology is faster than Certification, that is why Traceability from our ISO PED certified Mills with ASTM DIN EN specifications to the latest editions which contain Chemical analysis with percent by mass and Sieve analysis are extremely important for our 316L metal powder we distribute to our customers. We work hard to keep up with the every day changing additive manufacturing metal powder certification requirements so that you can go back to inventing in this exciting technology!
"I did spaghetti dinners, fish fries, family nights," Shoemaker says. To Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in the area, he pitched the VFW as a relaxed environment where they could have conversations with their brothers and sisters in arms. But just two of 20 young veterans he spoke with joined. The post kept losing money, and closed in 2014.
As VFW posts die off, newer veterans are worse off for it, losing the chance to draw on older veterans' experiences.
Russell Attema served two tours in Vietnam with the Army Rangers. Afterward, he told few people that he had been to war. Only later, when he joined the American Legion in the 1990s, did he realize the benefit of shared experience among veterans. "Same mud, same blood," he says. "There's no way to explain what you're dealing with to someone who hasn't worn the uniform."
Since joining Post 1 six years ago, he's tried to help younger veterans learn from his experiences. "They need to know that things are going to be OK," says Attema, who is 65. "I've had a number of conversations with guys from Iraq and Afghanistan, and I'll be bawling in the corner with them."
The post's Vietnam veterans are among the most welcoming to younger members. "We didn't get any parades when we came home," says John Holland, 68, a Marine Corps veteran of Vietnam. When he joined the VFW in 1984, he wasn't welcomed by the World War II and Korea vets. "We're not going to see it happen again," Holland says. He takes pride in the post's embrace of female and gay veterans. "If you're eligible to be a member, you're welcome here."
Bartges, who now serves as the post's senior vice commander, found camaraderie with older members: "It gives you a sense of where you've been and where you come from."
Ray Starkey, one of Bartges' friends, is Post 1's oldest member at 94. He joined in 1951. Back then, membership topped 2,000. More recently, he worried that the post would just fade away. But now, as he sits in a chair on a recent evening watching younger members in animated conversations, he smiles and says, "It's getting stronger. We need them."
Brian Mockenhaupt is a former Army infantryman who served two tours in Iraq.
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HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE Deep in the 60,000 acres of desert on Holloman Air Base, past a billboard that shows a Predator soaring in the sky, lies a high-security compound where Americas drone pilots learn to hunt and kill from half a world away.
But the Farm, as the little-known Air Force boot camp is known, faces a crisis.
Experienced pilots and crews complain of too much work, too much strain and too little chance for promotion operating the Predator and Reaper drones that provide surveillance and that fire missiles in Iraq, Syria and other war zones. Partly as a result, too few young officers want to join their ranks.
The Air Force has struggled with a drone pilot shortage since at least 2007, records show. In fiscal year 2014, the most recent data available, the Air Force trained 180 new pilots while 240 veterans left the field.
Its extremely stressful and extremely difficult, said Peter Pepe LeHew, who retired in 2012 and joined private industry. He called the work, which sometimes involved flying surveillance in one country in the morning and bombing another in the afternoon, mentally fatiguing.
It hasnt helped that books, at least one Hollywood film and an off-Broadway play by the director of The Lion King have stigmatized drone pilots as the Chair Force, tormented joystick jockeys who fight foreign wars by remote control, then stagger home each night.
Its a far cry from the swaggering, adrenaline-laced exploits of Tom Cruise in Top Gun, which inspired a generation of fighter pilots three decades ago.
All our pilots ever hear is that this work is difficult, underappreciated and fatiguing, said Col. Robert E. Kiebler, commander at Holloman. We must change that image.
Desperate to find a solution, the Air Force intends to ease the workload for drone pilots, boost their prospects for career advancement, and upgrade living and working conditions on drone bases across the United States.
The plans were developed after Air Force officials visited 13 bases and heard pilots and their commanders say drones may be the future of warfare, but flying fighter jets into the blue yonder gets far more respect.
Looking into the eyes of the pilots out there, you can tell theyre tired and worn out, said an Air Force official who interviewed many of the pilots. Theres a feeling of hopelessness that they cant continue doing this unless something changes.
Some pilots were forced to work six days a week, they said, operating drones an average of 900 hours a year. Fighter pilots, by contrast, fly an average of 250 hours a year. The drone pilots complained as well about inadequate housing and child-care services at drone bases.
In early October, the review team gave its recommendations to Gen. Herbert Hawk Carlisle, head of Air Combat Command, which oversees drone operations from Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Hampton, Va.
The Air Force has offered a retention bonus of $15,000 a year for drone pilots to stay. It also lowered from 65 to 60 the number of drone missions, called combat air patrols, that are required each day. That freed up pilots to help become instructors at Holloman.
New pilots
Spread across the Chihuahua Desert, just east of the White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico, Holloman is key to the Air Force effort to reboot its drone force.
Commanders want to train 401 new drone pilots this year about 40 percent more than last year in a sun-blasted cluster of air-conditioned trailers deep inside the base. That includes 80 pilots previously assigned to fly bombers, cargo planes and fighter jets.
Weve needed the help out here for a while now, Lt. Col. Steven Beattie, training squadron commander, said as he stood in the scorching heat. Most people in this community love what theyre doing. Theyre just getting burned out by the pace of operations.
A total of 99 new instructors will arrive over the next year, part of a buildup that will make this base the largest air crew training facility in the Air Force.
Training lasts four months. Pilots start with simulators, toggling a joystick and learning to operate the drones high-powered cameras and sensors. They learn to avoid abrupt movements on the control panel that could break the drones satellite connection.
From there, they begin to remotely fly Predators and Reapers over Hollomans hundreds of square miles of restricted airspace.
To provide targets, contractors built several fake towns in the desert with low-slung buildings, faux mosques and paid crews to pose as soldiers, militants and townspeople.
The trainee pilots practice scenarios that include aerial surveillance of simulated mass beheadings, suicide bombings and U.S. special forces raids.
High-value targets
When reporters visited on a recent afternoon, a pilot in his third month of training was ordered to find high-value targets previously identified in a faux intelligence briefing.
Inside the darkened trailer, facing an array of glowing computer screens, the trainee patiently flew a Reaper at 25,000 feet for more than two hours over a fake town in a so-called SCAR mission (strike coordination and reconnaissance).
A voice on his radio advised no friendlies on the ground as he studied images from the drones infrared camera, switching at times to zoom lenses to pierce the clouds.
Once he spotted the targets, he called in the coordinates and focused his targeting laser on it. In a real war zone, a fighter jet could then launch a bomb.
Outside, ungainly gray drones took off and landed on a distant runway, and the unmistakable buzz of their propellers resounded off the desert floor. A Predator and a Reaper sat on a nearby tarmac for visiting photographers.
My wife wanted to take a picture with me and the kids in front of the plane, said an instructor. I was like, Its been two years since Ive seen this aircraft (so close). Ive just been too busy.
After two misguided tourists tried to rescue a baby bison at Yellowstone last week, the calf ended up euthanized by park officials who said the human intervention had caused its mother to reject it. The tourists were fined $110 for violating park regulations, but they apparently got away without a scratch.
They were probably lucky the calfs adult brethren didnt get involved. Since 1980, bison have been responsible for more animal-caused injuries to pedestrians in Yellowstone than any other species, including carnivorous predators such as wolves and grizzly bears. It doesnt help that peak tourist season is also peak mating season for Americas national mammal, when male bulls are feeling particularly frisky and aggressive.
The park has carried out intense public information campaigns about the dangers of the massive bovines. It requires visitors to stay 75 feet away from the animals, and it passes out fliers featuring a graphic of a bison tossing a camera-toting visitor in the air. In recent times, those measures have helped keep the bison-inflicted injuries between zero and two each year.
Then, in 2015, five people were tossed or gored by Yellowstone bison four so badly that they had to be hospitalized. So Cara Cherry, who works with the National Park Service as an officer with the Centers for Disease Controls Epidemic Intelligence Service, decided to investigate.
Cherry, a veterinarian by training, pulled data on the incidents over the decades. What she found probably wont surprise most people familiar with smartphones.
From 1980 to 1999, there were 35 of what Cherry called bison encounters. Of those, 29 percent involved photography, and most of those injured were at least 10 feet from the bison. From 2000 to 2015, 25 people were injured, nearly half of them during some photography-related activity, Cherry said in an interview.
In 2015, however, four of the five people were injured when they approached a bison, and three were taking photos from a distance of between three and six feet. One was using an iPad. Two had turned their back on the bison, and one of them, Cherry wrote in a CDC report in March, was taking a cell phone self-portrait (selfie), which necessitated getting close to the animal.
The biggest thing really seemed to be photography in terms of reasons people approach bison too closely, Cherry said, and she theorized that the 2015 increase probably had something to do with smartphone cameras more limited zooms. Never mind those pesky park regulations: If you want a photo of or with a bison, youve got to get close.
Cherry said her colleagues are studying what makes people think approaching a 1,500-pound animal is a good idea. Does their hulking, statue-like presence make Yellowstone visitors believe theyre docile? But she also pointed out that bison and Yellowstone are mere symptoms of a bigger selfie-with-wildlife problem. Last fall, for example, a Colorado park closed because too many people were trying to take selfies with bears.
It does seem like a selfie phenomenon with wildlife globally has taken off, she said.
Cherrys report is only the most recent to find that when wild animals hurt people, the people are often to blame. In February, researchers reported that about half of attacks by large carnivores including bears, wolves, coyotes and cougars on people in North America, Russia and three European countries were the result of risk-enhancing human behavior.
Mind-blowingly, the most common risks included parents leaving children unattended and approaching a female with young.
AUSTIN, Texas Texas has identified 33 cases of the Zika virus that all have been associated with overseas travel, but the virus is expected to begin spreading locally within the state during the sweaty upcoming summer months, top health officials said Tuesday.
Department of State Health Services Commissioner John Hellerstedt told a Texas Senate health panel that potential hot zones include Dallas, Houston, the Gulf Coast and the Rio Grande Valley. Poor areas are likely to be hardest hit since they tend to be rife with standing water and bits of old tires that are breeding havens for mosquitoes, which carry the virus.
We do believe that Texas will, at some point, likely experience mosquito vector transmission, Department of State Health Services Commissioner John Hellerstedt told a state Senate health committee meeting. We dont know when and we dont really know at what level that will occur.
There have been 500-plus cases of Zika in the continental U.S., but so far all involved travel to foreign locales. Hellerstedt said the virus had now been detected in nearly all of Latin America and that some cases of local transmission had been reported in Mexico, though not along the U.S. border.
One of the big advantages that we have over other parts of the world in terms of Zika is our ability to see it coming and prepare for it, he said.
Testing for the virus can be complicated since one method involves drawing blood that will only come up positive in people infected for a window of up to seven days after exposure. Also, Texas only has the capacity to conduct a few dozen such tests a week, meaning an outbreak could overwhelm the system.
Gov. Greg Abbott has created an infectious disease task force, and academics and scientists around the state are also working on a vaccine but dont expect it to be ready by Memorial Day, when peak mosquito season begins.
The key to containing the virus is mosquito eradication, most of which is funded locally. Dallas County and other areas have recent experience with spraying from the air to curb the mosquito-borne spread of the West Nile virus but such efforts arent likely to be successful since Zika is spread by the Aedes species mosquito, which is harder to fight from afar than other species.
Texas officials already are recalling the lessons of Ebola, when a Liberian man died in Dallas and two nurses became infected while treating him sparking widespread fear. Sen. Donna Campbell, a New Braunfels Republican, opened Tuesdays hearing by saying officials have seen what happens when we kind of get behind the 8 ball like the state did with Ebola.
But Zika is easier to spread than Ebola and can be contracted via mosquitoes or through sexual contact. Campbell pressed officials on why Texas cant simply exterminate all mosquitoes, saying Im just interested in killing them all.
Peter Hotez, a task force member and pediatrician and microbiologist at the Baylor College of Medicine, said that while he was never worried about a widespread Ebola outbreak in Texas, he does worry about one occurring with Zika. He said such an outbreak affecting just a small percentage of Texas population could cause up to $1 billion in lost productivity, hospitalization costs and Medicaid expenditures.
Albuquerque police may struggle to keep the department fully staffed for the next 10 to 15 years, according to a draft of a study examining how the department can grow the size of the force.
A graphic in the study obtained by the Journal on Tuesday contradicts some previous estimates from police officials, who had said the department can be fully staffed in 2017. Celina Espinoza, a spokeswoman for the department, said police administrators are still hopeful of reaching that goal and said the data in the study is the worst-case scenario for the department.
We are doing everything we can and trying to think outside of the box and make sure (the statistics in the graphic) is not what we see in the city of Albuquerque, she said.
The new study, first reported by KOB-TV on Monday, includes predictions on the number of retirements, resignations and terminations the department is expecting from 2016 through 2031. In that time, the department plans to slowly grow the ranks by graduating 80 cadets per year, according to the study.
But under that plan, it may mean the department wont have consistently more than 1,000 officers until about 2026 or 2031.
Espinoza said police officials are planning to try additional things like holding lateral academies to hire officers from other departments and continue to push policy makers for return to work legislation to grow the size of the force at a faster pace.
City Councilor Pat Davis said the data show the city needs to be more aggressive.
Some folks are going to look at (the study) and say its the administration coming up with a plan, but really passing the buck onto the next administration, Davis said. They have to be more aggressive than (being fully staffed in) 10 years.
The study is being done as part of a settlement between the city of Albuquerque and the Department of Justice, which investigated and found Albuquerque police had a culture of aggression and too often used excessive force. The department previously completed a staffing study, which was done by a consultant, and police Chief Gorden Eden released a new policing strategy to comply with terms of the settlement, Espinoza said.
Albuquerque police currently are underway with a years-long reform effort that aims to address the DOJs findings through a series of reforms. And police officials have said a fully staffed department is important to improve relationships between police and the community.
There are currently about 850 sworn officers on the force but 55 officers are expected to retire this year and 25 are expected to leave the department for other reasons, according to the study. So the department will have to graduate 80 cadets from the police academy just to keep pace.
Shaun Willoughby, the president of the Albuquerque Police Officers Association, said that while the department may graduate close to 80 cadets this year, he questioned whether they could sustain those numbers for 10 years or so.
I think its a wake-up call for city leaders, he said of the study.
The study predicts that for the next 15 or so years, the number of retirements annually will range from as low as 13 in 2019 to as much as 78 in 2028. It also predicts that 25 officers will leave the department for other reasons, like a termination, during that time frame. There were 51 officers who resigned or were terminated or left for reasons other than retirement in 2015.
In recent years, as the number of officers in Albuquerque decreased, response times to the most serious calls for service have gotten slower. In mid-2016, police were responding to priority 1 calls for service in 11 minutes and 24 seconds on average, according to city documents. The response to those calls was 10 minutes and 34 seconds in 2014.
Fenway was the dog he needed when he needed a friend most, transitioning from soldier to civilian nine years ago when the ruts of war and routine are hard to fill.
I was trying to come out of the military and be normal, Jon Weisser said. Fenway was instrumental in that process.
The big, deaf husky with copper-red coloring was always there by Weissers side in bed when the night terrors came and loud sounds in the dark triggered images of incoming mortar rounds ripping through the roof.
It was something about that dog, that gentle presence, that calmed him, saved him.
Weisser had saved Fenway, too. The dog had endured long years of abuse, repeatedly beaten with a 2-by-4 that left him skittish and scared of men except for Weisser, who adopted Fenway and took him home.
Man and dog became inseparable. And they became better for it.
I thought of him as a son, Weisser said from his home in Brighton, Colo., northeast of Denver.
Eventually, Weisser and Fenways family grew to include Felicia, Weissers wife of three years, and their 9-month-old son (Weisser also has an older daughter from a previous relationship). And then came Chewy, a tiny cairn terrier, and Keanu, a red husky who though not related grew up to look just like Fenway.
The Weissers and their three dogs were traveling together in the predawn hours of an unusually chilly April 19 days after a quick-moving snowstorm when their Ford pickup and trailer hit an icy patch on Interstate 25 as it crosses over U.S. 285 at exit 290 south of Santa Fe. The slide caused the truck and trailer to fishtail and flip off the highway, hurling much of its contents onto the frozen ground, including Weisser.
I have one mental picture of the accident, and thats of the trailer sitting on top of my pickup, he said. Thats the only thing I can remember, and then the first thing I remember after that was my wife standing over me in the hospital while someone was digging gravel out of my back.
Thankfully, his wife and son suffered only a few scrapes and bruises. Weisser, though, incurred a broken clavicle, three broken ribs, extensive bruising and road rash. He is unable to use his left arm which means that for the next six months or so it will be hard for him to run his landscaping business.
Everything hurts, he said. Every jostle, every bump in the road hurts like smashing a finger in the door of the car.
And then came word about the dogs.
Little Chewys body was found near the crash site, likely struck by oncoming traffic as he wandered dazed in the dark. Only one of the red huskies was located. That turned out to be Keanu.
But there was no sign of Fenway, who at age 16 is an old boy.
That old boy has now been missing a month.
Almost weekly, Weisser has made the six-hour journey from Brighton to the crash site to search for his beloved dog. The pain of broken bones cannot match the pain in his broken heart.
Weisser is not alone. Two days after the crash, Lily Azures Santa Fe animal tracker extraordinaire, dog whisperer and a 2015 recipient of the Journals Angels Among Us honor joined in the search. Volunteers from the East Mountain Pet Alert, NMDOG, Second Chance Rescue and Santa Fe NM Lost Pets, among others, have also been searching. More than 400 fliers have been distributed. Social media sites are flooded with information on the missing pooch. Altitude FX, a Santa Fe production company, launched a drone to search for the dog from the skies.
There have been sightings, most of them in Eldorado, a community of adobe homes and rolling hills dotted with juniper and pinon. Last weekend, a band of volunteers including Azures, Weisser and dog Keanu hiked through a horse pasture where a dog matching Fenways description had been sighted.
We did find relatively fresh tracks, Azures wrote in her Facebook update on the search Sunday. It appears hes using the green belt and is probably in someones backyard without their knowledge.
Monday morning another Fenway sighting was reported in the Eldorado area.
It was a real kick in the butt, Weisser said. I had just left for home the night before.
And so Tuesday he headed back to New Mexico, no matter the bumps in the road or the grief in his heart, in the hopes of finding the dog who found him years ago.
I pray every day that someone will accidentally lock Fenway in their backyard or he will accidentally get locked in a barn stall or a million other possibilities so that I can come and just pick him up and bring him back home to his bed, he said. I want my family back, at least what I can get back, so that we can all get to healing.
How to help
Fenway is a 16-year-old red husky male who is deaf and easily frightened. He is chipped, but its believed his collar and tags were lost in the crash.
Sightings have been reported in the Eldorado area, south of Santa Fe near Interstate 25 and U.S. 285. Report sightings immediately to Lily Azures, a Santa Fe dog tracker, at 505-920-7989.
To donate to the Fenway search fund and Weisser family support: www.gofundme.com/247y4pf6
Fenway updates can be found on the East Mountain Pet Alerts Facebook page.
UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Joline at 823-3603, jkrueger@abqjournal.com or follow her on Twitter @jolinegkg. Go to ABQjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.
SANTA FE New laws that allow some 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections, increase the sit-out period for student athletes with concussions and set up a legal framework for Uber and other ride-hailing companies officially take effect today in New Mexico.
In all, 47 bills passed during this years legislative session and signed into law hit the books today, a list that also includes Jaydons Law, a measure named for Jaydon Chavez-Silver, an Albuquerque teen who was shot and killed while attending a house party last summer.
Starting today, it will allow judges to review the juvenile records of certain adult defendants charged with felony offenses when the judge is considering bail and conditions of release.
The bills sponsor, House Majority Leader Nate Gentry, R-Albuquerque, said Tuesday that the new law would fix what he described as a flaw in the states legal system, while also improving public safety.
Its going to allow judges to make decisions on pretrial release so we dont have dangerous individuals out on the streets, Gentry told the Journal .
Lawmakers approved a total of 101 bills in this years session, plus a constitutional amendment on reforming the states bail system that will go before voters in November.
Although many of those bills take effect today per the state Constitution, some took effect immediately upon being signed by Gov. Susana Martinez, and others take effect July 1 the start of the states budget year.
The bill allowing 17-year-olds who will turn 18 before the general election to for the first time ever vote in this years primary could have the most immediate effect. It was sponsored by Rep. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces.
A total of 1,884 17-year-olds registered in advance of a deadline earlier this month to vote in the June 7 primary election, according to the Secretary of States Office. Those voters can begin voting today via in-person voting at county clerks offices or alternative sites designated by county clerks. Additional early voting sites open Saturday.
Of the 17-year-olds registered to vote, 1,054 or roughly 56 percent are registered Democrats and 471 are registered Republicans, said Kari Fresquez, the elections director for the Secretary of States Office. The rest either declined to affiliate with a political party or are registered with a minor party.
Meanwhile, other laws taking effect today include a bill that will open the door for the Spaceport Authority, near Truth or Consequences, to obtain a governmental liquor license and the new concussion law, which requires student athletes and other young people who have suffered brain injuries to stay off the field or court for 10 days, up from the previous minimum of seven days.
SANTA FE The New Mexico Republican Partys state convention this weekend could take place in the dark at least figuratively.
Sandia Resort and Casino officials notified GOP staffers on Tuesday that Sandia Pueblos tribal government will not allow news media to attend the convention, which will include a hotly contested race for a Republican National Committee post and the election of delegates to attend the partys national convention.
Several media outlets, including the Journal, had previously submitted requests to the state GOP for media credentials.
State GOP spokesman Tucker Keene said the Republican Party of New Mexico likely would not hold future events at the Sandia Resort and Casino in light of the announcement, but said the late notice made changing venues for the weekend event impossible.
This took months and months to plan, and four days is simply not enough time (to make a change), Keene told the Journal.
He also said the news media ban was not mentioned in the contract to rent space for the convention.
A receptionist in the office of Sandia Pueblo Gov. Isaac Lujan confirmed the news media ban Tuesday afternoon but said the Tribal Council is scheduled to discuss the issue during a meeting today.
Longtime New Mexico political observer Brian Sanderoff said the Republican Party would benefit from having news reporters present at the convention, largely because it would allow the speeches of party leaders to be more widely circulated.
It is in the best interests of the Republican Party to make sure the media is allowed to cover the New Mexico Republican State Convention, given the importance of the meeting and the negative appearance that would be created if the meeting is not open to the public, Sanderoff told the Journal.
At Saturdays convention, officially called the 2016 quadrennial state convention, New Mexico Republicans will select 24 delegates to its national party convention in Cleveland in July.
There has been a surge of interest this year in being a national delegate, driven largely by a raucous Republican presidential primary race. New York billionaire Donald Trump is the partys presumptive nominee, but some members of the GOP establishment have said they will not back Trump.
A total of 161 individuals have applied to be GOP delegates this year, nearly double the 81 applicants the party received in 2012, Keene said.
This weekends convention also will include a face-off for a Republican National Committeeman post between Pat Rogers, who has held the position since 2008, and Harvey Yates Jr., a former state GOP chairman who is trying to oust him. The Rogers-Yates race has divided party insiders and led to a fissure in the ranks of Republican lawmakers.
Yates, an oilman, has been an outspoken and persistent critic of Jay McCleskey, Gov. Susana Martinezs political adviser, while Rogers, an Albuquerque attorney, has been linked to the Martinez administration and McCleskey.
Meanwhile, the media blackout comes less than two weeks after the state Republican Party announced plans to charge media representatives $100 to cover the convention. The GOP quickly reversed itself and said that reporters would not have to pay for a press pass.
Susan Boe, executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, said she hopes the Sandia media ban will be overturned, even though political parties are not subject to the states Open Meetings Act.
Theyre clearly going to be talking about public business that will have a huge impact on life here in New Mexico, Boe told the Journal of the conventions attendees. I cant imagine a national convention not allowing the press to attend.
Copyright 2016 Albuquerque Journal
A diverse mix of candidates awaits Democrats choosing their nominee for Bernalillo County treasurer.
Patrick Padilla whose long political career has withstood an indictment, a harassment investigation and other dustups wants his old office back.
His successor as treasurer, Manny Ortiz, wants to keep the job, even as he fights county commissioners in court over the legal bills he rang up battling a recall campaign.
And two newcomers to elected office, Nancy Marie Bearce and Christopher J. Sanchez, are asking voters to support a change in direction entirely. Bearce is a neighborhood leader with a background in government, and Sanchez is the accounting manager in the treasurers office.
Republican candidatesKim Hillard and Christopher Mario Romero are running for the Republican nomination to serve as Bernalillo County treasurer.
Hillard, a retired database and system administrator, said that restoring confidence in the office would be his top priority.
Romero said this month that he hadnt decided whether to actively campaign for the office. He didnt return a Journal questionnaire. The deadline to withdraw from the ballot has already passed.
Hillard, for his part, said he would be committed to open and transparent government and welcome regular outside audits to evaluate the treasurers office.
He would pursue a balanced investment portfolio and hire a well-qualified investment officer, he said.
Hillard has been active in the local Republican Party. He has served as first vice chairman of the Republican Party of Bernalillo County and on its executive committee.
Hillard spent over 24 years in the Air Force and also worked as a contractor for the U.S. Department of Defense.
Whoever emerges out of the four-person race will face the winner of the Republican nomination, either Kim Hillard or Christopher Mario Romero. Primary election day is June 7.
Voters will make their choice as Bernalillo County recovers from an investment meltdown that ultimately cost $17 million. The state Securities Division and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission each launched investigations.
Padilla and Ortiz either together or separately have overseen the countys investment strategy for about a decade. They both say they objected to the investment sell-off and that their own approach would have worked in the long run.
County commissioners, in turn, were critical of how the countys money had been invested and say the sale was necessary to avoid the possibility of even steeper losses and to ensure the county had enough money in the bank to pay its bills.
In any case, Bearce and Sanchez have made the chance for new leadership a centerpiece of their campaigns.
I have dedicated myself to public service, Bearce said in an interview. I think I can deliver a fresh, new, proactive agenda for that office.
Bearce has worked in the states General Services and Human Services departments. She is also a La Mesa neighborhood leader.
Sanchez, for his part, said he offers the ideal combination of experience and a fresh approach. He has worked in the treasurers office since 2009, giving him, he says, an up-close look at the need for good leadership.
Im not old-school politics, Sanchez said. Im running on a platform of integrity before politics.
Office experience
Ortiz, for his part, said hes helped improve the office and should be re-elected to continue that work. A recent audit, he said, turned up no negative findings.
Really, I feel the office is running pretty smooth right now, he said.
Ortiz has clashed at times with the County Commission, which adopted a vote of no confidence in his work during the investment dispute. He also is suing a handful of county officials, including county commissioners, alleging they should have paid for the attorney he hired to defend himself against an unsuccessful recall campaign.
In court, Ortiz has accused county officials of discriminating against him because hes Hispanic and conspiring to force him out of office. But he said the litigation wont keep him from working cooperatively with the commission.
Theyre completely off base in some ways, Ortiz said, but whether I like them or not, we have to work together, and I have been trying to work together with them very diligently.
Ortiz and Padilla worked together for years first when Ortiz served as investment officer while Padilla was treasurer for eight years. The two switched jobs when Ortiz won office, and Padilla spent about a year as investment officer under Ortiz. Padilla could not seek re-election at that time because state law allows county officials to serve only two consecutive terms.
Padilla has the longest record in the public eye.
He served as county treasurer from 1989-02 and from 2005-12. But he said he wants to run again because hes the only treasurer whos ever carried out innovative ideas that shake up the status quo, such as allowing people to make property tax payments every month rather than in big lump sums.
Ive been there, Padilla said. Ive done the job. Every time I left office almost everything Ive implemented has either fallen off to the side or not been continued.
He has new ideas, too, including a proposal to reduce peoples taxes if theyve lived in their home for more than 15 years. That would take a constitutional amendment approved by the state Legislature and the public.
A bogus charge
Padilla is familiar with controversy much of it unjustified, he says.
In 1993, Padilla and another county worker were accused in indictments of falsifying investment records and misusing public money. A jury acquitted them of all charges after a trial in 1994.
Padilla said the case was politically motivated and that he later won a settlement against an accounting firm involved in the allegations.
Its sad that anybody would bring up stuff that far back, Padilla said in a recent interview. It was a bogus charge.
In 2006, he was charged with drunken driving, but his blood alcohol content was below 0.08 percent, the presumed level of intoxication. The charge was later dismissed, and Padilla entered a guilty plea to reckless driving.
The DWI allegation, like the indictment, was a bogus charge, Padilla said.
In 2012, Padilla faced an investigation into harassment allegations.
An investigator found there was evidence to support an employees allegation of verbal and environmental harassment because of witness testimony about inappropriate, unprofessional comments in the workplace.
Padilla was accused of referring to some employees as stupida; mimicking a Native American accent as a joke with another employee; and making negative comments about employees who didnt go to his end-of-the-summer party, according to the 47-page report.
Padilla said he took a sensitivity class.
It was joking, he said of the allegations. I try to be the kind of treasurer that goes around to the employees to tell them good morning and interact with the staff and public.
Gift documents
The state investigation into county investments didnt result in action against Padilla or Ortiz. The state did pursue penalties from some brokers and companies that worked with the county.
As for the SEC, in April, it ordered the county to turn over any documents on gifts or donations made by investment brokers to Ortiz and Padilla or any of their representatives among other records the agency is seeking.
The subpoena doesnt make it clear who, if anyone at the county, is the target of the investigation.
Padilla and Ortiz have denied doing anything wrong.
Bios and questions for Bernalillo County treasurer candidates
Democratic candidates
Manny Ortiz
POLITICAL PARTY: Democrat
PLACE OF RESIDENCE: Albuquerque
AGE: 73
EDUCATION: B.A., business administration, Western New Mexico University, 1964.
OCCUPATION: Accountant/tax preparer, 37 years. Bernalillo County treasurer, 2013-present; Bernalillo County investment officer, 2005-12; owner, Manny Ortiz PC, accounting and tax firm in Albuquerque, 1980-present; qualifying real estate broker since 1988; Small Business Administration officer, 1971-79; former U.S. Treasury agent, 1965-71.
FAMILY: Two children.
POLITICAL/GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE: Bernalillo County treasurer, 2013-present.
MAJOR PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT: Former IRS agent and Small Business Administration loan servicing officer and consultant, current business owner and Bernalillo County treasurer.
MAJOR PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT: As a lifelong resident of New Mexico, commitment to helping people and giving back to the community is dear to my heart. Assisting small business owners achieve growth, profitability through financial and resource management.
Christopher J. Sanchez
POLITICAL PARTY: Democrat
PLACE OF RESIDENCE: Albuquerque
AGE: 46
EDUCATION: Bachelors degree in finance from New Mexico State University, 1998.
OCCUPATION: Accounting manager, Bernalillo County Treasurers Office, 2014-present; assistant accounting manager, county treasurers office, 2013-14; investment banking officer, county treasurers office, 2011-13; senior fiscal processor, county treasurers office, 2009-11; self-employed, Desert Sun Enterprises Inc. in construction industry, 2004-09; loan officer, Bank of America, 1999-2003; U.S. Army, 1992-96.
FAMILY: Spouse, Adrienne Yanez Sanchez; 7-year-old daughter.
POLITICAL/GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE: Worked for the Department of Defense from 1992-96, state of New Mexico, NMSU, 1996-98; and Bernalillo County from 2009-present.
MAJOR PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT: As Bernalillo County Treasurers Office assistant accounting manager and accounting manager, my team has had no findings or material weaknesses from an accounting standpoint.
MAJOR PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT: I am proud to serve on two boards: the South Valley Economic Development Center Board and as treasurer/secretary of Nuestros Valores Charter School Board. I am also a member of Government Finance Officers Association.
Patrick J. Padilla
POLITICAL PARTY: Democrat
PLACE OF RESIDENCE: Tijeras
AGE: 65
EDUCATION: Graduate, Rio Grande High School, 1968; attended University of Albuquerque, 1969-70; Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute, major in accounting, minor in data processing, early 1970s; University of New Mexico Continuing Education; Certified Public Administration Finance Master, University of Missouri, St. Louis, 2012.
OCCUPATION: Accountant, CEO, Padilla & Company, 1973-present.
FAMILY: Wife, Cheryl Tucker de-Padilla; seven children
POLITICAL/GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE: Bernalillo County treasurer, 1989-92, 2005-12; Bernalillo County Commission, 1981-84; chairman, Bernalillo County Commission, 1983-84; State Director National Association of County Collectors, Treasurers, and Finance Officers; twice elected president of National Association of Hispanic County Elected Officials; twice elected president of New Mexico Association of Counties; National Association of Counties Board of Directors.
MAJOR PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT: Allowing property tax payers to pay property taxes monthly. Payments accepted at banks, on line by E-check and credit card. Implemented property tax calculator. Saved residents time by allowing payments for incarcerated individuals at treasurers office.
MAJOR PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT: Father, grandfather of 17. Successful businessman.
Nancy Marie Bearce
POLITICAL PARTY: Democrat
PLACE OF RESIDENCE: Albuquerque
AGE: 58
EDUCATION: B.A., University of Louisville, 1980
OCCUPATION: Client advisor/employee benefits/licensed health insurance agent, 2014-16, Poms & Associates Insurance Broker; medical administration specialist, 2013, contractor, Kirtland Air Force Base Medical Group; interim executive director, 2012-13, Horizons of NM; chief operating officer, 2011-12; NM Abilities; State of NM/General Services Department/ Risk Management Division: Employee Benefits Bureau chief, 2011-07; Benefits Analyst/Quality Assurance, 2004-07; state of NM/Human Services Department/Medicaid/Quality Assurance Bureau: Program Analyst, 2002-04; benefits manager, 1999-2002, APS; benefits administrator, 1996-99, Wm. Mercer/ADP; employee benefit specialist/estates and bequests assistant, 1988-96, Presbyterian Church (USA) Foundation.
FAMILY: Spouse, Charles Bennett
POLITICAL/GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE: State of New Mexico General Services Department Risk Management Division: Employee Benefits Bureau chief, 2011-07, and benefits analyst/quality assurance, 2004-07; New Mexico Human Services Department Medicaid Quality Assurance Bureau, program analyst, 2002-04; Democratic Party of Bernalillo County, precinct chair, State Central Committee member, Ward 19B secretary/treasurer; volunteer on various political campaigns; graduate of 2014 class of EMERGE.
MAJOR PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT: Operating and growing a nonprofit that hired people with disabilities to fill state professional contracts; successfully managed two of the largest public employee health insurance programs, Albuquerque Public Schools and state of New Mexico.
MAJOR PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT: 21-year marriage; winning 2-year-long land-use case denying liquor sales at CVS on Central and teaching that method to other groups. Rebranding of Albuquerques International District. Stopped 20 years of smoking, 1999.
Two years ago, the County Commission adopted a new investment policy calling for the commission and treasurer to jointly appoint an investment officer and to agree on which brokers are allowed to do business with the county. It also set requirements for how much cash must be available on short notice. Do you agree or disagree with that policy, and why?
ORTIZ: I agree with the current policy except that the policy mandates too much liquidity in the bank savings accounts. We work hand in hand with the county finance department to better manager the countys cash flow needs.
SANCHEZ: I strongly agree with and am currently supporting the new investment policy. The previous investment policy lacked checks and balances and was much too lenient. Additionally, liquidity limits are better defined under the new investment policy.
PADILLA: I partially agree, however, a paid full-time investment officer is not needed. What is needed is a daily cash flow projection agreed upon by treasurer and finance department ensuring sufficient funds are available to operate the county.
BEARCE: I agree with that strategy because of the complete failure of current and past administrations to adequately manage taxpayer funds in a responsible way. I will provide fresh, competent and proactive leadership for the office.
Please describe your preferred investment strategy for the county.
BEARCE: Work closely with the investment committee and bring the best strategists onboard to provide sustainable funding sources for the public services and community programs that our families can take advantage of for years to come.
ORTIZ: Always safety, liquidity and yield.
PADILLA: As the only certified Public Funds Investment Manager, I apply the prudent person rule: Safety, Liquidity, and Yield. Diligently monitoring investments ensuring the best yield for Bernalillo County, compliant with all rules and regulations.
SANCHEZ: My preferred investment strategy is safety, liquidity then yield. While return on investment is important, securing our tax dollars and maintaining sufficient balances to address county cash needs is paramount.
State auditors harshly criticized the county treasurers office in reports issued in 2013 and 2014. What steps would you take to avoid negative audit findings in the future?
BEARCE: Competent leadership is the difference. As manager for our state employee health care pool of $400 million per year, I led a transparent, honest and accountable process for stakeholders while passing audits each and every time.
ORTIZ: We have already taken the necessary steps to avoid negative audit findings. We had no findings in this years internal audit conducted by REDW.
PADILLA: When I took office in 2005 there were 12 audit findings. When I left in 2012 there were no findings. Working closely with the auditors we can resolve and eliminate all findings.
SANCHEZ: I would always follow state statute, the county investment policy, and the county code of conduct. I would not use county business partners to benefit my personal business activities.
What would be your top priorities as treasurer?
BEARCE: Sound fiscal management to build a prosperous community; modernizing online transactions to make government interactions easier and faster; and new programs like returning unclaimed money and helping with financial literacy and tax preparation.
ORTIZ: To provide exceptional collection services to the taxpayers in terms of efficiency, timeliness and accountability while providing the highest level of customer service and satisfaction.
PADILLA: A Longevity Property Tax Credit Plan, a 5 percent per year tax relief, maximum 25 percent, for homeowners in same home 15 years. Giving back to those who dont receive the perks of new developments.
SANCHEZ: I want to make the Treasurers Office more efficient. The department needs to be more responsive to taxpayer needs. Modern technologies must be implemented and the Treasurers Office must work strategically with other county departments.
Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens?
BEARCE: No.
ORTIZ: No.
PADILLA: Yes, liens have been satisfied.
SANCHEZ: No. I have never had a state or federal tax lien imposed on the corporation I owned myself.
Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding?
BEARCE: No.
ORTIZ: No.
PADILLA: Yes, bankruptcy has been resolved.
SANCHEZ: No. I have never been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding.
Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state?
BEARCE: No.
ORTIZ: No.
PADILLA: I have never been convicted of drunken driving, a misdemeanor, a felony, or any crime. I was unjustly accused of improprieties in the treasurers office during my second term and was acquitted on all charges. (Editors Note: Padilla was charged with drunken driving in 2006, and the charge was later dismissed.)
SANCHEZ: I was charged with and pleaded guilty to one DUI over 14 years ago. This experience changed my life and outlook on driving under the influence. It made me more aware of the perils of this type of conduct. The classes I was put through made me aware of how DUI affects other lives not just my own.
Republican candidates
Editors Note: Candidate Christopher Mario Romero did not respond to a Journal questionnaire or provide any biographical information.
Kim K. Hillard
POLITICAL PARTY: Republican
PLACE OF RESIDENCE: Albuquerque
AGE: 69
EDUCATION: B.S., data management, College of Santa Fe, 1987
OCCUPATION: Retired. City of Albuquerque, System Administrator II; Technical Vocational Institute, data base programmer; several jobs as a contractor to the Department of Defense, as well as three to the Bureau of Indian Affairs; U.S. Air Force, Last Title: Central Database Administrator, career of 24.5 years.
FAMILY: Wife, Margie; five children
POLITICAL/GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE: First vice chairman, Republican Party of Bernalillo County, 2014-16; Republican Party of Bernalillo County Executive Committee, 2013-16; Republican Ward 24 Officer 1998-2014; worked on multiple successful elections of Republican candidates and a few that were not successful; USAF, 1967-92.
MAJOR PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT: Successfully studying policies and changing them by manual processes and/or designing and implementing computer code to alter the length of work processes up to 95 percent savings in processing times.
MAJOR PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT: 1. My best decision was submitting to my God and Lord, Yeshua. 2. Asking the woman I have been married to for 49 years to be my bride was my second best decision.
Two years ago, the County Commission adopted a new investment policy calling for the commission and treasurer to jointly appoint an investment officer and to agree on which brokers are allowed to do business with the county. It also set requirements for how much cash must be available on short notice. Do you agree or disagree with that policy, and why?
HILLARD: I understand the reasons behind this policy. Confidence was lost in the office. I feel that it adds an additional layer of bureaucracy but would abide by it. When confidence in the office is restored, then the policy should be reviewed.
Please describe your preferred investment strategy for the county.
HILLARD: The county needs a balanced portfolio to allow for the rises and falls of the market. A reasonable amount of the portfolio should have high liquidity in case of a sudden market meltdown. Balance is the key by hiring a well-qualified investment officer.
State auditors harshly criticized the county treasurers office in reports issued in 2013 and 2014. What steps would you take to avoid negative audit findings in the future?
HILLARD: The treasurers office should study the audit findings and implement changes that do not require changes in the law. If they do require changes in the law, then lobby to get those changes. I believe in open and transparent government. External audits on a periodic basis would help keep the checks and balances within the office.
What would be your top priorities as treasurer?
HILLARD: My top priority would be to restore confidence in the office. The employees have earned the privilege to be proud of their work in this office. The taxpayers have bought the right to have confidence in the office.
Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens?
HILLARD: No.
Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding?
HILLARD: No.
Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state?
HILLARD: Two speeding tickets in N.M. One in 1973 and another later, but I dont remember the year.
WASHINGTON The United States sees evidence that hackers, possibly working for foreign governments, are snooping on the presidential candidates, the nations intelligence chief said Wednesday. Government officials are working with the campaigns to tighten security as the race for the White House intensifies.
The activity follows a pattern set in the last two presidential elections. Hacking was rampant in 2008, according to U.S. intelligence officials, and both President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were targets of Chinese cyberattacks four years later. Despite that history, cyber experts say neither Donald Trumps nor Hillary Clintons campaign networks are secure enough to eliminate the risk.
Weve already had some indications of hacking, James Clapper, director of national intelligence, said Wednesday at a cybersecurity event at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington. He said the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security were helping educate the campaigns.
Of the attacks, Clapper predicted, well probably have more.
The revelation comes after a Clappers office released a document earlier this month saying foreign intelligence services tracked the 2008 presidential election cycle like no other. The document was part of a slide show used to warn incoming Obama administration officials that their new jobs could make them prey for foreign spies.
Eight years ago, foreign intelligence services met with campaign contacts and staff, used human source networks for policy insights, exploited technology to get otherwise sensitive data, engaged in perception management to influence policy, the document said. This exceeded traditional lobbying and public diplomacy.
Jonathan Lampe with InfoSec Institute, a private information security company in Chicago, said security hasnt improved significantly since then.
In October, he evaluated the security of sixteen candidates websites and wrote a pair of 20-page reports. Using the reconnaissance skills of a casual hacker, Lampe pulled full lists of site user names and technologies used on most sites. In some cases, he discovered which directories were accessible from the Internet and which werent. He learned what software products Hillary Clinton campaigns used from a job posting soliciting a computer-wise staffer.
Everybody was sitting with their pants down and by the time we looked at the sites in March, everybody had made fixes, Lampe said.
But countries are probably still snooping, he said: The sites were open enough back in October that anyone who grabbed the information then and wanted to use it, could still use it now.
ODESSA, Texas A West Texas teenager has been indicted on a capital murder charge in the March fatal shooting of his parents at the familys home.
James Gabriel Gabe McDonald of Odessa awaits trial as an adult. Ector County District Attorney Bobby Bland said Wednesday that the 17-year-old suspect faces one count for the deaths of two people during the same crime.
An affidavit says Gregory and Jana McDonald were killed March 2 as they slept.
Gabe McDonald was arrested hours later and remains jailed. Investigators havent released a possible motive for the shootings. McDonald was indicted Monday.
If convicted of capital murder, the suspect younger than 18 during the crime would face a maximum life prison term with the possibility of parole.
A defense attorney didnt immediately comment Wednesday.
SALT LAKE CITY Utah lawmakers meeting in a special session late Wednesday afternoon will once again trumpet their opposition to a possible national monument in the Bears Ears area of southeastern Utah.
The Republican-dominated state Legislature is expected to pass a purely symbolic resolution decrying the proposal. Lawmakers were planning to meet anyway to restore funds to several education programs that the governor nixed in March, but they decided to tack on the resolution as they increasingly worry the area will be swept into federal protections.
If President Barack Obama uses his authority under a 1906 law to protect the 1.9 million-acre Bears Ears area, Utah officials say the area will be closed off to development, local economies will suffer and some American Indian tribal elders will be blocked from using the land for cultural reasons.
Some American Indian tribes and conservationists argue the area needs to be protected as a national monument because its threatened by damage from off-road vehicles and looting.
Obama has not said if hell use his power under the Antiquities Act to protect the area before he leaves office.
At a press conference at the state Capitol Tuesday with several dozen members of American Indian tribes, Gov. Gary Herbert said Obama administration officials had assured him they wouldnt act without local input.
Marie S. Holiday, who is from the Oljato Chapter of the Navajo Nation near Monument Valley, said native people gather firewood and pinyon nuts from Bears Ears and she worries they wont be able to do that if a monument is declared.
The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, which is pushing for the new monument, says its proposal would allow such traditional uses of the land to continue.
U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is set to visit Utah later this summer, where shes expected to hear from locals about proposals to further protect lands in the state, according to the Interior Department.
SANTA FE A ranking New Mexico Senate Democrat called Wednesday for the resignation of Human Services Secretary Brent Earnest in the wake of court testimony on the agencys handling of a federal food assistance program.
Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, who is the chairman of the interim Health and Human Services Committee, said in a statement that it was unacceptable that New Mexicans may have been denied food stamp benefits because their applications were falsified by agency workers, an allegation made by some current and former HSD employees under oath.
Needy families in New Mexico have suffered because of Secretary Earnests conduct as the head of HSD, Ortiz y Pino said Wednesday. There has been no willingness to take responsibility, and no accountability from this administration over the scandal. New Mexicans deserve much better.
In response, a Human Services Department spokesman blasted Ortiz y Pino but did not directly address the recent testimony.
This is a blatant political stunt from an out-of-touch extremist who is on record calling child abuse acts of passion, HSD spokesman Kyler Nerison told the Journal. He has no credibility whatsoever.
Ortiz y Pino, a former social worker, has previously said his 2013 comment about child abuse being a crime of passion was taken out of context.
He said Wednesday that Gov. Susana Martinezs administration has frequently resorted to name-calling in response to criticism, adding, It is sad that they have nothing substantive to say about the families who were fraudulently denied emergency food assistance by department employees who were instructed by HSD higher-ups to forge documents.
Human Services Department employees from offices around New Mexico testified at a hearing in Albuquerque last month that they were told to make the changes to avoid time-related guidelines for expedited or emergency assistance.
Earnest also testified at the hearing that the agency has made mistakes in administering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, but maintained the agency has never willfully disobeyed court orders.
The hearing was part of an ongoing lawsuit brought by the New Mexico Center for Law and Poverty, which contends the state agency has continued to wrongfully deny food stamp benefits.
At a more recent hearing in Las Cruces, three HSD officials invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination nearly 100 times, according to the New Mexico Political Report, an online news site.
Since that hearing, a federal magistrate has ordered the agency to file a report by the end of June on its internal probe into employee allegations.
On Wednesday, Ortiz y Pino said that if Earnest does not resign, he should step aside and allow a judge to appoint a monitor to oversee the administration of HSDs food assistance program.
Earnest took over as HSD secretary after Martinez picked him for the job in December 2014 after the agencys former secretary, Sidonie Squier stepped down.
LAGOS, Nigeria One of the teenagers kidnapped by Boko Haram extremists over two years ago from a boarding school in northeastern Nigeria has been found with a baby and was reunited with her mother, a doctor said Wednesday the first of the Chibok girls to be recovered since the mass abduction.
The 19-year-old woman, described by an uncle as traumatized by her experience, was found wandering with her baby on Tuesday on the fringes of the remote Sambisa Forest, which is located near Nigerias border with Cameroon.
The news gave hope to the families of the 218 girls who are still missing and may provide information as to their whereabouts. But the young woman told her mother that some of the Chibok girls have died in captivity and the others still are being held, according to her familys doctor, Idriss Danladi, who spoke to The Associated Press after talking with the mother.
Other Chibok girls may have been rescued by soldiers hunting down Boko Haram in the Sambisa Forest on Tuesday night, said Chibok community leader Pogu Bitrus, adding that he is working with officials to establish their identities. But it turned out later those girls were from another area, not the Chibok school, said Awami Nkeki, secretary of the Chibok local government council.
On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram stormed and firebombed the Government Girls Secondary School at Chibok and seized 276 girls preparing for science exams. Dozens managed to escape in the first hours, but 219 remained captive.
The young woman is the first of those captives to be found since the kidnapping, which grabbed worldwide attention and put a spotlight on the violence of Nigerias homegrown Islamic extremists.
God reigns! one of the founders of the Bring Back Our Girls movement, Oby Ezekwesili, trumpeted on social media. OUR #ChibokGirl IS BACK!!!!!!! #218ShallBeBack because #HopeEndures.
There were conflicting accounts about how the young woman was found.
Danladi said the young woman, who was 17 when abducted, was found by hunters and taken with her baby to her home village of Mbalala, near Chibok, to be reunited with her mother. Her father died while she was in captivity, said her uncle, Yakubu Nkeki. All three were then brought to a military camp and arrived under military escort Wednesday night in Maiduguri, the biggest city in the northeast.
But Nigerias military said it had rescued the young woman and her baby, along with a Boko Haram suspect who claimed to be her husband.
This is to confirm that one of the abducted Chibok school girls was among the persons rescued by our troops, said the army spokesman, Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman.
Danladi, who is from Chibok and has treated several of the parents, said the young womans mother attempted suicide some months after her only child was seized.
The mother suffered a huge traumatic disorder. I had to convince her that she just has to stay alive if she really wants her daughter returned home safe and sound, he said.
The Rev. Enoch Mark, whose two daughters are among the missing, said the news brought renewed hope to the parents of the Chibok girls.
I believe that, by the grace of God, our daughters, some of them, will be found if they are still alive, he said.
At least 16 of the girls parents have died since the kidnapping, Bitrus said, and others have ailments they blame on their ongoing trauma after the abductions.
I suffered a stroke on Friday, thats why you dont recognize my voice, Mark said.
The inability of Nigerias government and military to rescue the girls led, in part, to last years electoral defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan, who was seen as uncaring and not committed to freeing them.
The U.S., France and Britain offered help to find the girls, sending in drones, hostage negotiators, intelligence officers and others.
A social media campaign using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls reached to the White House, where first lady Michelle Obama promised her husband would do all in his power to help. Our prayers are with the missing Nigerian girls and their families. Its time to #BringBackOurGirls, she tweeted in May 2014.
R. Evon Idahosa, executive director of PathFinders Justice Initiative, which works on behalf of victims of child abuse, sex trafficking and rape, said the West has not done enough to help the Chibok girls.
Idahosa noted the response after the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, when government leaders marched in solidarity, arm-in-arm over the death of 17 people. Not to say that that is any less important than the lives of these girls, but the reality is that one Western life definitely has a different value from the value of a girl in Nigeria.
Returning to ordinary life could be difficult for the victims, according to experts.
Children in this situation typically require medical assistance and psycho-social support to help them cope with what they have been through while they were in captivity, said UNICEF spokeswoman Helene Sandbu Ryeng.
Our experience with children and women who were kidnapped by Boko Haram and freed by the military or escaped shows that they often face mistrust, stigma and rejection when they return to their communities, she said.
Its not known how many thousands of girls, boys and young women have been kidnapped by Boko Haram in a nearly 7-year-old insurgency that has killed some 20,000 people, forced more than 2 million from their homes and spread across Nigerias borders.
Boko Haram held a large swath of northeastern Nigeria where it declared an Islamic caliphate in 2014. A multinational force from Nigeria and its neighbors has reduced their territory, reportedly hemming them into the Sambisa Forest. The insurgents have focused on attacking soft targets like markets and mosques with suicide bombers, often girls and young women who are feared to be among their captives.
There also are fears that Boko Haram is sending fighters to Libya to join the Islamic State group, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday at a summit on fighting Boko Haram. The group declared itself the West Africa Province of IS last year, and Blinkens suggestion raised concern the two groups could start an extremist push into the vast and lawless lands of the Sahel region.
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Umar contributed to this story from Abuja, Nigeria.
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This version corrects that the young woman was reunited with her mother on Tuesday, not Wednesday.
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Online:
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SANTA FE The Republican Party of New Mexico announced Wednesday that Sandia Pueblo will allow media to attend the GOP state convention at a tribally owned resort after all.
The decision came a day after a Sandia Resort and Casino official told a GOP staffer that media would not be allowed on resort property for the weekend convention.
Republican Party officials had insisted they had no knowledge of any decision to bar media outlets from attending the convention and announced that media would be able to attend after Sandia Pueblo held a Tribal Council meeting Wednesday.
We are glad that Sandia Pueblo has reconsidered their policy and allowed the press to attend and cover our convention, state GOP spokesman Tucker Keene said. We had not been made aware of this no-press policy when we signed our contract with Sandia Casino back in October, and would not have hosted our convention there had we known otherwise.
However, Sandia Pueblo Gov. Isaac Lujan contended in a Wednesday statement that the pueblo did not ban the media, despite an email sent Tuesday from a casino official that instructed GOP officials that the pueblo was not allowing any media at all. Please notify them they cant be on property.
This was simply a matter of media requests to attend this weekends convention needing to be processed by my office and the Tribal Council, pursuant to protocol, Lujan said. All media requests have now been approved.
A Democratic Party insider said reporters have been allowed to attend previous New Mexico political conventions at tribally owned casinos and hotels without issue.
In addition, word that the media were not being given access to this weekends convention had generated concern among longtime state political observers and open government advocates.
On the agenda for the GOP convention is a hotly contested race for a Republican National Committee post and the election of delegates to attend the partys national convention.
In all, New Mexico Republicans will select 24 delegates to its national party convention in Cleveland in July. There has been a surge of interest this year in being a national delegate, driven largely by a boisterous Republican presidential primary race. Donald Trump is the partys presumptive nominee, but some members of the GOP establishment have said they will not back Trump.
Meanwhile, both of the candidates in a hard-hitting contest for one of the states Republican National Committee posts Pat Rogers and Harvey Yates Jr. expressed surprise at the decision to bar the media from the GOP convention and said they planned to ask party officials about it.
The face-off between Rogers, an Albuquerque attorney, and Yates, an oilman and former GOP state chairman, has divided party insiders and caused a divide in the ranks of Republican lawmakers.
This weeks media kerfuffle came less than two weeks after the state Republican Party announced plans to charge media representatives $100 to cover the convention. The GOP quickly reversed itself and said reporters would not have to pay for a press pass.
With the latest media dispute resolved, the state Republican Party said Wednesday that it was ready to move forward with Saturdays convention.
We have been excited to host our convention this Saturday at Sandia and welcome the press to see our well-managed convention process, GOP spokesman Keene said.
MEXICO CITY Police in the northern Mexico border state of Tamaulipas say officers have detained two Texas men and freed another American theyd kidnapped in the United States.
The Tamaulipas state government said Wednesday that the men from Hidalgo and Brownsville were stopped at a checkpoint on Tuesday. When police looked over their vehicle, they found a third American, a 28-year-old man who had been kidnapped on May 12.
Police say the two men grabbed the victim in McAllen and drove him across an international bridge into the border city of Reynosa.
They say the victim was hidden in a safe house in the nearby city of Matamoros while the kidnappers were making ransom calls to his family.
The area is dominated by the Gulf drug cartel.
SANTA TERESA The latest arrival at this southern New Mexico business hub is a household name in deliveries: FedEx.
FedEx Ground is moving dirt around on a 215,000-square-foot distribution center at Santa Teresas newest industrial development, Westpark. The $20 million center is expected to be up and running in the middle of next year, according to sources familiar with the project.
The new facility is part of a nationwide network expansion to boost daily package volume capacity and further enhance the speed and service capabilities of the FedEx Ground network, the company said in a statement to the Journal.
FedEx Ground declined to say how many workers would be employed at the new Santa Teresa center but people familiar with the project have previously told the Journal there will be between 140 and 240 employees, some of whom may be transferred from a smaller distribution center in Las Cruces. No layoffs are expected.
The Santa Teresa facility will give FedEx easy access to the Mexican market. The company told the Journal the new facility will serve FedEx customers with maquiladora operations companies with assembly factories in Ciudad Juarez and northern Mexico.
Santa Teresa was in competition for the FedEx ground transportation facility with another state Texas, reportedly and we look forward to the many jobs it will create in Southern New Mexico, Economic Development Secretary Jon Barela said in a statement.
Gov. Susana Martinez is scheduled to be in Santa Teresa Thursday to inaugurate Westparks first tenant, MCS, the nations largest picture frame manufacturer.
The Santa Teresa distribution center will likely be outfitted with the automated sorting technology FedEx Ground uses to handle nearly 5 million packages daily across its network. At its other distribution centers, overhead lasers and six-sided cameras scan bar codes, and conveyor belts electronically guide packages to their appropriate destination chute, where they are loaded for transport to destination terminals for local delivery.
FedEx Ground is one of the faster-growing segments of parent company FedEx Corp.
The ground operation has been investing heavily in network expansion, as package volumes continue to grow thanks to increased e-commerce and customers preference in a slow economy for lower cost ground service versus express air service.
The parent company said in its 2015 report that it expects to spend $4.6 billion in 2016 on the continued expansion of its ground network and the modernization of its fleet of aircraft at FedEx Express.
To that end, FedEx Ground is putting up new facilities around the country, including a 500,000-square-foot distribution center in Middletown, Conn.; a 344,000 square-foot automated distribution facility in Reno, Nev.; and a 300,000-square-foot distribution center in Louisville, according to local news reports. Construction on a 1.2 million-square-foot megahub in Allen Township, Pa., is scheduled to begin in June.
FedEx Ground booked $2.2 billion in operating income in fiscal 2015 on $11.6 billion in revenue, according to the parent companys annual report.
FedEx Ground is headquartered in Pittsburgh.
Intel has begun sending layoff notices to some of its Rio Rancho employees, but is still not saying how many workers will be affected at the plant.
KOAT-TV obtained a layoff notice sent to one employee, which stated that the workers employment would be terminated due to site closures or consolidation as of Dec. 31.
Layoffs at the Rio Rancho plant, which now employs about 1,900 people, have been anticipated after the company announced in April that it would lay off 11 percent of its global workforce.
But Intel has declined to discuss workforce or plant changes with reporters at any specific company sites, such as in Rio Rancho.
Asked about the layoff notice received recently by the employee, Intel New Mexico spokeswoman Natasha Martell Jackson told the Journal on Wednesday, Nothing has changed as far as that official announcement.
Rio Rancho and state officials said Wednesday they have not received any notification of the plant closing.
The Oregonian newspaper reported last month that Intel Corp. CEO Brian Krzanich had told employees that the company wouldnt be closing any of its manufacturing sites and specifically that it wont leave its aging facility in New Mexico.
However, the company told Israeli media Wednesday that it will close a small production facility in Jerusalem and transfer most of the 170 people who work there to a factory 40 miles away in the city of Kiryat Gat, according to the Oregonian.
Intels announcement in April said it would that it would shut down or consolidate operations at some plant sites around the world and lay off up to 12 percent of its global workforce. The company said it would inform employees affected by those changes as decisions are made over the next 60 days, possibly stretching into 2017.
Intels Rio Rancho plant has markedly reduced its New Mexico workforce in the last three years, from about 3,300 employees in 2013 to about 1,900 now. And, given the older chip technology produced in Rio Rancho, concern is widespread about the plants future viability.
The Rio Rancho facility is still making 32-nanometer chips, while the company is now preparing to produce next-generation 10-nanometer chips. The New Mexico facility hasnt received any significant investment upgrade since 2009.
New Mexico regulators on Wednesday unveiled details about the health insurance premiums proposed by five insurers for 2017 under the Affordable Care Act, and there are indications the state will not escape the hefty increases also expected nationwide.
The companies made requests that would increase premiums from 3 percent to well into the double digits in preliminary proposals filed with New Mexico Insurance Superintendent John Franchini.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico, which is returning to the states health insurance exchange after taking a year off, has requested 2017 preliminary increases that range from 20 percent to 83 percent. Those percentages are compared to the companys 2015 rates.
Among the other four insurers selling on the state exchange, Presbyterian Health Plan is seeking an average increase of 30 percent on its individual plan premiums, while New Mexico Health Connections seeks a bump of 20 to 30 percent on its individual plans.
Franchini said the other two companies selling through the exchange Christus Health Plan and Molina Healthcare of New Mexico asked for increases of between 3 and 6 percent.
Blue Cross, which left the exchange in 2016 when it couldnt get approval for an average 52 percent rate hike on its plans, is back in the fold of companies offering individual Affordable Care Acts plans in 2017.
President Kurt Shipley said most Blue Cross customers will generally see a 30 percent hike over the companys 2015 rates.
Whats more relevant are what actual dollars people are going to pay rather than percentage hikes, he said.
In calculating premiums, insurers consider an individuals age, geographic location and use of tobacco products.
Those initial estimates are not set in stone. Franchini has the final authority to decide whether they go into effect.
The proposals will affect an estimated 55,000 customers who have signed up for individual health plans through the New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange.
Customers will have a chance to shop around for coverage during an open enrollment period that begins in November. The new rates would go into effect Jan. 1.
Rate hikes for 2017 are reaching well into the double digits as insurers deal with the financial drain resulting from President Barack Obamas health care law. More than 12 million people get coverage though the health laws markets, which offer subsidized insurance. But the increases could also affect several million who purchase policies outside the government system.
The preliminary rate requests can be found by going to www.nmhealthratereview.com. Click on Recent Rate Requests and then hit Search.
CASTLE ROCK, Colo. A retired Army colonel involved in a hit-and-run crash that killed a Colorado State Patrol trooper has pleaded guilty to two felonies.
Eric Henderson appeared in court in Castle Rock on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide while driving under the influence, as well as evidence tampering stemming from the Nov. 15 crash that killed 33-year-old Trooper Jaimie Jursevics (JAY-me JUR-zah-vicks). The Denver Post reports the judge dismissed three other counts as part of a plea deal.
Prosecutors say Henderson, who is due for sentencing June 28, spent the day drinking at a Broncos game before he hit the trooper as she investigated a crash on Interstate 25 in Castle Rock.
The 52-year-old retired from the Army in June 2013 after a 27-year career.
Jursevics left behind a husband and an infant daughter.
Neil Stammer, who spent 14 years in Nepal under a different name before his 2014 arrest by the FBI, was sentenced Wednesday to 54 years in prison for child abuse that took place in 1999.
Stammer was convicted at trial late last year on four felony counts related to one victim, a boy 12 years old at the time, including two counts each of criminal sexual penetration and kidnapping.
He was acquitted in a separate, later trial of similar charges related to another child and faces a third trial before a different judge on counts involving a third alleged victim.
Deputy District Attorney Lisa Trabaudo asked 2nd Judicial District Judge Stan Whitaker to impose all four mandatory 18-year sentences consecutive to one another, a request that Stammers lawyer Scott Wisniewski said had no rational basis because his client had not been proved a serial predator as the prosecution portrayed him.
Where Trabaudo urged 76 years in custody, Wisniewski said his client had been a model prisoner during his two years at the Metropolitan Detention Center and asked for all counts to run at the same time, for an 18-year total.
Because the case was charged before the Legislature enacted the serious violent offender statute, hes eligible for up to 50 percent good time instead of having to serve 85 percent. But Stammer just turned 49 years old.
Whitaker recommended sex-offender treatment while Stammer is in prison, probably at a separate unit of the prison in Otero County.
There were complications with Stammers original charges in May 1999, which led then-District Judge James Blackmer to dismiss the indictment in April 2000.
The case was reindicted later in 2000, nearly a year after he was initially arrested. When Stammer failed to show up for his arraignment, the FBI filed a federal fugitive warrant against the onetime Nob Hill juggling and magic shop owner.
Stammer had closed his business and left Albuquerque in the interim.
Trabaudo told Whitaker that Stammer had devoted time to grooming the now-29-year-old victim, C.S., who testified at trial, and the abuse progressed from kissing to oral sex and locking the boy in the shop.
She said he had fled to avoid prosecution Wisniewski said it was because publicity about the arrest had driven him out of business and that Stammer had stolen the identity of a deceased child in Iowa after doing a great deal of research on disappearing. He settled in Nepal, which has no extradition treaty with the United States.
But authorities there who learned his true identity were more than willing to cooperate, and after they arrested and held him, the FBI came in. Trabaudo said Stammer told FBI agents hed read several books on how to create a new identity.
Stammer was located after Russ Wilson, an FBI agent who worked as fugitive coordinator in the Albuquerque office, put out a new wanted poster for him in January 2014 and an agent with the State Departments Diplomatic Security Services used facial recognition software designed to pick up passport fraud. Stammer, under his adopted name, was identified. Hed been teaching languages, among other jobs.
Still pending is a 2014 federal indictment charging passport fraud in the Southern District of Iowa.
Trabaudo, who ends a 26-year career in the Crimes Against Children division this week, said that time and again during jury selection in child abuse cases, prospective jurors reveal amazing stories of events they lacked courage to report or that they reported with no consequences for the perpetrator.
She read aloud a letter from victim C.S. in which he said the opportunity to face my attacker has been one of the most inspiring events of my life. He said he felt blessed to have received a favorable verdict and asked the court, Please keep him away from youth for as long as possible.
CENTENNIAL, Colo. Several victims of the Colorado theater shooting have filed complaints alleging the state corrections department violated their rights by refusing to reveal where the gunman is serving his life sentence, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Several survivors of the 2012 attack that killed 12 and injured more than 70 have said they were upset after corrections officials quietly transferred James Holmes to an out-of-state prison in January. The agency has repeatedly refused to tell the public including prosecutors, survivors and the families of the dead where or how he is being held.
A state committee that handles victims rights complaints will address the issue at its Friday meeting. The panel could require prison officials to provide details of Holmes confinement, or it could propose ways the department can keep victims better informed in the future.
The case could ultimately be referred to the state attorney general to enforce the committees findings.
Corrections spokeswoman Laurie Kilpatrick said the agency had no comment about anything involving Holmes.
Holmes was convicted in August of opening fire in a crowded Denver-area movie theater in July 2012. Jurors could not agree that he deserved the death penalty, so he is serving a life sentence.
Some victims testified during sentencing that they didnt want Holmes imprisoned in California, closer to his parents who live near San Diego. Prison officials had assured prosecutors last year that they would not move him there.
Documents provided to The Associated Press and other news outlets though open-records requests later revealed that Holmes was transferred partly because another inmate pushed his way through a partially open door and attacked him when he was being held in Colorados highest security prison.
Prison officials believed other inmates were likely to keep targeting Holmes because of the high profile nature of his crimes, according to the documents.
State law requires officials to inform victims when a prisoner is moved to a less secure facility, Deputy District Attorney Lisa Teesch-Maguire said. It also says that, upon written request, prison officials must tell victims where someone is being held and requires victims be treated with fairness, dignity and respect throughout the process.
How can the victims know whether this specific right has been met given that we have no idea what facility the defendant is located in anywhere in the country? she said. Were talking about a convicted mass murderer who openly admitted that if he had the opportunity to kill more people, he would kill more people. The victims, who in our case are located across every state, have a right to know whether he is in their state.
Victims received a brief notification from the corrections department on Jan. 19, listing Holmes location only as interstate correction compact transfer.
Teesch-Maguire, who was part of the team that prosecuted Holmes, has been repeatedly asking prison officials about the circumstances of Holmes incarceration, including what privileges he has and how closely he is guarded. None of her questions has been answered, she said.
Not knowing Holmes location meant attorneys representing several shooting victims and their families in a lawsuit against theater owner Cinemark were not able to question him during a civil trial this week.
Without Holmes testimony, attorneys were forced to rely on the spiral notebook in which he detailed elaborate plans for the killings.
Kelly Kissell, manager of the Colorado Department of Public Safetys Office for Victims Programs, said she could not discuss the victims complaints or provide copies of them while they are pending.
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The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) announced this week that Hunter Martin, a masters student from Union University in Jackson, Tenn., is the inaugural winner of a $1,000 scholarship from Internal Auditor Magazine for his winning essay.
Martins essay, IPPF Update Clears the Smudges on the Window Looking into the World of Internal Auditing, won over approximately 40 entries to win the first of six $1,000 scholarships in the magazines year-long contest.
The essay contest is open to undergrad and graduate students alike who wish to write the best essays on issues impacting the field of internal audit.
We couldnt be more pleased with the response to the first contest and are eagerly awaiting submissions for the second, said Anne Millage, Internal Auditor editor in chief, in a statement. Hunter Martins essay sets a high bar for future winners, and we are excited about publishing his essay online.
Winners are selected by a panel of six internal audit professionals from the IIA Publications Advisory Committee, Academic Relations Committee, and Committee of Research and Academic Advisors. The winners will have their essays published on InternalAuditor.org, and receive a one-year student membership to The IIA along with four additional finalists.
The four other finalists in this year's first essay contest are:
Caitlin Inman, Union University
Joshua Sander, Union University
Angela Obolsky, Arizona State University
Hannah Conway, Union University
The submission period for the next scholarship essay question, What are the most important soft skills internal auditors need to develop to be successful in today's business environment and why, is open until May 31.
For more information on the scholarship program, including essay topics, submission periods, application forms, and more, head to Internal Auditor's site here. (Completed scholarship application forms and essays should be directed to scholarships@theiia.org)
The Obama administration expanded overtime eligibility for millions of workers Thursday, releasing a long-awaited rule change that the Labor Department estimates will extend overtime pay to 4.2 million more workers.
The rule increases the salary threshold below which most white-collar, salaried workers are entitled to overtime from the current $455 per week (or $23,660 for a full-year worker) to $913 per week (or $47,476 for a full-year worker).
If you work more than 40 hours a week, you should get paid for it or get extra time off to spend with your family and loved ones, said President Barack Obama in a statement Tuesday previewing the announcement. It's one of the most important steps we're taking to help grow middle-class wages and put $12 billion more dollars in the pockets of hardworking Americans over the next 10 years.
Vice President Joe Biden spoke in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday about the new rules. Ahead of the announcement, he wrote, Right now, you're guaranteed overtime if youre an hourly worker, but if youre salaried, youre only automatically guaranteed overtime if you make less than $23,660. If youre a manager on salary and you work an extra 10, 20, 30 hours a weekyou often dont get paid a dime more for those additional hours. Thats simply wrong. Starting in December, we're making sure that more workers get paid fairly for the overtime hours that they work. With this new rule, were increasing the cutoff for automatic overtime for salaried workers to $47,476most salaried workers making less than $47,476 will be guaranteed overtime pay for working more than 40 hours a week.
The final rule will also ensure the salary threshold is updated every three years; raise the highly compensated employee (HCE) annual salary threshold from $100,000 to $134,004; make no changes to the duties test under the white collar exemptions; and allow bonuses and incentive payments to count toward up to 10 percent of the new salary level. According to the Department of Labor, the rule will take effect on Dec. 1, 2016. Accountants will need to advise their business clients and the organizations where they work about the change.
With one in five business owners unaware of the DOLs proposed overtime rule and a limited window to meet the new standards, the time for business owners to act is now, said Martin Mucci, president and CEO of the payroll giant Paychex, in a statement.
The salary threshold for the highly compensated exemption will increase every three years to the 90th percentile of earnings of full-time salaried workers nationally, according to Venable LLP employment law partner Brian Turoff. The DOL estimates that this threshold will increase to $147,524 during the first automatic update in 2020, he wrote. The DOL will post all new salary thresholds 150 days in advance of their effective date, beginning Aug. 1, 2019.
Not everybody is happy with the new rules, however. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is vowing to fight it. This regulation hurts the very people it alleges to help, he said in a statement. Who is hurt most? Students, nonprofit employees and people starting a new career. By mandating overtime pay at a much higher salary threshold, many small businesses and nonprofits will be unable to afford skilled workers and be forced to eliminate salaried positions, complete with benefits, altogether. For the sake of his own political legacy, President Obama is rushing through regulationslike the overtime rulethat will cause people to lose their livelihoods. We are committed to fighting this rule and the many others that would be an absolute disaster for our economy.
The American Institute of CPAs also registered its objections. The AICPA has clearly and consistently outlined its concerns that the Department of Labor proposed rule will increase the administrative burden in complying with the regulations while dramatically increasing employers payroll costs, said AICPA president and CEO Barry Melancon. The proposed revisions fail to modernize or streamline the regulations, are not reflective of the realities of the modern workplace and a changing workforce, and would adversely affect both employees and employers. DOLs modifications to the rule did little to lessen the likelihood that CPA firms and countless other businesses will be forced to curtail hiringand may even have to reduce the size of their workforce. The changes would have an especially negative impact on smaller accounting firms and the millions of small business clients they represent that simply cannot afford to raise their salaries for exempt employees above the new proposed threshold but also cannot afford to pay overtime to exempt workers. As a member of the Partnership to Protect Workplace Opportunitya diverse group of stakeholders including businesses and associations that represent millions who could be impacted by the proposed rulewe urge Congress to intervene in the process so that regulations governing overtime pay reflect the evolving workplace in a manner that is not economically counterproductive.
The financial information company Sageworks also raised concerns. Raising the minimum overtime-eligible salary to $50,440 (with increases each year) will kill startups, and it will hurt young people who will not be able to be hired in those start-ups, wrote Sageworks chairman Brian Hamilton and research specialist Mary Ellen Biery in a recent opinion piece for The Hill.
However, the new rule promises to help many Millennial workers (see Millions of Millennials May Benefit from New Rule on Overtime). While they only represent 28.2 percent of the salaried workforce, they comprise 36.3 percent of those now covered under the new rule, according to Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute.
Workers struggling to make their paychecks cover their living expenses are likely to welcome the extra take-home pay promised by the new rule.
Fosters, the beer brand from SABMiller India, has hit the market in a brand new avatar that includes a new curvaceous bottle, refreshed brew and a fresh campaign. Ogilvy & Mather has created a through the line campaign for the refreshed look, while FoxyMoron has led the digital activation for Fosters.
Available in two variants Gold and Lager, the new bottle has a ring pull, making it easier to open. The new packaging also includes a unique thermo-chromatic label that turns blue at ice cold temperature, ensuring consumers the most chilled experience.
Talking about the all new Fosters, Darioush Afzali, Director of Marketing, SABMiller India, said, Fosters is known as a unique Australian brand and with this new packaging and brew, it will emphasise our commitment to innovate. We have given a completely fresh and contemporary look to our bottle and are introducing the tallest bottle in the category. With a focus on all 4 Ps, we are re-introducing Fosters with a refreshed brew, new packaging, competitive pricing and differentiated positioning of extra-cold refreshment for the brand. Our aim is to be the most preferred brand of choice for our target audience and turn their moments of boredom into a refreshing experience.
The new packaging has been designed by an international team of London-based branding and packaging design consultant Cartils. Talking about the inspiring and innovative new bottle, Neil Vestrini, Creative Director, Cartils, said, Fosters is Australias iconic lager which is sold internationally. At Cartils, it was our job to respect its heritage whilst modernising this iconic brand and making it relevant to todays ever-changing Indian market. Cartils new design endorses a stronger brand hierarchy by making the Fosters logo more prominent within the main label, whilst the bottle shape gives a more dynamic and ergonomic feel. The placement of the famous Australian kangaroo as an embossment on the bottle gives movement and youthfulness whilst adding that wittiness associated with the brand. The stronger/ higher shoulders (which also follows the curve of the brands roundel) allows for the branding to be placed higher on the bottle. The addition of the snowflake symbol and silver gives the extra cold sensation the consumer will feel whilst drinking the new redesigned Fosters.
Elaborating on the through the line campaign, Tithi Ghosh, Senior VP & Head of Advertising, Ogilvy Bangalore, said, The campaign was designed to bring to life transformative powers of Extra Cold Fosters transporting people from a mundane, low energy mood to a refreshing, up-tempo vibe. Extra Cold Fosters also brings friends together to let go and enjoy every moment.
This campaign is supported by a robust digital and on-ground engagement. Speaking more on the digital activation, Suveer Bajaj, Co-founder, FoxyMoron, said, We started off by launching the TVC on Facebook on April 22, followed by an influencer driven campaign on Twitter on April 25.
He further said, With the new bottle launch, we had just one question for everyone, #HaveYouSeenIt?. The idea was to get everyone abuzz with the newly marketed bottle and have them talking about the key attributes. We wanted to get people to share their pictures/ tweets/ videos with the new bottle and sign off with the question / hashtag #HaveYouSeenIt?
For this, Fosters tied up with top comedians, including Abish Mathew, Jose Covaco, Baba Sehgal, Ashwin Mushran, Suresh Menon and Rahul Subramanian, who released 20-second videos highlighting the new attributes of the bottle (the thermochromatic label, the ring pull, the newly shaped bottle) with the #HaveYouSeenIt?. These videos went viral on Twitter, resulting in massive engagement with people all over.
Bajaj informed that the hashtag #HaveYouSeenIt trended all India for more than five hours. With the help of user generated videos and a barrage of tweets, people went on talking about the amazing features of the bottle. The interactions were further driven by more influencers that got on board.
Do you fancy winning tickets to the premiere of one of the most awaited movieand be a part of its special screening before its release? Sony PIX,Indias premium Hollywood movie and blockbuster channel gives cine goers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to dazzle the Green carpet and feellike a celebrity with PIX Premiere Nights.
Gear up for the biggest amazement and be part of the theatrical preview of The Angry Birds Movie. On Thursday, May 26, PIX will host the movie premiere for 1,300 PIX fans across 6 cities and 7 theatre screens one day before its official release date, an experiencethat is unmatchable.
Sony PIX will amplify its association with the movie and run a 15 days contest from May 7 to 21 on the channels Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/SonyPIX as well as on air. The channel will have over 1,300 tickets up for grabs for this exclusive PIX Premiere Night. The contest winners across Mumbai, Delhi, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kochi will be gratified withcouple invites to the premiere and also get to click pictures with the movie memorabilia.
PIX Premiere Nights, a unique proposition for the viewers to exclusively watch the premiere of the latest Hollywood movies before their theatrical release in India is not just a movie show, but a complete Premiere experience hosted by PIX. Sony PIX has previously hosted PIX Premiere Nights for Spectre (2015), Expendables 3, The Hunger Games, Mockingjay, Fantastic Four, Robocop (2014), and The Amazing Spider Man 2 (2015), among others.
Lt. Gen. Darryl Roberson, commander for Air Education and Training Command, visited Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, May 13 to speak at the Detachment 805s commissioning ceremony.
The general also had the opportunity to commission the 32 new Air Force second lieutenants.
Texas A&Ms Corps of Cadets commissions more military officers through ROTC than any other institution in the country, other than the service academies.
Were going to ask you to learn and fly airplanes and do some specific things, but the biggest thing we need from you is your leadership, Roberson said. We are the smallest Air Force our nation has ever had, right now. So, every single one of you is going to a position that is critical for our Air Force.
Texas A&Ms Corps of Cadets is the largest of six senior military colleges in the United States. More than 14,000 Texas A&M Aggies served in World War II, more than the combined total of the United States service academies at that time.
It was a lot of hard work, said 2nd Lt. Daniel Bosworth, who was selected for remotely piloted aircraft training. All of us are really proud to not only graduate from this great university, but to be a member of the worlds greatest Air Force.
Roberson also attended the universitys graduation commissioning ceremony, congratulating all the newly commissioned Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, and Navy officers from across all of Texas A&Ms ROTC programs.
A prescription for problems
Making sure their medical records are up to date and accurate could save Citizen Airmen selected for a random drug test a lot of trouble. Thats the word from officials assigned to Air Force Reserve Commands Medical Services Directorate here.
In addition to testing for illegal substances, random drug tests also screen for a number of prescription medications, including amphetamines and opiates, like morphine or oxycodone, among others.
If a reservist pops positive for one of these prescription medications during drug testing, he or she needs to have a valid prescription for it in his or her medical records, said Dr. Don Jenrette, AFRCs Drug Demand Reduction Program manager. If not, a determination has to be made if the member is taking the drug illegally or if he or she simply does not have the proper documentation in his or her medical records.
Taking the drug illegally can lead to legal action or even discharge from the Reserve. Having to prove that they have a valid prescription can lead to a lot of headaches for reservists, including possible disciplinary action for not ensuring their medical records are correct, and unnecessary work for the medical squadron.
According to AFI (Air Force Instruction) 48-123, its the members responsibility to ensure their medical records are up to date and correct, said Col. June Cook, chief of professional services within the Medical Services Directorate.
Paragraph 11.4.2 of the AFI states, Each Air Reserve component member is responsible for promptly reporting (within 72 hours) any illness, injury, disease, operative procedure or hospitalization not previously reported to his or her commander or supervisor and supporting medical facility personnel. Any concealment or claim of disability made with the intent to defraud the government results in possible legal action and possible discharge from the ARC.
Primarily, making sure your medical records are up to date and correct is a readiness issue, Cook said. Having an accurate picture of a members health status enables the medics to give an accurate assessment to the commander of the persons mission capability. Secondarily, accurate records eliminate a lot of unnecessary work for our people and the member.
Its a waste of time when we have to jump through a lot of hoops to find out that the member had the script to begin with, said Chief Master Sgt. Daniel Kupcho, manager of the Aerospace Medicine Division. Taking a few minutes to make sure your new prescription gets reported to your medical unit could save you a lot of time and frustration in the future.
The chief said the Air Force has entered into data exchange agreements that allow for some medical information to flow automatically from a civilian health care provider to a military members medical unit; but Reservists should always check to make sure the correct information makes its way into their records.
For more information, contact your local medical squadron or drug demand reduction office.
The Defense Department is providing $1.76 million in extra funding to military laboratories to expand Zika virus surveillance worldwide and assess the viruss impact on deployed service members health and readiness, Navy Cmdr. Franca Jones said in a recent interview.
Jones, who holds a doctorate, is chief of the Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response, or GEIS, section of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch in the Defense Health Agencys Public Health Division.
The enhanced Zika virus surveillance will involve 10 projects in 18 countries and territories by four lab partners based in the United States and five located overseas.
Jones said the labs receiving more Zika virus funds are part of the GEIS integrated worldwide emerging infectious disease surveillance network that includes core Army or Navy medical research labs in Egypt, Georgia, Kenya, Peru, Thailand, Cambodia and Singapore, and Army, Navy and Air Force labs in the United States, working in more than 60 countries around the world. Zika Virus A representation of the surface of the Zika virus with protruding envelope glycoproteins (red) shown. Photo courtesy of Kuhn and Rossmann research groups, Purdue University, research funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease Photo Details / Download Hi-Res
In the current fiscal year, she added, GEIS already has provided its network partners with more than $51 million to support a range of emerging infectious disease surveillance programs.
Mosquito-Borne Zika
Zika virus disease spread to people through the bites of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, usually shows mild symptoms -- fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes -- that last several days or a week, according to the CDC. But Zika virus infection during pregnancy can cause a serious birth defect called microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects, the CDC says.
In May 2015, the Pan American Health Organization issued an alert about the first confirmed Zika virus infection in Brazil. Three months ago, the WHO declared Zika virus a public health emergency of international concern. Local transmission has been reported in many other countries and territories.
Zika virus likely will continue to spread to new areas, CDC says. Some 4,905 confirmed and 194,633 suspected cases had been reported in 33 countries and territories in the Western Hemisphere, according to an April 6 Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch summary.
Jones said the DoD labs will use the Zika money provided by the branchs GEIS section for three kinds of surveillance studies. One will look retrospectively for Zika virus exposure among DoD personnel through serum repository samples. A retrospective study looks backward in time, in this case using serum samples of patients who had been deployed in areas with high rates of Zika virus infection.
The other surveillance studies will leverage existing work in the GEIS lab network in different parts of the world to expand clinic-based surveillance for Zika virus disease among DoD and civilian populations, and expand testing for Zika virus in mosquitoes.
DoD Serum Repository
The Defense Department collects a range of blood serum samples from all service members before, during and after their military service, and maintains the samples in the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branchs Department of Defense Serum Repository. Serum is a clear fluid thats part of a persons blood. Its used in many medical diagnostic tests and in blood typing. The repository is the worlds largest of its kind, with more than 60 million serial serum samples from more than 10 million service members.
For the retrospective Zika virus surveillance study, military virologists -- scientists who study viruses -- and public health officials will check the serum samples of service members stationed in the United States and in high-risk regions in the Caribbean and other places overseas. The scientists will be looking for prior exposure to Zika, dengue and chikungunya viruses, all of which are transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. In recent years, according to CDC, dengue and chikungunya cases have begun to appear in the United States, most of them brought in from tropical urban areas of the world.
Understanding Risk
For the service members, I can talk from personal experience, Jones said. Our blood is drawn when we enter active duty, prior to and following all deployments, and occasionally during acute illness for the purpose of storing in the serum repository, allowing for [later] analyses of a service member's serum over his or her time in service. So the serum repository keeps a history of a service member's serum on tap.
She added, When looking to understand exposure to our service members, the repository provides a unique resource for helping to determine if, when and where there was any exposure to a variety of pathogens.
This serum surveillance effort will examine 500 samples from service members stationed in Puerto Rico during a time when some of the viruses were transmitted, and 500 from service members deployed to West Africa, Jones said.
Were trying to understand the baseline risk for service members, she added.
Lines of Effort
Other lines of effort for surveillance for the labs include looking for Zika virus in mosquitoes in the Caribbean, East Africa and Southeast Asia, Jones said, and also looking for Zika virus in service members and in military beneficiary and civilian populations who go to medical facilities with a fever, medically known as a febrile illness. Aedes aegypti mosquito A female Aedes aegypti mosquito. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases photo Photo Details / Download Hi-Res
The febrile surveillance will be done in the southwestern United States -- California, Arizona and Texas -- and in the Caribbean, Central and South America, East and West Africa and Southeast Asia, she said.
In mosquito surveillance, scientists capture mosquitoes in traps and take them to the DoD labs to be processed to get their genetic material for testing.
By testing the genetic material, we can understand where mosquitoes are carrying the virus, Jones explained. We won't necessarily be able to tell quantitatively the percentage of mosquitoes carrying the virus, but in relative terms well learn about the population that's carrying the virus, in what parts of the world, and the risk to DoD populations.
Febrile Illnesses
Human surveillance focuses on service members and military beneficiary and civilian populations who go to the hospital with febrile illnesses.
Most of these are efforts where we are already conducting surveillance for other febrile pathogens, Jones said.
For example we have a study in Peru, where theyre already doing clinic-based febrile surveillance activities in South America. These are people in the population who come to the clinic with a febrile illness. Their blood will be drawn and sent to the [Naval Medical Research Unit No. 6 in Lima] for testing for Zika virus, along with other pathogens the scientists there have been looking for, she added.
Protecting the Global Force
Jones said officials dont know what theyre going to find in the GEIS-funded effort. It's very possible that the actual [number] of mosquitoes that are carrying the virus or the number of patients that we get is so small that the chance of finding something could be small, she acknowledged. But she said GEIS still wants to do the work, because the lack of Zika virus in the samples is also valuable information and helps to determine the risk to service members.
For us in GEIS, because [infectious diseases can emerge anywhere], it's very important to us to understand what diseases are currently in what geographic locations in the world, and understand what disease may emerge and spread rapidly, Jones explained. Our forces are present globally, and we need to make sure that they are able to complete their mission. Infectious diseases are one of the things that can impede their ability to do their mission.
(Follow Cheryl Pellerin on Twitter: @PellerinDoDNews)
Flying with DRAGON improves capabilities
A recent successful test flight of an upgraded Flight Management System Suite for the E-3 Sentry (AWACS) provides the warfighter with enhanced battle management capabilities.
AWACS aircraft provide an integrated command and control battle management, surveillance, target detection, and tracking platform. The aircraft provides an accurate, real-time picture of the battlespace to the Joint Air Operations Center.
The upgrade provides three principal benefits to the warfighter. It ensures compliance with current and future air traffic control requirements, giving the aircraft broader access to conduct battle management operations in airspace around the world. It resolves non-sustainable analog equipment with commercially viable digital avionics, replacing 1970s-era systems; and it also reduces cockpit crew personnel from four to three by automating the navigation function.
"The cockpit upgrade will make the AWACS fleet operationally ready for worldwide deployments, meeting all the new air traffic management mandates for the ever-increasingly congested international airspace -- while reducing the logistical footprint and increasing cost savings," said Collin Manzo, the engineering and manufacturing development program manager.
The test flight took place on April 20 at Boeing Field in Kent, Washington, as part of the Air Force's CNS/ATM DRAGON, program, which stands for Communication, Navigation and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management Diminishing Manufacturing Sources Replacement of Avionics for Global Operations and Navigation. Officials have said the benefits springboard the AWACS platform into the future while reducing overall system maintenance and sustainability costs.
"The modernized flight deck is more user-intuitive, with full-color glass displays that enable customizable engine, navigation and radar information," said Gwen LaMuro, the DRAGON program manager. "This enhanced avionics system suite utilizes commercial, off-the-shelf equipment which eliminates diminishing manufacturing source issues, provides a commercially available replacement solution and reduces sustainability risk to the AWACS platform."
The program now enters the flight test qualification phase to prove out any unique Air Force requirements. Following that, program managers anticipate delivery of modified D1 aircraft to the 552nd Air Control Wing at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, in May 2017. There, the aircraft will undergo government operation test and evaluation and then production modification for the rest of the fleet, to be accomplished by the depot staff at Tinker AFB beginning in 2018.
The CNS/ATM DRAGON program is a cooperative program between the U.S. and NATO. NATO's first aircraft, known as N1, completed testing in April and is nearing completion of the full EMD phase.
"This program is a great example of international cooperation benefiting both partners, as the U.S. and NATO AWACS fleets are about 95 percent common in design," LaMuro said. "We have incorporated the efficiencies and learned lessons from the NATO N1 aircraft in the U.S. Air Force aircraft design, reducing the overall shared costs by tens of millions of dollars for both stakeholders. This truly culminates a successful relationship between NATO and the U.S. and these modifications ensure the critical capability AWACS provides to our warfighters and allies around the world."
Dover entomologists help curb spread of Zika
Entomologists at Dover Air Force Base have been at the forefront of the Air Force when it comes to treating aircraft for various insects, rodents and diseases. Now theyve added a new specialty to their list -- stemming the Zika virus.
After Italy issued aircraft guidelines to combat the Zika epidemic, the 436th Civil Engineer Squadron Pest Management section is ensuring Air Force aircraft are able to fly in country.
"The Italian government has issued a quarantine, or a requirement for all U.S. aircraft flying into the country to be disinsected because they want to prevent mosquitos from entering their country and exposing them to Zika," said Staff Sgt. Daniel Fink, the 436th CES Pest Management supervisor. "So we have had to start implementing aircraft treatments."
With missions already planned for Italy and after the quarantine was issued, the unit had less than 24 hours to develop a treatment plan and begin to treat aircraft as a preventative measure. Without their quick response, missions would have either been canceled or diverted.
Kenneth Barnes, a 436th CES Pest Management foreman, said because Dover AFB is routinely quarantined for aircraft disinsection, his personnel had the experience and knowledge to develop and implement an effective treatment plan quickly.
"We have always been the leaders for aircraft disinsection," Barnes said. "We are the only base that gets quarantined for Japanese beetles year after year, so we have the experience on treating aircraft. Treating for Zika and treating for the Japanese beetles is not that much different as far as the way we do it, we just use a different chemical."
Just like treating for the beetles, the 436th Maintenance Group is responsible for prepping the aircraft for treatment. Once all food and paper goods are removed and oxygen masks are covered, the entomologist from pest management can begin to treat the aircraft.
"We are using an aircraft aerosol insecticide," Barnes said. "It's called Callington 1-Shot. Basically we go in and fog the entire aircraft from front to back, and it prevents any mosquitos from entering our aircraft and going to other countries."
It takes six aerosol cans to treat a C-17 Globemaster III and 13 cans to treat a C-5M Super Galaxy. Treating the aircraft is a relatively short task. Once the aerosol cans are completely dispensed, the aircraft is sealed for a period of 15-20 minutes for the treatment to take effect. After that, the aircraft is ventilated and certified to travel.
Since the quarantine is in effect for all U.S. aircraft, the section has been fielding several questions on combating Zika from various bases ranging on how to obtain the chemical to step-by-step procedures to treat aircraft.
"When this hit, we were the lone man standing with the knowledge and the chemical in hand to do anything," Barnes said. "So now everybody is like 'ask Dover' and 'what is Dover doing' and we were able to give them answers."
Barnes and Fink also traveled to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, to train seven personnel from the 87th CES Pest Management section on treating aircraft for the Zika virus.
Staff Sgt. Christopher Harris, the 87th CES Pest Management NCO in charge, said the training allowed for both pest management shops to mirror each other's operations when treating aircraft.
"The Dover Pest Management shop went through all of the requirements that were put in place to treat aircraft that were outbound to and through Italy," Harris said. "The training included verifying all pre-disinsection procedures were complete and ensuring the right amount of pesticide was used determined by the type of aircraft.
Theres no indication on how long the quarantine will last, but Fink said they are preparing for long-term Zika prevention operations.
"For now, we are going to be treating aircraft for Zika indefinitely," Fink said. "Our focus has been turned from a broad spectrum such as insects, weeds and taking care of other miscellaneous tasks, to solely disease vector prevention."
While going through your story Mahatma Gandhi and his mean next generations (May 17), it seems there is something missing somewhere and truth needs to be unveiled. It is surprising that Gandhis grandson Kanubhai Ramdas Gandhi, a former NASA scientist and an MIT graduate after living four decades in US has to spend his retirement life in an old age home on the outskirts of Delhi. It is expected that married couple who has spent all their working lives by performing lucrative jobs in the US might be drawing pension from the Federal Government to lead a comfortable life. There is no clarity about why he remains isolated, poor and has to stay in destitute home, that too after retiring from his job in USA. Like Kanubhai there are thousands of freedom fighters family, whose whereabouts are not known, are struggling hard to meet their day to day minimum needs. Even for those who are clueless and helpless there are NGOs and social service organizations in US that offer all forms of assistance. It shows love for the mother land has brought them to India but they have to face hardships during old age. However, the couple have the courage to overcome all obstacles which shows their remarkable spirit. The grandson of the Father of the Nation ought to be given proper accommodation and other amenities for spending his remaining life in India. Government should extend all basic facilities to these homes and their infrastructure should be upgraded so that they can live a happy life.
Vinod C. Dixit
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
Hillary Clinton claimed a narrow victory in Kentucky as she sought to put away Bernie Sanders, but her resilient rival for the Democratic presidential nomination bounced back to snatch a win in Oregon.
With the Kentucky race too close for most US networks to call a winner, Clinton declared victory shortly after Kentuckys secretary of state Alison Lundergan Grimes announced on CNN that Clinton was the unofficial winner in her state.
We just won Kentucky! Thanks to everyone who turned out, Clinton tweeted.
With 99.8 per cent of Blue Grass state precincts reporting, Clinton led Sanders by 46.8 per cent to 46.3 per cent a margin of less than 2,000 votes.
Should the results hold, the win would blunt Sanderss momentum and help Clinton move closer toward clinching the Democratic presidential nomination.
But the psychological win was short-lived. Half an hour after polls closed in Oregon, US networks projected Sanders the winner there, besting Clinton 53 percent to 47 percent.
We just won Oregon, and were going to win California, Sanders told thousands of supporters in Carson, California as he predicted victory in the nations largest state, which votes on June 7.
Sanders, a self-declared democratic socialist, declared he would not be forced out of the race by narrow Clinton wins.
It appears tonight that were going to end up with about half the delegates in Kentucky, Sanders told the raucous rally.
Let me be as clear as I can be We are in til the last ballot is cast, he said to a huge roar.
Clinton has a commanding lead in the all-important national delegate count and is marching toward vying for the presidency in the November 8 general election despite her string of recent primary losses.
Victories in Kentucky and Oregon would have definitively halted her slide and helped reverse the narrative that her campaign is showing significant weakness ahead of an almost certain showdown with Donald Trump, the Republican Party`s presumptive nominee.
Trump the last man standing in the GOP race was projected Oregons Republican winner, moving closer to the 1,237 delegates he needs to officially claim the partys mantle in 2016.
Sanders had counted on a Kentucky victory to build on his win last week in neighboring West Virginia as he battles to keep his long-shot nomination bid alive.
West Virginia and Kentucky are linked to coal, as is much of Appalachia the largely white, long-struggling eastern US region where many feel they have been left behind in the lukewarm recovery from the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
Clinton saw Kentucky as an opportunity to appeal to working-class white men a demographic where the former secretary of state has lagged behind both the celebrity billionaire Trump and Sanders.
John Spenlau, 28, outside a voting station in Louisville, said he voted for Sanders because he represented the best hope for continued change and the fight against income inequality, among other problems.
Hillary would be a more stable candidate but I think that Bernie continues to push the envelope, towards a few more of the social programs that I believe in, Spenlau said. Clinton defeated Barack Obama in Kentuckys primary in 2008, and her husband Bill Clinton was the last Democrat to carry the Bluegrass State in a general election.
Republicans were gleeful over her inability to close out the Democratic nomination race against Sanders, who at the beginning of the campaign was given long odds against the better-funded, universally recognizable former first lady.
While Republicans move toward unifying the party for the general election, Hillary Clinton remains bogged down in a nasty, protracted primary fight and will have to rely on a rigged system of super delegates to get across the finish line, said Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, in a statement.
The on-again off-again couple only rekindled their relationship nine months ago following their separation in June but it seems the pair are still struggling to make it work as theyve now reportedly broken up for the second time.
Despite the heartache that comes with the diminishment of a relationship, its believes the former lovers split amicably and are determined to remain friends, according to Us Weekly.
However, the news will no doubt comes as a shock to friends and family as just a few months ago Evan, 29, had nothing but praise for the blonde beauty who is the niece of Julia Roberts when he gushed about their romance.
He said at the time: She is really great. I just love her.
The actor began dating Emma, 25, in 2012 after meeting her on the set of their film Adult World.
He then proposed to the actress in December 2013 but their engagement lasted less than two years as it was thought theyd called time on their relationship in June last year.
And, although pals believed their separation was amicable, Emma hinted at the time that it was more one sided as she claimed she had cleared the toxic people from her life.
She said: Ive really like cleared out toxic people in my life.
I only surround myself with people with work and with friends. People that are going to make me feel confident and make me happy and make me laugh. And so that way, the mean things dont get to me as much.
However, they then set tongues wagging once again two months later when they were spotted enjoying an intimate dinner in Los Angeles, California, just days after Evan attended the premiere of Emmas show Scream Queens.
Asserting that Pakistan is a forceful occupier of Gilgit-Baltistan, a group representing people from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir has sought help from US lawmakers over the deteriorating human rights conditions there.
Gilgit-Baltistan cannot end rights abuses without the help of the international community. The US must continue to be a beacon of light for the democratic spirit, to demand an end to Pakistans rule and support Gilgit-Baltistan in its struggle, Senge Sering of the Washington-based Institute of Gilgit-Baltistan told US lawmakers during a recent event at the Capitol Hill.
At an event organised by Senator Tim Kaine to mark Vietnam Human Rights Day last week, Mr Sering said that the UN Security Council resolution 47 declares Pakistan as an occupier and aggressor in Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and calls for its complete withdrawal.
The event was addressed by several top American lawmakers including Senators John Cornyn, John McCain, Kaine and Mark Warner, and House of Representative members Barbara Comstock, Gerry Connolly, Sheila Jackson Lee, Zoe Lofgren, Alan Lowenthal, Chris Smith and Leslie Byrne.
People of the Gilgit-Baltistan (PoK) demand a complete removal of Pakistani and Chinese actors who forcefully occupy the land and exploit the regions mineral and water resources, Mr Sering said.
The international community must question the Chinese multinational corporations who are building a multi-billion dollar economic corridor in an area which Pakistan occupies forcefully and illegally. The people in this region face suppression for demanding basic rights, he said.
Further, the Pakistani military and intelligence agencies have seized thousands of acres of private land in Gilgit-Baltistan for military use. These practices are a direct violation of the UN Security Council resolutions and have resulted in the displacement of locals, Mr. Sering said.
Nowadays, not only outsider but Congress party members also criticizing the partys leadership as the partys success graph is declining. Members are seeing their and partys future in dark because of the Gandhis. They too realized that neither Gandhis nor Vadras would be able to save the party. In Pune, Congress workers created a ruckus at a seminar organised by Maharashtra Congress secretary Shehzad Poonawalla at Congress Bhavan where party MP Shashi Tharoor and Shehzads younger brother, Tehseen, were the main speakers. The workers shouted slogans saying that connections with Robert Vadra did not make the Poonawallas party bigwigs. Actually Tehseen Poonawalla, a Pune born, is a columnist with several newspapers and magazines. He is a regular on the party circuit and is often featured on Page 3 as well as various fashion magazines. A rich man, source of funding but his contribution to the party on ground level is zero. Recently, Tehseen Poonawalla and Monika Vadra got married. Tehseen is a Congress Party supporter whereas Monika Vadra is the cousin sister of Robert Vadra, who is husband to Priyanka Gandhi. So they might have thought after marriage to Vadras, the brothers can have upper hand in Congress, but its leaders shunted them blatantly by refusing to accept their leadership in the party.
He is a regular guest on television and news channels speaking his observation points on matters of national importance, projecting himself to be a true secular Indian. The grassroots level party workers are not willing to accept such dude type people taking over the party in any means. There were thousands of Congress party workers, who are working at panchayat level in villages from ages, but never received due credit for it. One such worker and city leader Vishwajeet Kadam had been sidelined in the seminar, so the party workers promptly raised slogans in support of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and party vice president Rahul Gandhi, contended that local figures had not been taken into confidence before the seminar. They had not allowed Shehzad to speak, for which Pune Congress Chief Ramesh Bagwe making an appeal to them to stop their sloganeering.
Seeing that the party workers were unrelenting, Tharoor took the mike and said that no city level official would be sidelined and that he was going to meet Kadam. Tharoor tried his level best to control the situation but workers were still firm that they would not allow either of the brothers to speak and continued with their slogans.
The auditorium was silent when Tharoor was giving his speech, but the sloganeering began again as soon he handed over the mike to Tehseen. Later, they tore up posters of the Poonawalla brothers. Former Congress corporator Laxman Arde told Tharoor and other leaders that the party cannot grow if such leadership is going to be imposed. What is the use of the efforts taken by local leaders if they are going to be sidelined? He asked. Other leaders too joined in chorus. Poonawalla was humiliated by his own party workers.
Recently, posters showing Robert Vadras face along with Sonia Gandhi herself and Rahul Gandhi during the mega Loktantra Bachao Yatra too sparked rumours of the businessman finally dipping his toes in the murky waters of politics. However, a Congress worker and Gandhi loyalist reportedly erected the posters without sanction. Such small incidences are bothering some big shot Congress leaders.
In Pune, the tension has been brewing at the Congress Bhavan. Shehzad came there with bouncers and insulted local leaders. Some posters of Poonawallas were either torn up or defaced too, following which police imposed section 149 of the CrPC (preventive action to maintain peace). Anyway, things are yet to be settled down in party. However, one thing is for sure that there is nothing alright in the party.
(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com)
Corporate funding of multiple vaccine research was exposed again recently. This time it was in the latest round of MMR-causes-autism allegations, which we exported to the US....
I think it's time we all coined the phrase "vaccine science," I.e. easily flawed and manipulated population studies specifically designed to cover up evidence of vaccine side effects. Since we know the legitimate research that officials refuse to call for, all we're really left with is the junk stuff.
Instead of calling for honest, unbiased, consumer-centered studies, Brown tells us to get used to industry doing the science. What she's really calling for is out and out fascism--corporate control of government. If that's inevitable, then let's abolish the CDC/FDA and let their employees go directly to work for the industries they regulate. Let's stop the pretense. It would save taxpayers a lot of money.
It seems that the UK Guardian has their own Emily Willingham (Forbes). Tracey Brown is advocating for acceptance of corporations doing their own safety research, specifically, the vaccine makers.
Its important we talk about this because in the media and the public consciousness, corporate funding has become shorthand for bad. Crooked deals (you write this, Ill pay for your holiday) are presented as on a par with well-structured research agreements (we need vaccines to test vaccines, so the pharma company provides them gratis, no results guaranteed). Researchers are being hung out to dry because their institutes take corporate funding, even while government is pressuring them to do so. Meanwhile, terrible problems of bias, such as the failure to publish all clinical trial results, attract far too little attention.
Whats especially annoying is that the who funded it? question often by people with axes to grind overrides the inquiries that the public rightly ask. What do we actually know? Do scientists agree on this? Is this a proper study and how can I tell? These are good questions that show us whether the research is actually biased and what we should trust.
We need to get used to asking them, because corporate funding accounts for more than half of our research base. In some areas, including areas of engineering that are no less matters of public safety, there is hardly any public funding....
These were the comments I posted that were immediately removed.
The real problem here, at least in the U.S., is that PARENTS TRUST that safety studies are done by totally unbiased groups of people. That's why we spend billions on our regulatory agencies.
If we continue to allow the vaccine makers to conduct these studies, what good is the FDA/CDC? For years the tobacco industry did their own science that showed smoking wasn't a health risk.
If the FDA simply accepts pharma-funded safety claims, what good are they?
Let's shut down these expensive agencies and put pharma in charge.
Anne Dachel, Media editor: Age of Autism
What Tracey Brown is advocating here is the complete corporate takeover of the already industry controlled regulatory process of vaccines.
It isn't enough that a revolving door exists between the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Food and Drug Administration and the corporations they oversee, Brown sees no problem with the established practice of allowing the vaccine makers to do their own safety studies.
Brown's promotion may sound good, but she's left out a number of serious points.
VACCINE MAKERS HAVE NO LIABILITY FOR THE PRODUCTS THEY MAKE.
Back in 1986 the U.S. Congress indemnified the vaccine makers against suits for damage caused by their products. There is very little incentive to produce a truly safe vaccines. This troubling reality is never mentioned in the endless news reports where the public is told "studies show no link." After the industry was given liability protection the number of vaccines more than tripled and hundreds of additional vaccines are in the testing stages.
Anne Dachel, Media editor: Age of Autism
Brown writes for "Sense about Science."
"Sense About Science works with scientists and members of the public to change public debates and to equip people to make sense of science and evidence."
Let me help make some sense here about vaccine safety.
First of all, pharma has a vast web of money ties to the agency that runs the vaccine program. For instance, hundreds of CDC employees have conflict of interest waivers because of direct financial connections to the vaccine industry. The last head of the CDC, Dr. Julie Gerberding, a long-time denier of any serious side effects from vaccines, went on to head the vaccine division at Merck.
So what we have is liability-free product that is mandated on every child in America in order to attend school. It's a vaccine maker's dream.
For years we've been told, "Studies show no link between vaccines and autism." (Or any other serious side effect like diabetes, bowel disease, asthma, allergies, and seizure disorder.)
PHONY SCIENCE PASSES FOR GOOD.
It should be noted that these "studies" are epidemiological ones. These are done simply by looking at a certain population and trying to discern a problem. This is the weakest kind of science and isn't used for causal evidence. It's easy to construct such a study to hide serious side effects.
Anne Dachel, Media editor: Age of Autism
Here's what truly informed people know about vaccine safety:
Vaccines are tested individually, yet a child receives multiple vaccinations in a single doctor's visit, often 5, 6, or 7.
There has never been a study done on the cumulative effects of the one-size-fits-every-child vaccine schedule in the U.S. What other medical product or procedure could possible be considered safe for every child? Parents are truly playing "vaccine roulette" when they take their infants in to be vaccinated.
The U.S. government's compensation program has paid out billions for vaccine injuries, including over 80 cases where the injured party became autistic as a result of vaccination.
There has been no toxicity testing on either the mercury or aluminum additive used in vaccines. Eli Lilly, back in 1930, tested their mercury-based vaccine preservative, thimerosal, on 22 patients who all died of meningitis by the end of the study. Regardless Eli Lilly said it was safe and after the creation of the FDA, its use was grandfathered in. It is truly frightening to consider that much of the flu vaccine every year is made with thimerosal, and that this vaccine is recommended for pregnant women at all stages of pregnancy (and they receive the adult dose of mercury) and babies as young as six months. (There are no restrictions on mercury-containing vaccines exported to third world countries. The poorest children receive the most mercury in their shots because it's the cheapest way to make their vaccines.)
The U.S. government makes absolutely no effort to determine which children may be at risk for a vaccine reaction before injecting a battery of shots into a child at a typical well-baby visit.
In 2008 the public learned that medical experts at HHS had conceded the claim of vaccine-induced autism in the case of Hannah Poling, a young Georgia girl who regressed into autism directly after receiving nine vaccines at one time. Hannah had a mitochondrial disorder that made her susceptible to injury from vaccination. No effort has been made to determine what other children have the same vulnerability.
In 2008, the late Dr. Bernadine, former head of NIH, was on CBS News and she said that we can't dismiss a link between vaccines and autism because we have never studied the children who were fine and who suddenly lost learned skills and regressed into autism following vaccination.
Anne McElroy Dachel, Age of Autism
WASHINGTON, May 18, 2016 The Environmental Protection Agencys proposed 2017 renewable volume obligations are out, kicking off a process the agency hopes to finalize by the end of November.
The RVOs fall under the Renewable Fuel Standard, which was authorized in its current form in 2007. Under the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA), the RVO, the amount of renewable fuels required to be blended with conventional fuels was to be set at 24 billion gallons with the potential for 15 billion of those gallons coming from corn ethanol. Todays proposal comes in under those figures, at 18.8 billion gallons with the potential for 14.8 billion gallons of corn ethanol.
Much of the proposals 5.2 billion-gallon shortfall from the statutory figure comes from struggles in the cellulosic biofuel industry. Under the EISA, the 2017 cellulosic blending requirement was supposed to be 5.5 billion gallons, but Wednesdays announcement set that threshold at 312 million gallons. That industry has been slow to grow, renewable fuel advocates will argue, because of confusion over the future of the RFS beginning with the 2014 RVOs.
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The announcement represents an increase of about 700 million gallons from the 2016 RVO, EPA says. Aside from the 14.8 billion gallon potential for corn ethanol, the 2017 RVO sets the total advanced biofuel target at 4 billion gallons.
Renewable fuels advocates were less than thrilled with the proposal, having hoped that EPA would at least have set RVOs at statutory requirements. Bob Dinneen, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, said EPA failed to meet its stated goal of getting the program back on track.
The agency continues to cater to the oil industry by relying upon an illegal interpretation of its waiver authority and concern over a blend wall that the oil industry itself is creating, Dinneen said in a statement. RFA is party to a lawsuit with seven other groups challenging EPAs use of an infrastructure waiver in last years multiyear RVO.
RFAs allies in the lawsuit include Growth Energy, the National Corn Growers Association, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, Americans for Clean Energy, the American Coalition for Ethanol, and the National Sorghum Producers. They contend that the EPA is citing nonexistent statutory authority to use infrastructure concerns to set RVOs below the blend wall, or a perceived cap on the amount of renewable fuels the marketplace can absorb. A ruling is expected in early 2017.
Chip Bowling, NCGA president, pointed out that EPA is moving in a better direction, but said he was disappointed with figures that came in under statutory levels.
Any reduction in the statutory amount takes America backward, Bowling said in a release. NCGA will continue fighting to hold the government accountable for its promises. We call on the EPA to follow the law, and raise the ethanol volume to statute.
Brian Jennings, executive vice president with Americans for Clean Energy, said EPA should have used Energy Information Administration data to set the volumes higher than called for in the proposal.
EPA has claimed they cant require oil companies to add more ethanol to a shrinking gasoline pool because of the so-called E10 blend wall, Jennings said. Under that logic, EPAs ethanol blending volumes for 2017 should increase to statutory levels because gasoline use is on a steady rise and will set a new record this year.
Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIOs Industrial and Environmental Section, pointed to the litigation challenging EPAs interpretation of the infrastructure waiver. He said he is concerned that the agency is doing it again.
As BIO has explained in past comments to the agency, EPA cannot rely on such an interpretation of the statute to expand its authority and rewrite the rules governing the congressionally established volume requirements, Erickson said. We are concerned that EPA is repeating this and other errors from EPAs untimely final rule for the 2014, 2015 and 2016 RFS volumes, issued late last year.
The proposal also includes the biomass-based diesel figures for 2018 at 2.1 billion gallons. Anne Steckel, National Biodiesel Boards vice president of federal affairs, said she appreciated the timeliness of the announcement 11 days earlier than last year but wishes EPA would have set more ambitious volumes.
This proposal significantly understates the amount of biodiesel this industry can sustainably deliver to the market, Steckel said. We have plenty of feedstock and production capacity to exceed 2.5 billion gallons today, and can certainly do so in 2018.
If renewable fuel and ethanol interest can agree on anything, its that both sides of the debate are disappointed in todays announcement, albeit for very different reasons. The American Petroleum Institute was calling for a mandate that capped at 9.7 percent of gasoline demand, or about 13.6 billion gallons. APIs Frank Macchiarola said the figures show that the RFS is in need of a legislative overhaul, something that would infuriate the ethanol industry.
Consumers interest should come ahead of ethanol interests, said Macchiarola.
Chet Thompson, president of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, offered similar sentiments. In a statement, he said the proposed levels go beyond marketplace realities. He, too, called for repeal or significant reform of the RFS.
The Environmental Working Group, long and vocal opponents of corn ethanol, also put out a statement looking negatively at the announcement.
"The Administration's decision continues a wrong-headed policy that promotes a fuel that is bad for the environment," EWG Research Analyst Emily Cassidy said.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., used the occasion to restate his distain for the RFS. He said the EPA is disregarding market realities related to demand for gasoline and the availability of cellulosic biofuel. As Ive said before, he added, the RFS is a flawed program that creates nothing but uncertainty and unnecessary volatility for our refiners.
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., said the EPA should meet its legal obligations and set ambitious standards going forward.
Especially at a time of low commodity prices, it is unacceptable for EPA to create even more uncertainty for our corn, soybean, and canola growers who depend on the biofuels industry as a reliable market for their crops, she said.
Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley agreed, saying that the legislative history of the EISA should have prevented EPA from citing infrastructure concerns in the RFS.
"I worry that the EPA continues to rely too much on arguments from Big Oil that distribution infrastructure is lacking," Grassley said. "Congress explicitly rejected distribution infrastructure as a reason to justify lower blending targets. The EPA needs to pay attention to that fact."
WASHINGTON, May 18, 2016 President Barack Obama issued an executive order to federal agencies today directing them to take action to protect government buildings in sensitive areas from wildfires.
As the threat of wildfire has increased, so has the risk of fire damage to structures in areas between federal lands and populated areas, known as the wildland-urban interface (WUI). Since 1990, 60 percent of new homes in the U.S. have been built within this interface, the White House explained today in a fact sheet. An estimated 6,256 federal buildings can be found in these areas.
The agencies were given 90 days to ensure that all new buildings or alternations to existing buildings in excess of 5,000 square feet on federal land within the WUI are in compliance with the 2015 edition of the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code (IWUIC) or similar standards. The codes, which encompass the current understanding of wildfire hazard potential, will help increase safety and protect the lives of people who live or work in these buildings, the White House said.
More than 39 federal, state, local, tribal and non-governmental entities have committed to a multi-scale, collaborative approach to address the challenges posed by wildlfire within the interface, says the White House.
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The White House notes that the threat of wildfire is increasing. In 2015, over 68,000 wildfires in the U.S. burned more than 4,600 structures and 10 million acres the highest number on record. Annual estimates on structure loss due to wildfire have increased dramatically for more than six decades.
#30
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How Americans, Kurds and Assyrians Fought Off ISIS
A Christian militiaman passes a tableau of The Last Supper inside St. George's Church on November 4, 2015 in Telsquf, near the frontline with ISIS in northern Iraq. All of the town's 11,000 predominantly Chaldean Catholic residents fled when it was overrun by the Islamic State in 2014 before being retaken by Peshmerga forces with the aid of American airstrikes. Of the 1,800 families that fled, some 40 percent left Iraq, according to Safaa Khamro, commander of the Nineveh Plain Forces (NPF), Christian militia. Many, he said, have now immigrated to Europe. (AINA) -- On May 3, in one of the biggest offensives by ISIS in months, ISIS fighters broke through Kurdish and Assyrian (Nineveh Plain Protection Units, NPU) defenses in the deserted Assyrian village of Telsquf, 17 miles from the militant stronghold of Mosul.
The attack started at 5.30 A.M. when ISIS blasted through Kurdish and NPU defenses by using three truck bombs, followed by bulldozers, and infantry. The village defenses were breached and ISIS fighters stormed into the village. They were backed by snipers and heavy machine gun and mortar fire. Once in the town, they set several buildings on fire to create a smoke screen against allied bombing. They managed to overrun the town by dawn and reached the Kurdish encampment two miles behind the front line. But they were unaware that U.S. military advisers were in the camp. A fire fight started between the attackers and the defenders. A Navy Seal, Charles Keating IV, was part of the force sent in to rescue the advisers. The highly decorated seal was killed in the ensuing battle.
Related: Timeline of ISIS in Iraq
In a press conference at the American embassy in Baghdad, Coalition spokesman Col. Steve Warren said: "The Quick Reaction Force, of which Keating was a part, was able to evacuate the advisers relatively rapidly within the first couple of hours." But it was during this operation, he noted, that Keating was struck by direct fire at 9:32 AM local time. He added: "Two medical evacuation helicopters were able to evacuate Keating within an hour of him being hit, but his wound was not survivable."
When Peshmergae reinforcements and NPU fighters arrived, they were met by sniper fire from ISIS fighters hiding in buildings. Intense house to house fighting continued. The air cracked with machine gun fire and mortars. American fighter jets and drones launched over 22 strikes on ISIS positions. The air attacks destroyed 20 vehicles and killed 58 fighters. Three Assyrians were injured, Fouad Georgis, Wahab Khalid and Rafid Matei.
The fight to recapture the village was successful, but the cost was high and the village lay in ruins.
ISIS confirmed that the 'Farook Army' spearheaded the attack. This was considered one of the elite units of ISIS. It is composed of highly trained foreign fighters, mainly from Chechnya and Russia. A reliable security source confirmed to the Iraqi newspaper 'Al Sabbah Al-Jadeed' that by listening to the conversation of some ISIS elements, they seemed distraught at loosing so many men and so much equipment in a single engagement. This unit was originally assigned to defend Mosul.
In his comments to Ankawa.com, NPU leader Athra Kado said: "after we recaptured the town ISIS fighters tried to escape from the western edges of the town, but they were met with our fighters who managed to kill three of them. Peshmerga forces managed to kill four attackers and two suicide bombers blew themselves up. Three prisoners were also taken."
In the summer of 2014, Telsquf residents fled their village when ISIS swept through the region. In late 2014, ISIS withdrew from the village, which ended up under Kurdish Peshmerga control.
The chiming and chanting of bells that once sounded in the village have been silenced. The smell of death has spread into every corner of Telsquf.
Assyrian Delegation in Washington to Press for Aid
Assyrian delegation visits Washington. ( AINA) (AINA) -- A delegation of Assyrian Americans visited Washington on Wednesday to meet with government officials regarding the situation of Assyrians in the Middle East. The meetings were attended by the Assyrian American National Federation, The Assyrian National Council of Illinois, the Iraqi Christian Relief Council and the Assyrian Confederation of Europe.
The delegation met with several offices of Congress as well as the State Department and National Security Council, and called for for the protection of Assyrians and the liberation of the Assyrian province in the Nineveh plain in Northern Iraq.
On June 10, 2014 ISIS captured Mosul, Iraq's second largest city. On August 7, 2014 ISIS drove into the Nineveh Plains north and east of Mosul, causing nearly 200,000 Assyrians to flee their villages.
On February 23, 2015 ISIS attacked the 35 Assyrians villages on the Khabur river in the Hasaka province of Syria. It captured 253 Assyrians and drove 3,000 Assyrians from their homes. ISIS subsequently released most of them upon receiving ransom payments. On August 7, 2015 ISIS captured Al-Qaryatain in Syria, capturing 250 Assyrians; 179 are still being held.
There are nearly 500,000 Assyrians in the Unites States, with large populations in Chicago (90,000), Detroit (100,000), Phoenix, Los Angles, San Diego and San Jose.
American Airlines Cargo has shipped more than 20 pallets of water purification units to families across Ecuador whose lives were devastated when an earthquake hit the region last month.
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake affected local water treatment plants and supply networks, which were severely disrupted in towns such as Manta and Portoviejo.
American Airlines Cargo donated transportation to GlobalMedic, allowing the charity to send 560 Family Emergency Kits (FEK) to Quito from New York (JFK).
The specialist kits contain household water purification units which can provide clean drinking water to a family for up to a year, as well as essential hygiene items such as soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes.
The kits were initially trucked from Toronto, Canada to New York (JFK) by a trucking partner who also donated their services.
At JFK, the kits were loaded onto a Boeing 777 aircraft for onwards carriage through Miami, then to the Ecuadorian capital for distribution to the outlying towns and cities most affected by the quake.
Linda Dreffein, managing director of cargo sales for American Airlines eastern region said: These kits will protect almost 3,000 individuals health, prevent the spread of illness and disease and provide a sense of normality as these families attempt to rebuild their lives. We are proud to have played a part in the safe and speedy arrival of these kits to the heart of the quake zone.
May 18, 2016
They werent planting bombs, attacking people or even defacing public property, but the members of an Egyptian troupe called Street Children have been detained and investigated for allegedly inciting protests and spreading terrorist [ideas] that insult the president.
The troupe released a satirical music video May 2 in which they called on President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to leave office. The decision to detain the young men has raised a great deal of controversy and angered many, both among the presidents opponents as well as media figures supportive of him, while others welcomed the move.
The six members of the Street Children troupe appear in selfie-style videos that feature both satirical and critical content sometimes in the form of music videos, other times in the form of acting performances. Among the topics they have addressed are the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and how the international film industry portrays Egypt, which was the subject of two videos: Egypt in Hollywood and Commercial announcements.
The troupe has been subjected to security restrictions at many of their shows, but the apparent reason for their detentions were two video clips Sisi is my president and Ubdah al-bayada (in reference to a staunch army supporter) criticizing Sisi.
At first, only one of the troupes members was detained. Izz al-Din Khalid, the youngest member, was accused May 7 of inciting protests and releasing online videos in which he condemned state institutions and insulted the president. He was released the following day but remains under investigation. On May 9, three other members were arrested; pending an investigation, the prosecutor decided to detain them for 15 days. The groups Facebook page was taken off-line.
Many criticized the prosecutors actions, including journalist Amr Adib, who is known for his support of Sisi. Adib said on his show "Cairo Today," "The security services instead of monitoring jihadis have arrested the Street Children troupe. The future of these young men is now uncertain, following the decision to keep them detained pending charges. [It is as if the prosecutors] have confused them with drug dealers or jihadis. These young men, their friends and their families [are treated] like potential jihadis.
Activists on social media launched a campaign titled Does this camera phone scare you? to express solidarity with the troupe. Many politicians, artists and journalists have participated in the campaign, such as activist Ziyad al-Alimi, comedian Bassem Youssef and artist Amr Waked. All took selfies standing in a similar way as the members of Street Children and posted them on social media, while calling for the troupes detained members to be freed.
Several intellectuals also launched an online petition calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the troupe's members and the dismissal of all charges against them. The petition states, In obedience to our liberty, our humanity and our future, we demand the simplest of all daily human rights: the right to laugh. That has been the Egyptians most famous trait, which over the last few years has cost us due to fearmongering and in the name of fighting terrorism and preserving security.
The petition continues, At the same time when several members of the troupe were awaiting theatrical honors, receiving prizes from their universities and participating in the theatrical festival in Paris, [they] are spending their days in detention, awaiting yet more harassment for exercising their right to laughter. Among the statements more famous endorsers are former Minister of Culture Emad Abu Ghazi, parliament member Khalid Youssef and artist Khalid Abu al-Naga.
Journalist Ahmed Musa, however, who is known for supporting Sisi and the Ministry of the Interior, and their fierce assault on their detractors, welcomed the decision to imprison the members of Street Children, saying on his show, Theyre inciting against the Egyptian state.
He added, What they did is not freedom of opinion; they do not respect the army or the country."
Muhammad Nabawi, a spokesman for the Tamarod movement, attacked the members of Street Children in a recent statement, saying, Many idle young men clutch a camera and say anything in order to broadcast an idea or a political agenda that serves their ideology, which they have brought in from overseas.
Tariq al-Awadi, a lawyer for the Street Children troupe, commented in a televised statement, saying, We are clearly living in an era of total lockdown in the broader climate. We stand before a police state [that is acting] systematically, not randomly. Whats taking place on the ground is that arrest orders are being replaced with orders to 'detain pending investigations.'
Awadi added, The young men of Street Children have been accused of releasing videos that insult the state, inciting gatherings and protests. Thats despite the fact that there is no such thing as a crime called 'inciting gathering or protests.' The prosecutors issued an order to release them, but an investigation was opened against them once again and draconian new charges were added: conspiring with others to found a group aiming to topple the founding principles of the state, conspiring with others to broadcast fake news to undermine public security and damage the public interest, as well as inciting to overthrow the ruling regime.
Judge Muhammad Hamid al-Jamal, former president of the State Council, spoke to Al-Monitor concerning the sentences the Street Children members could receive if they are found guilty of the charges, the most serious of which is insulting the president of the republic and institutions of the state. According to Jamal, each charge carries a sentence of three to five years in prison.
He said, The law criminalizes the utterances that were included in the video these young men released. It considers it a crime to insult the president, and this crime is considered a serious one.
May 18, 2016
Congress is rolling out the red carpet for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as the six-nation coalition prepares to open shop in Washington.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote May 19 on a bipartisan bill extending diplomatic courtesies to the officials and staff of a potential GCC office. The legislation was requested by the Barack Obama administration, which endorsed the idea during the president's fence-mending visit to Riyadh last month.
"The legislation will allow for the establishment of a diplomatic office in Washington for the Gulf Cooperation Council that will facilitate continued security cooperation between the US and regional allies in the fight against [the Islamic State]," an aide to panel chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., told Al-Monitor. The GCC is composed of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
The bill would extend the "privileges and immunities" granted under the International Organizations Immunities Act to the GCC "under such terms and conditions as the president shall determine." The 1945 law treats international organizations much like traditional diplomatic posts but doesn't grant its employees full diplomatic immunity.
The law already applies to such organizations as the Holy See, the Organization of American States and the Red Cross. Its benefits include immunity from search and confiscation (unless waived), exemption from certain taxes, and freedom from baggage searches and other customs procedures.
The effort comes at a time of significant strain between the United States and the Gulf countries following the nuclear deal with Iran and Obama's hands-off approach in Syria. Those tensions erupted into the open in the president's much-discussed interview with The Atlantic magazine in which Obama accused European and Gulf countries of being "free riders" counting on the United States to do all the heavy lifting in the region.
"The competition between the Saudis and the Iranians which has helped to feed proxy wars and chaos in Syria and Iraq and Yemen requires us to say to our friends as well as to the Iranians that they need to find an effective way to share the neighborhood and institute some sort of cold peace, Obama said.
The president sought to put those remarks behind him when he visited Saudi Arabia last month in a follow-up meeting to last year's Camp David summit. In Riyadh, Obama and the GCC leaders pledged to increase information sharing on Iran and other threats; "redouble" cooperation on maritime security cooperation; pursue an integrated ballistic missile defense early-warning system; plan for a combined military exercise in March 2017; start training Special Operations Forces from each GCC country to "bolster interoperable counterterrorism capabilities"; and support expanded cooperation on cybersecurity.
Beyond the security front, the GCC countries endorsed a US proposal to inaugurate a ministerial-level GCC-US economic dialogue in 2016 to help tackle economic and energy policy reforms in the region. The opening of a Washington office is seen as a crucial instrument to help those efforts succeed.
"Leaders committed to continue coordinating closely on issues of mutual concern, including through meetings of GCC and US foreign and defense ministers, and support for an annual leader-level Summit," a communique from the Riyadh meeting states. "The United States welcomed GCC interest in opening an office in Washington to advance cooperation, and will support efforts toward that end."
Gulf observers point out that the Gulf countries have had GCC-wide representation at the European Union since 1993, while the group also has a permanent observer to the United Nations in New York. Opening such an office in the United States would allow GCC officials to communicate with their Washington-based interlocutors eight hours a day, five days a week.
"A GCC office established in Washington would therefore be a much-welcomed, important and overdue development. It would be difficult to imagine how such a breakthrough would not be able to aid the GCC member countries and the United States in further strengthening and expanding the public and private sectors of the GCC-US partnership," John Duke Anthony, founding president and CEO of the National Council on US-Arab Relations, wrote in a recent post on the organization's website. "This will in turn help to foster the security, stability, peace and prospects for prosperity and to enhance respect for international organizations, international law and human development in Arabia and the Gulf, the broader Arab world and the Middle East, which both peoples long for and the world needs and deserves."
Anthony pointed out in an interview with Al-Monitor, however, that there's no guarantee the GCC countries will reach agreement on a Washington presence. He pointed out that independent-minded Oman, which has closer ties to Iran than any of the others, might yet prove reluctant.
Editor's note: This article has been updated since its initial publication.
May 18, 2016
A deal between two main Iraqi Kurdish political parties, Gorran and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), is expected to increase tensions and lead to further fragmentation and destabilization of Iraqi Kurdistans political scene, at least in the short run, as it might trigger reactions from the major ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
The agreement signed May 17 by senior PUK and Gorran leaders in Sulaimaniyah comes after a year of political crisis in Iraqi Kurdistan sparked by unsuccessful Gorran-led attempts to unseat Massoud Barzani, the KDP leader and president of the autonomous region.
A governmental body known as the Kurdistan Consultative Council extended Barzanis tenure in August 2015, a measure strongly protested by Gorran and a group of parliamentarians from different parties. As a result of mounting tensions and ensuing popular protests which the KDP blamed on Gorran KDP-affiliated security forces prevented Yusuf Mohammed Sadiq, the Gorran speaker of the Kurdish parliament, from entering Erbil on Oct. 12, 2015. The KDP also expelled Gorran ministers from the government without resorting to proper legal mechanisms.
Against this backdrop and a severe estrangement of Gorrans ties with the KDP, the former has struck a deal with the PUK in an attempt to form a strong front to challenge and counter KDPs domination over Iraqi Kurdistan government and politics.
Naturally, the KDP will most definitely feel vulnerable and will resist most concessions if not all, Mohammed Shareef, a Kurdish affairs analyst, told Al-Monitor.
The deal, which sounds more like a collaborative reform proposal, states that the PUK and Gorran blocs are committed to forming an alliance in parliamentary and provincial council bodies.
It also paves the way for the two groups to run on joint lists in future elections if they choose to do so.
The two parties have also agreed that the Kurdish parliament should reconvene without any preconditions, a call that appears to challenge Barzanis KDP. The KDP has repeatedly said that it supports the parliament to convene but that Sadiq should be replaced.
The KDP will not accept any preconditions, Roj Nuri Shaways, a member of the KDPs political bureau, told reporters in Erbil April 16, signaling his partys refusal to accept PUK and Gorran attempts for the parliament to resume its work with its former leadership.
Over the past seven years, the PUK has suffered from a considerable loss of votes as the partys former deputy head, Nawshirwan Mustafa, parted ways with PUK leader Jalal Talabani and established Gorran.
The relations between the PUK and Gorran have been marked by dramatic ups and downs, with the PUK at one point suppressing with a firm hand a popular protest movement in early 2011 encouraged by Gorran. In 2014, Gorran replaced the PUK as KDPs primary partner in Kurdistans ruling coalition. But Gorrans insistence on setting limits for Barzanis term as the president of the Kurdistan Region and the expulsion of Gorran's ministers and parliament speaker last October brought to an end the uneasy alliance between the two sides.
When Gorran leader Mustafa, after about eight months of absence from Iraqi Kurdistan, returned home from London in late April, many wondered what the veteran politician would do to restore the partys strength and credibility.
The deal with the PUK negotiated in just a month appears to be Mustafas response to the KDP and a tacit acknowledgment that Gorran's stated method of bringing about change on its own by relying on popular pressure has failed.
While saying the deal is meant to further democracy in Kurdistan and not aimed at undermining the KDP, Shorish Haji, Gorrans official spokesman, told Al-Monitor that some degree of confrontation and struggle will be inevitable.
Haji said, We had to find a solution between settling political struggles through fighting or given that the parliament has been frozen we had to reach out to other parties that share our worldview and work together to find a way."
Kurdish groups have a long history of armed internal struggle with the PUK and KDP fighting a civil war for four years in the mid-1990s. Subsequently, the Kurdistan Region has been divided into two zones, and despite a joint government, the KDP and the PUK each maintains influence over its territory.
Gorran was in the opposition until 2014 and has presented itself as an anti-establishment party attacking both the PUK and KDP over corruption, family rule and weak governance. It is not clear if Gorran will tone down its anti-establishment rhetoric, especially vis-a-vis the PUK, after this agreement. In addition, some have been asking if the former opposition group is heading toward more of a family-dominated structure, as Mustafa is often seen these days alongside his close relatives when receiving foreign diplomats and local politicians.
Gorrans major base of power and activity has been in Sulaimaniyah province and areas dominated by the PUK, causing instability in those areas as it sought to take on the local PUK-dominated administrations.
We needed to have an agreement and stabilize our bilateral relations [with Gorran], Farid Asasard, a member of the PUK Leadership Council and one of the main drafters of the agreement, told Al-Monitor.
Asasard said that Iraqi Kurdistan suffered from an internal power imbalance, and that his partys deal with Gorran will restore balance vis-a-vis the KDP and its perceived hegemony over the Kurdish region in the recent years.
We believe that when you have one strong and weak side this will not lead to stability and peace. Stability will emerge only between two strong sides, Asasard said.
The KDPs less than excited reaction to the news of the Gorran-PUK deal comes at a very sensitive juncture for the party, as Barzani is positioning himself as the leader of a possible push toward statehood.
The PUK-Gorran deal stipulates the two parties commitment to hold a referendum on independence in Iraqi Kurdistan but says it has to be approved by the parliament. But given chronic power rivalries between the KDP, PUK and Gorran leaders, it is not yet clear how the three parties will manage to transcend their differences and work together on such a crucial matter for Iraqi Kurds.
The deal seems to be a bitter pill for the KDP to easily swallow.
The content of the agreement shows there is some sort of preparation to create problems in [Iraqi] Kurdistan, Saro Qadir, a former senior KDP official who is still considered close to the higher echelons of the party, told Al-Monitor.
If they choose to confront Barzani, the KDP will have its own say. Just as Barzani did not allow Gorran to disrupt the situation, he will not allow a Gorran alliance [with the PUK] to disrupt the situation, Qadir said.
The PUK-Gorran deal comes at the time of the centennial of the Sykes-Picot agreement signed by two British and French officials at the end of World War I. Following the agreement, large parts of the Kurdish homeland was divided among Iraq, Syria and Turkey.
With the rise of the Islamic State (IS), the weakening of the Iraqi government and the raging chaos in Syria, Kurds are closer than they have ever been in the last century to build their own state. While ideally the PUK-Gorran deal might pave the way for broader power-sharing with the KDP, in reality it might have the unintended consequence of setting the stage for years of intense rivalries and enhancing the lines separating KDP's zone of influence from that of the PUK and Gorran.
Both the fragile security situation as a result of the war with IS and the dysfunctional economic reality [in Iraqi Kurdistan] render the situation far too profound and the whole Kurdish enterprise too vulnerable to allow for any irresponsible behavior to manifest itself in the further fragmentation of the Kurdish body politic, Shareef said.
May 18, 2016
A group of dedicated educators has found a way to circumvent the war that has disrupted all aspects of Syrian life. Since students can't travel to universities to study, a university has come to them.
Afrin University, the first university based in Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan), began registering students in August. Though it is not yet accredited, the school's officials already plan to expand its offerings and facilities.
The idea of establishing a university is useful for students from Afrin who used to study at Aleppo University and other universities across Syria, but who dropped out as a result of the blockade imposed on Afrin. Traveling from Afrin to Aleppo University now requires 20 hours, which forced numerous students to leave their university, university President Ahmed Youssuf told Al-Monitor.
One of the objectives of the university is to bridge the large gap in the educational field as a result of the Syrian war," Abdul Majeed Sheikho, dean of the arts faculty, told Al-Monitor. "The university gives the students an opportunity to complete their studies and to achieve their educational goals. This is a better solution than the decision to migrate.
The school's teachers hail from the Afrin area and are required to have doctorates or master's degrees in their specialties. Youssuf said 222 students are enrolled: 121 in the literature program, which includes a Kurdish-language section, 50 in engineering and 51 in economics. The school includes institutes for studying medicine, topographic engineering, music and theater, business administration and the Kurdish language.
Work is in progress for the opening of the faculty of agriculture and the faculty of human medicine in 2016, and probably the media faculty, Youssuf said. According to him, the university also has plans for a significant science program as the school expands.
The university has allocated a 50-hectare [124-acre] area to construct a permanent headquarters for the university to accommodate 10,000 students in the future, he said. The school now is located in the agriculture high school building in the city.
The university requires five years of study for an engineering degree and four years for other specializations. Students with an industrial high school certificate are admitted to the mechanical, electrical and electronics department, provided their numbers do not exceed 3% of the total number of students.
The annual financial fees for the students registration at the university are estimated at 15,000 Syrian pounds [$68] in the faculty of engineering, 10,000 pounds in the faculty of economics and 5,000 pounds in the faculty of arts," Youssuf said. "These fees shall apply to students hailing from Rojava and Syria, while foreign students are subject to relatively high fees of up to $750 annually.
Afrin University has opened two sections in the arts department in the Kurdish language, teaching multiple courses divided over four years, where students are taught classical and contemporary Kurdish literature, as well as Kurdish folklore. Sheikho noted that the Kurdish language is taught in universities in Paris, Moscow and Germany.
The university was founded under the Kurdish democratic self-rule system, which has been seeking for two years to introduce the Kurdish language into elementary grades. In 2016, it imposed the Kurdish language on Kurdish students in the Kurdish-controlled areas (Afrin, Kobani and Jazira) without relying on the Arabic language or including the courses taught by the Syrian regime, which sparked widespread controversy between Syrians and Kurds.
The university is also facing controversy, accused of integrating the ideology of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) founder Abdullah Ocalan into the curriculum and being subordinated to the Democratic Union Party (PYD) which many believe espouses the same ideology as the PKK. Afrin University offers a course called The Nation's Democracy, which sounds similar to the theory of the prolific but imprisoned author.
Youssuf denied this correlation, saying, Though the name of the course is similar to the name of Ocalan's theory, the course is focused on various historical, social, religious and philosophical issues aimed to increase the students knowledge and culture.
He added, Even if the course [name] matches Ocalans theory, it is no different from the courses on the theories of [John Maynard] Keynes, [Adam] Smith, [Karl] Marx and Samir Amin."
Sheikho, the arts faculty dean, said, The Nation's Democracy is a series of lectures on the evolution of the universe and the stages through which human communities have passed to entrench the idea of brotherhood and harmony between peoples.
Ahmed Shafei, an economics student, said the opening of Afrin University is a dream come true. He told Al-Monitor that he had wanted to travel to Turkey to complete his studies before Afrin University was launched.
Shafei knows that the university is not yet accredited, but he told Al-Monitor, When the University of Aleppo first opened, it was not accredited.
Shafei studies economics because he believes that the newly established Kurdish self-rule areas need to build on a solid economy to prosper. When asked about the introduction of ideology into the educational sector, he said that the economy tract provides a well-rounded curriculum in the principles of economics, management, accounting, statistics, mathematics, ecology, English, Kurdish, the Nation's Democracy and partial economic analysis. He added that he has heard Nations Democracy is a fun and cultural course, though he has yet to take it.
Personally, I did not see any downsides or negative impact of this course on the educational process. Some university students have complained about the course, as it was difficult to translate, but they did not complain about its content, he said.
Youssuf said the idea for Afrin University started in 2013. We wrote to universities in Russia asking them to open a branch in the city of Afrin, but our request was rejected for political reasons. We also reached out to the Ebla Private University near Idlib, supervised by the University of Damascus, but the Ministry of Higher Education rejected our proposal. We contacted universities in Turkey and Finland, which also refused our request, he said.
He noted that many universities in the world emerged from humble backgrounds, such as the University of Sulaimaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan and al-Zahraa University in Gaziantep.
May 18, 2016
Ambassador Hakki Akil was appointed as Turkey's representative in Paris in 2014 after three years in Rome. A career diplomat and former G-20 sherpa for Turkey from 2009 to 2011, he also served as Ankaras ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (2008-2009) and in Turkmenistan (2005-2008). Akil has worked on many issues, most notably on trade as deputy permanent representative of Turkey to the World Trade Organization in Geneva between 1996 and 2000, and on energy as chief of the energy department and then deputy director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara, and as an active member of the energy charter.
Akil is now based in Paris for the third time. He was previously consul general, studied at the Ecole Nationale dAdministration and returned as political counselor at the embassy. He also once studied in Bordeaux.
With such a diverse background, Akil is one of the top diplomats of the Republic of Turkey. In an email interview with Al-Monitor, he addressed his countrys perspective of the current situation in Middle East as one of the major actors in the region.
The text of the interview follows:
Al-Monitor: France is known to be a rare supporter of the Turkish idea for a safe zone in Syria for refugees. What is the current status of this effort?
Akil: Our persistent call for a safe zone aims at coping with humanitarian disaster. The European Union heeds that call. The EU has finally realized the need for such areas to keep the Syrian [internally displaced] in their country. At the last Turkey-EU summits in March, we declared we will work together to improve humanitarian conditions inside Syria, which would allow for the local population and refugees to live in areas that will be safer. In addition to France, Germany also voiced its support for the idea of establishing a safe zone.
Al-Monitor: What do you think about the agreement signed with [German] Chancellor [Angela] Merkel? Is the situation with the refugees settled now?
Akil: We reached a game-changer deal with the EU on March 18 to completely stem irregular crossings in the Aegean. The deal is based on the proposal made by Turkey only for humanitarian purposes. Our main objective is to prevent loss of lives in the Aegean, crush the migrant-smuggling networks and replace irregular migration with regular migration.
Since our agreement became operational on March 20, a sharp decline has been recorded in the irregular crossings. While the daily average of irregular crossings to Greece was 7,000 in October 2015, this figure became just 50 last week.
Within the framework of the agreement, so far we have taken back 386 irregular migrants from the Aegean islands and 135 Syrians have been resettled to Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Lithuania.
We also strictly comply with the principle of nonrefoulement. There is no change in this policy. We have made necessary amendments in our relevant regulations to ensure Syrians to be taken back from Aegean islands are granted temporary protection status. As for other nationalities, there should be no doubt that we will act in line with international law. Our legislation provides sufficient legal safeguards. Turkey will spare no efforts to provide protection to those in need.
Al-Monitor: What are Turkeys next steps with the European Union?
Akil: The fight against illegal migration will undoubtedly be one of the important topics on our common agenda with the EU. However, bearing in mind that Turkey-EU relations consist of many dimensions, our existing cooperation on migration constitutes only one aspect of our relations. There is an understanding to further strengthen our relations, especially in the accession process.
Accession to the EU is Turkey's strategic objective. We expect to open Chapter 33 during the Netherlands presidency. Political and/or artificial blockages should be lifted and the remaining chapters (particularly 15, 23, 24, 26 and 31) should be opened without further delay.
Our relations with the EU are also being enriched through dialogue on various issues of mutual interest, such as the economy, energy, a customs union and political dialogue. We are going to continue to hold high-level dialogue meetings in the coming period. However, they in no way constitute an alternative to the accession process, but serve only to ensure that this process is strengthened. We believe that the increased level and frequency of contacts between Turkey and the EU can only be to the benefit of the two parties and the region as a whole. The fact that this was emphasized at the first summit of Nov. 29 shows that this opinion is shared by both sides.
Regarding updating of the customs union, we look forward to launching formal negotiations by the end of 2016. The last summit on March 18 welcomed the ongoing work in this respect.
Al-Monitor: As you know, there will be a meeting in late May regarding the French initiative for Israeli-Palestinian peace. What are your thoughts on this initiative? Has there been any discussion regarding Turkey having a role?
Akil: Turkey considers the French initiative to reactivate the Middle East Peace Process very timely, as the developments on the ground point to the obvious fact that the Palestinian people and their country urgently need a solid prospective for a brighter future.
There is a deep sense of injustice due to the continued 49-year-long occupation of the Palestinian territories that in turn is exploited by the extremist groups for radicalization. The diminishing prospects for peace in Palestine also increase the tensions in the whole region. It is the historical duty of the international community to ensure that the State of Palestine has an independent and sovereign existence within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Turkey will be exchanging views with France and other partners in the following days on the issues that should be given priority. Expansion of the illegal settlements, demolitions, settler violence against the native population and the holy sites are definitely on the agenda of the international community.
We believe empowering the Palestinian people bears great importance for the peace process to move forward. Thus, we gave our strong support to Palestine at the 2012 UN General Assembly vote that confirmed the State of Palestine as a non-member observer state and we continue to encourage further recognition of the State of Palestine by countries other than the 137 that already recognized it. We are glad that the Palestinian flag took its proud place at the UN among the flags of other nations of the world.
Another aspect of Palestinian empowerment that we emphasize is the need to deepen the unity between the Palestinian groups. Turkey will continue all the efforts to support Palestinian national reconciliation. We hope the French initiative will encourage further steps on this issue.
Al-Monitor: How do you see the evolution in Syria since the Russian intervention?
Akil: Russia had promised to help with finding a political solution to the crisis. After all, as a key player in the region it has the clout to get [President Bashar al-] Assad to negotiate and eventually deliver him for a political transition in Syria based on the parameters outlined in the Geneva Communique. Instead, in September 2015 Russia entered the Syrian theater militarily under the pretext of fighting [the Islamic State]. It has been systematically attacking the opposition and killing civilians since that date. Russian intervention only complicated things.
Assads sense of self-assurance has been emboldened by Russian support. Thus, he has become less interested in a political solution. The regime did not engage in the Geneva talks as a result and declined to talk about a political transition. Moreover, the regime recklessly continues to commit crimes against humanity. Naturally, assistance to the regime from its supporters, first and foremost from Russia, plays a substantial role in this. Russia, in particular, is increasingly becoming more complicit in the crimes committed by the regime.
Russia has not withdrawn from Syria. Its strategic military assets remain in place. All it has done is some tactical redeployment. Russia has to decide whether it will help the process or be a part of the problem by prolonging it. Russia should exert pressure on Assad so that Assad tries to find a solution on the table based on all the parameters that the international community has agreed to.
Al-Monitor: Do you expect a new government without Bashar al-Assad?
Akil: It is actually the will of the Syrian people to see a new government without Assad, and the Syrian people have already spoken on this. It is our major national security objective to see a stable, united, democratic and prosperous Syria. To end the conflict, there must be a genuine political transition process leading to a new constitution and free and fair elections whereby the people of Syria can fully express themselves. Obviously this cannot happen with Assad. He or the people around him cannot play a role during the transition.
After all the destruction and suffering, almost 500,000 killed, half the population displaced, who can imagine that he could stay in power? Every family in Syria today, irrespective of their views or beliefs, suffers from the consequences of the tragedy caused by Assad. Turkey is not fixated on Assad but we need to be realistic. Assad is also responsible for the terrorist threats emanating from Syria today. We want stability in Syria and in our region. For that we need a democratic, inclusive and nonsectarian new government in Syria. The fundamental principles of the transition process are stipulated in the Geneva Communique (2012) and the UNSCR 2254 (2015). We want the current political process in Geneva to succeed in bringing about this transition. We will continue our efforts to that end.
Al-Monitor: Would Turkey eventually support a new military intervention in Libya?
Akil: Turkey is a staunch supporter of Libya's independence, political unity and territorial integrity. Libya is in a painful transition process that will involve ups and downs on the way toward its goal of constitutional democracy. This requires patience, perseverance, tolerance and determination. The reconciliation through dialogue on the basis of the Skhirat Agreement is the only way to ensure peace, stability and security in Libya.
Instead of talking about military intervention, we need to continue supporting the Government of National Accord led by [Fayez al-] Sarraj and all those Libyans who strive for a long-lasting political solution. Discussions on foreign intervention are not helping Libyans, who are now trying to turn a new page and build confidence in a fragmented country.
It is obvious that there are urgent issues to be addressed in Libya. These include the fight against [IS]. Turkey and other partners of Libya are ready to assist the new legitimate authorities. I would like to stress that this assistance will be extended upon the request of the Government of National Accord. The timing and pace of such international assistance is a matter to be decided by the Libyan authorities.
May 18, 2016
Intense fighting and strategic ramifications make the Jarablus area in northern Syria one of the hottest spots in the world right now. In my May 5 column, I had wondered whether clashes between Turkey and the Islamic State (IS) were about to become an undeclared war, as the signs on the ground suggest.
To break out of the crunch it is feeling in the Azaz-Manbij-Bab triangle and to continue to boast, We are still strong, IS is trying to expand its clashes to Turkeys Kilis-Nizip-Gaziantep triangle. Ankaras aim is to block this expansion at Turkeys border. Police have been busy raiding locations identified as IS safe houses in Gaziantep and elsewhere and conducting mass detentions of people suspected of links to IS.
Belatedly, Ankara now appears determined to control the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs). These IS militants, recruited from foreign countries, are currently living in Turkey or trying to reach another country via Turkey.
The United Nations Security Council broadly defines FTFs as those who leave their home countries to perpetuate, plan, prepare or otherwise participate in terrorist acts, or to provide or receive terrorist training. The definition goes far beyond the obvious "committing acts of terror." This is why Turkey is able to easily detain and interrogate foreign nationals it believes to be linked to IS.
Soufan Groups December report on foreign fighters offers some dramatic revelations. The report says in Iraq and Syria there are 6,000 FTFs from Tunisia, 2,500 from Saudi Arabia, 2,400 from Russia, 2,100 from Turkey and 2,000 from Jordan. According to an International Center for Counter-Terrorism report issued in April, of 4,000 FTFs from European Union countries, 900 are believed to be from France, 720 from Germany, 700 from Britain and 420 from Belgium.
Turkeys Foreign Ministry believes there are now FTFs from 120 countries in Syria and Iraq.
According to Nesip Ogun, dean of political sciences at Girne American University in Kyrenia, Cyprus, most militants of European origin in IS ranks are trying to go back home, and several hundred already have.
Security sources in Ankara, who didnt want to be identified, said this "reverse migration" will continue as IS comes under more pressure in Iraq and Syria.
Ankara's biggest effort now is to curb the stepped-up FTF activities in Turkey and to sever their transit through Turkey. Ankara may be having some success, but it is not at the level desired, Ogun said.
Unfortunately, there isn't enough global awareness of the FTF threat, according to Ali Serdar Erdurmaz, chairman of the International Relations Department of Hasan Kalyoncu University of Gaziantep.
At the outset, the home countries of FTFs did not object to their departures, hoping that they would either get killed or get lost in Iraq or Syria. That is why [those countries] refrained from cooperating with Turkey at the beginning. Only after these FTFs began returning home and IS launched terror acts in different countries were they recognized as terror threats. These dedicated FTFs, well-trained and equipped with new skills, were able to recruit volunteers back home and train them, thus creating a major terror threat. Only then [did other countries] especially Western countries become aware of the threat they were facing and began cooperating with Turkey to monitor the movement of these FTFs, he said.
Asked if this cooperation was enough, Erdurmaz said: Absolutely not. We know well from their Gaziantep activities IS is determined to be seen in incessant struggle, to give the impression of their undiminished power. That is why they are trying to make an impact wherever they are. That is why I believe that even if you cleanse Syria of IS, they still have the potential of putting down roots in other countries, surely in Europe.
The questions Turkey has to deal with now are how to deal with the increased pace of FTF activities and how to curtail the reverse immigration. For this, more decisiveness in combating IS and closer cooperation are required.
Yes, there are now more than 60 countries in the anti-IS coalition, but given the lack of a comprehensive and integrated global strategy, all of them approach the problem from the perspective of their national interests. That's like dumping your garbage in your neighbor's backyard.
Lets imagine such a scenario: A Kazakh mother with four children is living in Istanbul. After her Kazakh husband died fighting in Syria (where they had traveled together), she remarried, only for the scenario to repeat itself, with her ending up thrice-widowed with four children from three different men one Kazakh, one Russian-Chechen and one Uighur. After her third husbands death she found a way to return to Turkey. This woman with four sons, whose Kazakh citizenship was annulled, is now in Istanbul, desperately dependent on social programs to live. Because she and her children dont have refugee status, they cant benefit from basic services such as education and health. Her goal became to find a way to go to Europe, but nobody helped her.
Now we are faced with some critical questions that should concern the international community:
Are this woman and her four sons, between 2 and 8 years of age, potential terrorists? Or are they people who should be assimilated into society? How should the international community take care of her and her boys?
Who is this mother blaming for her trauma: Kazakhstan, Russia, the United States, Turkey, China or Europe? When she is bringing up her children, which country will she name as the one responsible for their hardships? If these children one day join IS, which capital city will they most want to blow up?
One hopes those thinking of how to deal with IS from the safety and comfort of their air-conditioned offices in world capitals will spend some time thinking about these questions beyond their own national interests.
Here's a concluding reminder: Today, there are thousands of real-life FTF widows and orphans just in Istanbul alone.
Business confidence rose to 55.1 on the second quarter 2016 Alabama Business Confidence Index (ABCI) survey, conducted by the Center for Business and Economic Research in UA's Culverhouse College of Commerce. The index increased 2.1 points and closed at its highest level in three quarters. That said, panelists are now less optimistic than a year ago when the ABCI registered 57.6. Note that an index value above 50 indicates a positive outlook.
Panelists continue to see expansion in the Alabama economy, but are less optimistic about the national economy. The outlook for the state economy rose to a quite confident 56.4, while the national economy index remained near the neutral mark at a slightly positive 50.9.
Overall, business executives expect the state's economy to continue expansion in the second quarter of 2016. At 56.4, the index is up 4.4 points from last quarter, but down two points compared to a year ago. Almost 38 percent of panelists expect stronger economic growth this quarter and approximately 51 percent expect the state's economy to perform about the same as last quarter.
Every industry indicator moved higher on the survey and all remain positive. The sales index again tops the list at 59.8, while expectations for capital expenditures, hiring, and profits all rose to easily positive readings.
Firms in financial services, construction, miscellaneous services, and professional services are the most optimistic this quarter, all posting index levels of 56.0 or more. Retailers, however, continue to see the economic environment as a negative.
The four largest metro areas all posted positive readings, even as confidence declined by 2.1 points in Mobile. Confidence increased in Birmingham-Hoover, Huntsville and Montgomery. Montgomery enjoys the highest confidence among the large metros with an index of 57.3.
The mixed, but mostly positive sentiment of ABCI panelists in a broad range of industries supports the recent 2016 forecast from the Center for Business and Economic Research. CBER expects the state's economic growth to slow down slightly from 2.4 percent in 2015 to 2.3 percent this year. Employment growth is forecasted to decelerate from around 1.2 percent in 2015 to 1.0 percent in 2016, while tax revenues are forecasted to rise 2.7 percent in FY2016 compared to last year's 3.3 percent increase.
Report: Results of the second quarter 2016 ABCI survey are available at http://cber.cba.ua.edu/ABCI. The survey, which is in its 15th year, was completed online March 1-15 by 258 Alabama business executives.
Media Contacts:
Gregg Bell, Ph.D., Socioeconomic Analyst, 205-348-3781, gbell@cba.ua.edu
Viktoria Riiman, Socioeconomic Analyst, 205-348-3757, vriiman@cba.ua.edu
The last home they built prior was in an air park in Florida, which means if you live there, you own an airplane and you park it at your house. "They're always really weird looking because you have an itty bitty house and a great big hangar," says Bryan. "So we picked up the house and put the plane underneath it." (Photo provided by the Blackwells)
Upon meeting Bryan and Gwen Blackwell, it's easy see that the pair is accustomed to thinking outside the box. So, it's a little ironic that the couple lives in one.
Well, four to be exact.
The Alabama couple designed and built their 2000-square-foot home out of four 40 foot long shipping containers that came from a port in Miami. They use a fifth container for storage.
When the construction industry started to tank around eight years ago, they decided to make a change. They sold the building that housed their steel construction business in Florida and decided to move Oneonta in the summer of 2009 where they owned land.
Bryan moved the containers one by one from Fort Myers, Fla., also transporting the steel beams, and other materials needed for the house. All of the steel used in the home are leftovers from jobs they did back in Florida.
So why use containers? "It was just the next step in an adventure. Let's go from one thing to another. Every time, we'll try something a little more creative," said Gwen. "This was the next step."
Shipping container structures are incredibly strong, durable, and eco-friendly. The giant building blocks made perfect sense for their unique home.
"I've wanted to build one of these long before they ever started showing up on the internet, so we did it," said Bryan. "It's the strongest method of construction there is right now other than poured concrete."
They lived in a travel trailer for two years while they put the home together themselves. They moved in shortly after completing the necessities - the master bath, bedroom, and kitchen.
The Blackwells say that there are many misconceptions about shipping container homes. One they hear often is how inexpensive an elaborate shipping container build is. "They know you can buy a shipping container for cheap, but then they think that's the end of it. They don't realize how much work it takes to modify one and the expense that comes with it." said Bryan. "It's like buying a truckload of lumber and expecting that to be all of your home costs."
Doing it themselves allowed them the flexibility to do whatever they wanted and the time to work on it, think about it, and work on it some more while adding creative touches as they thought of them. They finished the rest a year later.
"I don't know if you can rush through something like this because we kind of ad-libbed as we went," said Gwen.
Take for instance some of the interior features. They repurposed discontinued ceiling tiles they bought from several area Lowes stores to cover bedroom and bathroom walls. Stained plywood trim frames doors in the home, most of which are recessed. Inexpensive clip lights wired together create industrial lighting in what they call the gallery, the home's main gathering space. They converted an old propane tank they got for free into a ceiling mounted fireplace that heats the entire space. The even used automotive parts pallets to make up parts of the gallery walls.
The home sits atop eight steel posts with footings buried in concrete so while it is not tornado proof - "You can't build anything that god can't tear up," said Bryan- it is storm resistant.
All of the touches come together to form a home that is as unique and creative as the couple who lovingly put it together. "It makes it more interesting don't you think?" said Gwen. "Why build it like everybody else? Where's the fun in that?"
Cool Spaces is weekly feature taking you inside some of the coolest homes Alabama. Have a suggestion? Contact Tamika Moore at tmoore@al.com in Central Alabama; Bob Gathany at bgathany@al.com in North Alabama; Michelle Matthews at mmatthews@al.com in South Alabama; and Brian Kelly at bkelly@al.com along the shore.
LifeChurch.tv founder Craig Groeschel, whose Oklahoma church now has 25 locations in seven states with 80,000 weekly worshippers, dispensed a lot of advice to 850 church leaders gathered in Birmingham on Wednesday.
In a question-and-answer session with some church leaders, he advised them not to jump too quickly to multi-site churches.
"Too many churches are going multi-site too soon, too fast, for the wrong reasons," Groeschel told a group of church team leaders during the Catalyst One Day conference held today at the Church of the Highlands main campus in Irondale. "I'm for stewardship."
Groeschel, whose church is considered the largest in the country, offered a variety of lessons on church leadership practices.
Growing churches should expand their time slots for services before adding branch campuses, he said.
He suggested adding two or three Saturday services and stacking Sunday services all the way until 2 p.m., in addition to Sunday night services.
Groeschel said LifeChurch.tv had launched two branches in Phoenix and another in Dallas that failed.
"God can even work through our failures," he said. "We all make mistakes. I'd rather make aggressive ones than passive ones."
In 2006, LifeChurch.tv had a large debt, but changed its budgetary practices and now has none, he said.
"We gave away free resources that 170,000 churches downloaded," he said. "God honored that."
The church now has 525 staff members serving the 80,000 who attend its services, but spends less than a third of its budget on salaries, he said. "It's not because they're underpaid," he said. The Church of the Highlands also emphasizes responsible budgeting and paying cash for new buildings, he said. "I 100 percent recommend it" as a model for ministry, Groeschel said.
The Church of the Highlands, with 14 branch campuses, has more than 40,000 worshippers weekly. It's the largest church in Alabama. Services at all branches feature sermons broadcast from the main campus by Pastor Chris Hodges.
Having a central office that handles most functions of the church makes it more efficient, Groeschel said. "You pay cash for new buildings as you continue to grow," he said. One campus that has attendance of 9,000 has only nine staff members, because they rely on the central church staff for youth leadership and other resources.
Multi-site churches work when they reach that tipping point of efficiency, he said. Otherwise, the church can be overextended.
Groeschel said his church has worked in clusters, with the main one surrounding the headquarters in Oklahoma City. The church also has seven locations in Tulsa. "We've got a second cluster in South Florida," he said. "Kansas City is a potential cluster."
LifeChurch.tv has recently started branches in Wichita and Overland Park, Kansas. "You've got to be able to care for these people," Groeschel said of expanding branches.
Australian Evangelist Christine Caine from Hillsong Church, which has European branches in London, Paris and Barcelona, also spoke at the conference. "I've seen it done really badly too," Caine said of multi-site churches. She said she knows of one church that started branches on two sides of a city and both branches failed. "It was premature, no leaders, no depth," she said. "Find a location, develop leaders, fill buildings, pay for them."
Groeschel has been leading Catalyst conferences for seven years with North Point Community Church Pastor Andy Stanley of Atlanta. Stanley, who was recently embroiled in controversy for saying people who attend small churches are selfish, did not attend the Birmingham conference.
Tyler Reagin, executive director of Catalyst and a member of Stanley's church, said Stanley was grief-stricken that his comments created a rift between small churches and large churches.
"He was so heartbroken," Reagin said. "The church is turning on itself."
Catalyst is about Christian unity and training a new generation of church leaders, Reagin said.
"How you lead affects peoples' faith," Reagin said. "We all know someone whose faith has spiraled downward because someone who represented God to them failed them."
About 75 percent of the people attending Catalyst One Day are ministers, the rest lay people, often Christian businessmen and women. Stanley and Christian author John Maxwell started Catalyst in 2000 to train a new generation of Christian leaders.
"We're representing something way bigger than ourselves," Reagin said.
Birmingham Mayor William Bell, police Chief A.C. Roper and other officials said Tuesday that they hope consolidating legal and social services at a family justice center will help reduce domestic violence homicides in the city.
Bell and Roper met with stakeholders at Birmingham City Hall to discuss strategic partnerships and ways to spread the word about the newly formed justice center.
The meeting came less than a week after Coral Anita Wilson, 34, was fatally shot in a domestic dispute May 11 and four of her eight children were wounded. Police arrested Sedrick Norris, 36, on charges of capital murder and attempted murder. Norris violated a protective order when he came to Wilson's house, investigators said in an affidavit.
Advocates have said consolidating resources and getting the word out about services that are available to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault could save lives.
"There's a gap there when you talk in terms of law enforcement. The chief and the D.A. -- there has to be a clear violation of the law before they can intercede. They can go and talk to people all day long and try to get someone to leave a house and escort them away, but then there's a social side of it," Bell said. "We've got to figure out a way so the victim knows there's someone out there they can talk to and educate them on the steps that they need to take."
One Place Metro Alabama Family Justice Center Director Allison Dearing said the facility, which offers free and confidential services, now operates out of the basement of the Jefferson County Criminal Justice Center and is expected to move into a renovated building near the University of Alabama at Birmingham this fall. The center includes representatives from the Jefferson County district attorney's office, the Birmingham Police Department, the YWCA of Central Alabama and elsewhere.
"We have called together really some of the best and brightest minds in this community who are already working to end this, who are committed to making a difference," Dearing said.
Roper said there seems to be a "new intensity" to domestic violence and he wants advocates involved with the family justice center to help eliminate the bystander mentality among people who are aware of potentially dangerous situations but don't intervene. The connections between victims and suspects make domestic violence a difficult issue to prevent from a law enforcement standpoint, Roper said.
"Normally there's kids, there's financial connections, they live together and those bonds are difficult to break and that's where we need a stronger partnership with the social service agencies to help us kind of move back from that chaotic and violent situation," he said. "We want to make it easier. We want to present options and show that person that they can live a safer life where they're not subjected to violence."
PHILLIP LUCAS, Associated Press
There is a war being waged in Ukraine and it is playing out on television sets and in the minds of viewers.
Kiev, Ukraine There is a war being waged in Ukraine, but this one is not being fought from trenches in the east. It is being played out on television sets and in the minds of viewers on an informational frontline where oligarchs and politicians fight for influence.
On this battlefield, the media serves as a weapon with which owners can exert political leverage, attack opponents or foment specific public sentiments.
Oligarchs, through their control of and influence on the media, play a critical role in shaping the discourse around and public consciousness of unfolding events. And this, says former investigative journalist and current member of parliament Sergey Leshchenko, poses a danger to democracy.
TV stations are used for achieving political goals, he says.
Some of Ukraines wealthiest oligarchs, including the countrys president, Petro Poroshenko, Igor Kolomoisky, Dmytro Firtash, Victor Pinchuk and Rinat Akhmetov, own media groups. While only Poroshenko is actually in government, Kolomoisky, Firtash, Pinchuk and Akhmetov are all involved in supporting and promoting political parties or policies.
Ukraine ranked 129th out of 180 countries in the 2015 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders.
While the media market in Ukraine is large, the countrys 10 most popular television channels are all owned by businessmen whose primary business is not media. And though the government is, in fact, obligated to regulate media and ensure fair practice through the National Council for TV and Radio Broadcasting, it rarely interferes.
Government is nothing for them, says Roman Golovenko, the head of the legal department at Ukraines Institute of Mass Information, a media monitoring group.
Golovenko believes that one of the reasons why the government does not regulate against unfair media practices is because Poroshenko fears starting a war with the [television] channels in which he might be a casualty.
The oligarchs, they are saying what to do [media] is not a business for them. Sometimes its a shield for these oligarchs; sometimes its just a weapon, says Zurab Alasania, the director-general of the state-owned Ukrainian National Public Broadcasting Company.
In all the Ukraine, in every town, all the journalists belong to someone. Thats a serious problem. There is no free journalism in Ukraine.
Tasteless but influential
Yuri Makarov, one of Ukraines most highly regarded TV presenters, was involved in the television channel 1+1 from its creation. He watched it evolve from an independent one-room operation into one of Ukraines largest and most influential media groups.
Makarov says that first under government censorship, then under pressure from its current owner, Igor Kolomoisky, 1+1 lost much of its journalistic independence, becoming something tasteless but influential.
1+1 and its many subsidiary organisations operate at a loss, having failed to make a profit for almost a decade, said Oleksandr Tkachenko, the current CEO of 1+1 Media Group. The media group is important for [Kolomoisky] because of its influence, he said.
Kolomoisky, Ukraines second-richest man, has various business interests, including banking, finance, airlines, factories, and petroleum. He has also been involved in politics. Between March 2014 and March 2015, Kolomoisky was governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, and though he was dismissed by Poroshenko, he continues to influence the political establishment.
[1+1] is a tool, for Kolomoisky, says Makarov, and frequently shows programming that attacks his opponents, promotes political parties affiliated with him, or shows their activities in a positive light.
Mikhail Saakashvili, the current governor of the Odessa region, who was appointed to replace Igor Palitsa, one of Kolomoiskys close associates, has criticised Kolomoisky and accused him of being involved in smuggling and corruption.
READ MORE Upheaval in Ukraine: The media angles
Kolomoisky has denied Saakashvilis accusations. For its part, 1+1 has aired programmes and commentary that lambasted Saakashvili and was consequently criticised by media experts for being biased.
The channel has also supported Kolomoiskys long-time ally and former chief-of-staff in Dnipropetrovsk, Gennady Korban, during his run for parliament, and criticised Oleg Lyashkos Radical Party, among others.
For a time, says Golovenko, Dmytro Firtashs Inter channel was in a war with 1+1, with Kolomoisky and Firtash using their channels to attack each other.
[Kolomoisky] uses his own media resource to [promote] his political interests, says Roman Shutov, the programme director at Telekritika, which monitors media and is part of Kolomoiskys 1+1 Group.
1+1s CEO Tkachenko defends the use of media groups as tools to promote the political interests of their owners because viewers, they can see different points of view on different channels.
Dont tell anything bad about Russia
In some places, though, private media has become so monopolised that looking to other channels for alternative political perspectives is very difficult.
The media in Mariupol, a city less than 25km from the frontline, is often far from pro-Ukrainian.
After being briefly held by pro-Russian separatists at the beginning of the war in 2014, it was later taken back by Ukrainian forces. The counter-revolutionary and pro-Russian ideological influence, though, was never eliminated, and media and politics here demonstrate the pervasive influence of the regional oligarch, Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraines richest man.
In the quiet corner of a bar from which he helped to organise the Orange Revolution in 2004, Dmytro Potekhin, a political analyst and adviser, described his experience working on Sergey Zakharovs mayoral campaign.
Before an appearance on Akhmetovs Mariupol TV channel, he says they were warned by a member of staff, to not tell anything bad about Russia.
[There is] censorship, but its not pro-Ukrainian censorship, says Potekhin.
Maxim Borodin, an opposition candidate in the recent mayoral election, says he also felt the effects of the media in his own failed election campaign. We got virtually no media representation at all, he claims. Almost all the newspapers and TV in the region are owned by Akhmetov and receive direct orders on what to post and which direction to go.
READ MORE: Russia and Ukraine a tale of two battles
Vadim Boychenko, who won the mayoral election, was a former director at Akhmetovs mining and steel firm, Metinvest. Some of those close to the candidate even suggest that he was forced to run for mayor.
In the run-up to the election, Boychenko worked from an office in Mariupol TV, and Akhmetov-owned media throughout the city from the steelworkers factory radio station to the TV channel featured Boychenko prominently at the expense of other candidates.
The media coverage of elections was very one-sided, says Borodin.
Influence of media
According to Golovenko, from the Institute of Mass Information, 85 percent of Ukrainians get their news from television, and the medium is crucial for shaping public opinion.
With a receptive audience and little competition from independent media, especially on television, these large media groups and their owners are extremely influential particularly in the run-up to elections.
Journalists, working under editors, management and an owner with a political agenda, are expected to report the news in a certain way.
Independent media have found it difficult to compete with their large, oligarch-subsidised competition, some of which, according to Makarov, lose tens of millions of dollars every year and all of which are perennially loss-making.
A relatively poor population and a media space that is overcrowded make it difficult for media groups to be independent and economically viable in Ukraine, leaving the political and economic elite, with their ability to subsidise loss-making institutions, to exert influence over the media.
Korrespondent was once one of Ukraines most independent and important magazines. But after an expose highlighting the wealth and corruption of former President Viktor Yanukovych, it was purchased by Sergey Kurchenko, who maintained a close connection with Yanukovych, and became a very different publication, according to Maxim Butchenko, a journalist who worked for the magazine both before and after its sale to Kurchenko.
Under KP Media Group, owned by an American, Jed Sanden, and later by a Pakistani, Mohammad Zahoor, Korrespondent was celebrated for its critical independence. Butchenko, who worked under editors appointed by Kurchenko, claimed that we had to write false articles about how good our government is and how bad the opposition is.
He has since left the magazine, but while at Korrespondent, Butchenko says he watched as they created a special censor department. These people checked the whole publication. And everything bad about the government they just deleted.
The manipulation of public media
Since November 24, 2015, the state has been prevented from owning printed media, although the law specifically allows the state to continue to own internet, radio and television media.
Although the state can no longer own printed media, this law doesnt necessarily mean that the state has completely disengaged itself from using public media as a tool of propaganda. For [the political establishment], they need influence they want propaganda, argues Alasania, of the Ukrainian National Public Broadcasting Company.
Alasania wants to create a channel that will be absolutely free from all these parts not belong to the [political] powers, not belong to the oligarchs.
Government officials have allowed Alasania the opportunity to reform an anachronistic organisation, but he says they have also attempted to cripple that process.
Officially, public funding for public media is supposed to be 0.2 percent of Ukraines gross domestic product. Next year, though, Alasania says he will be allocated around half this amount. His actual figure of approximately 0.1 percent of GDP funding compares to 0.25 percent of GDP allocated to public media in France and 0.36 percent in the UK, both of which also support their public media with subscription fees.
A viable public media, say experts, could be a catalyst for changing the industry, providing an unbiased counter-narrative to oligarchic media and forcing them to evolve.
Although the state budget has been stretched by the war, Alasania speculates that the unofficial 50 percent cut in funding is a way to kill us, kill public broadcasting.
While the government has minimised its support for public media, individuals within the government have not lost interest in involving themselves in it privately. Alasania claims that he was approached by people who presented themselves as representing the offices of President Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, offering to subsidise programmes on his channel so that they could exert their own political influence. If I took this money [from the president and the prime minister], it will be finished; they will always say to me what to do on this show so, all about the guests, all about the politics. Thats why I didnt take the money from them.
The presidents office said it possessed no information on this issue, while the prime ministers office did not respond to Al Jazeeras request for comment.
On a local level, government officials can also assert control of public media, using it to influence politics. In Kryvyi Rih, a city of just over 600,000 people in Ukraines Dnipropetrovsk region, the local municipal broadcasting channel was founded by the city council in 1993 as public media.
The regions incumbent mayor, Yuri Vilkul, recently won an election that the parliament commission recognised as fraudulent.
According to Sofia Skyba, a journalist at the channel, the current mayor and his cronies are constantly dictating what journalists can say, what they cannot, whom to shoot, whom [to] not News reports are sent for review to the city executive committee. [Its] press service sends changes.
The channel works, Skyba says, as in the best times of the Soviet Union, with some reports containing discreet political promotions and news broadcasts shaped to show the mayor in a favourable light, especially during the recent elections.
The channel has more than a million potential viewers in Kryvyi Rih and its surrounding towns. And with the recent election decided by only 752 votes, it is possible that Vilkuls influence over the media played a decisive role in his contested victory.
Media is a threat to Ukraines fledgling democracy. Because oligarchic media deprived [the public] of the possibility to receive balanced and true information about whats going on, says Telekritikas Roman Shutov, it changes their behaviour, the political behaviour and the electoral behaviour. The use of the media in the political and economic war in which the various factions of the Ukrainian establishment are engaged is disruptive for democracy.
As oligarchs manipulate and divide the public, Shutov argues, they create a threat to internal stability and pose a challenge to democracy.
Democracy and the freedom of the press have been appropriated by the elite to create a factionalised plutocracy in the guise of a democratic state. The media, Yuri Makarov argues, looks like a reflection in a broken mirror.
A journalist explores the physical and ideological cages that confine us, beginning with his own in an Egyptian court.
A suburb of Cairo, Egypt March 2012
I turned around angrily and grabbed the police officers arm, almost twisting it. There was no need to push me through that huge iron door into the cage, but he did anyway. He pushed so hard that I stumbled.
I was so enraged that I couldnt speak. I glared at him in silence. His face was expressionless like stone. I was a defendant and he was free to abuse me.
We stood like that for almost a minute until another officer helped to push me inside. The sound of the cage door slamming shut in my face woke me up to reality.
My God, its not just a bad dream; its so real, I can almost touch it.
I closed my eyes for a few moments then opened them again.
I was still in the cage.
I turned around and saw 14 others, including three young women in their 20s. They all seemed to know one another, and were standing in groups of twos and threes. Some continued to whisper. Others fell silent. In the media frenzy before the trial, theyd heard that a well-known journalist had been included in the indictment at the last minute. Theyd been waiting to find out who that journalist was.
After 20 years as a war correspondent covering conflicts in Serbia, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), I was no stranger to detentions, arrests and even imprisonment all punishments for telling the truth.
READ MORE: A letter from Tora prison
Id been kept in solitary confinement in a Kabul jail by the Taliban and in a DRC prison so bad that it made me long for my cell in Afghanistan.Then there were the three days in July 1991 when I was held in the woods, my hands tied behind my back, by Serb forces during the Serbo-Croatian war. But I couldnt recall ever feeling as estranged as I did standing there inside that cramped cage in the criminal court building in Al-Qahira Al Jadida, a suburb east of the Egyptian capital of Cairo.
From my first moment inside the cage I felt like a foreigner in my own country.
I didnt even know what crime I was on trial for until the trial began.There had been plenty of talk in the media, of course, with officials throwing around accusations that sounded more like stories from the realm of science-fiction than law.
After the first hearing, I learned that my charge was, in fact, accepting funds from the US to train journalists.
The only element of truth to that was that Id intended to be an adviser to a journalism training programme. But Id been taken in before the programme began and Id never received, nor was I supposed to receive, foreign funding.
As a newspaper editor, I had never imagined that the military might indict me simply for agreeing to teach journalism students. In fact, I might even have expected thanks.
But there was another reason why I felt like a foreigner: there was no difference between my countrys military regime and the developing world dictatorships Id covered throughout my career.
Suddenly, I felt as foreign as I had when detained in prisons overseas.
The cage was suffocating; so small that I could feel the breath of the other detainees on my face and the back of my neck.
I didnt want to talk to anyone, so I made my way through the bodies to the corner, only to stumble into a man sitting cross-legged on the rough cement floor.
Sorry, could I get to the corner? I asked in Arabic. The man looked up through the thick cigarette smoke that surrounded him and gestured a typically Egyptian sign for welcome.
But he wasnt Egyptian. He was American.
I was confused because Id heard that all of the American defendants had taken refuge in their embassy in downtown Cairo, and that the US had declared that its citizens would never stand trial on politically motivated charges.
I was equally as confused because the American seemed to have understood my Arabic.
I passed him and stood gazing through the iron bars of the cage, which ran from floor to ceiling and opened to the vast courtroom.
An audience had gathered: a strange mix, the majority of whom had nothing to do with our case.
I later discovered that the authorities pay people to attend those cases that involve the media or are deemed to be of high political importance. But alongside our rent-a-baying crowd were family members of my co-defendants, civil lawyers who represented the public, the defendants lawyers, uniformed and plain-clothed security personnel and, most importantly, other members of the media profession.
As I stared at the crowd, the quiet ramblings of the paid audience turned to shouts. Death to the traitors, they demanded.
Death? I asked, first silently, then aloud.
I merely offered my services to train fellow journalists to make them better professionals Why death?
The American stood up and whispered in my ear. Are you afraid? he asked.
I looked at him and shook my head: No.
Nervous? he asked.
I closed my eyes.
When I opened them, he was smiling. Dont be, he said. Theyre not going to hang us today.
At those words, I smiled for the first time in the weeks since my ordeal had begun.
It was the beginning of a life-changing conversation that hasnt really stopped in the five years since.
What state are you from? I asked him.
Egypt, he replied, with a touch of sarcasm.
I meant which state in the United States, I said smiling.
Does it really matter? Im from the United States, but in terms of love, Im as much Egyptian as any of you.
Why didnt you take refuge with your fellow Americans at the US embassy?
I told you, I am Egyptian, he repeated.
Do you realise we may not get out of this cage throughout the trial, and God only knows if we are going to be acquitted?
Thats exactly why I refused to abandon my Egyptian brothers and sisters, he responded.
It dawned on me then that many of my own friends, some of whom Id come to view as brothers and sisters over the years, had either betrayed or abandoned me. Despite knowing that the whole thing was a farce, many had chosen to attack me using their newspaper columns and television shows to do so, either because they knew it would please the military or because they saw in it an opportunity to take out someone they considered a professional threat.
I looked at my American cage mate, who reminded me of a modern-day John Wayne. Excuse me, are you for real? I asked.
Of course I am, he laughed. You are allowed to touch me if you want to make sure Im real.
I reached out to shake hands with him, and we burst into laughter. We laughed so loud that it attracted the attention of those audience members sat closest to the cage. They responded by calling us names and labelling us agents of the US.
My new American friend, Robert Becker, asked me what all the shouting was about. I explained that they were accusing him of things that might result in him receiving a life sentence, but which, if proven against me, could well lead to death.
Becker replied: I heard you are a prominent journalist and that you are being tried because of your intentions to train Egyptian journalists, so why worry? When the people realise the truth, they will come to appreciate you.
I told him I was here in the cage because my teaching was in co-operation with Americans. Dont you get it, Becker? I said. Its the US that is on trial here.
He looked at me, stretched his arms wide open, hitting several cage mates in the process, and declared: Even so, its becoming one big world.
He stood like this for a few seconds until I told him: Fold in your arms, our world is now this filthy, cramped cage.
Chronicle of a caged journalist is a series of excerpts from an upcoming book.
The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policies.
Palestinian youth hailing from refugee camps across historic Palestine and Lebanon have launched a joint campaign to commemorate the 68th year since Nakba or the catastrophe that befell the Palestinian people when Israel proclaimed statehood in 1948.
Titled #Campaign68, the initiative is distinctive for its unprecedented level of coordination across camps in the West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem, the 48 territories and Lebanon, where activities are being held in conjunction with one another.
Commemorated on May 15 when Israel declared its state, the memory of Nakba is a painful one of displacement, death and the loss of a homeland for Palestinians. At least 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes when more than 400 villages were cleansed of their residents and many more villages destroyed entirely.
The descendants of those expelled Palestinians, which now number five million , are still living in camps across the region and within Palestine itself. We want to send the message that the camps are the token of the Right of Return. After 68 years, we are still attached to every piece of our land and every house in Palestine, said Ziad Mekdadi, a Palestinian refugee living in Lebanon and an organiser from the Palestinian Youth Network. This time, we dont want to build camps, or drink bitter coffee. We dont want to give out black flags [to portray grief] any more. This time, we want to say, come everyone, lets think together. We are the generation that will return to Palestine, Mekdadi told Al Jazeera.
While events commemorating Nakba are held annually, this years events are being spearheaded by Palestinian youth who are taking the reins in affirming their right to return to their homeland and reminding the younger generations of their roots.
According to the UN, about 1.26 million of Gazas 1.8 million population are internally displaced persons (IDPs) hailing mostly from Jaffa southwards. In the West Bank, the number stands at nearly 775,000 Palestinians. Neighbouring Jordan and Lebanon host two million and 450,000 respectively.
I by Salma
differences, will not accept anything other than Palestine as our homeland and Jerusalem as our capital.]
Activists have also organised live video sessions to connect refugees with the towns and villages their families fled, among other things.
Hazem Abu Helal, a political activist living in Ramallah who is also working to coordinate campaign activities in the West Bank, says taking these steps confirms the unity of the youth against all political solutions that seek to liquidate the cause of the refugees.
Any kind of solution that may be thought of is senseless and worthless without the right of return.
The civil war in Syria since 2011 has forced about 110,000 Palestinian refugees in that country to move out to neighbouring countries and up to 280,000 are currently displaced within Syria.
The majority of the camps are run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
On several occasions, activists and refugees protested against budget cuts . Palestinian refugees are staging protests in front of the agencys offices in Tulkarem, east of Nablus and Jenin. We need to work on improving the conditions of the people, and then focus on the land. In the camps, we experience the worst kind of discrimination in the country from rights to education, to work opportunities. Most Palestinian graduates are without work, said Mekdadi.
People are done with UNRWAs cutbacks. We want to develop our camps not to say that we have forgotten the right of return, but, for the man who wants to feed his kids, we want to be able to provide him with a better life so that there is sufficient time to think about a systematic way of returning to Palestine, he added.
After the influx of Palestinian refugees into Arab countries in 1948, Jordan was the only Arab nation to integrate large numbers of Palestinians and grant them full citizenship, mainly because it annexed the West Bank as part of Jordan. Lebanon, on the other hand, was reluctant to accept them. They are barred from working in as many as 20 professions and are stripped of many rights.
Salma Ali Rushdan, 23, a participant in the campaign, fled Syrias Yarmouk refugee camp to find refuge in Lebanons Burj al-Shamali camp in 2012 after clashes erupted between the Syrian army and rebel groups in Yarmouk camp.
Rushdan says there is a consensus among Palestinians on rejecting any notion of nationalisation into Lebanons society and moving on with life. I am certain that the Palestinian people, despite [political] differences, will not accept anything other than Palestine as our homeland and Jerusalem as our capital.
Although Israel bans Palestinian refugees from returning home or even visiting in many cases, Mekdadi was lucky enough to see Palestine last year through an invitation from the Palestinian Ministry of Culture to speak about Palestinians in the diaspora. He says people still have hope of returning to Palestine.
When I went back [to Lebanon], I told everyone that our land is beautiful, said Mekdadi. And even if we have to live in the middle of the desert in the caves of Jericho it will be much better than living in Lebanon.
At least 70 people were killed and more than 140 wounded by three bombings in Baghdad, extending the deadliest spate of attacks in the Iraqi capital so far this year.
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) claimed responsibility for a blast in the al-Shaab neighbourhood on Tuesday that killed 38 people and wounded more than 70.
A car bomb in nearby Sadr City killed at least 28 people and wounded another 57. Another automobile blew up in the neighbourhood of al-Rasheed, south of the capital, killing six and wounding 21.
Attacks claimed by ISIL in and around Baghdad last week killed more than 100 people the highest death toll in such a short span so far this year, sparking anger and street protests over the governments failure to ensure security.
Two men, one photograph, and the long American struggle for racial justice.
Aram Goudsouzian is Chair of the Department of History at the University of Memphis and author of 'Down to the Crossroads: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Meredith March Against Fear.' Please see www.aramgoudsouzian.com
About five or six times in his life, Bob Fitch had what he described as mystical moments with the camera. The photographer would feel like he was disappearing, almost melting into the viewfinder, absorbed into a trance.
Almost 59 years ago, on June 11, 1966, Fitch was on the March Against Fear, a civil rights demonstration covering 220 miles from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi. Hundreds of marchers had just paraded through the Mississippi town of Batesville, belting out freedom songs and defying the glares of white spectators. They gathered in the town square.
Inside the Panola County Courthouse, Fitch photographed local blacks as they registered to vote. One man was slight and toothless, with a white, stubbly beard. He trembled and needed a cane. As they emerged from the building, the marchers hoisted this newly registered voter on to their shoulders and cried Hip hip hooray!
Fitch had his moment of transcendence. His spirit floated, and his camera clicked. He caught a perfect shot of the ancient man with his left arm raised, parallel to the column of the courthouse. The next morning, that photograph was in newspapers around the United States.
El Fondren
The man was named El Fondren. He said that he was 106 years old. He was almost certainly born a slave.
READ MORE: Does the Confederate flag signify heritage or hate?
Bob Fitch died this past weekend, following complications from Parkinsons disease. He had worked as the official photographer for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organisation led by Martin Luther King.
Fitch recognised that successful social movements are built on the extraordinary choices of 'ordinary' people such as El Fondren ... by
Fitch loved King, and he later photographed such social justice icons as Cesar Chavez, Dorothy Day, and the Berrigan Brothers.
But the most important occasion of his life was his shot of El Fondren.
I see him every day, Fitch recently reflected.
In our chronicles of the past, we naturally gravitate to the big names and conflicts. But Fitch recognised that successful social movements are built on the extraordinary choices of ordinary people such as El Fondren, a man that various census records listed as born between 1858 and 1862. For most of his long life, he worked as a cotton sharecropper.
Fondren fitted no iconic image of a black sacrificial lamb. He quoted the Bible, but he also liked whisky and cigarettes and women.
Stark racial codes
He survived Mississippis stark racial codes with wit and grit. According to his grandson Jessie Cook, Fondren once was walking home late at night when a car filled with white men bumped him into a ditch.
To be safe, he played dead. He later saw them in daylight.
What are yall looking at? he teased. You aint looking at no ghost.
Many times before the March Against Fear, the county registrar had turned away Fondren. The ballot was not some abstract participation in civic life. Black votes meant decent policemen, fairer tax assessors, paved roads, better schools. Only in 1966, after he had buried most of his own children, could he finally stake this claim to genuine citizenship.
In one image, Fitch immortalised Fondrens century-long saga. But that photograph says something about Fitch, too. He was a white man born into privilege.
Motivated by faith and conscience, he learned that to support a just cause, he had to make himself part of a community, respecting those that he supported.
READ MORE: One black, one white, separate and unequal
Fitch had grown up in a conservative Christian household near Hollywood, but he flipped the teachings of his childhood. He moved to San Francisco and worked with prisoners, gang members, hippies, and gays and lesbians.
In late 1965, he came south to join the civil rights movement, just as many white activists were leaving it.
Fitch was soon documenting voter registration campaigns in rural Alabama, where he was struck by how poor blacks were defying the burdens of history.
Whites in a black movement
By 1966, many of the Mississippi marchers openly questioned the role of whites in a black movement. As it moved south, the march dramatised this tension, especially when Stokely Carmichael famously called for Black Power, a slogan that provoked the anxieties of liberals and the scorn of conservatives.
But the tall, blonde, blue-eyed Fitch kept supporting the cause. While photographers for the wire services stayed on a press truck and trained their lenses on King, Fitch walked the highways, wove through the marchers, and captured genuine interactions with local people showing, in his own way, that black lives matter.
In 2013 Fondrens descendants invited Fitch to their family reunion in Millington, Tennessee. He fielded questions from Els grandchildren, shared his stories, ate pie, and signed copies of his famous photo.
It seemed like he was part of the family, said James Skip Fondren, the reunions historian. He gave us more than we gave him.
The town squares of Mississippi are dotted with monuments to Confederate soldiers, enduring symbols of white supremacy. It was Bob Fitchs dream that one day Mississippi would raise a statue of El Fondren a bronze one, modelled on his favourite photograph, conveying a new narrative of southern history, illustrating the real meaning of democracy.
Aram Goudsouzian is chair of the Department of History at the University of Memphis and author of Down to the Crossroads: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Meredith March Against Fear.
The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
The city has always been a transition zone from the ancient times to modern day.
Muhammed Ziya Pakoz is an urban planner and researcher at the University of Abdullah Gul, Turkey.
Last year as a group of academics, we made a presentation to a conference in Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, in the United States, about the changes in Turkeys Kilis province following the influx of refugees from Syria.
Our remark on the fact that the number of refugees in Kilis exceeded the number of local residents within a few years drew more attention than we had expected, and raised numerous questions from participants.
Three months later, the mayor of Kilis announced that the province had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for accepting more Syrian refugees than there are local residents living there.
Now, Kilis is once again at the top of news agenda on account of the loss of civilians by cross-border rocket attacks from Syria.
German Chancellor Angela Merkels visit to Kilis in April was postponed due to security concerns because of the increasing number of rocket fires.
From a border town to a buffer city
Since the armed conflict in Syria forced millions to flee, its northern neighbour Turkey has become the country hosting the highest number of refugees, with nearly three million.
Turkeys repeated proposals to establish a safe zone on the Syrian side of the border has never materialised, thus Kilis the closest city to the Syrian border has begun to function as a safe zone and buffer city.
OPINION: The EU can learn from Turkeys refugee experience
Located on the verge of the conflict in Syria, Kilis saw a dramatic social, economic, cultural and spatial change after having received more than 120,000 Syrian refugees over the past five years.
The city has always been a transition zone from the ancient times to modern day. However, the sudden influx of refugees has changed the pattern of urban life in the city to a great extent.
New dwellers of the old town
The historic core of Kilis is the upstream of all tangible and intangible cultural heritages with a bunch of monuments, stone houses, narrow streets, cul-de-sacs, squares, folklore and traditions.
Most of the residents, however, moved into modern apartments over time in the quest of more luxurious living conditions, leaving many houses in the historic core abandoned. Lately, Syrian refugees have taken shelter in these houses and become the new dwellers of the old town.
Cities are places of interaction. The de facto interaction between the old town of Kilis and its new dwellers has led to some interesting socio-spatial outcomes.
The rockets that hit the town are not only an attack on Kilis, but they are also a threat to disrupt the experience of living together, achieving multicultural engagement, and ensuring a robust integration. by
There seems to be a cultural transition in the habits of both groups. Before refugees came to Kilis, there were stark differences between the two cultures, as hours of work and rest, clothing, cuisine, wedding and condolence traditions were different. However, as a result of the increased interaction, the traditions of the two cultures are changing to resemble each other.
The interaction has occurred not only with locals but also with space. Syrians refugees had to adapt the space by transferring some of their cultural codes in order to feel more comfortable.
They painted the walls with the same colours and techniques used in Syria. They rearranged interior spaces by dividing or merging cells. Some of them replaced the wood flooring with stone or tiles since they are used to washing the floor. In other words, a multicultural space is currently evolving in the city centre of Kilis.
Many Syrian refugees acknowledge that the conflict may last for many years and they could remain in Turkey for decades. Therefore, the more skilled and educated refugees try to adapt to the local community and organise themselves to increase their resilience.
OPINION: EU-Turkey Is refugee issue a new membership criterion?
A Syrian-run womens community centre in Turkey, which brings together 260 Syrian students both children and adults and 18 Syrian teachers, is an excellent example of social engagement.
The students of the centre are taught sewing and hairdressing, and they produce various handicrafts. The centre also has a kindergarten and provides the opportunity to learn Turkish for women.
Between conflict and integration
Rinus Penninx, at the University of Amsterdam, defines integration as the process of becoming an accepted part of society.
The process occurs in two phases: In the first phase, refugees demand basic requirements such as shelter, food, medicine etc, in order to survive.
In the second phase if they cannot head back to their hometown they look for employment opportunities or set up businesses to live in better conditions, to enable their children to receive education, to get better medical care, and finally to become involved in society.
We can confidently suggest that the first phase is already over. Now, when the time has come to talk about medium and long-term policy which should be designed by national and local authorities to ensure a smooth transition to the second phase Turkeys Kilis is under attack.
The rockets that hit the town are not only an attack on Kilis, but they are also a threat to disrupt the experience of living together, achieving multicultural engagement, and ensuring a robust integration.
Muhammed Ziya Pakoz is an urban planner and researcher at the University of Abdullah Gul, Faculty of Architecture, Turkey.
The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Mahmoud Bitar, who has hundreds of thousands of fans, participates in festival after a long journey from Aleppo.
Mahmoud Bitar, a refugee from Aleppo, arrived on a beach in Greece as a refugee one year ago.
This year, hes in the French Riviera for the Cannes Film Festival. For the Syrian social media star, its been quite a journey.
Using comedy to tackle stereotypes about refugees, he has built up a massive following by charting his voyage from Turkey to Greece and, ultimately, to Sweden.
My message, its like: we came to live in peace. We didnt come for money or for food, Bitar told Al Jazeera. We came to have a safe place, where we could work We can work and we can pay taxes like everyone living here.
His videos, some of which attract up to 500,000 views, also send a message to other refugees that the reality of life in Sweden and other European countries will be different from their expectations.
As he has such a big audience and so many young followers, he can help them to say, I can do this. I can document my journey or my life today. And its interesting and its important, Li Skarin, executive producer at the Swedish production house Massa Media, told Al Jazeera.
At Cannes, Bitar attended Refugee Voices in Film, an event highlighting refugee-related films, supported by the the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The event aimed to help displaced people and filmmakers to tell their stories to a global audience something Bitar is an expert in.
There are various ways of addressing the refugee situation. One is to make films about the refugees. But we also find it more and more important to have the refugees tell their own stories, UNHCR spokesman Ragnhild Ek said.
US secretary of state holds talks in Cairo a day after Egyptian leader vowed to work for Israeli-Palestinian settlement.
The US secretary of state has held talks with the Egyptian president in Cario on the countrys political situation and peace proposals for the region, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
John Kerrys meeting with Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in the Egyptian capital on Wednesday followed a series of discussions with global leaders in Vienna, Austria, on ways to tackle the ongoing conflicts in Libya and Syria.
The previous day Sisi said Egypts relations with Israel, centred around the 1979 Camp David peace treaty, can only be warmer if Israel reached a settlement with the Palestinians.
He pledged that Egypt would make every effort towards a solution and offered to serve as mediator in a French initiative to revive the peace process despite Israels rejection of the proposed plan.
A US official said Kerry wanted to explore in detail a proposal by Sisi to mediate a reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions and pave the way for a lasting peace accord with Israel.
For his party, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, welcomed Sisis willingness to invest every effort to advance a future of peace and security between us and the Palestinians.
He said Israel was ready to join Egypt and other Arab states in advancing the peace process and stability in the region.
The reason behind rejecting Frances initiative was that direct negotiations were the only way to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians, Netanyahu said.
Embargo exemptions
Following meetings in Vienna on Monday, leaders from major world powers said they were ready to consider demands from Libyas new unity government for exemptions from a UN arms embargo and to militarily equip the country in its fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) and other armed groups.
On Tuesday, Kerry was part of another meeting in Vienna where representatives from the 17-nation International Syria Support Group (ISSG) renewed their calls for a cessation of hostilities in Syria.
READ MORE: Palestine slams Israels rejection of French peace plan
ISSG confirmed its support for an end to the violence and the need for immediate humanitarian access to besieged communities inside Syria.
Although the parties involved in Syrias civil war failed to set a date for the next round of peace talks, Kerry said the gathering in Vienna was a step in the right direction.
We moved the ball forward, he said. [But] to make all of this more than words on a page, some determined actions will have to be taken to make it happen.
No one can be remotely satisfied with the situation in Syria.
Professionals gather in Istanbul for conference aimed at improving the image and media representation of Palestinians.
The second International Palestinian Conference for Media and Communications begins today in Turkey.
The two-day event, hosted by the Palestine Media Forum in partnership with Middle East Monitor (MEMO), aims to encourage dialogue and provide an opportunity for discussion in an attempt to formulate a true image of the Palestinian cause in Arab and international media.
Renowned media professionals including writers, heads of newspapers, radio and television journalists, artists and directors, as well as intellectuals and international academics, will take part in the event which is split into workshops, courses, seminars and panel discussions.
Panellists will highlight and discuss the most successful methods through which fair representation of the Palestinian cause can be attained.
READ MORE: Israel-Palestine The conflict and the coverage
MEMO Director Daud Abdullah said events such as these are vital to strengthening the Palestinian cause.
The Forum offers an opportunity to appraise the performance and state of media coverage of Palestine on the one hand, whilst also providing an opportunity to interact with and benefit from the experiences of practitioners from various parts of the world, he said.
Finally, it is a platform to forge international relationships within the media fraternity.
Palestinians from the West Bank and the diaspora are to attend the event, including the mother of Mohamed Abu Khadeir, the Palestinian teenager who was kidnapped and burnt alive by settlers in occupied East Jerusalem in 2014.
This forum is important for two reasons: it supports the Palestinian media and ensures Mohameds memory lives on, Suha Abu Khadeir said.
A panel debate on Combating Zionist Myths is to be the first event in the Forum. Anas Altikriti, chairman of the Cordoba Foundation, will chair the discussion.
READ MORE: A century later, the tide turns on Palestine
Al Jazeeras Rawan Damen, Elias Karram and Jasim Al-Azzawi will also take part in the events over the coming days.
It is a rare opportunity to have over 50 countries and over 500 media personnel work together for Palestine, share their passion in the hope of advancing their work and learning from each others experience, Damen explained.
If we want to know the importance of the media then we need to look at the Zionists use of it. They alter the facts on the ground and disseminate the information, Younis Abu Jarad, from Al Aqsa TV, said.
We want to unite the media organisations to give a true image of the Palestinian situation and the sacrifices Palestinians make for their cause.
The number of people in attendance proves peoples support for the Palestinian cause, especially at this time, he explained.
One of the 219 schoolgirls seized more than two years ago found in Sambisa forest area of Borno state.
One of the 219 schoolgirls abducted in Chibok in northeast Nigeria has been found, the first breakthrough since their seizure by Boko Haram more than two years ago, according to the army and activists.
Tsambido Hosea Abana, a Chibok community leader in Abuja from the BringBackOurGirls pressure group, said on Twitter on Wednesday that the girl was found by civilian vigilantes in the Sambisa Forest area of Borno state the previous day.
Yakubu Nkeki, head of the Abducted Chibok Girls Parents group, and Ayuba Alamson Chibok, a community leader in the town, also gave the same account to AFP news agency.
https://twitter.com/tsambido/status/732894538365317120
The girl named as Amina Ali Darsha was apparently found wandering in the forest. She is reportedly 19 years old.
WATCH: Nigerias future: Failed state or African superpower?
Boko Haram, an armed group battling what it calls Western influence, has been waging a campaign against the Nigerian government for several years, attacking both Christian and Muslim targets.
Al Jazeeras Ahmed Idris, reporting from the northeastern town of Maiduguri, said the girl, who was found pregnant and traumatised, is under the custody of the Nigerian authorities.
She was apparently brought to Chibok on Tuesday night and reunited with her mother. Her father was said to have died while she was held captive.
She was carrying a baby but I do not know whether it is a boy or girl, Lawan Zannah, secretary of the association of parents of the missing girls, said over the phone from Chibok.
INFOGRAPHIC: Violence in Nigeria
Boko Haram seized 276 students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok on the night of April 14, 2014. Fifty-seven managed to escape in the immediate aftermath.
Nothing had been heard from the 219 still held captive since a video was published by Boko Haram in May 2014.
Nigerias President Muhammadu Buhari has declared Boko Haram technically defeated, and said success in the campaign would be measured on the return of the Chibok girls and other abductees.
Presumptive president-elect says he is likely to offer four cabinet posts to Communist party that could bring peace.
Communist rebel leaders have welcome a possible offer from the Philippines presumptive president-elect of four cabinet posts.
The party said on Wednesday that an alliance would need to be based on principles such as social justice and national sovereignty, including an end to the presence of US troops.
Rodrigo Duterte, who won the May 9 presidential election by a landslide according to an unofficial count, has said he will probably offer the Communist Party of the Philippines cabinet positions in agrarian reform, environment, social welfare and labour.
The CPP and the revolutionary forces welcome the possibility of joining presumptive President Duterte in an alliance government, whether in the form of assigning cabinet positions to the CPP or its endorsees or some other more radical form of unity government which the maverick new president might be open to consider, the party said in a statement.
Al Jazeeras Marga Ortigas, reporting from the capital Manila, said the Communist Party will hand Duterte a list of people it feels are acceptable.
Duterte is also looking into the possibility of releasing all 500 political prisoners, she said.
This is something Philippine Communists are very happy to see, she said.
American troops have no permanent bases in the country, but hold regular joint exercises and have backed Philippine troops battling Abu Sayyaf fighters in the south.
While Dutertes proposed offer of cabinet posts could foster peace talks, any major political concessions are likely to be complicated, given the many years of fighting and enmity between the rebels and government forces.
Business and industry leaders would also likely oppose demands such as an end to contractualisation, the widespread practice of short-term employment, and higher wages.
The government has also relied on closer military ties with the US amid an increasingly tense territorial dispute with China over areas of the South China Sea.
Activists urge release of all political prisoners and true universal suffrage as Zhang Dejiang begins three-day visit.
A high-level Chinese government official has addressed an economic summit in Hong Kong amid calls for greater autonomy for the former British colony or even independence from the mainland.
Thousands of police were deployed across Hong Kong on Wednesday to keep protesters demanding free elections at bay as Zhang Dejiang spoke at a conference on Beijings One Belt, One Road initiative.
The initiative is a plan for a new Silk Road and economic belt spreading from western China to Central Asia and Europe.
Zhang Dejiang, who is head of Chinas parliament and the point person on Hong Kong and Macau affairs, arrived on Tuesday for a rare visit.
He has pledged to listen to residents concerns about the special administrative regions relationship with China.
Hong Kong media reports said up to 6,000 police officers would be deployed for Zhangs three-day visit.
Police on alert
Plainclothes and uniformed police were on alert close to parts of the Asian financial centre that were crippled by pro-democracy protests in late 2014.
Those protests presented China with one of its greatest political challenges in decades.
On Wednesday, protesters chanted for Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying to step down, while others held up a black banner calling for an end to dictatorial rule and to stop interfering with Hong Kong affairs.
One small group of protesters burned a portrait of Zhang and chanted Zhang Dejiang get the hell out of Hong Kong.
They also demanded the release of all political prisoners and true universal suffrage for Hong Kong.
Others waved yellow umbrellas, a symbol of the so-called Occupy demonstrations in 2014 when protesters used them during clashes with police who fired tear gas.
Democracy activists and pro-China groups traded insults close to the conference centre where Zhang was speaking, heckling and swearing at each other.
Al Jazeeras Sarah Clarke, reporting from Hong Kong, said: With just three protest sites set up within a secure zone in the central part of the city, fighting between the pro and anti-China groups wasnt a surprise.
But with the entire area barricaded and well away from the Chinese state leader, there was little chance these protesters would be heard.
Protesters sceptical
In a move that some see as a way of addressing the citys polarisation, Zhang said he will meet a group of pro-democracy politicians before an official banquet on Wednesday night.
But most protesters do not believe the Chinese leader is willing to listen to them.
The Chinese party and the Hong Kong government are branding this as extending an olive branch to the opposition, Avery Ng, of the League of Social Democrats, told Al Jazeera.
READ MORE: Ming Pao editors dismissal stirs unease in Hong Kong
But I have to remind the world that this is a fake olive branch.
The official China Daily said in an editorial that Zhangs visit comes at a crucial time to underscore Chinas support and commitment to maintaining Hong Kongs stability and prosperity.
With an election for the the next leader of Hong Kong due early next year, the fight by some form of greater democracy is not going away, Al Jazeeras Clarke said.
It looks like Hong Kong is on a collision course with its motherland.
Parliament completes first round of voting for bill that Kurdish MPs say is aimed at cracking down on them.
Turkeys pariament has completed a first round of voting on a bill that will strip some MPs of immunity from prosecution a move members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) say targets them.
The bill, championed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), would amend the constitution, adding a temporary clause to remove immunity from a total of 138 deputies in the parliament the number who are currently facing criminal investigations.
Late on Tuesday, the parliament voted to send the bill forward for debate with 348 votes in favour, 155 against and eight abstentions.
On Wednesday, its first article was approved with 350 votes for and 148 against, and its second article approved 357 to 149.
The second of two voting rounds will be held on May 20.
The move needs the support of at least 367 deputies in the 550-seat assembly to be directly passed. It would go to a referendum if it fell short of that number but reached 330 votes.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has the authority, though, to take the bill back to parliament for another vote, rather than to hold a referendum.
Currently, 51 opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) MPs, 50 HDP MPs, 27 AKP MPs, nine Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) MPs and one independent are facing investigations.
WATCH: Is the West too soft on Turkeys PKK?
Combined, there a total of 667 proceedings against parliamentarians. Some 405 of them are against HDP MPs.
Someone who is aiding and abetting terrorism cannot be an MP, MHPs Mehmet Parsak said, speaking in favour of the bill before the vote. The mentality that supports terrorism can not seek harbour in the parliament.
Both the MHP and the CHP support the bill in what some analysts see as a move aimed at winning support from nationalist voters who want to see Kurdish parliamentarians prosecuted.
If they manage to eliminate HDP from politics and the parliament, it is clear to us that CHP and the rest of the opposition will be the next in line, the HDPs Idris Baluken told parliament.
Voting on the bill will be held by secret ballot and several MPs have said they may not vote with their parties.
Completely constitutional
Erdogan has previously called for members of the HDP to face prosecution, accusing them of being the political wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
The HDP rejects that accusation and says Erdogan is trying to push them out of the parliament so that he can alter the constitution and replace the current parliamentary system with a presidential one.
Erdogan denies that charge.
In an open letter to the European Parliament the HDP criticised the bill as unconstitutional.
READ MORE: Erdogan Strip PKK members of Turkish nationality
If passed, this motion would suspend Article 83 of the Constitution, which guarantees parliamentary immunity, through addition of a provisional clause, Selahattin Demirtas, a co-leader of the HDP, wrote.
Lifting parliamentary immunity with such an anti-constitutional move would extend the Erdogan-AKP blocs monopolistic grip on the legislative body.
Huseyin Ozcan, who teaches constitutional law at Istanbul University, told Al Jazeera he believed the proposed bill was completely constitutional.
Article 83 of the Turkish constitution makes it clear that the parliament has the right to remove MPs immunity under special circumstances, and MPs decided we are now facing special circumstances, he said.
As a result of a similar move in 1994, several pro-Kurdish MPs were stripped of immunity.
Blasts kill at least one policeman and wound dozens more in Peshawar.
Two blasts targeting a police convoy have killed at least one policeman and wounded dozens more in the northwest of Pakistan, officials said.
The first improvised explosive device (IED) planted on a roadside exploded as a police patrol passed in Mathra, a neighbourhood on the southern outskirts of Peshawar.
The second blast came 20 minutes later as police and rescuers were trying to help casualties.
Hospital official Zulfiqar Ali Babakhel confirmed that one dead and ten wounded three policemen and seven civilians were brought to hospital.
Around 4.5kg of explosive material was used in the bombs, police said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The Pakistan Taliban regularly target military and civilian installations as part of a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Earlier this year, Bacha Khan University also in northwest Pakistan came under attack by the Tehreek-e-Taliban group (TTP), which killed 21 students and teachers.
Amnesty International says rebels carrying out a campaign of violence to silence their opponents.
Yemens Houthi rebels have carried out a chilling campaign to quash dissent, arresting and torturing their political rivals, according to a rights group.
The UK-based Amnesty International said on Wednesday that politicians, activists, journalists and academics were targeted and detained by the Houthis and their allies in 60 cases it looked at between December 2014 and March 2016.
The report said the incidents happened in the Houthi-held capital Sanaa, as well as the contested cities of Ibb, Taiz and Hodeidah. It said that many of those arrested had been held incommunicado for prolonged periods, suffering torture and other ill-treatment while being denied access to a lawyer or their family.
The Houthis a rebel group backed by troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh have been fighting against forces that include southern separatists, tribal fighters and military loyal to current President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who is in exile in Saudi Arabia.
Houthi forces have presided over a brutal and deliberate campaign targeting their political opponents and other critics since December 2014, James Lynch, the deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa programme at Amnesty International, said.
Hundreds of people have been rounded up and held without charge or trial, and in some cases they have been forcibly disappeared in flagrant violation of international law.
Some of the prisoners had been held for up to 17 months without being brought before a prosecutor or a judge, Amnesty said.
Many had been held in secret, makeshift detention centres, including private homes, and were transferred multiple times between different locations, it said.
READ MORE: Who will tell the Yemeni peoples story?
One former detainee described to Amnesty how his interrogators tortured him for 90 minutes. He said he was blindfolded, had his hands tied and was beaten with a stick. His interrogators also gave him electric shocks to the chest, neck, forearms and groin, he alleged.
Earlier this month, Houthi officials told Amnesty that those in detention were being held because they gave GPS coordinates to the Saudi Arabia-led coalition.
The Houthis, who hail from the northern highlands and champion the interests of the beleaguered Zaidi community which make up a fifth of Yemens 25 million population, insist they are fighting to defend themselves against government aggression and marginalisation.
Saudi Arabia and other nations launched a military campaign against them in March 2015 after they advanced on on Yemens second city, Aden, and forced Hadi to flee the country.
Since then, more than 6,400 people have been killed in the conflict and 2.8 million displaced, according to the United Nations.
Island nation says it will not fully devolve police and land powers to provinces despite pressure from India.
Colombo, Sri Lanka The Sri Lankan government has announced that they would not fully devolve police and land powers to provincial governments as per the countrys constitution, despite growing pressure from Indias new government.
Speaking in Parliament, Minister of External Affairs, Professor GL Peiris, said on Thursday that the government would not be implementing the 13th amendment in its current form.
The 13th amendment, which was conceptualised in 1987 after Indias mediation efforts, calls for the devolution of land and police powers to the Provincial Councils as a means to improve ties between majority Sinhala and Tamil community.
Peiris said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had informed the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, about the governments decision, when they met in New Delhi, and that any devolution of power could only be done following discussions with all relevant parties.
The opposition Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesperson, Suresh Premachandran, said that the TNA would not be holding talks with the government unless it was serious about reconciliation. He added that this could be achieved through the implementation of the 13th amendment.
Officer on Special Duty at the Ministry of External Affairs in India, JP Singh, told Al Jazeera that the Indian government was aware of these comments. We have made clear our stance regarding the 13th amendment and we will continue to monitor the situation in Sri Lanka closely, he said.
Minority Tamil state
Last week in a meeting between Modi and Rajapaksa, the newly elected Indian prime minister stressed the need for the complete implementation of the 13th amendment.
The announcement by the Sri Lankan government follows a meeting of Modi with chief minister of southern Tamil Nadu state, Jayalalithaa Jayaram, who requested the Indian government to sponsor a resolution on Sri Lanka at the United Nations. She demanded a referendum to be held among the Sri Lankan Tamils for the creation of a separate state for the minority community within Sri Lanka.
Thiru A Ramalingam, secretary to the chief minister, said that Jayalalithaa had submitted a memorandum to the prime minister as her office was concerned about the welfare of the Tamil people, who trace their ancestry to Tamil Nadu. There have been several resolutions passed in Tamil Nadu over the issue in Sri Lanka, the central government should heed the wishes of the people, he said.
Spokesperson for the Sri Lankan government, Kehiliya Rambukwella, rejected the demand, stating that no foreign power could dictate terms to the Sri Lanka people.
We ended a three decade long civil war and brought peace to the country, such a referendum will only ignite divisions that no Sri Lankan wants, he said.
In a rare show of unity, the main opposition party, the United National Party (UNP), has supported the governments rejection of the referendum call.
Eran Wickremeratne, UNP Member of Parliament, told media that while they support the devolution of power, they totally reject Jayalalithaas call for a formation of a separate state in Sri Lanka.
Follow Dinouk Colombage on Twitter: @dinoukc
Reports detail dire conditions and serious human rights abuses in the countrys prisons.
Prisons and police stations across Egypt are bursting at the seams, Human Rights Watch says.
Opposition supporters, together with journalists who speak out against the Egyptian government and its policies, continue to be rounded up by security forces.
Dozens of Egyptians have died in government custody. With many packed into tiny cells, there are fears more will suffer the same fate as temperatures rise in the summer.
Allegations of torture and disappearances have increased since the army removed President Mohamed Morsi almost three years ago and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi took over.
Human rights groups say the Egyptian government has not taken serious steps either to improve conditions or to independently investigate the deaths of detainees.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch say many appear to have died after being physically abused or tortured.
So, what is being done to monitor jail conditions in Egypt?
Presenter: Folly Bah Thibault
Guests:
Mohamed Soltan A human rights advocate and former political prisoner.
Nicholas Piachaud Egypt researcher at Amnesty International.
Maha Azzam Head of the Egyptian Revolutionary Council.
Thirty one year old pianist Eyolf Dale is a leading figure in contemporary jazz in his home country of Norway and an Associate Professor of applied piano at the Norwegian Academy of Music department of jazz studies. The album's title, Wolf Valley, is actually a play on his name as in Norwegian, Eyolf means wolf and Dale means valley. This is chamber jazz of sorts, but paradoxically packing a surprisingly satisfying punch too."Furet" initially evokes a feel of Birth Of The Coolbut soon transmutes into something else entirely with Eyolf Dales fluttering piano and a resounding ensemble resolution. The centrepiece of the elegant "Fernanda" is Adrian Lseth Waade's pensive violin solo whilst the ensemble passages are worthy of"Shostachoral" has a lugubrious feel punctuated by the rise and fall of the ensemble. It was originally an improvised organ chorale from Dale's solo album Hometown Interludes. Introduced by delicate vibraphone, "Ban Joe" has a touch ofabout it, particularly when the piano joins the vibes to play a repeated motif whilst the ensemble overlays a seductively slinky melody line.Piano and vibes again join forces on the hypnotic "Sideways," Dale's left hand evincing a slightly menacing, percussive piano accompaniment followed by an exquisite trombone solo from Kristoffer Kompen. Courtesy of the infrequently-heard musical saw,produces some feedback-like sounds on "Teglstein" which extend throughout this strange and ethereal piece. But by contrast, "The Creek" is very third stream, benefitting from a flowing cohesion whilst simultaneously exploring the possibilities of disparate groupings of instruments. This track surely evokes the essence of. "Silent Ways" (Dale's compositions are frequently afforded punning titles) perfectly demonstrates how the leader's piano is both restrained yet effective, whilst the finale, "The Walk" is a rousing vehicle for solos from UK-born Hayden Powell on trumpet and the American vibraphonist Rob Waring.
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By Site Searches; It Can be Wrong by Jay Bhatti Chatting Up The Cat God Gave Me Dominion Over Him
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AFTER 5 YEARS, WE'RE STILL LIED TO ABOUT IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Next week is the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. And it is likely that sometime in the next couple of weeks, the 4,000th American soldier will die in Iraq. [MORE] Momentum
OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - It's 1931, and a 14-year-old girl is standing alone on a stage. She's small and lively with dark curly hair, widespread hazel eyes, slender wrists and an open, eager face filled with the wonder of performing. Her name is Rose, and one day she will be my mother. But now she is performing an Eugene O'Neill monologue called "Before Breakfast" for a ladies' club in a wealthy suburb of Long Island. [MORE] One Woman's World
COMFORTABLE WITH MYSELF by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I'm not sure but I think I may be socially incorrect. [MORE] On Native Ground
ENOUGH FOR A WAR, NOT FOR A PEOPLE by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Last week, the National Governors Assn. met in Washington, D.C. One of the tasks the NGA had on its agenda was to ask President Bush to increase federal spending on roads, bridges and other public works projects as a way to stimulate the economy. He rejected their pleas out of hand, claiming that infrastructure projects wouldn't offer any short-term economic boost. [MORE] Brasch Words
BEWARE THE SELF-REVERENTIAL PRESS by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Shortly before the primary votes this past week, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter called Sen. Barack Obama's surge to the Democratic nomination "inevitable." It also called for Hillary Clinton to "start her campaign for Senate majority leader." [MORE] Constance
A CONVERSATION WITH MY CAT Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Normally, when the cat starts his evening rant of meowing continuously until he makes his point, I just take it as long as I can, pick him up, and put him in the garage for the night. He doesn't want to go, but the meowing stops and I don't care if he likes it or not. [MORE] Momentum
OUT OF STRUGGLE, ART by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Here we are again at the crossroads of art and social change, having the opportunity to watch good and great films about the lives of women in support of the Women's Crisis Center. [MORE] Campaign 2008
HOW TO PREDICT SUPER TUESDAY II WINNERS? ONLINE SEARCH by Jay Bhatti NEW YORK, March 4, 2008, 7:00PM ET -- With the outcomes of the Texas, Vermont, Ohio and Rhode Island primaries to be decided tonight, how possible is it that online searching can predict who will win tonight's primaries? [MORE] One Woman's World
DON'T VOTE; IT ENCOURAGES THEM by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Call me angry and disgusted but don't call me un-American because I won't be voting come November. [MORE] On Native Ground
BUSH AND THE KEYBOARD COMMANDOS by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- As the days tick down toward the eventual departure of President George W. Bush from the White House, it's a hopeful sign that most Americans are no longer moved by his Administration's constant exploitation of terrorism for political gain. [MORE] Momentum
WHICH AMERICA DO YOU LIVE IN? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It's a little confusing. [MORE] Make My Dat
THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] On Native Ground
FIDEL RETIRES: NOW THE COLD WAR IS REALLY OVER by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Maybe now, we can finally say the Cold War is over. [MORE] Make My Dat
THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] One Woman's World
POLITICS IS NO PARTY by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Are you having a hard time focusing your eyes? Do you have faint red spots all over your body? Is there a ringing in your ears and do you see wavy lines when you look at your television set? Do your hands shake when you try to hold a cup of coffee? And have you recently been forgetting what day of the week it is - or what year? [MORE] Make My Day
FOR BETTER OR WORSE ... A LOT WORSE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "Marriage: It's Only Going to Get Worse." [MORE] Constance
YOU CALL THESE RIGHTS? by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- When you express an opinion you hope to persuade others to your point of view. It doesn't always happen but still, opinion writers try. [MORE] Momentum
THE BRIDGE WOMAN by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - Out there in America - yes, still - is a generation of women who were born in the 1940s, raised in the 1950s, and who came to radical consciousness in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I am one of them. Hillary Clinton is one of them. [MORE] On Native Ground
OBAMA AND MY GENERATION by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I originally planned on voting for Dennis Kucinich in the Vermont Primary on March 4. [MORE] The Willies:
WARNING: THIS MEDICATION MAY MURDER YOUR FRIENDS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla. -- You've heard the warnings, haven't you? Stop Prozac and you may take a shotgun, an Uzi or an AK-47 and mow down your family and friends, or even a whole classroom full of your fellow students. You didn't? Well, that warning is not on the bottle, but like countless mass-murder incidents before it, Friday's shootings at Northern Illinois University, as well as the Virginia Tech shootings that killed 32 last year, was probably precipitated by the effect of stopping medications that suppress anger and other powerful emotions but do not relieve the underlying cause. Isn't it time we started warning people - or stopped prescribing these medicines? [MORE] One Woman's World
DON'T KNOCK ON MY DOOR by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I wish I could feel delight in my poet's mansion being like Grand Central Station all the time, but I can't. And I wish my place was such a place that someone would one day write: "Her door was always open and she always made you feel all fuzzy and warm in her presence. She could make a cup of coffee seem like a banquet." [MORE] Reporting: Panama
PANAMA'S VIOLENT LABOR UNREST INTENSIFIES Mark Scheinbaum PANAMA CITY, Panama, Feb, 15, 2008 -- After just one day of relative calm, wildcat construction strikes by some members of Panama's largest union flared up again Friday morning, four days after a police sniper shot one worker. More than 140 demonstrators have been injured and at least 500 arrested, authorities say. [MORE] Brasch Words
TO STIMULATE ECONOMY, BUY A CHINESE-MADE U.S. FLAG by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Walking down Main Street, pushing a grocery cart loaded with clothes, toys, and appliances was Marshbaum. Fastened to the right front corner of the cart was an American flag tied onto a three-foot ruler. [MORE] Make My Day
THE TOOTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TOOTH by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- To commemorate the death of noted shark exploder Roy Scheider, and the "Jaws" movies that resulted in Erik never setting foot in the ocean again, we are reprinting this column from 2003. Shark Experts 0, Sharks 1 [MORE] Momentum
THE WINTER OF MY DISCONTENT by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - As I write this, it's raining ice. Maybe a half a foot of snow and ice has already landed up here in the woods of Dummerston. Our cars are encased in it, and the door to the house is blocked. The satellite dish that brings in our Internet service quit about 20 minutes ago - frozen solid. [MORE] The Willies
AMERICA TO HILLARY: GET OUT! by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 13, 2008 -- Sen. Hillary Clinton has adopted the Rudy Giuliani strategy, and it's working - for Sen. Barack Obama. It turns out to be the strategy all Democrats are seeking - an exit strategy. But it's not for Iraq. It's for her exit from the race for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination. [MORE] Constance
CONFESSIONS OF A DISAPPOINTED VOTER by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- A week ago at just about this time, I completed an article and was about to submit it as scheduled to The American Reporter. I was feeling rather elated, ready to show up on Super Tuesday morning, firmly touch the X next to Rudy Giuliani's name and get on with my day. He was my choice; he would get my vote. [MORE] Reporting: Florida
SIERRA CLUB SET TO SUSPEND FLA. CHAPTER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 10, 2008 -- The national Sierra Club is set to suspend its Florida chapter after years of divisive infighting, the president of the national club told Florida members in a letter delivered to some this weekend. It is the first time in its 116-year history that such a step has been considered by the club, according to news reports. [MORE] One Woman's World
PLANT A NEW WORLD THIS SPRING by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- For a little while, the men will just have to toss and turn in their fear-free-women beds. For a small space of time Hillary Clinton will just have to trudge on toward the White House without my faint applause in the background. [MORE] On Native Ground
VERMONT AND THE 5 STAGES OF CONSERVATIVE GRIEF by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- First, Vermont tried to convince the nation to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. [MORE] Make My Day
REBEL WITHOUT A TONGUE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Kids' brains work in amazing ways. At times, they can grasp complex concepts and make impressive discoveries. Other times, you have to wonder how we ever survived as a species. [MORE] The Willies
FOR DEMOCRATS, NOW IT'S ABOUT RACE, INCOME AND GENDER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Feb. 6, 2008 -- It's not a good time to be a Democrat. As the Super Tuesday results demonstrated, the presidential race between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has divided the partly along clear racial, income and gender lines - the very distinctions the party has sought to erase in principle but has emphasized in its pursuit of diversity. [MORE] Momentum
SUPER TUESDAY BLUES by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Super Tuesday has come and gone and I still can't get excited about the upcoming presidential elections. [MORE] The Willies
ON THE BRINK OF HISTORY, YOUR PUSH IS NEEDED by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 5. 2008 -- I'm expecting a sea change tonight. I believe that for the first time in this nation's history we will once and forever banish racism as the deciding factor in the destiny of African-Americans, and indeed adopt diversity as our path to the future. [MORE] Campaign 2008
AT 88, EVERY VOTE REALLY COUNTS by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 5, 2008 -- Pearl Turner will caucus for Mitt Romney tonight in Denver. [MORE] One Woman's World
STAND BY YOUR WOMAN by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- The black vote. The gay vote. The fundamentalist vote. The Hispanic vote. [MORE] An AR Special
SUSPECTS IN BENAZIR ASSASSINATION HAVE TIES TO MUSHARRAF by Ahmar Mustikhan WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When Gordon Brown this past Monday feted coup-leader-turned-President Pervez Musharraf at 10 Downing Street, Britain's new prime minister probably didn't ask the Pakistani dictator a question that is now on many minds: Did you order the murder of Benazir Bhutto? [MORE] Momentum
TO THE VERMONT DELEGATION: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR US LATELY? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. Back when President George W. Bush and Dick Vice President Dick Cheney were building up to their loathsome war in Iraq, very few people were brave enough to call the bullies' bluff. [MORE] On Native Ground
IF BUSH HAS HIS WAY, WE'LL NEVER LEAVE IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. - In his final State of the Union address on Jan. 28, President Bush cautioned against accelerating U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq, saying that it would endanger the process that has been made over the past year. [MORE] Campaign 2008
CLASH OF COMMENTS AND PROTESTORS AT CLINTON, OBAMA RALLIES IN DENVER by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 1, 2008 -- At least four presidential campaigns of both partiers rolled into in Denver this week ahead of the Feb. 5 "Super Tuesday" primaries in 22 states, but it was the Democratic presidential contenders who drew the big crowds and duked it out Wednesday. If sheer numbers are any indication, Sen. Barack Obama - preceded by a buoyant and beautiful Caroline Kennedy - won the round handily. He is the overwhelming favorite to win the Colorado primary next Tuesday. [MORE] The Willies
WHY THE FLORIDA PRIMARY STINKS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Jan. 30, 2008 -- I was with my wife and daughter driving the back way from Miami home to Bradenton when we stopped at a McDonald's in Clewiston, the only big town along the vast shore of Lake Okeechobee, the state's precious freshwater reservoir. The McDonald's had three televisions at a central seating area, each tuned to a different network, and our table was in front of CNN as the very first election results started to pour in around 7:30PM. With them, almost as counterpoint, suddenly came such an overwhelming odor of cow plop that my wife started to throw up as we all ran to the parking lot. [MORE] Passings: Suharto
DEATH OF A KEMUSU THUG by Andreas Harsono JAKARTA - A few minutes after hearing that former president Suharto had died in his hospital bed, Marco, a militia leader in downtown Jakarta, raced to Suhartos house, wearing his jungle camouflage and began guarding the Suhartos residence on Cendana Street. [MORE] Constance
I REMEMBER YOU by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga.. -- It seems to be more often lately that the sentiment is spoken but it's always been out there: "You never get over the death of your child." This is true. But the heartfelt expressions come from some who cannot fathom the notion of losing a child; their own child is who is in their mind, not another mother's child. [MORE]
In an era when the federal deposit insurance limit seems nearly irrelevant, the basis for a proposed rule to require banks to keep better tabs on insured deposits makes no sense.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is proposing that banks upgrade their systems so it can be more quickly determined in a failure whether a depositor's money is fully insured. All banks should oppose this proposal as it would impose unnecessary costs without delivering any benefit. Although the proposal is presently limited to banks with more than two million deposit accounts likely affecting only 36 institutions one could imagine a scenario when this regulation could easily be extended to all banks. Comments on the proposal are due by May 26.
In the highly unlikely event that one of the banks subject to the proposal failed, the new rules are meant to make the FDIC's process for liquidating the bank overnight and resolving the insured deposits more seamless. In order to differentiate the insured portion of each depositor's account balance from the uninsured portion, the bank must link all deposit accounts with the same owner so that it can, at any time, determine if the combined balance of those accounts exceeds the $250,000 insurance limit.
The FDIC has estimated that it will cost the banks subject to this regulation approximately $328 million to upgrade their systems to implement overnight account aggregation; that cost could easily be much higher. The FDIC did not estimate the annual cost of compliance with this aggregation requirement nor did it estimate its own cost of ensuring compliance.
Given the many ways in which account ownership can be legally specified, accurately linking all accounts to which a single deposit insurance limit would apply is not simple. Such linking will be especially difficult for brokered deposits where key ownership information is held by the broker, not the bank. Brokers will not readily part with that information.
But more fundamentally, the underlying rationale for this proposed rule bears no relationship to reality. In 1991, Congress authorized the FDIC to protect a failed bank's uninsured deposits against any loss if the FDIC determined that doing so would be less costly than imposing some of the bank's insolvency loss on uninsured deposits. This is known as a least-cost resolution and is accomplished through a purchase-and-assumption transaction.
Since the IndyMac failure in July 2008, which featured widely televised scenes of panicked depositors lined up outside IndyMac branches, the FDIC has bent over backward to protect uninsured deposits by determining whenever possible that it would cost less to have another bank acquire all of the deposits of the failed bank.
Of the 512 failures since IndyMac, uninsured depositors were protected against any loss in all but 30 situations. The largest failure where uninsured deposits bore some of the bank's insolvency loss was Nevada's Silver State Bank, which was closed in September 2008; it had $1.7 billion in deposits when it was closed.
Protecting uninsured depositors in failed banks definitely has not been limited to larger banks. Since July 2008, uninsured depositors have been protected against any loss in all but five of the 122 failed banks with less than $100 million of assets.
There are sound public policy reasons why uninsured deposits should be protected against any loss when a bank fails. First, as the FDIC usually determines, it is cheaper to do so than to enforce the deposit insurance limit.
This is the case because the bank acquiring the deposits and customer relationships of the failed bank can smoothly integrate those relationships into its operations without having to deal with irate depositors. This maximizes the value of the failed bank's franchise.
Second, liquidating a failed bank in order to impose losses on the uninsured portion of depositor accounts can be very disruptive to the failed bank's lending and other nondeposit relationships, impairing its franchise value.
This is especially true for business customers, who often have both deposit accounts and loans outstanding with the failed bank. Liquidating that bank not only destroys banking relationships, but can be very harmful to the affected businesses as it takes time for them to establish new banking arrangements.
The liquidation of New Frontier Bank in Greeley, Colo., in April 2009 illustrates so well the negative consequences of liquidating a bank instead of transferring its deposits and related customer relationships to another bank.
According to news reports, numerous customers of that bank, which had deposits of $1.5 billion, experienced great difficulty establishing new banking relationships and suffered financial harm while doing so. That would not have happened had the bank been resolved through a purchase-and-assumption transaction that protected all deposit balances.
Third, regulators are increasingly concerned about ensuring that all large banks have sufficient liquidity, especially in a crisis situation, rather than whether insured versus uninsured depositors are protected in an individual failure. Guarding broader market liquidity would be much more challenging if the FDIC liquidated a large bank or transferred just its insured deposits to a new bank. Such an action would trigger runs on other banks as customers worried about the safety of their money, possibly creating enormous liquidity strains throughout the financial system.
There simply is no cost or broader economic justification for the FDIC's proposed deposit-aggregation regulation. The FDIC should simply kill it.
Bert Ely is a financial institutions and monetary policy consultant in Alexandria, Va.
Wall Street Journal
JPMorgan Chase is trying to seal off potential gaps in its security system by limiting which employees can access Swift. Unnamed sources said JPMorgan began reducing employee access in recent weeks.
The move comes after two Asian banks were breached through the use of Swift's global interbank messaging service.
JPMorgan doesn't have a specific concern about its vulnerability through Swift, but it's part of a broader policy to review system access after a security threat.
Swift sent a warning to its customers to "urgently review controls in their payments environments to all their messaging, payments and e-banking channels."
Are car-title loans the next target for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?
Auto title lending can trap consumers in a cycle of debt, repeatedly rolling over loans, the CFPB said in a new report issued Wednesday. The typical car-title loan carries an annual loan rate of about 300%. Borrowers also frequently have their cars repossessed.
The CFPB is expected to unveil the first national regulations for the payday lending industry later this summer. Auto title loans are less prevalent than payday loans, but are similar in cost, structure and the business model of the companies behind them.
Read American Banker's coverage of the CFPB report on title lending here.
Former Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit is set to become an investor in financial-services companies, possibly including banks.
With backing from Comcast, Pandit has started an firm that will look to invest in "insurers, lenders, asset managers, or financial technology firms." Pandit wants companies that are profitable, growing or mature. No startups, please.
Pandit's new venture, called Orogen Group, will buy majority stakes, or minority stakes if accompanied by a board seat or active management role.
Pandit is already a personal investor in some financial-services startups, including online student lender Common Bond and Orchard Platform, which links investors with online lenders.
Buried in the earnings statements of many banks, listed under noninterest expense, is a line item slugged "professional fees," "professional services," "consulting services" or some such euphemism. Banks rarely identify what exactly that means, who was paid that money, or what services or advice they receive in exchange.
Here's a possibility: In a story about the consulting kingpin McKinsey & Co., and its struggles in disclosing conflicts of interest, Bank of America is identified as one of its clients. How much does B of A shell out for the privilege of having McKinsey tell it how to run its business? How about $1,075 per hour?
No wonder B of A has purged scores of branches and fired dozens of workers to lower its expense base.
Washington Post
Bank of America has been sued for gender discrimination by a former executive who described the company as having the atmosphere of a "bros club."
Megan Messina, who holds the title of co-head of global structured credit products and credit assets, said a male colleague who held the same job title and comparable duties, received a $5.5 million bonus compared to her $1.6 million bonus. Messina is currently on administrative leave.
When she first talked to her new boss, he asked her if she colored her hair and asked about her eye color. Messina said those same questions would not have been posed to a man.
B of A declined to comment on the lawsuit and said about 30% of its senior leadership are women.
"We take all allegations of inappropriate behavior seriously and investigate them thoroughly," B of A said in a statement.
New York Times
Lending Club's ex-chief executive Renaud Laplanche may have committed fraud, but the underlying mission of Lending Club itself is still a worthwhile pursuit, Steven Davidoff Solomon writes for the "Deal Professor" column.
Mainly, they are not banks and don't present the same structural threats to the global financial system, he said.
"The company offers an alternative for borrowers who might be turned away by a big bank or find the interest rates at those banks prohibitive," Solomon wrote.
"Lending Club and other peer lenders have emerged as a real competitive force against the banks," he said. "The newcomers give small businesses an option that looks particularly attractive when compared with high-interest credit cards sold by the banks."
"Companies like [Lending Club] are not banks they do not have the same central importance, and are not too big to fail," he said.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development will soon announce new rules to control the sale of mortgages that had received government guarantees.
The rules are likely to address concerns raised by housing advocates that hedge funds and private equity firms had been benefiting from a mortgage loan-sale program, not borrowers who needed financial assistance, and that the program had led to increased foreclosures.
Louise Walker, the head of First Northern Bank in Dixon, Calif., will be wearing an additional hat over the next year chair of the California Bankers Association.
Walker will lead the association's board for the 2016-17 term, which started May 12, it said in a news release this week.
Walker was appointed president and chief executive of First Northern in 2011. She has worked at the $1 billion-asset bank since 1979, holding a number of management positions including chief financial officer.
Walker has served as treasurer of the California Bankers, chairwoman of its state government relations committee and as a member of the board's executive committee.
"Louise has been a dedicated advocate for the banking industry for many years, and we look forward to the leadership and guidance she will provide the association in the coming year," Rodney Brown, president and CEO of the association, said in the release, which was issued Tuesday.
Walker is treasurer of the Solano Economic Development Corp. in Fairfield, Calif., and previously served on the board of the Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization.
Synchrony Financial, the credit card lender recently spun off from General Electric, is considering an expansion into small-business lending.
The Stamford, Conn., company already offers small-business credit cards through merchants such as Lowe's and Sam's Club. But now Synchrony is exploring the idea of providing credit directly to small businesses, without the involvement of retailers, according to Chief Financial Officer Brian Doubles.
"There's an opportunity, and we're evaluating this," he said Tuesday at an industry conference in London hosted by Barclays. "So we've hired some experts in that field. We're evaluating the space."
Doubles also stated that small-business deposit accounts are part of Synchrony's strategy for building its online bank.
Synchrony Bank had $62.9 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, up from $49.7 billion a year earlier. It is courting depositors in an effort to fund more of its lending business with low-cost deposits.
Synchrony, which was formerly part of GE Capital, issues store-branded credit cards for major retailers such as Amazon, Walmart and The Gap.
The laid back and trendy college town of Iowa City was plunged into turmoil a little over two weeks ago, after a black University of Iowa freshman claimed that three white men had viciously attacked him in the downtown and called him a racial slur. A media firestorm ensued, with the first report airing on a Chicago news station. Iowa City police quickly declared they were investigating a possible hate crime and even consulted with the FBI. City and university officials were on the defensive. Social justice warriors held protests.
The hate crime, however, turned out to be a hoax just as more than a few observers had suspected all along.
Marcus Owens, 19, nevertheless found willing ears from media outlets and among university officials when claiming that racist college-age white men had attacked him in the mostly white college town a city that social justice warriors have long claimed is pervaded with an undercurrent of racism, as reflected in all the "microaggressions" and standoffishness supposedly suffered by black newcomers. Many blacks from Chicago's inner city have migrated to Iowa City in recent years thereby ending its status (to the delight of liberals) as an orderly whitopia.
Owens, a business major, adroitly courted the news media with his harrowing story, and so did his supportive and media-savvy family, who live in the affluent and mostly white Chicago suburb of Naperville. The hate crime story was picked up by outlets as far away as New York. Some published photos of Owens's bruised face and chipped front teeth photos provided by his family.
Demanding justice, Owens's father insisted during a television interview that his son didn't embrace the thug life, but was just trying to get an education. Owens and family members met with the University of Iowa's president, J. Bruce Harreld, who together with city officials expressed concern that a racially motivated hate crime had occurred. Speaking at a news conference, a university spokesman stated that the university was ready to help Owens in whatever way it could.
Three headlines in the Press-Citizen reflected the media hoopla. "Police investigate reported hate crime against UI student," announced a banner headline after the alleged attack on April 30. Another subsequently declared, "Assaulted UI student's family looking for justice." And as public outrage grew, a headline reported, "Iowa students protest, rally and issue statements against hate crime."
The hate crime narrative unraveled on Monday night, when Owens's family issued an abject apology that admitted that Owens was telling tall tales. The denouement occurred after Owens and his family were presented with surveillance video and witness accounts gathered during an exhaustive police investigation. In their statement, the family nevertheless stopped short of blaming Owns entirely for the attack, explaining: "Upon learning more details of the case, and while racial slurs served to fuel the violence, Marcus now knows that his account of events was inconsistent with police findings, in part due to alcohol being involved, embarrassment at his behavior, as well as injuries he sustained."
Speaking during a Tuesday morning news conference, Iowa City Police captain Troy Kelsay said: "Marcus was not the victim of an assault. Marcus was an active participant and even an instigator in three separate physical confrontations or assaults that occurred at bar close. During at least one of those, he suffered injuries. That is unfortunate, but when you go looking for multiple fights, that is going to happen." Police said the incident involved an "ongoing disagreement."
Police acknowledged that somebody had called Owens a racial slur, but whether the person was black or white was not revealed. Whatever the case, the use of the n-word did not amount to a hate crime, they said. The fighting involved Owens and members of local fraternities.
So why did Owens make up the hate crime story? According to one account, he was afraid to tell his parents he was injured during multiple drunken fights he had provoked. A race hoax story, he figured, would be easier for them to swallow.
Kelsay, the police captain, made an interesting observation about the police investigation, pointing out that outrage over the alleged hate crime could have made some people afraid to come forward with a different story. "The first liar is the one that's believed, and that was Marcus in this case," he said, according to the Press-Citizen.
Incredibly, officials do not plan to charge Owens with filing a false police report or demand that he compensate the city for the drain his hate crime claim put on police and university resources, according to remarks made during Tuesday's news conference. "If we were going to charge him, we could charge a variety of other people with disorderly conduct or different things," said Johnson County attorney Janet Lyness. And it seemed more important to the community to get the information out on what had happened."
She explained that "it seemed much more important to be able to get the information out so that people aren't afraid of being downtown or [afraid] that there were three white men who were going to attack people randomly because of racial things."
It was a strange bit of logic. Perhaps Lyness and city officials felt it better not to antagonize a member of a protected minority. Put another way, failing to charge Marcus Owens was perhaps really all about political correctness a powerful force in a college town like Iowa City, where guilt-ridden white liberals control the levers of power. It will be interesting to see if the University of Iowa does the right thing and expels Marcus Owens.
That Owens grew up during the Obama years cannot be ignored. It's an era when playing the victim card has become increasingly popular (and profitable) and has even gotten a smile and wink from President Obama. So Owens's readiness to embrace a hate crime hoax was perhaps understandable a product of our times. Whether he learns his lesson remains to be seen. But given the media savvy Owens demonstrated, perhaps he should consider a second major in journalism or public relations.
From the podium at Cleveland, he was proclaimed his party's populist candidate for president. The general election campaign stretched through August, September, and October. With his message of national prosperity and restoring the place of the common man, he appeared on the cusp of victory. Then his opponent, a candidate with deep ties to Wall Street and the political establishment, stole the election with the backing of the media and a last-minute infusion of cash.
The similarities are striking not just because it was Cleveland where William Jennings Bryan was nominated in 1896. Politics in America repeats itself in weird ways not because of some arcane force at work, but because the political forces at play in our democracy do not change. From the time of Hamilton and Adams to our own, a privileged elite has striven to enslave ordinary Americans and to deny them a voice in government. In response, the people have turned to great conservative leaders like Andrew Jackson, Calvin Coolidge, and Ronald Reagan who have restored the dignity and rights of the common man.
What Donald Trump stands for today echoes the platform populist Bryan adopted in 1896. The central message is that the little man has been assaulted by the forces of a political elite, and a savior has come to restore democracy to what it was intended to be. In Bryan's day, the lackey serving the elite was William McKinley; in ours, it is Hillary Clinton. In both cases, their unspoken message is that ordinary Americans that vast majority of working Americans residing in the flyover states between Manhattan and L.A. simply don't matter. Their views on jobs and the economy, the environment, and national defense, as on moral issues such as the use of bathrooms by members of the opposite sex, are immaterial. What matters is the interest of the political and cultural elite.
As Vachel Lindsay wrote in his great poem "Bryan, Bryan, Bryan, Bryan," William Jennings Bryan promised to make America great again by expanding the money supply with an infusion of silver currency. His pro-growth policies would have stripped power from the East Coast banks, increased domestic trade and industry, and expanded opportunities for the common man. Most of all, Bryan listened to the voices of the silent majority of working Americans, especially those from the heartland and the South who had been excluded for decades by a political establishment centered in the East and the Upper Midwest. Long before pundits spoke of the division between red and blue states, the 1896 election epitomized it.
As Lindsay put it, "There were real lines drawn" in that 1896 election. Bryan, the Nebraskan promising a "silver Zion," faced off against William McKinley, the hand-picked instrument of party boss Mark Hanna. The heartland, all those "by the dour East oppressed," as Lindsay put it, rose up in support of Bryan.
In Lindsay's view, Bryan gave voice to the hopes of the common man indeed, to the "Hopes of all mankind, / Made rare, resistless, thrice refined." More refined, in other words, than an administration full of lawyers, academics, and lifetime politicians the political elite who ruled Washington in Lindsay's day as in our own. It was not just the chokehold that gold currency had on the money supply it was the moral values of the ordinary American that had been mocked and derided by decades of corrupt plutocracy. It was the corporatism and graft that controlled politics under Presidents Grant, Hayes, Arthur, and Harrison those forgettable cyphers of business as usual.
Now there appeared a giant among men, a candidate whose very presence seemed to turn the streets to silver and the grass to fire. When Bryan spoke, he cast a spell with his cross of gold speech. "The people have a right to make their own mistakes / You shall not crucify mankind / Upon a cross of gold," he roared. When he spoke, Lindsay wrote, the entire world "danced upon its axis / And like a darling broncho whirled."
As Bryan's numbers rose in the campaign, Wall Street and the East panicked, driven "down like a wind-smashed fence." In response, Boss Hanna rallied the banks, the unions, the trusts, and the big-city papers, and he poured out "the long green to a million workers." That same phenomenon is in play today as unions join together to create a pro-Hillary super-PAC working alongside Democratic billionaire donor Tom Steyer. Along with spending from SEIU, the union operation may spend over $200 million on the 2016 election, much of it in an effort to defeat Donald Trump. A crucial factor in the 1896 election was the support for McKinley among skilled factory workers, who believed that their interests were opposed to those of agrarian voters in the South and West.
History repeats itself. The same combine of party bosses, big money donors, and organized labor that opposed Bryan in 1896 have surfaced again, as they have so many times, in opposition to the interests of ordinary Americans.
In the end, Bryan was defeated. It was the victory of the plutocrats, the "custodians," and "all that inbred landlord stock." As Lindsay wrote, it was
Defeat of the young by the old and silly.
Defeat of tornadoes by the poison vats supreme,
Defeat of my boyhood, defeat of my dream.
That was the election of 1896, as reconstructed by Vachel Lindsay in 1919 after most of the principles (except for Bryan) had passed away, and after Lindsay himself had become thoroughly disillusioned with the progressives who had commandeered the Democratic Party under Woodrow Wilson.
As for the victor in that 1896 election, he went on to lead the country through another four years of corporatism with even greater wealth for the Morgans, Carnegies, and Rockefellers of the world. Wall Street prospered; the country won its war against Spain, taking control of vast new territories; and McKinley, trusting to his universal popularity, met his end at the hands of a crazed anarchist in an unguarded reception line in Buffalo. Ironically, farm prices under McKinley improved, partly as a result of McKinley's adoption of Bryan's pro-growth policy of monetary stimulus, including the issuance of larger amounts of paper and silver currency.
There are obvious differences between 1896 and 2016, the largest being that the Democratic Party long ago ceased to be the party of the common man it now represents those same special interests that hampered ordinary Americans in Bryan's day. But the similarities are striking. Ordinary Americans still exist at the mercy of the plutocrats the Washington establishment with its close-knit circle of career politicians, rich bundlers, well-funded lobbyists, and elite academics and media types, all of them preying on and contemptuous of what Obama once labelled those from Palookaville. That web of exploitation operates by awarding privileges and redistributing tax revenues in return for votes, and it perpetuates itself by manipulating public opinion via the media, the unions, the universities, and the established political parties. And the candidate who now leads in the Democratic race is as much implicated in this web of influence and greed as was McKinley in 1896. Recent revelations about the role of the Clinton Global Initiative's support for Energy Pioneer Solutions, a for-profit corporation owned in part by long-time Clinton associates, suggest a tangled web of donors, public officials, and favored corporate interests.
Donald Trump is not riding out of the West like a wild prairie bronco not exactly but he is a sort of wild man assaulting the entrenched interests and political correctness of the plutocrats and the cultural elite. Like Bryan before him, he is the idol and delight of the common man because he gives voice to their sense of exclusion and humiliation. He battles the smug superiority of the calculating donor class and the self-righteous hypocrisy of the liberal elite. Like Bryan, he dares to stand against the "crucifixion" of the ordinary American at the hands of a thousand party leaders, a hundred thousand bureaucrats, and a million academics and journalists. Like Bryan, he speaks from the heart, and the people listen.
No one can predict whether Trump, like Bryan, will go down to defeat in November. I believe that the 2016 campaign will replay the great battle of 1896 between a political elite and a surging populist movement. After 24 years of corporatism in American politics, it is high time for a populist conservative to restore democracy. That is what 2016 is all about, as it was in 1896. A mounting swell of anger and resentment has won Donald Trump the nomination. The vested interests are furious and afraid. They have already deployed their media attack dogs with their accusations of racism and sexism and homophobia.
The 2016 campaign will be bitter, just as it was in 1896, and the outcome will determine whether the political elite expand their influence or whether democracy will be restored to ordinary citizens in this, as it was intended to be, the greatest republic on earth.
Jeffrey Folks is the author of many books and articles on American culture including Heartland of the Imagination (2011).
Hillary Clinton's web page says, "The middle class needs a raise. Here's how Hillary Clinton plans to do it." The page is long on promises and short on tangible plans, which underscores her complete lack of substance when it comes to real issues.
1. Cut middle-class taxes. Hillary is proposing middle-class tax breaks to help families cope with the rising cost of everyday expenses, like child care and education- and she's announced new tax credits to help families caring for an ill or aging family member. She'll pay for them by raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans and closing loopholes in our tax code.
This is the only item that has even a hint of substance. Donald Trump has also recommended the elimination of tax loopholes: "Reducing or eliminating most deductions and loopholes available to the very rich." Trump's tax plan contains far more specific detail than Clinton's.
2. Make college affordable. We can lift American incomes by making quality education attainable for everyone. Under Hillary's college plan, students won't have to take out loans for tuition or books at in-state public colleges and universities, and Americans with student loan debt will be able to refinance their loans at a lower rate.
I recall a line from an old Gilligan's Island episode in which Gilligan campaigns to become the dictator of a banana republic and runs on the platform, "I promise you this, that, and the other thing." This is simply more of the same, but directed at the American people rather than characters in a fictional comedy show.
3. Raise the minimum wage. At $7.25 per hour, the federal minimum wage isn't nearly enough to make ends meet. Americans who work 40 hours per week at the minimum wage earn just $15,080 a yearbelow the poverty threshold for a family of two or more. That's why Hillary wants to raise the federal minimum wage to $12 an hourand why she supports city and state efforts to raise their own minimum wage even higher.
Seven dollars and a quarter is a totally inadequate wage in a modern industrialized society, and even $12 an hour is not impressive, but the problem with Hillary's empty promise is that a job cannot pay more in wages than it creates in value. Henry Ford paid unprecedented wages by eliminating all forms of waste from jobs, but Hillary Clinton is no Henry Ford. She is instead a lot more like Shakespeare's Jack Cade, a comic relief character whose antics were designed to appeal specifically to the least educated members of Shakespeare's audiences. Hillary Clinton therefore thinks Americans are far less educated, and have far less competence in basic economics, than Shakespeare's groundlings.
Be brave, then; for your captain is brave, and vows reformation. There shall be in England seven halfpenny loaves sold for a penny: the three-hooped pot; shall have ten hoops and I will make it felony to drink small beer: all the realm shall be in common; and in Cheapside shall my palfrey go to grass: and when I am king, as king I will be, I thank you, good people: there shall be no money; all shall eat and drink on my score; and I will apparel them all in one livery, that they may agree like brothers and worship me their lord.
If the government mandates that seven halfpenny loaves of bread shall sell for a penny, bakers will simply go out of business rather than lose money, and everybody will starve. If the government similarly decrees that a job that creates perhaps $11 in value per hour shall pay $12 (plus employment taxes) per hour, the employer will figure out how to get rid of the job or ship it offshore. The first step is to create more value. Henry Ford and his associates showed us how to do this more than a century ago. Then we can have higher profits, higher wages, and lower prices simultaneously.
As but one example, Frank Gilbreth proved that bricklaying, as practiced for thousands of years, wasted almost two thirds of the worker's labor by requiring him to bend over to pick up each brick. The issue was not "low pay for low skills," but rather a bad job design. The same issue is easily visible in most fast food restaurants today. Get rid of the wasted motion and wasted effort, and then you can pay wages of which you can be proud while providing better service and making more money for yourself.
I would meanwhile advise any employer in a city like New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles to move out, because the higher wages you pay your workers are not better wages. If I were your customer, I would have zero interest in covering the $2,000-a-month rent your workers might have to pay for studio apartments in San Francisco when $1,000 a month will rent a townhouse outside San Francisco.
4. Support unions. Hillary believes unions are critical to a strong economyand key to a strong middle class. That's why she is fighting to protect collective bargaining rights and strengthen America's labor movement.
What Hillary means is that the kind of parasite who, per Henry Ford, "does not work in the shop, who does not work in any shop, whose sole ambition perhaps is to never again have to work in a shop" should have a government-given right to leech off the productive employees via mandatory union dues. Ford recognized unions as necessary evils when management looked for ways to do as little as possible for the workers, but evils are nonetheless exactly that. Ford said of them in My Life and Work:
When the union of 'union leaders' disappears, with it will go the union of blind bossesbosses who never did a decent thing for their employees until they were compelled. If the blind boss was a disease, the selfish union leader was the antidote. When the union leader became the disease, the blind boss became the antidote. Both are misfits, both are out of place in well-organized society. And they are both disappearing together.
5. Rebuild our infrastructure. Hillary's $275 billion plan will not only repair America's roads and bridges, build world-class airports, and expand internet accessit will also create good-paying, middle-class jobs in the construction, building, and transportation industries.
Expansion of internet access is demand-driven by customers who pay for internet services, and world-class airports are built by demand for air travel. The most ornate airport on earth will not increase this demand when the airline industry looks for every way possible to gouge its customers and treat them with total contempt. Internet virtual conferencing is meanwhile reducing the demand for business travel, so Hillary's "world-class airports" are likely to become world-class white elephants.
6. Boost manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing is a vital source of good-paying jobs in our economy. Hillary's plan will spur reinvestment in communities that have lost manufacturing jobs and give more support to small manufacturers and start-ups.
Clinton is right about the importance of manufacturing to our national well-being, but she hasn't a clue as to how to actually create manufacturing jobs. Henry Ford (D-Mich.) has been dead for almost 70 years, but we might do better to put a copy of My Life and Work in the Oval Office (it was the Bible of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World) for the next four years. The book would do a lot more to actually create jobs, at least if anybody bothered to open and read it.
7. Invest in clean energy. Renewable energy one of America's fastest growing industries. Hillary launched two bold national goals to make the United States the world's clean energy superpower and create new jobs in areas like wind and solar.
One word: "Solyndra." The renewable energy jobs will create themselves when the technologies become competitive with coal and natural gas.
8. Lower child care costs. In many states, child care is more expensive than college tuition, putting families in an impossible position. Along with guaranteeing paid family leave, Hillary wants to make it so that no family has to spend more than 10 percent of its income on child care.
What is she going to do wave a magic wand and chant some mumbo-jumbo? This is simply more "I promise you this, that, and the other thing."
Once Hillary is in office, we won't be able to do anything about her for the next four years. We cannot return a defective president the way we can return a shoddy and defective consumer product. Hillary Clinton's own "middle class needs a raise" web page shows how empty her platform is of anything but platitudes, slogans, and empty promises.
William A. Levinson is the author of several books on business management, the most recent of which is The Expanded and Annotated My Life and Work: Henry Ford's Universal Code for World-Class Success.
The three great monotheistic traditions have more in common than they like to say. Symbolically, all three claim common roots in the figure of Abraham, the first monotheist, who migrated from Sumer (modern Iraq) to what is now Israel and Jordan. Abraham was the first explicit Zionist, contrary to revisionist history.
Six centuries before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the word Zion was used in writing, to mean the capital city of Jerusalem. This must have been an obvious fact to Jesus, who was called Rabbi Jesus in the Talmud. The Hebrew Bible was already fixed in the time of Jesus. He must have known Psalm 137:
"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away required of us a song; and they that destroyed us, required of us laughter, saying: Sing us one of the songs of Zion. (But...) how shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." (KJV)
These verses express a credo, an oath of loyalty, and it was understood as such by Jews and Christians for more than two millennia.
Contrary to Wikipedia (which should be ashamed of itself), Zionism did not start just before 1900. That is a false narrative, intending to destroy the legitimacy of modern Israel. That misleading narrative is also genocidal by direct implication, just as La Raza denies the legitimacy of the United States of America.
All this is important today, because it means that we can meaningfully talk about two thousand years of Judeo-Christian civilization. During those 20 centuries Jews and Christians lived in the same cities and towns, often peacefully, and sometimes not so peacefully. The historical wounds are remembered far more often than the shared benefits. But those benefits existed, as we can easily tell by our long musical tradition, which goes back to the Byzantine Empire and the Orthodox Churches.
Two millennia of Christian music and prayer show philo-Semitism as well as anti-Semitism.
If you doubt that, you might consider Handel's Messiah, or any of the great musical Masses of the Western tradition. Devout Christians considered the Hebrew Bible to be prophetic, to promise return of the Messiah, a son born of the royal House of David. The Hebrew tradition was considered to be the First Covenant, while Jesus as the predicted Messiah brought the Second.
Handels Messiah is therefore structured around quotations from the Hebrew Prophets. He also wrote a funeral aria for the British queen called "The ways of Zion do mourn."
So, contrary to Mr. Obama, American history is pervaded by Christianity and by its roots in Judaism. The Founders practiced and preached religious tolerance for all, starting with Washington and Jefferson. Religious tolerance was almost unique in the world at that time.
Black Americans used to understand that in their hearts, because, like so many oppressed peoples, they identified with the oppression of Israel. There are very strong historical and emotional reasons for the Mount Zion Baptist Churches.
Jeremiah Wright's racial biases do not represent African-American history -- they come from Wright's own early life as a Muslim. As usual, such people parade under false and misleading colors.
The term "Judeo-Christian" has lost popularity, because the secular left rules liberal churches and synagogues -- which are quickly going out of business, because real people don't want what they provide. In Britain, the Anglican Churches mostly stand empty today, while Saudi-funded mosques are rising instead.
Since the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia are a major source of Jihad war theology, the people of Britain will soon realize that no, all faiths are not the same, and surrender to a war theology will not bring peace.
On the contrary. This is the price of vast historical ignorance, as peddled by the BBC in its multicultural era.
The Left always rejects history. The French Revolution tried to start the calendar all over again, which lasted for thirteen years before Napoleon tossed it out. In Cambodia Pol Pot tried to restart history by killing three million Khmer people, and Mao Zedong tried it, too. In the ancient history of China, the Yellow Emperor is famed for trying to restart history by killing all the historians. It is the only way to do it.
Nevertheless, history is what it is, and when the Left loses control over American universities, real history will come back in this country.
Meanwhile more truthful history thrives on the web.
We live in a time when Islam is seeing a reactionary revival of mass murder against infidels. But historically Jihad has not always been violent. If and when Islam ever rejects violence, we may be able to talk about three monotheistic traditions in the same breath.
There are Muslims today who are calling for reform, like President El-Sisi of Egypt, and Jordanian leader Mudar Zahran. Last year President El-Sisi gave an astonishing speech to Egypt's religious leaders at Al Azhar University, calling for genuine reform toward a peaceful Islam.
Is it possible that 1.6 billion people [Muslims] should want to kill the rest of the worlds inhabitants that is 7 billion so that they themselves may live? Impossible! We are in need of a religious revolution. You, imams, are responsible before Allah. The entire world is waiting for your next move.
Needless to say, Mr. Obama and his team never took President Sisi up on his dream of peace.
That was far and away the biggest mistake of the last eight years.
With luck, the next president will see that monumental folly for what it is.
In far too many cases the West has empowered violent Jihad, a paradox that future historians will have to explain. Why did Jimmy Carter bring the Ayatollahs to power in Iran? Why did Obama support the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt? Why did the European Union demand that Turkey accept Islamofascist Erdogan? Why does the Green left constantly try to destroy domestic energy supplies on behalf of Jihadist regimes? And finally -- why do Bill and Hillary take hundreds of millions from the sheikhs of the Gulf?
The left has colluded with Jihad since the rise of OPEC. The facts have been out there for all to see, and reasonable people are still not seeing it.
Obama was not the first Jihad-enabler.
To win the war, the West must bring Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and other Muslim nations to our side. Modernist Muslims are always the first victims of Jihad, and they know it. They are asking for our help and Obama ignores them every time.
Muslims have nothing to gain from bloody war. The war theology is what it is, but not everybody is suicidal.
Donald Trump is an amateur politician. He might be the first to admit it. Surely, he is no amateur businessman; yet he still seems a bit naive about rhetoric, bombast, and braggadocio in the public square. None of this makes his brutal candor any less of a political asset in 2016.
Trumps truths are trending like pop tarts. Indeed, his success to date may be a function of rhetoric that would ruin any other contemporary politician. Trump says what he thinks and lights a fire under a generation tired of smoke, mirrors, and politically correct mendacity. Truth may be a necessary political diagnosis, but civic remedies are a function of action, courage, and cooperative effort.
Business, life, and governance are team sports. Trump says he will seek out the best people. Lets hope the best means heart too. A vitae might necessary, but only courage is sufficient.
Job two, after any election, is team building; creating the critical mass of competence that might change business as usual inside the Beltway. Getting elected is the easy part.
The tone is set at the top in any institution. Cabinet and department heads are the forlorn hope of any administration, the vanguard of success or failure. Unfortunately, in the millennial era; patronage, public relations, and frequent flyer miles have replaced achievement as the metrics for federal performance. In turn, victory and success have disappeared from the national vocabulary.
The victory deficit is the vacuum that Trump seeks to fill.
By all measures, national security success is job one. Absent security, nothing else much matters. Alas, in the past 50 years, the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, and the State Department have been ravished by serial failures. Any real change in the American national security establishment will require strong hands, sharp knives, and strong stomachs.
The conversation about reform cannot begin too soon. Pundits are now fond of comparing the Republican Party unpleasantness of 2016 to the dissolution of the Whig Party (1833-1854). Theres more than a little truth in that analogy.
Before the Civil War, progressive Whigs in the North split from slave holders and formed the Republican Party as a bulwark against the expansion of slavery beyond the South. The anti-immigrant Know Nothing Party (1845-1860) suffered a similar fate and their pro-slavery adherents were absorbed by the Democratic Party, as were the regressive Whigs.
Residual racist sentiment consistently accrued to the Democratic Party thereafter, where it flourished through Reconstruction and survived to nourish Dixiecrats, Jim Crow, the Ku Klux Klan, and legal segregation up through the Kennedy/Johnson administrations. However, despite civil rights reform in the mid-20th century, political control of dependent minorities survived, now in urban Democrat sinecures. Nearly every urban fiscal basket case, culture of civic dependency, or crime nexus in America is a now a Democratic Party monopoly. True to form, the thug politics of the 2016 primaries, to date, are now also a creature from the urban American lagoon.
Indeed, the urban plantation now cultivates social dependency and punk culture instead of cotton. The party of slavery is now the party of big city dependency. Colin Powell put it best: Thats where the votes are.
Military procurement and combat operations today are two examples where the Lincoln era values might be instructive, a time where rewards were tailored to desired results. Or as management theorists put it today: Its the reward system, stupid. Lincoln wanted victories and when he didnt get them he fired generals until he had a winning team. Today, that metric is turned on its head. Failed weapons get better funding and combat commanders still get promoted after 50 years of serial failure in an indefinite series of inconclusive Muslim wars.
If Republicans are to recapture their enlightened heritage and poach some true progressive souls from urban America, they need to emphasize the legacy of Lincoln, T. Roosevelt, and Reagan while condemning the pathologies of failure, appeasement, debt, deficit, and generational dependency -- the modern bondage of institutions like the Democratic Party. Lincoln was a social progressive, Teddy Roosevelt busted the cartelization of the economy, and Reagan was the author of global ideological revolution. Not a bad legacy to run on.
The medium is the message. Trump needs to pick a team that sends an inclusive message. A woman, or a role model like Ben Carson, at the top of the ticket as vice president would be a good start. Carson is ice to Trumps fire. At the moment, Doctor Carson doesnt seem to be interested in the job, but that doesnt change the imperative to avoid the usual suspects and exhibit some imagination.
Given the realpolitik of modern emotional appeals, Republicans still need to consider a gender or ethnic ace to neutralize that first women Jolly Roger sure to be run up by Democrats. If a professional political wrangler is necessary to ride herd on Congress, a politician like Newt Gingrich might make the team, a potential Chief of Staff anon.
Relative unknowns like General Mike Flynn and Dr. Walid Phares in the security arena might be considered too for their unusual threat candor. Flynn and Phares are two of the few national security analysts to recognize the primacy and magnitude of the Islamist threat. If America continues to allow a thousand Muslim cuts, or another generation of jihad, the US may bleed to death before any dubious, if not manufactured, threats from Russia or China materialize. During the Obama era, the existential Islamist threat is largely ignored or minimized while the Russian and Chinese books are cooked as DOD Cold War budget stimulus.
Withal, the party of Lincolns uncommon sense, Roosevelts trust busters, and Reagans anti-communists does not need to rebrand itself so much as run on a proud legacy. A true revolution, if it is forthcoming, would be to break habits of foreign policy failure abroad and free the slaves at home once again, free the nation from those toxic cynics on the left who sow the seeds of appeasement, failure, and dependency only to harvest terror, arson, street crime - and votes.
Hillary Clinton should be celebrated for her associates, the worst at the top and bottom of big city constituencies. She called urban gangs super-predators during her husbands reign, a characterization she now disavows. Alas, truth is a bell that cannot be unhung.
If you want to understand today, you must search yesterday. Pearl S. Buck
G. Murphy Donovan writes about the politics of national security.
The Senate unanimously approved a measure that would allow the families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia. The bill moves on to the House, where approval is uncertain.
But President Obama has promised to veto the bill, citing "sovereign immunity" as the primary objection.
The Hill:
The Senate approved the bill after Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) lifted a hold on the legislation imposed because of concerns it would open up the U.S. to lawsuits from foreigners who accuse Washington of supporting terrorism.
Schumer and Cornyn said they are talking with House leadership and their staffs to try to get them to take up the legislation, but neither offered much insight into their conversations.
First, the bill would have to get through the House Judiciary Committee. The panel is planning to hold a hearing on the bill in the near future, a committee aide said.
Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) definitely supports it, said Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.), a sponsor of the House bill.
His staff supports it, and well try to move as quickly as we can.
King declined, however, to predict how many votes the legislation would receive.
First things first. First we got to get it on the calendar, he said.
The legislation could hang in limbo for at least another month because lawmakers have limited legislative time and are awaiting a decision on declassifying more than two dozen pages of a 2002 congressional inquiry into 9/11.
If those pages are released, their contents could prompt public outrage and provoke retribution from Capitol Hill. They are believed to detail suspected links between the Saudi government and the al Qaeda terrorists who hijacked U.S. planes for the attacks.
The plaintiffs are looking for the information, obviously, Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), an advocate of releasing the pages, told The Hill on Tuesday. I think it would be helpful.
But action in the House could run into trouble with the Speakers office.
Ryan has declined to explicitly endorse or oppose the legislation. Asked about the Senates actions, his aides referred back to his comments last month in which he seemed skeptical.
I think we need to look at it, Ryan told reporters at the time. I think we need to review it to make sure we are not making mistakes with our allies and were not catching people in this that shouldnt be caught up in this.
Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was exchanged for five Taliban terrorists almost two years ago. Since then, the Army has charged him with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, for walking away from his guardpost in Afghanistan.
But the wheels of military justice turn very slowly. The presiding judge in the case has decided to postpone Bergdahl's court-martial from August to next Febrary, meaning that the politically sensitive trial will occur after the November election.
Fox News:
The judge, Col. Jeffrey Nance, also ruled that media organizations could hire a stenographer to capture courtroom discussions during the trial, and he gave Army prosecutors one week to provide reporters covering the case with online access to court documents. The judge postponed deciding a dispute that could influence how much punishment Bergdahl could face if convicted. The Army's primary investigating officer last year recommended against Bergdahl facing jail time, saying there is no evidence that any service members were killed or wounded searching for him in Afghanistan. A preliminary hearing officer recommended against a bad-conduct discharge. But those recommendations were scrapped in December by the general overseeing the case. Gen. Robert Abrams, who leads the Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, instead sided with an Army lawyer's recommendation for a general court-martial. Bergdahl's defense lawyers contend that the Army lawyer's advice to Abrams was so incomplete that it misled the four-star general. Nance did not explain why he opted against taking up the issue Tuesday.
The military is sparing no effort in Bergdahl's defense. The military has appointed four military lawyers to augment his civilian defense team.
Washington Times:
Listed as the sergeants judge advocates were Lt. Col. Franklin D. Rosenblatt, Maj. Jason Thomas, Maj. Oren Gleich and Capt. Nina Banks. Asked whether he requested a large defense team, Sgt. Bergdahls lead civilian counsel, Eugene Fidell, said in an email, Yes. We have assembled an excellent defense team. An Army spokesman told The Washington Times that defense counsel are assigned by the U.S Army Trial Defense Service to provide independent, competent, and ethical defense legal services to soldiers worldwide, wherever located. The next pretrial hearing is set for July, with the trial scheduled to begin Feb. 6 The military judge discussed scheduling of the courts upcoming docket for future hearing dates, as well as specific legal motions by trial counsel and defense counsel, the Army statement said. Prosecution and defense have been arguing over access to classified information.
So much of the political fallout from the trial will be blunted just as the White House and Pentagon hoped. Trying Bergdahl in the middle of a presidential campaign might have been prejudicial to the defendant, and the powers that be are interested in minimizing Bergdahl's culpability. Even though the charge of misbehavior before the enemy can carry a life term, if he is found guilty, Bergdahl probably won't get anything near that sentence. After spending five years in captivity, his lawyers will ask for mercy and almost certainly get it.
This was an ugly chapter in the Afghanistan war. The White House attempt to play politics with Bergdahl's release backfired when the story of his desertion was revealed. The spectacularly bad deal in exchanging five terrorists for a deserter will now fade into obscurity.
Meanwhile, the press has lost track of the five terrorists exchanged for Bergdahl. The House Armed Services Committee reported in December of last year that the five had resumed their "threatening activities," making the swap even more worthless than it was previously.
Have we finally come to the emperor-has-no-clothes moment when it comes to quotas, or as they are euphemistically known, affirmative action? There are grounds for hope, as the chancellor of Oxford University, on everyones list of the most prestigious universities in the world, speaks truth to P.C. power in an interview with the U.K. Telegraph.
Wikimedia Commons
Javier Espinosa writes:
Universities cannot accept more ethnic minority students under a quota system without eroding standards, the chancellor of Oxford University has warned, as the Government readies reforms which force them to publish admissions data. (snip)
But as the pressure to accept students from a diverse background increases, Lord Patten lay the blame on schools for failing to prepare students and warned that any enforced quotas would result in a lowering of academic standards.
Lord Patten said: I am in favour of universities recognising their responsibilities for promoting social inclusion but I dont think that if you want high class universities you should expect them to lower their standards in order to make up for some inadequacies in our secondary education system."
Lord Patten, who was a Conservative Cabinet minister and former BBC chairman, said his university is running several schemes to widen access including scholarship schemes.
He said: I dont support quotas at universities. Nobody will explain to me how you can make a system of quotas work while retaining the highest admissions standards.
Quotas must mean lower standards. There are better ways of addressing social inclusion at universities."
With growing concern over the weakening of First Amendment rights, Columbia University and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced the creation of an institute to preserve and expand First Amendment rights in the digital age.
The Knight First Amendment Institute will offer support to lawyers dealing with new technology as well as educating Americans about the First Amendment, First Amendment education, and conducting research.
Politico:
The basic freedoms we take for granted under the First Amendment are hardly settled, Alberto Ibarguen, president of Knight Foundation, said in a statement. As the internet becomes even more integral to our lives, we face significant questions about the evolution of our rights. Threats to free speech are on the rise, and our hope is that the Institute will not just protect but help reinvigorate First Amendment principles for future generations. The Knight Foundation in April released the results of a survey of newsroom leaders. Most of the respondents said they believed the news industry is less able to take on First Amendment court cases than it was 10 years ago, mainly for economic reasons. The Knight Foundation gave the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press $200,000 for the committee to help support journalists in need of legal assistance. The Foundations investment in the Institute is the largest journalism grant the Knight Foundation has awarded in its history. This is a precarious moment for the First Amendment, and with this Institute we hope to establish a primary, permanent, influential advocate of free expression, Jennifer Preston, the foundations vice president for journalism, said in a statement.
Note that no mention is made of taking on the campus bullies or biased university administrators who seek to stifle conservative viewpoints at every turn. But if conservatives sued a school for such bias, would that not be part of the mission statement of the institute?
It would, but we shouldn't be surprised if they ignore the problem. While it's valuable to have a powerful advocate for the First Amendment as far as digital media is concerned, the real, pressing problem occurs on campus. There simply is no place in America where freedom of speech is more under duress than institutes of higher education.
Unless the institute wants to change the definition of "free speech," by all rights, it should lend a hand to conservative student organizations and conservative advocacy groups fighting for the right to be heard. But a First Amendment organization sponsored by a prominent university is not likely to engage in the battles for free speech on campus.
Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.)'s revelation of the degree to which Iran abused our men and women in uniform after they pirated two U.S. Navy boats earlier this year underscores Barack Obama's, Joe Biden's, and John Kerry's willful dereliction of the duties of their offices.
The reference says:
The classified details behind Irans treatment of several U.S. sailors who were captured by the Islamic Republic during a tense standoff earlier this year are likely to shock the nation Details of the abduction are likely to start an uproar in the nation and call into question the Obama administrations handling of the incident, which many experts say violated international and maritime law.
There are no questions about the Obama administration's handling of the incident. It is an objective fact that Barack Obama was derelict in his duty as commander in chief to protect our men and women in uniform from abuse and humiliation by third-world pirates to whom religious persecution, including state-sanctioned hanging of rape victims and gay people, is a way of life. Genghis John the Khan Kerry, whose own testimony about the Vietnam War brands him a felon who should have been dishonorably discharged from the Navy, enabled the barbarians' savagery by thanking them "for their cooperation and quick response."
Iran Committed a War Crime
Here, as a matter of public record, is the official complaint I sent to the International Criminal Court on January 18, 2016. The complaint cites a specific rule, in this case the Rome Statute to which Iran is a signatory, and also objective evidence that the Iranian pirates violated that rule.
To: Information and Evidence Unit
Office of the Prosecutor
Post Office Box 19519
2500 CM The Hague
The Netherlands otp.informationdesk "at" icc-cpi.int
I am writing to bring to your official attention the actions of the Iranian Navy last week with regard to its seizure of two U.S. Navy boats.
As shown here, Iran is a signatory to the Rome Statute, and is therefore subject to its provisions.
Rome Statute: This is a formal complaint that Iran violated Article 8, War Crimes, 2 (c) (ii) Committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment.
As shown by this image (and similar ones), the Iranians essentially posted photographic proof that they committed outrages on the personal dignity of their prisoners, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment.
The Free Beacon alleges further, Hossein Salami, deputy commander of the IRGC, which is responsible for boarding the U.S. ships and arresting the sailors, claimed in recent remarks, the American sailors started crying after arrest, but the kindness of our Guard made them feel calm. It adds from Ahmad Dolabi, an IRGC commander, I saw the weakness, cowardice, and fear of American soldiers myself. I cannot find this story in any mainstream media source, but the article references a Persian language publication from Iran itself. I cannot read it but, if it indeed says this, Iran has provided even more evidence that it committed the war crime in question.
In addition, as stated correctly by U.S. News & World Report
Finally, arbitrary arrest or detention is prohibited under international human rights law as is the transmission of "confession" videos of detainees for propaganda purposes as codified in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The ICC acknowledged receipt of my complaint on February 1 with the reference number OTP-CR-31/16 and the statement,
The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court acknowledges receipt of your documents/letter.
This communication has been duly entered in the Communications Register of the Office. We will give consideration to this communication, as appropriate, in accordance with the provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Please note this acknowledgement letter does not mean an investigation has been opened, nor that an investigation will be opened by the Office of the Prosecutor.
As soon as a decision is reached, we will inform you, in writing, and provide you with reasons for this decision.
I have yet to receive a response, but it is now a matter of proven record that the ICC is aware of Iran's war crime.
William A. Levinson is the author of several books on business management, the most recent of which is The Expanded and Annotated My Life and Work: Henry Ford's Universal Code for World-Class Success.
The Democrat establishment is waking up to the awful truth on Bernie Sanders: he is a mortal danger to not only the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, but the continued viability of the partys strategy of mouthing populist rhetoric while practicing crony capitalism. Too late, they now realize he actually means what he says about a political revolution, and bringing him back into the fold by the time of the Philadelphia convention will be a problem. Sanders is not just a candidate; he is a movement. And movements dont compromise, fall in line, kiss and make up, and follow orders. They agitate until they get satisfaction.
Far from staying in Vegas, what happened last weekend at the Democrats Nevada state convention is mushrooming into a open split, complete with recriminations and signs that longstanding personal relationships are at risk. The May 14 melee, complete with boos, demands for recounts, fistfights, thrown chairs, armed police, lights out, and fleeing officials, has sparked deepening alienation of the two factions.
Manu Raju of CNN:
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid sharply criticized Bernie Sanders' supporters for turning the Nevada Democratic Convention into chaos over the weekend, saying the Vermont senator should not "accept" how his backers behaved. "I've been dealing with Nevada state conventions for 50 years: To say I was disappointed was an understatement," Reid told CNN in the Capitol on Monday "I hold his people accountable, and I'm sure if Bernie found out about it, he would not accept what happened there," Reid said. Sanders' spokesman Michael Briggs pushed back at Reid's comments, calling on Democrats to harness the energy of his boss' backers. "The Democratic Party would be doing itself a favor if it could find a way to embrace the millions of people who have been energized by Bernie's campaign and want to participate in the democratic process," Briggs said.
Harry Reid, the ruthless, unprincipled party boss in the Senate, had been the closest associate of Sanders, the human bridge between the independent and the party with which he uneasily caucused. Back then, Sanderss rhetoric suited Reid just fine, because it was directed outward at the hated GOP. But Sanders was never as cynical as Reid; he actually bought the socialist fantasy he has been peddling to the voters. Reid, on the other hand, has been the consummate insider, with his land deals making him a multimillionaire and his close relationship with the dominant industry in his state.
That marriage of convenience is now on the rocks. In the words of The Hill, Sanders is defiant:
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Tuesday accused the Nevada Democratic Party of abusing its power to unfairly hurt his campaign, and denied accusations of promoting violence among his supporters. He blasted his critics within the party who have accused him of promoting violence, calling such accusations nonsense. Within the last few days there have been a number of criticisms made against my campaign organization, Sanders said in a statement. Party Leaders in Nevada, for example, claim that the Sanders campaign has a penchant for violence. That is nonsense. Our campaign has held giant rallies all across this country, including in high-crime areas, and there have been zero reports of violence. He said he condemns violence and harassment, before adding that shots were fired into his campaign office in Nevada earlier this year. Sanders said that at the Nevada Democratic convention on Saturday, the Democratic leadership used its power to prevent a fair and transparent process from taking place." If the Democratic Party is to be successful in November, it is imperative that all state parties treat our campaign supporters with fairness and the respect that they have earned, the Vermont senator added.
Read the complete Sanders statement here.
Panties are wadding up among the Democrats, for whom power is the real object. Consider Josh Marshall, head honcho at talkingpointsmemo:
the 'burn it down' attitude, the upping the ante, everything we saw in that statement released today by the campaign seems to be coming from Sanders himself. Right from the top. This should have been obvious to me. The tone and tenor of a campaign always come from the top. It wasn't obvious to me until now. This might be because he's temperamentally like that. There's some evidence for that. It may also be that, like many other presidential contenders, once you get close it is simply impossible to let go. I don't know which it is. That would only be my speculation. But this is coming from Bernie Sanders. It's not Weaver. It's not driven by people around him. It's right from him. And what I understand from knowledgable sources is that in the last few weeks anyone who was trying to rein it in has basically stopped trying and just decided to let Bernie be Bernie. Sanders speech tonight was right in line with his statement out this afternoon. He identified the Democratic party as an essentially corrupt, moribund institution which is now on notice that it must let 'the people' in. What about the coalitions Barack Obama built in 2008 and 2012, the biggest and most diverse presidential coalitions ever constructed? Sanders narrative today has essentially been that he is political legitimacy. The Democratic party needs to realize that.
Simon Rosenberg, another insider, realizes where the Dems went wrong. Via Politico:
"The perception that the DNC and other state parties have unfairly favored Hillary Clinton is going to make the reconciliation of Sanders and Clinton supporters nationally and in the states far harder," said Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg, president of the NDN think tank. "The DNC should have tried much harder to address this perception early on, as it always had the potential to become a reason for Sanders partisans to question the legitimacy of Clinton's victory."
Rosenberg is employing the language of perception because he cant tell the outright truth, only hint at it. The deck was always stacked against Bernie. The party let him run as a Democrat (something he has never been) because having only one candidate would be too reminiscent of Cuba and North Korea. They needed a token opponent and figured the cranky old socialist from Vermont would do nicely. They stacked the debates against him, and they always knew the superdelegates would choose Hillary.
Like the GOP establishment, the party leaders had no idea how angry the country beyond the Beltway really was and remains. People rightly perceive that the political establishment of both parties works hand in glove with powerful interests in a mutually beneficial relationship.
So the big question for the Democrats is what they do to bring Bernie back into the fold. If they think tweaking the platform further left will do it, they are mistaken. Short of offering him the veep nomination, how can they get him to endorse Hillary and appear onstage with her?
It is not clear to me if he would accept being on the ticket with someone he regards as corrupt. And he is awfully long in the tooth to stand in as a spare. Face it: Hillary suffered brain trauma, reportedly likes to drink, has been gaining weight, and does not always appear to be in the best of health.
The veep slot might actually matter a lot.
As the GOP unifies behind Trump, the Democrats have got a mess on their hands. And boy, do they deserve it.
First it was fistfights, thrown chairs, and John Law called in at the Nevada State Democratic Convention over the weekend. Cue the sanctimonious calls for Bernie Sanders to call off his supporters, treating him as if he were Donald Trump, and therefore responsible for every misdeed of his supporters. But Wendell Pierce, Hillary Clinton supporter and famous actor from The Wire, was arrested for attacking a Bernie supporter in an Atlanta hotel. And claims of death threats from the Sanders side appeared.
Now we have Bernie Sanders himself claiming that shots were fired into a campaign office and that apartment complex housing staffers and offices were ransacked. Daniel Halper in The Weekly Standard:
Bernie Sanders revealed Tuesday that shots were fired into his Nevada campaign office and that an "apartment housing complex my campaign staff lived in was broken into and ransacked." The Democratic presidential candidate did not explicitly blame his rival, Hillary Clinton, for the actions. Sanders made the statement in response to "criticisms made against my campaign organization." Here's the Sanders's full statement: "It is imperative that the Democratic leadership, both nationally and in the states, understand that the political world is changing and that millions of Americans are outraged at establishment politics and establishment economics. The people of this country want a government which represents all of us, not just the 1 percent, super PACs and wealthy campaign contributors. "The Democratic Party has a choice. It can open its doors and welcome into the party people who are prepared to fight for real economic and social change people who are willing to take on Wall Street, corporate greed and a fossil fuel industry which is destroying this planet. Or the party can choose to maintain its status quo structure, remain dependent on big-money campaign contributions and be a party with limited participation and limited energy. "Within the last few days there have been a number of criticisms made against my campaign organization. Party leaders in Nevada, for example, claim that the Sanders campaign has a 'penchant for violence.' That is nonsense. Our campaign has held giant rallies all across this country, including in high-crime areas, and there have been zero reports of violence. Our campaign of course believes in non-violent change and it goes without saying that I condemn any and all forms of violence, including the personal harassment of individuals. But, when we speak of violence, I should add here that months ago, during the Nevada campaign, shots were fired into my campaign office in Nevada and apartment housing complex my campaign staff lived in was broken into and ransacked.
Can this marriage be saved? More importantly, why should it?
This blows away the media meme that Trump supporters are violent, so expect the media to do its best to ignore this shocking cycle of violence.
AT recently ran a blog piece about Hillary's pledging to a Kentucky audience that as president, she would put Bill in charge of revitalizing the economy. My first reaction was, "Hey, wait a minute here I thought it was time to elect a woman as president so she could demonstrate to the world that women are just effective as men in managing the affairs of nations."
The country is being told that Hillary is the best qualified person for the job because of her vast government experience, yet this woman is turning over to a man the full responsibility for what most voters consider the number-one problem facing a new administration: the lousy economy. Wow, what an impressive statement of feminist strength and independence. You go, girl!
As for what Hillary considers her husband's economic wizardry in the last decade of the century, numerous commenters noted that Bill had the very good fortune to ride the incredible tech wave of that decade and the even better luck to be out of office by the time the wave became a bubble that ultimately burst. Others noted that it was Bill who got the ball rolling on the sub-prime mortgage disaster as well, by using his office to pressure banks into issuing loans to obvious credit risks a liberal, feel-good fool's game that we all paid a heavy price for. And lastly, many asked why Bill's economic expertise is even needed if the economy is in such a good shape, as the Obama administration is insisting it is. What's to fix?
From time to time Hillary segues into the dialects and speech patterns of her minority audiences, perhaps to sell this concept that Obama's vital economy needs revitalization. She had best practice the remarkable speech abilities of long ago presidential candidate and comedian Pat Paulsen.
All that being said, I must confess that I share Hillary's demonstrable conviction that sometimes we are confronted with situations that pointedly require our personal attention...
...and that simply cannot be put in the hands of her husband no matter how practiced he may be.
May 13th marked a massive shift in the political landscape in the United States and raised questions surrounding the balance of power in Washington, D.C. The United States Departments of Justice and Education issued a policy that threatens more than just federal dollars to schools.
This dear colleague letter from the very bowels of bureaucracy attempts to normalize the asexualization of American society. Commenting on the supposed importance of granting forced accommodation to students who consider themselves members of the opposite sex and to those who dont identify as a cisgender, the letter is a Pandoras box that will never be closed unless the policy is fought.
Classified as significant guidance, the letter, spearheaded by the unconstitutional overreach of the executive branch, forces onto all a one size fits all mentality in dealing with male and female students. Through these actions, the authority of Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, and the Education Amendments of 1972 are expanded to cover transgender students i.e., those students who claim they are members of the opposite sex.
The Departments [of Justice and Education] 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 joint letter reads.
Further, the letter provides guidance that asks the educational facilities to grant bathroom access to all students, no matter their gender.
The policy direction from the Obama administration has come in the wake of a series of unfortunate events that have altered the normalcy of a basic family unit, the male-female gender system, and the overall idea of being human. It is also evident that this was done in response to North Carolinas controversial bathroom bill, which restricts people from using the gender-opposite restroom.
Target and the loss of sales for gender inclusion
When Target announced its gender-inclusive bathroom policy, CEO Brian Cornell told CNBCs Squawk Box that the company is not going to back down.
Were going to continue to embrace our belief in diversity and inclusion, Cornell stated.
However, Business Insider reported that due to the cultural boycott surrounding Targets bathroom policy, one of the countrys largest retailers is likely to mark a loss because of the move towards all-encompassing inclusiveness.
Consumer perception of the brand has also dropped sharply. It's at its lowest point in two years, the report indicates, citing the YouGov BrandIndex. The index highlights that Targets consumer perception was at 42% at the announcement of the bathroom policy; however, the percentage is dropping into the upper-thirty-percentile range. Its also important to note that stock price has dropped drastically.
Asexualization
Recent events are rooted in the basic principle that gender is a figment of the imagination and is subject to the perception of an individual. In a recent video released by the Family Policy Institute of Washington, college students at Seattle University were asked, What is the difference between a male and a female?
The astonishing responses of the students ranged from expressing absolutely no concern for the devolution of traditional gender identities to claiming that gender is something that cannot be conceptualized by society.
However, the only conceptualization needed is that if male and female gender identities are absent, there is no natural existence of human life, and society is therefore asexual. It seems that the long-term motivation of the agenda in play is to render society genderless.
Asexualization is defined as the process of making one incapable of reproduction, or literally limiting the species from reproduction by means of spay and neuter. Based in religious faith or scientific inquiry, male humans and female humans were destined to procreate. If the promotion of a politically correct, postmodern, ultra-progressive society is what we are destined for, the United States is ushered into the age of American asexualization policy.
McGrady is a freelance journalist whose work has been featured and cited in The Heartland Institutes Health Care News, The Denver Post, Fox Nation, and other national publications. He also is a political consultant. Follow him on Twitter (@mikemcgrady2). Email him at mmcgrady@mcgradypolicyresearch.org.
While President Barack Hussein Obama (D) worries about the supposed restroom problems of a guesstimated 0.001% of the population, he apparently was not as concerned about the real problems of the lives of Americans while dealing with a nuclear Iran.
Oh? Interviewed on Hugh Hewitt's radio show, Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark., the state that brought you the Clintons) bluntly explained how the incompetent White House foreign policy team aided and abetted Obama in endangering this countrys national security with the notorious Iran deal.
HH: How did you become public enemy number one at the White House? TC: Just a few things happened. I guess I became public enemy number one at the White House, Hugh, because Im telling the truth about the Iran deal. Look, what you just played, and some of the coverage of Ben Rhodes is what happens when you put van drivers and campaign flaks and failed novelists in charge of foreign policy and national security. And that chump may think that subsidizing Irans nuclear program with millions of dollars is a laughing matter. I dont think its that funny. And if he or anyone else over there had ever been man enough to put on the uniform and pick up the rifle, and have to lead men in dodging Iranian-made bombs, they might not be laughing, either.
Cotton knows what he's talking about when speaking of putting on an Armed Forces uniform and picking up that rifle while leading men in dangerous conditions. He did it. A few years after graduating from Harvard Law School, Cotton enlisted in the active duty forces of the U.S. Army, serving in both Iraq and Afghanistan and attending the U.S. Army Airborne School, Ranger School, and Air Assault School. He does not want U.S. soldiers going up against Iranian bombs but fears they might have to. The Iranians/Persians, long known for their skill in, oh, say, the art of the deal, did quite well up against the administration's "van drivers and campaign flaks and failed novelists," Cotton explained.
TC: And Hugh, also, just let me speak specifically to the point about the amount of relief that Iran will get from this deal. Now President Obama has put the estimate at times well north of $100 billion dollars. But Hugh, now youve got flaks in the White House and John Kerry and other senior administration officials running around saying oh, its only $3 billion, its only $5 billion. This administration has a pattern of telling the truth in classified settings, and then misleading or misinforming the American people in public settings. I sit on the Intelligence Committee and the Armed Services Committee. I have had repeated briefings about the Iran nuclear deal, some just a few weeks old. They come from non-partisan, professional intelligence analysts. And I cant tell you the number that they have briefed us recently, but I can tell you its a hell of a lot closer to $150 billion dollars than it is to $3 billion dollars. And sitting in that briefing was a political appointee named Andrew Exum at the Department of Defense, and any reporter who wants to know should go listen to him, because I gave him a piece of my mind, not because its his fault, but he is the political appointee who is there as the representative of administration policy. And its time that the administration came clean and told the American people exactly what they tell Congress in a classified setting. And the fact of the matter is the amount of sanctions relief is a lot closer to $150 billion dollars than it is to $3 billion dollars.
Oh, and let's not forget that Secretary of State John Kerry was involved in the Iran deal, whose many provisions are still not known.
And to think Donald Trump was mocked because he mentioned as his possible foreign policy advisers his company's lawyer, who knows from deal-making, and a young man who proudly lists his high school participation at a Model U.N. conference on his resume.
Now, who would you rather have negotiating for the U.S.?
Hat tip: Chris Deaton, Weekly Standard
The front pages are full of the partisan back-and-forth over the Iran nuclear deal. The White House is claiming that the GOP is playing politics, as we see in this report:
Fox News correspondent Kevin Corke asked Earnest at the White House daily press briefing if it would be instructive if not enlightening for Rhodes, the presidents deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, to appear before Congress to discuss the Iran deal. Ben Rhodes is the person who told the truth about the Iran deal, and its Republicans who are either badly misinformed or outright lying about the Iran deal, Earnest said in response.
The GOP believes that the White House did not explain the deal to the Congress not an unreasonable conclusion, given how the Obama administration passed Obamacare, executive orders on immigration, and others.
It's not unreasonable to conclude that this is not a "Constitution friendly" administration.
Let's recall that the deal was rejected by the House and then did not make it to a vote in the U.S. Senate because of the 60-vote bar. So the U.S. and Iran made a deal without the usual participation of the Congress required by the U.S. Constitution.
It's easy to blame President Obama and the Democrats. I blame the GOP for lacking the backbone to stand up for the U.S. Constitution.
None of this partisan back-and-forth would be around today if we had voted for or against a treaty. My guess is that the Obama administration would have provided more information to get lukewarm votes on both sides.
In the end, a treaty would have passed or not passed. It would have been a better result than this mess that we have now.
Last but not least, that 60-vote bar needs to be reconsidered. It has become nothing more than a way for senators to avoid voting.
P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
The Politehnica metro station in Romanias capital city of Bucharest, near the Politehnica University of Bucharest, sees relatively little traffic, but is still used by thousands of subway passengers each day. Its pink marble floors are trodden over by the feet of thousands of students of the Politehnica University and those of the Faculty of Journalism of the University of Bucharest, as well as the workers of the Apaca textiles factory and the employees of Vodafone Romania, whose headquarter is located nearby.
The stations marble floors are stained with odd patterns, not usually seen in marble slabs. Yet, aside from the occasional casual glance, few passengers have paid any real attention to these markings. Fewer have stopped to gaze at and appreciate these shapes and fewer still have pondered on its mystery. Many would stop dead in their tracks if you are to tell them they are treading on 80-million-year-old fossils.
Photo credit
The Politehnica subway station was built in 1983, during the countrys communist rule, and it was decorated with limestone slabs harvested from the Apuseni Mountains. At that time nobody knew that the strange, beautiful shapes visible on the slabs are nothing but fossils of prehistoric beings. Many still dont know about it. A Romanian history blogger shared the following picture describing the stone floors as ornamental and decorative with no inkling of the marbles true origin. A search for Politehnica station fossils on one of the most popular image sharing website Flickr, draws a blank.
The ornamental marble of Politehnica tube station, Bucharest. Photo credit
Most of these fossils belong to a group of organism called rudists, that lived in shallow marine environments from the Late Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous periods. The Apuseni Mountains were created during this time period due to the convergence of the Tisia and the Dacia microplates. As the plates collided, the mountain rose from the sea carrying all marine animals living in the shallow waters. Over millions of years their exoskeleton and bodies became fossilized in limestone.
A geology professor from the University of Bucharest said that all metro stations in Bucharest are covered with slabs of limestone containing fossils from different geological periods. Unfortunately, the state of preservation, density and visibility of these fossils are lower than those in the Politehnica metro station. Geologists agree that the fossils embedded in the marble slabs of the subway station has immeasurable scientific value.
According to a 2014 article published on Romania-Insider.com, Bucharest metro operator Metrorex plans to install interactive screens inside the station highlighting the stations history and explaining the different fossils that will allow passengers and visitors to take interactive paleontology classes inside the metro station.
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Sources: Tourist in Romania / Wikipedia / Scientia
More Unique Subway Stations
When architect Solomon Willard arrived in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1825, and discovered a granite ledge in a wooded area, he knew he had found the perfect raw material for what would become his most famous building, and the first monumental obelisk erected in the United States the Bunker Hill Monument. Willard envisioned a 221-foot tall obelisk with a 30 feet square base that would require some 6,700 tons of granite. Transporting the massive blocks of granite from the quarry to the site of construction presented a challenge.
Quincy was separated from Charlestown, where the monument would be erected, by 12 miles of swamp, forest, and farms. The granite needed to be delivered to Neponset River, four miles north, from where a barge would transport the stone through Boston Harbor to Charlestown. Willard wanted to move the stones to the Neponset River on sledges during winter, but Gridley Bryant, an engineer, suggested a more efficient method a railroad.
The Incline portion of the Granite Railway, Pine Hill Quarry to Neponset River, Quincy. April 1934. Photo credit: Arthur C. Haskell/Library of Congress
With the support Boston businessman and state legislator Thomas Handasyd Perkins, Bryant ended up designing what would become the first, commercial railroad in the United states. Rather than steam locomotives, Bryant used horses to pull the railcars a distance of three miles from quarries to the Neponset River. A single horse could pull three cars loaded with 16 tons of rock over wooden rails plated with iron. Later, the wooden rails were replaced with granite rails. The iron plates were retained.
Although, Bryant benefitted from developments already in use on railroads in England, he did modify his design to allow for heavier, more concentrated loads and a three-foot frost line. The Granite Railway also introduced several important inventions, including railway switches or frogs, the turntable, and double-truck railroad cars. Gridley Bryant never patented his inventions, believing they should be for the benefit of all.
In 1830, after four years of operation, a new section of the railway called the Incline was added to serve a new mine, the Pine Ledge Quarry. The incline was 315 feet in length and rose to a level of 84 feet. At the top was the new mine while at the bottom was the railroad system. Wagons moved up and down the incline in an endless conveyor belt, delivering loads to the bottom and returning to the top empty. The incline continued in operation until the 1940s.
Photo credit: Warren S. Parker/www.digitalcommonwealth.org
The new railroad soon started to attract tourists who journeyed out from Boston to watch the mechanical and technological marvel in action. Tourists would step into the empty wagons and would be pulled up the incline. During one such tour, the cable broke and a wagon derailed throwing its occupants over a cliff. One perosn was killed and three other passengers were badly injured. The accident which occurred on July 25, 1832, became one of the first fatal railway accidents in the United States.
In 1871 the Granite Railway was acquired by the Old Colony and Newport Railway. The new management replaced the granite tracks with contemporary construction. Steam trains then took granite from the quarries directly to Boston without need of barges from the Neponset River. During the early twentieth century, metal channels were laid over the old granite rails on the Incline and motor trucks were hauled up and down on a cable.
Today, a section of this railroad is preserved as a trail and its famous incline is listed on the National Register.
Photo credit: Warren S. Parker/www.digitalcommonwealth.org
Photo credit: C Hanchey/Flickr
Photo credit: C Hanchey/Flickr
Photo credit: C Hanchey/Flickr
Photo credit: Warren S. Parker/www.digitalcommonwealth.org
Replica of the first carriage of Granit Incline exposed on 1934. Photo credit: www.funimag.com
The old Quincy quarries have given way to recreational activities such as rock climbing and graffiti. Photo credit: Robbie Shade/Flickr
Photo credit: vikramjam/Flickr
Photo credit: Jason Eppink/Flickr
Bunker Hill Monument, Charlestown, Massachusetts. Photo credit: Chensiyuan/Wikimedia
Sources: Wikipedia / American-Rails.com / geologywriter.com
Commissioned in 1572 by Grand Master Jean de la Cassiere as the Conventual Church of St. John, the St. John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta, Malta, is considered to be one of the finest examples of high Baroque architecture in Europe and one of the world's great cathedrals. The cathedral's interior is extremely ornate, with carved stone walls, painted vaulted ceiling and side altars with scenes from the life of John the Baptist. The most impressive is the marble floor which is composed of nearly 400 tombstones of Knights and officers of the Order. Each tombstone is inlaid by a colored, marble slab bearing the crest, coat-of-arms and epitaph of the noble knight.
Photo credit: www.maltacultureguide.com
The Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem were noblemen from the most important families of Europe, and their mission was to protect the Catholic faith against the Muslim forces. The Knights came to Malta in 1530 after they were evicted from their earlier home on Rhodes by the Turks in 1522. Using Malta as their new base, the Knights continued to fight against the Turks and especially the Barbary pirates. Unhappy to see the order resettled, Ottoman Sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent, sent an invasion force of about 40,000 men to besiege Malta. Despite having a small army of 6,000 soldiers, half of which are civilians and only 500 or so were Knights, the Turks were unable to siege the island. After defending Malta from the Ottomans, the Knights turned Malta into a fortress that befitted a military Order and built a new capital city worthy of noblemen.
The Knights who fell during the Great Siege of 1565 were originally buried in Fort St Angelo but were later re-interred inside the Cathedral of St. Johns. They were later joined by Grand Masters like Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, Claude de la Sengle, Jean Parisot de Valette, and Alof de Wignacourt. The earliest grave dates back to 1606, some 25 years after the church was opened. Bodies continued to be buried in the cathedral till the 19th century.
Today, the cathedral is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Malta, and it is listed on the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.
Photo credit: (left) vassallohistory.wordpress.com /(right) Tony Hisgett/Flickr
Photo credit: Leon Yaakov/Flickr
Photo credit: Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P./Flickr
Photo credit: Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P./Flickr
Photo credit: Myriam Refractive/Wikimedia
Photo credit: Gwendolyn Stansbury/Flickr
Photo credit: Tony Hisgett/Wikimedia
Photo credit: Tony Hisgett/Flickr
Photo credit: Jacqueline Poggi/Flickr
Photo credit: Jacqueline Poggi/Flickr
Sources: www.knightsofmalta.com / Great Siege of Malta Wikipedia / St. John's Co-Cathedral Wikipedia
Android Pay was announced last year during Google I/O 2015, and it went live later that year in the States. For our friends across the pond however, theyve been teased and teased regarding an imminent launch. Its appeared in coffee shops up and down the country, it was launched and then pulled, but now it seems to be officially official. The launch is being announced over on the Android UK blog, and its now live in the Play Store for those in the UK to download on to their devices. For those that might not be aware, Android Pay is essentially Googles answer to Apple Pay and all devices with NFC and a recent version of Android can use it to pay wherever its accepted.
This is a launch thats been a long time coming, and the timing is curious, to say the least. Google I/O which you can watch here wont be getting started until later today UK time, but it seems Google has jumped the gun a little bit to make sure those in Blighty can get access to some goodies right away. Google detailed the banks and stores that would be making use of Android Pay back in March, and those include the likes of HSBC, Lloyds, the Halifax, First Direct, Royal Bank of Scotland, M&S Bank and more. Notable by their absence is of course Barclays, which is too busy making their own awkward alternatives to things like Android Pay. In terms of stores, Google has partnered with a number of chains up and down the UK including Costa Coffee, Starbucks, Aldi, Greggs, Boots, Superdrug and will be adding more names in the future.
As well as being a contactless payment method for mobile, Android Pay can be used to checkout online and through supported Android apps as well. Well more than likely be hearing more about this launch later today, but for now users can go ahead and download the app by hitting the Play Store button below and get their cards and accounts all set up and ready for the future of payments in the UK.
In most parts of the world, Google Maps can provide all sorts of mapping services that users can take advantage of to tour new parts of town, plan a road trip, get turn-by-turn directions while driving and, in some parts of the world, even see inside some buildings. In South Korea, however, Googles services are restricted to all but the most basic functions. Even on the basic map, 3D mapping is disabled and most properties are actually blurred beyond recognition. The only advanced feature enabled is guiding users on their journey through the public transit system by bus, subway and the like. This incredible set of restrictions, set up back in the day to ensure national security, is being alleged by Google to be vastly outdated and an unnecessary hindrance to their service thats keeping the competition ahead of them.
While Google contends that the laws and policies are protecting the competition, South Korean officials maintain that the laws are only in place for the sake of national security and that local outfits are using maps issued by the government. A meeting behind closed doors is scheduled for Wednesday, where President Park Geun-hye, who espouses deregulation and innovation in her economic policies, will be present. The law prohibits Google from obtaining the same government maps used by the competition while officials will not grant them a license to gather their own detailed mapping data.
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Google engineer Kwon Bom-jun is leading the charge, saying the search giant has had enough. With the local laws putting Google at a clear disadvantage against local competition for years, it would be no stretch to say that Wednesdays meeting will likely determine Googles place among the mapping solutions available to South Koreans. Google pointed out that their Maps product is even faring better in China, where theyve had one notorious struggle after another with officials and have only recently begun offering their core Search product and related services again. South Korea is also asking Google to begin blurring out parts of their mapping data in the country in overseas domains, to which Kwon Bom-jun replied by saying that No matter how many servers we have in Korea, we cant have all of our Google Maps services handled there,
Google is heavily invested into A.I. technology and you can see this in many forms, from the A.I. engine that powers the Google app to Googles DeepMind A.I. that challenged world champion Go player, Lee Sedol. Google is also said to be announcing their Google Home product tomorrow which is likely to be powered by their A.I. engine, and it seems now that theyre finally going to start preparing for their entry into using messaging bots. If youre a user of Telegram, youll already be familiar with what messaging bots are capable of. You can essentially type up a mention of a specific bot in any chat like @music for example, and Telegrams music bot will let you search for and link a particular song in the chat. That is just the tip of the iceberg, though, as bots could be used for more advanced things like hailing an uber ride.
With Telegram already well into their messaging bot development and other companies like Facebook having announced and started development on their own bot offering, its a wonder why Google waited this long. According to new details from The Information, Google is all set to dive right into chat bots and plans to unveil new details about its bot efforts at Google I/O this week.
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Rumors have been swirling for months that Google would be launching a messaging app or service that was more centered around the use of bots, but nothing has since been announced nor launched to any platform. As the keynote takes place tomorrow morning at 10AM PST, Google could end up squeezing just a little bit about bots somewhere in between all of the other details during the two-hour long speech. With no exact specifics just yet, the latest details about Googles bot focus seems to be that they will introduce a set of tools that allows developers to build chat bots into existing services and messaging platforms instead of offering their own messaging service with chat bots integrated into it. This sort of approach is already being referred to as a smarter decision for Google, as their messaging services, while popular, are not near the amount of popularity in scale as Facebooks Messenger. Tools, though, would let them finally enter into the chat bot space without having to actually build a whole new app. Google already offers two messaging services with Hangouts for chat, and Messenger for SMS messages, so a third would simply make things more congested, although Google could simply roll chat bots into one of their existing apps.
Nokia was once the largest cellphone manufacturer in the world. This Finland-based company manufactured high-quality devices and sold them all over the world, but theyve failed to adapt to the smartphone world. Nokia first pushed their Symbian and MeeGo operating systems, and when that failed, theyve signed an exclusivity agreement with Microsoft and manufactured only Windows Phone devices. That was a huge mistake by Nokia considering Microsoft purchased their Devices and Services business at one point, which left Nokia high and dry basically. The company did manage to release an Android-powered tablet (manufactured by Foxconn), the Nokia N1, back in 2014, but that tablet had limited availability, which was unfortunate.
The company has announced a while back that theyre going to be back in the hardware business later this year, and theyve also purchased Alcatel-Lucent quite some time ago, but due to their agreement with Microsoft, they were not allowed to use Nokia brand to manufacture smartphones until 2022. That being said, something interesting happened quite recently. Microsoft has sold whats left of Nokias feature phone business to FIH Mobile, Foxconns subsidiary. The deal is worth $350 million dollars, and Nokia has announced that they will keep on pushing mobile phones and tablet out to the market on a global basis. Now, in addition to this, Nokia has announced that theyre giving HMD global Oy (HMD), a global license to create Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets for the next ten years. Nokia will receive royalty payments from sales, as expected. You might be wondering where did HMD comes from? Well, this is a new company founded to manufacture Nokia-branded devices basically. The deal between Microsoft and Foxconn (FIH, that is) is not concluded yet though, it is expected to close in the second half of this year. Interesting enough, HMD plans on investing quite a significant amount of money over the next three years in order to market Nokias products, theyre going to splash out $500 million as an investment.
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Many of you might be wondering does this include smartphones, or are only dumbphones in play? It definitely includes smartphones, the company has even announced that they plan to release devices based on Android, which are great news. Foxconn has basically secured Nokias mobile business with this move, and it will certainly going to be interesting to see what kind of Nokia devices will HMD manufacture moving forward. Nokia has confirmed that they will provide HMD with branding rights and essential patent licenses in return for royalty payments, but wont be investing in the company, though they will be included in the decision making it seems. Nokia will be a part of HMDs Board of Directors and will set mandatory brand requirements in order to keep the brand under control to some extent.
Yesterday, Motorola held a press conference in India and officially introduced the next-generation Moto G lineup. Renamed as the Moto G4, the new series consists of three smartphones, with the top of the range being covered by none other than the Moto G4 Plus. The smartphone, like its predecessors, fits in the mid-range market, but Moto G smartphones have always been known for offering good value for the money, and of course the Moto G4 Plus doesnt seem to be any different in this regard. In fact, surprisingly enough and as shown today by an early DxOMark review, it looks like the Moto G4 Plus camera might be powerful enough to compete with the premium smartphone market segment, and go against devices such as the iPhone 6S Plus.
The Moto G4 Plus is equipped with a 16-megapixel camera with an f/2.0 aperture, featuring phase detection as well as laser autofocus, auto-HDR, and a dual-LED flash. These specifications are respectable on-paper, but usually, the number of megapixels doesnt tell the whole story, and in practice theres no better way to determine the quality of a camera other than putting it to use in a variety of environments and in several lighting conditions. Fortunately, the team at DxOMark was quick to acquire the latest Moto G4 Plus and review its camera. The results are quite surprising, with DxOMark giving the Moto G4 Plus a rating of 84/100. This score places the device in the same league as the iPhone 6S Plus, the Google Nexus 6P, and the Moto Droid Turbo 2 all of which have scored 84 points. More accurately, DxOMark ranks the Moto G4 Plus camera in-between the iPhone 6S Plus and the Moto Droid Turbo 2.
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Overall, DxOMark describes the Moto G4 Plus camera as being very good at preserving details in bright light and adds that the unit has good noise reduction in the same conditions. Colors are vivid and pleasant in most outdoor scenes, and the white balance is also reportedly good indoor or in low-light conditions. Granted, the sensor is not perfect and DxOMark also points out that there are some issues with HDR activation (in that it doesnt always work when it should), as well as color shifting among other things, but all in all, while there still is room for improvement, the Moto G4 Plus camera seems to exceed expectations.
One of the greats in the world of mobile devices has to be Nokia. Responsible for some of the most memorable cell phones in history, such as that used in The Matrix and breakthroughs in smartphone technology, Nokia is a name most people remember well. One thing that Nokia and their die-hard fans will not want to remember of course is what went wrong with Microsoft. Famously, Stephen Elop, a previous Microsoft employee, signed a deal with Microsoft when he was Nokias CEO to produce devices running Windows Phone exclusively. This gave birth to the Nokia Lumia range of devices, and once Microsoft ended up purchasing the phone part of Nokia, the Lumia line became a Microsoft phone. Now however, Microsoft have sold whatever was left of the Nokia phone business to a Foxconn subsidiary.
We covered this news earlier today, but what it means for Nokia is that the company is now free to do as they wish with the Nokia branding in the smartphone space. They had previously launched the Nokia N1 tablet running Android, but theyre now able to launch smartphones under the Nokia name again. How this is going to work is that Nokia will license their name to a newly-formed company dubbed HMD Global Oy (HMD) for ten years. HMD will, in turn, create and market Nokia-branded devices running Android while paying Nokia royalty fees for using the brand name. This is the sort of thing that has helped TCL Communication, a Chinese firm, sell devices in the United States and elsewhere using the Alcatel branding.
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This move will allow consumers to purchase Nokia devices once again, but they will have little of the old Nokia DNA left in them. Using Android might not ensure that theyre similar to the likes of the Galaxy S7 Edge or HTC 10 either, as theres no guarantee they will partner with Google for services like the Play Store. It would be a foolish move if they didnt, but either way the Nokia brand is making a comeback, just not in the way that you might have originally expected.
Its not even half of 2016 yet Samsung has already been able to release a good number of devices at different prices. Despite this, there is a mysterious smartphone that the South Korean company could still be working on. A few weeks ago, a letter leaked under the companys Parthenon product along with a few hands on photos. The mysterious product has been revealed to be the Samsung Galaxy C, a smartphone almost similar to the Samsung Galaxy S7 with a premium front panel and metal body. And ever since then, the public has been keeping an eye out for other information pertaining this smartphone.
Details from a leak last April revealed a couple of Galaxy C smartphones the Galaxy C5 and the Galaxy C7. As the smaller model of the two, the Galaxy C5 is said to sport a 5.2-inch FHD display with a 1920 x 1280 resolution, a 64-bit Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 SoC, 4 GB of RAM, up to 64 GB of internal storage, 16-megapixel rear and 8-megapixel front camera, and a 2,800 mAh battery. Meanwhile its older brother, the Galaxy C7, is reported to run on the same processor and RAM but will sport a larger 5.7-inch display and a 3,300 mAh battery. Both devices will be running on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow OS. The Galaxy C5 is said to retail around $245 while the Galaxy C7 will cost around $276.
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Earlier today, word has gotten out that Samsung has sent out invites to an event they are hosting in China. According to sources, this event will officially unveil the series. The event will be happening on May 26, which is actually just a few days away. It can be expected that more details of the mysterious smartphone will be unveiled together with its pricing and availability. There are reports that these two smartphones will be released in China this month. But prying into further details of their availability in other markets outside China, it is still unknown. More details about these two Galaxy C smartphones are expected to be unveiled as the event date approaches.
Sony is a well-known tech giant from Japan. This company is doing great in a number of tech sectors, but mobile business is not one of them. The company has been having issues with smartphone sales for quite some time now, and theyre trying to change things up a bit in order to change that. Sony has introduced two new smartphones during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona back in February, the Xperia X and Xperia XA. We havent heard much from Sony Mobile since then, until the company decided to release a new phablet, read on.
The company has introduced their new Xperia XA Ultra phablet two days ago. This is a 6-inch phablet which belongs in the upper mid-range sector, at least based on its specifications, which well talk more about soon. We still dont know how much will this phablet cost once announced, but we now know that it will be available in select markets starting in July. The device will be available in the US starting in July, and it will roll out to Canada later this year (sometime this summer), at least according to the latest info. The Xperia XA Ultra will be accompanied by its smaller sibling, the Xperia XA, a smartphone which will also be available in both US and Canada. Chances are these two devices will be unlocked once they become available in the US and Canada, similar to the devices that are available at the moment.
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The Xperia XA Ultra features a 6-inch fullHD (1920 x 1080) display, 3GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable internal storage. The device is fueled by the Helio P10 (MT6755) 64-bit octa-core processor, along with the Mali-T860 MP2 GPU. The 21.5-megapixel snapper is placed on the back of this phablet, and a 16-megapixel OIS camera can be found up front. Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow will come pre-installed on the Xperia XA Ultra, along with Sonys custom UI, of course. The 2,700mAh battery will also be a part of this package, though it wont be removable. The device comes in White, Graphite Black and Lime Gold color options, though we still dont know if all those variants will be available in the US and Canada. The Xperia XA Ultra measures 164.2 x 79.4 x 8.4mm, while it weighs 190 grams.
Xiaomi has recently introduced their new Mi Max phablet, along with the MIUI 8 OS. This China-based company has also introduced their new flagship earlier this year (back in February), and their Mi Band 2 fitness tracker will be introduced next month it seems. Xiaomi is also working on a curved display smartphone, Mi Note 2 flagship phablet and their very own drone. That being said, the companys CEO, Lei Jun, talked about the companys upcoming products in the recent video broadcast, lets see what he had to say.
Lei Jun usually tends to share insight on the companys upcoming products, and this time is not different, except for the fact he shared tons of info with the general public. The companys CEO confirmed that the Mi Band 2 will land next month, and that the Mi Drone was launching soon, though he wasnt all that specific. Interesting enough, Lei Jun also mentioned Xiaomi VR, which is probably the companys virtual reality headset. Xiaomis CEO said that Xiaomi VR is in development, though he was rather unspecific on when can we expect the product to land. Lei Jun has also mentioned that the curved display smartphone and wireless charging are coming soon, and that the company is considering making their very own robot, believe it or not. The split screen MIUI feature has also been confirmed by Mr. Jun, and he did not want to comment on the Xiaomi SoC, Notebook or the Mi Note 2, he labeled those products as top secret, so well probably have to wait a bit longer before we hear more about them.
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All in all, it seems like we have plenty to look forward to, Xiaomi is planning to release quite a few devices in the coming months. The Xiaomi Mi Band and Xiaomi Drone are almost certainly going to land first, and it remains to be seen what will follow after that. Xiaomi is aiming to do better than last year and sell over 70 million smartphones, it will certainly going to be interesting to see if they can pull it off, but the year sure does look promising for Xiaomi, as long as they manage to expand further outside of China.
ZTE may be one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world, but a large chunk of the companys business happens to come from carrier-branded devices sold by network operators in countries around the world. So with the more profitable branded market still out of its grasp, the company, over the past year, has tried to tap into that lucrative, high-margin segment by launching all-new brands, like Nubia and Axon. The first-generation Axon phone was launched last year by the Chinese telecom company with a view to gaining a foothold in the U.S market. The device was initially marketed as a flagship phone designed in the U.S for the U.S., although, the company then went on to release a whole host of devices under the Axon sub-brand, like the Axon Pro, Axon Elite, Axon Lux, Axon Mini and the Axon Max.
Now, whether or not the slew of Axon phone launches have diluted the value of the Axon brand remains to be seen, but ZTE obviously believes that the availability of multiple options and the shift away from pure Android has actually helped the company tap a larger audience with varied requirements. Either way, the second-gen Axon flagship has been in the news of late, with multiple rumors and leaks about the upcoming device being splashed all across the online tech media in recent times. The device will apparently be marketed as the Axon 7, and is widely believed to be made official at an event to be held in the Chinese capital of Beijing on the 26th of this month.
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However, even as the official unveiling is expected to be held in ZTEs homeland, the US market will continue to remain a major point of focus for the Chinese manufacturer. That being the case, ZTE has now taken out a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal, thanking The 30 million savviest mobile users for choosing performance without price. The ad also gives a partial glimpse at a smartphone that could potentially be the upcoming Axon 7, so ZTE is clearly humoring its American users and keeping them engaged with the brand. That probably gives a pretty clear indication that the upcoming Axon 7 will likely get a U.S. launch, but whether or not that will happen on May 26th, still remains to be seen.
(ANSA) - Brussels, May 18 - European Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said Wednesday that "we had an intense exchange with (Economy Minister Pier Carlo) Padoan and we obtained a clear commitment, written in black and white, that Italy ensures it will respect the rules in 2017, and will keep the deficit to 1.8%". He said the EC would look "carefully" at October's draft of the 2017 budget and make a "fresh assessment of the debt ratio". Italy on Tuesday obtained budget flexibility from the EC which will help it spur growth.
The European Commission on Wednesday gave the official green light to budget flexibility requested by Italy, recommending that the deviation for investments and reforms be kept to 0.75% of GDP and a further 0.10% be linked to migrant spending (0.04%) and security (0.06%). Italy has long sought as much leeway as possible within the strict EU budget parameters to free up spending for growth.
The European Commission recommended that Italy in 2017 "achieve a budget adjustment, towards the medium-term goal, of at least 0.6%". Brussels has given Italy 0.85% of GDP in flexibility in its budget for 2016
Moscovici said there would be a fresh assessment of Italy's budget in October and stressed that it was "imperative" that Italy respect the commitments it has made.
The European Commission gave several recommendations for interventions for the Italian government to carry out over the next 12 to 18 months. One of the main ones was for Premier Matteo Renzi's executive to accelerate its privatizations programme to raise money to cut Italy's massive debt of over two trillion euros. Others recommendations were to shift the tax burden from production to consumption and property, to reduce tax detractions and to adopt measures to combat tax evasion.
TUNIS - The most important and well-known bust of Hannibal, considered the most reliable portrait of the famous Carthaginian military commander, will go on display at the Bardo Museum from May 27 through June 30 in an exhibition titled "Hannibal in Carthage".
The bust is on loan from Rome's Quirinal Palace, as part of a cultural collaboration between Italy and Tunisia and with the support of Terna electric utility.
For the exhibition's inauguration, the Italian Institute of Culture in Tunis, in cooperation with the Tunisian government and other local institutions, has organised a conference featuring Professor Giovanni Brizzi.
Brizzi teaches Roman history at the University of Bologna and is one of the foremost experts on Hannibal.
Through the years, the Hannibal bust has become the reference point for depicting the military commander, both in history books as well as in popular culture.
In Tunisia, the image of the Hannibal bust is printed on the five-dinar banknote.
A recent study by a group of British researchers reignited interest in the general.
The sculpture will be back in Italy for the exhibit "Hannibal: A Voyage", to take place August 2, 2016-January 15, 2017 at the Barletta Castle. .
Art: Bust of Hannibal on display at Bardo in Tunis From Quirinal Palace, from 27/5 to 30/6
(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, MAY 18 - The most important and well-known bust of Hannibal, considered the most reliable portrait of the famous Carthaginian military commander, will go on display at the Bardo Museum from May 27 through June 30 in an exhibition titled "Hannibal in Carthage".
The bust is on loan from Rome's Quirinal Palace, as part of a cultural collaboration between Italy and Tunisia and with the support of Terna electric utility.
For the exhibition's inauguration, the Italian Institute of Culture in Tunis, in cooperation with the Tunisian government and other local institutions, has organised a conference featuring Professor Giovanni Brizzi.
Brizzi teaches Roman history at the University of Bologna and is one of the foremost experts on Hannibal.
Through the years, the Hannibal bust has become the reference point for depicting the military commander, both in history books as well as in popular culture.
In Tunisia, the image of the Hannibal bust is printed on the five-dinar banknote.
A recent study by a group of British researchers reignited interest in the general.
The sculpture will be back in Italy for the exhibit "Hannibal: A Voyage", to take place August 2, 2016-January 15, 2017 at the Barletta Castle. (ANSAmed).
RABAT- The new online magazine sister-hood, which aims to highlight the diversity of Muslim women's voices, was launched on Monday by Emmy-award-winning filmmaker Deeya Khan. The launch came after months of preparation. ''Women of Muslim heritage are always in the news - as victims, as 'jihadi brides', in innumerable pieces on hijab. We are endlessly spoken for, and spoken about. It's time we got to speak for ourselves. If we can't get heard through mainstream media outlets, then it's time to build our own,'' the Norwegian filmmaker of Afghan and Pakistani origins wrote in an editorial launching the magazine.
The website will collect personal stories, such as that of a woman not allowed to attend her father's funeral, as well as courageous choices made by Muslim women, such as that of a feminist who took off her headscarf for a day, as well as news and debates. Khan said in the editorial that in ''public discourse, stories of villains and victims usually drown out tales of heroes and survivors. Abusers and oppressors dominate discussions but it's time that those fighting back - many of whom are women - have their names acknowledged, their courage recognised.''
In 2007, the filmmaker launched an online music mixtape initiative for young female Muslim music artists, rappers and poets, aimed at ''facilitating a space for Muslim women who refused to be confined by the model of femininity as defined by orthodox men''.
In 2015, she organized an international conference in Oslo to celebrate the creativity and activism of women in the Muslim world, and the reaction 'reignited' sister-hood.
''Former Muslims, cultural Muslims, and agnostics are just as welcome to contribute and participate as the devout; all sects and denominations are welcome,'' Khan wrote. ''People constantly ask me 'Where can we find women's resistance against social, political and religious injustice and oppression? Where is the opposition to religious extremism?' We have always been here. We exist.'' Backed by Khan's media and arts production company Fuuse, the project is based on donated funds and does not carry advertising. The website currently has articles by such well-known figures as the Egyptian writer and feminist icon Nawal el-Sadaawi, the Israeli and Italian journalist Rula Jebreal, the international human rights professor of Algerian origins Karima Bennoune, who teaches in California, the American Muslim blogger Amani, International Civil Action Society Network (ICAN, active in the Middle East and Africa against extremism and militarism) co-founder Sanam Nuraghi-Anderlini, the British blogger Halima Begum and the Pakistani artist Sabba Khan.
ROME - ISIS extremists have publicly executed at least 49 people since February 2015, some by beheading, in their Libyan fortress in Sirte, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a 41-page report released on Wednesday.
Victims included political opposition leaders and people accused of "spying" and "insulting God". Witnesses spoke of "scenes of horror".
The report, titled "We Feel Like Victims of a Curse: Life under ISIS in Sirte, Libya", highlighted that the executions took place at the end of secret trials that denied victims "the most basic standards of equality". HRW said the killing of civilians or fighters held prisoner by ISIS is a "war crime", according to which due to their "nature and scope" these executions in Libya "could constitute crimes against humanity".
Last March the organisation interviewed 45 current or former residents of Sirte and Misurata, including relatives of people who were killed or imprisoned by ISIS, local administrators in exile, and members of rival armed groups. The Sirte residents described "scenes of horror" such as "public beheadings" and "bodies in orange jumpsuits that were hanging from scaffolding" (which locals referred to as "crucifixions"). Some of the victims had been taken in their sleep, during the night.
Those interviewed said ISIS forces, helped by informants, whipped and mutilated men in the street just for the "crime" of having smoked and listened to music. "Life in Sirte is unbearable," said Ahlam, a 30-year-old woman. "Everyone lives in fear. They're killing innocent people. There is no food, the hospital is without doctors and nurses, there's no medicine...There are spies on every street. Most people have left, but we're trapped. We don't have enough money to leave".
ISIS has had complete control over Sirte since last August, including the port, the air base, the main electrical plant, the radio station and all government offices. HRW said the city has become the biggest ISIS fortress outside of Iraq and Syria.
Gen. Haftar rejects Libyan gov't under PM Sarraj. 'I don't care about them, and no time to waste with UN'
CAIRO - General Khalifa Haftar, head of the Libyan armed forces that are loyal to the Tobruk parliament, said Wednesday he does not recognise the budding national-unity government (GNA) of premier-designate Fayez al-Sarraj and does not have time to waste with the UN. "I don't care about the GNA's decisions, its decisions are only pieces of paper," he said according to Libya's Channel. "I don't think that this solution imposed by the UN will be successful".
In a televised interview, General Khalifa Haftar said in reference to the UN special envoy to Libya that ''I don't have time to waste with Kobler. I rely on the army and the police and not on a UN official''. The general had refused to meet with UN envoy Martin Kobler about ten days ago. Haftar also said that the Muslim Brotherhood ''are behind all terrorist attacks in the world''.
Migrants: Lampedusa reception centre in flames Fire allegedly started by Tunisians, third arson in 7 years
(ANSAmed) - LAMPEDUSA (AGRIGENTO), MAY 18 - An arson, the third in the span of seven years, once again damaged a pavilion in the Lampedusa migrant reception centre, which is currently hosting 517 migrants. Luckily there weren't any victims or injuries. The fire was allegedly started by a group of Tunisians. Four of them, strongly suspected to be responsible for the fire, were stopped while trying to leave the pavilion.
The flames, which broke out Tuesday evening, became very high and could be seen from the Imbriacola neighborhood across the entire island. Firefighters working within the reception centre immediately began fighting the fire and were able to put it out quickly and conduct an initial inspection. Although it's still early to assess the damage, the building's inside was completely devoured by the flames.
The damaged pavilion, which hosts adult male migrants, had already been completely destroyed following two other fires started by migrants in revolt prior to 2009 and then again in 2011. The building, which is one of three that make up the reception centre, has been entirely rebuilt twice.
According to an initial report by Carabinieri police conducting an investigation, the fire could have been started by the Tunisians following a rumour that they were slated for forced repatriation by plane, given that they don't have the right to apply for refugee status. Just yesterday in Lampedusa there were two arrivals of ships carrying migrants: one group of 14 Tunisians arrived in the morning directly at Cala Galera, and the Italian Coast Guard picked up another 35 in the evening near the island.
In recent weeks the reception centre, which also operates as a hotspot, has experienced high tension linked to the refusal of a group of primarily Eritrean and Yemeni refugees to undergo identification procedures including digital fingerprinting.
About 20 of them also protested in the square, in front of the main church and city park, which sparked a hunger and thirst strike that lasted four days. (ANSAmed).
Too many migrants, Italy to open new hotspots Ready for summer, EU commission report
(ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, MAY 18 - A European Commission report on migrant resettlement said Wednesday that migrant arrivals would rise beyond the capacity of Italian hotspots to process them this summer. Therefore, it said, Italy has identified "new locations to host hotspots, that should be opened in the summer". The report also recommended action to render fully operational the existing hotspots at Lampedusa, Pozzallo, Trapani and Taranto, as well as creating "mobile" ones.
(ANSAmed).
Two Moroccans deported says Alfano 19 this year for terror-related offences
(ANSAmed) - ROME, MAY 18 - Italy on Tuesday deported two Moroccans, bringing to 19 the total of expulsions linked to terrorism since the start of the year, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Wednesday.
The first Moroccan, he said, "had been monitored by DAP (penitentiary police) in jail and had shown approval for ISIS attacks".
The second one had also been in prison, in Parma, and had "exulted at the Brussels attacks".
The expulsions, Alfano said, "show that our activity of prevention is continuing without cease". (ANSamed).
ROME - Africa is not a threat but an opportunity, Premier Matteo Renzi told participants at an Italy-Africa conference in Rome Wednesday. "Italy isn't nostalgic about the past but about the future," he said. "The future in which Africa is seen not as the greatest threat - as some demagogues would have it - but as the greatest opportunity". Renzi has made investments in Africa a linchpin of his efforts to reduce the flow of refugees and asylum seekers towards Europe. "We're trying to turn Europe's head towards Africa and the Mediterranean," he said, adding that cultivating African relations is not just an ethical move but also a mutually advantageous one. "The agenda we're trying to propose in Europe is totally different from the past," he said. "(Current) economic policy is too focused on the domestic front and on austerity. Many countries have run into trouble.
And yet Europe is the main neighbour of Africa". Europe must change its economic agenda as well as its approach to immigration, he said.
"When there's a woman or a man at sea, the first thing to do is to save that life, not to engage in a debate," he said. "We must have a strategic view of migration - there's no point in perpetuating attitudes that can fit in an advert - we must become aware that this phenomenon will go on for years, and a long-term strategy is the only solution".
Italy must do more for Africa economically, he added.
"Thirty-eight billion euros in trade with African countries is too little," he said.
Europe is undergoing "a very great crisis that is not an economic one but a demographic one", Renzi said.
Renzi added that the recent Islamist fundamentalist terror attacks in Europe "don't come from Lampedusa refugees" because "the problem is within", and raising walls to keep asylum seekers out and thereby avert possible future attacks sends "the wrong message".
Islamist terrorists aim at symbolic places of culture such as the Bardo Museum in Tunis "and your churches, mosques and schools," Renzi told conference participants. "We must have the courage to say that together (with Africa) we can look to the future," Renzi said.
Kobler, presence in Tripoli soon, but protection needed now 'We don't decide which country military units come from'
(ANSAmed) - VIENNA, MAY 18 - The UN mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and UN headquarters in New York plan to reestablish a presence in Tripoli soon, UN Special Representative Martin Kobler told ANSA on Wednesday. "To work in Libya there are necessary requirements. Under the current security conditions one of these is the presence of military protection units within the UN (UNGU): those are military personnel made available by member States. It's not UNSMIL's job to identify which States must make (personnel) available". (ANSAmed).
Libya: Gen. Haftar rejects Libyan gov't under PM Sarraj 'I don't care about them, and no time to waste with UN'
(ANSAmed) - CAIRO, MAY 18 - General Khalifa Haftar, head of the Libyan armed forces that are loyal to the Tobruk parliament, said Wednesday he does not recognise the budding national-unity government (GNA) of premier-designate Fayez al-Sarraj and does not have time to waste with the UN. "I don't care about the GNA's decisions, its decisions are only pieces of paper," he said according to Libya's Channel. "I don't think that this solution imposed by the UN will be successful".
In a televised interview, General Khalifa Haftar said in reference to the UN special envoy to Libya that ''I don't have time to waste with Kobler. I rely on the army and the police and not on a UN official''.
The general had refused to meet with UN envoy Martin Kobler about ten days ago. Haftar also said that the Muslim Brotherhood ''are behind all terrorist attacks in the world''. (ANSAmed).
Lieberman to be new Israeli defense minister Netanyahu expands gov't coalition to include nationalist right
(ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, MAY 18 - Nationalist leader and hardliner Avigdor Lieberman will be Israel's new defense minister.
The Jerusalem Post reported on Wednesday that Lieberman had accepted Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu's offer. Lieberman, leader of the right-wing nationalist party Israel Beitenu, will take the place of Likud's Moshe Yaalon. The move is part of an extension of the government coalition after the prime minister spent days in talks with Labour Party leader Isaac Herzog for the latter to possibly enter the government. On Wednesday, Herzog halted talks with Netanyahu in light of the prime minister's contact with Lieberman's party.
''Netanyahu,'' he said, ''must decide whether to go to war and funerals with Lieberman or Bennett, or to undertake a march of hope for Israelis with us. There are no other alternatives.'' In a press conference, Lieberman set down his demands: to be placed in charge of the defense ministry, pension reform and a law on the death penalty. (ANSAmed).
(by Claudio Accogli)
VIENNA - An immediate ceasefire, humanitarian access to cities under siege, a commitment to political transition: these are the salient points from the Syrian summit in Vienna, that among myriad difficulties tried to relaunch talks and restore a concrete ceasefire in light of numerous violations in recent weeks.
"The challenge is now to translate this agreement into concrete action," highlighted US Secretary of State John Kerry, in a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura. "An impetus must be given back to the Syrian talks. This is the most serious crisis of recent years," said Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni on the sidelines of the talks. The final document, where the commitment to start a political transition and constitutional reform appear, invites both sides to return to negotiations. The UN will monitor the ceasefire weekly. Violations will end up at the UN Security Council, which is ready to increase pressure on the warring parties.
There's also support from UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura to talk with Iran and Saudia Arabia and restart talks. In light of this and by UN request, EU Foreign Policy chief Federica Mogherini met with the delegation from Damascus in the first face-to-face meeting between the EU and the Assad government since the start of the conflict. On the humanitarian front, the world leaders gathered in Vienna said they are in agreement on restarting access to humanitarian aid in the cities under siege, which are stuck in the grips of what De Mistura said "recalls the techniques of the Middle Ages". That is, depriving those under siege of water, food, and medicines.
If access to aid isn't granted, the World Food Program will discontinue ground supply and put into place air drops and aid by parachute. Analysts highlight that in any case that's an extreme possibility, because field organisations prefer ground aid in order to more efficiently check those who receive the aid.
There were also sparks between the United States and Russia at the summit. "Without a negotiated solution, Assad and his supporters will never end the war," Kerry said. If Assad doesn't plan to keep his commitment to a political transition "he puts himself in a dangerous situation," Kerry said.
Lavrov responded by repeating Moscow's stance: US and EU sanctions "have worsened the humanitarian crisis". Russia supports "the fight against terrorism, not against President Assad; we don't personally defend anyone," Lavrov said.
The Vienna accord will now have to reckon with the battlefields, where warring factions seem increasingly like wild splinters and blood continues to flow in rivers.
US Senate bill on 9/11 a slap in the face to Riyadh Makes suing Saudis possible. White House, Obama won't sign
(ANSAmed) - NEW YORK, MAY 18 - Tensions between the US and Saudi Arabia are on the rise during an already delicate moment in the fight against ISIS. But the topic of contention is something that still today represents an open wound for America: the attacks of September 11.
Despite White House opposition, the US Senate - which holds a Republican majority - approved a measure by which the Saudi government could be sued in US courts, for its alleged involvement in the attacks that took the lives of more than 3,000 people. It's an involvement that Riyadh has always denied, but that, according to many, could come out in the 28-page classified report by the commission that investigated the attacks.
The Saudi monarchy has already spoken out on several occasions against the bill before the US Congress, threatening very serious consequences if it should pass into law. The consequences would be above all on the US public debt front, starting with the sale of US Treasury holdings in the hands of the Saudis: holdings that are worth, as of March 2016, 116.7 billion dollars.
If the sale of other Saudi assets in the US is added to that, it could come to as much as 750 billion dollars. This warning was delivered directly into the hands of the US authorities in March by Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir during his most recent visit to Washington, and it most likely echoed in Riyadh during US President Barack Obama's recent visit there.
Even though the controversial measure will most likely also pass the US House - also in the hands of the Republicans - it isn't likely to get the signature of Obama, who is still in the Oval Office for the next six months. Immediately following the Senate vote, White House spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed the president's stance and expressed "serious worries". Worries over an initiative that risks deeply damaging relations between the US and a country that was, until recently, considered one of the US's biggest allies in the Gulf.
The fact remains that doubts and questions on Saudi Arabia's role in preparations for the September 11 attacks have been surfacing for more than a decade. And families of victims of the attacks have on several occasions tried to bring into court members of the Saudi royal family suspected of having financed Al-Qaeda terrorists. But until now these attempts have had little success, blocked above all by a 1976 law that recognises a sort of immunity for foreign governments. But with the bill approved by the Senate, all that could now change. (ANSAmed).
Le CBD, cette molecule active du cannabis a aujourdhui le vent en poupe. Et cela est en grande partie du au fait quil permet...
by Shafique Khokhar
Qaisar Jahan was removed from the school where he worked for refusing to do janitorial work. The head mistress wanted to force him out of his job as water man because as a Christian he was impure. After two months of legal wrangling, Qaisar went back to his job. For his advocate, Our efforts do not stop here since job discrimination is widespread.
Faisalabad (AsiaNews) The Christian water man who was dismissed from a girls high school in Partab Nagar (Faisalabad) because of his faith is back at work.
Back in February, MC Girls High School headmistress Najma Naheed told Qaisar Jahan, You are Christian and no one in the school wants to get a glass of water from you.
Because of this, she ordered him to do janitorial work rather than the work for which he was hired. Jahan refused and filed a complaint. After months of legal wrangling, he is now back at work.
The case began in May 2015 when the school mistress, a Muslim, sent a request to the Education District Office (EDO) for a worker. The choice fell on Jahan, who began in November.
However, by the end of December, she started to put pressure on him, complaining that he was refusing to do janitorial work. On 6 February, she wrote a letter of complaint to the EDO.
At that point, Jahan turned to Lala Robin Daniel, a Christian activist who heads the National Minorities Alliance of Pakistan (NMAP) and is the president of the AAWAZ district forum. Daniel filed a complaint with the EDO for religious discrimination on Qaisars behalf.
A few days ago, the EDO convened Jahan and the school mistress. The latter was asked to apologise in public for her biased behaviour and to promise that she would never criticised the faith of any colleague.
Najma Naheed said that she would not force anyone to carry out tasks that are not part of their work profile.
Qaisar was happy about his victory. "I am very grateful to my Saviour for his blessings and protection. I always believed in him and was rewarded with so much respect and dignity, he said.
When I was dismissed from my job for refusing to work as a sweeper, I decided not to bend down in front of those who divide people in the name of religion."
Since losing his job, I managed to bring bread home driving rickshaws. I prayed to God very much, and now my friends and family are happy for me. I am grateful to AAWAZ for their untiring efforts for my rights. "
For Lala Robin Daniel, the matter does not end with this success. "Our efforts do not stop here with Qaisar getting his job back. We have to do much more for all those who are discriminated for their faith.
We shall fight for a new law that protects non-Muslims from any form of discrimination at work. Until the law is not passed by parliament, we shall not stop.
Two of Qaisars friends have decided to follow him. Forced into doing janitorial work, they too plan to file a complaint.
Indian government sources report that the Salesian kidnapped in Yemen is alive, well and they are working to ensure his release. He is not in the hands of the Islamic state, but "anti-government forces." Msgr. Hinder urges caution because "there are no new elements." He is optimistic, but calls for prudence.
New Delhi (AsiaNews) - Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, the Indian Salesian kidnapped by an extremist commando in early March in Yemen, is alive and "safe" and right now "last efforts" are being made to "ensure his release", says a senior Indian government official, raising hopes of an imminent release of the priest who has been in his kidnappers hands for two and a half months.
However the local Church calls for prudence and, while still optimistic for a positive outcome, reiterates the call for caution because today there is still no "new evidence."
Indian Catholic sources, echoing the words of the Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, refer to Fr. Tom "as safe" and say that mediation in place to secure his release has reached "its final phase." In addition, the Salesian is not in the hands of the Islamic state, but "anti-government forces" present in Yemeni territory.
Suspicions therefore focus on Shiite Houthi rebels, who have been battling the government army for more than a year, although there is no explicit confirmation of a groups involvement. "Negotiations are ongoing - continues the Indian Catholic source - and his release is imminent".
Speaking to AsiaNews, Msgr. Paul Hinder, Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia (United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen), states that "there are no new elements" and the priest's fate is still uncertain. Hence the new invitation to "prudence" not to prejudice the outcome of ongoing negotiations for his release.
A Jihadi group, probably linked to the Islamic State (IS) group, seized Fr Tom Uzhunnalil on 4 March after storming a home for the sick and elderly run by the Missionaries of Charity in Aden. Four sisters of Mother Teresa and 12 lay people present in the facility were killed in the attack.
During Holy Week, unsubstantiated stories began circulating in India claiming that the kidnappers planned to torture, kill and crucify the priest on Good Friday.
Seoul (AsiaNews) - The probable Republican candidate in the upcoming US presidential election, Donald Trump, has declared he is willing to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. The purpose of the meeting - a first since the establishment of North Korea - would be to seek a solution to stop Pyongyang's nuclear program and plan a common strategy for relations with China. In an interview released at New York's Trump Tower, he clarified: " I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him".
The statement by the US billionaire was met by diverse reactions, ranging from that of his likely challenger in the race for the White House Hillary Clinton - "he has a bizarre fascination with foreign strongmen" - to that an anonymous official at the South Korean Foreign Ministry, who limited himself to "I think it's a joke". Clinton was referring to the flattering exchange a month ago between Trump and President Vladimir Putin, defined by the Republican candidate "as a man I respect."
In addition to Pyongyangs nuclear policy, Trump would like to find a "common strategy" with Kim Jong-un in relations with China. Beijing and Washington are linked by a trade exchange worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year, which would, however, is in favor of the Land of the Dragon: according Trump, this ratio is "rape". Thats why he concludes there is a need for renewed negotiations: "I would put enormous pressure on China, because from an economic point of view we have enormous power."
Relations between the US and North Korea are among the worst on the planet. The two do not have diplomatic or trade relations since 1950, when the outbreak of the Korean War divided the peninsula in two. In addition, Washington has always been - along with Seoul - the favorite target of North Korean political propaganda, the rhetoric of its leaders and even the internal missile program. Every missile test by the Kim regime is evaluated according to its ability to strike US military targets.
The songs that are sung during the great Arirang celebration in Pyongyang - a massive show which takes place between August and September, inspired by a popular folk song in the peninsula speaks of American women being raped by the animals, the whole nation enveloped by a rain of fire and famine, and men loosing their eyes and genitals. During the War of Korea and beyond, puppets dressed as Uncle Sam were beaten and set on fire by the children of North Korean primary schools.
The difficult bilateral relations deteriorated further when Pyongyang began arresting American citizens visiting its territory, often on trumped-up charges. Sentenced to long years of hard labor and shown with paraded on state television to "confess", these are regularly released due to US "pressure, which more often than not is the payments of cash or provision of other basic necessities.
Finally, the privileged relationship between Seoul and Washington should not be discounted. South Korea has for years been a sort of "American protectorate", and even today about 53 thousand marines of the US military are allocated in the southern part of the peninsula. The two countries signed a free trade agreement and have facilities for the transport of goods and passengers. Each year, the war games take place between the two armies unleashing Pyongyang propaganda.
The ban is meant to protect the states reputation. A Bersih 2.0 movement leader is prevented from boarding a plane. For activists, Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is involved in a financial scandal, wants to silence his critics. Malaysia is transforming itself to be police state, says one opposition leader.
Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews) Malaysians may be banned from going abroad for three years for discrediting or ridiculing the government. Those who insult foreign countries could be banned from travelling for three years once they return. Immigration officials started applying the rule several months ago, The Star newspaper reported.
As activists and opposition politicians campaign oust him Prime Minister Najib Razak over his role in a financial scandal, he has tried to silence all his adversaries.
Sakib Kusmi, director general for the immigration department, confirmed the new legal provisions to the paper, adding that holding a Malaysian international passport was a privilege and not a right.
The most recent example came on Sunday when the chairman of the anti-corruption movement Coalition for Free and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0), Maria Chin Abdullah, was barred from leaving for South Korea to receive a human rights award .
Bersih 2.0 wants Prime Minister Razak to resign over allegations that he embezzled US$ 681 million from the 1MDB state investment fund.
In July 2015, the Wall Street Journal revealed that millions of dollars had been deposited into a bank account controlled by the prime minister.
Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali ruled the funds were a donation from the Saudi royal family and Razak has consistently denied wrongdoing.
In August, Bersih 2.0 held a huge rally in Kuala Lumpur with at least 250,000 people calling for the PMs resignation. In retaliation, the prime minister had the groups and other websites blocked.
The lack of such transparency and accountability only points to a government which is intent on abusing its powers to repress its critics and dissidents, Tony Pua, an opposition lawmaker with the Democratic Action Party, said in a statement.
This, he added, serves to prove the critics allegations that Malaysia is transforming itself to be police state.
by Melani Manel Perera
For three days, heavy rains have been battering the island nation. So far, the official death toll stands at 35 with 350,000 people displaced. A huge landslide in the central Province swept away 66 houses and 400 residents. About 250 have been rescued, and there is little hope for the others.
Colombo (AsiaNews) Heavy rains have been battering Sri Lanka and India's east coast since Sunday. Some ten centimetres have fallen in the past two days, flooding roads and villages.
Some 35 people are known to have died so far with 350,000 forced to flee their homes. A mudslide in the Central Province swept over 66 houses and some 400 residents. Red Cross officials have noted that 150 people might be missing, presumed dead.
Hundreds of rescue workers are at work in 14 districts. The authorities have issued warning of possible mudslides. The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) reported that Colombo is the most affect district.
As water levels keep rising, residents in Wellampitiya, Kollonnawa, kotikawatta, Sedawatta, Sinhapura, kohilawatta and Oruthotawatta have also been told to move out. Most have found shelter in schools, temples, and churches.
In Aranayaka, a village some 100 km north-east from Colombo, a landslide buried scores of houses. Troops brought 150 survivors to safety, but there is little hope for others.
In the early afternoon, President Maithripala Sirisena visited the flooded areas, meeting survivors. He told them that the governments priority remains searching for more survivors.
In southern India, the authorities are on alert as the heavy rains move towards the Indian states of Kerala and Nadu.
In Chennai (Tamil Nadu), streets are flooded, but far less than last December when hundreds were killed. As they move further north, the rains are expected to reach Bangladesh.
Those detained were part of a group that started off on a march to the capital three weeks ago. Stopped not far from the city limits, marchers were arrested and handcuffed. Many from a plywood firm joined the march to protest failed talks with the company and unfair dismissals.
Naypyiadaw (AsiaNews/Agencies) Police arrested 76 labour rights protesters in Tatkon Township, not far from the Myanmar capital of Naypyiadaw. They were part of a group that set off on foot from Sagaing Division to the capital three weeks ago.
Many of the marchers are employees of a plywood factory in the Sagaing Industrial Zone who protested against the dismissal of more a hundreds workers in February.
Police put up barriers outside Tatkon Township, where workers agreed to talk to Myo Aung, chairman of the Naypyidaw Council. Protestors waited for an hour and a half but the chairman never showed up.
He later sent a message saying that he would meet with five representatives, but protestors insisted they would all meet with him, a demand that was rejected.
After protesters resumed their march, police moved in and arrest them by force. Three protesters ended up going to a hospital.
It is totally unacceptable for the government we voted for to arrest us now, said one protester. I wish I had cut [off] my pinky, in reference to the finger that voters dip in ink after they cast their ballot.
Tatkon Township administrator Yi Mon said that legal action would be taken against protest leaders but it is likely that women, as well as elderly or sick protestors, would be released.
We will take action against the rest in line with the law. We are discussing whether or not to sue them, he said.
Washington (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The US Senate has approved the controversial bill that will allow the families of the 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia, for (alleged) links with the bombers. The bill is strongly opposed by the government and by President Barack Obama, because it would leave the United States open to being cited in a case brought by a foreign government. Moreover, the law threatens to further undermine the already delicate relations with Riyadh, at an historic low between the two former allies.
Yesterday afternoon the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act took a decisive step forward, after approval by the US Senate. The bill is a rare act of bipartisan collaboration and is being brought forward by Republican John Cornyn (Texas) and by fellow Democrat Chuck Schumer (New York).
It gives victims' families the right to sue in U.S. court for any role that elements of the Saudi government may have played in the 2001 attacks that killed thousands in New York, the Washington D.C. area and Pennsylvania..
Now the bill passes to the House of Representatives, which will be called to discuss it and vote for its approval.
Earlier this month the Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir had denied rumors about putting pressure on the White House about the norm. However, at the same time the possible withdrawal of 750 billion in investments from US banks was announced.
Supporters of the bill claim it would mean that the United States "will combat terrorism with every tool we have available, and that the victims of terrorist attacks in our country should have every means at their disposal to seek justice.
By June the Obama administration will also have to rule on the publication of a US Congress dossier on the September 11 attacks, which would prove a link (albeit indirect) between Riyadh and the bombers. However, analysts and experts believe is unlikely that the document really contains sensational revelations or new elements capable of further eroding relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
British Columbia has set a new record for exports of farm-raised salmon in 2015, and is on track to scale new heights in 2016 as well.
The most encouraging numbers in the final data released by Statistics Canada are those that show an emerging appetite for farm-raised salmon in China, with exports from British Columbia more than doubling over the previous high in 2012.
China is now B.C.s second most important market next to the United States, which has historically been the sectors primary export market, and remains so today.
Trade with Asia overall is up 38% over the previous record in 2013 with B.C. exporting fresh farm-raised salmon for the first time to South Korea, a market that shows great potential as Canada and South Korea implement the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement.
Overall, B.C. exported a record 54.4M kilograms of farm-raised salmon to 11 countries, seven from Asia.
Demand for salmon raised in B.C. has never been higher, said Jeremy Dunn, Executive Director, BC Salmon Farmers Association.
The United States remains our most important trading partner, and will be so for some time, however we are encouraged at the market diversification and the prospects for growing demand in the future particularly in Asia.
Meanwhile, industry publication SeafoodSource reported that Canadian farmed salmon price is expected to rise again in the second half of 2016 because of Chiles massive toxic algae bloom and port protests that are halting exports.
Canadian farmed salmon prices doubled for some sizes from 1 January through Easter, partly driven by the Chilean algae bloom, Dave Mergle, managing director of Ocean Quality North America, the sales organization for Grieg Seafood and Bremnes Seashore, told SeafoodSource.
We are starting to see the start of a big market move. I expect that wont stop until 2017, Mergle said. The higher overall farmed salmon prices could cause consumers to purchase other proteins. However, salmon is still one of the lowest-priced proteins and will continue to be a big protein even with prices being what they are because it is such as staple, Mergle said.
The global increase in farmed salmon prices is a horrible situation for Chile and is bad for salmon aquaculture globally, said Jeremy Dunn, executive director of the British Columbia Salmon Farmers Association.
A short-term price increase is helpful in many businesses; but, long term, it is going to be an affordability challenge for many people who want to eat salmon on a regular basis and for people wanting to carry it in their restaurants and retail stores, Dunn said.
As a result of the Chilean problems, demand for B.C. farmed salmon jumped in the first quarter of 2016 but was also much higher in 2015, when production soared to 75,000 metric tons.
The increased shipments to China resulted from increased marketing by salmon suppliers as well as an improving economy in the country.
Both Marine Harvest and Cermaq in B.C. have put an increased focus on that marketplace. Cermaq being bought by Mitsubishi has opened up some avenues for that company in Asia, Dunn said.
If we had more fish to sell, I believe that marketers would be selling more to China.
Because of the improving economy in China, You have people wanting to pay more for high quality proteins, Mergle said. We are really keen on expanding our business to China as much as we can.
By the numbers
$9.2 million - New record exports to China: 1,250mT (a value of $9.2M CAD) An increase of volume of 140% from the previous high in 2012.
$404.9 million - New record exports to the United States: 52,150mT (a value of $404.9M CAD) A 2% increase in volume from the previous record in 2012, but a 40% increase in export value from the previous high in 2012.
30% - B.C. accounts exported 2,839mT to Asia in 2015 with a total value of $20.5M CAD a 30% increase in trade value over the previous record in 2013.
63% - B.C. accounts for 63% of the Canadian export value to the U.S.
$431.6 million - B.C.s total 2015 farm-raised salmon export value is $431.6M CAD
5,000 - Salmon farming has a total economic impact of $1.1-billion in British Columbia and accounts for more than 5,000 total jobs.
19 - Salmon farmers are working closely with coastal First Nations with 19 economic impact benefit agreements in place counting for 78% of all salmon raised in B.C.
The 10th annual BC Shellfish & Seafood Festival in the Comox Valley, on Vancouver Island will unfold over 11 days from June 9 to showcase British Columbias booming aquaculture industry.
In addition to hosting Western Canadas largest seafood festival, Comox Valley also produces the most shellfish in British Columbia and the most oysters in Canada.
Its 11 days of non-stop food tours, tastings, demonstrations, education, and competitions, said John Watson, Executive Director of the Comox Valley Economic Development
There is a wide range of opportunities to invest and participate in the growth of the local shellfish aquaculture industry, he said.
Media and industry players are expected from all over North America, China, Thailand, Philippines, India, and Singapore among other countries to attend a B.C. seafood expo.
The expo has which has evolved in the event for the Pacific Northwest seafood industry brings together leading aquaculture businesses & suppliers, seafood & shellfish producers, chefs, exporters and educators to discuss and explore innovations, challenges and opportunities.
This years festival will showcase award-winning and internationally renowned Chef Hidekazu Tojo of Tojo's Restaurant, Chef Quang Dang and his acclaimed West Restaurant, and award-winning foodstylist, media personality and Chef representing BC Seafood, Chef Nathan Fong.
Highlights for the BC Shellfish & Seafood Festival in June 2016 include: BC Seafood on Your Plate Restaurant Campaign, June 1-30; BC Seafood Expo, June 9 and 10; BC Seafood Expo Opening Gala, featuring Executive Chef Ned Bell, June 9; Fresh Fest, June 10; BC Shellfish Growers Association Gala Dinner, June 17; and the Fanny Bay Oyster Shucking Competition, June 18.
For more information and tickets, please visit www.bcshellfishfestival.com
Guest Commentary
By Andrew Longhurst, Marcy Cohen and Margaret McGregor
Have you had to wait months for surgical consultation, let alone the surgery itself? If so, youre not alone.
British Columbians are waiting an unacceptable amount of time to receive the care they need. Since 2010, surgical wait times have increased significantly for key procedures, including hip and knee replacements and cataract surgery. BC has some of the longest waits in the country.
Why are wait times getting longer?
Over the last 10 years, BC has seen a number of successful initiatives intended to reduce surgical wait times in the public systemled by local groups of surgeons, health authority administrators and practitioners. But these have not been scaled up province-wide.
Instead, the BC government has focused almost entirely on short-term funding measures and incentives to complete more surgeriesstrategies that, on their own, have a poor record of reducing wait times over the long term.
Last year, the government for the first time released a comprehensive report outlining its plan for tackling wait times. While the plan includes many good ideas, it proposes going in two contradictory policy directions at once.
One the one hand, the governments report acknowledges the need for more provincial leadership to reduce waits, but on the other, it recommends extending the length of stay in private surgical facilities for up to three days.
Currently, private surgical facilities can only perform day surgeries, meaning all other surgeries must be performed in public hospitals. Allowing up to three-day stays would be a massive step towards health care privatizationa move the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC recognizes would lead to a private hospital sector.
The Vancouver Island Health Authority is already experimenting with new strategies to contract out day surgeries. Last year it announced plans to send 55,000 day procedures to the for-profit surgical sector over the next five years.
We are at an important crossroads for health care in BC. Attempting to move in these two directions at once takes us farther down the road of health care privatization, and makes it even harder to implement surgical wait time solutions in the public system.
A large body of international research shows that private, for-profit delivery actually costs more, is lower quality and less safe, and destabilizes the public system.
Meanwhile, the government itself acknowledges that 18 per cent of operating rooms in the public system are not regularly staffed, primarily due to a lack of funding. Some sit completely unused during summer months, and none have extended hours. And yet the government has no concrete strategy for better utilizing this existing capacity.
Our research report offers many innovative public policy solutions, drawing on successful surgical improvement strategies from BC and beyond.
Heres just one example: Richmond Hospital reduced wait times for hip and knee replacements from 20 months to five months by using two operating rooms: surgeons moved between rooms and teams completed eight joint replacements per day instead of six. Yet this successful, innovative program was terminated two years ago. All hospitals in BC could be using this more efficient model, but provincial leadership and coordination is required.
Canadas Wait Time Alliancemade up of 18 national medical organizationsencourages us to learn from Scotlands impressive work. This is a countrycomparable in population to BCwhere 90 per cent of trauma and orthopedic surgery patients are treated within 12 weeks. In BC less than half of knee replacement patients receive surgery within 26 weeks.
Like Scotland, BC should adopt a central first available surgeon referral system so patients have the option to receive consultation and surgery faster. The current approach creates unnecessary bottlenecks and long waits. Scotlands outstanding record comes from sustained leadership and a commitment to improving the quality and efficiency of care delivered in the public system.
The Wait Time Alliance also points to inadequate residential and home care for seniors as a barrier to reducing wait times. An investment in this important social infrastructure will reduce hospital overcrowding, cancellations of elective surgeries and, ultimately, wait times for all patients.
Solutions to long surgical wait times are abundant. If the BC government chooses public innovation over privatization, it can improve timely access to high quality surgical and specialist care. With provincial leadership, long waits can be a thing of the past.
Andrew Longhurst, Marcy Cohen and Dr. Margaret McGregor are authors of a new report, Reducing Surgical Wait Times in BC: The Case for Public Innovation and Provincial Leadership, published by the BC Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Artist Profile
Cecilia Aisin-Gioro ( )
Ethnicity: Canadian Chinese
Occupation and/or Company:
Aisin Gioro Fine Art Gallery Ltd
Gallery devoted to fine art of the China's last royal family.
Years of experience: >20.
Personal & professional philosophy:
Painting connects you with life and with your inner self. "When you are lost, painting can tell who you are. Painting can help you survive through difficult times."
Upcoming performances/ project:
May 14, 12-4 is Grand Opening of the Aisin Gioro Fine Art Gallery in Vancouver's Chinatown. The gallery will also feature my paintings at Art Vancouver 2016, booth 224.
Paintings of horses and portraits.
What is the highlight of your work?
My work combines delicate faces, luxuriant fabrics, bold colours and rich textures. I combine techniques from traditional Chinese painting and Chinese contemporary portraiture.
Future goals:
I hope to bring a new appreciation of modern Chinese history, especially the contribution of the Manchus and the Qing dynasty to the wider public. I hope also to raise money to support the Manchu culture and language.
If you are an artist and would like to be featured in our newspaper, email: editor@postpeopleinc.com
Photo caption: Many temporary foreign workers were employed in sectors supporting the oil economy in and around Fort McMurray, including its infamous tar sands.Photo Credit: Strong Alberta via Flickr CC
By Samantha Power
Special to The Post
As the Fort McMurray emergency passes, those without housing and citizenship status face an uncertain future.
Over 160 temporary foreign workers from Fort McMurray came together at an emergency meeting Monday night to discuss issues of status and access to services. The workers were among the close to 90,000 evacuated last Tuesday when a fire burned through the Northern Alberta town closest to the oil sands.
For a moment temporary foreign workers shared the same harrowing experience as their fellow citizens: find rest, housing and food. But in the long-term, residence and potential citizenship of foreign workers may be at risk.
The burden they carry is their status, says Marco Luciano, Alberta spokesperson with the Coalition for Migrant Workers Rights. It depends on their employer. They cannot find other means of survival.
Hitched to employers
Temporary foreign worker (TFW) status is tied to the employer that brought them over for work. And Fort McMurrays formerly booming economy survived with temporary workers taking on service industry and caretaking jobs. Luciano says its evidence the TFW program needs to be changed to grant permanent residence.
These are permanent jobs, says Luciano. Permanent residency should be upon arrival so that they can also access what Canadians and permanent residents can access from government.
With the entire town and surrounding areas evacuated many foreign workers have not heard from their employers. Residents of Fort McMurray cannot return to the town for at least two weeks. Luciano says temporary workers are concerned it will mean their employers may not return to the city, leaving them without work and without status.
They dont know their future, says Luciano.
Many workers many not have a fixed address or may have lost their documents to the fire.
Many left with just the clothes on their back, says Luciano. A bus picked them up from work and took them to Edmonton.
As of 2014, Alberta had 19,621 temporary foreign workers, many of whom were employed in sectors supporting the oil economy in and around Fort McMurray. Luciano says with 160 attending the first meeting only a week after the evacuation, its a sign many more will show up with the same concerns, and needs for housing.
The immediate need of shelter and food has been met not only at the citys official evacuation centre in Northlands, but through private donations of temporary housing.
Established support communities began as soon as the evacuation order was called to start finding temporary housing for those without family in the city or the province.
Everyone was in the same boat, says Arundeep Singh Sandhu.
Community steps up
Edmontons Sikh community was ready on Tuesday welcoming and finding housing for almost a hundred evacuees. The Guru Nanak Sikh Society mobilized to start finding everything from basement suites to available apartments to house evacuees.
We wanted to fill that gap before government and insurance are able to step in, says Sandhu.
He estimates 160 to 170 were found housing by Saturday.
But now the long-term needs have started to set in.
Weve actually had to start turning people away because we dont have longer term accommodation, says Sandu.
Carryover from welcoming refugees
Organizers at the Al Rashid mosque on Edmontons north side are facing a similar situation.
People are welcome to stay as long as they need, says Omar Najmaddine, executive director at the mosque. But its not the perfect place for families. Its open space.
Najmeddine estimates the mosque housed over 120 evacuees in the immediate few days after the evacuation and continued to see people arrive as late as Sunday. Najmaddine says he quickly reached out to contacts at the mosque in Fort McMurray and across social media to let people know the centre was open in Edmonton.
Najmadinne says part of the reason donors and volunteers were able to mobilize so quickly is due to the work to welcome government sponsored Syrian refugees who arrived in the city just a few months ago. The mosque had coordinated the Edmonton Islamic Relief Centre for the arrival of Syrian refugees. And many Edmontonians who have been working to sponsor families privately have networks to help organize donations and housing.
One week after the evacuation order, he estimates 70 to 80 evacuees remain in the mosque using the two floors of cots as temporary shelter. He has seen large families, recent immigrants and four families of Syrian refugees flow through the centre over the week.
They moved to Fort Mac, and then moved here, says Najmeddine.
Now longer term housing is needed.
Weve got a lot of people looking for two to three months of housing, says Najmeddine.
Organizers at the mosque began to collect information about longer-term temporary housing early in the evacuation process, not knowing how long the housing may be needed. The list is being used to help find places for people who have no where else to go.
For temporary foreign workers the long-term looks even more uncertain.
Temporary foreign workers have access to the supports announced by the province. Adults are able to collect $1250 and $500 per dependent. Details on how to access that assistance will be provided starting May 11. But with residence tied to employment, Luciano says the government must act to remove restrictions to allow temporary foreign workers to work not just for their employer.
The Slave Lake fire in 2011 left 60 temporary foreign workers in a similar unstable situation. The Alberta government has set up a direct assistance line for temporary foreign workers and new immigrant nominees who have been displaced.
Lucianos group is working to coordinate temporary foreign workers in the city and has started a petition asking for the government to ease work restrictions and create an open work permit for those who need it.
This piece was originally appeared in New Canadian Media (newcanadianmedia.ca).
See http://newcanadianmedia.ca/item/35313-temp-workers-in-fort-mac-hope-quenched-by-fire-temp-workers-in-fort-mac-hope-quenched-by-fire
Last week, DLA Piper chief operating officer Andrew Darwin announced that 200 business support jobs in the UK would be transitioned to the firms back offices operations in Warsaw. The reductions are likely to affect IT, finance, HR, marketing and business development and secretarial teams in the firms seven UK offices, a report by Bloomberg said.The firm has grown rapidly over the past decade and many of our systems and processes reflect the history of the firm rather than its future, Darwin said in a statement.It is a key part of our strategy to modernize our business service functions in order to operate more effectively on a global basis and improve the quality, consistency and efficiency of the way we deliver our services to our clients.He added that the firm would be supporting its staff throughout the process and that until the consultation is completed, the firm will not be making any final decisions on which jobs are axed.Following a comprehensive review of the firm's operations, and the successful pilot of a global shared services centre in Warsaw, we have begun a period of consultation in the UK that will consider the possible reduction in size of our IT, Finance, HR, Marketing & BD, and Secretarial teams, the statement said.A report by Bloomberg estimated that the layoffs would affect 18% of the firms overall staff of 1,100 support professionals, and not lawyers directly.Darwin said that the move will improve efficiency, with digital, automated systems to carry out some tasks, including an Oracle product that stores recruiting data.We wanted to remove some of that administration from people who you want to be engaged in high level tasks in the HR function, Darwin said, adding that the goal is to have staff working on high level tasks and not routine process tasks.The firm, which has around 3,750 lawyers worldwide, brought in $2.54bn in revenue last year, up 2.5% according to findings by American Lawyer. Darwin reportedly declined to comment on how much the firm would save from the staff reduction but did say that exit packages would be generous.
Artificial intelligence (AI) solutions have been added to two large law firms. International firm Linklaters has hired tech firm RAVN to provide AI services including discovery and contract processes. Linklaters is the first of the Magic Circle firms to implement AI.Meanwhile in the US, BakerHostetler has supplemented its 50-strong bankruptcy practice team with a robot lawyer called ROSS. Using IBMs Watson technology ROSS will be focused on legal research.ROSS surfaces relevant passages of law and then allows lawyers to interact with them. Lawyers can either enforce ROSSs hypothesis or get it to question its hypothesis, Andrew Arruda, chief executive of ROSS Intelligence, explained to The Washington Post.While the new solution will save time and money, it raises questions about the future entry-point for newly-qualified lawyers who typically handle tasks such as research.US-based law firm Vinson & Elkins has opened its fourth Asia-Pacific office, in Taiwan. The Taipei office adds to the firms capabilities in the region, currently served by offices in Beijing, Hong Kong and Tokyo.V&E partners David Tsai and Christopher Kao will oversee the office, which will serve as a platform for offering a wide range of litigation, transactional and strategic legal counseling support, with a particular emphasis on complex commercial litigation, intellectual property, renewable energy and corporate matters.Pinsent Masons has hired two oil and gas industry specialists as partners in its Singapore office. Ashley Wright joins from Norton Rose Fulbright and has 20 years of experience in Southeast Asia. He is joined by Steve Potter from Jones Day where he has spent the past 3 years of his 18-year career so far.The firm is keen to expand its global energy capabilities and considers Asia as a major region of opportunity for the oil and gas sectors. Pinsent Masons has had a presence in Asia since the launch of its Hong Kong office in 1983 and has since launched offices in Beijing and Shanghai and formed the joint law venture Pinsent Masons MPillay in 2010.Gabriela Kennedy has been named as one of the top 250 women in IP by Managing Intellectual Property. Kennedy is head of Mayer Browns IP team in Asian and co-leader of the firms global IP practice, and the Hong Kong based lawyer joins three other women from the firms US offices in the list.
By Tanya Hill, Honorary Fellow of the University of Melbourne and Senior Curator (Astronomy), Museum Victoria
NASA
The International Space Station (ISS) has completed more than 100,000 orbits of Earth. It reached this impressive milestone on Monday afternoon (AEST), May 16.
The stations odometer has clocked more than 4 billion kilometres, thats almost as far as Neptune is from the sun or roughly the same as ten trips from Earth to Mars and back again.
Assembled piece-by-piece in space, the station is like some high-tech version of a childs Lego or Meccano set. It all began with a single piece, the Russian built Zarya module launched on November 20, 1998 on-top a Russian Proton rocket. Technically its this part of the ISS that has orbited Earth 100,000 times.
Two weeks later, the space shuttle delivered the stations second building block. The American-built Unity node was joined to Zarya in an historic display of international cooperation, one that has ensured the continued success of the ISS. There are now 15 nations working together to build and operate the station.
The third piece of the station, the Russian module Zvezda, was launched in July 2000. Zvezda provided the first living quarters on the ISS, enabling two astronauts to be based on the station. Since November of that year, humanity has had a permanent outpost in space.
Enlarging the view
From those initial pieces, the ISS now consists of 15 different modules fitted to the station during 40 assembly missions that occurred between 1998 and 2011. It spans just over 100m from end to end and NASA describes the station as being larger than a six bedroom house.
Thats enough room to provide a home, office and laboratories, and also recreation spaces for the six-member crews that take up residence there.
Its growing size not only gives astronauts more room to work and play, but has made the ISS an easy target for stargazers. It regularly passes over most places on Earth and depending on its orientation in space, particularly the position of its expansive solar arrays, the brighter the station appears.
The ISS often shines more brightly than any of the stars or planets.
Bright light
To the naked eye, the ISS looks like a small bright light moving quickly and steadily across the sky. It can be seen during early evening or in the pre-dawn sky; times when the sun is below the horizon for us on Earth, but the station is high enough to reflect the suns light back down to us.
Paul Williams/flickr
The station travels in the general direction of west to east, as it follows the Earths rotation. Some passes of the station are quite short, lasting just a minute or so, but at its best, the station can be seen for up to six minutes tracing a long path across the sky.
The ISS orbits around 400km above Earth, on an orbit that is inclined to the Earths equator by 51.6 degrees. This is why the station can be seen from most locations across Earth.
The highly inclined orbit is part of the Russian/American collaboration on the space station.
Such an orbit is best suited to vehicles launched from Russias Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, located 46 degrees north of the equator (the ISS orbit is boosted up to 51.6 degrees to ensure that if an accident were to happen during a mission launch no debris would fall into China, Russias neighbour).
It requires less fuel for the USA to launch to higher inclinations (their launch site at Cape Canaveral, Florida, is at a latitude of 28.5 degrees north) than it would for Russia to launch to lower inclinations.
NASA
Luck or planning?
Ive been fortunate on a few occasions to spot the ISS by accident but its surprising how easy it is do a little planning ahead.
My website of choice is Heavens Above as it provides star maps that plot the stations path across the sky. Its particularly interesting to see if the station is going to pass by any bright stars or planets.
The site also allows you to check both backwards and forwards in time, so if youre not quite sure if that light in the sky was the ISS, you can always go back and check its path and visibility.
Heaven's Above
Its also possible to take planning to a whole new level, such as this fantastic capture of the ISS transiting the moon.
Emilio Kuffer/flickr
Spot the Station
NASA has a wonderful program called Spot the Station where you can sign up from anywhere in the world and receive email alerts of when the station is visible from your location. It really cant get any easier than that.
The site also provides an image gallery as well as listings of the next ISS passes.
Just remember, while you are looking up at the station its amazing to think of the astronauts up there, looking down on us.
ISS next visible from Australia
Originally published in The Conversation.
Hello my name is John and i am and Australian Citizen and living in the Philippines for almost 3 years and looking to go back home to Australia with my Filipina wife and 2 beautiful kids. I got married here in the Philippines in August 2014 and now my plan is to try and bring my wife and kids to Australia by Christmas 2016. My son is an Australia Citizen by descent and Australian Passport holder and i am currently processing an Australian citizenship by descent for my daughter.
I have some questions to ask and hopefully members of this forum can provide myself with some answers or at least shed some light on my situation.
I like to bring my family to Australia as tourists as it will be a more easier process than applying for PR straight away as i have a long waiting period according to VFS Global Services, Is it possible to do it this way then once my family is there in Australia to apply for the 820/801 forms ?
Or will it just be better to try and apply here for a Temporary Visa and wait it out even if it is more than 12 months ?
Please help myself to provide some answers and look forward to chatting with you all.
Thanks
Greg Williamson, Arctic Cat chief marketing officer, describes the new technology as a "virtual demo ride experience for consumers without leaving our event display or showroom floor. This is one more way we are providing the Ultimate Off-Road Riding Experience," he adds.However, the Wildcat VR is not the first time Arctic Cat uses virtual reality. The initial VR component was introduced back in March, at the snowmobile dealer show, in the presence of pro backcountry snowmobilers Ron Kincaid and David McClure. Given the huge success of the VR experience, Arctic Cat made the decision to extend the program, and here we are, ready for a virtual riding experience aboard the Wildcat SxS.Customers and off-road enthusiasts will assume the role of Tony Stewart's co-pilot at Rally on the Rocks in Moab, UT, which will include some of the best rock climbing and red sand riding in the state. The virtual ride will take the Wildcat over various types of terrain and will reach "the top of a Grand Canyon-esque overlook," Arctic Cat informs us.The entire Arctic Cat 360 Wildcat VR Experience will use Samsung's Gear VR headsets. In the locations where Arctic Cat will have the virtual reality gear up and running, consumers will be able to experience the snowmobile ride as well, official sources report.To find out where you can take a ride in the 360-degree virtual reality world aboard an Arctic Cat vehicle, you should check the manufacturer's website or ask for more info at the nearest Arctic Cat dealership. There is no news on whether the virtual reality experience will also be extended to other Cat classes, but it looks like this is only the dawn of a new business era.
HP
While it may not be as cheap or as powerful as the LFP 727 Mustang of Lebanon Ford, the Ford Mustang CS700 is an impressive car to behold. Based on the right-hand drive Mustang GT, the 14,510 package boosts output from 416 to 645 horsepower with the addition of quad-tailpipe exhaust system, an upgraded intercooler, and a Whipple supercharger.Add 1,150 on top of that for the Extended Power Package and the output rises to 700thanks to a larger throttle body and carbon fiber inlet tubes. The total expenditure? 34,995 for a Ford Mustang GT plus 15,660 for the Clive Sutton CS700 Power and Extended Power packages. To put the grand total of 50,655 into perspective, a Porsche 718 Boxster S is 40 more. Be that as it may, 50,655 is a lot of money for a spruced-up Mustang . Then again, high-performance cars, especially if they come from America, are bought with the heart, not the head.Those customers who dont need that much get-up-and-go can opt for two lesser tuning programs: the 4,990 CS500 Power Package for the Mustang GT or the similarly priced CS350 Power Package for the Mustang EcoBoost.In terms of grunt, the CS500 lifts output to 440 horsepower. The CS350, on the other hand, makes do with 330 HP. Clive Sutton offers further personalization options. Ride Package, Brake Package, Appearance Package, whatever you wish for, the company can do it for you for the right price.The release below offers all the details you need to know about the Sutton Bespoke tuning program for the right-hand drive Mustang.
Is Il Giornale smoking the good stuff or is the publication on to something with the story regarding GACs interest in FCA? First, bear in mind that Fiat Chrysler Sergio Marchionne attended the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. A day after the race, the GAC-FCA joint venture started production of the Jeep Renegade in the Middle Kingdom.Secondly, the head honcho of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is in search for a merger candidate. After Ford, General Motors, Toyota, and Volkswagen said no, its only natural to presume that GAC could become that merger candidate in the near future. Thirdly, FCA wants someone to take the Dodge Dart and Chrysler 200 off its hands. As we highlighted in a previous story , the consortium is no longer interested in these models.Furthermore, the Guangzhou Automobile Group has lots of money at its disposal, money that could be spent on a piece of the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles pie. Its rather clear, then, that the circumstances point to a merger or at least an opportunity for Guangzhou Automobile Group to expand outside of China.The detail that will make some eyebrows rise is that GAC will exhibit at the 2017 Detroit Auto Show. As we look to establish ourselves as a global brand we are optimistic we can gain more momentum following the announcements we will make this coming January in Detroit, said Zeng Qinghong, the vice chairman president of GAC. Im not the one to add fuel to the fire, but GAC and FCA are definitely interested in each other.
At least a crushing session took place, and you can see it in the video below. Frankly, we support confiscating illegal two- or four-wheelers, but we don't agree too much with the destruction part. While we're totally sick of wanna-be stunt riders who plague the streets and highways, we also believe that a more noble fate could have been devised for their machines.Donating them to charitable organizations that would send them to poor remote communities in third-world countries, to riding schools or to other similar enterprises that could put them to good and legal use are only the first things that come to mind.Even auctioning them off and directing the funds to local community projects would have been more useful and purposeful than simply running them over with a bulldozer.Of course, the crushing makes a point at a symbolic level, but this doesn't necessarily make this approach the optimal one. At least, they should have made the process a truly spectacular one, taking the bikes and quads to a large shredder and crushing them to inch-size bits that would "rain" from the bottom of the machine into a pile of unrecognizable debris. THAT would have stood as a better symbol of utter destruction. The shredded materials should have then be sorted and sent to a factory to be melted into new products.Still, making money or helping others in need with the confiscated bikes and ATVs sounds like the best idea, if you ask us. Even more, this could transform into an authentic resource, simply because it looks like riders with zero respect for the law will not disappear anytime soon, and there are plenty of vehicles to be seized in the future.
The companys President Tetsuro Aikawa will leave his position voluntarily. His attributions will be temporarily taken over by Mitsubishi Motors CEO, Osamu Masuko, aged 67.Mr. Masuko will take care of things until Nissan Motor Company, the newest shareholder at Mitsubishi, completes the purchase of 34% of Mitsubishi stock options.The news comes from Japanese business newspaper Nikkei Asian Review and has yet to be confirmed by Mitsubishi Motors. However, we would be surprised if this story were not true, as company leaders usually step down from their positions when the businesses they lead fall into deep trouble.Other CEOs or presidents have preferred to stay in charge through a scandal and tried to bring the business back to safety, but few manage to achieve such feats.Mr. Aikawa, aged 62, decided against soldiering on at the helm of Mitsubishi, as he used to work for the product development unit.Considering that Mitsubishi Motors has admitted to falsely declaring fuel economy figures since 1991 , Mr. Aikawa has taken the blame upon himself for the scandal, which originated from the same division he used to work in, Automotive News notes.In the case of Volkswagens Dieselgate , several executives of the German company have been put on temporary leave for an investigation and then decided to step down from their posts . Among them was Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg , who used to lead the technical department of Audi, a brand of the German corporation.Like Aikawa, Dr. Hackenberg worked for the division responsible for what led to a massive worldwide scandal, as Hackenberg also used to work for the technical development groups of the entire Volkswagen Group. The famous defeat device was reportedly developed by Audi in 1999 We expect Mitsubishi Motors to receive a new president once Nissan Motor Company completes the acquisition process. Once thats over, the three-diamond brand is supposed to get a full restructuring treatment to renew its range and earn more money.
PHEV
EV
Three small images reveal tens of new models that are part of a 5-year strategy. Whether that ends in 2020 or 2021 is irrelevant, as ambitious plans are bound to change. If you are fans of the Peugeot or Citroen brands, you might want to spend a few minutes looking over the photos, but we just focused on the plug-in side of things to come.PSA has made it very public that it wants to introduce several plug-in vehicles by the end of the decade. We always thought that new European regulations are to blame, but it seems China is an even bigger player. We say that because some of the vehicles on the list, such as the C3-XR crossover, aren't sold in Europe.These new cars are bound to share batteries, motors, and major components, But we don't have any details right now. What we can say is that most of them are brand new sedans from the compact and mid-sized segments.The first on the list is the 408 plug-in hybrid, which would be similar in size to a Skoda Octavia (our guess). After that comes the 508, which seems to be based on another facelift of the current car. The 3008 crossover will also get a plug-in, and it seems that one will be all-new, like the European car that we've seen undergoing testing. Even a pureis planned, but it doesn't have a name or description.According to the guys at Ferd, Citroen has similar plans. Because they are developing new models on a shoestring, many of the current sedans (that we don't like) will get both refreshes and plug-in hybrid versions. These include the C5 and C4L. Most of the real money will go into SUVs and crossovers, ranging from the petite C3-XR to the C5-XR.
HP
After all, its not easy to start and run a tuning company in a country that used to be in the communist block and only has 26 years of democracy on its hands.The tuner chose a 2013 Shelby Mustang GT500 Super Snake for its first-anniversary project. The company will customize a special series of cars to highlight its two-decade experience in crafting interiors. Vilners signature bags have also been commissioned, and the owner received two of them to match the vehicles interior design.This particular example is car number 57 out of 500 ever made by Shelby, and its owner is from Romania. The car is fitted with a 5.8-liter V8 engine that has been supercharged with a water-cooled Keene Bell twin-screw unit.Under the hood, the engine provides 850and 830 Nm (612 lb-ft) of torque, but the rear wheels get 747 HP. It comes with a six-speed manual gearbox and weighs 1.782 kilograms (3,929 pounds).Vilner customized the interior of this Mustang to the clients preferences, leaving only one element untouched. We are talking about the Shelby number plate, which was not changed or removed out of respect for the origin of this model . The rest of the cockpit is covered in beige leather and black Alcantara. The trims are out of carbon fiber with a layer of glossy lacquer.The Bulgarian tuners even covered the transmission tunnel and steering column, as well as some areas of the door cards and seats, in Alcantara. They also embroidered the seats, and the red seat belts received carbon fiber frames. In a potential overkill through matchy-matchy, the stitching on the upholstery is also red, just like the central marker on the wheel and the seat stripes.An interesting change happened to the hard plastic surfaces on board. Vilner used a technique called flocking, that included a treatment to make these surfaces smoother and softer. They claim the resulting texture is very durable. Furthermore, the Shelby GT500 Super Snake has also been soundproofed, and certain areas have received extensive padding for more comfort.
Photo: Nexus Communication
Time is running out to register for the 2016 Global Fleet Conference, which will be held at the iconic The Hotel in Brussels June 6-8. Organizers expect the conference to sell out soon, marking the fourth time in the conferences four-year history that it has sold out.
So dont delay and go to the conference website here to register before the 2016 Global Fleet Conference is sold out.
Packed with powerhouse presentations by top global fleet professionals and offering plenty of time to network and build professional connections, the Global Fleet Conference has become a not-to-be-missed event for fleet managers and stakeholders with global responsibilities.
Produced by Nexus Communication, publisher of Fleet Europe, and Bobit Business Media, publisher of Automotive Fleet, the Global Fleet Conference is held in Europe and the U.S. on alternate years.
If you do miss this years Global Fleet Conference, its not too early to mark your calendars for the 2017 conference, which will be returning to Miami site of the 2015 conference in June 2017.
Photo: Renault Trucks
Renault Trucks is launching the Renault Maxity Euro 6. Equipped with a DTI 3, 130 or 150 hp engine, it incorporates selective catalytic reduction (SCR) depollution technology, which, associated with AdBlue injection into the exhaust gases, makes it possible to efficiently reduce polluting emissions. This means the Renault Maxity Euro 6 also features an AdBlue tank with a capacity of 17.5 L, providing an operating range of up to 8,000 km. This is located on the drivers side of the vehicle; the diesel tank is located on the opposite side, to avoid any confusion when filling.
A new display on the dashboard enables the driver to check the AdBlue level, complemented, if necessary, by an indicator light and an audible warning. The entire Renault Trucks range is now equipped with the SCR system as a sustainable measure to comply with environmental regulations. The manufacturers network has been fully capable of providing support for this technology since 2009, according to the company.
To even further limit polluting emissions and optimize fuel consumption, the Renault Maxity Euro 6 is fitted with the Eco-Mode system as standard, allowing the vehicle to remain in fuel saving mode however hard the accelerator pedal is pressed, according to the company.
The Maxity has a narrow 1,573 mm track width and the cabover engine design, which brings the turning radius down to 4.80 m. Its compactness, combined with an excellent payload, makes the Renault Maxity perfectly suited to applications such as parcel delivery, building materials transport, breakdown repairs, cherry pickers and even mini refuse collection vehicles, according to the OEM.
To optimize its payload, Renault Trucks said it has equipped the Maxity Euro 6 with new rear suspension leaves. To increase its weight capacity even further, an option is available consisting of replacing the spare wheel by a puncture repair kit and the two seater bench by a passenger seat. These modifications enable the Maxitys payload to reach 2,681 kg.
The Renault Maxity is designed on a chassis cab base with U profile side members, featuring a reinforced cross member. The front axle has a load capacity of up to 1,750 kg, while that of the rear axle reaches 3,300 kg. In its Euro 6 version, the Maxity has a new drive axle with unlimited torque, allowing it to use all of its engine power to the full. It also features a new parking brake on the gearbox output, ensuring that the vehicle is immobilized whatever load it may be carrying or the incline of the road, according to the company.
In order to make body mounting easier, the Renault Maxity features several electrical and mechanical provisions, such as fixing brackets on the side members, a maximum body length of 4,961 mm and a PTO on the gearbox, according to the company.
With its cabover engine design and extra wide windscreen, the Renault Maxity offers a 190 angle of view for optimal visibility in urban environments. To help drivers maintain their direction under all circumstances, the Maxity Euro 6 is fitted with electronic directional control as standard and, on the 4.5 ton version, a line crossing alert. It also incorporates the Hill Start Aid system, according to the company.
Photo of Volkswagen Touareg courtesy of Volkswagen.
Volkswagen Group of America is recalling 366 2016 model-year Touareg SUVs because the tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) in these vehicles might be improperly calibrated, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The recall covers vehicles manufactured from July 7, 2015 to March 3 of this year.
In these Touaregs, the TPMS may fail to warn the driver when the tire pressure is low. Additionally, the tire pressures printed on the safety certification labels are incorrect. As a result, the vehicles covered in the recall arent yet in full compliance with all federal safety standards.
If the vehicle is driven on underinflated tires, the tires may fail suddenly, increasing the risk of a crash, NHTSA said on its website.
Volkswagen dealers will correct the TPMS settings and replace the safety certification label, free of charge.
The recall began on May 13. Volkwagen's number for this recall is 44M9.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car announced it is pledging $100,000 to the Canadian Red Cross disaster relief efforts in response to wildfires in Fort McMurray, Alberta.
Enterprise Rent-A-Cars network in Canada includes 600 branch offices that are able to provide local transportation alternatives for insurance companies, emergency response organizations, utility companies and repair shops.
Enterprise regional operations are also equipped with an Emergency Action Plan that identifies steps to take in a crisis, a contact list for key personnel and disaster recovery guidelines for daily rental branches.
We are thankful that our employees and their families have been accounted for and are safe. But we know the job is far from done and on behalf of everyone at Enterprise, we want to commend the brave firefighters, emergency services personnel and aid workers whose efforts have saved lives and are protecting the community from further devastation, said Jim Thompson, vice president and general manager for Enterprise in Alberta. Enterprise is a family-run company that operates in communities across Canada so when disaster strikes, supporting our families and the local relief and recovery effort becomes our top priority.
Logo courtesy of American Airlines.
An article by NJ.com detailed the account of an American Airlines customer who claimed the airline promised it would reimburse travel arrangements for passengers on a flight from Philadelphia to San Diego last November.
The flight rerouted to Los Angeles due to weather conditions and passengers were informed to keep their receipts for travel to San Diego, according to the article. One passenger, Bob Monaghan, rented a car from Avis and reached out to the airline for compensation after the trip.
From December to April, Monaghan attempted to contact American Airlines via phone and email and was told the airline does not cover ground transportation expenses.
NJ.com reached out to American Airlines to assist Monaghan and the airline offered a gesture of goodwill to refund the rental car cost. The article reminded that all consumers should receive all promises in writing.
What do you think did the customer have a case?
Read the full article by clicking the URL: http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2016/05/bamboozled_should_airline_reimburse_this_customer.html
Nissan's Qashqai cars that were built in the United Kingdom have been recalled in South Korea and the company is now being accused of cheating emission tests.
According to reports, the cars were built at the firm's Sunderland plant in the UK South Korea is accusing the car manufacturer of fitting the cars with so-called "emission defeat devices." BBC reported that South Korean officials are now planning to fine the Japanese automaker of 330 million own or $279, 920 for the alleged manipulation of the emission tests.
Nissan has firmly denied the accusations of cheating and this is the first time the company has been linked to the emission scandal. Nissan said in a statement that they do not manipulate data related to their vehicles and that Qashqai "has been correctly homologated under Korean regulations," Telegraph reported.
The scandal is largely linked to the German automaker Volkswagen after they did confirm that their cars have been equipped with devices to cheat emission tests. Almost 11 million cars have been affected worldwide.
The UK also echoed the denial of Nissan of being involved in the scandal saying that they have not found any evidence regarding cheating. However, it has been reported that the UK government tested the older model, which is Euro 5, while South Korea tested the Euro 6, in which they reportedly found the cheating device. The European Union also tested Nissan for emission standards but came up with the same result as the UK.
South Korea's environment ministry investigated 20 diesel car models in the wake of the Volkswagen emission scandal but the Nissan Qashqai is the only model to fail their test, The Japan Times reported. Hong Dong-kon, a director at the ministry, said that the emission reduction device stopped operating after the engine of the vehicle's temperature reached 35 degrees Celsius. He said that usually, cars turn off the emission reduction device when the temperature reaches 50 degrees Celsius.
Last month, Mitsubishi said that they have falsified fuel efficiency data for years. Nissan will be buying some shares from Mitsubishi.
Elon Musk's visions are still continuing even though he just released the new self-driving car of Tesla and now has tapped the Volkswagen executive, Peter Hochholdinger. The Tesla Motors' move is to make him work the impossible tasks as vice president of vehicle production.
According to Reuters, last Friday, Tesla Motors Inc announced their plans to bring Hochholdinger in the company to work on the improvement and production of Tesla's luxury cars. Tesla is looking to make him utilize knowledge on Model S sedan and Model X sport utility vehicle's overall management while getting a cost-effective manufacturing program. The huge scale of the responsibilities make Tesla as one of the most aspiring car companies since they've revealed their attempts to increase their sales by five times.
Business Insider reported that Tesla Motors Inc is visioning a 500,000 per year release of cars which is deemed as an impossible feat by many. Chief Executive Elon Musk announced that the company is taking their things to hasty methods as he increased the pressure that suppliers are getting. The company has changed their pace to keep up with the aggressive time frame they've set. Also, design of Model 3 is still incomplete in which it is scheduled to be released in 2017.
The Jamestown Sun published that Musk has released a call for help indicating that the pressure is through the roof. He's looking for the most talented engineers available to work on Tesla and the goals they are trying to finish. The announcement came after the Tesla's vice president of manufacturing and production has departed ways with the company.
After spending atleast two decades in Audi, a subsidy of Volkwagen and their flagship brand, Peter Hochholdinger will be joining Elon Musk to develop the future electric and self- driving cars. Other than being executive for Audi, Hochholdinger's role to Audi extended to be an adviser in their production facility in Mexico.
Nissan has announced that their senior management appointments will be changing for their Japan, China, and Mexico branches in order to strengthen their Marketing and Sales operations and the first ever female executive has been tapped for one of the posts.
According to Automotive World, Jose Munoz, executive vice president of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (NML) and the chairman for Nissan North America, the move will demonstrate the diversity of the company's "talented leadership."
He added that one of their key leaders will be moving to China and they will be appointing their first ever female president of a country head in the history of their company. He is referring to Myra Gonzalez, who is currently the regional vice president for Nissan Mexicana.
Her experiences include Customer Quality, Sales and Dealer Network Development both in North and South America. Munoz noted that Gonzalez has proven to be an "effective and gifted executive during her time in Nissan Mexico."
As for the key leader to be moving to China, Munoz is referring to Airton Cousseau, who is currently the president of Nissan Mexicana. He will become the vice president of Dongfeng Motoer Co., Ltd. As well as the managing director of Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Co.
Market Wired reported that the background of Cousseau in export sales, marketing, finance, dealer network development and aftersales have helped him to maintain the 83 consecutive months of leading the market share in Mexico. With that, Nissan expects that his expertise will lead the dealer network in China to develop and grow as much as that in Mexico.
Cousseau will be reporting directly to the President of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd., Jun Seki and he will be succeeding the position from Susumu Uchikoshi. Uchikoshi will be returning to NML for the role of a regional senior vice president for Japan Marketing and Sales.
Munoz added that Cousseau performed at a very high level during his time as the president in Nissan Mexico and they expect that he will provide Dongfeng the same strong performance in order to attain the company's full potential in the country.
All of the changes are to take effect on July 1 this year.
Hawaii is the first state to sue a formal lawsuit against Takata and Honda accusing the two companies of trying to conceal the defects of the former company's airbags.
This marks the first ever state lawsuit amid the massive recall of vehicles with the defective Tataka airbags. The airbags are being blamed for the death of 13 people and hundreds of injuries all over the world. Hawaii said in their lawsuit that the Takata Corporation knowingly sold their potentially defective airbags and that they have covered up data showing the products were dangerous. Hawaii also alleged the company of delaying the recall, Auto Blog reported.
For the recall, 28.8 million vehicles with the Takata airbags have been recollected and it is estimated that 40 million more will be recalled. Takata just announced that they are recalling 14 million more of their airbags but they do not know yet which vehicles contain the potentially defective products.
Consumer Affairs reported that Hawaii is now seeking $10,000 for each of the affected vehicle in their state. It is reported that around 70,000 vehicles have the potentially defective airbags.
Stephen Levins, the Executive Director of the State Office of Consumer Protection, said in a statement that companies supplying and marketing goods to Hawaii's consumers are obligated to deliver products that are safe. These companies are also required to provide consumers with full and accurate information when they are known to be dangerous.
"Takata and Honda put their own profits and reputations ahead of honesty and their customers' safety. We intend to hold them accountable for their conduct," Levins added.
The lawsuit is the latest setback for Takata and the question of how much they need to pay remains to be in the air as the have announced that their costs regarding the recall are still unresolved, Reuters reported.
Takata spokesman Toyohiro Hishikawa said in a statement that the company is still waiting for a study regarding the root cause of the defective airbags. However, he did say that the company agrees with the with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's assessment that the defective airbags were due to the combination of time, environmental moisture and fluctuating high temperatures.
Takata is facing around $9 billion in recall costs.
Volkswagen's biggest shareholder and largest sovereign fund will be suing the German carmaker in a rare legal action for cheating on diesel emission test, and violation of laws.
The lawsuit, which will be filed in the coming week, will be underlining the legal difficulties faced by Volkswagen continuously. With 1.64 % stake in the German automobile maker's ordinary voting shares, the Norwegian fund is the biggest investor, who doesn't own a supervisory seat in Volkswagen's boards.
The state pension fund of Norway, will reportedly join other investors in the lawsuit against the company for failing to provide timely and accurate information to its investors about the emissions test.
"Volkswagen informed the public about the incorrect emissions data after U.S. authorities released a notice of violation letter," the fund said in a statement, according to CNBC. "We have been advised by our lawyers that the company's conduct gives rise to legal claims under German law. As an investor it is our responsibility to safeguard the fund's holding in Volkswagen."
Notably, Volkswagen admitted last year that it has fitted approximately 11 million diesel vehicles globally with software, which could cheat emission test for nitrogen oxide, reported CNN Money. However, the fact was highlighted only after the Environmental Protection Agency of US alerted consumers and law enforcers across the globe.
The Norwegian trust fund, which has invested in the German automaker for several years had a stake worth approximately $1.2 billion at the time of exposure.
The lawsuit was filed after it was discovered that the automobile manufacturer falsified the emission tests by installing software. Once the vehicles hit the road, they would emit 40 times more nitrogen oxide than the allowed level.
Incidentally, this is not the first time Volkswagen has been on the wrong side of the law. Previously Volkswagen was accused of violating the stock market duties by failing to inform the investors about its law-breaking actions.
Volkswagen is presently facing criminal probes by European and US authorities and has reportedly set aside $18 billion to cover the costs of lawsuits.
Recently a report was released stating that Tesla relied on cheap foreign labor to build a hi-tech paint shop in Califonia. This has caused CEO Elon Musk to apologize publicly and launch an investigation.
The automaker reportedly used 140 workers from eastern Europe, primarily from Croatia and Slovenia to build a paint shop in northern California for the production of Model 3 sedan.
Workers hired by sub-contractor Eisenmann, a manufacturer based out of Germany, received hourly wages of $5, which is a fraction of the prevailing wages for local workers, according to a report by Bay Area News Group.
Musk, took to Twitter to respond to that by saying, "Only heard about this today. Sounds like the wrong thing happened on many levels. Will investigate and make it right."
Notably, Tesla took a preorder of $10 billion in just two days in April for its Model 3, which, according to the company claims, is an affordable electric car scheduled to be shipped in 2017.
The report, which drew such large response, highlighted the story of Gregor Lesnik, an electrician from Slovenia, who reportedly suffered multiple injuries while working. He fell three stories from a roof, causing him to land on the factory floor and resulting in a broken leg, torn knee ligaments, and a concussion.
Lesnik filed a lawsuit in Alameda county superior court, with ISM Vuzen, his Slovenian recruit, as the primary offender. Less than a week after Lesnik's accident, his employers allegedly lied to the doctors and transferred him out of the country. According to estimation of the lawyers, the workers are owed approximately $2.6 million for their wages.
Meanwhile, Eisenmann and Tesla have both sought to be excluded from the litigation and have won an initial effort. However, recently, a judge has allowed the complaint to proceed against both firms.
Tesla, in an effort to shake of the claim, issued a lengthy response to the article on Monday, saying: "We are taking action to address [Lesnik's] situation and to put in place additional oversight to ensure that our workplace rules are followed even by sub-subcontractors to prevent such a thing from happening again."
The statement, however, highlighted that Tesla is not liable in court and the contractor is obligated to comply with the laws, and the case "is not a legal issue, but a moral issue".
The view from inside a general aviation airplane can be hard to beat, but now private-jet travelers will have access to the biggest-yet luxury window seat, thanks to a new offering from Embraer. A new option offers a huge window in the Airship Kyoto concept of the Lineage 1000, Embraers biggest business jet. The trick to getting the large window certified by the FAA was to put it forward of the wing, Embraer design VP Jay Beever told Wired. Theres a lot of stress and load on the wing during flight that extends through the fuselage and all the way back to the tail, he said. Embraer has used this method before, to place an observation window in a Brazilian Coast Guard version of the ERJ-145 regional jet in the 1990s.
The Lineage 1000 jet, based on Embraers 190 regional jet, comes with a five-zone cabin, 84 feet long, with seating for up to 19, a full galley and an optional master suite with shower. Its the largest business jet in Embraers fleet.
18 May 2016 11:43 (UTC+04:00)
The Vienna meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan was the first since fighting on the contact line of troops in early April.
The presidents reiterated their commitment to the ceasefire and the peaceful settlement of the conflict and agreed to finalize in the shortest possible time an OSCE investigative mechanism.
Yaakov Kedmi, a diplomat and former head of the Israeli liaison organization Nativ, commenting on the meeting, said that the Vienna meeting itself and resumption of negotiation process over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is surely a positive factor.
The meeting in Vienna is a natural course of events, because the main geopolitical actors - the U.S. and Russia - are interested in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict's speedy settlement, he told Trend on May 17.
The expert went on to add that the conflict's sides don't want to resort to military settlement of the conflict.
Azerbaijan and Armenia for over two decades have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. Since the 1990s war, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal, but they have not been enforced to this day.
A precarious cease-fire was signed in 1994. However, the Armenian forces commit armistice breaches on the frontline almost every day.
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18 May 2016 12:57 (UTC+04:00)
By Rashid Shirinov
Despite the ceasefire agreement of April 5 achieved after bloody clashes between the Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on April 2 to 5, 2016, Armenian troops continues shelling on the frontline area, mostly targeting civilians.
Ali Hasanov, Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the State Committee for refugees and IDPs (Internally displaced persons), visited Agdam and Fizuli districts to view the damage committed by Armenia to Azerbaijani civilians.
First, he attended the town in Bala Bakhmanli village of Fizuli district, newly built for IDPs to review the construction process, APA reported.
Hasanov also visited Agdam district to view the houses damaged through Armenian shelling in April. Here he met with residents of the Baharli IDPs camp and visited local schools.
As many as 450 houses of IDPs were damaged as a result of Armenian shelling. In particular, 50 houses in Tartar district were completely destroyed," he said, saying 17 victims of Armenian attacks were internally displaced persons.
The government has launched restoration of the destroyed houses, Hasanov stressed.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.
Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.
18 May 2016 11:34 (UTC+04:00)
Following the mandate of Personal Representative of OSCE Chairman-in-Office, the OSCE mission will conduct monitoring on Azerbaijani and Armenian troops` contact-line to the north of Bash Garvand village in Agdam region, on May 19, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported.
Monitoring will be reportedly held by Field Assistants of Personal Representative of OSCE Chairman-in-Office Hristo Hristov and head of the High-Level Planning Group (HLPG), Colonel Hans Lampalzer from Azerbaijan side.
From the opposite area, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan`s territory, the monitoring will be conducted by Field Assistants of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Peter Svedverg, Simon Tiller and representative of the HLPG, Colonel Andrey Barashkin.
Azerbaijan and Armenia for over two decades have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. Since the 1990s war, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal, but they have not been enforced to this day.
A precarious cease-fire was signed in 1994. However, the Armenian forces commit armistice breaches on the frontline almost every day.
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18 May 2016 14:59 (UTC+04:00)
By Gunay Camal
The Azerbaijani Armed Forces have liberated more than 2,000 hectares of the country's territory from the Armenian occupation.
Azerbaijans Defense Ministry announced about this on May 18, further adding that the Armenian leadership finally officially confirmed that it carried out an armed provocation against Azerbaijan in the country's occupied territories in early April, which resulted in changes on the contact line of troops of the two countries.
The situation on the frontline aggravated on April 2 after the Armenian military units in the occupied lands began shelling Azerbaijans positions with large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.
The Azerbaijani Armed Forces liberated important heights and territories of strategic significance in Agdere district, as well as in the Fizuli and Jabrail districts from the occupation during the counter-offensive following the enemy's attack.
Although the Armenian side states about the alleged loss of 800 hectares, it's obvious that the area of territories liberated by Azerbaijan is being intentionally downplayed, according to the defense ministry.
The ministry stated that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces freed more than 2,000 hectares of land, and even a larger area from an operational point of view came under the control of Azerbaijani armed forces.
"Contrary to the Armenian side, the Azerbaijani armed forces are not taking any steps to aggravate the situation on the contact line but are only forced to take adequate steps," the defense ministry said. "No sabotage of the enemy will remain unanswered. The figures issued by Armenia regarding casualties on the both sides in early April also don't reflect reality. Actually the losses of the Armenian armed forces are ten times higher than ours."
The Azerbaijani Armed Forces killed more than 320 Armenian servicemen during the April clashes on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops. 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.
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.
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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18 May 2016 16:58 (UTC+04:00)
By Rashid Shirinov
Armenian shelling of Azerbaijani lands in early April considerably damaged the Azerbaijani cultural buildings such as mosques and historical monuments.
"The amount of damage is being studied," Mubariz Gurbanli, Chairman of the state Committee for Work with Religious Organizations, said May 18.
He added that the committee addressed the relevant authorities in this regard. At the end of the process, restoration of historical monuments, including mosques, along with restoration of the settlements, will begin, Gurbanli noted.
On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire of large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers by Armenian army. Azerbaijani counter-attack led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.
The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the population and damage of their estate. As many as 450 houses of IDPs (Internally displaced persons) were damaged as a result of Armenian shelling. In particular, 50 houses in Tartar district were completely destroyed. Moreover, 17 victims of Armenian attacks were internally displaced persons.
Military operations on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies were stopped on April 5 at 12:00 with mutual consent of the sides. However, Armenian side still continues violating the ceasefire.
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.
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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
18 May 2016 17:52 (UTC+04:00)
By Bill Emmott
As Americas friends and allies look on in astonishment at the all-but-certain prospect of a contest between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in Novembers US presidential election, they need to do more than just wring their hands. They must hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
The crucial point about the 2016 election is not just that a reality-TV star and property magnate who has never held elected office has emerged as the presumptive Republican candidate. It is the enormous difference that a victory by Trump would make for the rest of the world compared with a victory by Clinton.
In every US presidential election in modern times, Americas friends and allies have had their private preferences. But never before have the Democratic and Republican candidates been as different as chalk and cheese. There was no unbridgeable gulf between Reagan and Carter, or Clinton and Bush, or Bush and Gore, or Obama and McCain. There is between Trump and Clinton.
To the rest of the world, Clinton represents continuity, and Trump means dramatic change. Just how dramatic cannot be known, but the normal assumption that candidates play to their partys core supporters during the primary season but then tack to the center for the general election cannot be relied on in Trumps case. His is an abnormal candidacy.
That is why preparation makes sense. Trump confirmed in his speech on foreign policy to the Center for the National Interest in Washington, DC, on April 27 that America First would be the overriding theme of his administration. He would reject multilateral trade deals and institutions, take a much tougher line on illegal immigration, and forge a new approach to defense and security alliances.
Trump declared in that speech that he wants the United States to be predictably unpredictable, but he also made it clear that he wont abandon his basic position. Allies will have to pay more for their defense. And they can expect tough measures by his administration if they have an enduringly large bilateral trade surplus with the US. Regional deals, such as the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the US, Mexico, and Canada, are a total disaster that have tied Americas hands. So the best assumption is that they would be scrapped.
So how can friends and allies prepare for a President Trump? Discreetly, of course. But the author of the 1987 bestseller The Art of the Deal would surely agree that sound preparation is the essence of striking a good bargain. If Trump finds evidence of it after having won the White House, he would likely admire his counterparts for it, even if secretly.
There are two sorts of things that friends and allies can and should do to prepare for the worst. One is to make themselves stronger and thus better able to stand up to a bully. The other is to shore up their alliances and friendships with one another, in anticipation of an America First rupture with old partnerships and the liberal international order that has prevailed since the 1940s.
A weak Japan and a fractious collection of 28 countries in the European Union would be a tempting target for President Trump. A Japan that had, over the next 12 months, truly embraced the growth-enhancing strategy of liberalization that has often been promised by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would be in a stronger position. So would European countries that dropped their obsession with fiscal austerity and used public-investment programs to kick-start growth and reduce unemployment.
Such moves, which are needed in any event, would make it easier to start on the task of building stronger alliances which may well become essential.
If a Trump administration seeks to scrap NAFTA, Canada and Mexico will need to make common cause. If it chooses to discard the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement negotiated by the Obama administration with 12 Asia-Pacific economies, those countries, perhaps led by Japan or Australia, must be ready to carry on the deal, or something like it, among themselves. (Clinton has also turned against the TPP, but this can be assumed to be merely tactical; in Trumps case, no such assumption is warranted.)
A similar story applies in Europe. To avoid being pushed around by Trump over trade or security, members of the EU and NATO must be prepared to stick together. That may mean being ready to spend more on their own defense a demand by Trump that is not unreasonable. It will also mean being sufficiently united to avoid being picked off singly by an American bully.
And yet European solidarity is fraying, to say the least, thanks to the migrant crisis and the economic aftermath of the 2008 financial crash. On June 23, British voters could make the situation far worse if they vote in their referendum to leave the EU. To strengthen Britain, and the EU itself, in anticipation of Trump, they would be well advised to vote to stay in.
Asia has not been known for its solidarity. It has depended, perhaps excessively, on American influence to balance its rivalries. Japan, for example, has close ties with Southeast Asian countries but no formal security relationships with them. Both Japan and its nearest neighbor, South Korea, have longstanding security treaties with the US, but are hostile to each other.
Given the possibility of trade wars, currency wars, and a renunciation of long-held security alliances within the next 9-12 months, it is time to put regional solidarity ahead of old enmities and the forces of fragmentation. Americas friends and allies need to start preparing for a less friendly America.
Copyright: Project Syndicate: Preparing for President Trump
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17 May 2016 17:42 (UTC+04:00)
By Amina Nazarli
Yesterday's meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in Vienna was the first since fighting on the contact line of troops in early April.
The meeting was also attended by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, French Minister of State for European Affairs Harlem Desir, OSCE Minsk group co-chairs, and special representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.
The presidents reiterated their commitment to the ceasefire and the peaceful settlement of the conflict and agreed to finalize in the shortest possible time an OSCE investigative mechanism.
The world powers welcomed the Vienna meeting over Nagorno-Karabakh settlement.
Turkish Foreign Ministry reported that the conflict must be resolved within Azerbaijan's territorial integrity.
"Turkey urges the OSCE Minsk Group (MG) to be more active on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict's settlement," said the ministry. "Turkey's position remains unchanged - the conflict must be resolved peacefully."
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal noted that France also praised the results in Vienna meeting, which allowed to resume the dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan after bloody clashes.
These obligations are of great importance. France calls on the parties to comply with them and will continue to play the role of mediator as co-chair of the Minsk Group, together with its Russian and American partners, Nadal said.
The UK also welcomes Vienna's meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents, says a message posted on UK's foreign ministry's Facebook page.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
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18 May 2016 09:53 (UTC+04:00)
A new print edition of the AZERNEWS online newspaper was released on May 18.
The new edition includes articles about reinventing peace tools, graceful Karabakh horses mesmerize British audience, Naftalan becomes popular tourism center for foreigners, tackling overweight in Azerbaijan, 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.
18 May 2016 10:08 (UTC+04:00)
Azerbaijan has agreed to strengthen the ceasefire regime to continue future negotiations at the meeting in Vienna, Novruz Mammadov, deputy head of Azerbaijani presidential administration, chief of the administration's foreign relations department said in an interview with ANS TV channel.
Most importantly, to continue to respect the ceasefire regime, to begin negotiations next month, he added.
Commenting on the OSCE Minsk group co-chairs on the expansion of duties of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Personal Representative, Mammadov said that there couldn't be any significant changes in Andrzej Kasprzyk's duties.
He said it was the Minsk group's position and Azerbaijan has not taken any obligations regarding the issue.
Regarding the Armenian president's statements, Mammadov said that Armenian side must withdraw from occupied Azerbaijani lands in accordance with the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council.
He added that the faster Armenia does this, the better off it will be.
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18 May 2016 13:46 (UTC+04:00)
Relations between Azerbaijan and the Netherlands developed actively, said President Ilham Aliyev as he received Rene van der Linden, President of the Maastricht School of Management, former President of the Dutch Senate and Honorary President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in Baku on May 18, Azertac reports.
The head of state highly appreciated Rene van der Linden`s efforts in this regard.
President Aliyev said the scope of the issues of the two countries` mutual interest was always expanding. Speaking about cooperation between the two states in business sector, the president reminded that the number of Dutch companies was increasing in Azerbaijan.
President Aliyev further said relations between Maastricht School of Management and ADA University were of strategic importance, and described all this as positive indicators of cooperation.
Rene van der Linden, for his part, hailed cooperation between the Netherlands and Azerbaijan.
He thanked President Aliyev for this cooperation, in particular for establishing ties with the Dutch province of Limburg. The official said both sides spared no efforts to develop these ties.
They exchanged views over Azerbaijan-European Union cooperation, as well as development of bilateral ties between Azerbaijan and the Netherlands in various fields, and settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Earlier, the Dutch official met with Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ilham Guliyev and discussed opportunities for cooperation in various fields of agriculture between Azerbaijan and the Netherlands.
Guliyev informed the guests about institutional reforms carried out in agrarian sector in recent years, the attention and care of the president to this sphere, relevant decisions and orders, as well as subsidies for agricultural producers, emphasizing favorable investment climate in Azerbaijan in the field of agriculture.
In turn, Van Der Linden, stressed their interest in the field of agriculture, especially exchanging and sharing experiences in breeding, floriculture, irrigation systems and educational spheres in Azerbaijan.
The guest also informed about agriculture of his country, emphasizing that the Netherlands is the leading agribusiness country in Europe.
During the Baku visit, Van Der Linden also took part in the Azerbaijan-Netherlands forum that involved 25 Dutch and about 50 Azerbaijani companies.
The relations between the Netherlands and Azerbaijan have strengthened over the past years. About 112 companies with Dutch capitals operate in Azerbaijan, in the spheres of shipbuilding, logistics, ecology and banking.
The trade turnover between the Netherlands and Azerbaijan amounted to $44.71 million in the first quarter of 2016, $21.65 million of which fell on exports to this country, according to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee.
18 May 2016 14:45 (UTC+04:00)
Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis has reaffirmed his country`s backing for Azerbaijan`s stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as he received credentials of Ambassador Javanshir Akhundov.
He stressed that Latvia has supported and will always support the position of Azerbaijan on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
President Vejonis also touched upon the bilateral relations and expressed Latvia`s interest in strengthening cooperation with Azerbaijan in all areas.
The president recalled his visits to Baku in the capacity of the Minister of Environment and Minister of Defense. The Latvian president also expressed his intention to visit Azerbaijan in 2017. The Azerbaijani-Latvian business forum is expected to be held as part of the visit.
Akhundov, in turn, said Azerbaijan highly appreciated Latvia`s unwavering position on the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.
The Ambassador emphasized that Latvia will host the Days of Azerbaijani Culture in 2017.
The sides underlined that expansion of bilateral ties in the transport sector is very important for economic relations between the two countries.
Azerbaijan-Latvia relations are developing yearly and reciprocal visits play a huge role in taking bilateral relations forward. There is a legal framework of Azerbaijan-Latvia relations. The two countries have so far signed about 30 documents.
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18 May 2016 17:35 (UTC+04:00)
By Nigar Abbasova
The Azerbaijani Ministry of Communications and High Technologies is in process of defining a list of services, which will be delivered on basis of a regional DATA Center.
The center which is the largest in the region is already constructed. Currently, the work is underway for its commissioning, said Elmir Valizade, Deputy Minister of Communications and High Technologies.
The DATA Center was tested for resilience by American Uptime Institute in order to obtain a certificate of Tier3 level. The certificate is an official confirmation of reliability and security. Tier 3 is considered to be one of the highest levels in this sphere which offers 99.98% availability. With this configuration, it is possible to manage maintenance periods without affecting the continuity of service on the servers.
A number of world biggest companies such as Facebook, Google, Amazon, Yahoo and others, have already expressed an interest in placing their IT-infrastructure in Azerbaijans DATA-center. The Ministry is currently considering appeals and works on defining of resources which will be distributed among customers.
The deputy minister further mentioned that operation of DATA center will be primarily aimed at meeting the countrys needs. State and private structures, as well as international companies will also be eligible to make use of the DATA-center.
Velizade also reminded that creation of all necessary conditions for the activities of private providers and provision of high quality internet services in the regions of Azerbaijan is among the ministrys top priorities.
Azerbaijan enjoys a high level of Internet connectivity, nevertheless the country takes bids such as realization of infrastructure projects and modernization of existing networks in order to develop current potential, the deputy minister said.
The level of internet connectivity in Azerbaijan is currently amounts to 76 percent. Currently 40 internet providers are operating in Azerbaijan.
The need to create the DATA Center is obvious in the face of the dynamic growth in the number of Internet users and Internet content. The commissioning of Data Center will give a stimulus for the integration into the global information environment, creation of numerous information resources and services. The project is implemented with the support of UNDP.
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18 May 2016 12:42 (UTC+04:00)
Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pak Ayeen has called on entrepreneurs and merchants from both countries to seize the chance to enjoy benefits of improved ties between Tehran and Baku.
Speaking about improved ties between Iran and Azerbaijan the ambassador advised entrepreneurs and merchants to gain advantage from the current opportunities, said the message of Iranian embassy in Baku.
Addressing a conference on economy in Baku May 17, Mohsen Pak Ayeen mentioned that official Tehran and Baku are determined to establish stronger ties.
The ambassador elaborated on the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and said the removal of sanctions against the Islamic Republic has created a proper chance to cement economic ties with Iran.
According to the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan the country's export to Iran almost doubled to $14.4 million in 1Q16 year-to-year, while imports increased from $19.4 million in 1Q15 to $27 million in 1Q16.
The JCPOA was implemented on January 16 followed by a nuclear deal last year curbing Iran's nuclear program in return for the removal of international sanctions.
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18 May 2016 13:50 (UTC+04:00)
By Amina Nazarli
Expansion of cooperation in the agrarian sector was discussed during the meeting between Azerbaijans Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev and Iranian Agriculture Minister Mahmoud Hojjati.
The Iranian delegation of entrepreneurs led by Mahmoud Hojjati visited Azerbaijan on May 15-17.
Mustafayev, addressing the event, said that agriculture is an important area of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Iran, and both countries have ample opportunities to expand cooperation in this field.
Azerbaijan is interested in cooperation with Iran in the field of cotton, seed production and cultivation of seedlings. We also want to learn from the experience of Iran in the field of dried fruit harvesting and expand cooperation in the establishment of enterprises for the production of dried fruits in Azerbaijan. In addition, Azerbaijan is interested in Iranian farm machinery, the economy minister said.
Mustafayev also suggested Iranian exporters to use Azerbaijani logistics center in Kazakhstans city of Aktau.
Mahmoud Hojjati stressed the importance of using the existing potential for boosting bilateral ties in the agricultural sector.
Azerbaijan and Iran could together export to third countries, according to the Iranian minister.
Hojjati also noted the interest of the Iranian farmers to lease land in Azerbaijan, as well as in joint investments.
The two countries also agreed on possibility of creating a joint venture for the production of medicines for plants and animals, which may become one of major directions in diversifying the non-oil sector of the economy.
Agriculture is one of the most important spheres for Azerbaijan and Iran, which could increase the trade turnover by 53 percent to $41.4 million in the first quarter of 2016, as compared to the same period of 2015.
With an advantageous geographic location, Azerbaijan enjoys every opportunity to increase export of high quality agro products, which are in great demand in neighboring countries.
Experts believe that with the further development of production of high quality agricultural goods, Azerbaijan will be able not only to increase the supply to neighboring countries, but also enter markets in Eastern Europe.
Irans most important crops are wheat, rice, other grains, sugar beets, fruits, nuts, cotton, and tobacco. Iran also produces dairy products, wool, and a large amount of timber. The country is increasingly importing food technology, including processing and packaging equipment. The agricultural sector in Iran accounts for about one-fifth of the GDP and employs one-third of the workforce.
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18 May 2016 16:00 (UTC+04:00)
By Fatma Babayeva
The banks were called to invest jointly in automated exchange devices in an effort to facilitate foreign exchange transactions for population.
Aydin Atakishiyev, a board member of PASHA Bank, made the statement in an interview with Trend on May 13.
Atakishiyev believes that it will help to expand the number of the currency exchange points, as well as, significantly reduce bank expenditures for the procurement of expensive devices and their maintenance.
Establishing a unified structure to serve these automated exchange devices will become topical after a while. The system can provide maintenance and encashment services.
Such devices already function in some banks. For instance, PASHA Bank has installed them in various hotels, Atakishiyev said.
In January exchange points, placed outside the bank's branches and departments were closed so that to decrease the pressure on the national currency.
Atakishiyev thinks that that was the right decision. "This decision of the Central Bank was aimed at decreasing agiotage and undue pressure on the national currency.
On the other hand, practice testifies for a necessity of exchange points to function outside the branches of the banks during the holidays and weekends, especially in densely populated places.
Atakishiyev said that in current circumstances it is unwise to increase the number of branches operating outside the banks, as would be quite costly.
Increasing the number of bank branches in the regions is not a feasible solution for the banking sector of the country amid the current need to increase the overall efficiency of the economy, as well as, the banking sector.
The banks need to function through a smaller network of branches with more use of tools for branchless banking, he stressed
More than 200 exchange points used to function in the country which was hard to control as the owners of currency exchange points did not always adhere to the relevant regulations and even sometimes, changed exchange rates in their own favor that caused the artificial shortage of currency which experienced during the period of devaluation of manat.
Moreover, banks received less income from the exchange points since maintaining them was costly. Rent for a place, payments for utilities, employee salaries and other expenses needed to be covered.
It is also necessary to take into account the security issue which is provided in a higher level at banks and their branch offices.
As all banks have passed into the retrenchment regime, taking income from foreign exchange operations may be beneficial.
Earlier, Zakir Nuriyev, President of the Bank Association of Azerbaijan and the chairman of the Supervisory Board at Rabitabank, said that Financial Market Supervisory Board examines the possibility of issuing licenses to legal entities which will allow them to fulfill currency exchange activities, as well as, providing an opportunity to the hotels to exchange currencies without creating exchange points.
Currently, 37 banks and more than 700 bank branches operate in Azerbaijan.
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18 May 2016 18:56 (UTC+04:00)
By Amina Nazarli
Russia is one of the largest importers of Azerbaijani agro-products, said Ilham Guliyev, Azerbaijans Deputy Minister of Agriculture.
The official made the remark while addressing a press conference, dedicated to the 22nd international exhibition "Food Industry" and the 10th Azerbaijan International Exhibition "Agriculture".
Relations between Azerbaijan and Russia are actively and fruitfully developing in politics and economy, he said, further adding that agricultural machinery, which Azerbaijan purchases on request of local farmers, is highly developed in Russia.
Azerbaijan, in turn, exports fruits, vegetables and melons to Russia, according to Guliyev, who underlined that the volume of Azerbaijani tomatoes exported to Russia has increased five-fold recently.
Russia has always been Azerbaijan's main export market for agricultural and industrial products. After the deterioration of relations with Turkey, Russias demand in Azerbaijani agro-products increased. The most critical for Russia became the rejection of Turkish tomatoes, as about 70 percent of tomatoes in the Russian market are imported.
Azerbaijan has entered the top 3 suppliers of agricultural products to Russia among the CIS countries, after Moscow imposed anti-Turkish sanctions.
The deputy minister further said that a delegation of the Russian agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor, visiting Azerbaijan had a chance to get acquainted with the agricultural cultivation procedure in the country.
The delegation has confirmed the growth potential of supply of agro- products to Russia from Azerbaijan. Following this, the governments of the two countries established a "green corridor" for the export of agricultural products, he said.
The agreement with Russia was reached in February 2015, which has created the conditions for the smooth transit of the agricultural products of vegetable origin through the corridor.
He also emphasized that the presidential order aimed at stimulating the export potential of the country allowed local producers to receive aid from the state in the amount of 3 percent of the export amount.
This has become a very good incentive to increase exports both to Russia and other markets," he said.
Energy-rich Azerbaijan is keen to reduce its dependence on petrodollars. In this regard, the country considers the agricultural sector as a tool to diversify the national economy.
With its advantageous geographic location, Azerbaijan has all possibilities to increase export of high quality agro products, which are in great demand in neighboring countries.
Experts believe that with the further development of production of high quality agricultural goods, Azerbaijan will be able not only increase the supply to neighboring countries, but also enter markets in Eastern Europe.
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18 May 2016 11:53 (UTC+04:00)
By Laman Ismayilova
Bakus Museum Center this time hosts an unusual exhibition, as Belarusian artist and journalist Galina Dmitruk presents her new collection of dolls Bedtime Stories.
The exhibition organized jointly by the Museum Center and " Kukla Art Gallery features nine dolls "Denise", "Amina", " Maryam ", "Bella", "Sarah", "Aylin", "Sevil", "Jamila" and "Leah" that takes one into the magic world of the Orient.
A black flower in hairs of "Bella`", golden dress of "Leah", a dreamy look of "Maryam" return the viewers to childhood.
The fancy candles, exquisitely draped fabrics and colorful carpets create a whimsical, fairy tale atmosphere.
Dmitruk, addressing the event, expressed appreciation to the organizers of the exhibition.
"Baku is my lovely city and I am very pleased to present my exhibition here. I have prepared a collection about very strong feelings, true love," she said.
The unique dolls that reflect the mystery of tales through the prism of feminine beauty were presented in Baku for the first time.
The work of Belarusian artist have been displayed at international exhibitions in Russia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Germany, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Spain. Works of the artist are in private collections in many countries.
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18 May 2016 18:04 (UTC+04:00)
By Amina Nazarli
A unique project has been announced in Azerbaijan to honor Shakespeares 450th anniversary.
The Azerbaijan Shakespeare Carpet Competition aims to bring together Azerbaijans rich cultural heritage, expressed in carpet weaving, and works of famous English poet and playwright Shakespeare.
The presentation of the competition, organized by the British Council in partnership with the Academy of Fine Arts and the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum, was held at the Carpet Museum on May 18.
Elizabeth White, Director of British Council Azerbaijan said that the competition is for design of a carpet in honor and inspired by the prominent poet.
The oldest dated carpet and one of the largest, most historically important and most beautiful carpets in the world, what we call the Ardabil carpet was made in southern Azerbaijan some 15 years before Shakespeare was born. The copy of the carpet is kept at Azerbaijans Carpet Museum and the original carpet is now displayed in the V&A Museum in London, she said.
For that reason, according to Elizabeth White, the organizers wanted to bring the two traditions together and celebrate Shakespeares anniversary through the competition.
Addressing the event, Rector of the Azerbaijan Academy of Arts Omar Eldarov noted that Shakespeare has always been important creative personality for the Azerbaijani society, and played a major role in the development of the Azerbaijani drama.
I'm almost 90 years old, said Omar Eldarov. When I was a child, in Azerbaijan there was no more popular performances than the performances of plays by Shakespeare. The most popular actors were those who played a major role in these performances.
British Council Regional Director Andy Williams also attended the presentation of the event, sharing his impressions about the positive development of the city over the past eight years since his last visit to Baku.
"The anniversary of Shakespeare is marked around the world. But only in Azerbaijan we will create a rug inspired by his work," he said.
The competition will run for three months till July 31 for every creative person. Everyone, including children, professionals and amateurs have a chance to participate in it.
The organizers say the Azerbaijan Shakespeare Carpet could be traditional, non-traditional, it also could be his portrait or show scenes from the English poets plays.
The design should be submitted online and it is enough to present a sketch, drawn by hand, or with a photo editor.
The winner will travel to London to visit the V&A Museum and Shakespeares Globe Theater.
To register and get more detailed information is possible on British Councils web-site www.britishcouncil.az.
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18 May 2016 18:18 (UTC+04:00)
By Rashid Shirinov
The meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan was held in Vienna on May 16. The Vienna meeting became the first since the renewed hostilities on the contact line of troops in early April.
The presidents reiterated their commitment to the ceasefire and the peaceful settlement of the conflict, and agreed to finalize the OSCE investigative mechanism in the shortest possible time.
John Kirby, Spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, commenting on the meeting said the presidents demonstrated political will to move beyond the status quo and to take steps that can benefit all the people in the region.
The presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia undertook to respect the ceasefire, to enact important measures to build confidence and to start negotiations next month that may lead to a comprehensive settlement, Kirby told journalists during his briefing. He noted that the meeting was a step in the right direction.
The United States, for its part, will be ready to help them in this regard. Now everyone has to perform heavy work on the implementation of the measures to which they are committed, he said.
Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier mentioned that the situation along the contact line between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops remains tense.
Escalation of hostilities in April was a reminder that re-doubled and sustained efforts are needed to break the deadlock in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, he said.
Steinmeier further welcomed the initiative by his colleagues from Russia, the US and France, the co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group, who held the Vienna meeting.
"I am encouraged by the renewed commitment that both presidents have expressed to the ceasefire and to the peaceful settlement of the conflict, as well as their readiness to have a new round of talks in June," he said.
"Germany's 2016 OSCE Chairmanship remains fully committed to supporting the work of the co-chairs. We will actively support efforts to establish an investigative mechanism," he added. "We will also work on expanding the team of my Personal Representative, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk."
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.
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18 May 2016 17:36 (UTC+04:00)
By Fatma Babayeva
A decision of the resource-rich Azerbaijan to double its gas purchases from Russia raised a question whether the deal is economic or political.
State oil company SOCAR made a proposal for the purchase of additional 3-5 billion cubic meters of natural gas from the Russian gas giant Gazprom.
Analysts view the move as Azerbaijan's intention to test how its two gas storage facilities - Kalmaz and Garadagh function.
Michael Krutikhin, an analyst in the energy industry and partner of Rusenergy said in his interview to Moscow-Baku that Azerbaijan has enough gas.
"Most likely, Azerbaijan's main purpose in this procurement deal is to test the new installed volumes of the gas storage facilities. It is a beneficial deal for Azerbaijan as the gas prices are cheap in the market now, and a lower price can be negotiated," said Krutikhin.
Azerbaijan has almost doubled the capacity of its two gas storage facilities. Earlier, their volume amounted to 2.5 billion cubic meters, then expanded to 3.5 billion cubic meters, and now stands at 5.5 billion cubic meters.
Krutikhin noted that it is practically impossible for Azerbaijan to test how its gas storage facilities function in new volumes as the country does not have such free volume of natural gas. Thus, the country needs to buy additional volumes of gas.
In this regard, Azerbaijan also made a proposal to Iran. Nevertheless, Iranian side needs to expand the infrastructure firstly, and Russian side has no objections to it either.
Aleksey Miller, head of Russian Gazprom previously related Azerbaijan's gas purchases from Russia with the country's economy growth and increasing domestic demand.
Alexei Grivach, deputy director of the Russian National Energy Security Fund also evaluated this deal as an ordinary business deal.
On the contrary, Azer Mehtiyev, expert based in Baku, believes this deal is a political rather than an economic step.
The gas deal is intended to bring Russia and Azerbaijan politically closer, he noted.
Gazprom supplies 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year to Azerbaijan since September 2015 in accordance with the five-year contract which offers possibility of extension.
The average daily volume of gas deliveries amounted to around 6 million cubic meters.
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18 May 2016 14:34 (UTC+04:00)
By Gulgiz Dadashova
Stabilizing crude prices after months of painful declines have turned the week's major topic, as Brent crude hit a high of close to $49.50 a barrel on Monday for the first time since November 2015.
Following the 13-year lows -crashing even below $27 in February, a more positive period for oil is being observed despite failure of a deal to curb production among major oil producers.
The crude prices are rising in the world amid the claims from one of the most positive forecasts that the market can face a deficit.
Goldman Sachs earlier said that the market is now in a supply shortfall, but it still predicted that oil will get stuck at around $50 this year and next.
Most analysts believe that the current price levels are likely to keep high for the time being and then again fall is coming in the months ahead.
Barclays is even more cautious, referring to weaker refinery margins and demand as presenting a significant risk of prices falling back as soon as the third quarter of 2016.
But some analysts reckon the current rise could be just the start of a price stabilization and even huge price spike that can surprise all.
The price of oil could exceed $55 per barrel by late 2016, LUKOIL president Vagit Alekperov said in an interview to television channel Russia 24 on May 17.
He believes during the year, oil quotes will be at the level of $45-55 per barrel. Most likely, the price of oil will fluctuate in the range of $45-55, and by the end of the year we may be witnessing the price rise, he said.
The reason for rising oil prices, according to Alekperov, may be underinvestment in the sector, which will lead to a decline in production and manufacturing.
"In 2015, the volume of underinvestment hit $300 billion, in the first quarter [2016] the figure reached another $100 billion. Of course, this affects the volume of production, the volume of oil exploration, especially in difficult areas and technologically complex fields, Alekperov said.
Earlier, in April, Alekperov noted that oil prices are moving towards stability and will increase. He predicted that by early 2017 the price of a barrel of oil will be $50, while in mid-2017 there will be a supply shortage in the oil market.
Meanwhile, in the US Energy Information Administration, analysts say that the consumption of oil and other liquid hydrocarbons in the world will increase to 95.24 million barrels per day in 2016 and reach 96.78 million barrels per day in 2017.
The world oil supplies are expected to reach 96.23 million barrels per day in 2016 and stand at 96.99 million barrels per day in 2017, according to the EIA.
The International Energy Agency earlier claimed that slight recovery points to oil "bottoming out" and finally ending its run of long-term losses. "It is clear that the current direction of travel is the correct one, although with a long way to go," its oil market report for March reads.
Yet, it remains to be seen whether these developments will be enough to ensure the oil price to stabilize and rise in the foreseeable future.
Oil prices have crashed from highs of more than $100 a barrel in mid-2014 to as low as $27 in January, wiping out more than 70 percent of the commodity value.
The crude prices have started to recover over the past month, this week passing above $40 a barrel for the first time in 2016.
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18 May 2016 11:28 (UTC+04:00)
As Iranian officials blame the U.S. for the fact that leading European banks are still uncertain in doing business with Iran, Mehrdad Emadi, consultant at the UK-based Betamatrix International Consultancy, believes that resumption of those banks' cooperation with Tehran needs months.
"Based on actual observations pertaining to the enquiries made by the leading European banks, as well as their efforts on undertaking country-specific risk assessment, I think we will see a gradual return of these banks toward the resumption of business dealings with Iran in the next 15 to 18 months," Emadi told Trend May 17.
"This is if a new Administration in Washington does not embark on an aggressively hostile foreign policy toward Iran, which may increase the risk of doing business with Iran, though I believe the resumption of business with Iran by the EU banks will happen even then, be it more slowly," the expert said, adding the US will find it very hard to recruit many allies in Europe should Iran abide by its agreement in the nuclear deal, which came into force last January.
He further said the United States, in fact, will be the main loser should it decide to pursue such a path, especially given the position of Iran as one of the key players in bringing about stability in the region and further afar.
At the same time, Emadi said Iran has done less than it could have to highlight the significance of using investment and trade opportunities in Iran as a unique banking and manufacturing hub with capabilities of serving Southern Europe and Central Asia.
"To this effect, there seems to be a relative lack of appreciation in Tehran of what are the needed resources to build a European business network based in two or three key cities in Europe, designed to achieve Iran's objective through economic channels, which most effectively nullify the existing and future Iranophobic efforts," he said.
Iranian officials accuse Israel and Saudi Arabia of using Iranophobia as an instrument to sabotage implementation of the nuclear deal, something that is true according to Emadi.
Emadi believes that the Saudi leadership and the government of Israel have verifiably evaluated their efforts since the last year to prevent a comprehensive return of Iran to the global economy.
However, the expert forecasts that in a period of 15-24 months Iran will return as a full partner in the economy of the region, as well as in the world economy in energy, automobile manufacturing, biotechnology and tourism.
"I stay with my previous evaluations that should Iran follow a path of competition- enhancing economic policy with a transparent banking system and a simplified and apolitical regulatory framework, we should see a doubling of its GDP within 10 years," said Emadi.
Should this forecast be close to the actual outcome, the importance of resuming trade and investment with Iran can be appreciated by the EU businesses, he added.
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18 May 2016 10:32 (UTC+04:00)
Iran's renewable water resources will go below 80 billion cubic meters in five years, said Isa Keshavarz, secretary general of the Farmers House of Iran.
While the renewable water resources have dropped from 132 billion to 88 billion cubic meters in thirty years, Iran's production, research and administrative master plans still lie on the old statistics, he warned, Fars news agency reported May 17.
He also expressed worry that the country's fresh water resources have diminished from 200 to 60 billion cubic meters.
Iran is situated in an arid area. In the past two decades scanty rainfalls have contributed to water crisis in the country.
Also, unsystematic use of water has damaged the reserves greatly. The traditional, undeveloped agriculture alone is responsible for 86 percent of the country's water consumption.
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18 May 2016 15:31 (UTC+04:00)
The car manufacturing dropped by 84.3 percent in Kazakhstan in January-April 2016, as compared to the same period in 2015 and stood at 978 cars, the country's Statistics Committee reported on May 18.
During the reporting period, the truck manufacturing increased by 17.4 percent and totalled 432 trucks in Kazakhstan.
Three large car plants - AZIA AVTO, SaryarkaAvtoProm and Agromashholding - operate in Kazakhstan. These plants manufacture Kia, Chevrolet, Skoda, Hyundai, SsangYong, Peugeot and other car brands.
Kazakhstan manufactured 12,450 cars and 1,660 trucks in 2015.
This is while the demand for new cars continued to decline in Kazakhstan in 2016, according to the Association of Kazakhstan Auto Business.
Official dealerships sold 10,564 cars in the first quarter of 2016, or 67 percent less than in the same period in 2015.
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18 May 2016 16:42 (UTC+04:00)
By Fatma Babayeva
Iran and Croatia are determined to boost mutual economic cooperation, particularly in the energy and transportation sectors.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani made a statement at a press conference with his visiting Croatian counterpart Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic in Tehran on May 18, reported Iran's state-run IRINN TV.
Officials from both sides signed two memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on the sidelines of a meeting between Irans and Croatias Presidents on May 18. The signed documents envisage increasing cooperation in economic fields, including enhancing relations between Croatian and Iranian chambers of commerce.
Iran is a country possessing large gas reserves and could become an important gas producer. In the meantime, Croatia is located at the extremely important geopolitical location and could become a distributor of Iranian gas to many European countries, Total Croatia News reported commenting on the visit of the president.
Iranian side is interested in investing in an LNG terminal, shipbuilding, petrochemical industry and tourism, while Croatian companies want to invest in infrastructure and energy.
International sanctions on Tehran prevented the two countries from boosting their relations in line with their capacities, said Rouhani, adding the parties have reviewed each other's potential and capability that can contribute to the growth in relations, including the Islamic Republic's engineering and technical capabilities which can be used in Croatia.
In addition to economic issues, Tehran and Zagreb also voiced willingness to enhance cultural and academic relations, as well as cooperation in science and technology, said Rouhani.
He further stressed that tourism was another topic discussed at the meeting and both sides emphasized the importance of boosting cooperation in that sector as well.
The important issues of the Middle East, especially the countries facing terrorism were also on the agenda of the talks. Two countries highlighted the need for cooperation in fighting terrorism.
Croatia's President arrived in Tehran on May 18 to discuss the expansion of bilateral ties with Iranian officials. Representatives from 72 Croatian companies alongside with several ministers arrived in Tehran earlier on May 16.
The Croatian delegation also plans to hold several meetings with the members of Iranian private sector to discuss bilateral cooperation.
Croatian Presidents visit to Tehran follows the series of the world leaders trip to Iran after the sanctions imposed on Iran because of its nuclear program were lifted in January 2016 - after two and a half years of intensive talks.
Iran plans to increase its oil exports to Europe to the pre-sanctions level, to expand its gas pipeline network and boost countrys LNG export potential.
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Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva
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18 May 2016 18:28 (UTC+04:00)
By Fatma Babayeva
Iran expands cooperation with China in a bid to revive it oil sector.
The Islamic Republic signed an Iranian Petroleum Contract (IPC) with Chinese companies on the development of two large Iranian oil fields, Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh told Shana agency.
Chinese companies will take part in the development of the second phase of North Azadegan and Yadavaran oil fields, the official noted. The minister refused to mention the names of the Chinese companies.
Earlier, Abdolreza Hoseininejad, CEO of Oil Engineering and Development Company stated that Iran intends to negotiate with the Chinese Sinopec on the development of the second phase of the Yadavaran field.
Chinese companies can also join development projects over new oilfields in Iran whether independently or as joint ventures with European and Asian companies under the new oil contract model, Zangeneh added.
The minister also noted that Chinese firms have indicated readiness to join Iran's mini-LNG and LNG projects, adding that they will offer their proposals to Iran in this regard.
China was the largest importer of Iranian oil in April by acquiring 800,000 barrels per day.
Iranian Petroleum Ministry earlier announced that the country needs investments worth around $400-$500 billion in order to develop its oil industry.
Currently, Irans Ministry of Petroleum develops plans to attract foreign investment in the sector by introducing a new model of oil contracts - IPC. IPC contracts are designed specifically by Iran to order to increase the attractiveness of the oil projects for the foreign investors.
IPC offers contractors the various stages of exploration, development and production as a complex package.
Foreign oil companies hold intensive negotiations to return to the Iranian market at the present.
Iran already concluded contracts with several European oil companies , and the implementation of those contracts is expected to take place in near future.
The country strives to bring its oil exports to the pre-sanctions level (around 4 million barrels per day) by the end of this summer in the longest.
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Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva
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3.0 ( - - ): editor [at] bahrainmirror.com
A rowing charity event in the Lake District, sponsored by Mars UK, has raised more than 67k for GroceryAid.
Twenty-four teams took on the 10.5-mile rowing challenge on Lake Windermere, to raise money for GroceryAid.
The morning row saw the Tesco boat, led by GroceryAid trustee Ruston Smith, claim victory with a new course record and fastest time of 1 hour and 54 minutes. In the afternoon row, PepsiCo was the quickest team, powering home in a time of 2 hours and 8 minutes.
Throughout the beach party-themed evening that followed the row, a bingo and raffle raised over 2k for GroceryAid.
In February, GroceryAid announced that Asdas chief merchandising officer, Andrew Moore, is the new president of its fundraising committee.
Nottingham-based baker Butt Foods has marked its 25th anniversary with a new brand, called Baked Earth.
The bakery, which supplies a range of naan breads, flatbreads and sub rolls to the UK foodservice sector, has also launched a new website. The site offers serving ideas for chefs and a special section for operators to subscribe to, which gives insights into the latest bakery and food trends.
Family-owned Butt Foods is now one of the largest naan bread suppliers in Europe, and also produces a range of other speciality breads.
David Williams, managing director, said: The company owes much to the loyalty and skills of our team. Were also delighted to unveil our latest brand of craft-baked flatbreads, Baked Earth, and our new website.
The BBCs quest to find the countrys best pastry chefs has come to an end after Mark Tilling and his team triumphed in the Bake Off: Creme de la Creme final.
Tilling, a patisserie and chocolate tutor at Squires Kitchen Cookery School, Surrey, was ably assisted by Samantha Rain of Paul Wayne Gregory Chocolates, East Sussex, and Helen Vass, pastry chef at Glasgow restaurant Number 16.
In the final, broadcast on 17 May, they beat off the competition with a showpiece based on the life of a pastry chef, featuring such delights as mango mousse and margarita macaroons.
Bake Off: Creme de la Creme was loosely based on the BBC titan The Great British Bake Off. However, it pitted teams of professional competitors, not individual amateurs, against one another in a series of heats culminating in the grand final.
The show was presented by Tom Kerridge, owner of The Hand & Flowers pub in Marlow, and was judged by some of the UKs finest pastry chefs: Benoit Blin, chef patissier at Le Manoir aux QuatSaisons; Cherish Finden, executive pastry chef at The Langham, London; and pastry consultant Claire Clark, who was awarded an MBE for her work in 2011.
On winning the show, Tilling said: Wow. I dont know what to say. Its just crazy. Weve met some great people and seen some amazing things. We never stop learning in this industry. Thats what I love about it.
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While some experts say that you cant put a price on a good education, many of todays graduates are stuck paying off student loans while trying to save for a house, pay their bills and start a family. While the standard repayment term for federal loans is 10 years, the repayment process can take up to 30 years with some options.
If youre feeling overwhelmed, try these ways to pay off your student loans quickly.
1. Make additional payments
If you can afford it, make larger payments to cut the principal more quickly and reduce the total payoff time. By reducing the principal balance, youre minimizing the duration of the loan period and the interest accrued.
For example, a $25,000 student loan with a 6.8 percent interest rate and a 10-year repayment period would cost $288 a month. Using a student loan calculator, you can see that paying $400 a month instead of $288 enables the borrower to repay the loan in less than seven years.
Another strategy is to pay biweekly rather than monthly.
Just be sure to advise your loan servicer to apply your extra payment to your principal balance, rather than placing your account in a paid ahead status, says Jessica Ferastoaru, student loan counselor at Take Charge America. This will allow you to pay down your principal balance more quickly and save money on interest.
If you have multiple loans, there are several strategies for choosing which to pay extra toward. To save the most money, starting with the loan with the highest interest rate is usually best.
2. Set up automatic payments
It may be tempting to apply any money you have left over at the end of the month to your student loans. But if your budget is tight and you dont tend to have extra at the end of the month, doing so could mean slowing your payment pace.
If youre unsure how much more you can devote to your student loans every month, take a close look at your budget to determine the amount you can afford.
Then, set up automatic payments for the beginning of the month. That way, you wont accidentally spend that money. Take care when setting your payment amount to avoid spreading your budget too thin.
3. Limit your debt with a part-time job in college
Getting a part-time job while attending college is one way to keep college debt in check, because you can use those earnings to reduce how much you borrow in the first place and make your repayment plan that much easier. You can earn up to $7,040 a year without affecting your eligibility for need-based financial aid.
Check your schools resources or career center to see if theyre hiring for any on-campus jobs. On-campus jobs tend to be more understanding of unusual or busy class schedules. Online jobs are also more abundant than ever, giving you even more opportunties that work with your schedule and your skillset. Between school years, you can take full-time summer jobs to earn even more.
4. Stick to a budget
Planning and understanding your monthly cash flow can make it easier to know where you can cut back and reallocate those funds toward your student loans.
If youre trying to pay down your student loans faster, one of the best ways to reach your goal is to develop a budget, says Ferastoaru. If youre able to meet a savings goal each month by sticking to a budget, you can use that money to pay down your student loans.
Do an assessment of your spending habits and your ability to keep a budget. If you find it hard to maintain a budget, use a student budget calculator to help you get on track and stay there.
5. Consider refinancing
Refinancing your student loans could help you pay down your student loans faster by helping you obtain a lower interest rate, a shorter repayment period or both.
Note that this option may not be available right after you graduate unless youve managed to build a solid credit history or you have a creditworthy co-signer. If not, it can take some time to establish your credit history and meet the eligiblity criteria for refinance lenders. Many lenders also require you to have stable income or employment history to qualify.
If you refinance federal student loans, youll lose access to certain benefits, including student loan forgiveness programs and income-driven repayment plans.
Before refinancing, shop around with a few lenders to see which offers you the best rates. You can also use a student loan refinance calculator to understand the numbers and whether its the right move.
6. Apply for loan forgiveness
Forgiveness programs can eliminate all or part of your student loan debt, but each program has unique requirements and strict approval standards.
Biden forgiveness plan: In August, President Biden announced a plan to forgive up to $20,000 in federal loans for eligible borrowers. Forgiveness is limited to those with incomes of $125,000 or less (or $250,000 if youre married and file a joint tax return). You can get more information about the plan through the Federal Student Aid website and sign up for email updates to find out when the application is ready.
In August, President Biden announced a plan to forgive up to $20,000 in federal loans for eligible borrowers. Forgiveness is limited to those with incomes of $125,000 or less (or $250,000 if youre married and file a joint tax return). You can get more information about the plan through the Federal Student Aid website and sign up for email updates to find out when the application is ready. Public Service Loan Forgiveness: To be eligible for the PSLF program, you must be employed full time in a public service position by a government or nonprofit organization and make 120 qualifying payments under an income-driven repayment plan. Getting approved for the program is difficult, so read through the details carefully to stay on track.
To be eligible for the PSLF program, you must be employed full time in a public service position by a government or nonprofit organization and make 120 qualifying payments under an income-driven repayment plan. Getting approved for the program is difficult, so read through the details carefully to stay on track. Teacher Loan Forgiveness: To qualify for the Teacher Loan Forgiveness program, you must have an eligible loan under the direct loan program or FFEL program and teach full time for five consecutive years in a low-income school or educational service agency. At least one of those years must be after the 1997-98 academic year. The program forgives up to $5,000 or $17,500, depending on your specialty.
To qualify for the Teacher Loan Forgiveness program, you must have an eligible loan under the direct loan program or FFEL program and teach full time for five consecutive years in a low-income school or educational service agency. At least one of those years must be after the 1997-98 academic year. The program forgives up to $5,000 or $17,500, depending on your specialty. Income-driven repayment forgiveness: Its also possible to have a portion of your student loans forgiven if youre on an income-driven repayment plan. Once the 20- or 25-year repayment term ends with these programs, any remaining balance is forgiven. If you hit the end of your repayment period before 2026, the forgiven amount is not taxable.
7. Lower your interest rate through discounts
Most lenders will offer a 0.25 percent discount if you set up automatic payments on your loan, and some may go as high as 0.50 percent with relationship discounts.
In addition, private lenders may offer interest rate discounts if you meet certain criteria, like making a certain number of on-time payments or taking out another loan with the same company. If you have private student loans, contact your lender and ask about interest rate reductions and discounts.
8. Take advantage of tax deductions
The federal government offers a student loan interest deduction on your taxes for interest paid during the year on qualified loans. The law allows you to deduct up to $2,500, depending on your adjusted gross income. The deduction is available for both federal and private student loans.
You can claim this tax deduction if youre legally required to pay interest on a qualified student loan and your filing status is not married filing separately. This program also has adjusted gross income limits, which are set annually. You do not need to itemize to claim this deduction.
It can also be a good idea to take some or all of your tax refund every year and put it toward your student loans.
Its a good idea to speak with a tax advisor to make sure youre taking advantage of any relevant tax benefits related to your education, says Ferastoaru.
9. Ask your employer about repayment assistance
Many employers have begun offering student loan repayment assistance or tuition reimbursement. Some employers, including Starbucks and Walmart, even offer free college for workers who sign up for degree programs within a chosen network of courses and schools.
Employers can contribute up to $5,250 annually toward an employees college tuition or student loan repayment assistance through 2025. This benefit is not taxable income for the employee, which is a major boon for workers who are pursuing higher education while continuing to work.
Employers can deduct the expense, too so everyone benefits. Check your employee manual or speak with your HR department to see what tuition assistance or loan repayment options are available at your company.
How long should it take to pay off student loans?
It typically takes between 10 and 30 years to pay off a student loan balance, depending on your loans interest rates, balance owed, annual income and repayment plan.
Your chosen repayment plan greatly influences how long it will take you to eliminate student loan debt. While the standard student loan repayment timeline is 10 years, you can also opt for extended and graduated repayment plans for federal loans that last for 25 to 30 years.
Income-driven repayment plans let you pay between 10 and 20 percent of your discretionary income for 20 to 25 years. Then, your remaining balance is forgiven.
If you have private student loans, you can usually select a repayment timeline that works for you, ranging from five years all the way up to 20 years. If you need more time, you can refinance your private loans.
Is it smart to pay off student loans early?
Whether or not you should pay off student loans early depends on your situation. If you can afford to pay more than the minimum payment without sacrificing other financial goals, you probably should.
Because student loans come with low fixed interest rates and fixed monthly payments, you may not be in a hurry to pay them off. If you have other high-interest debt like credit cards or personal loans, focus on those first.
Whatever you decide, its crucial to know what you may be gaining and what you may be giving up. Here are some of the benefits and downsides to repaying your student loans ahead of schedule.
Pros of paying off student loans early
Reach other financial goals sooner. By paying off your student loans quickly, youll be able to put more of your focus into things like retirement, homeownership and savings.
By paying off your student loans quickly, youll be able to put more of your focus into things like retirement, homeownership and savings. Improve your debt-to-income ratio. Getting rid of a loan lowers the amount of debt you have relative to your income, which will help you qualify for other funding, like a mortgage or credit cards.
Getting rid of a loan lowers the amount of debt you have relative to your income, which will help you qualify for other funding, like a mortgage or credit cards. Pay less interest over the life of the loan. The less time you spend repaying your loans, the less interest you pay on them. By paying off your loans early, you can easily reduce the overall cost of your loans by hundreds of dollars.
Cons of paying off student loans early
Could lose eligibility for loan forgiveness. If youre working toward loan forgiveness through an income-driven repayment plan or Public Service Loan Forgiveness, making extra payments or paying your loan in full will reduce the amount you will see forgiven.
If youre working toward loan forgiveness through an income-driven repayment plan or Public Service Loan Forgiveness, making extra payments or paying your loan in full will reduce the amount you will see forgiven. May miss out on stock market gains. Paying extra on your student loans instead of investing for retirement and other long-term goals could cause you to miss out on gains. In some scenarios, you may be able to make more money through investing than what you would save in interest by paying off loans early. That said, investing comes with risks.
Paying extra on your student loans instead of investing for retirement and other long-term goals could cause you to miss out on gains. In some scenarios, you may be able to make more money through investing than what you would save in interest by paying off loans early. That said, investing comes with risks. Draws focus from other forms of debt. Paying off student loans early may not be worth it if you have other high-interest debts. If you have a credit card balance with a 16 percent interest rate, for instance, it makes more sense to put extra payments toward that account rather than toward a student loan with 5 percent interest.
The bottom line
Student loan debt can be a significant financial burden, but there are steps you can take to eliminate yours more quickly, and you dont need a high salary to do it. Some are widely available, like automatic payments, while others require a particular job or financial situation.
As you consider your options, determine the best approach for your finances and goals.
Local and state leaders are walking the streets of Pinellas County as part of what's called a road safety audit.
Officials walk along a stretch of 54th Avenue N in search of dangers
Group spends several hours looking for possible risks
More than 50 items ended up on their list
The audit involves officials from Pinellas County, the Florida Department of Transportation, the Florida Health and Welfare Association, Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, PSTA, the City of St Petersburg, Kenneth City and Kenneth City Police.
Led by Debra Jaramillo, the county's traffic engineering supervisor, the group discussed a game plan. Then there were marching orders given: find anything unsafe along 54th Avenue North from 66th Street North to 71st Street North.
"What brought this on was, we had a complaint from a lady who lives south of 54th Avenue North that she'd seen many accidents on this corridor and a guy that was known in the neighborhood was hit and killed," she said.
As part of the audit, the group spends several hours walking the street, looking for anything that may pose a danger to traffic and pedestrians. Even something as small as an uneven crack in the sidewalk gets the group's attention, according to Deputy H. Miller.
"Because somebody can trip on that, and when they trip on that little sidewalk and they trip the wrong way they can trip into oncoming traffic," Miller said.
More than 50 items ended up on the group's hit list. Each one given a priority and then assigned to the agency responsible for follow up.
For information on road safety audits, visit the Federal Highway Administration website.
Police say a Lake Wales man ordered his dogs to attack the poodle belonging to a neighbor he accused of being a "Muslim terrorist."
What's more, police say 71-year-old Jackie Hammack was naked at the time.
Police say Jackie Hammack ordered dogs to attack poodle belonging to neighbor
Hammack was allegedlly naked at the time
Police say Hammack accused his neighbor of being a 'Muslim terrorist'
According to the Lake Wales Police Department, Hammack had threatened the victim, identified as Azard Baksh, about two weeks ago, calling him a Muslim terrorist and threatening to release his five dogs to attack him.
On Monday, police say Baksh was walking his small-breed poodle along Highland Crest Loop across from Hammack's house when Hammack followed through on his threats and released his dogs, the larger of which were described as mixed-breed dogs that weigh about 60-70 pounds each.
Two of Hammack's dogs attacked Baksh's 18-pound poodle, and police say Hammock made no effort to control them. Hammack's wife then left the house and called the dog back into their home, police say.
Hammack opened the door a second time and released the dogs, which attacked Baksh's poodle again. His wife called the dogs back, but Hammack released them a third time, police say.
Police say that each time Hammock came to the door, he was completely nude and exposed his sexual organs to the public, including Baksh and two other neighbors.
Police say the poodle suffered puncture wounds and possible internal injuries as a result of the attack. (Lake Wales Police Department)
Baksh's dog suffered injuries as a result of the attack. It was taken to an emergency veterinary clinic where it was treated for puncture wounds and possible internal injuries.
Police say Baksh told them he was in fear for the well-being of himself and his dog during the incident.
Hammack was taken into custody on charges of indecent exposure in public, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, and felony cruelty to an animal.
Police say that after he was arrested, Hammack said he didn't come to the door nude, but when asked if he sent his dogs to attack the victim, he said, "Oh yes sir, absolutely. I hate that terrorist [expletive]."
St. Petersburg Police arrested Donnell Weaver on Tuesday, May 17, after saying they caught him committing a home burglary.
Donnell Weaver has been arrested for 5 burglaries since March
Police say he may be involved in additional cases
He's currently in custody
The incident reportedly happened at the 1900 block of 22th Avenue South.
Weaver, 21, has been arrested five separate times for residential burglary since March 16. According to police, each time he bonds out, he re-offends.
Police say for his most recent offense Weaver will be charged with two counts of residential burglary, resisting arrest and tampering with physical evidence. Weaver may face additional burglary charges for cases that are under investigation.
During his 18 years as a teacher and administrator at Penn, Wortham won multiple awards for teaching excellenceincluding the University of Pennsylvania Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teachingand served as both acting and interim dean of the Graduate School of Education.
The author or editor of nine books and more than 80 articles and chapters, he has written widely on immigration and the social identification of children in schools, among other topics. His work has included action research and service learning, ethnography in schools and their surrounding towns, and discourse analysis. He is also executive producer of the award-winning documentary film Adelante, which portrays the mutually beneficial relationship between Mexican immigrants and Irish-American parishioners in revitalizing a parish in suburban Philadelphia. He is completing a book on the towns transformation that has resulted from an influx of close to 10,000 Mexican immigrants during the past two decades.
Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley praised Wortham as the unanimous choice of the search committee and an individual uniquely qualified to advance the Lynch School of Education at this time.
The search committee was impressed by Stanton Wortham's range of experience within the Graduate School of Education and across the University of Pennsylvania, and we were inspired by his vision for the Lynch School of Education, said Quigley. I expect Stanton to provide strong leadership for the Lynch School through a challenging time for schools of education, and his commitment to imaginative collaborations with faculty colleagues and school-based partners will serve us well. We look forward to welcoming Stanton to Boston College later this summer.
Added Daniel E. Kearns Professor Mary Walsh, who served on the search committee, We are delighted to welcome Dr. Wortham as dean. His commitment to the common good and his work at the intersection of research and practice make him an excellent fit for the Lynch School. He comes to us with a deep set of experiences as both a faculty member and administrator at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. His scholarly work draws from a wide range of fields and disciplines in the social sciences including psychology, education, history, sociology, anthropology and even business/management. He is deeply engaged in thinking about the intellectual basis of educational and clinical practice. We are happy to have him as our colleague and academic leader.
Thomas More Brennan Professor Andy Hargreaves, another search committee member, offered a similar assessment.
My colleagues and I are delighted that Dr. Wortham has chosen to accept Boston Colleges invitation to be the Donovan Dean of the Lynch School of Education," said Hargreaves. After a very active search that included a wide range of strong candidates with prominent reputations in the field, we felt Dr. Worthams outstanding qualities and achievements as an experienced administrator and accomplished academic set him apart. His vision for the Lynch School at a time of rapid change in the fields of education and human development, his respect and admiration for the achievement and values of the Lynch School and Boston College, and his manifest enthusiasm about working with us to move forward in innovative ways have already garnered great support from the community that welcomes him. We are excited about the prospect of Dr. Wortham leading us forward into the next era of impact and accomplishment.
Wortham said he was honored to become the first Donovan Dean at the Lynch School and welcomes the opportunity to work with the schools distinguished faculty.
Im excited to be joining the Lynch School and Boston College, said Wortham. Both the school and the University have significant momentum that is recognized nationally, and I am impressed by the quality of the people, the strength of the community, and the remarkable work of the faculty. Through research and service, the Lynch School and BC have been building a compelling vision of education and human developmentone in which educators focus on developing the whole person, including ethical and relational dimensions as well as knowledge and skills. We have an opportunity to lead the field by further articulating this vision, exploring what it means to help young people become fuller human beings, and we will put the vision into practice by implementing it in our own work and through our students.
A native of West Roxbury who studied at the Roxbury Latin School, Wortham had an early experience with Boston College that left a favorable impression. With Spanish courses unavailable at his high school, he studied Spanish at Boston College at night for three years to learn a language that today figures prominently in his research and community service. He received a B.A. in psychology from Swarthmore College, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in human development from the University of Chicago.
He began his academic career as an assistant professor of education at Bates College in 1993, before joining the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania in 1998. He was named full professor in 2004 and given an endowed chair in 2006. An advocate for interdisciplinary studies, he has chaired the Educational Leadership and the Education, Culture and Society divisions within the Graduate School of Education and has served as associated faculty in Penns Annenberg School for Communication and in the Anthropology and Folklore Graduate Groups in the Penn School of Arts & Sciences. He is currently a member of the editorial boards for American Anthropologist; Anthropology & Education Quarterly; Discourse, Context & Media; Linguistics & Education; Pedagogies; Qualitative Psychology, and Theory & Psychology.
Among his extensive academic awards and fellowships, Wortham has been a University of Chicago Century Fellow; a National Graduate (Javits) Fellow; a Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellow; a National Academy of Education Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow; a William T. Grant Foundation Distinguished Fellow, and an American Educational Research Association Fellow.
The deanship at the Lynch School gives me an opportunity to take on a new challenge, to come back to Boston where I grew up, and to join a university on a strong upward trajectory. I am eager to work with my new colleagues on articulating and putting into practice our distinctive vision of education, one that involves enhancing the human condition, expanding the imagination and making the world more just, said Wortham. I look forward to beginning in July.
Jack Dunn | News & Public Affairs
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Outside a baby blue house situated on a narrow street in Beaumont's South End on Tuesday afternoon, neighbors were visibly distraught and confused by news that a 3-year-old boy had been shot on the left side of his forehead.
They had more questions than answers as the toddler was rushed to Beaumont's Baptist Hospital and then flown by helicopter to Houston Memorial Hermann Hospital.
How could this happen? they asked one another.
The boy's loved ones scampered past reporters posted outside the home, declining to answer questions about the shooting.
"Obviously the people here are upset because it's unclear how this happened. But a child has been shot," said Beaumont Police Officer Tony Harding. "We're going to look into everything."
The child's grandmother owns the home, Harding said.
Police and officials with Child Protective Services were working to sort out exactly what happened to the boy, who was not identified by authorities.
Harding said investigators, as of Tuesday evening, had not ruled out any possibilities.
The boy could have been shot accidentally, or it could have been an intentional act, he said.
Separate 911 calls were made around 1:05 p.m., the first from Baptist Hospital reporting a child gunshot victim and then another shortly after from an unknown person, Harding said.
A neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said a woman inside the home didn't think there was enough time to wait for emergency responders and drove the boy to the nearest hospital, which is Baptist.
He was then flown to Memorial Hermann in Houston.
The boy, according to the neighbor, was alert when he was rushed from the Pipkin Street property.
Everytown for Gun Safety, an advocacy group that tracks unintentional child shootings, found at least 265 children accidentally shot themselves or someone else in 2015.
This year, there have been at least 92 unintentional child shootings, according to Everytown data, which relies on media and police reports.
The shootings usually take place in a home or vehicle owned by the victim's family, with guns most often legally owned, but not properly secured or stored, according to the Everytown.
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When Amir Ansari took on the arduous task of converting a 111-year-old structure into a bar and restaurant, he may not have anticipated just how complicated the years-long process would be.
The once dilapidated, 2,850-square-foot house at 3015 Bagby required extensive improvements to meet the city's standards for a dining establishment. Now Ansari, a Houston bar owner who bought this property in 2009, is just weeks away from launching his bar with restaurant, Sterling House.
After purchasing the place and contacting Houston's Historic Preservation Office, he learned that the home once belonged to the Sterling family (former Texas Governor Ross Sterling, along with his brother, Frank, were among the founders of Humble Oil, a precursor to ExxonMobil). Ansari, whose late mother, Fay, had urged him to restore the home and honor its history, said he hopes to have it designated a landmark in coming months.
RELATED: Former Texas governor Ross Sterling's mansion listed for sale
The owner himself worked on some of the exterior renovations and construction, even dealing with a termite infestation that forced him to replace all of the building's siding and exterior features. The interior was handled by Ansari's good friend and local interior designer Kim Atlas Harrington, who transformed the historic residence into a sleek, stylish space.
Construction and the lengthy process of obtaining the appropriate city permits add to that the personal struggles with which Ansari was contending led him to consider leasing out the property rather than debuting his own establishment.
So a few years ago he began shopping around the building Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) permit included to potential tenants who might want to set up a bar or restaurant. The problem was that most of those who showed interest were first-time operators, and Ansari was seeking an established restaurant owner with a brand. That encouraged him to scrap the leasing option and pursue this endeavor.
Karaoke and trivia nights
"Sterling House will be a neighborhood bar with amazing food," Ansari says. "A healthy fresh twist on finger and bar food with one of the best burgers I've ever had. No freezer, everything is prepared daily."
Ansari, who's helped to launch nightlife establishments Eighteenth Cocktail Bar, Vintage and Antique, brought on chef Lindsey Lee Hirsch, a French Culinary Institute graduate, to consult on and design the menu. His childhood friend Paul de la Cruz, who's already been integral in helping to manage construction, will lead front-of-house operations. Also helping lead the operations team are Joy Kennedy and Ansari's cousin, Kamyar Ansari.
SEE ALSO: Jerry Built Burgers opens May 30 in Memorial City
Sterling House will offer 12 to 16 mostly local beers on tap, a large Prosecco and rose selection and about 10 to 14 specialty cocktails.
"Upstairs we will have DJs, Karaoke, Trivia nights, bingo, and rent the space out for private events," Ansari adds. "We are (also) talking to many local chefs about doing pop ups."
Following a soft opening phase, Ansari says he hopes to have a smoothly running operation within four to five weeks.
"We are so, so happy we were able to save this house for our community," he says.
A Jefferson County jury assessed 40 years in prison for a man convicted of transporting 142 grams of methamphetamine from Houston to Beaumont.
The jury took 12 minutes to convict Lance Christopher Woodward and after a punishment phase of the trial in Drug Impact Court, ordered the 40-year sentence because of Woodward's four prior convictions of possession of a controlled substance.,
After more than two years since a spate of East Texas home invasions and bank robberies left at least four people wounded by gunshots, most of the men charged with the crimes are now awaiting lengthy prison sentences.
Keeyan Deon Seastrunk, 22, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to violently ambushing an elderly couple in their Jasper home on March 26, 2014. Robert and Alma Shellhammer were both shot and robbed of more than $70,000.
The Shellhamers - Robert, 75, shot in the hip and Alma, 73, shot in the leg - survived.
Seastrunk, of Jasper, is one of three men charged in their home invasion.
His two co-defendants, Michael Dwayne Byerly, 22, of Newton, and Xavier Odarious Clark, 23, of Jasper, have already pleaded guilty to robbing the Sabine State Bank in Burkeville - a separate crime alleged in a 12-count indictment charging seven co-defendants with other infractions ranging from stolen firearms to conspiracy.
Seastrunk appeared in federal court Tuesday with his attorney Tom Burbank. He was the last of those charged with violent crimes in the indictment to plead guilty.
Byerly, Clark and Seastrunk each face prison sentences of 20 years or more. All three took plea agreements that ensure prosecutors will drop additional charges outlined in the indictment.
The attack on the Shellhamers was the second time in the span of a week that an elderly Jasper County resident had been shot under similar circumstances. Douglas Archie Bean, 75, was shot in the abdomen on March 21, 2014 after discovering three men burglarizing his home near Buna.
Bean survived the shooting.
Byerly, Clark and Seastrunk were accused in the Bean burglary.
Eight months before those home invasions, prosecutors say one of those three men shot DeAnn Elder through a window after knocking on her front door on County Road 739.
Elder, who was shot in the abdomen, survived.
The other men named in the indictment with Byerly, Clark and Seastrunk are:
- Keith Collins Jr., 26, of Jasper, who pleaded guilty to bank robbery last August and is scheduled for sentencing June 28.
- Daniel Ezekiel Benjamin, 24, of Newton, who pleaded guilty in January to possession of stolen firearms and was sentenced in April to just less than five years in federal prison.
- Christopher Lavel Young, 23, of Newton, who was sentenced in February to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty last August to possession of stolen firearms.
- Romando Albert Stewart, 22, of Beaumont, who faces two charges of stolen firearms possession and remains out on bond.
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The Beaumont chapter of the NAACP recruited volunteers Tuesday to get involved in the Beaumont school district's reading programs and the alternative school to reduce the revolving door that some students find themselves in because of behavioral problems.
Meeting at West Tabernacle Baptist Church on Waco Street, church pastor the Rev. Jerry High issued this challenge:
"Men, we need to stand up and be visible to our young people. It might not be our fault, but we need to nurture our young men," High said.
West Tabernacle Baptist, he said, is involved in its neighborhood school, Blanchette Elementary and he encouraged other churches in other neighborhoods to become involved too.
He said the church asked to become a part of the volunteer program last September, but didn't clear background checks until February, which High said needs to be streamlined.
Nakisha Myles Burns, special assistant to BISD Superintendent John Frossard, said administration is working to make it simpler to be cleared, though checks are still crucial.
NAACP president Paul Jones said he is working with Frossard to increase the numbers of volunteers who will help with reading, mentoring and with providing positive role models for young people in school, particularly for the 25 percent of the almost 20,000-strong student body who have had a disciplinary encounter this school year.
Jones said the impact of a student's disciplinary issue affects all the other students and interrupts the learning process.
"Your marching orders are to get involved by volunteering," Jones said. "We're going to be involved this summer and be ready to hit the ground running when the fall semester starts."
Jones said the African-American community's challenges share a common denominator with education, which affects its position relative to economic power, the criminal justice system and political power.
He said African-Americans are the majority in Beaumont, yet political office doesn't reflect it.
"It is clear we are under-represented," he said.
The Rev. Oveal Walker, a former member of the Beaumont school district board of trustees, said African-Americans must now prepare for school board elections that will be held a year from now in May 2017.
He cautioned that merely winning a school board seat doesn't automatically mean an elected trustee will take office because the state education commissioner still has the power to keep the appointed board of managers in place.
Walker said City Council elections also are a year from now and African-Americans should have candidates to compete for every seat.
"These should not be automatically filled," he said, referring to no contests for incumbents.
Walker said the school board will have a 5-2 voting plan, meaning five single-member seats and two at-large seats. He said he asked the board to move its timetable forward on determining voting boundaries so candidates can be sure of where they are running.
He also cautioned against too many candidates competing for a seat and splitting their voting power.
Jones told the people in attendance, who numbered about 60 or 70, that they can achieve great things by doing small things consistently.
"Everyone, just do a little and we can do a lot," he said.
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Mount Sinai Beth Israel plans to cut inpatient capacity, as the 856-bed New York City-based hospital and its affiliates have lost hundreds of millions of dollars over the past few years, according to a Crain's New York Business report.
Beth Israel will announce the downsizing plan within the next two weeks, according to the report, which cites a message sent to union members by the New York State Nurses Association.
The message, which was sent Friday afternoon, said Beth Israel plans to "move units and individuals throughout the system." The New York State Nurses Association said it has entered into discussions with 1199 SEIU Healthcare Workers East to protect members' "job security, mobility and parity of benefits," according to the report.
The message from the nurses association came after The Villager, a weekly newspaper serving lower Manhattan, reported May 13 that Beth Israel would close. The story cited three anonymous nurses, who said they had been promised jobs at other Mount Sinai locations once Beth Israel is shuttered.
Mount Sinai executives have refuted the nurses' claims. In an email sent to faculty, staff and students, officials said they are aware of the stress and confusion that has been caused by the inaccurate story that ran in The Villager. "We are working on a plan which will enhance existing services and develop new facilities in the Mount Sinai Beth Israel community," read the email. "In the meantime, there will be no disruption in any of our patient care services."
The teaching hospital reported a $90.7 million loss in 2014. In the first nine months of 2015, Beth Israel posted an $85.6 million loss, which exceeded a budgeted loss of $75.6 million, according to the report.
If Beth Israel closes, lower Manhattan residents would have to travel further for care. Since St. Vincent's Hospital closed in 2010, there have only been a handful of hospitals serving Lower Manhattan.
A Mount Sinai spokeswoman declined to confirm or deny whether Beth Israel would close to Crain's New York Business.
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McNairy Regional Hospital in Selmer, Tenn., will close at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.
McNairy Regional's parent system, Knoxville, Tenn.-based Tennova Healthcare announced plans to shut down the hospital in March after facility experts discovered significant plumbing problems. The hospital needed to close for at least six months for the repairs.
After considering the hospital's deteriorating patient volume and the cost of repairs, Tennova decided to close the hospital permanently. The hospital's admissions had dropped nearly 70 percent between 2010 and 2015, and ER visits had also plummeted.
After McNairy Regional closes, those in need of emergency care will be taken to the two nearest hospitals in Cornith and Jackson, Tenn., according to a WBBJ news report.
The hospital closure affects 125 employees. McNairy County officials told WBBJ that some of the workers have been hired to work at other Tennova locations.
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Downers Grove, Ill.-based Advocate Health celebrated the launch of its clinical agreement with Walgreens Wednesday with events at 11 different store locations.
The celebration marks Advocate's takeover of the operations of 56 Walgreens healthcare clinics in eight Chicagoland counties.
"Today is a significant milestone in Advocate's nearly 25 year commitment to seeking innovative solutions to the healthcare delivery model and expanding access to quality care in the communities we are so privileged to serve," Advocate CMO and Executive Vice President Lee Sacks, MD, said in a statement. "Advocate Clinic at Walgreens allows us to deliver the right care at the right time in the right setting to ensure high-quality care at a lower cost for consumers."
The clinics operate weekdays 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on weekends 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and offer walk-in and same-day appointments. Each Advocate Clinic at Walgreens locations offers physicals, vaccinations and services for common illnesses and injuries, provided by board-certified nurse practitioners and medical assistants from Advocate Medical Group. And while individuals do not need to be Advocate patients, those who are will find a seamless experience as the clinics are integrated with Advocate's EHR and billing systems.
Advocate also plans to roll out care to children as young as six months old in the clinics at the start of next year.
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The governors of Kansas and Mississippi both signed bills into law in the past week that would speed the physician licensing process across state lines.
Kansas and Mississippi are now part of an agreement with 14 other states to streamline the licensure process. The Federation of State Medical Boards, the nonprofit organization that represents all U.S. state medical boards, expects the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact will help expand access to care, especially in rural areas, and help maximize the use of telemedicine across state lines.
The other 14 states that have enacted the compact include: Alabama, Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. A similar bill awaits the signature of Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D).
More articles on integration and physician issues:
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CMS issues MACRA fact sheet for small practices: 3 key takeaways
CMS still plans to release its overall hospital star ratings in July after delaying the program's scheduled April release due to stakeholder backlash, but the agency has made "minor tweaks" to how the ratings are calculated.
The agency reiterated its plans to move forward with the program in a May 12 presentation, reports Kaiser Health News.
The change in formula shouldn't come as a surprise, according to David Friend, MD, chief transformation officer and managing director of BDO's Center for Healthcare Excellence and Innovation. In an interview with Becker's, he says, "[CMS] will reserve the right to get smarter, and over time they'll evolve [the rating system]."
Despite the formula change, the star ratings are still harsh on most hospitals if the scores were released today with the new formula, just 100 hospitals would receive the top score of five stars, KHN reported.
Many stakeholders are weary about releasing the scores. The preliminary formula calculates ratings in such a way that smaller hospitals that deal with less complex patients would be more likely to receive five stars, Steven Lipstein, president of St. Louis-based BJC HealthCare, told KHN. As the scores stand, BJC's larger, more advanced hospitals fared poorly, while smaller community hospitals received more stars. "That's not surprising when you look inside the ratings and see how they're built," Mr. Lipstein said in the report.
Ashish K. Jha, MD, a practicing physician and professor at Harvard's school of public health, echoed similar concerns. "If you come out with a rating that says Cleveland Clinic is terrible but [a] podunk hospital in North Carolina, they're the bomb, that's a disconnect," he told KHN.
But other stakeholders, such as consumer advocacy groups, have a different view on this controversial rating system.
"People need this information now. Trying to wait until everyone's 100 percent happy with everything just delays it further than it needs to be," Andrew Scholnick, an AARP lobbyist, told KHN.
Dr. Friend tells Becker's something similar. "Hospitals are going to crawl before they walk before they run," he says. "I think this is all really positive, but there will be a lot of growing pains between now and the future."
A study published in the American Journal of Managed Care examines the guidelines for referring orthopedic patients.
The referral rates in ambulatory settings doubled from 1999 to 2009; specialty visits currently constitute more than half of all ambulatory care visits and two-thirds of ambulatory care expenditures in the country, according to the report. The American College of Physicians Council of Subspecialty Societys developed the patient-centered medical home neighbor framework to address the relationship between primary care physicians and specialty practices, highlighting the referral process and care coordination.
The researchers at the University of California San Francisco Health System, which includes 24 orthopedists and 65,000 primary care patients, reported 5,000 referrals to orthopedics per year. The researchers performed a 2-phase Delphi study with web-based surveys of primary care physicians and orthopedic surgeons to identify consensus on musculoskeletal problems.
There were 214 questions for 36 clinical scenarios that 21 primary care physicians and 17 orthopedists participated in during round one; in round two, 20 primary care and 16 orthopedists participated. The researchers found:
1. Around half51 percentof questions reached a consensus after round one. Another 16 percent of the questions reached consensus after round two.
2. The clinicians agreed confirming patient interest in orthopedic procedures should be completed before the referral in 81 percent of the clinical scenarios.
3. The primary care physicians and orthopedists agreed upon specific conservative management before referrals in 80 percent of the scenarios. The breakdown includes:
Physical therapy in 60 percent of scenarios
X-ray in 42 percent of the scenarios
MRI in 14 percent of scenarios, including acute knee ligament or meniscal tear, acute and chronic full thickness rotator cuff and spinal stenosis
4. The clinicians agreed an X-ray shouldnt be performed before the referral in 27 percent of the clinical scenarios and MRI shouldnt be performed in 58 percent of the scenarios.
5. eConsults, or non-face-to-face consults could be appropriate for 39 percent of the clinical scenarios, according to the consensus. It would be inappropriate in 3 percent of the clinical scenarios.
The physicians didnt reach a consensus in 36 percent of the cases. In the absence of national guidelines, a process for local guideline generation is needed in order to provide nuanced and detailed decision support at the point of referral, concluded the study authors. The Delphi method proved an effective process to achieve this end.
The U.S. Army awarded Milwaukee-based Medical College of Wisconsin a five-year, $6.8 million grant to study neck, spine and brain safety issues, according to Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel.
Here are six highlights:
1. A recent Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University study revealed one-third of Iraq and Afghanistan medical evacuations between 2004 and 2007 were consequences of spinal, musculoskeletal and connective tissue injuries.
2. Medical College of Wisconsin will study neck injuries associated with helmet-mounted equipment.
3. The grant will also fund research on loading work's effect on cervical spine artificial discs.
4. Researchers will examine spinal injury threshold disparities between men and women.
5. The study will assess advanced measurement technology use to measure military brain injuries.
6. Neurosurgery professor Narayan Yoganandan, PhD, and Chief of Research and neurosurgery professor Frank A. Pintar, PhD, will head the study.
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SEVILLE By now, people know all about ad retargeting the practice through which ads for products you have viewed online follow you around the web.
But what if those products followed you out of a store, through the shopping mall and in your car home after a visit to your local shop?
Thats what Bannerconnect strategy director Tim Geenen is getting excited about.
The project that were currently running is about connecting the dots, he tells Beet.TV in this video interview. So how do you join offline and online data, how do you connect the virtual and the physical world?
Theres new technology on the market and we started playing around with it like we always do, and we were actually able to identify people that walked into a store not only identify them but also reengage with them later.
Thats called offline retargeting. And this is still very early stage, but first results look very promising, and, from a technology point of view, were just happy we made it work.
Bannerconnect, a programmatic ad-tech company headquartered in the Netherlands, was acquired by WPPs Xaxis back in 2014.
This interview was recorded at the I-com Global Forum for Marketing and Data Measurement in Seville, Spain, April 18 to 21. This video is part of a series from the Forum sponsored by Xaxis. Please visit this page for more videos from Seville.
The Bank of England's chief economist has warned that over-complicated pension schemes harm the economy
Over-complex pensions are harming the UK economy and reinforcing mistrust of the financial sector, the Bank of England's chief economist has warned, as he admitted even he was unable to make the "remotest sense" of them.
Andrew Haldane said ordinary workers had no chance of making informed decisions for their retirement funds when experts and financial advisers "have no clue either".
He called for simplification as part of the process of eroding the "great divide" between the public and bankers and other financial professionals caused by the 2008 crash.
But he also suggested changes were needed to the way maths was taught to reduce the "incredible" levels of innumeracy among British adults.
"A lack of trust jeopardises one of finance's key societal functions: higher growth," he said in a wide-ranging speech examining ways it might be restored.
"Of course, part of the reason so many members of the public find finance difficult is because it is difficult - and, sometimes at least, it is made deliberately so," he said.
"There is plenty of evidence, including from the financial crisis, of financial products being made more complex than was necessary and consumers being charged a premium for buying them.
"This damaging cycle persists because of the difficulties consumers understandably face when trying to compare these products.
"To give a personal example, I consider myself moderately financially literate. Yet I confess to not being able to make the remotest sense of pensions.
"Conversations with countless experts and independent financial advisors have confirmed for me only one thing - that they have no clue either. That is a desperately poor basis for sound financial planning.
"This problem is one which, if anything, is becoming more acute over time. More of the risk associated with financial decisions is these days being shouldered, not by the state or companies, but by individuals.
" Over the past 20 years, we have seen a secular shift away from defined-benefit towards defined-contribution pension schemes. That places the investment risk of pensions squarely on the shoulders of the individual, rather than companies.
"Whatever the merits of these shifts, they underscore the importance of simple, easily-understood financial products for the public if they are to manage these new risks.
"They also underscore the importance of adequate information on these products."
Mr Haldane said some people found financial issues difficult because they had been put off maths by poor teaching methods that failed to make the subject relevant.
"Research by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills suggests there are an incredible 17 million adults in the UK whose standards of mathematics are no higher than those of a primary school child," he said.
"The way maths is taught may be part of the problem here. For many, maths is a turn-off because it seems unrelated to their everyday lives; it lacks real-world relevance.
"Sad to say, payday lenders have a greater resonance to many people than Pythagoras's theorem.
"The abstract nature of mathematics, as taught, leads many children to tune out or switch off entirely. Others conclude that they simply do not have 'a maths brain'. This is an educational scar that can last a lifetime."
The curriculum should focus on relating it to the " big financial decisions that, if flunked, can have big social, as well as financial, consequences", he suggested.
Lingerie could be rendered unfit for sale by the smell of pasties, if a Greggs bakery opens next door to a high street retailer in Belfast, it has been claimed.
Greggs is in the middle of a massive fit-out of its first city centre bakery on Royal Avenue.
But next door neighbour Bravissimo is cooking up a storm after it objected to having the cafe and budget pasty chain as a neighbour, with concerns over the smell of sausage rolls and pies wafting into the lingerie shop and affecting business.
Mike Tremellen, director of Bravissimo, has written to planners to oppose Greggs' plan, and also believes the bakery should apply for 'change of use' permission to allow the sale of hot food.
The lingerie company has a 10-year lease on the building which it will share with Greggs.
Greggs has an application in for planning permission, but it has not yet been given the green light for the new store.
The pie and pasty chain is rolling out dozens of locations here in the next couple of years.
Bravissimo said it has "appointed a planning consultant to prepare and submit our full objections and this will follow next week".
But Greggs suggested that Bravissimo shouldn't get its knickers in a twist.
A spokeswoman for the bakery told the Belfast Telegraph: "We intend to operate the store within the planning approvals already granted.
Expand Close Bravissimo on Royal Avenue, and the unit next door which will soon accommodate the latest outlet of Greggs REUTERS / Facebook
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"As a responsible company we are happy to work with our neighbours to try to alleviate any concerns that they may have about our operations."
In his objection, Mr Tremellen said: "We have a shop floor and stock room directly above the proposed Greggs unit and we are extremely concerned that the cooking smells will permeate into our shop, not only making it an unpleasant environment for our customers to shop in, but making our stock unfir for sale.
"Bravissimo's operation is the retailing of lingerie and clothing made with materials that can pick up odours.
"Our operation is to one side and above the proposed Greggs operation."
He also claims Greggs needs a change of planning consent to allow it to sell hot food.
"Our consultant will contend that given the concerns we have raised that it will be necessary that the council impose a planning condition controlling the sale of goods in this shop to cold goods for consumption... failure to satisfy those policies will lead to refusal of the application," he said.
The locations of the two latest Greggs outlets were revealed by this paper earlier this month, including an outlet at Duncrue Industrial Estate and one at the Kennedy Centre in west Belfast.
Greggs has already opened an outlet at Boucher Road, with two others, as yet unconfirmed by the firm, in Belfast city centre, including the one on Royal Avenue which Bravissimo has objected to.
It opened its first store at Applegreen services on the M2 last April, with others at new service stations soon following.
A new Pensions Bill promises to bolster protections for those saving for their retirement and remove barriers for people who want to access their savings flexibly.
The Bill tackles concerns raised about "master trust" pension schemes, as automatic enrolment into workplace pensions continues to roll out.
More than six million people have been placed into a workplace pension under auto-enrolment and eventually the drive will mean around 10 million are newly saving into a pension or saving more.
The Commons Work and Pensions Committee recently raised concerns about master trusts, which provide occupational pension schemes for multiple employers who are otherwise unconnected.
The Pensions Regulator expressed concern to the committee that it was not able to exercise stronger regulation over the trusts and some of the smaller ones "may not be run by competent people".
The new Bill promises to provide better protections for members of master trust pension schemes, including millions of automatically enrolled savers.
Master trusts will need to demonstrate that schemes meet strict new criteria before entering the market and taking money from employers or members.
The Pensions Regulator will be handed greater powers to authorise and supervise the schemes and step in when necessary.
Meanwhile, early exit fees charged by trust-based occupational pension schemes will be capped and a system will enable consumers to access pension freedoms without "unreasonable barriers".
Introduced last year, the pension freedoms give people aged 55 and over a wider range of choices over how they take their pension pot, rather than having to buy a retirement income called an annuity. But some people found that after the freedoms started, they could not access their pot in the way they wanted to.
As of January this year, nearly 400,000 pension pots had been accessed flexibly under the new freedoms, with many customers getting a range of options. But data collected by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) showed that nearly 700,000 customers (16%) in contract-based schemes who are able to flexibly access their pension could face some sort of early exit charge.
The Government also plans to restructure the financial guidance available to consumers. A new guidance body will be created, bringing together the Pensions Advisory Service, Pension Wise and the pensions service offered by the Money Advice Service (MAS).
The MAS will be replaced by a new money guidance body, which will identify gaps in the financial guidance market to make sure people can access high-quality debt and money guidance.
Former pensions minister Steve Webb, who is now director of policy at Royal London, said the Bill in its current form fails to tackle the "big issues in pensions".
He said: "The elephant in the room is the under-saving crisis in the UK, and this Bill will do little to address that problem.
"The DWP's (Department for Work and Pensions) own figures show that more than 12 million people are not saving enough for their retirement and this Bill will barely scratch the surface of that problem.
"Urgent action is needed to get employees saving more than the statutory minimum of 8% of their pay, and also to get more than two million self-employed people into pension saving for the first time.
"Regulators also need new powers to protect people's pensions when corporate transactions leave workplace pension rights at risk.
"Unless new powers are added to the Bill during its passage through Parliament it will simply fail to address the big issues in pensions."
Lesley Titcomb, chief executive at the Pensions Regulator, said: "W e are pleased that today's announcement proposes to give us the power to implement these safeguards."
Yvonne Braun, director of policy, long-term savings and protection at the Association of British Insurers (ABI), said: "Trust-based schemes, including master trusts, do not currently have to comply with insurers' strict requirements, which means they can be set up far too easily.
"This causes unnecessary risks for savers, leaving them vulnerable to scams and dubious investments."
Tom McPhail, head of retirement policy at Hargreaves Lansdown, said there is currently an "alphabet soup" of different regulatory bodies with various abbreviated names involved in pensions.
He said: "Ultimately, there are too many pension schemes in the UK and arguably too many regulators too."
Pensions Minister Baroness Altmann said: "We have radically changed the pensions landscape with the rollout of the new state pension, automatic enrolment and by giving pensioners the ability to access their pension pots more freely.
"The Pensions Bill will provide essential protections for people's savings in master trusts. It will also remove barriers for consumers who want to flexibly access their pension savings. Finally it will ensure that access to financial guidance is made easier.
"We will work closely with the sector in the coming months to further shape our plans."
A decision on whether to refuse planning permission for a new branch of Lidl at struggling Connswater Shopping Centre in east Belfast has been delayed until next month.
The store, which Belfast City Council planners previously said should not go ahead, was due to be discussed and voted on last night.
However, it was pulled from the schedule after the German supermarket giant lodged a response to the council's previous recommendation.
A spokeswoman for the company said the planning office had requested more time to review the response, "which outlines the positive impact that a new Lidl store can bring to the area".
"As a result, the hearing has been deferred until next month," she added.
Council planners had recommended refusal for the 23,000sq ft development at Connswater despite support from the shopping centre and traders in the area.
While planners gave a number of reasons for their recommendation, their primary concern was the availability of vacant sites such as the former Tesco and Dunnes buildings at Connswater, and vacant sites at the Park Centre in west Belfast and at Forestside in south Belfast, as well as at other shopping centres
The council received three letters backing the application, including one from East Belfast DUP MP Gavin Robinson.
The agent behind the Lidl scheme previously claimed the new store would create 10 jobs and bring around 2.5m of investment.
The Lidl spokeswoman said that the budget chain appreciated that "the council is taking more time to review our submission, and we hope they will be persuaded to grant permission".
She added: "We would like to take this opportunity to once again thank everyone who has supported our application so far."
Jolene Gibson, chairperson of the Connswater Traders' Association, which represents businesses at the shopping centre, said there was a great deal of backing for the plans.
"There has been unanimous support from our elected representatives for the Lidl application, which would bring vital new jobs, increase footfall and would act as a catalyst for other businesses to move into the centre and retail park," Ms Gibson said.
Connswater manager Gerry Monaghan had previously said the supermarket could prove a lifeline for the centre, which has seen shopper numbers fall recently.
Under the merger plans, the combined LSE and Deutsche Borse will maintain headquarters in London and Frankfurt
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Deutsche Borse have confirmed they will hold a shareholder vote on their planned 21 billion merger after the EU referendum.
Shareholders will decide on the merger in July and the two bourses are expecting to send out a deal prospectus next month.
The two exchanges have previously said the deal is Brexit-proof, but have opted to wait until after the vote on June 23 to allow shareholders to digest any potential implications.
They previously said the "outcome of the referendum would not be a condition of the potential merger", although they have admitted a Brexit could "affect the volume or nature of the business carried out by the combined group".
LSE shareholder meetings will take place in July, while the deadline for Deutsche Borse shareholders to accept the offer will also be in July, the companies said.
The proposed merger was given a boost earlier this month when the owner of the New York Stock Exchange - the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) - said it would not pursue a takeover of the LSE.
The move paved the way for an all-share merger between LSE and Deutsche Borse, which ICE had threatened to gatecrash.
In March, ICE said it was mulling a takeover of LSE, with a bidding war with Deutsche Borse widely expected to follow.
LSE chief executive Xavier Rolet has made no secret of his preference for a tie-up with Deutsche Borse, although the deal still faces regulatory scrutiny.
The deal will see Mr Rolet step down, with Deutsche Borse boss Carsten Kengeter becoming chief executive of the combined company and LSE's Donald Brydon taking up the role of chairman.
Under the merger plans, the combined LSE and Deutsche Borse will maintain headquarters in London and Frankfurt, while it will also be listed on the LSE and Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
It marks their third attempt to merge after previous moves failed in 2000, and 2004-5 when talks collapsed.
The chief executive of financial software firm First Derivatives plc has said tackling "cataclysmic" events like the fall of Lehman Brothers has left it equal to facing the consequences of Brexit.
Brian Conlon, who has maintained headquarters of the now-international firm in his home city of Newry, spoke as the business unveiled a 40% jump in revenue to 117m in its results for the year to the end of February.
The company, which employs 1,600 people worldwide and is one of just three listed companies in Northern Ireland, saw a 29% jump in its consulting revenue to 75m, while software revenue sky-rocketed 69% to 42m.
Pre-tax profit showed a 41% decline to 10.4m, but the previous year's figure had included a 9.6m gain from the disposal of investments.
Chairman Seamus Keating said progress in the group had resulted in "record" results which had positioned the company strongly for the future.
"In consulting we are becomingly involved in client projects earlier and in a more strategic way, leading to deeper relationships and enabling us to maintain our high level of revenue visibility as we scale up.
"In software, technology trends continue to move in favour of our Kx technology platform, which is world-leading in its big, fast data capabilities."
The company's financial and investment bank clients are based all over the world, including the EU.
But Mr Conlon said he was unlikely to shift its headquarters to the Republic in the event of a vote to leave.
"I think my mum wouldn't be too happy about that, as she wouldn't see me at lunchtimes any more.
"But we pride ourselves on having been able to deal with any number of cataclysmic events in capital markets, such as Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy.
"If the Brexit does go ahead, it will take a number of years - maybe between five and 10 - to work through all the different permutations.
"We'll react to whatever does happen."
Chief finance officer Graham Ferguson said the company would maintain its dual focus on consulting and software - despite a discrepancy in revenues of 75m for consulting and 42m for software.
"The higher margin returns will come in software over time."
And he said the company's software was breaking into vertical markets such as pharmaceuticals, utilities and digital marketing. That strategy had led to deals with Hitachi and SAP, among others.
Its software had also been adopted by the Ontario Regulator for the capture and analysis of data from its smart meters, showing uses of FD software for energy production.
The company has around 1,600 employees with many engaged on overseas projects.
Mr Conlon said the firm still had 18 months left in which it would be creating jobs under an investment plan supported by Invest NI. "That's not to say we're not currently recruiting aggressively, as our graduate intake so far this year has amounted to around 250 people," he added.
TUV leader Jim Allister at the launch of the Leave.EU campaigns 28-page Brexit document yesterday
A vote to quit the EU would allow Stormont to increase the amount of money paid to farmers in subsidies, Brexit campaigners have claimed.
A 28-page document launched by the Leave.EU campaign yesterday claimed that Northern Ireland paid 67m more into the union than it got out.
If the public voted to leave, some of that money could go towards increasing the support given to farmers, it was claimed.
Among those attending the launch was DUP MP Ian Paisley, who said he was hugely disappointed with "a lack of leadership" among the Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU), which has yet to declare a position on Brexit.
Mr Paisley also claimed the vast majority of farmers were in favour of leaving.
However, in an interview with the Belfast Telegraph last month, UFU chief Barclay Bell said Northern Ireland had "too much to lose" to consider quitting.
But Mr Paisley shot back: "Farmers who have been relying on Europe to subsidise them are going to get less and less. Agri-food is key to us - it's growing in Northern Ireland.
"We need to get to other markets. We have to ensure we have a Northern Ireland or UK-focused subsidy."
He also dismissed claims that a Brexit could lead to the return of controls along the border with the Republic of Ireland as "utterly scurrilous scaremongering".
Leave.EU spokesman Brian Monteith said quitting the union would allow Northern Ireland to look after farm support.
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has, in past two years, received 635m of EU money, most of it under the Single Farm Payment system. Leave supporters claimed that under an independent farm subsidy arrangement, that figure could be increased.
The Leave.EU campaign also insisted that Northern Ireland would be best off backing Brexit because it would allow the UK to trade with other markets and "regain control over its security".
"This document goes in to the detail, and puts it (the case to leave) into a rational and cogent manner," Mr Monteith said.
Like Mr Paisley, the pamphlet dismisses claims that border controls could be reintroduced, saying that "custom barriers and time-consuming controls will not be necessary".
The only business leader present, Irwin Armstrong, chief executive of CIGA Healthcare, said that because red tape had restricted him when selling into EU countries, he had decided to expand elsewhere.
He also told how he found it much easier to trade products with major US retailers, including Walgreens, than their counterparts in the EU.
And while he admitted voting to join the European Economic Community in 1975, he said "we were not told that we would have a United States of Europe".
Mr Monteith also insisted he was not worried by the lack of business chiefs in attendance.
Meanwhile, TUV leader Jim Allister said there had been an "avalanche of disingenuous propaganda" from stay campaigners.
And Jeff Peel, who is leading the Business for Britain campaign in Northern Ireland, claimed the "majority of small businesses don't see the logic" in remaining part of the EU.
Paedophile Robert Howard denied having sadistic tendencies and rejected allegations he got a kick out of abusing vulnerable young girls (Kent Police/PA Wire)
Child killer Robert Howard did not think he had any mental or sexual disorders, Belfast Coroner's Court has heard.
The paedophile, whose lengthy criminal record included violent and depraved sex offences, also denied having sadistic tendencies and rejected allegations he got a kick out of abusing vulnerable young girls.
Although he consistently protested innocence over the killing of Arlene Arkinson in August 1994, police found books on getting away with murder at his flat, it has emerged.
Frank O'Donoghue QC, counsel for the coroner, said: "He was asked if he had a psychological or sexual problem.
"He acknowledged his previous offences but did not know if he had any problems of that nature, saying 'he didn't think so'."
Fifteen-year-old Arlene from Castlederg in Co Tyrone vanished after a night out across the border in Co Donegal.
She was last seen being driven off during the early hours of August 14 1994 down a country road with Howard.
Weeks later, Howard was arrested on suspicion of kidnap and murder and questioned some 13 times over the course of two days.
He made no admissions and was not charged until more than a decade later.
Summaries of the transcripts from the 25 police interviews were read out during the 36th day of evidence at an inquest in Belfast's Laganside court complex.
Mr O'Donoghue said Howard repeatedly denied involvement in the schoolgirl's disappearance.
He added: "Howard said he hoped that she was alive but if she was not, he had nothing to do with it."
He asked about the selection process and grooming of vulnerable teenage girls but refused to answer questions about his sexual preferences, the court heard.
"Police put it to him that it was peculiar that a man of 50 was always in the presence of young girls," said the barrister.
"Howard refuted this was the case and further denied that because he knew young girls he had a weakness for them."
Although personal adverts requesting sexual encounters with women or couples were found at his flat, Howard denied knowing anything about them, according to the papers.
He also gave no reaction to police suggestions that if he confessed, he could access specialist help.
Meanwhile, the court was also told that real crime books which may have helped Howard evade the law were found at his flat on Main Street in Castlederg.
They included investigations into the killing of JFK as well the 'Yorkshire Ripper', Peter Sutcliffe and another entitled: "The Ultimate Crime: The College Girl Killings' about a man who roamed the USA in search of victims.
A book on Dennis Nilsen, known as the Muswell Hill murderer who preyed on young men, was also recovered.
" It was put to Howard that if he had read the books it would have assisted him in avoiding detections," said Mr O'Donoghue.
" However, Howard said he did not know if he had read them and refused to answer questions that the books could help him escape the law."
Issues were raised about the large number of discrepancies between Howard's account of events and testimony given by others including Patricia Quinn and her daughter Donna Quinn, it was claimed.
However, Howard attributed any differences to confusion on the part of his former girlfriend Pat Quinn, whom he said he had been seeing since Christmas 1993 along with her daughter.
He could not account for traces of blood found in his flat but said someone may have cut themselves when they broke into and ransacked the property.
Howard had e arlier claimed carpets were pulled back and floorboards removed during a burglary.
In May 2002 Howard was re-arrested and 12 more interviews were carried out, the court heard.
Detectives frequently referred to a psychiatric report which looked at his sexual preferences.
When asked if he deliberately preyed on young and vulnerable teenage girls to fulfil his own desires, the inquest was told Howard replied: "I did not harm Arlene Arkinson.
"I did not murder Arlene Arkinson and I don't know where Arlene Arkinson is now."
At the time Arlene went missing, the inquest has heard Howard was on bail accused of another brutal sex attack on a teenage girl whom he allegedly drugged and repeatedly raped over three days.
She had been locked in a wardrobe but managed to escape after jumping out of an upstairs window.
Howard was questioned about sadistic tendencies and if he liked inflicting pain on people.
He responded by saying "he did not" and further denied having a temper, the court was told.
Mr O'Donoghue said: "He was questioned on his preference for using rope around his victims' necks. He responded to say this was not true and that the complaints were wrong.
"He confirmed that he never used drugs and stated he was not interested in girls of 15 or 16. He denied fantasising about Arlene Arkinson.
"He said, "I never had, or got sex, (or) sexual gratification from Arlene Arkinson and I never hurt her.
"I never kissed Arlene Arkinson or ever tried to."
It was put to Howard that Arlene's murder had taken a long time to plan and that he had "got a kick out of it'.
The lawyer added: "Robert Howard reiterated that he had nothing to do with Arlene's disappearance and that he knew nothing about her whereabouts.
"He confirmed he didn't get a kick out of abusing young girls."
Just before he was charged during the early hours of May 24 2002, Howard was given an opportunity to confess to ease his conscience, the inquest heard.
"It was put to him that he had pre-planned and executed Arlene's murder in 1994," said Mr O'Donoghue.
"He made no comment other than to deny murdering Arlene Arkinson or that he groomed other girls.
"He confirmed that he had no worries in his mind relating to the death of Arlene Arkinson because he had nothing to do with it."
Throughout the course of the interviews Howard insisted he had answered all questions honestly and truthfully, it was claimed.
He was acquitted of Arlene's murder in 2005 by a jury which, for legal reasons, was not told about his previous convictions which included the murder of another teenage girl in South London several years earlier.
However, Howard, 71, always remained the prime suspect in the Arkinson case until his death in prison last year.
The inquest has been adjourned until May 27.
A newly-elected Ulster Unionist politician who lost his legs serving in Afghanistan has said it is "shocking and humiliating" that he is being asked to prove he is disabled in order to secure an assistance benefit at Stormont.
East Belfast MLA Andy Allen also described accessibility for disabled people in Parliament Buildings as "sub-standard".
"I would have expected the Assembly to be leading the way on these issues and setting an example for the rest of Northern Ireland," he said.
"Instead, the exact opposite is the case and fighting for improved facilities has been a torturous process."
The former Royal Irish Regiment soldier was 19 when his right leg was blown off and his left leg badly injured by a makeshift bomb while on patrol in Afghanistan in 2008. His left leg was later amputated.
He was blinded by the blast, although he has now regained 30% of his eyesight.
Mr Allen qualifies for a disabled MLA's allowance, which would let him employ a driver who could also help him get in and out of cars while on Assembly or constituency business.
"Even thought I am clearly disabled, the Independent Financial Review Panel have told me I need to see occupational health services to have my condition assessed and prove I am disabled," he said.
"That is nuts. To say it galls me is an understatement.
"I have two missing legs. I think my condition is pretty clear.
"I don't think myself or anyone with an obvious disability should have to undergo such an assessment. People should be left with their dignity."
"The Independent Financial Review Panel would be better off trying to ensure there are disabled facilities at MLAs' constituency offices, rather than make me and others jump through hoops to prove we're disabled."
Mr Allen said he would far rather be able to drive himself without assistance "but unfortunately I just can't physically do that," he said.
The UUP MLA added: "This is not about 'poor me,' but if another disabled person sees the system works for me, then they will think they can do it too and it will encourage them to fully participate in society. When they see hurdles being placed in my way, they will think there's no point in them trying to lead full lives."
Mr Allen, a 27-year-old father of two, was co-opted into Stormont last September to replace outgoing MLA Michael Copeland. He was elected in his own right in the Assembly election earlier this month.
Six years ago, he helped found a charity for British Army veterans and their families in Northern Ireland.
Mr Allen claimed that while the staff in Parliament Buildings were "absolutely great", changes to make the premises more accessible to the disabled were progressing at "a snail's pace".
He said: "When I came into Stormont nine months ago, promises were made to improve accessibility.
"Proposals were put to the Assembly Commission and they were costed and signed off.
"I thought I was coming back after the election to a fully accessible building, but nothing had happened."
Mr Allen said that a ramp should be installed at the front of Parliament Buildings to take disabled visitors into the Great Hall.
"At the moment they have to negotiate their way through the coffee shop, which can be very busy, and then fight off tourists to reach the lift," he added.
The UUP MLA called for automatic opening doors to be installed throughout the building.
"At present, only the front door opens automatically. If you have one hand full of documents and the other is steering your wheelchair, it is very hard to push open the numerous heavy doors along the corridors."
Mr Allen also called for the lifts to be upgraded so disabled people would be able to independently use them to leave the building in the event of fire, rather than having to abandon their wheelchair and be moved downstairs by others in a specialised evacuation chair.
The UUP MLA said: "It should never have taken me to come into Stormont to raise these issues.
"The Assembly should have had such basic things in place long ago. It's frustrating and totally unacceptable that they didn't.
"Disabled people regularly visit Parliament Buildings to meet MLAs and to attend events in the Long Gallery. Hopefully, improvements in accessibility will happen soon to ensure that everyone's visit to Stormont is pleasant and stress-free."
Helen Deery on Derrys Walls near where her brother Manus Deery was shot in 1972
A re-enactment of the controversial killing of a schoolboy by the Army during the Troubles has taken place in Londonderry.
It follows a directive from the Attorney General, John Larkin, that a fresh inquest into the fatal shooting of Manus Deery should take place.
The 15-year-old, who came from Limewood Street in the Bogside, was shot dead by a soldier on May 19, 1972.
He was standing with a group of teenage friends near the junction of Westland Street and Rossville Street when he was shot in the head.
The soldier who killed Manus fired a single high velocity shot at the child from a sentry post on the city's walls overlooking the Bogside.
The soldier, who has since died, fired from almost two hundred yards away.
On Monday night a group of barristers, solicitors, engineers and nautical experts stood on the spot from where the fatal shot was fired. They started the re-enactment at 9.30pm, the time Manus was shot.
Manus' sister Helen Deery, accompanied by relatives and friends, stood near the spot where her brother died as part of the re-enactment process.
Dr Steve Bell from HM Nautical Office, was present to comment and advise on the lighting conditions and the visibility from the soldier's firing position on the city walls of the area in which Manus and the other children were standing on the night of the fatal shooting.
Officials from the Ministry of Defence were also present and provided the types of telescopic sights used by the army in 1972.
The original inquest into Manus Deery's death in 1973 returned an open verdict.
A solicitor for the Deery family, Richard Campbell of Quigley Grant and Kyle solicitors, who attended the re-enactment, said it was a unique legal event during which part of the city walls became a temporary courtroom.
"It has been a very difficult and emotional journey for the family of Manus Deery but they are determined to see it through," Mr Campbell said.
"They want the State to recognise and acknowledge in a legal way that Manus was unlawfully killed by the State.
"The Ministry of Defence has so far been tardy in the least in relation to the disclosure of documents but as a result of this re-enactment, I would be hopeful that a new inquest date will be set in possibly six months' time, over 44 years since Manus was killed."
A mother smoked cannabis just hours before she fell asleep while breastfeeding her baby - only to waken to find her newborn lifeless, an inquest was told.
Kiya Nadine Hunte was two weeks old when her parents, who were sleeping in the same bed as her, woke to find her unresponsive at their Dunmurry home in May 2014.
At an inquest yesterday in Belfast her mother Shanna Hunte and former partner Ryan McLaughlin said they had smoked cannabis at around 12.30am before going to bed at their Glasvey Rise home.
Kiya was breastfed by her mum at around 2.30am on May 9 and she fell asleep with the baby in her arms in their bedroom.
At around 5am she woke to find Kiya still in her arms, but "cold and lifeless".
A small amount of blood was also found around the baby's mouth.
Despite being rushed to hospital and attempts by paramedics and the doctors at the Royal Victoria Hospital for Sick Children, she was pronounced dead at 5.50am.
In a statement to police Mr McLaughlin said he woke up to hear Ms Hunte screaming: "There is something wrong with Kiya."
They dialled 999, and in a statement read to the coroner a paramedic said that when he arrived at the house the baby was showing "no signs of life".
But they immediately started CPR and the paramedic recalled how the mother sat in the ambulance with her head in her hands saying: "It was my fault."
Dr Claire Murray, who was the doctor on call at the hospital, said they attempted to resuscitate Kiya, but after 20 minutes were unsuccessful.
Following the baby's death the parents were interviewed by police officers from the child abuse investigation unit in Lisburn.
Cannabis was also discovered in the attic of the house.
Dr Claire Thornton, a pathologist who carried out the autopsy, warned of the dangers of co-sleeping with babies combined with either exhaustion, drinking alcohol, smoking or taking drugs.
She said research had shown that smoking raised the risk of such sudden deaths by 8%.
If co-sleeping and smoking, the risk is 30 times greater, and with alcohol there is a 90 times greater risk. The baby had been well, but was "small and slight" and had failed to regain her birth weight.
The doctor said that there were no signs of a bacterial infection and the toxicology screening was negative.
The cause of death was sudden unexplained death in infancy associated with co-sleeping. Coroner Suzanne Anderson praised the couple for their honesty, but said there were lessons to be learned.
Ms Anderson offered her deepest condolences to the parents and said she hoped this tragedy would warn others of the dangers of co-sleeping with babies, smoking or taking alcohol.
"These young parents have paid a terrible price," she said.
She added she hoped it "will spare another family from a similar tragedy".
House prices in Northern Ireland have increased by almost 6% in the past year, a new official report has found
House prices in Northern Ireland have increased by almost 6% in the past year, a new official report has found.
The value of a standard home is now just over 117,500, as the market continues to stabilise, according to data from the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency (Nisra).
Prices are strongest in the Lisburn and Castlereagh area, where houses cost an average of 140,686. At the other end of the scale is Derry and Strabane, with a 99,524 price tag.
In the first three months of 2016, Nisra said that 5,300 residential properties were sold in Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland prices remain below pre-crash levels, however, and Nisra also indicated that they experienced a 1% quarter-on-quarter decline.
PWC chief economist Dr Esmond Birnie said the figures in the official report showed there was no room for complacency in the local housing market.
"Annual growth in the year through to Quarter 1 was 5.9%, although the NISRA data indicated that Northern Ireland house prices experienced a 1% decline in average values in Q1 2016 compared to Q4 2015, with the decline across all property types except apartments," said Dr Birnie.
"The fact that the market in Northern Ireland experienced a quarter-on-quarter decline is a sign of continued fragility in both the housing market and the broader economy.
"In Q1 2016 the average property price in Northern Ireland was still 48% below its pre-crash peak in Quarter 3 2007."
One local estate agency, Best Property Services, said it had witnessed a rise of 33% in properties listed and sold between January and April this year, compared to the same period in 2015, as well as a 17% rise in transaction values.
In terms of specific property type, there were more detached properties sold in the first quarter of 2016, up 233% on the previous year, while there was also a significant rise in semi-detached houses sold.
Adrian Doran, residential sales advisor at Best, said growing demand in these sectors was buoying up prices.
"Clients who had previously been cautious about building or relocating are more likely to do so now and we've seen some competitive bidding in the detached sector in Q1 this year which hasn't been evident for some time," he said.
"Prices of semi-detached properties are also showing moderate rises, which is encouraging this market sector."
Mr Doran said that while more properties were being listed, there was a significant demand for starter and first time buyer properties which wasn't being met.
Lack of supply of terraced properties saw significantly fewer listed and sold - down 69% - despite strong demand for that property type.
"It's a case of lack of supply as investors are more likely to hold onto properties in this sector due to strong prices and increasing rental demand," he said.
"In the same data sample, apartments completed grew by 400% as prices in the market improved and investment in an apartment from a rental perspective remains valuable."
Among the items recovered were command wire, component parts to construct a substantial number of explosive devices and magazines and ammunition for an assault rifle
Among the items recovered were command wire, component parts to construct a substantial number of explosive devices and magazines and ammunition for an assault rifle
Among the items recovered were command wire, component parts to construct a substantial number of explosive devices and magazines and ammunition for an assault rifle
Among the items recovered were command wire, component parts to construct a substantial number of explosive devices and magazines and ammunition for an assault rifle
A haul of terrorist arms was discovered at Capanagh Forest outside Larne
The discovery of an arms cache near Larne has been described as one of the "most significant seizures" in recent years in Northern Ireland.
The seizure of explosive devices, bomb parts and ammunition from Capanagh Forest outside the Co Antrim town at the weekend has dealt a "major blow" to dissident republican terror plans, it has been claimed.
Some of the weapons were primed and ready for use in a potentially murderous attack when they were uncovered.
The weapons were stashed in blue barrels and buried in purpose-built holes in the woods.
PSNI officers uncovered three barrels after two members of the public walking in the forest on Saturday evening noticed suspicious objects and contacted police.
Weapons inside the barrels included a missile known as an Explosively Formed Projectile (EFP) which can destroy heavily armoured vehicles, two landmines and several pipe bombs.
Quantities of explosives, command wire and other bomb making parts were also discovered, alongside magazines and ammunition for an assault rifle.
Detective Superintendent Kevin Geddes, from the PSNI's Serious Crime Branch, said the find "is one of the most significant seizures of explosives which police have made in recent years, both in terms of its size and its capability."
"A number of these devices were ready to be deployed. This seizure has undoubtedly saved lives," he added.
Police are probing a link between the weekend find and the discovery of bomb-making parts and explosives buried in nearby Carnfunnock Country Park in March.
"There are links in terms of the general location and the manner and method of storage and packaging of these munitions," said Mr Geddes.
"The fact that an Explosively Formed Projectile was recovered which has an armour-piercing capability means that one of our main lines of enquiry will focus on dissident republican terrorists. All these components will now be subjected to rigorous forensic testing in an effort to provide additional lines of enquiry," he added.
The detective said the recovery of the weapons haul "undoubtedly contributed to lives being saved."
"The threat level in Northern Ireland from dissident republican groups remains severe, which means an attack is highly likely. It is vital that people remain vigilant, wherever they are and whatever they are doing," he warned.
Mr Geddes added: "We will continue to work to keep people safe and would ask anyone with information about suspicious activity or objects anywhere in Northern Ireland to contact police.
"Once again, this seizure has demonstrated that when people provide us with information, we will act on it to ensure everyone in our community is kept safe."
A police source said the weapons find "has delivered a major blow to dissident republicans."
"The loss of these weapons will have frustrated their activities," he added.
Last week concern was raised over a 40% increase in bomb attacks in the province within the past year. 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 PSNI statistics.
Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers has welcomed the arms find.
She said on Twitter: "This significant find is v good news. Terrorists will not now be able to use potentially lethal items."
Kevin Thomas with his son Malachi, who tragically died at the NW200 last weekend
The father of a tragic road racing star has told how the death of Malachi Mitchell-Thomas at the weekend brought back painful memories of his own loss.
But Stuart Andrews, whose only son Simon was killed at the North West 200 two years ago, also said he was against any attempts to ban the sport despite his own personal tragedy.
The father-of-two was at this year's event when 20-year-old rising star Malachi died on the track despite frantic efforts to save him - and he admitted that he had yet to visit the spot where his son was fatally injured in a horror crash at the 2014 races.
In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph, the 62-year-old Englishman said he understood the devastation and the heartache that Malachi's father Kevin Thomas was going through.
"You can hear the grief in Kevin's voice - he's devastated," said Mr Andrews.
"It's extremely sad and it's very upsetting. You just don't want to hear that somebody else has lost their life. It evokes the memory of what I went through when I lost Simon.
"When you lose your son you go into a very, very dark place. You have to deal with the loss whichever way you can. I can't remember much about 2014 at all. It's a complete blank. And 2015 was pretty murky too. Now, only after two years, I'm coming to terms with what happened."
On Sunday Mr Thomas made an emotional return to the scene of the 110mph crash that claimed Malachi's life on May 14 after he tragically lost control of his Supertwin motorbike.
The Lancashire man paid tribute those who had tried to save his son's life and offered him support in the aftermath, but he also spoke up for the continuation of road racing - a call supported by Simon's dad.
"I'm a great advocate of the sport and I don't think that it should be stopped," said Mr Andrews, a businessman.
"The initial reaction is going to be, 'Why do you need to do this if young men die'? But it's in their blood. That's what they do, and all of them know that anything could happen - and you can see that when you look into their eyes.
"Each one of them knows that it could be them next, but it's never talked about."
"I was talking to a couple of guys in the paddock after last Saturday's crash and I could see the steel from the race side but also the pain from the loss. They all care. They know exactly what they're doing. They're very intelligent men, they take the risks, fully aware of what they are doing. They are top athletes."
Simon (31), died on May 19, 2014, two days after a crash in the ill-fated Superstock race on the north coast - but time has helped Stuart try to come to terms with his pain.
He was at home with his 63-year-old wife Dee, from whom he has been separated for seven years, when they found out about the accident while they were listening to the radio.
"I heard there was a red flag," he recalled. "I listened for the riders coming back and Simon's name didn't come back -and I thought 'did Simon...?'
"He was airlifted to hospital and I remember making frantic phone calls, talking to people, trying to find out what was going on.
"It was a complete shock. Simon was a very talented rider. We never worried about him. He was always very relaxed with the North West, so we didn't foresee anything happening."
Mr Andrews, who lives in Cookley, said that his son's death was extremely tough on the entire family, including his 40-year-old daughter Claire - Simon's sister - and his granddaughter Gracie Jupp (10), who is Simon's niece.
"There are times when something will give you a curveball - maybe a piece of music - and you'll just find tears running down your cheek," he said.
"At the start, you think about them every minute of every day. You try to find out that there are colours in the world again. But now, after two years, I think about him every day, but I don't think about him every minute of every day."
The grandfather-of-one, who now lives with his partner Dawn (54), returned this year for a second time to the North West 200 where Simon, who was from Wickhamford, Worcestershire, made his debut in 2011 and was the fastest newcomer.
"I needed to go, but I've never been to where Simon was killed," he said. "I've driven past it but didn't stop.
"People warned me that it might be very painful, but the fans in Northern Ireland were so good to me in 2015 - it really did help.
"It made what happened to Simon a little less traumatic. You just want to be closer to where he was in his last moments. It's almost spiritual. By going over there and spending time with people, it's almost as though he's still about."
Stuart also said he would always remember his last words to Simon when he spoke to him the morning before the race that claimed his life. "He was in good form and I just told him to go and have fun, to enjoy it and have a good time," he added.
Officers have received a number of calls about a scam where a man rings and claims to be from HMRC and says they are owed thousands in unpaid tax.
Police have issued a warning over a telephone scam in areas across Northern Ireland.
Officers have received a number of calls about a scam where a man rings and claims to be from HMRC and says they are owed thousands in unpaid tax.
He then goes on to demand immediate payment over the phone by way of iTunes vouchers, threatening arrest and cancellation of bank cards if his demands are not met.
Police said: "Never give any personal details out over and phone and definitely not money in any format. Please make your friends and family aware of this scam."
Two members of staff have been left shaken after they locked themselves in a room while a man wearing a balaclava and armed with a knife entered a physio clinic in Belfast.
Detectives are appealing for information following the armed robbery at the Apex Clinic in the Summerhill Avenue area of Belfast on Monday May 16.
At around 8.50pm police received a report that a male who was wearing a balaclava entered the premises brandishing a knife.
On seeing the man the two members of staff left the reception area and locked themselves in a room.
It is believed that a sum of money and a laptop were stolen during this robbery
The man is described as being approximately 5ft 7inches tall, with a strong Belfast accent, slim build and aged in his late 20s/early 30s.
He was wearing a black knitted balaclava, possibly with some colour going through it, a black hat, a long sleeved black top and black trousers.
No-one was injured during this incident, however the two members of staff were left very badly shaken.
Detective Inspector Nigel Snoddy would appeal to anyone who may have noticed any suspicious activity in the area to contact Detectives at Reactive and Organised Crime at Musgrave PSNI Station.
He said: "We are also keen to speak to the driver of a white Clio which was seen in the area, as they may have information which would assist us with our enquiries. Detectives can be contacted on the non-emergency number.
"Alternatively, if someone would prefer to provide information without giving their details they can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers and speak to them anonymously on 0800 555 111."
The Alliance Party has told Stormont's leaders they must deliver a five-point wish list if they want it to re-take the Executive's contentious Justice ministry.
However, writing for the Belfast Telegraph, former Alliance deputy leader Seamus Close said taking the post would be "a huge mistake and a fundamental error of judgment where the electorate would see them as patsys of the DUP and Sinn Fein".
Yesterday, Alliance leader David Ford presented his demands to the DUP and Sinn Fein during talks on the formation of a new coalition administration.
"We will wait to see what response we receive and what discussions there might be," he said.
The party's decision on whether to accept the DUP/Sinn Fein offer to take the post it has filled since 2010 has become key to the viability of the Executive.
If the cross-community party declines, Stormont will be facing another crisis, just weeks after the Assembly election, as neither the DUP nor Sinn Fein are likely to allow the other to assume the politically sensitive portfolio.
The mutual veto has been overcome in past years by Alliance taking the job.
Mr Ford and party colleagues have drawn up a three-page document for DUP First Minister Arlene Foster and Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and are awaiting responses.
While the DUP and Sinn Fein have until next Wednesday to form a new administration, Alliance wants to see progress before Thursday evening, when its ruling council is due to meet.
If Alliance was to take the ministry, it would only remain in the post if certain timelines for delivery of its requests are met by the main parties.
"What we will be putting forward will require targets to be reached and commitments to be made," said Mr Ford.
"If delivery is not made, then an Alliance minister will not remain in post, if there is an Alliance minister in post at all."
Unlike most ministerial jobs, the Justice Minister can only be appointed with the backing of both a majority of nationalist and unionist MLAs.
Mrs Foster has already made clear her party would not consent to Sinn Fein taking the post.
Given the DUP leader's stance, her republican partners in government are highly unlikely to support a DUP incumbent.
But former Lagan Valley MLA and the party's former deputy Seamus Close told the Belfast Telegraph: "Arlene's comment was effectively turning up the heat on Alliance. This is undisguised political blackmail.
"For the Alliance Party to succumb to this blatant pressure would be a huge mistake and a fundamental error of judgment where the electorate would see them as patsys of the DUP and, presumably, Sinn Fein."
If Alliance follows the lead already taken by the Ulster Unionists and refuses to join the new administration, then the two main parties would have to find another agreed minister.
While the SDLP remains in negotiations to form an Executive, it is unlikely both the DUP and Sinn Fein would support the nationalist party taking on justice.
In that context, the Green Party, which has two seats, has been mooted as an alternative.
Earlier on Tuesday, Green party leader Steven Agnew did not rule himself out as a potential minister. However, he said significant changes would be required on the proposed DUP/Sinn Fein Programme for Government, with more emphasis on eco-friendly investment policies and integrated education, before he could contemplate joining the Stormont Executive.
"I saw parties in the last mandate have positions in government but no positions of power," Mr Agnew said when asked if he would consider taking the post if offered.
"I would go in to assess whether or not I would have any power or any say in decision-making, and it would be on that basis I would make any decision."
One of Dublin's most cherished landmarks is celebrating its 200th birthday.
The beloved Ha'penny Bridge has spanned the Liffey since 1816, surviving rebellion and civil war and retaining its unique position as the only pedestrian walkway over the river until 1999.
Named after the toll charged for more than 100 years for the pleasure of abandoning leaky ferries for a drier crossing, it bears the weight of 30,000 people every day.
In its early years, a mere 450 people a day paid the fee to cross.
Lord Mayor of Dublin Criona Ni Dhalaigh will mark the anniversary on Thursday in a symbolic crossing with descendants of the men who commissioned it and designed it - Lord Mayor John Claudius Beresford and John Windsor.
David Windsor, speaking on behalf of his family, said: "It's a great privilege to have been invited here to represent my great grandfather.
"At the time, it was at the forefront of technology and would have been a statement that Dublin was a forward looking city.
"I'm grateful that the people of, and visitors to, Dublin have taken it to their hearts and that the city of Dublin has cared for it for future generations to use and admire."
Mr Windsor was a foreman in the Coalbrookdale Ironworks Foundry and reportedly oversaw the bridge's design as it was being cast.
It is a single elliptical, iron arch structure with a 43-metre span, three metres wide and is said to rise elegantly three metres above the Liffey.
The superstructure is composed of three arch ribs, each formed in six segments and it is said to have been the first cast iron metal bridge in Ireland.
It was officially named the Liffey Bridge in 1922, after Ireland secured independence, and is o ne of 23 across the river in the city.
Nowadays, it provides a link from Merchant's Arch on the edge of a bustling Temple Bar to Liffey Street on the north side.
In its past lives, it had various names including the Wellington - after the British politician and general the 1st Duke of Wellington - and also the Metal, Triangle and Iron Bridge.
Before it opened, ferry owner and alderman of the city William Walsh charged the ha'penny toll for carrying people on his leaky boats.
His service ran from a mooring near where the bridge sits now - the Bagnio Slip, which it is claimed was named after a local brothel.
He was compensated with 3,000 and the bridge lease for 100 years.
In the last two years, engineers have made pleas to loved-up couples not to copy the tying of padlocks to t he Ha'penny Bridge as is tradition on the Pont des Arcs in Paris.
There are fears the Ha'penny will suffer the same fate as the bridge over the Seine when a section cracked under the weight of love - and lock pickers in Dublin now routinely remove them as quick as they appear.
Prime Minister David Cameron, leaves Downing Street ahead of the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Anthony Devlin/PA Wire
Prime Minister David Cameron, leaves Downing Street ahead of the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Anthony Devlin/PA Wire
Prime Minister David Cameron, leaves Downing Street ahead of the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Anthony Devlin/PA Wire
Prime Minister David Cameron, leaves Downing Street ahead of the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Anthony Devlin/PA Wire
Prime Minister David Cameron, leaves Downing Street ahead of the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Anthony Devlin/PA Wire
Prime Minister David Cameron, leaves Downing Street ahead of the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Anthony Devlin/PA Wire
The Guardsmen parade marches from Buckingham Palace in London, ahead of the State Opening of Parliament. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire
The Guardsmen parade marches from Buckingham Palace in London, ahead of the State Opening of Parliament. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire
Justice Secretary Michael Gove (centre) passes through the Central Lobby ahead of the State Opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
Queen Elizabeth II's Imperial State Crown leaves Buckingham Palace, London, ahead of the State Opening of Parliament. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire
Queen Elizabeth II's Imperial State Crown leaves Buckingham Palace, London, ahead of the State Opening of Parliament. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire
Members of the Household Cavalry march from Buckingham Palace in London, ahead of the State Opening of Parliament. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire
The Prince of Wales leaves Buckingham Palace, London, ahead of the State Opening of Parliament. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire
Queen Elizabeth II's Imperial State Crown arrives at the Royal Gallery ahead of the State Opening of Parliament, in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Toby Melville/PA Wire
Queen Elizabeth II leaves Buckingham Palace, London, ahead of the State Opening of Parliament. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire
The Imperial State Crown is carried on a cushion during the State Opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster in central London on May 18, 2016. The State Opening of Parliament marks the formal start of the parliamentary year and the Queen's Speech sets out the governments agenda for the coming session. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / Eddie MulhollandEDDIE MULHOLLAND/AFP/Getty Images
Queen Elizabeth II leaves Buckingham Palace, London, ahead of the State Opening of Parliament. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire
A woman uses binoculars as she waits for the State Opening of Parliament, in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Toby Melville/PA Wire
Queen Elizabeth II leaves Buckingham Palace, London, ahead of the State Opening of Parliament. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire
Yeoman warders take part in a traditional "Ceremonial Search" in the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster in central London on May 18, 2016. The State Opening of Parliament marks the formal start of the parliamentary year and the Queen's Speech sets out the governments agenda for the coming session. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / RICHARD POHLERICHARD POHLE/AFP/Getty Images
Queen Elizabeth II proceeds through the Royal Gallery ahead of the State Opening of Parliament, in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Toby Melville/PA Wire
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 18: Queen Elizabeth II is helped off the State carriage after it made it's way past the Sovereigns Entrance at the Houses of Parliament on May 18, 2016 in London, England. The State Opening of Parliament is the formal start of the parliamentary year. This years Queen's Speech, setting out the government's agenda for the coming session, is expected to outline policy on prison reform, tuition fee rises and reveal the potential site of a UK spaceport. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 18: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip leave Buckingham Palace in a horse drawn carriage on their way to the Houses of Parliament on May 18, 2016 in London, England. The State Opening of Parliament is the formal start of the parliamentary year. This year's Queen's Speech, setting out the government's agenda for the coming session, is expected to outline policy on prison reform, tuition fee rises and reveal the potential site of a UK spaceport. (Photo by Chris Ratcliffe/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 18: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip leave Buckingham Palace in a horse drawn carriage on their way to the Houses of Parliament on May 18, 2016 in London, England. The State Opening of Parliament is the formal start of the parliamentary year. This year's Queen's Speech, setting out the government's agenda for the coming session, is expected to outline policy on prison reform, tuition fee rises and reveal the potential site of a UK spaceport. (Photo by Chris Ratcliffe/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 18: Queen Elizabeth II (obscured) and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh leave Buckingham Palace in a horse drawn carriage on their way to the Houses of Parliament on May 18, 2016 in London, England. The State Opening of Parliament is the formal start of the parliamentary year. This years Queen's Speech, setting out the government's agenda for the coming session, is expected to outline policy on prison reform, tuition fee rises and reveal the potential site of a UK spaceport. (Photo by Chris Ratcliffe/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 18: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip leave Buckingham Palace in a horse drawn carriage on their way to the Houses of Parliament on May 18, 2016 in London, England. The State Opening of Parliament is the formal start of the parliamentary year. This year's Queen's Speech, setting out the government's agenda for the coming session, is expected to outline policy on prison reform, tuition fee rises and reveal the potential site of a UK spaceport. (Photo by Chris Ratcliffe/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 18: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh holds the hand of Queen Elizabeth II as she proceeds through the Royal Gallery before the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster on May 18, 2016 in London, England. The State Opening of Parliament is the formal start of the parliamentary year. This year's Queen's Speech, setting out the government's agenda for the coming session, is expected to outline policy on prison reform, tuition fee rises and reveal the potential site of a UK spaceport. (Photo by Toby Melville - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 18: Queen Elizabeth II is helped off the State carriage after it made it's way past the Sovereigns Entrance at the Houses of Parliament on May 18, 2016 in London, England. The State Opening of Parliament is the formal start of the parliamentary year. This years Queen's Speech, setting out the government's agenda for the coming session, is expected to outline policy on prison reform, tuition fee rises and reveal the potential site of a UK spaceport. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 18: Queen Elizabeth II proceeds through the Royal Gallery before the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster on May 18, 2016 in London, England. The State Opening of Parliament is the formal start of the parliamentary year. This year's Queen's Speech, setting out the government's agenda for the coming session, is expected to outline policy on prison reform, tuition fee rises and reveal the potential site of a UK spaceport. (Photo by Toby Melville - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 18: Queen Elizabeth II proceeds through the Royal Gallery before the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster on May 18, 2016 in London, England. The State Opening of Parliament is the formal start of the parliamentary year. This year's Queen's Speech, setting out the government's agenda for the coming session, is expected to outline policy on prison reform, tuition fee rises and reveal the potential site of a UK spaceport. (Photo by Toby Melville - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, travel towards the Houses of Parliament in the Diamond Jubilee state coach for the State Opening of Parliament, in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA Wire
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 18: Prime Minister David Cameron (R) and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn (R) walk to the House of Lords for the State Opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster on May 18, 2016 in London, England. The State Opening of Parliament is the formal start of the parliamentary year. This year's Queen's Speech, setting out the government's agenda for the coming session, is expected to outline policy on prison reform, tuition fee rises and reveal the potential site of a UK spaceport. (Photo by Stefan Wermuth - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, travel towards the Houses of Parliament in the Diamond Jubilee state coach for the State Opening of Parliament, in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA Wire
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 18: Prime Minister David Cameron (R) and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn (R) walk to the House of Lords for the State Opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster on May 18, 2016 in London, England. The State Opening of Parliament is the formal start of the parliamentary year. This year's Queen's Speech, setting out the government's agenda for the coming session, is expected to outline policy on prison reform, tuition fee rises and reveal the potential site of a UK spaceport. (Photo by Stefan Wermuth - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 18: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh holds the hand of Queen Elizabeth II as she proceeds through the Royal Gallery before the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster on May 18, 2016 in London, England. The State Opening of Parliament is the formal start of the parliamentary year. This year's Queen's Speech, setting out the government's agenda for the coming session, is expected to outline policy on prison reform, tuition fee rises and reveal the potential site of a UK spaceport. (Photo by Toby Melville - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 18: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh & Queen Elizabeth II travel towards the Houses of Parliament in the Jubilee State Carriage as the Queen before she addresses the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster on May 18, 2016 in London, England. The State Opening of Parliament is the formal start of the parliamentary year. This year's Queen's Speech, setting out the government's agenda for the coming session, is expected to outline policy on prison reform, tuition fee rises and reveal the potential site of a UK spaceport. (Photo by Daniel Leal-Olivas - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Yeoman of the Guard walk through the Sovereigns entrance ahead of the State Opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Dan Kitwood/PA Wire
The Imperial State Crown is carried ahead of the State Opening of Parliament, in the House of Lords, at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Dan Kitwood/PA Wire
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, travel towards the Houses of Parliament in the Diamond Jubilee state coach for the State Opening of Parliament, in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA Wire
Queen Elizabeth II arrives for the State Opening of Parliament, in the House of Lords, at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Dan Kitwood/PA Wire
Yeoman of the Guard walk in through the Sovereign's entrance before Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, arrive at the Houses of Parliament on May 18, 2016, for the State Opening of Parliament. The State Opening of Parliament marks the formal start of the parliamentary year and the Queen's Speech sets out the governments agenda for the coming session. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / Dan KitwoodDAN KITWOOD/AFP/Getty Images
Yeoman of the Guard walk in through the Sovereigns entrance at Houses of Parliament ahead of the State Opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Dan Kitwood/PA Wire
Prime Minister David Cameron (left), and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn walk to the House of Lords for the State Opening of Parliament, at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Stefan Wermuth/PA Wire
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 18: Prime Minister David Cameron (R) and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn (R) walk to the House of Lords for the State Opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster on May 18, 2016 in London, England. The State Opening of Parliament is the formal start of the parliamentary year. This year's Queen's Speech, setting out the government's agenda for the coming session, is expected to outline policy on prison reform, tuition fee rises and reveal the potential site of a UK spaceport. (Photo by Stefan Wermuth - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Prime Minister David Cameron (left), and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn walk to the House of Lords for the State Opening of Parliament, at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Stefan Wermuth/PA Wire
Queen Elizabeth II is seen on a TV screen as she delivers her speech during the State Opening of Parliament, in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Toby Melville/PA Wire
Prime Minister David Cameron (left), and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn walk to the House of Lords for the State Opening of Parliament, at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Stefan Wermuth/PA Wire
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh proceed through the Royal Gallery ahead of the State Opening of Parliament, in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Toby Melville/PA Wire
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh proceed through the Royal Gallery ahead of the State Opening of Parliament, in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Toby Melville/PA Wire
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh proceed through the Royal Gallery ahead of the State Opening of Parliament, in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Toby Melville/PA Wire
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 18: Prime Minister David Cameron (L) and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn (R) walk to the House of Lords for the State Opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster on May 18, 2016 in London, England. The State Opening of Parliament is the formal start of the parliamentary year. This year's Queen's Speech, setting out the government's agenda for the coming session, is expected to outline policy on prison reform, tuition fee rises and reveal the potential site of a UK spaceport. (Photo by Stefan Wermuth - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 18: Prime Minister David Cameron (L) and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn (R) walk to the House of Lords for the State Opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster on May 18, 2016 in London, England. The State Opening of Parliament is the formal start of the parliamentary year. This year's Queen's Speech, setting out the government's agenda for the coming session, is expected to outline policy on prison reform, tuition fee rises and reveal the potential site of a UK spaceport. (Photo by Stefan Wermuth - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 18: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh holds the hand of Queen Elizabeth II as she proceeds through the Royal Gallery after she addressed the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster on May 18, 2016 in London, England. The State Opening of Parliament is the formal start of the parliamentary year. This year's Queen's Speech, setting out the government's agenda for the coming session, is expected to outline policy on prison reform, tuition fee rises and reveal the potential site of a UK spaceport. (Photo by Toby Melville - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 18: Queen Elizabeth II reads the Queen's Speech on her thrown as Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh listens during State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster on May 18, 2016 in London, England. The State Opening of Parliament is the formal start of the parliamentary year. This year's Queen's Speech, setting out the government's agenda for the coming session, is expected to outline policy on prison reform, tuition fee rises and reveal the potential site of a UK spaceport. (Photo by Alastair Grant - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
The Queen has said that her Government will continue to work to implement the Fresh Start and Stormont House agreements in full in Northern Ireland as she gave her speech during the State Opening of Parliament.
She also set out plans for the biggest shake-up of Britain's prison system since the Victorian era and announced that proposals would be brought forward for a British Bill of Rights.
Queen's Speech: How it unfolded
Government will work to implement both Fresh Start and Stormont House Agreements.
Proposals will be brought forward for a British Bill of Rights.
Modern Transport Bill - Clears way for new spaceports, driverless cars and drones.
Neighbourhood Planning and Infrastructure Bill - Reforms planning system and gives new powers for people to shape developments in their home areas.
Local Growth and Jobs Bill - Gives councils powers to keep and invest 100% of business rates, and to vary their level.
Better Markets Bill - Makes it easier for utility customers to switch providers.
Bus Services Bill - Gives elected mayors powers over buses.
NHS (Overseas Visitors Charging) Bill - Recovers cost of NHS treatment from non-UK residents.
Pensions Bill - Removes barriers to accessing pension savings.
Children and Social Work Bill - Speeds up adoptions and gives guarantees of more support for children leaving care.
Education for All Bill - Allows for expansion of academy programme.
Higher Education and Research Bill - Supports the establishment of new universities.
Prison and Courts Reform Bill - Gives new freedoms to governors to run their own jails.
National Citizen Service Bill - Expands the volunteering scheme for young people and puts it on a permanent footing.
Lifetime Savings Bill - Establishes a Help to Save scheme and Lifetime ISAs.
Soft Drinks Industry Levy - Introduces new tax on sugar-rich fizzy drinks from April 2018.
Small Charitable Donations Bill - Helps charities and community groups increase fundraising powers.
British Bill of Rights - Consultation on proposals to replace the Human Rights Act.
Counter-Extremism and Safeguarding Bill - Tackles extremism, including by intervening in unregulated schools and consulting on new civil order powers to restrict radical activities.
Criminal Finances Bill - Introduces criminal offence for companies which fail to stop staff facilitating tax evasion.
Cultural Property (Armed Conflicts Bill) - Allows the UK to sign up to international convention protecting cultural artefacts in war zones.
Wales Bill - Establishes new devolution settlement for Wales.
Digital Economy Bill - Creates new right to high-speed broadband for every household.
'One Nation Queen's Speech'
Prime Minister David Cameron described the package as a "One Nation Queen's Speech from a progressive, One Nation, Conservative Government", using the opportunities presented by Britain's strengthening economy to increase life chances for the most disadvantaged.
The speech, delivered by the Queen amid the traditional lavish ceremony of the State Opening of Parliament in the Palace of Westminster, would usually be a central focus of the political calendar.
But this year it provides a brief respite from the battle over Britain's EU membership, and its relatively modest contents reflect the extent to which the Prime Minister's political energy is concentrated on the referendum on June 23.
With intense scrutiny on the struggle which is dominating Westminster and setting Conservatives against one another, the Queen made only the briefest of direct references to her Government holding "a referendum on membership of the European Union".
But - in what may be seen as an attempt by Mr Cameron to signal that remaining in the EU does not mean giving up the UK's independence - she added: "My ministers will uphold the sovereignty of Parliament and the primacy of the House of Commons."
A roster of 21 new bills sets out plans to give prison governors new powers to control their own jails, as well as an overhaul of education and rehabilitation programmes which ministers described as the "biggest reform of our prisons since Victorian times".
A Higher Education and Research Bill will make it easier to open new universities, and the academy schools programme will be expanded by an Education for All Bill - though not extended to every school in England as Mr Cameron initially planned.
Court guidelines will be altered by a Children and Social Work Bill in favour of permanent adoptions, and children in care will be given a new "covenant" setting out local authorities' duties to help them with housing, jobs and healthcare after they leave care.
A raft of measures in a Counter-Extremism and Safeguarding Bill is designed to crack down on extremism, including stronger powers to disrupt radicals' activities and to intervene in unregulated schools which are "teaching hate". Ministers will consult on a new civil order regime to restrict extremist activity.
As expected, the speech set out plans for a British Bill of Rights to replace the Human Rights Act and included legislation to establish the Help to Save scheme and Lifetime ISA to encourage saving.
It also confirmed the Government's intention to renew the UK's Trident nuclear deterrent system, though ministers gave no clue on whether a vote on new submarines - which could potentially split Labour - will take place during the coming year, stating only that one can be expected before the next general election.
Measures to boost the economy included an Infrastructure Bill to speed the planning process and a Local Growth and Jobs Bill to allow councils to keep and invest all the business rates they raise. A Digital Economy Bill will make it easier and cheaper for telecommunications providers to establish faster broadband and more comprehensive mobile networks.
In a statement released as the Queen delivered her address to MPs and peers in the House of Lords, Mr Cameron said: "This is a One Nation Queen's Speech from a One Nation Government. It sets out a clear programme of reform, using the strength of our economy to deliver security for working people, increase life chances for the most disadvantaged and strengthen our national security."
An Ulster-bred sheepdog has just been sold at auction for the world record-breaking price of almost 15,000.
Black-and-white Cap, aged 16 months and bred in Donegal, set the record when he was sold at Skipton Auction Mart's late spring sale for 14,100 guineas, or 14,805. That shattered the previous world high of 9,240, set in 2013.
He was bought by an anonymous bidder - a sheep farmer from Northern Ireland.
Cap will be used as a work dog on the farm and is also an excellent nursery trials prospect.
The dog was bred by Padraig Doherty, who runs Ardagh Sheepdogs in Co Donegal with his brother Joe.
Padraig said even though Cap had impressed potential buyers at trial, his sale price was still much higher than he expected. "He is a special dog with genuine power and has a calming effect on sheep," he added.
Cap showed off his talents in what was described as a "sparkling display" on the trial fields in front of bidders.
But his skills were already well-known. Mr Doherty said there had been tremendous pre-sale interest in Cap because he could be seen in action on YouTube.
Cap's father, Sid, was also bred in Donegal by trialling legend James McGee, whose family runs Glencregg Sheepdogs in Creggan, Ballybofey. His mother is the Doherty family's Sue, whose own sire Dan is the 2013 Irish National champion and winner of One Man And His Dog in 2014.
Dan is also half-brother to Mr McGee's 2011 World Sheepdog Trials supreme champion Becca.
Last year at Skipton, the Doherty brothers sold litter mates of Cap, and one of them, a six-month-old black and white bitch called Ann, sold for 1,850 guineas - the highest price ever paid for a pup at Skipton.
Craven Cattle Marts general manager Jeremy Eaton said it had been one of the most successful working dogs sales at Skipton, with a record high average selling price for registered broken field dogs of 2,572.
"There was a significant amount of international interest," he added.
"We had a very good entry of high-quality dogs suitable for any type of farm work and also with trials potential. Anything well-broken was very good to sell, though part-broken dogs were harder to move on."
Eammon McAuley, from Larne, reached 3,800gns with his classy all-rounder Jim, a September 2014 tri-coloured dog by AHD Mawhinney's Buzz, out of DJ Irvine's Meg.
Mr McAuley also sold Jen, a litter sister to Jim, for 2,450gns to a Scottish buyer.
Meanwhile, William Torrens, from Castlederg, sold a July 2015 black and white dog, York, to an Irish buyer for 3,500gns. His sire was W Watts's Max and mother was IA Dickson's Fly.
And DT McNeill, from Ballymena, sold a 12-month-old black and white bitch, Kacee, to a Welsh buyer for 900gns. She was bred from K McFadden's Faye by Eammon McAuley's Roy and is already an open trials winner.
Members of the road biking community don't like being criticised. Last week I posted a comment on Facebook arguing that the BBC, through its extensive coverage of the NW 200 for example, should not be acting as a cheerleader for a sport that costs lives.
Then on Monday the Nolan Show asked me to engage with Phillip McCallen on the same subject.
McCallen is a dealer in motorbikes and accessories, so any curtailment of the enthusiasm for road biking would hit his business.
He is also an experienced bike racer himself.
His main point was that since I knew nothing about the sport I had no right to be commenting on it.
That's the line that was taken up by others on the programme and on Twitter.
Superbike rider Glenn Irwin and others thought I was showing disrespect to the father of Malachi Mitchell-Thomas, who had died in a race at the weekend.
And some chipped in with the line that people die while fishing, so the fact that someone dies road racing is not grounds for banning it, or you would have to ban fishing too.
I have no wish to add to the grief of the Mitchell-Thomas family, or to the families of others who have died and been injured.
The riders know the risks they take. They are proud of their ability to take them. They drive at speeds in which the margin for error disappears and the consequences of a brief mistake are terminal.
Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Malachi Mitchell-Thomas Malachi Mitchell-Thomas playfully fixes his fathers hat at a race meeting Kevin Thomas says he is proud of his late son Malachi From left: Kevin Thomas, Malachi Mitchell-Thomas, his sister Rhiannon Mitchell-Thomas and grandad Kev Thomas Kevin Thomas with his young son Malachi Mitchell-Thomas Kevin Thomas with his young son Malachi Mitchell-Thomas Malachi Mitchell-Thomas in action Philip Magowan / Facebook
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I couldn't do it; that's true.
But there is a paradox in the attitude that McCallen and others are taking.
On the one hand they want critics to shut up unless they can establish that they are inside the road racing community; on the other they want the wider society in Northern Ireland, the BBC and the Tourist Board and others to marvel at what they do and help fund it and raise support for it.
Turn off the tv if you don't like it, say some of the tweets. And I do.
These are shockingly bad arguments which show how those who love road racing don't know how to defend it against critics.
But I doubt that those who organise the sport at a higher level, that those who report so enthusiastically on it for the media - it also gets wide coverage in newspapers - and those who want our taxes to fund investment in it would really defend shutting the wider "ignorant" public out of the debate.
And you don't need to know the difference between a Kawasaki and a kamikaze to be appalled at the toll of death and injury, which suggests that sometimes little distinction exists there anyway.
Malachi Mitchell-Thomas was described by his father Kevin as "a petrolhead (who) just wanted to go faster".
Kevin Thomas respected that desire for greater and greater speed.
Fine. Let people clear that with their own consciences.
My question is whether the rest of us should facilitate such a desire, even celebrate it, as much of the media clearly does in its coverage of road race events like the North West 200.
It would probably be pointless and even dangerous to ban it.
No one supposes that such a rich culture with such deep roots would simply go away.
But some of us think it is a sad thing that young men want to risk their lives and that so many are dying - 11 in Northern Ireland in the last 10 years, in the worst decade since the 1970s.
It's not good enough just to sneer at those who stand aside appalled.
Photo courtesy of Yale University Press
Tibetan Buddhism is attracting Buddhist from all over, but what exactly is it? Sam van Schaik, a leading writer and researcher on Tibet, offers an accessible introduction to Tibetan Buddhism by examining key points. A comprehensive overview of the richness of the popular teachings and concepts in Tibetan Buddhism will give insight into rebirth, compassion, mindfulness and the graduated path. Written for those new to the practice, this introduction into the world of Tibetan Buddhism provides a deep and broad understanding.
Excerpt from The Spirit of Tibetan Buddhism, pages 2-4
In a wider circle around the teacher and his or her lay students is the Buddhist community or sangha. In its broadest and most inclusive sense, the sangha includes all Buddhists, all over the world. But the word is more often used to refer to smaller communities, the monks and lay people associated with a particular monastery, teacher, or Buddhist centre. It is these groups that will come together for the regular practices of listening to teachings, meditation, recitation of prayers, and other ritual activities. Thus Tibetan Buddhism is far from the inward-looking, self-involved practice that images of meditating monks might suggest.
What, then, is Tibetan Buddhism for? Or, to put it another way, what is the attraction for those who were not born into this tradition? Like all other Buddhist traditions, Tibetan Buddhism is informed by the original motivation expressed by the Buddha in his early sermons: to escape the cycle of suffering by losing ones illusions and waking up (Sanskrit, budh) to the way things really are. The will to become an awakened person (Skt. buddha) is motivated by love and compassion, and the wish to free all sentient beings from suffering.
As in other Buddhist traditions, investigation into the nature of the mind and reality plays an important part in Tibetan Buddhism. In fact it is probably the most philosophically sophisticated modern Buddhist tradition, not only having preserved the major philosophical schools that developed in India, but also with a vibrant tradition of philosophical thought, commentary, and debate. Sometimes it is asked whether Buddhism should be considered a religion or a philosophy. That question is based on a distinction between religion and philosophy that arose in seventeenth-century Europe; in Buddhism it makes little sense to try to tease them apart. Philosophy is present in Buddhism, but always in the service of liberation from suffering. Thus, despite certain similarities, comparisons between Buddhist philosophies and modern academic philosophy are likely to be unsatisfactory because of their quite different aims.
What makes Tibetan Buddhism different from other Buddhist traditions, such as the Theravada, or the Zen schools of Japan, is the great variety of practices that were brought to Tibet from India and incorporated into the Buddhist path. These practices comprise the three vehicles (so called because each represents a way of travelling the path to enlightenment): the early teachings of the Buddha, known in Tibet as the vehicle of the hearers, or the lesser vehicle (hinayana); the scriptures and practices of the greater vehicle (mahayana); and the full range of practices of the diamond vehicle (vajrayana). Since the practices of vajrayana derive from texts known as tantras, vajrayana is also commonly known as tantric Buddhism.
A little more should be said about these three vehicles. The hinayana refers to teachings that are now practiced by the Theravada sect in South and Southeast Asia, but since members of the Theravada certainly do not consider their path to be lesser, they do not accept it as a description. Thus the term hinayana is only used by those who consider themselves as belonging to the mahayana, as a way of distinguishing scriptures (sutra) and practices that are specific to their greater vehicle. The main differentiating feature of the mahayana is the importance of the ideal of the bodhisattva, who strives for liberation not only for him or herself, but for all living beings, and the practices associated with bodhisattvas as Tara, the embodiment of compassionate activity.
For most people it is the artwork, material culture, and ritual practices of the vajrayana that give Tibetan Buddhism its distinct character. Yet the vajrayana is considered to be an extension of the mahayana, not a departure, as the vajrayana is still based on the motivation to save all sentient beings from the cycle of suffering, but with more powerful practices to accomplish this aim. Thus there is no great disconnect from other Buddhist traditions. The great success of the practitioners and scholars of Tibet was to integrate the tantric practices of the vajrayana with the aims and philosophy of mahayana in coherent systems of practice (or paths), staring at the beginning of spiritual practice and ending with the state of enlightenment itself.
From The Spirit of Tibetan Buddhism by Sam van Schaik, published by Yale University Press in May 2016. Reproduced by permission.
If you are proud of your faith but unsure how to respond when people criticize it, you're not alone. As Christians, we are called to be ambassadors of Christ, to preach the Word confidently and boldly. However, it can be difficult proclaiming the Gospel to people who don't share our faith or beliefs, no matter how strong our support of God is. Debating non-believers and atheists in particular can be tricky, and can sometimes lead to heated disagreements, full-blown arguments and broken relationships. Though you may have differing beliefs, you can argue your faith intelligently and confidently. Before arguing with atheists in support of your faith, consider these things.
Be Prepared
If you are going to argue in support of your faith, be prepared. You will be debated. You will be attacked. It's just a reality of life as a believer. If you want to survive any argument, particularly one about God, you should be prepared to be bombarded with the questions that may be thrown at you. These arguments will counter your beliefs. Be ready to state your arguments relevantly and logically. When we enter into a relationship with Christ, we feel like weve found the secret to everything being good in life and want to profess it to others, particularly those we hold closest to us. Because of this, many of us make appeals to our atheist or agnostic friends, using emotional, faith-based language like When I trust in the Lord, I can feel God at work in my life when or God turned my life around after. Though theres nothing wrong with doing this, its just important to remember that when talking to non-religious friends that there is common perception that belief in God is simply motivated by irrational faith. When we rely on emotional appeals alone, we are ignoring the history of intellectualism and scholarship that is deeply rooted in the church. One of the greatest examples of this is Jesus and His own teaching. Through Jesus we see an amazing balance of faith and rationality. We can also go all the way back to figures like the apostle Paul, Augustine, and Niebuhr who argued faith with logic. There are great biblical scholars today like N.T. Wright who is a great example of this today.
Stay Away from Rude, Condescending Statements and Opinions
The same respect you want from the person you're speaking with is the same respect you should be willing to give. It's important that you not give them your unsolicited opinion about why the are an atheist. Not only is it rude and offensive, but it's also condescending and one of the worst ways to begin a dialogue with someone. Doing this can sabotage the dialogue from the beginning.
Are You Sharing the Same Definition of God?
If your atheist friend is referring to God as a fictitious man in the sky and you're referring to God as the creator and sustainer of the universe, your arguments may not land for each other. It's imperative that you know how the person you're arguing with defines God. Know that you may not be arguing about the same definition of God. If you think that you and your atheist friend aren't defining God the same way, you may be wasting your energy. Also remember that intellectualism is important.
Don't Look for Confrontation
When you get into a heated debate with an atheist, it's easy to feel you're being confronted, which leads to confrontation. It's important that you treat the debate as a conversation. Instead of viewing it as a confrontation, think of it as two people working together to get closer to truth. While there are large differences between Christianity and Atheism, the discussion doesn't have to turn into an explosive argument. You will be surprised how much progress you can make when both parties come into the conversation civil and humble. They will learn and appreciate what you're saying more if they know you are listening carefully and value what they are saying.
Remember, Evolution and Creation Aren't Mutually Exclusive
You can subscribe to Christianity and Science (yes, I said it). Most scientists (98 Percent) think humanity evolved over time, and many Christians also believe this. Though it is a common belief that evolution and creation are mutually exclusive, they aren't. Even if you're a Christian who doesn't believe in evolution or Science as it relates to creation, don't go down the rabbit hole with this one. Focus on the more important topic at hand: Jesus
It's OK to Be Honest
Don't start out being pretentious. As stated before, don't assume or suggest that them being atheist is a result of religion failing them in some way. Not only will this offend, but potentially cause greater confrontation. Begin the conversation from an honest space. It's ok to talk openly from the heart and admit that your belief is based on faith, if this is the case. Share your faith story and the impact having a relationship with Christ has had on your journey. You may even be called to acknowledge points where you've been weak in your faith walk, or how your belief in God was troubled, but how God intervened. While they may not share the same beliefs as you do, they will more likely than not have respect for your honesty and openness.
Lesli White is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth with a Bachelors degree in Mass Communications and a concentration in print and online journalism. In college, she took a number of religious studies courses and harnessed her talent for storytelling. White has a rich faith background. Her father, a Lutheran pastor and life coach was a big influence in her faith life, helping her to see the value of sharing the message of Christ with others. She has served in the church from an early age. Some of these roles include assisting ministry, mutual ministry, worship and music ministry and church council.
[To have Faith in Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you. C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis eloquent and winsome defense of the Christian faith originated as a series of BBC radio talks broadcast during the dark days of World War II. Those talks, which were collected together in 1952 to form a book, would become one of the most widely read presentations of essential Christianity every published. Decades after the end of World War II, the book is not only beloved, but extraordinarily influential. Here we explore why C.S. Lewis "Mere Christianity" still speaks today inspired on the book C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity: A Biography by George M. Marsden.
The Best Case for the Essentials of Othordox Christianity in Print.
In 2000, Christianity Today took a poll on the centurys most influential books, reaching out to more than 100 contributors and church leaders to nominate the 10 best religious books of the 20th century. Significance in this poll was defined spoke not only to importance when first published but also enduring significance for the Christian faith and church. "Mere Christianity" was the book nominated most often. This book was described as the best case for the essentials of orthodox Christianity in print. Lewis believed that theology should be accessible to any Christian, and his writing, particularly "Mere Christianity" addresses significant theological issues and invites readers to explore a greater depth of faith. Many Christians from a variety of church backgrounds note the influence of this book on their own conversion and understanding.
Lewis Apologetics
Lewis explains in the preface of the book that he is only writing to defend mere Christianity the core of the religion, the beliefs common to all denominations. His presentation was not only diverse but consistent, openly presenting his faith to a modern audience. If youre not familiar with Lewis story, he grew up in a Christian home, but abandoned his faith a young age and became a self-professed atheist. He had many objections to Christianity and was only able to return to Christianity when these objections were answered. He was then able to answer the objections of others with the answers he discovered. Lewis explains in Mere Christianity: My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? Lewis is presenting his faith to us, and throughout the book effectively translates theology into ordinary speech, which allowed the book to resonate across a larger audience, an audience who was better able to digest those themes when written in ordinary language. Many people familiar with his fiction work and the underlying and overt religious themes found in these books. His nonfiction books are just as effective, addressing significant religious themes that so many of us have questions about. We learn from Mere Christianity that its ok to have questions about faith, and we can discover these answers when we change the way we view things. We also see the importance of seeking truth and the power sharing your belief in Christ can have.
Lives Were and Continue to Be Changed By It
The growing popularity of the Mere Christianity had a lot to do with the individuals whose lives were changed by it. In Marsdens book C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity: A Biography he explains, One person whose faith was initiated or renewed by the book would share the enthusiasm with friends, some of whom would similarly find it helpful and recommend it or give it to friends. He writes in detail about Chuck Colsen, a special counsel to U.S. President was a one of the leading figures implicated in the Watergate Scandals that would end Nixons presidency. As his life was falling apart, Colson was encouraged by Tom Phillips, chairman of the board of the Raytheon Company to accept Christ. He then handed him a copy of "Mere Christianity" and urged him to read it, particularly the chapter from Christian Behaviour titled The Great Sin. Lewis began the chapter: There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one loathes when he sees it in someone else, and of which hardly and people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. Lewis said that he knew people who readily admitted other vices but I do not think I have ever heard anyone who was not Christian accuse himself of this viceThere is no faultwhich we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it in ourselves, the more we dislike it in others. Here, Lewis was speaking to a vice called Pride or Self-Conceit. In his continued conversation on pride, Lewis said pride has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and family since the world began.
Colson said these words seemed to pound him straight. He focused on the thesis of Lewiss book Jesus Christ is God, and in time, after wrestling with some issues, he began to accept that Jesus is Lord of my life. He offered a prayer of commitment: Lord Jesus, I believe you. I accept you. Please come into my life. I commit to you. The next year, he was indicted for obstruction of justice, pleaded guilty to some of the charges and served several months in prison. Though he was at what many would have considered his lowest point, Christ was in Him, and he was able to reflect Christ in his life. He became a leading champion of prison ministry and prison reform. He even wrote a book about his conversion Born Again.This book, and Mere Christianity that stood in the center of his conversion, attracted a wave of publicity, encouraging those who may be open to seeking Christian faith to do so.
The themes and messages in Mere Christianity not only spoke to the audience during the time of publish and distribution, but very much so to people exploring their faith today. The reason it still speaks today is because it answers so many questions people have related to faith by offering invaluable, timeless insight in a relatable way. Though the book has its critics, his case for Christianity still has ardent admirers today because of this reason.
Lesli White is an Editor for Beliefnet.com
Peaceful American Muslims are unfairly and ignorantly being lumped together with evil extremists in the aftermath of the Paris and San Bernardino attacks. Last month, Donald Trump -- dismayingly, still the Republican frontrunner -- further poisoned already toxic political discourse by proposing the U.S. ban all Muslims immigrants from entering the country. Unfortunately, this sort of rhetoric is widespread, and is unmistakably contributing to the increase of recent anti-Muslim hate crimes.
But anti-Muslim rhetoric is out of step with reality. Not only are Muslim Americans successfully integrating into U.S. society, they are actually more opposed to intolerance and violence than many other Americans. Nevertheless, many Americans are still succumbing to hysteria. The question is, why?
There is a natural human tendency to fear what we do not know. And most Americans simply do not know Muslims. Trump's divisive rhetoric reflects the dark side of unfamiliarity. However, the silver lining is that once more Americans become friends and neighbors with Muslims, anti-Muslim prejudice is bound to subside.
Muslims make up just 1 percent of the American population, sixty percent of whom have been in the U.S. for 25 years or less. Muslims tend to stand out because of unfamiliar religious and cultural customs, such as their prayer schedule, head scarves, and strange-seeming names. These differences sometimes breed suspicion, and in more extreme cases hostility, largely because these traditions are new to Americans.
At the same time, most Americans see and hear Muslims only on film or on the news, which disproportionately overlook the mundane, peaceful lives of ordinary Muslims, instead focusing on violent religious extremists.
A lack of personal contact with Muslims allows this distorted picture to flourish, leading many Americans to see their Muslims compatriots as a dangerous threat, rather than as fellow human beings and loyal Americans who contribute positively to society. Polls suggests that as many as seven in ten Americans seldom or never interact with Muslim Americans. Just three in ten are acquainted with a Muslim.
At one percent of the population, American Muslims are also too few to have much political clout, which makes them easy and safe target for unscrupulous politicians seeking to capitalize on ignorance and fear. It's easier to lump all Muslims together and scapegoat them as a group than it is to acknowledge that terrorism is a complex, multi-faceted problem.
Fear of the unknown is certainly not new. In America, new immigrant groups, from the Jews to the Irish to the Italians, have faced similar discrimination and generalized misunderstandings about their culture and people.
The cure for this is interaction, integration and acculturation. Muslim Americans are trying to assimilate, and are succeeding. But it can be difficult to swiftly overcome stereotypes when only 1 out of every 100 Americans is Muslim. It's a time-consuming process that many groups have had to suffer through.
But the evidence is clear. Increasing familiarity and assimilation does markedly reduce hostility to "strange" out-groups -- it breeds knowledge, understanding, and tolerance.
In 2009, Gallup measured public support for marriage equality and found that 40 percent of American adults saw it as "legally valid," while 57 percent disagreed. Only 27 percent of those who did not know someone who was gay thought gay marriage was "legally valid." But support for gay marriage was nearly double that among people who did know someone who is gay.
Gallup explained that those who know someone who is gay or lesbian are "significantly more supportive" of gay marriage. The polling found that interacting with gays and lesbians led to greater acceptance and more tolerant attitudes. Mere acquaintance makes a big difference.
Michael Shermer, editor-in-chief of Skeptic magazine, has said that LGBTQ role models in the public eye were "essential for awakening empathy and understanding, and thus for expanding the moral sphere ever outwards." Muslim Americans don't get this significant, sympathetic presence in media and popular culture. Lack of exposure renders them mysterious and threatening to many Americans.
Mona Chalbi at the FiveThirtyEight blog finds that the more likely a person is to know a Muslim, the more likely they will express positive feelings toward Muslims as a group.
This pattern holds regardless of the personal characteristics -- political affiliation, education, race or age. If Muslims are hostile toward Americans, you would expect exposure to them would breed more contemptment, not less.
Terrorism is real, and it's natural to be afraid of it. But these fears are exacerbated by politicians and pundits using ignorance of Islam and unfamiliarity with ordinary Muslims to incite panic across America. To restrict Muslim immigration due to the acts of a few unrepresentative extremists would be to base U.S. policy on fear instead of facts.
The rare cultural magic that transforms outsiders into insiders and turns fear into fraternity has worked for 300 years in the United States. The magic will work for Muslims, too, if we act like Americans and let it.
Originally appearing on The Huffington Post. Matthew La Corte is a Research Associate at the Niskanen Center where he focuses on immigration policy.
Who is the man from Vermont that has become a cultural phenomenon? Sen. (I-Vt.) Bernie Sanders stroked a fire with the millennial generation to become the first Jewish candidate to run in a presidential election. One of his talking points has been fighting corruption and greed on Wall Street and in Washington.
Do the elected officials in Washington stand with ordinary Americans - working families, children, the elderly, the poor - or will the extraordinary power of billionaire campaign contributors and Big Money prevail? The American people, by the millions, must send Congress the answer to that question. Let us wage a moral and political war against the billionaires and corporate leaders, on Wall Street and elsewhere, whose policies and greed are destroying the middle class of America.
There is more to the first liberal socialist running against Hillary for the 2016 Democratic nomination. It would be the first time someone Jewish would be nominated by a major party if he does win. Hes proud to be Jewish, and is too familiar of what happens when radical political regimes take over, he os trying to stop the cycle.
He explained during a CNN democratic debate: Look, my father's family was wiped out by Hitler in the Holocaust. I know about what crazy and radical and extremist politics mean, said Sanders who worked on a kibbutz in Israel.
I learned that lesson as a tiny, tiny child when my mother would take me shopping and we would see people working in stores who had numbers on their arms because they were in Hitler's concentration camp. I am very proud of being Jewish and that's an essential part of who I am as a human being. Sanders are not for any organized religion, however. He believes we are all connected.
He told the Washington Post in an interview: I want to be treated with dignity and respect, and I want other people to be treated with dignity and respect, the Brooklyn native shared.
When Sander entered the contest in 2015, the 74-year-old was quickly dismissed by mainline democrats, and party elites. While this thought process was not quickly challenged, voters said otherwise by propelling him to chop a double-digit deficiently and take Clinton in New Hampshire to win the states primary. Still the underdog, Sander completed a victory in the Michigan primary after trailing Clinton significantly. He remains a strong foe for the dems.
As a college student Sanders worked as an activist to fight racial discrimination. He worked in the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s and joined the March on Washington led by Martine Luther King, Jr. When he was student at the University of Chicago he was arrested for protesting segregated schools and was considered by the police an agitator. He has been an advocate to equal rights for 50 years. After a move to Vermont, Sanders worked for years in the state and gained a reputation as a socialist that eventually would lead him to Washington in 1990.
"What the American people want to see in their president is somebody who not necessarily can win every fight, but they want to see him stand up and fight for what he believes, take his case to the American people.
Corine Gatti is a Senior Editor at Beliefnet.com.
Excerpted from Mondays with My Old Pastor: Sometimes, All We Need Is a Reminder from Someone Who has Walked before Us . Thomas Nelson 2012. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson, Inc. www.thomasnelson.com.
Faithfulness is shown by staying put. The trees whose wood
is most sought after grow on the most rugged slopes of the
mountain.
The cross seems heavy at times, doesnt it?
In asking him the question, I knew I was standing in
front of a man who carried his cross with admirable faithfulness.
Perseverance is fundamental, he clarified. Deny yourself,
Jesus said, and take up your cross every day. There are spring
Christians who disappear in the winter. Theyre like the birds
that constantly migrate in search of warmer climate. An authentic
Christian is characterized by faithfulness. Have you heard of
Francis Nichol?
Never, I confessed.
I dont know much about him either, except a phrase that is
attributed to him, and a while back it left me pensive: When you
finally fully understand the root of the word success, you discover
that it means keep going forward. I think the picture its trying
to paint is one of a tree that endures bad weather, but it remains
there, where it was planted.
At times, I risked saying, the wind can blow so hard that it
threatens to uproot us.
Far from it, he countered determinedly. The storm serves
to strengthen us. Did you know that logging companies not only
have people who cut down trees but also people who specialize in
reforestation? They know where to plant a tree so its wood has
a better quality. When they go out to reforest a mountain, they
scan over its slopes until they find what they call stress factors.
Stress factors?
Yes, the stress factors are the areas on the mountain more
exposed to winds and storms. Right there, where the stress factors
are the most obvious, is where they plant the trees. From
day one these little trees understand the cruelty of winter and
the rigors of the summer. When strong storms come along, they
know that their only option to survive is to sink down their roots
deeper. And in times of extreme drought, they sink those roots
even farther down to find subterranean springs. During this difficult
process their trunks get harder. Of course not all survive,
but those that do will have better wood . . . the most desired and
sought after.
Then theres no doubt that suffering always strengthens us
when the wind isnt so strong as to knock us over.
"Thats how it is with trees, but not with us, my old pastor
observed. Thats why we have faith. Anxiety is able to keep us
awake all night, but faith is a marvelous pillow. The most important
thing is not starting the race, but rather the unwavering
determination to reach the finish line. Let me tell you a story.
It was his introduction phrase, so I got ready to listen to
another one of his interesting tales.
Theres a little anecdote of Leonardo da Vinci, the great painter,
sculptor, and inventor, about his painting The Last Supper, one
of the most copied and sold works of art in all of history. It took
da Vinci twenty years to finish, since it was so difficult at that
time to find people who could pose as models. In fact, he had
problems in starting the painting because he couldnt find a model
who could represent Jesus, someone who could reflect in his face
purity, nobility, and the loveliest feelings. Also, the model needed
to possess extraordinary manly beauty. Finally, he found a young
man with these characteristics, and it was the first figure of the
picture he painted.
Later, he went looking for the twelve apostles, whom he
painted together, leaving Judas Iscariots spot open, since he
couldnt find a suitable model. It had to be a person of mature age
who had a face with the traces of betrayal and greed. That is why
the painting remained unfinished for a long time, until they told
him of a terrible criminal who had been taken prisoner. Da Vinci
went to see him, and he was exactly the Judas he wanted to finish
his work. So he asked the mayor to allow the prisoner to pose for
him. The mayor, knowing the masters fame, gladly accepted and ordered that the prisoner be taken to the painters studio, chained
and accompanied by two guards.
During all that time, the prisoner showed no signs of emotion
for having been chosen as a model, but remained completely
quiet and distant. Finally, when da Vinci was satisfied with the
result, he called the prisoner over and showed him the painting.
When the prisoner saw it, he was greatly impressed and fell to
his knees, crying. Surprised, da Vinci asked why he was crying,
to which the prisoner responded: Master da Vinci, dont you
remember me?
After looking at him carefully, Da Vinci answered him, No,
I have never seen you.
Crying and asking for forgiveness from God, the prisoner
said to him, Master, I am the young man you chose nineteen
years ago to represent Jesus in this same painting.1
My old pastor was tired by the time he had finished his story.
Without saying anything to me, he closed his eyes, and I thought
he was sleeping.
I slowly got up to leave the room and let him rest, but when I
put my hand on the doorknob, I heard him calling me. With his
hand, he was making signs for me to come close.
Travel on the road of the cross until the end, he told me.
His eyes had a layer of water covering them, on which a smile was
cradled. Dont give up. The cross has its price . . . but there is
nothing more beautiful, or more worthy of embracing.
The night was like a dark, warm cloak when I left the house.
The moon had sketched my shadow, and beneath its aura I made the firm decision that I had to write all of this in a memory journal
the journal that you are reading right now.
I stopped once again in front of the rosebush planted in that
large tub. The white roses were still standing straight up, and
among them, the light night breeze was swaying the red ones from
the previous Monday, which were still fresh and moist. To their
side, a new one was beginning to open. Its few petals, though still
in a tight bud, were a purple color that almost bordered on black.
I stood there, next to the door, and looked up at the sky, at
the small bits of night that wrapped around the stars.
God is in love with us, my old pastor had told me. Nature
offers us a thousand gifts that demonstrate the love God has
for us.
Mondays with My Old Pastor: Sometimes, All We Need Is a Reminder from Someone Who has Walked before Us
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Facebook prides itself on remaining a social media platform where the news is robust and without influence from the staff, not so. When businessman and real-estate tycoon, Donald Trump, announced his candidacy in 2015, many staffers on the social media site asked for a meeting to talk about the coverage of Trump. The conversations escalated at Facebook headquarters after Trump's commitment to build a wall at the U.S. and Mexico border, creating conflict. According to reports, Facebook employees started to exclude stories from conservative outlets, like Fox News, from showing on the popular "Trending Topics" section. A damaging story was published regarding how Facebook employees suppressed conservative stories from the section, and it became more than a rumor--now it is a problem.
These "news curators," Gizmodo reported, purposely left out stories and injected selected stories of their choice into the module. "Depending on who was on shift, things would be blacklisted or trending," said the anonymous employee in an interview with Gizmodo. "This individual asked to remain anonymous, citing fear of retribution from the company. The former curator is politically conservative, one of a very small handful of curators with such views on the trending team." The employee continued: "I'd come on shift and I'd discover that CPAC or Mitt Romney or Glenn Beck or popular conservative topics wouldn't be trending because either the curator didn't recognize the news topic or it was like they had a bias against Ted Cruz."
Since the Gizmodo story, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg started damage control and called for meetings with conservative leaders. "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. 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, Zuckerberg wrote. "The reason I care so much about this is that it gets to the core of everything Facebook is and everything I want it to be. Every tool we build is designed to give more people a voice and bring our global community together. For as long as I'm leading this company this will always be our mission."
Zuckerberg continued to post his thoughts on the discussion regarding the "Trending Topics." He found no reason to believe that the report was true. If it is, the issues will be addressed as Facebook prides itself in giving all people a voice. Conservative talk-show host Glenn Beck and an adviser from Trump's camp are expected to meet Zuckerberg in Silicon Valley.
Zuckerberg is not a fan of Trump, however. Zuckerberg verbally went after Trump for his stance on the refugee situation and Trump's commitment on building the wall at the border. "Instead of building walls, we can help build bridges," Zuckerberg shared at the F8 developer conference. "It takes courage to choose hope over fear--whether we are welcoming a refugee fleeing war or an immigrant seeking opportunity." News outlets were once erroneously perceived to be a source of information without a story being skewed. Journalists were taught to be unbiased no matter what the subject was, or the story was assigned to another staffer. Facebook is not responsible to remain unbiased. Media outlets lean one way or another, even if they claim to remain neutral, none truly are. Facebook is not except from what every outlet does, be it conservative or liberal. Why are people so enraged and shocked? Newspapers have an editorial board who decide the candidate they will endorse. This is the same scenario. So, don't be upset or shocked, this is an old story that will continue, as no one is truly unbiased.
However, if Facebook wants to claim to give all a voice, blocking conservative news and news is not going to help the agenda. The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee feels differently and sent a letter regarding the suppression of conservative news in the "Trending Topics" section. Facebook has until the May 24th to respond, the Kansas City Star reported. "If Facebook presents its "Trending Topics" section as the result of a neutral, objective algorithm, but it is in fact subjective and filtered to support or suppress particular political viewpoints, Facebook's assertion that it maintains a platform for people and perspectives from across the political spectrum misleads the public."
The GOP believes the social media site's liberal bias, especially during election season, could have consequences. The Facebook Help Center defined how stories are picked for FB users: "The stories that show in your news feed are influenced by your connections and activity on Facebook. This helps you to see more stories that interest you from friends you interact with the most. The number of comments and likes a post receives and what kind of story it is can also make it more likely to appear in your news feed." Beck took to Facebook in response to the controversy.
Beck posted on his Facebook page that the meeting with Zuckerberg will be interesting as the CEO looks to provide a voice for everyone in social media. "How does a company who allowed voices to be heard in Iran and Egypt which sparked revolution silence voices of anyone here? I am trying to rearrange my schedule to see if I can make it. It would be interesting to look him in the eye as he explains and a win for all voices if we can come to a place of real trust with this powerful tool. Facebook is, to me, a tool not unlike radio, TV or even the telephone. It is as wide as broadcast but as personal as the telephone. We can connect with one another the world over unlike anything man has ever seen before. These are exciting times for personal freedom, pursuits and identity. If it is to be as ubiquitous as Alexander Graham Bell's invention, it must remain as unbiased as the telephone--otherwise it too will fracture or fall apart over time due to competitors who will carve out their own place without agenda."
Corine Gatti-Santillo is a freelance digital journalist, editor, and content producer. She is also the The Christian Post Voices Editor. She is also a former editor at Beliefnet.com.
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America has become increasingly more sedentary with the amount time spent on the Internet and social media. Harvard reported that we have too much sitting time. "There is good evidence that cutting back on TV time can help with weight control-part of the reason why many organizations recommend that children and teens limit TV/media time to no more than two hours per day. Reducing screen time and sedentary time are important targets for obesity prevention."
We can do something and experts believe no matter what, we need to get moving if we're going to be healthy as a nation like the Harvard quote mentioned. You might be thinking, I work in an office all day, I can't even get away from my desk most days, isn't this too unrealistic?" Yes, if it means you leaving to go to the gym unless there is one at or near work. The reality is we were meant to be in motion, and sitting all day can strain muscles, and cause blood clots. Here is what you can do to combat the lack of time, even at the office.
You can park further away at work in the morning, and keep a pair of sneakers on hand. If there is an elevator to get you to the office, take the stairs, instead. This is an efficient way to get your body going and this will work the legs, and the cardiovascular system. Take the stairs at work during the week at lunch, and if you want to add more intensity walk up and down the stairs as well. Do this two to three times a week.
Start a walking group at work with people that can hold you accountable to stay on the fitness path. Organize a walk. If you have time, have your fitness partner join you at the gym. Another option is to take a Zumba or yoga class at lunch if time permits--even if you can go for 30 minutes. It is better than nothing.
Find an empty office or room to do jumping jacks or lunges. Start jumping rope WebMD suggested, well, sort of. "Simulate jumping rope for a minute: Hop on alternate feet or on both feet at once. An easier version is to simulate the arm motion of turning a rope, while alternately tapping the toes of each leg in front." You also can do desk push-ups. Put your hands on the desk while standing, and walk backwards to do push-ups.
Start taking fitness breaks during the day, the Mayo Clinic recommended. "Rather than hanging out in the lounge with coffee or a snack, take a brisk walk or do some gentle stretching. For example, face straight ahead, then lower your chin to your chest. Or, while standing, grab one of your ankles, or your pant leg and bring it up toward your buttock. Hold each stretch for 15 to 30 seconds." Another tip that works is to bring some fitness gear to work like resistance bands, cords, or weights.
Don't forget to stretch, WebMD offered. "Let your head [roll] over so that your right ear nearly touches your right shoulder. Using your hand, press your head a little lower (gently, now). Hold for 10 seconds. Relax, and then repeat on the other side. Try this yoga posture to relieve tension: Sit facing forward, then turn your head to the left and your torso to the right, and hold a few seconds." This is so easy to do during the day to help the neck, shoulders, and back muscles
Try suggesting that your company would encourage physical fitness with incentives for those who want to stay fit. This can be a gym membership at a reduced rate, or hosting a fitness class by partnering at the YMCA. People are more productive, less stressed, and employees are less likely to get sick. Fit employees are happier, and will have better attitudes as well. "A well-managed exercise programs improve the quality of work-life for employees and management alike," author Victor Lipman wrote in a Forbes column.
Finally, visualize progress, even at work. Make health a priory by doing something everyday that will make you better. This can be walking the dog in the morning, jogging, running, or doing yoga before work, if you can't fit any exercise in. Make an effort to create these small changes during the week and it will help you long-term, and the body will applaud you. Obesity has increased over years, but we can take action to counteract too much sitting time, even at work.
Corine Gatti-Santillo is a freelance digital journalist, editor, and content producer. She is also the The Christian Post Voices Editor. She is also a former editor at Beliefnet.com.
Students at Shahjahal Science and Technology University in Sylhet, Bangladesh, take part in a protest against the public humiliation of a Hindu teacher, May 17, 2016.
Bangladeshs High Court on Wednesday gave authorities three days to explain why they took no action against an MP and others who humiliated a Hindu teacher in public after a mob attacked him for allegedly defaming Islam.
Shymal Kanti Bhakta, a member of the Hindu minority and headmaster at Piyar Sattar Latif High School in central Narayanganj district, was assaulted and made to sit in front of the MP and the crowd on Friday, holding his ears as punishment for alleged comments against Bangladeshs main religion.
The scene was filmed on someones mobile phone. The video has caused widespread outrage after going viral on social media.
The court has taken [the case] seriously and asked the home secretary, the law secretary, deputy commissioner [of Narayanganj], superintendent of police [of Narayanganj], administrator of Bandar [sub-district] and the Bandar police why legal actions would not follow against the MP and other persons who were responsible, former Deputy Attorney-General M.K. Rahman told reporters outside the courthouse, according to local media.
The police superintendent in Narayangaj had three days to submit the report, or else the court would hear the case, Rahman said.
On Wednesday, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told local media that his ministry would abide by the courts order. He called the assault on Bhakta unacceptable.
#wearesorrysir
A local Member of Parliament, Selim Osman, rescued Bhakta from the attack but allegedly forced him to sit and hold his ears while seeking an apology in public. In Bangladeshi society, making someone sit and hold his or her ears is viewed as an act of public humiliation.
The video of the incident that was uploaded on Facebook showed police officers standing by idly and acting as spectators.
When the footage went viral scores of people condemned the incident and demanded punishment for Osman and others. Protestors launched a campaign on social media using hashtags #sorrysir and #wearesorrysir, and where people posted pictures of themselves holding their ears.
The protest prompted Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid and Law Minister Anisul Huq to condemn the incident.
Nahid on Wednesday said that his ministry was investigating the incident, according to local reports.
We will take action against the persons responsible as soon as we get the probe report, Nahid said.
Physically assaulting and humiliating the teacher is a punishable offense. Nobody can take the law in their own hands, Law Minister Anisul Huq told BenarNews.
Rally planned
Elsewhere, the general secretary of the Hindu-Christian-Buddhist Association said that it planned to stage a rally in Dhaka on Friday to protest the actions against the Hindu teacher.
Nobody could testify that Bhakta defamed Islam. He was physically assaulted, humiliated and finally terminated from service without any fault. If the government does not take action against the MP and the culprits, we will assume that the state is in favor of the offenders, Rana Dasgupta told BenarNews.
The high courts action on Wednesday followed an April 28 ruling in southwestern Bagerhat district court where two Hindu teachers, Krishnapada Mouli and Ashok Kumar, were sentenced to six months in jail for making blasphemous comments about Islam.
Under Bangladeshi law, hurting religious sentiment can be treated as a criminal offense.
Based on rumor
The allegations against Bhakta stem from an incident on May 8, when he punished a 10th grade student at his school, local media reports quoted the headmaster as saying.
The student complained about the punishment to the schools management committee, which met with Bhakta on Friday and later suspended him.
However, the student did not claim that Bhakta had made a blasphemous comment about Islam, committee member Syed Borhanul Islam told BenarNews.
As the meeting went on, some people announced from the nearby mosques loudspeaker that Bhakta had defamed Islam. Hundreds of people gathered at the school compound and attacked Bhakta. He was beaten up mercilessly, resident Mohiuddin Ahmed told BenarNews.
The whole incident happened based on a rumor. This is very unfortunate for Bandar people and the country, said Ahmed, who witnessed the attack.
Osman told reporters that he forced Bhakta to sit holding his ears to stave off the tension among the people, according to local media accounts.
Shahriar Sharif contributed to this report.
Bayu Oktavianto sits in front of his house in Central Java, May 17, 2016.
The 11 men who boarded the Indonesian tugboat Brahma 12 in southern Philippine waters on that Saturday afternoon in late March wore Filipino military uniforms, sailor Bayu Oktavianto told BenarNews.
He and his crewmates soon realized that they were not dealing with Philippine soldiers, but with members of the Abu Sayyaf Group, an Islamic militant group based in the southern Philippines.
Once they boarded our ship, they immediately tied us with ropes as they had only five pairs of handcuffs, Bayu, a 23-year-old resident of Central Java province said as he recounted his 36-day ordeal along with nine shipmates in the custody of Abu Sayyaf, a group reputed for taking foreigners hostage and killing some of their captives.
Abu Sayyaf took the 10 Indonesian sailors hostage in the waters of Tawi-Tawi province on March 26 and freed them on May 1. During that period, however, the group executed a Canadian hostage, 68-year-old John Ridsdel, after it said that its ransom demands had not been met.
Taken to an island
Bayu showed no fear as he sat at his home in Mendak, Central Java, telling the story of his captivity.
On the afternoon of March 26, Mahmud, a shipmate from Kalimantan province, suggested to the others that they all claim to be married with children and that the non-Muslims in their group try to pass themselves off as Muslims, said Bayu who is single.
At first the militants did not believe that the Indonesians were all Muslims, and made each of them recite two sentences of syahadat, the Muslim creed. Three of the crew members who were Christians, Peter Barahama, Peti Alvarez and Julian Philips, could not pass the test.
Initially they just wanted to take three of us, but we agreed that if they wanted to get us, they would have to take all of us, Bayu said.
By his account the kidnappers used the tugboat to take the crew to an unidentified island, arriving at about 2 a.m. the next day. The Brahma 12 was left floating in the sea without the crew, after all valuables were taken.
On the island, dozens of men armed with weapons and who wore military uniforms were waiting. Bayu said he saw hundreds of militants dressed in fatigues and talking in Indonesian, Malay, English and Tagalog.
We were not their target
One of the militants told them that they should not have been taken hostage, according to Bayu.
But since they already had snatched the 10 crew members, they needed to complete the mission, he said.
Dozens of bamboo houses with roofs made of coconut leaves were hidden in the islands forest. Bayu and the others were confined to a long building with several rooms, including bathrooms.
He said he saw no women, children or other prisoners.
While in captivity, the crew sat as militants guarded them. They ate once or twice a day.
When the food was ready, we were called to join them, Bayu said.
Sometimes their captors threatened them by sticking a gun to their faces, but there was no physical abuse. In fact, the handcuffs and ropes were removed and militants told them they would be released someday.
The reason is because we are Indonesians. Their Quran teacher is from Indonesia and we were not their target, said Bayu, who believes that some of the militants were fellow Indonesians.
The militants were diligent in conducting the five-time daily prayers and spending much of their time reading the Quran, he recalled. He and his colleagues were invited to join in the prayers and attend Quran lessons.
I usually was not on time in performing salat. Now I do it on time and I read the Quran too, said Bayu.
Freedom
Later on during his captivity, a bespectacled bald man met Bayu and his colleagues to tell them they soon would be released. That night, a member of the Abu Sayyaf also said that a ransom would be paid soon.
The next morning, May 1, all 10 crew members were taken to the island of Sulu where the militants told them they were free.
One of them told me that we had to leave immediately. If we are one minute late, we could die, Bayu said, recalling how he saw several militants carrying sacks which, he believed, contained ransom money.
A waiting truck delivered the 10 to the home of the governor of Sulu, Abdusakur Tan, where they were instructed to shower and change clothes before being fed. The 10 men were famished, and chose to eat first.
After greeting the sailors in Jakarta following their release, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said the government had paid no ransom to secure the release. She said that their freedom had been secured through diplomatic efforts.
Coordinating Minister for Political, Law and Security Affairs, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan told reporters that the government remained committed to not paying ransoms for hostages.
On April 19, the tugboats owner had agreed to pay for their release, but has since not commented on whether it paid the 50 million Philippine pesos (U.S. $1.07 million) demanded by Abu Sayyaf.
On May 11, the day the Indonesian government announced that four other Indonesian sailors had been freed from captivity by another armed group in the southern Philippines, Retno declined to give details about their release.
As for Bayu, he is savoring his regained freedom but said he planned to return to his job as a sailor after celebrating the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr on July 6.
His mother, Rahayu, said that she would let her son return to the sea despite concerns about his safety.
Any kind of work definitely has its own risk, she told BenarNews.
A passenger passes through an immigration counter for international departures at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, May 2, 2014.
Authorities in Malaysia have introduced a policy that bans citizens who discredit or ridicule the government from traveling abroad, according to a local daily, drawing criticism from civil liberty advocates.
Anyone who runs down the Government or memburukkan kerajaan [smears the government] in any manner will be barred from going abroad, a source in the Immigration Department told The Star newspaper.
Citizens can be barred from traveling abroad for up to three years, the source said following a foreign travel ban imposed on the chairwoman of the Bersih grassroots coalition, which prevented her from boarding a flight to South Korea where she was to pick up the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights.
Immigration Director-General Sakib Kusmi later confirmed with the newspaper the existence of the new policy, saying that owning a passport was a privilege and not a right.
Because the government has the power to issue international passports to its citizens under the aegis of the king, the [g]overnment has the discretion to either issue, defer or revoke the travel document, Sakib said.
BenarNews was unable to reach Sakib for comment.
Punishment without trial
Mohamad Haniff Khatri, a prominent Malaysian lawyer, reacted to the report by describing the policy as an example of the government abusing its power in unrestrained way and restricting the liberties of activists and critics.
By arbitrarily imposing bans without that individual firstly, being charged for any specific offence, and secondly, without that person being found guilty. Its a punishment without trial. That is the issue, Haniff told BenarNews.
Arbitrary travels bans should not should not be occurring in Malaysia especially if the Malaysian government claims to be progressive and democratic, according to another commentator, Wan Saiful Wan Jan who heads the Institute of Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), a local think-tank.
The freedom of movement, which includes the right to travel is a universal human right. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, which the Malaysian government has claimed to adopt and uphold, specifies that everyone has the right to leave the country and to return, he told BenarNews, adding the government had also failed to understand that Malaysian citizens have a right to criticize its policies and actions.
She should have checked with Immigration
The issue came to light after Bersih leader Maria Chin Abdullah said Malaysian immigration officials had barred her from flying to South Korea on Sunday.
Bersih, a movement that advocates clean government, transparency and fair elections, last year organized massive rallies in Kuala Lumpur and other Malaysian cities that called for the removal of Prime Minister Najib Razak over corruption allegations.
On Wednesday, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamad defended the ban, saying that outspoken Malaysian politicians and activists in particular should check their travel status with the Immigration Department before booking international trips.
With regards to Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin, she should have checked with Immigration if she still was barred from leaving the country or not. Dont just wait, check with Immigration, a separate report in The Star quoted the deputy minister as saying.
Few Malaysians have been barred from leaving the country for discrediting the country, but it was up to the discretion of the departments head, Sakib Kusmi, to ban foreign travel for certain citizens, Nur Jazlan added.
In March, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told parliament that 827,921 Malaysians had been barred from leaving the country for going bankrupt (200,727), failing to repay students loans (118,892), and committing security-related offences (520). The remaining 507,782 were banned from traveling abroad for various other offenses, according to local media reports.
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By Charlie Trimm
Gods role as a divine warrior is most likely one of his more neglected characteristics. Some today have gone so far as to reject any talk today about God being a divine warrior, viewing it as tired metaphor that should be retired. But most Christians have simply stopped thinking of God as one who fights. Not only does it not seem to mesh well with the picture of the peaceful Jesus but it is also out of step with most of contemporary culture. In spite of these concerns, looking at the martial actions of YHWH in the Old Testament (YHWH is a transliteration of Gods name in Hebrew) can help us understand better the God that we serve.
One of the most important aspects of YHWH as a divine warrior is why he fights: to combat injustice and bring order to the world. The first major battle YHWH fights in the Old Testament is against the Egyptians in the exodus (the topic of my dissertation). YHWH does not fight them because he hates the Egyptians, but to rescue Israel from Egyptian oppression. Many other examples could be given from the Old Testament of God rescuing his people when they called out for help in the midst of oppression.
While the idea of a divine warrior might seem quaint to many today, I think that we have retained the concept but changed its form. The basic idea of a divine warrior is calling on someone outside the system to come and fix a problem inside the system. The Israelites saw no way within the system of ancient Egypt that they would be rescued (for example, the law courts would rule on their behalf to stop their oppression), so they appealed to their God, a divine warrior who was greater than the system. Today, action movies provide a way to dream about various solutions to the problems of our contemporary world from outside the system.
The 2012 movie Jack Reacher, starring Tom Cruise, portrays the adventures of a former military policeman who brings justice to an innocent man convicted of murder by finding the true criminal through legally suspicious means. The tagline illustrates the desire for a divine warrior: The law has limits. He does not. When the system (in this case, the legal system) does not work, we desire someone or something outside of it to fix the problem. The scene in Iron Man in which Tony Stark rescues the civilians from the terrorist attack is a similar dream about solving a contemporary problem from outside the system. We may not call on divine warriors today, but many of our solutions for injustice sound suspiciously like divine warriors, such as American military strength, the UN, or technology in general (watch the original Star Trek TV series from the 1960s for the belief that science can solve most of the worlds problems).
Even though our systems often work quite well, we still see a world that is badly broken. We can partially heal this broken world, and I am excited to hear stories about Christians doing just that (including many Biola graduates!). However, ultimately we need a divine warrior to come and permanently end injustice and bring order to our broken world. The end of our Bibles portrays just such a picture: Jesus the divine warrior returning to earth in glory (Rev 19). As we are surrounded by injustice and cruelty, we look forward to that day when the divine warrior will come to set everything right.
For more, visit the Good Book Blog, a seminary faculty blog from Talbot School of Theology.
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.
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With digital being called the "4th Industrial Revolution" it has been placed at the forefront of the marketing agenda. It's on every blog, website, podcast, radio station and magazine. If you are not aware of us being hit by the Digital Disruption, we have an extensive knowledge of what this means for marketers and the media industry in Kenya.
Larry Madowo Mark Nendo
We have called in the experts across East Africa to answer the pivotal questions with Larry Madowo and Mark Nendo giving us their thoughts on the most up-to-date tech/digital innovations that will drive the change and gain momentum. As the millennials are such a large part of the population, they touch on the latest trends in this area.
Larry Madowo is Kenyas most influential name in media, reaching more people than any other individual. He hosts highly rated shows on television and radio as well as a popular newspaper column. His work or commentary has appeared on a host of international outlets including CNN, BBC, Forbes, RTE Ireland, ABC News Australia, Tech Crunch and Public Radio International. He is an experienced host of high-profile international events and has done work for huge names such as Coca-Cola, Multichoice Africa, CNBC Africa, Ericsson, Samsung, the Rwandan government, Huawei, Safaricom, and countless others.
Mark Nendo founded Nendo, a Nairobi-based consultancy that tracks how everyday people are using digital technology in order to help brands engage with them. He is a professional speaker and educator, his repertoire has seen him address over 10,000 people in 30 countries across the world on topics around the African continent's rise across youth, technology, media and innovation. As a thought leader, he has been featured across dozens of global media outlets including the BBC, CNN, Deutsche Welle, CCTV, Al Jazeera and publications such as Fast Company, Wired, The Atlantic to name a few.
Stand a chance to win a seat at the Dentsu Aegis Network SSA, DigiTalk in Nairobi Kenya on 19 May 2016, where we will discuss how tech will revolutionise Kenya. All you need do to win a seat to this exclusive event is send a tweet to our @DentsuAegisSSA Twitter handle with #DANDTKenya. There are only five seats up for grabs so get those fingers tweeting.
Nick Alexander, director of Business Development for Africa, Kwikspace
We interviewed Nick Alexander, director of Business Development for Africa at Kwikspace Modular Buildings (Kwikspace) to find out what some of the hurdles are in doing business in Africa, and the trends driving Africas building industry.
Is there a different business model you took to enter the African market?
Absolutely, yes. We make sure that we follow our existing clients wherever they need us and we also plan for careful entry into specific countries. The thorough management of commercial and country risk are also critical to our success.
Is South Africa still the gateway into Africa?
Its the gateway for Southern Africa, yes. But for most businesses, Kenya and Tanzania are better suited for East Africa, while Ghana is a good entry point for project work in the west. In our type of business, logistics are extremely important and you really cant manage this from far off. We need our local suppliers and partners and we value the people we work with, especially in other countries and regions of Africa.
What hurdles do companies face when doing business in Africa?
I think there is often a lack of understanding of local business conditions, each country is completely unique in that way. Often companies fail to use local resources and have no long-term commitment to a market. Patience is key, as many businesses expect results too quickly. There are also, in certain instances, logistical and bureaucratic issues.
What trends have been driving Africas building industry in the last five to 10 years?
In the early to mid-2000s mining was very strong but has gradually slowed, with reduced demand for commodities. We are also seeing a current backlog of infrastructure such as roads, rail, ports and dams.
How would you describe the level of competition while doing business in Africa?
It depends largely on the country and the different business sectors. Many companies view Africa as a continent of easy opportunities, but this often leads to failure. In reality there are very few companies with enough long-term commitment to understand regional markets.
What advice would you give to investors and companies who are entering the African market for the first time?
Investigate all opportunities thoroughly and find local companies you can work with. Assess risks and commercial matters scrupulously. Most importantly, give it time.
Nick Alexander is director of Business Development for Africa at Kwikspace Modular Buildings (Kwikspace). He has dedicated his career to business development on the continent. Alexander is equipped with significant experience in these fields, with time spent as business development director for sub-Saharan Africa at Fluor. He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Witwatersrand and a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration (PDBA) from the Gordon Institute of Business Science. Alexander has worked with international clients throughout Africa on large-scale projects.
This week, we find out what's really going on behind the selfie with Glynn Venter, executive creative director of Haas Advertising Collective and SA chair of the John Caples Awards, New York.
Haas it, my brew!
1. Where do you live, work and play?
Venter: I live in an industrial loft in Woodstock, above a factory like in the movies. I work in Cape Towns Design and Innovation Precinct; in a beautiful, old heritage building that we bought to host The Haas Collective. The collective consists of three businesses: Haas Advertising, Haas Coffee and Haas Art & Design. I play at work. If youve ever been to Haas, youll know what I mean.
2. Whats your claim to fame?
Venter: My claim to fame would be making other people famous. I believe in the sentiment that you are only as good as those you surround yourself with so I surround myself with best breed of people that have the same values and goals. People who are passionate and self-driven and, of course, winning a few awards while having fun. At heart, Im an entrepreneur, I am a creative businessman and I believe that you can solve business problems with creative ideas.
3. Describe your career so far.
Venter: I studied for seven years (locally and internationally) and completed my masters degree. My career started at Delaneys, I made creative director at the age of 26, and started my own advertising agency (part of the Old Shanghai Firecracker group) at 28. I sold that to the IPG group (FCB South Africa) and joined FCB South Africa.
I headed up four different divisions at FCB, merged all the creative studios into one integrated studio and, with creative partner, Francois de Villiers, headed the studio up as ECD. I was also an FCB board member (SA), an FCB holding board member (Africa) and part of the groups creative exco.
Ive won and judged some of the most prestigious award shows around the world, including Cannes Lions, D&AD, John Caples, Loeries, Pendoring, Assegais, Apex and more, and I currently hold the South African chair for the John Caples Awards in New York.
After 12 years with the FCB group, I left to start my own business again. Now, operating for almost five years, with creative partners and legends like Francois de Villiers, Francois Irvine and Tarryn Burton, we have created one of the most exciting ventures Ive ever been involved in The Haas Collective.
4. Tell us a few of your favourite things.
Venter: Im a fitness fanatic, a collector of art and a collector of cars my prize possession being my 1967 Mustang Fastback. I love the outdoors and camping and have recently taken up surfing, not an easy task!
5. What do you love about your industry?
Venter: I love the fact that the people within the industry can be friends. Although we compete, there is a united front thats present when it comes to the industry. The other business that I am in, the coffee business, is the complete opposite. So its always refreshing to see how we behave in the ad industry Yes there are egos, but frankly, I dont care about anyone with an ego.
6. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists.
Venter: Work starts at 9am for me and as Im trying to stay fit and in shape, my workday also includes trying to get seven meals into my body. I eat a lot, as it powers my mind and body to do the things I need to do.
Haas Advertising is an informal environment. We are not a sweat shop and Id never want it to be one. We allow our people to do the things they love we dont work weekends (unless we are pitching) and make sure everyone has a life outside the agency.
My day consists of reviews, brainstorms and meetings, new business developments, strategic sessions, new product development or brand extensions. I also dedicate some of my time to the coffee and restaurant business and then to the whole collective as well, so the day just does not have enough hours. I end my day off on a high by training at gym and usually arrive home after 8pm.
7. What are the tools of your trade?
Venter: A creative mind, taking chances, collaborating, measuring success and learning from mistakes.
8. Who is getting it right in your industry?
Venter: Without a doubt, Joe Public! I have huge respect for Pepe and Gareth and, of course, not forgetting my pride Xolisa Dyeshana.
9. What are you working on right now?
Venter: We have recently won two new accounts: Solar Capital, the biggest renewable energy company in the southern hemisphere; and LottoStar, an online betting company, as well as a new venture for the Haas Collective (the fourth business pillar) and the day-to-day running of all the businesses.
10. Tell us some of the buzzwords floating around in your industry at the moment, and some of the catchphrases you utter yourself.
Venter: Digital... everyone is talking digital and few really know what it means. The rest of the buzzwords I leave to the strategic guys. Theres one that I really like massclusivity I mean, how bizarre is that statement?
11. Where and when do you have your best ideas?
Venter: No specific place or time, sometimes they come, sometimes they dont.
12. Whats your secret talent/party trick?
Venter: I dont think I can mention it here!
13. Are you a technophobe or a technophile?
Venter: I love technology when it works. The one thing that Ive learned is Restart your computer or Is your machine switched on?
14. What would we find if we scrolled through your phone?
Venter: Endless conversations and a huge amount of photographs.
15. What advice would you give to newbies hoping to crack into the industry?
Venter: Be prepared to work, take orders and make good coffee.
Simple as that. You can read more about Haas by clicking here, and interact with Venter via Twitter and Instagram.
*Interviewed by Leigh Andrews.
The World News Media Congress, which takes place in Cartagena from 12 to 14 June 2016, will present a just-published WAN-IFRA research report on the contentious topic of ad blocking, which has caught the attention of news publishers the world over, serving as a wakeup call on improving overall online user experience.
The 76-page report, Ad Blocking: The implications and strategies for news publishers, is the industrys most comprehensive research to date on ad blocking, and is the culmination of WAN-IFRAs broad initiative on the topic that began last summer when the global association brought together some of the leading publishers, associations, tech companies and more to address this growing threat.
There was a clear agreement then among everybody around the table that this was an increasingly critical matter to address collectively, said Vincent Peyregne, CEO of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers. This eventual global task force helped us to guide the work we needed to carry out, with the report being one natural and very necessary outcome of this effort.
In December, WAN-IFRA announced a Global Ad Blocking Task Force, comprised of publishers in Europe, North America and Asia and supported by WAN-IFRA, which will operate as a knowledge centre for publishers to share best practices, and facilitate discussion among other international trade bodies, stakeholders. It will act as a unifying voice, with the task of supporting the industry on both global and local levels.
Task force discussion
On the final day of the World News Media Congress, Ben Shaw, WAN-IFRAs director of global advisory, who is the associations topic champion on ad blocking, will answer some of the hard questions that publishers have regarding this complex issue.
We didnt set out to provide one clear solution to this growing problem, but to identify, examine and share best-practice among global publishers, to raise awareness, to offer some guiding principles, and to continue to engage with all parties involved and closely monitor the issue, said Shaw of the task force. The report offers excellent insights to the numerous issues surrounding ad blocking, and some common recommendations about how publishers should tackle the topic.
With AdBlock Plus announcing just this week that it now has 100 million active installations (double what it claimed in January 2016), ad blocking is clearly an ongoing and growing threat for news publishers.
Case studies
The majority of ad blockers are engaged and they want to improve the site. They do not want to block the site but they are trying to make us understand why they are doing it, says Elnaz Esmailzadeh, head of commercial for VG TV in Norway, one case study featured in the report.
Through nearly a dozen case studies, the report examines how some publishers are already taking action on ad blocking. This includes a variety of publisher approaches, from individual titles taking action, including London-based City A.M., to groups, such as Axel Springer, as well as national approaches, such as an initiative by Swedish publishers, as well as one in the Netherlands, both of which are working with their national chapters of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).
Five key results from the report
1. Ad blocking use continues to grow, so publishers must take action 2. The most effective solution is likely to include a variety of actions, such as to improve the overall ad experience for your users who are not using ad blockers
3. Publishers should focus on mobile-ready advertising opportunities that diversify online
4. Many publishers have already started experimenting with a variety of approaches to ad blocking users. 5. For all the talk of data, readers are actual people. If publishers are going to stop more people from resorting to ad blocking, everything must flow from this trust.
In line with this last point, the report also addresses the vital issue of users' rights and privacy, which could legally limit what publishers in some countries are allowed to do, even in determining whether a visitor to their website has ad blocking software installed. The report is available to WAN-IFRA members to download free and for non-members to purchase.
Nurses make up the largest group of healthcare providers in South Africa. The performance of any healthcare system is directly dependent on the quality of care afforded by these professionals.
Yet in 2015, a report by the University of Witwatersrand revealed that over 60% of nurses admitted reporting that they felt too tired to work while on duty. According to the study, this could be linked to the 70% of South African nurses who admitted to moonlighting or working overtime due to a massive skills shortage in this under-resourced sector.
A profession in crisis
These statistics depict a profession in crisis and have alarming implications for the level of patient care provided. Abel Pienaar, professor of nursing at the North-West University and chairperson: education committee, South African Nursing Council (SANC) says that if South Africa is to meet its goal of achieving universal health, it first needs to address the skills shortage and the resulting casualisation of nurses.
Major challenges
In 2010, there were an estimated 81,925 public sector vacancies for all categories of nurses in the country. The key dimensions of the nursing crisis in South Africa are well-recognised, says Pienaar. Between the slow uptake of young men and women into the profession and an ageing workforce, the skills pool is currently under tremendous pressure.
Both public and private sectors face major challenges to produce, recruit, and retain skilled nurses. In a bid to keep bright medical professionals, young nurses are often fast tracked into senior positions by management. However, this practice often deprives these capable nurses of clinical expertise and the opportunity to specialise.
Lack of clinical experience
To train young nurses you need to draw on clinical experience and competence because nursing is a clinical profession. However, the current trend, especially in universities, is to retain talented young graduates for teaching and learning.
Subsequently when these talented individuals are eventually reabsorbed into the nursing education system, they are unable to offer great insight into the profession because they lack the necessary clinical experience, points out Pienaar.
Budget constraints
He also points out that the national health budget for nursing has not been adjusted for two consecutive years. Budget constraints lead to skill shortage. The lack of investment in clinical specialisation, both in the public and private sector, puts additional pressure on an already shrinking pool of expertise. If we dont train and educate these health professionals we run the risk of producing nurses with mediocre competency. This will inevitably result in the delivery of sub-optimal patient care.
Not unique to South Africa
However, the nursing crisis is not unique to South Africa. Described by both the Global Health Workforce Alliance and the World Health Organisation (WHO), the worldwide shortage of nurses is the result of the recruitment of top-quality nurses from developing countries around the world to work in developed countries.
Nurses with the best education and the resources to fulfil international requirements are the most likely to emigrate for better pay and improved working conditions. South African nurses are one of the most sought-after health professionals in the world, says Pienaar. Unlike their global counterparts, South African nurses receive comprehensive training across all nursing disciplines. They graduate as well rounded medical professionals with the flexibility to work in any nursing discipline.
This loss of expertise results in a shortage of skilled labour from where its most needed, leaving already fragile health systems even more vulnerable and adds a tremendous amount of pressure on the remaining workforce to meet the ever-growing healthcare demands, he adds.
Casualisation
But, Pienaar believes that while the skills problem in South Africa is exacerbated by global competition for health workers, the casualisation of nurses is an immediate problem that needs to be addressed.
A 2010 cross-sectional study found that agency nursing and moonlighting two manifestations of casualisation in nursing were common. The term casualisation refers to the employment of workers on short-term contracts, without the rights and benefits associated with the standard contract of employment.
Despite the Basic Conditions of Employment being the only legal framework in place to regulate working hours and prevent nurse fatigue, many in a primary full-time job will moonlight and hold a supplementary position with a temporary employment service provider or nursing agency.
In theory, approval for moonlighting should only be granted if it does not impede the effective or efficient performance of the employee and, once approval is granted, implementation requires careful monitoring. But, this is often not the case, says Pienaar.
Unregulated, many South African nurses are working excessively long hours. Pienaar explains that overwork, however, leads to fatigue and fatigue leads to a greater chance of mistakes. Excessive overtime has been shown to impact negatively on patient care and increase the risk of compassion fatigue which includes desensitisation and loss of empathy.
Unauthorised absences
In the University of Witwatersrand study, nurses also reported high rates of unauthorised absences leading to further understaffing, overwork, and health worker exhaustion. Of all nurses, 10,9% indicated that they had taken sick leave when not actually sick and 5,6% had missed work without permission.
While a minority of nurses in the study (2,9%) reported a medico-legal incident, the study found that 33,7% of those who had done moonlighting or agency nursing were involved in any of the negative incidents.
Among moonlighting nurses, 11,9% of the respondents in the study indicated that they had used their vacation leave to do agency work or moonlighting, further contributing to fatigue.
To maintain and improve standards of care and patient safety in South Africa, its imperative that we address low rates of clinical training in the profession and the casualisation of our nursing workforce. The argument for addressing the nursing crisis is supported by well-documented evidence that the number, competencies and effectiveness of nurses is critical in determining the quality of care, patient outcomes, as well as improving the performance of our current weak health system, concludes Pienaar.
Professor Abel Pienaar will be speaking at the Nursing Conference, which will form part of the 6th annual Africa Health Exhibition & Congress taking place 8-10 June 2016 at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg.
The possibility that Walmart might sell its stake in Massmart has been mooted in a research report that suggests the local retailer may have until 2018 to turn around its performance or face the possible divestment of its anchor shareholder.
Shamil Ismail, an analyst at Primaresearch, said Massmart escaped the cull of Walmart closing stores overseas in January this year. "That to me suggests that Africa, and Massmart specifically, are still part of their long-term plans. Just be aware that Walmart exited other countries after about eight to nine years, and based on that time frame Massmart probably has until 2018 to get their house in order."
In January, Walmart announced it was closing 269 stores, including 115 outside the US (all in Latin America). The decision was based on financial performance as well as "strategic alignment with longterm plans".
Ismail, previously head of research at BNP Paribas Cadiz Securities, said in the report that there was a heightened risk Walmart might consider a similar move in light of the substantial weakening of the rand and the announcement that Barclays plc will sell off its stake in its African business.
Walmart bought its 51% stake in Massmart in October 2011 for R148 a share, when the exchange rate was R6.76/, costing the US group $2.5bn. At the time the report was released, in March, the $917m valuation of Massmart represented a 63% reduction on Walmart's investment.
Massmart's share price hit a low of R83.20 in January, but has rallied since and is trading around R117.
Walmart has quit two countries. It was in South Korea between 1999 and 2006 and Germany between 1998 and 2006, periods of seven or eight years.
Ismail also said another key point in Walmart's announcement in January was that it closed its small-format stores, Walmart Express in the US, and would focus on the larger Super Centres. This could affect the strategy around Massmart's Cambridge stores.
Independent analyst Jean Pierre Verster said Walmart had disinvested from other countries, but he would be "very surprised" if it exited from Massmart.
"It just feels like they haven't given Africa sufficient time. And they only recently completed the integration of Massmart's systems into Walmart's.
"Massmart's performance has probably been lower than Walmart's expectations, but there are good reasons for that - the commodity fall-off, pressure on consumers and weaker African currencies. It feels like it would be the exact wrong time to exit."
Verster said Massmart was a small part of Walmart. "Africa is a very long-term story. Growth prospects for Africa are still in place although they've been deferred."
Alec Abraham, senior equity analyst at Sasfin Wealth, said it was not likely that Walmart would sell Massmart, certainly "not in the near future".
"I think they've invested quite a bit in Massmart to 'Walmartise' it - they've made acquisitions in food retail, bought property for Makro stores, and they've invested in regional distribution centres."
A Massmart spokesman said it did not comment on speculation. Walmart did not respond to requests for comment.
Source: Business Times
The inaugural FMCG Insights & Conference took place at the Turbine Hall, Joburg recently. The event emanates from the Sunday Times' Top Brands research, which measures consumer brand preference and is published annually.
Maryla Masojada, MD of Trade Intelligence, delivered the introductory presentation, providing a snapshot of the state of the FMCG industry in South Africa. Masojada acknowledged that consumer confidence is at a low with R78 of every R100 spent by SA consumers going towards debt payments, which places significant pressure on retailers to find extra margin in a tough and highly competitive economic climate.
Global vs Local panel L-R Sarah Britten, Pippa Capstick, Sharon Keith with Stephen Gunnion
The food and grocery channel is reflecting the highest turnover growth, particularly in the spaza format, and fuel retailers are similarly showing strong growth. While Caltex and Freshstop have 219 outlets in SA, Woolworths and Engen are showing the biggest turnovers within their 67 outlets. Masojada also noted interesting developments in the Pet and Fresh categories, which provide retailers with higher footfall and opportunities to increase margins.
Some other interesting points were:
There has been a massive proliferation of new stores in SA, with more than 2400 formal retail stores opening in the past five years. Besides their presence in SA, South African retailers also operate a total of 735 stores across Africa; and Pick n Pay now has more than 10 million SmartShopper card holders in South Africa.
Growth of the informal trade sector
The author of Kasinomics, and CEO and founder of Minanawe, GG (Marc) Alcock provided insights into the growth of the informal trade sector in SA with the presence of approximately 100,000 informal stores across the country, 70% of which are spazas and the balance spazarettes. There are more than 50,000 fast food outlets serving traditional and modern African food, and more than 150,000 hair salons within the informal sector. Alcock said that the informal outlets are successfully competing with retail chains in townships, where they have highly efficient distribution systems and can be profitable on low margins. Alcock stressed the importance of timing brand promotions and activations at the right point of the month near payday.
Other stats presented were:
The South African trade in traditional medicines is R2.9bn annually equal to 5.6% of the national health budget; and Parmalat cheese slices are sold at a rate of 13 slices, every second of every day a total of 200 million cheese slices per year and worth R1bn annually.
Thembi Mazibuko, head of merchandise strategy of Pick n Pay discussed the importance of retailers giving back and the role of PnPs small business incubator programme, Boost Your Biz. The concept allows for small suppliers to have their products listed on PnPs shelves and also provides opportunities for skills development and capacity building.
Taking a look at the emergence of omni-channel marketing, Colin Fleming, group e-commerce executive of Massmart, noted that the internet has had a significant impact on all retail touch points from pricing, through to the consumer experience. Digitally enabled retail is what we must understand, said Fleming, particularly with regards to the impact of e-commerce in the grocery and FMCG sectors.
Packaging and product design are of key importance, with regional references becoming a global trend as consumers show a growing preference and appreciation of locally produced items. This was according to the international insights gleaned from Gail McLeod, MD of Stratcom. Sharing examples of packaging trends from China, Russia and the US, McLeod emphasised the importance of a products structure and design in influencing the intensity of consumer engagement, and their tangible experiences with brands.
Panel discussions
The FMCG Insights also included three panel discussions.
In a discussion moderated by Stephen Gunnion of BDTV, Sharon Keith (marketing director, Coca-Cola), Sarah Britten (regional strategic director, Y&R LabStore) and Pippa Capstick (executive director, Joe Public Ignite) discussed the effectiveness of global vs local advertising strategies, making references to global advertising campaigns from Coca-Cola that have been regionalised for local market effectiveness.
Kojo Baffoe hosted the panel discussion between Julian Remba (GM: Castle Milk Stout, SABMiller), Antony Stearns (national head of shopper marketing strategy of Geometry), and Kabelo Ncholo (MD Yourself Management), discussing the factors that influence the success of in-store and out of home brand activations, in the both the formal and informal retail sectors.
The science of decision making amongst consumers, and the need to understand the rational and subconscious drivers of behaviour, were debated by Chris Davies (innovation partner: new data streams, TNS), Dr David Rosenstein (director, Neural Sense) and Carl dos Santos (director, iRam). Alishia Seckham of BDTV moderated the discussion, which also investigated the ethics behind neuro-marketing and the place it holds alongside traditional consumer research models.
Trevor Ormerod, GM group sales & marketing at Times Media said: We believe this first FMCG Insights conference has delivered true value to those operating in the FMCG sector. We have received phenomenal feedback from delegates and are proud to have delivered this knowledge-sharing opportunity to our clients and advertisers. We will be making this an annual event and look forward to hosting it again in 2017.
TNS South Africa is extremely proud to have won the Best Overall Paper, the Best First-time Speaker, the Kantar TNS Innovations Award and the People's Choice Award at the 2016 South African Market Research Conference.
The Best Overall paper, Going from Qual to Quant with Visual Content, presented by Chris Davies and Adhil Patel, talks about image analytics. Visuals are the new language of consumers, and as pictures become more prevalent, both on social media and also through research mechanics such as mobile diaries, how do we begin to analyse large amounts of images in a quant fashion, moving away from qualitatively cherry-picking a few of them to illustrate a point. The paper outlines an approach that integrates machine learning and crowd-coding to do this at scale.
Chris then went on to talk about Making Social Media Analytics Scalable. His paper discussed creating new hybrid methodologies that integrate and fuse traditional research (shorter, smarter surveys) with passive Big Data - in this case specifically social media. He explored this through a case study measuring loyalty and satisfaction amongst banking customers in South Africa.
A brief overview of the papers:
Going from Qual to Quant with Visual Content
Winner of Best Overall Paper, the TNS Innovation Award and the Peoples Choice Award
Presented by Chris Davies, Innovation Partner, TNS South Africa and Adhil Patel, Head of Thought Leadership, TNS Global Brand Equity Centre
Visuals are the new language of consumers, and we find ourselves increasingly living in a world filled with images enabled by smart mobile devices that are always on. We communicate more and more by sharing pictures and videos, with entire social media platforms emerging that are dedicated to this practice - Instagram was the fastest growing social media service in South Africa in 2015. Better cameras, more storage space and bigger screens with higher definition on our mobile devices all point to and encourage the move from a text-heavy environment to one dominated by visuals.
Yet the market research industry is not prepared for the deluge of visual content that is on the way. As an industry, we tend to treat pictures in a purely qualitative way; we collect a few pictures through our immersions or we might ask for some images to accompany consumption diaries. But we tend not to have approaches for dealing with them adequately, and at best, we insert a few pictures to add colour to our reports. At worst, we ignore them completely.
This paper outlines an approach for dealing with images in a quantitative fashion.
Turning a dataset consisting purely of thousands of pictures into the kind of data that we can filter and graph and analyse with our traditional skillset requires that we tag each and every image with relevant attributes, accurately. Chris and Adhil recommend a hybrid approach that leverages computer vision and machine learning, but also keeps humans in the loop to ensure correct and appropriate tagging.
Computer vision refers to the ability of machines to identify objects and concepts in visuals, and more importantly, to interpret them. This capability shows a lot of promise and will be the lynchpin in the process, but there is still room for improvement. As these computer vision algorithms get better, through iterative machine learning, the workflow can lean harder on automatic coding - but until then, humans will have to pick up the slack in the shape of crowd-coding and specialist research teams.
Crowd-coding refers to the use of large groups of people connected by specific platforms (like Amazon Mechanical Turk or CrowdFlower) in order to complete small tasks at scale in a short timeframe, within a small budget. The ability to leverage a crowd as required, in a quality control role, and not have to cover large ongoing overheads, makes this perfect as an interim solution.
The last piece of the puzzle is the researcher layer, which brings together the two parts of the process just discussed, and shapes the analysis to better meet the business need. The researcher continues to be an important part of the workflow, most certainly in the short term.
The paper uses a dataset collected from social media platforms Instagram and Twitter, leveraging posts relating to the music festival, Ultra, and tests a number of computer vision services to establish what is truly possible in this space at the moment.
Making Social Media Analytics Scalable
Winner of the Best First-time Speaker Award
Chris Davies, Innovation Partner, TNS South Africa
Over the last several years, significant advancements in the way we (as an industry) conduct research has been driven by two imperatives: firstly, to shorten questionnaires across the board, and secondly, to get closer to those crucial consumer moments as they happen in order to really understand the decision-making process. While both are absolutely necessary for the successful evolution of research, they also have their own challenges: shorter, mobile surveys mean less design flexibility, but even more importantly, we cannot truly understand consumer decision-making through explicit questioning alone. Thankfully, the proliferation of passive Big Data sources means that we now have a whole new way to understand people, all underpinned by actual behaviour. Social media data is a great example characterised as it is by in-the-moment, first-hand accounts, but also, easy access in terms of collecting the data.
In many ways social media represents a spontaneous consumer feedback loop that is vaster and more sophisticated than anything weve had access to before if we know how to harness it. And therein lies the challenge: as with any Big Data source, it is chaotic, unstructured, and contains a lot of irrelevant noise. Separating out this noise by knowing where to focus, is tricky to say the least. And this has, in no small part, contributed to the continuing sense that social media analytics has underwhelmed in recent years. This is not to say that brands are unaware of the mediums importance many have successfully cultivated an online relationship structure with their customers where questions or grievances can be aired. But in many instances, this is where brands stop a customer relationship strategy is enough for them to think they are doing social media analytics.
This is where we need to help our clients go further. Stan Sthanunathan (Unilever Senior VP, Consumer & Market Insights), at the recent Market Research Society Conference (MRS), spoke about the 10 commandments that agencies and brands need to take to heart one of them being the need to be mining the information gleaned from social media. In this sense, mining means going beyond customer relationship management, as well as the standard surface-level metrics of followers, likes and reach. What it really means is finding ways to leverage social media data as a robust research input of itself, something that contributes to other spheres of research to further our understanding of how to improve brand performance and positioning.
That being said, we should not shy away from the fact that social media is not a holistic data source, it cannot be all things to all research problems, nor should we try to position it as such. On top of this, there is still the issue of being able to efficiently identify the conversations that are going to be truly relevant, rather than just blindly jumping in (as has largely been the case up until now). For this, we should be looking to more traditional research mechanisms to provide the lens. A short, smartly designed survey can provide the initial insight into the key attributes, with subsequent social media deep-dives vividly bringing those attributes to life in a way that is structured and actionable. What is being suggested here is the creation of a new hybrid methodology, combining the best of research expertise and story-telling, with the insight now made available by these incredibly rich and powerful behavioural data sources.
Electricity is integral if continent is to fulfil its ambitions of economic sustainability, and this requires collaboration and innovation that are uniquely African. This was the theme underpinning the opening session of African Utility Week
Giant strides
Nthabiseng Dube, director: South African Electrotechnical Export Council and chairperson of the plenary session, said, Africa offers a huge market for investment and China is looking for the next China.
She pointed out that, out of necessity, Africa is a continent of innovators, but this cant be done without electricity.
We need to stop leapfrogging. Africa needs to take giant strides to take its place at the global economic table, Dube said.
Access to electricity has grown
Theres an African proverb that says if you want to travel fast, go alone, if you want to travel far, go together. As Africans we need to get serious and we need to provide universal access to electricity for economic growth, said Mongezi Ntsokolo, Eskom group executive for distribution.
The South African energy infrastructure had its share of trouble due to aging infrastructure and delays in capital projects. But we have now built resilience into the system to carry out maintenance without interrupting supply, we havent had load shedding for nine months and none is forecast for the rest of the year, he said.
He said that the number of South African households with access to electricity had grown from 44% to 85% in the last 20 years. But to achieve universal access, the country needs R580bn investment in capital expansion.
One massive power grid
In terms of collaboration, he said that as countries build electricity capacity, they must pass on excess energy in cross-border exchanges to sustain growth. We must support regional power pools to unite us in one massive power grid.
Finding other sources
We no longer have the privilege of business as usual, we must be proactive, by moving away from coal-based energy and finding other sources, he said.
South Africa is regarded as a success story in regard to its renewable energy programme. In 2013, renewable projects contributed 22% to the grid and this figure is expected to rise to 26% by 2020.
Ntsokolo also tackled the prickly issue of nuclear power. He said that Koeberg is the most economical power generator in the country. One of the options that is being looked at was nuclear generation offered on a fleet basis such as France.
He pointed out that 11 African countries are considering building nuclear capacity over next 13 years and there are currently five nuclear research generators on the continent.
It cannot be done alone, and we must find African solutions. We must be ruthless, driven and unapologetic about our legacy so that darkness is a thing of the past, he concluded.
Energy and the Millennium Goals
Kandeh Yumkella is passionate about energy and sustainable development and has done some serious work in marrying the two in his various roles. He is a Sierra Leonean agricultural economist, politician, and the former United Nations under-secretary-general and the special representative of the secretary-general for Sustainable Energy for All.
Without energy, you cannot have sustainable development, but there is no mention of energy in the Millennium Goals. It has taken 15 years to make the case that we need energy to reach these goals and they are now enshrined in the framework.
For us in Africa, access to reliable energy source means to survive. We must champion sustainable goal number seven, he says, which is to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.
Stuck in commodities
Yumkella explained that, as a continent, Africa is stuck in commodities when it should be building factories and adding value, but for this to happen a reliable source of energy is essential. At present, Africa only contributes 3% of manufactured goods to the world market.
This mean embracing change. In some countries, utilities are blocking change. He cites the example of Nigeria where the public telecoms provider fought against change, but once the network was privatised, more people had access to communications, leading to economic growth.
He spoke of the four Ps - good politics, public policy, pricing and partnerships - which are all critical for universal access to power.
African Utility Week takes place at the CTICC in Cape Town from 17-19 May.
The SADC Regional Vulnerability Assessment estimates that an alarming 16% of the region's population are food insecure. The effects of the current El Nino phenomenon have further deepened food insecurity in Malawi and the region more broadly. Indeed, the volatility of climate change presents arguably the greatest threat to food security and, by extension, human security in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Hywit Dimyadi via 123RF
Hunger and poverty are directly and closely correlated and any threat to food security has a direct knock-on effect on the region achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. SADC has acknowledged the looming crisis in its 'Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security'.
One constructive international response to the threat is the G8s New Alliance for Food Security in Africa. The objective of the Alliance is to encourage re-investment in agriculture in order to allow low-income food deficit countries to improve agricultural productivity and thus reduce their dependency on food imports and food aid.
Confronted by the ravages of climate change and global food crop price fluctuations, what is the correct balance between food crop and cash crop production in sub-Saharan Africa? Some contend that cash crop production discourages food crop production and intensifies human insecurity, yet the tobacco sector may point to a new and better way. While recognising the high cash value of tobacco, which is seven times more profitable than maize and fourteen times more profitable than cotton per hectare, tobacco production in Sub-Saharan Africa is increasingly conducted as part of a balanced, holistic and integrated agricultural production system.
Tobacco takes the GAP
Food security is dependent on a raft of factors, not least of which is Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). Good Agricultural Practices are a series of codes, standards, and regulations that seek to achieve four key objectives: ensure safety and quality in the agricultural produce chain, capture new markets by modifying supply chain governance, improve natural resource use, workers health and working conditions, and to create new markets and opportunities particularly for farmers in developing countries.
Defined by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation as those objectives that address environmental, economic and social sustainability for on-farm processes and result in safe and quality food and non-food agricultural products, tobacco companies subscribe fully to GAP objectives and go far beyond the minimum required for mere compliance. While GAP should be fully aligned with national governments own agriculture, sustainability and development programmes, there are, however, economic and material costs to compliance. In this regard, the FAO warns that small-scale farmers may not be able to seize export opportunities unless they are adequately informed, technically prepared and organised to take advantage of compliance certification opportunities.
Guided by the principles of GAP as well as responsible Agriculture Labour Practices, the Integrated Production System (IPS) of tobacco meets and surpasses these FAO guidelines and allows small-scale farmers to seize the opportunities outlined by the FAO. Indeed, IPS tobacco farmers dont need to mind the GAP, they now take the GAP.
Tobacco farmers are more food secure farmers
IPS provides for holistic support to the farmer, which includes dedicated agronomist support, as well as the provision of seeds, fertilizer, and cash loans. Little surprise then that IPS farmers are growing tobacco at a better quality, greater yield and securing a higher price than through traditional methods. With a guaranteed volume of tobacco being purchased from the farmer at prices higher than the national average, IPS farmers are better placed to utilise the cash generated from tobacco to further diversify their agricultural production. Consequently, IPS tobacco farmers are more food secure farmers. More food secure farmers are critical to stabilising and sustaining rural areas, which, for most African countries, is the backbone of the economy.
It may come as a surprise to learn that as part of tobacco companies Integrated Production System, tobacco farmers are encouraged and supported to grow food crops such as maize and soya beans as part of a sustainable and responsible growing and procurement system. Access to technical training and support and the availability of fertilizers, pesticides, and improved seed are critical for food security - in some countries and/or regions, it is only smallholder farmers contracted with tobacco companies that have such access and support.
A benchmark is for contracted IPS farmers to grow food crops at least in equal weight to tobacco. In some Sub-Saharan African countries, IPS farmers are now growing more food crop than tobacco by weight. Perhaps even more surprising is the productivity of tobacco farmers growing food crops. IPS tobacco farmers in Sub-Saharan African countries are growing food crops at a yield 50% to 300% higher than the national average. Up to 60% of IPS tobacco farmers' maize production feeds into the national market, thereby contributing directly to national food security. Due to their productivity under IPS, tobacco farmers, are now net contributors to the food crop supply chain in southern Africa.
Notably, the efficiencies gained from the IPS system provide for more time and labour to be spent on the production of food crops. The IPS system ensures that small-scale farmer production is balanced, sustainable and GAP compliant.
Best practices
There is much that can be learnt from the tobacco IPS system, not merely concerning better tobacco yields, but more fundamentally, about how to implement Good Agricultural Practices, sustainable environmental and labour practices and most importantly for millions across Southern Africa, food security. While the main tobacco growing countries within SADC are already in discussions to coordinate and share sustainability best practices, this knowledge and experience can be shared and tapped into for the benefit of the entire continent of Africa.
Progress, true progress, is not a zero-sum equation, rather it is defined as a positive sum outcome, more commonly-known as a win-win. IPS tobacco production in sub-Saharan Africa is an example of a regional win-win.
Thomas Kolster is the founder of the Copenhagen-based Goodvertising Agency . Through Goodvertising, he is challenging the way we do business and advertising.
Thomas Kolster, founder, Goodvertising Agency
A speaker at the inaugural Sustainable Brands Cape Town conference, recently held in the Mother City, Kolsters session focused on the changing landscape of advertising.
He suggests that the key for the sustainability case lies in advertising, or rather goodvertising. Kolster referred to the VW emissions scandal in making his point. Yes, the CEO was fired and VWs stocks fell, but recent global sales figures for the brand remained positive. Regardless of all the hoo-ha, consumers were still purchasing VW vehicles. This isnt data you can present to management in order to make a case for sustainability.
How can advertising drive the sustainability cause?
Kolster believes the answer lies in the value advertising brings to our personal lives. Many people consider advertising interruptive and intrusive this is evident from the number of people using ad blockers: 20%-25% in European markets, and that figure is on the rise, said Kolster. Advertising used to be a valuable source of information as people learned about new products and services; now were doing our own research online.
People really hate advertising they do, and I think this is a great opportunity for sustainability and sustainability communication, said Kolster. In communicating about sustainability, brands are able to talk about stuff that actually matters to people. Today, a brand is not what you tell people it is, its what people tell each other it is, and that is where the real potential is, said Kolster.
Addressing needs
Find those connecting points, he advised. Theres so much stuff that matters to all of us whether its healthier lives, our childrens education, clean water I encourage you to find that stuff rather than trying to pretend your coffee is the best tasting coffee, said Kolster in reference to a tweet that expressed disappointment in Americas favorite coffee.
Rather than pushing and creating wants, the focus needs to shift to solving needs, said Kolster, and there are many issues that need solving.
Kolster looked at PwCs Five megatrends and possible implications set to impact the world up to 2050, using accelerating urbanisation as just one area where brands can become part of the solution.
Providing solutions
He used the BMW i3 DriveNow car-sharing service in Copenhagen as an example of a brand addressing issues associated with urbanisation. The mobility solution is directly interconnected with the citys public transport system. Members of the DriveNow program are able to use their public transit cards to rent any of the 400 electric vehicles distributed around Copenhagen. The system also allows members to pay for the rental with the same account they use for public transport tickets. Rather than just moving products, BMW are creating feasible solutions for those constantly on the move in Copenhagen.
My main point is that goodvertising is if you do something thats good for people and planet, its also good for brand and bottom line a very simple equation, concluded Kolster.
Thomas Kolster is an expert in sustainable communication and non-profit marketing. Hes the author of the book Goodvertising (Thames & Hudson) - a comprehensive book exploring communication as a force for good. As the director and creative force of the Goodvertising Agency, he helps companies, non-profits and agencies understand this new reality.
For more info on the Sustainable Brands Conference, click here.
On 3 April 2016 a collective of international newspapers and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) dropped a bombshell - they had millions of documents showing the private business dealings of thousands of people, many of whom were famous or politically powerful, and many of which revealed hard evidence of tax evasion.
The law firm that helped these people hide their money, Mossack Fonesca, had suffered a data leak like never before seen. In the weeks since, revelations continue to pour out, ruining reputations, sparking political resignations, and prompting further legal and regulatory investigations.
While exposing corruption and tax evasion is obviously for the greater good, it must be acknowledged that a leak on this level is the stuff of nightmares for enterprise security professionals the world over. If there is one thing the Panama Papers has taught us, it is that we are living in the age of data leaks. If the Wikileaks and Ashley Madison scandals (among others) hadnt already convinced you, it is hard to argue with the 2.6 terabytes of data leaked in this instance.
Its not just the embarrassment factor to consider. Even if your company has absolutely nothing illegal or unethical to hide, there are often trade reasons to keep certain information behind lock and key. Furthermore, if you hold customer information, a breach has much broader implications. US retailer Target discovered this to their detriment after thousands of customer credit card details were stolen from them, and those customers understandably began to claim for damages and compensation. So even if youre one of the good guys, you have a number of important reasons to ensure your data is secure.
Here are our top five tips for avoiding a data leak and ensuring the security of your company systems:
1. Integrated threat management
It seems obvious, but is often overlooked or underestimated. You cannot monitor or protect devices you dont know about, and you need to have an over-arching view of your systems for effective management. An audit of your entire system is a starting point. Then, as weve said before, security challenges are increased when there is a lack of proper visibility for incident detection and response. We highly recommend the use of a single, visual dashboard for event analysis, threat monitoring, and mitigation. This important intervention helps you to ensure full-spectrum visibility into threats across the organisation.
2. Review your weak points
Linked to the above, but at the level of the next layer, we suggest you regularly review your security implementations and solutions to spot any weak spots. If your team is skilled and has capacity, a regular internal review is recommended. An occasional external review from security service providers might also provide a second opinion or different perspective. It is important to approach this task with an open mind, otherwise you may be so focused on securing the C-suites laptops that you forget the boardroom printer that runs off the wireless network with very little built-in security.
3. Unified policy management
What are the policies you have in place in your organisation? How relevant to the new connected ecosystem are they? Do they address cloud or bring your own device? Are they enforceable? When policies are misconfigured or patchy, your business cannot effectively protect (and enjoy visibility across) business segments, and thats risky for the organisation as a whole. The strength of your security architecture thus relies on the use of an efficient operational solution.
4. The power of auto-pilot
Given the complexity and breadth of our systems today, relying on manual intervention on all IT matters across all levels is setting yourself and team up for failure. Certain operations and responses can and should be automated, freeing up your human resources to focus on critical systems and high level threats.
5. Consolidate solutions
With a proliferation of new solutions coming to market, many with a single case or niche focus, it is easy to complicate your protection to the point of becoming wholly unmanageable. Security complexity can be addressed through consolidation. Bring all your security protections and functions under one 'umbrella'. A consolidated approach, supported by a single platform, should give you more control over your security, as well as offering insight into their security health. Finally, a consolidated solution also enables agility and threat responsiveness across the environment.
Imagine there has been an accident with a car belonging to a staff member and the company director is being held liable - this is not as far a fetched scenario as it sounds. Legislation has been introduced in the United Kingdom that required each business to ensure that not only the vehicles belonging to the company are inspected for their safety and road-worthiness, but also any vehicle belonging to a staff member that is used for business purposes.
Andriy Popov via 123RF
This approach is fast becoming the norm in the developed world and best practice globally, along with the rise of the concept grey fleet - cars belonging to staff members but used for business purposes.
Not surprisingly, the idea of a business having a "grey fleet" is not well known in South Africa, where the art and science of managing a company's formal fleet are not yet all that well developed, more so in smaller companies that do not have a dedicated fleet manager, says Dr David Molapo, head of Standard Bank Fleet Management.
The suggestion of having any management obligation over the cars belonging to staff members, apart from compensating them for when they use it for work, is at best likely to draw a blank stare from most local fleet managers and, at worst, protest over the thought of added responsibility.
The results of a recent research project commissioned by Standard Bank Fleet Management seem to bear this out. The Fleet Management Excellence 2015 survey, conducted among a mix of 60 South African fleets of passenger and light commercial vehicles, found that only 7% of them had ever inspected the vehicles belonging to its grey fleet for safety. An annual inspection of such vehicles is considered best practice.
Grey fleet management
The research was drawn from a model of fleet management excellence and measured the key indicators of a well-run fleet. Apart from annual vehicle safety inspections, the model puts forward a further three requirements for managing a company's grey fleet:
Keeping a register of all the vehicles owned by staff members and used for business purposes. Only 15% of the fleet managers in the survey said they kept such a register.
Keeping a register of the driver licenses of staff members who use their own cars for business purposes. Again, only 15% of the research participants recorded this information.
Insuring grey fleet vehicles for business travel. Only 13% of the surveyed fleets conformed to this requirement.
SA still has a way to go
Given the lack of legal obligation on South African companies to manage their grey fleets, the issue of insuring staff-owned vehicles for business travel is likely to be the main driver of the grey fleet concept and the idea that at least some company responsibility is required beyond compensating staff members for kilometres travelled. Some insurance policies will not pay out in the case of an accident in which a private vehicle was used for business purposes.
But the research suggests that South African fleets have some way to go. Only about a third of South African fleet managers are proactive enough to keep systematic track of the risks to which the company-owned vehicles are exposed, let alone their grey fleet. It, therefore, seems that, for now, most local companies will only become aware of the insurance issue and their grey fleet obligations - after an accident.
The value of the Fleet Management Excellence research is that it provides a comprehensive model of a well-run fleet, including grey fleet management. This research provides a benchmark to fleets of how they compare with their South African peers, says Dr Molapo.
Musician and artist Umlilo is awe-ing local and international markets with his unique post-kwaito electronica, socially conscious lyrics and gender-bending avant garde style. For #AfricaMonth we got in-depth with him, uncovering what gets his pulse racing and how he feels about being born on the mother continent.
Image by Rudi Geyser
How similar is Siya Ngcobo to your stage persona Umlilo?
There are certain similarities, of course - just because they both exist within the same body. I think that, when Im on stage, I feel a lot more like my true self: strong, determined, quick witted and able to exist in the moment. When I get off stage Im almost the opposite: very chilled, quiet, and anxious. Im a Libra so it makes sense to me that Im always trying to find a balance between my multiple personalities.
What, currently, is inspiring you?
Ive been back in Joburg for almost eight months now and its been really inspiring discovering the urban jungle again. Theres so much fashion, food, art and people and it has begun to influence my own art. Ive been taking in the architecture, the man-made forestry, the different cultures that coexist and all the vibrant flavours Jozi has to offer.
Your lyrics have quite a social conscience and political message; do you feel its important to address real issues through music?
Yes, definitely. I can never divorce myself or my music from the issues that affect my life and many other lives on a daily basis. I cant imagine singing about bubblegum without it somehow turning into some kind of socially aware message. Its something that comes so naturally to me and I feel lucky to be able to translate into a music medium.
What do you think still needs to happen when it comes to supporting the gay and lesbian communities in Africa?
A lot still needs to happen in terms of supporting the lGBTIQA community. Patriarchal, colonial and cultural forces that cause deep oppression need to be broken down completely and a zero tolerance for any type of hatred, rape, misogyny, homophobia and racism needs to be adopted across the board. European and American countries would have us believe that the struggle for oppressed queer people is near its end, but, in Africa, its a different story. Hell, even in America its a different story: the death toll of trans people rose last year and many believe its because there is a lot more visibility of trans people in the media, which also increases trans-phobic reactions. Im not saying we havent made strides in creating equality for queer people, but its the tip of the iceberg. People dont realise that oppression is oppression no matter what skin youre in, so if you against racism or misogyny you have to also be against homophobia, trans-phobia, xenophobia etc. Its not tunnel vision, its a full circle. This what people in power fail to grasp and extend to the masses.
What does it mean to you to be African?
I think being African for me means being able to take every unique make-up of my being and project it to the world in a way that creates a different perspective on Africa. I am a product of dichotomy from the colour of my skin, my hue, the languages I speak, the people I love, the places I inhabit and the work I do. Its all contrasting and contradictory, just like Africa. To be African for me is to not try to obliterate any traces of ancestry, but be able to embrace being a global citizen who is rooted in the motherland and its complexity. It means making peace with change being inevitable, but learning from the mistakes of my forefathers and mothers. Its keeping the legacy of democracy alive, but fuelling the fire in my belly to make the world see us as we see ourselves. Being African, for me, means making sure the blood of the people that came before me was not shed in vain and that this continent is the root of all of things beautiful and majestic and remembering the magic is my daily motivation.
What excites you about contemporary music coming out of Africa and South Africa?
I think our local music is having a much more global appeal than ever before and that alone is exciting. There are so many people switching lanes and changing things up, experimenting with sound locally and the fact that 90% local music will be played is a great achievement, the only worry is quantity over quality. Well have to see how this new development works out for local artists.
How has growing up in South Africa influenced your sound?
I think my upbringing and my music are so synonymous because I am still heavily influenced by sounds of kwaito, blues, choral, Maskandi, gospel, hip hop, pop, R&B, and rock. When I mix it all up I can hear it in every one of my songs. I think growing up in a time when SA was 'free' and experimenting was really great influence for me. I was lucky enough to have known and met a lot of the influencers of our music and each of them left an indelible mark on me.
Your music videos have a very strong unique aesthetic; how involved are you in this process?
I am heavily involved in creating my music videos because the only person I fully trust and understand is myself. No one can do me like I do myself, so its better for me to be involved from the start to avoid salty tears. I have to learn to let go of certain things, but I just cant seem to. I usually sit down with my directors and producers and try to inspire them with what I imagined in my head for the song. Because I have a close-knit team, theres no lost-in-translation moments, so we usually inspire each other from beginning to end and are not afraid to say when something isnt quite working.
If your sound could be described as an outfit what would it be?
I think it would be one of those heavily sequined 'belle of the ball' gowns in the shape of a Kurta with a high slit and low-cut neckline with giant Alexander McQueen platform boots and very very big hair.
What has been your personal musical highlight so far?
I think having my album artwork, which was designed by Dylan Culhane, exhibited all over Europe including Germany and Switzerland was a huge moment of recognition for me. Its an honour for me to have my work so early in my career being shown at museums and galleries, its almost too surreal and weird.
Whats next?
Im shooting a new music video for my last single off 'Aluta' called Umzabalazo. Its going to be a little different from anything Ive done before and I'm working with ALV and Odendaal Esterhuyse again to bring the concept to life. We had such a blast making my last video Reciprocity. Then Im launching my new website as well as finalising my third EP, entitled 'Uhuru', which will complete the 'shades of Kwaai', 'Aluta' trilogy. Were also launching some new live winter shows with my girls Stash Crew and Annalyzer as well as plenty more jams for the clubs.
Whats your favorite emoji?
This is my 'How Sway?' emoji.
www.facebook.com/UmliloSA
On the next Biz Takeouts Marketing & Media radio show on Thursday, 19 May 2016, from 9-10am, show host Warren Harding looks at the expansion of Magnetic, from its start in 2010 to where it is today.
Magnetic is an all-in-one, integrated account management, business development, CRM, time tracking, traffic and resource management, finance and HR solution for creative, advertising and digital agencies. It allows clients to house all their information under one roof, accessible at the click of a button.
The company experienced 400% growth in 2014, doubled its revenue in 2015 and today has over two hundred clients (three thousand plus seats) across South Africa. Magnetic has recently also added iProspect and Isobar, part of the Dentsu Aegis Network, to their list of clients.
Korak Kuhnert, chief technical officer of Magnetic, joins us to discuss the history of Magnetic and the future of the company. We also look at the impact of the software on businesses results, the business realities and integration of the Magnetic software.
Tune into Biz Takeouts every Thursday from 9am-10am live from the 2oceansVibe Radio studio in Cape Town as we discuss the topics that matter in Marketing & Media.
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A podcast of the show will be available in the Biz Takeouts special section on Biz later during the week.
According to the W Hospitality Group Hotel Chain Development Pipeline Survey the number of planned hotel rooms in Africa is up with 30%. This growth spurt indicates a positive outlook for the hotel development industry in Africa, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa. We wanted to know more about operating in Africa and who better to ask than the vice-president and regional director for Africa and Indian Ocean operations for Starwood Hotels & Resorts (a company that has been operating in Africa since 1971) - Hassan Ahdab.
Hassan Ahdab at Meetings Africa
Tell us more about Starwoods footprint and history in Africa.
Hassan Ahdab: Starwood Hotels and Resorts is one of the largest international hotel companies in Africa, currently operating 34 hotels with over 10,000 rooms across six lifestyle brands including Le Meridien, Sheraton, Westin, Luxury Collection, St. Regis and Four Points by Sheraton. With a legacy that dates back to 1971 with the opening of Sheraton Cairo, the company today has a strong presence in 13 countries including Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Libya, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Seychelles, South Africa, Tunisia, and Uganda.
Any big things in the pipeline for Starwoods future?
Ahdab: Starwood will increase its African portfolio by almost 50%, with 24 hotels currently under development. Starwood will operate over 55 hotels with more than 15,000 rooms in 22 countries by 2020, generating employment opportunities for thousands of youth in the continent. We are also looking at bringing our cutting edge design-led lifestyle brand W Hotels and Upscale brands like Aloft and Element into the region and are currently developing hotels under these brands. By 2020, we will have 10 of our 11 lifestyle brands present in Africa and Indian Ocean.
While consolidating our presence in existing markets, Starwood is also set to debut in new countries like Guinea, Tanzania, Senegal, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mali, South Sudan, Rwanda and Kenya, thereby further consolidating its presence and increasing its market penetration
What are the key factors you look at before entering a new market or opening a new hotel in Africa?
Ahdab: Emerging economy: Africa is emerging as an attractive investment destination and a key market for goods and services. With a working population of 600 million set to double by 2040, overtaking both China and India and an improving business environment, Africa is poised to become the worlds next emerging economy. What is more, Africa's frontier markets are promising to bud at a time when growth in the BRICs is set to slow. To turn its economic gains into sustainable growth and shared prosperity, Africa's public and private sectors must work together to connect the continent's markets, deepen regional integration, and adopt reforms that enhance competitiveness. With Africas population expanding rapidly, to an estimated 2.5 billion by 2060, we will have a young and increasingly urbanized workforce, which presents an opportunity to reap a demographic dividend.
Rising middle class: Africa has a middle class that is almost as large as the entire populations of Russia and Brazil combined. The World Bank says that if Africa were a country, it would already be middle income (i.e. income per person of more than $1,000 per year).
Connectivity: Africas rising consumer class has resulted in a surge in mobile-cellular subscriptions and internet usage. As it stands, broadband coverage is at 16 percent and will likely reach 99 percent by 2060.
What are the main risk of operating in Africa? Any advice for operators looking to expand into Africa?
Ahdab: Africa is still a market where we have been challenged with headwinds at every turn. Its still not easy to operate in Africa. While access to financing and better business regulations have eased hotel development in certain countries, infrastructure challenges continue to hinder development. Poor transportation infrastructure has historically restricted the connectivity of the Sub-Saharan region.
Air travel remains limited despite investments from nations in airports and/or local airlines, as seen in Kenya and South Africa. Construction remains expensive while poor road infrastructure and bureaucratic processes have led to construction delays. Given the aforementioned challenges, hotel operators and investors entering the market are often advised to collaborate with strong local partners and advisors to mitigate risks and navigate the development landscape.
Africas dynamic security environment can also be a challenge. Today, we live in a highly volatile world rocked with challenges and Africa is no different, except being more susceptible to the range and diversity of crisis situations that confront us.
In your opinion, what African countries offer great potential regarding expansion and hotel property development?
Ahdab: Hotels are a part of infrastructure development and we believe they provide opportunities for employment and contribute to the economic development of the country. Starwood sees itself as a key player in this process. The potential for hotel operators lies in setting up a network of hotels in the key cities that attract business travellers upper upscale and upscale as well as mid-range and budget. Addis, Nairobi, Accra, Luanda and Maputo still lack good quality lodging to handle the growing business traffic coming into these cities.
East Africa presents an exciting opportunity as a relatively unexplored frontier play with material resource potential and stable and progressive governments. Ethiopia is slated to be one of the worlds fastest growing economies. Ethiopian Airlines is Africas largest airline with Addis as the hub and could be the gateway to the continent in many ways providing newer opportunities.
What does the African hotel industry need, what is it lacking or have a shortage of, if anything?
Ahdab: Undersupply of hotels, lack of branded hotels in large cities, out-dated hotel inventory and up-and-coming destinations have been major indicators and incentives for our African expansion strategy, on top of stronger GDP, tourism growth, and more air traffic.
Joe Alexander, chief creative officer, and Wade Alger, SVP group creative director, of The Martin Agency explain how they've been disrupting and reinventing the insurance industry.
Everyone remembers the Unskippable Geico commercials that won the Film Grand Prix at Cannes last year and completely disrupted the car insurance industry. At the One Show Creative Summit, it was therefore a real pleasure to listen to Alexander and Alger talking about how they make car insurance advertising that is unskippable.
The most fundamental aspect of the Geico campaigns is that the client has always believed in disruption. In fact, their business model is centred on this and the fact that the client allows them to make mistakes is at the heart of this true client relationship.
The Martin Agency has been working off the same brief since 1994, but keeps refreshing it. They move their creative teams around, smashing the traditional pairing of art director/copy writers. For example, if someone has worked on Geico for years, they are paired with a new art director. Lots dont get it and they move them off it.
There is always a filter to the madness of the creative work as every piece of Geico work has either a human or product truth. The evolution of media and the fact that people are watching so many screens has also worked in their favour. They test campaigns online and can determine if they are working by the ringing of the phones at Geico. If the phones dont ring, they pull the ad and have another ready to air.
Tapping into true human behaviour
This is clearly a successful strategy as the Unskippable campaign that garnered them more awards than any other Geico campaign, is based on the fact that most people skip pre-roll ads after the first five seconds. So they needed to win them over in the first five seconds, and that they did. In fact, the Unskippable campaign received a staggering 7.5m views in the first week it aired. The average viewing time is 48 seconds of their ad, which is fundamentally the Geico logo. The success here was the fact that they tapped into a true human behaviour.
The business results of the Geico campaign are testimony to their creativity. In the years that The Martin Agency has been working on the brand, Geico moved from number nine to number two in the category. Quite an accomplishment and yet another reason why the Martin Agencys work with long-standing client Geico played a large hand in three special awards: Agency of the Year, Client of the Year for Geico and the inaugural Penta Pencil, which recognises a productive creative relationship between agency and client over a five-year period.
"Winning Agency of the Year is huge, but Im most proud of the Penta, said Joe Alexander, CCO of The Martin Agency. Doing great work that brings great results consistently year after year is tough to do. Like Warren Buffet has said, When I count my blessings at night, I count GEICO twice. We couldnt agree more, Mr Buffett.
High-profile keynote speakers include the likes of South Africa's Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and chairperson of the Africa Union, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.
We interviewed Liz Hart, managing director of Infrastructure Africa, to find out what some of the highlights are at this year's conference, and what the general sentiment of investors doing business in Africa is right now.
Liz Hart, MD, Infrastructure Africa
What are some of the highlights attendees can expect at Infrastructure Africa this year?
As always, content is king. Our content sets us apart from other infrastructure events because those setting the programme and agenda for Infrastructure Africa 2016 are Africas leading infrastructure investors. With this years African Development Bank (AfDB) partnership, we are hosting the Africa Inclusive Infrastructure Forum (AIIF) during the conference which focuses on empowerment of women in the infrastructure space. Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, the AfDB Special Envoy on Gender, and several of her high profile colleagues will present the case for inclusive infrastructure. In addition, with the challenges being faced by South Africas economy, there is a big focus on regional opportunities for South African businesses and a call to action for South Africans to look beyond our borders for new business opportunities.
How has the conference been developed since last years event?
The event is now in its fifth year and continues to grow year-on-year. This year welcomes the partnership of the African Development Bank (AfDB). Other partners include the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), and the NEPAD Planning & Coordinating Agency (NPCA). We continue to have many corporate sponsors. We have the highest level of endorsement of any infrastructure event on the continent. It has become the go-to event for infrastructure players on the continent and it plays an important role in networking and catalysing new business opportunities across Africa.
What is the general sentiment of investors doing business in Africa right now?
Although growth in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) has relatively slowed, two-thirds of the regions economies are still growing at rates above the global average and SSA remains the second fastest-growing region in the world in the foreseeable future. Africa is actually one of only two regions in the world in which there has been growth of foreign direct investment (FDI) projects over the past year.
What are some of the bottlenecks for infrastructure development in Africa?
Many businesses think of countries or regions in Africa as single-driver opportunities, which when buoyant, offer great short-term opportunities, but when depressed, signal the time to leave. But sub-Saharan Africas mining and energy belts that were initial drivers of development have opened up support infrastructure opportunities that offer growth prospects in the longer term. The years ahead will be challenging, not because the opportunities are not there, but because the opportunities are likely to be more uneven than before and will require a long-term investment view.
What trends are currently driving Africas infrastructure sector?
Low commodity prices have tempered the desire of many companies to involve themselves in Africa, but this is, arguably, the best time for those with longer-term ambitions to integrate their operations into key development nodes.
There is an evolution of infrastructure development that takes place over the longer-term and the underlying drivers will be highlighted at the Infrastructure Africa 2016 conference on 9 and 10 June 2016 at the Sandton Convention Centre. With discussions on specific project development opportunities from infrastructure players operating on the ground, the Infrastructure Africa offers businesses the opportunity to set their regional strategies for long-term growth.
In which African countries are we seeing the most progression? Whats driving this development?
In Tete, Mozambique, for example, coal and infrastructure projects have slowed, but there are agri-industrial and support infrastructure opportunities. There is also a much broader regional, national and sub-national opportunity that is unfolding from Southern to East Africa, which is becoming an energy corridor.
How important are public-private partnerships in developing Africas infrastructure sector?
In the face of growing international competition in sub-Saharan Africa, South African-based companies need to take a long-term strategic view of the region. Companies need to develop a local presence and integrate their strategies with the evolving economies and underpinning infrastructure in the region. A local presence does more than wave a flag: it demonstrates commitment to the future, it allows for in-country intelligence gathering and goodwill (and ultimately contracts) from project developers and government. Without the presence of private sector companies in the region, there will be no partnerships with governments and therefore no development.
What is the most critical sector for infrastructure development in Africa? Why?
The importance of digital infrastructure in leapfrogging Africas economies cannot be overestimated, but without physical infrastructure that provides access to water, food, electricity and healthcare, the continent cannot attain the quality and standards of life set out by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). So all sectors of infrastructure are critical for life whether it be water, transport, power and then ICT & telecommunications infrastructure which are necessary for job creation and remaining globally competitive.
For more info, go to www.infrastructure-africa.com.
Having started her tenure in the events industry by conceptualising and launching the annual Meetings Africa showcase, Liz Hart is highly experienced in the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions) market. Hart has hosted and coordinated many major trade shows, conferences and specialised events. She currently runs the continents biggest energy, manufacturing and infrastructure events Africa Energy Indaba, Manufacturing Indaba and Infrastructure Africa and has grown these events from scratch. She formed Siyenza in 2003, a boutique events and PR consultancy focused on service and delivery for clients. Hart has served on the Working Group of the Business Coordinating Forum (BCF) for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and is well respected in government and business circles. She currently serves on the World Energy Council Strategy and Outreach Global Committee. Hart and her team have successfully represented South Africa on numerous occasions: The NEPAD Business Foundation that hosted the state president; a formal banquet for former president Nelson Mandela and David Rockefeller; and a private dinner for Princess Anne that was hosted by Tokyo Sexwale.
There have been - and are today - plenty of scientists and inventors in Africa doing remarkable work. So why does the myth persist that Africa has no scientific innovators?
Togolese techie, Kodjo Afate Gnikou, has invented a 3D printer that costs only $100 to make, using easily sourced second-hand electronics. The 3D-printer alleviates the negative effects of E-Waste and is a game-changer for the electronics industry. (Image: Daniel Hayduk, Ulule)
The rest of the world has long believed that Africa cant produce its own scientific inventions. This myth can be traced back to the time of slavery and colonialism systems that led even Africans themselves to think that nothing good could come from the continent.
The myth is cemented by history books. These are replete with stories of scientific innovators from the developed world. I am not suggesting that the role these people played should be dismissed. They contributed enormously to the modern world.
There must, however, also be room to celebrate African innovators who have not yet been recognised for their contributions to science, medicine, technology and food security. These would include biomedical engineer Selig Percy Amoils, electrochemist Rachid Yazami, nuclear scientist Sameera Moussa, palaeontologist Berhane Asfaw, surgical pioneer Haile Debas and plant geneticist Gebisa Ejeta.
Today, there are plenty of African innovators who continue to do remarkable work.
Zack Salawe Mwale is making it easier for people to cook one of Malawis staple foods.
Nigerian architect Kunle Adeyemi built a floating school for the lagoon shantytown settlement of Makoko.
Gloria Asare Adu is pioneering the use of bamboo in Ghana.
Therese Izay created a humanoid traffic robot to make the Congos roads safer.
Jamila Abass is using cellular technology to empower small-scale farmers in Kenya.
But a list of names alone will not bust this myth.
Building more young scientists
Africa needs to start demonstrating to the world that it is capable of producing its own innovators.
It can do this in two ways. First, by investing in the continents youth. Second, by creating opportunities for the new generation of African inventors and innovators to take their place on the global stage.
Africa is home to the worlds largest population of 15- to 24-year-olds. This is set to double by 2045. African governments have recognised that, to build a sustainable future, they must equip their populations with the skills needed to build the continent from within rather than relying on technologies and ideas from elsewhere.
Work is already being done in this regard. In 2005 the African Youth Forum for Science and Technology programme was launched to give young African people a platform on which they can actively play a role in policy and decision-making. Another initiative is the South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement. The agency gives young graduates the chance to get involved in advancing science and technology.
Far more of these initiatives are needed to motivate young people in Africa to take the promise of science and technology seriously. Only then will the continent start to recognise its own potential in these fields.
Universities lag behind
Most African governments recognise that the only way forward is through homegrown science and technology. But many universities arent keeping pace.
Research suggests that more and more African graduates want to work for themselves and are committed to changing their societies. This also suggests that many are innovators at heart. Yet neither their schools nor their universities appear to be equipping them for life as inventors or self-starters.
These concerns have been raised by both scholars and educators. Bame Nsamenang and Therese Tchombe, for example, argue that the current African education system does not seem to reflect the realities on the ground. The system needs to be altered so that it is in tune with these realities and so that it teaches children just how much people in Africa are able to do to address their own continents problems.
It is also important that schools and universities in Africa not only highlight and idealise theories and thinkers from elsewhere in the world. This will help their graduates see what is possible and stop thinking of their continent as a place without innovators.
Some institutions are setting the pace here. South Africas University of the Western Cape is offering a flagship programme on Critical Thought in African Humanities through its Centre for Humanities Research.
The Pan-African University, which is being established by the African Union Commission, is another example. It aims to prioritise science, technology and innovative research thats uniquely African, and to highlight the work coming out of the continent.
Such work is an important start towards Africa recognising its own potential and hailing its own homegrown innovators. There need to be far more of these sorts of initiatives because as long as the continent fails to recognise that the myth of itself as not innovative is just that, a myth, Africa cant really move forward.
Source: Brand South Africa. A version of this article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original.
Czech Republic "will sue the EU if it is forced to accept refugee quotas"
18. 5. 2016
cas cteni < 1 minuta
On the instruction by the Czech government, the Czech Social Democratic Home Secretary Milan Chovanec will reject all attempts by the European Commission to impose refugee quotas on the Czech Republic during new negotiations in Brussels on Friday. Chovanec will demand that the European Union hermetically closes the EU borders and will set up "well functioning" detention centres for refugees. "There is no time for experiments with refugee quotas," said Chovanec on Twitter.
If Brussels tries to force the Czech Republic to accept refugee quotas, the country will sue the European Commission, said Chovanec.
Source in Czech HERE
There are stories like this in the Czech Republic every day that never make it to the outside world because of a lack of translation. You can support us and help reveal what's happening in Central Europe today. Please make a contribution today on www.paypal.com and send your donation to redakce@blisty.cz. We fully rely on crowdfunding in our work. Thank you.
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Prague: Several diplomats from muslim countries left a debate on islam in Czech parliament in protest against rabid islamophobia
18. 5. 2016
cas cteni 1 minuta
This happened when lawyer Klara Samkova, former member of the Bloc against Islam, said that people "must fight against islam the same way they must fight all totalitarian regimes. People must fight against islam, win over it and stop it from spreading once and for all." In Samkova's view, "islam is a criminal ideology, just as Nazism, fascism and communism. Islam defies human nature, human dignity and freedom."
After the diplomats from muslim countries left the gathering in Czech Parliament, Samkova added that "this just proves how willing the muslims are to listen to differing views."
Before he left in protest against Samkova's pronouncements, the Turkish Ambassador Ahmet Necati Bigali pointed out that many people in the West do not really know what islam is. "It is impossible to confuse islam and terrorism, even the Koran says that if you kill a single human being, you have killed the whole of mankind. The Islamic State and Boko Haram are greatly harming islam, but they certainly do not represent islam. We muslims are basically victims of these terrorists," he said.
Source in Czech HERE
There are stories like this in the Czech Republic every day that never make it to the outside world because of a lack of translation. You can support us and help reveal what's happening in Central Europe today. Please make a contribution today on www.paypal.com and send your donation to redakce@blisty.cz. We fully rely on crowdfunding in our work. Thank you.
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Protestors in Ann Town call for peace in Arakan State Protestors in Ann Town call for peace in Arakan State
The protest leader, Ko Zaw Min, in an interview with the Narinjara News said: We want peace. We are calling for the end of the civil war and fighting between the Arakan Army and the Burma Army. We demand that the Burma Army holds political dialogue with the Arakan Army, to solve politics [problems] through political [dialogue] and the release of people that have been arrested on suspicion [of having ties with the Arakan Army].
The protest started at 10 am and protesters holding placards marched peacefully along Minbuu Road to Datpaungsu Pagoda, where the protest finished at noon.
Ko Zaw Min said: We want peace and the right to have human rights. But, the Burma Army has said that it will annihilate the Arakan Army [AA] so this remark is quite far from peace. Thats why we are calling for [the Burma Army] to immediately implement peace in line with the desire of the Arakan people rather than annihilating [the AA].
Protestors in Ann Town call for peace in Arakan State Protestors in Ann Town call for peace in Arakan State
Witnesses said that some protestors held placards which said things like: Stop Discrimination Against the AA and the Arakan People and the Burma Army needs to Stop Launching offensives Against the AA.
Myatanzaung Sayadaw U Nanda Tharyaka, a monk from from Mrauk U also talked at the protest about the current political situation.
Translated by Thida Linn
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
The SSPP/SSA military camps situated in the mountains and hills near Pang Lawt, Nam Wine, Atgyi, Homain and Naungkan villages under Pon Wo-Haikwi Village Group in the southwest of Kyaukme were attacked several times by Mi-35 combat helicopters on 13 May, according to a commander from the SSPP/SSA.
An information officer based at the SSPP/SSAs headquarters said: Skirmishes broke out with us on the 3rd, 6th, and 12th [May] in the northern Haikwi area. Today, they attacked our men with two helicopters that came from Lashio. They were still attacking us from the afternoon till nightfall.
Sai Aik Laung, a 40-year-old resident of Naung Pain Village, said over 500 local residents fled to Naung Pain and Kyaukme due to the skirmish between the SSPP/SSA and the Burma Army.
An information officer from the SSPP/SSA based at the group's Wan Hai headquarters said that both groups reached an agreement over the military tensions in areas located north-east of its headquarters and west of the Salween River. He predicted in an interview last week said that that it was unlikely that there would be further clashes between the SSPP/SSA and government forces.
When he was contacted by S.H.A.N. the SSPP/SSA information officer said: Tangyan-based Tactical Operation Commander Colonel Nay Lin Aung and three local commanding officers [from the Burma Army] and our Secretary 2 Colonel Sai Su conducted a joint field operation yesterday. We were in charge of security [for the joint operation]. This area is peaceful now. We have asked the local residents who are worried about the war to return back home.
The Lashio based North Eastern Commander of the Burma Army told the SSPP/SSA on 22 April and again on 27 April to clear its camps along Loi Say to Loi Leng ridge in Tanyang Township and allow joint field inspections of their camps.
Translated by Thida Linn
The SSPP/SSA and the Burma Army fought intensely in the Pong Woe area south-east of Kyaukme Township from 12 to 14 May. According to Shan military commanders and local sources the government forces are believed to have lost a number of officers during the clashes,
When asked for a comment by S.H.A.N. an SSPP/SSA information officer said: The Burma Army suffered a heavy loss in the battles on the 12th and the 14th. Some men from our side have also been killed as well. We have been living there for a long time. It seemed like they were coming to clear us away. They were trapped. Thats why many people died from their side. We dont want to fight. We are living in our own place. We will defend if they come to attack us.
The SSPP/SSA and a regiment under the Burma Armys North Eastern Command conducted a joint inspection of some military camps in Tanyang Township on 12 May. Previously tensions were high between the two armies in the Loi Say-Loi Leng ridge area in Tanyang Township, but fighting did not break out there. Instead, fighting broke out in the Pong Woe area of Kyaukme Township, which is situated on the southern section of the Mandalay-Muse Road.
According to observers, the Burma Army took advantage of last months clashes between the TNLA/PSLF and the SSPP/SSA along the northern section of the Mandalay-Muse road and attacked the SSPP/SSA. This was done because the military wants to secure control over the southern section of the Mandalay-Muse Road.
The Burma Army also used combat helicopters in the battle with the SSPP/SSA. Over 700 people displaced by the conflict fled to Naung Pain Village and Kyaukme in Kyaukme Township due to the clashes, according to local residents that have been assisting the war refugees.
The TNLA has also announced that an intense battle broke out between the TNLA/PSLF and the Burma Army along the northern section of the Mandalay-Muse Road on 15 May.
According to the TNLA, the two armies fought near Kwin Salin Village in Kyaukme Township on the morning of May 15th. Intense battles have also broken out near Manei Village in Mantong Township, which is located in the Palaung Self-Administered Zone, and the Burma Army has also suffered many losses.
The Burma Army has yet to release any information or comment about the recent clashes in the northern Shan State.
Translated by Thida Linn
U Mai Kham, a resident of Wan Lone village, said that the Burma Army and the TNLA fought from about 8 am till 11 am on 11 May and that the fires began in the village at 11:30 am.
He said: The Palaung [TNLA] and their allied armies entered the village. A skirmish broke out with the Burma Army. The fire started blazing after they left. The Burma Army entered around noon. They told the villagers not to be afraid and to come out and extinguish the fire together so we were able to extinguish the fire.
Three homes that belonged to Daw Nan Aye Htike, U Sai Aung Kyaw, and Daw Nan Aye San were burned down by the fire.
The TNLA released a statement claiming that the houses caught fire after they were hit by a heavy weapon fired by the Burma Army. A similar incident occurred earlier this month in Namkham Township's Hopang Village. The TNLA also claimed that the houses in Hopang were damaged as a result of fighting in the area. A self described eye witness interviewed by SHAN disputed this and reported that the houses In Hopang had been deliberately set on fire.
Thousands of local residents have been taking refuge at monasteries in Kyaukme due to the ongoing battles in the vicinity of their villages. Reached for comment Kyaukme Township Social Welfare Organizations chairman, U Tin Maung Thein, explained that the war refugees in Kyaukme have been struggling since they were displaced from their homes.
Translated by Thida Linn
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Amy Jackson Makes Her Cannes Debut With Utter Style Fashion Kaustubha
Amy Jackson is all ready to make her Cannes debut this year... in style. Amy arrived in South France yesterday and since then it has been quite a busy schedule for her.
Sonam and Aishwarya have already walked this year at Cannes and we were literally blown. First by Sonam's gorgeous ensembles and then by Aishwarya's purple lipstick. (Former one pleasantly, latter shockingly)
Anyhow, it's time for another Bollywood diva to steal the show at Cannes. For her sail on The Octopus, Amy opted for a sheer blue strapless gown by Falguni and Shane Peacock. The sweetheart neck strapless blue gown came with a thigh-high slit and a lot of bling. Amy paired this look with criss-cross high heels. She wore her hair in a tight bun.
For the luncheon hosted by British Film Institute, Amy picked a printed pantsuit with a plunging neckline by Plakinger. To amp up the look, she went for nude pumps and pulled back her hair. Amy's choice of a power suit did not go wrong.
And this is how she arrived at Cannes airport earlier...
She was clad in an all-white ensemble. A plunging neckline tee, wide-legged pants and a crisp white blazer. She paired this look with a hat and stone-embellished heels. She also wore mirrored sunglasses.
Amy is also slated to attend a dinner called The Annual Positive Planet Gala. Let's see what she has in store for us. Stay tuned for more updates.
A Raytheon photo
TUCSON, ARIZONA (BNS): The US Navy has conducted a series of tests involving the Raytheon-made SeaRAM anti-ship missile defence system capable of engaging multiple high-performance, supersonic and subsonic threats.
The series of two shots included one in which two supersonic missiles were inbound simultaneously, flying in complex, evasive manoeuvres.
In both flights, the SeaRAM detected, tracked and engaged the threats, and fired the latest variant Rolling Airframe Missile Block 2 guided missiles which successfully intercepted the targets, Raytheon said.
"SeaRAM achieved a new level of success today, intercepting targets under high-stress conditions," said Rick Nelson, vice president of Raytheon's Naval and Area Mission Defense product line. "The system demonstrated once again that it can provide the sophisticated protection warfighters need."
The tests were conducted on the Navy's Self Defence Test Ship off the coast of Southern California and demonstrated progress towards the anti-ship missile defence system's operational capability, the manufacturer said.
The SeaRAM anti-ship missile defence system is a spiral development of key attributes of the Phalanx close-in weapon system and the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) guided weapon system.
SeaRAM is designed to extend the inner layer battlespace and enable the ship to effectively engage multiple high-performance, supersonic and subsonic threats.
An 11-missile RAM launcher assembly replaces Phalanx's 20 mm gun. The SeaRAM combines RAM's superior accuracy, extended range and high manoeuvrability with the Phalanx Block 1B's high resolution search-and-track sensor systems and reliable quick-response capability, according to Raytheon.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/05/2016 (2351 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Its byelection day in Riverview ward, and residents have three polling locations to choose from to cast their ballots.
Riverview School (1105 Louise Ave. East); King George School (535 Park St.) and Lions Manor (35 Victoria Ave. East) are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Those are open polling locations, you can vote at any one no matter where you live in the ward, said senior elections official Nathan Peto.
Delvina Kejick
Voters must bring one piece of government-issued photo identification or at least two other documents that provide proof of identity and residency in Riverview ward.
After the polls close, the city will post results online as they become available. Final results of the byelection are expected between 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
The Brandon Sun checked in with all three candidates on Tuesday to see how they were feeling on the final day of the campaign. It was a mix of nervous excitement, apprehension and confidence as they looked ahead to byelection day.
I feel good regardless, I really do, said Tyson Tame, local real estate agent with Royal LePage. If I win, Im ready to grab the bull by the horns and I know I can do a better job than the other two Ive never met anyone that will go as hard as me, so I know Im the best man for the job. But if Im to lose, there will always be something good around the corner.
Glen Parker also feels like hes the perfect fit for the job.
I admire the other two candidates for putting their name on the ballot, its not the easiest thing to do as Ive found out, said Parker, The Brandon Suns sales and marketing director. But I do believe in my heart that Im the best candidate for the job.
Parker highlighted his history in the east end raising children there and volunteering for decades.
Combine that with the business experience that Ive gained over the years I think we have to look at the city in some regards as a business and we have to run it as such.
Colin Corneau Glen Parker has been a board member of Hockey Brandon for more than 20 years and involved with the East End Community Centre since the early 1990s.
Tames final message to voters was that he is ready to work.
I will bring my heart, my soul, my mind and my hands to this job, if they honour me with this position, he said.
Parker said regardless of the results, he will still be cutting grass and painting at the East End Community Centre on Thursday like I have every other year.
A main theme in Delvina Kejicks campaign was diversity and inclusiveness. With a multi-cultural city, Kejick wants to see that diversity reflected around the council table.
We all benefit from diversity, we all learn something, she said. The community it is changing.
As a First Nations woman, Kejick said she believes she can add valuable life experience and insight to the conversation. She previously served as project and program co-ordinator at Ecole New Era School, with a focus on community engagement and aboriginal education.
I think its really important for people like myself to be empowered and to have that voice, she said.
All three candidates were contacting supporters on Tuesday to remind them to head to the polls today.
Tyson Tame
Theres quite a few that have never voted before, so trying to communicate how to go about and do that and the importance of voting, Kejick said.
Voter turnout in the 2013 Meadows byelection was just 19.3 per cent, and Kejick is hoping to see more community interest this time around.
As voters, we are responsible. We do have a voice and a say, and so its important for them to come out, Kejick said.
jaustin@brandonsun.com
Twitter: @jillianaustin
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/05/2016 (2351 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
MONTREAL The man who made international headlines after putting a bison calf into his SUV at Yellowstone National Park which led to the animal being euthanized is from Quebec, a park spokeswoman said Wednesday.
Charissa Reid said a criminal complaint was filed against Shamash Kassam for disrupting wildlife after he and his son scooped up the animal, put it in the trunk of their SUV and drove it to a park facility on May 9.
He was reportedly trying to help the calf because he thought it looked cold.
In this June 19, 2014 file photo, bison graze near a stream in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. The man who made international headlines after putting a bison calf into his SUV at Yellowstone National Park ??? which led to the animal being euthanized - is from Quebec, a park spokeswoman said Wednesday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Robert Graves, File
Kassam, who Reid said is from Quebec, is due in court at the Yellowstone Justice Center in Wyoming on June 2.
Park rangers tried multiple times to reunite the calf with its herd but their efforts failed.
They had to eventually euthanize the animal because it was causing a dangerous situation by continually approaching people and cars along the roadway, according to news release published by the park.
I think they were just really concerned, Reid said in an interview. I dont think they had any ill intent, but they were just apparently ill-informed about what our policies were and what the best things to do for the calf was.
Reid said rangers were unable to reunite the calf with a herd most likely because it was handled by people.
The official criminal citation against Kassam states he told a ranger that he understood what he did was wrong and wouldnt disturb wildlife again.
Bison injure more visitors at Yellowstone National Park than any other animal.
Reid said five people were gored by bison in the park last year, and the number of incidents are on the rise.
Park regulations require visitors stay at least 23 metres from all wildlife including bison, elk and deer and at least 91 metres from bears and wolves.
Disregarding these regulations can result in fines, injury, and even death, the park said in its news release. The safety of these animals, as well as human safety, depends on everyone using good judgment and following these simple rules.
Kassam, who was also fined $110 for his actions, could not be reached for comment.
With files from the Associated Press.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/05/2016 (2351 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
OTTAWA Theres a Punjabi phrase shouted to give thanks for victories: the truth will always prevail.
So as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau concluded his formal apology Wednesday for the Komagata Maru incident of 1914, Amarjeet Singh Sidhu, who had travelled from outside Toronto to watch the event, could not restrain himself.
With a turban proudly on his head and a chest full of medals for his Canadian community service, he rose to his feet in the public gallery of the House of Commons and shouted the phrase for all to hear.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologizes for a 1914 government decision that barred most of the passengers of the Komagata Maru from entering Canada, in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 18, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
And the hundreds of Indo-Canadians in attendance Wednesday for the historic moment roared back their thanks in union.
This is a country for people who bring prosperity to be part of the mainstream, work together, play together, pray together, Sidhu said afterwards.
It wasnt always that way.
In 1914, the Canadian government turned away most of the passengers of the Japanese steamship Komagata Maru, nearly all Sikhs, whod hoped to start a new life in Canada.
The 376 passengers arrived off the coast of B.C. hoping to challenge the immigration laws at the time which refused entry to any Indians who had not arrived in Canada via a continuous journey from the home country nearly impossible at the time.
Except for 20 passengers who had previously lived in Canada, officials refused to allow the Indians in, even though they were British subjects just like every other Canadian of the time.
The vessel sailed to India, where 19 of the passengers were killed in a skirmish with British authorities and dozens of others were imprisoned or forced into hiding.
Canada cannot solely be blamed for every tragic mistake that occurred with the Komagata Maru and its passengers, Trudeau told the House, which was packed with MPs and onlookers, many of whom had travelled from across the country.
But Canadas government was, without question, responsible for the laws that prevented these passengers from immigrating peacefully and securely. For that, and for every regrettable consequence that followed, we are sorry.
Trudeaus formal apology is the second from a Canadian prime minister. Former prime minister Stephen Harper delivered an apology in 2008 in British Columbia, not the House of Commons.
His words were part of a broader effort by the previous government to acknowledge the harsh treatment of Indians in the early years of the 20th century, said Opposition leader Rona Ambrose.
We cant change the past, she said. But we can demonstrate that Canada has changed.
That was true for Gurjinder Kaur Gill, who travelled from Montreal for the event and stood with dozens of people afterwards at a small reception, hoping for a chance to meet Trudeau.
Only 24, she said it was important for her to be part of acknowledging a moment in time that while she never experienced, so many in her community had been touched by the legacy of the ship and the laws of the day.
Its like closure, she said.
It shows that Canada is inclusive to everyone.
For B.C. Sikhs, the Komagata Maru incident was a pivotal moment. Many members of the community whose numbers had been dwindling in part due to the discriminatory immigration laws of the day raised thousands of dollars to support legal challenges for the people stuck on the boat.
Today, there are over 200,000 Sikhs in the province and for all them, Wednesday was an exceptionally proud moment, said Harwinder Pal Singh, the high president of Vancouvers Khalsa Diwan Society, the oldest Sikh society in the country.
He said there is a lesson in the experience of the Komagata Maru he hopes not just the government, but all Canadians, take to heart.
We should welcome everybody who is in need and who is dreaming of a better future.
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Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version had an incorrect surname for Amerjeet Singh Sidhu.
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SHERWOOD PARK, Alta. A researcher has started tracking the health of firefighters helping battle the massive wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alta.
Nicola Cherry, an occupational epidemiologist at the University of Alberta, is taking blood, urine and breath samples of firefighters as they return from northeastern Alberta in a mobile laboratory she received two weeks ago.
The van has been sitting this week in Sherwood Park, east of Edmonton, and Cherry has so far tested about 55 firefighters from the area.
Dr. Jeremy Beach, left, tests the lung function of firefighter captain Kelly Lehr with a spirometer at a fire hall in Sherwood Park, Alta., on Wednesday, May 18, 2016. University of Alberta researcher Nicola Cherry set up a mobile lab to test firefighters for breathing problems after returning from Fort McMurray. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
They said the smoke was unbelievably dense worse than anything theyd ever seen and they are concerned about their health from that, she said.
The fire, now covering more than 4,200 square kilometres, spread into the city on May 3, sending more than 80,000 residents fleeing for their safety. It destroyed about 2,400 buildings and continues to burn in the region.
Hundreds of firefighters are battling the blaze.
Government officials have said smoke from the fire is a safety issue. The air quality health index, measured on a scale of one to 10, was at 38 on Monday. It hit 51 early Wednesday but dipped down to 11 later in the day.
Hundreds of other workers had been in Fort McMurray, working to restore utilities and reopen the hospital, but most were evacuated earlier this week. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said Wednesday that anyone still working in the community is wearing appropriate masks.
Cherry said the index score doesnt really demonstrate the level of danger for firefighters, who are working much closer to the flames. Although they do wear respirators, they typically remove their equipment while on breaks.
Some of the firefighters in the study have complained about breathing problems, heat stroke and fatigue, Cherry said. Long-term effects will be recorded later.
She plans to do followups with the study group in three months and perhaps longer.
What were aiming to do is see if any of the breathing problems theyre having now are associated with a particular pattern types of exposure or patterns of exposure during the fire, she said.
Are those who worked for 15 hours at a stretch more likely to get long-term respiratory problems than somebody who only worked for eight hours? Or is somebody who was wearing one type of respiratory protection less likely than somebody who was wearing a different type or none at all?
She said shes not sure yet how many firefighters will be part of the study or if shell move the lab to another location.
It would also have been good to test crews before their first shifts to the Fort McMurray region. But it wasnt possible, she said.
It was all obviously done in great haste. We werent expecting the fire.
by Chris Purdy in Edmonton
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This article was published 18/05/2016 (2351 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
HALIFAX A Nova Scotia student who faced eviction from his university residence if he talked to his peers about his mental-health issues says hes glad Mount Saint Vincent University is overhauling its so-called wellness agreements after he went public with his story.
Brody Stuart-Verner said Wednesday he was struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts last fall when he sought help from a residence assistant, and was later taken to the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax.
When he returned, the 19-year-old said he was asked by a residence manager to sign the agreement, which stipulated he not talk to other residence students about personal issues, namely the students self-destructive thoughts.
Brody Stuart-Verner poses for a portrait in Charlottetown, P.E.I., Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Stuart-Verner, a university student struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts says he was forbidden from talking about his mental health problems with peers because of a school policy that carried the threat of eviction from residence if he violated the agreement. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Nathan Rochford
The agreement, dated Oct. 5, 2015, also stated that he should instead call the Kids Help Phone or a mental health crisis team, and then security if he still had suicidal thoughts.
I laughed when I first read those first two stipulations because I knew there was something fishy about them, but at the time I trusted them, he said in an interview from Charlottetown where he is working for the summer.
I went a whole year not talking about it because if I did talk about the agreement I would have been removed from residence.
The confidential agreement also orders him to attend counselling and follow up with a family physician.
I wanted to get better and Id never been presented with an agreement like this before, he said. And I felt that they knew what they were doing. Theyre in charge of many residents.
Stuart-Verner, a third-year student of public relations, said a university official called him Wednesday to apologize for how the incident was handled.
She said, We take responsibility for this,' he said, quoting Paula Barry, associate vice-president of student experience. She also told me that a policy like the one I signed will not be used again at Mount Saint Vincent University.
He said Barry also asked him to take part in a process to draft a new wellness policy.
Thats exactly what I wanted to accomplish with all of this, he said. And I would like to see what the revised version is.
A university spokeswoman later confirmed the wellness agreement forms will be revamped.
Earlier, Barry issued a statement on the schools Facebook page saying the policy was intended to support rather than isolate students in crisis.
This situation is not in keeping with the Mounts stance on mental illness, Barrys post said.
We are committed to the health and wellbeing of all of our students and we work very hard to ensure they are supported. That is why this situation is especially upsetting We dont want any other student to feel the way Brody did.
Stuart-Verners mother, Sandy Stuart, said she was proud of her son for going public with his complaint.
I am shocked that the school would make him sign that, she said, adding that he was initially apprehensive about telling his story. I said, Brody youre speaking for a lot of people who are having these thoughts that are afraid to do anything.
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The biggest problem facing commuters in Brandon is distracted driving, say Brandon police, despite efforts such as STEP to lessen such danger.
Known as the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program, STEP is a method of traffic enforcement that targets a specific driving zone and driving habits.
On Tuesday, the Brandon Police Service held a checkstop at the corner of 18th Street and Maple Avenue, ensuring drivers had their licences or registrations available, and werent speeding or driving with distractions.
Bruce Bumstead/The Brandon Sun Brandon Police Service officers enforce a checkstop on 18th Street North on Tuesday during the kickoff to Canada Road Safety Week.
Its in curbing that third habit, distracted driving, that the police force isnt seeing enough progress, said BPS Sgt. Bill Brown.
(Everybody) has a smartphone now and has a way to be in touch with everybody else in the world and seems to think they need to text, tweet, check Instagram, check Facebook, whatever other social media they happen to be on they seem to have a need to do that 24 hours a day, seven days a week, even when theyre driving, he said.
Brown estimated his team stopped between 500 and 800 vehicles during Tuesdays checkstop, which kicked off Canada Road Safety Week, which runs from May 17-23. The national initiative is organized by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police in conjunction with federal and provincial governments and enforcement agencies across Canada.
The BPS blitz also doubled as an informal kickoff to the forces own summer RoadWatch program.
(As) far as specific local goals, its to reinforce road safety and to make our streets in the city as safe as we possible can, Brown said.
As Canada Road Safety Week continues, Brandon drivers can expect more checkstops in their area.
aantoneshynalex@brandonsun.com
Twitter: @AAntoneshyn
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OTTAWA Immigration Minister John McCallum says his suggestion theres a cultural element driving Syrian refugees to food banks was insensitive and he regrets it.
Food banks from Halifax to B.C. have reported serving hundreds of Syrians who have come to Canada since November, the month the Liberal government launched a major resettlement program to bring 25,000 people by the end of February and thousands more by the end of this year.
The question of why came up Wednesday at a Senate committee studying the refugee resettlement program and McCallum initially pinpointed two reasons: the fact refugees do not have high levels of income upon arrival and something else.
Immigration Minister John McCallum answers a question during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, May 12, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
There may be a cultural element, he said. You have to remember the refugees are coming from an entirely different world.
Our world is very different than their world. Sometimes they have been living in refugee camps; maybe its the norm to be offered meals. Im not overly concerned about this.
But later Wednesday McCallum met with reporters outside the House of Commons to take back those remarks.
The remark I made about food banks I think was insensitive so I regret having made that comment, he said.
To date, about 27,000 Syrian refugees have arrived in Canada, spread among nearly 300 communities.
About 15,000 are government-assisted, meaning they receive a year of income support from the federal government linked to the size of the family and provincial social assistance rates.
For the 9,400 privately sponsored Syrians, their income is provided by private groups who are expected to provide the same level of support as social assistance rates as well, if not more.
The rest of the Syrians who have arrived have their costs shared between the federal government and private sponsors.
McCallum said the fact Syrians, or any Canadians, are using food banks raises broad issues about the adequacy of income levels.
I think the fact we need food banks as a country at all says something to questions of inequality of income distribution.
McCallums remarks to the committee drew instant criticism.
Im very surprised by the word cultural element of going to food banks, said Conservative Sen. Salma Ataullahjan, who came to Canada from Pakistan in 1980.
I thought people go to food banks if you dont have enough food.
Another challenge linked to the income levels of government-assisted refugees has been finding housing they can afford. Private sponsors often line up accommodation for their new charges but government-assisted refugees work with settlement agencies to secure a spot.
The initial surge of arrivals coupled with high rents in cities like Vancouver and Toronto forced some refugees to remain in hotels for months, but about 98 per cent are now in permanent homes. However, agencies are already working to ensure they dont lose them by using money from the private sector to provide additional rental funds.
The Liberal government has earmarked nearly $1 billion for the Syrian refugee resettlement program and have said a full breakdown of how that money has been spent so far would be made public by the end of this month.
McCallum had told the committee there was more that could be done to support the government assisted refugees, though did not provide details.
In addition to the refugees already in Canada, thousands more are awaiting final approval on the applications submitted by private sponsorship groups before the end of March.
Those groups had originally been told their requests would not be met before 2017 but after an outcry, McCallum agreed to finalize the files by the end of this year or early next and additional staff have now been sent overseas to process the files.
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OTTAWA In 1914, the government of Canada refused to allow most of the Indian passengers of the Japanese steamship Komagata Maru to land in Canada. Here is a timeline of some events leading up to Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus apology Wednesday:
May 1914: The Japanese steam ship Komagata Maru anchors just outside Vancouver, B.C., with 376 passengers on board all Indians who were at the time also British subjects. The passengers were seeking to challenge existing immigration laws which refused entry to any Indians who had not arrived in Canada via a continuous journey from the home country a nearly impossible feat at the time.
June 1914: Twenty passengers who had previously resided in Canada are allowed in, but the rest are required to stay on the ship.
July 1914: After court hearings and clashes with authorities, the ship is finally escorted out of Canadian waters and sets sail for Calcutta, India.
September 1914: Police in India attempt to force the passengers onto trains for Punjab; a riot ensues and 19 people are killed. Others are arrested or go into hiding.
2002: Alliance MP Gurmant Grewal presents a petition in the House of Commons calling on the Liberal government of the day to issue an apology.
2006: Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper says hell consult with Indo-Canadians to determine how to recognize the sad moment in Canadian history.
2007: NDP put forward a motion calling on the government to apologize but its voted down by the Conservatives.
May 2008: Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla, one of the first Sikh women elected to the House of Commons, introduces a similar motion and it passes later that month.
May 2008: The B.C. legislature passes its own resolution apologizing.
August 2008: Prime Minister Stephen Harper gives a speech at a major South Asian festival in B.C. and issues an apology. Its almost immediately rejected by several prominent organizations as it was not presented in the House of Commons.
May 2012: The NDP puts forward a new motion calling for an apology in the House of Commons. The motion is voted down by the Conservatives.
August 2015: Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau repeats 2008 pledge that, if elected, his government would issue a formal apology in the House of Commons.
April 2016: Trudeau announces he will issue the apology in the House of Commons on May 18, 2016.
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CALGARY A Vancouver marijuana activist says he has no intention of pleading guilty after being charged with distributing pot seeds in Calgary.
Dana Larsen made a brief court appearance Wednesday and had his case adjourned until June 10.
Well, Im not going to plead guilty and Im going to fight these charges every step of the way up until the Supreme Court of Canada if it will hear the case and we go that far, Larsen said outside of the courthouse where he was surrounded by about two dozen placard-carrying supporters.
Marijuana activist Dana Larsen speaks to the media outside of a courthouse in Calgary on Wednesday, May 18, 2016. A Vancouver marijuana activist says he has no intention of pleading guilty after being charged with distributing pot seeds in Calgary. Dana Larsen made a brief court appearance today and had his case adjourned until June 10. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Bill Graveland
I feel that if they really do persist, the possible outcome is that we win and that cannabis seeds are declared no longer illegal at all.
In April, Larsen was in Calgary with his Overgrow Canada campaign in which he aims to distribute one million pot seeds to be planted in public places.
After the rally, officers escorted Larsen and another man to a police car. Supporters chanted, Shame! Shame!
Police said a search of the van resulted in the seizure of 119 grams of marijuana, nearly 1,100 grams of marijuana seeds and a small amount of cannabis resin and oil.
Larsen, who is 44, is charged with trafficking marijuana and possession for the purpose of trafficking.
The last person in Canada who was convicted of selling marijuana seeds to other Canadians was 15 years ago and they got a $500 fine, said Larsen.
Were in a much different situation in Canada than we were 15 years ago and I really dont understand why theyre proceeding with this or what they hope to gain from it.
He said he visited 14 cities on his campaign and Calgary was the only place where police showed up.
I think theyll drop the charges eventually. If they persist long enough, cannabis will be legal in Canada and at that point I think these charges especially will be seen as ludicrous.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau campaigned on a promise to legalize marijuana but has recently said that may be more difficult to do than expected. He wants to consult with the provinces before taking any action.
Larsen served 10 years as editor of Cannabis Culture Magazine and was a founding member of the B.C. Marijuana Party and the Canadian Marijuana Party. He led an unsuccessful bid for a marijuana referendum in British Columbia and has run a medicinal cannabis dispensary for seven years.
In 2011, he ran for the leadership of the provincial NDP in B.C.
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WASHINGTON There are some eyebrow-raising names on the list of possible picks for the U.S. Supreme Court released Wednesday by Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Theres the brother of a senator who cant stand him. The ex-wife of one of his loudest critics on talk radio. And a judge whos repeatedly mocked him in tweets.
One thing they have in common is that theyre conservatives.
Trump moved to reassure right-wingers within the Republican party grassroots who might doubt his fealty to their core principles of smaller government and social conservatism.
He took the unusual step of releasing a short list of 11 judges he might name to the Supreme Court, should he win the presidential election this fall.
The names are overwhelmingly drawn from the ranks of the Federalist Society, the conservative legal organization that the late justice Antonin Scalia helped build. Trump pledged that hed appoint one of those judges to Scalias vacant seat.
The stakes are high: ideological control of the court hangs in the balance, potentially affecting issues like gun rights, voting rules and political financing.
In a statement, Trump said the list was compiled based on input from respected conservatives and the Republican party leadership two influential factions that had been cool to him.
Justice Scalia was a remarkable person and a brilliant Supreme Court Justice, Trump said.
The following list of potential Supreme Court justices is representative of the kind of constitutional principles I value and, as president, I plan to use this list as a guide to nominate our next United States Supreme Court justices.
A battle over Scalias replacement is currently deadlocked in the Senate. President Barack Obama has nominated a supposed ideological centrist, Merrick Garland, but the Republican-controlled chamber has refused to confirm him.
Some conservatives describe the vacancy as issue No. 1 of this election. Chief among them was Trumps defeated Republican primary opponent, Sen. Ted Cruz.
One Cruz supporter Sen. Mike Lee said a few days ago that Trump scares me to death and explained that he wasnt sure hed be able to support his partys nominee, who has in the past had liberal positions on fundamental issues like abortion and taxes.
Lees brother is now on the list.
In addition to Utah judge Thomas Lee, Trumps list names Diane Sykes, the ex-wife of conservative talk-show host Charlie Sykes who promoted the anybody-but-Trump cause.
Then there was Texas judge Don Willett, who has repeatedly mocked the presumptive Republican nominee on Twitter. In one instance, the joking judge pretended to write a haiku poem speculating about who Trump might appoint to the high court.
The mind reels, Willett tweeted, before joking about being incapable of finishing the poem because hed broken down in tears. In another tweet, he said he looked forward to Trump ripping off his face, like in the Mission Impossible movie, to reveal that he was liberal justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Like virtually every other name on the list, Willetts appears on the website of the Federalist Society the countrys prime vehicle for advancing small-government legal thought.
One conservative critic says the list appears fantastic if, indeed, you trust Trump.
But if you trust Trump, says Michael Graham, youre a chump.
The conservative radio host from Atlanta and editor of the Weekly Standard podcast doesnt believe Trump is either left-wing or right-wing.
He believes Trump has no core principles, doesnt do any research on the issues, and just makes up policies on the fly.
Do you think hes really pro-abortion or anti-abortion or anything? Do you think hes ever thought of that? Graham said.
Thats why he gave that idiotic answer (recently) about throwing women who try to get abortions in jail. Hes never thought about it.
Japanese car maker Suzuki has apologised for improper road tests on some of its models but denies it illegally falsified mileage numbers.
Suzuki's shares fell in Tokyo trading on Wednesday amid Japanese media reports the company might have cheated on its mileage data.
The Workplace Relations Commission is to hold talks between both sides in the Tesco dispute later this morning.
Workers suspended last Monday's planned strike action to allow for the discussions.
A young gay artist, from Cork city, has paid tribute to four of Irelands most prominent gay rights campaigners in the run-up to the anniversary of Irelands historic Yes vote.
Four portraits were created by Cork College of Art and Design student Stephen Doyle as a personal homage and commemoration to those who have contributed to equal rights in Ireland.
People have found a new way to show their dislike of Donald Trump and its catching on fast.
Taking a selfie giving the middle finger to Trump towers is the latest protest taken against the Presidential candidate The Donald.
The Garda Ombudsman has said that there does appear to be sufficient evidence to state, on the balance of probabilities that information about the arrest of TD Clare Daly was wrongly leaked from within the Gardai.
However, GSOC said that it has not been able to find enough evidence of a criminal offence to warrant sending a file to the DPP.
Deputy Daly was arrested in January 2013 on suspicion of drink-driving, but was later found to have been under the limit.
In January 2013, Deputy Clare Daly, TD for the Dublin North constituency, made a complaint to GSOC, arising from her arrest on 29 January, the GSOC statement reads.
Significant aspects of her complaint concerned the alleged unlawful disclosure of information to the media, both about the fact of her arrest and about whom she requested to be called at the time.
The incident was subject of considerable media coverage at the time. This was a cause of disquiet to Deputy Daly.
GSOC conducted a lengthy investigation in an attempt to establish the facts of these matters. This report summarises the investigation into these aspects of Deputy Dalys complaint and its conclusions.
At the conclusion of the investigation, the Ombudsman Commission considered that there was insufficient evidence of a criminal offence by any individual to warrant sending a file to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
However, while it is not possible to state that this information was released by a particular Garda or any other identifiable person, there does appear to be sufficient evidence to state, on the balance of probabilities, that some of the detail relating to Deputy Dalys arrest emanated from within the Garda Siochana organisation and were made available to members of the media in an unauthorised manner.
The Ombudsman Commission is of the view that Deputy Daly was entitled to the presumption of innocence and that she had a right to privacy.
These rights appear to have been infringed by the release of such information.
Government Chief Whip Regina Doherty is under fire amid claims in the Dail that Fine Gael tried to change the rules after it missed the deadline to nominate a candidate for Leas-Ceann Comhairle, writes Daniel McConnell, Irish Examiner Political Editor.
The post comes with a 35,000 a year stipend for the successful candidate, who would in total earn 121,500 once their TDs salary is factored in, the same amount as a junior minister.
The Leas-Ceann Comhairle serves as deputy chairperson of the Dail.
There were angry scenes in the Dail this morning as Independent Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae became visibly angered by the move to change the rules, slamming his first in fury.
He accused the Government of disgraceful behaviour.
This is a dirty start to the Governments work, Mr Healy-Rae said. The people of Ireland will not forgive you for this, he added.
The major row over the Leas Ceann Comhairle position has erupted after Fine Gael missed the deadline for nominations last Friday.
Fianna Fail nominated Pat The Cope Gallagher, Sinn Fein put forward Sean Crowe and Independent TD Mattie McGrath was also nominated.
But for some reason, Fine Gael submitted no candidate, even though party stalwart Bernard Durkan is known to be interested.
This morning, during the Order of Business, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin and Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams pressed Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald as to why the matter was not being dealt with this week.
In the Dail, Ms Fitzgerald sought advice from Ms Doherty, who was sitting directly behind her.
Ms Fitzgerald told the Dail that Ms Doherty sought an extension for the nomination process - which may allow Fine Gael to put forward their own candidate despite missing the deadline.
Ms Fitzgeralds was forced to withdrew a claim that consent was granted to do so by the Ceann Comhairle Sean O Fearghail.
Mr O Fearghail immediately interceded and informed the Tanaiste that this was not the case, prompting her to correct the record.
But a clearly angry Mr Healy-Rae claimed Fine Gael was trying to bend the rules to suit the party.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has called off planned industrial action at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda tomorrow.
The work-to-rule was due to get underway amid a row over staff shortages.
Update 4.50pm: Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin has said that he has confidence in the Garda Commissioner and is not "looking for her head".
However, Deputy Martin said that Noirin O'Sullivan needs to explain her instructions to her legal team regarding its treatment of whistleblower Maurice McCabe.
Earlier, Tanaiste and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said that she expected the Commissioner to provide further details of her instructions, after lawyers told the O'Higgins Commission they planned to question his motives.
Deputy Martin says people could be forgiven for thinking there was a campaign to undermine Maurice McCabe's credibility.
I welcome the Commissioners remarks insofar as she has said that at no stage did she suggest he was ever malicious, thats an important statement to make, he said.
Not withstanding that, it you piece all the pieces together, anybody who ever got involved in this case, rumours were circulating, people were nudging and saying be careful and do this and all of that.
And I think thats gone too far. That needs to stop.
Earlier: Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald has come under further pressure in the Dail to answer questions on how the Garda Commissioner directed her legal team in the OHiggins inquiry writes Elaine Loughlin, Political Reporter.
During Leaders Questions in the Dail this morning the Justice Minister was asked to leave the chamber to speak with the Noirin OSullivan and come back with answers after she was accused of avoiding questions on the investigation into garda malpractice.
Leaders of the three Opposition parties pressed Ms Fitzgerald on details which have emerged showing that the commissioners legal team said they were instructed to argue that Sgt Maurice McCabe was motivated by malice.
However, she claimed that these leaked transcripts are illegal.
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He added that we cant live in some make-believe world and pretend that they are not there, when they are out in the public realm.
He asked the Minister if she could confirm whether she had a meeting with the Garda Commissioner or does she intend to have a meeting.
He added that the transcripts showed that Sgt McCabe had been treated in hostile and adversarial manner.
The Minister said she met with the Garda Commission on Monday and they had discussed a number of issues.
Within the legal constraints she will say as much as possible in the future when she is questioned on these issues, Ms Fitzgerald said.
Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams questioned whether Ms Fitzgerald had asked the Garda Commissioner on the instructions she gave her legal team on Stg McCabe.
There is no legal barrier on you answering these questions in fact you are obliged to do so," he said.
Thats very straight forward.
He suggested that Ms Fitzgerald leave the chamber and return later today when she had spoken to the Garda Commissioner.
Labours Joan Burton called for answers and referring to the previous responses given by Ms Fitzgerald she gave the anecdote of former politician whose speaking papers bore a note on the bottom which read: If pursued on this matter keep repeating the above.
Investigations into a gangland murder at a Dublin hotel have led to the arrest of a father and son.
The Regency Hotel in Drumcondra was the site of a bloody attack in February as part of the Kinahan-Hutch feud.
A masked arsonist has been caught on CCTV calmly pouring petrol around a bakery before sending a surge of flames shooting through the building.
The attacker, wearing a crash helmet, was captured walking slowly around Tavazo bakery in Finchley, north London, emptying a can of fuel.
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Today's column opens, curtseying, with a theme of crowned heads.
Our two pictures show respectively the owner of the most famous crowned head of them all (yes it is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II) and a good-looking commoner wearing an aluminium-and-gold-plated snake crown.
The ASH snake crown by Steven Holland. Credit:Brenton McGeachie
Her Majesty must come first and so we hurry (touching the place where our forelock used to be before the tragedy of baldness struck) to point to today's street art picture of Her Majesty the Queen. She is riding her hoverboard and walking corgis, her inexplicable dog breed of choice.
This column continues to sing the praises of fine street art, usually erring on the side of the shocking, subversive and satirical themes that feral, fly-by-night street artists specialise in. But, though unauthorised, this portrait of the Queen by Kent and London street artist Catman (it has just popped up on a wall of a laneway in Dulwich, South London) is fairly respectful of the beloved monarch. Even riding a hoverboard she remains regal. And of course even London's usually irreverent street artists are probably feeling some respect for her. After all she has just celebrated, to rejoicing throughout her dominions, her 90th birthday.
The government has been forced to extend its protest-free zone around Civic's abortion clinic, while police have withdrawn the first fine issued for a breach of the exclusion zone.
A buffer zone preventing anti-abortion protesters from holding vigils outside the clinic was introduced in March. It was designed to prevent patients from being harassed and intimidated.
Vigil: The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn, Christopher Prowse, centre, joins others in prayer outside the ACT Health building in Moore Street, Civic. Credit:Graham Tidy
Fines of up to $3750 can be handed out for protesting in the exclusion zone, while those who take video or photographs of people entering or leaving the clinic can attract fines of up to $7500, or six months in jail.
But the buffer zone was not large enough to prevent protesters from getting in the line of sight of patients entering the clinic.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management is considering exiting its Australian equities business, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The fund manager, which oversees about $9 billion in Australia, is reviewing options including a sale or a management buyout, the person said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private. The Australian equities team is led by Dion Hershan in Melbourne. Hayley Morris, a spokeswoman for Goldman Sachs in Australia, declined to comment.
Active asset managers around the world are feeling the pinch from so-called passive investing. Credit:AP
Goldman Sachs Asset's Australian equities wholesale fund returned 5.8 per cent a year in the five years through the end of March, ranking 151st of more than 450 funds tracked by Morningstar. The Australian Financial Review reported the possible sale of the equities unit earlier.
"In Australia, we believe the next level of growth for the domestic managed product business could be best achieved under new ownership," Simon Rothery, the firm's Australia head told staff in an e-mail Wednesday. "This GSAM review is being undertaken independently of the rest of Goldman Sachs in Australia. The firm's corporate advisory, securities and other activities in Australia will not be affected in any way and will continue to operate as they do today."
Westpac Banking Corp has restored its online retail banking websites after customers faced a two-hour outage on Wednesday morning, an inconvenience coming hot on the heels of the failure of the bank's ATM network on Sunday afternoon.
Westpac would not confirm how many customers were affected by "intermittent issues" on Wednesday which prevented them logging on to internet banking through the bank's main website home page.
Down again: Westpac online banking failed on Tuesday following ATM outages on Sunday. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
Several Westpac customers turned to Twitter to vent their frustration. When one customer wrote, "@Westpac can you confirm that online banking is down. Have been unable to log in for over 45 min" a Westpac representative replied: "Hi Brendon, we're having intermittent issues with online banking & working quickly to restore services."
One Westpac retail customer told Fairfax Media when they tried to log in to internet banking about 9am on Wednesday, the page responded with this message: "This site can't be reached. The connection was reset. Try: Reloading the page; Checking the connection; Checking the proxy and firewall."
"Stop covering up workplace abuse", "7-Eleven owes over $100,000,000 in unpaid wages", "7-Eleven workers have been physically attacked for speaking out" some of the posters read.
The protesters plastered the windows to the store on the corner of Elizabeth and Flinders Streets in the Melbourne CBD opposite the Flinders Street Station.
Protesters have rallied at a 7-Eleven store demanding the reinstatement of the independent panel assessing back pay claims for exploited workers at the convenience store chain.
Hundreds of commuters took flyers, while others stopped to talk to the protesters about the wage fraud that has gripped the company and some just took photos of the poster covered store.
Protestors from the Young Workers Centre pin signs to the windows of 7-Eleven on the corner of Elizabeth and Flinders Street in Melbourne. Credit:Paul Jeffers
Protest organiser Keelia Fitzpatrick, the coordinator of the union-backed Young Workers Centre, said the protest was the result of concern over the company's decision to sack the independent panel headed by former competition tsar Allan Fels.
The independent panel was set up last September in response to a joint Fairfax Media and Four Corners investigation that uncovered systemic rorting of workers and falsification of payroll records.
"We want to draw interest to what exactly 7-Eleven is doing which is the cover up of the wage fraud that the company is engaged in by covering up one of their stores," Ms Fitzpatrick said.
Workplace innovation, including the Airtasker and Uber business models, risk the loss of hard-won protections for workers and the creation a new "hungry mile" in Australia, a leading law professor warns.
Joellen Riley, dean of the University of Sydney law school and professor of labour law, said she welcomed innovation in workplace but warned it came with risks.
"Without a thoughtful system of regulation, we leave everything up to the dog-eat-dog world and some people become serious losers and that's not good for society," she said.
It had taken 100 years to ensure the poorest people were working for reasonable wages and conditions and it was important these gains were not lost in new ways of engaging workers.
Three hours later, Mr Turnbull said many refugees had never been employed and/or did not have much education. "That is no basis for criticising them," he added. But the Prime Minister did not concede Mr Dutton's comments had exactly that effect without the broader context. Indeed, Mr Turnbull called Mr Dutton an "outstanding Immigration Minister".
The Prime Minister's comments are not an adequate repudiation of Mr Dutton's slurs. We fear Mr Turnbull, who usually reveals a humane side, is placing politics above people and national unity.
He should have stressed more strongly that Australia is primarily an immigrant nation. Many of our forebears were refugees or asylum seekers. Some of our most successful citizens come from refugee, uneducated and non-English speaking backgrounds. We enjoy a modern advanced economy because of their hard work and zeal to make the best of their opportunity for a new life. Wave after wave of refugees and immigrants have melded into Australian society and made this country better. They have urged their children get an education and contribute. They work most of their lives. They consume. They run businesses. They generate jobs.
We have a global duty to share the solution to the mass movement of refugees. Asylum seekers are not "these people". They are not political pawns to be sacrificed to appeal to the base instincts of some voters. As the minister responsible for Australia's treatment of refugees, Mr Dutton has a higher duty to show some respect and bring the nation together, not split it on race grounds. As Prime Minister, Mr Turnbull has an even higher duty to rule for all Australians.
The Herald has supported the government's and Labor's stopping-the-boats policy because it has saved lives at sea. We have also demanded asylum seekers be treated humanely, third countries be found for resettlement and the overall refugee intake be raised to allow more people to come from camps beyond South-East Asia.
Peter Dutton says "they're illiterate and innumerate even in their own language" ("Peter Dutton says 'illiterate and innumerate' refugees would take Australian jobs", smh.com.au, May 18). Yet he claims they will still be "taking jobs". This does seem quite resourceful. Especially while they are also busy waiting, as he says, on Centrelink and Medicare queues.
We don't want "them" to work, we don't want "them" to not work. Clearly, our immigration minister (of all people) says we don't want them at all.
Is this the Coalition immigration policy?
Anne McDonald Summer Hill
Peter Dutton: a star graduate of the Donald Trump school of politics? Or the Pauline Hanson academy of diplomacy? Both.
Ian McCausland Woombah
You couldn't predict what the less than admirable Peter Dutton will come out with next. His latest effort is to declare that asylum seekers and refugees are illiterate and unskilled and will be a drain on the country, taking Australian jobs. I suggest that he have a chat with the new Catholic Bishop of Parramatta, himself a Vietnamese boatperson, and one of the numerous refugees who have contributed admirably to our country.
Maureen Keady Maroubra
Another week, another bill in the mail from Campbell Newman's ill-disciplined approach to politics that keeps costing Queensland taxpayers.
This time it's the $500,000-plus-costs settlement to two Gold Coast lawyers who alleged they'd been defamed by the former premier and his then attorney-general over the depth of lawyers' relationship with outlaw motorcycle gangs.
Campbell Newman's mantra while in government was to cut waste. But now this. Credit:info@honeyespresso.com.au
It's $250,000 each but in total the state's most expensive defamation settlement and it comes from the former premier and attorney-general claiming that bikie lawyers were a part of a criminal gang network.
The claim immediately prompted the state's Bar Association to demand a retraction and an apology. Jarrod Bleijie, Mr Newman's attorney-general, defended the claim, saying he was responding specifically to a question about the lawyers who lodged the defamation claim.
The three big education expenditure items of the Rudd/Gillard governments were not directly related to student achievement in core skills. The Digital Education Revolution was about a laptop being the tool box of the future. Those billions of public dollars put a laptop in the hands of all students from Year 9. This enhanced equity, led to increased critical use of technology, access to wide and varied resources and innovative and engaging teachers great outcomes for Australia but not directly linked to test scores in Literacy and Numeracy.
Any parent, teacher or student will tell you schools are about much more than test scores, as important as those scores are. Where is the Prime Minister's logic in the argument that we've built all these new school halls and our test scores have gone backwards? Since when did a school hall a good test result make?
As the Abbott/Turnbull government retreats from funding schools it's becoming clear it is using a smoke and mirrors argument to justify itself 'We've spent billions of dollars on education and our scores have gone backwards; money isn't the answer'. The argument is as erroneous as it is damaging to good outcomes for Australian students.
Billions of public dollars were devoted to the Trade Training Centres initiative where students could pursue industry-based courses, taught to industry standard, resulting in industry qualifications. This was aimed at senior students and was for the purpose of adding to the skills of the Australian workforce. The benefits of this initiative include a greater breadth of senior courses available to all senior high school students, an authentic industry experience for students and a clear pathway into further technical study beyond school or the workforce.
The much-maligned Building the Education Revolution was always about saving the Australian economy, supporting the construction industry and its hundreds of thousands of jobs after the GFC. New libraries and halls gave a welcomed injection of infrastructure to schools but little short-term benefit to test scores. While clearly there was waste in this program, the enhanced learning facilities for Australian children will bring benefits well into the future.
Two of the significant innovations of the Rudd/Gillard years were the creation of the My School Website and the Gonski review of school funding. My School has brought transparency and accountability for schools in test scores, strategic planning and finances. Few school principals would deny that My School has not significantly sharpened their school's focus around more effective teaching and learning and its resourcing.
The Gonski review of school funding has firmly established in the minds of most Australians the principle that the public dollar should follow need. The performance of Indigenous students, the rural remote, intellectually, physically or financially disadvantaged needs to be better supported by the public dollar. This would seem to most fair-minded Australians a good thing for those students and for the economic and social cohesion of the country.
Nobody in schools believes Naplan and Pisa scores are, of themselves, much value. St Mary MacKillop College is the largest secondary school in Canberra with well over 30 different primary schools feeding into our Year 7 cohort each year. Our Year 7 Naplan tests, undertaken in early May, reveal nothing about the quality of teaching and learning at MacKillop. Rather, it provides invaluable data about the learning needs and strengths of that cohort. Where the taxpayer gets bang for their Naplan buck is what we and and other schools do with that data.
The director of the hit Australian film The Dressmaker, Jocelyn Moorhouse, has slammed the federal cuts to arts organisations and raised concerns about the future of film funding.
"It's really frightening," she said. "It makes you wonder what it says about the leaders of our country if they don't see the importance of supporting the voice of its people through the arts because that's what the arts represent."
Upset over arts cuts ... Jocelyn Moorhouse. Credit:Pat Scala
Speaking as the National Film and Sound Archive launched a crowd-funding campaign to restore her breakthrough film Proof, Moorhouse said last week's funding cuts to arts organisations had sent filmmakers into a panic.
Senior party figures in Victorian Labor are furious with the Batman MP, suggesting he has "neglected" the seat since he won it in 2013 and admitting he faces a fierce fight to hang on to it in what shapes as a tight contest with Greens candidate Alex Bhathal.
Labor leader Bill Shorten has delivered a stinging rebuke to under pressure frontbencher David Feeney for failing to declare his ownership of a $2.3 million property.
Fairfax Media revealed on Tuesday Mr Feeney had not declared his property in Northcote in Parliament's Register of Members Interests, though he does declare the $2.8 million home he lives in - outside his seat - in East Melbourne, and an investment property in Seddon which he bought for $380,000 in 2004 from disgraced Health Services Union official Kathy Jackson and her ex-husband Jeff.
David Feeney during question time in 2014 - after he bought the undeclared home. Credit:Andrew Meares
Mr Feeney blamed a "maelstrom of events" for his failure to declare the property for nearly three years and admitted it was negatively geared, but dodged questions about whether he would stop negatively gearing it if Labor won the election.
Campaigning in Sydney on Wednesday to announce a $175 million infrastructure commitment, Mr Shorten instead faced a barrage of questions about his senior factional ally and frontbencher and said he had contacted Mr Feeney and "expressed to him how displeased I am about this matter. It is unacceptable."
Mr Feeney's omission - and his claim that he has not moved into his electorate as the house is being renovated when work has not yet started - have blunted Labor's political attack on the government over negative gearing.
A second University of Sydney college has come under fire for "ritualistic humiliation" after students revealed sexual activities would regularly be broadcast over the college's PA system.
A former student of St Andrew's College, Kendra Murphy, has told Fairfax Media that college leaders would broadcast weekly news of sexual encounters between students during the college "lolly buffet".
"At 9pm the college seniors would announce things like 'Mary' and 'Joe' were seen hooking up, or they saw people going to Sancta [Sophia College], heard a three-way was on there," she said.
One week after the college's "victory dinner", Ms Murphy was herself the subject of the broadcast to the college campus after an incident with a fellow St Andrew's student.
For four years, Brendan King was part of a syndicate at a Sydney factory that bought lottery tickets. But whether he was a member at the crucial time - when the syndicate scooped a $40 million Powerball prize - is set to be decided by the NSW Supreme Court.
At stake is $2,696,364 - the disputed share of the massive jackpot.
Earlier this month a syndicate at the Prysmian factory in Liverpool, which manufactures cables, won the first division prize in the Mother's Day Powerball draw.
Mr King, a production manager at the factory, is suing the syndicate's registered ticket holder, Robert Adams. He claims that as the 15th member of the winning syndicate, he was excluded from the windfall.
Waverley and North Sydney ratepayers could get the chance to vote on council mergers in special plebiscites, but the last ditch attempts to sway the Baird government though a vote will be a race against time.
In a shock move, Waverley Council voted on Tuesday night to hold a municipality-wide poll on whether to support a merger with Randwick and Woollahra, as proposed by the NSW state government, with councillors urging that the vote be held at concurrently with the federal election on July 2.
Kiama community says no to council amalgamations. Credit:Bob Shaw/bob@aspirationimages.com
The Waverley mayor, Sally Betts, a Liberal who also works for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull as an electorate officer, opposed the poll, claiming that a survey of 600 residents a year ago had established support for a merger. She was an early supporter of the Baird government's merger agenda, arguing that it was better to determine the council's own destiny. She is expected to move a rescission motion to reverse Tuesday's decision.
The vote was carried after one Liberal split to vote with Labor, the Green, and an independent. One Liberal councillor was absent.
In terms of cuteness, the not-so-little bundle of joy born at Australia Zoo is head and shoulders above the rest.
The zoo, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, has announced its resident giraffe Sally had given birth to her second baby - a female calf.
Sally the giraffe tends to her newborn calf at Australia Zoo. Credit:Kathryn Hansen
With giraffes enduring a 15-month gestation period, the pregnancy was likely a pain in the neck for Sally, but staff say it was worth it to continue Australia Zoo's successful breeding program.
The yet-to-be-named calf, who measured just under two metres tall, is the fourth giraffe to be born at the zoo in two years, joining sister Tulip and half sisters Skye and Lily.
Five Melbourne men accused of trying to flee Australia by boat to join the militant terrorist group Islamic State have been extradited from far north Queensland, where they were arrested last week.
Under tight security, the five so-called "tinnie terrorists" left Cairns airport on an Australian Border Force aircraft on Thursday morning, bound for Victoria.
The men, including Islamic preacher Musa Cerantonio, were arrested by the Australian Federal Police after hatching a bizarre plan to travel to Syria via Indonesia and the Philippines by boat from northern Australia, after their passports were cancelled.
They had been under police surveillance for some time prior to their arrests.
A street performer who caught fire in Southbank on Monday when a safety assessment went wrong has spoken of her "terrifying" ordeal. Eryn Wright was fire-twirling near Queensbridge Square in Southbank, when her skirt caught alight and horrified bystanders tried to put out the flames with jackets and buckets of water. Her screams could be heard from nearby offices. Performer Eryn Wright. Credit:Facebook The street performer suffered serious burns to her back, legs and hands and was taken to The Alfred hospital.
"All I could see was flames coming up and I was just rolling around trying to pat them out ... it was terrifying," Ms Wright told Channel Ten from her hospital bed. "I thought, you know I'm going to die, it was crazy. It was really scary." Ms Wright told Channel Ten that she had been performing the act for 11 years safely. But this time it appeared fuel had leaked from the can she was carrying, soaking her skirt. She said her "leg looks like it's been deep-fried, but I'm not really worried about that. I'm happy that I'm OK". The performance was being assessed by a City of Melbourne officer and a representative from the Australian Circus & Physical Theatre Association, in line with the council's busking policies.
A jogger out for a pre-dawn run has been injured after a car slammed into a kangaroo, flipping the animal into him.
Sam Walter, 28, said the bizarre collision might have been karma for his choice of dinner on Tuesday night - kangaroo steak.
He sustained leg injuries when the kangaroo was propelled towards him "like a football" by the impact.
"It was actually airborne and it took me out," he said.
Did you get the answer to today's brainteaser? Don't scroll down any further if you're worried about spoiling the answer.
The first person to email me the answer was Melbourne Express reader Trishan, while @nicholaskmc was first to tweet me the solution.
Here's the answer:
Artist Stephen Kiprillis has done some great work animating the little trick or treaters!
The Water Corporation has moved to reassure residents in Perth's inner northern suburbs that discoloured water coming out of some households' taps is safe to drink.
Inglewood resident Lauren, whose surname WAtoday has chosen not to publish, posted a photo of dark brown water flowing from her bathroom tap on Wednesday morning, describing the incident as "a scene from a horror movie".
Water Corporation regional manager Garth Walter said the discoloured water was caused by the isolation of a pipeline in Mount Lawley on Tuesday night during a pre-planned inspection of CCTV cameras.
"Isolating the large pipeline changed the direction that water flows through smaller pipes, stirring up natural occurring sediment that has settled in the pipes, causing temporary discoloured water," he said.
Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi has made the extraordinary claim that she's "starting to feel like an axe murderer" and that Nine News reporter Liam Bartlett has a vendetta against her.
Ms Scaffidi made the comments on Wednesday morning after City of Perth councillor Janet Davidson stunned the packed gallery at Tuesday night's council meeting, by putting up a vote of no confidence against deputy mayor James Limnios.
There was speculation before the meeting that Cr Limnios would put up a vote of no confidence against the Lord Mayor after damning reports on her by both the Crime and Corruption Commission and the Department of Local Government about undisclosed gifts and travel.
Ms Scaffidi told Radio 6PR that Bartlett was after "her scalp".
Washington: Passions about the US presidential election are so strong, they are being heard from the grave.
A Virginia newspaper on Tuesday became the latest to publish an obituary that mentions the current campaign.
"Faced with the prospect of voting for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, Mary Anne Noland of Richmond chose, instead, to pass into the eternal love of God," reads the obit published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Noland died on Sunday of lung cancer, according to her husband, Jim Noland.
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Rock band the Little Mermen will host a nostalgia-filled Disney Prom in Williamsburg on May 21, designed to make couples stop wishing upon a star and feel the love that night. The leading merman of the band, which plays rockified versions of classic tunes from Disney animated musicals, says that it is a natural fit for them to host a dance party.
There is always a ball in those older Disney movies, said Alexis Babini, the bands frontman. Somebody said Disney Prom and it just stuck.
Babini, a self-confessed Disney nerd with a successful solo career he recently released the adult-oriented track Lets Get Stoned said that he and his backing bands foray into cartoon tunes was unplanned.
It started off as a joke, he said. When the guys and I were super new we would always run out of songs at gigs. One day we were the opening act for Aaron Carter and we did a Disney song cover as a filler. It went down amazingly.
Having discovered a whole new world of musical possibilities, the group could not let it go, let it go. Soon, under the name The Little Mermen, the group hosted a full night of Disney covers, playing a benefit concert for Musicians on Call, a volunteer group that brings live music to poor unfortunate souls in hospitals.
The gang dons costumes for the shows to honor the theatrical roots of the songs, and they encourage audience members to dress up as well. Gents who just cant wait to be king should definitely spiff themselves up, because the band will crown a Prom King and Queen for the evening.
And unlike your real prom, there is no need to sneak in a flask the venue will offer special Disney-themed cocktails like the Glass Slipper and Fairy Dust.
Babini said that he appreciates the musical challenge of the Disney tunes.
It is pretty unusual to have musical stuff this complex in rock so many harmonic changes! he said.
One of his biggest thrills was meeting the composer of some of the bands favored tunes.
Alan Menken came to one of our shows! said Babini, gushing over the composer of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. Babini also admires Park Slope songwriter Robert Lopez, who wrote songs for Frozen.
The Little Mermen have been playing together a long time, and there is no sign that they will stop whistling while they work.
We all have known each other from high school, said Babini. I was there when our drummer, Ken, was crowned Prom King.
Disney Prom with The Little Mermen at the Hall at MP [470 Driggs Ave. between N. 10th and N. 11th streets in Williamsburg, (718) 3874001, www.theha llbro oklyn.com ]. May 21 at 10:30 pm. $20 ($15 in advance, $25 with reserved seats).
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62nd Precinct
BensonhurstBath Beach
Cop or not?
Actual police arrested a huckster who dressed in a cop uniform and tried to extort $8,000 from two different people at their homes on Ovington Avenue and Bay Ridge Parkway on May 15 and May 16.
The fake fuzz tried a house near the corner of Ovington and 14th avenues first around 7 am on May 15. The victim told police the faux law-enforcer was in a full New York City Police Department uniform and demanded $8,000. She told him she did not have the money, and he threatened to arrest her, police said. He gave her an hour to pay up and left then she got a phone call from someone telling her to play ball, but the cop never came back, law enforcement sources said.
It was the same story for a woman living on Bay Ridge Parkway and 19th Avenue the guy showed up a little after 10 am on May 16 and demanded the same amount. She got the same phone call and he gave her the same time frame to come up with the dough, police said.
Repeat offenders
Two twerps made two trips into a Bay Parkway store to snatch toys and baby gear on May 10.The pair waltzed into the shop near Shore Parkway around 11:40 am, stuffed a cart with $1,500 worth of toys, and walked out, police said. Then they went back in almost immediately and filled up another cart and made it out again, police said.
Driveway bandits
Thieves stole a womans car from her Shore Parkway driveway overnight on May 10.
She parked her ride in her driveway between 25th Avenue and Bay 40th Street around 11 pm and woke up around 7 am to find her driveway empty, according to a police report. Officials said there was no broken glass in the driveway.
Truck take
Tool thieves broke into a guys truck parked at a school on Stillwell Avenue on May 13, police said.
The guy parked it there between Avenue S and 82nd Street around 8 pm and returned the next day to find someone had broken in through a rear window. Looters grabbed roughly $3,500 worth of tools and equipment, according to a police report.
Dennis Lynch
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90th Precinct
SouthsideWilliamsburg
Knit wits
Two scoundrels stole a pricey sweater from a man at the Hewes Street subway stop on May 14, according to a police report.
The victim first met the pair via a Facebook buy-and-sell page where he made an agreement to sell them his $200 Bape sweater, a report said.
But when he showed up at the station around 1:30 pm and handed the clothing over for inspection, one of the louts told him, Youre not getting this back, cops said.
The cads then walked off to the sidewalk, sweater in hand, while the victim followed, saying, Im not getting my sweater pack?
The other reprobate then pulled out a knife and repeated, No, youre not getting it back, before chasing the victim away, police said.
The victim told authorities his wallet was in the sweaters pocket. There was a debit card inside, but he cancelled it before the pirates could use it used, according to a report.
Burn out
A woman assaulted a man with an unknown caustic substance that burned his face while was walking on Flushing Avenue on May 13.
The victim was strolling near the corner of Broadway at 6:30 pm when the woman yelled at him and threw the mysterious matter at him scorching his face and eyes, and causing substantial pain and swelling before running off, police said.
Pistol ripped
A rogue broke into a mans car after he parked it on Bushwick Place and stole an array of gun paraphernalia on May 12.
The victim said when he returned to the parked car at Johnson Avenue at 4:30 am, where he found the passenger-side window broken and a gun holster, a tourniquet holster, two magazines, 30 rounds of ammunition, a radio, and his cell phone missing, according to a report.
Taxed
A huckster claiming to work for the Internal Revnue Service conned a Boerum Street woman into buying him $500 in iTunes gift cards, a police report said.
The fraudster phoned the victim at her home near Humboldt Street at 2 pm and said she owed the agency nearly $5,000 and that if she did not pay up in the next two hours, she would be arrested, according to the report. The caller told her to go to the nearest store and buy iTunes gift cards to cover the costs, police said.
Workers at the store told the victim customers can only purchase $500 in cards per day, so she bought five $100 cards called the con artist with their serial numbers, according to the report.
Subway swipe
A crook grabbed a womans phone, wallet, and headphones while fleeing a G train at Lorimer Street on May 9, police said.
The neer-do-well was sitting across from the woman on the subway at around 8:50 am and even told her,Good morning, police said, but when the train approached the stop, he stood up, snatched her belongings, and ran off, a report said.
Tatiana Hernandez
Your Colleagues
UB architecture faculty projects win national awards
"He, She & It," a new workshop for artists in Buffalo, won a jury award in the Architizer A+ Awards competition's Architecture+Workspace category. Photo: Florian Holzherr
By DAVID J. HILL
Two projects designed by UB architecture professors have received jury honors in the international Architizer A+ Awards competition that honors the best of architecture worldwide. He, She & It, a new workshop for artists in Buffalo designed by the practice Davidson Rafailidis whose principles are Stephanie Davidson and Georg Rafailidis received the jury award in the Architecture+Workspace category. Davidson is a clinical assistant professor and Rafailidis an assistant professor of architecture at UB. Their practice is located in Buffalo. High Living, a conceptual project created by the practice Dioinno Architecture whose founder is Jin Young Song, assistant professor of architecture at UB, won jury honors in the Unbuilt Residential category. This is an unparalleled honor. With entries from over 100 countries, your work truly represents the best of architecture worldwide, Architizer CEO Marc Kushner wrote in an email to the winning entrants. The Architizer A+ Jury Winner is selected by our illustrious jury, comprising equal parts architects+designers, cultural thought leaders and developers. Architizer bills itself as the worlds largest online community of architects. The Architizer A+ Awards competition is the largest awards program focused on promoting and celebrating the years best architecture and products.
He, She & It
Located in Buffalo, He, She & It is a collection of three distinct buildings for three spatial needs collaged into one structure. The 1,400-square-foot building includes work space for a painter, a ceramist/silversmith and a greenhouse. Having the project celebrated by a jury of accomplished designers and chosen for special recognition from among many compelling designs from across the globe is very meaningful, Davidson and Rafailidis said. We are happy that a project that uses simple, minimal means and modest materials and techniques speaks powerfully enough, through its spaces, to receive this recognition. Each of the three spaces in their project differs radically from the other. The painters space (for the He) is a windowless white box that is exclusively top-lit, allowing for even and natural light while maximizing the wall surface area for painting. She is a ceramist and silversmith whose space features a dedicated area for the messy, wet ceramic work and the delicate jewelry-making. Her space offers large windows with generous views and dramatic lighting. It consists of seedlings in spring and plants in the winter whose space features a translucent polycarbonate shell that offers a zone of outdoor-like space to the other two work spaces, without any direct views. He, She & It also has been nominated for a peoples choice award in the AZ Awards competition by Azure, a Toronto-based magazine. Votes can be cast online.
High Living
Rendering of High Living, a multi-unit residential concept created by Dioinno Architecture, whose founding principal, Jin Young Song, is a UB assistant professor of architecture. Photo: Dominik Imseng Rendering of High Living, a multi-unit residential concept created by Dioinno Architecture, whose founding principal, Jin Young Song, is a UB assistant professor of architecture. Photo: Dominik Imseng
Phillies are World Series bound! How to watch, plus the full schedule
The Phillies are heading to the World Series for the first time since 2009. Follow along as Philadelphia takes on the Houston Astros.
MAKING IT BIG
Binod ChaudharyPenguin411 pages; Rs 399
Binod Chaudhary's story is fairly well known: he is the first person from Nepal on Forbes's list of billionaires, his main business is instant noodles (Wai Wai), he owns Nabil Bank, and he is a business partner of Tata. He runs factories, hotels, power plants and has interests in real estate.
The sturdily built businessman is of Marwari stock but let me tell you he is as Nepali as the south face of Mount Everest: in the presence of outsiders, I have often heard him converse with his sons in chaste Nepali; needle him about Nepal and he will come at you with all his might; and his name is Binod, as a true highlander would say it, not Vinod.
Mr Chaudhary's grandfather had a clothes shop in Kathmandu and was one of the few traders who had access to the royal palace. His father grew the business, started a string of factories, and in 1968 set up Arun Emporium, Kathmandu's largest departmental store. Under Mr Chaudhary, the business has grown manifold: he takes pride in saying that his group is run out of Kathmandu, Delhi and Dubai.
The most remarkable thing about Mr Chaudhary is his candour. I have never heard him shy away from a topic, or duck an uncomfortable question. His book, too, holds no punches; he names his adversaries, and recounts all his battles with them in great detail.
The book lifts the veil over how business was done in Nepal when it was a monarchy. One had heard that the then rulers were whimsical and bullied businessmen, big and small, into submission. The stories Mr Chaudhary narrates show how deep the malaise ran. All the stories of political intimidation that we hear in India sound like junior school pranks when compared to what Mr Chaudhary and other Nepali businessmen had to put up with in those days.
In Mr Chaudhary's words, businessmen in Nepal had to pay bribes twice: once to the government and the "second was exhorted from behind closed doors by those who held the reins of power". The rule was pretty straightforward: the businessmen would make all the investments and then the royals would walk in and decide their stake. Invariably, they took 51 per cent. "Anybody who would not accept such a deal was better off packing his bags and leaving the country". (The custom of the day was that the royals did not return greetings when they met people.)
In 1980, Nepal held a referendum to choose between the panchayat system and multi-party democracy. The then prime minister, Surya Bahadur Thapa, summoned Mr Chaudhary and his father and demanded funds to ensure victory for the panchayat system "at all costs".
This was a firman father and son couldn't refuse.
After the referendum, which went in favour of the panchayat system, Mr Chaudhary demanded three favours from Thapa: a licence to assemble National Panasonic radios in Nepal, another to import beer from Mohan Meakins in India, and a third to set up a paper mill in the country. Thapa agreed to all three.
However, the political opponents of Thapa, which Mr Chaudhary says was reportedly led by a prince, launched a visceral attack on him, which derailed the proposed ventures. (The venture with Mohan Meakins was a non-starter because Indian excise laws did not allow for the export of beer.)
Mr Chaudhary found a way out by aligning with the royal palace: he made Prince Dhirendra his business partner. All opposition melted away. And when he set up a steel mill, called Apollo Steel, Dhirendra agreed to settle for a 49 per cent stake. It was this closeness with the prince that helped Mr Chaudhary bag a hydro-power project in Nepal, even though the contract had been "unfairly" allotted to another consortium.
The relationship Mr Chaudhary had forged with Dhirendra opened the gates of the palace for him. King Birendra and his wife, Queen Aishwarya, would frequently invite him over. They visited his Wai Wai factory and even came to attend weddings in his family. But this came to an abrupt end in 1989 when Dhirendra, thanks to his affair with an English woman named Shirlie, had to leave the palace.
One day, Mr Chaudhary and his father were summoned by Prekshya Rajya Laxmi Devi, Dhirendra's wife, to her palace. There, in the presence of some courtiers, she told father and son that she was selling the 49 per cent stake Dhirendra held in their Apollo Steel's to a rival, Golchha Steel. This would have been disastrous.
Mr Chaudhary stood up to the bullying and refused: he produced a piece of paper in which Dhirendra had written that he had taken money from the businessman to buy the 49 per cent stake; selling these shares would have been unethical. The queen left in a huff; Mr Chaudhary sent her legal notices, demanding the money her husband had taken be returned to him!
He followed it up with a rights issue, to which the queen did not subscribe and which brought down her stake. Fearing for his safety, Mr Chaudhary became a vocal proponent of multi-party democracy in Nepal: nobody would dare harm a public person. After a while, the queen relented and returned the money to Mr Chaudhary.
Riveting stuff indeed.
The ban on sale of diesel cars of a certain engine capacity in the Delhi region and like measures being contemplated by the Supreme Court are a big worry for Mercedes-Benz India, the countrys largest luxury car maker. Roland Folger, managing director and chief executive officer, talks to Ajay Modi. Edited excerpts:
Contrary to industry's expectations, the Supreme Courts ban on diesel vehicles (2,000cc and above engines) in the National Capital Region (NCR) has stayed for over six months. What is the reaction from your headquarters?
The ban was a disruptive element that was difficult to foresee. The question from Germany always is, have we done anything wrong? When we tell them our vehicles are in line with the regulations, we are asked where the diesel ban comes from. The problem was that we did not have a very good reason to explain what has happened. The thought processes that led to such decisions are very difficult to comprehend outside (the country).
This lack of credibility then leads to slowing of investment and not looking favourably at the market potential. That is not a good thing to have.
In what way can Mercedes contribute to lowering of vehicular emission?
BS-VI (the Bharat Stage-VI emissions norms) will bring diesel emission to the level of petrol and add a diesel-specific benefit of 25 per cent lower carbon dioxide emission. We have committed ourselves to bring BS-VI at a much earlier stage (than the government's target), by 2018. The whole automotive industry might not be able to do that but somebody has to start.
We have it available in Europe and we can get it, with some adjustments and checking. I am propagating moving the earliest because if you wait until 2020, I can assure you it wont happen. BS-III and BS-IV took 10 years. But, we need to find someone who can give us the fuel for running these.
The challenge is that service providers might not have fuel ready. There are local refineries that export BS-VI fuel and can be used.
Will you shift your entire product range to petrol?
We have covered almost the entire product line with petrol options. A few that are left will be done during the year. The customer will have a choice. We dont see a massive shift to petrol, as many users still believe in diesel. Buyers prefer to wait to buy a diesel car.
Is there a concern that the NCR ban might be replicated in other cities?
We dont see that as a serious issue, at the moment. We assume the ban will stop sooner or later. It does not show any measurable improvement in fuel quality in the NCR.
Mathematically speaking, the number of these vehicles is so small that they cannot affect the air quality. I believe that the diesel ban will go, since it is not cleansing the air and so, will not find a way to other cities.
The SC is talking about a 30 per cent cess on 2,000cc diesel vehicles. Does that make some of your models uncompetitive compared to others?
Of course. We consider a 30 per cent cess the same as a diesel ban. It is very simple. A diesel vehicle is already more expensive than petrol. Considering the limited financial benefit that you get due to the price differential between the two fuels, some of the cars need to run for 10 years to recover the extra investment. If you add another 30 per cent to the price, why would anyone in the world buy (a) diesel (driven-vehicle) any more?
The SC is talking about a 30% cess on 2,000cc diesel vehicles. Does that make some of your models incompetitive compared to others just because they fall below 2,000cc?
Of course. We consider a 30% cess the same as diesel ban. It is very simple. Diesel vehicles are already expensive to petrol. Considering the limited financial benefit that you get due to price differential between the two fuels, some of the cars need to run for ten years to recover the extra investment. If you add another 30% to price, why would anyone in the world buy diesel anymore. So, that is equivalent to a ban.
Proxy advisory firm Stakeholders Empowerment Services (SES) has asked the shareholders of construction and engineering major to vote against the companys proposals to bring an outside investor in certain businesses and provide guarantees to lenders.
The debt-laden company has put up a set of resolutions for shareholders approval that will enable it to transfer certain businesses to Transrail Lighting (TLL), a subsidiary company.
Units transferred to TLL include a tower manufacturing factory in Deoli and a conductor factory in Silvassa.
It, then, plans to sell a 75 per cent stake in TLL.
SES has opposed four of the six resolutions that are up for voting, which concludes on Thursday, on the grounds of governance issues and transparency concerns.
These include the approval for amendment to business transfer agreement entered with TLL, approval for amendment to the shareholders agreement with TLL and Bilav Software (investor), creation of mortgage/charge on assets for securing the debts transferred to TLL and to provide security and corporate guarantee to the lenders of TLL.
Two key areas where SES has raised issues are non-disclosure of basis of valuation and a lack of information provided on the proposed investor, Bilav Software and its suitability as an investor. Though shareholders had approved the proposals in a postal ballot in December, the lenders of Gammon, which is under a corporate debt restructuring (CDR) have asked for certain changes in the agreements and demanded safeguards in the form of guarantees and mortgages.
The current resolutions have been put up to enable these. Gammons capital structure has undergone a major change since the December resolutions. The capital has increased almost three-fold by issue of new shares to lenders under the CDR mechanism and promoters now own only 13 per cent shares against 35 per cent at the time of the previous postal ballot.
Public institutions (including lender banks) now own 67 per cent. After the allotment of equity to DBS Bank, which is one of the resolutions for approvals in the current ballot, the lenders will hold approximately 64 per cent equity.
This shareholding structure has put the lenders in the driving seat, said SES, adding: It is common knowledge that in CDR cases, all such decisions on divestment etc are taken only after the approval of lenders. Therefore, the company and lender banks must have agreed upon these resolutions.
The proxy firm raised the issue of asymmetry of information between the lenders and other public shareholders.
"In this particular case, there is information asymmetry between CDR Lenders and general public shareholders as lenders are certainly in the know of the rationale for sale and all other details. But, general public shareholders do not have any other source of information except what is given in notice," which SES found "absolutely incomplete and insufficient."
An email seeking comments sent to the company secretary of on Tuesday did not elicit any response. "The resolution would certainly sail through given the brute majority of banks, however shareholders can still protest and convey to the management and lenders their dissatisfaction by expressing their 'Against' vote," the proxy firm said.
The State Bank of India (SBI) has said that the Rs 570 crore detained by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on the basis of suspicion has been released by the authorities now. The announcement comes at a time when Madras High Court is expected to issue an order on the issue today evening.
The Court is also expected to issue an order related to holding the counting of votes on a single day, May 25. Voting in two constituencies has been postponed to May 23, with counting on May 25, while the results for the rest of the 232 constituencies are scheduled to come out on May 19.
In a statement issued today, said: "Reference the recent incident involving the mistaken seizure of Rs 570 crore that was being transported from the currency chest of State Bank Of India's Coimbatore main branch to Special Currency Administration Branch, Visakhapatnam, would like to confirm that the same has been duly released by the police and tax authorities after all verifications were made."
Both, the Police escort team and the representative from SBI had presented all the necessary ID and documents whenever demanded by the Static Surveillance Team (SST) of the ECI during the entire process of verification.
Upon requests by the Reserve Bank and SBI, various authorities of the Election Commission, including the local and central observers, District Administration and Income Tax thoroughly examined all aspects as per due process of law and released the treasure after satisfying themselves about the genuineness of the transaction.
"SBI would like to place on record, our deep appreciation and thank all the government agencies for quickly resolving the issue to the satisfaction of everybody," SBI added.
Meanwhile, in a litigation related to the detention of the said amount, the Reserve Bank of India has claimed in Madras High Court today that the money belongs to the banking regulator and is being handled by the SBI with its permission.
According to experts, the currency chest, which carries currency for distribution among banks for their operations, holds the money of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the management of each chest is with different banks. The banks, upon approval from the RBI, would withdraw the money from one chest and transport it to another chest based on requirement. According to the RBI website, there are around 275 currency chests in Tamil Nadu, 226 in Andhra Pradesh and 155 in Telangana.
On May 14, SST intercepted three Innova cars and three containers carrying cash at Chengapalli, in Uthukuli Taluk, in Tirupur district on suspicion that the money could be transported to distribute to voters for favourable votes.
However, SBI promptly came out owning the money and said that the money has been in transit from SBI Coimbatore Main branch to SBI Special Currency Administration Branch, Visakhapatnam, in order to address a temporary cash shortage in the state of Andhra Pradesh. SBI said that as there is a temporary cash shortage in the currency chests across AP, to meet the needs of the public, a specific remittance was authorised by the RBI (both at Hyderabad and Chennai in accordance with their Cash Management Policy).
Experts from the banking industry have raised doubts over the way such a huge amount was being transported, especially in light of the available information. The containers with the money were kept at the district administration office in Tiruppur for almost two days, after which it was transported back to Coimbatore where further investigation took place.
In the 1970s, Steve Jobs came to India as a teenager in search of enlightenment, went back to the US, and started something which went on to become the most valuable company in the world - Apple.
More than 40 years later when his successor kicked off his maiden visit to the country, he, too, decided to take a spiritual route. Apple CEO Tim Cook, who reached Mumbai from China in his private jet late on Tuesday night, chose the wee hours of Wednesday to visit the famous Siddhivinayak temple with Apple India head Sanjay Kaul. There, he ran into Anant Ambani, son of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani.
Later in the day, Cook is learnt to have met with Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry, Vodafone India Managing Director Sunil Sood and HDFC Limited Chairman Deepak Parekh. This is seen as a strategic move for the company to penetrate deeper into India's growing smartphone market, by piggybacking on telecos' distribution networks.
ALSO READ: Telangana govt likely to offer land for Apple campus
Even though Cook missed Mukesh Ambani, who is on a business trip to the US, he was invited for lunch at Antillia, the latter's billion-dollar mansion in south Mumbai, where he was joined by top Reliance Industries Limited executives, including Manoj Modi and Sanjay Mashruwala.
Globally, especially in the US, its key market, Apple's strategy has been to work with the telecom service providers such as Verizon, Sprint and AT&T that bundle its phones along with their services at subsidised prices to the customers. While in India, it's unlikely that Apple will take the subsidy route; the company is mostly looking at the reach of these telcos that service around a billion people. These telcos will prove to be strategic partners for Apple once the rollout of 4G/LTE networks is completed in India.
Cook has said that 4G will be a real game changer in India because the value of iPhones can be unlocked as customers will be able to do a lot more with high-speed connectivity on their devices. Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio Infocomm is all set to be the largest 4G network in the country, investing $17 billion on setting up the infrastructure for the purpose.
In a move that will help Apple provide a better experience to its users, the company on Wednesday announced setting up of a design and development accelerator for iOS apps, in Bengaluru. Unlike the US and some other matured markets, Apple does not have enough India-specific apps in its iOS store as the number of iPhone users in the country is still minuscule compared to Android users.
"India is home to one of the most vibrant and entrepreneurial iOS development communities in the world," said Cook. "With the opening of this new facility in Bengaluru, we're giving developers access to tools that will help them create innovative apps for customers around the world."
In the evening, Cook also met with N Chandrasekaran, chief executive officer and managing director of Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest information technology (IT) services company. The meeting lasted for around two hours, informed sources told Businesss Standard. Among the Indian IT services players, Infosys is the preferred vendor for Apple.
The meetings with these business leaders mostly happened at Taj Mahal Palace where Cook, along with his visiting team, is camping. Stepping out, Cook also visited the ICICI Bank headquarters in the Bandra Kurla Complex business district and met its brass, including bank's managing director and CEO Chanda Kochhar and executive directors. The meeting is said to have lasted for over an hour.
Cook also got a taste of Bollywood in the evening when he met filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and actor Emraan Hashmi at the Mehboob Studio, before attending a private dinner hosted by Shah Rukh Khan and attended by a galaxy of stars.
On Thursday, Cook would start the second leg of his four-day tour visiting Telangana, where he has set up meetings with Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and IT Minister K T Rama Rao. Apple has already announced it would set up its maps development centre in Hyderabad, home to India's National Remote Sensing Centre. The visit to the centre is also going to be a hush-hush affair even though state government officials wanted to invite media to showcase the achievements of the state in attracting large global companies like Apple.
In the evening, Cook will leave for New Delhi where he is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. The two could discuss issues ranging from Apple's rejected proposal to import and sell refurbished iPhones in India to setting up single-brand retail stores in the country. Modi is likely to urge the business leader to make Apple begin manufacturing its prized iPhones here.
He is also expected to have a dinner meeting with the US Ambassador to India, Richard Verma, later in the evening.
FINALLY, TIM COOK'S HERE - AND THERE'S MORE ON HIS PLATE
Apple chief executive Tim Cooks maiden India voyage has begun at 11:45 pm on Tuesday night when his private jet landed in Mumbai. Cooks visit has been shrouded in utmost secrecy, prompting speculation that Apple would yet again push for selling refurbished devices in India and was here to sweet talk PM Modi.
As time passes, its becoming clear that Cooks visit to India is a strategic business meet and he will be engaging with several business leaders and politicians. High on the agenda for Cook is to woo the telecom service providers that will help Apple to sell more of its high end smartphones to customers.
In the US, unlike India, majority of iPhone sales happen on the back of carriers. However they provide the crucial link in India to get to customers who will pay for data usage that is necessary in smartphones. The CEO of Indias largest telecom network Bharti Airtel, Sunil Mittal, is likely to meet Cook on Friday, while meetings with Vodafone India CEO Sunil Sood and even Reliance Jio is possible.
Cook had himself said that the onset of fast 4G networks in India will boost sales of the iPhone in India. Reliance Jio and Airtel have built the countrys largest data networks in addition to having a massive physical presence that could help Apple with distribution.
LTE rollout in India just really began this year, and so we'll begin to see some really good networks coming on in India.
That will unleash the power and capability of the iPhone in a way that an older network, a 2.5G, or even some 3G networks, would not do," Cook had said in a call to investors last month.
Apart from meeting with heads of leading telcos, Cook is expected to meet Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry and Tata Consultancy Services CEO N Chandrasekaran. While in Mumbai, he could also meet with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
On the second leg of his journey, is expected to land in Telangana where he has setup meetings with Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and IT minister KT Rama Rao. Apple has already announced the setting up of its maps development centre Hyderabad, home to Indias National Remote Sensing Centre, a hub for GIS technical talent. Cook is likely to visit the Apple site which will be ready by early 2017.
Delhi will be Cooks next stop where he is expected to meet Airtel CEO Sunil Mittal on Friday and has a meeting scheduled with PM Modi on saturday according to sources in the PMO.
He will also announce setting up of Apple stores, which they have applied license for and the government is keen to give clearance. I think as quickly as we can give them the clearance, which should be really quick and fast, said Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog, in an interview with CNBC-TV18.
Discussions over granting Apple a license to operate single-brand retail stores will be on, seeking a waiver of the 30 per cent local content clause.
Moreover, as is common in such business meetings with the PM, Cook could push the companys agenda for selling refurbished devices in the country while the PM urges Apple to begin manufacturing its devices locally and boosting the Make in India mission.
The missing Bengaluru link
It isnt clear whether Cooks visit to India will see him coming to Bengaluru, the technology capital of India, and the fast emerging Silicon Valley of the East. While most reports seem to suggest he has given the city a pass, Kant of NITI Aayog, said that Cook will meet a number of startups in Bengaluru.
Moreover, rumours of Apple setting up an accelerator in India have been doing the rounds too, and while nothing can be ascertained for sure, the thing that is clear is that Cook is looking to woo developers in India. From setting up a development centre in Hyderabad, to meeting entrepreneurs in Bengaluru, the company is trying to tap Indias vast developer community to build apps for iOS and OSX platforms.
Coimbatore-based iCliniq, an online platform for patients to consult doctors in real-time, is looking to raise funds from venture capital firms to support technology development. The company has around 1,100 doctors for 80 specialties and 110,000 patients in around 160 countries.
The company, which started off in Bengaluru in 2012, later shifted base to Coimbatore where its founder Dhruv Suyamprakasam hails from. It currently offers consultation over chat/message, voice call and video call.
The phone numbers of the doctor and the patient are connected to ensure privacy of both the parties and the company also creates content over the queries from the patient and the responses from the doctor.
"While we started to address the problems of patients in India, around 70 per cent of our revenue comes from the US and the UK, But, the patients are not expat Indians, they are natives of those countries. Most of them are consultation for a second opinion," said Suyamprakasam, who is also the CEO of iCliniq.
He said iCliniq insists that its doctors offering consultation through its platform do so only on a part-time basis, with rest of the time spent for offline practice. This is to ensure the quality of treatment, he added. While it offers around 80 specialities, most of the queries are related to dermatology, paediatrics, gynaecology and psychiatry.
Suyamprakasam said that while it started a group in online messaging platform WhatsApp to offer services to customers, the platform was not flexible enough to meet patients' needs. So, it created a 'bot' - an app within an app - in another online messaging platform Telegram, through which it currently offers chat services on various specialities.
The company, funded by the promoter and a doctor so far, will be raising funds to enhance the use of technology, said Suyamprakasam. It would look at raising $3-5 million in the near future to fast track its technology. It is planning to use the existing contents of queries and answers to provide answers to the same queries posed by a patient later, which would increase the speed of delivery of solution.
Its doctor panel consists of medical doctors, physicians and therapists from the US, the UK, United Arab Emirates, India, Singapore and Germany.
Loss-making Tata group firm Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) will sell yet another prized asset abroad to pare its burgeoning debt and reduce financial costs.
The 114-year-old company, which is Indias oldest and biggest (in terms of room inventory) hospitality company, is planning to sell the Taj Boston, one of its three US-based properties, for $125 million (Rs 836 crore).
This will be the seventh exit (international and domestic), including exit from management of hotels, in the past two years. Two years ago, IHCL had sold the loss-making Blue Sydney in Australia for Rs 180 crore.
Acquired 10 years ago, Taj Boston remained a loss-making property for the third consecutive year last year, forcing IHCL to explore liquidating options. The company has been struggling to bring down its debt, which stands at Rs 5,000 crore.
In recent times, the company has been relooking at all options for a course correction in strategy, focusing on growth in high-margin markets, evaluating the relevance of some of its existing assets in the portfolio to reduce leverage. In order to accomplish the above objectives, the board has authorised the management of the company to pursue such a divestment, IHCL said in a statement.
IHCL has been under financial duress for the past three years. High finance costs have eroded margins, even as the company struggled to erect new properties under the luxury Taj banner and rescued stuck old projects such as the Sea Rock project in Bandra, Mumbai.
While the new Taj hotel opened outside the domestic airport terminal in Mumbai a few months ago was the first Taj property opened in five years, the Sea Rock project is stuck because of failure to secure environmental clearance.
IHCLs new CEO Rakesh Sarna had indicated last year the company wouldnt shy away from exiting ventures which are a drag on its balance sheet. In February this year, IHCL partly divested stake in Bermuda-based Belmond (formerly Orient Express Hotels) at a loss for Rs 81 crore after years of overtures for a buy-out remained fruitless. The company has, however, expressed its willingness to continue to manage the Boston property after its sale. The company intends to negotiate a divestment whilst retaining the brand presence on the hotel on terms to be agreed, the statement added.
The Mumbai-based company, which has brands like Taj, Vivanta by Taj, Gateway and Ginger, recorded its fourth consecutive consolidated yearly loss for the year ended March 31.
The company posted a consolidated yearly loss of Rs 60.5 crore against a loss of Rs 378 crore posted in 2014-15. It did not share consolidated quarterly financial figures for the quarter ended March 31, 2016. However, IHCL reported a profit of Rs 88 crore at the stand-alone level for the quarter under review, compared with a loss of Rs 119 crore posted in the year-ago period. Income from operations rose to Rs 687 crore, an increase of 12 per cent during the reporting quarter, from Rs 611 crore posted in the same quarter in 2014-15.
LIQUIDATING OPTIONS
India might, if various other things happen, be able to reach its $400 billion (bn) targeted electronics production by 2020, Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (Mait) said on Wednesday.
According to the ministry of IT (information technology) and telecom, the Indian market is expected till 2020 to grow at a compound annual rate (CAGR) of 66.1 per cent, to $400 bn from the $31.6 bn in 2015.
But, Mait says, the government needs to take a slew of measures if it wants to achieve that target. For, the sector in India is like an athlete with its hands tied behind its back and weights tied to legs.
Estimated electronics production will (otherwise) reach only $104 bn by 2020. At this rate, the electronics import bill is expected to far exceed the oil import costs by 2020 given the drop in oil prices, this could happen earlier, Mait said.
It added the environment in China was far more conducive to electronics manufacturing and India could pick a few points from there. It has the advantage of economies of scale that make the total cost of manufacturing much lower. (When more units of a good or a service can be produced on a larger scale, yet with less input costs, economies of scale are said to be achieved. This means as a company grows and production units increase, it will have a better chance to decrease its costs. According to theory, economic growth may be achieved when economies of scale are realised.) The Chinese government has made significant investments to develop local supply chains to support major manufacturers. It provides a fully developed eco-system for both components and finished goods. China provides a more favourable environment in terms of ease of doing business compared to India, Mait said.
Some areas where China scores more, it says, are time and cost for registration of property, cost to import and export due to required documentation, inland transportation and handling, ports and terminal handling, logistics costs, risk profiling, ease of enforcing contracts and resolving of insolvency.
We have suggested to the government some key policy and market interventions to achieve the vision of 'Net Zero Imports. India IT hardware manufacturers suffer fiscal disabilities estimated at 6.47 per cent and disability on account of physical infrastructure and business environment estimated at 9.4 perent, aggregating a crippling 15.87 per cent, said Kunkolienkar.
The industry body is demanding eligibility for a concessional rate of two per cent excise duty without central value added tax (Cenvat) credit and 12.5 per cent with Cenvat.
To ensure greater value addition in India, the differential duty regime also needs to be extended to major components such as motherboards and power accessories, the industry body said.
India currently manufactures approximately a third of the domestic market requirement. An estimated 62 per cent of the demand for IT products is met through imports.
In the wake of the Maggi controversy, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is working on new regulations for quality standards of instant noodles to better regulate the quality of taste-makers and other ingredients.
The new regulations by FSSAI will be aimed at bringing in more clarity in the quality standards, sources said.
This will be the first time that FSSAI would come up with quality standards specifically for instant noodles. So far, there has been one common standard for various kinds of ready-to-cook products including noodles.
The new norms would clearly set the permissible limits for monosodium glutamate (MSG) and ash, and state the specific standards for taste makers, a key ingredient in instant noodles, sources said.
On April 1, FSSAI had asked state authorities to launch proceedings against only those noodle or pasta companies that had taste-enhancer MSG in their products despite carrying 'no MSG' or 'no added MSG' label on the packets.
Glutamate is naturally found in some common foods such as milk, spices, wheat, and vegetables.
Presently, there is no analytical method to determine whether MSG was added to the product during manufacturing or it was naturally present in the product.
This can, however, be checked through inspection of the manufacturing premises.
In June last year, FSSAI had banned Nestles Maggi noodles over allegations of high lead content and the presence of MSG above permissible limit.
The Bombay High Court lifted the nationwide ban on Maggi noodles, and asked Nestle India to go for a fresh test of samples in three independent laboratories across India.
Nestle re-launched Maggi noodles in Indian markets in November 2015.
Real estate fund manager Milestone Capital plans to go for a 'managed account' and is in talks with global pension and sovereign funds to raise funds, according to sources in the know.
The corpus of the managed account could be around $200 million and it will aim at investing in pre-leased information technology parks and warehouses, and other commercial properties, sources add.
In a managed account, a single limited partner (LP) commits money to a fund manager and the latter invests on behalf of the LP as opposed to a 'blind pool' where many LPs pool money and the general partner invests in any of the projects they like.
Managed accounts are catching up in the country. Recently, HDFC Capital Advisors headed by Vipul Roongta raised $400 million from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) to provide long-term money to developers of affordable housing projects.
Earlier, ADIA also committed $200 million to Kotak Realty Fund.
Arya said the fund manager would also tie up with a distributor to raise a Rs 1,000-crore domestic fund to invest in pre-leased commercial assets.
"Both will happen parallelly," she said, adding the fund manager was looking to invest Rs 1,200 crore in the realty projects this year.
She also said that Milestone had so far returned Rs 3,000 crore to investors.
Milestone Capital has also raised Rs 170 crore for its Rs 500-crore fund titled Milestone Opportunities Fund 10 and it will have a tenure of three-and-a-half years and will do structured debt and equity deals.
Set up in 2007, Milestone has raised $800 million and advises nine schemes across real estate and bullion products.
According to a knight Frank report, the demand for new office space absorption has surpassed completions for the second straight year across the top six cities of India. While 41.1 million sq ft of space was absorbed in 2015, only 34.5 million sq ft of new supply came online. For the past eight years, the vacancy levels have remained at their all-time low.
Steel pipes and tubes manufacturer Ltd plans to quadruple its production capacity in three years to spread its wings across the country and serve regional customers in a cost effective manner.
Operating currently from two locations, has a total production capacity of 99,000 tonnes which the company plans to increase to 340,000 tonnes by 2019-20 at an investment of Rs 50 crore (excluding land value).
We have already bought land seven-eight years ago. So, land cost is not added to our proposed investment plan. However, investment would not be a constraint in case demand of steel pipes and tubes emerges, said Richi Bansal, Chief Executive Officer, .
Started first phase of production in June 2015, the company is in the process to commence second phase of the production expansion from the existing 36,000 tonnes to 72,000 tonnes at its Khopoli, Maharashtra, plant by the end of June. In the third phase, Rama would be nearly doubling the capacity once again next year.
The expansion is targeted in the value-added segment, commanding higher margins. With commencement of production of an additional 72,000 MTPA (from two new plants) along with higher capacity utilisation rates, analysts believe that margin expansion will be seen from the first quarter of FY17. This will not only raise the revenue but will also improve the overall margin.
The Khopoli plant which is the companys latest addition to its two existing plants at Sahibabad near Delhi enjoys the economic advantage of low transportation cost benefiting exports as well as distribution in the western and southern pipe markets in India.
On stabilisation of the existing plants, we would soon move to south for which land has already been identified. The idea to expand in strategic location is to serve customers from nearby locations, said Bansal.
The steel industry faces a problem of high logistics cost which the company is trying to fix by full-fledged production at its Khapoli (Maharashtra) plant. This strategically-located plant (near the port) will gradually cater to rising demand from the export market. It now caters to demand from Maharashtra and Gujarat. Assuming that it cuts transportation and logistics cost by being located closer to the port, the expense component could come down by nearly 20 per cent (of selling and distribution expenses), said a report Khambatta Securities Ltd.
At present, the Indian steel tube and pipe sector is highly fragmented, with more than 50 per cent held by the informal segment. The Indian steel tube industry is likely to go through a consolidation phase, helping regulated operators to take part of the pie from the informal segment.
The global export market of steel pipes is stated to be nearly $27 billion a year, with the United States, Western Europe, Australia and Japan being the largest importers. India is one of the major exporting nations besides Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.
The Indian steel-pipe sector consists of firms primarily manufacturing seamless or welded steel pipes or tubes or ferrous pipe or tube fittings. In the recent past, steel-pipe manufacturers have added significant capacities perceiving strong domestic and export demand. With the increase in demand, utilisation rates for ERW pipe-makers will improve. Further, growing oil and gas demand across the world and with new pipeline infrastructure in process, revenue of Indian steel pipe-makers should be on the higher side.
The rise in demand for housing and commercial spaces in urban regions has led to huge demand in the hollow section and ERW pipes. The rising number of malls and high-rises has led to increased demand for structural/hollow steel products as they are stronger and have a better aesthetic.
The Indian government on Tuesday kickstarted the process of bank consolidation, starting with the countrys largest lender State Bank of India (SBI), in which the government has a 61.32% stake.
may merge its five associate banks - State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur (SBBJ), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH), State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Patiala (SBP) and State Bank of Travancore (SBT), and the relatively-newer Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) with itself. The BMB was created by the UPA government in 2013, and is a Delhi-based public sector lender, with Rs 1,000 crore in capital.
The boards of and the associate banks met individually on Tuesday to take a call on the proposed merger and begin talks. However, has indicated that the decision was purely exploratory at this stage.
Earlier too, SBI has merged two of its erstwhile associate banks with itself - Bank of Saurashtra in 2008 and State Bank of Indore in 2010.
The latest merger will create a financial behemoth with assets worth Rs 37 lakh crore ($550 billion), including the fixed assets of associate banks worth about Rs 4,000 crore.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley had hinted in an interview to Business Standardon Monday that the government was looking at bank consolidation with some urgency.
Speculation over a merger of state-owned banks has been in the air since the Finance Ministry said it plans to cut down the total number of public sector banks to about 10 or less from the current 27 to ensure that there are stronger and more efficient PSBs.
Heres all you need to know about the PSB consolidation
1) If the merger goes through, the combined entity will be ranked as the 45th largest bank globally in terms of assets, up 7 ranks from its current 52nd position.
2) Post the merger, the cost-to-income ratio will come down by 100 basis points a year. The cost-to-income ratio is nothing but the company's costs in relation to its income. To get the ratio, operating cost of a company has to be divided by its operating income.
3) Post the merger, SBI's employee costs could rise by Rs 23 crore a month.
4) The five subsidiaries have about 6,400 branches and 38,000 employees. As on 2014-15, SBI had more than 14000 branches, including 191 foreign offices spread across 36 countries, with employee strength at 2,22,033.
This compares to ICICI Bank, Indias largest private lender, having 67,857 employees as on March 31, 2015. ICICI Bank's bank branches stood at close to 4050 as on March 31, 2015.
However, to ensure synergistic benefits are achieved, SBI will have to rationalise branch network and employees as there is some duplication of branches and costs currently.
5) The All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) wants the five associate entities to be merged into a separate, single large bank, instead of all of them being merged individually with SBI. AIBEA has even called for a strike on May 20, opposing the merger.
6) The proposed merger is likely to be completed much before the end of the current financial year. SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya expects to have a combined balance sheet for the financial year ending 2016-17.
7) SBI's current balance sheet on a standalone basis stands at Rs 28 lakh crore, which will account for about 75% of the total assets of the new entity.
8) SBI has already sought "in-principle sanction" from the government to enter into negotiations with subsidiary banks to acquire their businesses.
9) Analysts fear the move will lead to higher operating costs in the near-term for SBI.
10) The swap ratio will only be worked out before getting final approvals from stakeholders - the Reserve Bank of India and the government - with two valuers of assets and a third valuer who will certify the process.
The path to merge State Bank of India (SBI)s five associate banks with itself will see many challenges, believe analysts. The most significant will be rationalisation of branches and employees, as well as aligning the pay structure of employees of the associate banks with that of SBIs.
The five associates together have a little over 70,000 employees or 34 per cent of SBIs employee base on a standalone basis. While SBI employees receive pension, provident fund and gratuity, those at associate banks do not receive PF. The SBI management believes the actual incremental employee cost will depend on their internal arrangement and negotiations are currently on here.
On Tuesday, SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya had said to a television channel that employee costs would go up by Rs 23 crore a month. This works out to Rs 276 crore a year or 2.4 per cent of annualised net profit for the nine months ended December 2015.
Analysts, though, peg the impact on employee costs at a much higher level. For SBI, the total impact comes out to Rs 6,700 crore, which is 25 per cent of profit before tax and two per cent of the FY17 estimated book value on a consolidated basis. Note that over the years, actuarial assumptions have become more conservative and we see upside risks to these numbers, says Suresh Ganapathy, financials analyst at Macquarie Capital.
He has extrapolated these estimates from the total impact of Rs 840 crore that SBI took at the time of merging State Bank of Indore and State Bank of Saurashtra into itself. On a per employee basis, the impact was close to Rs 10 lakh.Another Street concern is that burgeoning bad loans of associate banks could further increase SBIs provisioning in this regard. The management, though, says both SBI and the associates follow a completely real-time, online recognition of non-performing assets (NPAs). The parent is aware of the asset quality stress and is going ahead with the merger with open eyes.Though SBIs consolidated numbers capture this risk, it will be something to be watched. Asked if the merger will divert management attention from recovery of bad loans to integration, the SBI management said it would assign some of the excess staff towards integration and the focus on recoveries would continue.
Analysts also believe that with the SBI chairpersons retirement date nearing (this September), the bank could face challenges and delays in integration. Though the bank management is not worried, more clarity on this front will be a positive. Analysts at Motilal Oswal Securities are, however, sceptical of SBI merging all the associates in one go. In our view, a one-by-one merger or amalgamating all associate banks together and then merging the entity with SBI could have significantly reduced integration risk, writes the brokerage.On the other hand, benefits from this merger will materialise over the longer term and include opportunities to cross-sell SBI products. SBI is far more aggressive in growing its retail products and its fee income. The associate banks are bankers to local and state governments and a post-merger SBI can directly handle this business as well. As against six treasuries, the merged entity will have one large one, benefiting from the parents higher yields on investments.The management further stated that despite the merger, they would not need capital till March 2017, as the associate banks had a big chunk of real estate, giving a fillip to capital adequacy. Also, Bhartiya Mahila Bank will bring additional capital of about Rs 1,000 crore, as it was recently formed, with a small and under-leveraged balance sheet, writes leading foreign brokerage CLSA.Among other gains, the SBI management believes that after the merger, its balance sheet would increase to Rs 37 lakh crore from Rs 28 lakh crore currently and SBI will get fixed assets worth Rs 4,000 crore from the books of its subsidiaries. The management expects its cost of funds to come down by 100 basis points within a year, as the subsidiaries currently have high deposit rates, less of current and savings accounts, and higher dependence on wholesale funding. However, SBIs benchmark lending rates are also lower than the others.The street is also keeping an eye on the valuation that SBI pays to acquire the remaining stake in the three listed associate banks State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur and State Bank of Mysore. These stocks have run up in anticipation that the merger might take place at premium valuations. However, if that happens, the Street will react negatively, due to the relatively inferior financials of the associate banks. For instance, as of FY15, all associate banks had a return on equity of 10.1 per cent, roughly 100 basis points lower than SBI.
The smartphone market in India is poised to grow by 35 per cent during 2016, despite slowing shipment growth in the January-March quarter.
Following the trend that emerged last year, new launches are expected to go up by at least 20 per cent to 600 models, from 500 on a year on year basis, analysts tracking the sector said.
During the quarter ended March, shipment of smartphones in India declined 8.2 per cent from the earlier one. Though up five per cent over a year, markedly lower than the estimated growth rate for the full year. Experts, however, remain optimistic about sector volume touching 140 million by the end of this year. Various factors which affected shipment growth during the quarter might not ruin the party in the years second half.
Last year, India emerged as the second largest smartphones market in the world, with 103 mn units sold.
It is observed that almost 65 per cent of the total annual sales in India take place after July. Consumers usually postpone purchases of non-essential items like smartphones early in the year, said Tarun Pathak, senior telecom analyst, Counterpoint Technology Market Research.
Another factor that brought down shipment of smartphones earlier in the year is a bigger than estimated inventory that many of the major players had shopped in during the October-December quarter last year. In anticipation of record sales, many vendors imported handsets during the latter part of 2015. However, sales did not pick up as expected and many found themselves with huge inventories, said Faisal Kawoosa, general manager at CyberMedia Research.
According to IDC, shipments of key Indian vendors Micromax, Intex and Lava put together dropped 20.4 per cent sequentially as they struggled to push their inventories into the market.
Since focus has shifted towards manufacturing locally, many of the Indian vendors have performed poorly. Earlier, their entire energy was channelised to marketing and sale of devices and now, at least some of them are finding it hard to balance both (manufacturing and sales), a sector analyst told this newspaper.
According to those in the sector, as sales pick up in the coming quarters, shipment of smartphones will grow. Consumers moving from feature phones to smartphones will pick up at a faster pace than last year, as the fourth-generation technology (4G) service network availability improves after July.
Japanese auto maker Motor Corp, which owns a 56 per cent share in Maruti Suzuki, said it did not follow the home markets rules related to testing of mileage. The company also clarified that the issue does not affect the cars sold in markets outside Japan, including India where its subsidiary Maruti enjoys a 48 per cent market share.
Some discrepancies were found in the automobile emission and fuel efficiency testing process between the regulation by the ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism (in Japan) and the actual method carried out by Suzuki, the automaker stated.
Suzukis shares tanked 15 per cent on the reports, its lowest level since November 2013. Maruti Suzukis stock slipped 3.6 per cent to Rs 3,808 early in the day but recovered to close at Rs 3,917 on the BSE. The system of conducting vehicle mileage tests in India is distinct from the one in Japan. In India, all vehicles are tested for road load and emissions by government-approved agencies such as ARAI (Automotive Research Association of India), ICAT (International Centre for Automotive Testing) and VRDE (Vehicle Research and Development Establishment). As part of the emissions test, these agencies report fuel efficiency as well. Based on these reports, Maruti voluntarily declares fuel efficiency of its vehicles, said a Maruti spokesperson.
The Japanese Ministry had instructed auto makers to investigate actual fuel efficiency readings after Mitsubishi admitted last month that it manipulated fuel efficiency readings. Suzuki, the fourth largest automaker in Japan, said around two million vehicles were affected.
Reuters quoted company chief executive Osamu as telling reporters in Tokyo that his workers did not intentionally use improper data. The company apologises for the fact that we did not follow rules set by the country, he said.
Suzuki put its 16 models to investigation, including Alto and Wagon R. Suzuki, however, said all its products comply with safety standards and assured its users to continue using the products with ease. Suzuki will continue to sell new cars in Japan and said it did not see an impact on earnings. Japan, Suzukis home market, has seen a decline in sales volume in recent times. The decline is offset by the double-digit growth in sales from the Indian subsidiary.
The above issues do not apply to products sold under Suzuki badge outside Japan. Suzuki assumes that the fact would not have any impact on forecasts for the consolidated operating results at the moment. If any matters occur in the future that require modifications to the consolidated earnings forecasts, such matter shall be promptly disclosed, the company stated.
India, home to Suzukis highly profitable subsidiary Maruti, does not have a mandatory fuel efficiency norm. Carmakers here disclose mileage arrived through tests by agencies such as ARAI and ICAT. These are results of test under ideal conditions and never get replicated during actual on-road use.
Tata Communications is set to divest its stake in its data centre business. According to sources, the company will divest 74 per cent stake in the data centre business for Rs 4,000-4,500 crore. In a meeting late in the evening on Wednesday, the company updated its board of directors about its effort to sell stake in data centre infrastructure in India and Singapore, which is housed under its subsidiary, Tata Communications Data Centre. The update follows the July 2015 announcement about its plan to sell stake.
The deal is to be announced with the execution of "binding and definitive agreement with respect to the sale", said the company. While there was speculation in the media that Singapore Technologies Telemedia, a unit of Temasek Holdings, was buying the stake, the company declined to comment on the buyer's name.
The company plans to use the money from the sale to reduce its debt, which stood at Rs 9,595 crore on a consolidated basis in September 2015. According to the company's 2014-15 annual report, it had a 20 per cent share of the Indian enterprise data market and a 28.5 per cent share of the Indian data centre market.
Tata Communications provides data centre services in India, besides the US, the UK and Singapore. In India, it has facilities in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata and Pune and some Tier-II and Tier-III towns. It has 44 data centres and co-location centres with around one million sq ft of space. It also has eight partner sites across Australia, Malaysia, Germany and the Netherlands.
According to Tata Communications' annual report, the data centre unit's profit fell 65 per cent to Rs 8 crore in the year ended March 2015 from Rs 23 crore in the previous year. Data centre revenues rose 16 per cent to Rs 436 crore from Rs 375 crore.
In the wake of the signing of an amended taxation treaty between the governments of India and Mauritius,, head of risk market development at Thomson Reuters, the multinational mass media and information agency, has some additional suggestions. Edited excerpts of a talk with Rajesh Bhayani:The answer to this is in the definition of . Namely, financial instruments used by investors or hedge funds that are not registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India to invest in Indian securities. The question here is to what extent we know about this non-registered investor.
With the global regulatory pressure and massive increase of laws, treaties and other regulatory enforcements, some countries are taking steps to address this menace. It differs from region to region, depending on the enforcement they have in place. However, Know Your Customer (KYC) norms need to be tightened and India should consider setting clear guidelines and processes to enable enhanced due-diligence on such investments, due to their nature.
A KYCC Know Your Customers' Customers trend is also emerging; also, know your customers businesses and suppliers. These would provide more in the direction of finding the ultimate beneficiary owners (UBOs) in that business.
Cases of wilful defaults (on bank loans) are rising in India? How big a problem is this globally and how are authorities handling it?
Globally, there are many cases where companies were found to have set up parallel companies elsewhere as a back-up offshore establishment. If anything goes wrong in their domestic operations, their business can be handled from that offshore company, an escape plan. Also, sometimes we see onshore shell companies as the main business image, a fake operation to cover the real and illegitimate one, despite all documentations being legal, such as trade licence, board resolutions, etc. The authorities need to check the commonalities in such companies, whether shareholders or owners are common or have links. They should try to get Ultimate Beneficiary Owners' detailed processes.
Globally, there should be collaborative efforts to identify wilful defaulters or those found engaged in money laundering, bribery & corruption, dealings with illegitimate funds & the set-ups of back-up companies in regions where local laws support this with secrecy, as with Switzerland, Virgin Islands and so on. Of late, domestic regulators have started checking with international ones and investigating agencies about commonalities in ownership of such defaulters having companies elsewhere. However, that type of regulatory co-ordination is in too early a stage.
Doing business from tax havens is not new. Still, the recent Panama Papers exposure has thrown open a risk area. How serious a turn could this issue take?
The Panama Papers case stressed again on the importance of identifying the UBO. The Panama Papers confirmed the risk of using offshore companies, activities and other layers to hide the ultimate beneficial owners of companies and funds for the purpose of tax evasion, bribery, money laundering and many other illegitimate activities. It should be taken as a lesson learnt, to be pro-active and not, as in many cases, where firms fail because of a too-late reactive attitude.
Cases and complains about funding to terrorist organisations are rising. Is there a mechanism to check that?
As a general overview, the UN, EU, OFAC, FATF and many others sources have identified certain types of activities as of a high-risk nature, needing additional monitoring and enhanced due-diligence. Charities, donations for religious organisations, public good causes, precious gemstones, gold and diamonds and such other activities always require extra monitoring processes. Apart from that, activities of PEPS (politically exposed persons) are also carefully scrutinised, as they can potentially influence business decisions. In addition, there are bans in many cases on dealings with certain jurisdictions and entities.
In many terrorist funding activities, banking channels are used heavily. What needs to be watched are the layers being created to hide where the fund is finally flowing. All these mechanisms are about proper due-diligence and not passive ones to only satisfy a regulatory requirement. Regulators and regulated entities, both, should have the common belief that monitoring programmes, plans and diligence processes are for the better of the organisation and for the nation itself, as once reputation is damaged, its very hard to repair.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) will soon start pre-consultations on net neutrality. The development comes a year after the regulator issued a paper on the issue of regulation of over-the-top (OTT) players such as Whatsapp and Skype.
We will start pre-consultation on net neutrality in 2-3 days, said Trai Chairman R S Sharma. The regulator has already resolved the differential tariff issue, which is the bone of contention in the net neutrality debate. However, the subject did not cover other parts of net neutrality such as framework for internet-based calls, messaging, throttling of internet speed on the basis of content or paid preferences, etc.
Earlier, the consultation paper had received comments from the stakeholders but the regulator got a new chairman, Sharma, and there were no final recommendations on the issue. Subsequently, it was decided to issue a fresh paper incorporating other issues as well.
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has written to Trai asking the regulator to do away with the regulation on differential pricing. COAI asked Trai to reconsider the differential pricing for content offerings of telcos.
It requested the regulator to review its decision on closed electronic communication networks (CECN) and allow differential data tariffs on the basis of content, irrespective of how the content is provided through CECN or outside it.
Bharti Airtel had written to Trai earlier this month seeking permission to offer exclusive video content over its CECN. Airtel said it was approached by a global content provider offering its exclusive content on Airtels CECN.
Trai will take a call on the issue raised by companies based on the tariff they file with the regulator.
Every telecom operator needs to file tariff with Trai for the service they intend to provide to their customer, said Sharma.
According to Trais regulation, telcos cant charge differential prices on data on the basis of content except on CECN.
Trai has defined CECN as a communications network where data is neither received nor transmitted over the internet.
ON THE AGENDA
Pre-consultation paper on net neutrality this time will focus on framework for internet-based calls, messaging, throttling of internet speed on the basis of content or paid preferences
The regulator has already resolved differential tariff issue, which is a major part of net neutrality
Bharti Airtel, earlier this month, wrote to Trai seeking permission to offer exclusive video content over its CECN
COAI has asked Trai to reconsider the differential pricing for content offerings of telcos
Trai is also internally reviewing the SC decision on call drops and will take appropriate steps
Call drops: Trai says wont shy away from its duty
With its penalty provision for call drops annulled by the Supreme Court, telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Wednesday said it will not shy away from protecting the consumers and the matter is being discussed internally for taking an appropriate step in this regard. Trai Chairman R S Sharma also said drive tests have been conducted in 11-12 cities to analyse the menace of call drops and the results are being processed before being made public.
Trai had put in place new regulations providing for the penalty on telecom operators for dropped calls.
However, this was set aside by the Supreme Court earlier this month.
With the authorities unwilling to provide legality to Ubers motorcycle taxi service, the aggregator has suspended the experiment in Bengaluru for the second time in three months.
Gurgaon is now the only place where is offering this service. However, it said it was hopeful of growing in this category. The company, which had switched from motorcycle taxi hailing to a ridesharing model, found itself in a hot soup when local authorities began impounding the bikes operating on its platform.
We have received tremendous response from drivers and riders in Bengaluru to our UberMOTO pilot. We will share our learnings with the government and work closely with them to create progressive, technology-friendly regulatory framework, said an India spokesperson.
While the state transport department maintains that it will not allow motorcycle taxis to ply on city roads until aggregators such as and Ola have the necessary permits from the Road Transport Authority (RTA) in the form of a yellow board on bikes and badges for riders, it is currently working on a set of rules for motorcycle taxis.
Karnataka state transport department officials were not available for comment at the time of filing this story.
The first draft of rules for motorcycle taxis will be released in four weeks, which will be on similar lines of the Karnataka On-demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules 2016, which the state put in place recently.
On April 29, the transport department had seized cabs plying on Uber and Ola platforms on the premise that they were operating without licence. Both firms countered the allegation saying that they had applied for licences but were denied on technical grounds.
Karnataka, which has put a cap on fares of taxis in order to curb surge pricing, has demanded taxis be fitted with digital meters and boards on roofs of taxis that light up when the cab is free. Both Uber and Ola had voiced their opposition to several of the state governments demands, but the state isnt willing to relent.
Liquor firm United Breweries has withheld dividends payable to its beleaguered Chairman for the financial year 2015-16, following the directions of Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT).
The board of the company, in its meeting held on May 13, 2016, had recommended 115% dividend, which is Rs 1.15 per equity share of Re 1 for the financial year ended March 31, 2016.
UBL said it has been directed by Debt Recovery Tribunal, Karnataka to hold the dividends arising out of "shares in the company held by a director (including his joint holdings) and United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd, without its prior permission" without naming the director.
Accordingly, the company would withhold payments of proposed dividend on aforesaid shares, which is subject to approval by the shareholders in the ensuing annual general meeting," it said in a regulatory filing.
On the basis of his own holding of 2,13,53,620 shares in UBL as on March 2016, the dividend payable to Mallya is Rs 2.4 crore for the last fiscal.
UBL's nine promoter entities, including Mallya, have 8,11,88,930 shares in the company and the total dividend payable would be Rs 9.33 crore.
When contacted, a UBL spokesperson declined to comment on details.
UBL also informed that it has received another order from the income tax department requesting it to create a charge in favour of the central government for "any amount due or likely to be due" as tax demand of Rs 679.80 crore relating to defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
"The company has accordingly withheld payment of Rs 161 lakh relating to director commission payable to the aforesaid director," it said.
On March 7, the Debt Recovery Tribunal had barred Mallya from accessing $75 million (Rs 515 crore) exit payment from Diageo till the loan default case with SBI is settled while the ED registered a money laundering case against him in another default case.
Mallya is currently in the UK, amid tightening of the noose by various enforcement agencies and lenders who are trying to recover over Rs 9,000 crore dues from Kingfisher and its guarantors. His passport has been revoked and non-bailable warrant has been issued against him.
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Hyderabad has the countrys largest hub of map engineers in India, making it the natural choice for Apple to set up its map development centre.
The National Remote Sensing Centre that processes maps and images transmitted by Indias earth observation satellites is based in the city.
Besides, several companies in the city offer geographical information system (GIS) services such as spatial analysis, mapping and visualisation, content imagery and remote sensing.
The GIS and map initiative (in Hyderabad) is a well-thought decision by Apple because of the huge talent pool in the city, says Srinivas Nanduri, partner, board and leadership practice, at the India office of Maxima Global Executive Search.
The talent pool for mobile phone companies to develop their capabilities in GIS and mapping and the ecosystem to support this industry is fairly well established, he adds.
Tech Mahindra provides services to the maps division of Microsoft, which it acquired from Nokia. Tech Mahindra had acquired Navteq, which eventually was sold to Nokia, as a customer during its takeover of Satyam.
There is a significant amount of mapping done in Hyderabad that can be used by the mobile phone industry. Companies in the city are working on 3D modelling, GIS, terrain visualisation and location intelligence.
There are at least 50 small enterprises in the city that support the GIS and mapping industry and with Apple coming in, there could be an influx of Indian professionals working abroad.
Digital mapping has taken off in India over the last three years, creating an abundance of talent. A shortage of people with the required skills in the US could be another reason Apple chose India to set up its development centre for maps, said an Isro official who did not want to be named.
Googles Map Maker tool was built in its development centre in India. Nokia developed several technologies for its Here mapping division in India, before selling it to a consortium of German automobile makers.
Apple has set its sights on India as a market with smartphone sales in the US and China saturating. The company is looking at quality services to boost smartphone shipments in India.
While Hyderabad might have scored with the map development centre, Apple recognises the start-up revolution in Bengaluru. It is setting up an app accelerator in Bengaluru to help developers build better apps for the iPad and iPhone.
Governments across the world paused after the Paris climate agreement in December, couching sighs of relief behind self-congratulatory notes. A deceptive bonhomie marked the pact's signing in New York in April this year.
However, less than five months after the pact was sealed, the gloves came off at Bonn, Germany, when mid-year negotiations to implement the Paris agreement began on Monday.
Arguments began even before the negotiations could. Negotiators from 196 countries could not come to a consensus on the full agenda of the inter-sessional meeting for two consecutive days. The broad divide between developed and developing countries resurfaced. Rich nations asked that work begin only on capturing what countries are going to do to reduce emissions. Others, including China and India, asked that work should also begin on capturing details of how countries are adapting to climate change and on how funds are being provided by rich countries - a demand for balance, in negotiation jargon.
The agreement is akin to a global law. The rules to the law are meant to be written between now and when the agreement comes into operation. The negotiations at Bonn, which began on Monday and will have several rounds till 2020, will put these rules in order. As is always the case with a new law, countries realised soon after the conference last year that the devil would lie in the details.
One of the central issues in the coming years will be to know how transparency would be ensured under the agreement. What would countries report back to the global community and how? The nature of international agreements ensures that countries are held accountable only for actions that they are required to report. The detail and level of reporting, therefore, becomes essential.
The G77+China group of around 100 developing countries collectively asked on Monday that the agenda reflect that discussions would be held on "Registry of nationally determined contributions (NDCs)". Developed countries opposed this saying the pact had specific clauses that ask the registry of NDCs only for country actions that reduce emissions. Developing countries highlighted other parts of the agreements and decisions that said NDCs include not just emission reduction actions or mitigation, but also adaptation and finance for the fight against climate change.
The term 'registry' refers to the way the global community would capture actions of countries. With the rift deep and wide, the meeting began on Monday by delaying the adoption of the full agenda. On Tuesday, the central negotiating body was suspended to resolve the argument. This was reflective of differences that were papered over in Paris.
Developed countries tried to keep the Paris agreement mitigation-centric and developing countries tried to have issues of adaptation and finance at the heart of the agreement. However, the French host's deft diplomatic and legal manoeuvres produced the core Paris agreement along with 139 paragraphs of parallel decisions in the last 24 hours of the negotiations. Together these set the future course, but the parallel decisions hardly got negotiated. In Bonn on Monday, some countries highlighted this.
Consequently, the Bonn meet and future talks are set to be a legal battle about reading and interpreting not just the core agreement but reading it along with the 139 paragraphs outside it, seated in the "decisions text".
It was in the context of this complexity that senior climate hands such as Shyam Saran have advised India not to jump at ratifying the agreement before the rules are set in place. The first two days at Bonn have given an inkling of how the rules may become as contentious as the agreement itself.
Reacting strongly to Pakistan seeking United Nations intervention in the geospatial map issue, the government on Tuesday stated that Pakistan had no standing in the matter as it was an internal matter.
Pakistan, earlier on Tuesday, had raised concerns with the UN over Indias Geospatial Information Regulation Bill 2016 which was to be introduced in the Indian Parliament.
Business Standard breaks down as to what went down that led to the diplomatic war of words between the nations.
What are the provisions of the Bill?
Among many recommendations of the Bill, what seems to have caught Pakistans eye is the depiction of Jammu and Kashmir.
As per the provisions in the Bill, a wrongful depiction of the map of India will lead to an imprisonment of seven years and a fine of up to Rs 100 crore. Whoever depicts, disseminates, publishes or distributes any wrong or false topographic information of India including international boundaries in contravention of section 6, shall be punished with a fine ranging from Rupees ten lac (sic) to Rupees one hundred crore and/or imprisonment for a period up to seven years, the Bill states.
The government is said to have undertaken this move after social networking sites showed J&K to be a part of Pakistan and Arunachal Pradesh as a part of China.
How did Pakistan react to the Bill?
Pakistan raised serious concerns with the UN as it wrote to the Secretary General and the President of the UN Security Council stating that Indias official map, which is mentioned in the Bill, shows J&K to be a part of India, which is factually incorrect and legally untenable.
"The letter calls upon the UN to uphold UNSC resolutions and urge India to stop such acts which are in violation of international law. We have urged the international community and the UN to fulfil their commitment with the people of J&K by holding an independent and impartial plebiscite under UN auspices," a statement from Pakistan added.
How did India react?
India, in its response, hit back at Pakistan stating that the issue was entirely internal and the nation had no business seeking UNs help. It said that it was open to addressing the issue bilaterally with Pakistan.
"We don't take cognisance to Pakistan's objection to the Draft Bill . We will take suggestions and views of citizens, experts and various stakeholders before its finalisation.
But it is the duty of the government that India's map is depicted properly," Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs said on Tuesday.
The proposed Bill is an entirely internal legislative matter of India, since the whole of the state of J&K is an integral part of India. Pakistan, or any other party has no locus standi in the matter, Vikas Swarup, Spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
The efforts of a single Member of Parliament (MP) could soon ensure the transgender community in India will have reservation in government jobs and educational institutions. The government has circulated among the Council of Ministers a draft law that seeks to protect the rights of transgender people.
The move comes a year after the Rajya Sabha passed a private member's Bill moved by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Tiruchi Siva. The government had then promised Siva it would steer a Bill on the subject. The draft is loosely based on the Bill passed by Rajya Sabha - the - on April 25, 2015.
Currently, there is no law for transgender people in the country. The 2011 Census was the first time data on the third gender was collected. It put the population of transgender people at nearly 500,000. However, Siva claims the figure could be as much as 2.5 million.
In his Bill, Siva had demanded two percent reservation for transgender people in government jobs and educational institutions. He asked for the Centre to frame a law to ensure right to equality to the community, including ensuring reasonable accommodation for transgender people.
His Bill also envisaged that no transgender child will be separated from their parents unless by a court order and that the sex reassignment surgery should be done free of cost. Transgender people will also have right to property. Siva had proposed setting up of and state level commission for transgender people.
The government's draft Bill could provide reservation to transgender people under the OBC (Other Backward Classes) category. Taking a leaf from Siva's Bill, it has also proposed fine and imprisonment up to a year for those who indulge in hate speech against the community or insult it.
In 2014, the Supreme Court in a landmark judgment created the 'third gender' status for transgender people and asked the Centre to treat the community as socially and economically backward. It had also said the community should not be discriminated against and asked the Centre to have social welfare schemes for the community. Maharashtra, Bengal and Tamil Nadu have in the past set up welfare boards for the community.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved a proposal for an improved voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) package for the employees of the sick public sector company Hindustan Vegetable Oils Corporation (HVOC).
The package is based on the 2007 notional pay scales for the employees of HVOC, an official statement said.
The government assistance will be in the form of a non-plan grant of around Rs 27.56 crore to the firm, it added.
HVOC is a Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) under the Department of Food and Public Distribution in the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution. The employees of HVOC have been adversely impacted due to the sickness of the company. They are in very old-pay scales of 1992.
The improved VRS package will give fair amount of compensation to the employees and help them in their post retirement rehabilitation, the statement said.
HVOC was formed in 1984 with the merger of two nationalised companies Ganesh Flour Mills and Amritsar Oils Works.
Engaged in manufacturing of vanaspati and refining and packing of imported edible oil, the company had its manufacturing and refining units at Delhi, Kanpur, Amritsar, Mumbai and Kolkata and packing units at Bengaluru and Chennai.
All the units except Breakfast Foods Unit (BFFU) located in Delhi were closed in the year 2001. The liquidation of the company is currently being done exclusive of BFFU. The liquidator has so far disposed off the moveable assets of the units at Chennai, Mumbai, Amritsar, Bangalore and Kanpur.
BFFU, since it was not able to recover the incremental costs from the operation, to minimise the loss by the production activities, has been discontinued from June, 2011.
At present, there are 97 employees left in HVOC. On the direction of the Delhi high court, their salaries and other dues are being paid from the funds available with the liquidator after sale realisation of moveable assets of HVOC.
OTHER APPROVALS
At the Indian Railways, the tenure of Union minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu does not coincide with the National Democratic Alliance government's two-year anniversary on May 26, 2016. After assuming charge on November 10, 2014, the Narendra Modi government's very own infrastructure expert decentralised decision making in the mammoth organisation. In an interview with Sudheer Pal Singh and Jyoti Mukul, Prabhu says the Railways created history by saving Rs 12,000 crore through operational efficiencies. Edited Excerpts:
How comfortably is the Railways placed in terms of fund raising? Have you been able to mobilise funding as targeted when you took over as minister?
The Railways is working on a capital expenditure target of Rs 1.21 lakh crore for the current financial year. This includes Rs 20,000 crore of institutional financing where we are very comfortable. Even with the current estimates of spending, we have a lot of leverage. For instance, we have secured long-term funding of Rs 5 lakh crore from Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) from which we can draw at least Rs 30,000 crore annually. It is important to understand that the long-term capital expenditure target of Rs 8.5 lakh crore over five years includes spending on all rail-based projects. This includes projects for which funding will come from outside the Railways' balance sheet and may not be provided for in the Union Budget. For example, Rs 1 lakh crore funding for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (HSR) project will come to the Railways but was not provided in the Budget. Similarly, the Rs 40,000 crore worth of contracts placed on GE and Alstom for Bihar locomotive factories are not coming entirely from the Railways' balance sheet.
What are the other such sources of funding being tapped?
A lot of funds will be channelised into the massive station redevelopment project. We are trying to redevelop 400 A1 and A category stations to bring them on par with global standards of service quality. We have already placed the first contract for the redevelopment of the Surat station. In the coming days, eight or nine more stations will be taken up for redevelopment. Now, the Maharashtra government has shown a lot of interest in this project. Also, we are signing Memoranda of Understanding with state governments for taking up projects on a 50:50 partnership basis. This mode will make Rs 50,000-60,000 crore of spending feasible. At the same time, now multilateral institutions like the Asian Development Bank are expressing willingness to provide financing.
How would you ensure the pace of spending picks up this financial year?
Last year, we were facing constraints on spending on projects. Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) were not ready in most of the cases of new projects, which were mostly meant to de-congest the existing system. So, a lot of time went into preparing DPRs and new yards for doubling projects, taking the proposals to the NITI Aayog followed by approvals from the expanded Railway Board, etc. This year, we already have sanctions for Rs 5.6 lakh crore worth of projects out of the spending target of Rs 8.5 lakh crore.
What is the status of the mega fund to be created with the World Bank as anchor investor? How will that funding be utilised?
I had a meeting with World Bank officials recently and they expressed their confidence in the Railways' ability to spend money judiciously. The corpus of that fund is yet to be decided, but it might not be used only for Indian Railways' projects and would be channelised for all rail-based projects including even public private partnership. The World Bank has given its in-principle approval for the creation of the fund. Now, the proposal is with the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA). We are ready with the basic structure. We'll take it forward once other formalities are in place. Therefore, I don't see funding as a constraint anymore for implementing projects. Similarly, for safety aspects, we are creating a Special Railway Safety Fund with a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore. It is an ambitious plan to set up the non-lapsable Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh, which we are taking to the finance ministry.
Do you think the rail ministry has improved service quality and upgraded infrastructure to a level that would justify passenger fare hike any time soon?
The subject of fare hike would be dealt with by the independent regulator when it is set up. The regulator will look at fixation of passenger fare and freight rates - based on our petition, of course - apart from increasing competition through private participation and also setting efficiency benchmarks. This is not the only success area. This year's rail budget was the first time the Centre brought down expenses by as much as Rs 12,000 crore. Which other government can boast of such a major achievement?
What was the need to create a special department for non-fare revenue?
We got Rs 5,600 crore in revenue in the last financial year from non-passenger fare and freight revenue. This year, we are targeting Rs 10,000 crore. So, from 3-4 per cent of the total revenue we want to raise the share of non-fare revenue to 10-20 per cent. For instance, we hope to raise Rs 1,700 crore from advertising. We will be conducting e-auction of greenfield assets, which can be used for advertising. Non-fare segment used to come under different directorates so there was departmentalism. This new approach will take care of this issue, too.
Online portal Coverfox.com has launched a doorstep claims assistance program in Mumbai.
The Coverfox Express Claims Service not only aims to ensure timely and professional claims support but, with the help of third party auto service providers, also promises to return your car in 3 days.
Though 70-80% of claims are processed under the cashless arrangement, Coverfox.com observed general customer dissatisfaction with regards to the claims experience.
On delving deeper, they realised that since most customers are claiming for the first time, there is a general lack of awareness of the claims process as well as how claims are calculated.
Varun Dua, CEO & Co-Founder, Coverfox.com, said, Coverfox was founded with the aim of removing the stigma associated with . The Express Claims Service is another step towards that goal. With Express Claims Service we are looking at providing a seamless claims experience for our customers.
The company in a statement said that this team provides 100% unbiased hand-holding till the car is repaired and returned to the customer.
Coverfox.com also said that it has defined tight processes and timelines with each party in the claims journey, from auto-service providers to licensed surveyors and insurance companies, to ensure faster and smoother claims settlement.
The service is currently available to New India, Oriental Insurance, Bharti AXA and L&T car insurance customers in Mumbai for select brands of cars (Maruti, Hyundai, Honda, Toyota and Tata).
The Coverfox Express Claims Service is now available in Mumbai with plans to spread soon to other cities.
When the Recovery Tribunal (DRT) on Tuesday ordered J.P.MorganChase Bank not to give defaulter Vijay Mallya access to $40 million parked in its New York branch, and also sought the statement of accounts with the bank, it was well within its rights to do so under Indian recovery laws.
Recovery Tribunals have the same powers as are vested in a civil court under the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (CPC). The procedure and powers of DRT and the Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal are mentioned in section 22 of Recovery of Debts Due to and Financial Institutions Act, 1993.
Under Section 2 of the Act, DRTs have powers to summon and enforce the attendance of any person and to examine him or her on oath, receive evidence on affidavits, examine witnesses or documents, review its own decisions, dismiss an application for default or deciding it ex parte, among others.
Further, in the case of Allahabad Bank vs Radhakrishna Maity, the Supreme Court held that in view of Section 22 (1) of the Act, DRT can exercise powers contained in CPC, and can even go beyond as long as it passes orders in conformity with the principles of natural justice, said Babu Sivaprakasam, partner and head of banking & practice, Economic Laws Practice.
Punjab National Bank, the countrys second largest lender, is looking at lowering stake in its subsidiary PNB Housing Finance (PNBHF) to over 30 per cent as the latter goes for an initial public offer (IPO) of equity later this year.
PNB currently has 51 per cent in PNBHF. The finance ministry has been asking banks to offload non-core assets to meet capital requirements. PNBHF, the fifth largest in its segment, had 66 per cent growth in net profit during 2015-16 to Rs 326 crore, against Rs 196 crore in 2014-15. Total income grew 52 per cent to Rs 2,697 crore.
The IPO will rock the market, as it has posted a really good result. So, we are looking at whether to opt for dilution or offload something more. These are all options in hand, said a senior executive. According to market estimates, the company could raise at least Rs 2,500 crore through the IPO. The public sector bank has sent the proposal for lowering stake to the Department of Financial Services, under the Ministry of Finance.
We have to take permission from the ministry. We should cash in when the winds are good. We will certainly not like to go below 30 per cent but it will be decided by the size of the issue, the executive added.
While PNB holds 51 per cent in PNBHF, the other 49 per cent is held by Carlyle Group, an American multinational financial services company. We want the issue to happen in FY17. They need capital as they are expanding operations. For how long can they be borrowing? This is a very good time. The company is doing well. It is an opportunity for them to encash their success, said a senior banker. The housing finance company is anticipating higher growth from tier-2 and tier-3 cities and the affordable housing segment in metropolitan cities.
The Annual Conference of Relief Commissioners and Secretaries of the Departments of Disaster Management of States and Union Territories was organized by the Ministry of Home Affairs here today. The Conference was convened primarily to review the status of preparedness for dealing with any natural disaster that may arise due to South West Monsoon 2016. .
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The Conference was inaugurated by Shri Rajiv Mehrishi, Home Secretary. Shri R.K. Jain, Member, National Disaster Management Authority addressed the participants. .
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Representatives of 27 States, 6 Union Territories, National Disaster Response Force, Central Ministries, Central Armed Police Forces, Indian Meteorological Department, Central Water Commission, Indian National Center for Ocean Information Service, DRDO, GSI and other Scientific Organisations, along with Armed Forces participated in the Conference. .
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Issues connected with disaster preparedness, early warning systems, disaster management plans of the States and Union Territories were discussed. Advance procurement of necessary relief material, checking the readiness of the equipment & communication systems, community based disaster management and coordinated approach for disaster response at the district level were highlighted. .
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During the conference, it was noted that the concerted efforts of all concerned have helped in minimizing the loss of precious human lives. The need for coordination among all the Central and State Government agencies was re-emphasized. .
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The Indian Metrological Department, Department of Space, Snow & Avalanche Study Establishment (Defence Research and Development Organisation), Central Water Commission, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Service, Geological Survey of India, Ministry of Defence, and National Disaster Response Force made presentations on their respective field of forecasting, warning mechanism and their future plans for enhancing capability in the field of disaster management. The Conference also discussed the measures and good practices being adopted by the State Government and Government of India to address disaster management in the country. .
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Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu in his Rail Budget Speech of 2014-15 announced that New Delhi Chandigarh Corridor will be upgraded for increasing the speed of passenger trains to 160/200 kmph. Ministry of Railways of the Republic of India had already signed an MoU with the French National Railways (SNCF) on dated : 14.02.2013 on technical co-operation in various fields of Railways. One of the areas of co-operation mentioned in the MoU is regarding exchange of experience, technologies & know-how for upgrading speed on existing infrastructure of Indian Railways. To discuss the co-operation issues and specific projects, a high level delegation headed by CRB had visited the SNCF/France in May,2014. During the discussion, it was decided to take up speed raising on Delhi Chandigarh Corridor. Later, during Honble PMs visit to France in April,2015 a protocol with SNCF on co-operation in Semi-High Speed rail on Delhi Chandigarh Section was signed with the approval of Minister of Railways. In December, 2015, an agreement was signed between Ministry of Railways and SNCF vide which the feasibility/implementation study of Delhi Chandigarh Corridor for raising the speed of passenger trains to 200 kmph was awarded to SNCF on 50:50 percent cost sharing basis. The total cost of the study is Rs.19,69,02,721/- (without taxes) and the total time duration for its completion is one year. The study commenced on 19th January,2016. The study has been divided into three phases and details of areas to be covered under each phase is indicated below :- .
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Phase I (In four months from the date of commencement.) Technical Assessment involving field visits, surveys, review of possible technical solutions and development of three high level upgrading scenarios. .
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Phase II (In two months from the date of completion of Phase I) Operation/Economic impact involving assessment of scenarios, impact on transport and operations plan, economic/financial impact for IR and selection of a preferred scenario with Indian Railways. .
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Phase-III (In six months after completion of Phase II) Execution plan and tenders involving reference design, bill of quantities, tender preparation and recommendations for a broader HSS upgrading programme by Indian Railways on a selected scenario. .
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At present Phase I of the project is in progress. The total four months duration of PhaseI has been divided into four equal parts i..e each of one month duration and after every month, a detailed meeting is held with SNCF and concerned Northern Railway officials and the same has been named a Project Review. In todays meeting i.e. on 18th May,2016, the third Project Review has been done. .
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Leasing out of AAI land measuring 1500 sqm. To M/s. M. P. Warehousing Logistics Corporation for establishing Centre for Perishable Cargo at Indore airport .
The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval for leasing out of Airports Authority of India (AAI) land measuring 1500 sqm. to M/s. M.
P. Warehousing Logistics Corporation (MPWLC) for establishing the Centre for Perishable Cargo (CPC) at Indore airport, Indore as per the resolution made by AAI Board. .
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This Centre will be a state of art facility exit point for perishables from the State of transit airports. It will provide a world class facility under one roof to cater to all requirements of the traders and maintain the quality of produce. This facility is to be created by MPWLC under PPP mode. .
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The creation of Centre for Perishable Cargo is expected to cater to the employment needs of the local population and has significant employment potential. A total number of 113 persons will be required to manage the CPC. .
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Background: .
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The State Government of Madhya Pradesh has brought out that the CPC is proposed to be set up at Devi Ahilya Bai Airport, Indore. The move comes in the backdrop of huge demand of export of pharmaceuticals, poultry products and horticulture products in Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh. .
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The leasing out of the land will enable State Government of Madhya Pradesh to promote its agriculture and Horticulture sector by establishment of Centre for Perishable Cargo at Indore airport. .
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The foundation stone for Sahara Hostel, a hostel for Widows of naval personnel, was laid by Admiral RK Dhowan, PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC, Chief of the Naval Staff and Mrs Minu Dhowan, President NWWA today, 18 May 2016. It is a first and unique welfare activity for the naval widows being set up by the Navy at New Delhi and is aimed at providing relief to the immediate family. .
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Towards this end, a suitable plot at D-6, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi was acquired by Indian Navy on 20 Jan 11 from DDA towards construction of the hostel for Widows of naval personnel. Upon obtaining necessary approval from various Govt. agencies, the Building Permit" has since been obtained from South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) on 08 Apr 16. The construction is expected to commence soon and the project is likely to be completed by Aug 2018. The four story building will have 36 studio apartments, a recreational cum dining hall, vocational training centre, ECHS and a canteen. The Sahara Hostel would provide relief to the Veer naris to help them tide over the difficult times that arise consequent to the demise of the naval personnel. .
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The men and women behind our machines have always remained the greatest asset and strength of the Navy. The demise of a colleague is therefore not only a great loss for the navy but is also a traumatic experience for the family. It is therefore imperative that the navy assists the Veer naris in those unfortunate circumstances and provide necessary support towards their rehabilitation. To achieve this objective and to build on the time tested tradition of camaraderie and brotherhood in the service, the navy has put in place a Naval Regiment System to look after the welfare of its personnel, their families and dependents throughout the lifespan of the naval family. .
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DKS/CKP
Jack Ma, the head of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, is withdrawing from an anti-counterfeiting convention in Florida just two days before he was scheduled to give the keynote speech.
Alibaba announced the move yesterday following last week's suspension of the company's membership in the Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition(IACC), a small but influential group that lobbies US officials and testifies before Congress.
Ma is a self-made billionaire, and Alibaba, which he founded in 1999, went public in 2014 in the biggest initial public offering of stock to date. But some IACC members view the company as the world's largest marketplace for fakes.
Members of the IACC rebelled against Alibaba's membership in the group and were further upset about conflicts of interest involving the group's president, Robert Barchiesi.
According to an investigation by The Associated Press, Barchiesi had stock in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, had close ties to an Alibaba executive and had used family members to help run the coalition.
The conflicts of interest weren't fully disclosed to the IACC board, and it has since hired an independent firm to review its corporate governance policies.
The IACC website listed Ma scheduled to talk tomorrow about the importance of e-commerce and Alibaba's efforts to protect intellectual property rights on its platforms.
Instead, Alibaba President Michael Evans will represent the company at the annual spring conference in Orlando, Florida, and will "reinforce Alibaba's commitment to fighting counterfeits and the importance of strong collaboration between brands, governments and intermediaries."
Alibaba also alluded to its suspension from IACC, calling it a "step in the wrong direction and regrettable. It highlights a fundamental difference in how we want to solve this problem."
After Alibaba's controversial inclusion in the group, in April, Michael Kors and Gucci America quit in protest. Then Tiffany walked out, citing concerns over governance issues.
Gucci is suing Alibaba in US court, alleging that the e-commerce giant knowingly profits from the sale of fakes. Alibaba has dismissed the case as "wasteful litigation."
The Washington DC based coalition has more than 250 members. US Ambassador to China Max Baucus still plans to deliver his keynote at the conference as scheduled, Benjamin Weber, a spokesman for the US Embassy in Beijing, said today.
Ma was spotted departing the White House campus yesterday, exiting from a gate alongside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. It was unclear whom he met with; asked by reporters to describe his meeting, he said "maybe later" and "very good" before getting into a waiting black vehicle.
The Nokia brand is set to return to smartphones, two years after the Finnish company sold its flagship handset business and walked away defeated by Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics. Nokia Oyj said Wednesday it will license its brand to a Helsinki-based company run by former Nokia managers, HMD Global Oy, which plans investments topping $500 million to bring mobile phones and tablets to the market. Nokia won't have a financial stake in the venture, though it's set to collect fees from brand licencing and intellectual property. The comeback effort is a bet that shoppers will remember ...
Panama has officially signed on to comply with OECD standards on exchanging tax information, a move that comes more than a month after the data leak.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) officials say they have long tried to get Panama to agree to their common reporting standards on exchanging tax information, to no avail.
However Panama's Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that the country had inked its adhesion to the OECD's reporting standards.
Foreign Minister Luis Miguel Hincapie delivered the document to OECD headquarters in Paris. The new membership however does not take practical effect until 2018.
The public gained its first access to the records of over 200,000 secret offshore companies when the Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) put a searchable database online in May.
The database, built on just a portion of the 11.5 million documents leaked from Panama's Mossack Fonseca law firm, reveals more than 360,000 names of individuals and companies behind the anonymous shell firms.
The reveal the full extent to which the world's wealthy, alongside criminals, create nominee companies to stash and transfer assets out of sight of the law and tax officials.
Reports already published in April based on the explosive dossier linked some of the world's most powerful leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister David Cameron and others to unreported offshore companies.
Observing that countries like Russia and China are modernising their militaries to close the gap they have with the US, Defence Secretary Ashton Carter today said the Pentagon is spending heavily to develop next generation of technology to stay ahead of the curve.
"Technologies once possessed by only the most formidable militaries have now come into the hands of previously less-capable militaries, and even non-state actors. Meanwhile, nations like Russia and China are modernising their militaries to try to close the technology gap," Carter said in his address to the Navy League's Se-Air-Space Convention here.
So to stay ahead of those challenges, to stay the best, and to keep its edge, the is investing aggressively in high-end innovation, he said.
"For instance, we're investing a combined total of $34 billion across the cyber, electronic warfare, and space domains in FY 2017 alone. We're building fast, resilient micro-drones that can be kicked out the back of a fighter jet moving at Mach 0.9 and fly through heavy winds," Carter said.
The is developing an arsenal plane, which will function as a very large airborne magazine with different conventional payloads, networked to fifth-generation aircraft that act as forward sensor and targeting nodes.
"And for the Navy, we're working on autonomous self-driving boats, which can network together to do all sorts of missions, from fleet defence to close-in surveillance - including around an island, real or artificial, without putting our sailors at risk," Carter said, adding that these are just a few of many examples.
Overall, the budget invests nearly $72 billion in R&D - more than double what Apple, Intel, and Google spent on R&D last year combined.
That includes $12.5 billion specifically invested in science and technology to support ground-breaking work happening in the military, he said.
The prospects for long-term equity investments are not looking too bright. The long-term data on the USs S&P 500 index and BSE Sensex suggest the best seems to be behind equity investors who tend to sit on their investments for 10 years or longer.
In India, the 10-year rolling annualised returns for Sensex declined to 11.8 per cent in FY16 from a decade high of 19 per cent in FY13, and an average of 24 per cent 10-year annualised returns in the 1990s. In annualised returns, compounding is factored in.
The late 1980s and early 1990s was the best period when an investor with a 10-year horizon made 31 per cent annualised returns in 1994-95 over the previous 10 years. The recent recovery in long-term equity investments has been lukewarm and seems to be running out of steam (see chart).
The trend in the US is similar. The rolling 10-year returns for investors in S&P 500 index declined to 4.9 per cent in 2015 from an eight-year high of 5.4 per cent in 2014. In the late 1980s and all through the 1990s, long-term investors made average annualised returns of 12-15 per cent in the US.
This analysis is based on financial year-end and calendar year-end data for BSE Sensex and S&P 500 index, respectively. The comparison is based on 10-year annualised returns for both indices since data are available. While S&P 500s calendar year-end data are available from 1954, BSE Sensex data are available from financial year 1979-80. The returns calculations do not include dividends during the holding period and the calculations are based on the rise in index value during the period.
Experts attribute decline in long-term returns to a gradual deterioration in corporate earnings growth besides changes in the respective indices price-earnings (P/E) ratio over the years. The decline in returns has gone hand-in-hand with the underlying slowdown in corporate earnings in major economies across the world. In India, for example, corporate earnings growth has been five-six per cent in the post-Lehman period, putting pressure on the stock prices. You would see a similar trend in the US, says Dhananjay Sinha, head, institutional equity, Emkay Global Financial Services.
Empirical evidence supports the thesis. In the US, where corporate earnings growth data are available for six decades, the growth in underlying earnings per share for S&P 500 companies dropped to four per cent annually for 10 years ended 2015, from a record high of 8.2 per cent annually between 1986 and 1995.
In India, decadal earnings growth declined to 9.3 per cent in FY16 from a high of 17 per cent in 10 years ended March 2012. Sensex underlying earnings and price-to-earnings ratio data are only available from 1991.
The underlying earnings per share is calculated by inverting the price to earnings multiple for the respective year for each index.
The near-term outlook is not great either, given poor corporate earnings. In India, for example, corporate profits are likely to rebound in FY16 after a decline in the last financial year, but there is a question mark over sustainability. Revenues continue to grow in single digits and corporate profit margins in FY17 could be hit by the recent rise in crude oil prices.
The situation is similar in the US and Japan. In Japan, for instance, the top companies that are part of Russell/Nomura Large Cap Index (non-financial) are likely to report earnings growth of 6.9 per cent in FY16 against a previous estimate of eight per cent, down from 10.9 per cent in FY15, according to estimates by Nomura Securities. The sample net sales growth is likely to grow by only 0.6 per cent.
were trading near 2016 highs on Wednesday, as supply disruptions and output cuts continued to tighten the market, although traders cautioned that high global crude inventories were still weighing on .
International Brent crude futures were trading at $49.31 per barrel at 0047 GMT, 3 cents above their last settlement, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were unchanged at $48.31 a barrel.
Both contracts remained near their 2016 highs of $49.75 and $48.76 per barrel, respectively, hit during intra-day trading the previous day.
"With oil continuing to suffer from supply disruptions... EIA inventory data will be key to price action. Any further decline in stockpiles could see oil's run higher continue," ANZ bank said.
The US Information Administration (EIA) is scheduled to release official storage data later on Wednesday.
"With wildfires shifting back towards oil sands operations, the risk of supply disruptions extending into June has increased substantially. Combined with further falls in exports from Nigeria, the physical market is particularly tight," ANZ added.
The oil industry is also keeping an eye on Venezuela, where economic and political turmoil is threatening oil production.
Supply outages, when set alongside concerns over Venezuelan supply (due to insufficient funds to pay oil companies or spend on the maintenance of loading terminals), represents a significant amount of oil lost in the short-term, which in turn is reflected in firm time spreads at the front of the curve," BNP Paribas said.
Despite the disruptions, BNP Paribas said that there was still a large storage overhang that would have to be reduced before the market could swing back into balance.
The bank even said that global crude inventories were still edging up despite the supply disruptions, implying that there is still more oil being produced than consumed.
Atleast 200 families are missing after a massive landslide buried hundreds of houses in three villages in Aranayake in Kegalle district of Sri Lanka.
Rescue efforts by Sri Lankan Army troops and the Red Cross teams have recovered 13 bodies so far after the landslide brought on by the incessant rains buried the Siripura, Pallebage, and Elagipitya villages late Tuesday evening.
The Red Cross said so far 180 people have been rescued and they were provided with cooked food and first aid and shelter in a nearby Temple.
Sri Lankan Army deployed rescue and recovery teams of over 280 troops with sniffer dogs and heavy machinery to the site immediately after the disaster for immediate search, rescue and relief operations.
The Army said the operations, commenced during the wee hours on Wednesday and is continuing with the support of villagers, other volunteer teams and hospital staffs .
According to the Kegalle District Secretary around 100 houses have been damaged in the landslide.
Asserting that Delhi can never have the same kind of administration or freedom as any other state, former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday downplayed the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Draft Bill seeking full statehood to Delhi and said that the common man party who is not able to properly govern the MCD how will it manage the working of a state.
Dikshit told ANI, "AAP is not able to govern a small unit like MCD, they are not able to pay the allowances of the workers of the MCD. How will they manage if they attain statehood for Delhi."
"Delhi can never have the same kind of administration or freedom as any other state," she added.
Dikhshit further said that statehood for Delhi has been a demand of all the governments who ruled the capital in the past.
"We had also demanded state hood but in a different manner, we asked for some part of police be given to Delhi Government, and representation of Delhi Govt in DDA," Dikshit said.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal earlier today made public the draft Bill seeking full Statehood to Delhi and commenced first-of-its-kind online public consultation exercise by inviting Delhiites to give their opinion on the constitutional status of the capital.
To attain statehood for the capital was AAP's one of the most prominent promises made during the Assembly elections which swept it to power last year.
Kejriwal on April 30 took to the micro blogging site and announced that his government was ready with a draft Bill aimed at obtaining full-fledged Statehood for the Capital.
"Draft Bill for Statehood of Delhi ready. Will be soon placed in public domain for comments n suggestions from public (Sic.)," Kejriwal had tweeted.
Last year, the Kejriwal's idea of holding a referendum on the issue was dubbed unconstitutional by constitutional experts and later on was shelved.
At least five militants, including an al-Qaeda commander were killed during separate drone strikes in Afghanistan.
The Afghan Ministry of Defense (MoD) in a statement said the airstrikes were carried out in southern Zabul and northern Kunduz provinces, reports the Khaama Press.
The al-Qaeda commander killed in the airstrike has been identified as Mullah Mohammad Ali.
The statement said that that the militants were involved in major terrorist attacks and atrocities committed against the citizens of the country.
The airstrike targeting the militants including Taliban comes amid concerns that the terrorist network is attempting expand foothold in the country.
The Afghan and U.S. forces have meanwhile, stepped up counter-terrorism operations against the terrorist groups including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group in the country.
Democrats Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton battled to a neck-to-neck outcome in Kentucky's presidential primary Tuesday, with the former secretary of state claiming it to be a match-up against Republican presidential contender Donald Trump, while the Vermont senator claimed Oregon.
She won the state by half a percentage point with nearly all the votes counted and was declared winner, the Kentucky secretary of state's office said that with all precincts reporting, Clinton held a 1,923-vote lead over Sanders, reports CNN.
Though the race in Kentucky was too close to call, but Clinton wrote on her Twitter feed, "We just won Kentucky! Thanks to everyone who turned out. We're always stronger united."
The New York Billionaire won the sole GOP contest in Oregon, where the Vermont senator was declared the winner shortly.
Sanders, rallying supporters in California said that he would end up with about half of the delegates in Kentucky.
"Before we will have the opportunity to defeat Donald Trump, we're going to have to defeat Secretary Clinton," New York Post quoted Sanders as saying.
Clinton holds a commanding lead of nearly 300 pledged delegates over Sanders.
Almost nearing the end of a long primary slog, the two Democratic candidates are preparing for June 7 primaries in California, New Jersey and four other states and then the District of Columbia primary on June 14.
The former secretary of state is 94 delegates away from clinching the Democratic nomination with pledged delegates and superdelegates combined.
Meanwhile, Trump needs fewer than 100 delegates to get to the magic number of 1,237.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday examined the request by the Bihar government to take over the case of the murder of senior scribe Rajdeo Ranjan, from the state police.
This development comes after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar gave his consent for a CBI probe into the murder case.
The slain journalist's wife Asha had demanded a CBI probe into his murder to ensure that the culprits get stringent punishment.
"I demand from the government a CBI probe and a secured future for my children and me. The culprit must be given stringent punishment," she said.
The state police had earlier said that it would continue its investigation till the top investigating agency takes up the case.
42-year-old Ranjan was allegedly shot dead by criminals near the Siwan railway station earlier on Friday.
Two bullets were fired at the Siwan bureau chief of Hindi daily Hindustan that hit on his head and neck. He was shifted to a hospital, where the doctors declared him brought dead.
The Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday gave its approval for leasing out of Airports Authority of India (AAI) land measuring 1500 sqm. to M/s. M.P. Warehousing Logistics Corporation (MPWLC) for establishing the Centre for Perishable Cargo (CPC) at Indore airport, Indore as per the resolution made by AAI Board.
This Centre would be a state of art facility exit point for perishables from the state of transit airports.
It would provide a world class facility under one roof to cater to all requirements of the traders and maintain the quality of produce. This facility is to be created by MPWLC under the PPP mode.
The creation of Centre for Perishable Cargo is expected to cater to the employment needs of the local population and has significant employment potential.
A total number of 113 persons would be required to manage the CPC.
The State Government of Madhya Pradesh has brought out that the CPC is proposed to be set up at Devi Ahilya Bai Airport, Indore.
The move comes in the backdrop of huge demand of export of pharmaceuticals, poultry products and horticulture products in Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh.
The leasing out of the land will enable State Government of Madhya Pradesh to promote its agriculture and Horticulture sector by establishment of Centre for Perishable Cargo at Indore airport.
At least six militants, including a Chechen militant identified as Omar Chechen, has been during the clashes in north of Afghanistan.
Chechen was killed in Bghlan-e-Markazi district of northern Baghlan province, reports the Khaama Press.
Among the five killed the Commander has been identified as Qari Zahir.
So far, the anti-government armed militant groups including the Taliban insurgents have not commented regarding the report.
Heavy clashes reportedly continue between the Afghan forces and the militant in Surkh Kotal after the militants launched a major attack on security posts on Saturday night.
After veteran actor Rishi Kapoor reiterated similar sentiments as that of Minister of State for External Affairs Gen (retired) V K Singh who demanded that Akbar Road in the city's power district be renamed after Maharana Pratap, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday took a jibe at the Congress and said that the grand old party supports the right of freedom of speech for anti-nationals but disapproves the viewpoints of others.
BJP leader Sreekant Sharma told ANI that the Congress believes in imposing its ideology and has a weaker threshold when it comes to accepting others opinion.
"May it be V.K. Singh or Rishs Kapoor all have a right to speak their minds as we live in a democratic country and people under democracy have the right to keep an opinion. Congress support freedom of speech for those who talk of dividing the nation. If someone is making a statement the Congress should not get riled up," said Sharma.
"Congress cannot blame the BJP of imposing RSS's ideology on the nation. What did the Congress do in its time they imposed, Indira Ji's and Rajiv Ji's ideology on the nation, it was under the UPA regime that freedom fighter like Bhagat Singh were defamed. It cannot stop people from expressing their opinions," he added.
VK Singh's proposal to change the name of Akbar Road in Delhi to Maharana Pratap Road has stirred a hornet's nest, as following his demand in a series of tweets, Kapoor snapped at the political system of India and the Gandhi family and questioned the naming of roadways, airports and railway stations after the Gandhi family members.
Kapoor took to the Micro blogging site twitter to express his anguish
"Change Gandhi family assets named by Congress.Bandra/Worli Sea Link to Lata Mangeshkar or JRD Tata link road. Baap ka maal samjh rakha tha ?" Kapoor tweeted.
If roads in Delhi can be changed why not Congress assets/property ke naam? Was in Chandigarh wahan bhi Rajeev Gandhi assets? Socho? Why? he added.
We must name important assets of the country who have contributed to society. Har cheez Gandhi ke naam? I don't agree. Sochna log! he said.
Taking a sharp departure from the current policy towards North Korea, presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has said that he is ready to speak with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un regarding the Asian country's nuclear program.
CNN reports that Trump, in an interview to Reuters, said that he would talk to Kim to try to stop North Korea's nuclear program.
"I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him. At the same time I would put a lot of pressure on China because economically we have tremendous power over China," Trump said.
His comments represent a sharp turn from the way the currently approaches Pyongyang as the has no formal diplomatic relations with the country and engages through the Swedish embassy when necessary.
Though there have been talks between North Korea and five other major world and Asian powers about the nuclear program for years, they have never risen to the presidential level and have not resulted in much success.
Nepal's Information and Communications Minister Sherdhan Rai on Wednesday said that the Kathmandu-centric agitation launched by the Federal Alliance has no essence and meaning.
Rai claimed that the Alliance would return to the negotiation table soon, while speaking at a programme organised at the Reporters' Club here.
Asserting that Prime Minister K.P Sharma Oli -led government had sent a letter to the Alliance inviting it for the talks, Rai said that that the government would not bow down to the agitation launched by the protesting parties.
"This Constitution was not promulgated with anyone's mercy. Agitators are trying to push the country towards the path of civil war. They are trying to foil the process to implement the Constitution," the Himalayan Times quoted him as saying.
Highlighting that the demand of the Alliance to rewrite the Constitution was dangerous, he said that the demand would not be addressed at any cost.
"The government will not let their wish come true," he added.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day Federal Alliance, the alliance of 30 parties including constituents of the United Democratic Madhesi Front, has decided to protest for 10 more days in Kathmandu.
The Alliance has decided to launch phase-wise protest programmes from May 19 to 28 at 10 different places in the capital.
The protest would be held at New Baneshwor, Chabahil, Ason, Basantapur, Balaju and Kalanki among other places in Kathmandu, at Mangalbazaar in Lalitpur and Nyatapol in Bhaktapur.
Protests would be held in Birgunj on May 29 and in Pokhara on May 30.
The Alliance had resorted to fresh protest with an aim to exert pressure on the government to address their long standing demands which include provisions for proportional representation and rewriting of the constitution.
Union Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari has pitched for improving waterways as a mode of transportation for the development of the nation.
Talking to Jagadeesh Chandra, Head ETV News Network, Gadkari said he is working on large scale
waterway projects.
"I dream of making waterways in India, at a level that the Highways have been made. Till date, the waterways have never been given importance, but, these waterways will lead the nation to progress," he said.
"In road transport, if a thing costs Rs. 1.50, then it will cost Re. 1 by rail and mere twenty paise through water," he added.
Gadkari, while revealing details of his ministry's performance in the past two years, said the government is focused on generating Rs. 25 lakh crore as investment in five years, and provide employment to over four crore people.
"The ministry has kept a target of 25 lakh crore investment in five years tenure of Modi Government, which will generate an employment for 4 crore people directly and indirectly," he said.
"My ministry is working day and night to fulfil this target and we are confident of achieving the target," he added.
Gadkari further said he is going to set up 87 Industrial Clusters and his ministry is aiming to contribute at least three percent of GDP.
When asked for a comment on road accidents taking place in the country, Gadkari said around 1.5 lakh people lose their lives in road accidents every year.
"I want to reduce the road accidents and bring down the death due to road accidents to less than fifty thousand and for this my ministry has decided that one per cent of the projects will be spent on promoting the road safety measures," he added.
Gadkari also said that the he works hard with dedication and welcomes all types of criticism.
"I believe in hard work and don't think much what people say. I even listen to all sections of people and leaders in society, irrespective of any party and try to sort out the issues," he added.
Commenting on the current scenario of water in the country, with over 40 percent of country reeling from drought, Gadkari said he wants running water to be conserved.
"I want utilize the stored water for cultivation. If this formula can be properly implemented, then there won't be death of any farmer in our nation. And agricultural production will increase tremendously," he added.
Responding on a question on his association with ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Gadkari said the RSS has taught him the path of love and human relation.
"Sangh's inspiration helps in serving the people and the nation. I believe in clean politics and works rising above any political ideology. I respect everyone, irrespective of any party or caste or creed or religion," he added.
He further said that it is unhealthy that two opposition party leaders don't meet or greet each other.
"The nation can grow if the leaders love their people and nation," he said.
As the number of foreign tourists increase every year, the travel agents are engaged in serving the tourists diligently. The overseas branches of global firm H.I.S. are active in supporting outbound tours to Japan. In Japan, as part of Japanese hospitality, for the travelers who have language issues, various guide services are provided at the Tourist Information Center that are user-friendly for rapidly increasing individual travelers.
Numerous foreign tourists use the Tourist Information Center at Harajuku, the center of the world-famous Japanese Kawaii culture.
In the Tourist Information Center, the tourists who receive coupons or brochures can also experience wearing Kimonos. The tourists can also experience making Ramen, a signature Japanese dish. In the Samurai Museum where authentic Japanese armor is displayed, the tourists can receive training from real actors on how to draw a Japanese sword.
"We are pleased to see so many customers coming from various countries. Their words of thank you, their smiles, and their appreciation for the help when they return really means a lot to us staff. We have received great feedback," stated Tokyo Tourist Information Center Staff, H.I.S. Co., Ltd.
The travel services with Japanese hospitality are attracting more and more foreign tourists who are drawn to the beauties of Japan. The Instax series, introduced from Fujifilm are popular instant cameras with photos that come out right after they are taken.
Introduced in 1998, after experiencing a downturn in sales, the product sold approximately five million units in 2015.
"As the Genesis of digital technology, the first half of 2000 was the period that cell phones with cameras or digital cameras became household items. Affected by digital technology's evolution, the sales dropped once. Five years later, with digital technology in wide use, its value has been re-recognized with a new extension," said Masato Yamamoto from Fujifilm Corporation.
Instax is widely used among female users in the age groups of 10-30. A favorite feature is that the photos can be printed right after the photos are taken. Another way of enjoying the camera is to hand-write messages or to decorate the printed photos. Still another way to enjoy this camera is to send messages to a bride or groom at the second party in a wedding or sending as a gift to a friend on his or her birthday.
No matter which time period or in which country, the expectation of keeping memories alive remains the same. As a part of life, Instax was created to fulfill that expectation and it would be wonderful to see it become part of our lifestyle. In future, the goal would be raising the awareness in the Southeast Asian market.
With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaving no stone unturned in their attempt to corner the Bihar Government over the recent deterioration in the law and order situation, the on Wednesday asserted that such incidents take place in other states as well, adding that a concept like 'jungle raj' has no place in democracy.
The in its mouthpiece Saamna, said that people of the state have voted for the Mahagathbandhan using their own sense of understanding and with some faith and confidence.
"The BJP is attacking the grand alliance government in Bihar, saying that jungle raj has returned to the state. But did the people of Bihar vote for Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav to bring jungle raj? The people of Bihar have voted for them using their intelligence and if they feel that the present regime is not right, they would overthrow them," the said in its editorial.
"Such (criminal) activities happen but it cannot be said that jungle raj has returned to Bihar. The incidents happening in Bihar, take place in other states as well in broad daylight. These are common incidents. But to say that only Bihar is facing jungle raj is not right," the editorial added.
Citing the examples of recent murders and other criminal activities in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and other states, the Shiv Sena said that a concept like jungle raj has no place in democracy.
The BJP has been attacking the grand alliance in Bihar after the murder of two journalists, one in Bihar and the other in neighbouring Jharkhand.
Senior reporter of a Hindi-daily 'Hindustan', Rajdeo Ranjan, was killed in Bihar's Siwan district on Friday evening by unknown assailants near the railway station. The journalist was shot from close range in the head and the neck.
In Jharkhand, a journalist was shot dead by unidentified people at Dewaria in Chatra district. A police official said, Akhilesh Pratap Singh, 35 who worked for a news channel, was gunned down near panchayat secretariat of the village on Thursday night.
The killing comes days after a brutal road rage case, in which suspended JD (U) MLC Manorama Devi's son Rocky shot dead a class XII student, Aditya Sachdeva, in Gaya, for overtaking his SUV.
Federal Alliance which is an alliance of 30 parties including constituents of the United Democratic Madhesi Front has decided to protest for 10 more days in Kathmandu.
Their demands include provisions for proportional representation and rewriting of the recently promulgated constitution.
A meeting of the Alliance held this morning made the decision that effect, reports The Himalayan Times.
The Alliance has also decided to intensify its protest programmes in Tarai and Hill as well.
The Alliance, which had protested two consecutive days outside Singha Durbar, the country's main administrative centre and one day outside Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's official residence in Baluwatar, has decided to stage demonstration at Ratna Park of the Capital today.
The Alliance resorted to fresh protest with an aim to exert pressure on the government to address their demands.
Safeguarding of human rights in Pakistan, or more specifically in its largest Punjab province, is complex, given the nation's demographic diversity, huge population and a democracy that is an admixture of both Islamic and secular laws.
Pakistan's Constitution, like any other provides for fundamental rights, but whether they are guaranteed is debatable because, every now and then, we hear of cases of religious discrimination against Christians, Hindus and non-Sunni Muslims, targeted terror-related sectarian and communal violence, caste discrimination in the corridors of power and electoral restrictions.
Pakistan's founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah wanted to be a moderate secular state, blended with Islamic values and principles, but what we have seen over the past 69 years, is a nation amending its Constitution several times to give the Islamic fundamental element a dominant say in and society.
The government claims to have launched several initiatives to promote religious pluralism and curb rising sectarian and religious violence, but factually, religious violence, particularly against the minorities, be they Ahmadiyyas, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, and Zoroastrians, is common throughout .
They face violence, intimidation, periodic charges of blasphemy, which in Pakistan, carries a death penalty.
Extremism and terrorism have become political weapons against Christians, Hindus, Ahmadiyyas, Shia, Sufi and Sikh communities, especially in Punjab. These attacks are usually blamed on religious extremists, but certain laws in the Criminal Code (PCC) and government inaction have allowed attackers to surge higher. Sunni militant groups are known operate with impunity against minorities, and it is quite common to see law enforcement turning a blind eye or appearing helpless to prevent such attacks.
Pakistan, in fact, is turning into a human rights graveyard. Experts say that using extremists and terrorists, and by default, the armed forces or even the ISI, as instruments of societal suppression is aimed at facilitating and ensuring the dominance of the Punjabi lobby over others.
Pakistan's Christian community, which forms approximately 1.5 percent of the country's population, has often been accused of blaspheming the Quran and Prophet Mohammad.
Some notable incidents involving blasphemy accusations were as follows:
On October 28, 2001, in Lahore, Islamic militants killed 15 Christians inside a church.
On September 25, 2002, two terrorists entered the "Peace and Justice Institute", Karachi, where they separated Muslims from the Christians, and then executed eight Christians by shooting them in the head.
In November 2005, 3,000 militant Islamists attacked Christians in Sangla Hill in Pakistan and destroyed Roman Catholic, Salvation Army and United Presbyterian churches. The attack was over allegations of violation of blasphemy laws by a Pakistani Christian named Yousaf Masih.
In August 2006, a church and Christian homes were attacked in a village outside Lahore. Three Christians were seriously injured and one missing after some 35 Muslims burned buildings, desecrated Bibles and attacked Christians.
On August 1, 2009, nearly 40 houses and a church in Gojra were torched on the suspicion that Quran had been burnt there. While police watched, 8 victims were burned alive, 4 of them women, one aged 7. Eighteen more were injured.
In April 2014, a Christian couple from Gojra, Shafqat Emmanuel and Shagufta Kausar, received death sentences.
On March 27, 2016, during Easter Sunday celebrations in Lahore's Gulshan Iqbal Park, a suicide bomber killed 80 Christians and wounded another 340.
Ashiq Masih, the padre of the Lahore Church, then said, "The government is responsible for this incident. It is for the government to ensure that these bad people do not carry out malicious acts against Christians."
Ikram Arif, a witness to the tragedy, said, "I saw bodies without heads, legs; I saw bodies with intestines falling out, many injured men, women and children. I even picked up the blown off leg of an infant who must have been about six months old."
Christ Church Vicar Irshad Ashnaz said then, "Terrorists were not so focused on our community as they are now - They would have thought more people would gather at Easter. Perhaps, it is time for the government to turn their attention towards us also."
An aggrieved Pope Francis was so taken aback by the tragedy that he issued a statement from the Vatican condemning it in the strongest possible terms, and demanded immediate remedial action by the Pakistan government.
Pakistan civil society also condemned the incident and laid the blame for at the government's doorstep
Farrukh Haideri, a lawyer, said, "The government has failed to provide protection to the people."
Pakistani Christians are convinced that they are becoming increasingly victimised since the launch of the US-led war on terror in October 2001. Churches and Christian residential colonies have almost always been targeted on false blasphemy charges.
Salamat Gill, the Bishop of Lahore, has said, "There has never been any brutality from our side. Whenever there has been violence, it has been from the other side. I demand that religious scholars take action against this; the government should take action, the army chief should take action. How are we going to suffer like this?"
Human rights violations against the minority Ahmadiyya community have been systematic and allegedly state-sponsored to gain the support of Islamic fundamentalists in Pakistan. In 1984, the martial law-run government promulgated the anti-Ahmadiyya Ordinance XX that added Sections 298-B and 298-C in Pakistan Criminal Code.
These draconian sections relate to the misuse of epithets, descriptions and titles etc.reserved for certain holy personages or places, and are punishable by imprisonment that may extend to three years, and also be liable to pay a fine.
Through this ordinance, Ahmadiyya Muslims were deprived of most of their basic human rights and their freedom of faith.
There has also been severe persecution of Hindus by Muslims in Pakistan since its formation in 1947. Increasing Islamisation has caused many Hindus to leave Hinduism and seek emancipation by converting to other faiths such as Buddhism and Christianity.
The Hindu population in Pakistan is estimated to be around 1.5 percent of the total population from a high of 23 percent in 1947.
Pakistan's citizens have had serious Shia-Sunni discord as well. Some see the April 1979 execution of deposed President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on questionable charges as the precursor of Pakistani Shia-Sunni strife.
Attacks on minorities are generally attributed to banned militant organisations of Deobandi or Ahl-e-Hadith (Salafi) backgrounds.
A Pakistani man, Mohammed Ishaq Thawab Gul was convicted of drug smuggling by Saudi Arabia, bringing the number of executions in the kingdom this year to ninety three.
Gul was executed yesterday and was found guilty of trafficking heroin into the kingdom, the Saudi Interior Ministry said, reports the Express Tribune.
Murder and drug trafficking cases account for the majority of executions in the Saudi kingdom. However, in January 47 people were put to death for "terrorism" on a single day.
According to rights group Amnesty International, Saudi Arabia had the third-highest number of executions last year.
However, that was far behind Pakistan which executed 326, and Saudi Arabia's regional rival Iran, which executed at least 977, said Amnesty.
Priyanka Chopra, who has just wrapped up the shooting of her most-awaited flick 'Baywatch,' recently paid a tribute to Prince at Lincoln Center in New York.
Dressed in stunning red garb, the 33-year-old actress enthralled the audience with her stunning dance moves and mesmerized them by lip syncing to Prince's hit song 'Kiss.'
The actress entertained the crowd in complete Bollywood style, including multiple costume changes.
Later, PeeCee tweeted, "4! That's how we roll #ABCUpfronts xo."
The event was organized by ABC channel as a tribute to Prince.
A shipbuilding company in Russia has said that it plans to build the country's first cruise liner in six decades.
The Interfax news agency quoted Aleksey Rakhmanov, the president of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, as saying that the cruise liner project would in all probability begin later this year, and added that the construction could take up to three years and cost approximately 2.5 billion rubles (40 million U.S. dollars).
He said the cruise liner will be 462 feet in length and 55 feet in width, with a transporting capacity of about 306 passengers.
Uttar Pradesh's Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan has been admitted to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in the capital after he slipped and fell in his bathroom this morning.
Ranjan has suffered a minor injury on his head and sprained his left hand.
There are no fractures or other internal injuries as confirmed by the CT scan and X-Ray reports.
The US Senate approved legislation that would allow 9/11 victims and their relatives to sue Saudi Arabia over its possible role in the 2001 attacks, a bill which could escalate a diplomatic strains between the two nations. The bill will now be taken up in the House of Representatives.
The bill, however, carves out an exception to the law if foreign countries are found culpable of terrorist attacks that kill American citizens within the country.
If the bill is passed by both houses and be signed by the president, it could clear a path for the role of the Saudi government to be examined in the September 11 suits.
Senator Chuck Schumer, a Democrat and a sponsor of the bill said, the legislation would help the families of the victims seek justice.
"For the sake of the families, I want to make clear beyond the shadow of a doubt that every entity, including foreign states, will be held accountable if they are found to be sponsors of the heinous act of 9/11," the New York Times quoted him.
"If the Saudis did not participate in this terrorism, they have nothing to fear about going to court. If they did, they should be held accountable," he added.
The bill's sponsors included a new provision that would allow the attorney general to put a hold on individual court cases if the administration can show that it is negotiating with the defendant government to resolve the claims, in a move intended to address some White House concerns.
A release from Mr.Schumer's office said the administration would need to provide details about the talks and a timetable for their resolution.
The Obama administration has been under pressure to release 28 classified pages from a congressional inquiry that alleged Saudi Arabia's involvement in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
It is still considering whether to declassify a portion of a 2002 congressional investigation of the 9/11 attacks that pointed Saudi government officials and other Saudi citizens had a hand in the terrorist plot. However, conclusions are yet to be released publicly.
Though 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens, Saudi leaders have clearly denied any responsibility for the 9/11 attacks.
Meanwhile, one of the authors of the 28 pages has been publicly pressuring the administration.
Former Florida Senator Bob Graham had said that pages point a finger at Saudi Arabia as a chief financier of the attacks. He also accused that the White House of covering up the truth.
"All the evidence points to Saudi Arabia. We know that Saudi Arabia started al Qaeda," Graham told "Meet the Press" in April, reports the New York Post.
The September 11 commission, which began its work after the congressional inquiry, found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded Al Qaeda or the 9/11 plotters.
The commission's co-chairmen, Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, had last month issued a statement saying that the 28 pages were based almost entirely on raw, unvetted material that came to the F.B.I.
"Accusations of complicity in that mass murder from responsible authorities are a grave matter. Such charges should be levied with care," the New York Times quoted the statement as saying.
The Saudi government in March had warned that if the legislation passes, the Kingdom might begin selling off up to $750 billion in Treasury securities and other assets in the United States before they face a danger of being frozen by American courts.
After making its global debut at the Tokyo Motor Show, the Maruti Suzuki Ignis was spied testing recently on the streets of France. The car is expected to be launched in India around the festive Diwali period following a showcasing at the 2016 Delhi Expo last February.
After being spotted on one prior occasion earlier this year, the Maruti Suzuki Ignis was spied with heavy camouflage this time around. The Ignis is already on sale in markets like Japan and will land on Indian shores through the Indian carmakers Nexa sub-brand at a base price of around Rs 5-6 lakh.
Already available in markets like Japan, the car is driven by either a 1.2-litre petrol unit or the 1.3-litre 4-cylinder diesel unit sourced from Fiat. Power is transmitted from both engines via 5-speed manual gearboxes. Expect Maruti to ensure high fuel efficiency of whichever mill it plans to bring to India.
As seen during the Delhi Expo, the Ignis measures 3,700 mm long, 1,660 mm wide and 1,595 mm tall. It has a 2,435 mm long wheelbase and ground clearance of 180 mm. It will be Marutis new competitor in the compact SUV/crossover space that is already garnering high traction in the country.
Set to rival the likes of the Mahindra KUV100 and Renault Kwid, the Ignis is based on the same platform as the Baleno. That said, the design of the Ignis will be remarkably different from other Maruti cars; accentuated by sporty projector headlamps and massive bumpers.
Let us know what you expect from Marutis exciting new toy in the market in the comments section below.
Source : CarDekho
Coal India lost 0.49% to Rs 282.50 at 11:45 IST on BSE, with the stock trading lower amid intraday volatility.
Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 219.45 points or 0.85% at 25,554.16.
On BSE, so far 80,000 shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 5.09 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock was volatile. The stock lost as much as 0.86% at the day's low of Rs 281.45 so far during the day. The stock rose as much as 0.52% at the day's high of Rs 285.40 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 272.05 on 12 April 2016. The stock had hit a record high of Rs 447.25 on 5 August 2015. The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 17 May 2016, gaining 2.51% compared with Sensex's 0.57% rise. The scrip had, however, underperformed the market in past one quarter, sliding 9.28% as against Sensex's 10.23% rise.
The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 6316.36 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.
In a recent development, the Competition Appellate Tribunal (Compat) yesterday, 17 May 2016, quashed a 2013 order of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) which imposed a Rs 1773.05 crore penalty on Coal India and three of its subsidiaries alleging misuse of their monopoly to supply poor quality coal and fixing prices. Compat has sent the case back to the CCI to be heard again within two months.
The CCI in December 2013 had found Coal India and its three subsidiaries viz. Mahanadi Coalfields, Western Coalfields and South Eastern Coalfields guilty of abusing their dominant position for supplying non-coking coal and having unfair fuel supply contracts.
On consolidated basis, Coal India's net profit rose 14% to Rs 3718.25 crore on 6.8% growth in net sales to Rs 18971.48 crore in Q3 December 2015 over Q3 December 2014. The company is scheduled to announce its Q4 March 2016 results on 28 May 2016.
Coal India is an organized state-owned coal mining corporate. The Government of India held 79.65% stake in Coal India (as per the shareholding pattern as on 31 March 2016).
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GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare fell 2.73% to Rs 5,920 at 9:20 IST on BSE after net profit fell 8.18% to Rs 180.68 crore on 9.6% decline in net sales to Rs 1052.83 crore in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015.
The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 17 May 2016.
Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 176.22 points, or 0.68%, to 25,597.39.
On BSE, so far 47 shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 4786 shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 5,950 and a low of Rs 5,800 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 6,800 on 22 December 2015. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 5,366.50 on 2 March 2016. The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 17 May 2016, rising 1.15% compared with 0.57% rise in the Sensex. The scrip had, however, underperformed the market in past one quarter, rising 9.15% as against Sensex's 10.23% rise.
The large-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 42.06 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.
Net profit of GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare (GSK Consumer Healthcare) rose 17.70% to Rs 686.91 crore on 0.72% decline in net sales to Rs 4106.61 crore in the year ended March 2016 over the year ended March 2015.
GSK Consumer Healthcare is a leading player in the malted food drinks segment. Its major brands include Horlicks, Boost, Viva and Maltova.
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The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval to the proposal for offering an improved Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) package based on 2007 notional pay scales for the employees of Hindustan Vegetable Oils Corporation (HVOC). The Government assistance will be in the form of non-plan grant of approximately Rs.27.56 crore to the company.
HVOC is a Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) under the Department of Food and Public Distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
The employees of HVOC have been adversely impacted due to sickness of the company. They are in very old pay scales of 1992. The improved VRS package will give fair amounts of compensation to the employees and help them in their post retirement rehabilitation.
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The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval for leasing out of Airports Authority of India (AAI) land measuring 1500 sqm. to M/s. M. P. Warehousing Logistics Corporation (MPWLC) for establishing the Centre for Perishable Cargo (CPC) at Indore airport, Indore as per the resolution made by AAI Board.
This Centre will be a state of art facility exit point for perishables from the State of transit airports.
It will provide a world class facility under one roof to cater to all requirements of the traders and maintain the quality of produce. This facility is to be created by MPWLC under PPP mode.
The creation of Centre for Perishable Cargo is expected to cater to the employment needs of the local population and has significant employment potential. A total number of 113 persons will be required to manage the CPC.
Background:
The State Government of Madhya Pradesh has brought out that the CPC is proposed to be set up at Devi Ahilya Bai Airport, Indore. The move comes in the backdrop of huge demand of export of pharmaceuticals, poultry products and horticulture products in Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh.
The leasing out of the land will enable State Government of Madhya Pradesh to promote its agriculture and Horticulture sector by establishment of Centre for Perishable Cargo at Indore airport.
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Shares of State Bank of India and its associate banks rose on BSE after the state-run bank said it is considering merger of five associate banks with itself.
State Bank of Mysore (up 10.90%), State Bank of Travancore (up 6.16%) and State Bank of India (up 1.02%), edged higher. State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur was down 0.78%.
The S&P BSE Sensex was down 187.01 points, or 0.73% at 25,586.60.
State Bank of India (SBI) after trading hours yesterday, 17 May 2016, announced that it is seeking in principle sanction of the Government of India (GoI) to enter into negotiation with its 5 subsidiary banks viz. State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of Travancore to acquire their businesses including assets and liabilities. The decision is purely exploratory at this stage and there is no certainty in relation to SBI completing the acquisitions, SBI said. SBI's board of directors will take a final call after evaluating all the relevant considerations. SBI also said that it is considering acquisition of Bharatiya Mahila Bank.
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State Bank of India rose 1.10% to Rs 179 at 13:15 IST on BSE after the state-run bank said it is considering merger of five associate banks with itself.
Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 141.22 points, or 0.55%, to 25,632.39.
On BSE, so far 18.11 lakh shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 25.45 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 180.10 and a low of Rs 173.65 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 305 on 22 May 2015. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 148.30 on 12 February 2016. The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 17 May 2016, sliding 7.67% compared with 0.57% rise in the Sensex. The scrip had also outperformed the market in past one quarter, rising 11.25% as against Sensex's 10.23% rise.
The large-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 776.28 crore. Face value per share is Re 1.
State Bank of India (SBI) after trading hours yesterday, 17 May 2016, announced that it is seeking in principle sanction of the Government of India (GoI) to enter into negotiation with its 5 subsidiary banks viz. State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of Travancore to acquire their businesses including assets and liabilities. The decision is purely exploratory at this stage and there is no certainty in relation to SBI completing the acquisitions, SBI said. SBI's board of directors will take a final call after evaluating all the relevant considerations. SBI also said that it is considering acquisition of Bharatiya Mahila Bank.
State Bank of Mysore (up 8.06%) and State Bank of Travancore (up 3.98%), edged higher. State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur was down 0.09%.
Government officials were quoted by the media as saying that no legislative changes will be required for SBI merger and that the process may get completed within this fiscal.
SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya told the media that the benefits of merger would be huge and one of them will be 100 basis points reduction in lending cost within a year post this merger.
Brokerages, which see merger a positive development, reportedly said employee integration and their cost will be the key to watch out for when the merger will take place. According to brokerages, the merger is long term positive for SBI, but financially it may be negative in the near term due to higher retirement cost, reports said.
While explaining the importance of staff cost, a foreign brokerage reportedly highlighted earlier merger of SBI. In its note, the brokerage reportedly said that SBI had to make additional employee provisions in the case of merger with its subsidiaries historically. This was due to likely rationalization of pay scales, and higher retirement related benefits. Currently SBI subsidiaries get only two retirement related benefits versus three at SBI (pension, provident fund and gratuity), reports suggested.
SBI's net profit fell 61.7% to Rs 1115.34 crore on 6.7% rise in total income to Rs 46731.01 crore in Q3 December 2015 over Q3 December 2014. The bank will announce Q4 results on 27 May 2016.
Government of India holds 60.18% stake in SBI (as per the shareholding pattern as on 31 March 2016).
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State Bank of India (SBI) after trading hours yesterday, 17 May 2016, announced that it is seeking in principle sanction of the Government of India (GoI) to enter into negotiation with its 5 subsidiary banks viz. State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of Travancore to acquire their businesses including assets and liabilities. The decision is purely exploratory at this stage and there is no certainty in relation to SBI completing the acquisitions, SBI said. SBI's board of directors will take a final call after evaluating all the relevant considerations. SBI also said that it is considering acquisition of Bharatiya Mahila Bank.
Axis Bank has kept its lending rates based on marginal cost of funds unchanged effective from 18 May 2016. The bank's Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) for overnight loans will be 8.95%, the rate for one month will be 9.05% and for three months it will be 9.25%. The MCLR on 6-month loans will be 9.3% and for one-year loans the rate will be 9.35%, the bank said. MCLR on two-year loans will be 9.45% and for three-year loans the rate will be 9.5%. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 17 May 2016.
All rupee loans sanctioned and credit limits renewed with effect from 1 April 2016 are priced with reference to the Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) which is the internal benchmark of the concerned bank. Actual lending rates are determined by adding the components of spread to the MCLR.
Punjab National Bank is scheduled to announce its Q4 March 2016 results today, 18 May 2016.
United Bank of lndia reported net loss of Rs 413.04 crore in Q4 March 2016 compared with net profit of Rs 104.52 crore in Q4 March 2015. Total income fell 12.71% to Rs 2752.35 crore in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015. The bank's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) stood at Rs 9471.01 crore as on 31 March 2016 as against Rs 6721.53 crore as on 31 December 2015 and Rs 6552.91 crore as on 31 March 2015. The ratio of gross NPAs to gross advances stood at 13.26% as on 31 March 2016 as against 9.57% as on 31 December 2015 and 9.49% as on 31 March 2015. The ratio of net NPAs to net advances stood at 9.04% as on 31 March 2016 as against 5.91% as on 31 December 2015 and 6.22% as on 31 March 2015. The bank's provisions and contingencies (excluding tax provisions) rose 73.55% to Rs 1173.43 crore in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015. The provision coverage ratio stood at 53.36% as on 31 March 2016. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 17 May 2016.
TCS announced after market hours yesterday, 17 May 2016, that IDBI Bank's financial services arm IDBI Capital Market Services has gone operational with the securities trading and processing solution from TCS BaNCS for its online brokerage business.
GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare's (GSK Consumer Healthcare) net profit fell 8.18% to Rs 180.68 crore on 8.51% decline in total income to Rs 1166.40 crore in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 17 May 2016.
Vascon Engineers reported consolidated net profit of Rs 6.67 crore in Q4 March 2016 as against net loss of Rs 75.62 crore in Q4 March 2015. Net total income from operations rose 4.64% to Rs 180.56 crore in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 17 May 2016.
Nestle India turns ex-dividend today, 18 May 2016 for final dividend of Rs 18.50 per share for the year ended 31 December 2015 (FY 2015). The stock also turns ex-dividend today, 18 May 2016 for interim dividend of Rs 12 per share for the year ending 31 December 2016 (FY 2016).
MIC Electronics said that the board of directors of the company at its meeting held yesterday, 17 May 2016, concluded issue and allotment of 1.08 crore equity shares by conversion of preferential convertible equity share warrants to the promoters and investors in 1:1 ratio. A total of 93.22 lakh shares were alloted to three promoters and a total of 15 lakh shares were alloted to five investors. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 17 May 2016.
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The Empowered Institution (EI), under the Government of India's Scheme for Financial Support to Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in Infrastructure, met here today for its Seventy-First meeting.
The Meeting was chaired by the Additional Secretary (Investment), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance and approved Viability Gap Funding (VGF) support to two projects of the Government of Rajasthan. One project, in the Road Sector for Development and Operation of Chomu Chandwaji - Highways Project, was granted in-Principle approval while the other project, in the Power Sector, granted final approval of the VGF support, was for the development of the 400 kV Bikaner-Sikar Transmission Line Project .
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United Bank of India fell 5.73% to Rs 18.10 at 9:22 IST on BSE after the bank reported net loss of Rs 413.04 crore in Q4 March 2016 compared with net profit of Rs 104.52 crore in Q4 March 2015.
The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 17 May 2016.
Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 170.09 points or 0.66% at 25,603.52.
On BSE, so far 19,000 shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 16,000 shares in the past two weeks. The stock hit a high of Rs 18.30 and a low of Rs 17.50 so far during the day. The stock had hit a record low of Rs 16.80 on 11 February 2016. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 26.45 on 3 August 2015.
The small-cap state-run bank has equity capital of Rs 839.52 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.
The bank's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) stood at Rs 9471.01 crore as on 31 March 2016 as against Rs 6721.53 crore as on 31 December 2015 and Rs 6552.91 crore as on 31 March 2015. The ratio of gross NPAs to gross advances stood at 13.26% as on 31 March 2016 as against 9.57% as on 31 December 2015 and 9.49% as on 31 March 2015. The ratio of net NPAs to net advances stood at 9.04% as on 31 March 2016 as against 5.91% as on 31 December 2015 and 6.22% as on 31 March 2015. The increase in slippages on sequential basis is due to economic slowdown and also as a part of Assets Quality Review (AQR) as advised by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The central bank has advised banks to revise asset classification/provision in respect of certain advances over two quarters ending Q4 March 2016.
The bank's provisions and contingencies rose 73.6% to Rs 1173.43 crore in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015. The provision coverage ratio stood at 53.36% as on 31 March 2016.
United Bank of India announced that it has allotted 23.24 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each for cash at an issue price of Rs 20.65 per equity share to Government of India on preferential basis against capital infusion of Rs 480 crore.
The GoI held 82% stake in United Bank of India as per the shareholding pattern as on 31 March 2016.
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A Kerala priest abducted in Yemen is safe and efforts to secure his release has reached its last leg, a government official said on Wednesday.
Catholic priest Tom Uzhunnalil is safe and has spoken to his church authorities, the official told IANS.
" It is now clear that the priest is not in the custody of the Islamic State (IS) terror group but with anti-government forces in Yemen. Last minute efforts are underway and his release is imminent," the official said.
In March, armed militants barged into an old people's home set up by the Missionaries of Charity in 1992, and killed many including four nuns out of which one was Indian.
The militants abducted Uzhunnalil and there was no word from him until last week.
The Vatican, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the local Indian community in Yemen are all working hard to secure his safe release.
--IANS
sg/ksk
Global tech giant Apple Inc's CEO Tim Cook kicked off his maiden India trip with an early morning visit to the famed Shree Siddhivinayak temple in Prabhadevi, central Mumbai, where he performed a special 'aarti'.
Sporting a light blue shirt and dark trousers with a yellow stole having Sanskrit scriptures in orange, Cook performed a special 'aarti' of the temple's presiding deity, Lord Ganesha -- who symbolizes wisdom and is the remover of all obstacles.
Accompanied by Apple India head Sanjay Kaul, Cook's temple visit was a prelude to a host of meetings lined up with top business and Bollywood personalities later in the day.
At the temple Cook ran into Anant Ambani, the scion of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, and chatted with him for some time.
Among the engagements lined up for the Apple CEO include meetings with Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry and other top industrialists, besides Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan.
Though his official program is kept under a lid, during his India trip Cook is likely to visit the IT capitals of Bengaluru and Hyderabad and later New Delhi.
"Whatever we wish to share, we have already done this morning," an official told IANS, referring to the announcement of Apple's plans to set up a new iOS App Design and Development Accelerator in Bengaluru in early 2017.
Cook arrived here late Tuesday night from Beijing in a private jet and is staying in the Hotel Taj Mahal Palace in south Mumbai.
--IANS
qn/rn/bg
The central government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that it was ready to supply CNG for tourist vehicles plying between Manali and Rohtang Pass but Himachal Pradesh has to back it up with a sustainable business model.
There was no immediate relief for the tourists taxi operators who are against an NGT order modified by the apex court that not more than 1,200 tourist and private cars can go to Rohtang Pass every day.
The option of CNG being used as fuel for the tourist taxis is being worked out to save the ecology of highest located tourist spot from the impact of unregulated flow of tourist vehicles.
About 35 lakh tourists go there during the five months starting mid-May to October.
Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar told the apex court vacation bench comprising Justice Abhay Manhor Sapre and Justice Ashok Bhushan that the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas had told the Himachal Pradesh government its willingness to supply the CNG.
But this would not be viable without a sustainable business model that has to take care of overhead costs to make clean fuel affordable.
Saying the entire issue of the funding of the capital expenditure of Rs.17.50 crore for setting up of CNG facilities for supplying clean fuel to tourist taxis had arisen because the initial model suggested by the Himachal government was not viable, the court was told that it needed to be re-worked.
The Solicitor General told the court that the Himachal Pradesh government was yet to respond to suggestions to rework the business model.
Opposing the restrictions imposed by the NGT and the apex court on the movement of vehicular traffic between Manali and Rohtang Pass, the Him Aanchal Taxi Operators Union questioned the rational behind allowing only 800 petrol and 400 diesel cars per day.
Initially the NGT had permitted 1,000 vehicles including tourist and private ones to go to Rohtang Pass but the apex court hiked it to 1,200.
Questioning the rational of allowing just 1,200 tourist taxis and private vehicles to go to Rohtang Pass every day, senior counsel Vibha Dutta Makhija wondered how could a ban be imposed on her clients while there was no ban on diesel vehicles in the country or in Himachal Pradesh.
Telling the court that it was like placing the cart before the horse, Makhija said the air pollution in Rohtang Pass was much lower than the permissible levels and what it was in other parts of the country.
She said the tourist taxi operators had switched over to Bharat III emission engines and had taken loans from financial institutions and had to pay them back.
The bench had earlier asked the Him Aanchal Taxi Operators Union to find some via media to deal with the problem for this year. The matter was adjourned for Monday.
--IANS
pk/mr
A top Chinese official has dismissed reports in Zambian media that Beijing has been selling human meat as food in Africa.
The reports quoted an unnamed Zambian woman living in China as warning people to stop buying Chinese corned beef, Xinhua news agency reported.
The woman claimed that Chinese beef companies were collecting dead human bodies, marinating them, packing them in tins labelled as corned beef and sending them to Africa.
Chinese ambassador to Zambia, Yang Youming, accused people with ulterior motives of trying to destroy the long-standing partnership between Zambia and China.
"This is completely a malicious slandering and vilification which is absolutely unacceptable to us," he said.
"We hereby express our utmost anger and the strongest condemnation over such an act," he added.
The envoy has since asked relevant government departments in Zambia to investigate the tabloid and source of the rumour in order to clear China's name.
--IANS
py/mr
Four Taliban militants in Afghanistan's Kunduz province were killed and several injured on Wednesday in an airstrike, an army spokesman said.
"Acting upon intelligence input, the security forces conducted airstrikes against Taliban hideout in Nawabad area of Chardara district, killing four rebels on the spot," Ghulam Hazrat Karimi told Xinhua news agency.
Taliban militants partly control Chardara district and adjoining areas.
--IANS
in/
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Automobile manufacturer Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) on Wednesday launched a special edition of its compact sedan Xcent to commemorate 20 years of its presence in India.
According to the company, the 'Xcent Special Edition' will be available in both petrol and diesel variants.
The new compact sedan's petrol variant is priced between Rs.6.25 lakh and Rs.6.29 lakh, whereas the diesel version is ranged from Rs.7.17 lakh to Rs.7.21 lakh.
"It has been a momentous two decades for Hyundai in India. In a short span of time we have emerged as India's most loved automobile brand," Rakesh Srivastava, senior vice president, sales and marketing, HMIL, was quoted in a statement as saying.
"It is our continuous effort to gauge changing customer preferences and keep introducing new technology in our products to offer high value to our customers."
The automobile manufacturer had launched the first variant of the compact sedan two years back.
--IANS
ppg-rv/bg
A cabinet panel on Wednesday approved an improved voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) package for employees of the Corp. (HVOC).
"The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given approval to the proposal for offering an improved VRS package based on 2007 notional pay scales for the employees of HVOC," an official statement said.
The government assistance will be in the form of non-plan grant of around Rs 27.56 crore to the firm, the cabinet communique said.
"HVOC employees have been adversely impacted due to sickness of the company. They are in very old pay scales of 1992," the CCEA noted.
"The improved VRS package will give fair amount of compensation to employees and help them in their post retirement rehabilitation," it added.
A public sector unit, HVOC was formed in 1984 with the merger of two government-run -- Ganesh Flour Mills and Amritsar Oils Works. It was manufacturing vanaspati (vegetable oil), and refining and packing imported edible oil for public distribution.
Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi on Wednesday termed as "untenable" Indian "tactics" to depict Pakistan-administered Kashmir as part of India through a new map bill, adding that New Delhi cannot change the fundamental fact that the state is "disputed territory".
Lodhi was referring to a controversial Indian draft bill seeking to regulate New Delhi's geospatial information.
Under the Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, anyone distributing a map that the Indian government deems to be "wrong" could be liable for a billion-rupee fine and jail time.
Voicing Pakistan's "serious concern" over the draft bill, Lodhi termed India's claim over Azad Jammu and Kashmir as an integral part of its territory as "untenable" and a "travesty of history, morality, international law and facts on the ground".
In her letter, now distributed as an official UN document, the Pakistani envoy regretted that the international community and the UN have "failed" to take notice of this Indian action.
Lodhi said AJK was a disputed territory and "numerous UN Security Council resolutions attest to this".
On Tuesday, India stated that the proposed draft bill was "an entirely internal legislative matter of India, since the whole of the state is an integral part of India".
"Pakistan or any other party has no locus standi in the matter," the Indian external affairs ministry spokesperson added, rejecting what he called "repeated and increasing attempts by Pakistan to impose on the international community matters that it had always been open to address bilaterally".
Lodhi called on the international community to honour its responsibility to the people of Kashmir and reiterated the need for an "independent and impartial plebiscite under UN auspices".
--IANS
ahm/rn/dg
Iran's top cleric Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Wednesday called the US an "arch-tyrant and the great Satan".
"The US is the arch-tyrant and the great Satan. Those who implement US policies in the region are adherents of tyranny," Press TV quoted Khamenei as saying.
He also accused some Muslim countries of betraying their people by helping the US implement its policies in the region.
"Some Islamic governments are betraying their people and the Islamic Ummah and paving the way for the American influence," Khamenei told participants at an international Quran competition.
--IANS
ahm/mr
The government on Wednesday approved the land lease for setting up a world class centre for perishable cargo at the Devi Ahilya Bai Airport in Indore.
The decision was taken by the union cabinet that met under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi here.
The Centre for Perishable Cargo (CPC), being established by the Madhya Pradesh Warehousing Logistics Corporation (WLC) under a public-private partnership model, will come up at a 1500-sqm plot owned by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
It will be a state-of-art exit point facility for perishables from the state. It will provide a world class facility under one roof to cater to all requirements of the traders and maintain the quality of produce. A total number of 113 people will be required to manage the centre.
The centre in Indore comes in the backdrop of a huge demand for export of pharmaceuticals, poultry products and horticulture products in Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh.
The leasing out of the land will also enable the Madhya Pradesh government to promote its agriculture and horticulture sector, an official statement said.
--IANS
nd/sar/bg
Malaysia is barring for three years travel abroad by its citizens who criticise or ridicule the government to "safeguard the country's image", officials said Wednesday.
"Anyone who runs down the government or 'memburukkan kerajaan' in any manner, will be barred from going abroad," the immigration department told the Star daily.
The three-year ban has been in force for several months, Immigration Director Sakib Kusmi said.
"The Malaysian international passport is a travel document issued by the government...so, the government has the discretion to either issue, defer or revoke the travel document," claimed Sakib, without disclosing the number of people who have been affected by the move so far.
In the last few months, activists, detractors and dissidents have been detained without any explanations by immigration authorities when they have been about to leave the country.
Some of the people who were affected by this move includes lawmaker Tony Pua from the Democratic Action Party, critical of Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has been embroiled in a corruption scandal involving diversion of a billion dollars from a state fund into his personal accounts.
Others hit by the travel ban include Maria Chin Abdullah, one of the leaders of the Bersih 2.0 movement, which demands free and fair elections, and activist Hishamuddin Rais, who dodged a prison sentence this week over a sedition charge.
--IANS
ksk/vt
Delhi must get the status of a full state minus the small areas with the NDMC and Delhi Cantonment Board, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday.
Kejriwal made the comments while making public a draft for Delhi's statehood on which he sought people's comments by June 30 so as to take the process forward.
The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), founded in 1927, presides over the heart of the capital. The Delhi Cantonment Board, born in 1914, looks after the Cantonment area. The rest of Delhi comes under the jurisdiction of the now trifurcated Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
"All other areas except those that come under NDMC (and Cantonment) should be governed by the elected government of Delhi," Kejriwal said, and added that he hoped to achieve a consensus over the issue.
The areas of policing, law and order and land in the NDMC and Cantonment areas can be with the central government, he said.
The NDMC area is home to India's VVIPs including the President and Prime Minister. This is also where the central government is located.
Kejriwal underlined that the demand for full statehood for Delhi had been repeatedly raised by the BJP and Congress.
"All political parties, including the BJP and Congress, have aspired and struggled for statehood. In the last 22 years, both promised statehood for Delhi repeatedly."
He said that BJP leaders including Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma, L.K. Advani, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Vijay Goel and Harsh Vardhan had raised the demand at various times.
The Congress too has been agitating for Delhi's statehood, he added.
"There should be no on this issue. This has been a long-pending demand. We are fully confident that everyone will get together and take it forward."
Kejriwal, whose Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has 67 of the 70 seats in the Delhi assembly, said the assembly would pass a resolution for Delhi's statehood after building a consensus and send it to the central government.
The central government will need to bring about constitutional amendments to make Delhi a full-fledged state, he said.
Kejriwal and his government have been feuding with the central government since taking power in February 2015 over issues of governance.
Because of the capital's unique status, police and many other agencies do not report to the Delhi but to the central government.
The draft of "State of Delhi Bill 2016" has been uploaded on the Delhi government's website seeking suggestions by June 30.
Kejriwal said he would write to or meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and Congress leaders on the issue besides calling an all-party meeting.
--IANS
av-mr/rn
Sister Mary Prema, superior general of the Kolkata-headquartered Missionaries of Charity (MoC), was on Wednesday conferred the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit by German Ambassador to India Martin Ney.
"On behalf of the German Federal President Joachim Gauck, Ney handed over the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit to Sister Prema," said a statement by the German embassy on its official Twitter handle.
The 63-year-old Germany-born nun has been a member of MoC, the religious institute founded by the Mother Teresa of Calcutta, since 1980 and was also a close confidante of the Nobel laureate.
"With this honour, Germany acknowledges Sister Prema's personal commitment and the outstanding contribution towards humanity and the Indo-German relations over the past decades."
--IANS
sgh/py/dg
Japanese automobile giant, Motors' President Tetsuro Aikawa will step down from his position following a fuel economy data scam affecting at least four models of the company's mini-cars, officials said on Wednesday.
According to state-run business daily Nikkei, company CEO Osamu Masuko will step in as interim president. He will hold both positions until the completion of stake acquisition announced last week.
In the acquisition, Japanese automotive manufacturer Nissan Motor will take 34 per cent stake of and become its largest shareholder while aiming to resurrect the brand's prestige after the scandal.
Last April, the company admitted that it had manipulated fuel consumption data of 625,000 units of four mini-vehicle models (those with engines of less than 660 cubic cm) sold in Japan.
In the course of investigation, the company said that the manipulation was also extended to other models, although the overall scope of the case is still unknown, EFE news reported.
According to officials, Aikawa's resignation is possibly due to the fact he began his career in the product development unit, in which the data manipulation originated.
The company is scheduled to submit a new report on the scandal to the Japanese transport ministry later on Wednesday.
Aikawa is expected to leave around July when the independent commission responsible for investigation intends to present a final report.
Indian President Pranab Mukherjee will be on a four-day visit to China from May 24. This will be the first visit by an Indian head of state to China after six years.
The May 24-27 visit follows an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said in a statement here on Wednesday.
In 2010, then President Pratibha Patil visited China.
On May 24, Mukherjee will arrive in Guangzhou, a heavily industrialised city along the Pearl river in south China's Guangdong province.
The city accounts for two per cent of China's land and contributes 12 per cent of its GDP.
Mukherjee will interact there with the Indian community which is mainly engaged in business.
Chen Jiasheng, director at the foreign affairs office of Guangdong province, refused to comment on the visit.
"I will comment only after I meet the Indian consulate tomorrow," Chen told IANS on telephone.
President Mukherjee will land in Beijing on May 25 where he is likely to attend a reception by a Chinese forum.
Besides meeting President Xi and Prime Minister Li Keqiang, Mukherjee will visit Peking University where he will interact with students.
Mukherjee leaves for home on May 27.
The visit comes after India's Defence Minister Manohar Parikar and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met their Chinese counterparts in Beijing last month.
Beijing's decision to put on hold India's bid to designate JeM chief Masood Azhar as a terrorist in the UN is the latest irritant in Sino-Indian ties.
--IANS
gsh/mr
Mumbai will host its first food truck festival, titled 'Food Truck Square', starting Friday.
Organisers vouch to offer lip-smacking gourmet food at affordable prices at the event, to be held at High Street Phoenix here.
The festival will present over ten food trucks with American gourmet sandwiches to Lebanese delicacies, from Mexican quick eats to different desserts.
A joint initiative by The Food Truck Association (TFTA), co-curated by Mumbai Foodie and OPA hospitality, the foodie's event will feature live graffiti art by an artist who will create an installation to serve as a reminder of the city's upcoming street food culture.
Patrons can also help the artist in making the graffiti, which will be dedicated to Mumbai.
To pledge their case with Mumbai's governmental authorities, TFTA will also create a second installation in the form of an 'appeal board' that will allow patrons and food lovers to pledge their support or voice their concerns against Food Trucks via 'yay or nay' columns to expedite legislation regarding Food Trucks here.
"We need to give Mumbai's food truck culture the impetus it deserves. Food tourism is touted to be the next big league for India and is rapidly ascending as the newest, most promising value proposition for the hospitality industry country wide," Shubham Chaudhuri, TFTA president, said in a statement.
"The festival was conceptualised to serve as our mouthpiece to pledge to Mumbai's law bodies that Food Trucks are safe, valuable and here to stay," he added.
Food trucks are four-wheel shops with signature dishes from every corner of the globe.
"World over, they are now being integrated into major events and festivals as a way to attract young attendees and to increasing awareness for different cultures and their cuisines. Our idea behind co-curating this festival was to bring the best food of this city to your doorstep -one food truck at a time," Ashish Sajnani, director, OPA Hospitality and co-curator of the event, said.
The food trucks which will showcase their concoctions include FoGo, which has the street food concept, Paninaro, which will offer fresh salads, sandwiches and submarines, and Lalit food truck, which will tease the taste buds.
Average pricing of all dishes will cost between Rs.100 to Rs.200.
--IANS
ks/rb/vt
As India's much loved author Ruskin Bond turns 82 on Thursday, his fans will be treated to two new books -- "My Favourite Nature Stories" and "The World Outside My Window" -- themed on nature, the writer's first love.
In the first (both are published by Rupa), Bond talks about his various encounters with the natural world. From the chorus of cicadas to the song of the whistling thrush, from his love for sea shells to his favourite place on earth, Bond details the reasons for his abiding love for nature.
"When I came to live in Mussoorie just over 50 years ago, I lived in Maplewood Lodge, a cottage below Wynberg-Allen School. Its windows opened on to a well-forested hillside. So naturally, I wrote about the trees, wild flowers and birds and other creatures that lived among them," he says.
Bond further states that circumstances forced him to move higher up to the Moor of Ivy Cottage in Landour Cantonment, where he has been staying for the last 35 years. "Here too, the windows open on to the sky, the clouds, the Doon valley and range-upon-range of mountains. And from this perch on the hillside I feel that I am part of the greater world," Bond says.
The second book is a handy guide for Bond's fans who wants to explore nature.
"When you have some time to spare, make a list of all the different insects that you can name. Imagine you knew the name of every kind of insect in India or even in the world. If you were to write them all down, it would take you at least a month, without stopping to sleep or eat, to complete your list," says Bond, who has won multiple awards, including Padma Bhushan and the Padma Shri - India's third and fourth highest civilian honours.
In this delightful little book, Bond writes about some of the most interesting insects, birds, trees and flowers he has observed. From the butterfly, dragonfly, scorpion and ant lion to different varieties of cacti, semul trees, jasmine flowers and the wild flowers found in the Himalayan region, as well as birds of the hills and urban areas like Delhi, Bond describes them all.
Amazon will offer all Ruskin Bond e-books published by Rupa for Rs.82 for three days, starting May 18.
--IANS
pn/vm
Actor Ryan Gosling, who recently welcomed his second daughter with partner Eva Mendes, has decided to give up smoking.
The 35-year-old actor decided to quit the habit after he unexpectedly gassed himself on the lung-damaging fumes while shooting his new movie "The Nice Guys", in which he portrays chain-smoking private investigator Holland March, reports femalefirst.co.uk.
Speaking on "The Kyle and Jackie O Show", Gosling said: "I used to (smoke), but in this movie I smoked myself out. I never want another cigarette again.
"It really is the greatest way to quit. It is hard to come by, you really have to get a film where you have to smoke all the time, but I highly recommend it if you are trying to quit."
For the film, Gosling was also expected to play drunk.
But he has admitted that towards the end, he didn't really need to act anymore as he and his co-star Russell Crowe -- who plays a contract killer in the film -- would regularly rock up to set hungover after hours of drinking the night before.
--IANS
ank/rb
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, who was given a clean chit by the NIA in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blasts case, has decided to call off her fast after she got clearance to bathe in the Shipra river.
Amid high security measures, Sadhvi Pragya left on Wednesday for Ujjain to participate in the Simhastha Kumbh Mela. The Dewas District Court on Tuesday gave the go-ahead to her request to bathe in the river.
The Sadhvi, who was lodged in Bhopal Central Jail, had threatened to fast unto death if she was not allowed to bathe in the river. She was admitted to a local ayurvedic hospital after her health deteriorated.
Superintendent of Police Rajesh Bhadoria told reporters: "We have offered adequate security to Sadhvi Pragya and medical experts are also accompanying her. All security and medical arrangements are in compliance with the Dewas court decision."
Bhagvan Jha, her close aide, said: "Sadhvi Pragya has decided to call off the hunger strike as a Dewas court on Tuesday allowed her to take a dip in the Shipra. She is under heavy security and is travelling to Ujjain in an ambulance to attend the Kumbh Mela."
He added: "Her health is stable, she has consumed only water and medicines. She has refrained from eating anything solid."
According to hospital staff, Sadhvi Pragya's two-day hunger strike had worsened her health and she was not in a fit condition to travel. Her blood pressure was low and she had been advised medication for the condition, a doctor said.
The Simhastha Kumbh Mela, which began on April 22, will end on May 21. Sadhvi Pragya had protested against the authorities for not allowing her to bathe in the Shipra.
Sadhvi Pragya is accused of involvement in the murder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionary Sunil Joshi and is facing trial in the case. She is currently imprisoned at Central Jail in Bhopal and is undergoing treatment in Pandit Khushilal Ayurveda Hospital there.
--IANS
pauranik-ask/rn/dg
Sanctions against Russia have reached a deadlock and are hurting European economies, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
A vote opposing anti-Russia sanctions by the regional council of Veneto in Italy showed "the process of the anti-Russia propaganda in the context of Ukraine has reached an impasse", Xinhua quoted ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying.
The vote concerns the recognition of Crimea as part of Russia and lifting of anti-Russia sanctions.
Stefano Valdegamberi, a regional council lawmaker, said the anti-Russia sanctions were "a mistake".
Veneto has suffered from the negative economic impacts of the sanctions, according to Valdegamberi.
The EU has introduced several rounds of sanctions against Russia since 2014, accusing Moscow of being involved in the armed conflicts in Ukraine.
Moscow has repeatedly denied the allegations, and took countermeasures in August 2014, banning certain food products imported from the countries that imposed restrictions against Russia.
--IANS
py/dg
The employees of State Bank of Travancore (SBT), a subsidiary of the State Bank of India, on Wednesday expressed deep concern over the SBI's move to merge five of its subsidiaries with itself.
The country's largest bank on Tuesday decided to submit a proposal to the central government seeking an "in-principle approval" to initiate negotiations for the acquisition of its five associate banks -- State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ), State Bank of Patiala (SBP), State Bank of Travancore (SBT) and State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH).
Addressing reporters here, K.S. Krishna, general secretary of SBT Employees Union said: "For the past 70 years, SBT has been doing yeomen service to the people of Kerala and the biggest danger associated with this proposed acquisition of its five associate banks is that then the SBI will become a global player in banking and the customers of SBT will suffer."
He said nearly 14,892 SBT staff are members of their union.
"There is going to be downsizing of the staff if this becomes a reality and even after close to five decades of bank nationalisation, there is a huge shortage of branches of banks across the country's villages and things will be bad for the needs of the country's rural population," said Aniyan Mathew, president of the union.
The union however batted for these five associate banks coming under a single holding company.
"Already today our officials hold top positions at the various associate banks and if we work under the principle of a holding company, we can even join together under one name or stand independently as of now. This will help us to provide better services to our customers and there will be no competition amongst ourselves. But if we are to be acquired by SBI then it's going to be a mammoth bank with more than 26,000 branches," said another official of the union.
As the first major protest move, the State sector bank employees association AIBEA has decided to call a strike on Friday.
--IANS
sg/lok/vm
American tank crews failed to find place in the Strong Europe Tank Challenge, a competition co-hosted and sponsored by US Army Europe. The three-day event gathered the best NATO crews to compete against each other in a set of armoured warfare tests.
The Strong Europe Tank Challenge was jointly hosted from May 10 to 12 by the US Army and the German Bundeswehr at the Grafenwoehr Training Area in Germany, according to RT online.
The three-day event involved crews from Denmark, Germany, Italy, Poland and Slovenia -- each sending platoons of four tanks -- and the US, which sent two platoons of four tanks.
The tank competition appears to be the first of its type to be held by NATO in Europe since 1991, the year the erstwhile Soviet Union was dissolved. Designed to develop armoured warfare skills, the tank challenge is also in line with the NATO trend of planning to counter what it calls an "assertive Russia".
Crews taking part in the competition conducted either offensive or defensive operations, including an obstacle course with 13 different sections, a shooting competition, and tank-based navigation. The platoons were given points for each event in an effort to gain the highest score out of 1,000.
The German team took top honours, followed by the Danish tank crew in second. Third place went to Poland. The teams representing the US Army -- which sponsored and advertised the event on social media -- failed to make the top three.
Notably, all the teams were allowed to use tanks of slightly different types. The German platoon brought a Leopard 2A6, one of the best NATO-developed tanks that features a modified turret, enhanced mine resistance and a longer main gun barrel.
Denmark and Poland used Leopard 2A5s, an earlier version, while both Italy and Slovenia brought domestically-built Ariete and M84 tanks, respectively. The American crews competed in M1A2 Abrams.
--IANS
ahm/dg
United States businesses will sign deals worth $27 billion with India over the next two years, a top US official said here on Wednesday.
"Over the last two years, US businesses invested over $15 billion in India, and will reportedly sign deals worth another $27 billion over the next two years," Arun M. Kumar, assistant secretary for global markets and director general for the US and foreign commercial service, said.
Talking about increasing US investment in the Indian market, he said, "American companies are responding. Last year, US companies invested more in Indian equities than in China," he added.
In particular, US companies' unique capabilities can help India address its priority needs and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi's economic development goals, Kumar said.
He also acknowledged India's e-commerce market as the fastest growing in the world, and said that US companies are contributing to the sector.
"US companies have already invested billions and, in the process, are making it easier for Indian firms export globally," he said.
--IANS
mm/rn/vm
Targeting the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its advertisement bill, the Congress has decided to rename it the "Arvind Advertisement Party". It cited data gleaned from a Right to Information (RTI) reply that revealed the Delhi government spent Rs 14.5 crore on newspaper advertisements in the last three months alone.
Congress spokesperson Shobha Oza said the Delhi government had not yet declared the amount spent on television, radio spots and publicity hoardings sought under the RTI application.
While it did not have money to pay the salary of sanitation workers, old-age pension and so on, "as per our calculation, in just three months, Kejriwal has spent approximately Rs 100 crore on all sorts of ads", she alleged.
The central government has finally set up a committee to suggest a policy framework for taxi and other transport operators. The world over, taxis are regulated for price and quality. Without regulation, each taxi ride would entail price negotiation and a series of checks: does the driver have a valid licence; is his behaviour acceptable; is the car in suitable condition, etc. The burden on each consumer to overcome these transaction costs would render the market unworkable. Regulations address these market failures.
China is trying to engineer a robot revolution. Home appliance maker Midea is in the vanguard of change with its Euro 4.57-billion ($5.17 billion) takeover offer for German industrial robot maker Kuka, one of the world's big four. Robots appeal to China because they can replace domestic migrant workers as wages soar. The logic of Midea's bid for Kuka is less obvious.
Replacing people with machines will help push China up the manufacturing value chain. Low-cost manufacturing drove the first wave of economic growth in the People's Republic as workers moved from the fields to the factories. Now rising living costs are driving them home again. President Xi Jinping has a grand vision to transform China from the world's factory into a technological powerhouse under the so-called "Made in China 2025" plan.
There appears to be plenty of official funding for the cause. Last year the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, where Midea is based, announced it would spend $144 billion on replacing human labour with robots including the construction of two advanced robotics-manufacturing facilities, according to Xinhua.
Now private capital is getting stuck in too. Bankers say that tax breaks and cheap credit will flow to companies that buy technology the state wants. Midea can put robots into its own manufacturing processes, and sell them to other companies seeking to do the same.
Yet the Chinese company is paying a hefty premium to join the bandwagon. The offer of Euro 115 per share is an astonishing 60 per cent premium to the price in February when the Chinese company disclosed it had lifted its existing stake in Kuka to 10.2 per cent. It equates to a multiple of 40 times earnings for this year based on forecasts compiled by Eikon. Japanese rival Fanuc trades on just 30 times and has a net profit margin almost six times fatter than Kaku.
It is unclear if existing large shareholders at Kuka will sell out. At these prices, China's robot revolution is hard to ignore.
With reference to Apar Gupta's piece, "Legislative intervention needed in defamation" (May 18), criminal defamation alone is not a threat to freedom of expression; the right to be forgotten online is another.
The European Court of Justice has delivered a ruling on this subject that is applicable in Europe. India needs clear guidelines on this right. Lawyers need case studies that are available on search engines and in law journals.
What if tomorrow wilful defaulters, criminals and others were to approach a court of law to exercise this right, citing the ruling of the European court? This complicated issue needs to be discussed threadbare. Keep in mind that a Chinese court has ruled that its citizens do not have the right to be forgotten.
Deendayal M Lulla, Mumbai
Letters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201E-mail: letters@bsmail.in
The long-awaited national intellectual property rights (IPR) policy approved by the Cabinet last week tries to address some - albeit not all - of the major concerns of the global innovation-based industry and India's large trading partners like the US. Its stipulation to revamp and expand the institutional framework to protect IPRs, speed up approvals of patents and trademarks and put in place an overall IPR system largely on a par with global standards keep this end in view. Yet, going by their initial reactions, many of the pharmaceutical companies and other intellectual property stakeholders do not seem to be fully satisfied with the policy, though they have welcomed the stress laid on better administration and enforcement.
The first round of consolidation of public sector banks has been flagged off with the largest state-owned lender, State Bank of India (SBI), announcing its plans to merge its five subsidiaries and Bhartiya Mahila Bank (BMB) with itself. SBI has passed a resolution to seek government approval of the proposed merger.
Making good on an election promise of demanding full statehood for this city, Chief Minister (pictured) issued on Wednesday the draft of a The State of Delhi Bill, 2016. It seeks to bring police, land, municipal corporations and bureaucracy under the elected city governments control.
At present, Delhi being a Union Territory, and with some additional conditions, this is not so. The Centre, through its appointed lieutenant governor, and also directly, has overriding powers. The Kejriwal government has had several run-ins with the Centre and the LG on these isues; matters have also gone to court. The government has placed the bill on its website, inviting suggestions from the public till June 30.
In the draft, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) portion in the citys centre and the Delhi Cantonment Board area will be out of the jurisdiction of the proposed Delhi state. The LG will be replaced with a Governor, as with other states.
As for the bureaucracy, the bill proposes the creation of a separate official cadre for the state. The bill also moots that the High Court for the existing Capital Territory be named the 'High Court of Delhi.
Soon after he took office, Kejriwal had raised the issue of statehood and claimed that the BJP led Centre was dragging its feet on it. Making similar charges today, Kejriwal recalled that it was the BJP manifestos that promised statehood in its manifestos from 1993 till 2014.
Taking the fight directly to the BJP camp, Kejriwal said: "L K Advani had tabled the Delhi Statehood Bill in Parliament in 2003. It was referred to a Standing Committee chaired by Pranab Mukherjee which had backed the suggestions. But for some reason it got lapsed." Kejriwal said the Congress had proposed statehood on several occasions.
The chief minister urged his political opponents to "rise above differences" and work along with the Delhi government on the issue of securing full statehood for Delhi. He even said that he would write and perosnally meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP President Amit Shah and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on this crucial issue.
AAP rivals lashed out at Kejriwal alleging that it was a "diversionary tactic". Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken claimed that the AAP chief wanted to divert attention from its failures, the most recent being the poor performance of AAP in MCD polls.
The draft bill proposes that all amendments to the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act 1957, the Delhi Development Act 1957, the Delhi Police Act 1978 and other statutes passed by Parliament with regard to matters enumerated in the State List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution will be carried out by the Delhi Legislative Assembly.
Since Embassies and the central government are in the NDMC zone of the city, NDMC area could have a separate police, the CM said.
Once public comments come in, Kejriwal said, after June 30, the final version of the draft will be prepared and a resolution would be passed by the Delhi Assembly. "We will forward the resolution to the Centre which in turn will have to bring in a Constitutional Amendment," Kejriwal asserted.
"Through the passage of the bill, we seek to fulfil the dreams of Congress and BJP," said the astute chief minister.
"I was born and grew up in a three-room flat on 202 Chittaranjan Avenue. There were five of us and only one bathroom. I still remember the torture of the mornings when all of us used to queue up before the toilet. Since then I have an obsession with big bathrooms. Every room in my Greater Kailash House has a bathroom. I've seen those days, and the days when I left home because I didn't want to carry on with the trading business my father wanted me to continue. I had nothing. Proud fathers get suits stitched for their sons. I paid for my first suit myself when I was 28. Those ten years were a period of great struggle. So I'm afraid of nothing. What's the worst that can happen? That I go back to those days ? So what! I've survived those. These words, brimming with defiance, resilience and survival, dont sound out of place coming from glamour-sprinkled erstwhile kingmaker, confidant of Indias whos who, and the king of political possibilities, Amar Singh, who is now on the cusp of a second coming.
A Rajya Sabha nomination at the instance of Mulayam Singh Yadav puts him back in the heart, and heartland, of . Singh began his career as a friend and supporter of the Congress. He was Madhavrao Scindias Man Friday, but tired of hanging on to the coat-tails of Congress politicians, elected to go into business and - for himself.
In small towns across the Hindi heartland of UP, MP and Bihar, there is a class of traders and businessmen that rushed to open demat accounts in the early 2000s. For them, Singh is the symbol of what they can achieve. In these parts, hes known as a man who can make things work. He may be unashamedly feudal in the way he works, but he could leverage and network to get doors opened.
Singh has never been less than frank about his abilities. His first memorable business deal was for Vam Organics where he worked. "Alcohol-based chemical industries were booming so long as I was there," he said. The industrial alcohol market was tightly regimented and controlled by the UP government. How did he manage to make a success of business in that environment? "By representing to the government and by networking - through bureaucratic and political networking" he said.
From then to now, it has been a long journey. Having traded the black safari suit for the kurta payjama, in the 1980s Singh faced betrayal from the Congress Party that promised him a seat from Madhya Pradesh. He joined the Samajwadi Party because he had something he could offer to the SP and SP had something it could give him. Mulayam Singh Yadav recognized the merit of a man who was content being the bridesmaid, never the bride. Consequently, he never interfered in Singhs business plan for the party.
And Singh had many. As a politician, he was born at the cusp of the birth of Indias second generation economic reforms programme. That successive unstable governments came to rule India in the late 1990s in an environment of half-done reform afforded unique opportunities for leverage in government. Singh taught Yadav how to use this. From someone who was adept at getting his work done by babus, Singh graduated to someone who could now get babus to do his work.
But his field of political operations continued to be Uttar Pradesh. When the Samajwadi Party came to power in UP, Singh launched with great enthusiasm and fanfare administrative structures that he said would change the face of Uttar Pradesh. To his credit he tried to modernize a moribund system by making it more corporate, more responsive. A UP Development Council, a system that was corporate-compatible, single window systems, revamping, privatization, all of these marked Singhs initiatives, buzzwords that would later come to capture the nations imagination in the mouths of another leader who came from humbler origins.
But Singhs best efforts failed to work. Too much else intervened: demands of day-to-day politics, UPs existential contradictions, and the atypical UP politicians inability to see beyond his nose. Again, there were many to take advantage of a measure only half done. It was Mulayam Yadav who, as chief minister, privatised 24 state-owned sugar mills in the state in 2003 but the issue was mired in controversy as all the mills were to be handed over to a particular industrial house which has now emerged as the largest sugar producer of the country.
Singh does not agree, but UP became a shambles because Mulayam Singhs tenure started out as modern and visionary with considerable credit due to Singh himself - but got bogged down in Yadavs family and mismanagement.
Meanwhile, Singh expanded his network to include a galaxy of Bollywood stars. At one point, and multiple times later, Amitabh Bachchan would fondly refer to him as his brother; Singh was said to have played a key hand in helping Bachchan emerge from the bankruptcy of his production house ABCL.
Singh will no doubt dispute it vigorously but somewhere along the line, he, too, lost interest in modernising UP and contented himself, instead, with going with the flow. Ultimately, even that didnt work.
Powerful poles of power in the Samajwadi Party, among them Azam Khan, Janeshwar Mishra and Beni Prasad Verma, began resenting his proximity to Yadav and his rise in national politics. It was Singh who through CPI Ms Harkishan Singh Surjeet introduced Mulayam Singh to Sonia Gandhi. The SP and the Congress shared an uneasy relationship until it snapped.
But winter was coming for Singh, too. His name cropped up prominently in the cash-for-votes scam, too, in which 3 BJP members of Parliament alleged they had been given cash to vote for the then UPA-led government in the India-IS nuclear deal. The CPI(M) had been supporting the Congress party, but was on the verge of pulling out over the Indo-US nuclear deal; around the same time, Singh was reported to have worked on a deal to get the SP to back the Congress initiative on the civil nuclear deal.
However, nothing was proven, but before long, Singh had a falling out with Mulayam Singh Yadav (as well as with Bachchan), and found himself in the political wilderness until he got the Rajya Sabha seat. Now it is another political innings for Singh and the Rajya Sabha will likely be that much more interesting because of him.
Ten people were killed in landslides triggered by torrential rains in Assam even as the intense heat wave scorched the northern states with Palodhi in Rajasthan sizzling at 50.5 degrees Celsius and Odisha reporting one more sunstroke death.
For Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry, the MeT department issued a "very heavy rainfall" warning for the next two days.
Palodhi in Rajasthan recorded the highest in the country today and the highest in the state this season at 50.5 degrees, followed by Churu at 49.1, Jaisalmer at 48.8 and Barmer at 48.6 degrees.
Delhi had a hot day, recording the maximum temperature at 43.7 degrees. The Palam observatory, however, recorded mercury at 46.4 degrees. The minimum temperature in the city was 26.4 degrees.
Odisha reported another sunstroke death, taking the toll to 19. Sonepur was the hottest place in the state at 41.4 degrees.
Continuous heavy rains in Assam for the last three days triggered landslides that claimed 10 lives in Karimganj and Hailakandi districts in Barak Valley. NDRF and police are undertaking rescue and relief operations.
In Arunachal Pradesh, flood waters of the overflowing Noa-Dehing river, fed by torrential rain in the past few days, have inundated several areas in Namsai district.
Parts of Tamil Nadu received rains for the third day today even as the MeT office said the deep depression in the Bay of Bengal is expected to intensify into a cyclonic storm in the next two days, bringing heavy rains in north coastal areas of the state and Puducherry.
"The depression over Southwest Bay of Bengal moved nearly northwards in past six hours and today it is located about 90 km east of Chennai and 70 kms from the (eastern) coast," the MeT department said.
The system was likely to move north-northeastwards and intensify into a cyclonic storm in the next 48 hours. Under its influence, heavy to very heavy rainfall was expected over north Coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in the next 24 hours, it said in a release.
In Chennai and its neighbourhood, four NDRF teams have been deployed in low lying areas and boats kept ready to rescue people in the event of flooding.
Rainfall was likely to occur at many places with heavy to very heavy precipitation over south Andhra Pradesh coast during next 48 hours, it said.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed all district Collectors to take precautionary measures in view of cyclone threat to southern and northern parts of the state.
Rains and thundershowers are also likely to hit Odisha in the next 24 hours due to a deep depression that centered over west-central and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal, an IMD alert said.
In Uttarakhand, forest fires were reignited by soaring temperatures and dry weather. 180 hectares of forest land spread over 111 places in the district are in flames, Uttarkashi District Magistrate Shridhar Babu Addanki said.
The state is reeling under heat wave conditions for over a week now with most places recording temperatures which are four to five degrees above normal for this time of the year. That may be one of the factors behind the fresh forest fires in parts of the state, MeT director Vikram Singh said.
Mercury hovered above 40 degrees mark in Punjab and Haryana with Hisar being the hottest in the two states at 46.8 degrees. Banda in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh sizzled at 47 degrees.
Meanwhile, IMD has issued "severe heat wave" warning for Gujarat, west and east Rajasthan, west and east Uttar Pradesh, Vidarbha, west and east Madhya Pradesh for the next three days.
(REOPENS DEL44)
Heavy rains in Haryana and Punjab led to a drop in the maximum temperature across the two states.
The Haryana administration is monitoring the water level in major rivers in the state in the wake of heavy rainfall in Narnaul, Yamunanagar, Ambala, Hisar and Gurgaon.
The weatherman has forecast rains over the next two-three days, saying the monsoon continues to be active over the region.
As many as 101 'unauthorised' constructions were today razed in a village, adopted by local MP Rajan Vichare under the Centre's Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY).
The action was taken in Pimpari village on Taloja-Shil road, by Thane district administration on the directions of District Collector Mahendra Kalyankar, an official release said.
Among these 101 structures were four constructed by entrepreneurs from various places including Mumbra near here, it said, adding 90 chwals were also pulled down in presence of policemen.
The village is predominantly occupied by refugees of Koyna Dam project of Satara district in Maharashtra, the release added.
At least 15 people, including eight policemen, were injured today in clashes between stone-pelting students and cops in Ganderbal district of Kashmir, police said.
A group of students indulged in stone-pelting near the mini secretariat in Ganderbal town, 21 kms from here, to protest against the alleged "insensitivity" of traffic police which had stopped a passenger vehicle carrying large number of students in the morning, a police official said.
The protestors alleged that the action of the traffic cops had cost them academically.
The police officers tried to pacify the protesting students but to no avail, the official said.
After the protest turned violent, police resorted to baton charge to disperse the students and bring the situation under control, he said.
At least seven protestors and eight policemen were hurt in the clashes, the official said.
All the injured were administered first aid at a local hospital and discharged.
Kupwara district in north Kashmir also saw a protest with taxi operators resisting a directive by the district administration to shift the cab stand from the busy town market.
The taxi operators demanded that the district administration revoke its directions for shifting of the taxi stand as it would affect their livelihood.
Two back-to-back blasts targeting a security vehicle killed a policeman and wounded 19 people today in this restive northwestern Pakistani city.
The blasts occurred in Mathra area with first an improvised explosive device (IED) exploding when a police vehicle was passing from the area. Soon after the first blast, police arrived at the scene and was trying to cordon off the area when another explosion shook the area.
"One policeman was killed and 19 people, including some policemen were injured," an official of the Lady Reading Hospital said.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack but the Pakistani Taliban are active in the area and often carry out such attacks.
Two lecturers at a Thai university here were shot dead by their colleague today after they failed to resolve their differences through talks.
The incident happened inside the Buddhist Philosophy building at Rajabhat University in Bangkok, media reported.
Police called to the scene said two men, both 50 and lecturers, were shot dead inside the university.
A police investigation found that three lecturers, each with a PhD degree, had met inside the room to try and settle a problem.
When they were unable to reach any agreement, the third man pulled out a pistol and fired shots at the other two, wounding them fatally, before fleeing, according to Thairath Online.
The report did not say what the argument was about.
Three dogs have died and another seven became ill after drinking from a lake in South East England, sparking fears of toxic presence in the waters.
A spokesman for Kent Police said there was nothing to suggest that "foul play or anything sinister" had taken place atBrooklands Lake, Dartford.
In a statement, the force added that "no criminal offences have been disclosed".
An investigation will continue though, conducted by Dartford Borough Council and the Environment Agency (EA), amid fears of contamination.
Officers set up a cordon and warned locals to stay away after a dog walker reported that three of her animals had become ill and died yesterday.
"It is believed they (the dogs) got into the lake and drank from it. They came out and started fitting," a spokesman said. "Shortly after that three of them died..."
Parkvets Veterinary Hospital in Footscray, Sidcup, said it knew of 10 dogs that had been affected, including the three which had died, while the surviving animals were being kept under observation.
A spokesman for Dartford Borough Council, which owns the land at the site, said: "We are waiting for the results of water tests from the EA and also any toxicology reports we get back from the vets as to what the possible cause is."
The council has asked people to take notice of warning signs and not allow their dogs to enter the water. The RSPCA advised people who were concerned that their pet may have been poisoned to contact a vet immediately.
An al-Qaeda plot targetting key government installations in Lahore was today foiled with the killing of four terrorists who were on way to the city with explosives and assault rifles, authorities said.
Pakistani counterterrorism forces said the shootout occurred in Punjab province in the early hours.
Two rocket launchers, 1 kilogramme of explosives with ball-bearings, three pistols of 30 bore, one AK-47 rifle and four hand-grenades have been recovered from the scene.
According to sources, those killed included the head of Al-Qaeda Gujranwala chapter head Abdur Rehman.
TheGujranwala district police officer received information that seven militants belonging to the banned al- Qaeda were on their way to Lahore from Sialkot on a car and a motorcycle to attack important installations, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Punjab Police said.
"The CTD along with the police commandos set up a picket at Amnaabad, Gujranwala (some 80 kilometres from here), the CTD said in a statement.
"When thepolice team intercepted the suspects near Aimanabad and asked them to surrender they opened fire on it. Policemen returned the fire. During the crossfire, four terrorists were killed and the remaining three managed to escape, taking advantage of darkness," it said.
Around 25 students of a government school were today taken ill after having the midday meal in this district following which a probe was ordered into the incident by authorities.
"Around 25 students of Government Middle School, Ghatti complained of nausea and vomiting with pain in their stomach after having the midday meal being served in the school and they have been hospitalised," Sarpanch of Ghatti village, J P Singh said.
The students were shifted to the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in the village from where they were shifted to the district hospital for specialised treatment.
The district administration has formed a committee headed by Chief Education Officer (CEO) of the district to inquire into the incident.
"As soon as I received the information, I formed a committee comprising tehsildar of the area, food inspector and the CEO. The team has been sent to the school to probe the incident," Deputy Commissioner Kathua, Ramesh Kumar told PTI.
He said anyone found guilty of serving sub-standard food to the students, would be dealt with as per law.
A 22-year-old Afghan man who received Taliban death threats over his work for the Lithuanian army in the war-torn country has won asylum in the Baltic state after reaching out on social media, the interior ministry said today.
Abdul Basir Yoususi, who worked as an interpreter for Lithuania's NATO contingent in the central province of Ghor, fled his homeland earlier this year, embarking on a dangerous two-month journey to Europe.
He launched an emotional appeal on YouTube from a refugee camp in Greece in March, asking Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite for asylum.
Yoususi, who has a two-year-old daughter, said he had faced death threats from the hardline Taliban militia after Lithuanian forces left Ghor in 2013.
"Everything changed when the Taliban sent me a threatening letter. They said I was Catholic not a Muslim so they would chop off my head, hang me," he told local media earlier this month.
"I turned to local police and I was told that neither they nor the military could do anything. They suggested I get a pistol."
Lithuanian Deputy Interior Minister Elvinas Jankevicius told AFP that the authorities had checked out his claims.
"He is indeed in danger, so we granted him international protection and refugee status," Jankevicius said.
A grateful Yoususi, who picked up Lithuanian after initially working for the troops as a cleaner, said he is now waiting for his family to join him from Afghanistan.
"I'm not exactly sure how they're doing. I haven't been in touch with them for 10 days," he told the Baltic Service today.
"The situation is really bad there. There's no safety, there is war all the time."
Yoususi is one of thousands of Afghan interpreters who risked their lives for foreign troops over the years and who have since sought asylum or visas to escape Taliban reprisals.
Some of the interpreters who managed to emigrate have notably called on the British and US governments to not abandon their colleagues back home.
Lithuania first sent troops to Afghanistan in 2002 after the US-led overthrow of the Taliban regime there.
Lithuanian soldier Jurgis Norvaisa, who was posted in Afghanistan in 2012, said he recognised Yoususi when he saw the video circulating on social media.
"He interpreted from Lithuanian to Dari Persian and vice versa. He helped us in our contact with the local people," Norvaisa told AFP last month.
Lithuania has agreed to welcome 1,105 migrants over two years under an EU relocation programme for asylum seekers to help ease Europe's migration crisis.
So far only 11 refugees from Iraq and Syria have arrived in the EU member of three million people, Jankevicius said.
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh has turned down Canadian High Commissioner's offer for a meeting, conveying his unhappiness over the Canadian government's refusal to let him interact with Punjabi diaspora in that country recently.
Canadian High Commissioner Nadir Patel had written a letter to Amarinder, offering to meet him.
Patel's letter came after the former Punjab Chief Minister wrote to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to protest the denial of permission to him during his recent trip there.
"Thank you for offering to meet me, or for me to meet your Consul General in Chandigarh. I do not think anything further will emerge from such a meeting as I have expressed my views in full," Amarinder wrote in response to the envoy's letter.
Amarinder, a Lok Sabha member, referred to the 'discriminatory approach' of the Canadian government in disallowing him from interacting with Punjabi diaspora while representatives of the SAD-BJP alliance and Aam Aadmi Party, who had gone there before him, had been allowed to hold similar meetings.
"Their interactions did not warrant any action by your government. They did their bit and returned to India. In my case, however, the matter took a different turn," he wrote.
"If, High Commissioner you have such a law, then it must be applicable to all who intend meeting with and speaking to our diaspora in Canada," the Congress leader added.
Amarinder also referred to the complaint against him, saying, "I understand that this intervention against me took place on a letter written to your Ministry of Global Affairs by a known antagonist of India, a lawyer representing asylum seekers both in the US in New York, and in Toronto, Mr Gurpatwant Singh Pannu."
He added, "I however find it strange that a known anti-Indian individual's views were given precedence over an Indian MP who is the Deputy Leader of the Opposition (Congress) in the Parliament of India, and who is also the President of the state Congress in Punjab."
Amarinder suggested to the High Commissioner that it would be more appropriate for his government to ban all such interactions for all irrespective of the party they belong to and not just a selective application as was done in his case.
"If you wish to uphold your law, alternatively please then do, liberalise them to some extent, to avoid embarrassment to a speaker or to Canada itself," he added.
BJP chief Amit Shah today chaired a meeting of Uttarakhand core group, held in the wake of setback the party suffered in the state where its attempt to dislodge the Congress government failed.
Shah and top party leaders from the state dissected BJP's strategy and also analysed the prevailing political scene in Uttarakhand which will go to polls early next year.
Sources said the leaders deliberated on the party's strategy after Chief Minister Harish Rawat's reinstatement, following a Supreme Court-monitored floor test in the Assembly, is believed to have given him a head start over BJP.
Former state chief ministers B C Khanduri, Bhagat Singh Koshyari and Ramesh Pokhriyal besides the state party chief Ajay Bhat and its in-charge Shyam Jaju were among those who attended the meeting.
Party sources said 10 rebel Congress MLAs may also join the party in the coming days.
Police in riot gear clashed with thousands of protesters trying to reach the headquarters of Venezuela's electoral body to demand a referendum to recall unpopular President Nicolas Maduro.
The anti-government protest was the third in a week, and came days after the socialist president declared a state of emergency in the economically struggling country. He gave himself decree powers for 60 days.
Thousands of people turned out for the march in downtown Caracas, but police blocked the route. A small group tried to break through and was turned back by tear gas.
On Tuesday, opposition leader Henrique Capriles called on the country to reject the extra powers granted Maduro.
"If Maduro wants to apply this decree, he needs to start preparing tanks and warplanes, because he'll have to apply it by force," Capriles said.
Venezuela has seen constant small-scale protests in recent weeks against widespread water and electricity cuts.
The opposition roiled the country with bloody nationwide protests in 2014, but protests have tended to be small and peaceful since then.
A majority of the country wants Maduro out, according to opinion polls. Venezuelans overwhelmingly voted for the opposition in congressional elections in December, but state institutions have blocked the opposition-controlled congress from passing any legislation.
With congress unable to push through legislation, opposition leaders have begun turning their attention to the streets and the recall referendum as their best option to exert political pressure.
Opponents of the Maduro administration abroad have been asking the Organisation of American States to pressure Venezuela to allow the opposition more space in the political arena. Maduro responded by calling OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro a tool of the CIA.
Yesterday, Almagro called that claim absurd and said he would not be threatened. "I am not a CIA agent. And your lie, even if it is repeated a thousand times, will never be true," he wrote in an open letter to Maduro.
American technology giant Apple's chief executive today met ICICI Bank's top brass at the country's largest private sector lender's corporate headquarters.
Cook, whose every meeting is being closely watched for cues about Apple's business plans in India, walked into the ICICI Bank Towers in the Bandra Kurla Complex business district and spent over an hour, sources said.
He met the bank's managing director and CEO Chanda Kochhar and executive directors at a closed-door meeting, they said but refused to divulge what was discussed.
ICICI Bank was among the first to introduce a banking application on the Apple Watch, even before the gadget got launched in the country.
Over the past few years, it has also introduced a slew of other initiatives on the digital front, including a digital wallet, just like the 'Apple Pay' by the tech giant.
Cook's meetings during the four-day maiden visit to India are mostly with top leaders of Indian business houses that offer some opportunity for Apple's businesses.
Early today, Cook met Anant Ambani, son of billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries group that is on the cusp of hitting the market with a high-speed 4G telecom network. Cook also met also Sunil Sood, who heads the country's second largest telco Vodafone India. Reports suggested he would also interact with the country's largest mobile operator Airtel's top-brass later.
The visit to ICICI Bank comes at a time when there is a huge speculation over how digital and telecom solutions are slated to dominate banking in the future, with experts saying that technology will change the face of a bank.
Apple CEO Tim Cook will inaugurate its development centre here tomorrow in the presence of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
The California-based technology giant, which manufactures popular gadgets iPhone and iPad, had taken about 1.5 lakh sq ft area on lease in a building owned by real estate giant Tishman Speyer at Nanakramguda here.
"Chief Minister KCR and Tim Cook will inaugurate the facility tomorrow. State IT Minister K T Ramarao will also be present during the function," sources said.
Apple may use the facility as mapping centre for its applications, they added.
A spokesperson of Apple said the entire event will be kept as a private affair and media will not be allowed.
Cook, who arrived in the country last night, is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi later this week.
During Assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry, BJP was the most discussed political party while West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee the most talked about political leader on Facebook.
An analysis of conversations on Facebook regarding the Assembly polls across all states done by the social media giant shows that BJP featured in 61 per cent of them, while Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee was the top leader, figuring in 22 per cent of the conversations.
Overall, 2.2 crore netizens discussed elections on the social media platform leading to 14.2 crore interactions, Facebook said.
The data is for the period from February 12 to May 10 and covers top political parties, politicians, states and top issues, the social media giant said.
With 47 per cent mentions, Congress was second followed by AAP - 25 per cent. Interestingly, DMK and CPI-M featured in only 6 per cent of online conversations.
In the list of most talked about politicians, Banerjee was followed by Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy who featured in 20 per cent of the conversation.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, DMK patriarch M Karunandhi and BJP's Sarbananda Sonowal were the other talked about leaders, Facebook said, adding among the states, Assam was most popular with conversation of 28 per cent netizens figured around it.
Crime seemed to be of utmost concern to Facebook users as one-third of election-related conversations featured the issue. Defence came a close second with 31 per cent. Foreign affairs, education and transport were other major issues.
"Facebook is making it easier for people to participate in electoral debates and have a real impact. It has become a place for people to get to know their candidates better and discuss issues they care about," a Facebook spokesperson said.
"By providing a platform for engagement and discussion, Facebook is empowering people in India on Facebook to engage in the elections," the spokesperson said.
Congress today responded strongly to Rishi Kapoor's tirade against naming major assets of the country after the Gandhi family members during the party's rule, saying the veteran actor is not aware of the family's contribution towards nation-building.
"Rishi Kapoor fails to realise the contribution of the Gandhi family towards nation building," Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) chief Sanjay Nirupam told PTI.
"Some people say anything for the sake of power and due to their parochial attitude," he said, attacking the 63-year-old actor.
"I have sent him a list of airports in the country, named after several important leaders from Maharana Pratap and Shivaji Maharaj to Lal Bhadur Shastri. Saying that everything is named after the Gandhi family is not correct," Nirupam said.
"Maybe he is not aware of the pioneering work done by late Rajiv Gandhi in areas of women empowerment and panchayat raj," Nirupam, former MP, said.
In a series of tweets, Kapoor had slammed the Congress for naming national assets after Gandhi family during their rule.
The actor said the names of the prominent places should be changed after those who worked for the welfare of the country
"Change Gandhi family assets named by Congress. Bandra/Worli Sea Link to Lata Mangeshkar or JRD Tata link road. Baap ka maal samjh rakha tha? (Did they consider it family property?)
"We must name important assets of the country who have contributed to society. Har cheez Gandhi ke naam? I don't agree. Sochna log!," he tweeted.
Meanwhile, Congress workers today staged a protest
outside Kapoor's house in suburban Bandra and also pelted stones and shouted slogans against the actor to protest his tweets against the Gandhi family.
The NCP too took strong objection to Kapoor's tweets on naming major assets after the Gandhi family.
"...He seems to have forgotten his legendary father Raj Kapoor's association with former PM Indira Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi, Indira and Rajiv Gandhi have laid down their lives for the nation so there is nothing wrong is naming assets after them," NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik told reporters here.
"The Kapoor brothers have amassed large fortune over the years and if Rishi Kapoor wants an asset in his father's name, the family should spend some money for the welfare of people," he added.
Bangladesh's High Court today took suo motu cognisance of humiliation of a Hindu school headmaster and asked the government to submit a report on the incident wherein he was beaten up and forced to do sit-ups in presence of a lawmaker for allegedly making comments against Islam.
"The (High Court) bench asked authorities concerned to explain why legal measures should not be taken against lawmaker Selim Osman of Narayanganj," a court official said.
He said the two-judge bench also asked the administration of the suburban river port town to submit a report detailing "what lawful measures have been taken following the assault of headmaster Shyamal Kanti Bhakta of Piyar Sattar Latif High School in at the suburban port town."
Bhakta was beaten up by local people after some unidentified persons using the megaphone of a mosque propagated that he made offensive comments about Islam while he was punishing a Muslim student for not studying.
He was rescued by police after he was beaten up and made to do sit-ups holding ears in the presence of lawmaker Osman.
The High Court intervention came as university teachers joined the protest calling the incident the "highest form of savagery" while angry posts flooded the Facebook with scores of protesters launching a "sorry sir" campaign.
The protesters changed their profile pictures on the social network websites with photos in which they were seen holding their own ears with the "sorry sir" caption in a show of solidarity with the headmaster.
Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers' Associations (FBUTA), which brings together the teachers' associations from all public universities, issued a statement today asking authorities to investigate the incident to "uphold the system of honour for education and teachers".
"We want everyone involved in this horrible act to apologise...Medical treatment might help him physically, but we can guess how he must be feeling," it said.
Several social and cultural groups also joined the protest, demanding punishment of the culprits.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid issued a statement reassuring that the government would take action soon after an official inquiry committee submitted its report. "Action will be taken as recommended by the probe committee," Nahid said.
Bhakta has denied making any statement against Islam and said some people in management held grudges against him.
"I have been working at the school since it opened 18 years. Now I am a victim of conspiracy...The whole thing has been stage-managed," he said, without referring to the MP.
Meanwhile, TV channels today reported that the school managing committee sacked Bhakta on ground of his "absence from duty" after the incident.
Bhakta "physically tortured students, received money in the name of teachers' appointment, made derogatory comments about Islam, remained absent without leave and used to be late at work," the letter said.
(Reopens FGN 21)
Law Minister Anisul Huq earlier said, "those who were involved in the incident must face punitive actions...Forcing someone to do sit-ups is crime under the penal code".
State minister for foreign affairs Shahriar Alam also joined the protest and wrote on his facebook that he hopes the action after the investigation will be done quickly.
A video footage widely shared on the Facebook showed Bhakta was being ordered to do sit-ups holding his ears.
The traumatised teacher was later admitted to a local hospital under police protection.
The 10th grade student, who was slapped by the teacher, told media that Bhakhta did not made any offensive comments about the religion. "I went to the managing committee to seek justice as he slapped me, but the sir (Bhakhta) did not make any remark about the religion," the student said.
The Islamic studies teacher echoed the student's version.
Media reports quoting a member of the inquiry committee said it received information that "the attack on him (Bhakht) was part of a conspiracy".
"The loudspeaker announcement that provoked the mob to assault (Bhakht) was false...We learned about the conflict between him (Bhakhta) and the management committee," he added.
Osman, a lawmaker from the opposition Jatiya Party who is known for his hobnobbing with influential government quarters, earlier briefly said, "what I did was to save him (teacher) from public wrath as there was no other way to save him".
"I went to the spot to save the headmaster from the angry mob and I even made sure he would get medical attention after being taken into police custody. The teacher apologised holding his ears based on demands made by locals," Osman said.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asked Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta today to reconsider his decision to close two refugee camps, including the world's largest, and send Somali refugees home.
In a telephone conversation, Ban urged Kenyatta to continue to abide by a November 2013 agreement with the Somali government and the UN High Commissioner on Refugees "as a basis for the voluntary return of Somali refugees in safety and dignity."
Kenya hosts around 600,000 refugees, some of whom have lived in the country for a quarter century.
It says it wants to close the Dadaab and Kakuma camps because they have become breeding grounds for the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shebab militant group and centers of crime and contraband.
Dadaab, located on the Kenya-Somalia border, is home to around 350,000 people. Kakuma in northwestern Kenya hosts around 180,000 people, almost a third of them Somalis.
Ban also said he supported a proposal by the UNHCR for a "high-level bilateral review on the refugee situation," adding that High Commissioner on Refugees Filippo Grandi would travel to Nairobi at the end of May with deputy UN Secretary General Jan Eliasson.
"They look forward to discussing this issue forward with the government of Kenya, and will underline the readiness of the United Nations to garner the support of the international community in addressing Kenya's refugee challenges, with consideration for the host communities in Kenya as well as the sub-regional security concerns," Ban said, according to a UN statement.
Since the 2013 agreement on refugee returns went into effect, only several thousand Somali refugees have gone home voluntarily.
With the junior doctors' strike in Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) entering its fourth day, the state government today asked the medicos to resume duty or face action if they tried to create impediment in medical services at the premier hospital.
The state government was ready to hear the legitimate demand for their security at the PMCH, but can't accept the demand for removal of Principal Prof S N Sinha ... They should resume duty at the earliest or face action if they failed to do so, Principal Secretary (Health) R K Mahajan told reporters.
Rejecting the agitating junior doctors' demand outrightly for removal of the PMCH Principal, he said in that case such a demand should have been made by the junior doctors before launching the strike, Mahajan said.
Making a fervent appeal to the junior doctors to resume duty in the larger interest of the patients, Mahajan said the state government was ready to sort out their outstanding grievances, but if they refused to heed, strict action would be taken as per rules.
It may be mentioned that junior doctors of the PMCH have been striking work for the past four days following clashes between the medicos and kins of some patients.
Their colleagues in six out of eight government medical colleges in Bihar, barring Bettiah and Pawapuri, have also joined the stir pressing for security for the medicos.
As many as nine patients have died at the PMCH since the junior doctors went on strike paralysing medical services in the premier hospital, officials said.
Seeking to soothe the ruffled feathers of agitating doctors, Mahajan said both the doctors and kins of some patients have lodged FIR against each other and seven persons have been arrested in this connection.
The Principal Secretary (Health) said those involved
in assaulting some junior doctors would be acted upon the Professional Protection Act, while the number of security guards deployed at the PMCH was being doubled from 75 to 150.
He said he was aware of the PMCH Principal's order to shut down the Patna Medical College for the time being in view of the junior doctors' strike and asking them to vacate hostels.
Mahajan said emergency medical services at the PMCH has been restored since yesterday and an additional 52 doctors deployed to improve medical services there.
Meanwhile, Bihar deputy chief minister Tejaswi Prasad Yadav urged the agitating junior doctors to withdraw stir in the larger public interest and said their outstanding demands would be redressed by the state government.
In a related development, the Bihar State Human Rights Commission (BHRC) has taken suo motu cognisance of media reports about continued strike by the junior doctors at PMCH, NMCH, SKMCH (Muzaffarpur), JLNMCH (Bhagalpur) and DMCH (Darbhanga).
BHRC was also aware of the fact that the genesis of this issue was the "unfortunate incident of assault" on junior doctors by the relatives of some patient and subsequent events at PMCH, its member Neelmani said.
The society at large and the innocent and helpless patients, in particular, cannot be made to suffer the resultant miseries and the human rights violations such strikes cause... Nobility of the medical profession and its ethical constraints do not permit such expressions (in the form of strike) beyond an intolerable or reasonable limit, he observed.
Neelmani added that the government has also responded with all sensitivity on the issue and the striking doctors too should have faith in the government response.
He issued notices to the Principal Secretary, Health Department, and the Inspector General of Police (IG), Patna Zone to present status reports on actions taken on administrative and legal side to the Commission by May 31 when the matter is listed next.
The Cabinet today approved a proposal for leasing out land parcel owned by Airports Authority of India (AAI) for setting up a centre for perishable cargo at Indore airport.
"The creation of Centre for Perishable Cargo (CPC) is expected to cater to the employment needs of the local population and has significant employment potential. A total number of 113 persons will be required to manage the CPC," an official release said.
For setting up the CPC, land measuring 1,500 square metres would be leased out to MP Warehousing Logistics Corporation (MPWLC) by .
The centre is to be established by MPWLC at Devi Ahilya Bai Airport, Indore, under public private partnership mode.
The leasing out of the land would help Madhya Pradesh government promote its agriculture and horticulture sectors.
According to the release, Madhya Pradesh government's proposal to have such a centre comes in the backdrop of huge demand of export of pharmaceuticals, poultry products and horticulture products in Malwa region in the state.
"This centre will be a state of art facility... It will provide a world class facility under one roof to cater to all requirements of the traders and maintain the quality of produce," the release said.
The Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave the approval for leasing out land at its meeting today.
Besides, the prime minister was apprised about a postal stamp jointly released by Department of Posts and United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) to commemorate International Women's Day.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding the issue of UN Women HeForShe postage stamp was signed in February this year, according to an official statement.
This joint stamp is dedicated for the empowerment of women around the world. It would promote great cause of gender equality which the Indian government has been championing in the recent times, it added.
"Thus, Department of Posts and UNPA have arrived on an agreement to celebrate and to commemorate International Women's day on March 8, 2016 by releasing a joint stamp," the statement said.
With its penalty provision for call drops annulled by the Supreme Court, telecom regulator Trai today said it will not "shy away" from protecting consumers and the matter is being discussed internally for taking an appropriate step in this regard.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) Chairman R S Sharma also said 'drive tests' have been conducted in 11-12 cities to analyse the menace of call drops and the results are being processed before being made public.
Amid a huge public outcry over frequent call drops on various mobile networks, Trai had put in place new regulations providing for penalty on telecom operators for dropped calls. However, this was set aside by the Supreme Court earlier this month.
Asked about the next course of action by Trai, Sharma said, "We are discussing the issue internally at Trai and we will come out with an appropriate step at an appropriate time."
Sharma told reporters here: "Among various liabilities that Trai has, consumer protection is also one of them, and we cannot shy away from our duty."
The Trai regulation had mandated mobile providers to compensate consumers Re 1 for every dropped call subject to a maximum of Rs 3 a day. Scrapping this rule, the Supreme Court said on May 11 that the regulation was "ultra vires, arbitrary, unreasonable and non-transparent".
Trai has also been frequently conducting random test drive to check status of call drop network which most telecom operators failed to clear. The companies, however, have contested the result findings of the regulator.
As per Trai benchmark, not more than 2 per cent calls on a telecom operator's network should get automatically disconnected.
On test drives being conducted by Trai on call drops, Sharma said, "We have recently tested in 11-12 cities. We are processing their results. We will publish them very soon."
The previous drive tests were conducted by the regulator during December-January this fiscal in seven cities -- Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Surat, Bhubaneswar and Indore.
Most of the telecom operators, including state-run MTNL, failed in the random drive tests.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a formal apology today for an incident in which a shipload of Indians were refused entry into Canada more than 100 years ago.
More than 300 Indians were barred from Canada in 1914 after an immigration dispute, only for some to be killed in protests on their return to India.
"Today I rise in this House to offer an apology on behalf of the government of Canada for our role in the Komagata Maru incident," Trudeau said in parliament, referring to the name of the ship.
"More than a century ago a great injustice took place," he said.
After crossing the Pacific ocean aboard the Japanese liner Komagata Maru, the crew and nearly 300 Hindu, Muslim and Sikh passengers sailed into Vancouver harbour.
The ship sat anchored offshore for two months before being escorted out to sea under the guns of a Canadian navy cruiser in July of that year.
Upon their return to India, passengers were arrested and British colonial officials planned to send them back home to the northern state of Punjab.
Some refused to go and 20 were killed when police opened fire on a demonstration.
"Those passengers, like millions of immigrants to Canada before and since, came seeking better lives for their families, greater opportunities, a chance to contribute to their new home. Those passengers chose Canada and when they arrived here, they were rejected."
Trudeau cited "discriminatory" laws that effectively barred migrants from Asia.
Delhi High Court today sought the response of the Centre on a petition seeking a direction to the government to issue guidelines for treatment of mentally challenged patients and persons with special needs in private hospitals.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath also issued notice to Delhi government seeking its response on the petition by August 22, the next date of hearing.
The petition, filed by Delhi-based Sanjay Tiwari, also sought a direction to the Centre and Delhi government to "formulate proper guidelines for treatment of critical illness suffered by mentally disabled persons and facilitation of a separate department for assessment and treatment of persons with special needs in private hospitals."
The petitioner alleged that in November last year he had taken his daughter, who is a person with special needs, to a private hospital here as she was suffering from dengue.
He claimed that she was denied admission in the hospital on the ground that she is a person with special needs and the hospital does not have the licence to treat such patients.
The petitioner said that he admitted his daughter to another hospital for treatment and thereafter he had filed RTI seeking reply from the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on the guidelines for treatment of such patients.
He said in the reply, the ministry informed him that there was no separate policy prescribed with regard to treatment of persons with special needs suffering from ailments like dengue, and working of private hospitals was regulated by the respective state governments.
The petitioner further said when he sought RTI reply on the issue from Delhi government, he was told that no such information was available or maintained.
"It would be in great public interest if all types of critically ill patients could be treated at all hospitals, private or public, to uphold the right of life for all citizens of Delhi," the plea said, adding that as per 2011 census there were 2.68 crore persons with special needs in the country.
"Respondents (Centre and Delhi government) should have such policies which makes treatment for mentally disabled and persons with special needs mandatory in private hospitals which are known as multi-speciality hospitals," it said.
A dedicated chapter on Haryana's contribution to the freedom struggle of the country would be included in the history syllabus of classes V and VI in state government schools from this year.
"The chapter would include details regarding the contribution of all freedom fighters from Haryana starting fro 1857 till 1947," Ram Bilas Sharma, State Education Minister said here today.
He reiterated the state government's commitment towards honouring all great personalities and said efforts were being made to improve the quality of education.
"The state's decision to include moral education as a subject in primary schools was widely appreciated, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, praising the decision in their speeches at Kumbh Mela in Ujjain," he said.
Sharma said that for private schools in urban areas such as Gurgaon, it has been made mandatory to appoint a woman employee in the school buses, apart from the driver and conductor and arrangements are made to ensure that girl students reach home safely.
The Minister issued orders to suspend and file a chargesheet against the teacher accused of giving harsh punishment to a girl student in village Nidana of Jind district.
Regular inspection of schools by officers will be conducted after the upcoming summer vacations, he said.
Asserting that it was firmly committed to peaceful settlement of disputes through negotiations, China today said it was maintaining "active negotiations" with India on the resolution of boundary issues.
"China is firmly committed to the peaceful settlement of disputes through negotiations, which is the primary means of dispute settlement in accordance with international law," Chinese Vice-Minister Liu Zhenmin said here.
The remarks by the Chinese leader comes in the backdrop of Pentagon report that claimed the Communist giant was deploying more troops along the Sino-India borders.
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for EastAsia Abraham M Denmark told media in Washington on May 14 that "we have noticed an increase in capability and force posture by the Chinese military in areas close to the border with India."
Liu also noted that resolving disputes through negotiations has already been a regional rule for Asian countries and, in 2002, China and ASEAN countries had signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.
According to article 4 of the Declaration, the Parties concerned undertake to resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means through friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign states directly concerned, he said.
"China (is) now maintaining active negotiations with India and Bhutan respectively on the resolution of boundary issues, he said while addressing a Asian African Legal Consultative Organisation meet here.
Noting that International Court of Justice was doing a good job, he said, however, some few international judicial bodies have caused great controversy, and incited criticism and concern from various countries including those from Asia and Africa.
"This should give us much food for thought. It reminds us that the application of international judicial procedures should be based on full respect for the will of the countries concerned.
"In the initiation of procedures for the interpretation and application of international treaties, it is important to act with good faith, equity, impartiality, objectivity and prudence, and to avoid any ultra vires or abuse. It is also important that dispute settlement procedures should work for the resolution of disputes, instead of provoking or escalating differences, still less infringing upon the rights and interests of other countries under the pretext of the rule of law," he said.
Moreover, the outcomes of negotiations are more acceptable to the people of those countries and can be implemented smoothly, and therefore be more lasting, he said.
China's military has staged at least three landing exercises in the country's southeast this month, state-run media reported today ahead of the inauguration of Taiwan's Beijing-sceptic president-elect Tsai Ing-wen.
The operations appear to be Beijing's latest warnings to Tsai, chairwoman of the traditionally pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, who will be sworn in on Friday and whose political message revolves around the importance of Taiwanese identity.
China and Taiwan split in 1949 after the Kuomintang nationalist forces lost a civil war to the Communists. But Beijing has always seen the island as a renegade province awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.
The largest and most recent of the drills was carried out by a regiment under the 31st Group Army, based in Fujian province opposite Taiwan, reported China Daily, the military's official mouthpiece.
Footage posted on the website of state broadcaster CCTV late yesterday showed squadrons of attack helicopters bombarded ground targets with missiles and rockets, and landing craft charging towards a beach.
Troops fired grappling hooks to climb up cliffs, heavily camouflaged soldiers used sniper rifles, and tanks rolled through fields.
The live-fire exercises were intended to "demonstrate and test the joint landing operation capability of a basic combat unit", the Daily said, citing Lieutenant Colonel Chen Xiaoming, commander of the regiment.
The report, headlined "iron fist strikes on targets like splitting bamboo", said the drill involved several different PLA service arms and featured information warfare.
The China Daily cited an unnamed Chinese military expert as saying: "The rapid development and modernisation of the PLA now allow us to fulfil a landing operation using only a couple of hours and with few casualties," referring the the People's Liberation Army.
At least two other landing exercises have been mounted this month, one in the southern province of Guangdong and another by the navy's South Sea Fleet using Zubr-class hovercraft, the report added.
Beijing has been sending assertive messages across the Taiwan Strait since Tsai was elected in January.
It has warned against any attempt to formally declare independence and the Taiwan Affairs Office recently said responsibility for any cross-strait crisis "must be shouldered by those who change the status quo", a thinly veiled threat to Tsai not to rock the boat.
China's defence ministry denied today that the military exercises were aimed at any particular entity, adding they should not be over-interpreted.
Chinese appliance giant Midea today launched a takeover offer for German industrial robotics supplier Kuka and is seeking at least a 30 percent stake, according to a statement, the latest major overseas Chinese investment.
Midea -- best known for its washing machines and air conditioners -- offered 115 euros ($130) per share for Kuka, one of the world's leading manufacturers of industrial robots, in the voluntary takeover offer.
The deal values Kuka at 4.6 billion euros ($5.2 billion) and a 30 percent stake would make Midea its biggest shareholder, Bloomberg reported.
China is pushing its cashed-up companies to invest in foreign targets to improve their balance sheets and strengthen operations as economic growth slows at home.
The offer represents a near 60 percent premium on Kuka's closing price on February 3, the day before Midea announced it was increasing its stake in the German firm, according to the statement.
It also represents a premium of 36 percent over its closing price on Tuesday.
Midea said it did not intend to end up in a position of "domination" over the German company, but was obliged by regulations to make an offer to all shareholders if it was to increase its stake further.
"We believe that a larger shareholding strikes the right balance between an independent Kuka while also putting both companies in a position to drive further growth through collaboration, especially in China," Paul Fang, chairman and chief executive officer of Midea, said in the statement.
Analysts said the investment could give Midea technological know-how in an area with growth potential in China, while expanding Kuka's customers in the world's workshop.
"As a traditional producer of durable consumer goods, Midea's domestic market is almost saturated," Huang Fusheng, an analyst at China Securities, told AFP.
The company "needs to expand industries and transform, so this (investment) is a necessity", he added.
Midea is a leading consumer appliances maker as well as China's biggest producer of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems. Its global turnover was more than $22 billion last year, according to its website.
"Midea sees Kuka as its partner of choice in further enhancing its automation product and service offerings, while Midea makes an ideal partner for Kuka to develop, manufacture and market Kuka's robotics proposition," Andy Gu, vice president of Midea, said in the statement.
Kuka, based in the German city of Augsburg, describes itself as one of the world's leading manufacturers of industrial robots but also offers automated systems for manufacturing.
China plans to build more than 500 airports by 2020 to create a market worth over USD 153 billion for its general aviation industry.
According to a guideline issued by China's central cabinet, the country will have more than 500 general aviation airports in a number of places, including major agricultural and forest regions and over 50 per cent of five scenic tourist spots by 2020.
It also plans to increase the number of general aircraft, including helicopters and private jets, to more than 5,000 by 2020.
Total annual flying time is estimated to rise to 2 million hours, state-run China Daily reported today.
China saw a rapid development in its general aviation industry.
According to the latest data released at the end of 2015, China had more than 300 airports, 281 enterprises and 1,874 aircraft.
Total annual flying time reached 732,000 hours last year.
On May 12, China had announced plans to invest USD 723.8 billion in the next three years to improve the country's well laid out infrastructure which includes development of airports to boost investment-led growth to halt the economic slowdown.
The action plan includes 303 projects covering railways, highways, waterways, airports and urban rail transit with 131 projects to be taken this year, 92 projects in 2017 and 80 projects in 2018.
Chinese economy slowed down to 6.9 per cent last year and the government hopes to achieve a GDP growth rate between 6.5 per cent to seven per cent this year.
The new cabinet guideline said China will move towards further opening up lower altitude airspace for civilian use and promote research and manufacturing in the sector.
China will encourage private investment in the general aviation sector, boost pilot training and expand the use of general aircraft in disaster relief, emergency medical services and environmental monitoring, as well as national land and resources exploration, the guideline said.
To encourage aviation consumption, general aviation is encouraged to integrate with the internet, creative economy and tourism, it added.
Observing that interviewing and issuing appointment letters to a large number of civic police volunteers the same day in West Bengal appeared to be a "fradulent" process, the Calcutta High Court today reserved its judgement on a petition for Friday.
The court was hearing a batch of writ petitions filed by some unsuccessful candidates.
Nearly 1.2 lakh civic police volunteers were recently appointed in West Bengal on whom Rs 1.6 crore was being spent daily in allowances. The court had earlier stayed the recruitment process.
Justice Sanjib Banerjee asked the state counsel what checks and balances the government had put in place to ensure that such huge public funds were being properly utilised.
The court asked the state counsel as to what steps the government would take to correct what appeared to be a fraudulent process.
Justice Banerjee, while hearing the petitions which claimed that civic police volunteers were appointed "arbitrarily and without adhering to norms", expressed surprise over hundreds of volunteers being apparently interviewed and given appointment in some police station areas the same day.
Taking up the case of Sarenga police station in Bankura district, Justice Banerjee noted that 1,464 candidates had been called for interview on the same date of whom 1,351 appeared.
The judge expressed surprise over how so many candidates could be interviewed, their numbers tabulated and appointment letters signed the same day.
The court observed that even if a candidate was interviewed for only a minute, it would take 22 hours and 31 minutes to finish interview of all candidates, which would be an improbable proposition.
In another example, at Barikul police station in Bankura district, 946 candidates were called for interview, of whom nearly 900 appeared and appointments letters were issued to those successful the same day.
While the interviews at Sarenga took place on April 12, 2013, at Barikul those were held on April 8, 2013.
Scientists have found evidence of a 20 to 30 kilometres wide asteroid in Australia that struck the Earth 3.46 billion years ago with an impact larger than anything humans have experienced.
The asteroid is the second oldest known to have hit the Earth and one of the largest, researchers said.
Tiny glass beads called spherules, found in north-western Australia were formed from vaporised material from the asteroid impact, they said.
"The impact would have triggered earthquakes orders of magnitude greater than terrestrial earthquakes, it would have caused huge tsunamis and would have made cliffs crumble," said Andrew Glikson from The Australian National University (ANU).
"Material from the impact would have spread worldwide. These spherules were found in sea floor sediments that date from 3.46 billion years ago," he said.
Glikson said the asteroid would have been 20 to 30 kilometres across and would have created a crater hundreds of kilometres wide.
About 3.8 to 3.9 billion years ago the Moon was struck by numerous asteroids, which formed the craters, called mare, that are still visible from Earth.
"Exactly where this asteroid struck the earth remains a mystery. Any craters from this time on Earth's surface have been obliterated by volcanic activity and tectonic movements," said Glikson.
Researchers found the glass beads in a drill core from Marble Bar, in north-western Australia, in some of the oldest known sediments on Earth.
The sediment layer, which was originally on the ocean floor, was preserved between two volcanic layers, which enabled very precise dating of its origin.
Glikson has been searching for evidence of ancient impacts for more than 20 years and immediately suspected the glass beads originated from an asteroid strike.
Subsequent testing found the levels of elements such as platinum, nickel and chromium matched those in asteroids.
There may have been many more similar impacts, for which the evidence has not been found, said Glikson.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg. We've only found evidence for 17 impacts older than 2.5 billion years, but there could have been hundreds," he said.
"Asteroid strikes this big result in major tectonic shifts and extensive magma flows. They could have significantly affected the way the Earth evolved," he said.
The research was published in the journal Precambrian Research.
Congress party favours Vadra getting into active but it has to be decided by the family, according to AICC General Secretary Digvijaya Singh, who said she has the potential to emerge as a mass leader.
Asked if Priyanka would play a significant role in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections due early next year, he said, "It's a family decision."
"As far as we (Congress party) are concerned, we will be very happy if she comes into active politics," said the two-time Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.
On whether Priyanka would campaign beyond the Nehru-Gandhi pocketborough of Amethi and Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, Singh said: "The decision would be hers and the family's."
Asked whether Priyanka has abilities of her grandmother Indira Gandhi, he said she has a "striking resemblance" with the former prime minister but he can't say "just now" whether she has the same abilities.
"She has the potential," Singh replied when asked if Priyanka can emerge as a mass leader.
Asked if the "delay" in Rahul Gandhi taking over as Congress President is hurting the party's prospects, he said, "No. This is a decision to be taken by the Congress President (Sonia Gandhi) and she will take a decision when the time comes."
Singh declined to discuss the exit poll results of the recent assembly polls, saying he does not trust them.
"I don't trust these (exit) polls. It's (questions) too hypothetical," he responded.
To a query on whether JD(U) President and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's efforts to prop up a broad non-BJP front to defeat BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha election would be a non-starter "given the past experiences", he said: "No. It's not that. 'Mahaghatbandan' has worked in Bihar (Assembly elections recently)".
Asked if the Congress would be a party to such an initiative by Nitish Kumar, Singh said it's a policy decision to be taken by the Congress President and the Congress Working Committee.
On his assessment of Narendra Modi government's two-year tenure, he said: "Very high on publicity, very low on performance.
A local Congress leader was hacked to death by assailants in Kaliachak area here, police said today.
Serajul Ali (43), a Congress gram panchayat member of Alinagar, was called out of his house by some people yesterday. As he didn't return home after considerable time, his relatives informed the police and his body was found in a field last night, SP Syed Waqar Raza said.
As per preliminary investigation, Raza said, some trade related issues could be the reason for the murder of Ali who was a businessman.
However, further investigation was on.
A section of Congress leaders and workers of its Delhi unit today met Sonia Gandhi after the party's victory in the MCD bypolls, dubbed as a comeback for it.
The elected ward councilors of the party who accompanied Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken, were also introduced to the party president during their meeting at her 10 Janpath residence.
Congress has termed the victory in the bypolls as a message of people of Delhi for its comeback in the city, where it was routed in 2015 Assembly polls. It said it has started planning for a "far more grand" performance in the civic body polls next year.
The results for the bypoll were declared yesterday. Congress won 4 seats and secured nearly 25 per cent of the over 3 lakh votes polled on May 15.
The Congress rebel Rajender Singh Tanwar who won in Bhati ward was also present during the meet with the party chief today.
Maken, at a media briefing yesterday, had said that Tanwar has joined the party. Tanwar was also present there.
Ruling Aam Admi Party in Delhi won five wards while BJP secured three seats.
Congress today sought four weeks time from the Central Information Commission to respond to a notice issued to its President Sonia Gandhi on a complaint filed by an activist on issues including donations to the party even as it questioned why she is targeted.
In a response filed by treasurer Motilal Vora, the party also asked the Commission to revisit its order bringing the party under RTI in the light of a Supreme Court judgement.
The party cited the apex court judgement to claim that merely providing subsidies, grants, exemptions, privileges, etc. To a body cannot be brought under the definition of "substantial funding" for a body to exist and be answerable under RTI.
The party also claimed that an RTI amendment bill was introduced to keep political parties out of the ambit of the transparency law.
However, under the law, the CIC cannot review its decision and its orders can only be challenged through a writ petition before the High Courts or Supreme Court.
During a full bench hearing at the Commission, counsel for Congress K C Mittal said Gandhi was being targeted in isolation as there are five other parties which were declared public authorities by the CIC.
He also said that complainant R K Jain has provided him new information which needs to be considered before giving its further response for which he needs four weeks of time. The Commission has fixed next date of hearing on June 20.
Jain told the Bench comprising Information Commissioners--Sridhar Acharyulu, Sudhir Bhargava and Bimal Julka--that he has already moved an application on May 16 to include Chiefs of BJP, BSP, NCP, CPI and CPM in the matter.
He also said since Congress has not named any one in the party who should be responsible for answering RTI queries, the notices were sent to its President.
He also annexed a letter from Election Commission of April 1, 2016 in which it had transferred a separate RTI application to the "The President, Indian National Congress..." to buttress his point that the party was considered a public authority even by the Election Commission.
The matter related to RTI application filed by Jain with Congress in February, 2014 seeking details of financing, donations, elections in the party among other details.
It was not responded to following which he approached CIC with a complaint under the RTI Act against the party. He also approached Delhi High Court seeking directions for the CIC to hear his petition.
The Commission recently issued fresh notice to Gandhi after the orders of the Delhi High Court which had directed in August 2014 that the "complaint filed by the petitioner be considered expeditiously and preferably within a period of six months".
Launching a vitriolic attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "misleading" the country, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh today demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe into "squandering" of Rs 20,000 crore by Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC).
"(The) Prime Minister has misled the nation. There are two types of politicians. One, who speaks lie for personal gain and (the) other, in whose blood lies are inherent, (in) whose DNA it is inherent to speak lies. Prime Minister comes in the second category," Ramesh told reporters here.
Congress had earlier this month sought a discussion in Rajya Sabha on a CAG report regarding "anomalies" in Krishna Godavari (KG) Basin gas project claiming that the Gujarat government, under Modi, had created a "hype" over the project though it failed to strike gas despite spending crores of rupees on exploration.
"There is a controversy regarding BA and MA degrees of Prime Minister. But I would like to go in what he did in KG," the former Union Environment minister told reporters while referring to the KG basin project where GSPC had obtained a block for gas exploration.
"Modi had in 2005 declared that there was 20 trillion cubic feet gas in KG basin 'Deen Dayal' block obtained by GSPC. Little did we realise then that this announcement was part of a big master plan to borrow enormous sums of money from banks to be used recklessly.
"In the last 11 years, GSPC has borrowed Rs 20,000 crore from banks and has not yet commercially produced any gas. What happened to all this money? ... It was squandered away," Ramesh alleged.
He said a consortium of 15 banks led by the State Bank of India had extended loans to GSPC.
"(However) they (loans) would be NPA (non-performing assets) now as GSPC is a sick company. I want to ask RBI governor Raghuram Rajan (that) when he is very strict about showing of NPAs of private companies, will he also reveal NPAs of public sector undertakings like GSPC," Ramesh asked.
He claimed, "Unlike the previous CAG reports in 2G and Coal where the loss was presumptive, this one is an actual figure of Rs 20,000 crore borrowed and squandered away".
Seeking "answers" from Prime Minister on GSPC issue, Ramesh demanded an inquiry by a sitting Supreme Court judge.
He also questioned the overseas acquisition of gas blocks by GSPC in Egypt, Australia, Indonesia and Yemen.
"The company acquired 11 gas blocks overseas, out of which
by 2015, 10 were surrendered as they could not find gas and wrote off Rs 2,000 crore. For a company that had no prior experience in operating blocks there, GSPC's reckless acquisition spree of overseas blocks calls into question both its business acumen as well as its intent," Ramesh said.
The Congress leader also questioned GSPC on the contracts and partnerships with "dubious entities" like GeoGlobal Resources and Tuff Drilling, claiming they had no prior experience in oil and gas exploration.
"CAG in its recent report has clearly spelt out how nearly Rs 20,000 crore was a wasteful expenditure with no proper process followed," he said.
When asked if the Congress is raking up the GSPC issue to counter BJP's attack over alleged corruption in execution of the AgustaWestland chopper deal, Ramesh said no Congress leader has taken bribe in the deal.
"We have asked for a court-monitored inquiry into the deal. We do not have faith in the investigative agencies which are under Narendra Modi," Ramesh said.
When asked about his earlier statement comparing 'Gujarat with Afghanistan', Ramesh said he did so in the wake of the Prime Minister making an "outrageous" comment equating Kerala with Somalia.
The Congress today tore into Prime Minister Narendra Modi's handling of foreign policy, saying he has been an "embarrassment" to India and told him sarcastically that international relations are not about being "feted" by world leaders.
The Congress also cited some developments in the neighbourhood to buttress its assessment while seeking to project that the Prime Minister, whose government completes two years next week, has been an "embarrassment" to the country in the field of foreign affairs.
"Under the watchful eyes of Narendra Modi, USA agreed to sell F-16s to Pakistan; India's old friend, Russia lifted its weapons embargo on Pakistan, and China is stifling us in our own neighbourhood," the Congress said.
In a hard hitting commentary titled " 'Foreign Minister' Narendra Modi has been an embarrassment for India", the AICC faulted the Prime Minister on several counts.
"Modi, disregarded the innate wisdom of our foreign policy, which has resulted in India being further isolated in South Asia. India's flip-flops on Pakistan have confused security experts from across the world." it said in the commentary posted on the party's website.
It contended that developments including Modi's surprise visit to Pakistan, the Pathankot attack, and then the invitation extended to the Pakistani JIT, which included the ISI, to visit India's sensitive air-force base, has "defied all logic".
"And the Modi Government's statements almost seem to be at pains to exonerate the Pakistani establishment rather than corner it", it said.
Last year, Modi became the first PM of India to humiliate his own country on foreign soil by making the embarrassing claim that "being born Indian was earlier considered to be a curse", it said.
"The nation that Modi most wanted approval from was USA, the country which denied him a visa in the aftermath of the 2002 riots," it said adding that the USA has been busy blocking India at the WTO. The ruling in February has hurt India's National Solar Mission.
"Modi must realise that international relations are not about being feted by world leaders, but about ensuring that your own country's interests & the interests of the common man, back home, are not hurt", he added.
Taking a dig at Union Minister V K Singh who has pitched for renaming Akbar Road as Maharana Pratap Road, Congress today said that renaming roads "is the job of the Municipal Corporation" and ministers should work for the welfare of people.
"If they have the penchant of renaming roads, why do they get elected" to Parliament?, Party spokesman Manish Tewari asked.
Tewari reminded the BJP leaders like Singh that renaming roads "is the job of the Municipal Corporation."
"Why they get elected to Parliament, why are they running the Central Government? That is the job of the Municipal Corporation. They should have got elected to the Municipal Corporation," Tewari said.
He said that those in the ruling party should work for their constituencies and those in the government should work for the welfare of people through their ministries.
The Congress leader felt that such demands showed a tokenism mind-set, a frivolous mind-set which is not able to grapple with the complexities and challenges of governance.
"Therefore, they resort to every kind of chicanery in order to cover up for their ineptitude and mal-governance."
Tewari spoke in similar vein when asked about demands like renaming Aurangabad and Ahmedabad on the plea that they have been named after foreign invaders.
"They should try to fulfill their promises to the people," the Congress leader said.
Government today spurned the demand for renaming Akbar Road as Maharana Pratap Road, saying "naming and renaming of streets was not on the agenda".
"Naming and renaming of street is not the subject matter of the Urban Development Ministry. It is not on the government's agenda. Government's focus is only development," Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters.
Singh has pitched for renaming Akbar Road in Lutyens Zone after the doughty Mewar ruler Maharana Pratap and written to Naidu in this regard.
His demand comes amid reports that Haryana government too had sought renaming of Akbar road after the Mewar ruler.
Playing down Singh's comments, BJP said everyone has a right to express his opinion but the government's priority was solving the country's problems and its development.
The proposal of SBI to merge its five associate banks with itself and acquire Bharatiya Mahila Bank is in line with the government's policy of consolidation as the country needs global-sized institutions, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said.
"Consolidation was part of the Indradhanush package. I had announced about consolidation in the Budget... Therefore, the banks have acted. It is accordance with the government's policy," Jaitley said.
Yesterday, the country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) proposed merger of its five associate banks and the three-year old Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) with itself and sought the government's approval for the same.
"Let the proposal come to the government. I had already announced consolidation as the road map in the Budget itself. And therefore, I think the larger question (is) that India doesn't need so many banks in the public sector," Jaitley said in an interview to CNBC TV 18 channel.
"And therefore, let larger global-sized institutions come into existence without adversely impacting the employees' working conditions. And if it (the proposal) comes to us, I will certainly look at that. And I will look at it very positively."
He said there is a need to reduce the number of banks by consolidating some of them.
Further, he said the banks have given their own opinion and if some banks have a contrarian view, the government will "certainly respect that, look into it and take that into consideration".
According to SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya, with the merger, the balance-sheet size of the bank will soar to Rs 37 lakh crore, from Rs 28 lakh crore currently.
The five associate banks that are under proposal to be merged with the banking major are State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Hyderabad.
Among these, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Travancore are listed on bourses.
Asked if more lenders are expected to come out with such consolidation plans, Jaitley said the immediate priority will be to improve the stress situation and their economic health.
"I think the immediate priority with regard to other banks is to get them out of the stress situation, improve on their economic health and then look at a possible consolidation, wherever possible," he added.
Stating that high denomination currency has ceased to be
a legal tender, Jaitley admitted that some more legal steps will be required later on if one is to extinguish that.
"It is important to realise what was the Indian normal for last 70 years. It had almost become the Indian normal to have a parallel economy, to have a shadow economy. It was almost a way of life," he said.
With large currencies in circulation outside the banking system and a narrow tax base, banks were "becoming challenged if not vulnerable".
"And I think it's not the normal in which we are functioning. This one decision now redefines the Indian normal, there is a new Indian normal," he asserted.
The finance minister also made a point that just as the telecom revolution which had not been envisaged in India but took place, the new normal is going to be different 5-8 years down the road.
"We are going to live in an entirely different kind of an economy," he said.
On big challenges Indian economy faced, Jaitley pointed to the limited ability of banks to support growth because of NPAs and their "lending abilities are suspect".
He also spoke of the private sector not bringing in investment, which is being compounded by a global slowdown.
"Now let's see the impact of this decision in medium and long term. It has suddenly pushed up the ability of banks to lend at a cheaper rate. The ability of the Indian banking system to support growth, support economy, support growth economy had become extremely doubtful," he remarked.
Banks, he said, are suddenly flush with all low-cost funds. "So, these low-cost funds are going to be lent to businesses, trade, agriculture, infrastructure at a much lower rate today. And the private sector, which was feeling stressed, this has a direct impact," the finance minister added.
"In the long term, it is going to change the way traders trade, how we manage the household budget. It would bring more transactions into the banking system, we have a cleaner and bigger economy, a bigger taxation system -- and this one decision redefines the Indian new normal.
China has ordered its top IT companies, including leading search engine Baidu and social media giant Sina, to correct or shut down their online storage services for spreading pornography.
The National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications last month joined hands with the Ministry of Public Security and Internet and media regulators in a latest campaign to crack down on pornographic content on online storage services.
Suspects have been found storing tens of thousands of pornographic videos on online storage spaces, and selling these accounts on e-commerce platforms such as taobao.Com, the office told the state-run Xinhua agency.
The cloud drives were provided by various online storage or video streaming services including Sina, Baidu and 115.Com.
Beijing-based Sina was fined and ordered to shut down its online publishing services on May 3, whereas Baidu was fined on May 6 for providing online storage services that were used for sexual content.
Another report released yesterday on the security of Chinese mobile Internet showed that three quarters of the apps that have been reported as inappropriate to a Ministry of Industry and Information Technology hotline contained sexual content, state-run Global Times reported.
A report on the mobile Internet development that was jointly released by 'The Internet Society of China and the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team/Coordination Centre of China NGOs' said that 75 per cent of the 200,684 reports on mobile apps were related to sexual content, chinanews.Com reported yesterday.
In 2015, 235 apps were shut down by the reporting centre for having sexual content.
CPI(M) state Secretary Surya Kanta Mishra today shot off a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner and urged them to ensure safety and security of voters in the wake of alleged post-poll violence.
On the other hand, the Trinamool Congress pledged for upholding peace and harmony in the state and honour the mandate of the masses.
"Unfortunately, in West Bengal attacks are mounting on voters by the hooligans of the ruling Trinamool, with tacit support from a section of state police. In many parts of the state children, aged persons, women, polling agents and polling personnel are either being injured or being murdered by Trinamool Congress criminals ever since the different phases of polls are completed," Mishra said in the letter.
We strongly feel it is the responsibility of the EC to ensure protection to the citizens who are subjected to such "barbaric attacks" because of their participation in the democratic process of casting vote, Mishra said.
The TMC has however refuted the allegations of post-poll violence perpetrator charge that has been levelled against them.
"Let's pledge for upholding peace and harmony across the state ignoring all sorts of provocation that could trigger violence. Let us accept and honour the mandate of the people which will be reflected tomorrow through the ballots," TMC Vice-President Mukul Roy said.
With an aim to transform Parel Railway station here into a terminus, the Central Railway (CR) will take up eight different infrastructure works from the first week of June, a Railways official said.
Parel Terminus is a part of the fifth and sixth line project funded under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project-II. The project would cost Rs 51 crore.
The station needs upgradation in the wake of mushrooming corporate offices in Parel which have led to huge growth in the number of train passengers.
"The surroundings of Parel railway station have seen a huge development and mushrooming of corporate offices on the erstwhile textile mill land. As a result, the number of passengers has gone up. Therefore, transformation of this station was very important for us," chief spokesperson of CR, Narendra Patil, told reporters here.
The eight infrastructure works that would be carried out at the cost of Rs 51 crore, include construction of a terminal platform with cover overshed, widening of down local line and up local line platforms to 10 metres, providing a new foot over bridge (FOB) in the middle of the platform connecting East and West to all the platforms.
"These works would get over in the next 18 to 20 months. This would help Parel station mitigate the crisis situation in case of disruption of services between Parel and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST)," he said.
"After the Railway Minister gave a push to these proposed projects, we launched the execution plan and awarded tenders. The actual would start from the beginning of June," the official added.
The work was earlier expected to start in October 2013. However, failure to get estimates sanctioned from the Railway Board for laying of the fifth and sixth lines between CST and Kurla, of which Parel Terminus is a part, delayed the tender process, Patil said.
Sparing Tamil Nadu, the deep depression over Bay of Bengal has moved to Andhra Pradesh coast and is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm by tomorrow, Met office said today.
The danger of heavy rainfall in excess of 25 CM in Chennai and neighbourhood, forecast last night, has abated with the weather system moving away but coastal areas of the state would continue to experience heavy rains for another 24 hours.
The meteorological department said the rainfall would gradually decrease in the state as the deep depression over the Bay of Bengal has moved toward Andhra Pradesh and lay centred about 170 km southeast of Nellore.
Meanwhile, several parts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry continued to receive rains for the third day today.
Regional Meteorological Centre, Director, K Balachandran told reporters "due to the system moving away from Tamil Nadu, rainfall would decrease in a phased manner".
"We are expecting the deep depression to become a cyclone in the next 24-48 hours.", he said adding heavy rainfall may occur over North Tamil Nadu in one or two places during the period.
A met office bulletin said, "The system is likely to move north-northeastwards off Andhra Pradesh Coast and intensify into a cyclonic storm during the next 24 hours."
In the last 24 hours that ended at 8.30 am today, Kelambakkam on the outskirts of Chennai received the highest rainfall of 23 cm, Chennai 11 cm, Nungambakkam 8 cm and Anna Universiy 7.5 cm.
Acting on the Met office forecast last night, the Tamil Nadu government has ordered precautionery measures, including directing District Collectors to take all precautionary measures and advised senior civil servants to visit districts which are expected to receive heavy rainfall.
The government, which had received flak from opposition parties for its handling of the deluge here in December last, also has set up a call centre with the telephone number 1070 to receive rainfall related grievances.
National Disaster Response Force Teams from neighbouring Vellore, Arakkonam, were also put on standby in low lying areas as part of the precautionery measures.
Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner B Chandra Mohan said officials have been deputed in all the Corporation zones specifically to monitor rain related relief measures.
Indian Railways in cooperation with France, today reviewed the progress of the surveys, field visits and technical solutions for raising the speed to 200 km per hour on the existing Delhi-Chandigarh route.
A review of possible technical solutions were explored in a meeting between between French National Railways (SNF) and Indian Railways here, said a senior Railway Ministry official.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in his Rail Budget Speech of 2014-15 announced that New Delhi-Chandigarh Corridor will be upgraded for increasing the speed of passenger trains to 160/200 kmph. Railway Ministry had already signed an MoU with the French National Railways (SNCF) on February 14, 2013 on technical co-operation in various fields.
One of the areas of co-operation mentioned in the MoU is regarding exchange of experience, technologies & know-how for upgrading speed on existing infrastructure of Indian Railways.
To discuss the co-operation issues and specific projects, a high level delegation headed by CRB had visited the SNCF/France in May, 2014. During the discussion, it was decided to take up speed raising on Delhi-Chandigarh Corridor.
Later, during PM's visit to France in April last year, a protocol with SNCF on co-operation in Semi-High Speed rail on Delhi-Chandigarh Section was signed.
In December, 2015, an agreement was signed between Ministry of Railways and SNCF vide which the feasibility / implementation study of the Corridor for raising the speed of passenger trains to 200 kmph was awarded to SNCF on 50:50 per cent cost sharing basis.
The total cost of the study is Rs 19,69,02,721 and the total time duration for its completion is one year. The study commenced on January 19 this year.
The study has been divided into three phases. While the first phase envisages the technical Assessment involving field visits, surveys, review of possible technical solutions and development of three high level upgrading scenarios, the second phase involves the Operation/Economic impact involving assessment of scenarios, impact on transport and operations plan, economic/financial impact for IR and selection of a preferred scenario with Indian Railways.
The third phase involves execution plan and tenders involving reference design, bill of quantities, tender preparation and recommendations for a broader high speed solution, upgrading programme by Indian Railways on a selected scenario.
In today's meeting the project review was undertaken in the joint meting.
Delhi's SC/ST Welfare and Women and Child Welfare Minister Sandeep Kumar along with AAP Haryana chief Naveen Jaihind today met the families of the five men who died after inhaling poisonous gas while cleaning a well in Nidana village of the district.
They announced a relief of Rs 20,000 for each of the aggrieved families on behalf of the Aam Aadmi Party's Haryana unit.
The leaders demanded that the state government provide a compensation of Rs 20 lakh to their next of kin and government jobs to one member of the bereaved families.
"Latur-like circumstances are prevailing in the state. Due to the state government's negligence, 14 districts are experiencing severe water shortage and they have completely failed in providing drinking water to the people," Naveen Jaihind told reporters.
"Because of the water shortage, these men took steps which the Haryana government should have taken and ended up losing their lives," he said.
Jaihind said the state is "solely responsible" for the death of these men and either these wells should be closed completely or they be put to use by people.
He said the AAP workers will meet the Chief Minister on May 23 in Julana and handover a memorandum seeking a compensation of Rs 20 lakh each and government jobs for the families of the victims.
Five persons had died after inhaling poisonous gas while cleaning a well in the district on Monday. According to villagers, as the residents of Dhanak Colony were facing acute shortage of drinking water, the men decided to clean the well which was in a state of disuse.
Haryana Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation chairperson Sunita Duggal had also visited the Nidana village on Monday and met the families of the deceased.
A District Reserve Group (DRG) jawan was today injured in a gun-fight with Maoists in the dense forests of Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, police said.
The skirmish took place during the wee hours in the forests of Munga village when a squad of the state's DRG forces was carrying out an anti-Naxal operation in the region, located around 450 kms away from here, they said.
"Constable Gopal Rotel sustained injuries on his leg in the gun-fight following which he was airlifted to Jagdalpur for treatment this morning," Jagdalpur City Superintendent of Police (CSP) Deepmala Kashyap said.
He has been admitted to Maharani Hospital where his condition was said to be out of danger, the CSP said.
Security forces had launched the operation from Gangaloor to the interior forests last night.
While they were cordoning off jungles of Munga, a group of armed Naxals opened indiscriminate firing on them from a hilltop leaving the DRG jawan injured, she said.
However, the ultras soon fled from the spot after security forces retaliated, the CSP said, adding reinforcement was rushed to the spot after the incident.
Actress Emma Roberts and boyfriend Evan Peters have reportedly called it quits for the second time.
The "American Horror Story" seasons 3 and 4 costars had reunited in August after calling off their engagement in June last year, reported US magazine.
According to the sources the split was amicable.
The two started dating in spring 2012 after meeting on the set of their film "Adult World.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has asked all executing agencies in the state to take up projects only after their costs and timelines have been frozen by indenting departments, saying government cannot afford cost overruns and delays in completion of projects.
All indenting departments should henceforth consult the executing agencies beforehand, so that costs, specifications and timelines of projects are frozen, Mehbooba said.
She also asked the Roads and Buildings (R-B) Department to make advance preparations so that work on the newly-sanctioned five medical colleges is taken up immediately.
The Chief Minister said this while chairing a high-level meeting to review the functioning of the R-B Department here last evening, an official spokesman said.
She also suggested certain alterations in the existing design of the medical college buildings ensuring they are in conformity with the site locations.
The department was also instructed to incorporate provision of rainwater harvesting in all future buildings.
In order to inculcate healthy competition, the Chief Minister suggested that the work on construction of new medical colleges be allotted to different executing agencies like JKPCC and PHC, the spokesman said.
He said Mehbooba also directed to make State Roadways Development Corporation a self-sustaining organization by allotting them important works.
The Secretary of R-B Department informed the meeting that Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is expected to release a further tranche of Rs 4000 crore this year which would enable the department to take up new projects and upgrade existing ones over the next three years.
He added that against a total release of Rs 702 crore under State Annual Plan in 2015-16, Rs 698 crore have already been expended under regular schemes.
Police across France were to demonstrate today against the "anti-cop hatred" they say they have endured during a wave of anti-government protests since early March.
Rallies are planned in around 60 towns and cities, with the Paris event to be held in the Place de la Republique, the venue of the youth-driven "Up All Night" movement that emerged from the protests against the Socialist government's labour reforms.
Activists were denied permission however to stage a counter-demonstration against police violence in the same square ahead of the rally.
Some 350 members of the security forces have been injured during the protests against the labour reforms, including one who lost the use of an eye.
Eleven were injured yesterday during the latest protests against the reforms, which are seen as too pro-business and were forced through without a parliamentary vote.
"You can see why these security forces are a bit exasperated," national police chief Jean-Marc Falcone said on French radio today.
He noted that police have been under "great pressure" since 167 people were killed in jihadist attacks, first on the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly and a Jewish supermarket in January 2015, followed 10 months later by attacks on several Paris targets in November.
The anti-government protests have often turned violent, notably when small groups of hooded youths have joined in, apparently well organised and determined to clash with police.
On the other side, a video emerged in late March showing two policemen holding up a 15-year-old boy while another violently punched him.
The video, which went viral, was followed in mid-April by a poster printed by a union to denounce alleged police brutality, reading "Police should protect citizens, not hit them -- stop the violence".
In the wider population French police enjoy an enviable reputation, scoring an 82 percent approval rating in a recent opinion poll.
The police have called on the government to respond firmly to the hooded "casseurs" -- literally breakers, or troublemakers.
"I've never seen this before," a riot policeman told AFP. "The casseurs... Are perfectly organised... To hurt cops."
President Francois Hollande on Tuesday warned the rioters: "Enough is enough, and it cannot go on without a response.
Separatists today claimed that the Centre was trying to change the demography of Jammu and Kashmir and vowed to oppose the attempts amid their particular focus on the proposed settlement of Kashmiri pandit migrants in townships and the reported creation of Sainik colonies.
JKLF chief Yasin Malik held a two-hour long meeting with hardline Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani at his residence here to chalk out a joint strategy.
They particularly discussed the issues of Sainik colonies and separate townships for Kashmiri pandit migrants along with the new industrial policy, shelter for non-state labourers, NEET and "plight" of muslims in Jammu region, according a joint statement issued after the meeting.
"Indian policy makers are out to implement plans as soon as possible to change the demography of Jammu and Kashmir by turning majority Muslims into minority.
"For this, the new Indian government has come out in open with all its might and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is providing its full support for the sake of power," it claimed.
The statement, released by hardline Hurriyat Conference, warned of serious consequences if the "nefarious" designs were implemented.
They agreed to unitedly counter the "RSS and Jan Sangh plan" and decided to come out with an "effective strategy".
Lashing out at ruling PDP, the statement said it has "sold out" Kashmir to RSS for the sake of power.
"(Chief Minister) Mehbooba Mufti and some of her ministers, who have draped in saffron colours, are speaking lies with regard to this dangerous game plan of New Delhi to keep the people of Kashmir in dark," the statement said.
Germany today condemned a cartoon contest in Iran depicting the Holocaust, saying it sows hatred and deepens divisions in the Middle East.
The event was organised by non-governmental bodies with support from Iran's hard-liners. A previous contest in 2006 got a boost from then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who referred to the Holocaust as a "myth."
German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said that "the murder of 6 million men, women and children during the Holocaust, for which we Germans bear guilt and responsibility, must not be abandoned to ridicule."
Schaefer said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier made clear during a February visit to Tehran that no further such competition should take place, and that it was "very regrettable" it went ahead.
Israel's prime minister has condemned the contest.
The government has allowed bulk export of rice bran oil without any restriction on pack size, a move likely to help paddy growers and rice millers.
"Export of rice bran oil in bulk (irrespective of any pack size) has been exempted from the prohibition on export of edible oils," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification today.
At present, the export of edible oils is allowed in branded consumer packs of upto 5 kg with a minimum export price of USD 900 per tonne.
Although India is a major importer of edible oils, the Centre has allowed bulk exports of rice bran oil to help small rice millers realise better price as demand of this cooking oil remains limited in the domestic market.
India's vegetable oil (comprising edible and non-edible oils) imports touched a record 14.61 million tonnes in 2014-15 oil year (November-October).
In the first six months of the 2015-16 oil year, the import of vegetable oils rose by 17 per cent to 75,57,169 tonnes as compared to 64,66,902 tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The country meets more than 50 per cent of its cooking oil demand through imports.
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.
Government today approved an improved voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) package for the employees of Hindustan Vegetable Oils Corporation (HVOC).
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given approval to the proposal for offering an improved VRS package based on 2007 notional pay scales for the employees of HVOC, an official statement said.
The government assistance will be in the form of non-plan grant of around Rs 27.56 crore to the firm, it added.
HVOC is a Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) under the Department of Food and Public Distribution in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
The employees of HVOC have been adversely impacted due to sickness of the company.
They are in very old pay scales of 1992. The improved VRS package will give fair amount of compensation to employees and help them in their post retirement rehabilitation, the statement said.
HVOC was formed in 1984 with merger of two nationalised companies -- Ganesh Flour Mills and Amritsar Oils Works.
It was engaged in manufacturing vanaspati, refining and packing of imported edible oil for PDS and manufacturing of breakfast cereal.
The company had its manufacturing and refining units at Delhi, Kanpur, Amritsar, Mumbai and Kolkata and packing units at Bengaluru and Chennai.
The hearing in the sedition case against quota agitation leader Hardik Patel is all set to begin soon in a sessions court here after he engaged a lawyer today.
A charge sheet was filed against Hardik in January.
Hardik, who is currently lodged in Surat in two different sedition cases filed against him by Ahmedabad and Surat police, was today produced before Sessions Judge S H Oza here where he informed that he has engaged Rafik Lokhandwala as his lawyer.
Accordingly, his lawyer Lokhandwala filed his 'vakalatnama'. The court will wait for three other accused in the case--Chirag Patel, Ketan Patel and Dinesh Patel--to engage their lawyer before strating the proceedings.
The court has fixed May 31 as the next date for hearing.
Hardik is currently lodged in Surat's Lajpore jail after his bail plea in local courts in Surat and Ahmedabad were dismissed and the matter is currently being heard in High Court.
His three aides--Chirag, Dinesh and Ketan-- were granted bail by the High Court after they gave a written undertaking stating they will not indulge in any activity that may case law and order problem.
All four were arrested in October last year and are facing similar charges under sedition and criminal conspiracy that were filed by Ahmedabad Crime Branch police.
Hardik and three others have been charged with IPC sections 124(A) (sedition), 121 (A) (conspiracy to wage war against government) and 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy).
They are accused of inciting violence to mount pressure on the government for accepting the demand of reservations for the Patel community.
Hong Kong authorities have stepped up security as a high-ranking Chinese government official attends a business conference, preventing pro-democracy protesters from getting close to the venue.
Local media said as many as 8,000 police officers were being deployed today for the visit by Zhang Dejiang, the Communist Party's No 3 official.
He's the most senior Chinese official to come to Hong Kong in five years.
About 100 protesters chanted slogans demanding Beijing stop interfering in Hong Kong's affairs and burned a sign calling for Zhang to be kicked out of Hong Kong as they marched toward the convention center where Zhang was giving a keynote speech.
The protesters were stopped by a police security cordon that included hundreds of water-filled plastic barriers and metal barricades.
Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board and Solar Energy Corporation of India today signed a pact toform a 50:50 JV for implementation of solar power projects in the state.
According to the pact, a pilot 2.5 MW Solar Wind Hybrid Power Project would be set up at Rangrik in Lahaul and Spiti district and would be completed by October, 2017.
Apart from this project, the JV -- Himachal Pradesh Solar Power Corporation -- would also set up solar parks, solar power projects and projects in the renewable sector in other parts of the state.
The Rangrik project will be first of its kind in the country which would synchronise solar, wind, hydroelectric project with grid supply with help of large energy storage system.
The project would benefit as many as 12,000 tribal habitants of Rangrik, Kaza, Tabo, Losar, Pin valley and other nearby areas.
The total estimated cost of the project is pegged at Rs 30.72 crore.
Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd (SECI) is a central public sector undertaking (CPSU) under the administrative control of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
Meanwhile, Chaba to Saraur in Kol Dam Reservoir on Sutlej River has been declared a route for boats and ferries, a spokesperson of the state government said here today adding that a notification was beingissued in this regard.
Telecom operator Idea Cellular today announced the expansion of its hi-speed 4G service to 22 towns in Karnataka circle, taking the total tally to 61.
The company now covers all major towns across 27 districts in the state, it said in a statement.
Moreover, in 29 out of these 61 towns, Idea is the sole provider of 4G service, it added.
Idea's 4G LTE service is now available in Mangaluru, Hubbali-Dharwad, Hospet, Udupi, Davangere, Hassan, Kolar, Tumakur, Vijayapura, Bagalkot and Bidar, in addition to the existing towns of Bengaluru, Mysuru, Belagavi and Chitradurga.
The company has 2,450 4G sites in the state and look to expand with demand.
While data benefits announced by Airtel and Idea are more
or less similar (both are offering similar amount of bonus data to customers), Airtel's monthly pack is priced marginally higher than Idea.
Commenting on data pricing war that is playing out in the market, Prashant Singhal, global leader for telecom practice at EY said, "It has to do with economies of scale...As more and more data penetration takes place, rates have to come down."
The latest move by telecom operators with regard to data pricing combined with drop in handset prices will drive affordability for customers, he added.
Only yesterday, Bharti Airtel increased benefits on select pre-paid data recharge packs and sachet packs by offering up to 25-67 per cent more data at the same price. The company said the move would enable customers to stay online longer and download more of their favorite content, thereby enriching mobile internet experience.
In 4G/3G new monthly pack, Airtel is packing-in 40-67 per cent more data. In the Sachet Packs category, the company is offering 32-48 per cent more data for the same price.
Meanwhile, Airtel has also announced enhancement of 4G capacity in Bangalore. It is the only company at present that operates 4G services in 2 spectrum bands - 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz.
Players like Airtel and Idea have upped the ante in mobile data pricing ahead of the upcoming commercial launch by Reliance Jio. The company recently said it has over 1.5 million test users on its network although it did not specify a launch date for its commercial operations.
Reliance Jio, which is gearing up to launch its 4G services, had also said that during the recently-concluded quarter, it extended its trial services to all LYF devices users under the Jio LYF Preview Offer.
This, it said, has enabled testing of all the services to customers outside the initial set of test users, and added that the feedback has been encouraging.
Amid row over chanting of 'Om' before yoga session on International Yoga Day, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today said it is not mandatory.
He said it is just a sort of exercise or discipline which unifies the body and the mind and has been accepted even by the International community.
"Entire world observed the International Yoga Day last year. It was a clear acknowledgement of ancient Indian wisdom. Yoga is a sort of exercise or discipline unifying body and mind.
"Do not make Yoga controversial. If you don't want to say Om, don't say. It is not mandatory," he said while addressing the valedictory session of the National Conference on 'Reforming & Rejuvenating Indian Higher Education - A stakeholders Perspective' here.
Yesterday, the controversy broke out over the UGC's directive asking universities and colleges to follow Ayush ministry's yoga protocol that begins with chanting of 'Om' and some Sanskrit sholakas during Yoga Day celebrations on June 21.
In his letter to universities last week, UGC secretary Jaspal S Sandhu had sought the "personal indulgence" of Vice Chancellors in celebrating yoga day in their varsities as well as affiliated bodies.
Taking a dig at previous UPA government, he said the Modi-government has inherited "fiscal deficit, revenue deficit, trade deficit, current account deficit and above all trust deficit" from them.
Even after 68 years of Independence, he said India still faces basic problems such as availability of drinking water, rural roads, sanitation, health and education.
Stressing on making students understand about India's rich cultural heritage, Naidu said there was nothing wrong in learning new languages but one should not forget his mother tongue.
"I am not against English...Nothing wrong in learning languages but do not forget the mother tongue. It is difficult to move forward without knowing Hindi in Hindustan," he said.
Talking about the disturbances in various varsities across the country, he said the problems occurred in "just 3-4 universities" out of the total 740 varsities but it was painted as the entire country was under "unrest".
"Now a days, we are witnessing new trends in campus turbulence that are relatively new. To begin with, the issues that have created disturbances in campuses appear to be increasingly detached from the concerns of the wider society," he said.
"Whether it the JNU issue, or the HCU issue or the prolonged agitation over the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan to head the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), the beef festival in Hyderabad or the never-ending battles involving the students and administration of Jadavpur University in Kolkata -- the themes of student unrest very rarely find reflection outside the campus," he added.
He said the students should go to the universities to "study but not to create anarchy".
China joining hands with India in the fight against terrorism will have "its own impact", President Pranab Mukherjee said today in comments that come against the backdrop of Beijing recently blocking the bid to put Masood Azhar on the UN list of proscribed terrorists.
"India and China--both huge countries--multi-cultural, multi-racial--if they come together in fighting this menace, I am sure it will have its own impact.
"And India always believes that every country should have a zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism and the fight is to be all out," he told state-run television channel CCTV in an interview ahead of his visit to China next week.
He was replying to a question on terrorism.
In March this year, China had blocked India's bid at the UN to place Azhar, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief, the mastermind of the 2001 Parliament and 2016 Pathankot terror attacks, on the list of global terrorists.
The President said both the countries have a "comprehensive relationship" and India considers ties with China as "important".
"I would say that we have very comprehensive relationship with People's Republic of China. And we consider it is a very important relationship for us.
"And that the state visit has its own significance as it provides an opportunity to the leaders to share their views, explore the possibilities of expanding cooperation between the countries'concern and also they exchange their views, on regional, global and multilateral issues," he said in an interview, excerpts of which were broadcast today.
In March, China had requested the UN Sanction Committee, which is considering a ban, to keep on hold the proposal for declaring Azhar as Globally Designated Terrorist.
India had told the Committee that not listing Azhar would expose it and other countries in South Asia to threats from the terror group and its leader.
The UN had banned JeM in 2001 but India's efforts to ban Azhar after the Mumbai terror attack also did not fructify as China, one of the five permanent members of the UN group with veto powers, didn't allow the ban apparently at the behest of Pakistan again.
The US State Treasury department had designated him as Special Designated Global Terrorist in November 2010.
India has organised a week-long Indian culinary week here to showcase the country's wide ranging food habits as part of cultural interaction with Israel.
The programme by the Indian Embassy here in collaboration with Israel's leading hotel chain Dan Hotels was inaugurated on Sunday. Celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor, 52, is showcasing the wide ranging food habits prevalent in India.
A three-day programme at King David hotel in Jerusalem where chef David Bitton will be joining hands with Kapoor in preparing Indian food has received an overwhelming response with a hotel manager saying all the places were booked.
Kapoor, the 'Best Chef of India' award recipient, said he is here to "learn and share what he knows with others".
"There is a great affinity among Israelis for India and of course Indians also reciprocate in the same way. Everyone says that people here know about Indian food, but no actually they don't because in India also we don't know. There also we keep on discovering new things. Everyday I wake up I learn something new about India and Indian food," Kapoor said.
"Indian food is like modern doctors. When we go to a doctor he gives you six to eight pills in hope that one would work. Indian food is like that. In one dish, we have 8, 10, 15 different spices and herbs in the hope that one would work. That is unique. The ability to combine contrasting spices and herbs in one dish and create that uniqueness," he said.
Indian restaurants are not the real reflection of Indian food. They do not do justice, Indian homes do. The real Indian food is what we eat at home," Kapoor said.
Indian Ambassador Pavan Kapoor, stressing on the role of people to people contact in bilateral ties, said cultural interaction "is a key element in broadening relationship and that is where the role of Indian food, often referred to in India as part of India's soft power, is playing a role".
"We have a few Indian restaurants here but we are hoping that after the visit of the chef, we can convince the Israeli government to facilitate bring in more people who can set up more range of restaurants bringing the diversity of Indian food," the Indian envoy said.
A vocational school run by the Dan Hotel chain is hosting two workshops with the Indian chef, one for professionals and the other for India enthusiasts. There will also be a second workshop by Kapoor to showcase Indian food at a much lower price, most of them from the Indian community in Israel.
"I hope our chefs learn something about Indian food this week and I hope we can sometime show Indian food in our buffet for guests," CEO of Dan Hotel chain Raffi Sadeh said.
The launch of national intellectual property rights (IPR) policy demonstrates Indian government's commitment to fostering innovation, a top US official today said.
Arun M Kumar, Director General, US and Foreign Commercial Service, and Assistant Secretary, Global Markets, US Department of Commerce, said the US government in its preliminary assessment of India's IPR policy has found that it includes "positive aspects, including centralising the copyright and patent regimes under DIPP and improving co-ordination between the Centre and states on compliance".
The remarks assume significance as the US continues to put India on its priority watch list for IPR through its Special 301 report which was released last month.
India's IPR regime is seen not to be in compliance with global norms, a charge India strongly contests at all forums.
Earlier this week, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said the US Special 301 report on IPR is a "unilateral" move and no country has any right to interfere in the sovereign position of other nation.
"The US government continues to review the policy, but our preliminary assessment is that it includes positive aspects, including centralising the copyright and patent regimes under the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and improving co-ordination between the Centre and states on compliance," Kumar said while addressing an event here.
"We look forward to continuing our work together on this important issue."
The Cabinet this month approved the national intellectual property rights (IPR) policy with a view to promoting creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship.
Kumar tried to impress the point on the gathering that India needs to harmonise product standards with international rules to enhance its position in global supply chains and deepen its integration with the world economy.
"Standards barriers such as certain testing, certification and registration requirements not only pose obstacles to US companies, but hamper the pace of India's integration into the global economy," he said.
About ease of doing business, he talked about US companies getting increasingly optimistic about the shift in tone, but are waiting to see further tangible progress in India's business climate.
Both countries are focused on ways to enhance commercial law development, public procurement and transparency while making it simpler to trade across borders.
"Improvement in these areas and others can support the Prime Minister's Make in India agenda and help India grow into a strong manufacturing economy," Kumar said.
Holding that a deeper and more comprehensive, economic and commercial relationship is a win-win for both, Kumar felt that American companies' unique capabilities can help India address its priorities and meet Prime Minister Modi's economic development goals.
India successfully test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear capable Prithvi-II missile as part of a user trial by the army from a test range at Chandipur in Odisha on Wednesday.
The trial of the surface-to-surface missile was carried out from a mobile launcher from launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at around 0940 hrs, defence sources said.
Sources said there was plan for two trials of Prithvi-2 in quick succession. However, after the successful trial of the first one, the second trial was abandoned due to technical problem, they said.
A similar twin trial was conducted on October 12, 2009 from the same base where both were successful.
With a strike range of 350 km, the Prithvi-II is capable of carrying 500 kg to 1,000 kg of warheads and is thrusted by liquid propulsion twin engines. It uses advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory to hit its target.
The missile was randomly chosen from the production stock and the entire launch activities were carried out by the specially formed strategic force command (SFC)and monitored by the scientists of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as part of training exercise, a defence scientist said.
"The missile trajectory was tracked by DRDO radars, electro-optical tracking systems and telemetry stations located along the coast of Odisha," sources said.
The downrange teams on board the ship deployed near the designated impact point in the Bay of Bengal monitored the terminal events and splashdown, they said.
Inducted into Indian armed forces in 2003, the nine-metre-tall, single-stage liquid-fueled Prithvi II is the first missile to be developed by DRDO under India's prestigious IGMDP (Integrated Guided Missile Development Program) and is now a proven technology, defence sources said.
Such training launches clearly indicate India's operational readiness to meet any eventuality and also establishes the reliability of this deterrent component of India's Strategic arsenal, they said.
The last user trial of Prithvi-II was successfully conducted on February 16, 2016 from the same test range in Odisha.
Tata Group firm Company, which runs Taj group of hotels, today said the company is planning to sell its Taj Boston hotel for a base price of $125 million (about Rs 836.09 crore).
The board of the company, at a meeting held today, approved its wholly-owned subsidiary United Overseas Holding's (UOH) plan to "pursue the option of divestment of the Taj Boston hotel by way of sale/disposal of the LLC interests in IHMS (Boston) LLC", said in BSE filing.
IHMS (Boston) LLC is a direct subsidiary of UOH.
The board has also authorised the present management of the company for sale of Taj Boston, the company added.
Price consideration should not be "lower than $125 million to an independent third party, subject to negotiations and execution of suitable agreements", the hospitality major further said.
"The management will seek and evaluate suitable offers from prospective unrelated third-party purchasers who are interested in leveraging the Taj brand," it said.
The company further "intends to negotiate a divestment while retaining brand presence on the hotel on terms to be agreed".
Net loss before tax for the Boston-based property has widened to $7.3 million in 2015-16 as against $6.7 million in 2014-15.
Taj Boston's total revenue in 2015-16 dipped 1.15 per cent to USD 34.1 million, from USD 34.5 million in 2014-15.
IHC had acquired Taj Boston Hotel in 2006, recognising the importance of the need of presence of brand Taj in the US, which is the single largest source market for the company.
However, global economic recession impacted fortunes of the hospitality sector around the world and its profitability as well, which explains the fact that the company is now focusing on high-margin markets.
"In recent times, the company has been relooking at all options for a course correction in strategy, focusing on growth in high-margin markets, evaluating relevance of some of its existing assets in the portfolio to reduce leverage," said.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An Indian sales executive and his 11- year-old son have been killed and his wife along with younger son injured in a tragic road accident in Dubai, a media report said today.
The car crash occurred when the family members were on their way back to home after visiting a church in Dubai.
CD Sunny, 46, had been working as a sales executive in Dubai for 24 years, Gulf quoted the victims' family friends as saying.
"Apparently a 4WD car banged their car from behind when they reached Muhaisna," said Praveen Jose, a neighbour of Sunny's family from Kecheri in Kerala.
He said the elder son of Sunny, 11-year-old Alvin, was thrown out of the car due to the impact of the crash and died on the spot. Sunny died on the way to hospital, he said.
Sunny's wife Jolly and second son Edwin, four, have been admitted to Rashid Hospital.
"Edwin has fractured his leg... Jolly is completely shattered and is under sedation. The neighbour said Sunny's family used to live in Dubai earlier. They relocated to Kerala a few years ago.
"The wife and children had come here on a visit due to school vacation in India. They came on April 23 and were scheduled to fly back on this 28th," Jose added.
Indian naval ships today sailed for over two months long operational deployment to the disputed South China Sea during which they will take part in Malabar naval exercise with the US and Japan.
Indigenously built guided missile stealth frigates, INS Satpura and INS Sahyadri, INS Shakti, a sophisticated fleet support ship, and INS Kirch, an indigenous guided missile corvette, will participate in the MALABAR-16 exercise.
The Indians ships participation in MALABAR-16, a maritime exercise with the US Navy and JMSDF, reflects the vital strategic importance of the region to India.
"In a demonstration of its operational reach and commitment to India's Act East policy, the Indian Navy's Eastern Fleet, under the command of Rear Admiral SV Bhokare, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet, sailed out today on a two and a half month long operational deployment to the South China and North West Pacific," a statement from the navy said.
During this overseas deployment, the ships of Eastern Fleet will make port calls at Cam Rahn Bay (Vietnam), Subic Bay (Philippines), Sasebo (Japan), Busan (South Korea), Vladivostok (Russia) and Port Klang (Malaysia).
The visits to each port will last four days and are aimed at strengthening bilateral ties between the navies.
PASSEX has also been planned at sea with the host navies.
Reacting sharply to India's move in December last year of including Japan in the Indo-US Malabar naval exercises on a permanent basis, China had said that Tokyo will not "provoke confrontation" and "heighten tensions" in the region.
China claims sovereignty on almost all of the South China Sea which is disputed by Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
The US, which had been pushing for Japan's inclusion, has said the exercise is an important element for assessing the maritime capabilities of all the three countries.
The US has in recent months ramped up its warnings over what it calls China's growing "militarisation" in the region.
American warships and aircraft have undertaken number of operations in the region to challenge China's moves even as the US hopes to stitch Asian military powers into a closer cooperation.
The US has also been pushing for a quadrilateral security dialogue involving itself, India, Japan and Australia.
Expressing concern over high number of road accidents, an expert committee has suggested installing CCTV cameras at regular intervals on highways to check rash driving besides levying of heavy fines.
The recommendations come in the background of India accounting for 1.5 lakh deaths in 5 lakh road accidents per annum, the cost of which comes to around 3 per cent of the GDP.
"Rash driving was one of the chief reasons contributing to accidents. The Committee felt that introduction of CCTV cameras at frequent intervals on the highways and monitoring of speedy driving and levying deterrent fines could be considered to reduce accidents due to over-speeding," an expert committee, headed by former Maharashtra PWD Secretary S R Tambe has said in its report.
The Committee to recommend 'best practises in road construction' said the deployment of drones with cameras to carry out surveillance of the highways could also be considered.
"The Committee also recommends that the highway authorities should provide funds to the police authorities to procure equipment such as speed guns etc. To enforce traffic discipline," the report said.
The income received out of imposing fines can be retained by Highways Authority, it said.
Its other recommendations include measures such as providing anti crash barriers along the approaches to a tunnel to lead traffic into the carriageway inside the tunnel should be scrupulously ensured to avoid vehicles crashing against ends of the tunnels.
Earlier this week, concerned over high number of road accidents, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has cautioned that officials concerned could be booked in case of accidents happening due to flawed road designing.
Gadkari has said he was "immensely pained" to see that as high as 1.5 lakh people are dying in road accidents here annually and faulty road designing is one of the major causes of accidents on several stretches.
The Centre has also constituted a group of ministers (GoM), headed by Rajasthan Transport Minister Yunus Khan, for framing stricter traffic rules and penalties for various offences.
State-run Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) today reported a 5.56 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 151.49 crore for the six months period ended March 31.
The company had reported a net profit of Rs 160.42 crore in the same period a year ago, IREDA said in a BSE filing.
The total income of the company declined to Rs 568.01 crore from Rs 583.35 crore in the year-ago period, it said.
The further said that it has paid an interim dividend of Rs 150 crore to the government on March 31.
IREDA is a mini ratna under the administrative control of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
The main objectives of IREDA are to give financial support to specific projects and schemes for generating electricity and/or energy through new and renewable sources and conserving energy through energy efficiency among others.
Actor Jason Statham's thriller project "Meg" will release in March, 2018.
The 48-year-old "The Transporter" star is playing a former Navy captain and expert diver, who battles a massive prehistoric shark.
Jon Turtletaub is directing the movie, which is based on the novel by Steven Alten.
The production will start later this year in China and New Zealand.
A leader of Pakistan's main politico-religious party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam was today gunned down by three unidentified men at his residence, police said.
Shah Alam, who belonged to Maulana Fazlur Rehman's party, was assassinated in Dera Ismail Khan district of the restive Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
Three unidentified armed-persons intruded Alam's house and shot him dead.
An FIR has been registered and an investigation is underway.
Opening another potential flashpoint with the Centre, the AAP government today released a draft bill on full statehood to Delhi, seeking to bring police, land and bureaucracy under its control, and invited suggestions from the public till June 30.
An all-party meeting will be held on the issue, Chief Minister said while urging rivals BJP and Congress to "rise above differences" and went on to quote from old manifestos of BJP wherein the party had promised full statehood.
"The BJP has struggled the most on the issue. They have consistently raised it. We are merely taking their resolve forward by inviting public opinion on this draft," Kejriwal told a press conference here, when asked about the AAP's action plan if the draft is rejected by the Centre.
Kejriwal said that he will write letters and also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP President Amit Shah and Congress President Sonia Gandhi to garner support for the draft bill, which keeps the high-profile NDMC area, out of its jurisdiction.
Kejriwal said after June 30, the final version of the draft would be prepared and a resolution would be passed by the Delhi Assembly to this effect. "We will forward the resolution to the Centre which in turn will have to bring Constitutional Amendment," he said.
"The draft has been put on the Delhi government's website. Through its passage, we seek to fulfill the dreams of Congress and BJP. We should rise above party lines. A special session of the Assembly may also be called for passing the resolution," the CM said, flanked by his deputy Manish Sisodia.
US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Cairo today to meet President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, after Egypt called for a renewal of the Middle East peace process.
Even before Sisi had raised the issue, Kerry had planned a visit to discuss the crisis in Libya and Syria and to raise concerns about Egypt's harsh crackdown on dissent.
But the top US diplomat is also keen to hear more from the Egyptian leader about how he intends to help broker peace between his Israeli and Palestinian neighbours.
"He's interested in hearing a bit more directly from the president about what role he has in mind," a senior US official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Yesterday, in a televised speech, Sisi urged Israelis and Palestinians to seize what he said was a "real opportunity" and hailed his own country's peace deal with Israel.
In 1979, Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel after years of conflict, and today it remains an influential player in the region.
Washington believes the only way to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is a negotiated settlement resulting in two states side-by-side within recognised borders.
But the US does not believe the time is yet ripe to resume a direct dialogue between the sides, preferring instead to lobby both to make confidence building measures to reduce violence and calm tensions.
Some in the international community are becoming frustrated with that approach and France -- and now Egypt -- are pushing for a quicker resumption of efforts to seek a final deal.
There is sympathy for that goal in Washington, and an acceptance that there is a risk that the process could become unsalvageable if it is allowed to fester, but there is also caution about pushing too fast.
"We've said repeatedly that we believe negotiations are the only way to solve the problem. We've also said that we're not ourselves trying to resume negotiations at this point," the official said.
"The secretary is very interested in hearing some more about the details of what President Sisi has in mind," he added.
Supporters of the peace process have been dismayed in recent months by Israel's ongoing construction of settlements on Palestinian land and by Palestinian knife and gun attacks on Israelis.
Sri Lanka's Tamil-dominated Northern province today commemorated the civilians who died during the civil war between the LTTE and the army on the 7th anniversary of the end of the three-decade long brutal conflict, with chief minister C V Wigneswaran asserting that "not everyone who died during the war was a terrorist."
Addressing a ceremony held at Vellamullivaikkal in the northeastern Mullaithivu district to mark the seventh death anniversary of the civilians who died during the civil war, Wigneswaran said, "Not everyone who died during the war was a terrorist. We are here to commemorate the civilians. It is necessary to seek out what happened to these people since a lot of civilians lost their lives due to the war."
Wigneswaran said those in the South of the country interpreted the commemoration ceremony as a "tribute to the terrorists" who were killed during the conflict.
A five-minute silence was observed in memory of the victims as well as religious observances.
A similar commemoration was also held in the Jaffna University.
The government has banned the commemoration of the fallen LTTE cadres in the conflict. The LTTE remains a banned terrorist organisation in Sri Lanka.
Government forces killed the Tamil Tiger rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on May 18, 2009 after a brutal military crackdown, and declared an end to the 37-year conflict which claimed at least 100,000 lives.
President Maithripala Sirisena took power in January 2015 promising reconciliation, to reduce the military's involvement in public life and pledging that those guilty of war crimes would be held accountable.
The new government has abandoned a controversial military "victory" parade for a more sombre remembrance ceremony to mark the day.
Earlier, parades celebrated the victory of the Sinhalese military over the minority Tamils, who were banned from remembering their dead as commemoration of fallen rebels was thought anti-state.
Former colleagues of Aruna Shanbaug, a nurse who was raped in 1973 by a ward boy at a Mumbai hospital and died last year after being semi-comatose for 42 years, today observed her first death anniversary and took resolve to keep up their mission of nursing everyone.
"We will be getting Rs 5 lakh from Shiv Sena MLC Neelam Gorhe's legislator fund and with this amount we plan to start a library named after Aruna and also improve the gymnasium in the KEM hospital," hospital Dean Dr Avinash Supe said.
Senior nurse Anuradha Parade said, "We will remember Aruna by rededicating ourselves to our mission of nursing everyone, be it an unknown person from the street or someone we know."
Aruna died at the age of 68 on May 18 last year at Mumbai's state-run King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital. She was suffering from pneumonia and was on ventilator support.
She was a junior nurse in her 20s at KEM hospital when she was brutally assaulted and raped in 1973 by ward boy Sohanlal Bharta Valmiki, whom she had scolded for stealing food meant for stray animals the hospital had adopted.
She had just finished her shift and was in the basement of the hospital changing before leaving for home when Valmiki sexually assaulted and then strangled her with a dog chain, cutting supply of oxygen to her brain.
She was found in the basement 11 hours later, blind and suffering from a severe brain stem injury.
Her attacker was freed after a seven-year jail sentence.
Left bedridden, Aruna spent more than four decades being cared for by a team of doctors and nurses at the KEM hospital. So thorough was the care that in all that time, Shanbaug did not get a single bed sore.
"Nurses would clean, feed, change her clothes, not mechanically. They would talk to her...While trying to clean her mouth, by chance she would bite a finger," a nurse recalled.
Pinky Virani, who authored 'Aruna's Story', had petitioned the Supreme Court to stop force feeding of Aruna, to "allow her to die with dignity".
In a landmark judgement in 2011, the Supreme Court rejected Virani's petition but said life support could be legally removed for some terminally ill patients, in a ruling that allowed passive euthanasia for the first time.
London's new mayor Sadiq Khan has invited US presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to visit the UK and meet his familyin a bid to end their ongoing feud about his plan to ban all Muslims from America.
Khan said the presumptive Republican nominee shouldcome to the UK to meet hiswife Saadiya along with his daughters Anisah and Ammarah.
He told UK television channel ITV: "On your programme I invite Donald Trump to come to London. Meet my wife and my daughters. Meet my friends and my neighbours."
"Meet Londoners who are British, they're Londoners, they're Muslim," he said.
Khan's comments are the latest in an ongoing feud with Trump.
On Monday Trump called Khan "very rude" in an interview and challengedhim to an IQ test.
Khan said: "You know the great thing about London? Muslim, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, we don't just tolerate each other, we respect, we celebrate, we embrace."
"And my concern is this. Are you inadvertently making our countries less safe by giving the impression there is a clash of civilisations? Are you doing the job of Daesh (Islamic State)and the extremists for them by saying the West hates Islam? I am the West," he said.
Madhesis and other minority ethnic groups in Nepal decided to start the next round of protests from tomorrow, as the first phase ended today with a sit-in in Kathmandu to press for their demands relating to more rights, adequate representation and re-demarcation of states boundary.
During the last day of their first phase's sit-in today at Shanti Vatika at Ratnapark in Kathmandu, hundreds of protesters picketed for two hours to oppose the new constitution that delineates Nepal into seven federal states.
The Federal Alliance of 29 parties today announced the second phase of protests after holding a joint meeting here.
During the meeting, the agitating groups concluded that their movement has become successful in bringing waning Madhesi movement back to the limelight.
"The five-day peace movement had drawn greater sympathy from the general public, civil society, media and international community than last year's six-month long blockade at Nepal-India border," alliance leaders said.
The second phase of protests include meetings and rallies in three districts within Kathmandu valley for 10 days and two days of protest rallies in Birgunj of southern Nepal and Pokhara of western Nepal towards the end.
Madhesis, mostly of Indian-origin, wants the government to rewrite the Constitution so that the concept of secularism, identity-based proportional inclusive representation and federal democratic republic status to Nepal could be constitutionally ensured.
The demonstrators yesterday clashed with police in front of Prime Minister K P Oli's official residence, leaving several of them injured.
Meanwhile, Minister for Information and Communications Sherdhan Rai said the Kathmandu-centric agitation launched by the Federal Alliance has no meaning and no essence.
Speaking at an interaction programme here, Rai said that the agitating groups would soon return to the negotiation table as their protest has no essence.
Stating that the government had sent a letter to the Alliance inviting it for the talks, he claimed that the government would not bow down to the agitation launched by the protesting parties.
The demand of one of the groups of the Alliance to rewrite the new Constitution was dangerous, he said, adding that such type of demands would not be addressed at any cost.
Over 50 people lost their lives during months-long agitation by the Madhesis which also saw blockade of Nepal's all trading points with India, resulting in huge shortage of essential commodities and souring Indo-Nepal ties.
Malaysia plans to introduce facial recognition CCTV cameras to nab criminals following a rapid surge in the number of street crimes in the country.
The move comes as snatch theft cases recorded almost a 50 per cent rise in the first four months this year compared to 2015.
Deputy Home Minister Jazlan Mohamed said the existing CCTV cameras were ineffective for the purpose as they only provided visual capabilities.
"We are looking at installation of cameras at hotspots that allow for facial recognition," he told reporters.
"This will allow us to develop a database of the people coming and going into the area which can then be cross-referenced with the police database," he said.
Based on police statistics, a total of 1,031 snatch theft cases were reported for the first four months of this year compared to 742 cases for the same period last year.
This represented a 48.7 per cent increase in snatch theft cases.
Malaysians who insult their government will be barred from overseas travel for three years, which authorities say is aimed at "safeguarding the country's image."
Authorities have begun enforcing a law that allows them to bar citizens who discredit or ridicule the government from travelling abroad.
Immigration Department Director General Sakib Kusmi, in an email to The Star newspaper,confirmed the existence of such a provision, and said the ownership of a Malaysian international passport was a privilege and not a right.
"So, the Government has the discretion to either issue, defer or revoke the travel document," he said.
Those who disparage the government while abroad will also be barred from travelling abroad again for three years upon their return.
The paper quoting an unnamed source reported that the Immigration Department had enforced this ruling several months ago "in a move to safeguard the country's image."
"Anyone who runs down the government in any manner will be barred from going abroad. Only the Immigration Department director-general will be authorised to look into their appeals," the source was quoted as saying.
He said under the latest ruling Malaysians who are caught and deported for overstaying, committing a crime or working without a valid permit abroad will also be barred from going overseas again for two years.
Sakib could not provide statistics on the number of Malaysians who have been barred from leaving the country for discrediting or ridiculing the government.
The controversial move came as Prime Minister Najib Razak has fired detractors and curbed dissent to consolidate his grip on power as funding scandals triggered the worst political crisis since he became the premier seven years ago.
Another anti-dissent measure - the country's Sedition Act - has also been often used against media executives and political opponents by Najib.
Under Malaysian laws, the government doesn't have to explain why anyone is barred from leaving the country, the official agency Bernama had reported on Monday, citing Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed.
Opposition lawmakers and human rights groups have condemned a decision to prevent an activist from going abroad this month.
The Maldives has joined its key financial backer Saudi Arabia in cutting diplomatic ties with Iran, accusing it of undermining peace and security in the Gulf region.
The Maldives foreign ministry said policies that Iran were pursing in the Middle East were "detrimental to peace and security in the region", without giving details.
In a statement issued late on Tuesday, the ministry said it was severing ties because stability in the Gulf was "also linked to stability, peace and security of the Maldives".
The politically troubled Indian Ocean archipelago officially established diplomatic ties with Iran in 1975, although neither has an embassy or consulate in the other's country.
However last month Maldives President Abdulla Yameen received Iran's new ambassador to the Indian Ocean region, Mohammed Zaeri Amirani, who is based in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo.
After that meeting, Yameen said he hoped the two countries could strengthen ties and that the Maldives, made up of 340,000 Sunni Muslims, could start importing oil from Iran -- the Middle East's foremost Shiite power.
Saudi Arabia, a Sunni Muslim power, has recently stepped up financial support for the Maldives by pledging USD 50 million in funding for a military housing project on the island nation, the Maldivesindependent.Com website reported.
Male was also seeking USD 100 million from Riyadh for an expansion of its main airport, the local website said.
The Maldives has tarnished its reputation as an upmarket honeymoon destination in recent years because of prolonged political unrest and a crackdown on opponents.
In January Saudi Arabia and Iran severed diplomatic relations. Riyadh cut ties with Tehran after Iranian demonstrators burned its embassy and a consulate following the Saudi execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.
A man from Uttarakhand went missing after his departure from New Delhi to Abu Dhabi, prompting Chief Minister Harish Rawat to direct state authorities to track the whereabouts of the person.
Lovely Thapa, working in a hotel in Dubai, left for Abu Dhabi from New Delhi on May 12 and has been missing since then, an official release said.
State Resident Commissioner Shankar Dutt Sharma has written a letter to Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Embassy in Dubai asking authorities to trace Thapa's whereabouts, it release said.
A man allegedly committed suicide in a hotel room here today.
The body of Vinay Kumar, a resident of Poonch, was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his hotel room in the Jewel area of Jammu city, said a police officer.
In the morning, the hotel staff had knocked on Kumar's door. As there was no response, they informed the police.
Police rushed to the spot, opened the door with a duplicate key and found Kumar's body hanging from the hook of the ceiling fan, the officer added.
A case has been registered and the body sent to Government Medical College (GMC) hospital. It will be handed over to relatives of the deceased after the completion of all legal and medical formalities, he said.
The officer added that initial investigations point towards a case of suicide.
Shares of Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra fell by as much as 4% today after their popular passenger vehicle models in India -- Celerio, Eeco and Scorpio -- failed by vehicle safety group Global NCAP with 'zero star' ratings.
The scrip of Maruti fell 3.57% to Rs 3,808 on BSE.
Shares of Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) too went down 2.17% to Rs 1,312.25.
Five popular passenger vehicle models in India -- Maruti's Celerio and Eeco van , Renault Kwid, Mahindra Scorpio and Hyundai Eon -- have failed crash tests by Global NCAP with 'zero star' ratings.
The companies, however, have contested the test results.
The UK-based group tested five models, which included Eeco, sold in India, and found that the vehicles "showed low levels of adult occupant protection".
However, Maruti Suzuki insisted that all its products were safe and met "the safety standards of India and in most cases, exceed them".
According to Global NCAP, Mahindra Scorpio scored zero star rating in the adult occupant protection and two stars in child occupant protection.
M&M on its part said its entire automotive products are developed and manufactured to meet or exceed the safety standards set in India.
US technology major Microsoft, the owner of Nokia's mobile device business, has agreed to sell the latter's branding rights to Finnish firm HMD Global and contract manufacturer Foxconn for $350 million.
To complete its portfolio of Nokia branding rights, HMD announced today that it has conditionally agreed to acquire from Microsoft the rights to use the Nokia brand on feature phones and certain related design rights. The Microsoft transaction is expected to close in H2 of 2016, Nokia said in a statement.
In a separate agreement, Nokia Technologies will grant HMD Global Oy (HMD), a newly-founded company based in Finland, the exclusive global licence to create Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets for the next 10 years.
Under the pact, Nokia Technologies will receive royalty payments from HMD for sales of Nokia-branded mobile products, covering both the brand and the intellectual property rights.
Microsoft also said it has signed a pact to sell the company's entry-level feature phone assets to FIH Mobile, a subsidiary of Hon Hai/Foxconn Technology Group, and HMD Global Oy for $350 million. As part of the deal, FIH Mobile will acquire Microsoft Mobile Vietnam, the company's Hanoi manufacturing facility. Foxconn has been a vendor for Nokia and also produced Nokia N1 tablets in a licensing agreement with Nokia Technologies.
HMD and Nokia Technologies have signed the pact with FIH to establish a collaboration framework to support the building of a global business for Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets, the statement said.
This deal will enable Nokia brand to return to the mobile phone and tablet market at a global scale.
"Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the Nokia brand in an industry where Nokia remains a truly iconic name. Instead of Nokia returning to manufacturing mobile phones itself, HMD plans to produce mobile phones and tablets that can leverage and grow the value of the Nokia brand in global markets," Nokia Technologies President Ramzi Haidamus said.
Nokia will provide HMD with branding rights and cellular standard essential patent licences in return for royalty payments, but will not be making a financial investment or holding equity in HMD.
Microsoft acquired Nokia device business for USD 7.2 billion and the deal was closed in April 2014.
Microsoft kept Nokia brand to only feature phones while selling smartphones under Lumia.
Post closure of this deal, some 4,500 employees will move to or have the opportunity to join FIH Mobile or HMD Global Oy subject to compliance with local laws.
Microsoft will continue to develop Windows 10 Mobile and support Lumia phones such as Lumia 650, Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, and phones from OEM partners like Acer, Alcatel, HP, Trinity and VAIO.
Actress Kajol says she and Prime Minister Narendra Modi share similar views and concerns when it comes to environment and maintaining hygiene.
The 41-year-old actress met Modi in Delhi to discuss Hindustan Unilever's Lifebuoy's 'Help A Child Reach 5' campaign as its brand ambassador.
Through the initiative, Kajol spreads the importance of good hand-washing habits around the world.
"He (Modi) has initiated Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan and it coincides with our 'Help A Child Reach 5' initiative, so we thought of meeting and discussing things with him. We are on a same page as our goals are same... We want a hygienic environment," Kajol told PTI.
"He is the best person to give tips on it. The meeting went well as we discussed lot of interesting stuff. We want the mortality rate of children and people in the society to come down."
The "Fanaa" actress said the Prime Minister, who has been batting for clean environment through Centre's flagship Swachh Bharat campaign, lauded the initiative.
"He appreciated our work. He understood what we were trying to do. He understood that there is a need to give importance to hand washing to save life of children and people," Kajol said.
She revealed it was Modi, who gave the campaigners the idea to utilise mass media platform for the advertisements.
"Through our ad 'Haath Mooh aur Bum, Bimari Hogi Kum', we wanted to bring alive the message of hygiene in a fun and engaging manner. Clean surroundings and following good hygiene are two pre requisites to stay fit and healthy," Kajol said.
Every year millions of children fail to reach their fifth birthday because of diseases like diarrhoea and pneumonia and through 'Help A Child Reach 5' campaign, the team helps more and more children reach their fifth birthday.
Morocco slammed the US State Department's report on human rights in the North African kingdom as a list of inventions and even lies.
The official MAP agency yesterday quoted the Interior Ministry as saying the report's content is "truly scandalous."
Morocco is an important US ally in a volatile region, particularly valuable for its help in the fight against terrorism, making its irate, public reaction to last month's report highly unusual.
The report's contents "went from approximation of information to pure and simple invention, from erroneous appreciation to lies," MAP quoted the ministry as saying. It denounced the sources used to compile the report as "unreliable" and "politically hostile."
The State Department issues a country-by-country report each year on human rights around the world.
The latest report, issued April 13, listed corruption and widespread disregard by security forces for the rule of law as two significant ongoing problems in Morocco.
Interior Minister Mohamed Hassad has met with US. Ambassador Dwight Bush about the report, and "technical working sessions" with embassy officials have been held, the ministry said. Apparently to no avail.
"Morocco wants no more evasive responses, but precise case by case answers," he said.
Morocco is obliged "to explore all possible paths" to uncover the report's errors and "is prepared to go to the end," not excluding taking its case to the "highest authorities in the different national American institutions."
Among other things, the lengthy State Department report said that "systematic and pervasive corruption undermined law enforcement and the effectiveness of the judicial system," adding that "impunity was pervasive" with no official data about prosecution or punishment of officials committing abuses.
It also said decisions at trials touching on politically sensitive issues like the monarchy, security and Islam as it pertains to political life "appeared predetermined."
While reports of disappearances and torture, widespread in the 1970s and 1980s, have eased, the State Department report noted a 2014 report by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention citing "sources deemed to be credible" saying that disappearances have continued.
While torture is constitutionally forbidden, the State Department report quoted an Amnesty International review claiming that "an array of torture techniques are used by Moroccan security forces to extract confessions ... Silence activists and crush dissent."
The Interior Ministry, as quoted by MAP, questioned the credibility of a report prepared in Washington and based on reports submitted by "a few individuals with no credibility or a handful of Moroccans known for years for their aversion to the regime.
China today said it wants to enhance mutual trust with India and move forward their bilateral cooperative partnership as it announced President Pranab Mukherjee's maiden visit here from May 24.
"This will be the first visit for President Mukherjee to China. It is also one of the high level exchanges between China and India this year," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a media briefing here.
"China and India are the major emerging countries and play a major role on the international stage. They have made great contribution for peace and stability in the world," he said.
President Xi Jinping's visit to India in 2014 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China last year have marked a "new era" for Sino-Indian relations, Hong said.
"We are willing to further enhance mutual trust and mutual beneficial cooperation with India so as to move forward the cooperative partnership between China and India," he said.
Mukherjee will be visiting China from May 24-27 at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Xi, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
Mukherjee, the first Indian president to visit China after his predecessor Pratibha Patil's trip in 2010, will arrive in the highly industrialised Chinese city Guangzhou on May 24. The city has strong business links with India.
Besides interacting with the Indian community, which has over 3,000 businessmen, Mukherjee will also addressIndia- China Business Forum to highlight the investment opportunities in India.
Top Chinese officials of the province are expected to attend the event. A number of Indian and Chinese businessmen are also expected to take part in the event, sources said.
Later, Mukherjee will arrive in Beijing on May 25 and attend a reception hosted by The Chinese People's Friendship Association for Foreign Countries (CPAFFC).
On May 26, he will address a meeting at the Peking University and later hold talks with Xi and also meet Premier Li Keqiang along with other Chinese leaders before leaving for home on May 27.
The visit would set off a series of high-level visits between the two countries as they seek to deepen bilateral engagement despite differences like China's attempts to block India's bid at the UN to get JeM chief Masood Azhar banned.
The President's tour, which is a reciprocal visit to Xi's trip to India in 2014, will be followed by Modi's visit to the Chinese city of Hangzhou to take part in the G20 leaders summit to be held on September 4 and 5 this year.
Xi is expected to travel to India to take part in the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) summit scheduled to be held in Goa from October 15-16. Modi had made a high-profile visit to China last year.
Chinese scientists have found new fossils of the world's oldest known multicellular organisms, dating as far back as 1.56 billion years, nearly one billion years earlier than the previous record.
The fossils found in carbon-rich compressions in north China's Hebei Province, Zhu Maoyan, who led the research, told state-run Xinhua agency today.
They show organisms large enough to be visible to the naked eye and predate the diversification of multicellular life by nearly one billion years, the report said.
The findings show that multicellular life with modest diversity populated the early Mesoproterozoic seas, but the species' affinity to extant species remains unclear, Zhu said.
"Further research will shed light on the ancient marine ecosystem," he said, adding that the biggest fossil was 30 centimetre long and 8 centimetre wide.
An article on research by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Nanjing institute of geology and paleontology was published today in the journal "Nature Communications.
The Yanshan Mountain region of Qianxi and Kuanxian counties in Hebei has Mesoproterozoic sedimentary mudstone.
Organic fragments extracted from the host rock show well-preserved multicellular cell structures.
Prior to this discovery, fossils of multicellular life only dated back some 600 million years.
There will be no Indian competing in the singles event of the French Open as Saketh Myneni was knocked out of the Qualifiers following a straight-set defeat against American Frances Tiafoe, here today.
Seeded 28th and ranked 147, Myneni had his moments before losing 6-7 (5) 5-7 in the second round contest that kept oscillating from one extreme to the other.
At one stage, Myneni almost rose from the dead as he was trailing 2-5 in the opening set but stretched it to a tie-breaker before letting go a set point in the 12th game.
Tiafoe, ranked 188, showed tremendous willpower to fight even when he was on backfoot in the tie-breaker as he was staring down the barrel trailing 2-5. He reeled off five straight points to nose ahead.
The Indian conceded a 4-1 lead in the second set but kept fighting. He soon reduced the gap and made it 4-4, breaking Tiafoe in the eighth after staving off a breakpoint.
Eventually, Myneni dropped serve one final time in the 12th game to let Tiafoe advance to the second round.
Ramkumar Ramanathan was knocked out on Monday in the first round itself.
In the opening set, Myneni had got an early opportunity to take lead but squandered three break chances in the second game after an easy hold.
Tiafoe though did not waste opportunity that came his way as he cashed in on the first break chance in the third game to create a mini-opening.
The Indian got the break back immediately but only to drop his serve in the fifth to hand back advantage to the American. Tiafoe held his serve in the sixth to lead 4-2 in the opening set and consolidated it with another break of serve.
Serving for the set at 5-2, Tiafoe lost his serve and Myneni saved four set points in the gruelling ninth game to narrow the gap to 4-5.
Stepping up the pressure, the Indian broke Tiafoe in the next game to bring the match to even keel at 5-5. An easy hold at love for Myneni in the next meant that the American was not serving to stay in the set.
Tiafoe not only saved a set point in the 12th game but also erased a 2-5 deficit in the tie-breaker, winning five straight points, to take one-set lead.
Government today spurned the demands for renaming Akbar Road as Maharana Pratap Road, saying "naming and renaming of streets was not on the agenda", a day after Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh wrote to the Urban Development Minister asking for the change.
"Naming and renaming of street is not the subject matter of the Urban Development Ministry. It is not on the government's agenda. Government's focus is only development," Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters.
Singh has pitched for renaming Akbar Road in Lutyens Zone after the doughty Mewar ruler Maharana Pratap and written to Naidu in this regard. Singh's demand comes amid reports that Haryana government too had sought renaming of Akbar road after the Mewar ruler.
Playing down Singh's comments, BJP said everyone has a right to express his opinion but the government's priority was solving the country's problems and its development.
"Our priority is 'gramoday se Bharat uday', as envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Government works according to its priorities but everybody has a right to their opinion," BJP secretary Shrikant Sharma said.
In August last year, Aurangzeb Road was named after late President A P J Abdul Kalam following a push by BJP leaders.
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Meanwhile, BJP state council meet today adopted a
resolution blaming cultural icons of Kerala for their "silence" over the "violence unleashed by the ruling CPI(M)" in the state.
The resolution, presented by state party chief Kummanam Rajasekharan, alleged that Kerala has become a killing field under the CPI(M) rule.
"Even women are being burnt alive in the name of political rivalry," the resolution said, referring to the death of a BJP woman supporter recently.
The woman had succumbed to burn injuries after some vehicles parked at her house were set ablaze by suspected CPI(M) activists at Kanjikkode in Palakkad district.
The "silence" of cultural icons and human rights activists was "dangerous" when incidents of harassment of women and children were being reported, it said.
It accused the cultural leaders of pledging for humanism and ethics merely for winning awards and recognition.
The resolution was adopted a day after cultural activists organised a get together in Thiruvananthapuram to express solidarity with litterateur M T Vasudevan Nair and filmmaker Kamal who had come under attack of Sangh parivar and BJP for their stand against certain policies of the Narendra Modi government.
Popular Bengali actor Chironjeet Chakroborty said he is worried about the dwindling number of single-screen theatres in West Bengal, which he held responsible for the declining profit of Bengali films.
From 750 single screens till a few years back, the number has now gone down to 246, which is a very 'alarming' scenario, according to the actor who is contesting as a TMC nominee from Barasat seat in this year's Assembly election.
"If a film clicks with the audience, the option of viewing it is limited," Chironjeet, whose real name is Dipak, told PTI.
He said that he would do his bit to improve the situation, but felt that it was not his sole job and every stakeholder has to render help.
"Every stakeholder has to come forward to tackle the issue because it is the most important factor for the revival of Bengali film industry," the actor said.
Chironjeet said that filmmaker Raj Chakroborty had told him that his super-duper hit "Chirodini Tumi Je Amar" became a hit as it had repeat audiences on a higher number of single screens.
The importance of the issue was also emphasised by theatre personality Kaushik Sen and popular screen actor Prosenjit Chatterjee, who both stressed the need to have more single-screen theatres.
They called for government's help in this regard.
Chironjeet said that the recent trend of Bengali directors taking up Shaksepeare in their projects, from Srijit Mukherjee, Anjan Dutt to Aparna Sen, is purely coincidental.
"Shaksepeare is as timeless as Mahabharat. May be after thinking about the story the directors have structurally placed Shakespearean references in the plots.
Nepal will host an international Buddhist seminar from tomorrow to mark the 2,560th birth anniversary of Lord Buddha to be attended by about 1,000 delegates, including from India, aimed to position the country as the prime destination of Buddhist pilgrimage globally.
Around 400 international delegates, including 200 monks from 28 different countries will participate in the two-day seminar on Buddhism from May 19-20, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
"Nepal is not only the birth land of Lord Buddha, the apostle of peace, but it is also the country, from where the philosophy originate, Buddhism originate more than two and a half millennium ago," said Minister for Tourism and Culture Ananda Prasad Pokharel, addressing a press briefing on the eve of the programme.
The seminar is aimed at positioning Nepal as the fountain of Buddhism in the world and to popularise the country as the prime destination of Buddhist pilgrimage, he said.
Some 1,000 representatives, including 400 foreign delegates are taking part in the conference.
Buddhist monks, scholars, government officials, tourism entrepreneurs and media persons from more than two dozen Buddhist countries including Bhutan, India, China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka are attending the conference.
Some 300 Buddhist monks, including 200 foreign monks are taking part in the conference. Ministerial level delegation is arriving from Sri Lanka and Thailand to attend the seminar, according to the organisers.
From India, prominent Buddhist scholars and monks are attending the programme.
A special programme will be organised at Lumbini, the birth place of Lord Buddha, situated 250 km south-west of Kathmandu on Saturday, coinciding with the 2,560th Buddha Jayanti.
President Bidya Devi Bhandari will be the chief guest on the occasion. Around 10,000 people are expected to arrive in Lumbini to mark the occasion.
During the event, the president will announce the winner of 'Lord Buddha Peace Prize' worth USD 50,000.
Thousands of devotees today joined the funeral procession of Baba Hardev Singh, head of the Nirankari mission, choking key arterial roads in north Delhi.
The procession started early morning from the mission's main centre at Kingsway Camp area and ended in the afternoon at Nigam Bodh Ghat area here.
Thousands of devotees thronged the roads, to catch a last glimpse of the spiritual leader, as the procession passed through Burari, Outer Ring Road, Parmanand Colony, Mall Road, Ring Road and Kashmere Gate ISBT, clogging all arterial roads.
Commuters heading towards south took diversion from Outer Ring Road towards Madhuban Chowk and GTK Road from Mubarka Chowk to Azadpur and then turned right on the Ring Road heading towards Punjabi Bagh. Motorists destined towards north were diverted through trans-Yamuna region.
However, in no time, the diversion routes too witnessed long tailbacks and traffic was thrown out-of-gear.
Elaborate arrangements were made to minimise inconvenience caused to commuters, a senior traffic official said, adding that a public advisory was also issued regarding the same.
Hardev Singh (62), head of Nirankari Mission, was killed in a road accident in Canada on May 13.
TheUN received 44 allegations of sexual abuse in all peacekeeping and special political missions so far in 2016 even as no Indian soldiers faced any charges of misconduct, according to the latest update on abuse allegations against peacekeepers.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters here yesterday that for 2016, the number of allegations recorded so far in peacekeeping and special political missions is 44.
Indian peacekeepers maintained their clean record of serving with dignity and conduct in peacekeeping missions with no reports of allegations of sexual exploitation or abuse against them so far this year.
In 2015 also, when 69 allegations were recorded against peacekeepers, no Indians was accused of any wrongdoing.
This year reports of sexual exploitation and abuse have been made against uniformed personnel from Congo, Niger, Morocco, South Africa, Benin, Bangladesh and Burundi.
India has strongly maintained that instances of sexual abuse and exploitation by UN peacekeepers are "abhorrent and repugnant" and has underscored that it has a zero tolerance policy on such cases.
India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin had said in March during a Security Council meeting on 'UN Peacekeeping Operations: Sexual Exploitation and Abuse' that India has contributed its troops because it sees peacekeeping as a "shining example" of the international community's commitment to collective security.
Dujarric added that there is an update on the progress being made on key initiatives, including the vetting of all individuals being deployed for any prior misconduct and the establishment of Immediate Response Teams to gather evidence following reports of sexual exploitation and abuse.
The UN has set up a Trust Fund for victim assistance in March, and the first pledge to that fund has been made by Norway in the amount of USD 125,000, and the UN encourages others to contribute as well.
Three investigations have been completed, two involving military personnel and one involving civilian personnel. These allegations were substantiated and were reported in the UN Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), he said.
The UN said 41 investigations are ongoing, of which 11 are being conducted by troop contributing countries.
Donald Trump today demanded that the New York Times sack its reporter who did an investigative report on his relationships with women that allegedly showed the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in bad light.
"Michael Barbaro, the author of the now discredited" The New York Times "hit piece on me with women, has in past tweeted badly about me. He should resign," Trump tweeted.
The weekend report based on interviews with several women who worked with Trump in the last few decades portrays the 69-year-ol real-estate tycoon in a negative light.
The report said that the thrice-married Trump has a mixed history with women, with crude remarks mixed with efforts to foster the career of female employees.
It said Trump cultivated an image as a womaniser ever since he was in an all-male military school in the 1960s, where he was dubbed a "ladies' man.
Trump has denied the allegations and has been critical of the daily both on Twitter, other social media platforms and in his interviews to other media outlets.
One of the lead woman in the story - a former girlfriend of Trump - has alleged that the Times "spun" her quotes.
The Times said it stands by its story.
President Barack Obama has offered his congratulations to the new presumptive president of the Philippines who has attracted controversy over his iron-fisted approach to law and order.
The White House yesterday said Obama and Rodrigo Duterte spoke by phone in their first conversation since Duterte declared victory in the May 9 vote.
Obama noted high voter turnout in the election was a sign of the Philippines' "vibrant democracy," and he highlighted the two nations' "shared commitments to democracy, human rights, rule of law and inclusive economic growth," a statement said.
Duterte has been a controversial character in Philippine politics. The longtime mayor of Davao campaigned on a promise to end crime and corruption. His public threat to kill all criminals helped catapult him to the presidency but has alarmed human rights activists.
Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes acknowledged the controversy over some of Duerte's past statements but he said the US wanted to build on the "good progress" made between the allies under the outgoing administration of President Benigno Aquino III.
"For us, the priorities will remain the security and prosperity of the Philippines. We'll want to see continued efforts in the Philippines in respect of rule of law and to combat corruption, just as we support those types of efforts across Asia and around the world," Rhodes told the Center for a New American Security think tank.
"We believe that now as much as ever it's important that the US and the Philippines are seen as working together and also working with a network of allies and partners in Southeast Asia," he said.
The historically tumultuous relationship between the US and its former colony has thrived in recent years as the Philippines has turned to Washington for support against an assertive China with which the Philippines has territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
On Aquino's watch, the Philippines has agreed to opening up several of its military facilities in American forces a quarter-century after nationalist sentiments forced the closure of US bases in the island nation.
The White House today announced the extension of overtime pay benefits to 4.2 million American workers labelled managers but compelled to work long hours for relatively low wages.
The move addresses a decades-long trend of businesses requiring 50- and 60-hour weeks of a growing body of workers classified as managers and supervisors but paid barely more than those on low hourly wages.
The rule, which comes into force on December 1, is expected to raise the workforce cost for many businesses already facing pressure to increase their minimum hourly pay as well.
The action increases the pay threshold below which employees must be paid overtime wages after working 40 hours a week.
Held at USD 455 a week for more than a decade, the threshold will double to USD 913 a week, the equivalent of nearly USD 47,500 a year.
The level will be adjusted every three years to reflect economic conditions.
"If you work more than 40 hours a week, you should get paid for it or get extra time off to spend with your family and loved ones," President Barack Obama said in a statement. "It's one of the most important steps we're taking to help grow middle-class wages."
He cited the case of Elizabeth Paredes, an assistant manager in a Tucson, Arizona, sandwich shop who had worked up to 70 hours a week but never earned any overtime pay because her salary was over the USD 455-a-week threshold.
"This policy just hasn't kept up with the times," Obama said.
Only seven per cent of Americans qualify for overtime under the old threshold, the White House said, compared with 60 percent of workers in 1975 who could earn overtime benefits -- usually a 50 percent premium on their hourly wages.
That erosion has contributed to the stagnation of wages for lower- and middle-class workers nationally, and the shrinking of the middle class, analysts say.
US business groups were quick to blast the new policy as excessive and harmful to small firms.
The rule "represents another regrettable burden being piled on employers as they attempt to grow in a tepid economy," US Chamber of Commerce senior vice president Randy Johnson said.
"There are severe repercussions associated with this for both employers and employees," said Lizzy Simmons, senior director for government relations at the National Retail Federation.
The NRF and others argue workers would suffer from being reclassified from managers to hourly workers, and lose flexibility in their daily work.
Opposition National Conference leader Omar Abdullah today took a dig at Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, saying she had been rendered a "figurehead" as she had not been included in a high-level meeting held in Delhi to discuss "all aspects" of Jammu and Kashmir.
"High level meeting in Delhi reviews 'all aspects of J&K situation' and CM is not included. @mehbooba_mufti reduced to a figurehead. Pity!!" Omar tweeted.
He was referring to a meeting of top Union ministers and BJP leaders, including party chief Amit Shah, in Delhi in which the political and security situation in Jammu and Kashmir besides rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits was discussed.
The meeting was chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Defence Minister Manohar Parikar, Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh, among others.
While being sarcastic, Omar added, "It seems the only thing expected of CM @mehbooba_mufti is to visit Delhi to hand over bouquets of flowers to high dignitaries for photo opps."
The former Chief Minister said while Governor N N Vohra represented the state during a similar meeting held in Delhi earlier this month, even he was not present at today's meeting.
"There are 20+ flights from Srinagar to Delhi everyday and the state has its own plane so don't tell me logistics came in the way," he added.
Over 1,000 Chinese Yoga enthusiasts today participated in the India-China Yoga conference in the country's Southwest Kunming city.
The five-day conference that began today will feature activities including courses from Indian Yoga masters and Yoga introductions for various communities.
The event is sponsored by the municipal government of Kunming and jointly organised by the foreign affairs and overseas Chinese affairs offices under the municipal government and the China-India Yoga College in Kunming.
The college established during the last year's visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to China is based in Yunnan Minzu (Nationalities) University.
It was opened in November last year as China's first Yoga- dedicated college.
Official media reports here said the college is a big hit as over 3000 enthusiasts have turned up for training.
Under the agreement between the two countries, India sends at least two tutors to the college.
Currently the college does not issue degrees, but students who want a degree inYogacan pursue further studies at Indian colleges.
College head Fang Zhen said yoga's similarity to Chinese Tai Chi helps explain its growing popularity in China, state-run Xinhua agency reported.
Another international Yoga conference conducted by China's famous private Yoga institute 'Yogi Yoga' concluded in Beijing in which large number of youth took part to undergo training.
Another Yoga conference is planned to be held in Guangzhou next month.
Yogawas first introduced into China by Hong Kong practitioner Wai Lana in the 1980s.
Her workout programmes aired daily on China's Central Television were the starting point for many Chinese Yoga students and struck a chord with China's white collar workers.
Last year thousands participated in the first UN's International YogaDay held on June 21.
India is likely to have over 17.3 lakh new cases of cancer and over 8.8 lakh deaths due to the disease by 2020 with cancers of breast, lung and cervix topping the list, a premier medical research body said today.
In its projection, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said in 2016 the total number of new cancer cases is expected to be around 14.5 lakh and the figure is likely to reach nearly 17.3 lakh new cases in 2020.
Over 7.36 lakh people are expected to succumb to the disease in 2016 while the figure is estimated to shoot up to 8.8 lakh by 2020. Data also revealed that only 12.5 per cent of patients come for treatment in early stages of the disease.
Among females, breast cancer topped the list and among males mouth cancer, the study said.
The northeast reported the highest number of cancer cases in both males and females. Aizawl district in Mizoram reported the highest number of cases among males while Papumpare district in Arunachal Pradesh recorded the highest number among females.
"Cancer of breast with estimated 1.5 lakh (over 10 per cent of all cancers) new cases during 2016, is the number one cancer overall. Cancer of the lung is the next with estimated 1.14 lakh (83,000 in males and 31,000 in females) new cases during 2016 and 1.4 lakh cases in 2020.
"Cancer of the cervix is the third most common cancer with estimated 1 lakh new cases in 2016 and about 1.04 lakh during 2020. Cancers associated with the use of tobacco account for about 30 per cent of all cancers in males and females," the ICMR said.
The ICMR also conducted a country-wide study from 2012-14 from various Population Based Cancer Registeries (PBCR) and Hospital Based Registeries.
It also stated there was a "significant" increase in cancers of rectum and colon in males in the PBCRs at Bangalore, Chennai, and Delhi and in females in Barshi and Bhopal.
Among males, there was also a significant increase in the cases of cancers of colon, rectum and prostate in Bengalore, Chennai and Delhi while among women there was a significant increase in the rate of cancers related to breast, uterus, ovary and lung.
However, the PBCRs in Bangalore, Chennai, Barshi, Bhopal, Delhi and Mumbai have shown a decrease in incidents of cervical cancer. Delhi also tops the chart for cancer among children.
Among males, mouth cancer is leading in registry areas of the western states of the country while among the females of East Khasi hills in Meghalaya recorded the highest number of cases of mouth cancer among women.
"One in eight Indians is likely to develop cancer in their lifetime, unless you are in Aizawl where the chances are one in four" A Nandkumar, Head of National Cancer Registry said.
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Nandkumar said there was a rise in cases of lung cancer
among females because more and more women are taking up smoking.
The study also revealed a rise in the number of cases of gall bladder cancer in the Gangetic belt.
"Although cervical cancer was the third common cancer, it was not growing at the pace which other cancers were growing," Nandkumar said.
ICMR has also demanded that cancer be declared a "notifiable disease" like HIV and tuberculosis as this will help in better monitoring of the patients.
Opposition Congress and NCP today demanded ouster of Maharashtra Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse, whose 'PA' was arrested by the ACB in a land allotment case.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials had, on Friday, arrested Gajanan Patil, who claimed to be Khadse's personal assistant, for demanding Rs 30 crore from economist Ramesh Jadhav, who had sought an NOC from Khadse's office regarding the land allotment at Nilje village in Kalyan taluka in Thane district.
Khadse had claimed that the value of the two plots of land in question was Rs 5.53 crore and Rs 77.40 lakh respectively and there was "no question of anybody" demanding illegal gratification of Rs 30 crore.
However, Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant today said as per the current ready reckoner rates, the value of the 10.7 hectares in Kalyan's Nilje village is Rs 152 crore.
"The minister (Khadse) had recently said the value of the concerned land in Nilje village is Rs 5 crore, so there was no question of demanding a bribe of Rs 30 crore. But, as per the R R rates, he is blatantly lying. The current value of the land is Rs 152 crore," Sawant told reporters here.
"If you go as per the market value of that piece of land, it goes upto Rs 405 crore. There are many business houses requiring such tracts of land. Can the government not make money by officially giving the land to them," he asked.
Meanwhile, NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said ACB action on Gajanan Patil, Khadse's 'PA' was only under pressure from the Lokayukta.
"Dr Ramesh Jadhav had filed the complaint seven months back, but the ACB kept dilly dallying. This shows the government was protecting Khadse. The CM should immediately intervene and ask the minister to step down until he is proven innocent," Malik said.
He added that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should immediately convene a special cabinet meeting and accept the recommendations of Justice (retd) P B Gaikwad to give teeth to the Lokayukta.
Two days back, Khadse had said that he would file a defamation suit against the complainant who has a "tendency" to level corruption charges.
Signalling a political tug of war ahead, the first meeting of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) today saw a strong demand from BJP members to take up contentious AgustaWestland issue while a Congress member asked the parliamentary audit panel to examine the implementation of Prime Minister's pet 'Make in India' scheme.
Trinamool Congress member Sukhendu Sekhar Roy wondered if it will not be a "conflict of interest" to discuss defence deals in the presence of Comptroller and Auditor General Shashi Kant Sharma, who was earlier Defence Secretary.
Roy noted that the CAG is examining a number of matters including some deals and has submitted a report on some of them.
He questioned how the PAC could examine the CAG reports on defence deals when Sharma was earlier Defence Secretary.
"How can the CAG sit here, when we are examining those reports," Roy asked.
PAC Chairman K V Thomas, however, reminded him that the issue of appointment of Sharma as CAG had been settled earlier.
The Supreme Court had rejected a plea seeking quashing of appointment of Shashi Kant Sharma as the CAG.
The issues were raised in the presence of Sharma, who made the customary CAG briefing in the first meeting of the newly-constituted Public Accounts committee headed by senior Congress leader K V Thomas.
In the meeting that was called to decide on subjects to be taken up during its one year-tenure, Vijay Goel (BJP) said the PAC should take up the 2013 CAG report on "irregularities" in the VVIP chopper deal.
The demand was also supported by BJD's B Mahtab, who said that there should not be any bar on PAC taking up even those issues that are being investigated by agencies like the CBI or those pending before the courts.
Mahtab also cited that PAC had looked into CAG reports on coal block allocation.
Thomas, however, remained non-committal over the demand and asked the members to write to him about the issues that they want to discuss.
Sources said that the BJP members are keen to discuss the VVIP chopper deal issue and won't mind going for a voting in the committee if Congress members are disinclined to take it up.
Shantaram Naik (Congress) demanded that the PAC should examine the implementation of Make in India programme of Centre.
Naik's insistence that the PAC should examine the
implementation of the Prime Minister's pet programme appeared to be a strategy to put the BJP on defensive.
On the AgustaWestland issue, the CAG had submitted a report in August 2013, concluding that the process, from framing of quality requirements to the conclusion of the contract of the VVIP choppers, differed from established procurement procedures.
The report came before the PAC of that time, which was then headed by BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi but the PAC did not take up the issue then.
The argument of Congress members is that that the PAC Chairman could have taken up the issue then had there been anything substantial to pin point bribing of any politician.
The issue has led to a huge controversy during the recently concluded Budget Session of Parliament with members from Congress and BJP sparring over it for days.
While the government vowed to track down the main beneficiaries of the kickbacks so that "we can do" what "we could not do in Bofors", Congress said it was ready to face a probe that is monitored by the Supreme Court.
The PAC has 15 members from Lok Sabha including Kirit Somaiya, Anurag Singh Thakur, Nishikant Dubey, Janardan Singh Sigriwal, Riti Pathak, Abhishek Singh, Shivkumar C Udasi (BJP), Sudip Bandyopadhyay (TMC), Prem Singh Chandumajra (Akali Dal), nominated MP from Kerala Richard Hay, Gajanan Chandrakant Kirtikar (Shiv Sena), Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD), Neiphiu Rio (Nagaland Peoples Front) and P Venugopal (AIADMK).
Many of the newly-appointed BJP members in the panel have been aggressively attacking Congress and the Gandhi family on issues including AgustaWestland in Parliament and outside and therefore the PAC meetings in coming days are expected to generate much heat.
Naik also wanted the PAC to take up the CAG report on PPP projects to examine PPP projects.
The previous PAC, whose term ended last month, had recommended that the CAG should also have the power to examine PPP projects as public money is involved there.
Members felt that it's an issue on which the government has to take a policy decision as private parties are against the CAG examining expenditure decisions in PPP projects.
Kirit Somaiya of BJP wanted the panel to speedily examine the issue of NPA of banks, an issue into which the previous PAC went into detail, seeking response from RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan as well as Public Sector Banks.
Sukhendu Sekhar Roy suggested that the panel should take
up the CAG report on purchase of trainee aircraft in which the audit watchdog has found certain irregularities.
After the meeting, a senior member of the panel said that the committee is inclined to take up issues like the implementation of Food Security Act and the CAG report on PPP projects.
A member is learnt to have said in the meeting that it should be examined how much allocations were made to states under the 12th, 13th and 14th Finance Commission and how much of that money has really been given to them.
The member demanded that the CAG should do an audit of 81 thousand crore rupees that were allocated to states by the Commission.
Nishikant Dubey from the BJP wanted the CAG to look into the implementation part of the UPA's Land Acquisition Act and RTI, the sources said.
He is learnt to have said that while the Finance Commission is devolving 42 per cent of gross tax revenue to states, what is its impact on Centre-state relations.
Another member said that the PAC can take up only a limited number of issues and cannot have many sub-committees to examine specific issues. The previous PAC had five sub-committees, which were looking into different issues.
The committee in its meeting today decided that all those matters being examined by the previous committee into which reports could not be filed, will be taken up by the new committee.
In his briefing, the CAG suggested 10 issues to the PAC that could be taken up.
Poland and Hungary have blasted Bill Clinton over a remark by the former US president accusing the ex-communist EU and NATO countries of taking an authoritarian turn and wanting "Putin-like leadership".
"Poland and Hungary, two countries that would not be free but for the United States and the long Cold War have now decided that this democracy is too much trouble," Clinton said at an election rally last week for Democratic party presidential front-runner and spouse, Hillary Clinton.
"They want Putin-like leadership; just give me an authoritarian dictatorship and keep the foreigners out. Sounds familiar?" he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin in what also appeared to be a swipe against outspoken anti-immigrant Republican presumptive White House nominee Donald Trump.
Poland's rightwing leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski lashed out at the Putin comparison, recommending that Clinton "seek medical attention".
"Anyone claiming that democracy doesn't exist in Poland today ought to seek medical attention," Kaczynski told reporters in Warsaw yesterday.
Although he holds no cabinet post, the leader of the governing populist Law and Justice (PiS) party is widely regarded as the real powerbroker in the government that swept to power on an anti-migrant and populist spending platform in October elections.
Critics both at home and abroad have blasted the rightwing governments in both Poland and Hungary, accusing them of rolling back democratic freedoms by tightening their grip on public media and undermining other democratic checks and balances.
Budapest and Warsaw have also refused to accept refugees as part of an EU-wide quota system designed to tackle Europe's worst migrant crisis since World War II.
"Bill Clinton knows that Hungarians decided about Hungary's future at democratic parliamentary elections," Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told local media yesterday.
"Maybe he doesn't like the decision made by Hungarians, but that's not enough reason for the former US president to insult them.
As the Modi government nears its second anniversary, Standard Chartered today said the pace of policy changes has been "more gradual than initially expected" so far and more concrete measures are still awaited to expand manufacturing and create jobs.
The global financial services major said India needs structural reforms like GST implementation, supply-side measures for food-price stability and banking-sector reforms in order to move sustainably to higher growth trajectory.
"Measures to increase financial inclusion, enhance the efficiency of subsidy disbursal, increase railway investment, and foster 'competitive federalism' (increased competition between states), while incremental in nature, and are likely to lead to eventual growth gains," Standard Chartered said.
It also said that the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) -- the most widely anticipated pending reform -- is unlikely to be "smooth".
While the ruling party is likely to gain more seats in the upper house of parliament in 2016, it may still fall short of the two-thirds majority required to push through the GST legislation.
"The government will need to build political consensus with regional parties ahead of elections in India's largest state," it said.
The BJP-led NDA government assumed office on May 26, 2014 with a thumping majority in Lok Sabha, but some key bills including the one on GST have been stuck in Rajya Sabha due to opposition from some other parties, mainly Congress.
Stanchart said the pace of policy changes has been more gradual than initially expected, although they are moving in the right direction.
It observed that progress in areas like GST implementation, supply-side measures to achieve medium-term food-price stability and banking-sector reforms has been slower than expected and progress in these fields are needed to achiever higher growth.
Moreover, more concrete measures to expand manufacturing base and create jobs are still awaited, it said, while noting that India needs to create 10-12 million jobs annually in order to enjoy a demographic dividend.
The global major said a clear pick-up in the investment cycle is likely only with a lag. External and domestic factors like slow export growth, high corporate leverage, excess capacity and the clean-up of banks' balance sheets, are likely to continue to curb private investment, which is crucial to a sustained growth revival.
Meanwhile, public investments are also likely to see an decline due to fiscal constraints, the report added.
Sri Lankan President today said post-conflict reconciliation with minority Tamils was his government's priority while being committed to uphold human rights and democracy.
Addressing the state function commemorating the seventh anniversary of the end of the three-decade long brutal conflict between the LTTE and army, he said: "The main responsibility entrusted on my government was to achieve post conflict reconciliation."
"We will achieve that while paying tribute to the heroic forces who ended the war seven years ago, Sirisena said.
"My government will uphold human rights and democracy," he said.
Sirisena said his government had accorded utmost priority to the welfare of soldiers despite criticism from his political opponents.
The ceremony marked the official commemoration of the end to the LTTE's 30 year separatist campaign.
Sirisena's government in sharp contrast to the government of the predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa has taken many a conciliatory steps towards the Tamil minority.
Rajapaksa who led the troops as the Commander in Chief enjoys hero status among the Sinhala majority.
The LTTE fought a war to carve out a separate homeland for the Tamils in the north and east of the island.
Sirisena since defeating Rajapaksa in the presidential poll has released the Tamils' lands acquired for military purposes by the previous government since the mid 1980's.
The Tamil groups while noting the steps taken want more concrete steps to allow political autonomy for them.
Election strategist Prashant Kishor will hold meetings with Congress leaders and workers of six divisions of the state between May 22 and 24 here to discuss the plan for the upcoming Assembly elections in 2017.
Kishor will hold discussions with leaders and workers of districts falling in Azamgarh, Mirzapur, Jhansi, Saharanpur, Devi Patan and Moradabad divisions and devise election strategy, a release said.
UPCC president Nirmal Khatri, AICC secretary incharge, leader of the party in both houses of legislature and other leaders will attend the meetings.
Earlier from May 11 to 13, Kishor had held similar meetings with leaders of Varanasi, Allahabad and Gorakhpur divisions, the release added.
President will visit China from May 24 to 27 during which he will hold talks with the top Chinese leadership, the Foreign Ministry here said today, announcing the first trip to the country by an Indian Head of State in six years.
Mukherjee will be visiting China at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping, the Foreign Ministry said.
Mukherjee, to visit China after his predecessor Pratibha Patil's trip in 2010, will arrive in the highly industrialised Chinese city Guangzhou on May 24. The city has strong business links with India.
Besides interacting with the Indian community, which has over 3,000 businessmen, Mukherjee will also address India- China Business Forum to highlight the investment opportunities in India.
Top Chinese officials of the province are expected to attend the event. A number of Indian and Chinese businessmen are also expected to take part in the event, official sources said.
Later, he will arrive in Beijing on May and attend a reception hosted by the Chinese People's Friendship Association for Foreign Countries (CPAFFC).
On May 26, he will address a meeting at the Peking university and later hold talks with Xi and also meet Premier Li Keqiang along with other Chinese leaders before leaving for home on May 27.
Mukherjee's visit would set off a series of high-level visits between the two countries as they seek to deepen bilateral engagement despite differences like China's attempts block India's bid at the UN to get JeM chief Masood Azhar banned.
The President's visit, which is a reciprocal visit to Xi's trip to India in 2014, will be followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Chinese city of Hangzhou to take part in the G20 leaders summit to be held on September 4 to 5 this year.
Xi was expected to travel to India to take part in the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) summit scheduled to be held in Goa from October 15-16 this year.
Modi had made a high-profile visit to China last year.
The NDA government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is working with a long-term vision and without any discrimination against HImachal to ensure speedy development of the state, chief spokesman of state BJP Rajiv Bindal today said.
"The focus of NDA government is on infrastructural projects and several projects have been sanctioned to HImachal and the financial position of cash starved state was much better due liberal devolution of funds by the centre", Bindal said while addressing a press conference.
"Unlike the UPA government which denied funds and projects to the state, there was no discrimination against Himachal under the NDA government rule ", Bindal said adding that the special concern shown by the NDA government towards Himachal during past two years is admirable.
Bindal said that the state got higher allocation of Rs 21000 Crore from 13th Finance Commission with an increase of mere 50 per cent during the previous UPA regime in Centre, when BJP was in power in Himachal but the 14thFinance Commission report was submitted and accepted during the NDA rule and Himachal got much higher allocation of Rs 45000 Crores with an increase of 250 per cent.
"This is an indication that the Modi government did not believe in political discrimination and actually wants to help Himachal progress with leaps and bounds," he said.
Bindal said the Modi government had restored the special category status of Himachal, which was scrapped by UPA regime and the hill state was now getting funds in 90:10 ratio in all centrally sponsored schemes.
He said earlier similar concern was shown towards Himachal by the NDA government in the past led by former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
He said during Vajpayee's regime, the state got eight National Highways with the efforts of then Chief Minister, Prem Kumar Dhumal.
"The present NDA government declared six National Highways for state last year and the Union Minister for Surface Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari recently announced seventeen more natonal highways for the state.
Hundreds of pro-China protesters led by gang leader turned politician "White Wolf" rallied in Taiwan's capital today, calling on new president Tsai Ing-wen to preserve friendly ties with Beijing, days before she takes office.
China-sceptic Tsai is facing questions over how she will handle cross-strait relations which are already growing rapidly frosty as she prepares to take the helm after an eight-year rapprochement under her Beijing-friendly predecessor Ma Ying-jeou.
Although a fully fledged democracy, self-ruling Taiwan has never formally declared independence and China still sees it as part of its territory.
Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party is traditionally pro- independence and was voted in by a landslide after voters turned their backs on Ma's Beijing-centred approach for fear the island's sovereignty was being eroded.
Led by infamous activist "White Wolf" Chang An-lo - who heads a small pro-unification party and regularly organises rallies in support of Beijing - protesters waved banners and Chinese flags outside DPP headquarters.
"We respect Taiwan's democratic freedom, but we can't accept a lack of unity, lack of peace," said Lu Yueh-hsiang of the pro-Beijing China Production Party.
Outgoing president Ma accepted a tacit agreement - known as the "1992 consensus" - between his Kuomintang party and Beijing which acknowledges there is only "one China".
That paved the way for a slew of trade deals and a tourist boom as mainland visitors flocked to the island.
Tsai and the DPP have never recognised the agreement and are under pressure from Beijing to do so, with fears China will squeeze Taiwan economically if no compromise can be reached.
"If you accept the '92 consensus, everything can be open for discussion," Chang told AFP.
"Only the '92 consensus can give Taiwan's economy a way forward."
Chang was imprisoned for 10 years in the United States for drug trafficking and then lived in exile for 17 years in China before returning to Taiwan in 2013.
He and his followers have often clashed with China- sceptic protesters, including at the 2014 occupation of parliament by students opposing a controversial trade pact with China.
But today's rally was calm, as around 300 supporters waved placards and listened to speeches and dance performances on a makeshift stage.
Cross-strait relations have already cooled since Tsai's election victory in January, despite her pledge to maintain the "status quo" with Beijing.
The Bombay High Court today gave interim protection from arrest to two businessmen, alleged associates of the former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, in a money-laundering case.
Yesterday, the HC had given similar relief to seven others in connection with the cases registered against Bhujbal who is currently in jail.
Justice Ajay Gadkari today restrained the police from arresting, till May 25, Sailesh Mehta and Dhanpat Seth of Prime Developers who are facing charges of money laundering along with Bhujbal in the Maharashtra Sadan scam and some other matters.
All these persons -- Mehta, Seth and others -- have challenged the non-bailable warrants issued by a special court and also sought pre-arrest bail from the High Court. The court, while adjourning hearing on pre-arrest bail pleas, gave them protection from arrest till May 25.
Yesterday, the HC had given interim protection to Sanjiv Jain, Praveen Jain, Chandrakant Sarda, Jagdish Purohit, Rajesh Mistry, Vipul Karkaria and Asif Balwa.
According to the Enforcement Directorate, these businessmen conspired with Bhujbal to divert the kickbacks received by him through their companies.
The applicants argued that the offences with which they have been charged with are non-cognisable ones, and warrants could not have been issued against them at this stage as they were not arrested during the interrogation.
Besides Bhujbal, his nephew Sameer Bhujbal too has been arrested on money laundering charges.
On March 30 this year, ED filed a 11,500-page charge-sheet naming Chhagan Bhujbal, his son Pankaj Bhujbal, nephew Sameer Bhujbal and corporates like D B Realty, Balwa group of companies, Neelkamal Realtors, Neelkamal Central Apartment LLP and Kakade Infrastructure.
All India State Bank of Patiala Employees Federation today held demonstrations in several parts of Punjab against the proposed merger of five associate banks with State Bank of India (SBI).
Addressing bank staffers in Ludhiana, Ashok Malhan, Vice President, All India State Bank of Patiala Employees Federation, said the employees would strongly oppose the proposal of the SBI to merge associate banks with itself.
State-run lender SBI yesterday proposed merger of its five associate banks -- State Bank of Travancore (SBT), State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH), State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ) and State Bank of Patiala (SBP) -- with itself.
"Without any prior intimation, suddenly an agenda was brought in the board meeting at the behest of SBI to close down the Associate Banks...," Malhan alleged.
"Despite opposition and protest by all the AIBEA's workman directors and few other independent directors about the merger proposal and the procedure adopted, the resolution was approved.
"It is shameful that when the government is talking of corporate governance and good governance, board agenda is brought without intimation on such a serious matter and decision is taken," Malhan said.
Punjab Bank Employees Federation Deputy Secretary Naresh Gaur said, "This decision is also not in consonance with what the Finance Minister has suggested in our meeting with him on March 23 and April 25. He had said that all the 5 banks can be made into one single entity. But what SBI and the Associate Banks are trying to do is the opposite to what the FM had suggested."
Demonstrations against proposed merger were held in Ludhiana, Khanna, Samrala, Patiala, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Chandigarh and some other places, said Gaur.
State Bank of Patiala (SBP) had a total business size of Rs 1.96 lakh crore as on March 31, 2016, with 1,335 branches mainly concentrated in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. SBP has a total employee strength of 15,000.
Gaur said a nationwide strike of five associate banks will be observed on May 20.
Queen Elizabeth II today unveiled UK government's agenda for the year, announcing plans for new counter-extremism legislation, measures to tackle corruption, money laundering and tax evasion.
The 90-year-old Queen made her 63rd speech to mark the State Opening of the British Parliament at the Palace of Westminster in London, nearly a month ahead of the crucial referendum on whether Britain should remain in the EU.
The Queen's Speech, which sets of the UK government's agenda for the year, included 21 bills on issues ranging from a crackdown on extremist preachers in Britain, charging foreigners for use of the National Health Service (NHS), a major shake-up of the prisons system, support for a spaceport and driverless cars.
"Legislation will be introduced to prevent radicalisation, tackle extremism in all its forms, and promote community integration," she said in her speech addressed to both Houses of Parliament and delivered from her throne in the House of Lords.
The government will push ahead with controversial plans to monitor Internet use through its Investigatory Powers Bill and crack down on extremism, including stronger powers to disrupt radicals' activities and to intervene in unregulated schools which are "teaching hate".
Plans were also announced to fight international corruption.
David Cameron's government plans to criminalise corporations who fail to stop staff facilitating tax evasion, while there will also be new rules tightening up Britain's anti-money laundering regime.
The Queen made only the briefest of direct references to her government holding "a referendum on membership of the European Union".
But - in a move that may be seen as an attempt to reassure voters ahead of the EU referendum - she added: "My ministers will uphold the sovereignty of Parliament and the primacy of the House of Commons."
On the National Health Service, the Queen said, "My government will continue work to deliver NHS services over seven days of the week in England. Legislation will be introduced to ensure that overseas visitors pay for the health treatment they receive at public expense."
The Queen used the lift to get to her throne for the first time this year, seen as the first public concession to her age yet.
She is believed to have avoided the 26 steps of the Sovereign's Entrance staircase due to trouble with her knees.
As part of prison reforms, described as the centrepiece of this year's Queen's Speech, satellite-tagged inmates could be sent home on weekdays.
The tracking tags, which monitor the movements of offenders using GPS technology, will be piloted in eight police areas from September, in a move which could see prisoners become weekend inmates and spend the rest of the week at home and being able to take up a job.
In a statement released as the Queen delivered her address, British Prime Minister David Cameron said: "Because this government sees the potential in everyone, we finally undertake the long-overdue change that our prisons need.
"No longer will they be warehouses for criminals, we want them to be incubators of changed and reformed lives.
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday batted for a second term for RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, terming him as a competent man, who has performed exceedingly well in his current assignment.
"He (Raghuram Rajan) is a very competent man, and he has performed exceedingly well as Reserve Bank Governor, and I think he deserves a second term," AICC General Secretary Digvijaya Singh told PTI here when asked if Congress is in favour of a second term for him.
Asked about BJP MP Subramanian Swamy urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sack Rajan, alleging that he was "mentally not fully Indian", among other reasons, Singh asked "What about himself? (Swamy)".
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had also on Tuesday reacted sharply to the attack on Rajan, saying why Swamy does not hit his "real target" Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, but "set up dummy targets" like the RBI Governor who cannot speak out.
BJP spokesperson on Economic Affairs Gopalkrishna Aggarwal on Tuesday said Swamy is a senior leader whose opinions "definitely matter", but added that the final say will be with the government.
Following up on his barb last week that Rajan should be sent back to Chicago, Swamy has written a letter to the Prime Minister saying how a person appointed by the UPA government should be continued in the post.
"I cannot see why someone appointed by the UPA government who is apparently working against Indian economic interests should be kept in this post when we have so many nationalist- minded experts available in this country for the RBI Governorship," Swamy had said.
The newly-nominated MP urged Modi "to terminate the appointment of in the interest".
Rajan was appointed RBI Governor by the previous UPA government in September 2013 for a three-year term, which can be extended.
Goa legislator Atanasio Monserratte, who was arrested for allegedly buying and raping a minor girl, has been granted bail by a local court today.
District and Sessions Judge Pramod Kamat granted bail to Monserratte, and also the girl's mother and another woman, Rosy Ferros, arrested for allegedly selling her to the MLA for Rs 50 lakh.
The St Cruz legislator has been asked to furnish bail amount of Rs one lakh and a surety of the like amount. He has been asked to appear before Crime Branch for next seven days.
The two other accused women were asked to furnish bail amount of Rs 25,000 each and sureties of the like amount. They were also asked to report to the Crime Branch for seven days.
The legislator, who had been expelled from Congress last year, was arrested on May 5.
Goa police is investigating the case against Monserratte who has been booked for buying the 16-year-old girl and raping her in March.
He was booked under IPC sections 376 (rape), 328 (poisoning), 342 (wrongful confinement), 370 (A) (trafficking), provisions of Goa Children Act and Protection of Children From Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The MLA's counsel Rajiv Gomes had argued against slapping of section 370 of IPC and section 8(2) of Goa Children's Act in the FIR against the MLA.
Referring to the statement recorded by the girl, Gomes said there was no sexual assault in this case as the girl never claimed or disclosed about it in her complaint.
He also challenged the arrest of Monserratte on May 5, the day he appeared before police, by an officer who was not investigating the case.
Gomes had pointed out that the arrest was executed by Police Inspector Dattaguru Sawant, while the case was investigated by Sawant's colleague Sudiksha Naik.
The lawyer had claimedthat the investigation was conducted at the behest of political opponents of the accused.
He also said that by charging the legislator with rape, the police were making the girl as "rape victim" and "tarnishing her image".
In his bail plea, the MLA said the charge of rape against him was a "fertile imagination of investigating officer".
Fear of retrospective taxation hangs like a Damocles Sword over the head of foreign firms doing business in India, global tech giant Microsoft said on Wednesday joined by two other large American corporations to raise concerns about the countrys uncertain tax regime.
Highlighting their concerns, top officials of the three global giants Microsoft, General Electric (GE) and Lockheed Martin were unanimous at a conference here in seeking predictability in taxation rules to encourage investments in the country.
GE and Lockheed Martin also called for removing inefficiencies in government tendering procedures and bidding processes, while Microsoft said there was a need to overcome trust deficit over data security issues in India.
Tax hangs like a Damocles sword over our head and Im not terribly sure whether its only American companies but I guess its every company in this country. That Damocles sword is that suddenly rules change and is retrospective, Microsoft India Chairman Bhaskar Pramanik said at the Accelerating Indo-US Trade conference.
Elaborating his point, he said: If you come to me and tell me that I am going to increase your taxes by 35 per cent I have no issues. I will change my business model accordingly but if you come back and say for the last ten years I am going to charge you 35 per cent more, I have a problem and I cant change that. I think this retrospective tax has still not disappeared.
Expressing similar sentiments, GE South Asia President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Banmali Agrawala said taxation remains an issue for foreign companies, particularly American firms that need comfort from the Indian government.
I think companies are willing to invest in this country like never before. Therefore they need a certain degree of predictability and comfort that revenue, which is legitimate and genuine will be taxed and there would not be undue pressures, he added.
Lockheed Martin India CEO Phil Shaw also said the challenges that they see in India include those relating to the countrys taxation regime.
He said companies like Lockheed Martin would like to see some predictability in procurement particularly in the defence sector.
The comments come at a time when the National Democratic Alliance government is highlighting the work done by it in its first two years in various areas, including towards improving the ease of doing business in the country.
Commenting on data security issues, Pramanik said: There is a trust deficit whether it is the Snowden reports or the current issues which we have. We need to balance the privacy of data with the security of the nation... One thing is very clear to us that if data is generated in this country, it should be based on the laws of this country and based on what is right for the Indian citizen.
Stating that to question Microsofts credentials based on nationality is sometimes a little peculiar, as the company has been in India for 25 years, he said: I think we need to build that trust with the current government. Calling for transparency in government procurements, he said: We are finding that the government is giving a lot of contracts but they have already made up their mind about how to go about certain things so the transparency is lacking. I think that is one thing which we need to focus on.
Agreeing with him, Agrawala said: The process of Government spending needs to be smoother, by that I mean the tendering procedures, the bidding processes, it needs to be faster, more predictable, smoother, so that it can result in more clear action and it doesnt take decades for things to come to fruition.
Asserting that Pakistan is an occupier of Gilgit-Baltistan, a group representing people from the area in PoK has sought help from US lawmakers over the deteriorating human rights conditions there.
"Gilgit Baltistan cannot end rights abuses without the help of the international community. The US must continue to be a beacon of light for the democratic spirit, to demand an end to colonial rule and support Gilgit-Baltistan in its struggle for a free nation," Senge Sering of the Washington- based Institute of Gilgit-Baltistan told lawmakers during a recent event at the Capitol Hill.
At an event organised by Senator Tim Kaine to mark Vietnam Human Rights Day last week, Sering said the UN Security Council resolution 47 declares Pakistan an occupier and aggressor in Gilgit Baltistan and calls for its withdrawal.
The event was addressed by several top American lawmakers including Senators John Cornyn, John McCain, Kaine and Mark Warner and House of Representative members Barbara Comstock, Gerry Connolly, Sheila Jackson Lee, Zoe Lofgren, Alan Lowenthal, Chris Smith and Leslie Byrne.
"People of the Gilgit-Baltistan demand accountability and transparency by Pakistanis and Chinese actors who exploit the region's mineral and water resources without ensuring local economic development or revenue share," Sering said.
The international community must question the Chinese multinational corporations who are building a multi-billion dollar economic corridor in an area without a constitutional framework, or a mechanism to hold government accountable under rule of law and where the people face suppression for demanding basic rights, he said.
"Further, the military and intelligence agencies have seized thousands of acres of private land in Gilgit Baltistan for military use. These practices are a direct violation of UNSC resolutions and have resulted in the displacement of locals and a state sanctioned demographic change," Sering said.
Armed dacoits today looted Rs 21 lakh from a branch of the State Bank of India (SBI) here, police said.
Six dacoits barged into the SBI branch office at around 11 a.M., held Branch Manager Rajiv Kumar and some other officers at gun point and looted the cash, Superintendent of Police (SP), Town, Anand Kumar said.
The dacoits took away the computer disk of the CCTV camera that had recorded their entry in the bank and their subsequent acts, he said.
Raids are being carried out to nab the culprits.
Seeking to clear the air over Rs 570 crore cash seized by poll officials in Tamil Nadu, RBI today told the Madras High Court that it was being transferred as part of regular money movement under currency management function.
The central bank told the court that it had accorded approval to the State Bank of India for the exercise.
The submission was made by the counsel for RBI during the hearing of a PIL by social activist Traffic Ramaswamy seeking a direction to the Election Commission to withhold the pronouncement of results of May 16 state assembly elections till the conclusion of a proper investigation with regard to seizure of the trucks containing Rs 570 crore.
The petitioner submitted that the trucks were seized on May 14 amid allegations that political parties, mainly AIADMK and DMK, were bribing voters and postponement of elections were ordered in two constituencies of Aravakurichi and Thanjavur in view of alleged distribution of money to voters there.
He alleged that though the State Bank of India has claimed the amount, rules laid down by RBI for transporation of currency notes were not followed which created doubt among the people about whether the money was meant for use during the elections.
When the matter came up before the vacation bench comprising Justice K Kalyanasundaram and Justice D Krishnakumar, counsel C Mohan, who appeared on behalf of Reserve Bank of India, submitted the PIL was filed without any research and was based on only presumptions and surmises.
He said the SBI branch in Coimbatore is one of the agents appointed for the transfer of cash from the Cash Chest and the RBI had already given its approval for transfer of the Rs 570 crores to SBI, Hyderabad.
The RBI counsel said the counting of cash was recorded on CCTV and the apex bank was informed that the three trucks were escorted by 18 Police personnel headed by a DSP rank officer.
Referring to various allegations, presumptions with regard to transfer of money, the counsel submitted that a few weeks ago HDFC transferred twice the seized amount from Coimbatore to Ahmedabad and it cannot be now argued that the money was transferred to the Prime Minister's state.
Explaining the mode of transfer, the counsel submitted that how to transfer and who had to escort the money were all matters to be dealt with by SBI, which is the RBI authorised agent for the purpose.
He said the money has now been recounted and returned to SBI after clearance from Income Tax Department.
EC's counsel Niranjan Rajagopalan said the prayer to withhold results cannot be accepted as under Article 329 B of the Constitution, once the election process starts, it cannot be interfered with by courts till the results have been declared.
The remedy was available by filing an election petition, he said.
The counting of votes polled in the May 16 elections is slated for tomorrow.
From being a curious kid to penning popular children's stories, Ruskin Bond's extraordinary journey is set to get a book treatment as the author is busy giving shape to his autobiography.
Yet untitled, the book will include anecdotes from writer's personal life as well as his bond with his adopted family in Mussoorie.
"It starts with my growing up years in Jamnagar, Dehradun and Shimla to London where I wrote my first book and generally my life as a writer and the kind of struggle I had over the years while trying to establish myself.
"It will also have details from my personal life, which consists of my adopted family that has grown around me. I have lived in the hills for last 50 years and it has made me not spiritual but more contemplative," Bond told PTI in an interview ahead of his 82nd birthday tomorrow.
The author says he likes to celebrate his birthday by taking a nap but joked that everyone around him will be taking him out for dinner.
Bond, who has collaborated with Landmark to encourage budding readers to express and hone their narrative skills with 'Child Reading to Child' initiative, will visit the local book shop on his birthday.
His young fans turn up to get their books signed from the author at the book shop, where he is a regular visitor.
When asked how he will celebrate his birthday, Bond said, "I am a sleepy fellow. I will take a nice long nap the first chance I get. I don't do anything very special. In the afternoon, I go to the local book shop and they celebrate in a small way. I have one of my publishers, they will come and take me out to dinner.
Bond considers himself fortunate to have had a long life.
"Well, I think it's something of a surprise for me because I can't think of anybody in my family who got past 70. I think it is because I have been living in the hills for so many years. Hills are relatively healthy compared to cities... I am fortunate in that respect."
Born to a British Air Force personnel in Kasauli, Bond went to London for a few years to complete his studies but he returned and established a successful writing career. He is the winner of the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award and the Padma Bhushan.
It was not an easy call for Bond to choose writing as a career but the author says he finds more youngsters interested in the profession now.
"When I finished school, my mother asked me, 'What do you want to do Ruskin?' and I said 'Mama, I think I am going to be a writer'. She said, 'Don't be silly, go join the army'.
"Writing was very unfashionable when I was young. Today, I meet a lot of youngsters who want to become writers. When they say they want to be writers, I tell them to go ahead but it has many pitfalls. It's not easy making a living out of it, at least in the beginning.
Shares of three associate banks of SBI extended their rally for the second straight session, surging as much as 16 per cent, on the proposed merger of its five associate lenders with the parent firm.
The scrip of State Bank of Mysore zoomed 15.63 per cent to Rs 493.40 and that of State Bank of Travancore jumped 11.4 per cent to Rs 444.60.
Shares of State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur rose 4.52 per cent to Rs 532 on BSE.
These banks had gained up to 13 per cent in the previous session also.
Top state-run lender SBI yesterday proposed merger of its five associate banks and newly created Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) with itself, a move that will create a Rs 37-lakh crore banking behemoth with over 50 crore customers.
After a hurriedly called board meetings of SBI as well as its associate banks, SBI said it has sought government approval for the merger.
The five associate banks that will be merged are State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, and State Bank of Travancore.
Among these, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Travancore are listed.
The Supreme Court today refused to stay a non non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Pankaj Bhujbal, son of senior NCP leader Chaggan Bhujbal, in a money laundering case in connection with construction of the new Maharashtra Sadan in national capital.
The apex court asked Pankaj, who is evading arrest, to first take legal recourse before the Bombay High Court.
"You did not go to Bombay High Court and straightaway came to Supreme Court. Let the High Court first examine the matter. Let the High Court give the reasoning then we will see," a vacation bench of Justices A M Sapre and Ashok Bhushan said.
Counsel appearing for Pankaj said that one of the co-accused in the case had already been granted relief by the apex court and on the grounds of parity, the NBW issued can be stayed.
"What ground of parity. If one accused is granted relief by the court does not mean that you can also come to the Supreme Court. We have seen the files and allegations. The accused who was granted relief has first gone to Bombay High Court. If he can go to the High Court then why can't you go to the High Court," the bench said while granting the liberty to Pankaj to withdraw the plea and move High Court.
The apex court had earlier stayed the NBW of Krishna Chamankar, one of the 52 accused in the case.
A special PMLA court had on April 27 issued a NBW against Pankaj and others which was returnable on May 11. He has been since then evading arrest in the case.
The NBWs were also issued against some private persons named in the case after the special PMLA court at Mumbai had taken cognisance of the charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate(ED) in the matter.
Pankaj, an MLA in the Maharashtra Assembly, has been named in the FIR filed by the agency, besides his father and former State PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal and others, who was arrested by ED in the same case early this year.
The ED had on March 30 filed a 11,500-page chargesheet naming Chhagan Bhujbal, Pankaj, nephew Sameer, corporates like D B Realty, Balwa group of companies, Neelkamal Realtors and Builders Private Limited, Neelkamal Central Apartment LLP and Kakade Infrastructure.
The Enforcement Directorate has filed two FIRs against
Bhujbals and others under the anti-money laundering laws, based on FIRs filed by the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau, to probe alleged irregularities in the construction of the state guesthouse 'Maharashtra Sadan' in Delhi and the Kalina land grabbing case here.
The High Court, in December 2014, had constituted a Special Investigation Team ( SIT) comprising the ED and state ACB officials to conduct the inquiry against Bhujbals and others.
The ACB complaint names Pankaj and Sameer for offences such as cheating, conspiracy, criminal breach of trust under the IPC, and under the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act.
Though the controversy over references to Jawaharlal Nehru being dropped from a school textbook in Rajasthan has caused a buzz, it has come to fore that the country's first Prime Minister has been missing from a MA course book of Mumbai University since last three years.
The book has also questioned 'secular credentials' of Mahatma Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
The book, titled 'Modern Indian Political Thought' for Master of Arts (MA) course under the MU's Distance Learning programme, has long been available in market and was recently sent for reprint, coinciding with the Rajasthan Board's move to revise social science textbook for class VIII.
The course is conducted by the Institute of Distance and Open Learning of the varsity.
Earlier this month, references to Nehru have been removed from two chapters in the revised social science textbook for class VIII of Rajasthan Board.
The MU has ordered an inquiry by an Expert Committee while conceding that the views expressed in the book by Professor Jondhale appear to be "objectionable".
When asked why MU could not detect this earlier, Vice-Chancellor Sanjay Deshmukh told PTI, "Expert Committee will review the content of the book in consultation with its author and will submit a report within a week. I will be able to say something concrete (on the issue) only after that".
Though there is no mention about Nehru's contribution to the freedom struggle and the nation building, several important leaders of independence movement find mention in the book.
The book stated that Mahatma Gandhi used too many 'Hindu idioms and similes' and pushed Muhammad Ali Jinnah to break away and form Pakistan. It added that the only side that did not play politics of religion was the Left.
A passage on Tilak reads, "Starting of Ganesh festival and invoking religious scriptures such as Bhagvad Gita for political actions were clear examples of mixing religion with politics and attitude that was categorically anti-secular".
MU Registrar M.A. Khan said in a statement that content of the book is prima facie objectionable.
"The syllabus of the MA political science book is under the two-year distance learning programme. Recent controversy is on the views published in the book by Professor Jondhale, which seem to be objectionable prima facie.
"Vice-Chancellor Dr. Sanjay Deshmukh has ordered inquiry by an expert committee. Appropriate action will be taken after receiving the report," he stated.
Some 250 people, mostly Cubans who entered Colombia illegally, are stranded near Panama, which has shut its border crossings in an attempt to stem the flow of undocumented immigrants, authorities said.
Panama last week became the third Central American country to halt access to an unrelenting exodus of Cubans trying to reach the United States by land.
The body that monitors human rights in Colombia, where the migrants are stranded, said that "to date there are about 250 undocumented immigrants" in the town of Turbo, located in the jungle on the Gulf of Uraba.
The human rights body said it had received "complaints from migrants about unscrupulous people who were eager to charge large sums of money in exchange for making arrangements in Bogota for passage into Panama."
Images distributed by the body showed dozens of people, mostly men, massing at the gates to the town's migration headquarters.
The immigration authority told AFP it was continuing to analyze the situation before taking any action.
Thousands of Cubans are leaving their island, typically by flying to Ecuador or other countries in South America to make a long overland trek through Central America and Mexico to try to get to the United States.
Under a US law dating back to the Cold War, Cubans who reach US soil -- whether by plane, foot or boat -- are allowed to stay and to work. Those spotted and picked up at sea, in contrast, are returned to the Communist-ruled Caribbean nation.
Opposition BJP MP Daddan Mishra has hit out at the ruling Samajwadi Party terming it as a "one family party".
Addressing mediapersons last night here, the Shrawasti MP said the SP "neither has an ideology nor organisation" and it is a "party of a family".
"SP is neither a political party nor an organisation. It is like (there are) terrorist and Maoist organisations in Kashmir and Nepal, similarly there is Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh," Mishra told reporters here.
He also attacked the SP over the candidates it announced yesterday for Rajya Sabha polls, including Amar Singh, Beni Prasad Verma and controversial Lucknow-based builder Sanjay Seth.
"Those raising slogans of 'samajawd' (socialism) have nothing to do with it...When it comes to sending leaders in Rajya Sabha and Vidhan Parishad they prefer capitalists," he added.
Mishra said the state government is "creating hindrance" in developmental projects to "defame" the Centre.
Singapore Technologies Telemedia has emerged as the front-runner to acquire majority stake in the data center business of Tata Communications.
"ST Telemedia is the top contender to buy Tata Communications' data centre business," an industry source told PTI.
According to the source, ST Telemedia is in talks to buy 74 per cent stake in the entity managing the data centre business for about USD 650 million and the negotiations are at an advanced stage.
Tata Communications plans to use the proceeds from the deal to reduce its debt. The company's core business debt at the end of December 2015 stood at around USD 1.4 billion.
When contacted, Tata Communications said that as per company's policy, it does not comment on market rumours.
"We had earlier also confirmed vide our press release dated 23 July 2015 that the company has been exploring various strategic options for its data centre infrastructure business in India and potentially Singapore," the company said.
The company has 44 data centers of which 14 are located in India.
ST Telemedia too declined to comment.
"It is our company's practice not to comment on market speculation," ST Telemedia spokesperson Melinda Tan said.
ST Telemedia's key business segments comprise communications and media services, network services, data centres and emerging technologies.
In a startling admission, a senior minister in Pakistan's Punjab province today said the government cannot take legal action against militant groups like Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) as the "state itself remained involved" with them.
In an interview to BBC Urdu, Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah was asked why legal action has never been taken against anti-India groups in the province which were close to the "establishment".
"By pro-establishment groups if you mean JuD and JeM, then let me tell you that they have been declared proscribed organisations and they can no longer carry out any activity in the province," he said.
The minister ruled out the possibility of any legal action against the groups saying "How can you prosecute a group with whom the state itself has been involved with?".
India accuses Pakistan of patronising terror groups like JuD and JeM who carry out attacks in the country. Pakistan however denies the charge calling them "non-state actors" who are not in its control.
The candid admission by Sanaullah about the Pakistani state's past ties with JuD and JeM may increase international pressure on the country to act against all militants groups including the Haqqani network active in Afghanistan.
Opposition BJP and Congress today termed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's demand for full statehood for Delhi as a move to "divert" attention from MCD bypoll results and "possibile" disqualification of 21 AAP MLAs.
The AAP government today released a draft bill on full statehood to Delhi, seeking to bring police, land, municipal corporations and bureaucracy under its control, and invited suggestions from the public till June 30, opening another front for tussle with the Centre.
The full statehood demand raised by Aam Admi Party government is aimed at "diverting attention" of people from party's "less than expected" performance in the MCD bypolls, Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken said.
"Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal ji always raises the issue of Statehood to divert the attention from his failures. This time it is the dismal performance in the MCD By-Polls."
He added that the party will study the draft Bill released by the AAP government before clearing its stand on the demand.
However, Maken said that the full statehood demanded by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal means that Delhi will "loose" its national capital status.
"As far as full statehood demanded for Delhi by Kejriwal government is concerned, it would mean that the city will loose its national capital status and also all the privileges that come with it," he said.
Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay also alleged that the full statehood demand was aimed at "diverting media attention" from "by-election failures" and "possibility" of disqualification of 21 AAP MLAs
However, Upadhyay said that the full statehood for Delhi earlier demanded by BJP was "not desirable" under the "present federal structure".
"It has been an old demand of BJP but with the changing circumstances and administrative experience BJP has understood that granting full statehood to the national capital is not desirable under the present federal structure," he said.
He clarified that the BJP-led NDA is not in a position to get the full statehood Bill passed because it lacks majority in Rajya Sabha.
He said AAP government "creating controversy" on the occasion of Republic Day in 2013 and "insult of the Prime Minister by Kejriwal" have so "weakened" the relations between the Centre and the state government, that no Central government would grant full statehood to Delhi.
A letter penned by Christopher Columbus in 1493 was returned to its rightful resting place in Italy today, ending a years-long investigation into its theft and forgery.
The Italian explorer wrote the letter to his royal patrons, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, a year after embarking on his historic journey across the Atlantic.
The precious document played a key role in expanding Europe's knowledge of the "New World." Columbus likely drafted the letter while voyaging back to Europe, dating it March 4, 1493, the day he landed in Lisbon.
After Columbus's return to Andalusia, the letter was reproduced and distributed throughout Spain, Italy, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Copies of the letter are now rare, with 11 editions published in 1493, and six more between 1494 and 1497.
The printer Stephan Plannck published two of the first editions in Rome, and one of the letters it printed became the property of the Riccardiana Library in Florence, from where it was stolen on an unknown date and replaced with a fake.
After receiving a tip off alerting it to the fraud in 2010, investigators confirmed that a rare book store in New York had purchased the stolen letter in 1990 from an anonymous seller.
In late 1992, the document sold for $300,000 at auction to a private buyer who donated it to the US Library of Congress in 2004.
A joint Italian-American investigation was launched in 2012, with the aim of repatriating the letter to Italy.
The US Department of Justice confirmed that the letter was formally handed over to Italy on Wednesday during a ceremony at the Angelica Library in Rome.
Suzuki today admitted to finding "discrepancies" in its fuel-economy and emissions testing, but the firm denied deliberately manipulating data to make cars seem more efficient.
The remarks from the Japanese small-car maker came in the wake of rival Mitsubishi Motors' shock admission last month that it had cheated on fuel-efficiency tests for decades.
Mitsubishi said its president Tetsuro Aikawa would resign over the scandal, which has left the company's reputation in tatters.
Japan's transport ministry has ordered all domestic automakers to probe their own compliance with government testing methods following Mitsubishi's revelations that it manipulated fuel-economy data.
Major players Nissan, Toyota, Honda and Mazda have already denied any wrongdoing.
Suzuki joined that list today, although it admitted that it was not using tests required by the government.
"Any wrongdoing, such as manipulation of fuel efficiency data, were not found," it said.
"Some discrepancies were found in the automobile emission and fuel-efficiency testing process" between the method required by the government and what Suzuki did, the company statement added.
Sixteen models and about two million cars were affected, but the problem did not extend to cars sold outside Japan, according to Suzuki, which has a major presence in India.
Suzuki said it has been using the improper testing since 2010.
The firm's shares dived as investors took it as the latest bad for a global auto industry shaken by scandals over deadly defects and emissions cheating.
Suzuki stock plunged as much as 15 per cent in afternoon trading. It closed 9.4 per cent lower at 2,613 yen (USD 24).
The Suzuki comes amid the Mitsubishi revelations and as Germany's Volkswagen struggles to drive past a worldwide emissions cheating scandal.
Tokyo-based auto parts giant Takata has also been hit by lawsuits and regulatory probes over claims it hid deadly airbag flaws linked to at least 13 deaths and scores of injuries globally.
Switzerland today started the process for an ordinance to put in place a mechanism for automatic exchange of tax information with India and other countries.
As part of global efforts to curb flow of illegal funds in the financial system, Switzerland has agreed to be part of the automatic tax information exchange framework.
The Swiss Federal Council today initiated the consultation on the ordinance on the International Automatic Exchange of Information in Tax Matters (AEOI Act).
The consultation process would be on till September 9.
In a release, Swiss government said the ordinance contains the Federal Council's implementing provisions for the Federal Act on the AEOI Act.
"The ordinance mentions in particular other non-reporting financial institutions and exempt accounts, and regulates details with regard to the reporting and due diligence requirements for reporting Swiss financial institutions," it said.
Besides, the ordinance has provisions that are required to implement the automatic exchange of information, including implementing provisions on the tasks of the Federal Tax Administration (FTA).
Having an automatic tax information exchange mechanism with Switzerland would help India in its clampdown on illicit fund flows.
Both countries have stepped up their cooperation on tax matters related to allegedly stashed by Indians there.
Almost 100 countries and territories, including India, have declared their intention to the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes to implement the AEOI standard.
"The AEOI should be introduced in 2017 so that the first exchange of data with selected partner states can take place from 2018," the release said.
With respect to introduction of AEOI standard, the Swiss Federal Assembly adopted two agreements in December last year. They were the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (administrative assistance convention) and the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA).
According to the release, AEOI system must be activated bilaterally so that it can be introduced with a partner state.
So far, Switzerland has signed an agreement on the introduction of the AEOI with the European Union, as well as joint declarations on the basis of the MCAA with a number of other countries and territories, it noted.
In July 2014, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Council adopted the new global standard for the international AEOI in tax matters.
Under the standards, certain financial institutions, collective investment vehicles and insurance companies collect financial information on their clients, so long as they are resident abroad for tax purposes.
The information covers all types of investment income and account balances and the same is automatically transmitted once a year to the tax authority, which transmits the data for the client to the respective tax authority abroad.
Having in place such a system is expected to prevent flow of illegal funds in the system and help keep overseas tax authorities better informed.
The US has said "tangible progress" has been made against ISIS in Iraq as the dreaded terror group is driven out of the 40 per cent of its previously-controlled territory.
"Iraq's security forces, backed by coalition military airpower and advice and assistance of coalition militaries from around the world, has been effective in driving ISIL out of territory that they previously controlled," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.
"We know that ISIS has been driven out of about 40 per cent of the populated areas that ISIS previously controlled in Iraq. That's tangible progress," he said.
Earnest's remarks came hours after capital Baghdad was rocked by one of the deadliest ISIS bombings targeting markets and a restaurant in Shiite-dominated neighborhoods, killing at least 69 people.
Noting that the coalition is committed to keep up the momentum and continue to pressure IS, Earnest also said it will provide the Iraqi central government necessary resources to rebuild those areas that the terror outfit had taken over.
"We know that in places like Ramadi. ISIS didn't just occupy that community - they essentially destroyed it. And rebuilding that infrastructure and rebuilding those communities so that people feel confident in moving back home is going to be critical to our longer-term success of bringing some stability to that region of the world," he said.
"The important financial contributions that have been made by countries around the world are also an important part of our strategy, but they're all predicated on the Iraqi people and the international community having confidence in the effectiveness of the Iraqi central government," Earnest added.
He said the US troops in Iraq are to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIS.
"They are focused on missions that involve protecting the embassy, carrying out military air operations against ISIS targets, in some cases providing training and advice and assistance to Iraqi security forces, and there's a small number of special operators that have been organised into these expeditionary forces that can carry out raids against senior ISIS figures," Earnest said.
"We've been very clear about the mission that US forces in Iraq are pursuing," he said, adding that the US strongly condemns the yesterday's ISIS bombings.
"We extend our deepest condolences to the victims and their families. These string of attacks by ISIS is latest reminder of the danger that this group poses to all Iraqis and the importance of Iraqi leaders from all communities, working together against a common enemy," he said.
Earnest said the US has been encouraged over the last year and a half by the efforts that the Iraqi government has undertaken to unify the country and pursue the kind of inclusive governing agenda that can inspire the confidence of Iraq's diverse population that the central government in Baghdad is looking out for their best interests.
"We believe that will have a corresponding impact on the effectiveness and resilience of Iraq's security forces," he said.
Thailand has called for speeding up free-trade talks with India, saying the key details of the long-awaited pact should be settled first, leaving minor contentious issues for later discussions.
Commerce minister Apiradi Tantraporn, who held talks with India's ambassador to Thailand Bhagwant Singh Bishnoi yesterday, said, "The Thai side first wants to settle key details of the long-awaited free-trade pact, leaving minor contentious issues for later discussion."
She said both the countries have agreed to accelerate the completion of the Thai-India FTAafter implementing the Early Harvest Programme back in 2004 covering 82 items.
"With disagreement on some topics, Thailand thinks both countries should finalise the agreement in some parts and continue negotiating on the remaining topics," she said.
The minister further said that Thai firms are keen to join India's Make in India, Smart Cities and Economic Corridor schemes as they see greater business opportunities amid the strong growth of Indian economy.
Thailand and India signed a framework agreement covering the liberalisation of trade in goods, services and investment on October 9, 2003.
It was agreed that Thailand and India would begin talks and establish a free trade agreement (FTA) by 2010.
Both the countries initially agreed to enact an early harvest scheme (EHS), meaning agreements on one or more topics must be concluded before the scheduled completion of a multi-issue round.
The agreement specified tariff reductions under the EHS for 82 items, including fruits, processed food products, gems and jewelery, iron and steel products, auto parts, electronic goods and electric appliances. Tariffs on these products were eliminated on Sept 1, 2006.
India and Thailand have also agreed to support the Asean-India FTAand the negotiation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership by this year.
Sources said Asean-India FTA in some ways had overtaken the India-Thailand FTA.
India feels Bangkok should be responsive to its demands in the FTA in services sector, the sources told PTI.
India is Thailand's 15th-biggest trading partner and largest in South Asia. Over the last five years, annual two-way trade averaged USD 8.47 billion.
In 2015, two-way trade reached USD 7.92 billion, making up 1.9 per cent of Thailand's exports. Thailand enjoyed a trade surplus with India of USD 2.67 billion last year.
(REOPENS FGN 20)
Key shipments from Thailand included plastic pellets, chemicals, cars and parts, engines, steel, machinery, air conditioners and parts, gems and jewellery, and computers and parts. Thailand imported chemicals, machinery, gold and precious stones, pharmaceutical products, ores and steel.
Thai-India FTA talks were revived in 2015 by the Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha government after being dormant for nearly 10 years.
Talks between high-ranking officials in June last year to update progress on comprehensive FTA negotiations provided another twist, as Thailand proposed to extend the talks to cover textiles and petrochemicals, while India requested to withdraw sugar and rubber gaskets from planned tariff cuts, local media said.
India also proposed a new schedule for talks with the investment sector, a revision of the criteria on sanitary and phytosanitary (pests and pathogens) measures, and an acceleration of liberalisation for occupations in which India is interested.
Apple CEO Tim Cook, who is on his maiden five-day visit to the country, today met the honchos of India Inc, leading bankers and the Bollywood royalty, and will inaugurate tomorrow a development centre in Hyderabad as the tech giant seeks to bolster India presence.
Cook met Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry, TCS managing director N Chandrasekaran and Vodafone chief executive Sunil Sood at the Taj Hotel and held a meeting with ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar at the bank's headquarters.
The Apple CEO, who landed in the city late last night on a private jet from Beijing and is staying in a large suite at the iconic Taj Mahal Palace, began his India sojourn on a religious note by paying a visit to the famed Siddhivinayak Temple in the heart of the mega-polis.
At the Siddhivinayak Temple, located at Prabhadevi area of south Central Mumbai, he also chanced up on Mukesh Ambani's elder son Anant Ambani.
Interestingly, the media was kept away from all these engagements.
Cook walked-in into the ICICI Bank Towers in the Bandra Kurla Complex business district here and spent over an hour at the bank, and met its managing director and chief executive Kochhar and executive directors at the closed-door meeting, sources said.
ICICI Bank was among the first to introduce the banking application on the Apple Watch, even before the gadget got launched in the country. Over the past few years, it has also introduced a slew of other initiatives on the digital front, including a digital wallet, just like the 'Apple Pay' by the tech giant.
While Cook reportedly had lunch at the Mukesh Ambani's billion-dollar residence Antilla, even though the RIL chairman is away in the US, he will dine with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan at his sea-facing residence, Mannat, in Bandra.
At the last leg of his five-day visit, Cook is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, before winding up his visit, and likely to discuss issues pertaining to opening Apple Stores. In the Capital, he is also slated to meet Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal.
Cook also met four app developers and understood their applications in the city.
"Great to hear from some of India's top iOS developers today. Innovative apps and many ideas for the future!" Cook tweeted in the evening.
Cook will leave for Bangalore and Hyderabad tomorrow.
Apple will set up an app design and development centre in Bengaluru to support developers in India creating innovative mobile apps for its iOS platform.
Cook will also inaugurate its development facility to be used as a mapping centre in Hyderabad tomorrow in the presence of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
The app design and development accelerator or laboratory
will open in the Silicon Valley of the East early 2017, Apple said in a statement. The company, however, did not disclose the investments.
Apple, which is facing slagging sales in the US and Europe, is pushing for opening retail stores in the country, which recorded a whopping 56 per cent jump in sales to over USD 1 billion.
Cook, who took over the job of CEO at the tech Cupertino-based giant in 2011 following the death of its legendary founder Steve Jobs, will be visiting Bengaluru, Hyderabad and New Delhi, and is expected to meet industry to discuss matters like manufacturing and expansion of network in the country.
The company, which has a network of 33 Apple stores in China, is seeking to import and sell refurbished iPhones here but this proposal is facing opposition from authorities.
The Apple CEO's visit comes at a time when the US-based firm is focusing on new growth markets like India after posting its first-ever decline in iPhone sales globally, except here.
India is the world's third-largest smartphone market with over 100 million handsets sold last year. This is projected to grow 25 per cent this year. But Apple's iPhone has only a 2 per cent market share.
In an interview earlier this month, Cook had said Apple saw "huge market potentials" for its products in India and that it was "really putting energy" here.
Cook arrived here from China, where Apple has just invested USD 1 billion in the taxi hailing company Didi Chuxing. The cab hailing company owns equity in Ola, which is the largest taxi-aggregator in the country.
"The company will establish a design and development accelerator in Bengaluru, the home of the country's startup scene. Tens of thousands of developers in India make apps for iOS (foundation for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch). This initiative will provide additional, specialised support for them," Apple said in a statement.
The American tech giant had taken about 1.5 lakh sq ft area on lease in a building owned by Tishman Speyer at Nanakramguda area of the Telegana capital and may use the facility as mapping centre for its applications.
Tech giant Apple will set up an app design and development centre in Bengaluru to support developers in India creating innovative mobile apps for its iOS platform.
The Tamil Nadu government today filed a criminal defamation case against TNCC chief E V K S Elangovan for his alleged remarks against Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
City Public Prosecutor M L Jegan filed the case before the Principal Sessions Court.
According to the CPP, Elangovan had allegedly made the remarks in an interview to a TV channel on April 30.
The City Public Prosecutor said the case was filed as Elangovan's remarks were defamatory in nature.
On May 11, the government had filed a criminal defamation case against Elangovan for his alleged remarks against the Governor K Rosaiah.
Donald Trump, not usually one to back away from a fight, has made peace with US television star Megyn Kelly after describing her in the past as a "bimbo" and worse.
Trump during the primary campaign yesterday resorted to unusually extreme rhetoric - including a distasteful reference to menstruation - in his attacks on Kelly, one of the most powerful women in American television and the star of her own cable show.
After being branded a misogynist and xenophobe during the bruising primary campaign, the apparent Republican nominee has been softening his image, and in a recorded interview broadcast late yesterday publicly buried the hatchet with Kelly.
"When I'm wounded, I fight back hard," Trump explained when pressed by Kelly about the reason for his bare knuckles, no-holds-barred style, describing himself as a "counterpuncher" on the campaign trail.
Kelly, a former corporate litigator, joined Fox in 2004 as a television reporter from Washington DC, rising rapidly through the ranks thanks to her good looks, fierce ambition and keen intellect.
In 2014 she was the only female journalist listed on Time magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people.
Her run-in with Trump last August during the first Republican TV debate of the 2016 election catapulted her to even wider fame.
She and two male colleagues moderated the debate, which attracted a record 24 million viewers. Trump took offense to her tough questions, insinuating that she treated him unfairly because she was menstruating.
"You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her - wherever," he told CNN after the debate.
In hindsight Trump conceded yesterday that he might have been a little rough in his handling of Kelly and others at whom he has directed his attacks during the campaign.
"I could have done certain things differently. I could have maybe used different language in a couple of instances," Trump said.
But, having vanquished all 16 other Republican contenders and having brought an initially reluctant party establishment largely on side, "I have to be very happy with the outcome," he added.
As recently as March Fox News called out the brash billionaire for having a "sick obsession" with their glamorous marquee star.
"Donald Trump's vitriolic attacks against Megyn Kelly and his extreme, sick obsession with her is beneath the dignity of a presidential candidate who wants to occupy the highest office in the land," Fox News said in a statement, accusing Trump of an "endless barrage of crude and sexist verbal assaults" against her.
The 45-year-old blonde mother of three - who was attacked not only by Trump, but also online by legions of his followers - took the initiative in trying to reach a truce.
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump today released names of 11 people, who he would consider, if elected, for nomination to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia in February.
This list was compiled, first and foremost, based on constitutional principles, with input from highly respected conservatives and Republican Party leadership, his campaign said.
"The following list of potential Supreme Court justices is representative of the kind of constitutional principles I value and, as President, I plan to use this list as a guide to nominate our next United States Supreme Court Justices," Trump said in a statement.
Prominent among those include appellate judges Diane Sykes and William Pryor, which are the two names previously floated by Trump as model jurists.
Others included in the list are Utah's Thomas Lee, Michigan's Raymond Kethledge and Joan Larsen, Minnesota's David Stras, Iowa's Steven Colloton, Colorado's Allison Eid and Missouri's Raymond Gruender.
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his party leadership have entered into a joint fund raising agreement in the run up to the November general elections and are expecting to raise more than $ 1 billion.
The new agreement announced yesterday is a change from the primary election cycle wherein Trump self-funded his campaign running into more than $ 40 million.
For the presidential election cycle, Republican party and his campaign is expecting to raise more than $ 1 billion.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Reince Priebus announced the RNC and 'Donald J Trump for President' have entered into joint fund raising agreements (JFAs).
This will allow the 'Donald J Trump for President' campaign to raise funds the national party will use to elect Republicans at all levels this cycle.
"The RNC is excited to team up with the Trump campaign to expand the robust ground, data, and digital operation we have in place to elect Republicans up and down the ballot," Priebus said.
"Donald Trump knows the importance of keeping our Republican majorities at the local, state and national level and these joint fund raising agreements are another vital step in making that happen," he said, adding that Trump has received millions more votes than any candidate in the history of the Republican Party.
"By working together with the RNC to raise support for Republicans everywhere, we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, keep Republican majorities in Congress and in the states, and Make America Great Again," said Trump in a statement.
RNC Finance chairman Lew Eisenberg has been selected to be the Finance Chair of Trump Victory.
He will work closely with Trump Campaign Finance Chair Steven Mnuchin to ensure a successful fund raising apparatus through November, a statement said.
Eisenberg has already helped the RNC raise a record $ 135 million in support this cycle.
The fund raising agreements will establish two joint fund raising committees: Trump Victory and Trump Make America Great Again Committee.
Trump Victory is a joint fund raising committee between the RNC, Donald J Trump for President and the State Republican Parties in the states of Arkansas, Connecticut, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
The Trump Make America Great Again Committee is a joint fund raising committee between the RNC and Donald J Trump for President.
The maximum contribution an individual can give to Trump Victory is $ 449,400.
Twitterati, take note! Just a handful of your tweets over the course of a single day may be enough to disclose the location of your home and workplace even to a relatively low-tech snooper, scientists have found.
Twitter's location-reporting service is off by default, but many Twitter users choose to activate it.
The study by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US and Oxford University in the UK may help raise awareness about just how much privacy people may be giving up when they use social media.
"Many people have this idea that only machine-learning techniques can discover interesting patterns in location data," said Ilaria Liccardi, a research scientist at MIT.
"With this study, what we wanted to show is that when you send location data as a secondary piece of information, it is extremely simple for people with very little technical knowledge to find out where you work or live," said Liccardi.
In their study, researchers used real tweets from Twitter users in the Boston area in the US. The users consented to the use of their data, and they also confirmed their home and work addresses, their commuting routes, and the locations of various leisure destinations from which they had tweeted.
The time and location data associated with the tweets were then presented to a group of 45 study participants, who were asked to try to deduce whether the tweets had originated at the Twitter users' homes, their workplaces, leisure destinations, or locations along their commutes.
The participants were not recruited on the basis of any particular expertise in urban studies or the social sciences; they just drew what conclusions they could from location clustering.
They were also recruited in Oxford, to eliminate biasing that might result from familiarity with Boston geography. Similarly, they had no information about the content of the tweets.
The data were presented in three different forms. One was a static Google map, in which tweet locations were marked with virtual pins; one was an animated version of the map, in which the pins appeared on-screen in chronological order; and the third - the resolutely low-tech version - was a table listing geographical coordinates, street names and times of day.
The maps featured only street names, with no names of businesses, parks, schools, or other landmarks.
Pins and table rows were, however, colour coded to indicate general time of day - morning, afternoon, or evening.
The researchers also varied the volume of data that the participants were asked to consider: one day's, three days', or five days' worth. To avoid biasing, there was no overlap between data sets of different sizes.
Predictably, participants fared better with map-based representations, correctly identifying Twitter users' homes roughly 65 per cent of the time and their workplaces at closer to 70 per cent.
Even the tabular representation was informative, however, with accuracy rates of just under 50 per cent for homes and a surprisingly high 70 per cent for workplaces.
Two kids were killed today when lightning struck them while they were playing on the roof of their house at a village in Bihar's Munger district, an official said.
Vikas Kumar (6) and Neha Kumari (7) were playing on the roof of their house at Ratanpur village when the tragic incident took place, district magistrate Uday Kumar Singh said.
The two died on the spot, he said adding the bodies were sent for post-mortem at Sadar hospital.
Ujjivan Financial Services, which has received in-principle approval from RBI to set up a small finance bank, plans an investment of more than Rs 300 crore in technology over next 5 years for core banking solutions.
"Took decisive step towards proposed small finance banking operations by earmarking more than Rs 300 crore, to be invested for implementing and integrating core banking technology over the next 5 years", Ujjivan said in a statement.
The company said it is betting big on IT and mobility solutions for the proposed small finance bank and has sourced technology from the likes of Wipro, Edgeverve-an Infosys subsidiary, Oracle, Microsoft, and Cisco among others.
Core banking and all other systems will run on most secure and robust servers like Oracle Sun Super Cluster, CISCO Blade Servers and CISCO Routers and Switches, it added.
"To support the high volume business and to meet security and compliance requirements...We have selected all proven softwares in banking technology after carefully evaluating each system for the specific requirements.
"We are creating a strong IT backbone for the upcoming small finance bank", Chief Information Officer, Ujjivan Financial Services, Deepak Ayare said.
The company said it will implement mobile technology using cell phones and handheld devices to reach the rural customers.
For high security and top of the line disaster management, all IT infrastructure will be hosted at IBM data centre, Mumbai and the disaster recovery data centre will be hosted at Airtel data centre in Bangalore.
Britain's press watchdog today ruled that 'The Sun' had misled readers with a front page article claiming that Queen Elizabeth II was in favour of the country leaving the EU in next month's referendum even though the newspaper stood by its story.
The Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid was found to be in breach of press regulations over its report headlined "Queen backs Brexit" published on March 9, following which Buckingham Palace had complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) as the British monarch is considered politically neutral.
IPSO said in its decision that while the article itself did not breach the code of practice, the headline did and the complaint was upheld under clause one of the code which refers to accuracy.
"It was a factual assertion that the Queen had expressed a position in the referendum debate, and there was nothing in the headline, or the manner in which it was presented on the newspaper's front page, to suggest that this was conjecture, hyperbole, or was not to be read literally," IPSO ruled.
"It did not follow from the comments the article reported that the Queen wanted the UK to leave the EU as a result of the referendum: that suggestion was conjecture and was significantly misleading - given that it suggested a fundamental breach of the Queen's constitutional obligations," it added.
IPSO, set up in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal in the UK, ordered the newspaper to publish its decision "as a remedy," which appeared at the bottom of page two of the paper, with a headline on the front page also referring to it.
Tabloids like the 'Sun' have long made eye-catching assertions in headlines alongside a smaller headline to qualify or attribute them and it is a standard device.
"But IPSO decided it wasn't right - though it had no problem with the story beneath it, about Her Majesty's Eurosceptic remarks which two impeccable sources confirmed. We stand by all of it," 'The Sun' said.
In the article, the paper had reported that two unnamed sources had claimed the Queen made critical comments about the EU at two private functions, with a supporting headline.
"We made a judgement that the headline was right and that it was backed up by the story. You're asking me if I accept we made a mistake - in all conscience I don't," 'Sun' editor Tony Gallagher told the BBC.
One source was quoted by the newspaper as saying that they had witnessed a "bust-up" between Queen Elizabeth II and pro-EU former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in 2011, which it said left "no room for doubt about her passionate feelings over Europe".
But Buckingham Palace alleged the headline implied the Queen was a supporter of the 'Leave' campaign in the June 23 referendum, which it said was "misleading, distorted, and unsupported by the text".
Clegg had also called the story "nonsense" but 'The Sun' said it stood by its story.
A senior UN official on today welcomed the freeing of a Nigerian schoolgirl abducted more than two years ago by Boko Haram, but said the jihadist group still holds thousands more people.
One of 219 schoolgirls kidnapped in Chibok in northeast Nigeria in April 2014, Amina Ali is the first to be recovered safe and sound.
She was found Tuesday and reunited with her family.
The girl's return was a "wonderful piece of news," UN emergency relief coordinator Stephen O'Brien told reporters during a telephone conversation from the nearby city Maiduguri.
"There is a sense of solidarity and a real sense of hope that this is a step toward the future," he said.
"Let us not forget the other thousands of boys and girls and women who have been abducted," he added. "It is vital to continue every effort to find those."
The United Nations is working closely with Nigerian federal and state authorities on those cases, O'Brien said.
Boko Haram has been accused of kidnapping at least 2,000 people since 2009 during an insurgency that has claimed the lives of 20,000 people and displaced more than 2.6 million others.
O'Brien is on a tour of the region, visiting Niger and northern Nigeria. He was expected to travel to Abuja on Wednesday before attending a World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul next week.
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova today called on authorities in India to investigate the murders of two journalists to prevent impunity for crimes and freedom of expression "from taking root."
Akhilesh Pratap Singh and Rajdev Ranjan were killed in separate incidents in Jharkhand and Bihar respectively in less than 24 hours.
"I condemn the murders of Akhilesh Pratap Singh and Rajdev Ranjan," Bokova said.
"I call on the authorities to investigate these killings to prevent impunity for crimes against freedom of expression and freedom of information from taking root."
Ranjan, Bihar's Siwan district chief of Hindi daily 'Hindustan', was shot dead when he was going on his motorcycle near a fruit market on May 13.
Ranjan, 45, died on the way to hospital.
His killing came less than 24 hours after Singh (35), a journalist of a channel, was gunned down by unidentified men at Dewaria in Chatra district in Jharkhand.
Top Union ministers and BJP leaders, including party chief Amit Shah, today reviewed the political and security situation in Jammu and Kashmir besides discussing rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits.
The meeting was chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Defence Minister Manohar Parikar, BJP President Amit Shah, Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh, among others.
Senior government officials and BJP leaders looking after Kashmir affairs also attended the meeting held at the Home Minister's residence here and reviewed the political and security situation in J-K and took feedbacks on ground realities.
"There was a general discussion on Jammu and Kashmir to understand what is happening. Different issues like security situation, deployment of forces were discussed. We have also discussed about general political scenario of the state," Parrikar told reporters after an hour-long meeting which was attended by NSA Ajit Doval and BJP general secretaries Ram Madhav and Ram Lal.
Asked whether there was any discussion on rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir Valley, Jitendra Singh said, "There was discussion on every thing but no decision on anything. It was a stock-taking meeting."
Parikar said issues related to border with Pakistan, situation along the border, deployment of paramilitary forces and flood relief related matters were discussed.
The Defence and Home Ministry officials had last week held a meeting with J-K Chief Secretary B R Sharma and Home Secretary R K Goyal during which issues pertaining to return of civil land from army and rehabilitation of over 62,000 families of Kashmiri Pandits, who had to leave the Valley following the onset of militancy, were discussed.
Asked whether any strategic decision has been taken, Parrikar said such issues cannot be discussed in public.
On the issue of infiltration from across the border, the Defence Minister said security forces were neutralising militants who try to sneak into India.
MoS, PMO Jitendra Singh, who hails from J-K, said the high-level meeting discussed political and ground realities of the state.
He said the PDP-BJP coalition government, headed by Mehbooba Mufti, was running smoothly in the state but it was necessary to take stock of the situation from time to time.
"We have a coalition government. It is our responsibility to review from time to time," Singh said.
Asked about the reasons for BJP chief's presence at the meeting, Singh said, "Ye accha hain ki wo maarg darshan karte hain (it is good that he (Shah) guides us)."
Asked whether the issue of rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits was discussed, Singh evaded a direct reply, saying there were "comprehensive" discussions on all issues concerning the state.
The United States and the European Union are protesting a UN decision to bar at least 20 non-governmental groups from taking part in a major AIDS conference next month.
US Ambassador Samantha Power said the NGOs taken off the list of participants "appear to have been chosen for their involvement in LGBTI, transgender or youth advocacy."
In a letter to UN General Assembly president Mogens Lykketoft, Power requested that these groups, including the US-based Global Action for Trans Equality, be allowed to take part in the June 8-10 high-level meeting on HIV/AIDS.
European Union Ambassador Joao Vale de Almeida said the NGOs had been struck from the list following objections from member states and requested information on which countries opposed their presence.
One of the European NGOs that has been barred from taking part is the Eurasian Coalition on Male Health, based in Estonia, which has been vocal on gay rights in Russia and other former Soviet republics.
The EU ambassador wrote in his letter sent last week that changes to an initial list of delegations were made without consulting member states.
"Given that transgender people are 49 times more likely to be living with HIV than the general population, their exclusion from the high-level meeting will only impede global progress in combatting the HIV/AIDS pandemic and achieving the goal of an AIDS-free generation," Power wrote in her letter.
The high-level meeting is aimed at fast-tracking measures to end the HIV epidemic by 2030.
The Senate has passed a bill that would allow families of victims of 9/11 attacks to sue Saudi Arabia even as the White House said President Barack Obama would veto the legislation.
Saudi Arabia has reportedly threatened to withdraw its $750 billion worth of investments in America, if it became law.
While the bill is yet to be passed by the House of Representatives before it lands up on the table of Obama to sign it into law, the White House has said that Obama would veto it.
"This legislation would change longstanding law regarding sovereign immunity," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said on Tuesday after the Senate passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA).
"The President of the continues to harbour serious concerns that this legislation would make the vulnerable in other court systems around the world," he said.
"Given the concerns that we have expressed, it's difficult to imagine the President signing this legislation. That continues to be true," he said in response to a question.
Earnest said there is also a concern that hasn't gotten as much attention about the potential vulnerability that is created for some of US allies and partners in US courts.
"The concern is related to the fact that sovereign immunity is a principle that is critical to our national security. The US is more engaged in activities in other countries than any other country in the world," he said.
"Typically, those are actually activities that other countries benefit from significantly. These are peacekeeping activities, or humanitarian relief activities, or other activities in which the US is supporting the national security activities of other countries, and the national security of other countries is enhanced by the involvement of the US," Earnest said.
Sponsored by Democratic Senator Charles Schumer and Republican John Cornyn, who is also co-chair of the Senate India Caucus, would allow victims of terror attacks on US soil or surviving family members to bring lawsuits against nation-states for activities.
"The US needs to use every tool available to stop the financing of terrorism. Victims and families who have lost loved ones in terror attacks deserve the opportunity to seek justice," Cornyn said.
Bollywood director Ram Gopal Verma today said that his upcoming biopic "Veerappan" was based on the true story of hunting down of the dreaded sandalwood smuggler, who was killed in 2004.
"My film is not a glorification of Veerappan. The film tells you about how he was killed and it also tries to find out how such characters are born," Verma told reporters here.
The director of acclaimed films like "Satya" and "Company" said, "The issue is not whether my film will send out a positive or negative message. Veerappan was a reality of our society, who posed a serious questions about the internal security of the country. My film also features the brave police officers, who killed Veerappan after a difficult search campaign."
To another question, he said, "In a way Veerappan was a more unique character than Osama Bin Laden...Laden had his own organisation and some countries were also helping him. But Veerappan did not have any such support.
Protests were to take place across on Wednesday against President Nicolas Maduro in the first challenge to sweeping powers he has decreed for police and soldiers under a state of emergency.
The opposition-led marches in Caracas and other cities were to demand that authorities validate a recall referendum seeking Maduro's ouster. But the 53-year-old president has dismissed the push against him.
Yesterday he said the referendum was "not viable" and a petition it was based on with 1.8 million signatures was riddled with "fraud."
The 60-day state of emergency was imposed from Monday to tackle what Maduro said were threats to security, as well as food and energy shortages. Many of the measures rely on Venezuela's army and police being deployed to carry them out.
It notably suspends many constitutional protections by opening the way to expropriations and almost any action deemed necessary to maintain public order.
Individuals, companies and non-governmental organisations in with links to foreign groups are also to be put under scrutiny and risk having their finances frozen, according to the decree.
The opposition-controlled congress rejected the decree in a vote late Tuesday, saying it undermined democracy. But the Supreme Court may overrule that, as it has with other congressional decisions.
Maduro has accused Washington of having "imperial" designs on Venezuela, and said that a US AWACS surveillance plane had twice violated his country's airspace last week.
Maduro has separately ordered military exercises for Saturday. Despite his decree, there have so far been no signs of increased military presence in the streets.
But demonstrations held on Wednesday could face a robust police deployment. A Caracas march last week, before the emergency decree, was halted in its tracks by riot police firing tear gas. Venezuela's opposition has urged the public to defy the state of emergency and called on the army to decide whether it sides "with the constitution or with Maduro."
The opposition, which controls congress but has little real power because of Maduro's sway over the government, Supreme Court and security forces, says the emergency decree is an attempt by the president to put himself above the constitution.
Solar energy solutions provider Waaree Energies is eyeing revenues of Rs 3,000 crore this fiscal mainly on the back of growing demand for solar projects in the country, a senior company official said.
The company, a part of the Waaree Group, is engaged in manufacturing of solar PV modules and providing EPC turnkey solutions.
"We see a huge growth potential in the solar sector especially when the government is taking several initiatives to increase power capacity from the renewables. Being a complete solution provider in the segment, we expect to clock Rs 3,000 crore revenue in 2016-17," its International Business Head Prasad Chaporkar told PTI today.
Last year, the company had reported revenues of Rs 1,000 crore.
He said the company has also planned to increase the solar PV modules capacity from the current 500 MW to 1,000 MW this year.
"With our plans for expanding the production to not only meet the domestic but also global demand, we are confident we will be able to achieve the target this fiscal.
"Last year, out of the total production, nearly 15 per cent was exported but for this year we expect it to grow by more than 20 per cent," Chaporkar added.
Waaree exports to markets like the US, Asia, Middle East, Australia and Europe.
He further said the government's target of having 40,000 MW of rooftop solar capacity is also one area of huge potential.
The government has set up an ambitious target of 175 GW generation capacity from renewable energy sources by 2022 out of which 100 GW will be from solar alone.
The National Green Tribunal today sought response from the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government and Delhi Police on a plea claiming that city police has not paid its water bill amounting to over Rs 232 crore.
A bench headed by Justice U D Salvi issued notices to the Delhi government, Delhi Jal Board Delhi Pollution Control Committee and Delhi Police while seeking their reply in three weeks.
The matter is now listed for next hearing on July 5.
The order came on the plea of Delhi resident Sanjay Kumar who told the bench that he has learnt through RTI replies that Delhi Police not paid its water bills to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB).
"For example, the applicant has learnt from the reply of the RTI provided by the Delhi Police itself that the consolidated Bill amount payable by the SHO, Office Kamla Market, Police Station Building, Delhi runs into more than Rs 27 crore," Kumar said.
The plea, filed through advocate Gaurav Bansal, has sought directions to Delhi Police to pay the pending Water Bills including Water Cess to the Delhi Government so that the amount could be used by the Delhi Government for the welfare of the people of National Capital.
It has also sought directions to DJB to submit "the status report on the issue of outstanding water bills which are pending on other government agencies."
"It is respectfully submitted that the applicant has not received many bills of various police stations of national capital from the DJB and Delhi Police and as such has a serious apprehension that the pending water bills might run into more than Rs. 300 crores.
"As per section 11 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977 if any amount of cess payable by any person or any local authority is not paid to the state government within the date is specified in the order of assessment, the same shall be deemed to be in arrears and the authority has the power to impose penalty not exceeding the amount of cess in arrears," the plea said.
Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor today targeted the Congress over the practice of naming all the major assets of the country after the Nehru-Gandhi family during its rule, triggering an outcry from the party.
Congress workers staged a protest outside Kapoor's house in suburban Bandra in Mumbai and also pelted stones and shouted slogans against the actor to protest his slew of tweets against the Nehru-Gandhi family.
The 63-year-old actor, who had in the recent past, been critical of the saffron forces on issues like intolerance, picked up the Congress for his attack this time.
Kapoor said the names of the prominent places should be changed after those who worked for the welfare of the country.
"Change Gandhi family assets named by Congress. Bandra/Worli Sea Link to Lata Mangeshkar or JRD Tata link road. Baap ka maal samjh rakha tha? (Did they consider it family property?)
"If roads in Delhi can be changed why not Congress assets/property ke naam? Was in Chandigarh wahan bhi Rajeev Gandhi assets? Socho? Why? (sic)," the actor tweeted.
The "Kapoor & Sons" star said people from the film industry should also have buildings named after them.
"We must name important assets of the country who have contributed to society. Har cheez Gandhi ke naam? I don't agree. Sochna log!
"Film City should be named Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand,Ashok Kumar ya Amitabh Bachchan ke naam? Rajeev Gandhi udyog Kya hota hai? Socho doston!," he said.
Kapoor said even Delhi's international airport should be named after personalities like Bhagat Singh or Bhimrao Ambedkar.
"Why Indira G airport International ? Why not Mahatma Gandhi or Bhagat Singh Ambedkar or on my name Rishi Kapoor. As superficial! What say?," he tweeted.
The actor said his father legendary actor-filmmaker Raj Kapoor has done more good to the country than any politician.
Reacting to Kapoor's tweets, Congress spokesperson PC Chacko, without naming the actor, said it was merely an attempt by some people to get into the good books of BJP. "This is a cheap game that some people are playing".
Another spokesperson Manish Tewari sarcastically wondered if Kapoor had any role to play in public life.
"After Bobby, I have not heard him. Does he have any role to play in India's public life," he said. Bobby was Kapoor's debut movie as a lead actor.
Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) chief Sanjay Nirupam told PTI that Kapoor has failed to realise the contribution of the Gandhi family towards nation building
The NCP also took strong objection to Kapoor's tweets.
The BJP latched on to Kapoor's attack on the Nehru-Gandhi family with its national secretary Shrikant Sharma saying only one family was "glorified" after independence while million others who sacrificed their lives for the country were "forgotten".
Actor Anupam Kher said Kapoor's tweets are genuine thought.
"Rishi Kapoorji has thought about it and I am sure a lot of people think about a lot of things that they put on social networking sites. It's genuine thought. It is not necessarily against the particular family...," Kher said, adding that the achievements of other people should also be lauded.
In a series of tweets, actor has attacked the practice of naming all the major assets of the country after the Gandhi family members during the Congress rule.
The 63-year-old veteran actor, who had in the recent past, been critical of the Saffron forces on issues like intolerance, picked up the Congress for his blast this time.
Kapoor said the names of the prominent places should be changed after those who worked for the welfare of the country.
"Change Gandhi family assets named by Congress. Bandra/Worli Sea Link to Lata Mangeshkar or JRD Tata link road. Baap ka maal samjh rakha tha? (Did they consider it family property?)
Change Gandhi family assets named by Congress.Bandra/Worli Sea Link to Lata Mangeshkar or JRD Tata link road. Baap ka maal samjh rakha tha ? (@chintskap) May 17, 2016
"If roads in Delhi can be changed why not Congress assets/property ke naam? Was in Chandigarh wahan bhi Rajeev Gandhi assets? Socho? Why? (sic)," the actor tweeted.
The "Kapoor & Sons" star said people from the film industry should also have buildings named after them.
"We must name important assets of the country who have contributed to society. Har cheez Gandhi ke naam? I don't agree. Sochna log!
We must name important assets of the country who have contributed to society. Har cheez Gandhi ke naam? I don't agree. Sochna log! (@chintskap) May 17, 2016
"Film City should be named Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand,Ashok Kumar ya Amitabh Bachchan ke naam? Rajeev Gandhi udyog Kya hota hai? Socho doston!," he said.
Kapoor said even Delhi's international airport should be named after personalities like Bhagat Singh or Bhimrao Ambedkar.
"Why Indira G airport International ? Why not Mahatma Gandhi or Bhagat Singh Ambedkar or on my name Rishi Kapoor. As superficial! What say?," he tweeted.
The actor said his father legendary actor-filmmaker Raj Kapoor has done more good to the country than any politician.
"Raj Kapoor has made India proud over the years all over even after his death. Certainly more than what has been perceived by politics (sic)," he wrote.
Actor Anupam Kher said Kapoor's tweets are genuine thought.
"Rishi Kapoorji has thought about it and I am sure a lot of people think about a lot of things that they put on social networking sites. It's genuine thought. It is not necessarily against the particular family," Kher said, adding that the achievements of other people should also be lauded.
"Salutes to @chintskap for speaking the truth. The #Nehruisation of this country has to go. There is no different. Between them & the Britishers," said filmmaker and censor board member Ashoke Pandit.
Reacting to Kapoor's tweets, Congress spokesperson PC Chacko, without naming the actor, said it was merely an attempt by some people to get into the good books of those in power.
"I had not seen the tweets but it seems that some people are trying to abuse the Congress leadership just to get into the good books of BJP. This is a cheap game that some people are playing," Chacko said.
"May be they want to please somebody in power. They can have it but not at the expense of Congress... We don't take it seriously and it is not worth any comments at all," he said.
Why Indira G airport International ? Why not Mahatma Gandhi or Bhagat Singh Ambedkar or on my name Rishi Kapoor. As superficial! What say? Rishi Kapoor (@chintskap) May 17, 2016
The actor outpoured his feelings on the practice of naming all the major assets of the country after the Gandhi clan but that didn't go well with the Twitterati. He faced flak on the social media website for his comments.
.@chintskap Probably you forget, who was Indira Gandhi. But you may recognize some of the 'stars' in this pic. pic.twitter.com/2ae1RE3ayZ Dharmesh Dixit (@theDDixit) May 18, 2016
A local court today sentenced a 22-year-old youth to three years rigorous imprisonment for raping a teenager in 2011.
The District and Sessions Judge H M Patwardhan convicted the accused Nikhil Bhoir, of Jugaon, in Navi Mumbai under section 376 (rape) and 420 (cheating) of IPC.
Additional Public Prosecutor S H Khapre-Goswami told the court that Bhoir and the victim, who was then aged 15, were studying in the same school.
They developed friendship and it was in September 2011, that Bhoir invited the victim to his house and raped her when no one present in the house, Goswami said.
The victim was again raped by the accused at a friend's place later, the prosecutor said.
In the initial days, when they developed friendship, Bhoir expressed his intention to marry the victim once she turns 18. However, it was in January 2012, the accused asked the victim, when she was 16, to get 'sindoor' and 'mangalsutra' to solemnise the marriage, but later started avoiding her, the PP added.
Subsequently when the victim traced Bhoir in the next month, he smeared 'sindoor on her head and "declared" that they are married, the court was told.
However, there was no official marriage registered as the girl was not 18, the PP said.
The court was also told that later Bhoir's family members gave an assurance in writing that they would get them married but when Bhoir did not keep his word, the victim registered the case, Goswami said.
Beleaguered former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia today moved the Supreme Court seeking a stay on a case that accuses her of graft involving funds worth USD 40,000 in a corruption case.
The two pleas will be heard by a chamber judge next week, said her lawyer Ragib Rouf Chowdhury.
The High Court earlier turned down two of the 71-year-old Bangladesh Nationalist Party chief's pleas suspending the case after her request to have its investigating officer cross-examined again was rejected by a special court.
Khaleda's lawyers sought fresh testimonies and cross-examinations on April 17 after objecting to the deposition by the case's Investigating Officer Harunur Rashid.
But Dhaka's third special judge Abu Ahmed Jamadar rejected the plea, bdnews reported.
Two pleas were filed at the High Court for an order scrapping the decision but were rejected on May 15.
The BNP chief is among the four accused of embezzling 31.5 million taka in the case filed by Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) in 2010.
The others are Khaleda's former political secretary Harris Chowdhury, his personal assistant Ziaul Islam Munna, former Dhaka City mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka's personal assistant Monirul Islam Khan.
The trial began on March 19, 2013 after all four were indicted.
By Swati Pandey
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Asset Management is considering the sale of its Australian equities and fixed income businesses, people familiar with the plans said on Wednesday, as it looks to exit one of the country's most intensely competitive markets.
The Wall Street bank is conducting a strategic review of its Australian asset management business but has not made a decision on the sale, the sources told on Wednesday on condition of anonymity as the discussions were private.
Goldman's Australian fund management business oversees about A$9 billion ($6.6 billion), making it a relatively small player in Australia's A$2.6 trillion wealth management industry where scale is often critical. The U.S. firm also operates investment banking and corporate advisory businesses in Australia.
A Goldman Sachs spokeswoman declined to comment.
If it goes ahead with a sale, Goldman will be following in the footsteps of Swiss bank UBS which offloaded its private bank in Australia last year after a review of its underperforming businesses.
It also would not be the first sale of this kind for Goldman Sachs in Asia. Last year, it sold its Indian fund management unit for $37.5 million, following a series of similar exits by foreign players from the crowded market.
But whereas in India it was a total sale, its plans suggest the institutional business in Australia is worth persisting with.
Unlike the banking industry which is dominated by four big lenders, the Australian wealth management industry is alive with competition from new boutique fund managers with relatively low cost bases. The A$1.7 trillion pension industry is also setting up in-house teams to manage funds, in another challenge to big investment banks.
Options being considered by Goldman Asset Management include a sale to a third party or a management buyout, with Australian equities team head Dion Hershan and associates setting up a boutique, the source added. Even after the sale, Goldman would continue to sell global products to its institutional clients, the source added.
In investment banking, Goldman Sachs dropped to 22nd position in the Australian equity capital market underwriting business, from No.1 in the same period a year earlier, according to Thomson data. In M&A, Goldman has maintained its No. 3 position so far this year.
($1 = 1.3727 Australian dollars)
(Additional reporting by Byron Kaye; Writing by Denny Thomas in Hong Kong; Editing by Stephen Coates)
In line with Apple CEO Tim Cook's first visit to India, Apple has announced its plans to establish a Design and Development Accelerator in Bengaluru, an initiative to support engineering talent and accelerate growth in India's iOS developer community. The iOS App Design and Development Accelerator is expected to open in early 2017.
"India is home to one of the most vibrant and entrepreneurial iOS development communities in the world," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "With the opening of this new facility in Bengaluru, we're giving developers access to tools which will help them create innovative apps for customers around the world."
With thousands of developers in India making apps for iOS platforms, this initiative will provide additional, specialized support for them. Each week, Apple experts will lead briefings and provide one-on-one app reviews for developers. The facility will also provide support and guidance on Swift, Apple's programming language created to build apps.
Cook is on his first visit to India in the capacity of the CEO of the Cupertino giant. While the former leader of the company, Steve Jobs, did not acknowledge India as an important growth market for Apple, of late Cook has been focusing on the Indian market. During the India visit, Cook is expected to meet top telcos and politicians. He is also likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Saturday, before his trips ends on Sunday.
During the recent result announcement, while the global sales for iPhone fell for the first time, India was the only country with where the sales rose 56 per cent in the January-March quarter from the last year. While the increase in sales was primarily because of the low-cost iPhone5S, Apple acknowledges India as a huge potential market for the company.
As Cook will be in Hyderabad tomorrow, Apple is expected to announce a digital maps centre in Hyderabad.
Sri Lanka will cancel plans for a 500 megawatt Indian-built coal-fired power plant at its strategic eastern port city of Trincomalee and will instead opt for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plant, a cabinet minister said late on Tuesday.
Chandima Weerakkody, Sri Lanka's petroleum minister, said President Maithripala Sirisena told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the decision at a meeting on Saturday during Sirisena's visit to the island nation's larger neighbour.
"We do not want to hurt India. So President Sirisena in his visit has offered an LNG plant instead of the coal plant," Weerakkody told Reuters. "This has been discussed at the highest level and there is consensus."
Sri Lanka is trying to increase its power generation capacity after a recent blackout that was the worst in 20 years, government officials say.
B.M.S. Batagoda, the energy ministry secretary said the switch to LNG was proposed after ten years of opposition to a coal-fired power plant by the residents of Sampur, a village near Trincomalee, where India has already proposed to build South Asia's largest petroleum hub.
Area residents and environmental groups have resisted the coal power plant ever since it was originally proposed in 2006 due to worries about land clearance and pollution.
Plans for the $500 million coal power plant project were finalised in 2011, when state-run Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and India's state-run National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC) agreed to form a joint venture for its construction.
It is not clear which Indian companies would be considered as partners on the proposal to build a gas-fired power plant. Natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel than coal, but there would be the added hurdle that Sri Lanka has no LNG import infrastructure.
Sri Lanka's only coal-fired power plant with 900 MW capacity was built with a $1.4 billion loan from China in two phases. However, the Chinese plant has faced frequent repairs.
India and China have been increasingly loaning funds to Sri Lanka over the last few years, mainly for infrastructure projects. Since the island's civil war ended in 2009, the two rivals have been competing for influence in Sri Lanka, which sits right off one of the world's busiest shipping routes.
Government has imposed a provisional anti-dumping duty for six months on seamless tubes, steel pipes, among others imported from China.
In March, the Directorate General for Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) had recommended to the Revenue Department to impose provisional levy on import of certain types of iron and steel pipes from China used in oil and gas exploration in a bid to protect the domestic industry from cheap imports.
"The Central Government... hereby imposes on the subject goods, ... an anti-dumping duty at a rate which is equivalent to difference between the landed value of the subject goods...," the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said in a notification.
The anti-dumping duty will be in the range of $961.33-1,610.67.
"The duty imposed under this notification shall be effective for a period not exceeding 6 months (unless revoked, superseded or amended earlier) from the date of publication of this notification in the Official Gazette and shall be paid in Indian currency," it said.
ISMT Ltd and Maharashtra Seamless had moved the DGAD for imposition of the duty on "seamless tubes, pipes and hollow profiles of iron, alloy or non-alloy steel (other than cast iron and stainless steel), whether hot finished or cold drawn or cold rolled of an external diameter not exceeding 355.6 mm or 14."
They had alleged dumping of the products, originating in or exported from China, and the consequent injury to them.
In its preliminary findings, DGAD said it was of the view that imposition of "provisional duty is required" to offset dumping and injury, pending completion of investigation.
"Therefore, Authority (DGAD) considers it necessary and recommends imposition of provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of subject goods from the subject country...," it said in a notification.
In July last year, the DGAD had initiated a probe into the alleged dumping, and its adverse impact on the domestic industry.
The product being considered by the DGAD includes boiler pipes or line pipes used in hydrocarbon industry and casing and tubing of a kind used in drilling for oil and gas exploration.
The purpose of anti-dumping duties, in general, is to eliminate injury caused to the domestic industry by the unfair trade practices of dumping so as to re-establish a situation of open and fair competition in the market, which is in the general interest of the country.
Imposition of the duties might affect price levels of the downstream products and consequently have some influence on relative competitiveness of these products.
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday batted for a second term for RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, terming him as a competent man who has performed exceedingly well in his current assignment.
"He (Raghuram Rajan) is a very competent man, and he has performed exceedingly well as Reserve Bank Governor, and I think he deserves a second term," AICC General Secretary Digvijaya Singh said in Hyderabad when asked if Congress is in favour of a second term for him.
Asked about BJP MP Subramanian Swamy urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sack Rajan, alleging that he was mentally not fully Indian, among other reasons, Singh asked, "What about himself? (Swamy)".
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had also reacted sharply to the attack on Rajan, saying why Swamy does not hit his real target Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, but set up dummy targets like the RBI Governor who cannot speak out.
BJP spokesperson on Economic Affairs Gopalkrishna Aggarwal yesterday said Swamy is a senior leader whose opinions definitely matter, but added that the final say will be with the government.
Following up on his barb last week that Rajan should be sent back to Chicago, Swamy has written a letter to the Prime Minister saying how a person appointed by the UPA government should be continued in the post.
"I cannot see why someone appointed by the UPA government who is apparently working against Indian economic interests should be kept in this post when we have so many nationalist- minded experts available in this country for the RBI Governorship," Swamy had said.
The newly nominated MP urged Modi to terminate the appointment of Dr Raghuram Rajan in the national interest. Rajan was appointed RBI Governor by the previous UPA government in September 2013 for a three-year term, which can be extended.
CEOs of Indian listed companies enjoy highest total fixed pay of Rs 3.2 crore as against Rs 1.8 crore received by CEOs of private companies, shows a survey conducted by Aon Hewitt. While the amount of fixed pay was highest, percentage of fixed pay in pay mix for CEOs is lesser than total variable salary component.
Indian listed companies also pay the highest to other CXOs. Indian listed companies pay almost 59 per cent of total compensation as annual incentives or long-term incentives to its CEOs, reducing their fixed pay. Whereas, private Indian companies pay around 56 per cent of compensation as fixed pay. Fixed salary component for CEOs of listed MNCs and private MNCs stood at 43 per cent and 52 per cent respectively, as reported by the survey.
The survey shows that the services industry paid highest fixed salary - Rs 2.7 crore - to its CEOs during the year. Whereas total cost to company with long term incentives was Rs 4.8 crore, the highest for CEOs in financial services industry.
Apart from CEOs pay mix, the survey also analyses pay mix of CXOs, which include CFO, COO, CHRO, CMO, Head of marketing, Head Manufacturing and Business Head (Large). As per the survey, IT companies pay the highest to CXOs. Total cost to company with long-term incentives for CXOs of IT companies stood at Rs 2 crore followed by financial services, FMCG/Pharma and services industry with Rs 1.8 crore.
The study shows that IT and manufacturing companies pay 53 per cent of pay as fixed component to its CEOs, which is the highest among different industries. In case of CXOs, IT companies pay 60 per cent as fixed pay. Financial services industry stood last with 40 per cent as fixed component of the total pay for CEOs. Out of remaining, they pay 41 per cent as annual incentives and 18 per cent as long term incentive. The data in the report clearly states that pay at risk is highest in financial services followed by services. In case of CXO compensation also, pay at risk is highest in financial services sector.
Aon Hewitt's executive compensation survey states that stock options continue to dominate long-term incentive instruments used by companies. With convergence of Indian Accounting Standards with IFRS and increased focus on performance, use of full value instrument like Performance Shares seems to be becoming an instrument of choice amongst companies. Restricted stock primarily viewed as a retention instrument is used by companies in combination with other performance based instruments.
The survey, which was conducted between July 2015 and November 2015 on 380 companies within eight industry clusters, also states that companies are positive on business outlook. More than 2/3rd companies say business outlook is improving. As per the report, 2016 has witnessed a marginal fall in increase in fixed pay for top and senior executives as compared to last year.
In terms of sheer volume, the Indian milk production - at 400 million litres per day - is the highest in the world. In terms of per capita consumption, though, we lag way behind the developed nations. The Indian per capita consumption of milk at 97 litres per year is far behind the US, where the per capita consumption is 285 litres per year, or the EU's 281 litres per year. The organised market is worth at least Rs 80,000 crore, while the total market - which includes all the unorganised, unbranded players - is estimated to be worth a humongous Rs 5,00,000 crore.
Over the past few years, rising incomes in urban areas and working couples have created a good demand for value-added dairy products. While the global demand has remained largely stagnant, the Indian market for milk and milk products is growing at 15-17 per cent per annum. That has made the milk market very attractive for new players. The fact that the value-added segment has better margins also helps.
From multinationals to home-grown start-ups, everyone is getting into the milk business. Meanwhile, the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which controls the Amul brand and is the biggest player in the milk market, has also matched the newcomers at every step.
As a result, there is huge interest and investment taking place in the dairy business. From giants like Danone, Nestle and ITC to relatively new dairy players like Sarda, Parag and Prabhat, many new players are jostling for a slice of the pie. Several dairy companies have raised money from the stock markets through successful initial public offerings. Private equity companies have also poured in over Rs 900 crore into the milk market in the past few years. The brands run by various cooperatives - Amul, Mother Dairy (a wholly owned subsidiary of National Dairy Development Board) and Nandini (owned by the Karnataka Cooperative Milk Producers Federation) - still control a big chunk of the market, and are investing, too.
What makes the Indian market quite complex compared to other countries is that the bulk of the milk supplies are from small owners and farmers owning few cows. The cooperative model, therefore, has huge power. In western countries, most big dairy companies take milk from centralised dairy farms, which have thousands of cows and use machines extensively. The centralised operations allow for better control of both margins and quality. Buying from multiple sources is fraught with danger and uncertainty.
Still, the overall prize is too attractive to give up. Over the next few years, the milk products segment may see the most cut-throat battles in the FMCG market. Our cover story (page 46) by Senior Associate Editor Ajita Shashidhar looks at the dynamics of the milk market in detail.
On the subject of farmers and rural economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has focused on it quite seriously. He has announced his goal of doubling farm incomes by 2022. After taking charge of the government in 2014, Modi had announced the Model Villages initiative, which would make each Member of Parliament adopt one village and solve its problems. In our special package on the rural economy (page 66), we look at how the Model Villages initiative has worked out in practice, how realistic is the ambition of doubling farmer incomes in six years, and also whether the government actually has a plan for eradicating poverty in the next seven or eight years as announced by Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog, the body that replaced the Planning Commission.
We had hired 30 engineers. That took us three years. As we scaled up, we wanted to expand to 150, not in one year, but in three months," recalls Siddhartha Nihalani, Head of Engineering, Practo Technologies, which provides technology solutions to healthcare providers. For Practo, at that stage, growth was imperative but, without quick hiring, impossible. There were no easy answers.
The reasons for slow hiring, says Nihalani, are many. One, companies give applicants coding tests on paper and then check them manually. This is time-consuming and subjective. At times, applicants have to be flown down to the office, too, says Nihalani. In such a scenario, Practo would have had no option but to lower its growth ambitions. It was then it discovered HackerRank - a tech start-up that uses software to test skills of programmers, helping companies hire quality talent. HackerRank helped Practo assess 1,500 people in three months.
With operations in Bangalore and California, HackerRank has its roots in a college project of two friends, Harishankaran Karunanidhi and Vivek Ravisankar, studying in National Institute of Technology, Trichy, who developed a software to help students evaluate coding skills. At that time, they did not know what to do with it further, and after passing out took jobs at IBM and Amazon, respectively. The next year, in 2009, they left their jobs and developed the project into a company called InterviewStreet. The idea was to set up a business around helping students get better jobs through skill assessment and mock interviews. The self assessment was a big hit and attracted 100 candidates every month. But conducting mock interviews was tough. "Recruiters felt it was unethical to give away interview questions as it would be in conflict with their day job," says Karunanidhi. The two started asking around for feedback and, through a friend, got in touch with Mekin Maheshwari, the then Vice President of Engineering at Flipkart. In February 2011, Flipkart became its first corporate client. Word of mouth got them five more paying clients in the next three months.
The big break came in June 2011, when the company was selected for Y Combinator. It claims it was the first Indian company to be shortlisted for the American accelerator programme. At this stage, feedback from mentors such as Paul Graham and Mark Jung made the founders realise that getting candidates was a bigger problem for companies than assessing them. They decided to start a web community of programmers called HackerRank, in 2012. Gradually, they changed the focus from students to companies and developed a platform called HackerRank for Work, which lets companies set up coding challenges to be solved by potential employees online. The software automatically evaluates the work and sends top results to companies. Mathias Connot, Director of Talent Acquisition at US-based cloud and virtualisation software company VMware, says the software has helped them save 75 per cent of the screening time and look for "diamonds in the rough". The 26-year-olds renamed the company HackerRank from InterviewStreet.
To expand the pool of potential hires, the co-founders hit upon the idea of strengthening the HackerRank community by setting up coding challenges every month. They also got companies on board for hiring the winners of these contests. This gave them a lot of traction in the technology world. It is now a 1.5-million-strong community of programmers, considered to be the third-largest online programming community in the world after GitHub and StackOverflow, says Karunanidhi.
"Technology is one of the biggest sectors for recruitments in India. As new programming languages keep coming in, it is important for companies to engage with the talent so that they have a database of people with the right skill sets who may not be looking for a job right now but can be hired in the future," says Archana Jerath, Business Head, SHRM India, an association of HR professionals. In contrast to resumes, which may not give the true picture of a person's coding skills, online tests are an objective way to find the right candidates, she adds.
"Technology is one of the biggest sectors for recruitments in India. As new programming languages keep coming in, it is important for companies to engage with the talent"
Meanwhile, the selection for Y Combinator helped in fund raising. HackerRack raised $3 million from Khosla Ventures, led by billionaire entrepreneur Vinod Khosla. It used the money to hire a sales and operations team in California. While the engineering team is based in Bangalore, the 140 employees are evenly distributed in the two locations.
New Add-ons
HackerRank for Work was working well for companies looking for junior and mid-level hires. But for hiring at the senior level, companies wanted to oversee the entire assessment process. So, HackerRank developed another product, CodePair, in 2013, which helps companies test coding skills in real time. "It is a Google Drive-type software with audio and video functions. The recruiter can not only see the code candidates are writing in real time but also understand their thought process," says Karunanidhi.
As the client base increased to 1,000-plus, and top names such as Amazon and Walmart came on board, in June 2014, it raised another $9.2 million from Khosla Ventures and Battery Ventures. Last year, it got $7.5 million from Japan-based Recruit Holdings' HR Technology Fund. It has received $20 million in funding till date. To beef up its top deck, HackerRack hired former Facebook ad sales executive Grady Burnett as Chief Operating Officer and Google's veteran software engineer Ahmed Aly for creating programming content. "The idea was to give senior people charge of operations so that we could focus on product development," says Ravisankar, who looks after the US operations and customer acquisition.
In November 2014, to tap the market for mobile apps, HackerRank developed DroidRank, which checks the efficiency of apps for Android. In June 2015, it launched DbRank, which tests skills of database programmers, business analysts and data scientists, as well as SudoRank (to assess systems engineers). In January this year came a job search app, HackerRank Jobs, to connect companies to software engineers. Here, too, coders have to pass a test. "Applying to a company is like sending the job resume in a black hole. We are trying to make the process transparent. The applicant will be informed if he or she will get an interview call or not," says Ravisankar. Over 20 companies such as Intuit and Quora have joined the platform.
The company does not make money from the hacker community but from companies that partner with it for assessments. The cost of an enterprise package varies from $10,000 to $25,000, which includes access to all of HackerRank's products.
HackerRank also recently partnered with Microsoft for enabling code search on Bing. It has code snippets based on commonly-searched items that can be used by programmers for learning and checking the quality of their solutions. It is also developing a platform for assessing web developers and iOS app developers, which will be launched by the end of this year.
Ashwin Singh, Senior Manager, APAC Talent Acquisition, Juniper Networks, says, "HackerRank is a vital component of our campus recruiting strategy. Through the assessment tool as well as CodePair, it has helped us uncover top-notch tech talent, while reducing screening time drastically. It is a great engagement platform for our technical community and has helped us drive our innovation agenda."
As the company keeps launching new products to tap new segments, it remains true to its tagline - making the world flat by democratising the hiring process.
Rs 50,000 crore
worth of indirect tax evasions unearthed by the Indian government through a series of measures in the past two years, the finance ministry said in a statement.
Deutsche Connection
Anshu Jain, former co-chief executive of Deutsche Bank AG, along with another ex-Deutsche Bank top executive, Bhupinder Singh, is looking to float a non-banking finance company in India.
Ascetic Hunter
On his debut as Rajya Sabha MP, Subramanian Swamy literally set the House ablaze by spearheading the attack on the Congress top brass for allegedly receiving kickbacks in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal.
Back in the Saddle
Harish Rawat was reinstated as the Uttarakhand Chief Minister after comfortably winning the trust vote in the state assembly under the supervision of a Supreme Court appointee. Rawat was earlier removed as CM for allegedly not having a majority in the House after nine Congress legislators defected.
On Popular Demand
Four months before his term ends, speculations are rife that Raghuram Rajan may be in for a second term in office as the RBI governor for coming up with out-of-the-box solutions to India's economic problems.
Tough on Graft
According to The Economist, India was at the ninth place in the crony capitalism index, with its crony wealth dropping to 3 per cent of the gross domestic product, against 18 per cent in 2008.
I n the latter half of April, Amitabh Kant, NITI Aayog CEO, made a presentation that said if India could sustain 10 per cent average annual growth till 2032, it would become a $10-trillion economy, create 175 million jobs and, above all, lift its entire population above the poverty line by that year. Currently, India's GDP is around $2.2 trillion, with 35 per cent of its urban population and almost half of its rural, classified as 'poor'. Is such a dramatic transformation in 16 years possible?
It is not, for two important reasons, even if the over optimistic growth rate is indeed achieved. For one, the position of the poverty line will keep changing, as it has been doing ever since Independence. Indeed, in the past few years, the extent of poverty in the country has even been the subject of much controversy, with two committees, both of them official ones set up by the Planning Commission (Niti Aayog's predecessor), using different methodologies and arriving at widely varying conclusions. (See Contentious Definition). While the Suresh Tendulkar committee estimated that 21.9 per cent of the population was below the poverty line (BPL), the C. Rangarajan committee set the figure at nearly 30 per cent. As the country prospers, the poverty bar will keep rising and a section of the population will always remain below it. After all, even the US and European countries have sections termed 'poor', though they may be much better off than the poor in India.
For another, income alone does not determine poverty. Even if Indian incomes increase to the extent the Niti Aayog hopes, the country's performance on Human Development Index (HDI) parameters are extremely unlikely to touch those of the developed nations by 2032. According to the 2014 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report, India ranked 130 among 188 countries on HDI. In contrast, China, with which India is often compared on the global stage, invested heavily in health and education before it turned to market-led growth. Still, in 2015/16, India's growth rate did surpass China's and the government hopes a trickle-down effect from such sustained growth will also improve HDI parameters.
Extending development and jobs to every part of the country will also be difficult, given that 83 districts in the heart of India have a sizeable Maoist presence, allowing the administration only limited access. A couple of months ago, Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal himself admitted at a CII function that there were some mines even he could not visit. He was obviously referring to those in the Maoist areas. All these districts are extremely poor, their people survive only on primary sector jobs related to agriculture, horticulture or mining, and are likely to remain so in the absence of proactive government intervention.
Besides, if the economy is expanding, so is the population. As Clint Laurent notes in his book Tomorrow's World, India's population will have risen to 1.46 billion from the current 1.25 billion by 2032. The Niti Aayog presentation expects per capita income to grow to $6,846 by then from $1,615 in 2015, and manufacturing's contribution to the economy to rise to 25 per cent of GDP from the current 16 per cent. Agriculture's near-stagnant, single-digit growth is also expected to change. All these are tall orders.
Even so, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is making a concerted effort to realise the zero poverty dream. All-round development is being pushed aggressively using the trio of JAM (Jan Dhan Yojana), by which the unbanked have been given zero balance bank accounts; Aadhaar, the identification number used to target direct cash benefits; and Mobile connections) to track implementation and plug leakages. From May 1 this year, it began the Prime Minister's Ujjawala Yojana, giving LPG connections to all BPL families, where the government subsidises more than half the cost of installation. Of the 18,452 villages Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to electrify in his last Independence Day address, 7,654 have already been. While earlier a village qualified as 'electrified' if 10 per cent of its residents had power, now all BPL homes have to receive power for it to do so. Easy loans are also being given to set up sanitation facilities. The only hitch is that, if incomes do not rise simultaneously, BPL families may not be able to afford even this.
Contentious Definition
Who is poor, and where the poverty line lies, has been a subject of intense debate over the years.
In 1962, a Planning Commission working group set the poverty line at a monthly income of Rs 100-125 for a family of fi ve at 1960-61 prices
In 1971, economists V.N. Dandekar and N. Rath fi rst suggested that poverty should be measured not by income, but by calorie consumption, and all those with intake of less than 2,250 calories a day should be classified as poor.
In 1979, the Planning Commission instituted the Y.K. Alagh Committee set the poverty line at 2,400 calories a day in rural areas and 2,100 in urban areas. Minimum per capita monthly income to enable such consumption was set at Rs 49.10 for rural areas and Rs 56.70 for urban areas.
In 1993, the Planning Commission set up the D.T. Lakdawala Committee, which made key changes in the method of determining consumption expenditure and thereby poverty, as a result of which the population below the poverty line almost doubled to 37.3 per cent in rural areas and 32.4 per cent in urban areas.
The Lakdawala formula, applied for 2004/05 yielded the poverty estimate of 28.3 per cent in rural areas and 27.5 per cent in urban ones.
In 2011, the Suresh Tendulkar Committee constituted by the Planning Commission suggested going beyond food to add expenses on education, health, transport and electricity to consumption expenditure. At 2004/05 prices, it set the poverty line at Rs 27 per day in rural areas and Rs 33 in urban ones. Its estimate became controversial as it increased the BPL population in rural areas to 41.80 per cent, though urban poverty remained the same as calculated by the Lakdawala formula.
Using the Tendulkar Committee methodology, the BPL population in 2011/12 was estimated at 25.7 per cent in rural areas and 13.7 per cent in urban ones.
But yet another Planning Commission committee, headed by C. Rangarajan, which submitted its report in 2014, estimated the overall BPL population much higher at 30 per cent for 2011/12. It posited minimum cost of living at Rs 32 a day in rural areas and Rs 47 a day in urban ones.
It's a precursor to the big 4G fight that's going to take place in the telecom sector. Reliance Jio (RJio), the telecom arm of Reliance Industries, is at loggerheads with the GSM industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) over spectrum usage charges (SUC). Even though Reliance Jio is a member of COAI, it seems to be losing out to the rest of the members who are in favour of fixed SUC charges of 4.5 per cent of adjusted gross revenues (AGR), as proposed by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
The bone of contention is the additional monetary burden of some Rs 60,000 crore that will fall on Rjio over a period of 20 years if the fixed SUC rates come into force. RJio says that other COAI members are paying higher SUC charges, which they want to pass on.
A series of policy changes related to SUC rates has made the matter complex. Nevertheless, the government is close to finding a solution to the problem that seems to be hurting Rjio as compared with competition including Airtel, Vodafone and Idea.
Currently, Airtel and Vodafone, on average, pay SUC of around 6.5 per cent, 2 percentage points higher than DoT's proposed figure. RJio, on the other hand, pays different rates, including 1 per cent for the BWA spectrum (used for 4G services) it had acquired in 2010.
The Background
In 2010, the DoT went for auctions and SUC was fixed at 3 per cent for 3G spectrum and 1 per cent for BWA (the spectrum used for 4G services). It was argued that SUC rates for 3G and 4G spectrum were different for a reason -3G was tightly intertwined with 2G spectrum and it was difficult to segregate the revenues and, thus, chances of manipulation were high.
In the 2012 auctions, the government went back to a slab-based system before settling for a weighted average method based on the SUC rates of the auctioned and allocated spectrum.
Meanwhile, RJio has said that the weighted average method should be continued. Under this method, each player pays a different SUC rate. If this system remains, RJio is expected to gain while other players will be at a huge disadvantage.
The problem has arisen from the government's approach towards SUC over the years. A few years ago, the telecom airwaves were allotted to operators based on their subscriber base. Higher the number of subscribers, the more spectrum was allotted. The spectrum sale was not linked to market rates at that time so the government introduced SUC, a slab-based system under which telcos pay charges on the quantum of the spectrum they hold. It ensured that telcos make efficient use of spectrum, and they are not just hoarding spectrum by inflating the subscriber numbers. The SUC ranged between 3 per cent and 8 per cent of AGR.
But since the spectrum allotted in the pre-auction era will be expiring in the next few years, the government has to go for uniform SUC rates (ideally on the lower side) in order to reduce the burden on telcos who are already paying market-linked prices for spectrum.
COAI says that charging different SUC rates for different bands is impractical. It would be difficult because segregating revenues could be challenging. Also, all bands are interchangeable, so telcos will play the arbitrage game by directing most of their traffic on bands with low SUC charges. RJio, however, disagrees and says that revenue segregation is possible.
"In most of the world, there's no such thing as SUC. When telcos buy spectrum, they are charged a nominal amount of administrative fee, which is less than 1 per cent," says Rajan S. Mathews, Director General, COAI. The high SUC burden on operators can adversely impact investment in infrastructure, says COAI in its April letter to TRAI. "Numerous rates are presently applicable for spectrum assigned at different points of time?[which] lead to ambiguities while entering into transactions such as M&A, spectrum trading and sharing and liberalization?A uniform rate will simplify the calculations and remove all arbitrages and ambiguities," the letter said.
The SUC generates significant revenues for the government (about Rs 33,365 crore since 2010). Tweak-ing the rates by a few percentage points can impact these revenues. Apparently, the SUC rate of 4.5 per cent doesn't result in loss of revenues. "The matter has gone to the Telecom Commission, which has said that there could be legal issues," says Mathews.
An analyst argues any change can affect RJio's initial cost estimations and change the business economics.
"Before every auction, rules of the auctions, including SUC rates, are defined by DoT and all bidders bid for the spectrum accordingly. If higher annual spectrum charges are kept, the auction bids are likely to be lower and vice-versa," says an analyst.
The ball is now in the government's court. SUC seems like an old concept that is creating fresh ruckus in the industry.
Dev Narayan (39) and Jeetu (47) have many things in common. Both are from the musahar community, which is so poor that its people were once known to eat mice to survive. In their eastern Uttar Pradesh villages, 100 km apart, they are considered outcasts. Also, their villages have been adopted by the respective parliamentarians to be developed into model villages under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY), Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet scheme to develop villages.
The similarity ends here. Jeetu lives in a newly-built concrete house that has a bedroom, an open kitchen and separate toilet and bath. He has access to solar power and a community hand pump right outside his house. In contrast, Narayan lives in a mud hut without electricity, water or ventilation. His wife and two children travel three kilometres every day for water.
In case you are wondering why, Jeetu's village, Jayapur, in Varanasi district, has been adopted by the prime minister, while Baidwar Kalan in Allahabad, where Narayan lives, has been adopted by Shyama Charan Gupta of the Samajwadi Party, Uttar Pradesh's ruling party.
"You cannot compare an ordinary MP's village like mine with Mr Modi's. He is the prime minister. He only has to identify a village and the administration and industrialists will invest. Who am I in front of him? Nobody comes to help me," says Gupta.
The contrast between these two villages is a rule rather than an exception. The stark differences in development in the 761 villages adopted by Members of Parliament (MPs) under the SAGY - with some villages getting nothing and a few, like the prime minister's, getting first-world facilities - are a pointer to hurdles that can nip in the bud a scheme that has the potential to redraw India's rural economic landscape.
The hurdles include indifference (12 per cent MPs have not adopted any village), lack of separate funds (it is supposed to tap funds from 223 Central and several state schemes), poor coordination among agencies, and social discrimination. And in villages where the scheme has been a success, the role of companies, even non-government organisations, or NGOs, is all too visible.
"The scheme has been a mixed success so far," says Utkarsha Bhardwaj, Lead, MP Engagements of Swaniti Initiative, an NGO working on a comprehensive data set for the scheme.
The launch of the SAGY could not have come at a better time. The Central government recently approved the Fourteenth Finance Commission recommendation for allocating Rs 2,87,436 crore for local bodies (including 2.48 lakh gram panchayats) over five years, more than three times the Rs 87,519 crore recommended by the Thirteenth Finance Commission. Union Budget 2016/17 allocated Rs 87,765 crore for rural development (up 10 per cent from 2015/16), Rs 1,51,581 crore for the social sector (up 8 per cent) and Rs 35,984 crore for agriculture and farmer welfare for uplifting India's six lakh villages. With average rural per capita income half the urban per capita income, there is a huge gap that the government is trying to fill. The SAGY, if implemented well, can play a big role in that.
Under the scheme, the prime minister wants to develop 6,320 model villages by 2024. In the first phase (2014 to 2016), 699 MPs adopted their first village. As on May 3 this year, 62 had chosen their second village, too. After 2019, the government hopes to see five villages (one every year) being nurtured by each MP till 2024 to take the tally closer to the target.
The effort involves pooling in all (central, state, local body level) the resources that can be tapped by a village. Corporate involvement, while to be encouraged, was not originally seen as the prime mover.
"Our government has several programmes for employment, infrastructure, housing, drinking water, and so on. The SAGY converges these. MPs can adopt villages and use resources from these schemes to build a model village. Even if 25-30 per cent of the adopted villages become model, they can be replicated in the rest of the country," says S. Parasuraman, Director, Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
"The success of the scheme is dependent on proper planning, community participation, consistent monitoring and impact assessment vis--vis the baseline situation," says Bhardwaj of Swaniti Initiative.
Success Story, Written by Corporates, NGOs
When Modi called upon the 795 MPs to nurture a village each as an adarsh gram, or model village, six-time MP and Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers H.N. Ananth Kumar chose to go by the script. He selected Ragihalli, on the periphery of Bannerghata National Forest, dominated by backward castes and Lambinis (banjaras). With Tejaswini Ananth Kumar, his wife, who runs Adamya Chetana, an NGO, managing things for him, Kumar tapped Indian Institute of Science to identify areas where he could make a meaningful impact. After consultations with residents of the 16 villages under the Ragihalli Gram Panchayat, an action plan covering 18 areas was drawn. Then, all 738 households in the villages were mapped.
The focus areas were employment for women through making and selling things like chappatis/paper bags and cattle rearing, apart from education, sanitation, drinking water supply and enhancing green cover. Since children had to travel long distances to attend school, Adamya Chethana arranged for a bus and also got some of the students admission into well-known schools in South Bengaluru. Since these students have a lot of catching up to do in academics, they are given snacks and two hours of extra tuition in Maths, Science and English. Tejaswini says they distributed solar lamps as poor power supply was impacting their studies.
Ningamma, a 37-year-old housewife, says she earns an additional Rs 100 per day by making bags. "The best part is that I can do the work at home for two-three hours every day while watching television in the afternoon. The newspapers and the twine (for the handle) are supplied by them." The bags are marketed by the NGO.
Under the Gou Chetana project, 30 cows were distributed to select families. One beneficiary, Parvathi, 34, says she now earns about Rs 6,000 per month from milk. Adamya Chetana planted about 3,500 trees, mostly Neem and Tamarind, to prevent soil erosion and provide economic benefits. The Centre's Jan Dhan Yojana has ensured that every household has a bank account. Also, there is a target to build 250 toilets, of which 35 are already functional. A community bio-gas plant is also under construction. "The focus is on Anna, Akshara, Arogaya (Food, Education and Health) by leveraging strengths of private, voluntary and co-operative sectors," says Tejaswini.
What Ananth Kumar has done is the sum and substance of what the SAGY stands for except, perhaps, the overdependence on corporate funding. But the fact remains that corporate funding has played a big role in villages that have progressed well, be it in Kumar's or Prime Minister Modi's (his village has been adopted by Allanasons, Welspun Energy, United Bank of India and, recently, Vedanta).
Jaitley, Irani And Others: Study In Contrast
Ask any God-fearing Gujarati about Karnali in Vadodara district and the conversation would lead to the Kuber Bhandari temple on the banks of Narmada that attracts a sea of people every amavasya to seek blessings of Shiva. Karnali's latest claim to fame is that it has been adopted by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
The Karnali gram panchayat comprises three villages, Pipaliya, Vadiya and Bagilpura, with a population of 2,500. The contrast with Maghrol (100 km away), adopted by Human Resources Development Minister Smriti Irani, is clear.
Irani, in the past one year, has invested Rs 7 crore in Maghrol on 21 projects, most of which are close to completion. Karnali has got a commitment of Rs 22 crore. From a bridge to Chanod (which also has religious significance), water tanks, concrete roads, sewerage, gas-based crematorium, well-equipped playground and renovation of ghats, the list of promises is long. However, one is yet to see much proof of development here. While the local district officer gives a long list of works that have been done (such as distribution of 125 kisan credit cards, 323 soil health cards, old-age pension, and so on), all that is visible is construction of water tanks in the four villages and activity around the site of the proposed bridge. Village roads continue to be dusty. The sewerage work is nowhere in sight. Ramanbhai, the Vice Chairman of the panchayat, says the progress of the development work has been extremely slow. He points towards a vast stretch of land that has been allocated for the playground but is just a piece of barren land as yet.
So, while villages adopted by some MPs like Irani are as sparkling as Modi's, others, for instance Jaitley's and Congress President Sonia Gandhi's (see ) have shown little improvement.
"She has done nothing for the village. The adoption hasn't changed anything for us," says B.N. Chalak, a grocery shop owner in drought-hit Lahuri, adopted by Rajani Patil of the Congress, in Maharashtra.
Smart Politics
Among MPs who have expressed reservations about adopting a second village are former Congress minister K.V. Thomas and Dushyant Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal. Their reasons give a clue to how politicians see the scheme.
While Thomas says absence of funding is a dampener (thereby putting the blame on the BJP-led central government), Chautala, whose party is in opposition in BJP-ruled Haryana, puts the blame on slow execution of projects by the state government. In both instances, the attitude is not in tune with the spirit of the scheme, which is about bringing together the entire political class and administration for a common cause.
There is an easy way to earn brownie points as well - adopt a village that is already well off. Several MPs have done that, including External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in Madhya Pradesh and actor-turned-politician Paresh Rawal in Gujarat. Others have been even smarter. They have roped in private companies to do the job from corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds. Tapping companies is easy as profit-making companies have to anyway spend 2 per cent net profits for CSR activities under a new law. However, not every MP has the clout to get this done.
More corporate funding may indeed be the way ahead. "The SAGY will see active participation from players in private, volunteer and corporate sectors who are willing to provide technical and financial assistance," says Bharadwaj of Swaniti Initiative.
"Even if 25-30 per cent adopted villages become model, we can replicate them across the country"
Tata Institute's Parasuram agrees that the companies can play a big role. "Their CSR resources can be used to create model villages that can be replicated elsewhere in the country. Companies should adopt villages, appoint facilitators to work with the community and train them to deal with the challenges the community is facing. For instance, most MPs have given funds for building toilets in every home. But people should use these toilets too. This requires a change of attitude. This is where the companies can step in," he says.
Even though the role of CSR is clear in many instances, the government is yet to publicly announce this as the key fund-raising option under the SAGY. In fact, CSR is just one of the channels that SAGY guidelines recommend. On March 3, the rural development ministry informed Parliament that "no instances of private companies having participated under the SAGY through the public-private-partnership mode" have come to its notice.
Jeetu, meanwhile, is already enjoying the fruit of private participation. He has been allotted the first of the 14 houses built by Mumbai-based Allanasons, which is in the business of exporting processed food. Mining major Vedanta has also taken up a project in Nagepur, the second village adopted by Modi in Varanasi.
Changes sought
Early May, Rural Development Minister Birendra Singh told the prime minister that unless dedicated funds are allocated, the scheme may fall through, as few MPs have the patience and ability to cut through the political, administrative and bureaucratic maze to ensure timely fund allocation from government schemes. The proposal is to at least part-fund the projects. Incidentally, the absence of dedicated funds was the only big difference between the SAGY and the UPA government's Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana. In addition to the convergence of relevant Central and State schemes, the UPA government had provided "gap filling" funds to the tune of Rs 20 lakh per village and pitched for a matching contribution from states. What the Modi government may end up doing could be on similar lines.
Swaniti's Bharadwaj says that the SAGY could trigger similar initiatives in states. "Many states such as Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Maharashtra have launched rural development programmes on similar lines," she says.
As we await the Prime Minister's next move, corporates will feel more pressure on them to fund development programmes in model villages.
Reporting by Sumant Banerji, Dipak Mondal, Ajita Shashidhar, Venkatesha Babu, E. Kumar Sharma and Sarika Malhotra
In what could be a precursor to several auto companies' decision over the uncertainty prevailing on the future of diesel, German luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz today claimed to have put 'on hold' all investments in India for the same reason, claiming that the hazy ban on bigger vehicles intended to curb pollution has forced this decision.
Mercedes-Benz is the hardest hit amongst its peers as the Supreme Court ban on registration of diesel cars and SUVs with 2,000 cc and above engines since December last year has taken all its cars off the Delhi-NCR market. The next hearing on the case is now expected sometime in July.
With the exception of its petrol models, none of its cars is being registered in the past five months since most are strapped with bigger 2,143-cc engines that have given rivals like Audi and BMW the edge in Delhi, the largest luxury car market accounting for over 25 per cent of the 35,000 units sold a year. Others like Toyota Motor, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata-owned British marquee brand JLR have also been heavily hit by the ban.
Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director and CEO Roland Folger told the media on the sidelines of the launch of the new GLS 350 d, its latest addition to the luxury SUV portfolio in Delhi today, "Most of the decisions are being postponed rather than completely cancelled. If the ban continues, then certainly cancellations will come into play. Things could have been better with some clarity over the issue, but as a responsible carmaker we are adhering to all the mandated norms and wait is also on the diesel issue."
Part of the Daimler Group, Mercedes has invested Rs 1,000 crore over the past 10 years in its Chakan plant. The GLS 350 d priced at Rs 80.40 lakh (ex-showroom Pune) is part of the dozen cars assembled at this facility. It had announced a fresh investment of Rs 150 crore to double the production capacity to 20,000 cars per annum.
The ban on sale of larger diesel vehicles in Delhi-NCR has raised the issue of India as an investment destination, especially as it is one of the fastest growing markets in the world. With 27.89 lakh cars sold in the 2016 fiscal, a growth of 7.24 per cent, India despite the shortcomings remains one of the most sought destinations in the global automotive scene.
But scepticism over the future, especially diesel technology that is around 34 per cent of this market, had raised concerns from Toyota India MD Akito Tachibana claiming that the Japanese carmaker; incidentally the world's largest too would carefully review its future investments in India. The company has lost almost 60 per cent sales in Delhi-NCR following the registration ban impacting retail of its bestsellers like Innova and Fortuner.
Automotive companies remain sceptical over the future of diesel vehicles beyond July, too, when the case is likely to come up for hearing. Many are planning to introduce the petrol variant, but the technical nature of the industry is that it takes almost a year to bring out a new vehicle. Also the automobile companies need long-term strategies, and plans to bring in the right technology and products have been set back by the sudden ban, which has eroded the confidence in the Indian market.
The European Commission on Wednesday issued decisions on how 2016 budgets of euro zone countries fit in with European Union fiscal rules, known as the Stability and Growth Pact, that set limits on government deficit and debt.
The EU executive's decisions will have to be endorsed by EU finance ministers. Below are the main decisions:
Spain was given an extra year to 2017 to bring its deficit below the EU ceiling of 3 percent of gross domestic product.
Spain was supposed to cut the deficit to within EU limits already this year, but is instead planning to cut it only to 3.6 percent of GDP from a 5.1 percent gap in 2015 -- well above agreed fiscal targets.
The Commission could have fined Madrid, using for the first time powers granted by the sharpened EU rules, but decided instead to extend the compliance deadline to next year and asked for a 3.7 percent fiscal gap in 2016 -- a less stringent target than that set by Madrid for itself.
Spain will have to bring the deficit down to 2.5 percent of GDP next year, below the 2.9 percent shortfall forecast by the Spanish authorities. In July, after general elections in Spain, the Commission will review Madrid's efforts to reach the new targets.
Portugal was also shown leniency with an extra year to bring its deficit below 3 percent. The country was at risk of being fined for failing to meet its fiscal targets last year, when it posted a deficit of 4.4 percent of GDP instead of bringing it down below 3 percent, as required.
The Commission decided not to take action as long as the fiscal gap this year is 2.3 percent of GDP, again slightly above the 2.2 percent that the Portuguese government itself expects for in 2016.
Lisbon will also have to cut its structural deficit, which excludes the effects of the economic cycle, by at least 0.6 percent of GDP in 2017 in order to respect the EU debt rule.
As in the case of Spain, the Commission will review in July Lisbon's efforts to reach the new targets.
Italy was granted the maximum flexibility by the Commission under the EU budget rules, allowing it to discount the equivalent of 0.85 percent of GDP in 2016 for spending on reforms, investment, refugees and security.
Italy was also considered compliant with the debt rule that requires states with a public debt above 60 percent of GDP to reduce it by 1/20 of the difference between the actual level and the 60 percent a year on average over three years.
Although Italy's debt is not projected to fall this year, Brussels considered Rome compliant with the rules. But it will review its assessment by November after having checked Italy's budgetary plans for next year.
Cyprus, Ireland and Slovenia reduced in 2015 their deficits below the 3 percent ceiling set by EU rules and are forecast to keep their budgets in line with fiscal targets this year and next. The Commission recommended ending the excessive deficit procedure for the countries, the disciplinary action envisaged under the Stability and Growth Pact.
If EU finance ministers will endorse this decision, the number of EU countries under EDP would be reduced to six -- France, Spain, Portugal, Britain, Croatia and Greece. Sanctions are applicable only to euro zone countries breaching fiscal rules. (Reuters)
Source: www.businessworld.ie
France must not pull back from making ambitious reforms, ECB governing council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Wednesday as the country faced a fresh wave strikes and protests over a contested labour law.
Villeroy, who is also governor of the French central bank, said that France's credibility helping to coordinate Europe's budget and economic policies hinged on its reform ambition.
"A substantial increase in our reforms is not only necessary but possible," he said presenting an annual letter to France's president and lawmakers.
He said the Socialist government's labour market reform, which is aimed at making hiring and firing easier, was a welcome step forward, adding that improving training for youths should be a priority in the short term.
However, the measures, probably the government's last major reform before presidential elections in a year, has drawn the fury of unions concerned about workers' rights. Railway and port workers went on strike on Wednesday in the latest protests against it. (Reuters)
Source: www.businessworld.ie
A new Dublin Champions programme, developed and delivered by Failte Ireland, began this week as 100 members of Dublins tourism industry attended an inaugural workshop in The Dean Hotel, Dublin as the first group to participate in the initiative.
Failte Ireland support the tourism industry in Ireland providing a range of practical business support to help tourism businesses better manage and market their products and services.
The programme Dublin Champions is aiming to help support front of house hospitality staff deliver a better visitor experience to their guests and to authoritatively promote to tourists all that can be experienced in the city and county. Participating tourism workers will be educated via a three hour workshop and a hands-on guided walking tour of Dublin.
Dublin Programme Manager, Failte Ireland, Mark Rowlette, speaking at the opening of the programme said, The Dublin Champions Programme supports front-line staff to really deliver the best of Dublin to their visitors. Once complete, the participants will have a comprehensive and confident understanding of what Dublin can deliver and they will be able to apply this knowledge to what their visitors are looking for.
Failte Ireland was established in 2003 to guide and promote tourism as a leading indigenous component of the Irish economy. The tourism and hospitality industry employs an estimated 205,000 people and generates an estimated 7 billion in revenue a year.
Source: www.businessworld.ie
Behind the numbers: Germany compensates historic LGBT convictions
Published on May 18, 2016
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The German government has recognised the right of homosexuals persecuted by the "Paragraph 175" law to have these abuses publicly recognised and compensated. Between 1946 and 1994 around 50 thousand people were sentenced through use of this law. Better late that never.
The German Minister of Justice Heiko Maas announced on the 11th of May that the government of Berlin will indemnify all surviving victims of the so-called "Paragraph 175". This was a law adopted in Bismarck's Germany immediately after German unification in 1871, and legislates for the criminalisation and heavy sentencing for anyone suspected of committing what the it called "acts against nature". The legislation, with some modifications, remained in force until 1994.
The historical impact of paragraph 175 has been heavy. It was exacerbated by the Nazi regime in 1935, doubling sentencing to 10 years in cases of in flagrante delicto. It also justified the persecution, physical abuse, castration and deportation of LGBT people to concentration camps, who were marked by the infamous "pink triangle". It's estimated that approximately 100 thousand gay people were assassinated by Hitler's Germany between 1933 and 1945.
The most curious and scandalous issue is the fact that the paragraph continued to exist in both post-war German states. In East Germany it was only abolished in 1969. In the Bundesrepublik 50 thousand gay people were sentenced for "acts against nature" between 1946 and 1994 many to jail time.
Fortunately, in the Federal Republic of Germany persecutions became less common from 1969 onwards, thanks to a softening of paragraph 175 proposed by the then Minister of Justice Heinemann. Less common, but not absent. From 1969 to 1994 the year that the law was revoked over 3,500 cases of people being legally accused of homosexuality are recorded.
On the 11th of May, the German government finally recognised that these people should have their abuses publicly acknowledged and compensated. Better late that never.
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This article is part of our Behind the Numbers series, illustrating newsworthy stats with artistic design and a brief analysis.
Story by Cafebabel IT
Translated from Numeri che parlano da soli: i 50.000 omosessuali vittime del "Paragrafo 175" in Germania
Contributed photos Col. John S. "Rip" Ford (left) in 1865. Enlisted men in the 34th Indiana Infantry (right) fought at the battle of Palmito Ranch. Photos from "Civil War and Revolution on the Rio Grande Frontier."
John Salmon Ford arrived in Texas a month too late for the battle of San Jacinto but he didn't miss much else in the next 50 years of Texas history. His Confederate Cavalry of the West fought the last land battle of the Civil War near Brownsville.
Ford was trained as a teacher and doctor and when he arrived in Texas in 1836 he practiced medicine, did surveying, and was elected to the Ninth Congress of the Republic. When war threatened with Mexico he joined Texas volunteers under the command of Jack Hays.
In Mexico, as Hays' adjutant, Ford send out death notices of the Texans killed in battle and he would write RIP for "Rest in Peace'' at the bottom. He became known as "Old Rip."
After the war Ford was appointed captain of a Ranger company and pursued Indian raiders between the Nueces and Rio Grande. On one occasion, Ford's Rangers were camped near Fort Merrill and there was a skirmish with Comanches during the night. Ford yelled to a Ranger, "Level, what's the matter?"
"Damn them, they shot my horse."
"Is that all?"
"No, damn them, they shot me, too."
After Texas joined the Confederacy Ford was put in charge of conscription, which meant a desk job in Austin, for the first two years of the war. Then, in December 1863, he was given command of a regiment of cavalry made up of volunteers too young or too old for the regular army. Ford called his regiment the Cavalry of the West. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1864.
In March 1865 Union Gen. Lew Wallace (the man who later wrote "Ben Hur") traveled to Brazos Santiago and sent a message to Confederate Gen. James Slaughter at Brownsville, seeking a conference. Slaughter and Ford met Wallace at Point Isabel. The subject of this very unusual meeting was the possibility of reaching an informal cease-fire in South Texas.
Gen. Wallace thought it would be useless to continue to fight on the Rio Grande, with the war all but over. Slaughter and Ford, however, emphasized that they could make no deals without specific instructions from their superiors, which they did not have.
Still, Ford left the meeting with the understanding that there would be a kind of peaceful coexistence along the border based on a simple handshake and gentleman's agreement reached between Wallace, Ford and Slaughter.
Not long afterward, on April 9, Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox. But it is a long way from Virginia to South Texas and news during the war traveled slowly. On May 11, the commander of the federal camp on Brazos Island sent a detachment of 300 men to take possession of Brownsville. The detachment of Union soldiers was under the command Lt. Col. David Branson.
Next day, Branson's soldiers attacked a Confederate outpost at Palmito Ranch near the old Palo Alto battlefield. Horses were captured and three Confederate soldiers were taken prisoner.
he outpost was manned by Confederate cavalry under Capt. George Robinson. That afternoon, Robinson's troops tried to regain their position and the federals, assuming the Confederates got up reinforcements, fell back four miles.
When Ford got word that Union forces had attacked Capt. Robinson's regiment, he ordered Robinson to hold his ground. Over supper in Ford's quarters, Gen. Slaughter and Ford discussed their course of action. Slaughter wanted to retreat and Ford got angry. "You can retreat and go to hell if you wish," he told Slaughter. "These are my men and I am going to fight."
Next morning Ford, with 70 men and six artillery guns, marched to the scene of the battle from the day before. He deployed his forces to flank the federal position and told his troops, "We've whipped them before and we can whip them again."
Artillery fire was directed at the Union position and when Ford's men charged the Union troops began to run, retreating east to Brazos Island. Ford in a wry understatement said the Union soldiers left the battlefield "in a confused manner."
It was almost dark when Ford ordered a halt near Boca Chica Pass. Confederates and Yankees moved out in skirmish formation. A Union soldier, John J. Williams, a private in the 34th Indiana, was killed. His family later received a medal honoring him as the last soldier killed in the Civil War.
In the dying light, an artillery shell from Union guns struck near the Confederate position and a Confederate soldier in his teens using "a very profane expletive for so small a boy" fired a random shot toward the dunes of Boca Chica. It was believed to have been the last shot fired in the Civil War. (A local attorney, Michael P. O"Reilly, thinks Andrew Jackson Avant, his great-great-grandfather who was in the Cavalry of the West, could have fired that last shot.)
In the battle of Palmito Ranch or Palmito Hill, the federals lost 25 to 30 men killed and wounded and 113 prisoners were taken. Confederate losses were five wounded, though none seriously.
Later accounts said Ford learned of the surrender of Robert E. Lee and downfall of the Confederacy from the Union prisoners taken after the battle. The federals said they thought the Confederates knew the war was over, that they were sent to take possession of Brownsville and did not expect any resistance.
It has been pointed out that by continuing the fight time was gained to move a consignment of cotton across the river, into Mexico, to avoid confiscation by Union troops. Richard King and Mifflin Kenedy, friends of Ford's, had an interest in this cotton. But as Tom Lea wrote in "The King Ranch," Ford cared little about the cotton shipment but was angry that the agreed-upon truce made with Gen. Lew Wallace was violated by Union troops. In any event, the Palmito Ranch affair was the last land battle of the Civil War.
John Salmon "Rip" Ford, gray ghost of the border and great figure in Texas history, died in his bed after a stroke on Nov. 3, 1897. He was remembered for long years of fighting Comanches, Mexican soldiers, border bandits, and Yankee cavalry. His soldiers in the Cavalry of the West won the last land battle of the Civil War. They won a battle after the war was lost.
GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Brittney Marburger receives an acceptance letter for Cheniere Energy's Craft Development Program for Welding Technology during a reception Tuesday at Del Mar College.
SHARE GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Government and Public Affairs Manager Will Nichols from Cheniere Energy talks to high school students before they receive an acceptance letter for the Cheniere Energy Craft Development Program for Welding Technology during a reception Tuesday, at Del Mar College. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES High school students from around the Coastal Bend applaud as they receive an acceptance letter for Cheniere Energy's Craft Development Program for Welding Technology during a reception Tuesday at Del Mar College.
By Beatriz Alvarado of the Caller-Times
A boiling pot and a log made of metal pipe.
The creations are examples of Brittney Marburger's love for her hobby and chosen career.
"Welding can be so much more than just putting pieces together," the Ingleside High School senior said.
Marburger, 18, was among 27 students from Coastal Bend high schools commended Tuesday for earning a unique training opportunity with Cheniere Energy. The company, which is building a $11 billion liquefied natural gas facility near Gregory, hosted a reception to recognize and honor the group of students recently accepted into the company's craft development program.
Her advice for students: "Find a career you love, put forth effort and it will truly take you far."
The workforce development program for which she gained entry is tailored to produce skilled welders needed to support ongoing construction of Cheniere plants in the Gulf Coast and Coastal Bend regions. The 27 Coastal Bend students were among 50 chosen from a pool of 83 applicants from southeast Louisiana and East Texas.
Once accepted into the program, participants start with structural welding and advance to combination and stainless steel welding over 6 to 18 months depending on their skill level and aptitude. They receive tuition reimbursement as well as additional financial incentives tied to their performance. Each student is looking at about $10,000 in bonuses and starting hourly pay of $23.50. Successful program graduates could work at one of Cheniere's projects under construction.
Cheniere program manager Nick Harris touted the collaboration with Del Mar College, the Coastal Bend Craft Training Center and school districts like Aransas County, Corpus Christi, Gregory-Portland, Ingleside and Taft.
"Cheniere is not a training company," Harris said. "Without having partners to get students to a baseline foundation of proficiently, it would be too cumbersome to execute."
The private-public partnership that trained Marburger via dual credit courses is a model perpetuating the value in technical training nationwide, Harris said. That wasn't always the case.
"House Bill 5 started changing the dynamic," he said. "We are seeing an increased emphasis (from colleges and schools districts) on training craft workers. They are viewing vocational training as a viable path for a lifelong career."
House Bill 5, which was passed in 2013, restructured the state's graduation requirements. The law called for students to gain endorsements in specific areas of study like in science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM, careers; business and industry; public service; arts and humanities; and multidisciplinary studies.
Del Mar College President Mark Escamilla said Tuesday's event is the culmination of years' long preparation to supply industry with a skilled workforce.
"We anticipated the economy changing and said 'we need to change some things at Del Mar,'" he said to the audience made up of the students' family and school representatives. "You all are going to reap the benefit (of the change). I see you all as the elite group chosen for this beautiful opportunity."
Twitter: @CallerBetty
TRAINING PROGRAM RECIPIENTS:
Eloisa A. Castro, Orange Grove HS
Abraham Espinoza, Ray HS
David V. Barrios, King HS
Elias A. Garcia, West Oso HS
Michael D. Landino, Coles HS
John D. Crabtree Jr., Flour Bluff HS
Luis Garcia, Miller HS
Sergio A. Hernandez, Carroll HS
Alejandrina Patino, King HS
Brandon M. Ortiz, Carroll HS
Lee A. Flores, Calallen HS
Fernando M. Martinez, Carroll HS
Levi T. Dewald, Sinton HS
Eduardo S. Navarro III, Moody HS
Alejandro Hernandez, Harold T. Branch Academy
Alfredo R. Flores, Moody HS
Leo Delgado Jr., Moody HS
Brett R. Eaton, Taft HS
Justin Y. Lemontagne, Gregory-Portland HS
Benjamin R. Bagly, Rockport-Fulton HS
Anthony C. Kashinski III, Rockport-Fulton HS
Alexander S. Bagly, Rockport-Fulton HS
James N. Griffis III, Rockport-Fulton HS
Dalton G. Sasin, Ingleside HS
Brittney K. Marburger, Ingleside HS
Dalton L. Cruse, Rockport Fulton HS
ALTERNATES:
Joshua L. Ybanez, Carroll HS
Ronnie Rodriguez, Jr., Taft HS
Contributed photo Jordan Jalen Evans, 19, graduated Saturday from the University of North Texas with a bachelor's degree in psychology.
SHARE Contributed photo Anna Garcia (left) and her daughter, Jordan Jalen Evans, 19, pose for a photo at the University of North Texas. Evans graduated Saturday at 19 credited her success to her mother's constant encouragement.
By Natalia Contreras of the Caller-Times
Like many students, Jordan Jalen Evans celebrated her college graduation Saturday.
Unlike many, she's 19, debt-free and she'll know before her 20th birthday if she's been accepted to a graduate degree program at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
Evans, of Corpus Christi, is the first in her family to earn a high school diploma and a college degree.
The University of North Texas graduate, who goes by Jalen, earned a degree in psychology and will interview with Clinical Mental Health Counseling graduate program officials Thursday.
Evans said she would not be where she is without help and constant encouragement from her mother, Anna Garcia.
"I am an only child and Mom is a single parent. She always pushed me and always believed I could do it," Evans said. "Even though my mom didn't finish high school or graduate from college she always pushed me to get an education."
Evans grew up in the city's Westside, attended Cunningham Middle School and in 2010 got accepted into Collegiate High School.
Although she knew the experience at Collegiate High School would be different and tough, she took advantage of the opportunity, which allowed her to earn her high school diploma and an associate degree at the same time.
"I knew the classes would be hard and I hesitated going there at first, but then I realized it would help us financially," Evans said. "I got my associate degree, two years of college, for free."
Evans graduated from Collegiate High School in 2014 and went on to apply at the University of North Texas.
The university offered Evans a full ride scholarship for the following two years and she took on the challenge of leaving home and leaving her mother, who she calls her best friend.
She graduated debt-free, she said.
"I am extremely proud of her," Garcia said, as she tried to hold back tears. "As much as I missed her when she left, I always told her it was never an option for her to stay here and it was never an option for her not to go to college."
Garcia said she always encouraged her daughter because she wanted her to have as many options possible to succeed.
Collegiate High School principal Tracie Rodriguez said when students set their mind to accomplish something they really want, they are able to get it.
"This a testimony of how far a student can go," Rodriguez said. "Students crave guidance and support and Jalen had that. All Jalen needed was encouragement and inspiration to achieve everything."
The recent graduate said she'd like to use her degree and find a career where she can counsel kids like the ones she grew up around in her Westside neighborhood.
"Growing up a lot of them would not talk about their emotions and they would use drugs instead," Evans said. "I want to help them and I want to see where this career can take me."
Evans said what she looks forward to the most is being an advocate for all other members of her family.
She said with her bachelor's degree and now her application to graduate school, she feels she broke the chains in her family of not being able to get an education.
"I am very proud that I've set a path for the rest of my family," Evans said. "I have proved to them that we can do it and that it is possible."
Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Assistant City Manager Mark Van Vleck shows a tuberculated pipe to Mayor Nelda Martinez and City Councilman Rudy Garza as he talks about long-term solutions to the water problems the city is facing. City manager Ron Olson resigned Tuesday over the boil water notice.
By Matt Woolbright of the Caller-Times
There still is something in the water bacteria, but not E. coli and Corpus Christi's boil water advisory will continue as a result.
Samples tested by the city were adequate to lift the boil advisory, but supplemental samples taken by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality from locations that were not tested previously "caused (the state) to question the stability of the water system," according to a news release.
City officials will be requesting permission from the state agency Wednesday to switch to an aggressive free chlorine treatment in an attempt to stabilize the water system and end the boil notice as soon as possible. That process could take up to 10 days, City Spokeswoman Kim Womack said.
"We realize this is a hardship on many people and businesses, and because the system is not stabilizing we want to switch disinfectants so we know we have an absolute end to the boil water advisory," Womack said. "We're working on long-term solutions, but this would be one more layer of safety as we work to improve the system."
If approved, the treatment plan would produce strong chlorine odors in the water. It's the same approach used in September to end a boil water advisory.
The announcement came hours after Mayor Nelda Martinez informed the council and the public that City Manager Ron Olson decided to resign over the boil water advisory, saying he should be held accountable for the water issues.
This boil notice came after nitrogen-rich runoff from rain flowed into the water system's sources. That heavy nitrogen content led to a dilution of the chlorine disinfectant in the system pipes that keeps tap water safe for consumption, because the O.N. Stevens Water Treatment Plant is not equipped to remove or neutralize nitrogen in raw water, Assistant City Manager Mark Van Vleck explained to the Caller-Times.
He added the city is likely to spend about $1 million on infrastructure at the plant that can prevent excessive nitrogen levels from reaching the water system after treatment, but there is not yet a timeline or exact cost for that project.
The city issued boil water advisories in July and September of last year. The advisory in July was citywide. In September, only portions of the city were under the advisory. Corpus Christi was also under a citywide boil water advisory in 2007.
Twitter: @reportermatt
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By Fares Sabawi of the Caller-Times
Ingleside's City Council will have a special meeting Thursday to consider using reserved funds to address flood damage caused by Sunday's rain downpour.
The city received nearly 10 inches of rain Sunday night and Monday morning, according to the National Weather Service. City Manager Jim Gray said though most roads are no longer flooded, the damage remained. More than 100 homes and 15 businesses in Ingleside have water damage, Gray said. With more rain looming, the damage could get worse.
"We'll be dealing with that cleanup for a while," Gray said.
Gray said he would spend Tuesday and Wednesday trying to gather accurate information on the extent of the damage and how many homeowners and businesses have flood insurance before presenting different plans for the council to consider. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall on San Angelo Street.
Gray said he also will reach out to the Texas Municipal League. The nonprofit group specializes in providing policy and legislative services to Texas cities.
Each year, the city of Ingleside sets aside a quarter of its annual budge for reserve funds. Gray said the city has more than $1.5 million in reserve funds.
Twitter: @Caller_Fares
Ron Olson's Career in Corpus Christi
City Manager Ron Olson resigned Tuesday, saying "ultimately I am responsible" for the city's third boil water advisory in ten months. Olson's decision shocked city employees, members of the City Council and residents familiar with City Hall. Here's a look at his tenure here.
March 2011: Ron Olson, a Polk County, Iowa, administrator, is hired to replace former-City Manager Angel Escobar. Olson was brought in specifically to address a looming $11.5-million budget shortfall.
June 2011: Olson announces sweeping reorganization of City Hall combining seven city departments and cutting 66 jobs from a proposed budgets. The change, which was effective immediately, closed the $11.5-million budget gap.
January 2012: Olson fires the director and assistant director of the municipal court following a police investigation and loss of confidence in their abilities.
February 2012: Olson picks Assistant Police Chief Floyd Simpson of the Dallas Police Department to lead Corpus Christi's department.
March 2013: City Council approves a plan presented by city staff for updating street design standards and collecting a street maintenance fee.
January-February 2014: Olson oversees controversy of city attorney candidate Roxann Cotroneo resigning within weeks of being chosen after anonymous letter complains about comments she allegedly made in a meeting with employees. The city paid Cotroneo $20,000 as a settlement.
May 2015: Olson helps guide city through death of Simpson, who died in a motorcycle accident.
July 2015: Olson is a finalist for a city manager job in Nevada, but withdraws name to instead finish career in Corpus Christi.
February 2016: Olson accepts three-year contract extension, and later outlines three-year plan to "tie up loose ends" in city government.
May 2016: Olson resigns after a third boil water advisory in 10 months.
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The Texas Republican Party platform adopted last weekend has repercussions for all Texans because the party has an iron grip on Texas. The various statements in the platform making discrimination against gay and transgender people a policy, declaring homosexuality a choice and climate change a political agenda, and calling for an end to protection of endangered species can't be dismissed as the harmless rants of extremists who showed up to the convention.
All Texans should worry that party officials actually had to resort to parliamentary maneuvering to keep secession out of the party platform. True, the secessionists sought only a referendum on where Republican voters stood on the concept. It wouldn't have been an actual vote to secede. But that is neither reassuring nor acceptable. Texans are patriotic Americans. They should be insulted.
Longtime Republicans who were Republican before it was cool, when Democrats who today would be Republicans ruled the state, should declare the platform an insult. Those pragmatic advocates for small government and individual freedom should take their party back from people who put in writing that the right to carry guns is "God-given."
Oh, yes, that's in there. And it sets a new standard for warped belief systems. No religion defines gun rights as emanating from a power any higher than humans. Firearms, like the guillotine, are an entirely human invention. The origin for the right to carry them is the U.S. Constitution. The drafters of the party platform may not want to admit it but agnosticism thrived among the Founding Fathers who gave us the Second Amendment.
The platform calls explicitly for "the elimination of all gun-free zones." "All" means no exceptions such as places of worship, courtrooms and serves 'em right the Legislature.
The platform belies the principle that less government is best, seeking to follow people into the bathroom and bedroom. It supports a discriminatory bathroom law like North Carolina's and disputes the constitutional right of same-sex couples to marry.
The party also sticks its nose into cities' right to regulate ride-for-hire companies such as Uber, calling for "legislative solutions to regulatory barriers for transportation entrepreneurship." That's fancy talk for letting the sellouts in the Texas House and Senate tell Corpus Christi, Austin and Houston they can't require fingerprint background checks. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, an enthusiast for a transgender-discriminatory bathroom law, has declared it a "come-and-take-it" issue. Cities should adopt the same attitude toward the interloping sought in Patrick's party platform.
The party also wants "a high wall with a wide gate" at the border. The wide gate is supposed to communicate friendliness toward legal entrants, but the high wall would squelch any notion of friendliness.
The Republican platform is a document as troubling and indefensible as Donald Trump's attacks on women, war heroes, immigrants and Muslims. Republican politicians tend to treat it as just the opinions of the minority who showed up to craft it. Those leaders make a practice of ignoring the crazy parts. They don't openly repudiate the repugnant declarations because, like Trump with David Duke, they still want the votes and other support.
It's time for them to step up and for voters to reject those who don't.
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Ralph Coker
Freeing Chinese economy no boon for U.S.
President Obama, Treasurer Secretary Jack Lew and the Washington establishment are continuously pressuring the Communist government of China to free its economy. That would be one of the worst things that could happen to the U.S. and the world. A recent biography about Jack Ma, the founder and CEO of Alibaba, tells how he and other Chinese entrepreneurs became successful and wealthy when China freed their industry. No doubt there are many other entrepreneurs in each Chinese industry just waiting for the government to free them.
China has 1.3 billion people, four times the U.S. population. If China ever frees its economy it will be four times the size of the U.S. economy and it could afford a military four times the size of the U.S. military. China would be the super-super power of the world and would dominate the U.S. and all other countries. If I can read a book and see that, why can't the Washington establishment see it? Because their self-appointed mission is to lead the world and make it secure and prosperous even at the expense of the security and prosperity of the U.S. and its people. Let's hope the current presidential election will change that.
Officials of CNACOC warned against the risks at a press conference in Douala on January 12, 2016.
ADS
Fake and illegal whisky now floods streets and markets in Douala. In response, the Societe Camerounaise de Representation, SCR, with exclusive right to distribute Grants and Glenfiddich in Cameroon, complained that another company was producing and bottling whisky in the same packaging. At the press conference jointly organised by the Cameroon National Chamber of Consumers and the Littoral Regional Delegation of Trade, and attended by customs officials; participants strongly condemned the practice of counterfeiting.
Though it is difficult to visually differentiate between fake and genuine Grants and Glenfiddich, the Chief Executive Officer of SCR, Njia Ernest, said the taste was different and advised consumers to buy only from authorised sales points. An official of the Littoral Regional Delegation of Trade, Lucas Mekaa, said the illegal use of registered trademarks was punishable with imprisonment from two to three years and a fine of between 1 million FCFA to 6 million FCFA.
With six Divisional Control Teams that check fake and contraband goods in Wouri Division, Mekaa disclosed that a good quantity of fake and contraband whisky has been impounded and destroyed. Though goods leaving and entering the country are checked by Customs, contraband articles still find their way in. Senior Customs Officer, Nong Libend Serge Prosper, announced an increase in the number of control teams and reaffirmed their availability to fight the ill, given the risks it poses to health and the economy. The President and Legal Adviser of CNACOC, Calvin Nja and Celestin Ndjamen respectively, said consumers had the right to seek reparation from distribution firms.
ADS
Campaign Asia-Pacific recently featured an article asking what Taiwans Foxconn would do with the Sharp brand (see What's next for Japan's once-mighty Sharp after Foxconn deal?).
You might equally well ask what Sharp itself has been doing with its brand over the past few years. According to Interbrand, Sharp (despite being one of Japans best-known companies) is not one of the top 30 Japanese domestic brands, nor in the top 30 Japanese global brands in terms of value.
Apparently building the brand wasnt a priority. We all know that Sharp had many other issues to address, but the most successful global companies have seen brand-building as precisely the way to avoid the commoditization trap that Sharp fell into.
Samsung and Lenovo have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into building consumer brands. Samsung is now the seventh most valuable brand in the world. B2B brands, such as GE, IBM and Microsoft, sit right at the very top of the global brand-value chart, alongside consumer brands such as Coca-Cola, Facebook and Google. And even the most successful components companies have very strong brands. The Intel brand is currently valued at a whopping $35 billion.
The question is therefore what stops Japanese companies like Sharp (and perhaps there are many of them) successfully building their global brands, because if Japanese companies are going to build global businesses today, they will certainly need to build global brands.
Part of the challenge is historical and cultural.
Many big Japanese businesses were built during the decades after the war on outstanding production and distribution. There was a belief, largely justified at the time, that if you make a high-quality product (especially for a good price) it will sell itself. In many ways, that was consistent with a Japanese culture that emphasizes the myth of the craftsman over salesmanship, and a domestic consumer that values substance over sizzle.
After the bubble collapsed, many companies continued to focus on the large domestic market. Only now, with the declining population and static economy are they being forced to look overseas.
The only problem is that the world has not stood still. In the 1980s, only a few American companies were truly globalized. Most companies had little or no presence outside their home continent. At best, companies globalized by having a subsidiary in another market which reported numbers.
Today, multinational companies come not just from the US and Europe but China, India, Brazil, Turkey and the Middle East. Of course, quality, low-cost production is no longer enough to win the battle. In order to compete in this much more challenging environment, even companies from less developed markets have become much more sophisticated in brand-building. They hire senior marketers with global brand-building experience. They have built strong structures and governance, and have invested in people, research and brand equity over decades.
None of this is to say that Japanese marketers must copy what everybody else is doing, and there are some Japanese companies building outstanding global brands. But it does need to be emphasized that global brand marketing is a core skillset, every bit as much as production or R&D, that Japanese companies need to master so that Japanese products can be appreciated throughout the world, and Japanese companies can thrive.
The starting point is surely a true conviction that marketing and brand-building is worth investing in. For business leaders raised in finance or production, this is not necessarily intuitive. Brand value can seem a rather abstract concept versus strong product features or clear facts. In some large companies, there is not even a marketing director, far less a director of consumer experience, and too much of a willingness (which perhaps stems from lack of confidence overseas) to allow local subsidiaries to do their own thing.
It will take a lot of effort for Japanese companies to shift from being production-driven to being consumer-driven, but as we approach the 2020 Olympics, there has never been a better moment for Japanese brands to take control of their own destiny.
John Woodward is chief strategy officer of McCann Worldgroup Japan. He has lived and worked on global brands in the UK, France, Italy, Australia and Hong Kong.
This article originally appeared in Japanese on Campaign Japan.
According to sources, m/SIX and Mindshare, under GroupM Malaysia, will jointly manage the media account.
It is understood that m/SIX MD Sheila Shanmugam has been named the global business lead on the account, while planning and buying services will be managed by Mindshare, supported by GroupM Connect for search and biddable media and by Xaxis for programmatic media.
The scope of work covers nearly a dozen markets across the world, including Southeast Asia, China, Australia, India and the United Kindgom.
The incumbent media agency was IPG Mediabrands' UM. It is less clear which creative agencies who are on the airline's roster. Last year, M&C Saatchi was appointed to manage a proposed rebrand while Loka Labs created a long-form video commercial for the brand in May 2015. The last global campaign run on behalf of the brand was "Journeys" by Ogilvy Malaysia in 2013.
It is understood that the entire process from pitch presentation to decision took about nine working days, an unusually quick decision. Other agencies participating in the pitch were Starcom, Zenith and Havas.
IPG Mediabrands' Rally Worldwide has also been appointed, and will be working with GroupM to assist the airline in social media, community management and influencer engagement.
The airline has selected Mirum Singapore for its digital account, with a mandate to improve the airline's consumer user experience through technology, data and a robust creative and content strategy over the website and all digital applications.
The agencies will be supporting the airline for two years, effective 1 May, with an option to renew for one year.
According to Nielsen, the airline spent RM8.6 million (US$2.14 million) in 2015 within the Malaysia market alone.
In a statement, Malaysia Airlines chief commercial officer Paul Simmons said: Group M, Mirum Singapore and Rally Worldwide fulfilled our requirements and have a firm grasp of the challenging environment of the aviation industry. The agencies believe in our brand values and they have a pool of diverse and young talent, to support Malaysia Airlines to compete across the globe."
The selection of new agencies follows a bumpy year for the national airline. The holding company was re-named Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB), from Malaysia Airlines System in September last year.
In mid-April chief executive Christoph Muellerwho was brought in last March to turn the business around after two aviation disastersannounced that he will be stepping down in September before his three-year contract expires, due to personal circumstances.
A proposed rebrand was floated in October last year, but sole shareholder Khazanah, Malaysias sovereign wealth fund, disagreed. The notion was also slammed by The National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam), which called the exercise a huge waste of money.
More recently on 10 May, the airline stated its intentions to redesign its uniforms, announcing a strategic partnership with fashion brand Farah Khan to re-energise the design aesthetic of the national carrier's iconic kebaya and other uniforms, including its flight deck, cabin crew, airport and engineering outfits.
It also announced an extensive redesign of its Golden Lounges at Kuala Lumpur International (KLIA) and London Heathrow, which is expected to be completed by the middle of next year while revamped regional and domestic lounges at KLIA will be unveiled later this year.
However it is not all bad news, with the airline reporting its first quarterly profit, a modest RM14 million (US$3.48 million), for the period between January to end-March this year, thanks to cost-cutting exercises and lower fuel costs.
A year ago, in the same quarter, the airline had reported an RM450 million (US$111.93 million) loss.
This article was edited to clarify that Rally Worldwide's remit extends only to social media, influencer engagement and community management. An earlier release from Malaysia Airlines stated that Rally would also work on search, channel planning and business revenue development.
Ad Nut is not saying that the following campaigns are not 'real' campaigns (necessarily), nor that the agencies have done the following work with anything less than completely noble and altruistic intent (necessarily), nor that the work in question is not of high quality and emotionally powerful (necessarily).
Ad Nut agrees that the causes being addressed are worthy (more or less), and Ad Nut believes in the power of advertising to change people's minds, or at least to nudge them toward changing their minds. If not, Ad Nut wouldn't devote so much energy to ads in the first placeand would just be called 'Nut Nut' or perhaps 'that surprisingly literate squirrel'.
It's just that there's suddenly so much of this kind of thing arriving in Ad Nut's oak tree in recent weeks. So Ad Nut felt it was proper to round up all of the not-necessarily-award-bait into one place.
Feeling certain that the examples below are not the last we'll see this season, Ad Nut plans to continue adding to this trove, and invites you to help out by using the comment section below or hitting @CampaignAsia on Twitter.
Here we go!
Agency: AlmapBBDO
Client: HP
Title: Magic words
Cause: Literacy
Agency: Leo Burnett Sri Lanka
Client: Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society
Title: White Cane Day campaign
Cause: Eye donation
wide player in 16:9 format. Used on article page for Campaign.
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather Bangkok
Client: PETA
Title: Behind the leather
Cause: Animal treatment
Full Ad Nut coverage: Gut bags and meat jackets: PETA Asia stages 'shock shop'
Agency: Cheil Hong Kong
Client: Hello Angel
Title: Nappy Notes
Cause: Postpartum depression
Full Campaign Asia-Pacific coverage: Diaper brand claims messages on wet nappies prevent postpartum depression
Agency: Leo Burnett London
Client: Action for Addiction
Title: The Dry/Clean Initiative
Cause: Professional clothing for former alcoholics/addicts who are now dry/clean (get it?)
Full coverage from Campaign UK
Agency: Cheil
Client: Samsung
Title: The last wish
Cause: Families separated by the Korea DMZ
wide player in 16:9 format. Used on article page for Campaign.
Agency: Y&R Paris
Client: International Fund for Animal Welfare
Title: If only they were this easy to reproduce
Cause: Endangered animals
Agency: Geometry Global Asia Pacific
Client: Voice of the Children
Title: Bring to light
Cause: Stateless children in Malaysia
Full Ad Nut coverage: Bringing Malaysia's stateless children to light
Agency: McCann San Juan (Puerto Rico)
Client: GFR Media
Title: Pepito
Cause: Legislation to increase the fine for texting and driving
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather Hong Kong
Client: Hong Kong Shark Foundation
Title: 'Congratulations'
Cause: Sharks (anti shark's fin soup)
Full Ad Nut coverage: Happy couple savagely murders sharks in wedding video
Agency: Leo Burnett Tailor Made (Sao Paulo)
Client: Animal Hope Project
Title: Ain't Cute
Cause: Puppy mills / dog adoption
Full Ad Nut coverage: Behind the scenes at a puppy mill, not a pretty picture
Agency: Grey Group Malaysia
Client: Webe (Telekom Malaysia)
Title: Dengue umbrella
Cause: Fighting Dengue
Agency: DDB Latina Group
Client: David Delfin
Title: Fashion to be free
Cause: Gender equality in fashion choices
Agency: J. Walter Thompson Bangkok
Title: Touchable ink
Cause: Life improvement for visually-impaired people
Discussion: The agency claims to have developed a special ink that can create 3D dots, like Braille, but using regular paper and printers rather than expensive Braille machines. The agency worked with Thammasat University and Thailand Association for the Blind on the project, with equipment support and R&D Consulting from Thai Samsung Electronics. Ad Nut notes that this may be the least award-baity piece of work on this list. It would make a direct and significant benefit if it comes to fruition. And it didn't even come with a slick case-study video.
Agency: Grey Group Singapore
Client: Workplace Safety and Health Council
Title: Shoelaces
Cause: Workplace safety
Agency: MullenLowe London
Client: OMO/Percil
Title: Free the kids
Cause: Physical activity for children
Bonus: The agency sent us a really weird PR kit including a child-sized prison jumpsuit
Agency: TBWA Istanbul
Client: Amnesty Internaitonal
Title: Gay turtle
Cause: Equality for LGBTI people
Full Ad Nut coverage: 'Gay' turtles push Turkey to confront homophobia
Agency: Grey Group
Client: Asiasoft, Impact Hub, Dragonfly
Title: Extra life
Cause: Blood donation
Agency: McCann Mexico
Client: L'Oreal
Title: Colour-blind men see red for 1st time
Cause: Colour-blindness
Full Ad Nut coverage: L'Oreal bravely confronts plight of colour-blind men
Agency: Grey Group India
Client: Radio City 91.1FM
Title: Candy Class
Cause: English literacy
Discussion: The agency equipped candy vendors with FM receivers and megaphones and had them station themselves in low-income areas in 10 cities at the same time the radio broadcaster aired lessons on spoken English. Kids who sat through the lessons got free candy.
wide player in 16:9 format. Used on article page for Campaign.
Agency: BMF
Client: Australian government
Title: Stop it at the start
Cause: Domestic violence
Full Ad Nut coverage: The Australian government wants children to know about domestic violence
Agency: Grey London
Client: WildAid
Title: Join The Herd's ivory burn
Cause: Elephant conservation
This fire won't extinguish until we've stopped elephant extinction. #JoinTheHerd WATCH LIVE NOW pic.twitter.com/rnV5Hyb1qZ WildAid (@WildAid) April 30, 2016
Agency: MullenLowe Singapore
Client: PETA
Title: Huntsman Condoms
Cause: Animal rights
Full Ad Nut coverage: Huntsman Condoms prove to be PETA's punchy publicity prank
Agency: J. Walter Thompson Japan
Client: Sapporo City
Title: Soba Allergy Tattoo Checkers
Cause: The safety of foreigners who may not be aware of the risk of allergic reaction to buckwheat noodles while visiting Sapporo
Discussion:
This is definitely the most oddly specific project Ad Nut has ever seen. Here's an explanation, from JWT:
As thousands of foreign tourists are now flocking to Hokkaido for winter sports, a group of soba restaurants, located on Route 230 from the popular Niseko ski resort to downtown Sapporo, saw the need to raise awareness of soba allergies to keep tourists safe.
The group, known as the 230 Soba Street Promotion Committee, recruited J. Walter Thompson Japan, which developed the Soba Allergy Tattoo Checkera sticker decorated with a Japanese tattoo motifin cooperation with Dr. Mami Nomura, a dermatologist.
To check if you are allergic, apply soba-yuthe water that soba noodles have been simmered into the sticker and attach with the wet side to your skin. If you are allergic, your skin will turn red and the color will be visible through the clear plastic sections of the tattoo motif.
An initial 200 of the quick and easy Soba Allergy Tattoo Checkers were handed out an event last month at Koyo-tei, one by the oldest soba restaurants in Sapporo. That time, nobody was found to be allergic and all were able to enjoy eating soba without worries.
In closing, Ad Nut will leave you with this "appeal to Cannes Jury members" from last year:
[Update: Thanks to 'Ankita Kedia' for sharing this year's satirical video from Icongotv, in the comments below]
| BY Ricki Green |
Australias leading premium content discovery platform, Outbrain is launching an industry-first certification programme for video and content discovery.
Native content discovery has become an integral part of many marketers digital strategies. Outbrains new certification programme is designed to provide digital professionals with advanced skills and the best-practice methodologies required to turn brand stories into measurable brand results via the Outbrain platform.
Says Ayal Steiner, managing director, Outbrain, Asia Pacific: Outbrain is evolving quickly and marketers can now execute against extremely targeted digital consumer journeys. Responding to an explicit industry need our goal is to provide professional training and recognition to individuals who have the skill sets required to deliver concrete outcomes and positive ROI for their brands. These more advanced content marketers have moved beyond traffic as the singular success metric for video and content.
Called The Outbrain Academy, the certification programme will launch this Thursday, May 19 and is already fully subscribed with strong representation from major agencies including OMD, Society, Dentsu and Publicis.
Participants in the program will be led in the development of practical skills including campaign set up and management, measurement and performance optimization and video storytelling to drive business results. Outbrain will also share data and its unique consumer insights with the certified agencies.
The one-day program will be conducted in person by the Outbrain team and led by Yoav Tourel, Outbrains Head of Marketing for Australia and New Zealand.
| BY Ricki Green |
IMG model and fashion blogger Jillian Mercado will be center stage on May 19th to award the Grand-Winning team of the New York Festivals Torch Awards. Mercado, a prominent representative of the new breed of models who are challenging beauty ideals in the world of fashion, will honor the winners of the third annual Torch Awards at this years New York Show gala ceremony taking place at Jazz at Lincoln Centers Fredrick P. Rose Hall.
Mercado, was born and raised in New York, and was diagnosed with spastic muscular dystrophy as child. She is one of the few working professional disabled models. Just six years ago, when Mercado was in her senior year studying fashion marketing at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, disabled models were scarce. When she thought about becoming a professional model, Mercado decided to seek out a mentor and find someone who had a physical disability like her. Her search was unsuccessful.
Everything changed in 2014 when Mercado went to an open casting call for Diesel Jeans. The questionnaire she filled out at the casting call asked Why should we choose you? Mercado responded, Because I want to change the world. Her quest to become a model became a reality when she was selected by Diesels artistic director, Nicola Formichetti to be part of the ad campaign. The campaign for Diesel launched her career and landed her a modeling contract with IMG, the powerhouse that represents top supermodels like Gisele Bundchen, Kate Moss and Heidi Klum. Since then, her marketing campaign for Target debuted during Telemundos Billboard Latin Music Awards, just weeks after she was cast in the merchandise ads for Beyonces highly-anticipated Formation tour. Last year, Mercado modeled on a Manhattan rooftop for lingerie company, Thistle & Spire.
For 2016, New York Festivals Torch Awards partnered with The Institute for Human Centered Design (IHCD). IHCD is dedicated to enhancing the experiences of people of all ages and abilities through excellence in design.
New York Festivals created the Torch Awards as an expression of their ongoing commitment to the development and promotion of young creative talent. The competition offers a unique challenge for 18-27 year olds to promote the mission of an international nonprofit organization, while allowing them to develop critical industry skills to help them elevate their careers.
The 2016 New York Show events will be on May 19th and feature four creative panel sessions, a cocktail reception, the awards ceremony, and an after-party. New York Festivals will welcome award winners, jury members and guests from around the globe to this day long series of events honoring the Worlds Best Advertising.
Click here to purchase tickets.
The four creative panel sessions will take place during the day at the NYIT Auditorium on Broadway, located at 1871 Broadway (btw 61st & 62nd St). Later that evening, guests from around the world will then join us for our Gala event at Jazz at Lincoln Centers Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street, New York City, for a cocktail reception in the Ertegun Atrium, followed by the awards ceremony in Rose Theater.
A celebratory after-party will be held at Parkview Lounge, on the 4th floor of Time Warner Center, to toast all the winners of the Worlds Best Advertising.
For more information on the Torch Awards please click here, or for The Institute for Human Centered Design (IHCD) click here.
For more information on the New York Show events and gala or to purchase tickets please visit the New York Festivals website.
Students and Teachers may register for complimentary tickets to the New York Show Creative Sessions: HERE.
| BY Ricki Green |
One of Australias renowned creative leaders and content creators, Michael Stanford (right), has been appointed managing director of Ensemble, IPG Mediabrands creative, content marketing and experiential business.
Announcing Stanfords appointment, Ensembles newly arrived CEO Melissa Fein (left) is beginning to reveal a specific business focus for Mediabrands Ensemble, with an emphasis on integrated solutions for clients that are underpinned by expertise across content, partnerships, and experiences.
Fein was appointed to lead Ensemble in February this year, having previously been a key leader in developing strategy and implementation of network brand solutions for clients across the entire MCN portfolio including Ten and Foxtel.
Says Fein: For many clients there is a need for integrated brand communications that fits between the services available from creative and media agencies, even in their newly flexible structures these days. Michael is highly experienced and successful in cracking the connection code to consumers through creative and relevant content development, supported by digital and social integration. He will help lead Ensembles higher levels of skills in content marketing and integrated creative solutions.
In Stanfords 25-year career in advertising and media he has been the executive creative director of some of Australias largest and most high profile creative agencies, including Publicis Mojo, George Patterson Y&R and McCann Erickson.
In 2011 he joined Network Ten to develop dedicated client solutions built on strategic and creative content creation, digital and social integration. Showcase work included Optus Your Shark Tank, Captain Risky in Im a celeb and he was co-writer on the breakthrough Modern Family Toyota Kluger content series, which set the benchmark for integration in a US format.
Fein said that into the future Ensemble would deepen its collaboration with Mediabrands two main media agencies, UM and Initiative, but also specifically with mobile solutions agency Mnet, social media agency Society, search specialist business Reprise, as well as research data specialist business Anomaly.
| BY Ricki Green |
Former Seven News reporter and Washington DC correspondent Andrea Clarke (below, right) will present an intimate workshop on Communicating With Authority as part of the Miss Collective event series in Melbourne on 7th June.
Designed specifically for women working in marketing, media and advertising, the workshop will guide participants on how to speak with confidence, use body language and non-verbal communication, and techniques to establish authority.
Participants will also be guided through a three-step process to create a concise and memorable pitch for clients, colleagues and the CEO.
Communicating with Authority presented by Andrea Clarke & Miss Collective
When: Tuesday 7th June, 2016
Time: 6pm 8.30pm
Where: Gravity Coworking, Level 13, 114 William St, Melbourne
Cost: $129 per ticket
Says Clarke: Through this workshop, I will help participants to unlock their confidence and let themselves shine at work.
Women often unconsciously undermine their own authority and just becoming aware that youre doing it can make a major difference. Im looking forward to sharing my experiences and techniques with some amazing women through the Miss Collective workshop in June.
Clarke spent most of her career as a television news journalist based in Washington, reporting for Channel 7, Al Jazeera and Reuters. She has also worked as an international aid worker, gathering stories from the frontline of warzones in Afghanistan, Iraq and Georgia to help fund aid programs for locals.
Clarke is an in-demand corporate trainer, running workshops for Australias largest private and ASX listed companies. She is dedicated to helping people be the CEO of your career and giving them the tools and skills to excel professionally.
Miss Collective is a new venture launched by the trio of women behind the Melbourne chapter of SheSays. It is a hub of content and events aimed to inspire, educate and connect women working in marketing, media and advertising, and is run by Kara Jenkins (creative director at Isobar); Steph Webster (group account director, Reactive) and Jane Hutton (communications director at Dentsu Aegis Network).
Says Webster: Between us, we have more than 40 years working in media, marketing and advertising.
We joined forces more than four years ago to bring SheSays to Melbourne, and have been incredibly inspired by the women weve met and worked with through that venture.
Says Jenkins: This led us to found Miss Collective, which takes the basis of SheSays networking events and extends it to workshops, mentoring, large scale events such as our first conference planned for next year and an online hub of content to guide and inspire women working in our industries.
Industry figures to run previous Miss Collective workshops include Bec Brideson, creative director and industry consultant, and Jack Skeels, CEO of AgencyAgile.
Visit www.misscollective.com for further details.
| BY Ricki Green |
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has launched a multi-phased campaign via BMF, aimed at encouraging Australians to enrol before the 23 May deadline, and to vote correctly at the upcoming federal election. Voting correctly in this coming election is even more important, since the way you vote for the Senate has changed.
The campaign includes TV, press, radio and digital, and aims to demonstrate how powerful a piece of paper can be on election day. Voting is the most direct way to have an impact in your community and in shaping the future of Australia.
Paper art and stop motion film were used to create a visually intriguing campaign, that could both educate and inspire a diverse target market during a cluttered election period. Elaborately crafted paper models were hand animated in camera, to bring to life the power of a humble piece of paper and the possibilities is represents come election day.
Says Steve McArdle, managing director, BMF: Its not everyday youre given the task to rally the whole country to take advantage of their democratic right, and this time around we needed to mark the change to the voting system by changing up our creative approach. We think its simplicity and elegance will ensure it communicates with the clarity and purpose an event of this importance requires.
Executive Creative Director: Cam Blackley
Senior Art Director: Rosita Rawnsley-Mason
Senior Copywriter: Lucy Chappell
Executive Planning Director: Christina Aventi
Planning Director: Kim Feitelberg
Managing Director: Steve McArdle
Group Account Director: Emma McJury
Account Director: Kyle Abshoff
Account Managers: Eva Gibeault and Steven Sun
Account Executive: James Ricupito
Agency Producer: Fiona Gillies
Production Company: Finch
Director: Dael Oates
Producer: Camilla Dehnert
Designer: Miles Pitt
Animators: Glen Hunwick and Norman Yeend
Editor: Adam Wills
Post Production: ALT VFX
Colourist: Christine Todd
VFX Supervisor: Jay Hawkins
Producers: Kate Stenhouse and Dawn Walker
Sound & Music: Rumble Music
DoP: Peter Eastgate
Digital Designer: King Tan
Digital Producer: Laurence Pogue
Print Producers: Jane Winnick, Karen Liddle
Operations Director: Ian Cook
Studio Manager: David Collins
Creative Services Director: Clare Yardley
Art Buyer: Basir Salleh
Retoucher: James McDonald
Photography Production House: Network Agency
Photographer: Anna Pogossova
Food
By: Cook Britain
With layers of airy sponge and sweet buttercream balanced by decadent coffee and walnut flavours, this cake is simply divine.
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Relationships
By: Joelle Bergeron
Recently, I was dumped. Not by a lover, but by a friend. Yet, strangely enough, I felt quite serene.
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"This is a very challenging area and the investment is significant on a global scale," he said. "You have to put this in perspective and compare it to other infrastructure projects like the Majura Parkway," he said.
"This is not just about Mr Cable. Any sexual predator working at a school anywhere in Australia must be sent a clear warning: you will be found out, you will be sent to jail and you will find no protection from the school that employed you."
Opteon's detailed valuation was based on a developer using it for a restaurant of up to 650 sq m. It compared the land to other development sales around Canberra to come up with a value of between $900,000 and $1.1 million, and in a separate calculation from the viewpoint of a hypothetical developer, it judged it worth $1 million. Combining the two, it suggested a final market value of $950,000 to $1.05 million.
He was celebrated in the decades after he left the school, and rose through the ranks of Christian Brothers to become a member of Queensland's provincial council and then a school inspector in the same state, according to his obituary.
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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.
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The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) class 10 and class 12 results 2016 will be declared before May 31.
Students can obtain the results by visiting the official website of CBSE.
According to PTI, HRD minister Smriti Irani, who was speaking to students on social media said, "The results of CBSE Board exams for class 10 and class 12 will be declared 'on time' before the end of this month and, as per a decision taken earlier, state boards are also expected to declare their results by May 31."
Around 14,99,122 students had applied for the class 10 examination, out of which 60,64,37 were girls and 89,26,85 were boys.
For class 12 examination, a total of 14,99,122 students had applied, out of which 44,66,41 were girls and 6,21,259 were boys.
Career Options after Class 12" title="Career Options after Class 10, Career Options after Class 12" />Career Options after Class 10, Career Options after Class 12
About CBSE Board:
The Central Board of Secondary education (CBSE) was set up in November 3, 1962. The board is authorised to regulate and supervise the development of education in the country. The board is also responsible for preparing academic programmes and organising examinations for Class 10 and Class 12 students.
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May, 2016: The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH) offers the Master of Public Health (MPH) degree program in Jaipur, India, with the cooperation of IIHMR University. The Master of Public Health is a two-year full-time program. Applications are invited for its fourth batch starting from October 2016.
Dr. SD, Gupta, President, IIHMR University, said, "Public Health has changed dramatically in the last century. There is a dire necessity to build public health capacities in developing countries, especially in the low and middle income countries. We have limited capacities and skills in public health, also, we hardly find a high quality public health program that is designed to encourage and respond to the health problems in low and middle income countries.
Hence, it is time to re-examine our curriculums to ensure we are delivering education, research, practices and experience that is vibrant, viable, relevant and realistic. This is primarily the reason and what we aim to provide with our cooperative program of Master of Public Health."
Dr. Gupta added, "What is even more striking is that the program's fee is one third of what a student would be shelling from his pocket when he opts for any other MPH program in the USA. The course fee for JHSPH/IIHMR MPH program is USD 22000. Students admitted to this program will be provided a travel and stay international scholarship to attend two-week course on Problem Solving in Public Health at an Intensive Institute at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA.
The MPH degree program is designed to focus on public health capacity building in developing countries, cultivate students' health management skills so that they will be prepared to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of publichealth programs and services.
The program will be able to prepare professionals for challenging careers in public health domain in the public as well as private sectors, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), national and multinational organizations".
Applicants applying to this program must go through a prescreening process and have been pre-approved for this program by IIHMR before they apply.
Applicants who wish to apply for the MPH program follow thes steps:
Step 1: Candidate should download a pre-screening questionnaire from www.mph.iihmr.edu.in. Send the completely filled pre-screening questionnaire along with updated CV at mph@iihmr.edu.in latest by May 15, 2016.
Step 2: A confirmation mail will be sent to all the students on receiving the aforementioned documents. Current status of application will be shared with all the students who have applied. After receiving an email from the IIHMR University, the shortlisted candidates will receive another email from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA to fill-in the online application. The application for the MPH program goes through SOPHAS (Schools of Public Health Application System) http://sophas.org/program-finder/. In order to be considered for admission, complete applications (including payment of the USD 120 application fee and a fully submitted application) should be received by July 01, 2016.
Application Requirements at SOPHAS:
For review of your application, you need to submit the following:
Curriculum Vitae/Resume (*will be uploaded with application)
2 Page Personal Statement (*will be uploaded with application)
3 Letters of Recommendation - Through SOPHAS
We cannot receive official letters through the postal service.
Official TOEFL Scores - send to SOPHAS in Massachusetts use code 5688
Official GRE Scores - send to JHSPH at SOPHAS 3738 /or GMAT Scores should be sent to KGB-3R-06
Official Credential Evaluation of all Foreign Transcripts (all colleges/universities outside of the U.S. that you have attended) should be sent through World Education Services or WES. The CAS provider you should choose is SOPHAS
In order to expedite the review of your application, please send unofficial copies of ALL university transcripts to JHSPH directly
Please visit our website (http://www.jhsph.edu/admissions/international-students/) for more information.
Eligibility:
Graduate with minimum 2 years of health related experience. (Work experience is waived off for PhD and M.B.B.S candidates)
Standardized Test Scores - GRE/GMAT. Waived off for MBBS and Master's degree (in any discipline). However, quantitative skills must be demonstrated
Should have taken prior courses in subjects such as Mathematics and Biology
Tamil Nadu Common Entrance Test (TANCET) application dates are extended to May 21, 2016. Candidates who are interested to appear for the entrance exam can apply.
According to earlier date, the registration was expected to close on May 17, 2016. TANCET will be conducted by Anna University, Chennai on behalf of the Government of Tamil Nadu.
The entrance examination will be conducted to offer admission to candidates in MBA, MCA, ME/M.Tech/M. Arch/M.Plan programmes.
How to Apply?
Candidates can visit the website to apply online
TANCET 2016: Exam Dates Released
Educational Qualification:
Applicant must have completed Bachelor's degree in the relevant discipline from a recognised university or institute.
TANCET Exam pattern:
MBA programme:
The question paper is designed to assess candidate's skill in various sections such as candidate's ability to recognise critically the data and apply the data to business decisions from given typical business situations.
MCA programmes:
The questions will be derived based on following subjects: Quantitative Ability, Analytical Reasoning, Logical Reasoning and Computer Awareness. Questions may also be on verbal activity, basic science, etc.
ME/MTech/MArch/MPlan programmes:
Questions will based on undergraduate level
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Hawaii has made legal claims against Takata Motor Corp, stating that the Japanese company knowingly sold potentially defective airbags to the public.
In a suit filed on May 13, the US state accuses Takata of covering up data indicating their airbags were a danger and delayed calling them back in. Honda Motor Co., part owner of the Japanese company, was also named in the complaint, which quotes a former Takata engineer who said: if we go forward with [ammonium nitrate], someone will be killed.
Hawaiis complaint alleges that Takata decided to switch to cheaper ammonium nitrate to inflate airbags despite known the risks of this chemical used mainly to propel rockets and for mining and demolition, stating that the companys own testing showed that this was unpredictable and prone to explode, but the results were ignored and Takata willingly sold airbags to car manufacturers, knowing that they will be installed in different vehicles and sold to consumers.
Bringing the suit through its Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Office of Consumer Protection, Hawaii is seeking maximum civil penalties of $10,000 per violation, restitution for car buyers, repaying profits made from selling these airbags and a campaign to educate drivers on the need to seek repairs.
Faulty Takata airbags, which explode and send shrapnel into the cabin, have claimed 13 people, 10 in the USA and 3 in Malaysia, and have injured more than 100, worldwide. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 28.8 million cars, equipped with defective airbags, have been recalled and another 40 million more may be added to the initial campaign.
VIDEO
By no means are all cars made equal, but when it comes to safety, some very serious concerns are raised by a series of crash tests.
Recently, Global NCAP tested three different versions of the Renault Kwid, including one with airbags, but each was rated with zero stars for Adult Occupant and two stars for Child Occupant protection.
The entry-level crossovers bodyshell integrity was found to be unstable, as it offers poor protection on the drivers head and chest, while the passengers chest received marginal protection. Moreover, readings on the dummies indicated that the passengers knees can impact with different structures in the dashboard.
Renault has confirmed that they will implement further improvements to the Kwid and Global NCAP will test these new evolutions in forthcoming crash tests, Global NCAP reports.
Suzuki Maruti had two cars put on the test, the Eeco and Celerio. Both rated with zero stars in the Adult Occupant and one star in Child Occupant protection, motivated by the collapse of the structure in the passenger compartment and the lack of airbags, which cannot be ordered on the former even as an option.
Hyundais Eon and Mahindras Scorpio were found to be as safe as the Renault Kwid, with identical safety ratings and the same unstable structure and lack of airbags explaining their poor result in the Adult Occupant protection.
VIDEO
A decade has passed since Mercedes opened the doors to its museum; a place dedicated for the companys rich history and heritage, and a vernissage for promoting film, with various cinematic events held during spring and summer.
The brands partnership with the Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film led to a competition, which resulted in two new films by six young artists, intended to mark the Museumsits 10th anniversary and 130 years since the invention of the automobile.
The first movie, entitled A Museum Monster, represents place as a gigantic creature hungry for classic cars, depicting it in various vintage and historic film sequences ads while successfully swallowing cars to add to its collection. At the end of the video it becomes abundantly clear where the inspiration came from.
The second footage is a stop-motion animation which invites the viewer to see how the history of the Mercedes-Benz brand came to be more specifically, the Mercedes name. The film includes multiple classic stories about the marque, including the Benz and Daimler merger, Bertha Benzs worlds first long-distance car journey in 1988 and, obviously, Emil Jellineks interest in Daimlers cars that were eventually named after his daughter.
PHOTO GALLERY
VIDEO
Volvo has just shown two new concepts it says are big hints of what its new 40 series small cars will look like when they start to appear in 2017.
The four-door sedan (40.2) and taller crossover (40.1) likely to be labeled S40 and XC40, respectively shown Wednesday in Sweden are the strongest hints at the new compact sedan and compact crossover the brand sorely needs to do battle with the biggest premium rivals in all of the crucial global markets.
Theyre also the first new vehicle collaboration between the Swedes and Chinese parent company Geely, for its upcoming brand of cars also with global aspirations.
Production versions of these cars will replace the current V40 sold in markets outside North America, though its expected a new V40 hatchback/wagon will make it to the U.S. and Canada by the end of the decade.
Volvo says the upcoming 40s will be offered with a new T5 Twin Engine plug-in hybrid powertrain, using technology from the S90, V90 and XC90 T8 plug-ins, but coupled now to a new three-cylinder engine and 7-speed dual-clutch automated transmission. Expect that three-cylinder and dual-clutch to go into base versions of the 40s, with the four-cylinder Drive-E engines powering faster models.
But bigger news will be the pure electric-only model a first for the company as a way to meet Californias EV mandate and part of the plan in, leap-frogging many of the players in the premium segment, says Dr. Peter Mertens, Volvos senior vice president of research and development. Volvo says the system being readied for the 40s cars is also destined for the larger 90s cars and replacements for the S60, V60 and XC60 on the Scalable Platform Architecture.
The company says the new Compact Modular Architecture, developed with Geely, liberated the companys designers and engineers to explore bold and daring new directions.
First impressions are that Volvo hasnt exactly scaled down the look from its large 90 series cars to the smaller body, with the 40s getting a handsome new take on the Thors Hammer LED lights up front. The XC40 concept also gets a trendy floating roof to go with its sharper angles. While the S40 doesnt look exactly like the second coming of the 240, it has the makings of the most handsome small Volvo sedan yet.
None of this is surprising, considering Volvo teased these concepts on Snapchat and made liberal references to younger customers when unveiling the two concepts. The small crossover, in particular, will likely be an important addition in luring Millennials in all markets who are currently aspiring to own something with an Audi, BMW or Mercedes-Benz logo on the front.
The XC40 has been rumored to be the first of the new 40s to go into production, which Volvo confirmed Wednesday would start sometime next year. An S40 and V40 are due in 2018 or 2019.
Photo Gallery
The Breadwinner, the new feature film project from Song of the Sea and Secret of Kells maker Cartoon Saloon, has entered animation production. The Irish studio released new pieces of artwork from the project this afternoon to mark the occasion (see below).
The Breadwinner is based on the novel of the same name by Deborah Ellis, telling the story of Parvana, a young girl living under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan who, after her fathers imprisonment, disguises herself as a boy to become the familys breadwinner. Ellis wrote the screen story, and Anita Doron contributed the screenplay.
The hand-drawn film will mark the solo feature directorial debut of Nora Twomey, who co-founded Cartoon Saloon in 1999 and co-directed the studios Oscar-nominated debut The Secret of Kells. An international co-production, Breadwinner also has involvement from Canadas Aircraft Pictures and Luxembourgs Melusine Productions, and is being produced in association with Angelina Jolie Pitts Jolie Pas Productions (Jolie has funded multiple schools for girls in Afghanistan).
Photo: Wikipedia Self-portrait by schizophrenia patient Craig Finn
New hope in schizophrenia research
Research out of Johns Hopkins University may be the start of a promising development for the treatment of schizophrenia.
While studying an anti-cancer drug in mice, researchers found it reversed behaviours associated with schizophrenia and even restored some lost brain cell function in mice affected by the rodent version of the disease.
The medication is part of a class of drugs called PAK inhibitors, also shown to offer some protection in other brain conditions such as Fragile X syndrome and Alzheimers disease.
In this study examining effects on adolescent mice whose condition mimics the progression of human schizophrenia, the experimental compound appeared to stop a biological pruning process, which occurs in schizophrenia and needlessly destroys neural connections. Using the PAK inhibitor compound, researchers were able to partially restore disabled neurons in young mice.
By stopping the out of control pruning, the researchers were also able to normalize the rodents behaviour. Achieving these results in such young mice was a particularly hopeful development since schizophrenia in humans typically begins to show up in late adolescence or early adulthood and tends to get worse over time.
To date, we are not sure that PAK operates the same way in humans as it does in mice, so more work is definitely needed before we can be sure it will have a similar effect for humans.
However, if we are able to replicate these findings in later stage clinical trials and in humans, it may improve the prognosis for those diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia affects roughly one percent of the population. It is a chronic disease characterized by disordered thinking and symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations. In addition, people with schizophrenia can have an altered sense of self, a lack of motivation, blunted emotions and confused communication and thinking. Depression and social withdrawal are also very common.
Symptoms typically begin in adolescence or early adulthood and generally progress as a gradual deterioration in the brains ability to process information or communicate with itself. Because of its gradual onset, it can take quite a while for family or friends to realize there is a serious problem.
Some early warning signs to be aware of include: bizarre or unusual behaviour; an inability to sleep or mixing up of day and night; social withdrawal or isolation; hyperactivity or inactivity; inability to concentrate; unusual preoccupation with religion or the occult; hostility, suspicion or fearfulness; over-reaction to peer or family disapproval; deterioration in personal hygiene; excessive writing or childlike printing with no clear meaning; flat, expressionless gaze; and peculiar use of language.
There is no cure for schizophrenia. For now, anti-psychotic medication can control symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations, but lack of motivation and blunted emotions may not respond as well to medication.
Hopefully, in time we will come up with treatments that can stop disease progression or reverse damage caused and restore people to full functioning. Continued research is needed until we can reach this goal.
In the meantime, if you are concerned for yourself or a loved one, speak with your doctor about options available now.
This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: File photo
A longtime member of the Independent Soldiers gang and his girlfriend were set to appear Tuesday in a Kelowna courtroom.
Donahugh Fredrick McWhirter, 43, and his girlfriend, Brittany Marie Stinn, who are both from Lake Country, were arrested in January by the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of B.C.
RCMP at the time said CFSEU had been looking into a Kelowna-based Independent Soldier allegedly recruiting new members for a planned resurgence of the gang.
Following their arrest, police raided a home on the 3000 block of Jolinda Court in Lake Country.
During the raid, police seized a prohibited, high-powered handgun, a 20-gauge shotgun, AR-style .22 calibre rifle, assorted ammunition, a crossbow and drug paraphernalia.
McWhirter faces 10 charges, including multiple counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and unauthorized possession of a firearm.
Stinn is now before the courts on five charges, including two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and three counts of unauthorized possession of a firearm.
McWhirter and Stinn will appear in Supreme Court for a pre-trial conference, which could last several days.
Photo: Contributed
Castanet readers have a lot of heart.
In 10 days, Castanet readers have raised more than $30,000 for the victims of the devastating wildfire in Fort McMurray. That money will also be matched by the federal government doubling its impact.
You can still donate through the Castanet Cares campaign by clicking on the picture or following this link. The campaign is in partnership with the Canadian Red Cross, to help the fire-ravaged Northern Alberta city.
"A lot of people in Okanagan have ties to Fort McMurray," said Jon Manchester, Castanet's Director of Content. "We wanted to show that we care, and our readers came through in a big way. Our heartfelt thanks to those who have generously donated."
Your support helps provide comfort kits, blankets, meals, shelter beds and more.
Kelowna has a special connection to the disaster unfolding in Alberta. Residents fought through a firestorm in 2003, when more than 200 homes were destroyed by the Okanagan Mountain Park wildfire.
The Fort McMurray wildfire has destroyed more than 2,400 structures.
We rebuilt, and Fort Mac will, too.
Having been in Kelowna during the 2003 wildfire response, I know people in the Okanagan will have a special empathy for how it feels to flee from a raging wildfire. The Canadian Red Cross is proud to once again be providing support to people in need, this time in Fort McMurray. We thank Castanet and its readers for helping raise funds to assist thousands of people in the days and months ahead," said Kimberley Nemrava, Canadian Red Cross vice-president for B.C. and Yukon.
Photo: britishcolumbia.com
People need not be concerned if they witness Kinder Morgan emergency crews scurrying about Thursday deploying oil booms in the Nicola River. It's just a training exercise.
Kinder Morgan Canada will conduct an emergency exercise on Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on the Nicola River in Lions Memorial and NKwala parks in Merritt.
On Wednesday and Thursday, there will be temporary closures to some areas of the park to move and utilize equipment and vehicles for the exercise.
Also, people in the immediate area may notice increased activity in the park, including response equipment and booms deployed on the river.
Recreational users are asked to check signs in the park for more information on access points to the park.
The full-scale deployment exercise will simulate product release and response on the Nicola River. A 100-foot to 500-foot oil containment boom will be deployed on the on the river.
No oil or simulated product will be released during the planned exercise.
The exercise will also establish an incident command post to practice a unified response, which includes more than 100 participants from five local emergency management agencies and responders.
Photo: Okanagan College
A Kelowna automotive dealer is revving up support for the trades at Okanagan College with a donation of $100,000.
Orchard Ford and Kelowna Ford Lincoln have pledged $100,000 to assist in outfitting a new student lounge at the college's expanded trades facility in Kelowna.
The lounge will feature a mural depicting a Ford GT50 a nod to dealer principal Dan Assams father, Norm, who owned a classic GT40 and for whom the lounge will be dedicated.
My father was a big supporter of education and training, said Assam. Helping staff advance their skills was important to him, as was giving back to the community. This gift honours and celebrates his legacy, and we hope it will inspire the next generation of automotive tradespeople training at Okanagan College.
The valleys automotive dealers and collision repair shops have been among the strongest supporters of the renovation and expansion project, contributing more than $850,000 to the Colleges Bright Horizons campaign.
This gift sends a powerful message to students at the college that local employers are behind them," said campaign chair Dennis Gabelhouse.
Founded in 1983 by Norm Assam, Orchard Ford remains a family owned and operated dealership (as is Kelowna Ford Lincoln) with Assams son carrying on his fathers legacy. The two dealerships employ 20 Okanagan College-trained Red Seal automotive service technicians, with another six on staff who are currently completing apprenticeship training.
Industry support is absolutely vital to what we do, said athe colleges dean of trades and apprenticeship, Steve Moores. Quality learning environments support quality instruction and the proof is in the pudding in our students accomplishments.
The new complex will allow the college to accommodate more than 2,700 students each year and comes at a critical time for training as BC faces a potential shortage of skilled labour over the next decade. It is projected that more than 160,000 job openings will exist for trades and technical workers by 2022, with more than 10,000 needed in the Thompson Okanagan region alone by 2024.
To date, the Bright Horizons campaign has raised more than $6.2 million toward its $7 million goal.
Photo: RCMP
Surrey RCMP executed a series of simultaneous search warrants Tuesday morning in relation to an investigation into a drug trafficking "dial-a-dope" operation.
Seven people were arrested at 8:30 a.m. in the series of raids at five different properties throughout Surrey.
The raids took place in four apartment units on the 13300 block of 102A Avenue and the 13700 block of 107A Avenue, as well as a house on the 12900 block of 112A Avenue.
Police say they have found evidence of street-level drug trafficking in the raids, but say the investigation is still in the early stages.
The Surrey RCMP continues to make progress targeting those individuals involved in the drug trade, said Surrey RCMP Insp. Shawna Baher. By combining these enforcement activities with a number of prevention and intervention strategies, we are working on a multi-tiered approach to deal with the negative effects that the drug trade has on the health and safety our community.
Seriously?
Dan Albas is still pushing his idea of lowering interprovincial barriers on the sale of beer and wine? Talk about missing the point.
As Canadians, we pay absolutely outrageous taxes on beer, wine and liquor, regardless of which province it's from. Why doesn't Conservative MP Dan Albas do something about that? Isnt that what conservatives are supposed to stand for? Lowering taxes?
Whats the point of allowing me to bring booze in from another province if provincial government fat-cats still garner 50% (or more) of the revenue?
Mischa Popoff
Photo: BC Wildfire Service
Environment Canada forecasts show badly needed rain is on the way for northeastern British Columbia.
Up to 15 millimetres of rain is expected Thursday in the parched area, with temperatures no higher than 5 C, well below the normal high of 17 C for this time of year.
The Siphon Creek fire northeast of Fort St. John has charred 754-square kilometres, including nearly 200-square kilometres of bush in Alberta.
Officials say B.C. firefighters chased the flames across the provincial boundary to give weary Alberta crews more time to focus on the devastating Fort McMurray fire.
Prince George Fire Centre spokeswoman Amanda Reynolds says another significant blaze around Fort St. John was mainly static on Tuesday.
The 150-square kilometre Beatton Airport Road fire, about 45 kilometres north of Fort St. John, is considered 45 per cent contained, although an evacuation order remains in effect.
"There wasn't any significant growth on fires in the Peace (region), but there was some growth on the Siphon Creek fire (Tuesday)," says Reynolds. "But with the change in the weather coming (Thursday) we are hoping that will stop."
The huge blaze straddling the B.C.-Alberta boundary is estimated at 25 per cent contained.
More than 60 wildfires were burning Wednesday in British Columbia, about two-thirds of them in the northeast. (The Canadian Press, CHNL)
Photo: Whistler Blackcomb
Health officials in Whistler have been holding immunization clinics almost daily since an outbreak of mumps was pinpointed in the resort community last week.
Dr. Paul Martiquet, medical health officer for Vancouver Coastal Health, says quite a few people, especially the young and hospitality industry workers, have been vaccinated since the outbreak began.
Eight cases of the highly infectious virus were originally confirmed, along with three suspected cases.
Martiquet says all three suspected infections have now developed into mumps.
He says other cases of mumps have been reported in the Lower Mainland, but he doesn't believe there is a connection.
Mumps causes fever and is often linked to swelling of the salivary glands located below the jaw and ears and under the tongue, but can be linked to rare and serious complications, including meningitis or deafness.
"We had an outbreak in Whistler in 2011 and there were about 70 cases then," says Martiquet.
"(This is) just is a wake up call for us to make sure that people born after 1970 have had two doses of the vaccine, and some of them haven't."
Martiquet says some of the mumps cases in Whistler are among hospitality workers from Europe and Australia, and Coastal Health is supplying them with free doses of the vaccine.
Photo: Contributed
The CRTC says the CBC wants to extend for another two years its ruling that allows the public broadcaster to play paid national advertising on two of its radio networks.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommications Commission ruled in favour of the CBC's request in 2013 for paid advertising on CBC Radio 2 and Espace Musique, now called ICI Musique, until the end of this August.
However, the CRTC said the ruling was met with heavy opposition from listeners and industry insiders.
The CRTC said at the time that the CBC would have to prove the decision did not negatively impact advertising markets or excessively disrupt listeners if it wanted to continue broadcasting ads past August 2016.
The broadcaster also had to maintain its level of investment in radio and continue to offer variety and diversity on the two services.
The CBC, which said in its application that it had abided by all these conditions over the two-year period, said the two services brought in $1.1 million in revenue in the 2013-14 broadcast year and $1.4 million the following year, well below initial expectations.
The CBC estimates the ads could bring in nearly $2 million in revenue over the next two years.
The CRTC is accepting comments on the CBC's request until June 22.
Photo: Flickr - BC gov't
B.C. Premier Christy Clark says it's long past time for the federal government to issue environmental permits for a multibillion-dollar liquefied natural gas terminal in Prince Rupert.
Clark's demand ups the pressure on the Trudeau Liberals, who have so far avoided hard decisions on resource projects that are being squeezed between pro-development premiers and environmental and indigenous opponents.
But the B.C. premier isn't laying the blame at the feet of the Liberal government elected last October, saying the bid by Indonesian giant Petronas for its Pacific NorthWest LNG terminal began more than three years ago.
Clark, in Ottawa for an historic parliamentary apology for the 1914 rejection of the Komagata Maru ship carrying would-be immigrants from India, has scheduled private meetings with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and two senior cabinet ministers where she'll push B.C.'s resource sector demands.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Clark confirms there are three-way discussions going on between B.C., the Alberta government and Ottawa over the sale of B.C. hydro power to Alberta.
Clark denies those talks are connected to pipeline approvals across her province, and says she'd rather sell excess B.C. hydro to Alberta than to the United States in order to help Canada meet its national greenhouse gas emission targets.
58th IEEE-IAS/PCA meeting sets US scene
ICR Newsroom By 18 May 2016
The 58th IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Industry Technical Conference started its first full day of tutorial presentations on Tuesday at the Gaylord Texas Resort Centre, Grapevine, USA. The event attracted more than 950 delegates from 29 countries with a supporting international exhibition of 176 booths.
Scott Nielson, conference committee chair, underlined the importance of the cement industry in Texas that produces 15Mta of cement making up 13 per cent of all US cement production more cement than is made in Australia, he noted.
The keynote presentation was then given by Jeff Austin III, commissioner of the Texas Transportation Commission who highlighted both national treasures such as the Fixing Americas's Surface Transport (FAST) Act that is funded for three years for critical highway construction, a population that is expected to increase by up to 40 per cent over the next 40 years, and Texan initiatives like Proposition 7, which is an amendment to authorise stable funding for transportation in Texas.
Then delegates heard from PCA's executive vice-president and chief economist, Ed Sullivan who explained the reasons why the PCA's forecast for economic growth has been revised to take account of 'structural forces' that do not point to another recession, but do suggest that they are having a bigger impact on growth, which is stopping pent-up demand in the construction industry from being released. The US can still expect to see cement demand growth rates of 3.5-4.5 per cent in the short term and the long term forecast to 2040 is that the USA will require more cement capacity to at least 108Mta as the lowest scenario and 155Mta at best.
The conference continues with presentations today (Wednesday) on environmental, energy and sustainability, automation, power generation, distribution and related products. This will be followed by a plant tour to Ash Grove Cement's Midlothian plant in Texas on Thursday.
Published under
This would be a place to actively engage the community and comprise a library, a living history centre -where PNG and Pacific memorabilia can be displayed - and a venue where talks, writers and artists workshops and other activities could take place.
During the Open Day, which will run from 10am to 2pm, representatives of the PNG Association of Australia will be present (look out for them) to welcome you and discuss the PNGAAs ideas for the establishment of a Centre for Pacific Nations.
THE Open Day at the former Australian School of Pacific Administration (ASOPA) on Sunday 22 May organised by the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust will provide a great opportunity for people with a Papua New Guinea connection to look over the old site and also hear about options for its future.
You can find further information about Sundays activities, including how to get there, here.
In 1947 the Australian government approved the establishment of ASOPA at Middle Head in Sydney and gave it teaching and research duties. From its early years ASOPA played an important role in the development of Papua New Guinea.
From 1948 it offered a number of refresher courses, short courses and two year diploma courses to train Australians as administrators for Papua New Guinea. Students were originally selected from the armed forces.
Over the years, ASOPA trained many people who made a notable contribution to the development of PNG and it became known for its association with a number of notable academics and administrators: Fred Kaad, John Kerr, James McAuley, Alf Conlon, Charles Rowley, Camilla Wedgewood, Peter Lawrence, Harry West, David Marsh, Bill Brown and many others.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, ASOPA grew in stature, size and significance. In 1954 it started to train Australians to become teachers in PNG primary schools in addition to the training of patrol officers. Teacher training was further extended in 1960 to include training of teachers for Aboriginal Schools in the Northern Territory. In 1967 ASOPA commenced a course for senior local government officials.
By 1970, the Australian government realised that, despite its goal of making PNG independent, there was no adequately trained public service of indigenous people in the country.
In 1971, ASOPA became a training centre for Papuans and New Guineans, preparing them for impending self-government. In addition, candidates for short courses could now come from other developing nations in the Pacific or elsewhere.
In 1973, ASOPA was integrated into the structure of the Australian Development Assistance Agency and became known as the International Training Institute. The institute ran short and refresher course in education and middle management. The former Principal, Jack Mattes, remained on the grounds to compile the laws of Papua New Guinea, a task which took ten years.
ITI operated until 1987. At its height in the 1980s, the Institute was conducting 23 short courses a year of up to three months duration.
In 1987, the Institute was proclaimed as the Centre for Pacific Development and, until its closure in 1998, it continued to receive strong demand for its education and teaching.
For 51 years ASOPA was a highly successful institution which provided continuing academic excellence and quality teaching and research. In 1993 a brief history of the Centre stated that there was no other institution quite like it in the world.
The students have threatened to withdraw en masse from their studies if the prime minister refuses to go. But what are their chances of success? Will ONeill give in?
The UPNG students want ONeill to resign from office and have demanded the police commissioner not suppress criminal investigations against the prime minister.
The students have been on strike against the government since the end of last month. Students from the University of Technology and Divine Word University are also boycotting classes.
STUDENTS at the University of Papua New Guinea are the latest in a long list of those in the firing line for denouncing the leadership of PNGs seemingly impregnable prime minister Peter ONeill.
The tertiary student movement in PNG has been a powerful tool for political activism on national issues since Independence.
Back in 1991, students were involved in a violent protest against the government for increasing politicians salaries.
In 1997, students joined the PNG Defence Force to protest against the use of the Sandline mercenaries in the Bougainville crisis, and demanded the resignation of then prime minister Sir Julius Chan. Chan withdrew the mercenaries and resigned from office.
In 2001, students protested against the privatisation of state assets and the land mobilisation program administered by Sir Mekere Morautas government. Eventually, Morauta withdraw the policies, including the land mobilisation program that sought to to acquire customary land rights as surety for loans provided to the government and was part of World Banks structural adjustment program.
However, the success of the protest came at a huge cost with three students allegedly shot dead by security forces. Apart from such tragedy, the students have generally been successful in getting their demands met.
These successes have created an expectation that PNG leaders would listen to tertiary students as a legitimate intellectual voice of the people.
The PNG Constitution provides for the right to protest, to hold public assembly, and for freedom of expression. However these are qualified rights, meaning they can be restricted if it appears that a protest would cause disharmony and instability.
The laws were tightened after the bloody outcome in the 2001 protest against the Morauta government. The current protests are within university campuses because of the restrictions and associated risks in taking to the streets. These restrictions may reduce the impact of the protests but certainly not their importance.
Will the prime minister give in?
The central concern is whether ONeill will give in to their demands. He has insisted on many occasions that he does not have any intention to resign. He continues to maintain that people must show evidence of me benefiting financially or otherwise and I will resign.
Almost all his cabinet ministers who have so far been implicated in various criminal investigations, including Minister for Justice and Attorney-General Ano Pala, have adopted this defence.
The innocent until proven guilty syndrome is certainly contagious within the corridors of Waigani.
The prime minister and his colleagues have argued their stance is necessary to protect public offices from unwarranted and malicious allegations; however it may also be argued that their steadfast resistance against legally sanctioned investigations demeans the very offices they seek to protect.
The students are not only up against an uncompromising prime minister but also someone who had shown little respect for their demands in the past. In 2012, the students protested against the ONeill government for enacting the Judicial Conduct Act 2012 (now repealed). The Act gave PNG Parliament the power to regulate the conduct of judges.
ONeill dismissed the protest and blamed chief justice Sir Salamo Injia for instigating the political impasse between the parliament and the judiciary that brought about such legislation.
Assuming the prime minister refuses to resign, the students may make good their threat to withdraw from studies en masse. Generally, university students are well respected in their own communities. Any withdrawal or suspension from studies will certainly result in growing resentment against ONeill. Frustrated students will most likely undertake a crusade against the prime minister and his party, the Peoples National Congress (PNC).
PNG university students have shown in the past that they can extend their protest to their villages and districts through public awareness, workshops and seminars against a ruling government, and thus influence voters perceptions.
The experiences of 2001 against the Morauta government suggests that students may carry out anti-PNC and anti-ONeill awareness in their respective districts leading up to elections in June 2017.
The students are making personal sacrifices and even risking suspension from studies. As of this week, armed riot police including the feared mobile squad units have been sent to UPNG at the invitation of the University Council. The police are not allowed to enter UPNG unless invited.
The Police Commissioner has argued that the police are there to restore normalcy on the campus. But how can normalcy be restored against a peaceful legitimate protest?
Undoubtedly, the parents of the students are also concerned about their actions. But the students appear resolute in their cause for justice. They join many individuals and state agencies that have taken a similar stand against the prime minister since 2014 when serious allegations of corruption against him came to public.
This is not an Arab Spring for the students but a solemn realisation that, as a student leader puts it: If we do not [protest], nobody will
Their impregnable prime minister may dismiss the students, but this could come at a cost not only to his remaining credibility but also to his chances of returning his political party to government in the 2017 election.
Apple Cake Made With Cake Mix is a cake from the United States, this cake is quite difficult to make, but you will be satisfied with the amazing results. Apple Cake is a popular cake because of its delicious taste.
Apple Cake Made With Cake Mix - Apple Pie Filling Author: Olivia Centriolla Nutrition Information Serves: 6 Calories: 237 Recipe type: Dessert Cuisine: American Prep time: 50 mins Cook time: 40 mins Total time: 1 hour 30 mins Save Print Apple Cake Made With Cake Mix is a cake from the United States, this cake is quite difficult to make, but you will be satisfied with the amazing results. Apple Cake is a popular cake because of its delicious taste. Ingredients For Apple Pie Paste 300 grams of wheat flour
50 grams of granulated sugar
150 grams butter non-refrigerator
Half a glass of water
Pinch of salt For stuffing 800 grams Apple Grannie Smith
120 grams Brown sugar
Half Lemon juice and a little skin
1 Cucchiaino in cornstarch
1 Pinch of ground cinnamon
1 Pinch of clove powder
1 Pinch of nutmeg powder
20 grams Butter
1 Egg
Sugar for decoration Sheets of puff pastry : 30 gr melted butter
10 grams of granulated sugar
30 grams of brown sugar
1 Pinch of cinnamon
1 pinch nutmeg
Lemon juice and grated taste Instructions Instruction Apple Cake First, make the dough for the mat and cake cover. Put the flour and sugar into a bowl, with a little salt and butter. Knead until obtained bulleted mixture. Pour the cold water gently over the dough and knead until it forms a ball, which you will cover with a plastic wrap. Put the dough into the refrigerator for approximately 30 minutes. While waiting for the dough to cool, prepare the stuffing for the American apple pie: wash the apples carefully and peel, forming slices to cut into very thin slices. Enter the apple slices into a bowl and sprinkle with lemon. Add grated lemon peel, cinnamon, clove powder, nutmeg, and cornstarch, stir so that the apple is well seasoned. At this stage, take the dough from the refrigerator and divide it into two parts: the flow should be slightly larger than the top. Form the dough with a rolling pin, then sprinkle with flour. The biggest one is put on a baking sheet. Puncture the base of the apple pie with the help of a fork, then cover the entire surface evenly with the apple stuffing that has been prepared before. Add some butter flakes to the surface. Take another dough disc that was previously rolled up with the dough roller and with this cover of Apple stuffing, make sure it doesn't break and spread well to the entire surface. With the rest of the dough, make a kind of rope: This serves to cover the entire outer rim of the pie, for decorative purposes. Brush the surface of apple pie with the beaten egg. With a fork, gently squeeze the top edge to attach the strap to the top layer of the cake, then with a knife, create a piece on top of the cake. Preheat oven at 180 C for 40 minutes, on the other hand sprinkle the surface with sugar. Serve a warm cake. See also Best Easy Indian Coconut Dessert Ideas Recipes Procedure American apple pie oven up to 180 degrees. Cut the puff pastry into six pieces and put each piece in a baking mini-cake that has been given butter: for the muffin is not a problem. Sprinkle the dough with white sugar. For stuffing: cut apples into thin slices, and mix with other ingredients, leave one teaspoon of brown sugar. Then put the dough into each bowl and sprinkle with the rest of the brown sugar. Bake the bowl for 25-30 minutes, until the dough is golden. Then serve an apple pie cup with vanilla ice cream. Notes Some grandmothers use orange juice as a substitute for water, so the cake has a citrus flavor. 3.5.3251
Equipment Apple Cake Made With Cake Mix Apple Pie Filling
Oven
Mixer
Bowl
Fork
Spoon
Baking pan
Some variants Apple Pie
In this article, I will share the Apple Cake Made With Cake Mix recipe. everyone interprets the recipe in their own way, personalizing it with a variety of fillings, shapes and even types of desserts.
AUBURN More than five months have passed since the Central New York Regional Economic Development Council learned it would receive $500 million over the next five years to support various economic development projects in the region.
At the Wednesday Morning Roundtable in Auburn, two regional economic leaders provided more details on how at least some of that money will be spent.
CenterState CEOs Andrew Fish and Rob Simpson outlined each of the plan's six points ranging from establishing the region as a global hub for unmanned systems to controlled environment agriculture.
The blueprint calls for two controlled environment agriculture facilities in central New York. One is expected to be located in Cayuga County.
Fish, who previously served as head of the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce and Cayuga Economic Development Agency, said the CEA facilities can help boost agricultural exports and meet the worldwide need for more food over the next several years.
"We really need to understand what that means for upstate New York as a whole and how we're going to capitalize on that," he said.
The region's plan also proposes the creation of a global manufacturing and logistics hub. A key element of this is an inland port, which proponents say will help companies and farmers lower shipping costs.
Fish noted that congestion can cost the shipping industry billions. The inland port can generate savings by using the rail system to move products to New York City and other ports.
There has been some resistance to the construction of an inland port in central New York. But Simpson said this isn't a new idea.
"This is a project that has been 10 years in the making," he said. "The economics of it work. We're going to continue to put effort into it."
Other aspects of the five-year plan include:
The Alliance for Economic Inclusion, which seeks to address poverty throughout the region. Simpson said $50 million of the funding will be used to invest in programs to help educate and train workers.
The National Veterans Resource Complex, which Simpson said could help address central New York's shrinking labor force. Companies are expanding, he said, but the lack of skilled workers is a problem.
That's where veterans, especially those who have just left military service, could play a role.
"That is a population of people that we believe we can tap into," Simpson said.
Modernizing local government, specifically the plan to consolidate Onondaga County and Syracuse into one entity, was mentioned. While this proposal is focused on a specific part of the region, Simpson said that the challenges posed by large numbers of government bodies isn't limited to Onondaga County.
"We suffer from a high degree of governmental fragmentation in central New York," he said.
One point made by Simpson is that there isn't a high level of municipal connectedness, mainly because most suburban residents in Onondaga County live in one community and work in another.
There has been mixed support for consolidation efforts in the past. But Fish made it clear that this isn't about the government employees, some of whom may lose their jobs if municipalities or services are consolidated.
"It's about the construct," he said. "It's about the institutions."
Gov. Andrew Cuomo may have a lot of favorite four-letter words, but the two he wanted to talk about Wednesday were "beer" and "jobs."
Cuomo is calling on the state Legislature to act on a measure that would reform the state's Alcoholic Beverage Control Law. The changes are based on recommendations, which the governor accepted, from a working group tasked with reviewing the law.
Vincent Bradley, chairman of the State Liquor Authority, said Cuomo's proposal would allow bars and restaurants to serve alcoholic beverages to customers before noon on Sundays. The legislation also would permit the SLA to consider liquor license applications for restaurants that are within 200 feet of a church or a school.
Other provisions in the bill include streamlining paperwork for manufacturers seeking to produce other beverages. (Bradley used the example of a brewery or a winery that wants to make whiskey.)
The measure also would allow the sale of wine in growlers and reduce licensing and permit fees for craft beverage salespeople and small beverage wholesalers.
"Our progress has been remarkable," Bradley said of the craft beverage industry. "But there's more work to do."
Cuomo, who unveiled the bill at Three Heads Brewing in Rochester, said while the state has made minor changes to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, more action was needed.
He contends the existing law is stifling New York's craft beverage producers.
"The law was created 80 years ago, right after Prohibition," he said. "That's when the law was written. It is the most bizarre, arcane, frustrating, maddening law that you could imagine."
The working group which recommended the changes spent months reviewing the ABC Law. It started its work in November, one month after Cuomo hosted a craft beverage summit in Albany.
With the recommendations submitted by the working group, Cuomo said the state has "dramatically redone that law."
"I think it will unleash even more entrepreneurial activity, more job generation, more facilities like the one we're in today," he said. "Because we want to make it easier."
But first, the state Legislature must approve the reforms.
The legislative session concludes in mid-June, which gives Cuomo roughly one month to usher the bill through the Assembly and Senate.
He urged the state Legislature to act before the session ends.
"They should definitely be reformed this year," Cuomo said. "There is no excuse for the Legislature to leave Albany without changing this law. We know the potential in this industry. We know how great it can grow. We know the great things it's doing. Let's unleash even more entrepreneurial energy. It is good for everyone."
With the deadline less than two weeks away, Auburn officials are preparing to apply for a $10 million grant through the state's Downtown Revitalization Initiative program.
The $10 million prize is available to municipalities represented by the Central New York Regional Economic Development Council through the DRI, a state program designed to facilitate downtown improvements. One municipality from each of the 10 regional economic development councils will receive an award.
The CNY REDC represents Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego counties. Auburn officials said they got an idea of the competition after attending a DRI informational session last week hosted by the CNY REDC and representatives from the Department of State.
Nevertheless, city officials believe Auburn is going to be a "very strong contender" for the award, said Christina Selvek, director of capital projects and grants. Members of the Auburn City Council will vote Thursday to authorize the grant application for the $10 million prize.
The application deadline is May 31.
"We're working collaboratively with stakeholders downtown," Selvek said. "I'm hoping that by passing the resolution tomorrow night, Auburn will show local government commitment to downtown's renaissance and continue Auburn moving forward."
Selvek said Auburn officials and staff have been working to build a strong case in accordance with the REDC's award guidelines.
The region's economic development panel, which will ultimately decide which community's downtown will win the prize, is judging each application on several criteria, such as the potential for job growth through the funding. Award winners are projected to be announced later this summer.
Auburn Mayor Michael Quill said officials have hosted meetings over the last three or four weeks with representatives from several groups vested in the downtown area.
At this stage, that includes the Auburn Downtown Business Improvement District, the Cayuga County Office of Tourism, Auburn Public Theater and police and fire representatives. Selvek said a larger community involvement process would take place should Auburn win the award.
"We've tried to include just about everyone," Quill said.
The use of the $10 million, if granted, would be decided after it was awarded, Quill said. DRI guidelines indicate that up to $300,000 will be used for the design of a strategic investment plan by private sector planning experts.
"It's almost like it's the next step in just continuing to improve Auburn, which, in turn, improves our community," he said, referring to the Cayuga County area. "It would be very, very beneficial."
Taxpayers approved budgets in all of the school districts in the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES as school district spending plans were put up to vote across New York state Tuesday.
Port Byron was the only area district with a competitive school board race. Chris Reeckio (368) and Roger Seville (266) won the two, three-year terms available. Ted Eiben received 129 votes. The budget was approved by a vote of 264-145. A proposition to purchase two school buses passed 278-130; and a proposition concerning funding for Port Byron Library passed 310-99.
The Cato-Meridian Central School District budget passed 209-51. A proposition to purchase two buses and a van passed 203-53. Kathleen Bratt (207), Todd Kacur (197) and L. Lee Epprecht (200) were elected to three-year school board terms.
In the Jordan-Elbridge district, the budget was approved 303-56. A proposition for upgrades to school facilities passed 288-67. Elbridge Free Library funding passed 282-75; and Jordan Bramley Library funding passed 280-77. Karen Guerette (250), Michael Jorolemon (276) and Patrica Starratt-Baum (235) were elected to the board of education.
In Moravia, voters approved the school district's budget by a vote of 358-93. Powers Library funding was approved 324-126. Purchasing two school buses passed 355-94. And building and facilities renovations passed 355-93. Karin Dillon (352), Jeffrey Carmichael (379) and Shawn Becker (365) were elected to the school board.
The Weedsport budget passed 346-107. A proposition to purchase two school buses passed 348-106. A proposition for Weedsport Public Library funding passed 320-134. Ron Springer (390) was elected to a five-year term on the school board.
The Southern Cayuga Central School District budget was approved with a vote of 357-114. A proposition to purchase three school buses passed 344-125. A proposition concerning financing of capital projects passed 360-109. Funding for the Aurora Free Library passed 308-159. Matthew Bennett (389), Susan Gloss (334) and Ann LaFave (364) were elected to the school board.
In Union Springs, the budget passed 306-47. Springport Free Library funding was approved 322-30. Barry Schwarting (294) and David (Randy) Morehouse (287) earned three-year seats on the school board; Robin McKay (285) will fill a 38-month term on the board; and Daniel Testa (282) will fill a 14-month term.
In Skaneateles, the budget passed 954-298. A proposition to purchase a new school bus passed 973-283. A capital improvement project passed 944-322. Technology upgrades were approve 941-281. And funding for the Skaneateles Library was approved 873-398. Tom Lambdin (1,047) and Margaret Usdansky Niebuhr (900) were elected to three-year terms on the school board.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has received a 15.4-acre parcel of land within the Owasco Flats in the village of Moravia, officials announced in a release on Wednesday.
The land was gifted from the Finger Lakes Land Trust, and includes 2,300 feet of frontage on the Owasco Inlet. The DEC plans to use the property to enhance outdoor recreation in the area.
"This land enables recreationists to avail themselves of fishing, hunting, hiking and nature observation opportunities in an area that is very important to sportsmen and outdoor enthusiasts," said Joe Sluzar, acting regional director of the DEC, in a release. "We are grateful to the Land Trust for this donation."
Prior to the land trust owning the property, it contributed to runoff into Owasco Lake. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program created a streamside restoration project that fixed the runoff and enhanced the habitat.
The Finger Lakes Land Trust had originally purchased the land in 2008 through a grant from the Fred L. Emerson Foundation. Identified as a high priority for the trust's Owasco Flats Conservation Planning and Stakeholder Survey Project, the restoration project developed recommendations for long-term conservation.
This is the DEC's third parcel acquired for the Owasco Flats Wildlife Management Area Project.
A three-story mansion once used to house the warden of the Auburn Correctional Facility could soon become just the seventh property on the city's registry of local historic landmarks.
The Dulles House, at 67 South St., will be up for the distinction during this Thursday's Auburn City Council meeting. With recommendations from the city's Planning and Historic Resources Review boards, councilors will be asked through an ordinance to arrange the parcel's status into the municipal code.
The 8,800-square-foot mansion was previously owned by New York state as the prison warden's quarters for 81 years.
The building was also home of the Dulles family, including brothers John Foster Dulles secretary of state under former President Dwight Eisenhower and former CIA Director Allen Dulles. Records show that ownership before the Dulles family was with the Woodruff family, whose members were connected with several age-old Auburn manufacturers, such as Auburn Button Works.
Should the council authorize landmark status, the Dulles House will join an exclusive club.
The registry features six properties, including the Willard Mansion (now the Cayuga Museum), the Case (Seymour) Memorial Library, the Harriet Tubman Home and the Willard Memorial Chapel with the adjoining Welch Memorial Building. The final two landmarks Judge Charles C. Dwight Residence and the Schine Theater were each added separately 16 years ago.
City officials last received a local landmark application in 2008, said Christina Selvek, director of capital projects and grants. Reaching this point took three years of restoration by the current owners, Dr. Paul and Elizabeth Koenig.
"Local landmark designation is generally a powerful tool at the local level in preserving overall community character," Selvek said.
Elizabeth Koenig said the two purchased the property in 2013 with a specific vision in mind, which included using the Dulles House as an inn and venue. She is now the proprietress of 1840 Dulles Inn, which she said has been used as an event space for the last year or so.
She and her husband took on the restoration because they saw the potential for a business as a means of preserving the historic property of the building as opposed to dividing it into apartments, Elizabeth Koenig said.
"I actually feel we saved it. I really do," she said. "She was just rotting. I didn't want her to turn into apartments. I didn't want her turning into another building that got chopped up. Instead, it remains this big, beautiful home."
The inn element which features four bedrooms, with two defined as suites is pending the completion of renovations to the second floor.
Over their years of ownership, Elizabeth Koenig said that much of the interior has been gutted to help return rooms to their historic state, purchased brand-new furniture for each of the rooms and repaired cracked or collapsed parts of the walls or ceiling. Meanwhile, she said they worked to restore as many of the original elements as possible.
On June 11, 1840 Dulles Inn plans to celebrate the restoration with a private ribbon-cutting ceremony, which may feature several dignitaries with ties to the Auburn mansion.
Invited guests include members of the Dulles family; Dr. Peter S. Usowski, CIA director of the Center for the Study of Intelligence; and Dorothy Wickenden, executive editor of The New Yorker whose great-great-great grandfather was a Woodruff, Elizabeth Koenig said.
"The real value and purpose of being a local and historic landmark is the comfort in the knowledge that the 1840 Dulles Inn, that we painfully restored for three years, will continue to grace the city for generations to come and will always contribute to this very special place," she said.
Pictured is Kyle Hewitt, who was arrested by State Police for allegedly pouring bleach into the gas tank of what he thought was the vehicle driven by someone he was engaged in a dispute with. The vehicle actually belonged to someone who was not involved in the episode.
JORDAN A $29,198,000 budget that decreases spending 0.24 percent and offers a 0 percent tax increase received strong support from Jordan-Elbridge Central School District residents in Tuesday's voting.
Voters approved the district's spending plan 303 votes to 56 approximately 84 percent support.
"We want to thank all of our community members who came out and voted today," Superintendent James Froio said in a news release. "Our community's continued support allows us to deliver great educational programs for our students and have outstanding facilities. For the previous two years, district homeowners who qualified for STAR received a school property tax rebate, and this budget continues that momentum by not raising taxes.
Voters also supported in a 288-67 vote a proposition to establish a capital reserve fund not to exceed $1 million plus any interest accrued for the purpose of construction, reconstruction and improvement of district facilities.
Propositions to increase the tax levy amounts for Elbridge Free Library and Jordan Bramley Library passed in a 282-75 vote and a 280-77 vote respectively. Each library will receive an additional $5,000 in taxpayer support.
In an uncontested school board election for three three-year seats, incumbents Michael Jorolemon and Patricia Starrat-Baum received 276 and 235 votes respectively while newcomer Karen Guerette earned 250 votes.
Coles switches media agency for the first time in over a decade
Posted by AFN Staff Writers on 18th May 2016
Coles supermarkets is changing its media agency for the first time in 13 years after a competitive tender process.
Since 2003, Coles has contracted Universal McCann (UM) but as of 1 July it will switch to OMD Melbourne.
The new arrangement will see OMD work on media for Coles supermarkets and its affiliate liquor stores Liquorland, Vintage Cellars and First Choice. The contract does not include any other Wesfarmer owned retail chains.
OMD is a subsidiary of the Omnicom Group based in New York. OMD Australias has previously done work for McDonalds, V Energy Drink, Intel, Tourism Australian and Hello World.
Coles Marketing Director, George Dymond, said the supermarket is excited for OMD to optimise Coles media planning and negotiations.
OMDs insights, audience understanding and integrated recommendations clearly demonstrated that they are a driven bunch who know the media landscape well and can leverage positive results for Coles, Dymond said.
He thanked UM for its support and dedication over the past 13 years.
Chief Executive Officer of OMD Australia, Peter Horgan, said OMD is proud to be working with Coles.
We are proud to be working with such a sophisticated client in George Dymond and the team at Coles. I am incredibly proud of the team, and this partnership underpins the consistency and depth of OMDs offering across our offices, he said.
The Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) is conducting a Tennessee Supreme Court Candidate Evaluation Poll to compile the views of TBA members on the upcoming retention election for three justices. The TBA conducts the poll in its efforts to help ensure the elections maintain a fair, impartial and accountable judiciary. In 2014, more than 2,086 TBA members gave their recommendations of the three justices then up for retention election.
In the August general election, Tennessee voters will be asked to retain or replace three Supreme Court justices: Justice Holly Kirby (Memphis), Justice Jeffery S. Bivins (Franklin) and Justice Roger A. Page (Medina). The poll will ask TBA members to rate each of these justices with one of four options: (1) highly recommend retention, (2) recommend retention, (3) do not recommend retention or (4) do not have an informed opinion at this time. The survey is being conducted by secret ballot beginning today and will close on Bivins (Franklin) and Justice Roger A. Page (Medina). The poll will ask TBA members to rate each of these justices with one of four options: (1) highly recommend retention, (2) recommend retention, (3) do not recommend retention or (4) do not have an informed opinion at this time. The survey is being conducted by secret ballot beginning today and will close on
June 10
. Results will be released in mid-June. Early voting for the
Aug. 4
election begins
July 15
.
The TBA is conducting the poll because it believes lawyers are uniquely qualified to provide an informed opinion as to whether or not a justice should be retained. It hopes that in providing the collective view of the organized bar, it can help Tennessee voters educate themselves about the election.
Sun Tan City raised $10,599 for the Chattanooga Ronald McDonald House, a home away from home for seriously ill and injured children through their $5 spray tan event on April 21-24. Eight Sun Tan City locations participated in the fundraising event. The branches included Fort Oglethorpe, Rome, Dalton, Hixson, Signal Mtn. Road, Hamilton Place, Cleveland, and Ooltewah.The amount raised will go to help the charitys Share-a-Night Fund, which focuses on covering the cost of a familys stay.It costs the charity $66 to house one family for one night. With 26 families, the cost adds up. Sun Tan Citys donation helps keeps the 26-bedroom home running for nearly an entire week.The Sun Tan City Cares Initiative takes much pride in partnering with local charities, as it is an honor to be able to participate with organizations that are core to our beliefs and values. It is through the continued passion and support of staff and our valued clients as well. During our Sun Tan City Cares Events, Sun Tan City hosts $5 Spray Events in which clients can donate $5 to the partnered charity and receive a free spray tan. It is a special time to see our staff, clients, and charity members come together to contribute to such important causes, said Sun Tan City Managing Operator Garrett Bruner.For more information or questions regarding the Ronald McDonald House, visit www.rmhchattanooga.com
Parade steps off Audio Article For the first time since 2019, marching bands, classic cars, dance troupes, scouts and politicians made their way along Midlothian Turnpike for the annual Midlothian Day Parade on Saturday, Oct....
Experts head compelling line-up for 49th Annual AIFST Convention
A panel of Australias leaders in food will address the industry in Brisbane next month for the 49th Annual AIFST Convention.
The Convention, which will be held from 27-28 June at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, has attracted an esteemed program of speakers, set to debate the challenges and opportunities the industry faces this election year.
Among them will be the Chairman of the Australian Food and Grocery Council, and Managing Director of Simplot, Terry OBrien; Chair of Meat and Livestock Australia, Dr Michele Allan; CEO of Preshafruit, Alastair McLachlan; Head of Nutrition of multinational Archer Daniels Midland, Janice Rueda; CSIROs Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Dr Andre Teixeira; and CEO of Toowoomba Surat Basin Enterprise and Food Leaders Australia, Ben Lyons. These eminent speakers will take part in the Directors in Conversation Industry Roundtable.
With the Australian Government last year naming food and agribusiness as one of the five key areas of growth for the Australian economy, the Convention program emphasises the role of the food sector in delivering against the Governments innovation agenda.
Futurist and Founder of IBISWorld, Phil Ruthven is another who will share his big ideas for the industry. Drawing on major social and demographic trends that influence the industry, Mr Ruthven will set out his bold ideas for the future success of Australian food and offer solutions to ongoing issues including environmental management and food security in the face of Australias volatile weather patterns.
Dr Stefan Hajkowicz one of Australias most in-demand speakers on future trends and decision making and who currently leads the Data61 Strategic Foresight Team will give insight into digital disruption and its implications on the food markets.
In light of the recent regulatory changes across the industry, those in the know including Deputy CEO of the Australian Food and Grocery Council Geoffrey Annison, General Manager of FSANZ, Glen Neal: and Chair of the Health Star Rating Advisory Committee, Dr Kevin Buckett will discuss what these changes mean for both individuals and companies across the industry.
Weve assembled an impressive program of speakers for this years AIFST Convention and were excited to have the industry gather in one place to discuss the exciting opportunities that exist in Australian food, said AIFST CEO, Georgie Aley.
Its an exciting time to be part of the food industry, one of the most integral industries in Australias economy, and we are proud to support the industrys growth.
The Convention will this year be co-located with Foodtech QLD, a major trade event for Queensland food manufacturers.
To register for the 49th Annual AIFST Convention, visit http://bit.ly/1pbPPJj
FSANZ to run symposiums in Canberra and Wellington
Posted by AFN Staff Writers on 18th May 2016
Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) is celebrating its 25th anniversary of the formation of a national food standards regulation agency in Australia with an upcoming symposium in Canberra on 17th and 18th August 2016.
Before then, FSANZ is also hosting a one-day symposium event in Wellington, New Zealand on 1 July 2016.
The Canberra symposium will be hosted at the National Library of Australia and will discuss the future of food safety and public health. It will also explore challenges and opportunities presented in the digital age.
Confirmed speakers include:
Martin Bowles PSM Department of Health
Alan Kirkland CHOICE
Lone Jespersen Cultivate, Switzerland
Beverley Postma Global Food Systems
The New Zealand event hosted on 1 July and will explore consumer, public health, trade and scientific perspectives on the challenges that lie ahead.
Confirmed speakers include:
Peter Gluckman Chief Science Advisor to the New Zealand Prime Minister
Sue Chetwin CEO, Consumer New Zealand
Katherine Rich CEO, Food and Grocery Council
Tony Nowell FSANZ Board member and member of the APEC Business Advisory
Council
Those interested in attending the events can contact FSANZ for more details.
Even the Premiere Access security line has a long wait at O'Hare International Airport on May 16, 2016. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)
Travelers are feeling the effects of long security lines at airports, and the chances of breezing through the concourses during the upcoming Memorial Day weekend seem increasingly unlikely.
Fliers looking for faster ways to get to their gates have options, but some don't come cheap.
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At least three major airlines offer credit cards whose perks include shorter lines to get through airport security screening. The annual fees for those cards: more than $400.
American Airlines' Aadvantage Executive Citi card has an annual fee of $450. Its benefits include club access and "priority airport screening (where available)."
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American spokeswoman Leslie Scott said the airline's priority security line is always open at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, and, while those travelers still must kick off their shoes and remove their laptops, the line to get to security is typically shorter than the line for the masses. Elite-level frequent fliers and first-class passengers also use the line. Other airports served by American might not have a priority line, she said.
Mayor Emanuel addresses TSA problems and aldermen calling for private firms to augment TSA at Chicago airports. May 18, 2016. (John Byrne / Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune)
American's Aadvantage Executive Citi cardholders are also eligible for rebates on Global Entry or TSA Pre-Check application fees. Those are government programs in which travelers who pass, in the case of TSA Pre-Check, an $85 background check can move through security quicker by not having to remove shoes, belts and light jackets.
But one travel analyst says the priority security lanes that airline credit cards generally provide access to are neither faster nor more convenient than TSA Pre-Check.
"A TSA Pre-Check lane can process 300 people an hour, and a non-Pre-Check lane processes about 150 people an hour," said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst for Atmosphere Research Group in San Francisco. "The wait may be slightly less in the 'priority' lane than the nonpriority lane, but a traveler must still take off any shoes, belts, or jackets they're wearing, and remove toiletries and laptop computers from carry-on bags."
Pre-Check costs $85 for five years, or $17 a year, Harteveldt said.
"That may not be in everyone's budget, but it does seem like a reasonable investment to save valuable time at the airport, along with your sanity as a traveler," he said.
United Airlines' MileagePlus Club Chase card, which also has a $450 annual fee, provides access to airport clubs and to priority security screening at select airports, including Chicago O'Hare. Other select United customers also have access to priority screening. The Chicago-based airline might allow customers not included in those more exclusive groups to purchase "premier access," including the priority security lane, for a particular flight. Premier access on a round-trip flight from Chicago to Newark, N.J., for example, can cost $118.
United's premier access security lanes operate daily at O'Hare from 4 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. After they close, United customer service agents will help guide premier customers through a general checkpoint, said United spokesman Jonathan Guerin.
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Delta's credit-card lineup includes a Reserve SkyMiles American Express card that also carries a $450 annual fee and that entitles holders to enter an "expedited" security line, called Sky Priority, with their printed boarding pass at participating airports.
Matt Schulz, senior analyst for CreditCards.com, said a Citi Prestige card carries a $450 annual fee, but will also provide a $100 credit toward the Global Entry application process, which enables travelers to avoid long lines. It also provides access to American Airlines Admirals Club airport lounges, a $250 air travel credit that can be used on tickets, baggage fees, upgrades and more, and triple points on air travel and hotels, among other things.
"But you have to make sure you take advantage of the perks offered," Schulz said. "Otherwise $450 is a lot."
byerak@tribpub.com
Twitter @beckyyerak
Tetsuro Aikawa, president and chief operating officer of Mitsubishi Motors Corp., pauses during a news conference at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in Tokyo. (Tomohiro Ohsumi / Bloomberg)
TOKYO Mitsubishi Motors Corp. President Testuro Aikawa said Wednesday that he will step down to take responsibility for the mileage cheating scandal unfolding at the Japanese automaker.
Aikawa has denied personal involvement in wrongdoing, but it is common for executives at major Japanese companies to resign to show remorse. His resignation is expected to become final on June 24, upon shareholders' approval. A successor was not announced.
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But under a deal with Nissan Motor Co., which is acquiring a 34 percent stake in Mitsubishi, Nissan has been promised a major role in leading Mitsubishi.
Mitsubishi reiterated as part of its latest findings that top management had not ordered the mileage scam, but employees had been under tremendous pressure to get better mileage.
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Mitsubishi also said it did not carefully inspect much of the mileage-testing work that was assigned to a subsidiary.
Aikawa appeared with Mitsubishi Chairman Osamu Masuko, who helped engineer a deal with Japanese rival Nissan Motor Co., to take the top stake in Mitsubishi for 237 billion yen ($2.2 billion). Mitsubishi stock had plunged more than 30 percent after the scandal.
Nissan found the faked mileage tests because of a discrepancy with its own tests on Mitsubishi-manufactured minicar models with tiny engines that had been sold under the Nissan brand.
Mitsubishi says rigging goes back 25 years, and may involve all models sold in Japan, including discontinued ones. It has denied any falsified data for overseas models.
Just a couple of hours before Aikawa's news conference, Japanese automaker Suzuki Motor Corp. apologized Wednesday for improper road tests, but denied reports it illegally falsified mileage numbers.
Suzuki's dubious tests did not affect models sold abroad. The government had instructed all automakers to check on mileage tests after the Mitsubishi scandal surfaced.
Suzuki shares fell in Tokyo trading Wednesday on Japanese media reports the company might have cheated on mileage, but recovered to close down 9 percent.
Associated Press
Kathleen Henson, center, founder and CEO of public relations firm Henson Consulting, talks with employee Kelley Fitzgibbons on May 18, 2016, in Chicago. Some of Henson's employees will be affected by a new federal rule expanding which workers can receive overtime pay. She said she expects to keep the affected workers as salaried and pay them overtime when necessary. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
A new federal rule that dramatically increases the number of workers eligible for overtime pay has employers scrambling to figure out how they will either foot the bill or keep their middle managers from racking up extra hours.
Nearly all salaried employees earning less than $47,476 a year will be eligible for time-and-a-half overtime pay under a new rule finalized Wednesday by the Labor Department, a move the Obama administration calls a major step to boosting middle-class wages.
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But the change promises to be a headache for employers, and some in the business community warn that workers may be worse off.
At Toppers Pizza, a chain with six Chicago locations, founder Scott Gittrich said the new rule will affect his general managers, who typically earn a base salary of about $40,000 plus a merit-based bonus. While Gittrich hasn't decided exactly what he'll do, he doesn't plan on increasing his labor costs.
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Most likely, he said, he will keep general managers exempt from the rule by boosting their base salary and reducing their bonus potential, which could be demotivating for some.
Another option is keeping workers to a strict 40-hour week and making sure they aren't attending to personal matters while on the job. But that ignores the reality that people's work and personal lives are intertwined, Gittrich said.
"You don't turn your life on and off," he said.
The new rule, which takes effect Dec. 1, roughly doubles, from $23,660, the minimum salary employees must make before they can be classified as exempt from receiving overtime pay for working beyond 40 hours a week. In order to be exempt from overtime, they also must pass a white-collar "duties test" demonstrating they primarily perform executive, administrative or professional tasks.
Terry Buehler, a Chicago attorney who has brought multiple class-action lawsuits on behalf of workers who say they've been cheated out of overtime, said retailers often attempt to skimp on overtime by giving shop floor workers phony management titles even though they spend most of their time stacking shelves.
The Labor Department estimates 4.2 million people will become eligible for overtime as a result of the rule, including about 193,000 in Illinois.
Some professions are excluded from the rule, including teachers, doctors, lawyers and outside salespeople.
Under the rule, about 35 percent of full-time salaried employees will be automatically eligible for overtime, up from 7 percent currently and more in line with the law's original intention to protect the middle class from underpay and overwork, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said in a call with reporters. In 1975, 62 percent of workers automatically qualified for overtime.
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The Labor Department, which last summer proposed setting the new threshold at $50,440, said it lowered it after reviewing some 270,000 public comments, many from the business community. The department also included a provision that allows bonuses and incentive payments to count toward up to 10 percent of the new salary level.
But business interest groups swiftly and furiously condemned the new salary threshold.
National Retail Federation lobbyist David French said the measure would "hollow out middle management" by encouraging businesses to reclassify exempt managers as hourly workers who have to clock in and clock out every day, a change he said most would perceive as a reduction in status.
Employers may also force workers to "track their hours much more closely," he said.
Lisa Horn, a lobbyist for the Society of Human Resources Management, said an increase in the threshold after more than a decade was warranted, but that doubling it was "unnecessary."
"Every employer across the country is going to feel the burn of this rule," she said.
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Employers have identified different strategies for complying with the new threshold, which will be updated every three years. It should reach $51,000 in 2020.
Eric Anderson, president and CEO of Unlimited Tan, which is headquartered in Romeoville and has eight Illinois locations, said the rule will affect his managers, who earn a base salary in the $30,000s plus bonuses.
Anderson expects he will switch managers to hourly status and track their hours to ensure they don't work overtime, a change that could affect store quality. He will also rely on part-time workers to pick up the slack.
Judy Conti, federal advocacy coordinator for the National Employment Law Project, which has pushed for overtime changes, said doomsday predictions are "simplistic," and all of the possible outcomes of the higher threshold are wins for workers.
Some people will get a pay bump to keep their exempt status, others will get paid overtime when they work long hours, and those who have to stay within 40 hours a week will get more time to spend with family, go to school or work a second job. Part-time workers might get more hours as employers are forced to spread the work around, she said.
Concerns about hurting morale are a red herring, she added, as employers don't have to change salaried workers' status to hourly in order to make them eligible for the overtime provision. Employers also don't have to frame such a switch as a demotion, she said.
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For cash-strapped organizations that rely on employees to work long hours on modest salaries, the rule change gives incentive to improve time management.
"There is an unofficial attitude in a lot of organizations that we're doing such important work that our needs for just pay and adequate time for ourselves don't matter," Conti said. "It does not make for good, sustainable jobs."
But some nonprofits say services are at stake.
Teresa Garate, president and CEO of Anixter Center, a nonprofit that serves people with disabilities in Chicago, said about 40 of the organization's 400 employees make salaries less than the new threshold, typically between $35,000 and $45,000 annually. About 15 of those workers are community-based supervisors who regularly work long hours, usually at least 15 hours in overtime a week.
She has calculated it would cost the organization $25 to $30 per person per hour in overtime, a daunting proposition for an organization that is funded mostly by state and Medicaid reimbursements.
Asked about disability providers, Perez said the agency will be announcing a nonenforcement policy targeted toward such services while it works on the underlying Medicaid funding issues.
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David Haase, an employment lawyer in the Chicago office of Littler Mendelson, said there could be more subtle fallout.
People who need extra time to complete work that their peers do faster could find themselves in trouble if they are staying late, even willingly, to finish a task. Federal labor law requires employers to pay overtime not only when it is requested, but whenever they are aware extra hours were worked.
"Eventually you fire them for working more than they are supposed to work," Haase said.
Kathleen Henson, owner of Loop public relations firm Henson Consulting, said a third of her 36 employees are salaried, exempt and earn between $33,000 and $45,000. But her employees also have to respond to client needs at all times and attend events after hours.
"I never baby-sat anybody's time," Henson said. "Now I will be doing a little more watching that people are doing what they should be doing during those eight hours."
She expects to keep the affected workers as salaried and pay them overtime when necessary. But she also will ask them to be efficient with their time.
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"I believe that there's an opportunity to do it right, where you don't lose the company culture but you comply with the law," Henson said.
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A billboard truck drives by as Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association members and supporters picket outside the airline's annual shareholder meeting May 18, 2016, at the Renaissance Blackstone Chicago Hotel in Chicago. (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune)
Anxiety levels are high in airports due to the long security lines, but "not very many" Southwest Airlines customers are missing their flights, the carrier's chief executive said Wednesday.
Nonetheless, Southwest is asking some workers to help manage security lines by taking steps such as calling out flights that are leaving soon and moving those passengers to the front of the line.
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Southwest also is trying to speed up the process by which travelers can apply for TSA Pre-Check, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said after his company's annual shareholder meeting in Chicago.
Details were sketchy, but Kelly said efforts to speed the process could involve helping to defray the costs to apply for TSA Pre-Check.
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About 500 Southwest Airlines pilots are protesting across the street from where the carrier is holding its annual shareholder meeting In Chicago on Wednesday morning (Becky Yerak / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)
Southwest fan Martin Peiser said he dreads planning his next vacation.
Long airport security lines? Nope. It's the labor negotiations at Southwest that worry the Chicago resident.
"I hate to make vacation plans," Peiser told Kelly on Wednesday.
As the Dallas-based airline held its meeting at the Renaissance Blackstone Chicago Hotel on South Michigan Avenue, across the street hundreds of Southwest pilots protested. The airline and the pilots, represented by the Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association, are in contract negotiations.
Kelly, a lifelong Texan and 30-year Southwest veteran, tried to assure Peiser, who has been a Southwest stockholder for about 20 years and owns 300 shares.
"You should feel very confident you can make" flight plans with Southwest, Kelly said.
The company, started 45 years ago next month, has had only one strike in its history, he added. It was a mechanics' strike decades ago.
A second shareholder expressed concern that seven employee groups were currently in collective-bargaining negotiations with the airline. About four out of five Southwest workers are unionized.
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Kelly responded that the airline has never had a furlough, layoff or pay cut, and gave raises even during the recession. But he said Southwest faces the toughest competition that it has in decades, with bankruptcy a distant memory for traditional carriers and with discount airlines fighting for market share. That makes it hard to offer fares that are among the lowest in the industry, he said.
Southwest offers currently on the table would provide better benefits and pay that's among the highest in the industry, but the airline is seeking changes in work rules.
"They are complex negotiations," Kelly said, noting that sometimes emotions have entered the discussion.
Sam Mann was among the Southwest pilots protesting on South Michigan Avenue.
He has been at the airline for almost two years.
"We've been without a contract now for four years, in a time during record profits," Mann said.
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byerak@tribpub.com
Twitter @beckyyerak
1. Eat everything at Chocolate Fest
Hamburgers with chocolate barbecue sauce, fried chocolate-pudding pies and chocolate beer are just a few of the novelties at this year's Chocolate Fest in Long Grove. Chocolate lovers can also dig into plenty of more traditional treats, including fudge and chocolate-dipped fruit. A chocolate scavenger hunt takes festgoers all around the historic downtown in search of samples. $5; free for kids 12 and younger. 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday, May 20 and Saturday, May 21; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, May 22 in downtown Long Grove, www.visitlonggrove.com
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2. Up your bartending game
Attend the first Chicago Cocktail Summit. (Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune)
If you're that person who asks the bartender a zillion questions about the anatomy of your drink, clear your calendar Sunday for the Chicago Cocktail Summit, a first-time event offering a dozen hour-long seminars (some overlap, unfortunately) hosted by local and visiting liquor pros. Eden Laurin and Aubrey Howard of The Violet Hour will school you on the best ways to use eggs in your drinks, Andrew Algren of Cherry Circle Room delivers a talk on the history of amaro, writer Camper English of Alcademics hosts an "All About Ice" seminar and that's just the beginning. $25 per session; $125 all-access pass. 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, May 22 at Logan Theatre, 2646 N. Milwaukee Ave., www.cocktailsummit.com
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3. Two words: brunch buffet
Dos Urban Cantina, home to colorful plates such as these scallops with spicy lime aguachile, is now serving brunch. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
Dos Urban Cantina, a Phil Vettel favorite in Logan Square, just extended its hours to include Sunday brunch. A $24 buffet includes a guacamole bar, empanadas stuffed with scrambled eggs and cheese, chilaquiles, sweet corn tamales, Mexican chocolate coffee cake and more. Drinks (priced a la carte) range from prickly pear mimosas by the glass to palomas by the half gallon. And if the weather's nice, a new 40-seat patio awaits. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 22 (and all following Sundays) at Dos Urban Cantina, 2829 W. Armitage Ave., 773-661-6452, www.dosurbancantina.com
4. Win free doughnuts for life
The Biscoff pocket at Stan's is one of our top 12 doughnuts in Chicago. (Joseph Hernandez / Chicago Tribune)
Free doughnuts for the rest of your time on this glorious, doughnut-filled planet could be your reality if you draw the lucky envelope at either new location of Stan's Donuts & Coffee. The California chain opens its fifth and sixth locations (one on Michigan Avenue just steps from the river; the other on Broadway in Lakeview) by handing out prizes to the first 100 customers at each store. It's more likely you'll win a free coffee or doughnut (singular), but who's complaining? Doors open 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 21 at Stan's, 535 N. Michigan Ave. and 3300 N. Broadway, www.stansdonutschicago.com
5. Dance at beer prom
Burnt City Brewing brings you a second chance at prom and this time, it's legal to drink.
Chicago Craft Beer Week brings a lot of activities to the city, including an idea we love: beer prom. Burnt City Brewing is ready to party with the debut of Pearadise City, a sour pear saison made in collaboration with Penrose Brewing; a host of new tappings; and, quote, some "funky beer specials." Come in costume (the theme: steampunk) and be ready to bowl the brewery is also home to a set of lanes. 9 p.m. on Saturday, May 21 at Burnt City Brewing, 2747 N. Lincoln Ave., 773-275-1270.
mconrad@tribpub.com
Twitter @marissa_conrad
A new archive of Chicago theater performances is being created through Actors' Equity and the Chicago Public Library that will allow anyone with a valid photo ID to watch recorded shows like the recent hits "Sender" and "Byhalia, Mississippi." It was announced Tuesday that The Chicago Film Archive of Performance, a program that mirrors the New York Public Library's Theatre on Film and Tape Archive which has documented productions since 1970, will receive a permanent home in the Harold Washington Library's Special Collections and Preservation Division.
The 21 productions currently included in the archive are: "Animals Out of Paper" (Shattered Globe Theatre), "Byhalia, Mississippi" (The New Colony and Definition Theatre Company), "Circle-Machine" (Oracle Productions), "Direct From Death Row: The Scottsboro Boys" (Raven Theatre), "The Drowning Girls" (Signal Ensemble Theatre), "The Few" (Steep Theatre Company), "The Hairy Ape" (Oracle Productions), "The Jungle" (Oracle Productions), "Le Switch" (About Face Theatre), "Miss Buncle's Book" Lifeline Theatre, "Murder Ballad" (Bailiwick Chicago Theatre), "No Wake" (Route 66 Theatre Company), "Porcelain" (Prologue Theatre Company), "Posh" (Steep Theatre Company), "Sender" (A Red Orchid Theatre), "Really Really" (Interrobang Theatre Project), "Red" (Redtwist Theatre), "Rolling" (Jackalope Theatre), "United Flight 232" (The House Theatre of Chicago), "The Wild Party" (Bailiwick Chicago Theatre) and "Yasmina's Necklace" (16th Street Theatre).
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The first ten recordings ("The Wild Party," "Circle-Machine," "Red," "Really, Really," "The Jungle," "Murder Ballad," "The Drowning Girls," "Porcelain," "Direct from Death Row the Scottsboro Boys" and "Miss Buncle's Book") are non-circulable but can be accessed during Reading Room hours. Newer recordings are planned to be ready for viewings by the end of June.
Five more productions will also be added to the archive by the end of June, with a goal to reach 40 recordings by the end of the year. Final selections of which live productions, interviews and events to film are made by C-FAP's executive director Drew Blau, based on suggestions from the board of directors and recommendations of the Joseph Jefferson Committee.
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A launch event featuring the cast of Oracle Productions' "The Jungle" will be held at the Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State St., on May 26 at 6:30 p.m.
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Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
Mayor Rahm Emanuel honor Martha Lavey and Steppenwolf Theatre Company on its 40th anniversary. (Brooke Collins at City of Chicago)
Chicago's Mayor Rahm Emanuel issued a pair of proclamations on Wednesday, one in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company and the other recognizing the two decades of service by its former artistic director Martha Lavey.
Lavey is recovering from a stroke she suffered a year ago, shortly after leaving her post at Steppenwolf. But she appeared in good spirits at the Steppenwolf gala on Saturday night, greeting well-wishers and enjoyed a tribute from the theater's supporters.
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The part of the title after the colon suggests a certain insecurity about whether this is a musical or a song suite. In its current form, it certainly plays as more of the latter a series of musical meditations on the lives and times of the anarchists, albeit with the overarching sense that Haymarket was an early indicator of what today's protesters like to refer to as the "two Chicagos," the shining city for the 1 percent and the difficult and violent town that is home to everyone else. The Haymarket Affair was, without reasonable question, the result of the factory owners and their apologists in city government and law enforcement attempting to retain that personally and professionally profitable stratification. In the face of gains by Chicago's suddenly giant population of workers.
Despite its aura of high-stakes TV drama, the bar was weirdly low for Trump and Kelly going into this thing. All Trump had to do was try some restraint, a little humility, a dash of contrition ("Excuse me," he said, called out by Kelly for calling her a bimbo on Twitter). All Kelly had to do going into her first episode of "Megyn Kelly Presents" was what she'd been doing all along, as debate moderator and Fox fixture. Mission: Be reasonably forthright, reasonably tough, with enough steel to be considered for a "Law & Order" prosecutor role yet charm enough to disarm Michael Douglas with her suggestion that he might be able to get his dad, 99-year-old Kirk Douglas, to find a date for her 100-year-old grandmother.
New paperbacks to check out are "Syrian Dust: Reporting From the Heart of the War" by Francesca Borri, translated by Anne Milano Appel, "Seveneves" by Neal Stephenson, "Jacksonland" by Steve Inskeep, "Orient" by Christopher Bollen, and "Among Heroes" by Brandon Webb with John David Mann. (Chicago Tribune)
Jacksonland by Steve Inskeep, Penguin, 421 pages, $17
Inskeep explores how John Ross, a mixed-race Cherokee politician, opposed Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act of 1830 by making use of the United States' legal system. Ross championed the causes of the Five Civilized Tribes that were removed during the Trail of Tears, taking their cause all the way to the Supreme Court.
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Syrian Dust: Reporting from the Heart of the War by Francesca Borri, translated by Anne Milano Appel, Seven Stories, 221 pages, $16.95
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Borri documents her experiences reporting on the Syrian civil war, in particular the fighting in Aleppo. Borri reports on how civilians are the true victims of the war, forcing women, children and others to hide in graves and scavenge rubble for fire material.
Seveneves: A Novel by Neal Stephenson, William Morrow, 870 pages, $17.99
After a catastrophic event on Earth forces humanity to seek survival outside the atmosphere, only a handful of survivors remain. Some 5,000 years later, the descendants of those survivors number 3 billion in seven distinct races and choose to embark on a similarly bold journey: a return to the vastly transformed Earth.
Among Heroes by Brandon Webb with John David Mann, NAL Caliber, 257 pages, $16
Webb reflects on eight Navy SEALs he served with who were killed in action, including Matthew Axelson, who was killed during the "Lone Survivor" mission, Glen Doherty, who was killed in Benghazi in 2012, and Chris Campbell, Heath Robinson and J.T. Tumilson, who were among the casualties of the Chinook helicopter that was shot down in Afghanistan in 2011.
Orient: A Novel by Christopher Bollen, Harper Perennial, 628 pages, $16.99
The small town of Orient finds itself gripped by two mysterious deaths that occurred on the same day: a local caretaker found in open water and an animal corpse on the beach. With rumors abound, Orient native Beth seeks to uncover the truth by enlisting the help of Mills, an orphan with a hazy past whom the locals are suspicious of.
Before closing out the gala with a rock concert with his band, Sinise spoke about the company he co-founded. "We're in our 40th year here, although it's actually 42 years if you add up the origins of the company that started in '74, so a lot of us have been around for a long time. But I would say that anything I do in my acting life, I pretty much learned from working at Steppenwolf with these great people."
I'm not crazy about either Trump or Clinton. The fact that The Hillary or The Donald might be president almost makes me yearn for a yurt in the wilderness. There, I could read the Constitution alone, in peace, like some oblivious hermit, without worrying what the next president will do to it.
During ESPNs upfronts on Tuesday in Manhattan, ESPN president John Skipper talked with some reporters about some of the hot button topics circulating the company as of late. One of those topics was the firing of Curt Schilling, and his accusations that ESPN was more tolerant of liberal viewpoints than conservative viewpoints.
Skipper responded to Schillings comments by championing diversity and inclusion while dismissing a possible political bias.
But when pressed on Schillings accusation, he said, No. We have no tolerance for points of view that arent inclusive. We have a diverse culture. We are very focused on making sure everybody can exist comfortably and succeed in that culture. Thats what we have no tolerance for and I dont care of what the politics of a person who has such an attitude are.
Why do I have a feeling this is going to turn into a back and forth centered around being tolerant about intolerance? Theres really nothing too ground-breaking about what Skipper said here believe what you want to believe, as long as its not hateful. If thats considered anti-conservative or controversial in the year 2016, weve reached a new low.
[Newsday]
Congressman Bobby Rush at his campaign headquarters in Chicago on March 15, 2016. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
WASHINGTON The Federal Election Commission has questioned House Democrat Bobby Rush's campaign over a campaign-finance report that showed thousands of dollars spent on vague categories such as "campaign visibility" and "services rendered."
In a letter sent on Sunday, the FEC asked Rush's campaign for more details about expenditures in those categories and others and warned an audit could result if questions weren't answered.
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The FEC singled out Rush's report covering Feb. 25 through March 31. One area of FEC interest was cash disbursements, including "Cash to Pay Election Day Workers." A $23,000 cash disbursement on the day of the primary went to campaign treasurer Sheila L. Jackson for that purpose, reports show.
The FEC's letter gave the campaign a June 20 deadline to respond.
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A spokeswoman for Rush said that, as of Monday, the lawmaker "is not in receipt of an FEC letter and thusly ... unable to comment on the details of such letter."
Rush, who is from Chicago's South Side and took his congressional seat in 1993, easily won a March primary election. His campaign paid his wife, Carolyn, $50,000 in 2015 for consulting, and his brother, Marlon Rush of Lansing, $13,000 in 2016 for two months' work as campaign manager, according to FEC reports. Four others with the surname Rush were paid a total of nearly $14,000 this year, the reports show.
Without naming the Rushes, the FEC questioned the lack of specificity in some of those payments, including one listed in the report as "Services Rendered February 2016."
The FEC does not take issue with relatives working on campaigns if they are qualified and paid at fair-market value.
However, watchdog groups frown on the practice when payments grow large. Craig Holman, an ethics expert with Public Citizen, said Tuesday that he does not take issue when a newcomer to politics brings on a family member who works for little cash. But, he said, "any full-time professional salary concerns me."
"If a campaign has that kind of resources, it should hire someone else to do the job. They can afford it to get away from the nepotism," Holman said.
Holman noted that members of Congress are not allowed to put family members on their congressional staffs. But on the campaign side, they can "literally put hundreds of thousands of dollars in their own family's pocket," he said.
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Rush's spokeswoman Debra Johnson did not answer a question on Rush's relation to those on the campaign report who share his last name.
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Rush has raised about $417,000 since his re-election in 2014 and spent about $461,000. On March 31, his campaign was technically in the red: $22,000 in cash on hand and debts of almost $26,000.
Rush, a former Black Panther and Chicago alderman, nearly failed to make the ballot late in 2015 because of problems with nominating petition signatures. But he won the primary after a late cash infusion from donors, including political action committees representing labor and industry groups.
He beat Ald. Howard Brookins Jr., 21st, in the primary to advance to the general election on Nov. 8.
Brett Kappel, a Washington lawyer with the firm Akerman LLP, reviewed the FEC letter and said Tuesday: "These are the type of FEC reporting errors typically seen on the reports filed by a first-time candidate, not a member who has been in Congress for more than 20 years."
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Twitter @KatherineSkiba
North Chicago High School student Thomas Smith writes about motivation, something that has always been hard for him to find.
A newly formed school poetry club has helped him stay focused and perform better in the classroom, he said.
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His poem, along with 17 others, will debut during a presentation of the club's first poetry compilation booklet at the North Chicago Community Unit School District 187 School Board meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
"I've always liked finding things that rhymed ... It helped me be better in school with my reading and writing," he said.
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The sophomore has lived in North Chicago for 15 years and said the club has given him something better to do other than be on the computer all day.
Formed in February 2015, the North Chicago High School Poetry Club is sponsored by the Black Abolition Movement for the Mind, a non-profit arts organization aimed to challenge issues of social justice and inequality.
Chris "Brotha" Blanks, founding president of the organization, said poetry helps find a therapeutic approach to deal with anger management, conflict resolution and helps build literacy and writing skills.
"They are able to express themselves in a more non-violent way because with young people we come to find that if they don't have an outlet to be able to express themselves creatively, then it unfortunately can come out in a more violent way," Blanks said. "We utilize poetry in a preventive measure to release anger management and tension."
He said before students can understand the academic curriculum, they need to understand how to deal with themselves and any issues they face, whether it be socially or from their home life.
"It helps young people be able to liberate themselves and express themselves in a way they might not have the normal outlet to do, such as talking to mom or dad," Blanks said. "It helps them to vent their frustrations so we utilize poetry not only to help their writing but also as a public speaking format."
Robin Kacel, associate professor in English at the College of Lake County, just finished teaching a creative writing class this semester and said several poems described tragic or painful situations.
"The satisfaction that is available to young poets comes from taking a difficult, painful or tragic situation and transforming it into something artistic, which then can touch other people and help them explore their deeper feelings," she said.
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One African-American student in her class wrote about the Black Lives Matter movement and his anger over being frightened by police officers, Kacel said. She added that during the process of writing he was able to realize his own determination to push back against the racism he felt.
Poetry is also about understanding literary techniques and the how to go through a creative process, Kacel said, adding that poetry requires critical thinking and improves writing skills.
Thursday's presentation will take place at the North Chicago Community High School, 1717 17th St. in Studio 187.
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Twitter @MeganAsh_Jones
Philip McCrea, who began his teaching career at New Trier High School in 1972, was known to sometimes teach biology by playing his guitar and singing songs he composed about evolution and DNA. (Family photo)
When a producer for "The Oprah Winfrey Show" contacted New Trier High School in 1997 looking for a science teacher to discuss household sanitation issues, the school's choice, Philip McCrea, was a no-brainer.
"The school's immediate response was, 'We've got the guy!'" said McCrea's daughter, Kristin Lautenschlager.
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"He was a natural," she said. "It didn't matter if he was talking to a bunch of students or millions of television viewers, his enthusiasm for science always jumped out at you."
McCrea, 67, who in 1980 received the Outstanding Biology Teacher Award for the state of Illinois, died May 11 of cancer at Highland Park Hospital. He was a resident of Woodstock.
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"He was an active, creative and innovative teacher throughout his career at New Trier," said Gerry Munley, an assistant principal at New Trier High School's Winnetka campus. "His leadership began in the classroom, and moved to the science department, the school, the state and then the nation."
Born and raised on Chicago's North Side, McCrea was a 1966 graduate of St. Patrick High School. He graduated in 1970 with a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where four years later he received a master's degree in behavioral genetics.
He began his teaching career at New Trier in 1972. He was known to sometimes teach biology by playing his guitar and singing songs he composed about evolution and DNA.
McCrea also served as an adjunct professor of science at McHenry County College in Crystal Lake and the College of Lake County in Grayslake, where he won an Outstanding Part-Time Faculty Member Award in 2006.
During his appearance on "Oprah," in an episode titled "Things to Get Rid Of," McCrea talked about the potential breeding ground for bacteria found in everything from overused household utensils to makeup products that had outlived their shelf life.
"He talked about some pretty gross stuff that really should be thrown out," his daughter said.
McCrea, elected president of the National Association of Biology Teachers in 2000, was one of a select number of educators invited to present before a congressional committee on the future of science in schools, during the mid-1990s.
He was also an early innovator in the area of technology and science, beginning with his early embrace of Apple computers in his classroom.
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"PASCO interfaces, Flex Cam, student teleconferencing, 360-degree videos, online courses and the Internet were all part of Phil's teaching vocabulary and classroom repertoire long before it was for the vast majority of teachers," said Munley, a former chairman of the science department at New Trier.
In recent years, he could often be found helping his grandchildren with their homework.
"He was an interesting, fun, intelligent and caring man all rolled into one," said his wife of 45 years, Mary Jane.
McCrea also is survived by a son, Sean; a brother, Kevin; a sister, Judy Divita; and two grandsons.
Services were held.
Joan Giangrasse Kates is a freelance reporter.
The number of people renting Airbnb spots on Chicago's West Side doubled in 2015 thanks partly to Riot Fest, the three-day music festival that relocated last year to Douglas Park.
Specifically in North Lawndale, which encompasses Douglas Park, bookings increased 828 percent, from 70 in 2014 to 650 in 2015, according to a newly released report. On Riot Fest weekend, there was a bump in bookings, Airbnb spokesman Christopher Nulty said.
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"We know there's a clear connection between big festivals and events that happen in Chicago in various neighborhoods and we're seeing spikes in traffic to those neighborhoods," Nulty said.
Overall, the number of guests who took advantage of the online home rental platform across the West Side which also includes Humboldt Park, West Town, North and South Austin, and East Garfield Park jumped from 26,000-plus in 2014 to more than 52,000 in 2015, according to Airbnb data.
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Airbnb released the data Wednesday as the City Council was to consider an ordinance proposed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. He wants to regulate the industry by limiting the number of units in a building that could be used as vacation rentals, among other rules. Some Chicago aldermen pushed for strict rules to prevent homes from becoming party houses and residential buildings from turning into hotels.
Ultimately, a full vote on the proposal was postponed until next month because of last-minute changes.
Will Burns, a 4th Ward alderman, left the City Council earlier this year to work for Airbnb as a senior adviser and director of Midwest policy.
Collectively, West Side hosts earned nearly $8.8 million from renting their property, twice as much as the $4.2 million in 2014 and more than quadruple what the hosts made in 2013. According to the report, West Side hosts made an average of $7,050 in 2015, more than the citywide average of $4,500 per host. Last year, Airbnb hosts in Chicago collected a total of nearly $34 million from sharing their residences.
"No matter the earnings, for the hundreds of people using Airbnb to make ends meet, the small, but significant, supplemental income they're earning creates an economic lifeline during a time of historic economic inequality," the Airbnb report said. "In fact, for the 56 percent of Airbnb hosts in Chicago or 4,732 people in 2015 the money they made sharing their space was used to pay part of their rent or their mortgage."
More Airbnb hosts are trying to cash in as the number of residents who have put their West Side homes on the home-sharing platform has increased from 330 in 2013 to 600 in 2014 to more than 1,000 in 2015.
In North Lawndale, 85 percent of the listings last year were from first-time hosts.
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The most bookings on the West Side 9,870, a spike from 5,100 bookings in 2014 were made in the Humboldt Park and West Town neighborhoods where several bars and restaurants line busy streets, according to the report. Citywide, West Town was the top Chicago neighborhood based on bookings last year. Wicker Park and Humboldt Park were the top destinations for staycationers in Chicago last year too.
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The Airbnb growth in the number of guests on the West Side was on par with the boost last year throughout Chicago. The increase in the number of guests represented a growth of 105 percent citywide. On the West Side, the growth was nearly 98 percent. West Side hosts were more likely to rent a private spare room in a home, which often is a cheaper alternative than renting the entire home, condo or apartment, and for more nights compared to the city as a whole.
With slim hotel options outside of downtown, Nulty said Airbnb makes it easier for guests to explore neighborhoods and spend time visiting family and friends while providing an economic benefit to local businesses.
"All of the sudden, they're not only having folks who live in the neighborhood patronize them but hundreds of more people are getting recommendations for bars and restaurants and boutiques from their hosts," he said.
In February, Airbnb reported the South Side outpaced the rest of the city in terms of growth in 2015. More than 17,000 guests stayed on the South Side, representing a 137 percent increase from 2014, while hosts made $2.6 million.
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Twitter @lvivanco
The long-running divorce involving the founder of the Cancer Treatment Centers of America was back in court Wednesday and may yet go to trial to decide the division of the multimillionaire's assets.
Richard and Alicia Stephenson's marriage was dissolved earlier this year, but they are continuing a nearly seven-year legal battle over who gets what, in what is likely the longest-running, most hotly disputed and costliest divorce case ever in McHenry County.
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Richard Stephenson, 76, is chairman of the board of the privately owned Cancer Treatment Centers, which has five locations, including one in Zion. He lives in the couple's former home on a horse farm in the Barrington area. Alicia, 51, who previously was chair of the centers' charity arm, Gateway for Cancer Research, is renting a house in Lakewood.
Neither of the Stephensons appeared at the brief court hearing Wednesday, where Judge James Cowlin told the former couple's attorneys that he wants to see a settlement by the next court date, June 8, or that the case will proceed to a trial.
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An attorney for Richard Stephenson, David Grund, said his camp has made a generous offer to Alicia Stephenson for monthly maintenance, though he would not say the amount.
"It's a fortune to anyone else on the street," he said.
Alicia Stephenson's attorney, Elizabeth Wakeman, has called settlement offers "outrageously low."
Before they married in 1991, Alicia Stephenson signed an agreement for her husband to pay her unspecified monthly income and provide her a house in case of divorce. His attorneys have long argued that should settle the matter.
A judge has ruled that the prenuptial agreement is valid, but through her attorneys, Alicia Stephenson has argued that some property was jointly owned and must be divided.
Following a court hearing last month, attorneys for each side said they have tried to negotiate a deal.
Grund said this week that 98 percent of the issues had been resolved, but there were still 10 properties, including real estate, whose ownership had to be determined.
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But the two sides don't even agree on how much they've agreed on.
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Wakeman estimated the parties have agreed on only 20 percent of the issues and still have significant matters to resolve regarding the value of each party's ownership in corporate and real properties, many that involved income from the cancer treatment centers.
Wakeman said she is still awaiting documents relating to corporate ownership from the other side, including a request for an accounting of $12 million that Richard Stephenson reportedly donated to a conservative political action committee.
It's possible that after the allocation of property is settled, the two sides might still be left having to resolve the issue of how much in monthly maintenance Richard Stephenson will pay his ex-wife.
Freelance reporter Amanda Marrazzo contributed.
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Twitter @RobertMcCoppin
Erik Coquet, 27, is charged with sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl after they struck up a two-month relationship on Facebook. Prosecutors say he arranged to bring her to his house, where he gave her beer and sexually assaulted her May 8, 2016. (Chicago Police Department)
A 27-year-old Hermosa neighborhood man struck up a two-month relationship on Facebook with an 11-year-old girl, then arranged to bring her to his house, where he gave her beer and sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Erik Coquet, who prosecutors say repeatedly assaulted the girl May 8 at his home in the 1800 block of North Keeler Avenue, was ordered held in lieu of $750,000 bail in a hearing midday Wednesday before Cook County Judge James Brown. Coquet is charged with predatory criminal sexual assault of a victim under age 13.
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Coquet and the girl started communicating on Facebook messenger in early March, and then started sending text messages about meeting each other, prosecutors said Wednesday.
After "constant communication" through Facebook messenger, the two met not long after midnight May 8, prosecutors said. Coquet picked up the girl near Pulaski Road and Fullerton Avenue and drove her to his house, where he gave the girl a beer and then repeatedly sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said.
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The girl's mother reported her missing to Chicago police the morning of May 8, and her mother and sister both repeatedly called the girl throughout the day but got no response.
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The girl woke up that afternoon in Coquet's bed, and he dropped her off near the 45th Street border between Stickney and Berwyn.
Finally, about 11 p.m., the girl's sister called her and she answered, prosecutors said. The girl told her sister she was near 45th and Harlem and the sister went to pick her up. When the sister arrived, the girl told her that she was in pain, and the sister immediately called 911, prosecutors said.
The girl was taken to Lurie Children's Hospital, where she was examined and found to have signs of having been sexually assaulted, according to prosecutors. Chicago police detectives examined the girl's cellphone and Facebook account, saw sexually explicit messages between the girl and Coquet, and found Coquet's home address.
The girl told investigators what had happened, prosecutors said.
When Coquet was arrested and read his rights, he admitted in a recorded confession to having sex with the girl, prosecutors said.
Coquet, who court records show also as Eric Koquet or Eric Coquet, was ordered not to have contact with the victim or her family members, or anyone else under age 18. Coquet has no prior convictions, according to prosecutors, but court records show he has been arrested twice previously on domestic battery charges.
Chicago Tribune's Steve Schmadeke contributed.
Jeff Marks carries some of his family's belongings from his rental apartment May 17, 2016. Five buildings were damaged a day earlier in a Lakeview fire on Chicago's North Side. The cause is still being investigated. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)
An extra-alarm fire that ripped through three Lakeview apartment buildings Monday evening was caused by someone improperly disposing of a cigarette, according to a Chicago Fire Department spokesman.
The fire broke out just after 5 p.m. Monday in the 3300 block of North Marshfield Avenue, according to Chicago Fire Department officials. Three buildings were involved and two others were exposed to the fire, according to officials. One firefighter was burned on the arm and went to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in good condition, officials said.
The fire was caused by someone improperly discarding a "cigarette on enclosed back porch," Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said in a tweet.
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The fire was struck out at 6:06 p.m. Monday. The blaze, which started in a 2 1/2-story building, hit 12 apartment units, and 30 people were displaced from their homes.
The director of the Coconino County Legal Defender's Office plans to run for Coconino County attorney.
Gary Pearlmutter, a Democrat, filed paperwork with the county recorder in April announcing the formation of his candidate committee. He must collect at least 504 signatures by June 1 for his name to appear on the ballot this fall.
I am running for county attorney because I am passionate about justice, Pearlmutter said. I believe in justice and I want to ensure that we take just, pragmatic approaches to the problems that we face in the criminal justice system in our community.
Pearlmutter first came to northern Arizona as a ranger at Grand Canyon National Park in 1984. In 1986, he transferred to Saguaro National Park near Tucson and attended law school at the University of Arizona, where he graduated with honors in 1992.
He moved to Flagstaff in 1993 to work for the Coconino County Public Defenders Office. He moved to the Legal Defenders Office in 2000, working as the assistant director before becoming the director in 2005.
He served on the FUSD board until losing a recall election in 2004. He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination to a Superior Court judgeship in 2010.
Like public defenders, legal defenders are appointed by the Coconino County Superior Court or the county justice courts to provide legal services to criminal defendants who cannot afford to hire a private attorney. Legal defenders are also appointed by the courts to act in the best interest of a child in abuse and dependency cases.
As legal defender, Pearlmutter serves on the Coconino County Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee. He also helped create Coconino Countys Veterans Court in 2013. In 2010 he was part of the team that launched a diversion program for low-risk juvenile offenders caught with marijuana.
Pearlmutter expects to launch his campaign website next week.
An argument over headphones led to a fatal shooting in the Irving Park neighborhood earlier this week, according to a prosecutor.
Larry Russell, 30, began arguing with another man, 28, "over a pair of headphones" shortly before 11 p.m. Monday in the 4300 block of North Elston Avenue, Assistant State's Attorney April Gonzales said in court Wednesday.
Russell pulled out a .25-caliber handgun and fired four times, hitting the man in the abdomen and upper back as the man ran across Elston and collapsed, Gonzales said.
Based on a description from witnesses, police tracked Russell down a few blocks away, in the 4400 block of North Kasson Avenue. Officers ordered him to the ground, and Russell placed the gun on the ground, Gonzales said.
Russell later admitted to the shooting and was charged with first-degree murder and possession of cannabis, authorities said.
The name of the victim has not been released by the Cook County medical examiner's office, pending notification of family. Friends said he had relatives in Morocco but no family in Chicago. They said he worked as an Uber driver.
Bonnie Liltz and her attorney Thomas Glasgow at the courthouse in Rolling Meadows on May 11. Liltz pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of her daughter. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
When Bonnie Liltz took her daughter's life by pouring a fatal dose of medication into her feeding tube, it was an extreme and horrifying response to a common dilemma among parents of the severely disabled: What will happen to my child when I die?
Whether it was also an act that merits a prison sentence as a judge is due to rule Wednesday might be a more complicated calculation.
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Several legal experts said that while they don't condone what Liltz did, if there was ever a murder case that warranted probation, this appears to be one. Most cited Liltz's own severe health problems and failed attempt to take her own life after she killed her 28-year-old daughter Courtney in their Schaumburg home in May 2015.
"This is a severe crime. Legally, it's not a gray area. Certainly, this is murder. But what would be accomplished by (incarcerating) someone who would never commit a crime again? There's not any benefit," said Jonathan Masur, a University of Chicago law professor.
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Even a prominent activist in the Chicago-area's right-to-life movement said Liltz's failed suicide attempt "leads to more sympathy."
Liltz, 56, was initially charged with first-degree murder in the death of the daughter she adopted when the girl was 5. Liltz was often joined in court by a group of supporters, including her parents and sister. They described her as totally devoted to taking care of Courtney, who had cerebral palsy, could not talk or dress herself and used a wheelchair. But as Bonnie's own health seemed to worsen and she feared she was near death, she agonized over the prospect of her daughter ending up in an institution.
Last week, Liltz pleaded guilty in Cook County court to a lesser charge, involuntary manslaughter, and prosecutors have recommended that she receive four years of probation, plus mental health treatment, though she could receive up to 14 years in prison.
Involuntary manslaughter under Illinois law is defined as an unintentional death, while the basic facts in the Liltz case, which both prosecutors and her attorney agree on, point to premeditation.
But Jeffrey Urdangen, director of the Center for Criminal Defense at Northwestern University's Pritzker School of Law, called the plea deal a "wise decision," noting prosecutors and judges can exercise some discretion in unusual circumstances.
Allowing Liltz to plead guilty to manslaughter was probably "not so much (about) sympathy, but the prosecutor decided there was sufficient mitigating evidence," Urdangen said, adding that it might have been tough to convince a jury to deliver a first-degree murder verdict, had the case gone to trial.
"This is an exceptional case," Urdangen added, saying a jury might have trouble "sending a woman who's got a critical illness to prison for an act for what some could interpret as mercy. ... There are so many facts that lessen her culpability."
Eric Scheidler, executive director of Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League, called Liltz's actions "misguided and desperate."
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But Scheidler, whose group focuses primarily on stopping abortion, too said that Liltz's attempt to take her own life "leads to more sympathy, because that shows it wasn't a selfish act. She wasn't going to be free of the care of this child."
Still, he said he's concerned that a lighter sentence "would open the door for other, less sympathetic cases. Are we sending a signal that we euthanize children with impunity?"
Liltz is not the first case of its kind.
Bonnie Liltz's attorney Thomas Glasgow makes a statement to the media on May 11, 2016. Liltz pleaded to involuntary manslaughter of her disabled daughter. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune)
In 2014, Elmhurst resident Frank Stack, 82, fatally shot his two developmentally disabled adult children and terminally ill wife, calling a friend to reveal his plan minutes before also taking his own life. Supporters similarly described them as devoted parents who spent decades caring for their children.
What's different in this case is that Liltz despite leaving a suicide note and taking what authorities said was her own overdose of medication, swallowed with a glass of wine survived to be prosecuted.
Chicago attorney Joseph Monahan has spent 30 years helping families arrange for the care of their disabled children after they die, and said the issue can be the source of extreme fear and anxiety for parents.
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"Do they depend upon a sibling, a not-for-profit agency that's always in (financial) jeopardy, some unknown future? It's a very difficult thing for parents," Monahan said.
Liltz's daughter, for example, had stayed in a residential center in 2012 when Liltz was hospitalized following her second cancer diagnosis. In court last week, Liltz said she her daughter received poor care there and she was haunted by the prospects of Courtney returning to such a place.
"I prayed to God, 'What's going to happen to Courtney?' I was scared and overwhelmed. I couldn't bear the thought of her in an institution for the rest of her life," Liltz said.
For families of the disabled who are reliant on public programs and the work of not-for-profit groups that depend on state funding, Illinois' budget crisis has further strained the already limited options.
Such organizations, are "out raising money through bake sales and dinners to try to get appropriate care for individuals because of the state of our budget," said Monahan, who also represents a number of nonprofits who assist the disabled. "Should we as a society, resort to Tootsie Roll sales to fund services? I don't think so."
The number of people living in state institutions for the disabled has declined steadily since the 1960s, and under the court 2011 court order, Illinois has made progress in moving thousands from larger institutional care facility to group homes. Yet there are still about 7,000 people on a waiting list for state residential services, according to the Illinois Department of Human Services.
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Glenn Fujiura, a professor in the Department of Disability and Human Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago, estimates roughly 80 percent of adults with significant developmental disabilities live in a family setting, many with aging parents. While private and state-operated organizations provide services for disabled adults ranging from long-term residential placement to a few hours respite supervision for parents, extensive wait times are not unusual.
There are a wide range of government-funded services available to the severely disabled during childhood, but once people age out of those services in early adulthood, "it's like they vanish," Fujiura said. "Nothing is mandated for these individuals."
Fujiura called cases like Liltz's an example of a "larger broken system."
"I cast blame on culture and a society that hasn't found a way to help its most vulnerable," he said. "When tragedies like this emerge, the desperation of the family speaks to the failure of the system."
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Rita Winkeler, of downstate Bartelso, says she understands the fears and frustrations involved in caring for someone with developmental disabilities. Her son has cerebral palsy and cognitive impairments, and she has another close relative with a mental disability.
"Unless you walk in a mom's shoes, you don't know what it's like to care for a developmentally disabled child. It's extremely difficult. Does that excuse (Liltz)? Absolutely not. Did she murder to get rid of her daughter? No," Winkeler said. "I wish she had reached out to someone to say 'I can't do this anymore.' We all come to a point when we just can't do it anymore."
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Winkeler said she eventually quit her job to care for son, which became increasingly challenging as he grew to be 6-foot-4. Eventually, it came to be too much, and years ago her son moved to a state-run care facility made up of seven group cottages.
Placing her son, now 33, in someone else's care "was the hardest thing I've had to do in my life," said Winkeler. "But, honestly, it was probably the best thing. He's so happy there.
"Sometimes," she added, "we have to think what's best for them, because we won't be here forever, so we have to take that leap of faith."
tbriscoe@tribpub.com
Twitter @_tonybriscoe
The Chicago police SWAT team responds to a suspect in a South Side home in the 7700 block of South Paxton Avenue on May 17, 2016. (Brian Jackson / Chicago Tribune)
A retired Chicago police officer barricaded herself in a South Shore house for more than five and a half hours Tuesday, agreeing to come out only after police Superintendent Eddie Johnson spoke with her, according to police.
Officers, including SWAT personnel, responded to the home in the 7700 block of South Paxton Avenue about 4:15 p.m. after the retired officer, who was having some personal difficulties, had barricaded herself inside a room, said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.
At one point, the woman requested to speak with the superintendent, who arrived on the block about 8:30 p.m. He was briefed by the SWAT team and agreed to enter the home, Guglielmi said.
Johnson was able to persuade the woman to come out without harming herself or others, Guglielmi said. About 9:40 p.m. she exited the house and was taken to an area hospital for evaluation.
The woman was alone in the house, and nobody on the block was in danger, Guglielmi said. There were weapons in the home that have been secured by police.
The Hopi Tribe plans to file for an injunction in Coconino County Superior Court to prevent further snowmaking on the San Francisco Peaks with reclaimed wastewater and seek damages from the city of Flagstaff.
The action comes after Flagstaff City Council voted 5 to 2 Tuesday night to postpone indefinitely a decision on a possible settlement agreement with the tribe.
The agreement would have required the city to build a $1.6 million earthen filtration system and spend another $181,000 per year in maintenance and operations costs on the project. The filtration system would have been installed underground near Thorpe Park where a pump house pushes water from the citys reclaimed wastewater system uphill to Arizona Snowbowl.
Councilmembers Coral Evans and Scott Overton voted against the postponement. None of the six councilmembers or Mayor Jerry Nabours explained their vote during the meeting.
In a press release, Hopi Tribal officials said they were stunned by Councils complete inability to make a decision regarding a settlement that both the city attorney and city water utilities staff recommended.
Hopi Tribe Vice Chairman Alfred Lomahquahu said in the release that he was unimpressed with mayor and Councils lack of leadership on the issue.
Unfortunately, the City Council once again dodged and delayed a decision on an agreement that its staff and attorneys spent more than a year developing. Flagstaff is erratic and unreliable under its current administration. Parties doing business with the City Council should beware, he said.
City of Flagstaff spokesperson Kim Ott said The city does not have a comment at this time given the fact that this is pending litigation.
Councilmember Jeff Oravits said after the Tuesday night meeting that there was a small possibility that the settlement agreement might be brought up at a future Council meeting, but he doubted it.
Evans said she would have voted for the settlement if it had come to a vote. She predicted Councils decision to postpone would have a negative effect on the citys relationship with its Native American neighbors in future water discussions. The Hopi and Navajo tribes are consulting on jointly pursuing settlement of the Little Colorado River allocation and management dispute, which includes Flagstaff.
The city needs to look after the whole community, not just its contract to sell water to Snowbowl, Evans said. The city has other water supply concerns that can only be addressed with its neighbors. A damaged relationship with the Native American tribes could compromise those negotiations, she said.
Evans said she had not read the Hopi press release but was not surprised by the tribes proposed actions. If the lawsuit continues, no one will win in the end, she said. If the city loses, it may not only lose the contract with Arizona Snowbowl but its relationship with the Hopi and Navajo tribes. If the Hopi lose, then the relationship between the city and the tribe will be damaged.
This is the second time that Council has postponed a decision on the agreement. The first postponement came in March. The Hopi Council approved the agreement in February.
At its March meeting, several councilmembers had questions about why other tribes and Arizona Snowbowl were not included in the agreement, why the cost of the filtration system was not shared, how it would be funded and how the quality of the water coming out of the system would be measured.
Council has had several executive sessions between the March meeting and Tuesdays meeting on the agreement. It held another hourlong executive session Tuesday night before returning to its regular meeting with the decision to postpone. The details of those meeting are shielded by Arizona Open Meetings Laws protection of legal advice.
The proposed settlement agreement stems from a lawsuit the Hopi Tribe filed against the city in 2011 claiming that the citys contract to sell reclaimed water to Snowbowl was illegal, an infringement on the tribes water rights and a public nuisance. The first two claims were thrown out by the court but the Appeals Court allows the third claim to stand. The city and the Hopi have been litigating that third claim since. According to court documents, the case is currently on hold to allow the city and the Hopi to negotiate a settlement.
According to the Hopi Tribes press release, the legal case, which was put on hold to allow the two sides to discuss a possible settlement, will now continue.
TEHRAN, Iran Iran's state TV is reporting the country's president has harshly criticized a recent U.S. court ruling that allows the seizure of Iranian assets.
The Wednesday report on the state TV website quotes President Hassan Rouhani as calling the ruling a blatant theft and an example of enduring American hostility toward Iran.
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the families of victims of a 1983 bombing in Lebanon and other attacks linked to Iran can collect nearly $2 billion of frozen funds from Iran as compensation.
Addressing a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Rouhani added, "The move indicates Washington's continued hostility against the Iranian nation."
Associated Press
The likely reality of a November matchup between presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has sent many a would-be voter desperately seeking other options.
"Clinton and Trump are both more strongly disliked than any nominee at this point in the past 10 presidential cycles," observed FiveThirtyEight's Harry Enten. RealClearPolitics polling averages indicate that both Trump and Clinton have unfavorable ratings greater than 50 percent - a historic combination of negative public perception.
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Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said in a widely-circulated note: "There are dumpster fires in my town more popular than these two 'leaders'."
So what is a responsible citizen to do?
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Some have settled on not voting at all. Others have banked their hopes on the entry of a viable third-party candidate. Still others are dreaming of fleeing to less politically-tumultuous lands.
For one Richmond, Va., woman, the answer came from above.
"Faced with the prospect of voting for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, Mary Anne Noland of Richmond chose, instead, to pass into the eternal love of God on Sunday, May 15, 2016, at the age of 68," read an obituary in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Tuesday.
The brief tribute said no more about Noland's political leanings, going on to note that she graduated from the University of Virginia School of Nursing and was a "faithful child of God" who touched lives as a wife, mother, grandmother (to 10), daughter and sister.
Speaking to NBC12, the deceased woman's husband, Jim Noland, said one of their sons wrote the opening lines in jest.
It wasn't meant as a "parting shot" at either presidential candidate, Noland said, but rather a way to honor his wife's sense of humor.
Noland described Mary Anne as a "feisty, strong and compassionate" woman who worked as a wound-care nurse - a job that others may blanch at, but which Mary Anne enjoyed because she could develop relationships with her patients.
The Times-Dispatch said in a statement to CNN: "This isn't the first time a paid death notice has been used to send a personal message to the world."
Hillary Clinton filed financial documents Tuesday night showing that in 2015 she earned more than $5 million in royalties from her book "Hard Choices" and about $1.5 million in speaking fees before she launched her presidential campaign.
Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, continued his lucrative speaking tour through last November, reaping more than $5 million from banking, tech and other corporate interests.
Hillary Clinton released the candidate financial disclosure form she filed to the Federal Election Commission earlier this week. The 11-page document shows that most of her personal wealth is held in a Vanguard 500 Index Fund and a separate JP Morgan Custody Account, both valued at $5 million to $25 million.
Clinton's campaign released her disclosure publicly hours after Republican Donald Trump put out a statement describing his personal wealth at $10 billion. Clinton used the release to sting Trump for refusing to publicly release his tax returns, a theme she has repeated in recent days. Last year, Clinton released her own family tax returns covering 1977 to 2014.
"Despite Donald Trump's boasting, submitting his personal financial disclosure form is no breakthrough for transparency," Clinton campaign spokeswoman Christina Reynolds said. "The true test for Donald Trump is whether he will adhere to the precedent followed by every presidential candidate in the modern era and make his tax returns available, as Hillary Clinton has done."
Earlier in the day, Trump announced he had submitted his candidate financial disclosure form to the FEC. He said it showed "a tremendous cash flow" and growing revenues from his businesses. The form which will be publicly available after an initial review by the government should offer updated information about the value of his assets and the revenues produced by his businesses. According to Trump, over the last 17 months his businesses' revenues grew by $190 million, and he earned $557 million in income.
Clinton's speeches to Wall Street interests between 2013 and 2015 spurred questions about her own lack of transparency, leading to repeated calls from her Democratic rival, Bernie Sanders, for transcripts of her talks to banks, investment houses and other financial interests.
The five speeches disclosed in Clinton's latest documents include the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce paying her $150,000 for a talk in January 2015, following two other speeches in Canada that also were co-sponsored by the bank.
In all, Clinton made at least 94 appearances before corporate and other special interests between 2013 and 2015, earning more than $21.6 million for her services. A review of federal records, regulatory filings and correspondence by The AP showed that almost all the 82 corporations, trade associations and other groups that paid for or sponsored Clinton's speeches have actively sought to sway the government lobbying, bidding for contracts, commenting on federal policy and in some cases contacting State Department officials or Clinton herself during her tenure as secretary of state.
Bill Clinton listed a February 2015 appearance in Nashville for UBS Wealth Management Americas a Swiss international bank that Hillary Clinton also spoke to in July 2013. Among his other speech clients in 2015 were Apollo Management Holdings, L.P., an investment firm that his wife also spoke to; the tech firm Oracle Corporation and the National Association of Manufacturers, a trade and lobbying group.
Hillary Clinton's disclosure also shows that her husband made an undisclosed amount of money last year in consulting roles for two international interests the Dubai-based Varkey GEMS Foundation and Laureate Education Inc., a global for-profit education firm. Bill Clinton ended his relationship with Laureate last year after earning $16.5 million as the operation's honorary chancellor, according to previously-released Clinton tax records. Bill Clinton also has made more than $5.6 million in an honorary role for the GEMS foundation.
Bill Clinton used a limited liability company called WJC, LLC to handle his consulting fees, according to the disclosure filed by his wife. The disclosure does not detail the exact amount of consulting income Bill Clinton made because under federal reporting guidelines, any such spousal income over $1,000 is not required to be made public. Hillary Clinton also used a limited liability company, ZFS Holdings, LLC, to hold her speech and book earnings.
Hillary Clinton's 2015 disclosure showed the couple's total worth was estimated to be between about $11 million and $53 million, according to the broad ranges typically provided by the federal form. Her 2016 filing does not provide similar ranges, but the Clintons' 2015 earnings appear to be in line with those earlier figures.
Associated Press
In this Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Spokane, Wash. Trump is moving quickly to install political operatives in more than a dozen states, targeting Maine and Minnesota among others that traditionally favor Democrats, as the Republican White House contender lays the groundwork for an expanded electoral battlefield. (Ted S. Warren / AP)
Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump will ask donors to give as much as $449,400 to support his White House bid and down-ballot candidates through a new fundraising agreement with the Republican National Committee announced Tuesday night.
The Trump Victory Fund -- a joint committee between the Trump campaign, the RNC and 11 state parties -- will solicit larger checks than have ever been sought by presidential nominees through such ventures, thanks to legal changes made in 2014 that expanded the fundraising abilities of national parties. Trump follows Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, who set up a joint fundraising committee with the Democratic National Committee last year that can accept up to $356,100 annually per donor.
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The real estate mogul also plans to raise funds through the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, a joint fundraising committee set up just between his campaign and the RNC. Campaign officials did not immediately respond to questions about why they created two funds.
"We are pleased to have this partnership in place with the national party," Trump said in a statement. "By working together with the RNC to raise support for Republicans everywhere, we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, keep Republican majorities in Congress and in the states, and Make America Great Again."
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His embrace of fundraising marks a turnabout from Trump's posture throughout the primary contest, in which he maintained he was self-funding his bid. The billionaire developer has said in recent weeks that he will seek donations for the party, not his campaign, telling MSNBC earlier this month, "I really won't be asking for money for myself."
But some of the proceeds raised by the joint Trump-RNC committees will flow to his campaign, which can accept up to $5,400 per donor. The remaining funds will be routed into party coffers to finance national get-out-the-vote operations and bolster state and federal candidates.
The real estate mogul has said he's going to try to raise more than $1 billion in conjunction with the RNC, which would require the committees to pull in a staggering $250 million a month for the next five months. Veteran party fundraisers are skeptical of even hitting lower goals, noting the late start and the reluctance of many longtime party bundlers to participate in the effort. The apprehension about Trump in some circles is so acute that some fundraisers have offered to quietly send over a list of the donors they know, but do not want to be assigned a bundler number to get credit for collecting checks.
Republican officials hope to supercharge the fundraising by tapping current RNC finance chairman Lew Eisenberg, a well-connected fundraising veteran with a national network, to head the victory fund. Eisenberg will work in conjunction with Steven Mnuchin, the hedge fund manager recently tapped as the Trump campaign's national finance chairman.
"Lew Eisenberg is going to do an outstanding job leading this effort," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement. "Lew has already helped the RNC raise a record $135 million in support this cycle, and I have every confidence his track record of success will continue in this new role."
Trump has expressed willingness to participate in as many as 50 finance events that the campaign and party are now scrambling to book. His first official campaign fundraiser is set to take place in Los Angeles on May 25, hosted by investor Thomas Barrack Jr., who did real estate business with Trump in the 1980s.
Creating a joint fundraising committee with the national party is one of the most lucrative ways for a presidential candidate to raise big donations for the fall general election battle. In 2012, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney raised nearly $500 million through a joint fundraising agreement with the three national Republican party committees and four state parties, an effort that began in early April 2012. Because of all the committees involved, an individual donor could give nearly $135,000. By the end of June 2012, Romney Victory Fund had already scooped up $140 million.
Now, such joint fundraising efforts can solicit even larger amounts, thanks to the Supreme Court's 2014 decision in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission. That did away with an aggregate cap on how much individual donors can give to federal campaigns, parties and PACs in one year, allowing candidates and parties to form jumbo joint fundraising committees. In addition, a measure tucked into a 2014 appropriations bill gave national parties the ability to collect separate checks for new convention, legal and building accounts.
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Watchdog groups warned that the expanded fundraising committees and new accounts would lead to a return of the soft money days, when parties were able to take large, unregulated contributions.
Already, Clinton and the DNC have aggressively sought to make the most of the new rules. The Hillary Victory Fund signed on 32 state committees as participants, though much of the money donated for the state parties has passed through them and onto the DNC. Separately, the party set up high-tiered convention packages for wealthy contributors. The top level, Rittenhouse Square, allows an individual to give $467,600 for the cycle in support of the July conclave in Philadelphia, which includes $200,400 to the DNC's new building fund.
Together, the two joint fundraising committees would allow a rich Democratic supporter who wanted to give the maximum to donate more than $1.1 million to Clinton and the party this cycle.
So he might be excused if, four years later, he were tempted to gaze upon the results of this experiment and say, "I told you so." In fact, Hickenlooper has done just the opposite. "It's beginning to look like it might work," he said recently.
Providing exceptional care to our patients is at the heart of each provider at NAH. I want to reassure you that all we do is focused on you, our patient, and that high-quality, accessible and coordinated cardiac care will continue to be compassionately provided to everyone who seeks our services. As reported in the Arizona Daily Sun, this transition is a win-win. As with any transition, change can cause some confusion. I personally apologize for any confusion we have provided to you, our patients.
Many months ago, the NAH Board of Directors determined that it was our responsibility to develop a destination cardiology program to serve all of the communities throughout Northern Arizona. A destination program is a special place where patients seek services because of the high-quality, compassionate care they receive. It is also a special place because regional providers consistently refer to this facility and the doctors they trust to provide high-quality, cutting edge care. Our recent transition in forming a partnership to provide cardiology services at FMC in partnership with Mountain Heart was just one of the steps we are taking to become that special place for all of our patients throughout Northern Arizona.
The partnership with Mountain Heart combines the talents and expertise of cardiologists formerly with the Heart and Vascular Center of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff Drs. Eric Cohen, Omar Wani and Andrew Atiemo with the talent and expertise of Dr. Kent Winkler and Dr. Robert Wolyn , from Mountain Heart. All of the participating physicians have embraced the principles of accountability for top decile outcomes, collaboration to standardize care, and transparency to continually improve, which will be enhanced with our cardiologists aligned in one practice.
Together, these highly skilled physicians will enhance our cardiology program; two of those initiatives began May 2. First, we have a cardiologist located in the hospital whose primary objective is providing timely cardiology services to patients in the Emergency Department, in the hospital, or awaiting a test result prior to surgery. Dr. Winkler said of his first week, I was able to provide more timely care than ever before to the patients who required cardiovascular services at FMC. In many cases, I was able to decrease the amount of time patients had to stay in the hospital, for those requiring hospitalization or surgeries. And, for some emergency room patients, we were able to avoid hospitalization by arranging appropriate outpatient testing and follow-up at Mountain Heart.
We can also consistently meet the needs of many rural communities throughout Northern Arizona by sending cardiologists to these communities to care for patients that would otherwise not have convenient access to a cardiologist. This partnership will continue to enhance our cardiology program by providing high-quality, accessible care at an affordable cost to all.
We will continue to update you on the enhancements to our cardiology program in the coming months. I thank each of you for your patience as we make these changes and for the trust you place in us as you use our healthcare services. Living up to your trust is at the heart of what we do every day!
Kathleen Mondie and Amir Malik, both 19, stretch out on a skimpy section of the 12th Street beach May 16, 2016, on Northerly Island. Mondie said she remembers family barbecues on stretches of beaches that are now covered by higher Lake Michigan water levels this year. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
"Lakes Michigan and Huron hit all-time record low water levels; no end to low-water trend in sight."
Michigan news website MLive.com, Feb. 5, 2013
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"Glub, glub, glub."
Chicago Tribune Editorial Board, today
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No end to low water levels in sight, eh?
OK, we gotta admit, Lake Michigan had us going there for a while. We read those frantic news stories about the swift-sinking lake levels a few years ago and started feeling ... thirsty. We fretted, along with millions of others who huddle close to the lake's shore, as new beachfront property appeared at the water's edge and drought-crazed outlanders clamored for a giant pipeline to tap our 1.3 quadrillion gallons of fresh water.
Some Chicagoans had a sinking feeling: Would Lake Michigan drain to a puddle of its former self, leaving us all with barely enough water to take a decent shower?
Ha, ha! Pranked by Lake Michigan.
Since that record low of 576 feet above sea level in 2013, the lake has vertically surged an amazing 4 feet, to nearly 580 feet above sea level. It's now less than a yardstick shy of the record high, 582.3 feet above sea level, set in 1986.
Who said a lake couldn't have a sense of whimsy?
Scientists have their theories about why the lake is rising, just as they had their theories when it was falling. Our theory: The lake is a 20,000-year-old mischief-maker that delights in keeping us guessing about what it will do next.
What did we do when the lake sank to record lows? We worried.
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How would fishermen cope? Would commercial tankers run aground in shallow waters? Should states begin emergency dredging to keep shipping afloat? Would low lake levels help spread invasive plant species that push out native plants, animals and fish?
Now that lake levels are high, what do we do?
We worry.
Beaches are shrinking. Will shoreline homes and buildings slide into the lake? Should we truck in sand and rocks to bolster the shoreline? If water levels rise too high, could spawning grounds for native fish be spoiled?
Yes, our lake has an impish side. It's a prankster that plays peek-a-boo, splashing unsuspecting motorists on Lake Shore Drive during a seiche (pronounced saysh), a huge storm-driven surge of water.
But it also has a mean streak, whipping a light winter breeze into an icy gale and sending it blustering through Chicago's canyons with enough force to scatter the weak-willed to Florida.
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It tempts swimmers and sailors with placid waters but then abruptly turns treacherous. Its beaches can teem with dangerous bacteria.
Mary-Therese Heintzkill, of Chicago, plays with her dog "Jett" at the Evanston Dog Beach on May 12, 2016. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune) (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)
Yes, we are concerned about the lake's long-term vitality. We are disturbed by invasive species dozens of organisms not native to the Great Lakes that have arrived in freighter tank ballast over the decades. We can't shake the image of mussels piling atop each other, "like a gnarly endless plate of coral" on the lake's bottom, as a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter wrote several years back.
We fret about what happens if the latest interlopers, Asian carp, settle in and tilt the balance of power in the lake.
But do those ever-changing water levels bother us? Not really.
One expert on the lake's fluctuations, John Callewaert of the University of Michigan's Graham Sustainability Institute, tells us the regular rise and fall "can be a good thing, from an ecosystem perspective." A dynamic system tends to thrive.
So the lake swells and recedes. It plays a very long game. It plots its next moves on a scale of millennia, not decades. It gives all of us a regular poke in the ribs to remind us that it has a mind of its own. For those of us who dwell on its edge, Lake Michigan is, and always will be, unfathomable.
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Hana Berger Moran (left), who was born in a concentration camp during World War II, visits the Aurora Historical Society exhibit on Aurora's Jewish heritage. Moran is joined by Judy Jacobson of Aurora (center) and guest curator of the exhibit Marilyn Katz of Aurora. (Aurora Historical Society / Handout)
An Aurora Historical Society exhibit illustrating 150 years of Jewish history in Aurora has been extended until July 2.
The exhibit is on display at the Pierce Art and History Center in downtown Aurora.
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"We have had such a wonderful response to this exhibit and visitors have asked for more time so they could bring in relatives from out of town and grandchildren visiting over the summer," said guest curator Marilyn Katz.
The first Jewish settlers arrived in Aurora from Germany and Bavaria in the 1850s, according to officials from the Historical Society. Prominent early residents included Samuel Alschuler, a federal judge in the early 1900s.
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Aurora's first Jewish temple, with stained glass windows by Chicago artist Todos Geller, was founded in 1915.
Exhibit hours are noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday. Admission is free, although donations are appreciated.
The Pierce Center is at 20 E. Downer Place. For more information, call 630-906-0650, go to www.aurorahistory.net or see on Facebook at aurorahistory.
Rich South Band Director Stephanie Cheers tells the Rich Township School District Board of Education Tuesday that she opposes the board's decision to eliminate the band program because it helps students stay out of gangs, achieve academically and get scholarships to college. (Erin Gallagher / Daily Southtown)
Standing with a group of about 35 students, Rich South High School sophomore Andre Hall took his turn at the podium to oppose the elimination of the band program there starting next school year.
"I am upset," he told the Rich Township School District 227 Board of Education Tuesday. "As a young man, I've had it hard. I've fought many battles. I'm only 16 years old."
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Hall's cousin said she legally adopted him after his mother abandoned him at the age of 12. As he spoke about the "love" and "family" that he found in band, many of the adults sitting in the packed boardroom were noticeably moved.
"I couldn't find it anywhere else," Hall said. "I found it here."
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Hall, along with many of his friends, told the school board how their decision to cut the band program next year at both Rich South and Rich East was, in essence, cutting their lifelines.
"This program shaped me into the person I am today," said Martin Smith, a college student who came back to speak at the meeting. "Band kept me on track."
Cindy Pruitt, a junior, said that before band, she was not very social, wouldn't ask questions and easily gave up in class. Band turned that around for her.
Martin Smith, a graduate of Rich South High School, stands at the podium along with about 35 other students, and tells the Rich Township School District Board of Education Tuesday that they oppose the board's decision to eliminate the band program. Smith said, "With the help of band, I got a full-tuition scholarship" to college. (Erin Gallagher / Daily Southtown)
Another girl said she would fight teachers and got angry quickly. After she joined band, which is taught by Stephanie Cheers at Rich South, that changed.
"When I go to Miss Cheers and I get angry, she talks to me," the girl said. "I need Miss Cheers."
Cheers said her contract was not renewed due to the district eliminating band at Rich South and Rich East. Instead, a math teacher will offer a percussion-only class.
"Miss Cheers, I don't know you, I've never had a conversation with you, but you must be some kind of special," board member Delores Woods said.
When Cheers spoke to the board, she talked about the band's accomplishments, accolades and national rankings. She also talked about the students.
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"I have students who, before joining band, were members of gangs and doing poorly academically," Cheers said. "However, since joining band, they have become model students willfully surrendered to the path of good; giving up gang life and currently earning GPAs of 4.0."
Several students, like sophomore Destiny Patterson, said that cutting band meant cutting their chance for college because band scholarships were the only way they could afford to go. Cheers said that in the past 10 years she has been involved with band, students earned $15.6 million in scholarship aid. Martin Smith said he earned a full tuition scholarship to attend college.
Reginald Suggs was among the many parents who spoke, sharing firsthand experiences with how band helped both himself and his son, threatening to leave the district if the board did not reinstate the band program.
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"If this band program is gone, then basically so am I, and so is my kid," he said. "I know there's funding issues. Find funding."
All these public comments came after nearly 90 minutes of typical board business that included confusion and infighting among the members. The divisive board did not go unnoticed by people in attendance, who frequently jeered and cheered.
"I ask that the board, how about you come together as a team and fix the problem," said Antoine Richards, who now serves in the military because, he said, he learned "respect and structure" while in the district's band program.
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Board Member Betty Owens said that the nearby charter school is draining the district of needed funding, and the band program did not have enough students to justify it. Several band students countered, saying they recruited 60 students who district officials confirmed would be in band if they had the option.
"You want the numbers?" Patterson said, referring to the recruitment. "I gave you the numbers. Now where's my results?"
At the end of the meeting, the board directed the district administration to suggest a plan that would allow the band program to continue next year. However, the issue was not placed on the agenda of any future meetings for further consideration.
Erin Gallagher is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
Kevin Suggs, Bremen Township's Republican committeeman, has been named to fill a vacancy on the Tinley Park Board of Trustees, becoming the first black resident to serve on the Village Board.
His appointment to the board comes as the village faces a federal lawsuit by the developer of a controversial apartment building, The Reserve. In the complaint, Buckeye Community Hope Foundation alleges, among other things, that opposition to the project stems from long-running racial biases in the predominantly white community.
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In a court filing Tuesday, the village said it will file a response to the lawsuit by the end of this month.
Sworn in at the end of Tuesday's Village Board meeting, Suggs takes over the trustee job vacated by Bernie Brady, who quit in late March, less than a year after being named trustee to fill the void on the board created when Dave Seaman was elevated to the position of mayor.
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Suggs, 46, had been one of a number of people who had applied to fill the vacancy created last summer when Seaman vacated his trustee seat after being named mayor to fill out the remainder of Ed Zabrocki's term. Suggs will be up for election to a full four-year term next spring.
Suggs downplayed the significance of race in his appointment to the board noting, "There are opportunities for everyone to be involved" in shaping Tinley Park's future.
Seaman said Tinley Park is a "diverse community" with a "growing population of Middle Eastern and African-American" residents, and that village government needs to better reflect that.
"It's time to make sure we're as inclusive as we can be," he said.
Suggs was named GOP committeeman in July 2013, replacing Pat Rea, who is Tinley Park's village clerk. Suggs has served on the village's Economic and Commercial Commission since 2011. The volunteer panel advises village officials on areas including economic development, business retention and marketing.
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In 2011, he made an unsuccessful run for a school board seat in Bremen Community High School District 228.
A resident of Tinley Park since 1997, Suggs is a technical sales representative for Archway Sales, a St. Louis-based distributor of specialty chemicals. He received his bachelor's of science degree in pre-medicine in 1991 from the University of Notre Dame.
Last year, 19 people, including Brady, submitted resumes expressing interest in the trustee position, and Seaman said he considered a replacement for Brady from the 18 remaining applicants, narrowing that to "two or three (candidates) that I would have been comfortable with."
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Suggs said that he planned to meet with board members to get up to speed on village issues, and insisted he will be an independent voice on the board yet work with all trustees to "find common ground."
"I'm not sided on either side of the board," he said. "We all have the same passion to continue to have Tinley be a great place to live."
With his business background prior to Archway he worked for companies such as specialty chemicals manufacturer Rohm & Haas, now a unit of Dow Chemical and experience on the ECC, Suggs said one of his priorities is to continue to focus on economic development in the village, and to "bring in the right businesses" and "develop the right pieces of land."
mnolan@tribpub.com
Church must recognize women as equals
Today's news that the pope said there is some thought being given by him to making women deacons is nothing more than political posturing to seemingly appease women's rights advocates. Even the Vatican spokesmen said there was nothing in the wings to suggest that the pope would consider women for such a role in the Catholic church.
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The reasons are obvious. While churches and their schools are closing in record numbers due to loss of congregants, the high costs of a private education and an increasingly secular society, the pope knows that if he authorized women in the diaconate that it would create a literal war between the men and women for the dwindling number of jobs currently available. Further, to say that there is some uncertainty about how women functioned as deacons in and close to the time of Jesus is a ridiculous statement and pursuit. Times have changed dramatically and so has the church. It went from the old traditions of the Latin Mass along with numerous other changes since Vatican II in the 1960s. Nothing stopped the church from making those radical changes which caused many to leave as a consequence.(For every individual who joins the church, six people leave.)
The Catholic church is, and always will be, a men's club, and the women who serve in positions below the priesthood will always be secretly regarded as servants. The practice of women doing the mundane tasks and functions from cleaning the sacristies and the churches proper to serving in the ministries, all without pay as volunteers while the men do get paid for their larger services is not about to change any time soon.
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The real tragedy and truth of the matter regarding the current problems in the church have to do directly with this discrepancy between how women and men are treated. If the church really wanted to follow in the traditions of their beginnings as during Jesus' time, they would let women be deacons and priestesses in the vein of Mary Magdalene, for example. Further, if they follow what Jesus said, priests would be allowed to live normal lives by marrying and having children, which satisfies and centers them as full human beings. The rock of the church, St. Peter, for example, was married and Jesus cured his mother-in-law of an illness. Perhaps the priests would not illicitly pursue young children or other men sexually if they were allowed to marry in compliance with the way God made man and woman to complement each other, as stated in the Bible.
Women are sick and tired of being regarded as second-class citizens in the church, and I can see the further demise of the church unless they are given their full due of respect and authority.
Marie E. Roman, Tinley Park
What's on your mind?
The Daily Southtown welcomes letters to the editor. Email them to letters@southtownstar.com and include your name, address and phone number. Only your name and the town you reside in will appear with the letter. Please keep a letter to no more than about 200 words. The Southtown is not responsible for the accuracy of the opinions expressed in letters to the editor.
Frankfort seeks a buyer for an 1890 village-owned home at 11 N. White St. The selling price is only $18.90, but the buyer will have to move the structure. (Ted Slowik / Daily Southtown)
Residents of Frankfort's downtown historic district deserve credit for pushing discussion about how teardowns will affect the future character and affordability of homes in their neighborhood.
I think residents are taking an excellent approach by engaging in dialogue with village officials and builders about preserving the character of their neighborhood. How residents are dealing with conflict is a model of how citizens should engage in governance in a respectful and civil manner.
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The stakes are fairly high. A home is the single greatest investment for most folks. Changes in one's neighborhood could threaten the quality of life and the pursuit of happiness of the people who live there.
Teardowns are inevitable in old communities like Frankfort, which was incorporated in 1879 and established in 1855 when the Joliet & Northern Indiana Railroad went through the area. Downtown Frankfort oozes charm with historic 19th-century structures like The Trolley Barn and The Grainery towering over the quaint Breidert Green in the center of town.
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The village square features an old train station that serves as a stage for events like the Concerts on the Green presented this summer for the 29th year by the Frankfort Chamber of Commerce and the sixth-annual Frankfort Bluegrass Festival to be held July 9-10.
There are about 300 homes in the informally designated historic district, many of them located on streets named after trees: Ash, Oak, Hickory, Walnut and Maple. The exteriors appear well-maintained and are wonderful examples of prairie and Victorian architectural styles.
But even well-kept homes can wear out as decades pass. Plumbing, electrical and heating systems eventually have to be updated. Roofs must be replaced, and floors often get soft. Sometimes it just doesn't make sense to repair or remodel an old home, and the wiser choice is to replace it.
This is happening with gradually increasing frequency in Frankfort. About a dozen homes have been torn down and replaced with new ones in recent years. Neighbors are understandably concerned about whether the new houses blend in with existing homes and maintain the community's charm.
At the risk of bad-mouthing other communities where the transition from old to new has been less than seamless, Frankfort residents want to avoid the phenomenon of "McMansions" that have detracted from the original character of historic neighborhoods in places like Hinsdale and Naperville.
So far, people in Frankfort have done a good job expressing their concerns. But Mark Adams, president of the Old Frankfort Homeowners Association, says residents want to have more of a say in the process.
"I think we do have the village's ear," Adams told me. "If we allow builders to come in and tear down homes and build whatever, then we're losing all the characteristics that make Downtown Frankfort special."
I like how Frankfort residents collectively demonstrate that people can resolve conflicts in a professional manner. There's no name-calling or personal attacks on village officials or builders. There's good communication and moments of compromise.
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Not everybody gets everything they want out of the process, but in the end there's progress instead of gridlock. Sadly, it seems the good working relationship in Frankfort is now the exception rather than the norm. At the federal and state levels and in many local instances, angry confrontations and political stubbornness seem to trump civil discourse.
"Residents want to have an impact," Adams said. The size and architectural style of homes that replace teardowns is largely unregulated, but residents did manage to persuade a builder to voluntarily turn a three-car garage sideways so it wasn't facing the street, he said.
The next step in the process involves surveying residents to determine what teardown guidelines are most important to people, Adams said. Activism by residents could lead to the village adopting regulations affecting teardowns at some point.
In some cases, Frankfort can't even give away historic homes. More than a year ago, the village acquired several properties on the northeast edge of downtown, near Indian Boundary Park and an access point to the Old Plank Road Trail, a popular destination for bicyclists, runners and walkers.
The individual lots were too small for commercial redevelopment on their own, but combined they have the potential to add businesses downtown, said Jeff Cook, Frankfort's development services director.
Several residential structures have been razed, but one historic home dating back to 1890 remains at 11 N. White St. The village is still trying to sell the home for the novelty price of $18.90, but the new owner would have to move it.
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"Members of the community felt the home had historic value, and the (Village) Board said, 'Why tear it down if there's no immediate necessity to do so?'" Cook said.
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There have been some inquiries, but no takers. Potential buyers face the expenses of buying a lot nearby, building a new foundation, moving the 1,300-square-foot structure and likely building an addition.
"You quickly start spending a lot of money," Cook said. "We've had several inquiries, but nobody's moved forward. Maybe the right person is still out there."
It would be great to see the historic home saved from the wrecking ball, but the economics of the venture leave me thinking potential buyers will end up deciding to build a new home from scratch.
As structural pieces of Frankfort's past slip away, Adams expects the numbers of teardowns to ramp up. Just to the south and east of the village's quaint downtown are vast expanses of open farmland, yet the town is a convenient 30-minute commute from Downtown Chicago.
"It's coming," Adams said of demand for redevelopment. "There's an active group of people who are passionate about the downtown. This is a concern that's not going away."
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tslowik@tribpub.com
Twitter @tedslowik
Tony Levy and Lenice Levy say they expressed interest in moving their restaurant Good to Go over a year ago to the Evanston side of Howard Street. (Bob Seidenberg / Pioneer Press)
When the city raised the possibility of making the former police outpost at 633 Howard Street available for a lease to own arrangement, Lenice Levy and her husband Tony Levy, co-owners of Good to Go, a Jamaican restaurant on the Chicago side of the street, quickly made known their interest.
The Levys, longtime Evanston residents, had been operating their restaurant for 14 years. In recent years, Good to Go, has experienced a growth spurt, they say.
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"The outpost was an ideal location for us because it would allow us to continue our growth trend," said Lenice Levy.
"And it's not like we'd have to grow a new customer base," she added, speaking Monday, standing in front of Good to Go, with the outpost in clear view across the street.
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Levy said she and her husband had been in contact with the city for more than a year about their interest in the property, especially the option to purchase it. The couple was pre-qualified for a Small Business Administration loan through Wintrust Bank, Lenice Levy said.
The proposal looked all set until two days before the April 27 Economic Development Committee, she said, when she received an email from a city staff member, informing her that the city had decided to use the outpost as a temporary lease for the Strawdog Theatre Company, currently located in Chicago.
City staff, with strong backing from, Ald. Ann Rainey, 8th, is supporting leasing the space available as a temporary quarters for the Strawdog Theatre. The theatre, which the city has been working with since mid-2015, would use the outpost as a temporary site until a permanent theater on city owned lots is ready, staff said in a report.
Strawdog is being forced out of Chicago's Uptown neighborhood where it has been located for nearly 30 years, due to redevelopment of the property, officials said in a memo.
As a temporary location for performances, the company is leasing space at Factory Theatre on the Chicago side of Howard Street, officials said.
"(Strawdog) cannot rehearse, they cannot do stagecraft, they cannot have their offices there," Rainey said of the temporary home for the theatre, speaking at a recent Economic Development Committee meeting.
The city explored other sites to house Strawdog temporarily, including the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, Rainey said.
However, at that space, Strawdog would be located in the basement, forcing company members to lug their stuff up and down stairs, she said.
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She said the outpost would serve as a "perfect answer," locating the theater on the street just down from where a building is being built for them.
A theater stands at the "center of a changing Howard Street," Rainey said. The alderman has been a prime force behind the city's acquisition of sites on the street and then leasing them out for commercial uses.
Rainey also said she didn't want "to be part of poaching a Rogers Park restaurant. Good to Go makes Howard Street a great place to be."
Aldermen are expected to discuss and likely vote on whether to grant an 18-month lease to Strawdog at their City Council meeting set for next Monday at the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center.
Speaking at the May 9 City Council meeting, Lenice Levy said she "felt very disrespected," by Rainey's remarks.
"The very theater she is trying to bring on Howard Street is from Chicago," she said.
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She and her husband, both active in charitable work in Evanston, pointed to three city properties farther west on Howard which they say could serve as temporary sites for Strawdog.
"We're just asking for the opportunity," she said. "All we want to do is grow the business. We've been renting for 14 years. We were interested in that space because of the potential to own as well."'
"This is not about the restaurant moving across the street," Rainey said, responding to Levy. "This is about a place for Strawdog for an interim period. Their building is being demolished after they've been there for 28 years. They have located a performance space ... but they haven't secured decent storage and rehearsal and office space which they need."
"This is an urgent need for the theatre and they have to start moving out immediately from their current location," she added.
She argued there is no "advantage to the Howard Street TIF or to Howard Street in general or to the other businesses on Howard Street for a business to vacate two storefronts across the street and move to the other side. It just makes no sense. It doesn't add anything to the street and it diminishes the Chicago side."
bseidenberg@pioneerlocal.com
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Twitter @evanstonscribe
On the completely unproven theory that we all could be Robert Brasky if we wished to be Robert Brasky, it only makes sense that we contribute totally obvious advice to guide you.
Before Brasky pleaded guilty last week to setting multiple fires near the Goodwill store in Algonquin protesting fashion insanity? he got paid $65,588 a year by the Illinois Department of Transportation to give advice about traffic safety and how to install child-safety seats in your car.
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He was a hometown cop in Lake Zurich for much of his career. He focused on offering professional advice there, too.
Brasky was sort of the professional Dear Abby for Seatbelt Safety. Probably did some good, but it's all a question of scale. There are teens making $7.15 an hour at Kids R Us who will supply the same installation instructions, but they are not state employees and, as far as we know, do not set fires for a hobby.
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Or you could just visit YouTube on the internet, and watch a safety-seat video.
Some careers depend on the theory that most customers are too lazy to do any task for themselves, and will pay others to do it.
Organizational delegation in business looks a lot like laziness in real life.
So you will be ignorantly indifferent to life's dangers unless you as a taxpayer pay someone to inform you. And stop you.
If anything is clear about Brasky's unmasked amateur career as a firebug, it's how society disconnects what nannies earn from the provable value of the job.
So as much as I am interested generally in why a 59-year-old lifelong cop would be a fire starter, I'm more interested in the self-lubricated, perpetual motion machine that pays him $65,588 of our money to tell us all to be careful.
Let me test the job requirements with a brief demonstration.
"Hey, you over there! Be careful! What you're doing is dangerous! And put down that BB gun! You could put an eye out. Quit it!"
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Hmm. Based on this test, I seem to be qualified.
You must compile a list of all activities that are dangerous to humans, and then tell nimrods to stop doing those things. Without being told by an expert what every maroon knows, how can you avoid the dangerous conduct?
How can I get this job, now that Brasky has been sent to the probationary showers?
Brasky's expertise does not seem more profound than my great-aunt, who irritated everyone in my family for 80 years before she bought the farm.
She never offered advice that could materially improve your life, like should I buy this MacIntosh Apple common stock for $10 a share?
Her advice sounded very much like what we paid Brasky to do. My great aunt did his job for free.
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Pronouncements from her as well as Brasky fell into predictable categories.
1: You know that thing you do that makes your feet swell up and hurt? Don't do that thing any more.
2: Don't drink and drive, but if you do, tell me where you're going, so I can avoid that town.
3: When deer are lust-driven, they turn crazy. Be careful driving on dark roads because lust-infused deer will jump from the brush and crash into your car. By giving this free advice, I have wiped out 83 jobs in the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
4: Don't stick your fingers in the electrical outlet. Or any other part of your body, either.
5: Look both ways before crossing the street. And wash your hands after going to the bathroom.
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How long Brasky was setting fires or what life tragedy turned his mind goofy no one knows for sure. At the time of his arrest, Algonquin police said there had been many unsolved small fires in recent years.
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In some cases, police said, Brasky had been walking his dog nearby and had talked to police about the fires.
Don't go dog-walking, and chat up arson investigating cops at too many fire scenes. More good advice.
Every time I become concerned by new warnings that Illinois has no functional government budget, that seems like a bad thing.
So you want that fixed. "Hey, Springfield! Fix that, would you?" (It's me practicing my advice voice).
But then Brasky pops up, and you wonder if 65.58 percent of all state taxes pay for nincompoopishness like this.
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He could have gotten prison, but they reduced the punishment to one felony, probation, a fine and insistent orders for Pete's sake to stay away from Goodwill stores.
David.Rutter@live.com
The cost of lunch will go up 10 cents starting this fall at all elementary, junior high and high schools in Naperville School District 203.
Lunch at the elementary level will rise from $2.50 to $2.60, junior high level from $2.55 to $2.65 and high school from $2.60 to $2.70. The price of a carton of milk will remain 45 cents.
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Chief Financial Officer Brad Cauffman said the increase is necessary to comply with the Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which requires schools to ensure sufficient funds are available in the food service account to cover the costs of paid student lunches.
Each year the state sets the weighted average price requirement for paid lunches, which is the difference between federal reimbursement provided for free lunches ($3.13) and the federal reimbursement provided for paid lunches (35 cents). For 2015-16 school year, the price is $2.78.
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If the price of paid lunch is less than the weighted price, the federal act allows schools to adjust their lunch prices or provide additional non-federal funds to the food service account.
Because the U.S. Department of Agriculture cannot require a school to increase lunch prices by more than 10 cents per meal, District 203 is raising its prices by 10 cents.
The last time neighboring Indian Prairie School District 204 raised its lunch prices to meet federal guidelines was in August 2015, prior to the 2015-16 school year. Elementary students paid $2.55 for lunch and middle and high school students paid $2.60. Milk was 40 cents a carton.
In Wheaton-Warrenville District 200 to the north, this past year students paid $2.55 across the board for lunch and 50 cents for milk.
subaker@tribpub.com
Twitter @SBakerSun1
Colin McCloy from Taxman Brewing Co. of Bargersville was one of the many craft breweries at the seventh annual Crown Beer Fest Saturday at the Lake County Fairgrounds. (Joe Puchek / Post-Tribune)
Father and daughter Chris and Jessica Modglin of Crown Point stood talking and laughing as they sampled beer inside the Industrial Arts Building at the Lake County Fairgrounds.
It is the third or fourth time they say they have come to Crown Beer Fest since Jessica turned 21 and the two could enjoy a beer together.
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"It's kind of the thing we do," Jessica, now 25, said. She and her father enjoy going to the different breweries in the area and seeing what each has to offer. "We like trying the new stuff."
The father-daughter drinking duo said they enjoy the time spent together sharing a common interest.
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Chris Modglin, 50, said they look forward to continuing their shared hobby and said craft beers have permanently changed how they look at beer.
"You just can't go back to the regular stuff," Chris Modglin said.
The Modglins are not alone in their passion for craft beer. More than 3,000 people were expected to make their way through the seventh annual Crown Beer Fest Saturday at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Crown Point.
Lines formed at tables for breweries like Four Fathers, Two Brothers and Pierogi Square as enthusiasts waited for a sample pour of one of more than 200 different brews.
David Bryan, owner of Crown Brewing and the event's founder, said the event featured 52 different breweries and 11 food vendors.
"It's sort of a celebration of Craft Brew Week," Bryan said.
Crown Brewing was the 15th craft brewery in the state when it opened in 2008, he said. Today there are more than 100. Brewers from throughout Indiana and the surrounding states make their way to the festival.
This year the festival had breweries in the Industrial Arts and 4-H buildings, with registration in a third building. Bryan said he expects the event will expand to three buildings in 2017.
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Colin McCloy with Taxman Brewing Co. of Bargersville, said it was the brewery's first trip to Beer Fest. He had heard about the size of the event but was still surprised by the crowds.
"We came prepared," he said.
"It's been a blast," he said.
The South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority in collaboration with 18 region breweries in Northwest Indiana used the event as an opportunity to unveil the 100th installment in the South Shore Poster Series. Artist Mitch Markovitz was on hand for the unveiling along with the model for the poster Brittany Kaye of Griffith.
"The Northwest Indiana Breweries have been working on projects for a number of years," Kaitlyn Hendricks, with Three Floyds Brewery and a board member with the Brewers of Indiana Guild.
She said the South Shore Beer Trail app was the first project and this South Shore poster was the next.
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"It's really a testament to the collaboration we have been doing over the years," Hendricks said.
Speros Batistatos, president and CEO of the South Shore CVA, said the strong partnerships with the region breweries, Markovitz and the committee members helped this project come together quickly. The tourism authority took over management of the South Shore poster series earlier this year.
"This is a milestone, and we are excited to share it with the breweries, residents and visitors to the South Shore," Batistatos said.
Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
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A Chinese semiconductor company complained that Qualcomm, which produces communication technology and semiconductors, used exactly the same Chinese characters for "Gaotong" as its trademark in advertising after entering the Chinese market. [File photo]
A Chinese semiconductor company is seeking 100 million yuan in compensation from U.S.-based Qualcomm Incorporated and another two Chinese companies for trademark infringement.
A court in Shanghai held a hearing on Tuesday, but did not give a judgement in court.
According to the legal complaint submitted by the plaintiff, the "Gaotong" trademark in Chinese characters was registered in 1992, the year the semiconductor company was established.
The company complained that Qualcomm, which produces communication technology and semiconductors, used exactly the same Chinese characters for "Gaotong" as its trademark in advertising after entering the Chinese market.
ICBC Standard Bank, a subsidiary of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd, has agreed to buy Barclays PLC's precious metals vault storage business in London.
Upon completion of the acquisition, ICBC, China's largest commercial lender by assets, will become the first Chinese bank to have a vault in London, which is one of the largest precious metals vaults in Europe, the bank announced on Monday evening. The vault can store 2,000 tons of gold and other precious metals such as silver, platinum and palladium.
By owning a precious metals vault, ICBC Standard Bank will be capable of providing a precious metals clearing service. It will offer customized services including supply and inspection of precious metals, according to ICBC.
"This enables us to better execute our strategy to become one of the largest Chinese banks in the precious metals market," said Mark Buncombe, head of commodities at ICBC Standard Bank, in a statement. "The acquisition of a precious metals vault allows us to expand our services in clearing and processing," he added.
ICBC will gain the ability to provide one-stop precious metals services across the entire process, which includes clearing, market making, pricing fixing, vaulting and risk management. The bank will be able to carry out both retail and wholesale business on precious metals, whether they are paper or physical.
Earlier in May, ICBC Standard Bank was approved to join a precious metals clearing system operated by London Precious Metals Clearing Ltd, becoming the first Chinese bank to provide clearing services for London's precious metals market.
ICBC is the first banking group to be admitted to London Precious Metals Clearing Ltd since 2005, joining the other five membersBarclays, HSBC Holdings PLC, JPMorgan Chase & Co, the Bank of Nova Scotia and UBS AG.
"The admission will give China a louder voice and improve its status in the international precious metals market," the bank said in a statement.
Apart from the clearing service, ICBC Standard Bank will have the opportunity to play an important role in providing precious metals commodity leasing and financing intermediary services, according to analysts.
Since the start of its precious metals business in 2009, to the end of March, ICBC has recorded nearly 730,000 tons of total metals trading volumes with the value of transactions exceeding 7 trillion yuan ($1.07 trillion).
The bank has built a global investment management platform for precious metals and commodities while steadily pushing forward its business in core international financial markets. It was approved access to the gold price mechanism of London Bullion Market Association as a gold fixing pricer in April.
Barclays, meanwhile, has decided to exit the precious metals business in the wake of US and European Union regulators examining whether at least 10 banks, including Barclays, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Deutsche Bank AG, manipulated the prices of precious metals.
Chinese tech company Le Holdings Co Ltd, also known as LeEco and formerly as LeTV, has invested nearly 3 billion yuan ($460.2 million) to tap the domestic property sector.
Shanghai Shimao Co Ltd said in a statement issued late Monday that it will transfer 100 percent stake in its two units, Beijing Fortune Times Property Co Ltd and Beijing Baiding New Century Commercial Management Co, to LeEco for 2.92 billion yuan and 52 million yuan respectively.
It's not the first time that LeEco has invested in the real estate industry. In November, LeEco bought 400,000 square kilometers of commercial and residential land for 421 million yuan in Longxing town, Southwest China's Chongqing municipality.
According to the statement, Shanghai Shimao is estimated to earn 700 million yuan from the transaction. Meanwhile, the company will cooperate with LeEco in diversified regions to optimize its business structure.
Aside from LeEco, some domestic internet firms have entered the housing market. In 2014, Lei Jun, founder and CEO of China's tech company Xiaomi, invested 100 million yuan in YOU+ International Youth Apartment, a rental service for those aged below 45.
Founded in November 2004 by Jia Yueting, LeEco is engaged in myriad businesses, spanning from television, smartphones, automobiles, video, sports, internet finance and cloud services.
Last month, LeEco held a "cross-category" product launch, showcasing new devices, including the Le 2 smartphone series, super television, Le VR and a self-driving electric vehicle LeSEE.
The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday set final dumping margins on imports of cold-rolled steel flat products from China and Japan, signaling that it may impose punitive duties on those products.
The department made its affirmative final determination that these cold-rolled steel products from China and Japan had been sold in the United States at dumping margins of 265.79 percent and 71.35 percent, respectively.
The department also determined that producers and exporters of these Chinese products received countervailing subsidies of 256.44 percent.
Punitive duties would be imposed after the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) made an affirmative final rule, which is scheduled for June 30. If the ITC makes a negative determination, the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations into these products will be terminated.
In 2015, imports of these products from China and Japan under investigation were estimated at about 272.3 million U.S. dollars and 138.6 million dollars, respectively, according to U.S. official data.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has repeatedly urged the United States to abide by its commitment against trade protectionism and work together with China and other members of the international community to maintain a free, open and just international trade environment.
China will take enforcement actions against the United States under the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement framework to urge the latter to stop illegal anti-dumping activities, the ministry said Friday in a statement.
The United States failed to enforce the decision made by the WTO's appellate body to stop 15 illegal anti-dumping practices against Chinese products, damaging the organization's credibility and Chinese enterprises' interests, it added.
Chinese President Xi Jinping addresses a symposium discussing the country's work in philosophy and social sciences in Beijing, capital of China, May 17, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]
President Xi Jinping stressed the irreplaceable role of philosophy and social sciences for building socialism with Chinese characteristics, urging Chinese characteristics to be incorporated in their development.
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks in a speech delivered at a symposium on Tuesday to discuss philosophy and social sciences in China.
Xi said a country without advanced development of the natural sciences could not possibly be a leading nation, and neither can a country without booming achievements in philosophy and the social sciences.
Xi said people should recognize the irreplaceable roles played by philosophy and social sciences and the important work done by researchers in these fields.
Xi called for developing a system of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics that incorporates the country's socialist practices.
Xi noted that the current era is conducive to the development of philosophy and social sciences.
"China is undergoing the most profound and widespread social reform in its history," Xi said.
Such unprecedented practices will generate enormous power and broad space for developing theory, he added.
The present time requires great theory and great minds, Xi said, encouraging philosophy and social science researchers to respond to the call and pool their wisdom in the service of the Party and the people.
Xie Chuntao, a professor with the CPC Central Committee Party School, noted that China's performance in philosophy and social sciences does not match its progress in reform and opening up, and efforts are needed to better sum up and analyze China's successful practices.
China's achievements over the past decades have been remarkable, and people in philosophy and social sciences need to work harder to tell China's stories, Xie said.
Xi said the country's study of philosophy and social sciences should focus on China and the contemporary era while using foreign studies and history as a reference and keeping concern for mankind and the future in mind.
Chinese characteristics should be incorporated into the guiding ideology, discourses and scholastic systems of these fields.
The president called for integrating Marxism, Chinese traditions and other schools in philosophy and the social sciences, adding that confidence in the path, theory and system of socialism with Chinese characteristics should be strengthened.
"After all, confidence in our culture should be strengthened, which is a power that is more basic, deeper and more lasting," Xi said.
Xi said philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics should show originality and reflect the features of the times.
Only through original theories based on China's practical conditions can China's philosophy and social sciences establish their own systems, characteristics and advantages, Xi said.
China's philosophy and social sciences should focus on what China is doing now, he said, urging social scientists to study Chinese practices in society, the economy, politics and other fields.
Philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics should include various fields such as history, economics, politics, culture, society, ecology, the military, Party construction, and others, according to Xi.
Liu Yunshan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, also attended the symposium.
Adherence to Marxism
Xi stressed that Marxism will remain the guiding theory in philosophy and social sciences in China.
An important task for philosophy and social sciences in China is to continue pushing for the sinolization, modernization and popularization of Marxism, continue developing a Marxism that fits into the 21st century and contemporary China, said Xi.
Highlighting the guiding role of Marxism, Xi called on research fellows in philosophy and social sciences to integrate socialist theory with Chinese characteristics into their research and teaching activities.
Philosophy and social sciences in China must be people-centered, otherwise they will lose their influence and vitality, Xi said.
Marxism is an open theory that has evolved with the times, practice and scientific progress, said Xi.
"Marxism is never the end of truth. It opens a path toward truth," Xi said, adding that innovating theory through new practices has been the key to maintaining the vitality of Marxism.
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After dinner, hundreds of drug addicts swarmed the yard of a rehab center in Gansu Province to begin their daily massage therapy session.
The 90-minute self-applied treatment, which has its roots in traditional Chinese medicine, is offered at six rehab centers in the landlocked province.
Accompanied by soft, calming music, the patients methodically press 23 acupuncture points on their heads, torsos and feet.
The massage helps me achieve a sense of deep peace, said Wang Li, one of the patients.
When I began this program, I had insomnia and my dreams were always about drugs, Wang said. This therapy has helped me reconnect with my body and fight my addiction.
Most of Chinas rehabilitation programs take a cold turkey approach to weaning addicts off drugs, although sometimes supplementary medication, such as methadone, is prescribed.
Alternative therapies including herb medication, acupuncture and massage are often used in the treatment.
Gansu started to offer the massage therapy in late 2014, said Han Quanli, director of the provincial rehabilitation management.
The biggest problem drug addicts face is the temptation to relapse, he said. I was eager to find a way to encourage voluntary withdrawal and achieve long-term recovery. There were 2.34 million drug addicts recorded nationwide by 2015, about 54 percent of whom had relapsed after rehab.
Han said acupuncture had proven quite effective, but the placement of fine needles is not a skill everyone can easily master, so doctors began to explore other options.
More than 1,600 people have received the therapy in the last 18 months, he said.
Withdrawal symptoms abate as they proceed through rehabilitation programs, said Zhao Yaodong, a university professor specializing in traditional Chinese medicine.
We have seen encouraging results from the massage therapy, which appears to make the detox process easier and more effective, Zhao said.
Clinical studies show the practice can speed up the release of toxins from the body, strengthen the immune system and reduce some of the side effects of withdrawal such as anxiety and pain, Zhao said.
A study by Lanzhou University showed patients who attended the massage sessions had a better chance of recovery than those who did not.
We will encourage more patients to use this therapy, helping them heal their body and mind, and heal the damage done by drug addiction, Han said.
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The discipline inspection group under the Central Military Commission (CMC) has sent inspectors to armed forces and military academies for reexamination.
The new round of inspection covers the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, the air forces, rocket force, Academy of Military Science, National Defense University, National University of Defense Technology as well as the armed police.
Previous inspections found problems with some leading officials, including lax adherence to discipline and rules, undesirable work styles, misconduct in equipment purchases and housing distribution.
The cases have been transferred to Communist Party of China (CPC) organizations of the units inspected and CMC disciplinary authorities for punishment.
The reexamination will target correction of violations and special attention will be paid to emerging problems in the units.
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Police in southwest China's Yunnan Province have seized 94.7 tonnes of drugs over the past five years, local authorities announced at a meeting held Tuesday.
During a five-year campaign against drugs and AIDS, local police uncovered 95,000 drug cases and detained 102,000 drug traffickers.
Police in Yunnan seized 80 percent of all heroin and 90 percent of all crystal methamphetamine confiscated nationwide.
In joint crackdowns with neighboring countries, they also raided four crystal meth production plants and seized 4.2 tonnes of crystal meth overseas.
A total of 229,000 drug users, or 90 percent of all users, have received government-funded compulsory drug rehabilitation therapy over the past five years.
Local authorities also said the HIV infection rates among drug takers and prostitutes have markedly declined.
Despite the progress, the local government said it is facing a more complicated situation, including rising infection risks spreading from high-risk groups.
At the meeting, local authorities launched the fourth round of their campaign against drugs and AIDS.
Yunnan is among the Chinese regions most affected by drug use, due to its proximity to the opium-growing Golden Triangle in neighboring Southeast Asia. It is also a source of domestic drugs.
Delegates from over 30 political parties in 24 European countries and representatives from the European Parliament met in Beijing on Tuesday, May 17 to attend the two-day 5th China-Europe High-Level Political Parties Forum, an occasion to strengthen interparty relations between China and Europe.
Song Tao, minister of IDCPC, delivers a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 5th China-Europe High-Level Political Parties Forum on May 17 in Beijing. [Photo by Chen Boyuan / China.org.cn]
Current Chinese-European relations are marked by improved quality and enhanced effectiveness, as both sides are actively constructing a partnership for the continuous promotion of peace, growth, reform and civilization, while exploring the most suitable ways to develop.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) put forward ideas for innovative, coordinative, green, open and shared development as well as the "Belt and Road" initiative to achieve common development and prosperity.
These ideas have coincided with those of many European political parties, which have become a shared ground for deepened Chinese-European cooperation, said Song Tao, minister of the International Department of CPC Central Committee (IDCPC), the agency for CPC's international liaison work, on Tuesday.
He said that interparty communication plays an important role in foreign relations, and that the Chinese-European relationship is no exception. "It is a major driving force in pushing forward a comprehensive strategic partnership between China and the European Union," said Song, hoping the ties would "underscore strategic communications and promote practical cooperation."
It means that interparty relations capable of addressing ideological and strategic issues not necessarily concrete projects and contracts are usually the topics for intergovernmental diplomacy. Once there is amity between political parties of two countries, rapport between the governments will come naturally.
Chinese-European interparty ties seem even more important these days following the European Parliament's overwhelming rejection of China's bid for market economy status. In addition, China now seeks more international support for its stance on the South China Sea issues.
"China and the European Union are major trading partners for each other; therefore, fulfilling international obligations and recognizing China's market economy status will bring new, huge potentials for bilateral trade, and this meets the fundamental interests of both sides," said the IDCPC head.
Song stressed that China resolutely upholds navigational freedom in the South China Sea as stipulated by international laws, but that it also firmly opposes any kinds of hegemony in the same waters. "China is willing to preserve the peace, stability and security of the South China Sea together with all members of the ASEAN."
Sergei Stanishev, president of the Party of European Socialists and former prime minister of Bulgaria, is among the principal political leaders attending the forum. He agreed that China's ideas for development and its proposal of the "Belt and Road" initiative will enhance interconnectivty between Europe and China and will, in turn, benefit all people along the routes.
Stanishev noted that China was the first non-European state to declare its financial contribution to the Juncker Plan, and since the beginning of the year China has been an official member of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Several European countries have joined the China-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
Stanishev recognized that China has been "building its own version of a market economy with an active role from the state" over the past two decades, and this model has helped China recover faster and sooner from the global financial crisis than other large economies.
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Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said Tuesday that there is a "real chance" to establish true peace between the conflicting Palestinian and Israeli sides if they can respond to Arab and international peacemaking efforts, official MENA news agency reported.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi speaks while opening a power project in Assiut, Egypt, on May 17, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]
"Egypt is willing to play a mediating role between the Palestinians and the Israelis," the Egyptian president said while opening a power project in Upper Egypt's province of Assiut.
Going on for about seven decades, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has long been the a gnawing concern in the turmoil-stricken Middle East region.
A Saudi-led Arab peace initiative in 2002 urged Israel to fully withdraw from the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 in return for normal relations with the Arab world.
However, Israel rejected the initiative.
"If the Palestinian issue is resolved with an earnest will, it will open a new chapter that may add to what has been achieved between Egypt and Israel through the peace treaty that lasted for over 40 years," Sisi said.
The Egyptian president urged the Palestinian factions for unity and reconciliation and the Israelis for making use of the available real chance for peace despite the regional conditions.
"I tell both the Palestinians and the Israelis that there is a great chance for a better future, a better life, more stability and greater cooperation," he added.
France has recently said it will continue to press ahead with plans to host a multilateral Middle East peace conference later this year despite the Israeli rejection of the idea.
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Fighting terrorism is top priority in the Syria issue, not overturning Syria's Bashar al-Assad government, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters on Tuesday.
At a press conference after the Syria talks in Vienna, Lavrov said some people should not expect the fall of al-Assad government before combating terrorist groups in the region, the fall of al-Assad government could not lead to the collapse of terrorism in Syria.
The Russia minister also told reporters that Moscow doesn't protect any specific person in Syria, noting some western sanctions are negative as they could cause humanitarian crisis in Syria.
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The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan have reiterated their commitment to a cease-fire between their countries and the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in a meeting on Monday.
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met with foreign ministers from the countries of the Minsk Group under the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), including Russia, the United States and France on Monday in the Austrian capital Vienna.
In a joint statement, the leaders and foreign ministers reiterated that there can be no military solution to the conflict. The co-chairs insisted on the importance of respecting the 1994 and 1995 cease-fire agreements.
Sargsyan and Aliyev reiterated their commitment to the cease-fire and a peaceful settlement to the conflict. To reduce the risk of further violence, they agreed to finalize in the shortest possible time an OSCE investigative mechanism.
The presidents also agreed to continue the exchange of data on missing persons under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to which they committed during a summit in Paris in October 2014.
In addition, the two leaders agreed on the next round of talks, to be held in June at an undetermined location.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a bitter dispute over the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh since 1988, when the enclave dominated by ethnic Armenians claimed independence from Azerbaijan and voiced a desire to join Armenia.
Peace talks have been held since 1994 when a cease-fire agreement was reached, but there have been occasional minor clashes.
In early April, new clashes took place on the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh, resulting in numerous casualties on both sides.
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The United States announced Tuesday that it is lifting some of the sanctions on Myanmar to show support for the country's political reforms and economic growth and to facilitate trade between the two sides.
In a statement, the U.S. Treasury Department issued regulatory amendments that ease restrictions on Myanmar's financial institutions, allow certain transactions related to U.S. individuals living in the country, and remove seven state-owned enterprises and three state-owned banks from the U.S. blacklist.
"Burma (Myanmar) reached a historic milestone over the last year by holding competitive elections and peacefully transitioning to a democratically-elected government," said Adam Szubin, Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
"Our actions today demonstrate our strong support for this political and economic progress while continuing to pressure designated persons in Burma (Myanmar) to change their behavior."
U Htin Kyaw of the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, was sworn in as Myanmar's new president in late March. U.S. President Barack Obama welcomed the "historic step forward" of a democratic transfer of power to a civilian-led government in Myanmar.
The move on Tuesday will "help to facilitate trade with non-sanctioned businesses and, in turn, help the people and Government of Burma (Myanmar) achieve a more inclusive and prosperous future," Szubin said.
However, the United States strengthened certain sanctions on Myanmar in a bid to "incentivize further democratic reforms and maintain pressure on targeted individuals and entities and the military," according to the statement.
The Treasury Department blacklists six companies that are owned 50 percent or more by Steven Law, or Asia World Co. Ltd, the company he controls. Both Law and Asia World were designated by the U.S. in 2008 for providing support to the then military-led government.
In a letter to Congress Tuesday, Obama expressed U.S. concerns over continued obstacles in Myanmar to full civilian control of the government, the ongoing conflict and human rights abuses in the country, particularly in ethnic minority areas, and military trade with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Obama told Congress he has determined to continue the national emergency with respect to Myanmar, which was declared on May 20, 1997.
Despite this action, the U.S. remains committed to working with both the new government and the people of Myanmar to "ensure that the democratic transition is irreversible," he added.
On May 22, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Myanmar to meet with key leaders to signal U.S. support for the new democratically elected, civilian-led government and further democratic and economic reforms, the State Department has said.
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The U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved legislation that would allow victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks of 2001 to sue Saudi Arabia, U.S. media reported.
The bill, which was passed by a unanimous consent, would allow victims of terror attacks on U.S. soil or surviving family members to bring lawsuits against nation-states for activities supporting terrorism. The legislation will now head to the House of Representatives.
"This bill is very near and dear to my heart as a New Yorker because it would allow the victims of 9/11 to pursue some small measure of justice," Democratic Senator Charles Schumer said, according to news website The Hill.
The White House on Tuesday reiterated President Barack Obama's opposition to the bill.
"Given the concerns we have expressed, it's difficult to imagine the president signing this legislation," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
"This legislation would change long-standing, international law regarding sovereign immunity," Earnest said, adding that Obama continues to harbor "serious concerns" that this legislation would make the United States vulnerable in other court systems around the world.
The legislation has also drawn criticism from the Saudi government.
Saudi Arabia has told the Obama administration and members of Congress that it will sell off hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of American assets held by the kingdom if Congress passes the bill, The New York Times reported last month.
Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, delivered the kingdom's message personally in March during a trip to Washington, telling lawmakers that Saudi Arabia would be forced to sell up to 750 billion U.S. dollars in treasury securities and other assets in the United States before they could be in danger of being frozen by American courts, The New York Times reported.
Families of the Sept. 11 victims have used the courts to try to hold members of the Saudi royal family, Saudi banks and charities liable because of what the plaintiffs charged was Saudi financial support for terrorism. These efforts have largely been stymied, in part because of a 1976 law that gives foreign nations some immunity from lawsuits in American courts.
Saudi officials have long denied that the kingdom had any role in the plot of the 2001 terror attacks which killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington D.C area and Pennsylvania.
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Brazil's Federal Supreme Court (STF) on Tuesday said it was analyzing a legal petition to open impeachment proceedings against interim President Michel Temer.
Supreme Court Judge Marco Aurelio Mello said the full court will debate the petition filed by lawyer Mariel Marley Marra, alleging Temer violated the law last year when he signed four decrees to modify the state budget, without the prior approval of Congress.
The petition had been struck down earlier this year by the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Congress.
President of the supreme court Ricardo Lewandowski now has to set a date for the deliberation.
The move represents the latest twist in the unfolding political power struggle between Brazil's progressive and conservative forces.
Temer came to power on May 12, after President Dilma Rousseff was suspended by the Senate in the lead up to her impeachment trial.
Rousseff and her ruling Worker's Party (PT) claim the accusations of inflating public fiscal accounts are political motivated as the right-wing tries to take control of government after losing the presidential elections in 2014.
Temer is being accused of the same crime as Rousseff, that of signing decrees that granted government additional loans without authorization from lawmakers, Mello said.
Rousseff has been suspended for a maximum of six months, during which she will be tried. If found guilty, Temer would see her term through Jan. 1,2019.
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European chiefs of defense discussed the progress of EU naval operation against human smuggling in the Mediterranean, EUNAVFOR MED - Operation Sophia, at an EU military committee meeting Tuesday.
Operation Sophia Commander Rear Admiral Enrico Credendino informed the meeting that, since the operation had moved to phase two in October, 2015, it had contributed to the arrest and transfer of 69 suspected smugglers and traffickers to the Italian authorities.
According to results issued after the meeting, the operation also neutralized 114 vessels and helped save close to 14,000 lives.
As part of the EU approach to stop human smugglers in the Mediterranean, the European Union launched a military operation in the Southern Central Mediterranean (EUNAVFOR MED) in June of last year.
In its first phase, EUNAVFOR MED - Operation Sophia patrolled the high seas gathering information, and detecting and monitoring the smuggling networks.
During the second phase, it identified, captured and disposed of vessels used or suspected of being used by migrant smugglers or traffickers.
The EU member state defense chiefs talked about EU security and defense matters at the meeting, including the EU global strategy on foreign and security policy, naval operations, training and advisory missions, the Ukraine crisis, and cooperation with NATO.
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While world powers were meeting in Vienna to put the Syrian peace process back on track, as violence continued in Syria, with Syrian army engaged in intense battles against the rebel groups on several fronts on Tuesday.
(L to R) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and UN Special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura attend a meeting of the International Syria Support Group on Syria in Vienna, Austria, May 17, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]
Under the co-chairmanship of the United States and Russia, the fifth International Syria Support Group (ISSG) ministerial meeting is being held in Vienna, Austria, to discuss the enhancement of a nationwide cessation of hostilities in war-ravaged Syria.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the talks, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said relative peace had been achieved in Syria since the last ISSG meeting held in February in the German city of Munich.
"We have seen a certain calming of combat actions in many parts of Syria in the past three months ... We have seen that relief supplies have become possible in many areas where people were completely cut off from supplies," he said.
Participants at Tuesday's meeting are scheduled to discuss how to create conditions for a better implementation of the agreed ceasefire nationwide. The meeting will also focus on measures to bring the Syrian opposition back to the peace talks, the foreign minister said.
The minister said Tuesday's meeting is "important and urgent," and expressed the hope of achieving success in pushing forward a peaceful solution to the Syrian conflict.
That would encourage the opposition to resume negotiations on a political settlement to end the war, he said.
The opposition pulled out of the last round in April in protest at mounting violence and stalled aid deliveries.
However, in Syria, battles continued on Tuesday on several fronts.
The Syrian army has temporarily cut off the road between the capital Damascus and the southern province of Daraa, after the rebels in the town of Khan al-Shih approached the road, prompting the Syrian army to unleash an offensive against that area.
In the central province of Homs, the Syrian army advanced toward the al-Shaer gas field, which was recently taken by the Islamic State (IS) group.
The pro-government Sham FM radio said the military forces reached the gates of the gas field, which has changed hands between the IS and the Syrian army in the eastern countryside of Homs.
In the northern city of Aleppo, the rebels continued to shell residential areas in the government-controlled part west of Aleppo, local media said.
State news agency SANA said one woman was killed and 11 people wounded on Tuesday when two mortar shells struck the al-Hamadaniyeh in Aleppo city.
Meanwhile, SANA said three civilians were killed and 14 others were wounded, including women and children, when the IS terror group shelled the al-Qusur and al-Jura neighborhoods in the eastern city of Deir al-Zour.
In the southern province of Swaida, SANA said the competent authorities confiscated a vehicle full of explosives as well as Israeli and U.S.-made weaponry headed to the eastern desert, where the rebels are positioned.
In the eastern countryside of Damascus, rebels-on-rebels fighting have flared up on Tuesday.
Pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV said 50 rebels were killed in the infighting that has erupted between the so-called Islam Army on one side, and the Failaq al-Rahman, the Jaish al-Fustat, and the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front on the other side.
The infighting erupted over a clash of purposes among the ultra-radical groups in eastern Damascus.
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The third China-Singapore Forum on Social Governance was held in Singapore on Tuesday.
Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee Meng Jianzhu and Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean co-chaired the forum and delivered keynote speeches.
Meng said that diversity is the driving force behind the progress of civilizations and a major hallmark of social progress. Rich diversity brings both opportunities and challenges.
In such a context, how to maximize the benefits while minimizing the damage and improve social governance under diversified conditions is a challenge facing all countries in the world, he said, adding though China and Singapore have different national conditions, the two countries have many commonalities in social governance and broad prospects for exchanges and cooperation in this area.
Meng noted that the Chinese government pays special attention to social governance under diversified conditions.
"We have made active efforts for systematic, law-based, integrated, and source-based governance and developed a modern way of social governance that keeps with China's reality and the changing times and meets people's aspirations. We have thus maintained both public security and order as well as kept social vitality," said Meng.
Meng also shared his observations on improving social governance under diverse conditions. It's important to be open and inclusive, as well as provide broad space for innovation in social governance, he said.
Meanwhile, he said it's crucial to cooperate, exchange and share to make sure social governance is systematic, integrated and coordinated.
The official also underscored the importance to uphold democracy, promote self-governance and build a community of shared destiny where everyone fulfills his responsibilities.
In his speech, Teo introduced four dimensions of diversity in Singapore and elaborated on how these are managed in the Singapore context. Teo also expressed the willingness to enhance China-Singapore cooperation in social governance.
Meng called on Teo before the opening ceremony of the forum.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on world countries Tuesday to joint hands and fix the global humanitarian crisis.
Otherwise, "the world will cease being safe for everyone," warned the Turkish leader during his televised speech at the third Islamic ministers conference in charge of water in Istanbul.
The first-ever World Humanitarian Summit is going to be held on May 23-24 in Istanbul, and is expected to attract around 6,000 participants including a number of heads of state.
Erdogan urged the Islamic world in his speech to play a bigger role in solving the Syrian refugee crisis, saying "I believe we will witness a more responsive approach in the coming period."
Turkey is hosting over three million Syrian and Iraqi refugees alone and "none are starving," he added.
The president warned that "murky alliances" and "weapons smugglers" established in Syria and Iraq under the Islamic State (IS) pretext will lead to sizable world problems.
He also blamed weapons manufacturing countries for arms trading with terrorist groups.
Referring to the continued IS rocket attacks against the Turkish border province of Kilis, Erdogan said "We will solve the IS issue ourselves if we do not receive external assistance."
Kilis has been under frequent IS rocket fire since mid-January, with at least 20 people killed.
Turkey reportedly sent a special forces squad to IS-held areas in northern Syria on earlier this month to destroy several missile launchers.
Erdogan renewed his message to the international community to establish a safe zone in northern Syria to protect civilians from IS attacks.
"I shared this with the U.S. president, Russia when relations were good, and with other Western countries," he said, adding that none of the countries has yet responded.
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Troops of India and Pakistan violated the cease-fire agreement between them and targeted each other's positions on the Line of Control (LoC) dividing Kashmir, officials said Tuesday.
The two sides exchanged fire on Monday night in Uri sector of frontier Baramulla district, about 140 km northwest of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.
"In a cease-fire violation last night, Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked firing at our positions in Uri sector," Indian military spokesman Col N N Joshi told Xinhua. "The firing continued intermittently for half an hour and our side also fired in retaliation."
Pakistani officials are not immediately available for comments. No damage or causality was reported on either side.
The exchange between the two sides has come after month's lull on the LoC. A similar exchange was reported in Poonch sector last month.
Both New Delhi and Islamabad accuse each other of resorting to unprovoked firings and violating cease-fire agreements. And both sides maintain that their troops gave befitting reply.
The troops of India and Pakistan intermittently exchange fire on 720 km-long LoC and 198-km IB in Kashmir, despite an agreement in 2003 to observe a cease-fire. Though some violations have been reported on both sides, the cease-fire however remains in effect.
LoC is a de facto border that divides Kashmir into India and Pakistan controlled parts. The LoC is heavily guarded by military on both sides.
Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir.
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In the latest protest against the French government's plans to reform the country's labor laws, thousands of workers and students walked out in French cities on Tuesday to call for the withdrawal of the bill.
People take to streets to protest against the new labor law in Paris, France on May 17, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]
Philippe Martinez, head of CGT union was quoted as saying by local media, "Today, there is a widespread strike and that's a good thing. We have not been heard, so we will make ourselves louder."
To William Martinet, president of the country's main student organization UNEF, "French President Francois Hollande is cut off from social reality. He was not elected for this labor law."
Earlier on Tuesday, Hollande said he would "not give in" to protesters on a reform which, according to him, would "provide visibility and stability to create jobs."
The Socialist leader reiterated that "it takes time for those reforms to take effect."
Rebuffing the politician's words, the crowd in Paris, where up to 12,000 protesters were gathered, waved banners reading: "What the government does, streets will undo."
Organizers said 10,000 people participated in anti-labor reform demonstration in Nantes, western France, while police put the number at 3,500. In the southern city of Marseille, between 6,800 and 8,000 were numbered and between 1,700 and 7,000 in Lyon, central France.
In the western French city of Rennes where clashes erupted over the weekend, police data showed 1,100 people took part in the protest against the 2,000 figure tallied by the trade union.
The sixth protest to date was also tainted by clashes between demonstrators and police with scores arrested during Tuesday's marches mainly in the French capital, Nantes, and Bordeaux.
In a visit to Rennes to support riot police enforcing a protest ban after violent incidents, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve on Sunday said 1,300 people had been arrested across France since the start of the protests in March.
Rail, air traffic, and refinery staff as well as truck drivers were among those who planned to stop working to oppose the labor reform, causing significant disruption across the country.
State railway SNCF said stoppages by its workers were set to cut some services by up to 70 percent on Wednesday. About 15 percent of flights would be cancelled at Orly airport on Thursday, the DGAC air transport authority said.
Officials said the bill would facilitate hiring and help bring down the joblessness rate, which is currently 10.2 percent in the country.
Opponents of the bill denounced what they see as a pro-businesses reform that would increase low-paid jobs, further weaken workers' economic situation, and worsen working conditions.
New nationwide demonstrations are scheduled for May 19.
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The safety of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which connects Pakistan with China and the Central Asian countries, is the top priority for the Pakistani army.
Pakistan's military spokesperson Lieutenant General Asim Saleem Bajwa (L) and Ambassador of Pakistan to China Masood Khalid (R) at a press conference in Beijing on May 17, 2016. [Photo by Gong Jie/China.org.cn]
"There is an integrated mechanism of all the state and provincial security operators which already exists. Additionally, a proper security division has been assembled, which consists of about 15,000 people. It is commanded by a major general. And an equally sizable security division is being put together for the south of the CPEC in the southern part of Pakistan," said Pakistan's military spokesperson Lieutenant General Asim Saleem Bajwa.
The top concern for the CPEC is the security situation, as there are 12,000 to 13,000 Chinese engineers and workers who are already working for CPEC projects in Pakistan.
"The Pakistani army is dedicated to the safety of the CPEC," said Pakistan's military spokesperson. "We are not only providing security for building the CPEC and the management of the CPEC, but also for building roads and infrastructure." According to the spokesperson, the Pakistani army's engineers are building a road about 874 kilometers long in the province of Balochistan in the south of Pakistan, 670 kilometers of which they have already completed. Therefore, the Pakistan army is providing both the security and the construction work for the road. The construction work is being undertaken in remote areas in parts of the CPEC by army engineers and army engineering units.
The CPEC is an opportunity for Pakistan to improve the socio-economic condition of its underprivileged areas and populace. "It is a project which brings a lot of hope and light for bringing prosperity to Pakistan," said the spokesperson. "Therefore, every Pakistani has an obligation to participate in the development of CPEC."
According to the spokesperson, it is expected that cargo will be able to be moved from China to Gwadar Port by the end of 2016 along the highways.
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Delegates from over 30 political parties in 24 European countries and representatives from the European Parliament met in Beijing on Tuesday, May 17 to attend the two-day 5th China-Europe High-Level Political Parties Forum, an occasion to strengthen interparty relations between China and Europe.
Song Tao, minister of IDCPC, delivers a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 5th China-Europe High-Level Political Parties Forum on May 17 in Beijing. [Photo by Chen Boyuan / China.org.cn]
Current Chinese-European relations are marked by improved quality and enhanced effectiveness, as both sides are actively constructing a partnership for the continuous promotion of peace, growth, reform and civilization, while exploring the most suitable ways to develop.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) put forward ideas for innovative, coordinative, green, open and shared development as well as the "Belt and Road" initiative to achieve common development and prosperity.
These ideas have coincided with those of many European political parties, which have become a shared ground for deepened Chinese-European cooperation, said Song Tao, minister of the International Department of CPC Central Committee (IDCPC), the agency for CPC's international liaison work, on Tuesday.
He said that interparty communication plays an important role in foreign relations, and that the Chinese-European relationship is no exception. "It is a major driving force in pushing forward a comprehensive strategic partnership between China and the European Union," said Song, hoping the ties would "underscore strategic communications and promote practical cooperation."
It means that interparty relations capable of addressing ideological and strategic issues not necessarily concrete projects and contracts are usually the topics for intergovernmental diplomacy. Once there is amity between political parties of two countries, rapport between the governments will come naturally.
Chinese-European interparty ties seem even more important these days following the European Parliament's overwhelming rejection of China's bid for market economy status. In addition, China now seeks more international support for its stance on the South China Sea issues.
"China and the European Union are major trading partners for each other; therefore, fulfilling international obligations and recognizing China's market economy status will bring new, huge potentials for bilateral trade, and this meets the fundamental interests of both sides," said the IDCPC head.
Song stressed that China resolutely upholds navigational freedom in the South China Sea as stipulated by international laws, but that it also firmly opposes any kinds of hegemony in the same waters. "China is willing to preserve the peace, stability and security of the South China Sea together with all members of the ASEAN."
Sergei Stanishev, president of the Party of European Socialists and former prime minister of Bulgaria, is among the principal political leaders attending the forum. He agreed that China's ideas for development and its proposal of the "Belt and Road" initiative will enhance interconnectivty between Europe and China and will, in turn, benefit all people along the routes.
Stanishev noted that China was the first non-European state to declare its financial contribution to the Juncker Plan, and since the beginning of the year China has been an official member of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Several European countries have joined the China-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
Stanishev recognized that China has been "building its own version of a market economy with an active role from the state" over the past two decades, and this model has helped China recover faster and sooner from the global financial crisis than other large economies.
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Flash
South Korea's top policymaker on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) affairs on Wednesday expressed worry about Pyongyang's possible nuclear test.
Unification Minister Hong Yong-Pyo said at a special lecture in Seoul that the DPRK conducted its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 and now is a crucial juncture of possibly staging the fifth nuclear detonation.
Hong said it is a high time to sternly tackle possible DPRK provocations and build a sustainable peace on the Korean peninsula.
The DPRK was widely expected here to carry out another nuclear test before or after the historic Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) congress that lasted for four days through May 9.
South Korea's military claimed that the DPRK had already completed preparations for another atomic bomb test at its main Punggye-ri nuclear test site in northeastern DPRK where the country conducted all of its four nuclear detonations.
Ahead of the 7th WPK congress, the DPRK had test-fired several ballistic missiles to show its nuclear strike capability. Top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un gave orders on March 15 to test a nuclear warhead and ballistic rockets capable of carrying the warhead "in a short time."
Hong said the DPRK is ready to go its own way by firing long-range missiles at a time when the international society was discussing sanctions on Pyongyang over its fourth nuclear test.
The DPRK mentioned the need for inter-Korean talks, but the mentioning had no sincerity, Hong said. He called on Pyongyang to show its willingness for denuclearization first.
Flash
The arbitration unilaterally initiated by the Philippines will soon come to an end. The international community has been eager to hear the results and China's response.
To explain the Chinese government's position, Xu Hong, the Foreign Ministry's director general of treaties and law, held a press conference on May 12.
Before answering questions from the media, Xu made it clear that above all, compulsory arbitration is not applicable to the South China Sea dispute. He explained this view in four aspects: First, according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), compulsory procedures are applicable only to the interpretation or application of the UNCLOS. Therefore, territorial sovereignty is beyond the scope of compulsory procedures. Second, when a dispute concerns maritime delimitation, historic bays or titles, or military and law enforcement activities, the State Party to the UNCLOS enjoys the right to reject any arbitration. Third, when parties in a dispute have already chosen a means of settlement and excluded other procedures, the compulsory procedures shall not apply to the dispute. Fourth, in normal practice, parties in a dispute shall exchange views regarding means of settlement before initiating arbitration. When an arbitral tribunal is established through a unilateral request, the tribunal doesn't have jurisdiction over the case.
Xu then explained how the Philippines violated the UNCLOS by initiating the arbitration. First, the essence of the arbitration is the territorial sovereignty over several maritime features in the South China Sea, so the issue is beyond the scope of the UNCLOS. Second, even assuming that the issue was concerned with the interpretation or application of the UNCLOS, it is still an integral part of maritime delimitation and, having been excluded by the 2006 Declaration filed by China, should not have been submitted for arbitration. Third, an agreement exists between China and the Philippines to settle their disputes over the South China Sea through negotiations, so the Philippines is debarred from unilaterally initiating compulsory arbitration. Fourth, the Philippines failed to fulfill its obligation of exchanging views on the means of settlement with China beforehand.
When answering questions from the media, Xu further explained that the essence of the arbitration is territorial sovereignty, because of the possible consequences of the Philippines' claims. The Philippines' request for a ruling on the entitlements of eight maritime features in the South China Sea has in effect dissected the Nansha Islands. To decide upon any of the Philippines' claims, the arbitral tribunal will inevitably have to determine, directly or indirectly, the sovereignty of both the maritime features in question and other maritime features.
In this case, the Philippines is abusing dispute settlement procedures, Xu concluded. In view of this fact, China has declared that it will neither accept nor participate in the arbitration. This is the right sovereign states enjoy under international law. China did so to defend the solemnity and integrity of the UNCLOS and other international laws. It shows China's opposition to the abuse of compulsory procedures. It also shows China's respect to its promise that it will resolve the dispute in South China Sea with the Philippines through negotiations.
No matter how the arbitral tribunal rules, China won't change its position on the South China Sea issue, Xu said. Nothing will change the history and fact of China's sovereignty over the South China Sea Islands and the adjacent waters. Nor will it shake China's resolve and determination to safeguard its sovereignty and maritime rights and interests or affect China's policy and position to resolve the relevant disputes through direct negotiations with other states in the region. With regard to this issue, China has always maintained that it should be peacefully resolved through negotiations between the countries directly concerned.
US President Barack Obama and Jack Ma participate in a panel discussion at the APEC CEO Summit in Manila, the Philippines, November 18, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]
Jack Ma, founder and chairman of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, is frequently seen at public events with other famous people. As his company expands his presence around the world is on the rise.
Here we take a look at Jack Ma sharing the spotlight with global leaders and movie personalities in 2015.
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]
Shanghai Disneyland has fired back at claims that food offered in the park is too expensive.
Various media outlets reported this week that consumers have complained about costly food after visiting Disney's first theme park on the Chinese mainland during a test run earlier this month.
A report by web portal Sina.com said that almost all meals in the park sold for at least 70 yuan ($10.7) each, and that the park is charging 6 yuan for a single steamed bun.
Sources with the resort told Xinhua that the prices were based on extensive market surveys and analysis conducted among Chinese consumers, industry experts and local regulators.
"When setting the prices, we have drawn experience from others in the industry," said a spokesperson. "We also took into consideration the specific demand of the Chinese market."
Park managers will "listen to visitors' feedback," the spokesperson added.
Tickets for Shanghai Disneyland went on sale to the public on March 28.
The Shanghai Disney Resort is Disney's sixth resort destination worldwide. Construction began in 2011 in Pudong New District.
Shanghai Shendi Group, Disney's Chinese partner, has forecast that the resort will attract 10 million visits each year.
Two visitors stand in front of the Parker pen's billboard at an international gift fair in Beijing.A QING/CHINA DAILY
While fountain pens are becoming a thing of the past in most developed markets, sales of the writing instrument keep growing in China helped by the country's strong culture of offering gifts and a new interest in craftsmanship.
China is the world's biggest market for fountain pens, with sales of the writing instrument being higher in the country than in the whole of Western Europe combined, providing high-end stationery manufacturers with lucrative opportunities to expand their businesses.
Last year, sales of fountain pens rose to $341 million, an increase of 7 percent from 2014, according to Euromonitor International.
Parker Pen Co, one of the world's largest producers of writing instruments, first entered the Chinese market in the 1980s. Nowadays, the country is one of the group's largest sources of revenue.
Atlanta-based Newell Rubbermaid Co, owner of Parker, expects sales of the writing instruments brand to register an 8-10 percent growth in 2016.
"China is a market with a high potential and bright prospects," explained Rachel Goh, an associate brand manager at Newell. "The sales performance is increasing year by year."
What were luxury pens in the past are now affordable lifestyle accessories that fit well with China's gift-giving business culture. Small wonder, Parker generated 400 million yuan ($62 million) in sales revenue in China last year.
Parker, which was established in 1888, sells its complete portfolio of products in China, with the high-end Sonnet and the IM range pens being the preferred choices among Chinese consumers, particularly as a gift choice in urban areas.
This year, Newell expects to inaugurate three Parker flagship stores to meet increasing demand for its writing instruments.
"More and more Chinese consumers are pursuing higher quality in life," highlighted Goh from Parker. "They are also more willing to splurge on high quality or luxury stationery. That means, we can expect more and more business opportunities in this market."
The brand has now 400 franchises in 50 cities across China, particularly in department stores and shopping malls.
While sales volumes of premium fountain pens are expected to contract in mature markets like North America and Europe, they are expected to keep growing in China in the coming years.
"Perhaps the greatest achievement of the fountain penand ultimately the key to its endurancehas been its transformation from a workhorse of classrooms and offices into a personal luxury accessory," explained Rob Walker, an analyst at Euromonitor.
China's austerity campaign initiated by President Xi Jinping in 2012 has had a significant impact on the gift-giving culture. Consumers now prefer to gift top-quality pens in place of luxury watches and high-end spirits.
"There is evidence that brands such as Montblanc (Richemont) and Parker (Newell Rubbermaid) have benefitted from a shift toward less ostentatious gifts in China since 2012," added Walker from Euromonitor.
Customers pick pens at an international gift fair in Beijing. A JING/CHINA DAILY
Flourishing Italian premium stationery firms go high-tech and expand in China
At a time when electronic forms of communication are taking over, the number of premium stationery boutiques is growing in China, catering to those consumers looking for sophisticated products that spell tradition and refinement.
The transformation of stationery products from practical tools to lifestyle accessories is opening up a new world of opportunity for high-end foreign stationery firms in China.
For instance, Campo Marzio, which started as a small family-owned leather goods shop in central Rome in 1933, is now known for its soft Italian leatherette business accessories in bold colors and sophisticated writing instruments with scented inks.
The Italian stationer entered China in 2005 with a flagship store and an office in Hong Kong.
A Moleskine daily diary and a high-end ballpoint pen in use.GETTY IMAGES
"If ten years ago someone had told me we would have a great experience in China, I wouldn't have believed it," explained Roberto Di Giorgio, managing director of Campo Marzio. "However, in the last 10 years, China has become our priority market."
Last year, the premium stationer registered annual retail sales of 30 million yuan ($4.6 million), reflecting a strong appetite for the brand in the country.
Campo Marzio, which already has 20 stores in China's largest cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Xi'an expects to open this year an additional 20 retail stores and special boutique kiosks across China.
The expansion of its brick-and-mortar stores will be complemented by an online store to be launched in September, a strategy that is expected to increase the company's sales in China by 30 percent this year.
For Di Giorgio, the success of the brand in China reflects that Chinese consumers are becoming less brand-conscious and are opting for craft products with a personal touch instead.
"China is a very special market because clients want very high-quality products with a unique design," explained Di Giorgio. "Chinese love culture and calligraphy. China is one of the few places in the world where fountain pens sell better than ballpoint and roller pens, which means that Chinese know the pleasures of writing."
Nonetheless, because high-end stationery firms are aware that the use of electronic media is affecting the way we communicate and the writing materials we use, Campo Marzio will introduce a new line of pens that can be used to both write on paper and to register messages on a computer or smartphone, allowing users to always have a digital and a physical copy of their writing.
The introduction of technology settings is one of the reasons why the company will soon relocate its Asia office from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, one of China's busiest technology hubs.
Even though imported stationery remains a niche market, representing just 3 percent of the total domestic demand of $11.6 billion, premium products have a loyal clientele among Chinese consumers.
Imports of stationery products reached $352.7 million in 2015, helped by the use of technological advantages and solid brand reputation, according to a market report by business intelligence firm IBIS World.
"As most domestic companies in the industry operate as manufacturers rather than brand-holders, the Chinese market is still reliant on imports of high-end products," wrote IBIS.
Imports of stationery products are forecast to grow to $384.5 million in 2020, as more leading foreign enterprises will enter the Chinese market over the next five years.
Milan-listed Moleskine Spa came into being in 1997 with the idea of reviving the style of the iconic pocket-size black notebooks used by legendary artists and thinkers like the US writer Ernest Hemingway and Spanish painter Pablo Picasso.
In early 2013, the Italian company opened its first Chinese store in Shanghai and in a period of just two years, the brand inaugurated 21 directly operated stores across the country, with a flagship store in central Beijing.
"The brand has been enjoying a growing popularity in China ever since we opened in Shanghai," explained Moleskine CEO Arrigo Berni.
Given the high demand for premium stationery products, Moleskinew expects to open six new stores in China this year.
Last year, the company generated revenues of 23.06 million euros ($26.12 million) in the Asia Pacific region, a 64 percent growth on the year, thanks to continued retail expansion.
"In China, there's a natural passion for writing and writing instruments, which stems from its rich and ancient writing civilization," said Berni.
Moleskine notes that writing instruments, particularly pens and pencils, limited-edition notebook collections dedicated to the literary icon The Little Prince, and cartoon character Doraemon are among the most popular items in China.
As technology evolves towards a paperless world of electronic devices, the brand is also improving its products.
Moleskine has been recently focusing on digital services, particularly in developing applications for smartphones and tablets.
"We never believed in competition between paper and technology. Our brand actually grew up in the digital era," added Berni. "A study showed that more than 60 percent of people now use both notebooks and digital devices to write."
Pedestrians walk past a branch of ICBC (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China) in Shanghai, China, Dec 4, 2014. [Photo/IC]
ICBC Standard Bank, a subsidiary of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd, has agreed to buy Barclays PLC's precious metals vault storage business in London.
Upon completion of the acquisition, ICBC, China's largest commercial lender by assets, will become the first Chinese bank to have a vault in London, which is one of the largest precious metals vaults in Europe, the bank announced on Monday evening. The vault can store 2,000 tons of gold and other precious metals such as silver, platinum and palladium.
By owning a precious metals vault, ICBC Standard Bank will be capable of providing a precious metals clearing service. It will offer customized services including supply and inspection of precious metals, according to ICBC.
"This enables us to better execute our strategy to become one of the largest Chinese banks in the precious metals market," said Mark Buncombe, head of commodities at ICBC Standard Bank, in a statement. "The acquisition of a precious metals vault allows us to expand our services in clearing and processing," he added.
ICBC will gain the ability to provide one-stop precious metals services across the entire process, which includes clearing, market making, pricing fixing, vaulting and risk management. The bank will be able to carry out both retail and wholesale business on precious metals, whether they are paper or physical.
Earlier in May, ICBC Standard Bank was approved to join a precious metals clearing system operated by London Precious Metals Clearing Ltd, becoming the first Chinese bank to provide clearing services for London's precious metals market.
ICBC is the first banking group to be admitted to London Precious Metals Clearing Ltd since 2005, joining the other five membersBarclays, HSBC Holdings PLC, JPMorgan Chase & Co, the Bank of Nova Scotia and UBS AG.
"The admission will give China a louder voice and improve its status in the international precious metals market," the bank said in a statement.
Apart from the clearing service, ICBC Standard Bank will have the opportunity to play an important role in providing precious metals commodity leasing and financing intermediary services, according to analysts.
Since the start of its precious metals business in 2009, to the end of March, ICBC has recorded nearly 730,000 tons of total metals trading volumes with the value of transactions exceeding 7 trillion yuan ($1.07 trillion).
The bank has built a global investment management platform for precious metals and commodities while steadily pushing forward its business in core international financial markets. It was approved access to the gold price mechanism of London Bullion Market Association as a gold fixing pricer in April.
Barclays, meanwhile, has decided to exit the precious metals business in the wake of US and European Union regulators examining whether at least 10 banks, including Barclays, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Deutsche Bank AG, manipulated the prices of precious metals.
Jack Ma, chairman of the China Entrepreneur Club and chairman of the Alibaba Group. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Jack Ma, the billionaire chairman and founder of China's e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba Group, paid a secret visit to the White House on Tuesday, The Washington Post reported.
The newspaper said reporters had spotted Ma leaving the White House grounds with several aides and at least two security guards.
Ma declined to comment other than to simply say his meeting with US President Barack Obama was "very good".
A White House spokesperson confirmed that Obama had lunch with Ma but offered no other details of their meeting. The lunch meeting was not listed on the US president's public schedule.
The newspaper cited White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest as saying Obama and Ma have shared a stage in Malaysia last November during the Asia-Pacific Economic Summit, where the US president interviewed Ma, then China's second-richest man, in front of a crowd of business executives.
Ma overtook China's property giant Dalian Wanda's Wang Jianlin to become Asia's richest man in April after his company's affiliate Ant Financial raised a new financing round of $4.5 billion.
That added $4.3 billion to Ma's fortune, bumping his wealth to $33.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionares Index.
Staff members unload parcels from a plane of China Southern Airlines at the Wuhan International Airport in Wuhan city, Central China's Hubei province, August 8, 2013. [Photo / IC]
The government plans to build more than 500 airports and create a market worth more than one trillion yuan ($153.8 billion) for its general aviation industry by 2020.
According to a guideline issued by the State Council, by 2020, the country will have more than 500 general aviation airports in a number of places, including major agricultural areas, major forest regions and over 50 percent of 5A tourist scenic spots.
It also plans to increase the number of general aircraft, including helicopters and private jets, to more than 5,000 by 2020. Total annual flying time is estimated to rise to 2 million hours, it added.
Meanwhile, the country will move toward further opening up lower altitude airspace for civilian use and promote research and manufacturing in the sector.
The State Council said the country will encourage private investment in the general aviation sector, boost pilot training and expand the use of general aircraft in disaster relief, emergency medical services and environmental monitoring, as well as national land and resources exploration.
To encourage aviation consumption, general aviation is encouraged to integrate with the internet, creative economy and tourism, the guideline said.
China saw a rapid development in its general aviation industry. The latest data show that as of the end of 2015, China had more than 300 airports, 281 enterprises, and 1,874 aircrafts. Total annual flying time reached 732,000 hours last year.
Xinhua contributed to this story.
SHANGHAI -- A Chinese semiconductor company has filed a trademark rights suit against three companies, including US-based Qualcomm Incorporated, claiming compensation of 100 million yuan.
A court in Shanghai held a hearing on Tuesday, but did not give a judgement in court.
According to the legal complaint submitted by the plaintiff, the "Gaotong" trademark in Chinese characters was registered in 1992, the year the semiconductor company was established.
The company complained that Qualcomm, which produces communication technology and semiconductors, used exactly the same Chinese characters for "Gaotong" as its trademark in advertising after entering the Chinese market.
Another two Chinese companies that used "Gaotong" in their company names were also sued.
Ke Yu checks her camera at the studio in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, April 13, 2016. [Photo/VCG]
Ke Yu and her boyfriend, Mao, have a studio where they not only shoot photos of people, but also provide space for people to make desserts in Ningbo, Zhejiang province.
The two young people graduated from college with degrees in photography. Because they did not want to work for others, they opened a photograph studio last year in Hangzhou city.
After struggling for a year in Hangzhou, they decided to return to Ke's hometown, Ningbo, to start a new business. At their studio, people not only learn to make desserts, but also can get photos that recorded their expressions while they were cooking.
"The reason to combine photograph and desserts is because I want to record people's brightest smiles when they are making, or eating the sweets," Ke said.
BEIJING -- Chinese mainland is the fastest growing mutual-fund market in Asia and will hold that position for the foreseeable future, Fitch Ratings said Wednesday in a report.
The Chinese mainland accounted for more than 3 percent of the global market in 2015, Fitch said, citing increasing incomes, high savings and the preference for bank deposits over asset-management products as major driving forces.
At the end of 2015, total mutual fund assets in the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong, as well as the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, had grown to $4.2 trillion from $2.3 trillion in 2011, accounting for 11 percent of the global market.
E-commerce conglomerate Alibaba Group announced on Wednesday to merge its online flea market and online auction business together, aiming to create the largest sharing economy platform in the country.
The company said in its headquarters in Hangzhou city of Zhejiang province that both of the businesses are community-based services with high interaction between users. The merger would help the company test the waters in various sectors, including online auctions for second-hand cars.
"The merger of the two businesses is not a simple addition but a multiplication. For us, it is time for the community-based sharing economy platform to take off," said Zhang Jianfeng, chief technology officer of Alibaba.
Alibaba's online flea market named Xianyu is a dedicated platform for people to sell their used goods. The mobile app has more than 100 million registered users; the value of transactions on the platform grew 15-fold from January 2015 through March 2016, according to a recent report from the company.
Alibaba's online auction business, launched in 2012, has successfully brought many things, including overseas islands and castles, under the hammer.
The company said that it has started to invite some of the users on Xianyu to test the online auction feature. More users are expected to try it out soon.
Fueled by rising earnings on online games, Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd reported a growth of 33 percent year-on-year in net profit in the first quarter, beating analysts' estimates.
Net income climbed 33 percent year-on-year to a record 9.18 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) in the three months ending in March, the Hong Kong-listed company said on Wednesday. That compares with the 8.71 billion-yuan average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Ma Huateng, Chairman and CEO of Tencent, said the company has made progress in further building up its social, games and media platforms.
"Our smart phone games achieved healthy user and revenue growth, thanks to our expanding portfolio of popular titles, operational expertise, and extensive user reach," he said in a statement.
Out of the 32 billion yuan revenue Tencent generated in the first quarter, about 25 billion yuan was from the Value Added Services unit, which includes online games and messaging.
Its online games revenue grew by 28 percent year-on-year to 17.1 billion in the first quarter with contributions mainly from new smartphone games such as CrossFire Mobile, Honor of Kings, The Legend of MIR 2 and Naruto Mobile.
The monthly active users of Weixin and WeChat together reached 762 million at the end of the quarter, representing a year-on-year growth of 39 percent. The solid growth in users in turn drove up Tencent's online advertising business with the unit's revenue surging by 73 percent year-on-year to 4.7 billion yuan in the first quarter.
China sold 58,125 units of new energy cars in the first quarter (Q1) this year, more than doubling the 27,271 units sold in the same period last year, according to data from China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
If we break down the numbers, sales of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles stood at 15,994 units, up 43 percent year on year. Sales of all-electric cars came to 42,131 units, 1.4 times than the same period last year.
Let's take a look at the best-selling Chinese new energy cars in the first quarter.
No 5 BYD Qin
Sales: 2,723 units
A Chinese employee working on the Kadjar car assembly line of France's Renault and China's Dongfeng Group factory in Wuhan, Hubei province. Renault was the last major producer that has opened a car factory in China.AFP
Jiangxia district in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, takes pride in its young car culture: streets here are named after Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac. People introduce their hometown as "China's Motor City", and many young people expect to work in the automotive industry when they leave school or college.
The district is home to Shanghai General Motors' Wuhan factory, which opened last year and assembles 1,300 Buick Excelles a day, at full tilt, supporting an ecosystem of dozens of auto parts factories.
Just across the Yangtze River is a new Dongfeng Renault plant that opened in February. The joint venture plans an eventual annual capacity of 300,000 cars.
The riverfront is at the heart of the city's ambitions. Wuhan attracts foreign investment partly through ease of water transit and proximity to the inland market. The city was founded on steel and the car industry is seen as away of weaning the city off its over-reliance on a declining industry.
Once China's biggest steelmaker and the pride of the city, Wuhan Iron and Steel (Group) Corp is now under pressure to cut excess capacity like many others. Board Chairman Ma Guoqiang has said that as many as 50,000 workers "will need to find another job".
Thankfully for those about to be laid off, Wuhan is home to nine car factories, including joint ventures with Renault, PSA and Honda, plus dozens of auto parts-makers.
The auto industry now supplies 20 percent of the city's industrial output and employs more than 1 million residents.
A personnel manager with Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile said that the number of assembly workers is actually falling as robots take their jobs, but more jobs are opening up among parts-makers and at vehicle storage facilities.
In the eyes of local people, the car industry is where the action is. "Wuhan is becoming a city of cars, attracting billion-dollar projects, and many smaller plants. I came back because I saw the potential here," said Kang Mansheng, 35, who works at a parts-maker in Jiangxia. Kang spent eight years as a driver and mechanic in eastern China but came back in 2015 with his wife and many colleagues as local salaries improved.
"Many people have had similar experiences. They have worked in car businesses in other cities and returned to Wuhan with experience and skills. They have faith in the future of the city," Kang said.
Apart from picking up the employment slack left by steel mills, the auto industry is a major customer of steel producers, and the city sees it as a stimuli to upgrading the steel industry.
WISCO now supplies steel panels to local car plants, 70 percent of DPCA's panels in fact, along with other marks such as Volkswagen and Land Rover.
Li Minghuan, a director of the DPCA technical center, said WISCO began supplying low-end panels in 2000 and is now a strategic supplier of DPCA. The two companies even have a joint R&D lab.
A spokesperson for WISCO's sales department said it sells steel to dozens of automakers in Wuhan and the surrounding area, greatly aided by low-cost water transportation on the Yangtze River.
Wuhan is not the only Chinese city switching to auto production. Upstream on the Yangtze, Chongqing has similar ambitions. Home to Changan Automobile and a new Beijing Hyundai plant, the southwestern city is working toward an annual capacity of 4 million cars by 2017. Other cities producing more than 1 million cars annually include Shanghai, Beijing, Changchun and Guangzhou, but overcapacity concerns are rising as the car market becomes saturated.
China sold more than 24.5 million cars in 2015, up 4.7 percent year-on-year, but that rate was down by 2.2 percentage points on 2014.
Yet there are still positive signs. Dong Yang, executive vice-chairman of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, cites low car ownership-only around 30 percent of Chinese families have a car-and anticipated future economic growth as mitigating factors against oversupply.
Zhang Dejiang (R), chairman of China's National People's Congress, followed by Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, arrives for a three-day visit in Hong Kong May 17, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]
China's top legislator commended on Tuesday the efforts by Hong Kong's chief executive and its government in faithfully implementing the "One Country, Two Systems" principle and Basic Law, and in successfully promoting the city's economic and livelihood development on multiple fronts.
Foreseeing a bright future for the city and the "One Country, Two Systems" principle, Zhang Dejiang encouraged the special administration region's government to continue to focus on economic development and on improving people's quality of living, to make greater contributions to the city's stability and prosperity.
Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, made the remarks after being briefed on Tuesday afternoon on the SAR government's work, as part of his inspection tour of the city from Tuesday to Thursday.
Zhang acknowledged that the SAR government had introduced many new measures to address social issues, including land, housing, elderly care and poverty alleviation, with some success already.
He said the central government found the work of the SAR government satisfactory, as President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang did in December when the chief executive went to Beijing to give the annual SAR government work report to the central authorities.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying thanked Zhang for visiting, saying that the SAR government's achievements are dependent on the central government's support.
Zhang is the first State leader to visit the SAR since 2012.
"I'm here to observe, listen and speak," he said.
The visit has drawn attention at home and abroad as Hong Kong has faced economic and social fluctuations in recent years.
Zhang, who was met by Leung at Hong Kong International Airport, conveyed regards from President Xi and the central government to the people of Hong Kong.
The top legislator, who also oversees Hong Kong and Macao affairs, said he wanted to see for himself the changes that have taken place in the city and in people's daily lives, and to meet "old and new friends" from different sectors.
Zhang said he hoped to hear officials' and the local community's views and suggestions on the implementation of Basic Law, "One Country, Two Systems" and "a high degree of autonomy".
He said he was interested in hearing advice on the SAR's economic development.
Zhang will speak at the Belt and Road Summit on Wednesday morning and at an official banquet in the evening.
Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung, of the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong, is among the few lawmakers and Executive Council members invited to attend a reception with Zhang before the banquet.
Lam said he plans to ask Zhang for the central government's continuous support of the local economy amid the gloomy global economic outlook.
He said he will also propose that Hong Kong be made the treasury center of the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
Amid growing threats of global terrorism and radical "localism", Hong Kong police raised the security level for the visit.
Various protests have been held in recent years, some even escalating into mass incidents, such as the illegal "Occupy Central" movement in 2014 and the Mong Kok riot this year.
luisliu@chinadailyhk.com
The People's Liberation Army has conducted at least three landing exercises in China's southeastern coastal regions since the beginning of May, military media have reported.
The latest and largest one was carried out recently by a regiment under the PLA 31st Group Army, which is reportedly based in Fujian, a coastal province in Southeast China across the Straits from Taiwan.
The exercise aimed to demonstrate and test the joint landing operation capability of a "basic combat unit", featuring information warfare and the combined strike of new-type weapons, PLA Daily quoted Lieutenant Colonel Chen Xiaoming, commander of the regiment, as saying on Tuesday.
Video broadcast on China Central Television's military news channel showed that at the start of the drill, several WZ-10 attack helicopters, the most powerful armed helicopter of the PLA, fired missiles and rockets to destroy ground targets. Additionally, ZTD-05A amphibious assault armored vehicles were released from landing craft in the water and then bombarded the landing area as they sailed toward the beach.
As "enemies" on the beach were overpowered, transport helicopters airdropped soldiers, and other troops charged onto the beach aboard assault boats.
After the designated landing area was occupied, the regiment dispatched heavy-duty weapons including a group of Type-96 main battle tanks and several HJ-9 anti-tank missile launchers to eliminate the "enemy", according to the video.
In addition, the landing force used drones to conduct reconnaissance on the "enemy".
"It would be unimaginable several years ago that a regiment-level exercise would have support from military helicopters and tanks," a military expert with the PLA who asked not to be identified told China Daily. "The rapid development and modernization of the PLA now allow us to fulfill a landing operation using only a couple of hours and with few casualties."
On May 11, one of the PLA Navy's Marine Corps brigades conducted a landing exercise in a coastal region in Guangdong province, PLA Daily previously reported. Additionally, in early May, a landing vessel flotilla under the PLA Navy's South Sea Fleet used its Zubr-class hovercraft to stage a landing exercise, according to the military newspaper.
zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn
Chinese President Xi Jinping addresses a symposium discussing the country's work in philosophy and social sciences in Beijing, capital of China, May 17, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]
President Xi Jinping held a rare, high-profile symposium on Tuesday on building up philosophy and the social sciences, marking Beijing's latest effort to beef up its soft power and push for a larger say on the world stage.
Addressing about 150 people, most of whom are leading figures in philosophy, history, Marxism and economics, Xi called for "more independent and innovative theories and ideas" that will take root from China's reality.
It was the first time that China's top leader hosted such a seminar on philosophy and the social sciences. It was the third seminar held by Xi this year about the country's cultural sector. The first was Xi's February speech about the role of China's media, and the second was his seminar in April on the nation's internet industry.
"While China undergoes the most extensive and sophisticated social reform in its history, this is an era that needs theory and gives rise to theory, this is an era that needs thought and gives rise to thoughts," Xi said in a 100-minute speech.
The president said a country without advanced development of the natural sciences cannot be a leading nation, and neither can a country without booming achievements in philosophy and the social sciences.
He urged the academicians to follow the guidance of Marxism, to base their work on national conditions, and to draw on achievements from foreign countries and history.
Observers said that Xi, concerned with the weakness of the country's soft sciences, aims to enhance China's cultural confidence, sweep away confusion among its people brought on by the country's rapid social and economic transition, and make China better heard on the world stage.
Hu Angang, an economist at Tsinghua University, said at the meeting that the event reflected the importance the central leadership attaches to the field, since it is a matter of achieving cultural prowess after becoming an economic giant.
"Against the background of China becoming a rising power, we need to lay a solid foundation in the theoretical and cultural fields," Hu said.
Justin Yifu Lin, an economist at Peking University and a former World Bank vice-president, said some Chinese lack confidence in China's development path and institutional systems amid rapid social change. A major reason for this is that the country's philosophy and social sciences lack adequate theories that can explain China's economic and social scenario, Lin added.
wujiao@chinadaily.com.cn
China is to strengthen cooperation with France in the hope that this will help boost the global economy, Premier LiKeqiang told the French foreign minister in Beijing on Monday.
Li told Jean-Marc Ayrault the Chinese government attaches great importance to its ties with France. Beijing hopes to conduct in-depth cooperation with Paris infields including nuclear energy as well as working actively with it to explore other markets.
He said China hopes bilateral cooperation will promote the two countries' economic development and provide impetus for a global economic recovery.
Li said that by comprehensively deepening reform and actively expanding opening-up, China's economy can operate within a reasonable range and change for the better in the long run. It can also prevent systemic financial risks and maintain stability in the finance sector.
Ayrault said, "I am fully confident about French-Chinese ties as well as China's economic development."
He said France hopes to keep promoting exchanges and cooperation with China in fields including nuclear energy and electricity, and strengthen multilateral communication and collaboration.
Ayrault's official visit to China comes days after the European Parliament passed a nonlegislative resolution opposing China's market economy status.
Ayrault also met with Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday. Wang said China hopes to further enhance strategic mutual trust and deepen pragmatic bilateral cooperation with France.
Wang also urged the European Union to "keep its promise" and end its anti-dumping "surrogate country" approach to China, in accordance with China's accession protocol to the World Trade Organization.
Cui Hongjian, head of the Department of European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said Sino-French relations have "hope and opportunities" as well as "difficulties and challenges".
He said now is a crucial time for the development of these relations, and France should show more sincerity in conducting bilateral cooperation and improving the efficiency of its domestic reform policies.
Cui said Wang's remarks indicate that China hopes that France will "play its due part in the European Union" in working for a result that satisfies and benefits both China and the EU.
Editor's Note: China Daily is publishing a series of reports on cross-Straits relations ahead of Taiwan's new leader taking office. The reports are jointly compiled with the Taipei-based China Post. This, the third in the series, looks at some of those who crossed the Straits to experience the wave of entrepreneurship sweeping the Chinese mainland and embrace the challenge and opportunities of a larger market with a common history.
A proposal for amending Taiwan's Referendum Act has attracted extensive attention as the island's leadership is about to change, and might sabotage current cross-Straits relations, experts said.
Proposed by the island's New Power Party and Democratic Progressive Party, the amendment would subject new cross-Straits political agreements to approval at the ballot box before taking effect. It would also reduce the number of votes needed to pass a referendum and require a vote for any government decision involving territory.
The amendment was given preliminary approval by the island's "legislature" on May 11.
On Friday, Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of the DPP, will assume leadership and deliver a speech.
"Once the amendment is passed, many political subjects, including 'Taiwan independence', would be subject to referendum," said Li Yihu, director of Peking University's Taiwan Institute. "The amendment is an extremely sensitive issue at an extremely sensitive time. We are keeping a close eye on it."
Li said any act that aims at undermining territorial integrity is unacceptable and will destroy the status quo of cross-Straits relations.
"If national sovereignty and territorial integrity were threatened, it would be possible for China to invoke the Anti-Secession Law," Li said. "Cross-Straits relations are now at a turning point. Which way to go depends on the activity of the island's new leadership."
Yang Lixian, a researcher at the National Taiwan Research Association, said the current proposal simply lowers the threshold for public votes. The key point is what do people vote for, she said.
She said the island's former leader, Chen Shui-bian, who was also a member of the DPP, launched a few referendums in order to split Taiwan from China, but they all failed.
"Tsai adjusted her strategy after Chen's failures and became less aggressive on independence because, on one hand, cross-Straits relations have been rapidly developing in the past eight years, and on the other, international society wants a peaceful strait."
Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged the United States on Monday to "properly tackle the Taiwan question" during a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State John Kerry.
It is hoped the US will uphold its one-China policy and firmly maintain its commitment to key joint statements released by the two countries, Wang was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry.
Kerry said the US has not and will not change its position regarding Taiwan question, and it does not support Taiwan independence.
Although Tsai has talked about preserving the status quo in cross-Straits relations, she has not yet convinced people that the DPP will give up its pursuit of the island's full independence from the mainland, said Zhang Guanhua, deputy director of the Institute of Taiwan Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Tsai and the DPP have long refused to endorse the 1992 Consensus that says Taiwan and the mainland are both parts of one China, Zhang added.
"The proposal lowers the threshold for a referendum but pushes up barriers to cross-Straits talk and cooperation," Zhang said. "If the new leadership continues to equivocate on the 1992 Consensus, the exchange, especially economic cooperation across the Straits, would face growing pressure."
Contact the writers at pengyining@chinadaily.com.cn and zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn
The parents of a boy who died at a private children's hospital in Beijing last year want police to file a criminal charge against the doctor suspected of causing the 3-year-old's death.
The incident caught public attention as several unnatural deaths recently in Beijing have raised concern whether the government's supervisory role is effective.
The parents took the boy to Beijing Shouer Liqiao Children's Hospital in Shunyi district on Oct 23 for dental treatment. The parents said the boy died during the treatment but the hospital didn't give any explanation for the death.
The mother said she heard her son yelling during the treatment and wanted to enter the medical room to have a look but was refused entry by medical staff. A few minutes later she was told the boy had died.
A news report from Beijing Times said an autopsy found the boy had suffocated on a cotton ball.
The parents visited the criminal investigation division of the public security sub-bureau in Shunyi district on Monday and asked the police to file a criminal complaint against the doctor, based on the forensic report, but were turned down.
They were told the report is not sufficient for the police to file a criminal case because it cannot tell whether it was an accident or medical malpractice, according to the news report.
The district's public health department said it would look into the matter and act in accordance with laws and regulations.
A reporter from Beijing Times said the doctor is still working at the hospital.
The reporter quoted Wang Zhenghai, who is in charge of medical services at the hospital, as saying the hospital would allow the doctor to work unless she is found guilty.
But the hospital refused to comment on the matter on Tuesday.
The parents have sued the hospital for compensation in a civil case, which began in December and is underway.
Nearly 20 percent of imported baby safety seats for cars failed to meet China's standards last year, the country's top quality watchdog said on Tuesday.
Almost 24 percent of disposable sanitary goods imported last year were also substandard, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said.
Sample checks covering more than 1,000 imported baby safety seats found more than 200 were substandard.
The administration said the main problems with the products were a lack of Chinese labeling or user guidance manuals, and failure in impact tests, putting infants at risk in case of car accidents.
Baby seats that failed to reach sanitary, safety and environmental protection standards were destroyed or returned to their places of manufacture, the administration said.
Sun Wenkang, director of the administration's Department of Inspection Supervision, said, "Many importers are not familiar with the inspection and quarantine rules and failed to label the goods in Chinese."
Such products are usually allowed to enter China only after they are properly labeled, he said.
Under the Product Quality Law, all products sold on the Chinese mainland must include labeling in Chinese. This must specify the name of the product, the manufacturer and the manufacturer's addresses.
The administration also said similar problems were found in disposable sanitary goods, such as diapers and sanitary pads.
Last year, authorities across China inspected 16,800 disposable sanitary goods with a total value of $737 million, and 23.9 percent of them failed to meet standards, a year-on-year increase of 3.03 percentage points.
The substandard goods, valued at $229 million, included a wide range of products, such as paper diapers for babies, sanitary pads for women, face tissues and paper towels. They were imported from more than 30 countries and regions, including Japan, South Korea and the United States.
The 5th China-Europe High-Level Political Parties Forum is being held in Beijing from May 17 to 18. Photo by Chen Yingqun
China and Europe's political leaders are in Beijing discussing about future cooperation potential, especially in the green economy and under China's Belt and Road Initiative.
Themed Forging Partnership for Reform and Development: New Prospect of China-Europe Cooperation, the 5th China-Europe High-Level Political Parties Forum started in Beijing on Tuesday and has welcomed more than 80 European leaders representing more than 30 political parties from 24 European countries, regional European political parties and political party groups in the European Parliament and theirs diplomats in China.
Song Taominister of the International Department, Central Committee of CPC, said China and Europe are both looking for development paths that fit for themselves.
China's five concepts of development during the 13th Five-Year Plan(2016-2020) - innovation, coordination, green development, opening up, and sharing - and China's Belt and Road Initiative, greatly match with the development strategies of European Union countries. The green development and open development have especially provided many opportunities for future China-EU cooperation.
"China and Europe are both looking for development paths that fit for them, and both face various challenges and pressures both at home and overseas. Our mutual interest is increasing, and it is more essential for both to work together," he said at the opening ceremony at Tuesday.
He said that communication between political parties plays an important role in the China-Europe relationship. He hoped that political leaders in China and Europe would attach great importance to communication, push forward practical cooperation, exchange experiences of management and also strengthen dialogue.
Song added that China has been European Union's second-largest trade partner for 12 straight years. The European Union side should perform their duties regulated in international treaties, and recognize China's market economy status with the interest of both sides as that will bring huge potential for bilateral trade and Europe's development. He hoped that European political parties will play a leading role in pushing forward the European Union to perform their duties regulated by the WTO on schedule.
Sergei Dmitrievich Stanishev, the leader of the Party of European Socialists, the second-largest party in the European Parliament, said that for certain period of time China put economic development first, but now it is more focus on seeking more sustainable development and is looking for more environmental-friendly policies. So there's a lot potential in cooperation in green industry.
Moreover, China's Belt and Road Initiative could be connected with Europe's 315 billion euro investment plan, as they are complementary with each other.
He said there are three areas that have the most potential: infrastructure building in transport sector, energy sector, and digital area.
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.
Massimo D'Alema, the former prime minister of Italy, said that he strongly believes that green economy is the new frontier of growth and development.
He was in Beijing attending the 5th China-Europe High-Level Political Parties Forum from May 17 to 18, of which green economy is the main topic.
D'Alema said that green economy means that the world should reduce consumption of carbon and oil, and turn to solar, wind and renewable energy. Italy has been strong in doing that.
"I believe that is the future," he said.
He said for China it is important to reform the model of growth, which also means there's big potential for cooperation between Chinese companies and Italy electricity and energy companies.
"There's a new sensibility in public opinion for reducing pollution and I strongly believe that China would contribute to reduce a global warming and to reduce pollution," he said.
Sergei Dmitrievich Stanishev, the leader of the Party of European Socialists, the second-largest party in the European Parliament, said that for certain period of time China put economic development first and environment second, as people want to live better.
"But in China today, the issue of environment has become very topical," he said. "Last year, we had a big international success in the Paris climate change conference, and China played a very constructive role."
But now it is more focus on seeking more sustainable development and is looking for more environmental-friendly policies.
"In China I could see there's a new strategy in developing green energy, this is vast field of cooperation between EU and Chinese companies."
He said that EU companies could share their experiences with China and provide new technology, and Chinese companies could also get involved in EU market, which pose huge potential for both sides.
The military's recent drills along China's southeastern coast were "regular arrangements made in accordance with the annual training plan", and they do not deserve "excessive interpretation", the Ministry of National Defense said on Wednesday.
The response was made after comments on some media outlets said the drills were relevant to the situation along the southeastern coast.
"In recent days, our troops conducted drills for the ground force, navy and air force in the southeastern area, and they were aimed at examining and promoting the capability to tackle security threats and completing military missions," the ministry said in a written release.
Such drills were regular arrangements made in accordance with the annual training plan, and they "did not aim at any specific target and it is unnecessary for the relevant individuals to embark on excessive interpretation," the ministry added.
The People's Liberation Army has conducted at least three landing exercises in China's southeastern coastal regions since the beginning of May, military media reported.
The latest and largest one was carried out recently by a regiment under the PLA 31st Group Army, which is based in Fujian, a coastal province across the Straits from Taiwan.
Zhao Lei contributed to this story.
A staffer of an Internet company identifies porn photos on a social networking website. [Photo/IC]
Leading Chinese tech firms, including Baidu and Sina, were punished after their cloud storage services were found to contain pornographic materials, according to law enforcement authorities.
The move came after the government recently launched a campaign to crack down on pornographic videos and images distributed via cloud storage services.
The National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications said companies were asked to tighten their supervision of cloud storage services.
The office earlier released details on six cases that involved individuals profiting from the sale of account names and passwords host pornography in the cloud.
In one case, a court in Wuxi, East Jiangsu province, sentenced a man to three years in prison for selling individual accounts that had access to over 10,000 pornographic video clips for 50 yuan ($7.68).
A group of internet video player service providers have been investigated and punished for spreading pornography in a nationwide crackdown, the anti-porn authority said.
In Beijing, local authorities have probed and fined several cloud storage service providers, including Baidu and Sina, for porn distribution via their services.
Tech companies in China could offer users up to 2TB of free permanent storage as competition heats up, but this also leaves room for illegal online activities by some users.
Huawei Technologies Co Ltd's cloud service DBank said earlier this month it would halt cloud storage services to individual users in cooperation with "relevant authorities to clean up pornography and piracy that are spreading on the cloud services."
Last year, more than 1.4 million accounts of 360 Yunpan, a Chinese cloud storage service, were closed after police received information that the platform has been used to store and trade pornographic materials.
Zhang Haidi (L), chairwoman of China Disabled Persons' Federation and Zhu Ling (R), publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily, attend the opening ceremony for the new website. [Photo by Zou Hong/chinadaily.com.cn]
A new English-language website was launched by China Disabled Persons' Federation on Wednesday, with assistance from China Daily.
Zhang Haidi, the federation's chairwoman, said at the launch ceremony that the website will enhance international communication and act as a window to the world for China's disabled population of about 85 million.
Zhu Ling, the publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily, said the media group will use its expertise in communication and brand influence to build the website into one which provides all the latest news and updates on the federation, as well as information about the services it provides.
The website, which includes sections devoted to resources, initiatives and a media center, will allow foreign readers to learn more about the stories of disabled people in China and promote international communication and cooperation in the sector, Zhu added.
A two-year-old toddler was successfully rescued from a suspected trafficker after the platform reported her missing and received a witness's report. [Photo from Sina Weibo]
A toddler was successfully rescued from a suspected trafficker after the news of her disappearance was released by a missing child broadcasting platform days after its launch online.
The Emergency Response System, launched by the Ministry of Public Security on May 11, is similar to Amber Alert, a system for emergency information broadcasts about missing children in the United States. It also is the way that authorized government information is released on missing children.
At 2 pm on May 13, a two-year-old girl went missing near Hengshui railway station in North China's Hebei province. A surveillance video shows that she was brought away by a strange man with a square face and closely cropped hair.
The photo of the girl, the still image of the video showing the suspect and the police's contact number among other information were published on the platform.
"A witness called the police when he saw the information on the platform", said Chen Shiqu, deputy inspector with the MPS's criminal investigation bureau.
Based on the report and other clues, the police caught the suspect, surnamed Ma, and rescued the child in Longhu township, Zhengzhou of Central China's Henan province 32 hours after she went missing.
The platform has attracted more than 170,000 followers on its official account of Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter.
The information about missing children comes from more than 5,000 anti-trafficking police officers across the country.
It also sends messages to people within close range of the missing children on their phones.
"Previously, the police would hand out thousands of printed wanted leaflets if they failed to find any valuable clues when a child goes missing", he said, "but it is not efficient."
The platform solves this problem. Taking the location the child went missing from as the center, the push messages will be sent to people within a 100-kilometer radius within an hour of the missing report, 200 kilometers within two hours, 300 kilometers within three hours and 500 kilometers beyond three hours.
"The platform uses the internet to motivate people to collect and report clues and help combat child-trafficking," said Chen.
How do other countries fight against child abduction?
A drill will be conducted by the State-level and Guangdong provincial centers of maritime search and rescue on Thursday in the Pearl River Estuary, the largest exercise of its kind ever organized.
In total, 35 vessels, four planes and more than 1,300 people will participate in the drill, which will also see involvement from the maritime search and rescue forces of Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.
A collision between a foreign cargo ship carrying hazardous chemicals and a high-speed passenger ship heading from Zhuhai, Guangdong province to Hong Kong will be simulated in the waters off Guishan Island as part of the drill.
"With the rapid development of sea transport, an increasing number of high-speed passenger ships and cargo ships carrying chemicals are navigating Chinas coastal waters, which raises the risk of a crash between the two," said Zhuo Li, deputy director of the national center of maritime search and rescue, at a media briefing on Wednesday.
"The waters of the Pearl River Estuary are prone to marine accidents, given the busy traffic, special geographical location and complicated weather and sea conditions.
"Conducting drills regarding maritime search and rescue will help enhance the security of sea transport in these waters and serve the Belt and Road Initiative."
Zhuo said that China had held discussions with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on establishing a cooperative maritime search and rescue mechanism to maintain navigation and offshore production safety in the South China Sea.
A blueprint for information sharing in case of emergencies has also been discussed and a joint maritime search and rescue drill will be conducted by China and ASEAN members in Guangdong this September, Zhuo added.
The Pearl River Estuary is one of the countrys busiest waterways, with more than 4,000 ships sailing across it every day. Its largest ports include Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Hong Kong and Macao.
About 400 accidents and incidents have been recorded in the estuary in the past three years, involving about 4,900 people. Since 2014, Guangdong has stepped up its efforts to increase safety on the river and the number of accidents fell to 11 in 2015, a year-on-year decrease, according to Zhuang Zeping, deputy director of the provincial center of maritime search and rescue.
"The joint drill with Hong Kong and Macao will increase our ability to cooperatively handle marine emergencies and create a safe environment for the construction of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the development of the Pearl River Estuary into a world-class port cluster," Zhuang said.
BEIJING -- China on Wednesday decried a US decision to impose steep duties on Chinese-made cold-rolled flat steel.
The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said China was "strongly dissatisfied" with the United States for its final ruling on Chinese exports of cold-rolled flat steel.
MOC criticized the United States for adopting unfair methods in its anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probes into Chinese products and urged the U.S. to rectify its mistakes.
China is taking action under the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement framework, said the ministry website.
Since 2015, the United States has taken frequent trade remedy measures, trying to shift its domestic steel industry hardships abroad, violating the principles of the WTO and disrupting the order of the steel trade, it said.
The steel industry faces global challenges. Resorting to protectionism will not solve the problem, it said.
On Tuesday, the US Commerce Department set final anti-dumping duties of 265.79 percent and anti-subsidy duties of 256.44 percent on imports of cold-rolled flat steel from China.
China's Belt and Road Initiative is expected to bring more opportunities and open new markets for enterprises in Fuzhou.
"Fuzhou has been actively encouraging local enterprises to go out, to carry out investment and trade, and start business in the countries and regions along the maritime Silk Road," said Fuzhou's mayor Yang Yimin.
Yang said the city has been an important maritime Silk Road hub for many centuries and expressed confidence in the future development of Fuzhou because of China's Belt and Road Initiative and the city's unique location and advantages.
According to local government figures, there are more than 4 million overseas Chinese that can trace their origins to Fuzhou.
Their understanding of local markets and international business regulations, as well as their close links to their ancestral homeland, mean that they can help Fuzhou enterprises set up operations in overseas markets, according to a local official, adding that they are expected to play an important role in helping Fuzhou enterprises enter overseas markets.
Yang added that Fuzhou's active international trade and cultural exchanges, as well as the city's advanced level of opening-up, have given the city's enterprises a solid platform from which to launch their overseas expansions.
Chen Geng, president of Fuzhou Shangfei Clothing Co, said China's Belt and Road Initiative is aiding Chinese companies as they look to operate businesses in countries along the maritime Silk Road.
His company established a new clothing factory in Ethiopia last year with an initial investment of $12.5 million.
"Over the years, our company has been looking for more effective ways to develop," Chen said. "With the rising labor costs in China, we discussed building new factories elsewhere."
He said labor costs in China are now roughly six or seven times higher than in Ethiopia, and the company will continue to invest in its Ethiopian factory over the next 10 to 15 years.
"Ethiopia is stepping up its infrastructure construction to drive growth, which will help attract more Chinese enterprises," Chen said.
A number of enterprises from countries and regions along the maritime silk road have also come to Fuzhou to establish businesses. The establishment last year of the Fuzhou area of the Fujian Pilot Free Trade Zone has attracted a large number of foreign companies to the city, according to Yang.
"To implement the Belt and Road Initiative, Fuzhou should promote more trade and cultural exchanges with countries along the maritime Silk Road," Yang said.
"This will help Fuzhou improve its level of opening-up and accelerate local economic growth," he added.
Foreign exhibitors prepare their displays for the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Exhibition that opens on Wednesday. Hu Meidong / China Daily
(China Daily 05/18/2016 page7)
Dancers of the Shanghai Ballet rehearse for the upcoming performances of Hamlet. Chen Lunxun/China Daily
The most famous soliloquy of all times, "to be or not to be", will be "spoken" without uttering a word, through dance movements.
Shakespeare's play Hamlet will be presented as a full-length ballet, and the new production will premiere at Shanghai Grand Theater on April 15 and 16.
Choreographer Derek Deane says the story of Hamlet is "so universal that it can be told anywhere, in any language, any art form".
Despite earlier attempts to present the story in short episodes of ballet, there has not been a feature production. That's because choreographers often fret about "how am I going to tell the story", Deane says at a news conference in Shanghai.
He believes, however, the story is so famous and self-evident that there is no need to spell out everything that happens in Shakespeare's tale. Instead, he wants to bring out all the tragic and happy moments in the story of Hamlet.
Deane is a renowned choreographer from Britain who has been named as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. The former artistic director of the English National Ballet began to work with the Shanghai Ballet in 2000, and has since produced Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet and The Nutcracker with the company.
The Shanghai Ballet has been a prolific and innovative company, says Zhang Zhe, president of Shanghai Grand Theater, the coproducer of the ballet. The "wonder team" of the Shanghai Ballet and the theater has jointly produced The Nutcracker in 2010, Jane Eyre in 2012 and Echoes of Eternity in 2015.
Hamlet will be the only original project in the theater's new season commemorating the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare.
"We have chosen the project not simply because of the occasion or the whim of any official," Zhang says. "We have high respect for the principles of art, and picked the play after in-depth discussions with the choreographer."
Deane comes from a classical background, but the production is not strictly classical. "There is a whole cross-section choreographic movementwith lots of neoclassical work, as well as contemporary workin this piece," he says. "I view it emotionally, to change things choreographically, to express different emotions."
It was the rich feelings and colorful characters of the play that interested Deane.
"It's a wonderful story for the dance theater, because there is so much in it: There is love, hate, passion, desire, murder, suicideevery kind of emotion is part of the story."
As a choreographer, he found it "so much more interesting and more rewarding" to push the dancers, emotionally and physically.
Unlike a one-dimensional character like the prince in Swan Lake, Hamlet has "eight, 10 dimensions in his mind", and all these emotions make him more realand human.
It will be a two-hour production, during which Hamlet, played by Wu Husheng, "never leaves the stage".
Although Hamlet is an "extremely difficult role", Deane praises the dancer for being "intense, quiet and involved ... with the music, emotions, the character".
Wu has been a dancer with the Shanghai Ballet since 2003, performing the leading roles in the company's repertoires, such as Swan Lake, Jane Eyre and Echoes of Eternity.
To illustrate the psychological world of the "very disturbed, sad, sometimes happy and controlling personality" of Hamlet, the British stage designer Lez Brotherston has created contrasting costumes for Hamlet and other characters, as well as a two-level stage, with one level presenting the colors of the court and the other a bare and isolated room of Hamlet.
The music arrangement, by Michael England, incorporates different pieces by Tchaikovsky. England will be conducting the symphony of the Shanghai Opera House, performing live music to accompany for the ballet.
If you go
7:15 pm, April 15 and 16. Shanghai Grand Theater, 300 Renmin Avenue, Huangpu district, Shanghai.
400-106-8686.
Dancers from the National Ballet of China perform Giselle, adapted by Dai Ailian, which was staged at Beijing's Tianqiao Theater last week to commemorate Dai. Photos provided to China Daily
The 'mother of Chinese dance', Dai Ailian was remembered at Beijing's Tianqiao Theater last week with a gala staged by the National Ballet of China and the Beijing Dance Academy. Chen Nan reports.
Dai Ailian (1916-2006), the Trinidad-born Chinese ballerina who devoted her life to Chinese dance and was dubbed the "mother of Chinese dance", was remembered at Beijing's Tianqiao Theater last week with a gala staged by the National Ballet of China and the Beijing Dance Academy.
Six classic dance pieces choreographed or adapted by Dai were staged. They included The Lotus, one of Dai's signature works choreographed in the 1950s; Giselle, in which Dai helped young dancers of the National Ballet of China rehearse when she was 89; and Don Quixote, which was jointly adapted by Dai and Rudolf Nureyev (1938-93), who was then the director of the Paris Opera Ballet, and was invited by Dai to help guide the rehearsal of the NBC in 1985.
"Though it has been 10 years since her death, we still feel her presence in our rehearsal room," says Feng Ying, the president of the NBC.
Feng, who was trained by Dai, was speaking at a memorial forum held at the Great Hall of the People on Thursday.
Dai was named its principal when the Beijing Dance Academy was set up in 1954.
According to Feng, Dai then brought in a number of top international dancers, such as Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, to teach in China and tried her best to promote Chinese dancers to the world.
Rebuilding trust between the mainland and Hong Kong Updated: 2016-05-17 08:09 By Ho Lok-sang(HK Edition)
There is so much mistrust between the mainland authorities and Hong Kong people that it has been extremely difficult to take advantage of the possible gains that may be achieved through greater integration between Hong Kong and Shenzhen. These can be looked upon as "twin cities" much like Minneapolis and Saint Paul in the United States and Buda and Pest forming Budapest in Hungary. Hong Kong, an international and cosmopolitan "world city", has a population of 7.3 million. It is well known for its connectivity to the world and its rule of law. Metropolitan Shenzhen, now the most innovative and competitive city in China, has a population of 18 million. The two cities, each with their unique strengths, can complement each other and scale new heights - with benefits to both.
In the 2008-09 Policy Address, then chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen announced that DuPont decided to establish the Global Thin Film Photovoltaic Business/R&D Centre in the Hong Kong Science Park, and to set up production facilities in Shenzhen. He set his sights on "maximizing the benefits of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Innovation Circle". In the policy address the following year, Tsang explained that "the governments of Hong Kong and Guangdong are formulating a framework agreement for Hong Kong-Guangdong cooperation The framework will also serve as an agenda for Hong Kong-Guangdong cooperation, laying a foundation for us to seek to incorporate the related initiatives into the national 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015)." In April 2009, a new policy of allowing multiple entries into Hong Kong for all mainlanders (other than some officials whose travel to Hong Kong needed special approval) who had registered residence in Shenzhen took effect. At the time, all these ideas were accepted by the Hong Kong public without causing uproar. Unfortunately, all this has changed. Today any suggestion of integration will certainly be looked upon with suspicion.
Against this backdrop, the policy of multiple entries into Hong Kong was suspended in April 2015. From then on, Shenzhen residents were allowed to visit Hong Kong no more than once a week. This was in response to a rising tide of protests against parallel traders whose activities were seen to have disrupted the lives of Hong Kong people living in towns such as Sheung Shui and Tuen Mun. These protests, along with various "mobile occupy" activities called "gouwu" - an obvious extension of the "Occupy Central" movement of 2014 - reflect an emerging hostility against mainland visitors. This in turn reflects an erosion of mutual trust between mainlanders and Hong Kong people.
Recently some tourist operators tried to bring back the policy of multiple-visit permit for Shenzhen residents. In view of the mistrust between the Hong Kong public and mainlanders, such a move could backfire. The SAR government is wise in making it clear it has no plan to bring back multiple-visit permit.
However, the SAR government may and should move in the right direction, albeit cautiously. Instead of one trip a week, which is a far cry from multiple visits, it can try two trips a week. If this is deemed acceptable and found not to cause any problems, then it can increase the quota further to, say, three trips a week.
In order to rebuild trust, both the SAR government and the mainland authorities need to educate the public on the importance of truly upholding the "One Country, Two Systems" framework and to make a genuine effort to prevent any violation.
Today most of the parallel traders, whose activities are disorderly and pose a nuisance to residents of new towns close to the border, are Hong Kong residents. Thus, suspending multiple visits from Shenzhen residents is really beside the point, but Hong Kong still needs to be sensitive to the public's concerns. Along with increasing the number of visits from one to two a week, the SAR government may do well to persuade the mainland authorities to perform due diligence at customs checkpoints to combat smuggling activities.
There is little doubt that working together is the way to go for our twin cities. But trying to achieve this quickly, without regard for the reality of the public's concerns, may well actually slow down integration. Officials also should avoid using language that may alienate people. Speaking on a radio program, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Ceajer Chan Ka-keung said that those who are against integration may need to have their brains examined. Such language should be avoided.
We need to know that we are working on a very sensitive issue. For some reason, some people have become allergic to any ideas involving integration. Policymakers need to convince them that there is no conspiracy, and that any benefit from integration will find its way to the man in the street, and not fatten the purses of the wealthy. Thus, working by rules, increasing transparency, listening to and seriously addressing the concerns of people are all needed. We need to be patient, but we also must work in the right direction, taking one step at a time. Building trust is not easy; but destroying trust is. This much we have to remember.
(HK Edition 05/17/2016 page10)
The five Chinese teachers featured in the BBC documentary Are Our Kids Tough Enough? Chinese School. The documentary triggered a heated debate on British and Chinese education methods.
Education has traditionally been seen as a way out of poverty, and nowhere is this truer than in China. In Shanghai, particularly, a modern education system has been evolving since the mid-19th century, and education reforms have been carried out in step with the city's growth into a global commercial and trading hub.
What is astounding about Shanghai, however, is not just that it leads education reform within China. With a per capita GDP just above high-income threshold, the city already leads the world in terms of international performance in mathematics, science, and reading among 15-year-olds, as measured by tests developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The city is a perfect illustration of the broad global finding that the quality of educationthat is, what workers learn while in schoolmatters for economic growth. Higher quality education is a prominent factor in the striking success of East Asia compared to other world regions. This correlation is now recognized within the new Sustainable Development Goals adopted at the United Nations in 2015. Among other targets, the goals call for access to quality education for all by 2030 and lifelong learning opportunities. This is a major step up from the previous global target of universal access to primary education.
Against this global backdrop, developing countries are trying to find ways to solve an incredibly difficult problem: how to make sure that students learn. This has to do with as many as 250 million children around the world being unable to read or write despite having been to school. For these children, education simply does not fulfill its traditional promise. There are also 124 million children out of school at the primary and lower secondary levels.
Unsurprisingly, there is huge interest in the Shanghai education system. Representatives from over 25 countries are here in Shanghai this week to gain insights from the city's enormous success in both enrolling childrenincluding from migrant familiesas well as paying attention to the quality of education in all schools. The question is, how does Shanghai do it?
While many tend to attribute educational success in China with the influence of Confucian culture, a recent evaluation of Shanghai's educational system, using international benchmarks developed by the World Bank, shows that success is in fact also the result of deliberate measures and reforms to raise student learning levels; and the city's constant drive for excellence, careful planning, and meticulous implementation of policies.
These policies include excellent management of public finances for education, clear and well aligned learning standards, curriculum, and assessment system; maintaining the reputation and efficacy of the teaching force; taking strong steps to bring disadvantaged children into the system; and pairing low-performing schools with high-performing ones to help raise performance.
Shanghai continues to plan for a stronger education system that will meet the needs of a creative 21st century economy, including developing socio-emotional skills alongside cognitive ones. In other words, the city recognizes its own areas of improvement and persists with reform. For many developing countries, however, the city's education system remains an ideal, and lessons from Shanghai are exceptionally useful as they come, in the final analysis, from the heart of a developing nation that has made incredible inroads against poverty in recent decades.
At the World Bank we work with China and other countries to make education systems stronger at all levels from preschool to higher education, so that they can provide students with the skills necessary to promote shared prosperity, productivity and economic growth. It is part of our role to promote global exchange of knowledge, so that the path to the Sustainable Development Goals is better lit.
Bert Hofman is World Bank country director for China, Mongolia and South Korea, and Harry Patrinos is World Bank Practice Manager, Education, for East Asia and the Pacific.
Police officers stop vehicles in front of a flooded road section in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on May 10, 2016. [Photo/IC]
One after another, cities in southern China have found themselves inundated with the recent heavy rainfall. Residents are busy posting photos online, showing them in boats in the streets or catching fish in the water. Yet such a response should not obscure the fact that floods threaten people's lives and bring huge economic losses.
Flooding is caused not only by heavy rainfall, but also the inadequate infrastructure that fails to channel the water away. In September 2013, the State Council, China's Cabinet, urged local governments to improve the drainage capabilities of cities, and many cities have been working on this.
However, most of them are simply strengthening the pipes, which is only one of the necessary measures. In order to solve the problem of city flooding, authorities must take comprehensive measures that range from infrastructure maintenance to ecological protection.
The following are some proposals for a comprehensive solution.
First, the design standards for drainage pipes must be raised. According to current standards, the drainage pipes in most cities can only withstand the severity of a deluge that occurs only once in a half to three years.
Even in Beijing, the pipes are only designed to cope with the severity of rainstorms that occur only once every one to three years.
In developed countries, the pipes are designed to cope with rainstorms of a severity that happens only once in five to 10 years. For example, to help solve the problem of flooding in Tokyo, Japan has invested 240 billion yen ($2.21 billion) since 1992 in building a draining system in Saitama prefecture in the north of Tokyo.
Tourists enjoy various kinds of facilities on board Costa cruises. Photos provided to China Daily
An international giant teams up with Chinese partners to create a new domestic cruise line, as a growing number of Chinese tourists take to the sea, Xu Lin reports.
The global cruise company Carnival Corporation & plc, expects to jointly launch a domestically owned cruise brand in the Chinese market, in cooperation with Chinese corporations.
The brand is expected to be operating in the market sometime in 2018. Pending market research will determine where that joint venture will be positioned in the marketplace, according to Arnold W. Donald, the group's president and CEO.
During President Xi Jinping's visit to Britain in October, the Carnival group signed a joint-venture agreement with China State Shipbuilding Corporation and China Investment Corporation.
"The cruise brand will focus on Chinese citizens, but we can't define what style that brand will be, such as luxury or contemporary, until the research is finished," says Donald, who recently visited China for more discussion with the Chinese partners. The group already runs popular cruise brands in China such as Costa and Princess.
China National Tourism Administration data shows 120 million Chinese traveled overseas in 2015. According to the China Cruise and Yacht Industry Association, more than 1.11 million Chinese travelers took a cruise overseas in 2015, an increase of 50 percent over 2014. More than 120,000 foreigners visited China on a cruise, up 4.7 percent over 2014.
A tourist takes pictures while visiting a Turkish city. The Turkish tourism sector is eager to host Chinese tourists and aims to attract over 1 million Chinese this year. Photo provided to China Daily
Turkey's beleaguered tourism sector aims to attract over 1 million Chinese this year to compensate for the dwindling foreign arrivals from Europe and Russia, tourism professionals say.
"Turkey should urgently expand its target market to China as the country faces one of its worst years when it comes to tourism," says Cetin Gurcun, secretary general of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies.
Repeated terror attacks in Istanbul, Ankara and other Turkish cities amid a deteriorating security situation, coupled with poor relations with Russia, have brought down the number of foreign travelers and revenues to an extent that is being felt by all in the industry.
Serdar Ibis, member of the board of the travel company Dorak Tour, which focuses on Asian tourists, says: "Turkey should target at least 1 million Chinese tourists this year."
Turkey's tourism professionals say that it is possible to meet the 1 million Chinese target as the country's unique cultural tourism, which combines the modern with the ancient, appeals to Chinese visitors.
"Turkey has everything that a Chinese tourist would like. It is home to many civilizationsSeljuk, Hittite, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman," says Ibis.
Gurcun also says that TURSAB, or the association of Turkey's travel agencies, is determined to provide all the support needed to tourism agencies to attract more Chinese visitors in the short term.
The number of Chinese visiting Turkey in 2015 was 314,000, according to TURSAB data.
In the first quarter of 2016, Turkey saw a drop of 17 percent in foreign arrivals.
Turkey's Mediterranean resort of Antalya, a big draw for Russians, saw their arrivals fall by 90 percent in the first three months of this year.
Moscow imposed punitive measures, including a travel ban on Ankara, soon after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane in November last year, a move that has had a major impact as Russians used to constitute Turkey's second largest source of tourists after Germany.
The bombings that have hit Turkey this year and claimed more than 80 lives, among them 12 German tourists in Istanbul, have also hit tourism.
Meanwhile, the threat of more attacks has prompted a wave of cancellations.
Outsiders urged to remain neutral, objective
President-elect Rodrigo Duterte speaks during a news conference in his hometown Davao City in southern Philippines, May 16, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]
Philippines president-elect Rodrigo Duterte has told China's ambassador to Manila that he is willing to improve ties with Beijing, as Chinese diplomats urged nations outside the region to be hands-off and respect the efforts of the countries involved to resolve the issue.
Duterte, who will be sworn in on June 30, met on Monday in Davao City with Zhao Jianhua, the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines. The meeting followed Duterte's remark on Sunday that he is willing to have bilateral talks with China over the disputes in the South China Sea.
Zhao told reporters after the meeting that Duterte has expressed his willingness to improve and develop relations between China and the Philippines, and to strengthen bilateral cooperation to benefit the people of both countries.
Zhao, who was among the first ambassadors to meet with Duterte, said China and the Philippines are good neighbors and that China is looking forward to working with the new government to further enhance ties between the two countries.
Sino-Philippines relations worsened in 2013 after the Philippines unilaterally initiated a case against China in the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague over their disputes in the South China Sea.
Duterte said on Sunday that he wanted to cultivate friendly relations with China, and he confirmed that he was open to direct talks over the disputes in the South China Sea.
"If the ship of negotiations is in still waters and there is no wind to push the sail, I might just decide to talk bilaterally with China," he said.
Jia Duqiang, a Southeast Asian studies researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said, "The good signs indicate that the new leadership of the Philippines may change its dispute-solving mentality and stance over the South China Sea."
A boy runs through flags to honor victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks, in Santa Clarita, California, September 11, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]
WASHINGTON -- The US Senate on Tuesday approved legislation that would allow victims of the Sept 11 terror attacks of 2001 to sue Saudi Arabia, US media reported.
The bill, which was passed by a unanimous consent, would allow victims of terror attacks on US soil or surviving family members to bring lawsuits against nation-states for activities supporting terrorism. The legislation will now head to the House of Representatives.
"This bill is very near and dear to my heart as a New Yorker because it would allow the victims of 9/11 to pursue some small measure of justice," Democratic Senator Charles Schumer said, according to news website The Hill.
The White House on Tuesday reiterated President Barack Obama's opposition to the bill.
"Given the concerns we have expressed, it's difficult to imagine the president signing this legislation," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
"This legislation would change long-standing, international law regarding sovereign immunity," Earnest said, adding that Obama continues to harbor "serious concerns" that this legislation would make the United States vulnerable in other court systems around the world.
The legislation has also drawn criticism from the Saudi government.
Saudi Arabia has told the Obama administration and members of Congress that it will sell off hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of American assets held by the kingdom if Congress passes the bill, The New York Times reported last month.
Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, delivered the kingdom's message personally in March during a trip to Washington, telling lawmakers that Saudi Arabia would be forced to sell up to 750 billion US dollars in treasury securities and other assets in the United States before they could be in danger of being frozen by American courts, The New York Times reported.
Families of the Sept 11 victims have used the courts to try to hold members of the Saudi royal family, Saudi banks and charities liable because of what the plaintiffs charged was Saudi financial support for terrorism. These efforts have largely been stymied, in part because of a 1976 law that gives foreign nations some immunity from lawsuits in American courts.
Pictured: Manhattan, New York, USA. The most famous cities in the world have been graphed a seemingly infinite number of times - but never quite like this. AirPano, a group of Russian graphers, capture stunning nighttime panoramic - and sometimes 360-degree - aerial images of many well-known hotspots. Their images feature flowing lines of light, distorted buildings, and famous landmarks - many of which have have won the group a number of awards. AirPanos travels have taken them to modern metropolises like Singapore, Shanghai, and Dubai, but also traditional cities like Lisbon and Bueno Aires - and, of course, New York City. [Photo/IC]
US eases sanctions on Myanmar to support reform, facilitate trade (Xinhua) Updated: 2016-05-18 10:35
WASHINGTON - The United States announced Tuesday that it is lifting some of the sanctions on Myanmar to show support for the country's political reforms and economic growth and to facilitate trade between the two sides.
In a statement, the US Treasury Department issued regulatory amendments that ease restrictions on Myanmar's financial institutions, allow certain transactions related to U.S. individuals living in the country, and remove seven state-owned enterprises and three state-owned banks from the U.S. blacklist.
"Burma (Myanmar) reached a historic milestone over the last year by holding competitive elections and peacefully transitioning to a democratically-elected government," said Adam Szubin, Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
"Our actions today demonstrate our strong support for this political and economic progress while continuing to pressure designated persons in Burma (Myanmar) to change their behavior."
U Htin Kyaw of the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, was sworn in as Myanmar's new president in late March. US President Barack Obama welcomed the "historic step forward" of a democratic transfer of power to a civilian-led government in Myanmar.
The move on Tuesday will "help to facilitate trade with non-sanctioned businesses and, in turn, help the people and Government of Burma (Myanmar) achieve a more inclusive and prosperous future," Szubin said.
However, the United States strengthened certain sanctions on Myanmar in a bid to "incentivize further democratic reforms and maintain pressure on targeted individuals and entities and the military," according to the statement.
The Treasury Department blacklists six companies that are owned 50 percent or more by Steven Law, or Asia World Co. Ltd, the company he controls. Both Law and Asia World were designated by the US in 2008 for providing support to the then military-led government.
In a letter to Congress Tuesday, Obama expressed US concerns over continued obstacles in Myanmar to full civilian control of the government, the ongoing conflict and human rights abuses in the country, particularly in ethnic minority areas, and military trade with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Obama told Congress he has determined to continue the national emergency with respect to Myanmar, which was declared on May 20, 1997.
Despite this action, the US remains committed to working with both the new government and the people of Myanmar to "ensure that the democratic transition is irreversible," he added.
On May 22, US Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Myanmar to meet with key leaders to signal US support for the new democratically elected, civilian-led government and further democratic and economic reforms, the State Department has said.
CALGARY, Alberta - A massive wildfire raged near Fort McMurray, Alberta on Tuesday and threatened major oil sands production facilities, forcing the evacuation of thousands of workers and prolonging a shutdown that cut Canadian oil output by 1 million barrels a day.
Smoke and flames from the wildfires erupt behind a car on the highway near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, May 7, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]
The fire jumped a critical firebreak late Monday where plants and trees had been removed to stop its spread, moving north of Fort McMurray into oil sand camp areas. Some 8,000 workers were evacuated in the heavily forested northern part of the province.
The wildfire was taking a toll on the province's economy, with one study estimating the lost oil production would cut gross domestic product (GDP) by more than C$70 million a day.
The uncontrolled blaze covered 355,000 hectares (877,224 acres), up from 285,000 hectares on Monday. The fire on Tuesday burned a 655-room lodge for oil sands workers about 35 km (20 miles) north of Fort McMurray and threatened other housing.
High temperatures and winds were working against firefighters, and the fire was forecast to move to the east, putting oil operations in its path, officials said.
None of the oil sands have caught fire, and the industry was redoubling efforts to ensure facilities were well-protected, said Alberta wildfire manager Chad Morrison.
"Because of the cleared vegetation, lots of gravel on site and because they have an industrial firefighting service on site that understands this ... we feel fairly confident the sites themselves will be OK," Morrison told a news conference.
The lost Canadian production of 1 million barrels a day represents about one-quarter of total Canadian output. Canadian crude oil prices strengthened in light trading on Tuesday and Global oil prices touched a six-month high, with the Alberta outages among factors lending support.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said westerly winds were expected to push the fire closer to facilities operated by Suncor Energy Inc, one of the area's biggest operators, and Syncrude, majority owned by Suncor, on Tuesday.
Suncor started an orderly shutdown of its base plant operations and said its Firebag facility will move to minimal essential personnel, while Syncrude has evacuated the majority of its workforce to Edmonton but left a minimum staff of some 100 people at its Mildred Lake upgrader and Aurora Mine.
The fire also threatened Enbridge Inc's Cheecham crude oil tank farm south of Fort McMurray, but Notley said the fire line built there has held and winds were blowing away from the facility.
TransAlta Corp's Poplar Creek cogeneration power plant, operated by Suncor and providing power to its site, was also shut by early Tuesday due to the wildfire.
17 WILDFIRES IN PROVINCE
In Ottawa, federal Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr said he planned to have talks soon with energy companies to assess the damage from but gave no further details.
Prior to the latest setback, lost oil production was expected to average about 1.2 million barrels a day for 14 days, or roughly C$985 million ($763 million) in lost real GDP, according to the Conference Board of Canada.
Notley said the Conference Board's numbers were in the range of the government's estimates.
The premier added that the province has not underestimated the fire and had the resources to fight the fire. There are nearly 1,800 firefighters fighting 17 wildfires across the western Canadian province, with four of them out of control.
Canada has declined help from allies including the United States and Australia. Federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said Ottawa had full confidence in Alberta's ability to fight the blaze.
Fort McMurray's roughly 90,000 residents were forced to flee nearly two weeks ago as the fire raged through neighborhoods and destroyed about 10 percent of the city's structures.
With new explosions in the city damaging 10 homes and hot spots still a risk, Notley is not yet allowing residents to return.
US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton greets supporters at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, US, May 16, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]
WASHINGTON - Hillary Clinton narrowly defeated Bernie Sanders in Kentucky's Democratic presidential primary, the head of the state's election board said on Tuesday night.
The tight contest was yet another demonstration of how divided Democrats are in the drawn-out national race for the party's nomination.
Alison Lundergan Grimes, chair of the Kentucky State Board of Elections, told CNN that unofficial results confirmed that Clinton would narrowly win the state's primary contest. Grimes is a Clinton supporter.
Kentucky was not considered favorable terrain for Clinton, after neighboring West Virginia and Indiana both went to Sanders. Clinton's ability to stave off a resounding defeat in Kentucky now gives her a little breathing room, as she looks forward to a lull in the primary campaign before the final contests on June 7.
Clinton, who spent the past two days campaigning in Kentucky, would like to lock up the nomination and turn her attention to November's general election and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Trump has begun to organize his general election campaign. On Tuesday, he signed a joint fundraising agreement with the Republican National Committee. The agreement allows him to raise $449,400 from a single donor by splitting the funds between his campaign, the RNC and state Republican parties.
Trump, who eschewed donations in the political system through the primary, has thus far insisted on mostly self-funding his campaign. The shift to a more traditional fundraising approach could draw ire from some of his supporters.
Trump, in an interview with Megyn Kelly that aired on Fox News Tuesday night, said he did have regrets about his actions during the Republican primary process.
"I could have used different language in a couple of instances, but overall I'm happy with the outcome," Trump said.
Clinton's sizeable lead in delegates means it is likely she will eventually be her party's nominee, but she remains more than 100 delegates short of sealing the deal.
Oregon also held its Democratic primary contest on Tuesday. For the Democrats, there are 55 delegates up for grabs in Kentucky and 61 in Oregon. All of the delegates are awarded proportionally, meaning the results could do little to upset the current trajectory of the Democratic race.
Tuesday's vote in Kentucky followed sometimes violent outbursts in Nevada that increased tensions within the party.
NEVADA STILL RANKLES
Sanders supporters became angry when Nevada state party officials chose to end their convention and block efforts to award the US senator from Vermont more delegates than he initially won in the February caucus. Clinton won the caucus.
The Nevada incident was a warning about the potential for fireworks at July's Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
Sanders on Tuesday joined his supporters in criticizing the Nevada Democratic Party after Saturday's events.
One Sanders supporter threw a chair, unhappy about being blocked in a rules vote that was part of the effort to help the senator win more delegates to the national convention. Others applied chalk graffiti to a party building. And the state's party chairwoman has been receiving death threats since then.
Sanders framed Nevada's incident as a warning.
"If the Democratic Party is to be successful in November, it is imperative that all state parties treat our campaign supporters with fairness and the respect that they have earned," Sanders said in a statement on the Nevada incident.
Sanders - who said he condemns violence and personal harassment of individuals - leveled some of the same complaints his supporters did, arguing that state party Chairwoman Roberta Lange did not allow a headcount on a disputed rules change. He also argued that 64 delegates to the state convention were not given a hearing before being ruled ineligible.
The state party disputed the Sanders campaign's interpretation of the events. It said some delegates did not show up at the convention and others were disqualified because they were not registered as Democrats in time.
"The Sanders campaign is continuing to be dishonest about what happened Saturday and is failing to adequately denounce the threats of violence of his supporters," the Nevada Democratic Party said in a statement.
Sanders supporters began circulating a picture of Lange on the internet that included her cellphone number and encouraged others to contact her to express their unhappiness.
Lange said in an appearance on MSNBC that she has been receiving death threats, including many containing vulgar language. Public messages sent to her Twitter account included a barrage of derogatory statements.
MSNBC played some of the voicemails, including one saying "people like you should be hung in a public execution."
"What you heard is a few of the thousands of emails and texts and Facebook messages and Twitter messages that I've gotten," Lange said on MSNBC. "Threats to my family, to my grandson, to my husband.
WORRY ABOUT SANDERS
Sanders' continued presence in the race is prompting concerns among Clinton allies that he will damage her ability to take on Trump and hurt her in the fall.
But Sanders supporters shrug off that worry, arguing that Trump is such a flawed candidate that Clinton will easily dispatch with him if she faces him in the Nov. 8 election.
"Either way we're going to get a Democratic president," Alisha Liedtke, 28, a Sanders supporter from Ellensburg, Washington.
The leader of a Houston innovation group wants to build a high-level platform of communication and collaboration between the US and China.
Bernard Harris, chairman of the US China Innovation Alliance (UCIA), said on Tuesday that he also wants to help venture capitalists, accelerators and incubators from both countries to work together through the US China Innovation and Investment Summit.
"Most of us involved in innovation and technology know that the East Coast and West Coast in the US are well recognized," Harris said.
"This conference highlights what I call the third coast: the Gulf Coast. There are a lot of innovations in medicine, IT and aerospace. Houston is ripe for investors to come to take a look," he said.
Chinese investors got a close look at various US projects at the first USCIIS in Houston on Monday and Tuesday. About 400 people, including 150 from China, attended the event.
The summit, hosted by UCIA, the China Science and Technology Exchange Center and International Technology Transfer Network, was supported by more than 30 organizations, including the Houston Technology Center and Texas Medical Center.
Harris said that the UCIA intends to make the summit an annual event. It also plans in the next year to do road shows in China highlighting US companies and to host an international business plan competition.
Jin Xiaoming, director general at China's Ministry of Science and Technology, told the conference that the Chinese government has put innovation at the core of the country's development. The government is promoting innovation with policy as well as funding.
"In 2015, the Chinese R&D fund accounts for 2.1 percent of GDP. China ranks No 2 after the US in the world on R&D spending," Jin said.
Chinese Consul General Li Qiangmin said this summit rightly answers the needs of both Chinese and US enterprises.
"Trade and investment between China and the US have grown rapidly in recent years, and a high level and reliable innovation and investment matchmaking platform was much needed," Li said.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner encouraged the Chinese investors to invest more in the city.
"We are always looking for partners. The relationship between Houston and China has been a very good one, but there is a lot of room for additional growth," said Turner.
According to Julie Dai, one of the conference organizers, the summit pre-matched 100 US projects to Chinese companies and investors. During the conference, about 50 US innovative projects were presented to the Chinese delegates during tours to Texas Medical Center and Houston Technology Center as well as during B2B sessions.
Experts from both China and US discussed newest technologies in healthcare, energy and telecommunications, and shared their challenges and successes in cross-border innovation and investment.
Contact the writer at mayzhou@chinadailyusa.com
Freya Preimesberger in Houston contributed to this story.
BEIJING -- Invited by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee will pay a state visit to China from May 24 to 27.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang made the announcement on Wednesday.
Later in the day, another spokesman Hong Lei told a routine press briefing that during the visit, Chinese leaders will hold talks and meetings with Mukherjee to make in-depth exchange of views on bilateral ties and issues of shared interest.
It will be Mukherjee's first state visit to China since he took office in 2012, Hong said, adding it is one of the most important high-level interactions between the neighboring countries this year.
Besides Beijing, the Indian president will also visit south China's metropolis Guangzhou.
The China-India relationship has maintained a good momentum of healthy and stable development in recent years, Hong said, noting the ties entered a new era of rapid growth since President Xi visited India in 2014 and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China in 2015.
BRUSSELS - Consultative bodies of China and the European Union (EU) hold a bilateral round table meeting here on Wednesday, exchanging views on China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative and seeking their common ground and best practices.
The ongoing 14th EU-China Civil Society Round Table meeting will discuss infrastructure and investment in the framework of China's Belt and Road Initiative and the newly-established Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), according to the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) which hosts the meeting.
The EESC, the EU's consultative body to the bloc's three institutions, namely the European Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament, is joined by its Chinese counterpart the China Economic and Social Council (CESC).
The closed-door meeting will also discuss innovation and economic development in rural areas and is set to approve and publish a joint statement on Thursday, the EESC said.
China and EU announced to cooperate on synergies between the Belt and Road Initiative and the European Investment Plan last year. The two sides also mull to speed up their financial cooperation under the two projects through enhancing coordination between European Investment Bank and the AIIB.
Beijing and Brussels agreed to set up the EU-China Round Table in 2007 following a decision taken by the 9th EU-China Summit attended by top leaders of both sides. The Round Table meets twice a year to discuss topics relating to economic and social issues relevant to both parties.
The representatives of the EESC and the CESC, by elaborating reports and exchanging ideas, contribute to the development of the EU-China relationship, from a civil society perspective, the EESC said.
(Photo : James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images) A flexible plastic bracelet being printed by a 3D printer at the MakerBot retail store on Mulberry street in Manhattan.
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A newly established Hong Kong-based wedding shop has turned to 3D printing technology in order to help shoppers find the perfect wedding ring.
The new shop, which was launched by Chinese company Forever Couple on May 12, is now offering 3D scanning and 3D printing sample services to its customers who are looking to purchase wedding rings with the perfect measurement, shape and fit.
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The new Hong Kong wedding shop is said to be located on the Lee Tung Street at Wan Chai, covering about 2,000 square feet of space.
Using 3D scanning technology, the store can now measure the size and shape of a customer's hand and finger, in order to produce a 3D printed ring sample. The sample can then be used to determine its comfortability. Additionally, the 3D scanning process takes around two minutes, while the 3D printing process takes about eight minutes.
Forever Couple's new 3D printing service was launched in partnership with the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC), according to a report by 3DERS. The report added that the company is aspiring to "apply to the Hong Kong Brand Development Council's 'Made in Hong Kong Flag' program, to realize a special Hong Kong-brand wedding ring."
In China, 3D printing technology is becoming very popular in many different areas and industries including in the production of jewelry. Last March, Beijing-based company Yibo3D had launched China's first miniature 3D metal printer that was designed to print metal objects including jewelry. Called the "YBRP-140 SLM", the 3D printer is capable of producing small pieces of jewelry using different materials such as iron, titanium, and silver.
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Tags3D Printing Wedding Ring, 3D printing technology, 3D Printing Jewelry, 3D Printing China Hong Kong
(Photo : Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Rumors about the possible merging of Chrome OS and Android dates back to the 2014 Google I/O conference
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Multinational technology giant Google is under scrutiny after the European Union competition commission accused the company of violating anti-trust laws. The EU competition commission, led by Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, is set to fine Google with a staggering $3.4 billion. This will be the biggest anti-trust fine to date.
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According to the Commission's charge sheet, Google abused its dominance by prioritizing its own products and services in internet searches. This practice tips the scale to favor Google's products and services over their rivals.
Google's online shopping services in Europe have dominated its competitors as search engine results were distorted to show Google's own products and services on top of competitors'. According to Commissioner Vestager, Google is guilty of setting up an environment where Android mobile devices protect and expand its dominant position on the internet search results.
The EU Commission also noted the "restrictive licensing practices" imposed by Google on Android smartphone manufacturers. Under its contract with manufacturers, Google requires 11 bundled apps installed on Android smartphones.
The EU Commission believes that Google's business practices restrict competition and innovation. "Rival search engines and mobile operating systems have not been able to compete on their merits. This is not good," said Commissioner Vestager.
Google is yet to answered the EU Commission's antitrust charges. The company has been given a few weeks to provide a formal answer to the charge sheet, known as "statement of objections."
However, last month, Google denied the antitrust allegations. "Android has helped foster a remarkable and, importantly, sustainable ecosystem, based on open-source software and open innovation," Google general counselor Kent Walker said in a statement. Sources told Reuters that Google is no longer pursuing a way out of the antitrust charges.
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TagsGoogle, antitrust, Margrethe Vestager, Android, European Union
(Photo : Getty Images) A logo sits illuminated outside the Nokia pavilion on the opening day of the World Mobile Congress at the Fira Gran Via Complex in Barcelona, Spain.
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Microsoft is planning to give up its Lumia business and sell Nokia to Foxconn, according to Chinese news website VTech.
Microsoft completely acquired Nokia's Devices and Services back in April 2014. Under the contract, Windows is given full rights for the Nokia's smartphone unit until 2024. But now, it seems that Microsoft is giving up its Nokia licensing brand to Foxconn.
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The decision was allegedly made because of the surprisingly bleak sales in the first quarter this year, with Microsoft selling only 15 million Lumia units.
Microsoft is said to be planning to cut down the Microsoft Mobile business, which is behind the Lumia mobile phones. Microsoft's Lumia unit will reportedly be integrated into the Surface line.
When Nokia was sold to Microsoft, some 18,000 employees were chopped off. If this news is true, the number of people to be laid off is likely to increase as 50 percent of Microsoft Mobile workers. While the other half will join the Surface team. There are rumors that a new Surface Phone will be released early next year.
Instead of selling mobile devices, most of Microsoft's revenue come from Android patents license. The company has been putting emphasis on its third party OEM business and concentrating on the business and enterprise sector.
Meanwhile, looking back at Nokia's timeline under Microsoft, the company debuted its premier phone Lumia 535 about seven months after the acquisition of the firm. Then between November 2014 and March 2015, the company only released low-end units such as Lumia 430, 435, 532, 540, 636, 638, 640 and 640 XL.
There were no new releases until October, when Microsoft debuted its Lumia 550, 950 and 950XL. This February, the company announced its Lumia 650, which is allegedly the last Lumia, according to Tech Worm.
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TagsNokia, Microsoft, windows, Lumia, Smartphone, Foxconn
(Photo : Getty Images) A bison calf has been euthanized in Yellowstone Park after tourists attempted to save the animal from the cold by putting it in their car.
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A young bison in Yellowstone National Park in California has been euthanized after tourists attempted to help the calf by putting it in their rented car on May 9.
The calf was rejected by its mother after the park rangers attempted to return the young one to the herd. The park employees, particularly the wardens, have condemned the tourists' attempt to help the calf by transporting it into their car.
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A spokesperson for the park revealed that the tourists are now facing fines of up to $110 USD (717 RMB) and possible charges for the damages incurred. The tourists' nationalities have remained disclosed as the authorities are still conducting their investigation.
Karen Richardson, one of the park visitors, was at the ranger station when she saw the tourists trying to help the bison calf because they thought it was feeling cold. The recorded temperature during the time of the incident was between 39F to 50F.
Rob Heusevelet, another park visitor who witnessed the tourist attempting to help the newborn calf, said that the tourists simply thought that they were doing a favor by saving the calf from the biting cold.
The park rangers tried to return the calf to its herd, but the groups of bisons seem to have rejected the calf.
The park stated that any contact made by humans to the calf will cause their mothers to reject their own offspring.
The park decided to euthanize the calf since it was causing chaos by approaching park visitors and crossing public roadways. The fate of the bison calf is directly due to the tourists' misplaced concern, an official park spokesman said.
The bison is considered to be America's national mammal, and they are adapted to surviving the cold temperature.
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Tagsnewborn, bison calf, yellowstone park, euthanized, tourists, car
(Photo : Getty Images) China's defense ministry said military troops conducted drills near the Taiwan strait on Monday to strengthen the country's capabilities to handle security threats
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Chinese military troops conducted drills west of the Taiwanese Strait on Monday, and some military experts claim the exercises were targeted at Taiwan and the US.
Observers have noted that the military exercises were held ahead of the inauguration of Taiwan president-elect Tsai lng-wen on Friday.
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Although China's defense ministry said the drills were aimed at strengthening the country's military capabilities to handle security threats, some critics have interpreted it as a warning against Taiwan's desire to be independent.
"The recent land, air and sea training exercises are aimed at testing and boosting China's ability in addressing security threats and fulfilling military mission," the defense ministry said on Wednesday.
The statement was made after troops from the 31st Group Army of the newly-established Eastern Theatre Command conducted live fire and landing exercises on the Fujian coast.
Taiwan independence
Some critics claim that the military exercises focused on the troops' response to Taiwan's efforts to pursue independence from the mainland. Others have noted that the landing drills may have targeted the US.
China's defense ministry has said that the military exercises were not directed at any party.
"The US does not want to get involved in case of crisis in the Taiwan Strait. China will be able to indirectly exert pressure on Taiwan by pressuring the US," a naval expert at the Shanghai University said.
Military strategies
Monday's military exercises focused strongly on strategies despite its smaller scale compared to previous drills, according to experts.
The drills, which involved a frigate, a destroyer, and a ship-based helicopter, showed that China's army has the military capabilities and expertise to take control of Taiwan.
Taiwan's first female president, Tsai-lng-wen, leads the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
She won the January island's national elections, together with her party, by a landslide.
In her victory speech, Tsai vowed to preserve the status quo in relations with China. She also emphasized that Beijing must respect Taiwan's democracy and that both sides must ensure there will be no provocations.
China considers Taiwan as a breakaway province and has been vocal in saying that it will take back Taiwan by force should it continue to pursue independence.
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TagsPresident-elect Tsai Lng-wen, Taiwan Strait, Military exercises, landing exercises, Taiwan independence, democratic progressive party, china
(Photo : Nature Communications) Organic fragments showing cellular structure and Raman microspectroscopy.
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Fossilized seaweed like organisms discovered on rocks in China are apparently considered to be the earliest form of living organisms on the planet, making them also the oldest ones, at 1.56 billion years old, that are composed of multiple cells similar to our own.
These newly discovered organisms are considered by scientists to thrive during a time in Earth's early stages, that is described to be the "boring billion" years of the evolutionary history of life on the planet.
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Researchers describe the fossils to measure at 30 centimeters long and almost eight centimeters across, that were uncovered in the northern regions of China. These cellular structures reveal some distinct features that suggest that they are eukaryotes, that also include a nucleus similar to human cells.
According to co-author of the study, Maoyan Zhu from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, these are considered to be the earliest known specimens of multicellular life that have not yet existed until 600 million years ago, specifically during the Cambrian Explosion where a rapid emergence of complex life first appeared on Earth.
This "boring billion" years is also known as Mesoproterozoic, where Zhu says that people will be able to rethink about the emergence of microscopic organisms during this time.
These 167 fossilized specimens possess different shapes and sizes but they all have one distinct feature which is a unique leaf shape, that are tapered along its edges where others are found to be round shaped or even shaped like a tongue.
According to co-author of the study, paleontologist Andrew Knoll of Harvard University, these larger multicellular eukaryotic organisms appeared right after the emergence of the very fist eukaryotic cells on Earth. Knoll says that eukaryotic cells, which are cells that have a membrane barrier and nucleus like our own, were known to first appear on the planet some time between 1.8 to 1.6 billion years ago.
The remarkable thing about this discovery is that it suggests how single celled organisms rapidly evolved by organizing themselves into multicellular forms and even more so, the unique fossilized shape of the specimens holds clues to the first evidence of photosynthesis.
He adds that modern organisms that possess the same shape today such as leaves and seaweed, suggest that this shape is photosynthetic, linking that eukaryotes adapted the process of photosynthesis, rather quickly during that time.
This new study is published in the journal, Nature Communications.
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Tagsevolution of life on Earth, eukaryotes, multicellular organisms, complex organisms, Microbiology, first complex organisms on earth
(Photo : The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering ) DARPA's soft exosuit prototype for American soldiers. The soft exosuit uses a combination of sensors (shown by the numbers) to increase the wearer's strength and endurance, and to protect him from injury and physical stress.
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American soldiers will one day go into battle wearing form-fitting "Soft Exosuits" under their combat uniforms that make them physically stronger and better able to endure fatigue.
Remarkable progress is being made in developing these modern day exoskeletons that look a lot like the sleek swimsuits worn by Olympic swimmers instead of the clunky first generation exoskeletons made of metal that encased a wearer's arms and legs.
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The clothing-like Soft Exosuit has been described as a "Wearable Robot" by the U.S. Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA) that's commissioning universities and research institutions to advance this military technology. The DARPA Soft Exosuit is part of the agency's Warrior Web program.
A prototype Soft Exosuit had a series of webbing straps around the lower half of the body with a low-power microprocessor and a network of flexible strain sensors. These electronics act as the "brain" and "nervous system" of the Soft Exosuit. They continuously monitor data signals, including suit tension, wearer position (walking, running, crouched) and more.
In 2014, DARPA awarded $2.9 million to The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University to further develop its Soft Exosuit, other versions of which might eventually help persons (military and civilian) with limited mobility.
The Wyss Institute said its exosuits are a new class of applications for "soft robotics," an emerging field that combines classical robotic design and control principles with active soft materials.
Its lightweight Soft Exosuit doesn't contain any rigid elements. This means the wearer's bone structure must sustain all the compressive forces normally encountered by the body
Its exosuit consists mostly of specially designed fabrics that can be significantly lighter than a metal exoskeleton since it has no rigid structure. It also provides minimal restrictions on a wearer's motions.
Soft Exosuit technology has also led to the development of entirely new forms of functional textiles, flexible power systems, soft sensors and control strategies that enable intuitive and seamless human-machine interaction.
The Soft Exosuit overcomes the disadvantages of traditional, heavier exoskeleton systems such as power-hungry battery packs and rigid components that can interfere with natural joint movement.
"While the idea of a wearable robot is not new, our design approach certainly is," said Conor Walsh, an assistant professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and founder of the Harvard Biodesign Lab.
In addition to its military application, the team will collaborate with clinical partners to develop a medical version of the suit that could greatly benefit stroke victims, for example, whose gait often becomes slow and inefficient.
Recently, The Wyss Institute began collaborating with ReWalk Robotics Ltd. to accelerate the development of Soft Exosuit technologies for assisting people with lower limb disabilities. The agreement with ReWalk will help speed the design of assistive exosuits that could help patients suffering from stroke and multiple sclerosis to regain mobility.
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TagsSoft Exosuit, Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency, DARPA, The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Conor Walsh
(Photo : Adam Dean/Bloomberg via Getty Images) A security guard walks outside the Google Inc. office in Beijing, China, on Tuesday, March 23, 2010. Google Inc., following through on a pledge to stop censoring search results in China, began serving mainland Chinese users via its unfiltered Hong Kong site, a move that could prompt the government to block the service.
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The government of China is reportedly expanding its inspection of technology products developed by major foreign companies - such as Apple - in order to determine whether they constitute a threat to the nation's security and general public.
These foreign companies were caused to undergo "security reviews" that focus on encryption and data storage, according to a report by the New York Times, citing anonymous sources.
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These reviews, which subjected company tech executives and employees to personal questioning regarding individual devices, were reportedly carried out by the Cyberspace Administration of China, including experts and engineers connected to the nation's military and security organizations.
The Cyberspace Administration of China indicated that many countries have conducted similar tech security reviews and that the interrogations did not focus on any specific country or product. Furthermore, the Chinese government did not officially reveal any information on the interrogations.
The Times suggested that American tech giants Cisco Systems and Microsoft Corporation may have been among those foreign companies that were subjected to these inspections as well.
Last April, Apple's iBooks and iTunes Movies stores have been blocked in China, after they had been launched just six months prior to that time. The reason why they were shut down by the order of the Chinese State Administration of Press, Publication, Film, and Television still remains unclear up to this point.
In mainland China, it is said that around 3,000 websites - among them are popular social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram - have been blocked under the nation's policy of internet censorship. Despite the ban, however, a number of local Chinese tech companies - such as Alibaba and Baidu - have continued to profit from the policy, which encourages domestic competition.
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TagsChina Foreign Tech Companies Security Reviews, China Internet Censorship, Chinese government, Apple Inc., Cisco Systems, microsoft corporation
NAMB's Kevin Ezell denies confidential 'Cooperation Agreements' are 'gag orders' Editorial Staff | 18 May, 2016 by Joni B. Hannigan
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (Christian Examiner) Kevin Ezell, president of the Southern Baptist Convention North American Mission Board, May 17 refuted accusations that "Cooperation Agreements" signed by state executives are "gag orders," but instead said they are "simply a commitment of charity and trust."
Last week, several Southern Baptist state leaders accused NAMB of linking financial support from the national entity to the agreements that were said to include a non-disclosure agreement. NAMB declined to respond to Christian Examiner's request for comment, but posted an article on the organization's website May 17.
If the allegations presented by these Southern Baptist state executives are true, then Dr. Ezell has overstepped his bounds and forfeited the trust of all Southern Baptists. Appropriate action should be taken.
"Though NAMB's preference has always been that these documents be available to anyone, currently, the agreement includes a sentence stating 'confidentiality' because that was the stated preference of some of the conventions," Ezell wrote. "Funding amounts for non-south states differ by state based upon convention size, lostness and other factors."
Other than funding, Ezell said the basic terms of the agreements with the non-south states are "the same in content."
"While I would prefer that Southern Baptists, and all the state conventions, know what the funding budgets are for the other states, NAMB has honored the request for confidentiality and will continue to do so," he said.
States that want to share Cooperation Agreements may do so by notifying NAMB, Ezell said, noting the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana agreed to publicize its partnership agreement.
Ezell also noted in 2010 when he became president "NAMB was commonly criticized for not having a strategy and not being focused," he wrote. "With leadership from our trustees, we narrowed NAMB's focus. It is NAMB's assigned responsibility to provide accountability for every dollar spent on the mission field."
'PETITION' TO NAMB TRUSTEES
Ezell's comments came a day after Rick Patrick, pastor of First Baptist Church in Sylacauga, Alabama, and founding director of Connect 316, posted a petition on the SBC Today blog calling for NAMB trustees to engage in an "independent investigation" of how Ezell interacts with state conventions.
In the petition, Patrick references the non-disclosure agreements noted in a Christian Examiner article published May 11, and issues raised by five state executives including Will McRaney, the former executive missional strategist of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware whose tenure ended June 9 of last year.
"If the allegations presented by these Southern Baptist state executives are true, then Dr. Ezell has overstepped his bounds and forfeited the trust of all Southern Baptists," Patrick wrote in the petition. "Appropriate action should be taken."
EZELL SAYS PARTNERSHIPS POSITIVE
In the blog, Ezell said, "NAMB's partnerships are positive and working well," explaining the mission organization works with churches, associations and state conventions. We are grateful for all of our partners."
He noted "Southern Baptists entrust NAMB with about $120 million annually "to help our churches reach North America for Christ. That is a trust I guard carefully."
There are 27 non-south state conventions that Ezell said rely on NAMB for much of their ministry funding, from a total of 42 state conventions.
"We have an enormous and important task, and we face an enemy that doesn't play fair," Ezell wrote. "It's a privilege to work with state leaders who are passionate about reaching people for Christ and committed to pushing back lostness in North America.
'The overwhelming majority of state executives we work with are very competent and strategic leaders," Ezell continued. "They deserve your full support and engagement at the state level."
Ezell's article did not directly reference the McRaney controversy, nor the petition being circulated.
RAPID CITY, S.D. Authorities say the swift actions of a man and two boys saved the life of a 5-year-old girl who nearly drowned in a hotel swimming pool in South Dakota.
Wisdom Bass-Robinson, 12, and Btin Spears, 13, of Walthill, Nebraska, noticed the girl face-down in the pool at the Best Western Ramkota in Rapid City shortly after 8 p.m. Monday and pulled her from the water, according to police.
"We knew something was wrong when her face was in the water for so long," Wisdom said in a statement released by the police department. "I grabbed her and Btin and I pulled her to the side."
Rick Volk, of Phoenix, with the help of other bystanders began CPR and revived the girl, who was taken to a hospital and is expected to be fine. Authorities didn't identify her.
Sgt. Wayne Asscherick presented gift cards for pizza to Volk and the boys.
"It was the least we could do for these three," Asscherick said. "They worked as a team, with the boys being aware of others and Mr. Volk being versed in CPR that saved the life of the 5-year-old girl."
Catholic Bishops in U.S. call Obama admin's 'guidance' on transgenderism 'deeply disturbing' 18 May, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , |
WASHINGTON (Christian Examiner) Two committee chairmen with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have issued a statement decrying the Obama administration's attempt to force new "guidelines" on public schools that allow transgender students to use the restroom or locker room corresponding to their gender identity or, presumably, risk the loss of federal funding.
In a joint statement from the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Justice May 13, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Secretary of Education John King Jr. said federal guidelines for Title IX education funding require school districts to avoid "discrimination" of any student based on his or her sex, "including a student's transgender status."
For example, the letter claims schools may not require students to have a medical diagnosis before allowing them access to an opposite-sex facility, require them to undergo medical treatment or even require them to produce a birth certificate before allowing them access "consistent with their gender identity."
Bishop Richard Malone of Buffalo, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, and Archbishop of Omaha George Lucas, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Catholic Education, called that line of reasoning "deeply disturbing."
"The Catholic Church consistently affirms the inherent dignity of each and every human person and advocates for the wellbeing of all people, particularly the most vulnerable. Especially at a young age and in schools, it is important that our children understand the depth of God's love for them and their intrinsic worth and beauty. Children should always be and feel safe and secure and know they are loved," the bishops said.
But, they added, the guidance issued by Lynch and King treating "'a student's gender identity as the student's sex' is deeply disturbing. The guidance fails to address a number of important concerns and contradicts a basic understanding of human formation so well expressed by Pope Francis: that 'the young need to be helped to accept their own body as it was created.'"
The bishops said those dealing with transgenderism and attempting to live and work in society deserve compassion, sensitivity and respect, but they added that these qualities can be expressed without infringing on the rights of others. Privacy and security are major concerns, the bishops added, and must be balanced with whatever effort the Obama administration takes to push the LGBT agenda.
The new guidelines, the bishops said, do "not even attempt to achieve this balance."
"It unfortunately does not respect the ongoing political discussion at the state and local levels and in Congress, or the broader cultural discussion, about how best to address these sensitive issues. Rather, the guidance short-circuits those discussions entirely," they said.
Under the guidelines created by the two departments, "both federal agencies treat a student's gender identity as the student's sex for purposes of enforcing Title IX."
Lynch said the guidance, which seemed to several governors nationwide to be a federal mandate overriding state and local laws, creates "safe, nurturing, and inclusive" classroom environments for all children.
Do churchgoers actually LIVE LONGER? New study has surprising result Guest Reviewer | 17 May, 2016 by Michael Foust
CHICAGO (Christian Examiner) -- Could regular church attendance help you live a longer life? A growing body of scientific evidence seems to think so.
The latest study was posted this month on the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) website and showed that among women, frequent attendance at religious services "was associated with significantly lower risk of all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality."
In fact, the study even suggested that church attendance could be part of a doctor-prescribed health regiment. Unlike a similar earlier study, this one did not involve men.
"Religion and spirituality may be an underappreciated resource that physicians could explore with their patients, as appropriate," the study found.
The study used a self-reported questionnaire of 74,534 women who took part in the Nurses' Health Study between 1996 and 2012. Specifically, the study found that attending a religious service more than once per week was associated with a 33 percent lower mortality rate compared with women who had never attended religious services.
It is not the first study to show a church attendance-health correlation. In 2004, a 12-year study was released showing that people over the age of 65 who attended church services at least once a week were 35 percent more likely to live longer, compared to those who never attended church. It also showed that regular church attenders were less likely to have cardiovascular or high blood pressure problems and more likely to have a stronger immune system.
"There's something involved in the act of religious attendance, whether it's the group interaction, the world view or just the exercise to get out of the house," Susan Lutgendorf, a psychology professor at the University of Iowa, told The Telegraph in 2004.
Obama claims transgenderism, LGBT rights a 'specific focus' of American diplomacy abroad 18 May, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , |
WASHINGTON (Christian Examiner) President Barack Obama has issued a proclamation calling the advancement of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) agenda one of his administration's signature achievements.
The proclamation, issued May 17 to commemorate the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT), said the United States affirmed the "dignity and inherent worth of all people, regardless of who they love or their gender identity."
Ironically, the pronouncement comes just days after the White House stepped deep into controversy when the administration issued "guidelines" for public schools on opening restroom and locker room facilities to students based on their perceived gender identity. Several governors, including Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas and Gov. Pat McCrory of North Carolina, refused the guidelines as a federal overreach that carried the imprimatur of a mandate.
Abbott called the decree a "constitutional tipping point." McCrory, whose state is being sued by the U.S. Justice Department for passing a "restroom law" that prohibits male access to multi-occupancy female bathrooms, said the push from the White House "changes generations of gender etiquette and privacy norms."
In the proclamation May 17, however, President Obama said the U.S. is "committed to the principle that all people should be treated fairly and with respect. Advancing this goal has long been a cornerstone of American diplomacy, and I am proud that my Administration has made advancing the human rights of LGBT individuals a specific focus of our engagement around the world."
The Obama administration first declared the advancement of LGBT "rights" would be a focus of its foreign policy in a memo in 2011. In the memo, the president directed the heads of all U.S. agencies to combat the criminalization of homosexual conduct and transgenderism abroad, grant asylum to "LGBT refugees," work to build respect for the LGBT community and broaden the number of countries accepting of the practices traditionally considered morally deviant.
According to the proclamation Tuesday, the U.S. still has much more to do to combat homophobia and transphobia and create a climate of acceptance for the groups.
"In too many places, LGBT individuals grow up forced to conceal or deny who they truly are for fear of persecution, discrimination, and violence. All nations and all communities can, and must, do better. Fortunately, human rights champions and good citizens around the world continue to strive towards this goal every day by lifting up the simple truth that LGBT rights are human rights. The United States honors their work and will continue to support them in their struggle for human dignity," President Obama said in the statement.
IDAHOT was started by LGBT activists in 2004 and is billed as a "worldwide celebration of sexual and gender diversities." The group chose May 17 as the day of celebration because on that day in 1990 the World Health Organization ruled homosexuality should no longer be considered a "mental disorder." The group claims 130 countries recognize the day with official functions or proclamations.
One of those is America's neighbor to the north Canada.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement expanding the LGBT moniker to include "LGBTQ2" persons Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and "2-Spirited." Queer is defined by the LGBT community as pertaining to "gender fluid" people, and "2-Spirited" is used to refer to the belief of some native tribes in North America that some people have both a male and female spirit within them.
"Everyone deserves to live free of stigma, persecution, and discrimination no matter who they are or whom they love. Today is about ensuring that all people regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity feel safe and secure, and empowered to freely express themselves," Trudeau said.
He added that Canada has ensured rights specifically for LGBT people in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the country's Civil Marriage Act.
"We will never stop fighting for a safer, more equal, and more just world for all of our children," Trudeau said.
Not all countries, however, are as welcoming to the LGBT agenda. Australia, IDAHOT organizers and the International Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (IGLA) claim, lags behind significantly in accepting the LGBT push.
While the country has legal protections in place regarding the employment of LGBT persons, an IGLA study on "State Sponsored Homophobia" in 2016 claims the recognition of same-sex marriages there is not on par with traditional marriages and is deemed a "clearly inferior substitute."
The report's author, Aengus Carroll, told an Australian newspaper the country's legislation is "very weak" and "hardly protects" members of the Australian LGBT community.
IGLA is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Landslides in Sri Lanka have devastated several villages and have buried up to 220 families, according to the Associated Press.
Emergency personnel have been digging through mud and debris to recover missing persons in three villages that were hit hard by recent landslides caused by days of heavy rains.
Rescuers have recovered 17 bodies from the mud in one village, but hundreds of families are still reporting missing loved ones.
"The task is to figure out what happened to them," the Sri Lankan Red Cross said in a statement, adding that some family members listened to warnings to evacuate the villages, so it is difficult to know how many may be buried beneath the mud and debris.
Officials are also warning that, as rains continue to fall, there is a possibility of more landslides in the region.
Villagers recalled what happened as the landslides began:
"I heard a huge sound like a plane crashing into the Earth," said 52-year-old A.G. Kamala, who had just returned to her house in the village of Siripura when the landslides hit. "I opened my door. I could not believe my eyes, as I saw something like a huge fireball rolling down the mountain."
Some villagers took refuge in a school while they waited for news of found loved ones.
Lal, another villager, said that 18 of his family members are missing, all possibly buried under the mud. He said he and his wife had been heading to a different village, but his wife went back home.
"That was the last time I saw her," Lal said, sobbing. When he heard about the landslide, he rushed home but found the area covered with thick, heavy mud. "All I could do was scream.
Each of the villages are thought to be home to 1,000 to 1,500 people.
Publication date: May 18, 2016
On May 10, Sudan released one of two church leaders who had been arrested and jailed in December.
Telahoon Nogose Kassa, 36, head of the Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church, was asked to report to the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) headquarters on December 13, according to Morning Star News.
After reporting to the headquarters, he was arrested without charges and taken to a detention center in Khartoum. He was questioned for five days, according to church members, and believed to have been targeted for his relationship with a foreign missionary and his noncompliance to government takeover of his churchs property. There has been no official legal basis for his arrest.
It is not clear as to why Kassa was released. However, according to the 2010 National Security Act, NISS cannot detain suspects for over four and a half months without judicial review.
The other pastor, Rev. Hassan Abdelrahim Tawor, the vice-moderator of the Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC), was arrested five days after Kassas arrest and still remains in custody.
Sudan remains a Country of Particular Concern by the U.S. State Department since 1999 and ranks number eight on Open Doors 2016 World Watch List of countries where Christians face persecution.
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Jakarta, Indonesia
Secretary of State John Kerry recently confirmed what most already knew: ISIS is committing genocide against Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East.
Many Islamic leaders knew it too. In January, 200 Muslim religious leaders, heads of state, and scholars gathered in Morocco. They released the Marrakesh Declaration, a 750-word document calling for majority-Muslim countries to protect the freedom of religious minorities, including Christians.
Last week, another 300 Muslim religious leaders from about 30 countries did much the same. Gathering in Jakarta, Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim populus and historically known for its religious peace, the leaders denounced extremism and addressed its causes.
Texas pastor Bob Roberts, who has been actively building relationships with Muslims, thinks this is a sign of things to come. Roberts was present at the Morocco conference but not Indonesia.
Muslim majority nations are now making statements globally and nationally to push back on extremism, and you will see more of it, the evangelical interfaith leader told CT. This is sending signals to their citizens and the world that the tide is turning.
The Indonesian conference was hosted by Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the largest Muslim organization in the world, and was opened by the vice president of the officially secular country.
NUs membership estimates range from 30 million to 50 million; most are in Indonesia. About 87 percent of the countrys population of 250 million follow Islam; roughly 10 percent are Christian. Hinduism and Buddhism comprise the remainder.
The relatively peaceful religious demography has been hailed as a strength of what Indonesians call East Indies/Archipelago Islam.
We don't want to dictate to the world, said NU chairman Said Aqil Siradj, but we want to inspire [other countries by showing that] our concept of Islam could maintain peace and harmony within the diversity of Indonesia."
Participants from Iran, Syria, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere signed the Jakarta Statement, which highlighted two main ideas. First, the way Indonesian Islam accommodates local culturefor example, promoting an ancient Buddhist temple as a historical siteis an example to be imitated.
Second, extremism thrives through poor interpretation of religious heritage that does not compromise between Islam and nationalism.
"The first thing that must be done in order to overcome radicalism and terrorism is to be honest, said Yahya Cholis Staquf of the Nadhlatul Ulama National Board. There may be elements from Islam that are used as a basis or justification for hardline groups to carry out their actions."
Lebanese cleric Amin Kurdi said he appreciated NUs experience in disseminating good, moderate and tolerant Islam. Lebanon is one of 10 nations to recently announce the establishment of an independent NU branch to promote a peaceful Islam. Forty countries already are special members of the NU central board.
NU began its ideological campaign against ISIS last fall, and has established a nonprofit in Winston-Salem, NC, to coordinate conferences and seminars promoting a peaceful Islam. NU also partners with the University of Vienna in Austria to study and combat extremist propaganda. So far NU is especially active in Afghanistan, where 6,000 local religious leaders serve in 22 offices throughout the country.
Though Indonesia is generally hailed for its religious tolerance, the early 2000s saw so many attacks on Christians that they were effectively cleansed from part of the country. Recently, a law that requires churches to get permission from the local religious authority before beginning to build has led to the closure of more than 1,000 churches.
Indonesia has suffered terrorism in recent years, most notably bombings in Bali in 2002 and 2005. The BBC reported 500 Indonesians have traveled to fight with ISIS, and outward religiosity appears to be on the rise.
But the NU conference built on Indonesias 2014 effort to promote religious toleration.
CT covered the Marrakesh Declaration, including the cautiously hopeful reaction of Arab Christians. CT has also reported on Indonesia, including a surge of charismatic churches in Bali, the fight over who can use the word Allah, and the creeping in of Shari'ah-inspired laws.
Give Hope to Refugees in Syria: Pioneers USA Launches Crowdfunding Campaign, Just $10 to Participate
ORLANDO, Fla., May 18, 2016 /
For as little as $10, you can meet the physical and spiritual needs of Syrian refugees at
As the refugee crisis in the Middle East continues to escalate, at least 50 percent of the Syrian population has been displaced from their homes. The unfolding tragedy demands a response, but many wonder how to help these victims of war and unrest.
With 3,122 members serving in 108 countries, Pioneers is uniquely positioned to meet the needs of victims of war as they leave their devastated homeland and attempt to rebuild their lives in new host countries.
Pioneers and its partners on the ground are offering immediate physical relief, along with spiritual help such as counseling, Bible studies and prayer.
Pioneers is launching this campaign with Thoughtful Missions, an organization that helps nonprofits use tools such as crowdfunding to build a strong community of supporters. Together, they hope to provide everyday people with an opportunity to provide much-needed help to refugees in Syria.
ABOUT PIONEERS
Pioneers is an evangelical mission movement with 3,122 international members serving on 315 church-planting teams in 108 countries among 207 people groups, speaking 175 languages. For more information, visit
Share Tweet Contact: Matt Green, 321-231-5624ORLANDO, Fla., May 18, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- Pioneers USA, a respected organization providing aid and relief to refugees worldwide, has come up with a way for anyone to give hope to refugees in Syriaand invite friends and family to do the same.For as little as $10, you can meet the physical and spiritual needs of Syrian refugees at crowdrise.com/giving-hope . There, you can make donations and even set up fundraising campaigns of your own, tracking results as you inspire others to join in.As the refugee crisis in the Middle East continues to escalate, at least 50 percent of the Syrian population has been displaced from their homes. The unfolding tragedy demands a response, but many wonder how to help these victims of war and unrest.With 3,122 members serving in 108 countries, Pioneers is uniquely positioned to meet the needs of victims of war as they leave their devastated homeland and attempt to rebuild their lives in new host countries.Pioneers and its partners on the ground are offering immediate physical relief, along with spiritual help such as counseling, Bible studies and prayer.Pioneers is launching this campaign with Thoughtful Missions, an organization that helps nonprofits use tools such as crowdfunding to build a strong community of supporters. Together, they hope to provide everyday people with an opportunity to provide much-needed help to refugees in Syria.ABOUT PIONEERSPioneers is an evangelical mission movement with 3,122 international members serving on 315 church-planting teams in 108 countries among 207 people groups, speaking 175 languages. For more information, visit www.pioneers.org
home Faith Chinese Christian woman writes letter recounting persecution, demolition of home by authorities
A Christian Chinese woman has written a letter recounting the persecution she and her family suffered from the injustices of Chinese officials who demolished their home. She narrated her fight against what she referred to as China's evil power and the Chinese officials who she believed were tempted by the devil.
"The officials who afflicted us were tempted by the devil, and either are not limited to enslaving people or, out of fear, more openly resisting God by starting a movement to demolish crosses, arresting servants of the eternal God, and franticly seizing and injuring righteous people," wrote Wang Chunyan on April 5, in her letter which she entitled "From a petitioner against forced demolitions to Christ's soldieraGod led me to the United States to fight." Her letter was translated by Carolyn Song, written in English by Brynne Lawrence, and published on China Aid.
"They are fiddling with the law to convict righteous people, intending to eliminate the voice of justice. [They] challenge God's people; what else can they do?" Chunyan asked. Chunyan also hinted that there might be a number of people who experienced or are going through the same pain she and her family suffered.
"However, every major holiday, the large streets and small alleys in Beijing brim with the persistent silhouettes of petitioners, even if they are unscrupulously suppressed or stopped," she added.
According to China Aid, the Wang's family home in Dalian, Liaoning, China was demolished by the Chinese authorities on June 4, 2008. This led them to seek a legal petition to the higher authorities in Beijing. Unfortunately, her mother passed away while they were on their way to the city.
Chunyan'solder sister, Wang Chunmei, was detained for a year and is still plagued by illness and injuries suffered at the hands of the officials. Her mentally disabled brother, Wang Yaxin, died next to the express railroad in Dalian while she was held for a month-long detention after attending a Bible study at Beijing Holy Love Fellowship Church. Chunyan lamented that she still doesn't know the real details concerning Yaxin's death and added that her mother and brother's dead bodies are still in the morgues in Beijing and Dalian.
Chunyan is now residing in the United States and accredits God's love and guidance for her exile. She encouraged the enslaved Chinese citizens and struggling petitioners to turn to God for their suffering.
home World Christian Aid report lists places to be most affected by climate-induced coastal flooding
A Christian organization published a report stating which areas are most at risk of climate-induced coastal flooding in the future, and these places are mostly located in countries that are high carbon polluters: India, China, and the U.S.
"Climate change is not an abstract concept, it is increasingly a reality felt by millions of people around the world," the report by non-profit organization Christian Aid says. "For those living in coastal regions it is threatening their lives and their livelihoods, and this report shows how that impact is only going to get more severe."
According to the study titled "Act Now Or Pay Later: Protecting a billion people in climate-threatened coastal cities," more than 1 billion people who live in coastal cities are at risk of suffering from flooding by 2060. Most of these places are already experiencing a combination of extreme weather, storm surges, and the rise of sea level.
On top of the list of countries expected to have the most number of people living in low-lying coastal zones by 2060 are: China with 244.8 million (144 million in 2000); India with 216.4 million (63.9 million in 2000); and Bangladesh with 109.5 million (63.1 million in 2000). This is followed by Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Nigeria, the U.S., Thailand, and the Philippines.
Number one on the list of cities whose population could be most exposed to coastal flooding by 2070 is Calcutta, India (14 million vulnerable people); followed by Mumbai, India (11.4 million); then Dhaka, Bangladesh (11.1 million). It is followed by Guangzhou, China; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnamn; Shanghai, China; Bangkok, Thailand; and Yangoon, Myanmar. Miami, U.S.A. is listed with 4.8 million people projected to be at risk.
Meanwhile, assets including businesses and property that are projected to be the most exposed by 2070 are Miami, Guangzhou, and New York. The other top financially vulnarable cities are Calcutta, Shanghai, Mumbai, Tianjin, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Bangkok.
The report, which was published on May 16 in time for Christian Aid Week, says that up to 34 percent of the global population in 1960 lived in cities, but this has risen to 54 percent in 2014. The growth in urban population has been observed in less developed places in the world, and it is expected that by next year, majority of people, even in countries that are least developed, will be residing in urban areas -- and much of these are areas along coastlines. By 2060, more than 1 billion poeple all over the world could be residing in low-lying coastal areas, majority of which will be in Asia. The study says that it is mostly the poor who move to coastlines because these places are vulnerable.
"Evidence shows that, from New Orleans to Dhaka, it's the poorest who are by far the most vulnerable," the report says. "They tend to live on more exposed land, often in informal settlements with poorly built infrastructure that is easily damaged by flooding, extreme weather and storm surges. They are also the least able to recover, with no insurance cover, poor land tenure, and no social or financial safety nets."
Apart from rising sea levels, storms, and extreme weather, the destruction of flood plains and mangrove forests due to coastline population growth would contribute to further risk because these serve as natural barriers against extreme conditions.
"Climate change will play an increasing role in causing a and exacerbating a humanitarian disasters, especially along coastlines," says the report. "That's why it's vital that we have some joined-up thinking and that climate mitigation and adaptation become a key part of national and international efforts to tackle humanitarian crises."
The 2014 National Climate Assessment says that since 1880, global sea level has risen by 8 inches, and it is expected to rise by one to four more feet by 2100.
home US Christian protesters who disrupted Arab-American festival score victory as Supreme Court refuses to hear case
The United States Supreme Court will not hear the "Wayne County v. Bible Believers" case, in which the sheriffs of Wayne County allegedly violated the rights of Christian activists, who disrupted an Arab-American festival.
In 2012, during the Arab International Festival in Dearborn in suburban Detroit, a group that calls themselves Bible Believers came and began disrupting the festivities. According to Michigan Radio, the protesters told the crowd -- majority of which were Muslims -- that Muslims were going to "burn in hell" and called Prophet Mohammed "a pervert." Detroit Free Press says that they brought with them anti-Muslim signs as well as a pig's head on a spike.
Plastic bottles and rocks were reportedly thrown at the protesters. The sheriff's deputies stepped in and told the Christian activists to leave, otherwise they would be arrested. The group sued the sheriffs, specifically Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon and two deputies, alleging that they were not protected and their freedom of speech was violated.
The sheriffs, according to Detroit Free Press, argued that Bible Believers had caused trouble in the past, including at the Dearborn festival the year before. The authorities had the right to protect the public from violence.
The initial rulings by both the lower court and and an appeals court were in favor of the sheriffs, but this was overturned in 2015 by a full panel of federal appeals court judges at the Sixth Circuit.
"Diversity, in viewpoints and among cultures, is not always easy. An inability or a general unwillingness to understand new or different points of view may breed fear, distrust and even loathing," the ruling reads. "But ... the First Amendment demands that we tolerate the viewpoints of others with whom we may disagree."
The refusal of the Supreme Court to hear the case is deemed as victory for Bible Believers since it means that the ruling by the Sixth Circuit stands.
home US Christian schools lawyer deems resolution can be reached following Supreme Court decision on contraceptive case
On Monday, the United States Supreme Court had remanded to the lower courts the complaint filed by religious non-profit organizations against the coverage of contraceptives for their employees, and this is taken by a lawyer as a positive step toward protecting religious freedom.
If you are on b3 and you donat mind risking the jailbreak (device/fw *should* have same risk) for a while update; else stay on b3. qwertyoruiop (@qwertyoruiopz) December 26, 2016
The Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as ObamaCare, requires that contraceptives be a part of the insurance coverage for employees, but this does not sit well with those whose beliefs go against the requirement. Christian schools are among those affected by this.
"The schools would have been stuck with a choice whether to follow their religion and pay enormous fines or compromise their faith and participate in acts that they believe are contributing to evil," lawyer Greg Baylor of the Alliance Defending Freedom said, as quoted by KTUL.
ADF represents four Christian universities in Oklahoma who joined other organizations when the complaint was filed in 2012.
"The court seems to agree that there is another way that this can be done, a way that does not involve the schools, does not involve them violating their religious convictions," he said.
The highest court in the U.S. finds that a compromise can be reached between the two parties involved, wherein women can still be given birth control coverage without having to force religious groups to violate their faith.
Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor also said in her concurring opinion, according to an earlier report, that the lower courts can reconsider the argument of both sides "in light of petitioners' new articulation of their religious objection and the Government's clarification about what the existing regulations accomplish, how they might be amended, and what such an amendment would sacrifice."
pushed b4-1, works fine on my 7, try it out, if it doesnat work Iall revert to b3 for the day. qwertyoruiop (@qwertyoruiopz) December 26, 2016
Although the court's decision to remand the case is not exactly what the complainants expected -- and the court has not yet decided if it violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Ace -- Baylor deems it as a step toward protecting religious freedom.
"I'm certainly delighted by the prospect of reaching a resolution that doesn't violate the religious freedom of these school," said Baylor. "That's what we've been after all along."
home US Christian visual artists file legal complaint against Phoenix for non-discrimination ordinance
Christian non-profit organization Alliance Defending Freedom has filed a pre-enforcement challenge against the City of Phoenix because of a city ordinance that forces artists to use their talents for things that go against their religious beliefs.
The lawsuit, filed at the state court on Thursday on behalf of Christian studio artists Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, says that the ordinance forces them to use their talents to promote same-sex marriage and forbids them to publicly express their belief that marriage is between a man and a woman.
"Artists shouldn't be threatened with jail for disagreeing with the government," ADF Senior Counsel Jeremy Tedesco said. "The government must allow artists the freedom to make personal decisions about what art they will create and what art they won't create. Just because an artist creates expression that communicates one viewpoint doesn't mean she is required to express all viewpoints. It's unjust, unnecessary, and unlawful to force an artist to create against her will and intimidate her into silence."
Duka and Koski are co-owners of Brush & Nib, an art studio that specializes in hand-drawn paintings, hand-made letterings, and calligraphy for events such as weddings. They have opted to take legal action that challenges the law before it can be enforced agains them.
The ordinance that they are challenging, Phoenix City Code Section 18.4(B), is deemed as a violation against First Amendment freedoms, including Arizona's Free Exercise of Religion Act and the Free Speech Clause. It is a non-discrimination ordinance that, according to ADF, forces artists to create art even though the concept goes against their faith. It reportedly mandates that an artist who objects can either forego their right to create art or to serve up to six months jailtime plus pay up to $2,500 in fines each day it violates 18.4(B).
"By compelling artists to create and by silencing their speech, 18.4(B) violates the Arizona Constitution's Free Speech Clause, Religious Toleration Clause, Equal Protection Clause, Due Process Clause, and the Arizona Free Exercise of Religion Act," the complaint reads. "Based on these provisions, Plaintiffs ask this Court to enjoin and declare 18.4(B) unconstitutional so that they and other Arizona artists can return to doing what they do best -- create and discuss authentic art that reflects their beliefs, not the government's."
The complaint also comes with an accompanying motion for preliminary injunction.
home US Donald Trump hires pro-life advocate as policy director; conservatives warming up to presumptive Republican nominee?
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has reportedly hired pro-life advocate John Mashburn to be his campaign's policy director, a move that apparently pleases the conservatives.
"I have known and respected John Mashburn for many years," Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List, wrote on ThePulse2016 "He is a smart strategist with deep pro-life roots. John is well-respected across every issue set. For him, the life issue is foundational and one which helped draw him into politics."
Dannenfelser congratulated Trump for making an "excellent hire." She said that Mashburn had been been an outspoken advocate for unborn children and their mothers, and has worked to stop abortion on-demand.
SBA List, although initially opposed to Trump, is reportedly planning to spend somewhere between $6 million and $8 million for the nationwide campaign.
"My feelings about him, whether I'm happy or not happy about how he speaks, doesn't matter an iota," she said, as quoted by The New York Times. "It's more about rationality overcoming feelings than anything else."
After months of opposing Trump's candidacy, conservatives seem to be warming up to the business tycoon. Although their support to Trump, according to the NYTimes, is often qualified, he is somehow a better option than the alternative.
"He's not my first choice. He's not my second choice," Penny Nance, president of Concerned Women for America, told the publication. "But any concerns I have about him pale in contrast to Hillary Clinton."
Apparently, Trump is now seen as a convert to the Party's cause. He gave suggestions, such as hiring people known in the movement, which seemed to have calmed down the people at the Party. The support he is going to get from Republican activists, leaders of faith-based groups, and other organizations equates to more means of tapping the voting public.
"I can agree that in the primary you could find people more ideal," said Frank Cannon, president of conservative policy group American Principles Project." But he's now the presumptive nominee. And I think it's time we actually examine where he says he'll take the country versus where Hillary says she'll take the country,and make our judgments based on that."
home World Pro-abortion activist group delivers first 'abortion drone' to predominantly Catholic Poland
A non-profit group of Dutch activists and doctors, Women on Waves, has successfully dropped drones carrying abortion pills into predominantly Catholic Poland on Saturday, May 14 as the group campaigns for women's "rights to a safe abortion".
The activist group made an official announcement on its website where they described their first abortion drone flight a "success" as two Polish women swallowed the pills they received.
According to the website, the drone was flown from Germany and landed at the opposite side of the river in Slubice, Poland while the German police tried to stop the drone's flight. The police had to contend with confiscating the drone controllers and personal iPads.
"We want to create awareness about women's right to a safe abortion," doctor and founder of Women on Waves informed The Guardian previously. "The drone is another way to use the different laws in different countries in order to draw attention to the social injustice that women who are living in places where abortion is illegal are subject to."
Poland remains just one of the few European countries that bans abortion except for in the most extreme circumstances. Polish law only considers abortion to be legal and necessary in cases of rape or incest, the woman's life is endangered, or when the fetus is irreversibly damaged.
Pro-abortion activists argue that the Polish laws force women to resort to unsafe illegal providers that lead to deaths and morbidities.
"Women who could have an abortion under Polish law are often denied it because Catholic hospitals don't help them, even if their life is in danger," Gompers argued. "It's the women who don't have the means or access to information who are suffering." The doctor also said that those who have money can just easily go to Germany or UK for the abortions.
Women on Waves also plans to send drones to Ireland and Malta and other European countries where abortion is still illegal in efforts to avoid the countries' laws.
home Faith Algerian church ordered to cease worship for breaching 2006 law
A church in Maatkas in Algeria was ordered to close down on April 24 after an official notice charged it of breaching a 2006 law.
"The house where church conducts its worship was rented on behalf of the EPA, which has an official agreement from the Ministry of the Interior," Rev. Mahmoud Haddad, president of the legally registered Protestant Church of Algeria (also known by its French acronym, EPA), told World Watch Monitor. The Maatkas church is said to be affiliated with the EPA.
"The majority of churches affiliated to the EPA are in the same situation. They rent rooms or houses to celebrate their worship. Are authorities going to send such notifications to all these churches?" Haddad added.
The 2006 law regulates non-Muslim worship and stipulates that permission must be granted in order for a church to use a building for worship, and that their religious activities can only be legally carried out at these designated premises. However, the government has failed to respond to most applications so church leaders are left with no choice but to rent the buildings and notify the authorities afterwards.
Haddad refers to the 2006 law as a "persecution tool" aimed at regulating all religions except Islam.
"It is an unjust law against Christians, who were denied their right to worship and the opportunity to share the Gospel freely," he asserted. He also argued that this law is in violation of Article 36 pertaining to the freedom of religious worship law in the new Constitution that was passed in February 2016.
The EPA has created a special fund to help affiliated churches in need especially since only 15 out of 45 of the churches own places of worship. Haddad said that the goal is that every church owns its place of worship. Those who don't have designated places, especially in the remote areas, turn to the forest or mountaintops in order to avoid persecutions.
The church in the north-eastern province of Kabylie is only the second case in the year receiving such orders. The first church given the notice in February is located in a town of Ait Djima.
home World Third church in Tanzania burned down this year; Arson attacks targeting Christians linked to Islamist groups
Another church in Tanzania has been burned down a the third this year alone a in a series of arson attacks targeting Christian churches that began in 2013.
According to World Watch Monitor, Kagera Regional Police Commander Augustine Ollomi said that the Roman Catholic church of Nyarwele, located in the northwestern Kagera region bordering Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, is the third church to be burned down since January. The first two churches were Tanzania Assemblies of God and Pentecostal Assemblies of God.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the arson attack on May 2, but Ollomi disclosed that the police are now working with seven suspects to help them with the investigation, including the other churches burned down in the region last year.
A secretary of the local Bukoba Pastors' Fellowship, who only wished to be known as Annette, talked to World Watch Monitor during the 2015 attacks and said that Kagera has had over 13 churches torched since 2013 and yet no one has been held accountable. Annette also observed that the arson has become more sophisticated as they have started adding fuel to ensure maximum damage.
"This is not acceptable," she commented. "We are very upset and concerned as this is a trend that can no longer be ignored."
Sabas Kafuba, chairman of the Nyarwele church, shared that among those that were burned were documents, chairs, tables, the psaltery, and generators.
According to Barnabas Fund, the attacks could be linked to Islamist groups Uamsho and Muslim Renewal. Uamsho aims to erect a sharia Islamic state while the Muslim Renewal claims to be working together with Somalia. The international agency fears that the jihadist violence in North East Africa is already spreading southwards.
"Those who think that destroying our church means we won't pray, they are wrong ... We have a big tree near the church and will continue meeting there for prayers," said Fortunatus Bijura, Nyarwele's minister, as they continue to hold their church meetings.
home World Pastor's wife subjected to intense interrogation for meeting with US officials in Vietnam
The wife of a Vietnamese pastor reportedly went through an intense interrogation with authorities last week in connection with her meeting with U.S. officials in March.
Tran Thi Hong said she was told to report to the authorities on Wednesday, May 11. When she refused and said she couldn't come because she was still recovering from injuries she had suffered at the hands of the authorities last month, representatives from the Vietnamese Women's Union went to her house and forced her to come with them.
Hong said she was interrogated for hours. Ten people from the Vietnamese Fatherland Front, the People's Committee, the Women's Union, the city police and the provincial police took turns in asking her questions about her meeting with the U.S. officials. The ordeal went on for hours.
"I was very tired during the talk," Hong said, as reported by RFA. "They checked my blood pressure and saw that I was tired. They interrogated me about my meeting with the U.S. delegation on religious freedom on March 30. They told me the meeting was a violation of Vietnamese law."
On March 30, Hong met with David Saperstein, the U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom. They were supposed to meet in a hotel, but authorities reportedly harassed and prevented her from reaching the hotel. The meeting was then transferred to her home in the presence of the local authorities.
One of the things they were supposed to discuss in the meeting was the case of Hong's husband, Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh, who was imprisoned for "undermining national unity." Chinh is known to promote religious freedom in Vietnam.
About two weeks after Hong met with Saperstein in her home, she was forcibly taken to an office where she was beaten and asked about her discussion with the U.S. ambassador. Hong, who suffered abuse for three hours, sustained severe injuries, according to a report from Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
During her second interrogation on May 11, Hong stood firm that there was nothing wrong with her talking to Saperstein. She said her human rights are being violated with the constant police surveillance and harassment, which she has endured since her husband was arrested. She demanded that the unfair treatment be stopped.
home World Yazidi girl implores international community to recognize ISIS genocide against them
A young Yazidi girl who joined a United Nations meeting last month to narrate her experience as a former Islamic State (IS) captive implored the international community to recognize the genocide against her tribe and other minorities.
"I hope that the international community, especially the United Nations, will recognize this genocide against the Yazidis and other minorities," said 15-year-old Samia Sleman. Sleman joined the United Nations conference "Defending Religious Freedom and Other Human Rights: Stopping Mass Atrocities against Christians and Other Believers" that was held on April 28 in New York, according to a report by Barnabas Fund.
"We hope the international community and Western countries will help the Yazidis and Christians and open their border for them if they cannot protect them in that region and provide protection for them, they will open their borders and welcome these minorities in the Western world," Sleman continued. "We see that our people don't have the force and the ability to defend their people because we are treated as second-class citizens in that country."
The young girl warned that if the situation continues, there may no longer be any Yazidis and Christians in the region. She especially cited those in refugee camps who have been suffering for years due to lack of proper services.
According to Sleman's accounts, the IS militants attacked their village on August 3, 2014 and captured her and her entire family; her father, uncle, and grandfather are still held as hostages. She revealed that men and older women are usually killed, the young women a even those who are as young as six or seven years old a are kept as sex slaves, while the young boys are being trained and brainwashed to become future jihadis.
Sleman, who escaped the IS camps after six months and 12 days, also brought questions to the table, asking why there are no concrete actions being taken against the IS terrorists.
Bob Dylan letter from 1980 about Christian faith expected to sell for $20,000
A rare letter from Bob Dylan in which he makes frequent references to his faith is being auctioned online and may be sold for more than $20,000.
Written on Park Plaza paper in April 1980 to a friend named 'Steve', the letter says Dylan is "up in Toronto singing and playing for about 3000 people a night in a downtown theatre".
Dylan goes on: "The Spirit of the Lord is calling people here in their beautiful and clean city but they are more interested in lining up for Apocalypse Now than to be baptized and filled with the Holy Ghost Wanna thank you for that Bible as it is helpful in discovering a few phrases from and shedding more light on what the King James version reads God will lift up your heart as you begin to realize that 'He thru Christ has reconsiled [sic] man unto Himself' (II Corinthians)."
Steve, he says, is in "basic training and boot camp and I thank God you are and your commitment runs deep and you will be used to minister and break the hold of darkness in those you become face to face with".
He encourages Steve to pray and press on, "Always in the name of Jesus Christ Son of God, Manifest in the flesh."
The letter has the original envelope and is described as being in "good to fine condition".
Dylan goes on: "The Spirit of the Lord is calling people here in their beautiful and clean city but they are more interested in lining up for Apocalypse Now than to be baptized and filled with the Holy Ghost Wanna thank you for that Bible as it is helpful in discovering a few phrases from and shedding more light on what the King James version reads God will lift up your heart as you begin to realize that 'He thru Christ has reconsiled [sic] man unto Himself' (II Corinthians)."
Steve, he says, is in "basic training and boot camp and I thank God you are and your commitment runs deep and you will be used to minister and break the hold of darkness in those you become face to face with".
He encourages Steve to pray and press on, "Always in the name of Jesus Christ Son of God, Manifest in the flesh."
The letter has the original envelope and is described as being in "good to fine condition".
The Toronto visit was for the legendary Massey Hall run as part of the Bob Dylan Gospel Tour after his conversion to Christianity. A year earlier he had produced his brilliant Slow Train Coming album, winning a Grammy award for the song 'Gotta serve somebody'. At Massey Hall he addressed crowds on the prophecies in Revelation, linking them to Russia's invasion of Afghanistan and an increasingly unstable Middle East.
Bidding at RR Auctions ends tomorrow, May 19.
Boko Haram: Abducted Chibok schoolgirl found in Nigeria
One of the missing Chibok girls has been found in Nigeria, the BBC has reported.
An activist told the BBC that a girl, Amina Ali, was found by a vigilante group on Tuesday in the Sambisa Forest, close to the Cameroonian border.
The 276 girls were abducted from their school in April 2014. Almost 50 of them managed to escape, but it is believed 219 remain in captivity.
This girl is the first of the 219 to be found since they were abducted more than two years ago.
The BBC reports that she was identified by a civilian fighter who recognised her.
Boko Haram, an Islamist militant group whose name translates as 'Western education is forbidden', has abducted hundreds of women and girls since its uprising in 2009.
Jihadists overran the school in Chibok, Borno state, late in the evening on April 14. All schools in Borno had been forced to close due to increased fighting, but the girls had returned to complete their exams.
Armed men killed a policeman and soldier who were guarding the school and then forced entry into the dormitories, ordering the students to climb into open-backed trucks. Some managed to escape, but two years on 219 are believed to remain in captivity.
Several weeks after the Chibok abduction, militants released footage of 136 of the schoolgirls purporting to show them having converted to Islam. The girls were shown wearing hijabs and reciting the Qur'an.
Nigerian authorities have faced overwhelming criticism for their failure to find the girls over the past two years. President Muhammadu Buhari, elected over former President Goodluck Jonathan last May, has pledged to fight Boko Haram's brutal insurgency and made security a key pillar of his campaign. However, despite the Chibok case being brought to international attention through the #bringbackourgirls campaign and a number of false rumours of their release, the girls remain missing.
Boko Haram has since abducted around 2,000 children, including some 300 in a November 2014 attack in Damasak. A report released this week by UNICEF said incidents of Boko Haram child suicide bombings have increased rapidly over the last year. Children as young as eight, the majority of them girls, have been used to bomb schools and markets.
Some reports suggest that at least some of the girls have been brainwashed by their captors, and have carried out murders on behalf of the group.
Coptic Christian jailed for blasphemy against Islam: 'I thank God for everything'
An Egyptian Coptic Christian who was imprisoned for defamation of Islam before being proved innocent, has said he thanks God for his time in jail.
"I spent three years and two months in prison," Bishoy Kameel Garas told International Christian Concern (ICC).
"But I thank God for everything."
Garas was proven innocent after serving more than half his six year sentence for defamation of Islam.
He was jailed in September 2012 for charges related to Facebook posts by a fake account opened in his name.
His offences included offending Islam, the then-President Mohamed Morsi, and a Muslim sheikh's sister.
Cairo's senior court ruled against the prison sentence on July 25, 2015, but Garas remained in prison until October 9, due to "intransigence by the prosecution, and prison authorities dragging their feet", his lawyer Magdy Farouk told World Watch Monitor.
It was not until five months later, March 13, that the higher court ruled him innocent.
"[My imprisonment] was the will of God, and we have to accept God's will," Garas told ICC.
"Our view is limited but God's [view] is unlimited."
His mother, Sana, described living "in a state of fear and terror" during her son's imprisonment.
"Our lives were in danger every day," she said.
"We thank God so much for standing with Bishoy, protecting him, and acquitting him," she told ICC.
There have been nine cases of "defamation of religion" filed in Egyptian courts since January 2015, according to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. Twelve people have been convicted and 12 more cases are pending.
Donald Trump seeks to build bridges with Hispanic evangelicals
Donald Trump is to address the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference this weekend, via a pre-recorded video message.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee will make his first formal address to a Latino organisation, in a move to repair previously damaged relations with the significant Latino evangelical voting bloc.
"He must redeem the narrative with Latinos, and in particular people of faith," Rev Samuel Rodriguez, president of the leadership conference, told Bloomberg Politics.
The Latino evangelicals are seeking a candidate who endorses "pro-life, pro-family, religious liberty, immigration reform agenda", he said.
Rodriguez emphasised that the inclusion of Trump's message does not equate to an endorsement, and said Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have been approached to do similar videos.
Trump's message will be played to more than 1,200 Hispanic leaders who are meeting to discuss the "issues that are important to evangelical Latinos", Rodriguez said.
Trump has previously referred to Mexican immigrants as "rapists" and "drug dealers", promised to build a wall along the US-Mexico border, and suggested that undocumented immigrants be deported.
"It would be the first time that I'm aware of that he's addressing, even though it's a videotaped message, a Latino organization," said Brent Wilkes, national executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens.
"He's going to have to face the music and go out and talk to the community that he's been denigrating."
Latino evangelicals are yet undecided on who to vote for in the 2016 presidential race, Rodriguez told Bloomberg.
"The NHCLC stands committed not to the agenda of the donkey or the elephant but exclusively to the lamb's agenda," he said.
"Accordingly, we will encourage Latino people of faith to vote life, family, religious liberty and immigration reform."
Northern Irish drug-smuggler converts to Christianity in Peruvian jail
A Northern Irish woman jailed in Peru for smuggling cocaine converted to Christianity in prison and is now living with a Peruvian priest for the duration of her parole.
Michaella McCollum Connolly, 23, was jailed alongside Melissa Reid in 2013 when police found 1.5 million of cocaine in their handluggage.
They were charged with attempting to smuggle the cocaine from Peru to Spain.
Having served more than two years in Peruvian prison, McCollum Connolly has been released and is now living with Fr Sean Walsh, a Peruvian Priest, and his wife in Lima.
"Michaella did her time with dignity, took her lumps and now she's ready to start life fresh," Fr Walsh said, according to CBN.
"Michaella is an intelligent and gifted young lady, she just did something dumb, now she can get on with the rest of her life.
"I'm not sure she was a staunch Catholic before I met her, but I really think she did come to the Lord, at least in her conversations with me, she indicated that," he added.
Michaella will carry out administrative tasks for Walsh, as well as helping with other church ministries.
Following her release, McCollum told Irish state broadcaster RTE she had been "very naive, so young and very insecure".
"A lot of times I didn't know how to say no to somebody," she said.
"I kind of just followed along with it and I guess a part of me kind of wanted to be something I'm not.
"But, simply, I made a decision in my moment of madness."
As part of her parole, McCollum will spend the next 50 months in Peru.
A judge has granted an order expelling Melissa Reid from the country on Monday. She is likely to be deported to Scotland later this week.
Explainer: Is the United Methodist Church about to split over LGBT issues?
Rumour has it the United Methodist Church is headed towards division over LGBT equality disputes, and they're heartbroken.
"I have a broken heart, and collectively we have a broken heart. Our hearts break over pain, anger, disunity we observe and experience in our beloved United Methodist Church, and frankly, within our council," said the incoming president of the Council of Bishops, Bishop Bruce Ough.
The 40-year-old church has been experiencing increasing, conflicting pressure from different areas of its communion when it comes to issues of human sexuality.
Ahead of the General Conference meeting we are in now in the middle of, 111 United Methodist ministers came out as LGBT in a letter on May 9 to challenge the denomination's ban on "prasticing homosexuals".
Late last night delegates at the meeting voted 428-364 for bishops to meet immediately to discuss and recommend to the conference how the church moves forward when it comes to human sexuality.
Where does UMC stand on homosexuality at the moment?
The UMC explicitly states that "homosexual persons no less than hetereosexual persons are individuals of sacred worth". It does not say that it is a sin to be gay. However, it sees the "practice of homosexuality [to be] incompatible with Christian teaching".
To be gay isn't a problem, but to have a gay relationship is.
If you are a "practising homosexual" you won't be able to be ordained or serve in the UMC and you won't be able to be married in a UMC church.
So, what's the dispute over?
The United Methodist Church has 12 million members, 7.2 million of whom live in the US.
As so often is the case when a denomination transcends more than one culture, the beliefs of members become increasingly disparate.
In the United States there is an increasingly liberal wing of the church developing that is keen to ordain LGBT clergy and allow same-sex weddings.
This couldn't be further from where the growing congregations in Africa stand on the issue. The UMC has far more conservative members in these congregations, many of whom live in countries where homosexuality is illegal.
"The whole United States will be a minority and the liberal parts of the United States will be a minority within a minority," Mark Tooley, of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, told the Washington Post.
Unity in the body when the members are seeking to go in apparently opposite directions is not simple, or pain free.
Why has this all come to a head now?
We are in the middle of a 10-day once-every-four-years meeting of the global denomination held in Portland, United States.
This is when a lot of big issues come to a head, naturally, as the whole communion comes together.
Ahead of this meeting, there has been increased activity in the pro-LGBT camp of the UMC.
In January, a Methodist minister in Kansas came out as a lesbian to her congregation in a sermon, sharing that she was in a relationship with another woman.
Another pastor who was disciplined by the church for officiating at his daughter's same-sex wedding, has been sleeping in a tent in protest.
In April 2016, Bishop Melvin Talbert and other pastors performed same-sex marriages publicly to stand in support of the full inclusion of LGBT persons in the church.
The Baltimore-Washington Conference appointed an openly gay woman in a lesbian relationship to the proivsional diaconate in February this year.
Demonstrations such as these have a long history...
In 1987 Methodist minister Rose Mary Denman was defrocked for being openly gay.
Defrocking is the technical punishment for practising homosexuality.
Similarly, in 2005, Irene Elizabeth Stroud was defrocked after she was convicted in a church trial of violating church law for having a lesbian relationship.
So, where does this leave the UMC now?
With broken hearts, according to Bruce Ough.
A proposal to split the church was reported in a video post late on Monday evening to the Reconciling Ministries Network Facebook page. RMN is a Methodist group advocating for the full inclusion of LGBT members.
The video said a special meeting would be held in 2018 in which a "plan of separation will be moved forward".
Ough confirmed that legislation has been put forward, but that these reiterated that it was not decided upon.
The leadership is "not advancing or advocating any plan of separation or reorganisation of the denomination," he said in an unscheduled speech yesterday.
Five leaders, reportedly from across the ideological spectrum, are currently in a private meeting to discuss the issue of human sexuality.
This is not the first time the issue has raised its head, yet "what's different is, there is a certain level of candor and urgency that is evident," said Ough.
German lawmakers risk Turkey's wrath with Armenia 'genocide' vote
German lawmakers risk angering Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and jeopardising an EU-Turkey migrant deal by backing a planned resolution branding as "genocide" the mass killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces a century ago.
The vote, expected to be held in the first week of June, comes at a particularly sensitive time, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel keen to ensure that Erdogan remains committed to implementing the migrant deal she has championed.
Critics accuse her of going soft on Turkey over human rights because she is desperate to stem the flow of migrants to Germany. She drew fire from critics for allowing a German court to go ahead with investigations against a comedian whom Turkey wants charged for mocking Erdogan in a sexually crude poem.
Merkel's conservatives, their junior coalition partner the Social Democrats and the opposition Greens are finalising the wording of the largely symbolic resolution.
Conservative Franz Joseph Jung said the term "genocide" would be in both the headline and the text of the resolution.
"We want to contribute to reconciliation but I think we want to correctly describe a historic fact," he told Deutschlandfunk radio on Tuesday, adding it was separate from the migrant deal.
Turkey denies that the massacres, which took place as Ottoman and Russian forces fought in the east of the Ottoman Empire, constituted genocide. It argues that the there was no organised campaign to wipe out the Armenians, who are Christian, and no evidence of any such orders from the Ottoman authorities.
Turkey's ambassador to Germany, Huseyin Avni Karslioglu, has already criticised the move.
"It's not the job of national parliaments to judge history," he told the Rheinische Post daily.
There are also fears that the resolution could stir tensions with the some 3.5 million people of Turkish origin who live in Germany.
Last year, German President Joachim Gauck condemned the killings of Armenians as genocide in a speech to mark the 100th anniversary of the massacres. Germany had previously avoided using the word 'genocide' to describe the killings.
Lawmakers then discussed a resolution but there was no vote and the parties have been working on the text since then.
ISIS news: Caliphate shrinking, could be defeated in just 90 days with 'right mix of troops and air power' U.S. officials
The Islamic State (ISIS) is losing territory and power and that the United States would need just three months to completely defeat its forces in Iraq and Syria with "the right mix of troops and air power."
The assessments came from two U.S. officials speaking on separate occasions on Sunday.
Brett McGurk, U.S. presidential envoy to the 66-nation anti-ISIS coalition, said the tide of battle has turned against the jihadist-terrorist group, CBN News reports.
"This perverse caliphate is shrinking," he said, adding that aside from losing territory, ISIS is also losing the war over online social media propaganda.
McGurk said the U.S. has intensified its offensive against the ISIS use of social media to radicalise and recruit jihadists amid a round-the-clock counter-propaganda campaign involving companies like Facebook and YouTube as well as the Jordanian government, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates.
"For every pro-Daesh Twitter handle, there are now six calling out its lies and countering its message," McGurk said.
The loss of territory and power is the reason why ISIS is now only able to launch small coordinated attacks.
But these insurgency-style strikes have killed more than 100 people this past week, reports say.
Just this weekend, the ISIS launched a deadly suicide bombing against a natural gas plant north of Baghdad that left at least 14 people dead.
Meanwhile, retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely said the terror group could be eliminated in just 90 days.
Interviewed on Newsmax TV, the senior Fox News military analyst bared parts of the strategy to finally put an end to the widely despised group.
"We could defeat ISIS in 90 days with the right mix of troops and air power and ground operations, along with the Kurds and the Free Syrian Army. It can be done. I know that having been on the ground over there, Vallely said.
He said the U.S. need not throw in thousands of soldiers to do the job since it will only involve "Joint Strike Force raids, use of Special Operations forces, good intelligence, and good targeting."
He likened his envisioned campaign to what the U.S. did against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in late 2001, when the U.S. military just used 100 men and air power to defeat those forces in 31 days.
"So this can be done, but you have to have the right minds, the right strategy and tactics and right positioning of our forces to do that and it can be done in a short period of time. Don't let anybody tell you differently," Vallely said.
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.
Methodists reject potential first step to allowing gay marriage in their ongoing General Conference
The United Methodist Church is standing its ground against allowing same-sex marriages and homosexual clergymen.
In their ongoing United Methodist Church General Conference in Portland, Oregon, where discussions are being made on key issues, majority of the church's members have rejected a proposal from a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) group to change the format of the discussions during the gathering.
A total of 57 percent of the 864 delegates who attended the event at the Oregon Convention Center voted against the LGBT proposal to change the church's so-called "Rule 44," which would have broken down the group discernment process into small groups.
This appeared to be just a simple format change, but it was seen by some as a first test for the Methodist Church on whether or not it will already allow homosexual clergymen and same-sex marriagesboth of which it has long disallowed.
Some LGBT individuals pushed for the change in discussion format after supposedly being bullied during the 2012 General Conference.
Even at the start of this year's conference, which will last until May 20, Bishop Warner H. Brown Jr., president of the Council of Bishops, already anticipated divisive discussions on homosexuality.
"As we discuss our different opinions about same-gender relationships, may we remember our duelling points of view are anchored in our desire to be faithful," Brown said during his sermon, as quoted by Religion News Service.
"We hold our respective positions as firmly as our conscience and experience dictates, but can we not also seek the path of unity among Christians with different views on this issue as we have on other disputed matters?" he added.
True enough, the debate on Rule 44 became so heated that it prompted delegate Margie Briggs, a layperson from the Missouri Annual Conference, to say, "I believe we're confusing God at this point."
Delegate Dorothee Benz, a layperson from the New York Annual Conference, however, believes that the Methodist Church should not have rejected the proposal from the LGBT group.
"I think Rule 44 is the best chance we have for an honest conversation and to move past this fear of talking about LGBTQ people," Benz also told Religion News Service.
More U.S. state leaders raise their voices against Obama's transgender restroom decree: No surrender to 'federal bayonet'
The top officials in more than 12 states in America have made known their defiance of President Barack Obama's pro-LGBT "guidance" on the use of restrooms and other facilities in all U.S. public schools.
Unfazed by Washington's threat of the loss of billions of dollars in federal education funding, the state leaders vowed they will never implement the decree "come what may" because it is unconstitutional, LifeSiteNews reports.
Governors, attorneys general, and school officials have joined irate parents in saying that Obama's "social experiment" announced last Friday is a vast overreach of the president's powers and places young children at risk.
North Carolina, which was sued by the federal government over its bathroom privacy law, was among the first states to declare the Obama decree dead on arrival.
Obama's policy is "an invitation for violations of privacy and personal safety," said North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest.
"North Carolina will not stand by and let our locker rooms and high school showers be used for social experimentation at the expense of the privacy and protection of our young boys and girl," he said. "I don't think it appropriate for teenage boys and girls to shower next to each other...I feel confident, the vast majority of North Carolina parents feel the same."
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said his state will never yield despite being threatened with "a federal bayonet."
"Mississippi's public schools should not participate in the president's social experiment. These decisions are better left to the states, and not made at the point of a federal bayonet," he said.
Mississippi Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves said "state and local communities should not be forced to push a liberal agenda by a president out of touch with the American people."
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said his state is willing to lose federal education funding in defying Obama's decree, even if this would deprive students in the state of an estimated $10 billion, much of it in free breakfast and lunch programme.
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin also declared his state's non-compliance of the presidential directive, saying public schools in the Bluegrass State "should not feel compelled to bow to such intimidation."
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert vowed to resist Obama's order.
"Schools are the domain of state and local government, not our nation's president ... If we have to fight this order, we will not hesitate to do so," Herbert said.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson also told school districts in the state to disregard Obama's "guidance," tweeting, "We will fight this directive."
Alabama state Attorney General Luther Strange vowed, "If the Obama administration tries to enforce this absurd edict, I will work with other Attorneys General to challenge it."
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt wrote a letter to the Obama administration Friday afternoon shortly after the guidelines were announced, saying he would "vigorously defend the state's" commonsense solution.
Other states opposing the Obama edict are Arizona, Kansas, Maine, Nebraska and West Virginia, according to LifeSiteNews.
Obama administration threatens hospitals: Do abortions and 'sex changes' or else lose federal funding
The Obama administration actually dropped not one but two bombshells on Friday when it threatened the nation's public schools with the loss of billions of dollars of federal funding unless they comply with its vision of gender ideology, LifeSiteNews reports.
Largely unreported in the media was the second White House threat: That it would withhold federal funding on healthcare institutions that refuse to perform "gender transition" services and abortions.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published the final rule for Obamacare's Section 1557 on Friday, requiring healthcare providers receiving federal funds to do as told or face termination of government aid, along with possible referral to the Department of Justice for legal action.
The HHS states that the new rule "builds on prior Federal civil rights laws to prohibit sex discrimination in health care" and "also prohibits the denial of health care or health coverage based on an individual's sex, including discrimination based on pregnancy, gender identity, and sex stereotyping. The final rule also requires covered health programs and activities to treat individuals consistent with their gender identity."
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and other religiously affiliated groups opposed the rule's coverage of abortion and "gender reassignment" treatment last year.
Religious liberty and family advocates condemned the rule, citing its lack of constitutionality.
"It's laughable to suggest that when Congress referred to 'sex' in [Obamacare's] Section 1557 it was referring to anything other than biological sex," stated Ken Klukowski, attorney with First Liberty Institute and Breitbart News legal editor.
"This is Orwellian," Klukowski wrote at Breitbart. "But beyond that, it is an unconstitutional assault on the First Amendment that the Obama administration is forcing their rejection of biological fact onto people whose faith teaches that 'man' and 'woman' refer to what they have meant for thousands of years, and that God purposefully created them that way."
Jane Orient, the executive director for the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, accused the Obama administration of dictating medical ethics through the rule, which would lead to doctors and hospitals discontinuing acceptance of Medicare and Medicaid.
Orient decried the medical danger in the Obama administration's imposition of gender ideology as well.
"Transgender treatment, especially to minors, inflicts irreversible harm on persons too young to consent," she said. "It constitutes radical, non-consented social experimentation. Chemical or surgical castration should be considered a crime against humanity."
Pro-LGBT businesses are worse than ISIS, says megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress
Pro-LGBT businesses are a greater threat to religious freedom in the US than Islamic State, according to a prominent conservative evangelical minister.
The comments by Pastor Robert Jeffress, of the 12,000-member First Baptist Church in Dallas, came against the background of conservative anger at the federal government's reaction to anti-transgender legislation in US states including North Carolina.
Reported by Right Wing Watch, Jeffress was discusing the Obama administration's controversial directive advising public schools to allow transgender students to use whichever lavatory they felt comfortable with.
In conversation with host Todd Starnes on the Family Research Council's Washington Watch programme, he stressed the conservative view that "gender is something that is assigned by God. And by the way, it's not just a matter of religious belief, it's a matter of science, it's a matter of chromosomes."
Jeffress continued that "at the root of this is society's rebellion against the plan of God, that's what this is all about".
He added, "I think it's time for an all-out rebellion against this absolute tyranny of the Obama administration."
When Starnes said that Mississippi's education department is going to comply with the Obama administration's directive, Jeffress replied: "It comes down to money, Todd, and that's what it's about. And when states are being faced with the loss of business, they tend to fold real quickly. And I've said often that the greatest threat to freedom of religion in America is not ISIS, it's the Chamber of Commerce.
"It's the businesses that say to our representatives, 'Oh, don't pass laws like that, don't pass these religious freedom laws because people will interpret that as anti-gay and we'll lose business.'"
Right Wing Watch notes that Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said on May 13 on Washington Watch, referring to Lot's offer to hand over his daughters to a mob in Sodom: "I think this is a Genesis 19 moment. This is a Lot moment where we're going to decide whether or not we're going to shove our children out the door in the pursuit of some false promise of temporal peace, and we know how that worked out.
"I think this is a time for resistance. I think it's a time for defiance. This is wrong. Parents have a God-given responsibility and obligation to protect their children. It is wrong to surrender our children to a godless system that this president is promoting."
Queen's Speech: Extremism, prisons and adoption to take centre stage
The Queen will announce the government's agenda for the upcoming year at the State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday.
An "unprecedented" shake up of prisons and a bill to tackle extremism will be the central focus of what is expected to be a rather thin outline, given the uncertainty around the referendum.
This could be David Cameron's last Queen's Speech as Prime Minister given that many expect him to resign in the event of a vote to leave the European Union on June 23. He has promised a "clear programme of social reform" in the 21 bills to be announced as he seeks to ensure his legacy as a moderniser within the Conservative party.
It is likely the speech will be used to restart Cameron's "life chances" agenda which has taken a back seat in the heat of the referendum debate.
Prison reform
The power to control the budgets, regime and educational services in jails will be given to prison governors in what Cameron said was the start of "long overdue, long-needed change".
However critics have said it will not change the challenges of overcrowding and high suicide rates in prisons. Richard Garside, director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, told the BBC the plans were "superficially attractive" but did not change the fact prisons were "incredibly overcrowded" and budgets had been "cut by about a third since 2010".
Adoption overhaul
Cameron has also promised to tackle the adoption system and the fact the number of adoptions has halved in the past two years. The changes will force courts to favour permanent families over distant relatives in an effort to give "all children need a loving, permanent and stable home".
Cameron said: "For me, a child's happiness and future life chances will always come above everything else. So we will legislate to tip the balance in favour of permanent adoption where that is the right thing for the child even when that means overriding family ties."
The adoption charity Home for Good said it welcomed the decision to invest more in adoption. A spokesperson said the charity agreed that "decisions made by government should be child-centred and focused on achieving permanence for each child at the earliest possible stage".
However the charity added that for some children, the best option is foster care.
The spokesperson said: "Home for Good would strongly support the government investing more into foster care alongside adoption, recognising that both offer love and care to vulnerable children."
The government will also introduce a new care leavers contract to ensure those leaving the care system have access to housing support, health care and jobs.
Who are 'extremists'?
One of the central focuses of the Queen's Speech will be a bill to tackle extremism. Cameron will announce measure to ban organisations, silence individuals and close down groups that "promote hatred".
The problem is who will be defined as an extremist.
The Christian Institute told Christian Today the "root of concern is a complete lack of definition".
Spokesperson Ciaran Kelly said: "We don't know who could be caught up in the legislation but certainly it seems if you have an issue with same-sex marriage you could be classed as an extremist".
Kelly said the worry surrounded what the threshold would be for defining an extremist. David Cameron has made clear he wants to tackle the ideology behind extremism. When he announced his counter-extremism strategy last year he said "extremism is really a symptom; ideology is the root cause". The concern for some is what other non-violent ideologies will be targeted by the government's crack down. Kelly said the threshold should be when violence is committed or advocated.
"The government seems to be setting an extremely low threshold. The solution we want to see is a higher threshold where you are labelled an extremist if you advocate violence," he told Christian Today.
The bill has already been delayed a number of times and was expected to have been announced by now. It is understood the delay has been caused by the struggle to define "extremism". One suggestion was "vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values", according to the Telegraph. But this was considered too loose a definition to stand up against a legal challenge.
A Home Office source has admitted: "Getting agreement about the thresholds for what constitutes extremism and what needs to be protected as free speech is not going to be easy or straightforward."
Will we have to wait and see whether the Queen's Speech sheds any light on what definition the government has decided upon.
Christian Today will be live blogging the State Opening so keep an eye on the site for rolling updates.
The EU referendum: How should we decide?
I suspect that I am not alone in often finding the arguments on each side of the referendum campaign unhelpful and the passion of their advocates rather perplexing. An added challenge is how to approach making a decision on June 23 as a Christian. This is obviously something most campaigners are not addressing, although there are now a number of helpful resources online at Reimagining Europe, KLICE and Evangelical Alliance.
Seek the welfare of...Europe?
As we think about how to vote, there are many pressures on us to think of ourselves and to do so predominantly, almost exclusively, in narrowly economic terms. Will I better be better off or worse off if I vote X? A Christian perspective on our responsibilities as voters calls us to think much wider and deeper not just about money, not just about ourselves. As those called to love our neighbour we are called to think about the common good when we cast our vote. Our national common good clearly has a significant place in that but we must not think of ourselves alone. We must consider the international common good, the impact of our decision on other countries in Europe and the wider world. That will mean wrestling with the reality that actions which benefit us may harm others, and vice versa.
A relationship to work at or to leave?
A Christian commitment to working at difficult relationships with others speaks against rupturing relationships or advocating self-sufficiency and isolationism. There is, in that sense, a presumption in favour of staying in a relationship and seeking to make it work better. But that presumption is far from absolute. We all know that some relationships are destructive of those in the relationship or of those excluded from it. Such relationships often need to be left in order to try to re-establish a relationship on a new and better footing. So, although some have argued that neighbour-love requires Christians vote to remain, I'm not convinced. Could it not be argued that the EU structures are damaging not just to the UK but to other member states, and perhaps the wider world, and that the shock of Brexit is good as it forces us to address our deeper problems in the EU?
But what about the specific issues? One problem is that there are so many (I explore a number in The EU Referendum: How Should We Decide?, Grove Books) but the EU is primarily a political and law-making community. So how might a Christian perspective on politics help? Two central questions are what political authority and law-making should be seeking, and who exercises such authority.
The EU and seeking justice
What should guide political decisions, including the decision on how to vote in the referendum? From a biblical and traditional Christian perspective, the task of political authority is to pursue justice by upholding the common good. That means a central question though one rarely raised in the popular debate is whether this goal is better fulfilled by remaining in the EU or leaving it. Most of us, if asked to name threats to justice and the common good, are likely to include at least some such as damage to the environment or international terrorism which are transnational. This seems to point to the need for the EU or some similar multi-national structure if national governments are to respond and work for justice effectively. A major but largely unconsidered question is what leaving would entail in relation to justice and these areas rather than just the narrowly economic consequences of Brexit which dominate the news.
The EU and representation
But it's also important to ask who is taking political decisions and making laws. In traditional Christian thinking, those with such authority are to be representative of those over whom they exercise authority. This is a challenge if we see the real need for political structures at a trans-national level in the pursuit of justice. It's clearly a challenge for the EU. At one level this is the problem of the "democratic deficit" within the EU institutions and the low turnout even for the one institution the European Parliament which is directly elected. There is though an even more serious challenge. Particularly given the EU's massive recent expansion, do its 28 member states and more than 500 million citizens have enough of a shared identity, a real sense of belonging together, to be able to see any political institutions as genuinely representing them?
One solution the EU has embraced is the need for subsidiarity. This comes from Christian political thought and means, at a bare minimum, political decisions are taken as near the people effected as possible. It favours decisions being made by local and national governments which can be more representative and accountable than larger, more distant, transnational institutions. It is, though, far from clear that this theoretical commitment has been put into practice within the EU.
These two elements of a central aspect of the EU its nature as a political institution show how Christian thinking helps identify issues often not given prominence and brings a distinctive perspective to them. Sadly they also show why for many of us, this cannot be a simple black and white choice but is instead a complex one requiring much reasoned discussion and careful and prayerful discernment.
For those interested in such discussion and discernment there is an event at St James the Less, Vauxhall Bridge Road, Pimlico, London on Friday, May 20 with Ben Ryan and Giles Fraser speaking for Remain and Leave.
Rev Canon Dr Andrew Goddard is senior research fellow at the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics (KLICE), Cambridge, and assistant minister of St James the Less, Pimlico.
Top Vatican cardinal blasts gender theory, same-sex marriage, transgender bathroom policies, calling them 'demonic attacks'
Cardinal Robert Sarah, whose name often comes up on the short list of papal candidates, denounced gender ideology, same-sex "marriage," and transgender bathroom policies at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, describing them all as "demonic attacks on humanity."
Sarah, appointed Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments by Pope Francis in 2014, likened gender theory to "ideological colonisation" and blasted the "insidious" dismantling of religious freedom in the U.S., Newsmax reports.
"Advanced societies, including, I regret, this nation, have done and continue to do everything possible to legalise such situations," Sarah told the crowd of nearly a thousand people.
"But this can never be a truthful solution. It is like putting bandages on the infected wound. It will continue to poison the body until antibiotics are taken."
"In your nation, God is being eroded, eclipsed, liquidated," Sarah said, according to CNS News.
On same-sex marriage, the top Vatican cardinal from Africa said, "This is not an ideological war between competing ideas. This is about defending ourselves, children and future generations from the demonic idolatry that says children do not need mothers and fathers."
On transgender bathroom laws, he said: "Should not a biological man use the men's restroom? How simpler can that concept be?"
Sarah was the keynote speaker at the annual prayer breakfast, where he joined Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Sister Constance Veit, the director of communications for the Little Sisters of the Poor. Numerous Catholic bishops and members of Congress, including Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, were also in attendance, according to LifeSite News.
"The battle to preserve the roots of mankind is perhaps the greatest challenge our world has faced since its origins," Sarah said.
He urged Catholics to follow the "courageous" example set by St. John the Baptist, a martyr for the sanctity of marriage.
"Do not be afraid to proclaim the truth with love, especially about marriage according to God's plans," said Sarah. "In the words of St. Catherine of Siena, 'proclaim the truth and do not be silent through fear.'"
Sarah warned that "today we are witnessing the next stage and the consummation of the efforts to build a utopian paradise on earth without God."
This effort is in the "stage of denying sin and the fall altogether," and its fruits are the suppression of goodness, beauty, truth, and love, he said.
"Good becomes evil, beauty is ugly, love becomes the satisfaction of sexual primal instincts, and truths are all relative," said Sarah.
"All manner of immorality is not only accepted and tolerated today in advanced societies, but even promoted as a social good," he continued. "The result is hostility to Christians, and, increasingly, religious persecution. Nowhere is [this] clearer than in the threat that societies are visiting on the family through a demonic 'gender ideology,' a deadly impulse that is being experienced in a world increasingly cut off from God through ideological colonialism."
Sarah said the faithful need to do three things: Be prophetic, be faithful, and pray.
"I am confident that your efforts will no doubt contribute to protecting human life, strengthening the family, and safeguarding religious freedom not only here in these United States, but everywhere in the world," he said. "For in the end it is 'God or nothing.'"
Earlier on Monday, the heads of two U.S. Bishops' Conference committees assailed the Obama administration edict that U.S. public schools must allow "transgender" students access to the bathrooms of their choice or risk losing federal funding, LifeSiteNews reports.
The May 13 letter of "guidance" from the Obama administration fails to address the gender identity issues at hand and disregards legitimate privacy and safety concerns, said Buffalo Bishop Richard Malone and Omaha Archbishop George Lucas said in a May 16 statement.
"The guidance issued May 13 by the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education that treats 'a student's gender identity as the student's sex' is deeply disturbing," the bishops said.
Also on Monday, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he would repeal Obama's federal guidelines requiring all public schools to open their showers, restrooms, and locker rooms to members of the opposite biological sex, according to LifeSiteNews.
But when asked if the issue of transgender people being able to use the restroom of their choice is "overblown," he replied, "I don't think so, because you've got to protect all people."
Turkey needs to admit the Armenian Genocide before it joins the EU
Germany is set to vote on branding as genocide the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians by the Turks a century ago.
It's a diplomatic nightmare for Germany, and for Europe. Turkey has agreed to stop the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean from its territory and take back from Greece any who succeed in crossing. There are questions over whether it will work and whether it's even legal, but it's exacted a high price for doing so, including visa-free travel for its citizens. It can do so because it holds all the cards: the migration crisis has shaken Europe to its foundations.
But Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, unpredictable and authoritarian, is quite capable of taking the huff about this. One of his recurring complaints about Europe is that it's a Christian club, profoundly lukewarm about Turkey's application to join it. A resolution in Germany pinning guilt for the genocide firmly on Turkey might just be the last straw.
And just to be clear: Turkey did commit genocide.
Article Two of the UN Convention on Genocide of December 1948 describes genocide as carrying out acts intended "to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group".
In 1915-16, hundreds of thousands of Armenians were murdered in their homes or in camps in circumstances of extreme brutality. Women were gang-raped, set on fire and thrown over cliffs. Men had horseshoes nailed to their feet. They were sent on death marches across the desert where they starved or died of thirst or were beaten to death when they fell behind.
Armenians claim 1.5 million people died, while the International Association of Genocide Scholars says it was "more than a milion". Turkey says it was only 300,000. It has consistently denied, in the face of all the evidence, that there was a systematic programme of extermination. It has, subtly and not-so subtly, sought to eradicate all traces of the Armenians from the places they once lived.
Questioning the official account of the genocide in Turkey is risky. Turkey's most internationally famous novelist, Orhan Pamuk, made an off-the-cuff remark to a Swiss interviewer in 2005. Discussing freedom of expression in Turkey, he said that "a million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in this country and I'm the only one who dares to talk about it". The backlash was instantaneous, even though he didn't use the banned word 'genocide'. The press attacked him fiercely, he received death threats and had to go into hiding. Pamuk was threatened with prosecution, though the charges were dropped.
Journalist Hrant Dink, who also wrote about the genocide, was shot dead in January 2007 by teenage ultra-nationalist, Ogun Samast, who was jailed for 23 years in July 2011 for the crime.
Even Pope Francis has to walk on diplomatic eggshells. Last year he referred to the killings as "the first genocide of the 20th century", resulting in the recall of Turkey's ambassador to the Vatican, and his visit to Armenia next month will be another flashpoint.
Britain has declined to describe the events as genocide as it regards good relations with Turkey as more important.
But here's the thing. If Germany had refused to recognise its responsibility for the Holocaust, no government would accept that it had a right to a place at the European table. It would still be an international pariah. In fact, it has unshrinkingly and painfully acknowledged what it did in a way that Turkey never has.
Turkey's guilt is unquestionable. It owes it to the few survivors still living and to the descendents of those who escaped to acknowledge it. It owes it to history, too; and it owes If it does not, it can never be fully accepted into the community of Europe, whether it joins the EU or not.
In spite of the refugee crisis, in spite of the horrors unfolding on the other side of its border with Syria, in spite of the authoritarian crackdown on dissent and a renewed offensive against Turkish minority all factors that would lead many diplomats to say that the less this boat is rocked the better Germany's parliament is doing a good thing. Whether it will sway Erdogan himself, or Turkish public opinion, is a different question. But the truth must be told.
Press Release:
WASHINGTON, NC If the NC Legislature wants to support rural communities and create and retain good jobs in North Carolina, it has to put funding our community colleges higher on its priority list.The current budget proposal from the McCrory administration does not include a salary increase for faculty at community colleges like Beaufort County Community College. The average salary for faculty at NC community colleges is currently lower than Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee and, most embarrassingly, Mississippi. Since all neighboring states are more generous to their faculty, NC community colleges must contend with the constant flight of their faculty.Rural areas already have to fight a "brain drain" as young, educated professionals are lured away to larger cities by higher incomes. Community colleges are more evenly distributed geographically in North Carolina than universities, which tend to be located in urban areas. BCCC provides services to Beaufort, Hyde, Tyrrell and Washington Counties, some of the most rural parts of our state. Community colleges are providers of middle-class jobs in rural regions that are often lacking other options for professionals, meaning that they also play a larger role in boosting rural economies.said BCCC President Barbara Tansey.The governor's budget has only a bonus for the year. Bonuses do not count toward retirement and cannot be counted on for the following year. This means that faculty will be less likely to purchase vehicles, buy homes or make other long-term investments because of the precarious nature of their income. These investments help make rural economies stronger.Already, community colleges represent a $21.5 billion impact on NC incomes. Forty percent on NC workers have attended a community college in the past 10 years. They are vital to increasing the number of healthcare workers in our state, as well as maintaining a trained workforce. Often the reason companies do not locate to rural areas is the lack of an educated and trained workforce. Hyde County has the highest unemployment rate in the state. BCCC works with local employers to provide training for their employees and supplies our region with new nurses and graduates with associate degrees.The NC Dept. of Commerce projects that by 2025 North Carolina will need an additional 440,000 workers with associate degrees to keep up with employers' demands for an educated workforce. The governor's budget does not give the community colleges the tools they need to recruit and train students in key programs. The number of enrolled students has dropped across North Carolina because of changes in our economy. If the community college system is going to offer an education that keeps up with the changing needs of our students and employers, it needs to be given the right tools and flexibility.Our local, county and state officials need to focus on investing in the future of our rural communities with the resources needed for education at all levels. We need the best and brightest faculty to keep our workforce ready for a global and digital workplace.
Ask the Fool
Put the house money in stocks?
Q: How should I invest the money I've saved to buy a house within a few years? - F.Y., Spring, Texas
A: The stock market is a great option for long-term money, but it's the wrong place for any funds you'll need within a few years. In the short run, the market can temporarily plunge with little notice, and that can derail your plans. In the long run, it has averaged gains of close to 10 percent per year. Even that is an average, though, and not a guarantee.
Don't risk money you'll need within three years (or even five or 10 years, to be more conservative) in stocks. Protect your principal by investing short-term money in safer places, such as CDs or money market accounts. You can find good rates at bankrate.com.
Foolish Trivia
Name that company
Founded by three brothers in New Jersey in 1886, I was the first to offer commercial first-aid kits, mass-produced sanitary products for women and dental floss - all before 1900. I later introduced first-aid manuals, consumer bandages for small wounds, an extra-gentle shampoo and more. Today I'm a consumer-products, pharmaceutical and medical devices giant with roughly 127,000 employees and more than $70 billion in annual revenue. My brands include Acuvue, Aveeno, Benadryl, Bengay, Desitin, Lactaid, Listerine, Lubriderm, Motrin, Neutrogena, OneTouch, Visine and Zyrtec. I touch the lives of more than a billion people daily. Who am I?
Last week's trivia answer: Service Corporation International
the take
Giving some credit to Visa
An effective investing strategy is to invest for the long term in companies with solid business models. A good example is electronic payment processing giant Visa (NYSE: V).
Among the four major credit card networks, Visa is the market-share leader by far. It's very geographically diverse, operating in most countries, so a slowdown in one country or region can often be offset by growth elsewhere. MasterCard CFO Martina Hund-Mejean has noted that 85 percent of global transactions are still being conducted in cash, suggesting plenty of room for further credit card growth.
Visa has productive partnerships in place, and supplements its organic growth with acquisitions. It has taken a 10 percent stake in rival Square, and even more important, is buying former subsidiary Visa Europe for around $23 billion.
Over the past decade, Visa's revenue has grown by a double-digit percentage in all but two years, and based on Wall Street's estimate of $14.9 billion in revenue this year, Visa may quintuple its top line since 2006. The company's profit margins are very fat - and growing. It keeps nearly 48 cents of every dollar it takes in as profit. It also generates substantial free cash flow - more than $6 billion annually.
Visa's dividend yield isn't huge now, but its payout has been growing briskly. (The Motley Fool owns shares of and has recommended MasterCard and Visa.
Universal Uclick
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"I was stopped dead in my tracks; I didn't move for like four or five minutes," Rudy Castro told the Houston Chronicle in 2008, describing the moment he heard that the late President John F. Kennedy had been shot.
Castro was among the last Houstonians to see Kennedy at what was then called the Rice Hotel and is arguably one of the city's most historic buildings.
The young president and his wife, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, visited the Rice Hotel on Nov. 21, 1963, the day before he was assassinated. Jacqueline delivered a speech to the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in Spanish at the Rice's ballroom the night before her husband's death.
Fast forward to this week, when we celebrate the building's 103rd anniversary. Houston icon Jesse Jones opened the Rice Hotel on May 17, 1913, following a number of demolitions and new construction on the site.
Even at 103 years old, the Kennedys' visit is still among the building's most memorable moments. That's significant, given the property's illustrious history and government ties.
Rice Hotel beginnings
Well before the 1913 completion of the building we know today, the land at 909 Texas Ave. was the site of the old Capitol of the Republic of Texas from 1837 to 1839, before it moved to Austin.
It was razed in 1881 and a new structure was built. That building was purchased in 1883 by Rice University founder William Marsh Rice. In 1911, Rice University sold the building to Jones, who leveled it and constructed the impressive, 17-story building that now houses apartments.
Grandly ensconced across the street from the Houston Chronicle for 103 years, the building has hosted a parade of notable figures. For decades it was the home of Houston society functions, including galas at the Crystal Ballroom and a stint as the home of the Petroleum Club.
The Rice Hotel closed in 1977 and remained vacant for more than 20 years before it was turned into apartments by developer Randall Davis and Atlanta-based Post Properties. That company launched the Post Rice Lofts before selling the building now known simply as The Rice.
Take a historic, celebratory look back at the building's history, and then stop by and take a dip in the basement's hidden swimming pool.
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Good news for Ford fans: One of the automaker's most popular trucks could be returning to its lineup by the end of the decade.
Multiple auto blogs are reporting that the Ford Ranger is coming back. According to Car And Driver, the truck could be on dealer lots around the country by 2019.
A Ford representative said that the company does not comment on future products.
According to Ford's official site, the first model year for the Ranger was 1983 with a second-generation model introduced in 1993. It ended its 29-year run in 2012. The popular vehicle has continued on in international markets in various forms.
It was initially brought into production to go up against the small trucks being manufactured by Japanese auto makers.
RELATED: Check out the 50 hottest cars of the past 100 years
Most auto blogs have said that Ford missed a golden opportunity around that time to keep some of the truck customers that GM and Toyota snagged with the Colorado, Canyon, and the Tacoma. Heck, even the Nissan Frontier has made inroads into that niche market.
"Car And Driver" also reports that the base price for the new Ranger will be around $25,000, making it competitive with those other truck models.
As has been previously reported, Ford will also bring back a newly revamped Bronco SUV by the beginning of the next decade. Broncos were discontinued in 1996 but have remained a cult favorite.
Once the Bronco arrives it just might prove to be competition for the best-selling Jeep Wrangler.
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Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
1001 Bissonnet; mfah.org
NO HOME MOVIE: The recently deceased filmmaker Chantal Akerman reveals the tender intimacy of her relationship with her mother, Natalia, an Auschwitz survivor. The film unfolds as a series of landscapes, cityscapes and conversations, allowing the viewer to share her reflective space. 7 p.m. Saturday and 5 p.m. Sunday
River Oaks Theatre
2009 W. Gray; landmarktheatres.com
SPACE JAM: Michael Jordan slams, Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes stars hoop it up in one of the cleverest and funniest animation/live-action capers ever made. Midnight Friday and Saturday
14 Pews
800 Aurora; 14pews.org
ELSTREE 1976: A "Star Wars" documentary that explores the lives of the actors behind one of the most celebrated franchises in cinematic history. 7 p.m. Friday
HAMLET: Sarah Frankcom's contemporary version of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" is brought to cinemas by film director Margaret Williams, the ultimate story of loyalty, love, betrayal, murder and madness. 2 p.m. Sunday
Central Green Park
23501 Cinco Ranch, Katy; drafthouse.com
LETHAL WEAPON: A veteran cop is partnered with a young suicidal officer, now they must learn to work with one another to stop a gang of drug smugglers. 6 p.m. Sunday
BLUE VELVET: Writer/director David Lynch's dark and sensuous mystery reveals the sordid underbelly of a small American town and its denizens. 10 p.m. Saturday
Rice Cinema
6100 Main; film.rice.edu
ROSHMIA: An elderly Palestinian couple has a final standoff against Israeli authorities to maintain their natural lifestyle in Roshmia. 7 p.m. Thursday
BREAK THE SIEGE: A short documentary that aims to be a screenshot of the Palestinian hip-hop scene, which in the past decade has been notable for an incredible growth and international resonance. 7 p.m. Thursday
SPEED SISTERS: The first all-woman race-car-driving team in the Middle East. Grabbing headlines and turning heads at improvised tracks across the West Bank. 7 p.m. Friday
SECOND HAND REFUGEE: A short documentary about the suffering journey that a Palestinian/Syrian family went through after they saw a picture of their father's death. 7 p.m. Friday
LOVE, THEFT, AND OTHER ENTANGLEMENTS: A Palestinian car thief gets into the trouble of his life when he steals the wrong car and discovers a kidnapped Israeli soldier in the trunk. 7 p.m. Saturday
THEEB: The first Bedouin Western looks at the collision of East and West that occurred on the Arabian Peninsula during World War I. 5 p.m. Sunday
AVE MARIA: A short comedy story of Palestinian nuns, living in the middle of the West Bank, who have their daily routine of silence and prayer disrupted when a family of Israeli settlers breaks down outside their convent. 5 p.m. Sunday
Houston Museum of Natural Science
5555 Hermann Park; hmns.org
SECRET OCEAN: Jean-Michel Cousteau and marine biologist Holly Lohuis take viewers on a breathtaking underwater journey. Filmed in the Bahamas, Fiji and Bimini. 2 p.m. Thursday-Wednesday
DINOSAURS ALIVE: 3-D adventure follows paleontologists around the world as they uncover evidence that the descendants of dinosaurs still walk or fly among us. Multiple screenings daily.
NATIONAL PARKS ADVENTURE: Join world-class mountaineer Conrad Anker, adventure photographer Max Lowe and artist Rachel Pohl as they bike, hike and climb their way across America. Multiple screenings daily.
While most of us head to a bar to kick back and drink up some free time, Houston's health inspectors are going there for an entirely different reason.
In this week's report of restaurants (and bars) with health inspection violations, a handful of Bayou City watering holes made the list.
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Josue Flores had to walk only seven blocks to get home from Marshall Middle School after staying late Tuesday for an end-of-year Science Club party.
But halfway home, along a shady patch of sidewalk, the 11-year-old was savagely attacked, without apparent provocation, by a man with a history of mental illness.
Josue, who dreamed of being a doctor, died a short time later in a nearby hospital.
"He was such a sweet boy," his mother, Maria Flores, said Wednesday in Spanish,. "I can't understand why someone would do this. He did not deserve this."
A flood of tips led police to Che Lajuan Calhoun, a 31-year-old Houston man with a string of arrests in Harris County and repeated questions about his mental health.
In a city that marches to a steady drum-beat of violent crime, and in a neighborhood residents say is increasingly being infiltrated by the homeless and mentally ill, Josue's senseless death struck a particularly deep chord.
Shocked, they gathered at the grieving family's battered 101-year-old rental home on Chestnut Street in north Houston, where Josue's soccer ball still sat under a tree. Ever since the opening of MetroRail's north line, they have seen an influx of strangers into their midst. Now, they no longer feel safe.
"We don't know if they are drug addicts or crazy, but they have invaded our streets," said resident Marta Flores, who is not related to Josue, as she visited a makeshift shrine of flowers and toys.
"We have always had problems, but now an innocent is dead."
Suspect's criminal history
Josue's final moments came at about 4:45 p.m. Tuesday, according to police.
He was making his way down Fulton Street when he was approached by a man police believe was Calhoun. Witnesses heard loud screaming and saw Josue and the man struggling. The boy eventually collapsed and fell to the grass as his attacker fled.
He was rushed to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force arrested Calhoun Wednesday.
"The community was outraged and really came through with the tips," deputy U.S. Marshal Alfredo Perez said.
Calhoun has been charged six times in Harris County since 2012, for making terroristic threats, assaults, violating a protective order and resisting arrest. In his most recent case in October for making a terroristic threat, a judge appointed an attorney with experience at handling mental health issues and ordered mental health records be released from the county about his mental competency, court records show.
An attorney who represented him in 2014 for an alleged probation violation, however, said he had no trouble with him.
"He seemed real gentle when I represented him," he said. "He seemed all there at the time."
A school in mourning
On Wednesday, at Marshall Middle School, counselors were available to help students with their grief, and faculty members were discussing plans for a permanent remembrance of the boy on campus, said Principal Michael Harrison. A vigil is set to be held at the school at 2 p.m. Friday, just a few days before the school year ends.
"It is a very difficult time right now but we are holding on, we are making it," he said. "A lot of students have voluntarily come to do different things to express their condolences."
Harrison said Josue stayed late Tuesday for the Science Club celebration, where students were recognized for their accomplishments during the year.
"He was a good student, never got in trouble, always on time to classes," he said, "kind of one of those kids in the background - just did what he was told to do, kept to himself, a joy to have on campus."
His sister, Guadalupe Flores, 24, said Josue was one of seven children. He greatly admired a brother who recently graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and is working to be an oncologist.
She said that Josue enjoyed school and was often on the honor roll, but he also liked helping his mother clean house, especially sweeping. He often played in the front yard with his toy dinosaurs and soccer ball and wouldn't even go into the street without asking permission.
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help with funeral expenses. She said the family is touched by the outpouring of support and police efforts to catch the boy's killer.
"Thank you for your dedication, your hard work and treating this as if he were part of you," she said.
Crime along METRO route
As he sat on his porch across from the crime scene, 74-year-old Jose Garcia said the stretch of street where he has lived 34 years seems to draw people with drug or mental health problems.
"What can we can do?" he said. "It is completely bad. Blacks, whites, Hispanics - they are all here and they are crazy."
Houston school board member Anna Eastman, whose district includes the school, said fear has swept the surrounding community.
"Clearly this is a moment where everyone is upset, on edge, and fears are compounded," she said. "But we need to make sure the school district is working in conjunction with the City of Houston and Metro to ensure the greater safety of the neighborhood. There is no excuse for families and children to be frightened walking back and forth from school."
Metropolitan Transit Authority Police Chief Vera Bumpers said crime is down on light rail platforms and that in recent months, more officers and fare inspectors have been used on rail platforms and in vehicles.
"Metro extends its deepest sympathies and condolences to Josue Flores' family," Bumpers said. "Public safety is a priority for METRO."
Acting Police Chief Martha Montalvo said issues of homelessness and mental health are being felt all around the city, and said crime trends are constantly being evaluated.
"What makes this incident so particularly horrifying is that it involves an innocent child," Montalvo said. "This incident should not have happened."
Chron.com producer William Axford and reporter Dale Lezon contributed to this report.
A man, woman and child were rushed to a hospital Wednesday morning after a shooting in what police say appeared to be a murder-suicide attempt at an apartment complex in southwest Houston.
The shooting happened about 8 a.m. at 9560 Deering near Country Creek, according to the Houston Police Department.
Police have identified a woman as the suspect in the shooting death of her ex-boyfriend during an argument Tuesday afternoon in a parking lot in southwest Houston.
Veronica Erin Staley, 34, was charged Wednesday with murder in the slaying of 30-year-old Aljosa Memovic. The shooting occurred about 1:15 p.m. Tuesday at 6320 Fairdale Lane near Briargrove, not far from a gym, according to the Houston Police Department.
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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
The summer is almost here, which means it's almost time for tubing season to kick into high gear.
There are a variety of ways to beat the heat, but for Texans, the popular answer is grabbing an inner tube and heading to New Braunfels.
It took a while for Houston's Gator Squad members to rescue a 6-foot alligator from a Missouri City backyard Tuesday on account that it was a bit aggressive. But if you were separated from water for two days, you might be less-than-cooperative, as well.
"Gator Chris" Stephens and his assistant Christy Kroboth wrangled a dehydrated 6-foot alligator, lovingly named Thirsty, after a homeowner said the reptile was walking a little too close to the house. The gator had been stuck on the wrong side of a fence for two days with no water and little shade.
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More than 100 educators, students, elected officials and parents came together to encourage Hispanic student achievement and career attainment May 3 at the Latino Education Summit III: Working for Change.
Experts discussed ways to improve test scores, graduation rates and career options. Attendees also committed to support a new Texas Center for Hispanic Achievement at Lone Star College-University Park.
Twenty-one years ago, James Watson Jr.'s mother, the late Frieda Watson, was named Katy's senior citizen of the year. This year the honor is his.
And he was surprised.
When Watson received a letter from city social services director Peggy Dimmick announcing that he was this year's winner, "I thought it was a joke," the 70-year-old said. "I didn't think I was old enough to be selected."
Dimmick said, "The city of Katy wants to recognize an older American for their input, the things they've done while they lived here in the community and their impact on the community in some way."
She said the advisory board for the W.D and Argie Lee Fussell Senior Citizens Center unanimously recommended Watson.
"I've known him just about all his life," advisory board member Nevelynn Melendy said. "I baby-sat him when he was just a young boy. He's done a lot for the community."
Both are members of Katy's First United Methodist Church.
"He's a fine young man and a good inspiration to the people in the community," said Melendy, 82.
Dimmick said his supporters told her that Watson was always ready to help people and give advice.
"He's a people person. He's a Katy man," Dimmick said.
Watson was born in Katy and attended schools here.
He and wife Joan Woods graduated from high school together. Then she went to nursing school and he attended pharmacy school. After earning his bachelor of science degree in pharmacy from the University of Texas at Austin, Watson came back to Katy.
His wife farmed rice with her brothers and he started the Medicine Dropper pharmacy in 1974 at Midway Shopping Center.
When Brookshire Brothers grocery store opened at Franz and Katy-Fort Bend in 1993, Watson accepted an offer to lease a corner. Tired of seven-day-a-week work weeks, he took on a partner, Alton Kanak. It is one of two Katy-area pharmacies Watson co-owns.
His customers often are people who taught in schools or Sunday school. "I know their family, their kids and what they're doing."
"Just taking care of folks" is how he describes his day at the pharmacy.
Melendy said, "He's helped people who don't have money to pay - worked with them so that they could get their medicine."
Tall, white-haired and with a strong handshake, Watson sees advantages to be an independent pharmacist.
"If I feel someone needs help, if I can," he said. "I just do it out of habit and wanting to. It's a spur of the moment."
He doesn't have plans to retire.
"I sure don't mind working. It's sort of fun still - to visit with your friends all day long."
Changes in health care and insurance affected the prescription business.
"Insurance ruined the pharmacy business," he said.
He gives the recent example of a prescription that cost him $1,008 but only resulted in a $1,010 payment from insurance. He acknowledges that insurance companies and doctors are struggling, too, but said $2 is not enough to pay for the label. "Consequently, we do other things. We compound medication for people. That's good." Normally, most insurance companies don't pay for compounded medication, he said, neither does Medicare nor Medicaid.
What helps, too, is the high volume of customers.
"We're a very busy store," he said.
The Watsons also are busy. They downsized to a 50-acre ranch in Pattison about seven years ago and they raise about 30 head of Simbrah cattle, a composite breed from Simmental and Brahman cattle.
His 16-year-old granddaughter, Carlie Cope, practices her rodeo skills at the ranch's riding arena. Watson said she has two really good barrel-racing horses and competes in high school and professional association rodeos.
Two of their three children live in the area.
Wendy Hanne is a teacher and lives in the Katy home in which Watson grew up.
His other daughter, Bonnie Watson, who owns a hair salon and is a real estate agent with Keller Williams, lives across the street from him.
His son Kirby, a sales executive for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, lives in Austin.
Though Older Americans Month was established in 1963, Dimmick said Katy has been celebrating its seniors since 1982. The senior center at 5370 E. Fifth St. features "a wall of honor" displaying photographs of its senior citizens of the year.
Sometimes it's more than one person. For example, the Fussells, longtime Katy residents who were active in the schools and the senior community, both were honored for their influence and contributions in 1986, Dimmick said.
The reception for Watson will be at the Fussell Center at 5:30 p.m. June 13, and Katy Mayor Fabol Hughes will honor him at the council meeting at 6:30 p.m. later that day.
The Humble Independent School District is expected to announce the name of the finalist to succeed Superintendent Guy Sconzo during the next school board meeting May 24.
"Humble ISD's opening for superintendent attracted 43 applicants from 14 states," said Robert Sitton, president of the board of trustees.
"From our 43 applicants, seven were selected for initial interviews. Three candidates who participated in initial interviews were invited back for second round interviews."
Texas law mandates school boards announcing the lone finalist for superintendent, wait 21 days before making the appointment final.
More Information Want to go? What: HISD Board Meeting Where: HISD Administrative Building, 20200 Eastway Village Drive, Humble When: 7 p.m. May 24 See More Collapse
Under that timeline, the board of trustees would be expected to vote and appoint Humble ISD's next superintendent during the June 14 school board meeting.
Sconzo, who has served as the Humble ISD superintendent since 2001, announced his retirement at the Dec. 8 meeting of the Humble ISD board of trustees.
During Sconzo's 15 years as superintendent, the district population has increased from 25,344 students in 2001, to 40,547 this academic year.
"For more than four decades, I have experienced the privilege of working in education including 26 years as a superintendent of schools," Sconzo said. "Of course, the best years have been the past 15 in Humble ISD. It has been an amazing journey."
In January, the board hired Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates, an Illinois-based search firm.
On Jan. 21, the search launched an online survey and hosted several informal meetings that allowed students, parents and staff members to provide input for what they considered necessary traits for the next superintendent.
The meetings wrapped up Feb. 18, while the online survey continued until Feb 21.
The results of the survey and meetings were presented to the board on March 8.
"The information the community shared became the basis for our next superintendent's leadership profile, which we used when evaluating and interviewing candidates," Sitton said. "The leadership profile was advertised and attracted amazing candidates. There is great interest in joining a school system that has been named the Best Large District in Texas. We truly want to be a model district for the country, building on the strong foundation that has been laid by Dr. Sconzo and his predecessors."
Sconzo's last day as Humble ISD superintendent will be the day before the new superintendent reports for reports for work, which gave the board of trustees and representatives from the executive search firm all the time they need to find the right person for the job.
"On that day, and through Dec. 31, 2016, I will serve as a transition consultant to the board and the new superintendent," Sconzo said.
"I will do anything and everything needed to assure a very smooth and seamless transition of leadership."
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Three seniors won acting awards at regionals and Atascocita High School's production of scenes from "The Angelina Project" was honored recently as alternate to the state finals in 6A University Interscholastic League one-act play competition.
Winning best actress at the Region II meet April 22 at Baylor University's Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center was Karen Grentz as Angelina Napolitano, whose murder of her abusive husband, Pietro, in 1911 sparked a public debate on domestic violence.
Frank Canino's 2000 play imagined a cycle of family violence that continued until Angelina's granddaughter, Amelia, broke free from a husband, Vinny, who verbally abused her.
Anna Flynn as Amelia and Austin Brady, who portrayed both Pietro and Vinny, received honorable mention all-star cast awards, said theater arts chair Justin Vincent, who co-directed the play with teachers Lisa Henderson and Seth Ramsey.
"We visited The Door, a local shelter for battered women, to gain a bigger understanding of how violence is a cyclical thing that happens in families," said Grentz, 18.
The daughter of Louis and Silmara Grentz of Atascocita said she based her character's accent on that of her Panamanian-born mother "and went off it."
The actress also recalled the accents of Flynn and Brady when they played Italian immigrants in a production last year of Arthur Miller's "A View from the Bridge."
"Ironically, in it, I played another abusive husband, Eddie Carbone," said Brady, 17.
"Visiting the shelter was a big eye-opener," said the son of Robert and Stacie Brady of Atascocita.
"We learned that every single day, everywhere, women are abused by husband and boyfriends.
"In Pietro's case, money got tight and living conditions got hard.
"Vinny raised his voice and abused Amelia with words. He treated her like property and disrespected her."
"This experience was really special because the message of the story was so important," said Flynn, 18, whose parents are Bernard Flynn of Kingwood and Jennifer Egenolf of Atascocita.
Grentz added, "The whole company worked so hard, so it was exciting to feel like we earned this for our school and to make Mr. Vincent proud because he has been our head theater teacher since our freshman year.
"This is the first time we made it to regionals."
Both Brady and Flynn plan to major in theater at Texas A&M University, while Grentz plans to attend Sam Houston State University and seek a bachelor of fine arts in theater.
Other cast and crew members won additional awards as the production advanced through several levels of competition before reaching the regional contest.
More than 14,000 Texas high school students performed more than 1,000 plays in more than 300 contests, en route to the state finals May 23-25 in Austin.
Kelly Lawrence, chair of the theater department at Deer Park High School, explained what an achievement it is to place as alternate to the 6A state meet.
"When you consider how many schools the contest begins, and to go through so many levels of competition to the point where you officially stand as one of the 12 best plays in the state's most competitive conference, that is pretty amazing," said Lawrence.
A DVD of the students' April 26 performance of the play for family and friends is available for purchase by emailing justin.vincent@humble.k12.tx.us.
Elizabeth Conley/Staff
Country music star and Texas native Clay Walker will take the stage Friday for a free benefit concert at Lakewood Church, a little more than a month after major floods damaged thousands of homes and left nine people dead.
Artists scheduled to perform include Brian McKnight, CeCe Winans, Yolanda Adams, Danny Gokey and the Houston Children's Chorus, among others. The concert begins at 8 p.m. and while parking and admission are free, donations are encouraged.
Proceeds will go to the Greater Houston Storm Relief Fund, a city program started by Mayor Sylvester Turner.
Google Street View allows users to see 360-degree images from most anywhere in the world. That includes images of that time the Google car was apparently pulled over in Houston.
To get the images, cameras are affixed to cars, landmarks and sometimes people. The cameras on the Google car are taking single photos at such a continuous rate that it can almost be considered video (get more explanation here). So when police lights come on behind a Google car in Houston, it was captured, as well, and it was discovered by a Redditor.
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GALVESTON Capt. Kendall Dunn was flying his first mission into a storm as a member of the U.S. Air Force Reserve's Hurricane Hunters squadron when the aircraft stopped responding and began to stall in a fierce cyclone.
A wrong move could have made Dunn's first flight his last.
Dunn was one of at least eight Hurricane Hunter members at Scholes International Airport in Galveston on Tuesday to show off the sturdy Lockheed Martin WC-130J Weatherbird aircraft that they fly through hurricanes and tropical storms to gather information for the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The aircraft was on display as part of a hurricane awareness tour organized by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which runs the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center. The aim is to increase awareness about the destructive force of hurricanes and how to prepare for them. Hurricane season officially begins June 1.
Dunn, 41, of Long Beach, Miss., was flying Blackhawk helicopters in the U.S. Army Reserve when he met a group of Hurricane Hunter pilots. The chance meeting convinced him that he needed to become a pilot in the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron. He transferred to the Air Force Reserve and was retrained.
'Training takes over'
On his first trip through a storm, Dunn flew from the Hurricane Hunters' home at Kessler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss., along the Gulf Coast. The WC-130J ran directly into a mesocyclone, a whirlwind that often gives birth to tornadoes.
Mesocyclones spin at up to 100 mph and can send an aircraft plummeting into the ground by reversing the airflow, taking away the flow that lifts the wings. Without lift, the controls went dead, and the Weatherbird began turning to the left in what could quickly become a death spiral.
Dunn pushed the aircraft into a dive in the hope of gaining more lift by hitting the mesocyclone. They were flying at only 1,000 feet when they hit it.
Dunn said there was no time to worry about dying. "The training takes over," Dunn said. "You just do it."
The dive gave the lift they needed, and they flew out of the storm.
The Weatherbird has five crew members: pilot, copilot, navigator, weather officer and loadmaster. There are a little more than 100 members of the Hurricane Hunter squadron.
Maj. Kelly Soich, 45, of Houston, is a navigator, and his job is to make sure pilots like Dunn don't run into mesocyclones, or even worse, one of the numerous waterspouts and tornado-like vortexes that are constantly forming and disintegrating inside a hurricane. Vortexes can spin at hundreds of miles per hour.
"I've never hit one, but I've come close because they are so hard to see," Soich said.
The moment everyone on the aircraft looks forward to is when they break through the storm wall into the eye of the storm. "It's an incredible sight," Soich said.
Storm clouds tower thousands of feet on all sides, a blue sky above and the ocean below.
Very experienced
Once they find the windless, dead center, Sr. Master Sgt. Jay Latham, the loadmaster, loads a spring-loaded cannon with small tubes, known as dropsonde, packed with instruments. Latham fires the tubes out the bottom of the aircraft. Parachutes open and they drift away, taking readings that are radioed to Bundy's instruments until they land in the ocean, where the water destroys their electrical system.
Going into the jaws of a hurricane takes experience and teamwork. "It takes a very experienced crew to make this work easily," Latham said. "It takes two to three years before guys are up to speed."
Tom Campbell
Most of our state's 16 public universities are thriving but the UNC Board of Governors and our General Assembly continue to look for solutions at struggling campuses in smaller communities and those with larger minority enrollments. Declining enrollments, financial mismanagement and academic problems too often surface in many of these schools and beg solutions.Senator Tom Apodaca has proposed legislation to help these universities attract more students, while at the same time addressing the mounting debt many students incur. His suggestion is to freeze tuition at targeted universities at $500 per semester for eight consecutive semesters, perhaps a good starting point for a long-overdue conversation.Leaders have known for years about problems in these universities but have deferred serious consideration to fixing them because they necessarily raise questions of race, tradition, faculty and administrative personnel, admission standards, academic rigor and campus culture - issues guaranteed to be both controversial and divisive. While we nibble around the edges of the problems we do great disservice to the institutions, the students and the taxpayers of our state.Hard questions need answering. Why are students choosing to attend other public universities instead of these schools? Many minority students who might previously have attended are gaining admission to other institutions within the system and matriculate to them. Many White and Asian students don't even apply to these schools. Do they believe they can't receive the quality of instruction at HBUs? Do they not feel they would fit into the prevailing culture on these campuses? Do these schools not offer specialty majors and advanced degrees sufficiently attractive to students?Apodaca's proposals also raise questions. Will reduced tuition necessarily result in more enrollments? Does cheap tuition send the message of lesser quality instruction? Does it also accompany lower admission standards? Will it really lower the real cost of delivery in higher education? If not, who is going to pay for the reduced revenues to these schools? Are taxpayers willing to absorb the projected $60 to $80 million increase in the state budget?We are not ready to give up and close these universities, especially those in the northeastern, southeastern and far western parts of our state. Further, the suggestion to change the names of these schools dishonors the rich heritage of educators like Dr. Thomas Conway (ECSU), Robert Lee Morrison (WCU), James Shepard (NCCU), Simon Green Atkins (WSSU) and Dr. E. E. Smith (FSU). These heroic and dedicated educators devoted their lives to ensuring access and education to the poor and disadvantaged, and we strongly suspect these founders would be leading the charge to make needed changes to assure they survive and thrive.A cursory examination of leaders in education, business, politics, the arts and nonprofit sectors demonstrate the value these institutions have played in their personal development. That said, none of our public universities can live on past accomplishments. Current circumstances, especially in our historic minority and smaller universities, mandate that changes are needed, perhaps significant changes. It is time for our Board of Governors, educators, legislators and leaders from all races and disciplines come to the table in a spirit of finding solutions to ensure these struggling universities can be viable for the future.
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Theater
The Nether: A sci-fi crime drama that tells the story of a virtual world that provides total sensory immersion. For mature audiences. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday; $26-$67; Alley Theatre, 615 Texas; 713-220-5700, alleytheatre.org.
Plenty of Time: Set in the late 1960s, a spoiled Southern debutante and a Black Panther fall in love. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday; $30-$33; Ensemble Theatre, 3535 Main; 713-520-0055, ensemblehouston.com.
Harriet the Spy: When Harriet's trusty notebook is lost, she must use all her super-spy techniques to try to get it back. 1 and 4 p.m. Saturday; $16-$20; The MATCH, 3400 Main; 713-524-6706, mainstreettheater.com.
Working: A musical exploration of 26 people from all walks of life. 7:30 p.m. Thursday- Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday; $10-$15; Main Street Theater Rice Village, 2540 Times Blvd.; 713-524-6706, mainstreettheater.com.
Music Box Theater's 5 Year Anniversary Show: A concert of the best songs performed over the theater's five-year history; 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday; $27-$37; 2623 Colquitt; 713-522-7722, themusicboxtheater.com.
Things Missing by Melissa Flower: Influenced by Melissa's three-year project interviewing women immigrants, refugees and victims of human trafficking. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and Wednesday; $15-$30; 3522 White Oak; 832-889-7837, obsidiantheater.org.
I and You: On the night before a high school assignment is due, Anthony arrives unexpectedly at his bedridden classmate's house to seek her help with the project. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday, $19-$42; Stages Repertory Theatre, 3201 Allen Parkway; 713-527-0123, stagestheatre.com.
Big Fish: As Will prepares for the birth of his own son, he is determined to find the truth behind his father's epic fish stories. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; $21-$40; Stages Yeager Theater, 3201 Allen Parkway; 713-527-0123, stagestheatre.com.
Hay Fever: Comedy about a weekend getaway for the eccentric Bliss family, who live in a world where reality slides easily into fiction. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday; $38; 14243 Steubner Airline; 281-583-7573, texreptheatre.org.
Winifred: A British orphan's story bristles with themes of innocence and guilt, sexual politics, artistic purity and familial relations. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday; $32-$47; The MATCH, 3400 Main; 713-868-7516, thelabhou.org.
Dona Barbara: Play from the novel written by Romulo Gallegos, adapted by Eddie Gonzalez and directed by Sureya Mir. 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday; $12; 333 S. Jensen; 713-222-1213, tbhcenter.org.
Classical
Symphonie Fantastique: Berlioz' returns on Thursday with a unique sound and masterful interpretations of Andres Orozco-Estrada, Gabriela Montero will perform Grieg's virtuosic Piano Concerto, on Saturday and Sunday. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Jones Hall, 615 Louisiana; 713-224-4240, houstonsymphony.org.
Just Gettin' Started: The Chamber Choir's 20th Anniversary season reaches its climactic finish in an evening of jazz with virtuoso bassist and five-time Grammy winner Christian McBride and his trio. 4 p.m. Sunday; $45-$75; Cullen Theater, 501 Texas; 713-224-5566, houstonchamberchoir.org.
Parents were warned on Tuesday that they and their children may have been exposed to someone with hepatitis A at Stephen F. Austin High School between April 20 and May 11.
Houston Health Department workers were at the school, at 1700 Dumble Street, on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. They provided information about the disease and answered questions, according to a statement by the city's Health Department.
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An observant Muslim woman in the Harris County jail is being denied access to traditional head covering and sleeves, a violation of her religious rights, according to her lawyers.
Nadia Irsan, 31, is in jail awaiting trial on a charge of stalking, accused along with other family members for taking part in two fatal shootings in 2012 that authorities called "honor killings."
RELATED: Prosecutors say father killed 2 in "honor killings"
"She's Muslim and her practice is for her to be covered," said Jackie Carpenter, one of Irsan's lawyers. "This is about how she's being treated and it's a violation of her rights."
Irsan, along with other members of her family, have been convicted of fraud in federal court. After that case wrapped up last year, Irsan was moved to the Harris County jail to face state charges in the two shootings.
While in federal custody, according to her lawyers, she was allowed to have a hijab, a head covering, and sleeves to cover her arms, which are tenets of her faith. Those accommodations were taken away when she moved to the Harris County jail, her lawyers said.
RELATED: Patriarch in honor killings case sent to prison for disability fraud
"We've been trying for the past two months to try to get her back to what she had when she was in federal custody," Carpenter said. "We were told it was a security issue, but I don't understand why it would be if it wasn't a problem in federal custody."
Carpenter, and another female attorney, have been meeting with Irsan instead of her primary attorney, Eric Davis, because it is against the woman's faith to be seen without covering by men who are not family.
Davis and Carpenter, who are lawyers with Harris County's Public Defender's Office, said Wednesday they have been working with jailers for months on a solution.
RELATED: Houston case added to growing list of "honor killings"
They said jailers first took away the religious garb she had been issued in federal court and gave her a bed sheet to use as a hijab and socks to cut holes in to use as sleeves.
After she filed a complaint, according to her lawyers, those accessories were taken away and she was cited for destruction of county property for cutting up the socks.
"It goes to the foundation of what this country was founded on," Davis said. "It's part of her worship. It's analogous to a Christian having their Bible taken away."
Ryan Sullivan, a spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff's Office, said on Wednesday that the sheriff's administration was not aware that of the situation until questions from the Houston Chronicle.
"We're going to be remedying the situation and providing accommodations for her," he said. "We're going to figure out a solution for her."
Irsan is part of a Montgomery County family accused in two fatal shootings.
Irsan, her father, Ali Mahwood-Awad, and his wife and adult son, are accused of gunning down his daughter's husband and her best friend, Iranian activist Gelareh Bagherzadeh, in shootings months apart.
Nadia Irsan is accused of putting a GPS tracker on her sister's car and driving, on a daily basis, to the apartment where her sister and husband, Coty Beavers, lived. Those trips continued until the day Beavers was gunned down in the Harris County apartment in November 2012.
The father blamed Bagherzadeh for encouraging his daughter to stray from the faith, which fueled the so-called honor killings.
If convicted, Nadia Irsan faces a maximum of 10 years in prison for the third-degree felony. Prosecutor have said the law of parties may allow the state to expand the charges if Nadia Irsan is accused of helping her father commit capital murder, which is what he is charged with.
Nadia Irsan's mother is charged with murder, accused of helping Ali Irsan shoot Bagherzadeh in January 2012 through her passenger window as she drove to her parents' home.
Last year, the father was sentenced to almost four years for his role in defrauding the Social Security Administration for more than a decade and to pay $290,651 in restitution.
His wife, Shmou Ali Alrawabdeh and Irsan, were convicted of providing false statements to authorities about the fraud scheme. They each received 24-month federal sentences.
According to court documents and testimony, Ali Irsan applied for Supplemental Security Income or SSI benefits in 2002 by claiming that he was disabled and had been unable to work since 1990. His wife also claimed a disability and began to receive benefits in 2005.
Brian.rogers@chron.com
Twitter.com/brianjrogers
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The Houston Police Department is investigating the death of a man found Wednesday morning outside Houston City Hall, apparently having fallen 10 to 15 feet into the crevice between the building and its back patio.
It was not immediately clear how long the man had been there before being discovered by contractors, who called HPD around 10:20 a.m., spokesman John Cannon said.
"It's unclear ... if he was up on this ledge to begin with in some way shape or form and just fell, either front or backwards," Cannon said.
The man, who was fairly well-dressed, did not appear to be homeless or wearing a City Hall badge, Cannon said.
Cannon said investigators were looking into whether cameras recorded any activity related to the man's death.
"Once we talk to some of the employees and contractors about how often that they go down there, when's the last time that somebody went down there and didn't see anything? All those will be part of the questions," Cannon said.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner's spokeswoman, Janice Evans, said she was not aware of anyone having previously ended up in the crevice bordering City Hall.
Asked if the city was considering any additional security measures in light of the incident, Evans said, "I don't think we're at that point, again not knowing what the circumstances were."
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SAN ANTONIO A man arrested Tuesday, two months after he allegedly shot another man on the Northeast Side, told a witness he had recognized the victim from a road rage incident days earlier, police said.
Shaquille Laron Lafond, 22, faces a murder charge in the death of Randall Xavier Lee Taylor, 22, who was shot while sitting in his 1998 Nissan Maxima on Feb. 26 in the 5300 block of Randolph Boulevard, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Officers found Taylor with a gunshot wound to his head and several witnesses attempting first aid. He was pronounced dead at San Antonio Military Medical Center, according to police.
Although witnesses spotted a man and woman running into a dark colored sedan, they werent able to provide a detailed description. Police said no one observed the actual shooting.
A witness who contacted detectives in March said Lafond told him about the shooting, saying that he caught a body meaning he killed someone, according to the affidavit.
The witness said Lafond said he was in a parking lot when he recognized Taylor, who was in his Maxima, and remembered the two had encountered each other in a road rage incident days earlier, the affidavit states. Lafond told the witness he shot three times into Taylors windshield, according to the affidavit.
Detectives said Lafond owns both a 9 mm and a 40 caliber handgun. On the day of the shooting, police discovered four spent 9 mm shell casings.
When investigators were taken by a witness to a place where Lafond shoots at targets behind a relatives home, they discovered 9 mm shell casings that the Bexar County Criminal Investigation Laboratory was able to confirm were fired from the same gun as the ones found at the shooting scene.
Lafond was being booked late Tuesday at the Bexar County Central Magistrates Office. His bail was set at $100,000.
jbeltran@express-news.net
Mark Mulligan/Staff
AUSTIN -- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is joining two other states arguing with the federal government over directives guiding school districts on how to handle issues related to transgender students.
"The so-called 'significant guidance' issued by the Obama Administrations raises more questions than it answers, just as it creates concerns among anyone who believes sex is a biological fact and not a personal preference," said Paxton in a press statement Tuesday.
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For the second time in a less than a week, a phone call with a reporter from more than a decade ago is making waves on the Donald Trump campaign trail.
On Monday, The Daily Beast released an audio recording of a friendly, 12-year-old phone call between Trump and journalist Chaunce Hayden, in which the presumptive Republican nominee for president states that a woman who claims to have dated him looks like "a f***ing third-rate hooker."
The woman in question is former Playboy Playmate and 2004 Penthouse Pet of the Year Victoria Zdrok. According to Hayden, rumors at the time suggested Zdrok and Trump had gone on four dates before breaking things off.
"I don't even know who the hell she is," Trump responds. "I never took her out. I don't know who she is. And, by the way, based on her picture, I would never take her. She looks like a f***ing third-rate hooker."
Then later ...
Trump: "I mean, give me a break. I never took this girl out."
Hayden: "She claims she went on four dates."
Trump: "I never took her out. She's full of sh*t. (briefly inaudible) Look, I have good taste in women. Take a look at her picture. First of all she's not a Playboy-, she's like a Playboy-something girl."
Trump also took a brief moment in the conversation to plug his "huge" ratings for "The Apprentice: "It's the biggest show [NBC has] had since 'Friends.'"
The recording was released just days after the New York Times released a scathing report on Trumps' treatment of women behind closed doors.
"Donald Trump and women: The words evoke a familiar cascade of casual insults, hurled from the safe distance of a Twitter account, a radio show or a campaign podium. This is the public treatment of some women by Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president: degrading, impersonal, performed. 'That must be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees,' he told a female contestant on 'The Celebrity Apprentice.' Rosie O'Donnell, he said, had a 'fat, ugly face.' A lawyer who needed to pump milk for a newborn? 'Disgusting,' he said."
On Friday, a 1991 phone recording also surfaced in which Trump allegedly pretends to be his own press secretary on a phone call with a reporter. According to CNN, Trump has admitted to posing as a publicist in the past, but told NBC "It was not me on the phone ... and it doesn't sound like me on the phone."
Whether these newly-surfaced phone calls do anything to derail Trump's presidential aspirations is unlikely. An unopposed Trump continues to rack up delegates most recently Tuesday in the Oregon GOP primary on his way to the Republican nomination for president at the Republican National Convention, held July 18-21 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Aransas Pass city authorities are cautioning that heavy rains in this week's forecast threaten additional flooding to an area that is already recovering from damaged sewer lines, sinkholes, washed out streets and other infrastructure impairments caused by a heavy storm on Monday.
The harbor city that leads to the popular Port Aransas vacation spot received more than 12 inches of rain over the span of five hours on May 16, and rescue efforts were underway since 4 a.m., according to authorities from the Aransas Pass Emergency Operations Center (EOC).
>> THE LEAD: "Judge blocks Texas' incumbent protection law'," by San Antonio Express-News' David Saleh Rauf: "A Harris County state district judge ruled Tuesday that a state law barring the use of audio and video produced by the Legislature in political ads likely is unconstitutional, blocking enforcement of a two-decade-old ban that critics said was aimed at protecting incumbents from election challengers.
"A tea party House candidate challenging one of Speaker Joe Straus' lieutenants in a runoff sued the Texas Ethics Commission to strike down the law that prohibits the use of audio and video from the floor of the House and Senate, along with committee hearings, in political ads.
-- LEAVE INQUIRY: "Senators want to tighten use of emergency leave for departing state workers," by the San Antonio Express-News Peggy Fikac and Houston Chronicle's Brian Rosenthal: "Leading Texas lawmakers said Tuesday they intend to limit the use of emergency leave by state government agencies following news reports that it is being used to keep paying some employees after they depart from their jobs.
"We will be tightening it up, and we need to know what the best way to do that is," said Senate Finance Committee Chair Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, citing "concerning reports about the use of emergency leave at some of our agencies."
"The same message came from the House as lawmakers look ahead to the regular legislative session that convenes in January."
>> REFUGEE RULING: "Paxton: State free to background-check refugees," by the Chronicle's Mike Ward: "Texas' controversial plan to conduct background checks on refugees coming to the state for resettlement is legal because there is no federal law prohibiting the practice, Attorney General Ken Paxton ruled Tuesday.
"Even so. law enforcement officials said they expect the ruling will have little effect because there is little information on most refugees that can be checked.
"In a three-page decision, which carries the force of law until challenged in court, Paxton also said Tuesday that conditions placed by federal officials on federal refugee funding likely are unenforceable "because the conditions do not provide clear notice to the state of how it must use the federal funding."
Extra: Paxton's letter
-- POTTY TALK: "Paxton joins in letter against Obama transgender directive," by the Chronicle's Andrea Zelinski: "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is joining two other states arguing with the federal government over directives guiding school districts on how to handle issues related to transgender students.
"The so-called 'significant guidance' issued by the Obama Administrations raises more questions than it answers, just as it creates concerns among anyone who believes sex is a biological fact and not a personal preference," said Paxton in a press statement Tuesday.
>> LEGE FIX: "Morath defends Supreme Court opinion on school finance," by the Chronicle's Andrea Zelinski: "Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath may have voted to sue to the state to fix how the state funds education when he was a Dallas school board member, but now that he heads the education agency, he'd rather leave that up to the Legislature."
"Do I think today that there could still be tweaks made to the Texas Education Code that would benefit kids? Absolutely I think that. Of course, my role today is very different than it was back then. I'm a state employee. I'm sort of ethically bound not to lobby the legislature," said Morath who took the helm of the Texas Education Agency in January."
Extra: School finance timeline
-- WORTHY READ: "Black America doing better than decades ago," by the National Urban League: "African-Americans are doing about the same as they have in previous years as the nation rises out of the Great Recession, and much better than they did when its first "State of Black America" report came out 40 years ago.
"The new report, "Locked Out: Education, Jobs & Justice," looks at how blacks and Hispanics have been doing in the United States over the last few years and how they were doing in 1976, the year the National Urban League began issuing its annual report."
-- HALFWAY: "State cancer agency reaches halfway point in $3 billion drive to help defeat the disease," by the Chronicle's Todd Ackerman: "Leaders of the state's $3 billion assault on cancer touted the program's progress Tuesday, claiming the critical mass of expertise assembled already has led to greater knowledge, increased clinical trials of promising drugs and the prevention and earlier detection of the dreaded disease.
"At a news conference at the halfway point of its funding authority, Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas officials trotted out statistics in support of the sometimes embattled agency. In particular, they touted its hiring of 110 top cancer scientists lured to Texas from outside the state and expected to spend 15 to 30 years researching the disease here.
"The institute rebounded from operational missteps three years ago that caused its temporary shutdown.
Extra: Breakdown of cancer-research funding
SPEED READ
Paxton spokesman: Indicted AG has not been asked to resign, The Associated Press
Top staffer leaves AG Ken Paxton's office citing family medical emergency, Dallas Morning News
Christian calls Gates 'slumlord' as Railroad Commission primary nears, Texas Tribune
UHV professor, 15 others nabbed in federal sting on 'kush' operation, Houston Chronicle
Turner wants Houstonians to embrace more than cars for daily travel, Houston Chronicle
Abbott asked to study Texas school policing, Houston Chronicle
Experts warn Texas lawmakers of Zika threat, San Antonio Express-News
The super PAC experiment that bankrolled Ted Cruz, Texas Tribune
Ken Paxton touts 7,000th arrest by AG's sex offender unit, Austin American-Statesman
South Carolina passes bill banning abortion after 19 weeks, Associated Press
CAPITOL DAYBOOK
THE HOUSE:
10 a.m. Appropriations [ E1.030 ]
THE SENATE:
10 a.m. Health and Human Services Transition Legislative Oversight Committee [ E1.036 ]
QUOTE TO NOTE
"We know the truth. He's not Hitler. He wants to help America. He wants to unite people," Melania Trump, Donald Trump's wife, said in an interview published Tuesday by DuJour magazine.
RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE
>> ONE & ONE: "Clinton declares victory in Kentucky primary, Sanders wins in Oregon," by the Washington Post's Abby Phillip: "Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton declared victory in the Kentucky primary on Tuesday, potentially disrupting a string of expected primary losses this month that had threatened to weaken her even as she turned her focus to her likely matchup against Republican Donald Trump in the general election.
"Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, meanwhile, was declared the winner of Oregon's Democratic primary.
"The outcomes will do little to change the dynamics in the race. In Kentucky, Sanders had hoped to continue a state winning streak that began in Indiana and West Virginia this month.
Extra: Delegate tracker
-- JUST AHEAD: "Hillary Clinton's joyless victory," by Politico's Gabriel DeBenedetti: "Hillary Clinton's supporters breathed a heavy sigh of relief on Tuesday night when news finally landed that she eked out a win over Bernie Sanders in Kentucky. It's not that she needed the delegates. The result simply ensured that the likely Democratic nominee wouldn't lose the two states voting Tuesday, which would have opened her up to weeks of second-guessing and nit-picking from Democrats concerned about her inability to put Sanders away.
"But Clinton's narrow Kentucky win her lone state victory in the month of May, and one that ensured she wouldn't go five weeks without winning a state is a temporary comfort. It was paired with a loss in Oregon during a week when Sanders supporters appeared more emboldened and committed than ever, despite the senator's all-but-impossible path to the nomination. And there are few signs that the party is ready to fully unite behind its frontrunner."
-- WESTWARD HO: "Donald Trump wins Oregon GOP primary," by ABC News' Julia Jacobo: "Donald Trump has won the Oregon GOP primary, according to the Associated Press. Although all of Trump's GOP opponents have been vanquished, he has yet to cross the delegate threshold to clinch the Republican presidential nomination."
"Even if Trump takes home all 28 of Oregon's delegates, he still does not have enough to clinch Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Presidential Nomination. ABC News estimates the presumptive Republican nominee to have had 1,143 before tonight's primary, but he needs 1,237 delegates to secure the nomination."
Extra: Election interest on Google and Twitter
-- FOX & TRUMP: "Megyn Kelly doesn't exactly grill Donald Trump," by Politico's Ben Schreckinger and Hadas Gold: "Even Donald Trump's innovation of live-tweeting his own interview couldn't rescue his primetime network encounter with Megyn Kelly from its lack of substance.
"Nixon-Frost it was not, with Kelly serving up softball after softball in an encounter that was, for all the hype, ultimately unrevealing."
San Franciscans aren't new to squeezing into itty-bitty spaces, and now even more people will be able to try out this style of living when the 69 units in 388 Fulton in Hayes Valley hit the market this month.
In this sparkling modern building, 26 of the apartments are 350 square feetthat's the size of about seven ping-pong tables.
The rest of the building is filled with six one-bedroom units at 485 square feet and 28 two-bedrooms at 743 square feet.
Studios of 350-square-feet or less are often called micro-units in the real estate world, but Mitch Breindel, the spokesperson for 388 Fulton, insists this term doesn't accurately describe these.
More Information ` See More Collapse
"These are smaller, efficiently designed homes for people who are trying to find an affordable price point, motivated by efficient, intentional living," Breindel said in an interview.
Efficient? Yes. While small, these units all include ample closet space, a full kitchen equipped with high-end appliances including a Bosch dishwasher and Bertazzoni oven; a comfortable living space that accommodates both a couch and bed; and a bathroom with a full-size bathtub.
Those needing more space to stretch their legs have access to a landscaped private courtyard and rooftop retreat with sweeping views, social seating, outdoor grill, film screen area and sun deck. What's more, lively Hayes Street lined with boutiques, cafes and a grassy park is steps from the front door.
Affordable? The studios will be listed around $500,000, the one-bedrooms $600,000 and the two-bedrooms $800,000. These prices are definitely on the low-end in San Francisco where real estate is notoriously expensive and anything under a million dollars rare. But anyone not living in a major metropolitan area might be shocked by the pricea half a million dollars for an apartment the size of a master bedroom in suburbia?
"There is no other homeownership opportunity in San Francisco at this price point, and monthly costs will be far more affordable than renting at nearby properties," Alan Mark, president of the Mark Company, the marketing agency representing the building, said in a press release. "388 Fulton offers tremendous value, with high quality materials and finishes at extremely competitive prices for new construction. Known as a cultural, retail and dining destination, Hayes Valley also has a palpable sense of community. 388 Fulton was designed to embody this notion and offer residents a highly-interconnected lifestyle, both within and just outside the building."
As the city faces a housing shortage and skyrocketing rental prices, a growing number of pint-size pads are hitting the market. Recent developments include the Lofts at 7 with 88 units ranging in size from 275 to 530 square feet and the Panoramic with 160 apartments with an average size of 354 square feet.
Many housing advocates and local politicians support small apartments because they increase the supply of affordable real estate. The city passed legislation in 2012 lowering the minimum size of apartments to 220 square feet to open the door to the development of micro-units.
"To confront San Francisco's rising housing affordability crisis, we must be creative and flexible," Supervisor Scott Wiener, who supported the legislation, said in a 2012 statement. "Allowing the construction of these units is one tool to alleviate the pressure that is making vacancies scarce and driving rental prices out of the reach of many who wish to live here."
Others say packing people like sardines is uncivilized and feel the trend is geared to the tech workers flooding the city in search of high-paying jobs.
"If they become urban crash pads for high-tech employees, then we fear they could have a gentrifying effect on the neighborhoods as they get built," Ted Gullicksen, director of the San Francisco Tenants Union, told the San Francisco Chronicle. "We do have a strong need for family-size housing as well as affordable housing, and we have limited development sites in San Francisco."
But many beyond a typical start-up employee would probably a appreciate a unit in 388 Fulton. The studios seem like a good fit for any single person who's living with roommates and wants a quiet space of her own. And any couple with a new baby sleeping in a crib tucked into the closet of their one-bedroom would gladly move into one of the two-bedrooms. The apartments in 388 Fulton seem to be giving San Francisco what it needs: more housing options.
Audio Transcript
Brian Anderson: In cities like San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, and Portland, Oregon, the number of black residents has been falling fast. Why are so many blacks fleeing places with liberal politics and expansive municipal social welfare programs and where are they going? Today Im joined by Aaron Renn. Aaron is a City Journal contributing editor, a senior follow at the Manhattan Institute, and an economic development columnist for Governing magazine. He has written a provocative article for the new issue of City Journal, its called Black Residents Matter, and its currently available on our website. Thanks for joining me, Aaron.
Aaron Renn: Thank you.
Brian Anderson: African Americans are leaving the liberal northern cities in large numbers. Whats going on? Why?
Aaron Renn: Well theyre really leaving two kinds of those northern cities. One are these well, more west coast cities that have been economically prosperous but theyve had very restrictive housing development policies that have sent prices through the roof.
Brian Anderson: So places like Portland or Seattle.
Aaron Renn: Yeah, right. Portland, Seattle, San Francisco. The second one are Midwestern and Northeastern rustbelt cities with very limited or poor economic prospects or inclusive economies: Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, et cetera. So those are really the two categories of cities, and then theyve been - blacks have been, again, weve seen in the press, returning to the South to a great extent. Booming in places like Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston.
Brian Anderson: Youve lived in Illinois and spent quite a bit of time there. Whats going on in Chicago in this context that would spur this flight which is going on in Chicago, just as it is in Detroit and other places?
Aaron Renn: Chicago is a classic tale of two cities. Chicago was a heavy industrial city, so it has a tremendous rustbelt overhang a lot of the ways that other Midwest cities did. What distinguished Chicago is that it also had this white collar economy of this very powerful central business district in the Chicago Loop. You know, it has some big, globally important banks, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, things like that. And this allowed Chicago to rebuild much like New York and Boston and places did coming out of that kind of seventies and eighties era. But that only benefitted the upscale portion of Chicago and that has really been the focus of what theyve tried to build up, their loop economy. The rest of the city and the region and the state have struggled economically, both because of the postindustrial hangover but also because of just bad management. Corruption, you know, all these unfunded pensions and debt. Just a huge overhang. Its a huge mess there and thats inhibiting, maybe not the high-end businesses that want to come into downtown Chicago, but the average work a day business that would employ more middleclass blacks. Then add to that that Chicago, unlike New York, really didnt embrace the policing reforms that transformed public safety in this city and, yeah, the crime is through the roof in Chicago and, you know, blacks are leaving for the same reason white people are leaving: safe, better neighborhoods, economic opportunity.
Brian Anderson: So African Americans are leaving places like Chicago and going south. Are there particular cities that they are gravitating toward?
Aaron Renn: Well, Atlanta is famous for sort of being the new capital of black America and more black population gain has occurred in Atlanta than any other city. I believe theres nearly two million black residents in Atlanta now. Again, Charlotte has been another one. Even Miami, Houston, Dallas, places like that. But it hasnt been exclusively southern cities. There have even been some northern cities, even some, believe it or not, with some liberal - known for being more liberal - have had some black population growth. This would include places like Indianapolis, Columbus, and Minneapolis-St. Paul. Now Minneapolis-St. Paul has a very rapidly growing black community. In part Minneapolis and Columbus have been driven by Somali immigrants, but Minneapolis is also the third highest destination for blacks who are leaving Chicago, so theres quite a few Chicago blacks moving north instead of south. The different in Minneapolis is they havent adopted the liberal city policies on housing development, and so its still affordable to buy a home in Minneapolis compared to the West Coast. For example, as a rule of thumb you should spend, you know, no more than about three times your income to buy a house. Well, in Minneapolis, the median home is 3.2 times the median income. So, its basically affordable. You go to Portland its 5.1. You get into Silicon Valley its up around 9.7. You have to spend almost ten times your income to buy a house. Completely unaffordable. And this inability to get into the housing market has driven a lot of the wealth gaps between black and white because housing equity is a big portion of that, and so if you get the right policies in place in terms of your economy and pro-development, pro-market housing policies that keep housing prices affordable, even cold cities can attract both black and white residents.
Brian Anderson: One of the arguments youve been making in this piece is that the high cost of living is pushing blacks out of these cities, or its one of the factors pushing blacks out of these cities. Some would argue that this is proof for the necessary increase in a minimum wage. That certainly is a liberal argument you hear. Whats your view on raising the minimum wage as a response to this issue?
Aaron Renn: Well, that simply makes the work a day businesses less competitive in those places. If you look at places like San Francisco and Seattle, for example, they are really thriving with high-end businesses. Thats even whats been going on in Chicago - high-end businesses are doing well there. Its really the more middle-skill, middle-age, in mass market type of companies that need to employ people at all income levels. And if you go into communities where the cost of acquiring real estate is already expensive - dont forget businesses need to pay rent too or buy land - and where the taxes are already high and where theres a lot of regulatory burden already - and then raise costs for any of the entry-level employees that they had. What youre basically doing is just discouraging those types of businesses from locating there and also cutting off the bottom rungs of the ladder that are going to make it hard for anyone to get on a job. So I think that these minimum wage policies are not likely to have the intended effect and it would probably be counterproductive in the long-run to create an inclusive economy.
Brian Anderson: How big a factor would you say improved race relations are down South in this remigration or this reverse of the Great Migration that you describe in your essay?
Aaron Renn: Pretty big. A lot of the southern boom in the U.S. I believe was enabled by the Civil Rights Act and changes in the segregation patterns down there. Obviously racism can still be a problem anywhere, but dont forget the northern cities were also very racist as well. Northern cities like Detroit and Chicago, Milwaukee, extremely heavily segregated. But certainly particularly in the urban South and places like Atlanta, the race relations game are just totally different than it would have been, you know, sixty years ago. Atlanta said we want to be the city too busy to hate. They saw their black community not just as okay, we have to have some inclusion, but instead they said this is an engine of economic growth for our city. They saw their black community as an asset to their city and not a liability. Its similarly in Houston, which many people dont know is one of the most diverse cities in the United States, when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Houston said well take the Astrodome and well provide temporary housing for tens of thousands of largely black, displaced New Orleans residents, many of whom stayed on in Houston. And to Houston that was an opportunity for their city to welcome more people, so it does play a huge role in that particularly when the segregation patterns remain very heavily entrenched in the northern cities today. In some respects you are probably in a better race relation situation in the South than in the North.
Brian Anderson: Some would argue that minorities are leaving cities like New York because they are being priced out by gentrification - thats a theme weve looked at in City Journal of late. Whats your view on the gentrification debate? Is that something that is having adverse effects on black Americans?
Aaron Renn: Gentrification has occurred in some districts. Some of the research would suggest the bigger problem is actually an increase in entrenched poverty. I do believe housing costs play a role but its really more these region-wide housing costs, more so than specific neighborhood by neighborhood housing costs. In a place like the Bay Area, its expensive everywhere. Yes, San Francisco - the City of San Francisco is insane. Even the suburbs of San Francisco are extremely expensive, so it is challenging to get into housing. I suggest a bigger problem is an inability to participate in the economy. Housing crises become a problem when you dont have a good job and when theres not enough kind of full ladder of economic success, from the bottom to the middle rungs to the top, and you have economies that are basically predicated on high-end industries, catering to high-end industries alone, where in order to succeed you sort of come in - you may come in at the bottom in Silicon Valley, but youre coming in, in the bottom, with a Stanford degree. Thats a very different situation. So its really as much about the economic policies that have hollowed out the economies of these cities. And deindustrialization and things which, you know, were going to happen anyway. As much as gentrification thats driving some of this, obviously housing prices play a role in some of these metro areas.
Brian Anderson: Do you think the demographic shift is going to have political implications in these cities?
Aaron Renn: Its already had political implications. In 1980, Chicago was 40% black and in 1983 elected its first black major, Harold Washington. Subsequent to that, you know, the black population has declined while theres been an explosion in Hispanics and others. The city is now less than a third black and that creates electoral conditions that make it difficult for blacks to be elected mayors in some of these cities. And thats not to say that you cant elect a black mayor. Denver has elected multiple black mayors, and theres not very many black people in Denver. But certainly in these traditional centers declines in black population has reduced their political influence. Frankly a lot of the educated urbanites today are far more interested in catering to immigrants. I mean, if you look at a lot of the theories, its like you have to attract gays, you have to attract immigrants, we need to attract these knowledge workers. Its been less about the traditional civil rights inclusion agenda that was the case back in the sixties, the seventies, and even into the eighties, and demographic change has certainly been a factor in that.
Brian Anderson: You can read Aaron Renns Black Residents Matter on our website, www.city-journal.org, and you can find other articles by Aaron there. You can also subscribe to our daily email update and get the latest articles by City Journal contributing editors like Heather Mac Donald, Nicole Gelinas, and Steve Malanga, delivered straight to your inbox. You can find Aaron Renn on Twitter, @urbanophile, or on his blog,urbanophile.com. Please tweet comments and questions about todays discussion to @CityJournal with the hash tag #10blocks and if you like our show and want to hear more, please leave ratings and reviews on iTunes. I am City Journal editor Brian Anderson, thank you for listening to the 10 Blocks Podcast and thank you, Aaron, for joining it.
Aaron Renn: Thank you.
NORCAL Mutual Subsidiary Renamed to NORCAL Specialty
NORCAL Mutual Insurance Companys Pennsylvania-based wholly-owned subsidiary, PMSLIC Insurance Company, has been renamed NORCAL Specialty Insurance Company, pending additional regulatory approvals. NORCAL Specialty is the NORCAL Groups surplus lines carrier.
The name change to NORCAL Specialty is part of a multi-year national expansion initiative to bring all subsidiaries under the NORCAL Group banner. NORCAL Specialty focuses on providing flexible coverage options that address the unique needs of complex accounts.
Health care delivery is changing rapidly and the needs of medical practices are changing and more complex, Ron Rumin, president of NORCAL Specialty said. NORCAL Specialty is dedicated to crafting the right coverage solutions to meet these unique needs.
PMSLIC Insurance Company, a member of the NORCAL Group of companies since 2002, has been transitioning its standard-line policyholders to NORCAL Mutual in 2015, and now writes non-admitted policies.
Guy Carpenter Forms Strategic Alliance to Develop Cyber Aggregation Model
Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC, a global risk and reinsurance specialist and a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, announced the formation of a strategic alliance with Symantec Corporation, a global leader in cybersecurity, to create a cyber aggregation model. The model will include a comprehensive catalogue of cyber scenarios from which insurers can derive frequency and severity distributions to measure the potential financial impact of loss from both affirmative cyber coverages and silent all-risk policies where cyber is the peril, but no cyber exclusions exist.
Guy Carpenters Cyber Solutions Specialty Practice, which focuses on the development and delivery of innovative cyber reinsurance solutions, will spearhead this effort. Symantec is a complementary new partner for Guy Carpenter.
Cyber attacks are estimated to cost businesses as much as $400 billion a year, and the systemic nature of the risk means (re)insurers can suffer losses from multiple insureds across vast geographies from a single event, exposing infrastructure, supply chain and other interconnected risks. In the wake of the cyber attack on the Ukrainian power grid in late 2015, (re)insurers are attempting to model, and assess the aggregation risk of, potential attacks on critical infrastructure, including electric grids, telecommunications networks, dams, transportation systems, chemical plants and civilian nuclear facilities. However, limited historical data and the constantly evolving threat make it a challenging peril to model.
The collaboration between Guy Carpenter and Symantec will leverage the advanced analytics, cyber security knowledge, and combined scale and innovation of both companies to accelerate the services needed to create an advanced cyber aggregation model.
TransUnion Enters Online Auto Insurance Marketplace With the Launch of Quote Exchange
TransUnion announced the launch of Quote Exchange, a dynamic insurance marketplace where carriers buy and sell real-time online quotes using enriched TransUnion data for precise segmentation and decisioning.
Quote Exchange is a marketplace for both carriers who are seeking new policyholders, and for those whom cannot provide policies for consumers, but would like to provide them with other options.
Early adopters of Quote Exchange have already been successful in using TransUnion data sets to get their quotes in front of consumers at the right time and at the right price.
Quote Exchange is different than other comparison platforms in that it offers carriers:
Access to consumers with high purchase intent Shoppers are engaged as they complete a quote directly on a carriers website.
An enriched view of the consumer TransUnion data assets (e.g. credit, fraud, violation data) are utilized by carriers to allow them a full view of the consumer prior to buying a lead and providing the consumer with a quote.
Maximized ROI Selling carriers can earn maximum value on contributed traffic because of transparency into enriched quotes. TransUnion data enables buying carriers to efficiently spend advertising dollars when consumers match their defined lead criteria.
Insights through reporting Market basket analysis allows carriers to gain insight into broad market statistics.
RMS Announces New Florida Office
RMS, a global catastrophe risk management firm, has opened a new office in Tallahassee, Florida after the acquisition of HWIND Scientific in October 2015.
Florida is a key region for the hurricane risk industry, and Tallahassee is a pivotal location for state and local government agencies. The new Florida office gives RMS better access to the public sector and commercial partners, as well as research specialists and graduates at the states universities.
Founded in April 2014, HWIND provides real-time analysis for hurricanes, post-event windfield reconstruction footprints and an archive of historical wind products for hurricanes in the Western North Atlantic, Eastern Pacific and Central Pacific Ocean.
Security First Releases IBM Mobile App
IBM announced that Security First Insurance, a Florida-based homeowners insurance company, joined forces with PointSource, a mobile design and development firm, and IBM Premier Business Partner, to deploy the IBM MobileFirst platform.
In an effort to enhance customer engagement, PointSource created a consistent user experience across all Security First platforms, including the new Security First Mobile app, resulting in a 195 percent increase in average monthly new users and a 140 percent increase in online payments.
The apps Instant Quote, feature which generates an insurance quote in under three minutes, also contributed to a 35 percent increase in leads among Security First Insurance mobile users.
By leveraging location-based insights, PointSource created a unique feature for the Security First Insurance app with an interactive Storm Center. This enables all users to track the location of a storm with their location on a map and share personal updates with friends and family via social media.
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.
The Postal Service announced that 6,549 employees were attacked by dogs last year as it released its annual top dog attack city rankings. It also shared information on new safety initiatives it is putting in place to help protect its employees.
Dogs are protective in nature and may view our letter carriers handing mail to their owner as a threat, said USPS Safety Director Linda DeCarlo at a news conference in Houston, where postal employees suffered 77 attacks, more than any other city. Fifty-one cities make up the top 30 rankings (see chart below).
DeCarlo also announced two new safety measures to alert USPS Carriers of dogs on their delivery routes. The first goes into effect May 13 on usps.coms Package Pickup application. Customers will be asked to indicate if there is a dog at their address when they schedule a package pickup. The second goes into effect later this spring.
The Mobile Delivery Devices that letter carriers use to scan packages to confirm delivery will include a feature that allows carriers to indicate the presence of a dog at an individual address. This is especially helpful to substitutes who fill-in for letter carriers on their days off.
DeCarlo was in Houston to kick-off National Dog Bite Prevention Week which runs this week. The Postal Service, joined by the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Humane Association, American Veterinary Medical Association, Insurance Information Institute and State Farm Insurance are driving home the message that dog bites are a nationwide issue and that education can help prevent dog attacks to people of all ages.
Of the 4.5 million Americans bitten by dogs annually, half of all victims are children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Many attacks to children are by the family pet or a dog familiar to the child, so its important to keep children and dogs separate, especially if a dog is known to act aggressively.
2015 Dog Attack Rankings by City
Note: A total of 6,549 postal employees were attacked by dogs in calendar 2015. Fifty-one cities comprise the top 30 rankings as some cities reported the same number of attacks.
Ranking City, State 2015 Dog Attacks 2014 Dog Attacks Change Percent Change 1 Houston, TX 77 63 14 22 2 San Diego, CA
Cleveland, OH 58 47
37 11
21 23
57 3 Chicago, IL
Dallas, TX 57 46
43 11
14 24
33 4 Los Angeles, CA 56 75 -19 -25 5 Louisville, KY 51 40 11 28 6 Kansas City, MO 46 32 14 44 7 Philadelphia, PA 44 33 11 33 8 Columbus, OH 43 22 21 95 9 Portland, OR 41 31 10 32 10 Fort Worth, TX
San Antonio, TX 39 26
24 13
15 50
63 11 Denver, CO 38 40 -2 -5 12 Phoenix, AZ 36 35 1 3 13 St. Louis, MO 35 39 -4 -10 14 Seattle, WA 34 29 5 17 15 Detroit, MI
Long Beach, CA 32 28
27 4
5 14
19 16 Indianapolis, IN
Sacramento, CA 31 35
29 -4
2 -11
7 17 Minneapolis, MN
Baltimore, MD 30 33
27 -3
3 -9
11 18 Miami, FL
Cincinnati, OH 28 26
24 2
4 8
17 19 Brooklyn, NY 26 15 11 73 20 San Francisco, CA 25 23 2 9 21 San Jose, CA
Albuquerque, NM
St. Paul, MN 24 20
16
6 4
8
18 20
50
300 22 Oakland, CA
Milwaukee, WI 23 22
11 1
12 5
109 23 Charlotte, NC
Dayton, OH 22 23
18 -1
4 -4
22 24 Las Vegas, NV 21 19 2 11 25 Pittsburgh, PA
Jacksonville, FL 20 22
10 -2
10 -9
100 26 Rochester, NY
Fresno, CA
Stockton, CA 19 18
17
9 1
2
10 6
12
111 27 Wichita, KS
Flushing, NY
Baton Rouge, LA 18 25
14
9 -7
4
9 -28
29
100 28 Memphis, TN 17 13 4 31 29 Richmond, VA
Salt Lake City, UT 16 17
9 -1
7 -6
78 30 New Orleans, LA
Omaha, NE
Des Moines, IA
Toledo, OH 15 19
14
11
10 -4
1
4
5 -21
7
36
50
Source: USPS
California Gov. Jerry Brown will seek state funds to help establish a system that issues alerts that an earthquake is occurring with an eye on rolling out a limited system by 2018, a newspaper reported Monday.
The governor will ask the Legislature to allocate $10 million toward the system being developed by the U.S. Geological Survey and university researchers, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The decision to include the plan in his revised state budget is a reversal for Brown. He has supported creation of the system but previously argued that the money should come from private and federal sources.
Seismic early warning systems are designed to detect the first shock waves from a large jolt, calculate the strength and alert people before the slower but damaging waves spread.
Ultimately, scientists plan to develop apps for mobile phones and computers that would give the public the early alerts.
The systems cant predict quakes and are most useful during big events where it would be meaningful to warn people far away to expect strong shaking, scientists have said.
The network for California and the rest of the West Coast has been repeatedly delayed because of a lack of funding.
The infusion of state funding will allow us to surge forward, said Doug Given, earthquake early warning coordinator for the USGS.
California trails Japan, Mexico and other earthquake-prone areas in developing a public alert system. A limited rollout in two years would mean that places such as classrooms, offices, shopping malls, amusement parks and police and fire stations could have ready access to alerts that would give quick notice that an earthquake is occurring before strong shaking begins in a major quake.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, who has championed federal funding of the warning system, praised Browns decision. He and others hoped it would encourage Oregon and Washington state to follow and also for private industry to contribute.
The funding would expand a limited program developed by the California Institute of Technology; the University of California, Berkeley; and the University of Washington in conjunction with the U.S. Geological Survey.
The Legislature is required to pass a budget by June 15.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
AKRON, Ohio -- An Akron woman was sentenced to four years in prison for selling fentanyl to a Cuyahoga Falls man who died after taking the drug.
Elizabeth Ulrey, 37, pleaded guilty April 13 to involuntary manslaughter and corrupting another with drugs in the death of Reggie Dernbach, 28.
Summit County Common Pleas Judge Mary Margaret Rowlands handed down the sentence Wednesday.
Summit County Prosecutor Sherry Bevan Walsh requested an eight-year prison sentence.
"Mr. Dernbach overdosed just blocks away from a local hospital," Walsh said in a news release. "Ulrey never called 911 or made any effort to help her friend. Ulrey exhibited a conscious disregard for the victim in this case."
Dernbach used the fentanyl at Ulrey's home, a known drug house in the 600 block of Upson Street, investigators said. Akron police found him unconscious on the front porch of the home.
He was pronounced dead at Akron City Hospital. Akron police found fentanyl and drug paraphernalia at Ulrey's home, according to court records.
Dernbach had a history of heroin use, according to Summit County medical records.
Ulrey's criminal history includes convictions for misdemeanor crimes of drug possession and obstructing justice.
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BEREA, Ohio - More than 100 boys and girls plus parents and grandparents crowded Grindstone Elementary School on Saturday, May 14 to meet Disney princesses and Star Wars heroes and villains.
The Royalty and Rebels Party also raised $500 for the St. Baldrick's Foundation - a non-profit charity that supports research into childhood cancers. The Foundation was selected by the family of Dominique Reyes, a Grindstone student who died in 2013 of a neuroblastoma. Dominique loved dressing up as a princess and the party has been held every year for three years in her memory.
The party was free but donations were requested to support St. Baldrick's.
Abel Reyes, Dominique's father, attended the party with his two daughters, Victoria, 7, and Gabriella, 5. Reyes said he was "humbled and very grateful" that the City remembers his daughter each year.
This year, the kids and their families were treated to pizza, cupcakes, goodie bags filled with jewelry, small toys and candy and the chance to hang out with Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Chewbacca and Darth Vader. The children were given autograph books so they could collect the signatures of their favorite characters. There was face-painting and the stylists from Salon Front & Center gave the girls fancy "dos."
Joshua Fischer won the Star Wars raffle, which included stickers, puzzles and an autographed photo of Han Solo (Harrison Ford). Erika O'Malley won the Princess raffle of puzzles, a kickboard, kite, ball and activity book.
The Royalty and Rebels Party was sponsored by Berea's Family & Youth Initiative. Pathways Hospice donated the goodie bags and the raffle prizes.
6975 Euclid Avenue
Vacant land along Euclid Avenue between East 69th and East 70th streets could be developed, under plans being floated by a hotel-investor group.
(Health-Tech Corridor website)
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Another hotel proposal is popping up in Cleveland, this time in a somewhat unlikely place: Midtown, in the heart of the Health-Tech Corridor.
An investor group wants to build an "upscale economy" hotel on the north side of Euclid Avenue, between East 69th and East 70th streets. Under legislation approved early this month by Cleveland City Council, the city could sell long-vacant land there to the investors for a $12 million hospitality project.
Details about the size, brand and opening timeline for the hotel are scarce. The investors, doing business as Health Tech Hospitality LLC, won't say much.
Their plans are noteworthy, though, since a hotel would be a new type of investment in Midtown, where developers have focused on business incubators, offices, health care and research labs during the past few years.
Places to eat, live, stay and play have been slow to follow.
Councilman T.J. Dow, who represents the area, said he supports the effort to attract lower-cost lodging, at a rate of roughly $90 a night. "We just want to make sure that, regardless of what your economic status is, if you're going to come to the city of Cleveland that there are different options and prices," he said.
Dow said he doesn't know what the hotel brand will be. But he's heard the name Tru, a new Hilton flag being positioned as hip and affordable.
In March, when Hilton Worldwide broke ground for its first Tru hotel, in Georgia, the company said it had 189 hotel deals in progress. The brand has a 98-room prototype, designed for sites under 2 acres, but that prototype can shrink to 82 rooms or grow to 150.
In an email, Chris Kaczmar of Kaczmar Architects said it's too early to discuss any details about the Midtown project. He and David Fischback of the Krill Co., a local construction-management firm, represented the investors at public meetings in late April and early May. Fischback did not respond to requests for comment.
During a council committee hearing, Kaczmar said there's room in the market for an affordable hotel to serve hospital patients and families who can't swing higher-priced lodging in University Circle. He told council members that the investors needed control of the land before they could seek a franchise agreement for such a hotel.
Krill and Kaczmar both worked on the Holiday Inn Cleveland Clinic, a 276-room hotel that recently opened at Euclid and East 86th Street, next to the Clinic's main campus. The Holiday Inn filled a gap created in 2013, when the Cleveland Clinic Guesthouse closed and the Clinic razed the building to create a site for a medical-education campus.
Since the recession ended nearly seven years ago, hospitality developers have gravitated to University Circle and downtown Cleveland - the employment hubs at either end of the Health-Tech Corridor. In addition to the Holiday Inn, the area near the Clinic and University Hospitals is home to a Courtyard by Marriott and a DoubleTree called the Tudors Arms Hotel. DelMonte Hotel Group is planning a 161-room Residence Inn at Chester Avenue and East 101th Street.
Midtown is a less obvious location. But the grassy property that the Health Tech Hospitality group is eyeing sits across from the MidTown Tech Park, a cluster of office-and-lab buildings, and northwest of Victory Center, a restored historic structure earmarked as the future corporate headquarters of Dealer Tire.
David Sangree, president of the Hotel & Leisure Advisors consulting firm in Lakewood, said he hadn't heard about the possible Midtown hospitality project. But there could be space in the market for more affordable lodging, he said. The site, located on the HealthLine rapid-transit bus line that traverses Euclid Avenue, would provide guests with easy access to either downtown or University Circle.
"The hotels at the Clinic themselves are not that inexpensive," Sangree said. "They're definitely mid- and upper priced. ... If you were attending a conference downtown and you were really on a budget, you might stay in Midtown. It's an overflow for the Clinic, and it's an overflow for downtown."
The city, through its industrial-commercial land bank, owns roughly half of the 2.4-acre site that Health Tech Hospitality LLC hopes to buy. Aside from three single-family homes on East 69th Street, the rest of the block belongs to nonprofit group MidTown Cleveland, Inc., and the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority, which has been land-banking two parcels near Euclid for MidTown Cleveland.
Jeff Epstein, executive director for the neighborhood nonprofit, said he could not talk about the potential land sales or the hotel project. Records show that the city and MidTown Cleveland have controlled the vacant real estate for years.
Citing lingering environmental issues, the city plans to sell its portion of the site for $1, leaving any potential cleanup to the hotel developers. Such remediation, to remove contaminants related to a former gas station and remnants of commercial buildings that were demolished in the 1970s, could cost $500,000 to $1 million, according to a project summary provided to City Council.
The land isn't worth that much money, David Ebersole, the city's assistant economic-development director, told council members last month. "We've seen some significant increases in property values in the area, but this property does not appraise at that price," he said.
The hotel group's purchase option runs through the end of this year. Project representatives have committed to bringing public-school students onto the site, to provide hands-on experience with construction, development and architecture.
The block is big enough to support a larger development. Dow, the councilman, said additional construction might be possible closer to Chester. But he stressed that the project, whether it's only a hotel or something more, shouldn't displace anyone, including the few remaining homeowners.
"They're going to do their project with the houses that are standing now," he said of the developers. "No one's going to tell [residents] that they've got to leave."
Tropidelic.jpg
Members of local reggae band Tropidelic are suing Cuyahoga County, saying the Sheriff's Department violated their Fourth Amendment rights when deputies searched one of the band member's houses in 2014.
(Submitted)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Members of local reggae band Tropidelic filed a lawsuit that accuses Cuyahoga County sheriff's deputies of searching the Cleveland Heights house of the band's former saxophonist, despite knowing that the person they were looking for did not live there.
The lawsuit filed Friday in federal court says deputies were looking for Henry Burton, who was wanted on an arrest warrant for not paying child support. They showed up to Tim Younessi's house on Sylvania Avenue in May 2014 with a drug-sniffing dog and searched the home for Burton, not finding him.
During the search, the deputies did not show a warrant or say why they were there, the lawsuit says.
The problem was that deputies had searched the house for Burton the year before. Younessi, who bought the house after Burton lost it to foreclosure, told them at the time that Burton no longer lived there, the lawsuit says.
Attorney Michael Brennan said the Sheriff's Department also evicted Burton from the house in September 2011. Deputies did not arrest him then, even though the warrant was already issued.
The lawsuit says that Sgt. Eugene Sharpe and detective Nicholas Riegelmayer even searched the house the first time and showed up during the second search.
Brennan also questioned the use of a drug-sniffing dog when searching for Burton.
"That's not necessary for effectuating an arrest warrant," he said.
Younessi, the band's former saxophonist, and five other current and former Tropidelic are named as plaintiffs. The county, current Sheriff Clifford Pinkney, former Sheriff Frank Bova and various deputies are named as defendants.
The plaintiffs say the county violated their Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful searches and seizures. They are asking for an unnamed amount in damages.
The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Dan Polster.
(You can read the lawsuit here or at the bottom of this story.)
Burton was arrested in May 2014, nearly three years after the warrant was issued. The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office dropped the case last week, according to court records.
A spokesman for the Prosecutor's Office, which also represents the county in the civil case, declined to comment.
Bova, in a statement released in 2014, said the warrant for Burton's arrest listed the Sylvania Avenue address. He said deputies told Younessi of this and that "it is not unusual for warrant deputies to arrest a suspect on subsequent attempts."
According to the lawsuit:
Deputies showed up to Younessi's house in 2014 when Tropidelic was about to start rehearsing in Younessi's basement. When deputies knocked on the door, they announced themselves as "police!"
A band member, thinking it was a band member running late, shouted back "f--k the police!" The deputies opened the door and charged in with their guns drawn. One of the deputies said "f--k the police, huh?" and the bandmate apologized.
The deputies and the drug dog searched the house and the band's bus, which was parked in the yard of the house. They did not find any drugs.
One of the deputies told Younessi, "tell your friend if he really wants to f--k with the police, he can come down to the station any time."
You can comment on this story in Wednesday's crime and courts section.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Two Northeast Ohio men face federal criminal charges in separate criminal cases that accuse the of preying on children.
One placed a camera in a state park bathroom and another raped a teen he met online, according to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office.
James D. Sullivan, 58, of Cleveland, was indicted Wednesday and charged with accessing child pornography and trying to produce child pornography.
Court records say Sullivan, who has been in and out of prison since being convicted of rape in the 1980s, recorded men and women showering in a restroom at the Geneva State Park Campground. He did this by crawling into the building's attic, and he was matched to the scene though DNA collected by the State Highway Patrol.
Sullivan was arrested in August on a voyeurism charge in Astabula County. Troopers later searched his Carnegie Avenue apartment and found a computer containing child pornography.
Sullivan admitted the laptop was his, court filings say.
In an unrelated case, Eric Shotwell, 41, of Minerva, was charged Tuesday with transporting a minor to engage in sexual activity. He is was arrested after picking up a 14-year-old girl from West Plains, Missouri and bringing her to Ohio to have sex, according to federal authorities.
The girl disappeared March 11. She texted her mother six days later to tell her that she was with a man named "Eric," according to a criminal complaint. She later told investigators that she met Shotwell on a dating site and exchanged text messages with him for two months before he wanted to meet.
He raped her repeatedly and subjected her to other physical abuse, the complaint says.
Shotwell told investigators that he thought the girl was 18 years old, the complaint says. He has been in jail since the girl was rescued in March.
Attorneys for Sullivan and Shotwell did not immediately return phone calls.
Charges against both men were announced during a news conference held at the FBI's Lakeside Avenue headquarters. The news conference was held to mark the 10th anniversary of Project Safe Childhood, a U.S. Justice Department program to combat child sex exploitation.
Acting U.S. Attorney Carole Rendon said her office is prosecuting more child exploitation cases as of late. She attributed the increase to the ease of access that children have to smartphones and social media.
"As they become comfortable communicating with their friends, their known friends, this way, they start to become more and more comfortable communicating with people they don't know, without fully understanding the risk," Rendon said.
You can comment on this story in Wednesday's crime and courts section.
00000 mason5 lowres.jpg
The Art Fur Animals animal benefit features live and silent auctions with150 works by area artists - including a live auction for custom-designed dogs by 21 Northeast Ohio artists. This artistic pooch, by Cleveland artist David Cintron, is named Mason.
(Courtesy David Cintron)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Animal lovers and art fans can sit up and roll over and pant and purr together.
Raise a paw, er, make that a glass for Art Fur Animals 2016.
The 12th annual art party raises money and awareness for animals in need at the Cleveland Kennel. It runs from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday at Cleveland Masonic Auditorium, 3615 Euclid Ave, Cleveland Ohio.
Yes, the soiree will roll out assortment of tender vittles, er, I mean appetizers and desserts, wine and beer to paw on and lap up. It also features a silent auction for 150 works by area artists - and a live auction for custom-designed dogs by 21 Northeast Ohio artists.
DJ Funk-Shway will spin tracks. Dawn Kendrick of WKYC Channel 3 will emcee. But, hey, enough about the humans. This is all about the animals. It's sponsored by Friends of the Cleveland Kennel and proceeds go directly to the care of animals at Cleveland Animal Control.
Tickets -- $35 (online) and $40 (at the door) -- include complimentary appetizers, dessert and two drink tickets. VIP tickets -- $100 -- include unlimited beverages and preferred seating.
For more info, go to friendsofclevelandkennel.com/artfuranimals2016/.
Zimlinghaus.jpg
Comedian Kenny Zimlinghaus
(zimlinghauscomedy.com)
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the host of the Laugh Track column, a man who bent his mortar board ... Mike McIntyre.
Thank you, Cleveland. And congratulations, graduates! I've seen where some people boil the commencement speech down to one line, with words of wisdom like, "Take on no further debt," or "Never forget where you came from." But young people today don't have time for an entire sentence. So I've boiled my advice down to one word, and I mean it sincerely: "Laugh."
And there are plenty of opportunities for that this week in Cleveland.
At Bounce: Kenny Zimlinghaus, co-host of the "Wake Up With Taylor" show on Sirius XM Radio, will headline a comedy show at Bounce Nightclub in Ohio City Saturday. Local funny man Tim Cornett is also on the bill.
"I can't believe people are still buying the Craftmatic adjustable bed. There's still commercials for that," Zimlinghaus says on "Night Pageant," his recent iTunes chart-topping comedy recording.
"That thing's like $6,000. Buy a pillow or sit up! You don't need an engine in your bed to do that, you need a back muscle. A little bit of the will to live."
Zimlinghaus is a former cat owner who now has a dog through marriage. He's noticed a big difference in the culture of cat people and dog people.
"I didn't know how awesome dogs were, because I had a cat forever. When you see someone walking a dog in public, you are like, 'Yes, let me rub you.' It's like they're a celebrity," he says. "But if you see someone walking a cat on a leash in public, you're like, 'Uh, 9-1-1, I've found the devil.' "
Zimlinghaus, Cornett and more perform at 8 p.m. Saturday at Bounce Nightclub Hinge Lounge, 2814 Detroit Ave., Cleveland. Tickets are $15. Call 865-226-9113 or go to zimlinghauscomedy.com.
At Hilarities: Movie star, impressionist and all-around funny man Kevin Pollak headlines Hilarities. It's always a fun show from a real pro, and there's the added bonus of getting to see the very funny Cleveland comedian Brian Kenny, who will host the shows.
Pollak performs at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday ($33) and 7 p.m. Sunday ($28). Hilarities is inside Pickwick & Frolic restaurant, 2035 East Fourth St., Cleveland. Call 216-736-4242.
Lots of variety: Starting Tuesday, May 24, at Pickwick & Frolic, Cleveland comedian Mike Polk Jr. brings a weekly variety show to the Frolic Cabaret Stage. "The Mike Polk Jr. Show Live" will be at 8 p.m. Tuesdays, and tickets are $5.
Just announced: Impressionist comedian Frank Caliendo, who lives part time in Northeast Ohio, will headline one night at Hilarities on Friday, June 3, at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $35. That weekend's headliner, Joe Machi, will feature that night.
At the Improv: Lavell Crawford headlines the Cleveland Improv, where he already has sold out both of his Saturday shows. You can still catch him at 7:30 and 10 p.m. Friday, and 7 p.m. Sunday at the Improv, 1148 Main Ave., next to Shooters on the west bank of Cleveland's Flats. Tickets are $35-$40. Call 216-696-4677.
For his family: Ramon Rivas II headlines the Cleveland Improv Wednesday, May 25, and he's vowed to use any proceeds to fly his family to New Orleans for his early-June taping of a half-hour special for Comedy Central. The show is at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are $10 at 216-696-4677.
Local laughs: Two of the funniest comics to begin their careers in Cleveland -- Jim Tews (New York) and Ryan Dalton (Los Angeles) -- are coming home for a friend's wedding and, while they're here, headlining a night of comedy at Mahall's, 13224 Madison Ave., Lakewood. An Accidental Comedy production, the show is at 10 p.m. Friday and tickets are $10. Go to accidentalcomedy.com for tickets or call Mahall's at 216-521-3280.
Dan Diaz
Dan Diaz poses for a photo at the state Capitol on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016, in Albany, N.Y. Diaz, whose wife Brittany Maynard moved to Oregon to legally end her life after being given six months to live, appeared at Cleveland Clinic conference on Tuesday to advocate for medical-aid-in-dying laws. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- An advocate of medical-aid-in-dying legislation appeared at a Cleveland Clinic conference Tuesday, calling for expanded options in treating terminally ill patients at the end of their lives.
Dan Diaz spoke about the death of his wife Brittany Maynard, a California woman whose struggle to avoid suffering from terminal brain cancer spurred a national debate about the use of medication to hasten death.
"Brittany knew what was coming for her, and that included pain that could not be alleviated with morphine," Diaz said during the Clinic's annual Patient Experience summit at the Cleveland Convention Center.
In 2014, when Maynard's illness worsened, the couple decided to move to Oregon because the state offered a medical-aid-in-dying law that would allow her to take a lethal medication. She died Nov. 1 at age 29 after taking a dose of barbiturates prescribed by her doctor.
"Within five minutes of taking the medication, she fell asleep very peacefully," Diaz said. "Within 30 minutes, her breathing slowed to the point where she passed away. That was the gentle passing this program afforded her."
Since then, Diaz has campaigned nationally for medical-aid-in-dying legislation through the nonprofit group Compassion & Choices. His home state, California, passed a bill that will take effect next month, making it the fifth state to approve such a law. Other states with medical-aid-in-dying laws are Oregon, Washington, Vermont and Montana.
No medical-aid-in-dying legislation is proposed in Ohio. During his remarks Tuesday, Diaz offered advice to medical professionals in handling end-of-life conversations and sought to debunk what he sees as misconceptions about so-called "death with dignity" laws.
Contrary to popular rhetoric, he said, participating in a medical-aid-in-dying program does not necessarily mean a person wants to end his or her life, or has even given up hope.
In the case of his wife, he said, the decision to participate was followed by months of research into clinical trials and other treatment options that offered hope of prolonging her life.
"When you have cancer, you fight," Diaz said, choking back tears. "Having this medication changed nothing about our ability to fight. The strength of this legislation is that it provides the (patient) peace of mind."
Maynard's decision, which she made public through online videos, brought about heated debate as well as social media campaigns to push her to change her mind. It also fueled efforts by medical-aid-in-dying opponents to thwart the expansion of such laws.
Until his wife gained access to the lethal medication, Diaz said, she could not escape the thoughts of pain and torture her brain tumor would eventually bring. "Simply by having the medication, that fear vanished," he said. "Brittany had taken the control back from the tumor."
The last months of her life were spent hiking and traveling and spending time with family. Diaz said the only disruption was having to uproot their lives to move to Oregon in order to gain legal access to the medication that would end her life.
"Brittany thought it was a huge injustice that we had to leave our home," he said. "We had to pack up and leave and say goodbye to our friends and family. That was the part I wish we didn't have to go through. I want that time back. That's what was stolen from us."
BAY VILLAGE, Ohio -- David Kaman of Bay Village may be one of Cedar Point's biggest enthusiasts, and he has a Cedar Point memorabilia-stuffed room in his home to prove it.
Kaman has a collection of more than 1,000 Cedar Point post cards dating back to the early 1900s. The post cards, neatly tucked into individual plastic slips and bound in photo albums, are scrawled with messages that recall blissful, contented days at the amusement park through the park's history.
On the towering bookcase in Kaman's Cedar Point room - so tall that it has an attached rolling ladder to reach the top shelves - is a gold-colored sand pail with matching shovel that dates back to the early days of the Hotel Breakers at Cedar Point.
"This pail is from the early 1900s," says Kaman, pointing to a pail engraved with 'The finest bathing beach in the world' and matching shovel he found at an estate sale in Findlay about 25 years ago.
Kaman is a season passholder who has been among the first to ride the park's most wicked roller coasters, including the Raptor, the Mantis, and this year's 223-foot, 75-mile-an-hour Valravn coaster.
His home, which feels like a cross between museum and a gift shop, includes a top-shelf assortment of wood carvings that include animals, a totem pole, a boat and other figures.
He says every year a wood carver at the Frontier Trail at Cedar Point makes about a dozen of one item. "It takes him all summer," says Kaman. "Every year the first one he makes he sells to me. It's just a friendship that we developed.
Tucked on the highest shelves of the bookcase in Kaman's home are five wood miniature replicas of riverboats that once floated in the Cedar Point lagoon.
In an amazingly orderly arrangement, the 15-foot-high or so bookcase is further brimming with newer and historic Cedar Point-themed plates, drinking glasses, mugs, bottles, buttons, photos, coupons for rides dating back to the 1960s, Halloween memorabilia and much more.
Kaman has a sign for the Blue Streak roller coast at Cedar Point. Large Cedar Point banners and smaller pennants decorate the walls, along with colorful park maps dating back to 1960.
What ignited Kaman's fascination with Cedar Point?
He grew up in Sandusky and got a job at the theme park in 1973, when he was 18.
"I was hired to change light bulbs. I worked from eleven thirty at night until eight in the morning changing bulbs. I got to see a completely different side of the park because I saw it at night," he says. "And I felt like I was the first person in Ohio to see the sun come up. At the crack of dawn it was so still."
His family spent many delightful days at Cedar Point, says Kaman, an attorney with three grown sons. Of all the memories in his collection, his favorite is a picture of his mother on a carousel horse taken in 1931.
"Since I was 7 years old we went there every year," he says.
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Kaman's father collected Cedar Point postcards, but Kaman has taken it way beyond his dad's level of enthusiasm. Over the years, the younger Kaman has combed estate and postcard sales with the purpose of snaring Cedar Point souvenirs.
"These postcards and other things represent hundreds and hundreds of hours riding around with my three sons to garage sales and postcards shows," he says. "We'd be on like a scavenger hunt for Cedar Point things. Sometimes I'm just at the right place at the right time."
But he also had an inside advantage for acquiring Cedar Point goodies.
"When I worked at Cedar Point a lot of my co-workers ended up going into management positions," he says. "They would call me up and say, 'Hey David we're getting rid of some old signs. Do you want one?' This past year they took down lights posts from the 1900s. I'm hoping to get one. They're very ornate."
For the most part, Kaman's collection is neatly contained to his Cedar Point Room, but 400 mugs are stored in his garage.
Lots of people have asked why he doesn't hunt for Cedar Point items on eBay, but what's the fun in that?
"To me that takes the fun out of it," he says. "I like to interact with people when I'm looking for things."
Kaman says even today, visiting Cedar Point brings the same thrill that he felt as a child.
"I just fell in love with the park, and the people," he says, adding no matter what problems you have, "you don't think about them when you're on a roller coaster."
A worker stands next to a pump jack at an oil field Sergeyevskoye owned by Bashneft company north from Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia. Sergei Karpukhin | Reuters
The world's oil market is rebalancing faster than expected due to several serious outages, but for now there is enough oil in storage and excess capacity to keep prices from spiking.
"We've strung together an impressive number of outages and supply disruptions for the moment, but there's every incentive in the dire straits the industry's been in to get these barrels on line," said John Kilduff, partner with Again Capital. Outages and supply disruptions in Canada, Nigeria, Venezuela, and other producing regions have reduced oil production by an estimated 3.8 million barrels a day. Some of those outages should be temporary, and could bring a wall of oil back to the market once they are resolved. There is also the potential for more production from Saudi Arabia, Iran and even the U.S. - if prices rise enough to enable America's shale producers to restart some drilling. "Some of it's temporary, and if it goes on long enough, there will be longer lasting implications," said Michael Cohen, head of energy commodities research at Barclays. In Canada, an estimated 1.2 million barrels a day are offline due to forest fires in Alberta. The uncontrolled fire, covering 704,000 acres, moved toward energy production facilities Tuesday, after jumping a fire break area=. Suncor shut down its base plant, and said it had not sustained any damage, while Enbridge's Cheecham crude tank farm was less than a mile away from fire but fire fighters had the fire there under control, according to Reuters. "This is bad," said Cohen, adding it's the biggest disruption in North America since Hurricane Ike in 2008. "It looks like it's getting worse before it gets any better...It's hard to say. Is it two weeks? Is it four weeks? If it goes on for another two weeks we're going to have some medium term implications for some of the projects up there."
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The industry had been hopeful the fires would be out and they would start sending workers back to their jobs just several days ago. "We had this big U-turn in events over the past 48 hours," said Jackie Forrest, vice president energy research at Arc Financial Corp. "It's getting difficult to predict when this wild fire will be put out." She said the fact it has moved north means it will take longer for the industry to restart oil sands production, now down by about 50 percent. Fires were reported at a worker camp, but Forrest said there was oversupply of camp space since they were built for the construction workers at the oil sands, not the smaller workforce that operates it. The Canadian situation is different from other outages in that it is seen as a short-term problem, due to an act of nature, and while uncertain, the situations in Nigeria or Venezuela could be harder to predict. In Nigeria, militants have knocked oil production offline as the country struggles with the impact of lower oil prices on its economy. "If Nigeria goes offline, it's sticky. These armed militants are very intent on shutting down production. They have the capacity to do so," said Helima Croft, head of commodities research at RBC Capital Markets. Croft said the government's decision to prosecute the militants has resulted in increased activity. Unknown attackers were reported to have blown up a gas pipeline owned by Italy's ENI in Nigeria's Niger Delta, the latest attack on an energy facility in the region. Nigerian oil production is now down about 800,000 barrels a day, and Croft said the outages could be prolonged. "This is a decision they made to engage this confrontation. No one looks like they're blinking yet," she said. "A small number of well-armed men in Nigeria can do significant damage to the energy sector." Venezuela is another trouble spot, politically and economically. It is producing about 2.3 million barrels a day, but analysts see it as in a state of decline.
"Things are falling apart. People aren't getting paid. Equipment is not being brought in, and that's precipitating production declines," said Eric Lee, an energy analyst at Citigroup. He said the situation could lead to failures in infrastructure, such as ports, pipelines and refineries. Venezuelan officials this week said they were able to secure a better loan-for-oil deal from China, buying time on debt payments. "When prices are low, you strip out the oil revenue and things start to gum up," said Cohen. "You've got people upset in Nigeria, Iraq and Libya, and part of it is they're not getting paid offYou've got Kirkuk oil field off line and you have a government in Iraq that is in a serious state of disarray." But Cohen said oil could return to the market from disruptions and that could send prices lower again. Brent crude was trading just under $50 Wednesday, and West Texas Intermediate was at about $48.70, up about 11 percent in the past week. Prices were steady even though U.S. inventory data showed a surprise increase of 1.3 million barrels of crude stockpiles. "There's just too much oil around even with the big draw down in gasoline inventories today. We're just so well supplied," said Kilduff. The outages, however, are outweighing the bearish forces for now, he said. On the other side of the supply equation, there are also major producers that could add production. One of those is Libya, and news of a deal to solve the crisis at the Marsa al Hariga terminal could lead to the resumption of some production. "It's a good sign if the government in the east is going to recognize the UN government, but we'll have to see on this. The story changes day to day," said Croft. "They're at 150,000 and they have capacity at 1.6 million," she said. "Is it really a sustainable situation that you can get back to 600,000 or 700,000 on a longer term basis?" She said Libya could get back to production of about 350,000 barrels a day.
For those who thought Amazon achieved total world domination, think again. Jim Cramer discovered more worlds for Amazon to conquer, particularly when it announced it would launch new lineups of private label food and consumer products.
Just as a local supermarket has cheaper store brand products, Amazon will now offer its own food competitor.
Amazon's stock barely budged on the news, which made sense to Cramer since this is still a small market for it. However, Treehouse Foods popped 2 percent on the news over speculation that it could be a possible partner with Amazon in its private-label efforts.
"Treehouse gave back all of those gains today, but I think this is an intriguing story, and you are now getting a great entry point," the "Mad Money" host said.
Cramer turned to the wisdom of Bob Lang to interpret the charts. Lang is a technician and founder of ExplosiveOptions.net and a colleague of Cramer's at RealMoney.com .
"Sometimes the best ideas are staring you right in the face," the " Mad Money " host said.
Americans have spent fortunes to keep their pets happy and healthy. So, it makes sense that even if the economy wavers, the pet care group would continue to roar. Cramer decided to take a look at the charts to see what could be in store for Petmed Express , Blue Buffalo Pet Products , Vet Centers of America , Freshpet , Zoetis and IDEXX Laboratories .
Retail, technology, biotech and the financials were all taken down by the bear this week. But Jim Cramer found the one group that has quietly managed to defy any weakness in the averages, even on Tuesday when the market was hit hard.
Petmed Express is America's largest pet-centric pharmacy. It recently broke out to the upside on strong volume and has been consolidating. Lang expects the stock to move sharply higher, as the volume indicated that this move is the real deal.
Buffalo Blue is the high end maker of pet food. It had the misfortune of coming public last summer before the marketwide sell-off. However, Blue Buffalo seems to have found its footing, and the stock jumped higher. Lang saw signs that big institutional money managers have been buying this stock and anticipated that it could head back to its all-time high of $29 and beyond.
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Vet Centers of America, or VCA, is the chain of animal hospitals that Lang described as a "thing of beauty." It has been rallying in a straight line since February, and he considered it a great buy on a pullback to its 20-day moving average.
Freshpet is the maker of high-end pet food that is refrigerated. It has struggled since it came public in 2014, but Cramer noted an improvement since February. The Chaikin Money flow oscillator was positive for FreshPet, along with solid volume trends and an improved chart. Lang said it could be worth buying for speculation down 50 cents from its current price.
IDEXX Laboratories is a veterinary diagnostics play. Its daily chart showed an improving range since February. The Chaikin Money flow also continued to be strong, meaning there is money flowing into the stock. Lang also noted its relative strength, and Cramer was impressed with the fundamentals.
Finally, there was Zoetis, the animal health company spun off by Pfizer. The stock exploded in March and April, and Lang said the recent pullback is simply a consolidation to digest the enormous gains.
"We learned that noted hedge fund manager Bill Ackman reduced his stake in Zoetis last week, and while the stock got hit on the news, I wouldn't read too much into it," Cramer said.
So, in a market where it is hard to find winners, pet care stocks have proven to be consistently strong. Cramer's top picks are IDEXX and Zoetis; he thinks they could work in the current environment.
Bob Kerrey, Democratic elder statesman and Vietnam War hero, told CNBC on Wednesday he almost feels like a "person without a party" when he listens to some of the views espoused during this year's presidential race.
"I find myself sort of struggling, trying to figure out which party I'm in," said Kerrey, former U.S. senator and ex-governor from Nebraska. A recipient of the Medal of Honor, he unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1992.
"I find myself almost a person without a party," the 72-year-old Kerrey said in a "Squawk Box" interview.
"I align with the Democrats on social issues," he said. "I align with Republicans on economic issues. I worry about national security, and I'm aligned typically with Republicans there. I'm concerned about the environment and align with Democrats on that issue."
If America backs out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, free trade allies in the region may turn to China, U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue told CNBC on Wednesday.
"If everybody else does it, those countries in the China-sphere are going to relocate their loyalties and their economic relationships [there] and not the United States," he said in a "Squawk Box" interview. "If we don't get more competitive, somebody else is going to sell [goods and services] to them."
While acknowledging the TPP needs a few tweaks, Donohue predicted it will be implemented, despite the antifree trade rhetoric from both Republicans and Democrats on the presidential campaign trail.
"We've beaten the dickens out of the NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement]," he said. "But the fact is it's created all kinds of jobs here the United States."
Free trade critics believe manufacturing job losses have been the result of trade agreements, but that's not the case, Donohue said.
"It comes from us trying to become more efficient so that we can compete with people all over the world," he said. "We have taken 40 percent of jobs out of the process [through] information technology, robotics, process engineering, supply-chain management."
Afero, a start-up that describes itself as the "nervous system" sitting in the middle of the internet of things (IoT) world, has raised $20.3 million in an investment round led by Samsung's investment fund.
The U.S. -based firm, founded by Joe Britt, a former employee working on Google's Android operating system (OS), announced the investment on Wednesday, which was led by Samsung Catalyst fund, and joined by Presidio Ventures, Sanshin Electronics, SoftBank, Fenox Venture Capital, Assembly Fund, and Robert Dobkin.
Afero is looking to become the center of the IoT industry, which could see revenues hit $7 trillion by 2020, according to IDC.
Britt explained the problem with current internet of things devices, saying that the process is fragmented. You have to decide what kind of hardware to use, what OS to put on the device, how it will connect to the cloud. It requires separate teams who need to co-ordinate their development.
"Because all this work was done manually, there was more risk of human error, it's clumsy," Britt told CNBC in a phone interview.
Afero sells a chip that can be embedded by any manufacturer into a product enabling it to connect to the company's cloud. Then companies can get analytics, security and access to Afero's so-called application program interface (API), allowing developers to create cloud apps.
It is essentially trying to sit in the middle of several IoT devices.
"The way I think about it is there are a number of things that are hot artificial intelligence, IoT, robotics, those are interesting because they fit together as a system. AI is the brain function, robotics and sensory as analogues of our human senses. Afero meanwhile is building the nervous system," Britt told CNBC.
Like Android and iOS have become the dominant operating systems and the backbone of the vast majority of the world's mobile devices, Afero could potentially carry out a similar role. If large numbers of devices use its cloud, it could make it more attractive for developers to build applications.
"Rather than being the domain of companies that have the resources to build this we have created a tool to get many more developers to build IoT devices," Britt said.
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Alibaba has hit out at the U.S.-based International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC) for scrapping its membership, pulling the plug on founder Jack Ma's high-profile appearance at the anti-fakes group's summit. The Chinese e-commerce giant also embarked on a media campaign in China, in which it trumpeted its fakes-busting success and accused the IACC of being "kidnapped by the personal interests" of some of its members. In an English-language statement, Alibaba's head of international corporate communications Jennifer Kuperman called the decision to drop Alibaba from the IACC, just a month after it was offered membership to the global fakes-fighting group, a "step in the wrong direction and regrettable." In the statement, Kuperman said intermediaries such as Alibaba had an integral role to play in preventing the sale of fake branded goods, and that its sales platforms had a "zero-tolerance policy" on counterfeit products. "Unfortunately, those who pressured the IACC on this decision prefer a confrontational approach: pitting brands against Alibaba and other industry participants in the hopes of prolonged litigation," she said.
Kuperman was referring to high-profile brands including Michael Kors Holdings , Gucci America and Tiffany & Co , that quit the IACC in protest of Alibaba's membership. The IACC backed down on Friday on its decision to allow Alibaba to join, after reportedly being threatened with further departures. In the statement, Kuperman said that as a result of the IACC's decision, Alibaba felt it was best that founder and executive chairman Ma did not appear at the IACC's Spring Conference, which is due to kick off in Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday. Ma had been due to deliver a speech at the conference, with his attendance promoted prominently on the IACC's website. "We have informed the IACC of our decision, and are pleased to announce that the president of Alibaba Group, Michael Evans, will represent Alibaba at the conference," Kuperman said. A Chinese-language statement from Alibaba, which appeared widely in Chinese media on Wednesday, was more strongly worded. Chinese media had described the episode as "humiliating" for one of the country's corporate giants. "No organization should be controlled by internal political struggles, and no organization should be kidnapped by the personal interests of some individual enterprises," the statement said. "In fact, Alibaba has become the most important and advanced anti-counterfeiting force worldwide. Today the counterfeits groups may be afraid of the police the most, but what they hate the most is actually Alibaba," it added.
Chinese media outlet Sina.com also ran a question-and-answer interview with Zheng Junfang, Alibaba's deputy chief financial officer and the head of the company's intellectual property rights protection and anti-counterfeits division. Zheng told Sina.com that in past year Alibaba had identified 3,518 suspicious groups making or selling fakes, helping the police to nail 300 suspects and seize counterfeit goods worth 816 million yuan ($125.5 million). "It's fair to say that Alibaba is devoted itself in anti-counterfeiting even with extremely high cost," she said, according to the report. "The fake products we have intercepted or eliminated in a year far exceed the total amount of all kinds of offline operations combined for the past 30 years." On April 13, Alibaba became the first internet retailer to join the group under a new membership category designed for intermediaries. But in a letter to the IACC, cited in a Wall Street Journal report on April 28, Michael Kors' legal counsel Lee Sporn described the decision to admit Alibaba to the IACC as giving "cover to our most dangerous and damaging adversary." The WSJ reported that as many as two dozen other IACC members had supported Michael Kors' stance. The retailers claimed that Alibaba has failed to prevent the widespread sale of counterfeit branded goods on its platforms, Taobao and Tmall.
Investigators have found that as many as three separate hacking groups had access to Bank of Bangladesh computers, the source said. Of those, one was there for the express purpose of stealing money, and the other two were apparently simply gathering information, possibly as part of broader information-gathering operations.
The central bank of Bangladesh was under attack by more than one group at the time thieves stole $81 million from its account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a source familiar with the investigation told CNBC.
The presence of so many hacking groups inside a central bank's servers highlights the risks facing global banks at a time when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is warning that cybersecurity is the biggest risk facing the world's financial system. SEC Chair Mary Jo White told the Reuters Financial Regulation Summit on Tuesday that some major exchanges, dark pools and clearing houses do not have cybersecurity policies in place that match the risks they face, Reuters reported.
At the same time, the Bangladesh heist is causing some banks to tighten up security procedures. For example, officials at JPMorgan reviewed levels of access to the Swift international financial electronic messaging system and adjusted permission levels for various employees, according to a person familiar with the bank.
Investigators looking into the Bangladesh heist have not concluded who conducted the theft, but do believe the group was "highly sophisticated and well-funded," according to the source familiar with the investigation. They have also concluded that one of the groups that penetrated the bank's system but not the one that conducted the theft used techniques similar to the devastating 2014 cyberattack on Sony.
U.S. officials concluded at the time that the Sony attack was sponsored by North Korea. But investigators have not concluded that the North Koreans were necessarily inside the Bangladesh computers. It is at least possible, they believe, that the group they have identified is a freelance hacking entity that worked for North Korea in the past and is working for entities unknown or simply for itself now.
Investigators say they do not have any information on the third entity found inside the Bangladesh computers, except to conclude that the penetration did not appear to be an effort to steal money, perhaps only to gather information.
The New York Fed has said it has found no evidence that its own systems were compromised by the hackers.
Investigators currently hypothesize that the Bangladesh heist was conducted by a criminal gang, not a nation state.
Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos defended his company Wednesday against repeated jabs from presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
"My view is that's not an appropriate way for a presidential candidate to behave," Bezos said at an event held by The Washington Post, the newspaper he owns.
Trump, the billionaire businessman, told Fox News last week that Amazon has "a huge antitrust problem." He accused Bezos of using the Post as a "toy" to help Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, get fair treatment from politicians.
"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 contended.
In spite of the warnings of dire economic consequences if the U.K. opted to leave the European Union, one industrial sector is expected to emerge relatively unscathed: the travel industry.
The chief financial officer of travel technology website Amadeus told CNBC Wednesday that one country out of the EU would not have a specific impact on the travel industry, however "it's true that Brexit may have a global impact and our business is related with global GDP (gross domestic product)."
Ana de Pro, making her remarks from Madrid, said that Brexit Britain leaving the European Union would not affect her business "that much we are a truly global company and we operate everywhere," and though Brexit may have a short-term impact, it would not impact the travel industry in the long-run.
"Of course, it is a risk on certitude for a certain period of time and afterwards to see how things evolve," Pro told CNBC.
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Jim Cramer reminded investors that there are some companies out there with such great earnings growth, that it doesn't matter what the Federal Reserve does they will thrive in any environment. One of those companies is Salesforce , which reported strong earnings on Wednesday, with management raising its full year revenue and earnings forecast for the 2017 fiscal year. CEO Marc Benioff also proved that advocating for social change doesn't necessarily get in the way of business, as Cramer described its earnings as "the best tech quarter of the year." Benioff has become a leader among CEOs by pushing for social activism on such issues as gay rights and has encouraged other companies' executives to speak out as well. "CEOs are responsible for all of their stakeholders. And we have to shift from being just shareholder based to stakeholder based. That is really what I am an advocate of," Benioff said. (Tweet This) Read More Salesforce CEO: Using the power of business for social change
Hands up for a rate hike? Getty Images
Every time the market sells off because of the Federal Reserve, Cramer cares more about what happens on day two than day one. On day one of a Fed sell-off, everything goes down. But if a stock can rally on day two, that means it could have staying power for the long run. "When we see this kind of day-two action, remember there are two kinds of companies that can rally. The ones like the banks that actually benefit from any rate hikes, and the ones like Apple or Amazon that are able to stay ahead of the anti-growth Fed posse," the "Mad Money" host said. Cramer compared the uneven action to a seesaw that throws some stocks off, while allowing others to stay on for the ride. So, just because the Fed minutes said a rate hike in June is likely, that doesn't mean every stock is cursed. Read More Cramer: Secret to winning in a Fed sell-off
After spending the last two years in the doghouse, online real estate player Zillow Group has bounced back, up more than 11 percent this year. More people now type the word "Zillow" into Google than the words "real estate," Zillow's CEO Spencer Rascoff told Cramer on Wednesday. Zillow's database features over 110 million profiles of U.S. homes, and generates revenues through advertising subscriptions aimed at real estate professionals, mortgage lenders and brand advertisers. Rascoff attributed the success of his to the wide array of brands it covers, which include Zillow, Trulia, StreetEasy, Hotpads and Dot Loop among others. "The combination of that audience across all those brands are the reason that we are killing it," Rascoff said. Read More Zillow CEO: Here's why we are killing it
Marc Benioff Getty Images
Donald Trump Brian Snyder | Reuters
Donald Trump entered into a joint fundraising agreement with the Republican National Committee that will allow the presidential candidate to tap rich donors and end his ability to claim that he is self-financing his own campaign. The Trump campaign and the RNC on Tuesday evening said they had agreed to create two joint fundraising committees, including one named the "Trump Make America Great Again Committee", and a second called "Trump Victory" to which single donors could donate up to $449,400. The property developer said the deals would raise money for Republicans running in November, helping the party to "defeat Hillary Clinton, keep Republican majorities in Congress and in the states, and Make America Great Again". Reince Priebus, RNC chairman, said the committees were a "vital step" towards protecting Republican majorities across America and would help boost "ground, data and digital operations to elect Republicans up and down the ballot".
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Mr Trump can afford to focus his energy and money on hitting Mrs Clinton, as the former secretary of state continued to face a challenge from Bernard Sanders. The Vermont senator beat his Democratic rival in the Oregon primary election on Tuesday night, while Mrs Clinton had a razor-thin lead with 46.8 per cent of the vote in Kentucky after 99 per cent of the ballots had been counted. More from the Financial Times :
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The Ottoman legacy dies hard in the Middle East In Oregon, Mr Sanders was ahead with 53 per cent compared to 47 per cent for Mrs Clinton, based on two-thirds of the votes counted, and was projected by the Associated Press to win the state. The victory repeats a pattern as Mr Sanders continues to frustrate Mrs Clinton and draws attention to some of her flaws as a candidate.
It also comes as some polls show that Mr Trump could pose a bigger threat to Mrs Clinton than many had previously expected. The fundraising deal with the Republican party marks a major shift by Mr Trump who insisted during the primaries that he was different from other candidates as he was financing his own campaign and therefore could not be bought or corrupted. But he has been forced to abandon that stance under the growing realization about the amount of money needed to run a national campaign, including paying for the kind of extensive grass roots operation needed to get out the vote across the US. The agreement with the RNC also marks the latest thaw in frosty relations between Mr Trump and the party establishment, many of whom have been concerned about his divisive rhetoric during the primaries. Last week Mr Trump met Paul Ryan, the powerful Republican speaker of the House of Representatives who has so far refused to endorse the billionaire in an effort to improve ties with the mainstream party. While Mr Ryan made positive noises about their meeting, he made clear that it was too early to support Mr Trump by having "fake" unity. The decision by Mr Trump to use more traditional financing comes as Super-Pacs outside groups that support one candidate but cannot co-ordinate with the campaign have started launching attacks against the tycoon. Priorities USA, one of the main groups backing Hillary Clinton, will on Wednesday start running hard-hitting attack ads on Mr Trump in the key swing states of Florida, Ohio, Virginia and Nevada.
Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell:
Lowe's The home improvement retailer reported adjusted first-quarter profit of 87 cents per share, 2 cents a share above estimates. Revenue was also above forecasts, and the same-store sales increase of 7.3 percent was well above the consensus estimate of a 4.4 percent rise.
Staples The office supplies retailer beat estimates by a penny a share, with adjusted first-quarter profit of 17 cents per share. Revenue was slightly above analysts' forecasts. North American same-store sales were down 4 percent, a bigger drop than the 3.1 percent drop that analysts had expected.
Hormel The maker of Dinty Moore, Spam, and other food brands reported adjusted quarterly profit of 40 cents per share, a penny a share above estimates. Revenue essentially matched forecasts. Hormel also raised its full-year earnings forecast, due to increases in pork segment profit margins and other efficiencies.
JPMorgan Chase The bank raised its quarterly dividend to 48 cents per share from the prior 44 cents a share. It will be paid on July 31 to shareholders of record as of July 6.
Northrop Grumman The defense contractor increased its quarterly dividend, pushing the payout up 10 cents a share, or 12.5 percent, to 90 cents per share, payable on June 22 to shareholders of record as of June 6.
Gap Chief Executive Officer Art Peck told the clothing retailer's annual meeting that he would consider Amazon.com as a possible distributor of the company's products, saying to not consider Amazon as a possible outlet for sales would be "delusional."
Apple Apple will set up a software lab in India to help companies and developers that work with Apple's iOS operating system. The announcement comes as Apple CEO Tim Cook begins his visit to that country.
Alibaba CEO Jack Ma canceled a speech at an anti-counterfeiting conference after the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition suspended the China-based e-commerce company's membership.
General Motors The automaker will have its decision making regarding safety issues overseen by federal regulators for an additional year. GM was informed of the decision by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in a letter made public Tuesday. GM first came under additional scrutiny in 2014 because of its response to the widely-publicized ignition switch defect.
Verizon Verizon and striking unions will hold contract talks in Washington this week, with the Labor Department assisting in the talks. No public comments will be made about the discussions during that time.
Andersons Andersons is the target of a $1 billion cash buyout bid by HC2 Holdings, which is run by former hedge fund manager Phil Falcone. The grain-handling company's CEO, Patrick Bowe, had told Reuters on Monday that Andersons was not seeking to be acquired.
Alphabet Alphabet's Google unit will introduce a voice-activated home device at its annual developers conference today, according to The New York Times.
Mark Zuckerberg and his massive social-media site Facebook have come under strong criticism for allegedly suppressing stories of interest for conservative readers from its influential "trending" news section. Facebook has roughly 1.6 billion users worldwide, of whom 167 million are in the United States. Its "trending" topics feature is therefore a powerful political influence.
Mark Zuckerberg David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The anti-conservative curating bias was first reported by the tech blog Gizmodo. After that, a number of conservative outlets chimed in that the social-media giant has suppressed conservative views and related stories. Zuckerberg has denied the charges, and he will meet Wednesday with a handful of conservatives to discuss allegations that Facebook's "news curators" have manipulated its list of stories. Among the conservatives slated to attend the Zuckerberg meeting are Glenn Beck, Dana Perino of Fox News, Arthur Brooks of the American Enterprise Institute, senior Trump campaign aid Barry Bennett, and former Romney digital director Zack Moffat.
How these folks were picked for the meeting is anyone's guess. And what exactly is expected to come out of this meeting is unclear. It seems more like a public-relations gambit by Zuckerberg, who previously said Facebook will investigate all the conservative charges. Curiously, last March, Zuckerberg gave a speech at a Facebook conference, where he blasted Donald Trump and his policies. Also curious, Hillary Clinton, by a wide margin, has received the bulk of political donations from Facebook employees in this election cycle. According to Breitbart, data from the Federal Election Commission show that Facebook staff gave $114,000 to Hillary Clinton. The next closest recipient of political money was former Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio. He only got $16,604.
Tom Stocky, the head of the trending-topics section at Facebook, maxed out with an individual donation of $2,700 to Hillary Clinton. The Hill website found that roughly 78 Facebook employees from engineering, communications, public policy, strategy, marketing, human resources, and other areas donated to Clinton. Meanwhile, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus has tweeted, "Facebook must answer for conservative censorship." Senator John Thune (R, SD), who is chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, warned Facebook of the need for consumer protection and an open Internet, and, according to the Wall Street Journal, has sent a letter to Zuckerberg asking how the company chooses its trending topics and who is ultimately responsible. There are also a number of academics who have called for full transparency in the Facebook news process. Of course, Facebook is a private company, and therefore is entitled to whatever political biases it holds. But given its gigantic size and scope and power over so many news readers, and considering the mounting influence of all the social-media outlets, this is a very serious story. We'll see what comes out of Wednesday's meeting. But as the American proverb goes: Where there's smoke, there's fire.
Shares of Tesla Motors gained more than 3 percent Wednesday after Goldman Sachs' bullish call on the electric car maker's stock.
Goldman upgraded Tesla to "buy" from "neutral," saying it sees a 22 percent upside to its six-month price target of $250.
"While we believe the volume targets are ambitious, Street and investor expectations seem more grounded and following a 23% decline in the share price post the Model 3 unveil, we do not believe Tesla shares are fully capturing the company's disruptive potential," the bank said in a note to clients Wednesday.
The headline on the note said Goldman is "putting in our reservation for the Model 3." After the Wednesday close, Tesla announced a $2 billion stock sale to help ramp its production of the Model 3.
Tesla's stock closed at $204.66 Tuesday and was trading around $210 in the premarket Wednesday.
Read More Tesla calls cheap-labor dispute 'totally unacceptable'
Goldman's valuation is based on five probability-weighted scenarios, "plus stationary storage optionality, all of which embed a 20% cost of capital."
TSLA valuation summary
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Google announced Wednesday a voice-activated home device, similar to Amazon Echo, to launch later this year. The device syncs to a smartphone version called Assistant, and links to streaming device Chromecast and smart home brand Nest.
Mario Queiroz, Google's vice president of product management, showed off the small white conical object at Google's annual developer event. What sets the product apart, Queiroz said, is the device's direct link to all the capabilities of Google search.
"Home is where lots of daily tasks just need to get done," Queiroz told an audience at Google's I/O conference Wednesday. "Access to the Google Assistant makes this a lot easier. It's like having a voice-activated remote control to the real world whenever you need it."
Sundar Pichai demonstrated a conversation with Google's new smartphone Assistant, highlighting what he called conversational capability "far beyond what other assistants can do." The technology, similar to Apple 's Siri, comes as 20 percent of mobile searches are voice queries, according to Pichai, CEO of Alphabet's Google division.
Google has spent years evolving search to be much more assistive and help people get things done in the "real world," Pichai said, training voice and photo recognition to be more precise. For instance, asking a phone "What's playing tonight?" should result not just in movie times, but personalized movie suggestions that can be discussed like a normal conversation, he said.
Google Vice President of Product Management Mario Queiroz shows the new Google Home during Google I/O 2016 at Shoreline Amphitheatre Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
"It is truly the moment of mobile," Pichai said, as Google celebrates a decade of working on Android, now the world's most popular mobile operating system. "We are pushing ourselves really hard so that Google is evolving and staying ahead of our users."
The company announced new apps, available this summer, in conjunction with the new Assistant and Google Home. Messaging app Allo lets users operate Google search within chats. For instance, when sent a photo of food, Allo can detect what the food is and suggest a reply of "yummy," "I love linguine," or even suggest a similar restaurant nearby, Google's developers demonstrated. Allo can contact Google by typing @google in any chat.
The app also offers suggestive replies to messages and even photos, changes message sizes to convey "loud" or "quiet" expressions and lets you draw directly on images, according to a demo at the event. It also offers an "incognito" chat mode that is end-to-end encrypted and can be permanently deleted, similar to a browser window mode by the same name in Google Chrome.
Another app, Duo, enables video chats similar to Apple's FaceTime app but is available on both Android and iOS. Android's latest operating system, now named N, was also front and center during the event. N features Vulkan, a graphics processor that allows game developers to put in more effects per frame while maintaining a high frame rate, said Dave Burke, vice president of engineering at Android. Other changes were made to streamline updates, storage and battery life, and improve encryption, Burke said. More than 90 percent of the time people only select one of the last seven apps used, Burke said, inspiring Android to create a "quick switch" function to automatically return to the last app a user was in, and creating an option that clears all open apps.
Users can also have multiple apps open at the same time in a split screen on Android N and reply to messages directly from the notification screens. These features, now in beta, will roll out later this summer, Burke said.
N will also enable Daydream, a platform for high-quality virtual reality. It's designed to encourage developers to create VR across different devices, including Android smartphones, that's capable of rendering at a very high frame rate and resolution and minimizes the lag to update images when users move their heads, said Clay Bavor, vice president of virtual reality at Google. "We wanted to create something that has the best attributes of [current VR visor] Carboard, but is also comfortable, richly interactive and far more immersive," Bavor said. "To create that kind of immersion you have to solve a lot of really hard problems." Samsung, HTC, LG, Xiaomi, Huawei and others have phones that work with Daydream coming as soon as this fall, Bavor said. A special controller that Bavor demonstrated is also in the pipeline for fall.
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A slim minority of Wall Street bank stockholders may be mad as hell, but it looks as if most are still prepared to take it. That's the takeaway from banks' annual investor meetings in 2016, where proposals to strengthen clawback provisions and curb golden parachutes went unheeded, as shareholders signed off on management-endorsed votes including executive pay. Despite Wall Street banks' underperformance compared to investing benchmarks in 2016, their investors are buying into executives' plans to boost returns in what has been a turbulent market. JPMorgan Chase 's annual meeting went so smoothly that nary a shareholder even approached the microphone during the gathering Tuesday in New Orleans to press CEO Jamie Dimon for details on his plans for the bank. Shareholders may have been busy counting their blessings (or returns) after the bank increased its dividend to 48 cents a share. Proposals that put pressure on JPMorgan executives were roundly rejected, including splitting the CEO and chairman role, and a pay clawback amendment. An attempt by an AFL-CIO representative to exclude golden parachutes for directors who quit before their terms expire and pursue government service failed; and a measure to break up the bank fell short by an enormous margin, earning 3 percent of shareholders' support. But pay packages were OK'd.
GraphicaArtis | Getty Images
Public Citizen financial analyst Bart Naylor sought to separate the CEO and chairman roles which Dimon has occupied since Dec. 31, 2006. "It's an inherent conflict," Naylor said at the bank's meeting. "It makes no sense at all." Read More Shareholders didn't agree; it is worth noting that at other banks, including Bank of America , stockholders have supported similar measures to allow the same executive to have the CEO and chairman title. Further north, in New York, Morgan Stanley executives had to field pointed questions Tuesday from one analyst Mike Mayo of CLSA, who has challenged executives at numerous Wall Street firms for vague goals and lingering inability to meet return-on-equity targets. However, bank executives also got their measures approved, with flying colors.
After being contacted by the Financial Times, Google cancelled Arrahmah.com's account and the advertisers asked to be removed from the site. However, ads for big western brands continue to appear on the site through other intermediaries.
There is no suggestion that the advertisers or Google knowingly funded a designated terrorist, a criminal offence in the US that carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison or a $1m fine.
The ads were delivered to the website, which includes images of beheadings and hanged men, by intermediaries including Google's AdSense, the world's biggest online ad network, which take a cut of the revenues.
But his Jihadi propaganda website, Arrahmah.com, has been making thousands of dollars by showing its visitors adverts from global companies.
Muhammad Jibril Abdul Rahman, known as Prince of Jihad, is designated as a terrorist on the sanctions lists of the US, the EU and the UN and subject to an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. He is a prominent member of Jemaah Islamiyah, a militant Islamist group based in Southeast Asia with ties to al-Qaeda.
An Islamist extremist accused of funding the 2009 Jakarta suicide bombings has been selling advertising space on his website to international brands including Citigroup, IBM and Microsoft using a service provided by Google.
The ease with which Arrahmah.com tapped into the $160bn online ad market raises questions about whether advertisers and their intermediaries are properly scrutinising the websites with which they do business. These days the placement of online ads is highly automated and they often pass through a complex chain with little human oversight.
This is not the first time that brands running ad campaigns across tens of thousands of different websites have found them appearing on undesirable sites. The UK police have in recent years cracked down on ad-supported sites that allow users to illegally download pirated films and music.
Google said: "We take the quality of our network very seriously and invest significant time and resources to keeping bad actors out of our system. We also have strict policies and terms of use which govern the type of publishers we allow on AdSense.
"This site violates our terms so we've taken action to terminate the account and reimburse affected advertisers."
The company did not disclose the amount of the reimbursement.
Arrahmah.com whose slogan is "filter your mind, get the truth" also illustrates the increasing sophistication of Islamist propaganda organisations and the expanding range of funding sources they have been able to tap. Large technology groups including Google, Twitter and Facebook have come in for criticism by security services in recent years for not doing enough to keep extremists off their platforms.
The website, which promotes extremist views in sections such as "Jihad Zone", attracts about 600,000 visits a month, according to SimilarWeb, an internet data provider. Arrahmah.com discloses prominently that Mr Abdul Rahman is its chief executive.
"He is the most important online terrorist in Southeast Asia," said Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. "The purpose of his site is to polarise and radicalise people so that they become ripe for recruitment."
In 2010, Mr Abdul Rahman was sentenced to five years in an Indonesian jail for concealing information related to the terrorist attacks at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta, which killed seven people and injured about 50. He had arranged for $10,000 in cash to be passed to the main bomber, according to the US government.
Citigroup said: "We have a number of policies and procedures in place for our vendors designed to help prevent our advertising from appearing on inappropriate sites. In this case we have acted quickly to rectify the issue and have taken steps to ensure our ads will not appear on this site in the future."
IBM said that it was "looking into the matter and will take all measures with its agency buying partners to prevent recurrence".
Microsoft said: "The advertisement was placed using a third-party automated online media buying process and has now been removed. We're working with our media buying partners to identify additional safeguards to further reduce the potential for ad placement on inappropriate sites."
An industry insider who has been gathering data about Arrahmah.com for the Financial Times estimated that the site was making thousands of dollars per month based on its ad traffic, and potentially more.
The problem of one hour-plus security lines at Chicago's O'Hare International and other airports around the country should be solved by the private sector, not the government, said Bob Kerrey, a former Democratic senator who served on the Select Committee on Intelligence during his time on Capitol Hill.
Kerrey's comments come as a new airline industry report reveals that travelers will need to brace themselves for even bigger crowds at the Transportation Security Administration-run checkpoints this summer.
"I don't think the government can do this. If you went to Walt Disney and said, 'Can you reduce the size of the lines?' Nobody runs lines better than Disney," Kerrey told CNBC on Wednesday.
To help mitigate the crush at O'Hare, dozens of additional TSA officers were being deployed immediately, and travelers are being advised to arrive two to three hours in advance of their flights.
"It has been a challenging spring with flyers waiting in lines that take more than 60 to 90 minutes to get through security," said Sharon Pinkerton, a senior vice president with Airlines For America. "We encourage TSA to quickly hire and train new staff to help alleviate this problem."
Airlines For America, an industry trade group, said Wednesday that it expects the number of people flying this summer to outpace last year's record crowds. The group expects 232.1 million will fly in the U.S. between June 1 and Aug. 31, or 2.51 million people per day.
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Mark Cuban slammed Donald Trump on Wednesday for his comments about a tech bubble. "Donald is 180 degrees wrong," Cuban told CNBC's "Squawk Alley" by phone.
In a Reuters interview, Trump said technology start-ups that had never earned a profit were able to sell shares at very high price. He likened the situation to the overheated stock market in 2007.
"I'm talking about companies that have never made any money, that have a bad concept and that are valued at billions of dollars, so here we go again," the New York tycoon told Reuters.
Cuban, a tech entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, said Trump's comments make it sound like there's a bubble in the public markets, which isn't true.
"That's 180 degrees wrong because none of those companies are going public," the "Shark Tank" host said.
"If we have a problem, it's not that there's frothy valuations for tech companies in the public market. It's that there's no tech companies that have high growth rates that are in position to get frothy valuations. That's the problem," he said.
Cuban said the recent slowdown in IPOs of tech companies is only hurting the economy, and he criticized Silicon Valley's current ethos of not going public.
"By not going public, we are creating significant issues in the economy, significant issues in the market. It's a real problem for all of us," he said. "If companies don't go public, you create more power for the incumbent or legacy companies that are already public." Cuban added that if people are looking for a bubble in tech, it may be in private companies. "In terms of the private tech investments, there's certainly a bubble. ... So while we're not in a bubble like we had in 2000 I mean it's not the same at all because we're talking about private companies for private investments, you are stuck," Cuban said.
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More than 4 million salaried employees will be eligible for overtime pay after the Department of Labor announced a major overhaul to regulations. The ruling will have far-reaching implications for people who work more than 40 hours a week, and impact business owners across a wide expanse of industries. With the federal minimum wage stagnant at $7.25 an hour, the move is part of the Obama administration's push for better protections for workers at many businesses, big and small. The finalized rule announced Tuesday doubles the eligible salary threshold for overtime from $23,660 per year to $47,476 annually. Businesses will have until December to comply. The rules include mechanisms to raise the threshold. The rules call for the Labor Department to adjust the maximum pay every three years. The Obama administration says the move will increase wages by $1.2 billion annually or $12 billion in the next decade. Some sectors like retail already object to the new overtime mandate. And Main Street business owners and advocates have mixed feelings on the ruling. The White House, meanwhile, says the ruling will "boost our economy across the board, as these families spend their hard-earned wages."
Shannon Fagan | Getty Images
Critics of the overtime ruling say the retail and hospitality businesses will be among the hardest hit. The National Retail Federation, the industry's largest trade group, called the rules a "career killer," demoting millions of workers. The NRF argues the change in wage levels could bring many store managers or assistant managers under overtime rules, and take away their ability to use their own discretion in deciding whether to put in the extra hours.
On the flip side, wage proponent groups including the National Employment Law Project are hailing the new rules. The group argues the overtime rules will restore the intent of the current Fair Labor Standards Act's guarantee of a 40-hour work week, a protection that steadily has declined since the late 1970s. The new overtime rules also close a gap in which some employers readily doled out manager titles and responsibilities but with no pay increase, or avenue to earn overtime. "Current regulations give employers a major loophole for avoiding overtime pay, allowing them to classify workers earning as little as $23,440 as managers, though they have scant supervisory or managerial duties, and then require them to put in excessive hours, without any pay at all for their overtime hours," law project Executive Director Christine Owens said in a statement.
But mandated pay changes are a contentious issue with plenty of opinions among small-business owners. Rodney Kloha, president of Circle K Service in Midland, Michigan, said the new overtime rules are troubling. Kloha has 19 employees at his company, which services emergency vehicles and trucks. Kloha has been in business for 39 years, and he now has five salaried workers. Under the new rule, two of those workers will be eligible for overtime. He's now reviewing the total compensation package for each worker. "I have to look at how I pay them this isn't just in the realm of giving them raises," Kloha said. "These are management positions in our region, and with this rule the [Department of Labor] is trying to do a one-size-fits-all, and unfortunately it doesn't fit for a lot of small businesses," he said, adding "$30,000 to $40,000 a year is a good income here."
His other option is to move his workers to hourly positions, which he says will "interfere with his relationship with employees," Kloha says. According to the Department of Labor, the general overtime rate is time-and-a-half for any hours worked over 40 hours per week, and generally hourly employees are guaranteed overtime. Managers and executives are often exempt.
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Microsoft is selling its feature phone assets to a subsidiary of Taiwanese firm Foxconn Technology and newly-established firm HMD Global for $350 million, the company announced on Wednesday, in a move that will see Nokia devices return to the market. The deal will see Microsoft transfer all of its feature phone assets, including brands, software and services, customer contracts and supply agreements to Foxconn subsidiary FIH Mobile to HMD Global. Around 4,500 employees will also transfer over to or have the opportunity to join either company. FIH Mobile Taiwanese firm will also acquire Microsoft Mobile Vietnam the company's Hanoi-based manufacturing facility. Microsoft will continue to develop its Windows 10 Mobile operating system and support its Lumia brand of phones and devices from partners such as Acer and Alcatel that run Windows phones. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2016 subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions, Microsoft said.
Nokia phones back
HMD Global is a recently-founded company headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, and run by former Nokia and Microsoft executive Arto Numella. The company said on Wednesday it had signed a licensing agreement with Nokia Technologies Nokia's licensing unit that gives HMD the sole use of the Nokia brand on mobile phones and tablets worldwide for the next decade, as well as key cellular patents.
Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty Images
HMD also said that it has conditionally agreed to acquire the rights to use the Nokia trademark on feature phones from Microsoft until 2024 and the design rights relating to Microsoft's feature phone business. All of these deals will make HMD the "sole global licensee" for all types of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets. HMD also said it signed an agreement with FIH and Nokia Technologies to allow it full operational control over sales, marketing and distribution of Nokia-branded devices. HMD will also have access to FIH's manufacturing and engineering capabilities, mobile technology, and distribution network. It's important to note that Nokia will not be manufacturing these devices but instead licensing its intellectual property, a move it said was on the cards when the time was right. Nokia will receive royalty payments from HMD for sales of Nokia-branded mobile products. HMD said it will invest over $500 million over the next three years "to support the global marketing of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets, funded via its investors and profits from the acquired feature phone business". "We will be completely focused on creating a unified range of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets, which we know will resonate with consumers. Branding has become a critical differentiator in mobile phones, which is why our business model is centered on the unique asset of the Nokia brand, and our extensive experience in sales and marketing," Arto Nummela , CEO of HMD global, said in a press release.
Microsoft mobile pullback
The ongoing wildfire in the tar sands region of Canada was another outlier event, knocking out over 1 million barrels of production per day.
Venezuela has been on the precipice of economic Armageddon for several months, now, and its production has steadily fallen, and, until the recent financial rescue by China, it appeared ready to fall off a cliff.
The steady decline in U.S. shale production from 9.4 million barrels per day to just under 8.9 million barrels has made all of these events matter again. During the height of the production glut, neither Venezuela nor Nigeria could give their oil away. Nigeria, in particular, had scores of cargoes on the high seas, in search of a buyer, at times.
ZIP codes with at least one Panama Papers address have an average income of $104,000, and ZIP codes with at least 10 addresses make $111,000. That's nearly double the income of an average U.S. ZIP code at $66,000, according to data from the United States Census Bureau.
Using the SmartyStreets application program interface to run more than 3,000 U.S. addresses through the Postal Service database in order to validate the locations and fix ambiguous entries showed that the top 10 percent of ZIP codes held about half of all shell company addresses. Very few companies were linked to poorer ZIP codes.
Here's a breakdown of some of the areas that were most likely to show up in the database, with income levels in green and Panama Papers addresses in orange.
"CEOs are responsible for all of their stakeholders. And we have to shift from being just shareholder based to stakeholder based. That is really what I am an advocate of," Benioff said. (Tweet This)
Benioff has become a leader among CEOs by pushing for social activism on such issues as gay rights and has encouraged other companies' executives to speak out as well.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff just proved that advocating for social change doesn't necessarily get in the way of business. The company just reported what Jim Cramer described as "the best tech quarter of the year."
Benioff's stakeholder approach encourages execs to take into consideration customers, employees, shareholders, members of the community and those who are underserved.
"I think that every CEO has to start to stand up and speak on behalf of their stakeholders," he added. (Tweet This)
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Benioff openly opposed a bill in North Carolina that was passed in March, which took down the provision that allowed transgender individuals to use the bathroom of the gender that they identify with. He was also joined in opposition by Bank of America , and even Donald Trump.
"Donald Trump, he actually came out in favor of what we said in North Carolina, which was that that law is a bad idea and that governor needs to make a change now," Benioff said.
The CEO partly attributed Salesforce's rapid growth rate to doing what is right for customers. He intends to continue being a leader in both technology and social issues.
Benioff also fought against a bill in Indiana that was ultimately changed, which would have allowed faith-based organizations to refuse service to the LGBT community in the name of religious freedom. He also helped to push Georgia's governor into vetoing a state bill that would have allowed faith-based organizations to decline services or fire employees over religious beliefs.
In Benioff's perspective, states that discriminate against LGBT employees and customers impact the ability to hire, invest, have conferences and bring people from out of state into that state. Thus, it will require Salesforce to reduce its investment in that state.
"We are on the right side of history here, and we are just trying to do what's right for our customers and our employees," he said.
Staples reported higher-than-expected quarterly sales as demand recovered in its business that sells office supplies to companies in North America.
Shares of Staples edged slightly lower and closed down about 0.5 percent on Wednesday.
Sales in its North America commercial business rose 0.4 percent to $2.12 billion in the first quarter, helped by demand for promotional products and breakroom supplies.
Staples total operating costs fell 8.3 percent to $1.15 billion in the quarter.
Jeff Zucker Getty Images
To capture youth viewers who are turning away from TV toward digital platforms, media companies are finding that they have to invent new online divisions. CNN' s big bet is "Great Big Story," a digital-first outlet focused on short, timeless documentary-style features rather than hard news. "Great Big Story is unlocking new and incredibly desirable audiences for CNN, new sponsorship opportunities and new content opportunities, such as our production partnership with The Weather Channel," said CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker. "It has global appeal and isn't bound by headlines or news of the day. It's a perfect complement to our legacy business, which is also thriving. What's not to love?" In its first six months, Great Big Story amassed almost 40 million monthly views across platforms, averaging 730,000 views per video and 22,000 shares. The average age of its 6.2 million fans is 27 years old, a hard-to-reach millennial demographic. Eighty percent of its views are mobile. At its Digital Content NewFront presentation in early May, Zucker said that "We are telling amazing and impactful stories, and I think you agree we are succeeding." Now, it needs the ad dollars to follow.
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Great Big Story is more than just a departure from CNN's style of news. Its model is optimized for social media. The outlet has a website, but it doesn't care if its viewers watch its videos there. The two- to three-minute long videos are also directly posted on Facebook and YouTube. And, they rarely appear on CNN. "I don't think we're naive in how people behave," said Chris Berend, co-founder of Great Big Story. "At CNN we have one of the biggest home pages on the internet, and it's stayed very strong. When you're just starting out, we felt like we would deliver the video to where people were instead of trying to coax and beg and spend a lot of energy trying to pull them to us." From a business standpoint, Great Big Story's only form of advertising is branded content. Instead of seeing ads directly on or around its clips, sponsored stories that align with the company's mission are woven in between editorial. In its first six months, Great Big Story secured two advertisers: and HP . "I think there is an appetite on the brand side to build beautiful content together," said Katrina Cukaj, executive vice president of portfolio sales and client partnerships for Turner ad sales. Turner is the parent of CNN and part of Time Warner . "I think they are very much trying to figure out this scrolling environment we have and how their consumers deal with it." As online readers become immune to seeing traditional ads splashed across the screen, branded content also known as native advertising is an interesting model. Media companies claim consumers are less likely to gloss over your ad because the materials are something they are genuinely interested in.
Lucie Greene, worldwide director of The Innovation Group at advertising agency J. Walter Thompson Worldwide, confirmed that there is a "renaissance" of branded content right now as media companies try and find new ways to generate revenue. At the same time, brands are putting an emphasis on higher production values considering younger consumers are adverse to traditional ads. "They actively reject things that are heavily branded," she said. "The fact that there are no obvious adverts on this platform work in its favor." But, creating good branded content can be quite expensive. Media buyers say branded content campaigns from top media companies like 23 Stories x Conde Nast or The New York Times' T Brand Studio start at $250,000 a campaign. A Conde Nast spokesperson said: "We do many branded campaigns, some on the brand level, and some larger on the corporate level, so it's not one set fee." The Times said: "We do not discuss the terms of advertising agreements, but our goal is always to work with the client to devise a solution that fits their budget and objectives." "In an age of ad blocking, viewability and all those accountability factors out there, how do we get our brands and our clients closer to the content so there is an experience that a consumer can engage with properly?" Turner's Cukaj postulated. Sources, however, say that part of Great Big Story's pitch is that its branded content is cheaper than other premium publishers. While prices weren't disclosed, Cukaj called Great Big Story's ad offerings "cost-effective," because it is produced in-house by its brand studio Courageous. "Nothing is outsourced," Cukaj said. "This team is fully dedicated to the studio, comprised of award-winning journalists that deeply understand the Great Big Story perspective and has access to the global resources of CNN and Turner."
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Goldman Sachs on Tuesday downgraded European and Japanese stocks and upgraded U.S. equities to neutral over the next 12 months. The investment bank said it is not comfortable taking equity risk with few sustainable signs of a growth recovery and valuations near peak levels.
Wall Street strategists said Wednesday there are still gains to be found in equity markets, even as Goldman Sachs said it no longer saw a reason to own stocks.
But JPMorgan Funds Global Market Strategist Samantha Azzarello said Wednesday she disagrees with Goldman's outlook.
"There's less upside maybe going forward, but we do expect the market to grind higher, and we think there's more returns to be had. You just have to be increasingly selective," she told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street."
Azzarello said there is strength in the U.S. economy, but easy money and buybacks will no longer be enough to drive markets higher. Ultimately, earnings need to pop in the second half of the year, she said.
earnings for the first quarter, excluding energy, are on track to end the reporting period flat from the same period last year.
For the time being, JPMorgan Funds is focused on sectors exposed to the consumer, including consumer discretionary, health care and technology, Azzarello said.
Sameer Samana, global quantitative strategist for Wells Fargo Investment Institute, said Wednesday he too still sees opportunity for growth in stocks.
"When you look at the earnings season we just got out of, if you look at the top line, there wasn't a lot of earnings growth, but when you get underneath the hood, you look at places like technology, consumer discretionary, there's still a lot of earnings growth to be had," he told "Squawk on the Street."
Investors need to be more selective, he said. He advised against investing broadly in consumer stocks following a bruising earnings period for retailers, but said there is still strength in online shopping names like Amazon.com .
A rendering of the building that will house the new corporate office of Aspen Dental Management, Inc. (ADMI) in downtown Syracuse. Photo credit: ADMI.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. Aspen Dental Management, Inc. (ADMI) plans to move its corporate office and nearly 600 employees to downtown Syracuse from its current location in DeWitt in late 2017.
The company is expected to move into the former Sibleys department store building, now dubbed the City Center project, at 400 S. Salina St. in Syracuse. The firm would take over a 170,000-square-foot space that would include a training facility.
ADMI anticipates creating an estimated 400 new jobs at its new downtown headquarters by 2020, according to a press statement the firm issued on Tuesday.
The companys statement followed a meeting of the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency earlier in the day. ADMI indicated it is excited about the possibility of relocating our practice-support center.
The company provides non-clinical business support services to 550 independently- owned and operated Aspen Dental practices across 33 states. It currently operates at 281 Sanders Creek Parkway in the town of DeWitt.
ADMI anticipates construction at its future home will start this summer, pending the finalization of terms with the landlord and other stakeholders.
ADMI says it contributes an estimated $100 million to the Central New York economy annually in employee wages and benefits, locally sourced goods and services, and local tax contributions, citing a study by Syracuse Universitys Whitman School of Management.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
Types of obituaries
The Missourian publishes two types of obituaries family obituaries and life stories.
A family obituary is the version submitted by a funeral home or family. Please see the submission form for details on cost and deadlines. Family obituaries
A life story is a closer look at a person's life and involves a reporter contacting family and friends. Life stories are based on newsworthiness and consent of the family. Life stories.
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.
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By Ted Evanoff of The Commercial Appeal
Here's a look at recent business developments in Memphis and the Mid-South:
Stocking begins at new Walmart on Raleigh-LaGrange
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said merchandise stocking has begun in its newly built store at 6727 Raleigh-LaGrange Road in Memphis.
The 300-employee store is scheduled to open later this summer, the company said.
The Arkansas retailer, which operates about 20 stores in Greater Memphis, has opened three suburban stores recently.
In November, a store in Southaven at 6811 Southcrest Parkway was opened, followed in January by the Neighborhood Market in Marion and the Walmart Supercenter at 4150 Goodman Road in Horn Lake.
Credit agency renamed Confluent Strategies
Memphis Consumer Credit Association has been renamed Confluent Strategies.
Lenders founded the company in 1949 as a merchant-owned credit-reporting agency. It currently services clients in 16 states as a sales agent for Equifax.
Services include consumer credit, commercial and mortgage credit reporting, business valuation reports, background checks and employment screening.
The firm recently hired former Ardent Studios publicist Rachel Hurley as creative director.
A3 Freight moves into Lenox Park
A3 Freight Payment said it has moved into the fourth floor of Lenox Park Building C in Memphis.
The company leased 5,500 square feet with an option to add 2,000 square feet, chief executive Ross Harris said.
A3 provides freight invoice audit and payment services for large-volume shippers. The company employs 25.
JA receives Wilson Family Foundation donation
The Kemmons Wilson Family Foundation announced a $25,000 donation to Junior Achievement of Memphis and the Mid-South Inc.
Junior Achievement teaches children and teenagers economics and operates JA BizTown, a simulated city in which participants hold jobs, create budgets and follow laws.
This donation will allow us to send nearly 850 children through the program, arming them with the skills they need to thrive in the future," Junior Achievement chief executive Larry Colbert said in a statement.
Wilson Family Foundation was established by Kemmons and Dorothy Wilson, Memphians who founded the Holiday Inn hotel chain.
ULI membership surpasses 200
Urban Land Institutes Memphis chapter said membership has surpassed 200 for the first time.
ULI Memphis district coordinator Anna Holtzclaw lauded the groups public programs and guest speakers and noted the rising awareness of public planning.
Metropolitan areas that are making smart, strategic investments in planning today are the ones that will excel tomorrow. ULI Memphis is leading this conversation at the local level, Holtzclaw said in a statement announcing the membership record.
May 17, 2016 - Dr. Beverly Bond, left, and Dr. Susan O'Donovan, University of Memphis history professors, talk with David Waters, not pictured, before a podcast.
(Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal)
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By David Waters of The Commercial Appeal
The story of the 1866 Memphis Massacre is a historic and tragic tale of post-Civil War racial violence.
It's also a story of the rising hopes, deferred dreams and indomitable spirit of former slaves who were victims and survivors.
In this special edition of the Talk, Memphis podcast, Dr. Beverly Bond and Dr. Susan O'Donovan, two University of Memphis history professors, explore the breadth and depth of the tragedy and the times.
The of black soldiers who fought for their rights as citizens only to have them eviscerated when they mustered out of service.
The courage and convictions exhibited by the victims who testified, and how their hopes were dashed by the local government's failure to prosecute anyone for the crimes.
The strength and determination of survivors who not only stayed but rebuilt their homes, schools, churches and lives.
The podcast serves as a preview of this week's "Memories of a Massacre in 1866: A Symposium on Slavery, Emancipation and Reconstruction," organized by Bond and O'Donovan.
The symposium, free and open to the public, will be held Friday and Saturday at the U of M. For a schedule, directions and more information, visit blogs.memphis.edu/memphismassacre1866.
May 16, 2016 - Donald Gwin listens to testimony from the woman he is accused of raping during his trial in Judge Bobby Carter's court. Gwin was found guilty Wednesday of choking and raping a woman at knifepoint after she walked into her apartment with groceries. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)
By Katie Fretland of The Commercial Appeal
A 22-year-old man was convicted Wednesday of raping and robbing a woman in her apartment while he was on probation for a prior sex crime.
A jury convicted Donald Gwin of the aggravated rape, robbery, burglary and assault of the victim in an attack Aug. 28, 2014 at the Country Squire Apartments in the area of Walnut Grove Road and Germantown Parkway.
The victim testified she had carried groceries inside her apartment, closed the door behind her and went into the kitchen. When she turned around, she saw Gwin in her apartment. He was convicted of raping and choking her. He also took her purse, cell phone and debit cards.
At the time of the attack, Gwin was serving two years of probation for sexual battery. Gwin was indicted on a charge of raping a woman at her apartment Feb. 23, 2012 in the area of Dexter Road and Germantown Parkway.
Gwin pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of sexual battery on April 3, 2014, and was sentenced to a two-year suspended sentence.
The range of punishment on his aggravated rape conviction Wednesday is 15 to 25 years. Sentencing is set for June 20.
May 17, 2016 Nyia Hawkins, 10, discusses Memphis crime headlines and what feelings the headlines stir up with her mother, Yolanda, as they participate in an exercise during a bible study at First Baptist Broad entitled "Cries of the Faithful Against Crimes in the Community". First Baptist Broad will be one of many churches in Memphis participating in Sunday's UAV 901 march against violence in their communities. (Nikki Boertman/The Commercial Appeal)
SHARE May 17, 2016 Rev. Keith Norman discusses how crime relates to the scripture during a bible study at First Baptist Broad entitled "Cries of the Faithful Against Crimes in the Community." (Nikki Boertman/The Commercial Appeal)
By Yolanda Jones of The Commercial Appeal
A 3-year-old girl is in stable condition after she was shot Sunday in the back seat of her mother's car.
Hours earlier, a 26-year-old man was killed across town after he was shot in a convenience store parking lot.
And so far this year, 15 youths, including four unborn children, have been killed in Memphis more than the total number for all of 2015.
Outraged over such incidents and statistics, this Sunday, local faith leaders will join together symbolically in protest and prayer walks in their respective neighborhoods.
The event is organized by UAV 901, which stands for United Against Violence Memphis. The organization consists of a core group of clergy members and nonprofit leaders, but they are inviting congregations at all houses of worship throughout Memphis to take to the streets in their communities to pray Sunday, or after their weekly worship service.
They are calling for people of faith to unify against the growing violence in the city where 85 people have been killed this year.
"This is ridiculous," Rev. Keith Norman, UAV member and pastor of First Baptist Broad in the Binghamton area said about the violence. "If we don't cry out now, we are going to pay out and cry out later."
Rev. Gina Stewart, pastor of Christ Missionary Baptist Church in South Memphis, said the coalition wants to increase its efforts to address the issue of violence as the summer approaches.
"We know summer is a time of the year when violence and crime increase according to statistics," Stewart said. "Our hope is that this prayer walk will be the impetus for a peaceful summer and that we will see a reduction in violence and crime this summer. God is on the side of life and so am I. Anything we can do to save lives, I am willing to do that. It is part of our mission."
This is the second time the coalition has led a protest walk against violence. Last August, the faith leaders and more than 1,000 people marched from City Hall to the National Civil Rights Museum in an effort to bring attention to the growing violence, said Rev. Stacy Spencer, president of UAV 901 and pastor at New Directions Christian Church in Hickory Hill.
"UAV 901 is a coalition of faith-based leaders, pastors, nonprofit leaders who came together initially around the Darrius Stewart shooting (killed by police last July) and the Vicdarrius Pollard shooting (gunned down last July at LA Fitness gym)," Spencer said. "Those young men were slain just weeks away from each other and we decided we wanted to do something proactive about the violence that plagued our city."
About two months ago, the UAV members decided to host the second prayer walk against violence.
"The violence has only escalated with 85 homicides this year," Spencer said. "Too much is too much."
Individually, many of the participating faith organizations already serve their communities through tutoring programs, job training workshops and re-entry assistance. The faith walks are a way to take collective action, they said.
Spencer said that UAV has invited churches, synagogues and mosques around the city to walk and pray in their neighborhoods after their weekly worship services.
"I hope it accomplishes, (1) that God will intervene on our behalf; (2) we want solidarity with the people of faith who stand together throughout Memphis and stand against violence," said Spencer. "A lot of people are afraid, not knowing what to do with the escalating violence, so to see churches taking to the streets and not hiding in the pews, I think that picture is worth a thousand words."
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By Jody Callahan of The Commercial Appeal
Memphis police have identified a man found shot to death Friday night as Lieutenant Malone, 40.
The incident happened around 11:30 p.m. in the 3000 block of Kimball Avenue in southeast Memphis. Responding officers found Malone, 40, lying in the road. Although the call indicated that a pedestrian had been struck, police found a silver Mazda in the street unoccupied. Malone was taken to the Regional Medical Center, where it was discovered that he had a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead there.
Police have made no arrests in the case.
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By Ryan Poe of The Commercial Appeal
Some opponents of parking on the Overton Park greensward traded in their "get off our lawn" signs at Tuesday's City Council meeting for a different message: Get chairman Kemp Conrad off our council.
But ousting Conrad for his limited role in the greensward parking controversy requires more than a few "RECALL CONRAD" signs.
The recall process, approved by referendum in 2008 and which you can read in full here, requires valid signatures equaling 10 percent of the number voters in the last general city election. This year, that's 36,445 signatures.
Once the petition is turned in to the Shelby County Election Commission and verified, the SCEC would put the recall question on the next general election ballot. A majority vote for a recall would mean Conrad was out, leaving council members to appoint his replacement.
By city ordinance, a recall cant happen in the first two years of a term, meaning a recall petition couldnt be presented until 2018.
Michael Graber, one of the petition organizers, said a team of five people will begin collecting signatures next week online at makememphis.org, among other places, and through door-to-door campaigning.
But Conrad doesn't seem worried. He noted in a prepared statement Wednesday that he was elected with over 70 percent of the vote.
"In every vote I take, I represent the interest of my constituents and the people of Memphis, and I will continue to do so," he said. "I think you are going to find that this is a small group of people in one ZIP code and heavily led by my opponent (former Super District 9-1 council candidate Robin Spielberger) and my opponent's supporters from last year. But that's politics in Memphis."
Graber said the initial "thrust" of the recall effort didn't include anyone previously involved in politics, but was instead organized by apolitical people fed up with the council's handling of the greensward issue. He said organizers have since spoken with the people behind last year's petition to recall Conrad over his votes to cut city employee benefits.
In this year's effort, supporters lay out a number of complaints against Conrad, including that he "pushed through a resolution in a questionable time frame with questionable ethics" in March confirming the Memphis Zoo's right to use the greensward for parking. The vote on the resolution, sponsored by council member Reid Hedgepeth and approved the same day it was proposed, resulted in a lawsuit accusing council members of violating the state's open meetings law.
Asked why Hedgepeth wasn't targeted for recall, Graber said he's the "next one in the pecking order," and the group would launch a recall push against him following the one against Conrad.
The petition also slammed Conrad for sending out a "form email" telling greensward supporters who emailed him that "citizen emails do not help," and for a recent comment he made that there is a "fringe element" among greensward supporters "his Howard Dean's Yowl," according to the petition, recalling Dean's 2004 presidential campaign faux pas.
Conrad's only direct involvement in the controversy was sponsoring a placeholder ordinance that will codify a compromise expected by the end of June from the ongoing mediation between the Memphis Zoo and the Overton Park Conservancy.
That ordinance was up for the second of three readings on Tuesday, although Conrad reiterated previous statements in the meeting that a final ordinance wouldn't come until a compromise is reached through mediation.
March 7, 2016 - Commissioner Willie E. Brooks, Jr. (right) adjusts his glasses as commissioner David Reaves speaks during an ordinance to hold a referendum to abolish term limits for some county elected officials during a County Commission meeting. The motion failed to pass Monday afternoon. The ordinance must be voted on three times and must receive nine votes to pass. (Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal)
By Linda A. Moore of The Commercial Appeal
Shelby County Schools Superintendent Dorsey Hopson will likely come to the County Commission next week with a budget increase request of $35 million, but some county commissioners said Tuesday that kind of money just isn't available.
After the county accounts for the money that must also be given to the six municipal school districts under state law, that figure that blossoms to $44.5 million. The county already has $8.7 million set aside for schools.
Accommodating SCS's full request would require a 21-cent property tax increase, the county's finance director says.
While none of the commissioners contacted quibbled with the proposed pay raises for teachers, none would back higher property taxes. Some adopted a wait-and-see position on what Hopson might ultimately present.
"I'm here to say we don't have $35 million to give to them," said Commissioner David Reaves, the county's education committee chairman.
Reaves has consistently argued that SCS must adjust its footprint, pointing to 40 to 50 schools that he said should be closed or merged, and the system's $476 million in deferred maintenance.
"The buildings should not be taking away from children," Reaves said. "For me, allowing these to exist is taking away from the children."
Plans to close Northside High School, Messick Adult Center and Memphis Health Careers Academy are a beginning to what he acknowledges will be a tough job for the school board.
For commission Chairman Terry Roland, a $35 million increase isn't realistic.
"We're going to do what we're able to do, but we've got to make sure they're showing good faith too," Roland said.
It's difficult to oversee a budget without line-item veto, he said.
"I don't want this to become an all-out brawl, but we can't let the county go under because of the mismanagement of schools," Roland said. "The hardest thing in the world is to be over somebody's budget when you can't tell them what to put in it and what to take out. And every year, they try to tug at the heartstrings of people by using the children."
In addition, the school system must still address its $1.3 billion OPEB (Other Post Retirement Benefits) debt, which has the potential to siphon money out of the classrooms, he said.
However, Commissioner Van Turner, budget and finance committee chairman, vowed to keep an open mind.
"I think that since we've just now got the budget, we really have to look at it and analyze it ourselves and ask questions about their budget," he said. "I'm hoping we can give school system enough that if additional cuts have to be made they will not affect the classroom."
Commissioner Willie Brooks, education committee vice chairman, said he wants to wait and see the budget, realizing education isn't the county's only responsibility.
"You've got other divisions of government asking for increases as well as trying to balance the needs of Shelby County in its totality, along with education, that's something we have to look at," Brooks said. "I'm committed to funding education to the extent that we can do it. And hopefully without a property tax increase."
Commissioner Eddie Jones believes much of the request is already in the budget and needs only to be reallocated.
The county collects about $32 million annually from the wheel tax, using $16 million for education operations. The rest had gone to school debt, but this year county administration has proposed using the other $16 million for education capital improvement programs.
Jones says the commission has the authority to use that $16 million for education operations. That money along with the $8.7 million in property tax revenues now budgeted for education would give the school systems an additional $24.7 million.
"The schools have not asked for a CIP request. Why would you allocate it for that if they haven't made the request? Basically they're asking us for operating," Jones said. "I don't think it would require a tax increase because you've got another bucket of money over here that's specifically allocated for schools."
April 25, 2016 - Shelby County Commissioner Heidi Shafer (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)
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By Linda A. Moore of The Commercial Appeal
Shelby County Commissioner Heidi Shafer said Wednesday she is "not happy at all" with the results of Sheriff Bill Oldham's recent takeover of the juvenile detention center, and called for Juvenile Court to take back operations of the facility.
Shafer's comments came as Shelby County's judicial community petitioned county commissioners for budget increases that total more than $1.3 million, including funds for pay raises for staff, new hires and other expenses.
Juvenile Court requested $658,668 for additional staff including a community outreach coordinator, funds to pay for more respite beds at Porter-Leath youth facility and electronic monitoring services for domestic assault cases.
About $356,797 of the request is necessary for compliance with the 2012 memorandum of agreement between Juvenile Court, the county and the U.S. Department of Justice, court chief administrative officer Pam Skelton told the commissioners.
The MOA was reached after an investigation of Juvenile Court found systemic discrimination against African-American children.
The Juvenile Court conversation then took a turn as Shafer expressed her displeasure with the most recent DOJ monitor's report, which found that conditions in the juvenile detention center were worse since the sheriff's office took over that operations last year.
The commission last year approved a budget increase of about $2 million for the sheriff's office to take over operations of court and building security and operations of the juvenile detention center.
After a review in December, the DOJ monitor's report released in March found an increase in suicidal behavior, use of force, assaults on youth by each other and staff reporting they fear for their safety.
"It was more money and we were promised greater results and I'm seeing bupkis," Shafer said. "I'm seeing negative. I'm seeing we're going backwards. And where kids are concerned, especially, that is so not OK."
Juvenile Court Judge Dan Michael took heated exception to the review and Shafer's position.
"I'm going to invite any one of you commissioners down to come into the detention center and look for yourself and draw your conclusions from your own eyes and ears as opposed to listening to somebody else's report," Michael said, pointing out to Shafer that the report was from a monitor and not the DOJ.
"The day you start trusting the federal government to tell you what's what, I have a concern," Michael said.
Commissioner Walter Bailey sided with Michael and the sheriff, calling them highly competent and qualified.
"In fact, I think they're underfunded and quite frankly they're getting by on a stringent budget and are doing the best that they can," Bailey said.
Also Wednesday, General Sessions court Judge Loyce Lambert-Ryan asked for pay increases of 23 percent for the eight judicial commissioners, moving their pay from $91,400 to $112,422.
Lambert-Ryan asked for funds to hire another judicial commissioner for a total request of $440,000 from General Sessions court.
She argued that comparable positions in Juvenile Court or for divorce referees pay at least one or two pay grades higher than the judicial commissioners and the court has been requesting equity since 2000.
"When the judge is not there you have a judicial commission there. Court never closes unless county government closes. We are a 24-7 operation, the court system, and they are an integral part of it," Lambert-Ryan said.
Jerry Easter, Veterans Court coordinator, asked the commissioners for $201,000 to hire three employees, replacing expired grant funds.
The court began with 25 veterans and now provides assistance to 96.
"It's like herding over 96 cats," Easter said.
There was also a $75,000 increase request for the Environmental Court and an $8,000 request to give the Probate Court secretary a raise.
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Four days before the 62nd anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that paved the way for the desegregation of public schools and other civil rights legislation, a federal judge in Mississippi ordered a Delta school district to take action to further integrate its schools.
The question has to be asked: Why this still is an issue in 2016? The answer to that question boils down to social forces that perpetuate majority African-American schools and an acceptance of the status quo.
On May 17, 1954, the high court unanimously ruled in Brown v. (Topeka, Kansas) Board of Education that "separate but equal" public schools for African- Americans were unconstitutional.
The ruling overturned another landmark court ruling, Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which signaled that segregated public facilities were acceptable as long as they were equal. Of course, as history proved repeatedly, they were not.
The Supreme Court affirmed that reality in Brown when it said "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
U.S. District Judge Debra Brown ruled Friday that the town of Cleveland, Mississippi, must merge its two high schools and two middle schools. Her ruling came after 51 years of litigation and three earlier plans to desegregate schools in the city of some 12,500 residents.
"The delay in desegregation has deprived generations of students of the constitutionally guaranteed right of an integrated education," Brown wrote in a 96-page opinion. "Although no court order can right these wrongs, it is the duty of the district to ensure that not one more student suffers under this burden."
After the 1954 Brown ruling, some school districts were slow to integrate.
Memphis schools, for example, did not integrate until Oct. 3, 1961, when 13 young African-American students integrated four white elementary schools.
To speed up integration, federal courts ordered the merger of schools and, in some cases, ordered the busing of students, mostly black children, from segregated African-American neighborhoods to schools in predominantly white areas.
The legacy of those actions, in many cases, was that whites abandoned public schools, thus yielding de facto segregation. It helps explain why 76.7 percent of Shelby County Schools' student population is African-American and only 7.5 percent is white, according to the district's website.
Many of the African-American students are attending failing schools located in distressed, segregated inner-city neighborhoods, a fact that also raises an interesting question concerning separate but equal.
The state and SCS officials have undertaken several reform efforts to improve those schools, though, which is producing incremental success.
Judge Brown's ruling about Cleveland schools, we feel, carries a more expansive message that seems to have gotten lost over the decades since Brown v. Board of Education.
Yes, Brown was about making sure all children receive a quality education no matter their race or economic status.
But the larger goal many hoped Brown would achieve would be exposing African-American and white children to each other at an early age, so that their interaction on a social and educational level would serve to dispel many of the negative racial stereotypes that still permeate society.
We still have a distance to go on that front.
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By Leonard Pitts Jr.
It was not enough just to kill Sam Hose. No, they had to make souvenirs out of him.
Hose was an African-American man lynched by a mob of some 2,000 white women and men in 1899 near the town of Newman, Ga. They did all the usual things. They stabbed him, castrated him, skinned his face, mutilated him, burned him alive.
Then they parceled out pieces of his body.
You could buy a small fragment of his bones for a quarter. A piece of his liver, "crisply cooked," would set you back a dime. The great African-American scholar, W.E.B. DuBois, reported that Hose's knuckles were for sale in a grocer's window in Atlanta.
No, it wasn't enough just to kill Sam Hose. People needed mementos of the act.
Apparently, it wasn't enough just to kill Trayvon Martin, either.
Granted, it is not a piece of the child's body that has been put up for auction online by the man who killed him. George Zimmerman is offering "only" the gun that did the deed. But there is a historical resonance here as sickening as it is unmistakable.
Once again, a black life is destroyed. Once again, "justice" gives the killer a pass. Once again, there is a barter in keepsakes of the killing.
Sam Hose was not unique. People claimed hundreds, thousands, of trophies from the murders of African-Americans. They kept bones. They kept sexual organs. They kept photographs of themselves, posed with mutilated corpses. It happened with the killings of Thomas Shipp, Abram Smith, Rubin Stacy, Laura Nelson, Claude Neal and too many more to count.
So perhaps we shouldn't be surprised to see it happen with Trayvon.
And someone will say, yes, but isn't there a lively trade in all sorts of murder memorabilia? One website alone offers a signed postcard from Charles Manson, a letter from Jeffrey Dahmer, pictures of Ted Bundy. So how is this different?
Funny thing, though: All those men went to prison for what they did. Zimmerman did not. Initially, authorities couldn't even bring themselves to arrest this self-deputized neighborhood watchman who stalked and shot an unarmed boy four years ago near Orlando.
Not that it mattered much when they did. Zimmerman went to court, but it was 17-year-old Trayvon who was on trial. A nation founded, rooted and deeply invested in the canard of native black criminality very much needed to believe Zimmerman's improbable tale of self-defense, very much needed to find a way for the boy to be guilty of his own murder.
And so he was.
And the marketing of the gun that killed him by the man who pulled the trigger does not feel like simply another example of flagrantly bad taste. No, it feels like a victory lap on a dead boy's grave. It feels like America once again caught in its own lies.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal"? No we don't.
"...with liberty and justice for all"? No there is not.
One is left breathless, not just with anger, not only with frustration, not simply with a sense of betrayal but also with a grinding fatigue at the need to, once again, ride out an assault on the basic humanness of African-American people.
Like Sam Hose, Trayvon Martin was "thing-ified," made into something not his singular and individual self, made into an all-purpose metaphor, the brooding black beast glaring through the night-darkened window of American conscience. And like Sam Hose his murder is now commodified, made into a trophy for display in someone's den.
African-American life is thereby again debased, and the nation, shamed. So when this thing is sold it really won't matter who writes the check.
We all will pay the price.
Leonard Pitts is a columnist for The Miami Herald. Contact him at lpitts@miamiherald.com.
Microsoft yesterday threw a bone to Windows 7 users by releasing a cumulative roll-up that collects all the bug fixes from February 2011 to April 2016, making it easier to update a PC running the still-standard OS.
The Redmond, Wash. company has ditched the "service pack" moniker, and so named Tuesday's collection a "convenience rollup update." The label was meaningless, however: The update was identical to a service pack.
"This convenience rollup is intended to make it easy to integrate fixes that were released after SP1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2," Microsoft said in a document explaining the update.
"Install this one update, and then you only need new updates released after April 2016," added Nathan Mercer, a senior product marketing manager, in a post to a company blog yesterday.
By using the roll-up, Windows 7 users can skip the tedious process of downloading and installing hundreds of individual updates via Windows Update, or on the business side, through an IT-managed patch system like Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).
IT administrators can also use the roll-up to modify their existing Windows 7 images to produce a more up-to-date image for deploying on new PCs. Instructions on that process can be found on Microsoft's site.
Microsoft did not offer a similar roll-up for Windows 8.1, but promised that it will issue monthly cumulative packages for Windows 7, 8.1, Server 2008 R2 SP1, Server 2012 and Server 2012 R2. The first such roll-up for Windows 8.1, which will likely appear in June, would, by definition, include all the individual fixes released since that edition's October 2013 debut.
"These fixes will be available through Windows Update, WSUS, and SCCM as well as the Microsoft Update catalog," said Mercer. SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager) is a management platform that Microsoft pitches to large organizations.
The Windows 7 roll-up, however, is available only from the Update Catalog, a site that requires Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) or later, and is, to put it kindly, a mess. Previously, roll-ups and service packs have also been published to Microsoft's download center and/or to Windows Update.
The restriction to the Update Catalog was part of yet another Microsoft initiative, one that Mercer claimed was to simplify access to updates and bug fixes. Most users, of course, rely on Windows Update, WSUS, or other patch management platforms, but some -- who want to manually download only those fixes they believe are safe and suitable -- have turned to the download center. That will not be an option.
Mercer said that Microsoft would rework the Update Catalog so that customers could use browsers other than IE to access the roll-ups and other fixes. "Later this summer, we will be updating the site to eliminate the ActiveX control in order to support other browsers," he said.
Microsoft has been beating the Windows 10 drum almost exclusively since that operating system's launch last July, virtually ignoring 10's predecessors. The cumulative roll-up, while certainly a convenience to Windows 7 users, also plays to Microsoft's pitch to upgrade to Windows 10.
Although the Get Windows 10 (GWX) app -- which Microsoft seeded to millions of PCs last year, and has repeatedly refreshed and re-issued to Windows 7 and 8.1 devices since then -- was not listed in the enormous manifest of fixes (download .csv file) included in the roll-up, Microsoft will benefit from a larger number of up-to-date Windows 7 PCs. The more machines with a current Windows 7 configuration, the more that will be able to process a Windows 10 upgrade without significant problems.
The Windows 7 roll-up can be downloaded from the Update Catalog. Again, IE6 or later is required to access the online catalog.
Nations have a responsibility to increase the well being and wealth of their residents. As in the private sector, one of the key factors influencing a states ability to pursue this goal is the number of customers (people and businesses) that it can generate or attract. Historically, states have tried to maximize their number of customers by promoting population growth, entrepreneurship and immigration.
Estonia realistically has little chance of succeeding with those approaches. But in an increasingly digital world, its experience in enhancing the lives of its citizens with digital services could translate to virtual growth, which in many ways could be better than the real thing.
After splitting from the Soviet Union and regaining its statehood in 1991, Estonia clearly saw the impossibility of physically serving a small population spread across a large territory (large in a European context; Estonia is bigger than the Netherlands or Switzerland). It is not realistic to put a bank branch in every small town or have a full-service government office in each village. Both the private and public sectors decided to bet on the development of digital solutions and e-services. Today, 25 years later, Estonia has one of the most developed national digital infrastructures in the world. It is a country where a digital signature is preferable to a physical one, taxes take only a few minutes to file, and online elections have been a fact of life for over a decade.
One of the most important foundational components of a functioning digital society is a secure digital identity. When nearly all government services are provided over the Internet, both the state and the private sector need to know who is physically accessing them via a computer or mobile device. This is why, back in 2002, Estonia started issuing its residents mandatory ID cards containing a chip that allows residents to unambiguously identify themselves and authenticate legal transactions and documents through digital signing. A digital signature has been legally equivalent to a handwritten one throughout the European Union not just in Estonia since 1999.
The Estonian states secure digital identity system and e-services facilitated location independence. The state could serve not only its sparsely populated areas, but also the entire Estonian diaspora. Estonians who reside in Silicon Valley, Singapore or South Africa can maintain a connection to their homeland via e-services, contribute to the legislative process and even participate in elections.
The ability to serve the diaspora led to a logical question: If it is possible to offer a convenient and effective e-services environment to expatriate Estonians, why not also offer it to non-Estonians, even those who do not reside in Estonia, who need better everyday solutions than those offered by their own states?
Is it possible to provide country as a service?
In recent years, the world has seen a massive leap in the number of people who offer their skills and knowledge for sale on the global marketplace irrespective of location and national borders. Businessweek estimates this number will reach 100 million in the U.S. alone by 2020.
These people are not looking to streamline their finances via tax havens. They have not been engaged in entrepreneurship so far because incorporating and maintaining a company is a major hassle. It is simpler to not take the step and to just continue drawing a salary.
At the same time, since they are providing their services globally, it does not really matter to them whether their company is a legal entity in their place of residence or a different jurisdiction altogether. The most important thing is that the creation and upkeep of the company be easy and hassle-free. Incidentally, it is also important for these people that, despite being incorporated in a different nation, they remain honest taxpayers as far as their own country is concerned.
This is one of Estonias target groups. Its offering is a location-independent, hassle-free and fully digital economic and financial environment for anyone who needs it. The company is managed by its owners themselves, not nominal directors.
Where exactly are the taxes paid, at the end of the day? Taxes must be paid where the value was created that is the principle espoused by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and increasingly adopted by nations. If a location-independent entrepreneur creates a company in Estonia but lives in Singapore, the company is not benefiting from Estonias roads, its educational system, its healthcare or any of the other services it provides its residents. The person is using the Singaporean educational system and driving on Singaporean roads, so it is logical that he or she should contribute taxes to the functioning and development of that states physical environment.
The solution is transparency reporting between Estonias tax authority and the Singaporean one. The Estonian Tax and Customs Board has the capability to offer such information and transparency. Potentially, the Estonian side could even collect the taxes and send the money to Singapore.
So why is Estonia doing it? The more people and companies that are engaged with the Estonian business environment, the more clients there are for Estonian companies. E-residents will not only establish companies, but they will also likely start using the services of other Estonian companies. They will need bank accounts, international payment service providers, accounting support, legal advice, auditors, asset management, investment opportunities, etc.
The more clients Estonian companies gain, the bigger their growth potential will be and therefore also the growth potential of the Estonian economy.
Country as a service is the new reality. For example, if the U.K. says unequivocally that it will not issue a secure, government-backed digital identity to its subjects, or if states fail to greatly simplify the machinery of bureaucracy and make it location-independent, this becomes an opportunity for countries that can offer such services across borders.
As a small state, Estonia has learned over the years to serve primarily small and micro businesses. To do so profitably, processes must be maximally digitized and automated, and not just in the private sector, but in the public one as well. Estonias model is location-independent, which makes it easy to scale without overextending resources. Estonia is a nation of 1.3 million people and its vision is to acquire at least 10 million digital residents (e-residents), in a way that is mutually beneficial by the nation-states where these people are tax residents.
Taavi Kotka is the government of Estonias CIO, the founder of the e-residency program, and one of Computerworlds Premier 100 IT Leaders of 2016.
I am a big fan of Chromebooks. While recognizing their limitations (no Word or Skype), they are cheap, fast, secure, reliable and simple to use.
Chromebooks are so reliable, they go a long way towards putting consultants, like myself, out of business. That's progress. Never needing help from a techie is also great Defensive Computing.
But even Chromebooks have problems, as I recently found out.
Towards the end of 2013, I dealt with a non-techie whose ancient Windows XP laptop was acting up. His computing needs were very basic and, in the end, he bought a Chromebook. Other than an occasional "thank you" for suggesting a Chromebook, that was that.
Until recently, when the Chromebook started having problems.
This error was displayed after every login
The most noticeable issue was the error message above, "Your profile could not be opened correctly. Some features may be unavailable. Please check that the profile exists and you have permission to read and write its contents" which appeared every time the user logged on to the Chromebook.
Sometimes, the Chrome browser complained
Along with this, the Chrome browser sometimes started out with a yellow stripe warning that it had not shut down correctly (shown above).
Despite these errors, the computer seemed to work, but with a big exception.
The main thing the Chromebook was used for was EarthLink webmail, and, it too, was having a problem. Images attached to email messages were no longer displaying. Instead, clicking on the image link opened a blank tab, with some internal EarthLink email URL.
Yet another problem
When I started poking around, I noticed another problem. In the Chrome Settings, there was a warning (above) that Sync had stopped working. In addition, the "Advanced sync settings" button was disabled.
DEBUGGING
The first thing I tried was updating the operating system, but the Chromebook was running Chrome OS version 49 which was, at the time, the latest and greatest.
Then I tried a different Chromebook.
Interestingly, logging in to the second Chromebook, with the same Google ID and password, worked fine, as did EarthLink webmail. The users bookmarks were all there, as was their desktop background and saved EarthLink password. Clearly, the problem was not with Google or EarthLink, it was the Chromebook itself.
But, was it a hardware or software problem? How to even tell? I know of nothing like CheckDisk for Chrome OS and SpinRite won't run on a Chromebook.
I tried tweaking the system settings.
Some suggestions for dealing with profile problems involved other users. In this case, however, the "Manage other users" button showed just one user on the Chromebook.
A settings option called "Verified access" was enabled. I tried to understand what it is, but the documentation was useless. With nothing to lose, I turned it off. Didn't help.
Yet another problem presented itself while I was trying to debug the first few. A couple times, after a cold boot and entering the Google password, the system hung. Fortunately, as with many other computers, pressing the power button for an extended period forced the system off.
Clearly something was wrong with this Google user on this particular Chromebook. If the problem was the Chromebook itself, that would be a big deal. So, I gambled that the problem was limited to the Google user account and opted to wipe it out.
POWERWASHING
Chromebooks include a feature called Powerwash, that many articles say does a factory reset. It does not. An actual factory reset would restore the version of the operating system the Chromebook shipped with. Powerwashing leaves the operating system untouched, instead, it removes all traces of Google users.
Powerwashing is great if you are selling or giving away a Chromebook. In this case, Google specifically suggests Powerwashing for "problems with your user profile." Bingo, I thought.
The Powerwash is limited to the Chromebook itself. Files stored on the machine are removed, but those residing on Google Drive are not.
The problematic Chromebook had 560 local files (i.e. in the "Downloads" folder), totaling 216 megabytes. I copied them all to a USB Flash drive without incident, but copying them to Google Drive was annoying.
I had, at first, copied a few of the files to Google Drive, then I decided to copy all of them. After copying about 320 or so, there was an error that a file already existed and the copying stopped. At this point, its up to me to play Sherlock Holmes and figure out which files were not copied.
As error handling goes, this is sub-optimal. Rather than give up mid-stream, Chrome OS should have an option to continue copying all the other files.
And, while the copy operation was running, the display said something like "copying 99 items," which is not true. The number in the display constantly decreased, which means that what it should say is that there are 99 files left to copy. No mention is made of how many files are being copied in total or how many have been copied so far.
Chrome OS reports available free space for local files
Another annoyance with Chrome OS is that it does not report the total space used by local files. Sure, the Files app displays the size of individual files, and clicking on the vertical dots in the upper right corner shows the amount of available space (shown above), but there is nothing about the currently used space. I only learned that there were 216MB worth of files after having copied them to a USB Flash drive.
In retrospect, since the total size of the files was so small, I should have created a new folder on Google Drive, copied all 520 files there, and then deleted the 320 from the partial copy. Instead, I made a backup of the 520 files on the USB Flash drive.
The Powerwashing process is simple.
Click on "Settings," then "Show advanced settings" and finally the Powerwash button. The system reboots, after which the actual washing took maybe six seconds. You then go through the initial setup, specifying your language, keyboard information and Wi-Fi password.
I logged back in, to the newly washed Chromebook, as its owner, and all was well. There were no more errors about profiles that couldn't be opened and EarthLink webmail images displayed properly.
The 520 files were copied from the USB Flash drive back to the Downloads folder and the Chromebook returned to its owner. All was well ... for a few days.
To be continued....
Update: May 20, 2016: See Dealing with a problematic Chromebook - Part 2
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Update May 17, 2016. I was reminded that while a Chromebook can not run Word locally, it can use the online version of Word, Excel and PowerPoint that Microsoft offers at Office.com.
In a bid to win over more Indian developers, Apple on Wednesday announced it would set up by early next year a facility to help developers on best practices and to improve the design, quality and performance of their apps on the iOS platform.
The facility in Bangalore, called a Design and Development Accelerator, aims to provide specialized support for the tens of thousands of developers in the country, who develop applications for the iOS operating system.
Bangalore has a large base of developers, working for the research and development centers of multinational companies or in startups, besides others who work independently. Apple estimates that over 1 million people in the city work in the tech sector, with over 40 percent of graduates from local universities specializing in engineering or IT.
The company is evidently aiming to tap into this developer base for newer apps around its platforms. The developers could also help Apple develop apps that meet specific needs of the local market, as it tries to expand from the premium segment of the urban market to other customers.
Apple's CEO Tim Cook is on his first visit to India, which he has identified as a growth market for the company, where he expects disproportionate growth versus the more developed areas. The companys iPhone sales were up 56 percent year-on-year in the country in the last quarter, though this is from a small base, as the device is still perceived as an expensive product in the price-sensitive market.
Android is the most popular platform in India because of the sheer number of people using smartphones running the operating system, said Varun Mathew, CEO of Dekkoh, the developer of an app that provides an assisted-buying platform for fashion products. Developers usually try out a concept first on Android before offering an iOS version of the app, as it is easier to validate the concept with the large amount of feedback you get from Android users, he added.
Over 90 percent of users of the Dekkoh app run it on Android. But iOS is also attractive for developers because users of the iPhone tend to have higher purchasing power and are more likely to retain apps they download, in contrast to Android users who frequently delete apps to save on memory on their phones, Mathew said.
Apple should help developers promote the app and get downloads, said Mathew, who added that there isnt a lot that the company can do by way of technical support, as there are already third-party analytics and development tools available.
The iPhone maker has already worked with some companies in India on sprucing up their iOS apps. Apples expert guidance on the interface and user experience has helped us build an app that our consumers love, said Kunal Bahl, CEO of online retailer Snapdeal, in a statement.
Apple said its experts will lead briefings and provide one-on-one app reviews for developers. The company will also give developers access to tools which will help them create innovative apps for customers around the world, and provide support on Apple's Swift programming language.
Nokia is back in the mobile phone business, after a fashion.
It has granted HMD Global an exclusive, 10-year license to the famous brand, allowing the Finnish startup to sell Nokia mobile phones and tablets.
Meanwhile Microsoft, which bought Nokia's mobile phone activities in 2013, is getting out of the feature-phone business, selling its remaining interests in the Nokia brand and its Vietnamese phone factory to HMD and to FIH, a subsidiary of contract manufacturing giant Foxconn, for around $350 million.
Microsoft isn't giving up on phones altogether. It will continue to develop the Windows 10 Mobile OS used in phones from manufacturers including Acer, Alcatel, HP, Trinity and Vaio, and in its own Lumia phones.
Fans of the Lumia brand should still see software updates, but they may not see any new hardware: Microsoft merely said it would "support Lumia phones such as the Lumia 650, Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL," without talking of developing new models.
Nokia is tightly focused on manufacturing telecommunications network infrastructure, following its acquisition of rival Alcatel-Lucent and its sale of the Here mapping business.
However, its roundabout return to the mobile phone market was clearly telegraphed. As early as 2014 it dipped a toe back into the mobile market with the release of the Nokia-branded N1 tablet, manufactured under license by Foxconn, the manufacturing partner of HMD.
Microsoft today continued to undo its disastrous 2014 acquisition of Nokia's phone business, announcing that it is exiting the feature phone market, which it had once trumpeted as a critical component of its mobile strategy.
The sale of its feature phone business for $350 million prompted analysts to again question Microsoft's commitment to smartphones. "There won't be any more Lumia [smartphones]," said Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research, in an email reply to Computerworld's questions today. "It does leave the door open for a new, narrower, phone strategy in the future."
In a statement Wednesday, Microsoft said it had sold its remaining Nokia assets, including its factory in Hanoi, Vietnam, to FIH Mobile Ltd., a subsidiary of Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai, better known as Foxconn, and to Finnish firm HMD Global.
The factory will go to Foxconn, as will most of the rest of its feature phone assets, including software and services, and customer and supply contracts. HMD Global will, as part of a larger deal with Nokia, acquire rights to use the Nokia brand, as well as some design rights. HMD will manufacture and sell Nokia-branded phones and tablets, all of which will be powered by Android.
In return, Microsoft will receive $350 million.
Microsoft has had to unwind the mammoth $7.9 billion acquisition of Nokia's phone business, which proved a monumental mistake on the part of former CEO Steve Ballmer.
Since Satya Nadella took charge at the Redmond, Wash. company two years ago, he has been walking back the deal.
In mid-2015, Microsoft wrote down the entire Nokia acquisition. According to filings with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), the company recorded a charge of about $10 billion against earnings, an amount that included an accounting scrub of the purchase along with billions in reorganization and severance fees.
At the same time, Nadella spelled out what the repudiation of Ballmer's strategy meant for the company. "We are moving from a strategy to grow a standalone phone business to a strategy to grow and create a vibrant Windows ecosystem that includes our first-party device family," Nadella told employees in a July all-hands email. He also tapped three markets for a much reduced mobile device division: business customers, value-oriented buyers and Windows loyalists.
With the unloading of the feature phone component, the second of Nadella's sell-to segments was struck off the list.
Sales, whether of feature models or smartphones under the Lumia brand, have not only been disappointing since Microsoft struck the deal with Nokia, but have more recently gone into free fall. In Q1 of this year, Microsoft sold just 2.3 million Lumia smartphones, down 73% from the same period the year prior. The company sold 15.7 million feature phones in the first three months of this year, a 36% decline.
Phone hardware revenue was down 47% year-over-year.
How Microsoft explained the sale caught the eyes of analysts, particularly the omission of any statement of confidence in the Lumia line of smartphones, which continue to represent the vast bulk of Windows-powered phones.
The lapse made Dawson question Microsoft's vow to stay in the business. "It does seem odd that Microsoft didn't commit to launching smartphones in [the] future in this press release," Dawson said. "That suggests that there's at least some uncertainty about whether Microsoft continues to be committed to making smartphones."
Dawson left Microsoft a small window of opportunity. "[Microsoft's comments] fit with reports that we might see a Surface phone in 2017," he said, referring to rumors that Microsoft will double down on the Surface brand with a phone to match its tablets and 2-in-1s.
For its part, Microsoft said only that it would "continue to develop Windows 10 Mobile and support Lumia phones such as the Lumia 650, Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, and phones from OEM partners like Acer, Alcatel, HP, Trinity and VAIO." But it was silent on any future Lumia models, and less surprisingly, didn't say anything about a Surface phone far down the road.
Carolina Milanesi of Creative Strategies had a somewhat similar take to Dawson. While she was expecting Microsoft to exit the smartphone hardware market entirely, she contended that the rumored Surface-branded phone might be positioned much like the original Surface and Surface Pro tablets: as a design benchmark to strut the capabilities of Windows 10 Mobile.
"Anyway, there are different ways to skin a cat in getting consumers," Milanesi argued, ticking off Microsoft's cross-platform apps for iOS and Android, and the services it's pitched to all comers, like OneDrive and Office 365.
Microsoft never seemed that enthusiastic about feature phones, although it did position them as a gateway to more expensive, expansive smartphones. As part of Ballmer's initial strategy, feature phones were to lead at least some consumers from those bare-bones devices to more sophisticated, if still inexpensive, smartphones. And from there to Microsoft's services portfolio, where they could be monetized.
That didn't pan out, perhaps because the approach was more an ex post facto rationale of the Nokia deal than a viable plan.
"Microsoft took the feature phone business [from Nokia] because it was only offered an all-or-nothing deal by Nokia," said Dawson. "It then had to justify acquiring a business that had no connection to the rest of Microsoft, hence the funnel rationale. But it always seemed like a stretch, and that's been borne out in reality."
"When they did the deal, there was some value to feature phones," said Milanesi. But that turned out to be a mirage, as very-low-priced smartphones from smaller manufacturers, many of them feeding local markets in the People's Republic of China, India and elsewhere in Asia, flooded the market.
No matter the details of today's sale announcement, the overall result remains gloomy for Microsoft in mobile hardware. "It's certainly the latest indicator of how Microsoft's commitment to its smartphone business has waned over the last couple of years," said Dawson in an analysis he posted to his research firm's blog today.
How Microsoft exits the market, assuming it does, will be just as telling. If Microsoft decides to halt smartphone sales -- as other analysts have expected for more than a year -- and can't convince third-party manufacturers to build and sell more Windows-powered devices, the company's overarching strategy of Windows 10 and its "Universal" app model, will be called into question.
And that cuts to the core of Microsoft's foundation for the future.
Sophomores win $10,000 Projects for Peace grant to extend daycare hours in Ecuador
Annette Davis '18, left, and Emma Race '18
Before matriculating to Connecticut College, Annette Davis 18 spent a gap year with a host family in Cumbaya, Ecuador. When she went back to visit during her first year at the College, she asked the family a question: If I could win a $10,000 grant for a project to benefit the community, what would be the greatest need?
They came back with a couple of ideas, but the one that stood out the most was the need for affordable afternoon and evening childcare, said Davis, an anthropology and Hispanic studies double major, and scholar in the Colleges Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy.
While some childcare centers in Ecuador stay open until 4 p.m., many close at noon. That leaves working class familiesespecially those headed by single parentswithout any safe and affordable options for childcare.
So Davis teamed up with Emma Race 18, an English major, Latin American studies minor and scholar in the Colleges Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts, to apply for a $10,000 Projects for Peace grant. The vision of philanthropist Kathryn W. Davis, Projects for Peace challenges college students to create and test their own ideas for spreading peace across the world.
Having worked closely with Associate Dean for Fellowships and Scholarships Deborah Dreher on their proposal, the students project, Caring for the Future: Helping Families Help Themselves, was one of 120 projects funded this year.
Annette Davis '18 with her host family in Ecuador. The students are partnering with Burbujitas de Luz, a preschool in Quito, Ecuador, to launch an evening care program that will serve children ages 3-5 from 4-8 p.m. daily. They plan to offer enrichment activities, outside playtime and a light and healthy dinner.
Davis and Race hope to extend the reach of their community-driven program by collaborating with other childcare centers, as well as forging relationships with local organizations capable of funding such programs. They will also be conducting research on food inequality and linguistic inequality.
Im most excited about meeting inspiring people and learning from what is already happening with affordable childcare in Ecuador, Race said.
Race and Davis will spend the summer in Ecuador working on the project. They plan to blog about their experience at AnnetteandEmma.blogspot.com.
May 18, 2016
Thomas Turrell is an Association and Area Officer in South London and was an agent at the 2015 general election.
Last Thursday was a tale of two elections, one of a historic success and another of a new low. In Scotland we took second place from Labour, gaining seats and increasing our share of the vote, best seen in Ruth Davidsons Edinburgh Central result, jumping from fourth place in 2011 to win the seat from the SNP. Meanwhile in London we lost the Mayoralty and slumped to our lowest number of Assembly Members since the authority was created in 2000, sinking below 30% of the London list vote for the first time.
Some London Councils now do not have a single Conservative councillor: we risk becoming irrelevant in parts of London unless we have a serious look at how we can start to rebuild and detoxify the party brand in the capital. We need to be bold and not shy away from the big questions that we need to be asking ourselves. We cannot afford for any part of the UK to see our party as toxic, after all we are a party for all of the UK and its time to think outside the box in how we can challenge negative perceptions of our party. We are the most successful political party in Europe because we adapt ourselves to the environment around us; now its time we adapted ourselves in London by establishing a separate London brand the same way we have successfully established the Scottish Conservatives on the other side of the border. Westminster has already devolved a number of powers to London and now it is time CCHQ devolved politics to a new London Conservatives.
While we gained seats from Labour across England at the 2015 General Election, in London we lost seats like Ilford North, Enfield North, and Ealing Central and Acton. In seats like Croydon Central we held on by our fingertips, and in marginal seats like Eltham, Westminster North, Hammersmith and Tooting we saw Labour increase their majorities. A theme is developing in London and its not good for our party. If we are to reverse this trend and to become a party that can win in London again, we need to get up, dust ourselves down, understand why weve been beaten, look to and learn from Scotland, then move forward all the stronger.
An easy step to make would be letting the members pick the candidates and order of the London-Wide list. Currently the list is put together by an electoral college of senior volunteers such as Area and Regional Officers, and while this may be sensible for narrowing the list of applicants down it denies the membership the chance to select potentially three of our partys assembly members. On the Tuesday before polling day the London Evening Standard predicted that wed lose two constituencies on the Assembly but gain a fourth member on the list. If this prediction had come true then half of our assembly group would not have been selected by our membership. Selecting our candidates is a benefit of being a party member; we need the entire assembly group to be select by the membership not just the constituency members. Our Conservative MEPs in London are selected by a ballot of the membership so why should our London Wide Assembly members be any different?
To win in London again we need to rebuild our support in the inner boroughs and end our over-reliance on the outer boroughs. The doughnut strategy failed when our inner-borough support was hollowed out. We need to address the challenges we face as a party and we need to do that by letting our activists on the ground take the lead. If we are to win in London again we need to adapt ourselves to the changing environment around us and embrace the spirit of devolution. In Scotland we have a party brand empowered by its own autonomy, able to better reflect the area it serves than its London-managed Labour alternative. In the spirit of locals know best I strongly believe its time to start devolving powers to a London regional party to establish a new party brand, loyal to, yet independent from the central party, something very similar to the party model in Scotland.
To build an independent brand in London some of the ideas we may wish to consider include:
Creating a London Approved Candidates list: a list of approved candidates only able to apply for London seats in Parliament and the Assembly. London is different to the rest of the UK, what works in one doesnt work in the other. To start winning back London seats we need candidates who understand the capital, can grasp the issues it faces and understands how different London is to the rest of the UK.
only able to apply for London seats in Parliament and the Assembly. London is different to the rest of the UK, what works in one doesnt work in the other. To start winning back London seats we need candidates who understand the capital, can grasp the issues it faces and understands how different London is to the rest of the UK. Establishing a London CCHQ independent from CCHQ: Recent elections have shown that London bucks the trend and instead of swinging towards the Conservatives is going in Labours direction. London has to be one of the only regions of the UK to have wanted to put Ed Miliband in Downing Street despite being set to be one of the biggest losers from his policies. We need a London Campaign Centre tasked with rebuilding our support in the inner-boroughs, retaining and building our support in the outer boroughs and running campaigns with core messages that resonate with the capitals voters.
An elected Leader of the London Conservatives: just as with Scotland, if we had Leader and Deputy Leader for the London Conservatives wed have a person the party can rally behind across the Capital. A Leader elected from the parties AMs, MPs or MEPs in the capital by the partys membership would allow the party to rebuild our reputation across the capital.
Londons demographics and geographics are equally diverse, London is unique and while what has worked for the party in Scotland may not work for the Capital it is worth being bold, looking to see what can be adopted from Scotlands success and applied to London. To use a popular phrase the status quo is not an option.
Contrary to popular belief, London is not a Labour city, a Labour win in London is not a certainty in any election and now, as a party, we need to start being proactive, start getting back on the front foot and regaining ground in the Capital. You dont have to be Boris Johnson to be an elected Conservative in London, but we have to show the public that.
Rebecca Coulson is a freelance classical musician and writer, and was Parliamentary Candidate for the City of Durham at the 2015 General Election.
Professor: Hi there. Im giving a lecture on abortion tomorrow.
Person-on-the-street: Cool!
Professor: Sure. But, suddenly, I find myself concerned that some of my students might have had experiences that could make this a difficult topic for them.
Person-on-the-street: Oh, wow. I hadnt thought of that.
Professor: Neither had I! Dont you think I should do something about it? I could email them, maybe. Warn them in advance. Wouldnt that bewell, kind of me?
Person-on-the-street: Yes. Yes, I do! I think you must, in fact. Itd be wrong if you didnt.
Who doesnt want to feel safe? Safe and secure secured in a safe. Risks might be fun, but risks are uncertain, and uncertainty leads to offence. So, safety first. Its a big bad world, and only we those of us who know whats best are able to make it safe. Of course, to do that, we have to decide who is most deserving of this safety: in our neatly delineated society, affording safety to undeserving groups precludes us from helping those truly in need. Some places are leading the field on this; some spaces are super safe. Those safe-house spaces are spaces we can learn from.
Heres a well-meant list of some of the safest spaces out there:
1. Law lectures
Last week, it was reported that Oxford students have been struggling with the disturbing content of their criminal law lectures. Lecturers have begun to issue trigger warnings, so that sufferers can leave before the nastiest cases are discussed. Initially, you might think that this could mean youd be in trouble if any of those students ever ended up representing you after, say, youd been raped, or accused of rape. That thought would probably leave you feeling like a bad person, however or upset you. Its not very nice to talk about these things, so lets move on.
2. Places with statues
Continuing with the Oxford theme, the RMF brigade (the Rhodes Must Fall campaigns clubbable acronym) are safety champions. It turns out that Cecil Rhodes the nineteenth-century man on the spot whose endowment has long provided for overseas scholars was a bit of a racist. Instead of engaging in boring intellectual discussion about absolute and relative moral values, helpful reactions to this news have included investing in signage to explain the statues clear historical context, making a waitress in Cape Town cry, and searching out other dead offenders. Good times!
3. The National Union of Students
Speaking of students, the NUS definitely deserves a space, here, thanks to its well-crafted policies in this area (although theyre surprisingly hard to find on its website). OK, universities students unions usually write their own policies, and run events based on those. But the appointment of its new president has brought the NUS, once more, into the publics non-visored eye. Students at particularly unkind universities are even seeking to disaffiliate from it something that should be discouraged on the grounds of prejudice.
4. Other students unions
On the topic of students unions individual approaches, Edinburgh Universitys showed safety solidarity last month, by clarifying its rules on hand raising. As the Daily Telegraph pointed out, its unions safe space requires participants to refrain[] from hand gestures which denote disagreement, or in any other way indicating disagreement with a point or points being made. This is important, clearly.
5. Debating chambers
Next, and sharing the safe spaces conceptual/physical ground, is the platform. Or, more significantly, the elusive no-platform: the rescinded speaking invitation beating at the heart of student safety. Sadly, this hasnt been entirely shored up yet, though. When speakers drop out of their own volition, or when private institutions choose not to invite someone (or almost all of the potential billions of panellists on Earth), were not necessarily talking about no-platforming, are we? Mores the pity.
6. The campus
For reasons that are too nuanced to go into here, it recently became necessary for a Yale student to remind the head of her college that universities are homes, not places of challenging debate. You might think it a shame they cant be both, but dont be greedy! Campus leaders need to crack down on uncomfortable argument, rather than wasting time addressing underlying problems.
7. The class room
An American girl has been banned from setting up an Amnesty International society in her high school, because Amnesty, it seems, sometimes promotes views on certain places that could be offensive to fans of certain other places. This case is an especially nice example of a safe space, since the people this space is protecting (supporters of Israel) are often ideologically eschewed by classic safe spaces. This is a safe space ejecting safe spacers. (Yes, its all somewhat tricky to unpick.)
8. Facebook
Apparently, Facebook has been tacitly advising us on reading material. Rather than simply displaying the stories that have been most widely read among our extended friendship groups, FBHQ has actually been shrouding the output of the evil right-wing press, and promoting petitions about the one per cent. Thank goodness for that.
9. YouTube
And what about YouTube? If it werent becoming increasingly policed, Nazi puppies could continue to win uncriticised airtime, and none of us would know to avoid biased educational videos such as this. That said, the puppy can still be watched more work to be done, here, too.
10. Scotland
And, finally, we now have a whole country to protect! A legal challenge has been made against Scotlands named person scheme. An essential part of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, this schemes aim is to provide every Scottish child regardless of their family situation with a state-sanctioned guardian. What could be safer than that?
With his final words, David Cameron commended a progressive, One Nation, Conservative Government. He did so in the bland, commanding tone of a Prime Minister who not only feels under no pressure from the Opposition, but sees considerable scope for hoovering up votes from that quarter.
For Jeremy Corbyn had just sunk himself. He began well enough, by paying tribute to the two Conservatives Caroline Spelman (Meriden) and Phillip Lee (Bracknell) who had opened the debate on the Queens Speech.
Mrs Spelman was sweet and honourable, while Dr Lee was rather amusing, as was Mr Corbyns response.
But then it all went wrong for the Leader of the Opposition. He spoke for 41 minutes, which was far too long, and he would take no interventions, which made it seem even longer.
The glum faces of his immediate neighbours on the Labour front bench Angela Eagle, John McDonnell and Tom Watson were a picture of inadequately concealed embarrassment. Mr Corbyn wasnt good enough, either at picking holes in the Governments programme, or at giving any indication that Labour would tackle these questions better.
Halfway through this lamentably misjudged performance, Jacob Rees-Mogg (Con, North East Somerset) rose on a point of order to observe that it is customary to give way in speeches that last over 20 minutes.
Mr Corbyn declined to take the hint. He is an obstinate man, which can be a good quality, but so often his mulish refusal to conform degenerates into self-righteous and puritanical deafness.
So Mr Cameron was able to make a good thing out of having the confidence and good manners to take interventions, not that anyone on his own side wanted to ask him anything hostile.
The Prime Minister was left free to propound the muscular liberalism which comes so naturally to him, and which made him sound, in the days when he himself was Leader of the Opposition, like the next Bishop of Bechuanaland.
There is still a note of muscular Christianity, or at least of Anglican asperity, to him when he discusses the extremists who must be stopped from radicalising young children by preaching jihad to them: Its not real liberalism to walk on by and pretend this isnt happening.
The Prime Minister did not try to explain how outlawing such behaviour can be reconciled with freedom of speech, but agreed, in response to an intervention by Rehman Chishti (Con, Gillingham and Rainham), that the definition of extremism in the forthcoming Counter-Extremism and Safeguarding Bill is indeed the absolutely crucial point.
For Mr Cameron, it would perhaps be more accurate to say that how one behaves is the absolutely crucial point. And today, with the thunder of the referendum debate momentarily quietened, he had everyone behaving exactly as he wished.
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A recent clinical study has cited the significance of dabbling into magic mushrooms as a therapy to counter depression. The distinctive research from the Imperial College London spearheaded by Professor David Nutt suggested that allotting controlled doses of psilocybin to test subjects who had a poorly curative history to traditional antidepressants had resulted in "enduring reductions in symptom severity," according to The Guardian.
Psilocybin is the compound found in magic mushrooms that promote a user in experiencing a "psychedelic trip."
"It is important that academic research groups try to develop possible new treatments for depression as the pharmaceutical industry is pulling out of this field. Our study has shown psilocybin is safe and fast acting so may, if administered carefully, have value for these patients," Professor Nutt expounded.
The test subjects which were composed of six men and six women had all undergone a treatment for depression which spanned in an average of 17.8 years. The research team provided no control group as they subjected the individuals to two oral doses of 10mg and 25 mg of the illegal drug psilocybin.
All the involved participants were given with the utmost safe setting along with psychological support as the "trip" immediately kicked in 30-60 minutes, which subsided 6 hours after ingesting.
Researchers found that the "trip" for each participant started about 30-60 minutes in, peaked at 2-3 hours after the dosing, and subsides after about 6 hours. Psilocybin was tolerated well by all the subjects, without major side effects, with some exhibiting only mild anxiety and confusion.
Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, co-author of the study, however, warned, "Psychedelic drugs have potent psychological effects and are only given in our research when appropriate safeguards are in place, such as careful screening and professional therapeutic support. I wouldn't want members of the public thinking they can treat their own depressions by picking their own magic mushrooms. That kind of approach could be risky."
Earlier this year, Nutt and his research team also published another groundbreaking research where they scanned the brains of people using LSD.
Prior to the research, Nutt had a record of clashing with the Labour Government when he was chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and was stripped of this position in 2009 when he mentioned in public that tobacco and alcohol were more harmful than ecstasy, cannabis and LSD.
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Speculations are brewing that "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" titular actor John Boyega would be heading anytime soon to the Marvel Cinematic Universe country of Wakanda, as part of the Black Panther roll call. According to What Culture, the 24-year-old British actor has been spun by the rumor mill to be possibly reeled in by Director Kevin Feige, thanks to the latter's action of following him on Twitter.
The actor however only has a selected 255 followers on the social media site and such a recent "follow" have fanned the flames from rumor-mongers that something must truly be growling - especially that Boyega who portrayed Finn in the Star Wars stand-alone movie indicated that he was "heading to a meeting."
If this was all true then Boyega will be joining a talented ensemble of actors and actresses which include Lupita Nyong'o, Chadwick Boseman, and Michael B Jordan.
This is not the first time that rumors of Boyega's enthusiasm for the Marvel comic book adaptation surfaced on the internet.
Back in 2014, Boyega started "tweeting" about enjoying reading the "Civil War" comic title which all began with these tweets which were also posted on the website:
Marvel role? ....hehe ... I'm dam right aiming for it
- John Boyega (@JBoyega) July 22, 2014
Along with another major tip-off on what movie would he like to star with?
Currently booking flight to Wakanda
- John Boyega (@JBoyega) July 22, 2014
Director Ryan Cooglerwho is set to direct "Black Panther" was also mentioned in the website to have quoted that this MCU movie of his will is one of his most personal movies in his career as a film maker:
"It's going to be my most personal movie to date, which is crazy to say, but it's completely the case. I'm obsessed with this character and this story right now, and I think it's going to be very unique and still fit into the overall narrative that they're establishing."
Coogler added that Marvel has reinvented the scope with MCU as it has successfully tied all its contents in one important universe, which has made it quite a challenging experience for him.
Hence, adding the talented Boyega would be a no-brainer to the set.
See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
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People who are workaholics and keep themselves busy have better memories, a new study claims. According to the research study, busy people score better on memory, information processing and reasoning tests as compared to less busy ones.
"There hasn't been much scientific research on busyness itself, although it's something that we talk about so often," said Sara Festini, a researcher with the Center for Vital Longevity at the University of Texas at Dallas and lead author of the study, according to Smithsonian Mag.
"So we wanted to look at the relationship of a generally very busy lifestyle to cognition."
For the purpose of the study, Festini along with her team of researchers examined 330 healthy women and men between ages 50 and 89 from the Dallas Lifespan Brain Study.
The participants were asked questions such as "How often do you have too many things to do each day to actually get them all done?" and "How often do you have so many things to do that you go to bed later than your regular bedtime?" to rate their "busyness" levels.
The research team also asked the participants to perform some tests that gauged their memory, information processing speed, reasoning and vocabulary.
Overall, the study found that people with higher levels of busyness had superior brain processing speed, working memory, reasoning, and vocabulary compared to their less busy peers, according to Medical Daily.
"We show that people who report greater levels of daily busyness tend to have better cognition, especially with regard to memory for recently learned information," said Festini, reported Daily Mail.
However, Festini and her colleagues have warned that the results don't prove that "busyness" is good for brain. It's possible that sharper people may seek out more mental stimulation. These people may also have more resources, such as higher incomes, that allow them to lead active lives.
Debra Fleishman, a professor of neurological and behaviorial sciences at Rush University Medical Center, said that some other important factors such as income, occupation, ethnicity and race can influence accessibility to resources that support an active lifestyle.
The study titled "The Busier the Better: Greater Busyness Is Associated with Better Cognition" was published in the May 17 online issue of Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.
See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
The Choice Of Superdeligates
By John Scales Avery
18 May, 2016
Countercurrents.org
There is a real danger that fascism could come to the United States if the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, July 25-28, chooses the candidate that Trump could beat, Hillary Clinton. Recent public opinion opinion polls show Clinton beating Trump by a narrow margin in the November presidential election, while Sanders beats Trump by more than twice that amount.
Hillary Clinton's hawkish foreign policy record, her indebtedness to large Wall Street and corporate donors, and her e-mails scandals, for which she might be indicted, could alienate progressive voters and young voters. Without their help, she would be very likely to lose a presidential race with Trump.
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/05/17/establishment-democrats-and-next-march-folly
https://human-wrongs-watch.net/2016/05/06/the-danger-of-fascism-in-the-united-states/
https://www.transcend.org/tms/2015/12/the-united-states-drifts-towards-political-irresponsibility/
Superdeligates were introduced by the US Democratic Party in 1984 (the year in which George Orwell's prophetic book is set). These unelected delegates are party officials, and their purpose is to circumvent the popular will. They are supposed to choose an electable candidate in case the voters choose an unelectable one.
Today, when Clinton is dangerously close to being unelectable, with constantly falling approval ratings, and when Sanders is shown to be very electable indeed and is rising in popularity every day, it is the clear duty of the superdeligates to vote for Sanders. Anything else would be criminal.
What would a Trump presidency be like?
Institute Professor Noam Chomsky of MIT stated in a recent interview that ...today's Republican Party qualify as candidates for the most dangerous organization in human history. Literally. Just take their position on the two major issues that face us: climate change and nuclear war. They are saying `Let's race to the precipice'. Let's make sure that our grandchildren have the worst possible life.' On nuclear war, they're calling for increased militarization. K There's been nothing like this, literally, this dangerous, if you think about it,to the species, really, ever. We should face that.
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/36068-noam-chomsky-today-s-republican-party-is-a-candidate-for-most-dangerous-organization-in-human-history
The contrast between Hillary and Bernie
They both agree that rapid steps have to be taken to avoid catastrophic climate change. However, Hillary's sincerity is questionable because of the money that she has accepted from fossil fuel giants.
On the issue of nuclear war, Hillary Clinton would be just as dangerous as Donald Trump. Throughout her political career, she has been a supporter of militarism and war.
By contrast, Bernie Sanders, who is supported by a large majority of the voters in the United States (as opposed to the Democratic and Republican party oligarchs), is clearly anti-war and pro-peace. We know that he is honest because his voting record supports this stance. Incidentally, Bernie's socialism is almost identical with the New Deal ideology of Franklin D. Roosevelt, a president so popular that he was elected for four terms.
John Avery received a B.Sc. in theoretical physics from MIT and an M.Sc. from the University of Chicago. He later studied theoretical chemistry at the University of London, and was awarded a Ph.D. there in 1965. He is now Lektor Emeritus, Associate Professor, at the Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen. Fellowships, memberships in societies: Since 1990 he has been the Contact Person in Denmark for Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. In 1995, this group received the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. He was the Member of the Danish Peace Commission of 1998. Technical Advisor, World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe (1988- 1997). Chairman of the Danish Peace Academy, April 2004. http://www.fredsakademiet.dk/ordbog/aord/a220.htm. He can be reached at avery.john.s@gmail.com
Deja vu Marries Amnesia In Kerala
By Urmila Pullat
18 May, 2016
Countercurrents.org
Polling has concluded in Kerala but political parties and commentators alike have missed out on a crucial need in the state. In spite of the rape and murder of the poor Dalit law student that shook the nation and deeply disturbed a state that prides itself on its relatively successful development indicators, there has been very little focus on an issue that plagues the state and indeed, the country. This election in arguably one of the most socially conscious states in India saw very little association made between democratic governance and justice reform. The issue of poor, unjust policing and an almost non-existent right of access to justice, especially for vulnerable communities in Kerala, cannot be ignored anymore. Politicians cannot hide behind the states good performance on key development indicators and we cannot allow the familiar routine of deja vu and amnesia to settle on the dust kicked up after the brutal rape and murder.
In July 2015, Kerala DGP TP Senkumar published an open call inviting suggestions on how to modernize the police institution in Kerala. Citing concerns about the need to increase professionalism within the force, he called on experts from fields as varied as communication, engineering, and language studies to pool ideas. He had envisioned the establishment of research & development teams to enable the police to take up duties that require expertise in various fields, and in order to adopt progressive protocols within the force.
This need has never been as apparent given the way the Kerala Police are investigating the present rape and murder case. Having catapulted the situation of safety of women in Kerala into the media maelstrom, the shocking manner in which the police have conducted the investigation has also come to the fore. Why did the police reach the crime scene a reported two hours after being informed? Why was the crime scene not cordoned off so that the evidence remained uncorrupted, to better aid the investigation? Why did a student conduct the post-mortem investigation and why was the body cremated in a hurry, thereby precluding the possibility of collecting more evidence? Most importantly, why didnt the Kuruppampady police investigate the repeated complaints made by Rajeshwari, the victims mother, of danger and threats to their person?
The investigation is quickly turning farcical with the police first looking to collect everybodys fingerprints, and then trying to compare the dental structure of all men in the neighbourhood to the bite marks of the murderer, who apparently has a gap in his teeth. It is more than apparent that cases of this nature cannot be solved without the help of modern and scientific forensic and investigation techniques.
We are in a modern society that turns to a medieval policing system, built on the Irish Constabulary Model, to suppress rebellions, to solve our crimes and to maintain public order. There is a very real danger of torture and coercion and the risk of the police pinning the crime on a hapless innocent or a blameless migrant labourer. It is crucial for the Kerala state to begin immediate, large scale training of police officers on scientific and modern investigation techniques. It is also imperative to train police officers on gender and caste sensitivity, providing them with an action plan on how best to deal with complaints of threats and crimes against women and vulnerable communities.
The assembly elections, instead of bringing the focus on to the need for police reform and the state of criminal justice and investigation in the state, have resulted in the familiar game of pretence and glory-hunting, jarring and embarrassing in its opportunism. A look at the election promises of the contesting parties makes it clear that police reform and fixing the ills of our criminal justice system is not top priority, never taking centre stage in the way it should.
The ADGP of the Kerala Police R. Sreelekha recently published a blog post about the failure of the initiative Nirbhaya Keralam, Surakshita Keralam in the aftermath of the infamous December 2012 gang-rape and murder in New Delhi. She writes about the effort and money she put into the initiative only to have the door slammed shut in her face when she tried to push for its implementation. The state Home Minister, Ramesh Chennithala had claimed the initiative would be implemented within a month of its inauguration but, to date, it has only remained on paper.
In the flurry of election news that has now taken over, the media seems to have already forgotten the plight of the law student and her family. We must not allow the new Kerala government to forget and must push for making police reform and fighting gender-based crimes a priority. The fact that DGP Senkumar is aware of and understands the quagmire his force finds itself in is heartening. The commitment of the ADGP to the Nirbhaya Keralam, Surakshita Keralam initiative and the enthusiastic response she got from volunteers for the program is truly inspiring.
Funds need to be allocated to set up the Research & Development groups and the Kerala Police and the new government must actively engage with experts to chart out creative ways to deal with the acute trust deficit between the people and the police. Police reform is one of the most difficult areas for success but has the maximum ramification on the wellbeing of all within the jurisdiction. True development can only take place if rule of law and due process are a de facto part of society. Rule of law and due process are inseparable from access to justice and security. The UNDP believes that,
In the absence of access to justice, people are unable to have their voice heard, exercise their rights, challenge discrimination or hold decision-makers accountable. Rule of law is the foundation for both justice and security
Police, criminal justice process and security sector reform form the bedrock of a democratic and just society, one that Kerala should aspire to. The people of Kerala deserve a police force that people feel safe approaching, one that responds to its needs.
With the internal realization of the DGP and the ADGP at the fore and some political will, it could soon become a reality for Kerala.
Urmila Pullat is a lawyer and works at the India desk of the Hong Kong based Asian Human Rights Commission, 2014 Laureate of the Right Livelihood Award. She can be contacted at urmila.pullat@ahrc.asia
Is A Revolution Possible Without Dismantling Brahmanical Disorder ?
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
18 May, 2016
Countercurrents.org
Understanding untouchability and castes question in Nepal
As I started from Delhi to visit Kathmandu to participate in World
Conference against Untouchability organized by International Humanist
Union, London and Nepal Dalit Commission along with Society for
Humanism in Nepal, the issues raised by one of respected Dalit rights
activist Mr Hira Lal Vishwkarmas assertion that manual scavenging
does not exists in Nepal and that it is a lucrative business in
Kathmandu. The statement was contradictory as it admitted that there
is manual scavenging but what shocked me was his further emphasis that
this work is now done by the Brahmin and Kshetris too as this has lots
of money. In the conference I raised the issue and Mr Bishwkarma
responded to it in the similar way as he had said in his response to a
group mail circulated among the Dalit groups. Many of our friends
working on manual scavenging in India were very disturbed with this as
how come a person speak of such a language. During the conference, I
had the opportunity to interact Hira Lal Bishwkarmaji and other
friends and in the next few days, I decided to explore things further
by meeting diverse groups of people and that too from different
regions of Nepal. That apart, I tried to find it with the people in
Kathmandu valley who are engaged in the sanitation work employed by
the municipal corporation and government hospitals mostly. Most of the
places, I found the output of the toilets are linked to local open
nullah and just as you pour water, the entire excreta is flown into
it. Most of the places it was stinky and dirty too. So, if not today,
I feel Kathmandu city will have a dangerous situation if the sewage
situation is not dealt with. Despite denial of people, one question
that always haunted me as who clean toilets and latrines in Nepal ? If
manual scavenging does not exists here, it means there is no caste
system or the country has developed a fairly good sewage model on the
lines of European countries only then there was a possibility of non
existence of manual scavenging. On both the counts Nepal remain
negative. The sewage system need to be seen and the caste system of
brahmanical variety exists in Nepal in much stronger way than it is in
India. It need to be understood and seen where it is not visible and
why ? Ofcourse, Nepal is a very diverse country and caste system
differ in forms and actions in each regions and hence all cant be put
in the same bracket. Yet, I was never satisfied by the arguments that
friends who suggested me, I should not look Nepal from Indian eyes
and that they were different. As a person who has been visiting
Nepal for long and love that country the issue of Dalits,
discrimination and caste system can not be put aside simply under the
nationalistic boundaries when the issue has become international and
need peoples response. Yes, it is true that the big brother
attitude of Indians with their ready made solution would not work in
Nepal and it is clear that they have to find answer within their
national frame work satisfying the international laws too which speak
against injustice and are for social justice.
For next two days, I decided to explore on my own and met a number of
friends from hills, Tarai and Newari community and what transpired in
our conversations was absolutely eyeopening and will definitely give a
new direction to the movement for social justice and participation of
various Dalit communities in nation building. These conversations of
mine with Nepal Communist Party leader Mr Tilak Pariyar, leader from
Dom community and now Central committee member of Naya Shakti Mrs
Sunita Dom, Dalit activist from Tarai Mr Amar Lal Ram, activist from
Badi Community Mr Gopal Nepali and a conversation with Deula community
members engaged in sanitation work at the outskirts of Kathmandu will
be put online soon and will definitely help create an understanding of
the issue and take the discourse further.
I visited Deula community locality in the Indraiani colony in the
Maharajganj region of Kathmandu city to have a firsthand look to the
issue, I was shocked to say the least. I thought that Hira Lal
Vishwkarma ji is right because the houses were great and in much
better place unlike India. Over 25 families were living and each one
had well established home of nearly three storied construction. Some
of them had bigger than that. They claimed there was no untouchability
with them when I asked pointed question. Most of them were working
with municipality to clean roads, public toilets and hospitals. A
government job provided them about NR 10,000 to 15,000 which they
considered a better job option. I was a bit frustrated. At the town, I
met a gentleman Mahadeb Deula who runs a public toilet at the
Vasundhara chowk. The human excreta from his public conveniences is
flown into the open drainage which stink all the time. Mahadeb pay NR
Three Thousand for the contract and earn around NR 7000 a month. He
has no issue with untouchability as he says he does not face it. We go
along with him to his Indraiani Colony of Deulas. Bheku Lal works
with Mahanagar municipality and his day start from early morning at 5
am and finish at 8. Later he has to go again at 1 pm and finish at 6
pm. At this age of about 50 he gets about NR 16,000/- per month.
Kanchi worked in Mahanagar Palika and now retired. Its not good work
but they dont get anything else says a young boy who is working in a
hospital. He could not study after high school. Another girl Pushpa is
a 9th drop out and sit at home. I asked her as why she not pursued her
study, she had no answer though the young boy of the community clearly
mentioned that they do not get any other work.
What surprises me was while those I met (I do not deny they having
political influence) did not utter much about untouchability and
discrimination, yet the issue is whether they realize what is
discrimination when they do not get any other work. Now they are
complaining that the work is not there as mechanization is happening
and work is being given to contractors. It is a fact that the
contractors are mostly the high caste Hindus as Dalits do not have
that much of money. These high caste Hindus take the contract work and
employ the untouchables to do the sanitation work like cleaning of
septic tanks, roads and toilets. They extract huge money and pay the
people lowly, said Mr Tilak Pariyar who is the Central Committee
Member of Nepal Communist Party (ML).
But Padam Bishwkarama, who is editor of monthly journal Dalit
Sandesh as well as valley coordinator of Dalit Liberation Front of
Nepal, says that Nepals Dalit question need to be looked carefully
according to regions. He feels that the Parliamentary system is never
helpful to Dalits and it coopt them. He talks of revolution and unity
of all the Dalits. According to Padam, Dalit question is not the issue
of Untouchability but that of participation at all level. Sometime
the upper caste want to convert it into an untouchability issue which
is wrong, says Padam Bishwkarma.
However Gopal Nepali, who belong to Badi community of Nepal and one of
the most marginalized and outcaste community feel that when we speak
of proportionate representation system, it cannot be just in the
context of Dalits and non Dalits as we assume. He thunders, Where is
my space as a Badi with in the Dalit movements. Where are jobs for us
in the government services, in Parliament or at the National Dalit
Commission? They have formed a committee for the welfare of Badis
and therefore most of our friends feel that we do not need to have a
space in the National Dalit Commission dominated by one or two
communities, he says.
Actually, manual scavenging in the hills were carried out by the
Deulas who are part of Newar community which has a tribal status. You
cannot really understand the peculiarity of the issue if you feel that
it is a Newar issue as many of them have now become economically well
off. Newar janjati itself has its own varna system and therefore
Deulas among them are the sanitation workers. In the hills there was
not much manual scavenging but the towns of the hills like Kathmandu
has this community engaged in the work. There is a dire need to
monitor the work in the smaller town.
In Nepal, the tragedy is that the issue of manual scavenging has not
become dominant because the whole Dalit discourse is dominated by the
hill people while communities such as Doms, Mushahars, Chamars,
Mehatars, Halkhors, which are mostly based in the the Tarai or Madhesh
regions remain outcastes with in the movement. The crisis of Hills
verses plain has also helped to aggravate the issue. The cultural gap
is big and need to cover up. As Kathmandu valley has dominant hill
people and definitely manual scavenging in hills cannot be compared to
that in the Tarai yet one cannot ignore the dark realities. I am not
sure how great is the sewage system of Kathmandu and elsewhere but
definitely people clean street, toilets and some day the septic tanks
and as suggested by many earning a good amount but definitely now
with the machines coming up in the market, it has affected the job and
bargaining powers of the community like Deulas as they only have the
sole monopoly over the sanitation work in Kathmandu. Now the
contract work is taken by the powerful people who lease it to Deulas
and make money at their cost and we feel that the community has gained
a lot. When I tried to find out the reason of the communitys good
housing, I was told that Deulas had land from the very beginning and
they had built these houses long back as the land belong to them. It
would be difficult for any sanitation worker to construct those kind
of houses in todays time when everything is so expensive and there is
no security.
However, it would not be fair to blame to the social movements in
Nepal, most of them dominated by caste Hindus who needed a few
Dalits to showcase to their donors. As Mr Hira Lal Vishwkarma told
me about a big organization working on Land Rights actually worked to
ensure land for Brahmins and Kshatriyas in a village, in the name of
land reform. It was shocking, said Hira Lal ji that when he found
that Dalits and Janjati people did not get any land under the claim
land to the landless. Perhaps, it is here we must realize the
importance of the caste and merely citing class will not work.
Nothing wrong in helping the landless people of all the castes but
then why ignore the Dalits in this entire class exercise. One has to
agree that the Dalit issue need to be understood beyond mere symbolism
even though many times they are important particularly in the regions
where they have been denied participation and right to be as a human
being with dignity. Of course, the Dalit movement needed as much
variety and inclusion of the most marginalized communities which are
victim of untouchability even with in the communities claim to be
Dalits. These questions cannot be place under the carpet in the
pretext of internal issues of the community or non-serious.
But can Dalit issue be just participation and not discrimination and
untouchability. We do understand the political participation but what
happens where Dalits are just a minority or that too of a miniscule
variety whose voices do not get heard in the din of majoritarian
politics? So, it is not just issue of participation but an issue of
human rights which has protection under all the international
covenants. Participation of Dalits as proportionate to their
population in polity and political structure is one issue but the
issue of untouchability and those who are on the margins cannot be
brushed aside under any pretext as Tilak Parihar says that the
Communist Parties failed in it as the representation inside the party
was a matter of great concern. He pointed out that though the
revolutionary politics fought for the Dalit rights and fight against
feudal oppression yet in terms of representation they failed the
Dalits. He also said that parties failed to understand the Dalit
issues and its complexity. I was the member of the previously
constituted Constituent Assembly and have seen in those discussion
that those who got elected in the name of Dalit communities only
raised the issue of their communities and not others. Therefore, I
never heard issues of Doms, manual scavengers or those of the Tarai
Dalits, as majority of us were from the hills. It is our failure, he
says. Obviously, the issues of Dalits and Janjatis have to be resolved
within the framework of Nepalese constitution and with maintaining the
unity and integrity of the country. Last year an important leader of
Dalits from Madhesh region visited Indian and tried to create an
opinion about the Dalits in Nepal but now the Dalits in that region
complain that the minister has forgotten the Dalits of other
communities and only play his caste card.
Amar Lal Ram belong to Chamar community from Saptarni district of
Madhesh region. The influence of Saint Raidas and Baba Saheb Ambedkar
is now on the community. The youngsters are going to school but
participation in the job is very low. In the Tarai, it is the Paswans
who dominate and they do not care for Dom, Chamars and Mehtars. In
fact, 25 families of Doms face social-economic boycott from the
Yadavas in the region who want these families to leave their homes and
settle elsewhere, says Amar. We too had an economic blockade several
years back but now things are settled, he said. Why is there a
blockade, I asked. We live in the towns or in the villages and when
we do not follow their diktats they threaten us. Secondly, now with a
little money, they feel we are obstacles and need to be thrown away so
that they can live without seeing us or touching us. But is there any
manual scavenging in your region and if yes who are engaged in it, I
ask. According to Amar, even after the governments efforts, manual
scavenging is there and mostly mehtars, halkhors and Doms are engaged
in it. If there is any death of an animal, people will not pick up
as they will only wait for a dom, he says and add that our pain is
that while the upper castes have been willful against us but the
powerful communities of Vishwkarmas and Parihars have taken our share
as they are heavily present everywhere from government bodies to NGOs
to IGOs. In fact, this sentiment is reflected by Gopal Nepali too who
said that when the government appoint a committee and yes it is a
committee he says not a commission yet it was not liked by dominant
dalit leaders here. What do we get he says. As a person from Badi
community which is less than forty thousands in Nepal, Gopal is the
first person doing his M.Phil from Tribhavan University, says with
pain visible on his face that we remain untouchables even today.
Though, none know my caste in Kathmandu but if I inform any one about
my caste that I belong to Badi community, I might not even get a house
and people wont even like to share space with me. Our pain is that
our women and men were into music profession. They danced and yes the
feudal exploited our women too. Later it became for all when there was
no employment so many came in the prostitution and exploited by all.
How Hippocratic it is that we are untouchables but there is no
untouchability in sex. Yes, untouchability exists in our water, in our
kitchens and at the marriages, he says painfully.
Addressing caste discrimination and untouchability questions are
important to create an egalitarian society but it is important to
handle them with great sensitivity. A solution which might be
applicable in the hills might not be applicable in Tarai. The issue of
Newari community is entirely different. Constitution of Nepal has
recognized Dalit as an issue and as communities. Positive side is that
constitutionally, they did not use the term scheduled castes and
scheduled tribes as in India but Dalits and Janjati which is positive
as it will remind people of the historic wrong. Padam Bishwakarma is
very clear about that when he says that Dalit question cannot be
resolved unless we talk of honorable compensation for historical wrong
done to us but do the revolutionary politics understand it, I ask. He
says, yes, the only answer to discrimination against Dalit is the
revolution against the feudal caste structure as Parliamentary
democracy will not bring our true representatives and there the
success of a few is shown as the model for all.
While Tilak Pariyar candidly understand that these brahmanical Marxist
parties are not really Marxists as they fail to understand Dalit
question and only talk of class when caste is an important factor of
oppression in our society, Ms Sunita Dom, who is now in Nayi Shakti
party of former prime minister Babu Ram Bhattarai, exposes the
character of the revolutionary parties when she said that her father
being an important member of the Central Committee of the Maoist Party
faced caste discrimination. It was sad that party leaders would not
eat along with him and he was always served in a separate plate
outside the dining hall. This is scathing attack on the brahmanical
desease that exists inside these closed quarter of revolutionary
parties. I was shocked to hear this from a woman who hail from Dom
community who are even untouchables among untouchables. Most of these
parties have kept their door closed for the Dalits but as both Tilak
Pariyar and Padam Bishwkarma mention that the revolution happened in
Nepal because Dalits supported and participated in it. My point was
that is great but why you need Dalits as rag pickers of your parties
and not at the highest level. How come people are unable to come to
the highest level despite sacrificing their lives.
Yet, it is also true that merely condemning the parties will not work.
Nepals Dalit now look for change through revolution alone. Those who
are mainstreamed in NGOs and INGOs may have a few success stories
while mainstream political parties busy with their vote calculations,
Tilak Pariyar is simply not satisfied with the constitution. It talks
a lot but gives nothing. For the 275 strong Parliament, 165 Members
will come through First Past The Post system while rest 110 from
Proportionate Electorate System. Now, most of the mainstream parties
says that constitution is giving everything as per proportionate at
every level (it is mentioned in the constitution and Nepal that way
shows inclusive constitution but it has a long way to go) but there is
no assurance of reservation or protection of seats for Dalits in FPTP
as no seat is reserved for them. It means that a majority of seats
would be open for manipulations during the elections and prone to
encourage corrupt practices as happens in India. Among all this
proportionate, how do we ensure that Badi, Gandharba, Chamars,Halhors,
Doms, Mehtars and many other communities get their due. How will there
be a representation of Deulas from among the powerful Newar community.
Nepals Dalits are separated from each other on regional lines. There
might not have been any interaction with them and definitely the
brahmanical political parties whether Congress variety or
revolutionary one cannot escape from being blamed. As far as social
movements is concern, the big INGOs have spoiled independent movement
to grow and very unfortunate part is that upper caste still play
patronizing role in developing Dalit movement. We still here
discussion similar to return to Vedas of Vivekanada and that varna
system was scientific and was based on your work and not that of
birth. People quote copiously from religious texts to prove that Vedas
are sacrosanct and everything is a late entry. That shows the
influence of Brahmanism on thoughts and process of politics, academia
and society. While Ambedkar is reaching there yet being used in a very
limited way as both the revolutionaries and Congress variety of
parties have realize the danger to the brahmanical order from a
radical Ambedkarite movement. The oppression has been very high and
people were made to believe that they are fighting a class war and
not a brahmanical caste oppression hence villages are isolated and
deeply entrenched in caste system.
We would not like to give our solution to Nepal as it has to come from
their communities and within the frame work of its constitution but
unless Nepalese parties understand the whole issue of Dalits and their
participation, things will not succeed. Nepal revolutionary politics
will not succeed unless it understands the aspirations of those
communities who have been denied their dignity and rights for
centuries. In the 21st century, Nepal need to show the world that in
our continent revolution is not possible without smashing Brahmanism
and the illegitimate social order that it has created to suppress the
Bahujan working masses in our societies.
Vidya Bhushan Rawat is a social and human rights activist.
He blogs at www.manukhsi.blogspot.com
twitter @freetohumanity Email: vbrawat@gmail.com
With her goal of reaching Rio more realistic than ever, Lilly King is suddenly dealing with the pressure that comes with being one of the United States' top swimmers.
Just five weeks out from the U.S. Olympic trials, she's already considered the swimmer to beat in the women's 100-meter breaststroke. And if she has her way during training over the next month, the Reitz High graduate believes she can own the 200-meter breaststroke, too.
She just can't allow herself to become overwhelmed by the expectations between now and the end of June when she reports to Omaha, Nebraska with the rest of the nation's Olympic hopefuls.
"I'm just kind of starting to figure out what it's like to have the target on my back at this level," said King. "It's different than high school swimming or club swimming because now everybody is watching me and everybody is trying to catch me.
"It's a lot of pressure, but I think I'm ready for it. I'm getting used to it."
Last weekend the Indiana University freshman proved just how well she is dealing with the expectations by winning two events at the Arena Pro Swim Series meet in Charlotte, North Carolina. Not only did she add a couple more gold medals to her resume, but her times in the 100-meter breaststroke (1:05.73) on Friday and the 50-meter breaststroke (30.35) on Sunday made her the second fastest in the world in those events in 2016.
Her only disappointment came in the 200-meter race where she finished third after fatigue set in over the last 35 meters on Saturday. But even then, her time of 2:25.13 wasn't that far off from her AT&T Winter Nationals effort last December when she won in 2:24.47 while also shattering Amanda Beard's 17-18 age group time a record that had stood for 15 years.
Because she didn't win the 200 on Saturday, King almost views it as a blessing. It was a reminder that she only has the nation's fourth fastest time in the 200 in 2016, and neither that ranking or her time will get her on the pool deck for the Olympic final in Rio de Janeiro in August.
She intends to do something about that, knowing she has to finish in the top two in either the 100 or 200 in Omaha just to make the Olympic team.
The 50 isn't an Olympic event.
"I haven't had too much experience racing (the 200)," said King. "We'll see come trials how it's going to play out. It's just who is fastest that day."
She was the fastest through 150 meters last Saturday, but that's when she began feeling as though she had weights on her wrists. She now knows that she let muscle fatigue and a loss of focus to set her up for failure.
She was beaten to the wall by Annie Lazor and Canadian Olympian Kierra Smith.
"I don't know what was going through my head but I was kind of used to the NCAAs and no one being anywhere close to me," said King. "Then all of a sudden there were people (challenging her), and I wasn't quite sure what to do with that It happens. It's just one race."
At the NCAA meet, Auburn's Lazor was never a threat in the 100 or 200. King won both events in NCAA record times, including becoming the first U.S. woman to go under 57 seconds in the 100.
But those NCAA races were measured over yards, not meters. And winning national titles in college as a freshman will bring another set of expectations next year.
But for now she has bigger goals. And after her third-place finish in the 200 in Charlotte, she's reminded of what can happen if she doesn't swim her best.
"I went out too fast, but there are other things I could have done differently," said King. "But it's good to know that there are still girls out there that will get up and race with me, and if I get too far ahead they aren't going to give up."
Anne Marie Williams
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By Megan Erbacher of the Courier and Press
After nine years away from Catholic Diocese of Evansville schools, Anne Marie Williams will return next school year as principal of Memorial High School.
Williams will replace Cynthia Schneider, who is retiring at the end of this school year after 22 years with the diocese.
Memorial President Brother Lawrence Murphy and Board of Trustees Chairman John Browning made the announcement Wednesday.
"Williams comes to Memorial with a wealth of experience in the ministry of Catholic education," Murphy said in a statement.
Currently, the Marion, Indiana, native serves at the Pastoral Office of Education director for the Diocese of Lafayette, a position she's had since leaving Evansville in 2007.
Before that, Williams spent 13 years in several positions within Evansville Catholic schools. From 2003-07 she was Mater Dei High School's principal; from 1997-2003 she was an assistant superintendent of Catholic schools for the Evansville diocese; and from 1994-98 she was principal of St. Theresa Catholic School, which closed its doors in May 2015 after 68 years.
Before coming to Evansville, Williams had teaching and administrative positions at Catholic schools in the Indiana cities of Huntington, Marion and New Haven. She has also served as an adjunct professor at Indiana Wesleyan University since 1998.
Another connection Williams has to Evansville Diocese schools is her children. Michelle and Kyle graduated from Memorial in 1999 and 2003, respectively.
"What a privilege it is to return to Evansville and the Memorial community that supported me in educating and forming my children in knowledge, skill and, most importantly, faith," Williams said in a statement. "Evansville is the community we all grew to call home, and I thank God for allowing me this opportunity to return and serve."
JASON CLARK / COURIER & PRESS A Neighborhood Market Walmart may be built on the west side of Newburgh in the near future. Walmart Real Estate Business Trust is petitioning to rezone a parcel of land along Indiana 662 across from Caseya s General Store, near the intersection of Ellersbusch Road.
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By Shannon Hall of the Courier and Press
The Newburgh town attorney says the controversial Walmart Neighborhood Market will not be developed in Newburgh.
Chris Wischer said Ned and Helen Williams, who own the property on which Walmart planned to develop a Neighborhood Market, were told that Walmart is no longer interested in purchasing the land.
The property was rezoned from agriculture to commercial, C-2, about a year ago.
Wischer said Walmart's attorney as well as the Williams' realtor told him that Walmart isn't interested in the purchase. He said he wasn't given a reason why.
"Given the length of time that's passed at this point, I'm not really surprised now," Wischer said.
In January 2015, the town of Newburgh received a rezoning petition for land southeast of the intersection of Indiana 662 and Ellerbusch Road.
The rezoning caused controversy in the historic Warrick County town. Dozens of town residents opposed the rezoning, and the plan commission members unanimously gave an unfavorable recommendation twice to the Newburgh Town Council.
The Town Council still approved the rezoning in late June, however, with four of the five council members voting in favor. Councilwoman Anne Rust Aurand, who was a member of the plan commission at the time, was the lone "no" vote.
Wischer said it may be difficult for another business to take over the land.
"It was zoned with a pretty substantial use and development commitment," Wischer said of the rezoning. "For all practical purposes, it would have to go through the rezoning to amend or remove the use and development commitment, unless the user intends to build exactly what Walmart was going to build."
Four plan commission members specifically resigned after the Town Council voted in favor of the rezoning, thereby going against the commission's recommendation.
"We had three meetings, open to the public, and only two people spoke for it," said Jim Moore, who was the president of the Newburgh Plan Commission during the rezoning. "There were a lot of people in this town that felt adamantly against it, and we listened to them."
The Williams' attorney did not immediately return a call from the Courier & Press.
As part of the now-abandoned rezoning deal, Walmart had agreed to donate land to the town for phase three of the Newburgh Rivertown Trail.
That will not happen now.
"We have been working on a plan B with the property owners in case this happened," Wischer said. "Still working on it, but (we) think we are in good shape."
The Resignations
Moore submitted his resignation at 5:48 a.m. June 24, the day after the Town Council meeting that rezoned the Williams' property for the market.
His letter was two sentences.
"Please consider this email as my resignation from the Newburgh Plan Commission effective immediately. I thank you for your help over the last few years and wish you well in the future. Jim Moore"
"Oh my this is the wrong plan commission member to resign," Councilwoman Leanna Hughes emailed her fellow council members after receiving Moore's resignation, according to emails the Courier & Press obtained through an Indiana Public Access Act request.
Then Town Council President Bill Kavanaugh echoed Hughes' thoughts.
"Really hate that. He is great. We will move on," he wrote to his fellow town council members.
Plan Commission member Kris Setzekorn emailed the town manager at the time, saying she was also considering resigning
"The Council knew from the beginning they were going to approve the rezoning why else (would) they not accept our nominee for the siting (Site Review) committee. Our many hours were wasted I have so little discretionary time, that this is the true insult."
Hap Hanson was the second plan commission member to resign. He did so about noon June 25.
"There are other ways for me to serve my community, I'm sure," reads part of his email sent to former Town Manager Lori Buehlman and others.
Aurand, who was the council liaison for the plan commission at the time as well as a voting member, sent an email to all the commission members and asked them to talk to her before they resigned.
"Not to try to talk you out of it. I completely understand your frustration and that of our audiences over the last four months," she wrote. "Thank you for going down this bumpy road with me. You all showed great courage and were thoughtful in your deliberation."
Setzekorn asked Aurand if there was a good reason to stay on the plan commission. Aurand said she doubted anyone else's resignation would make a difference.
Candi Burress was the last to resign from the plan commission.
Kavanaugh told the Courier & Press in June 2015 that he was disappointed with all the resignations, and thought everyone agreed to disagree.
A view from outside Kentucky Kingdom's new roller coaster Storm Chaser gives a hint of the thrills to come. The ride has approximately 2,000 feet of track and is a combination of the two track supports formerly named Twisted Sisters.
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By Sheldon S. Shafer, The Courier-Journal / USA TODAY Network
How would that blondish hair look flowing straight back as he whirls around the roller coaster with its steep drops and serpentine curves at 55 miles an hour?
We may never know, but the operators of the Kentucky Kingdom amusement park at the Kentucky Exposition Center where the new Storm Chaser coaster is a centerpiece of the facility have invited Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, to try out the coaster Friday after his NRA convention speech at nearby Freedom Hall.
The park on Wednesday afternoon challenged Trump to ride the new coaster.
"Considering that the NRA meeting will be held immediately next to Kentucky Kingdom theme park and its newest roller coaster, Storm Chaser, Kentucky Kingdom is challenging Donald Trump ... to ride Storm Chaser in what we expect to be a hair-raising experience," a news release said.
"This should put to rest, once and for all, pesky rumors about Mr. Trump's alleged hairpiece. Or not."
Trump wasn't available for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Editorial
Coup in Brazil
Ousted Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has called on Brazilians to defend their countrys democracy and mobilise against the coup that saw her suspended from office. The drive by counter-revolutionary forces to roll back hard won gains by the people of Central and South America, in particular targeting Brazil and Venezuela, is being met by growing resistance on the streets.
The targets for destruction include the trade agreement between the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa).
I call for the people to remain mobilised, together, in peace It is a fight we are going to win, it depends on all of us, lets show the world the millions of people who defend democracy in our country, said Rousseff in her first statement from the presidential palace since the countrys Senate voted to proceed with impeachment proceedings.
Rousseff, who as a young activist was arrested and tortured for her efforts to organise against the military dictatorship that previously ruled Brazil, said she never thought I would have to fight against another coup in our country.
The ousted president walked out of the presidential palace to a crowd of thousands of anti-coup and pro-democracy demonstrators.
I am ready to resist through all legal means, Rousseff told the crowd who answered with chants pledging to resist as well.
Over the course of my life, like all women, I confronted many challenges, now what hurts most is this situation that Im living now, the pain of injustice, said Rousseff.
She thanked all those who had been marching to denounce the coup in the lead up to the Senates vote on Wednesday, stating, I am certain that together we are going to remain united, mobilised, and in peace.
The ousted president dissolved her government after the Senate voted to proceed with an impeachment trial, requiring her to relinquish power for a period of 180 days.
Rousseff condemned the actions of the Congress, which she called a coup against her government. She also said she would fight with every legal instrument at my disposal to ensure she completes her mandate.
Her vice president, Michel Temer, became the interim president once he received notification from the Senate that the impeachment trial would proceed.
Social movements such as the national coordinator of the Homeless Workers Movement have pledged to remain in a state of permanent mobilisation.
Widespread protests, which are expected to continue and grow, are calling for the arrest of Eduardo Cunha the former speaker of the lower house of Congress who was the instrument of the anti-democratic push, spearheading the impeachment process against the president and for the ouster of government of Michel Temer, which assumed power after the coup.
Said Laryssa Sampaio from the Popular Youth Uprising, which is organising protests: There are two main ideas; first, to denounce the institutional coup and demand the departure of Temer: he was elected to be vice president, not president. Second, for the arrest of Eduardo Cunha, whose corruption is proven.
However, although the right thinks their dreams of privatisations, layoffs and devaluation are going to soon come true, there is a factor that they must take into consideration: it is the enormous popular resistance that for months has taken over the streets of Brazil; the workers and peasants that stood up with determination against the austerity policies of the former government and its pro-agribusiness policies.
They block roads, they stay firm at the barricades, they light up when they hear their peers chanting slogans for land, housing, work!, they march for kilometres to announce that the people of Brazil has been waiting for years for unfulfilled promises. They are workers that defend their class autonomy, their struggle. Thats the real Brazil, with its Landless and its Homeless, with its metal workers from the ABC union or the combative Mercedes Benz workers, who cried out loud that there will be no coup. They are the grassroots from which the resistance will continue to come against the May 12 coup.
CPA Function on Refugees calls for:
Implementation of the Geneva Convention
The inhuman treatment of refugees by capitalist governments, including the Australian government and those of the European Union States, and the illegal policy of closed borders was strongly condemned at a function by the Beloyiannis Branch of the Communist Party of Australia held at the Party headquarters on Sunday May 15, 2016.
A Let Them Stay rally earlier this year in Sydney. (Photo: Anna Pha)
The report to this successful function indicated that those countries closing their borders and preventing the entry to refugees are acting in violation of the Geneva Convention on refugees and the United Nations Charter which specify that the refugees have the right to choose the country where they wish to go and seek asylum and settle and that they are entitled to free access to the country of their choice. They also specify that refugees should be assisted and protected.
The report further pointed to the causes of the refugee problem, none other than the imperialist wars unleashed upon the people in the Middle East and North Africa such as Syria Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. It pointed out the serious responsibilities of the governments of Australia and the European Union countries for the loss of many thousands of refugees, children among them, at sea and the inhumane treatment of people in detention centres.
Relevant videos were shown about the dramatic deaths of refugees at Christmas Island and the Greek islands of the Aegean as well as a video about the humane treatment of refugees and the solidarity to them exhibited by ordinary Greek people.
The meeting adopted a unanimous resolution calling for:
The immediate cessation of the imperialist war in Syria and elsewhere. Respect and implementation of the Geneva Convention as the basis for solving the current refugee problem. Under the auspices and the intervention of the UNO the refugees to be allowed to exercise their right of choosing the country of their settlement and to be given free access and transportation, by passenger boats or aircraft from the countries of their first entry like Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. This is the only way to prevent people smuggling and the mass drowning of people on the high seas or at the shores of Australia, Greece or Turkey and thousands of them to be left rotting in off-shore detention centres or in a helpless situation in Greece.
Close Manus prison now
Protests began inside the Manus detention centre at Mike and Fox Compounds in Delta and Oscar Compounds on May 13. In Delta, the banner reads: Trafficked illegally here. Close Manus prison now.
Photo: Anna Pha
Asylum seekers and refugees are growing tired of the delay in closing the detention centre and releasing them from the hell of the last almost three years.
People are tired and are demanding to leave to Manus forever. The Supreme Court ordered that the government must take us from here, one refugee told the Refugee Action Coalition from Manus.
The detainees are growing angry at the deliberate attempts by the Australian government to thwart the decision of the PNG Supreme Court that declared that the detention centre was unlawful, at the end of April.
The protests are expected to escalate as frustration with the wait for freedom grows.
Despite statements from the PNG Immigration officials saying that the Manus detention centre is open, neither asylum seekers nor refugees can walk out of the centre which is on a naval base. The arrangements have not changed at the centre.
People are required to register and then take an official bus to the settlement at Lorengau. Although, up to 100 asylum seekers from Mike and Fox have taken the ride to Lorengau, over a number of days, only two from Foxtrot went outside. Very few refugees have gone outside at all.
The refugees do not want to be seen to cooperate in any way with the PNG regime that has been put in place by the Australian government, said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition. Every day the Australian government stalls on bringing everyone from Manus to Australia is another day they breach the Supreme Court orders and the human rights of the prisoners on Manus.
The Immigration Minister Peter Dutton is trying to stall until after the federal election.
Critical refugee mother
A 22 year-old Somali refugee mother, Naima, and her premature baby boy, have been airlifted, in separate planes, from Nauru in emergency circumstances. Both were considered to be in critical condition when they left Nauru. Naima is on life support in a Brisbane hospital after the evacuation.
Naima underwent a caesarean operation on Nauru and the baby was born one month premature. Naima and her baby were airlifted in separate planes. The air ambulance carrying Naima landed at Brisbane with the plane carrying the baby leaving Nauru three hours after his mother to Brisbane.
This emergency medical evacuation raises even more questions about the standard of health care on Nauru. The Minister needs to come clean on the real standards of the Nauru hospital, said Ian Rintoul.
Doctors for Refugees Dr Barri Phatarfod said if Naima died it would be the Department of Immigrations fault.
Without a doubt the Immigration Department has put the life of this woman and any other pregnant woman in significant danger by making them have their deliveries in Nauru, she said.
It is an absolutely horrible situation. The mother is gravely ill and she is a young mum, she is 22, at the perfectly healthy age for a woman to give birth.
If she dies it is as a direct result of the governments policies that force these women to give birth on Nauru.
This is the third case we have seen coming out of Nauru where there has been either a tragic outcome or an incredibly distressing outcome.
Ever since the government stopped routinely bringing pregnant women from Nauru to Australia to have their delivery, something like this was bound to happen, she said.
We only know that something didnt go to plan, shes now in a critical condition, she was intubated... and we dont know how likely the baby is going to recover either.
Dr Phatarfod said Naima suffered from the high blood-pressure condition, pre-eclampsia. She apparently had a seizure on Nauru at five months, Dr Phatarfod said. She should have been [medical evacuated] out at that point.
Community control for Aboriginal housing
Two Indigenous organisations, Aboriginal Housing Northern Territory (AHNT) and Aboriginal Peak Organisations NT (APONT) are urging radical reform of the NTs public housing system.
In spite of a commitment in 2008 of $2 billion over 10 years for NT housing, severe overcrowding and homelessness remain.
AHNT comprises Aboriginal organisations and individuals who want a new system that allows for community control of housing, local engagement and employment, more responsive repairs and maintenance and better tenancy management services. APONT comprises the Northern and Central Land councils, Aboriginal legal aid services and the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance NT.
AHNT and APONT have jointly made a submission to the NT Housing Strategy Consultation Draft which the government announced in June 2015. The Draft Strategy aims to review housing supply and assistance programs.
In March 2015 APONT hosted a Remote Aboriginal Housing Forum which brought together 150 people and identified many failures in the public housing system: inadequate supply, poor design and poor workmanship; poor maintenance, leading to unhealthy conditions; no employment opportunities for local people in construction or management; complex management arrangements which deliver poor service; and inappropriate and culturally insensitive tenancy process.
The AHNT/APONT submission to the Governments Draft Strategy says Aboriginal people have been greatly disempowered as a result of new housing policies following the Howard governments Intervention in 2007, which abolished Indigenous Community Housing Organisations and transferred community housing to the NT government. In spite of a commitment in 2008 of $2 billion over 10 years for NT housing, severe overcrowding and homelessness remain.
The submission notes that the NT has by far the largest housing shortfall relative to the total number of households a shortfall of about 10,600 dwellings; and homelessness in the NT is 17 times higher than anywhere else in Australia.
The submission says that while the housing sector elsewhere has shifted to a diverse, community-based sector, Aboriginal housing in the NT has gone in the opposite direction: Aboriginal housing in the NT has been moved wholesale to government control. The success of a community housing approach will depend on the Department of Housing being prepared to transfer management of state-owned public housing for Aboriginal people to Aboriginal control:
Special purpose Aboriginal housing organisations with skilled governance, sound financial planning and management and staffed by trained housing professionals can be part of the growing community housing sector across Australia. Aboriginal housing organisations are best placed to have strong partnerships with local communities and Traditional Owners and work across regions that are geographically and culturally connected.
Government regulation of community housing is essential, but we want to see a commitment by the NT government to empower organisations to deliver a model of community housing management rather than the bureaucratic and culturally irrelevant public housing model that now exists.
AHNT/APONT wants the governments Draft Strategy to address housing problems on homelands: If homelands receive reduced services or close down, then people may move to the fringes of communities or towns where there are already housing shortages. Homelands have been excluded from the whole new housing framework and as a consequence are not receiving sufficient funding or adequate levels of service. Houses on homelands are up to 30 years old and in disrepair; there is no funding to build new houses.
After AHNT met in Katherine in March, Co-Chair Barb Shaw drew attention to the appalling state of Aboriginal housing in Elliott the forgotten town.
A one-off payment of $3 million from the NT government is going to Elliott, which is welcomed, but is unlikely to fix the systemic problems plaguing Aboriginal housing in Elliott and other Aboriginal communities, outstations and town camps.
Housing is at a devastating point in the Northern Territory, Shaw said. Housing is the foundation of health and education. How can we achieve quality education when our children dont have a house, or somewhere safe to sleep?
Land Rights News Northern Edition
Victory Day
Millions unite in memory
Millions of people took part in marches of the Immortal Regiment, which took place on May 9 all across Russia, as well as in quite a few other countries. In Russia, as many as 16 million people in total took part in the event.
The Immortal Regiment march in Red Square, Moscow.
In Russia, the Immortal Regiment march began in the Far East. About 4,000 people took part in the procession of the Immortal Regiment in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. According to organisers of the march, the event attracted 1,500 people last year.
Despite very bad weather conditions, the march took place in Russias outmost eastern settlement the village of Provideniye (Providence).
The weather was extremely bad. We had snow and rain and strong winds, so there were fewer people than expected, up to 100 people, but we made it and then went to the house of culture, where we sang the song Victory Day all together, coordinator of the action in the 2,000-strong village of Providence, Svetlana Chuiko told TASS.
In Vladivostok, up to 50,000 people took to the streets to carry the photos of their relatives, whom they lost in the Great Patriotic War. The number of demonstrators was so large that it was decided to extend the route of the march twice to six kilometres.
In Irkutsk, 20,000 people took part in the action. This year, according to organisers, 47,000 people went to pay tribute to war heroes.
For the Immortal Regiment in Yakutsk, 20,000 people prepared their posters and photos. The city of Khabarovsk saw about 800 people taking part in the event last year. In 2016, as many as 50,000 people participated.
There has been nothing more patriotic in modern Russia. People come out carrying photos of their ancestors, war veterans and home front workers. We have thousands and thousands of people participating in the event in the region, Andrei Beloglazov, a representative for the Immortal Regiment Movement in the Far East of Russia told Pravda.Ru.
Despite bad weather conditions, Krasnoyarsk saw 20,000 people taking part in the Immortal Regiment (compared to 3,500 last year). In Simferopol, 40,000 people participated in the march (in 2015 - 7,000). In Tula, 180,000 people participated (last year - 100,000).
The procession of the Immortal Regiment lasted for more than an hour in Kaliningrad; about 30,000 people took part in the event. In the Krasnodar region, the Immortal Regiment brought together 75,000 people. In Kazan, the event had 45,000 people participating (2,000 in 2015). In St Petersburg, the action attracted up to 500,000 people.
The Immortal Regiment march was the largest in Moscow with up to 700,000 participating. President Putin was in the head of the column. Putin brought the photo of his father, Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin, who volunteered for the front.
I think that we have the memory of the war under our skin on the genetic level. Foreigners, the people who were born outside Russia, can never understand why it all means so much to us. The Great Patriotic War affected every single family in our country. No one had lost as much as we had lost in that war, Irina Velikanova, the Director of the Museum of Contemporary Russian History told Pravda.Ru.
Historical memory unites us and makes us as a nation. It very much hurts us, when monuments to our soldiers and heroes get destroyed. We still try to find the remains of our fallen soldiers to uncover the memory of those who had gone missing during the war. As they say, the war is not over until the last soldier is buried. The Russian people have proved that they can protect and preserve their historical memory, and we can defend it too. This is a part of our national idea, Irina Velikanova added.
Pravda.Ru
Rhyming for my ancestors
Tzutu Kan, a Mayan hip-hop artist, explains how he and his cultural group are attempting to revitalise his communitys ancient cultural forms with sounds and intercultural borrowings from Native American, Andean and other sources.
Hailing from what the Maya consider the bellybutton of the Universe Lake Atitlan in the central Guatemala highlands Tzutu Kan is a hip-hop artist who lays down rhymes in the ancient Mayan languages of Tzutujil, Kakchikuel and Quiche. He is also a member of the group Balam Ajpu, which means Jaguar Warrior or Warrior of Light. Balam Ajpu represents duality, the balance of light and dark, male and female energy, and the return to a relationship with the cycles of nature. The group imbues modern culture with meaning through its relationship to ancestral wisdom in the arts and music.
Language in itself is music. The ancestral sound of languages is music. About six years ago I felt the urge to communicate in my language, Kan recalls. I would only speak the language at home, but I felt the need to communicate with my friends, with the people. [So] five years ago I started to work on this project, Cosmovision Maya hip-hop. I began to work with producers and we created a demo with five songs.
We havent finished this project yet because of a lack of resources, but at the same time we started another project, the 20 Nawales [spirits], and I worked on this with Balam Ajpu, the group I am working with now.
Balam Ajpus members work to revitalise and share their cultures. In Guatemala, there are approximately 23 Maya cultures, most of which speak their own languages. Our spiritual guides asked us to make a tribute to the nawales in 2012, because it was the change of an era, it was the end of Baaktun 13 and the start of the jun baaktun. That was the start, what we based our project on, and now we are touring in Europe, Kan says.
Balam Ajpus lyrics convey interpretations of the ancient Maya calendar through Maya sounds and intercultural borrowing from Native American, Andean, Rastafarian, hip-hop and dancehall rhythms. They work to instil in youth pride for their culture through their Hip-Hop Cosmovision School in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.
[The Mayan language] holds thousands of years of knowledge that little by little we are uncovering, as more people study it and more people practise it, write poetry, compose music, write anthologies, poems, books. The album we are promoting is what we call the real time, because we use a bad calendar, the mechanical calendar ... this is separating us from the calendar of the worlds natural cycles. And that is what we propose, a calendar which has been always used, closer to the exact, closer to the natural, says Kan.
Kan also works closely with Canal Cultural, a collective of artists in Guatemala that aims to bring about social, political and economic transformation in rural Maya communities through visual, musical and performance arts.
We are making a small contribution to music. There are many artists trying to revive ancestral knowledge by way of the arts, through painting, theatre and music, Kan says. Through Canal Cultural, we are giving grants to young people so they can learn and grow, cultivate their talents, their art.
Over the past five years, the group has also worked with children through Escuela Caza Ajaw, a free school of cosmovision hip-hop. We are not purists; that is why we create a fusion with other things, like hip-hop with reggae, cumbia ... that is what we are trying to do, stay afloat with everything that is happening in the world, globalisation. We have an advantage, because there arent many who are singing in Mayan, not many who promote the Mayan languages, Kan says.
In a country plagued by environmental degradation and economic exploitation, violence and political instability, Kan sees music as an instrument to teach young people to live in harmony with others and nature by returning to the Maya traditions. Through art, he says, we can contribute to changing humanity, and ourselves.
Third World Resurgence
Culture & Life
Climate change
The Great Barrier Reef is one of the natural wonders of the world. It is the largest coral ecosystem on Earth. The tourists it draws to Queensland bring in $5 billion annually and account for close to 70,000 jobs. Climate change, however, if it is not prevented, threatens to destroy all this.
When corals are stressed by unusually high water temperatures ... symbiotic algae, called zooxanthellae, leave the corals bodies. [At high temperatures, the photosynthetic process that is carried out by corals symbiotic plankton becomes toxic for the corals. Because it becomes toxic, the corals spit out the plankton.] This changes their colour to white [hence the term bleaching for this condition] and can also in effect starve them of nutrients. If bleaching continues for too long, corals die. Chris Mooney, US science and environment reporter.
The Great Barrier Reef is actually a collection of contiguous individual reefs. Australias National Coral Bleaching Task Force has surveyed 911of its component coral reefs by air, and found at least some bleaching on 93 percent of them. The amount of damage varies from severe to light, but the bleaching was the worst in the reefs remote northern sector where virtually no reefs escaped it.
Professor Terry Hughes, head of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University, said Between 60 and 100 percent of corals are severely bleached on 316 reefs, nearly all in the northern half of the Reef.
The actual figures for the survey are: in the Northern sector of the Reef, 522 reefs were surveyed, 81 percent are severely bleached. In the Central sector, 226 reefs were surveyed, 33 percent are severely bleached. In the Southern sector, 163 reefs were surveyed and only one percent are severely affected.
Severe bleaching means that corals could die, depending on how long they are subject to these conditions. The scientists also reported that based on diving surveys of the northern reef, they already are seeing nearly 50 percent coral death.
Nancy Knowlton, Sant Chair for Marine Science at the Smithsonian Institution, commented: The fact that the most severely affected regions are those that are remote and hence otherwise in good shape, means that a lot of prime reef is being devastated.
And not on the Great Barrier Reef alone. There already have been reports of mass coral death around the Pacific atoll of Kiribati this year and widespread coral bleaching worldwide, a phenomenon that scientists attribute to a strong El Nino event surfing atop a general climate warming trend.
This is, by far, the worst bleaching theyve seen on the Great Barrier Reef, said Mark Eakin, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Coral Reef Watch, which partners with the Australian National Coral Bleaching Taskforce.
Some scientists think coral bleaching this extensive is one of the signs that climate change caused by humans has reached the dangerous stage where ecosystems are unable to adapt naturally to it.
That doesnt stop climate change deniers trying to find some other reason anything, in fact. Even suntan lotion has been put forward as a possible alternative cause for coral bleaching.
But, although the oxybenzone in many sunscreens is toxic to corals, among the many factors that impact corals and bleaching events we can be pretty certain climate warming is the primary cause of the bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef because: (a) We know for sure there has been a period of unusually warm water temperatures there, (b) a check on Barrier Reef visitation records by area visited confirmed that the Northern area the worst affected is one of the least visited by tourists, and (c) this particular bleaching event has happened suddenly and involved a large amount of severe bleaching over a relatively short period of time. Its really unlikely that any toxin added to the environment chronically over time could be responsible for such an acute bleaching event.
This is the kind of catastrophic ecological event that calls for an all round governmental response based on well-researched scientific advice. It would once have been given to Australias Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) for action, but since the federal Liberal government has chosen to gut the CSIRO, cutting its funding and forcing it to drastically reduce its staff, that option is no longer viable.
Instead both the Australian and Queensland governments are in thrall to the fossil fuel industry. There may be more money (and certainly more jobs) in renewable energy in the long term, but in the short term the ability to generate hefty profits belongs to coal and its relatives. This fact has big sway with both Labor and Liberal governments in Australia. After all, both the main bourgeois parties are eager to do the bidding of the big end of town. And the representatives of finance capital who make up or control the big end of town are almost exclusively interested in making profits.
Despite the tourist significance of the Great Barrier Reef, the Queensland state government has approved the shipment through the Reef of the output of the proposed huge Adani coal mine in that state. (Coal it seems has more clout than tourism.) The movement of all the bulk carriers involved will not only put the Reef at risk through the normal course of their travelling though this World Heritage site, but in the event of an accident a grounding, say there is the potential for an environmental catastrophe.
Capitalist corporations are not renowned for putting the public interest before their quest for corporate profits, as witness the oil spills in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, catastrophes that should never have been able to happen. It will be too late to take action after the Great Barrier Reef has been devastated by greedy coal exporters and the pro-business governments they have in their pockets.
Playing fast and loose with the future of something of such international significance as the Great Barrier Reef should be seen as a crime against humanity, on a par with a war crime.
Andrea Iannone will be officially announced as joining the Suzuki factory team for 2017 ahead of this weekend's Italian MotoGP following the confirmation he won't be retained by Ducati.
With three-time MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo making the high-profile switch from Yamaha to Ducati at the end of the year, the Italian manufacturer confirmed earlier this week it has chosen Andrea Dovizioso over Iannone to partner him on a two-year extension.
As a result, Iannone will head to Suzuki in 2017 to replace Maverick Vinales, who will join Valentino Rossi at Yamaha.
Sources revealed to Crash.net the deal will be announced ahead of Iannone's home round at Mugello, tomorrow, with Vinales' confirmation set to follow promptly afterwards.
Iannone's move to Suzuki comes in the wake of a Ducati snub that caught many by surprise. Indeed, though it was known one of the riders would need to make way for the incoming Lorenzo, many felt the younger Iannone was the favourite over Dovizioso to be retained by the team in the wake of a breakthrough campaign in 2015 that yielded three podiums and fifth in the overall standings.
However, the 26 year-old has endured a troubled start to the 2016 season, with three self-inflicted DNFs in the opening five races leaving management frustrated, most notably his crash in Argentina when an over-ambitious final corner lunge eliminated both himself and Dovizioso out of podium positions.
Nevertheless, he heads to a Suzuki team that has emerged as a formidable contender in 2016 in the hands of Vinales and Espargaro, notching up seven top six results between them. Having returned to MotoGP in 2015 after a four-year absence, Vinales scored Suzuki's first podium result since 2008 last time out at Le Mans.
At Bayer, we believe human ingenuity can shape the future of agriculture. For more than 150 years, weve used science and imagination to advance health and nutrition. And together, we can achieve so much more.
Whats possible begins with what we can imagine.
Were committed to a world where biodiversity thrives in harmony with humankind. Where hunger and climate change are terms relegated to history books. Where farms are more sustainable, with plants that are more adaptive and resilient, to help improve life for families and communities. In short, where agriculture is part of the solution. As a new leader in agriculture, we have the opportunity and the responsibility to grasp this moment. To continue moving humanity forward by tirelessly shaping whats possible.
Royal Caribbean International's Explorer of the Seas arrived in the Port of Seattle on Monday, May 16.
"We were thrilled to have Explorer of the Seas begin its homeport in Seattle this week," said a statement from the port.
It arrived at Seattles Smith Cove Cruise Terminal at Pier 91 on Monday, May 16. It arrived from Australia and set sail on a 4-day Pacific Northwest cruise.
On Friday, May 20 it begins its Alaska season sailing from Seattle every Friday. Explorer of the Seas is the largest vessel serving the West Coast with 3,114 passengers.
Seattle expects to host nearly one million passengers during the 2016 Alaska making it the busiest cruise port on the west coast.
Russia's United Shipbuilding Corporation (RUSC) will get back into the passenger vessel building business, with big river vessels.
Other media reports had the shipyard owner getting back into the cruise ship business after 60 years.
RUSC currently builds a host of military vessels for the Russian navy.
RUSC will build 300-passenger 6,100-ton riverboats for Moscow River Shipping, a spokesperson told Cruise Industry News.
Do you know who to call in a mental health crisis? Are you aware of the new statewide hotline for people with heroin or other opioid addiction?
As part of its community education initiative, the Southwest Regional Mental Health Board is premiering a new poster to raise awareness of a range of important resources many of them free available to Connecticut residents.
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Two Connecticut lawmakers with top level security clearance are cringing at having to share counterterrorism and military intelligence with Donald Trump as part of a long-standing practice accorded to both partys presidential nominees.
U.S. Rep. Jim Himes and U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, Democrats who serve on the intelligence and foreign relations committees in their respective chambers, have publicly questioned the trustworthiness of Trump.
Each says he wouldnt put it past the presumptive Republican nominee, who has been criticized for his chumminess with Russias Vladimir Putin, to leak sensitive information for political gain.
Im horrified by the prospect of Trump having classified information, Himes told Hearst Connecticut Media.
Murphy said Trumps gift of gab could be dangerous for the intelligence community and the country.
Frankly, I just don't think Donald Trump will keep his mouth shut, Murphy said Wednesday. Throughout the course of this campaign, he has shown that he has no filter and will say every last thought that comes into his head. Whether or not he would disclose classified information intentionally, his total lack of verbal discretion worries me. Trump is a loose cannon and problematic for U.S. national security.
Sworn to secrecy
Trumps campaign spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, said Wednesday that the real estate mogul can be counted on to keep secrets and protect the nation.
No one holds information better than Mr. Trump, Hicks said. He looks forward to asking questions.
Both Himes and Murphy are staunch supporters of Hillary Clinton, with Murphys name bandied about this week as a potential running mate of the former secretary of state.
Trumps defenders say their line of attack is the height of hypocrisy. Among them is Ben Proto, a Republican Town Committee member from Stratford, who will be a Trump delegate to the partys national convention this summer in Cleveland.
I think Senator Murphy, who is auditioning for the vice presidential nomination, must have missed the reports that Secretary Clinton, during her time as secretary of state, used an unsecured, unprotected email server to both send and receive emails containing highly classified intelligence information, Proto said. So if theres anyone who cant be trusted to ensure the safety and security of classified information, its Hillary Clinton.
Pre-election briefings
Historians say the practice of presidential nominees getting classified briefings dates back to the administration of Harry Truman, who felt those elected to the Oval Office were ill-prepared to deal with foreign policy challenges, including the advent of atomic warfare.
In the 70 years since then, almost every nominee has availed himself of those intelligence briefings, with former Democratic Vice President Walter Mondale a rare exception in the 1984 election. Mondale felt he was up to speed and declined the customary briefing, said Ronald Schurin, an associate professor of political science at the University of Connecticut.
For better or worse, the Republicans have chosen Donald Trump as their standard bearer, Schurin said. Unless were going to depart from past practice, the customary briefings would be provided.
E. Pendleton James, a longtime Greenwich resident who served as Ronald Reagans assistant for presidential personnel from 1981 through 1983, said there is a learning curve for both parties nominees.
They need to be aware of what theyre getting into, because one of them is going to be president, James said. Im all in favor it. If you leak or something like that, then, well, thats a crime.
Himes, who is ranking member on the intelligence subcommittee for the National Security Agency and for cybersecurity, said it can be a challenge even for tight-lipped members of Congress not to gab when it comes to drone strikes or other sensitive information.
Its an exercise of huge mental discipline to keep that Chinese wall in my head, Himes said.
Carl Higbie, a retired Navy SEAL from Greenwich who is volunteering for Trumps campaign, said Democrats need to look in the mirror.
So if theyre worried about leaking secrets, they should look to their own party, Higbie said. Donald Trump would not disclose or share any information that would compromise America.
neil.vigdor@scni.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy
MILFORD - Two people were arrested after a fight that started outside a motel room and ended in a drug store parking lot.
The two people - one from Milford and the other from New Milford - were at the Howard Johnsons Hotel when a verbal argument escalated into a physical altercation.
Pa. is about to vote. Here's what to know about voting and ballot access in 2022
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.
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
BBC bosses announced plans to scrap their popular archive of recipes after Culture Secretary John Whittingdale ordered them to tighten their belts
With appalling cynicism, BBC bosses announce plans to scrap their popular archive of recipes, allegedly to save cash in response to the Culture Secretarys demand that they should tighten their belts and produce distinctive output.
No doubt as planned, they then await the inevitable public backlash (led by some of their own presenters). And when it duly comes, they perform a dramatic U-turn by moving the archive to a website run by their commercial division.
You can almost see the Machiavellian workings of their minds: what could they do that would achieve minimum savings, upset the public and cause maximum embarrassment to the Government?
Corporation bosses know full well they could make massive economies in their 5billion budget by scrapping whole areas of their empire that would hardly be missed, and could safely be left in the hands of the commercial sector.
Instead, together with other footling savings, they threaten to shut down a low-cost, high-quality service relied upon by countless amateur cooks.
How depressingly typical of the shroud-waving public sector, which always targets valued services first.
In agreeing to guarantee the licence fee for another 11 years, John Whittingdale and the Government missed a golden opportunity for real reform of a bloated behemoth, run by Left-wing ideologues, that too often holds both the Government and licence-fee payers in contempt.
Master of the myths
From a Prime Minister who has shown little regard for the truth in his scaremongering about Brexit, it seems somewhat hypocritical to accuse Leave campaigners of peddling nine myths.
So on Page 13 today, the Mail lists a similar number of highly dubious claims made by David Cameron himself.
Again and again, hes made preposterous assertions, whether warning that Brexit may heighten the risk of genocide and world war or claiming his pathetic deal on benefits will deter migrants.
Indeed, it is fair to say his entire campaign is based on the myth that he succeeded in securing the fundamental reforms without which he once said Britain couldnt remain in the EU.
David Cameron (pictured) has warned that Brexit may heighten the risk of genocide and world war or claiming his pathetic deal on benefits will deter migrants
Only yesterday, this paper exposed another Cameron myth, when we revealed he was already mobilising the Remain campaign when he was publicly claiming that he ruled nothing out.
Yesterday, to the delight of the BBC, Tory eurofanatic Lord Heseltine cranked up the war of words, saying the strain of the referendum campaign was beginning to tell on Boris Johnson.
He feared, he said, that the prominent Brexiteers judgment is going.
But on the day Mr Cameron claimed that the leader of IS would be happy if Britain pulled out of the EU, doesnt his increasingly hysterical fear-mongering bring his own judgment into question?
Conflict of conscience
Most reflective Britons will see it as profoundly sad and disturbing that the number of abortions in England and Wales is rising again, with demand among older women pushing it to 185,824 in 2015 the highest for five years.
Not so the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, which has listed carrying out more terminations among its significant achievements. Isnt there something unsettling about a government-funded charity that thinks in such terms?
Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Cameron. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and civilisations, to boldly go where no Prime Minister has gone before.
The first draft of todays Queens Speech reads like an episode of Star Trek. Instead of confronting real-world problems, such as mass immigration and crumbling public services, Call Me Dave has decided to promise us a glorious future of cheap space travel and driverless cars.
The Government is considering eight potential sites in Scotland, Wales and Cornwall for the construction of Britains first commercial space port, which ministers assure us will be operational before the end of the current parliament in 2020.
Once up and running it will cater for regular satellite launches and send rocketloads of tourists into space.
Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Cameron. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and civilisations, to boldly go where no Prime Minister has gone before
Passengers will be whisked from their homes to the departure gate in a fleet of autonomous vehicles, gliding seamlessly to their computer-controlled destination.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin says: Driverless cars and commercial space flight might seem like something from science fiction, but the economic potential of the new technology is huge and I am determined the UK gets maximum benefit.
If we want to propel Britains economy into the modern age, and generate the jobs that will come with it, it is vital that the right rules are in place to allow new transportation to flourish.
The transport department estimates that space travel could produce up to 40 billion in revenue and create 100,000 new jobs.
It also forecasts that flooding the streets with driverless cars will cut journey times, reduce accidents and put the rapacious motor insurance industry out of business.
According to a report in The Guardian: Britain is already well placed in the driverless car industry, partly because it is one of the European countries not to have ratified the 1968 Vienna convention on road traffic that stipulates a driver must be in the front seat of a car.
New technology: The transport department forecasts that flooding the streets with driverless cars will cut journey times, reduce accidents and put the rapacious motor insurance industry out of business
Who knew?
When was the last time you saw a car being driven by someone in the back seat? Im sure the Traffic Taliban would take a pretty dim view of that kind of behaviour.
Does anyone seriously believe that Britain will have a fully functioning space port open in four years?
Look, Im no Luddite and cheerfully embrace new technology if it makes my life easier. But weve been promised this brave new world for as long as I can remember.
Fifty years ago, Dan Dare comics painted a shiny vision of futuristic cities complete with flying saucers and driverless cars.
The 21st-century reality remains conventional airliners waiting to land at Heathrow, stacked over the gridlocked Hanger Lane gyratory system on the North Circular Road, while shoppers and commuters queue impatiently for filthy, badly designed buses which still come along in threes.
Does anyone seriously believe that Britain will have a fully functioning space port open in four years?
As a country, our record on infrastructure projects is dismal. Theyre usually years late, hideously over-budget and hopelessly inadequate. The Docklands Light Railway, anyone?
Blast off: The Government is considering eight potential sites in Scotland, Wales and Cornwall for the construction of Britains first commercial space port, which ministers assure us will be operational by 2020
Take HS2, the 55 billion high-speed rail link which underpins George Osbornes ambitious Northern Powerhouse plan. It is supposed to stimulate growth by reducing travelling time between the great Northern cities and London.
But this week we learned that because costs are already spiralling out of control, it may never get any further north than Crewe. Thats if it ever gets built at all.
Reconstruction of Londons Euston station is being held up because the planned route of the line would involve disturbing the natural habitat of a handful of hedgehogs who live in a car park in nearby Regents Park.
Consider, too, the interminable delay in choosing whether to build a new runway at Heathrow, or expand Gatwick instead.
Our international competitors have opened entire new airports in the time it has taken Britain to agonise over a few hundred yards of concrete.
So imagine what might happen if and when the Government ever settles on a location for a space port. Lets call it Cape Cameron.
Potential expansion: Planes remain stacked up at London Heathrow Airport, yet Cameron expects Britain to believe that we can build a space port in just four years as the airport debate rumbles on and on
For a start, there would be an obligatory public inquiry lasting for years.
If the inspector did decide to give the goahead, the whole area would soon be littered with protesters chaining themselves to trees and lying in front of bulldozers.
Its all very well yearning for warp factor nine space travel, but the truth is we cant even afford war planes to go on our new aircraft carriers
Then someone would discover that the proposed development would destroy the breeding ground of a rare species, such as the Horrid Ground-weaver spider, and should therefore be abandoned so a more suitable and eco-sensitive site can be sought.
Everybody back on the space ship.
By the time work eventually started on Cape Cameron, Call Me Dave could be too old and infirm to attend the topping-out ceremony.
As for driverless cars, theyre great in principle. Who wouldnt like to be collected at their front door and chauffeured remotely to work in a whisper-quiet limousine, guided with precision by orbiting satellites communicating with an app on the dashboard?
You could even have a few drinks on the way home without fear of getting breathalysed.
Thats the theory, anyway. But do you trust a driverless satnav system to get you safely from A to B?
How many times have we read about cars being driven into rivers and up blind alleys because their drivers believed the directions on their TomToms?
It is reported that roads will be dug up to install drive-by-wire systems under the surface. Im sure youll agree thats just what Britain needs right now: more roadworks.
Might it not be a better idea to fill in all the gaping potholes first and rip out some of the superfluous traffic lights and infuriating cycle lanes which have been installed at exorbitant expense by car-hating councils?
Its all very well yearning for warp factor nine space travel, but the truth is we cant even afford war planes to go on our new aircraft carriers.
Where are they going to put a space port in Wales Port Talbot? Perhaps redundant steel workers can be retrained as sonic screwdriver engineers and intergalactic starship troopers.
This is pie-in-the-sky politics, displacement activity from a Government which is paralysed by the Brexit referendum and doesnt have a clue what to do about the genuine problems facing the country.
No doubt it played well when tested in front of carefully selected focus groups by tie-less ministers and special advisers in thrall to Google, Uber and the thrill of the new technological frontier.
But it sounds absurd coming from the mouth of the Queen, who deserves better than to be suborned into this kind of cynical gimmickry.
A year ago we elected what we thought was a proper Conservative government committed to fundamental reform in Europe, low taxes and free enterprise. Weve ended up with the Starship Enterprise, space ports and driverless cars.
With one in ten people admitting to looking at their phone during sex, according to new research by a Canadian university, we arent just heading for a technology-induced sexual crisis, were already in the middle of one.
If ever there was a time for sexual mindfulness, its now.
So even if you, like me initially, view the topic of spiritual sex with great scepticism its at least worth giving it a try.
Scroll down for video
Not tonight darling, I'm checking my phone: According to research, one in ten people look at their phone during sex
Ancient life manuals like the Kama Sutra might well be eccentric, quirky and sometimes downright bonkers in parts.
But there are some absolute pearls of sexual wisdom mixed in amongst it all.
Before I attempt to pass on what I think are the best bits from three ideologies, I must point out Im not even going to attempt to summarise the true spiritual meanings and intellectual theories behind each.
But if you want a practical taster of what each offers in a bid to kerb our new tendency to be anywhere but in the moment, youre in the right place.
Taking it slow: Tracey Cox says spiritual sex could help prevent a tech-induced crisis
KAMA SUTRA
What is it?
Its an ancient sex manual written between the third and fifth centuries.
There are actually seven books in total, though only the second is devoted purely to sex. (Worth wading through the others, however, if youd like to know how to break into a harem!)
The Kama Sutra is much, much more than just acrobatic positions for intercourse though most modern interpretations focus almost exclusively on this.
Ironically, the suspected author of the sex book (Vatsyayana) was a lifelong celibate.
The basic principles
Interestingly, all the complex seduction and sexual techniques actually arent aimed at couples in love.
If you love each other, all you need to do is let yourself go and be led by instinct. (Oh really?) The techniques are designed to help you achieve this state.
Some positions seem yoga-like because theyre designed to facilitate meditation as a couple.
Theyre also intended to allow you to have sex for one or two hours with minimal movement needed.
During this time, you will exchange vital energies - or fall asleep. (My moneys on the latter.)
Not tonight dear! Tracey says we arent just headed for a technology-induced sexual crisis, were smack bang in the middle of one
Lessons to learn
The manual recognised female orgasm in a time when others thought there was no such thing. It recommends the man ensure she climaxes before he does. Sexual boredom and monotony are seen as the reason why couples split. Its common in India for men to be encouraged to read the Kama Sutra before marrying. (If the West had enforced sex research, perhaps our affairs and divorce rates would fall dramatically!)
Not so sure...
A man and woman live as one single body and soul. Independent types and commitment phobes would run screaming for the hills.
Those one to two hour sessions . . . sorry to harp on, but whos got time?
Some of the positions require rubber limbs and plasticine penises.
TANTRA
What is it?
Its an eastern science that emerged out of a rebellion against current Hindu beliefs that suggested sex was a no-no if you wanted spiritual enlightenment.
Its been around since the seventh century and honours the sacred union of the male and female energies that create life.
Shiva, the male Hindu god, is the embodiment of pure consciousness and Shakti, the female, is the embodiment of pure energy.
Glowing: Sting and his wife Trudie Styler (seen above) have been practicing tantric sex it for years
The basic principles
Sex is slowed down.
Theres gradual, controlled penetration, rather than the usual frenetic free-for-all.
This enables women to use learnt techniques like tensing and flexing - a posh version of pelvic floor exercises.
Its not a myth that tantric sex can go on for one or two hours, by the way, but the jurys still out on whether longer sex sessions lead to more enjoyable sex.
Tantra also teaches you how to stay in the moment.
If youre the type to drift off while your partners still gamely plugging away (Have I got time for the gym tomorrow?), the connecting exercises could be useful.
Traditional sex therapy encourages people to lose themselves in the experience, Tantra is all about staying fully aware and present. Breathing exercises are designed to improve sexual tone, prolong intercourse and can help with premature ejaculation with men.
Lessons to learn
It encourages couples to stop being time or orgasm focused. It involves the heart as well as other parts. Theres no place in Tantra for lovers to be selfish - its all about giving
Not so sure...
Men are encouraged to prolong lovemaking (the old retain your semen thing again), which buys into the myth that women climax through penetration
Rituals are important. Some people love this aspect, others hate having to go through long, complicated processes just to get a bit
Tantra often refers to mixing of body fluids (nectar or love juices). If youre not having monogamous sex, mixing is about as sensible as lying in the middle of a highway during peak hour. Safe sex and condoms arent figured in.
Tracey says that intimacy - high on the spiritual agenda - is something lots of women and men crave
TAOISM
What is it?
Its a book written in the sixth century that talks about the yin (female) and the yan (male) and the flow of energy between them. This is called chi and its the same life force that flows in the human body.
Harmony is achieved by teaching people how to live within the flux of changing energy.
Basic principles
Taoism recognised men can have multiple orgasms because orgasm and ejaculation are two separate processes.
(Ejaculation is simply the series of contractions that pump the semen out, the feeling of orgasm happens in the brain.)
It teaches men to orgasm without ejaculation through long, involved Sting-like processes which train the brain and the body to separate the two.
Theres a focus on lots of foreplay and nine types of thrusting to try - the aim being to achieve 81 thrusts (one set of nine of each type)!
Lessons to learn
It recognises that male desire is easier to ignite and quick to burn out, while females take longer but tend to last longer.
Theres an emphasis on slow, prolonged foreplay.
Not so sure...
Whos going to keep count until you get to 81?
Ejaculation is permitted only when necessary. Call my male friends old-fashioned, but none thought this was A Good Thing.
Separating orgasm from ejaculation is something Ive read lots about, but Ive never met a man whos actually mastered it. I also suspect most women would be highly suspicious, rather than in raptures, of an apparent orgasm without any evidence (men fake it too)
One suggested method for stopping orgasm is for him to gnash his teeth. There is a reason why this never caught on.
OTHER REASONS TO LOVE SPIRITUAL SEX
Intimacy - high on the spiritual agenda - is something lots of women and some men crave. New research suggests it may be the magic ingredient for good lifelong sex.
Lots of the soppy stuff (hands on hearts, breathing in time with each other) can make people feel safe and more secure.
Its creative and new - both score huge points!
Couples are encouraged to live in the moment, take time out and watch stress levels.
Youre taught to let go of body judgements. Fat days dont exist because you learn to love all of you.
Theres an emphasis on self-exploration, learning about your body and how it works. The more you know, the better lovers you are.
Theres no rush to orgasm and its not orgasm focused.
Youre told to make your bedroom a sacred space. Clean sheets and scented candles could make a nice change from dog-hair, coffee cup stains and toast crusts.
While most designers have presented their new Resort 17 collections on the runway at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, Australian designer Alice McCall decided to shake it up with a live installation.
Guests were invited to the 'special event' showcase at Porteno restaurant in Surry Hills on Tuesday evening where they were instantly immersed in a retro, feminine themed showcase.
Models stood against eye-popping orange and heavily wallpapered backgrounds as they posed with telephone props, classic boudoir-style lounges and colourful pieces of red plastic furniture.
Retro chic: While most designers have presented their new Resort 17 collections on the runway at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, Australian designer Alice McCall decided to shake it up with a live installation
Classically feminine: Guests were invited to the 'special event' showcase at Porteno restaurant in Surry Hills on Tuesday evening where they were instantly immersed in a retro, feminine themed showcase
Glam: Models stood against eye-popping orange and heavily wallpapered backgrounds as they posed with telephone props (right, classic boudoir-style lounges and colourful pieces of red plastic furniture
Signature style: One of the models wore a powder blue playsuit with silver and sheer panels, while others wore figure-hugging white numbers and pink and white capes with circular cutouts
Pastel blues, pinks and white were dominant colours throughout the collection - each of the pieces showing off the designer's signature unique detailing, modern embellishments and playful jumpsuits.
One of the models wore a powder blue playsuit with silver and sheer panels, while others wore figure-hugging white numbers, pink and white capes with circular cutouts and fringed cover-ups with floral detailing.
Many of the women also donned knee-high white socks with their looks for a playful old school feel - many guests describing the event as having a 'Wes Anderson' feel to it.
Beautiful in white: Many of the women also donned knee-high white socks with their looks for a playful old school feel - many guests describing the event as having a 'Wes Anderson' feel to it
Fierce and feminine: Pastel blues, pinks and white were dominant colours throughout the collection - each of the pieces showing off the designer's signature unique detailing, modern embellishments and playful jumpsuits
Candid: Plunging necklines, off-the-shoulder minis and flared sleeves were also recurring themes throughout the collection
Trip back in time: For a fifties twist, some of the models also wore stunning gowns with black fringing and matching headscarves reminiscent of that era
'This leaves presentation-goers craving a Tequila Sunrise on route to Studio 54,' one attendee wrote on Instagram.
Plunging necklines, off-the-shoulder minis and flared sleeves were also recurring themes throughout the collection.
For a fifties twist, some of the models also wore stunning gowns with black fringing and matching headscarves reminiscent of that era.
Racy: 'It features the types of garments you see in old photographs and paintings at your grandmother's family home,' one guest wrote on Instagram, praising the installation
Casual: The themed furniture added a chic, era-appropriate feel to the installation
Racier looks including a model wearing a white sheer blazer and flare pants with nothing underneath and a nude floor-length dress with a bikini underneath in a nod to the resort feel
Another wore an eye-popping golden dress as the posed and danced by a leopard print background atop a furry white rug.
'It features the types of garments you see in old photographs and paintings at your grandmother's family home,' one guest wrote on Instagram, praising the installation.
Racier looks including a model wearing a white sheer blazer and flare pants with nothing underneath and a nude floor-length dress with a bikini underneath in a nod to the resort feel.
Immersive experience: Guests were also treated to a glamorous dinner prior to wandering through each of the rooms
Getting creative: Alice McCall said the installation really came together in the 24 hours before the show
Getting inspired: 'I think the last 24 hours before the show is a wonderful amazing creative madness as well as hopefully a little bit of a sleep,' Alice McCall said
Guests were also treated to a glamorous dinner prior to wandering through each of the rooms.
Alice McCall said the installation really came together in the 24 hours before the show.
Victoria's Secret model Bridget Malcolm has attended a party during Australian Fashion Week in the same dress E! presenter Ksenija Lukic wore to the Logies.
The dress, a maroon Burberry number, features a plunging neck and sheer floor length skirt with short sheer sleeves and a black cinched waist.
Bridget paired the dress with slicked back hair, black nail and minimal jewelry. She wore black strappy heels and a natural lip for the event.
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Copycat: Model Bridget Malcolm has worn the same maroon Burberry dress (left) that E! presenter Ksenija Lukic wore to the Logies (right)
Bets foot forward: Bridget is in the country for Australian Fashion Week in Sydney, where she has attended a number of shows (above)
By comparison, when attending the Logies on May 8 Ksenija completed her outfit with large hoop earrings and black caged heels. She opted for a centre part for her hair and a dark berry lip.
She was dubbed one of the worst dressed on the night of the Logies because of the risky outfit choice.
Bridget wore the dress to a Herald Sun Confidential party in Melbourne on Tuesday night after flying to Australia to attend Australian Fashion Week.
Simple: At the party on Tuesday night, Bridget opted to wear minimal jewelry and paired the dress with black nails and slicked back hair
Fashion forward: The Victoria's Secret model is a fan of local labels, particularly Bec and Bridge which she raves about on Instagram (above)
The party, held at Bond Bar in Melbourne, was missing a lot of the regular celebrity attendees as they all stayed in Sydney for the rest of fashion week.
Earlier in the day she attended the By Johnny show at Carriageworks in Sydney in an all-black ensemble including a sheer top and patent black leather jacket.
She paired these pieces with a black skirt featuring a split and lace-up black high-heeled boots.
Front row: The 23-year-old also attended the opening show of Fashion week in a berry-coloured jacket and black skirt
Heading home: Bridget rushed back to the US, where she is based, after the Confidential party on Tuesday night
She appears to have rushed to the party in Melbourne from Fashion week, given her hair and makeup were the same in the evening as earlier in the day at the show.
The 23-year-old took to Instagram to praise her team who made her up for the day. 'Feeling today's look! Thank you @heidiscarlettkingmakeup and @mafoninastylist,' she wrote.
Fashion week is not all stilettos and designer mules.
With back-to-back shows and exclusive events to attend, to appears some members of the fashion pack have opted for comfort and style.
Bright white sneakers are being paired with designer dresses, mini skirts and trench coats in a trend that has dominated the Front Row of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia.
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Sport luxe: The fashion pack have embraced sneakers at fashion week, with Demi Harman rocking a pair of all-white shoes at the Maticevski show
All white: Model Bambi Northwood-Blythe paired her sneakers with a red mini (left), while April Rose Pengilly wore them with a soft pink top and pink and black skirt (right)
Street style: Fashion blogger Carmen Hamilton (left) paired her sneakers with an Iron Maiden t-shirt and silver and black pleated skirt
While wearing sneaker to fashion week is not new, the trend was rife last year, it has not stopped a number of celebrities from jumping on the bandwagon.
Australian actress and television presenter Demi Harman rocked a pair of all-white sneakers to attend the Maticesvki show on Sunday, pairing the statement shoes with a strapless floral mini and over-sized khaki trench coat.
The white of the sneakers helped bring out the white in her dress, and gave the ensemble an edgy street vibe.
Back in fashion: Wearing sneakers to fashion week is not new, as the fashion pack embraced the trend last year
Casual look: While some women used sneakers to dress down an outfit (right), others embraced a more casual look with ripped jeans (left)
Model Bambi Northwood-Blyth paired her white trainers, which featured a woven platform, with a long-sleeved red mini.
But while some women have chosen to use the sneakers to dress down an outfit, others have worn them as part of a more streetwear look.
Carmen Hamilton, who runs the blog Chronicles of Her, wore sneakers with an Iron Maiden t-shirt and pleated black and silver skirt.
She finished the edgy look with a gold choker, messy bun and black backpack.
Comfort and style: Two women opted to embrace the trend to attend Manning Cartell on Tuesday morning
Fashion forward: Demi Harman (pictured left, right) again rocked the trend, this time wearing a black pair of trainers with white stripes
Practical: 'Flatting it up at MBFWA this year, because my sprained ankle still has not healed yet,' she said
While white sneakers are dominating the trend, army print, tasseled and black sneakers have also made an appearance.
Business owner and designer Emily Highfield wore a pair of Prada black sneakers with her Peggy Hartanto dress.
But it seemed she had good reason.
Rebecca Harnett, a mother-of-three from Toowoomba, Queensland, has been left outraged after restaurant staff forced her to clean up and then charged her an extra $10 because her little boy vomited on the floor.
Ms Harnett recently visited The Glasshouse Bistro, Montville, with her children for lunch when her little boy became sick, and she was handed paper towel and a mop to clean it up.
'While we waited on our meals my two-year-old son had a little vomit on the floor. I didn't expect anyone to clean it up,' Ms Harnett wrote on the restaurant's Facebook page, adding that they had already been waiting 45 minutes for toasted sandwiches.
Furious: Rebecca Harnett, a mother-of-three from Toowoomba, Queensland, has been left outraged after restaurant staff charged her an extra $10 because her little boy, two, vomited on the floor
Not happy: Ms Harnett recently visited The Glasshouse Bistro, Montville, (pictured) with her children for lunch when her little boy became sick, and she immediately asked for a napkin to clean it up
'One of the waitresses gave me paper towel and a wet towel. I cleaned it up and she came back with plastic bags for me to dispose of. All fine with that.
'The lady in charge comes over after we'd finished eaten and said, I heard you had a little accident. The standard charge in any restaurant is $30 if you want us to finish cleaning up [sic].'
Ms Harnett said she told the waitress that she would clean it up, before the waitress returned with a mop and bucket 10 minutes later.
'I was taken aback': Ms Harnett left a review on the restaurant's page after her disappointing experience
'I mopped the floor and went to pay for our meals. The lady in charge said I've had to add $10 onto your bill for someone to disinfect the mop, I suppose that's better than paying $30 [sic],' she wrote.
Speaking to the Sunshine Coast Daily, Ms Harnett said waiters and waitresses told her that she needed to dispose of the vomit because 'the waiters couldn't touch it' and that she was 'appalled' at being charged extra.
'My aunty owns a coffee shop and it's not the customer's responsibility. They have a service of duty and they didn't do it. I was taken aback,' she said.
Doing her best: Ms Harnett said waiters and waitresses told her that she needed to dispose of the vomit because 'the waiters couldn't touch it' and that she was 'appalled' at being charged extra
'They could have shown a bit of compassion.'
A spokesman from the bistro also spoke to the newspaper and said the circumstances and the embarrassment caused was 'unfortunate.'
'The incident caused us a loss of income because that section of the restaurant wasn't able to be used for a period of time,' he said, adding that the charge was fair due to the sterilisation process.
'The staff member who was designated to do that then had to sit outside because they felt ill afterwards. The cost to us was far greater than $10.'
Response: 'The staff member who was designated to do that then had to sit outside because they felt ill afterwards. The cost to us was far greater than $10,' a spokesperson for the restaurant said
Not all bad: 18 customers have previously shared glowing reviews about the restaurant on Facebook
And while 18 customers have given the restaurant a glowing five star review on Facebook, others have been unimpressed by the service and left furious after hearing about Ms Harnett's experience.
'What that is absolutely disgusting! Customer service goes a long way! Will never go to this place now I know this!' One woman wrote.
'Yes your child was sick but that doesn't mean you have to pay a fee and f*****g mop it up for them?' Questioned another.
'Disgusting customer service! Would never return to this place again and after reading other reviews like charging someone to mop up a little bit of baby spew, now that's just pathetic!' A woman wrote.
Many people have learnt domestic house skills like washing clothes by watching their parents but a laundry industry expert says it's time we ditch those old habits.
Jenifir Provateare, product development manager from Nehemiah Manufacturing in Cincinnati in the US 'technology has come a long way since our mothers started doing their laundry,' she told the Washington Post
With 20 years of experience in the laundry industry, she revealed six common mistakes people make when doing their laundry.
NOT WASHING NEW CLOTHES BEFORE WEAR
Harmful: Washing new clothes can prevent skin problems from left over chemicals in the material
It's not new but it is an error people make that could be potentially harmful to you and your family's skin.
Washing new clothes before wearing will remove any leftover chemicals from the production process that can cause skin irritation.
In addition putting new clothes through a cold wash can also help with setting the colour and preventing bleeding.
NOT TREATING STAINS RIGHT AWAY
Don't wait: Waiting to remove a stain is the worst thing you can do, use a stain pen right away
Once a stain or smudge gets on to your clothes Ms Provateare says waiting is the worst thing you can do.
Carrying a stain pen to get as much of the stain out and using it as soon as possible will save you time and energy.
Spraying stain remover and washing the item in the warmest water it can handle can save that piece of clothing - however blood stains should only be washed in cold water.
STOP STICKING TO COLD WASHES
Warm: Using the warmest temperature your clothes can handle can effectively remove dirt and odors
Only using cold water can doesn't always do the best for your clothes.
It doesn't always clean out dirt or remove odors.
Ms Provateare suggests using the warmest water your clothes can handle is the best way to clean and get the best out of your wardrobe.
STOP USING BLEACH ON CLOTHES WITH ELASTIC
Avoid: Using bleach on your white clothes with elastic, especially underwear and socks can ruin them
Many use bleach to get their whites back to their bright state, but don't be fooled - it's the enemy of clothes with elastic.
In her list, Ms Provateare recommends switching to a detergent that has bleach or whitener included to wash your white socks, underwear and other clothes with elastic.
USE THE RECOMMENDED AMOUNT OF DETERGENT
Dull: Not using enough detergent can make your clothes less vibrant
Skimping on the detergent is another laundry no-no.
Using less than the suggested amount will not clean the clothes thoroughly but will leave them looking duller after every wash.
Make sure you use the right kind of detergent for your machine as well as the amount suggested on the bottle or the box.
SORT CLOTHES BY TEMPERATURE, NOT JUST COLOUR
Separate: Sorting out clothes by temperature and colour will help your preserve them for longer
Separating clothes by colour is not the only way to better preserve clothes.
Ms Provateare suggests that sorting out clothes by washing temperature, as seen on the care label of the item will be less harsh on the fabrics.
Modest Fashion Week kicked off on May 13
Australian Fashion Week shows have so far included an array of figure-hugging dresses, plunging necklines, sheer cover-ups and very racy lace playsuits.
But on Friday, designers at Turkey's International Modest Fashion Week were showcasing their more conservative approach to glamorous fashion.
Just as they do in Australia, fashion influencers and high profile fashionistas flocked to shows to get a taste of the new season collections - only this time the haute couture collections were aimed at the country's conservative Muslim elite.
Fierce yet feminine: On Friday, designers at Turkey's International Modest Fashion Week were showcasing their more conservative approach to glamorous fashion
Snapping their favourites: Just as they do in Australia (right), fashion influencers and high profile fashionistas flocked to shows to get a taste of the new season collections
Bold in blue: This time the haute couture collections were aimed at the country's conservative Muslim elite.
Designers from the world over arrived in Istanbul for the event - from Luvice and Aidijuma, to Hannie Hananto and Monika Jufry.
Walking at the Haydarpasa railway station, the models donned detailed lace tunics, billowing blouses, sequined evening dresses and two-piece outfits with intricate detailing along the hems.
Beautiful patterned dresses, chiffon coats, detailed pants and a range of eye-popping turbans, scarves and hijabs were also featured on the catwalk.
Popular event: Designers from the world over arrived in Istanbul for the event - from Luvice and Aidijuma (designs pictured), to Hannie Hananto and Monika Jufry
Different ideas of 'covered': There was a big difference between the looks at both Modest Fashion Week (left) and Australian Fashion Week (right)
Oversized glam: One of the women rocked an oversized hat (left) similar to one wore by models walking for Ginger & Smart (right) on day two of Australian Fashion Week
One of the women rocked an oversized hat similar to one wore by models walking for Ginger & Smart on day two of Australian Fashion Week.
Others wore simple yet elegant floor-length gowns that covered their arms, legs and chest - a far cry from many of the tight, racy mini dresses appearing on the runways in Sydney.
Wedding collections were also displayed, with stunning silk and rhinestone pieces showcased on the chic runway.
Both beautiful: Others wore simple yet elegant floor-length gowns that covered their arms, legs and chest (left) - a far cry from many of the tight, racy mini dresses appearing on the runways in Sydney (right)
Glamorous: Also featuring on the runway were stunning bejewelled headpieces, unique fringe headpieces, floor-length top coats stamped with striking patterns and beaded skirts
Classic: Many praised the shows for highlighting that conservative, modest fashion can still be as striking and flattering as sheer, revealing numbers
Also featuring on the runway were stunning bejewelled headpieces, unique fringe headpieces, floor-length top coats stamped with striking patterns and beaded skirts.
The wedding range by Zehra Kocbay drew attention for all the right reasons - with the intricate beading and crystal detailing sparkling under the lights on the runway.
Many praised the shows for highlighting that conservative, modest fashion can still be as striking and flattering as sheer, revealing numbers.
Eye-catching: The wedding range by Zehra Kocbay drew attention for all the right reasons - with the intricate beading and crystal detailing sparkling under the lights on the runway
Styles for all sorts: Models walking for Zehra Kocbay mastered the art of natural, classic beauty while those walking for Zhivago in Australia went for more of a shock factor
Like Australian Fashion Week, many of the shows had a fifties theme, with fringing, silk coats and fur all appearing at some point.
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia kicked off on Sunday with the Maticevski show and has so far included runway shows, live installations and intimate dinner events.
It will run until Friday May 20, whereas the Modest Fashion Week concluded on May 14 after two days of shows.
Throwback: Like Australian Fashion Week, many of the shows had a fifties theme, with fringing, silk coats and fur all appearing at some point
Different dresses: Kubra Biriktir creations (left) were simple, conservative and elegant whereas Aje designs at Australian Fashion Week showed off the models' figures
It wouldn't be Fashion Week if there wasn't a cat fight or two - and today one may have been sparked between former couple Dan Single and Pip Edwards.
The couple, who share a son Justice, split in 2008 with Single now married to 24-year-old model Stephanie 'Bambi' Northwood-Blyth.
During their time together, Single, the co-founder of denim label Ksubi, and Edwards, design director at General Pants, were the It Couple of the fashion industry.
But it appears there's been no love lost between the pair, with Single describing working with his ex-wife's company as the 'worst mistake' of his career in an interview with PedestrianTV.
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It Couple: Dan Single and ex-wife Pip Edwards - pictured in 2008 - were the cutting edge couple of the Australian fashion industry throughout their marriage
When asked what the worst thing he'd ever done in his career was, Single didn't pull any punches.
'Work for General Pants?' he said.
Ahead of the launch of their new pyjama label P.Jame at Sydney Fashion Week, Single and Northwood-Blyth gave a live Facebook interview from the comfort of their bed on Wednesday.
Happier times: However it seems like things aren't going so swimmingly between the pair - pictured in 2005 - these days, with Single saying that working with Edwards' company General Pants was his worst decision
Bed time: In an interview alongside wife 'Bambi' Northwood-Blyth, Dan Single had a dig at ex Pip Edwards saying working for her company General Pants was the worst decision of his career. Single and Northwood-Blyth will launch PJame, a new range of pyjamas, at Sydney Fashion week on Wednesday
When asked the same question, Bambi was a bit more reserved.
'I don't like to talk about the negatives, I try to keep it positive,' she said.
With Northwood-Blyth, who is a self-described 'sleep legend', looking like she could doze off at any moment, Single was left to answer most of the questions.
The fashion icon left Ksubi in 2012 and judging by the way he talks about the brand that put him on the fashion map, it doesn't seem like that split was amicable either.
'Its just like a joke now when you look at it, its so confused what theyre doing to it, its r*****ed actually,' Single said.
'I try not to (look at Ksubi), but when I do or if someone goes "oh, you should see Ksubi" theyve just made some slides, or theyve knocked off someone elses gym wear or theyve put elastic ribbing on this or theyve made some ripped sexy jeans and made jokes about stuff they dont really understand.
Lovers: Northwood-Blyth and Single married in 2014, after and say they have been working on PJame for two years
'Its like, yeah, f***ed. But anyway, its funny.'
The couple said they were looking forward to beginning their new adventure together, describing their new fashion label as: 'Fun, sexy, indestructive sleepwear.'
When discussing their inspiration to create the sleepwear the couple were asked what they liked to wear to bed.
Touchdown: International model Winnie Harlow, who suffers from a skin condition called vitiligo, arrived in Sydney on Wednesday ahead of the P.Jame launch
'Nothing. That's why we created the sleepwear,' Single said.
Canadian fashion superstar Winnie Harlow, who suffers from the skin condition vitiligo, will be modelling the PJame range at the launch.
Northwood-Blyth took to Instagram to announce that the international model would be walking the catwalk in her new range.
'SO EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THAT WE HAVE ONE MORE EXCLUSIVE MAGICAL OUTTA THIS WORLD GUEST FOR OUR @p_jame SHOW MISS @winnieharlow OUR #SNOOZEQUEEN IS TOUCHING DOWN'
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It's undoubtedly been the number one film of the past year, and it hasn't taken long for Star Wars to trickle into our wardrobes.
Australian designer Kit Willow presented her KITX Resort 17 collection at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia on Wednesday and more than a few of the pieces appeared to take inspiration from the Jedi.
From the feminine draped crossed neck gowns, to the military kimono-inspired dresses, there were glimpses of Rey and Luke Skywalker.
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Fashionable, you are: The KITX collection at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia appeared to draw inspiration from Star Wars
Look familiar? Some of the designs looked like they'd come out of Rey (left) or even Luke Skywalker's (right) wardrobes
Celebrity fans: (L-R) Kyly Clarke, Bridget Malcolm, Demi Harman, and Lindy Klim arrived at Paddington Resevoir in Sydney to support designer Kit Willow
Willow's sustainable and ethical fashion collection saw earthy green tones, grey and black punctuated with pops of yellow and ivory.
The show, held at Paddington Resevoir, was the Fashion Week debut for KITX, which the designer launched in 2015 after departing her first label Willow.
And the fashion pack and celebrities turned out in force to support her - with Lindy Klim, Kyly Clarke, Demi Harman, and Bridget Malcolm sitting front row alongside magazine editors Edwina McCann, Christine Centenera and Kellie Hush.
Pops of colour: Bright yellow and gold punctuated the predominantly grey, black and ivory collection
The highly wearable collection is sure to be a hit with the fashion pack, with flattering draping, and floaty lounge wear-inspired ensembles.
Leather corsets accentuated the models' waists, while over the knee snakeskin boots completed the style.
Models either wore their hair in slicked half-up styles - not dissimilar from Star Wars' Rey - or in wild curls.
Covetable: The highly wearable designs are sure to be a hit this season, with flattering draping
Muted: Black and grey pieces were sexed up with plunging necklines and leather corsetry
FROW: Stylist Romy Frydman and model Tanja Gacic sat with Lindy and her new boyfriend Adam Ellis in the front row
The Funny Girl understudy who has taken on Sheridan Smith's lead role revealed she is worried about the actress.
Natasha Barnes, 26, said she doesn't know how long she will be replacing the star for in the production at the Savoy Theatre, London, but hopes Sheridan, who has reportedly taken a break due to 'stress and exhaustion', is alright.
The newcomer said without Sheridan, 34, on stage there is an 'absence' but The C Word star has been very supportive, she told the Telegraph.
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Natasha Barnes, 26, said she doesn't know how long she will be replacing Sheridan Smith for in the Savoy Theatre production of Funny Girl
Natasha told the paper: 'Sheridan's a friend and we're a family, it's never going to feel whole without her here.
'When I'm on stage I don't have time to consider it, but before and after the show there is this absence. I miss her and worry about her and I hope that she's alright.'
But when asked how long she would be standing in for Sheridan, she replied: 'I really don't know.'
It was announced Smith would take a break from Funny Girl after cancelling three consecutive performances following the Bafta TV awards ceremony.
Last week, the Savoy Theatre recently announced that Natasha would be playing the lead role in Funny Girl for 'two to four weeks' amid growing speculation about Sheridan's health.
Sheridan Smith has taken a break from her role as Fanny Brice in the musical due to 'stress and exhaustion'
Natasha said she was worried about Sheridan, pictured as Fanny Brice left, and hoped she was alright, pictured right looking emotional at the curtain call of the musical
Natasha, pictured with co-star Darius Campbell, who plays Nick, said she feels the absence of Sheridan
Natasha and Darius pose with a fan by the stage door, Natasha said Sheridan had told her to 'be brave' and go for it
Natasha had developed a kinship with Sheridan while working together and could draw parallels with the Cilla actress
Natasha had developed a kinship with Sheridan while working together and could draw parallels with the Cilla actress.
She told the newspaper: 'We're actually very alike. Neither of us had formal training and we're both people-people - but most importantly, we have the same heart and the same soul.'
Although Natasha's moment in the spotlight has come at a bittersweet time, Sheridan has been extremely supportive and given encouraging advice to her.
Natasha told the Telegraph: 'Sheridan's been so supportive of me, saying "You give this a go and it will do good things for you," she told me. 'But be brave and make the part your own.'
For Natasha, the chance to play the starring role has been a dream come true and previously said 'it was all building up to this moment.'
Natasha told the Evening Standard: 'I'm not really sure what's going on in her personal life. She's taking some time out and it's up to us to hold the fort.'
Natasha has attracted rave reviews with a standing ovation after Sheridan missed the third show running last week.
Sheridan Smith was filmed looking disappointed when she lost out at the BAFTAs with viewers calling her expression 'priceless'
Sheridan quickly arranged herself, smiling and clapping the actors who took the Best Single Drama award
Sheridan was later seen partying with Professor Green and has not appeared on stage since
Natasha, who studied theatre at Ringwood Sixth College near her family's Hampshire home, has credits in West End shows such as American Idiot, Chess and Spring Awakening.
She made her acting debut as Alice in a 2000 BBC Radio production of Alice Through The Looking Glass.
Her big break came when she was cast in the original run of Funny Girl at the Menier Chocolate Factory and Smith quit the run following her father's diagnosis with cancer in March.
At the time, Miss Barnes who had to step in to replace her said: Theres no in-between, Sheridan either cant do it, or she gives everything.
Last week, Sheridan hit out at a critics during a Twitter meltdown, telling one: 'Come say your s*** to my face, see what happens'.
She is also said to be suffering from 'cyber-bullying' after she was seen to be visibly disappointed not to win a Bafta when she was nominated for two. Sheridan was later seen partying with stars like rapper Professor Green and has not appeared on stage since.
It seemed to be a bad night for Sheridan as she was also on the end of host Graham Norton's tongue lashing in the opening monologue of the Baftas, which aired on BBC1 last night.
The 54-year-old comedian said: 'Were all excited for a couple of drinks tonight. Or, as its known in theatrical circles, a few glasses of technical difficulties.
The dig appeared to come after theatre goers reported Sheridan appeared to slur her words and accusations of drunkenness flew when her show Funny Girl debuted only to be cancelled due to technical problems.
At first glance you would be forgiven for mistaking these paintings as 2D canvas works of art.
But a closer look reveals images that are in fact naked human bodies, transformed into various different animals using body paint.
German artist Gesine Marwedel, 29, uses her unusual talent to create images including a turtle on the beach, a koala in a tree and a sleeping red panda; and each manages to blend the person into the background.
A German artist, Gesine Marwedel, has created realistic animal portraits by painting them onto naked human bodies
The intricate works of art can take anywhere from four hours to more than 12 hours to complete - but after a photoshoot they're washed away in minutes.
For her latest works the artist has captured a range of animals on the human body. She has reimagined a human hand as a beak for a swan and a flamingo and in another painting an iguana makes it way up a human back, camouflaged as tree branch.
She said: 'I get inspiration from everything - colours, photos, nature. Sometimes ideas just come into my dreams.
Gesine Marwedel spends up to 12 hours painting her subjects before getting them to replicate an animals pose such as a sea turtle seen here
The artist originally worked as a traditional painter before she became interested in her unique craft after doing face painting. Pictured: Gesine transforms humans into a rhino (left) and a praying mantis (right)
In this painting dozens of human figures group together to form a pair of feathered wings
'I mostly freestyle or have a picture of the animal I want to paint, but I don't do sketches before.'
Gesine found herself fascinated with body painting after a chance request saw her career take a change in direction.
She explained: 'I've always painted on canvas, but then a photographer asked me to do some face painting and that's how it started.'
Occasionally the talented painter puts the animal onto a part of the human, using the rest of their body as a habitat, as seen here with this red panda portrait
Gesine (left) says that her subjects enjoy being painted as it is like getting a 'really long massage'. Pictured right: Gesine uses a hand to create a flamingo beak
In this colourful body art an iguana makes it way up a human back, camouflaged as tree branch
The artist added that the sensation of being painted is just as pleasing as doing the painting yourself.
She continued: 'It doesn't tickle - it's an awesome feeling, like getting a really long massage.
'I love to paint on people, because it makes them happy and I love their reactions when they see the result.'
Gesine says that she takes inspiration from everything from colours to nature and occasionally just dreams up her ideas
She's one of the most stylish royals in the world, so Queen Mathilde no doubt chose her outfit extra carefully for the arrival of Rania of Jordan in Belgium.
But she may have regretted opting for a straw hat with an extra wide brim, which knocked into the side of Queen Rania's head when she leaned in to greet her fellow royal with a kiss.
The pair looked delighted to see each other at a welcome ceremony outside the Royal Palace in Brussels to signal the start of the Jordanian royals' official state visit to Belgium.
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Queen Mathilde and Jordan's Queen Rania during a welcome ceremony outside the Royal Palace in Brussels, Belgium
Queen Mathilde may have regretted her choice of a straw hat with an extra wide brim as it caused some technical difficulties when she leaned in to greet her fellow royal with a kiss
Initially the pair shook hands and smiled warmly before Rania put a friendly hand on her fellow royal's arm.
Mathilde, 43, then leaned in to deliver a kiss on the cheek while Rania ducked and tilted her head to one wide, as her fellow royal's wide-brimmed hat came between them.
In the end the greeting became more of an air kiss as Queen's Mathilde's hat proved too unwieldy to get past.
The royal teamed the striking head gear with a yellow and white houndstooth dress.
Initially the pair shook hands and smiled warmly as they met outside the Royal Palace in Brussels
Queen Rania put a friendly hand on her fellow royal's arm as they greeted each other
Queen Mathilde leaned in to deliver a kiss on the cheek while Rania ducked and tilted her head to one wide, as her fellow royal's wide-brimmed hat came between them
The pair could only manage an air kiss as Queen Mathilde's head gear got the better of them
She carried a small gold box clutch, and wore cream leather gloves and rose gold sating sling back heels.
Meanwhile, Queen Rania looked elegant in a pink coat with a gold flower embroidered on the left lapel, worn over a dress in a matching shade.
She teamed the outfit with a pair of black high heeled pumps and carried a black handbag.
Her choice of an extra large hat meant Queen Mathilde ended up with a few logistical difficulties
The Jordanian royal looked elegant in a pink coat with an embroidered lapel
Both quickly recovered their composure after the slightly awkward moment and chatted happily as they walked towards the palace
Queen Rania looked elegant in a pink coat with a gold flower embroidered on the left lapel, worn over a dress in a matching shade
Queen Mathilde royal teamed her striking head gear with a yellow and white houndstooth dress and rose gold satin slingbacks
Although Queen Rania arrived last night, the state visit did not officially begin until this morning with a red carpet ceremony at the Royal Palace in Brussels
Both quickly recovered their composure after the slightly awkward moment and chatted happily as they walked towards the palace.
They paused for an official photo with their husbands King Philippe and King Abdullah II.
Queen Rania arrived in Belgium yesterday with her husband a day before the official start of the two-day state visit.
The royal party posed for an official party outside the palace in Brussels this morning
Queen Mathilde, King Abdullah of Jordan, King Philippe and Queen Rania pose for an official photo at the beginning of the Jordanian royals' two-day state visit to Belgium
The royals were flanked by the flags of both countries during a reception at the palace in Brussels
Jordan's King Abdullah II (left) and Belgium's King Philippe chatted as their wives caught up
Later the glamorous pair arrived for a gala dinner in the Royal Palace in Brussels
Queen Rania dazzled in a bead-encrusted, high-waisted black ruffled skirt from Balmain's Fall 2016 collection
Rania wore her hair down and added a touch of glamour with diamond earrings for the gala dinner in Brussels
Queen Rania poses for a photograph with King Philippe of Belgium. She wore a silk white shirt with flared sleeves tucked into the waist, and dripping diamond earrings
King Philippe and Queen Mathilde welcomed the couple at their private residence, Laeken Castle.
This morning, the royals laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier before meeting the Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel this afternoon.
Later the glamorous pair arrived for a gala dinner in the Royal Palace in Brussels. Queen Rania dazzled in a bead-encrusted, high-waisted black ruffled skirt from Balmain's Fall 2016 collection. She wore a silk white shirt with flared sleeves tucked into the waist, and dripping diamond earrings.
Mathilde, meanwhile, swapped her oversized hat for a tiara which she teamed with a tiered red dress with a beaded bodice. The royal held a dainty matching clutch.
The royals were given a tour of the palace by King Philippe of Belgium, before meeting the Prince and Princess de Ligne.
Making friends: Queen Rania is given a royal tour of the palace by her host King Philippe
Queen Mathilde (far left) swapped her oversized hat for a tiara which she teamed with a tiered red dress with a beaded bodice. She is pictured with (left to right: Queen Rania, King Abdullah of Jordan, King Philippe of Belgium, and the Princess and Prince de Ligne)
Left to right: Queen Mathilde, Queen Rania, King Abdullah and King Philippe pose for an official photo at Laeken
Australian model Samantha Harris has made a stunning return to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week on the catwalk for fashion house Tome.
The 25-year-old beauty walked for the New York based designers - Ryan Lobo and Ramon Martin -at Sydney venue Carriageworks.
The return to the catwalk came one week after Samantha's fiance Luke Hunt was released from jail, the couple reunited on May 11 after Hunt served two years behind bars at St Heliers Correctional Centre in Muswellbrook, New South Wales.
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Australian model Samantha Harris has returned to the catwalk at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia
The model's fiance, Luke Hunt, was released from jail last week after serving two years behind bars
The pair, joined by Hunt's mother (far right), were reunited after he was picked up from prison
Samantha, who has of late been keeping out of the spotlight, has previously spoken of her devastation following the fatal crash that claimed the life of grandfather Kenneth Lay, 78.
The model was in the passenger seat on May 2012 when her partner sped through a red light in Narraweena.
Last week Daily Mail Australia reported Samantha had travelled interstate for a modelling job just one day after Hunt was released from jail.
And it seems it is back to business for the fashion icon who stunned in a series of designs on the catwalk.
Samantha wore a knee-length trench coat over a black lace-up top
The model wore two different designs for the show, her eyebrows studded with Swarovski crystals
The model wore two different designs by the fashion powerhouse.
One was a brown, black and maroon loose-fitting dress, her eyebrows studded Swarovski crystals.
The other, a soft beige trench coat that she wore with an over-sized head scarf.
Wet weather wasn't enough to dampen Samantha Cameron's spirits as she stepped out with her bare legs on show today.
The Prime Minister's wife pounded the wet pavements near The Mall, in Westminster, and used the opportunity to catch up on a phone call.
The 45-year-old braved the cold in a midi-dress with a stylish double-breasted coat, moments after a rain storm had hit.
Samantha Cameron pounded the pavement near The Mall, in Westminster, and used the opportunity to catch up on a phone call
Samantha teamed her minimalist outfit with a pair of heeled boots and kept her chestnut hair down, with her signature fringe framing her face
The mother-of-three wore the classic tailored coat with a flattering black midi dress and looked ready for business with her Smythson leather cross-body bag, as well as a larger tote swung across her shoulder for extra storage.
She teamed her minimalist outfit with a pair of heeled boots and kept her chestnut hair down, with her signature fringe framing her face.
Samantha added a pop of colour with a zesty yellow phone case, in stark contrast to her darker-hued outfit.
While Samantha was out in the cold, husband David Cameron was attending the State Opening of Parliament.
David Cameron and leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn made the traditional walk from the House of Commons to the House of Lords, left, to attend Her Majesty's address for the State Opening of Parliament with traditional pomp and ceremony, right
Mother-of-three Samantha looked effortlessly stylish in a double-breasted grey wool coat, cropped navy trousers and Nike trainers as she headed out on the school run with Arthur, ten and Florence, five
Stylish Sam wore her chestnut hair clipped back and carried a black leather tote, as well as a canvas bag and a blue cross-body purse
Sam announced in May 2010 that she would be stepping down from her full-time role as the creative director of luxury leather goods designers Smythson to work two days a week as a consultant
Working mum: Samantha is frequently seen out and about in London with her children despite the family employing an Australian nanny since 2012
Samantha was named in Tatler's top 10 best-dressed list for her faultless sartorial choices
Mr Cameron and leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn made the traditional walk from the House of Commons to the House of Lords to attend Her Majesty's address for the State Opening of Parliament.
The monarch addressed the Parliament with traditional pomp and ceremony with Prince Philip by her side.
Samantha announced in May 2010 that she would be stepping down from her full-time role as the creative director of luxury leather goods designers Smythson - for which she won a British Glamour Magazine Award for Best Accessory Designer - to work for two days a week as a consultant.
She is also an ambassador for Save the Children and the British Fashion Awards, and in 2010, was named in Tatler's top 10 best-dressed list for her faultless sartorial choices.
Samantha was yesterday seen heading out on the school run with Arthur, ten and Florence, five.
Wearing another classic double-breasted coat with cropped navy trousers and Nike trainers, Samantha looked casual but stylish.
Queen Letizia of Spain opted for a rather alternative look to her usual high glamour today as she visited a wine cellar in Castilla-La Mancha in Central Spain.
The Spanish royal, 43, was pictured wearing a protective white jacket as she accompanied her husband King Felipe VI, 48, at the Virgen de las Vinas winery.
The mother-of-two and her husband were given a tour of the cellar where the owners have been producing wine since 1964.
Queen Letizia was seen in something other than her immaculate glamour today as she wore a protective coat during her visit to a wine cellar in Castilla-La Mancha
During their tour, the pair took a moment to leave their mark in the vicinity with both the King and Queen pausing to sign one of the many barrels of wine.
Each of them signed and dated a barrel that sat side by side before standing aside to pose with the wooden cases.
Before entering the underground cellar today the royal couple were greeted by a deluge of well-wishers waiting outside Virgen de las Vinas in preparation to greet the monarchs.
The Spanish queen joined her husband King Felipe VI for a tour of Virgen de las Vinas winery today
During their tour the royals paused to leave their mark by signing and dating two wine barrels
King Felipe was seen smiling as she used a white chalk board pen to scribe his name during the visit
The barrels stand stood side by side in the winery which has been producing the drink since 1964
There was no shortage of enthusiasm for Letizia and Felipe with the pair greeted by hundreds of Spanish flags being waved by the energetic crowd.
Before she slipped into the protective clothing, Letizia showcased her usual flair for tailoring performing her engagement in a pair of white cigarette pants.
The royal added a monochrome touch to her outfit with a black cropped jacket and finished it off with a pair of nude stilettos.
Before they headed underground the royal couple engaged a rapturous welcome from crowds outside
The royal pair were greeted by hundreds of well-wishers all waving the Spanish flag for their arrival
Clearly keen to comply with hygiene standards the former journalist wore her hair up today and was seen sporting a low chignon.
Although she and her husband may have been surrounded by great vats of wine neither appeared to partake in drinking any today.
This is not the first time that the couple have visited a winery with the pair enjoying a trip to one in February last year.
Before she slipped into the protective clothing Letizia showcased her usual flair for tailoring performing her engagement in a pair of white cigarette pants
Clearly keen to comply with hygiene standards the former journalist wore her hair up today and was seen sporting a low chignon
The King and Queen posed beside a barrel of cava that they had autographed on a prior visit, during their trip to Freixenet winery in the north-eastern Spanish Catalonian village of Sant Sadurni d'Anoia.
The Spanish monarchs were helping the company celebrate its centenary.
Freixenet, a global leader in traditionally-made quality sparkling wines, is celebrating the 100-year anniversary of its first cava (sparkling white or rose wine).
The company is run by the same family that produced the first bottle one century ago, and remains a leader in exports, selling 150 million bottles in more than 140 countries all over the world.
The royal couple visited the Freixenet winery in the north-eastern Spanish Catalonian village of Sant Sadurni d'Anoia in February last year when they posed with barrels they had previously signed
Sofia Vergara is known for her fiery personality and confidence and lucky for us, the actress has generously bottled these characteristics in the form of a fragrance with Avon.
Aptly titled So Very Sofia by Sofia Vergara, the forthcoming perfume was created to capture the Modern Family actress' 'passion' and 'encourage women to never be afraid to be their true selves'.
The floral scent, which hits Avon.com this coming fall, is both warm and fruity thanks to notes of passion fruit, patchouli and Flor de Mayo Orchid, the national flower of Sofia's native Colombia.
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Red hot! Sofia Vergara, 43, stars in the campaign for her forthcoming fragrance for Avon: So Very Sofia by Sofia Vergara
Girl power: The fragrance was created to encourage women to stay true to themselves and to go for their dreams
'Avons mission is incredibly important to me,' said the 43-year-old. 'The brand offers women a way to build themselves up and achieve financial security, and that's something I strongly believe in.'
She continued that she helped design the fragrance with women who own their femininity and strength in mind, and hopes that it will empower its wearers to go for and achieve their dreams.
While there's still a number of months before you can get your hands on one of the sleek bottles, Sofia has offered a behind-the-scenes look at the campaign for the product in a new video.
Smell like Sofia: The perfume, which contains notes of Flor de Mayo Orchid, the national flower of the actress' native Colombia, is priced at $36 and is available to pre-order now on Avon.com
Busy bee! The Modern Family star was in Cartagena, Colombia last week to shoot a beer commercial
In the clip, the actress, wearing a vivacious shade of red lipstick, poses in a sexy scarlet gown and then a form-fitting hot pink dress - both inspired by the fragrance's bright packaging.
'We want to make it vibrant, sensual and fun', she says in the video.
What's a beautiful high school senior to do when she wants to look like Beyonce at her prom, but doesn't have the pop star's access to celebrity designers? Well, if she's as ambitious as one St. Louis teen, she just teams up with a local designer to make her own.
Like many fashion fans, India Ross fell head-over-heels for Queen Bey's Met Gala look in 2015. The star showed up for the event in a mostly sheer Givenchy gown, which was heavily embellished with multicolor crystals.
But instead of just dreaming wistfully that she'd one day get famous and have the chance to wear such a stunning dress, India enlisted a local designer to help create an original Beyonce-inspired look.
Flawless: India Ross's prom look this year was inspired by Beyonce's 2015 Met Gala look
Amazing: The 18-year-old emulated Queen Bey's look from the dress to the hair and make-up
Working it! She had the poses down, too, tilting her head to show off the high pony
Headed to Columbia College Chicago in the fall, India plans to double major in Fashion Business and Fashion Merchandising. But while she's probably years away from realizing her dream of opening her own clothing shop, she's already making a name for herself as a fashionable force to be reckoned with.
When it came to picking out something to wear for prom this year, her mind immediately went to the beaded Givenchy gown, and she wasn't about to ignore her vision.
'I have my own sense of style, but Beyonce is my inspiration,' she told Us Weekly.
She enlisted the help of a local designer, Toi Hall of Toi Box Couture, to work on replicating the Lemonade signer's dress. She then purchased the materials she'd need herself, from places like Walmart, Michaels, and eBay.
Custom: She asked local designer Toi Hall of Toi Box Couture to make the dress for her
Price point: The whole thing cost $800 a bargain compare to the Grammy winner's Givenchy gown
Updated: Together, they worked to get the right look of the beading and sheer fabric, which was more opaque covering her body since she was wearing it to a school dance
'Mesh material with over 2,000 hand-placed crystals was used to create my dress,' she said, revealing that the whole project cost her about $800.
Toi said it was a 'tedious pleasure' to painstakingly put together the gorgeous gown, which featured a more opaque nude fabric to comply with school dress code rules.
Finally, on the night of the big dance, India made sure to do the incredible dress justice. She styled her hair just like Beyonce in a twisty high pony-tail, nailing her head-tilt pose.
She drew inspiration from the star's make-up and jewelry, too, coming off as a total dead-ringer for the 24-year-old songstress.
Hard work: The dress had 2,000 hand-placed crystals and Toi said it was a 'tedious pleasure' to make
Bright future: India, a high school senior, hopes to become a designer herself someday
'My date and I felt like Beyonce and Jay-Z,' she told BuzzFeed. 'It wasnt prom, it felt like we were at the Grammys, everyone slayed.'
Since India went to prom this weekend and posted images of herself on Instagram doing Beyonce proud, thousands of admirers have been swooning over the look.
A four-year-old gymnastics prodigy who captured the hearts of millions received a priceless birthday gift from talk show host Elle DeGeneres, who surprised her with an on-air visit from her military father.
When Emma Rester and her mother Annie Antje from El Paso, Texas, returned to The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Wednesday's broadcast, the comedian reunited the little girl with her beloved father, who is deployed in Korea.
But the surprises didn't end there; to ensure Emma had an unforgettable time with her dad, Ellen threw in a trip to Disney Land as part of her belated fourth birthday present.
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Wonderful surprise: Gymastics prodigy Emma Rester returned to The Ellen DeGeneres Show where she was reunited with her father, who is deployed in Korea
big hug: The heartwarming surprise was a part of Emma's belated birthday present from the talk show host
At the start of the heartwarming clip, Ellen points out that there is 'something different' about the little girl, who first appeared on the show when she was three.
'It's because I have glasses,' she said sweetly, showing off her purple frames before she curled into her mother's side.
Emma has been doing gymnastics since she was two-and-a-half after her Annie thought the sport might help her with her clumsiness, however, the concerned mom took the little girl to the eye doctor when she started walking into things.
'She can see fine. She can see what's in front of her, but she can't tell exactly how far away it is from her. That is why she kept running into things,' Annie said of her daughter lacking depth perception.
Keeping close: Before Emma learned her father was backstage, Emma showed Ellen her stuffed cat, which recites recorded messages from her father when she presses its paw
Amazing discovery: The four-year-old's mom Annie Antje was shocked when Ellen announced that her husband was backstage
Bringing presents: Emma's dad walked out carrying a large bouquet of pink roses for his wife and daughter
Emma, who was feeling a bit shy during her second TV appearance, simply said 'yeah' when Ellen asked if she wears goggles during her gymnastics classes.
While the little girl shied away from answering questions, Annie revealed that they spent her birthday at the indoor playground Jungle Jaks, where they road bumper cars and boats.
Emma, who had to FaceTimed her dad while she was opening her presents, went on to show Ellen her stuffed cat, which recites recorded messages from her father when she presses its paw.
And while Ellen is known for her generosity and on-air surprises, Emma's mom looked genuinely shocked when Ellen told Emma that they had her dad backstage.
So happy: Annie was all smiles as she hugged and kissed her husband
Generous offer: After her dad explained that he missed her birthday, Ellen surprised them with a family tirip to Disney Land
Grateful: Annie shared a video of Emma and her husband thanking Ellen on the little girl's Instagram page
Annie was overcome with emotion when her husband walked on stage carrying a large bouquet of pink roses, which he gave her after he kneeled down to give his daughter a hug.
'We usually do something very special for her birthday,' Emma's father told Ellen of missing her special day. 'We'll do a trip or make it a very special day just for heran all about her daybut I wasn't there so we did it through FaceTime, so I was kind of there but not there at the same time.
'I got to watch her open all of her gifts and see the excitement still.'
When the episode aired, Annie took to Emma's Instagram page to share a video of pint-sized gymnast thanking Ellen for her generosity.
Magical moment: Annie also shared a short clip of Emma meeting Cinderella during their trip to Disney Land
Pure talent: Emma Rester has gained more than 107,000 followers on Instagram for her videos and photos showing off her incredible moves
Budding athlete: The little girl started gymnastics when she was just two-and-a-half when her mother took her to a class in the hopes it would help her with her clumsiness
'Thank you Ellen for bringing my daddy back home,' she says, while her dad adds: 'Thank you for bringing me back home to see this lovely little princess.'
In the videos caption, Annie revealed that they are going to enjoy their day at Disney, noting that thanks to Ellen and her crew they have 'two days as a family that we wouldn't have had'.
Another clip that was posted on Instagram sees Emma walking up to Cinderella as she enjoys her day at Disney Land.
Emma, who has been doing gymnastics for almost two years, has wowed her 107,000 Instagram followers with her ability to do flips, handstands and other exercises.
Gaining fame: Soon after amassing her legion of followers, the little girl was asked to appear on The Ellen Show
Talking her up: Emma appeared on the show with her mother Annie Antje and talked about how she got started in the sport
Missing dad: The little girl also discussed her father (pictured) who is away in Korea with the army
Annie decided to start little Emma an Instagram page back in September, beginning with a few clips of the tiny tot doing headstands and lifts with impressive form.
Suddenly, the page began to take off, attracting tens of thousands of followers in a matter of a few months, and soon enough Emma was asked to appear on Ellen DeGeneres' talk show, where she sat down for an interview and displayed some of her famous moves.
During the interview, little Emma explained that her favorite gymnastics exercises are on the bars, doing back bends and even back handsprings.
She also revealed that her hero is American gymnast Gabby Douglas, who is the reigning Olympic champion for the all-around event, saying: 'I like her leotard, and she won a gold medal at the Olympics.'
Showing off: Next, Emma displayed her talent by performing moves on the bar and on the mats for the studio audience
Looking ahead: Emma revealed that her gymnastics hero is all-around Olympic champion Gabby Douglas
Impressed: Ellen appeared dumbfounded as she watched the three-year-old perform back handsprings
Rising star: Emma's favorite moves including back bends, back handsprings and exercises on the bar
When asked if she is ever afraid of falling, the little girl responded: 'No, because then we get back up.'
'That is a wonderful thing to say. You just get back up!' said Ellen.
Emma and her mother also explained how Emma's father is currently in Korea with the army, but that he left his little girl a 'daddy kiss jar', which is full of chocolate Hershey's kisses, enough for every day he is away.
Following her interview, Emma mounted a mini version of the high bar where she performed some spins to the audience's amazement before taking to the mats and performing a masterful back bend and kick over.
In order to show off her back hand springs, Emma was lifted onto a trampoline and continued to flip herself backwards while Ellen looked on, her mouth agape in shock at the little girl's talent.
A woman has bravely revealed her daily battle with raw red spots which covered her body and left her too embarrassed to wear a bikini.
Emma Lawson, 22, was left with a polka dot-style coating of red welts all over her torso, back, bottom, arms and face after an outbreak of the skin condition psoriasis.
The unsightly patches shattered her confidence and even triggered an infection from using a cotton bud, which spread through her skin from her ear canal and across her face.
Miss Lawson was first diagnosed with psoriasis when she was three, after her mother noticed red sores on her scalp.
Emma Lawson, 22, started with psoriasis when she was three, after her mother noticed red sores on her scalp
Her condition worsened into her teens and playground bullies cruelly taunted her, blaming her flaky skin on her shoulders on dandruff.
After she turned 11, small red spots appeared on her legs and back but never more than three at a time.
It was not until she was 19 that her condition deteriorated and the sores spread across her back, stomach, arms and face.
She now has dozens of red spots that flake and stand out against her creamy skin.
I hated what I saw in the mirror. It was just hideous red and ugly and flaky Emma Lawson, 22
The condition means she often leaves a trail of white skin on her floor and clothes, because her skin sheds so frequently.
When the sores were at their worst, Miss Lawson covered her skin with long sleeves and trousers, even in the height of Australian summer, when temperatures regularly reached 30C.
In her darkest days, she shunned mirrors and refused to go outside.
'I hated what I saw in the mirror. It was just hideous red and ugly and flaky,' she said.
'I felt terrible about myself 24/7 and there was no way of turning it off.
Outbreaks cause a polka dot-style coating of red welts all over her torso, back, bottom, arms and face
The skin condition causes large red patches on her skin. Miss Lawson's condition made her dread looking in the mirror. 'I felt terrible about myself 24/7 and there was no way of turning it off,' she said
Miss Lawson had to spend her 21st birthday in hospital after a cotton bud caused an infection which spread to her face (pictured)
On bad days, Miss Lawson shunned mirrors and refused to go outside because of her skin condition
Miss Lawson said she has now come to terms with the condition. She said: 'I just have to take one day at a time and love myself, because my skin is something I cannot change'
'I would see other girls wearing shorts and dresses and backless tops and it would make me sad because they could wear whatever they wanted.
WHAT IS PSORIASIS? Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that causes raised, red, scaly patches to appear on the skin. It typically affects the outside of the elbows, knees or scalp, though it can appear on any location. Some people report that psoriasis is itchy, burns and stings. The disease is linked to other health conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease and depression. Scientists are not yet sure what exactly causes psoriasis. The disease usually develops between the ages of 15 and 35 - but it can pop up at any time. Nearly 15 per cent of those with psoriasis develop the disease before age 10. Typically, something triggers psoriasis to flare. The skin cells in people with psoriasis grow at an 'abnormally fast rate,' which causes a buildup of psoriasis lesions. Men and women develop the disease at equal rates - but it affects different races at varying rates. Nearly 3.5 per cent of Caucasians have psoriasis, compared to 1.9 per cent of African-Americans. Source: National Psoriasis Foundation Advertisement
'I would just cover myself and sweat through the summer.'
The shop worker, of Brisbane, Australia, ended up in hospital for a week after one particularly bad episode.
Using a cotton bud in her ear caused an infection which spread, leading to cellulitis - an infection of deep layers of the skin.
'I had a really bad flare up and it was all over my body and inside my ear canal,' she said.
'One night I cleaned my ears and went to bed, but a few hours later I woke up with so much pain in my face.
'It was red, hot and tight and so painful. I went to Prince Alexandria Hospital in Brisbane and they admitted me straight away.
'When I cleaned my ear the psoriasis had got inside and spread I had facial cellulitis, a bacterial infection of the skin in the face.
'I was in hospital for a week and had two drips of antibiotics to flush my system out.
'I spent my 21st birthday in hospital it was so miserable.'
Her first flare-up lasted for ten months, before the patches faded into white marks and disappeared.
Miss Lawson thought the worst was behind her, but two weeks ago, during a trip to Japan, her psoriasis returned with full force.
But, rather than battling with self-hatred, she has now decided to live her life to the fullest.
'I make a decision to love myself every day,' Miss Lawson told.
'It can be difficult because I'll look at my skin and there are these horrible red, flaky marks everywhere.
'And there is no cure for psoriasis the only thing I can do is cut out gluten, dairy and processed foods to make my condition more manageable.
'I just have to take one day at a time and love myself, because my skin is something I cannot change.'
It is a condition that's linked to poor concentration, difficult behaviour and hyperactivity in children.
But a new study has found ADHD might not emerge until early adulthood in some people.
Until now, it had been widely thought symptoms of the condition can continue into adulthood.
But the latest research found almost three quarters of young adults with ADHD did not show signs as children.
Researchers at Kings College London discovered nearly 70 per cent of the young adults with ADHD did not meet criteria for the disorder at any of the childhood assessments.
They found adults with this late-onset ADHD had high levels of symptoms, impairment and other mental health disorders.
The latest research found almost three quarters of young adults with ADHD did not show signs as children
It is thought these findings will have important implications for our understanding of the condition - with scientists believing child and adult ADHD could have different causes.
Dr Jessica Agnew-Blais, who lead the study, said the development could change how people perceived the disease.
She said there were a number of factors that could explain why people developed it at a later age - such as their changing circumstances.
We were very interested by this large late-onset ADHD group, as ADHD is generally seen as a childhood-onset neurodevelopmental disorder,' she said.
'We speculated about the nature of late-onset ADHD: the disorder could have been masked in childhood due to protective factors, such as a supportive family environment.
'Or it could be entirely explained by other mental health problems.
'Alternatively, late-onset ADHD could be a distinct disorder altogether.'
The disorder characterised by short attention span, restlessness and impulsivity, and is usually diagnosed in childhood or the teenage years.
Estimates suggest that more than three per cent of boys and just under one per cent of girls has ADHD and around four per cent of adults
Estimates suggest that more than three per cent of boys and just under one per cent of girls has ADHD.
However less is known about the extent to which the disorder persists into adulthood.
Current estimates suggest that anywhere between 10 and 50 per cent of children still have ADHD later in life.
ADHD: WHAT IS THE DISORDER? ADHD is characterised by NHS Choices as a 'a group of behavioural symptoms that include inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness'. Common symptoms include a short attention span, restlessness or constant fidgeting and being easily distracted, the health service says. Many people with ADHD also have learning difficulties and other problems such as sleep disorders. The condition is normally diagnosed between the ages of three to seven. Potential risk factors include smoking, alcohol or drug abuse during pregnancy, premature birth, and simply being male.
The latest study by the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King's looked at 2,200 British twins from a national study.
Symptoms of childhood ADHD were measured at the ages of five, seven, 10 and 12 through reports from their mother and teachers.
Young adults were interviewed at the age of 18 to assess ADHD symptoms and any associated impairments, as well as the existence of other mental health disorders.
Scientists also looked at the genetic basis of ADHD and found the late-onset condition was less inheritable than childhood ADHD.
Dr Agnew-Blais said it was important for scientists to continue to investigate the underlying causes of late-onset ADHD.
'Although ADHD occurs in approximately four per cent of adults, relatively few adults receive a diagnosis or treatment for the disorder,' she said.
'It is crucial that we take a developmental approach to understanding ADHD, and that the absence of a childhood diagnosis should not prevent adults with ADHD from receiving clinical attention.
The UK study supports findings in Brazil which also identified a large proportion of adults with ADHD as not having the disorder in childhood.
Doctors must be banned from prescribing antibiotics without test results proving they are needed, the country's superbugs tsar demands today.
Delivering the findings of a two-year review of the global antibiotic resistance crisis, Lord Jim O'Neill warned that superbugs will kill more people than cancer by 2050.
He accused doctors of doling out antibiotics 'like sweets' and called for severe curbs to control their use.
Delivering the findings of a two-year review of the global antibiotic resistance crisis, Lord Jim O'Neill (pictured) warned that superbugs will kill more people than cancer by 2050 and called for new curbs to control their use
If antibiotics become unusable, key medical procedures including caesarean sections, hip replacements and chemotherapy could become too dangerous to perform because of the risk of infection.
The report is published as Dame Sally Davies, England's chief medical officer, estimates today that 50,000 people in Europe and the US are dying each year because of untreatable infections.
Lord O'Neill, who was asked by David Cameron to conduct the review, said that by 2020 doctors should be allowed to prescribe antibiotics only if a blood or saliva test has definitively diagnosed an infection that requires the drugs.
But this will rely on the creation of new tests that can diagnose an infection within minutes a major advance on current methods that take days to deliver a result.
The report said too often doctors prescribe antibiotics based on a 'guess' whether an infection is present 'just in case', adding: 'This has remained basically unchanged in decades.'
Lord O'Neill said that if political leaders insist on the new rules, companies will realise there is a hole in the market and rapidly produce tests to fill the gap.
He warned that unless urgent action is taken, untreatable superbugs will kill 10million people a year by the middle of the century.
His report, describing antimicrobial resistance as an 'economic and security threat', calls for:
Farmers to be banned from using certain antibiotics on animals so they can be reserved for humans;
Drugs companies to be forced to 'pay or play' either produce new antibiotics or contribute to a 17billion global fund for others to do so;
The creation of a 1billion 'market entry reward' for drugs companies that create effective new antibiotics; and
Governments to set up a global public awareness campaign to warn about antibiotic resistance.
If antibiotics become unusable, key medical procedures including caesarean sections, hip replacements and chemotherapy could become too dangerous to perform because of the risk of infection (file picture)
Warning that failure to act will cost the world more than 69trillion in lost output, Lord O'Neill said 'mandatory' rules should be introduced in every developed nation to stop doctors distributing antibiotics without a conclusive test result.
He said: 'That would have a huge beneficial influence in terms of making us not treat them like sweets, as we currently do, and help our doctors be precise. This could be a huge, huge game-changer.'
Dame Sally will claim today that the 'golden age of antibiotics', which has dominated medicine for the past 50 years, is over.
The more antibiotics are used whether on humans or animals the more resistant bacteria become to them. Superbugs are already breeding at a rapid rate, with increasing numbers of germs evolving to become untreatable with previously effective drugs.
Lord Jim O'Neill accused doctors of doling out antibiotics 'like sweets' and called for severe curbs to control their use (file picture, posed by model)
Lord O'Neill, a minister in the Treasury and former chairman of Goldman Sachs, admitted he did not even know what antimicrobial resistance was when he was asked by the Prime Minister to conduct the review.
At the time, Mr Cameron said he wanted an economist to lead it, to investigate how the incentives, regulatory systems and commercial aspect of the pharmaceutical industry needed to change.
Lord O'Neill said yesterday that persuading drugs companies to make new treatments was vital. But he stressed that the most important tool in the war against superbugs is a drastic reduction in the needless use of antibiotics.
Chancellor George Osborne said the review was a 'stark warning' that antimicrobial resistance will become a greater threat to mankind than cancer.
'The economic cost of failing to act is too great to contemplate,' he added. 'So I am calling on other finance ministries to come together this year and, working with industry leaders and medical experts, agree a common approach.'
Doctors insist they should not shoulder the blame for the superbug problem.
Dr Maureen Baker, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said antibiotic prescription rates are at their lowest in five years.
'But it is not only the healthcare sector that needs to play its part,' she added. 'Change needs to take place in agriculture and to tackle the overuse of drugs in farming.
'GPs also come under enormous pressure from patients to prescribe antibiotics, so we need to do more as a society to make the public realise that prescribing antibiotics is not always the answer.'
The Government said Mr Cameron would respond fully to Lord O'Neill's review later this year.
The Department of Health said: 'We fully recognise the need for a rapid diagnostic test and existing tests can be too slow to give results. That is why we are helping to fund the search for a truly reliable and fast test that can be used in a whole range of settings across the world.'
Actor Tom Hanks was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2013
Tom Hanks believes he can cure himself of Type 2 diabetes by losing weight.
In 2013, the 59-year-old star revealed he had been diagnosed with the metabolic disorder, which causes the body to struggle to regulate blood sugar levels due to a lack of the hormone insulin.
The chronic disease is usually brought on by living an unhealthy lifestyle.
Until recently it was thought diabetes could only be managed rather than cured. But Tom tells Britains Radio Times magazine his doctor says he can beat it if he can shed the pounds and keep them off, admitting: My doctor says if I can hit a target weight, I will not have Type 2 diabetes anymore.
In December last year researchers from Britains Newcastle University published research indicating those with Type 2 diabetes could be cured just by losing weight.
The actor blames himself for his health problems, due to his lifestyle choices as a young man.
I'm part of the lazy American generation that has blindly kept dancing through the party and now finds ourselves with a malady, he says.
"I was heavy. You've seen me in movies, you know what I looked like.contactmusic.com
BET CEO joins Twitter board
Twitter is adding a media executive to its board, appointing BET chairman and CEO Debra Lee as one of its directors.
The cable network executive tweeted the news on Monday, noting that the tech company has "transformed the media and the world like few other things in history (and continues to)!!
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said earlier this year that he wanted to add more diversity and an executive with media experience to the company's board.
In April, Twitter appointed PepsiCo CFO Hugh Johnston and LastMinute.com founder Martha Lane Fox to the board.contactmusic.com
Germs may cause Type 1 Diabetes
Germs could play a role in the development of type 1 diabetes by triggering the body's immune system to destroy the cells that produce insulin, new research suggests.
Scientists have previously shown that killer T-cells, a type of white blood cell that normally protects us from germs, play a major part in type 1 diabetes by destroying insulin producing cells, known as beta cells.
A group of drunk men sexually harassed her in south Delhi. When she dared to object, they smashed beer bottles over her head. The police came, but not to her rescue. Instead they took her away, and ignored her attackers.
This account by a 23-year-old journalism student is the latest grim allegation in a litany from women in the Capital - many of which are followed by claims of police apathy.
The alleged incident took place at 1.30am on Tuesday at Sant Nagar. The young woman says the police, who initially wanted her to strike a compromise, swung into action and registered a case only after a friend posted about the attack on Twitter, with photographs.
The violence erupted after the female victim and her friend objected to the gang of men drinking in public. (File picture.)
The two police officers who arrived at the scene took the victim to the police station, and from there she was accompanied by a female constable and a male colleague to a clinic for a medical test.
My friend, accompanied by a male friend, was reaching her home. As she walked back to the car to get her mobile phone, a group of young men drinking a few metres away from her house started abusing her, said a friend of the victim.
When she objected, the men hit her and her male friend with beer bottles on their heads. They brutally thrashed them.
Crimes against women have dominated the discourse in India since the fatal gang-rape of a young physiotherapist in the Capital more than three years ago. The incident sparked widespread public protests and prompted Parliament to toughen its laws. However, several studies show women in the city still do not feel much safer.
The victim (whose identity we have protected) posted a photo on Twitter after the attack - and the police finally swung into action
According to the victim, there was no help from the police when she complained.
Delhi Police have rejected the accusations of the woman and her friend, saying normal legal procedures were followed.
We are verifying the facts and the allegations made, said DCP South East, MS Randhawa.
When asked about the public drinking, officials said they will have a detailed conversation with the victim on Wednesday.
The victims friend, who is a witness in the case, also alleged that the men often taunt and harass women after consuming alcohol in full public view.
I am also a victim of eve-teasing, she alleged.
These men abuse women and comment on their clothes every day. I have faced filthy remarks from them but would ignore them. They crossed the limit on Tuesday morning and thrashed my friend. They also attacked another friend who has refused to join any legal action.
Analysts say that while a host of measures have been introduced to improve safety, violence against women in India is a deep-seated problem rooted in a predominantly patriarchal culture, which cannot be solved in a short time.
Police have registered a case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt).
In the same week that Tina Dabi became the second women in two years to top the UPSC civil service exams, Khaled Al-Saqaby, a Saudi Arabian family therapist, released a video giving advice on how best to beat your wife.
The video was shot in a forest earlier this year, with the therapist speaking in a reasonable and considered manner.
It was first circulated among the Arabic-speaking devout, then it was translated and released last month by the Washington DC-based Middle East Media Research Institute.
Gender discriminatory is becoming more common at places of worship, despite being in violation of the Constitution. (File picture)
Condition
In the tutorial, Al-Saqaby says that the necessary Islamic conditions for beating must be met, and the goal is merely to make the wife feel that she was wrong in the way she treated her husband.
Unfortunately," Al-Saqaby goes on to say, "some wives want to live a life of equality with their husbands This is a very grave problem.
In other words, women should just accept that they are second-class citizen; they should recognise men as superior and accept the beating in a humble and dignified manner.
The Sabarimala temple issue has opened up a kind of Pandoras Box for many religious institutions which pander to gender discrimination
Apparently, the idea of basic human rights does not impact on or influence Al-Saqaby and his followers.
In most countries, wife beating is called domestic abuse.
But according to these Wahhabi Saudis, whose talk shows are broadcast in Saudi Arabia and even Pakistan, it is merely keeping the wife in her place.
For years, religious clerics have been the primary source of information on marital relationships, and at the core of their teaching is mens superiority over women.
This trend, unfortunately, appears to cut across religions. Take for instance Keralas Sabarimala temple issue, where until now women were banned from entering and worshiping in the buildings.
The temple, dedicated to Lord Ayappa, is located on a hilltop in the Western Ghat mountain ranges of Keralas Pathanamthitta district and is considered miraculous.
Women attend a ceremony at Jagdish Temple, Rajasthan
Evidently the ban on women visiting the temple was legitimate because according to legend, Lord Ayappa was celibate - and now, without women in the vicinity, he can focus on answering the prayers of his devotees in a more timely and effective manner.
He will remain celibate till the day kanni swamis (first-time devotees) stop coming to Sabarimala.
The temple promotes equality among Dalits, Brahmins, and Muslims. So why leave out women?
Citing this as a discriminatory practice that violates the Constitution of India, the Indian Young Lawyers Association filed a PIL, seeking the entry of women into the Sabarimala temple.
Furthermore, two Kerala-based bodies, the Hind Navotthana Pratishtan and Narayanashrama Tapovanam, have filed pleas seeking to intervene in the PIL, presided over a bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra.
They are in favour of allowing women into the temple, and have gone on record to say: No temple ritual, ceremony or custom can be made ground for discriminating against women in the matter of worshipping in any temple, including Sabarimala, as it is a clear violation of the constitutional equality.
Discrimination
The Sabarimala temple issue has opened up a kind of Pandoras Box for many religious institutions that foster gender discriminatory practices.
Take for instance the Kamakhya temple, devoted to the Bleeding Goddess Kamakhya Devi, located on the Nilachal Hill, in the West of Guwahati, Assam.
While the priests are permitted to attend the Goddess who menstruates for three days, ironically women are not allowed to enter the temple during this period.
Most recently Jandai Nag, aged 16, an Adivasi girl from Purantari village in the south Bastar district of Dantewada, refused to follow the discriminatory practice of silently disappearing into a nearby forest before sunrise to stay out of mens sight, and return home after sunset, during her periods.
Tina Dabi came first in this years UPSC civil service exam. She was the second woman in a row. Isn't it time India promoted talent irrespective of gender?
Violence
Challenging the taboo against womens bodies, fighting for their need to be treated as equals, and contesting the normalisation of domestic violence through videos like Al-Saqabys, is an ongoing process.
It is slow and exhausting, but absolutely necessary. Why? Because women are completely capable of being equal to men.
Tina Dabi, who came out first in this years UPSC civil service exams, is the second woman to top the test. Last year it was Ira Singhal.
To suppress talent on the basis of gender and insist that women should only cook a husbands meals, take care of the children and keep the home clean and ready for a husbands homecoming, as suggested by a Saudi television cleric, is regressive to say the least.
According to the Economist magazine, women are one of the worlds most under-utilised natural resources.
This is a capitalist approach to womens productivity, but it does point to what we are losing out on, appealing to the utilitarian if not the altruistic side of human nature.
It can perhaps counter the religious dogma that shackles women to the home, prevents them from entering places of worship, and most importantly, rationalises domestic violence.
Lawyer Gautam Khaitan, a key accused in the multi-crore AgustaWestland helicopter scam, could turn approver, sources told India Today on Wednesday.
If it goes ahead, the move could help probe agencies unravel the multi-layered corruption case that has transfixed the nation.
Khaitan allegedly routed bribe money to Indian officials through shell companies abroad to swing the now-cancelled 2010 VVIP chopper-supply agreement.
The CBI has questioned lawyer Gautam Khaitan over the past two weeks, but denies having approached him to testify as a prosecution witness
The CBI has questioned him over the past two weeks, but the bureau denies having approached him to testify as a prosecution witness in the case.
However, government sources told India Today that the agencies probing the scandal will accept Khaitans proposal if he decides to formally approach them.
Investigators are looking into allegations that Italian defence manufacturer Finmeccanica and its subsidiary, AgustaWestland, spent nearly Rs 360 crore to bribe influential people in India to manipulate specifications related to the choppers flying capability, in order to bag the contract.
The controversy resurfaced last month when an Italian court judgment referred to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, among others, though it gave no evidence of wrongdoing by them.
Delhi-based Khaitan, who was arrested in 2014 and released on bail next year, was a board member of IT firm Aeromatrix and is said to have received money from alleged middlemen Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.
He is also accused of having moved the bribe money in the Rs 3,600-crore helicopter deal through shell companies in tax havens abroad and parked it in Mauritius.
Khaitan has denied that the money was part of the kickbacks in the AgustaWestland agreement.
Authorities are looking to build a watertight case, and Khaitan turning approver could help them find evidence against those who took bribes and speed up the investigation.
Simmi Dutt turned seven on Wednesday. But unlike other children her age who would try to talk their parents into throwing a party, she quietly sat in a corner of her Indore home and watched her mother receive congratulatory calls and messages.
At the moment of her birth, the young girl inadvertently became a catalyst for the first-ever judgment from the countrys apex consumer court - which came on Wednesday - about the importance of an accurate pre-delivery ultrasound diagnosis, and how a faulty one can derail a family's lives.
After a seven-year legal battle, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission ordered an Indore hospital and its two radiologists to pay Rs 15 lakh as compensation to the girl for taking her mothers ultrasound tests in a casual manner and giving an inaccurate finding. This resulted in Simmi being born with no left arm, one kidney, and a damaged spinal cord.
Simmi Dutt, aged 7, pictured with her mother Anju. Her parents have won a seven-year court battle after a hospital failed to identify Simmi's disabilities while her mother was pregnant.
Due to the faulty diagnosis, Anju Dutt could not seek medical termination of the pregnancy, or get timely pre-natal treatment.
She worked with Airtel and then as a financial adviser with HDFC Bank, but quit her job after her daughter was born.
Simmis father, Anil Dutt, who works with an advertising company, told Mail Today: Frankly, we had expected a larger amount as compensation as our kid has to undergo several surgeries including for the kidney and spine. But we are happy too as this judgment will send a strong message to diagnostic centres and hospitals to not be casual while taking ultrasound tests.
Playing with lives
They cannot play around with lives, Anil added.
It is true that, for all parents and grandparents, birth of a child is a joy, a wonder and a renewal of hope. But, one of the most devastating, life-changing events for parents is finding out that their child had taken birth with abnormalities, like without a hand or kidney, said judges JM Malik and SM Kantikar.
Parents often go through stages of grief. Caring for such a child negatively impacts the physical and mental health of parents and caregivers.
Facing their challenges: Anju Dutt previously worked as a financial adviser with HDFC Bank, but quit her job after her daughter was born
The court said the compensation money will be put in a fixed deposit account for Simmi, and until she turns 21, the monthly interest accrued will be paid to her mother.
The child needs an artificial limb and regular physical, occupational therapy. This can create debilitating financial strain which can stigmatise the child who has a birth defect, said the judges.
Brave girl: Simmi's compensation will be put in a fixed deposit account until she turns 21
Anjus lawyer, Ankit Jain, told the court that her ultrasound tests were carried out in the 21st week by Dr GS Saluja and in 32nd week by Dr Kaushalendra Soni - and both gave reports saying the baby was normal.
He said the findings also specifically mentioned that Foetal Spine, Trunk & Limbs are Normal.
On May 18, 2009, Anju gave birth to her baby girl, and was shocked to find her daughter was seriously physically impaired.
Simmi's left arm and kidney were missing, and her lungs were not completely developed. Her weight was just 1500 gm, much lower than the expected 2500 gm.
Jain successfully argued that the case was one of medical negligence, as both doctors - qualified radiologists - had adopted a casual approach and there was total lack of care towards the patient, which resulted in serious consequences.
He said no timely treatment could be given to the mother and child on account of the inaccurate ultrasound reports.
Jain said Simmi would need surgery in future because of a fused spinal cord and also has significant chances of developing paralysis.
In a related tragedy, Simmi's grandmother, Kala Dutt, suffered a severe heart attack after learning of the baby girl's disabilities.
Vishesh Hospital and the radiologists denied any negligence during the ultrasound procedure.
They argued that it wasn't easy to see if the baby had limbs missing, because she was lying on her side when the scan was carried out.
Jagmeet Singh Brar claims poll strategist Prashant Kishor will soon turn his attention to Uttar Pradesh
The ongoing tensions between senior Congress leader Captain Amarinder Singh and the partys poll strategist Prashant Kishor took a new turn on Tuesday.
Jagmeet Singh Brar, the expelled Congress leader and former Congress Working Committee member, claimed that Prashant will soon leave Punjab and focus on Uttar Pradesh.
Differences between Captain Amarinder Singh and Prashant Kishor have widened. He is not happy with Captain and has conveyed the same to the high command. He will soon leave Punjab and will focus on Uttar Pradesh, Jagmeet Singh Brar said on Tuesday.
Captain Amarinder Singh had expressed resentment after Prashant Kishor met the two expelled leaders, Jagmeet Brar and Bir Devinder Singh.
Reacting to Prashants meeting with Brar, Captain said on Monday that Prashant Kishor has no business interfering in the running of the party.
There was nothing wrong in it. For formulating the strategy he (Prashant) will need to meet all leaders.
"I am very satisfied and happy with what Prashant was doing and he was an asset to the party. Prashant was strategising the election campaign for the party, Captain Amarinder Singh said.
The PCC president also announced that former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has agreed to assist the special committee set up to propose tactics for the economic revival of Punjab.
He said he had asked Dr Singh to assist the committee, and he willingly accepted.
On February 13, the AICC had given its approval for Prashant Kishor to assist the Punjab Congress in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Punjab.
Leading his ministers: PM Modi will shortly visit Sarahanpur
The spotlight will be on Uttar Pradesh when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet colleagues reach out to people from May 26 onwards, trumpeting the central governments achievements over the last two years.
Leading the pack will be Modi himself, who will visit Sarahanpur.
All the Cabinet ministers have been asked to visit states other than their native places.
Arun Jaitley will be in Lucknow and Nitin Gadkari will visit Kanpur. Rajnath Singh, who belongs to UP, will visit Mumbai and Patna.
Jharkhand BJP gets new boss
Tala Marandi will be the new chief of the BJPs Jharkhand unit. All eyes are on the internal politics of the BJP, which has to pick up leaders to head units in Bihar, Delhi, and Chandigarh.
The Bihar unit chief will take some time as the internal electoral process in the state is yet to take place.
Sources indicated that the heads of the Delhi and Chandigarh units will be announced first after going through the electioneering.
The party carried out a quick analysis of civic body by-polls in Delhi where it could secure only three seats out of 13.
Rijiju to get a taste of flying jet
Minister of State for Home Kiran Rijiju will get a taste of fighter flying on Wednesday when he gets a ride in Indian Air Forces combat jet Su-30MKI.
The defence ministry has cleared Rijijus sortie from Halwara air base in Punjab.
The IAF has earlier given fighter jet experience to top government functionaries like former Presidents Pratibha Patil and APJ Abdul Kalam.
Notice to Verma in Ishrat case
Senior IPS officer Satish Verma, who as a member of SIT that probed Ishrat Jahan case and termed it a staged encounter, has been served a show-cause notice alleging misconduct and unauthorised absence from duty.
Verma, a 1986 batch IPS officer of Gujarat cadre, is Chief Vigilance Officer at the Shillong-based North Eastern Electrical Power Corporation (NEEPCO). Action against Verma was initiated by NEEPCO.
Congress miffed with Beni U-turn
The Congress is miffed with Beni Prasad Verma, who turned out to be a turncoat by going back to the Samajwadi Party and getting a Rajya Sabha berth for himself.
Female students aspiring to study at Delhi Universitys co-ed colleges will no longer get the three per cent relaxation in cut-offs.
This year, the university has fixed the concession at one per cent, following an analysis based on data from colleges suggesting that there is no shortage of female students.
Last year, the concession varied from one to three per cent.
The decision was taken by the admissions committee in a meeting held on Tuesday.
Female students aspiring to study at Delhi Universitys co-ed colleges will no longer get the three per cent relaxation in cut-offs
Last month, the University had asked colleges to furnish data on how the relaxation in cut-offs was given to female students last year.
Data reflects that the colleges have given admissions to 80-90 per cent girls in specific courses. For instance, 120 girls were admitted against 100 seats. It has been decided that a uniform relaxation will apply to all colleges that have asked for relaxation, said AK Baghi, a member of the admission committee.
In 2015, as many as 22 colleges relaxed their cut-offs for female students by up to three per cent to encourage them to pursue higher education.
Last year, colleges like Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma (ARSD) College, Deen Dyal Upadhyaya College, Zakir Hussain, Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, PGDAV College, Dyal Singh College, and nine other colleges relaxed their cut-offs by one to three per cent for all courses.
This year, every college will have to follow a uniform guideline, added Baghi.
The admission season will start from May 27 and the first cut-off list will be out on June 22. The academic session will start from August 16.
Around 54,000 undergraduates are admitted to the varsity every year.
However, DU has once again decided to run its entire admission process online.
After absconding for about a week, suspended Janata Dal-(United) legislator Manorama Devi finally surrendered before a court on Tuesday.
She has been remanded to judicial custody for 14 days in Gaya.
Manorama, the mother of Rocky Yadav, who is the prime accused in the Aditya Sachdeva road rage killing, had gone into hiding after liquor bottles were recovered from her house during a search operation.
JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi surrendered to a Gaya court on May 17
The police had gone to her house to track down Rocky, who had escaped after shooting Aditya dead for overtaking his car, on May 7.
A case against her was lodged under the recently amended Excise Act. Her house has been sealed too.
Manorama, who arrived at court in the morning, claimed innocence, asserting that she had been framed in the case for political reasons.
No liquor was recovered from my place, she said. Do I drink alcohol that I will store it at home?
Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of having implicated her in the case, she claimed that her name did not even feature in the FIR.
Police have recovered the pistol of Manorama Devis son Rocky Yadav, who is accused of shooting a 19-year-old man dead in a road-rage killing
The Gaya Police had earlier issued an arrest warrant against her and moved the court to attach her property. She had also moved the court seeking anticipatory bail.
With her arrest, the Gaya Central Jail has turned into a veritable home for the MLC. Manoramas son, her husband Bindeshwari Yadav, and her nephew Teni Yadav are already behind bars in connection with the Aditya Sachdeva murder case.
A day after the killing, police had arrested Bindeshwari on charges of aiding and abetting Rocky after he allegedly shot Aditya with his licensed Baretta pistol, and escaped.
Manoramas official bodyguard Rajesh Kumar, who was with Rocky at the time of the incident, was also taken into custody.
On Monday Teni Yadav, who was said to have been with Rocky, surrendered in court.
The Gaya Police claimed that Manorama had surrendered because of mounting police pressure.
On Monday, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar stated that nobody could escape the long arms of the law after committing a crime in Bihar.
There is a rule of law in Bihar, he said.
The Opposition, however, accused Nitish of having lost control over law and order.
Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi raised questions about why the JD(U) MLC had not been arrested the day liquor bottles were recovered from her house.
Union minister and Lok Janshakti Party president Ram Vilas Paswan said that Nitish should also recommend a CBI probe into the Aditya murder case.
A delegation of BJP leaders submitted a memorandum to Governor Ramnath Govind, demanding his intervention.
Among other things, the party leaders sought the removal of jailed former Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Mohammed Shahabuddin from Siwan jail to Bhagalpur jail.
Bihar BJP president Mangal Pandey said that Shahabuddin was using his influence to create an atmosphere of fear in Siwan.
Economics students at Delhi University were taken by surprise when a question in the annual examination paper was changed - while the exam was already halfway through.
While some colleges claimed that the university had sent them a communication during the exam and they did not have a say in the process, a few other colleges said the students had raised issues with the question.
Some students objected to the change as they had already answered the particular question on Intermediate Macroeconomics, a subject in the second semester of Economics Honours, when it was changed with just an hour before the examination ended.
Sudden changes: Students sitting an economics exam were surprised when their paper was changed with just an hour to go. (File picture)
The initial question given to the students had to be answered according to Permanent Income Hypothesis - but the DU authorities changed the question to be answered according to Lifecycle Hypothesis.
By the time we were informed of the change, I had already answered that question, said a Zakir Hussain college student.
Another student said: "The question paper is evaluated at various stages before being finalised for a particular exam. This time of chaos is unexpected from the university but will definitely hamper our performance."
The Principal of Hansraj College, where initial complaints were received, said that they raised the issue with the university.
Some students had complained to the invigilators that the language of the rogue question was not clear.
The very idea that somehow the 21bn merger of equals between the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Boerse would be done and dusted before the Brexit referendum was always a fantasy.
The regulatory obstacles were always going to be considerable. Brexit and EU politics and rivalry were always going to rear their head.
Along the way the proponents of the deal in London and Frankfurt have played a skilful game. They managed to keep a potential party pooper, the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), at bay by making due diligence as difficult. They also recruited to the cause Chancellor George Osborne and, more surprisingly, that wily old City fox Michael Spencer of NEX (formerly ICAP). Osborne was wrong on the failed Pfizer takeover of Britains AstraZeneca, and NEX potentially would make a better London partner for the LSE, keeping it bulletproof from stifling Frankfurt capitalism.
'Merger of equals': The 21bn deal for the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Boerse to join forces is still ongoing
It has long been my view that a Leave vote would kill the deal. The burghers of Frankfurt would not tolerate an enlarged exchange with the top company based in the City.
We can see from Berlins current bullying treatment of Greece that, when it comes to financial leadership, Germany wants to be in the driving seat. The federation of entrepreneurs in German federal state of Hesse, home to Frankfurt, have publicly repudiated the headquarters of a merged exchange being in London. Ulrich Caspar, a member of the Hesse parliament, has stated that under no circumstances should the merged enterprise be based in London.
The possibility of a London-Frankfurt axis is causing anxiety in France. Gerard Rameix, current chairman of the French market authority AMF, says he would not want to see Paris-based Euronext marginalised by the merger. So far we have heard little from the prudential or competition regulators.
The assumption seems to be that once the deal documents have been dispatched then the tender offer, which will allow DB shareholders to swap their holdings for shares in the merged company, can be launched. What we know, however, is that prudential regulators will have concerns about who stands behind the clearing operations should a major transaction go wrong.
We also know that the EU competition commissioner is never a pushover. In much the same way as it forced Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland to discard branches, it may regard an all-powerful Anglo-German exchange as anti-competitive.
Much of this may seem like wishful thinking by those of us who have argued for the London Stock Exchanges independence.
The lesson of Britains open door policy to overseas takeovers is that they need to be scrutinised thoroughly to make sure they are in the national economic interest.
That is the least we can expect after such cross border disasters as Royal Bank of Scotlands purchase of ABN Amro in the teeth of the financial crisis.
Trench warfare
Burberry chief executive Christopher Bailey cannot be blamed for the crumbling Asian demand which has carved a hole in the luxury raincoat groups profits.
But he can be criticised for skulking in the shadows and leaving his lieutenants to try to explain away the companys problems.
He wanted the job of chief executive alongside his role as head designer when Angela Ahrendts left for Apple in 2014, and chairman Sir John Peace gave him the chance.
Two years at the helm ought to have been enough time for someone paid 8m a year to pluck up the courage to brief the financial press. Instead, he is wrapped in tissue paper, let out under only the most controlled circumstances and the company is now talking about drafting in more help for his listing leadership. What a contrast between Bailey and his feisty, open and highly regarded American predecessors, Rose Marie Bravo and Ahrendts.
Burberry is taking steps to change things. Costs are being cut, fashion ranges simplified and distribution arrangements through US department stores reshaped so as to shore up its luxury reputation. The company is also seeking to calm investor anxiety with the promise of progressive dividends and a modest 150m share buyback.
No one can dispute Bailey is a fashion genius and a huge credit to creative Britain. But if he wants to survive as chief executive he needs to show he has the necessary willpower.
Jobs galore
Ever since Mark Carney arrived at the Bank of England in 2013, Britains jobs market has confounded the governors predictions.
A week after he warned of a Brexit technical recession the April figures show some 44,000 new jobs were created in the first quarter, the unemployment rate remains anchored at 5.1 per cent (half that in the eurozone) and numbers on the dole fell by a modest 2,400.
His former employer Goldman Sachs has lowered its annualised growth reading to 2.4 per centc in March (down from 2.7 per cent in January).
Families who loyally renew their private health cover each year are in danger of being fleeced by cynical insurers.
For years, Money Mail has warned that loyal customers are routinely exploited if they roll over to a new car or home insurance policy without shopping around.
Now, we can reveal fears that people who pay for health cover are being dragged into the insurance renewal racket, too.
Giant health cover firms are playing on people's fears that it might be tricky to get a deal with another provider if they have suffered a medical emergency and had to make a claim.
Rip-off risk: Giant health cover firms are playing on people's fears that it might be tricky to get a deal with another provider if they have suffered a medical emergency and had to make a claim
Loyal customers are being hit by price rises of up to 30 per cent a year and left in the dark about cheaper deals.
The rip-off danger has come to light after a couple in their late-60s were quoted an astonishing 12,000 by Bupa to renew an annual policy they'd had for 30 years.
When their daughter went online, she found a similar deal that suited their needs for 6,000. And, shockingly, the half-price offer came from the same insurer Bupa.
But the company openly admits it fails to tell loyal policyholders about cheaper rates it advertises to new customers. It is not clear if other loyal health cover customers, whether with Bupa or other firms, are also being hit by such steep price rises.
Industry analysis shows that more than 50,000 people have ditched their policies in the past four years, with experts blaming soaring costs.
Insiders say providers face rising bills to pay for expensive new medicines and treatments and their dwindling numbers of loyal customers are being forced to foot the bill. They say older customers, especially baby boomers in their 60s and 70s, are suffering the most severe price hikes.
This is because of the way in which insurers group customers together into different price bands, depending on when they first take out a policy.
Dr Penny O'Nions, a medical insurance expert and founder of advice firm The Onion Group, says: 'Health insurers will group people who buy insurance at around the same time into the same book of business. This book will eventually be closed to new customers.
'Your premiums will be based not only on your own claims history, but also the claims experience of people who are in your group.
So if the members of your group have been with the insurer for a long time, they are likely to be older and to make more claims.'
James Daley, director of consumer experts Fairer Finance, says: 'The problem is that health insurance starts to get too expensive when you need it the most. And it's difficult for people to shop around.
'If you changed to a new provider, you'd need to be underwritten again and you can't take a pre-existing condition with you. They have got you trapped, so it's certainly open to abuse.'
Health insurance covers the cost of private treatment for short-term illnesses or injuries. What you pay depends on the level of cover you buy, your age, state of health and whether you smoke.
Most basic plans cover essential treatments such as hospital care and surgery, while more comprehensive policies may include specialist therapies.
Nearly 3 million people currently have a policy. Two-thirds, around 2.1 million, have a plan through work, where companies often offer it as a staff perk.
An estimated 866,000 pay out of their own pocket. Many of these are families worried about how long it can take to get a GP appointment or routine operation on the NHS.
Others have been lured in by the marketing used by insurers such as Vitality, which offers discounted gym memberships and free cinema tickets.
Private cover is also popular with retired couples who are looking for peace of mind as their health becomes a greater concern.
Patrick and Jean Harris had been Bupa customers for 30 years. With both approaching their 70th birthdays, moving to another provider felt like too much of a gamble.
So, when Bupa quoted more than 12,000 to renew their policy, they simply assumed this was how much health insurance now cost.
But their daughter, Nancy, 46, was shocked when she put her parents' details into Bupa's website and found a similar policy for 6,061.38.
Other deals: Bupa openly admits it fails to tell loyal policyholders about cheaper rates it advertises to new customers
The catch is that the cheaper policy excludes cover for pre-existing conditions such as Patrick's hip replacement and Jean's under- active thyroid.
Yet the Harrises say it's exactly the kind of policy they were looking for.
They contacted Bupa to ask why it was charging so much to renew and why it failed to tell them about the cheaper option.
Bupa blamed the hike on their medical history, the cost of treatment near their home in Limehouse, East London and general price rises for drugs and new medical technology. The firm told the Harrises it was under no obligation to tell them about ways to cut their bills.
Its letter stated: 'Whilst other insurance companies may provide this information as part of their customer care, we have chosen not to do so.' It continued: 'The subscription you pay is based on the overall cost of claims submitted by members of your scheme and age, rather than your own claims.'
Shockingly, there are no industry rules forcing health insurers to tell customers about cheaper deals or the best option for them.
That's leaving customers badly exposed to exploitation as insurers crank up premiums to cover rising healthcare costs.
Since 2010, premiums have risen 17 per cent and are expected to rise another 6.5 per cent on average, according to consultants Laing Buisson.
But it appears long-standing customers, like the Harrises, are facing even bigger increases. In 2006, the couple's annual subscription to Bupa was 6,605.60. By 2012, it had risen steadily to 8,274.40.
In 2013, the price jumped 30.1 per cent to 10,763.38, which Bupa put down to claims made the previous year.
But then, in 2014, it hiked fees again to 12,549.54. That seemed harsh to the couple, because they'd hardly claimed on the policy since Patrick's hip replacement in 2013.
'We are the sort of family that does not take things for granted we do not drain the system,' says Patrick. 'We use Bupa sparingly.
'I am a man who does not really like change in his life. When I join anything, I like to think I am there for the duration, so changing health companies at my age is not desirable.'
By comparison, a typical 69-year-old couple in St Albans, Herts, would pay premiums of 3,779.76 a year on a comprehensive Bupa policy.
This comes with a 200 excess, 500 outpatient limit and full cancer cover, although it wouldn't cover chronic or pre-existing conditions.
Premiums will fluctuate depending where you live, as hospitals in areas such as London have much higher overheads.
Nancy says: 'As soon as I saw how much my parents had paid, alarm bells started to ring.
'When I checked online, I couldn't believe it. They have been with Bupa for 30 years, yet a new customer gets cover for half the price. No one ever told us there were similar plans available for a fraction of the cost.'
Alex Perry, of Bupa, says: 'We have many different policies at different prices.
The main reason for the price difference between the two policies they compared is that one covers illnesses people have had in the past, and is therefore more expensive, while the other doesn't.'
Bupa says it offered the Harrises options to cut the cost of their policy when they complained.
ITALIAN JOBS Two Italian banks are axing 1,800 jobs as fears grow for the nations creaking financial system.
The cutbacks were announced as part of a merger between Banco Popolare and Banca Popolare di Milano.
And around 14 per cent of the pairs branch network will be closed in a bid to make an 860million profit in 2019.
Their shares have respectively lost 63 per cent and 40 per cent of their value so far this year.
AIRPORT DEPARTURE Heathrow has appointed a stand-in finance director after Michael Uzielli announced last month that he plans to leave.
Javier Echave, who has been with the airport since 2008 and is currently the finance chief for operations and performance, will become the top bean counter while the search for a permanent replacement is under way.
PUBS OVERHAUL Britains largest pub company Enterprise Inns has posted flat profits but said its plans to overhaul its business model are on track.
The firm posted profits of 57million for the six months to the end of March, unchanged from the same period last year.
Enterprise will be affected by new laws ending contracts requiring publicans to buy beer from their landlords, and thus is in the process of off-loading its tenanted businesses.
Shares rose 2.2 per cent, or 2p, to 91.8p.
GOOD LOOKERS A boom in the number of customers searching online for used cars helped Lookers post upbeat first quarter sales.
Shares in the car dealership firm rose 6 per cent or 7.8p to 139.5p as full-year profit is set to be in line with expectations. Earnings rose 5 per cent for new cars and 7 per cent for used.
Chief executive Andy Bruce said: The group has made a good start to the year with positive results for the first quarter from both the motor and parts divisions.
POSTS AXED The Post Office is to cut 600 jobs in its cash-handling arm, as unions warned it could be destroyed by a Government cost-cutting drive.
It comes on top of 500 front-line roles slashed in branches this year, according to the Communication Workers Union. CWU general secretary Dave Ward said the organisation was in crisis and heading for ruin.
SHELLING OUT Shareholders have been urged to vote against fat cat pay at Royal Dutch Shell. The oil companys chief executive Ben van Beurden pocketed 4m last year.
This was a significant cut from the 19.5million he was paid in 2014, as rocky energy markets saw annual profits plummet from 19.6billion to 1.4billion.
But campaign group Pirc said the boss still earned 37 times what was given to the average employee.
Fading star: Bailey with Burberry model Kate Moss
A fifth of fashion lines at Burberry are to be axed, along with jobs and 100m of costs as under-fire boss Christopher Bailey tries to revive the iconic British brand.
Chief executive and chief creative officer Bailey yesterday outlined a major restructuring after it revealed a 10 per cent fall in profits.
Bailey said he wants to reduce the bureaucracy across the sprawling label, which is facing a massive slowdown in sales in China.
Baileys controversial dual role of both heading up design and being chief executive with little corporate experience has been a concern for some shareholders.
It had been thought that the board would recruit a joint chief executive to support Bailey. But the first major casualty of the reshuffle appeared to be Ian Carter, the chairman of its pay and audit committees, who had ultimate responsibility for approving Baileys controversial 8m pay package.
Carter will leave the role he has held since 2012, to be replaced by Fabiola Arredondo. Audit committee chairman Philip Bowman is to step down from August and will be succeeded by Sky boss and non-executive Jeremy Darroch.
Stefan Stern, director at the High Pay Centre, said: We might presume there is ongoing tension about the way the chief executive is being paid. Burberry does not look like a very happy ship at the moment.
Burberry pointed out that 92 per cent of shareholders voted in favour of its remuneration report at the last annual general meeting.
The 160-year old companys shares slumped 6 per cent during trading yesterday amid doubts whether Bailey has the expertise to steer the luxury giant through the dramatic slowdown that has hit the luxury sector.
Burberry, which has had successes with sales of its 750 cashmere scarves, ponchos and the 795 rucksack from its catwalk shows, said profit had slumped by 10 per cent to 421m for the year to end-March and sales fell 1 per cent to 2.5bn.
It also effectively issued a profit warning saying they would be at the lower end of City forecasts, currently between 375m to 449m.
Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets, said: Theres a growing feeling the initiatives from Bailey are too little too late.
Without a change of leadership, Burberry shares may be destined to sink to their lowest level in five years.
Luca Solca, luxury expert at Exane BNP Paribas, said: We maintain our doubts on the senior management organisation.
The luxury sector, which had been growing by 7 per cent, is now expected to grow by between 2pc to 3 per cent as emerging market growth such as China levels off, with a particular decline in Hong Kong and Macau.
UNDER FIRE, SON OF A CARPENTER WHO BECAME 8 MILLION A YEAR BOSS Christopher Bailey wasnt taking questions from journalists yesterday, writes Henry Deedes. Understandable, perhaps, given the smell of blood surrounding the embattled chief executive. Instead of taking the flak, benign questions from city analysts were palmed off for his executives to answer. The ring of steel around Bailey, 45, only served to reinforce recent fears that for all his success as Burberrys creative director, making this likeable carpenters son chief executive of a FTSE 100 company worth nearly 6bn with no previous boardroom experience was a ploy too far. Of his brilliance as a creative force, no one can deny. Upon his arrival from Gucci in 2001, Burberry was in a slump, and its iconic red, camel and black check hijacked by football hooligans and D-list celebrities. But within years it was transformed from a staid raincoat shop into an internationally acclaimed high-fashion label. Blessed with boyish good looks, tousled blond hair and modest charm, Bailey became one of the firms most effective ambassadors. At parties in Burberrys imposing London stores, he was always at the centrepiece, happy to converse with guests and journalists alike in his gentle northern burr, usually accompanied by his husband, Old Etonian actor Simon Woods. Beautifully choreographed marketing campaigns became event moments, featuring home-grown talents such as Sienna Miller and Eddie Redmayne. Under Baileys creative watch, Burberry was once again a brand you were proud to call British. But critics also point out that the firms growth also took place under Rose Marie Bravo and her successor, Angela Ahrendts two charismatic Americans with vast experience in management. The son of a carpenter and M&S window dresser, he attended the Royal College of Art before embarking on his career in fashion, first at Donna Karan, then at Gucci in Milan. It was from there he joined Burberry in 2001 as creative director. His CV boasts a string of awards, but not the merest suggestion of management ability. It was almost inevitable that after promotion to the chief executive role in 2014, much of the gloss on his reputation began to peel. Investors were stunned by his initial 20m pay package, provoking a revolt. Indeed, his 8m-a-year salary, putting him in the same league as the bosses of HSBC and Unilever multi-national companies many times the size of Burberry was recently described by one City critic as bonkers. With a sharp drop in its share price already this year, investors will soon demand action. Unless Bailey can turns things around soon, it will take more than one of his neatly tailored trenchcoats to shield him from them.
Burberry experienced an eye-watering 20 per cent fall in sales in these areas.
Firms such as Burberry have been hit by economic concerns in China, a government crack-down on corporate bribery, as well as a switch in shopping trends. Chinese shoppers who account for around 40 per cent of Burberrys sales have instead been visiting Japan, where Burberry has been slow to grow.
Baileys revitalisation plan will see changes across its collections, its shops and its websites.
The City had hoped the British brand would hire a new executive to work with Bailey to help him turn its fortunes around.
Bailey is one of the highest paid chief executives in the FTSE 100, on a package of around 8m as well as lucrative share awards. However since he was appointed the companys shares have fallen by more than 20 per cent.
Needing a magic touch: Former Harry Potter star Emma Watson modelling for Burberry
The new three-year plan includes cutting about 20 per cent of its range of clothes, and it has already scrapped its Brit, Prorsum and London brands. In essence it will have fewer varieties of trousers, coats and tops and instead advertise and promote a streamlined range.
It will also focus its collections to suit local markets rather than, as previously, creating similar ranges around the world to target a travelling luxury consumer. It said it will also retrain store staff to get shoppers to spend more.
The drastic changes, put in place following a report by consultant Bain, will restructure the way its various business segments report into head office and it is expected it will also make some redundancies.
Tripped up: Strictly star Anya Garnis
When Strictly Come Dancing star Anya Garnis found the perfect home to buy with her boyfriend, she was thrilled.
The 34-year-old dancer from Russia and her British partner put an offer on their dream two-bedroom London flat, confident that their finances were in order and their mortgage application would be approved immediately.
But Anya who reached the semi-finals of the show in 2013 with Casualty star Patrick Robinson was horrified when the application was rejected because of a marker on boyfriend Sunna Van Kampen's credit history. Suddenly their plans to buy lay in ruins.
Unbeknown to Sunna, a mistake by his energy supplier, npower, in setting up his direct debits meant he had not been paying for the gas element of his dual fuel bill for nearly a year.
As soon as he realised, the 28-year-old alerted npower and paid the 120 he owed.
But despite the error being no fault of his own, the energy company placed a 'black mark' on his file, causing his credit rating to plunge from 'excellent' to 'poor' overnight.
This was enough for their application to be thrown out by a mortgage broker, who warned that other lenders were likely to reject them and cause even more damage to their credit rating.
Despite repeated calls to npower, which has admitted responsibility for the error, Sunna's account was only cleared after Money Mail intervened.
The couple had been told it would take at least six weeks before the firm would even consider removing the marker during which time their house purchase would have fallen through.
Anya says: 'We had found our first home together and it was perfect. To think that it could all be lost because of something so little that wasn't even our mistake. We just hope this doesn't happen to anyone else.'
The couple's story offers a window into the terrifying world of digital credit checks.
Companies such as Experian and Equifax compile enormous files on every person in Britain, showing reams of detail about your financial life including your credit cards, bank balance, address and mortgage.
They get this data directly from financial firms.
They then share it with banks, building societies, phone companies and other firms before they issue loans or allow you to open an account that could go into debt.
The credit report is supposed to show whether you're a reliable borrower. But as Anya and Sunna found, it's astonishingly simple for rogue credit markers to creep onto your report without you having an inkling.
Minor debts which have been forgotten about, accounts which failed to close correctly, or administration errors with billing or direct debits can trigger a black flag, which is placed on a customer's credit file. This can scupper their chances of getting a mortgage or loan.
Moves: Anya reached the semi-finals of the show in 2013 with Casualty star Patrick Robinson
Andrew Montlake, of mortgage broker Coreco, says even a few pounds outstanding on an old bill for a closed account could affect a customer's ability to buy a house for up to six years when markers are removed.
He adds: 'It is something that happens more often than people expect, as there are so many things that can affect a credit rating these days, such as mobile phone bills or store cards people forget they have 10 outstanding on.
'Usually it is a really small amount they can pay off easily they just don't realise it is there.
'There are also increasing amounts of fraud. Clients can have credit issues they don't even know about because someone is posing as them.'
And, as Anya and Sunna found, getting a marker removed even when you can prove it's a mistake is no easy task.
Anya splits her time between the UK and U.S., where she has starred in So You Think You Can Dance? and Dancing With The Stars (the U.S. equivalent of Strictly), but wanted to set up a London base with her partner.
The couple, who met through a mutual friend and have been together for 18 months, had their hearts set on a 600,000, two-bed flat with beautifully restored period features.
Sunna did not realise there was a problem because npower was taking 150 a month out of his account. But it later transpired this was only for the electric element of his bill, which was so high because his meter had been incorrectly installed.
'It's crazy to think that an energy company can just destroy your dreams for a home in an instant, all without even making a phone call or sending an email to let you know,' he says.
'Npower already had my phone number, my email address, my postal address and my bank details because I was paying them a direct debit every month.
'I cannot believe they did not contact me to raise concerns that the gas part of the bill hadn't been paid before putting the marker on my account, especially as I was clearly a reliable customer. It seems ridiculous that no one picked up the phone.'
Npower says it has apologised to Sunna, placed him on a 'more suitable tariff' and backdated this to July 2015 as a goodwill gesture. The credit marker was removed from his account last week three months after his initial complaint.
A spokesman for the Financial Ombudsman says: 'Credit reports mostly operate away from people's day-to-day attention.
'It's understandable that many consumers don't know what's kept on it and people often don't realise there's a problem until it's too late.'
Warning: A new scam involves criminals posing as solicitors to steal huge sums of money
Homebuyers are being warned to send financial details to their solicitor by post, rather than e-mail, to avoid falling victim to a new scam.
The fraud involves criminals posing as solicitors to steal huge sums of money.
Fraudsters hack into the buyer's e-mail account and monitor any information about cash transactions sent to or from the solicitor.
The crook pounces when a bank transfer is to be made.
Typically, they send the buyer an e-mail that appears to be from the solicitor's address, saying details of the law firm's bank account have changed.
The victim then unwittingly sends their cash - in some cases, hundreds of thousands of pounds - to the new account, where it is grabbed by the conmen.
Trade body the Conveyancing Association says buyers should avoid communicating with lawyers via email.
If you must make an online bank transfer, send a small amount initially to check it's safe to continue.
A Conveyancing Association spokesman says: 'Criminals are increasingly looking at the conveyancing process as a means to defraud firms and customers.
More than 5,000 Ryanair customers have joined a court battle over rip-off admin fees.
Online firm CaseHub is looking for people stung with charges of up to 70 (55) to check in or replace a boarding card and 160 (126) to amend documents.
CaseHub argues that these fees are illegal under EU rules and that passengers who have paid them should be refunded.
People power: More than 5,000 Ryanair customers have joined a court battle over rip-off admin fees
Another 70,000 passengers need to sign up before the case will be heard. Casehub will take 35 per cent of any cash won as a fee. Ryanair says it does not comment on speculation.
Casehub is bringing a separate law suit against airlines including British Airways, Virgin and Monarch over excessive fees for reclaiming Air Passenger Duty.
You only pay this tax which costs up to 73 for economy trips if you board a flight from the UK. If you miss your flight or its cancelled, you can reclaim it, but the admin fees can swallow up the refund.
A hacker claims to have 117million LinkedIn log-in account details and has put them up for sale on the dark web - an illegal marketplace full of cyber criminals.
The business social network suffered a major breach four years ago in which it was previously thought a far smaller number of accounts had been compromised.
The hacker, known as 'Peace', says he has account information, including emails and passwords. He is asking for 5 Bitcoin for the data, which is the equivalent of around $2,200 (1,507).
Account details: A hacker named 'Peace' claims to have 117m Linkedin account details up for sale
Simon Crosby, co-founder at security firm Bromium, said: 'LinkedIn has had an awful record of securing their service, and this appears to be another confirmation that they operate without due care for the valuable information they curate.
'I recommend that users be very cautious of using the service because attackers will use compromised accounts to launch other attacks. Change your password now.'
When LinkedIn suffered a breach in 2012, it said it had reset the accounts of those it thought had been compromised. It now plans to repeat these measures, but on a much larger scale.
Experts warn that the website is used to send sensitive work-related messages and to search for career opportunities data they are likely to want to keep private.
A LinkedIn spokesman in California told the BBC: 'We are taking immediate steps to invalidate the passwords of the accounts impacted, and we will contact those members to reset their passwords.
'We have no indication that this is a result of a new security breach.
'We encourage our members to visit our safety centre to ensure they have two-step verification authentication and to use strong passwords in order to keep their accounts as safe as possible.'
A security researcher was given access to about 1million of the advertised details and told the BBC he believed it was 'highly likely' the leak is real.
At the time of the breach four years ago, LinkedIn was estimated to have around 165million users. Shortly afterwards, a file containing more than 6million encrypted passwords was posted on a Russian online forum.
Cyber crime: LinkedIn suffered a major data breach in 2012 - and this is the 'long tail', say experts
Toni Gidwani, director of analysis at ThreatConnect Inc, said: 'What we are likely seeing here is the long tail of the 2012 LinkedIn breach.
'The good news is that basic security practices, such a not reusing passwords across different sites and leveraging two-factor authentication whenever possible - are an effective way to both prevent unauthorised access to your accounts and to limit the possible contagion when breaches occur.
'The long lag time between the 2012 breach and passwords now appearing for sale suggests the data has already been mined for other nefarious purposes.
'LinkedIn, with its rich context of professional networks, is a gold mine for adversaries looking to social engineer targets for future attacks. Which are you more likely to open: an email from a Nigerian prince? Or a link in an article sent by someone you've worked with for years?
'Four years after the fact, the breached data set still has some nominal monetary value, which is why it's for sale for only a handful of Bitcoin.
'But the trickier question is figuring out who has been exploiting the breached data for the last four years and to what end.'
The dark web - which is an illegal marketplace easily accessed by criminals - has become such a problem that the Government has launched a dedicated cybercrime unit to tackle it.
The National Crime Agency and GCHQ have together created the Joint Operations Cell.
Up to 250,000 investors are still having charges taken from funds to pay for advice they no longer receive, Money Mail can reveal.
All those affected visited a financial adviser before 2013 and unless they act now, they could be robbed of thousands of pounds over the next ten years.
Until the crackdown in 2013, it was normal for advisers to take commission for the Isas and pensions they set up for customers.
This meant around 0.5 per cent was deducted from your pot each year by the manager of the fund your money was put in and passed to your adviser through the back door.
Time to act? Up to 250,000 investors are still having charges taken from funds to pay for advice they no longer receive
That is the same as 50 a year from a 10,000 investment. The new rules in 2013 banned this secretive practice. Advisers were told they had to charge an up-front fee.
Crucially, however, there was a loophole: as long as your adviser hadnt contacted you since 2013, they could keep pocketing commission from your investments until April this year.
This was supposed to allow advisers time to talk to customers about setting up a new deal, but Money Mail can reveal that despite the commission window slamming shut on April 6, these fees are still disappearing from some savers funds.
Rather than paying it to advisers, fund managers are simply pocketing it. They are doing this because of the strange way the ban works.
To stop commission being deducted from your Isa or pension, a fund manager such as Jupiter, M&G or Invesco has to move your money into a new version of the fund.
These clean funds are identical to the old ones but with lower charges. For example, instead of paying 1.25 per cent a year you might pay 0.75 per cent.
If it seems slightly barmy that they cannot just stop taking the fees thats because it is.
HOW TO STOP THE RIP-OFF 1. Ask your fund manager to confirm your current charges and how these compare to what you paid previously. 2. Say you want your savings to be moved to a clean version of the fund. 3. If you still want investment advice, check what your old adviser charges. Shop around to see whether you can get better service for less. You can find a nearby adviser at thisis money.co.uk/find-an-adviser. 4. If you dont regularly speak to your adviser, then consider becoming a so-called execution-only client. You can move your money to a fund broker such as Bestinvest, Hargreaves Lansdown or Fidelity. However, do beware that the fees might be higher than you were charged before.
In fact, it gets even more messy. Fund managers cannot move your money to these cheaper funds without your permission, due to rules set out by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Experts say many financial advisers have simply left their customers with the old versions.
They have told fund managers that they helped these customers so many years ago that they no longer consider them clients. They refused to contact them so they could keep collecting commission until last month.
Fund managers cannot pass commission to advisers any more but if the company doesnt have your address or telephone number, it cannot do anything at all, so it simply takes the 0.5 per cent out of your fund and pockets it.
This can have a hugely damaging effect on your savings. If you had invested 15,000 ten years ago and it had returned 5 per cent a year, you would now have 24,433.
If you were paying commission of 0.5 per cent on that, however, you would have 23,294 1,139 less. Anyone who has not heard from their adviser needs to contact them as soon as possible.
If the firm no longer exists, you will need to find where your investments are being held. You can ask the fund manager to move your money into a clean fund to stop it pocketing commission.
Jason Hollands, managing director at financial advisers Tilney Bestinvest, says: Firms which have been on the ball will have proactively contacted their customers, explained there are regulatory changes and moved them to new agreements.
But there may be clients of smaller firms where this hasnt happened. People need to take action on this because they could be paying a fee for advice they arent getting.
Its important to dig out old investments you might have forgotten about because the older the investment, the more likely you are paying high fees on it.
There is no need to act if you received a letter from your financial adviser or investment provider about your money being moved.
He said they knew they would be in ' a lot of trouble' if they were found out
John Hartman said he remembers the pair discussing the alleged scheme
Oliver Curtis, the investment banker husband of PR queen Roxy Jacenko, was accused of having a gambling problem and 'a big mouth' by his former best friend in his insider trading trial on Wednesday.
When John Hartman was asked under cross examination in the NSW Supreme Court whether he believed Mr Curtis, his best friend, had 'too big a mouth', he responded: 'About some things, yes'.
Asked whether he thought Mr Curtis had a gambling problem by defence lawyer Murugan Thangaraj SC , Hartman told the court: 'I think we both did, sir'.
When questioned by Mr Thangaraj, Hartman agreed with the proposition the pair were betting in 'hundreds of thousands of dollars' in total.
PR queen Roxy Jacenko and investment banker husband Oliver Curtis leave Supreme Court on Wednesday
Mr Curtis was accused of having a gambling problem and 'a big mouth' by his former best friend in his insider trading trial on Wednesday
John Hartman leaving the Supreme court after appearing as a whitness in the Oliver Curtis insider trading trial
'Might have been one or two occasions where there were tens of thousands, maybe $10,000' Hartman said, referring to one specific instance where there may have been $10,000 spent.
'And you're telling us you trusted a person with a big mouth and a gambling problem to not only hold your share and pay tax on it as well?' Mr Thangaraj said, in which Hartman replied in the affirmative. 'Yes, sir.'
'WE'LL HAVE TO SETTLE FOR COMMERCIAL FLIGHTS': TRADERS' EXTRAVAGANT LIFESTYLE REVEALED IN EMAILS 'We now have Heli Jet picking us up...the same chopper picking us up as we will all be very hungover and not enjoy a 2 hour drive. 'For Vegas we'll have to settle for commercial flights... I'm happy to pay the spread' - Oliver Curtis to friends ahead of a boys skiing trip in 2007 'This guy made 1million in 1907... about 3bn in todays money shorting the market. Could be you - John Hartman to Mr Curtis, October 2007 'I am sure we should be able to get it for 160 which would be a little over 3,000 a week. 'Good value I would say.' - Mr Curtis to Hartman, February 2008 'I can give you $200,000, is that enough?' Hartman to Mr Curtis, October 2008 'Nice mate... birthday present?' - Mr Curtis to Hartman in October 2007 about a $20,000 Ducati motorcycle
The court has heard Hartman and Mr Curtis agreed to split the funds raised in their alleged insider trading scheme on a 'fifty-fifty' basis after tax.
Hartman was questioned on Wednesday in court over emails sent between him and Mr Curtis in which he said the pair went and looked at cars, motorbikes and plasma television for their $3,000 a week Bondi apartment.
He also told the court he and Mr Curtis paid for a holiday with their friends in part with money from the alleged insider trading scheme, and that their mates had no idea where the money had come from.
Among trips was one to Canada and the U.S. during which Mr Curtis allegedly paid for their group of friends to travel in a chopper between ski resort Whistler and Vancouver.
Emails sent by the trader to Hartman and seven other men detail their travel arrangements, with Mr Curtis telling them of the chopper: 'We will all be very hungover and not enjoy a 2 hour drive'.
He also said he would 'spread the love' and pay for the group's flights between Vancouver and Las Vegas at a personal cost of $3,600.
They were chauffer-driven in Las Vegas in Rolls Royces and stayed in five-star hotels arranged by the 30-year-old.
In other messages shown to the court Hartman sent an electronic message to his friend with a picture of a motorcycle to which Mr Curtis replied: 'Nice mate... birthday present??'.
Prosecutor David Staelhi SC told the court Hartman replied: 'I worked for it' and added a birthday present was a 'good excuse'.
'I meant Oli wasn't giving it to me for a birthday present, we would trade together in the account to generate profits to pay for it,' Hartman explained to the court.
Emails shown to the court detail how Mr Curtis offered to pay for a private chopper during a boys' trip to the US and Canada in 2008
In another email Mr Curtis encouraged his friend to purchase a $60,000 Mini Cooper - which he later did
A minute before, a tense-looking Hartman, the star prosecution witness, appeared in a grey suit as he arrived at the New South Wales Supreme Court from the opposite direction
Nick Curtis - the father of Oliver Curtis - pictured leaving the Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon
'CAN WE MAKE A CONSCIOUS EFFORT TO TURN THE LIGHTS OFF?' OLIVER CURTIS COMPLAINS ABOUT $2,200 ELECTRICITY BILL IN EMAIL SHOWN TO COURT In October 2008, Oliver Curtis complained to his flatmate John Hartman about the use of electricity in their shared home. The conversation was shown to the NSW Supreme Court as evidence in his insider trading trial. At the time the pair allegedly used insider information to make 45 illegal trades and net themselvws $1.4million. Below is a transcript of the exchange. Oliver Curtis: 'Mate we need to sort out the bill system at home as I have been paying the bills up to now but the one we just got for electricity for example is $2,200 so we need to sort something out if possible.' John Hartman: 'Hey mate when we did the trading at the start of the year (I) did 70t ($70,000) more than we needed I assumed that this would cover all the bills.' OC: 'OK that's fine then. Can we at least then make a more conscious effort to lighten the use of electricity like turning off lights etc!' JH: 'Yeah no worries I think I always do anyway... your lights and TV are often left on all day for Mashi I think.' Mashi is believed to be the dog of Mr Curtis's former girlfriend.
The pair later visited a motorcycle yard and a $20,000 Ducati was purchased. Mr Curtis is facing a charge of one count of conspiracy to commit insider trading and his former best friend, Hartman, is the prosecution's star witness.
The court was also told Mr Curtis and Hartman's alleged account was used to fund some of a 'extensive' overseas holiday they went for with friends.
'Olly transferred some cash to my account which paid for some of my expenses, like flights,' Hartman said. 'He also paid for things like transfers and hotel rooms, shows and dinner'.
Hartman said their friends, some described as students or not working full time, were unaware of where the money was coming from.
'My friends didn't know where the money was coming from, they just thought I was being generous,' Hartman said.
Under questioning by Mr Curtis's defence lawyer Murugan Thangaraj SC, Hartman admitted to illegally trading using Orion on 'many occasions that had nothing to do with Mr Curtis'.
He said some funds were used to pay for holidays, a new car, general spending money and gambling, and a BMW.
It comes after Hartman told the court the pair knew they would 'be in a lot of s***' if they were caught exchanging 'confidential' stock information.
The investment banker husband of PR queen Roxy Jacenko, Oliver Curtis, arriving at court on Wednesday
The former friends sat about two metres away from each other, with Mr Curtis (left and right arriving with Ms Jacenko at court) watching Hartman and the witness gazing at the jury
Hartman said he had a 'distinct memory' of having a conversation with Mr Curtis at a bar in the city where they discussed what would happen if anyone got wind of their plan.
'One time we were at a bar in the city and there was a conversation where we discussed we'd be in a lot of trouble if this ever were caught or found out about,' Hartman said.
'I think the words used were 'be in a lot of s***' if this came out'.
'We both agreed we'd both be in a lot of s*** if it came out.
'It wouldn't just be one of us who would be in trouble.'
Hartman also recalled the pair would get together after a successful trade and say: 'This is the easiest money that possibly could have been made.'
'Looking back at it now we were young 21 year olds not believing it was possible to make that sort of money,' Hartman said.
Hartman said looking back it was 'crazy' and 'we were swept up in this fake world'.
In his evidence he told the court he and Mr Curtis were focused on making big trades - not ones that would 'make $500' - with the aim to net 'at least 10- or 20-thousand dollars'.
Hartman's evidence was originally going to be heard earlier in the week. But a juror was ill on Monday and Tuesday, and the proceedings were postponed
Hartman (left) did not look at Mr Curtis as he arrived in the courtroom for cross-examination from senior Crown prosecutor David Staelhi SC
Hartman, while under examination from Crown prosecutor David Staelhi SC, said Mr Curtis bought him a Blackberry in early 2007 so he could feed the banker confidential information.
'I'd never heard of it at the time but Ollie told me about a feature on the Blackberry called 'pinning',' Hartman said.
'It's like SMSing somebody but uses a unique code each Blackberry has.
'He told me a story I can still remember 10 years later about the fact that the only way to get information about a PIN was to a pull a satellite out of the sky.
'It wasn't a message that got recorded on normal telecommunications servers.'
Hartman told the court he traded in his 'normal' phone for the Blackberry in early 2007.
Afterwards, Hartman said he would 'pin' Mr Curtis confidential information he had access to from five screens in his job as an equities dealer at the boutique firm Orion Assets Management.
He would tell Mr Curtis to buy or sell financial instruments known as contracts for difference (CFDs) because he believed they would increase or decrease in value from trades he oversaw at Orion.
CFDs track the price of a share and increase or decrease accordingly.
'I would send Olly [Mr Curtis] a PIN telling him the name of the company, the amount of shares or CFDs that should be acquired and the price,' Hartman told the court.
He used the example of buying a 'million CFDs' with Hartman instructing Mr Curtis to sell them in parcels of 200,000 at a time.
Mr Curtis would reply 'done' or 'we're out' and also sometimes would tell Hartman the profit that had been made in dollars, the court heard.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Curtis arrived for his insider trading trial with Ms Jacenko, who was dressed in a black leather jacket and black heels.
A minute before, a tense-looking Hartman appeared in a grey suit as he arrived at the New South Wales Supreme Court from the opposite direction.
Hartman told the court the pair had discussed their alleged plan at a Sydney drinking session, saying they both agreed they would be 'in a lot of s***' if anyone found out
Speaking in a soft voice under cross examination by the prosecution, Hartman confirmed to the court he and Mr Curtis had been the closest of friends during their teenage years.
'Yes, we were best friends,' he said.
Hartman said he was released from prison on March 15, 2012 after serving 15 months imprisonment over improper dealing, some of which prosecutors said involved Mr Curtis.
He told prosecutors a condition of his release was that he would 'do certain things', and the jury has previously heard he struck a deal which involved giving evidence about Mr Curtis.
Hartman then proceeded to answer questions about his role as an equities dealer at the 'boutique' company, Orion Asset Management, which managed funds for wholesale investors or institutional investors such as superannuation funds.
In his job, he would sit at a desk watching about four or five screens at the time, with the court hearing evidence he could see Orion and stockbroker information that was confidential, or meant to be, about a stock market.
On a busy day, Hartman said, he could trade up to $100 million in shares and told the court he could see the effect Orion's trades had on the market, either increasing or decreasing the value of shares.
Wednesday was likely the closest Hartman and Mr Curtis have been together in several years. Hartman, 30, has been living and working in Perth where he travelled from to Sydney to give evidence, the court heard.
Mr Curtis's wife, Sweaty Betty PR founder Ms Jacenko, has attended every day of the proceedings so far, holding her husband's hand as he arrived at court on each occasion.
She sat in the front row of the public gallery, listening intently, as the proceedings continued.
Hartman did not look at Mr Curtis as he arrived in the courtroom for examination from senior Crown prosecutor David Staelhi SC.
The pair sat about two metres away from each other, with Mr Curtis watching Hartman and the witness gazing at the jury.
Hartman's evidence was originally going to be heard earlier in the week.
But a juror was ill on Monday and Tuesday, and the proceedings were postponed.
Under pressure from Democratic Party leaders to denounce ugly tactics by his supporters, Bernie Sanders instead struck back with a defiant statement.
The Vermont senator and Democratic underdog dismissed complaints from Nevada Democrats as 'nonsense' and asserted that his backers were not being treated with 'fairness and respect.'
It followed chaos at the Nevada Democratic Party convention Saturday night, where Sanders' supporters threw chairs, shouted down speakers and later harassed the state party chair with death threats.
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Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders reacted Saturday during the Nevada State Democratic Party's 2016 State Convention at the Paris hotel-casino in Las Vegas
Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders crowded the front of the room during the Nevada State Democratic Party's 2016 State Convention, which turned into an unruly and unpredictable even
Gravely alarmed, Democrats pressed Sanders to forcefully denounce it.
The dispute stands as the most public rift yet between the Sanders camp and other Democrats, and may undermine the party's attempt to maintain a unified front as frustration mounts among Hillary Clinton supporters that Sanders is continuing his campaign with no clear path to victory.
'Our campaign of course believes in non-violent change and it goes without saying that I condemn any and all forms of violence, including the personal harassment of individuals,' Sanders said.
But far from apologizing for anything his supporters did, Sanders repeated, in detail, their complaints that they were railroaded in the delegate process Saturday night, something Democratic officials deny.
'The Democratic leadership used its power to prevent a fair and transparent process from taking place,' he said.
Sanders issued his statement moments after speaking with Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, who told reporters that Sanders had condemned the violence in Las Vegas. 'This is a test of leadership as we all know, and I'm hopeful and very confident Sen. Sanders will do the right thing,' said Reid, D-Nev.
The head of the Democratic Party, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., also condemned the events in Las Vegas. 'There is no excuse for what happened in Nevada, and it is incumbent upon all of us in positions of leadership to speak out,' she said.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who was booed when she spoke at the convention, told reporters Tuesday that she'd feared for her safety and said Sanders should give a 'major speech' calling on his supporters to reject violence and opt for unity.
Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders continued to campaign for the Democratic nomination, traveling to Puerto Rico Monday, where Democrats there will cast votes on June 5
Sanders' statement seems unlikely to satisfy the demands from Reid, Wasserman Schultz, Boxer and others.
Reid said he was surprised by it, telling a reporter in comments distributed by his office: 'Bernie should say something and not have some silly statement. Bernie is better than that.'
Tonight, appearing on CNN, Wasserman Schultz called what happened at the Nevada convention 'unacceptable.'
'There should never be a "but" when condemning violence and intimidation,' Wasserman Schultz told Wolf Blitzer.
Combining those two thoughts, she said that Sanders' response to the chaos 'was anything but acceptable. It certainly did not condemn his supporters who were acting violently, who were engaged in intimidation tactics and instead added more fuel to the fire.'
'Like I said, you can be frustrated with the process, but in the United States of America, and especially in the Democratic Party, it is never appropriate to act in any way other than civilly and in an orderly fashion,' Wasserman Schultz continued.
'That's what happens with the Trump campaign,' she added.
It comes as Donald Trump is wrapping up the nomination on the Republican side, yet Democrats remain divided and now some Democrats fear that Sanders' supporters are starting to mimic backers of Trump in their sexist and aggressive behavior.
Democrats also fear that the unrest in Nevada could be a taste of what is to come at the Democratic Party convention in Philadelphia this summer.
Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILY's List, an influential political committee devoted to electing women that is backing Clinton, said in a statement: 'These disgraceful attacks are straight out of the Donald Trump playbook, and Bernie Sanders is the only person who can put a stop to them. Sanders needs to both forcefully denounce and apologize for his supporters' unacceptable behavior not walk away.'
Leading Democrats still stopped short of calling on Sanders to abandon his campaign, at least in public, training their concerns on the violence at the Nevada convention. 'I am concerned if our party becomes labeled with the notion that we have this kind of violence,' said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat.
Chair throwing, shouted profanities and even later death threats to party leaders marked Saturday's party meeting. The Nevada Democratic Party send a letter to the Democratic National Committee accusing Sanders supporters of having a 'penchant for extra-parliamentary behavior indeed, actual violence in place of democratic conduct in a convention setting.'
Sanders dismissed that as 'nonsense.' ''Our campaign has held giant rallies all across this country, including in high crime areas, and there have been zero reports of violence,' he said.
'It is imperative that the Democratic leadership, both nationally and in the states, understand that the political world is changing and that millions of Americans are outraged at establishment politics and establishment economics,' he said.
Democratic officials released text messages and voicemails with threats against the Nevada Democratic Party chairwoman Roberta Lange.
They included such comments as 'Hey bitch, loved how you broke the system, we know where you live, where you work, where you eat, where your kids go to school ... You made a bad choice, prepare for hell, calls won't stop.'
A box of human ashes and a neatly folded, framed American flag have left a south Alabama police chief scrambling for clues, four weeks after they surfaced beside a highway.
A power line crew found the small pine box with a rusted lock in grass along the road about four weeks ago - but the find was only reported last week.
At least four people have inquired about the box, including a Tennessee man who said his father's remains and a flag were stolen from his truck a few months ago, Florala Police Chief Sonny Bedsole said in a phone interview Tuesday.
But Bedsole said he had a few leads but still no answers to explain how the ashes and the flag ended close to a highway near the Florida line.
A box of human ashes and a neatly folded American flag in a framed case (pictured) showed up mysteriously near a south Alabama highway four weeks ago and have left a police chief scrambling for cues
Bedsole has emailed photos of the box and flag folded military-style to those who inquired and is waiting to hear back.
The flag is displayed in a framed case, much like a shadow box.
'We took it out of the case to see if there was a name or business card or anything to go by, and of course there was nothing in it,' Bedsole said.
Florala, a town of about 2,000 people, is just north of the Alabama-Florida line.
The remains were found not far from US 331, a popular route for drivers heading to and from the Florida Panhandle, Bedsole said.
That means whoever left the items might be from out of state.
'We get a lot of traffic headed to the beach that comes through here,' Bedsole said.
One theory is that the remains belong to a military veteran, since the flag was folded in the customary way for servicemen and women.
Bedsole remains convinced that 'somebody somewhere knows this box that contains these ashes, what it looks like'.
More than 50 Muslim states have blocked 11 gay and transgender organisations from attending a meeting at the United Nations next month dedicated to ending AIDS.
Some 51 states, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Indonesia, Sudan and Uganda, have objected to the groups attending the meeting.
Egypt wrote to the president of the 193-member GeneralAssembly on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation toobject to the participation of the groups.
It did not give areason in the letter - sparking a protest by the United States, Canada and the European Union.
Samantha Power (left), U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has written to the General Assembly President, while Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) has advocated for LGBT equality
Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, wroteto General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft and said thegroups appeared to have been blocked for involvement in lesbian,gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy.
'Given that transgender people are 49 times more likely tobe living with HIV than the general population, their exclusionfrom the high-level meeting will only impede global progress incombating the HIV/AIDS pandemic,' Power wrote.
U.N. officials said the European Union and Canada also wroteto Lykketoft to protest the objections by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation group, whosemembers include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Indonesia, Sudan and Uganda.
The issues of LGBT rights and participation in events at theUnited Nations have long been contentious.
Members and supporters of the LGBTI community march to commemorate the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has advocated for LGBT equalitybut faced opposition from African, Arab and Muslim states aswell as Russia and China.
In 2014, Ban said the U.N. would recognise all same-sexmarriages of its staff, allowing them to receive its benefits.
Russia, with the support of 43 states including Saudi Arabia,China, Iran, India, Egypt, Pakistan, and Syria, unsuccessfullytried to overturn the move last year.
Ms Power added: 'We are deeply concerned that at every negotiation on a newGeneral Assembly gathering, the matter of NGO (non-governmentalorganization) participation is questioned and scrutinized.
'The movement to block the participation of NGOs on spuriousor hidden grounds is becoming epidemic and severely damages thecredibility of the U.N.'
Egypt wrote on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to object to the participation of several gay and transgender groups - sparking a protest by the United States, Canada and the European Union
In February, the 54-member African Group, the Organizationof Islamic Cooperation and the 25-member Group of Friends of theFamily led by Belarus, Egypt and Qatar protested six new U.N.stamps promoting LGBT equality.
The Group of Friends of the Family promotes the traditionalfamily.
The U.S. Supreme Court outlawed the racial segregation of schools 62 years ago but a new report says black and Hispanic students are increasingly being taught separately and getting a second-class education.
'Segregation in public K-12 schools isn't getting better. It's getting worse, and getting worse quickly,' said Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia.
He said America's schools were increasingly segregated by race and class, leaving 'more than 20 million students of color now attending racially and socioeconomically isolated public schools.'
Parents wait to pick up their children from a K-12 public school in inner city Los Angeles. The GAO report said black and Hispanic children tended to be two or three times poorer than their white classmates
A report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found K-12 schools offered fewer math, science and college prep classes, while having disproportionally higher rates of students who were held back in ninth grade, suspended or expelled.
The report came out as a federal judge ordered the town of Cleveland in Mississippi to desegregate its high schools and middle schools, 62 years after the landmark Brown v Board of Education ruling.
Scott said: 'This report is a national call to action. While much has changed in public education in the decades following this landmark decision and subsequent legislative action, research has shown that some of the most vexing issues affecting children and their access to educational excellence and opportunity today are inextricably linked to race and poverty.'
Rep. Bobby Scott (pictured, left) stands with Rep. John Conyers during a news conference on Capitol Hill to launch the report on school segregation. Scott said it was a 'call to action'
Education Secretary John B King Jr, said money, or a shortage of it, was 'shaping inequitable opportunities for students'.
He said President Barack Obama had asked Congress for more education dollars, including money for grant programs to support districts with community-developed plans that increase socio-economic diversity in schools.
GAO studied three school districts in the South, Northeast and West but declined to identify them.
Girls hang out in the corridor of a K-12 public school. Busing was used in the 1970s and 1980s to desegregate schools but it has gone into decline in recent years for various reasons and 'resegregation' has crept in
In the 1970s and 1980s many school districts introduced a policy of busing in order to change the ethnic mix of schools and try and improve equality of education.
We must focus on fixing resource disparities that have plagued students of color and low-income students for generations Nancy Zirkin
But busing has been in decline since the late 1980s, partly as affluent white parents took their children out of K-12 public schools, and the GAO report suggested many schools were now dominated by one or other race.
The report found that in the 2013-2014 school year, 16 per cent of the nation's public schools had high concentrations of poor and black or Hispanic students, up from seven per cent at the start of the millennium.
The student body at these schools were at least 75 per cent black or Hispanic and poor, and in some cases 100 per cent.
The report said students at these high-poverty minority schools were seven percent of all ninth grade students in the country, but were 17 per cent of all students held back that grade.
(Left to right) Vincent Atkins, Frank Simmons, Kent Williams and Foster Washington work on a class project together with supplemental English Instructor Eddie Powell (standing) at LA Southwest College. Education Secretary John B King Jr said President Obama had been trying to get more money for this sort of project
Students at these schools accounted for 12 per cent of all students nationwide, and represented 22 per cent of all students with one or more out-of-school suspensions and 16 per cent of all students expelled.
These schools tended to provide fewer math courses, with calculus and seventh and eighth grade algebra seen as particularly lacking.
They had less biology, chemistry and physics courses than their more affluent counterparts which had fewer minority students.
Less than half of the mostly poor, mostly minority schools offered AP math courses and low-income and minority students were far less likely to enroll in these more rigorous courses.
A teacher speaks to a racially mixed class. The GAO report and other recent studies have shown that 'white flight' and other factors have seen a rise in 'residential resegregation' which has affected schools
Hispanic students at these schools tended to be 'triple segregated by race, income and language,' according to teachers spoken to by the GAO.
Nancy Zirkin, director of policy at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said: 'We must focus on fixing resource disparities that have plagued students of color and low-income students for generations.'
In a separate report the Civil Rights Project at UCLA said 'residential resegregation' in some parts of Maryland spilled over into the schools.
A German court has banned a comedian's satirical poem which jokes about Turkey's President Erdogan watching child porn - saying it is abusive and libellous.
Jan Boehmermann recited a poem on television in March suggesting Tayyip Erdogan engaged in bestiality and watched child pornography.
The comedian's actions prompted the Turkish leader to file a complaint with prosecutors that he had been insulted and asked a court in Hamburg to bar re-publication of the poem.
Jan Boehmermann (left) recited a poem on television in March suggesting Tayyip Erdogan (right) engaged in bestiality and watched child pornography
In its injunction, which applies to the whole of Germany,the court marked in red 18 of the poem's 24 verses,which it said were 'abusive and defaming.'
It said its decision, which may be appealed, was based onthe need to find a balance between preserving the right toartistic freedom and the personal rights of Erdogan.
'Through the poem's reference to racist prejudice andreligious slander as well as sexual habits the verses inquestion go beyond what the petitioner (Erdogan) can be expectedto tolerate,' the Hamburg court wrote.
The six verses the court did not ban, include references toTurkey's treatment of minorities.
Erdogan, a crucial partner for Merkel in tackling Europe'smigrant crisis, had demanded Germany press charges againstBoehmermann.
The comedian's actions prompted the Turkish leader to file a complaint with prosecutors that he had been insulted and asked a court in Hamburg to bar re-publication of the poem
The court said its decision, which may be appealed, was based on the need to find a balance between preserving the right to artistic freedom and the personal rights of Erdogan (pictured)
Chancellor Angela Merkel has drawn criticism for allowingprosecutors to pursue the case against Boehmermann.
Under Germany's criminal code, insults against foreignleaders are not allowed but the government can decide whether toauthorise prosecutors to go ahead.
The affair, which has turned into a diplomatic spat, hasopened Merkel to accusations she has become too accommodatingtowards Erdogan in pursuing a controversial European Union dealwith Turkey to stem the flow of refugees into Europe.
Critics had already accused her of ignoring human rightsviolations and actions against journalists in Turkey, acandidate for EU membership.
An MP of Merkel's conservatives read the poem out inparliament last week.
Merkel is widely seen as causing the problem in the firstplace in describing the poem to Turkish Prime Minister AhmetDavutoglu as 'deliberately insulting', something she herself hassaid was 'in retrospect a mistake'.
State Party says Sanders delegates made death threats toward their chair and warned the national party about violence at the nominating convention
He rejected allegations made by the Nevada Democrats against the campaign after a
Bernie Sanders has no intention of running for president as an independent if he loses the Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton, his campaign manager said today.
Donald Trump suggested this week that Sanders cut ties with the Democratic Party over the way he's treated by his party.
But Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said today on CNN that's not going to happen.
'Bernie Sanders has said he will not run as a third party candidate. He's going to support the Democratic nominee, and that's what he's going to do,' Weaver said.
Bernie Sanders has no intention of running for president as an independent if he loses the Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton, his campaign manager said today
The presumptive Republican nominee, Trump wants the U.S. senator to siphon off Democratic voters from Hillary Clinton so that he can claim the presidency for himself, the senior campaign aide said.
'Trump obviously would like a third party candidate on the left so that he could try to divide the vote and win, but I think what you're going to see is unity to defeat Trump,' Weaver told CNN's Chris Cuomo.
This morning Trump prodded the losing Democrat to go his own way, saying on Twitter, 'Bernie Sanders is being treated very badly by the Dems. The system is rigged against him. He should run as an independent! Run Bernie, run.'
Careful to leave Clinton out of it, Sanders has said he will back the Democratic nominee for president if he falls short of the necessary delegates to top the ticket himself.
He's stopped short of saying what that support would look like, however, and whether he'd be open to campaigning for Clinton.
What's more, he's said, repeatedly, that it would be up to Clinton to convince his voters to cast ballots for her in the general.
Weaver suggested today that the senator could hit the trail for his one-time opponent, however.
'He certainly has said that he will do everything - he will work seven days a week night and day to make sure that Donald Trump is not president and I'm confident that he will do that.'
Weaver added, 'Bernie Sanders, as you know, is a very effective campaigner on the stump. He's rallied millions of people, young people, independents, working class people all across this country, and I think he'll take the message to them that Donald Trump would really be a disaster for working class and middle class families in this country.
'Putting the Republicans back in control of Washington is not a good strategy,' he asserted.
The delegate math does not look like it will add up to a Sanders win. Even if he exceeds Clinton in pledged delegates, he would need to convince a majority of the 712 superdelegates to support him, too.
Clinton locked up the majority of those months ago. And so far, none have joined Sanders' crusade. Instead, one of Sanders' superdelegates switched to Clinton today, Bloomberg reported.
Weaver called the process 'undemocratic' today.
'There's no relationship between how they vote and how the people in their state voted,' he said, lamenting the fact that his candidate received 70 percent of the vote in Washington but has no superdelegate support there.
He said Sanders was interested in changing the system before the next presidential election cycle.
Sanders Campaign Manager Jeff Weaver even suggested that his candidate would campaign for Hillary Clinton if she's the nominee. He also argued that Sanders' continued participation in the race was helping, not hurting, Clinton
He also argued that Sanders' continued participation in the race was helping, not hurting, Clinton because he is forcing a conversation on issues like the minimum wage, college affordability and health care.
'It's going to be a mudslinging contest. The Trump people, the Republican Party, all their Super PAC's are going to engage in character assassination, no matter who the nominee is, and that's what's going to be focused on,' Weaver contended.
Sanders' supporters reportedly engaged in some mudslinging of their own at the Nevada State Democratic Party's convention, over the weekend, making threats of violence and using other intimidation tactics to get their way.
This morning CNN played audio of a Sanders supporter warning of chaos at the Democratic nominating convention in July as a result of the alleged unfair treatment.
'That was pretty terrible. You probably just guaranteed fires in Philadelphia. I'm not a psycho Bernie supporter, but there are some out there, and you may have made a bad decision by completely ignoring the democratic process,' he could be heard saying.
Confronted with the recording Weaver told Cuomo 'the senator has been very clear - people who are supporting the senator should act in a civil way.'
'Obviously no context justifies any kinds of threats or violence, but we have been obviously campaigning in Nevada now for almost a year because, it's one of the early states. The state party there has a lot of problems. They've run things very poorly,' he alleged.
Weaver accused the state party of behaving 'undemocratically' and refusing to treat voters that Sanders 'has brought into the process'' with respect.
'They tried to arrest their own credentials chair because she was being too fair to the Sanders people,' he claimed. 'here's a lot of problems there. They had a convention where they didn't have enough chairs for the number of people who were supposed to be there.'
'Obviously, you're trying to exclude people if the room is too small for the anticipated audience.'
Weaver's counter arguments and claims that the state party was actively trying to undercut Sanders and his supporters led Cuomo to broach the topic of Trump's tweeting and a third-party run.
'Trump is wrong. We have interacted with state parties all across this country and some are more fair than others, and I have to say, some are extremely fair,' Weaver said. 'It just happens in Nevada not to be the case.'
SUPERFAN: A supporter of U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders wears a wig to his San Juan rally on Monday night in Puerto Rico. Sanders supporters in Nevada were meanwhile accused of inciting violence toward the state party's chair, including voicemails that contained death threats
The Sanders hand's statements trashing the state party set off a war of words.
Firing back, the NV Dems accused the Sanders campaign of 'baseless, conspiracy theory allegations' as it decried the senator's supporters for making death threats against the party's chair, Roberta Lange.
'Jeff Weavers allegations against the State Party this morning are blatantly false, and his refusal to apologize for the death threats and harassment against our State Party Chair that his campaign incited on Saturday is unacceptable,' said Nevada State Democratic Party Executive Director Zach Zaragoza.
Sanders responded in kind, saying in a statement distributed to reporters by email as his plane stopped to refuel on its way to California that the Democratic Party 'has a choice.'
'It can open its doors and welcome into the party' people who are backing his campaign, or it 'can choose to maintain its status quo structure, remain dependent on big-money campaign contributions and be a party with limited participation and limited energy.'
The U.S. senator rejected outright a claim contained in a letter the state committee sent to the national Democratic Party today claiming his campaign has a 'penchant for extra-parliamentary behaviorindeed, actual violencein place of democratic conduct in a convention setting.'
'That is nonsense,' Sanders said.
The letter, written by the the Nevada Democrats' general counsel, said, 'We can only describe as their encouragement of, and complicity in, a very dangerous atmosphere that ended in chaos and physical threats to fellow Democrats.'
'Indeed, the threats to the Chair of the Nevada State Democratic Party are ongoing at time of this writing, as Sanders activists have posted her cell phone and home address online, and have bombarded her with threats to her life and the safety of her family.'
Furthermore, it stated that the threatening phone calls made to the chair now 'number in the hundreds.'
The delegate math does not look like it will add up to a Sanders win. Even if he exceeds Clinton in pledged delegates, he would need to convince a majority of the 712 superdelegates to support him, too. Her supporters are seen here on Monday in Bowling Green, Kentucky, cheering her on
Sanders said in his own statement, released late this afternoon, 'It goes without saying that I condemn any and all forms of violence, including the personal harassment of individuals.'
'But, when we speak of violence, I should add here that months ago, during the Nevada campaign, shots were fired into my campaign office in Nevada and apartment housing complex my campaign staff lived in was broken into and ransacked.'
He went on to lay out what his campaign perceived as exclusionary behavior at the convention, including a credentials committee ruling that disallowed 58 of his 64 delegates for participating.
Even that was a misrepresentation of the truth, though, the NV Dems said in a follow-up document in sent to the press.
'The Sanders campaign is continuing to be dishonest about what happened Saturday and is failing to adequately denounce the threats of violence of his supporters,' it said.
Of the 58 that were not seated, 50 failed to show up, it said, and eight were deemed ineligible because they were not registered Democrats - some weren't registered to vote at all.
Furthermore, the state party claims it sent the Sanders campaign a note two days prior to the convention alerting it that the information of 44 of those delegates had information 'could not be verified'.
The Democratic National Committee didn't refer to the Sanders campaign by name today as it reproached attendees of the Las Vegas affair following the reports of misconduct.
Edgar Robles (pictured), 17, has been sentenced to 30 years prison for the shooting on the school bus
A 17-year-old from Florida charged as an adult with shooting into a school bus and injuring two girls has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Edgar Robles was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to two counts of attempted second-degree murder and one count of shooting or throwing a deadly missile.
Police say the Jacksonville teen and two friends approached the school bus last May to confront some other boys, and Robles opened fire.
A bullet went through one girl's cheeks, while another girl was hit in the back of the head, The Florida Times-Union reported.
Robles was arrested in Liberty County, Georgia, several days later. The two teens with Robles were not charged, and police say they cooperated after the shooting.
Defense attorney Robert Davis said he had little defence had the case gone to trial, with the shooting captured on video and 15 people who could identify his client, the paper reported.
It was claimed the shooting took place after Robles and friends had threatened to fight another group of teens on the bus.
Video of the shooting, the publication reported, shows one of the injured girls stumbling to the front of the bus bleeding.
She tries to call someone on a phone while another student assists her, while the second victim, who was shot in the back of the head, appears more badly injured.
Both the girls survived the ordeal.
South Carolina has passed a bill banning abortion after 19 weeks, becoming the 17th state to pass the restrictive ban.
It will now head to Governor Nikki Haley's desk, where the Republican will almost certainly pass it after finalizing its details.
Republican Wendy Nanney, the bill sponsor, has said she's hopeful the law is a step to eventually 'get rid of abortion altogether'.
The ban allows exceptions only if the mother's life is in jeopardy or a doctor determines the fetus can't survive outside the womb.
The measure's limited definition of 'fetal anomaly' means it would be illegal to abort a fetus with a severe disability if the child could live. Such anomalies are generally detected around 20 weeks.
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is almost certain to sign off the bill prohibiting abortion after 19 weeks
That 'fetal anomaly' exception was crucial for the bill clearing the Senate, where Democrats had blocked the legislation for years.
Similar laws are in effect in 12 states. They've been blocked by court challenges in three others, and the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to rule on the ban's constitutionality. A South Dakota law signed in March takes effect this summer.
In Utah, a related law, also signed in March, requires doctors to provide anesthesia to a fetus at least 20 weeks in the womb.
The South Carolina bill is among several fronts abortion rights supporters say make having the procedure tougher.
Abortion opponents have also passed laws in other states requiring clinics to get admitting privileges for doctors and banning a procedure commonly used in the second trimester, called the dilation and evacuation method.
Nanney said she's hopeful the law is a step to eventually 'get rid of abortion altogether', claiming: 'I firmly believe life begins at conception and anything we can do to protect human life I'm all for.'
The South Carolina House approved the compromise 79-29. The Senate approved it 36-9 in March.
Senator Brad Hutto, a leading opponent, still believes it should be the woman's choice. But he called the compromise he's worked on since last year 'the best we can get'. As it initially passed the House, the bill gave an exception only for the mother's life.
Only four of the 16 states to pass the restrictions since 2010 allow a legal abortion if a doctor determines the child will be stillborn or die upon birth. South Carolina legislators borrowed the wording for that exception from Georgia, where state court blocked enforcement of Georgia's 20-week ban in 2012.
The South Carolina bill, like most of the similar laws, contains no exceptions for rape or incest.
The South Carolina bill, like most of the similar laws, contains no exceptions for rape or incest. File image used
Supporters believe a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks. Opponents argue such later-term abortions involve wanted pregnancies that go horribly wrong, and politicians should play no role in the difficult decision.
'They are wanted pregnancies, but they find out there is a terrible abnormality,' Republican James Smith, a Democrat, said Tuesday.
'Wouldn't it be interesting if we take dollar-for-dollar the money we're going to spend litigating unconstitutional bills and put it into something that makes a difference in South Carolina?'
On average, fewer than 30 abortions yearly are performed at 20 weeks gestation or beyond, according to data since 1990 from the state's public health agency.
The ban would affect only hospitals. None of the three abortion clinics in South Carolina provide abortions beyond 15 weeks. Most of the women are white, married and older than 24, according to the agency.
A doctor who performs an illegal abortion under the bill would face up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Greg Delleney said the law 'prevents infanticide,' noting it ties the fetus' age to conception, rather than a woman's monthly cycle, so the ban refers to what doctors generally consider a gestational age of 22 weeks.
The nonprofit Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion laws, knows of only one person ever charged under the bans.
In 2011, an Idaho woman was arrested after giving herself an abortion with pills she bought online.
That charge ultimately resulted in Idaho's law being struck down last year by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The same court struck Arizona's law in 2013.
Without citing a reason, the U.S. Supreme Court declined in January 2014 to hear an appeal from Arizona - which had banned abortion at 18 weeks past fertilization.
Earlier Tuesday, a House subcommittee advanced a bill opponents say would essentially ban abortion past 13 weeks. It would make it a felony for a doctor to abort a fetus through 'dismemberment' in the womb, punishable by at least a $5,000 fine and/or five years in prison.
A Florida man described as a 'prolific offender' is facing several charges after allegedly holding a family of five hostage for three months inside their own home and threatening them with a shotgun.
Larry Gene Howard, 29, was arrested on May 7 while hiding from authorities in a crawl space under the victims' home, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.
The arrest came a day after 39-year-old victim Richard Collins had called 911 and reported that he and his two nieces and two nephews had been held against their will, according to The Ledger.
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Larry Gene Howard, 29, (left) was arrested after allegedly holding a family of five hostage for three months inside their own home and threatening them with a shotgun. Victim Richard Collins pictured right
Collins is the guardian of his nephews and nieces aged six, seven, 11 and 13 (pictured), authorities said
'He threatened to kill me, he said he was going to kill me today,' Collins told a police dispatcher in the 911 call, according to the newspaper
'They are in my house, they have taken over my house.'
In the 911 call, Collins described Howard as a 'very dangerous person' and told the dispatcher that his home was being watched 24 hours a day, the newspaper reported.
During the three-month ordeal, Howard was allegedly in possession of several guns and swords which he brandished while making threats, reportedly took Collins' cellphone so he could not call for help and is accused of stealing his disability checks and food stamps.
Howard also allegedly cut a hole in the floor of the home, covering it with a 'trap door' in case he had to hide from law enforcement, WFLX reported.
Collins is the guardian of his nephews and nieces aged six, seven, 11 and 13, authorities said.
He told investigators that a distant relative had come to visit him three months earlier and brought a man called 'Little Man' with him, who was later identified as Howard.
During the ordeal at the home (pictured), Howard was allegedly in possession of guns and swords which he brandished while making threats, took Collins' cellphone and is accused of stealing his disability checks
Scenes from inside the home shown above. Collins told investigators that a distant relative had come to visit him three months earlier and brought a man called 'Little Man' with him, who was later identified as Howard
On May 6, Howard allegedly held a shotgun to Collins' head and told him he was going to die. Collins then reportedly grabbed his relatives and sneaked out, escaping to a neighbor's house where they called 911
Two days later, Howard returned with his own four children and told the victim they were homeless and needed a place to stay, according to the arrest report.
After Collins told Howard he did not have enough room for him and his children, Howard reportedly threatened Collins with a shotgun and said he was going to 'lay down down the rules.'
Out of fear for his and his family's lives, Collins is said to have agreed to let Howard and his children stay.
'We were just huddled together, stuck together with it, and the first window of opportunity I got to get out of here, I took it,' Collins told WFLA.
But Howard's 'rules' meant that Collins' two nieces would be allowed to go to school while his nephews could not leave the home, according to the report.
'It was scary,' Collins' nephew Derick Rautanen told the station. 'We always had to be in here.'
Howard also allegedly threatened the nieces, saying if they told anyone what was happening, he would 'kill their uncle and their brothers.'
'They were always watching us,' Derick's sister Skye told the station. 'They wouldn't stop watching us at all.'
As the hostage situation unfolded, Howard reportedly learned that Collins received a monthly disability payment of $718, according to the report.
The cause for why Collins receives a disability payment is not clear.
During the first month of the ordeal, Howard forced Collins to withdraw all his money from an ATM machine in Davenport while his nieces and nephews stayed with Howard's so-called girlfriend.
Howard allegedly cut a hole in the floor of the home, covering it with a 'trap door' (pictured) in case he had to hide from law enforcement
Howard's 'girlfriend' Hanna Wright (pictured) said the victim had asked Howard to make the crawl space with a trap door
At some point, Howard had reportedly let Hanna Wright move into the home.
This happened twice more, the second time Howard told Collins to get in a truck driven by co-defendant William Stargel to get his money, while a third time, he was with an unidentified man and woman.
In April, The Florida Department of Children and Families went to the home in search of Howard and his children, the report states.
DCF ended up taking Howard's children but Howard went undetected while hiding in the crawl space under the home, according to the report.
At the time, Collins said he was too afraid to tell DCF where Howard was located.
But that all changed on May 6, when Howard allegedly held a shotgun to Collins' head and told him he was going to die, later saying 'something was going down today,' according to the report.
While Howard went into his bedroom, Collins grabbed his nieces and nephews and they sneaked out of the home, and escaped to a neighbor's home where they called deputies, the report states.
After Howard's arrest, investigators reported finding a shotgun at the home as well as a stolen black 1996 Ford Mustang in the backyard. Howard has denied the charges, according to The Ledger.
He faces several charges including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon false imprisonment, kidnapping, robbery, grand theft, child abuse and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Howard also faces a charge of hate crime after he allegedly learned of the victim's sexual orientation and battered him while calling him homosexual slurs.
At this time, his so-called girlfriend is not being charged because she is considered a victim, according to authorities.
She told WFTS that she is not Howard's girlfriend, clarifying they are just best friends.
Wright also noted that Howard and his children had been staying with her for several for months and that after her mother had heart surgery, they needed some quiet, so Howard was staying with Collins.
'I wouldn't even say he was living there,' Wright told the station. 'He just stayed there for a little bit.'
She also said the uncle listed as the victim was having issues with the law and DCF and said she was present in the house when he asked Howard to cut the trap door in his niece's bedroom closet.
'[The uncle] wanted it to be made because if DCF came or anything else, any other reason for them kids to get out of the house, he wanted there to be a way to get out of the house other than the doors,' Wright told WFTS.
A disturbing new report has shown that four in 10 Australians have drunk so much alcohol they've vomited while one in five admit to drink driving.
The poll by Galaxy Research for the Foundation for Alcohol and Research and Education (FARE) threw up some shocking statistics about Australians' unhealthy relationship with alcohol.
In the report it also asked Australians how they expected to feel after a drink and then compared this to how they actually felt after a big night out - and the reality was stark.
A poll by Galaxy Research for the Foundation for Alcohol and Research and Education (FARE) threw up some shocking statistics about Australians' relationship with alcohol
Unsurprisingly half of the Australians surveyed initially said they expected to feel happy and relaxed after a drink, but the next day only 28 per cent actually felt happy, 17 per cent were sick, 13 per cent felt regret and 29 per cent felt tired.
In addition to the emotional toll of alcohol, Australians are engaging in negative behaviour after knocking back a few, with the survey reporting vomiting (40 per cent), driving a car (19 per cent), and having an argument (19 per cent) after drinking.
The report illustrated the drinking culture that exists in the country with nearly eight in 10 Australians consuming alcohol.
Wine (33 per cent) was the favourite tipple of choice. Beer (20 per cent) was next on the drink list followed by spirits (16 per cent).
The report stated that negative behaviour by Australians after drinking alcohol inclided vomiting (40 per cent), and drink driving (19 per cent)
In the report it stated that nearly eight in 10 Australians consumed alcohol regularly
Each year FARE's national alcohol poll provides data and insights into community perspectives on alcohol, and it makes for worrying reading.
Almost eight in ten Australians believe that the country has a problem with excess drinking or alcohol abuse (78 per cent), with the majority calling for more to be done to reduce the harm that alcohol causes (78 per cent).
FARE Director of Policy and Research Caterina Giorgi said that while the alcohol industry advertising might try hard to suggest that Australians will find happiness, popularity and attractiveness in every bottle, the reality for most Australians is very different.
'When we look at the poll we see that Aussies who drink to get drunk expect to feel happy and relaxed, and tend to downplay the chances of feeling tired, sick or unattractive,' Ms Giorgi said.
What Australian drinkers expect to feel and what they actually felt was very different
Each year FARE's national alcohol poll provides valuable trend data and insights into community perspectives on alcohol
Wine was the favourite tipple of choice. Beer was next on the drink list followed by spirits
'They tend to buy into the alcohol industry advertising spin. The reality is very different, with drinkers far more likely to have experienced negative consequences, and far less likely to have felt happy or relaxed.'
FARE Chief Executive Michael Thorn also believed that the report contained an important message for policymakers and political leaders.
'This is the nation's most comprehensive poll to examine Australians' attitudes towards alcohol and their drinking behaviours,' Mr Thorn said.
'Each year it consistently delivers three very clear messages: that Australians recognise we have a problem with alcohol in this country, that a clear majority support the evidence-based solutions which will reduce the harms, and that they want governments to embrace meaningful reform.'
As summer approaches, people are flocking to stock up on sunscreen.
But a new study warns the SPF on your bottle may not reflect what is inside.
Almost half of America's favorite lotions and sprays claim to be far more protective than they are.
Some labeled 'SPF 50' are in fact no more protective than SPF 8.
The figures emerged in this year's Sunscreen Guide by Consumer Reports, which tested 65 lotions, sticks and sprays over SPF 30.
It found 28 of the products (43 per cent) did not match the SPF level printed on the bottle.
Almost half of America's favorite sunscreens claim to be far more protective than they are, a study warns
The most protective in the test were those that included the chemical avobenzone, as opposed to mineral-based products that contain titanium dioxide and zinc oxide.
The worst-rated sunscreens were CVS Kids Sun Lotion SPF 50 and Banana Boat Kids Tear-Free Sting-Free SPF 50 lotion.
Both tested as SPF 8.
And so-called waterproof sunscreens did not test well after being soaked.
Shiseido's WetForce Ultimate Sun Protection Lotion SPF 50+ claims to become more effective in water. Consumer Reports found that was not the case. Shiseido disputes Consumer Reports' method of testing.
The best-rated was La Roche-Posay Anthelios 60 Melt-In Sunscreen Milk lotion. The second-best was Trader Joe's Nourish Spray SPF 50+.
Consumer Reports also included a different Banana Boat product in its top five: the SunComfort Continuous Spray SPY 50+, which tested as 50.
To be sure of at least SPF 30, sun-seekers are widely-advised to lather on SPF 40 or higher, reapplying every two hours.
Though the FDA's lower limit is SPF 15, the American Academy of Dermatology says everyone should wear SPF 30 or above regardless of how easily they burn.
SPF stands for 'sun protective factor'.
In theory, if skin takes 20 minutes to redden, SPF 30 will protect that skin for 30 times longer - 10 hours.
Percentage-wise, SPF 30 blocks 97 per cent of the sun's rays, and SPF 50 blocks 98 per cent, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.
There is currently no evidence to suggest anything is more protective than SPF 50.
A New York Times investigation found SPF 100 blocked 99 per cent, but scientists still dispute this figure, and even then the figure is marginal.
WORST RATED: This kids lotion by Banana Boat (left) and its equivalent by CVS (right) both tested as SPF 8
BEST RATED: The best-rated was La Roche-Posay Anthelios 60 Melt-In Sunscreen Milk lotion (left). Trader Joe's Nourish Spray SPF 50+ (right) was also in the top five
To test the 65 products, Consumer Reports applied sunscreen to participants' backs then exposed them to a sun simulator which emits UVB rays, then tested the skin for 'redness'.
A similar experiment was used for water-resistant sunscreens. The lotion or spray was applied to a person's back, they were exposed to UBV rays, then the next day the skin was tested for 'redness'.
The researchers also checked for protection against UVA rays, which cause wrinkles.
They applied sunscreen to plastic, shone UVA light through it, then monitored how much of that light was absorbed.
Consumer Reports concluded that chemical based sunscreens are more effective.
This finding does come with its caveats.
As the Daily Mail reported last month, a UK-based study has warned avobenzone could affect men's fertility given the high levels of progesterone, a female hormone.
The grave of a business tycoon has been desecrated with a dead cat wrapped in a towel found to be newly buried beside him after his son was delivered a package with animal liver.
The cat carrier was uncovered at Con Polites' 15-year-old burial plot at Centennial Park in Adelaide's south on Tuesday, Adelaide Now reports, and is believed to have been buried there recently.
About 3.55am that morning, his son George Polites was delivered fresh animal liver, a birthday candle and handwritten note in a white bowl decorated with red ribbon to his home in Glenelg North.
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A cat carrier with a dead cat wrapped in a towel inside was uncovered at Con Polites' burial plot in Adelaide's south on Tuesday
About 3.55am that morning, his son George Polites was delivered fresh animal liver, a birthday candle and handwritten note in a white bowl decorated with red ribbon to his home in Glenelg North
The house has high levels of security and police are reviewing the footage, believed to have captured the delivery of the package, Yahoo 7 reports.
There was also an 'acid bombing' on two cars.
The mysterious attacks are suspected to have been sparked by a family feud, police believe.
Con Polites died in 2001 and was buried at Centennial Park in Adelaide's south, recently desecrated with a dead cat
The mysterious attacks are suspected to have been sparked by a family feud, police believe
The cat carrier with a dead cat wrapped in a towel police uncovered at the 15-year-old grave site of Con Polites on Tuesday
Lawyer Dimitrios Georgiadis, who represents the father and son and the Polites Group said the company was 'disturbed' by the incidents.
Con Polites was one of South Australia's wealthiest men, buying up properties across Adelaide. His surname is on CBD buildings and hotels.
When he died in 2001, his son took over the empire.
The son's home was shot at in a drive-by, peppering about 10 bullets at his Patawalonga Frontage home from a handgun in 2011.
George Polites said at the time he believed it was a case of mistaken identity.
Con Polites (pictured) was one of South Australia's wealthiest men, buying up properties across Adelaide. His surname is on CBD buildings and hotels
The son's home was shot at in a drive-by, peppering about 10 bullets at his Patawalonga Frontage home from a handgun in 2011
The CEOs of America's wealthiest businesses make on average 335 times more money than the average worker, according to a new study released on Tuesday.
The figures, which are issued annually by AFL-CIO, show the pay disparity between CEOs of S&P500 companies and US rank-and-file workers from last year is down from a multiple of 373 in2014.
Pay disparities, which havepersisted despite a steady US economy that has reduced thejoblessness rate to around 5 per cent and raised wages somewhat,have fueled political debate even as large institutionalinvestors support most executive compensation plans.
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The CEOs of the wealthiest American businesses make on average 335 times more money that the average worker, according to a new study released on Tuesday (file photo)
The average production and non-supervisory worker madearound $36,900 last year, up from roughly $36,000 in 2014,according to the AFL-CIO, which is the largest US federation of labor unions.
Meanwhile, CEOs of S&P 500 companies made $12.4 million onaverage last year, down from $13.5 million in 2014.
An AFL-CIOspokeswoman said the lower average CEO compensation figurereflected how for many, the present value of future pensionbenefits declined.
Union leaders said the figures showed how pay decisions donot favor the average worker. 'The income inequality that existsin this country is a disgrace,' AFL-CIO President Richard Trumkasaid in a statement.
Heather Slavkin Corzo, director of the AFL-CIO's office ofinvestment, said in an interview that recent wage increases arepaltry given how worker pay has steadily fallen behind that oftop executives.
In 1980, the average S&P 500 CEO made 42 times what theaverage rank-and-file worker earned, a ratio that by 1990 hadrisen to 107 times as much.
The average worker made around $36,900 last year, up from roughly $36,000 in 2014, according to the AFL-CIO, while, CEOs of S&P 500 companies made $12.4 million on average last year, down from $13.5 million in 2014 (file photo)
The high levels of executive compensation have drawncriticism from Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, aswell as Republican Donald Trump, in the current US presidential campaign.
Nonetheless, top shareholders like mutual fund firms haveoverwhelmingly supported management on executive compensationdecisions, according to the advisory 'say on pay' votes mostpublic companies hold annually.
James Copland, senior fellow at free-market think tank theManhattan Institute, called the AFL-CIO study 'useless' becauseit compares two different labor markets that should be evaluatedseparately.
While most workers could easily be replaced, hesaid, CEOs are 'much harder to substitute'.
Cotton On is being sued over claims that it ripped off an award-winning American artist's T-shirt design.
Elektra Printz Gorski filed a statement of claim in the Federal Court on April 15, accusing the Australian retail chain of 'knocking off' her clothing design LETTUCE TURNIP THE BEET.
Ms Gorski is seeking 'full profit' across eight countries for all products sold by Cotton On with the LETTUCE TURNIP THE BEET logo, plus her legal costs and damages to her brand.
Elektra Printz Gorski is suing Cotton On over claims it knocked off her design LETTUCE TURNIP THE BEET (model/stick image)
Ms Gorski started selling T-shirts, prints and stickers bearing the witty pun on the streets of Soho in New York in 2011.
Later she listed her products with online retailer Etsy and her T-shirts started to be seen on the backs of high-profile DJs and celebrities.
But early this year she was alerted to the fact Cotton On were selling tank tops with the same slogan in Australia.
Ms Gorski wrote to Cotton On Group in January saying it had 'willfully infringed' her copyright and trademarks and asked the company to stop selling products with the logo.
She said a senior Cotton On graphic designer 'pinned' a tank top with her design on Pinterest three years ago - something Cotton On denies.
Adam Walker, from Melbourne firm Gadens Lawyers, responded on behalf of Cotton On on January 27.
The company denied it had infringed on any of Ms Gorski's rights and was unaware of any trademarks in her name.
Cotton On said it only became aware of Ms Gorski and her company as a result of her email and said their designer became aware of the 'Lettuce Turnip The Beet' logo while researching an organic cotton range.
Ms Gorski has accused Cotton On Group of willfully infringing her copyright and trademarks
The company admitted, however, to selling products with the LETTUCE TURNIP THE BEET design in Australia, New Zealand and other countries.
'In any event, notwithstanding the existence of trademarks apparently registered to you, our client is not using LETTUCE TURNIP THE BEET as a trademark,' Mr Walker wrote.
'Those words are clearly an amusing pun and being used on the Cotton On products in that context.'
Mr Walker said that the pun was not 'authored by' Ms Gorski and therefore she had not claim to copyright.
Despite denying any wrongdoing, Cotton On agreed to halt manufacturing of products with the logo and stop advertising the products online.
However, the company said it would continue selling the exiting stock that were in stores.
Cotton On only sold out of the products in March, Ms Gorski told the Daily Mail.
Cotton On Group also asked she withdraw her allegations and threatened legal action if she did not do so.
Ms Gorski started selling T-shirts, prints and stickers bearing the witty pun in the streets of New York in 2011 (model/stock image)
Ms Gorski refused their request and, disappointed Cotton On did not offer her a settlement or compensation for 'damages to her brand', filed a suit in the Federal Court.
'Only after I filed did they come to me and offer me a settlement, which I refused since it does not adequately compensate me for the damages given the egregious nature of their infringement across 8 countries/territories where I've shipped my goods for years,' she said in an email.
Ms Gorski said taking on a company of the size of Cotton On was daunting due to the 'phenomenally high' legal costs, but she did not want to settle under their terms.
'It only takes them one minute to run a "slogan" through the publicly accessed trademark database to prevent infringement, but they refuse to even take that simple step,' she said
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Cotton On Group for comment.
Ms Gorski is seeking 'full profit' across eight countries for all products sold by Cotton On bearing the logo, plus her legal costs and damages to her brand (model/stock image)
Gulls eggs are said to have a richer and gamier flavour than hens' eggs
The eggs are considered a delicacy and are sold for up to 7 each
Thieves are raiding the nests of gulls and selling the eggs to restaurants
Thieves are raiding the nests of rare gulls on the south coast of England and selling the eggs to restaurants.
Gull eggs are considered a delicacy and legitimate specialist food websites sell them for as much as 7 each.
However, it appears a black market is emerging in gull eggs that have been taken illegally under the cover of darkness.
The warning comes from a charity which monitors birds nesting around the Dorset coast, where the taking of eggs for human consumption is banned.
Thieves are raiding the nests of rare gulls on the south coast of England and selling the eggs to restaurants
The Birds of Poole Harbour charity discovered the wholesale theft of eggs and has called in the police.
Its members found the problem during surveys of the inaccessible Gull Islands in the harbour, which are an historic breeding ground for the common Black-headed Gull.
In recent years, these common gulls have been joined by mating pairs from the much rarer Mediterranean Gulls.
These are known as a schedule one species, meaning it has the highest level of protection under the wildlife and countryside act, making it highly illegal to interfere with their nests or eggs.
The thieves appear to be hoovering up vast numbers of eggs from both species of sea bird and selling them on for profit.
It is legal to collect Black-headed Gull eggs, but only from a limited number of locations and only by people who are licensed. Egg collecting is not allowed at all in Poole Harbour.
The eggs that are legally taken by licensed collectors end up in some of the countrys top restaurants or are sold online.
However, only 18 people in the south of Britain are licensed to collect Black-headed Gull eggs, with the result profession is petering out.
Criminals who do not know the difference between different types of sea birds and their eggs are moving in and trying to cash in from the lucrative trade.
A search online found wild small gull eggs, which have a speckled shells, can be bought for next day delivery at 7 each.
They are said to have a richer and gamier flavour than hens eggs with vivid orange yolks. Many people eat them soft boiled with asparagus.
The thieves appear to be hoovering up vast numbers of eggs from both species of sea bird and selling them on for profit
Charity spokesman, Paul Morton, said: The issue is that both Black-headed Gulls and Mediterranean Gulls look very similar, and their eggs even more so.
So when an illegal egger goes out to the islands in the dead of night to harvest the eggs, the nests of the two species are so tightly packed next to one another other that there is absolutely no way of knowing which eggs are being swiped.
Also, restaurants will have no idea that they may be selling the eggs of a schedule one species, putting them at risk of prosecution.
Mr Morton said: There are several causes for alarm here. Firstly, there is absolutely no licensed egging in Poole Harbour, meaning its highly illegal to take either Black-headed Gull or Mediterranean Gull eggs from the islands.
Secondly, although the selling and eating of Black-headed Gull eggs is well known, there has been zero testing done on Mediterranean Gull eggs from here in the UK to see whether theyre safe for human consumption.
Not only that, but if eating establishments are selling eggs labelled as one thing but theyre actually something else, I assume they could be in breach of several trade and standards laws.
Schools in England spent more than 800 million on supply teachers last year amid a staff shortage fuelled by bulging pupil numbers and migration.
New figures revealed yesterday that the equivalent of 168 per child was spent on supply cover as schools struggle to recruit enough staff to fill vacancies.
It comes after a National Audit Office report found that increases in the pupil population partly caused by immigration has meant a rise in demand for teachers.
But while there are now more teachers in the system than ever before, recruitment has not kept abreast with the growing pupil numbers.
New figures revealed yesterday that the equivalent of 168 per child was spent on supply cover as schools struggle to recruit enough staff to fill vacancies (file image)
The latest figures, compiled by the BBC, show there was a total spend of 821 million on supply teachers in 2014-15.
And spending on supply teachers accounted for 6 per cent of the total amount spent on teaching staff wages.
However, the total spend represented a decrease of 18 million on the previous year.
London was the region where primary and secondary schools spent the most, with an average of 260 spent per child.
Schools in the East of England spent the least per pupil, with just 137 for every child.
The school that spent the most on supply teachers was The Robert Clack School in Dagenham, east London.
Department of Education figures showed the school spent 953,807 on extra staff - the equivalent of 526 per child.
Dr Neil Geach, the schools chairman of governors, said the figures included expenditure on counselling staff, extra-curricular sport staff and professional development spending and did not reflect reality.
To put it bluntly without companies like mine the reality is that the education system would grind to a halt. Becca Morgan, founder of supply agency Principal Teachers
Government figures for 2014 show that teacher vacancy rate across England stood at 0.3 per cent, which meant about 1,000 posts were vacant.
Becca Morgan, who set up the supply agency Principal Teachers in Catterick 16 years ago, said her company was currently experiencing its busiest ever period.
She told the BBC: We start dealing with schools looking for supply teachers at 6.30 in the morning and I often stop answering calls at midnight.
To put it bluntly without companies like mine the reality is that the education system would grind to a halt.
General secretary of teachers union NASUWT Chris Keates said the spending showed a serious teacher recruitment and retention crisis.
The NAO report, published in February, found that while the number of teachers in the system has increased over the past ten years, pupil numbers are also growing.
While there are now more teachers in the system than ever before, recruitment has not kept abreast with the growing pupil numbers (file image)
It said secondary school teacher numbers had remained stable since 2005, but the number of primary teachers has increased by 19,000, reflecting changing pupil numbers.
Local councils have repeatedly complained that they are struggling to accommodate a bulge in primary school numbers caused by a baby boom following high immigration.
The swelling of primary school numbers is set to transfer onto secondaries and council leaders have warned of an urgent need to expand schools.
The NAO warned that a similar increase in teachers was needed in secondary schools soon, but that teacher recruitment is now more difficult because of the improving economy.
Official figures released last year showed the proportion of primary school pupils who do not have English as a first language increased from 18.1 per cent to 18.7 per cent.
A spokesman for the Department for Education said: Supply teachers provide a valuable role for schools, and schools themselves are best placed to make staffing decisions to reflect their individual needs. It is up to head teachers and governors to decide who is required for the job and this includes how best to cover absences.
Inmates should be given iPads and allowed to speak to their families over Skype, a review commissioned by Michael Gove is expected to suggest today.
The study into prison education, seen by the Guardian, recommends greater use of 'in-cell technology, such as iPads, so prisoners can learn independently'.
The review, conducted by Dame Sally Coates, is due to be published alongside radical reforms which David Cameron has made the centrepiece of the Queen's speech.
The study into prison education, seen by the Guardian, recommends greater use of 'in-cell technology, such as iPads, so prisoners can learn independently'. File image
Its recommendations, extracts of which were seen by The Guardian, come as Mr Cameron announces what he called 'the biggest shake-up of prisons since the Victorian times'.
and they include increased use of satellite tags which will mean less prison time for convicts.
In a move likely to alarm some on the Tory Right, lower-risk criminals with jobs will only serve jail time at the weekends.
During the week, they will be free to carrying on working if employers agree to avoid them becoming unemployed and wrecking families.
Their movements will be monitored by satellite tags, which have been beset by technology problems, to be trialled initially in eight police areas.
Thousands more inmates with tags will also be allowed out in the day towards the end of their sentences in order to do work placements. Courts will also be expected to make far greater use of community punishments as an alternative to jail.
Mr Cameron said: 'This is a one-nation Queen's Speech from a one-nation government. It sets out a clear programme of social reform, so we break down the barriers to opportunity and extend life chances to all. And nowhere is that reform needed more than in our prisons.
'For too long, we have left our prisons to fester. Not only does that reinforce the cycle of crime, increasing the bills of social failure that taxpayers must pick up, it writes off thousands of people.
'No longer will they be warehouses for criminals; they will now be places where lives are changed.'
One of Europe's biggest jails, HMP Wandsworth, is among the half dozen institutions where governors will be given sweeping new powers over all key areas of management.
The review, conducted by Dame Sally Coates, is due to be published alongside radical reforms including plans to let convicts out to work in the week on electronic tag and return to jail at the weekend
More than 5,000 inmates at the jails, which also include HMP Holme House, HMP Kirklevington Grange, HMP Coldingley, HMP High Down, and HMP Ranby, will be ruled over by the new regime.
Under the initiative, governors will get much greater financial and legal power over areas such as budgets, opting out of national contracts, operational control on education, family visits, and partnerships to provide prison work and rehabilitation services.
Justice Secretary Michael Gove said: 'Prisons must do more to rehabilitate offenders. We will put governors in charge, giving them the autonomy they need to run prisons in the way they think best.'
Ministers were also announcing that satellite tracking tags which monitor the movements of offenders using GPS technology will be piloted in eight police areas, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire, West Midlands, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Northampton, from September.
Ivanka Trump has insisted her father is 'not a groper' in an angry response to a New York Times article that accused him of mistreating women.
The Donald's oldest daughter said she was 'disturbed and bothered' by the front page piece published on Sunday, but said she knew it wasn't true, in an interview with CBS News.
She also praised the fact most of the claims made in the piece have since been 'discredited' and is glad the publication is on the receiving end of a backlash.
'Look, I'm not in every interaction my father has but he's not a groper, it's not who he is,' she said.
'I've known my father, obviously, my whole life and he has total respect for women. He was promoting women in development and construction at a time when it was unheard of. There was no trend towards equality in the real estate and construction industry back in the 1980s and he was doing it because he believes ultimately in merit.'
The article entitled 'Crossing the Line: How Donald Trump behaved with women in private' has created a firestorm since it was published four days ago.
Among the allegations include claims from a deposition against Trump in 1996 from a beauty pageant organizer named Jill Harth.
It claims Trump 'groped her under the table' at a dinner with her husband.
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Ivanka Trump has said she was 'disturbed' by the New York Times article accusing her father of mistreating women, but insists she knew it wasn't true
Republican frontrunner's eldest daughter told CBS News she was initially 'bothered' by the front page story published on Sunday. But she praised the fact most of the claims made in the piece have since been 'discredited' and is glad the publication is on the receiving end of a backlash
Ms Harth refused to be quoted in the Times piece which acknowledges she later withdrew her lawsuit against Trump.
The Times article insists she 'stands by her original claims' but admitted Trump's camp showed them emails from Ms Harth supporting his Presidential candidacy over the past year.
And Ms Harth's allegations aren't the only aspect of the piece to be called into question. Two women quoted in the article have since come forward to slam the publication.
Former Miss USA runner-up Carrie Prejean said she had never been interviewed by the Times and slammed the passages from her book they used which painted Trump in a poor light.
Model Rowanne Brewer Lane has also accused the paper of fabricating quotes.
Trump himself has called it a hit piece while Ivanka became the latest member of his campaign to take aim.
'I found it to be pretty disturbing based on the facts that I know,' she said.
'And I very much know them, both in the capacity as a daughter and the capacity of an executive who has worked alongside him at this company for over a decade.
'I was bothered by it, but it's largely been discredited since. Most of the time when stories are inaccurate they are not discredited.
'I will be frustrated by that. But in this case I think they went so far they had such a strong thesis and created facts to reinforce it and I think that narrative has played out now and there's backlash in that regard.'
Ivanka was also asked if she ever wanted to change some of her father's offensive tweets toward women, to which she said; 'Ive certainly thought that certain things should be toned down but not necessarily in relation to that.
'When I think about myself as a feminist its important that women are treated equally. And he treats women and men equally.'
Ivanka was then asked what her father could do to improve his high unfavorables with women, replying; 'You would have to ask him. I think that hes running his campaign. I think that people are just starting to see who he is.
'The race is different now and I think that people will be able to see a softer side of him. Hes going to be attacked in a different way, but its different when youre being attacked by one person as opposed to 16.'
Talk then turned to what happens if he father is elected president, and who would take over the family business.
'It's not something I prioritize,' said Ivanka.
'You know, my brothers and I, early on, we said to one another that as a collective we could do far more than any one of us could do as an individual. And I really believe that.
'So for me title is largely irrelevant. I want to show up at work and love what I do and be able to work on projects I'm passionate about.'
One of those projects is their latest hotel property in Washington DC, which Ivanka says is currently ahead of schedule and under budget.
Her other big project she said is reshaping the way people view women in the workplace.
'My life mission is to disrupt these dated concepts of what it looks like and means to be a working woman,' said Ivanka.
'The expression "working men" is never heard, but people still talk about working women, and there is this bit of negativity to that connotation.
'I think really celebrating the many different ways that women are working at their lives and architecting lives that they want to live.'
One of the people she clams celebrated her decisions was her father
'My father encouraged me to set the bar very high for myself and to set great goals for myself, but he also celebrates the fact that I'm a mother of three children, his grandchildren, and wife to my husband,' said Ivanka.
'It's something I feel very blessed about. He believes it's for me to choose ultimately what my life should look like and to architect a life i want for myself that will make me happy.
Former girlfriend Rowanne Brewer Lane blasted the Times on Monday, claiming the paper fabricated part the article, calling the paper's retelling of her story 'false' and demanding an apology.
Rowanne Brewer Lane (pictured with Trump, right, in 1990) told the Times of a time at Trump's pool party at Mar-a-Lago in 1990 when he asked her to put on a swimsuit. She says the paper fabricated quotes
A separate analysis by Daily Mail Online of the New York Times piece has revealed that although the paper claimed to have conducted 'dozens' of interviews, it only reported on three women who had not spoken before about Trump of whom two were quoted in a critical fashion.
Prejean, who was Miss California USA in 2009 and has since become a married mother of two young children, told Hannity she had been approached repeatedly to discuss her dealings with Trump, then the joint owner of the Miss USA pageant.
'Back in March when they started this whole campaign against him, there were several reporters that had reached out to me, telling me that they were doing an interview about Trump, and women, and how he treats women,' she said.
'And I told them, 'I'm not going to be doing an interview at this time.'
'I said I'm not interested. I'm a mom, you know, I'm a wife, I started a business. I'm not interested.
'And I said, 'And by the way, I have nothing bad to say about him, so go get it from someone else.'
'So what did they do? They quoted something from my book. And what upsets me is they say in this article in the New York Times, they say The New York Times interviewed dozens of women who had worked with or for Mr Trump, and so it made it seem like they interviewed me recently.
'Which that's not true. So they're lying.'
The original article acknowledges that the quotes from Prejean are from her book, but does not mention her saying: 'I have nothing bad to say about him.'
Prejean, who has long had close ties to Hannity, said that on his syndicated show that she had nothing critical to say about Trump - and felt the the New York Times had twisted what was in her memoir.
In the course of the 15-minute interview she said:'They took a little tiny thing from my book and they twisted it.
'And if they would have actually read on, I talk very highly of Mr. Trump. I don't say anything negative about him.
The Republican presumptive nominee attacked the New York Times in a lengthy tirade on social media claiming that 'everyone is laughing' at the 'failing' newspaper for the story
'Just below what they quoted, on page 68 [of her book], I said that most of us respect Donald Trump and he's an amazing businessman and leader. Why didn't they put that in the piece?'
Prejean also made clear that she was a political supporter of Trump and suggested the New York Times was attempting to undermine him.
'He's the Republican nominee,' she said.
'We have to support him. He is going to do so many things for this country.
''They're digging and they can't find anything. So they need to give up. They need to give up.'
The Times has so far stood by its piece but has come under increasing scrutiny for it.
Trump was vocal in his criticism of the New York Times on Twitter on Monday.
He has already called the article 'proven false' and 'totally dishonest'.
Scotland Yard has revoked a harassment notice given to a reporter for quizzing a convicted fraudster after police used taxpayers cash to try to justify the move.
Gareth Davies had been handed a Police Information Notice (PIN) in March 2014 while investigating Neelam Desais alleged involvement in a dating website scam.
The Met said his attempts to question Desai, calling at her house once and sending a polite email, went beyond what was reasonable and the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) upheld the decision.
Gareth Davies, left, who had been handed a Police Information Notice (PIN) in March 2014 while investigating Neelam Desais, right, alleged involvement in a dating website scam
The chilling prevention of harassment notice warned any attempt to talk to, or approach Desai could constitute harassment. This meant Mr Davies risked prosecution by attending Croydon Crown Court to report how she was jailed for 30 months.
MPs accused Scotland Yard of trampling on Press freedom and more than 500 people signed a petition calling for the PIN to be cancelled.
The Croydon Advertiser reporter, backed by publisher Local World, challenged the ruling and a High Court judge granted permission for a judicial review. The Met spent taxpayers cash fighting the case but yesterday agreed to back down.
The chilling prevention of harassment notice warned any attempt to talk to, or approach Desai could constitute harassment
Mr Davies said: As my case has demonstrated, PINs can be used to impede responsible journalism.
I behaved as journalists across the country do on a daily basis but was issued with a warning by the police, which could have appeared on my criminal record, without officers conducting any form of investigation to establish whether the allegations were true.
Im glad that, in agreeing to write to the College of Policing, the Met and the IPCC have acknowledged that the use of PINs in relation to journalists needs to be reviewed. As my case has demonstrated, PINs can be used to impede responsible journalism.
Today a judge ruled that Scotland Yard had to revoke the order following a petition and pressure from MPs
James Welch, legal director of human rights group Liberty, added: The police seem to hand out harassment notices without adequate investigation or consideration of the validity of complaints. The police should be wary of discouraging good journalistic practice with these chilling warnings.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: On May 11 a decision was taken by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to revoke, without admission of liability, the Police Information Notice (PIN), or harassment warning letter, issued on March 31, 2014.
Jeremy Morgan, 62, (pictured) claimed he was under 'immense stress' when he deliberately changed the answers on 28 pupils' Key Stage 2 English and maths exams
A headteacher has been struck off after doctoring his pupils' SATs tests in a moment of 'sheer madness' to protect his school from an imminent Ofsted inspection.
Jeremy Morgan, 62, claimed he was under 'immense stress' when he deliberately changed the answers on 28 pupils' Key Stage 2 English and maths exams.
A tribunal heard how the future of every pupil in the year 6 class was 'unnecessarily harmed' after their results were later annulled.
Yesterday, the retired headteacher who had taught for 40 years - was banned from the classroom after a panel ruled they were 'not convinced' by his excuse.
It comes just weeks after thousands of parents took their children out of lessons in protest against tougher exams for taken by Year 2 pupils in primary schools.
Mr Morgan initially denied tampering with the exam scripts at St John's Primary School in Rochdale between May 12 and 15 in 2014.
But just a few days before the disciplinary hearing, he admitted he had 'deliberately made changes' though he had 'limited' recollection of doing so.
A National College for Teaching and Leadership panel heard how the former head teacher had done so as a 'subconscious last-ditch attempt' to protect the school from impending Ofsted inspection.
Less than a month later, the primary school was downgraded by inspectors from 'good' to 'requires improvement, noting that standards for Key Stage 2 pupils were not rising quickly enough.
Mr Morgan was caught out when the Standards and Testing Agency raised concerns over the security of completed scripts and found evidence that answers on the exams had been changed.
Out of 28 pupils, assessors found more than 70 per cent of the maths scripts had at least one change, while 32 per cent had at least three edits.
As a result, all of the results for children taking the Key Stage 2 reading, GPS (grammar, punctuation and spelling) and maths exams were annulled.
Mr Morgan - who retired that Summer after teaching for 40 years - told the panel he was 'deeply sorry' for what he had done.
He claimed it was 'entirely out of character' for him and he 'must have acted on impulse by making some frenzied changes to answers on pupil papers'.
In a statement read out to a disciplinary, he said: 'It was not premeditated and... I was horrified when I looked at what I had done but then I could not go back.
'I feel that it happened as my sub conscious last-ditch attempt to protect the school from a poor inspection result.'
He has said that he was under immense stress at the time due to managing various personnel issues and feeling unsupported by his senior leadership team.
Banning him from the profession, chair of the panel Marion May said: 'The panel is not convinced that Mr Morgan, a very experienced headteacher of 18 years' standing, would have been unable to deal with the stresses of SATs week, personnel issues and an imminent Ofsted inspection .
Mr Morgan initially denied tampering with the exam scripts at St John's Primary School in Rochdale (pictured) between May 12 and 15 in 2014
'In the panel's view, it is more likely that he had an underlying motivation to improve the children's scores.
'His actions were not committed in a moment of 'sheer madness', but would have taken some time, and occurred over several days during that week of May 12 to 15, 2014.
'He would have had to give his actions some thought, and the panel does not believe that he could have amended the papers on an impulsive or frenzied basis as he claimed.
'His actions have resulted in the annulment of that cohort's Key Stage 2 results, which is having an impact on their progression through secondary education.
'The children had worked hard and were apparently a strong cohort, so Mr Morgan's actions unnecessarily harmed their future prospects.'
The panel's recommendation for Morgan to be banned from the profession was agreed with by Jayne Millions, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State.
Miss Millions said: 'Mr Morgan's conduct in dishonestly tampering with National Key Stage 2 assessment scripts, which resulted in a whole cohort of 28 children's results being annulled, is a very serious matter.
'Maintaining the integrity of the National examinations system is at the core of what teachers do, and Mr Morgan's acts have seriously undermined the public's trust in the profession.
'I agree with the panel's recommendations that a 5 year review period is appropriate.'
Lord Heseltine launched an extraordinary attack on Boris Johnson last night over his obscene comments about Adolf Hitler.
The former deputy prime minister said the former London mayor was losing his judgement and said he would be very surprised if ever becomes Tory leader.
The intervention by Lord Heseltine, a key member of the Remain campaign, marks a further escalation in the war between the two sides of the Conservative party.
In his interview yesterday, Lord Hesetline issued a series of attacks on the former mayor, saying: I think the strain is beginning to tell.
The former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine (left) said the former London mayor Boris Johnson (right) was losing his judgement and said he would be very surprised if ever becomes Tory leader.
He criticised Mr Johnson for his claim at the weekend that EU efforts to build a federal super-state could be compared with the Nazi leaders plans to dominate the comment.
The former President of the Board of Trade hit out at the ex-mayors bizarre claim, made on the campaign trail yesterday, that Brussels rules stop people buying bananas in bunches of more than two or three.
And he attacked his comment made a month ago that President Obamas part-Kenyan ancestry may have given him negative views of Britain saying it was a near- racist remark.
Asked by the BBC if Mr Johnson can ever become prime minister, Lord Heseltine who helped unseat Margaret Thatcher in 1990 said: Id be very surprised.
I think that every time he makes one of these extraordinary utterances, people in the Conservative Party will question whether he now has the judgement for that role.
Lord Heseltine said the Uxbridge MPs comments on Hitler were deeply disturbing.
When he starts invoking the memories of Hitler, that has crossed the bounds of domestic debate, he said.
It was about the most manic nationalist aggressive destruction on a scale unprecedented in human history. It was about the persecution of the Jews.
A calculated decision to persecute the Jews on a massive scale that was what he wanted to do. He believed in it.
The idea that a serious British politician can in any way invoke that memory, I find, frankly, I had better contain my language.
Lord Heseltine criticised criticised Mr Johnson (pictured) for his claim at the weekend that EU efforts to build a federal super-state could be compared with the Nazi leaders plans to dominate the comment
He added: Now weve got some ridiculous story about two to three bananas in a bunch out of Brussels.
Its a complete fabrication. I know. My wife and I eat bananas, Ive bought bunches of bananas.
Frankly I think the strain of the campaign is beginning to tell on him. I think his judgement is going. Before that we had the near-racist allegations of President Obama.
This is the most serious decision Britain has faced in a generation and its descending in to an extraordinarily nasty situation.
Lord Heseltine added: His judgement has come under great pressure. As I say, I like him and we have to put the Tory party back together after this referendum so Im not going to get into the personalities business but I think the strain is beginning to tell.
He said Mr Johnson had made preposterous, obscene political remarks.
Asked if he had told lies, Lord Heseltine said: Its a big word, lie, but he is behaving now irresponsibly and recklessly and I fear that his judgement is going.
He said this was happening because of strain and exposure.
When he starts invoking the memories of Hitler, that has crossed the bounds of the domestic debate, he said.
A higher education provider has been slammed for circulating advertisements that offered hopeful international students the opportunity to 'intern' at a top consulting firm for thousands of dollars.
Top Education Institute, which operates out of the University of Sydney, claimed to have exclusive access to an internship program with global consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
The flyers, which were distributed through Chinese social media app WeChat last week, offered students the chance to 'work closely with PwC partners,' The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Students angered at the prospect of paying a $2,800 fee to secure their position in a program with a '1 per cent admission rate in Australia' began to question the legitimacy of the internship.
An advertisement offering an 'internship opportunity' with top consulting form PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has since been clarified as a 'training course' after students were outraged by the $2,800 fee
Top Education Institute, which operates out of the University of Sydney, said it's students would have the chance to 'work closely with PwC partners' (PwC Sydney office pictured) during the internship
The advertisement was also found being distributed by training providers Monkey King and Navigator Union on Chinese social media app WeChat
But the companies now say that the advertisements were incorrect, clarifying that the 'internship' actually referred to a 10-day training course at the Sydney office.
'The description of the course as an 'internship' was incorrect,' the firm said in a joint statement with Top Education.
'The program being offered by Top Education is not part of PwC's internship, vacationer or graduate programs. PwC does not require students to pay to undertake internships.'
The companies say steps were taken last week to have the advertisements 'removed and reissued to accurately reflect the nature of the course.'
PwC, one of the 'Big Four' auditors (along with Deloitte, EY and KPMG), has offices across 157 countries, employs over 200,000 people worldwide, and turned over $35 billion in revenue last year.
Students already signed up to spend 10 days in the Sydney office 'in the belief they would be participating in PwC's internship program' have since been offered full refunds, PwC said.
Minshen Zhu, CEO of Top Education, acts as a senior adviser to the University of Sydney's Confucius Institute and is known for his impressive connections back home in China.
His website shows him posing alongside important Chinese figures such as Premier Li Keqiang, Minister for Education Professor Yuan Guiren, and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Top Education Institute is one of the only non-specialist Australian private colleges endorsed by the Chinese government for Chinese students. Its campus is on the grounds of the University of Sydney
The factory worker who was allegedly squeezed out of his share of a $40 million Mothers Day Powerball win has applied to legally freeze his part of the takings - which is over $2 million.
Michael Lee SC, lawyer for the registered ticket holder Robert Adams told the NSW Supreme Court that the syndicate had ended in January.
Mr Lee also said aggrieved cable factory employee Brendon King had only been part of a previous unsuccessful lottery ticket.
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Robert Adams is the registered ticket holder of a $40M winning ticket won by a workplace syndicate
Mr Adams said Brendon King - who claims he's been cut out of the winnings - left their workplace lotto syndicate in January - before the big win
He said suggestions the Mr Adams had included his sons in the syndicate win were 'scandalous' and 'simply false'.
Lawyers for NSW Lotteries also appeared in court on Wednesday.
Shine Lawyers barrister Lachlan Gyles, who was representing Mr King, said his client had worked for the Prysmian cable factory for five years and been a member of the syndicate run by the ticket holder for four years.
He said that Brendon King had discussed the Mothers Day draw with Mr Adams before the syndicate bought the winning ticket.
Since January the lottery syndicate at the cable factory had decided to concentrate on entering only bigger draws, Mr Gyles told Justice John Sackar.
'The syndicate members were asked to pay $50 from time so that [the syndicate organiser] could purchase tickets as he saw was appropriate in these Lotto draws.
The syndicate are all employees of Prysmian Group in Liverpool, Sydney
[Mr King] paid all the money required.'
Lawyers for Mr King said that a 'money trail' of payments in the syndicate would be important in the case.
Lawyers for the ticket holder said they would apply for a suppression order on the his name and that 'simply false' allegations had been made about him and his family.
In applying for a supression order on the name of the registered owner of the lottery syndicate, barrister Mr Lee said there had been allegations of fraud and betrayal by the ticket holder which were untrue.
He said wide media coverage had claimed Mr King was 'the only member excluded from ... a long running syndicate' and that wasn't true.
'It was another syndicate,' he said.
The Supreme court judge refused to suppress the name of registered syndicate owner Robert Adams.
Lawyers for Mr King said that a 'money trail' of payments in the syndicate would be important in the case (file photo)
Justice John Sackar knocked back the application by Mr Adams lawyer Michael Lee SC that 'false, scandalous and libelous allegations' made against Adams would prevent the proper administration of justice.
Mr King's is is 'relieved' to have his $2.69m share of the win frozen but he's still ' very stressed', his lawyer Luke Whiffen said.
Speaking outside the NSW Supreme Court Mr Whiffen denied claims by the registered owner of the winning ticket that Mr King was a member of a different, second syndicate which had only bought a losing ticket.
'There was only one syndicate, ' Mr Whiffen said.
He said Mr King 'is very stressed and his family is very stressed'.
Almost $37.3 miliion of the Powerball win is now due to be paid out by NSW Lotteries to the other members of the syndicate on Friday.
Mr Whiffen could not say whether Brendon King would be returning to the Prysmian cable factory at Liverpool in south-western Sydney to work alongside Robert Adams and one of Mr Adams'sons, Matt Adams.
A 29-year-old man who stole $1,200 from a supermarket after threatening a 16-year-old cashier with a 'HIV-infected needle' was sentenced to two years in jail on Friday.
Paul Reynolds, who pleaded guilty to armed robbery at the Supreme Court of Western Australia in Perth, claimed that he was too intoxicated to remember threatening the teenager at a Busselton IGA in August 2015, according to WA Today.
Reynolds, a father-of-one, repeatedly swore at the boy and showed him 'a needle-like object' that he claimed was infected with HIV, Supreme Court Judge Lindy Jenkins told the court.
Paul Reynolds, 29, was sentenced to two years jail on Friday at the Supreme Court of Western Australia in Perth after he pleaded guilty to threatening a 16-year-old cashier with a 'HIV-infected needle' (stock image)
The scared cashier handed over $1,215 and two packets of cigarettes to Reynolds.
Reynolds told the court that at the time of the robbery he was drinking a lot and using cannabis and amphetamines.
Although the crime was committed in Busselton, the hearing was held in the Supreme Court because of the severity of the offence, a court clerk told Daily Mail Australia.
Reynolds was already serving prison time for driving-related offences when he was sentenced to the additional two years.
Judge Jenkins said she hoped the added prison time stops him from reoffending.
Reynolds, a father-of-one, told the court that he was too intoxicated to remember robbing a Busselton IGA supermarket of $1,200 with the needle in August 2015 (stock image)
Supermarkets are important to the community but are vulnerable to people like Reynolds, she said.
'They are often staffed by young people like the victim in this case and such staff are particularly vulnerable. I must impose a sentence on you which will hopefully deter you from committing this type of offence again.'
Daily Mail Australia has contacted WA Police for comment.
His court martial is scheduled for June 20 and 21
And they claim he had sex with three men from Craigslist for money
Investigators say they found over 100 child porn pics and videos on his PC
His lover, Ailsa Jackson, pleaded guilty to stabbing her in November 2014
The army medic who was accused in March of ordering his lover to murder his wife is to be court-martialed on charges of possessing child pornography and working as a gay prostitute.
Sgt. Michael Walker was accused in November last year of conspiring with his lover, Ailsa Jackson, to murder his wife, Catherine.
During the course of the investigation, police say they found child porn on his computer and evidence he had sold his body. His court-martial is set for June 20 and 21, NY Daily News reported Tuesday.
Court-martial: Sgt. Michael Walker (right), who pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife Catherine (left) in November 2014, now faces a court-martial for possession of child pornography and selling his body
Mistress: Ailsa Jackson (pictured), Walker's mistress, pleaded guilty to stabbing Catherine Walker to death. Prosecutors say she and Walker had planned the attack beforehand
In a March hearing on his murder charges, prosecutors said investigators found 92 photos and 19 videos were found on his computer in November 2014, shortly after his wife was stabbed to death.
Further videos and images were found during an April 2015 search, they said.
And those charges were compounded by claims that Walker, who has been stationed in Tripler Army Medical Base, Honolulu, since 2013, had worked as a male prostitute.
'Sgt. Walker is alleged to have posted on Craigslist soliciting individuals to engage in sexual acts in exchange for his receiving money,' Jim Guzior, spokesman for the base, said at the time.
'Sgt. Walker is alleged to have solicited three men to engage in sexual contact.'
Walker was originally accused of organizing the murder of his wife with Jackson.
Catherine Walker was found stabbed to death in the bed the couple shared in their military-provided housing.
Video courtesy Hawaii News Now
Prosecutors say that prior to her death, Michael Walker and Jackson had exchanged texts and emails in which he said he wanted his wife of 11 years gone but was unable to divorce her.
'I want you so bad!!!' he texted Jackson on October 12, 2014, CBS reported. 'If only someone was out of the way!'
'Prostitute': Army prosecutors say that Walker offered to sell his body for money on Craigslist, and that he then had paid sex with three men. Investigators also say they found child porn videos and images on his PC
In a November email, Jackson allegedly wrote that the anticipation was 'exhausting.'
'The thrill is faltering. I'm growing impatience (sic), tired and hungry for action.'
He allegedly responded, 'The sooner the better.'
Prosecutors say the couple plotted to make Catherine Walker's death look like a burglary.
Jackson pleaded guilty to her murder in December, saying she waited with the woman's body for half an hour after the stabbing in order to make sure she was dead.
Walker, meanwhile, has pleaded not guilty. His attorney in that case said that although he had an affair with Jackson, he loved his wife and wouldn't want her dead.
The pair were planning to have a child through in-vitro fertilization, they said.
His attorney in the court-martial could not be contacted immediately for comment Tuesday, the NY Daily News said.
The child pornography and prostitution charges have not been made part of the murder case.
The Church of Scotland is considering online baptisms and communions to help reverse a decline in membership.
The plans are due to be presented to delegates at the Churchs annual gathering on The Mound in Edinburgh next week.
It is hoped the plans will start a debate about how to engage more with parishioners while also inviting suggestions for executing baptisms remotely through the internet.
It is hoped the plans by the Church of Scotland will start a debate about how to engage more with parishioners while inviting suggestions for executing baptisms remotely through the internet
Norman Smith, vice-convener of the Mission and Discipleship Council, described the plans as forward-thinking, adding: Most people live out their Christian faith not in church buildings.
We are responding to where we find ourselves in society in a positive and engaging way.
It shows that the Church is not behind the times.
Theological and legal experts will discuss how they will go about doing the sacraments such as baptism if the plans are approved.
Rev Smith, minister in Granton, Edinburgh, said: They are the questions that have yet to be addressed and we are yet to have a discussion.
Attempts to embrace online audiences come as the church accepts the nature of membership and belonging to the Church of Scotland is becoming more and more blurred.
It is hoped the plans by the Church of Scotland will start a debate about how to engage more with parishioners while inviting suggestions for executing baptisms remotely through the internet (pictured: one of the first online baptisms in 2008)
The Church of Scotlands congregational roll fell by almost a third between 2004 and last year to 363,597.
The report, due to be presented at the general assembly, states: As fewer people join up in the traditional sense and as they make choices which include ever greater interaction with the Church through online access and social media, questions arise about online membership and even about access to the sacraments while not being physically present in the congregation.
There are no easy answers to some of the questions which are already being asked, but, in a world where the fastest growing communities are being fostered online, the committee believes that now is the time to open up a wide-ranging discussion on these contemporary developments.
The committee proposes that this research be done jointly with the Mission and Discipleship Council and the Theological Forum.
The Kirk is looking for new ways to reach people as its membership continues to drop and technology plays a bigger role.
The Kirks former Moderator, the Very Reverend Albert Bogle, has spearheaded a separate project taking the holy message to the internet with religious apps.
He now has 1,700 using the website Sanctuary First.
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The Labor frontbencher who didn't declare his $2.3 million negatively geared property has serious questions to answer, the Greens say.
David Feeney, who holds the tightly-contested seat of Batman in inner-city Melbourne, is in hot water after admitting to having accidentally omitted the $2.3 million Northcote property from his parliamentary records.
On Wednesday Mr Feeney said he has since written to the register of members interests in order to declare it, but Adam Bandt of the Greens said he has been 'caught red-handed breaking the rules' and must answer questions.
David Feeney, who holds the tightly contested seat of Batman, inner-Melbourne, is in hot water after admitting to having accidentally omitted the $2.3 million Northcote property from his parliamentary records
He bought the four-bedroom Northcote, inner-Melbourne home in December 2013, four months after winning the seat and three weeks after filling out his initial register of members interests
A once safe Labor seat, the Greens have Batman in their sights. Mr Bandt holds the neighbouring seat of Melbourne.
'Australia lost a premier over a bottle of wine,' Mr Bandt told ABC radio, referring to the resignation of former NSW premier Barry O'Farrell.
'What happens to someone who doesn't declare a $2.3 million property?
'Mr Feeney has questions to answer and so does Bill Shorten.'
Mr Feeney said the negatively geared Northcote property is on the public record despite its omission from the register
'I have today written to the register of members interests seeking to rectify my register so that the property is properly found therein,' Mr Feeney told ABC radio
'Australia lost a premier over a bottle of wine,' Mr Bandt told ABC radio, referring to the resignation of former NSW premier Barry O'Farrell. 'What happens to someone who doesn't declare a $2.3 million property?'
But the Labor frontbencher said the 'assertion of dishonesty is a nonsense', adding the Greens were 'clutching at straws', according to ABC.
'There is no suggestion here that there is any conflict of interest, there is no suggestion that I've made any gain through this omission.'
Mr Feeney said the negatively geared Northcote property is on the public record despite its omission from the register.
'I have today written to the register of members interests seeking to rectify my register so that the property is properly found therein,' Mr Feeney told ABC radio.
He bought the Northcote home in December 2013, four months after winning the seat and three weeks after filling out his initial register of members interests.
The Labor frontbencher said the 'assertion of dishonesty is a nonsense', adding the Greens were 'clutching at straws'
'There is no suggestion here that there is any conflict of interest, there is no suggestion that I've made any gain through this omission,' Mr Feeney said
'I have today written to the register of members interests seeking to rectify my register so that the property is properly found therein,' Mr Feeney told ABC radio
He has since updated the register twice, but continued to omit the $2.3 million property.
Mr Feeney is on the record saying negative gearing is a 'scheme for rich investors that reduces housing affordability'.
Labor is planning to limit tax breaks for property investors to newly-constructed homes from July 2017.
But owners of established homes like Mr Feeney will be excluded from the change because the measure won't apply to existing arrangements.
Mr Feeney has confirmed the Northcote property, as well as another in Seddon, are negatively geared.
He and his wife currently live in an East Melbourne apartment.
The four-bedroom Northcote property is described as having 'spectacular city views' and 'period charm' on a 'grand scale', sitting on 'a colossal 900m2 allotment'.
Mr Feeney said the negatively geared Northcote property is on the public record despite its omission from the register
A once safe Labor seat, the Greens have Batman in their sights. Mr Bandt holds the neighbouring seat of Melbourne
Mr Feeney has confirmed the Northcote property, as well as another in Seddon, are negatively geared
The four-bedroom Northcote property is described as having 'spectacular city views' over Melbourne in its real estate description
The Northcote, inner-Melbourne home has 'period charm' on a 'grand scale', sitting on 'a colossal 900m2 allotment', according to the real estate description
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A once-popular community swimming pool is now a squalid mess, the target of vandals, taggers and squatters who've contributed to the building's decline.
The Cranbourne Swimming Pool in Casey, Melbourne, once home to the Tiger Sharks Swimming Club, closed in 2009 after 30 years of operation.
Photographs from the venue reveal an overgrown property covered in what is in many cases illegible graffiti, smashed infrastructure and debris littering every surface.
Explorers from Abandoned Melbourne ventured into the pool to document its condition.
Photographs from the abandoned Cranbourne Swimming Pool reveal tagging and graffiti on almost every surface
The floors of the former community pool are littered with debris that's been strewn about. Brightly-coloured graffiti adorns many of the walls
This view of the now-empty swimming pool shows rubbish instead of water, and yet more graffiti lining the sides
In the smaller of two pools, old chairs and a table have been set up, and appears to be the remains of a fire is in the centre
Parts of torn-away roofing and illegible graffiti dominate this image from inside the former pool
According to the Herald Sun, a neighbour said the building was 'popular' with vandals and homeless people often stayed there.
'Ive heard people inside the building when Ive walked past at night, but Ive never felt inclined to investigate.
'Its a pity to see it this way. I just wish theyd get on and fix it up.'
Despite all that, the local Casey Council says there's nothing it can do about the pool, according to the newspaper.
Casey manager of community safety, Caroline Bell, said inquiries about the pool should be made to the Cranbourne Turf Club.
But they didn't respond to the Herald Sun.
Police Senior Sergeant Rob Clark said they knew of the vandalism occurring, and asked witnesses to contact police.
In what appears to have once been a spa, a pile of rubbish is heaped. Broken glass and pieces of timber are scattered about
Among the debris and tagging is broken glass and what appear to be cans and bottles
Every scene from inside the Cranbourne Swimming Pool is filled with seemingly endless graffiti
Even the toilet block have been vandalised. A cinderblock wall has been knocked down, holes put in the wall and a sink lies on the ground
What may once have been a sauna is now a ruined shell of timber covered in layers of tagging and spray paint
A piece of glass with remnants of a sign lies shattered on the ground, half covered by eucalyptus leaves
The Casey Council says it's not responsible for the pool and that it can't do anything about the condition of it
The outside of the pool is faring little better than the interior, with holes smashed in walls and graffiti everywhere
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The impact of Venezuela's economic collapse on its people is almost impossible to put into words.
But these images inside calamity-hit hospitals go some way to communicating the devastation.
Since oil prices plummeted, all aspects of everyday life - electricity, food, paper - have been rationed.
Critically, medical centers are in crisis.
Without soap, antibiotics, power, gloves and x-rays, surgeons are struggling to keep patients alive.
Pictures taken by New York Times photographer Meridith Kohut offer a glimpse inside some of the most notorious centers - while President Nicolas Maduro claims the socialist nation has the best healthcare in the world.
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Horrific: Jose Villarroel waits for hours in an emergency operating room at Luis Razetti Hospital in Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela, in April
Life on hold: Julio Rafael Parucho, who suffered a serious head injury, and has had to wait a year for a follow-up operation because of a shortage of doctors in Puerto la Cruz
The Luis Razetti Hospital in the portal city of Barcelona looks like a war zone.
Patients can be seen balancing themselves on half-broken beds with days-old blood on their bodies.
They're the lucky ones; most are curled up on the floor, blood streaming, limbs blackening.
Children lie among dirty cardboard boxes in the hallways without food, water or medication.
Without electricity or functioning machines, medics have had to create their own solutions. Two men who had surgery on their legs have their limbs elevated by makeshift slings made out of water bottles.
One man is missing half his skull after a severe head injury a year ago. He is still waiting for post-surgery treatment.
Last summer, the Daily Mail reported how rampant opossums had infested the Luiz Razetti Hospital, killing 17 newborns.
That was just the start of months of misery at the center, according to the New York Times.
Lack of supplies: Jugs and soda bottles that doctors at Luis Razetti Hospital rigged to treat patients with broken legs in Puerto la Cruz
No beds: Nicolas Espinoza's daughter sleeps in the children's cancer ward at Luis Razetti Hospital
Marbelis Reinoso with her daughter, who has asthma, at a government-run clinic in Catia La Mar, Venezuela in April
Patients rest where they can in little comfort in the hallways at the overcrowded public hospital in Merida, Venezuela, in January
In just one day, the newspaper's reporters witnessed the deaths of seven babies since there were no oxygen tanks, and doctors had to pump air into their lungs by hand.
A 68-year-old diabetic patient interviewed has to have her leg amputated; the hospital did not have dialysis machines or the antibiotics she requires.
One had to have an almost-rupturing appendix removed without proper tools or sanitation. Another died because the blood bank was closed due to a public holiday, which was randomly called by the government to save electricity.
President Nicolas Maduro has refused attempts to seek international or monetary support for the country's healthcare system that he says would effectively 'privatize' healthcare.
The socialist leader, Hugo Chavez's successor, claims such a move would have devastating impacts on the country.
And he even insists Venezuela's healthcare is one of the best in the world: 'I doubt that anywhere in the world, except in Cuba, there exists a better health system than this one,' he said.
In denial: President Nicolas Maduro has refused attempts to seek international or monetary support for the country's healthcare system. He insists theirs is the 'best in the world' after Cuba
Since the economic collapse began to take hold of the country, Maduro has dedicated many of his speeches to boasting of Venezuela's strengths, and lashing out at other countries.
Like his late predecessor, Maduro regularly accuses the US of spying and illegal intervention.
On Tuesday, he told a press conference a U.S. military aircraft 'with lethal technical abilities' illegally entered Venezuelan airspace twice in seven days.
A man accused of murdering his stepson was found passed out on the ground with his head on the 26-year-old's chest when police arrived, a court has heard.
Tony Lanzafame, 53, has gone on trial for the murder of his stepson Andrew Tilbrook following an alleged drunken dispute outside their Adelaide home in December 2014.
In opening the trial in the South Australian Supreme Court on Tuesday, prosecutor Peter Longson said Lanzafame had been drinking heavily at the beach on the day leading up to the alleged murder.
The jury heard that Lanzafame who had previously been involved in a relationship with Mr Tilbrook's mother was allegedly aggressive on the trip home.
Tony Lanzafame, 53, (pictured) has gone on trial for the murder of his 26-year-old stepson Andrew Tilbrook following a bitter dispute outside their Adelaide home in December 2014
'He was talking about wanting to have a fight with Andrew, and was talking about whether (his partner) was having an affair,' Mr Longson said, according to The Advertiser.
An altercation erupted between Lanzafame and his former partner, with the argument spilling out into the street about 12.30am.
Following the bitter dispute between the pair, Mr Tilbrook knocked Lanzafame to the ground and kicked him before walking away.
It's alleged Lanzafame and Mr Tilbrook then became abusive to each other before Lanzafame grabbed a knife from inside the house and fatally stabbed his victim in the heart.
When police arrived at the scene Mr Tilbrook was lying on the ground with Lanzafame lying next to his body, with his head on the younger man's chest. The knife was found in the gutter.
It's alleged Lanzafame and Mr Tilbrook became abusive to each other before Lanzafame (pictured) grabbed a knife from inside the house and fatally stabbed his victim in the heart
In opening the trial in South Australian Supreme Court (pictured, stock image) on Tuesday, prosecutor Peter Longson said Lanzafame had been drinking heavily at the beach on the day leading up to the alleged murder
Lanzafame's lawyer Heath Barklay said despite his client admitting to inflicting the fatal stabbing, the jury could determine whether his actions constituted murder.
Mr Barklay also claimed his client had acted in self defence.
'People are entitled to defend themselves. You do not have to stand by and be beaten,' Mr Barklay said, according to The Advertiser.
'At the time he was stabbed, not only was (Mr Tilbrook) running at him, he was about to hit him again.'
Mr Longson told a jury that the key question at the trial will be Lanzafame's state of mind to determine if the killing amounted to murder or a lesser offence.
'This isn't a whodunnit,' Mr Longson said.
'Mr Lanzafame accepts that he killed Andrew Tilbrook.
'The issue is what was his state of mind. Did it constitute murder or did it constitute something less?'
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An Italianate mission-style mansion in the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, DC, that's played host to an emperor, a king and a president, has been listed for $5.995 million.
The home was built in 1941 after Charles Doolittle Walcott, the fourth secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, commissioned noted architect George Oakley Totten Jr and his partner, Laussat Rogers, to design the home between 1904-1905, according to the Washington Post.
The property was described on Trulia as having an 'attached garage with a private entrance, additional off street parking, a guest house, an elevator with access to all four levels, a pool, and a rooftop deck that features three-hundred and sixty degree views of the city'.
An Italianate mission-style mansion in the Sheridan-Kalorama neighborhood of Northwest Washington, DC, that's played host to an emperor, a king and a president is listed at $5.995 million
The home was built in 1941. The current owners turned the entrance to the kitchen into a Chinese moon gate (pictured)
The eight-bedroom, eight-bathroom home played host to visiting dignitaries Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, the king and queen of Afghanistan, the president of Bolivia and the prime minister of Ireland
Renchard also rented the home to Irish Ambassador William Fay. Pictured is the outside of the home, which was renovated in 2006
Charles Doolittle Walcott (left), the fourth secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, commissioned noted architect George Oakley Totten Jr and his partner, Laussat Rogers, to design the home between 1904-1905. The home was visited by Emperor Haile Selassie (pictured) of Ethiopia
Walcott and his first wife, Helen, held a dinner for Vice President Thomas Marshall and his wife at the home, according to the Post.
And Walcott's second wife, Mary Walcott, was a close friend of President Herbert Hoovers wife, Lou.
Wayne Chatfield-Taylor, who was the undersecretary of commerce from 1940-1945, bought the house in 1932 and lived there until 1954, making him the second owner of the home, according to the Post.
Ambassador George W Renchard Jr and his wife Stellita Stapleton Renchard were the third owners of the home.
Laussat Rogers (pictured), a painter and architect, helped design the home
The home was also visited by the king and queen of Afghanistan, Mohammad Zahir Shah (left) and Humaira Begum (right)
Walcott and his first wife, Helen, held a dinner for Vice President Thomas Marshall (left) and his wife at the home. His second wife, Mary Walcott, was a close friend of President Herbert Hoovers wife, Lou (right). Hoover is pictured center
The couple leased the home to the US government to serve as a temporary guest house while Renchard was serving as the US consul general in Bermuda, according to the Post.
The eight-bedroom, eight-bathroom home played host to Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, the king and queen of Afghanistan, the president of Bolivia and the prime minister of Ireland.
Renchard also rented the home to Irish Ambassador William Fay.
The current owners, who have lived there since 1983 and renovated it in 2006, have expanded the living space to nearly 12,000 square feet, creating a solarium connecting the main house to a carriage house, according to the newspaper.
They hired artist Malcolm Robson to create elegant and whimsical faux paintings on walls throughout the home and turned the entrance to the kitchen into a Chinese moon gate.
The home also has a fifth-floor gazebo and rooftop terrace that show the panoramic views of Washington.
The current owners, who have lived there since 1983, have expanded the living space to nearly 12,000 square feet
The current owners hired renowned artist Malcolm Robson to create elegant and whimsical faux paintings on walls throughout the home (pictured)
The owner created a solarium (pictured) that connects the main house to a carriage house
Limited train service was restored at New York's Grand Central Wednesday morning hours after a massive fire under an elevated track in Manhattan ground the station to a halt.
Thousands of commuters were left stranded Tuesday evening after the blaze engulfed a section of the tracks in Harlem, one of the main commuter routes out of the city.
For hours, the Metropolitan Transit Authority suspended all trains on the Metro-North Railroad - the nation's second-busiest commuter line with almost 300,000 daily passengers.
Trains were running on a Saturday schedule Wednesday. The first trains started running around 5am, according to the MTA.
Customers should expect delays of at least an hour during their Wednesday commute, the MTA said.
The massive delays appeared to have been caused by congestion on the tracks near the Harlem-125th Street station.
One commuter who spoke to Daily Mail Online said the train chaos caused her to be 40 minutes late for work.
'It was pretty bad, because it didn't show up on [the MTA's] official app. That's what was the most annoying. I had to Google it and found out through the news there was a fire last night.'
She said her 7:57am train from Larchmont to Grand Central became overcrowded as throngs of passengers attempted to squeeze onto the train at each station along the way.
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Thousands of commuters were left stranded Tuesday at New York's Grand Central after a track fire ground all Metro-North trains to a halt. By Wednesday morning, limited service was restored
The fire began underneath the track in Harlem, one of the major rail routes out of the city towards upstate New York and Connecticut
Some commuters took to Twitter to vent their frustration.
'I was just trapped in the tunnel in grand central on a train for over an hour. So how's your morning going?' one commuter wrote on Twitter Wednesday morning.
Another wrote she was stuck in Harlem for over 35 minutes the morning after the fire: 'Was supposed to get into grand central @ 10:40 but nope we are just sitting in Harlem.'
Another commuter wrote that her normal evening commute, which usually takes 45 minutes, lasted for over four hours due to Tuesday's fire.
'Last night nobody communicated how to get home from grand central... it took me 4 hours to get home from my typical 45 min commute... and this morning we got stuck coming in while ppl were standing,' the user wrote in a series of tweets.
The fire started at 6:42 under the Metro-North tracks at East 118th Street and Park Avenue, fire officials said.
The fire, which reached four-alarm status at its height, was put under control at 9:17pm after 170 firefighters worked to extinguish it, officials said.
Firefighters were still on the scene as of Wednesday morning and the cause of the blaze is under investigation.
A burnt-out truck sits beneath the Metro-North tracks in East Harlem Tuesday night
Fire officials said 170 firefighters were on the scene to battle the massive four-alarm blaze
New York governor Andrew Cuomo was on the scene of the fire Tuesday night
Pedestrians look at a burnt out truck at the site of a fire underneath Metro-North train tracks in New York Wednesday
While a Metro-North train passes above, work continues underneath the tracks at the site of the fire Wednesday morning
No civilians were injured in the blaze, but three firefighters suffered minor injuries, according to the New York City Fire Department.
Additionally, ten cars near the scene were damaged, the New York Daily News reported.
On Tuesday evening, the MTA urged commuters to take the subway to stations north of the fire to get trains home, causing chaos on the local transit system.
Some people said on Twitter their normal commutes were extended to around three hours because of the delays.
Susan Hynson of Rye said she was on a Metro-North train when it stopped at 119th Street and returned to Grand Central.
Thirteen engineering students have been expelled from an Australian university for 'contract cheating' - where other people were paid to complete their assignments.
The Age reports that the 13 students were expelled from Deakin University in Geelong, Victoria, for paying a third party to successfully compete their assignments for them.
Both domestic and international undergraduate engineering students were found guilty of the university's rules breach that was classed as 'contract cheating' by authorities there.
Thirteen engineering students have been expelled from Deakin University in Geelong, Victoria (pictured)
All the university's students were informed of the investigation on Monday by letter by Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Education Professor Beverley Oliver.
In a move to ensure it does not happen again and set a precedent the students were expelled. Deputy Vice-Chancellor Oliver then warned that students could lose their place at the university if caught cheating in the future.
International students could have their visa revoked as well if they were caught doing the same thing.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor said that the university was taking the 'matter extremely seriously'.
Both domestic and international undergraduate engineering students were found guilty of the university's rules breach (stock image)
All the university's students were informed of the investigation on Monday by letter (stock images)
'Our vigilant detection methods led to the recent discovery of students requesting and paying for assignments via contract cheating websites,' she said in a statement to the media.
'Deakin will continue to address this challenge through rigorous monitoring. These student exclusions show that Deakin does not tolerate cheating.'
This follows a scam where online essay-writing business called MyMaster Group Pty produced thousands of university assignments for students and turned over hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process.
After an investigation two university students were expelled for using the company to do their work for them.
A teenage terror suspect who was allegedly in the process of trying to obtain a firearm showed up to his Year 12 muck up day dressed as an Islamic State fighter.
Tamim Khaja, 18, was arrested at Macquarie Park in Sydney's north-west on Tuesday and did not request bail on charges of planning an attack and trying to travel to Syria when he fronted court on Wednesday.
His schoolmate said Khaja told student he was 'from ISIS' as a joke after turning up in the 'fancy dress' to Epping Boys High School, 7News reported.
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A teenage terror suspect who was allegedly in the process of trying to obtain a firearm showed up to his Year 12 muck up day dressed as an Islamic State fighter (pictured)
Teenage terror suspect, Tamim Khaja, has chosen not to apply for bail after he was charged on Tuesday with planning a terror attack in Sydney and trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State
'It's just scary to think that's someone you've known all of high school,' the student said.
Khaja allegedly planned to target workers at Garden Island Naval base in Sydney and was reportedly trying to obtain a machine gun at the time of his arrest.
He allegedly also attempted to buy a 'suicide vest' over the internet prior to his arrest, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The 18-year-old did not appear in the Parramatta Local Court on Wednesday when charges of planning for a terrorist act and preparing for foreign incursions were mentioned.
Khaja's lawyer Osman Samin did not seek bail for his client, and the case was adjourned until next month.
'A number of serious allegations have been made, but as with all cases, applicable is the presumption of innocence,' Mr Samin told reporters outside court.
Tamim Khaja was allegedly in the process of trying to obtain a firearm and had been sizing up buildings representing authority in Sydney when he was arrested on Tuesday in a joint police operation
The 18-year-old did not appear in the Parramatta Local Court on Wednesday when charges of planning for a terrorist act and preparing for foreign incursions were mentioned. He did not apply for bail
Police searched Khaja's home at Macquarie Park in Sydney's north-west about 4pm on Tuesday afternoon following his arrest by Australian Federal Police and NSW Police
'I seek to proceed on that footing and I urge the public to do so as well.'
Khaja is alleged to have tried to travel to Syria in February but was stopped at Sydney Airport because his passport had been cancelled.
Police believe he was acting alone in planning a terror attack in Sydney but say he has links to others before the courts on terror-related charges.
The Macquarie Park resident was reportedly previously a student at Epping Boys High School.
Khaja's case is due to return to court on June 8.
More than a 100 truck drivers brought traffic to a halt in Sydneys city centre on Wednesday morning to protest against the abolition of a road safety tribunal.
Members of the Transport Workers Union marched throughout the city holding large signs and white crosses before sitting in the middle of the road at the intersection of York Street and King Street preventing traffic from passing.
The protest is in response to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbulls decision last month to eliminate the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal, according to the TWU.
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More than a 100 truck with the Transport Workers Union drivers halted traffic in Sydneys city centre on Wednesday morning to protest the abolishment of the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (pictured)
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (pictured) said in April that two reviews of the RSRT recommended that the tribunal be abolished because there is no link between road safety and remuneration
Members of the Transport Workers Union marched throughout the city holding large signs and white crosses before sitting in the middle of the road at the intersection of York Street and King Street (pictured)
The RSRT was created in 2012 and sets pay rates for truck drivers, deals with disputes between drivers and their employers, and acts like a road safety watchdog
On April 21, the RSRT ceased to operate.
The RSRT was created in 2012 and sets pay rates for truck drivers, deals with disputes between drivers and their employers, and acts like a road safety watchdog.
Mr Turnbull said in April that two reviews of the RSRT recommended that the tribunal be abolished because there is no link between road safety and remuneration, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
But TWU is arguing that the RSRT is necessary and higher pay rates create safer roads because it reduces the pressure of deadlines on truck drivers and prevents them from driving long stretches without resting.
The RSRT ceased to operate on April 21, not long after Mr Tunrbull's announcement
Incendiary remarks: David Cameron claimed the leader of ISIS 'might be happy' if Britain voted to leave Brussels
David Cameron yesterday claimed the leader of the murderous Islamic State terror group is a cheerleader for Brexit.
In comments which triggered a furious response, the Prime Minister said IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi might be happy if the country votes to leave the Brussels club.
Mr Cameron made the incendiary remarks as he also outlined nine myths he believed the Leave campaign were spreading.
The list included claims that if the UK left the EU it would be able to abandon costly regulation and that, because the EU needs us more than we need them, they would offer us a good trade deal.
He said it was a myth that only a minority of UK firms traded with the EU, and untrue that economists were split on the merits of EU membership. He also dismissed ideas that a Brexit would allow manufacturing to thrive and insisted it was wrong to claim EU membership made us less safe from jihadis entering Europe. The PM warned an audience of business leaders at Londons Mansion House that leaving would mean losing access to intelligence sharing databases with other EU countries. He added: It is worth asking the question: Who would be happy if we left? Putin might be happy, I suspect al-Baghdadi might be happy.
The claim prompted criticism that he was throwing a dead cat on the table Westminster-code for making a controversial remark to distract from other problems, in this case the row over his deal with big business to scare people into voting In.
Tory MEP Daniel Hannan said: When people start trying to claim that Brexit will help Daesh, you know theyve run out of arguments. Boris Johnson said: One might argue its a bit much to start comparing people arguing for freedom in this country or the restoration of democracy in this country, to say our allies are Putin and Daesh.
Mr Cameron also appeared to slap down Sir Richard Dearlove, the ex-head of MI6, who has warned EU membership risks making Britain less safe. On Monday, Sir Richard said Europe risks importing the terrorist virus if it cant control its borders.
But Mr Cameron said Sir John Sawers, who stepped down as the head of MI6 in November 2014, had the most recent experience and was in favour of staying in the EU.
Here we debunk David Camerons Islamic State claim, and eight others he has made during a campaign of myths and fear-peddling:
1 Terror mastermind wants us out of EU
David Cameron claimed the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is 'probably in favour' of Brexit, even though terrorists exploit Europe's open borders to cross the continent
Mr Cameron said Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is probably in favour of Brexit, but terrorists have exploited Europes refugee crisis and open borders to cross the continent, and ex-MI6 boss Sir Richard Dearlove says the refugee crisis risks importing the terrorist virus.
2 Leaving risks war and genocide
Last week the PM warned that Brexit would undermine peace on the continent as he pointed to the Second World War, the Balkan conflict and genocide in Srebrenica. Leave campaigners say national democracy and not the undemocratic EU has preserved peace in Europe.
3 Staying in would help defeat Vladimir Putin and North Korea
More security scaremongering as the PM says we need to stand up to this aggression together. Critics of EU foreign policy say it provoked Mr Putin with its Ukraine deal. Co-operation on issues such as North Korea can continue after Brexit.
4 The Jungle camp might move to Kent
Mr Cameron said an cross-border agreement with France could end with a Brexit despite the deal having nothing to do with the EU
Mr Cameron said the migrant camp in Calais would move to the UK if France cancelled a cross-border deal allowing British border controls in France. But that agreement has nothing to do with the EU and is in Frances interests anyway. All asylum seekers who come to the UK can go into taxpayer-funded accommodation.
5 Benefits deal will cut migration
Mr Cameron hailed his emergency brake to strip migrants of in-work benefits as a way of tackling mass migration. But an Oxford University report found only one in ten claims benefits and most were lured by jobs. The Living Wage of 9 an hour by 2020 will act as a huge draw, Leave campaigners say.
6 Leaving will attract criminals
Sir Hugh Orde: Said criminals from all over Europe will come to Britain if European Arrest Warrant is no longer in place
Sir Hugh Orde, part of the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign, said criminals from all over Europe will head for the UK if the European Arrest Warrant is no longer in place as it will take longer to remove them. But EU rules allow convicted murderers, rapists and legions of convicted felons to waltz into this country, with Britain powerless to stop them.
7 Leaving will cost 4,300 a household per year
This highly disputed Treasury figure confuses GDP per household with household income. The calculation is not the same as a familys income and also ignores the millions of new households which will be created over the next 15 years much as a result of immigration.
8 Three million jobs are linked to EU exports
This claim is more than 15 years old. There are 5 million jobs in other EU countries dependent on trade with the UK, meaning other member states would have far more to lose by not agreeing a trade deal post-Brexit.
9 Leaving would immediately create financial chaos
A former Arizona state legislator-turned-day laborer has been accused of drunkenly shooting dead an Alaska man after spending the day boozing at a hunting party.
Mark De Simone, 53, faces murder charges in the shooting death of 34-year-old Duilio Antonio 'Tony' Rosales at Excursion Inlet, a remote hunting spot 35 miles northwest of Juneau.
De Simone represented Phoenix in the Arizona House of Representatives from 2006-2008, until he resigned after allegedly hitting his wife, azcentral.com reported.
Accused: Mark De Simone (pictured), 53, is accused of shooting dead Duilio Rosales, 34, while the pair were in a hunting party in Alaska Sunday. De Simone had been drinking the whole day, police said
He, Rosales and at least five others had gone hunting at weekend, and were at a cabin when the killing occurred around 7pm Sunday. He had been drinking all day when the killing happened, police said.
One of the men in the party said he heard two shots from the front of the building, and when he got there he found Rosales dead, having taken two gunshot wounds to the back of the head.
Assistant District Attorney Amy Paige said it's believed Rosales was killed as he sat at a picnic table, taking off his boots.
Police arrived on the scene at 9:30pm, azcentral reported, to find four men standing with their arms in the air while a fifth men - who had radioed the coast guard to send the police - securing the scene.
The man gave the cops a .41 magnum revolver, saying it was most likely the gun used in the killing. An officer also noticed De Simone had an empty holster on his hip.
De Simone allegedly told another member of the hunting party: 'I shot Tony. I shot him. It's my fault,' according to an affidavit filed in court.
According to the affidavit, a second witness told Alaska State Trooper Ryan Anderson that De Simone was walking on a trail, mumbling something to the effect that he shot Rosales.
De Simone was a member of the Arizona House of Representatives from 2006 to June 2008.
He resigned after being arrested after a domestic dispute with his wife, Mali, who received cuts to her lip and other injuries but refused medical attention.
Past: De Simone was a House Representative for Phoenix, Arizona, from 2006-2008, but quit after a domestic violence arrest. He had been performing manual labor in Juneau, Alaska, before the shooting
'Mali told me Mark sat on top of her around the stomach area and started punching her with his closed right hand in the face and arms,' one of the responding officers wrote in a report, according to an azcentral.com article from the time.
'Mali said she was tired of fighting with Mark and just gave up and let Mark continue hitting her.'
He is then alleged to have thrown her out of the bedroom and locked himself in there with their two children, who were aged five and seven at the time.
Paige told the court that De Simone has only been in Juneau about a month. She said he spent his days 'couch surfing,' and working as a day laborer, possibly at The Jewel Box, the same jewelry store Rosales worked at.
During Tuesday's hearing, Judge Keith Levy allowed Rosales' widow to address De Simone, according to Juneau Empire.
'I just want to ask him why he did that to my husband! Just give me an answer! Why?' Maria Rosales said in an emotional testimony that occasionally stopped while she wept and put her head on her arms.
De Simone didn't appear to react, the newspaper reported.
Rosales was originally from Nicaragua and moved to Juneau from Miami five years ago. He worked at a downtown jewelry store, The Jewel Box. The couple have one child in Juneau and another in Nicaragua.
De Simone is being held at the Lemon Creek Correctional Facility in Juneau on $500,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 27.
She is the former mistress of Visy billionaire Richard Pratt
Allegedly bit and kicked a female officer after police were called
Image shows socialite at a long lunch at exclusive restaurant earlier in day
Police allege she became aggressive and tried to assault the woman
Hitchcock, 46, was in the middle of road when concerned motorist stopped
She is alleged to have attacked a good Samaritan and bitten police officer
Sydney socialite Shari-Lea Hitchcock has pleaded not guilty to assaulting a good Samaritan who came to her aid and then biting a police officer.
The long-time mistress of late billionaire Richard Pratt was in Waverley Local Court on Wednesday, flanked by high-profile lawyer Chris Murphy who claimed his client was being treated for an unspecified medical condition.
Hitchcock, 46, will plead not guilty to all charges which arose from alleged altercations after a long lunch in March at the ritzy Centennial restaurant in Sydney's inner-east.
'The medical issues are quite strong,' Mr Murphy told the court.
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The 46-year-old mother was arrested after allegedly attacking a woman in the middle of Oxford Street in Woollahra, in Sydney's inner-east before being accused of biting a police officer
A photo emerged of a ladies lunch at the Centennial where Sydney socialite Shari-Lea Hitchcock Hitchcock (pictured second from right) is seen enjoying drinks with her daughter Paula (far right), Lizzie Buttrose (third right) - Ita Buttrose's niece - and other friends ahead of the alleged drunken incident that saw Ms Hitchcock taken into custody
Sydney socialite Shari-Lea Hitchcock (pictured right), who had an 18-year-affair with late cardboard king Richard Pratt (pictured left), was arrested and charged with assault, assaulting police and resisting arrest in late March
During an altercation with police, Ms Hitchcock allegedly kicked and bit a female officer
He asked for the court to adjourn until late June so Hitchcock can continue seeing her 'long-term treating specialist'.
Mr Murphy also told the court that he will be making an application to police to withdraw all charges.
'I am hopeful it will go away,' he said.
Hitchcock was arrested on March 25 after she allegedly became aggressive towards a woman who tried to help her across a busy road on a Friday afternoon during peak-hour traffic.
The woman, Jan Haswell, saw 'an intoxicated woman walking in the middle of the road' on Oxford Street at Woollahra, according to police.
Ms Haswell tried to help Hitchcock who allegedly tried to assault her before running down the street.
Police were called and it's alleged the socialite put up a 'short struggle' during which she bit a female constable, who also suffered a bruised leg.
Court documents revealed Hitchcock was charged with common assault, assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest.
Mr Murphy also mentioned there was an eye-witness unknown to police, who could be called for the defendant.
When leaving the court, Hitchcock dodged reporters' questions and remained silent, walking side-by-side with her legal representatives.
She won't have to appear when the matter returns to court on June 29.
A photo recently emerged of a ladies lunch where the Sydney socialite was seen enjoying drinks with her daughter Paula, Lizzie Buttrose - Ita Buttrose's niece - and other friends reportedly ahead of the alleged drunken incident that saw Ms Hitchcock taken into custody.
It has also since emerged she told a friend she has recently been suffering 'blood sugar problems'.
Ms Hitchcock was the long-time lover of billionaire Richard Pratt (pictured right), who founded cardboard company Visy, and won a bitter seven year court battle against Mr Pratt's widow, Jeanne Pratt (pictured) for a large portion of his estate
Ms Hitchcock became aggressive and allegedy assaulted a woman before police were called
Ms Hitchcock was the long-time lover of billionaire Richard Pratt, who founded cardboard company Visy, and won a bitter seven year court battle against Mr Pratt's widow, Jeanne Pratt for a large portion of his estate.
Mr Pratt died at the age of 74 from prostate cancer in 2009.
In his will, Mr Pratt left his daughter with his mistress, Paula Hitchcock, a home in Sydney's exclusive eastern suburb of Watsons Bay and another property on the NSW south coast.
She will also inherit up to $23 million in shares when she turns 21.
His friend was forced to fend off crocodiles with spanners and spark plugs
He was crabbing with his friend Ray McCumber, 72, in Leaders Creek
Noel Ramage (pictured) who drowned after a crocodile capsized his boat has been remembered as someone who made time for everyone
A 75-year-old tourist who drowned after a crocodile capsized his boat despite his friend's desperate efforts to fight off the reptiles with spanners and spark plugs during a three-hour ordeal has been remembered as someone who made time for everyone.
Noel Ramage, from Victoria's Bendigo, was crabbing with his 72-year-old friend Ray McCumber in Leaders Creek, about 40 kilometres north-west of Darwin, when a crocodile struck their small boat about midday on Tuesday.
As the pair attempted to pull in some crab pots, they were thrown into the crocodile-infested creek after the reptile flipped their 3.5 metre boat, the survivor has recalled.
Mr McCumber told authorities he managed to climb on board the upturned boat but Mr Ramage became trapped under the capsized craft and drowned.
The Kangaroo Flat Rotary Club in Victoria, where Mr Ramage was an associate member, has paid an emotional tribute to the elderly man who was battling cancer in the months leading up to his death.
'Noel truely [sic] stood for what Rotary stands for. His work in the community was far reaching and he had the time for everyone,' the tribute said on Facebook, which has since been deleted.
'Noel made people feel welcome. He wasn't afraid to stand up for what he believed and would support any one in their time of need.
'Noel was fighting cancer at the time of his passing but if you didn't know, there would be no outward signs of his struggle.'
Mr Ramage's son David, who lives in Darwin, has also paid tribute: 'Rip dad . Love you so so much.'
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Mr Ramage was crabbing with his 72-year-old friend Ray McCumber in Leaders Creek (pictured), about 40 kilometres north-west of Darwin, when a crocodile struck their small boat about midday on Tuesday
The tribute comes after the men had tried desperately to swim their boat to shore but the craft flipped again, during which Mr Ramage became struck underneath.
'They tried to climb back on the boat and it further capsized and that's when his mate was caught underneath it and drowned,' Ian Badham, Director of CareFlight NT told AAP on Tuesday.
'As he was trying to crawl to shore near the mangroves was when he had to use a spanner and spark plugs, throwing things and banging at other crocs trying to get to him ... It was just a sheer act of desperation and survival.'
The 72-year-old man pulled the boat into the mangroves and hid there, struggling in the mud until the tide came in enough for him to drag the boat further to safety.
Three professional crabbers heard his shouts and rescued him, taking him back to the boat ramp and retrieving his friend's body.
The survivor was treated for severe shock before being flown to Darwin where he was taken to hospital. Mr McCumber was released from hospital on Wednesday.
CareFlight's TIO Rescue Helicopter was called to offer assistance to a man who was forced to fight off crocodiles with spark plugs and spanners
The 72-year-old man pulled the boat into the mangroves and hid there for three hours until three professional crabbers heard his shouts and rescued him
The Northern Territory has a large crocodile population, thought to be about 100,000 - or about one for every two Territorians.
Last year the NT Coroner held an inquest into the deaths of two fishermen, one of whom was taken by a saltwater crocodile after he waded into the Adelaide River to unhook a lure.
Another was killed when a crocodile lunged out of the water and snatched him from his boat in Kakadu.
That attack, in June 2014, is thought to have been the first time a crocodile was bold enough to take someone out of a boat.
A nine-year-old Milwaukee girl, who asked police if they could keep her safe, died Monday from a gunshot wound, just a day before her birthday.
Za'layia Jenkins was struck in the head by a stray bullet about a week after she wanted reassurance that police would be able to protect her, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
The Milwaukee County medical examiner's office pronounced Za'layia dead at 5pm on Monday.
The FBI and an attorney offered rewards totaling $35,000 Tuesday for information in the shooting of Za'layia.
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Nine-year-old Za'layia Jenkins (left and right) was struck in the head by a stray bullet about a week after she asked police if they could keep her safe
On May 5, Za'layia was watching television with her two-year-old cousin around 8.30pm when a bullet pierced a wall of her home, according to police. A rally took place on Tuesday, which was her birthday and the day after she died. Her mother, Destiny Boone, is pictured at the rally
The FBI offered $10,000 toward the reward and Milwaukee attorney Michael Hupy kicked in $25,000 for information leading to the shooter or shooters.
On May 5, Za'layia was watching television with her two-year-old cousin around 8.30pm when a bullet pierced a wall of her home, according to police.
Za'layia had bee in critical condition for a little over a week before she died. The medical examiner told TMJ4 that she was brain dead.
Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn told the Journal that Za'layia was shot during an exchange of gunfire between two groups armed with rifles and pistols, after which police recovered more than 40 shell casings.
Police are still searching for a green Jeep Cherokee whose driver may have information regarding the shooting. No arrests have been made.
Hundreds of people gathered at a rally that took place on Tuesday, which would have been Za'layia's 10th birthday.
Her mother, Destiny Boone, fought back tears as she told TMJ4 that Za'layia was her first child.
'I'm so numb. She had her whole life ahead of her. I don't understand why anybody would do this to her.'
Hundreds of people gathered at a rally that took place on Tuesday, which would have been Za'layia's 10th birthday
Information regarding the rally was posted on Facebook 'inviting the community' to come out and support her family. The post also encouraged people to step forward if they had any tips that would bring justice to Za'layia's family
About a week before she was shot, Za'layia asked Capt Shunta Boston-Smith why she was in her neighborhood. Boston-Smith replied that she and other officers were walking in the neighborhood to help keep it safe. Pictured are residents of the community at Tuesday's rally
Information regarding the rally was posted on Facebook 'inviting the community' to come out and support her family.
The post also encouraged people to step forward if they had any tips that would bring justice to Za'layia's family.
About a week before she was shot, Za'layia asked Capt Shunta Boston-Smith why she was in her neighborhood, according to the Journal.
Boston-Smith replied that she and other officers were walking in the neighborhood to help keep it safe.
Za'layia asked Boston-Smith if police could keep her safe.
'Sadly, that question was answered tonight,' Flynn told the Journal after the girl was shot.
Homicides in Milwaukee have skyrocketed in recent years and just last year, homicides increased 69 per cent from 2014, according to the Journal.
Police still are searching for a green Jeep Cherokee (pictured) whose driver may have information regarding the shooting
Michael Douglas described the painful experience of discovering he had throat cancer the same year his son was sentenced to five years in prison for heroin possession.
'That was a one-two shot, that was a pretty dark moment,' the veteran actor said in his interview with Megyn Kelly on Tuesday.
The 71-year-old was diagnosed with stage four throat cancer in the summer of 2010.
As he received the news, his then 30-year-old son Cameron was being jailed after police found him with a stash of heroin in a New York City hotel room.
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Reflecting: Michael Douglas told Megyn Kelly on Tuesday about the year he got cancer and his son was jailed
'That was a one-two shot, that was a pretty dark moment,' the veteran actor said in his interview
Struggle: Cameron (pictured with Michael in 2005) battled with addiction since he was a teenager
Cameron was convicted of possession and intent to distribute the Class A drug, and sentenced to five years in prison.
After serving three years inside, guards found drugs in his cell.
His sentence was upgraded to 10 years, and he was put in solitary confinement from 2012 to 2014.
Michael Douglas was given the all-clear in late 2011, and has been in remission ever since.
But in 2012 he had another personal struggle: a brief split with his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, whom he married in 2000.
Their separation came around the time Douglas publicly blamed his cancer on a sexually-transmitted disease from cunnilingus.
He later told reporters the couple reconciled, and told Kelly on Tuesday their marriage is better than ever, saying he loves her 'more and more every day'.
Asked by Kelly what his darkest moment was, he said the year he was diagnosed with throat cancer as his son was being locked up.
'Probably the combination around the time just before my cancer diagnosis,' he said.
'My oldest son Cameron has struggled with addiction for most of his life, he was a serious heroin addict, that brought him into federal prison.
'It broke my heart, the combination. When he was sentenced, I knew the amount of time he was going to be spending in federal prison combined with my early cancer at the same time.'
Family: Michael (center between his movie star father Kirk and son Cameron in 2003) said it broke his heart when Cameron was sentenced to five years in jail shortly before he discovered he had stage IV cancer
In love: Douglas also told Kelly he loves his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones 'more and more' since reconciling
On politics, Douglas mocked former Republican candidate Ted Cruz for stealing his lines from American President in an interview.
Cruz appeared on CNN after Donald Trump made a jibe about his wife Heidi.
He said: 'Last night Donald threatened my wife. He went directly after my wife. She is my best friend in the world.
Continuing, he lifted straight out of Aaron Sorkin's 1995 movie American President: 'If Donald wants to get in a character fight, he's better off stickin' with me. Because Heidi is way out of his league.'
In the movie, Douglas plays the president, and tells a camera: 'You want a character debate, Bob? You better stick with me, cause Sydney Ellen Wade is way out of your league.'
Douglas told Kelly he thought the interview was 'embarrassing'.
The actor was one of four stars to appear on Megyn Kelly's first solo primetime interview show, alongside Donald Trump, Laverne Cox and Robert Shapiro.
After the show, Trump tweeted his appreciation for the Democrat actor who staunchly campaigns for nuclear disarmament.
A state trooper has been commended for pulling over and sharing a meal with a panhandler on the side of the road.
Trooper Luke Bonin from Massachusetts State Police was driving back from court when he saw mother of four, Lynn Murphy, asking for money from drivers in Fall River.
Initially he drove past, but minutes later he picked up some food from a nearby restaurant, turned around and got out of the car.
Trooper Luke Bonin from Massachusetts State Police was driving back from court when he saw mother of four, Lynn Murphy, asking for money from drivers in Fall River. Instead of handing her a citation for panhandling, he sat down and had a picnic with her
Murphy thought he would give her a ticket for panhandling, CBS Boston reported.
But instead, Bonin took out two meals and told her to choose one.
She told the station: 'I thought he was just going to hand me the meal but when he said: "Come around the back, its such a beautiful day, well have a picnic,"
'I thought that was, it touched my heart,' she added.
'He just stopped, could have given her a hard time, and didnt. And, we need that.'
A passer-by then took a picture of the heartwarming moment. Massachusetts State Police managed to get hold of it and uploaded it to their Facebook.
Since then it has been shared almost 100,000 times and liked almost 30,000.
Massachusetts State Police commended the actions of their trooper on Facebook with a post titled: 'A Selfless Meal, and Conversation, for Two.'
Initially he drove past, but minutes later he picked up some food from a nearby restaurant, turned around and got out of the car
Bonin (pictured at his graduating in 2014) was too humbled to talk about the act of kindness
They wrote: 'We were shown this picture from a third-party who had not taken the photo, nor knew anything about it, other than they thought it was taken in Fall River.
'After a little digging, we were able to locate the citizen who had taken the photo. The citizen said the well-dressed Trooper in a suit appeared to be having lunch with a panhandler on Davol Street in Fall River.
'The citizen was struck by what he saw, snapped the photo, and posted it to a Facebook group in Fall River, captioned And they say chivalry is dead.Much respect. We are grateful to that person, who thought to take the photo and share it.'
'After a little more digging, we found out the trooper is Luke Bonin, who is assigned to the State Police Dartmouth Barracks.
'After reaching out to Trooper Bonin, he was a bit surprised that someone had taken his photo, stating that he wasnt seeking or expecting any publicity for it.
'But we pressed him, and he very reluctantly told us how he ended up sitting on his cruisers bumper that day sharing lunch with a stranger.
'Trooper Bonin had just left court when he drove by the woman, who appeared down on her luck. She was holding a sign and asking for help from anyone who would pay attention.
'Trooper Bonin continued to drive on directly to a local establishment, where he ordered two meals. He returned to the woman, pulled up, and exited his cruiser.
'Thinking he was there to remove her from the side of the road, she immediately stated to him that she would leave, that she knew she shouldnt be there with her sign.
Murphy said the gesture from Bonin touched her heart. She spends every day panhandling on the side of the road and rarely gets enough for a place to stay
'But Trooper Bonin told her, Im not here to kick you out. He then extended the two meals and told her to pick one.
'They then sat, shared a meal, and a conversation. Yes, Trooper Bonin, we know you do not want or expect publicity.
'We know you didnt want to be noticed, but you were, and the job is proud of you. We commend you for your selfless act, and for doing the right thing for someone less fortunate than most people.
A Minnesota woman, who discovered a charred bracelet dedicated to a fallen Texas soldier in her strawberry patch, tracked down his parents and mailed it along with a tear-jerking letter.
Barbara Rozier received an unexpected piece of her late son, First Lt Jonathan Rozier, who was killed in 2003 while serving in Iraq, according to ABC 13.
The commemorative bracelet arrived in the mail along with a letter from a woman in St Paul Minnesota by then name of Annette.
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A Minnesota woman, who is only identified as Annette, discovered a charred bracelet dedicated to fallen Texas soldier, First Lt Jonathan Rozier (right) in her strawberry patch. She then tracked down his parents and sent the package along with a tear-jerking letter
Annette wrote in the letter (pictured) that she has now named her strawberry patch and it will 'forever be known as Jonathan's Patch'. His mother, Barbara Rozier said she doesn't remember ever seeing the bracelet and she doesn't know who would have been wearing it
The note addressed to his parents, Barbara and David read:
'Forever thinning the strawberry patch in my backyard. I came upon this hard object, dirt covered, & scorched.
'Upon further investigation & scrubbing off of dirt, I found this memorative bracelet for your son Jonathan. How it came to be in my strawberry patch in Saint Paul, Minnesota is beyond me. Perhaps the compost from our city?
'Anyway, my strawberry patch now has a name & forever shall be known as Jonathan's Patch.
'Thanks for sharing such a little bit of your son's valiant life. Found his story & your names via the wire. Thinking of you, all best to your family - Annette.
'P.S. Those strawberries are fantastic!'
Barbara Rozier told ABC 13 that she doesn't remember ever seeing the bracelet.
Rozier said she wants to keep Annette's last name anonymous until she's able to personally speak with her.
Barbara Rozier (pictured) is hoping someone out there can help solve the mystery, but she believes there's a possibility that it might be a more generic bracelet for fallen soldiers because the bracelet lists him as a second lieutenant when he was promoted to first lieutenant before he died
Rozier said the family remains optimistic and thinks the bracelet's owner is a fellow Army comrade, or a friend from college. Jonathan Rozier is pictured in January 2003
She also told the station that she doesn't know who would've been wearing it.
Rozier said her family doesn't know anybody in Minnesota but she 'would love to know the story behind the bracelet'.
'I unwrapped the package. It was his name, rank, Katy, Texas, Army, and the date he was killed.'
Rozier is hoping someone out there can help solve the mystery, but she believes there's a possibility that it might be a more generic bracelet for fallen soldiers.
She told Good Morning America that the bracelet still has him listed as a second lieutenant despite his promotion to first lieutenant while serving in Iraq where he was killed.
The bracelet is also emblazoned with herobracelets.org, but Rozier said she hasn't tried contacting the company who produced it directly because she doesn't think 'they'd have a specific record of it'.
Cannes is in love with 'Loving,' a film about a powerful interracial romance that changed America - with many tipping it as a serious Oscar contender.
It tells the story of Richard and Mildred Loving, a couple whose interracial marriage sees them exiled from their Virginia home until they take their fight to the Supreme Court, ultimately wiping the last segregation laws off American books.
Their story - even the couple's shared name - is perfect stirring Hollywood fare. And yet, as People explained, it's all real - and absolutely extraordinary.
Loving: Richard and Mildred Loving (pictured) were married in Washington, DC in 1958 and arrested in Virginia five weeks later. A judge said they could spend a year in prison or be exiled from the state for 25 years
Exiled: They left for nine years, until they won a Supreme Court case that overturned all anti-interracial marriage laws. Their story is told in the film 'Loving,' starring Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton (pictured)
The couple fell in love as youngsters in Caroline County, north of Richmond, in an area with 'an easy-tolerance of the race question,' as Time magazine wrote in 1966.
But Virginia itself wasn't as relaxed, and its 1924 'Racial Integrity Act' forbade marriage between black and white couples.
So when they found out that Mildred, who was of African-American and Rappahannock Native American descent, was pregnant, they decided to go to Washington, DC, to get married.
They tied the knot on July 11, 1958, and returned to Virginia where, for a short while, things seemed to be okay.
But five weeks later, acting on a tip-off, the local sheriff and his deputies kicked down the door of their house. When Mildred said the couple were married, the sheriff replied 'That's no good here.'
The judge at their trial argued that God had placed different races on different continents, and this showed 'that he did not intend for the races to mix.'
He gave them a choice: Spend a year in prison or leave Virginia for 25 years.
The couple fled back to Washington. There they lived in near-poverty until 1965, when they were arrested after returning to Virginia to visit Mildred's parents.
Modest: The couple didn't want to become big political figures, and said they only did it because they wanted to be together. However in 2007 Mildred said she was happy their case was being used to fight for gay marriage
Released on bail, and inspired by the growing Civil Rights movement, Mildred wrote to then-Attorney General Robert F Kennedy. He put her in touch with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who took on her case.
Their fight took two grueling years, as Virginia courts shut them down and the fight went all the way up to the Supreme Court.
The Lovings didn't attend the hearing, but Richard sent on a message through his lawyer, Bernard Cohen: 'Mr. Cohen, tell the Court I love my wife, and it is just unfair that I can't live with her in Virginia.'
Finally, on June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court overturned the original ruling - and with it set a precedent that eventually wiped away the segregation laws that were still on the books of 16 US states.
It was a decision that transformed the country. And yet the Lovings - both humble, quietly spoken people - weren't interested in becoming political figureheads.
'(We) are not doing it just because somebody had to do it and we wanted to be the ones,' Richard told Time magazine in 1966. 'We are doing it for us - because we want to live here.'
Richard died in a car crash in 1975; Mildred lost her right eye in the same crash. But she lived on until 2008.
The year before that, she said she was 'still not a political person,' but was 'proud' that their court case was providing a legal precedent for gay marriage.
'I support the freedom to marry for all,' she said. 'That's what Loving, and loving, are all about.'
Their story is now the subject of Jeff Nichols' film 'Loving,' which premiered at Cannes on Monday and is set to be released nationwide in November.
It stars Australian actor Joel Edgerton as Richard Loving and Ethiopian-Irish Ruth Negga as Mildred.
'This is the most important film I've ever made and it is one of the most important films in history,' Negga said in a Cannes press conference. 'I'm overwhelmed.'
Search was temporarily suspended overnight and police fear man has died
Rescue teams have temporarily called off the search for a lone yachtsman whose boat was found adrift off the coast of New South Wales.
Police on Wednesday launched a large-scale search for a 48-year-old man from Tasmania who was believed to have been living on the yacht, named FireFly.
Just after 6pm, police announced the search will be suspended until 8am on Thursday, but 'due to the conditions of the water, it is unlikely the man was able to survive'.
The eight-metre yacht, named FireFly, was discovered with nobody on board off the coast of Samurai Beach
The eight-metre yacht was spotted on Tuesday night drifting off Samurai Beach in the Hunter region, 205 kilometers north of Sydney.
A local discovered the empty vessel and secured it in shallow water before alerting authorities.
A Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter operative told Daily Mail Australia that they were scouring the area following the discovery of the boat.
The helicopter is currently searching the entrance to Port Stephens, down to Stockton Beach and five nautical miles out to sea, the spokesperson said.
A local sailor went out and secured the boat in shallow waters on Tuesday evening before contacting police. They launched the search on Wednesday morning.'
The spokesperson said initial investigations of the vessel suggested someone had fallen overboard.
The Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter was joined by NSW Police, Marine Rescue NSW and Surf Life Saving NSW to scour the surrounding waters.
The search will continue at 8am on Thursday.
Anyone with information about the yacht or the 48-year-old man from Tasmania is urged to contact the NSW Police Marine Area Command on (02) 9320 7499
Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter have jhoined forces with NSW Police, Marine Rescue NSW and Surf Life Saving NSW to scour the surrounding waters
Rashid Derissant, 24, (pictured in his mugshot) a gangster withh ties to rapper Bobby Smurda, was given the lengthy prison term after being found guilty of gang-related charges
A gangster with ties to Bobby Shmurda has been jailed for 98 years for conspiracy, murder and assault.
Rashid Derissant, 24, a member of GS9, was given the lengthy prison term after being found guilty of gang-related charges.
He shot and killed a 19-year-old rival in a Brooklyn bodega in February 2013. He then tried to kill three others in the same incident, investigators have said.
According to the New York Daily News he shot a 22-year-old woman in July 2014 and then gunned down an innocent bystander in the neck and hip.
New York prosecutors say the conspiracy, which Shmurda is also said to be a part of, began with crack dealing in Brooklyn, spanned nearly two years, and was connected to the Crip gang.
Ackquille Pollard, who uses the rap name Bobby Shmurda, was arrested in December 2014, and at the time the judge set bail at $2million.
He has now been in jail for over a year awaiting trial on drugs and weapons charges.
His family has tried and failed at least seven times to post his bail, due to the very-high price.
Attorneys for Shmurda have tried to lower the bond cost, but have failed each time.
During one of the court appearances, Shurmda wore a pair of $500 red shoes.
Derissant was found guilty following an eight-week trial that ended in April.
Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan said at the time: 'As indicated by their verdict, the jurors in this trial heard evidence describing a cold-blooded murder, wild gunplay and a terrifying disregard for the safety of innocent bystanders as the defendants tried to violently settle scores with rivals in New York City and beyond,' said
'When Rashid Derissant and Alex Crandon (his co-accused) were armed, theirs was a neighborhood under siege. When they traveled to Miami Beach, they spread terror as they fired randomly at a nightclub.
'They took their New York City based grievances and rivalries to Miami, assuming that they could act with impunity there, claiming they were merely members of a music group. Their convictions on these crimes make our city a safer place.'
Ackquille Pollard, who uses the rap name Bobby Shmurda (pictured in court in January), was arrested in December 2014, and at the time the judge set bail at $2million. He has now been in jail for over a year awaiting trial on drugs and weapons charges
Shmurda made the strange decision to wear a $450 pair of patent-leather Bally brand-name shoes during that court appearance
According to a statement released from the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor at the end of the trial: 'The gang sold narcotics to make money, some of which went towards gun purchases.
'As the violence escalated, members of GS9 sought to shoot members of rival crews, often discussing their efforts and plotting attacks in recorded phone conversations with incarcerated GS9 members.
'Retaliatory shootings took place in New York City and Miami, where the gang members recklessly shot into crowds of innocent bystanders.
'Evidence presented at trial included testimony from law enforcement officers and experts, medical examiners, and eye-witnesses, as well as surveillance video, recorded phone conversations, social media postings, DNA and ballistics evidence, and 11 firearms seized during the course of the investigation.'
Donald Trump has won the Republican presidential primary in Oregon.
Adding another state to the presumptive nominee's tally of victories, Trump took 70 per cent of the vote.
Cruz, who is still on the ballot after dropping out, took 16 per cent, narrowly beating John Kasich, the other drop-out, who took 13 per cent.
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Donald Trump (pictured earlier this month) won 70 per cent of the vote to claim victory in Oregon on Tuesday
Kasich delivered two campaign speeches in Oregon before suspending his bid for the GOP nomination earlier this month.
Though Trump has dedicated barely any time to the state, he snapped up the vote easily as he is expected to win the Republican nomination.
The real estate mogul tweeted on Tuesday night: 'Congratulations to THE MOVEMENT, we have just won THE GREAT STATE OF OREGON. The vote percentage is even higher than anticipated! Thank you.'
Oregon is traditionally a left-leaning state, voting Democrat since 1988.
The state's track record suggests it will go to Hillary Clinton in November if she, as expected, wins the Democrat nomination.
But in the primary election on Tuesday, voters overwhelmingly backed Bernie Sanders as their nominee of choice.
Sanders had an early lead and then a quick result after voting closed on Tuesday.
Hillary, however, was far from disappointed as she picked up a win in Kentucky.
Feel the Bern! The left-leaning state's Democrat voters handed a victory to Bernie Sanders
Onstage in California, Sanders doubled down and recommitted to the race, even though the delegate math overwhelmingly favors Clinton.
'We are in until the last ballot is cast,' he reaffirmed to his huge crowd.
'I think we're going to win here in California,' Sanders also said.
A survey of nearly 2,000 Sydney University students has found one in four respondents experienced sexual harassment or assault 'during their time as students'.
The university has released the findings of a September 2015 survey, which gathered anonymous information from students who were stalked, sexually harassed or assaulted.
And of the students who were surveyed, just 6.2 per cent of all respondents had experienced an incident on campus or at a University-related event while only 18.9 per cent reported it.
The survey comes after it was revealed the university's prestigious Wesley College published a 'slut-shaming' journal that gave female students 'awards' based on their sex lives.
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A survey of nearly 2,000 Sydney University students has found one in four respondents experienced sexual harassment or assault 'during their time as students' as female students from Wesley College (pictured) have spoken out about the shocking case of 'slut shaming'
The University of Sydney Women's Collective Facebook page uploaded a photo of students demanding the names of the editors of the journal to be revealed
On Monday, Vice-Chancellor Dr Michael Spence affirmed in an email sent to all students about the university's zero tolerance policy on harassment within the University community.
'It is alarming that one in four of our students who responded are victims of any form of sexual harassment or assault. The low rate of reporting is also quite troubling,' he said.
'Behaviour that is intimidating, abusive, disrespectful, or threatening, including any instance of sexual harassment or assault, is absolutely not acceptable within our community or on our campuses.'
It comes as three students spoke anonymously on ABC's 7.30 program and said they feared the Camperdown college, in Sydney's inner-west, put their reputation ahead of the health and safety of students.
The crux of the girls complaints stemmed from a section in the Wesley College Journal, the Rackweb, an intricate map that reveals details about the sex life of women on campus.
Three Wesley College students spoke anonymously on ABC's 7.30 program and said they feared the Camperdown college, in Sydney's inner-west, put their reputation ahead of the health and safety of students.
'There was no consent to having our names in the Rackweb, it was just kind of expected of us that it was part of college, it was part of a tradition that all of us would just be OK with it being published in the journal,' a girl known as Jane said.
'I think it's quite disgusting that people of our generation are still so sexist, I thought that we'd moved passed this, and coming from an out of Sydney area I never experienced this back at home.'
'At times I feel that maybe the college puts their reputation before the health and safety of individuals and I think there are examples to illustrate that,' a girl known as Sally said.
Another girl, Mary, said as part of an initiation exercise she and other girls had to lie on the ground and have cask wine poured into their mouth, and the more they could drink, the more they were commended.
The publication is funded by students of the college and includes awards for 'Best A**', 'Best Cleavage', 'Biggest Pornstar' and 'Kinkiest Collegian', while the woman deemed to have slept with the most men is awarded the title of 'Mrs RackWeb'.
Producers of the Wesley College journal 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
In a statement, the Master and Council of Wesley College said they 'refute absolutely that there is a culture of misogyny at Wesley College'.
The University of Sydney Women's Collective Facebook page uploaded a photo of students demanding the names of the editors of the journal to be revealed.
'We are calling for the names of the editors of Wesley Journal 2014 to be released so that the University can take disciplinary action,' the post read.
'We want all college students to undergo mandatory sex and consent training so that harassment and assault can be prevented in the future.
The students comments come just days after the master of Wesley College, Lisa Sutherland, would not co-operate with University of Sydney and release the names due to privacy policy, according to Sydney Morning Herald.
It was also revealed students had used a massage parlour as part of an initiation activity, causing distress to employees and members of the community.
'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,' Ms Sutherland 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.
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 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
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.
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.
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'.
Some have been known to steal upward of 300 cars by the time they are 19
Experts say children are starting their criminal careers as early as 12
The state is seeing 34 more cars stolen each week than the
Teenage gang members are driving up the rate of car thefts by competing with each other for bragging rights to see who can steal the most vehicles, with some offenders pinching up to 300 cars.
The National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council revealed there are 34 more car thefts in Victoria each week than there were in the previous year, with authorities blaming a new game where gang members, including Apex, are trying to one up each other's theft statistics.
Geoff Hughes, director strategy and programming, said he is aware of teens who have managed to steal up to 300 vehicles alone in their criminal career, causing the 'single biggest increase' in thefts the state has seen.
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The National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council revealed there are 34 more car thefts in Victoria each week than there were in the previous year
Authorities have blaming a new game where notorious Apex gang members are trying to one up each other's theft statistics
'All of a sudden groups of young people who have loose association with criminal groups trying to compete for bragging rights over who can steal the most cars,' he told Daily Mail Australia.
Mr Hughes said he has been shocked by the number of thefts some young criminals have been able to get away with after personally meeting over 600 young criminals during the last decade he spent on advisory boards for young offenders across the nation.
'Some of these offenders were starting their criminal careers at ages as young as 12 years old and could steal upwards of 300 cars by the time they turn 19,' he said.
'Those numbers are just based on things they admit to doing and not what they have actually been charged with,' he added.
Mr Hughes said there has been a dramatic change in the nature of car thefts, with offenders now deciding to break into homes to steal the car keys instead of targeting vehicles on the street or in car parks.
Statistics show the thefts are almost always opportunistic, with 76 per cent considered short-term thefts as the vehicle is often recovered after the offender has a joy ride or uses the car to commit another crime
He said in most instances it is not a case of aggravated burglary, meaning there is no violence or threat of violence against home owners, but there is always a 'risk' that could escalate if they happen to enter an occupied home.
'If stumbled upon by home owners they will most likely take flight but what this represents is a distinct change in the dynamic of car thefts.'
Mr Hughes said that while police are doing a 'good job' of tracking down and arresting these gang members, the clearance rate for car thefts is less than one per cent.
'Only one in ten cases result in an offender being charged and a lot of it goes on without an arrest.'
Mr Hughes said that while police are doing a 'good job' of tracking down and arresting these gang members, the clearance rate for car thefts is less than one per cent
Interestingly, as offenders start to enter the home they are opening themselves up to the possibility of being identified by occupants, unlike street thefts where witnesses are scarce.
He said the Victorian crime spree has most affected the suburbs of Hume, Geelong, Brimbank, Whittlesea and Dandenong, with the theft statistics recorded doubling those from other states.
Owners of a Nissan Pulsar, Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon are most likely to become victims of theft in Victoria.
While the theft of prestige cars like Mercedes Benz and BMW's went up significantly, by 57.1 per cent and 33.9 per cent respectively, according to the Herald Sun.
He said the Victorian crime spree has most affected the suburbs of Hume, Geelong, Brimbank, Whittlesea and Dandenong, with the theft statistics recorded doubling those from other states
Owners of a Nissan Pulsar (pictured), Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon are most likely to become victims of theft in Victoria
The theft of prestige cars like Mercedes Benz and BMW's in Victoria increased significantly this year
Theft rates of BMW's went up by 33.9 per cent respectively while Mercedes Benz by 57.1 per cent and 33.9 per cent respectively
Data collected from 2015 shows a jump of 16 per cent over 12 months and a $28 million increase in the cost to the community, with the total stolen vehicle bill surpassing $2 million.
'There's definitely something happening here and it needs an effective solution,' he said.
Statistics show the thefts are almost always opportunistic, with 76 per cent considered short-term thefts as the vehicle is often recovered after the offender has a joy ride or uses the car to commit another crime.
Operation Cosmas was rolled out across the state in April, which a spokesperson from Victoria Police said aimed on combating the rise in burglaries and car jackings in conjunction with significant work being undertaken by officers in the Southern Metropolitan and North West Metro regions.
'These teams within each region will be allocating additional resources to the operation which will aim to prevent, deter and investigate all aggravated burglaries and car jackings across the state.'
The heavily pregnant wife of the man who died in a tragic paragliding accident at the weekend has revealed how she explained to their daughter where her dad has gone.
Austin Desi, 35, died on Sunday at Archer Falls Airfield in Queensland during an early morning flight.
His wife Janette is just days away from giving birth to their son, and has told of her heartbreak at explaining to their daughter Evelyn, three, that her father isn't coming home.
Janette Desi, whose husband Austin died in a paragliding accident. has revealed the heartbreaking way she explained to their daughter that 'daddy isn't coming home'
Mrs Desi is nine months pregnant (left), and told daughter Evelyn her dad (right) her dad has a new job in the sky with the clouds
'We said to Evelyn daddy's got a new job. He puts all the clouds in the sky and sometimes they're smooth and sometimes they're bubbles.
And she got really excited about the bubbles,' Mrs Desi told Daily Mail Australia.
'Evelyn replied "Well Mum, you will be happy when he comes back down".
'And I said he's not coming back down and that's why everyone's so sad. Daddy's out flying. And he's not coming home.'
Mrs Desi is nine-months pregnant with the couple's second child, saying her husband 'fully expected our son to be born over the weekend.'
'The hardest part about all of this is explaining to my daughter that daddy is not coming home to kiss her goodnight which is something he did every night.'
Austin Desi died on Sunday when during an early morning flight in Queensland
'The hardest part about all of this is explaining to my daughter that daddy is not coming home to kiss her goodnight' Mrs Desi said
'On Sunday morning Austin went out for an early morning hike and a fly and he never came home.
'Evelyn and I have tragically lost our beautiful, loving, dedicated and extremely adoring father and husband.'
Mrs Desi added that a memorial service planned for her husband would depend on their second baby's arrival.
' As many may know, I am also pregnant to full-term. Austin was going for one flight and coming straight home in case our son was born over the weekend.
Earlier Mrs Desi paid tribute to her late husband in a heartfelt social media post
Mrs Desi described her husband as 'loved' by 'everyone' and a 'beautiful' husband and father
The 35-year-old was described by his wife as a 'beautiful' and 'caring' husband and father on Monday
Mr Desi was enjoying an early morning flight at Archer Falls Airfield in Queensland when he died
'I have some beautiful support to get me through this without him, but it isn't going to be easy, especially in the coming months.
'We are in the process of planning a memorial service. Dates may change if our baby chooses to be born then. This is all dependant on the arrival of Austin Jnr.
'If I can ask anything of our friends, it is to please not give up on us.'
Mr Desi died on Sunday during a flight at the private airfield. He suffered severe head injuries and died at the scene,The Brisbane Times reported.
An online fundraising page has been set up by a neighbour of the family to help pay for funeral costs.
Alleged offences occurred when she was a
A 15-year-old girl has admitted in intense court testimony that she had asked a man she accused of sexually assaulting her to have sex with her over Facebook.
The evidence came during a four-hour-long, pre-recorded testimony heard in the Perth District Court on Tuesday, when the girl was giving evidence against Shaun David Fairfield, a former Peel Health Camp security guard.
He's facing trial after pleading not guilty to five counts of indecently dealing and two of sexually penetrating the girl in May 2014, according to WA Today.
In pre-recorded evidence heard in the Perth District Court (pictured) on Tuesday, a teenage girl admitted she'd flirted with the man she had accused of sexually assaulting her (stock image)
During the alleged offending, the girl was a psychiatric patient at the Mandurah Hospital (stock image)
During the alleged offending, the girl was a psychiatric patient at the Mandurah Hospital.
She said one evening, Mr Fairfield took her for a walk outside the hospital about midnight and was 'talking sexually'.
Then, she said, he put his hand down her pants, forced her to masturbate him, and showed him a photo of his erection.
He's also accused of grinding against her, touching her breasts and sexually penetrating her twice during the incident.
She'd admitted liking Mr Fairfield before the alleged offending and said afterwards, still 'sort of' did.
Regardless, she felt awkward around him later. The next day, she was moved to another hospital.
The accused, Shaun David Fairfield, is a former Peel Health Camp (pictured) security guard (stock image)
Mr Fairfield was a security guard when the alleged offending took place in May 2014 (stock image)
They began a Facebook conversation, initiated by the girl, during which she told him: 'I wanna f*** you' and 'you love me really', WA Today reported.
During cross-examination, she denied seeing Mr Fairfield as a 'father figure' but did say he was 'nice to talk to'.
She also admitted to flirting with him but denied lying about the assaults and admitted trying to protect the accused man by keeping more serious allegations secret.
After the alleged offences, she had tried to downplay the situation by joking about it as it troubled her less that way.
In the court on Monday, defence lawyer Genevieve Cleary said there was no DNA or forensic evidence, or footage of the pair together, the WA Today reported.
The allegations against Mr Fairfield were not made until four months after the incidents were said to have taken place.
Ms Cleary suggested the girl made the claims because she was 'annoyed and hurt her crush was not reciprocated', it was reported.
Incredible footage has captured the moment a giraffe gave birth to her adorable new daughter at the Australia Zoo last week.
After a 15 month pregnancy, giraffe Sally gave birth on May 10 to her second baby the fourth giraffe to be born at Australia Zoo, which sits on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, in just two years.
The eight-year-old giraffe is seen pacing around as the baby's head and legs begin to emerge.
Within minutes, Sally squats and the baby, which was measured at just under two metres tall, is born, falls to the padded ground.
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Incredible footage has captured the moment an eight-year-old giraffe named Sally gave birth to a baby female giraffe on May 10 at Australia Zoo on Queensland's Sunshine Coast (pictured)
Minutes after Sally goes into labour, she squats and the baby falls to the padded ground (pictured)
The baby stood at just under two metres tall at birth (pictured)
The baby, who has yet to be named, is the fourth giraffe to be born at the zoo in just two years
Sally begins to lick her newborn, which attempts to stand just seconds after being born but rolls to the ground.
The baby's name will be chosen at the Steve Irwin Gala Dinner in Los Angeles on May 21.
After she matures, she will join her sister Tulip and half-sisters Skye and Lily in the zoo's African Savannah.
Head of African animals Manu Ludden said the baby took her first wobbly steps within an hour.
'Sally is being really attentive to her new baby which is a great sign and they're both doing very well health-wise. All our giraffe are extremely sweet natured and are very relaxed around the new calf, but as with any family with a new baby, they are very inquisitive of our new addition,' she said.
The eight-year-old giraffe is seen pacing around as the baby's head and legs begin to emerge (pictured)
She begins to clean off her newborn, who tries to stand up soon after she is born but rolls to the side (pictured)
She is the second baby to eight-year-old Sally, who was pregnant for 15 months
Betting shop manager was killed by gambler while working alone in 2013
Beaten to death: Ladbrokes store manager Andrew Iacovou was killed by a gambler in 2013
Ladbrokes has been accused of putting employees at risk by asking staff to work in betting shops alone.
A former employee claimed the company is choosing to 'prioritise profits over health and safety' by continuing the practice despite attacks on members of staff.
The set-up, known as single-manning, has previously been criticised by staff, MPs and trade unions.
Ladbrokes' former Head of Health and Safety, Bill Bennett, spoke out against single-manning at an employment tribunal. He claimed he had been sacked by the company for blowing the whistle on the controversial practice.
This was disputed by the betting giant.
According to the Daily Mirror, Mr Bennett told the tribunal: 'Ladbrokes chose to prioritise profit over the health and safety of its employees.'
Ladbrokes chief executive Jim Mullen acknowledged there had been 'serious systemic failures' in health and safety procedures but dismissed the suggestion he had put 'profits before lives' as 'bunkum'. He added: 'Health and safety is a non-negotiable part of the business.'
The judge dismissed Mr Bennett's application. In a statement, Ladbrokes said Mr Bennett had been dismissed because he was unable to fulfill his role.
A spokesman said the company is in the process of changing the policy to 'voluntary only in the evenings' across its stores.
It comes after a Ladbrokes employee was reportedly raped and left for dead by an attacker who dragged the victim into an area of the shop without CCTV.
And in 2013 store manager Andrew Iacovou, a married father-of-three, was brutally beaten to death by a gambler at a branch of Ladbrokes in Morden, Surrey.
The court heard how killer Shafique Aarij deliberately targeted the bookmakers when he knew only one member of staff was present.
Single-manning has been widely criticised by betting shop staff writing on online forums.
Describing the 'cons' of working for Ladbrokes, one female employee wrote: 'Single manning is awful, as a young woman, working alone in the morning and especially until 10 at night, i feel very unsafe and often just feel like an easy target for would be robbers.'
Complaints: Employees have said online that they feel 'unsafe' working alone at Ladbrokes. File image
Another said: 'Unfair and dangerous single-manning for hours on end, even full days.'
A third posted: 'Although I did not personally feel unsafe during my time working late hours alone at Ladbrokes I consider this a risk and a possible accident waiting to happen.'
The Community union, which represents many betting industry employees, has previously said single-manning makes staff feel 'very vulnerable' and said it put people 'at risk of verbal and physical assault'.
A spokesperson from Ladbrokes said Mr Bennett's claims are part of an attempt to 'secure a significant amount of compensation from Ladbrokes.
He said: 'We dispute his claims and will rigorously defend ourselves through the Employment Tribunal process. Our position is very different to Mr Bennett's and we will make that very clear through that process.
'With regard to the ongoing change in our policy to "voluntary only in the evenings", it was announced last year that it would be introduced and implemented from Jan 2016.
'We are in the process of rolling out the new arrangements and have been recruiting over 850 extra employees to help us deliver it.
'Mr Bennett was dismissed owing to a lack of confidence in his ability to fulfill his role of Head of Health & Safety, which is a non-negotiable for Ladbrokes, to the required standard.
Police have alleged that a 33-year-old man discovered dead on the banks of a central Queensland creek last month was 'brutally decapitated'.
The remains of meatworker Syeid Alam were found near a creek running off Rockhampton's Fitzroy River on April 16.
Police have alleged that 33-year-old Syeid Alam (pictured) was murdered by his co-worker Mohammed Khan, 34
On Tuesday, police charged Mohammed Khan, 34, with his murder.
The pair, described by police as 'close associates', worked together at the local meatworks.
Detective Inspector Darrin Shadlow described Mr Alam's death as one of the worst he'd seen in the Capricornia region.
'The victim was decapitated... quite brutally,' he said.
Investigators refused to speculate on whether the two men had had a disagreement prior to Mr Alam's death.
He was last seen on April 5 by his wife, who reported him missing the next day after he failed to return home. Ten days later his body was discovered near a creek.
Police later found Mr Alam's belongings at a popular boat ramp and spent two weeks combing a Dean Street home, believed to be that of his alleged killer.
Investigators believe Mr Alam was killed shortly after he disappeared.
'We want to make it clear to the Rockhampton public that it wasn't a random attack,' Inspector Shadlow said.
Initial reports said Mr Alam may have been the victim of a crocodile attack after local fisherman said that there have been a number of sightings of crocs in the area where his remains were found.
Khan was charged with murder and interfering with a corpse and faced Rockhampton Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
His case was adjourned to June 29.
Mr Alam's body was discovered on the edge of Splitters Creek (pictured) in Queensland on April 6
A man with a dark history of sexual assault against older women has been sentenced to 10 years in jail after he forced a 70-year-old woman into the boot of his car and stomped on her face.
Eamon Sumner, 29, was found guilty of bashing and attempting to kidnap a grandmother after she refused to get into his car boot when he ambushed her leisurely dog walk in St Agnes, Adelaide.
He was sentenced to six-and-a-half years jail for the crime, which happened in 2012, but a majority decision in South Australia's Court of Criminal Appeal on Wednesday labelled the initial sentencing 'manifestly inadequate.'
Appearing via video link, an indifferent Mr Sumner watched on as his sentence was upgraded to 10 years behind bars with an eight-year non-parole period, The Advertiser reported.
Eamon Sumner, 29, was sentenced to 10 years behind bars for the sexual assault and attempted kidnapping of a 70-year-old woman outside of Adelaide in 2012
Mr Sumner was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison in 2014, but South Australia's Court of Criminal Appeals (Supreme Court pictured) upgraded that sentencing on Wednesday after a majority decision
Justice Ann Vanstone, Justice Trish Kelly and Justice Malcolm Blue all agreed that Mr Sumner had showed little remorse and was a 'substantial risk of violent reoffending,' the ABC reported.
'The respondent's offending on each occasion demonstrates a pattern of opportunistic offending in which women, often elderly and vulnerable, were targeted in a public place and during which the respondent made no attempt to hide or disguise his appearance,' Ms Kelly said in her judgment.
She said Sumner's extensive history of sexual assault demonstrated a total absence of remorse.
'Of particular concern is the fact that the respondent has already participated in three programs aimed at rehabilitating sexual offenders and his level of response has been limited and disappointing.'
'All of the experts consider that the respondent is at a substantial risk of violent reoffending in either a sexual or non-sexual manner.'
In 2004, Mr Sumner was jailed for two years after he was found guilty of sexually offending an older woman. In the year after his release he committed more sex crimes, landing himself back in jail until 2012.
Just four months after his 2012 release, he committed the latest sexual assault and kidnapping attempt.
When the woman resisted and began screaming, Mr Sumner stomped on her face, leaving a serious laceration to her head which required stapling at a nearby hospital.
Mexico's president has vowed to legalize same-sex marriage.
It is an uncharacteristic move for President Enrique Pena Nieto, but one that follows a sweep against taboos in traditionally Catholic Latin America.
Gay marriage is already legal in Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil, and constitutionally accepted in Colombia as of last month.
Last year, Mexico's Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for states to bar same-sex couples from marrying.
On Tuesday, Pena Nieto vowed to enshrine that ruling into national law.
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President Enrique Pena Nieto (pictured in April) vowed on Tuesday to legalize same-sex marriage in Mexico
The president tweeted this rainbow-filtered picture on Tuesday, with the words: 'For an inclusive Mexico that recognizes diversity, one of its greatest strengths #NoHomophobia'
The announcement was hailed by LGBT activists and criticized by church officials in Mexico.
Mexico is home to the second-largest Roman Catholic population on the planet.
Speaking at an event on the International Day Against Homophobia, Pena Nieto said he signed initiatives that would seek to amend the constitution and the national civil code.
The president normally shies away from taking a strong stance on social concerns.
He refused to take a stance on the issue when asked about gay marriage during his election campaign in 2010.
It is not clear what prompted his change of heart.
Pena Nieto said he wants to change Article 4 of the constitution to clearly reflect the Supreme Court opinion 'to recognize as a human right that people can enter into marriage without any kind of discrimination.'
'That is, for marriages to be carried out without discrimination on the basis of ethnicity or nationality, of disabilities, of social or health conditions, of religion, of gender or sexual preference,' he added.
Pena Nieto's Twitter page and other government Twitter accounts were changed to include the rainbow colors as he made the announcement.
A two-thirds majority vote in congress is required to amend the constitution. Pena Nieto's party and allies control about half the seats in both houses, and the measure could also pick up support from the leftist opposition Democratic Revolution Party.
It would then need to be ratified by a simple majority of states before going to the president for his signature.
The Rev. Hugo Valdemar, spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico City, urged lawmakers to listen to their 'conscience' and oppose the initiative.
'Marriage has some very concrete aims which, of course, two people of the same sex do not fulfill,' Valdemar said, referring to procreation.
He called Pena Nieto's initiative a 'distraction' in a country where 'there are more serious issues that should be attended to' such as violence and corruption.
Same sex couples celebrate after getting married at City Hall in Mexico City in 2010
About 80 percent of Mexicans are Catholic, though only about 15 percent to 20 percent regularly practice the faith, said Andrew Chesnut, chairman of Catholic studies at Virginia Commonwealth University.
He added that a recent Pew survey said Mexicans' acceptance of gay marriage and LGBT issues in general closely mirrored views in the United States, where same-sex marriage was legalized by the Supreme Court last year.
The president's announcement 'is just of monumental significance,' Chesnut said. 'It really is symbolic of the rapidly waning, eroding influence of the Catholic Church on both politics and the social front.'
Gay marriage is already legal in some parts of Mexico such as the capital, the northern state of Coahuila and Quintana Roo state on the Caribbean coast. Adding it to the constitution and the civil code would expand gay marriage rights across the country.
Last June, the Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional for Mexican states to ban same-sex couples from getting married. But the decision did not specifically overturn state laws, meaning couples have had to sue in court in each particular case.
Alejandro Brito, director of Letra S, a human rights group specializing in sexual diversity issues, called Pena Nieto's announcement great news.
'I think it sends a very clear message of respect and against discrimination toward sexual diversity,' Brito said. 'If it is enshrined in the constitution and the Supreme Court has established a precedent on this, it would seem just a question of time before all (government) entities across the country recognize equal marriage. ... I think this is a battle that has been won.'
Twenty-three countries around the world have legalized gay marriage, according to Pew Research. Argentina became the first in Latin America to do so in 2010, followed by Brazil and Uruguay in 2013 and Colombia earlier this year. Chile allowed same-sex civil unions last year.
The U.S. island territory of Puerto Rico also legalized gay marriage by executive decree after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
One of West Australia's largest egg producers has been found to have 'misled' customers over its free range brand.
The Federal Court ruled on Wednesday that Snowdale Holdings used 'false and misleading' statements and images on their cartons and website.
The court found that, between April 2011 and December 2013, the Perth-based company did not allow hens to move freely on an 'open range', as was advertised.
Snowdale Holdings, which sold 'free range' eggs under the Eggs by Ellah brand, has been found to have 'misled' customers
The Perth-based company provided eggs labelled as 'free range' to suppliers in Western Australia under the brands Eggs by Ellah, Swan Valley Free Range and Wanneroo Free Range.
The company also advertised 'Free Range Eggs by Ellah' online.
But the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) accused the company of keeping hens in overstocked barns, which had inadequate 'pop holes' to get outside.
The court heard last year it was probable half of the hens kept by the company never got outside.
ACCC lawyer Gail Archer told the Federal Court in April 2015 that Snowdale had kept up to 14 chickens to a square metre and then claimed its eggs were free range, The West Australian reported.
In his judgment, Justice Antony Siopis said the reality of how the hens lived was not reflected in the company's packaging.
'There is no suggestion in the images and get up used on any of the Snowdale egg carton labels that the laying hens are, in fact, housed in steel industrial-style sheds about 100 metres long and that the hens in those sheds would have to compete with another 12,000 or 17,000 other hens, as the case may be, before the hens could even exit the shed to enter an open range.'
Snowdale Holdings did not allow hens to move freely on an 'open range', as was advertised by the company (stock image)
A visibly upset Snowdale manager Barry Cocking said he was very disappointed after the judgment by Justice Siopis.
Speaking outside court, Humane Society International director Verna Simpson said Snowdale had achieved twice the price it would have got for barn-laid eggs.
The ACCC brought the action against Snowdale after Humane Society International reported a neighbour's claim.
ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said consumers expected that when they purchased eggs promoted as 'free range' they were getting eggs from hens that 'actually go outside.'
The company provided eggs labelled as 'free range' to suppliers in Western Australia under the brands Eggs by Ellah, Swan Valley Free Range and Wanneroo Free Range (stock image)
Penalties and orders against the company will be made at a date to be set.
In March, state consumer affairs ministers agreed on a new standard for free range egg labelling.
Under the new rules, hens are required to have 'meaningful and regular' access to the outdoors and no more than 10,000 birds per hectare.
The standard was immediately criticised by animals rights and consumer groups who claim the 'misleading' Australian standard means that hens don't actually have to go outdoors.
A Taiwanese zoo has been forced to deny that a giant panda gifted by China as a symbol of unity had died on Monday.
Taipei Zoo rushed to produce a 'proof of life' photo, complete with the day's newspapers, of Tuan Tuan the panda, after Chinese media reported the animal's death.
The rumour came at a delicate a time for Taiwan-China relations, as the governate prepares for the inaguration of its new president, who is openly Beijing sceptic and pro-independence.
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Not dead yet: Tuan Tuan is seen sitting upright his cage behind recent local newspaper front pages at the Taipei Zoo, in Taipei, Taiwan, after Chinese media reported that the panda - gifted by Beijing - had died
Photos released by the zoo this week show 11-year-old Tuan Tuan looking at the papers laid out in front of his inner enclosure.
The zoo's director said in a statement that Tuan Tuan, his partner Yuan Yuan and their cub Tuan Zai are all fine.
'We welcome everyone to visit them at the zoo,' said Director Chin Shih-chien said.
The website of China's official Communist Party newspaper Global Times had reported the panda died of canine distemper, sending the story racing across the Chinese-language Internet.
The paper later retracted the story and apologized for not checking its facts, a potentially egregious error given the political sensitivity surrounding the panda pair.
Reunion gift: Tuan Tuan was one of two giant pandas that Beijing gave to Taiwan in 2008 following the election of China-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou as the island's leader
Giant pandas exist only in China and Beijing has often used overseas gifts of the animals to make political statements about its relationship with other governments.
Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, whose combined names translate as 'Reunion,' were sent by Beijing to Taiwan in December 2008 following the election of China-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou as the island's leader.
The rumors of Tuan Tuan's death came just days before the inauguration of Ma's successor, Tsai Ing-wen.
Tsai is intensely disliked by Beijing and his party supports Taiwanese independence from China.
Although a fully fledged democracy, Taiwan has never formally declared a breakaway from China.
Beijing claims Taiwan as its own territory, to be brought under its control by force if necessary.
Taiwanese pro-independence groups criticised the Ma Ying-jeou government for accepting Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan in 2008, saying they were part of Beijing's pro-reunification push.
But political scepticism did not taint public acceptance and they became a star attraction.
Boris Johnson's wife has been targeted by anti-Brexit campaigners who have falsely claimed that she was the QC caught having sex in the street outside a London station.
The vicious slur wrongly claims that Marina Wheeler was the senior lawyer alleged to have been caught in a broad-daylight sexual act during the evening rush hour outside Waterloo station in August last year.
Remain supporters have been accused of helping the false rumours - said to have been circulating online and through Westminster - to spread. The official Britain Stronger In Europe campaign has strongly denied having anything to do with the rumours.
Boris Johnson's wife Marina Wheeler has been targeted by anti-Brexit campaigners who have falsely claimed that she was the QC caught having sex in the street outside a London station
The rumour is said to have spread at Lord Ashcroft's 70th birthday party in March, and at a drinks party held at the home of ex-Defence Secretary Liam Fox that same month.
Ms Wheeler, 52, who was appointed to the prestigious legal position of Queen's Counsel in February, is not the woman involved in the case, and a friend of Mr Johnson, 51, branded the slurs 'pure poison'.
He told The Sun that the claim had begun as a rumour in the legal community, but had been circulated around Westminster by Conservative members.
'Its pure poison,' he said. 'Clearly there are people out there happy to spread entirely false rumours to destabilise Boris.
'Marina is entirely innocent in all this. She categorically is not the QC involved.'
A Government minister suggested the rumours had been spread by Remain campaigners, who want Britain to stay in the European Union.
Married City lawyer Graeme Stening, 52, (pictured) is yet to find out whether he is facing a charge of sexual assault over the incident at Waterloo
'There is only one team in town who put around these sorts of stories about Boris,' he told The Sun. 'They rejoice in his discomfort and look for every way to fuel it.'
A spokesman for the official campaign, Britain Stronger In Europe said: 'It is categorically untrue that the Stronger In campaign has had anything to do with these rumours.'
Married City lawyer Graeme Stening, 52, is yet to find out whether he is facing a charge of sexual assault over the incident at Waterloo.
The woman, who was arrested and thrown in the cells after being caught with her knickers round her ankles, initially accepted a caution.
But two months after the incident, the woman said the caution had been administered erroneously because she was too drunk to consent to sex, could not remember what had happened because she was unwell, and was the victim of a sexual assault.
Stening, from Windlesham in Surrey, was then interviewed about the new claims under caution and told a charging decision would be made at the end of last year.
But, despite being due to stand trial over the public decency offence in June, Stening has yet to find out if he will be charged with a sexual offence.
Stening pleaded not guilty to a charge of outraging public decency at a hearing in September last year, but his trial has been delayed as the sexual assault investigation took place.
Sources have previously claimed the anonymous QC belatedly cried assault because she was desperate to keep her drunken romp a secret and did not care how much harm she did to Stening in the process.
A street performer who caught fire as she tried to balance candles on her body has revealed she thought she was going to die.
Eryn Wright, 27, is recovering in Melbourne's Alfred Hospital after her clothing accidentally caught fire during a performance on Monday afternoon.
Ms Wright said she feared for the worst when her fire twirling stunt went horribly wrong.
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Eryn Wright (pictured), the street performer who caught fire as she tried to balance candles on her body, has revealed she thought she was going to die
Passers-by rushed to the Ms Wright's aid by pouring soft drinks on her burning skin during the lunchtime performance
'I thought I'm just going to die, it was crazy, it was really scary, ' she told Ten Eyewitness News.
'All I could see was the flames coming up, I was just rolling around trying to pat them out with my hands, it was terrifying.
'Especially after they had thrown the buckets of water on me and I was still on fire.'
Speaking from her hospital bed, Ms Wright said the accident was caused by a fuel can that had a leak.
Eryn Wright, 27, is recovering in Melbourne's Alfred Hospital after her clothing accidentally caught fire during a performance
The 27-year-old was attempting the fire trick on Monday to hopefully receive permission to perform it in Melbourne
'Normally if you knock yourself with fire, you don't get burnt but it was because I had the leaky fire water down the front on me so when the flame did touch it, it just all just went up,' she said.
The 27-year-old performer added her leg looked 'like it had been deep-fried', but she planned to try again to receive a council permit to continue performing.
It comes after it was revealed Ms Wright was auditioning for City of Melbourne officials who were assessing the performance for its safety before granting her a busker's permit.
Ms Wright (pictured) said she feared for the worst when her fire twirling stunt went horribly wrong
Passers-by attempted to put out the flames engulfing her body by throwing drinks on her and patting her down with their own clothes (above)
Officer workers said they thought the flames were part of the woman's routine when she first caught fire. Above, they try to put out the fire before paramedics arrive
Her costume caught fire as she twirled batons with torches attached to either end and she dropped to the ground in agony, prompting by-standers to put out the flames with Coke Zero.
Shocking footage taken after the incident showed office workers tossing soft drinks and items of their own clothing on her burning skin in attempt to stop the flames.
'At the start we thought it was part of the act but then she started screaming,' one witness said.
The woman was seen moments earlier performing her routine in a crop-top and long brown skirt (above)
She has been fined Dh150,000 (28,275) and will be deported
Accused him of cheating, after which he reported her to police
An Arab woman who went through her husband's phone after suspecting that he was cheating on her, has been found guilty of invading his privacy.
The woman allegedly found evidence of his infidelity on his mobile phone, but when she accused him of having an affair, he reported her to police.
She has now been ordered to pay him 28,275 in damages, before she is deported, a court in Ajman, United Arab Emirates ruled.
Deported: The Arab woman went through her husband's phone and found evidence of his infidelity - but after he reported her snooping to police, she will now be deported and pay a heavy fine (file mage)
The couple are in their 30s and of Arab nationality, Gulf News reports.
The woman had reportedly gone through her husband's messages and WhatsApp history, before transferring photos to herself from his phone.
She then confronted her husband with the images, reportedly accusing him of having an affair with another woman.
In response to this, the man 'lodged a complaint with the Ajman court, accusing his wife of transferring photos without his permission'.
A court in Ajman, United Arab Emirates ruled that the transferring of her husband's photos was a breach of his privacy and the wife has been fined Dh150,000 (28,273) and will be deported
The woman admitted the charges and was found guilty by the Ajman Criminal Court on May 12, her lawyer told Gulf News.
She has been fined Dh150,000 (28,273) and will be deported from the UAE.
ISIS are using dating websites to lure jihadi brides to Iraq and Syria, it has been claimed.
The fanatics have infiltrated at least one Arabic-language platform in an attempt to marry off women to its fighters.
An intelligence official told how one girl was approached online by a militant who claimed to be living in the terror group's Syrian capital of Raqqa.
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Looking for love: British schoolgirl Yusra Hussien (left) is believed to have run off to Syria to join ISIS after being groomed online through the radical dating website and Twitter feed Jihad Matchmaker (right)
The source told BuzzFeed: 'We were approached by a family whose daughter was speaking to dangerous people online.
'He told her about the big house she would have and the servants.
'Her husband would be a handsome fighter... he even sent her photos of the beautiful jewellery he would buy her for her wedding night.'
The young girl, who lived near the Jordanian city of Zarqa, was stopped before she could make it to Syria.
The unnamed Jordanian official added: 'Her case just shows you that even on dating sites ISIS is recruiting.'
He said the case highlights just how difficult it is to stop wannabe militants and jihadi brides being recruited through the internet.
Fanatics: ISIS supporters parade through the streets of Mosul after the city was taken by ISIS in 2014. The terror group has infiltrated at least one Arabic-language platform in a bid to marry off women to its fighters
The source added: 'Even if I shut down every mosque, every person who supported ISIS in Jordan, there would still be YouTube videos recruiting young men with gun fights.
'There would still be Twitter where men tweet about how they are living in paradise with three wives.'
A number of British schoolgirls have travelled to Syria over the last two years using a route which has become known as the 'jihadi bride trail' after being groomed online.
Among them was 15-year-old Yusra Hussien, from Bristol, who is believed to have been recruited through extremist dating site Jihad Matchmaker in 2014.
The site, which stated that it was based in Syria and has now closed, uses the motto 'keep it halal and get married.'
Bradley North, 13, rescued a dog from his death when he saw him jump from a van window and dangle from the vehicle after the lead got caught
A heroic schoolboy saved the life of a desperate pooch after he leapt through a window to escape a hot van and was left hanging by his lead.
Bradley North, 13, from Prestwich, Greater Manchester, was walking home from nearby Parrenthorn High School at around 4pm on Monday when he noticed the French mastiff in distress in a white van as temperatures soared in the sunshine.
The cooped-up mutt was so relieved to see Bradley and his school friends that he jumped through the vehicle's window before his lead got caught and began to hang him, leaving him on the brink of death.
Bradley rushed to the stricken dog's aid after it passed out and managed to unbuckle his collar before slowly bringing the canine back to consciousness.
The schoolboy then waited for 15 minutes for the dog's owner to return to the vehicle before reuniting the pair.
Bradley said: 'When I first saw the dog, I thought that the window was partially down but there was glass on the floor and he had his front paws out towards us.
'Me and my friends waited for five minutes for the owner to come back to the van but the dog ran up and jumped through the window and started to hang himself.
'I lifted him up slightly so he would stop hanging himself then I managed to unpick the buckle on the lead and managed to save him.
'I waited for 15 minutes for the owner to come back and she thanked me for saving him then I helped her sweep up the glass.'
Dog lover Bradley, who owns a Staffordshire bull terrier named Keyser, insists that his act of bravery was the least that he would expect from others if his own dog was in peril.
Bradley added: 'I felt really sorry for the dog when I saw them and I just thought about my own dog and that I would want someone to save him if he was in the same position.
Heroic schoolboy Bradley attempting to untangle the lead that meant the French mastiff was left hanging from the van's window
The 13-year-old said he would expect others to act similarly if his own dog Keyser was ever in the same situation
'I have had loads of really nice messages saying how brave I was since the photos were posted online and my friends have been praising me for what I managed to do.
'I never expected it to go so far online - my friend just tagged me in a post and it has gone crazy from there.'
And dad Kevin North, 38, was beaming with pride after learning of Bradley's actions.
Kitchen manufacturer Kevin said: 'I just came home from work and saw Bradley and he told me 'I saved a dog's life today'.
Bradley and his proud dad Kevin, left, who said his teenage son has been 'very coy' about his bold act of bravery
The student from Prestwich, Greater Manchester, waited for 15 minutes with the petrified hound before the owner returned to the vehicle and thanked him
'I have never heard anything like it and I just shook Bradley's hand and gave him a big hug to tell him that he should be proud of what he has done.
'He's been very coy about it but it is Bradley over, he's a really good, caring lad and he is a dedicated scout so it is very much in his nature.
'He is just a bit taken by the responses that he had to it.'
Dramatic photos of the rescue have since been shared almost 3,000 times online with dog lovers paying tribute to the selfless pupil.
One user said: 'Thank you for saving the dog, brave act, and good things happen to good people.'
Another user commented: 'You should be very proud of yourself young man, true animal lover.'
A woman with a history of self harm killed herself after mental health experts posted her previously confiscated 'suicide kit' to her home address just two weeks after she was discharged from a secure hospital, an inquest has heard.
Louise Turner was given the equipment she needed to take her own life by her care providers, the hearing in Exeter, Devon, heard.
The 30-year-old had been detained as a patient at The Cedars psychiatric unit in the city in the weeks leading up to her death.
Louise Turner was given the equipment she needed to end her life by her care providers, an inquest heard. She ordered a 'suicide kit' during her stay at The Cedars (pictured), Exeter, which NHS staff duly confiscated. But two weeks after discharging her the items were posted to her address. Less than 24 hours later she was dead
During that time, she ordered several items from the internet which she hoped to use to kill herself.
They were duly confiscated by NHS support workers, who referred to the collection of purchases as her 'suicide kit'.
But after being out of their care for just two weeks, the items - which the health board refused to destroy as they belonged to Ms Turner - were posted out to her home address.
The 'suicide kit' - which the Devon Partnership Trust refused to destroy as it belonged to Ms Turner - was posted out to her home address (stock photograph)
Less than 24 hours later, in June 2014, she died after inhaling gas.
Before taking her life, Ms Turner - who was mentally and physically ill - recorded a video on her iPod and sent text messages.
In them, she detailed why she had decided to end her life.
However, she also explained how her 'suicide kit' had been returned to her from The Cedars' mental health team.
A message sent to The Cedars, Ms Turner said Devon Partnership Trust (DTP) - who run the unit - had 'systematically' failed her since she was discharged two weeks earlier.
The message added: 'DPT have chosen to give a patient the means to die rather than the tools to support to recover.'
She added: 'The video is saved on my iPod next to my bed and it is important the coroner has access to this information.
'Thank you for giving me back the equipment to allow me to die peacefully and painlessly.'
The inquest heard the cause of death referred to asphyxiation.
The coroner was told by psychiatrist Giovanna Salvi that she suffered severe personality disorder with a history of self harm to 'convey her distress'.
He said: 'There was no ideal place for Louise and that was recognised by everyone.'
An Ofsted inspector sent to a Muslim girls' school for an emergency inspection was stopped from speaking to any students because it was during Eid, it was revealed today.
The schools watchdog has admitted one of its staff made a 'mistake' at the Zakaria Muslim Girls' High School in Batley last year.
The inspector was told he could not speak any of the 147 pupils at the school, which is run by members of the Deobandi sect, which teaches an orthodox view of Islam.
Ofsted said it had taken 'appropriate action' against the inspector, who is understood to be no longer working there.
Inspection: Children at Zakaria Muslim Girls School in Batley, West Yorkshrie, were not able to talk to Ofsted because it was Eid. Pictured are founders Shabir Daji (left) and Yusif Jasat (right)
Revealed: This is the section of the report that reveals that Eid prevented the inspection team speaking to the 147 students
He was told that the Muslim children were celebrating the religious festival Eid and accepted they could not talk, event though discussions with pupils form a key part of an inspection.
Instead he only spoke to senior managers and the head teacher at the independent school in West Yorkshire.
HOW CONSERVATIVE SECT HAS BECOME THE MOST POPULAR IN UK The Deobandi sect was founded 150 years ago in south Asia and Deobandi seminaries produce 80 per cent of UK-trained Islamic clerics. The movement takes its name from the town of Deoband in northern India, but has spread around the world thanks to the movement of populations. Leaders in the sect tend to promote a conservative interpretation of Islam, although they have also spoken out against violent extremism in the past. One Deobandi scholar, Masood Azhar, drew adoring crowds on a visit to Britain in the 1990s where he urged young people to 'prepare for jihad', and is now wanted for his involvement in a deadly attack on an Indian military base. A website promoting the Deobandi sect says loyalty is owed only to the global brotherhood of Muslims while integration into British society is denounced. It states that to befriend a non-Muslim risks pollution while those considering marrying a Christian or Jew are warned that their repulsive qualities will filter into Muslim homes.
The report, dated in October last year, said: 'It was not possible to talk to students during this visit as they and the staff were celebrating the festival of Eid.'
The school, which was established in 1982 and costs up to 1,300 a year for day pupils, was initially found to have met Government requirements for safeguarding students on issues such as radicalisation and female genital mutilation.
A second inspection was carried out in December following the error, an Ofsted spokesman said.
The school teaches 11 to 16 year-olds.
She said: 'We can confirm that an inspector failed to speak with students during an inspection of Zakaria Muslim Girls High School in October 2015.
'This was a mistake and we have taken appropriate action regarding the inspector.
'We carried out another inspection of the school in December 2015 and we are in discussion with the Department for Education about further monitoring of this school.'
Sky News reported that the school is one of three facing further action following an investigation it has carried out into the Deobandi sect.
One website promoting the sect says that a womans place is in the home and urges Muslims to reject unIslamic pursuits such as music, singing, dancing, watching television, playing chess, reading novels watching drama and watching football.
A Department for Education spokesman said: 'As soon as concerns were raised we launched urgent investigations and while these are ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further.
'Extremism has no place in our society and it is vital all schools are providing a high quality, broad and balanced curriculum.
Burger King has unveiled an in-house sauna in Finland so diners can sweat off the calories of a Whopper while eating it.
The fast-food chain has opened up a spa containing a 15-person sauna, shower room and lockers at one of its outlets in the capital Helsinki.
While many use saunas hoping the roasting temperatures will help them shed weight - guests at this spa are brought trays of burgers, chips and drinks as they work up a sweat.
Burger King has unveiled an in-house sauna in Finland so diners can sweat off the calories of a Whopper while eating it
The fast-food chain has opened up a spa containing a 15-person sauna, shower room and lockers at one of its outlets in the capital Helsinki
The sauna even comes complete with Burger King robes and towels, according to CNN.
The spa also includes a media lounge with televisions and gaming facilities.
It has already proved so popular that it has picked up a prestigious award with judges describing it as 'a powerful example of localization.'
Diners can shed weight while gaining it with servers bringing them trays of burgers, chips and drinks while they relax in the steam
Finnish designer Teuvo Loman was handed a gong for New Concepts in Food Service by Euromonitor.
CNN reports that the facility is available for exclusive hire for 250 euros (195) for three hours.
A 45-year-old woman was whipped to death by a lynchmob in India's West Bengal after villagers accused her of being a witch.
Sambari Tudu was dragged from her home by fellow villagers before they tied her to a post, thrashed her and left her to die.
Eight people have been arrested in connection with her death, and further raids are being carried out, local police said.
Whipped to death: Sambari Tudu, 45, was dragged from her home in Debra, West Midnapore, by a lynchmob accusing her of 'witchcraft'
A number of her neighbours in Debra, West Midnapore had fallen ill, for which their families blamed Ms Tudu.
They went to the village elders and accused Ms Tudu of witchcraft, Zee News reports.
The village elders held a 'trial' where Ms Tudu was not present, and sentenced her to death.
She was tied her to a post, whipped, and left to die
A senior district police officer said Ms Tudu was dragged from her house by some locals late Monday night, after which she was tied up and whipped until she 'slumped to the ground'.
The attackers left her still tied to the post, and she died soon after.
In recent years, there have been numerous reports of women being branded witches in villages across central, eastern and northeastern states.
In 2013 alone, there were 160 murders linked to witch hunts, but the unofficial figures are believed to be higher.
A belief in witchcraft is prevalent among India's indigenous population, who make up more than eight per cent of the country's 1.3billion population.
Many inhabit remote villages, eking out a living from farming, cattle rearing and selling forest produce.
Campaigners say a combination of patriarchy, poverty, a lack of education and poor law enforcement allows witch-branding to continue.
Police say fires could be connected but are
A serial arsonist in an regional city may be targeting religious buildings after the fifth place of worship went up in flames in the last seven months.
Geelong, 75km south-west of Melbourne, saw its fifth religious sanctuary catch fire since October when crews were called to Geelong Mosque at 2.15am on Wednesday.
Local Area Commander for Victoria Police in Geelong, Inspector Graham Banks, said investigators are treating the fire as suspicious and they believed all five fires could be connected, ABC reported.
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Geelong Mosque, south-west of Melbourne, went up in flames at 2.15 on Wednesday morning. It is the fifth religious building to go up in flames in Geelong in the last seven months
The place of worship was entirely gutted by fire, with most of its roof burnt off
FIVE SUSPICIOUS FIRES AT PLACES OF WORSHIP IN GEELONG SINCE OCTOBER: October 14, 2015 Bannockburn's 140-year-old St John Evangelist Church December 5, 2015 Two churches go up in flames within 30 minutes of each other in Norlane April 15, 2016 Geelong Presbyterian Church burnt to the ground May 18, 2016 Suspicious fire at Geelong Mosque
'At this stage we're working on the presumption it may well be connected, but it's certainly not the only avenue of inquiry we're pursuing,' he said.
The first in the series of suspicious fires happened in October at the Evangelist Church at in the Geelong suburb of Bannockburn.
In December, two churches went up in flames within half an hour of each other in Norlane.
And in April the 103-year-old Presbyterian Church on Geelong West's cosmopolitan Pakington Street was burnt to the ground.
All five fires occurred in the early hours of the morning.
In the latest incident, police were told a nearby resident heard what they believed to be a 'bang', at the Bostock Avenue property, and then noticed the mosque alight.
Sheikh Muhammad Salem of the board of imams Victoria with Imam Shykh Mohammad Ramzan are seen here outside the Mosque on Wednesday
One of the two churches in Norlane which went up in flames within half an hour of each other in December
It took seven fire crews an hour to get the blaze under control, and firefighters were forced to battle the blaze from the outside amid fears it could collapse, 9News reported.
No one was injured and a crime scene was established.
The mosque represents more than 8000 Muslim Families located throughout Greater Geelong, according to their website.
The place of worship was a venue where community members could come together for 'meetings, seminars, classes and community gatherings'.
It took seven fire crews an hour to get the latest blaze under control
A former Anglican Church - the building is now used as a mosque
The mosque represents more than 8000 Muslim Families located throughout Greater Geelong
The advertising genius who created the iconic 'I'd like to buy the world a Coke' Coca-Cola ad and was the inspiration for Don Draper's character in Mad Men, has died at the age of 89.
Bill Backer wrote the words to the groundbreaking commercial in 1971 as well as numerous other ad campaigns.
The ad, in which dozens of people from all around the world gather on a hillside to sing the praises of a sugary soft drink, featured in the final episode of Mad Men.
In it Draper, played by Jon Hamm, moves into a commune and in the last scene he sits and meditates, with a smile on his face.
The scene then segues into the famous Coke ad, leaving critics and fans to speculate on what happened to Draper.
One Twitter user wrote: 'Somewhere the person who actually created that coke campaign is thinking "wait, am I Don?" #MadMen.'
Bill Backer (pictured left) was one of several legendary admen who helped to inspire the character of Don Draper (right, played by Jon Hamm), who is at the center of the AMC series Mad Men
Jon Hamm as Don Draper, with Jessica Pare playing his wife Megan. In the series Megan starts out as his secretary but he proposes to her even though she is dating a colleague
While documentary film maker Michael Moore tweeted, rather less charitably: 'Mad Men! Pure genius. Hippie culture commodified in the service of profit, capitalising uniting us all w/ a catchy jingle. To sell crap. Bravo!'
The ad cost $250,000 to make - the most expensive commercial in history at the time - but the tune proved to be so catchy that it was recorded with new lyrics as 'I'd like to teach the world to sing (in perfect harmony)' and became a hit for The New Seekers.
The Don Draper character is actually believed to be an amalgam of Backer and Draper Daniels, another legendary adman who created the Marlboro Man image. Draper's womanizing and heavy drinking are believed to have been based more on Daniels than Backer.
Backer worked at New York-based agency McCann Erickson - which features in Mad Men - before going on to co-found Backer & Spielvogel.
Reaction: Fans took to Twitter immediately to air their views on the finale
Last year Backer told Newsweek how he had come up with the idea for the Coke ad while stranded at Shannon airport in Ireland with passengers from all over the world.
He said: 'So you had all types of people thrown together. And they sat with coffee or tea or Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola always prided itself on being the great social catalyst of the world.
'Right there, I wrote it on an envelope"I'd like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company". Like a lot of the best commercials, it was written while watching the product perform.'
The 'I'd like to buy the world a Coke' ad (pictured) was later turned into a song, 'I'd like to teach the world to sing (in perfect harmony)' by The New Seekers, which became a hit record in both the U.S. and U.K.
The advert was considered so groundbreaking that it was selected by the National Museum of American History for an exhibition about American Enterprise last year.
Historian Kathleen Franz told Smithsonian.com why it was so important: 'For Coke, it was really a turning point in their advertising, a shift from their long-running tagline, 'Things Go Better With Coke,' and it becomes a turning point in the advertising world at large.
Backer also worked on many other famous U.S. ad campaigns, coining slogans like 'everything you ever wanted in a beerand less' for Miller Lite, and 'soup is good food' for Campbell's.
He also wrote the famous line: 'little girls have pretty curls, but I like Oreo' and 'here's to good friends, tonight is kind of special' for German beer Lowenbrau.
Backer, who died in Warrenton, Virginia, worked on ad campaigns for Fisher-Price, Xerox, Quaker foods, Philip Morris and Parliament cigarettes and Hyundai cars.
Bill Backer (pictured) said he came up with the idea for the Coca-Cola ad while stranded at an airport in Ireland
A prestigious private school has come under fire after a student revealed teachers refused to allow her sister attend its annual Year 12 dinner in the place of her dead father.
The student, who remains unnamed, took to Facebook on Wednesday to vent her frustration, but later removed the post after she came 'to an agreement' with the St Monica's College in Epping, Melbourne's north.
However, the teenager's post was shared more than 700 times before its removal, causing multiple former student to reveal their own similar experiences with the Catholic school.
'They did this to me last year, because my mum had passed away and I would not stand for it,' past student Olivia Greco penned on Facebook.
A prestigious private school has come under fire by current and past students, including Olivia Greco (pictured), after one student revealed teachers refused to allow her sister attend its annual Year 12 dinner in the place of her dead father
The student, who remains unnamed, took to Facebook on Wednesday to vent her frustration, but later removed the post after she came 'to an agreement' with the St Monica's College in Epping, Melbourne's north
The 18-year-old said she was eventually allowed to take her older sister in her mother's place, but says this year the principal will not give 'special consideration to others'.
'Not everyone has the privilege of having 2 parents, some students have the situation of parents being divorced or even having parents that have passed away,' she wrote.
'This year for the principal's dinner, St Monica's isn't giving any special consideration to students who are in this situation'.
After the rant was shared more than 700 times, Ms Greco posted a second status to explain while she was not 'regretful,' she hoped her words would not 'evoke negative comments' toward the school.
Another former student commented on Ms Greco's Facebook post, saying she was in a similar situation in 2012 after losing her dad.
However, the teenagers post was shared more than 700 times before its removal, causing multiple former students, including Ms Greco, to reveal their own similar experiences with the Catholic school
Another former student commented on Ms Greco's Facebook post, saying she was in a similar situation in 2012 after losing her dad
After the rant was shared more than 700 times, Ms Greco posted a second status to explain while she was not 'regretful,' she hoped her words would not 'evoke negative comments' toward the school
'I wanted to bring my brother to principles (sic) dinner and they wouldn't allow it because he was't my parent,' she wrote.
St Monica's principal Brian Hanley confirmed the school would not allow students to bring any other guests besides a parent or guardian to the event.
'It is an annual celebration of the college attended by students, their parents and staff,' Mr Hanley told The Leader.
'It is as much for the parents half way through the academic year as it is for students'.
When 12-year-old Polish schoolgirl Paulina Zubrzycka arrived in the UK six years ago she could not have dreamed she would be able to question one of the worlds most famous women let alone do so in perfect English.
Nowadays, Paulina and her family could be the poster children for immigration: fluent in English, thriving at school and fiercely proud of the fact they didn't use benefits to do it.
In fact, Hollywood royalty Angelina Jolie could learn more from Paulina about how to help children integrate than the other way around.
But while Paulina, from Chatham, in Kent, agrees with her idol that the UK - the place she now calls home - must do more to help those fleeing war-ravaged Syria and Iraq, she says it cannot be the ultimate aim of every refugee.
She told MailOnline: 'One island cannot solve the problem, the world needs to come together. England and Germany should not have to be the goal for everyone.'
Impressive: Polish schoolgirl Paulina Zubrzycka appeared on national television to ask Angelina Jolie how to improve the integration of young immigrants, like herself, into Britain - wowing the star
Teacher: But Hollywood actress Jolie, interviewed by the BBC's Mishal Husain, could learn something from Paulina about how to integrate, as her family have thrived in their new country since arriving in 2010
Inspiration: In fact, Paulina, 12, could not speak a word of English when she first arrived. Nowadays, she is fluent - like her siblings - while her parents are proud to work hard and do not rely on benefits
In a discussion which made headlines around the world, Jolie, 40, accused European leaders of 'sinking to the bottom' in their 'isolationist' attitude towards refugees during a debate on Monday evening.
The star went on to accuse the leaders of 'preying on the fear' of uncontrolled migration. But it was a question from Paulina in the audience - on how to improve the integration of young immigrants - that made the star's day.
Mrs Jolie replied: Well, that is a lovely question. I think I would say that the best thing you can do, especially at your age, is that school is hard regardless with fitting in, so the greatest thing is to be a real friend.
Paulina moved to the UK with her family six years ago and now attends the Thomas Aveling School in Rochester, the first constituency to elect a Ukip MP.
She and her family have been so touched by the migration crisis unfolding over the last 18 months that they want to do all they can to help. It is what inspired Paulina to travel to London to watch Jolie speak on Monday.
'Before it was not such a big thing, being foreign,' she told MailOnline, recalling the warm welcome she and her family received when they first arrived.
'But now because it is a 'crisis' it could be harder.
'People might think the country might become a different religion, but I don't think that would happen.
'They just want a safe home for now.'
Close-knit: Paulina and her mother Marta, left, and brother Krystian, 16, as well as her older sister Gabriella, 19, arrived in the UK three years after her father Mariusz left home in south-west Poland to find work
Choices: Mariusz made the difficult decision to leave his family in the small, picturesque village of Cieszanoj until he knew he could provide for them by himself. Pictured: Paulina as a baby
Worried: The children were keen to move and be with their father - who they desperately missed - but Paulina (pictured at primary school in Kent) admits that it was scary at first because she spoke no English
Paulina's father Mariusz moved to the UK from the small, picturesque village of Cieszanoj in south-east Poland in 2007, finding a job as an agency employee in a Tesco warehouse. But he refused to bring them across until he knew he could support them without the help of benefits.
Last year, it was revealed almost half of migrants who arrived since 2011 relied on some form of benefits, a third of whom were out of work.
I have always tried to be independent,' Mariusz told MailOnline. 'In the beginning, I claimed benefits.
'But when I got my contract I earned enough money to stop the benefits. That was my aim. I got it in May 2010, and my family came in summer 2010.'
However, leaving home was a wrench for Paulina's mother Marta.
'My children were missing their father very much - every time he left they were crying, I was crying,' Marta, 41, explained to MailOnline.
'It was a hard decision, I didn't want to go. But my children encouraged me to come.'
Mariusz was determined as well.
As a parent, I want to do the best for my family the best schools, and of course the language was very important to me,' he said.
'I know English is the future for people around the world.
Compassion: Marta, who still misses her homeland, says she agrees with her daughter that we should help people in need, like those making the dangerous crossing with their families across the Mediterranean
Popular: Paulina (pictured on stage at the local theatre last year) and her siblings picked up English quickly, and now count people from around the world among their group of friends
Success: Mariusz, pictured with Marta, Gabriella and Krystian, said he made the decision to move the England for the good of his family, and now encourages them to talk about the refugee crisis
Marta, who taught kindergarten in Poland, while her husband had been working on his parents' farm, added: 'It was not about money. We are not the kind of people who would do everything for money. But we do everything for our children.'
Marta, Paulina, her brother Krystian, 16, and sister Gabriella, 19, now studying business and Spanish at the University of Westminster, arrived in the summer of 2010. By that time, there were half a million Polish nationals living in the UK - up from less than 100,000 in 2001.
It meant Marta had to throw herself into learning an entirely new language, while finding a job as a dinner lady to tide them over. It is a job she still has today, but she is now so fluent in English she also works as a teaching assistant in the same school.
Despite the children's determination to move to the UK, it was not easy for them either.
'I was very scared,' avid reader Paulina recalled. 'I was used to my grandparents being around. I didn't know any English.
'I was completely fresh and had to start from scratch.'
It has given the bright and articulate Year Seven student compassion for the refugees she watches on the news with her father every morning.
Mariusz - who is fiercely proud of how well his children have done since arriving in Kent - said: Its many times discussion in our home, how to help refugees, how that situation is around the world. I think we all have the same problem.
'I know how it feels,' Paulina told MailOnline. 'I just want to help these people.'
However, things were obviously easier for them than for those crossing the Mediterranean to reach Europe.
'It is a little different,' said Marta, who admits to still being homesick. 'We had the right to work here. We are European.
'But we will help the refugees if they want it. We have to treat other people well if they need help.'
Aspiration: Gabriella, pictured with Paulina, is now a student at the University of Westminster, studying business and Spanish, much to the delight of her parents. She could speak a little English when they arrived
Roots: The family return to Poland twice a year, but Paulina (pictured with Marta in Poland) says the UK now feels more like home, as she was so little when they left the country
Dreams: Paulina hopes to become an actress when she grows up - following in the footsteps of Jolie
It was Paulina's concern for the tide of desperate people arriving each day which prompted her question about how best to help children arriving integrate.
'I thought it was intelligent, really mature,' Paulina said of Jolie's answer - before admitting just how in awe of the actress she was.
An Uber driver fined $900 for operating without accreditation has won an appeal which effectively legalises the ride sharing service in Victoria.
Nathan Brenner, the former manager of Split Enz and Men At Work, was one of 13 drivers charged by the Victorian Taxi Services Commission for allegedly operating as a taxi without a licence, reported Herald Sun.
But on Wednesday the County Court of Victoria dropped the charges and overturned the fine a decision welcomed by the General Manager at Uber Victoria, Matt Denman.
Melbourne Uber driver, Nathan Brenner, fined $900 for operating without accreditation has won an appeal to have the charges overturned
As well as dropping the charges, the court ordered the Taxi Services Commission to pay Mr Brenner's fees for the hearing.
'We are delighted that our driver-partner Mr Brenner won his appeal today in the the County Court of Victoria, and was awarded costs,' Mr Denman said.
'The Andrews Government needs to listen to the hundreds of thousands of Victorians who are choosing ridesharing every week and introduce sensible, safety-based regulations without delay.'
Opposition Transport spokesman David Hodgett questioned why the state was yet to regulate the laws in order to deal with Uber.
'Everyone in the transport industry wants some certainty and stability to plan for the future. Consumers also deserve the best transport services at the most competitive price and the ride sharing economy is one of the many transport options that helps make that possible,' he said.
But Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said the government needs time to assess the decision by the court before detailing new laws.
EU chiefs have hatched a secret plot to work with African dictators to stop migrants reaching Europe, a leaked report has revealed.
The plan would see 35million earmarked for eight African countries including Sudan which is ruled by accused war criminal President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
In return, they would be asked to intercept refugees heading to the Mediterranean and beyond.
But the March meeting of 28 ambassadors, led by Germany, agreed that 'under no circumstances' should the public learn of the agreement.
In the pockets of despots: EU chiefs have hatched a plot to work with African dictators including Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir (pictured) to stop migrants reaching Europe, a leaked report has revealed
Persecuted: Refugees wait for much-needed food supplies in Darfur in western Sudan in 2004. Bashir has been accused by the Hague-based International Criminal Court of masterminding genocide in Darfur
An aide of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini even warned that Europe's reputation was at stake if the details emerged, it was reported.
The minutes of the meeting and other classified documents were obtained by German publication Der Spiegel and public TV station ARD.
According to the report, the 35million would be used over three years to train border police and set up detention camps, mainly in Sudan.
Other measures include installing cameras, scanners and servers for registering refugees to the Sudanese regime.
But critics have attacked the plan for relying on a dictatorship accused of killing tens of thousands of people to now uphold the human rights of migrants.
Marina Peter, an expert on the Horn of Africa region at the German relief organisation Bread for the World, told Der Spiegel: 'A regime that destabilised the region and drove hundreds of thousands of people to flee is now supposed to stem the flow for the EU.'
All roads lead to Europe: Sudan is key transit route for migrants fleeing countries such as Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia and the Central African Republic
Bashir, who has ruled Sudan since a 1989 Islamist and army-backed coup, has been accused by the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) of masterminding genocide and other atrocities in his campaign to crush a revolt in Sudan's western Darfur region.
Experts estimate at least 200,000 people have been killed, although the Sudanese government says only 10,000 have died.
A further 2.7 million people are estimated to have been uprooted by the conflict, which began when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against the government.
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Bashir in 2009 and 2010, but the Sudanese President rejects the court's authority and has regularly flouted the warrants.
Migrants who attempted to flee the Libyan coast to head for Europe are detained at the coastguard centre in the city of Tripoli. Many refugees like these have come from Sudan
Amnesty International has also accused the Sudanese secret service of torturing members of the opposition, while the United States claims the regime finances terrorism.
The German Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development has confirmed the 'action plan' but says it has not yet been implemented.
The German development agency GIZ is expected to coordinate the project.
Sudan is key transit route for migrants fleeing countries such as Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea and the Central African Republic.
A brave young school pupil has started attending classes as a boy after admitting that he simply did not feel comfortable as a girl.
Shane Oliver, from Skegness, Lincolnshire, cut his long hair, got rid of his school skirt and changed his name from Shanicee as he revolutionised his way of living.
For six years he had felt trapped in his body: a girl on the outside but a boy deep down.
So two months ago his mother Leanne waved him off to school for the first day of the rest of his life - as skateboard loving Shane.
A brave young school pupil has started attending classes as a boy (left) after discovering he did not feel comfortable as a girl. Shanice Oliver (right), from Skegness, Lincolnshire, cut his long hair, got rid of his school skirt and changed his name to Shane as he revolutionised his way of living
The 12-year-old said: 'It has been much better since I went back to school as Shane, all of my friends have been really supportive.
'Most of my classmates understood why I came back to school as a boy and with the others I helped to explain it to them in a different way.
'I told them I was meant to be a boy but I came out as a girl, so I was born as the wrong person.'
Shane was just six-years-old when he first told his mother that he hated his long hair and girly dresses.
From an even younger age, mother-of-two Leanne, 31, noticed he would never play with toys designed for girls and preferred the likes of dinosaurs and Lego.
As he grew older he shunned dresses and his mid-length locks, and even begged his mother to let him wear a suit instead of a bridesmaids dress to his sister's wedding.
He finally broke down in tears two years ago explaining that he hated his life because he was a girl on the outside but a boy inside.
Now 12 and he goes by the name Shane and goes to school in male clothing.
Shane was just six-years-old when he first told his mother that he hated his long hair and girly dresses. From an even younger age, mother-of-two Leanne (pictured, with Shane), 31, noticed he would never play with toys designed for girls and preferred the likes of dinosaurs and Lego
Leanne has now redecorated the room Shane shares with his sister, replacing the pink walls with comic book-themed decor
Barmaid Leanne said: 'When Shanice broke down in tears and told me she hated her life and that she was born a female but she knew she wasn't a girl - it broke my heart.
'Even while growing up she always preferred boys clothing and wouldn't play with girls stuff, she preferred skateboards and anything to do with army or Lego.
'Once Shanice was able to tell me her secret that she was born in the wrong body I could see the relief from her face. She was so miserable before.'
She continued: 'He decided to keep part of his old name, when he was born I named him Shanice, now he's Shane.
Once Shanice was able to tell me her secret that she was born in the wrong body I could see the relief from her face. She was so miserable before Shane's mother, Leanne Oliver
'He told me he wanted to cut off his long hair and that he'd only wear dresses to make me happy and deep down he absolutely hated it because he felt like he was acting.
'He used to have long hair too but was never happy about it and before I always had to force Shanice to smile, but since having cut his hair and living as a boy he's been a smiling ray of sunshine.'
Since turning his life on its head, Shane's self belief has sky rocketed.
All of his classmatess and teachers have been hugely supportive of his change and the youngster has never felt better.
Leanne continued: 'His confidence has improved so much more now. Before he was terribly shy but now he's bold and proud.
'He's been living as a male for two months now and even at school his friends have really been supportive.
'The only problem we had was when one child called Shane a 'he-she', but he got into trouble straight away and was given lessons on homophobia. Since then it's been brilliant.
'I've always brought up my kids to be proud of who they are and not to care about what other people think, now I know that Shane is doing that.
'Shane's happy all the time, he's always messing around and dancing in the middle of the shopping aisles - he can now live how he wants.'
As Shane grew older as Shanice, he shunned dresses and his mid-length locks, and even begged his mother to let him wear a suit instead of a bridesmaids dress to his sister's wedding
Since turning his life on its head and leaving Shanice (left) behind, Shane's self belief has sky rocketed. All of his classmatess and teachers have been hugely supportive of his change and the youngster has never felt better
Leanne has now redecorated the room Shane shares with his sister, replacing the pink walls with comic book-themed decor.
She said: 'Shane used to have a pink room before but he hated it, so now we've just finished covering it in Marvel wallpaper and he has lots dinosaurs and boy toys in there.
'Even before becoming Shane he hated the colour pink because he felt it was too girly and used to say it felt like he was walking into a Barbie house.'
The brave schoolboy is currently receiving counselling and will be referred to Children and Adult Mental Health Services later this year where he will be able to discuss future plans.
Leanne said: 'A lot people thought Shane would grow out of wanting to be a boy, but he's been the same since he was six.
'At first I was a little worried too that he may change his mind about living as a boy, but he knows who he is and as long as he's happy that's all that matters.'
The Tavistock Clinic have reported that the number of trans people referred to the clinic has increased by 50 per cent in each of the last few years.
Four men have now been
Terrifying video footage shows a Parisian police car being smashed to pieces and set ablaze while the officers are still inside.
In the shocking footage a violent mob hurls missiles and breaks the windows of the vehicle, on a day where police across France were themselves protesting at the excessive force used by protestors.
When one of the policemen is forced to exit the car he is set upon by a masked male who viciously attacks him.
When the officers then make a hasty retreat their vehicle erupts into a burning fireball.
Terrifying video footage shows a Parisian police car being smashed to pieces and set ablaze while an officer is still inside
Paris in flames: Protesters set fire to police car during the Parisian police force's own protest against how aggressive protesters have been with officers in recent weeks
Four men have reportedly been taken into custody on Thursday after the assault on the officers sitting inside their patrol car.
They each face attempted murder charges after a Molotov Cocktail was thrown into the rear window of the car.
Michel Cadot, the Paris Police Prefect, said the attack was 'particularly shocking', confirming four men aged between 19 and 22 had been arrested.
When the policeman is forced to exit the car he is set upon by a masked protestor who viciously attacks him
It was shortly after midday that activists torched the car by the Canal St Martin, before leaving a cardboard sign in front of it reading 'roast chickens'.
'Chickens' is used as a slang word for police in France.
Reports claim the car had munitions on board so there were fears it might explode.
Scary scenes: As the officers make a hasty retreat down the road their car then erupts into a burning fireball
French police took to the streets in about 60 cities on Wednesday to denounce the hatred and violence they say has been repeatedly directed at them during protests against the government's labor reforms.
In the capital, protesting officers faced counter-protesters, who said the police themselves were instigating the violence, after which at least one police car was set on fire.
French discussions: The scene is pictured after the blaze, which took place near the capital's Republic Plaza on Wednesday
True irony: Protesters turned up to protest against the police officers' protest the aggressions of protesters against police officers
A few hundred officers gathered on the Place de la Republique in Paris, after which several hundred counter-demonstrators came by, chanting slogans like 'Everybody hates the police!' and pushing up against the officers until eventually the police deployed pepper spray to disperse the crowd.
Some counter-protesters set fire to a police car in a street nearby.
Vanina Giudicelli, one of the counter-protesters, told The Associated Press that the police gathering was 'a real provocation.'
'Since the first demonstration on March 9, we notice that they generate the violence. We have been sprayed by gas, hit with batons, arrested,' she said.
Jean-Claude Delage, secretary general of the Alliance police union, denounced an 'escalation of violence' in the labor protests and said some people were harassing police officers with projectiles and Molotov cocktails and even hitting them with iron bars.
'Troublemakers provoke clashes in the middle of peaceful protests. So it's very complicated for police forces to isolate and arrest them,' Delage explained on BFM television.
Firefighters work on a police car set up on fire by counter demonstrators while police forces gather to denounce the almost daily violent clashes at protests against a labor reform
French police across the country took to the streets to protest against what they describe as hatred directed at them
Several hundred counter demonstrators came to Place de la Republique, chanting slogans and provoking the protesting police officers
Burn, burn, burn: The police car was soon engulfed in flames, and exploded in the street in Paris
Hundreds of counter-demonstrators came by, pushing up against the officers until police had to use pepper spray to disperse them
French President Francois Hollande said Tuesday that over 350 police officers have been injured in clashes and 60 people have been convicted amid the labor reform protests.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says he is offering his 'full support' to police following the weekly Cabinet Council meeting. He said the police have instructions to take 'firm action' against those who take part in violent clashes.
'Anti-cop hatred comes from a small portion of the population ... but these 10 percent are very violent,' Jean-Marc Falcone, general director of the police, told Europe 1 radio.
Riot police officers secure the Place de la Republique before a police gathering to denounce the almost violent clashes at protests
At it again: Riot police officers cross a canal as they chase counter demonstrators on Wednesday
Riot police officers were targeted with bottles, and used pepper spray to disperse the crowds
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Stunning images have been captured by a fearless self-taught photographer who chases some of the world's most intense storms.
James Smart's award-winning shots feature swirling cyclones, looming dark cloud structures, and bright flashes of lightning covering the sky.
'The unpredictability is what fascinates me the most. It's so fascinating heading out on a chase and seeing the total diversity of storms that are produced,' the 31-year-old from Melbourne said.
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Stunning images have been captured by fearless self-taught photographer, James Smart, who chases some of the world's most intense storms
Mr Smart said: 'We chase to capture these amazing forces of nature, but we know the impact severe weather has on the people living in these areas and do not wish any harm to them during these events'
His award-winning shots feature swirling cyclones, looming dark cloud structures, and bright flashes of lightning covering the sky
'The unpredictability is what fascinates me the most. It's so fascinating heading out on a chase and seeing the total diversity of storms that are produced,' the 31-year-old from Melbourne said
'The structure, size, and amount of hail it all just makes it such a fun and unforgettable experience. When you see your first tornado it is surreal to say the least,' he said
'The structure, size, and amount of hail it all just makes it such a fun and unforgettable experience. When you see your first tornado it is surreal to say the least.'
Mr Smart first started chasing storms in the United States in 2013 with brother, Rick.
He said capturing such storms can be an intense process - with the ferocious storms not making it easy for the photographer to set up his equipment.
He often reverts to shooting handheld because of the strength of the storms.
The 31-year-old photographer first started chasing storms in the United States in 2013 with brother, Rick. He often reverts to shooting handheld because of the strength of the storms
He said capturing such storms can be an intense process - with the ferocious storms not making it easy for the photographer to set up his equipment
His storm-chasing has seen him photograph across America - in states such as Colorado, Texas and South Dakota - as well as his native Australia
His storm-chasing has seen him photograph across America - in states such as Colorado, Texas and South Dakota - as well as his native Australia.
Mr Smart plans to return to the United States at the end of May to shoot more gems for his portfolio.
Last year he won the $10,000USD Grand Prize at the National Geographic 2015 Photo Contest for a powerful swirling tornado that he photographed ripping through Simla, Colorado, USA.
Mr Smart said: 'We chase to capture these amazing forces of nature, but we know the impact severe weather has on the people living in these areas and do not wish any harm to them during these events.'
Mr Smart plans to return to the United States at the end of May to shoot more gems for his portfolio
Last year he won the $10,000USD Grand Prize at the National Geographic 2015 Photo Contest for a powerful swirling tornado that he photographed ripping through Simla, Colorado, USA
A severed head found at a quarry is not that of a mother-of-three who went missing earlier this year, detectives have confirmed.
The remains were found on Tuesday at a quarry in Mepal near Ely, Cambridgeshire, but police have not yet identified it as male or female.
The proximity of the site to where Natalie Hemming - a 31-year-old woman who disappeared earlier this year - meant police were previously not ruling out a link to her case.
But after a post mortem examination was carried out this morning, police say the person whose head was found was killed long before Ms Hemming went missing.
A quarry worker said the head was found in a skip which had been brought to the site from Bedfordshire
A police spokesman said this afternoon: 'A post mortem examination of a human head found in a quarry in Mepal on Monday has come back inconclusive.
'Specialists are still unable to identify whether the head belongs to a man or a woman, however, based on the information available at this time, it is believed the person died before January 1, 2015.
'Detectives from the Beds, Cambs and Herts Major Crime Unit (MCU) continue to work with specialists in order to establish the gender and identity of the deceased.'
Police believe the head had come from a site owned by Network Rail in Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire.
It is believed the remains were transported to Mepal by a skip brought from Sharnbrook.
A quarry worker, who asked not to be named, claimed his colleague spotted the head lying on top of the skip and believed it to belong to a woman in her 30s or 40s.
Police at the scene. They have now ruled out a link between the find and a woman who went missing this year
The worker said: 'My colleague collected the skip, where he saw nothing out of the ordinary, and put a cover over the top to stop anything falling out during transit.'
'When he got back to our site, he took the cover off and spotted something straight away. At his first thought was that it was a manikin's head.'
The quarry worker added: 'He described the features of the head looking female and said she looked in her 30s or 40s, but he couldn't be 100 per cent.'
The man described how the site is used for waste disposal and said earthy materials are transported in and out of the site to and from locations right around the UK.
Specialist forensic teams have since been searching Network Rail land at Sharnbrook, where a rail project is currently taking place and a JCB digger has been seen searching a landfill site beneath the village's historic viaduct.
No other body parts have been found by police, who have now launched a public appeal for any information.
A post mortem examination has ruled out the possibility that the head belongs to Natalie Hemming (left) or Helen Bailey (right) both of whom went missing not far from the site earlier this year
Natalie was at her mother's home in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, on the afternoon of May 1.
Her partner, 42-year-old Paul Hemming, was arrested three days later and has since been charged with murder.
Despite extensive searches in Milton Keynes, and even at a disused RAF base near Whipsnade Zoo, neither she nor her body has never been found.
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Rare pictures of Winston Churchill during World War One are to be published for the first time.
The black and white images include shots of the Prime Minister in uniform at the front near Ypres in northern France.
He can be seen posing with fellow officers in the heart of the Western Front where he was so nearly killed by the shrapnel of an artillery shell - a fatal blow that would have prevented the then young Churchill from going on to become Britain's greatest ever wartime leader.
Close shave: Engraved with Winston Churchill's initials, this is the artillery shell that came within feet of killing Britain's greatest leader
Iconic: Rare pictures of Winston Churchill (sixth from left) in the trenches during World War One are to be published for the first time
The book, Churchill in the Trenches, was introduced by retired House of Fraser Chairman Nigel Dewar Gibb, 84, and is based on the experiences of his father, Major Andrew Dewar Gibb, who from January 5, 1916, served alongside Lieutenant Colonel Winston Churchill in the 6th Service Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers on the fearsome Western Front.
As well as the rare images, it also includes some of Churchill's own paintings and pictures of some of his wartime possessions.
Mr Gibb said: 'These military pictures tell their own story.
Hero: The black and white images include shots of the would-be Prime Minister in uniform (left) at the front near Ypres in northern France. Churchill being shown an exercise by the German Army in 1913 (right)
March: The book, Churchill in the Trenches, was introduced by retired House of Fraser Chairman Nigel Dewar Gibb, 84, and is based on the experiences of his father, Major Andrew Dewar Gibb (pictured, leading the march)
'My father and Churchill were certainly involved in the full horror of the frontline trench warfare, which affected my father very badly.
'Serving in Western Front certainly developed Churchill's relationship with men at all levels, developed his personal character and rhetoric.
'Other photos show my father as a relaxed professional man, which is how I remember him.
Soldiers: Major Dewar Gibb (left, with Captain Bryce Ramsey), from January 5, 1916, served alongside Lieutenant Colonel Winston Churchill in the 6th Service Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers on the fearsome Western Front
Ready for battle: A group of Churchill's fellow soldiers in France, 1916. Major Dewar Gibb is pictured on the right of the middle row
Devastated: The Belgian village of Ploegsteert, in the municipality of Comines-Warneton, where Gibb and Churchill arrived in 1916
No man's land: A view of the area around 'Hyde Park Corner', near Ploegsteert Wood, showing a German 5.9-inch shell burst
Trench warfare: Four British soldiers fighting in the environment Churchill would have experienced near Ypres, France
'The trench maps are very interesting and the Churchill painting is remarkable as this farm no longer exists.'
In 1916 Churchill joined the war effort in France as a soldier after resigning as First Lord of the Admiralty following his involvement in the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign against Turkish forces, who were allies of Germany at the time.
He was almost killed when shrapnel from an artillery shell landed close to him. His service went some way to restoring his reputation.
Insight: Nigel's book recalls some of the most fascinating tales his father shared with him recounting his time fighting alongside Churchill. It also includes images of some of the Prime Ministers war-time possessions - including this initialled binoculars case (right)
Possessions: Also photographed in the interesting book are this Orilux torch (left) carried by the war hero, and this field map (right) of the Western Front
Changed land: As well as the rare images, the book also includes some of Churchill's own paintings - like this one, of the bombardment of a French town
Artistic: This other coloured painting depicts a badly damaged farm on the Western Front, where Churchill was based during World War One
After surviving the war, lawyer and Glasgow University Professor Andrew Dewar Gibb also became a Conservative MP, but then founded the National Party of Scotland, which became the modern Scottish Nationalist Party.
'The pair certainly remained friends and got on well at the front,' said Nigel.
'But distance and careers did not lead to a closer relationship thereafter. They were in touch from time to time.'
A school spent 6,500 on PR and legal teams after a major playground brawl between British and Slovakian students allegedly brandishing knives and screwdrivers.
The incident at Sir William Stanier Community School in Crewe, Cheshire, sparked an unscheduled Ofsted inspection in February.
Parents pulled their children out of school and complained to the schools watchdog and some said the fight broke out because of tensions between English and Slovakian youngsters.
They said some brandished screwdrivers and knives and claimed one girl had hair torn out while another pupil was punched in the face.
Brawl: The incident at Sir William Stanier Community School in Crewe, Cheshire, sparked an unscheduled Ofsted inspection in February
FOI: Today it was revealed that the school, which is an academy so controls its own budgets, spent 6,500 on managing the media in the aftermath
Others claimed youngsters were 'hiding in classrooms out of fear' - but police and the school have denied that this is what happened.
Today it was revealed that the school, which is an academy so controls its own budgets, spent 6,500 on managing the media in the aftermath.
An FOI by Heat Street reveals bosses paid PLMR lobbying agency and the Hill Dickinson law firm to manage the media, and warn of legal action over the story.
A spokesman said: 'This was an isolated incident several months ago but prompted rumours on social media that were categorically not true, as the police confirmed.
'These unfounded rumours led to some inaccurate media coverage, and we enlisted the help of specialists so that we, as teachers, were able to concentrate on our most important work, which is providing the best possible education for the young people of Crewe.'
Police were also adamant that rumours of 'large scale disorder' at the school were not true.
There were also reports of an arrest in Crewe later after a teenager had been caught with a plank of wood. There was also suspicions that this was linked to the school brawl.
Account: Social media had a number of descriptions of the brawl - but the school insists it is 'unfounded'
Parent Katie Patrick said her daughter was 'extremely upset' and called her from the school library.
She added: 'I arrived and there were police cars, numerous teachers and pupils outside.
'I was told by a member of staff that it was a 'clash of communities'.
'This is not good enough. Both my kids were scared by the whole incident and I don't want them to return until this whole situation is sorted'.
Another parent said at the time they took their children out.
She said: 'We've taken our children out for their own safety until we are reassured.
'All I've had is a text this morning saying there'd be a letter for us, but my son hasn't been into school so how am I supposed to get any information?
'The school should have informed us that night. There have been police there today and we didn't know yesterday that there would be security.
A psychologist died after asking her roommate to slap her and strangle her with a cable during a rough sex session in Mexico.
Juan Ruiz Torres, 32, was arrested after pretty Tania Trinidad Paredes, 23, was at his house in the Tlalpan district of the capital Mexico City.
Torres, a journalist, denied raping her and told detectives she died by accident while they were having sex.
Tania Trinidad Paredes (pictured) was found dead at an apartment in Mexico City. Police are investigating the claims made by her roommate Juan Ruiz Torres, who says she enjoyed violent sex
He said he had been drinking with the victim and another roommate, Jose Luis Arzate Martinez, when she suggested a threesome.
Torres told police that when Arzate Martinez refused and went to bed, Paredes suggested a rough sex session.
He told detectives: 'During the act, she asked me to squeeze her neck and slap her because she liked violent sex.'
A post mortem examination of Tania Trinidad Paredes (pictured) showed she died of asphyxiation and suffered broken bones in her neck. Her family were apparently unaware she was in a relationship with Torres
Torres said he throttled her with a cable but must have overdone it because she suddenly collapsed.
A post mortem examination found the cause of death was asphyxiation and her neck bones had been broken.
Some local media claimed Torres initially denied having anything to do with her death but later came up with the rough sex confession after being interrogated.
The Zocalo news website said they were analyzing cell phones and social networks in a bid to check what sort of relationship Torres had with Paredes prior to the incident last month.
The father of a Polish teenage girl found dead at school after she complained about racism has said he is still in shock.
Dagmara Przybysz died at the Pool Academy in Cornwall yesterday after police and paramedics rushed to the scene.
The 16-year-old had moved from her native Poland with her family to live in the town of Redruth.
Enquires are continuing to establish the circumstances surrounding her death but it is not being treated as suspicious.
Dagmara Przybysz, who was named locally as the 16-year-old found dead at a school in Cornwall
Dagmara had moved to the UK with her family and later complained on Facebook about 'racism' at school
Dagmara's father Jedrzej Przybysz said: 'I am in shock, but I am too upset to speak about it. I need more time and just need to be left alone for now.
'I don't know how she died as I need to talk to the police. I don't know what happened. But I am in shock. That is all.'
One neighbour said: 'She was such a nice girl. I just can not believe it. They are such a nice family. It is so sad. Everyone is heartbroken.'
Before she died, Dagmara had complained about suffering taunts at school on website ask.fm.
Answering a question about what problems she had at school, she replied 'racism', adding that it makes her sad when friends say things behind her back.
The comments were made two years ago, but, after her death, several friends referred to continued problems.
One friend posted online: 'It is so sad what people do to make people do this stuff. F*****g ridiculous.'
Another friend wrote: 'Such a beautiful girl, died a such a young age because of absolute p***ks.'
Dagmara complained of racism when asked questions on website ask.fm about two years before her death
Dagmara's family (mother Ewelina Przybysz pictured right) said they were too upset to comment today
In a statement, school principal Zelma Hill said: 'It is with overwhelming sadness that the Principal, Governors and Staff of Pool Academy can confirm the tragic, sudden death of one of our students.
'We are deeply shocked and saddened by the loss of Dagmara Przybysz.
'Dagmara was a beautiful, bright and creative 16 year old student with a very promising future ahead of her.
'She was passionate about fashion and photography. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Dagmara's family and friends at this difficult time.'
A tribute page has now been set up in her memory and a day of remembrance is being planned at the school.
Friend Martin Ferris wrote on Facebook: 'RIP Dagmara Przybysz, we had some good times.
'I've always seen you as an amazing person, we've had some fun times that I won't ever forget. You'll fit perfectly up their in heaven, we won't forget you. X'
Lauren Haydney wrote: 'Rip Dagmara Przybysz such a beautiful girl, died a such a young age.'
Paramedics were called to the Pool Academy near Redruth yesterday but were unable to save Dagmara
A friend wrote online that they would be planning a day to remember Dagmara at school.
The friend said: 'One day within the next week at school we will have a remembrance time where we will be saying goodnight to a beautiful girl who was taken far too soon.
'The details of this event will be put on [Facebook] so if you want to come you're more than welcome.'
Police confirmed they have formally identified Dagmara as the pupil who was found dead at the school on Tuesday.
A statement said: 'Following formal identification, the 16-year-old girl who was found deceased at Pool Academy in Pool, Redruth, has been named as Dagmara Przybysz.
'Police were called at around 2.15pm on Tuesday 17 May following reports of a sudden death.
'Police and paramedics attended and the teenager was pronounced dead at the scene. Her next of kin has been informed.
'Enquiries are continuing to establish the circumstances surrounding her death but it is not being treated as suspicious. A file will be prepared for the coroner.
For confidential support call the Samaritans in the UK on 116 123, visit a local Samaritans branch or click here for details
'Degrading smacks to the head': The European Court of Human Rights has accepted a case by Amanda Knox (pictured) that she was mistreated by Italian police during their murder investigation
Amanda Knox's case against Italian police that she was mistreated during their murder investigation has been accepted by the European Court of Human Rights.
Knox, who was cleared last year of murdering British student Meredith Kercher, claims she was slapped and threatened by officers during her interrogation.
The 28-year-old had initially been charged with slandering police in Perugia by claiming they interviewed her under duress.
But a judge in Florence threw out the case in January, paving the way for her to submit a claim to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
Knox alleges that she was subjected to inhumane treatment including 'degrading smacks to the head' during questioning after she was initially arrested for murder in November 2007.
The case also claims the American was not provided with a lawyer or official interpreter, it was reported by The Local, which cited Corriere della Sera.
During that questioning, she wrongly accused Congolese bar owner Patrick Lumumba of murdering Miss Kercher.
Lumumba spent two weeks in jail in 2007 before he was cleared.
Knox was sentenced to time served for slander because she had already spent about four years in an Italian jail.
She later said she fingered Lumumba because police 'threatened' her and she was under severe mental strain after many hours of interrogation.
The ECHR will now request more information from the Italian government before the case is brought to trial, but the process could take several years.
Amanda Knox (centre) speaks to the media outside her parents' home in Seattle, Washington, in March 2015 after she and ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were acquitted of murdering British student Meredith Kercher
Luciano Ghirga, one of Knox's lawyers, said: 'The court's acceptance of the appeal is great news. It's difficult to get cases accepted.'
'I can't say it gives me any satisfaction, however, as so much suffering has already been caused.'
Miss Kercher, 21, was discovered in a pool of blood in the house she shared with Knox in Perugia in November 2007.
The British student had been stabbed four times and her throat slit in what the Italian courts claimed was a sex-game gone wrong.
Knox and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were found guilty of murder and sentenced to 26 years in jail in 2009.
Knox and ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito (left) were initially found guilty of murdering Meredith Kercher (right) in 2009. They were later acquitted before being found guilty again and finally acquitted by Italy's highest court
However, they were acquitted in 2011 after evidence used against the pair was found to be flawed.
Knox immediately returned to the United States protesting her innocence, but in January 2014, the Italian courts overturned that acquittal and reinstated the guilty verdict.
However, the case ultimately went to the Supreme Court and their conviction was overturned in March 2015.
Six months later, the Court of Cassation issued a formal explanation of why the pair had been cleared, saying there was an 'absolute lack of biological traces' of Knox or Sollecito in the room or on Miss Kercher's body.
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An incredible archive of photographs of the real Poldark country has revealed the grinding poverty of historic Cornwall.
More than 1,500 black and white images depict the gritty lives lived by poverty-stricken families living in the county in the late 19th and early 20th century, and show the lowly beginnings of towns like Rock, Fowey, Newquay and St Ives long before they became picture-postcard tourist hotspots.
The photographs show young filth-covered children playing barefoot in squalid streets, impoverished families standing around outside the local tax office, and weather-beaten fishwives tending to the day's catch.
This photograph of impoverished children in Penzance, taken around 1890, forms part of an incredible archive of photographs of the real Poldark country, which reveals the grinding poverty of historic Cornwall
This image of the fishing port of Newlyn on the south coast of Cornwall around 1900 is one of more than 1,500 up for sale at auction
Aidan Turner as Poldark. The BBC series is thought to have been a goldmine for the Cornish tourist trade, as fans flocked to see the spectacular coastlines depicted in the show. The second series is set to air this Autumn
Among the snaps are shots of Botallick Mine near St Just (pictured), which appears in the recent BBC remake of Poldark as the family mine Aidan Turner's character tries to revive as part of the character's attempts to regenerate his impoverished community
A pair of weather-beaten Cornish fishwives pose for a photograph in one of the Gibsons' studios. Life was tough, with many people dependent on the sea and mining to survive
They also depict modest fishermen's cottages that provided basic accommodation to poor workers, which today can sell for anything up to 500,000.
Among the snaps are shots of Botallick Mine near St Just, which appears in the recent BBC remake of Poldark as the family mine Aidan Turner's character tries to revive as part of the character's attempts to regenerate his impoverished community.
The bleak scenes were captured on camera by famous photographer John Gibson, a pioneer of photojournalism, and his sons Alexander and Herbert between 1860 and 1930, just a few decades after Winston Graham's Poldark novels - which span from 1783 to 1820 - were set.
The family, based on the Isles of Scilly, made a name for themselves documenting real life scenes in and around Cornwall, often breaking news to the major papers of the time.
Tin miners were prone to many different diseases as a result of working in hot, damp and dusty conditions underground. Bronchitis, silicosis, TB and rheumatism were all common complaints for miners, making life expectancy short.
Few miners in the early days were fit to work beyond the age of 40. Even in the late 20th century many tin miners died from silicosis caused by rock drilling. Particles of mica dust punctured the miners' lungs.
Locals by the shore in Sennen Cove in around 1900 in one of the photographs taken by the Gibson family of photographers
The photographs depict modest fishermen's cottages that provided basic accommodation to poor workers, such as this property in St Ives (left) and these homes in Penzance (right) which today can sell for anything up to 500,000
Surrounded by interested children, a fisherman clears barnacles from a timber beam in Mount's Bay, Penzance in around 1900
These whales beached on the shoreline at Mount's Bay attracted the attention of locals who rushed to the sea to see the animals
Mimi Connell-Lay, from Penzance Auction House which is selling the collection, said: 'The photographic dynasty founded by John Gibson in the 1860s took some of the most remarkable and historically significant photographs of 19th and early 20th century.
'The archive offered here contains a broad and extensive range of evocative and fascinating images of Cornwall's past.
'The subjects are rich and varied; maritime, mining, village life, architecture, the working poor, every image is a delight for any historian.
The bleak scenes were captured on camera by famous photographer John Gibson (pictured), a pioneer of photojournalism, and his sons Alexander and Herbert between 1860 and 1930. Pictured right is their business premises in Penzance
John Gibson's sons Alexander (left) and Herbert (right). The family, based on the Isles of Scilly, made a name for themselves documenting real life scenes in and around Cornwall, often breaking news to the major papers of the time
The village and fishing port of Mousehole, near Penzance, as it looked in the 1890s, where men can be seen tending to the boats
Mousehole in the 1890s. The area is now a popular tourist destination, notable for being where poet Dylan Thomas spent his honeymoon
The harbour at Mousehole, as young boys look out at the sea to see the fishing boats head out and return with their catch of the day
'Cornwall is such a popular tourist destination these days, and people come here because its so beautiful.
'But what strikes me about a lot of these images is just how desperately poor people look and how rough and scruffy the villages and houses looked then, whereas now they are so picture postcard perfect.
'Some of the most wealthy and popular hotspots of today like Rock, Fowey, Mousehole and St Ives appear in the archive. These places are now full of affluent second homes.
A fleet of fishing vessels off the coast at Mounts Bay, as boys on the shire wait to fill their baskets with fish caught from the boats
The Lord St Levan's boatmen looking resplendent in their uniforms. MP John St Aubyn was made Lord St Levan on his retirement in 1887 for his political services. His grandson, the third Lord St Levan, gave castle St Michaels Mount to the National Trust
Fishermen haul in a vast catch of mackerel. Fishing has been a major industry in Cornwall since the days of King John
Locals wait to buy goods from Langley Stores in Penzance in 1890. A number of Victorian adverts can be seen on the side of the building
The inner dock being built at Penzance. The town's harbour had been its lifeblood for centuries and the inner harbour is still used for fishing and commercial purposes
A consolidated mine in St Ives, 1885. Mining was another huge industry in the county, with tin and copper mines dotting the landscape
'The cottages like the ones in the photos of St Ives exchange hands for about 250,000 today, yet look at those barefoot children sat in the street.'
The Gibson's vast family archive was inherited by their descendants and split into several collections to be sold.
A selection of photos of shipwrecks around Scilly by the Gibsons was sold in 2013 to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich for 100,000.
The Cornish archive, comprising 1,200 original photographic prints and 300 glass negative plates, is tipped to fetch 25,000 when it goes under the hammer as one lot on June 16.
A police officer keeps his eye on two young schoolboys who have been locked up in the stocks in 1900. Their look of defiance as they pose for the camera with their arms around one another suggests they may not have been entirely repentant
Families take a moment to rest at the Gwennap pit near Redruth. The pit, made famous by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, in the 1700s is still used as an outdoor amphitheatre today
Warren's 'excursion car' offered rides for day trippers in Cornwall, with early tourists packing onto the carriage to be ferried around
A remote Cornish 'smugglers house' in Bessier cove. Smuggling was rife in Cornwall thanks to the region's secluded coves which were ideal for bringing contraband cargo ashore
Ms Connell-Lay said: 'This extraordinary photographic dynasty was founded by John Gibson when he first acquired a camera in the early 1800s.
'He was a seaman by trade and we do not know how he came to own such an expensive item, but by 1860 he had established himself as a professional photographer and had a studio in Penzance.
'He returned to the Scillies in 1865 and apprenticed his two sons Alexander and Herbert in the business.
Inside a family's kitchen in west Penwith. A kettle can be seen on the stove in the background, no doubt so the homeowner could offer the photographer a cup of tea
Excited locals gather around the 'First Hotel in England' at Sennen Cove. Now called The First & Last Inn, the hotel dates back seven centuries and is thought to have once been a headquarters for local smugglers
A young boy takes shelter in a rustic hut created out of an old upturned boat near Mullion in around 1900
A family gather for a photograph in Rock. The village is now an upmarket trendy location dubbed Britain's St Tropez due to its popularity with wealthy holidaymakers
A drove of donkeys on the shoreline of the remote coastal village of Sennen Cove, one of Britain's most westerly points, in 1900
Padstow in 1900. The town on the River Camel is now hugely popular with tourists, in part thanks to the number of restaurants owned by celebrity chef Rick Stein
A woman fetches water for her family (left), while a top-hatted gentleman enjoys a smoke on his trusty pipe (right)
'They worked together, often in harsh and challenging conditions, travelling with hand carts of heavy equipment: a large cumbersome camera and tripod, portable dark room and glass plates.
'The images captured by John Gibson and his two sons are some of the most evocative and powerful photographs of their era.
'Although the Gibsons' work is synonymous with Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, the historical and documentary nature of their fascinating and beautifully photographed images is universal.'
Men in Newlyn do their best to clear the streets of floodwater and protect homes in the seaside town from the rising tide
Another view of the flooding in Newlyn. The Gibsons were often on hand to photograph the newsworthy events of the day
Fishing boats and traps in the remote Cornish fishing village of Porthgwarra, located between between Land's End and Porthcurno
The crew of a steamer ready the boat to leave from Penzance quay. By the time Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, the town had established itself as an important regional centre
Fishwives in Newlyn, assisted by their children, prepare the day's catch for sale after it has been brought to shore by the boats
The Gibson's vast family archive, including this image of Mousehole in the 1890s, was inherited by their descendants and split into several collections to be sold
The NSW Health Minister has defended her department after admitting she knew of the latest legionnaires cluster a 'few days' before the public was notified, as a second person died from the disease.
The department revealed an elderly male patient died in Concord Hospital last week - a death which was part of a the latest cluster of four cases in the inner-west suburb of Burwood.
Health Minister Jillian Skinner brushed off questions about sitting on the information before making the public aware of the latest cluster while admitting she knew about it 'a few days ago'.
The NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner has defended her department admitting she knew of the latest legionnaires cluster a 'few days' before the public was notified, after a second person dies from the disease
Ms Skinner told reporters on Wednesday the information was released 'when we actually found out the actual cause and location of the cluster'.
But the health department did not alert the public to the new cluster until late on Tuesday, two days after Burwood Council started inspecting cooling towers in the area, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
She has moved to play down the risk 'to the majority of people', saying there have been about 100 Legionnaires' cases every year for the last two decades - about two-thirds from cooling towers - with 2016 largely consistent with previous years.
Ms Skinner told reporters on Wednesday the information was released 'when we actually found out the actual cause and location of the cluster'
Sydney does not have an outbreak 'in plague proportions', Ms Skinner said.
'People should not panic. This is not something that is going to attack everyone.
'I am advised that people can walk through a shopping centre or a street where there's contaminated droplets in the air and not be affected.'
The later cluster has prompted inspections of at least nine cooling towers in local buildings, including the Westfield Burwood shopping centre and Burwood Shopping Plaza.
Water cooling towers in central Sydney - on Margaret, Kent, King and George Streets - tested positive for a potentially deadly bacteria last week and the council are now checking Burwood towers
Jeremy McAnulty, director of Health Protection NSW, said the number of Legionnaires cases was 'on track' with expectations.
'Although we've had a large number of relatively small clusters, they haven't been big clusters,' he told reporters.
Dr McAnulty said authorities were working to ensure cooling towers were being maintained properly.
Last week, Dr Vicky Sheppeard, director of the communicable diseases branch at NSW Health, said five of the 89 cooling towers and areas tested in the CBD for the potentially deadly bacteria had returned positive results during preliminary testing.
The mother of a missing British man wept today as she was told her son has been located at a psychiatric unit in Spain six years after he disappeared.
Matthew Green left from his home in Sittingbourne, Kent, in 2010 saying he was going to visit friends in London for the weekend - but has not been seen by his family since.
It emerged yesterday that his parents, Jim and Pauline, had been left 'in limbo' after he was found in Spain but authorities refused to reveal where he was because of 'data protection' rules.
It was revealed today that a member of a staff at a psychiatric unit in the country has now contacted the couple and invited them to visit Matthew, 32.
Pauline Green breaks down in tears today after she was told her missing son Matthew has been located
Matthew disappeared six years ago but has now been found in a psychiatric unit in Spain, it emerged today
Mrs Green, 63, cried as she discussed the breakthrough with ITV This Morning hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield today.
The programme heard Matthew, who had suffered addictions to drink and drugs before he went missing, is refusing help and medication, but doctors hope his parents may be able to help with his treatment.
They have asked the couple to take Matthew's medical records with them to aid doctors in trying to help him recover.
Mrs Green said she has thought about whether her son may not want to revive contact with his family after so long away.
She said: 'I have thought about that but I have also thought that there must be a glimmer, that he does want us back in his life.
'I think we have just got to cling on to whatever we can, with the hope that he can get better and then we can go from there.'
Mrs Green and her husband Jim went on ITV's This Morning to discuss the case after they were, at first, prevented from speaking to Matthew under data protection laws. Doctors now think contact could help him
Presenter Phillip Schofield reaches over to comfort Mrs Green after they discussed the breakthrough
Describing how she had finally discovered where her son was, Mrs Green said: 'This person texted me last night and it was a Spanish number. He or she said they needed to contact me.
'They said 'I am trying to send an email, but it's not successful. I sent him my email address and heard nothing, so I went to bed.
'Just after 5am I thought I would see if this person had tried to contact and that's when I saw this email.'
Appearing alongside criminologist Mark Williams Thomas, who has assisted them in tracking down their son, the couple said they now plan to fly over to see him.
The discovery that Matthew was still alive came when a police officer arrived at the couple's house on May 3 to give them the news that their son had been found safe.
He came to the attention of the Spanish authorities because he was 'acting oddly' and had been taken into care for assessment.
Mr Green, 64, said: 'It has been a roller-coaster from not knowing for six years. When you get information like this, your emotions are running.'
He added: 'It just shows you the power of the media and social media.'
Executed: Milad Ahmed Abourgheba, 44, was one of three men executed by ISIS in Sirte Libya, accused of being 'spies' for the government
The family of a man executed by ISIS in Libya after he was accused of being a spy has revealed how he was dragged from his home and crucified in a public square.
Milad Ahmed Abourgheba, 44, was one of three men executed by ISIS in Sirte, central Libya, in February as part of the terrorist group's brutal reign in the city.
At least 49 people have been executed by ISIS in Sirte and surrounding areas following secretive court proceedings and Sharia law-trials since February 2015, a report claims.
Mr Abourgheba, who had previously fought ISIS for rival force Libya Dawn, was taken from his Sirte home where he lived with his wife and young child in October 2015.
A relative of Mr Abourgheba, named only as 'Ali', and a fellow fighter told Human Rights Watch (HRW) they had no idea what had happened to him until ISIS executed him in public.
'He disappeared for three months. Then on January 16 [2016], they shot him dead. The man who shot him was Tunisian and was in a wheelchair,' Ali told HRW.
'They shot him in public and then they crucified him for three days in Zaafran Square.'
Mr Abourgheba was accused of being an informant for the Libyan government, and executed alongside two others by ISIS in February.
ISIS later released images of their deaths, showing a wheelchair-bound executioner and the three men dressed in orange Guantanamo-style jumpsuits.
One image shows a man with what appears to be a bloodied and battered face, tied up and 'crucified' on the structure. A note taped to his body reportedly reads 'A Spy of Libya Dawn'.
The three men were among dozens of people executed by ISIS in Sirte in the past year, for crimes such as 'spying,' 'sorcery,' and 'insulting God', a HRW report has found.
Sirte residents interviewed by HRW described public beheadings, corpses in orange jumpsuits hanging from scaffolding in what they referred to as 'crucifixions', and masked fighters snatching men from their beds in the night.
The wheelchair terrorist:The executions of Mr Abourgheba and two other men by an ISIS fighter in a wheelchair were pictured and published as part of the terrorist group's propaganda machine in February
Crucified: A man has been tied up and 'crucified' on the structure, with a note reading 'spy' taped to his body, one of dozens of men killed by ISIS in Sirte during their one-year reign of terror in the city
At least 49 people have been executed by ISIS in Sirte and surrounding areas since February 2015, for crimes such as 'spying,' 'sorcery,' and 'insulting God'
The HRW report also reveals that ISIS is diverting food, medicine, fuel, and cash from Sirte residents, as well as seizing private property and giving it to their own fighters.
ISIS morality police patrol the streets of the city threatening, fining, or flogging men for violating their self-imposed laws.
'Crimes' include smoking, listening to music, or failing to ensure their wives and sisters wear full-length black abayas or burqas - covering even their faces.
'Life in Sirte is unbearable. Everyone is living in fear. They are killing innocent people,' said Ahlam, 30, a woman living in Sirte with her family.
'There are no groceries, the hospital has no doctors or nurses, there is no medicine. There are spies on every street.
'Most people have left but we are trapped. We dont have enough money to leave.'
ISIS began taking over Sirte in February 2015 and after several months of fighting and inflicting terror on local residents, they had full control of the city by August (file photo)
The terrorist group only allows Sirte residents to communicate with the outside world through ISIS-run call centers, and they have shut all banks but one, which is open only to ISIS members, former residents said.
Sirte, the birthplace of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, is the group's only stronghold in the North African country.
ISIS forces have attacked oil infrastructure and established a foothold in Sirte, exploiting Libya's current power vacuum where two rival governments have been battling for supremacy.
It began taking over the city in February 2015 and after several months of fighting and inflicting terror on local residents, they had full control of the city by August.
'As if beheading and shooting perceived enemies isn't enough, ISIS is causing terrible suffering in Sirte even for Muslims who follow its rules,' said Letta Tayler, senior terrorism and counterterrorism researcher at HRW.
The man had been alerted by news reports about the mystery prompting him to claim the remains
Unidentified man told police he had built box that held his father's ashes
The box was found beside a country road with a neatly folded, framed American flag about four weeks ago
Police in Florala, Alabama said a mystery solved itself after a man came in to claim small pine box containing his father's ashes
Police in a south Alabama town say a mystery solved itself when a man claimed a small pine box containing his father's ashes which were found beside a country road with a framed American flag.
News reports about the mystery led the man to stop by the police station and pick up the remains late Tuesday, Florala Police Chief Sonny Bedsole said in an email.
The man who Bedsole did not identify told police he had built the box that held his father's ashes.
Police in a south Alabama town say a mystery solved itself when a man stopped by the station to claim a small pine box containing his father's ashes, found beside a country road with a framed American flag (pictured)
The man had moved out of the family home in nearby Lockhart, Alabama, about three weeks ago during a 'bad divorce,' the chief said.
'Without being specific, this person had removed all his personal property from the marital home when he left except for a few items, this box with ashes and the presentation flag being left behind temporarily,' Bedsole said in an email to The Associated Press.
Bedsole said the man then moved to Crestview, Florida, about 25 miles south of Florala.
A power line crew working in Florala found the box and flag along the road about four weeks ago.
News reports about the mystery (the box of ashes pictured left) led the man to stop by the police station and pick up the remains late Tuesday, Florala Police Chief Sonny Bedsole said
The man's friends alerted him to news articles they had seen about police searching for the owner, prompting him to show up at the police station on Tuesday to claim the remains, the chief said.
But one mystery remains.
'No real explanation was given as to how the items were put beside the road,' Florala police said in a separate statement.
The University of Melbourne Melbourne University is only inviting women to apply for three new jobs in its maths school to address inequality across teaching staff.
The university posted an advertisement on its website this week seeking a lecturer, senior lecturer and associate professor in the subject but warned only female applicants would be considered.
Its decision is aimed to boost female representation among faculty members in the mathematics department, it said, the majority of which are men.
'The University plan seeks to increase the diversity of the workforce and the representation of women in areas they have been traditionally under-represented,' a statement accompanying the advertisement read.
The University of Melbourne (above) has welcomed applications for three new lecturer positions in its maths department but says it will only consider female candidates
'Consistent with this, the School of Mathematics and Statistics is seeking to increase the representation of women in the academic workforce across mathematical disciplines.
'The School is seeking to lift the representation of women and therefore will only consider applications from suitably qualified female candidates for these three positions.'
The positions are in the subjects of Applied Mathematics, Pure Mathematics and Statistics, it continued.
Women are severely underrepresented across Australia's science and maths industries, according to experts.
'At the first academic rank of associate lecturer it's still only 30 per cent women, by the time you get up to the second highest rank of associate professor it's down to under 20 per cent women,' Lesley Ward, an Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of South Australia, told ABC.
In its advertisement the university described how it hoped to 'increase the diversity of the workforce'
Only 30 per cent of associate maths lecturers are women, according to experts (file image above)
'At the highest rank, of professor, it's 9 per cent women, according to the most recent data we have from 2014,' she continued.
While their advertisement seeks to boost equality, critics were quick to condemn the university for not opening applications up to all sexes.
'People should be employed based on their abilities...the best should get the jobs no matter of gender,' said one social media user.
Another likened the move to opening 'a can of worms'.
'What would be the reaction of females if the position was advertised for men only? I think this is opening up a can of worms.
The teenage daughter of a Communist party leader in a former Soviet state has sparked anger after posting selfies showing off her wealthy lifestyle.
Margareta Ivanov, 17, is the daughter of Violeta Ivanov, a deputy and ex-president of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM).
The schoolgirl, who attends the Gheorghe Asahi Lyceum in the Moldovan capital city of Chisinau, posted one picture of a cherry-red Jaguar car.
The teenage daughter of a Communist party leader in a former Soviet state has sparked anger after posting selfies showing off her wealthy lifestyle
The teenager has also posted pictures of her wearing designer clothes and accessories including fur coats, shoes and handbags
The schoolgirl, who attends the Gheorghe Asahi Lyceum in the Moldovan capital city of Chisinau, posted one picture of a cherry-red Jaguar car with the words: 'It is an ideal present. Welcome to the family, dear'
She wrote: 'It is an ideal present. Welcome to the family, dear.'
It is unclear whether the car was a present for Ms Ivanov or whether it was for somebody else.
She has previously posted pictures of herself behind the wheel of other luxury cars including a Porsche and a BMW.
The teenager has also posted pictures of her wearing designer clothes and accessories including fur coats, shoes and handbags.
Margareta Ivanova has taken a series of selfies showing her wearing designer clothes and handbags
Moldovan media reports that Ms Ivanov's mother - currently the PCRM's parliamentary group leader - earns 172,000 MDL (6,000) a year, while her father earns just 42,000 MDL (1,400)
Margareta Ivanova, 17, is pictured with another woman in another of her selfies. The teenager's family reportedly owns land in three different locations in Chisinau
Moldovan media reports that Ms Ivanov's mother - currently the PCRM's parliamentary group leader - earns 172,000 MDL (6,000) a year, while her father earns just 42,000 MDL (1,400).
However, the family reportedly owns land in three different locations in Chisinau.
One online commenter said: 'There is nothing new here. People who recently got rich like to show off their wealth.
'The moment anyone questions it though, they start stressing they have no money.'
She has previously posted pictures of herself behind the wheel of other luxury cars including a Porsche and a BMW
Margareta Ivanova shows off another luxury item from the New York fashion brand Michael Kors
As well as clothes, bags and cars, Ms Ivanova's pictures show make-up from the likes of Dior
One online commenter said: 'There is nothing new here. People who recently got rich like to show off their wealth'
Another, called Kashey, added: 'Remember their names and never work for them. But if you do, charge them double.'
The Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova is the only communist party to have held a majority in government in the post-Soviet states.
Francis is charged with robbery with a deadly weapon, kidnapping and attempted criminal transmission of HIV
Driver was ordered to pull over before stealing his phone and wallet
Sebastian Lora said he was told he would be injected with HIV if he refused
Matthew Steven Francis allegedly robbed an Uber driver by pulling out a syringe and threatening to infect him with HIV
A Florida man robbed an Uber driver by pulling out a syringe and threatening to infect him with HIV, police say.
Sebastian Lora had been parked up waiting for a passenger outside a 7-Eleven in Boca Raton, Palm Beach in Florida when he says a man got into his car and told him to drive.
He told police that 30-year-old Matthew Steven Francis had pulled out a syringe and threatened to inject him with HIV if he did not follow his orders.
The terrified Uber driver began driving until, eventually, Francis ordered him to pull over.
When Lora stopped the car, he says the suspect demanded he hand over his phone and wallet before Francis fled.
The driver called the police after the harrowing incident at around 11pm on Saturday evening and officers discovered Francis a short time later walking nearby with a syringe in one pocket and a Lora's wallet in the other.
He faces charges of robbery with a deadly weapon, kidnapping and attempted criminal transmission of HIV.
Attempted criminal transmission of HIV alone can carry a sentence of up to five years in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Records don't indicate whether he has a lawyer.
It is unclear whether Francis is HIV positive.
When in custody, Francis admitted that he had been using heroin, and other drugs, throughout the day, according to the Sun Sentinel.
The robbery is similar to one carried out in Florida last year, when a man robbed an Indian Harbour Beach bank by threatening to infect the teller with an HIV positive hypodermic needle.
Daryl Mollet, 29, was later charged with robbery over the incident at the BB&T Bank on E. Eau Gallie Boulevard in April last year.
A Californian woman got a shock when she went to her bathroom and discovered a cute little opossum swimming in her lavatory bowl.
The adorable little creature appeared to be trying to cling the shiny ceramic side of the bowl in a bid to escape the cold water.
The woman, who has not been identified, quickly called San Diego County Animal Services for some assistance in saving the opossum.
Animal Control Officer Carlos Wallis was sent to rescue the young animal and transported it to Project Wildlife.
Animal Control Officer Carlos Wallis was sent to rescue the young animal and transported it to Project Wildlife.
The surprising incident took place in Pacific Beach on 1 May and has attracted considerable attention on social media.
The San Diego County Animal Services posted several photographs of the poor creature trapped inside of the loo.
'Not to worry, we don't think this one came up through the plumbing. After finding a second opossum in her home, the resident found a broken window where they likely gained access, the post read.
The adorable little creature appeared to be trying to cling the shiny ceramic side of the bowl in a bid to escape the cold water
The opossum is understood to be doing well and will be released once it is old enough to survive on its own, according to the Animal Services.
It is not the first time that San Diego's Department of Animal Services have been called out to save an animal from a bathroom.
Glen McNamara and Roger Rogerson killed drug dealer Jamie Gao, stole 2.78kg of ice from him and dumped his body at sea in an effort to make him disappear, the Crown has claimed as the former policemen's three-month murder trial draws to a close.
Crown prosecutor Chris Maxwell QC said in closing submissions on Wednesday that one of the men - it didn't matter which - shot Mr Gao twice in a Padstow storage unit in Sydney's west on May 20, 2014 as part of an agreement formed while conspiring to steal the drugs in his possession.
They then drove the body to McNamara's boat, weighed the corpse down and dumped the remains in the ocean near Cronulla.
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Glen McNamara and Roger Rogerson, above, killed drug dealer Jamie Gao, stole 2.78kg of ice from him and dumped his body at sea in an effort to make him disappear, the Crown alleges as the case draws to a close
Rogerson and his co-accused McNamara, above, blame the murder on each other
It's a circumstantial case, but the evidence is powerful, Mr Maxwell said.
'Both claim they are not guilty and the evidence claims it is the other one who shot Jamie Gao,' he said.
'The Crown says, on a great many important parts of the evidence they have given in court, that it is far-fetched and unbelievable and you would reject the greater part of the accounts that they give.'
Among the claims he urged the jury to reject was McNamara's assertion that he was meeting with Mr Gao to write a book about the Triads, with whom Mr Gao was allegedly associated.
McNamara met with Mr Gao 19 times in March and April 2014, but there was no evidence he took a single note, Mr Maxwell said.
'The research for the book ... is something that was designed to cover up the meetings conducted for the sole purpose of organising Jamie Gao to bring a large quantity of methylamphetamine to unit 803 on the 20th of May, which is exactly what Jamie Gao did,' he said.
He also reflected on evidence from Mr Gao's cousin Justin Gao, when he claimed Jamie Gao had been planning a 'massive' ice deal with McNamara.
Mr Maxwell earlier said the jury could convict both men on evidence relating to nine crucial elements - three days in May, the two accused and the victim, a boat, a car and storage unit 803.
The actions of McNamara and Rogerson on the day of the murder and the days either side were all aimed at making Mr Gao 'disappear' and to reduce their risk of getting caught, he said.
'Right from the fact Jamie Gao opened that partly-opened door on Arab Road, everything was done by both accused to make sure that he disappeared, that he disappeared and would not be found at all,' he said.
Mr Gao's body was found lifeless in the ocean off Cronulla, NSW, six days after he was shot
'The disposal of the body in this way is evidence available to you to find that they did it, because to allow the body to be found would implicate them in the commission of the crime.'
The pair have continually accused each other of killing Mr Gao during the long-running trial.
McNamara claims Rogerson shot and killed the 20-year-old, and that he helped dispose of his body because Rogerson threatened his life and the lives of his daughters.
But Rogerson maintains it was McNamara who shot and killed Mr Gao.
The prosecution's closing submissions are expected to continue on Thursday.
Rogerson alleges he was standing guard for his friend, as McNamara interviewed Mr Gao for a book he was writing on Chinese triads
An alleged Islamic State terrorist has been pictured wearing a shirt emblazoned with the name of the Melbourne punk band Deez Nuts.
The long-haired man was reportedly captured in Syria by the Free Syrian Army and was photographed with his hands behind his back, alongside another roughed-up man, according to Conflict News.
His nationality and name are not known at this stage.
An alleged Islamic State terrorist has been pictured wearing a shirt emblazoned with the name of the Melbourne punk band Deez Nuts
A Facebook user posted a screenshot of the alleged ISIL terrorist to Deez Nuts page on Wednesday night, but the group have not yet responded
A Facebook user posted a screenshot of the alleged ISIL terrorist to the bands page on Wednesday night, but the group have not yet responded.
Deez Nuts formed in Melbourne in 2007 and is fronted by drummer of I Killed The Prom Queen, JJ Peters.
They are scheduled to start their European tour in June.
Daily Mail Australia have contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for comment.
Deez Nuts jumpers and shirt retail for around $40 and is all able to be purchased online
Deez Nuts formed in Melbourne in 2007 and is fronted by drummer of I Killed The Prom Queen, JJ Peters
The mother of the first Chibok schoolgirl to be rescued from the clutches of Boko Haram has broken her silence to reveal she thought she would never see her again.
Binta Ali had lost hope of ever seeing Amina again, who was taken by the Islamist militants from her school in Chibok two years ago.
But it seems the possibility of starvation pushed Amina's 'husband' Mohammed Hayatu - said to be a Boko Haram fighter - to venture to the edges of the forest, where they were found by a vigilante group.
Yesterday, Binta - whose husband died just six months after Amina was snatched - was reunited with the 19-year-old, embracing her with such joy onlookers said they were certain they were going to 'roll on the ground'.
Freedom: 19-year-old Amina Ali was found with her four month old baby and a man she said is her husband two years after she was kidnapped by Boko Haram alongside 275 other schoolgirl's preparing for exams
Joy: Amina's mother Binta revealed she didn't think she would ever see her daughter again - and expressed her gratitude to her rescuers and to God for Amina's safe return
A statement released on Binta's behalf revealed: 'She never thought she would ever see her daughter again.
'Having seen Amina grow up and get to the age she was and Amina being snatched away from her, she (Binta) was heartbroken and devastated,' it added.
'But today Amina is back to her and she is thankful to God and thankful to everyone that participated in the rescue and recovery of her daughter.'
Amina - the youngest of 13 children, and one of only two to survive past the age of five - was rescued from the Sambisa Forest, in Borno state by vigilantes helping the military and brought back to her home in Mbalala, near Chibok, yesterday.
This was the first picture to emerge of both Amina Ali, 19, and her four-month-old baby after they were found yesterday more than two years after being abducted by Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria
Hayatu - said to be a commander known as 'Amir' - told Channels Television 'hunger and ill health forced him to surrender as they were starving to death following the blocking of Boko Haram's food supply routes by the military'.
He too claimed to be a victim of kidnapping, but has been kept away from Amina and is being interrogated by military.
Meanwhile, Amina and her four-month-old daughter were then brought to Mbalala, a village 10kms from Chibok.
'She gave her mother the biggest hug ever, as if they were going to roll on the ground,' rescuer Abugu Gajji revealed.
'The girl started comforting her mother saying please mum, take it easy relax I never thought I'd see you again, wipe your tears. God has made it possible for us to see each other again,' he said.
Cradling her four-month-old baby lovingly in her arms, Amina Ali and her child have been pictured receiving medical attention, with the man she says is her husband - after they were found more than two years after being abducted by Boko Haram.
Today, she presented the baby to the country's leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, in Nigiera's capital Abuja - more than 500 miles from her home.
'Like all Nigerians and many others around the world, I am delighted that Amina Ali is free, but it is tinged with deep sorrow with what she had to go through,' Buhari said, reported CNN.
He added: 'Although we cannot do anything to reverse the horrors of her past, (the) federal government will do everything possible to ensure that the rest of her life takes a completely different course.'
The two spoke for 45 minutes in private, with Amina - who officials have said is being treated 'like a VIP' - finishing school top of the agenda.
'Continuation of her education must be a priority of government,' the President said.
Amina must be able go back to school. Nobody in Nigeria should be put through the brutality of forced marriage; every girl has a right to education and their choice of life.
The government was doing 'all it can to rescue the remaining Chibok girls,' he said, adding: 'Amina's rescue gives us new hope, and offers a unique opportunity for vital information.'
But the decision to bring her to the capital has met with criticism from aid workers.
'It is an outrage!' Francisca Vigaud-Walsh, women and girls' advocate at Refugees International said, saying her case should not be politicised.
'This is the time for her to be given access to clinical management of rape services and sustained psychological assistance to assist her with her trauma from both being in captivity for two years and the dramatic change she is now undergoing,' she added.
Dozens of girls managed to escape in the first hours, but 219 remained captive. Amina is the first to have been freed for two years. She was found in Simbasa forest, where Boko Haram are believed to be holding the girls
There are conflicting reports over exactly how she was found - or how she escaped, but she has confirmed that more than 60 girls in her own detention group were still in Sambisa
Homecoming: She was bought to Maiduguri, the biggest town close to where she lives, in a military helicopter
Excitement: Today she met with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, showing him her child. However, the meeting has met with criticism, as aid workers say she should be receiving medical treatment
NIGERIAN ARMY MOVING INTO BOKO HARAM'S 'LAST STRONGHOLD' The Nigerian army hopes to rescue the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants two years ago 'within weeks'. The announcement that soldiers were starting to move into the Sambisa Forest, where Amina Ali was found, was made as the government came under criticism for their continuing failure to rescue the 218 girls, taken from a school in Chibok. 'We believe that in the coming weeks we shall recover the rest of the girls,' Bono State governor Kashim Shettima told reporters. 'The military is already moving into the forest.'
The 19-year-old is seen holding the child she gave birth to in captivity after being reunited with her family in Damboa, Nigeria, following her abduction by the extremist group in 2014.
While there are conflicting reports over exactly how she was found - or how she escaped, Hassan Chibok, a member of the civilian Joint Task Force (JTF), today told Mail Online that Amina had confirmed that more than 60 girls in her own detention group were still in Sambisa.
'The military has been bombarding Sambisa forest. In all the angles of the forest, you have the presence of the military.
'The insurgent holding her captive had already escaped due to persistent bombardments, so it was easy for the girl to make herself available for rescue.
'She said that the sheer number of the girls in Sambisa is such that they should easily be sighted when moving, but once the insurgents sensed the coming of a military jet, they always rushed to hide the captives. She told me that all the girls in her group had been forced to marry Boko Haram husbands.'
Later on Thursday, Amina and her mother will meet President Buhari, following a brief meeting on Wednesday with Kashim Shettima, governor of Borno State.
Sani Usman, spokesman of the Nigeria army, confirmed that Amina was airlifted by Nigeria Air Force Super Puma aircraft from Damboa to Maiduguri alongside her baby and supposed husband, Mohammed Hayatu.
'Prior to that they were examined at Air Force medical facility and were found to be stable and normal blood pressure was observed, Usman said.
'Thereafter, she was released to the Operation Lafiya Dole headquarters for further investigation and handing over.'
Her discovery may provide information as to the whereabouts of the other teenagers, although Amina told her mother and family doctor that some of the Chibok girls have died in captivity.
Speaking after she was found, Ayuba Alamson Chibok, a community leader in Chibok, said: 'She met her parents, who recognised their daughter before she was taken to the military base in Damboa.
'Her father's name is Ali and the girl's name is Amina. I know the family very well because I have worked with them, being a spokesman for the families of the Chibok girls.'
Yakubu Nkeki, head of the Abducted Chibok Girls Parents' group, also confirmed her name and said she was 17 when she was abducted.
He added: 'She's the daughter of my neighbour... They brought her to my house.'
Rescued: Amina Ali (left), then 17, has been found two years after she and 218 others were kidnapped. Right: This picture, released by the Nigerian army, shows suspected Boko Haram member Mohammed Hayatu, who claimed to be the husband of Amina Ali
The teenager appeared to have given birth while in captivity while Abana said she had told family there were other kidnapped girls in the forest, but 'six were already dead'
The Sambisa Forest has long been known to contain Boko Haram camps. Other abducted women rescued from the former game reserve over the last year have reported seeing some of the Chibok girls
Amina's mother last year spoke of her daughter's fear of Boko Haram but of her enjoyment of attending school and doing well at her studies.
She told the Murtala Muhammed Foundation, a Nigerian non-profit organisation researching a book on the Chibok girls, that she was not sure of the age of Amina, the youngest of her 13 children although only three survived their early years.
'She always sewed her own clothes,' her mother said in the interview released to the Thomson Reuters Foundation by Aisha Oyebode of the Murtala Muhammed Foundation.
Hassan Chibok (pictured), a member of the civilian Joint Task Force (JTF), told Mail Online that Amina had confirmed that more than 60 girls in her own detention group were still in Sambisa
Binta said Amina's father died some months after his daughter was abducted.
'After Amina was kidnapped, only two (of our children) are left alive,' she said, adding her son and daughter live in Lagos.
She said she constantly thought of her lost daughter, who had always helped her around the house.
'(My son) said I should take it easy and stop crying,' she told the Foundation. 'He reminded me that I am not the only parent who lost a child.'
Tsambido Hosea Abana, a Chibok community leader in the capital, Abuja, from the BringBackOurGirls pressure group, gave an identical account of Amina's rescue.
The teenager appeared to have given birth while in captivity and said she had told family there were other kidnapped girls in the forest, but 'six were already dead.'
The Sambisa Forest has long been known to contain Boko Haram camps. Other abducted women rescued from the former game reserve over the last year have reported seeing some of the Chibok girls.
Army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman confirmed the girl's rescue, although he gave a different name - Falmata Mbalala - and said she was found by troops in Baale, near Damboa.
Manaseh Allan, a Chibok youth leader, said it was not uncommon for children in the town to use different names at home and at school.
The leader of the BringBackOurGirls group in Abuja, former education minister Oby Ezekwesili, tweeted: 'It is OFFICIAL. OUR #ChibokGirlAminaAli of Mbalala village is BACK!!!!!!!
'#218ShallBeBack because #HopeEndures... Thanks #CivilianJTF and @HQNigerianArmy.'
The group has mounted daily vigils in the capital since the abduction calling for the release of the schoolgirls and hundreds of other hostages.
Boko Haram seized 276 students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok on the night of April 14, 2014. Fifty-seven managed to escape in the immediate aftermath.
The abduction sparked outrage worldwide and brought global attention to the Boko Haram insurgency, which has killed at least 20,000 people and made more than 2.6 million homeless since 2009.
Nothing had been heard from the 219 still held captive since a video published by the Islamists in May 2014, until an apparent 'proof of life' message was sent to the Nigerian government earlier this year.
Fifteen of the girls, wearing black hijabs, were seen in the video, which was purportedly shot on December 25, Christmas Day, last year.
But despite the identities of the girls being confirmed by mothers and a classmate, the government said it was cautious about raising hopes of their release.
There have been previous claims of talks with Boko Haram, whose leader Abubakar Shekau has said he would release the hostages if Islamist fighters held in Nigerian custody were released.
But the talks appear to have been with factions of the group, without the approval of the high command.
The video gave weight to theories the girls were split up after the abduction and were being held in separate locations, complicating any possible talks or a rescue bid.
The girls were taken as Boko Haram captured swathes of territory in northeastern states in 2014. But the insurgents have been pushed out by a military fight-back in the last 15 months.
Images of the terrified captives shocked the world when the girls were abducted in April 2014
A total of 276 girls were abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, northeast Nigeria, on April 14, 2014 by Boko Haram militants, fifty-seven escaped in the immediate aftermath
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, who has said Boko Haram is 'technically' defeated, has said success in the campaign would be measured on the return of the Chibok girls and other abductees.
The Rev. Enoch Mark, whose two daughters are among the missing, said the latest news brought renewed hope to the parents of the Chibok girls.
'I believe that, by the grace of God, our daughters, some of them, will be found if they are still alive,' he said.
The inability of Nigeria's government and military to rescue the girls led, in part, to last year's electoral defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan, who was seen as uncaring and not committed to freeing them.
The U.S., France and Britain offered help to find the girls, sending in drones, hostage negotiators, intelligence officers and others.
A social media campaign using the hashtag (hash)BringBackOurGirls reached to the White House, where first lady Michelle Obama promised her husband would do all in his power to help. 'Our prayers are with the missing Nigerian girls and their families. It's time to (hash)BringBackOurGirls,' she tweeted in May 2014.
R. Evon Idahosa, executive director of PathFinders Justice Initiative, which works on behalf of victims of child abuse, sex trafficking and rape, said the West has not done enough to help the Chibok girls.
Idahosa noted the response after the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, when government leaders marched 'in solidarity, arm-in-arm over the death of 17 people. Not to say that that is any less important than the lives of these girls, but the reality is that one Western life definitely has a different value from the value of a girl in Nigeria.'
Returning to ordinary life could be difficult for the victims, according to experts.
'Children in this situation typically require medical assistance and psycho-social support to help them cope with what they have been through while they were in captivity,' said UNICEF spokeswoman Helene Sandbu Ryeng.
No one was injured in the bomb blasts in
Pair then used them to blow up sheds, a mailbox and a well-pump shack
Created IEDs out of metal pipes, propane canisters and fuel containers
They have been charged with arson by explosion, arson by possession of explosive devices, conspiracy and theft, among other charges
Daniel and Caleb Tate arrested for setting off bombs in
Twins brothers have been arrested for detonating several bombs around their hometown during their college break.
Daniel and Caleb Tate, 22, of Cochranville Township, were charged with arson by explosion, arson by possession of explosive devices, conspiracy and theft, among other charges.
Police say the brothers had fashioned explosives out of everyday items such as metal pipes, propane canisters and fuel containers.
Daniel (left) and Caleb (right) Tate, 22, of Cochranville Township, were charged with arson by explosion, arson by possession of explosive devices, conspiracy and theft, among other charges
They used the homemade improvised explosive devices to bomb five locations Chester and Lancaster counties, in Pennsylvania, the DA said.
Targets included a mailbox, a phone shed, a produce shed and a well-pump shed - some of which were almost completely destroyed. At least two of the buildings belonged to the Amish community, Philly.com reports.
The bombs were all detonated between December 20 and December 31 last year when Daniel, a student at Pepperdine University in California, and Caleb, a student at Belmont University in Tennessee, were home for the Christmas break.
The brothers were arrested for detonating several bombs around their hometown during their college break (pictured)
Targets included a mailbox, a phone shed, a produce shed and a well-pump shed - some of which were almost completely destroyed
Police say the brothers had fashioned explosive out of everyday items such as metal pipes, propane canisters and fuel containers
No one was injured in any of the blasts.
The 22-year-olds were also allegedly caught on camera shoplifting some of the materials to make the bombs from Walmart and other local stores. Other materials they bought with Daniel Tate's credit card, the DA said.
Both twins were also charged with retail theft.
'We live in a world where the thought of bombs exploding around us is a very real fear,' Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said in a statement.
'These defendants brought that fear to our region during a two-week crime spree where they detonated multiple IEDs.'
Investigators also discovered Daniel's fingerprints at the scene of one of the explosions.
Pennsylvania State Police and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are also investigating the matter.
The 22-year-olds were also allegedly caught on camera shoplifting some of the materials to make the bombs, police say
Both Daniel and Caleb (pictured as children) posted bail and were allowed to continue their studies
Both posted bail for $25,000 each. The twins were allowed to continue their studies at their respective colleges.
It is not yet clear whether the boys have entered pleas but police say that both brothers admitted manufacturing and detonating the bombs when interviewed.
They are due in court for a preliminary hearing on June 9.
Court records reveal that the brothers have been in trouble with the authorities before after they were charged with criminal mischief, loitering and prowling at night among other offences in 2014.
They eventually pleaded guilty to one count of disorderly conduct. The other charges were withdrawn.
The U.S. has slapped Chinese steelmakers with import duties of 522 percent on flat steel after finding that their products were being sold in the U.S. market below cost and with unfair subsidies.
The Commerce Department said the duties effectively will increase by more than five-fold the import prices on Chinese-made cold-rolled flat steel products, which totaled $272.3 million in 2015.
The ruling comes amid escalating U.S.-China trade tensions where both Western producers claim China has distorted world pricing by dumping its excess output steel abroad as demand at home slows.
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The Commerce Department said the duties effectively will increase by more than five-fold the import prices on Chinese-made cold-rolled flat steel products. Pictured is a steel mill in Wuhan, China
Cold-rolled steel is primarily used in automotive body panels, appliances, shipping containers and construction.
The original complaint was filed in July 2015 by major U.S. producers United States Steel, AK Steel Corp, ArcelorMittal USA, Nucor Corp and Steel Dynamics Inc.
U.S. steel producers say they have laid off some 12,000 U.S. workers in the past year.
Commerce also levied final anti-dumping duties against Japanese-made cold-rolled steel of 71.35 percent, upholding preliminary findings.
About $138.6 million of these products were imported from Japan last year.
Chinese companies affected by the duties include Baosteel Group, Angang Group Hong Kong Holdings Ltd, and Benxi Iron and Steel (Group) Special Steel Co Ltd. Among Japanese producers affected are Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp and JFE Steel Corp.
For Chinese cold-rolled steel imports, Commerce upheld its preliminary anti-dumping duties of 265.79 percent, but increased its preliminary anti-subsidy duties to 256.44 percent from 227.29 percent.
In a separate case, U.S. Steel is seeking to halt all imports from China's top steelmakers.
In a complaint to the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), the U.S. steelmaker called on regulators to investigate dozens of Chinese producers and their distributors for allegedly conspiring to fix prices, stealing trade secrets and circumventing trade duties by false labeling.
Bernie Sanders and his campaign are launching a full-scale assault on the Democratic Party leadership over its response to discord at Nevada's convention over the weekend.
Sanders put the national party on notice during a impassioned speech Tuesday evening in California where he implored Democrats to 'open the doors, let people in' to the party.
Democrats have the 'very sad and tragic option' of continuing down the path it is on and 'allowing a right-wing extremist Republican Party to capture the votes of a majority of working people in this country, he said.
The U.S. senator who shed his unaffiliated status to become a Democrat last year so he could challenge Hillary Clinton said he 'will be damned' if the voting base he's put so much personal energy into cultivating is gobbled up by Republicans.
This morning the insurgent candidate's campaign manager Jeff Weaver pointed the finger directly at Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and said 'its been pretty clear...almost from the get go that she's been working against Bernie Sanders...for personal reasons.'
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Bernie Sanders and his campaign are launching a full-scale assault on the Democratic Party leadership over its response to discord at Nevada's convention over the weekend
'We can have a long conversation about Debbie Wasserman Schultz just about how she's been throwing shade on the Sanders campaign from the very beginning,' he added.
Weaver told MSNBC does not know what Wasserman Schultz's motivation is for trying to keep Sanders from taking the reigns of the party, but he said 'there's no doubt about it' that she has it out for him.
And he declared that other high-ranking Democrats with whom he's in regular contact agree.
Wasserman Schultz later appeared on CNN and said her response 'to that is #smh.'
'We need to focus on one thing -- get through this primary and work to prepare for the general election,' she said and 'do everything we can to make sure Donald Trump never becomes president of the United States. '
Sanders' relationship with the DNC throughout the primary had been mostly cordial despite his attacks on the party officials who serve as superdelegates and a lawsuit his campaign brought against the national committee after it shut off his access to voter files following a breach of information retained by the Clinton campaign.
It's gotten progressively terse, however, and the senator has accused the national party of impropriety on multiple fronts over the last month from the way Wasserman Schultz selected delegates for the convention committees to the way it operates a joint fundraising committee with Clinton.
Then, after a raucous convention over the weekend in Nevada, his staffers and supporters were put on blast by the state part for sending 'death threats '' o the Democratic chair of that state.
The Nevada State Democratic Party's general counsel sent a letter to the DNC warning that the Sanders campaign has a 'penchant' for violence and it should beware as it prepares for the July nominating convention in Philadelphia.
Sanders' responded with complaints of his own. He alleged in a statement that his delegates were treated unfairly, which Wasserman Schultz said this morning on CNN 'seemingly justifying' their harassing behavior.
She derided the Sanders campaign on Tuesday and called the behavior of his supporters 'unacceptable.'
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada expressed dismay at the senator's unwillingness to apologize for the way things went down and the continuing threats of violence.
Instead of owning up to the misbehavior, Sanders hit back hard at Democratic leaders his speech Tuesday evening in Carson, California.
'Let me also say a word to the leadership of the Democratic Party,' he said, his audience booing the establishment system loudly. 'That is that the Democratic Party is going to have to make a very, very profound and important decision.'
Sanders said, 'It can do the right thing and open its doors and open into the party people who are prepared to fight for real economic and social change. That is the Democratic Party I want to see.'
This morning the insurgent candidate's campaign manager Jeff Weaver pointed the finger directly at Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and said 'its been pretty clear...almost from the get go that she's been working against Bernie Sanders...for personal reasons'
He called on Democrats to embrace the anti-wall Street crowd that is against corporate greed and fossil fuels.
'So I say to the leadership of the Democratic Party, open the doors let people in!'
Sanders said the 'other option for the Democratic Party, which I see as a very sad and tragic option, is to choose to maintain its status quo structure, remain dependent on big money campaign contributions, and be a party with limited participation and limited energy,' he said.
That would also mean it will remain a party 'which, incredibly, is allowing a right-wing extremist Republican Party to capture the votes of a majority of working people in this country.'
The pundits and politicians say, 'Bernie Sanders should drop out. The people of California should not have the right to determine who the next President of the United States should be,' he contended to loud boos.
'We are in until the last ballot is cast,' he declared. 'We are going to continue to fight for every last vote until June 14, and then we are going to take our fight into the convention.'
He doubled-down on his position this morning in a fundraising email. 'Let me be clear as I can be: we are in until the last ballot is cast.,' the message from the senator said.
'I come from the working class of this country, and I will be damned if we allow the Republican Party, who represent the rich and powerful, to win the votes of working class Americans.'
Wasserman Schultz said this morning on New Day that she had not spoken to Sanders while restating that it's not OK for him to 'ignore' the intimidation tactics and threats of violence that have been levied by supporters of his campaign.
'We have a process set up that is eminently fair,' she asserted.
Regardless, she said candidates have a responsibility to make sure the response from their supporters over frustrations with the system is civil.
'No one should be subjected to death threats,' she said.
Sanders surrogate Nina Turner, a former state senator from Ohio, said today on MSNBC that no one knows for sure those threats were even made by Sanders supporters, though they were 'absolutely wrong, totally unacceptable.'
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has egged Sanders on, encouraging him multiple times to run third party.
'Bernie Sanders is being treated very badly by the Democrats - the system is rigged against him. Many of his disenfranchised fans are for me!' he said in an early morning tweet.
The pundits and politicians say, 'Bernie Sanders should drop out. The people of California should not have the right to determine who the next President of the United States should be,' he contended to loud boos. 'We are in until the last ballot is cast'
As Sanders on Tuesday pointed out, Trump stands to inherit disaffected voters from him in the general who can't bring themselves to vote for Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton.
For that reason, Clinton's national press secretary, Brian Fallon, sought to downplay the boiling over of tensions during an appearance on MSNBC this morning immediately following Weaver's.
Fallon said the messages left on Nevada State Democratic Party chair Roberta Lange's voicemail were 'very troubling.'
'But I think you saw Senator Sanders condemn that, and that's the most important thing,' Fallon said.
Weaver had said moment before he has '100 percent' confidence that the party will come together after the primary and that Sanders will work seven days a week to keep Donald Trump from winning the presidency, even if he is not the Democratic nominee.
'We take him at his word.' Fallon told MSNBC's Steve Kornacki.
The Clinton aide compared the current turmoil in the party to 2008, when Clinton was in Sanders' position and said, 'I really strongly suspect that at the end of this process, after D.C. primary, both sides are gonna come together.
A father-of-six who first moved to the UK when he was six months old has been told he could face deportation because the Home Office cannot find any evidence of his arrival into the country.
Darren Harrety, 34, from Nelson in Lancashire, has bought a house, got married and even voted in the UK but is now banned from employment and could be deported.
He said: 'In my eyes I have been living in England all my life and I am British. It is terrifying to think people could just come through the door and tell me I have to leave the country.
'We are scared and don't know what to do. It feels like no one will help me.'
Darren Harrety, father to Joshua, seven, Corbin, two, Nevaeh, one, and Branden, eight, with nursery wife Kathryn Harrety, 28, could face deportation as the Home Office have no evidence of his arrival into the UK
Mr Harrety has been told he cannot work or apply to be a British citizen because there is no proof of when he arrived from the former British colony of Belize
Since moving to the UK, Mr Harrety has purchased a house, married (pictured) and has six children
Mr Harrety was born in Belize in March 1982, six months after Belize [a former British colony] had become an independent country.
As a six-month-old baby he moved to Britain with his mother, Angelica, and siblings on her Belize passport [which had replaced her British one post-independence]. It was stamped with indefinite leave to stay in the UK.
They came to the UK with the help of the SSAFA military charity after her husband, former British soldier Roy Kyte-Powell, was shot dead in Belize.
His mother remarried Darren's stepfather Ray Harrety - with Darren, his brother and sister changing their surname to reflect his - and the family settled in Hartlepool, in the north east.
Since then, Mr Harrety went to school in the country, has a National Insurance number, has purchased a house, married and has six children.
But his mother's passport was 'lost while moving house' and Mr Harrety has never had his own passport or driving licence.
He has used his birth certificate as identification to vote, get married and hold bank accounts.
Mr Harrety, who wants a British passport, was told his applications had failed because he did not have enough proof he was a British citizen despite his birth certificate being stamped by the British Embassy.
He has now been told he cannot work in the UK and faces deportation.
Mr Harrety has used his birth certificate as identification to vote, get married and hold bank accounts
Mr Harrety, from Lancashire, said: 'I want my life back. I have skills and I want to be able to put them to use'
His mother remarried Darren's stepfather Ray Harrety (pictured left) following the death of his mother's husband, former British soldier Roy Kyte-Powell, was shot dead in Belize
The father to Nevaeh, one, Corbin, two, Joshua, seven, and Branden, eight, with nursery wife Kathryn Harrety, 28, wants to work as a handyman or painter.
He said: 'I have a national insurance number and the ability to vote in this country, I have worked, bought a house, been legally married, had bank accounts and NHS treatment.
'But apparently I cannot work because I need my papers - which have been lost - and all because I was born six months after Belize became independent.
'If my mum had been told she needed to get my paperwork sorted, she would have done it when I was a baby.
'The Home Office say they can't find any details of my arrival in this country.
'We have been trying to get this sorted for years but it costs, and how can I pay when I can't work?'
He added: 'I have been working all my life and I just want to be able to provide for my family, as I was doing before all this happened.
'I want my life back. I have skills and I want to be able to put them to use.'
Mr Harrety has even voted in elections, as well as buying a house - but could still be booted out the country
Mr Harrety, who also has two children from previous relationships, 10-year-old Ebony Robinson and Daniel Berry, 15, has now launched a crowd-funding appeal.
A Home Office spokesman said: 'Mr Harrety was born in Belize, after independence was granted, to parents who were both Belize citizens. He has no automatic right to British citizenship.
Busted: 52-year-old David Sevier (pictured) was arrested Monday
A Waffle House waitress trying to return a lost cellphone to its rightful owner helped deputies in Alabama arrest a man accused of possessing child pornography.
Mobile County Sheriff's investigator Mark Bailey tells local media that 52-year-old David Sevier was arrested Monday.
Sevier had been eating at the Waffle House in Grand Bay on February 4 and accidentally left his cellphone.
Police say the waitress went through the phone to recover the identity of the owner and found nude photos of a girl who appeared to be underage.
Bailey says the Sheriff's Office began an investigation and found about two dozen nude photos of the same 14-year-old girl.
Bailey told WPMI: 'According to the waitress, the suspect, who is a normal customer, a repeat customer there, had walked out after eating and left the cell phone on the table.
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Sevier had been eating at the Waffle House in Grand Bay and left his cellphone. Police say the waitress went through the phone to recover the identity of the owner and found nude photos of an underage girl
'When she was going through the phone she observed several pornographic pictures that were disturbing to her.'
He also revealed: 'They had a text relationship between the two and at which time she would send him pornographic pictures of herself.
'In several texts he would ask for photographs from her.'
Sevier had 'thousands' of texts with the victim, according to Fox 10.
A former Tory aide and her three-year-old daughter died after their family car swerved off a motorway and crashed into a tree.
Becky Hickmore, 37, died at the scene of the crash on the M4 near Reading, Berkshire, on May 7 and although her youngest daughter Milly was rushed to hospital she died two days later.
Her husband, John Taylor, and their eldest daughter Abby, five, were also in the silver Ford Focus C-Max when it crashed.
Former Tory aide Becky Hickmore, 37, (pictured with her husband John Taylor) and her three-year-old daughter Milly (right, with Ms Hickmore) died after their family car swerved off a motorway and crashed into a tree
Mr Taylor and his daughters from Hampton in south-west London, were taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, where Milly died. Abby and her father have been discharged and are understood to be staying with family members.
Ms Hickmore worked as personal assistant to the Conservative Party Treasurer at Central Office until 2004, when she became a PA for the music director of the English National Opera.
MP for Kensington, Victoria Borwick, who was Ms Hickmore's boss as the Director of the Treasurers Department paid tribute to the mother-of-two.
'Becky was a truly special person, much loved by all the team, nothing was too much trouble,' she said.
Ms Hickmore worked as personal assistant to the Conservative Party Treasurer at Central Office until 2004, when she became a PA for the music director of the English National Opera
'She worked energetically for the Party not only managing the Treasurers Department but also working for Lord Taylor when he was Chairman of the Voluntary Party, and Lesley Taylor who runs Conservatives Abroad.
'She was always volunteering and was someone you could rely on and trust implicitly. She will be greatly missed by her family and we all send our very best wishes at this sad time.'
A colleague from the ENO told the Evening Standard that Ms Hickmore had been a popular member of staff.
'She was passionate about opera and helped steer the organisation through a very difficult time,' she said. 'I remember her as a brilliant, intelligent, lovely girl.
'I know being a mother was incredibly important to her and she was brilliant at it.
'For both her and her daughter to die is almost too difficult to comprehend. I feel heartbroken for her other daughter, husband and the rest of her family.'
Exeter University graduate Ms Hickmore later left to set up a 'virtual' office assistant business and had also helped to run Conservatives Abroad, which represents Tory supporters around the globe.
In a statement posted on the group's Facebook page, Conservatives Abroad director Lesley Taylor paid tribute to Ms Hickmore, who had joined the group in 2001, working under Lord Taylor's chairmanship.
Ms Taylor said: 'She was instrumental in maintaining links with the Branches in Europe and Conservative Central Office, at a vital time in the history of the organisation. Becky's creativity, dedication, understanding and hard work ensured that Conservatives Abroad was given a new lease of life and gave a platform from which I was able to build when I took over the reins in 2004.
'Becky's dual role combining her work in Conservatives Abroad with that of Personal Assistant to the Chairman of the Treasurer's Department did not prevent her from producing the Conservatives Abroad Newsletter which was eagerly awaited by the Chairmen of the individual branches who assured circulation to our overseas members.
Exeter University graduate Ms Hickmore had also helped to run Conservatives Abroad, which represents Tory supporters around the globe. The group has paid tribute to her in a Facebook message
'As the International Branch Director of Conservatives Abroad (2004 - 2014) who worked with Becky during her period at Conservative Central Office I would like to extend condolences to Becky's husband John, her daughter Abby, their family and friends for the loss of such a vibrant young lady.
'From the Chairmen and Members who were fortunate to come into contact with Becky. May she and Milly rest in Peace.'
Ms Hickmore and her family are thought to have been travelling home after visiting relatives when they were involved in the crash between junction 11 at Reading, and 10 at Bracknell.
Police said their car left the carriageway and hit a tree. Emergency services rushed to the scene and fellow motorists stopped to help, but Ms Hickmore was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.
Thames Valley Police is still investigating the crash and has appealed for witnesses to come forward.
Det Sgt Ashley Hannibal from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit said: 'We are appealing for any witnesses who have not yet been spoken to by police to get in touch please.
Tragic: Art student Hannah Armstrong (pictured), who dreamed of a career in Hollywood, hanged herself after struggling with depression, an inquest heard
An art student who dreamed of a career in Hollywood hanged herself after a battle with depression, an inquest heard.
Two days after celebrating her 20th birthday Hannah Armstrong moved to a seaside university where she hoped to make a 'fresh start'.
She had been sexually assaulted in 2013 and reported it to police but feared bumping into her attacker in her home town of Ballymena in Northern Ireland.
Two weeks into her new life she confided in a friend that she feared the man she accused of assaulting her would escape justice and wanted to hurt herself.
The concerned friend immediately called the police but when officers knocked on Hannah's halls of residence door it was too late.
The 20--year-old had relocated to The Arts University in Bournemouth, Dorset, where she started the course after being one of only four people in Northern Ireland to achieve A* results in Art and Design and Media.
Coroner Sheriff Payne, conducting the inquest at Bournemouth Coroner's Court, heard that she had battled mental illness.
In a statement read at the inquest, Hannah's mother, Dr Hilary Armstrong, a GP who runs a cosmetic skin clinic, said her daughter was diagnosed with ADHD and a mental illness in 2011 after her grades slipped and 'she had lost her sparkle'.
Prescribed medication improved her outlook on life, she said.
Dr Armstrong added: 'Hannah was the eldest of four children. She was bright, happy and highly intelligent.
'She had a passion for drawing and nature, and was an exceptionally gifted artist. She spent all of her free time out of school drawing and sculpting.
'In the summer of 2014 her appearance changed. She had her hair cut short, and her make up was dramatic.
'She appeared angry most of the time and avoided spending time with the family.'
Dr Armstrong said her daughter later revealed to her that she had been sexually assaulted in 2013 while camping with friends.
'She said it made her feel violated and she admitted she had thoughts about hanging herself,' Dr Armstrong added.
'Hannah had not divulged this to anyone. On New Year's Day 2015 she told the police.
'She heard that the perpetrator had committed assaults on other girls and she was determined to have him stopped.
'She began to detest her local town because of the fear of bumping into him, and said she couldn't stand the small mindedness of the local people.
Hannah told me she was destined to work in Hollywood, creating models and creatures for the big screen Hannah's mother, Dr Hilary Armstrong
'Hannah told me she was destined to work in Hollywood, creating models and creatures for the big screen.
'She later found a course in Bournemouth and went to visit the university with her boyfriend. Hannah said she was awestruck by the beauty of Bournemouth and said it was the right place to be.'
The coroner heard that Hannah's family were anxious about their daughter being far from home, but thought that stopping her from following her dreams could lead to her taking her life in Northern Ireland.
Hannah was admitted to hospital on two occasions and engaged with the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in Ireland.
However, Hannah's mother criticised the service for not offering her 'life coping skills' following the assault, claiming that they had 'more than enough time to organise this.'
On the day she died on September 27, 2015, Hannah called her mother and was 'tearful and very low'.
'She said she did not feel mentally strong enough to continue her course,' Dr Armstrong said.
'Hannah missed home and feared being attacked again. She was also fearful that he [the perpetrator] would not be convicted due to lack of evidence.'
The 20--year-old had relocated to The Arts University in Bournemouth, Dorset, where she started the course after being one of only four people in Northern Ireland to achieve A* results in Art and Design and Media
Dr Armstrong added: 'Her mental illness was triggered by the assault which the local mental health service [in Ireland] did not take seriously.'
The coroner heard that Hannah was described by a mental health nurse in Ireland, Christine Bateson, as 'positive about the plans to start university, but with ongoing feelings of agitation that continued to ruminate on the previous assault.'
In addition, she was said to have had 'chronic thoughts of life not being worth living.'
Recording a verdict of suicide on Tuesday, Mr Payne said: 'This is a very sad story of a young 20-year-old woman who suffered from depression in recent years.
'Her main aim in life was to pursue a career as a model maker for the film industry. Having explored options at different universities, she settled at Bournemouth.
'To all intents and purposes this was ideal and she greatly looked forward to it. Her mother was concerned that if they interfered with her plans she might attempt suicide again in Northern Ireland.
Hannah sticks out in many of the cherished memories I have of teaching at BA and the goofy, energetic, giggly girl who was forever doodling on her books will continue to do so Hannah's former teacher
'During the course of September 27 she was deeply depressed and she had a long conversation with her mother around lunch time. She was in communication with her boyfriend and a female friend throughout the course of the day.
'They became concerned and called the police, but the police sadly found her.
'It is with great sadness that I have to record a verdict that she took her own life, that she committed suicide, on a background of depression and previous suicide attempts in the time recent to her death.
'I extend my sympathies and condolences to the family.'
Following Hannah's death, tributes poured in on social media from friends and relatives, including the student's former teacher at Ballymena Academy.
Christopher Heaney wrote: 'It is with shock and sadness that I write to express my deepest condolences to Hannah Armstrong's family, friends and the Ballymena Academy community.
'Hannah sticks out in many of the cherished memories I have of teaching at BA and the goofy, energetic, giggly girl who was forever doodling on her books will continue to do so.'
One of Hannah's university friends, Lizzie Oliver, posted: 'We went to the beach today, and we took some flowers and let them go into the sea.
'I can't believe you're gone so early. Your smile was infectious, and I'll miss it everyday.
'Thank you for our time together, thank you for helping me, and just being amazing. Our flat won't be the same without you Hannah, our adopted flat mate, and my good friend.
'I can't believe you won't walk through the door again. I love you.'
People who want to put Donald Trump in the White House and elect Republicans down the ballot can now write a check for $449,400 under a new joint agreement announced by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee.
It's the biggest solicitation amount of its kind under the current system.
Trump and the Republican Party created two separate entities. One of them, Trump Victory, is a joint committee representing Trump, the GOP, and 11 state parties.
The other, called 'The Trump Make America Great Again Committee,' is a joint fundraising committee between Trump's campaign and the RNC.
'We are pleased to have this partnership in place with the national party. By working together with the RNC to raise support for Republicans everywhere, we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, keep Republican majorities in Congress and in the states, and Make America Great Again,' Trump said in a statement.
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Big checks: Donors can now contribute $449,400 to the joint fundraising committee
RNC chairman Reince Preibus said the party would use the funds to 'expand the robust ground, data, and digital operation we have in place to elect Republicans up and down the ballot.'
'Donald Trump knows the importance of keeping our Republican majorities at the local, state, and national level, and these joint fundraising agreements are another vital step in making that happen,' Priebus continued. 'Donald Trump has received millions more votes than any candidate in the history of the Republican Party and we are confident that will carry forward into the general election.'
Hillary Clinton's joint fundraising committee with the Democratic Party allows big donors to cut checks for $356,100. Trump's solicitation is the largest ever sought by a joint committee, according to The Washington Post. Clinton's joint committee has already raised $60 million.
Trump used his fundraising to distinguish himself from other primary opponents. 'I'm using my own money. I'm not using the lobbyists. I'm not using donors. I don't care,' he said in June. 'I'm really rich.'
He loaned his campaign $38 million through the end of March, although he is allowed to pay himself back.
'Up and down the ballot': RNC chairman Reince Priebus announced the new fundraising plan with Trump
Donors can contribute up to $356,100 all at once to Clinton's joint committee with the Democratic Party
Trump reflected on his fundraising strategy on MSNBC this month: ''Do I want to sell a couple of buildings and self-fund? I don't know that I want to do that necessarily, but I really won't be asking for money for myself; I'll be asking money for the party,' he said.
In fact under the agreement, some funds will go to Trump's campaign.
The agreement allows Trump to hit up some of the mega-donors that participate in a political system Trump has ripped as 'rigged.'
The normal contribution to Trump's election campaign is capped at $2,700 per person.
It should allow Trump to quickly plow funds into his and the RNC's coffers, although are there limitations on how the money can be spent.
Democrat Hillary Clinton already raised $213 million for her campaign through the end of the year.
The state parties participating in the joint victory committee are Arkansas, Connecticut, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The new Trump Victory committee will be headed by RNC Finance chair Lew Eisenberg. He will work closely with Trump's new campaign finance chair Steven Mnuchin, who cut his teeth on Wall Street at the Goldman Sachs investment firm.
This is the unbelievable moment a 12ft long shark was spotted patrolling a coastline while swimming just 10ft off a popular British beach.
Beachgoers were left stunned when the dorsal fin of the whopping fish broke the surface of the water at West Bexington, Dorset.
A small crowd gathered to watch as the shark swam up and down the shingle shoreline for more than a minute.
Jaws? Beachgoers were left stunned when the dorsal fin of the whopping fish broke the surface of the water
But the enormous fish turned out to be a young - and harmless - basking shark thought to have to come close in to the shore to feed on plankton.
The rare sighting of the basking shark, Britain's biggest fish, was caught on camera by Dickon Smith, a diving instructor from Bournemouth, Dorset.
Mr Smith had only just returned from seven years in Egypt running shark diving tours when he spotted the shark while fishing for mackerel.
He now plans to report the sighting to the Shark Trust, the UK's only shark conservation charity.
The 43-year-old said: 'I was down at the beach at West Bexington to do a spot of mackerel fishing, and had only been there a matter of minutes when I spotted a dorsal fin break the water.
Get out the water! The 12ft long shark was spotted by people swimming just 10ft off a popular British beach
'I spent the last seven years running shark diving tours in Egypt so I knew straight away it was a young basking shark. It was about 12ft long and was no more than 10ft from the beach.
'They are common off the south coast but it is unusual to see one so close in to the shore. Juveniles tend to be bolder than adults and this one had probably followed a plankton bloom.
'There were a dozen or so people on the beach and some people were following the shark as it swam up and down. There was huge excitement but most were fishermen so they knew it was a basking shark too.
'After about a minute it swam off.
It's safe: The enormous fish turned out to be a harmless basking shark thought to have to come close in to the shore to feed on plankton
'I have only just moved back home, so to see a shark this close was the last thing I was expecting. It's a wonderful reminder of the wildlife living just off our shores.'
Basking sharks - Cetorhinus maximus in Latin - used to be fished for their meat, fins and liver oil until the species became protected in 1998.
They are Britain's biggest fish, capable of growing as long as 40ft, and the second biggest fish in the world after the whale shark.
Appleton, Wisconsin, is the drunkest city in the United States, with more than one in four drinking to excess, a report has found.
'Appleton is home to the largest share of binge and heavy drinkers in both Wisconsin and the country,' the report by 24/7 Wall St found.
It found that 26.8 per cent of adults there drink to excess - and that 30.3 per cent of driving deaths involve alcohol.
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Appleton, Wisconsin, (pictured) is the drunkest city in the United States with more than one in four drinking to excess and one in three driving deaths involving alcohol
'Also, for every 10,000 area residents, there are 4.4 drinking establishments, the ninth highest concentration of bars of any U.S. area,' the website said.
The Oshkosh-Neenah metro area, also in Wisconsin, was considered the second-drunkest by the report.
It stated that 26.0 per cent of adults there drink to excess - and that 44.6 per cent of driving deaths involve alcohol.
Green Bay, Wisconsin, was declared the third-drunkest - where 25.6 per cent of adults drink excessively and 47.5 per cent of driving deaths involve alcohol.
For every 10,000 area residents, there are 4.4 drinking establishments, the ninth highest concentration of bars of any U.S. area, the report found
Madison, Wisconsin, was named the fourth-drunkest by 24/7 Wall St., which said 25.5 per cent of adults there drink excessively and 38.7 per cent of driving deaths involve alcohol.
24/7 Wall St. said: 'To identify the drunkest and least drunk cities in the United States, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed self-reported binge and heavy drinking rates among adults in U.S. metro areas from County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute joint program.'
It also looked at the driest cities in the the United States.
The Provo-Orem metro area in Utah ranked number one on that list - with just 9.2 per cent of adults drinking excessively and 14.9 per cent of driving deaths that were alcohol-related.
Areas in Utah made took three more slots in the top five, St George at two, Logan at four and Ogden-Clearfield at five, with Beckley, WV, in third place.
The DRUNKEST cities in the US
1. Appleton, WI 2. Oshkosh-Neenah, WI 3. Green Bay, WI 4. Madison, WI 5. Fargo, ND-MN 6. La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN 7. Fond du Lac, WI 8. Ames, IA 9. Eau Claire, WI 10. Mankato-North Mankato, MN 11. Wausau, WI 12. Sheboygan, WI 13. Missoula, MT 14. Grand Forks, ND-MN 15. Racine, WI 16. Janesville-Beloit, WI 17. Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI 18. Lincoln, NE 19. Iowa City, IA 20. Corvallis, OR Source: 24/7 Wall St.
The DRIEST cities in the US
1. Provo-Orem, UT 2. St. George, UT 3. Beckley, WV 4. Logan, UT-ID 5. Ogden-Clearfield, UT 6. Parkersburg, Vienna, WV 7. Morristown, TN 8. Jackson, TN 9. Johnson City, TN 10. Charleston, WV 11. Owensboro, KY 12. Memphis, TN-MS-AR 13. Cleveland, TN 14. Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH 15. Knoxville, TN 16. Rocky Mount, NC 17. Farmington, NM 18. Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol, TN-VA 19. Gadsden, AL 20. Anniston-Oxford-Jacksonville, AL Source: 24/7 Wall St.
An 11-year-old boy was stabbed to death in a daylight attack in Houston Tuesday afternoon.
The child, identified by police as Josue Flores, was walking home from school near the 1900 block of Fulton Street when he was approached by his attacker.
Witnesses said they heard loud screaming and saw the child struggling with a man on the sidewalk around 4:45pm, according to the Houston Police Department.
Josue Flores, 11, was stabbed to death as he walked home from school Tuesday afternoon. His killer is still on the loose
The child's sister said he was carrying no valuables in his backpack, pictured lying in the grass after the attack. Picture courtesy of KTRK
Witnesses said the saw Josue Flores struggle with a man on the sidewalk and heard screaming
The young victim was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after the attack
Che Calhoun, 31, is charged with the murder of Josue Flores. He had not been arrested
The boy then collapsed on a nearby patch of grass with multiple stab wounds, police said. He was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after the attack, which police called 'unprovoked.'
Witnesses said they saw a man fleeing the scene on foot, going north on Fulton Street.
Che Lajuan Calhoun, 31, was identified as a suspect in the killing.
He was charged with murder Wednesday morning and is still on the loose, police told Daily Mail Online.
Anyone with information on Calhoun is asked to call the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600.
The child's sister, Sofia Flores, said he wore a backpack but carried no valuables at the time of the attack.
She lashed out at her brother's killer in an interview with KHOU Tuesday evening:
'I want him to go to jail for what he did, I want him to go to hell, 'cause he did this to my brother, and now I 'm never going to see him again,' she said.
'But I know he's going to be my guardian angel.'
Five alleged people smugglers were in custody in France today accused of using at least 20 hired yachts to smuggle migrants to Britain.
They were charging foreigners on European tourist visas up to 5,500 a head for an illegal passage to the UK.
Specialist French police who made the arrests on Friday said it was yet another example of the way smugglers are increasingly using boats to reach the coast of England.
Five alleged people smugglers were in custody in France today accused of using at least 20 hired yachts to smuggle migrants to Britain (file picture)
Their yacht had been monitored as it passed through Italian, Spanish and British waters, before it ended up in Saint-Quay-Portrieux (pictured) in Brittany, where the arrests took place
A spokesman for Ocriest, the central office for the repression of illegal immigration, said a well-organised gang had been under surveillance since September 2014.
Officers finally swooped on two skippers and three suspected smugglers, along with seven Ukrainians who had been looking forward to new lives in the UK.
Julien Gentile, the head of Ocriest, told French news agency AFP that at least 20 boats had been rented over the past two years.
Evidence led to the five men being charged with aiding 'direct or indirect unauthorised entry or illegal residence of foreigners in France by an organised gang' and 'participation in a criminal association,' said Mr Gentile.
Their yacht had been monitored as it passed through Italian, Spanish and British waters, before it ended up in Saint-Quay-Portrieux in Brittany, where the arrests took place.
All of the Ukrainians hiding on board were expelled from France, without further charge.
Security clampdowns around the Channel Tunnel and at ports such as Calais have made it increasingly difficult for stowaways to get aboard trains and lorries.
A people smuggler on the beach at Deal in Kent, which was last year identified as a drop-off point after the arrest of a French fisherman turned people smuggler who used a low-lying boat so as to avoid radar detection
Accordingly, those with cash savings are paying to be smuggled across by speedboats, fishing vessels and yachts.
These tend to be economic migrants from places like Albania, Vietnam and Ukraine.
Kingsdown beach, near Deal in Kent, was last year identified as a drop-off point after the arrest of a French fisherman turned people smuggler who used a low-lying boat so as to avoid radar detection.
David Turpin, from Dunkirk, has since been convicted of people smuggling, and spent four months in prison before being released in February.
In December, 13 Breton fishermen were sentenced to up to five years in prison for smuggling 130 Albanians into Cornwall, Devon and Dorset.
They ferried more than 130 Albanians to England, landing them on remote beaches along the coast over three years.
Their trial in Rennes, in Brittany, heard how the fishermen from Paimpol, 'preyed on human misery and desperation'.
French prosecutor Anne Fourmel said the trial was an example of the 'exploitation of human misery as desperate people are prepared to pay colossal sums of money to leave their country to find their Eldorado in Great Britain.'
Mrs Fournel called for Edmond Rapi, the Albanian mastermind behind the human trafficking ring who was tried in absentia, to serve seven years in prison and pays a 110,000 fine.
The family of a well-known Dallas lawyer who was found dead in his burning garage on Friday fear that he may have been attacked and killed.
Ira Tobolowsky, 68, was discovered after firefighters extinguished the blaze at his $800,000 home in the north Dallas area.
The county coroner's office has not determined the cause of death for the married father-of-three who practiced law for nearly a half a century.
In addition, authorities have not yet determined who or what caused the fire at his home.
Tragic: The family of Ira Tobolowsky (pictured), a prominent Dallas lawyer who was found dead in his burning garage Friday, fear that he was attacked and killed and his death was no accident
Mysterious: The attorney was discovered after firefighters extinguished the blaze at his $800,000 home in the north Dallas area (pictured). The county coroner's office has not determined his cause of death
The lawyer's brother-in-law, Stuart Prescott (pictured), said the family believes his death was related to a defamation case he was involved with
Dallas Fire-Rescue said in a statement that 'investigators do believe both causes to be suspicious in nature,' according to NBC News.
The lawyer's family said that they believe his death was related to a defamation case he was involved with.
'In general, we might have known there was a big case going on, but I didn't know much of the details,' brother-in-law Stuart Prescott told NBC Dallas.
'He was brave, and he would not be the guy to be afraid of anything. And I certainly can't imagine that he imagined that this was possible.'
There are claims one of his former clients with an axe to grind may be behind the attack.
Gasoline was reportedly found inside the garage and that the case has been handed over to arson investigators.
Tobolowsky's law partner, Faith Burk, told the station he had recently been involved in very contentious litigation.
Tobolowsky was reportedly suing two Austin men for defamation at the time of his death, and he had represented the mother of one of the men he was suing in a family feud case.
Dallas judge Eric V Moye (left) has been told to be on high alert after Tobolowsky(right) was killed in a house fire that police are investigating
As payback for successfully representing her in court, the man allegedly went after Tobolowsky's reputation.
The day of his death, Tobolowsky, who was a pillar of the local Jewish community, was thought to be heading to his practice on West Lovers Lane in Dallas.
Tobolowsky came from a prestigious Dallas family that has long been active in the Jewish community and the legal profession. He is also related to Groundhog Day actor Stephen Tobolowsky
Meanwhile, Judge Hon. Eric V Moye from the 14th Judicial District and his staff have been warned to be cautious and have been advised to arm themselves after Tobolowsky's mysterious death.
As a result of the investigators, the Dallas County Sheriff's Office has provided additional deputies to patrol Moye's residence.
They have also alerted the bailiffs in his court and staff in his office of an increased threat.
Daily Mail Online has contacted his re-election campaign team for comment. They are yet to respond.
The link between Moye and Tobolowsky is not known.
Prescott shared that his brother-in-law was a devoted father to his now adult sons, adding that his oldest son is getting married in two weeks.
Tobolowsky, who was buried on Sunday, was related to state District Judge Emily Tobolowsky and actor Stephen Tobolowsky, who is best known from the hit movie Groundhog Day.
The civil lawyer graduated from law school at Southern Methodist University and had practiced law for more than 40 years.
A 23-year-old Chinese national is being urged to hand himself to police following the fatal bashing of a 19-year-old student last month.
Police believe, Hanjie Liu, will be able to assist police investigations over the death of Longxiang 'Jeremy' Hu, a Yarra Valley Grammar student who was fatally bashed in La Trobe Place, Melbourne's Chinatown, on Friday April 15 at about 10.30pm.
Mr Hu spent a week on life support before dying from multiple injuries after a sustained beating, reported The Age.
Police have released images of Hanjie Liu have been released in the hope someone may recognise him or have information on his current whereabouts
Longxiang 'Jeremy' Hu, a Yarra Valley Grammar student was fatally bashed on Friday April 15 at about 10.30pm
At the time of the incident, police asked for the 19-year-old's death to stay quiet in a bid to find and reprimand the culprits before they could escape the country.
Investigations led to the arrest of Shenliang Wan, 22, who was charged with one count of murder on April 27.
The 22-year-old faced Melbourne Magistrates' Court last week and is expected to reappear on August 17.
Police believe there were three people involved in the bashing - including Wan and Liu - and fear Liu may have already fled overseas.
Police fear Hanjie Liu, a 23-year-old Chinese national, may have fled overseas
After a week on life support, Longxiang 'Jeremy' Hu, died from a number of injuries sustained in La Trobe Place in Melbourne's Chinatown
Yarra Valley Grammar principal Mark Merry said Mr Hu's parents were planning to settle in Australia once their son began to attend university.
'They are a very close family, he has lovely parents, so it was an awful situation,' Dr Merry said.
'We were communicating with them through a translator and tried to put as much support in place as possible, but there's only so much you can do.
'There was one message that came through repeatedly though from his father: 'justice must be done. I want these people to be caught'.'
Mr Hu's parents joined staff and students at Yarra Valley Grammar to plant a tree in their son's honour
This week Mr Hu's parents joined staff and students at Yarra Valley Grammar to plant a tree near a water feature in his honour.
'The tree will be a simple reminder of Jeremy and a way we can honour his memory in the school,' a statement on the school's Facebook page stated.
'The family will soon be returning to China but have been very appreciative of the support given to them by the Yarra community.'
Mr Hu's death occurred on the same weekend Patrick Cronin, 19, was reportedly coward punched while out with friends.
Mr Cronin, who had been out celebrating his first senior game for Lower Plenty Bears when he was caught in the middle of a fight, died in hospital two days after the attack.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
The four remaining prisoners jailed in Beirut over the botched 60 Minutes child abduction case have been refused bail.
Former solider Adam Whittington, who is accused of orchestrating the kidnapping on behalf of Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner, has spent more than five weeks behind bars with associate Craig Michael and two Lebanese men hired to help, Mohammed Hamza and Khaled Barbour.
Judge Rami Abdullah rejected the bail application after the father of the snatched children, Ali Elamine, refused to drop charges against the men, The Daily Telegraph reported.
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Former Australian soldier Adam Whittington was jailed for his involvement in the botched 60 Minutes child abduction attempt
Mr Whittington, an Australian soldier from 1994 to 1998, was jailed for his role in the Sally Faulkner kidnapping case. Mr Whittington's father is pictured
'The judge's decision isn't fair at all, I'm very upset. The ones who ordered, prepared, and conducted (the kidnapping) are out and the poor are still inside, I call this injustice,' Mr Hamza's lawyer Sahar Mohsen said.
All four men were recently moved from Baabda to Ebbe prison in Lebanon's north, a move that was considered a bad sign for their bail prospects.
They have spent more than five weeks behind bars.
'My clients didn't want to be moved (they wanted) to stay closer to us. But in the end the government can't keep them in such awful conditions,' Mr Whittington's lawyer Joe Karam told News Corp.
'We are going to appeal. The appeal court will make the right decision.'
Mr Whittingon, an Australian soldier from 1994 to 1998, was jailed for his role in the Sally Faulkner kidnapping case.
Working for Child Abduction Recovery International, he travelled to Lebanon alongside a team from Channel 9 in an attempt to recover Ms Faulkner's two children from her partner, Ali Elamine.
The crew were arrested soon after snatching Ms Faulkner's children, although Mr Elamine dropped kidnapping charges against the Channel 9 team after reportedly receiving a significant payout.
A letter from Mr Whittington posted to Facebook said: 'I honestly don't know what is more disgusting, the inhumane conditions in the dungeon I have been in for 40 days, with no sunlight and rats running around me at night, or hearing all the statements Channel 9 have made to the media.
Mr Whittington was left out of a Nine deal to release the program's crew last month
Former solider Adam Whittington, who is accused of orchestrating the kidnapping on behalf of Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner, has spent more than 40 days behind bars with associate Craig Michael (pictured) and two Lebanese men hired to help, Mohammed Hamza and Khaled Barbour
Former solider Adam Whittington, who is accused of orchestrating the kidnapping on behalf of Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner, has spent more than five weeks behind bars
Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner (pictured) and her estranged husband Ali Elamine reached an agreement which gave him full custody in return for her release
A Facebook page in support of Mr Whittington currently has over 3,500 followers.
A post on the page organising the rally said: 'So it seems Darren Wick [Nine's director of news] and Ch9 are not taking us seriously at all so it's time to ramp it up.
'We have over 3000 people in this group and although some are not in Sydney most are and now I NEED YOUR HELP.
It continued: 'Tuesday Morning I want to converge on Channel 9 studios at Willoughby in Sydney. I need as many people as I can get so Mr Wick knows we are not mucking around.
'Signs need to be made, chants need to be created and everyone needs to get on board with this.'
Mr Whittington's next bail hearing is on Wednesday 18 May at the Palace of Justice in Beirut, Lebanon.
Mr Whittington's mother Georgina has previously said that Channel 9 betrayed her son, reported The Daily Telegraph.
She said: 'How could you just leave someone behind?'
'If this had have gone the way 60 Minutes wanted it to go my son would be labelled a hero, but because it didn't they can all go back home to their families and Adam is the one who cops the penalty.'
A Facebook page in support of Mr Whittington currently has over 3,500 followers
Judge Rami Abdullah rejected the bail application after the father of the snatched children, Ali Elamine (pictured with his children), refused to drop charges against the men
This post on the Support Adam Whittington Facebook page called for supports to rally outside Channel 9's in protest
Mr Whittington's mother Georgina said her son would have been a hero if the child recovery came off, but he has instead been left to languish in prison
Maiden said she 'accepted the verdict' outside court and apologised
A News Corp Australia journalist who pleaded guilty to drink-driving offences has avoided jail time, and was instead ordered to pay a $1000 fine.
Samantha Maiden, national political editor for the Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Herald Sun, appeared in Goulburn Local Court on Wednesday afternoon in south-east New South Wales.
The court was told the journalist was driving from a function near Mt Wayo to a hotel in Goulbourn when she was pulled over about 3am on March 20, the ABC reports.
News Corp Australia journalist Samantha Maiden, who pleaded guilty to drink-driving offences earlier this year, has avoided jail time and was instead ordered to pay a $1000 fine
Magistrate Carolyn Huntsman ruled Maiden would be disqualified from driving for seven months in addition to the fine.
Magistrate Huntsman said the punishment was not more severe because Maiden 'established good character', and that she seemed to be genuinely remorseful over the incident, according to the ABC.
'I'd like to apologise to my family, my friends, my colleagues and my employer for the embarrassment this has caused them,' the journalist said outside court.
'I accept the verdict of the court and that I should be punished, and I have been.'
Samantha Maiden, national political editor for the Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Herald Sun, appeared in Goulburn Local Court on Wednesday afternoon in south-east New South Wales
It comes after Maiden was earlier warned she could have faced a jail sentence over the incident.
'It was an appalling piece of driving,' Magistrate Daryl Pearce said last month.
'You were on the wrong side of the road and there was a police pursuit.'
In documents tendered in court, police allege they observed Ms Maiden, who was driving a Hyundai Sante Fe, swerving across double lines into the wrong lane.
They put on their siren and attempted to pull the driver over for a breath test but Ms Maiden failed to stop and continued crossing on to the wrong side of the road.
Magistrate Carolyn Huntsman ruled in the Goulburn Local Court (pictured) Maiden would be disqualified from driving for seven months in addition to the fine
Maiden (pictured) was arrested and taken to Goulburn Police Station on March 20, where she allegedly recorded a blood-alcohol reading of 0.136 - almost three times the legal limit
Police gave chase and the car was registered travelling between 80 and 110km/h before they were forced to terminate about a kilometre from Goulburn.
Highway patrol commenced a second police pursuit shortly after, during which Maiden was allegedly travelling 80 kilometres in a 50 kilometre zone, the Goulburn Post reported.
According to police, the journalist only stopped after she almost hit a parked car.
An Australian man who was killed in Iraq as he defused mines in an ISIS battlefield was a former soldier who was teaching locals in the war-torn area how to remove weapons from the ground.
Mark Belford, who lived in Sydney, retired from the Australian Army in 2003 after decades of service and had been working for the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) in Iraq for six months.
The 58-year-old was killed on Tuesday morning during a mission in the village of Tal Rabba near Daquq, northern Iraq, where he was leading a team of 30 Iraqi volunteers.
The organisation he worked for confirmed he died while defusing a mine in the area that was recently recaptured from ISIS by Kurdish forces.
Mark Belford, who lived in Sydney, was killed on Tuesday morning when a mine he was defusing exploded in northern Iraq
'The team was in the process of defusing explosive devices which they detected in the former battle area.
'After a first assessment at the place of the incident, involvement of any third parties appears to be excluded.
'The deceased had been working in the area for six months already and was a very seasoned explosive and demining expert with several decades of experience in this technical field,' a spokesman told Daily Mail Australia.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said it was providing support to Mr Belford's wife and daughter who have requested to view the site where he was killed, according to The Daily Telegraph.
'A Swiss NGO [Swiss Foundation for Mine Action] has confirmed the death of an Australian man undertaking de-mining activities in northern Iraq.
The 58-year-old had been in the northern Iraqi region of Kirkuk fr six months working with The Swiss Foundation for Mine Action
Mr Belford was working in the northern Iraqi region of Kirkuk when he was killed on Tuesday. Above, his body is driven in an ambulance to Baghdad where other volunteers lined the street in a tribute to him
'DFAT is providing consular assistance to the mans family in Australia,' a spokesman said.
Ben Truniger, the deputy director of the foundation for which Mr Belford was working during the mission described how he taught locals to detect mines in the ground before defusing them himself.
'The 30 searchers who were working with Mark look for the devices and dig them out then the supervisor defuses them.
'This time it did not go so well,' he said, adding that it was a '7kg bomb' he may have been handling.
Members of another organisation, Mines Advisory Group, lined the street as he was driven in an ambulance to Baghdad on Wednesday.
The 58-year-old had been working with locals to teach them how to safely detect mines in the war zone. Abpve, the Iraqi region of Kirkuk, where he was working, earlier this year as Peshmerga forces carried out a strike
It is not clear when Mr Belford's body will be repatriated.
'Our capacity to provide consular assistance in Iraq is extremely limited due to the challenging security situation.
'It is strongly recommended that Australians do not travel to Iraq,' a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said.
In 2004 Mr Belford told news.com.au how he had taken a job with a contract firm in the US to destroy Saddam Hussein's store of weapons.
'I knew the situation I was in, but my family back home did not and only saw what was on the news, he said.
'Personally I was not in much danger. I was in a couple of convoys that were shot at and a couple of camps that were mortared, but they were the exceptional circumstances.'
The U.S. Senate unanimously backed Eric Fanning as secretary of the Army, making him the first openly gay leader of a U.S. military service branch.
Fanning was nominated by President Obama having previously been undersecretary of the Air Force and chief of staff to Defense Secretary Ash Carter.
His appointment was confirmed by a unanimous vote comes just five years after the repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell,' which had prohibited gay and lesbian service members from being open about their sexuality.
Eric Fanning was previously undersecretary of the Air Force and chief of staff to Defense Secretary Ash Carter
Fanning's nomination had been held up for months by Senator Pat Roberts to underscore his opposition to any possible transfer of detainees.
Roberts confirmed Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work has told him that it was now too late for the administration to transfer prisoners from the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Roberts' home state, Kansas.
Work did not confirm Roberts' account of that conversation, saying that no option was off the table.
'I explained to Senator Roberts that we are trying to achieve the goal of closure with the support of Congress and we recognize that there is limited time left to achieve that support, both in terms of lifting Congressional restrictions and winning approval of funds to execute closure,' Work said in a statement.
Fanning's nomination had been held up for months by Senator Pat Roberts to underscore his opposition to any possible transfer of detainees
McCain noted that this year's National Defense Authorization Act ensures that the Obama administration does not have the authority to release or transfer Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. mainland
Robert's opposition had frustrated fellow Republican John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a strong supporter of Fanning's nomination.
On Tuesday, McCain and Roberts appeared in the Senate together as Roberts announced that he had released his 'hold' on Fanning and spoken to Fanning.
McCain noted that this year's National Defense Authorization Act ensures that the Obama administration does not have the authority to release or transfer Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. mainland.
Roberts said Work told him during a meeting last week that he would be unable to fulfill an order to move Guantanamo detainees to the United States before Obama leaves office in January 2017.
The House Appropriations Committee voted Tuesday to overrule an effort by the Library of Congress to stop using the term 'illegal aliens' in its research catalogue.
The library had moved away from using the term in March, opting instead for using 'noncitizens' and 'unauthorized immigration.'
The library wrote in a March 26 statement that the phrase 'illegal aliens has taken on a pejorative tone in recent years.' It went on to note that 'aliens' can be confusing since it also refers to beings from another planet.
The term has longstanding use by the U.S. government, and dates back to the Naturalization Act of 1790.
After the library's recent action, Republican Rep. Diane Black of Tennessee introduced legislation to reverse the move.
The truth is out there: Congress wants to stop the Library of Congress from banning the term 'illegal aliens'
The Library of Congress is located next door to the Capitol and refined its research catalogue terms
'This needless policy change by the Library of Congress embodies so much of what taxpayers find enraging about Washington,' she wrote.
'By trading common-sense language for sanitized political-speak, they are caving to the whims of left-wing special interests and attempting to mask the grave threat that illegal immigration poses to our economy, our national security, and our sovereignty,' she added.
Black introduced legislation which she titled the 'Stopping Partisan Policy at the Library of Congress Act.'
'This bill directs the Library of Congress to retain the headings "Aliens" and "Illegal aliens," as well as related headings, in the Library of Congress Subject Headings in the same manner as they were in effect during 2015,' the bill reads.
The committee action, taken on a spending bill that funds the legislative branch, directs the library to go back to using earlier terms 'to the extent practicable' and cites a section of law dealing with immigrant 'aliens.' The action sets up a vote on the issue on the House floor. A House vote could come within a few weeks.
Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro, a member of the House Hispanic Caucus, wrote the Appropriations Committee this week opposing the action by Congress.
'We live in a nation of immigrants, folks who have come to the United States to work hard and build better lives for themselves and for their families,' Castro wrote.
Republican Representative Diane Black of Tennessee blasted the library's move
'We live in a nation of immigrants,' says Democratic Representative Joaquin Castro of Texas
'We shouldn't be using a harmful, dehumanizing term like 'alien' to categorize individuals who contribute so much to our country,' he continued.
'In the past, as society has come to understand the pain certain words can cause communities, we've done the right thing and eliminated those terms from our acceptable vocabulary. The Appropriations Committee should continue that progress now, not move our nation backwards and unnecessarily perpetuate a negative stigma' Castro concluded.
Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said the library makes 3,000 to 4,000 catalogue changes each year.
'The Library is in the business of language and nomenclature and should be free to make these decisions outside of the political spectrum,' said Wasserman Schultz. She likened it to dropping archaic words like 'negro' and 'oriental.'
The provision passed by a vote of 25 to 24 in committee. To get instituted, the language would need to get included in spending bills that pass both the House and the Senate.
The campaign to outlaw use of 'illegal aliens' followed a push by librarians and college students.
The library started using the catalogue heading 'aliens, illegal' in 1980 and used 'illegal aliens' in 1993, the LA Times reported.
The Associated Press announced in 2014 that it wouldn't use the term to describe an individual.
A pregnant mother was murdered by her abusive boyfriend for not getting an abortion, according to her family.
Candace Pickens, 23, was found dead by a jogger in an Asheville, North Carolina park on May 12.
She had been shot in the face at point-blank range and left for dead alongside her three-year-old son, Zachaeus, who also suffered the same fate.
Authorities declared Pickens, who was working at a restaurant and studying at a community college, dead at the scene.
Her son was taken to a hospital where he underwent emergency surgery.
Tragic: Candace Pickens (pictured) was found dead by a jogger in an Asheville, North Carolina park on May 12. She had been shot in the face and left for dead alongside her three-year-old son, Zachaeus (pictured)
Authorities declared Pickens (pictured), who was working at a restaurant and studying at a community college, dead at the gruesome scene. Zachaeus (pictured) was taken to a hospital where he underwent surgery
Police said that the toddler, who witnessed his mother being shot one day after his birthday, is in stable but critical condition.
Zachaeus lost his left eye, has a 50 per cent chance of survival, and is suspected to have brain damage, family members told WLOS.
In addition, her relatives said she had a volatile and abusive relationship with her boyfriend, Nathaniel Elijah Dixon, 24, who was also the father of her unborn baby.
Dixon has a violent history that includes attempted robbery and allegations of domestic violence against another woman who he has a child with, according to the Citizen-Times.
Authorities believe that Dixon has possible ties to a Los Angeles street gang.
Her family and friends claim that when she found out she was pregnant with Dixon's child, she was excited and planning to have the baby. He, however, reportedly wanted her to have an abortion.
'He found out she was pregnant and he wanted her to abort the baby,' her aunt Irene Jenny Pickens told The Washington Post.
'She would never do that. It wasn't an option for her, and that's what sparked the violence.
'You could tell things were going on between them based on what she was posting on Facebook but I don't think anyone expected anything like this.'
Her relatives said she had a volatile and abusive relationship with her boyfriend, Nathaniel Elijah Dixon (left), 24, who was also the father of her unborn baby. Pickens' (right) family says she planned to have the baby and not get an abortion
After her murder, police say Dixon fled from Asheville to Columbus, Ohio, where he was arrested last week.
When he was taken into custody,Columbus police reportedly rescued a 21-year-old female hostage.
Authorities said he is currently waiting to be extradited back to North Carolina, where he is charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, first-degree murder of an unborn child and child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury.
The investigation into her murder is ongoing, as they can't confirm whether her refusal to undergo an abortion was a motive, police say.
'The Asheville Police Department does not provide comment on an offender's motive because that information is sensitive to the case itself,' Christina Hallingse, a spokeswoman for the Asheville Police Department, said.
'Our responsibility at this point in the investigation is to present the best case possible to the District Attorney's Office for prosecution of the suspected offender.'
It is unclear as to how far along Pickens was in her pregnancy.
Police say Dixon fled from Asheville to Columbus, Ohio, where he was arrested last week. He is charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and first-degree murder of an unborn child
Dixon shared posts to Facebook in what appears to be an attempt to show that he was grieving her death before he was arrested in Columbus for her murder. Above is the first post he wrote about her death
Dixon shared three posts to Facebook in what appears to be an attempt to show that he was grieving her death before he was arrested in Columbus for her murder.
'Candace pickens was pregnant with my child just so y'all stupid mfs know this morning i lost my child too,' he wrote on May 12.
Hours later, he shared two private videos of the mother on his page and hashtagged them with '#Ripbabymamaloveu' and '#candaceuwillbemissed'.
On May 15, Dixon's last status reads 'Who support do I have????'
As some showed support for Dixon on his Facebook page, others commented about how he has been accused of killing Pickens and their unborn child alongside her toddler son.
Relatives have set up a GoFundMe page to raise $20,000 for her funeral and to help with the hospital bills for her son.
'Candace was an amazing mother, friend and person,' Vanessa Peterson wrote.
'She was always smiling and made the best out of life. She had recently found out she was pregnant and was murdered because she refused an abortion.
'So many loved ones have lost such an amazing person and more importantly an innocent child has not only witnessed his mother's murder the day after his third birthday.'
Dixon has not been assigned an attorney as of yet.
Pickens' family said that she loved being a mother to her son Zachaeus.
'When she found out she was pregnant, she was scared at first,' her aunt, Irene Jenny Pickens, told the Post. 'But once she had that baby, it was so natural for her.
This is the dramatic moment a masked arsonist was caught on CCTV calmly pouring petrol around a bakery before sending a surge of flames shooting through the building.
The attacker was captured wearing a crash helmet as they walked slowly around Tavazo bakery in Finchley, North London, emptying a can of fuel before setting a fire and closing the door.
The arsonist left before a wave of orange and blue flames burst through the bakery on Ballard Lane at about 5am on March 14, which resulted in eight fire engines being sent to douse the flames.
Smoke alarms in the building were covered up and so did not work. Scotland Yard said the suspect was wearing a patterned crash helmet, a jacket, trousers, gloves and black and white trainers.
A spokesman said CCTV captured the suspect approaching the rear door of the premises, opening it and then walking around dousing the floor with a flammable liquid from a black fuel container.
The Metropolitan Police has asked anyone who may recognise the suspect to call officers on 101.
Arrival: CCTV captured the suspect approaching the rear door of the bakery in North London before opening it
Arson: The suspect then walked around dousing the floor with a flammable liquid from a black fuel container
Masked: The person was wearing a patterned crash helmet, trousers, gloves and black and white trainers
Smoke: Police are keen to hear from anyone who may recognise the suspect shown on the CCTV in Finchley
Fire starter: Detectives want to identify and speak with the man in connection with the arson attack in March
Flames begin to build: The Metropolitan Police were called at 5.30am on March 14 to Tavazo bakery in Finchley
Burning up: The London Fire Brigade attended the scene and used eight pumps to extinguish the fire
Quickly spreading: Smoke alarms in the building in North London were covered up and so did not work
Dangerous: The fire at the bakery was believed to have started just before 5am, according to Scotland Yard
Flames coming through: Anyone with any information is asked to contact police on 101 with reference 212733
Scorching: The bakery is on Ballard Lane between Finchley Central and West Finchley Underground stations
Bungling police raided Holly Sanders' home looking for guns - only to find a litter of tiny kittens instead
Bungling armed police raided the home of a woman's house looking for guns - only to find a litter of tiny kittens instead.
Eight officers turned Holly Sanders' home upside down after breaking down her front door with a battering ram.
But the officers were left red-faced when they failed to find any weapons and instead discovered just eight new born kittens asleep in her bedroom.
When cafe worker Holly returned to her flat she was put in an arm-lock by an officer and told they had a warrant to search her home for firearms.
Holly said: 'When the officers realised the most dangerous thing in my flat were the kittens they looked really embarrassed.
'I'm sure they got the wrong address. My cats were really scared and my flat looked like it had been burgled. If I wasn't so angry about what happened I'd probably laugh.'
Armed police in riot vans swooped on Holly's one-bedroom flat in Woodmans Green, Droitwich, Worcester, at 10.15am on April 28.
She explained: 'I was at work and had no idea what was going on until my sister phoned to say one of her friends had walked past the property just as it was being raided.
'I just said "No, it wouldn't be my home." But then another friend contacted me who lives on the green saying the same.
'I had to drop everything - thankfully I have a very understanding boss.
'I just kept thinking that it was not going to be my home until I saw there were eight armed officers.
'I was so concerned for my four-week-old kittens I rushed upstairs to check on them, but one officer grabbed my arm and wouldn't let go.
Eight officers turned Holly's home upside down after breaking down her front door with a battering ram (pictured)
But the cops were left red-faced when they failed to find any weapons and instead discovered just eight new born kittens (pictured, six of them) asleep in her bedroom
'He forced it behind my back and threatened to arrest me on the spot but I was so angry and upset. He sat me down and told me they had a warrant to search for firearms.
'Never in my life have I had a firearm. I've never been in trouble with the police. But they didn't give me any explanation why they thought I had one.
Holly's one-year-old cat Mani gave birth to the litter of eight kittens in March.
They have been living in her bedroom while they wait to be re-homed.
The 22-year-old continued: 'I live alone with my eight cats, sometimes look after my niece and nephew and keep myself to myself.
'I felt useless while they were going through my personal belongings and when they left it looked like I had been burgled.
'It was an absolute mess. I cried when they left because I was so embarrassed because all my neighbours had seen.
'I don't know anyone who would have firearms, I don't know why they thought I would have them.
Armed police in riot vans swooped on Holly's one-bedroom flat (left) in Woodmans Green, Droitwich, Worcester, at 10.15am on April 28. She was at work at the time - leaving them to meet her tiny cats instead
Holly's one-year-old cat Mani gave birth to the litter of eight kittens in March. They have been living in her bedroom while they wait to be re-homed
'The police clearly got the wrong flat but I haven't received an apology or explanation. The least they can do is put their hands up and say sorry.'
Holly added: 'What was really upsetting was that the kittens have made their home in a drawer in my bedroom.
'The police had clearly opened it and then slammed it shut trapping them inside.
'Luckily they are all okay but it was such an over-the-top reaction.'
West Mercia Police confirmed it raided Holly's flat as part of an 'intelligence-led warrant'.
A force spokeswoman said: 'A warrant was executed at a property on Woodmans Green on Thursday, April 28, 2016.
'Standard procedures were followed and nothing was seized from the address. The occupier was provided with a copy of the warrant.
Donald Trump today insisted he would have a good relationship with David Cameron despite a war of words over the Prime Minister calling him stupid.
The Republican nominee had warned the special relationship between the US and UK could be threatened if Mr Cameron refused to apologise for the remarks.
The PM lashed out at Mr Trump after he proposed a 'total shutdown on Muslims entering the US in the wake of the California terror shooting.
Republican nominee: Donald Trump is pictured after an interview with Reuters yesterday, in which he softened his position on the Prime Minister as he prepares to fight the general election for the White House
Mr Trump - who was a rank outsider in the Republican race at the time - has insisted he was offended by the remarks.
But he today softened his position as he prepares to fight the election for the White House.
He told Reuters: Hes got plenty of problems, and I think he was inappropriate. So that's fine. Im sure Ill have a good relationship with him.
Earlier this week, Mr Trump told DailyMail.com US Editor-at-Large Piers Morgan on ITV: 'It looks like we're not going to have a very good relationship, who knows?
Previous comments: Earlier this week, Mr Trump told DailyMail.com U.S. Editor-at-Large Piers Morgan on ITV: 'It looks like we're not going to have a very good relationship, who knows?
Intentions: In an attempt to bolster his foreign policy credentials, Mr Trump (pictured in Oregon earlier this month) indicated he was keen to start meeting foreign leaders ahead of November's election
Mr Cameron described the billionaire tycoon as 'divisive, stupid and wrong over his proposal.
Hes got plenty of problems, and I think he was inappropriate. So that's fine. Im sure Ill have a good relationship with him Donald Trump
The PM made the remarks amid a clamour to ban Mr Trump from entering Britain over his policy. A petition supporting a ban became the biggest ever collected on the Parliament website.
In an attempt to bolster his foreign policy credentials, Mr Trump today indicated he was keen to start meeting foreign leaders ahead of November's election.
But he warned he would make clear his intention to change America's relationship with the rest of the world.
He said: I have no preference in terms of timing. I'll meet them, we'll have a better relationship with foreign countries than we have right now.
PM: David Cameron (pictured today) described Mr Trump as 'divisive, stupid and wrong after he proposed a 'total shutdown on Muslims entering the United States in the wake of the California terror shooting
Another row: London Mayor Sadiq Khan (pictured today) predicted Mr Trump would lose the White House race in November as he continued a war of words with the Republican nominee over his policy on Muslims
We don't have a good relationship. Every one of them rips us off but we still don't have a good relationship.
It comes after London Mayor Sadiq Khan predicted Mr Trump would lose the White House race in November as he continued a war of words with the Republican nominee over his policy on Muslims.
Mr Trump claimed Mr Khan was 'ignorant' about his policy to stop Muslims entering the US until the threat from terrorism was understood - and even suggested Mr Khan should take an IQ test.
'You were all trying to kill her, and she's still alive,' he told medical staff
A California hospital tried to pull the plug on a comatose woman after mistakenly declaring her brain-dead.
Anahita Meshkin, 29, has been in a coma since 2007 when she suffered a massive seizure while battling anorexia.
Then last year, tragedy struck again. The care facility, where she has been on life-support for years, declared her brain-dead and told her father they wanted to pull the plug,Mercury News reports.
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Anahita Meshkin, 29, has been in a coma since 2007 when she suffered a massive seizure while battling anorexia (pictured on life support at her care facility in Walnut Creek, California)
John Muir Medical Center, in Walnut Creek, California, had also refused to operate on Anahita's infected, fractured hip because it claimed it would be unethical to treat a dead person.
But Mohammad Meshkin, 72, was not prepared to give up on his daughter who he insisted 'is still alive.'
Before the Center could stop treatment, the family filed a restraining order which prevented them from withdrawing medical treatment.
Within hours, a Contra Costa Superior Court judge had called in two independent doctors from the UC San Francisco School of Medicine to carry out their own set of tests.
Doctors Wade Smith and Andrew Josephson, of the UC San Francisco School of Medicine, declared that Anita 'does not meet the clinical criteria for brain death', after she reacted to pinch tests by moving her head and elbow.
'You were all trying to kill her, and she's still alive,' Meshkin told hospital staff.
His lawyer Chris Dolan - who recently won a historic injunction for the family of Jahi McMath, to keep their daughter alive on life support - said that Anahita's case was another example of hospital's bottom lines trumping the true cost of human life.
Anahita Meshkin (pictured, left, with her sister Azadeh before falling into a coma in 2007) was declared brain dead by John Muir Medical Center
Her father Mohammad Meshkin (right) was not prepared to give up on his daughter and filed a restraining order which prevented them from withdrawing medical treatment
'This is their job to clear beds, and our job is to fight back,' Meshkin said, as he praised Dolan as his 'hero and Anahita's savior.'
John Muir has since operated on Anahita's hip and she has been returned to the care facility.
'I'll fight as long as she does,' said Meshkin, whose wife Shakiba Azarmidokht overdosed in 2011 over her daughter's condition. 'If she quits, I will quit. But I have my hope that she'll come back.'
The hospital said they could not comment on individual patients but said that they analysis for brain death went above and beyond the minimum stated by law.
Dolan has become the leading legal expert for families battling desperately against the medical establishment to keep their loved ones alive, since taking the case of Jahi McMath.
Jahi from Oakland, California, was undergoing routine surgery to remove her tonsils when she suffered a cardiac arrest and was placed on life support.
Three doctors then agreed she was legally dead and applied to turn off her life support machine.
But her family refused to accept the prognosis and eventually won an injunction preventing the hospital from switching off the ventilator, and transferred the teen to an undisclosed facility in New Jersey willing to keep her alive.
Jahi's case attracted national attention when doctors fought her family in court in a bid to remove her life support.
Mohammad Meshkin said that his daughter Anahita Meshkin still reacted to external stimuli, such as being pinched, and so was not brain dead
Dolan had argued in court papers filed in 2014 that the teenager was no longer brain dead and showed significant signs of life.
He acknowledged that a recovery from brain death would be a medical first however he insists, along with the family, that brain scans show electrical activity and that she responds to verbal commands from her mother.
Children's Hospital Oakland finally agreed not to switch off her life support and released her into the care of her mother and other family members who agreed to be 'wholly and exclusively responsible' for the teenager.
Since that successful legal challenge to the medical establishment's long-standing determination that the loss of brain activity equals death, Dolan says he has seen more and more families coming forward to fight dispute plans to pull the plug on their loved ones.
THE LAW SURROUNDING BRAIN DEATH : WHEN IS A PATIENT CLINICALLY DEAD? Brain death is the irreversible loss of all functions of the brain - including the brainstem which controls breathing and other vital functions. Patients declared brain-dead are considered clinically and legally dead and life support can be withdrawn. If the patient is an organ donor, they are typically kept on a respirator until they can be harvested. Where there is doubt about a patient's condition, they may be kept on life support pending a second opinion (typically under court order). If there is no challenge to the medical opinion, hospitals in most states are not legally obligated to keep patients on life support. However, hospitals will generally allow for 'reasonable accommodations', such as an extension on life support for a limited time, to allow for religious objections to the declaration. The guidelines are set out in the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA) which has been adopted in most states. One exception is in New Jersey which enacted its own New Jersey Declaration of Death Act in 1991. While the state follows the general rules of the UDDA, it also allows for a categorical exception for a religious objection to brain death. Whether a patient is declared brain-dead or not relies on three key components. Patients should be completely unresponsive and unconscious, which is tested through their reaction to painful stimuli. Doctors also test for an absence of brainstem reflexes - patients are tested for dilation of the pupils in the presence of a bright light. The final analysis looks at whether a patient can breathe on their own. A brain-dead person should have no measurable reaction if disconnected from a respirator.
'I'm getting calls from people who have a strong feeling that the doctors can't be trusted and may be seeking to cover something up or put an end to it,' Dolan said this week.
They include the likes of two-year-old Israel Stinson who officially declared brain dead by doctors at the beginning of April after suffering a severe asthma attack.
However Israel's parents believe their son is alive and are fighting to move Israel from California to New Jersey where the laws on what determines brain death differ, Fox40 reported.
Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Kimberly Mueller, in Sacramento, had rejected a request by their attorney Dolan for Kaiser Permanente Medical Center to keep Israel on life support until the family could find a new facility for him,CBS News reports.
But she did agree to give them a week to file an appeal. And on Tuesday, his mother Jonee Fonseca filed an emergency appeal to stop the hospital from pulling the plug.
Dolan has become the leading legal expert for families battling desperately against the medical establishment to keep their loved ones alive, since taking the case of Jahi McMath (pictured in hospital)
Dolan is also helping the family of two-year-old Israel Stinson (pictrued) who was admitted to hospital at the beginning of April in California, but was declared brain dead after being placed on a ventilator and still struggling to breathe
Fonesca insists that her son is recovering after suffering brain damage in the asthma attack, and even released a video showing their son moving in a bid to prove that he is still alive.
'Now not only is he responding to our touch and our voice, but I've seen him take breaths off the ventilator, it's very hopeful and a good feeling,' Fonseca said.
The family are hoping to relocate Israel to a New Jersey facility but that move will be impossible unless the child undergoes an operation in which feeding and air tubes are inserted into his body. This is something Calfornia doctors have refused to perform.
Dolan claims that too often, doctors were too concerned about the financial consequences of keeping comatose patients alive.
Police arrested Lowe and charged him with murder, though they still haven't located Bardwell's body
They also found a bullet hole in the wall of the garage
Last Thursday, they searched Lowe's SUV and found a pool of blood in the back of the car and remarked that there was a smell of decaying flesh
The next day, police returned to the apartment and found both Lowe and his SUV covered in mud
When police showed up at the Richardson, Texas apartment she shared with Lowe, he told police she had left earlier in the day
Bardwell's father reported her missing on May 8, when she didn't call either her mom or her step-mom on Mother's Day
Police have arrested the boyfriend of a missing Texas woman, after searching his car and finding a pool of blood and the smell of 'decaying flesh' inside.
Jessie Bardwell, 27, was first reported missing on Mother's Day, when she uncharacteristically failed to call either her mom or step-mom.
Police conducted a welfare check that same day at the apartment she shares in Richardson with her boyfriend Jason Michael Lowe, also 27, and he told cops that she left earlier in the day.
Investigators returned to the apartment the next day and grew suspicious when they saw both Lowe and his car covered in mud, with Lowe wearing the same clothes from the day before.
When they were finally able to search through the car four days later, they found a pool of blood in the back of the car, giving them enough evidence to make an arrest.
Lowe was charged on Friday with murder, though his girlfriend's body still has not been found.
'We believe he's taken steps to conceal the body,' Richardson Police Sgt. Kevin Perlich said, according to Fox 4. 'So exactly where? That's the question.'
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Jason Lowe has been arrested and charged with murder in the disappearance of his girlfriend Jessie Bardwell
Records show that Lowe was previously arrested on May 29, 2015 for aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury. His then-girlfriend at the time accused him of assaulting her to the point that she lost consciousness. It's unclear if the alleged victim in that incident was Bardwell.
The couple are believed to have started dating before she moved to north Texas in December 2015.
Bardwell's father grew worried about her on Mother's Day - May 8 - when she didn't call either her mother or her step-mom.
So he called police in Richardson, asking them to conduct a welfare check at the apartment she shared with Lowe. He allegedly told police that he also hadn't heard from his daughter in the two and a half weeks before Mother's Day.
Bardwell's father called Richardson, Texas police to conduct a welfare check on his daughter on May 8, when she failed to call either her mom or step-mom on Mother's Day. Cops found no sign of her at the apartment she shared with her boyfriend, Lowe
On their first trip to the house, cops spoke with Lowe, who told them that his girlfriend had left earlier that morning - around 8am - in her Acura MDX and that she hadn't been back yet. He also said he couldn't call her since her 'pay as you go' mobile phone had expired. Police left and came back to the apartment later that day, when they found the residence empty.
The next day, they returned to the apartment just as Lowe was driving his black 2010 Audi SUV into the garage. Both the car and Lowe were covered with mud.
When Lowe got out of the SUV, he told police that his girlfriend never came home so he went out to look for her on some of the paths off President George Bush Turnpike that she frequented.
He told police that initially he wasn't worried about her not returning for hours because they 'lead a lifestyle where they both do their own thing without being co-dependent'.
Bardwell pictured above with her father. She moved to north Texas in December 2015 to live with her boyfriend, Lowe
Police asked him about the mud, and Lowe said it was from chasing after his dog when it ran away during the search. But police noted in their report that the dog was not at all muddy. As for the dirt on the SUV, Lowe said it was from going 'mudding' recently.
Lowe gave the officers permission to look through a Dodge Ram he owns, and they found two guns in a black bag. He also let them look around his garage and the apartment, and they left after finding nothing more suspicious.
Joshua Lucke says he bought Bardwell's car in April. However, Lowe told cops on May 8 that she was driving the same vehicle the morning her dad reported her missing
Meanwhile, investigators start to search for Bardwell's missing Acura, putting the license plate number in a search system.
The search system turns up a result on May 11, showing that it has been parked outside of a residence in Garland, Texas.
The next day, they show up to interview the homeowner, who tells cops that he actually bought the car from Bardwell and Lowe last month.
In an interview with Fox 4, the new owner, Joshua Lucke, said that Bardwell was with Lowe on April 18 when he first met to look at the car and that nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
'They seemed like they were very happy, like they were in love and they were just kind of going through things in life,' Lucke said. 'They were holding hands walking their dogs.'
Lucke went to the couple's apartment on May 2 to finalize some details of the deal, but says Bardwell was nowhere to be seen. He says Lowe told him she was sleeping.
Lucke also revealed that Lowe appeared to be stressed out on their first meeting because he had lost his job.
The last time police had confirmation that Bardwell was alive was on April 29, when she was seen on surveillance footage going to use the gym in her apartment building.
After speaking with Lucke, officers returned to Lowe's apartment to question him about why he said his girlfriend had left in the Acura when they had sold it the month before.
Lowe contested Lucke's story, saying that he instead struck a deal with Lucke allowing him to use the car whenever he wanted for a rental fee. Lowe said his girlfriend still used the car and maintained that she left that day in the vehicle.
Above, the Acura MDX that Lowe claimed his girlfriend drove the morning her father called to conduct a welfare check. Police later found out that the couple had sold the car a month before.
Lowe was arrested on May 12, when investigators found a pool of blood in the back of an SUV parked at his apartment. He's pictured above in a photo posted to Facebook
While speaking to Lowe, officers notice that he has lines of a white-powdery substance resembling cocaine lined up on a saucer in the kitchen, near a tightly rolled piece of paper.
Officers next asked to look through the home once more, as well as the garage. While Lowe initially asked them to stay out of the garage, since it is a shared shape, he eventually relented.
The investigators searched through the back of an Audi and notice a pool of what appeared to be blood in a spare tire compartment that had leaked through the vehicle and onto the floor of the garage.
They also remarked that there was 'a distinct smell of decayed flesh was found to be emitting from the garage area'.
They then took Lowe into custody, arresting him first on cocaine possession charges. The next day, when officers returned and found yet more evidence of blood throughout the vehicle and a bullet hole in the wall of the garage, Lowe was officially charged with murder and ordered held on $1million bond.
Crime scene investigators confirmed on May 13 that the liquid in the Audi was in fact blood, and that it was spread all through the vehicle - on the floor of the rear compartment area, on a storage compartment on the gear shift, on the steering wheel and on the driver's side door handle.
The investigators also spotted a bottle of cleaning solution sitting on a dresser near the rear passenger door, a shovel leaned against one of the walls and a pair of muddy boots in the back of the car. The bullet hole was found on the rear west wall of the garage.
Police later talked to a witness who told police that she saw Lowe cleaning the bed of his truck and removing numerous trash bags from a box on May 7.
Bardwell's body still has not been found.
A mother-of-three has died in a car crash after a repo man allegedly forced her off the road and into a tree as he tried to take back her vehicle.
Ashleigh Best, 35, slammed into a tree in Pleasant Grove, Utah, at speeds of at least 70mph shortly after midnight on Tuesday.
Police believe she was being chased by Kenneth Drew, 49, as he tried to repossess her car and he has been charged with manslaughter.
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Ashleigh Best (left), 35, died after she slammed into a tree at speeds of at least 70mph. Police are investigating whether she was forced off the road by repo man Kenneth Drew (right)
Wreckage: Mrs Best hit the tree shortly after midnight on Tuesday and police believe she was being chased by Drew, who was trying to repossess her vehicle
Drew's driving was branded 'reckless' in an affidavit seen by Deseret News and claims that he chased after the woman, which he denies.
Police said Drew went to Mrs Best's parent's home - where she was living with her husband, Brennen, and children as they tried to get their finances in order - to take their Lincoln Navigator on behalf of a bank.
As the repo man was parking his tow truck, a man came out of the house and told Drew he would not let him take the vehicle and that he would immediately call the bank to make some payments.
Pleasant Grove Police Lieutenant Britt Smith said an argument broke out and Mrs Best jumped into the vehicle and started driving off.
'Once she left the residence, the tow truck gave chase,' Lt Smith said.
'There was a pursuit that lasted between 10 to 12 blocks. And eventually the victim's vehicle left the roadway and struck a tree at a high rate of speed, which caused her fatal injuries.'
Police said Drew went to Mrs Best's parents' home - where she was living with her husband, Brennen, and children (pictured) as they tried to get their finances in order - to take their vehicle on behalf of a bank
Police believe Drew was driving as fast as Mrs Best (pictured with her husband Brennen) - at least 70mph on a 35mph road - and that he may have overtaken her moments before the crash.
Mrs Best was pronounced dead at the scene.
Drew, who works for On Demand Repos, claimed he tried to stop Mrs Best from fleeing by blocking her with his truck, but she managed to squeeze past him.
He told police he 'accelerated quickly' as he followed her and that she drove into the passenger side of his truck during the chase.
I've never, in my 15 years of law enforcement, I've never seen a repo agent be this aggressive. I've never seen anything like it Pleasant Grove Police Lt. Britt Smith
But police believe Drew was driving as fast as Mrs Best - at least 70mph on a 35mph road - and that he may have overtaken her moments before the crash.
'The tow truck was applying brakes, or had a tire locked up from turning possibly when the tow truck made contact with the Navigator,' the affidavit said.
'The vehicle then went over the curb and onto the sidewalk before hitting the tree.'
Drew's girlfriend was in the truck with him and told police 'she was scared during the incident and she didn't know if Kenneth had purposely ran the female off the roadway or not,' according to the affidavit.
She is said to have added that she 'wondered why they were even chasing the female'.
Lt Smith said: 'I've never, in my 15 years of law enforcement, I've never seen a repo agent be this aggressive. I've never seen anything like it.
'It doesn't justify chasing her down through the roads, city streets, at high rates of speeds, causing fatal traffic accidents. The end doesn't justify the means,' he added.
Cuffed: Drew was arrested and has been charged with manslaughter. He was booked into Utah County Jail
Police are investigating whether Drew forced Mrs Best off the road or whether she crashed because she was being chased. Cops do not believe drugs or alcohol were involved.
Drew was arrested and has been charged with manslaughter. He was booked into Utah County Jail.
His boss Brian Edwards said that he spoke to Drew after the crash and that he claims he was not chasing Mrs Best.
'He told me she started going really fast so he stopped,' Mr Edwards said.
'My driver, he's a good guy. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body. His does his job. He respects people. I don't know the whole details of last night. I just wish everybody would wait to see what the investigation shows.'
He added that the company's policy is not to chase after people.
Mrs Best's sister-in-law Buffee Best paid tribute to her on a GoFundMe page set up to help pay for funeral costs.
'Last night the world lost a shining star as my beautiful sister in law's life was cut short suddenly and tragically in a car accident,' Buffee Best wrote.
'Her husband lost his best friend, his lover, his soulmate and his reason for existing. Her three children lost their beautiful devoted mother. Her mother lost her only daughter and very best friend. Her brother lost his twin.
The factory worker who was allegedly squeezed out of his share of a $40 million Powerball win has successfully applied for his cut to be frozen until he can prove he is entitled to $2.69 million.
Brendon King is suing registered ticket holder, Robert Adams, and NSW Lotteries over claims he has been excluded from the syndicate's 14 other winners despite reportedly pre-paying for his share of the winning ticket, which was drawn on May 5.
Supreme Court Justice John Sackar will hear the case in June, but until then the court has ordered that one-15th of the win be held in trust.
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Robert Adams is the registered ticket holder of a $40M winning ticket won by a workplace syndicate
Mr Adams said Brendon King - who claims he's been cut out of the winnings - left their workplace lotto syndicate in January - before the big win
The balance of the $40 million win will be paid to Mr Adams for distribution among the 14 undisputed syndicate members, who are employees of cable manufacturer Prysmian.
They will receive their winnings on Thursday.
One of the syndicate members is Mr Adams' son, while another of his sons who does not work for the company has also reportedly been included in the win.
'We have concerns that a son of the registered ticket holder, who is not an employee of the company where the work syndicate was run, appears to have been included in the winning syndicate. We are making further investigations into this,' News Corp has quoted Shine Lawyers' commercial litigation specialist Luke Wiffen as saying.
Michael Lee SC, lawyer for Mr Adams told the NSW Supreme Court that the syndicate had ended in January.
Mr Lee also said aggrieved cable factory employee Mr King had only been part of a previous unsuccessful lottery ticket.
He said suggestions the Mr Adams had included his sons in the syndicate win were 'scandalous' and 'simply false'.
Lawyers for NSW Lotteries also appeared in court on Wednesday.
Shine Lawyers barrister Lachlan Gyles, who was representing Mr King, said his client had worked for the Prysmian cable factory for five years and been a member of the syndicate run by the ticket holder for four years.
He said that Brendon King had discussed the Mothers Day draw with Mr Adams before the syndicate bought the winning ticket.
The syndicate are all employees of Prysmian Group in Liverpool, Sydney
Since January the lottery syndicate at the cable factory had decided to concentrate on entering only bigger draws, Mr Gyles told Justice John Sackar.
'The syndicate members were asked to pay $50 from time so that [the syndicate organiser] could purchase tickets as he saw was appropriate in these Lotto draws.
[Mr King] paid all the money required.'
Lawyers for Mr King said that a 'money trail' of payments in the syndicate would be important in the case.
Lawyers for the ticket holder said they would apply for a suppression order on the his name and that 'simply false' allegations had been made about him and his family.
In applying for a suppression order on the name of the registered owner of the lottery syndicate, barrister Mr Lee said there had been allegations of fraud and betrayal by the ticket holder which were untrue.
He said wide media coverage had claimed Mr King was 'the only member excluded from ... a long running syndicate' and that wasn't true.
'It was another syndicate,' he said.
The Supreme court judge refused to suppress the name of registered syndicate owner Robert Adams.
Lawyers for Mr King said that a 'money trail' of payments in the syndicate would be important in the case (file photo)
Justice John Sackar knocked back the application by Mr Adams lawyer Michael Lee SC that 'false, scandalous and libelous allegations' made against Adams would prevent the proper administration of justice.
Mr King's is is 'relieved' to have his $2.69m share of the win frozen but he's still ' very stressed', his lawyer Luke Whiffen said.
Speaking outside the NSW Supreme Court Mr Whiffen denied claims by the registered owner of the winning ticket that Mr King was a member of a different, second syndicate which had only bought a losing ticket.
'There was only one syndicate, ' Mr Whiffen said.
He said Mr King 'is very stressed and his family is very stressed'.
Almost $37.3 miliion of the Powerball win is now due to be paid out by NSW Lotteries to the other members of the syndicate on Friday.
Mr Whiffen could not say whether Brendon King would be returning to the Prysmian cable factory at Liverpool in south-western Sydney to work alongside Robert Adams and one of Mr Adams'sons, Matt Adams.
A math professor at Northern Virginia Community College has been accused of raping one of his students and sexually assaulting another.
A student told school police on May 5 that 27-year-old Youssef Taleb had sexually assaulted her on May 3 when he took her into a conference room to help her with calculus classwork, according to an arrest affidavit.
The woman also said Taleb had raped her in a classroom on March 22, according to WRC-TV.
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Youssef Taleb, 27, (pictured) an adjunct professor at Northern Virginia Community College has been accused of raping one of his students and sexually assaulting another
Another woman told investigators on May 5 that Taleb had sexually battered her in a building on the Alexandria Campus earlier this semester.
Taleb was arrested later that day and charged with rape, object sexual penetration and two counts of sexual battery.
Police said the two women did not know each other and were not in the same class.
Prince William County police also seized Taleb's clothing, a cellphone, documents and photos during a search of his Fairfax County home, according to WRC-TV.
A student told school police on May 5 that Taleb had sexually assaulted her on May 3 and another time in March. Another woman told investigators that he had sexually battered her earlier this semester at the school (pictured)
Investigators are hoping to find transfer evidence of a sex crime on his clothing.
Alberto Pinedo, whose family rented a room to Taleb, said he was shocked to learn of the allegations.
'He always seemed like a really great person,' Pinedo told WRC-TV.
Students on campus were also surprised to hear about the allegations.
Prince William County police also seized Taleb's clothing, a cellphone, documents and photos during a search of his Fairfax County home (pictured)
'It's very shocking because I actually just had him this spring and he was very professional and very supportive in class,' student Jeannette Amya told the station.
'It was very shocking to find out he's involved in this.'
A school spokesman says Taleb taught math at the school's Manassas campus and has since been terminated from his role as an adjunct professor.
The outbreak of nuclear war within a year between the West and Putin is 'entirely plausible' a former NATO chief has claimed - while promoting his novel about a 2017 war with Russia.
General Sir Richard Shirreff, who served as Nato's deputy supreme allied commander in Europe until 2014, warned that an attack on Baltic states Lativa, Estonia and Lithuania was a possibility.
He said the West should act now and boost its defences to avoid a 'potential catastrophe'.
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General Sir Richard Shirreff, who served as Nato's deputy supreme allied commander in Europe until 2014, warned that an attack on Baltic states Lativa, Estonia and Lithuania was a possibility. Russian tanks are pictured in Moscow
General Shirreff has written a fictional book, 2017: War with Russia, in which nuclear war breaks out with Russia over the Baltic nations next year.
But he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the scenario was 'entirely plausible'.
He said: 'The chilling fact is that because Russia hardwires nuclear thinking and capability to every aspect of their defence capability, this would be nuclear war.'
He added 'We need to judge President Putin by his deeds not his words.
General Shirreff has written a fictional book called 2017: War with Russia
'He has invaded Georgia, he has invaded the Crimea, he has invaded Ukraine. He has used force and got away with it.
'In a period of tension, an attack on the Baltic states is entirely plausible.'
The independent reports that the scenario in General Shirreff's book sees Russia occupying Ukraine before invading the Baltic nations.
A description of the book on Amazon says the scenario shows 'how war with Russia could erupt with the bloodiest and most appalling consequences if the necessary steps are not taken urgently.'
It comes as it emerged Royal Air Force fighters have intercepted Russian jets approaching Estonia for the second time in a week, the Ministry of Defence said.
The Typhoons were scrambled to meet five unidentified aircraft in international airspace near the Baltic State's borders on Tuesday.
They shadowed two Su-27 Flanker fighters and an IL-20 'Coot-A' reconnaissance aircraft north of Estonia before two more Su-27s were detected and met, the MoD said.
A spokesman said the Russian aircraft 'were operating without transmitting recognised identification codes nor were they communicating with regional air traffic control centres'.
Meanwhile, a NATO commander says hundreds of items of equipment are being disembarked in a Polish port as part of a major test of a new rapid-reaction force's capability to quickly relocate wherever the alliance faces a threat.
The outbreak of nuclear war within a year between the West and Putin (pictured) is 'entirely plausible' a former NATO chief has claimed - while promoting his novel about a 2017 war with Russia
Some 500 items and hundreds of troops arrived in Szczecin by ship from Spain and will travel to a western test range in Zagan, where they will be joined by more equipment and troops from Britain, Albania and Poland for the 'Brilliant Jump' exercise that runs until May 27.
Lt. Gen Manfred Hofmann, commander of a multinational corps based in Szczecin, said Wednesday the exercise is to 'prove in the coming days that NATO is ready to defend all its allies.'
She cares for her animal family even though she has been battling cancer
A sydneysider has chosen to give up her life in the city in order to live in rural Australia with more than 50 pigs.
Lindy Haynes gave up life in Sydney as a dog trainer to pursue her dream of living in rural New South Wales.
The 51-year-old named her new home as 'Pigs'ville' as her family of companions gradually grew in numbers to encompass piglets to approximately 200kg giants.
Lindy Haynes has given up her job in Sydney as a dog trainer to pursue her dream of living in rural aUSTRALIA
The 51-year-old now shares her home in rural NSW with over 50 pigs - including piglets to 200kg giants
The real-life Miss Piggy affectionately names her pigs and counts her friends to include a horse, a dog, chickens, cats and kangaroos.
If Ms Haynes hears of piglets being sold she'll often try and bring them to her farm near the small town of Mudgee where she cares for all her animals in a truly free-range style.
But after being diagnosed with cancer in 2011 caring for her family of porkers has become harder and harder as she also tries to educate people about the welfare of the intelligent animals.
'I've seen horrific things, people feeding pigs roadkill, killing other pigs and throwing it all back in for the other pigs to eat,' Ms Haynes said.
'Before I got sick, I'd look for ads where people were selling piglets, I'd go and think I will buy one piglet and then come home with 12.
'I've seen pigs in yards with no shelter and no water in the middle of summer, they can die from the heat, they've got to have a wallow, they've got to have water. You know it's been a rescue thing for me, I have to help them.'
The real-life Miss Piggy hopes to create educate people about the intelligent animals
Lindy Haynes was diagnosed with cancer in 2011 but she has beaten the odds to survive and still cares for her animals
Caring for all her animals in a truly free-range style Ms Haynes constantly adds to the family in hopes of offering the animals a better home
As well as caring for the pigs Ms Haynes is also battling terminal cancer of the uterus since a tumour was first found in 2011 followed by two more in 2013, and now the disease has come back again.
'They say it's terminal and I was supposed to be dead a while ago, but I'm not, I'm still going, and that's why I have these pigs in a way, they make me want to get out of bed in a morning,' she said.
'I'm slower now, but I can still do stuff. We just want to show people that pigs deserve respect and to teach the people that eat them to look for free range pigs.
'The pigs I have go wherever they want, they have slept inside, they can do what they like. It's been hard when I had to go off to hospital to find someone to look after them though.
'Now things have grown so big I'm not going anywhere, the only option I've got now is chemo for the cancer, and I don't want to do that because I don't want to feel any worse than I am now. I'll just see how I go.'
Ms Haynes named her new home Pigs'ville as her family of pigs continues to grow
Ms Haynes affectionately names her pigs and counts her friends to include a horse, a dog, chickens, cats and kangaroos
Ms Haynes admits to help care for her animals she keeps some pigs free-range to sell for meat. She justifies this as it means as the livestock get a good life and help to fund the rescue of more of their kind.
'I try to keep some sows back for breeding but the boy pigs don't really have a chance, I have got two boars so I can sell a lot for breeders as well,' Ms Haynes said.
'My pigs now are showing the world they can be fun, loving, social and intelligent animals and are helping campaign hopefully of the welfare of pigs everywhere.'
It's not just the cable networks that are finding the U.S. presidential election irresistible: foreign hackers are working to spy on presidential candidates, the nation's top intelligence official said Wednesday.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says he has seen indications of the foreign spying.
With the campaigns under assault, the government has dispatched FBI and Homeland Security cyber experts to help the campaigns protect themselves.
'We've already had some indications,' Clapper said at the Bipartisan Policy Center in D.C. that the intelligence community expects further threats against presidential campaigns in the future.
The move comes after constant efforts by overseas hackers to penetrate all manner of arms of the U.S. government.
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Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says foreign hackers are trying to spy on campaigns
'We'll probably have more' intrusions, Clapper said.
The revelation comes after a Clapper's office released a document earlier this month saying foreign intelligence services tracked the 2008 presidential election cycle 'like no other.'
The document was part of a slide show used to warn incoming Obama administration officials that their new jobs could make them prey for foreign spies.
Eight years ago, foreign intelligence services 'met with campaign contacts and staff, used human source networks for policy insights, exploited technology to get otherwise sensitive data, engaged in perception management to influence policy,' the document said.
'This exceeded traditional lobbying and public diplomacy.'
Overseas hacks were rampant during the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections.
Things got so bad in 2012 that when GOP nominee Mitt Romney's campaign was conducting a top secret vice presidential search they set up a clean room with computers that weren't even connected to the Internet.
'Because the Romney campaign's servers were under continual assault by Chinese hackers, the computers in the clean room were not connected to the Internet,' wrote authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann's book 'Double Down: Game Change 2012.'
Mitt Romney's campaign was so concerned about hacks that it cut the Internet cord when vetting vice presidential candidates
Romney's top advisor 'insisted that the team be extremely cautious about what they put in e-mail when using their regular computers.' Two staffers conducted background checks even communicated using code. They named their task Project Goldfish and gave finalists aquatic names.
A security engineer for President Obama's reelection campaign, Ben Hagen, told Time Magazine in 2013 that he lost sleep over constant intrusions by foreign hackers into Obama's 2012 campaign.
Hackers were trying to get access to the campaigns databases and social media accounts through sophisticated means, he told the magazine.
Obama's chief technology officer brought on Hagen so he could sleep better at night. 'And after a few weeks I was sleeping very little,' Hagan said.
The Romney campaign was 'under constant attack,' digital director Zac Moffat said, saying it occurred 'four or five times a week.'
Officials said both the Obama and McCain campaigns got hacked in 2008
The attacks came from nation states, amid persistent warnings at the time about activities from China.
Chinese government hackers successfully penetrated the campaigns of Obama and Senator John McCain in 2008, according to a 2013 NBC report.
The McCain infiltration was particularly jarring, because officials complained to a McCain camp official about a draft letter dealing with Taiwan that hadn't even been sent yet.
According to the report, Chinese officials complained to a McCain aide about his support for a planned Taiwanese military expansion.
'Staffers were left puzzled because the Republican Senator had drafted a letter expressing his commitment to the newly elected president of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou, in July 2008 but the letter had not yet been sent,' according to the report.
The Chinese government contacted McCain's foreign policy advisor.
'He was putting me on notice that they knew this was going on,' said Randall Schriver,who advised McCain about Asia. The FBI alerted both campaigns about the security breach.
As if Clinton didn't have enough server woes, now foreign hackers are targeting presidential campaigns
The feds dispatched the FBI and homeland security officials to assist in security
'Based on everything I know, this was a case of political cyberespionage by the Chinese government against the two American political parties,' Dennis Blair, who was Obama's previous DNI, told NBC.
The news of cyber snooping has extra currency during the 2016 election because Hillary Clinton's home computer server has been a source of constant coverage.
Iowa Republican senator Charles Grassley wrote Clinton last month asking whether the FBI has given notice that her server was hacked by Marcel Lehel Lazar, the Hungarian hacker known as Guccifer.
'Has the Department of Justice or any other government agency informed you that you were a victim of hacking, other unlawful computer access, or any other crime, whether attempted or realized, by Mr. Lazar or any other person or entity?' Grassley asked.
Lazar told Fox News from a Virginia prison cell that he succeeded in hacking Clinton's account.
Obama with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015. Chinese-sponsored hacking has been a source of friction in the U.S.-China relationship
'For me, it was easy ... easy for me, for everybody,' he said.
The Clinton camp issued a statement saying, 'There is absolutely no basis to believe the claims made by this criminal from his prison cell. In addition to the fact he offers no proof to support his claims, his descriptions of Secretary Clinton's server are inaccurate. It is unfathomable that he would have gained access to her emails and not leaked them the way he did to his other victims.'
News of the attempted hacks comes in a campaign where all manner of U.S. policies are up for review during the change of administrations that will occur next year.
Republican Donald Trump has spoken repeatedly of confronting China and reconfiguring U.S. trading relationships. He has spoken of improving relations with Russia, reconsidering the role of NATO, rethinking U.S. troops stationed overseas all subjects that would be of interest to hackers or foreign powers.
Jonathan Lampe with InfoSec Institute, a private information security company in Chicago, said security hasn't improved significantly since eight years ago.
In October, he evaluated the security of sixteen candidates' websites and wrote a pair of 20-page reports. Using the reconnaissance skills of a casual hacker, Lampe pulled full lists of site user names and technologies used on most sites.
In some cases, he discovered which directories were accessible from the Internet and which weren't. He learned what software products Hillary Clinton campaign's used from a job posting soliciting a computer-wise staffer.
'Everybody was sitting with their pants down and by the time we looked at the sites in March, everybody had made fixes,' Lampe said.
She could face up to life in prison when she is sentenced August 23
Lodzinsk denies murder and plans to appeal, her attorney has said
F ound witnesses who could identify the blanket as from Lodzinski's home
Lodzinski was charged with murder in 2014 after police reopened the case
The boy's body was found 11 months later lying next to a blanket
times later saying he was kidnapped
His mother claimed he went missing at a carnival but changed her story
A mother-of-three has been convicted of murdering her five-year-old son - more than two decades after telling police he had disappeared at a carnival.
Michelle Lodzinski, 48, looked visibly shaken after a jury found her guilty of killing Timothy Wiltsey on May 25, 1991.
The verdict comes a week before the 25th anniversary of the youngster's disappearance.
'I'm glad Timmy got justice,' said Lodzinski's brother Michael, who has stood by her throughout the trial and decades of suspicion.
But as she was led from the courtroom, he seemed unable couldn't stop himself from telling her: 'I love you sis, very, very much.'
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Michelle Lodzinski (pictured at Middlesex County courthouse in New Brunswick, N.J, today) was convicted Wednesday of the first degree murder of her son, 5-year-old son, Timothy Wiltsey
New Jersey prosecutors had painted a damning portrait of Lodzinksi during the eight week trial at Middlesex County Superior Court, describing her as a troubled young mother who killed the boy and dumped his body in a ditch because he had become a 'burden' to her.
The description contrasted sharply with the one offered by her defense attorney, who cast her as a loving parent who worked two jobs to send the boy to a private school and had made plans to travel with him to Florida that summer.
Lodzinksi has always denied killing her son who went missing in May 1991 when they lived in New Jersey.
After today's guilty verdict, she is facing up to life in jail.
The 48-year-old didn't comment as she was led out of the courtroom.
Her attorney, Gerald Krovatin, said after the hearing that his client was devastated by the verdict and plans to appeal.
Lodzinski, who was returned to custody on $2 million bail, is scheduled back in court on August 23 to be sentenced.
The mother-of-three told authorities at the time she lost track of her son at a Sayreville carnival, then changed her story several times to claim the boy was abducted.
Despite weeks of searching, police were unable to find the boy.
It was not until 11 months later, that Timothy's remains were discovered several miles away in a marshy area near a building where Lodzinski once worked, prosecutors said.
A cause of death couldn't be established due to the severe deterioration of the skeleton.
Tragedy: The 5-year-old's body was found a year after he went missing while at a carnival with his mother in New Jersey
Near the body was a blanket, a sneaker and a balloon both sporting logos of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Timothy's favorite cartoon characters.
Despite suspicions about her changing stories, Lodzinski wasn't charged until 2014, after prosecutors reopened the case after they identified the blanket as a key piece of evidence in the case.
Alan Rockoff, the Middlesex County prosecutor when Timothy disappeared, now retired, said prosecutors didn't have enough evidence to charge her previously.
'We didn't have sufficient evidence at the time to pull the trigger,' said Rockoff.
'There was no direct smoking gun here. ... Hopefully now, there's a possibility of closure. Justice works slowly, but works surely.'
Investigators found three of Timothy's former baby sitters who identified the blanket as coming from Lodzinski's apartment.
Danielle Gerding, the boy's cousin, said she had seen the blanket in the family home when she babysat for him.
Gerding, who had been at the carnival on the day Timothy disappeared, described the moment Lodzinski said she had lost her son.
'She said she turned her back to get soda and he was missing,' she said. 'She appeared calm, almost shocked.'
People who knew Timothy and were at the carnival didn't see him there on the night in question although they saw Lodzinski, Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Christie Bevacqua said.
Leaving the blanket by the body was something 'only a mother would do,' she told jurors.
'The carnival was a cover-up,' she said. 'It was a way the defendant sought to escape detection. Timothy was in the ditch around the corner from where she worked, with his blanket and a balloon.'
'She was a young, struggling mother, struggling to survive and take care of her child,' Bevacqua said during her trial. 'Timothy was a burden on her. He was just no longer wanted, and her solution was a life without Timothy.'
Gerald Krovatin, Lodzinski's attorney, disputed prosecutors' characterization of Lodzinski and said she was a loving, devoted mother to her little boy.
Michelle Lodzinski (pictured with her defense attorney Gerald Krovatin waiting to hear the verdict on Wednesday) faces up to life in prison when she is sentenced
Lodzinski (center, beside her attorney Gerald Krovatin during her arraignment in New Jersey Superior Court in New Brunswick in 2014) who has two other sons in Florida and who was living in Port St. Lucie, was charged with murder in 2014
'She didn't wake up one day and out of the clear blue sky say, 'I'm going to murder my son,'' he said.
He insisted there was no hair or fiber evidence on the blanket that could connect it to Lodzinski or Wiltsey. He noted that one of the baby sitters had been angry at Lodzinski in the past, while the recollections of the other two were suspect.
Meanwhile, he said, three carnival workers told authorities at the time that they saw a boy who looked like Wiltsey, including one who said she saw a woman calling the boy 'Timmy' or 'Jimmy' and, later, saw her on her own and looking for him.
Outside the courthouse, Michael Lodzinski said he had only asked his sister about Timothy a few times over the years and that she hadn't told family members what happened.
'She's the only one that knows. We don't know anything, and she never told us anything,' he said. 'He was a great little boy, and this should never have happened to him.'
Lodzinski said he had remained close to his sister in the intervening years even amid the lingering uncertainty about her son's death.
'After a certain point I had to compromise myself,' he said. 'I knew something wasn't right, but I had to put it aside. And I have to live with that myself. We didn't know anything.'
Lodzinski, who has two other sons in Florida and who was living in Port St. Lucie, was charged with murder in 2014, after investigators reopened the case and found witnesses who could identify a blanket found near the boy's remains as having come from Lodzinski's apartment.
No forensic evidence tied Lodzinski or the boy to the blanket or other items found near his remains 11 months after he disappeared.
Evidence: The boy's former babysitter and cousin Danielle Gerding testified that a blanket found near his body was from his home (above)
Instead, prosecutors told jurors Lodzinski's changing stories about the boy's disappearance demonstrated consciousness of guilt. They painted her as a young woman she was 23 at the time of his disappearance who struggled with jobs and relationships because of the boy and wanted to move on in life without him.
They contended Lodzinski used the carnival to concoct the kidnapping story and that no one who knew Timothy saw him with her.
Krovatin focused his defense on the absence of physical evidence.
He also produced witnesses who worked at the carnival who claimed they saw a boy who looked like Timothy. And he put on the stand an ex-convict from Arizona who testified that a former associate confessed to killing a young boy under circumstances similar to the Timothy's death.
Krovatin also noted that one of the baby sitters who identified the blanket and testified during the trial had expressed anger at Lodzinski in the past over a custody issue, and said the recollections of two other baby sitters were suspect.
The campaign to keep Britain in the EU raced into an 18-point lead today, according to a new poll.
It is the biggest lead recorded in the EU referendum campaign so far, but the same poll found that the public dont believe David Camerons claims that a Brexit vote in Junes EU referendum would bring war and genocide back to Europe.
A majority of 58 per cent of voters believe leaving the EU would make 'no difference' to peace and security on the continent, according to an Ipsos MORI poll carried out over the weekend.
The Ipsos MORI poll - conducted over the phone with more than 1,000 adults - showed the Remain campaign was leading the Brexit camp by 55 per cent to 37 per cent
Just a third believe security would be put in jeopardy if we quit the EU in the June 23 referendum.
Despite this, the survey - conducted over the phone with more than 1,000 adults - showed the Remain campaign was leading the Brexit camp by 55 per cent to 37 per cent.
On the economy - one of the most crucial issues in the EU referendum debate - nearly twice as many people think a Brexit vote would harm economic performance in the first five years.
But in the long-term the poll shows voters believe the British economy would be better off outside of the EU.
Nevertheless the poll shows economic arguments are seen as secondary by voters to the issues of immigration and the primacy of British law over the EU.
A majority of 58 per cent of voters believe leaving the EU would make 'no difference' to peace and security on the continent, according to an Ipsos MORI poll carried out over the weekend
The In campaign will be pleased to see the poll finds voters believe Britain would lose its influence around the world if we left the Brussels club.
Mr Cameron will be heartened by evidence in the poll that Tory voters are swinging towards backing EU membership.
It suggests that apart from warnings on security, his and George Osborne's repeated warnings of the economic consequences of leaving the EU are working.
However, the survey will worry Labour's In campaign as it suggests turnout will be low among normal Labour voters, who are believed to be more likely to back EU membership.
In a bid to make sure Labour voters do turn out on June 23, the Prime Minister appealed to Sadiq Khan, the new Labour Mayor of London, to 'use his influence' of his emphatic victory over Zac Goldsmith in the capital's election earlier this month.
The Ipsos MORI poll found that the public dont believe David Camerons claims that a Brexit vote in Junes EU referendum would bring war and genocide back to Europe
The Ipsos MORI poll for the Evening Standard also revealed that Vote Leave's claim that the NHS would do better if Britain left the EU is falling on deaf ears, with just a third of voters agreeing.
The poll came as Mr Cameron was told off by the Kremlin today for using the 'Russian factor' to persuade British voters to stay in the EU.
Yesterday the UK Prime Minister claimed Vladimir Putin and ISIS leader Al Baghdadi 'would be happy' if Britain leaves the EU in the June 23 referendum.
Mentioning the leader of ISIS and the Russian President in the same sentence risked angering the Kremlin and today's comments from Moscow suggested it was retaliating to Mr Cameron's assumption of Mr Putin's view on the EU referendum.
Mr Putin spokesman today accused Mr Cameron of using Mr Putin to score political points but pointed to the Russian President's previous remarks supporting good relations with Brussels. Russia is not among the 28 EU member states.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told reporters today: 'We are used to the Russian factor being one of the regular tools used in the U.S. electoral campaign, but for us it's a new thing that the Russian factor or the President Putin factor is being used in the Brexit debate.
'It is a new phenomenon ... and let's not forget that President Putin has spoken more than once about our interest in forging good partner-like and mutually beneficial relations with EU nations.'
The Russian embassy in London has also complained, saying Moscow had been dragged into a domestic matter that it had no opinion on.
Mr Cameron also faced anger from Tory Eurosceptics, who accused him of ditching controversial reforms in a desperate bid to keep Britain in the EU as today's Queen's Speech unveiled a gimmick-heavy government programme.
In the last big parliamentary set piece before the EU referendum, the monarch set out plans for the UK's first spaceport and driverless cars as well as an online porn crackdown, a 'universal' right to high-speed broadband, NHS charges for foreigners and a major prisons overhaul.
But furious Eurosceptics said flagship measures had been 'jettisoned' as the Prime Minister focuses on keeping the UK's ties to Europe, and said he had broken a pledge to include a Sovereignty Bill that would have guaranteed the Commons was supreme over Brussels.
Former Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith said the Government had abandoned policies promised in the Tory manifesto in a 'helter skelter pursuit' of keeping Britain's ties to the EU.
He highlighted the watering down of reforms to the BBC and trade union funding. Alongside the mooted Sovereignty Bill, plans to force all schools to become academies have been heavily downgraded and there is no mention of the impending decision on whether to authorise expansion of Heathrow Airport.
'Many Conservatives have become increasingly concerned that in the Governments helter skelter pursuit of the Referendum, they have been jettisoning or watering down key elements of their legislative programme,' he said.
The poll came as David Cameron (pictured setting out the Government's legislative agenda after the Queen's Speech today) was accused of ditching controversial reforms in a desperate bid to keep Britain in the EU as today's Queen's Speech unveiled a gimmick-heavy government programme
'Whether it is the Trade Union Bill or the BBC Charter proposals, it seems nothing must stand in the way of winning the referendum.
'Yet to compound that, now it appears the much vaunted Sovereignty Bill, key to the argument that the PM had secured a reform of the EU, has been tossed aside as well.
'The fear in Govt must be that as no one in Britain buys the idea that the EU has been reformed, the Sovereignty bill would draw the public's attention back to that failure.
'After all if the EU Court of justice is supreme and can strike down our laws, the British people would have just laughed at the idea Britain can be sovereign unless we leave the EU.'
Mr Cameron has been eager to show that his administration has not been paralysed by the campaign and can still bring forward radical policies.
He is reaching out an olive branch to Mr Gove, a leading Brexit supporter, Mr Gove by making his reforms the centrepiece.
But the PM may not get the chance to oversee the programme, as a Leave vote on June 23 would almost certainly spell the end of his premiership.
He could face a leadership challenge even if the Remain side emerges victorious.
The Kremlin tells off David Cameron for using the 'Russian factor' to persuade Britain to stay in the EU a day after he said Putin 'would be happy' if voters back Brexit
The Kremlin today told off David Cameron for using the 'Russian factor' to persuade British voters to stay in the EU.
It comes a day after the UK Prime Minister claimed Vladimir Putin and ISIS leader Al Baghdadi 'would be happy' if Britain leaves the EU in the June 23 referendum.
Mentioning the leader of ISIS and the Russian President in the same sentence risked angering the Kremlin and today's comments from Moscow suggested it was retaliating to Mr Cameron's assumption of Mr Putin's view on the EU referendum.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron (pictured right) claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin and ISIS leader Al Baghdadi 'would be happy' if Britain leaves the EU, drawing an angry response from Moscow
Mr Putin spokesman today accused Mr Cameron of using Mr Putin to score political points but pointed to the Russian President's previous remarks supporting good relations with Brussels. Russia is not among the 28 EU member states.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told reporters today: 'We are used to the Russian factor being one of the regular tools used in the U.S. electoral campaign, but for us it's a new thing that the Russian factor or the President Putin factor is being used in the Brexit debate.
'It is a new phenomenon ... and let's not forget that President Putin has spoken more than once about our interest in forging good partner-like and mutually beneficial relations with EU nations.'
The Russian embassy in London has also complained, saying Moscow had been dragged into a domestic matter that it had no opinion on.
The Russian embassy in London has complained, saying Moscow was being dragged into an emotive debate and that the Russian government had no opinion on Britain's place in the EU.
Mr Putin is one of few world leaders not to give his opinion on Britain's referendum on EU membership.
US President Barack Obama and Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have recently made controversial interventions by urging British voters to stay in the EU.
In March UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond claimed Russia was the only country that wanted Britain to leave the EU, while Mr Cameron has said Mr Putin's aggressive stance towards Ukraine shows why Britain must stick with its EU partners.
A spokesman for Vladimir Putin (pictured posing with a Kalashnikov machine gun in 2013) accused UK Prime Minister David Cameron of using Mr Putin to score political points but pointed to the Russian President's previous remarks supporting good relations with Brussels. Russia is not among the 28 EU member states
David Cameron defends 'One Nation' Queen's Speech amid claims he scrapped flagship reforms for a series of lightweight gimmicks in a desperate scramble to avoid Brexit
David Cameron has defended the 'one nation' Queen's Speech amid claims he abandoned controversial reforms in a desperate bid to avoid Brexit.
In the last big parliamentary set piece before the EU referendum, the monarch unveiled a gimmick-heavy government programme including plans for the UK's first spaceport and driverless cars.
There will also be a crackdown on online porn, a 'universal' right to high-speed broadband, more NHS charges for foreigners, and a major prisons overhaul.
But furious Eurosceptics said flagship measures had been 'jettisoned' as the Prime Minister focuses on maintaining the UK's ties to Europe, and said he had broken a pledge to include a Sovereignty Bill that would have guaranteed the parliament was supreme over Brussels.
The Queen delivers her speech opening the parliamentary session flanked by Prince Philip. Tories have complained that key measures have been ditched in a bid to win the EU referendum
Hailing the legislative programme laid out by the monarch with traditional pomp and ceremony, Mr Cameron told the Commons: 'This is the Queen's Speech of a progressive One Nation government.'
THE QUEEN'S SPEECH AT A GLANCE Technology Legislation will be introduced to enable driverless cars to be insured under ordinary policies. The Government will also promise that a spaceport will be constructed possibly in Newquay - by the end of the current Parliament. Use of drones will be regulated. Bill of Rights Labour's Human Rights Act will be scrapped and replaced with a British Bill of Rights. It will give the final say to the UK courts - but would still incorporate the European Convention of Human Rights. Will trigger a ferocious response from human rights groups. Adoption and care Aims to double the number of children placed in adoptive families. There will also be a new 'covenant' giving children in care new rights until they are 25, including help to find housing and employment. Education Bill Commits the Government to creating more academies but is far less radical than the original plans to force all schools to change their status by 2020. This idea was dumped after a backbench Tory revolt. Digital Communications For the first time, Government will treat broadband and mobile coverage like it does other utilities. This means land owners will no longer be able to charge exorbitant rent and access fees to firms like BT or Vodafone who have cables or phone masts on their land. Lords reform The speech alluded to changes to the powers of the House of Lords to stop peers being able to veto so-called statutory instruments, which are often used to bring in new laws 'by the backdoor'. It follows controversy over a decision by Peers to block George Osborne's planned cuts to tax credits last year. Extremism Bill Measures to ban organisations, gag individuals and close down premises used to 'promote hatred' will be included in an Extremism Bill. The bill will also extend vetting rules so that employers will be told of known extremists to prevent them working with children and vulnerable people, or from carrying out roles in 'sensitive areas'.
Formally unveiling the package, the Queen heralded the introduction of 'weekend' jails - with thousands of criminals freed during the week to work and keep in touch with their families.
A review commissioned by Justice Secretary Michael Gove will also recommend prisoners are given iPads in their cells so they can keep in touch with children and spouses via FaceTime and Skype.
In a series of public-pleasing 'retail' offers, every household will have a legal entitlement to fast internet connection, with compensation if their broadband goes wrong.
There will also be enhanced protections from spam callers and marketing, pension scheme exit fees will be capped, and age verification will be required to access porn sites.
But former Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith said the premier appeared to be 'jettisoning' key measures in 'helter skelter pursuit' of keeping Britain's ties to the EU.
He highlighted the watering down of reforms to the BBC and trade union funding. Alongside the absence of the mooted Sovereignty Bill, plans to force all schools to become academies have been heavily downgraded and there is no mention of the impending decision on whether to authorise expansion of Heathrow Airport.
And Tory backbencher Andrew Bridgen told MailOnline: 'It's pretty thin - they even re-announced the referendum and that requires no more legislation. 'The issue that is paralysing and monopolising the Government is the referendum.'
He added: 'I think we should have had the Queen's Speech after the referendum.'
In a furious swipe before the speech had even been delivered, Mr Duncan Smith complained that Mr Cameron had 'jettisoned' key policies to help win the referendum.
'Many Conservatives have become increasingly concerned that in the Governments helter skelter pursuit of the Referendum, they have been jettisoning or watering down key elements of their legislative programme,' he said.
'Whether it is the Trade Union Bill or the BBC Charter proposals, it seems nothing must stand in the way of winning the referendum.
'Yet to compound that, now it appears the much vaunted Sovereignty Bill, key to the argument that the PM had secured a reform of the EU, has been tossed aside as well.
'The fear in Govt must be that as no one in Britain buys the idea that the EU has been reformed, the Sovereignty bill would draw the public's attention back to that failure.
The monarch and Prince Philip walked into the Royal Gallery hand in hand, with pages carrying her train
The Queen prepares to deliver her Speech to open the parliamentary session. It features consumer-friendly plans for a 'universal' right to fast broadband
'After all if the EU Court of justice is supreme and can strike down our laws, the British people would have just laughed at the idea Britain can be sovereign unless we leave the EU.'
Mr Cameron has been eager to show that his administration has not been paralysed by the campaign and can still bring forward radical policies.
He is reaching out an olive branch to Mr Gove, a leading Brexit supporter, Mr Gove by making his reforms the centrepiece.
But the PM may not get the chance to oversee the programme of 21 Bills, as a Leave vote on June 23 would almost certainly spell the end of his premiership.
See more news on ISIS militants at www.dailymail.co.uk/isis
The information she leaked to Russia caused deaths of seven jihadists
ISIS accuse her of being a 'black widow', marrying and killing fighters
All her four husbands died in 'mysterious circumstances', ISIS says
Karaeva, 28, infiltrated ISIS and worked as a spy for four years
Spy: Elvira Karaeva, 28, was executed by ISIS after four years undercover in Russia's Caucasus region
The female Russian spy executed by ISIS after spending four years working undercover within the terror group, had four Islamist husbands who all died in mysterious circumstances.
Elvira Karaeva, 28, reportedly infiltrated an ISIS enclave in Russia's Caucasus region and spent years leaking information, which led to the assassinations of at least seven fighters.
ISIS has now branded the late Ms Karaeva a 'black widow', accusing her of marrying Islamist extremists with the intention of eventually murdering them.
Her first husband Aslanbek Saraliyev - who she wed in the Chechen Republic as a 19-year-old - died during a walk in the woods with her.
Her second, Adam Shakhbiev, was leading radical who was assassinated in a taxi along with his brothers.
Then her third husband - ISIS fighter Arthur Amriev - simply disappeared. Finally, her most recent husband, Abu Muslim - also an ISIS fighter - died from poisoning.
Karaeva reportedly gave Russian intelligence services informations about terrorist fighters' identities, safe houses and military bases, ISIS claims.
Her capture and subsequent execution was reported in ISIS's Russian-language blog called 'Istok', where she is accused of being an agent for Moscow intelligence.
'Elvira the apostate gave information to the Russian special services about our brothers and sisters waging jihad...in the Caucasus Province,' FoxNews quotes the article as saying.
Black widow: Karaeva's last two husbands, Arthur Amriev, pictured right, and Abu Muslim - both ISIS fighters - also died under mysterious circumstances
The information leaked by the now reportedly executed Russian female spy led to the deaths of seven ISIS fighters, including Gochiyaev Biaslan, left
'She shamelessly wormed her way into confidence... and then disclosed their (jihadists) location and contacts, thus making them easy prey for the henchmen of taghut,' the article states.
'Because of her contemptible actions and close contacts with the FSB (Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation), many of our brothers and sisters became martyrs.'
Karaeva, whose identity and alleged execution has not been confirmed by Moscow, was reportedly caught after ISIS got hold of audio during which she admits working for Russian intelligence.
The article claims that Karaeva was responsible for 'the martyrdom of six brothers and one sister.
The man suspected of killing two teenagers and a young child more than 20 years ago says 'a small part of him' hopes the case will return to court, to prove it 'wasn't him'.
Jay Hart was found not guilty during trials related to the disappearances and deaths of Colleen Walker-Craig, 16, Clinton Speedy-Duroux, 16, and Evelyn Greenup, four, in Bowraville, NSW in the 1990s.
NSW Police have submitted a formal statement requesting he face a retrial over the murders, but Mr Hart said he welcomes the news and 'wants the actual evidence to be all heard and seen that is wasn't me,'The Australian reported.
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Jay Hart (pictured), the man suspected of killing two teenagers and a young child more than 20 years ago says he hopes the case will return to court, to prove it 'wasn't him'.
The basis of the police submission is believed to be that Mr Hart confessed to the crimes in jail to a fellow inmate while he awaited trial.
Transcripts from a 2004 hearing into the deaths include testimony from another person, identified as 'Witness X', who claimed Mr Hart explained how he killed Mr Speedy-Duroux and dumped his body.
Mr Hart said if a retrial were to go ahead, he was more concerned out the 'stress, worry and financial burden,' than being found guilty.
The transcripts say Mr Hart allegedly explained how he wrapped his victim's body in a blanket and dumped him in a 'marijuana patch'.
'Clinton had pulled a knife on him and he took the knife off him and, yes, he dealt with it gave it to him about the head,' the transcript reads, according to the newspaper.
Mr Speedy-Duroux's body was found near a field where marijuana was grown just outside Bowraville.
Witnesses claim he was last seen in Mr Hart's caravan and it has been alleged his body was found with a pillowcase from the vehicle stuffed down his pants.
According to The Australian, 'Witness X' also told the hearing Mr Hart spoke about a young girl who died from having her head 'smashed against a wall', and a '15, 16-year-old white girl (a) young girl. Woolgoolga. Maclean, something or other.'
Clinton Speedy-Duroux (pictured), 16, and Evelyn Greenup (pictured) went missing outside Bowraville in NSW more than 20 year ago
Colleen Walker-Craig, 16, also went missing and her body has still not been found
Evelyn died from head injuries she suffered, while Ms Walker-Craig had planned to travel to Wollgoolga the night she disappeared.
The three people disappeared over several months between 1990 and 1991.
Evelyn's body was found along with Mr Speedy-Duroux's, however Ms Walker-Craig's body is still missing.
Mr Hart claims witness statements made in relation to Colleen and Evelyn are incorrect.
Numbers for Kelly's special were released on Wednesday, with the host attracting a somewhat disappointing 4.7million viewers
The cover and title during her specia Megyn Kelly Presents, which aired on Fox Broadcasting Tuesday night
, with her normally slicked-back hair tousled and wearing a low-cut black top and diamond drop earrings
of the Fox News host on the cover
The book will be called Settle For More, and features a
Megyn Kelly released the title and cover of her upcoming memoir during her highly anticipated special on Fox Broadcasting Tuesday night.
The host of The Kelly File looks almost unrecognizable on the cover, with her normally slicked-back hair tousled and wearing a low-cut black top and diamond drop earrings. The title of the book will be Settle For More.
Numbers for Kelly's special, Megyn Kelly Presents, were released on Wednesday morning, with the host attracting a somewhat disappointing 4.7million viewers.
The program, which was heavily promoted, faced stiff competition from NCIS on CBS and The Voice on NBC, and did manage to give Kelly a bigger audience than she attracts on Fox News.
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Unveiling: Megyn Kelly revealed the cover and title of her memoir (above), which will be released in November
Big morning: The cover and title were shared the morning after her special, Megyn Kelly Presents, aired on Fox Broadcasting, with the host attracting a somewhat disappointing 4.7million viewers
An overview of the book, now available for pre-order from Barnes & Noble says: 'Anchor of the number one news show on cable, The Kelly File, Fox News Channel's Megyn Kelly writes her much anticipated book, a revealing and surprising memoir detailing her rise as one of the most respected journalists working today.
'From the values and lessons that have shaped her career, to her time at the center of the chaotic 2016 Republican presidential primary, this book offers an inside look at an uncompromising woman's journey to the top of the news business.'
Megyn, seen left on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live this week, has more tousled hair and softened lines on her washed out book cover, seen right
The site also has a bio of the author that reads: 'Megyn Kelly currently serves as anchor of Fox News Channel's The Kelly File. Throughout her tenure with Fox News Channel, Kelly has covered breaking news and reported on location.
'Before joining Fox News, Kelly served as a general assignment reporter for WJLA-TV (ABC 7) in Washington, D.C., where she covered national and local stories of interest.
'Prior to her career in television news, Kelly practiced law for nine years, seven years as a corporate litigator at Jones Day and was an associate for two years in the Chicago office of the law firm Bickel & Brewer LLP.
'She lives in New York with her husband and children.'
Settle For More will be available on November 15 - two weeks after the general election.
There have been no confirmed reports about how much HarperCollins is paying Kelly for the book, but it is believed to range between $5 and $10million.
The book will also be released around the same time Kelly's contract with Fox News expires at the end of the year.
As for her interview last night, the most anticipated moment was when she sat down with Donald Trump after months of feuding.
Trump told Kelly he does not think of himself as a powerful man during his exclusive interview with Fox News host and said he is just a 'messenger' and a man 'fighting for survival'.
When asked by Kelly about how he perceives himself, Trump replied; 'I mean, I view myself as a person that like everybody else is fighting for survival. I, thats all I view myself as.
An MP caught in a Westminster love triangle after having an affair with the a journalist was referred to the expenses watchdog today over allegations he claimed back hotel rooms for the trysts.
Angus MacNeil was defended by the SNP over the claims, who insisted there had been no 'financial impropriety'.
Mr MacNeil and his party's deputy leader Stewart Hosie were both revealed by the Mail to have had an affair with journalist Serena Cowdy, 36.
Angus MacNeil, 45, who announced his separation from his wife Jane (pictured together left) last year, claimed thousands of pounds on expenses for the luxury hotel where he enjoyed secret trysts with Serena Cowdy, 36, and is now facing the prospect of an investigation after a Tory complaint
David Cameron mocked the pair during the House of Commons debate on the Queen's Speech today, quipping the SNP had 'other things on their mind...perhaps the same thing'.
Scottish Conservative deputy leader Jackson Carlaw today wrote to Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Hudson claiming Mr MacNeil and Mr Hosie may have 'fallen short' of the MPs' rules of conduct.
Stewart Hosie, 53, deputy leader of the Scottish National Party, announced on Sunday that he was separating from wife Shona Robison (pictured together), a senior politician in the Scottish Parliament, following his affair
Mr Carlaw said: 'The SNP says there is no financial impropriety - but at the same time it is widely reported that Angus MacNeil stayed with Ms Cowdy at a hotel in London and put the bill on expenses.
'The best course of action is for the UK Parliament's standards commissioner to look into the matter, which is why we are writing to the commissioner this morning calling for an investigation.'
It was alleged today Ms Cowdy was a frequent guest of Mr MacNeil, 45, at the Park Plaza in Waterloo - a hotel often used by the Western Isles MP.
Mr MacNeil chooses to stay in hotels while working in Westminster and rents out the flat he owns in the capital for 10,000 a year.
He claims the cost of the hotels back in parliamentary expenses. His claims are within the expense rules and MPs are not obliged to disclose details of any guests to the authorities.
An SNP spokeswoman said: 'Angus MacNeil's accommodation has nothing to do with it. To suggest any financial impropriety is totally wrong.'
Mr MacNeil, who like Mr Hosie has split from his wife, billed taxpayers for the hotel room at the four-star Park Plaza hotel in Westminster, London (above), while also letting his flat in the capital for more than 10,000 a year
In his letter to Ms Hudson, Mr Carlaw wrote: 'I am writing to ask you to investigate reports that two serving members of parliament used accommodation allowance to conduct affairs with a political journalist.
'The MPs in question are Angus MacNeil and Stewart Hosie, and it has been alleged in several media reports that they conducted their respective affairs in either accommodation or hotels paid for by the taxpayer.'
Mr Carlaw suggested the MPs may have 'fallen short' of rules which state members 'shall ensure that their use of public resources is always in support of their parliamentary duties', and 'members shall never undertake any action which would cause significant damage to the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons as a whole, or of its members generally'.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon refused to be drawn on the subject, stating it was 'a private matter'.
Yesterday, the Mail revealed that Mr Hosie, 53, and Westminster energy committee chairman Mr MacNeil both enjoyed intense relationships with Oxford-educated journalist Miss Cowdy.
Mr MacNeil announced his separation from his long-suffering wife Jane last year, not long after his affair with Miss Cowdy ended.
The two MPs were said to have clashed over their rivalry for the blonde writer's affections.
Mr Hosie has also now left his wife, Shona Robison, the Scottish government's health secretary and one of Ms Sturgeon's closest friends.
He is said to have had his credit card blocked by parliamentary authorities during the period he was believed to have started wining and dining Miss Cowdy. He refused to comment when approached last night.
Yesterday first minister Miss Sturgeon embraced Miss Robison in the Holyrood chamber in a public show of support and repeatedly refused to confirm that she still has confidence in Mr Hosie as her deputy.
With Miss Cowdy apparently in hiding, attention focused on Mr MacNeil's conduct and expense claims.
After he was elected in 2005, Mr MacNeil purchased a two-bedroom property in Lambeth, South London, for 200,000 with a 95 per cent mortgage. He charged interest payments to his parliamentary expenses.
Shona Robison, a senior politician in the Scottish Parliament, broke down in tears today and had to be consoled by SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon after her MP husband announced they were separating in light of his affair
However, a change in the rules following the Westminster expenses scandal in 2009 meant that he could no longer claim the interest back.
As a result, he now chooses to stay in hotels including the Park Plaza in Waterloo when he is working in London.
He has billed the public purse nearly 75,000 for accommodation since 2010. That includes almost 2,500 at the Park Plaza in the months leading up to the independence referendum.
Between April 2014 and the summer of that year when the referendum campaign was well under way Mr MacNeil claimed 2,384 at the Park Plaza.
MPs do not have to disclose to the authorities who if anyone they share a room with. But he regularly claims up to 150 a night for hotels including both the Park Plaza and a Hilton.
In many cases, the hotel name is redacted from his claims, which totalled 16,665 in 2014-15 and 19,124 the year before.
Mr MacNeil's entry in the Commons register of interests shows his London property brings him in more than 10,000 in rent each year.
Miss Cowdy is said to have had an affair with Angus MacNeil (right) during the Scottish independence referendum campaign before moving on to a relationship with Stewart Hosie (left) which is said to be 'serious'
Earlier this year, he was one of five SNP MPs ordered to repay wrongly claimed expenses after he tried to claim for hotel bills of more than 250 a night, above the limit of 150. The claims included stays in London in 2015.
He came to prominence in 2006 after lodging a formal complaint with the Metropolitan Police regarding 'cash for peerages' the toxic claim that Labour traded peerages for party donations. It led to a Scotland Yard inquiry but no charges were ever brought.
Last night, a senior Labour source said: 'There are serious questions to answer here about any potential misuse of taxpayer funds.
'The SNP told us they would be stronger for Scotland in the House of Commons, but it turns out they have simply been an embarrassment to Scotland. People will be losing count of the number of SNP MPs who have caused a headache for Nicola Sturgeon.'
Mr MacNeil said on Facebook: 'I don't like to comment on my personal life or related tabloid stories, but my marriage ended for very different reasons to what was suggested in lurid newspaper stories. For the record, as if I even need to say, I have never had so much as a cross word with Stewart Hosie.'
Contacted by the Mail, he would only add: 'My accommodation has nothing to do with this.' An SNP spokesman said: 'Angus MacNeil's accommodation has nothing to do with it. To suggest any financial impropriety is totally wrong.'
Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, said: 'Constituents would be deeply shocked if they knew what public money was being used for. It is quite inappropriate if someone owns a flat in London, they should not be boosting their income by renting it out while charging hotel bills to taxpayers.'
A fortune-teller in Virginia has pleaded guilty to committing mail fraud and stealing more than $1 million from her former clients in exchange for lifting 'curses.'
The self-proclaimed psychic Sandra S. Marks, 42, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Charlottesville federal court to one count of mail fraud and one count of money laundering, the Department of Justice said in a news release.
She faces up to 20 years in prison on each count. Marks also will have to return at least $1.2 million to her victims.
Sandra Marks, 42, admitted in federal court to tricking clients into giving her money after she told them they were 'cursed' under a 'dark cloud,' the Department of Justice said Tuesday
Clients who visited Marks' business, 'Readings by Catherine' on Seminole Trail in Charlottesville, were asked to hand over cash and valuables, which Marks claimed she would bury in a box to be 'cleansed' and then return
Marks would tell clients they would need to sacrifice large amounts of money so that a 'dark cloud' could be lifted, Assistant United States Attorney Ronald M. Huber said.
Clients who visited her business, 'Readings by Catherine' on Seminole Trail in Charlottesville, were asked to hand over cash and valuables, which Marks claimed she would bury in a box to be 'cleansed' and then return.
But instead, prosecutors said, Marks and her husband, Donnie Marks, would spend the money for their own 'personal use and enjoyment' and then go on to scam the next victim.
In one incident, Marks solicited $110,000 from a client who had recently received a large inheritance, and then went on to spend the money 'almost immediately.' Purchases included a 1968 Camaro for $17,100, C-Ville reported last year.
Marks told clients she was clairvoyant and able to see into the past and future, prosecutors said.
She also claimed she had a 'gift from God' and that she could communicate with spirits and holy guides, including a being she dubbed the 'Prince of Illusion.'
'Ms. Marks took advantage of people who trusted her during some of the lowest points of their lives,' United States Attorney John P. Fishwick Jr. said.
Online reviews for Marks' now-shuttered business are generally scathing.
Online reviews for Marks' business are scathing - with several individuals calling her out for her 'scam'
Clients wrote warnings on a Facebook page associated with the now-shuttered business
'Scam artist, stay away!!!' wrote one individual on the company's Facebook page.
Another wrote: 'Her real name is Sandra Marks, well known psychic scammer...'
At least one of Marks' clients seemed to have seen results, although disappointing:
One of Australia's leading law firms is set to help launch a class action against Thermomix, amid reports one of the cookers exploded in a child's face.
Melbourne-based legal outfit Slater and Gordon reportedly want to help take on the class action after it was revealed 87 people have been injured by the product, the Herald Sun reports.
The firm's senior public liability lawyer Barrie Woollacott said he was shocked by the number of reported injuries allegedly caused by Thermomix.
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A prominent Australian law firm is set to help launch a class action against Thermomix, amid reports one of the cookers exploded in a child's face (stock image)
'We didn't really have any concept as to those sorts of numbers. It increases the prospects of a class action going ahead,' he told the newspaper.
The figure of 87 burns cases was reportedly by consumer advocacy group CHOICE last week.
Eighteen of the cases required treatment from a doctor or a nurse and eight people reported hospitalisation, with some spending time in the specialist burns unit for up to three weeks.
The information collected by CHOICE related to two recent Thermomix products, the TM31 and TM5.
Eighty-three complaints were about the TM31 and four were about the TM35, according to the mass incident report.
The group also received complaints about 26 near-misses where hot liquid exploded from a Thermomix but did not hurt anyone.
According to CHOICE, customers had complained to Thermomix about the failure of its popular TM31 at least a year before the product was listed on the national recalls website.
'Based on the incidents identified in our report, it appears Thermomix should have made at least two mandatory reports before October 2014 and another eight after that date,' CHOICE's Tom Godfrey said.
Eighty-three complaints were about the TM31 and four were about the TM35, according to the mass incident report. Above is a picture one consumer shared with CHOICE
Another photo of burns sent to the consumer advocacy group. The group called on the ACCC to investigate Thermomix safety concerns
An Adelaide mother developed a huge blister on her hand after her Thermomix's lid 'blew off' and sprayed hot liquid on her
'A responsible company should have acted quickly to address any dangers with products but based on consumer reports Thermomix Australia took more than a year between initial notification and recall.'
Under ACCC's mandatory reporting guidelines, a manufacturer must provide written notice to the Federal Minister for Consumer Affairs within two days of becoming aware that someone suffered a serious injury or illness from their product.
THERMOMIX INCIDENTS A total of 94 report were received, with 87 relating to a Thermomix The cases related to two Thermomix products - TM31 and TM5 Eighty-three of the reports related to the TM31 and four reports were about the TM5 In 45 of the reports, a consumer was harmed - with two cases involving the TM5 and 43 from a consumer using the TM31 Eighteen people had to be treated by a doctor or a nurse after they were injured, with eight people hospitalised Of these eight people, five were treated in a specialist burns unit for a number of days, some up to three weeks
The consumer advocacy group undertook the report after it was revealed the company was forcing customers to sign non-disclosure agreements and gag orders before granting burn victims refunds.
Following the release of this report, CHOICE has called on the ACCC to issue a safety warning about the machine and investigate further.
The group also alleged Thermomix tried to downplay the dangers of its product.
'These reports also allege the company has attempted to blame victims and downplay the danger this product presents,' Mr Godfrey said.
'It is deeply concerning that, in a number of cases, when the company was informed of an incident they blamed the consumer by classifying the product's failure as 'user error'.'
In a statement, a Thermomix spokesman said 'the safety, welfare and support' of its customers was their 'highest priority'.
'Thermomix in Australia (TiA) and Vorwerk, the manufacturer, are aware of the allegations made in CHOICE's report to the ACCC,' he said.
Perth mother Danika Jones (pictured) was rushed to hospital with second-degree burns after her appliance burst open while she cooked pasta sauce earlier this month
Another picture of Ms Jones' burns to her arm after using her Thermomix
Adelaide mother Tennille Pooley was left in a 'world of pain' with horrific second degree burns to her left hand, arm and chest
'We have always fully cooperated with the ACCC and will continue to do so.
'We do not wish to prejudice the outcome of the ACCC's review of matters reported to it by commenting further at this time.'
One of the customers involved in 87 of these cases was Perth mother-of-two Danika Jones who was rushed to hospital with second-degree burns after her appliance burst open while she cooked pasta sauce in March.
Following Ms Jones' incident, two more mothers came forward after suffering serious burns when their Thermomixes exploded.
Tennille Pooley, from Adelaide, said she was cooking dinner with a two-year-old Thermomix when the lid 'blew off' and sprayed hot liquid all over her.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with conservatives, including radio host Glenn Beck, to discuss claims that its trending topics feature is biased against their viewpoints.
The Wednesday meeting also included American Enterprise Institute president Arthur Brooks, Tea Party Patriots CEO Jenny Beth Martin and Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center, which says its 'sole mission is to expose and neutralize the propaganda arm of the Left: the national news media.'
Zuckerberg invited the dozen or so conservatives after a report in Gizmodo claimed that Facebook downplays conservative news subjects on its trending feature.
Facebook denies that report, but Zuckerberg said the company is investigating the matter.
Bozell said in a release that he looks forward to talking to Zuckerberg and Facebook 'because, as I'll explain to them, no one knows more about liberal bias in the media than we do. We have been documenting and exposing it for almost 30 years. Facebook has a serious problem.'
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Big day: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg met with conservative leaders on Wednesday (above in a file photo from September 2015)
Crew: Guests included Glenn Beck (above in September) American Enterprise Institute president Arthur Brooks, Tea Party Patriots CEO Jenny Beth Martin and Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center
Zuckerberg took to the his own Facebook page last Thursday evening to announce his plans to speak with leading conservatives.
'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,' the statement said.
The story became so big last week that 'Trending Topics' was a trending topic on the website.
In its own blog post, the company said a series of checks and balances - involving both software formulas and humans - ensures that stories displayed in the trending topics section aren't biased.
The 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 them.
Justin Osofsky, vice president of global operations, said the guidelines 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,' he said in a statement.
Facebook hasn't said how many people are responsible for the trending topics team.
The Guardian report on Thursday said 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 topics 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.
Those ten outlets include; BBC News, CNN, Fox News, The Guardian, NBC News, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Yahoo and Yahoo News.
Stories covered by those outlets gain an importance level that may make them more likely to be seen.
If a story is the lead on all ten sites it was described as nuclear, an event that the internal memo said would only happen one to three times a year, a recent example being the Brussels terror attacks.
Birthday: Over the weekend Zuckerberg posted a photo celebrating his birthday with wife Priscilla, their child Max and Sheryl Sandberg (above)
Former curators of the trending list told Gizmodo however that there was a clear bias among some employees.
'Depending on who was on shift, things would be blacklisted or trending,' said one former curator.
'Id come on shift and Id discover that CPAC or Mitt Romney or Glenn Beck or popular conservative topics wouldnt be trending because either the curator didnt recognize the news topic or it was like they had a bias against Ted Cruz.'
Another curator added: 'It was absolutely bias. We were doing it subjectively. It just depends on who the curator is and what time of day it is.
'Every once in awhile a Red State or conservative news source would have a story. But we would have to go and find the same story from a more neutral outlet that wasnt as biased.'
A third curator who spoke with the technology site admitted that there were also times when a story that was not trending would be put into the feed.
'Facebook got a lot of pressure about not having a trending topic for Black Lives Matter,' they said.
'They realized it was a problem, and they boosted it in the ordering. They gave it preference over other topics. When we injected it, everyone started saying, "Yeah, now Im seeing it as number one".'
Republican South Dakota Republican John Thune wrote to Zuckerberg demanding answers about any possible bias in the company.
Andy Burnham is expected to quit Jeremy Corbyn's frontbench later this year after he declared his intention to run for mayor of Greater Manchester next year.
The Shadow Home Secretary, who was a key appointment by Mr Corbyn in his attempts keep the party together after he won the Labour leadership election, said he will step down as an MP if he wins the new post in next May's elections.
If successful, it would end his 15 years as MP for the Leigh constituency in Greater Manchester, during which he has made two failed bids to become Labour leader.
The move is a damning assessment of Mr Corbyn's leadership and his chances of winning the 2020 election.
Andy Burnham's decision to stand for mayor of Greater Manchester is a damning assessment of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership and his chances of winning in 2020. Mr Burnham lost out to Mr Corbyn in the Labour leadership election in September, leading to an awkward moment when the result was announced (pictured)
The job of Home Secretary is one of the four great offices of state but his decision to abandon shadowing the post suggests that he has little confidence in Labour being in government in 2020.
It will almost certainly lead to more speculation about the party's direction under Mr Corbyn, although he is unlikely to face a leadership challenge this summer - as some in the party had hoped - after better-than-expected performances in English local elections earlier this month and Sadiq Khan's easy victory in the London mayoral election.
Fellow Labour frontbencher Luciana Berger has already said she is considering running for the new 'metro mayor' role in Liverpool.
Announcing his decision to stand today, Mr Burnham said Labour must put up its 'biggest names' for mayoral jobs, urging the party not to overlook devolved posts as it has done in Scotland, where it finished in a disastrous third place in the Holyrood elections earlier this month.
Mr Burnham, a keen Everton fan, will launch his campaign tomorrow but his decision to stand was revealed this afternoon after an official Twitter account named @Andy4Manchester was set up.
Andy Burnham will launch his campaign tomorrow but his decision to stand was revealed this afternoon after an official Twitter account named @Andy4Manchester (pictured) was set up
Andy Burnham's decision to stand for mayor of Greater Manchester will almost certainly lead to more speculation about the party's direction under Jeremy Corbyn (pictured left with Burnham, right and former leadership contender Liz Kendall, middle) although he is unlikely to face a leadership challenge this summer - as some in the party had hoped - after better-than-expected performances in English local elections earlier this month and Sadiq Khan's easy victory in the London mayoral election
Explaining his decision to stand for mayor of Greater Manchester, Mr Burnhan told the Manchester Evening News: 'The more I've thought about it the more I couldn't shake it off.
'The more I've thought about it, the more I've come to the conclusion that it is a massive moment for politics.'
In another interview, with the Guardian, he added: 'For me this is a cabinet-level job, which needs cabinet-level experience.
'And it needs somebody who is going to devote themselves to it and grab it with both hands.'
If successful, Mr Burnham will gain one of the most powerful local government posts in England.
Being in charge of the Greater Manchester area is likely to give him a directly-elected mandate that is second only to Sadiq Khan as Mayor of London.
Former Labour MP Tony Lloyd is serving as the interim mayor of the combined authority until the first election for the role in 2017.
Awkward! Jeremy Corbyn gives David Cameron the cold shoulder as the PM desperately tries to make small talk ahead of the Queen's Speech
Jeremy Corbyn gave David Cameron the cold shoulder today as the Prime Minister desperately tried to make small talk ahead of the Queen's Speech.
As the pair made the traditional walk from the House of Commons to the House of Lords to attend Her Majesty's address for the State Opening of Parliament, the Labour leader was seen stony-faced as he rejected several efforts by Mr Cameron to engage in the typical chit-chat.
The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition traditionally share a light-hearted conversation as they make the short walk between the two chambers.
It was the first time in his 33 years in Parliament that Mr Corbyn - a staunch republican - has attended the Queen's Speech, suggesting he was unfamiliar with the convention of small talk.
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As the pair made the traditional walk from the House of Commons to the House of Lords to attend Her Majesty's address for the State Opening of Parliament, the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (right) was seen stony-faced as he rejected several efforts by David Cameron (left) to engage in the typical chit-chat
With the cameras trained on their every move, the Prime Minister appeared to go red in the face as his advances were snubbed.
Observers suggested Mr Corbyn's refusal to take part in small talk was due to his unfamiliarity of the proceedings.
His office has confirmed it is the first time he has heard Her Majesty's address in person, despite having been an MP since 1983.
As Leader of the Opposition he is obliged to attend the annual Queen's Speech setting out the Government's legislative agenda.
Jeremy Corbyn (right) snubs David Cameron (left) as the PM tried to make small talk with the Labour leader during the traditional short walk between the House of Commons and House of Lords today
With the cameras trained on their every move, the Prime Minister (left) appeared to go red in the face as his advances at small talk were snubbed by Jeremy Corbyn (right)
But the pair have been known to share gossip at similar state events before.
As they sat waiting to hear Chinese President Xi Jinping give a speech in Parliament earlier this year Mr Corbyn and Mr Cameron appeared to share gossip about an acquaintance's ex-wife being a former sex worker.
THE QUEEN'S SPEECH AT A GLANCE Technology Legislation will be introduced to enable driverless cars to be insured under ordinary policies. The Government will also promise that a spaceport will be constructed possibly in Newquay - by the end of the current Parliament. Use of drones will be regulated. Bill of Rights Labour's Human Rights Act will be scrapped and replaced with a British Bill of Rights. It will give the final say to the UK courts - but would still incorporate the European Convention of Human Rights. Will trigger a ferocious response from human rights groups. Adoption and care Aims to double the number of children placed in adoptive families. There will also be a new 'covenant' giving children in care new rights until they are 25, including help to find housing and employment. Education Bill Commits the Government to creating more academies but is far less radical than the original plans to force all schools to change their status by 2020. This idea was dumped after a backbench Tory revolt. Digital Communications For the first time, Government will treat broadband and mobile coverage like it does other utilities. This means land owners will no longer be able to charge exorbitant rent and access fees to firms like BT or Vodafone who have cables or phone masts on their land. Lords reform The speech alluded to changes to the powers of the House of Lords to stop peers being able to veto so-called statutory instruments, which are often used to bring in new laws 'by the backdoor'. Follows controversy over a decision by Peers to block George Osborne's planned cuts to tax credits last year. Extremism Bill Measures to ban organisations, gag individuals and close down premises used to 'promote hatred' will be included in an Extremism Bill. The bill will also extend vetting rules so that employers will be told of known extremists to prevent them working with children and vulnerable people, or from carrying out roles in 'sensitive areas'.
Lip-readers analysed their conversation and rather than talking about the political issues of the day, the experts said the Labour leader had told the PM: 'It was difficult because, erm, thats his ex-wife who is, erm, apparently an ex-prostitute'.
Mr Cameron, who nodded and looked slightly embarrassed, replied simply: 'Oh' - before steering the conversation on to self employment levels being 'down gradually'.
During the exchange the Labour leader also cracked a joke to the Prime Minister who burst out laughing.
He said: 'I remember I lost my glasses. (At a) school party, I mustve been about three at the time'.
Today was not the first time Mr Cameron has been snubbed by the Opposition leader.
Last summer his small talk with the then interim Labour leader Harriet Harman appeared to dry up immediately, as they walked in silence to the House of Lords.
It contrasted with the days when Mr Cameron and Ed Miliband were seen sharing jokes with each other during the traditional walk between the two chambers.
The main measures in today's Queen's Speech included plans to protect for children from online porn and a universal right to high-speed broadband, a major prisons overhaul in the Queens Speech.
The radical plans for prison reforms - which the Government says will be the biggest shake-up since the Victorian era - put the pro-Brexit Justice Secretary Michael Gove at the heart of the Government's legislative agenda for the coming year.
The move is seen as efforts by Downing Street to start the process of reconciling the deeply-divided Conservative party after June's EU referendum.
The Prime Minister used today's Queen's Speech to insist the EU vote will not paralyse the his Government.
Her Majesty declared that every household will have a legal entitlement to fast internet connection as she outlined the governments agenda for the next year.
Age verification will be required to access porn sites, and households will be in line for compensation if their broadband goes wrong. There will also be enhanced protections from spam callers and marketing.
In the last big parliamentary set-piece before the EU referendum, the monarch outlined the key planks of the government's agenda in a ceremony steeped in pomp and tradition.
The 'one nation' package will also see the introduction of 'weekend' jails - with thousands of criminals freed during the week to work and keep in touch with their families.
Today's stony-silence between David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn contrasted with the days when the Tory leader (left) and former Labour leader Ed Miliband (right) were seen sharing jokes with each other during the traditional walk between the two chambers
The Queen delivers her speech opening the parliamentary session flanked by Prince Philip. Tories have complained that key measures have been ditched in a bid to win the EU referendum
HANDS OFF THE BBC! DENNIS SKINNER'S LATEST BARB AT BLACK ROD Dennis Skinner often heckles Black Rod, pictured, today, when he summons MPs to the Queen Labour veteran Dennis Skinner has warned the Government it must keep its 'hands off the BBC' in his traditional heckle of Black Rod. The Beast of Bolsover almost always shouts something when the senior Commons official summons MPs to hear the Queen address both Houses of Parliament in the House of Lords. For 2016, Mr Skinner recalled the running row over the BBC Charter review amid claims the Government is trying to rein in the corporation for political reasons. The eve of the Queen's speech was dominated by a bizarre row over the hosting of recipes on the main BBC website. The Bolsover MP declined to take part in proceedings last year but in 2014 declared it was the 'coalition's last stand'. In 2013, he said: 'Royal Mail for sale, Queen's head privatised.' In one of his earliest interventions, Mr Skinner said in 1987: 'Tell her to sell up!'
Prisons shake-up, porn crackdown, NHS charges for foreigners and tougher protection from spam in Queens Speech but furious Tories accuse PM of ditching key policies to win EU vote
Protection for children from online porn and a universal right to high-speed broadband have been unveiled alongside a major prisons overhaul in the Queens Speech as David Cameron insisted the EU referendum will not paralyse his government.
The monarch declared that every household will have a legal entitlement to fast internet connection as she outlined the governments agenda for the next year.
Age verification will be required to access porn sites, and households will be in line for compensation if their broadband goes wrong. There will also be enhanced protections from spam callers and marketing.
In the last big parliamentary set-piece before the EU referendum, the monarch outlined the key planks of the government's agenda in a ceremony steeped in pomp and tradition.
The 'one nation' package will also see the introduction of 'weekend' jails - with thousands of criminals freed during the week to work and keep in touch with their families.
The monarch and Prince Philip walked into the Royal Gallery hand in hand, with pages carrying her train
A review commissioned by Justice Secretary Michael Gove will also recommend prisoners are given iPads in their cells so they can keep in touch with children and spouses via FaceTime and Skype.
The move is likely to inflame tensions with the Tory Right, with the battle over Brexit already threatening to tear the party to shreds.
CHARLES ATTENDS QUEEN'S SPEECH AGAIN AS HE PREPARES TO TAKE OVER THE THRONE Prince Charles is attending the Queen's Speech again today amid growing signs he is stepping up preparations to take over the throne. It is the third year in a row the 67-year-old heir to the throne has accompanied Her Majesty after 17 years of absence from the State Opening of Parliament. Prince Charles has attended the Queen's Speech 11 times but before 2013 he had been absent since 1996. As King it will be his duty to formally open each new session of Parliament once a year. He has taken on an increasing number of the Queen's official roles and duties over recent years as the 90-year-old monarch scales back her official activities.
The package has already been lambasted by former Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith, who accused Mr Cameron of scrapping a promised Sovereignty Bill that would have guaranteed parliament's supremacy over Brussels.
Mr Duncan Smith said the premier appeared to be 'jettisoning' key measures in 'helter skelter pursuit' of keeping Britain's ties to the EU.
Mr Cameron is eager to show that his administration has not been paralysed by the campaign and can still bring forward radical policies.
He is reaching out an olive branch to Mr Gove, a leading Brexit supporter, Mr Gove by making his reforms the centrepiece.
But Mr Cameron may not get the chance to oversee the programme, as a Leave vote on June 23 would almost certainly spell the end of his premiership.
He could face a leadership challenge even if the Remain side emerges victorious.
In a furious swipe before the speech had even been delivered, Mr Duncan Smith complained that Mr Cameron had 'jettisoned' key policies to help win the referendum.
'Many Conservatives have become increasingly concerned that in the Governments helter skelter pursuit of the Referendum, they have been jettisoning or watering down key elements of their legislative programme,' he said.
'Whether it is the Trade Union Bill or the BBC Charter proposals, it seems nothing must stand in the way of winning the referendum.
'Yet to compound that, now it appears the much vaunted Sovereignty Bill, key to the argument that the PM had secured a reform of the EU, has been tossed aside as well.
'The fear in Govt must be that as no one in Britain buys the idea that the EU has been reformed, the Sovereignty bill would draw the public's attention back to that failure.
'After all if the EU Court of justice is supreme and can strike down our laws, the British people would have just laughed at the idea Britain can be sovereign unless we leave the EU.'
The Imperial State Crown is carefully prepared in the grand Royal Gallery, behind the main House of Lords chamber, ahead of the arrival of The Queen in Westminster
Prince Charles will also be present for the Queen's Speech today. It is the last big parliamentary set piece before the EU referendum
The Queen's Speech was broadcast on screens across the Palace of Westminster - including in the Royal Gallery where the pictures were broadcast alongside an historic portrait of Elizabeth II
Under the planned reforms low-risk prisoners will be free to carrying on working during the week if employers agree to avoid them becoming unemployed and wrecking families.
Their movements will be monitored by satellite tags, which have been beset by technology problems, to be trialled initially in eight police areas.
Labour's gum-chewing defence spokeswoman launched a foul-mouthed insult at David Cameron in the Commons today after he accused her of undermining Britain's security.
Emily Thornberry mouthed 'b****cks' at the Prime Minister as she sat opposite on the Opposition bench during his statement on the Queen's Speech.
The extraordinary response - which was caught on camera as she chewed gum - came after Mr Cameron accused her of being a 'shadow defence secretary who doesn't believe in defence'.
Ms Thornberry, seen top left, clearly mouthed 'boll***s at the Prime Minister during his statement to MPs
The government has laid down the gauntlet to Jeremy Corbyn and Ms Thornberry by announcing there will be a Commons vote on renewing the Trident nuclear deterrent later this year.
Both the Labour leader and his defence spokeswoman support unilateral disarmament - but the bulk of their party and a significant proportion of the shadow cabinet are in favour of retaining the weapons.
During the debate following the Queen's Speech, Mr Cameron spelled out the government's commitment to maintaining the Nato target for spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence and renewing Trident on a like-for like basis.
But it was when he pointed out Labour's awkward position on the issue that she delivered the smirking riposte.
Mr Cameron appeared to shrug off the insult.
Swearing is regarded as unparliamentary language, but the Speaker did not pick up on the jibe.
Ms Thornberry was moved to the defence brief as part of Mr Corbyn's botched New Year reshuffle, replacing Trident supporter Maria Eagle.
The leader, who is vice president of CND, is fighting to shift the party's policy, which formally remains in favour of retaining nuclear weapons.
Ms Thornberry is currently carrying out a policy review, but no change can be made until there has been a vote party's annual conference in September.
The government is expected to wait until after the conference to hold the vote, maximising the difficulties for Mr Corbyn.
The veteran left winger faces a huge rebellion if he tries to force Labour MPs to oppose Trident.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister confirmed that the matter would be brought to the House over the next year.
Asked about Ms Thornberry's foul-mouthed intervention, the spokesman replied: 'The position held by the Labour Party proves conclusively that his description was accurate.'
A source close to Ms Thornberry said: 'It may not have been parliamentary, but it was certainly accurate.
Mr Cameron addresses the House after the monarh set out the programme for the next year
'But there is a serious point. If the Prime Minister is going to insult MPs by saying they don't care about the defence of this country, he should expect to take a little back.
'You'd think he would have learned from the tactics he tried against Sadiq Khan.'
A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said the incident was 'a matter for Emily'.
Gaffe-prone Ms Thornberry was sacked by Ed Miliband in 2014 after sparking a storm by tweeting a picture of a terrace home in Rochester with three England flags and a white van parked in the drive.
She commented that she had 'never seen anything like it', and was widely condemned for having a snobbish attitude.
But Mr Corbyn rehabilitated her after becoming leader in September last year, appointing her as shadow employment minister and then promoting her to defence.
The Mail on Sunday revealed last month that she shocked aides during a meeting of Labour's defence policy review group by asking: Can someone explain Defcon One and Two to me? Ive only ever seen it in films.
Ms Thornberry's controversial tweet during the Rochester by-election in 2014 led to her being sacked as Shadow Attorney General in Ed Miliband's frontbench team
A nuclear weapons expert present pointed out that Defcon stands for defence readiness condition.
The term was coined by US defence chiefs to signal degrees of military threat, ranging from Defcon Five to Defcon One, which means nuclear attack is imminent. The highest alert the US has used was Defcon Two, which it reached in the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.
The levels date back to 1959, the height of the Cold War, and were little-known outside military circles until the 1983 movie WarGames, about a computer hacker who almost sparked World War Three by accessing US military computers.
The family of well-loved man, 54, is suing the Jelly Belly candy company's chairman and a driver for a fatal accident involving one of the chairman's prized WWII tanks.
Kevin Wright's family filed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit last week in California Superior Court after Wright was run over by a vintage 1944 M5 tank owned by Jelly Belly chairman Herman Rowland Sr. on August 22 at 'Tank Barn' east of Napa.
Dwayne Brasher, husband of Jelly Belly CEO Lisa Rowland Brasher - whose candy heir father is an avid collector of WWII tanks - was behind the wheel of the vehicle when employee Wright lost his balance and toppled out of the tank, to the ground.
Kevin Wright's family filed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit in California Superior Court after Wright was run over by a vintage 1944 M5 tank owned by Jelly Belly chairman Herman Rowland Sr. last summer
The accident happened at The Tank Barn where the millionaire houses a fleet he's tentatively dubbed the American Freedom Military Vehicle Collection
The tank that hit Wright, not pictured, was a prized piece of the chairman's collection
Wright fell directly in the path of the vehicle and was crushed. The complaint states there was no seat belt or hand rail.
According to KXTV, Mr Brasher was driving the tank and offering rides as part of a reunion party's festivities when it hit a mound of dirt while going downhill.
The New York Daily News reports Mr Brasher requested Mr Wright's presence in the tank as he had never driven one unsupervised before
Employee Wright, who was specially called in to help with the event was riding in the tank and lost his balance. He was pronounced dead at the scene by first responders.
'If people had been careful, it wouldn't have happened,' attorney Peter Alfert, who is representing the Wright family, told NBC News on Tuesday.
'Defendant Brasher should not have driven the tank, under the circumstances where Kevin Wright was at risk from falling out of the tank,' according to the suit.
Brasher 'negligently navigated the tank to unsafe and dangerous conditions which resulted in the violent bucking of the tank and knocked Kevin Wright off the tank, resulting in his death.'
Wright is dearly missed by his family. He had two children ages 22 and 24 and also was taking care of his 80-year-old father. His wife tragically died in 2009.
Mr Brasher, who is the son-in-law to Rowland (left) married to Lisa (right) was driving the tank and offering rides as part of a reunion party's festivities when it hit a mound of dirt while going downhill
Wright, pictured with his kids, lost his balance and fell off the hood. His family claims that Mr.Brasher was not trained in driving tanks
Herman Rowland is the patriarch of the family-owned Jelly Belly Candy Co. Ltd, which sells nearly $200million in jelly beans and other confections every year
'They had a close relationship with their father,' Alfert said, 'and at that point, he was their only surviving parent.'
The defendants have not yet responded to the lawsuit but they have 30 days to do so.
Herman Rowland is the patriarch of the family-owned Jelly Belly Candy Co. Ltd, which sells nearly $200 million in jelly beans and other confections every year.
He's also a big fan of the instruments of war, especially relics of World War II and is such an avid a fan that he keeps a mechanic on hand at his Fairfield, California, property to maintain and restore his fleet of antique military vehicles.
'The Tank Barn,' as the millionaire lovingly calls it, houses a fleet he's tentatively dubbed the American Freedom Military Vehicle Collection, reports the Daily Republic.
Rowland says he wants his collection of vehicles from the 'arsenal of democracy' to teach people the meaning of freedom.
Adult charge: James Gabriel 'Gabe' McDonald is accused of murdering his parents
A Texas teenager has been charged with capital murder in the fatal shooting of his parents.
James Gabriel 'Gabe' McDonald of Odessa is charged as an adult. Attorney Justin Low said Wednesday that 17-year-old suspect will plead not guilty.
An affidavit says Gregory and Jana McDonald were killed at around 5:00 a.m. as they slept on March 2 at the family's home. Gabe McDonald was arrested hours later. He was indicted on Monday.
Investigators haven't released a possible motive for the shootings.
Gabe McDonald's sister Grace, 22, said back in March that James came into her room and told her that he was going to shoot their parents.
She thought he was simply making a cruel joke but then she says she heard the chilling sound of the gunshots that killed them both, according to the affidavit.
If convicted of capital murder, McDonald will face a maximum term of life in prison with the possibility of parole.
On May 4, Defense attorney Justin Low said a doctor evaluated McDonald and found him not competent to stand trial at this time.
On Tuesday however, Low said he was still waiting on the results of a test to determine the teen's sanity, according to OA Online.
At the time of the shooting, McDonald was a sophomore at Permian High School.
The school released the following statement after the event, saying: 'This news is devastating not only for many of our students and staff members but also for our community. Our thoughts and prayers are with the McDonald family, and friends who are suffering through this tragedy.'
James Gregory McDonald worked as the marketing president at a Security Bank branch in Odessa.
Security Bank said in a statement: 'We are saddened to hear of the deaths of Gregg and his wife Jana.'
Gabe McDonald's sister Grace McDonald, 22, said back in March that that James came into her room and told her that he was going to shoot their parents. The teen is pictured at a March hearing
An affidavit says Jana and Gregory McDonald (both pictured) were killed at around 5:00 a.m. as they slept on March 2 at the family's home
Justice Minister Dominic Raab said European Court rulings meant terror suspects had to be told why they were banned from entering the UK
EU rules are forcing Britain to disclose top secret intelligence to terror suspects or let them walk into the UK unhindered.
The explosive revelation on the threat to our national security, confirmed by court papers, is made today by Justice Minister Dominic Raab.
He also warns how thousands of criminals and suspected fanatics who could otherwise be turned away are being allowed to waltz through the UK's porous borders, owing to Brussels rules on free movement.
For the first time, Mr Raab lifts the lid on an obscure ruling by the European Court of Justice which poses a massive headache for Britain's police and security services.
The edict concerns cases where the Home Secretary wants to ban a suspected terrorist or extremist with an EU passport from entering the UK.
The ECJ, the official court of the EU, said that if a member state wanted to restrict a citizen's right of free movement, it must explain exactly why - even where to do so would endanger national security.
The result is that the Government would either have to hand over the intelligence it holds on a suspect, including paper files.
Security officials are deeply reluctant to hand over any information for fearing of blowing secret operations or exposing the activities of agents.
So, alarmingly, they are left in the position where they simply have to let the fanatic in.
Mr Raab, writing exclusively in today's Mail, says: 'Even if UK authorities can justify barring someone as dangerous, the European Court of Justice demands we tell them why even if that endangers national security.'
The Brexit campaigner pledges that, if Britain votes Out on June 23, the rules will be immediately ripped up.
The ECJ court case contains a man which joint French-Algerian nationality who a British court has ruled is a member of the Armed Islamic Group. He was involved in terrorist activities in the 1990s and the Home Secretary wanted to turn him away.
But the ECJ ruled that a terror suspect 'must be informed, in any event, of the essence of the grounds on which a decision' against him is taken.
The European Court of Justice has ruled Britain cannot stop terror suspects from crossing the UK border without telling them why
And our own Court of Appeal has since decided that, on the basis of the ECJ's verdict, these rights under EU law 'cannot yield to the demands of national security'.
RULES STOP EU CRIMINALS BEING TURNED AWAY AT THE BORDER Dominic Raab, a former foreign office lawyer, today attacks rules which make it harder to block EU criminals from coming to the UK. Over the last decade, officials who are under instruction not to impede rules on the freedom of movement have turned away only 11,000 EU nationals. Yet, at the same time, 200,000 non-EU nationals have been refused entry to the UK. This is despite 215million of the 321million visitors to the EU since 2006 were from within the EU. MPs said it was clear that criminals and other danger men were being allowed to enter the UK because of the need to adhere to Brussels regulations. Under UK law, a person from outside the EU can be stopped from entering the country on the simple grounds that their presence here is 'not conducive to the public good'. However, Brussels diktats state that EU citizens can only be turned away if there is a 'serious, credible and present threat' a far higher threshold which binds the hands of officials. Justice minister Mr Raab adds: 'The consequence of weak border controls with the EU is to expand the pool of those with criminal or terrorist links that the police and intelligence services have to monitor. 'This imposes huge strains on their resources - and magnifying the risk that dangerous people are slipping through the border.'
Consequently, the Home Secretary either has to disclose information that might prejudice national security or allow suspected terrorists into the UK.
The ruling is based on Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
Mr Raab pledges that, immediately following a vote to Leave, the Government will end the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
This would immediately remove the need to inform terror suspects why they are being turned away.
The Government would also bring the rules on turning away EU criminals into line with those from outside of Europe.
His is the first in a series of articles by Brexit ministers setting out what will happen if Britain leaves the EU.
Mr Raab rejects claims made by the Remain camp that Britain would no longer be able to share passenger name records with the EU. The USA, Canada and Australia already have data sharing arrangements with Brussels, he points out.
He added that Britain would continue co-operating with EU countries on crime and policing at Europol. Some 12 non-EU countries already have officers based at Europol.
The justice minister added that Britain would negotiate to continue extradition arrangements. The government's Statutory Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, David Anderson QC, has described this as 'very likely'.
Armed Forces minister, Penny Mordaunt, said it is 'almost impossible' for the intelligence agencies to protect the country due to restrictions from Brussels.
She added that we 'sure as hell' don't have the tools to protect Britain from the 'problem coming over the horizon'
Armed Forces Minister Penny Mordaunt has warned EU rules make it more difficult to protect the British border and said the UK is stopped from preventing threats 'coming over the horizon'
Earlier this week, the ex-head of MI6 warned that Europe risks importing the 'terrorist virus' and sparking 'popular uprisings'.
Sir Richard Dearlove said the EU's response to the influx of migrants has been 'hesitant', 'unsure' and 'perverse' and was fuelling the risk of the resurgence of far-Right movements.
He added that 'millions' of migrants from the Middle East and Africa are set to head to the continent in the next five years - many of whom will then be able to take advantage of Brussels' free movement rules. And he said it was inevitable that a few of these would carry what he called a 'terrorist virus'.
Frontex, the EU border agency, admits that an unprecedented 1.8 million illegal migrants entered the EU in 2015, the 'vast majority' of whom were undocumented.
The number of people trying to enter the UK from Europe with fraudulent documents surged by 70 per cent in the last year alone.
The Director of Europol, Rob Wainwright, estimates that up to 5,000 people are back in Europe having attended training camps run by Islamic State.
DOMINIC RAAB: The madness of Brussels rule that's weakened our borders
Away from the noisy debate on the EU referendum, a terrorism trial has quietly begun at the Old Bailey. The case links two Birmingham-based individuals with Mohamed Abrini, a key suspect in the Brussels and Paris terrorist attacks.
Undoubtedly, the trial will shed light on the single biggest security question in this referendum: is it safe to stay in an EU that strips Britain of proper border controls? Little can be said about the case yet, beyond the fact that the charges include giving 3,000 for terrorist purposes to Abrini.
Belgian prosecutors revealed in April that Abrini, 31, had confessed to being the man in the hat pictured alongside two suicide bombers who blew themselves up at Brussels airport on March 22.
Man in the hat: Terror suspect Mohammed Abrini visited Britain three times
Despite previous convictions for robbery and violence, he visited the UK three times in 2015. As more information emerges on this alleged network, it exposes the lunacy of the EUs rules on free movement.
If the Home Office wants to deny entry to an individual coming from outside the EU, on grounds that their presence is not conducive to the public good, it has wide discretion. Scientologists were banned until 1980 for propagating a cult, while American rappers and radio presenters have been denied entry for offensive language.
Yet, Brussels dictates that the UK cant bar EU nationals entering, unless they present a serious, credible and present danger to national security. What does that mean in practice? Criminal convictions are not grounds alone for barring entry, even to murderers. So, Abrini couldnt have been prevented from visiting Britain on that basis.
Intelligence reports that raise concerns, like an unexplained trip to Syria, dont justify even a temporary ban. Nor would an alert on the EUs own Schengen Information System. Even if UK authorities can justify barring someone as dangerous, the European Court of Justice demands we tell them why even if that endangers national security.
Because of these perverse EU rules, we have turned back just 11,000 coming from the EU since 2006. Free from Brussels shackles, we barred 201,000 coming from outside the EU even though many more arrive from Europe. The consequence of weak border controls with the EU is to expand the pool of those with criminal or terrorist links that the police and intelligence services have to monitor, imposing huge strains on their resources, and magnifying the risk that dangerous people are slipping through the border.
And the threat level from Europe is rising. Europol, which coordinates European police forces, estimates that there are now up to 5,000 people who visited Islamic State-run training camps, and are now back circulating in the EU.
A shocking report by Frontex, the EUs external border agency, showed systemic weaknesses enabling the registration of fraudulent applications to enter the EU and a surge in fraudulent attempts to enter Britain.
Little wonder, then, that former Interpol chief Ronald Noble dubbed EU rules the equivalent to hanging a sign welcoming terrorists. In fairness, the Prime Minister clearly recognises this risk and during his renegotiations with Brussels he explicitly spelt out the need for stronger powers to deport criminals ... as well as preventing entry in the first place.
Yet the EU regards free movement as sacrosanct, and stubbornly refused to budge. This leaves Britain exposed to unacceptable levels of risk. It is the strongest security reason for withdrawing from the EU, to re-establish proper border controls. Today, working with the Fresh Start group of Conservative MPs, I am publishing proposals for strengthening UK security, following a vote to leave the EU.
From data-sharing to law enforcement collaboration at Europol, theres no operational co-operation we need that we cant maintain with the EU, from the outside.
He began repeatedly punching him until he was
Damien Pankiewicz who has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for the attack on a stranger
This is the terrifying moment a convicted rapist from Poland who had only been in the UK for two days battered a man he never met then threw him in front of an oncoming bus.
Damien Pankiewicz, 37, of no fixed address, was sentenced to 12 years in jail at Inner London Crown Court today after being convicted of grievous bodily harm.
He will be deported after serving his prison sentence after the court was also told he had convictions for rape and assault in Poland.
The jury heard how Pankiewicz had approached his victim, who had learning difficulties, at a bus stop in Brixton Hill, south London around 7pm on July 22 last year and assaulted him for no reason by repeatedly punching him.
He continued to punch the victim, even after he had fallen unconscious to the ground.
Pankiewicz then grabbed the unconscious man by the neck and dragged him into the road and left him in front of an oncoming bus, which managed to stop just in time.
The victim was hospitalised for three weeks with serious injuries. He suffered bleeding on the brain, a broken leg and broken ribs as a result of the attack.
When arrested Pankiewicz headbutted the window of a police car, smashing the window with his face and causing himself minor facial injuries.
CCTV footage of the attack showed the victim unconscious on the ground and Pankiewicz dragging him into the road
As he dragged the man into the road, he left him in the path of an oncoming bus, which luckily stopped at the last minute
He then denied the offence, bizarrely claiming in court that the victim had stolen his phone.
CCTV evidence and property recovered from the victim disproved this claim and Pankiewicz was convicted unanimously by the jury at the Inner London Crown Court on 16 March.
Detective Constable James Bateman from Lambeth Police's CID said: 'This was an unprovoked and violent attack against a vulnerable man in which the victim received serious injuries.
The victim was hospitalised for three weeks with serious injuries. He suffered bleeding on the brain, a broken leg and broken ribs as a result of the attack
'Pankiewicz initially gave no explanation for the assault, before claiming in court that the victim had stolen his phone, a claim we were able to disprove.
'He has shown no remorse for his actions at any stage. The level of violence, its sustained nature and the impact on the victim has been immense and has deeply affected him.
The Kremlin today told off David Cameron for using the 'Russian factor' to persuade British voters to stay in the EU.
It comes a day after the UK Prime Minister claimed Vladimir Putin and ISIS leader Al Baghdadi 'would be happy' if Britain leaves the EU in the June 23 referendum.
Mentioning the leader of ISIS and the Russian President in the same sentence risked angering the Kremlin and today's comments from Moscow suggested it was retaliating to Mr Cameron's assumption of Mr Putin's view on the EU referendum.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron (pictured right) claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin and ISIS leader Al Baghdadi 'would be happy' if Britain leaves the EU, drawing an angry response from Moscow
Mr Putin spokesman today accused Mr Cameron of using Mr Putin to score political points but pointed to the Russian President's previous remarks supporting good relations with Brussels. Russia is not among the 28 EU member states.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told reporters today: 'We are used to the Russian factor being one of the regular tools used in the U.S. electoral campaign, but for us it's a new thing that the Russian factor or the President Putin factor is being used in the Brexit debate.
'It is a new phenomenon ... and let's not forget that President Putin has spoken more than once about our interest in forging good partner-like and mutually beneficial relations with EU nations.'
The Russian embassy in London has also complained, saying Moscow had been dragged into a domestic matter that it had no opinion on.
The Kremlin today told off David Cameron (pictured leaving Downing Street today) for using the 'Russian factor' to persuade British voters to stay in the EU
Mr Putin is one of few world leaders not to give his opinion on Britain's referendum on EU membership.
US President Barack Obama and Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have recently made controversial interventions by urging British voters to stay in the EU.
In March UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond claimed Russia was the only country that wanted Britain to leave the EU, while Mr Cameron has said Mr Putin's aggressive stance towards Ukraine shows why Britain must stick with its EU partners.
The diplomatic row with Moscow came as a new poll showed the campaign to keep Britain in the EU has raced into an 18-point lead.
It is the biggest lead recorded in the EU referendum campaign so far, but the same poll found that the public dont believe David Camerons claims that a Brexit vote in Junes EU referendum would bring war and genocide back to Europe.
A majority of 58 per cent of voters believe leaving the EU would make 'no difference' to peace and security on the continent, according to an Ipsos MORI poll carried out over the weekend.
Just a third believe security would be put in jeopardy if we quit the EU in the June 23 referendum.
Despite this, the survey - conducted over the phone with more than 1,000 adults - showed the Remain campaign was leading the Brexit camp by 55 per cent to 37 per cent.
On the economy - one of the most crucial issues in the EU referendum debate - nearly twice as many people think a Brexit vote would harm economic performance in the first five years.
But in the long-term the poll shows voters believe the British economy would be better off outside of the EU.
Nevertheless the poll shows economic arguments are seen as secondary by voters to the issues of immigration and the primacy of British law over the EU.
A spokesman for Vladimir Putin (pictured posing with a Kalashnikov machine gun in 2013) accused UK Prime Minister David Cameron of using Mr Putin to score political points but pointed to the Russian President's previous remarks supporting good relations with Brussels. Russia is not among the 28 EU member states
The poll gives a major boost to Mr Cameron, who was today accused of ditching controversial reforms in a desperate bid to keep Britain in the EU as the Queen's Speech unveiled a gimmick-heavy government programme.
In the last big parliamentary set piece before the EU referendum, the monarch today set out plans for the UK's first spaceport and driverless cars as well as an online porn crackdown, a 'universal' right to high-speed broadband, NHS charges for foreigners and a major prisons overhaul.
But furious Eurosceptics said flagship measures had been 'jettisoned' as the Prime Minister focuses on keeping the UK's ties to Europe, and said he had broken a pledge to include a Sovereignty Bill that would have guaranteed the Commons was supreme over Brussels.
Former Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith said the Government had abandoned policies promised in the Tory manifesto in a 'helter skelter pursuit' of keeping Britain's ties to the EU.
He highlighted the watering down of reforms to the BBC and trade union funding. Alongside the mooted Sovereignty Bill, plans to force all schools to become academies have been heavily downgraded and there is no mention of the impending decision on whether to authorise expansion of Heathrow Airport.
'Many Conservatives have become increasingly concerned that in the Governments helter skelter pursuit of the Referendum, they have been jettisoning or watering down key elements of their legislative programme,' he said.
The Ipsos MORI poll - conducted over the phone with more than 1,000 adults - showed the Remain campaign was leading the Brexit camp by 55 per cent to 37 per cent
'Whether it is the Trade Union Bill or the BBC Charter proposals, it seems nothing must stand in the way of winning the referendum.
'Yet to compound that, now it appears the much vaunted Sovereignty Bill, key to the argument that the PM had secured a reform of the EU, has been tossed aside as well.
'The fear in Govt must be that as no one in Britain buys the idea that the EU has been reformed, the Sovereignty bill would draw the public's attention back to that failure.
'After all if the EU Court of justice is supreme and can strike down our laws, the British people would have just laughed at the idea Britain can be sovereign unless we leave the EU.'
Mr Cameron has been eager to show that his administration has not been paralysed by the campaign and can still bring forward radical policies.
He is reaching out an olive branch to Mr Gove, a leading Brexit supporter, Mr Gove by making his reforms the centrepiece.
But the PM may not get the chance to oversee the programme, as a Leave vote on June 23 would almost certainly spell the end of his premiership.
He could face a leadership challenge even if the Remain side emerges victorious.
Remain campaign races into record 18-point lead in EU referendum - but voters don't believe David Cameron's claims that Brexit would bring war back to Europe
The campaign to keep Britain in the EU raced into an 18-point lead today, according to a new poll.
It is the biggest lead recorded in the EU referendum campaign so far, but the same poll found that the public dont believe David Camerons claims that a Brexit vote in Junes EU referendum would bring war and genocide back to Europe.
A majority of 58 per cent of voters believe leaving the EU would make 'no difference' to peace and security on the continent, according to an Ipsos MORI poll carried out over the weekend.
Just a third believe security would be put in jeopardy if we quit the EU in the June 23 referendum.
Despite this, the survey - conducted over the phone with more than 1,000 adults - showed the Remain campaign was leading the Brexit camp by 55 per cent to 37 per cent.
On the economy - one of the most crucial issues in the EU referendum debate - nearly twice as many people think a Brexit vote would harm economic performance in the first five years.
But in the long-term the poll shows voters believe the British economy would be better off outside of the EU.
Nevertheless the poll shows economic arguments are seen as secondary by voters to the issues of immigration and the primacy of British law over the EU.
A majority of 58 per cent of voters believe leaving the EU would make 'no difference' to peace and security on the continent, according to an Ipsos MORI poll carried out over the weekend
The In campaign will be pleased to see the poll finds voters believe Britain would lose its influence around the world if we left the Brussels club.
Mr Cameron will be heartened by evidence in the poll that Tory voters are swinging towards backing EU membership.
It suggests that apart from warnings on security, his and George Osborne's repeated warnings of the economic consequences of leaving the EU are working.
However, the survey will worry Labour's In campaign as it suggests turnout will be low among normal Labour voters, who are believed to be more likely to back EU membership.
The Ipsos MORI poll found that the public dont believe David Camerons claims that a Brexit vote in Junes EU referendum would bring war and genocide back to Europe
In a bid to make sure Labour voters do turn out on June 23, the Prime Minister appealed to Sadiq Khan, the new Labour Mayor of London, to 'use his influence' of his emphatic victory over Zac Goldsmith in the capital's election earlier this month.
The Ipsos MORI poll for the Evening Standard also revealed that Vote Leave's claim that the NHS would do better if Britain left the EU is falling on deaf ears, with just a third of voters agreeing.
The poll came as Mr Cameron was accused of ditching controversial reforms in a desperate bid to keep Britain in the EU as today's Queen's Speech unveiled a gimmick-heavy government programme.
In the last big parliamentary set piece before the EU referendum, the monarch set out plans for the UK's first spaceport and driverless cars as well as an online porn crackdown, a 'universal' right to high-speed broadband, NHS charges for foreigners and a major prisons overhaul.
But furious Eurosceptics said flagship measures had been 'jettisoned' as the Prime Minister focuses on keeping the UK's ties to Europe, and said he had broken a pledge to include a Sovereignty Bill that would have guaranteed the Commons was supreme over Brussels.
Former Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith said the Government had abandoned policies promised in the Tory manifesto in a 'helter skelter pursuit' of keeping Britain's ties to the EU.
He highlighted the watering down of reforms to the BBC and trade union funding. Alongside the mooted Sovereignty Bill, plans to force all schools to become academies have been heavily downgraded and there is no mention of the impending decision on whether to authorise expansion of Heathrow Airport.
'Many Conservatives have become increasingly concerned that in the Governments helter skelter pursuit of the Referendum, they have been jettisoning or watering down key elements of their legislative programme,' he said.
The poll came as David Cameron (pictured setting out the Government's legislative agenda after the Queen's Speech today) was accused of ditching controversial reforms in a desperate bid to keep Britain in the EU as today's Queen's Speech unveiled a gimmick-heavy government programme
'Whether it is the Trade Union Bill or the BBC Charter proposals, it seems nothing must stand in the way of winning the referendum.
'Yet to compound that, now it appears the much vaunted Sovereignty Bill, key to the argument that the PM had secured a reform of the EU, has been tossed aside as well.
'The fear in Govt must be that as no one in Britain buys the idea that the EU has been reformed, the Sovereignty bill would draw the public's attention back to that failure.
'After all if the EU Court of justice is supreme and can strike down our laws, the British people would have just laughed at the idea Britain can be sovereign unless we leave the EU.'
Mr Cameron has been eager to show that his administration has not been paralysed by the campaign and can still bring forward radical policies.
He is reaching out an olive branch to Mr Gove, a leading Brexit supporter, Mr Gove by making his reforms the centrepiece.
But the PM may not get the chance to oversee the programme, as a Leave vote on June 23 would almost certainly spell the end of his premiership.
Ex-Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell says Donald Trump's past comments on women will likely come back to haunt him because 'there are probably more ugly women in America than attractive women.'
The Democrat, and Hillary Clinton ally, was offering his thoughts to The Washington Post on the likely Republican nominee's prospects for success in the Philadelphia suburbs when he made the comment.
Rendell later apologized. 'What I said was incredibly stupid and insensitive,' he told reporters in Philadelphia. 'When I read it in the article, I said, "Did I say that?" It was just dumb, and stupid, and insensitive, and if I offended anyone, I apologize.'
Rendell, the former mayor of Philadelphia before he was elected statewide, says Trump's words might gain the presumptive Republican nominee some working-class Democratic voters, but will cost him Republican women because he says 'people take that stuff personally.'
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Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell may have stuck his foot in his mouth when he was explaining why women might be insulted by presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, seen here alongside Chelsea Clinton, has been an ally of the Clintons for quite some time, working to help Hillary Clinton win the Keystone State primary in 2008 and 2012
There were rumors that Gov. Ed Rendell had his own women problems, as he was often seen with 'leggy blondes' while in public office. In 2011, he and his wife Midge (left) said they would separate after 40 years
Rendell didn't immediately return requests for comment.
The brash ex-governor's mouth has gotten him in trouble in the past.
Before Ed Rendell announced his separation, rumors swirled that he was seeing a former Miss Pennsylvania, Dr. Kirstin Snow, allegations he denied
In 2010, he said the U.S. had 'become a nation of wusses' following the postponement of a Philadelphia Eagles game due to a snowstorm.
He later used that statement as the title of his book.
He's been a longtime ally to the Clintons, helping orchestrate Hillary Clinton's win in the Keystone State in 2008, when now-President Barack Obama was already well on his way to the nomination.
Rendell stumped for the former secretary of state last month in Pennsylvania too, calling out Sanders' crowds for being uncouth.
'The difference between our crowds and Sen. Sanders's crowds is that we're always respectful,' Rendell said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
He also blasted Sanders on guns.
'Nobody should come to Philadelphia knowing what we have been through with gun violence and ask for our votes who voted to immunize the gun manufacturers from lawsuits,' Rendell said.
'For the Philadelphia region this is a clear choice. Hillary Clinton will be a great president,' he added.
This isn't the first time Rendell has had a woman problem either, with rumors swirling that he was having an affair with a former Miss Pennsylvania, a Dr. Kirstin Snow, when he was still governor of the state.
As Philly.com put it: 'Rendell has long been the subject of speculation involving younger women, typically leggy blonds.'
He was also spotted around Philadelphia during his time as mayor with lobbyist Holly Kinser when she was married to former House Speaker Bill DeWeese. Then, once in Harrisburg, Rendell was 'very friendly,' according to Philly.com, with Leslie McCombs, a former Pittsburgh TV anchor who had transitioned into a career of lobbying.
Rendell denied that he and Snow were having an affair.
The rumors were snuffed out, upon the announcement that the governor was single again, less than a month after he left office.
Rendel and his wife of 40 years, Midge, sent out a note to friends in February of 2011 saying they were separating.
'This has been a difficult decision, but we both believe it is the right thing to do. Our parting is amicable, and we will remain friends and continue to be active in our community, sometimes together, sometimes separately,' read the letter, signed by Ed and Midge.
By July of that year Rendell was reportedly hanging out with a new 'squeeze,' the 33-year-old Peruvian-born beauty Lucia Zapatero, Philly.com reported .
Trump has made a number of comments about women's appearances including quotes that were unearthed this week by the Daily Beast.
In a 12-year-old phone conversation, Trump called a Playboy and Penthouse model who said they had gone on several dates 'not even attractive' and worse.
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A 16,000-acre Highland estate at the centre of Scotland's 19th century gold rush has gone on the market for 5million.
The owner of Suisgill Estate, in Helmsdale, Sutherland, said you can still pan for gold in the burns that cut through the magnificent landscape.
The same streams on the estate were fished by Prince Charles and his new bride Diana in 1981 during their three-month honeymoon tour.
The price - less than a four-bedroom flat next to Hyde Park, London - has halved since 2010, when it was reported to have been on sale for 10million.
Sprawling: A 16,000-acre Highland estate at the centre of Scotland's 19th century gold rush, with numerous properties (pictured) is on sale for a cut price 5million after a buyer couldn't be found for the asking price of 10million in 2010
Huge: The estate is now on the market for a total of 5.1m but is also available as two separate lots. One has a 2.75m price tag and includes a lodge with fishing rights on the River Helmsdale, plus a cottage. The other is available for 2.35m and includes 16,503 acres
Gold: But Suisgill, 235 miles north of Glasgow, is most famous for being the location of the 1868 Scottish gold rush after a local discovered the precious metal in the burns
Opportunity: The owner of Suisgill Estate, in Helmsdale, Sutherland, said you can still pan for gold in the burns that cut through the magnificent landscape
Landscape: The beautiful green estate in the Scottish Highlands includes more than 1,600 acres and spreads as far as the eye can see
Royal: The same streams on the estate were fished by Prince Charles and his new bride Diana in 1981 during their three-month honeymoon tour (pictured nearby on the banks of the River Dee)
But Suisgill, 235 miles north of Glasgow, is most famous for being the location of the 1868 Scottish gold rush after a local discovered the precious metal in the burns.
Some 600 prospectors flooded to the area to pan for gold in scenes more reminiscent of the American wild west than the windswept Highlands.
The estate is now on the market for a total of 5.1m but is also available as two separate lots.
One has a 2.75m price tag and includes a lodge with fishing rights on the River Helmsdale, plus a cottage.
The other is available for 2.35m and includes the estate's 16,503 acres, with four dwellings.
The gold rush on the estate began in 1868 - after Robert Gilchrist, a local man who had made his fortune prospecting gold in Australia - found gold in the Suisgill Burns.
News of his find spread like wildfire, and within months 600 Scots prospectors had set up camp on the river's shores.
Scenes from the day show wooden shacks pitched up in the area - closer to the gold rush towns of America's west than the towns or cities of Scotland.
Prospectors: During the gold rush, some 600 prospectors flooded to the area to pan for gold in scenes more reminiscent of the American wild west than the windswept Highlands
Jewel of the Helmsdale: Within weeks locals were pulling enough gold from the river for local jewellers to make pieces from the finds
Decline: By the end of 1869 the rush was over - as the practice of panning began to be regulated, and the returns from the river diminished
Historic clue: The Scottish gold rush may have proven to be a flash in the pan, but the area is still known to this day 'Baile-an-or' - Gaelic for 'Town of Gold'
THE LOCAL DISCOVERY THAT BROUGHT HUNDREDS OF PROSPECTORS FLOODING TO THE BANKS OF THE HELMSDALE The gold rush on the estate began in 1868 - after Robert Gilchrist, a local man who had made his fortune prospecting gold in Australia - found gold in the Suisgill Burns. News of his find spread like wildfire, and within months 600 Scots prospectors had set up camp on the river's shores. Scenes from the day show wooden shacks pitched up in the area - closer to the gold rush towns of America's west than the towns or cities of Scotland. Within weeks locals were pulling enough gold from the river for local jewellers to make pieces from the finds. By the end of 1869 the rush was over - as the practice of panning began to be regulated, and the returns from the river began to diminish. And in January 1870 the shanty town built by prospectors was burnt to the ground. The Scottish gold rush may have proven to be a flash in the pan, but the area is still known to this day 'Baile-an-or' - Gaelic for 'Town of Gold'.
Within weeks locals were pulling enough gold from the river for local jewellers to make pieces from the finds.
By the end of 1869 the rush was over - as the practice of panning began to be regulated, and the returns from the river began to diminish.
And in January 1870 the shanty town built by prospectors was burnt to the ground.
The Scottish gold rush may have proven to be a flash in the pan, but the area is still known to this day 'Baile-an-or' - Gaelic for 'Town of Gold'.
Visitors can pan for gold on the estate as part of their tour - but they are more likely to find small flecks of gold than the coveted nuggets that were being dredged up some 150 years ago.
The estate also has its fair share of distinguished visitors - who have hunted the rivers for Salmon rather than gold.
Resources: Visitors can pan for gold on the estate as part of their tour - but they are more likely to find small flecks of gold than the coveted nuggets that were being dredged up some 150 years ago
No demand: Despite the rich history and royal associations, no buyer could be found for the estate when it was originally put on the market for 10million in 2010 by property tycoon Edward Reeves
Cut price: The price was cut to 7million in 2013, again without the sale going forward, and it is now on the market for 5.1million
Diverse: The estate is now being sold by Savills who say it is best known for its fishing but it offers a wonderfully diverse range of enterprises - sporting, farming and forestry
Rich history: The agent says it has benefited from four decades of pro-active management, sympathetic to its history and to the land itself
Charles and Diana fished on the banks of the river during their honeymoon tour, which also took them to Gibraltar and Greece aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia, now harboured permanently in Edinburgh. The Queen Mother also enjoyed fishing on the stunning lands of the estate.
Despite the rich history and royal associations, no buyer could be found for the estate when it was originally put on the market for 10million in 2010 by property tycoon Edward Reeves. The price was cut to 7million in 2013, again without the sale going forward.
The estate is now being sold by Savills. Luke French of their rural agency team said: 'Suisgill is probably best known for its fishing but it offers a wonderfully diverse range of enterprises - sporting, farming and forestry and has really benefited from four decades of pro-active management, sympathetic to its history and to the land itself.
'The estate has recently been relaunched to the market in two separate lots to appeal to a wider audience than it did when it was previously for sale.
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, has released a list of 11 potential Supreme Court justices he plans to vet to fill the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia if he's elected to the White House.
A few of the names are head-scratchers. So is the question of whether or not the list is an ironclad commitment of any kind.
Diane Sykes, a federal judge on the Seventh Circuit, was until 1999 married to Charlie Sykes, a strident right-leaning talk radio host in Wisconsin who railed against the Republican front-runner in the days before his state's primary, won decisively by Trump rival Ted Cruz.
Thomas Lee, a Utah Supreme Court justice, has an even more famous brother Senator Mike Lee, another Cruz supporter who said a week ago that he wouldn't endorse Trump because he 'scares me to death.'
Donald Trump has weighed the nation's judges and found 11 whom he would consider appointing to the Supreme Court
Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett (left) and Federal judge Diane Sykes (right) made the cut
Don Willett, who sits on the Texas Supreme Court, has a statewide reputation as a hard-nosed jurist but a national following as a Twitter jokester, with more than 35,000 followers.
'Daddy, what do you call a vampire who's a good cook?' he tweeted on Tuesday, retelling a riddle from his 7-year-old daughter.
'Me\_()_/' he wrote, indicating his own I-don't-know shrug.
'COUNT SPATULA!' came the answer.
Willett also proclaimed on May 12 in a tweet that the absence of Dr. Pepper from the U.S. Supreme Court's soft drink dispenser constituted 'CRUEL & UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT!'
In a statement, Trump said the list 'is representative of the kind of constitutional principles I value' and said that, as president, he would use it 'as a guide to nominate our next United States Supreme Court Justices.
That 'guide' standard is a far cry, however, from the more ironclad promises he has made in the past to limit himself only to a list he would publish before the November election.
In a May 5 Fox News Channel interview, Trump laid out a plan to 'put ten, 12, 15 names of the type of people that wed like.'
'From that list, I would choose.'
Willett has 35,000 Twitter followers and entertains them with quips and jokes about the life of a modest but powerful legal eagle
Willett is also not above cheeky partisanship, as he showed this month in a jab at Hillary Clinton
TRUMP JUSTICE: THE DONALD'S ELEVEN PROPOSED NOMINEES TO SERVE ON THE U.S. SUPREME COURT The Donald Trump campaign distributed brief biographical descriptions on Wednesday of the eight men and three women the Republican presidential candidate says he would consider nominating as Supreme Court justices. The following are those summaries as Trump's office distributed them. Trump's choices include (left to right) Minnesota Supreme Court Associate Justice David Stras, Michigan Supreme Court Justice Joan Larsen and federal judge William Pryor Steven Colloton of Iowa is a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, a position he has held since President George W. Bush appointed him in 2003. Judge Colloton has a resume that also includes distinguished service as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, a Special Assistant to the Attorney General in the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel, and a lecturer of law at the University of Iowa. He received his law degree from Yale, and he clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Judge Colloton is an Iowa native. Allison Eid of Colorado is an associate justice of the Colorado Supreme Court. Colorado Governor Bill Owens appointed her to the seat in 2006; she was later retained for a full term by the voters (with 75% of voters favoring retention). Prior to her judicial service, Justice Eid served as Colorados solicitor general and as a law professor at the University of Colorado. Justice Eid attended the University of Chicago Law School, and she clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas. Raymond Gruender of Missouri has been a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit since his 2004 appointment by President George W. Bush. Judge Gruender, who sits in St. Louis, Missouri, has extensive prosecutorial experience, culminating with his time as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri. Judge Gruender received a law degree and an M.B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis. Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania has been a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit since 2007. Prior to serving as a circuit judge, he served as a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania since 2003. Before his judicial service, Judge Hardiman worked in private practice in Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh. Judge Hardiman was the first in his family to attend college, graduating from Notre Dame. Raymond Kethledge of Michigan has been a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit since 2008. Before his judicial service, Judge Kethledge served as judiciary counsel to Michigan Senator Spencer Abraham, worked as a partner in two law firms, and worked as an in-house counsel for the Ford Motor Company. Judge Kethledge obtained his law degree from the University of Michigan and clerked for Justice Anthony Kennedy. More potential Supreme Court justices on Trump's short list include (left to right) federal judges Thomas Hardiman and Steven Colloton, and Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Allison Eid Joan Larsen of Michigan is an Associate Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. Justice Larsen was a professor at the University of Michigan School of Law from 1998 until her appointment to the bench. In 2002, she temporarily left academia to work as an Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel. Justice Larsen received her law degree from Northwestern and clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia. Thomas Lee of Utah has been an Associate Justice of the Utah Supreme Court since 2010. Beginning in 1997, he served on the faculty of Brigham Young University Law School, where he still teaches in an adjunct capacity. Justice Lee was Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Departments Civil Division from 2004 to 2005. Justice Lee attended the University of Chicago Law School, and he clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas. Justice Lee is also the son of former U.S. Solicitor General Rex Lee and the brother of current U.S. Senator Mike Lee. William H. Pryor, Jr. of Alabama is a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He has served on the court since 2004. Judge Pryor became the Alabama Attorney General in 1997 upon Jeff Sessionss election to the U.S. Senate. Judge Pryor was then elected in his own right in 1998 and reelected in 2002. In 2013, Judge Pryor was confirmed to a term on the United States Sentencing Commission. Judge Pryor received his law degree from Tulane, and he clerked for Judge John Minor Wisdom of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. David Stras of Minnesota has been an Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court since 2010. After his initial appointment, he was elected to a six-year term in 2012. Prior to his judicial service, Judge Stras worked as a legal academic at the University of Minnesota Law School. In his time there, he wrote extensively about the function and structure of the judiciary. Justice Stras received his law degree and an M.B.A. from the University of Kansas. He clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas. Diane Sykes of Wisconsin has served as a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit since 2004. Prior to her federal appointment, Judge Sykes had been a Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court since 1999 and a Wisconsin trial court judge of both civil and criminal matters before that. Judge Sykes received her law degree from Marquette. Don Willett of Texas has been a Justice of the Texas Supreme Court since 2005. He was initially appointed by Governor Rick Perry and has been reelected by the voters twice. Prior to his judicial service, Judge Willett worked as a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, as an advisor in George W. Bushs gubernatorial and presidential administrations, as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Departments Office of Legal Policy, and as a Deputy Attorney General under then-Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. Justice Willett received his law degree and a masters degree from Duke.
In a March speech to party insiders in Palm Beach County, Florida, Trump had said: 'I'm going to get between five and 10 judges that everybody respects, likes and totally admires,' and that he would 'guarantee it personally, like we do in the world of business which we dont like to do too often but I will guarantee it that those are going to be the first judges that I put up for nomination if I win.'
He described the forthcoming list as a collection of 'judges that I will pick, 100 percent pick, that I will put in for nomination.'
'Because some of the people that are against me say: "We don't know if he's going to pick the right judge. Supposing he picks a liberal judge or supposing he picks a pro-choice judge".'
A Trump spokesperson declined Wednesday to comment about whether Trump's standard of commitment has shifted since then.
Americans are accustomed to seeing a full-court press from journalists and political pundits whenever a U.S. president nominates a single person to the nation's highest court.
Now there are eleven, including six federal judges all appointed by President George W. Bush and five members of state-level supreme courts.
Trump's other picks include Steven Colloton of Iowa, Allison Eid of Colorado, Raymond Gruender of Missouri, Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, Joan Larsen of Michigan, William Pryor of Alabama and David Stras of Minnesota.
Trump had previously named Pryor and Sykes as examples of kind of justices he would choose.
Larsen, who serves on the Michigan Supreme Court and is a former law clerk to Scalia, delivered one of the tributes to the late justice at his memorial service in March. She served in the Justice Department office that produced the legal justifications for the enhanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, that critics have called torture.
Pryor was initially given a recess appointment to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by President George W. Bush.
Senate Democrats had tried to block that appointments over his strong criticism of the Roe v. Wade decision that established a woman's right to an abortion.
Apart from Sykes, who is 58, the others all are younger than 55 and David Stras is just 41. They include eight men and three women.
Trump's list is also notable for the names that don't appear. It omits two of the biggest stars in the conservative legal world, Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the federal appeals court in Washington, and former Bush administration Solicitor General Paul Clement.
Also missing from the list is Ted Cruz, the Texas senator and longtime Supreme Court litigator whose name had been floated as a consensus pick who could help Trump mend fences after a bruising primary season.
Cruz was the last serious competitor Trump had to dispatch in a bruising primary season.
Trump told DailyMail.com this month that he had questions about whether the tea party darling's 'temperament' suited him for the federal bench.
Wednesday's news comes as Trump is working to bring together a fractured Republican Party and earn the trust of skill-skeptical establishment Republicans who question his electability in the general election and conservatives in his party still weary of his commitment to their cause.
Ted Cruz, the hyper-conservative Texas senator whom Trump had lambasted as 'Lyin' Ted' during the Republican primary campaign, did not make the short list despite a history of arguing cases before the Supreme Court
His campaign stressed on Wednesday that the list was compiled 'first and foremost, based on constitutional principles, with input from highly respected conservatives and Republican Party leadership.'
Trump first said in March that he planned to release the list of five to 10 judges in an effort to ease concerns about his conservative credentials, which had come under attack in the heated Republican primary.
'Justice Scalia was a remarkable person and a brilliant Supreme Court Justice. His career was defined by his reverence for the Constitution and his legacy of protecting Americans most cherished freedoms,' Trump said in a statement.
'He was a Justice who did not believe in legislating from the bench and he is a person whom I held in the highest regard and will always greatly respect his intelligence and conviction to uphold the Constitution of our country.'
Trump's list reached reporters as White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest was briefing the press on Wednesday. Earnest declined to comment on names he had not seen included for himself.
But he said he doubted 'if there are any Democrats who would describe any of those 11 individuals as a consensus nominee.'
Many conservatives who have been critical of Trump kept their powder dry on Wednesday, but a few issued atta-boy statements of support.
Trump has promised for two months that he would release a list of potential Supreme Court nominees, an unprecedented step meant to quell concerns that his picks might not be conservative jurists
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, called Trump's list 'impressive'
Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director for the Judicial Crisis Network, said in a statement that Trump's selections 'all seem to share in common a record of putting the law and the Constitution ahead of their political preferences.'
'It is also heartening to see so many Midwesterners and state court judges on the list - they would bring a valuable perspective to the bench, particularly since they have already served on a court of last resort in their own states,' said Severino, who once clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
'This list ought to be encouraging to anyone who prioritizes the rule of law, and I congratulate Mr. Trump on making a very significant policy statement about his desire to prioritize the future of the Supreme Court.'
And Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee that would hold hearings on any Supreme Court nominee, heaped praise in Trump's direction.
'Mr. Trump has laid out an impressive list of highly qualified jurists, including Judge Colloton from Iowa, who understand and respect the fundamental principle that the role of the courts is limited and subject to the Constitution and the rule of law,' he said in a statement.
Charged: Officer Clauzell Gause, 40, was charged with official misconduct Tuesday
A veteran Chicago police officer has been charged with official misconduct after he was caught on camera beating up a man in custody.
The incident occurred two years ago, however Clauzell Gause, 40, was only charged on Tuesday.
He has been on desk duty since the incident.
The patient was undergoing an involuntary mental evaluation at the time.
The man, who was handcuffed, was taken into a room at Jackson Park Hospital.
Surveillance footage taken inside the room shows Gause pushing the patient against a wall.
He then is seen punching the man in the face.
The patient falls onto the bed and Gause approaches him, striking him another two times.
Gause is then seen walking out of the room.
'You and I and those who chose a life of public service, we're held to a higher standard. That's the long and short of it,' Cook County Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. told Gause in court this week.
Surveillance footage taken inside the room shows Gause pushing the patient against a wall. He is then seen punching the patient in the face, as another officer watched
Alleged assault: The patient falls onto the bed and Gause approaches him, striking him another two times
The judge continued: 'Whatever happened, happened. And you have to face the consequences.'
Prosecutors in court said the patient, 24, was having his blood pressure taken when he suddenly stood up and punched Gause in the face.
He was subsequently subdued and handcuffed by a witness, believed to be Gause's partner, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The incident that was filmed happened moments after this alleged altercation.
The victim suffered lacerations and swelling to his forehead, Assistant State's Attorney Theresa Smith said.
The incident occurred on the night of June 3, 2014.
Defense attorney William Fahy said Gause has 'honorably' served the department for the past 12 years and has no disciplinary record.
Gause was placed on desk duty in 2014. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said: 'The Chicago Police Department has zero tolerance for misconduct or any activity which undermines the integrity of our officers and our efforts to rebuild public trust.'
A police dog has died while in the line of duty after being hit by a squad car while chasing suspected thieves.
The German Shepherd, Belgian Shepherd-cross named Rebus was chasing a gang of teenagers trying to escape police in the early hours of this morning.
The four-year-old was sent after the suspects in Nottingham, at around 3am. He was then struck by a 4x4 police vehicle.
Police dog Rebus, a German Shepherd, Belgian Shepherd-cross was killed by a police car while chasing thieves in the early hours of this morning
The four-year-old was sent after the suspects in Nottingham, at around 3am. He was then struck by a 4x4 police vehicle on Colwick Loop Road (pictured), Nottingham
Police dog Rebus, a German Shepherd, Belgian Shepherd-cross was killed by a police car while chasing thieves in the early hours of this morning
The four-year-old was sent after the suspects in Nottingham, at around 3am. He was then struck by a 4x4 police vehicle on Colwick Loop Road (pictured), Nottingham
Rebus was given emergency care at the scene but sadly died of his injuries.
His handler, who was not named by police, was by his side.
Chief Inspector Andy Hall, of the East Midlands Operational Support Service (EMOpSS), said: 'This incident is being fully and actively reviewed, and we await the findings.
'I take the view at this time, however, that it appears to have been a tragic accident.
'I would like to acknowledge and commend the care given to Rebus in his time of need. Not only did an officer provide CPR at the scene, a number of members of the public offered their assistance.
'A valued police dog and a loyal companion, Rebus certainly would have known he was loved.
Rebus was given emergency care at the scene but sadly died of his injuries. His handler, who was not named by police, was by his side. The force described it as a 'tragic accident'
Rebus was given emergency care at the scene but sadly died of his injuries. His handler, who was not named by police, was by his side. The force described it as a 'tragic accident'
'Our colleague is devastated and the officer who was driving the vehicle is understandably distressed.
'They are being supported by their team and they in turn are being supported by their associates.
'Rebus was not only a fine police dog, he was a member of our policing family. His impeccable service was acknowledged at a memorial today in which DCC Sue Fish laid a wreath in his honour.'
Rebus joined Nottinghamshire Police as a pup in July 2012. In his four years' service he has been responsible for the detaining of numerous suspects and attended 313 incidents in the last 12 months.
A British grandmother facing execution in Indonesia has sent a letter thanking her supporters amid fears she could be killed by firing squad within weeks.
Lindsay Sandiford from Redcar on Teesside, has been on death row since December 2012 after attempting to smuggle cocaine into Bali after arriving on a flight from Bangkok.
The 59-year-old admitted smuggling 4.8kg (10.6lb) of the drug but said she was pressured by a smuggling gang.
British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford, who is currently on death row in Indonesia. There are fears she could be executed within weeks
Miss Sandiford's friend Denise Stepo posted a letter on Twitter, where she said she was overwhelmed by the support she received
Today, Miss Sandiford released a letter which was posted on Twitter by her friend Denise Stepo, also known as Dee, where she said she was overwhelmed by the support she has received.
The letter reads: 'Dear friends and supporter, this week has been a good week. I am delighted to see my good friend Dee.
'Was lovely to have her here albeit the time has been short.
'I also wanted to thank you for your messages of love and support.
'I am overwhelmed with your kindness. I want to say a massive thank you to all my Indonesian friends and supporters I am amazed by your caring. This has really touched me.
The 59-year-old admitted smuggling 4.8kg (10.6lb) of cocaine but said she was pressured by a drugs gang
'Please feel hugged, much respect, Lindsay.'
Ms Stepo posted an image of the letter on Twitter with the caption: 'Message from Lindsay to her many supporters... time to abolish #deathpenalty globally.'
The letter comes weeks after it was feared that her death could be imminent as Indonesia is in the final stages of preparing for a new wave of executions on its infamous Nusa Kambangan island.
President Joko Widodo had said last year he would not authorise any more executions pending efforts to revive the economy, which was growing at its slowest pace in six years.
However, last week, Indonesian attorney general suggested a resumption of executions was possible.
Miss Sandiford sits knitting in her jail cell. She has been on death row since December 2012 after attempting to smuggle cocaine into Bali after arriving on a flight from Bangkok
A Central Java police spokesman told the Jakarta Globe: 'Everyone is ready, including prison officials.'
Indonesia executed 14 people, including 12 foreigners, in total last year and it has been suggested a further 10 people will be executed this year.
However, Miss Sandiford sounded philosophical when she was interviewed by the Mail on Sunday last year.
She said: Im nearly 60 and a lot of people dont live to be this age. Being lined up and shot isnt the ending Id pick, but everyone has to go somehow.
Firing squads are made up of 12 paramilitary police, three of whose rifles are loaded with live ammunition, while the other nine rifles contain blanks.
Bernie Sanders has an invitation to debate Hillary Clinton on Fox News in California.
The news network proposed the debate on Tuesday to both campaigns.
Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaver said this afternoon, 'We have told the network that we would accept the invitation with the understanding that we can reach mutual agreement on the debate moderators, the format and other details.'
Clinton's campaign has yet to publicly respond to the debate request and did not answer an email from DailyMail.com early Wednesday afternoon about the status of negotiations.
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Bernie Sanders has accepted an invitation to debate Hillary Clinton on Fox News in California, where he's seen here rallying his supporters on Tuesday. It would fulfill a promise by both campaigns to debate again in May
The Democratic National Committee said this afternoon it had no new information to share about the prospect of a California debate - something both candidates agreed to at the height of the primary season but never came to fruition.
California has the largest pledged delegate haul of all the Democratic contests and votes on June 7.
On Tuesday the Washington Post reported that Fox had made a bid to host its first Democratic debate in a decade.
'By ending that dry spell, perhaps the party can bring some sense of closure to this long and robust primary season. In the process, you and Secretary Clinton will reach a vast number of viewers many of whom are certainly open to persuasion just as we pivot to the general election,' the letter said, suggesting to the candidates that their Republican viewership may be open to the idea of voting for a Democrat in 2016.
The Sanders campaign responded favorably today.
It used the Fox proposal as an opportunity to put pressure on Clinton to engage in one final, televised showdown.
'More than half way through the month of May, we hope Secretary Clinton will soon make good on her campaigns commitment and agree to a time and pace for a debate,' Weaver said in a statement.
The senior Sanders aide said, 'There are issues of enormous importance facing the people of California and our nation and the people of our largest state deserve to hear the Democratic candidates opinions.'
Clinton's campaign has yet to publicly respond to the debate request. Fox News said Wednesday evening she hadn't accepted but its proceeding with plans in case she does. She's seen here Monday in Kentucky
Sanders is losing to Clinton in the race and needs a sweeping win in California on June 7 to overtake her in pledged delegates.
The competitiveness of that primary 'means the people of California have a rare and important opportunity to play a significant role in determining who the Democratic Party nominee for president will be' Weaver said today.
'Before making that choice, Californians deserve to hear what both candidates have to say on important issues confronting the state and the country,' he argued in a release.
Bill Sammon, VP and Washington Managing Editor of Fox News later said in a statement on behalf of the network: 'Fox News has suggested several debate venues in California to the Democratic National Committee and both candidates.
'We are also offering a variety of dates, being careful to exclude Friday and Saturday nights, per the agreement between the DNC and candidates.
A five-year-old girl who brought a bubble gun to class has been suspended by her elementary school in Colorado because it considered the toy a weapon.
Southeast Elementary School said the five-dollar toy - which was clear had a 'Frozen' detergent bottle inside - posed a safety concern, and suspended the kindergartner for one day.
The girl's mother, who asked only to be identified as Emma, was alarmed to receive a call from the school saying her daughter had been suspended and needed to be picked up.
Toy or weapon? Southeast Elementary School in Brighton, Colorado said the five-dollar toy - which was clear had a 'Frozen' detergent bottle inside - was a weapon, and suspended a kindergartner for one day
'If they had contacted me and said can you make sure this doesn't happen again, we just want you to be aware, I think that would have been a more appropriate way to handle the situation,' the mom told Fox 31.
Emma added that she asked school officials: 'Could we have a warning? It blows bubbles.'
However the school was adamant that there were following policy with the suspension, as it had done in the past with other students.
Emma said she did not know her daughter took the bubble gun to school and managed to sneak it into her backpack without her mom noticing.
'It's always going to be lingering there in her school file': The girl's mother, who asked only to be identified as Emma, is worried the suspension
The school released a statement about the incident, standing by the decision.
'While we hear and understand the parents of this student being concerned about this discipline in light of the student's age and type of item, this suspension is consistent with our district policy as well as how Southeast has handled similar situations throughout this school year,' the statement to Fox said.
'This has involved similar situations where students have brought items such as Nerf guns to school and also received one-day suspensions.
'The bringing of weapons, real or facsimile, to our schools by students can not only create a potential safety concern but also cause a distraction for our students in the learning process.
'Our schools, particularly Southeast because of past instances with students bringing fake weapons to school, make a point of asking parents to be partners in making sure students are not bringing these items to school.
'This includes asking parents to check backpacks.'
'The bringing of weapons, real or facsimile, to our schools by students can not only create a potential safety concern but also cause a distraction for our students in the learning process,' school officials said
However Emma now worries that the suspension will affect her daughter's future at the school.
'I don't want her to miss out on class. That's a silly reason not to go to school,' she said.
A Democratic senator who is backing Hillary Clinton said Bernie Sanders risks turning this summer's nominating convention into a repeat of 1968, when riots broke out and tear gas filled the streets.
'It worries me a great deal,' Dianne Feinstein told CNN, speaking about Sanders supporters' behavior over the weekend at the Nevada convention.
The California lawmaker added, 'You know, I don't want to go back to the '68 convention, because I worry about what it does to the electorate as a whole -- and he should, too.'
Some Democrats are fearful that Sanders' backers could incite violence at the July presidential nominating convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after they threw chairs on Saturday at the Nevada State Democratic Party's meeting and made threatening phone calls to the party's head.
A Democratic senator who is backing Hillary Clinton said Bernie Sanders risks turning this summer's nominating convention into a repeat of 1968, when riots broke out and tear gas filled the streets
A Chicago Police officer (right) uses pressure can to squirts mace at anti-Vietnam War demonstrators outside the Conrad Hilton Hotel during the 1968 Democratic National Convention
View of the crowd practicing tactics in preparation for their protests during the Democratic National Convention in Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1968
Senator Barbara Boxer, a surrogate for Clinton at the Nevada convention, said today on CNN, 'There was no way to control what was happening. And I did fear for my safety, and I fortunately had a lot of security around me.
'Ive never really had anything like this happen. It was a scary situation. It was frightening.'
Boxer said that had she not had a security detail, 'I don't know what would have happened.'
Sanders is refusing to take responsibility for the incident. And while he says he does not condone violence, he suggested on Tuesday that they were justified in their frustrations.
The state party deliberately kept out many of his supporters, he said, giving Clinton an unfair advantage at the convention.
His non-apology roiled Democratic officials, including Nevada's Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the Democratic National Committee who said Tuesday that his supporters' behavior was 'unacceptable.'
THE '68 DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION The 1968 Democratic convention was a chaotic affair marked by clashes between Vietnam War protesters and the police. A year filled with civil unrest that saw the assassinations of Democratic candidate Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Democrats arrived at the convention with no nominee. President Lyndon B. Johnson had dropped out of the race in March after being challenged by his own party in the form of Kennedy and anti-war Senator Eugene McCarthy. His vice president, Hubert Humphrey, then joined the race but did not compete in any primaries and instead targeted the caucuses. Democrats ultimately selected Humphrey to represent them in the general election. The convention was held that year in Chicago and Mayor Richard Daley mobilized more than 23,000 law enforcement officers to combat the 10,000 protesters that descended on the city. On August 28 a riot broke out after police began beating a young man and protesters responded by throwing food, concrete and other objects at the officers. The clashes were a black eye on the Democratic Party and Republican Richard Nixon won in November.
At a California rally later that evening Sanders blasted the Democratic Party.
The party 'is going to have to make a very, very profound and important decision,' Sanders said, 'It can do the right thing and open its doors and open into the party people who are prepared to fight for real economic and social change.'
Or it can chose the 'very sad and tragic option' and 'maintain its status quo structure, remain dependent on big money campaign contributions, and be a party with limited participation and limited energy.'
His campaign manager Jeff Weaver ratcheted up the attacks today on MSNBC and accused Wasserman Schultz of 'throwing shade' and the senator and 'working against' him for 'personal reasons.'
She said this afternoon during an appearance on CNN in response '#smh'.
'We need to focus on one thing -- get through this primary and work to prepare for the general election,' she said and 'do everything we can to make sure Donald Trump never becomes president of the United States. '
Putting aside the attack on her personally Wasserman Schultz told CNN's Wolf Blitzer she's not worried that the Philadelphia convention will get of hand.
'No, and really, everybody needs to take a step back and a deep breath,' she said.
The DNC official said, 'This was absolutely a serious concern which is why I said what needed to be said yesterday, and others have also said that there was real concern, but it is important, and I'm confident that the candidates take the messages to heart about making sure that we respond and conduct ourselves in a civil and orderly way.
'It worries me a great deal,' Dianne Feinstein said today, speaking about Sanders supporters' behavior over the weekend at the Nevada convention.
She said even after what happened at the Nevada convention it his her belief that 'we are going to go into this general election united.'
Not only because the candidates agree on the 'issues that matter,' but because they want to 'defeat Donald Trump and don't let he and the extremist Republican Party drag us backwards.'
'And we're going to be united on that and we're going to have a process that we'll go through whenever we have a presumptive nominee, to work together as we always do, and we will come together, lock arms, and make sure that everybody feels included and that we can get this done,' she said.
Boxer also predicted that Sanders and Clinton would resolve their differences.
'I'm working to make sure that the convention is peaceful,' she said on CNN. 'I'm talking to Bernie. I'm talking to his people here who support him in the Congress. They all know if we have that type of convention, you know, we might as well just say we're giving up an advantage that we have.'
The California senator said she is 'not sitting around worried' because she also believes the party will come together.
A bear sent a southern Californian suburb into panic when it was spotted rambling through the area and taking refuge in a tree.
Law enforcement officers pursued the bear to chase it away from populated areas, and precautions were taken at local schools on Wednesday.
Vineyard Junior High School and Highland Avenue Christian School, both in Rancho Cucamonga, went on modified lockdown, KABC reported.
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A bear rambled through a Southern California foothill suburb before it took refuge in a tree. It is seen among the branches in this photo posted to Facebook by the Rancho Cucamonga Police Department
The bear is seen walking on a sidewalk. Law enforcement officers pursued the bear to chase it away from populated areas, and precautions were taken at local schools on Wednesday
Vineyard Junior High School and Highland Avenue Christian School, both in Rancho Cucamonga, went on modified lockdown. Wildlife authorities were able to tranquilize the animal
The Rancho Cucamonga Police Department shared a video on Facebook which showed the bear walking down a sidewalk.
It also posted a snap of the bear up a tree, writing: 'The black bear is corralled in a tree near Hermosa/Highland.
'Dept. of Fish and Wildlife will attempt to relocate.'
Rancho Cucamonga police said in a Facebook post: 'The black bear is perched approximately 60 feet in the tree.
'RCPD & Dept. of Fish and Wildlife plan on waiting until the bear is at a safe height before utilizing a tranquilizer.'
The bear was moved into a crate by authorities on Wednesday
The bear was subdued late Wednesday morning in the backyard of a Rancho Cucamonga home at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains 40 miles east of Los Angeles
Rancho Cucamonga police wrote on Facebook: 'The black bear was safely tranquilized, and will be relocated by the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife'
Wildlife authorities were able to tranquilize the animal.
Rancho Cucamonga police wrote on Facebook: 'The black bear was safely tranquilized, and will be relocated by the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife.'
They also posted a video of authorities with the animal, which they said is a 'yearling black bear.'
The bear was subdued late Wednesday morning in the backyard of a Rancho Cucamonga home at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains 40 miles east of Los Angeles.
Three tranquilizer darts were used to knock it out, KABC reported.
Resident Karen Moore told the station she found her dogs fighting with the bear outside her home.
She said she screamed until the bear jumped over a gate and her dogs came back inside.
Onlookers which had been following the bear in Rancho Cucamonga are seen here
Three tranquilizer darts were used to knock out the bear
A middle school teacher and father of two is recovering from stab wounds in the hospital after fending off a group of robbers who broke into his home Monday night.
Golden, Colorado police believe the three men who raided Jesse and Jessica Swift's home Monday night had it confused for another home, where they planned to steal $10,000 in cash and drugs.
Mr Swift, an engineering teacher a Bell Middle School, managed to take down one of the three men who barged into his home, 21-year-old Caleb Williams.
Both Mr Swift and Williams were taken from the scene to the hospital to be treated for their injuries. Another 17-year-old male suspect was later arrested, and his name is not being released because he is a minor.
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Jesse Swift, 40 (right), is recovering in the hospital after fending off three robbers who broke into his house Monday night while his wife Jessica, 37 (left), and two children were home
Police say the three men who broke into the Swift's home appear to have had the wrong house. The three men were looking for a home where they planned to steal $10,000 in cash and drugs
Police continue to hunt for a third suspect - 20-year-old parolee Cody Jones - and a woman who may have driven the group's getaway car.
The incident happened around 9pm, when the Swifts heard a knock at the door of their home on Washington Avenue.
Jessica Swift, a 37-year-old social studies teacher at the same school as her husband, answered the door to find three men wearing black, their faces covered with bandanas.
The three men pushed their way into their home, but not before her 40-year-old husband was able to grab a knife from the kitchen.
Mr Swift then used that knife to fight off the group, critically injuring Williams in the process.
Mr Swift was able to take down 21-year-old Caleb Williams. A 17-year-old male suspect was later arrested by police. Cops continue to search for 20-year-old Cody Jones
But Mr Swift was also injured in the knife fight, sustaining stab wounds to kidney and one of his lungs, as well as other lacerations to his body.
While Mr Swift was fighting off the group, his wife ran across the street to a neighbor's home where she called 911.
Audio of her emotional call has since been released, and in the call Mrs Swift describes how the three strange men showed up at her door out of nowhere and attacked her husband.
Sirens wailed in the background as Mrs Swift started to cry, saying her two children were still in the house, asleep in the basement where their bedrooms are located.
Both of the children slept through the break in and were not harmed.
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT OF JESSICA SWIFT'S 911 CALL Mrs Swift: 'There are three men that just came in my house and attacked my husband and I.' Dispatch: 'Do you know who these people are?' Mrs Swift: 'No, they just knocked on our door. I answered it and they just busted through the house.' Dispatch: 'Are there still people in your house?' Mrs Swift: 'Yes Im so sorry. I have two little kids.' Dispatch: 'You have kids in the house?' Mrs Swift: 'Yes.' Dispatch: 'Where are they?' Mrs Swift: 'Theyre in the basement.' Dispatch: 'Theyre in the basement?' Mrs Swift: 'Their bedrooms are in the basement'
After police showed up at the scene, the children were taken to a neighbors house for safekeeping.
'Jessica was in the front yard crying hysterically, and Jesse was lying on the front porch, while another person was applying pressure to his wounds,' neighbor Buffy Bergquist told CBS Denver.
'The kids came with me immediately,' Bergquist said. 'I brought them into our house and took them down in the basement and fed them snacks.'
Meanwhile, paramedics transported both Mr Swift and Williams to the hospital where they were treated for their wounds. It's unclear what Williams condition is, but Mr Swift is expected to survive.
Jesse and Jessica Swift are both teachers at Bell Middle School in Golden, Colorado. Mr Swift teachers engineering and his wife teaches social studies
After the robbery, police were able to track down a second 17-year-old male suspect, whose name has not been released.
They continue to search for 20-year-old Cody Aaron Jones, who authorities say is currently on probation for second-degree burglary charges, obstructing a police officer and theft. There is also a nationwide warrant out for his arrest in another case. Police believe a woman getaway driver may also be at large.
Authorities have not identified what home was the robbers' intended target.
Following the attack, friends have set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money for Mr Swift's medical treatment, as well as a new home for the family to live in.
'Jesse and his family will not be able to move back into their home following this event and iwll need assistance with house and relocation. Any donated funds will help this,' the post reads.
This is the moment a truck smashed into an 11ft 8in bridge in North Carolina - marking the 107th time a vehicle has been unsuccessful in navigating beneath it.
The mishap was captured on video as the truck traveling at a relatively fast speed crashed into the train trestle located in Durham, and had part of its top shaved off before coming to a shattering halt.
The truck managed to eventually back out from under the low bridge but not without having a good amount sliced off the front half of its box.
Slide me This is the moment a truck smashed into an 11ft 8in bridge in North Carolina - marking the 107th time a vehicle has been unsuccessful in navigating under the train trestle located in Durham
The May 2 crash was captured on video showing the truck traveling at a relatively fast speed crashed into the bridge, and had part of its top shaved off before coming to a shattering halt
The crash occurred on May 2 and the truck was the second in four days to hit the low bridge, the latest in more than 100 crashes documented there by Jurgen Henn on 11foot8.com.
The bridge is about 100 years old and when it was built, there were no minimum clearance standards.
The city installed signs warning drivers about the clearance under the bridge and on either side of the road, along with a sensory system that triggers a blinking light to warn oversized trucks.
But despite the safety measures, drivers still have their roofs scraped off when attempting to clear it.
This photo shows a Budget rental truck hit the bridge on December 1, 2015 in crash No. 100
On January 7 in crash No. 102, a Forward Air truck smashed into the bridge marking the first crash of the year
Last March, in crash No. 86, a Penske rental truck got wedged under the bridge. It took the an hour to get it out
On September 4, 2015 this truck from Walmart hit the trestle in crash No. 97 appearing to smash the cooling unit
Several years ago, Henn had figured that so many people failed to pay attention to the height warnings that he would eventually capture a crash on video, according to Autoblog.
So he to set up a camera in April 2008 to record the crashes, which he said show how frequently the crashes produce a real hazard for pedestrians and other cars.
A month after setting up the camera, he had filmed eight crashes, and worked out that a crash occurred about once a month.
And since then, he has had a stream of videos showing cars crashing into the bridge posted to his website.
Slide me On January 30, 2016 an Enterprise rental truck smashed into the bridge and left the entire roof draped over the crash beam in crash No. 103
In the crash, a part of the truck was sliced off and police had to block the lane for a couple of hours until a crew arrived to clean up this mess
The truck left behind a mangled part of the truck on the bridge in the aftermath of the crash
Henn notes on his website that lowering the road to help limit the amount of crashes at the bridge would be 'prohibitively expensive because a sewer main runs just a few feet below the road bed.'
He addresses whether the bridge could be raised, saying that the is who would want to pay the 'millions of dollars to raise the tracks a couple of feet.'
However, the city of Durham is taking steps to add another layer of protection for drivers.
The city recently put up a new digital sign signalling to drives of over height vehicles to turn in a bid to keep the tops of the vehicles from being shaved off.
So far, Henn has said the sign has worked, according to Autoblog.
They also show flight radar images as evidence of a UFO travelling across the sea
Secure Team 10 uploaded their claims on YouTube with
a possible spaceship has been caught on camera
At long last a UFO has finally been caught on camera, and it travels '50 to 100 times faster than a normal aircraft'.
That is the revelation of conspiracy theorists on the internet who reckon they have spotted a possible spaceship flying over Australia.
Most viewers online so far remain unconvinced.
Aliens over Australia? The moment conspiracy theorists believe they've spotted a UFO flying '50 to 100 times faster than a normal aircraft'
Is this a UFO? The barely distinguishable speck is reportedly captured in New South Wales in Australia
UFO hunters Secure Team 10 uploaded a video to their YouTube channel showing a flight tracker which lets you watch the movements of planes online.
Tyler Glockner narrates over the radar images explaining how one of the planes shoots across the map at an incredibly high speed.
He also shares that a New Zealand news website reported on video published by The Breakfast Crew.
They had released footage of the alleged object on the radar travelling over a city skyline.
'I definitely think we have a legitimate unidentified flying object', says Tyler.
He adds the 'plane' on the radar travels 'massively fast' over in New South Wales Australia.
UFO hunters Secure Team 10 uploaded a video to their YouTube channel showing a flight tracker which lets you watch the movements of planes online, one of the planes travels 'massively fast'
Secure Team 10's video has been viewed over 75,000 since it was uploaded on May 18.
But Tyler explains he had to re-upload the clip because he confused Wales in Australia with Wales the country in the United Kingdom.
Viewers under the video however mocked the idea that it could have been a spaceship.
One wrote: 'It's lucky the UFO had its transponder switched on so flight tracker was able to track it.'
The channel shared footage uploaded by a New Zealand news website showing a tiny object above a city
Another concluded: 'These tracker apps use Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADSB). The transponder must be on the aircraft for it to show up so this would have to be one of ours.'
A woman who publicly mourned her husband's death last summer has been charged with his murder.
Eric LaRocque, 33, was found dead with a gunshot wound to his upper body inside his home in Vienna, Virginia, on July 31 last year.
For 10 months his death remained a mystery, but his wife, Kim Pham LaRocque, was on Monday charged with shooting her husband dead.
Thirteen days after her husband was killed, Kim changed her Facebook profile picture to a button bearing his initials and the words: 'Forever in our hearts.'
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Kim Pham LaRocque (left), 35, has been charged with murdering her husband, Eric LaRocque (right), 33
Thirteen days after her husband was killed, Kim changed her Facebook profile picture to a button bearing his initials and the words: 'Forever in our hearts'
The post - which is still Kim's Facebook photo - was 'liked' by dozens of people and friends and family left comments paying tribute to Eric offering to help the grieving mother.
Kim also allowed loved ones to donate more than $12,500 to a crowdfunding page raising money for a college fund for their two young children.
Police found a handgun, a bullet and blood-stained sheets inside the couple's bedroom after the murder last July, but Kim was not arrested until this week.
Cops found his body at 6.30pm on July 31 after a 911 call was made. Investigators have not revealed who made the call.
The death was confirmed as a homicide on August 10.
Investigators spent months working on the case after seizing computers and cell phones from the family home.
Kim was detained as she left her work at Fannie May on Monday evening and is being held at Fairfax County Adult Detention Center without bond, NBC Washington reported.
She is charged with second-degree murder and using a firearm to commit a felony. Police did not provide an alleged motive.
Police found a handgun, a bullet and blood-stained sheets inside the couple's bedroom after the murder last July, but Kim (left, with Eric, and right, in a police mugshot) was not arrested until this week
Police found a handgun, a bullet and blood-stained sheets inside the couple's bedroom at their Virginia home
The LaRocques were both Virginia Tech graduates and Eric worked as an engineer.
They married in 2010, had a daughter, Jackie, in 2012 and a son, Lou, in 2014.
Eric's mother, Mary Lou LaRocque-Megarr, did not wish to comment and referred the Press Chronicle to a statement issued by the family.
They thanked the police and investigators 'for their continued efforts to find justice for Eric and to hold anyone who caused his death accountable.
'We find no comfort in these proceedings but they are important to all who knew and loved Eric. Our focus is on Eric's children, Jackie and Lou,' the family continued.
'We thank our family and friends and Eric's friends for their continued support and ask for your thoughts and prayers as these proceedings continue.'
Dozens of people paid tribute to Eric at the time of his tragic death.
Childhood classmate Emily Stacey said: 'I am honored to say Eric shared his compassion in life with all. It's not everyday one meets a person with numerous positive acts of compassion. I will hold a special memory of you.'
Co-worker Vel Subramanian wrote: 'He was the most talented, confident and inspiring person I have met in my life.
'He was professionally talented, but as a person he always wanted to help people whom he knew and he was respected by everyone he knew. I will truly miss my friend Eric and my thoughts and prayers are with the family.'
Friend John Meconi said: 'I am so sorry for the loss of a great man. Words cannot express my sadness.
'I had the honor of knowing Eric from the first day I can remember. We grew up two streets away and we're inseparable from the day we met.
The world's most expensive diamond has set a new record after it was sold at auction - for more than 39 million.
At 14.62 carats, the 'Oppenheimer Blue' was the largest Vivid Blue diamond ever to go under the hammer.
After a tense bidding war, it sold for a staggering 56.837 million Swiss francs($57.5 million) at Christie's today - making it the most expensive jewel ever sold at auction.
At 14.62 carats, the 'Oppenheimer Blue' was the largest Vivid Blue diamond ever to go under the hammer
After a tense bidding war, it sold for a staggering 56.837 million Swiss francs ($57.5 million) at Christie's today
The rare rectangular-cut stone previously belonged to Sir Philip Oppenheimer, who controlledthe Diamond Syndicate in London.
It had a pre-sale estimate of$38m-$45m.
The packed Geneva saleroom broke into applause as RahulKadakia, Christie's International Head of Jewellery, broughtdown the hammer after two phone bidders ended a 20-minute battlefor the gem.
The buyer's identity is not yet known.
The diamond was named in honour of its previous owner, Sir Philip Oppenheimer.
'As head of the London-based Central Selling Organisation for 45 years and serving as Chairman for the Diamond Trading Company branch, Sir Philip oversaw a diamond sales cartel set up by De Beers to keep strict control over the diamond supply worldwide,' the Christie's catalogue said.
Francois Curiel, Chairman of Christie's Asia Pacific and China, said: 'The Oppenheimers have been leaders in the diamond industry for generations and Sir Philip could have had any diamond he wanted.
'But he chose this one, with its perfect hue, impeccable proportions and fabulous rectangular shape.'
The rare rectangular-cut stone previously belonged to Sir Philip Oppenheimer, who controlled the Diamond Syndicate in London
The diamond obliterated its pre-sale estimate of $38m-$45m - with the hammer coming down at $57.5million
Christie's spokeswoman Alexandra Kindermann added: 'It's the most expensive jewel ever sold at auction.'
At Sotheby's on Tuesday, a rare pear-shaped vivid pink diamond fetched 30.8 million Swiss francs, purchased by a private Asian collector.
But several other large coloured stones failed to reach the reserve prices set by the sellers.
The previous record was held by the 'Blue Moon Diamond', which sold at rival Sotheby's for 32 million last November.
Hong Kong businessman Joseph Lau splashed out 50million on two recording-breaking diamonds - one costing 32m - and gifted both of them to his daughter.
The previous record was held by the 'Blue Moon Diamond' (pictured), which sold at rival Sotheby's for 32 million last November
Joseph Lau's office confirmed the real estate investor - worth an estimated 6.5billion - went on the extraordinary spending spree over two days at back-to-back jewellery auctions in Geneva.
It also confirmed that the two eye-popping diamonds were both presents for his seven-year-old daughter and that he renamed them 'The Sweet Josephine' and 'The Blue Moon of Josephine' in her honour.
At a Sotheby's Geneva auction in 2009, Lau bought another blue diamond, paying a then-record 13million for the 7.03 carat which he promptly named 'Star of Josephine'.
A law in New York City will fine businesses and employers if they violate a person's human rights by not using their preferred 'gender pronoun.'
Mayor Bill de Blasio's Commission on Human Rights appears to have updated the law on 'Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Expression' to include businesses, employees and landlords who fail to refer to transgender people as terms such as 'ze' and 'hir'.
They will be in violation of the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL), that forces employers and 'converted entities to use an individual's preferred name, pronoun and title (e.g., Ms./Mrs.) regardless of the individual's sex assigned at birth, anatomy, gender, medical history, appearance, or the sex indicated on the individual's identification,' according to the guidance information on the city's website.
The Commission on Human Rights issued a 'legal enforcement guidance' for the law, and notes that some people would prefer non-gender-binary pronouns, including 'they/them/theirs or 'ze/hir.'
Mayor Bill de Blasio's Commission on Human Rights says that employees, businesses and landlords who fail to refer to transgender people as terms such as 'ze' and 'hir' will be in violation of the NYCHRL
Several examples of violations that could result in businesses or employers paying fines are listed in the guidance that was released.
'Intentional and repeated refusal to use an individual's preferred name, pronoun or title,' the guidance reads.
'For example, repeatedly calling a transgender woman 'him' or 'Mr.' after she has made clear which pronouns and title she uses.'
Interestingly enough, the new guidance for the NYCHRL also suggests how businesses and employers can avoid violations by implementing a policy of 'asking everyone what their preferred gender pronoun is so that no individual is singled out for such questions.'
It also adds that businesses and employers should update their systems to 'allow all individuals to self-identify their names and genders.'
Furthermore, the guideline states that if a business finds out that its employees or patrons 'refuse to use a transgender employee's preferred' pronoun, they should be kicked out or fired immediately from the position since they aren't complying with the NYCHRL.
Employers have to use an individual's preferred name, pronoun and title regardless of sex assigned at birth, anatomy, gender, medical history, appearance, or the sex indicated on the individual's identification
If found in violation and depending on several factors of the situation, 'the Commission can impose civil penalties up to $125,000 for violations,.'
For violations that are 'the result of willful, wanton, or malicious conduct' the fine could go up to $250,000.
The announcement of the new law in New York City comes about as many states across the country debate about gender neutral restrooms.
President Barack Obama's administration wrote to schools across America on Friday telling them transgender students must be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice, firing the latest salvo in a politically-explosive battle over civil rights.
The move triggered an immediate backlash from some conservatives, with a top Texas official refusing to comply with what he called Obama's 'blackmail.'
In a letter to public school districts and universities, the Justice and Education Departments set out how to prevent discrimination against transgender students and end what Attorney General Loretta Lynch described as 'unjust' policies.
The announcement of the new law in New York City comes about as many states across the country debate about gender neutral restrooms (file photo above)
'No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus,' said Education Secretary John King.
In particular, the directive asks schools to allow transgender students access to bathroom facilities that correspond to their gender identity -- rather than the sex on their birth certificate.
Although non-binding, schools that fail to comply with the administration's guidance could potentially face lawsuits or reduced federal aid.
The school guidelines come as the federal government is embroiled in a pitched legal battle in North Carolina over a state law requiring transgender people to use public restrooms corresponding to the sex listed on their birth certificate. Both the state and the administration have filed dueling lawsuits.
According to Live Science, about 700,000 Americans, or 0.03 of the population, consider themselves to be transgender.
A woman suffered serious injuries to her head, neck and spine after she crashed into three police cars outside a Sydney police station.
The 47-year-old woman was driving down Queen Street in Auburn, in Sydney's west, just after midnight on Thursday in a Toyota Echo.
She crossed onto the wrong side of the road and hit an unoccupied police car which was parked outside Auburn Police Station.
A woman suffered serious injuries to her head, neck and spine after she crashed at high speed into three police cars outside a Sydney police station
Another two police cars were also damaged by the impact of the crash.
The woman was left trapped in her vehicle for almost an hour before she was freed.
She was taken to Westmead Hospital where she will is being treated for serious injuries, including head, neck and spinal injuries.
The crash left two police cars with significant front-end and rear damage, while the third car had minor front-end damage.
Police from the Flemington Local Area Command are investigating the incident.
The woman will undergo a drug and alcohol blood test at the hospital.
A NSW Police spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia she was unable to say what speed the woman was driving.
But investigators would be looking to see if speed was a factor in damaging the cars.
The 47-year-old woman was driving down Queen Street in Auburn, in Sydney's west, just after midnight on Thursday in a Toyota Echo
A 94-year-old World War II veteran was reunited with one of the prisoners he helped liberate from the Dachau concentration camp.
Retired U.S. Army corporal Sid Shafner said he was among the first Allied troops to reach the Nazi camp in April 1945, and that he is the last surviving member of his unit.
His tearful reunion with Marcel Levy, 90, who was a teenager when he was liberated, came during a recent tour of Europe and Israel.
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Sid Shafner, 94, left, and Marcel Levy, 90, right, were recently reunited. They first met in 1945 during the liberation of Dachau concentration camp in Germany, where Levy was a prisoner
Surrounded by his family, Marcel Levy walks up to retired Army corporal Sid Shafner, sitting in a wheelchair
Sid Shafner, left, and Marcel Levy, right, are pictured as young men in undated photographs
'You know, everything that I have today is because of you. You saved my life. Because you had the patience to speak to me, to take to me,' Levy said while holding Shafner's hand, according to WFAA.
'Don't praise me,' Shafner replied. 'If it wasn't me, it would have been someone else.'
The two old friends met on an Israeli military base during a trip organized by FIDF, a non-profit organization supporting Israeli troops.
The last time they saw each other was 1995.
'I have been in touch with him all these years. Through postcards, greeting cards, and now email on the computer,' Shafner, who lives in a retirement home in Denver, told WFAA.
Levy's children and grandchildren - he has 11 - were also present.
Marcel Levy waves as he spots his old friend Sid Shafner during their recent reunion on an Israeli military base
The two old friends embraced and tears fell when they greeted each other. The last time they saw each other was in 1995
Levy thanked Shafner for saving his life in 1945, but the retired Army corporal deflected the praise
At the time of his liberation, Levy was the only member of his family who survived the Holocaust. Because he had no family, Levy was offered work as a dishwasher with Shafner's unit
The two old friends met on an Israeli military base during a trip organized by FIDF , a non-profit organization supporting Israeli troops
Marcel Levy, second from left, is pictured among U.S. troops in this wartime photograph
THOUSANDS DIED IN DACHAU CONCENTRATION CAMP Dachau, near Munich in southern Germany, was the first camp to be built by the Nazis in March 1933. The number of prisoners who died in the camp and nearby subcamps between January 1940 and May 1945 was at least 28,000. The number of prisoners incarcerated in Dachau between 1933 and 1945 exceeded 188,000. Initially the internees were primarily German Communists, Social Democrats, trade unionists, and other political opponents of the Nazi regime. Prisoners at infamous Nazi concentration camp Dachau line up before German guards during World War II In April, 1945, prisoners celebrated their Liberation from Dachau by American troops The number of prisoners incarcerated in Dachau between 1933 and 1945 exceeded 188,000 Over time, other groups were also interned at Dachau, such as Jehovah's witnesses, Roma, homosexuals, as well as 'asocials' and repeat criminal offenders. The number of Jewish prisoners at Dachau rose with the increased persecution of Jews and on November 1011, 1938, in the aftermath of Kristallnacht, more than 10,000 Jewish men were interned there. Dachau prisoners were used as forced laborers. At first, they were employed in the operation of the camp, in various construction projects, and in small handicraft industries established in the camp. Prisoners built roads, worked in gravel pits, and drained marshes. On April 29, 1945, American forces liberated Dachau. Source: US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Levy's daughter told Shafner: 'All our life, we heard about, we dreamed about you.
'We know that because of you we have this nice family. And we are very appreciative and we thank you.'
At the time of his liberation, Levy was the only member of his family who survived the Holocaust, Shafner told CBS Denver.
Because he had no family, Levy was offered work as a dishwasher with Shafner's unit, the retired soldier said.
Former prisoners who managed to escape a prison run by Islamic State have spoken out about the horrors they witnessed while incarcerated - including seeing children being tortured to death.
Last week around 20 prisoners managed to escape one of the terror group's prisons in Tabaqa, Syria, after using a piece of jagged metal to scrape a hole in their cell wall.
Some of the survivors spoke to the Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently citizen journalism site, which aims to show the human rights abuses carried out by ISIS.
Last week around 20 Islamic State prisoners managed to escape one of the terror group's prisons in Tabaqa, Syria, after using a piece of jagged metal to scrape a hole in their cell wall (Pictured: ISIS fighters)
One of the men, who were not named in the piece in order to protect their identities, told the site the prison they escaped from has around 40 female prisoners, some of whom are incarcerated with their children.
The source, who had been sentenced to death before his escape, revealed at least three of the young women have been sentenced to death for 'apostasy' and many prisoners are tortured even when they have already confessed.
The source said: 'The prison has special rooms for 'Al-Balanko' which is a hook used to hang detainees so that their tiptoes could hardly touch the floor.'
He also described ISIS guards using rods, a torture chair, electric shocks and whipping as other methods of torture, adding the majority of the masked guards are from Raqqa in Syria.
He added: 'ISIS confiscates properties of detainees with death sentence. There are a variety of charges such as cooperating with apostates, not supporting their state, possessing a weapon and inhibiting the public from obeying The Caliph.'
A source, who had been sentenced to death before his escape, revealed at least three women have been sentenced to death for 'apostasy' and many prisoners are tortured even when they have already confessed
The man said he was sentenced to death by a judge in his prison, where he was told he would be executed in 'a few days' and that his crucified body would be left on the street for two days.
He said there were children in the prison and many had been arrested for insulting Allah and cooperating with apostates, adding: 'They are being tortured just like men, and some of them died under torture.'
Another of the men who escaped was tortured every day for three months, a friend told FoxNews.com. He said: 'But after a while, the torture just became routine.'
He said the basements of churches, hospitals, schools and office buildings seized by ISIS are used to hold imprisoned Iraqi Army officers and local policemen captured.
He said: 'These people were mostly arrested after ISIS took over Mosul and Tikrit. ISIS lied to them and told them, 'We will give you safety if you give up your weapons,' but then they arrested them.
'Many have been executed, but many are still in these prisons.'
The revelations come just hours after a leading international rights group released a report documenting atrocities by Libya's Islamic State affiliate including instances of 'crucifixions' and shooting a man to death for 'cursing God' in the coastal city of Sirte, a stronghold of the militants.
Human Rights Watch recounts 'scenes of horror' that followed the city's seizure by IS militants in February 2015, with beheadings of dozens of residents accused of being spies or sorcerers.
Men were flogged for acts such as smoking or listening to music, and fathers were ordered to 'marry off their daughters' to the group's fighters as IS spread a wave of terror among the townspeople.
The militant branch, more known for its spread in Iraq and Syria, gained a foothold in Libya amid the chaos that engulfed the country since the ouster and killing of the longtime autocratic leader Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
A tiny kitten has been rescued after a he survived a 25 kilometre journey inside the engine of a car.
The five-week-old feline, nicknamed 'Honda', had crawled up into the engine of the car on Wednesday morning before the driver travelled from Deer Park to Parkville in Melbourne.
Honda spent the day inside the car and the driver only realised she had an extra passenger on board when she heard meowing coming from the engine.
Five-week-old kitten nicknamed 'Honda' survived a 25km car trip in Melbourne after he crawled into the engine
Melbourne Metropolitan Fire Brigade were called to Lort Smith Animal Hospital in North Melbourne to rescue the adventurer.
The kitten was eventually found behind the radiator grill and pulled from the car, mostly unharmed.
Dr Russell Harrison, who is the head of hospital services at the animal hospital, said Honda was lucky to be alive.
'Despite having travelled from Deer Park to Parkville stuck in the engine of the car and then spending another eight or nine hours in the car while the cars owner was at work, five week old Honda was in surprisingly good condition.
The kitten was eventually found behind the radiator grill and pulled from the car
'He sustained minor burns to the back paw pads which were treated and pain relief was provided,' Dr Harrison said in a statement.
'He was also very hungry and enjoyed a big bowl of food before being released.
'He has now been reunited with the mother and other kittens.'
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It is known for being the birthplace of pizza - and now chefs in the city of Naples have attempted to break records with their mouth-watering culinary skills.
A group of chefs joined forces and attempted to make the longest pizza in the world - stretching across more than one mile of the Italian coastline.
For the wood-fired pizza, which measured two kilometres, they used 2,000 kg of flour, 1,600 kg of tomatoes, 2,000 kg of mozzarella, 200 litres of oil, 30kg of fresh basil and 1500 litres of water.
It took 100 chefs 11 hours to make the pizza and they hope to beat the current record of 1,595 metres, held by a pizza baked at Milan's food-themed Expo last year.
The longest pizza in the world on the Naples water front: A group of chefs joined forces and attempted to make the longest pizza in the world - stretching across more than one mile of the Italian coastline
For the wood-fired pizza, which measured two kilometres, they used 2,000 kg of flour, 1,600 kg of tomatoes, 2,000 kg of mozzarella, 200 litres of oil, 30kg of fresh basil and 1500 litres of water
The chefs also custom designed five motorised wood-burning stoves on wheels for the attempt, which was watched by hungry onlookers
It took 100 chefs 11 hours to make the pizza and they hope to beat the current record of 1,595 metres, held by a pizza baked at Milan's food-themed Expo last year
Alessandro Marinacci from Naples' Pizza Village, organised the attempt alongside local flour producer, Caputo.
'It's absolutely a point of pride for our city, which is the home of pizza,' Marinacci told The Local.
He added: 'Our effort will be cooked in the traditional Neapolitan style.'
The chefs also custom designed five motorised wood-burning stoves on wheels for the attempt.
The current record for the longest pizza in the world is 1,595.45 m (5,234 ft 4.8 in) and was created by La Pizza+1 of Sante Ludovico, NIPfood of Dovilio Nardi and Tomato World Week 2015, all from Italy, at Milan's Expo 2015 world fair in Milan, in June 2015.
Made using 1.5 tonnes of mozzarella cheese and two tonnes of tomato sauce, the pizza weighed in at five tons and was made in 18 hours by more than 60 chefs.
More than 35,000 slices were cut for visitors to the Expo and some 300 metres of pizza were given to the foodbank Banco Alimentare to be redistributed to charitable organisations that assist the poor and the needy.
Alessandro Marinacci from Naples' Pizza Village, organised the attempt alongside local flour producer, Caputo
Chef Alessandro Marinacci said: 'It's absolutely a point of pride for our city, which is the home of pizza. Our effort will be cooked in the traditional Neapolitan style'
The team of chefs in Naples (pictured) hope to beat the current record of 1,595 metres, held by a pizza baked at Milan's food-themed Expo last year
The largest pizza on record had a total surface area of 1,261.65 m (13,580.28 ft) and was prepared by Dovilio Nardi, Andrea Mannocchi, Marco Nardi, Matteo Nardi and Matteo Giannotte from NIPfood at Fiera Roma, in Rome, Italy, in December 2012.
The pizza was named 'Ottavia', a word of Roman origin for 'eighth son', in homage to the first Roman emperor Octavian Augustus.
The largest pizza commercially available is 1 m 37 cm (4 ft 6 in) by 1 m 37 cm (4 ft 6 in) and is sold at the Big Mama's and Papa's Pizzeria in Los Angeles, California.
The square pizza serves between 50 and 100 people and costs of 137 ($199.99) plus tax and is deliverable within a certain area.
Mama's and Papa's Pizzeria needs a minimum of 24 hours notice to be able to make the pizza, which is a popular choice for childrens' and adults' parties.
According to popular tradition, the Margherita pizza was first baked in Naples for the Bourbon Queen Regina Margherita by local chef, Rafaelle Esposito, in 1889.
He used tomato, mozzarella and basil to represent the colours of the Italian flag, before naming his culinary creation after the Queen - Pizza Margherita.
The pizza stretched across the Naples coastline, but is yet to be confirmed as a record breaker by the Guinness World Records team
One chef drizzles olive oil across their delicious culinary feat, which stretched for more than one mile across the Naples coast
Another record bites the crust...Pizza makers attempted to break the Guinness World Record for the longest in the world on the seafront of Naples, Italy
Using specially built wood burners, more than 100 chefs made the pizza using several tonnes of basil, tomatoes, flour and mozzarella
A 34-year-old woman has been charged with murder after she allegedly gunned down her ex-boyfriend in a crazed attack outside a gym.
Veronica Erin Staley, 34, was taken into custody in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday morning after she allegedly shot telecommunications executive Aljosa Memovic, 30, multiple times.
According to police, Staley had been waiting for him outside the One 2 One Training Center for an hour when she noticed him leave.
She then walked up to him and is accused of shooting him three times near the entrance.
Veronica Erin Staley, 34, (mugshot left) was taken into custody in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday morning after she allegedly shot telecommunications executive Aljosa Memovic, 30, (right) multiple times
According to police, Staley (pictured) had been waiting for him outside the One 2 One Training Center in north west Houston for an hour when she noticed her ex-boyrfriend leave
The gunshots didn't force him to collapse, so he ran across the parking lot screaming: 'Oh my God, oh my God.'
Staley is accused of following him and shooting him twice more. Realizing she had run out of bullets, she allegedly pistol-whipped him.
As Memovic's lifeless body lay on the ground, she ran to her car and sped off.
A witness in the parking lot captured her in video on his cell phone as she sprinted between the cars to her vehicle.
Staley was arrested a day later at one of her relative's homes.
She then admitted to her role in Memovic's death, Click 2 Houston reported.
Sgt. Matthew Brady, of the Houston Police Department's homicide division, told the station: 'She immediately pulls out a gun and fires on him, at least three shots.
'He starts to run across the parking lot behind us. She chases him with gun in hand.'
Memovic was then taken to hospital, but died during surgery.
Staley (right) then allegedly shot Memovic (left) three times near the entrance. He didn't go down so, according to a witness, she ran after him while he screamed: 'Oh my God, oh my God'
Staley (left and right) then shot him twice again and pistol-whipped his lifeless body when she ran out of bullets. A witness captured her in cell phone footage running away from the scene (right)
Two teenage boys have been admitted to hospital in a serious condition after wrapping their car around a tree on Wednesday night.
The driver lost control of the vehicle on Cotlew Street East on the Gold Coast about 10:30pm at speed before driving on to the median strip and colliding with the tree.
Emergency services were forced to cut the Mitsubishi Lancer open to retrieve the two 18-year-olds before they were transported to Gold Coast University Hospital.
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The 18-year-old driver and his passenger left the road about 10:30pm on Wednesday night
The car drove on to the median strip and wrapped around a tree in Southport on the Gold Coast
Pictures show the crash was so severe, it appears the tree is inside the car, with the windscreen smashed around it.
'Obviously speed has been involved here by the way (the vehicle is) wrapped around the tree,' Queensland Fire and Emergency Service's Peter McMillan told 7 News.
The driver and his passenger are in a serious but stable condition.
Investigations are continuing.
The boys were taken to Gold Coast University Hospital in a serious but stable condition
Peter McMillan from Queensland Fire and Emergency Service said he believes speed was involved in the severe crash
General Sir Richard Shirreff, pictured, said he was threatened by the then Defence Secretary after he said plans to slash troop numbers were a hell of a gamble
Philip Hammond wanted to court martial a senior general after he spoke candidly about cuts to Britains armed forces, it is claimed in an explosive new book.
General Sir Richard Shirreff said he was threatened by the then Defence Secretary after he said plans to slash troop numbers were a hell of a gamble and the military was being cut to the bone.
His devastating critique in 2014 so infuriated Mr Hammond that he said he wanted formal action taken against the general, Sir Richard has revealed.
In the book, launched yesterday, Sir Richard also said David Cameron had made Britain a semi-pacifist nation more interested in protecting welfare and benefits than adequate defences.
He said the Prime Minister and Mr Hammond, who is now Foreign Secretary, waxed apocalyptic on the threat posed by Islamic State but did nothing credible to confront it.
Mr Hammonds hubristic boast that Britain defined itself by the extent to which it punched above its weight was proved hollow.
And while the UK had a leadership that shouted loudly, it carried an increasingly tiny and impotent stick and it was almost inconceivable Britain could deploy a division to Iraq like in 2003.
In 2014 Sir Richard, as the outgoing Nato deputy supreme allied commander in Europe, lambasted the Government for planning to shrink the regular Army and boost numbers of part-time soldiers.
Yesterday it emerged that he was summoned by General Sir Peter Wall, the chief of the general staff and head of the Army at the time, for a dressing down.
In his book, 2017 War with Russia, Sir Richard writes: When I said... at the end of March 2014, as I stepped down as DSACEUR, that this was a hell of a gamble, the Defence Secretary was so infuriated at being questioned in public that I was summoned by General Sir Peter Wall... and told that the Defence Secretary had wanted formal action against me.
General Sir Richard's devastating critique in 2014 so infuriated Mr Hammond that he said he wanted formal action taken against the general, Sir Richard has revealed
However, formal action would have involved a court martial and, fortunately for the latters political reputation it also seems he had not appreciated that I reported to Nato and not to him wiser counsel had prevailed. At the launch of his book at the Royal United Services Institute yesterday, he said: There has been a hollowing out, a cutting away at muscle and damn nearly as well bone frankly in UK defences.
Mr Hammond said in response to Sir Richards comments in 2014 that they were nonsense.
Last night a Whitehall source said: This guy has made a series of outlandish claims over the years. Hes trying to sell a book, so you have to expect such outbursts.
An MoD spokesman said: We are the biggest defence spender in Europe with a budget that will rise every year of this decade. No Nato country other than the US can project power like we can.
The two philandering MPs who ditched their wives after affairs with a blonde journalist face a Parliamentary grilling.
Both men have been reported to the sleaze watchdog after billing taxpayers thousands of pounds for accommodation where they had trysts with Serena Cowdy, 36.
The journalist was lying low yesterday as Angus MacNeil and Stewart Hosie prepared to face humiliating questions.
SNP MPs Stewart Hosie, left, and Angus MacNeil, right, who have been reported to the sleaze watchdog
The two Scottish National Party MPs were reported to the standards commissioner by Scottish Conservatives deputy leader Jackson Carlaw, who questioned if their use of public resources was in support of their Parliamentary duties.
Last night a Labour MP also made a formal complaint against the pair to a second watchdog the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) which has the power to order an MP to repay expenses.
Mr MacNeil, 45, a father-of-three, repeatedly claimed expenses for a room at the luxury Park Plaza hotel, near the Commons, where his lover said she frequently spent nights with him.
He charged taxpayers 6,250 for overnight stays at the four-star hotel in 2014, before the Scottish independence referendum. He split from his wife Jane last year, soon after his affair with Miss Cowdy ended.
Oxford-educated writer and former actress Miss Cowdy who told followers of her blog that she was a nut magnet because she attracted eccentric people and confessed to friends that she couldnt keep her knickers on is now madly in love with Mr Hosie, a 53-year-old father of one.
Yesterday he emerged from his apartment near Parliament for which he bills taxpayers 1,500 a month to rent and said he had no comment to make.
Last Sunday, Mr Hosie, who is SNP leader Nicola Sturgeons deputy, announced he was separating from his wife of 20 years, Shona Robison, who is the Scottish governments health secretary. Awkwardly, Mr Hosie and his wife both represent Dundee East he in Westminster, she in the Scottish parliament and tomorrow they are due to hold surgeries for constituents in the same office.
Last night Mr Carlaw said he had reported the love-cheat MPs to the sleaze watchdog because it would appear their conduct had fallen short.
He said: The SNP says there is no financial impropriety - but at the same time it is widely reported that Angus MacNeil stayed with Miss Cowdy at a hotel in London and put the bill on expenses.
The best course of action is for the UK Parliaments standards commissioner to look into the matter.
Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, added: I would think the public would expect there to be some investigation, because the whole business brings politics into disrepute.
The two Scottish National Party MPs were reported to the standards commissioner by Scottish Conservatives deputy leader Jackson Carlaw
But in a statement to his local newspaper, Western Isles MP Mr MacNeil said: My accommodation in London is claimed under normal expenses, as is the case for all MPs, and the cost of this is compliant with the rules of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA).
He added: It has been a challenging week in which I am continuing to do my job and keep appointments as planned.
Nicola Sturgeon said she had seen no evidence of any breach of parliamentary expenses rules, but said the watchdog must decide.
Donald Trump hit Bill Clinton with his hardest charge yet on Wednesday evening during a sit-down interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News.
Trump brought up a rape accusation against the former Democratic president when talking about Clinton's past behavior with women with the Fox News host.
The two were discussing a recent New York Times article that was supposed to expose Trump's own treatment of women and how several of the sources had come out and said the newspaper twisted their words.
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Donald Trump brought up a rape charge made against Bill Clinton in 1999 by a woman named Juanita Broaddrick
Interviewer Sean Hannity brought up Juanita Broaddrick's name as the two men discussed a New York Times article that detailed some of Donald Trump's inappropriate behavior with women
Trump labeled the story a 'con job' and called it a 'disaster' for the newspaper.
Hannity then asked why the Times hadn't dug into Bill Clinton's past.
'Are they going to interview Juanita Broaddrick? Are they going to interview Paula Jones? Are they going to interview Kathleen Willey?' Hannity asked, ticking off the names of women who have accused Bill Clinton of inappropriate behavior through the years.
'In one case, it's about exposure. In another case, it's about groping and fondling and touching against a woman's will,' Hannity continued.
'And rape,' Trump inserted.
'And rape,' the television host repeated.
'And big settlements, massive settlements. And lots of other things. And impeachment for lying,' Trump continued.
Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign barked back at Trump and said he was trying to 'change the subject' to escape the bad headlines dogging his own campaign.
'Trump is doing what he does best, attacking when he feels wounded and dragging the American people through the mud for his own gain,' Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill told CNN.
Merrill said, 'If thats the kind campaign he wants to run, thats his choice. Hillary Clinton is running a campaign to be president for all of America.
Continuing, he said, 'Its not surprising that after a week of still refusing to release his taxes and likening Oakland and Ferguson to the dangers in Iraq, of course he wants to change the subject.
'So while he licks his wounds, well continue to focus on improving the lives of the American people.'
Daggers out between Trump and Clinton clans: This is the latest in a string of attacks on Bill Clinton, after Trump was hammered by a pro-Hillary Clinton PAC on some of the language he's used to describe women
The Republican rolled out the attacks on Bill Clinton after a pro-Hillary Clinton PAC hammered Trump for some of the language he's used to describe women.
During Wednesday's interview, Trump took issue with the ad using a line out of context, in which he tells someone to go 'f*** themselves,' a comment he made about bad trade deals at a Portsmouth, New Hampshire rally in February, where he mouthed the four-letter swear word.
' The main punchline wasn't about women,' Trump pointed out. 'They put it in like it was about women. Now I guess they have to do a retraction.'
The other lines used in the attack ad, including one aimed at Fox News host Megyn Kelly, were about women.
But in order to negate these attacks, Trump has pushed back hard.
He started laying the groundwork to exploit Bill Clinton's sexual past before the first votes were being cast.
'She's got one of the great women abusers of all time sitting in her house, waiting for her to come home for dinner,' Trump said back in January.
He repeated the charge earlier this month.
'Shes married to a man who was the worst abuser of women in the history of politics. Shes married to a man who hurt many women,' Trump said, while also bringing Hillary Clinton into the picture.
Trump charged that the Democratic frontrunner 'would go after these women and destroy their lives.'
While Bill Clinton has been accused of rape, along with groping and affairs and his sexual history with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky is well known the 'rape' accusation had yet to be used in the political campaign by someone as prominent as the presumptive Republican nominee.
Trump, however, has pushed the boundaries of political discourse this campaign season and been close to leveling the 'rape' charge at Bill Clinton before.
Broaddrick (pictured present day c1978 with Clinton at a nursing home in Arkansas) has accused Clinton of raping her in an Arkansas hotel room in 1978 when he was the state's governor
In January, Juanita Broaddrick sent out this tweet repeating rape allegations she made against President Bill Clinton in 1999
Juanita Broaddrick pledged to play a bigger role in the presidential campaign, especially with Bill Clinton hitting the campaign trail for Hillary
Juanita Broaddrick chimed in on Twitter today and made the same suggestion as Sean Hannity - that the New York Times should dig into Bill Clinton's devious sexual past
In January he posted a video that linked Bill Clinton to both Lewinsky and accused rapist Bill Cosby.
The campaign video was released around the time that Broaddrick, who accused Bill Clinton of rape, emerged on social media.
Broaddrick has accused Clinton of raping her in an Arkansas hotel room in 1978 when he was the state's governor, saying he left her with a swollen lip and some advice: 'You better get some ice on that.'
And while Hillary Clinton was campaigning on a platform of women's issues, Broaddrick says she knew about the sexual assault and tried to cover it up.
Paula Jones (pictured left in 1994 and right last year) became a national figure when she sued Bill Clinton for sexual harassment after an incident in an Arkansas hotel room three years earlier; She alleged he propositioned her for oral sex and said 'kiss it'; she received a six-figure settlement
Kathleen Willey Swchwicker, a former White House volunteer who accused President Clinton in 1998 of fondling her in 1993 (she is pictured left 1999 and right more recently) and subsequently sued him and Hillary
Broaddrick tweeted in January that 'I was 35 years old when Bill Clinton, Ark. Attorney General raped me and Hillary tried to silence me. I am now 73....it never goes away.'
A day before, she had said she was 'dreading seeing my abuser on TV,' as Bill Clinton was campaigning for his wife, the Democratic front-runner, in New Hampshire, 'but his physical appearance reflects ghosts of the past,' which she said were 'catching up.'
The former nursing home administrator made her allegations public in 1999.
She said Bill Clinton, when campaigning for Arkansas governor in 1978, raped her in Little Rock, Arkansas.
At the time, noted the Hill Newspaper, who authenticated Broaddrick's social media account, Clinton's personal attorney David E. Kendall strongly denied the charges.
'Any allegation that the president assaulted Ms. Broaddrick more than 20 years ago is absolutely false, he said in a statement from February 1999, reported the Washington Post.
'Beyond that we're not going to comment,' Kendall added.
Broaddrick said she planned to yell the allegations louder as she doesn't want to see another Clinton in the White House.
'I've been quiet for too long, and now with the possibility of [Hillary Clinton] being the Democratic nominee and possibly president, I feel the need to get involved,' she told the Hill.
Broaddrick said in an interview in January that she was happy that Donald Trump, whom she supports, brought up Bill Clinton's sexual past.
'I'm glad someone did,' she said. 'Everyone has been hanging back and most of the mainstream media won't approach it, but it's something that should be talked about.'
Broaddrick said she was a Trump fan because, 'he says the things I like to hear.'
This week, she defended him again.
'The NY Times should do equal time investigating [Hillary's] enabling of Bill Clinton's sexual assaults on women,' Broaddrick tweeted.
Mrs Clinton's decision to advocate for victims of sexual assault has persuaded some of her husband's accusers, including the three mentioned by Hannity, to resurface.
Willey, a former White House volunteer, claims Bill Clinton groped her in an Oval Officer hallway in 1993 when she came to him tearfully seeking a paid job.
Record numbers of EU migrants are working in Britain, explosive figures showed last night.
With the in-out referendum only five weeks off, the total exploiting free movement rules hit 2.2million. More than half are from Eastern Europe.
Foreign-born workers now hold one in six jobs 5.2million in a labour force of 31.5million, according to the Office for National Statistics.
They accounted for four fifths of the 413,000 increase in employment in the year to March.
With the in-out referendum only five weeks off, the total number of EU migrants working in Britain has hit 2.2million with more than half from Eastern Europe, explosive new official figures reveal (file picture)
The sharpest rise was among countries from the 14 'old' EU states such as Spain, Italy and Greece. Their numbers increased by 177,000 or 22 per cent as they fled stagnant eurozone economies. Brexit campaigners said the figures showed Britain could regain control of its borders only by quitting the EU.
The figures were a blow to David Cameron who has pledged to reduce net migration to under 100,000 by 2020. The Prime Minister was already under fire over his failure to curb the principle of free movement in his EU renegotiation deal.
The Government has repeatedly insisted it could crack down on non-EU foreign workers by making it tougher to obtain visas yet the number surged past 3million for the first time.
Iain Duncan Smith, a leading Tory Eurosceptic and former cabinet minister, said: 'Our labour market is thriving, but it's notable that more than three quarters of the rise in employment over the last year has come from people born abroad.
'The truth is that it is British people on low pay and those out of work who feel the consequences of uncontrolled migration.
'They are forced to compete with millions of people from abroad for jobs, and they suffer downward pressure on their wages. The only way to take back control of our borders, economy and democracy is to vote leave.'
The figures were a blow to David Cameron who has pledged to reduce net migration to under 100,000 by 2020. The PM is already under fire over his failure to curb the principle of free movement in his EU renegotiation deal
Alp Mehmet, who is vice-chairman of the Migrationwatch think-tank, which campaigns for balanced migration, said: 'The majority of employment growth has gone to non-UK nationals.
'Given most EU nationals take up lower-skill, lower-paid work, there will be little benefit to public finances.
'These figures are really not anything to shout about. If anything, they show that pressure to keep wages down at the lower end of the scale continues apace.'
But a spokesman for the Britain Stronger in Europe group said: 'The employment rate of UK nationals is currently the highest it has ever been and, over the past five years, nearly two thirds of the increase in employment has been British nationals getting jobs.
MORE WOMEN IN WORK THAN EVER BEFORE The number of women in work has hit a record high, forced up by the rising state pension age. Official figures published yesterday show that 69.2 per cent of those aged 16 to 64 have a job. The total rose by 172,000 to 14.27million. The Office for National Statistics said this was partly due to ongoing changes in the state pension age for women resulting in fewer women retiring between the ages of 60 and 65. The total is the highest since the ONS started collating these figures in 1971. The figures for January to March will highlight the grievances felt by up to half a million women born in the 1950s. Many had hoped to retire at 60 but have seen their state pension age jump by up to six years because of changes enacted by successive governments. The age started rising from 60 in 2010 and will hit 66 by October 2020. The changes were initially set in motion by John Majors government in 1995. Responding to the ONS figures, Marion Smulders, co-founder of the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign, said: Some of these women will have chosen to work on. But there are many who would have liked to retire to but now cant afford to because of the increase to their state pension age. Many will be in poor health or caring for a partner or relative but forced to continue working in demanding jobs. Its crippling for them. The ONS warned the jobs market could be cooling off as the workless total fell only slightly. Unemployment fell to 1.69million between January and March, down just 2,000 from the previous quarter. The unemployment rate remained frozen at 5.1 per cent. It follows a surprise rise in unemployment between December and February. The ONS also revealed the employment rate rose to a record high of 74.2 per cent. There were 31.58million people in work, 409,000 more than a year earlier.
'Economic experts from the Bank of England to the International Monetary Fund agree that if we leave Europe our economy would take a massive hit risking British people's jobs and their families the security of a pay packet. Leaving is not a risk we can afford to take.'
Carlos Vargas-Silva, senior researcher at the University of Oxford's migration observatory, said migration from the old EU states was a major trend.
'Economic conditions in some EU origin countries are likely to have contributed to the relative attractiveness of the UK for EU workers,' he added. 'Despite debates about the role of UK policies like welfare benefits, migration from the EU seems to respond more to other factors, such as economic conditions in other EU countries.'
The 2.2million EU-born workers in the UK is 1.5million up on 1997. The figure is also 1.4million higher than 2004 when Tony Blair threw open the UK's doors by axing employment restrictions.
The number of workers from Poland and seven other former Eastern Bloc countries that joined the EU in 2004 reached 974,000, an annual rise of just 3 per cent. A record 232,000 Romanians and Bulgarians, whose residents have had full freedom of movement and access to work since January 2014, are also working here up 25 per cent.
For the first time employees born in the rest of the world who do not benefit from free movement rules surged past 3million.
The 79,000 increase was driven largely by an influx in workers from India, who are often transferred within companies that have premises in the UK.
Last week, an ONS analysis found that 800,000 EU citizens took advantage of free movement rules last year, with long and short-term migrants pouring into Britain at the rate of one every 40 seconds.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: 'The reality is that nine in ten people in work are British. Over the last year the employment rate for British nationals has risen to the highest comparable level since records began.'
But Tory MP Peter Bone, who is campaigning for Brexit, said: 'We are getting large numbers of people coming from the EU with few or no skills and taking jobs.
'It means people in this country continue to draw benefits when they could be in work and wages are kept down.
A nursing home for the elderly has introduced fully-automated robotic assistants to provide a variety of useful services for the grateful residents.
The fleet of cute droids arrived at the home in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, east China and impressed the elderly guests with their uses, reported People's Daily Online.
Their remarkable range of functions the robots, given the name 'Little Iron', include the ability to monitor life vitals, converse with residents and dish out medicine.
Amazing: The droids arrived at the home in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province and impressed elderly guests
Useful: 'Little Irons' allow residents to video call their relatives, can serve medicine and provide company
Companion: The first batch of robots was developed by a local technology start-up in the Zhejiang region
They also allow elderly patients to video call relatives and they even sing opera to entertain them.
The first batch of robots was developed by a local tech start-up company to help across the county.
Each droid unit is less than three feet tall and is capable of working for up to 72 hours on full charge.
With their electric blue antennae and touch-screen chests, the robots are very easy to use.
The new robot allies have proved extremely popular with the elderly residents, with many commenting on their attractive appearance and usefulness around the home.
Zhao Huming, deputy director of the care home, said: Most of their families are busy with their work and life, and dont spend much time visiting the elders.
Zhao said the pensioners found it difficult to talk to their children through video chat on computers.
However, with the helpful Little Iron, as long as the families install the app on their mobile phones, the elders could see them through the camera and screen on the robots belly.
Great success: The useful robotic allies proved very popular during trial tests with the elderly residents
Cute: Many residents and carers commented on how attractive the 3ft tall devices were and their friendliness
Handy: Using robots as carers for old people is a popular idea in Asia and plenty of money has been injected
Little Iron can also sing the Peking Opera, Yue Opera and Chinese Communist songs. The next-generation of Little Iron, which is being developed right now, will be able to dance as well
Zhao added: Perhaps, in the future, these robots could really reduce our management pressure and employment cost. It can help our carers to spend more energy on improving their service.
Using robots as carers for old people is a popular idea in Asia and has been pursued with a great deal of financial might.
Meet Judith, the spiky headed ancestor of triceratops which stomped about the American north-west more than 65 million years ago.
First unearthed in Montana 10 years ago, her bones have laid dormant in a Canadian museum until recent analysis revealed she was much more significant than previously thought.
Palaeontologists believe that the dinosaur is a new species, called Spiclypeus shipporum, with a head adorned with a spiky 'shield' of bone.
Palaeontologists have identified a new species of spiky headed dinosaur. The Ceratopsian, named Spiclypeus shipporum, was first unearthed 10 years ago in Montana, but recent analysis has shown it to be a new species. Unlike other Ceratopsians, like triceratops, the dinosaur has spikes protruding from above its eyes
The fearsome looking animal is a Ceratopsian, part of the huge family of 'horned face' dinosaurs which includes triceratops, and would have had a spiky frill as well as a horn on its nose.
But unlike other species, it also had bony horns above its eyes, which researchers say indicates just how diverse dinosaur species were in the late Cretaceous period.
Judith lived around 66 to 85 million yeas ago, according to researchers.
There is widespread debate among palaeontologists over whether members of ceratopsid family used their impressive headcrests as a form of armour or to help them attract a mate.
The fearsome looking animal is a Ceratopsian, part of the huge family of 'horned face' dinosaurs which includes triceratops, and would have had a spiky frill as well as a horn on its nose (pictured)
It is possible that Judiths frills could have even formed part of a courtship display and mating, or even to recognise members of the same species from a distance.
The team was able to identify the species from just a handful of bone fragments, including parts of its skull, legs, hip and spine.
WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG TO IDENTIFY IT AS A NEW SPECIES? While the dinosaur's bones were unearthed a decade ago its significance has only just come to light, raising the question - why did it take so long? Dr Jordan Mallon, a palaeontologist at the Canadian Museum of Nature, told MailOnline: 'The science of palaeontology is slow and deliberate. 'It took two years to excavate the fossil after its discovery, and another two years after that to fully prepare away the adhering rock. 'It also took time to complete the skull reconstruction, assemble a team to study the specimen, write up the paper and publish it. When it comes to palaeontology discoveries, if the fossils have spent millions of years in the ground, a few more to ensure findings are accurate won't hurt. Dr Mallon added: 'Ten years between first discovery and final publication of a big dinosaur is quite normal, actually.'
'This is a spectacular new addition to the family of horned dinosaurs that roamed western North America between 85 and 66 million years ago,' explained Jordan Mallon, a palaeontologist at the Canadian Museum of Nature, and first author of the paper.
'It provides new evidence of dinosaur diversity during the Late Cretaceous period from an area that is likely to yield even more discoveries.'
The animal's friendlier pseudonym is taken from the region where the animal's fossilised bones were discovered in the Judith River rock formation in Montana.
The latter half of the Latin name shipporum - relates to the family on whose land the fossils were discovered.
Dr Bill Shipp, a retired nuclear physicist and amateur fossil hunter, said: 'Little did I know that the first time I went fossil hunting I would stumble on a new species.'
'As a scientist, I'm really pleased that the Canadian Museum of Nature has recognised the dinosaur's value, and that it can now be accessed by researchers around the world as part of the museum's fossil collections.'
Analysis found that Judith was a doddering dino, and may have suffered from arthritis and may have been in some pain. A closer look at the animal's upper foreleg revealed signs of arthritis and bone infection.
And growth rings in the bone indicate it may have lived to the ripe old age of 10.
Dr Mallon told MailOnline: '[Judith] represents a new species to science, and therefore enhances our knowledge of past biodiversity.'
Beyond acting as a visual reminder for other animals to keep their distance, Dr Mallon explained that the spikes on the head frill are a transition from more primitive species in which they pointed backwards, to more modern species where they curled forwards.
The animal's friendlier pseudonym is taken from the region where the animal's fossilised bones were discovered in the Judith River rock formation in Montana. The latter half of the Latin name shipporum - relates to the family on whose land the fossils were discovered.
But unlike other species, it had bony horns above its eyes (pictured clearly above) which researchers say demonstrates just how diverse dinosaur species were in the late Cretaceous period, 66 to 85 million yeas ago
'So the fossil has a lot of tell us about horned dinosaur evolution,' he added.
'The new species comes from a time of great environmental upheaval - that is, major sea level rise - so it potentially has a lot of tell us about species response to sea level change.'
The size of the hole nicely corresponds to the diameter of the brow horns, so it's possible that our new specimen 'Judith' was gored by a rival of the same species
But the evidence of bone injury point to a potential battle, in which Judith came off worse. The team believes that signs of bone infection and size of hole in the animal's head tell a story of social animals butting heads to dominate an area.
Dr Mallon told MailOnline: 'It's very hard to say just how the bone infections got started because those details aren't preserved.
'There's an interesting hole in the head frill that is associated with various other features related to bone infection.
'The size of the hole nicely corresponds to the diameter of the brow horns, so it's possible that our new specimen 'Judith' was gored by a rival of the same species, and the bone became infected after that.
'We know that many of these horned dinosaur species were social animals and likely would have competed against one another for dominance in the hierarchy, so the story makes good sense of the evidence.'
The findings are published in the journal PLOS One.
In a second paper published in PLOS One today, palaeontologists have identified another strange species of horned dinosaur further south in Utah. The creature, called Machairoceratops cronusi (pictured) had two horns curling around from its neck frill, fills a gap in the fossil record and further demonstrates the diversity during the late Cretaceous period
Analysis of Judith's bones showed she walked on the floodplain 76 million years ago. A number of species have now been found in Montana's Judith River Formation, some of which were also found in Alberta.
However, species such as Spiclypeus have so far been found to be unique to Montana.
As none of the species have been uncovered in states south of Montana, it suggests that dinosaur groups were highly localized about 76 million years ago.
In a second paper published in PLOS One today, palaeontologists have identified another strange species of horned dinosaur further south in Utah.
Crush the turtle may have been laid back in the film Finding Nemo, but green turtle hatchings have to fight to survive the instant they enter the water.
Now researchers have found turtle hatchlings can be sent off course by following artificial light, which increases their chances of being eaten in the shallows.
The little turtles can become disorientated in the light a concern to conservationists who are trying to give the endangered creatures the best chance of survival possible.
Researchers have found turtle hatchlings follow artificial light, which increases their chances of being eaten in the shallows. One of the turtles used in the study, complete with its transmitter
Researchers from the University of Western Australia examined the effect of artificial light on the near-shore trajectories of turtle hatchlings dispersing from the beaches where they were born.
Experts are interested in the effect of light on the animals because of increasing light pollution in coastal regions.
'Light pollution is a threat for many species that inhabit these locations, particularly those whose ecology or behaviour depends, in some way, on natural cycles of light and dark,' the study says.
Light is already known to have detrimental effects on sea turtles at the hatchling stage when they emerge from nests on natal beaches and head towards the sea.
Researchers from the University of Western Australia examined the effect of artificial light on the near shore trajectories of turtle hatchlings dispersing from the beaches where they were born. These graphs show tracks from each individual hatchling shown in different colours
ENDANGERED GREEN TURTLES The green turles are classed as endangered by IUCN. They are found in tropical and subtropical waters, with imprtant nesting sites around the whole coast of Africa, India and South East Asia, along the entire tropical coastline of Australia, and the South Pacific Islands. As well as being preyed upon by predators in shallow waters, humans hunt them for meat. An estimated 100,000 are killed in the Indo-Australian archipelago each year, according to wldlife charity, WWF. Green turtles are also known to suffer from debilitating and potentially lethal tumours. Experts do not know what causes them but they supect rising chemical pollution levels may be to blame. They are also at threat from habitat loss, climate chnage and the wildlife trade. Adult green turtles are he only truly herbivorous marine turtles, feeding on seagrasses and algae.
'Under natural conditions turtles hatch predominately at night (although some early morning and late afternoon emergences occur) and show an innate and well-directed orientation to the water, relying mostly on light cues that attract them toward the brighter horizon above the sea surface,' first author Michele Thums and her team wrote.
'Artificial lighting on beaches is strongly attractive to hatchlings and can cause them to move away from the sea and interfere with their ability to orient in a constant direction.
'Ultimately, this disorientation due to light pollution can lead to death of hatchlings from exhaustion, dehydration and predation.'
The study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, is the first to show wild turtle hatchlings are attracted to artificial light after entering the ocean, a behaviour that is likely to subject them to greater risk of predation.
The experts tagged 40 Chelonia mydas hatchlings with miniature acoustic transmitters to track their movements using an underwater array of 36 acoustic receivers placed in the near shore zone.
Half of these hatchlings were dazzled by artificial light leaving the beach.
The team measured the speed and direction of the intrepid hatchlings as they ventured into the water from Wobiri Beach, North West Cape, Western Australia, and found they were highly variable.
Light is already known to have detrimental effects on sea turtles at the hatchling stage when they emerge from nests on natal beaches and head towards the sea. A stock image of a fully grown green turtle is shown
This map shows Wobiri Beach, North West Cape, Western Australia showing the position of the study site. The map shows acoustic receivers in black and reference tags in red
It found 88 per cent of journeys were towards the light, suggesting the turtles were attracted to it.
Worryingly, these creatures lingered 23 per cent longer in the 'tracking array' or shallow waters than in normal lighting conditions.
'The near shore environment is host to many animals (e.g. reef fishes, sharks) known to predate turtle hatchlings,' Dr Thums' team wrote.
'Predation risk is greatest close to shore in shallow water [12], and highest mortality occurs over the first hour after entering the sea,'they added.
However, the study notes that while hatchlings were attracted to artificial light and basked in it, they were 'not trapped indefinitely by the light and eventually continued their swim offshore'.
It's hoped the findings will be used to to assess the effect pollution in seaside resorts, as well as the influence of moonlight on sea turtle hatchings.
Chimborazo by comparison is 3,967 miles from the centre of Earth's core
Everest is 3,965 miles high when measured from centre of the planet
The Earth is not a perfect sphere, and is wider at the equator than at poles
Chimborazo is higher than Everest when measured from Earth's centre
Since Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay first reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1953, conquering the world's highest peak has been a goal of almost every mountaineer on the planet.
But it seems they may have been targetting the wrong mountain - scientists say the title of the world's highest mountain should go to a volcanic peak in Ecuador.
They say that when measured from the centre of the planet, Mount Chimborazo extends further out into the atmosphere than Mount Everest.
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When measuring from the equator, Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador is the highest mountain on Earth, whose apex rises 3,967 miles from the Earth's centre
This is because the Earth is not a perfect sphere and bulges around the equator.
When measured from sea level, Mount Chimborazo, which rises 20,500 feet, falls short of Everest by 8,529 feet, which stands at a mighty 29,029 feet.
But when measured from the centre of the Earth, researchers at the Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement in France have confirmed that Chimborazos apex reaches 3,967 miles, according to an article in the New York Times.
Everest, by comparison, does not even make the cut for the Earth's top 20 highest mountains, measuring 3,965 miles from the planets centre.
HOW THE 'HIGHEST' MOUNTAINS MEASURE UP Mount Everest Mount Chimbarazo Location
Himalayas, Nepal and Tibet Cordillera Occidental, Equador Height above sea level 29,029 feet 20,500 feet Height from centre of Earth 3,965 miles 3,967 miles Average climbing time 40 days from base camp 14 days First ascent 1953 1802
This occurs due to the rather irregular shape that the Earth actually is. While we have known that the Earth is not flat since 6th century BC, we also know that it is not a perfect sphere.
At its poles, the Earth flattens, while at its equator, it bulges. In fact, the radius at the equator is about 13 miles greater than it is at the poles.
Chimborazo is closer to the equator than Everest, which lies further north.
This means that when we measure from the centre of the Earth, Chimborazos apex reaches the highest.
Chimborazo is closer to the equator than Everest, which lies much nearer the poles. This means that when we measure from the centre of the Earth, Chimborazos apex reaches the highest, at about 3,967 miles, while Everest does not even make the cut for the Earth's top 20 highest mountains.
Rising 20,500 feet above sea level, Mount Chimborazo (left) falls short of Everest (right) by 8,529 feet, which stands at a mighty 29,029 feet. However, when measured from the equator, Chimborazo pips Everest to the post to claim the title of highest mountain
It comes shortly after the 280th anniversary of a 1736 mission by the explorer Charles Marie de La Condamine, who attempted to climb Chimborazo but died in the process.
To commemorate his attempt, a research team led by the Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement in France recently climbed Mount Chimborazo.
After reaching the summit on 5 February 2016, they used a Global Navigation Satellite System to gather data for two hours.
To commemorate the 280th anniversary of Charles Marie de La Condamine's attempt to climb Chimborazo, a research team led by the Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement in France recently climbed the mountain
After reaching the summit on 5 February 2016, the team from the Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement used a Global Navigation Satellite System to gather data for two hours. Upon returning to base, they were then able to calculate that Mount Chimborazo is 20,946,246 feet (6384415.98 metres) from the centre of the Earth
Upon returning to base, they were then able to calculate that the mountain is 20,946,246 feet (6384415.98 metres) from the centre of the Earth.
This was actually approximately 15 feet shorter than previously thought, but regardless, confirmed its status as the highest from the Earths centre.
A statement posted on the Institute's website said: 'Chimborazo remains far behind Mount Everest (8,848 meters) from the level of the sea.
'However, it is the farthest point from the center of the Earth, because of its location close to the equator.
'There, the equatorial radius is about 21km (13 miles) longer than the distance between the center of the Earth and the poles, due to the flattening of the Earth.'
This is not the only measure where Mount Everest is pipped to the post to be named the highest mountain.
Mauna Kea in Hawaii is taller than Mount Everest when measured from top to bottom, however the majority of the mountain actually lies under the sea
Mauna Kea in Hawaii is a lot taller when measured from top to bottom, however the majority of the mountain actually lies under the sea.
The portion of Mauna Kea above sea level isnt able to match Everests record-breaking height.
Mount Everest is famously known for being an extremely difficult climb - the mountain can take a treacherous two months of work to reach the summit.
Most attempts to tackle climate change focus on cutting greenhouse gases from cars and factories, but a small group of scientists think the key may lie in cutting emissions of a different kind.
Methane produced by livestock farming accounts for around 18 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions in the form of flatulence and belching, according to official estimates.
But researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark believe they may be able to reduce this by feeding cos oregano to alter the balance of bacteria in their digestive systems.
Methane produced from cows is 21 times more harmful to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. With the demand for milk and steak showing no sign of slowing, this problem can only get worse.
They think the essential oils from the herb, and its potent antimicrobial properties, will kill off the bacteria growing in cows stomachs that emit methane.
Dr Kai Grevsen, a senior researcher involved in the project, told NPR: 'Oregano has essential oils with a mild antimicrobial called carvacrol, which can kill some of the bacteria in the cows rumen that produce methane.
WHY METHANE IS SUCH A PROBLEM Methane is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere and can be found in animal waste, landfills, coal mines and leaking natural gas pipes. A cow weighing (1,210 lb) 550 kg is thought to produce 800 to 1,000 litres of emissions each day. The White House has proposed cutting methane emissions from the dairy industry by 25 percent by 2020. Cows are by far the biggest producers, contributing to around 25 per cent of all methane produced on the planet.
'Of course, you cant kill all of the bacteria, or the cow would die.'
According to a recent UN report, farm animals release a total of 80 million metric tonnes of methane into the atmosphere, which is 23 times more potent at warming the planet than carbon dioxide.
As a result scientists have been trying for years to come up with different ways to prevent them from belching and flatulence.
Many of the previously tested remedies have been promising, for example adding the chemical, 3NOP to cattle feed cut the emissions from a sample of cows by 30 per cent.
Other scientists are even looking at an anti-methane vaccine for cows.
However, some substances are difficult to gain approval by the government, making it hard to turn these drugs into a reality.
That is why the widely used herb is so intriguing to scientists.
Oregano (pictured) has previously been used to help treat indigestion, heartburn and low stomach acidity. Scientists from Aarhus University hope that its antibacterial properties will kill some of the methane-producing bacteria in the cows digestive system
The study is building on previous the work that looked at 3NOP and will go on until 2019.
They will be using Greek oregano because of its high concentration of belch-suppressing oil. They hope this method will cut methane by 25 per cent.
Dr Greveson also said cows lose a lot of their energy through the process of releasing methane.
He hopes the energy saved by blocking the methane-producing bacteria will allow the cow to generate more milk and therefore be beneficial to farmer.
It is also still unknown what the milk from oregano-fed cows will taste like, but in previous studies there were no hints of the flavour of pizza or spaghetti in the final product, Dr Greveson assures.
'We definitely think this could become a widespread solution, for both organic and conventional farmers,' Grevsen said. 'It just depends on finding an inexpensive way to produce the oregano.'
Giant slabs of sea ice carving off of glaciers and crumbling into the sea could become a common sight if the climate continues to warm, warn scientists.
The bleak outlook comes from a new study in which researchers claim that the Antarctic ice could shrink by 186 miles (300 km) if the climate change continues unabated.
Such a huge loss of sea ice would result in global sea levels rising by almost three metres over the course of the next few centuries, they add.
A new study predicts that if climate change continues on the business as usual trajectory without intervention the huge Totten Glacier in the eastern Antarctic could experience runaway melting, leading to sea levels rising by almost 3 metres over the coming centuries
An international group of scientists, comprising researchers from the UK, Australia, New Zealand and the US, made the predictions based on measurements of a huge glacier in the Antarctic.
Totten Glacier drains one of the largest ice masses in the world, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.
By studying how the glacier has grown and shrank over time, they found that it may be teetering on the edge of a critical threshold.
Scientists say that if climate change continues on the business as usual trajectory without intervention the glacier could cross this threshold sometime in the next century, leading to an irreversible melting on a massive scale and causing the glacier to retreat rapidly.
Totten Glacier drains one of the largest ice masses in the world, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, enabling melt water on top of the giant ice sheet (pictured) to flow into the sea
Antarctica (pictured) has been a complex system to study, as despite the warming average global temperature, the region has gained ice mass - contrasting the rapid loss seen in the northern polar regions
The evidence coming together is painting a picture of East Antarctica being much more vulnerable to a warming environment than we thought, said Professor Martin Siegert, co-director of the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London.
MEASURING THE ICE SHEETS Using aerial imagery and analysis of the rocks below the Antarctic ice sheets, the team was able to track the history of the glacier as it grew and shrank over successive ice ages. They found that when the glacier receded over 'unstable' regions, it resulted in rapid retreat of hundreds of kilometres. The team believes that if the glacier melts enough to hit this 'unstable' region, it will pass the point of no return, entering the same phase of rapid retreat as seen in the past.
This is something we should worry about. Totten Glacier is losing ice now, and the warm ocean water that is causing this loss has the potential to also push the glacier back to an unstable place.
According to the researchers, the glaciers rapid retreat would cause it to withdraw up to 300 kilometres inland over the following centuries. The vast quantities of water locked up in the ice would be released, contributing as much as 2.9 metres to global sea-level rise.
Professor Siegert added: Totten Glacier is only one outlet for the ice of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, but it could have a huge impact.
'The East Antarctic Ice Sheet is by far the largest mass of ice on Earth, so any small changes have a big influence globally.
The findings are published today in the journal Nature.
Antarctica has been a complex system to study, as despite the warming average global temperature, the region has gained ice mass - contrasting the rapid loss seen in the northern polar regions.
But despite these gains, the warming waters are causing chunks of ice to crumble into the sea, just as is seen in the north.
While the gains may outweigh the losses at the moment, as more of the ice sheet crumbles, it exposes more of the ice to warming waters which causes further melting.
Astronomers have detected a dead star that has been 'cannibalised' by the white dwarf star it orbits.
An international team of astronomers made the discovery by observing a very faint binary system, J1433, which is located 730 light-years away.
The system consists of a low-mass object - about 60 times the mass of Jupiter - in an extremely tight 78-minute orbit around a white dwarf - the remnant of a star like our Sun.
Astronomers have detected a failed star that is being devoured by a neighbouring white dwarf. Located more than 730 light years away, the white dwarf has stripped so much material off its neighbour it has turned it into a brown dwarf (illustrated). The star is orbiting the white dwarf once every 78 minutes
Due to their close proximity, the white dwarf is stripping mass from its low-mass companion.
This process has removed about 90% of the mass of the companion, turning it from a being a star into a brown dwarf.
WHAT IS A WHITE DWARF? A white dwarf is the remains of a smaller star that has run out of nuclear fuel. While large stars those exceeding ten ten times the mass of our sun - suffer a spectacularly violent climax as a supernova explosion at the ends of their lives, smaller stars are spared such dramatic fates. When stars like the sun come to the ends of their lives they exhaust their fuel, expand as red giants and later expel their outer layers into space. The hot and very dense core of the former star - a white dwarf - is all that remains. White dwarfs contain approximately the mass of the sun but have roughly the radius of Earth, meaning they are incredibly dense. The gravity on the surface of a white dwarf is 350,000 times that of gravity on Earth. They become so dense because their electrons are smashed together, creating what's caused 'degenerative matter'. This means that a more massive white dwarf has a smaller radius than its less massive counterpart.
Brown dwarfs are generally failed stars - half-hearted version of a star that started to form, but never managed to gather enough energy to begin the process of nuclear fusion.
However, the brown dwarf in this system was born as a full-fledged star, but has been stripped to its current mass by billions of years of stellar cannibalism.
The study, published in the journal Nature, used the X-Shooter instrument at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Cerro Paranal, Chile, in order to directly detect and characterise a system that has survived such a traumatic transition.
Lead author Juan Venancio Hernandez Santisteban, an astronomer at the University of Southampton, said: 'X-Shooter is a unique instrument that can observe astronomical objects simultaneously all the way from the ultraviolet to the infrared.
'This allowed us to dissect the light of this system and uncover the hidden signal from the faint brown dwarf.
'Our knowledge of binary evolution suggests that, if the companion star can survive the transition, brown dwarfs should be common in this type of system.
'However, despite several efforts, only a few candidate systems with tentative evidence for brown-dwarf companions had previously been found.
'Our results now confirm that the successful transformation of a star to a brown dwarf is indeed possible.'
The animation above shows the temperature difference between both sides of the brown dwarf. Its tear-drop shape is due to the gravitational pull of the more massive white dwarf near by
The gravitational pull of the white dwarf on the neighbouring brown dwarf has pulled it into a tear drop shape (illustrated in the temperature difference map pictured)
Brown dwarfs (artist's impression pictured) are generally failed stars - half-hearted version of a star that started to form, but never managed to gather enough energy to begin the process of nuclear fusion
The astronomers also used their data to map the surface temperature across the brown dwarf.
They found it was 57 degrees Celsius hotter on average on the dayside (the side facing the white dwarf) than the nightside with the hottest and coldest parts of the surface differing by 200 degrees Celsius.
Professor Christian Knigge, from the University of Southampton, who initiated and supervised the project, said: 'The construction of this surface temperature map is a significant achievement.
'In many giant planets - the so-called 'hot-Jupiters' - irradiation by the host star completely overwhelms the planet's internal heat flux.
'By contrast, internal heat flux and external irradiation are comparable for the brown dwarf in our study.
'This represents an unexplored regime, making such systems valuable as laboratories for irradiated (sub-) stellar and planetary atmospheres.'
The animation above shows how the brown dwarf orbits around the white dwarf (black dot). The graph displays the light contribution from each (credit: Hernadez Santisteban et al/Nature)
The light produced by the white dwarf dips dramatically when the brown dwarf orbits between it and Earth (illustrated above)
The study involved astronomers from the universities of Keele, Manchester, Oxford, Sheffield, Southampton and Warwick (UK), the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (Spain) and Hamburger Sternwarte (Germany).
It was funded by the Royal Astronomical Society, European Union Eleventh Framework Programme, European Research Council, CONACyT (Mexico) and the University of Southampton.
Nokia is set to make its much-awaited comeback.
Microsoft announced today that it is selling the brands feature phone business, while Nokia simultaneously revealed that one of these purchasing companies has gained rights to develop smartphones and tablets under its name.
According to Nokia, the new line of smart devices will be running on Android, boosting the brand back into the market on a global basis.
Nokia is set to make its much-awaited comeback. Microsoft announced today that it is selling the brands feature phone business, while Nokia simultaneously revealed that one of these purchasing companies has gained rights to develop smartphones and tablets under its name
WHAT ARE 'FEATURE PHONES'? Feature phones are those which have basic capabilities compared with smartphones. A feature phone may be able to access the internet, play music, or make texts and calls, but it does not have the advanced functions of other devices on the market. These are commonly referred to as 'dumbphones' due to their limited functions. A study by research group Strategy Analytics estimated that 44m of these 'basic' phones were sold in 2015 just two 2 percent of the global market. But, many smartphone users are now turning to basic devices for increased battery life, as they may be more reliable. Due to their simplicity, these types of phones are also commonly given to children and elderly people.
Microsoft revealed it is selling Nokias feature phone assets to FIH Mobile Ltd. and HMD Global, Oy.
Feature phones are those which can still go online and perform basic functions, but are not quite as advanced as smartphones
Microsoft says it will continue to develop Windows 10 Mobile and support the Lumia 650, Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, along with phones from OEM partners like Acer, Alcatel, HP, Trinity and VAIO.
Once the deal has closed, two Microsoft executives will move to HMD, with Arto Nummela becoming HMDs CEO, and Florian Seiche joining as president.
According to Nokia, fans have continually expressed their desires for new smartphones from the brand, and theyll soon be getting them.
The exclusive global licence granted to HMD will let the company create Nokia-brand smartphones, tablets, and feature phones for the next ten years.
HMD has plans to invest more than $500 million in the next three years to support this development.
Though Microsoft has decided to remove itself from feature phones, Nokia says these devices with more basic capabilities remain a popular choice among consumers.
While Nokia will have limited involvement in the creation of new devices, it will set mandatory brand requirements and performance related provisions to ensure that all Nokia-branded products exemplify consumer expectations of Nokia devices, including quality, design and consumer focused innovation.
Microsoft revealed it is selling Nokias feature phone assets to FIH Mobile Ltd. and HMD Global, Oy. The firm says it will continue to develop Windows 10 Mobile and support the Lumia 650, pictured, Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, along with phones from OEM partners like Acer, Alcatel, HP, Trinity and VAIO
This means the new designs could bear similarities to those Nokia fans have grown to know and love.
FIH will acquire Microsofts feature phone business assets, including manufacturing, sales and distribution.
And Nokia Technologies, FIH, and HMD have signed an agreement establishing their collaboration to continue building the business for phones and tablets.
Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the Nokia brand in an industry where Nokia remains a truly iconic name, said Ramzi Haidamus, president of Nokia Technologies.
Instead of Nokia returning to manufacturing mobile phones itself, HMD plans to produce mobile phones and tablets that can leverage and grow the value of the Nokia brand in global markets.
It took New Horizons 10 years and 3 billion miles to reach Pluto - and now it has it's sights set on a new target.
The probe is currently exploring Kuiper Belt, a chilly expanse that holds trillions of mysterious objects leftover from the early solar system.
Today, Nasa released an image it took of 1994 JR1, a 90-mile-wide (145-kilometer-wide) Kuiper Belt object which orbits more than 3 billion miles (5 billion km) from the sun.
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Shown above is the first two of the 20 observations that New Horizons made of 1994 JR1 in April. The Kuiper Belt object is the bright moving dot indicated by the arrow. The dots that do not move are background stars
WHAT IS THE KUIPER BELT? The Kuiper Belt is a freezing ring of debris orbiting more than 4 billion miles from the sun. It is thought to be the remains of the violent and chaotic collisions that led to the formation of the planets. There are an estimated 33,000 objects more than 60 metres across in the belt and three dwarf planets. Astronomer Mike Brown, from Caltech in Pasadena California, has likened the Kuiper belt to the 'blood splatter' left behind by the formation of the solar system. Although now relatively calm and stable, it is likely to be a dangerous place for New Horizons as it may be filled with unseen debris and space rocks.
Warming up for a possible extended mission as it speeds through deep space, New Horizons has now twice observed 1994 JR1.
The image was taken with the spacecraft's Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (Lorri) on April 7-8 from a distance of about 69 million miles (111 million km).
It shatters New Horizons' own record for the closest-ever views of this KBO in November 2015, when New Horizons detected JR1 from 170 million miles (280 million km) away.
Simon Porter, a New Horizons science team member from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado, said the observations contain several valuable findings.
'Combining the November 2015 and April 2016 observations allows us to pinpoint the location of JR1 to within 1,000 kilometers (about 600 miles), far better than any small KBO,' he said.
The more accurate orbit also allows the science team to dispel a theory, suggested several years ago, that JR1 is a quasi-satellite of Pluto.
New Horizons scientists used light curve data the variations in the brightness of light reflected from the objects surface to determine JR1s rotation period of 5.4 hours
From the closer vantage point of the April 2016 observations, the team also determined the object's rotation period, observing the changes in light reflected from JR1's surface to determine that it rotates once every 5.4 hours (or a JR1 day).
'That's relatively fast for a KBO,' said science team member John Spencer, also from SwRI.
'This is all part of the excitement of exploring new places and seeing things never seen before.'
Spencer added that these observations are great practice for possible close-up looks at about 20 more ancient Kuiper Belt objects that may come in the next few years, should Nasa approve an extended mission.
New Horizons flew through the Pluto system on July 14, 2015, making the first close-up observations of Pluto and its family of five moons.
The spacecraft is on course for an ultra-close flyby of another Kuiper Belt object, 2014 MU69, on Jan. 1, 2019.
On the heels of one of the strongest El Ninos on record, climate scientists reveal the world may soon be bracing itself for the arrival of La Nina.
Recent data shows there is a 75 percent chance the climate pattern will develop by fall, when surface temperatures in the Pacific could drop more than 0.5C below average near the equator.
A new 3D animation released this week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows the path of deep, cool water as it makes its way eastward a slow-motion wave that could signify a developing La Nina.
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The NOAA animation focuses on five-day periods which each centre around a particular date this spring: March 14, April 13, and May 3. It shows where temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean were warmer or cooler than average in the top 300 meters
WHAT IS LA NINA? La Nina is characterised by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific. When trade winds, blowing from east to west across the Pacific, are strong, equatorial waters are cool, suggesting the arrival of La Nina. The phenomenon tends to occur unpredictably every two to seven years. Having a seesawing relationship with El Nino, La Nina can make for a more hurricane season in the Atlantic, and less activity in the Pacific. Severe occurrences have been linked to floods and droughts. La Nina's don't always follow after El Ninos, but based on historical records, it seems there is a chance that a strong El Nino is more likely to generate a La Nina.
Typically less damaging than El Nino, La Nina is characterised by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
The animation shows how the conditions favourable for La Nina could be developing, illustrating where temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean were warmer or cooler than average in the top 300 meters.
It focuses on five-day periods which each centre around a particular date this spring: March 14, April 13, and May 3.
As the weeks pass, the layer of warm water at the surface contracts to the central Pacific and becomes very shallow, a sign that the current El Nino is on its way out, writes Rebecca Lindsey, a contractor to NOAAs Climate Program Office.
By the final frame of the animation, the cold pool is just breaching the surface of the eastern Pacific off South America.
La Nina is the cool phase of the ENSO climate pattern, Lindsey explains.
This pattern, short for El Nino-Southern Oscillation, is a naturally occurring fluctuation in the conditions at the central-eastern tropical Pacific.
This can affect weather around the world, influencing wind, air pressure, and rain, and even shifting jet streams.
Whereas El Nino is a climate pattern known to bring warm and rainy conditions, La Nina is a cooler, drier state.
La Nina, Spanish for 'the girl', tends to occur unpredictably every two to seven years and severe occurrences have been linked to floods and droughts.
According to a NOAA blog, there have been 14 La Nina events in recorded history dating back to 1950.
La Nina is characterised by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific, compared to El Nino. It tends to occur unpredictably every two to seven years. Severe occurrences have been linked to floods and droughts. Pictured is how La Nina impacts global weather patterns
Having a seesawing relationship with El Nino, La Nina can make for a more active hurricane season in the Atlantic, and less activity in the Pacific.
La Nina's don't always follow after El Ninos, but based on historical records, it seems there is a chance that a strong El Nino is more likely to generate a La Nina.
Climate Central provides an in-depth discussion about how the underlying physics of the El Nino cycle offers a reason to think that strong El Ninos lead to La Ninas.
'El Ninos generate large-scale waves in the ocean (these aren't like the waves that break on the water's surface),' it says.
'One set, called Kelvin waves, travel from west to east and cause warming, enhancing the El Nino.'
Click on this interactive Climate Central map to see how El Nino impacts the climate in the winter and summer
WHAT IS EL NINO? El Nino is caused by a shift in the distribution of warm water in the Pacific Ocean around the equator. Usually the wind blows strongly from east to west, due to the rotation of the Earth, causing water to pile up in the western part of the Pacific. This pulls up colder water from the deep ocean in the eastern Pacific. However, in an El Nino, the winds pushing the water get weaker and cause the warmer water to shift back towards the east. This causes the eastern Pacific to get warmer. But as the ocean temperature is linked to the wind currents, this causes the winds to grow weaker still and so the ocean grows warmer, meaning the El Nino grows. This change in air and ocean currents around the equator can have a major impact on the weather patterns around the globe by creating pressure anomalies in the atmosphere.
Another set of waves, called Rossby waves, travel in the opposite direction until they reach Indonesia, where they head back east.
When the Rossby waves hit El Nino, they cool it and bring the weather phenomenon to an end.
During a particularly strong El Nino, stronger Rossby waves will be created, which could trigger a La Nina event.
La Nina could bring a higher chance of a dry winter in drought-stricken California and more rainfall in Southeast Asia.
But as Climate Central points out, these patterns particularly difficult to predict at this time of year, and what happens remains to be seen.
El Nino, which has been linked to crop damage around the world, will likely dissipate by late Northern Hemisphere spring or early summer.
'It's difficult to forecast strength of events. An added difficulty is that things change pretty quickly when an event is decaying this is the time of year when the accuracy of forecasts is lower,' Catherine Ganter, a senior climatologist with Australia's Bureau of Meteorology, told Climate Central in an email.
Pictured is the current El Nino-La Nina forecast from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center and Columbia University's International Research Institute
Earlier this year, researchers warned that the tropical Pacific Ocean is see-sawing in an extreme way.
Natural cycles such as El Nino and La Nina events cause this sea level seesaw to tip back and forth, with the ocean near Asia on one end and the ocean near the Americas on the other.
But over the last 30 years, the seesaw's wobbles have been more extreme.
This causes variations in sea levels up to three times higher than those observed in the previous 30 years, scientists claim.
Google is gunning for its rivals in the battle for virtual reality.
The firm today revealed it will build new VR capabilities into the next version of Android.
It is also working with manufacturers on a new headset that uses a phone as its screen.
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The new capabilities were unveiled by Clay Bavor, the head of Google's VR project, and the annual IO event in San Francisco.
Google also revealed a new VR controller which will allow users to navigate in 3D
The new capabilites were unveiled by Clay Bavor, the head of Google's VR project.
It will build the new Daydream software into Android N, and work with manufacturers to develop handsets capable of supporting the advanced graphics.
Experts believe the resulting experiences will be far superior to efforts such as the Sanmsung and Oculus Gear VR - but not as powerful as Facebook's Oculus Rift, which requires a dedicated $1500 PC.
'We've taken a very different approach,' he told CNET.
'We've approached the whole thing much more like something you wear a piece of clothing rather than this gizmo.
'The phone slips into it in seconds, and then you could be in another world.'
Google's bare-bones entry into the still-nascent field of virtual reality came two years ago when it unveiled a cheap headset made out of cardboard.
The company is poised to get more serious, given far more sophisticated options available for sale.
With Daydream, manufacturers including Samsung, HTC and Huawei will have smartphones capable of handling it.
These headsets promise to be more comfortable and more immersive than the cardboard headset. Google is also distributing guidelines for a new controller with a few buttons, a touchpad and sensors to track its orientation and where it's pointing.
The controller can be used to flip digital pancakes, throw things and cast a virtual fishing line.
Analysts are touting virtual reality, a technology that casts its users into artificial, three-dimensional worlds, as one of the industry's most promising areas for growth.
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 I've heard will be less powerful than the Vive or Rift,' according to Peter Rojas of betaworks.
Confirmation of the new system leaked on Google's own developer centre. On the right an icon for Android VR can be seen.
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 isheaded 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.'
If you have a sneaking suspicion that you aren't getting the internet speeds you pay for, Netflix has come to the rescue.
It has revealed a new free interactive a tool that measures personal internet connections, allowing users to see just how slow or fast their speed is.
Called fast.com, the site analyzes the connection for both mobile and broadband to help users gain insight and control of their internet service - and it's free for everyone.
Netflix has launched a tool that measures personal internet connections, allowing users to see just how slow or fast their speed is. Called fast.com , the site analyzes the connection for both mobile and broadband to help users gain insight and control of their internet service -- and it's free for everyone
WHAT IS FAST.COM? Netflix just launched a tool that measures a consumers personal connection, allowing them to check download speeds for optimal use. Called fast.com, the site checks the connection for both mobile and broadband to gain insight and control of their internet service -- and it is free for everyone. Although this is a new service from Netflix, this concept is already in the works. Speedtest.net, which Netflix links to in the press release, performs the same service. But what the global provider of streaming content explains, fast.com is ad free with a streamlined design that is quick and easy to understand. To calculate this estimate, Fast.com performs a series of downloads from Netflix servers.
Although this is a new service from Netflix, this concept is already in the works.
Speedtest.net, which Netflix links to in the press release, performs the same service.
But what the global provider of streaming content explains, fast.com is ad free with a streamlined design that is quick and easy to understand.
The website is simple to use, as curious consumers just visit fast.com and click the button shown below Mbps.
Numbers will appear on the screen and quickly count up in a faded grey that stop once the measure is complete.
And there is no limit to how many times a user can perform the check.
To calculate results, Fast.com performs a series of downloads from Netflix servers.
If the numbers show you aren't getting the speed you pay your provider for, 'you can ask your ISP about the results', Netflix said.
Although it might seem gracious of Netflix to offer a free tool, it could be a way to get users to check their internet if they are having issues streaming instead of just shutting down the application and moving on to other things.
Netflix knows its fans spend a lot of their free time on the site and fast.com may be a way to keep them there.
A new report revealed the average subscriber in America spends one hour and 40 minutes a day binge watching, compared to the 38 minutes a day spent on socializing and communicating.
The website is simple to use, as curious consumers just visit fast.com and click the button shown below Mbps. Numbers will appear on the screen and quickly count up in a faded grey that stop once the measure is complete
This statistic suggests that Netflix fans are on the couching with remote in hand twice as much than they are hanging out with real-life human friends.
Cordcutting.com calculated numbers from Netflix earlier this month and found members spend even less time reading, relaxing and think and exercising - Americans actually watch more Netflix than all of these combined.
Netflix knows its fans spend a lot of their free time on the site and fast.com may be a way to keep them there. A new report revealed the average subscriber in America spends one hour and 40 minutes a day binge watching, compared to the 38 minutes a day spent on socializing and communicating
The average American works out for just 17 minutes a day, so, according to the calculations, Netflix members spend about six times more time surfing through movie and show titles.
This addiction to Netflix may all come down to science, as the firm has done extensive research to create thumbnail images that are sure to pull a viewer in.
The firm knows that if they do not capture the users attention within in 90 seconds that person will put down the remote and head off into the real world to do other activities.
Most know the frustration downloading a movie or television show, but instead of the timer counting down it just adds on more time -- that's where fast.com comes in. Netflix says the site is ad free with a streamlined design that is quick and easy to understand.
In a blog post, Netflix wrote that the pictures have the biggest influence on what people choose to watch, and captures '82 percent of their focus while browsing Netflix.'
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Every tourist hopes to capture the ultimate holiday snap - but this daring traveller took it to another level by posing with a wild crocodile.
Kristina Smith, 25, travelled to a sacred spot in the upper east region of Paga, Ghana, for the nerve-wracking croc photo-op.
The young explorer from Ottawa, Canada, heard about the secretive location through locals while on holiday in the region.
Tourist Kristina Smith poses with the giant crocodile in the upper east region of Paga, Ghana, for the ultimate holiday snap
Guides estimated the crocodile to be around 6ft long and the Canadian woman was told by locals she would be 'safe'
Upon arrival at Paga Crocodile Pond, Kristina witnessed the wild creatures feast on a chicken before she posed for a photo - assured by locals she was safe.
Guides estimated the big beast to be almost six foot long.
Kristina said: 'At the front entrance, I was greeted by a few local men and paid my respects to the elder gentlemen.
'I was taken by two young men, one who was holding a chicken in his hand.
'The pond was in a large empty area and you could see the faint outline of crocodiles, enjoying the water on the hot, dusty day.
'One guide let out a high-pitched whistle that got the attention of two crocs.
'One crocodile was faster than the other, and was the first out of the water.
'It's reward was the poor chicken as a meal.
'After that, the crocodile was ready for the photo opportunity and proved to be a gracious photo partner.
'I was terrified but assured by the guides it was safe. This was my first time that up close and personal with such an animal.'
The Canadian woman gets to grips with the huge beast and lifts up its tail after hearing about the secretive location through locals while on holiday
The woman admitted to being 'terrified' by her pose with the reptile, but described it as a 'gracious photo partner'
Kristina visited the country as part of her master studies, which she is completing in Amsterdam.
After spending time working on a school project she was able to explore.
She added: 'I was very eager to see far flung places of Ghana and decided to travel to Paga.
'For the locals of the village there, crocodiles are seen as sacred and are greatly respected.
'I was happy to see an ecotourism project that was important to the community.
'Ghana was a wonderfully social country, and I could not be more blessed by the people that showed me around.
'There was music and bright colour everywhere, things that put a smile on my face.
'I spent a month in the north, travelling by car, bus and motorbike.
'I also had the opportunity to see elephants and hippos as well as the crocodile.
Incredible footage shows a tourist receiving grenade-lobbing training that consisted of merely throwing pebbles.
After just two throws, he's then given a live grenade, which he hurls into a large pond after double checking that he should dispatch it as soon as the pin is pulled.
The understandably nervous tourist was dicing with death at a firing range in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and the clip, shot by a passer-by, begins with a member of staff talking him through the arm action required.
The Irishman was shown how to throw a grenade at a firing range in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
The holidaymaker, who appears to be Irish, throws a pebble into the murky water but is told by the guide to try again - and this time, not to make the water splash.
Succeeding on his second attempt, the tourist is then deemed ready to throw the hand-grenade.
The tourist is warned by the staff member that he must 'hold the grenade tight' when he pulls out the pin, as otherwise it may go off.
The tourist is warned by the staff member that he must 'hold the grenade tight' when he pulls out the pin, as otherwise it may go off
The guide confirms the tourist is ready, then he pulls out the grenade's pin
The guide said: 'Slowly, slowly, don't worry. I'll stay near you all the time.'
The Irish man then replies: 'So, after you pull this out I just throw it right?'
The guide nods and tells him to do it slowly. He then pulls out the grenade's pin.
The nervous backpacker launches the weapon into the water in a hurry
The group waits for five seconds after releasing the hand-grenade into the water
The nervous backpacker launches the weapon into the water and after five seconds it explodes, blasting water into the air.
The video, which was uploaded to YouTube in 2011 and has grown in popularity over the past 24 hours, concludes with the tourist smiling at the camera and expressing his excitement.
At the Cambodian firing range, visitors are allowed to use weapons including AK 47s, bazookas, M16s and even Tommy Guns, whether they're experienced or not.
The grenade goes off in the pond, blasting water high into the air
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If you are still deciding where to jet off to this summer, you could do a lot worse than Stiniva in Croatia, because it has been voted the best beach in Europe.
And with its crystal clear waters, white sands and a stunning clifftop backdrop it is clear to see why the seaside paradise topped the chart.
Much of its charm stems from just how secluded and peaceful it is. It's accessible only by hiking along a steep and narrow path, or by taking a taxi boat from the nearby Rukavac cove. Those who make the effort will be rewarded with an exquisite patch of coastline with a sea entrance of less than 16 feet.
If you are still deciding where to jet off to this summer, why not aim for Stiniva in Croatia, which has been voted the best beach in Europe
With its crystal clear waters, white sands and a stunning clifftop backdrop, it is clear to see why the seaside paradise topped the chart
To access Vis, and the spectacular Stiniva, visitors can take a two-hour ferry from the harbour in Split
As far as tourism organisation European Best Destinations is concerned, it's fully deserving of its 2016 Best Beach in Europe gong.
Those keen for a visit have to head to Vis, where the sandy retreat is situated on the southern part of the island, close to the village of Zuzec.
A visit to this award-winning beach would not be complete without exploring the island perhaps hire a scooter and take in the towns of Vis and Komiza, before heading north to the vineyard-strewn country of Plisko Polje.
To access Vis, and the spectacular Stiniva, visitors can take a two-hour ferry from the harbour in Split.
Accessible only by hiking on a steep and narrow path, or by taking a taxi boat from the nearby Rukavac cove, this exquisite patch of coastline is definitely worth the effort it takes to reach it
Located away from the busier beaches, Stiniva's peaceful surroundings saw it gain the accolade of 2016 Best Beach in Europe by tourism organisation European Best Destinations
Those keen for a visit have to head for the island of Vis, where the sandy retreat is situated on the southern part of the island, close to the village of Zuzec
THE TOP 25 BEACHES IN THE WORLD ACCORDING TO TRIPADVISOR USERS 1. Grace Bay, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos 2. Baia do Sancho, Fernando de Noronha, Brazil 3. Playa Paraiso, Cayo Largo, Cuba 4. Anse Lazio, Praslin Island, Seychelles 5. Cayo de Agua, Los Roques National Park, Venezuela 6. Flamenco Beach, Culebra, Puerto Rica 7. Playa de Ses Illetes, Formentera, Spain 8. Ngapali Beach, Ngapali, Myanmar 9. West Bay Beach, Roatan, Honduras 10. Nacpan Beach, El Nido, Philippines 11. Maho Beach, U.S. Virgin Islands, Caribbean 12. Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Island, Queensland, Australia 13. Sharm El Luli, Marsa Alam, Red Sea and Sinai Egypt 14. Elafonissi Beach, Elafonissi, Crete, Greece 15. Playa Manuel Antonio, Manuel Antonio National Park, Province of Puntarenas, Costa Rica 16. The Baths, Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands, Caribbean 17. Camp's Bay Beach Camps Bay, Western Cape, South Africa 18. Praia da Marinha, Carvoeiro, Algarve, Portugal 19. Kata Noi Beach, Karon Phuket, Thailand 20. Clearwater Beach, Clearwater, Florida, United States 21. Playa Paraiso, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico 22. Agonda Beach, Agonda, Goa, India 23. Horseshoe Bay Beach, Southampton Parish, Bermuda, Caribbean 24. Tumon Beach, Tumon, Guam, Mariana Islands 25. Praia de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Ilha do Sal, Cape Verde
For those looking for some other magnificent beach-y offerings around the world there are plenty that live up to the hype of the brochures and travel guides.
Earlier this year TripAdvisor named the most stunning stretches of sand in the world - and it was Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean and Brazil that took the top two spots in the review site's Travellers' Choice Awards 2016.
The winner was the seven-mile-long beach at Grace Bay, and with its turquoise water and powdery snow-white sand it is obvious why.
One reviewer said: 'We would take our umbrella, chairs and a cooler and spend the day there. Life doesn't get much better.'
Second place was taken by Brazil's beautiful Baia do Sancho, on the island of Fernando de Noronha, which took first place in the awards last year.
One reviewer explained: 'As you walk through a small trail, you can't imagine what awaits you. The heavenly view seems like a mirage.'
She's been known to celebrate the female form by protesting Instagram's 'sexist' nudity policy.
But Caitlin Stasey did more than simply 'Free the Nipple' on Wednesday as she posted a fully nude snap of herself to the image-sharing website.
The ex-Neighbours star, 26, displayed her naked body while lying on a bed in the photo, which appears to have been taken by her partner Lucas Neff.
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Leaving little to the imagination: Ex-Neighbours star and 'Free The Nipple' campaign supporter Caitlin Stasey shared a nude Instagram snap on Wednesday
Caitlin, who is known for her role as Rachel Kinski in Neighbours, seems to have her hair wrapped in a towel as she reclined in the bedroom.
Looking relaxed, she displayed her striking natural beauty while stretched out on a comfy unmade bed and strokes her cat.
As sunlight poured through a curtain on the left side of the frame, the walls appeared to be decorated with several artistic erotic photos.
Double standard? Caitlin did not caption the naked image, but shortly after posted a screen-grab of a recent post by 'Instagram King' Dan Bilzerian, highlighting the social media site's 'sexist' double-standards
Caitlin did not caption the image, but shortly after posted a screen-grab of a recent post by social media personality Dan Bilzerian.
In the photo, the so-called 'Instagram King' promotes his new mobile phone game which features animated nudity and a controversial theme.
She captioned the screen-grab, 'Yeah. And I'm the one violating community guidelines,' drawing attention to the perceived double-standard of Instagram's terms of use.
'Yeah. And I'm the one violating community guidelines': After posting her nude photo, Caitlin shared a screen-grab of a recent post by Instagram personality Dan promoting his mobile game (pictured), which features animated nudity and a controversial theme
Many of her followers seemed to concur with Caitlin's view, with one commenting: 'He demeans woman yet is allowed to post pics but we as woman can't post without us "violating terms".'
Meanwhile, on Friday, Caitlin made yet another bold statement as she drew attention to her hairy underarms in an Instagram snap.
Stripped down to a skimpy silver bikini, the Reign actress happily flashed her armpits while topping up her tan in the glorious sunshine.
Got hair, don't care! On Friday, Caitlin made a bold statement on Instagram as she drew attention to her hairy underarms in a bikini-clad selfie
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 photo she captioned: 'Live fast, die young, bad girls do it well.'
The actress is the founder 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 armpits while topping up her tan in the glorious sunshine
Caitlin is also a proud supporter of the 'Free The Nipple' campaign, an ongoing protest against Instagram's 'no nipple policy' when it comes to women's breasts.
It has been claimed this is a sexist double-standard as photos of shirtless men are permitted under the social media website's community guidelines.
And last week she posted another image to her 146,000 followers, which showed Caitlin pulling up her pink top to expose her breasts.
The photo was taken outdoors against a natural backdrop of an earthy, sun-kissed desert landscape, and featured the caption: 'God's Country'.
Daring to bare! Last year, Caitlin debuted the beginnings of her unshaven pits in various social media snaps
Free the nipple! Last week, the 26-year-old posed topless on Instagram - protesting the social media platform's 'no nipple policy' when it comes to women's breasts
Meanwhile, at the start of the year, the Melbourne-born actress strongly hinted that she had tied the knot with Raising Hope star 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 Lucas have yet to address their rumoured nuptials.
It's been a month since Lisa Wilkinson bid a teary farewell to their beloved dog Scout.
But as the Today host turns over a new leaf, she has welcomed an adorable new member to the family to help with the healing.
The 56-year-old shared a snap with her eight-week-old boxer puppy Maggie to Instagram on Tuesday, snuggling her face up close.
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It's puppy love! Lisa Wilkinson welcomed an eight-week-old boxer Maggie into the family recently
'Our new girl Maggie may only be 8 weeks old but she's already displaying talents (and fine motor skills) way beyond her years,' she captioned the photo.
'She somehow managed to delete her own Instagram post after I stupidly left my iPad on the floor (and she performed one of those very special #boxer puppy happy dances all over it).'
She finished off the post by adding: 'So here's the post again...Australia's Got Talent, here we come!'
Heatbreaking: Last month, the 56-year-old bid a teary farewell to the family's 12-year-old dog Scout
Opening up: In April, Lisa wrote an emotional article for The Huffington Post about losing a pet
In April, Lisa wrote an emotional article for The Huffington Post about the grieving and heartbreak associated with losing a pet.
'It's a day our family has long been dreading, but expecting,' she wrote.
'Despite that, I just wasn't ready, not even remotely, which is crazy, because these past few months have been so tough for her, and she was clearly rapidly heading down a hill for which there was only one possible end.'
'I haven't lost a family pet since I was 17': The popular personality shared a tribute to their cat Lola who was hit by a car
Weeks before, the family tragically lost their cat Lola after she was hit by a car.
Taking to Instagram with a photo of Lisa, she wrote a loving tribute to the animal.
'I haven't lost a family pet since I was 17,' she wrote. 'I had forgotten just how hard it is.'
They revealed their $2 million building plans last year, after purchasing a site with an existing home in Sydney's Northern Beaches for $4 million.
And on Wednesday Jennifer Hawkins paid a visit to the Pittwater site where her and husband Jake Wall's mega mansion is being built.
In an Instagram post, the 32-year-old is seen lying down on the waterfront as she marvels at the sunrise, captioning the video: 'Peaceful... Site visit.'
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Peaceful progress: Jennifer Hawkins, 32, visited the site where her $6 million waterfront mansion is currently being built in Sydney on Wednesday
The Myer ambassador also gave a shout-out to Jake's property development company J Group Constructions, which is responsible for the project.
No doubt the couple have opted for high quality materials as a foundation for the property, with sturdy sandstone seen layered across the front of the large beach-side home.
So far, four levels appear to have been constructed with more work needed across the top half of the million-dollar property.
Power couple: The model and her husband Jake have a large property portfolio between them
Shaping up nicely! Construction is well and truly underway for Jennifer and Jake's $6 million mega mansion in Sydney's Northern Beaches
Hey big spender! The couple purchased the site, which already had an existing home on it last year for $4 million
In addition the basic construction required, it appeared landscaping was also well and truly underway with an earth-mover spotted.
A landscaper could be seen maintaining the freshly laid grass along the bottom portion of the downhill property, towards the waterfront, which features a private beach.
Meanwhile construction workers were spotted carrying large wood pilings down the slope and into the home.
Keeping it in the family: The project is being conducted by property development company J Group Constructions, fronted by Jake himself
Getting it done: So far sandstone tiles have been laid around the bottom of the property, while tropical trees have been planted on the grounds
Only the best: The couple have likely opted for high quality materials as a foundation for the property, with sturdy sandstone seen layered across the front of the large beachside home
During a chat to The Morning Show host's Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies at the end of March, the Australian model explained that she and her builder husband Jake worked together on the massive undertaking.
'It's kinda fun - I do the interiors more so and he builds the place - we just enjoy it,' she told the hosts.
The blonde beauty went on to add: 'It's kind of a side project for me, but Jake's main gig - so it kind of works well.'
Working fast: The multi-level house is quickly coming together. In March (left) the million dollar home only had three levels. Weeks later, another level has been added (right)
Building up? More work was bring done on the top of the property
So much to do: Construction workers were spotted busily working on the large mansion
The Miss Universe 2004 winner went on to explain that despite the couple working tirelessly on the project for already one year, they still have another year to go until the renovations will be completed.
'It's a big one! - We're a year into it and we've still got a year to go,' she explained.
Adding: 'It's exciting but it's hard.'
Making room: They have since bulldozed the property in an effort to build their new dream home
Working hard: Multiple men were spotted carrying large wood pilings down the left-hand side of the property
Keeping it clean: A landscaper could be seen maintaining the freshly laid grass along the bottom section of the property
Judging by the sprawling plans of Jennifer and Jake's new dream home, it seems the couple are sparing no expense to ensure their abode is nothing short of spectacular.
According to council documents obtained by Business Insider, the couple are spending a mammoth $2 million constructing the house on two adjoining lots of waterfront land in the Sydney suburb of Newport for $4 million.
Plans for the structure show it will stretch over four levels and include five bedrooms and a massive garage with room to house four cars.
Making access: Heavy earth moving machinery could be seen on the large slope
Sprawling: Plans for the structure show it will stretch over four levels and include five bedrooms and a massive garage with room to house four cars
Luxury: A personal home theatre and gym are also listed as inclusions while the outdoor area appears to be just as impressive
A personal home theatre and gym are also listed as inclusions while the outdoor area appears to be just as impressive.
Dominating the outside space will be a large L-shaped pool and accompanying open-air entertaining area that will both sit on the extensive block of land that fronts onto the water.
Landscaping - which along with the pool Jake's construction company estimates will cost $350,000 - will feature plenty of screening plants for privacy, 70 per cent of which will be native if they follow Pittwater council regulations.
Very green: Landscaping will feature plenty of screening plants for privacy, 70 per cent of which will be native if they follow Pittwater council regulations
Pricey: A breakdown of the costs expected, show that the couple have budgeted $150,000 for excavation, $300,000 for concreting, retaining and the roof with a further $160,000 for electrical work
A breakdown of the costs expected, show that the couple have budgeted $150,000 for excavation, $300,000 for concreting, retaining and the roof with a further $160,000 for electrical work.
Another $200,000 has been set aside for plumbing and a separate $200,000 for widows.
Painting the sprawling mansion meanwhile, will set them back $80,000.
The location, in the northern end of Sydney's picturesque Northern Beaches, is an idyllic one for the couple who have previously lived in nearby Curl Curl.
Gone: The couple knocked down a small home on the land
Plenty of space: They will be able to build their own pier for boat access to the water if they wish
Picture perfect: The waterfront block is situated in a sheltered bay
Palm Beach, which is 10kms up the road, has played home to famous residents Bec and Lleyton Hewitt and of course, long running soap Home And Away.
Jennifer has long been investing in property and is reported to have six homes in her portfolio.
She and her husband recently sold their Curl Curl house which they built in 2010.
They bought the original lot for $1.3 million and it was listed for $4 million in April 2014 but the final selling price was not disclosed.
This star knows how to be the best he can be on set - bring you own support squad.
Chris Pratt, his wife Anna Faris and his son Jack flew out of Los Angeles, California, on Tuesday.
The family could not stop smiling as they prepared to fly out from LAX to Atlanta, Georgia.
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Jetting out: Chris Pratt, his wife Anna Faris and his son Jack flew out of Los Angeles, California, on Tuesday
Chris is having to spend a lot of time away from home of late as Atlanta is transformed into a galaxy far away for the Guardians Of The Galaxy sequel.
While being on away set comes with the territory for an actor, clearly the 36-year-old could not bear to be away from his loved ones.
And little Jack could not seem happier about getting to join his dad in Atlanta, with the three-year-old beaming as they headed into the airport.
Sitting in his dad's arms, the toddler flashed photographers a big grin and made sure to work his angles.
Flight fun: The family could not stop smiling as they prepared to fly out from LAX to Atlanta, Georgia, where Chris is filming the Guardians Of The Galaxy sequel
Obviously having two actors for parents means he is destined to take red carpets by storm as he gets older.
Walking into the terminal and heading up an escalator, Chris held his son up in the air so he could feel like he was flying.
Reaching the top, the 36-year-old lowered his son down and cradled him in his arms, eliciting an even bigger smile from the tot.
Support system: While being on away set comes with the territory for an actor, clearly the 36-year-old could not bear to be away from his loved ones
Take off: Walking into the terminal and heading up an escalator, Chris held his son up in the air so he could feel like he was flying
Keeping him close: Reaching the top, the 36-year-old lowered his son down and cradled him in his arms, eliciting an even bigger smile from the tot
As it was a grey old day in Los Angeles, the family all rugged up in layers for their flight.
Chris looked more country then city in pair of blue loose fit jeans, a Reebok zip up jacket and a camouflage hat with the American flag on it.
Anna also went for a little bit of a country feel to her look with the 39-year-old wearing some denim overalls with a white tank.
The House Bunny star brought along a big padded jacket just in case she got cold and accessorized her look with white boots, a grey backpack and a pair of black sunglasses.
Cold be gone: As it was a grey old day in Los Angeles, the family all rugged up in layers for their flight
Little Jack meanwhile, was dressed in some black pants with a grey sweater and rocked a pair of velcro fastened sneakers.
Having his family with him is no doubt a bit boost for Chris who recently posted a sweet message about his wife and son.
Posting a picture of Jack in his pyjamas, the actor wrote on Instagram: 'I snapped this photo and it dawned on me how much Jack looks like Anna.
'They are both so beautiful. Sleeping in with the two of them is my greatest treasure.'
She's set to become a grandmother for the sixth time later this year.
But Kris Jenner looked far from your average sixtysomething as she put on a very glamorous show at the star-studded De Grisogono party on the French Riviera on Tuesday night.
The self-described momager joined Scott Disick - father of three of her grandchildren - and daughter Kim Kardashian West at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes.
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All white on the night: Kris Jenner attended the star-studded De Grisogono party on the French Riviera on Tuesday night
The self-described momager joined Scott Disick - father of three of her grandchildren - at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes
The 60-year-old showed off her figure in fitted, white floor-length gown with silver embellishments as she joined a host of stars at the lavish do.
Kris has already been on the French Riviera for the Cannes Film Festival for several days and has been hanging out with model daughter Kendall Jenner and Scott.
No doubt she was thrilled to see daughter Kim, who jetted into Cannes via private jet earlier on Tuesday.
On the scene: Kris has already been on the French Riviera for the Cannes Film Festival for several days
Family affair: Kris was joined by her 2nd oldest daughter Kim Kardashian West, who wore a shimmering chainmail gown
While Kris was head-to-toe in white, Kim stood out in a shimmering chainmail gown with flowing train.
Earlier on Tuesday, Kris posted a stunning photo from the hotel breakfast view overlooking the sea, captioning it: 'Morning!!!! #cannes2016 #blessed #grateful #cantbelievethisismylife.'
The Kardashian-Jenner clan's sojourn to France comes after it was revealed Kris would become a grandmother for the sixth time.
Her only son Rob is expecting his first child with his fiancee Blac Chyna following a whirlwind romance.
Close: Kris is still on good terms with Scott, despite the end of his relationship with her daughter Kourtney
Loving life: Kris spoke of her gratitude for being for fortunate to travel to France on her Instagram
Kris's eldest daughter Kourtney has three children Mason, Penelope and Reign with her ex-partner Scott, who she split from last year after a tumultuous relationship.
Meanwhile, Kim has daughter North and baby son Saint with her rapper husband Kayne West.
Speaking about Rob's baby news this week, Kim told People: 'Everyone is doing really great. Everyone is super excited.'
Stealing the show: Kim looked amazing as she arrived at the De Grisogono at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes on Tuesday night
Meanwhile, Kris's ex-husband Caitlyn praised Rob for turning his life around since he started dating Blac, becoming less reclusive and losing weight.
She said: 'You know, everybody goes through tough times in their life and deals with a lot of different things.
'I always look at it as "Everybody has their stuff," you know? It's how you deal with your stuff, and how you come out the other end.'
Reality crossover: Kris posed for a photo with British reality star Chloe Sims, who stars in The Only Way Is Essex
It's one of the hottest tickets of the Cannes Film Festival calendar.
So Chloe Sims pulled out all the stops to look incredible at the De Grisogono party held at Eden Roc, Hotel du Cap, on Tuesday, where she mingled with a host of A-list stars including Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner.
The TOWIE star, 33 , put her curves to work in a daring green sparkly number as she partied with her unlikely new pal, flashing a beaming smile as she made the most of a photo opportunity with the famous momager.
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Mingling with the A-list! Chloe Sims looked like she couldn't believe her luck as she managed to snag a snap with Kris Jenner at the star-studded De Grisogono party held at Eden Roc, Hotel du Cap, on Tuesday
Chloe was also joined by multi-millionaire property tycoon, Robert Tchenguiz, who has whisked her off to the South of France for the festivities.
The mother-of-one oozed glam in her luxurious fishtail outfit, showing plenty of skin in the racy frock that was slashed at the sides.
She swapped her usual heavier TOWIE make-up for a more demure nude palette.
But she added her trademark full and thick lashes to complete her glamorous look while her blonde locks were styled in cascading curls in a chic half-up.
From Brentwood to Cannes: The mother-of-one oozed glam in her luxurious fishtail outfit as she partied alongside A-List guests
She finished off her look with a bold red manicure, while a bronze cuff added a touch more glam to her party look.
The blonde reality star stuck close to Robert's side at the celeb-packed bash.
Chloe and the Iranian-born tycoon have set tongue's wagging in recent weeks, with the duo having been spotted out and about in the South of France together - although there is no suggestion the two are romantically linked.
Magical: Chloe Sims was every inch a green goddess in sparkling gown as she posed with multi-millionaire property tycoon, Robert Tchenguiz
And it seems the Essex native has been introduced to Robert's family, as she shared snaps on her Instagram of herself, the tycoon and his sister, Lisa, partying.
Chloe and Robert have been spotted on nights out together on several occasions now.
MailOnline has contacted a member of Chloe's team for comment.
Just days after her candid interview about her cultural upbringing and Islamic heritage, Shanina Shaik paid homage to her roots.
Taking to her social media sites on Wednesday, the 25-year-old shared a few pictures from her visit to the spectacular Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi.
The pictures see the world-famous model - who is of mixed Australian, Lithuanian, Pakistani and Saudi Arabian descent - dressed in a traditional black hijab as she soaked up the atmosphere.
Going back to her roots! Shanina Shaik shared a few pictures from her visit to the spectacular Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday
Shanina appeared content during her peaceful visit to the holy site, and seemed utterly enchanted with the breath-taking architecture as she walked through the mosque's ground.
In [heart] #abudhabi, the brunette beauty simply wrote alongside the image.
Speaking to Emirates Woman Magazine, Shanina gave fans an insight into her life before making it huge as a runway sensation.
Taking it all int: The pictures see the world-famous model - who is of mixed Australian, Lithuanian, Pakistani and Saudi Arabian descent - dressed in a traditional black hijab as she soaked up the atmosphere
'I was born and raised Muslim and I lived a very normal lifestyle,' said the in-demand star, whose father is of Pakistani and Saudi Arabian descent.
The Victoria's Secret stunner - who is engaged to DJ Ruckus - was raised alongside her younger brother Shah by their mother Kim in suburban Melbourne.
'My father is very open to my job and understanding and he is very grateful for the woman I have become,' she added. Im a very sophisticated and respectful woman. I had a great upbringing and a great lifestyle with my sibling.'
The Australian export has previously spoken out about being bullied during her teenage years due to her mixed ethnicity.
'I was born and raised Muslim': Speaking to Emirates Woman Magazine recently, Shanina gave fans an insight into her life before making it huge as a runway sensation
Meanwhile, Shanina shot to fame after finishing as runner-up in 2008 on the Australian reality show Make Me A Supermodel.
She subsequently scored a breakthrough when she walked in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 2011, and has been campaigning for the lingerie line ever since.
Elsewhere, Shanina recently announced that she is coming home for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia 2016 to open the Oscar de la Renta show.
On social media, she wrote: 'So excited to be opening the Oscar de la Renta show in Sydney on Friday! Thanks team #ODLR and #Etihad, see you soon @fashionweekaus! #RunwaytoRunway #ODLR Fall 2012.'
She was heading to a cosmetic treatment appointment.
So it was no wonder Jenna Dewan wanted to show off some skin.
The 35-year-old actress rocked a backless number as she headed to Epione in Beverly Hills California on Tuesday.
Pretty in patterns: Jenna Dewan was spotted at Epione in Beverly Hills California on Tuesday
No doubt she was in good hands as it is the same skin care centre frequented by the Kardashians founded by Dr. Simon Ourian.
Jenna sported a flowy pink and purple paisley patterned number as she showed off some skin with a backless cutout.
She teamed the look with a pair of black leather sandals and a white knit sweater.
The Step Up actress accessorised with a pair of large retro shades, a necklace, a small beige leather designer bag and black tote back for the occasion.
Bringing sexy back: The 35-year-old actress showed a bit of skin on the outing
Gorgeous: Jenna sported a flowy pink and purple paisley patterned number featuring a backless cutout
The wife of Channing Tatum wore her medium-length brunette tresses down as she sported natural, complimentary make-up on her face topped off with a swipe of shiny pink lip.
Her 36-year-old husband has been busy across the pond in London as he is currently filming Kingsman: The Golden Circle.
Channing was bespectacled while pictured taking direction from a film staff member while clutching onto his cell phone on Sunday.
Pretty: The Step Up actress wore her medium-length brunette tresses down as she wore a pair of large designer shades over her face which had natural, complimentary make-up on it
He looked dapper in a grey pinstripe double-breasted suit over a crisp white dress shirt, striped tie and black leather loafers.
The 21 Jump Street actor completed the gentlemanly look with a black derby hat while using his long wood-finished umbrella as a cane on the sidewalk.
Channing has been married to actress Jenna Dewan-Tatum since 2009.
The couple have a daughter named Everly, who will be celebrating her third birthday on May 31.
Big role: Her husband Channing Tatum has been busy across the pond in London as he is currently filming Kingsman: The Golden Circle, here pictured on Sunday
Neither is old enough to even remember the Gulf War.
But Nicholas Hoult and Zoey Deutch did not look out of place in World War II era wardrobe on the Manhattan set of Rebel In The Rye on Tuesday.
The 26-year-old About A Boy star looked dapper as the famous author of Catcher In The Rye, JD Salinger.
About a Rye: Nicholas Hoult jumped back seven decades on the NY set of JD Salinger's biopic Rebel In The Rye on Tuesday
Wearing a brown suit and shoes, the actor rolled up the sleeves of his button down shirt and slicked his hair to one side, finishing the 1930s look with a matching tie and suspenders.
His 21-year-old co-star meanwhile looked equally out of time in a short white lace dress and short gold heels, with porcelain make-up and full red lip.
She plays Oona O'Niell - daughter of Long Day's Journey Into Night playwright and Pulitzer Prize winner Eugene O'Niell - who dated Salinger as a teen.
O'Niell subsequently married 54-year-old Charlie Chaplin one month after her 18th birthday, and - as his fourth and final wife - bore him eight children.
Gorgeous: His 21-year-old co-star meanwhile looked equally out of time in a short white lace dress and short gold heels, with porcelain make-up and full red lip
History: She plays Oona O'Niell - daughter of Long Day's Journey Into Night playwright and Pulitzer Prize winner Eugene O'Niell - who dated Salinger as a teen
Catcher in the Rye, written in 1951, was Salinger's debut novel, and continues to sell around 250,000 copies every year to this day, 65 years later.
The author was notoriously private, and struggled with the attention his success brought.
The film will depict his youth, including his love life and his service in World War II, as well as the publication of the world famous book.
Mum of eight: O'Niell subsequently married 54-year-old Charlie Chaplin one month after her 18th birthday, and - as his fourth and final wife - bore him eight children
Still going: Catcher in the Rye, written in 1951, was Salinger's debut novel, and continues to sell around 250,000 copies every year to this day, 65 years later
It also stars Sarah Paulson, Victor Garber and Hope Davis, while Kevin Spacey will play Whit Burnett, Salinger's mentor and editor of Story magazine, where much of the young writer's early work was first published.
The film is directed by Empire co-creator Danny Strong; the two-time Emmy-winner wrote The Butler, and Mockingjay Parts I and II, and even starred in Buffy The vampire Slayer and The Gilmore Girls, but this will be his first time directing.
Later on Tuesday, Hoult was spotted grabbing a coffee with his sister Clarista, as they strolled around Uptown Manhattan.
He looked dapper in a dark Fay coat over a black top and grey bottoms, while he also sported Le Specs Luxe sunglasses.
Co-star: Kevin Spacey (pictured Wednesday) will play Whit Burnett, Salinger's mentor and editor of Story magazine, where much of the young writer's early work was first published
Big bro: Later on Tuesday, Hoult was spotted grabbing a coffee with his sister Clarista, as they strolled around Uptown Manhattan
Pregnant Nicky Hilton looked to be adding to her collection of maternity wear on Tuesday as she did some shopping in New York City.
The 32-year-old, who is expecting her first child with husband James Rothschild this summer, kept her growing baby bump under wraps whilst enjoying some time in NoLita.
The designer and socialite covered up in a green winter parka, denim jeans and black high-tops for the outing.
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Little Italy! Nicky Hilton went for a casual look while out and about in NoLita New York City on Tuesday
Clearly wanting to be healthy for her unborn baby girl, Nicky was seen carrying a watermelon smoothie as she strolled through the Big Apple.
Despite the cold weather, Nicky accessorized with a pair of blue reflector sunglasses.
Nicky, who wed James in a lavish ceremony in London in July, wore her blonde hair down and appeared to wear minimal makeup for the trip.
James and Nicky met at their friend Petra Ecclestone's wedding, which took place in Italy.
Almost time! The 32-year-old, who is expecting her first child with husband James Rothschild this summer, put her growing baby bump on display
Natural look: Nicky, who wed James in a lavish ceremony in London in July, wore her blonde hair down and appeared to wear minimal makeup for the trip
Three years later James popped the question to Nicky in Italy and they married after an 11-month engagement.
James is an heir himself and he is set to inherit everything that comes with his family's European banking business.
On Saturday Nicky celebrated her baby shower in Los Angeles.
Celebrations! On Saturday Nicky celebrated her baby shower in Los Angeles
They got the memo: The three ladies were dressed in white and pastel pink for the celebrations
Only girls allowed: The shower was attended by her sister Paris Hilton, 25, as well as LaToya Jackson and Nicky's aunts, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills stars Kim and Kyle Richards
The shower was attended by her sister Paris Hilton, 25, as well as LaToya Jackson and Nicky's aunts, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills stars Kim and Kyle Richards.
Also there was her cousin Brooke Wiederhorn, 30, who is also expecting her first child with husband Thayer Wiederhorn.
Paris shared a snap of the women at the shower on Instagram, writing 'I'm excited to be an aunt for the first time. And my aunt @KimRichards is thrilled to be a grandma for her first time!'
Family: Paris Hilton, Kim Richards, Brooke Wiederhorn at Nicky Hilton's baby shower on Saturday
They announced their engagement following their blossoming relationship as contestants on Australia's latest series of The Bachelor.
But despite making the decision to spend the rest of their lives together, Sam Wood doesn't quite know everything about his fiancee Snezana Markoski.
In a video interview with PopSugar, the 35-year-old incorrectly guessed his lady love's 'celebrity hall pass' as Chris Hemsworth when it's actually Tom Hardy.
'You got it so wrong!' Snezana Markoski (left) revealed her 'celebrity hall pass' is Mad Max: Fury Road star Tom Hardy (right) this week
'You got it so wrong!' she laughed.
A 'celebrity hall pass' refers to the famous face a person would cheat on their partner with in the unlikely event they should meet.
The aim is to deliberately pick someone they have a near-zero chance of bumping into so as the possibility of being unfaithful is minimal.
Commitment: Sam and Snezana announced their engagement in December 2015
Fans will know the American actor Tom from the George Miller-directed blockbuster Dystopian action film Mad Max: Fury Road.
Sam and Snezana, 35, announced their engagement in December 2015, with Sam posting a picture of the stunning diamond engagement ring he proposed to Snez with on his Instagram page.
In a caption alongside it, he wrote: 'She said YES! When you know, you know. I love you Snezana.'
Family: The couple plan on moving in together in Melbourne with Snezana's daughter Eve
'Maybe, I'd have a crack:' The mother-of-one said she might consider Dancing With The Stars
Despite finding fame on the hit dating series The Bachelor, they couple recently said they would not be televising their wedding.
The mother-of-one did however admit she would consider an appearance on Dancing With The Stars.
'Maybe, I'd have a crack,' she told Nova's Fitzy and Wippa on Tuesday.
He was seen being wheeled out of the TV Week Logie Awards in a wheelchair earlier this month following a serious incident in Thailand.
Three weeks later and music legend Molly Meldrum is back on his feet.
The 73-year-old was all smiles as he attended an event in Melbourne, on Tuesday night.
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On the mend: Molly Meldrum is back on his feet and was all smiles as he attended an event in Melbourne on Tuesday evening
Molly was seen walking solo down the red carpet while stopping to pose for numerous photos in front of the official picture wall.
The Australian star rocked his iconic beige cowboy hat while dressed in a black button-up shirt and matching slacks.
He added a gold and blue patterned jacket to his attire which he left unzipped.
Helping hand: It comes three weeks after the 73-year-old was seen being wheeled out of the TV Week Logie Awards in a wheelchair
Earlier this year, the music industry legend came dangerously close to being paralysed after being involved in a serious fall while holidaying in Thailand.
At the time of the incident, he dislocated one of his shoulders and fractured several ribs when he slipped while getting out of a taxi in front of his Bangkok hotel in January.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph after the accident, Molly revealed that he came close to having his arm amputated and turned to alcohol to cope.
Events: Earlier this year, the music industry legend suffered a serious fall while holidaying in Thailand, leaving him with a dislocated shoulder and fractured several ribs
'It [my arm] was black and blue. I was in so much pain I knew something was horribly wrong,' Molly told the publication.
'The doctors told me the damage was so big they might have had to amputate my arm. Thankfully its gotten better.'
The former Countdown host also suffered a life-threatening fall in 2011 when he tripped down the stairs while putting up Christmas decorations.
She has some of the most famous curves in the business, and is certainly not shy about showing them off.
So in Kim Kardashian's photoshoot for Vogue Australia's June issue, for which she graces the cover, local labels were asked to create garments to draw even more attention to her figure.
Ten specially-commissioned corsets by the likes of designers, Ellery and Alex Perry, were designed for the smouldering 35-year-old in the shoot entitled 'Kim Gets Waisted' by photographer Lachlan Bailey.
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Kim gets waisted! Kardashian Queen smoulders for Vogue Australia's June issue wearing ten specially commissioned corsets by local designers to ENHANCE her famous curves
Editor-In-Chief Edwina McCann said of the shoot: 'I love [stylist] Christine Centeneras fresh interpretation of Kims image, accentuating her curves with corsetry worn over cool T-shirts.'
The reality star come entrepreneur's visage is noticeably stripped back during the shoot, showing Kim in a very different light to how she is usually presented.
Edwina praised the move by the makeup artist, saying: 'Her bare face displays her true beauty.'
'Her bare face displays her true beauty': Editor-in-chief Edwina McCann praised the makeup team for stripping back her look
Famous curves: The 35-year-old has some of the most famous curves in the business
In an interview with the magazine, Kim, who received her high school diploma but unlike sister Kourtney and brother Rob who did not attend college, says: 'I would be a forensic investigator and live a normal life.'
While Kanye West's wife may have been watching too many crime-based box sets, she is certainly hard working, making millions with her multiple business interests.
And she told the magazine that her mum-ager Kris Jenner is the one who inspires her to do this.
'I want to live her life and be successful': Kim said in the accompanying interview she draws a lot of inspiration from her mother Kris
Flaunting it: Kim often takes to social media to show off her figure, including this nude selfie she took in March this year
'I want to live her life and be successful, work hard and still have so many kids and still take care of everyone else,' said Kim, who also complimented her late father, the lawyer Robert Kardashian.
This is the second time the businesswoman has appeared on the cover of the coveted publication.
She debuted on the cover of the Australian magazine for their February 2015 issue, going barefoot as she walked through the shallow waters of a beach.
Zoo Quest In Colour
Rating:
Locked Up
Rating:
Christopher Stevens reviews David Attenborough's Zoo Quest In Colour (BBC4)
Shirt off, swigging from a beer bottle aboard a gun-runner's sloop in the South China Seas, this was the world's most celebrated naturalist as we'd never seen him before 'Long John' Attenborough, terror of the tropics.
'We were rebels really,' he growled, flashing a piratical grin at the camera on Zoo Quest In Colour (BBC4). And if ever a man were born to have a parrot on his shoulder as he swaggered about the world, it's Sir David.
But all wasn't quite as idyllic as it appeared in the 1956 footage. That brown bottle contained not grog but tepid water, rigid with mosquito larvae.
The young presenter and his cameraman, Charles Lagus, had chartered a fishing boat in Bali to sail to the remote island of Komodo only to realise that the captain had no idea where he was going, couldn't catch fish and was in fact a murderous arms smuggler.
They survived for three weeks on boiled rice, running aground on coral reefs and narrowly avoiding shipwreck in a typhoon.
The longest and most illustrious career in television almost ended at its inception. If that boat had sunk, we'd remember David Attenborough as we do aviatrix Amelia Earhart, as an adventurer who mysteriously disappeared on the far side of the world.
No one at Broadcasting House would have been surprised. The film-makers, who already had two hit series of Zoo Quest behind them, were sneered at by more experienced men for their insistence on shooting with hand-held 16mm film cameras, far less unwieldy than the standard 35mm kit.
To ensure the best quality pictures, Lagus used colour stock, even though it would be broadcast only in black-and-white. In fact, it would be 60 years before any of it was developed in colour, thanks to a chance discovery by a BBC archive researcher.
The images were worth waiting decades to see. The colour was luminous and thrilling, with the dreamy glow of early Kodachrome. It was like watching the home movies of a Fifties family who, instead of caravan holidays in Ilfracombe, spent their summers with rainforest tribes, learning to use poison blowpipes and trap giant lizards.
There were plenty of the trademark 'Life On Earth' zoom shots of insects in massive magnification, and it turned out these were pioneered by Lagus, who used tin cans to turn his camera into a microscope.
Attenborough in the early days was just as interested in the rituals and tribal rites of his hosts.
With his easy charm, he persuaded them to perform sacred dances never seen by Westerners, and to let him record them. Local children taught him jungle craft. In a Borneo longhouse, he was given the most prestigious bed . . . next to the bodies of two elders, due to be buried the next day.
Christopher Stevens said the 'the images were worth waiting decades to see' after watching the show on BBC4
That world no longer exists. Attenborough brought us the last glimpse of it. And by one of the happy accidents that have blessed his astonishing career, he did it in brilliant colour.
Locked Up (C4) also featured hand-held footage, though this was a clumsy narrative device: the characters in a Spanish women's jail lounged in the exercise yard and told us who they were, and what they were inside for.
HARSH LESSON OF THE NIGHT: Hairy Bikers Dave and Si gave pupils in Old School (BBC2) a taste of what its like to be geriatric, in neck braces with weights on their legs and halfblinded by murky goggles. Just remember, kids the alternative to old age is even worse.
This 16-part subtitled drama is a European take on the hugely popular Netflix serial Orange Is The New Black, which has been scooping Emmys for its outstanding actors and writing. But the joy of Orange is its subtlety the petty rivalries, the bickering, the trivia that can turn into deadly feuds.
Locked Up didn't bother with any such niceties: the new girl Macarena (Maggie Civantos) crossed the prison's Miss Big within minutes of arrival, and discovered the secret of a 7 million bank haul on her second day.
No doubt within three episodes, she'll be running not just the prison but the whole of Spain's criminal underworld.
Fans of Orange will baulk, but if you enjoy Prisoner: Cell Block H, all this melodrama might appeal.
They've made a lucrative living flaunting their toned physiques to the world, often sharing workout tips on how they achieve such incredible results.
So establishing their own activewear range seems like a natural move for A Bikini A Day bloggers Natasha Oakley and Devin Brugman, who attended a launch party for the line on Tuesday.
The pair dressed in sexy all-black ensembles at the bash in New York, but it was Natasha's rock-hard abs that inevitably stole the show.
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Entrepreneurs: Natasha Oakley and Devin Brugman launched their new Monday Active label in New York on Tuesday
Wearing a stylish, bandeau-style cropped top, the Sydney-born beauty put her muscular midriff on full display.
The revealing attire showcased her tiny waist, chiselled midsection and the overall deep bronzed glow that she's attained from her work as a bikini model for the duo's blog.
She paired the ensemble with sleek black trousers, and draped a blazer casually over her shoulders as fashion trends would dictate.
Gym body: Natasha has made no secret of the fact that she enjoys a good workout on social media
'Tonight was one of the most amazing nights of our lives. Seeing hundreds of our fans show up to support us was not only overwhelming but humbling,' she captioned an Instagram post.
'We hope we can continue to inspire you in as many ways as possible and that our friendship and persistence is an example of what is possible for anyone who followers their dreams!
'Thank you to all of the beautiful people that attended our @mondayactive event! We love you all,' she signed off.
Fits-piration: Natasha and Devin have legions of fans across the world who follow them on Instagram
Meanwhile her best friend and business partner Devin opted for an equally sexy look.
The Maui beauty flaunted her own gym-honed figure in a low-cut dress complete with a thigh split and slits down the side.
Her ample assets were on full display as she showed off her sun-kissed skin.
A girl's gotta eat! The Sydney-born model enjoyed a healthy meal in Manhattan
'Beyond overwhelmed with emotions after tonight's launch,' Devin gushed on Instagram.
Natasha and Devin rose to stardom in 2012 after their A Bikini A Day blog won them legions of fans across the globe.
They now boast a combined 2.8 million followers.
Kylie Jenner was seen taking part in another photo shoot on Tuesday.
The Keeping Up With The Kardashian's star has teamed up with Los Angeles based clothing brand Forever 21.
The raven haired reality star was seen soaking up the sun in Malibu as she posed for pictures for the photo shoot.
Partners! Kylie Jenner has teamed up with Los Angeles based clothing brand Forever 21
Strike a pose: The curvaceous reality star looked sensational as she paraded her famous figure
What a view: It was a picture perfect destination for the photo shoot
The youngest Kardashian wore a series of different outfits for the day.
At one point Kylie wore a very unique red dress, which had ruffles on the shoulders and black and white stripe detailing at the bottom.
She teamed that outfit with a pair of sky high navy blue latex boots, while her cropped locks were styled in an updo.
In another scene Kylie kept the very high navy boots but she switched her dress for a suit combo.
Picture time: The raven haired reality star was seen soaking up the sun in Malibu as she posed for pictures for the photo shoot
Going for the windswept look: Her cropped locks were styled in an updo on this occasion
She wore a blue checkered skirt and a matching jacket as she carried a blue and white striped umbrella around with her.
Kylie had a special visit from Caitlyn Jenner during her photo shoot.
The 66-year-old was dressed down in a pair of dark denim jeans and a black fitted top as she made her way on set.
Something different: At one point Kylie wore a very unique red dress, which had ruffles on the shoulders and black and white stripe detailing at the bottom
How can she walk! The reality star was seen sporting a pair of sky high navy blue latex boots
Perfect setting: It was a beautiful location for the outdoorsy photo shoot
She let her light brown hair fall naturally around her face as she exited her brand new purple Porsche GT3.
Meanwhile it was announced recently that the E! teen had split from beau of more than one year Tyga amid claims she caught him lying about other girls, according to People.
Breaking his silence on the split to TMZ last week, the 26-year-old said: 'We're both just focused on our individual lives right now and sometimes things don't work out but I love her.'
Surprise! Kylie had a special visit from Caitlyn Jenner during her photo shoot
Looking chic: The 66-year-old was dressed down in a pair of dark denim jeans and a black fitted top as she made her way on set
More support: Kylie and her friend Jordyn Woods along with two unidentified males head to sushi dinner
She must have worked up an appetite! Kylie and her friends were seen exiting the studio on their way to dinner
The musician was then asked how her felt about the news that Kylie's older half brother Rob Kardashian is expecting a child with the mother of his son, King Cairo.
'People grow and evolve,' he said. 'So everybody should have the opportunity to have love and live they life.'
Heading into Beyonce's Pasadena concert the following night, rapper seemed in good spirits as he arrived alongside Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta's Karlie Redd, who reached out and held her hand on his arm.
All black: The black haired beauty decided to cover up in a baggy sweatshirt, trainers and a cap
On the road: The group were seen heading to the restaurant in a white jeep
Split! Meanwhile it was announced recently that the E! teen had split from beau of one year Tyga as reports surfaced he had been unfaithful to her
Olivia Wilde has made her feelings about Donald Trump very clear.
The 32-year-old is currently visiting Syrian refugees in Amman and the brunette beauty had some scathing things to say to the Presidential hopeful.
Olivia, who is currently expecting her second child with fiance Jason Sudeikis, took to her Instagram on Tuesday to share a heartfelt message with her 1.2m followers.
Choice words: Olivia is currently visiting Syrian refugees in Amman and the brunette beauty had some things to say to the wannabe President in an Instagram picture on Tuesday
She shared a photo of a young Syrian girl, captioned:'Next time you hear someone, maybe even a loser named Donald Trump, say all Syrian refugees should be rejected and suspected, think of this face,' she wrote.
Olivia continued: 'These kids deserve our compassion and activism. Donald Trump wouldn't survive 5 minutes in her reality.'
The Vinyl star also posted a photo of her surrounded by female refugees with the message;'The lovely Syrian girls in the @savethechildren healing-through-arts program at the Za'atari refugee camp were kind enough to attempt to teach me how to sew.'
She added: 'I left them with a new perspective on failure, as well as the human capacity to sweat. #Zaatari.'
Heartfelt message: 'Next time you hear someone, maybe even a loser named Donald Trump, say all Syrian refugees should be rejected and suspected, think of this face'
Very passionate: 'These kids deserve our compassion and activism. Donald Trump wouldn't survive 5 minutes in her reality'
The actress has been documenting her trip in Amman and has clearly fallen in love with the place.
Another photo on her Instagram page had the caption: 'Amman is a fascinating city. Much more fascinating than this photo. Go there.'
Olivia later posted a snapshot in the Jordanian area, writing: 'Definitely a Jordanian local just hanging at the entrance to the Umayyad Palace, in the Citadel above Amman, circa 720 AD (date of palace construction, not woman). #goplaces.'
Variety previously reported that the star, who is mom to two-year-old son Otis, was introduced to Save The Children by her friend Jennifer Garner, who is a member of the board.
Having a blast: 'Definitely a Jordanian local just hanging at the entrance to the Umayyad Palace, in the Citadel above Amman, circa 720 AD (date of palace construction, not woman). #goplaces'
'I felt very connected to the international mothering community throughout my own pregnancy and the birth of my son,' she said while discussing the organisation with the publication in February at the unie4:humanity gala.
'And I realised I had won the lottery, so to speak, and how lucky we are to not be terrified of our child dying at birth or dying within the first three months of life.'
Olivia added: 'Every time I could take my son to the pediatrician it became clear to me that I was the luckiest person on earth And I wanted to take that good fortune and continue to be active in that arena.'
Dustin Diamond has opened up about the 'daunting' reality of life in jail, in his first interview since his release.
The 39-year-old was found guilty of disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed weapon following a Wisconsin barroom brawl in late 2014 - spending three months behind bars as a result.
'It's pretty daunting, it's pretty scary going into that environment,' Diamond told his former Saved By The Bell co-star Mario Lopez in a wide-ranging interview on Extra.
But, he added: 'I found that as long as you follow the rules and stay with the system, it works. You can get in and out unscathed.'
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Fight night: Dustin Diamond recounted the 2014 brawl that landed him in jail, in a new interview with Extra
Lopez, 42, portrayed AC Slater alongside Diamond's Screech in the ever popular high school comedy.
Reflecting on the incident that led to him being jailed, Diamond revealed that he and his fiancee Amanda Schutz were celebrating Christmas in Port Washington, Wisconsin when he was asked to pose for a photo.
'One of the girl's friends [that Amanda] was talking to sucker-punched my fiancee she leaned back to me and her face was covered in blood,' Diamond said.
Old friends: Diamond and Lopez played Screech and Slater respectively on popular NBC sitcom Saved By The Bell, although Diamond's book was derogatory about his old castmates
The actor said he needed to protect his wife after a man grabbed her hair.
'I opened my pocket knife and said, ''Let my wife go immediately,'' which worked,' Diamond said.
Diamond also demonstrated how his blade 'nicked' the arm of Casey Smett, 25.
'It was a Band-Aid, the most expensive Band-Aid I've ever bought,' Diamond said.
Stabbing reenactment: Dustin showed Mario had his blade 'nicked' a man's arm in the brawl
Diamond was sentenced to four months in Ozaukee County Jail in Wisconsin, but was released after three months for working as a janitor.
Diamond also revealed there was a 'stunt person' in his 2006 sex tape and blamed a ghostwriter for scathing characterizations of his co-stars in his 2009 tell-all Behind The Bell.
'The book didnt exactly paint a flattering picture of your fellow castmates,' Lopez told him.
Not flattering: Mario also confronted Dustin about his 2009 tell-all Behind The Bell that featured scathing characterizations of his co-stars on the show
Jail time: Diamond, shown in a December 2014 mugshot, served three months in jail following a barroom brawl
On trial: Dustin is accompanied by his girlfriend Amanda Schutz at Ozaukee County Courthouse in January 2015 in Port Washington, Wisconsin; she was present during the brawl
'It wasnt me, I didnt write this. I was just as shocked and appalled,' Diamond insisted.
Diamond also said he was looking forward to starting a family with his fiancee and returning to stand-up comedy.
The full interview with Diamond will air on Wednesday and Thursday on Extra.
It was back in January when Snezana Markoski caused quite a stir online when she shared a photo of her and daughter Eve wearing shower caps while spruiking a coffee body scrub.
But Snezana Markoski has hit back at critics who've claimed she was 'sexualising' her 10-year-old girl in the image.
Appearing on Channel Nine's Today Extra on Wednesday, the 35-year-old fiancee of Bachelor star Sam Wood said audiences misunderstood the context of the photo.
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Controversial: Snezana Markoski faced criticism on social media for 'sexualising' her 10-year-old daughter Eve in this photo, and has now hit back at her critics
'I think they thought she wasn't wearing anything,' Snezana told hosts David Campbell and Sonia Kruger.
'She's in a singlet and she's making fun of people you know doing the whole duck lip thing so she's actually pulling the mickey out of it but I think people took it the wrong way,' she explained.
Snezana's beau Sam then added about Eve: 'She loves the camera and goofing around'.
Back in February, Snezana also addressed the photo controversy.
Clarifying: Appearing on Channel Nine's Today Extra on Wednesday, the 35-year-old fiancee of Bachelor star Sam Wood said audiences misunderstood the context of the photo
Speaking to Sunday Style magazine, the Macedonian beauty brushed off the flack.
'I love the picture, and Eve was the one who wanted to join in on it. Were both artistic, and to me, that was just a fun shot,' she said.
Snezana initially posted the photo back in January, in which she and Eve covered themselves in a coffee body scrub.
Snezana posed on the edge of a bathtub and flaunted her long lean legs covered in the scrub.
Setting the record straight: ''She's in a singlet and she's making fun of people you know doing the whole duck lip thing so she's actually pulling the mickey out of it, but I think people took it the wrong way,' Snezana explained
To her defence: Snezana's beau Sam also about Eve: 'She loves the camera and goofing around'
She wore a nude-coloured bra for the picture, and held the scrub packet close against her hip, with her luscious brown locks swept over her shoulder.
While Snezana posed with a surprised look, while Eve sat in the bathtub brandishing a tube from the coffee-based skincare range in her hand.
Snezana shared the picture on Instagram and wrote: 'Eve hates coffee but this one passes her test!!'
The 10 year anniversary of the tragic death of Steve Irwin is fast approaching.
And last Friday, his 17-year-old daughter Bindi couldn't help but gush about the late Crocodile Hunter as she appeared on Los Angeles news station, KTLA Morning News.
The 'Australian princess' beamed as she discussed the close bond they pair shared.
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Super proud: Bindi Irwin couldn't help but gush about her late father Steve on Tuesday as she appeared on Angeles news station, KTLA Morning News on Friday
'Dad was truly my superhero,' she said.
'What you saw was really what he was. He was always on the go, he never stopped.'
She also said she takes after her father, especially when it comes to his his eager personality.
Memories: While appearing on the show, the 17-year-old described her dad as her 'superhero', adding 'what you saw was really what he was. He was always on the go, he never stopped'
Takes after him: Bindi went on to insist that little brother Robert was a mini-Steve, saying: 'My little brother Robert is so much like dad. The way he walks the way he talks'
'I think I inherited his lack of patience,' she laughed before adding, 'because if he had something on his mind he just had to do it right now.'
But while she shares the impatient gene with her father, Bindi insisted little brother Robert is a mini-Steve.
'My little brother Robert is so much like dad,' she laughed, adding: 'The way he walks the way he talks.'
Last month Bindi announced on Instagram that her family will be hosting the annual Steve Irwin Gala Dinner for the first time in America.
Daddy's girl! It comes weeks after she announced on Instagram that her family will be hosting the annual Steve Irwin Gala Dinner for the first time in America
Happy family: Australian conservationist and TV personality Steve (centre), pictured here with a young Bindi and wife Terri Irwin (right) in 2002, passed from a stingray barb at Batt Reef, Queensland in September 2006
Previously held in Brisbane, the fundraiser will take place at the luxury JW Marriott Hotel in Los Angeles on Saturday May 21.
The special event marks almost 10 years since Steve's death from a stingray barb at Batt Reef, Queensland in September 2006.
'An exciting announcement and invitation for you guys!' Bindi wrote on Instagram. 'We want YOU to join us at our very first Steve Irwin Gala Dinner in the USA!
'For the first time ever, on Saturday May 21 we are holding the Steve Irwin Gala dinner in Los Angeles.
Legacy: Bindi, pictured with mother Terri and younger brother Robert (right), said: 'The night will be a celebration of Dad's life and legacy, raising funds and awareness for the conservation work he loved'
Following in his footsteps: Previously the Steve Irwin Gala Dinner was held in Brisbane, but this year takes place for the first time in the United States; the event raises funds for the Irwin's non-profit Wildlife Warriors
'The night will be a celebration of Dad's life and legacy, raising funds and awareness for the conservation work he loved.
'I want to invite you to be a part of this incredible night raising funds for Dad's conservation work with our non profit organisation Wildlife Warriors'.
The reality TV star told Sunshine Coast Daily earlier this month: 'After almost 10 years without dad we really felt like it was time to create this beautiful event in America to honour his legacy...
'I am grateful every day that I have been given such a wonderful opportunity to be able to share my story and journey with so many people. I am looking forward to everything yet to come in life.'
She's the effervescent radio and TV personality who always has a giggle at her own expense.
But while Fifi Box normally laughs off rumours of engagements, weddings and babies that dominate front covers of women's magazines, on Tuesday night, she took aim at them.
While co-hosting The Project, the 39-year-old suggested that Rebel Wilson, who is allegedly suing Bauer Media for false reports, may have gotten off lightly compared to her, saying: 'There's worse things to get said about you - like 43 pregnancies!'
'There's worse things to get said about you - like 43 pregnancies!' Fifi Box took a swipe at tabloid magazines during The Project on Tuesday night
After the news show reported on the Australian actress' legal writ lodged against Bauer Media, co-host Pete Helliar first took aim at tabloid magazines, before Waleed Aly joined in and then Fifi Box.
Pete asked Fifi: 'You've got a good relationship with the mags, don't you?' to which the bubbly blonde noted: 'I'll be so interested to see how this pans out for Rebel.
'Because I was thinking, they made up that she lied about her age and that but there's worse things to get said about you - like 43 pregnancies.
'I wanna see how she goes and then who knows,' she added, hinting she may follow suit in taking legal action against the magazines.
'You've got a good relationship with the mags, don't you?' Pete Helliar (left) through open the conversation about gossip magazines to the panel before specifically getting comment from Fifi's perspective
Claims: Rebel Wilson (pictured in Pitch Perfect 2) is suing magazine publisher Bauer Media for defamation over a series of articles which accused her of lying about her age and background to get ahead in Hollywood
'I'll be so interested to see how this pans out for Rebel': The radio personality hinted she's play close attention to what happens in the actress's case against Bauer Media and may be inspired to follow suit
It's not the first time Fifi has used the show as a platform to take aim at the weekly tabloid titles.
Late last month, the mother-of-one addressed engagement rumours, just a week after she revealed the father of her three-year-old daughter Beatrix 'Trixie' Belle Box on social media.
Carrie Bickmore kicked off the conversation at the very beginning of the show stating: 'We should start by saying "Congratulations" - cause am I right in reading, there's a beach wedding on the cards?'
'I was as surprised as you were when I read a headline that I was having a beach wedding,' Fifi admitted.
'I was as surprised as you were': Fifi previously used her spot on The Project to make light of the rumours she was set to marry ex partner Grant Kenny last month
'Then I thought the most recent beach I've been to was with you,' the 39-year-old told Carrie, adding: 'And I'm thinking "did we get married"?'
'Well, that would make front cover news!' Carrie laughed.
The magazine article was published a week after the bubbly blonde breakfast radio presenter took to Instagram following Trixie's third birthday party, sharing photos of the fun festivities with fans.
'Absolutely not, no': The popular radio personality then denied the New Idea cover story
Surprise! Fifi confirmed in an Instagram post last month that Grant Kenny was the father of her three-year-old daughter Beatrix 'Trixie' Belle Box, approximately a week before the engagement story was published
Among the images, one stood out, when Fifi captioned a shot of Grant and Trixie: 'Bouncing castle daddy cuddles'.
A second shot uploaded showed the trio together for the first time and simply stated: 'Hide-and-seek in the bouncing castle...boo!'
The fiercely private radio and TV personality has long evaded questions of her daughter's father, with the starlet announcing her pregnancy in 2012, shortly after the pair reportedly broke up.
Whether he is or is not in a relationship with Katie Holmes is still up for debate, but one thing is for sure, this star still likes to impress the ladies.
Jamie Foxx turned a simple shopping day into a circus act as he and a female companion headed out in Beverly Hills, California, on Tuesday.
While he may be 48-years-old, clearly this actor is just one big kid at heart.
On a roll: Jamie Foxx turned a simple shopping day into a circus act as he and a female companion headed out in Beverly Hills, California, on Tuesday
While out in the ritzy Los Angeles area with his lady friend, the Ray star came across a Lil' GoGo - a battery powered unicycle.
Much like the unicycles loved by Chinese commuters - which recently even featured on the Amazing Race - the single wheeled bikes require some coordination, daring and a need for speedy fun.
Not being able to help himself, Jamie immediately jumped on the contraption and wowed his friend by managing to balance on the unicycle on his first go.
The actor looked a little comical on the GoGo but off he looked super stylish for his day of retail therapy and riding.
On a roll: While out in the ritzy Los Angeles area with his lady friend, the Ray star came across a Lil' GoGo - a battery powered unicycle
Skills: Not being able to help himself, Jamie immediately jumped on the contraption and wowed his friend by managing to balance on the unicycle on his first go
For his shopping session, the Django Unchained actor wore a pair of washed out blue jeans with a checkered shirt - which he buttoned all the way to the collar - plus a brown wide brimmed hat and tan boots.
Not joining the star for his single wheeled fun, was rumoured love Katie Holmes.
The pair have never confirmed their union despite reports that they are married and even once tabloid magazine recently claiming Katie is expecting a baby with the actor.
She's no stranger to stripping down for the camera.
And on Tuesday, Imogen Anthony once again proved that she's quite the exhibitionist in a racy new shot shared on Instagram.
The 25-year-old model girlfriend of shock jock Kyle Sandilands revealed her ample assets in a post that was meant to focus on her luscious pink hair extensions.
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In the zone: Imogen Anthony bared her ample assets in this shot shared on Instagram on Wednesday.
'Loving all the different variations of pink in my hair at the moment,' she captioned alongside the photo.
But unsurprisingly, all eyes were on the Maxim model's bare chest, with her seemingly impressed followers wasted no time double tapping.
Wearing just pink tracksuit pants, Imogen proudly displayed her deep tan and slender physique.
Poser: The model is no stranger to racy shots and often shares them via social media
With one hand running through her waist-long hair and another on her toned torso, the self-described 'loudmouth' appeared to be quite in the zone.
The look in the snap, which she has since deleted from social media, was a far cry from her slightly ethereal outfit at Fashion Week in Sydney two days ago.
Imogen attended the Swarovski show at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week on Monday wearing an elegant, strapless white Vanessa Moe silk dress.
Covered up: Imogen opted for a slightly ethereal look at Fashion Week in Sydney on Monday
She topped off the chic look with an extraordinary bejeweled Millela Couture headpiece.
Last week, the petite beauty set tongues wagging after posting yet another topless photo while paying homage to an Egyptian Queen, Nefertiti.
Covering her bare chest with her forearm, the photo garnered hundreds of likes and comments from her fans.
She gets up at 3am every morning ahead of a 6am start on national breakfast TV.
But on Sunday, Samantha Armytage managed to squeeze in some rare downtime for herself.
During her relaxed outing, the makeup free 39-year-old was pictured enjoying a stroll around Centennial Park in Sydney's eastern suburbs.
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Easy going: Samantha Armytage managed to squeeze in some rare downtime for herself on Sunday and enjoyed a stroll around Centennial Park in Sydney's eastern suburbs
The television journalist dressed down for the occasion, opting for a pair of Nike knee-length exercise tights and a plain grey T-shirt.
Samantha added a charcoal grey puffer vest to her look that rested over the loose-fitting top.
Wearing a pair of black and grey sneakers, she made sure to keep sun safe with a sun-visor and large brown sunglasses.
Keeping it low key: The 39-year-old dressed in a pair of Nike knee-length exercise tights, a plain grey T-shirt and navy puffer vest
To show off her blemish free complexion, she tied her blonde hair back into a tight ponytail.
During her stroll around the outdoors premises, Samantha clutched onto a bottle of water and her smartphone.
Following her jog she took some time out and lazed on the green grass with female companion.
Chit chat: Following her jog she took some time out and lazed on the green grass with female companion
As the two ladies chatted to one another a pet dog sat between them.
The casual day out comes a week after Samantha explained to Daily Mail Australia that she likes to be comfortable in her attire.
'When you get up a 3am, you want to be comfortable,' she said at the time.
They were introduced to each other after taking part in a social experiment for television.
So it was nice to see Married At First Sight couples Erin and Bryce team up with Christie and Mark for a lavish evening meal at Melbournes 400 Gradi last week, cementing their close friendship.
Erin, 26, took to social media to share a snap of the two couples, with all of them appearing to be in great spirits before they devoured their food.
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Another double date! Married At First Sight's Erin and Bryce teamed up with fellow TV lovebirds Christie and Mark for a lavish late night outing in Melbourne last week
The picture was captioned with the hashtags, #doubledates #saaacute #marriedatfirstsight #noshotsthatnight.
Later that week, they enjoyed another night on the town at Melbourne hot spot Club 23.
Despite being based in Sydney, Christie makes regularly trips to Melbourne to see her partner Mark, who owns a farm seven hours from the city in rural Victoria.
Double date! Married at First Sight couple Mark (R) and Christie (second from right) have enjoyed a night on the town with the only other successful couple from the reality Erin (second from left) and Bryce (L)
'Great night out! Again in Melbourne! I'll get Mark to Sydney one day!' Christie captioned the shot of the group smiling.
She also added hashtags '#9married #christieinthecity #club23'.
Later in the evening, Mark shared a video of his lady love downing an alcoholic shot before the loved-up pair break out in song and dance along to a nightclub remix version Whitney Houston's hit I Wanna Dance With Somebody.
City visits: Despite being based in Sydney, Christie makes regularly trips to Melbourne to see partner Mark, who owns a farm seven hours away in rural Victoria
Good times: Later in the evening Mark shared a video of his lady love downing an alcoholic shot before the loved-up pair break out in song and dance
'Lets get embarrassing (sic),' Mark wrote alongside the short clip.
Although there was some initial hesitation, Mark and Christie appear to be coping with their long distance relationship just fine.
The lovebirds, who still wear their wedding rings from the show, recently revealed neither of them have plans to move interstate, with Mark telling Today Extra earlier this month that 'its a little bit of a Mexican standoff.'
Night out: 'Lets get embarrassing,' Mark wrote alongside the short clip, possibly referring to their lack of singing ability
Reunited: Although there was some initial hesitation, Mark and Christie appear to be coping with their long distance relationship just fine
'Were still negotiating, because I have a business and hes starting his business with the farm,' Christie told the program.
'Its scary to just sell up everything, what if it doesn't work, then one of us if left with nothing.I worked hard for where I am today, I cant just let it go.'
They were also quizzed about whether their would make their television 'marriage' official, with Mark saying it was something they were 'committed' to.
The couple still wear the wedding bands they exchanged on the show, although Christie chose to wear her ring on her right hand instead of left.
Mark joked all he had to do was move the ring from that hand to the other.
Move coming? Christie and Mark, who still wear their wedding rings from the show, recently revealed neither of them have plans to move interstate just yet
Going strong: The couple were also quizzed about whether their would make their television 'marriage' official, with Mark saying it was something they were 'committed' to
Meanwhile Erin and Bryce revealed in April that children would feature in their future.
Also appearing on Today Extra, a coy Bryce, 31, said when it came to having children, they were 'letting nature take its course'.
'We really have just taken it day by day,' he said. 'So if something like that happens, it happens, but you know you have to play it by ear. [If] the stalk comes that's what happens doesn't it.'
Talk of family appears to be a U-turn for Erin, who previously said she was not ready to have children.
The retail manager had previously insisted she was young and looking to travel rather than start a amily.
The news appeared to throw a clucky Bryce, who said he did not want to be an old father.
Future plans: Meanwhile Erin and Bryce revealed in April that children would feature in their future
She sparked pregnancy rumours last month after posing a photo of freshly baked bread roles in the oven.
But now Married At First Sight's Christie Jordee, 39, has shut down the allegations following a night on the town with husband Mark Hughes.
In numerous social media photos and videos the reality television couple were seen enjoying numerous alcoholic shots while dancing across the dance floor.
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Slamming the news: Married At First Sight's Christie Jordee, 39, has shut down the allegations following a night on the town with husband Mark Hughes (M)
Alongside one of the shots, she wrote: #patron is bad for you!!!'
'Had a great time last night. French lace top made in Sydney by Australian designers @ederandberk.'
In the image Christie showed off a large smile while holding a shot close to her mouth while dressed in a black lace figure-hugging dress.
Letting her hair down: In numerous social media photos and videos the reality television couple were seen enjoying numerous alcoholic shots while dancing across the dance floor
In a short 30 second video posted to Instagram by Mark the brunette beauty was seen downing the beverage before breaking into a laugh.
'Lets get embarrassing,' the farmer captioned the clip along with numerous cartoon smiley face emojis.
Christie and Mark are one of two couples who have stayed together after meeting and tying the knot on the Channel Nine reality show.
Down it: In a short video posted to Instagram by Mark the brunette beauty was seen sinking a beverage
Fun and games: She and her hubby were then seen breaking into a laugh while moving around the dance floor
Before the finale aired last month Christie hinted she was still with the farmer and that they may have been expecting their first child together.
While sharing an image of freshly baked bread rolls to Instagram, she wrote: 'Love my protein buns! Just baked a new batch.
'Mmmm maybe I baked them for a special someone in my life too.'
She finished the caption with the hashtags #9Married #paleo #proteinbuns #baking and #wifematerial?
Jumping to conclusions: Christie and Mark are one of two couples who have stayed together after meeting and tying the knot on the Channel Nine reality show
Could it be? Before the finale aired last month Christie hinted she was still with the farmer and that they may have been expecting their first child together after sharing a picture of freshly baked bun in the oven
Christie revealed in the first episode of Channel Nine's controversial show that: 'wanting children has become more important'.
Speaking to TV Week, she said she did not want to 'miss out' on having kids because of her age.
'Unfortunately, we do have the clock,' she said.
'I do want kids and I'm also happy to adopt. I would love to adopt, because my parents fostered kids.'
She was spotted doing her best to hail a cab in Sydney on Wednesday morning.
And Sally Obermeder certainly knew how to stop traffic by making a serious style statement.
The 42-year-old The Daily Edition host was dressed to impress, wearing a strappy white blouse and a pair of black culottes.
Bold look: Sally Obermeder certainly knew how to stop traffic by making a serious style statement when hailing down a cab in Sydney on Wednesday
Her chic blouse showcased her slender arms and upper frame, and perfectly complemented the rest of her outfit.
Proving her penchant for accessorising, the television personality added a few striking items to take her look to the next level.
Sally sported a pair of bold drop earrings while holding onto a sleek black clutch bag.
Stunner: The 42-year-old The Daily Edition host was dressed to impress, wearing a strappy white blouse
Mix and match: She teamed the top with a pair of black culottes on the day
Furthermore, a pair of strappy black heels accentuated her height on the day.
With her gorgeous caramel locks worn out in loose waves, the Channel Seven star flaunted a glowing complexion.
She may very well have been on her way to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, after having attended some shows earlier in the week.
Accessoriser: Sally sported a pair of bold drop earrings while holding onto a sleek black clutch bag
Strutting it: A pair of strappy black heels accentuated her height on the day
On Monday the mother-of-one stepped out at the Ginger and Smart show at Sydney's Carriageworks.
She sported a maroon coloured dress for the occasion, which finished well above her knees.
And to add an even more stylish touch to the look, she slipped her feet into a pair of black suede boots.
Brunette beauty: With her gorgeous caramel locks worn out in loose waves, the Channel Seven star flaunted a glowing complexion
Television star: Sally is a co-host on Channel Seven's afternoon show The Daily Edition
From Cannes to Buckingham Palace, Pixie Lott is coming to the end of a week of hard-partying - and she's understandably worn out.
The musician left M&S Summer Ball looking a little bleary-eyed on Tuesday night, as she and her boyfriend Oliver Cheshire made it a fourth late evening in a row.
Pixie's perm was loose and a little disheveled, though her glitzy silver ballgown helped her to maintain an air of elegance on leaving London's Old Billingsgate Hall in the early hours.
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Tired yet? Pixie Lott proved that five nights on the trot had taken its toll by Tuesday as she left M&S Summer Ball with Oliver Cheshire looking tired
Pixie and Oliver arrived back from the glamorous Cannes Film Festival on Monday, but they still haven't come up for air.
Supportive girlfriend Pixie sharpened up to accompany M&S model Oliver to the high street giant's annual summer bash.
Representing the retailer with his stand-out good looks, Oliver looked slick in a bow tie and black suit with satin lapels.
Time for bed: Pixie and Oliver partied at Old Billingsgate Hall in aid of Breast Cancer Research
Good night: She caught up with her boyfriend and latched onto his arm as they were pictured leaving yet another party
Even in towering heels, Pixie was in hot pursuit of the model and managed to catch up, latch onto his arm and smile on command as they were pictured leaving, together.
She created an hourglass illusion with her lithe figure in a cutaway dress that featured sheer side panels and sequins from top to toe.
It was yet another high profile appearance on what's been a week boasting an embarrassment of riches on the invites front.
Slick: Pixie looked glitzy in a silver frock while M&S model Oliver was sharp in a tuxe
Fourth night out: The duo made it a fourth late night in a row
Pixie bagged the hottest ticket in town on Tuesday afternoon, as she jetted back into the UK just in time for The Prince's trust's 40th anniversary at Buckingham Palace.
Only the previous evening, the popstar joined the A-listers at the Chopard Wild Party in Cannes and preceding that the duo were on the red carpet.
The duo couldn't quite believe their luck, it seemed, because they spent time snapping selfies as they followed Hollywood heavyweights into the Palais des Festivals for the Land Of The Moon premiere.
In fact, just hours after touching down in Nice on Saturday morning, Oliver and Pixie were dressed in their finery for a bash at Annabel's on the French Riviera.
Jet-setting: They were in Cannes between Saturday and Monday but made it back just in time for more late night appearances
Supportive: Oliver has represented M&S as a male model, but Pixie was being supportive
Cute duo: Pixie was quite the arm candy in a cutaway sequined dress
Hottest ticket in town: The musician flew back to the UK especially for The Prince's trust's 40th anniversary at Buckingham Palace
Party time: Only the previous evening, they'd been rubbing shoulders with A-listers at Chopard Wild Party
Can't believe her luck: On the red carpet on Sunday night, Pixie created treasured memories at From the Land of the Moon premiere
She never steps out with even a hair out of place.
But the typically glamorous Danielle Lloyd appeared a bit bleary-eyed as she headed out of Lorraine's High Street Fashion Awards on Tuesday night.
Seeming a bit wobbly on her feet, the 23-year-old model looked in good spirits as she headed out of London's Grand Connaught Rooms in her towering heels.
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Good night? The typically glamorous Danielle Lloyd appeared a bit bleary-eyed as she headed out of Lorraine's High Street Fashion Awards on Tuesday night, no doubt tired from the long day
With her expertly applied make-up beginning to fade as the night progressed, the mum-of-three seemed in an amorous mood as she grasped her friends on the way to her waiting car.
Luckily, a pal was on hand to offer some assistance descending the steep stairs and she made it into the vehicle without incident.
With the wind brushing her brunette locks into her face, the star was no doubt eager to head home after the awards bash - which was hosted by ITV's Lorraine Kelly.
Careful! Seeming a bit wobbly on her feet, the 23-year-old model looked in good spirits as she headed out of London's Grand Connaught Rooms in her towering heels
Careful! Luckily, a pal was on hand to offer some assistance descending the steep stairs and she made it into the vehicle without incident
At the beginning of the night, Danielle had looked dazzling as she donned an embroidered aztec print skirt.
Featuring splashes of pinks and oranges, the thigh skimming garment showed off her shapely pins whilst complementing her tanned complexion.
She teamed the skirt with a matching jacket with cropped sleeves that she wore over a button down white shirt.
Feeling friendly! With her expertly applied make-up beginning to fade as the night progressed, the mum-of-three seemed in an amorous mood as she grasped her friends on the way to her waiting car
Heading home: With the wind brushing her brunette locks into her face, the star was no doubt eager to head home after the awards bash - which was hosted by ITV's Lorraine Kelly
Strike a pose! Like a true professional, Danielle was able to look runway ready for the camera
Injecting yet more colour into her ensemble she wore a pair of orange barely there heels whilst gold bracelets lined her wrists.
Leaving her chestnut coloured locks loose and tousled, she styled her glossy tresses in big bouncy waves that framed her pretty face and cascaded past her shoulders.
Beaming broadly throughout the night, the pretty brunette made a beeline for Amy Childs at the bash and the friends chatted away together as they mingled with other stars on the night.
Pretty in patterns! Danielle, 23, looked equally as dazzling on the night in an embroidered aztec print skirt
Legs eleven! Featuring splashes of pinks and oranges, the thigh skimming garment showed off her shapely pins whilst complementing her tanned complexion
Colourful: She teamed the skirt with a matching jacket with cropped sleeves that she wore over a button down white shirt
Tangerine dream: Injecting yet more colour into her ensemble she wore a pair of orange barely there heels whilst gold bracelets lined her wrists
Brunette beauty! Leaving her chestnut coloured locks loose and tousled, she styled her glossy tresses in big bouncy waves that framed her pretty face and cascaded past her shoulders
Two of a kind! Beaming broadly throughout the night, the pretty brunette made a beeline for Amy at the bash and the friends chatted away together as they mingled with other stars on the night
Happy times! Danielle beamed as she posed for pictures with her friend
Double trouble! The pair looked ready to head in and start the party
Laugh a minute: Amy and Danielle kept each other amused
Clad in a white dress with a fishnet overlay, Amy, 25, was a vision of beauty as she headed into the annual bash.
Layered over a cream bandeau dress, the net gown featured cut outs on the shoulder and a deep V neckline before flaring out to a knee length skirt.
Flaunting her tanned and toned pins in the chic garment, she added some extra height to her frame in a pair of patent white court heels.
Hugging her slender curves, the gown was unique in design, ensuring all eyes would be on her as she entered the venue
Fashionable friend: Amy Childs proved that she can dazzle on the pink carpet as well as the red one as she turned heads at the Lorraine's High Street Fashion Awards in London
Bit of all white! Clad in a white dress with a fishnet overlay, Amy, 25, was a vision of beauty as she headed into the annual bash hosted by ITV's Lorraine Kelly, which was held at the Grand Connaught Rooms
Lacy lady! Layered over a cream bandeau dress, the net gown featured cut outs on the shoulder and a deep V neckline before flaring out to a knee length skirt
One of a kind! Hugging her slender curves, the gown was unique in design, ensuring all eyes would be on her as she entered the venue
Leggy lady! Flaunting her tanned and toned pins in the chic garment, she added some extra height to her frame in a pair of patent white court heels
Keeping her colour scheme muted, she carried a baby pink Chanel handbag over her shoulder which featured a delicate chain handle.
She added some extra glitz with a chunky gold watch and myriad of rings on her slender fingers.
Styling her cherry coloured locks in loose waves, she went without her trusty extensions and styled her glossy mane in a chic bob.
All about the acessories! Keeping her colour scheme muted, she carried a baby pink Chanel handbag over her shoulder which featured a delicate chain handle
Bling! She added some extra glitz with a chunky gold watch and myriad of rings on her slender fingers
Party planning! Ahead of the event. Amy treated herself to a pamper session as she had her hair treated
Mane attraction! Amy's locks looked luscious after the trip to the salon
She's fresh from her trip to the South of France, where she acted as This Morning's showbiz correspondent during the Cannes Film Festival.
And Ferne McCann opted for a glamorous ensemble when she attended Lorraine's High Street Fashion Awards in London on Tuesday, where she was joined by her former TOWIE co-stars including Jessica Wright, Lydia Bright and Lucy Mecklenburgh.
The 25-year-old TV star - who has just confirmed her plans to crack Hollywood - looked every inch the leading lady in a quirky grey halterneck dress.
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Leading the way: Former TOWIE star Ferne McCann looked elegant in a grey halterneck gown as she attended Lorraine's High Street Fashion Awards in London on Tuesday
Ferne showed off her svelte figure in the fashionable ensemble, featuring a white collar and a mullet hemline.
The reality star set off her look with coordinating white strappy sandals and wore her brunette hair down loose.
Ferne's appearance comes just after she revealed she had been offered a movie role during an appearance on This Morning.
Ladylike looks: Jessica Wright (left) and Lucy Mecklenburgh (right) opted for flirty and feminine ensembles
Tribal chic: Lydia Bright was rocking a loose printed maxidress with plenty of gold bangles
Legs for days: Ferne showcased her shapely legs thanks to her grey gown's mullet hemline
Simple touches: The brunette beauty matched her white strappy heels to her bow tie neckline
Remember my name! The TV star was showing off her phone case emblazoned with her initials
'I found my calling I just loved it. I want to act. I want to be in films. I went out to Cannes, I went last year and loved it and went back again.'
She continued: I had a few meetings and have been offered a film role. Im going out to LA in July to talk more
Meanwhile, Jessica opted for a feminine and flirty ensemble, sporting statement full skirt with a pretty floral pattern.
Next stop, Hollywood: Ferne said of her newfound love of acting, 'I found my calling'
Going glam: The feisty reality star ensured she was looking her best, running her hands through her hair
Legs ahoy! Thanks to the dress' elliptical hemline, the former TOWIE star was able to showcase her lithe legs
No slips or trips here: Despite the backless numbers long trail, Ferne had no problems negotiating the steps outside the London landmark
Hands up! Ferne looked to be in high spirits at the event, and played along for the cameras
And... pose: She looked to have her red carpet poses down to a tee following her time at the Cannes Film Festival
She knows: The star flashed a knowing grin as she made her way into the venue
The star flashed her abs in a white lace-up top, teamed with white accessories and a pastel pink leather jacket.
Fellow former TOWIE star Lucy Mecklenburgh was rocking an equally feminine look, opted for a dusty punk dress with bow detailing at the waist.
She added an edgy vibe to her attire thanks to The Lottie Bag by Aspinal of London and covetable, pom pom embellished heels.
Coming up roses: Jessica was a vision in her black silk skirt with a pink floral pattern, teamed with her Alaska Nude Lace heels
Ready for spring: The 30-year-old beauty opted for a rosy lip and a baby blue manicure
Looking lovely: Jess was a vision of beauty from all angles in her sophisticated and flirty ensemble
Dazzling: The former TOWIE star highlighted her slim waist by showing just a hint of skin
Blooming lovely! The pink roses injected some colour into her black satin skirt that flashed a hint of leg
Boho beauty: Lydia ditched her usual vintage style in favour of a more daring ensemble
Natural: The newly-single star - who recently split from boyfriend James 'Arg' Argent - toned down her beauty look for the occasion
Best foot forward: The TOWIE regular is determined to move on from party-mad boyfriend Arg after he suffered another relapse
Fancy footwear: Fitness guru Lucy set off her pretty pink ensemble with pom pom embellished heels
Also out in forced was newly-single Lydia - the only remaining member of the ITVBe show's current cast out of all the girls.
The blonde beauty sported a tribal inspired look, pairing a patterned shirt dress with brown leather sandals, gold bangles and a suede bag.
Amy Childs completed the TOWIE star line-up, choosing a flirty white dress with circular hole detailing.
The redhead stuck to her pale colour palette with a cream satchel and a pair of white heels as she partied the night away with her pals.
Old school beauty: Lucy set off her brunette bob in retro curls and dressed up her look with silver jewels
Last but not least: Amy Childs completed the TOWIE star line-up, choosing a flirty white dress with circular hole detailing
She's been happily married to her husband Stevie Smith since 1992.
But Lorraine Kelly chose to bring her doppelganger daughter Rosie, 20, along as her date as she held her High Street Fashion Awards on Tuesday night.
The 56-year-old and the 20-year-old journalism student bore a striking resemble to one another as they posed on the red carpet at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London.
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The apple doesn't fall far from the tree: Lorraine Kelly chose to bring her doppelganger daughter Rosie, 20, along as her date as she held her High Street Fashion Awards on Tuesday night
They opted for contrasting ensembles on the night as Lorraine opted for a bright pink gown which showcased her cleavage.
She teamed the dress with bejewelled white heels and completed her look with dangling earrings and brown curls.
Meanwhile, Rosie stuck to the floral theme of the evening in patterned black dress which she teamed with orange heels and fresh-faced make-up.
Lorraine gushed of her annual event: 'The High Street Fashion Awards is one of the biggest events of the year for us. We always get such a terrific reaction from viewers who love celebrating high street fashion and voting for their favourites.'
Seeing double: The 56-year-old and the 20-year-old journalism student bore a striking resemble to one another as they posed on the red carpet at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London
Fashion fan: They opted for contrasting ensembles on the night as Lorraine opted for a bright pink gown which showcased her cleavage
Viewers were able to vote for their favourite brand in each of the eight categories: Best Affordable Fashion, Best Curvy Collection, Best Department Store, Best Occasion Wear, Best Online Retailer, Best Shoes, Best Trendsetter and new category for this year, Best Menswear.
The fashion panel is made up of Kelly, Foote, stylist Mark Heyes and fashion editor Lynne McKenna.
Highlights from Lorraine's High Street Fashion Awards air on ITV on May 18 from 8.30am
Lorraine and Rosie have a very close bond and are often seen out in London together when the youngster is down from Edinburgh.
The gang: (L-R) Lynne Mckenna, Georgia May Foote, Lorraine Kelly and Mark Heyes attending the Lorraine High Street Fashion Awards
There was never a sudden moment when I realised my mother was not like other mothers,' Rosie explained during an interview with Daily Mail's Weekend magazine.
'I do remember when I was very young and we were out shopping being baffled that people were asking her for her autograph.'
She added: 'I'd say, 'Why are you scribbling your name on bits of paper for people?' It all seemed very strange.
'People often ask me what it's like having a famous mother, but my mum's been famous all my life so I've never known any different. Of course, it has its ups and downs, but deep down she's always been just Mum to me.'
Jamie Dornan's eldest daughter Dulcie seems to be finding a way to stand out, now that she's a big sister.
The two-year-old looked adorable in a Cinderella dress-up costume as the family were pictured for the first time as a four-piece on Tuesday.
Doting dad Jamie held onto an excited Dulcie's hand in Vancouver, Canada, while wife Amelia carried their newborn, who the couple are thought to have welcomed just two months ago.
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One big happy family: Jamie Dornan and his wife Amelia were pictured with their newborn and daughter Dulcie (right) for the first time as a family on Monday in Canada
The actor's family have joined him in Canada as he continues to film Fifty Shades Of Grey sequel Fifty Shades Darker in Canada with co-star Dakota Johnson.
Now a father to two young children, Christian Grey star Jamie was spending his day off at Toys R Us for their enjoyment.
Their first-born, Dulcie, was at first dressed stylishly in metallic DM boots with pink leggings but shortly after, she seemed to have insisted on changing into a brand new princess dress that dad was seen carrying out of the toy store.
Happy families: Amelia carried their newborn, who was seen for the first time on Monday
Gorgeous new mum: Amelia was looking exquisite, even with minimal make-up and a low fuss ensemble
Happy families: Dulcie looked delighted to be showing off her cute ensemble on the way to dinner
Now a four piece: The couple kept their latest pregnancy largely out of the spotlight
Hand-in-hand: Jamie held his daughter's hand while also carrying the car seat for Amelia
The beautiful family enjoyed dinner in the Kits Beach District later that day as Jamie and Amelia shared their parenting duties, successfully.
Even on an off-duty day, Jamie was characteristically good looking in just a charcoal sweatshirt and dark chino trousers with trainers.
New mum Amelia was particularly radiant, nonetheless, boasting a deep, golden tan and an enviably slim aspect.
Minimally made up, the English actress wore her raven tresses short and choppy, and even in a baggy black jumper she looked simply stunning.
Chatting away: Dulcie pointed up at the Toys R Us sign to show her excitement
Daddy's day off: Earlier, Duclie was seen in cute DM boots and pink leggings as she went hand-in-hand with daddy
Daddy duties: Jamie proved that his days off have turned to buying Cinderella costumes
Quick change: Jamie lifted Dulcie out of the car in her brand new Princess dress
Happy feet: It's clear that Dulcie is going to have some talents with parents like Amelia and Jamie
Family man: The hunk would no doubt melt hearts with his paternal instincts
On the way to dinner, Amelia showed off her natural maternal instinct and carried the baby comfortably in both hands with ease.
The name of Jamie and Amelia's second child is still yet to be confirmed, since their pregnancy was kept largely under the radar.
Jamie and Amelia celebrated their third wedding anniversary this April and she was revealed to be expecting again in October 2015.
Though it wasn't until March 2016 that pictures of the brunette walking with a stroller in Notting Hill, London, that the arrival of their second child was confirmed.
Balancing duties: Jamie and Amelia successfully shared their duties
Parents again: The couple welcomed a second child two months ago, after three years of marriage
Taking a break: Jamie was taking a rare break from filming Fifty Shades Darker in Canada
Reprising his role: Jamie will return as Christian Grey in the 2017 sequel of the saucy film
Doting dad: The hunk proved his status as a hard-working family man
Good listener: He seemed to be tuning into his daughter's chatty conversation
She has a body to die for and the lifestyle to boot.
And it seems one of the secrets behind bikini blogger Natasha Oakleys enviable figure is her passion for yoga.
The 25-year-old, who boasts an incredible social media following of 1.7 million people, took to Instagram on Wednesday to show off her dedication to the physical and spiritual sport.
Skills: Natasha Oakley flaunted her yoga prowess while flashing her toned tummy and pert derriere in a crop top and leggings while pulling the Lord Of The Dance pose on a wooden block on Wednesday
Stretching her left arm outward, the Instagram model showed off her muscular torso as she balanced perfectly on one leg.
Pulling her right foot upward, the A Bikini A Day writer looked to be in her element as she tilted forward and perfected the Lord Of The Dance pose on a wooden.
The popular personality put her toned abs on show in a crop top and yoga leggings from her new activewear range, called Monday Active.
Chic appearance: Natasha pictured with her business partner Devin Brugman (right) at their swanky New York launch party for Monday Active
Keeping her form strong in the ode to fitness snap, Natasha simply captioned the upload: Don't forget to take a few moments to breathe and appreciate life everyday.
A day earlier, Natasha and her best friend and business partner Devin Brugman, also 25, held a launch party for their Monday Active range.
The pair already have a bikini line called Monday Swimwear.
For the bash in New York, the fashionable pair dressed in daring all-black ensembles.
Daring to bare: The fashionable pair flaunted their fit physiques in one-tone ensembles
But it was Natasha's rock-hard abs that inevitably stole the show
Wearing a stylish, bandeau-style cropped top, the Sydney-born beauty put her muscular midriff on full display
The revealing attire showcased her tiny waist, chiselled midsection and the overall deep bronzed glow that she's attained from her work as a bikini model for the duo's blog.
She paired the ensemble with sleek black trousers, and draped a blazer casually over her shoulders as fashion trends would dictate.
A girl's gotta eat! The Sydney-born model enjoyed a healthy meal in Manhattan
'Tonight was one of the most amazing nights of our lives. Seeing hundreds of our fans show up to support us was not only overwhelming but humbling,' she captioned an Instagram post.
'We hope we can continue to inspire you in as many ways as possible and that our friendship and persistence is an example of what is possible for anyone who followers their dreams!
'Thank you to all of the beautiful people that attended our @mondayactive event! We love you all,' she signed off.
Natasha and Devin launched their swimwear line shortly after starting their A Bikini A Day fashion blog in 2014, which sees the gym-honed twosome wearing bikinis 365 days a year.
She is to walk for Oscar de la Renta at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia 2016 four years after the designer made her his muse.
And Australian model Shanina Shaik got into her stride as she was seen sashaying through Sunday Airport on Wednesday ahead of her big day.
The 25-year-old cut a demure figure in black as she strutted through the airport in tight black trousers, a black silk top and thigh-high boots.
These boots are made for walking: Shanina Shaik sashayed through Sunday Airport on Wednesday ahead of her big day
Homebound: Ther 25-year-old kept a low profile in dark sunglasses
Shanina, one of Australia's biggest modelling exports, kept a low profile as she was seen arriving on home turf and kept her gaze hidden behind dark sunglasses.
On Tuesday she turned to social media to declare she is coming home for to open the Oscar de la Renta show, four years after she modelled for him during his Fall 2012 collection.
She captioned the image: 'So excited to be opening the Oscar de la Renta show in Sydney on Friday! Thanks team #ODLR and #Etihad, see you soon @fashionweekaus!'
Demure: She cut a low key figure in an all-black ensemble
Finding her stride: The striking model sauntered through the airport in tight black trousers, a black silk top and thigh-high boots
Natural beauty: She appeared make-up free as she touched down in Sydney
The lithe beauty has honed her skills sashaying along down the catwalk and will be walking exclusively for the Dominican-born designer on Friday.
Oscar de la Renta will be the closing show for Australian Fashion Wee and Shanina's appearance on the catwalk will be a huge draw card.
She flew back to Sydney by Etihad Airways, which has signed on as the global airline partner for Fashion Weeks around the globe.
First class! She flew back to Sydney by Etihad Airways, which has signed on as the global airline partner for Fashion Weeks around the globe
Beaming: The model flashed a glowing smile as she made her way out of the airport
Working it: Even though she dressed inconspicuously, she was instantly recognisable
Big news: The model announced she is coming home for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia 2016 to open the Oscar de la Renta show. Pictured at Elton John AIDS Foundation's Oscar Viewing Party in February
Memories: The 25-year-old posted a throwback image of herself strutting the catwalk for the internationally revered designer during his Fall 2012 collection showing in New York
Homecoming: The Australian born model flew back to Sydney by Etihad Airways, which has signed on as the global airline partner for Fashion Weeks around the globe
An announcement was made on the Etihad website in April explaining: 'Etihad Airways will become the official airline of fashion week events in New York, London, Milan, Berlin, Sydney and Mumbai'.
The leggy brunette has been documenting her recent travels on board the luxury aircraft, including a selfie as she departed Abu Dhabi before revealing she was on the way home.
The Melbourne-born beauty walked the catwalk for department store giant Myer's Autumn Winter launch in February.
Luxury: Etihad is now the official airline for fashion week and Shanina has documented her time on-board the extremely lavish aircraft
She is no stranger to the Australian Fashion Week scene either, having walked in several shows throughout the 2012 showcase.
According to Vogue Australia: 'De la Renta is set to show an exclusive-for-Sydney curated resort collection at Carriageworks on Friday'.
This is the first time that the luxury American fashion designer has a presented a collection in the Australian market.
Business mogul Rupert Murdoch seems to be rubbing off on new wife Jerry Hall.
In sync in stylish men's and women's tailoring, the duo were seen heading to a smart lunch in London on Tuesday.
Model Jerry, 59, looked especially elegant in her Chanel-style skirt suit while 85-year-old Rupert favoured a Savile Row classic in pinstripes.
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In sync: Jerry Hall and Rupert Murdoch matched in his and hers tailoring for lunch in London on Tuesday
The newly-married couple walked to an informal lunch holding hands, chatting away as she towered over him with her gazelle like figure.
Jerry, who's 26 years younger than her counterpart, softened any further height difference in flat shoes.
Her ensemble comprised a blazer jacket and a pleated skirt, while her hair was impressively coiffed with a bouncy blow-dry.
Holding hands: They walked to their informal engagement, holding hands
Mind the gap: Model Jerry towered over her husband, even in flat shoes
They are recently back from a trip to Santa Monica, though it's not known whether they treated as a honeymoon, just two months after tying the knot in London.
While they were away, Rupert's most recent ex-wife Wendi Deng attended the Met Gala 2016 alone in New York.
Rupert filed for divorce from the 47-year-old mother-of-two after 14 years of marriage citing irreconcilable differences
Jerry and Rupert married this March after a very brief engagement that was announced at the Golden Globe Awards in January.
Elegant: She looked especially glamorous in a Chanel-style tweed skirt suit
Midday stroll: The duo have settled into married life seamlessly since March
The extravagant wedding ceremony was held at Spencer House with a celebration at St Bride's church near Fleet Street.
It was Jerry's first official marriage, since an unofficial ceremony with Rolling Stones rocker Mick Jagger in 1990 was declared invalid after the pair ended their 23-year relationship in 1999.
Together, they share 10 children, including Jerry's daughters Georgia May Jagger and Lizzie Jagger, sons James Jagger and Gabriel Jagger and Rupert's children Prudence, Lachlan, Elisabeth, James, Grace and Chloe.
Newly-weds: They're not long since back from Santa Monica, where they holidayed at the start of May
Happy couple: Their engagement was a very short one, having been announced this January
She played happy-go-lucky Lady Rose MacClare on hit period drama Downton Abbey.
But in real life, Lily James is a far cry from a pampered aristocrat.
The actress, 27, was spotted mingling with the masses as she rode the London Underground in the British capital.
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Going Down-town? Downton Abbey star Lily James was a far cry from a pampered aristocrat
Going uncognito in casual clothes, the beauty blended in with her fellow passengers seamlessly.
Making the most of the Tube journey, Lily listened to music and read what appeared to be a script.
With her long hair down and wearing a grey blazer over a white top, it would have been easy to mistake the actress for a commuter.
She then left the Tube exit and picked up a newspaper from a street vendor.
All aboard! The actress, 27, was spotted mingling with the masses as she rode the London Underground in the British capital as she listened to music and appeared to read a script
Stop the presses: She then left the Tube exit and picked up a newspaper from a street vendor
Lily - who is dating former Doctor Who star Matt Smith - has made no secret of wanting to find balance in her life after shooting to fame on the hit TV series.
She revealed that after her starring role in the Cinderella blockbuster, she decided to jet off on a backpacking adventure upon realising her life had been micro-managed during the film's promotional tour.
She explained to The Edit: 'I remember coming back from that tour, walking down the street to go to the shops, and realising I hadnt brought my wallet with me.
Low-key couple: Lily - who is dating former Doctor Who star Matt Smith - has made no secret of wanting to find balance in her life after shooting to fame on the hit TV series
'Everything had been managed by other people for so long I forgot how to do it myself.
'I ended up backpacking with a friend in south-east Asia, staying in huts that were 2 a night, to regain my sanity.'
The star's romance with Matt is equally low-key, with the couple preferring to enjoy nights out in London with friends than attending red carpet events.
The pair were spotted earlier this week hitting the town with fellow actor Douglas Booth.
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She may be one of the most talked about stars in the world, but she still has to take her shoes off at airport security.
Just like many other travellers, Kim Kardashian fell foul of a footwear faux pas on Wednesday as she was left standing in unsavoury black socks, forced to remove her super-sexy thigh-high boots.
A significant step down from her show-stopping red carpet moment at Cannes Film Festival a mere few hours before, Kim, 35, was dressed down for her flight out of France with momager Kris Jenner, 60.
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Bye bye boots: Kim Kardashian was left standing in a pair of black socks at the airport on Wednesday morning, as she caught a flight out of France following the Cannes Film Festival
Kim was reduced to her vest dress and the short black socks she'd been hiding to pass through the security scanners, and without her heeled boots and a hooded cover up, Kim's slimmed down shape was completely on show.
Even Kris was uncharacteristically casual in jeans and a basic long-sleeved top, although since she'd chosen practical, flat trainers, the 60-year-old was able to leave her shoes on.
Nice Airport, like many others in Europe, reserves the right to ask you to remove your shoes for the metal detection portals, though women are more commonly asked to take off boots or shoes with a heel.
The mother-daughter duo had packed only hold luggage for their European flight, especially since Kim's visit to the south of France has been so fleeting.
Not such a glamorous moment: Her mum, Kris Jenner (far left) was even in her jeans when the duo tackled airport security
Everyone's done it: Kim had been wearing super-sexy thigh-high boots (left) but underneath she was hiding short black socks
What a difference a day makes: Just hours before, Kim had been glammed up for the glittering De Grisogono Party at Cannes Film Festival
Kim had only arrived in Cannes on Monday morning yet she was already back at the airport and boarding another flight - even though she's due back in Cannes on Thursday night for the annual AmFAR Gala, to be held at Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc.
Used to the jetset lifestyle by now, Kim had chosen a make-up free visage and a fuss-free up-do that saw her long locks still neatly pulled back into a tiny bun - the chosen hairstyle for last night's De Grisogono party - hinting that she hadn't slept on it yet.
No doubt the brunette had only just changed out of her glittering party dress and cleansed her skin of the dark underliner and famous contouring painted on for the Eden Roc hotel party.
It had been the chance to showcase her flawless post-baby curves on the world's stage and she'd chose wisely with a slinky silver gown that cutaway to reveal a skintight nude bodysuit.
Taking off her top layer: Like her unsavory black socks, Kim had been hiding her slimmed down shape with a hooded cover-up
Looks familiar: (Left) Kim didn't seem to have slept on her hair do, because it was still the same as the previous evening (right)
Mrs casual: (Left) Kris is rarely ever seen in comfortable clothes, but she paired jeans with a long-sleeved top after taking off her glamorous white dress from Tuesday night (right)
Rubbing shoulders: That evening, Kris and Kim had been partying with Gigi Hadid's famous model sister Bella (centre)
Dripping in diamonds: Swiss luxury jeweller Fawaz Gruosi (centre) hosted the reality star
Planting a kiss: He wanted to make sure the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star was having a good time
Weight loss: Kim has finally returned to her pre-baby goal weight, after welcoming her second child, Saint, with Kanye West
Kim had been treated like a superstar by Swiss luxury jeweller and host Fawaz Gruosi and rubbed shoulders with Bella Hadid, Alek Wek, Mischa Barton and Barbara Palvin.
Though Kim enjoyed on a brief stay, Kris has been in Cannes since last Wednesday, supporting 19-year-old supermodel daughter Kendall Jenner on her various high profile appearances.
Kris arrived in Nice at Kendall's side, though since then Kourtney Kardashian's ex Scott Disick has joined the duo.
Kendall has been staying on Roman Abramovich's superyacht, seemingly by herself even though stars including Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom and Kate Hudson have also frequented the 175,000-a-night vessel.
Hanging out: On the night, Kris had been joined by her daughter Kourtney Kardashian's friendly ex Scott Disick (right)
Are you cold deer? Fawaz even took his jacket off to keep the brunette company at one time
They are thought to have rekindled their romance following her split from Professor Green.
And Millie Mackintosh certainly looked close to her one-time ex as they hit the town this week.
Millie looked blissfully happy as she cosied up to the handsome gent as he chatted on the phone.
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Hands on: Millie Mackintosh certainly looked close to her one-time ex Hugo Taylor as they hit the town this week
Hugo smiled as he caught up with a pal while putting his arm around her shoulders.
They were joined by a group of pals at the Hollywood Arms pub in Chelsea where they gathered outside after an evening out.
Fitness fan Millie appeared to take a break from her clean-living lifestyle as she puffed on a cigarette.
The pair then headed back to the beauty's London home, where Hugo was seen snuggling up to her as she opened the door.
Up in smoke: The clean-living fitness fan appeared to have a break from her lifestyle as she puffed on a cigarette
Cosy: Millie looked blissfully happy as she cosied up to her ex - who she has reportedly reconciled with - as he chatted on the phone
Close: Hugo smiled as he caught up with a pal while putting his arm around her shoulders
Fun times: They were joined by a group of pals at the Hollywood Arms pub in Chelsea where they gathered outside after an evening out
Newly-single Millie split from rapper husband Professor Green, in February after two-and-a-half years of marriage.
Millie and Hugo have been linked on numerous occasions in the wake of her marital split, and were pictured getting cosy at British Polo Day in Dubai in March, before spending the night together at her London home a mere matter of weeks later.
They recently added the birthday bash of former Made In Chelsea co-star Caggie Dunlop, but were careful to avoid being snapped together.
Key to her heart? The pair then headed back to the beauty's London home
Up close and personal: Hugo was seen snuggling up to her as she opened the door
Home time: The pair first dated in 2011 during the first series of Made in Chelsea but have got again following her split from Professor Green
Hugo, 29, previously dated Millie for six months in 2011, before she tied the knot with Pro Green - real name Stephen Manderson.
Meanwhile, it was claimed that the rapper had moved on with banking heiress Kate Rothschild.
The 32-year-old rapper and the redhead - who has inherited 18million from her family's fortune - were pictured together at the launch bash for new London hotspot Ours this month, where they partied with the likes of Paris Hilton.
However, he appeared to shoot down the rumours, taking to Twitter to poke fun of all the female stars he has been linked with so far, and ask whether he could start dating Hollywood beauty Jessica Alba next.
He posted: 'So two days ago it was @carolineflack1, before that @ArabellaD and now @RothschildKate @TheSun #dontreadallaboutit.
She's been whisked off to Cannes by multi-millionaire, Robert Tchenguiz.
And Chloe Sims seemed to be enjoying the company of her new friend as she was seen cosying up to the businessman at a star-studded Chopard dinner on Monday night.
Seemingly unable to keep their hands off each other, the pair stayed within close distance of each other and at one point appeared to share a kiss.
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Cosy: Chloe and Robert looked like they were having a great time at Chopard's Wild party on Monday. The pair have attended several events together after he whisked the pretty blonde away to the French resort
On arrival earlier in the night, the 33-year-old reality star had wowed in a show-stopping canary yellow gown, which kept her ample assets under wraps, while no doubt turning the heads of many guests.
Block panels of colour were sandwiched between ribbed material which proffered a glimpse at her slender thighs, taut stomach and a hint of surgically-enhanced cleavage.
Her peroxide blonde tresses were styled into a voluminous beehive before cascading into loose curls which tumbled around her shoulders gracefully, yet her locks were soon shaken loose as the night progressed.
Three's company! Chloe's trip to Cannes has been on the arm of property tycoon Robert, who she put on an amorous display with on Monday and appeared to kiss alongside another friend
Not so mellow: Clad in a canary yellow gown, the bubbly beauty was impossible to miss as she cosied up to the businessman a the Chopard Wild party in the French resort
Hug it out: The pair cuddled up close at the star-studded bash and appeared to be in their own little world as other party goers mingled around the area
Massage to go: Chloe was treated to a back and neck rub by Robert, who seemed more than happy to help
Cheerful chap! Robert seemed in high spirits as he draped his arms over the pretty reality star
The duo were together again at the De Grisogono party held at Eden Roc, Hotel du Cap, on Tuesday, where she mingled with a host of A-list stars including Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner.
Chloe put her curves to work in a daring green sparkly number as she partied with her unlikely new pal, flashing a beaming smile as she made the most of a photo opportunity with the famous momager.
Whilst it may not have been her usual crowd, the pretty star certainly fit in with her glamorous ensemble.
Bright and beautiful! Chloe looked lovely in a skintight yellow gown that hugged her slender curves
Moving along: Robert placed a hand on Robert's shoulders as they walked through the crowded party
Shoulder to lean on: Robert supported himself on the reality star after a night of partying together
Blonde beauty! Earlier in the night, her peroxide blonde tresses were styled into a voluminous beehive before cascading into loose curls which tumbled around her shoulders gracefully
The mother-of-one oozed glam in her luxurious fishtail outfit, showing plenty of skin in the racy frock that was slashed at the sides.
She added her trademark full and thick lashes to complete her glamorous look while her blonde locks were styled in cascading curls in a chic half-up.
She finished off her look with a bold red manicure, while a bronze cuff added a touch more glam to her party look.
Making an entrance! Clad in her glittering emerald gown, Chloe donned a sparkling emerald colour gownt to head to the De Grisogono party on Wednesday evening
The blonde reality star stuck close to Robert's side at the celeb-packed bash.
Chloe and the Iranian-born tycoon have set tongue's wagging in recent weeks, with the duo having been spotted out and about in the South of France together.
And it seems the Essex native has been introduced to Robert's family, as she shared snaps on her Instagram of herself, the tycoon and his sister, Lisa, partying.
How does she do it? Remarkably, the pretty blonde look expertly preened she sported a full face of make-up and not a single hair out of place whilst leaving Robert's yacht to head to the party
Helping hand: Chloe's towering black platforms weren't quite suitable for sailing, but luckily she had an aide who helped her off the boat safely
Blonde beauty! Sweeping her golden tresses back into a high ponytail, she framed her hazel coloured peepers with dramatic smokey eye shadow and painted her plump pout with nude gloss
Mingling with the A-list! Chloe Sims looked like she couldn't believe her luck as she managed to snag a snap with Kris Jenner at the star-studded De Grisogono party held at Eden Roc, Hotel du Cap, on Tuesday
From Brentwood to Cannes: The mother-of-one oozed glam in her luxurious fishtail outfit as she partied alongside A-List guests
Magical: Chloe Sims was every inch a green goddess in sparkling gown as she posed with multi-millionaire property tycoon, Robert Tchenguiz
Australian model Megan Blake Irwin has been linked to Kourtney Kardashian's ex Scott Disick.
And after the pair set tongues wagging, the stunner has refused to confirm whether the pair are dating - and insists she's never watched Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
Megan, 21, told The Daily Telegraph: 'Scott is a lovely guy but that's about all I'm going to say about that.'
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Keeping mum: Australian model Megan Blake Irwin has been linked in recent weeks to Kourtney Kardashian's ex Scott Disick, but she has refused to confirm whether on not the pair are dating
The pair have been seen in public in recent months and putting on shows of affection and dining out.
However, regarding the reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians, starring Scott, 32, and his ex Kourtney, 37, she maintains: 'I've actually never seen the show... I'm sure it is great though.'
Megan just touched down in Australia this week and said it was for a 'special project.'
Together? Megan and Scott Disick (seen here in LA last month) have been seen in public in recent months and putting on shows of affection and dining out
Her beau? Scott is seen here in Cannes, France, earlier this week with Kourtney Kardashian's mother, Kris Jenner
Not a fan? Megan also admitted she's never watched the show that's made Scott famous, Keeping Up With The Kardashians
The Daily Telegraph reported Megan is set to pose for clothing brand Seduce and Disney.
Megan and Scott have been rumoured in recent weeks to be dating and said to been together for several months.
Indeed, they have been pictured together on numerous occasions yet neither have confirmed reports.
What's the go? The blonde and Scott have been pictured together on numerous occasions yet neither have confirmed reports
Scott shares three young children with Kourtney, Mason, six, Penelope, three, and Reign, 15 months.
In recent months, Scott has been spotted out with several women including model Christine Burke, 20, to whom he's also been linked.
He's also been associated with Swedish model Ellen Robinson, who he was spotted kissing earlier this week in Cannes, France.
She's cemented her iconic status in Hollywood, whilst he's a budding star on the rise.
So Jodie Foster and Jack O'Connell proved to be a match made in heaven as they teamed up to promote their latest film, Money Monster.
Clad in a checkered cream gown, the 53-year-old actress looked effortlessly elegant at the photocall in Madrid on Wednesday.
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Perfectly paired! She's cemented her status, whilst he's a budding star on the rise. So Jodie Foster and Jack O'Connell proved to be a match made in heaven as they promoted their latest film, Money Monster
Cinching in at her tiny waist, the satin gown featured vibrant hues of navy which complemented her tanned complexion.
Flaring out just below the knee, the chic dress showed off a hint of her toned pins, which were elongated by a pair of black slingback heels.
Keeping her accessories simple, she wore a delicate gold chain around her neck
Check her out! Clad in a checkered cream gown, the 53-year-old actress looked effortlessly elegant at the photocall in Madrid on Wednesday. Cinching in at her tiny waist, the satin gown featured vibrant navy hues
Leggy lady! Flaring out just below the knee, the chic dress showed off a hint of her toned pins, which were elongated by a pair of black slingback heels, whilst she wore a delicate gold chain around her neck
Wearing her golden tresses loose and tousled, her glossy locks fell in big bouncy curls across her shoulders, framing her pretty face.
Sporting a neutral make-up palette, she accentuated her youthful features whilst allowing her natural beauty to shine though.
Meanwhile, Jack, 25, looked stylish in a navy long sleeved top and relaxed jeans.
Blonde beauty! Wearing her golden tresses loose and tousled, her glossy locks fell in big bouncy curls across her shoulders, framing her pretty face as she wrapped an arm around the star of the film
Money Monster, a new thriller starring George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Dominic West, premiered at Cannes on Thursday night at the Grand Theatre Lumiere at the Palais des Festivals.
It tells the story of a financial TV host (George), who gets taken hostage on-air along with his producer (Julia) by a trouble investor (Jack).
Jodie takes the lead as director, in her fourth directional outing following Little Man Tate, Home For The Holidays and The Beaver.
Two's company: Sporting a neutral make-up palette, she accentuated her youthful features whilst allowing her natural beauty to shine though. Meanwhile, Jack, 25, looked stylish in a navy long sleeved top
Speaking at the iconic Film Festival, the two-time Oscar-winner blasted the film industry for the roles it offers women before attending the screening of her new movie.
'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 said.
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.
Cara Delevingne has been prepping for her role in the highly anticipated Suicide Squad which will hit theaters this summer.
And the 23-year-old model sat down with W Magazine to talk about the her notorious role as supervillain Enchantress.
The British actress wore a series off quirky outfits for the photo shoot as she showed off a peek of her underboob tattoo which reads: 'Don't worry, be happy.'
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Peekaboo: Cara Delevingne flashed a glimpse of her 'Don't worry, be happy' underboob tattoo on the cover of W Magazine while talking about her role in the upcoming Suicide Squad
Bob Marley vibes: In a rare shot the actress shows off her underboob tattoo on holiday
The worldwide sensation also spoke about her love for superheroes and the Spice Girls.
Growing up the supermodel admitted she wished she was Spiderman: 'I only dreamed of being male superheroes. Spider Man, especially, had a cool costume and cool toys,' the actress said.
Apparently she felt as though there were't any women in this genre to look up to: 'There were not many strong superhero-type women, apart from Wonder Womanbut I didn't want to be a 5-year-old running around in, like, a bikini.'
The iconic girl band Spice Girls was a huge part of the star's childhood: 'I went through different stages: I was a few Spice Girls for a whilefirst Baby, then Sporty, and then Ginger. I was never Posh, because she wore little black dresses, and I didn't want to be that kind of girl.'
Girl power: The British actress also spoke about her love for superheroes and the Spice Girls
The model turned actress played her first major role last year in the movie Paper Towns, based on the book written by John Green.
But now Cara has moved swiftly away from the romantic genre as she's to play Enchantress in David Ayer's Suicide Squad.
It seems the actress will go to extreme lengths to secure a role.
Once she had been offered the part, there still wasn't a script but the director had some advice for the budding actress which she was more than happy to take.
Taking a different path: The model turned actress played her first major role last year in the movie Paper Towns, based on the book written by John Green
'David asked me to go and try and find a forest and, if it was a full moon, get naked and walk through the woods with my feet in the mud, which I did. There wasn't a full moon, but I howled like a wolf. It would have been really funny if someone had seen me,' Cara said.
It's no surprise that Cara is an adventuress and it seems she's always up for anything: 'I like anything intense,' the actress said.
There is one aspect about her worldwide fame that she'd like to change though: 'More is known about my life than the lives of the characters I play. My plan is to reverse that.'
Cara will appear alongside a mega-talented cast for the upcoming Suicide Squad, which includes Margot Robbie, Will Smith, Ben Affleck, Jared Leto, Jai Courtney and Scott Eastwood.
Natural explorer: Cara is an adventuress and it seems she's always up for anything: 'I like anything intense,' the actress said
All star cast: Cara will appear alongside a mega-talented cast for the upcoming Suicide Squad, which includes Margot Robbie, Will Smith, Ben Affleck, Jared Leto, Jai Courtney and Scott Eastwood
Coming soon: Suicide Squad will be out in theaters August 5. Cara's character is third from the right
She is not only a reality star but also a savvy businesswoman.
And Megan McKenna was dressed for success as she slipped into a stylish sleeveless trench as she headed to various business meetings and a press day in London on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old TOWIE starlet looked simply sensational in her elegant garb, which defied the typical uniform of her co-stars - usually comprising on skin-tight and revealing ensembles.
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Glam: Megan McKenna was dressed for success as she slipped into a stylish sleeveless trench as she headed to various business meetings and a press day in London on Wednesday
Megan, who joined the ITVBe show last month, oozed elegance and sophistication in the stylish look which covered most of her elegant frame.
Despite looking like a conventional trench coat upon first glance, to help show off a hint of flesh the garment featured no sleeves, while the tie-waist helped emphasise her slender waist.
As she strutted her stuff along the street, her trench came open slightly and exposed a hint of her long slender legs which extended from a black dress underneath.
Chic: The 23-year-old TOWIE starlet looked simply sensational in her elegant garb, which defied the typical uniform of her co-stars - usually comprising on skin-tight and revealing ensembles
She boosted her already statuesque height with the addition of a pair of envy-inducing nude Christian Louboutin pumps with a staggeringly high platform and heel.
Adding a further designer touch to the ensemble, was Megan's flap Yves Saint Laurent handbag which boasted linear quilting glamorous gold embellishments.
Her brunette tresses were worn in flowing bouncy waves and no doubt helped along with the addition of voluminous and length boosting extensions.
Sensational: Megan, who joined the ITVBe show last month, oozed elegance and sophistication in the stylish look which covered most of her elegant frame
Megan's make-up was flawless, if heavy-handed, as she showed off her glimmering tan as a result of her recent jaunts to Dubai and Miami.
On Tuesday, Megan was clearly still feeling nostalgic about her recent holiday as she shared a very seductive and flattering throwback snap that was perhaps originally meant for her boyfriend's eyes only.
The TOWIE star and girlfriend of Pete Wicks, 23, oozed sex appeal in the saucy shot, posted on her Instagram page, much to the delight of her 1.1m followers.
She's one of Australia's most successful exports and Jessica Hart was looking every inch the international supermodel on Monday.
And as the temperatures soared in France, the 30-year-old brought even more heat to the French Riviera, showing off her pert derriere and model physique in tiny black shorts.
The Vogue cover girl enjoyed soaking up some rays while on a speedboat to the exclusive Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, which draws celebrities from near and far to the picturesque location.
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Nautical stripes: Jessica Hart showed off her model physique in a pair of tiny black shorts teamed with a striped button-up shirt and a black fedora hat on Monday in France
Jessica wore her blonde tresses out and straight, and shunned make-up for a more natural appearance as she maneuvered her way out of the boat.
The former Victoria's Secret model teamed her outfit with a striped button-up shirt and fedora hat and was seen juggling a white gift bag and a bright red cloak protector.
She accessorised her off duty ensemble with a silver clutch bracelet and a black handbag slung across her chest.
Flaunting it: The 30-year-old showed off her pert derriere in the itty-bitty shorts
Juggling act: The former Victoria's Secret model appeared to place her shoes in the gift bag as she arrived at her destination
Sun smart: The Sydnesider protected her face from the bright light with a black fedora hat with feather detailing
Getting prepared: The catwalk strutter made sure to have her clothes and footwear ready when she exited the boat
Earlier that day, the Sydneysider showed off glimpses of what appeared to be a diamond ring worn on her left hand as she exited Nice Airport.
She has been dating Greek shipping heir Stavros Niarchos III for almost six years and the pair currently live together in New York's trendy East Village.
They have been non-stop by each others side and are often seeing enjoying romantic getaways around the Mediterranean.
The couple met in 2010 and since then their romance has gone from strength-to-strength.
Minimal look: She accessorised her off duty ensemble with a silver clutch bracelet and a black handbag slung across her chest
She's got muscles: Jessica carried the heavy coat back up to the swanky hotel
Genetically blessed couple: She has been dating Greek shipping heir Stavros Niarchos III for almost six years and the pair currently live together in New York's trendy East Village
Meanwhile, Jessica celebrated her 30th birthday in the Bahamas surrounded by her family and friends in March.
Her model sister, Ashley Hart, took to her Instagram to wish her a happy birthday, saying: My beautiful sister - I couldn't be happier celebrating your 30 years on earth.
'You are such a huge part of me, Iv never lived a day without you as my sister and could never imagine life otherwise [sic].
Happy birthday: Jessica celebrated her 30th in the Bahamas surrounded by her family and friends in March
'You bring a richness to my life that plays out as inexplicable joy, pride and deep gratitude.
'I've always had you to look up to and inspire to grow into, I admire all of that which you do and who you are.
'Especially Now at 30, what a woman, your success in work, health and heart is at its peek and all held with such grace,' she went on, adding: 'I am so proud of you [sic].'
In the post, Ashley then thanked her sister for supporting her throughout her own life and career.
She also took the opportunity to describe the unbreakable bond the sisters share, while calling her big sister her main inspiration in life.
Her glamorous red carpet looks have commanded all eyes during the 69th International Cannes Film Festival.
But it seems Petra Nemcova's turn in the star-studded city is a mix of business as well as pleasure as the Czech supermodel took part in a racy photoshoot on the beaches of the lavish location on Wednesday.
The 36-year-old catwalk pin-up was bound to turn heads as she posed in a sultry retro bikini that oozed old sex appeal.
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Sizzling! Her glamorous red carpet looks have commanded all eyes during the 69th International Cannes Film Festival. But it seems Petra Nemcova's turn in the star-studded city isn't all pleasure as the Czech supermodel took part in a racy photoshoot on the beaches of the lavish location on Wednesday
The 50s inspired two-piece comprised of a black bikini that was emblazoned with an array of white polka dots.
The balcony bra was the perfect shape to enhance Petra's already ample assets, while the high-waisted briefs ensured the look was still classy.
While her bikini bottoms began at the navel, they still allowed for enough of a glimpse of the superomodel's incredibly taut abs as she larked around on the sand.
Beach babe: The 36-year-old catwalk pin-up was bound to turn heads as she posed in a sultry retro bikini that oozed old sex appeal
Sultry: The 50s inspired two-piece comprised of a black bikini that was emblazoned with an array of white polka dots
Perfect fit: The balcony bra was the perfect shape to enhance Petra's already ample assets, while the high-waisted briefs ensured the look was still classy
Cheeky! While her bikini bottoms began at the navel, they still allowed for enough of a glimpse of the superomodel's incredibly taut abs as she larked around on the sand
Having a blast: The model confidently skipped along the wet sand during the sexy shoot
Finishing touches: Giving the look a high-fashion finish, the TV host opted for a glamorous statement necklace and a matching chainmail cuff
Giving the look a high-fashion finish, the TV host opted for a glamorous statement necklace and a matching chainmail cuff.
Her blonde locks were tied into retro victory rolls at the crown, before billowing down into sexy tousled curls.
She injected a welcome pop of colour into the look with a striking red lipstick, while her hazel eyes were enhanced with an alluring smokey eyeshadow.
Hair envy! Her blonde locks were tied into retro victory rolls at the crown, before billowing down into sexy tousled curls
Gorgeous: She injected a welcome pop of colour into the look with a striking red lipstick, while her hazel eyes were enhanced with an alluring smokey eyeshadow
A little help: Petra seen used a series of props to illustrate the shoot, including a ship's wheel and a deckchair
Work it! Showcasing her modelling prowess, Petra worked her angles and held her body in an array of flattering stances
Splish splash! Despite shooting in the sweltering heat, Petra maintained her playful demeanor as she splashed around in the ocean
Leading the glamour... The beauty has been taking the red carpets of Cannes by storm
Sight for sore eyes! The model emphasised her ample chest as she readjusted her bikini top
Showcasing her modelling prowess, Petra worked her angles and held her body in an array of flattering stances.
She also seen using a series of props to illustrate the shoot, including a ship's wheel and a deckchair.
Despite shooting in the sweltering heat, Petra maintained her playful demeanor as she splashed around in the ocean and occasionally stuck her tongue out at members of the crew.
Delightful: The model certainly wasn't afraid to strike a pose as she stunned on the golden shores
Drinks o'clock: The model provocatively reclined in the chair and sipped on a cocktail
Picture perfect: The look epitomised that of old Hollywood glamour
Playful: Petra even occasionally stuck her tongue out at members of the crew
Strike a pose: The siren seductively lowered her sunglasses for one snap
She was enrolled in acting lessons by her mother while working as a paper girl in Sydney before finally obtaining her first role in the 1986 drama film, For Love Alone.
But before landing her big break in 1991 in Flirting, starring opposite future Hollywood upcoming stars, Nicole Kidman and Thandie Newton, Naomi Watts struggled to become an actress.
Now the 47-year-old mother of two says that she is on a winning streak and is landing better movie role the older she gets, telling OK! magazine: 'I dont want to curse myself by saying this, but Im going to, I guess things are pretty OK for me.'
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On a roll: Naomi Watts says she is on a winning streak and is landing better movie role the older she gets and now she is in her forties
She went on: 'I strongly believe the roles over 40 are far more in-depth, far more developed. Theres experience, theres kids and younger women in their 20s thats not a lot of life under their belt.'
The Diana star who has twice been nominated for an Oscar, believes her experiences as a mother and the wisdom of age has given her the gravitas to score more complex roles.
Today she is the reigning queen of troubled, anguished or imperilled characters and her performance as Cristina Peck, bereft at the loss of her husband and children, in 21 Grams in 2003, was so compelling it earned her an Oscar nomination for best actress.
Talented: Today she is the reigning queen of troubled, anguished or imperilled characters. Pictured at the Vanity Fair Party at Tetou Restaurant in Cannes in May
She was nominated for Best Actress for her role in The Impossible and more recently her movie Birdman won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography.
The same month the blonde star graciously collected her accolade for Best Global Actress in Motion Pictures by Chinas 15th Huading Awards in Macau.
The Hollywood star dates director Liev Schreiber with whom she has two sons, Alexander Peter (known as Sasha), seven, and Samuel Kai, five.
If her show-stopping dress wasn't enough, Helen Mirren held the press on Wednesday night as she paused on her ascent to tie up a shoelace on the red carpet.
The 70-year-old sailed through a red carpet no-no as she sat at the top of the steps of the Palais des Festivals in her exquisite navy blue dress to help out a male counterpart.
Acclaimed actress Helen was attending The Unknown Girl premiere at Cannes Film Festival, when she picked herself back up again, with her dignity in tact.
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Oops moment: Helen Mirren made herself useful on Wednesday night as she sat at the steps of the Palais des Festivals to The Unknown Girl premiere to tie a friend's shoelace
Cutting a classy figure, the veteran TV and stage performer commanded attention as she arrived for the event in a navy blue dress.
Even though it skimmed the red carpet, almost touching it with a scalloped lace hem, Helen managed to avoid it with her foot when she got back up again, gracefully.
Evidently feeling confident in her latest look, she could be seen spinning around on the rouge stretch of carpet, lined with cameras and leading up to the theatre hall.
Looking good: Helen commanded attention with a twirl as she arrived looking glamorous in the lace frock that night
Making a recovery: A sharp-suited gent waited as she went to help him out with a shoelace
Finding her feet: Even though the lovely dress skimmed the red carpet, nearly touching with a scalloped lace hem, Helen managed to dodge it when she got back up
On fine fashion form: Cutting a classy figure, the veteran TV and stage performer opted for a classic dress that she wanted to show off on the red carpet
Class act: The acclaimed star, 70, wowed onlookers as she attended The Unknown Girl premiere at the Palais des Festivals
Sweeping her hair back into a wet-look quiff, she clearly fancied a deviation from her usual style.
The French-language film she was there to see - directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne - is billed as a classy thriller.
It tells the tale of a doctor who attempts to uncover the identity of a patient who died after she refused her treatment.
The film stars Adele Haenel, Jeremie Renier and Olivier Gourmet.
Sharp: Sweeping her hair back into a wet-look quiff, she clearly fancied a deviation from her usual style
Attention! Adding some extra glamour to the wardrobe choice, the number also boasted a top layer of lace which provided additional texture
Look at me: Evidently feeling confident in her latest look, she could be seen spinning around on the red carpet for maximum attention
Mix and match! Evidently feeling confident in her latest look, she could be seen spinning around on the red carpet for maximum attention
She's not shy! The 70 year-old star sported one of her best-ever looks on Wednesday evening
Classic style: The dress was simple in design and shape, but was sexed-up with a lace layer on top
Wow-factor: Helen certainly gave her younger competitors a run for their money on the red carpet
Not that this is Helen's only recent showbiz appearance, of course.
Breaking off from filming, the busy star found time to take a lead role at the Queen's 90th birthday concert in London on Sunday.
Dame Helen dazzled in a teal sequin gown as she joined stars including Ant and Dec, Shirley Bassey, Gary Barlow, Kylie Minogue and Katherine Jenkins at Windsor Castle for the extravaganza.
Ahead of the concert, the actress paid a glowing tribute to the Queen and - speaking to ITV News - said the monarch has been 'consistent, dedicated and hard working' throughout her reign and has a way of making 'every single person feel special'.
Helen poses on the red carpet as she arrives for the screening of the film La fille inconnue (The Unknown Girl)
Mwah! Loving the attention, Helen gave onlookers a kiss as she lapped up the limelight
Spinning around: Keen to make an entrance, Helen indulged in some attention-grabbing behaviour
Showing out: Helen put on quite a display for the crowds as she arrived at the bash in Cannes
Loving the attention: Helen flirts with the cameras as she laps-up another photo opportunity
Strike a pose: Helen oozed class and poise as she made her entrance at the latest A-list event
They played husband and wife on HBO smash hit Game of Thrones - that is until character Khal Drogo was killed off at the end of season one.
But five seasons later Jason Momoa still has love for former co-star Emilia Clarke, sharing a hilariously adorable Instagram post following her character's fiery scene in the most recent episode.
'Don't f**k with my boo,' the 36-year-old wrote, along with a grab from the scene, in which Daenerys (Emilia) sets a room full of her captors ablaze.
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He's got her back! Despite being killed off the show back in season one, Jason Momoa is still a vocal supporter of it, especially for his former onscreen wife Emilia Clarke, for whom he posted a hilariously sweet Instagram following her dramatic scene in this past week's episode (pictured in London in March)
Fierce: Daenerys (Emilia) showed off her powers as she survived the flames, killing her enemies and captors, in the last episode of HBO smash hit Game of Thrones
His message also read: 'Hahahahahahahahahahahhhahaha. I love GOT... Hahahahahahahahah @emilia_clarke love u Moon of my life ALOHA DROGO.'
The support comes after Emilia's character used powers she had shown at the end of season one to remain unscathed as fire took the lives of men threatening her - the leaders of the Dothraki, who had been meeting in the temple of the Dosh Khaleen.
As 'the unburnt' Khaleesi is immune to fire with her blood magic, she simply burnt down the temple, eradicating her enemies so she could take the throne.
Claiming the throne: Men from the Dothraki tribe (who had captured Daenerys) were deciding on her fate in a temple, when she entered only to knock over a series of pyres, setting the whole place aflame
And that's a position she had previously had as the wife of the Khal (the group's leader), who was played by Jason, before his character passed away at the end of season one.
However, Jason - who is married in real life to Lisa Bonet - has remained supportive of Emilia and her character, frequently taking to social media to cheer her on following big moments on the show.
Three weeks ago as the character was seen standing her ground against her captors, he shared a screen grab on Instagram, gushing: 'My baby holding it down @emilia_clarke #danyanddrogo Greatest show in the world. So happy for all my friends. Miss u see u soon.'
Proud: Jason, who often posts hilarious Instagrams sharing his support of Emilia/Daenerys, couldn't hide his excitement after her bold and powerful move in this past week's episode
Power couple: The beloved Game of Thrones couple were leaders of the Dothraki throughout season one, before Khal Drogo (Jason) met his untimely end
He followed that quickly with another - in which she said 'And I will bear no children for you or anyone else' - applauding her, writing: 'That's right baby you tell him . Dan and david. See u n Ireland ALOHA DROGO.'
And the duo had tugged on everyone's heartstrings back in October as they reunited in Paris during Fashion Week.
They both took to their respective Instagram accounts to share heartwarming photos cuddling together, as Jason joked about how he never should have trusted Emilia - whose character Daenerys mercy killed a vegetative Khal Drogo (Jason) back in Game of Thrones' first season.
Still close: The two still keep in touch, however, tugging at the heartstrings of fans this past October as they shared cuddly pictures together after meeting up during Paris Fashion Week
'Really sorry I trusted u Thanks for killing me. I'd do it again though. That look my khalessi @emilia_clarke ps. I f**king pillow. #hahahahahaha #ohwell #comingbackasaf**kingdragon.'
Recently Jason has been working on his role as Aquaman in Zack Snyder's upcoming The Justice League Part One, due out in 2017, to be followed the next year by a standalone film for Aquaman.
For fans still in mourning for The Good Wife, things are looking up.
A new spinoff show has been confirmed by CBS President and CEO Leslie Moonves.
The as yet untitled new project will follow lead characters Christine Baranski, 64,and Cush Jumbo, 30, who play Diane Lockhart and Lucca Quinn, respectively.
The original series - starring Julianna Marguiles - ended in May, following a seven season run.
'The rumours are true!': While speaking at the CBS Upfronts, President and CEO Leslie Moonves confirmed on Wednesday that it's hit show, The Good Wife, will receive a spinoff
'The rumors are true,' said Leslie, according to E! News.
Fans will be able to screen the drama on-the-go, as the new show will air on the network's streaming service, CBS All Access.
The Good Wife's creators Robert and Michelle King will not be the showrunners but, according to The Hollywood Reporter, will author it's first episode.
Head of the class: The untitled project will follow lead characters Christine Baranski, 64, and Cush Jumbo, 30, who play Diane Lockhart and Lucca Quinn, respectively. They are pictured on April 28 in New York
Meant to happen: The news outlet reported that the series' finale left room for a potential spinoff, with open-ended story-lines
The Good Wife's series' finale left room for a potential spinoff, with open-ended story-lines.
The popular show followed Alicia Florrick (Julianna Marguilies), a woman who begins to work as a litigator after her state's attorney husband Peter Florrick (Chris Noth) is thrown in prison following scandal.
In the show's first ever episode, Alicia slapped her husband.
In the series' finale, her law partner Christine Baranski (Diane Lockhart) did the same to Alicia, after she unintentionally betrayed her.
To be continued... As for the spinoff, it could potentially answer open-ended questions that stemmed from the show's seven season finish
As for the spinoff, it could potentially answer open-ended questions that stemmed from the show's seven season finish.
Christine's character Diane appears to be having marriage problems with her husband.
Since she, along with co-star Cush, will be the center of the streaming spinoff, it's most likely a guarantee that those questions will be answered when the new show debuts.
An official launch date has yet to be announced.
She's never far from a party.
And as the celeb world decamps to Cannes for the 2016 Film Festival, KImberley Garner is in town along with her glam wardrobe.
The former Made In Chelsea star dressed to the nines on Wednesday night, turning heads in a slinky red dress as she headed to the Cinemoi Awards Gala.
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Ready to party: As the celeb world decamps to Cannes for the 2016 Film Festival, KImberley Garner is in town along with her glam wardrobe
The 26-year-old designer showed off her incredible figure in the form-fitting gown.
The scarlet number clung to her toned curves, with the plunging neckline showcasing her braless assets.
Kimberley highlighted her tiny waist with a gold detail belt, while she accessorised with studded sandals.
Check out the dress! The former Made In Chelsea star dressed to the nines on Wednesday night, turning heads in a slinky red dress as she headed to the Cinemoi Awards Gala
Working it: The blonde beauty treated the streets of Cannes as her personal catwalk
The blonde tied her locks back into an effortlessly chic 'do and kept her makeup simple to highlight her flawless complexion.
The ex reality star was spotted strutting to the Plage Royale for the charity gala, turning heads as she walked through the Cannes streets in her glam gown.
She seemed to enjoy a little detour before stopping at the gala though, which benefits the Children Uniting Nations charity with a fashion show.
Fiery: The scarlet number clung to her toned curves, with the plunging neckline showcasing her braless assets
Where's the party at? Kimberley and her equally glam pal were on the hunt for the night's best events
Daring: The tanned star showed off her assets by going braless under her low cut gown
The fun-loving star shared Instagram snaps as she headed to the beach with her pals while dressed in her designer gown.
'Meant to be at the party but playing on the beach #cannesfilmfestival #cinemoi #gala,' she captioned one snap which showed her frolicking on the sand before adding another which read:
'In an evening gown but Still causing mischief #cannesfilmfestival #beach #cinemoi #fashionforpeace #balmain.'
Curve appeal: Kimberley's slinky dress showed off her sensational figure
Finishing touches: The ex MIC star slicked back her blonde locks into a simply but chic 'do
Turning heads: Kimberley certainly got attention as she strutted to the party in her glam gown
Detour! The fun-loving star shared Instagram snaps as she headed to the beach with her pals while dressed in her designer gown
Soaking up some rays: 'In an evening gown but Still causing mischief' she captioned one snap
Kimberley recently revealed that she rejected the chance to return to Made in Chelsea and claimed that she felt like a 'caged animal' while on the hit E4 reality series.
'I did get called in and they did speak to me about coming back. I sometimes joke with my boyfriend, and after a few minutes we're like, "Absolutely not,"' she told OK!
'I looked at that holiday and thought, oh my goodness, I so want to be in the Maldives right now. I felt a little bit jealous.
'[But] I've done those trips before and they are not very fun. It's beautiful, but you feel like you're a caged animal. There is so much drama that it's like being on a bad holiday.'
The place to be: Kimberley and her pals are never far from a party
They made it! The girls eventually found their way to the Plage Royale, the venue for the Cinemoi Awards Gala
She welcomed her son Henry in August last year after two unsuccessful IVF treatments.
And 46-year-old actress Emily Symons is looking in good spirits as she films Home and Away in Palm Beach, Sydney on Tuesday.
Cutting a glamorous figure in a colourful kaftan, the blonde beauty was all smiles as she delivered sandwiches on set as part of filming for the long-running soap.
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Hungry, anyone? Emily Symons delivered sandwiches on set as she filmed scenes for Home and Away in Palm Beach on Tuesday
The actress - who plays Marilyn Chambers on the show - looked radiant in the loose-fitting garment with beaded embellishments throughout.
She made sure her accessories matched her eye-catching top, sporting a pair of red chandelier earrings and a red plastic bangle, along with some chunky silver rings.
She teamed the bold top with a pair of casual three quarter black leggings and opted for comfort in a pair of pink flip flops.
Delicious! The 46-year-old actress appeared in good spirits as she glammed up to play her character Marilyn Chambers
Colourful: Emily flaunted her enviable figure on set following the birth of her son Henry just nine months ago
The Sydney-born actress carried a black bag with gold trim under her arm, swapping it for an oversized pink clutch later on.
The mother of one appeared bubbly and friendly as she sauntered around the beachside set.
Her blonde locks have been styled into a voluptuous bob, while her makeup has been professionally applied to enhance her natural features.
Friendly on set: The vivacious star had her blonde locks styled into a voluptuous bob as she filmed the scenes
Under cover: Emily was shielded by crew members' umbrellas as she acted out her part
Before returning to work in February, Emily delivered her son, Henry, two weeks early via caesarean at Sydneys Mater hospital on August 3, weighing 2.6kg.
The actress has been open about her battle to have children and admitted her marriage to second husband Lorenzo Smith broke down in 2005 following two unsuccessful IVF attempts.
Meanwhile, Emily's return to Home and Away marks her fifth stint on the show, having been first introduced as fan favourite Marilyn back in 1989.
Fan favourite: Emily has returned to Home and Away several times, having first been introduced as fan favourite Marilyn back in 1989
She played the waitress for three years before quitting the show in 1992 to marry drummer Nick Lipscombe, whom she met in London.
But after the marriage ended three years later, Emily returned to Australia and re-joined the soap in 1995, and stayed until 1999.
With the exception of a guest role in 2001, she spent most of the 2000s in England playing pub landlady Louise Appleton in Emmerdale.
But the star reprised her role as Marilyn in 2010 and has been a regular on-screen character since.
She's spent the past few days corresponding on the celebrity action during the Cannes Film Festival for This Morning.
But it was all about Ferne McCann when she touched back down in the UK as the beauty hosted the launch party of her new autobiography, Cross My Heart, at Ginger Martini in Gilgamesh on Wednesday evening.
The 25-year-old presenter made sure she was literally the star of the show as she lead proceedings in a quirky white jumpsuit adorned with... stars.
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Star of the show! Ferne McCann went all out to host the launch party of her new autobiography, Cross My Heart, at London's Shaka Zulu nightclub on Wednesday evening
The jazzy number was adorned with sequins and boasted exaggerated flared bottoms that conceded at the calves, though the billowing nature of the lower-half of the garment may not have been the best choice to complement Ferne's gym-honed figure.
The design still had a sexy spin however, with its plunging neckline that teased more than just a glimpse of cleavage as she mingled with guests including Danielle Armstrong, Billie Faiers, Lydia Bright and Georgia Kousoulou.
Ferne paired the monochromatic number with barely-there stilettos and added a statement choker necklace for some added pizzazz.
Standing out from the crowd: The 25-year-old presenter made sure she was literally the star of the show as she lead proceedings in a quirky white jumpsuit adorned with... stars
Flare for fashion: The jazzy number was adorned with sequins and boasted exaggerated flared bottoms that conceded at the calves
She instilled a welcome pop of colour into the look with a fuchsia lipstick and allowed her pristine make-up look to do all of the talking as she tied her locks away from her face and into a softly tousled low ponytail.
Ferne's new autobiography will see the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! star lift the lid on love and heartbreak, as well as the ups and downs behind the scenes of The Only Way Is Essex.
And her former co-stars were of course there to support the beauty in typically glamorous fashion.
Taking the plunge! The design still had a sexy spin with its plunging neckline that teased more than just a glimpse of cleavage as she mingled with guests including Danielle Armstrong, Billie Faiers and Lydia Bright
Sophisticated: Lydia dazzled in a white frock that was bedecked with intricate embroidery and a pretty lace hem
Candid: Ferne's new autobiography will see the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! star lift the lid on love and heartbreak, as well as the ups and downs behind the scenes of The Only Way Is Essex
Chic: Billie kept it all about the tailoring in a simple, sleeveless white blouse with a low-cut neckline and form-fitting khaki trousers
Denim dream: Jessica Wright teamed a bardot top with matching skinny jeans while she also sported metallic high heels
All dolled up: The reality star opted for a full coverage foundation, fluttering fake lashes, pink lipstick and a sleek straight bob
But Ferne wasn't the only Essex beauty to pull out all of the stops for the evening as Lydia dazzled in a white frock that was bedecked with intricate embroidery and a pretty lace hem.
Georgia went for a more edgy style in a black T-shirt dress by street wear brand Nicce, with the girlfriend of Tommy Mallet pairing the thigh-grazing look with lace-up stilettos.
Billie kept it all about the tailoring in a simple, sleeveless white blouse with a low-cut neckline and form-fitting khaki trousers.
Spin it! Phoebe Torrance (L) and Darci Egan (R) (Liam Gallagher's DJ) provided the sounds for the evening
Fashionista: Georgia went for a more edgy style in a black T-shirt dress by street wear brand Nicce, with the girlfriend of Tommy Mallet pairing the thigh-grazing look with lace-up stilettos
Posing up a storm: The former ITVBe regular was on top form as she joked around with guests
Sealed with a kiss: Ferne blew kisses as she sipped on a cocktail during the bash
Party pals: Ferne posed with blogger Carl Cunard... and a pineapple
Danielle went for perhaps the most casual ensemble of the lot in a grey jersey skirt with a mullet hem and a black crop top.
She toughened up the look by draping a leather jacket coolly over her shoulders as she celebrated her friend's achievement.
Cross My Heart is available to purchase on May 19.
Mixing it up: Danielle went for perhaps the most casual ensemble of the lot in a grey jersey skirt with a mullet hem and a black crop top
Good pals: Ferne and Vas J Morgan proved they have put their tumultuous past behind them as they partied together
Not long now! Cross My Heart is available to purchase on May 19
TOWIE's out in force: Ferne's former co-stars showed their support for their close friend
Here come the girls! The blonde beauties were dressed to impress on their night out
The last 12 months for Jessica Marais have not been without its ups and downs, having split from her fiance James Stewart after five years.
But the Australian actress has had a lot to smile about in recent times, having won a Silver Logie for her role on Love Child as well as landing a new job in the star-studded drama The Wrong Girl.
Understandably, the 31-year-old is loving life and she spoke to OK! magazine about her new-found happiness in an article published on Thursday.
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'I'm having a blast!' Jessica Marais has found happiness with her new role in The Wrong Girl
'I love going to work every day,' she said.
'It's a completely different thing to Love Child and I'm just having a blast working with such a great cast and crew.'
Not only is work going well for the former Packed To The Rafters star, but she is said to have 'undeniable chemistry' with her Wrong Girl co-star Ian Meadows.
Why shouldn't she be smiling? Earlier this month, the 31-year-old won the Silver Logie for her role in Love Child
Sources have told New Idea that: 'Jess and Ian have great chemistry. They're constantly huddled together, whispering and giggling when the cameras stop rolling.'
Meanwhile her ex, with whom she shares her daughter Scout, four, has been seen getting cosy with a new woman, Jessica Nock.
Her mindset however is focused on her latest project, which is an adaptation of Zoe Foster's best-selling novel.
It's back! Love Child was renewed for a third season
'It's a very different vibe': The actress said she's enjoying filming Melbourne for The Wrong Girl in contrast to Sydney for Love Child
She added to OK! that she's loving filming in Melbourne, with filming for Love Child taking place in Sydney.
'Melbourne as a city has a very different vibe and we're trying to capture that as sort of a third character in the show. The city as a backdrop has a starring role,' she said.
Jessica and James ended their romance last May, after meeting on set of Packed To The Rafters, making their first public appearance as a couple at the Logies nomination breakfast in March 2010.
As the brains behind the fabulously successful Kardashian clan, Kris Jenner is never without her trusty cell phone.
So the momager's distress was obvious when she momentarily thought she had misplaced the essential equipment while in Cannes on Wednesday.
Rooting manically, and ultimately unsuccessfully through her purse at the airport, Kris' anxiety was obvious as she faced the prospect of leaving France without it.
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'I have it!' Kim Kardashian joked with fans as her frantic mother Kris Jenner searches for her cell phone... as the pair jetted back from Cannes on Wednesday
Pranker: Kim Kardashian used Snapchat to joke with fans about the loss, having hidden the phone away
Watching her was daughter Kim Kardashian - who used Snapchat to joke with fans about the loss, having hidden the phone away.
'My mom left her phone in the car, and once she realises she's gonna flip out,' whispered the 35-year-old. 'But I secretly have it.'
Sharing a minute by minute updates of her flustered mother, Kim seemed delighted with her trick.
Over it: By the time the mother-duo arrived home in Los Angeles they were friends again
Not amused: Kris used her phone to oversee the Kardashian-Jenner world
Phew! Kris was delighted to be reunited with her equipment
Looping fans in: Kardashian revealed to her followers that she had her mother's phone
'She's looking for it,' she told fans. 'She's still looking. Do I tell her? Or no?'
The next Snapchat showed Kim breaking the news that all was not lost, telling her mother the phone was in her 'Bag the whole time, relax.'
The pair seemed to have recovered from the prank by the time they touched down in Los Angeles.
Mother-of-two Kim was in the same all-white outfit in which she left Cannes, although it looked rather crumpled after the long transatlantic flight.
She and Kris had been staying at the exclusive Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, and mingled with the stars there at the star-studded De Grisogono party on the French Riviera on Tuesday night.
'She's still looking...do I tell her, or no?' Kim weighed her options as her mother continued to hunt for her device
There it is! The reality star showed off the 'missing' phone to her fans
It's back:The next Snapchat showed Kim breaking the news that all was not lost, telling her mother the phone was in her 'Bag the whole time, relax'
'When @khloekardashian catches you off guard...': Kourtney Kardashian shared a video taken by her sister Khloe as she boarded their jet
Making her entrance: Khloe greeted playfully greeted all the passengers aboard the plane
Comfortable traveler: Kourtney donned a sweatshirt as she relaxed in her chair
Not only is technology changing the way we live and work, it is also set to have a radical effect on the way we learn.
Students learning about Mars will be able to be transported there and shown around by Buzz Aldrin using Microsoft's HoloLens headset, while learning about the seven wonders of the world will be made easier by donning a VR headset to travel there - using technology that's available today.
With the latest research showing just half of America's 30 million students in higher education are expected to graduate, experts hope the technology could make learning easier - and leave students better prepared for the radical changes technology will bring.
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Microsoft has been working with Nasa on its HoloLens augmented reality system, which is essentially a holographic computer built into a headset (pictured)
One expert even says that as robotics technology advances, education itself will change radically.
'Most education will be delivered via virtual and augmented reality and the internet,' said Ben Way, author of Jobocalypse.
'Fundamentally I don't believe in 30 years we will have traditional universities or schools - they will be replaced by learning environments which are spaces for learning for all people.'
HOW GOOGLE'S EXPEDITION PROJECT WILL WORK Google supplies schools with a large box containing dozens of the cardboard headsets and the phones required to use them. From a tablet, teachers can control what each pupil sees, taking them on guided tours. The firm is partnering with museums and space experts to create field trips for the system. The Planetary Society, the Chateau de Versailles, the Smithsonian and the American Museum of Natural History are on board, it says. One of Google's demonstrations allows pupils to see an underwater scene with sharks, and another to see the Great Wall of China.
One of the most impressive uses of virtual reality technology, and one already in use in a basic form, is Google's Expedition project.
The firm has developed a low-cost system to turn smartphones into $30 virtual reality headsets - and has given them to hundreds of schools around the world.
As more advanced VR systems such as Facebook's Oculus Rift become available, the experiences are expected to become far more realistic - but for many students, even the cardboard headsets are enough to transport them anywhere in the world.
Teachers can control the VR experience, so all the pupils see the same thing, and Google is working with museums and space experts to create the virtual field trips.
'Field trips are a great way for teachers to engage students and give them a first-hand understanding of a subject but they're not always practical or even possible,' Google says.
'Expeditions allows teachers to make their curriculum come alive by taking their students on field trips to almost anywhere they can imagine.
Google supplies schools with a box containing dozens of the cardboard headsets and phones to use them
'Around the globe, on the surface of Mars, on a dive to coral reefs or back in time abstract concepts come to life in Expeditions, giving students a deeper understanding of the world beyond the classroom.'
One of Google's demonstrations allows pupils to see an underwater scene with sharks, and another to see the Great Wall of China.
Not to be outdone, Microsoft has been working with Nasa on its HoloLens augmented reality system, which is essentially a holographic computer built into a headset.
It has semitransparent holographic lenses which 'generate multi-dimensional full-color holograms'.
Wearers can see, hear, and interact with holograms within the environment they're standing in.
Nasa has teamed up with Microsoft to use its HoloLens headset in a new 'mixed reality' exhibition of Mars. Titled Destination: Mars, it will offer the public a tour of the Red Planet with astronaut Buzz Aldrin (pictured)
A 'light engine' above the lenses projects light into the headset, and tiny grooves in each layer of glass then diffract these light particles.
This makes them bounce at different angles to trick your eyes into perceiving virtual objects at various distances.
HOW HOLOLENS WORKS The system is is essentially a holographic computer built into a headset. It has semitransparent holographic lenses which 'generate multi-dimensional full-color holograms'. Wearers can see, hear, and interact with holograms within the environment they're standing in. A 'light engine' above the lenses projects light into the headset, and tiny grooves in each layer of glass then diffract these light particles. This makes them bounce at different angles to trick your eyes into perceiving virtual objects at various distances.
The exhibition, dubbed Destination: Mars, will offer the public a guided tour of an area of the red planet with astronaut Buzz Aldrin.
Guests will 'visit' several sites on Mars, reconstructed using real imagery from Nasa's Curiosity Mars Rover, which has been exploring the Red Planet since August 2012.
Buzz Aldrin, an Apollo 11 astronaut who walked on the moon in 1969, will serve as 'holographic tour guide' on the journey.
Curiosity Mars Rover driver Erisa Hines of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) will also appear holographically, leading participants to places on Mars where scientists have made exciting discoveries and explaining what we have learned about the planet.
'This experience lets the public explore Mars in an entirely new way. To walk through the exact landscape that Curiosity is roving across puts its achievements and discoveries into beautiful context,' said Doug Ellison, visualization producer at JPL.
Destination: Mars is an adaptation of OnSight, a Mars Rover mission operations tool co-developed by Microsoft and JPL.
Guests will 'visit' several sites on Mars, reconstructed using real imagery from Nasa's Curiosity Mars Rover, which has been exploring the Red Planet since August 2012
By using the same technologies and datasets as OnSight, Destination: Mars offers participants a glimpse of Mars as seen by mission scientists.
JPL is also developing mixed reality applications in support of astronauts on the International Space Station and engineers responsible for the design and assembly of spacecraft.
Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly, who recently returned from his historic 'Year in Space' activities, used one of these applications to make the first Skype call from space to mission control in February 2016.
WILL WE LEARN BY DONNING A 'BRAIN CAP'? In The Matrix, Keanu Reeves's character Neo learns Kung Fu in a matter of seconds by uploading the skills into his brain from a computer. But this science fiction may soon become science fact after researchers developed a similar method that uses brain wave patterns of experts to speed up and enhance the training of novices. In a series of experiments, researchers have demonstrated technology that is capable of tweaking a person's brain waves as they learn to improve their performance. Scientists have discovered they can boost the ability of novice pilots to learn how to land aircraft in simulators (pictured) by recording the brain activity of expert pilots as they perform the same task. By using this to stimulate the brains of the novices, they found it was possible to enhance the novice's skills As part of the study, the scientists first recorded the brain activity patterns of six commercial and military pilots as they reacted to training situations in a realistic flight simulator. They then used a technique called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), which sends minute electrical currents into the brain through the scalp, as novices trained on the flight simulator. Over the course of four days, the novices who received the brain stimulation showed greater improvements in their piloting abilities compared to a control. The researchers said the novice pilots saw the consistency of their skills increase by 33 per cent compared to those who received a mock stimulation. The researchers said their system works by measuring what the brain is doing while a person is learning and allowing the stimulation to be tweaked according to the individual. The system uses electrodes embedded into a cap that measures the electrical activity of the brain. Other electrodes produce a low electrical current to stimulate specific areas of the brain involved in learning. 'It's possible that brain stimulation could be implemented for classes like drivers' training, SAT prep, and language learning,' the researchers say.
'By connecting astronauts to experts on the ground, mixed reality could be transformational for scientific and engineering efforts in space,' Norris said.
'As we prepare to send humans to Mars in the 2030s, the public will now be able to preview the experience the astronauts will have as they walk and study the Martian surface,' said Dave Lavery, program executive for Solar System Exploration at Nasa Headquarters in Washington.
The Destination: Mars exhibit will open at Nasa's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida this summer.
CIVITAS LEARNING: A DASHBOARD FOR YOUR DEGREE Civitas Learning helps schools use the data they already have to analyze which students are struggling, when they are most vulnerable, and why they are having difficulties. The company has gone from six institutions to about 76, with some 2.7 million students currently actively enrolled in the schools Civitas is serving. The company aims to help roughly one million more students finish school by 2025, to ensure the United States has the skilled workers and entrepreneurial leaders it needs. Among the schools working with Civitas is Strayer University, which uses the service to assess the impact that each member of faculty has on their students. Strayer instructors get access to a real-time dashboard that compares student engagement and impact on students in relation to their peers. Another of the initiatives rolled out by Civitas is the Degree Map app, which allows students to chart their progress something that is particularly useful for those who are changing majors. CEO and founder of Civitas Learning, Charles Thornburgh, explains how his company is hoping to create a new educational system that is much more aware of student needs and behaviors Mark Milliron, co-founder and Chief Learning Officer with Civitas Learning, explains: 'Using the Degree Map app, they are literally standing on the shoulders of successful students past. In the Elite Daily Disruptive video series, sponsored by Strayer Education, Charles Thornburgh, CEO and founder of Civitas Learning, added that the company is helping to create a 'rising tide of insight'. 'Students can use the app to map out their entire program so that they know every course that they want to take in every single term, and they understand why they are taking them and the sequence they're taking them, so they can maximize the outcomes.' He continues: 'Every student who sees us has the same response: Why hasn't this existed before? 'And part of it is that we've got better tools, we've got a real imperative to help more students learn well. And once they understand that more deeply, they can get a lot smarter and be able to finish what they started.'
'I am human' pleads Uighur prime suspect in Bangkok bombing
A Chinese Uighur accused of planting last year's deadly Bangkok bomb on Tuesday claimed he was being mistreated in custody, shouting "I am human, I am human" as he struggled with guards on his way to a hearing.
Bilal Mohammed, also known as Adem Karadag, and co-defendant Yusufu Mieraili are charged with key roles in the August 2015 bombing of the Erawan shrine in downtown Bangkok that killed 20 people -- mainly ethnic Chinese tourists.
Mohammed, 31, a Chinese citizen from the Uighur ethnic minority, is accused of being the man seen in CCTV footage wearing a yellow T-shirt and placing a backpack at the Erawan shrine moments before the explosion.
Suspects in the Erawan shrine bombing in Bangkok - Bilal Mohammed, also known as Adem Karadag (C), and Yusufu Mieraili (front L) - are escorted by police at a military court in Bangkok in April Lilian Suwanrumpha (AFP)
Prosecutors say he was caught a few days later in a Bangkok flat surrounded by explosives.
Mieraili, 26 and also a Chinese Uighur, is accused of delivering the backpack bomb.
The pair deny the bombing charges, although Mieraili has admitted a charge of illegal entry to the country.
Arriving shackled and shaven-headed at the Bangkok court on Tuesday, a visibly distressed Mohammed shouted his complaints to reporters in his native Uighur and then in English.
The drama continued in the courtroom where a sobbing Mohammed spoke through a Uighur translator to accuse his Thai captors of beating him and denying him halal food.
"I can not eat, I am laughed at when I pray," he added.
Mohammed's lawyer has previously accused the Thai police of forcing confessions from his client. An initial admission of guilt was later retracted.
Police rubbish the torture allegations and say the evidence against the pair is watertight including forensics, CCTV footage and mobile phone data.
They are however still seeking a number of other suspects -- many of whom, including the alleged mastermind, are believed to be overseas.
A convincing motive is yet to be established for an attack that dented Thailand's key tourist industry and spread fear through a politically febrile country that is under military rule.
But speculation of a link to Thailand's deportation of 109 Uighur migrants to China a month before the bombing has refused to die down.
The Uighurs are a mainly Muslim minority who face persecution and restrictions on worship in their northwestern Chinese homeland, forcing many to attempt to flee.
US Senate votes to allow 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia
The US Senate approved legislation that would allow September 11 victims and their relatives to sue Saudi Arabia over its possible role in the 2001 attacks, a bill which could trigger a diplomatic firestorm.
Senators unanimously approved the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act which now heads to the House of Representatives, where Speaker Paul Ryan has voiced reservations.
The White House has repeatedly stated that President Barack Obama, who visited the kingdom in April in a bid to soothe strained ties, opposes the law because it would essentially waive the doctrine of sovereign immunity.
The US Senate approved legislation that would allow 9/11 families to pursue cases in federal court against foreign governments, notably Saudi Arabia POOL (Getty/AFP/File)
"This legislation would change long-standing, international law regarding sovereign immunity. And the president of the United States continues to harbor serious concerns that this legislation would make the United States vulnerable in other court systems around the world," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
He explained that the United States was more engaged internationally "than any other country in the world," particularly in peacekeeping and humanitarian operations.
Undermining immunity, he said, would put Americans working abroad at risk.
The bill would allow 9/11 families to pursue cases in federal court against foreign governments, notably Saudi Arabia, and demand compensation if such governments are proven to bear some responsibility for the attacks.
Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi citizens. But no official Saudi complicity in the Al-Qaeda attacks has been proven, and the kingdom has never been formally implicated.
In February Zacarias Moussaoui, dubbed the 20th hijacker, told US lawyers that members of the Saudi royal family donated millions of dollars to Al-Qaeda in the 1990s.
The Saudi Embassy denied Moussaoui's claims. But his accusations revived debate over whether the Obama administration should release a still-classified 28-page section of the 9/11 Commission Report.
The New York Times reported last month that Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told lawmakers in Washington that the kingdom would be forced to sell up to $750 billion in treasury securities and other assets in the United States to avoid having them frozen by federal courts.
House Speaker Ryan, a Republican, has expressed hesitation about bringing the bill to the floor for a vote.
"I think we need to review it to make sure that, that we're not making mistakes with our allies," he told reporters in April.
Australian minister under fire for 'illiterate' refugees comment
Australia's immigration minister was accused of xenophobia Wednesday after he said increasing the nation's refugee intake would lead to "illiterate and innumerate" people claiming welfare or taking local jobs.
Peter Dutton was responding to proposals by the Labor opposition to boost Australia's annual refugee intake from 13,750 to 27,000 while the Greens want it raised to 50,000 as they outline policies ahead of national elections on July 2.
"For many people they won't be numerate or literate in their own language let alone English and this is a difficulty," Dutton told Sky News late Tuesday.
Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has been accused of xenophobia after he said boosting the humanitarian intake would lead to "illiterate and innumerate" refugees claiming welfare and taking local jobs
"Now, these people would be taking Australian jobs, there's no question about that.
"And for many of them they would be unemployed, they would languish in unemployment queues and on Medicare and the rest of it. So there would be a huge cost and there's no sense in sugarcoating that."
Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen, a former immigration minister, said the country had benefited hugely from the contribution of refugees over the years and criticised Dutton's comments.
"There are hundreds of thousands of refugees in Australia who've worked hard, who've educated themselves and their children and they will be shaking their heads at their minister today, in disgust frankly," he told reporters.
"If Peter Dutton owes anybody an apology it's not the Labor Party, it's them."
Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young went further, accusing Dutton of xenophobia.
"These are vile and nasty (comments) and what it does is it exposes the Liberal Party's current thinking on people who come to our country seeking protection," she said.
"Peter Dutton says people are either going to steal Australian jobs or be waiting in the dole queue. Which one is it? It is nasty and steeped purely in xenophobia."
But Dutton won support from Foreign Minister Julie Bishop who said he was only being realistic about the cost of resettling even more refugees.
"Peter Dutton is pointing out the very real cost involved in issuing humanitarian and refugee visas," she said.
"Often the people who come to Australia on these visas are from very troubled backgrounds -- particularly from Afghanistan but also Pakistan and beyond -- and there is an extremely high cost involved in ensuring they be a contributing member of society.
"Let's have a reality check here."
While Canberra has a hard-line policy on asylum-seekers arriving by boat, sending them to Pacific island camps and refusing to settle them in Australia, it agreed last September to a special intake of an additional 12,000 refugees from the Syria-Iraq conflict.
Director Mendoza holds up mirror to Philippines' dark side
Acclaimed Philippine filmmaker Brillante Mendoza is back at Cannes this year with another gritty take on his homeland, this time exploring drugs, poverty and corruption through shopkeepers trying to make ends meet.
Mendoza, 55, is taking part in the world's top movie festival for the fourth time, having won the best director award in 2009 for another tale of Manila's dark underside.
His latest film, "Ma' Rosa", tells the story of a poor Manila neighbourhood stall holder who sells drugs on the side with her husband to make ends meet.
Acclaimed Philippine filmmaker Brillante Mendoza is taking part in the world's top movie festival for the fourth time, having won the best director award in 2009 for another tale of Manila's dark underside Anne-Christine Poujoulat (AFP/File)
The couple get arrested, leaving their four children to try and buy their parents' freedom from corrupt policemen.
Mendoza was an advertising industry production designer who only began making films in his mid-40s. In the decade since he has made a dozen full-length features.
He is known for choosing controversial topics, crafting stories of ordinary people in scenarios that range from prostitution to homosexuality and corruption.
Known by his nickname Dante, Mendoza set up his own film production outfit in 2005 "that aims to reinvent Filipino cinema by producing meaningful and relevant films".
His 2009 award-winner, "Kinatay" ("The Execution of P"), graphically depicted the rape, murder and dismemberment of a prostitute.
Mendoza refused to distribute the film commercially in the Philippines after Cannes because it ran into trouble with conservative government censors who initially prevented its showing at a Manila university.
"I don't think the majority would appreciate this kind of film," he said at the time. "By their standards, it's too dark, it's not glossy, it doesn't have famous actors, the camera is a bit jerky."
However, his films are highly appreciated in Europe, giving the continent's audiences a glimpse of contemporary Philippine society.
Mendoza's first Cannes entry in 2008, "Serbis" (Service), told the story of a family living in a porn movie theatre.
His "Taklub", a fictionalised account of three survivors of the Super Typhoon Haiyan that devastated the Philippine city of Tacloban and nearby areas in 2013, was also shown at Cannes last year.
"Thy Womb" won an award at the Venice film festival in 2012, while another film, "Tirador" (Slingshot), also won an award at Berlin in 2007.
His Cannes victory earned Mendoza a knighthood from France.
Top China official says Hong Kong autonomy will be preserved
A top Chinese official said Hong Kong can have "peace of mind" that its autonomy will be preserved, but hit out at independence activists during a highly-charged visit that sparked protests Wednesday.
The three-day trip by Zhang Dejiang, who chairs China's communist-controlled legislature, is the first by such a senior official for four years. It comes as concerns grow that freedoms are under threat in semi-autonomous Hong Kong as China tightens its grip.
Zhang's visit was ostensibly for an economic conference Wednesday, but has been widely seen as a conciliatory effort as frustration over lack of political reform has sparked a fledgling independence movement, condemned by authorities in both Hong Kong and mainland China.
Protesters march in the Wan Chai district of Hong Kong on May 18, 2016 calling for universal suffrage and an end to arrests of activists in China as a top Beijing official visits the city Richard A. Brooks (AFP)
At a banquet for legislators Wednesday but boycotted by pro-democracy lawmakers, Zhang said Hong Kong would not be "mainlandised" by China.
"Those saying the central government wants to mainlandise Hong Kong or even turn 'one country, two systems' into 'one country, one system' have no grounds," he said, referring to the city's semi-autonomous system of government.
"'One country, two systems' is in the best interest of the country and Hong Kong. The central government will implement it unwaveringly. Hong Kong society can have a complete peace of mind."
However, Zhang criticised the city's "localism" movement which is calling for more autonomy from the mainland, with some campaigners calling for a complete breakaway.
"There is a minority of people advocating for the independence of Hong Kong and resisting the central government," said Zhang.
"It is not a question of localism, it is an effort to separate the city from China under the name of localism," he added, saying society should "strongly condemn" actions that breach the rule of law.
Before the banquet, Zhang had met lawmakers, including four pro-democracy legislators, after promising to listen to political demands from across society.
The lawmakers said they had expressed their views to Zhang, but said he gave only standard replies.
"The overall atmosphere was very civilised but (there was) nothing unexpected," said Civic Party legislator Alan Leong.
"Zhang seemed to brush aside our observations."
- Protest anger -
Roads around Zhang's hotel and the convention centre where he attended the conference and banquet were cordoned off with huge water-filled barricades, infuriating protesters who were kept out of sight in designated areas.
Around 200 pro-democracy protesters and rival pro-China demonstrators gathered in one of the zones Wednesday evening as Zhang gave his banquet speech.
Beijing supporters waved national flags and played patriotic songs on loudspeakers.
Pro-democracy supporters shouted at them to "go back to China" as well as calling for free elections and an end to one-party rule.
They expressed anger they could not make themselves heard to Zhang.
"Zhang didn't come here to hear the real people's views," veteran activist Lee Cheuk-yan told the crowd, asking him to come to the protest area.
Some also questioned why there was such a massive police presence -- thousands of officers were mobilised to protect Zhang.
On Tuesday police arrested seven members of the pro-democracy League of Social Democrats party for unfurling protest banners on hills and flyovers.
They also wrestled a leading pro-democracy activist to the ground near Zhang's hotel as he tried to breach a barrier.
Human Rights Watch said Wednesday authorities had "sharply limited" the public's opportunities to voice criticism of Zhang's visit.
It added Hong Kong officials should challenge Zhang "to make concrete commitments to respect Hong Kong's autonomy on human rights and democratic rule".
Hong Kong is semi-autonomous after being handed back to China by Britain in 1997 and enjoys freedoms unseen on the mainland, but there are concerns Beijing's interference is growing in a range of areas, from politics to education and the media.
Zhang's is expected to visit a public housing estate Thursday after saying he wanted to understand the lives of Hongkongers before leaving Thursday afternoon.
Hong Kong activist and legislator Leung Kwok-hung (R), popularly known as "Long Hair", holds a placard calling for the release of Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo during a protest in Hong Kong on May 18, 2016 Richard A. Brooks (AFP)
Paper money thrown at Hong Kong police lays scattered across their boots as they form a line to block protesters marching in Hong Kong on May 18, 2016 Richard A. Brooks (AFP)
A policeman walks past pro-China supporters in Hong Kong on May 18, 2016, during the second day of a visit by China's National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee Chairman Zhang Dejiang Dale De La Rey (AFP)
Zhang Dejiang: economics student to Chinese potentate
Top Chinese Communist Zhang Dejiang, currently visiting Hong Kong, studied economics in North Korea and went on to run China's richest and most populous province before ascending to the highest levels of the ruling party.
Now 69, he was born in Liaoning in the northeast and was "sent down" to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution -- which was declared 50 years ago on Monday.
After his studies at Kim Il-Sung University in Pyongyang he became an administrator at Yanbian University in Jilin province, and started to rise up the Communist ranks.
China's National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee Chairman Zhang Dejiang speaks to the media after arriving at Hong Kong's International Airport on May 17, 2016 Isaac Lawrence (AFP)
He now chairs the National People's Congress, China's Communist-controlled legislature, and is consistently named third in official media reports of party activity, putting him in that position in the hierarchy, although actual power can vary.
He is reportedly head of the party's organ overseeing Hong Kong affairs.
Zhang was the top official in Guangdong province, which borders Hong Kong, from 2002 to 2007.
Critics blame him for the cover-up of the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which emerged in Guangdong in late 2002 before spreading to Hong Kong and around the world the following year, killing more than 800 people.
He has also been accused of strangling liberal local media outlets, including the high-profile Southern Weekly newspaper.
Zhang's term saw clashes between Guangdong villagers and police over compensation for land requisitioned by the government.
In 2005, paramilitary forces opened fire on residents protesting against the construction of a large coal-fired power plant in Dongzhou, killing as many as 30 according to locals.
State media reported at the time that protesters attacked police with knives, batons and homemade weapons including explosives.
Guangdong governor Huang Huahua -- Zhang's number two in the provincial Communist party -- later told reporters that disputes were a result of rapid economic development.
"We can say Guangdong's economy is at a golden development period, a peak period for cases to develop, a period for readjustments of interests and a period where a lot of contradictions happen," Huang said.
Rebels, businesses prepare for Pakistan province's great leap forward
Militant commander Hazar Khan gave up his 15-year insurgency in Pakistan's Balochistan last year, and now he hopes for a job with the very government he stood against, as the province prepares for a great leap forward fuelled by Chinese investment.
"We people came because our life has already passed in the mountains and now our children's lives should be better," Khan, who has returned to his old tribal life of farming as he seeks government employment, told AFP.
"Now, nobody from my family is in mountains, all have surrendered along with me."
Balochistan province in Pakistan has been wracked for years by Islamist, sectarian and separatist violence Sarah Titterton (AFP)
The decision, he said, was sweetened by the government's offer to pay him 300,000 rupees ($3,000) under a "General Amnesty Scheme" authorities say has convinced hundreds of insurgents to surrender -- though, Khan added, he has yet to see the money.
Balochistan has been wracked for years by Islamist, sectarian and separatist violence that in the past rendered the province virtually a no-go zone for outsiders. The province is Pakistan's most unstable and underdeveloped province, with the majority of its estimated 8.5 million people living in poverty.
Suppressing the rebellion by force in the desolate province, much of which is desert and mountains, has proven difficult.
But an ambitious bid by Beijing to gain greater access to the Middle East, Africa and Europe through Pakistan has given new impetus to the push for stability.
The $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is set to culminate in the Baloch fishing port of Gwadar.
With its dusty moonscape and shining new port, officials have repeatedly suggested the city is another Dubai in the making.
- Price of security -
Property prices are soaring there and in provincial capital Quetta as Baloch authorities claim they have restored peace to the majority of the province.
Small businesses driven from Quetta by violence over the years are also returning, ready to take advantage of increased security and China's interest.
A decade ago the security situation was "very bad", said Nadir Hussain, owner of a printing and publishing house in Quetta, adding that he had considered leaving like his fellow businessmen.
With increased stability, however, "people have come back and started small businesses, opened small shops... It is improving, slowly," he told AFP.
"We have restored peace in 95 per cent of Balochistan," Akbar Durrani, the provincial home secretary, told AFP.
Some 600 insurgents have surrendered since the government began offering the compensation package last year, he said: 1.5 million rupees to commanders, 1 million rupees to their deputies, and 500,000 rupees to foot soldiers.
The scheme could backfire, however.
"The authorities are not paying the promised compensation of 500,000 rupees," said Nawab Changez Marri, chief of the Marri tribe and provincial irrigation minister.
"They are paying them only 100,000 rupees and then leave them on their own without even ensuring security," he said, adding that in some cases insurgents have killed the families of those who surrendered.
Marri said he had helped persuade many militants to surrender -- but that the failures have seen others who were ready to lay down their arms change their minds.
Security issues have mired CPEC in the past, with separatist rebels -- who oppose Gwadar's development while the province is not independent -- blowing up numerous gas pipelines and trains, and attacking Chinese engineers.
- 'Fate-changer' -
China says it is confident the Pakistani military -- which has been repeatedly accused by international rights groups of abuses in Balochistan -- is in control of the issue.
"I believe the security situation has improved to a great extent," Zhao Lijian, Acting Chinese Ambassador told a conference on CPEC in Gwadar in April, crediting the army.
In the long-term, ensuring stability and the success of CPEC could depend on the government's ability to make sure the Baloch population -- rather than the establishment in Punjab -- benefit, observers say.
Profits will have to be shared with Balochistan -- "otherwise we resist", one senior Baloch leader said on the sidelines of April's conference in Gwadar.
Provincial ministers and military leaders at the conference were bombarded with questions from a lively audience concerned that CPEC gains would bypass them.
"Security issues and political differences are casting doubts about (the corridor's) future," Mir Muhammad Akbar Mengal, senior vice president of the provincial Chamber of Small Traders and Industries, told AFP in Quetta.
"Its success is local people's success," Atta Muhammad Jaffer, a retired senior government official and a livestock trader, said.
Mengal said the Baloch have high hopes for the corridor.
"(Success) only depends on the government's commitment... The people of Balochistan are ready for cooperation," he said.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has formed a committee of provincial chief ministers to address the concerns and officials remain bullish about the Herculean task before them.
"This CPEC project is a fate changer," says Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, a spokesman for the Balochistan government.
Senior vice president of the Balochistan provincial Chamber of Small Traders and Industries, Mir Muhammad Akbar Mengal Banaras Khan (AFP)
Sri Lanka reconciliation effort slammed on war anniversary
Sri Lanka for the first time included minority Tamils in ceremonies Wednesday marking the anniversary of the end of its civil war, but a leading think-tank said moves towards reconciliation and accountability had stalled.
Tamils living in the northern part of the island which saw most of the violence held public commemorations for the first time since the end in 2009 of the decades-long conflict, after the lifting of draconian restrictions imposed under then-president Mahinda Rajapakse.
President Maithripala Sirisena, who replaced him in January 2015, has also abandoned a controversial annual military "victory" parade in the capital for a more sombre remembrance ceremony set to include the minority Tamils.
Sri Lanka has agreed to investigate wartime atrocities committed during its 37-year civil war with Tamil rebels Lakruwan Wanniarachchi (AFP/File)
But the International Crisis Group said his pledges to bring about accountability and post-war reconciliation between the Tamils and the Sinhalese majority remained largely unfulfilled.
"The enormity of the crimes, especially in the final weeks of the war, makes them impossible to ignore but hard for the military and most (majority) Sinhalese to acknowledge or accept responsibility for," the ICG said in a new report.
It called on Colombo to set a timeline for training judges, lawyers and investigators for special war crimes courts and for passing legislation to establish responsibility for war crimes.
The government must also end military involvement in running hotels and shops and vacate occupied private land in former war zones, it said.
Government forces killed the leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels Velupillai Prabhakaran on May 18, 2009 after a brutal military crackdown, and declared an end to the 37-year conflict which claimed at least 100,000 lives.
The Tamils, who under Rajapakse were barred even from holding private ceremonies of remembrance in their own homes, were for the first time allowed to light candles near the spot where he died to commemorate their war dead.
"There were low-key ceremonies in many areas of the north and the east," an official in the northern Mullaittivu region, where the final stand-off took place, said by telephone.
- No longer pariah -
Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi said the government had scrapped the military parade to show its commitment to healing ethnic wounds.
"We are having a cultural show instead of the military victory parade that was practised in the past six years," Hettiarachchi said.
"This is to establish reconciliation among all races."
Previous parades celebrated the victory of the largely Sinhalese military over the minority Tamils, who were banned from remembering their dead as commemoration of fallen rebels was thought anti-state.
Sirisena has adopted a far more conciliatory tone than Rajapakse.
The government has agreed to a UN call to set up a special court to investigate wartime atrocities, but has rejected pressure for foreign judges to be involved.
It has secured international support for ethnic peace, while high-profile visits by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US Secretary of State John Kerry last year effectively ended Sri Lanka's pariah status.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which fought for independence for Sri Lanka's main ethnic minority, were known for their suicide bombings.
At the height of their power, the rebels ran a de facto separate state comprising a third of the Indian Ocean island's territory.
Under Rajapakse's orders, the army defeated the Tigers in a no-holds-barred military campaign that attracted international censure.
The UN's special rapporteur on torture, Juan E. Mendez, said recently that atrocities continued after the end of the conflict.
On a visit to Sri Lanka earlier this month he cited "credible evidence" of forced disappearances of Tamils and detainees being sexually tortured since 2009.
The independent Sri Lanka Campaign, a rights group, said there had been an "undeniable" improvement in the country since the change in government, but more needed to be done.
In war-affected regions, "a combination of ongoing militarisation and impunity mean that a climate of intimidation and fear persists", it said.
Tamil protesters hold photographs of missing relatives during a 2013 demonstration in the northern Sri Lankan town of Jaffna
Tamil Tiger rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed by Sri Lankan troops in 2009
Fear stalks campus after Bangladesh professor's murder
Days after his colleague was butchered by Islamist extremists at their university in Bangladesh, Mahbub Alam answered a call from a mystery number that made his blood run cold.
"The person on the other side of the line said to me: 'Your life has come to an end. You've gone too far. Wait and see what happens to you.'," said Alam, a professor of public administration at Rajshahi University.
"I've never been connected to any type of activity except teaching. I've no idea what I've done to receive such a threat.
Bangladeshi students take part in a protest against the killing of a university professor in Rajshahi on May 3, 2016
"It's OK when someone confronts you face-to-face. But if someone attacks you from behind, what can you do except live in fear?"
Normally a hive of activity, the university campus has been largely deserted since English professor Rezaul Karim Siddique was hacked to death late last month while walking from his home to a bus stop.
His attackers ambushed the 58-year-old from behind before flaying him with machetes in broad daylight, nearly severing his neck in the process.
It was the latest in a string of gruesome murders carried out by Islamist extremists in the last three years, with other victims including secular bloggers and members of the mainly Muslim country's religious minorities.
- Extremist target -
But professors teaching at Rajshahi in northwestern Bangladesh, which has a reputation as one of the country's most liberal universities, have been a target of extremists for more than a decade.
Four have been killed since 2004 while more than 50 teachers say they have received threats from Islamist extremists.
After Siddique's murder, teachers went on an unofficial strike which prompted most of the university's 33,000 students to head home and begin their summer holidays early.
When an AFP correspondent visited the 752-acre (300-hectare) campus last week, the lecture halls were empty and the only significant gathering was at a rally attended by teachers and students to protest Siddique's slaughter.
Much of the anger was directed at the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina which has been accused of showing little sympathy towards the victims and doing little to improve security.
Nearly all recent attacks have been claimed by Al-Qaeda's local branch or the Islamic State organisation but the government insists neither group has got a foothold in Bangladesh, blaming its domestic opponents instead.
"We are feeling very isolated and are all in a bit of a panic," sociology professor Nilufar Sultana told AFP.
"The authorities are not assuring any security. They aren't even saying that they're looking for the killers. It's deeply frustrating."
Mamunul Habib, who was taught by Siddique, said that no one could concentrate on their studies for the moment.
"We can't pick up weapons to protect ourselves and of course it's not for us to do that anyway," said Habib.
"It's impossible mentally to study and work in such a climate, especially as you can't help feeling that you could be the next target."
After Siddique's killing, it emerged that a hit-list with the names of 10 people -- including the university's vice-chancellor -- had been distributed on a leaflet in the nearby town of Natore.
- 'We feel helpless' -
The leaflet bore the name of an obscure group called the Islami Liberation Front which said its objective was to establish an Islamic caliphate by toppling what it called the "repressive" government.
No one has so far been charged with Siddique's murder although police have made four arrests and say one of those has confessed to taking part in the killing.
Rajshahi police commissioner Mohammad Shamsuddin acknowledged people felt nervous but said his officers were doing all they could to avoid a repeat.
"This sense of panic will gradually fade and we are working very hard to provide security to everyone in the city," Shamsuddin told AFP.
However the murder on May 6 of a local leader of the Sufi Muslim minority around 40 kilometres (25 miles) away has heightened fears that the killers may still be at large, with the victim also hacked to death.
"We now feel very helpless," said Professor Moloy Voumik, another of Siddique's former colleagues who admits he is living in fear.
"I know if these targeted killings continue, then my name will definitely find a place on their hit-list."
Bangladeshi protesters and former Rajshahi University students demonstrate against the killing of a university professor in Dhaka on April 29, 2016
Philippine rebels to enter talks, name allies to Duterte cabinet
Philippine communist rebels waging one of Asia's longest insurgencies said Wednesday they would enter into peace talks with president-elect Rodrigo Duterte and ask him to add four of their political allies to his cabinet.
Duterte, who won a landslide victory in last week's elections, had offered four cabinet posts to the insurgents and expressed willingness to free ailing guerrillas from prison to jumpstart peace negotiations that had stalled three years ago.
"We applaud the plans and programmes announced by president-elect Duterte. We believe these would be key factors to achieving peace," Luis Jalandoni, the rebels' exiled chief peace negotiator told Manila radio station DZMM by telephone.
Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte has welcomed plans by Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison to end nearly 30 years of Dutch exile to take part in the peace talks Ted Aljibe (AFP)
Netherlands-based Jalandoni said the rebels were expected to shortly exchange delegation visits with the Duterte camp "as part of the process for preparing the resumption of peace talks" as well as to iron out terms of cooperation.
Duterte, the mayor of the southern city of Davao, on Monday welcomed plans by Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison to end nearly 30 years of Dutch exile to take part in the peace talks.
He said the return of Sison, his former political science professor at a Manila university, would be important in helping to end the rebellion, which has claimed an estimated 30,000 lives since the 1960s.
Both Jalandoni and Sison said no guerrillas would actually serve in Duterte's cabinet prior to reaching a political settlement, when the insurgents hoped to lay down arms and join a coalition government.
"We have relayed to president-elect Duterte that (guerrilla) personnel themselves would not be taking up government posts, but we will recommend a list of qualified, competent and dedicated persons that could fill the posts," Jalandoni said.
He said this would include nominees to the labour, social welfare, environment, and agrarian reform portfolios that were offered to them by Duterte, who takes office on June 30.
Jalandoni also told DZMM the rebels would consider a ceasefire and would ask the Duterte government to release 543 "political prisoners", the insurgents' term for imprisoned comrades.
Suzuki denies cheating on fuel, emissions testing
Suzuki on Wednesday admitted to finding "discrepancies" in its fuel-economy and emissions testing, but the firm denied deliberately manipulating data to make cars seem more efficient.
The remarks from the Japanese small-car maker came in the wake of rival Mitsubishi Motors' shock admission last month that it had cheated on fuel-efficiency tests for decades.
On Wednesday, Mitsubishi said its president Tetsuro Aikawa would resign over the scandal, which has left the company's reputation in tatters.
Suzuki denies it has cheated to make its cars seem more fuel efficient than they are Toshifumi Kitamura (AFP)
Japan's transport ministry has ordered all domestic automakers to probe their own compliance with government testing methods following Mitsubishi's revelations that it manipulated fuel-economy data.
Major players Nissan, Toyota, Honda and Mazda have already denied any wrongdoing.
Suzuki joined that list Wednesday, although it admitted that it was not using testing methods required by the government.
"Any wrongdoing, such as manipulation of fuel efficiency data, were not found," it said.
"Some discrepancies were found in the automobile emission and fuel-efficiency testing process" between procedures required by the government and what Suzuki did, the company statement added.
In a curious revelation, Suzuki admitted that windy conditions at its seaside proving ground forced it to perform some tests inside a lab instead of outdoors as the government requires, which may have skewed results.
Sixteen models and about two million cars were affected, but the problem did not extend to cars sold outside Japan, according to Suzuki, which has a major presence in India.
Suzuki said it has been using the improper testing since 2010.
The firm's shares dived as investors took it as the latest bad news for a global auto industry shaken by scandals over deadly defects and emissions cheating.
Suzuki stock plunged as much as 15 percent in afternoon trading. It closed 9.4 percent lower at 2,613 yen ($24).
The Suzuki news comes amid the Mitsubishi revelations and as Germany's Volkswagen struggles to drive past a worldwide emissions cheating scandal.
Tokyo-based auto parts giant Takata has also been hit by lawsuits and regulatory probes over claims it hid deadly airbag flaws linked to at least 13 deaths and scores of injuries globally.
- Embarrassing emissions -
Suzuki's 86-year-old chairman Osamu Suzuki, a descendant of the company's founding family, visited the transport ministry Wednesday to discuss the issue and later apologised at a press briefing.
In a separate case, Seoul said this week it will fine Nissan for allegedly manipulating emissions data on a popular diesel sports utility vehicle sold in South Korea.
The news came as an embarrassment for Japan's number two carmaker, but the company has so far not come under fire for emissions cheating in Japan or anywhere else.
The Suzuki admission did not appear as serious as Mitsubishi's revelations.
"But even so, using a different testing method than the one ordered by the government is a problem," Koji Endo, managing director at Advanced Research Japan, said earlier Wednesday.
Last week, Nissan threw an unexpected lifeline to Mitsubishi by offering to buy 34 percent of its shares, in a deal that would give Nissan effective control over the smaller firm.
The scandal -- reported to cover almost every model sold in Japan since the early 1990s -- also includes mini-cars produced by Mitsubishi for Nissan as part of a joint venture.
It was Nissan that first uncovered problems with the fuel economy data, but Mitsubishi has said Nissan had no part in the cheating.
Nissan's top executive warned last week that he would kill the $2.2 billion offer if the Mitsubishi scandal spreads beyond Japan.
Sixteen models and about two million cars are affected by "discrepancies" in the emissions and fuel-efficiency testing process, according to Suzuki Joe Raedle (Getty/AFP/File)
China holds landing drills ahead of Taiwan swearing-in
China's military has staged at least three landing exercises in the country's southeast this month, state-run media reported Wednesday ahead of the inauguration of Taiwan's Beijing-sceptic president-elect Tsai Ing-wen.
The operations appear to be Beijing's latest warnings to Tsai, chairwoman of the traditionally pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, who will be sworn in on Friday and whose political message revolves around the importance of Taiwanese identity.
China and Taiwan split in 1949 after the Kuomintang nationalist forces lost a civil war to the Communists. But Beijing has always seen the island as a renegade province awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.
Just days ahead of the inauguration of Taiwan's Beijing-sceptic president-elect Tsai Ing-wen, China's PLA has held large military exercises in Fujian province, just across from the island Jason Lee (AFP/File)
The largest and most recent of the drills was carried out by a regiment under the 31st Group Army, based in Fujian province opposite Taiwan, reported China Daily, the military's official mouthpiece.
Footage posted on the website of state broadcaster CCTV late Tuesday showed squadrons of attack helicopters bombarded ground targets with missiles and rockets, and landing craft charging towards a beach.
Troops fired grappling hooks to climb up cliffs, heavily camouflaged soldiers used sniper rifles, and tanks rolled through fields.
The live-fire exercises were intended to "demonstrate and test the joint landing operation capability of a basic combat unit", the Daily said, citing Lieutenant Colonel Chen Xiaoming, commander of the regiment.
The report, headlined "iron fist strikes on targets like splitting bamboo", said the drill involved several different PLA service arms and featured information warfare.
The China Daily cited an unnamed Chinese military expert as saying: "The rapid development and modernisation of the PLA now allow us to fulfil a landing operation using only a couple of hours and with few casualties," referring the the People's Liberation Army.
At least two other landing exercises have been mounted this month, one in the southern province of Guangdong and another by the navy's South Sea Fleet using Zubr-class hovercraft, the report added.
Beijing has been sending assertive messages across the Taiwan Strait since Tsai was elected in January.
It has warned against any attempt to formally declare independence and the Taiwan Affairs Office recently said responsibility for any cross-strait crisis "must be shouldered by those who change the status quo", a thinly veiled threat to Tsai not to rock the boat.
China's defence ministry denied Wednesday that the military exercises were aimed at any particular entity, adding they should not be over-interpreted.
Crisis for South Korea shipbuilders as golden age fades
After more than a decade of global dominance, South Korea's shipbuilders face an unprecedented crisis that threatens the very survival of one of the flagship industries of Asia's fourth largest economy.
South Korea's "Big Three" shipbuilders were once considered the holy trinity of Korea Inc. -- controlling nearly 70 percent of the global market after seeing off their European and Japanese rivals in the 1980s and 1990s.
Year after year, the shipyards of Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewoo Marine and Shipbuilding, and Samsung Heavy Industries churned out massive cargo ships, oil tankers and offshore drillers for shipping firms and energy giants around the world.
An under-construction Maersk triple-E class container ship at the Daewoo DSME shipyard in South Korea's Okpo Ed Jones (AFP/File)
But a prolonged slump in oil prices and the global economic slowdown sapped demand for tankers and container ships, while overcapacity, regional rivalry and competition from cheaper Chinese shipbuilders squeezed profit margins.
The three firms racked up a collective loss of 8.5 trillion won ($7.4 billion) last year, while outstanding orders among all South Korean shipbuilders hit their lowest level in 11 years in February.
"Orders are drying up. We are faced with an unimaginable situation at which our dock may soon be empty," Hyundai Heavy chairman Choi Kil-Seon said in a letter to employees in March.
"Even banks are so reluctant to lend to us. This is the harsh, undeniable reality we are facing today," Choi said.
- 'Oversized and complacent' -
Hyundai -- the world's top shipbuilder by sales -- has reported a net loss for two straight years, totalling 5.0 trillion won.
It posted its first net profit for more than two years in the first quarter of 2016, but Choi said that was largely thanks to lower raw material prices and a weaker Korean currency.
The company became "oversized and complacent" during the boom years of the 2000s, he said, urging "bone-crushing efforts" to compete against Chinese shipbuilders that won more than half of all new global orders this year.
"If we can't compete against Chinese ... our jobs will be eliminated," he said.
Yang Jong-Seo, analyst at the Export-Import Bank of Korea, said the next two years would be the "worst years ever" for the shipbuilders as they embark on a period of painful, state-led restructuring.
In return for state aid and debt extensions, Seoul's financial regulators have pressed for more asset sales, mass layoffs, pay reductions and streamlined business plans.
"I think the situation will hit the bottom in the latter half of 2017 and revive in 2018. The key question is whether the shipbuilders can manage to stay alive until then," Yang told AFP.
"If they end up falling apart, I'm afraid the pillar of the global shipbuilding industry will really shift to China," he said.
- Storm to come -
The knock-on effect of any such collapse would be enormous.
The southern port of Ulsan and Geoje island -- home to the three shipbuilders' main docks -- are the bedrock of a regional economy that relies heavily on the industry for tax revenues and consumer spending by nearly 200,000 workers.
Hyundai shed more than 1,000 jobs at its Ulsan shipyard in 2015 and is reportedly planning to lay off around 3,000 workers this year. Their suppliers that hire tens of thousands of workers are being pushed to the brink of collapse.
The situation is even bleaker at the number two shipbuilder Daewoo. The firm has failed to win a single order so far in 2016, after suffering a record net loss of 5.5 trillion won last year.
Daewoo -- partially owned by the state-run Korea Development Bank -- has proposed laying off 3,000 workers by 2019 but the government is demanding an even bigger job cut.
"The whole city is a big community of shipbuilding workers and their families. And we are all feeling the pinch," an official at the Geoje city council told AFP.
More than two thirds of the city's 250,000 population either work for Daewoo or Samsung or are family members of those who do.
- Tears of Ulsan? -
Most area businesses, especially restaurants and retail shops, have reported a sharp double-digit fall in sales and many are on the brink of closure, said the city official who declined to be named.
"Many people here bought a house and a nice car and sent their kids to college when things were good...and people are worrying whether those days are coming to an end," she said.
The same sense of impending loss is growing in Ulsan -- a vibrant blue-collar city that is the home to the Hyundai Heavy shipyard as well as Hyundai Motor's main plant.
Thanks to fat paychecks from Hyundai, the city has boasted the highest per-capita income in the country for years.
Some say it now faces the same fate as the Swedish port of Malmo, once known for its robust shipbuilding industry.
Malmo's iconic, 128 metre-tall Kockums Crane -- a symbol of its manufacturing industry -- was sold to Hyundai in 2002. The crane was nicknamed the "Tears of Malmo" after residents reportedly cried at the sight of its being shipped to Ulsan.
"Now we are shedding the 'Tears of Ulsan,'" said Jun Young-Do, the head of the Ulsan city's chamber of commerce.
An under-construction Maersk triple-E class container ship at the Daewoo DSME shipyard in South Korea's Okpo Ed Jones (AFP/File)
Daewoo has proposed laying off 3,000 workers by 2019 but the government is demanding an even bigger job cut Ed Jones (AFP/File)
From legend to history: China turns to mythical emperor
Scarves emblazoned with red dragons draped over their black business suits, Chinese officials lit incense and bowed solemnly at the feet of a mythical ancestor known as the Yellow Emperor.
The avowedly atheist Communist Party is promoting worship of the ancient figure as it seeks to bolster its legitimacy -- and emphasise Chinese blood ties, including with Taiwan ahead of the inauguration of Beijing-sceptic president Tsai Ing-wen.
Thousands gathered in the heartland province of Henan, where the Yellow Emperor - described in archaic annals and present day schoolbooks as the founder of Chinese civilisation -- is said to have been born 5,000 years ago.
A man makes an offering in front of a statue of the Yellow Emperor, or Huangdi, after a memorial ceremony in Xinzheng, in China's Henan province Greg Baker (AFP)
Shots from gold-painted cannon began the annual ceremony, and the crowd, many in replica antique costume, listened to a booming announcer heralding the "ancestor of the Chinese nation".
High-ranking cadres - including the province's top official, and a former vice culture minister - processed up a red carpet, placed offerings in front of an altar and gazed into the statue's chiselled visage, before bowing.
Lydia Zhou, an investment manager who flew from Shanghai to attend, told AFP: "I'm here to worship. He is our ancestor and this is his birthplace."
The lauding of an individual comes as Communist chief Xi Jinping is increasingly lionised in China's state-run media, and the announcer echoed his slogans: "Revive China, a one hundred year dream, ruling by law, moderate prosperity for all."
- Mixed up -
Historians say there is little evidence the Yellow Emperor actually existed, but school textbooks widely describe him as the founder of Chinese culture and ancestor of all Chinese people - including its 55 official ethnic minorities, some of whom chafe against identifying as Chinese.
The same books assert China has existed for 5,000 years since his birth, though historians date the first Chinese dynasty -- covering a tiny fraction of the present country -- to around 1600 BC.
The Communist Party attempted to outlaw religion after taking power in 1949.
Under Mao Zedong, "Yellow Emperor worship was seen as feudal superstition," Ren Dahuan, vice president of a state-run research association into the figure, told AFP.
But now the party says religion can be harnessed for social good ahead of it eventually melting away with economic progress.
Searching for tourist and investment income, officials in the emperor's supposed birthplace of Xinzheng revived offerings in the 1990s. The ceremony was endorsed by the State Council, China's cabinet, in 2008.
- Flesh and blood -
With economic growth slowing, the ruling party has turned to a grab-bag of traditions as it attempts to portray itself as a natural outgrowth of Chinese culture.
"These events are becoming bigger and bigger, because the state needs them to explain its legitimacy," said Zhu Dake, a cultural critic at Shanghai's Tongji University.
At the same time it is looking to forge a single identity for an ethnically diverse population.
"The state needs this bloodline," Zhu added. "It's a political strategy. China is a multi-ethnic country. Chinese people are a mixed-up thing, rather than descendants of a single ancestor."
The message of unity applies to all ethnic Chinese, including the diaspora abroad and those in Taiwan, which split from the mainland in 1949 at the end of a civil war.
Its new president Tsai -- from the traditionally pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party -- will be inaugurated on Friday.
Among those lighting incense in Xinzheng last month was the head of Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office, which handles relations with Taipei.
Similarly, the former vice-chairman of Taiwan's incumbent Kuomintang party Chun Chun-po attended another event at the reputed site of the emperor's death in neigbouring Shaanxi province, telling local media: "As descendants of the Yellow Emperor, this is the happiest event in life."
His remarks recalled those of Taiwan's outgoing leader Ma Ying-jeou at last year's first cross-strait summit since 1949, when he said that people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait were "of Chinese nationality" and "children of the Yellow Emperor".
For his part President Xi offered: We are brothers connected by flesh even if our bones are broken, we are a family whose blood is thicker than water."
Both men's declarations were disparaged by many in Taiwan, where Tsai's message of Taiwanese identity resonated with voters and surveys show people feel increasingly separate from the mainland.
But in the People's Republic, where the ruling party tightly controls presentations of history, there are few such concerns.
After the official ceremonies at the Shaanxi tomb complex -- refurbished a decade ago at a cost of around 250 million yuan (US$38 million)-- thousands of ordinary citizens poured in, many prostrating themselves before the emperor's statue.
"He definitely existed, there are ancient books and bone carvings which prove it," said student Shen Yuyan.
"He's the ancestor of all Chinese ethnic groups and of Taiwanese people."
The avowedly atheist Communist Party is promoting worship of the ancient figure known as the Yellow Emperor, as it seeks to bolster its legitimacy -- and emphasise Chinese blood ties Greg Baker (AFP)
A group of overseas Chinese from Britain pose for photos in front of a statue of the Yellow Emperor in Xinzheng, in China's Henan province Greg Baker (AFP)
With economic growth slowing, the ruling party has turned to a grab-bag of traditions as it attempts to portray itself as a natural outgrowth of Chinese culture Greg Baker (AFP)
UN pushes 'get-tough agenda' on peacekeeper sex abuse
A former number two at the US Department of Homeland Security is forcing the United Nations to confront one of the worst crises in its history: sexual abuse by peacekeepers.
Jane Holl Lute, who also served on the White House's national security council, is pushing what she describes as a "get-tough agenda" to end a wave of allegations of child rape and sexual exploitation that has hit UN peacekeeping, in particular the UN mission in the Central African Republic.
"It is shocking," she said in an interview on Tuesday.
United Nations peacekeepers patrol in the Central African Republic Issouf Sanogo (AFP)
"The things that we find ourselves speaking about in the halls of this house that have gone on in the field: it's stunning."
Lute was appointed in February as the UN's special coordinator on improving the response to sexual abuse in peacekeeping, a position created after an independent panel found the world body had grossly mishandled the cases.
She has made fact-finding visits to the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo since then and met several times with troop-contributing countries and UN officials at all levels.
"We need to create an environment of intolerance for these kinds of actions," she said.
Lute's trip to Bangui and Kinshasa gave her a close-up look at the two missions with the highest incidence of sexual abuse by peacekeepers.
"There was a breakdown in command and control for those units," she said of the many cases in the Central African Republic mission, known as MINUSCA.
There have been 29 allegations of sexual abuse reported already this year in MINUSCA, up from 22 in 2015, although most of those date back to previous years.
"We fully expect that we will uncover more cases," Lute said, promising that any new incidents will "immediately get the senior-most attention" at the United Nations.
- Curfews and bed checks-
The shift in approach involves tightening rules for military and police units serving in missions to impose non-fraternization rules, curfews and enforcing bed checks.
Lute, who held several senior UN peacekeeping positions from 2003 to 2009, said she has come across "pockets of resistance" from some mission officials unwilling to take on the new responsibility of preventing sexual abuse.
To those who deny problems in their missions or organizations, she says, "Baloney. We all have to worry about it."
Troop-contributing countries are under pressure to meet deadlines for completing investigations, setting up joint investigative teams with the United Nations and taking action to prosecute when allegations found are credible.
Some are responding.
South Africa announced it will set up courts-martial in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where at least seven soldiers face allegations of sexual abuse.
Egypt recently sentenced one of its soldiers convicted of sexual assault in the Central African Republic to five years in jail after a 29-day investigation the United Nations hailed as a record.
Norway has contributed $125,000 to a newly created trust fund to provide emergency assistance to victims, who are being urged to come forward and end their silence over abuse.
Sri Lanka has also made a one-time payment to a victim and her child to cover a paternity claim from a soldier who served in a UN mission in Haiti.
UN officials are currently considering proposals for mandatory DNA testing and withholding the wages of peacekeepers facing credible allegations of sex abuse.
"We have made a lot of progress," Lute said. "We have more to do."
Accused Congolese MINUSCA soldiers sit at the Military Tribunal of Kinshasa last month Eduardo Soteras (cds/AFP/File)
Tensions flare between powerful Thai Buddhist sect and police
Tensions between Thai police and a powerful Buddhist sect have spiked this week after an arrest warrant was issued for an abbot at the centre of an alleged multi-million dollar scandal.
The controversy over the wealthy Dhammakaya temple, which is renowned for its influential allies and colourful displays of mass devotion, has revived fears over the state of Buddhism in a nation where 95 percent of the population adhere to the faith.
The kingdom's Buddhist clergy has been mired in controversies ranging from allegations of undeclared gifts of luxury cars to sex and drugs scandals.
The controversy over the wealthy Dhammakaya temple, which is renowned for its influential allies and colourful displays of mass devotion, has revived fears over the state of Buddhism in a nation where 95 percent of the population adhere to the faith Nicolas Asfouri (AFP)
Critics say the Dhammakaya temple is closely linked to Thaksin Shinawatra, the billionaire former premier at the heart of the country's political rupture.
They accuse it of trying to dominate the Thai faith with prosperity theology style teachings that promote donations in return for good karma.
A court late Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for Phra Dhammachayo, who has failed to report to police over accusations he received illegal donations worth 1.2 billion baht ($33 million) that had been embezzled from a cooperative bank.
The temple, which boasts a sprawling and futuristic headquarters in northern Bangkok, refutes the allegations and insists the 72-year-old abbot is too sick to report to authorities.
But that has not dimmed fears of a showdown between police and the temple, which says it has millions of supporters, some of whom clashed with soldiers in February.
"We regret that the authority has issued the arrest warrant... but Dhammakaya disciples do not want to use mob rule over rule of law," Ong-art Dhamnitha, a representative of the sect's followers, told reporters Wednesday.
Last April the Dhammakaya temple returned some $20 million given by a company executive later accused of embezzling the cash.
It says the money was received in good faith and without knowledge of the executive's crime.
The temple defends itself against its theological critics saying it provides a modern and accessible form of Buddhism.
Investigators say the abbot has to surrender by May 26 to hear charges of money laundering and handling stolen money, which carry up to 20 years in jail.
The chief of Thailand's Department of Special Investigations said he was keen to avoid a confrontation.
"There is no need to bring forces to the temple as it might spark a conflict. If he (the abbot) still does not come, we will meet to find further measures," Paisit Wongmeuang said on Tuesday.
Apple chief Cook unveils app design centre in India
Apple chief executive Tim Cook announced Wednesday a new app design centre in India as he kicked off his first visit to the Asian giant seeking to tap into its roll-out of 4G networks.
Cook landed in the Indian financial capital Mumbai shortly before midnight on Tuesday by private jet from China, where he made a $1 billion announcement.
After an early morning visit to a Hindu temple in Mumbai, Cook announced the US technology behemoth was planning to build the app design facility in the southern city of Bangalore.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has announced plans to build an app design facility in the southern Indian city of Bangalore Josh Edelson (AFP/File)
"India is home to one of the most vibrant and entrepreneurial iOS development communities in the world," the Apple boss said in a statement, adding that it would open early next year.
"With the opening of this new facility in Bengaluru, we're giving developers access to tools which will help them create innovative apps for customers around the world," Cook said, referring to IT hub Bangalore.
Cook's four-day visit comes as Apple eyes India's fast-growing market as increasingly key to its fortunes, with sales in China and the United States slowing.
The 55-year-old made a trip to Mumbai's Shree Siddhivinayak temple, according to the Indian Express newspaper, which posted a picture of Cook wearing a religious cloth around his neck.
While an Apple spokesperson refused to confirm Cook's schedule to AFP, local media reported he had lined up meetings with a number of prominent businessmen, including Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry.
Cook will also reportedly meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while the Business Standard newspaper said he planned to hold discussions with Airtel CEO Sunil Mittal.
Airtel, along with other Indian telecoms companies Reliance and Vodafone, are currently rolling out 4G networks across the country.
Cook has previously stated that the onset of fast phone networks in India would boost sales of the Apple iPhone there.
In April the tech firm reported its first drop in global iPhone sales since launching the smartphone in 2007. But revenues from sales in India grew by 56 percent in the first three months of 2016 compared to the previous year.
IS accused of executing dozens in Libya bastion
Human Rights Watch on Wednesday accused the Islamic State group of executing dozens of people in its Libyan stronghold of Sirte, saying the killings amounted to war crimes.
The New York-based watchdog said IS, also known as ISIS, had inflicted "severe hardship" on the people of Sirte by diverting food, medicine, fuel and cash from the port city since February 2015.
At least 49 people had been killed by methods including decapitation and shooting for alleged crimes including blasphemy, sorcery and spying, HRW said in a report based on a series of interviews.
Image made available by propaganda Islamist media outlet Welayat Tarablos, allegedly shows members of the Islamic State (IS) group parading in Libya's coastal city of Sirte
"The murder of civilians, or wounded or captive fighters, by members of a party to an armed conflict is a war crime, as is executing people without a fair trial by a regular court," said HRW.
"The nature and scale of ISIS's unlawful executions and other acts in Libya also may amount to crimes against humanity."
"The Sirte residents described scenes of horror -- public beheadings, corpses in orange jumpsuits hanging from scaffolding in what they termed 'crucifixions' and masked fighters snatching men from their beds in the night," it said.
"They said morality police aided by informants patrolled the streets, threatening, fining or flogging men for smoking, listening to music, or failing to ensure their wives and sisters were covered in loose black abayas (robes)."
The 49 executions followed "largely secret proceedings that negate the most basic fair-trial standards".
"ISIS also has kidnapped and disappeared dozens of Libyan militia fighters, many of whom are presumed dead," said HRW, citing exiled councillors and fighters from groups opposed to it.
The 41-page report said IS jihadists had looted and destroyed the homes of those seen as enemies, as well as forced the closure of shops specialising in lingerie or Western clothing.
One resident, a 30-year-old named Ahlam, described life in Sirte as "unbearable" with everyone "living in fear" and innocent people being killed.
"There are no groceries, the hospital has no doctors or nurses, there is no medicine... There are spies on every street. Most people have left but we are trapped. We don't have enough money to leave," she was quoted as saying.
IS seized Sirte almost a year ago, exploiting the chaos in Libya as rival militias and governments battled for power in the wake of the 2011 revolt that ousted and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
Myanmar welcomes US move to ease more sanctions
A US decision to pare back economic sanctions on Myanmar could unclog investment as the country claws its way out of poverty, Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government said Wednesday, welcoming the move.
Suu Kyi's party took power in March after clinching a majority at last year's election, the freest in generations for a nation that withered under half a century of military rule.
It now faces a daunting task of rehabilitation in the Southeast Asian country, which is hampered by decrepit infrastructure, conflicts in resource-rich borderlands and the continued influence of the military and junta-era cronies, who still dominate the economy.
Aung San Suu Kyi's party took power in Myanmar in March after clinching a majority at last year's election, the freest in generations for a nation that withered under half a century of military rule Aung Htet (AFP/File)
The United States lifted a host of financial and trade embargoes Tuesday to recognise the "historic milestone" of the country's transfer to a civilian-led government, according to a statement by the Treasury department.
Washington has rolled back many of its sanctions to reward reforms since the end of outright military rule in 2011, but retains scores of names on its blacklists as it seeks to push further changes and promote human rights.
Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay told AFP that the administration "really welcomes" the latest move.
"It could boost trade between the two countries and this raises hopes for the economy," he said adding that it could encourage investment by firms previously put off by red tape.
American companies including Coca-Cola and Pepsi, fast food restaurant KFC and carmakers Chevrolet and Ford have already established a sales presence in the country.
But the latest sanctions rollback further eases constraints on Americans wanting to invest.
Seven state enterprises previously blacklisted for being part of the former military regime were delisted mostly because they now report to civilian ministries, the Treasury said.
It also removed three state-owned banks from its sanctions list and authorised dealings with two army-run financial institutions, opening up all Myanmar banks to American business.
The US also extended indefinitely permission made in December enabling firms to trade through Myanmar's ports and airports -- many of which are operated by sanctioned cronies -- as it looks to smooth trade into the country.
This applies particularly to blacklisted tycoon Steven Law and his huge Asia World infrastructure firm, which runs Yangon's busiest port -- handling around half the country's freight -- as well as the city's international airport.
But Law, whose late father Lo Hsing Han was a notorious heroin trafficker, remains sanctioned along with Asia World and six affiliated firms added to the blacklist.
A host of other individuals and businesses remain under embargoes, including those with close links to the former regime.
Asia World declined to comment on the move on Wednesday.
The firm is thought to be one of several banned entities seeking to extricate themselves from the embargoes.
Under heavy pressure, jihadists strike back in Baghdad
The Islamic State group, on the defensive and under heavy pressure in Iraq, has struck back with bloody attacks in Baghdad, where persistent gaps in security increase the city's exposure.
In doing so, IS can portray itself as still being on the offensive, draw attention away from the setbacks it has suffered, and obtain media attention unrelated to losses.
The spike in Baghdad attacks -- which have killed more than 140 people in the city over the past seven days -- also comes at a time of high political tension in the capital that affords militants an opportunity to sow further discord.
People check the damage after a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle in northern Baghdad's Sadr City on May 17, 2016 Ahmad al-Rubaye (AFP)
Carrying out bombings is not a new strategy for IS -- it has been a key part of the jihadists' offensive and defensive tactics for years, and the group never fully stopped attacks in Baghdad.
But IS's attention was increasingly focused outside Baghdad after it overran large areas north and west of the city in 2014, and attacks in the capital decreased.
"Baghdad is now being targeted because the group is on the defensive and they can still hurt the government in their capital," said Patrick Skinner, a former CIA case officer who is now with The Soufan Group consultancy.
"They still use (bombs) in assaults... But there's clearly some car and vest bomb makers in the Baghdad belt and in the capital, leading to the increased and likely sustained carnage," Skinner said.
Colonel Steve Warren, the spokesman for the international operation against IS, cited jihadist battlefield setbacks as the primary motivation for the increase in Baghdad attacks.
But he also said that IS may see political turmoil in the capital as "an opportunity they can try to exploit using truck bombs."
The increase in attacks coincides with a political crisis over Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's efforts to replace the current cabinet.
The crisis has paralysed the legislature for weeks, and demonstrators angered by lawmakers' lack of progress stormed parliament last month.
The deadliest of the recent attacks were triple car bombings that hit Baghdad last Thursday, killing at least 94 people, while attacks in three areas of the city on Tuesday killed at least 48 more.
- Fake bomb detectors -
Iraqi security forces performed dismally during the early days of IS's 2014 offensive, abandoning large quantities of weapons and vehicles as they fled.
But Baghdad's forces have since regained significant ground from IS with the backing of US-led air support and training, retaking the cities of Tikrit and Ramadi as well as numerous towns and villages.
While the coalition has trained around 22,000 Iraqi security personnel, its efforts have focused on readying troops for offensive operations against IS, not on the forces in Baghdad.
Both Warren and Iraqi security spokesman Yahya Rasool said that coalition-trained forces are not deployed in the capital.
Though bombings in Baghdad decreased after June 2014, IS never lost the ability to carry out attacks in the capital.
While no security forces can completely secure a city against bombings by militants, flaws in Baghdad security procedures make IS's task easier than it might otherwise be.
Fake bomb detectors are still in widespread use in Baghdad, even though James McCormick, the man who marketed them to Iraq, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2013 for fraud in connection with the devices.
Some Iraqi officials have been reluctant to admit the failure of the "detectors," and former premier Nuri al-Maliki even insisted at one point that some of them were actually functional.
The devices are often used as the primary means of detecting explosives and weapons at Baghdad checkpoints, checks of IDs and searches of vehicles in the city are cursory if they take place at all, and weapons are frequently not kept close to hand.
Anger over the attacks adds to pressure on Abadi, who reacted Tuesday by directing Iraqi forces to step up efforts to uncover cells behind the bombings, and ordered the arrest of a security official responsible for one area that was targeted.
"It's a bloody confluence of trends," Skinner said of the increase in Baghdad attacks.
The jihadists are "under massive military pressure" while there is "a political crisis that they can tie into for maximum chaos," he said.
Map locating attacks in districts of Baghdad on Tuesday in which dozens died Thomas Saint-Cricq, Kun Tian (AFP)
Security forces gather at the site of a suicide bombing in the Shaab area of northern Baghdad on May 17, 2016 Ahmad Al-Rubaye (AFP)
Pro-China protests in Taiwan days before Tsai takes office
Hundreds of pro-China protesters led by gang leader turned politician "White Wolf" rallied in Taiwan's capital Wednesday, calling on new president Tsai Ing-wen to preserve friendly ties with Beijing, days before she takes office.
China-sceptic Tsai is facing questions over how she will handle cross-strait relations which are already growing rapidly frosty as she prepares to take the helm after an eight-year rapprochement under her Beijing-friendly predecessor Ma Ying-jeou.
Although a fully fledged democracy, self-ruling Taiwan has never formally declared independence and China still sees it as part of its territory.
Pro-unification activists protest outside the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters in Taipei on May 18, 2016 Sam Yeh (AFP)
Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party is traditionally pro-independence and was voted in by a landslide after voters turned their backs on Ma's Beijing-centred approach for fear the island's sovereignty was being eroded.
Led by infamous activist "White Wolf" Chang An-lo -- who heads a small pro-unification party and regularly organises rallies in support of Beijing -- protesters waved banners and Chinese flags outside DPP headquarters.
"We respect Taiwan's democratic freedom, but we can't accept a lack of unity, lack of peace," said Lu Yueh-hsiang of the pro-Beijing China Production Party.
Outgoing president Ma accepted a tacit agreement -- known as the "1992 consensus" -- between his Kuomintang party and Beijing which acknowledges there is only "one China".
That paved the way for a slew of trade deals and a tourist boom as mainland visitors flocked to the island.
Tsai and the DPP have never recognised the agreement and are under pressure from Beijing to do so, with fears China will squeeze Taiwan economically if no compromise can be reached.
"If you accept the '92 consensus, everything can be open for discussion," Chang told AFP.
"Only the '92 consensus can give Taiwan's economy a way forward."
Chang was imprisoned for 10 years in the United States for drug trafficking and then lived in exile for 17 years in China before returning to Taiwan in 2013.
He and his followers have often clashed with China-sceptic protesters, including at the 2014 occupation of parliament by students opposing a controversial trade pact with China.
But Wednesday's rally was calm, as around 300 supporters waved placards and listened to speeches and dance performances on a makeshift stage.
Cross-strait relations have already cooled since Tsai's election victory in January, despite her pledge to maintain the "status quo" with Beijing.
Her inauguration speech when she takes office on Friday will be closely watched by China for how she characterises cross-strait relations.
Pro-unification activists wave banners that read "92 consensus" in reference to a tacit agreement between Taipei and Beijing that there is only "one China" Sam Yeh (AFP)
Indian Muslims angry over Yoga Day 'Om' chant proposal
Muslim groups on Wednesday slammed a directive from India's Hindu nationalist government for participants in International Yoga Day to chant "Om", citing religious bias.
The mass outdoor yoga session, to be held in June for its second year, is an initiative spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is seeking to reclaim the practice as an historic part of Indian culture.
"Yogic practise shall start with a prayer or prayerful mood to enhance benefits of the practise," read a note issued by Ayush ministry, which works for the promotion of yoga, as shown by television networks.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (centre) participates in a mass yoga session along with other practitioners to mark the International Yoga Day on Rajpath in New Delhi on June 21, 2015 Prakash Singh (AFP/File)
The ministry said participants should chant the sacred sound "Om" and Hindu vedic hymns at the start and end of the 45-minute event on June 21.
Muslim groups reacted with anger, saying such chants were against their faith and accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of seeking to impose a hardline Hindu agenda.
"We are not against yoga but India is a secular country and the state has no religion," Zafaryab Jilani, a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board told AFP.
"If they are imposing a Hindu religious practice on the rest of us, it is unconstitutional."
The government waded into a similar controversy last year after it made the surya namaskar pose (sun salutation) part of the event.
Muslim groups say certain yoga poses and chants have clear Hindu overtones and are against Islam.
"They are again and again trying to impose a Hindutva ("Hinduness") agenda. This order should be cancelled immediately," Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali, a top Muslim cleric said.
The opposition also weighed in, accusing the government of seeking to impose a narrow vision on the ancient tradition, which commands huge global popularity.
"Yoga has achieved the status of an international art form and by imposing such conditions the government is killing its essence," Manish Tewari, a leader of the main opposition Congress party said.
"People from different religions do it and the practitioner should decide what to chant."
Following the outcry, the Ayush ministry issued a clarification saying the directive was not compulsory.
Indian scholars believe yoga dates back 5,000 years, based on archaeological evidence of poses found inscribed on stones and references to Yogic teachings in the ancient Hindu scriptures of the Vedas.
In 2014 the United Nations accepted India's proposal to declare June 21 as International Yoga Day, highlighting its health benefits.
Dozens of Myanmar workers arrested in rally clampdown
Myanmar police on Wednesday arrested dozens of activists and factory workers as they broke up a labour rights march on the capital, the latest rally to test freedoms under Aung San Suu Kyi's new civilian government.
Around 200 police moved in on the demonstrators, many wearing bamboo hats and waving banners calling for worker rights, as they entered the outskirts of Naypyidaw -- where they hoped to speak to the government.
"We arrested about 60 protesters today. We tried to do it without hurting anyone," Naypyidaw region police chief Ko Ko Aung told AFP.
A demonstrator demanding labour rights is arrested by police in Tetkone township, Myanmar on May 18, 2016 Aung Htet (AFP)
"We will not take further action against all of them, just those trying to cause violence," he said.
Suu Kyi's party is stacked with former dissidents who served prison time for their opposition to Myanmar's military governments during decades of repressive rule.
Since taking the helm following a landslide November election victory, the administration has freed scores of activists and political prisoners and signalled its determination to repeal oppressive laws.
But police have launched legal action against activists involved in several recent demonstrations, and rights groups have expressed concern over efforts to amend draconian protest laws.
The protesters in Naypyidaw have been marching for about three weeks from northern Sagaing Region, where around 100 workers have recently been fired from a timber factory.
They are appealing to the government to help reinstate many of those jobs and to recognise their newly-formed employment union.
The demonstrators were met by a wall of security forces as they tried to enter the capital and after a brief stand-off, officers began rounding up demonstrators, which led to scuffles.
"We didn't do anything wrong by protesting. Arresting us is unfair," one of the activists called out to reporters as she was arrested.
Earlier this week police announced plans to take action against five leaders of an interfaith rally in Yangon because the campaigners had deviated from the agreed protest route.
Yangon police have also begun legal action against seven leaders of an unauthorised protest by Buddhist nationalists outside the US embassy last month.
Rights groups have raised alarm bells over a number of provisions in a draft amendment to the Peaceful Assembly Act that is due to be debated in parliament in the coming days.
They fear these will continue to penalise non-violent demonstrations, albeit with shorter jail terms.
The proposed draft would mean protesters must still give local police 48 hours' notice of the place and time of any rally, as well as details of planned speeches and slogans.
Those who protest without giving prior notice could be imprisoned for three months, while repeat offenders could face a year behind bars.
Myanmar police arrested dozens of activists and factory workers as they broke up a labour rights march on the capital Aung Htet (AFP)
Aung San Suu Kyi's administration has freed scores of political prisoners and shown determination to repeal oppressive laws Aung Htet (AFP/File)
Singapore 'to execute Malaysian murder convict on Friday'
Singapore is expected to hang a Malaysian murder convict on Friday despite last-minute clemency pleas, his family and human rights groups said.
Kho Jabing, 31, was sentenced to death in 2010 for killing a Chinese construction worker in a robbery gone wrong and spent the next six years on a legal roller-coaster trying to avoid the gallows.
In a news conference late Tuesday, his sister Kho Jumai, 27, said the family was told in a letter from the Singapore Prisons Service that her brother would be executed on May 20.
After Kho Jabing was sentenced to death in 2010, Singapore amended its mandatory death penalty for murder, giving judges the discretion to impose life imprisonment under certain circumstances Roslan Rahman (AFP/File)
Executions in Singapore are normally carried out at Changi Prison before dawn on Fridays.
The prison did not immediately respond to AFP's requests for confirmation of the execution date.
Only the Singapore president, on the advice of the cabinet, can grant clemency.
The president said last week that he will not grant clemency although the family is pleading for a last minute reprieve.
"I've done everything I can, I've sent letters all over the government, to anyone who would listen. Whether the letters were really received, I don't know because I don't have much education," said Kho's mother Lenduk Baling, speaking through an interpreter.
Malaysia also has capital punishment, executing murderers and drug traffickers by hanging, a system like in Singapore that dates back to British colonial rule.
Amnesty International Malaysia and Human Rights Watch have both released statements calling on Singapore to halt the execution and review the case.
After Kho was sentenced to death in 2010, Singapore amended its mandatory death penalty for murder, giving judges the discretion to impose life imprisonment under certain circumstances.
His case was reviewed and Kho was re-sentenced to a life term in 2013.
But after an appeal by prosecutors, Kho's death sentence was reinstated in January 2015.
An appeal was thrown out by a five-judge court last month, setting the stage for Friday's hanging.
Singapore executed four people in 2015, one for murder and three for drug offences, according to Singapore prison officials.
Rights groups have called on Singapore to abolish capital punishment but the government has rejected such calls, arguing death sentences are a deterrent to crime.
Pakistan hosts meeting on reviving Afghan Taliban talks
Pakistan on Wednesday hosted a fresh four-nation meeting aimed at reviving long-stalled direct peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents, officials said.
The latest meeting of representatives from Afghanistan, the United States, China and Pakistan comes days after Afghan authorities hanged six Taliban-linked militants, the clearest sign to date of Kabul's mounting frustration at the lack of progress.
The four-nation group was formed in January to try to restart the direct peace talks. But the lack of a breakthrough has left many frustrated as the Taliban have intensified their insurgency, launched in late 2001 after they were toppled from power by a US-led invasion.
An Afghan policeman guards a checkpoint on the Kandahar-Tarin Kot highway after the Taliban seized control of several towns after launching their spring offensive Rateb Noori (AFP/File)
On Wednesday a senior Afghan official sounded a more optimistic note.
"We are hopeful this time after we had complaints regarding Pakistan, over not bringing the Taliban to the negotiation table. There is pressure on Pakistan by the US and China, the important participants of the talks," Mawlawi Shahzada Shahid, a spokesman for a group called the High Peace Council, told AFP in Kabul.
He added that a visit in April to Pakistan by a senior Taliban delegation from their political office in Qatar had further raised hopes.
"Pakistan had somehow convinced them to come back to the talks, and I believe there will be progress and development this time around," Shahid said.
A joint statement issued by Pakistan's foreign ministry on behalf of the four countries in the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QGC) said peace negotiations remain the only option for a political settlement.
"The QCG expressed their continued determination with shared commitment to advance the goal of an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process," the statement said.
Direct Afghan-Taliban talks began last summer but ended abruptly after it was revealed that the Taliban's founder Mullah Omar had been dead for two years, sparking infighting among the insurgents.
Sorry! Weather agency apologises after fax triggers quake alert
It was a bad day at the office for one unfortunate employee of South Korea's weather service Wednesday, after a mistakenly sent fax triggered an earthquake alert.
The message warning of a 6.5-magnitude quake was part of a five-day disaster response exercise and should never have been faxed.
International media including China's official Xinhua news agency ran the warning before the Korea Meteorological Administration issued a red-faced apology.
Strong quakes are rare on the Korean peninsula Frederick Florin (AFP/File)
"We apologise deeply for causing inconvenience," the KMA said in a statement quoted by South Korean news agency Yonhap, which also carried the initial alert.
"The message was made for an exercise purpose, and an employee mistakenly clicked the button to send the message."
The KMA released the message at 5:30 pm (0830GMT), calling on residents in the affected area of Hoengseong in Gangwon province to evacuate.
Syria talks must happen 'soon to keep momentum': UN envoy
The UN's Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura expressed optimism on Wednesday that the stalled peace talks could resume, but stressed it had to happen in "soon" to avoid losing momentum.
His comments came a day after talks between world powers on ending the five-year conflict failed to make a clear breakthrough in Vienna.
At the end of the meeting, the 17-nation International Syria Support Group (ISSG) -- co-chaired by the US and Russia -- vowed to bolster the ravaged nation's shaky ceasefire and send humanitarian relief.
The Syrian war erupted in 2011 and has claimed more than 270,000 lives Karam Al-Masri (AFP/File)
However, the group also admitted it had been unable to set a fresh date for negotiations between the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian opposition.
But de Mistura insisted: "There is hope" despite the slow progress.
"I can feel sufficient comfort to explain to the Syrian people and to the international community that we can re-launch the talks... because it is clear there is no military solution," he told reporters in the Austrian capital.
"But we need to do it soon, not late, otherwise we lose the momentum," the UN envoy said.
He said negotiators had to "bear in mind" that the month-long Muslim fasting month of Ramadan would start around June 6 "in that part of the world".
After Tuesday's talks, de Mistura had warned the UN-mediated talks in Geneva would have little purpose if the killing continued.
The Syrian conflict erupted in early 2011 when Assad's forces staged a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests, sparking violence that has since claimed more than 270,000 lives.
Millions have been driven from their homes and hundreds of thousands of refugees have flooded into Europe, sparking a humanitarian and political crisis.
- Consequences for violations -
On the ground, US allies like Saudi Arabia and Turkey back some of the rebel factions, while Russia has dispatched war planes and advisors to back Assad, who is also supported by troops from Iran.
In late February, Washington and Moscow chivvied regime and rebel forces into agreeing a shaky ceasefire, but pockets of violence remain.
On Tuesday, the ISSG said there would be consequences for parties breaching the truce and pledged to maintain pressure on Assad.
Washington regularly accuses the Syrian strongman of violating the truce and of bombing civilians, whereas Russia blames rebel factions for carrying out massacres.
Divisions between the two world powers have hampered efforts to agree a framework, under which Syria would "transition" away from Assad's rule.
Getting aid to civilians trapped in the fighting
Doubt cast on identity of 'second rescued Chibok girl'
Campaigners on Friday questioned a Nigerian military claim that a second Chibok schoolgirl had been rescued, but the army maintained she was one of the 219 abducted by Boko Haram.
Yakubu Nkeki, the head of the Chibok Abducted Girls Parents group, said the military contacted him before an announcement was made on Wednesday about the discovery of the first girl, Amina Ali.
"We were able to identify her and then establish her parents," he told AFP. But there was no call before Nigeria's army announced late Thursday that a second schoolgirl had been rescued.
Serah Luka was among 97 women and children rescued by Nigerian soldiers in the Damboa district of the northeastern state of Borno
She was said to be Serah Luka, who was among 97 women and children rescued earlier that day in the Damboa area of the northeastern state of Borno.
She told troops and civilian vigilantes she was a Christian pastor's daughter originally from Madagali, in neighbouring Adamawa state, and had been in Chibok to sit her exams.
Nkeki said his records showed only two girls with the surname Luka.
"These are Kauna Luka Yana and Naomi Luka Dzakwa. Among the list of parents we have only four priests and none of them is Luka," he added.
"Among the girls none of them is from Madagali. They were either from Chibok, Damboa, Askira and Uba (all in Borno state). So I can say... that this girl is not among the abducted Chibok girls.
"We were never contacted by the military for verification of the girl's identity before the announcement was made."
A human rights activist in Mubi, Adamawa, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of his work, also said a Serah Luka was not on the list of the missing.
A senior Nigerian military source said it was "beyond reasonable doubt" that the schoolgirl was among the 219 held by the Islamists since the kidnapping on April 14, 2014.
"The military personnel who carried out the rescue operation and the civilian vigilantes who assisted them and those who know the girl confirmed that she is among those abducted," he said.
"We can only change our position if the principal of the school or the government of Borno state come out and refute this established identity of the girl."
Amina Ali with her young baby was rescued by Nigerian authorities on May 18, 2016 after being one of 219 girls abducted by Boko Haram gunmen in 2014
Nigeria 2014 kidnapping AFP (AFP)
Kerry meets Sisi as Egypt seeks MidEast peace role
US Secretary of State John Kerry met in Cairo on Wednesday with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, after Egypt called for a renewal of the Middle East peace process.
Even before Sisi raised the issue, Kerry had planned a visit to discuss the Libya and Syria crises and to raise concerns about Egypt's harsh crackdown on dissent, issues the top US diplomat's office said were discussed in the meeting.
But Kerry was also keen to hear more from the Egyptian leader about how he intends to help broker peace between his Israeli and Palestinian neighbours.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) meets with US Secretary of State John Kerry at the presidential palace in Cairo on May 18, 2016 Amr Nabil (POOL/AFP)
"He's interested in hearing a bit more directly from the president about what role he has in mind," a senior US official told reporters before the talks, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"The Secretary expressed his appreciation for the president's recent statement of strong support for advancing Arab-Israeli peace," State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said afterwards, without providing details.
On Tuesday, in a televised speech, Sisi urged Israelis and Palestinians to seize what he said was a "real opportunity" and hailed his own country's peace deal with Israel.
Sisi urged Israeli parties and leaders to "please, reach an agreement so a solution can be found" and called for "a real reconciliation, and quickly" between Palestinian factions, offering Cairo's full support.
Arab League deputy secretary general Ahmed Ben Helli on Wednesday welcomed Sisi's offer to mediate between Palestinian factions for a speedy reconciliation to pave the way to revive the peace process.
In 1979, Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel after years of conflict, and today it remains an influential player in the region.
Washington believes the only way to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is a negotiated settlement resulting in two states side-by-side within recognised borders.
- Frustrations at US approach -
But the US does not believe the time is yet ripe to resume direct dialogue, preferring instead to lobby both to make confidence-building measures to reduce violence and calm tensions.
Some in the international community are becoming frustrated with that approach, and France -- and now Egypt -- are pushing for a quicker resumption of efforts to seek a final deal.
There is sympathy for that goal in Washington, and an acceptance that there is a risk that the process could become unsalvageable if it is allowed to fester, but there is also caution about pushing too fast.
"We've said repeatedly that we believe negotiations are the only way to solve the problem. We've also said that we're not ourselves trying to resume negotiations at this point," the US official said.
"The secretary is very interested in hearing some more about the details of what President Sisi has in mind."
Supporters of the peace process have been dismayed in recent months by Israel's ongoing construction of settlements on Palestinian land and by Palestinian knife and gun attacks on Israelis.
Both these actions stir anger and boost support for hardliners on both sides of the dispute, making an eventual negotiated deal harder to imagine.
"I think we've also made very clear our concerns about some of the steps that have been taken on the ground that call into question the viability of a two-state solution," the US official said.
"That will also be part of our discussion here."
Kerry spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by telephone on Monday and to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas earlier in the week.
After meeting Sisi on Wednesday, Kerry left for a NATO meeting in Brussels.
There have been persistent but unconfirmed reports in Washington that US President Barack Obama is considering making a major speech to emphasise and better define US support for the two-state solution.
But with barely eight months left in office, even if he decides to act, Obama has little time and space to tackle a challenge that frustrated so many of his predecessors.
Syria regime strike kills at least 13 civilians: monitor
A regime air strike killed at least 13 members of the same family, including eight children, in central Syria on Wednesday, a monitor said.
The raid hit a residential neighbourhood in Rastan, one of the last rebel strongholds in the central province of Homs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The toll is likely to increase as several people are missing and others are gravely injured, the Britain-based monitor said.
A handout image released by the Syrian opposition's Shaam News Network shows shelling on Rastan, near the central rebel hotbed of Homs, early on May 18, 2012 - (SHAAM NEWS NETWORK/AFP/File)
Rebel groups seized Rastan in 2012 and the town has been under full siege by regime forces, who control most of the Homs province, since the beginning of this year.
The Observatory relies on a wide network of sources inside Syria to gather its information on the five-year-old conflict, which has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced millions.
Yemen PM rejects rebel-proposed unity govt
Yemen's Prime Minister Ahmed bin Dagher on Wednesday rejected a unity government proposed by Iran-backed rebels whom he accused of bringing the country's economy to the brink of collapse.
At a cabinet meeting in the Saudi capital, Dagher insisted that the rebels surrender their weapons and withdraw from seized territory in line with a UN Security Council resolution adopted in April last year.
The Shiite Huthi rebels and their allies overran the capital Sanaa in September 2014 and went on to seize control of several regions, forcing President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee to Saudi Arabia.
Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed bin Dagher (R) listens to his aide during a cabinet meeting of Yemeni ministerial council held in the Saudi capital Riyadh, on May 18, 2016 Fayez Nureldine (AFP)
Riyadh formed a regional coalition that began air strikes against the rebels in March last year and later sent in ground forces to support Hadi's government.
"The retreat (of the rebels) from state institutions is non-negotiable," the premier said.
The meeting was held inside a Saudi government hall where Dagher read from a statement, with cabinet ministers seated at a long table in front of him.
At UN-brokered peace talks which began on April 21 in Kuwait, the rebels made a transitional government of consensus a precondition for applying Security Council Resolution 2216.
But the prime minister attacked "those who want a national unity government before handing over the weapons" which constitutionally belong in state hands.
He added that the country was "in a terrible state of economic and monetary collapse" after the rebels spent $3 billion, almost the entire monetary reserves of Yemen, "in their war efforts".
He said the rebels also arranged to print more money, leading to a collapse in the value of the rial and a spike in prices.
Residents say the cost of fruit and vegetables has risen by at least 20 percent in recent days, while essentials like flour are up by more than 30 percent.
On Tuesday, Yemen's government threatened to quit the peace talks unless UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed can provide a written guarantee from the rebels that they recognise Resolution 2216 and the "legitimacy" of Hadi's administration.
Foreign Minister Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi said his team will stay in Kuwait until the weekend and then take a decision.
One foreign diplomat told AFP he was "not optimistic", while raising the possibility of international pressure on the government to show greater flexibility over rebel disarmament and the transitional government proposal.
Another diplomatic source was more positive.
"I don't think we're looking at it really being over yet," although neither side had been particularly flexible, the source said.
He added that Hadi's future appears to be a factor in discussion of the proposed "consensus" government.
"My guess is that Hadi just doesn't feel that he would be part of that consensus government," the source said.
Kuwait's emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, on Wednesday called on the two sides to continue negotiating to "reach positive results".
Fighting has killed more than 6,400 people, displaced about 2.8 million and left 82 percent of Yemen's population in need of aid, the UN says.
Director at Cannes urges Duterte to 'change' Philippines
Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte was challenged Wednesday to stick to his promises to tackle corruption as a powerful movie exposing police graft there premiered at the Cannes film festival.
"Ma' Rosa" -- by the country's most renowned director Brillante Mendoza -- tells how police extort money from a sweetshop owner in a Manila slum after they bust her for dealing drugs, forcing her family to sell everything they have to buy her freedom.
Starring one of the country's biggest stars Jaclyn Jose as the matriarch Ma' Rosa struggling to keep their heads above water, the film was inspired by a friend who also fell foul of corrupt officers, Mendoza told AFP.
Filipino director Brillante Mendoza (L) and actress Jaclyn Jose, at a photocall for the film "Ma'Rosa" at Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2016 Loic Venance (AFP)
"It is based on a real story that happened four years ago, and this was not the first time it has happened," he said.
With the controversial Duterte -- who won a landslide election victory this month on a populist platform to crack down on crime and reintroduce the death penalty -- to be sworn in on June 30, Mendoza said, "The Philippines must change.
"I am hopeful things will change for the better. That's my goal, that's why I do these kinds of films," he added.
"He (Duterte) will do whatever he has to do as the new president and I will do what I do as an artist," he said.
Asked whether he was worried by the incoming president, who has been accused by rights groups of running vigilante death squads in his home city of Davao, Mendoza said, "I try to stay away from political issues... I am giving them the benefit of the doubt. Like everyone I am hopeful for the future. We want change.
"Honestly he doesn't really worry me. It is political."
- Not scared -
Mendoza said he hoped the film would have a strong impact abroad as well as at home.
"The mere fact that I am doing this sort of film means I am doing my country a great service and this for me is enough. Showing this film in Cannes is also an eye-opener to a lot of Europeans and First World countries. Let us get out of our shell and don't be deceived," he added.
Mendoza's gritty, hard-hitting films have often rubbed the Filipino authorities up the wrong way, with censors trying to stop screenings of his award-winning 2009 film "Kinatay".
But he said police allowed him to shoot part of "Ma' Rosa" inside a real station, and several officers appeared in the film alongside Jose and her real-life daughter Mercedes Cabral, who is also a huge star in the Asian country.
But the 55-year-old director -- who has made a dozen acclaimed features after only picking up the camera a decade ago -- said he fully expects a hostile reaction from some officers.
"I will deal with it when it happens," he told AFP, but he said he "wasn't going to lose sleep over it. If I am challenged I will ask them if they know of any similar situations. If they say, 'No,' I know they may be lying."
Jose and Cabral spent time living in a Manila slum to become "immersed" in their characters, Mendoza said, although Jose -- who has been in several of his films -- told the director that she came from an even tougher background.
He still insisted, however, that she go and live in the area so she could remind herself how people spoke and moved.
"I said to her, 'Yeah, you came from this but it is good to be reminded of it, because you have made a lot of big movies since,'" he joked.
Rodrigo Duterte won a landslide election victory in presidential elections this month on a populist platform to crack down on crime Noel Celis (AFP/File)
Nigeria's kidnapped schoolgirls: two years gone
Here is a snapshot of key events since the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from the remote town of Chibok in northeastern Nigeria two years ago.
Nigeria's army confirmed on Wednesday that one of the girls has been found.
- Snatched from school -
Boko Haram fighters kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in 2014 as they were preparing for end-of-year exams in the remote northeastern town of Chibok Ho (Boko Haram/AFP/File)
On April 14, 2014, gunmen from the Islamist group Boko Haram seize 276 girls from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno state.
The girls are forced from their dormitories onto trucks and driven into the bush. Fifty-seven girls manage to flee.
An international media campaign is launched, backed by personalities including US First Lady Michelle Obama and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai.
The hashtag #BringBackOurGirls underpins a social media storm that ultimately achieves little.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau claims responsibility for the mass abduction in a video released on May 5, and vows to sell the girls as slave brides.
- Global response -
One week later, a second video shows about 100 of the missing girls. Boko Haram says they have converted to Islam and will not be released unless militant fighters held in custody are freed.
On May 17, Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria vow to fight Boko Haram together, in what Cameroon President Paul Biya terms a "declaration of war".
The UN Security Council says the kidnappings "may amount to crimes against humanity," after Britain, China, France, Israel and the US offer help.
US military specialists deploy to neighbouring Chad but later move elsewhere after Nigeria stops requesting their services.
On May 26, Nigeria's Chief of Defence Staff Alex Badeh says the girls have been located but warns a rescue operation would put their lives at risk.
- 'Married off' -
On October 31, Shekau quashes rumours of a deal with Nigerian authorities and says the girls have converted to Islam and been "married off".
- One year on -
On April 14, 2015, Nigeria's president-elect Muhammadu Buhari warns he "cannot promise that we can find" the girls, as vigils are held in many countries to mark their first year as hostages.
Amnesty International believes the girls have been separated into three or four groups and are being held in camps, some of which might be in Cameroon or Chad.
- Others freed -
Buhari says in late December he is willing to negotiate with any "credible" Boko Haram leadership, a week after claiming the country has "technically" won the war against Boko Haram.
Throughout 2015, the Nigerian military announces the rescue of hundreds of people, most of them women and children, who have been kidnapped by Boko Haram.
But the missing schoolgirls are not among them, despite several unconfirmed sightings.
Suicide attacks using women and young girls increase against "soft" civilian targets such as mosques, markets and bus stations, fuelling fears about Boko Haram's use of its captives.
In March 2016, it emerges that Boko Haram also seized 500 women and children from the Borno town of Damasak just months after the Chibok abduction. The kidnapping had been denied at the time.
- 'Proof of life' -
On April 13, 2016, US television station CNN reports that Boko Haram has sent a "proof of life" video which shows 15 of the girls, the first concrete indication that at least some are still alive.
On May 18, 2016 the Nigerian army confirms the first of the schoolgirls has been found.
Nigeria 2014 kidnapping AFP (AFP)
A member of the "Bring Back Our Girls" movement carries signs to press for the release of the missing Chibok schoolgirls in Lagos, on April 14, 2016 Pius Utomi Ekpei (AFP)
Members of the "Bring Back Our Girls" movement carry signs with pictures of the child hostages during a rally in Lagos, on April 14, 2016 Pius Utomi Ekpei (AFP/File)
Lebanon court sentences 106 to death over clashes with army
A Lebanon military judge Wednesday sentenced 106 men to death over clashes between the army and jihadists two years ago in the east of the country, a judicial source said.
Judge Najat Abou Chakra convicted 73 Syrians, 32 Lebanese and one Palestinian of belonging to "terrorist organisations", attacking the town of Arsal near the Syrian border, and kidnapping and attempting to kill Lebanese soldiers and policemen, the source said.
Seventy-seven of those convicted are in custody but the other 29 remain at large.
A convoy of Lebanese army soldiers evacuated residents from the town of Arsal, near the Syrian border in August 2014 as Lebanese troops shelled militant positions in the mountains around the town Joseph Eid (AFP/File)
They include Abu Malek al-Talli, the leader in the cross-border area of Qalamun of Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate, Al-Nusra Front.
In August 2014, the Lebanese army clashed with the Islamic State jihadist group and Al-Nusra in Arsal.
IS and Al-Nusra kidnapped 30 soldiers and policemen as they withdrew.
After lengthy negotiations, 16 of the captured men were released in early December in exchange for Islamist prisoners jailed in Lebanon.
Since the start of the five-year conflict in Syria, Lebanon has become home to more than one million Syrian refugees.
Italy says Africa nations back plan to close Libya migrant route
Italy says it is making headway in its bid to persuade African countries to help close migrant routes to Europe and take back some of those arriving via Libya in exchange for increased aid and investment.
Ministers from more than 40 African states attending talks in Rome Wednesday voiced strong backing for one of the central elements of the Italian plan -- the stabilisation of Libya. But long-standing concerns about the creation of a "fortress Europe" were also aired.
Italy is on the frontline of a wave of migrant arrivals from north Africa, with more than 350,000 people having reached its shores since the start of 2014, spurring efforts to find a long-term solution.
The Libyan Foreign Ministry in the capital Tripoli pictured on April 25, 2016 Mahmud Turkia (AFP/File)
Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Rome's "migration compact" proposals had been given a "very favourable" reception at the first of what is to become a regular, bi-annual Italy-Africa summit.
Senegal's Foreign Minister Mankeur N'Diaye however warned that the EU could not simply slam the door shut without doing huge damage to economies dependent on the remittances of migrant workers.
"We have many young people who head to Libya, from Niger, and are ready to try their chance on people smugglers' boats," N'Diaye told AFP.
"We have to fight illegal immigration but we also have to create new avenues for regular, legal migration. The support that migrants bring to our development is extraordinary."
Chad, which currently holds the African Union's rotating presidency, welcomed moves this week to arm Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj's fledgling administration.
"The situation in Libya deserves to have our full attention. This country is on its way to becoming a haven for terrorism," Foreign Minister Moussa Faki Mahamat said.
The minister praised the "courageous decisions" taken earlier this week in Vienna, where a 25-nation coalition assembled by the US and Italy agreed to exempt the Government of National Accord from a UN arms embargo on Libya to enable it to combat Islamic State militants.
The embargo was imposed to stem fighting in a country that has been rife with conflict since the 2011 uprising which led to the overthrow and killing of Moamer Kadhafi.
- Billions more needed -
Gentiloni said Rome wanted its migration plan approved at a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels next month and the first pilot projects launched "without delay".
Under the plan the EU would offer African countries substantially increased aid and investment in return for them improving border controls to make it harder for migrants to reach the southern shores of the Mediterranean, and to accept the repatriation of those who make it to Europe but are judged to have no right to stay.
The pact also envisages an increase in legal migration opportunities for Africans wanting to start new lives in Europe and incentives for African states to establish their own reception centres and absorption procedures for asylum seekers from elsewhere in the region.
At a summit last year in the Maltese capital Valletta, EU leaders agreed with their African counterparts to set up a 1.8-billion-euro trust fund to help finance some of these objectives.
But the amount was attacked by aid agencies and African governments as a drop in the ocean when set against what needs to be done to address the root causes of migration from Africa.
Italy agrees with that view, Gentiloni's deputy, Mario Giro, told AFP. "The Valletta money was far too little. We have to talk about big investment and in exchange for that, we (the EU and Africa) work together to manage migration flows and the security aspect."
Giro said Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had recently discussed creating a 10-billion-euro investment fund for Africa.
Germany has made it clear however that it will not go along with one of the elements of Italy's plan: the issuing of EU-Africa bonds to finance it. Proposals to increase legal migration from Africa are also likely to encounter opposition within the EU.
Gentiloni said two million Africans had arrived in Europe between 2010 and 2015 and the vast majority of people landing at Italy's southern ports this year have been from sub-Saharan Africa.
"Italy has chosen to bet on the future of Africa through long-term investment in sustainable development, security and peace and in managing migrant flows," he said.
A protest in Benghazi calling for military forces to re-capture the southern city of Sirte from the Islamic State group without foreign intervention on May 6, 2016 Abdullah Doma (AFP/File)
Migrants and refugees: the routes to Europe Kun Tian, Thomas Saint-Cricq (AFP/File)
European court quizzes Italy over Amanda Knox murder trial
The European Court of Human Rights said Wednesday it has asked Italy to respond to accusations of unfair treatment by Amanda Knox, acquitted last year of her British housemate's gruesome murder.
The American exchange student served four years in prison after her initial conviction for participating in the 2007 killing of Meredith Kercher, before being released on appeal and then definitively acquitted last year.
Kercher, 21, died after being stabbed 47 times and having her throat slashed.
Amanda Knox, pictured on March 27, 2015 in Seattle, Washington, retains a conviction for slandering a bar owner in Italy Stephen Brashear (Getty/AFP/File)
The ECHR has asked the Italian authorities to respond to a request Knox submitted in November 2013 regarding "the lack of fairness in the criminal procedure", a spokeswoman told AFP.
Knox's 2009 conviction of involvement in the murder, described as a drug-fuelled orgy gone terribly wrong, was upheld on appeal in 2014.
Her sentence was stiffened to 28-and-a-half years for murder and three years for slandering her Congolese employer at a bar where she worked part-time, whom she initially accused of the killing.
Now a journalist in her hometown of Seattle, Washington, Knox told the ECHR she underwent hours of questioning without an interpreter or a lawyer, and that her interrogators slapped her on the head.
The 28-year-old retains a conviction for slandering the bar owner. She later said that claim had been extracted under duress.
Along with her Italian ex-lover Raffaele Sollecito, she was definitively acquitted of Kercher's murder in March 2015 when Italy's high court ruled there had been "major flaws" in the investigation.
US kills two 'high-value' IS targets, Iraqi troops enter remote city
A US air strike killed two "high-value" Islamic State fighters in Iraq, while separately Iraqi security forces have started clearing jihadists from the town of Rutba, a US military spokesman said Wednesday.
Baghdad-based military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said the May 13 strike on a building killed Abu Hamza, Abu Safiya and a third IS fighter.
"Hamza was a former (Al-Qaeda in Iraq) member who we know planned and conducted attacks against Americans during Operation Iraqi Freedom," Warren said in a video call to Pentagon reporters.
Iraqi government forces and local tribal fighters drive on the highway between the city of Ramadi and the town of Rutba as they take part in an operation to retake Rutba from the Islamic State jihadist group on May 16, 2016 Moadh al-Dulaimi (AFP/File)
Safiya had been "responsible for staging chemical attacks in the Euphrates River Valley," he added, though did not provide details.
The strike was part of an ongoing US-led, anti-IS air campaign across Iraq and Syria that began in August 2014.
It occurred far from the town of Rutba, which is located in the west of Iraq in Anbar province and has been held by the jihadist group since 2014.
Warren said about 1,000 Iraqi troops had spent weeks preparing to retake the town.
"Although a small town, Rutba has outsized strategic value," Warren said.
"Rutba lies on the main route between Baghdad and Jordan, and opening it will impact the economies of both Iraq and Jordan, and will deny ISIL a critical support zone as well," he added, using another IS acronym.
About 200 IS fighters had been holding Rutba, but they put up scant resistance.
"A lot of the enemy, frankly, ran away when they saw this force coming," Warren said.
The IS group has suffered a string of setbacks and lost between 30 and 35 percent of the overall territory they once held across Iraq and Syria.
US-led air strikes have killed more than 120 "high-value" figures, and attacks on IS cash hoards and the group's illicit oil-smuggling trade have deprived the jihadists of hundreds of millions of dollars in funding.
But despite the squeeze, IS jihadists have claimed responsibility for a string of devastating attacks in and around Baghdad that have killed more than 140 people in the city over the past seven days.
"They appear to have chosen to revert to some of their terrorist roots," Warren said.
"This is an enemy who has not found success in some time, so what they are trying to do is find a way to throw a punch that actually can land," he added.
Despite the attacks, the US military did not assess more troops were currently needed to protect US facilities such as the embassy.
Israel PM shuns Labour for coalition talks with hardliner
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched talks with rightwing hardliner Avigdor Lieberman to join his coalition Wednesday, shattering the prospects of a unity government working for a Palestinian peace deal.
The surprise development comes after opposition head and Labour chief Isaac Herzog had indicated his willingness to join Netanyahu's rightwing-led coalition.
But Netanyahu's Likud party said he and former foreign minister Lieberman had decided to form negotiating teams for the latter's six-seat opposition Israel Beitenu to join the 61-member coalition.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opens the weekly cabinet meeting on May 15, 2016 at his Jerusalem office Gali Tibbon (AFP/File)
Since forming his government a year ago, Netanyahu has not concealed his ambition to expand his razor-thin majority in Israel's 120-member parliament.
Months of secret talks between Netanyahu and Herzog, whose party forms the Zionist Union along with the centrist Hatnuah, made headlines in recent days.
The Labour leader insisted that a national unity government could help advance peace with the Palestinians, amid fierce opposition from members of his party to joining the coalition.
But in a press conference on Wednesday, Lieberman -- who since its inception in May 2015 has branded the coalition as "defeatist" -- said he would be open to joining Netanyahu's team if key demands were met.
Netanyahu summoned him to a meeting a short while later.
For his part, Herzog said Netanyahu was faced with "a historic choice" to "either embark on a journey of war and funerals" with Lieberman or choose a path of "hope for all (Israeli) citizens".
"We won't negotiate in parallel to Lieberman," he stressed.
Labour members criticised Herzog for what they termed his failed attempt to "crawl into the coalition", as reports emerged that Netanyahu had offered Lieberman the coveted defence portfolio.
In a stormy address later in the night, Herzog accused "violent extremist leftwing elements" in his party of thwarting his talks with Netanyahu thus paving the way for Lieberman to join the government, vowing he would make things for the coalition "a nightmare".
- History of controversy -
Lieberman's entry into the government would be closely watched by the international community and the Palestinians.
In remarks made just a month ago, he said that if he were defence minister, he would give Hamas's Gaza leader Ismail Haniya "48 hours to return the soldiers' bodies (from the 2014 war) and (Israeli) civilians (held in Gaza), or you're dead".
Himself a settler, Lieberman has long expressed mistrust in Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and called for his removal.
The former foreign minister also has a history of controversial statements about Arab Israelis. In March 2015, Lieberman said of Arab Israelis who are "against us" that "one must take an axe and chop their heads off".
The Palestinian Authority ensuingly demanded his arrest and prosecution before the International Criminal Court, to which Lieberman responded: "They will get an answer to that from me as defence minister."
The current defence minister is Moshe Yaalon, a level-headed former army chief of staff who has been at loggerheads with Netanyahu after insisting that senior military officers should "speak their mind".
His remarks were perceived as a public show of support for Major General Yair Golan, deputy head of the armed forces, who enraged Netanyahu with comments comparing contemporary Israeli society to Nazi Germany.
The outspoken Lieberman has publicly supported a soldier accused of manslaughter for shooting dead a wounded and prone Palestinian assailant, in contrast to both Netanyahu and Yaalon who condemned the killing.
Sitting in the courtroom with the soldier's family during initial hearings, Lieberman said he sought to "balance the crude intervention of the prime minister and defence minister" in the case.
The stocky 57-year-old Moldova native stepped down as foreign minister in 2012 for nearly a year to fight corruption charges, and in 2015 joined the opposition ranks.
Ministers from the Likud were swift to welcome the move to join Lieberman to the coalition and afford it stability.
Many of the more hardline ministers had been critical of Yaalon's conduct as defence minister, demanding harsher measures against Palestinians in the recent wave of violence.
But Benny Begin, a veteran and respected Likud member, lashed out at the idea of Lieberman being appointed defence minister, calling it "delusional" and "irresponsible" on Channel 2 television.
Israeli co-leader of the Zionist Union party, Labour Party's leader and head of the opposition, Isaac Herzog, addresses the audiance during the Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth's anti-BDS conference in Jerusalem on March 28, 2016 Menahem Kahana (AFP/File)
The head of right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party Avigdor Lieberman (C), surrounded by security forces as he visits Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City on March 9, 2016 Thomas Coex (AFP/File)
Clinton scrapes out a win in Kentucky, Sanders troubles remain
Hillary Clinton has scraped out a narrow victory in Kentucky's Democratic primary, but rival Bernie Sanders scored a win in Oregon, dragging down her race for the White House.
The mixed outcomes of Tuesday's primaries highlighted Clinton's difficulties in uniting her party's left wing, even as she prepares to do battle in the general election with presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
The tensions between the two Democratic camps boiled over at a state convention last weekend in Nevada where a row over delegate selection turned ugly, with chairs thrown and threats reportedly made against the state chairwoman.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton saw Kentucky as an opportunity to appeal to working-class white men -- a demographic where she has lagged behind John Sommers II (Getty/AFP/File)
The New York Times reported Wednesday that angry Sanders supporters were threatening to disrupt the party's convention in Philadelphia in July.
Resisting calls to rein in his supporters, the 74-year-old Sanders has rejected accusations that his followers have a "penchant for violence" and warned that room must be made for them.
"If the Democratic Party is to be successful in November, it is imperative that all state parties treat our campaign supporters with fairness and the respect that they have earned," he said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Unfortunately, that was not the case at the Nevada convention. At that convention the Democratic leadership used its power to prevent a fair and transparent process from taking place," he said.
With Clinton well ahead in the delegate count, the Vermont senator, a self-described democratic socialist, has virtually no chance of capturing the Democratic nomination, barring a mass defection by super delegates already committed to the former secretary of state.
But he remains a factor to be reckoned with, winning primary after primary with an anti-Wall Street, anti-establishment message that has resonated with the young and with white, male working class voters.
- Primary results -
In the northwestern state of Oregon, US networks projected Sanders the winner, 53 to 47 percent, half an hour after the polls closed.
"We just won Oregon, and we're going to win California," Sanders told thousands of supporters in Carson, California as he predicted victory in the nation's largest state, which votes on June 7.
Sanders' win put a damper on Clinton's close victory in Kentucky, where she was declared the unofficial winner by the state's secretary of state.
With 99.8 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton led Sanders by 46.8 percent to 46.3 percent -- a margin of less than 2,000 votes.
"We just won Kentucky! Thanks to everyone who turned out," Clinton tweeted.
Sanders declared he would not be forced out of the race by narrow Clinton wins.
"It appears tonight that we're going to end up with about half the delegates" in Kentucky, Sanders told the raucous rally.
"Let me be as clear as I can be... We are in 'til the last ballot is cast," he said to a huge roar.
Trump -- the last man standing in the Republican race -- was projected Oregon's Republican winner, moving closer to the 1,237 delegates he needs to officially claim the party's mantle in 2016.
Sanders had counted on a Kentucky victory to build on his win last week in neighboring West Virginia as he battles to keep his long-shot nomination bid alive.
West Virginia and Kentucky are linked to coal, as is much of Appalachia -- the largely white, long-struggling eastern US region where many feel they have been left behind in the lukewarm recovery from the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
Clinton saw Kentucky as an opportunity to appeal to working-class white men -- a demographic where she has lagged behind both the celebrity billionaire Trump and Sanders.
John Spenlau, 28, speaking to AFP outside a voting station in Louisville, said he voted for Sanders because he represented the best hope for "continued change" and the fight against income inequality, among other problems.
"Hillary would be a more stable candidate but I think that Bernie continues to push the envelope, towards a few more of the social programs that I believe in," Spenlau said.
- Closing the deal -
Clinton defeated Barack Obama in Kentucky's primary in 2008, and her husband Bill Clinton was the last Democrat to carry the Bluegrass State in a general election.
But the Clintons have struggled to contain the damage from comments Hillary made in March, when she said many coal miners would be pushed "out of business" in the transition to cleaner energy.
Republicans, meanwhile, were gleeful over her inability to finish off Sanders.
As voting got underway, Trump fired off a series of nasty tweets at Clinton.
"Crooked Hillary can't close the deal with Bernie Sanders. Will be another bad day for her!" Trump wrote.
Update on delegates won by the US presidential hopefuls Jonathan Jacobsen, Paz Pizarro (AFP)
Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders attend an election night rally in Carson, California, May 17, 2016 Robyn Beck (AFP)
Nigerian army confirms Chibok schoolgirl found: statement
Nigeria's army on Wednesday confirmed that a girl rescued in a Boko Haram enclave in the northeast was one of 219 abducted from their school in Chibok more than two years ago.
Soldiers and civilian vigilantes were deployed at Baale, near the town of Damboa, and "rescued one Miss Amini Ali and a suspected Boko Haram terrorist, Mohammed Hayatu, who claimed to be her husband", army spokesman Sani Usman said in a statement.
"Both were brought to Headquarters 25 Task Force Brigade Damboa at about 2:30 pm (1330 GMT) today (Wednesday).
Soldiers of the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army stand by the road in Damboa, Borno State northeast Nigeria on March 25, 2016 Stefan Heunis (AFP/File)
"Preliminary investigation shows that she is indeed one of the abducted Chibok School girls."
Usman had earlier said only soldiers rescued the teenager and said her name was Falmata Mbalala. Chibok community leaders and activists maintained her name was Amina Ali.
The spokesman said Ali was found with a four-month-old baby girl named Safiya.
"Both the suspected Boko Haram terrorist and the nursing mother have been taken to (the Borno state capital) Maiduguri for further medical attention and screening," he added.
Boko Haram seized 276 girls from the Government Girls Secondary School in the remote town of Chibok on the night of April 14, 2014.
Fifty-seven managed to escape soon afterwards but 219 had been held ever since.
UN welcomes freeing of Nigeria schoolgirl
A senior UN official on Wednesday welcomed the freeing of a Nigerian schoolgirl abducted more than two years ago by Boko Haram, but said the jihadist group still holds thousands more people.
One of 219 schoolgirls kidnapped in Chibok in northeast Nigeria in April 2014, Amina Ali is the first to be recovered safe and sound.
She was found Tuesday and reunited with her family.
A screengrab taken from a video of Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram obtained by AFP showing girls, wearing the full-length hijab and praying in an undisclosed rural location on May 12, 2014 HO (BOKO HARAM/AFP/File)
The girl's return was a "wonderful piece of news," UN emergency relief coordinator Stephen O'Brien told reporters during a telephone conversation from the nearby city Maiduguri.
"There is a sense of solidarity and a real sense of hope that this is a step toward the future," he said.
"Let us not forget the other thousands of boys and girls and women who have been abducted," he added. "It is vital to continue every effort to find those."
The United Nations is working closely with Nigerian federal and state authorities on those cases, O'Brien said.
Boko Haram has been accused of kidnapping at least 2,000 people since 2009 during an insurgency that has claimed the lives of 20,000 people and displaced more than 2.6 million others.
Morocco summons US ambassador, fumes over rights report
Morocco's foreign ministry summoned the US ambassador on Wednesday to express anger over a "scandalous" State Department report on human rights in the North African kingdom.
The ministry said in a statement it protested to the ambassador, Dwight Bush, over "manipulation and flagrant factual errors" in the report released on April 13.
It questioned "the true aims and motivation" behind the critical report.
US Ambassador to Morocco Dwight Bush, pictured on February 25, 2015, was summoned by the kingdom over a State Department human rights report Fadel Senna (AFP/File)
"Morocco is a state of institutions and has national structures whose credibility and seriousness are widely acknowledged," the ministry said.
"Serious allegations such as those contained in the State Department report give the impression that these institutions do not fulfil their duties."
It said Morocco was "ready to go all the way to confront" the charges in the report, point by point, before the relevant US authorities.
On Tuesday, the interior ministry branded the report "scandalous" and said Rabat had already in past years complained to Washington over the "biased character" of the annual State Department country reports on human rights.
In the latest report, the State Department highlights alleged "corruption and widespread disregard for the rule of law by security forces" in Morocco.
"The government abridged civil liberties by infringing on freedom of speech and press, including by harassing and arresting of print and Internet journalists," it charged.
NATO to give 'niche' support to anti-IS coalition
NATO does not expect to formally join the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, even if it will cooperate on a practical and "niche" level, the US ambassador to the alliance said Wednesday.
"We're not hung up on being declared a member or not. We're simply interested in practical support," Douglas Lute said ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.
In April US President Barack Obama told an audience in Germany that Washington needed "a strong Europe to bear its share of the burden" in the fight against the Islamic State jihadists.
Members of the Saraya al-Salam a group formed by Iraqi Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, march in Iraq's holy city of Najaf as they prepare to reinforce government forces in the fight against the Islamic State group on May 17, 2016 Haider Hamdani (AFP/File)
US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said in February -- also at a NATO meeting in Brussels -- that the 28 alliance members were exploring the possibility of NATO becoming a member of the anti-IS coalition itself.
Lute said the ministers meeting in Brussels will "ask the more practical question of, are there ways .. in capacity support and other niche capabilities .. that we can contribute?"
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said: "We will discuss what more NATO can do to support Iraq. We are already training several hundred Iraqi officers in Jordan.
"We have received a request from (Iraqi) Prime Minister al-Abadi to expand our training mission into Iraq itself. And we will consider this request," added the NATO chief.
The US ambassador also broached the possibility of training missions or support for the defence sector or army reform in Libya -- if the new government asks for it -- or in Tunisia.
NATO's AWACS monitoring aircraft could also help provide intelligence about what is happening in the skies over Iraq or Syria -- even if they only remain over Turkey, according to a diplomatic source.
Google virtual home assistant to challenge Amazon Echo
Google on Wednesday unveiled a virtual home assistant device that will challenge Amazon Echo as the Internet giant laid out a future rich with artificial intelligence.
Google Home, about the size of a stout vase, will hit the market later this year, vice president of product management Mario Queiroz promised at the opening of the Internet giant's annual developers conference in the Silicon Valley city of Mountain View.
Home devices will incorporate new Google virtual assistant software introduced by chief executive Sundar Pichai.
Google vice president of product management Mario Queiroz shows off a Google Home virtual assistant device at the Internet firm's annual developers conference on May 18, 2016 Glenn Chapman (AFP)
"Our ability to do conversational understanding is far ahead of what other virtual assistants can do," Pichai told a packed audience at the Shoreline Amphitheatre, a venue known more for concerts than for gatherings of developers.
"We are an order of magnitude ahead of everyone else."
Home devices combine machine learning, online search, voice recognition and more to allow people to get answers to questions, manage tasks, or control devices by speaking naturally, demonstrations showed.
"When I walk into my house, I should be able to interact with Google assistant hands free, using voice, without taking out my phone," Queiroz said.
"Google Home will become more and more a control center for your whole home."
Home will synch with Chromecast devices that allow remote control of televisions or stereo systems, and with "smart" devices made by Google-owned Nest and other companies, according to Queiroz.
"It's like having a voice-controlled remote control to the real world whenever you need it," he said.
He demonstrated Home answering homework questions, changing restaurant bookings, checking commute traffic, playing music selections and more.
"It is really exciting to see Google assistant come to life with Google Home," Pichai said of the artificial intelligence capabilities being built into the company's mobile offerings.
Google did not disclose pricing on Home devices.
- Google 2.0 -
When Home hits, it will challenge Amazon Echo voice-controlled assistants that have proven to be a hit since the Seattle-based online retail colossus unveiled them two years ago.
"Google Home could be a major force and could also dramatically decrease the sales potential of Amazon Echo," said analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights and Strategy.
"The biggest sales determinant could be the quality of the AI (artificial intelligence) experience, and in the end, Google will likely win over Amazon."
Google is building on advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence to transform established services such as online search into two-way conversations in which users can chat easily with software that understands what they want.
Due to advances in the ways machines can recognize objects and understand context in conversations, as well as what is being said, Google is transforming search into a dialogue instead of a one-sided delivery of query results, Search Engine Land founding editor Danny Sullivan said after the keynote.
"This really is a big deal. If you want to call it Google 2.0 that might be one way to think of it," Sullivan said.
"So far, the big players here - Microsoft and Facebook - are making big promises. Now, Google is coming and saying they can do that."
Microsoft has created Cortana artificial intelligence, while Facebook has been testing a virtual assistant called M in its popular Messenger application for smartphones.
And, Sullivan noted, instead of using a "bot" reference that has been applied to AI software programmed to interact like people, the California-based Internet veteran is branding it simply Google assistant.
- Hello Allo -
Google also unveiled a smartphone messaging application infused with artificial intelligence as it moves to stay in tune with busy mobile Internet lifestyles.
"Allo" will be released later this year, along with the "Duo" application for video calls, Google engineering director Erik Kay told the conference in Mountain View.
"Allo is fast, smart and secure," Kay said.
"It will be the first home for the Google assistant, bringing the richness of Google right into your chats," he continued, referring to artificial intelligence capabilities being woven into the Internet giant's offerings.
Many Internet companies are probing the possibilities of artificial intelligence -- for example, smartphone applications that can learn a user's habits and anticipate searches and requests.
Allo virtual assistants "understand your world" in ways that allow people to ask questions or give directives the same way one might speak with an aide, according to Kay.
Both applications, which will be free, are based on users' mobile phone numbers.
Allo can suggest replies during text conversations, recognize contents of pictures and customize itself over time to how individuals express themselves.
Allo also allows for "incognito" chats that are encrypted end-to-end and users can have messages self-destruct after specified amounts of time.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks during Google I/O 2016 on May 19, 2016 in Mountain View, California Justin Sullivan (Getty/AFP)
The Amazon Echo is displayed at the Vivint booth at CES 2016 at the Sands Expo and Convention Center on January 7, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada Ethan Miller (Getty/AFP/File)
Tearful reunion after Chibok girl rescued
Binta Ali hadn't seen her daughter Amina since she was abducted with more than 200 classmates from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, northeast Nigeria, more than two years ago.
Amina and her brother Mai were Binta's only living children. The other 11 had died.
And while Amina was being held by Boko Haram Islamists, Binta, in her sixties, also lost her husband Ali, one of 18 parents of the 219 kidnapped girls to die since the abduction on April 14, 2014.
(FILES) This file photo taken on May 12, 2014 shows a screengrab taken from a video of Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram obtained by AFP showing girls, wearing the full-length hijab and praying in an undisclosed rural location HO (BOKO HARAM/AFP/File)
"He died of high blood pressure," said Yakubu Nkeki, head of the Abducted Chibok Parents' group.
Those parents have been hanging on to hope for their daughters' return. On Tuesday, Binta's prayers were answered when Amina was found by soldiers and civilian vigilantes.
"They (the vigilantes) took her to her village and parked the vehicle outside her house," said Ayuba Alamson Chibok, a Chibok community leader.
"They sent for the mother and told her to go to the vehicle and see if the girl inside is her daughter.
"When the mother approached the car the girl stepped out and her mother exclaimed, 'Amina! Is that you?' They ran towards each other and hugged. The mother burst in tears.
"Relatives and neighbours quickly gathered around the duo and began to celebrate and singing praises to God for rescuing the girl."
- Joint operations -
News of the reunion spread like wildfire through the ramshackle market town of Mbalala and to Chibok, a short drive away along a dusty, unpaved road.
Mbalala, like Chibok, has only a patchy mobile phone signal, making communication further afield difficult; troops on the look-out for militants patrol the roads.
The Nigerian Army said troops from 25 Brigade stationed in Damboa, nearly 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Chibok, were deployed on Tuesday with civilian vigilantes in Baale.
"Vigilantes from Chibok and Damboa regularly team up and raid Boko Haram camps in and around nearby Sambisa Forest where ongoing military operations are forcing Boko Haram out," said Alamson.
They saw about a dozen people near Kilakesa village at the edge of the former game reserve where Boko Haram is known to have camps and they appeared to be fleeing.
Among them was a young girl in a hijab resembling those worn by the Chibok girls in previous Boko Haram video messages. She was carrying a baby.
The vigilantes, most of whom are volunteers and equipped only with rudimentary weapons including single-shot muskets, slingshots and sticks, caught the group and began to question them.
Alamson said the girl told them her name was Amina Ali and that she was one of the Chibok girls.
She then pointed to a man whom she identified as her husband, Mohammed Hayatu, from Mubi in Adamawa state. The military described him as "a suspected Boko Haram terrorist".
- 'Very deep joy' -
Binta and Amina's brief reunion outside the family home -- a single-storey mud-brick dwelling with a corrugated iron roof -- came after one of the vigilantes recognised Amina.
"He asked her if she was the daughter of the late Ali, from Mbalala, and she answered, 'Yes'," said Chibok.
Amina, Hayatu and a four-month-old baby girl named Safiya were taken to 25 Brigade headquarters in Damboa at about 2:30 pm (1330 GMT) on Wednesday.
They were then transferred to the Borno state capital, Maiduguri for "further medical attention and screening", said army spokesman Sani Usman.
Nkeki said Amina's release had brought "very deep joy" to a place that has suffered so much and which has become a symbol of the conflict.
Amina was 17 when she was kidnapped. She is now 19 and, according to the military, a mother. Few can imagine what she has endured in captivity.
But Nkeki said both Amina and her daughter would be accepted back into the community.
"We will accept her into the family as one of our own daughters." he said.
Amina Ali posing with her 4-month old baby Safiya, one of 219 girls abducted from their school in Chibok more than two years ago, after she was released by Nigeria's army on May 18, 2016 STRINGER (AFP)
Car bomb, clashes with IS kill 18 Libya unity govt forces: military
Eighteen fighters loyal to Libya's unity government were killed in clashes with Islamic State group jihadists and a car bombing Wednesday near the IS stronghold of Sirte, the military said.
An official in an operations room set up by the new Government of National Unity (GNA), asking not to be named, told AFP that "the toll is 18 martyrs and more than 20 wounded in the battles with IS militants and a car bombing".
Seven died in a car bomb attack in Buairat el-Hassun, 60 kilometres (35 miles) west of Sirte, the operations room said on its Facebook page. The others were killed in an IS foray in Abu Grein, further west, that the GNA recaptured on Tuesday.
Libyan pro-government forces walk next to their vehicle mounted with a machine gun on May 18, 2016 in Abu Grein, south of Misrata MAhmud Turkia (AFP)
The GNA on Tuesday called for warplanes to bomb IS after world powers showed readiness to arm it.
On Monday, the United States, Italy and Libya's allies and neighbours agreed in Vienna to arm the GNA to confront the threat from IS.
Clashes on Tuesday claimed the lives of seven members of the GNA forces and wounded 15.
IS overran Abu Grein on May 5 as part of a series of forays into territory controlled by the UN-backed government, including a deadly attack a week later on a checkpoint at Saddada, 50 kilometres to the west.
The latest fighting comes as IS seeks to expand westwards out of Sirte, slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi's hometown on the Mediterranean coast, which it has controlled since last June.
Europe fears the jihadists could use Sirte's port and airport as a springboard to attack the continent.
UN chief asks Kenya to reconsider decision to bar Somali refugees
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asked Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday to reconsider his decision to close two refugee camps, including the world's largest, and send Somali refugees home.
In a telephone conversation, Ban urged Kenyatta to continue to abide by a November 2013 agreement with the Somali government and the UN High Commissioner on Refugees "as a basis for the voluntary return of Somali refugees in safety and dignity."
Kenya hosts around 600,000 refugees, some of whom have lived in the country for a quarter century.
An overview of the part of the eastern sector of the IFO-2 camp in the sprawling Dadaab refugee camp, north of the Kenyan capital Nairobi seen on April 28, 2015 Tony Karumba (AFP/File)
It says it wants to close the Dadaab and Kakuma camps because they have become breeding grounds for the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shebab militant group and centers of crime and contraband.
Dadaab, located on the Kenya-Somalia border, is home to around 350,000 people. Kakuma in northwestern Kenya hosts around 180,000 people, almost a third of them Somalis.
Ban also said he supported a proposal by the UNHCR for a "high-level bilateral review on the refugee situation," adding that High Commissioner on Refugees Filippo Grandi would travel to Nairobi at the end of May with deputy UN Secretary General Jan Eliasson.
"They look forward to discussing this issue forward with the government of Kenya, and will underline the readiness of the United Nations to garner the support of the international community in addressing Kenyas refugee challenges, with consideration for the host communities in Kenya as well as the sub-regional security concerns," Ban said, according to a UN statement.
Since the 2013 agreement on refugee returns went into effect, only several thousand Somali refugees have gone home voluntarily.
Frustration over the lack of movement prompted the Kenyan government to announce earlier this month it would no longer taken in refugees, and would move quickly to close the two main refugee camps in the country.
Kidnapped son of Pakistan ex-PM details raid that freed him
The freed son of a former Pakistani prime minister Wednesday revealed details of the raid by US and Afghan forces last week which rescued him three years after he was captured by Al-Qaeda operatives.
Ali Haider Gilani, son of Yousaf Raza Gilani, was found during a counter-terror operation in eastern Afghanistan three years after he was kidnapped on the outskirts of the Pakistani city of Multan.
Talking to the media in his hometown of Multan, Gilani said his captors told him they were expecting a US raid on May 9 and moved him to another location, but they were being monitored.
The son of former Pakistani prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Ali Haider Gilani (C), is escorted by Afghan Special Forces personnel from an Afghan National Army helicopter at the Ministry of Defence in Kabul on May 11, 2016 Wakil Kohsar (AFP/File)
"There was an awesome combat between Al-Qaeda and US security forces in the night of May 9, 2016," he said, as he described seeing the eyes of the soldiers and green lights from their helicopters in the darkness.
"I could only see the red eyes of US soldiers and the Al-Qaeda operatives left me alone in a deserted mountain area," he said.
"I fell down myself on the ground when US soldiers captured me" as drones hovered overhead, he added.
"The cobra helicopters appeared from another direction and shone green lights," he said.
The US forces then transmitted his picture to Bagram Airfield.
"At last, I was identified as the son of Pakistan's former prime minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani," he told reporters at his residence, hailing the US soldier who found him as his "saviour".
NATO has said he was rescued by US Special Operations Forces and Afghan commandos.
Talking about his abduction, Gilani said he was kidnapped by Al-Qaeda to be exchanged for the release of high profile Al-Qaeda operatives.
He spent most of his captivity in the Pakistani tribal district of North Waziristan, where the military has been battling Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants, before being taken across the border to the Afghan province of Paktika.
"I spent the last 40 days of my captivity in Afghanistan and I had served two-and-a-half years in North Waziristan," he said.
Gilani said he was kept in caves and sometimes in vehicles to keep him safe from drone attacks.
Despite the ordeal, he said the cool weather in the mountains was a pleasant contrast to Multan, Pakistan's hottest city.
Gilani, who is a triplet, said he was working on writing a book about his captivity.
Car bomb, clashes with IS kill 32 Libya unity govt forces: military
Thirty-two fighters loyal to Libya's unity government were killed in clashes with Islamic State group jihadists and a car bombing Wednesday near the IS stronghold of Sirte, the military said.
"The toll of today's martyrs reached 32, and 50 others were wounded," the operations room set up by the new Government of National Unity (GNA) said on its Facebook page and Twitter account late Wednesday, updating an earlier toll of 18 dead.
Of the earlier toll, seven died in a car bomb attack in Buairat el-Hassun, 60 kilometres (35 miles) west of Sirte and the others were killed in an IS foray in Abu Grein, further west, that the GNA recaptured on Tuesday.
A member of Libyan pro-government forces walks past a machine gun on May 18, 2016 in Abu Grein Mahmud Turkia (AFP)
The GNA on Tuesday called for warplanes to bomb IS after world powers showed readiness to arm it.
On Monday, the United States, Italy and Libya's allies and neighbours agreed in Vienna to arm the GNA to confront the threat from IS.
Clashes on Tuesday claimed the lives of seven members of the GNA forces and wounded 15.
IS overran Abu Grein on May 5 as part of a series of forays into territory controlled by the UN-backed government, including a deadly attack a week later on a checkpoint at Saddada, 50 kilometres to the west.
The latest fighting comes as IS seeks to expand westwards out of Sirte, slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi's hometown on the Mediterranean coast, which it has controlled since last June.
Europe fears the jihadists could use Sirte's port and airport as a springboard to attack the continent.
Stewart's 'Personal Shopper' met with boos, bravas in Cannes
CANNES, France (AP) In a pair of films at the Cannes Film Festival, Kristen Stewart makes a plaything of her celebrity, giving a homes-of-the-stars Hollywood tour in Woody Allen's 1930s-era tale "Cafe Society" and playing a fashion assistant in Olivier Assayas' psychological drama "Personal Shopper."
Though "Personal Shopper" was met by a smattering of boos at its press screening in Cannes, Stewart has won raves for both performances. Her sly subversions of her fame playing characters that exist just outside the real-life spotlight always fixed on her follow her award-winning role as a famous actress's personal assistant in Assayas' "Clouds of Sils Maria."
In the mysterious "Personal Shopper," her character buys designer clothes and jewelry for a star, while mourning her late twin brother, with whom she believes she can communicate spiritually. On Tuesday, Stewart discussed fame as a constraint that can immobilize her.
Director Olivier Assayas, actresses Kristen Stewart and Sigrid Bouaziz, from left, pose for photographers during a photo call for the film Personal Shopper at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Tuesday, May 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)
"Sometimes I do feel a little bit like I've had my limbs cut off," Stewart told reporters. "That's not to say it's a bad feeling, it's just surreal."
Cannes has been a valuable place for Stewart to explore new, more adventurous avenues for herself, and she has been a common, much-photographed presence throughout this year's festival. She has at turns welcomed the notoriety dancing on the red carpet premiere of Andrea Arnold's "American Honey" and sought to evade it.
Summoning the fright of her character in "Personal Shopper," she said, needed no communion with the supernatural.
"The constant nature of life is so terrifying," she said, under press-conference lights. "You can't get away from it. Like right now, I can't get out. I can't get out of here! I cannot get out of right here."
"Personal Shopper" is a shifty, enigmatic film that drew mixed reviews from critics. Booing has a long tradition at Cannes where many jeered or divisive films have gone on to become well-regarded.
Asked about the booing, Assayas ("Carlos," ''Summer Hours") said he accepted that "movies have a life of their own" and that Cannes, in all its feverish intensity, is "the extreme version of that."
The 26-year-old Stewart voiced her strong support for the director.
"There's a flame that he lights under my ass that is stronger than I have ever felt," said Stewart. "I really try to navigate my career by feel. I just feel him."
Stewart was particularly forthcoming about the challenges of the film ("I didn't know what the hell I was doing ever," she said) and how she sought to be "the most thoughtless, present, naked version of myself I could possibly be." It was a vindicating experience, said the actress.
"This movie made me feel like there's nothing that I can put myself through that will ever actually make me not be able to keep going," she said.
In Allen's "Cafe Society," Stewart plays the assistant to a powerful Hollywood agent (Steve Carell) who's drawn to the larger-than-life figures of the movies. But in one scene, Stewart seems to be commenting on her own place in the industry: "I think I'd be happier being life-size," she tells the visiting out-of-towner, played by Jesse Eisenberg.
Asked whether she connected with her character's mysticism in "Personal Shopper," Stewart pondered it.
"Do I believe in ghosts? I don't know, I guess I believe in something," she said. Later she added: "I'm really sensitive to energies and I truly believe I'm driven by something I can't really define. It gives me a feeling we are not alone."
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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
Actress Kristen Stewart poses for photographers during the photo call for the film Personal Shopper at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Tuesday, May 17, 2016. ( (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)
Actors Nora Von Waldstatten, from left, director Olivier Assayas, actors Kristen Stewart, Sigrid Bouaziz and Lars Eidinger pose for photographers during a photo call for the film Personal Shopper at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Tuesday, May 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)
Actresses Nora Von Waldstatten, Sigrid Bouaziz and Kristen Stewart, from left, pose for photographers during a photo call for the film Personal Shopper at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Tuesday, May 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)
Actress Kristen Stewart arrives for a photo call for the film Personal Shopper at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Tuesday, May 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)
The Latest: Officials say day's death toll in Baghdad now 69
BAGHDAD (AP) The latest on a wave of militants attacks in Iraq as government forces battle the Islamic State group (all times local):
4:20 p.m.
Iraqi officials have raised the death toll from the day's bombings of Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad to 69 killed. Scores have also been wounded in the wave of attacks.
The new, higher death toll comes after a bombing in the northeastern Baghdad neighborhood of Habibiyah killed nine people and wounded 18 early on Tuesday afternoon. Police officials say the attack targeted a restaurant.
In the largest attack of the day, a car bomb struck a crowded market in Baghdad's northeastern Shaab neighborhood, killing 34 people there and wounded 75. Elsewhere in the Iraqi capital, at least 26 were killed.
So far, the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility only for the deadliest of the attacks, the one in the Shaab neighborhood.
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3 p.m.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a back-to-back twin bombing earlier in the day at an outdoor market in a Shiite-dominated neighborhood of Baghdad that left at least 28 dead.
The attack in the northern Shaab neighborhood was the deadliest of three assaults that hit the Iraqi capital on Tuesday, killing at least 50 people in all.
Police say the Shaab attack started with a roadside bomb explosion outside the concrete blast walls surrounding the open-air market, followed by a suicide bomber who blew himself up as people gathered to help the victims of the first explosion. At least 65 others were wounded.
In an online statement, the Islamic State group says the attack was carried out by an Iraqi and targeted members of Shiite militias. The Associated Press could not verify the authenticity of the statement but it was posted on a militant website commonly used by extremists.
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2:50 p.m.
Iraqi officials say a suicide car bombing has hit a crowded market in Baghdad's predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City area, killing 14 people there.
It's the third deadly bombing to strike Shiite areas of the Iraqi capital on Tuesday. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which also wounded 30 people.
The officials spoke on condition to anonymity as they were not authorized to release the information to the media.
A wave of bombings in and around Baghdad over the past week has killed almost 200 people.
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2: 10 p.m.
Iraqi officials have raised the death toll from a car bombing earlier in the day at an outdoor market in a Shiite-dominated neighborhood of Baghdad to at least 28 killed.
A police officer says the explosion Tuesday in the northeastern Shaab neighborhood also wounded up to 65 people. The attack was carried out with an explosives-laden car that was parked near the market. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to reporters.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad.
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1:26 p.m.
Iraqi officials say a second car bombing in Baghdad has struck an outdoor market in the city's south, killing at least five people there.
The explosion hit a fruit-and-vegetable market in the Shiite-dominated neighborhood of Dora. The bombing followed the attack on an open-air market in the capital's northeastern Shaab neighborhood earlier on Tuesday that killed at least 16 people and wounded 45.
The police say the Dora explosion also wounded 15 people.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, which bore the hallmarks of the extremist Islamic State group that has been behind recent deadly attacks in the Iraqi capital and beyond.
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12:50 p.m.
Iraqi officials say a car bomb at an outdoor market in a Shiite-dominated Baghdad neighborhood has killed at least 13 people.
A police officer says initial reports show Tuesday's attack in the northeastern Shaab neighborhood was carried out with an explosives-laden car that was parked near the market. He says the explosion also wounded up to 40 people.
A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to talk to reporters.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which bore the hallmarks of the extremist Islamic State group that has been behind recent deadly attacks in the Iraqi capital and beyond.
Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad
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11 a.m.
Iraq's Oil Ministry has resumed work at a natural gas plant north of Baghdad, two days after a coordinated dawn assault by Islamic State militants left at least 14 dead.
Deputy Minister Hamid Younis says work at the plant's three production lines returned "to normal levels" on Tuesday in Taji. The town is about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Baghdad.
Younis says the plant was back to full capacity of producing 30,000 cooking gas cylinders a day. He says Sunday's attack only damaged two gas storages and a few pipelines.
In the attack, a suicide car bomber hit the facility's main gate, followed by other suicide bombers and militants who broke into the plant and clashed with security forces.
Again, Home Depot rises above the retail fray
ATLANTA (AP) Home Depot topped expectations for the first quarter thanks in part to mild weather and the company, riding a strong rebound in housing, lifted its outlook for the year.
Shares neared an all-time high before the opening bell Tuesday.
Americans are plowing money into homes as prices continue to rise. In its most recent report, the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 5.4 percent and the National Association of Realtors' seasonally adjusted pending home sales index rose 1.4 percent to 110.5, the highest level since May 2015.
FILE - In this Monday, July 13, 2015, file photo, Vicente Aguiar loads garage door trims into his pickup truck outside a Home Depot in Hialeah, Fla. Home Depot reports financial results on Tuesday, May 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz, File)
On Tuesday the Commerce Department will report on April U.S. home construction. Ground breakings are running ahead of last year's pace, largely because of a dramatic increase in the construction of single-family homes.
For the three months ended May 1, The Home Depot Inc. earned $1.8 billion, or $1.44 per share, easily surpassing per-share projections for $1.33, according to a survey of analysts by Zacks Investment Research. It also topped last year's quarterly profit of $1.58 billion, or $1.21 per share.
Revenue increased to $22.76 billion, from $20.89 billion, better than the $22.32 billion that Wall Street expected.
Sales at stores open at least a year, a key indicator of a retailer's performance, climbed 6.5 percent. They were even stronger, up 7.4 percent, in the U.S.
Those comparable-store sales are also running in the opposite direction of other retailers like Macy's and J.C. Penney. A host of retailers reported falling profits, falling revenues or outright losses over the past week.
J.C. Penney last week, after reporting another quarter of losses, said it would begin selling home appliances, the first time it has done so in three decades, hoping to grab some of the profits piling up at Home Depot and its rival, Lowe's.
Some of the same variables that hurt most retailers even more this year, namely warm weather, also pushed Home Depot sales higher. Chairman and CEO Craig Menear said the company saw "week-to-week demand spikes caused by weather variability."
Home Depot now foresees 2016 earnings of $6.27 per share. Revenue is expected to be up about 6.3 percent, with same-store sales now anticipated to rise approximately 4.9 percent.
The company's previous guidance was for earnings between $6.12 and $6.18 per share, with revenue predicted to rise about 5.1 percent to 6 percent and same-store sales growth of approximately 3.7 percent to 4.5 percent.
Lowe's Cos. reports quarterly results Wednesday.
Shares of Home Depot added $2.31 to $137.65 before the market open. That's 77 cents shy of the company's all-time high, reached just last week.
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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on HD at http://www.zacks.com/ap/HD
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Keywords: Home Depot, Earnings Report, Priority Earnings
Transgender bathroom choice nothing new for Seattle schools
SEATTLE (AP) In progressive Seattle, a presidential order that public schools give transgender students access to the bathrooms matching their gender identity won't require a shift.
While the debate has reached a fever pitch in other parts of the country, the city's public schools have accommodated transgender students in the bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their identity since 2012. It stands in stark contrast to places like North Carolina that recently passed divisive restrictions.
The Seattle school district celebrated the opening of its latest gender-neutral bathroom Tuesday with a large gathering of students and faculty at Nathan Hale High School. Nearly half of the city's 15 public high schools have restrooms that can be used by people of any gender, with one dating to the 1990s.
Destin Cramer, left, and Noah Rice place a new sticker on the door at the ceremonial opening of a gender neutral bathroom at Nathan Hale high school Tuesday, May 17, 2016, in Seattle. President Obama's directive ordering schools to accommodate transgender students has been controversial in some places but since 2012 Seattle has mandated that transgender students be able to use of the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice. Nearly half of the district's 15 high schools already have gender neutral bathrooms and one high school has had a transgender bathroom for 20 years. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
To Destin Cramer, 17, the inclusive bathroom is another jolt for a movement in full swing in Seattle and gaining momentum nationally. Cramer is a transgender student at Nathan Hale who created the gender-neutral bathroom for his senior project.
"I feel like it's going to start making a domino effect and everyone's going to start realizing this needs to happen in order for transgender students to feel more included," he said.
While Washington state has asked schools to include bathroom accommodations for transgender students for four years, it isn't immune to the clashes playing out nationwide. Conservatives are trying to get a measure on the November ballot that would force public schools to require students to use facilities corresponding with their biological gender at birth.
But President Barack Obama said last week that schools nationwide must treat transgender students in a way that matches their gender identity.
The order meant a lot to Cramer, who said he has seen transgender students who are bullied or excluded do poorly in school and suffer from depression. Transgender people who experienced rejection, discrimination, victimization or violence have a higher risk of attempting suicide, according to an analysis of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey by the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Cramer said gender-neutral bathrooms are another step forward for those who don't want to choose a sex-segregated restroom. Nathan Hale has sex-specific bathrooms as well as the neutral facility, which has five stalls and a sign reading "inclusive restroom."
Erin Shafkind, a teacher at the school, said transgender students would often use the restroom in the school nurse's office, crossing campus so they wouldn't have to use a gender-specific bathroom.
Senior Jakob Ainsworth said he supports the neutral bathroom and expects many people to use it.
"I believe this is going to be very helpful for any transgender student at this school, and hopefully will move on to other schools," he said.
The debate flared in Washington state after officials in late December began officially requiring public buildings to let transgender people use the facilities matching their gender identity.
The rule has faced challenges, including failed efforts to repeal it in the Legislature and the effort to gather enough signatures to qualify a restrictive ballot measure.
GOP state Sen. Doug Ericksen, who sponsored an anti-access bill that narrowly failed, said local school boards should decide bathroom policies.
"I think most people in Washington state feel that President Obama has grossly overstepped his executive authority," Ericksen said.
Seattle schools have already decided the issue with community support, said Eyva Winet, assistant principal at Nova High School, a small alternative school has had a gender-neutral bathroom for about 20 years.
"I don't think his statement is that Earth-shattering to us out here on the West Coast," Winet said of Obama's directive. "But it's pretty exciting that there is a national move toward anti-discrimination laws similar to what we have in Washington state."
Ninth graders Tehya Vining, left, and Christian Jarboe talk after walking for the first time into a gender neutral bathroom at Nathan Hale high school Tuesday, May 17, 2016, in Seattle. President Obama's directive ordering schools to accommodate transgender students has been controversial in some places but since 2012 Seattle has mandated that transgender students be able to use of the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice. Nearly half of the district's 15 high schools already have gender neutral bathrooms and one high school has had a transgender bathroom for 20 years. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Deena Kennedy, left, holds a sticker for a new gender neutral bathroom as members of the cheer squad applaud behind during a ceremonial opening for the restroom at Nathan Hale high school Tuesday, May 17, 2016, in Seattle. President Obama's directive ordering schools to accommodate transgender students has been controversial in some places but since 2012 Seattle has mandated that transgender students be able to use of the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice. Nearly half of the district's 15 high schools already have gender neutral bathrooms and one high school has had a transgender bathroom for 20 years. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Destin Cramer, right, embraces a friend at the opening of a gender neutral bathroom that he helped create at Nathan Hale high school Tuesday, May 17, 2016, in Seattle. President Obama's directive ordering schools to accommodate transgender students has been controversial in some places but since 2012 Seattle has mandated that transgender students be able to use of the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice. Nearly half of the district's 15 high schools already have gender neutral bathrooms and one high school has had a transgender bathroom for 20 years. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Elton John criticizes NC governor for signing LGBT law
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) Pop star Elton John is taking North Carolina's governor to task for signing a bill that limits antidiscrimination policies for LGBT people, saying he needs a lesson in compassion.
Writing for a blog posted Tuesday on The Hill , John wrote that the law is discriminatory and the state is wasting millions of dollars to defend it. He writes that's what worse is Gov. Pat McCrory signed the bill after saying he had never met a transgender person.
The governor took that statement back, but John says he sent the clear message that the experiences of transgender people have no place in a debate about their rights. McCrory did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Latest: Sanders doesn't gain much ground on Clinton
WASHINGTON (AP) The Latest on Tuesday's primary elections in Kentucky and Oregon (all times local):
12:30 a.m.
Bernie Sanders wasn't able to net much Tuesday in his bid to catch Hillary Clinton in the delegate race.
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., acknowledges the crowd during a rally on Tuesday, May 17, 2016, in Carson, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
He won Oregon, but Hillary Clinton kept it close in Kentucky, where the race was too close to call.
For the night, Sanders picked up 55 delegates to Clinton's 51. Ten delegates remain to be allocated, pending final vote tallies.
That means based on primaries and caucuses to date, Clinton has 1,767 delegates while Sanders has 1,488.
To close that gap, Sanders would need to win 68 percent of the remaining primary and caucus delegates.
When including superdelegates, or party officials who can back any candidate, Clinton has 2,291 to Sanders' 1,528.
She is now just 92 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to win.
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12:10 a.m.
Donald Trump has won a majority of the delegates in Oregon as he closes in on the Republican nomination for president.
The New York billionaire has won at least 17 delegates in Oregon, though there was a significant protest vote for candidates who have quit the race. Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz won at least three delegates apiece. There are still five delegates left to be allocated.
With 1,160 delegates, Trump is within 77 delegates of clinching the nomination. Trump is the only Republican left in the race, though Oregon allocates delegates in proportion to the statewide vote, so anyone getting more than 3.5 percent of the vote gets delegates.
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11:50 p.m.
Bernie Sanders' win in Oregon isn't helping his bid for the Democratic nomination much.
He needed blowout wins in the final stretch of primaries and caucuses to catch up to Hillary Clinton.
Instead, Clinton kept it relatively close in Tuesday's contests and is maintaining her big delegate lead.
With 61 Oregon delegates at stake, Sanders will pick up at least 28. Clinton will win at least 24.
That comes after the two candidates split the delegates fairly evenly in Kentucky, with that race too close to call.
Fourteen delegates remain to be awarded for the night, pending final vote tallies.
That means based on primaries and caucuses to date, Clinton has 1,765 while Sanders has 1,486.
To close that gap, Sanders would need to win 68 percent of the remaining primary and caucus delegates.
When including superdelegates, or party officials who can back any candidate, Clinton has 2,289 to Sanders' 1,526.
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11:45 p.m.
Hillary Clinton is closing in fast on the Democratic nomination.
She's now 96 percent of the way to reaching the 2,383 delegates needed to win.
Just 94 delegates short, Clinton remains on track to clinch the nomination on June 7 with the 8 p.m. EDT poll close in New Jersey.
The next caucuses are in the Virgin Islands on June 4 and Puerto Rico on June 5, with a combined total of 67 delegates at stake.
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11:37 p.m.
Bernie Sanders has won the Democratic presidential primary in Oregon after finishing neck-and-neck with front-runner Hillary Clinton in Kentucky.
The win for Sanders adds to his run of successes in the end stage of the Democratic primaries, but it won't do much to slow Clinton's march toward the nomination.
Even after Tuesday's results, Clinton remains on pace to wrap up the nomination in early June.
Among Sanders' supporters in Oregon was Mary Brewster, a 62-year-old Portland resident.
She says she cast her ballot for Sanders because, she says, "I think we need huge change."
She says that doesn't mean she thinks Sanders would be able to enact all his plans if elected. But she says she wanted to "vote for the things I believed in, and then vote for Hillary in the general election."
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11:25 p.m.
Bernie Sanders says at a California rally that it appears he will end up with about "half of the delegates" in Kentucky's presidential primary.
Sanders says in Carson, California, that he managed to do well in Kentucky even though the state does not allow independents to vote in the Democratic primary. He also notes that Hillary Clinton defeated then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in Kentucky by a large margin in 2008.
Sanders says many people have suggested that he drop out of the presidential race. But he says he's in the race until the last ballot.
He tells supporters Clinton "might get nervous," but he thinks his campaign is "going to win here in California." The nation's largest state holds its primary on June 7.
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11:15 p.m.
Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee have signed a joint fundraising agreement that will allow donors to write checks of up to $449,400.
The agreement, announced late Tuesday night, will allow the Trump campaign to raise cash that the national party can spend on both his campaign and other Republican efforts.
The agreement establishes two committees: The Trump Make America Great Again Committee, between the RNC and the Trump campaign, and Trump Victory, which includes the campaign, the RNC and a list of state GOP parties, including Arkansas, Connecticut, Louisiana, New York and Virginia.
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus says in a statement money will go toward expanding ground, data and digital operations to elect Republicans "up and down the ballot."
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11:07 p.m.
Donald Trump has won the Republican presidential primary in Oregon, adding another state to the presumptive GOP nominee's tally of victories.
The billionaire businessman started the day by picking up nine delegates in Guam, and was fewer than 100 delegates shy of clinching the Republican nomination for president headed into the Oregon vote.
There were 28 delegates at stake in Oregon's Republican primary.
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11 p.m.
Hillary Clinton is declaring victory in Kentucky's presidential primary, but her race with Bernie Sanders still remains too close to call.
Clinton says in a statement posted on Twitter that she just won the state's primary and thanks "everyone who turned out." She says, "We're always stronger united."
With nearly all the votes counted, Clinton holds a narrow lead of less than one-half of 1 percent of the vote.
The Sanders campaign is not immediately saying whether it will challenge the results. Kentucky does not have an automatic recount.
Clinton holds a commanding lead of nearly 300 pledged delegates over Sanders and a dominant advantage among party officials and elected leaders known as superdelegates. The outcomes in Tuesday's primaries in Kentucky and Oregon are not expected to change the arc of the Democratic race.
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9:45 p.m.
Just 118 short of the delegates needed to win the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton remains on track to do so by early June.
Clinton and Sanders each picked up at least 25 delegates Tuesday in Kentucky's presidential primary.
The margin in Kentucky between the two is less than one-half of 1 percent, which means the race is too close to call.
After the votes in Oregon are counted later Tuesday, the next caucuses are in the Virgin Islands on June 4 and Puerto Rico on June 5, with a combined total of 67 delegates at stake.
If Sanders still hopes to reach the 2,383 needed to win, he would have to pick up an overwhelming 88 percent of the remaining delegates and uncommitted superdelegates.
That's all but impossible under the Democrats' system of awarding delegates in proportion to the vote, rather than winner-takes-all.
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9:33 p.m.
The Democratic presidential primary may be too close to call in Kentucky, but Hillary Clinton is still inching closer to the Democratic nomination she's now 95 percent of the way there.
The tight margin in Kentucky between Clinton and rival Bernie Sanders means that the two will split the state's delegates fairly evenly.
With 55 delegates at stake, Clinton and Sanders will each pick up at least 25. Five delegates remain to be allocated, pending final vote tallies.
That means based on primaries and caucuses to date, Clinton now has 1,741 delegates. Sanders has 1,458.
To close that 283 delegate gap, Sanders would need to win 67 percent of the remaining primary and caucus delegates.
Clinton's lead is wider when including superdelegates, or party officials who can back any candidate.
She has 2,265. That's 95 percent of the 2,383 needed to win. Sanders has 1,498.
Oregon voters also were casting ballots Tuesday, with 61 delegates at stake.
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9:27 p.m.
The Democratic presidential primary in Kentucky between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders is too close to call.
With almost all the votes counted, the margin between the two candidates is less than 1 percent.
That's a result that won't change the overall arc of the race for the Democratic nomination.
The two rivals will more or less split the delegates available in the state. That's a victory for Clinton, as she pushes ever closer to securing her party's nomination.
Thanks to party rules that award delegates proportionally, the former secretary of state has maintained her steady march toward securing the 2,383 delegates it takes to win their party's nomination.
Clinton began the night just 140 delegates shy of that number.
Democrats were also holding a presidential primary Tuesday in Oregon.
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8:30 p.m.
Donald Trump and Megyn Kelly are calling a truce.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee and the star Fox News anchor sat down for an interview broadcast Tuesday nearly nine months after their feud began.
Trump took offense in August to a question Kelly asked during a Republican debate and, in the months that followed, repeatedly attacked her on Twitter.
In the interview, which was taped a few weeks ago, Trump appeared sheepish when pressed by Kelly on how he described her as a "bimbo" on Twitter.
He also said he understood that Kelly was simply doing her job and he "liked" where their relationship was now.
He also seemed chagrined that he retweeted a post that mocked the looks of Heidi Cruz, Sen. Ted Cruz's wife.
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7:15 p.m.
Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are in a closely divided race in Kentucky's presidential primary as the results are reported Tuesday night.
Clinton is trying to avoid losses in Kentucky and Oregon to blunt Sanders' recent momentum. Clinton holds a formidable lead of nearly 300 pledged delegates but Sanders has won primaries in Indiana and West Virginia as the primary race approaches the final contests in June.
Clinton is on track to clinch the Democratic nomination in early June but she's trying to avoid primary defeats during the final stretch as she prepares for Republican Donald Trump.
Sanders is favored in Oregon's primary on Tuesday night.
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6 p.m.
Polls are closed across most of Kentucky, where Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton faces rival Bernie Sanders in the state's presidential primary. They're open for another hour in about a third of the state.
It's the first of two primary elections on Tuesday for Democrats, who also are voting in Oregon.
The former secretary of state entered Tuesday's primaries with a lead of nearly 300 pledged delegates over Sanders. She also has a wide lead among party officials and elected leaders known as superdelegates.
Clinton is on track to clinch the Democratic nomination in early June, but is trying to avoid a streak of losses in the final stretch of the primary campaign.
Sanders is coming off recent primary wins in Indiana and West Virginia.
Republicans were also voting Tuesday in Oregon, with presumptive nominee Donald Trump expected to win easily.
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1:09 p.m.
Donald Trump has picked up nine delegates in Guam. He now needs fewer than 100 delegates to clinch the Republican nomination for president.
The U.S. territory held its territorial convention in March. The delegates are unbound, which means they are free to support the candidate of their choice. In a statement, the Guam Republican Party said all nine delegates pledged to support Trump on Tuesday.
Trump has 1,143 delegates heading into the Oregon primary on Tuesday. He needs 1,237 to clinch the nomination.
There are 28 delegates at stake in Oregon's Republican primary.
Supporters cheer while listening to a speaker talking aboutDemocratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., during a rally on Tuesday, May 17, 2016, in Carson, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
McCracken County residents vote at the Lang No. 2 precinct located at Murray State University, Paducah, Ky., Regional Campus, Tuesday, May 17, 2016. The top race on Tuesday's ballot for Democrats is the presidential primary between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Republicans held a presidential caucus in March, which was won by Donald Trump. Other major races on the primary ballot include seats for U.S. House, U.S. Senate and the state House. (Ryan Hermens/The Paducah Sun via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
FILE - In this May 15, 2016 file photo, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a campaign stop in Louisville, Ky. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton sought to avoid primary losses in Kentucky and Oregon on Tuesday, aiming to blunt the momentum of challenger Bernie Sanders ahead of a likely general election matchup against Republican Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
UN says it has received 44 new sex abuse allegations in 2016
UNITED NATIONS (AP) The United Nations said Tuesday it has received 44 allegations of sexual abuse by peacekeepers and staff in U.N. missions so far this year involving more than 40 minors.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said 29 allegations were reported in the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, seven in the U.N. mission in Congo, and two in the mission in Haiti. One allegation each was made in the U.N. peacekeeping missions in South Sudan, Ivory Coast, Mali and the disputed Abeyi border region between Sudan and South Sudan as well as in the U.N. political missions in Libya and overseeing the Middle East peace process.
The United Nations has been in the spotlight for months over allegations of child rape and other sexual abuses by its peacekeepers, especially those based in Central African Republic and Congo. There have been similar allegations against the French force known as Sangaris, which operates independently in Central African Republic.
The U.N. reported on March 31 that 108 girls and women had come forward with sexual abuse accusations against international peacekeepers in Kemo prefecture in Central African Republic, dating from 2013 through 2015. The U.S.-based advocacy group AIDS-Free World that first reported the allegations in Kemo prefecture said U.N. investigators had documented 41 additional cases by April 4.
Dujarric said Tuesday there was no update on that investigation which is being conducted by the U.N.'s Office of Internal Oversight Services.
The U.N. has 105,000 peacekeepers deployed in 16 hotspots around the world as well as political missions in a host of countries including Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia.
Dujarric said 35 of the allegations reported this year involve U.N. military personnel including 11 from Congo, six from the neighboring Republic of Congo, three from Morocco and three from South Africa and four allegations involve U.N. police.
He said 41 investigations are under way.
Three investigations have been completed: A peacekeeper from Bangladesh serving in CAR was sentenced to one year in prison for sexually abusing a minor; an Egyptian peacekeeper serving in CAR was court martialed and sentenced to five years for sexually assaulting an adult; and a U.N. civilian staffer has been put on leave without pay pending a decision on action to be taken, Dujarric said.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has recommended that U.N. peacekeepers accused of sexual abuse and exploitation be court martialed in the countries where the alleged incidents take place and Dujarric said South Africa has announced that it will court martial a soldier in Congo where he is serving, which would be a first.
Jack Ma cancels keynote speech at counterfeit group meeting
NEW YORK (AP) Jack Ma, the head of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, is withdrawing from an anti-counterfeiting convention in Florida just two days before he was scheduled to give the keynote speech.
Alibaba announced the move Tuesday following last week's suspension of the company's membership in the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition, a small but influential group that lobbies U.S. officials and testifies before Congress.
Ma is a self-made billionaire, and Alibaba, which he founded in 1999, went public in 2014 in the biggest initial public offering of stock to date. But some IACC members view the company as the world's largest marketplace for fakes.
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. Jack Ma, the head of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, is withdrawing from an anti-counterfeiting convention in Florida just two days before he was scheduled to give the keynote speech. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
Members of the IACC rebelled against Alibaba's membership in the group and were further upset about conflicts of interest involving the group's president, Robert Barchiesi.
According to an investigation by The Associated Press, Barchiesi had stock in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., had close ties to an Alibaba executive and had used family members to help run the coalition. The conflicts of interest weren't fully disclosed to the IACC board, and it has since hired an independent firm to review its corporate governance policies.
The IACC website listed Ma scheduled to talk Thursday about the importance of e-commerce and Alibaba's efforts to protect intellectual property rights on its platforms.
Instead, Alibaba President Michael Evans will represent the company at the annual spring conference in Orlando, Florida, and will "reinforce Alibaba's commitment to fighting counterfeits and the importance of strong collaboration between brands, governments and intermediaries."
Alibaba also alluded to its suspension from IACC, calling it a "step in the wrong direction and regrettable. It highlights a fundamental difference in how we want to solve this problem."
After Alibaba's controversial inclusion in the group, in April, Michael Kors and Gucci America quit in protest. Then Tiffany walked out, citing concerns over governance issues. Gucci is suing Alibaba in U.S. court, alleging that the e-commerce giant knowingly profits from the sale of fakes. Alibaba has dismissed the case as "wasteful litigation."
The Washington, D.C.-based coalition has more than 250 members. U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus still plans to deliver his keynote at the conference as scheduled, Benjamin Weber, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, said Wednesday.
Ma was at the White House on Tuesday to have lunch with President Barack Obama, according to a White House official, who wasn't authorized to comment by name and requested anonymity. The official said the lunch was a follow-up to an on-stage discussion about the economy and climate change that the president held with Ma in November on the sidelines of a regional summit in Manila, Philippines.
As Ma departed the White House campus, he was asked by reporters to describe his meeting. He said "maybe later" and "very good" before getting into a waiting black vehicle.
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Review: Vogel's 'Indecent' adds humor and insight to past
NEW YORK (AP) Paula Vogel's powerful new play "Indecent" is truly a celebration of the power of theater. A seasoned cast presents the story of a controversial early 20th century play simply and intimately, through seamlessly entwined music, dance and narrative.
With humor and insight, Vogel shows the passion maintained by the original troupe of actors in performing the work over many years in increasingly difficult times. "Indecent" opened Tuesday at the Vineyard Theatre.
Vogel, a Pulitzer Prize winner for "How I learned to Drive," co-created the show with its director, Rebecca Taichman, basing the "play with music" around a 1906 Yiddish play by novelist Sholem Asch called "God of Vengeance."
This image released by the Vineyard Theatre shows the cast during a performance of "Indecent," at the Vineyard Theatre in New York. (Carol Rosegg/Sam Rudy Media Relations via AP)
Taichman deftly combines lyrical imagery, hypnotic choreography by David Dorfman, and atmospheric folk music performed on the bare, wood-planked stage by three klezmer musicians, to recreate a world now lost.
Asch daringly wrote about a Jewish brothel owner in Poland whose 17-year-old daughter was secretly having a love affair with a prostitute. The play was performed successfully throughout Europe, and remained popular when the troupe took it to America.
However, when it moved from downtown New York to Broadway in 1923, it was abruptly closed despite the self-censoring removal of a pivotal scene with the female lovers. The cast and producer were convicted of giving an immoral performance, and most returned to performing the play in Europe.
After slowly shaking sawdust out of their sleeves in a dance of reawakening, Vogel's cast energetically enacts that story and others, skillfully time-shifting while using only suitcases and their contents for props. They perform crucial scenes from Asch's play while humorously portraying the original troupe's geographic and emotional voyage, against the larger backdrop of history. Clever text projections detailing date and place include the audience with many "a blink in time."
Richard Topol is delightfully ardent as Lemml, a young man transformed by a reading of Asch's play. As stage manager, he lovingly shepherds the work for years until the final performances in an attic in a Jewish ghetto.
Topol's six castmates are impeccable in multiple roles, with Katrina Lenk and Adina Verson bring graceful purity to the lovers. Tom Nelis, Mimi Lieber, Max Gordon Moore and Steven Rattazzi provide humor and gravitas in equal measure.
The irony that portraying a lesbian love affair was the "indecency" some authorities focused on, amid pogroms, wars and the rise of Naziism, is part of the oblivion to tragedy that Vogel threads throughout the story.
Calling to mind the sands of time, the dust of history and even something far more sinister, the sawdust pouring from the sleeves of the cast is also a compelling visual metaphor for the enduring, enriching power of storytelling.
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Two people were killed when a World War II-era plane crashed and exploded into flames shortly after taking off from an airport at Mesa, near Phoenix, Arizona.
Emergency crews were sent to Falcon Field airport on Tuesday evening but the two people on board the AT-6 are believed to have been killed instantly. They have not been identified.
Deputy Chief Forrest Smith, of the Mesa Fire Department, said witnesses saw an explosion when the plane went down shortly after takeoff.
The plane came down on a perimeter road shortly after takeoff and a local detective said the death toll would have been much higher if it had hit a bus or a car on a nearby highway
Wreckage of the plane, apparently built in 1942, was shown strewn across a road which runs along the runway perimeter.
A dust storm was moving through the Phoenix area at the time of the crash but it is unclear whether that was a factor in the crash.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board would be investigating the cause of the crash.
The AT-6 was first flown during World War II but was a common training plane in the decades since.
The plane which came down at Falcon Field was an AT-6 similar to this one. They are training aircraft which first came into use in 1942
Falcon Field is the third most important airstrip in the area, after Phoenix Sky Harbor International and Phoenix-Mesa Gateway.
Detective Steve Berry said: 'The nose of the aircraft is facing to the west. For some reason that is unknown at this point the pilot had difficulties - mechanical or otherwise - and kind of veered to the right before going down and crashing on the roadway.'
Det Berry told 12 News: 'We're right in the middle of a major roadway here in Mesa and certainly, never to minimize the tragedy, but obviously you could imagine if this had, say, hit another carload of people or bus or something of that nature.'
Colombia battles world's biggest drugmaker over cancer drug
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) Colombia's government is giving pharmaceutical giant Novartis a few weeks to lower prices on a popular cancer drug or see its monopoly on production of the medicine broken and competition thrown open to generic rivals.
Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria's remarks in an interview Tuesday are the strongest yet in an increasingly public fight with the world's biggest drugmaker that could set a precedent for middle-income countries grappling to contain rising prices for complex drugs.
Memos leaked last week to a nonprofit group, written from the Colombian Embassy in Washington, describe intense lobbying pressure on Colombia, a staunch U.S. ally, from the pharmaceutical industry and its allies in the U.S. Congress.
FILE - In this April 1, 2013 file photo, a dove flies near the logo of Novartis India Limited at their head office in Mumbai, India. Colombias government announced on Tuesday, May 17, 2106, that it is giving pharmaceutical giant Novartis a few weeks to lower prices on a popular cancer drug or see its monopoly on production of the medicine broken and competition thrown open to generic rivals. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)
In one memo, the embassy warns that breaking Novartis' patent for the leukemia drug Gleevec could hurt U.S. support for Colombia's bid to join the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade zone and even jeopardize $450 million in U.S. assistance for a peace deal with leftist rebels. The memos followed meetings between Colombian diplomats and officials from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and a Republican staffer on the Senate Finance Committee whose chairman, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, has close ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
Gaviria, an economist by training, said the pressure shows the forceful steps that the pharmaceutical industry is willing to take to protect its commercial interests.
"They're very afraid that Colombia could become an example that spreads across the region," he said.
Government health programs in many countries are being squeezed by high prices for newly launched drugs and by annual price hikes of 10 percent or more for medicines long on the market, and they are increasingly pushing back by demanding big discounts or setting price caps on ultra-expensive drugs.
Gaviria denies he is trying to set a precedent in the global fight for lower prices.
"For us, it's a question of survival," he said. He noted Colombia's health care system guarantees patients' access to all approved drugs and the budget is straining after years of price rises. In 2009, the government declared a public health emergency after spending on sophisticated drugs had risen tenfold in just a few years.
"As the state, you can't just buy everything at the price set by whoever is selling. But unfortunately that's what happened many times," Gaviria said.
President Juan Manuel Santos weighed in on the debate Wednesday, saying he supports a "healthy balance" between respect for intellectual property rights and private investment and more access to lower-cost drugs.
"When free competition becomes distorted, or abuse takes place, that's when the state has to intervene," Santos said at the inauguration of a factory in Cali that will produce generic drugs.
Novartis has rejected Gaviria's proposal to reduce the price for Gleevec to 140 pesos (5 U.S. cents) per milligram. That is less than half the current regulated price but still well above what generic versions cost before they were banned when, after a decade of litigation, a Colombian court in 2012 awarded Novartis an exclusive patent on one of two forms of the drug.
In an April 20 letter, Novartis' local affiliate said that it doesn't consider it convenient to initiate negotiations over prices and that the decision to override patents should be taken only in exceptional circumstances and not used as a bargaining tool.
Gaviria said he is giving Novartis a little time to reconsider. But if the Swiss company doesn't, he said, he plans to declare access to the leukemia medicine a matter of public interest when he returns from a trip next week to Geneva to attend a meeting of the World Health Organization.
Gleevec has been the top-selling drug for Novartis since 2012, bringing in $4.7 billion worldwide last year, or about 10 percent of the company's total revenue. It won't be the top seller much longer, though. Gleevec got generic competition on Feb. 1 in the U.S., which accounts for half of its sales. As a result, in 2016's first quarter, Gleevec sales fell 40 percent in the U.S. and 20 percent worldwide.
In Colombia, the patent is due to expire in July 2018.
Novartis spokesman Eric Althoff declined to answer questions on what his company is trying to achieve in its talks with the Colombian government. He also would not say whether Novartis enlisted U.S. officials to push the government against ending its patent here for the drug, which is called Glivec in Colombia and some other countries.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement Wednesday that staff recently met with Colombian officials to discuss numerous intellectual property issues but never threatened funding for the peace deal.
Novartis says that the drug has been subject to Colombian price controls since 2011 and that two generic versions exist. But the Health Ministry says generic competition that previously existed has been all but driven out by Novartis' aggressive marketing and competitors' fear of prosecution for infringing the patent.
What's not in dispute is how much Colombia stands to save from issuing so-called compulsory licenses. Cost for treatment with Glivec is about $15,000 a year, or about twice the average Colombian worker's income. According to a study by the ministry, without competition from generics, the government would have to pay an extra $15 million a year supplying Glivec.
More than 100 lawyers and health experts from around the world sent a letter to Colombia's government this week to support its review, which came in response to a petition by local nonprofits including Mision Salud.
"The pressure against Colombia is bogus but it's real," said Andrew Goldman, a counsel for Knowledge Ecology International, the Washington-based group that first obtained the embassy memos. "We always assume that this kind of intervention is happening behind the scenes but rarely do you get the chance to see it up close."
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Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman reported this story in Bogota and AP Medical Writer Linda A. Johnson reported from Trenton, New Jersey.
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Joshua Goodman is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/apjoshgoodman. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/joshua-goodman.
Linda A. Johnson is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/LindaJ_onPharma. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/linda-johnson.
Hong Kong in lockdown as Chinese official attends meeting
HONG KONG (AP) Hong Kong authorities stepped up security for a top Chinese government official's appearance at a business conference Wednesday, preventing pro-democracy protesters from getting anywhere close to the venue.
As many as 8,000 police officers were being deployed for the visit by Zhang Dejiang, the South China Morning Post newspaper reported, citing an unnamed police source. Zhang, the Communist Party's No. 3 official, is the most senior Chinese leader to visit since pro-democracy street protests rocked the city for 11 weeks in late 2014.
About 100 protesters chanted "Zhang Dejiang get lost from Hong Kong" and burned a sign with the same message as they marched toward the convention center where Zhang was giving a keynote speech.
A pro-democracy activist, right, waves banner and shout slogans against pro-government protesters, left, outside the convention center where the Chinese Communist Party's third-highest ranking official, Zhang Dejiang, gave a speech during a visit to Hong Kong, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Hong Kong authorities rolled out a massive security operation on Tuesday as they braced for protests during a top Beijing official's visit to the semiautonomous city, where tensions are rising over Chinese rule.(AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
They also called for Beijing to stop interfering in Hong Kong's affairs and to let it have genuine universal suffrage.
In 2014, thousands of residents took to the streets to show their opposition to Beijing's decision to handpick candidates running for the city's top job of chief executive. Riot police clashed frequently with protesters at that time, once firing tear gas and later using pepper spray.
The protesters on Wednesday were kept back by a police security cordon that included hundreds of water-filled plastic barriers and metal barricades.
Authorities are taking no chances as political tension over Hong Kong's relationship with Beijing remains high. Residents are unhappy with Beijing's tightening grip on the semiautonomous Chinese financial city. Calls for independence from activist groups, once unheard of, have become commonplace.
"Zhang's visit to Hong Kong is just a political show," said Avery Ng of the League of Social Democrats, a small, radical political party. "We need to remind the world that it is a fake show."
Zhang "singlehandedly blocked the democratic path of Hong Kong two years ago," when, as chairman of the National People's Congress, China's ceremonial parliament, he backed a plan to restrict the elections, Ng said.
In his speech on China's "One Belt One Road," a sweeping plan to deepen trade relations with neighboring countries and open new markets, Zhang made only a few indirect references to Hong Kong's relationship with the mainland.
He said China "highly respects Hong Kong's stability" and added, "we support strengthening its cooperation with the mainland and expanding its role in global finance. At the same time, Hong Kong must do more to actively participate in the country's development."
Chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, Zhang Dejiang gives speech at the Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. The top Beijing official is on a visit to the semiautonomous city, where tensions are rising over Chinese rule. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Pro-democracy activists hold placards during a protest outside the convention center where Chinese Communist Party's third-highest ranking official, Zhang Dejiang, gave a speech during a visit to Hong Kong, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Hong Kong authorities rolled out a massive security operation on Tuesday as they braced for protests during a top Beijing official's visit to the semiautonomous city, where tensions are rising over Chinese rule.(AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
The chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, Zhang Dejiang, right, and Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying attend the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Hong Kong authorities rolled out a massive security operation on Tuesday as they braced for protests during a top Beijing official's visit to the semiautonomous city, where tensions are rising over Chinese rule. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Pro-democracy activists raise a huge banner, which says "I want genuine universal suffrage" in Chinese words, outside the convention center where the Chinese Communist Party's third-highest ranking official, Zhang Dejiang, gave a speech during a visit to Hong Kong, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Hong Kong authorities rolled out a massive security operation on Tuesday as they braced for protests during a top Beijing official's visit to the semiautonomous city, where tensions are rising over Chinese rule. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
A pro-democracy activist waves a Tibetan flag outside the convention center where Chinese Communist Party's third-highest ranking official, Zhang Dejiang, gave a speech in Hong Kong, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Hong Kong authorities rolled out a massive security operation on Tuesday as they braced for protests during a top Beijing official's visit to the semiautonomous city, where tensions are rising over Chinese rule. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
Oregon county says no to Nestle water-bottling plant
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) Voters in an Oregon county imposed a ban on commercial water bottling on Tuesday, killing a plan in which Nestle would have built a water-bottling plant in the job-scarce town of Cascade Locks in the scenic Columbia River Gorge.
Those who supported Measure 14-55, which sought the ban on the production and transport of bottled water, had expressed concern about water scarcity and losing the character of the community.
Town officials had wanted the project for the hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue and jobs it could have brought to a town with 19 percent unemployment.
FILE - In this May 5, 2016 file photo, ballot measure yard signs regarding the issue of moving a Nestle spring water bottling plant into the small community, are shown in Cascade Locks, Ore. Oregon's scenic Columbia River Gorge is the stage for one of the hottest disputes in Oregon's Tuesday, May 17, 2016 primary a proposal by Nestle to build a bottled water plant in Cascade Locks, using water from a mountain spring. (AP Photo/Don Ryan, file)
Dave Palais of Nestle Waters North America, who had a small office in the town with placards trumpeting the benefits the project could have brought, said the company is disappointed with the result.
The proposal had split Cascade Locks, named for navigational locks on the Columbia River that became mostly submerged when a dam was built downriver eight decades ago, dealing the town an economic blow. Blue signs opposing the project and red ones in favor were erected in the town of 1,200 that still clings to existence within sight of the Bridge of the Gods, connecting Oregon with Washington state.
In a statement, Palais noted that some voters of Cascade Locks had spoken out in opposition to the measure. Some residents who wanted the plant built in this rainy section of the county had been unhappy that voters in drought-prone sections were helping decide the town's future.
"While we firmly believe this decision on a county primary ballot is not in the best interest of Cascade Locks, we respect the democratic process," Palais said.
The measure was one of the hottest disputes in Oregon's primary. The Swiss transnational company's plan has drawn opposition from orchard owners, Native American tribes, some residents and others.
Farm and orchard owners said water bottlers would compete with the needs of the growing population of the town of Hood River, the county seat, and its shrinking water supply. But Gordon Zimmerman, city manager of Cascade Locks, said his town has water to spare. Nestle had hoped to use 118 million gallons of spring water per year by 2020.
The company would have paid Cascade Locks an undetermined amount for the water. The town would first have had to swap well water for spring water with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The department, which uses the spring-fed Little Herman Creek for its Oxbow Hatchery, had agreed to trade.
The city was then going to sell its new share of spring water to Nestle for its Arrowhead bottled water, branded as sourced from mountain springs.
Studies by the fish and wildlife department and one commissioned by Nestle say hatchery fish and wild salmon wouldn't be affected.
Opponents had also objected to trucks making 200 trips a day to and from the plant. And Native Americans cited global warming, salmon die-offs and water conservation as reasons to reject the bottling plant.
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Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter @andrewselsky
FILE - In this Thursday, May 5, 2016 file photo, spring water from Little Herman Creek pours out of the hillside in Cascade Locks, Ore. One of the hottest issues in Oregons primary on Tuesday, May 17, 2016, is a battle over bottled water that is playing out in the scenic Columbia River Gorge. Residents of Hood River County are voting on a ballot measure that would block Nestle from building a bottled water plant in Cascade Locks. (AP Photo/Don Ryan, File)
Amtrak victims: Investigative findings hard to believe
WASHINGTON (AP) Victims of last year's deadly Amtrak derailment aren't buying the findings of federal investigators that the train's engineer likely lost his bearings because he was distracted by an incident with a nearby train.
Through lawyers, they called the National Transportation Safety Board's cause determination frustrating, disappointing and hard to believe. One lawyer called Tuesday's explanation a "whitewash." Another said it was a "quantum leap."
Instead of closure, they said, the official report on the May 12, 2015 wreck only prompted more questions.
FILE - In this Aug. 21, 2007, file photo, Amtrak assistant conductor Brandon Bostian stands outside a train at the Amtrak station in St. Louis. Bostian was the engineer during the fatal May 12, 2015, Amtrak passenger train derailment in Philadelphia. Victims of the derailment arent buying the findings of federal investigators that the trains engineer likely lost his bearings because he was distracted by an incident with a nearby train. Through lawyers, they called the National Transportation Safety Boards cause determination frustrating, disappointing and hard to believe, (Huy Richard Mach/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP, File) EDWARDSVILLE INTELLIGENCER OUT; THE ALTON TELEGRAPH OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT
"We've reached the end and there's no conclusion," lawyer Fred Eisenberg said.
Having ruled out other factors including equipment problems and cell phone use, investigators determined that engineer Brandon Bostian lost track of where he was after hearing on the radio that a commuter train had been struck with a rock.
At the same time, investigators said, Bostian accelerated full-throttle, causing the train to reach 106 mph as it entered a sharp curve with a 50 mph speed limit.
"Excluding all the other suspects that we looked at, the best we could come up with was that he was distracted from this radio conversation about the damaged train and forgot where he was," NTSB chairman Christopher Hart said.
Eight people aboard the Washington-to-New York train were killed. Four of them were ejected through emergency windows that dislodged as the cars slid on their sides, investigators said. More than 200 people were injured.
Bostian, who has been suspended without pay since the crash, did not attend the hearing. He and his lawyer did not return calls and emails seeking comment.
Duy Nguyen, of Teaneck, New Jersey, a passenger who suffered a cut on his head and fractures in his back when he was thrown across a car, attended the NTSB hearing. The Temple University professor said he was puzzled by the findings.
"The part that doesn't make sense is how does one accelerate when you're distracted?" Nguyen said. "The inclination is to slow down."
No evidence exists to support the NTSB's conclusion, lawyer Judy Livingston said, calling it "an awful explanation to the families who have lost loved ones."
Livingston represents the family of Justin Zemser, a Naval Academy midshipman who was killed on his way home to New York. Their feeling, she said, was after waiting so long for answers, "the answers they came up with were woefully inadequate."
Lawyer Tom Kline said the NTSB's findings "are based on speculation" and would not be admissible in any court.
NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said Tuesday night that investigators would have preferred more evidence, like video from an inward facing camera in the locomotive that would have allowed them to review Bostian's actions.
"We can only evaluate the evidence that we have," Knudson said. "And the preponderance of evidence that we had to work with pointed us to a loss of situational awareness."
The NTSB said a contributing factor in the derailment was the railroad industry's decades-long failure to fully install positive train control GPS-based technology that can automatically slow trains that are going over the speed limit.
Had positive train control been in use at the curve at the time of the derailment "we would not be here today," said NTSB investigator Ted Turpin.
T. Bella Dinh-Zarr, the board's vice chairman, urged the panel to put more blame on the lack of positive train control, arguing it would have prevented the train from going too fast when Bostian became distracted.
"Eight people have died, dozens more have been injured life-changing injuries because the government and industry have not acted for decades on a well-known safety hazard," Dinh-Zarr said. "I ask, why does our probable cause focus on a human's mistake and what he may have been distracted by?"
Over the last 20 years, the NTSB has listed the lack of positive train control as a contributing factor in 25 crashes, Chairman Christopher Hart said, including fatal wrecks in Chatsworth, California in 2008 and New York City in 2013.
Amtrak has installed positive train control on all of the track it owns between Washington and Boston, but a 56-mile state-owned stretch between New Rochelle, New York and New Haven, Connecticut still doesn't have the technology.
Throughout the rest of the country, Amtrak operates on track owned by freight carriers, many of which have lagged in installing positive train control. Congress last year pushed the deadline to the end of 2018 and left the possibility that railroads could get another two years to complete the work.
Ed Greenberg, of the Association of American Railroads, said positive train control is a priority for freight carriers. They are working through testing and installation "as quickly as possible, without sacrificing safety" and are on schedule to implement the technology by the new deadline, he said.
Bostian was known among his friends for his safety-mindedness and love of railroading. Before the crash, he apparently commented in an online forum for train enthusiasts, lamenting that railroads hadn't been fast enough to adopt positive train control.
That history of conscientiousness makes the NTSB's explanation all the more hard to accept, veteran Amtrak engineer Karl Edler said. "What is the evidence that that is what happened?" he asked.
In a statement, Amtrak said it "deeply regrets the tragic derailment" and will carefully review the NTSB findings and recommendations and quickly adopt them where appropriate.
Amtrak already has taken responsibility for the crash, and its liability is capped under federal law at $295 million, which could easily be exhausted, given the number of deaths and serious injuries.
The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office is helping the NTSB on the investigation, but a spokesman would not comment on the possibility of criminal charges.
The NTSB also recommended research into train seat belts and ways to secure luggage that can become missiles in a derailment; training for crew members on multitasking; and new equipment and procedures to help engineers keep track of their location in spots where there is no positive train control.
Eisenberg's client, Kate Varnum, suffered a shattered pelvis and multiple hip fractures when the train's third car left the tracks and landed on its side. After months of rehabilitation and multiple hip surgeries, she can walk with assistance, but struggles to perform normal tasks.
She vented to Eisenberg about Tuesday's findings.
"She just feels like it's not an explanation," Eisenberg said of the NTSB's findings. "Even if it was that he spaced out because he was thinking about the rock, that really is a poor excuse for putting their lives at risk."
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Associated Press writers Maryclaire Dale and Errin Haines Whack in Philadelphia contributed to this story.
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This story has been corrected to show the name of the trade group representing rail carriers is the Association of American Railroads, not the Association for American Railroads.
Members of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) votes on a motion to adopt an explanation for the derailment of an Amtrak passenger train that derailed in Philadelphia last year, Tuesday, May 17, 2016, during their board meeting in Washington. Board members, from left are; T. Bella Dihn-Zarr, Ph.D. vice chair, Christopher Hart, chairman, Robert Sumwalt, member, and Earl Weener, Ph.D., member. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman speaks with the news media following a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) meeting in Washington, Tuesday, May 17, 2016, on the derailment of an Amtrak passenger train in Philadelphia last year. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman speaks with the news media following a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) meeting in Washington, Tuesday, May 17, 2016, on the derailment of an Amtrak passenger train in Philadelphia last week. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman Christopher Hart speaks with the media following a NTSB board meeting in Washington, Tuesday, May 17, 2016, to determine the cause of the derailment of an Amtrak passenger train in Philadelphia last year. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Reporters question National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman Christopher Hart following a NTSB board meeting in Washington, Tuesday, May 17, 2016, to determine the cause of the derailment of an Amtrak passenger train in Philadelphia last year. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Duy Nguyen, 40, of Teaneck, N.J, speaks with reporters about his experienced, and injury, while he was a passenger aboard an Amtrak passenger train that derailed in Philadelphia last year, during the National Transportation Safety Board NTSB) meeting on the derailment, Tuesday, May 17, 2016, in Washington. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Duy Nguyen, 40, of Teaneck, N.J, speaks with reporters about his experienced, and injury, while he was a passenger aboard an Amtrak passenger train that derailed in Philadelphia last year, during the National Transportation Safety Board NTSB) meeting on the derailment, Tuesday, May 17, 2016, in Washington. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
A photograph of the Amtrak Cab Signal Aspect is displayed on a video monitor during the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) meeting in Washington, Tuesday, May 17, 2016, on the derailment of an Amtrak passenger train in Philadelphia last year. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
A photograph is displayed on a video monitor of the derailment of Amtrak passenger train in Philadelphia last year during a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) meeting on the derailment, Tuesday, May 17, 2016, in Washington. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Trial reset for Ohio man who rushed stage at Trump rally
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) An Ohio man who was arrested after he rushed the stage at a Donald Trump rally faces trial next month.
The trial for 22-year-old Thomas DiMassimo is now set to begin June 22 in federal court in Dayton. A May 31 trial date was postponed because of a scheduling conflict.
The Wright State University student has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of illegally entering a restricted area. The charge carries a potential one-year prison sentence and possible fines. DiMassimo was arrested March 12 at a rally for the Republican presidential candidate.
FILE - In this March 12, 2016, file photo, Secret Service agents guard Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after a man rushed the stage during a campaign rally at the Wright Brothers Aero Hangar at Dayton International Airport in Vandalia, Ohio. Thomas DiMassimo, a 22-year-old Wright State University student, has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of illegally entering a restricted area. On Tuesday, May 17, 2016, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sharon Ovington scheduled DiMassimo's jury trial to begin June 22, 2016, in Dayton, Ohio, after a May 31, 2016, date was postponed because of a scheduling conflict. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)
His attorney has said DiMassimo wanted to ensure his political views were heard.
The two sides have said they've discussed trying to resolve the case without a trial.
FILE - In this March 25, 2016, file photo, a man accused of rushing the stage at a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Thomas DiMassimo, listens as his lawyer speaks outside federal court after a hearing in Dayton, Ohio. The 22-year-old Wright State University student is accused of rushing the stage during a March 12, 2016, rally at a Dayton International Airport hangar in Vandalia, Ohio, and has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of illegally entering a restricted area. On Tuesday, May 17, 2016, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sharon Ovington scheduled DiMassimo's jury trial to begin June 22, 2016, in Dayton, Ohio, after a May 31, 2016, date was postponed because of a scheduling conflict. (Steve Mehaffie/Dayton Daily News via AP, File) LOCAL PRINT OUT; LOCAL TELEVISION OUT; WKEF-TV OUT; WRGT-TV OUT; WDTN-TV OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT
46 people on the Italian ship perished, five on the Stockholm
Nearly six decades after the luxury liner Andrea Doria sank off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing dozens, explorers are preparing an underwater mission to the wreckage.
A Washington state-based ocean exploration company is planning the first manned submersible expedition to the wreck in 20 years.
Everett, Washington-based OceanGate will use its five-man submersible Cyclops I next month to get high-definition video and 3-D sonar images of the shipwreck, technology never before used to study the famous maritime disaster.
Nearly six decades after the Andrea Doria (pictured in July 1956) slammed into another ocean liner, killing 46 people, explorers are preparing a mission to get a fresh glimpse of the wreckage on the sea floor
Everett, Washington-based OceanGate will use its five-man submersible Cyclops I next month to get high-definition video and 3-D sonar images of the shipwreck
The plan is to do two three-hour dives per day during the weeklong expedition. The June mission is to document and observe, not collect artifacts
'The Andrea Doria stands out as the premier shipwreck in American waters,' said Stockton Rush, the company's co-founder and chief executive officer.
The New York-bound Italian luxury liner sank after a collision on the foggy night of July 25, 1956, with the Swedish ship Stockholm, which was heading back to Europe.
The Stockholm ripped a gash in the Andrea Doria's hull, causing it to list and making some of its lifeboats unusable. Five people on the Stockholm died, but 46 crew and passengers on the Italian ship perished. More than 1,600 others were rescued as the ship took 11 hours to sink.
The wreck, in about 240 feet of water 50 miles south of Nantucket, has for years attracted treasure-hunting divers looking for money, china and other artifacts from a bygone era. But 16 of those divers have died, the most recent just last year.
The wreck has been compared to Mount Everest, because it is as alluring and dangerous to divers as the world's tallest peak is to mountaineers.
Stranded: The Andrea Doria lists heavily after being hit by the Stockholm on July 26, 1956. Note the lifeboats on the port side which could not be lowered and used because of the list to starboard
Survived: An aerial view of the Stockholm entering harbor after crashing with Andrea Doria; Stockholm's bow was repaired at a cost of $1million and today it sails as the MV Astoria under a Portuguese flag
The Andrea Doria (pictured 1948 leaving New York) has for years attracted treasure-hunting divers looking for money, china and other artifacts from a bygone era. But 16 of those divers have died, including one last year
'A big part of the danger is the depth and the risk of nitrogen narcosis,' said OceanGate marketing director Joel Perry, a condition in which too much nitrogen builds up in the blood, clouding judgment.
Visibility at that depth is poor, currents are unpredictable and plenty of protrusions can snag a diver, he said.
Because of its depth, divers can only spend about 20 minutes exploring the wreck. The Cyclops I, with an interior about the size of a Chevrolet Suburban, can stay down for hours.
Luxury in a bygone era: The Andrea Doria's dining room is seen in this 1955 file photograph
Captain on deck: People are seen inside the Andrea Doria's helm in this file photograph
The plan is to do two three-hour dives per day during the weeklong expedition. The June 2-9 mission is to document and observe, not collect artifacts.
It's being conducted with the help of Boston Harbor Cruises, which is providing the operational vessel, and iXBlue, which is providing navigation services.
'The Andrea Doria is rapidly decaying, and using this technology we can build a 3-D map of the wreck with very high accuracy that scientists can use to compare with future decay,' Rush said.
The findings, in turn, could be applied in studies of other shipwrecks.
Terror of Sri Lankan landslides: 'All I could do was scream'
ELANGAPITIYA VILLAGE, Sri Lanka (AP) Heavy rains Thursday pounded the central Sri Lankan region where at least three villages have already been swallowed by mountains of mud, forcing soldiers and police to suspend rescue work. At least 18 people are known to have been killed and hundreds are reported missing in the landslides so far.
Rescue work had resumed early in morning before fresh rains began in the area. Military spokesman Brigadier Jayanath Jayaweera told reporters in the capital, Colombo, that the army was assessing the situation and would deploy more troops in the worst-hit Kegalle district if needed.
Heavy rains have lashed across the island nation for several days and officials said the extent of the tragedy was still unclear. The Sri Lankan Red Cross said at least 220 families were unaccounted for.
Sri Lankan landslide survivors try to salvage their belongings buried in the mud after a landslide in Elangipitiya village in Aranayaka about 72 kilometers (45 miles) north east of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Soldiers and police used sticks and bare hands Wednesday to dig through enormous piles of mud covering houses in three villages hit by massive landslides in central Sri Lanka, with hundreds of families reported missing. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
"The task is to figure out what happened to them," the Red Cross said in a statement, noting that some people may have left after local officials warned earlier this week of possible landslides.
Jayaweera said that the army had so far rescued 156 people trapped by landslides and more than 1,550 people are being sheltered in seven shelters.
Heavy fog, rain, electrical outages and the loose ground have made it difficult to search for survivors. Officials have also warned that, with rain still falling, more landslides could occur in the area.
Villagers said torrents of muddy water, tree branches and debris came crashing down around their homes Tuesday in the three villages, located at different heights on the same hill in Kegalle district, about 72 kilometers (45 miles) north of Colombo.
"I heard a huge sound like a plane crashing into the Earth," said 52-year-old A.G. Kamala, who had just returned to her house in one of the villages, Siripura, when the landslides hit. "I opened my door. I could not believe my eyes, as I saw something like a huge fireball rolling down the mountain."
Near the village of Elangapitiya furthest down the hill soldiers on Wednesday carried bodies to a school, where families waited for news of missing loved ones.
Farmer Hewapelige Lal said he had identified the body of his nephew, but that 18 other family members were possibly buried under the mud. He and his wife had left their home to take fruit to a daughter who lived elsewhere, but at some point his wife turned back.
"That was the last time I saw her," Lal said, sobbing. When he heard of the landslide, he rushed home but found the area covered with thick, heavy mud. "All I could do was scream."
Officials could not give the populations of the villages of Siripura, Elangapitiya or Pallebage, but such villages typically include 1,000 to 1,500 residents.
In Elangapitiya alone, where 14 bodies were recovered Wednesday, about 130 people were still missing, according to Maj. Gen. Sudantha Ranasinghe, who was coordinating rescue efforts.
Hundreds of stunned villagers took shelter in four temporary camps set up in schools and a Buddhist temple, where they were being given food, blankets and basic medical treatment.
At the Viyaneliya Temple, about 300 villagers shared a meal of brown bread and curried lentils. Local officials interviewed each one to learn about missing family members and possessions buried under the mud.
Local media said President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe visited the disaster sites earlier Wednesday.
In Siripura, 70-year-old A.G. Alice said all nine of her children were unaccounted for.
"I don't know what happened to me" after the landslides swept down, she said.
A man said his wife, mother-in-law, son and daughter-in-law were all in his house in Siripura when the landslides hit. "I still can't locate my family," M.W. Dharmadasa said. "I still don't know what happened to them."
The same rains that unleashed the mudslides also caused severe flooding in cities including Colombo, the capital, where tens of thousands of homes were at least partially inundated. Schools were closed due to the bad weather.
Sri Lanka's disaster management center Thursday reported 38 deaths from lightning strikes and smaller landslides elsewhere in the country earlier this week. Nearly 135,000 people have been displaced and are being housed in temporary shelters.
Mudslides are common during the monsoon season. Much of Sri Lanka has been with heavy deforested to clear land for agriculture, leaving the countryside exposed.
During heavy rains in December 2014, authorities evacuated more than 60,000 people from thousands of homes damaged or destroyed by floods or landslides. Two months before that, dozens of tea plantation workers were killed when mudslides buried their hillside homes.
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AP writer Bharatha Mallawarachi in Colombo contributed to this report.
Sri Lankan onlookers watch a minor land slide following heavy rains in Elangipitiya village in Aranayaka about 72 kilometers (45 miles) north east of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Soldiers and police used sticks and bare hands Wednesday to dig through enormous piles of mud covering houses in three villages hit by massive landslides in central Sri Lanka, with hundreds of families reported missing. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
An auto rickshaw, a three wheeler used for transport is buried in the mud, behind as survivors and others walk on the mud after a landslide in Elangipitiya village in Aranayaka about 72 kilometers (45 miles) north east of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Soldiers and police used sticks and bare hands Wednesday to dig through enormous piles of mud covering houses in three villages hit by massive landslides in central Sri Lanka, with hundreds of families reported missing. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
People run for safety during a minor land slide following heavy rains in Elangipitiya village in Aranayaka about 72 kilometers (45 miles) north east of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Soldiers and police used sticks and bare hands Wednesday to dig through enormous piles of mud covering houses in three villages hit by massive landslides in central Sri Lanka, with hundreds of families reported missing. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
Sri Lankans walk on mud after a massive landslide at Aranayaka in Kegalle District, about 72 kilometers (45 miles) north of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Massive landslides triggered by torrential rains crashed down onto three villages in the central hills of Sri Lanka, and several families were missing Wednesday and feared buried under the mud and debris, the Sri Lankan Red Cross said. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
A Sri Lankan army soldier leaves the area of a landslide after searching for survivors in Elangipitiya village in Aranayaka about 72 kilometers (45 miles) north east of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Soldiers and police used sticks and bare hands Wednesday to dig through enormous piles of mud covering houses in three villages hit by massive landslides in central Sri Lanka, with hundreds of families reported missing. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
The scene after a massive landslide in Kegalle District, about 72 kilometers (45 miles) north of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Massive landslides triggered by torrential rains crashed down onto three villages in the central hills of Sri Lanka, and more than 200 families were missing Wednesday and feared buried under the mud and debris, the Sri Lankan Red Cross said. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
Sri Lankans walk on mud after a massive landslide at Aranayaka in Kegalle District, about 72 kilometers (45 miles) north of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Massive landslides triggered by torrential rains crashed down onto three villages in the central hills of Sri Lanka, and several families were missing Wednesday and feared buried under the mud and debris, the Sri Lankan Red Cross said. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
Q&A: Federal investigation into deadly Amtrak derailment
WASHINGTON (AP) Federal investigators say the engineer of a speeding Amtrak train that crashed in Philadelphia last year likely was distracted after hearing that a nearby commuter train had been hit by a rock. Eight people were killed. Four of them were ejected through emergency windows that broke open when train cars slid off the tracks, investigators said. More than 200 people were hurt.
Here are answer to key questions about the derailment and the investigation:
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Members of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) votes on a motion to adopt an explanation for the derailment of an Amtrak passenger train that derailed in Philadelphia last year, Tuesday, May 17, 2016, during their board meeting in Washington. Board members, from left are; T. Bella Dihn-Zarr, Ph.D. vice chair, Christopher Hart, chairman, Robert Sumwalt, member, and Earl Weener, Ph.D., member. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
WHAT CAUSED THE DERAILMENT?
Investigators said Tuesday that engineer Brandon Bostian appeared to be preoccupied with the fate of a nearby SEPTA commuter train, which had been hit by a rock. They said Bostian may have been caught up listening to radio transmissions between that train's engineer and a dispatcher instead of paying attention to his duties operating the Amtrak train. They said he lost track of where he was and accelerated full-throttle to 106 mph as he went into a sharp curve with a 50 mph limit.
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COULD IT HAVE BEEN PREVENTED?
NTSB chairman Christopher Hart called the wreck a "preventable tragedy" that wouldn't have happened if a positive train control system had been in use in that stretch of tracks. Train control was listed as a contributing factor to the crash, even though the vice chairman of the NTSB board urged her fellow members to have it listed as one of the main factors.
"Eight people have died, dozens more have been injured - life-changing injuries - because the government and industry have not acted for decades on a well-known safety hazard," T. Bella Dinh-Zarr said. "I ask: Why does our probable cause focus on a human's mistake and what he may have been distracted by?"
The NTSB has pushed for Positive Train Control since the 1970s. Over the past 20 years, the NTSB has cited the lack of Positive Train Control as a contributing factor in 25 crashes, including deadly wrecks in Chatsworth, California, in 2008 and New York City in 2013.
PTC had been installed at the Philadelphia accident site but was still being tested at the time of the crash.
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DID SOMEONE THROWING A ROCK LEAD TO THIS?
Trains operating in the Northeast Corridor are frequent targets of rock-throwing vandals. As veteran engineer Karl Edler put it, "It happens all the time."
Other nearby trains reported being hit by rocks that evening not long before the derailment. A grapefruit-sized dent was found in the windshield of Amtrak 188's locomotive, but investigators said that damage occurred in the derailment and that the train had not been hit by anything.
Ron Kaminkow, an Amtrak engineer who also serves as secretary of the industry union consortium Railroad Workers United, said that after two trains were rocked along the same route just minutes before, Brandon Bostian could have been concerned that he also was a target.
"Unfortunately, the NTSB does not even consider another theory, which is that the engineer was actually hit by a projectile or his train was hit by a projectile," Kaminkow said. "This would've likewise caused him to lose situational awareness or even consciousness."
Nevertheless, the NTSB's conclusion starts with a rock-throwing incident. The commuter train being struck, investigators said, triggered a chain-reaction of distraction and a loss of situational awareness that led to the derailment.
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WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Bostian remains on unpaid leave and Amtrak wouldn't comment on his future with the company.
Investigators made a series of recommendations based on their findings in the derailment. They're urging research into seat belts in railcars and ways to secure luggage that can become missiles in a derailment.
They're also advocating training for railroad crew members on multitasking and the use of new equipment and procedures to help engineers keep track of their location in spots where there is no positive train control.
Amtrak says it will review, and as appropriate, quickly implement the findings. The other recommendations are in the hands of federal railroad regulators and the rail industry.
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WHAT LESSONS DID EMERGENCY RESPONDERS LEARN?
Philadelphia Director of Emergency Management Samantha Phillips said the city was revising its mass casualty plan, criticized by investigators, prior to the derailment. City leaders are now focusing on better coordination among agencies in responding to mass casualty incidents.
Phillips said the city's response to the Amtrak crash was "a success," but added that the police, fire department, first responders and hospitals could work together better in the future.
Philadelphia Police Department Commissioner Richard Ross expressed pride in his agency's response to the "highly unusual circumstances" of the Amtrak crash.
"I couldn't be happier with their speedy response and their desire to save and help people," Ross said, adding that he is working with the city on an improved response to such incidents. "When there is an edict that we should coordinate or collaborate more ... I don't disagree with that."
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WHAT ABOUT THE VICTIMS AND LAWSUITS?
Dozens of victims have filed lawsuits against Amtrak, seeking a share of $295 million in damages the maximum allowed by law.
Some victims say they've have already racked up millions of dollars in medical bills. Amtrak has conceded liability. The railroad covered some initial medical costs for some victims.
Lawyers for the victims are required to provide their medical records by June 1, followed by a slew of expert reports by August 1.
"This is still a long process and a long road ahead for recovery - in both senses of the word," victims lawyer Fred Eisenberg said.
Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman speaks with the news media following a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) meeting in Washington, Tuesday, May 17, 2016, on the derailment of an Amtrak passenger train in Philadelphia last year. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman Christopher Hart speaks with the media following a NTSB board meeting in Washington, Tuesday, May 17, 2016, to determine the cause of the derailment of an Amtrak passenger train in Philadelphia last year. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Duy Nguyen, 40, of Teaneck, N.J, speaks with reporters about his experienced, and injury, while he was a passenger aboard an Amtrak passenger train that derailed in Philadelphia last year, during the National Transportation Safety Board NTSB) meeting on the derailment, Tuesday, May 17, 2016, in Washington. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) meeting in Washington, Tuesday, May 17, 2016, on the derailment of an Amtrak passenger train in Philadelphia last year. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
A photograph of the Amtrak Cab Signal Aspect is displayed on a video monitor during the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) meeting in Washington, Tuesday, May 17, 2016, on the derailment of an Amtrak passenger train in Philadelphia last year. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
A photograph is displayed on a video monitor of the derailment of Amtrak passenger train in Philadelphia last year during a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) meeting on the derailment, Tuesday, May 17, 2016, in Washington. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Garbage picker in military attire sings Mao's praises
LUOYANG, China (AP) Zhao Shunli's transformation takes place several times a week in a simple bedroom filled with Mao Zedong memorabilia, its concrete walls lined with posters portraying the founder of the communist state. Once his army jacket buttons up and his white gloves snap on, Zhao the garbage picker becomes Zhao the People's Liberation Army veteran.
Known as a fixture in a public square in the ancient city of Luoyang, Zhao has made it his personal mission to proudly sing the praises of the Great Helmsman, as Mao is widely called.
As the 50th anniversary of the start of the Cultural Revolution unfolds this week, many Chinese recall Mao's political movement that claimed at least a million lives through violent persecution and suicide. Countless more lives were ruined in a decade that tore apart Chinese families, workplaces and society.
In this May 2, 2016 photo, Zhao Shunli tears up while talking about his struggles in Luoyang in central China's Henan province. Zhaos transformation takes place several times a week in a simple bedroom filled with Mao Zedong memorabilia, its concrete walls lined with posters portraying the founder of the communist state. Once his army jacket buttons up and his white gloves snap on, Zhao the garbage picker becomes Zhao the Peoples Liberation Army veteran. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
But armed with his scratchy loudspeaker, Zhao will carry on his almost-daily song-and-dance routine in Luoyang's main plaza, extolling the visionary who he says fought for humble men before dying in 1976, leaving China in the hands of corrupt leaders and "capitalist traitors" who led the country astray.
"The test of time over the past 30 years has shown that reform and opening up has been a mistake," says the sprightly 63-year-old, referring to the relatively liberal policies enacted after 1976 that are credited with transforming an impoverished, battered nation into the world's second-largest economy. "It hasn't brought the country, or the people, or the factories or the companies any development," Zhao says.
Although China's Communist Party is credited with lifting millions out of poverty, vast numbers of Mao's modern-day followers mostly the disgruntled, poor and elderly in the country's hinterlands say they haven't seen any of the benefits, only worsening inequality.
"Injustice led me to believe that by propagating our hero, his thinking and positive energy, we can push our country to make a sweeping turn back toward real socialism, a real pro-worker society," said Zhao, who defends the Cultural Revolution as necessary to keep China on the communist path.
Zhao's life reached its zenith when he joined the army at 17, he says. He left military service five years later and was not assigned a job in a state company because his peasant status prevented him registering as an urban resident.
Zhao bounced from farming to making clothes in the city to other manual labor, never managing to escape poverty. In the early 1980s, the woman he had hoped to marry left him. She later moved in with a wealthy village cadre 20 years her senior, others told him.
"In that reform-era atmosphere, I was someone without money," he says. "I was a veteran, but money opened a girl's eyes. Our values weren't the same."
Today he lives alone in a tiny room sublet to him at a discount by a generous friend. He survives by collecting garbage and food thrown out by hotpot restaurants.
The plaza, where he draws dozens of viewers a day by belting out Mao-era "red songs" with only the humming and finger-snapping of like-minded friends as accompaniment, has lent him purpose for the first time since his military days.
Before heading out one recent morning, Zhao checked on a pot steaming with nearly rotten tofu and chicken feet. Hanging on the wall was a plastic bag full of dried mushrooms he had scavenged. One or two books on Maoist thought and a small golden Mao statuette sat on a dresser. A few pieces of clothing hung from a wire strung between two walls.
Bitterness softened into pride as he took out two carefully folded cotton uniforms from a plastic bag and explained the accessories. He usually dons white gloves and a leather holster. A field towel goes around the water canteen. There are two options for headwear: a vintage combat helmet and a cloth billed hat that he puffs up just the right way with the help of a rearview mirror taken off a truck.
He balances a 1-meter (3-foot)-high loudspeaker, amplifier and cordless mic system precariously on his electric motorcycle, salutes and opens his building's large metal gate to head to the plaza.
In this May 2, 2016 photo, Zhao Shunli shows journalists his home in Luoyang in central China's Henan province. Zhaos transformation takes place several times a week in a simple bedroom filled with Mao Zedong memorabilia, its concrete walls lined with posters portraying the founder of the communist state. Once his army jacket buttons up and his white gloves snap on, Zhao the garbage picker becomes Zhao the Peoples Liberation Army veteran. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this May 2, 2016 photo, a poster of Mao Zedong with the words "Undefeated in battle, our great leader" is hung on the wall in Zhao Shunli's home in Luoyang in central China's Henan province. Zhaos transformation takes place several times a week in a simple bedroom filled with Mao Zedong memorabilia, its concrete walls lined with posters portraying the founder of the communist state. Once his army jacket buttons up and his white gloves snap on, Zhao the garbage picker becomes Zhao the Peoples Liberation Army veteran. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this May 2, 2016 photo, pins with the images of Mao Zedong are seen on the military uniform in Zhao Shunli's home in Luoyang in central China's Henan province. Zhaos transformation takes place several times a week in a simple bedroom filled with Mao Zedong memorabilia, its concrete walls lined with posters portraying the founder of the communist state. Once his army jacket buttons up and his white gloves snap on, Zhao the garbage picker becomes Zhao the Peoples Liberation Army veteran. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this May 2, 2016 photo, Zhao Shunli holds up one of his uniforms in his home in Luoyang in central China's Henan province. Zhaos transformation takes place several times a week in a simple bedroom filled with Mao Zedong memorabilia, its concrete walls lined with posters portraying the founder of the communist state. Once his army jacket buttons up and his white gloves snap on, Zhao the garbage picker becomes Zhao the Peoples Liberation Army veteran. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this May 2, 2016 photo, Zhao Shunli puts on his uniform in his home in Luoyang in central China's Henan province. Zhaos transformation takes place several times a week in a simple bedroom filled with Mao Zedong memorabilia, its concrete walls lined with posters portraying the founder of the communist state. Once his army jacket buttons up and his white gloves snap on, Zhao the garbage picker becomes Zhao the Peoples Liberation Army veteran. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this May 2, 2016 photo, Zhao Shunli puts on his uniform in his home in Luoyang in central China's Henan province. Zhaos transformation takes place several times a week in a simple bedroom filled with Mao Zedong memorabilia, its concrete walls lined with posters portraying the founder of the communist state. Once his army jacket buttons up and his white gloves snap on, Zhao the garbage picker becomes Zhao the Peoples Liberation Army veteran. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this May 2, 2016 photo, Zhao Shunli puts on his uniform in his home in Luoyang in central China's Henan province. Zhao's transformation takes place several times a week in a simple bedroom filled with Mao Zedong memorabilia, its concrete walls lined with posters portraying the founder of the communist state. Once his army jacket buttons up and his white gloves snap on, Zhao the garbage picker becomes Zhao the Peoples Liberation Army veteran. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this May 2, 2016 photo, Zhao Shunli puts on shoes in his home in Luoyang in central China's Henan province. Zhaos transformation takes place several times a week in a simple bedroom filled with Mao Zedong memorabilia, its concrete walls lined with posters portraying the founder of the communist state. Once his army jacket buttons up and his white gloves snap on, Zhao the garbage picker becomes Zhao the Peoples Liberation Army veteran. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this May 2, 2016 photo, Zhao Shunli uses a rear view mirror to refine his look at his home in Luoyang in central China's Henan province. Zhao's transformation takes place several times a week in a simple bedroom filled with Mao Zedong memorabilia, its concrete walls lined with posters portraying the founder of the communist state. Once his army jacket buttons up and his white gloves snap on, Zhao the garbage picker becomes Zhao the Peoples Liberation Army veteran. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this May 2, 2016 photo, Zhao Shunli salutes after completing the outfit he puts on for his performance in his home in Luoyang in central China's Henan province. Zhaos transformation takes place several times a week in a simple bedroom filled with Mao Zedong memorabilia, its concrete walls lined with posters portraying the founder of the communist state. Once his army jacket buttons up and his white gloves snap on, Zhao the garbage picker becomes Zhao the Peoples Liberation Army veteran. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this May 2, 2016 photo, Zhao Shunli talks in the uniform he puts on for his singing performances in Luoyang in central China's Henan province. Zhaos transformation takes place several times a week in a simple bedroom filled with Mao Zedong memorabilia, its concrete walls lined with posters portraying the founder of the communist state. Once his army jacket buttons up and his white gloves snap on, Zhao the garbage picker becomes Zhao the Peoples Liberation Army veteran. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Space shuttle external tank to be displayed in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES (AP) NASA has shipped its last space shuttle external propellant tank to California to join the retired orbiter Endeavour on display in Los Angeles. The plan is to mount the winged spaceship vertically on the massive tank as if ready for launch, complete with a real pair of solid rocket boosters.
The huge orange tank arrived aboard a barge early Wednesday at Marina del Rey on the Los Angeles County coast after a trip that took it from a space agency facility in Louisiana, through the Gulf of Mexico and the Panama Canal, and up the Pacific Coast of Mexico. The barge was carefully docked and a big-rig cab hooked up to the tank's trailer and pulled it onto land.
This weekend the tank will be hauled through the streets of Los Angeles to its final home at the California Science Center. The trek is expected to take 13 to 18 hours.
Dennis Jenkins, Project Director Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center at the California Science Center Foundation pulls a line as the space shuttle external propellant tank ET- 94, arrives aboard a barge at Marina del Rey, Calif., on Wednesday, May 18, 2016. NASA's only remaining version of the tank will be placed on dollies and pulled by a truck to its final destination near the California Science Center's Samuel Oschin Pavilion in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
EXTERNAL TANK-94
Known as ET-94, the tank is massive: 154 feet long, 27.5 feet in diameter and weighs 65,000 pounds empty. Tanks not only carried propellant but served as the core of the launch system's architecture. A shuttle also referred to as an orbiter would be mounted on the side of a tank, along with two solid-fuel rocket motors.
INTERIOR
Inside the tank are two internal tanks one for liquid oxygen and a much larger one for liquid hydrogen (held at minus-423 degrees) the propellants that fed a space shuttle's three main engines. Another structure connects those tanks and houses other equipment. The total weight of the propellants used for launch exceeded 1.6 million pounds.
EXTERIOR
The tank's surface is covered with a layer of sprayed-on foam designed to keep the propellants at the proper temperature, reduce the formation of ice and to provide protection from heat as it sped through the atmosphere.
FLIGHT
The operational life of an external tank was short. At liftoff, the powerful thrust of the solid rocket boosters was necessary to help the shuttle get moving toward orbit. Within a few minutes, the boosters would fall away from the tank and parachute into the Atlantic for recovery and reuse. Meanwhile, the shuttle's main engines gulped thousands of gallons of fuel as the shuttle gained enough speed to enter orbit more than 17,000 mph. In little more than eight minutes and 70 miles above the Earth, the tank's job would be done, detaching from the orbiter and falling away on a planned trajectory over an ocean. Unlike the boosters, the tank would almost entirely burn up in the atmosphere.
HISTORY
ET-94 is the last flight-qualified external tank. NASA ordered it for a mission that would have been flown by the shuttle Columbia, which disintegrated over Texas as it was returning from a mission, killing its crew of seven. An investigation found that foam fell off that mission's external tank during launch and punched a hole into a wing, allowing hot gases of the fiery re-entry inside the structure. Investigators used many pieces of foam from ET-94 in tests to come to the conclusion.
The space shuttle external propellant tank ET- 94, arrives aboard a barge at Marina del Rey, Calif., on Wednesday, May 18, 2016. NASA's only remaining version of the tank will be placed on dollies and pulled by a truck to its final destination near the California Science Center's Samuel Oschin Pavilion in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
The space shuttle external propellant tank ET- 94, arrives aboard a barge at Marina del Rey, Calif., on Wednesday, May 18, 2016. NASA's only remaining version of the tank will be placed on dollies and pulled by a truck to its final destination near the California Science Center's Samuel Oschin Pavilion in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Sanders wins Oregon, battles Clinton in Ky.; Trump wins Ore.
WASHINGTON (AP) Bernie Sanders won Oregon's presidential primary and battled Hillary Clinton to a razor-thin margin in Kentucky, vowing to stay in the race until the end as Clinton aimed to blunt his momentum and prepare for a fall campaign against Republican Donald Trump.
Tuesday's primary in Kentucky was too close to call with Clinton leading Sanders by less than one-half of 1 percent. Closing in on the Democratic nomination, Clinton declared victory in Kentucky nonetheless, telling her supporters on Twitter: "We're always stronger united."
Trump won the GOP's Oregon primary, the only Republican contest on Tuesday. In a sign of his pivot into the general election, his campaign announced that it had signed a joint fundraising agreement with the Republican National Committee that will allow it to raise cash for both his campaign and other Republican efforts.
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., pauses while speaking at a rally on Tuesday, May 17, 2016, in Carson, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
After months of discord within the GOP, Democrats displayed new signs that it could have trouble uniting around Clinton's candidacy as Sanders plows through the end of the primary calendar in mid-June. Sanders will need to win about two-thirds of the remaining pledged delegates to end the primary season in a tie but is not letting up.
"Before we will have the opportunity to defeat Donald Trump, we're going to have to defeat Secretary Clinton," Sanders said Tuesday night to cheers in Carson, California.
Clinton ended the night with a commanding lead of 279 pledged delegates over Sanders and a dominant advantage among party officials and elected leaders known as superdelegates.
The outcomes in Kentucky and Oregon, where Sanders led by 9 percentage points with roughly three-quarters of the vote counted, did not dramatically change the delegate count. The former secretary of state remains on track to clinch the nomination on June 7 in the New Jersey primary.
But Tuesday's elections followed a divisive weekend state party convention in Nevada in which supporters of Sanders were accused of tossing chairs and making death threats against the Nevada party chairwoman at the event in Las Vegas. Supporters argued that party leadership had rigged the results of the convention in favor of Clinton.
In a sign of the tensions between the two sides, Sanders issued a defiant statement Tuesday dismissing complaints from Nevada Democrats as "nonsense" and said his supporters were not being treated with "fairness and respect."
Later, in California, Sanders said the party could "do the right thing and welcome into the party people who are prepared to fight for real economic and social change." He said the other option would be to "maintain its status quo structure, remain dependent on big-money campaign contributions and be a party with limited participation and limited energy."
Sanders pointed to polls that show him in a stronger head-to-head matchup against Trump than Clinton. With his win in Oregon, the billionaire businessman now has 1,160 delegates, putting him within 77 delegates of clinching the Republican nomination.
Trump had 67 percent of the vote in Oregon with about a quarter of the vote left to be counted. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich both got about 16 percent of the vote.
For Democrats, Clinton and Sanders will each pick up at least 25 delegates in Kentucky with five delegates remaining to be allocated pending final vote tallies. In Oregon, Sanders will receive at least 28 delegates and Clinton will get at least 24 of the 61 delegates at stake.
Overall, Clinton leads Sanders among pledged delegates, 1,767-1,488. When superdelegates are included, Clinton's lead grows to 2,291 to Sanders' 1,528. Clinton is now just 92 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to win.
The Sanders campaign did not immediately say whether it will challenge the results in Kentucky, which does not have an automatic recount.
Clinton campaigned in Kentucky on Sunday and Monday in an effort to break up Sanders' momentum after his recent victories in Indiana and West Virginia. She pointed to the economic gains under the administration of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, who is the last Democrat to carry the state in a presidential election.
Nearing the end of a long primary slog, the two Democratic candidates are preparing for June 7 primaries in California, New Jersey and four other states and then the District of Columbia primary on June 14.
When pledged delegates and superdelegates are combined, Clinton is now about 96 percent of the way toward securing the Democratic nomination.
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Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Denver, Catherine Lucey in Paducah, Kentucky, and Michelle Rindels in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
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Follow Ken Thomas on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/KThomasDC
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., waves as he walks onto the stage during a rally on Tuesday, May 17, 2016, in Carson, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
FILE - In this May 15, 2016 file photo, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a campaign stop in Louisville, Ky. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton sought to avoid primary losses in Kentucky and Oregon on Tuesday, aiming to blunt the momentum of challenger Bernie Sanders ahead of a likely general election matchup against Republican Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
FILE - In this May 6, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Eugene, Ore. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton sought to avoid primary losses in Kentucky and Oregon on Tuesday, aiming to blunt the momentum of challenger Bernie Sanders ahead of a likely general election matchup against Republican Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
House GOP presses ahead with Zika measure
WASHINGTON (AP) House Republicans on Wednesday pushed through a $622 million bill to battle the Zika virus, setting up challenging negotiations with the Senate and the White House.
The 241-184 House vote broke mostly along party lines as Democrats lined up in opposition, heeding a White House veto threat and a warning from a top government health official that the bill wouldn't do enough to respond to the growing threat from Zika.
"It's just not enough," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden said of the House measure. "It doesn't give Americans the protections they deserve, and with every day of delay it gets harder to do this." He added that he's "optimistic that at the end of the day they're going to do the right thing on Zika."
Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., left, accompanied by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., speaks about Zika funding during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Overall, President Barack Obama requested $1.9 billion three months ago for the fight against Zika, which is spread by mosquitoes and sexual contact and can cause severe birth defects. The Senate is moving ahead this week with a $1.1 billion plan and agreed with Obama that the money should be added to the budget deficit rather than be "offset" with cuts to other programs.
Democrats and the White House have been hammering at Republicans for dragging their feet on Zika, but the political tempest in Washington hasn't been matched by fear among the public, at least according to recent polling. But GOP leaders see a political imperative to act as the summer mosquito season heats up.
The House bill, however, provides one-third of the request and limits the use of the money to the current budget year, which ends Sept. 30. It cuts funds provided in 2014 to fight Ebola to help offset the cost of the additional Zika money.
Frieden said in an interview with The Associated Press that the House measure would hamper the CDC's ability to monitor women and babies with the virus over coming years, fight the mosquitoes that spread it, and develop better diagnostic tests.
"This is an unprecedented situation," Frieden said. "We've never had a situation before where a single mosquito bite could result in you giving birth to a child with a terrible birth defect that could change the rest of your life."
When Congress didn't act on Obama's request, he devoted almost $600 million in previous appropriations, mostly leftover funding from the recent and successful effort to fight Ebola, to combat Zika. Republicans had pressed for the funding shift as a first step to battle Zika and they say the pending measure will carry the battle at least through the Sept. 30 end of the current budget year.
"Everything that has needed to be done has been done," said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla.
On Tuesday, the Senate advanced a $1.1 billion measure to fight Zika that earned sweeping support from Democrats even though it's less than the White House request. It is soon to be added to an unrelated spending bill, which adds a procedural wrinkle since the House bill will advance as a separate stand-alone measure.
The White House says the House plan is woefully inadequate and has threatened to veto it. Asked Wednesday about the compromise Senate measure, however, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said, "I don't have a veto threat to issue."
In fact, the Senate measure and the Obama request are fairly similar when it comes to how much money to spend on Zika; the main difference is that the president wants back the almost $600 million he diverted last month from the Ebola battle and other accounts. That money is being used to conduct research on the virus and Zika-related birth defects, create response teams to limit Zika's spread, and other countries fight the virus.
"We can stop this crisis before it gets worse, but we have to act now and fully fund the President's request," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. "Months from now, when the results of our inaction become apparent, we will ask ourselves, 'why did we delay? Why did we wait?'"
Republicans say the administration has padded its Zika request and say there is plenty of unspent money in the budget to ameliorate its impact on the budget deficit.
GOP-led House decisively approves $602 billion defense bill
WASHINGTON (AP) The Republican-led House voted convincingly Wednesday to approve a $602 billion defense policy bill after rejecting attempts by Democrats to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and to repeal the war powers President Barack Obama relies on to fight the Islamic State.
The legislation, which authorizes military spending for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, seeks to halt a decline in the combat readiness of the U.S. armed forces by purchasing more weapons and prohibiting further cuts in troop levels. But in a 17-page statement on the policy bill, the White House detailed its opposition to numerous provisions and said Obama would veto the legislation if it reached his desk.
The bill, approved 277-147, must be reconciled with a version the Senate is expected to consider by month's end.
House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 17, 2016, following a House Republican caucus meeting. From left re, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif., and Ryan. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Republicans shot down an amendment by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., to strike parts of the bill that renew a longstanding ban on moving Guantanamo detainees to the United States. The embargo has kept Obama from fulfilling a campaign pledge to shutter the facility. The White House said the restrictions interfere with the executive branch's authority to decide when and where to prosecute prisoners.
The House soundly defeated an amendment authored by Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., to revoke a 2001 authorization that Congress gave President George W. Bush to attack any countries or groups involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Obama is relying on that nearly 15-year-old authority to send U.S. troops into combat against the Islamic State.
Lee argued it's long past time for Congress to grant new war powers that specifically approve the nearly two-year-old campaign. "I am extremely disappointed that my colleagues left a blank check for endless war on the books," she said.
But opponents of her amendment said no new authorization should be granted until Obama produces a coherent strategy for defeating the extremist group. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Obama has all the authority he needs and Lee's amendment would "unilaterally end the fight" against the Islamic State.
The bill included a provision that Democrats said would overturn an executive order issued by Obama that bars discrimination against LGBT employees by federal contractors.
Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, called the measure "taxpayer-funded discrimination against LGBT individuals" and cited it as one the reasons he refused to support the bill.
But Republicans said the measure is primarily a restatement of part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. "It's one paragraph. That's it," said Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. "I just get this feeling personally that there may be those who are just looking for an excuse to vote against the bill."
Smith also said Republicans used a "procedural trick" to strip a provision that would have be required women to sign up for a potential military draft. They replaced it with a measure to study whether the Selective Service is even needed at a time when the armed forces get plenty of qualified volunteers, making the possibility of a draft remote.
The Obama administration objected to a Republican plan to shift $18 billion in wartime spending to add additional ships, jet fighters, helicopters and other equipment the Pentagon didn't request.
To make up for the shortfall in the wartime account, Obama's successor would submit a supplemental budget to Congress in early 2017, according to Thornberry, the plan's architect. He and other proponents of the spending increase say it is essential to halt a decline in the military's ability to respond to global threats which, they say, has worsened on Obama's watch.
But Defense Secretary Ash Carter has called the strategy a "road to nowhere" that actually degrades combat readiness by retaining troops and buying equipment that can't be sustained, effectively creating a hollowed-out force. In a speech Tuesday, Carter said Thornberry's plan "risks stability and gambles with war funding, jeopardizes readiness, and rejects key judgments of the (Defense) Department."
The House bill would block reductions in the number of active-duty troops by prohibiting the Army from falling below 480,000 active-duty soldiers and by adding 7,000 service members to the Air Force and Marine Corps. The legislation also approves a 2.1 percent pay raise for the troops a half-percentage point higher than the Pentagon asked for in its budget submission.
The bill also includes a provision authored by Thornberry to curb what Republicans say is micromanagement of military operations by National Security Council staff. Thornberry said he has personally heard from troops in combat who have received intimidating calls from junior White House staffers even though their role is to coordinate policy and advise the president.
To increase oversight and accountability, Senate confirmation of the president's national security adviser would be required if the size of the National Security Council staff exceeds 100 employees, according to the bill.
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PICTURED: Eritrean migrants find escape in Tel Aviv church
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift Savior of the World church. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it's an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript building in a hardscrabble southern area of the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.
The worshippers are some of the tens of thousands of members of the Eritrean migrant community in Israel. Their churches are an integral part of their community, providing a temporary spiritual escape from often hostile Israeli government policies.
"To go to church is like water for fishes," said Rev. Solomon Eyob Ghebrezgabiher, the spiritual leader of Saint Mary, another Eastern Orthodox church in south Tel Aviv. "Without religion and church we cannot live," he said, speaking in the Eritrean Tigrinya language through a translator.
In this Saturday, April 23, 2016 photo, Members of the Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrants community baptize a baby at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
Some 45,000 African migrants and asylum seekers are in Israel, the majority of them from Eritrea. Many say they are fleeing conflict and persecution and are seeking refugee status. Israel says they are economic migrants whose numbers threaten the country's Jewish character. Residents of south Tel Aviv blame them for rising crime rates.
Israel's hard-line government has in recent years sought to limit the migrants' numbers. It has built a fence along the border with Egypt, a once-common migration route, and sent many migrants to a remote desert detention facility and in some cases back to third-party countries in Africa.
But on Saturdays, Eritrean churchgoers don their finest and come to pray, gathering on the Jewish day of rest rather than on Sundays, when the Israeli work week on which their sustenance in menial jobs hinges begins.
Migrants have had to adjust to other Israeli customs, including bureaucracy. Some churches have been evicted for operating in residential areas, whereas others have unknowingly been charged city tax, which places of worship are typically exempt from paying.
On a recent Saturday, hundreds of worshippers watched as about 20 babies were baptized, sprinkled with water in a plastic tub by clergy donning yellow and red robes. A crucifix carved from olive wood lay nearby.
Women swaddled in traditional white garb waited for their child's turn. Images of Jesus and Mary peered down from the walls, on flimsy posters adorned with scripture in Tigrinya.
"As Christians, prayer is most important," said Ghebrezgabiher, who works as a cleaner when he is not leading a congregation. "We want to pray for our community, for our country. We have to pray for our church."
Here is a series of photographs of the Eritrean faithful by Associated Press photographer Oded Balilty.
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Follow Oded Balilty on Twitter: https://twitter.com/obalilty and on Instagram: https://instagram.com/odedbalilty
In this Saturday, April 23, 2016 photo, Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrant women hold their babies during a baptism ceremony at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
In this Saturday, May 7, 2016 photo, Members of the Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrants community take photos at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
In this Saturday, Feb 27, 2016 photo, Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrants women hold their babies during a baptism ceremony at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
In this Saturday, May 7, 2016 photo, Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrant women stand during a mass at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
In this Saturday, May 7, 2016 photo, Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrants attend a mass at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
In this Saturday, May 7, 2016 photo, Members of the Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrants community baptize a baby at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
In this Saturday, May 7, 2016 photo, Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrants attend a mass at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
In this Saturday, May 7, 2016 photo, Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrants pray during a mass at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
In this Saturday, May 7, 2016 photo, Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrants attend a mass at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
In this Saturday, April 23, 2016 photo, Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrant women hold their babies during a baptism ceremony at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
In this Saturday, Feb 20, 2016 photo, Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrant women arrive for a mass at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
In this Saturday, April 23, 2016 photo, Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrants attend a mass at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
In this Saturday, April 23, 2016 photo, Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrant women hold their babies during a baptism ceremony at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
In this Saturday, April 23, 2016 photo, An Eritrean Christian Orthodox priest blesses women during a baptism ceremony at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
In this Saturday, April 23, 2016 photo, Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrant women hold their babies during a baptism ceremony at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
In this Saturday, April 23, 2016 photo, Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrants attend a mass at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
In this Saturday, April 23, 2016 photo, Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrant women pray during a mass at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
In this Saturday, April 23, 2016 photo, Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrant women attend a mass at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
In this Saturday, Feb 27, 2016 photo, Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrant women hold their babies during a baptism ceremony at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
In this Saturday, April 23, 2016 photo, An Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrant poses for a photograph with his baby during a baptism ceremony at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
In this Saturday, April 23, 2016 photo, Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrants perform during a mass at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
In this Saturday, April 23, 2016 photo, Eritrean Christian Orthodox migrants attend a mass at a makeshift church in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hundreds of faithful gather each week in the makeshift churches. With its walls bedecked with Christian paraphernalia, it is an unlikely scene in the heart of the Jewish state, hidden in a non-descript buildings in hardscrabble south Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) **ISRAEL OUT**
Democrats pressure Sanders as rift threatens party
WASHINGTON (AP) After months when the story of the 2016 presidential campaign focused on divided Republicans, Democrats are now showcasing divisions in their ranks.
Simmering tensions between Bernie Sanders backers and other Democrats, including party leaders, burst into the open following an ugly fracas at the Nevada Democratic Party convention over the weekend instigated by Sanders' supporters. When top Democratic Party leaders pressured Sanders to denounce the night of chair throwing and alleged death threats he responded with defiance, terming some complaints "nonsense" and reminding the party: "Millions of Americans are outraged at establishment politics."
Sanders continued in that tone Tuesday night after he defeated front-runner Hillary Clinton in Oregon's primary and fought her to a neck-and-neck outcome in Kentucky. Clinton declared victory in Kentucky, but the race was too close to call with a margin of just one-half of 1 percent separating the two Democrats.
In a Saturday, May 14, 2016 photo, supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders react during the Nevada State Democratic Partys 2016 State Convention at the Paris hotel-casino in Las Vegas. The Nevada Democratic Convention turned into an unruly and unpredictable event, after tension with organizers led to some Bernie Sanders supporters throwing chairs and to security clearing the room, organizers said. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP) LOCAL TELEVISION OUT; LOCAL INTERNET OUT; LAS VEGAS SUN OUT
"The Democratic Party is going to have to make a very, very profound and important decision," he said during a rally in Carson, California. "It can do the right thing and open its doors and welcome into the party people who are prepared to fight for real economic and social change. ... I say to the leadership of the Democratic Party, open the doors, let the people in."
Sanders also warned of "a very sad and tragic option" for the party: "to choose to maintain its status quo structure, remain dependent on big-money campaign contributions and be a party with limited participation and limited energy. And a party which incredibly is allowing a right-wing extremist Republican Party to capture the votes of the majority of working people in this country."
Notwithstanding the outcomes in Oregon and Kentucky, Clinton remains a nearly prohibitive favorite in the delegate count and Sanders has no clear path to victory, especially with voting looming in early June in Clinton-friendly California and New Jersey.
That situation is creating frustration on both sides. Sanders backers chafe at party rules they contend are sidelining their candidate, and leading Democrats comment increasingly openly about the need for unity to defeat Donald Trump, who is making a turn to the general election that Sanders' continued candidacy is complicating for Clinton.
"Sen. Sanders and all candidates should really focus on keeping this at a reasonable discourse level, and yes, I am concerned if our party becomes labeled with the notion that we have this kind of violence," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the No. 2 Senate Democrat.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., alarmed at the events in his home state on Saturday, finally succeeded in reaching Sanders by phone around midday Tuesday. Reid told reporters he impressed upon Sanders his concerns about the events in Las Vegas, including sexist and profane threats against party chairwoman Roberta Lange. "This is a test of leadership as we all know, and I'm hopeful and very confident Sen. Sanders will do the right thing," said Reid.
Yet within minutes Sanders released a defiant statement that, far from apologizing for anything his supporters did, repeated their complaints in detail and schooled Democratic leaders about the anti-establishment mood in the country.
"Our campaign of course believes in nonviolent change and it goes without saying that I condemn any and all forms of violence, including the personal harassment of individuals," Sanders said, while arguing it was "nonsense" for the Nevada Democratic Party to allege that some of his supporters had a "penchant for extra-parliamentary behavior indeed actual violence."
"Our campaign has held giant rallies all across this country, including in high crime areas, and there have been zero reports of violence," he said.
That statement angered Reid and other Democrats.
"Bernie should say something and not have some silly statement. Bernie is better than that," Reid told a reporter in comments released by his office. "He should say something about this, not have some statement someone else prepared for him."
The Nevada party released a statement contending Sanders' campaign was being "dishonest" about the events in Las Vegas.
It comes as Donald Trump is wrapping up the nomination on the Republican side, yet Democrats remain divided and now some fear that Sanders' supporters are starting to mimic backers of Trump in their sexist and aggressive behavior.
Democrats also fear that the unrest in Nevada could be a taste of what is to come at the Democratic Party convention in Philadelphia this summer.
Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILY's List, an influential political committee devoted to electing women that is backing Clinton, said in a statement: "These disgraceful attacks are straight out of the Donald Trump playbook, and Bernie Sanders is the only person who can put a stop to them. Sanders needs to both forcefully denounce and apologize for his supporters' unacceptable behavior not walk away."
Leading Democrats still stopped short of calling on Sanders to abandon his campaign, at least in public, training their concerns on the violence at the Nevada convention.
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Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Ken Thomas in Washington and Michelle Rindels in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton takes a group selfie after speaking at a get out the vote event at Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky., Monday, May 16, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., holds a town hall meeting at the Luis Munoz Marin Foundation in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, Monday, May 16, 2016. Sanders arrived in Puerto Rico on Monday to talk about the U.S. territory's worsening debt crisis ahead of the June 5 primary. (AP Photo/Danica Coto)
Japanese Olympic Committee to investigate 2020 Olympic bid
TOKYO (AP) The president of the Japanese Olympic Committee said the body will investigate the Tokyo 2020 bidding process and payments to a Singapore firm that has enmeshed the bid in a bribery investigation.
Tsunekazu Takeda, who had been one of the leaders of the bid committee, told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday that people involved with the bid would be investigated.
"We have decided to start an investigation into the matter, including questioning staff, to determine whether there was any illegality involved," Takeda said.
FILE - In this Sept. 7, 2013, file photo, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, center, shakes hands with President of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge as Tokyo 2020 Olympic Bid Committee President Tsunekazu Takeda stands by after signing the Host City Contract for the 2020 Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A shell company in Singapore is increasingly emerging at the heart of what French prosecutors believe was an organized web of corruption in sports, with their suspicions now extending to Tokyos winning bid for the 2020 Olympics. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)
French prosecutors have said that 2.8 million Singapore dollars ($2 million) was apparently transferred from Japan to the Singapore account of a company called Black Tidings.
The account holder, Ian Tan Tong Han, has been closely tied to the son of former IAAF President Lamine Diack, who is facing corruption charges.
Takeda has acknowledged the payments were made, but said they were for services such as bid planning and lobbying advice.
Diack, once one of the most influential men in sports, was a member of the International Olympic Committee. He is under investigation in France, barred from leaving the country while the probe continues.
FILE - In this Sept. 7, 2013, file photo, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, center, Governor of Tokyo and Chairman of Tokyo 2020, Naoki Inose, second from left, and other members of the Japanese delegation celebrate as International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge announces that Tokyo will host the 2020 Olympic Games during the 125th IOC session in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A shell company in Singapore is increasingly emerging at the heart of what French prosecutors believe was an organized web of corruption in sports, with their suspicions now extending to Tokyos winning bid for the 2020 Olympics. (AP Photo/Ian Watson, Pool, File)
Trump files new financial report, says business is strong
WASHINGTON (AP) Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has filed new financial documents describing his personal wealth and he isn't waiting until they're public to say they're good.
Trump announced late Tuesday he had submitted his candidate financial disclosure form to the Federal Election Commission. He said it showed "a tremendous cash flow" and growing revenues from his businesses.
The form it will be publicly available after an initial review by the government should offer updated information about the value of his assets and the revenues produced by his businesses. According to Trump, over the last 17 months his businesses' revenues grew by $190 million, and he earned $557 million in income.
In this May 7, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Spokane, Wash. Trump is moving quickly to install political operatives in more than a dozen states, targeting Maine and Minnesota among others that traditionally favor Democrats, as the Republican White House contender lays the groundwork for an expanded electoral battlefield. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Trump said last July in a note accompanying a previous disclosure that he was worth more than $10 billion, an assertion he also made Tuesday. Also last year, he reported that a large amount of his valuation came from the $3.3 billion in estimated worth he placed on his personal brand. Last July, Forbes magazine deflated that valuation, saying Trump's brand was likely worth about $125 million.
Czech Republic defender Kadlec returns to Sparta Prague
PRAGUE (AP) Czech Republic defender Michal Kadlec has agreed to return to Sparta Prague after eight years abroad.
Sparta says the 31-year-old Kadlec has signed a 3-year contract through the end of the 2018-19 season.
Kadlec played 95 matches for Sparta before joining German club Bayer Leverkusen eight years ago. After 128 games in the Bundesliga, Kadkec moved to Fenerbahce in the Turkish league.
China's Midea makes $5.2B offer for German robot maker Kuka
HONG KONG (AP) Chinese appliance maker Midea made a $5.2 billion takeover offer Wednesday for German industrial robot maker Kuka, a move that it says would help it capture a larger share of the "future service robots market."
Midea said it would offer 115 euros ($130) a share to buy all the Kuka stock it doesn't already own. The cash offer values Kuka at 4.57 billion euros ($5.2 billion).
Investors seemed bullish on the offer price, pushing shares in Kuka up a stunning 31 percent to 108.8 euros on the news.
The Chinese company, which is based in southern China's Guangdong province, raised its stake in Kuka to 10.2 percent in February. Indirect holdings of Kuka stock bring its current total ownership to 13.5 percent.
Chinese companies have been on an overseas acquisition spree as they use their cash hoard to buy up foreign technology to bolster their competitive positions at home.
Midea, which makes air conditioners, fridges and washing machines, said Kuka's technology would help it boost manufacturing efficiency.
Industrial firms in China are looking to boost their automation levels to replace humans as the pool of workers shrinks and wages soar.
Midea said the acquisition would also help it develop new smart home devices and service robots, product markets that are expected to see strong growth as demand rises from China's swelling middle class consumers.
The Latest: Greek police repel migrants on Macedonia border
GENEVA (AP) The Latest on migrants in Europe (all times local):
8:15 p.m.
Greek riot police have fired tear gas and stun grenades at refugees and other migrants who tried to push a railway carriage through a police cordon during a protest at a crowded informal camp on the border with Macedonia.
Migrants push a wagon through the camp towards Greek police at the Macedonian border, in Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Thousands of stranded refugees and migrants have camped in Idomeni for months after the border was closed. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Police say about 200 people were involved in Wednesday's violence, and the migrants also attacked officers with stones. There were no immediate reports of injuries or arrests.
The sprawling Idomeni camp is home to about 10,000 people trapped in Greece after a series of border closures further north on the Balkan migration route to Europe's prosperous heartland.
Camp residents have for weeks blocked a freight railway line that enters Macedonia at the spot. Officials said protesters pushed an empty carriage at police stationed on the line just before the Macedonian border fence.
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5:50 p.m.
Jordan's king says his country has reached "saturation point" for handling Syrian refugees, with debt increasing as Amman borrows to try to deal with the problem.
King Abdullah said Wednesday that one in five people in Jordan is a Syrian refugee and that "we have gotten to literally the saturation point. How many more people can we take?"
Speaking during a state visit to Belgium, he said that the arrivals from across the border are "having a dire impact on our people and economy."
Abdullah called for a global approach to the Syrian conflict and to defeating the Islamic State group, saying "we can't fight it by ourselves."
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5:05 p.m.
Greek authorities say four of the nearly 55,000 refugees and other migrants trapped there after a series of border closures further north have been returned to Turkey, from which they initially entered the country.
A police statement Wednesday said the four people returned Wednesday were a Syrian couple and their two children. That brings to just under 1,500 the number of people Greece has sent back to Turkey since the beginning of the year.
During the same period more than 150,000 reached Greece in smugglers' boats from its eastern neighbor, although the flow has almost come to a standstill since a March deportation agreement between the European Union and Turkey.
That deal has resulted in 400 people being returned.
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3:30 p.m.
A small tent city has formed on Serbia's border with Hungary where migrants are waiting to cross into the European Union despite border closures and a deal with Turkey to stop sea crossings into Greece.
Dozens of migrants, including small children, have been camping in a few dozen tents on a littered field by Hungary's border fence, braving rain and cold nights determined to pursue their dream of a better future in the EU.
Aid workers say Hungarian authorities have been letting into the country small groups of about 20 people a day, mostly families with small children. Many migrants have turned to smugglers to guide them over.
As aid vans arrived Wednesday carrying food, blankets, shoes and socks, migrants lined up for their share. They lit small fires for warmth.
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2:05 p.m.
European Union plans to share refugees in Greece and Italy with other EU partners are well behind schedule as the number of migrants arriving in Italy swells.
The EU's executive Commission said Wednesday that only 1,500 refugees had been relocated from the two countries by mid-May, far below the target of 20,000.
The EU's migration commissioner, Dimitris Avramopoulos, appealed for action, saying that "we need to quickly respond to the urgent humanitarian situation in Greece and prevent any deterioration of the situation in Italy."
The Commission estimates that around 46,000 migrants are in mainland Greece.
EU countries agreed last September to share out 160,000 refugees over two years because Greece and Italy were overwhelmed by the arrival of hundreds of thousands of people.
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11:50 a.m.
Police in Germany say they've arrested a 22-year-old Afghan man on allegations of sexually abusing five children in two cities in recent weeks.
Police spokeswoman Jana Kindt said Wednesday the man, identified only as Hamid F., admitted kissing and touching two girls in Chemnitz in eastern Germany earlier this month. He's also accused of sexually abusing two girls and a boy last month in the southwestern city of Kaiserslautern.
Hamid F. was arrested in Chemnitz on Monday after a European-wide arrest-warrant had been issued.
Prosecutors in both Chemnitz and Kaiserslautern say they don't yet have any details on Hamid F.'s legal status in Germany.
The case comes amid continuing concerns about the country's ability to deal with the 1.1 million migrants who arrived last year.
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11:25 a.m.
The U.N. refugee agency is launching an unprecedented appeal to the private sector to help pay for shelters for 2 million refugees worldwide amid a "huge shortfall in funds" for that purpose.
Spokesman Leo Dobbs says the appeal aims to tap philanthropists, companies, foundations and individuals as a potential source of new money because UNHCR hasn't gotten enough funds from its traditional government sources.
The "Nobody Left Outside" campaign aims to raise funds to build or improve shelter for 2 million refugees by 2018, or about one-eighth of the people UNHCR was helping in mid-2015. UNHCR says housing operations are expected to cost $724 million this year, but only $158 million is currently available.
UNHCR says 60 million people are forcibly displaced now, the highest figure since World War II.
Greek police move toward a group of migrants throwing rocks, at the Macedonian border, in Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Thousands of stranded refugees and migrants have camped in Idomeni for months after the border was closed. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Migrants push a wagon through the camp towards Greek police at the Macedonian border, in Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Thousands of stranded refugees and migrants have camped in Idomeni for months after the border was closed. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Children play in the makeshift refugee camp near the Horgos border crossing into Hungary, near Horgos, Serbia, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. A small tent city has formed on Serbias border with Hungary where migrants are waiting to cross into the European Union despite border closures and a deal with Turkey to stop sea crossings into Greece. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A woman making up a girl's hair in front of a border fence in the makeshift refugee camp near the Horgos border crossing into Hungary, near Horgos, Serbia, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. A small tent city has formed on Serbias border with Hungary where migrants are waiting to cross into the European Union despite border closures and a deal with Turkey to stop sea crossings into Greece. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
UN refugee agency urges private sector to help fund shelters
GENEVA (AP) The U.N. refugee agency is launching an unprecedented appeal to the private sector to help pay for shelters for 2 million refugees worldwide amid a "huge shortfall in funds" for that purpose.
Spokesman Leo Dobbs says the appeal aims to tap philanthropists, companies, foundations and individuals as a potential source of new money because UNHCR hasn't gotten enough funds from its traditional government sources.
The "Nobody Left Outside" campaign aims to raise funds to build or improve shelter for 2 million refugees by 2018, or about one-eighth of the people UNHCR was helping in mid-2015. UNHCR says housing operations are expected to cost $724 million this year, but only $158 million is currently available.
A woman hungs on his laundery near her tent in front of the wired fence that separate Greece and Macedonia at a makeshift refugee camp on the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Sunday, May 15, 2016. Thousands of stranded refugees and migrants have camped in Idomeni for months after the border was closed. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
UNHCR says 60 million people are forcibly displaced now, the highest figure since World War II.
A Syrian man covers with a plastic sheet the entrance of his tent at a makeshift refugee camp on the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Sunday, May 15, 2016. Thousands of stranded refugees and migrants have camped in Idomeni for months after the border was closed. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
An elderly man sits on a chair among railway tracks at a makeshift refugee camp on the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Sunday, May 15, 2016. Thousands of stranded refugees and migrants have camped in Idomeni for months after the border was closed. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Children play at the makeshift refugee camp of the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Sunday, May 15, 2016. Thousands of stranded refugees and migrants have camped in Idomeni for months after the border was closed. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Sugar tax, spaceports meet pageantry in UK Queen's Speech
LONDON (AP) Queen Elizabeth II donned an ermine-trimmed robe and diamond-studded crown Wednesday to announce government promises to put Britain at the cutting edge of technology and social progress in the 21st century.
Plans for prison reform, a sugar tax and commercial spaceports were among 21 bills announced in the Queen's Speech, an annual tradition that mixes lavish pomp and modern politics.
Prime Minister David Cameron said the government's agenda combined "economic security with extending life chances for all," but some measures are sure to meet resistance and next month's referendum on European Union membership is casting a shadow over the government's plans.
The Yeoman of the Guard Ceremonial Search takes place ahead of the Queen's Speech during the State Opening of Parliament in London, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. The State Opening of Parliament marks the formal start of the parliamentary year and the Queen's Speech sets out the governments agenda for the coming session. (Justin Tallis/Pool Photo via AP)
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POMP AND PARLIAMENT
The annual State Opening of Parliament is steeped in centuries-old symbolism of the power struggle between Parliament and the British monarchy. In a display of regal wealth and finery, the queen traveled from Buckingham Palace in the horse-drawn Diamond Jubilee State Coach, and delivered the speech written for her by the government wearing the Imperial State Crown, studded with 3,000 diamonds.
Lawmakers were summoned to listen to the queen by a security official named Black Rod but only complied after slamming the House of Commons door in his face to symbolize their independence.
Since King Charles I tried to arrest members of the House of Commons in 1642 and ended up deposed, tried and beheaded the monarch has been barred from entering the chamber, so the speech is delivered in Parliament's upper chamber, the House of Lords.
The monarch has delivered the opening speech more than 60 times since she took the throne in 1952. For the first time this year the queen, who turned 90 last month, used an elevator rather than a staircase to enter Parliament. Buckingham Palace said the "modest adjustment" had been made for "the queen's comfort."
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OUT-OF-THIS WORLD IDEAS
Amid bread-and-butter bills on town planning, bus services and pensions, the speech offered glimpses of a future of driverless cars, commercial space travel and deliveries by drone.
The Modern Transport Bill promised to put Britain "at the forefront of safe technology" in the drone sector, seek investment in "autonomous vehicles, spaceplane operations and spaceports" and introduce insurance for driverless cars, which are currently being tested in several British cities.
The government aims to open a spaceport by 2018 that could be used for commercial satellite launches and tourist space flights.
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SECURITY AND EXTREMISM
The speech said Britain would continue to meet the NATO target of spending 2 percent of national income on defense.
A bill to "tackle extremism in all its forms" includes a proposal to silence extremist speakers with civil orders and to scrutinize "unregulated education settings" such as religious classes.
Free-speech groups criticized the plans. Rachel Robinson of human rights group Liberty said the government's vague definition of extremism meant the proposals would allow ministers to ban "people and views that the government disagrees with."
Another contentious measure, to introduce a British bill of rights separate from the European Convention on Human Rights, was limited to a promise of "proposals" rather than legislation. The exact same promise was made last year.
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DOING WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU
The speech promised to "increase life chances for the most disadvantaged," and included plans to make adoption easier, improve schools and establish new universities.
The government said it would replace crumbling Victorian prisons with modern facilities and give inmates more opportunities to work and learn, "to give individuals a second chance."
To fight childhood obesity, a tax on sugary sodas will come into effect in 2018. The levy has been opposed by the soft-drink industry, but the government says it will raise millions that can be spent on school sports and breakfast clubs.
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THE EU ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
The battle raging over Britain's membership in the European Union received only a glancing mention in the nine-minute speech. "My government will hold a referendum on membership of the European Union," the queen said, referring to the vote scheduled for June 23.
There was no mention of a Sovereignty Bill, which some Conservatives have sought in order to assert the primacy of British legislation over the European Court of Justice.
Senior "leave" campaigner Iain Duncan Smith accused the government of "jettisoning or watering down key elements of their legislative program" to avoid contentious issues before the referendum.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, sit in the House of Lords ahead of the Queen's Speech at the State Opening of Parliament in London on Wednesday May 18, 2016. The State Opening of Parliament marks the formal start of the parliamentary year and the Queen's Speech sets out the governments agenda for the coming session. (Chris Jackson/Pool via AP)
The Imperial State Crown travels in a carriage from Buckingham Palace towards the Houses of Parliament in London, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Britain's Queen Elizabeth will wear the crown as she makes her speech to Parliament.(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
Britain's Queen Elizabeth's Imperial State Crown arrives at the Royal Gallery before the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords, at the Palace of Westminster in London, Wednesday May 18, 2016. The Queen will give a speech to parliament above the government's programme for the upcoming parliamentary year . (Eddie Mulholland/Pool via AP)
Guardsmen parade out Buckingham Palace before Britain's Queen Elizabeth II travels in a carriage to the Houses of Parliament in London, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. The Queen will give a speech to parliament above the government's programme for the upcoming parliamentary year .(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II travels in a carriage from Buckingham Palace towards the Houses of Parliament in London, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. The Queen will give a speech to parliament above the government's programme for the upcoming parliamentary year .(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II travels in a carriage from Buckingham Palace towards the Houses of Parliament in London, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. The Queen will give a speech to parliament above the government's programme for the upcoming parliamentary year .(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II travels in a carriage from Buckingham Palace towards the Houses of Parliament in London, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. The Queen will give a speech to parliament above the government's programme for the upcoming parliamentary year .(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II reads the Queen's Speech from the throne during the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords in London, Wednesday, May, 18, 2016. The State Opening of Parliament marks the formal start of the parliamentary year and the Queen's Speech sets out the government's agenda for the coming session.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant Pool)
Soldiers stand in heavy rain as Britain's Queen Elizabeth II travels in a carriage from Buckingham Palace towards the Houses of Parliament in London, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. The State Opening of Parliament marks the formal start of the parliamentary year and the Queen's Speech sets out the governmentis agenda for the coming session. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, sit in the House of Lords ahead of the Queen's Speech at the State Opening of Parliament in London on Wednesday May 18, 2016. The State Opening of Parliament marks the formal start of the parliamentary year and the Queen's Speech sets out the governments agenda for the coming session. (Chris Jackson/Pool via AP)
Turkish fighter jets bomb Kurdish rebels, kill 10
ISTANBUL (AP) Turkey's state-run news agency says Turkish fighter jets have killed 10 Kurdish rebels during bombing runs in the country's southeast.
Citing a military source, the Anadolu Agency said Wednesday that the Monday air raids targeted the mainly Kurdish province of Hakkari, which borders with Iraq.
The Turkish military is engaged in renewed conflict with rebels linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. Ankara and its Western allies consider the PKK a terrorist organization. A tenuous cease-fire between the two camps ended last summer.
Since then thousands of people have been killed, including 450 Turkish security forces, in violence that has devastated mainly Kurdish districts.
China criticizes US steel anti-dumping measures
BEIJING (AP) China has criticized U.S. anti-dumping penalties imposed on Chinese steel amid mounting complaints Beijing is exporting at improperly low prices to clear a backlog at home.
The Commerce Ministry complained Wednesday that the duties of 522 percent announced on cold-rolled steel used in automobiles and other manufacturing were excessive and called on Washington to rescind them.
Beijing faces mounting criticism from the United States and Europe over a flood of low-cost steel that Western governments complain hurts their producers and threatens thousands of jobs.
In this Aug. 10, 2015 photo, plumes of smoke and steam rise from a steel plant in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province. China on Wednesday, May, 18, 2016, criticized U.S. anti-dumping penalties imposed on Chinese steel amid mounting complaints Beijing is exporting at improperly low prices to clear a backlog at home. (Chinatopix via AP) CHINA OUT
The Chinese government is trying to shrink bloated industries including steel, coal, cement, aluminum and solar panel manufacturing in which supplies exceed demand. That has led to price-cutting wars that are driving producers into bankruptcy.
Chinese government plans call for stepping up exports and shifting some operations abroad. The Cabinet approved measures in April to support steel exports with tax rebates and bank loans.
The latest U.S. duties include 266 percent for anti-dumping and 256 percent to offset what investigators concluded were improper subsidies.
The Commerce Ministry complained regulators engaged in "unfair practices" and improperly hampered the ability of Chinese companies to defend themselves but gave no details.
Washington was responding to a 2015 complaint by five steel producers that said they have been forced to lay off thousands of employees due to unfair foreign competition.
One of the producers, United States Steel Corp., filed a separate complaint last month accusing the biggest Chinese steel producers of conspiring to fix prices, stealing trade secrets and skirting duties on imports in the U.S. with false labeling.
The European Union launched its own investigation of Chinese steel exports last week following protests by steelworkers.
In Britain, Tata Steel cited low-cost Chinese competition when it announced plans last month to sell money-losing operations that employ 20,000 people.
China pushed back against its trading partners in April, announcing anti-dumping duties on steel from the European Union, Japan and South Korea.
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Mitsubishi Motors president to resign over mileage scandal
TOKYO (AP) Mitsubishi Motors Corp. President Tetsuro Aikawa said Wednesday that he will step down to take responsibility for the mileage cheating scandal unfolding at the Japanese automaker.
Aikawa has denied personal involvement in wrongdoing, but it is common for executives at major Japanese companies to resign to show remorse. His resignation is expected to become final on June 24, upon shareholders' approval. A successor was not announced.
But under a deal with Nissan Motor Co., which is acquiring a 34 percent stake in Mitsubishi, Nissan has been promised a major role in leading Mitsubishi.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. President Tetsuro Aikawa speaks during a press conference in Tokyo, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Aikawa said Wednesday that he will step down to take responsibility for the mileage cheating scandal unfolding at the Japanese automaker. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
Mitsubishi reiterated as part of its latest findings that top management had not ordered the mileage scam, but employees had been under tremendous pressure to get better mileage.
Mitsubishi also said it did not carefully inspect much of the mileage-testing work that was assigned to a subsidiary.
Aikawa appeared with Mitsubishi Chairman Osamu Masuko, who helped engineer a deal with Japanese rival Nissan Motor Co., to take the top stake in Mitsubishi for 237 billion yen ($2.2 billion). Mitsubishi stock had plunged more than 30 percent after the scandal.
Nissan found the faked mileage tests because of a discrepancy with its own tests on Mitsubishi-manufactured minicar models with tiny engines that had been sold under the Nissan brand.
Mitsubishi says rigging goes back 25 years, and may involve all models sold in Japan, including discontinued ones. It has denied any falsified data for overseas models.
Just a couple of hours before Aikawa's news conference, Japanese automaker Suzuki Motor Corp. apologized Wednesday for improper road tests, but denied reports it illegally falsified mileage numbers.
Suzuki's dubious tests did not affect models sold abroad. The government had instructed all automakers to check on mileage tests after the Mitsubishi scandal surfaced.
Suzuki shares fell in Tokyo trading Wednesday on Japanese media reports the company might have cheated on mileage, but recovered to close down 9 percent.
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This story has been corrected to fix spelling of president's name to Tetsuro.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. Chairman Osamu Masuko, center, President Tetsuro Aikawa, left, and Vice President Ryugo Nakao attend a press conference in Tokyo, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Aikawa said Wednesday that he will step down to take responsibility for the mileage cheating scandal unfolding at the Japanese automaker. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. Chairman Osamu Masuko, center, listens to a reporter's question with President Tetsuro Aikawa, left, and Vice President Ryugo Nakao during a press conference in Tokyo, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Aikawa said Wednesday that he will step down to take responsibility for the mileage cheating scandal unfolding at the Japanese automaker. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
Poll: Americans more upbeat about own finances than economy
WASHINGTON (AP) Americans are of two minds about the economy in the midst of an election race that largely hinges on the issue. They are strikingly pessimistic about the national economy yet comparatively upbeat about their own financial circumstances.
Just 42 percent of adults describe the U.S. economy as good, according to a survey released Wednesday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. But two-thirds say their own households are faring well.
The divide suggests that despite their own financial gains, many people worry about risks beyond their control from a volatile stock market to another economic downturn. Just a third say they'd be very confident of finding another job if they were laid-off a sign of vulnerability even though the Great Recession officially ended nearly seven years ago.
FILE - In this March 4, 2016, file photo, cranes move loads of materials at dusk at the Hudson Yards construction site in New York. Construction is rebounding across the United States, yet only 42 percent of adults describe the U.S. economy as good, according to a survey released Wednesday, May 18, 2016, by The Associated Press. But nearly two-thirds say their own households are faring well. That divide reflects a country sharply split by political affiliation and education level in the midst of an intensely negative presidential race. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)
Some of the difference also reflects political views and education levels: Republicans are far more negative about the economy as President Barack Obama finishes his second term. And college graduates are more sanguine about a recovery that rewarded them while largely neglecting workers without college degrees.
The nation's unemployment rate has reached a healthy 5 percent, and workers' pay shows tentative signs of accelerating after years of barely budging. Auto sales hit a record in April. Housing and construction are rebounding. Americans are treating themselves to more restaurant meals.
But for every gauge of the economy that's pointing up, another has become cause for unease.
Hospitals have become dominant employers in most cities, yet health care costs are outpacing pay. Foreign imports have kept clothing and home appliance prices affordable. But those low-priced imports have cost U.S. jobs that in many cases haven't been replaced. Across the country, the low-educated are struggling.
And nothing has ignited the robust economic growth that Americans remember enjoying until the Great Recession struck in late 2007. The United States has endured a dreary recovery from the worst downturn since the Great Depression. Just 23 percent of Americans say they think the economy will improve this year.
Some view the slow growth as a sign that the economy has never escaped the threat of another downturn. For years, they have seen the political class feud over how to accelerate economic growth and extend more opportunities to people who have been left out, with little to show for it.
"It's just real shaky right now," said Dorothy Mszanski, 60, a former steelworker who had to retire on disability. "It's like nobody can figure out what to do."
Living outside Youngstown, Ohio, Mszanski sees her family's situation as relatively stable. Her husband works an auto body and paint shop. The couple has built up retirement savings after years of work and raised three adult children. Yet Mszanski fears economic risks that could upend their lives.
A stock market crash would deplete her husband's 401(k) account. Her medical bills could keep soaring to impossible heights, a challenge she is already straining to handle.
"I've had chronic back pain, and I'm a diabetic and I'm on oxygen 24-7," she said. "If my medication keeps going up, there will be a time that I won't be able to afford to eat or buy my medicine. So what are you going to do?"
That anxiety remains rooted in many communities even as Americans see some economic gains. The more than 40 percent who describe the economy as good compare with just 26 percent who said so in an October 2013 AP-GfK survey.
Doubts about the economy lie at the heart of the split over which presidential candidate is best equipped to lead the country: Donald Trump, the real estate mogul whose aggressive economic nationalism has made him the presumptive Republican nominee, or Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner who has campaigned as a get-things-done policymaker.
Sentiments about the economy tend to parallel Americans' political views. With a Democrat having occupied the White House for seven years, Republicans with a dislike for Obama's policies tend to express discontent with the economy.
Just 34 percent of Republicans call the national economy good, compared with 54 percent of Democrats. Thirty-eight percent of Republican supporters say they expect the economy to deteriorate this year, versus 18 percent of Democrats.
Many Americans have seen their home values recover and have cut their mortgage bills by refinancing at ultra-low rates, thereby improving their personal finances.
Still, regardless of their own circumstances, history shows that voters tend to develop negative views of the economy during presidential election years, which typically dwell on economic shortcomings, said Diane Lim, a researcher at the Committee for Economic Development, a non-partisan think tank.
"If you turn on the news, you're very aware that the economic recovery has not lifted everyone back to normal," Lim said. "The campaign talk, of course, is going to emphasize the negative on either side."
The divide also reflects the uneven nature of a recovery that has favored the wealthier and better-educated.
Just 2.4 percent of Americans with a bachelor's degree are unemployed, compared with 5.9 percent of those with a high school diploma or less, according to the Labor Department. Nearly 60 percent of all income gains between 2009 and 2014 went to families in the top 1 percent of earners, according to analysis by Emmanuel Saez, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley.
The AP-NORC survey found that Americans with a bachelor's degree or higher are closely divided on whether the nation's economy is good (48 percent) or poor (52 percent).
But those with a high school education or less are much more likely to consider the economy poor (63 percent) than good (37 percent) and less likely to feel confident about their finances.
College graduates such as Walter Johnson, 77, are able to work past conventional retirement age. A civil engineer in Chicago, Johnson said he still works at his firm 35 hours a week, giving him a degree of financial security.
Yet he views the overall economy as struggling. Annual growth has averaged a mere 2 percent during the economic recovery, compared with the roughly 3 percent that was common for much of his lifetime.
A registered Republican, Johnson said he thinks a key to faster growth is persuading local banks to support small businesses and entrepreneurship, instead of requiring them to follow regulations more suited to global financial firms. He considers Trump the candidate for voters who value good jobs, like the construction workers he sees in Chicago.
"If he can tone his verbiage down a little bit and get some reasonable advisers, I'd vote for him, I really would," Johnson said.
Many other Americans see Trump's bluster as a potential threat to the economy.
"If Trump runs, I'll probably vote Hillary," said Pat Miller, a retired teacher in Winter Park, Florida. "I think he's unstable."
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The AP-NORC poll of 1,008 adults was conducted April 14-18 using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
Respondents were first selected randomly using address-based sampling methods, and later interviewed online or by phone.
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Online:
AP-NORC Center: http://www.apnorc.org/
PetSmart groomer arrested after dachshund in his care dies
SAN MATEO, Calif. (AP) A PetSmart dog groomer will be arraigned next month on a felony animal cruelty charge after police say he likely contributed to the death of a dachshund in his care.
Police in San Mateo, California, say 38-year-old Juan Zarate was about three minutes into a grooming session Sunday when he brought the dachshund to its owner with a bleeding mouth and trouble breathing.
An on-site veterinarian wasn't able to save the dog. An X-ray revealed two broken ribs and a punctured lung.
This booking photo provided by San Mateo County Sheriff's Office shows Juan Zarate. Zarate, a PetSmart dog groomer will be arraigned next month on a felony animal cruelty charge after police say he likely contributed to the death of a dachshund in his care. Police in San Mateo, Calif., say Zarate was about three minutes into a grooming session Sunday, May 15, 2016, when he brought the dachshund to its owner with a bleeding mouth and trouble breathing. An on-site veterinarian wasn't able to save the dog. An X-ray revealed two broken ribs and a punctured lung. (San Mateo County Sheriff's Office via AP)
Police say Zarate's deliberate actions likely contributed to the dog's death.
The San Francisco man's uncle, Gustavo Zarate, tells KGO-TV that he's "very surprised" and knows his nephew is "innocent."
Macedonian court sentences 5 people for joining IS group
SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) A criminal court in Macedonia's capital has sentenced five people to terms ranging from two to four-and-a-half years in prison for joining the Islamic State group and recruiting fighters for it.
The five sentenced Wednesday were part of an 11-member group arrested last August following raids in Skopje and several towns in the country's northwest. The other six were convicted in March and included an imam believed to be a mastermind of the group who was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Kerry, el-Sissi discuss stalled Arab-Israeli peace efforts
CAIRO (AP) The United States and Egypt looked for ways Wednesday to inject life into Israel's moribund peace process with the Palestinians, after the Arab country's leader said an agreement would make warmer ties with the Jewish state possible.
On a brief visit to Cairo, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also discussed with President Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi the major threats on both sides of Egypt's borders, including Syria, the Islamic State's stronghold, and Libya, potentially its next major battleground. But the Israeli-Palestinian crisis appeared a focus, given Egypt's leadership in promoting past negotiations and recent diplomatic activity.
Kerry "expressed his appreciation for the president's recent statement of strong support for advancing Arab-Israeli peace," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. The American diplomat credited Egypt for its "role as a regional partner," but Toner's statement didn't elaborate on any specific Mideast peace effort afoot.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, right, meets with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was holding talks Wednesday with Egyptian officials on the country's political situation and to explore Egypt's ideas for supporting a new Israeli-Palestinian peace bid. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Kerry's stop came a day after he spoke by telephone to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and el-Sissi offered support for a French initiative to revive the peace process.
El-Sissi said Tuesday that Egypt's relations with Israel, rooted in their landmark 1979 peace treaty, can only be "warmer" if the Israelis reached a peace deal with the Palestinians. He pledged that Egypt would "make every effort" toward a solution.
France's proposal, which includes holding a Mideast peace conference, is struggling to gain traction. Israel already has rejected the idea.
But el-Sissi, the Arab leader who speaks most often to Netanyahu, is backing the offer as well as U.S. efforts, a 2002 Arab peace plan and the international Mideast peace quartet as possible avenues to such a settlement.
He said there was a "real opportunity" for peacemaking even if some Israelis don't think peace is necessary now given the region's turmoil. A deal, he said, would "give safety and stability to both sides. If this is achieved, we will enter a new phase that perhaps no one can imagine now."
In a statement, Netanyahu welcomed el-Sissi's "willingness to invest every effort to advance a future of peace and security between us and the Palestinians" and said Israel was ready to join Egypt and other Arab states in "advancing the peace process and stability in the region."
But Netanyahu has rejected the French initiative, saying direct negotiations are the only way to resolve the conflict. He has previously said the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative has some positive aspects, but can't be the basis for negotiations.
The Arab peace plan offers Israel full recognition by Arab states for Israel's withdrawal from territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Kerry and el-Sissi also discussed U.S. help for Egypt's own counterterrorism fight, economic plans and how to strengthen democratic institutions. Despite Washington's closer ties with el-Sissi, it has regularly chided his government for crackdowns on free speech and freedom of assembly.
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Associated Press writer Bradley Klapper in Washington contributed.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, right, meets with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Kerry was holding talks Wednesday with Egyptian officials on the country's political situation and to explore Egypt's ideas for supporting a new Israeli-Palestinian peace bid. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Cranston in the multifaceted role of LBJ goes 'All the Way'
NEW YORK (AP) For five seasons of "Breaking Bad," Bryan Cranston displayed his versatility through the dramatic evolution of his character, Walter White, from milquetoast schoolteacher to meth-marketing monster.
But that was just a warmup for "All the Way," an HBO film adapted from the Tony Award-winning Broadway play that calls for Cranston to embody the almost moment-to-moment volatility of its larger-than-life real-life hero, President Lyndon B. Johnson.
"He was big, he was small. He was boisterous, he was laconic. He was embracing, he was cold," marvels Cranston. "The polemic of his personality was just unbelievable."
In this image released by HBO, Bryan Cranston portrays President Lyndon B. Johnson in a scene from, "All the Way," premiering Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on HBO. (Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/HBO via AP)
But Cranston's performance in the film (which premieres Saturday at 8 p.m. EDT) is much more than an acting exercise.
"All the Way" is a full-bodied portrait of a flawed yet overpowering political force, an unrivaled sweet-talker, arm-twister, bully and, above all, horse trader who mastered, as few have, the clattering contraption of Washington governance.
The film travels the rocky road that led to passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, with LBJ finessing the clash of activism led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. versus hidebound members of Johnson's own Democratic Party as, at the same time, he furiously fought to hold on to the presidency against his '64 Republican rival, Barry Goldwater.
Capturing this stormy first year of the Johnson administration, the film is populated by an array of stars including Bradley Whitford (as Johnson's vice president, Hubert Humphrey), Frank Langella (as his former mentor, Georgia's mighty Sen. Richard Russell) and Melissa Leo (wondrous as his ever-supportive wife, Lady Bird).
Cranston had made his Broadway debut with "All the Way" a nervy challenge he couldn't say no to once he read Robert Schenkkan's script.
"It's all about the story," Cranston explains, "how this man ascends to power under great tragedy, and then, a Southern guy, changes how we treat African-American citizens and other minorities in this country."
He threw himself into research, reading books, visiting key sites (including Johnson's Texas ranch and his presidential library in Austin) and meeting with people who knew him, including his two daughters.
Even before he opened at the Neil Simon Theatre in March 2014, a film adaptation was in the cards. Then, during the four-month engagement that would win him a Tony, he settled on his next project: starring as blacklisted screen writer Dalton Trumbo. Jay Roach (whose credits include HBO political dramas "Game Change" and "Recount") was signed to direct.
A year later, in late summer 2015, Roach and Cranston re-teamed to film "All the Way" (with Schenkkan bringing his play to the screen).
It was a comfortable transition for all concerned.
"Bryan had not only inhabited the character for so long," said Roach by phone, "he had also thought in great depth about what mattered in each scene, in each MOMENT, really. On this film, like 'Trumbo,' I almost forgot he's an actor, even though he's so freaking good. He's a fellow storyteller, a collaborator on the set."
"The character was already in my bones," agrees Cranston, "so it was like putting on that jacket you haven't had on in months: It just feels good and comfortable and well-worn."
Of course, "putting on" the character was a bit more complicated this go-around. Onstage, Cranston's only prosthetics were LBJ's elephantine ears, which Cranston applied himself before stepping into shoes with 3-inch lifts to hoist him to LBJ's 6-foot-3-ish elevation.
For the film, by contrast, it took a makeup wizard 2 1/2 hours every morning to turn Cranston into LBJ. "We had a fake chin, nose, cheeks and ears, and I thinned and slicked back my hair.
"But there's a certain Zen quality to it," he says. "As you're looking in the mirror and you see the character come alive, it helps you get into his headspace."
The chameleonic Cranston, who in person evokes nothing of LBJ and looks a decade younger than his own 60 years, vividly recalls the tragedy that put Johnson into office more than a half-century ago.
As a 7-year-old, "still self-centered, as children are," he was rocked by the awful bulletins on TV, and even more so by his parents' response: "My mother broke down and wept and my father was hugging her. Here, for the first time, something very important was happening that didn't center on me. For me, it was a turning point. And Johnson became the first president that I came to know."
For decades after he left office, Johnson's tainted legacy was that of a failed president because of American involvement in Vietnam, with an anti-war movement that raged against him having played a pivotal role in his decision not to seek re-election in 1968.
But Cranston notes that "All the Way" takes a fresh look at one of Johnson's many victories: standing up for "citizens who couldn't dine or sleep or travel or vote in the same way white people did."
Johnson's saga (which also will be brought to theaters later this year in the Rob Reiner-directed film "LBJ," with Woody Harrelson in the title role) is all the more compelling now, in the current political climate where head-butts and intransigence, not constructive reform, is the protocol.
"Johnson knew that in a negotiation, both sides have to feel they've come away with something: 'What I give you might hurt me a little bit, but you want it and I need YOU.' Now it's so polarized, with politicians refusing to give an inch," says Cranston, masterful as the leader who made hard-won inches add up to miles.
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EDITOR'S NOTE Frazier Moore is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. He can be reached at fmoore@ap.org and at http://www.twitter.com/tvfrazier. Past stories are available at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/frazier-moore
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Online:
http://www.hbo.com
In this image released by HBO, from left, Anthony Mackie as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., director Jay Roach and Bryan Cranston as President Lyndon B. Johnson, appear on the set of "All the Way," premiering Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on HBO. (Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/HBO via AP)
In this image released by HBO, Bryan Cranston portrays President Lyndon B. Johnson in a scene from, "All the Way," premiering Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on HBO. (Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/HBO via AP)
In this image released by HBO, Bryan Cranston portrays President Lyndon B. Johnson in a scene from, "All the Way," premiering Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on HBO. (Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/HBO via AP)
FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2015 file photo actor Bryan Cranston poses for a portrait at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto. Cranston stars in "All the Way," premiering Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on HBO. (Photo by Victoria Will/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2015 file photo actor Bryan Cranston poses for a portrait at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto. Cranston stars in "All the Way," premiering Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on HBO. (Photo by Victoria Will/Invision/AP, File)
Top Chinese official slams Hong Kong independence calls
HONG KONG (AP) A top Chinese official visiting Hong Kong warned Wednesday against heeding calls for independence for the semiautonomous Chinese region.
Zhang Dejiang, who is the Communist Party's No. 3 official and responsible for Hong Kong affairs, made his remarks at a dinner banquet attended by senior city government officials and business leaders.
Zhang is making a three-day "inspection visit" to the former British colony, where discontent is rising over Beijing's tightening grip on the city. Tension remains high two years after Beijing said it would not allow unrestricted elections for the city's top leader, a decision that sparked pro-democracy street protests that brought parts of the city to a standstill for 11 weeks. Some radical "localist" groups have recently started calling for greater autonomy and even independence for the specially administered Chinese region.
Police officers stand guard outside the convention center where Chinese Communist Party's third-highest ranking official, Zhang Dejiang, gave a speech during a visit to Hong Kong, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Hong Kong authorities rolled out a massive security operation on Tuesday as they braced for protests during a top Beijing official's visit to the semiautonomous city, where tensions are rising over Chinese rule. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
"There are a very small number of people rejecting 'one country' and resisting the central government. They're even flying the banner of Hong Kong independence," Zhang said. "This is not a matter of localism, but it's separatism under the name of localism."
Zhang also warned people not to break the law, but did refer to any specific offenses.
"No one can override the law, and no offenders can evade legal jurisdiction with any excuse," he said. "Society should severely condemn those actions which challenge the rule of law."
He said the "one country, two systems" framework, under which Beijing allows Hong Kong a high degree of control over its own affairs and civil liberties unseen on the mainland following its 1997 handover from Britain, is in the city's best interests.
Hong Kong authorities have ratcheted up security for Zhang's visit, with as many as 8,000 police officers deployed for the visit, the South China Morning Post newspaper reported, citing an unidentified police source. Water-filled plastic barriers and metal barricades ring the hotel and conference center where Zhang is spending much of his time. Paving stones have been glued together to prevent protesters from throwing them, construction work has been suspended, and some shops and restaurants have shut temporarily.
Earlier in the day, a group of about 100 protesters who tried to get close to the business conference where Zhang was delivering a speech were kept well away in a designated protest zone.
Pro-democracy activists are blocked by policewomen as they shout slogans against pro-government protesters outside the convention center where Chinese Communist Party's third-highest ranking official, Zhang Dejiang attends a government banquet during a visit to Hong Kong, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Hong Kong authorities stepped up security for a top Chinese government official as he appeared at a business conference Wednesday, preventing pro-democracy protesters from approaching the venue. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, Zhang Dejiang gives speech at the Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. The top Beijing official is on a visit to the semiautonomous city, where tensions are rising over Chinese rule. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, Zhang Dejiang, right, speaks with Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying during the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. The top Beijing official is on a visit to the semiautonomous city, where tensions are rising over Chinese rule. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
A pro-democracy activist, right, waves banner and shout slogans against pro-government protesters, left, outside the convention center where the Chinese Communist Party's third-highest ranking official, Zhang Dejiang, gave a speech during a visit to Hong Kong, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Hong Kong authorities rolled out a massive security operation on Tuesday as they braced for protests during a top Beijing official's visit to the semiautonomous city, where tensions are rising over Chinese rule.(AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
Pro-democracy activists hold placards during a protest outside the convention center where Chinese Communist Party's third-highest ranking official, Zhang Dejiang, gave a speech during a visit to Hong Kong, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Hong Kong authorities rolled out a massive security operation on Tuesday as they braced for protests during a top Beijing official's visit to the semiautonomous city, where tensions are rising over Chinese rule.(AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
Policewomen stand guard in front of the banner of the pro-government protesters, outside the convention center where Chinese Communist Party's third-highest ranking official, Zhang Dejiang attends a government banquet in Hong Kong, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. A top Chinese official visiting Hong Kong warned Wednesday against heeding calls for independence for the semiautonomous Chinese region. The banner reads "Against violence, Resist Hong Kong independence, Return rationality, Towards people's will". (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
NATO meeting to focus on security challenges outside Europe
BRUSSELS (AP) NATO foreign ministers this week will discuss how the alliance can deal more effectively with security threats outside Europe, including by training the Iraqi military and cooperating with the European Union to choke off people-smuggling operations in the central Mediterranean.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday a major focus of the ministers' meeting will be on "projecting stability beyond our borders," namely in the Middle East and North Africa.
The two-day session, to be attended by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his counterparts from NATO'S 27 other member countries, begins Thursday at alliance headquarters in Brussels.
U.S. M1A2 Abrams tank moves to firing positions during joint military exercises at the Vaziani military base outside Tbilisi, Georgia, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. About 1,300 U.S., British and Georgian troops conducted joint exercises aimed at training the former Soviet republic's military for participation in the NATO Response Force. (AP Photo/Shakh Aivazov)
The wide-ranging agenda includes welcoming the Balkan nation of Montenegro as NATO's newest member-designate, and a dinner discussion on what policy to adopt toward a resurgent and increasingly bellicose Russia. But the centerpiece is likely to be discussions on how NATO should interact with what U.S. Ambassador Douglas Lute called "a whole set of weak, failing and failed states" to Europe's south and southeast.
Stoltenberg told a news conference the ministers will discuss a request from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to expand or transfer a NATO military training program for Iraqi officers already underway in Jordan to Iraq itself. He said NATO is also considering stepping up aid to the U.S.-led coalition combating the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria by supplying AWACS command and control aircraft.
"We're looking for niche capabilities that the alliance can add to reinforce or support the coalition," Lute told reporters later.
He said he also expected ministers to discuss what NATO can do to beef up the defenses of Libya's newly formed government, which faces a brutal insurgency mounted by an Islamic State affiliate. On Monday, the United States and other Western countries threw their support behind the U.N.-brokered government, saying they would supply it with weapons.
Lute said NATO has the ability to train, advise, and help build the military capabilities not only of Iraq, but of Jordan and Tunisia, countries he said are also under stress or located in "a dangerous neighborhood."
"By helping our partners strengthen their own forces, and secure their own countries" NATO members will enhance their own security, Stoltenberg said.
A Friday meeting of the NATO foreign ministers with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and the foreign ministers of neutral EU members Sweden and Finland will consider how the two international organizations can pool efforts to address "unprecedented security challenges," Stoltenberg said.
Those challenges include hybrid warfare threats like disinformation campaigns, cyberattacks or maritime security risks and possible NATO cooperation with the EU's Frontex agency to detect and stop human trafficking and terrorist infiltration in the Mediterranean.
Ivo Daalder, former U.S. ambassador to NATO, said the alliance has been quick to react to the "threat from Russia" but "the bigger immediate challenge is to get the alliance engaged in actions focused on the threat from the south."
Lawyer reveals O.J.'s post-verdict comment: 'You were right'
LOS ANGELES (AP) O.J. Simpson's former attorney Robert Shapiro says there's a "strong possibility" that the person who killed Simpson's ex-wife and her friend has never faced trial.
In an interview with Megyn Kelly broadcast Tuesday night on Fox, Shapiro says he thinks evidence shows it's possible that more than one person was involved in the 1994 killings of Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
Shapiro also tells Kelly that Simpson whispered "you were right" in his ear in the moments after a jury acquitted him in 1995.
FILE - In this Oct. 3, 1995, file photo, O.J. Simpson, center, clenches his fists in victory after the jury said he was not guilty in the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in a Los Angeles courtroom as attorneys F. Lee Bailey, left, and Robert Shapiro, right, look on. During an appearance on Fox's "Megyn Kelly Presents" on May 17, 2016, Shapiro said there's a strong possibility that the person who killed Simpsons ex-wife, Nicole Brown-Simpson, and Ronald Goldman has never faced trial. (AP Photo/Los Angeles Daily News, Myung Chun, Pool, File)
Simpson was later found liable for the deaths by a civil jury. He's now serving prison time on a Nevada armed robbery conviction.
Shapiro didn't offer his thoughts on John Travolta's portrayal of him in "People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story," the FX series that put the case back in the headlines.
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The Latest: Police ID man fatally shot after pulling knife
NEW YORK (AP) The Latest on a police-involved shooting in New York in which one person was killed (all times local):
8:45 p.m.
New York City police have identified a man they shot and killed after he threatened an officer with an 8-inch knife.
Police say Garry Conrad Jr. was shot Wednesday morning in Manhattan's Theater District. They say Conrad tried to buy beer from a supermarket and became aggressive with a cashier before getting into a struggle with an officer outside.
Police say Conrad fell to the ground before getting up and pulling a knife on the officer.
A police officer and a sergeant opened fire. Police believe nine shots were fired.
A woman suffered a graze wound to her wrist.
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10:45 a.m.
New York City police say they've shot a man to death after he threatened an officer with an 8-inch knife in Manhattan's Theater District.
Police say the man had shown aggressive behavior at a supermarket and then got into a struggle with an officer outside the store. They say he fell to the ground, got up and pulled out the knife.
He was shot around 8:20 a.m. Wednesday.
A woman suffered a graze wound to her wrist. Police say it appears nine shots were fired.
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10:15 a.m.
Police say a bystander has sustained a graze wound as officers shot a knife-wielding man in during morning rush hour in midtown Manhattan.
Police are investigating whether the man lunged at the officer. Police say the officer also suffered a minor injury. The circumstances of the shooting were still being investigated.
The encounter happened around 8:30 a.m. just a few hundred feet from the Broadway theaters showing "Wicked" and "The Book of Mormon." The body was covered in a white sheet on the street.
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10:10 a.m.
A body is lying under a white cloth in the middle of an intersection following a police shooting in Manhattan's Theater District.
Police say the suspect had a knife and apparently lunged at an officer before the shooting at around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.
The encounter occurred just a few hundred feet from the Broadway theaters showing "Wicked" and "The Book of Mormon."
A woman was also struck in the arm; she's expected to survive.
Sharona Shriver heard shots and looked out of her apartment window. She saw the man face down with blood pouring out of his head or upper body.
Her roommate, Tamar Mendelsohn, says she saw the officer crying.
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9:30 a.m.
Authorities say a person is dead in a New York City shooting that involved police.
Police are investigating whether the suspect lunged at an officer with a knife.
The shooting happened in Manhattan's tourist-packed theater district, just a few hundred feet from the Broadway theaters showing "Wicked" and "The Book of Mormon."
The area is usually teeming with tourists and people headed to work early in the day.
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9:25 a.m.
Authorities say a person is dead in a New York City shooting that involved police.
Police are investigating whether the suspect lunged at an officer with a knife.
The incident occurred around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday at Eighth Avenue and 49th Street, near a few of Broadway's big theaters.
Record crushed, diamond intact: Oppenheimer Blue draws $58M
GENEVA (AP) The "Oppenheimer Blue" diamond sold Wednesday for more than 56.8 million Swiss francs ($57.6 million) including fees, crushing the previous record for the most expensive diamond ever sold at auction.
Capping a lively and even laughter-filled auction at Christie's, the hammer came down to applause as the 14.62-carat stone, billed as the largest Vivid Blue diamond ever put up for auction, went to an unidentified buyer for a hammer price of 50.6 million Swiss francs which excluded fees and the buyer's premium.
That obliterated the pre-sale estimate range of between 38 million and 45 million francs.
A Christie's employee holds Oppenheimer Blue diamond of 14.62 carats, which is estimated to be sold between 38,000,000 to 45,000,000 US Dollar, during a preview at the auction house Christie's, in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, May 12, 2016. The auction will take place on May 18, 2016 in Geneva. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)
The final tally also blew away the previous record for a diamond sold at auction by nearly $10 million: The 12.03-carat polished "Blue Moon" diamond went for $48.5 million in Geneva in November.
Christie's spokeswoman Alexandra Kindermann said the bidding for the "Oppenheimer Blue" lasted over 25 minutes for the single lot, after starting at 30 million francs. The anticipation was often marked with tense pauses, groans and laughter.
The rectangular-cut diamond has been set in a ring and flanked by two smaller trapezoid-shaped diamonds. The stone got its name from the late Sir Philip Oppenheimer, who long oversaw De Beers mining and had given the stone to his wife.
Oppenheimer, who died in 1995 at age 83, helped De Beers gain control of the world diamond market by convincing the Soviet Union to let him market its gems. He started his career with the diamond-mining giant in 1933 as a diamond sorter and trainee salesman.
In diamond-business parlance, "provenance" matters. Raymond Sancroft-Baker, Christie's director of European jewelry, said Oppenheimer "had the pick of all diamonds over a 50-year period, and this is what he picked out for his wife."
"There's been several other blue diamonds which have been sold in the past, but nothing really quite of this quality," Sancroft-Baker said, adding that while the stone wasn't internally flawless, it was "nearly perfect."
The sale rounded out a two-day run of big-ticket jewelry auctions in Geneva. At Sotheby's on Tuesday, a vivid, pearl-shaped pink diamond said to be the largest of its kind to go under the hammer sold for 27.3 million Swiss francs ($28 million) at the low end of the pre-sale estimated price range.
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Jamey Keaten contributed to this report.
UK tabloid reprimanded for claiming queen supports 'Brexit'
LONDON (AP) Britain's press regulator has reprimanded tabloid newspaper The Sun for claiming Queen Elizabeth II wants the U.K. to leave the European Union.
The Independent Press Standards Organization says the headline "Queen Backs Brexit" made a "factual assertion that the queen had expressed a position in the referendum debate" that wasn't supported by the accompanying article.
Buckingham Palace complained to the regulator about the March article, which claimed the queen had criticized the EU during functions with politicians.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II walks through Norman Porch ahead of giving her speech during the official State Opening of Parliament, at the House of Lords in London, Wednesday May 18, 2016. The State Opening of Parliament marks the formal start of the parliamentary year and the Queen's Speech sets out the governments agenda for the coming session. (Yui Mok/Pool via AP)
The monarch is expected to remain politically neutral and not express opinions on issues such as Britain's upcoming referendum on whether to remain in the EU.
Swedish TV tower snaps, authorities suspect sabotage
STOCKHOLM (AP) Swedish authorities say a TV tower that snapped in half may have been the target of sabotage.
The top portion of the 330-meter (1,080-foot) mast near Boras in southwestern Sweden broke off late Sunday and slammed into the surrounding pine forest. No one was injured but TV and radio transmissions in the area were knocked out.
Swedish prosecutors said Wednesday they are investigating the incident as suspected sabotage but said they have no suspects at this point.
Security has been stepped up at other TV towers around the Scandinavian country.
Mars is within reach, says German tapped for space command
COLOGNE, Germany (AP) Humans could set foot on Mars within decades if they wanted to, according to the German astronaut who has been tapped to become his country's first commander of the International Space Station.
Alexander Gerst said the space station offers a unique opportunity to test the technology needed to explore other planets, especially if its lifetime is extended beyond 2020.
"It is very clear to me that those manned missions to the moon and Mars, human missions, will happen," he told The Associated Press in an interview at the European Space Agency's astronaut training center in Cologne, Germany. "But we need the decision as a society. And once we do that we are ready to go, basically."
FILE - In this May 28, 2014 file photo European Space Agency's astronaut Alexander Gerst, crew member of the mission to the International Space Station, ISS, waves during inspection of his space suit prior to the launch of the Soyuz-FG rocket at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky, file)
Gerst said the recent Hollywood movie "The Martian" starring Matt Damon as an astronaut fending for himself on the red planet offers a realistic glimpse of the not-too-distant future.
"It shows us what we can possibly reach in a few years' time," he said. "I'm actually quite excited by the fact that us humans, we could fly to Mars, and maybe you and I will live to see it."
The 40-year-old volcanologist an expert on volcanos, not the planet Vulcan from Star Trek is scheduled to take command of the space station in May 2018, four years after his first mission, it was announced Wednesday.
NASA aims to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s. Astronauts have been living continuously aboard the 250-mile (402-kilometer) -high International Space Station since 2000. This month, the space station hit the milestone of 100,000 orbits around Earth the equivalent of 10 round trips to Mars, or almost one way to Neptune.
Following NASA's longest human spaceflight yet, American Scott Kelly returned in March from a 340-day voyage with Russian Mikhail Kornienko. Scientists hope the results from wide-ranging medical tests will offer guidance on how the body will cope during the much longer Mars expeditions.
Gerst will be the second European Space Agency astronaut in charge of the orbital outpost, after Belgian pilot Frank De Winne, reflecting Europe's growing interest in space. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was present for the announcement and who is a scientist by training, said recently it was "right and important" that space exploration should play a key important role in her country's high-tech strategy.
The European Space Agency saw its budget increase almost 20 percent this year to 5.25 billion euros ($5.96 billion) and the agency is on course to activate Europe's satellite navigation system Galileo a rival to the American GPS, Russia's Glonass and China's Beidou systems this decade.
Earlier this year, ESA chief Jan Woerner suggested establishing a village on the moon once the International Space Station reaches the end of its lifetime. There are no concrete plans for this yet, though, and experts say the space station hasn't outlived its usefulness over 100 experiments are conducted during each mission to the space station.
Gerst said the flying laboratory can help test whether humans are physically and psychologically capable of spending long periods of time in deep space and also how to conserve precious resources on Earth.
"In this year, we decide whether to continue the International Space Station until 2024," he said. "Whether Europe is part of that and whether we will use that investment that we made in the past. So it is important not to stop investing in this field."
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Jordans reported from Berlin.
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This story has been corrected to note that Kelly's flight was NASA's longest, not the longest by any human.
Russian lawmakers back creation of national guard
MOSCOW (AP) Russian lawmakers on Wednesday gave tentative approval to forming a national guard, with some saying the Kremlin needs the new force as a tool against possible unrest.
Members of the lower house, the State Duma, quickly and overwhelmingly endorsed the bill in the first of three required readings, with only the communists speaking out against it.
President Vladimir Putin announced forming a national guard last month, saying his former chief bodyguard, Viktor Zolotov, would be put in charge of it. Putin said the force would focus on the fight against extremism and organized crime, but some observers saw its creation as a reflection of Kremlin fears of possible anti-government protests amid an economic downturn.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, visits a park set in the place of a Soviet-era administrative building which was recently razed in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, May 17, 2016. At right is accompanied by Kremlin Chief Property Manager Alexander Kolpakov, at left is director of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Sciences Academy Nikolai Makarov. Second right back, Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky. (Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Communist Vyacheslav Tetekin said during Wednesday's debate that his party sees a link between the move and the sagging economy.
"The creation of the national guard is connected to the worsening social and economic situation in the country," he said.
The Duma voted 345-14 for the bill, with most of the communist faction not voting for the motion. The full approval of the document is seen as a mere formality in the Kremlin-controlled parliament.
The Russian economy plunged into recession last year under the double blow of low oil prices and Western economic and financial sanctions against Russia over its action in Ukraine. Public support for Putin so far has remained high, but experts forecast it to shrink as broader shares of the population are affected by the economic crisis.
Amid the economic challenges, the Kremlin is keen to maintain tight control over political scene before the parliamentary election in September and the next presidential vote in 2018.
"Forming the national guard is possibly linked to the forthcoming election and the need to preserve any excesses," Tetekin said.
Reports of ballot fraud in favor of the main Kremlin party during the 2011 parliamentary election triggered a wave of massive street protests in Moscow against Putin's rule. After his re-election the following year, Putin responded with a number of repressive bills stifling the opposition.
The new bill would give a national guard an arsenal of means to quell mass disturbances, such as stun grenades and anti-riot vehicles. It specifies that national guardsmen wouldn't be permitted to use force against pregnant women and children unless they offer armed resistance, in line with Russian legal norms.
Russian media outlets estimated that a national guard could include up to 400,000 troops, drawing forces from both Interior Ministry troops and riot police. Opponents of the bill argued that it would drain the nation's police force and weaken its ability to combat crime.
Flamboyant ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky said during the parliamentary debate that forming a national guard is essential to tame "any mutineers, revolutionaries and extremists."
Candidate for UN health chief eyes global tax to help WHO
PARIS (AP) A French diplomat competing to be the world's top health official says a tiny international tax can help fill the World Health Organization's coffers, a proposal aimed at bringing order to the U.N. agency's fragmented budget.
Dr. Philippe Douste-Blazy told journalists at the Foreign Ministry in Paris that "micropayments" tacked on to as-yet-undetermined international business operations could support WHO's budget.
"I'm persuaded that innovative financing can play a role in the support of WHO," he said.
French diplomat competing to be the worlds top health official, Philippe Douste-Blazy, addresses the media during a press conference held in Paris, France, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Philippe Douste-Blazy, says a global tax can help fill the World Health Organizations coffers. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Douste-Blazy's proposal may sound unusual but it isn't unprecedented. UNITAID, a group Douste-Blazy chairs, is partly funded through an air ticket levy imposed in 10 countries, including South Korea and France. The organization uses the money to champion the development of cheaper drugs for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
WHO could use an outside source of cash. The U.N. health agency faces chronic funding problems even as viruses spread faster in an ever-more-connected world. Because three-quarters of its budget can only be spent according to its donors' dictates, academics and health experts say the organization lacks the financial flexibility it needs to set its own priorities.
Douste-Blazy, a cardiologist who once served as France's foreign minister, declined to be drawn Wednesday as to what exactly would be taxed.
The Latest: Google seen ahead in some areas, no so in others
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP)
The Latest from Google's software conference (all times local):
1:45 p.m.
Google engineering director Erik Kay talks about the new Allo messaging app and Duo during the keynote address of the Google I/O conference, Wednesday, May 18, 2016, in Mountain View, Calif. Google unveiled its vision for phones, cars, virtual reality and more during its annual conference for software developers. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Google is catching up to competitors Facebook, Apple and Amazon in messaging, video calling and home speaker-embedded digital assistants. But it's taking the lead in virtual reality and may have changed mobile phones forever with a new twist on mobile apps that allows them to play without being installed.
That's the conclusion of Jan Dawson, an analyst with Jackdaw Research, who was at the Google I/O annual developers conference Wednesday in Mountain View, California.
Dawson said Google's new Allo app focuses on the search giant's strengths in search and natural language recognition, but may have come too late behind bigger rivals to gain much use.
In a research note he praised Google's new Daydream virtual reality platform, but noted it'll take time to become popular because the high bar for specifications means no devices can support it yet.
He also said the introduction of Android Instant Apps has "the potential to significantly change" the way apps work. Apps updated to the system can be made available to older Android operating systems covering 95 percent of active users today.
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12:05 p.m.
It can be a pain to install phone apps you know you'll use just once or twice.
Google's answer to that: Android Instant Apps.
The app runs on Google's servers instead of your phone. Only the parts you need get sent to your phone on an as-needed basis.
If it works as Google envisions, without lags and other annoyances, users won't have to spend a few minutes downloading and installing that app and having it take up valuable space on the phone.
The app maker needs to enable this feature, though.
Google unveiled the feature at its annual conference for software developers in Mountain View, California.
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11:30 a.m.
Google's stepping further into the virtual world.
It announced a new platform for virtual reality called Daydream, and said manufacturers including Samsung, HTC and Huawei would have smartphones capable of handling it this fall.
The platform, included in its upcoming Android N operating system, is meant to improve upon the experience of Cardboard, which Google launched two years ago, by making virtual-reality experiences that are more comfortable, higher quality and more immersive.
Google said it had created a reference design for a headset that a partner manufacturer would have ready for the fall, and designs for a new controller that has a few buttons, a touchpad, and sensors that track its orientation and where it's pointing.
In a demonstration for some 7,000 attendees at its Google I/O conference in Mountain View, California, the Internet search giant showed how the controller could be used to flip digital pancakes, throw things, cast a virtual fishing line and fly a digital dragon.
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11:15 a.m.
Google is adding a few more features to the next version of its Android operating system in an attempt to outshine Apple's iPhone.
The company is promising better graphic and battery performance. It's also adopting a security approach that lets you encrypt specific files rather than the whole phone.
Google released Android N to developers two months ago, but still hasn't specified when it will be ready for consumers. The company previously revealed that Android N will offer a split-screen feature so users can toggle between apps more easily. It also will enable users to reply directly to notifications, something iPhones already allow.
Apple's split-screen feature works only with iPad tablets, not iPhones.
Research firm Gartner says nearly 1.3 billion smartphones running on Android are expected to be sold this year compared with a projected 231,000 iPhones.
The updates were touted Wednesday at Google's annual conference for software developers in Mountain View, California.
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10:50 a.m.
A messaging app that incorporates Google's new voice assistant? Say "hello" to Allo.
The company unveiled the new app at its annual conference for software developers in Mountain View, California, on Wednesday. The app, available this summer on both Android and rival Apple phones, allows chatting partners to look up restaurant options and even book a table right in the app.
It also gives users an array of emojis and stickers and the option to increase or decrease the size of text to add emphasis.
Allo also gives a range of automated responses to questions and even photos, recognizing things like food and dog breeds.
In a smack at Snapchat, Allo also features an "incognito" mode that adds end-to-end encryption and allows a person to set a timer on when their chat messages disappear.
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10:30 a.m.
Following in Amazon's footsteps, Google is unveiling a smart home assistant that lets people listen to music and podcasts, as well as manage tasks such as setting alarms and compiling shopping lists, throughout their home.
Called Google Home, the Internet-connected device lets users control it with their voice to listen to music and control lights and thermostats in the home, for example.
Mario Queiroz, a vice president at Google, says the sleek, flower pot-like device also lets you ask Google about "anything you want."
Google says that unlike other home assistants, Home will work with other speakers in the house too.
In the future, Google says the device could let users control things outside of their home too.
The company has not yet named a price, but says it will be available later this year. Sounds familiar? Home echoes Amazon's Echo, a voice-controlled smart speaker.
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9 a.m.
Google's bare-bones entry into the still-nascent field of virtual reality came two years ago when it unveiled a cheap headset made out of cardboard.
The company may now be poised to get more serious, given far more sophisticated options available for sale, including the Oculus Rift from rival Facebook.
Analysts are touting virtual reality, a technology that casts its users into artificial, three-dimensional worlds, as one of the industry's most promising areas for growth.
Google is keeping plans for Wednesday's software conference under wraps, but the agenda offers several hints: Virtual reality and artificial intelligence, or "machine learning," will be among the focal points.
The three-day conference is taking place in Mountain View, California.
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7:40 a.m.
While virtual reality and artificial intelligence are expected to be big, the core of Google's annual conference is its software namely the Android system powering 80 percent of the world's smartphones.
Google's three-day conference, called Google I/O, starts Wednesday in Mountain View, California.
Google gives Android away for free to device makers. Google designs it to highlight its search engine, maps and other features, giving the company more opportunities to sell the digital ads that generate most of its revenue.
The bias toward Google's own services is now the subject of antitrust investigation by European regulators trying to determine whether the company is stifling competition in the increasingly important mobile market.
Besides updates for the phone, Google is likely to unveil new features coming to other gadgets such as Android Wear smartwatches and possibly Android TV streaming devices.
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2 a.m.
Google's mobile payment service, Android Pay, is coming to the U.K., marking its first expansion outside the U.S.
On Wednesday, Google joins Apple Pay, which launched in the U.K. nearly a year ago.
With both services, users merely tap a phone next to a store's payment reader to charge a credit or debit card. But it works only with stores that have newer wireless readers called NFC.
Another challenge has been persuading consumers that it's easier than pulling out a plastic card for payment.
Apple Pay is also in China, Canada, Australia and Singapore, with Hong Kong and Spain to come. Google says Android Pay will expand to Singapore and Australia this year.
Android Pay's expansion comes as Google holds its annual conference for software developers in Mountain View, California.
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9 p.m. Thursday
Google is expected to dive deeper into virtual reality and artificial intelligence during an annual conference that serves as a launching pad for its latest products and innovations.
The three-day Google I/O conference in Mountain View, California, starts Wednesday.
Google is keeping its plans under wraps, but the conference agenda makes it clear that virtual reality and artificial intelligence, or "machine learning," will be among the focal points.
That has spurred speculation that Google will release a virtual-reality device to compete with Facebook's new Oculus Rift headset, as well as Samsung's Gear VR. Analysts also believe Google may release an artificial-intelligent gadget to compete with Amazon's Echo, which is a cylinder-like device that includes a virtual assistant named Alexa.
Clay Bavor, Google vice president of virtual reality, talks about Daydream and virtual reality during the keynote address of the Google I/O conference, Wednesday, May 18, 2016, in Mountain View, Calif. Google unveiled its vision for phones, cars, virtual reality and more during its annual conference for software developers. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
In Cannes' hit 'Loving,' a humble love overpowers racism
CANNES, France (AP) Jeff Nichols, sitting calmly by the beach, was surprised to notice a curious lack of butterflies amid the usually anxiety-ridden premiere experience at the Cannes Film Festival. His film, "Loving," is about Richard and Mildred Loving, the Virginia couple whose biracial marriage in 1958 led to a landmark Supreme Court decision on marriage equality.
"It's not my story," said the writer-director, whose previous films, including the Mississippi River coming-of-age tale "Mud" and the science-fiction thriller "Midnight Special" were original creations. "It's their story."
"Loving," starring Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga, is told straightforwardly and simply. Although it has the context of a civil rights drama, it's a portrait of a humble, unassuming love so steadfast that it eventually toppled one of the most odious legal remnants of slavery-era America the ban against interracial marriages.
Actor Joel Edgerton, actress Ruth Negga, and director Jeff Nichols, from left, pose for photographers upon arrival at the screening of the film Loving at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Monday, May 16, 2016.(AP Photo/Joel Ryan)
Without the standard Hollywood histrionics, the film patiently accumulates considerable force before finally overwhelming the viewer.
"No one moment adds up to the whole. But if you put them all together, hopefully, the weight of it gains this emotional density," said Nichols. "Part of the cruelty of what was happening to them was time. Time was being taken away from them."
The Lovings didn't seek the spotlight, but their efforts to return home after being exiled from Virginia eventually led to the 1967 Supreme Court ruling of Loving vs. Virginia a decision cited in the court's 2015 ruling on same-sex marriage.
Nichols and Edgerton believe the film has obvious significance at time when religious liberty laws and restroom battles are being fought in the U.S.
"It's kind of shameful to watch and look back and think 50 years ago that that was happening and yet it's still very much relevant today," says Edgerton. "Things are changing, obviously, but it's weird to think we'll look back in 20, 30 years' time and say that law (gay marriage) changed in 2015."
Of the many films in Cannes, "Loving," which Focus Features will release in the heart of awards season in November, is among the most likely to garner significant attention from both moviegoers and the Academy Awards. The performances of Negga and Edgerton have already been widely hailed.
"This is the most important film I've made and it's one of the most important films in history, I think," Negga told reporters in Cannes. The Irish-Ethiopian actress the first Nichols auditioned for the role pursued the part fervently. "There was no alternative, really. I just really had to play her."
Both actors drew from the famous images of the couple , who were photographed by Life magazine's Grey Villet (Michael Shannon in the film) in 1966. The photographs captured their sweet, almost teenage-like manner together. In one, Richard a buzz-cut blond country boy lies with his head in Mildred's lap while watching TV.
Nancy Buirski's 2011 documentary "The Loving Story" was also a major inspiration.
"The court case is fascinating, but I just wanted to hang out in that documentary footage more," says Nichols. "I wanted to go around the edges of it. I wanted to go around the corner of it."
Avoiding inflated dramatics, Nichols and his cast sought to stay true to the Lovings, who effected change just by being.
"To me, it's like this series of checkmates. It tends to move and be shut down. Move and be shut down. Have a voice and be stifled," says Edgerton. "Finally when the Supreme Court decision releases that weight, it's quite an overwhelming feeling. It's a triumphant feeling, but when Richard proposed in the field that should have been their right and freedom at that time."
Richard Loving died in 1975, the victim of a drunk driver, and Mildred Loving died in 2008.
"Loving" may be a departure for Nichols in that it's a true-life tale. But it continues the Arkansas-native's interest in the preservation of family amid elements out of one's control.
Choosing to make the film, though, was easy enough. When he first shared the trailer of "The Loving Story" with his wife, she told him if he didn't make it, she'd divorce him.
"That's all she wrote. She didn't sign off or anything," recalled Nichols, chuckling.
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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
Actors Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga pose for portraits for the film Loving at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Tuesday, May 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)
Actor Joel Edgerton, left, and actress Ruth Negga pose for photographers upon arrival at the screening of the film Loving at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Monday, May 16, 2016. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)
Actors Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga pose for portraits for the film Loving at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Tuesday, May 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)
Director director Jeff Nichols, actress Ruth Negga, and Joel Edgerton, from left, pose for photographers upon arrival at the screening of the film Loving at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Monday, May 16, 2016. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Actors Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga pose for portraits for the film Loving at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Tuesday, May 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)
Director Jeff Nichols poses for portraits for the film Loving at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Tuesday, May 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)
Actress Ruth Negga, left and actor Joel Edgerton, pose for photographers after leaving the screening of the film Loving at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Monday, May 16, 2016. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)
Director director Jeff Nichols, actress Ruth Negga, and Joel Edgerton, from left, pose for photographers upon arrival at the screening of the film Loving at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Monday, May 16, 2016. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Coincidences eyed in death of worker, kidnapping of women
AMERICAN FORK, Utah (AP) Utah train maintenance worker Kay Porter Ricks lived a regimented life: He went to work at the same time each day, tried to use the same service truck on his route and came home at the same hour.
The morning before he went missing last week, he even returned home to give his wife of 42 years a kiss goodbye to avoid diverting from his daily routine.
So his family knew something was amiss when the 63-year-old Mormon grandfather didn't come from work on May 12 and his truck was later spotted in Wyoming and his cellphone near a station across town, said Richard Massey, a spokesman for the family.
Yellow ribbons and photos of Utah Transit Authority employee Kay Ricks line the UTA Trax Ballpark station in Salt Lake City, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Law enforcement officials are looking for a possible connection between a missing Utah Transit Authority worker, whose body was discovered late Tuesday evening, and the Centerville, Utah, kidnapping suspects arrested over the weekend. (Jeffrey D. Allred/The Deseret News via AP) SALT LAKE TRIBUNE OUT; MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT; TV OUT
Their worst fears were realized Tuesday when a Wyoming sheriff's deputy found Ricks dead, wearing his work boots and jeans, some 130 miles from the spot in Salt Lake City where he was last seen checking on train tracks.
Now, the FBI and investigators in Utah and Wyoming are trying to determine if a father and son accused of holding a woman and her four teenage daughters hostage had anything to do with his death.
His cause of death has not been disclosed. But Utah Transit Authority Police Chief Fred Ross said it has been ruled a homicide.
Police have not definitively linked Flint Wayne Harrison, 51, and his son Dereck James "DJ" Harrison, 22, to Ricks' death.
"There are some coincidences there that would be impossible to ignore as we continue to investigate," Lincoln County Sheriff Shane Johnson told the Deseret News.
Ricks vanished during his night shift a few miles from a Utah house where investigators believe the father and son had been lying low before heading to Wyoming. Ricks' body was found in the same Wyoming county where his work truck was last spotted by surveillance cameras. The county borders the area where the Harrisons were camping before their weekend arrest.
The missing truck could explain how the Harrisons traveled nearly 250 miles from Utah to Wyoming, authorities said.
The deputy who found Ricks was taking one last look after the search had officially ended for the night when he noticed Ricks' boots, Massey said. His body was discovered near a dirt road about 16 miles south of the town of Kemmerer, Wyoming, said Lincoln County Sheriff Shane Johnson.
Authorities still haven't found Ricks' truck but vowed to keep searching.
Massey said authorities haven't told the Ricks family about finding any evidence connecting his disappearance to the Harrisons. He said Ricks' family members who live in the small city of American Fork south of Salt Lake City, are mourning their loss rather than speculating on what happened. Ricks had three grown sons and six grandchildren.
"The fact that something nefarious may have happened to cause Kay to lose his life is really not the family's focus," said Massey. "There are six grandchildren that greatly miss their grandfather. As you can well imagine, it's difficult explaining to them what has happened to their grandfather."
The FBI is assisting authorities, but spokeswoman Sandra Yi Barker couldn't provide any more details
The Harrisons were arrested over the weekend after a five-day search. The father eventually surrendered and led police to the remote camp near Pinedale, Wyoming.
The two are accused of using drugs and tying up a woman and her four teenage daughters in a basement on May 10 because they wrongly thought the mother had reported them to authorities. The family was able to break free and escape.
The Harrisons will be extradited to Utah to face 16 charges each, including kidnapping and drug possession. They are not talking to police, Centerville, Utah, police Lt. Von Steenblik said.
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This story has been corrected to show that Ricks went missing May 12, not May 10, and he lived in American Fork, not Pleasant Grove.
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Associated Press writer Ben Neary in Cheyenne, Wyoming, contributed to this report.
This photo released by Utah Transit Authority Police Department shows Kay Porter Ricks. Ricks, a Utah train maintenance worker who disappeared amid a manhunt for a father and son accused of a bizarre kidnapping, was found dead along a route that the suspects likely took authorities said Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Police are investigating how Ricks died, and whether the accused kidnapping suspects were involved. (Utah Transit Authority Police Department via AP)
A helicopter circles as law enforcement officials work east of Highway 189 about 16 miles south of Kemmerer, Wyo., Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Law enforcement officials are looking for a possible connection between a missing Utah Transit Authority worker, whose body was discovered late Tuesday evening, and the Centerville, Utah, kidnapping suspects arrested over the weekend. (Ravell Call/The Deseret News via AP) SALT LAKE TRIBUNE OUT; MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT; TV OUT
This May 14, 2016, photo provided by the Sublette County Sheriff's Office shows Flint Wayne Harrison. Officers culminated a manhunt late Saturday night with the arrest of Dereck James "DJ" Harrison, 22, several hours after the surrender of his father, Flint Wayne Harrison, 51, the Sublette County Sheriff's Office said. A woman and her four teenage daughters who were lured to a Utah house and tied up in the basement were thrilled and relieved to learn the father and son charged in the bizarre attack were in custody in Wyoming, authorities said Sunday. (Sublette County Sheriff's Office via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
This May 14, 2016 photo provided by the Sublette County Sheriff's Office shows Dereck James "DJ" Harrison. Late Saturday night, law officers arrested Harrison, several hours after the surrender of his father, Flint Wayne Harrison, accused of luring a woman and her teenage daughters to a Utah house and tying them up in Wyoming, the Sublette County Sheriff's Office said. (Sublette County Sheriff's Office via AP)
Officers block a dirt road east of Highway 189 about 16 miles south of Kemmerer, Wyo., Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Law enforcement officials are looking for a possible connection between a missing Utah Transit Authority worker, whose body was discovered late Tuesday evening, and the Centerville, Utah, kidnapping suspects arrested over the weekend. (Ravell Call/The Deseret News via AP) SALT LAKE TRIBUNE OUT; MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT; TV OUT
Officers block a dirt road east of Highway 189 about 16 miles south of Kemmerer, Wyo., Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Law enforcement officials are looking for a possible connection between a missing Utah Transit Authority worker, whose body was discovered late Tuesday evening, and the Centerville, Utah, kidnapping suspects arrested over the weekend. (Ravell Call/The Deseret News via AP) SALT LAKE TRIBUNE OUT; MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT; TV OUT
Romania: Prince Paul to stand trial in real estate fraud
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) Prosecutors say Romania's Prince Paul Philippe will stand trial on charges of money laundering, illicitly obtaining assets and buying influence.
The 67-year-old, the grandson of former king Carol II, is currently under house arrest and is accused of illegally acquiring 64 hectares (158 acres) of state-owned land, costing the state 145 million euros ($164 million).
Prosecutors say politically-connected businessman Remus Truica and 21 others used their influence to get the state to restitute land to Paul. In turn, he gave them a share of the value of the real estate. Paul denies wrongdoing.
Romania's monarchy ended when the communists came to power. Paul's uncle, King Michael, was forced to abdicate in 1947. He is estranged from Michael.
Saab unveils new version of Gripen fighter jet
STOCKHOLM (AP) Swedish aircraft maker Saab has unveiled the latest version of its Gripen fighter jet.
About 500 people, including Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist and Brazilian air force commander Nivaldo Luiz Rossato, watched the rollout of the new Gripen E on Wednesday in Linkoping, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) southeast of Stockholm.
The E fighter is slightly bigger than previous versions, has a stronger engine and updated radar systems. It has been in development for about 10 years. The first test flight is expected later this year.
The new E version of the Swedish JAS 39 Gripen multi role fighter being rolled out at SAAB in Linkoping, Sweden, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Swedish aircraft maker Saab has unveiled the latest version of its Gripen fighter jet. The E fighter is slightly bigger than previous versions, has a stronger engine and updated radar systems. It has been in development for about 10 years. The first test flight is expected later this year. (Anders Wiklund/TT via AP) SWEDEN OUT
Brazil has ordered 36 Gripen fighters for delivery between 2019 and 2024. Earlier versions of the plane are in service in the air forces of Sweden, South Africa, Czech Republic, Hungary and Thailand.
The new E version of the Swedish JAS 39 Gripen multi role fighter being rolled out at SAAB in Linkoping, Sweden, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Swedish aircraft maker Saab has unveiled the latest version of its Gripen fighter jet. The E fighter is slightly bigger than previous versions, has a stronger engine and updated radar systems. It has been in development for about 10 years. The first test flight is expected later this year. (Anders Wiklund/TT via AP) SWEDEN OUT
Great Lakes group moves Waukesha water request forward
WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) Representatives of Great Lakes states and provinces have given preliminary approval to a precedent-setting request by a Wisconsin city to draw water from Lake Michigan.
The regional group agreed that the water diversion application by the city of Waukesha complies with a Great Lakes protection compact if certain conditions are met, including an average limit of 8.2 million gallons a day.
The group includes eight states and two Canadian provinces. Minnesota abstained from voting during a conference call Wednesday.
The Journal Sentinel (http://bit.ly/1XmpTYU ) reports governors of the eight states, or their representatives, will meet in Chicago in late June to consider the regional group's conditional approval and vote on Waukesha's request.
Migrants camp on Serbia-Hungary border waiting to cross
HORGOS, Serbia (AP) A small tent city has formed on Serbia's border with Hungary where migrants are waiting to cross into the European Union despite border closures and a deal with Turkey aimed at stopping more people coming.
Dozens of migrants, including small children, were camping Wednesday in a few dozen tents in a litter-covered field by Hungary's border fence, braving rain and cold nights determined to pursue their dream of a better future in the EU.
"All people want is to cross this border," said 17-year-old Mohamad Idrees from Afghanistan "We must cross this border."
A man prepares his tent in the makeshift refugee camp near the Horgos border crossing into Hungary, near Horgos, Serbia, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. A small tent city has formed on Serbias border with Hungary where migrants are waiting to cross into the European Union despite border closures and a deal with Turkey to stop sea crossings into Greece. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Aid workers say Hungarian authorities have been letting small groups of up to about 20 people a day into the country, mostly families with small children. Still, a few dozen people have been arriving at the border daily and more are expected to arrive with improved weather conditions, raising concerns of humanitarian problems in the makeshift camp
Although the EU and Balkan nations have sought to curb the arrivals after about 1 million people came last year, the flow has continued on a smaller scale, with hundreds crossing one way or another daily, compared with thousands at the peak of the European migrant crisis last year.
On the Serbia-Hungary border, the migrants are facing dire conditions: they have no toilets or showers, and they depend on aid groups for food, drinks and clean clothes. Some women could be seen washing their clothes at the only tap available, while others lit fires for warmth, curling in the small tents among their belongings.
As a van carrying blankets, shoes and socks stopped by the camp, migrants lined up for their share. Some children walked around wearing shoes with no socks amid occasional drizzle; people inside the tents ate from plastic food parcels given out by the aid organizations.
"The situation is pretty inhuman, they don't have hygiene facilities ... they are using the forest as a toilet," said Zsolt Balla, of the United Nations refugee agency. "As summer is approaching, it will easily lead to infections."
Balla said most people at this and another, smaller makeshift camp at the Serbia-Hungary border arrived in the region after the so-called Balkan corridor for migrants officially closed in early March. He described the Hungary crossing as "the legal pathway to the EU" but added that "we see severe difficulties with this route."
"The numbers are changing on a daily basis," Balla said. "We encourage prioritizing the vulnerable people and families if you look around, many single men are waiting longer than families."
Hungary faced criticism for building a razor-wire fence along its border with Serbia last year to keep the migrants away. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has characterized the migrant influx as an "invasion" threatening Europe's security and Christian culture.
When the Balkan route abruptly closed, thousands of migrants got stuck in Macedonia and Serbia. And when the EU-Turkey migrant deal came into effect on March 20, many others were stranded in Greece. Hungary has reported several hundred people detained trying to cross illegally every week, pushing their way through the fence.
While most migrants at the Horgos border camp are hoping to cross into Hungary legally, many who have faced closed doors have turned to smugglers to guide them over.
Ahmad Samir Zamari, a 20-year-old from Afghanistan, said he is now thinking of going to Croatia with the smugglers after being detained for 13 days in Hungary before being sent back to Serbia.
"What can I do? They said you can't come to Hungary for one year," he complained. "Now I don't know. We don't have any way."
Zamari and other migrants interviewed at the border said they could not return to their home countries, including Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, because of the wars raging in those countries. Many traveled from Turkey to Bulgaria and then on to Serbia, using more dangerous clandestine routes.
Balla, from the UNHCR, said it is difficult to predict how the numbers of migrants arriving at the border will change in the coming months. He said around 400 people are currently staying at the two makeshift border camps.
A Serbian police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said numbers have been growing with the spring weather, with many of the new arrivals coming through the new Bulgaria route.
Referring to a camp in Greece where thousands have been stuck for months following the closure of the Balkan route, the officer added that: "I hope this does not become a new Idomeni."
A woman walks in the makeshift refugee camp near the Horgos border crossing into Hungary, near Horgos, Serbia, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. A small tent city has formed on Serbias border with Hungary where migrants are waiting to cross into the European Union despite border closures and a deal with Turkey to stop sea crossings into Greece. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Migrants wait for food in the makeshift refugee camp near the Horgos border crossing into Hungary, near Horgos, Serbia, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. A small tent city has formed on Serbias border with Hungary where migrants are waiting to cross into the European Union despite border closures and a deal with Turkey to stop sea crossings into Greece. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Children play in the makeshift refugee camp near the Horgos border crossing into Hungary, near Horgos, Serbia, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. A small tent city has formed on Serbias border with Hungary where migrants are waiting to cross into the European Union despite border closures and a deal with Turkey to stop sea crossings into Greece. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
The number of migrants in Serbia has been growing since Hungary, its northern neighbour, tightened its border controls earlier this month. Pictured: Women in the makeshift refugee camp near Horgos, Serbia
A woman holds her baby in the makeshift refugee camp near the Horgos border crossing into the Hungary, near Horgos, Serbia, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. A small tent city has formed on Serbias border with Hungary where migrants are waiting to cross into the European Union despite border closures and a deal with Turkey to stop sea crossings into Greece. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Sparrows stand on the border fence in the makeshift refugee camp near the Horgos border crossing into Hungary, near Horgos, Serbia, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. A small tent city has formed on Serbias border with Hungary where migrants are waiting to cross into the European Union despite border closures and a deal with Turkey to stop sea crossings into Greece. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A man looking through a border fence in the makeshift refugee camp near the Horgos border crossing into Hungary, near Horgos, Serbia, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. A small tent city has formed on Serbias border with Hungary where migrants are waiting to cross into the European Union despite border closures and a deal with Turkey to stop sea crossings into Greece. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A girl walks by a border fence in the makeshift refugee camp near the Horgos border crossing into the Hungary, near Horgos, Serbia, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. A small tent city has formed on Serbias border with Hungary where migrants are waiting to cross into the European Union despite border closures and a deal with Turkey to stop sea crossings into Greece. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Hungarian police officers control a border fence in the makeshift refugee camp near the Horgos border crossing into Hungary, near Horgos, Serbia, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. A small tent city has formed on Serbias border with Hungary where migrants are waiting to cross into the European Union despite border closures and a deal with Turkey to stop sea crossings into Greece. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A woman rests by a border fence in the makeshift refugee camp near the Horgos border crossing into Hungary, near Horgos, Serbia, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. A small tent city has formed on Serbias border with Hungary where migrants are waiting to cross into the European Union despite border closures and a deal with Turkey to stop sea crossings into Greece. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A girl walks by a border fence in the makeshift refugee camp near the Horgos border crossing into Hungary
A woman holds her child in the makeshift refugee camp near the Horgos border crossing into Hungary, near Horgos, Serbia, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. A small tent city has formed on Serbias border with Hungary where migrants are waiting to cross into the European Union despite border closures and a deal with Turkey to stop sea crossings into Greece. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Migrants rest in the makeshift refugee camp near the Horgos border crossing into Hungary, near Horgos, Serbia, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. A small tent city has formed on Serbias border with Hungary where migrants are waiting to cross into the European Union despite border closures and a deal with Turkey to stop sea crossings into Greece. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A boy walks by a border fence in the makeshift refugee camp in Serbia, near the border crossing into Hungary
A woman making up a girl's hair in front of a border fence in the makeshift refugee camp near the Horgos border crossing into Hungary, near Horgos, Serbia, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. A small tent city has formed on Serbias border with Hungary where migrants are waiting to cross into the European Union despite border closures and a deal with Turkey to stop sea crossings into Greece. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Complex US politics of trade will follow Obama to Asia
WASHINGTON (AP) When Republican Donald Trump complains about unfair trade partners, he often singles out Vietnam "hot as a pistol right now" and "the new one just killing us."
And when Democrat Bernie Sanders warns about the perils of global trade deals, he rarely misses a chance to say Americans shouldn't have to compete against Vietnamese workers earning 65 cents an hour.
But when President Barack Obama talks up the benefits of new trade deals, he holds out commerce with Vietnam as an example of the potential benefits of globalization.
FILE - In this May 13, 2016 file photo, President Barack Obama speak at the White House in Washington. When President Barack Obama talks up the benefits of new trade deals, he holds out commerce with Vietnam as an example of the potential benefits of globalization. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
Those complex politics of trade casting Vietnam as trading bad-boy or target of opportunity will be in the spotlight next week as Obama visits Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to push a trans-Pacific trade deal that would cover nearly 40 percent of the global economy.
Vietnam is the first stop on a weeklong Obama trip designed to showcase the president's commitment to the Asia-Pacific region and to strengthen ties to fast-growing Asian economies in what Obama says is "an age of global supply chains, and cargo ships that crisscross oceans, and online commerce that can render borders obsolete."
On his 10th trip to the Asia-Pacific region as president, Obama also will participate in a summit of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations in Japan's Ise-Shima region and make a historic visit to Hiroshima, seven decades after the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb there that ushered in the nuclear age. Obama will be the first sitting president to visit Hiroshima.
The president's overarching message about trade embracing rather than fearing globalization will be competing against counter-programming in the cacophonous 2016 presidential campaign to select his successor. Trump's denunciations of "stupid" U.S. trade deals that hurt U.S. workers have been a big selling point in his successful march to the brink of the GOP presidential nomination.
Sanders and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton also oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership, although Sanders is far more vocal about it than Clinton. Sanders argues that international trade deals are set up to benefit corporate America at the expense of U.S. workers "forced to compete against people in Vietnam today making a minimum wage of 65 cents an hour."
Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes, taking note of the heated trade debate in the presidential race, says many other countries, too, are "wrestling with reactions to globalization and fears of further globalization."
The administration's goal and challenge is to put those fears to rest by arguing that negotiators learned from the weaknesses in past trade deals and worked to make this one more robust in promoting high standards in labor, the environment and more, says Rhodes.
The 12-nation trans-Pacific trade deal was signed last February but ratification by Congress remains in doubt, with the heated political climate making congressional leaders reluctant to take the matter up even in the lame-duck session after the November elections. Japan, too, has been holding back on ratification, and keeping an eye out for movement in Washington. About 80 percent of the trade covered by the trans-Pacific deal would be between Japan and the U.S.
Vietnam, meanwhile, has been seen as a rising star among developing Asian nations, albeit with hiccups, offering huge potential for U.S. markets. The Vietnamese government forecasts its economy will grow between 6.5 percent and 7 percent a year for the next five years. The Obama administration sees big potential in what is now a lopsided trading picture: U.S. imports from Vietnam totaled nearly $38 billion in 2015, compared to U.S. exports to Vietnam of about $7 billion.
While Sanders argues against sacrificing U.S. jobs to low-wage workers in Vietnam and elsewhere, the Obama administration stresses provisions of the trade deal that would allow U.S. business and workers to compete more evenly with those in other nations. Vietnam has adopted some laws to improve legal protections for citizens and has agreed to allow independent labor unions, currently forbidden, under a labor agreement that takes effect once the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, is ratified.
Beyond the benefits of fairer trade, the White House says U.S. allies are watching the trade debate for evidence of a broader American commitment to the Asia-Pacific region at a time when Trump's talk of an "America first" foreign policy is all over the headlines.
"Many in Asia have come to think that maybe they can't depend on us, that we're withdrawing, and that feeling may be worse in this presidential election year, " says Professor Jeffrey Frankel of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. "The international relations aspect of this is if we don't pass TPP, Asians are going to interpret it as a U.S. withdrawal from their region. And they're going to get closer to China."
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AP Writer Matthew Pennington contributed to this report.
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Trump comes to financial rescue for Christie, NJ GOP
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) Presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump is helping dig former rival Chris Christie and the New Jersey Republican Party out of big debt they incurred from the George Washington Bridge scandal and the governor's presidential campaign.
Trump on Thursday will attend a $25,000-per-person fundraiser for the state GOP to help it pay off about $500,000 incurred in legal fees responding to legislative subpoenas in the bridge scandal. Trump and Christie will headline the event as well as a separate, $200 per-person fundraiser to pay down Christie's roughly $250,000 presidential campaign debt.
"Governor Christie has been very supportive of Mr. Trump," said Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks. "Mr. Trump looks forward to raising money for the Governor and spending time with the great people of New Jersey on Thursday night."
FILE- In this Friday, May 6, 2016, photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Eugene, Ore. Trump has won the Republican presidential primary in Oregon, adding another state to the presumptive GOP nominee's tally of victories. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
The hand-in-hand fund raising help is a sharp turnabout from five months ago, when Trump said Christie "totally knew" that some of his allies had shut down access lanes to bridge to retaliate against a Democratic mayor who wouldn't support Christie's re-election, as prosecutors allege. Two former Christie allies have pleaded not guilty to federal wire fraud and civil rights charges. Christie has not been charged and denies involvement.
Christie has since folded his presidential campaign and taken the big political risk of endorsing Trump, and the billionaire has tapped the governor to head his White House transition team.
Now Trump, eager to show support for the Republican Party, is making what some members of the GOP see as a helpful gesture.
"We certainly take it as a demonstration of their long and deep friendship," said Bill Palatucci, a long-time Christie adviser and New Jersey Republican National Committeeman. "Whether it's a thank-you or not, we appreciate it nonetheless."
The events, both held at the National Guard Armory in Lawrenceville, are expected to draw roughly 1,000 people for the presidential debt fundraiser and 15 to 20 for the state party fundraiser, Palatucci said. The fundraisers, he says, are expected to retire the debt almost entirely, if not completely.
Trump is coming to New Jersey as the bridge scandal is in headlines again this week after a federal appeals court delayed the release of a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the scheme sought by media organizations, including The Associated Press.
New Jersey taxpayers have spent more than $10 million for legal services for the Christie administration. Christie's 2013 gubernatorial campaign also still owes nearly $1 million for legal services. None of the money raised Thursday will go toward those costs, according to Palatucci.
Asked about the fundraisers this week by a reporter, Christie shook his head and laughed but refused to comment.
Hicks did not address whether Trump still believes Christie knew about the lane closures.
In recent comments Christie has highlighted his friendship with Trump, which goes back more than a decade, and insisted support doesn't stem from political expediency.
"This is not like some political marriage," Christie said. "This is a guy I've known and been friends with for 14 years."
The state party is praising Trump ahead of his first visit to the state since he has become the presumptive nominee.
"We are proud that Mr. Trump has shown his commitment to growing our party here in New Jersey," said Pete Sheridan, executive director of the Republican State Committee.
Christie's presidential campaign was a magnet for New Jersey Republicans with most of the party establishment backing him. He raised nearly $4 million from New Jersey donors, far more than any other Republican candidate, according to federal records. That produced a squeeze on contributors, which likely cost other Republicans running for office in the state, according to political experts.
"It really created a vacuum in the last years," Montclair State University political science professor Brigid Harrison said. "There was this kind of sucking from New Jersey donors to his campaign at the cost of down-ballot candidates."
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Follow Mike Catalini on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/@mikecatalini
Kansas man convicted of killing 4 gets death sentence
OTTAWA, Kan. (AP) A judge sentenced a man to death on Wednesday for the killing of two men, a woman and her 18-month-old daughter on an eastern Kansas farm three years ago.
Victims' relatives applauded when Franklin County District Judge Eric Godderz said he would follow the recommended sentence from the jury that convicted Kyle Flack earlier this year. Flack is now among 10 inmates on death row in Kansas, which hasn't executed an inmate since the state reinstated capital punishment in 1994.
Flack was convicted of capital murder in the deaths of Kaylie Bailey, 21, and her daughter, Lana. He also was convicted in the deaths of Bailey's boyfriend, 31-year-old Andrew Stout, and his roommate, 31-year-old Steven White, who lived in a rural farmhouse where Flack sometimes stayed in Ottawa, about 50 miles southwest of Kansas City.
Prosecutors said it's unclear what led to the shootings, which detectives believe happened on separate days in the spring of 2013.
Investigators said Flack told detectives that two drug dealers may have been involved, but detectives determined those people didn't exist. Authorities also said that before detectives ended an interview with Flack when he asked for an attorney, Flack indicated that Stout killed White during a dispute over rent.
Prosecutors presented two weeks of testimony during the trial in March. The defense called no witnesses.
Investigators believe White was killed around April 20, 2013, and Stout about nine days later. White's body was found under a tarp in an outbuilding near the farmhouse, while Stout's body was found in his bedroom under a pile of clothes.
Bailey's partially-clothed body was found in a bedroom, with her hands bound behind her back. Authorities believe she and her daughter were killed on May 1.
Suspected jihadis attack police in northern Burkina Faso
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) Witnesses in northern Burkina Faso say Islamic extremists opened fire on a group of police officers, critically wounding one of them.
One witness, who insisted on anonymity for his safety, said the gunmen arrived in a pickup truck late Tuesday in Koutoukou near the border with Mali. He said Wednesday that the militants screamed "Allahu akbar," or "God is great" in Arabic, before storming the police station Tuesday night.
The violence comes four months after Burkina Faso's deadliest jihadi attack when several extremists attacked a hotel and cafe in the capital popular with foreigners, killing 30 people.
Israeli woman becomes longest jailed military objector
JERUSALEM (AP) A 19-year-old Israeli woman has spent more than three months in military prison in what supporters say is the longest sentence ever handed down to a female conscientious objector.
Tair Kaminer is refusing to perform compulsory military service because of her opposition to Israel's nearly 50-year military occupation of Palestinian lands. Although she is not the first conscientious objector, her lengthy jail term coupled with a newspaper column she is keeping are drawing additional attention to her case.
In a phone interview from jail, Kaminer said she is ready to serve the country, just not in a military capacity. She said she is seeking an exemption in order to join Israel's "national service" program, a civilian alternative usually reserved for army-age religious women that allows them to volunteer in schools and hospitals.
This undated photo released by the Mesarvot non-governmental organization shows, Tair Kaminer, a 19-year-old Israeli woman who spent more than three months in military prison in what supporters say is the longest sentence ever handed down to a female conscientious objector in Israel. Kaminer is refusing to perform compulsory military service because of her opposition to Israel's nearly 50-year military occupation of captured lands sought by the Palestinians. (Shani Scarlett Kagan/Mesarvot via AP)
Kaminer said she grew up in a home where politics was often discussed, and that she has long opposed Israel's occupation of the West Bank. But her decision not to enlist was cemented while spending a year after high school volunteering with children in Sderot, a hardscrabble town on the border with the Gaza Strip. Sderot has been hit by thousands of rockets fired from Gaza over the years and has been on the front lines of three Israeli wars against Islamic militants.
She said she saw a lot of "hate" among Sderot's children toward Arabs, and she concluded that children in Gaza have a "good reason" to feel the same toward Israelis.
"We are creating generations of hate on both sides that will only make the situation worse," she said. "If we don't stop it, we must oppose it."
In Israel, military service is mandatory for most Jews, with women required to serve for two years and men for three. Exemptions are given for several categories, including people with mental conditions, people who are strictly religious and pacifists, the army said. Those who receive exemptions have the option of joining the national service program.
While the army makes exceptions for pacifists, who oppose violence or war in all forms, it takes a tough stance on conscientious objectors, who refuse to serve on political grounds.
Altogether, Kaminer's supporters say she has spent 111 days behind bars, the longest term ever handed down to a female conscientious objector. There are typically fewer than 10 such cases a year, the army says.
Mesarvot, a group that assists conscientious objectors, says the longest jail term in history was to a man who was imprisoned for 23 months over a decade ago. In most cases, objectors are eventually deemed unfit to serve and dismissed, it said.
In a statement, the military said it was enforcing the law. "Regarding Tair Kaminer, the draftee refused her draft orders and was therefore jailed," it said.
Her current jail term is set to expire on May 28, but she could face additional time if she again refuses to enlist at that time. She already has been sentenced to five terms of 20 to 30 days each.
Emanuel Gross, a former military judge who now teaches law at the University of Haifa, called the case "unfortunate," but said that simply catering to Kaminer's wishes would set a dangerous precedent.
"She's bringing politics into the army. The army is not willing to allow anyone, any person, to bring into the army his political ideas and to take it as a reason not to obey the legal orders," he said.
"If the army would allow any young person to choose the way he prefers to serve, it would make a mess of the notion of equality in our law," he added.
Kaminer said she shares a cell with seven other young women at a military prison in northern Israel. She said they wake up at 5 a.m. for a roll call, and she spends most of the day in the cell reading or chatting with her fellow prisoners. She is allowed several minutes of phone calls each day, and her family is allowed to visit once every two weeks.
In her quest to draw attention to her cause, Kaminer has also written a series of columns about her experience for the Haaretz daily.
In one column, she challenged the notion that the army is above politics. "The army is a political tool that enables the government to continue the occupation of another nation, and for years its main task has been control, not defense," she wrote.
In another, she noted that she and her fellow prisoners wear used American military uniforms. She addressed the column to "Mr. Smith," the soldier who once wore her clothes.
"Your shirt didn't reach me by chance, your country does a bit more than just giving us your old uniforms. So now that you know, does it bother you that your clothes and your money are in effect perpetuating the occupation of the Palestinians, the absence of security in Israel? Do you sleep well at night knowing that?"
Kaminer said she hopes she will soon be released, but that she has no regrets about what she is doing.
Kyrgyz authorities arrest opposition activist
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) Kyrgyzstan's security agency has arrested an opposition activist as part of a probe into the alleged plot to overthrow the government.
The National Security Committee said Wednesday that Alexander Gusev was arrested after threatening agents who came to search his house. The move follows the arrest last week of three other activists of the People's Parliament, an opposition group, including leader Bekbolot Talgarbekov.
The group organized a gathering last week calling for a change of government in the impoverished ex-Soviet Central Asian nation amid the worsening economic situation. Its members planned to hold a big rally in the capital, Bishkek, on Tuesday, but it didn't take place.
'Affluenza' teen Ethan Couch moved from maximum security
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) A teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a 2013 fatal drunken-driving wreck has been moved from the maximum security unit at the Texas jail where he's serving a nearly two-year term.
Ethan Couch was transferred Tuesday from isolation to a single-cell unit at the Tarrant County jail.
Sheriff Dee Anderson says Couch still spends 23 hours a day in his cell, but that he now has access to a gymnasium and a day room with a TV.
Last week, a judge reaffirmed probation terms imposed on Couch in April when he turned 19 and his case moved to adult court. Couch must spend 180 days in jail for each of the four people he killed in the wreck.
Climate change, runaway development worsen Houston floods
HOUSTON (AP) With clay soil and tabletop-flat terrain, Houston has endured flooding for generations. Its 1,700 miles of man-made channels struggle to dispatch storm runoff to the Gulf of Mexico.
Now the nation's fourth-largest city is being overwhelmed with more frequent and more destructive floods. The latest calamity occurred April 18, killing eight people and causing tens of millions of dollars in damage. The worsening floods aren't simple acts of nature or just costly local concerns. Federal taxpayers get soaked too.
Extreme downpours have doubled in frequency over the past three decades, climatologists say, in part because of global warming. The other main culprit is unrestrained development in the only major U.S. city without zoning rules. That combination means more pavement and deeper floodwaters. Critics blame cozy relations between developers and local leaders for inadequate flood-protection measures.
FILE - In the April 19, 2016 file photo, Louis Marquez carries his dog Dallas through floodwaters after rescuing the dog from his flooded apartment in Houston. Houston's worsening floods are being blamed on a "growth-at-any-cost' political creed that benefits developers but has widened floodways and digs ever more into taxpayers' pockets. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)
An Associated Press analysis of government data found that if Harris County, which includes Houston, were a state it would rank in the top five or six in every category of repeat federal flood losses defined as any property with two or more losses in a 10-year period amounting to at least $1,000 each.
Since 1998, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has paid more than $3 billion in today's dollars for flood losses in metropolitan Houston.
While repeat federal flood relief payouts average about $3,000 per square mile nationally, they are nearly half a million dollars per square mile in metro Houston. Six of Texas' eight federally declared disasters since December 2013 included floods.
"Houston has always had a flood problem, and the growth in the paving has only made it worse," FEMA Director Craig Fugate said. When the best building and land-use practices aren't followed, "we see the costs of disasters go up."
Metro Houston, which includes smaller communities and unincorporated parts of Harris County, has added more than a million people since 1992, while the amount of water-absorbing wetlands per capita has been halved. Paved surfaces in the county increased by well over 25 percent in that period, according to researchers.
Paved land generates five times more runoff than woodlands.
"There's basically very little control of development," said Susan Cutter, director of the Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute at the University of South Carolina.
Since the 1980s, Houston's preferred approach to flood control, besides improving drainage, has been to build thousands of detention ponds, concrete-lined pools that capture stormwater and pipe it out slowly.
But developers don't build enough floodwater retention into their projects, and "areas that never flooded before now flood in the smallest event," said Ed Browne, chairmen of the citizens' group Residents Against Flooding .
For example, if a property previously had construction and is being redeveloped, building codes don't require detention ponds.
"That's just not how the laws are set up," said Mike Talbott, executive director of the Harris County Flood Control District.
He said blaming new construction for worsening flooding is unwarranted.
"The new growth is mitigating its own impacts," he said.
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HOMEOWNER COMPLAINTS, CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS
Across Houston, anxiety rises when heavy rain is forecast, and people dread what hydrologists call "sheet flow."
That's especially true in places such as Frostwood, a west Houston neighborhood downhill from Memorial City, a development with big-box stores, office towers, a hospital, a hotel and condos.
Memorial City's owner, Metro National, has benefited from more than a decade of infrastructure improvements made by a quasi-governmental authority that the company's own lawyers helped create.
Flooded residents claim the authority failed to honor a 2003 pledge to build stormwater detention ponds on their side of Interstate 10, which the state Department of Transportation subsequently expanded to 26 lanes including frontage.
"It seems like we've just got a concrete jungle around us now with no place for the water to go," said Carolyn Elliott, an 81-year-old widow whose husband was critically ill when an April 2009 deluge forced them from their home of three decades.
Jim Jard, a former Metro National president who sat on the Houston Planning Commission for 25 years and is still involved with the company, said "there is no civil engineer that will tell you projects at Metro National caused additional flooding."
Developers play big in Houston politics.
Nearly half of the $313,000 that Harris County's top elected official, Judge Ed Emmett, collected in campaign contributions in the first half of 2014 came from engineers, builders, developers and real estate interests. Emmett said it's unfair to say the donations gave them outsized influence. So why do they give?
"Why does anyone give money to campaigns? You'd have to ask them," said Emmett, a Republican re-elected in November 2014.
More than a quarter of the $726,000 in contributions to Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner last December came from developers, engineers, builders and real estate interests. Some of the money for Turner, a Democrat who won a Dec. 12 runoff, was collected at a Metro National fundraiser. Turner's spokeswoman, Janice Evans, said project choices in the "Rebuild Houston" program for improving drainage are based on need and data, "not influence from any one group."
Freshman city council member Greg Travis said Metro National backed his opponent during last year's race. After Travis won, he said, the company gave him six or seven personal checks, including one from Jard. He said he never cashed the checks and didn't recall the amounts.
"I am not opposed to Metro National," Travis said. "I like a lot of what they do. But there are certain things I don't like. And the fact is, I don't need their money."
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RISING TEMPERATURES, FREQUENT DOWNPOURS
Climate change is increasingly concentrating downpours into smaller areas, with big implications for urban flooding, scientists say. On April 18, one northwest section of Harris County got 4.7 inches in an hour.
Rising average temperatures since 1985 have packed 7 percent more moisture into the atmosphere above Houston, while warmer Gulf of Mexico waters collude in the heavier rains.
Since 1986, extreme downpours the type measured in double-digit inches have occurred twice as often as in the previous 30 years, the AP weather analysis showed.
Texas State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said to expect more frequent and bigger downpours. "The odds are twice as high as they have been in the past."
Since the late 1970s, FEMA has made more flood damage payments in Harris County than in any place outside New Orleans and two other Louisiana parishes also ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. The agency received more than 8,000 claims from last month's deluge but has yet to calculate how many are repeat victims.
Entire blocks of chronically flooded Houston neighborhoods should be acquired for conversion into water-absorbing open spaces, said Roy Wright, FEMA's associate deputy administrator. But buyouts are voluntary, and FEMA doesn't pay for relocation.
Harris County has done about 3,000 buyouts over the past three decades, underwritten mostly by federal dollars. Talbott said buyouts will remain part of the strategy, though Mark Loethen of Houston's Public Works Department said the city prefers helping homeowners get federal grants to raise homes above flood levels.
With each new flood, the maps FEMA uses to determine flood insurance eligibility and other matters become instantly obsolete. A 2013 presidential directive told the agency to start using computer modeling to update the maps, but that hasn't happened yet.
Harris County boasts of being among just seven agencies nationwide that is empowered to independently update flood maps, although FEMA must give final approval. In places such as Denver and North Carolina, that practice has worked well, said Alan Lulloff of the Association of State Flood Plain Managers.
But Houston environmental attorney Jim Blackburn said Harris County's autonomy emerged out of the pro-developer 1980s. "In some of the more egregious cases, it appeared to us that developers had an undue influence in the shape or extent of the flood plain," he said.
Blackburn has filed three related lawsuits in the last 15 years. A Sierra Club suit prompted FEMA to raise the flood plain by some 4 feet in a northwestern suburb. Another suit failed to halt construction of a section of Houston's third outer-ring highway. The Texas Supreme Court is rehearing a 2002 lawsuit filed by homeowners along oft-flooded White Oak Bayou so they might qualify for federal relief.
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ONE FAMILY, TWO FLOODS
Parts of Meyerland, a leafy subdivision inaugurated on a former rice field in 1955 by then-Vice President Richard Nixon, are now a forlorn hodgepodge of flood-ravaged, one-story ranch homes, many with "for sale" signs. The neighborhood 10 miles southwest of downtown includes many homes that were rebuilt 5 feet above ground.
Self-employed IT administrator Harry Duffey, 48, was just about to move back in with his wife and four kids when the latest flood hit. A few miles upstream, nearly 8 inches of rain fell in just three hours.
The family bought their 5,100-square-foot home, located just a block from Bray's Bayou, three years ago for $750,000. Nothing in its records indicated it had ever flooded, Duffey said.
On Memorial Day 2015, the Duffeys were wading in 2.5 feet of fetid water. They had not yet moved back in when the water returned a month ago. Wood floors and drywall were ripped out again.
The graduate of nearby Rice University got a $250,000 flood insurance payout last time. Deeply in debt, he hopes for the same again.
"From a financial standpoint, the only thing that makes sense is to move back, to remodel a third time," he said.
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Borenstein reported from Washington, D.C.
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Follow Borenstein at http://twitter.com/borenbears . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/seth-borenstein .
Follow Bajak at http://twitter.com/fbajak . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/frank-bajak .
FILE - In an April 18, 2016 file photo, residents wade through floodwaters as they evacuate their apartment complex in Houston. Houston's worsening floods are being blamed on a "growth-at-any-cost' political creed that benefits developers but has widened floodways and digs ever more into taxpayers' pockets. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)
FILE- In this May 26, 2015 file photo, cars remain stranded along a flooded section of Interstate 45 after heavy rains overnight in Houston. Houston's worsening floods are being blamed on a "growth-at-any-cost' political creed that benefits developers but has widened floodways and digs ever more into taxpayers' pockets. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)
A great blue heron glides in for a landing on a debris-strewn flooded road near the Addicks Dam, Thursday, May 5, 2016, in Houston. Parts of Eldridge Pkwy and Highway 6 west of downtown remain impassable more than two weeks after heavy rains caused massive flooding. The city is being overwhelmed with more frequent and more destructive floods. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
Buzzards hang out on flooded North Eldridge Parkway near the Addicks Dam Thursday, May 5, 2016, in Houston. Parts of Eldridge Pkwy and Highway 6 west of downtown remained impassable more than two weeks after heavy rains caused massive flooding. The city is being overwhelmed with more frequent and more destructive floods. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
Louise Hansen sits beside the bags of debris outside her house Monday, April 25, 2016, in Houston. Hansens' house was flooded for the third time since 2009. Houston is being overwhelmed with more frequent and more destructive floods. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
Wisconsin SAE chapter suspended over racist, bigoted slurs
MADISON, Wis. (AP) The University of Wisconsin has suspended the Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter at its flagship campus after finding that members of the fraternity repeatedly used racist and bigoted slurs and ostracized a black member who tried to stop it.
The suspension handed down Tuesday by the school's Committee on Student Organizations comes a year after the fraternity's University of Oklahoma chapter was disbanded after video emerged showing members engaging in a racist chant.
Under the Wisconsin suspension, the chapter cannot participate in any Greek activities until Nov. 1 and can't recruit new members this fall. Members also have to undergo diversity and mental health training before the chapter can be reinstated. The chapter had already been on probation for an unrelated incident of underage drinking.
The Wisconsin incidents allegedly occurred from the fall of 2014 until February of this year and were reported by a black member of the fraternity, according to university documents.
That student, who wasn't named in the report and who was listed as an active member as of its March filing, said fellow members regularly used racist, anti-gay and anti-Semitic language. He said a particular anti-black slur was often used, including in March 2015 when a fraternity member ran down a main commercial street near campus yelling it. School officials said that student was kicked out of the fraternity.
The reporting student also accused a fellow fraternity member of assaulting him, and school officials said that member was disciplined by the fraternity as a result, though it didn't say how.
After video was posted online last year showing the Oklahoma SAE members engaging in a racist chant on a bus, the fraternity's Evanston, Illinois-based national leadership made several changes. In addition to disbanding the Oklahoma chapter, it hired a director of diversity and inclusion, said it was reviewing all 237 of its chapters for racially offensive behavior and required all of its members to complete online diversity training.
In February, SAE's leadership said members at five other chapters acknowledged having heard the racist chant over the past five years.
In a letter sent Tuesday to SAE's executive director, Blaine Ayers, about the decision to suspend the Madison chapter, school Chancellor Rebecca Blank wrote that she understands the organization has tried to address these issues, but that they clearly persist.
"It suggests that your efforts to address an intolerant and discriminatory culture have not been effective," Blank wrote. "The conduct in this situation must not be repeated."
Blank wrote she would like Ayers and the chapter president to meet with her before the suspension is lifted to explain how the organization will bring about lasting change.
In a statement, SAE spokesman Brandon Weghorst said the fraternity's national leadership has been investigating the allegations regarding the Madison chapter. He apologized for the actions of "former members" and said the chapter's leaders imposed sanctions in response to the behavior.
In a follow-up email, he said he didn't have more information about former members. He also didn't specify how many members have been kicked out due the incidents that led to the chapter's suspension.
Weghorst disputed Blank's assertion that SAE has an inability to address discrimination.
"In fact, the fraternity has enacted a large number of initiatives in the past year to combat intolerance, discrimination or morally unacceptable behavior," the statement said. "We view our relationship with colleges and universities as a partnership."
The national fraternity began collecting racial and ethnic data in 2013. Ayers reported in 2015 that about 3 percent of the fraternity's reporting members identified as African-American and about 20 percent identified as non-white.
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The Latest: Police say Utah rail worker's death was homicide
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) The Latest on a Utah worker who disappeared during a manhunt for a father and son accused of kidnapping (all times local):
4:15 p.m.
Police are investigating as a homicide the death of a Utah commuter rail line worker who disappeared amid a manhunt for two suspects in a bizarre kidnapping case.
A helicopter circles as law enforcement officials work east of Highway 189 about 16 miles south of Kemmerer, Wyo., Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Law enforcement officials are looking for a possible connection between a missing Utah Transit Authority worker, whose body was discovered late Tuesday evening, and the Centerville, Utah, kidnapping suspects arrested over the weekend. (Ravell Call/The Deseret News via AP) SALT LAKE TRIBUNE OUT; MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT; TV OUT
Utah Transit Authority Police Chief Fred Ross said Wednesday that authorities are still looking for the official pickup truck that 63-year-old Kay Porter Ricks was driving when he vanished in the middle of his shift.
Authorities say his body was found along the route the father and son suspects likely took on the way to their Wyoming hideout. Police are still looking for the truck Ricks was driving and investigating what role the suspects may have played in his death.
Ross says his officers will escort Ricks' body back to Utah on Wednesday night. An autopsy will determine his exact cause of death.
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1 p.m.
Authorities say the FBI has joined investigators in Utah and Wyoming in trying to find out what happened to a train maintenance worker who went missing during a five-day manhunt for two suspects in a kidnapping.
Utah Transit Authority Police Chief Fred Ross said Wednesday that Kay Porter Ricks' work truck was last seen the night of May 10 in Wyoming's Lincoln County, which borders the area where the suspects were camping before their weekend arrest.
Wyoming county officials say Ricks' body was found in that same county Tuesday night while searching for the truck.
Lincoln County Attorney Spencer Allred says that while police have not definitively linked the kidnapping suspects to Ricks' death, the coincidences are difficult to ignore.
Ross says Ricks' death is a great loss for the agency. The 63-year-old Ricks had worked there since 2010.
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11:35 a.m.
A Wyoming prosecutor says investigators are trying to determine if a father and son accused in a bizarre Utah kidnapping had anything to do with the death of train maintenance worker who went missing during a five-day manhunt for the suspects.
Lincoln County Attorney Spencer Allred said Wednesday that they can't ignore coincidences between the discovery of Kay Porter Ricks' body and the arrest of the two men in Wyoming. Allred said investigators haven't definitively linked the men to Ricks' death.
Ricks disappeared a few miles from where police believe the Harrisons were hiding out after tying up a woman and her four teenage daughters in a Utah basement. The women escaped.
Ricks' body was found Tuesday night along a route that the suspects likely took to get to another hideout in the Wyoming wilderness.
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9:08 a.m.
Police say they've found the body of a 63-year-old train maintenance worker who disappeared from Salt Lake City amid a manhunt for a father and son accused in a bizarre kidnapping.
Authorities said Wednesday that Kay Porter Ricks was found dead in western Wyoming's Lincoln County, which borders the area where the suspects were camping before their weekend arrest.
Police are investigating how he died and whether Flint and Dereck Harrison were involved.
Ricks disappeared a few miles from where police believe the Harrisons were hiding out after tying up a woman and her four teenage daughters in a Utah basement. The women escaped.
The Harrisons eventually got to Wyoming. Ricks family spokesman Richard Massey says the body was spotted by a deputy who had been searching for the truck Ricks was driving when he disappeared.
Officers block a dirt road east of Highway 189 about 16 miles south of Kemmerer, Wyo., Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Law enforcement officials are looking for a possible connection between a missing Utah Transit Authority worker, whose body was discovered late Tuesday evening, and the Centerville, Utah, kidnapping suspects arrested over the weekend. (Ravell Call/The Deseret News via AP) SALT LAKE TRIBUNE OUT; MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT; TV OUT
This photo released by Utah Transit Authority Police Department shows Kay Porter Ricks. Ricks, a Utah train maintenance worker who disappeared amid a manhunt for a father and son accused of a bizarre kidnapping, was found dead along a route that the suspects likely took authorities said Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Police are investigating how Ricks died, and whether the accused kidnapping suspects were involved. (Utah Transit Authority Police Department via AP)
Mourning in Sadr City, Baghdad's deadliest district
BAGHDAD (AP) Among the dozens killed when a truck bomb struck a crowded market last week in Baghdad's Sadr City were two brothers, the only sons of Talib Jassum Issa, who got the news in a phone call just minutes after the attack.
"The truck had pulled right in front of the barbershop," said Issa, as he wearily greeted neighbors and relatives who had come to pay their respects. "When they called me, they said, 'Your sons are already dead.'"
Both were university graduates 34-year-old Mushtaq Issa with a degree in communications and his 32-year-old brother, Dergahm, with a teaching degree. But neither could find work in their fields, so they ended up taking jobs at the barbershop. That's where they were when the bomb struck.
In this Monday, May 16, 2016 photo, orphan children of truck bomb victims, Mushtaq Talib Jassim Issa, 34, and his brother Dergahm Talib Jassim Issa, 32, sit at their home in Baghdad's Sadr City, Iraq. This sprawling district in northeast Baghdad has witnessed some of the worst violence to hit Baghdad this year as Islamic State group fighters have increasingly tuned to insurgent style terrorist attacks in the face of mounting battlefield losses in Iraq. Along Sadr City's main thoroughfares, fresh black posters bare the names and pictures of the more than 80 killed in the past week. The single deadliest attack this year was also in Sadr City in late February when a double car bombing killed more than 70 and wounded more than 100. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
"Their skin was burned to black, like they had been charred," the elder Issa said, struggling to find words to describe the carnage. "Terrible," he added, lowering his head.
The May 11 attack marked the beginning of a wave of violence that has claimed the lives of more than 200 Iraqis in and around Baghdad over the past week, leaving hundreds of families like Issa's shattered.
A sprawling, impoverished Shiite district of some 2.5 million people, Sadr City has witnessed some of the worst violence to hit Baghdad as Islamic State fighters have increasingly turned to attacks on civilian targets in the face of the extremist group's mounting battlefield losses in Iraq.
Along its main thoroughfares, fresh black posters bear the names and images of the more than 80 Sadr City residents killed in the past week alone. The single deadliest attack in Baghdad this year was in the district, a double car bombing in late February that killed more than 70 and wounded more than 100.
Sadr City's narrow streets were still choked with traditional mourning tents for those killed in the May 11 attack when the latest bombing hit Tuesday, killing at least 18 people and wounding dozens more. As with earlier attacks, local Shiite militiamen quickly fanned out across the district, but no measures were taken to permanently improve security.
At one of the main checkpoints leading into the neighborhood, a pair of Iraqi soldiers nonchalantly waved cars through. Each was holding a so-called "explosive detector" wand, an instrument repeatedly discredited as ineffective but which Iraqi security forces continue to use at checkpoints nationwide.
Originally built in the late 1950s to house poor Shiite migrants from the countryside, Sadr City today accounts for a third of Baghdad's population, its streets a dense jumble of shops, market stalls, simple homes and generator blocks.
Renamed Saddam City during Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's rule, it became a bastion of support for the family of powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. After Saddam's fall in 2003, it was renamed Sadr City and became the central recruiting ground for al-Sadr's Mahdi army, the fierce Shiite militia that fought multiple battles with U.S. forces from 2003 to 2011.
Those same fighters have now been resurrected as the Saraya Salam, or Peace Brigades, to fight the Islamic State group.
The deep support for al-Sadr a figure often at odds with Iraq's political leadership among Sadr City residents is one of the reasons the district is frequently targeted by IS militants, analysts and government officials say.
Attacks in Sadr City have a particularly destabilizing effect in Baghdad, stirring up simmering resentment among a population that has long felt economically and socially neglected. Al-Sadr's supporters turned out in the thousands for anti-government protests that peaked last month with the storming of Baghdad's highly fortified Green Zone.
Sadr City's residents are largely Baghdad's impoverished Shiite underclass, people kept out of government jobs and business opportunities by a patronage system that largely controls access to opportunity and mobility in Iraq.
Mushtaq and Dergham Issa were prime examples. After months of searching for work following college graduation, they eventually took jobs at a barbershop, a move they thought would be a temporary fix but that quickly turned permanent.
As mourners shuffled into the family's simple three-room home on Tuesday, the elder Issa said he blamed the Iraqi leadership for failing to prevent the violence that claimed his sons' lives.
"I have a family and a house, so my responsibility is to take care of my house and family," he said. "It's the same with the government. It's their responsibility to protect the Iraqi people. If they can't, then they should step down and make space for people who can."
Hana and Shafan Issa, the brothers' widows, sat at the back of the house with the other female mourners and children. Mushtaq had five children, the youngest 3 months old. Dergham had none.
Mushtaq's widow, Hana, spoke in fits and bursts, railing against the government one minute and reciting verses from the Quran the next. Sobbing, she refused to hold her infant son when he was handed to her. A relative stepped in and rocked the boy in a corner of the small bedroom.
"These brothers were the good people," said Saad Sudani, a cousin. "The whole neighborhood knew them, everyone loved them."
Many families in the neighborhood cut the traditional mourning period short after the May 11 attack, worried that a funeral, where large crowds gather, would itself become a target for another bombing.
Issa said if security doesn't improve, Baghdad can expect to see increased civil unrest this summer as temperatures climb.
"Every time these explosions happen people get more upset with the government and they hold more protests," Issa said, noting the anti-government rally by hundreds of demonstrators demanding the interior minister resign after last week's attack.
"But if we have to, we will do more than just protest," Issa added, warning residents were ready rise up against the government and take security into their own hands.
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Associated Press writers Murtada Faraj and Karim Kadim in Baghdad contributed to this report.
In this Monday, May 16, 2016 photo, Talib Jassim Issa, who lost two of his sons in a truck bomb, sits with his grandchildren, who are now orphans, at his home in Baghdad's Sadr City, Iraq. Among the dozens killed when a truck bomb struck a crowded market last week in Baghdad's Sadr City were two brothers, the only sons of Issa who received the news with a phone call just minutes after the attack. "The truck had pulled right in front of the barbershop," said their father, Issa, as he wearily greeted neighbors and relatives who had come to pay their respects Tuesday. "When they called me, they said, 'Your sons are already dead.'" (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
In this Monday, May 16, 2016 photo, Talib Jassim Issa, who lost two of his sons in a truck bomb, sits next to his grandchildren, at his home in Baghdad's Sadr City, Iraq. Among the dozens killed when a truck bomb struck a crowded market last week in Baghdad's Sadr City were two brothers, the only sons of Issa who received the news with a phone call just minutes after the attack. "The truck had pulled right in front of the barbershop," said their father, Issa, as he wearily greeted neighbors and relatives who had come to pay their respects Tuesday. "When they called me, they said, 'Your sons are already dead.'" (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
In this Monday, May 16, 2016 photo, women mourn over victims of a truck bomb in Talib Jassim Issa's, who lost his two sons in the truck bomb, home in Baghdad's Sadr City, Iraq. Among the dozens killed when a truck bomb struck a crowded market last week in Baghdad's Sadr City were two brothers, the only sons of Issa who received the news with a phone call just minutes after the attack. "The truck had pulled right in front of the barbershop," said their father, Issa, as he wearily greeted neighbors and relatives who had come to pay their respects Tuesday. "When they called me, they said, 'Your sons are already dead.'" (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
In this Saturday, May 14, 2016 photo, family members of truck bomb victims grieve at the bombing site in Baghdad's Sadr City, Iraq. A sprawling district of some 2.5 million people, Sadr City has witnessed some of the worst violence to hit Baghdad as Islamic State fighters have increasingly turned to attacks on civilian targets in the face of the extremist group's mounting battlefield losses in Iraq. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
In this Saturday, May 14, 2016 photo, family members of truck bomb victims grieve at the bombing site in Baghdad's Sadr City, Iraq. This sprawling district in northeast Baghdad has witnessed some of the worst violence to hit Baghdad this year as Islamic State group fighters have increasingly tuned to insurgent style terrorist attacks in the face of mounting battlefield losses in Iraq. Along Sadr City's main thoroughfares, fresh black posters bare the names and pictures of the more than 80 killed in the past week. The single deadliest attack this year was also in Sadr City in late February when a double car bombing killed more than 70 and wounded more than 100. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
In this Saturday, May 14, 2016 photo, women read posters hung at a burned barbershop belonging to truck bomb victims Mushtaq Talib Jassim Issa, 34, and his brother Dergahm Talib Jassim Issa, 32, in Baghdad's Sadr City, Iraq. This sprawling district in northeast Baghdad has witnessed some of the worst violence to hit Baghdad this year as Islamic State group fighters have increasingly tuned to insurgent style terrorist attacks in the face of mounting battlefield losses in Iraq. Along Sadr City's main thoroughfares, fresh black posters bare the names and pictures of the more than 80 killed in the past week. The single deadliest attack this year was also in Sadr City in late February when a double car bombing killed more than 70 and wounded more than 100. The posters show photos and names of victims of the truck bomb. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)
In this Wednesday, May 11, 2016 photo, people inspect a burned barbershop belonging to truck bomb victims Mushtaq Talib Jassim Issa, 34, and his brother Dergahm Talib Jassim Issa, 32, in Baghdad's Sadr City, Iraq. That May 11 attack marked the beginning of a wave of violence that has claimed the lives of more than 200 Iraqis in and around Baghdad over the past week, leaving hundreds of families like the Issa's shattered. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
In this Saturday, May 14, 2016 photo, An Iraqi flag, flowers and a black banner announcing the death of truck bomb victims, Mushtaq Talib Jassim Issa, 34, and his brother Dergahm Talib Jassim Issa, 32, with their photos hang on the burned barbershop in Baghdad's Sadr City, Iraq. That May 11 attack marked the beginning of a wave of violence that has claimed the lives of more than 200 Iraqis in and around Baghdad over the past week, leaving hundreds of families like the Issas shattered. A sprawling district of some 2.5 million people, Sadr City has witnessed some of the worst violence to hit Baghdad as Islamic State fighters have increasingly turned to attacks on civilian targets in the face of the extremist group's mounting battlefield losses in Iraq. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
New Zealand man faces illegal export charges
SEATTLE (AP) A New Zealand man has been indicted on federal charges that he attempted to purchase aircraft parts in the U.S. that he planned to sell to a client in China.
Federal prosecutors say that William Ali's plan violated the Arms Export Control Act. His case was unsealed Tuesday. He's scheduled to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Seattle on the two-count indictment on Friday.
A message sent to Ali's lawyer, Assistant Federal Public Defender Nancy Tenney, seeking comment was not immediately returned.
A Homeland Security agent began investigating Ali in 2015 when he contacted a U.S. company asking for aircraft parts called accelerometers. The agent said the models Ali sought were developed for low or zero gravity navigation systems used in spacecraft. Other models are used in aircraft.
Anyone selling these parts must have an export license. Ali did not have a license, prosecutors said.
Court records show that an undercover agent made contact with Ali and set up a sale.
In email exchanges with the agent, Ali said he knew there were controls on the sale of the items that he wished to buy and acquiring them would be difficult. Ali told the undercover agent that he didn't think he could obtain a license to export the parts so he was trying to buy them through other sources.
Ali's client was a Chinese company that wanted a "huge quantity" of the product "as they were manufacturing a variant of the MA60 aircraft" and wanted to use high-quality U.S. parts, according to the criminal complaint.
After considering various options for picking up the aircraft parts, Ali decided to fly to Seattle. He was arrested when he arrived on April 11.
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Watch where you sit: Baby opossum rescued from toilet
SAN DIEGO (AP) The San Diego County Department of Animal Services says a baby opossum is doing well after being rescued from a toilet.
The soaking wet little creature is seen in photos posted on the department's Facebook page.
The agency says a Pacific Beach woman found the critter in her toilet on May 1 and Animal Control Officer Carlos Wallis responded and took it to the San Diego Humane Society's Project Wildlife. It will be released when it is old enough to survive on its own.
This May 1, 2016 photo provided by the County of San Diego Department of Animal Services shows a baby opossum in a toilet bowl in a home in San Diego, Calif. The department says a Pacific Beach woman found the critter in her toilet, and an animal control officer responded taking it to the San Diego Humane Society's Project Wildlife. It will be released when it is old enough to survive on its own. (County of San Diego Department of Animal Services via AP)
A second opossum was found in the home later, along with a broken window which likely allowed the animals to enter.
Ex-officer's murder charge in St. Louis raises questions
ST. LOUIS (AP) A St. Louis prosecutor and former police chief are at odds over the timing of a murder charge filed against a former officer.
Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce charged 35-year-old Jason Stockley with first-degree murder Monday, more than four years after he fatally shot 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith during a police chase in December 2011, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1qtKNIC ) reported. Joyce says Stockley left the department in 2013.
The police chief at the time, Dan Isom, said his investigators gave Joyce's office evidence years ago.
This undated photo provided by the St. Louis Police Department shows former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley, who was charged Monday, May 16, 2016 with first-degree murder for an on-duty shooting in December 2011. A St. Louis prosecutor and former police chief are at odds over the timing of a murder charge filed against Stockley. (St. Louis Police Department. via AP)
"Police reports, forensic analysis, video and the autopsy have been available for four years, however the circuit attorney in a criminal investigation had not reviewed any of this information until three weeks ago," Isom said. "There is no new information that was not known four years ago or discovered by the current chief."
But Joyce says police didn't involve her in the case until late 2012. She also questioned why Isom allowed Stockley to stay on the police force if he was so concerned, noting police initially deemed the shooting a "justifiable homicide."
"There is a lot of evidence we have, including witness statements that were developed after (Isom) left the police department that he would have no knowledge of," Joyce said. "He's just speculating as to what we're looking at."
Joyce said that only Stockley's DNA was found on a revolver recovered from the vehicle in which Smith was killed. Stockley previously said he fired in self-defense when Smith reached for the weapon.
U.S. Attorney Richard Callahan said it was known Stockley unloaded it after the shooting, so his DNA would be on it. But Smith's fiancee, Christina Wilson, told the newspaper she believes Stockley planted the gun.
"Anthony didn't have a gun with him that day, and if he had a gun, it wouldn't be that revolver," she said. "That's just not a gun that any young guy is going to carry."
Stockley's attorney, Neil Bruntrager, said his client was surprised to be arrested because the incident happened long ago and was investigated. Stockley now lives in Houston.
Stockley's father, Jerry Stockley Sr., said his son is the victim of changing attitudes about police.
"He didn't do this," Bruntrager said. "He is a police officer. He stopped a criminal who challenged the law and lost. . They cleared him last time, so why go back?"
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Mystery solved: Man grateful to have his father's ashes back
Paul Derek Treaster says his Vietnam-veteran father, whose ashes were discovered beside a south Alabama road, must have been looking down from above, helping to guide him back to the remains.
The ashes had posed a mystery for police in the town of Florala when they were found by a power line crew four weeks ago. But the mystery solved itself Tuesday when Treaster, alerted by news reports, stopped by to claim the small pine box containing his father's ashes, along with a neatly folded, framed American flag found nearby.
Now that he has the remains back, Treaster says he can continue a solemn ritual he began on the banks of Florida's Suwannee River shortly after the death of his father, Paul Douglas Treaster, in 2005.
This Thursday, May 5, 2016 photo, provided by the Florala Police Department, shows a box and a flag sitting on a table after a south Alabama police chief says a power line crew found the abandoned small pine box with a rusted lock and an American flag. The police chief says he has a few leads but still no answers to explain how a box of human ashes was found beside a highway near the Florida line. (Florala Police Department, via AP)
"Every year on Father's Day I go to the river and I put a little bit of him in there, and every day on the day he died I put a little bit of him in there," Treaster said. "No matter what I've got going on, that's what I do."
Florala Police Chief Sonny Bedsole said the ashes had last been left in the family home in nearby Lockhart, Alabama, during a "bad divorce."
"Without being specific, this person had removed all his personal property from the marital home when he left except for a few items, this box with ashes and the presentation flag being left behind temporarily," Bedsole said in an email to The Associated Press.
Treaster told the AP Wednesday in a phone interview that he doesn't want to speculate on how the remains later ended up in a grassy area beside the highway.
He said he doesn't keep up with the news much, and didn't hear about the ashes until his friends told him. Once he saw a photo of the pine box, he immediately recognized it as the one he built to hold the remains and he contacted Florala police.
His father, Paul Douglas Treaster, died Aug. 25, 2005, at age 54. The U.S. Army veteran served during the Vietnam War, according to his obituary from his hometown newspaper, the Crestview News Bulletin in Florida's panhandle.
The elder Treaster died the day that Hurricane Katrina slammed into south Florida. Four days later, it made another landfall, devastating the Gulf coast. "In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Hurricane Katrina victims," his obituary says.
The elder Treaster grew up in Crestview, about 25 miles south of Florala, and lived most of his life there. When Paul Derek Treaster left south Alabama a few weeks ago, he returned to Crestview.
"My father always told me he didn't want to be buried and put in a box," Treaster said. "He was a big-time fisherman so right after he died, I went out to the Suwannee River. I put some of him in the Suwannee River."
Treaster said he has driven toward Biloxi, Mississippi, where his father spent some of his final days at a Veterans Affairs hospital. At several spots, he looked for boat ramps so he could put a few more ashes in the water.
Every Father's Day and every Aug. 25 he plans to continue the tradition of returning his father to the water.
"He was my best friend," he said.
Trump unveils list of potential picks for Supreme Court seat
WASHINGTON (AP) Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday released a list of 11 potential picks to replace Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court, a mix of federal and state judges that appeared tailored to win over conservatives still skeptical of his candidacy.
The decision to release such a list is highly unusual for a presidential candidate, and comes as Trump is working to unite a Republican Party fractured by his candidacy and assuage still-skeptical establishment Republicans who question his ability to win a general election.
"I have a lot of people that are conservative that really like me, love everything I stand for, but they really would like to know my view," Trump said Wednesday in an interview with Fox News, "because perhaps outside of the defense of our country, perhaps the single most important thing the next president is going to have to do is pick Supreme Court justices."
FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2015 file photo, Joan Larsen, a University of Michigan law professor, speaks after she was appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court by Gov. Rick Snyder, right, in Lansing, Mich. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has released a list of 11 potential Supreme Court justices he plans to vet to fill the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia. (AP Photo/David Eggert, File)
The list, which featured several prominent names floated repeatedly on conservative wish lists to replace Scalia, won immediate praise from those Trump is trying to win over.
"This list ought to be encouraging to anyone who prioritizes the rule of law, and I congratulate Mr. Trump on making a very significant policy statement about his desire to prioritize the future of the Supreme Court," said Carrie Severino of the Judicial Crisis Network, a group leading the opposition to President Barack's Obama's pick to replace Scalia, Merrick Garland.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican who has refused to hold a hearing to consider Garland's appointment to the high court, said Trump has "laid out an impressive list of highly qualified jurists."
"Understanding the types of judges a presidential nominee would select for the Supreme Court is an important step in this debate so the American people can have a voice in the direction of the Supreme Court for the next generation," he said.
Among the judges on Trump's list is Joan Larsen, who serves on the Michigan Supreme Court. A former law clerk to Scalia, Larson delivered one of the tributes to the late justice at his memorial service. She served in the Justice Department office that produced the legal justifications for the enhanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, that critics have called torture.
"I was surprised," Larson said. "I did see the list and those are incredibly distinguished jurists and I'm honored to be associated with judges on that list. It's an incredible list."
Another pick is Don Willett, a justice on the Texas Supreme Court perhaps best known outside his state for his Twitter account, @justicewillett. Willett has openly mocked Trump to his more than 35,000 followers, including on Aug. 27, when he wrote, "Can't wait till Trump rips off his face Mission Impossible-style & reveals a laughing Ruth Bader Ginsburg."
Mobbed by reporters Wednesday when he showed up at a book signing with Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott just as news of Trump's list was breaking, Willett giggled at the attention. He said he was "exercising judicial restraint" by declining to comment.
Trump's list is also notable for the names that don't appear. It omits two of the biggest stars in the conservative legal world, Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the federal appeals court in Washington, and former Bush administration Solicitor General Paul Clement.
Also absent is his former rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who clerked for former Chief Justice William Rehnquist and served as Solicitor General in Texas.
Since Scalia's unexpected death in February, both Trump and his likely Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, have tried to make the Supreme Court a key election issue, reminding their supporters that its future is hanging in the balance of the 2016 election.
If Clinton is elected, Trump told supporters at a rally earlier this month, "You will have a Supreme Court that will destroy our nation."
"The battle lines have been drawn and the two sides are now clear," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, head of the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List. She added the group is "already working to make the case to pro-life voters that the court matters and must be protected. This is not an election for pro-lifers to sit out."
Clinton, meanwhile, had warned before Wednesday that Trump's picks for the court would roll back the rights of individuals and further empower corporations. Ilyse Hogue, the president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, which has endorsed Clinton, panned the list as "a woman's worst nightmare."
"Their records reveal a lineup of individuals who would likely overturn Roe v. Wade if given the chance, gutting what's left of abortion access in this country and heaping punishment on women," she said.
Trump first said in March that he planned to release a list of potential justices in an effort to ease concerns about his conservative credentials, which had come under attack in the heated Republican primary. Among his critics was Cruz, who ran an ad saying Trump could not be trusted with a Supreme Court nomination.
It was a rare acknowledgment from Trump that he could be doing more to appease those in his party who opposed his candidacy.
"I am going to give a list of either five or 10 judges that I will pick, 100 percent pick, that I will put in for nomination," Trump said at an event in Palm Beach, Florida. "Because some of the people that are against me say: 'We don't know if he's going to pick the right judge. Supposing he picks a liberal judge or supposing he picks a pro-choice judge.'"
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Colvin reported from New Jersey. Associated Press writer Michael Gerstein reported from Lansing, Michigan.
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Follow Jill Colvin and Mark Sherman on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/colvinj and http://twitter.com/shermancourt
In this photo taken Sept. 1, 2015, Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett speaks in Austin, Texas. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has released a list of 11 potential Supreme Court justices he plans to vet to fill the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
CORRECTS TO JUSTICE, NOT CHIEF JUSTICE - FILE - In this March 13, 2006 file photo, Allison Eid is sworn in as a justice of the Colorado Supreme Court in Denver. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has released a list of 11 potential Supreme Court justices he plans to vet to fill the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia. (AP Photo/Linda McConnell, Pool, File)
FILE - In tis May 13, 2010 file photo, Minnesota Supreme Court Associate Justice David Stras speaks in St. Paul, Minn. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has released a list of 11 potential Supreme Court justices he plans to vet to fill the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File)
Canada apologizes for 1914 rejection of Asian migrant ship
TORONTO (AP) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized in Parliament on Wednesday for a government decision in 1914 to turn away a ship carrying hundreds of South Asian immigrants.
The Komagata Maru from Hong Kong arrived off Vancouver only to have almost all of its 376 passengers, nearly all of them Sikhs from India, denied entry due to immigration laws at the time.
The passengers were hoping to challenge Canadian immigration law, which refused entry to any Indians who had not arrived in Canada via a continuous journey from the Indian mainland nearly impossible at the time. The law was seen as a measure to stymie Indian arrivals.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologizes, Wednesday, May 18, 2016, in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, for a 1914 Canadian government decision that barred most of the passengers of the Komagata Maru from entering the country. Canadian officials refused to allow the Indians in, even though they were British subjects just like every other Canadian of the time. The chartered vessel was carrying 376 Indian passengers, nearly all of them Sikhs, bound for what they thought would be a new life in Canada. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Officials refused to allow the Indians in, even though they were British subjects just like every other Canadian of the time. After 20 passengers who had previously lived in Canada were allowed to disembark, the ship was turned away.
The ship was eventually sent to Calcutta, and least 19 people were killed in a skirmish with British soldiers. Others were jailed.
"Canada's government was, without question, responsible for the laws that prevented these passengers from immigrating peacefully and securely," Trudeau said. "For that, and for every regrettable consequence that followed, we are sorry."
Opposition leaders also apologized. New Democrat leader Thomas Mulcair called it "racism, plain and simple."
A spectator in the public gallery hollered out a Punjabi slogan that signals happiness after Trudeau spoke.
Former prime minister Stephen Harper apologized at an event in British Columbia in 2008, but members of the Sikh community have long said an apology should be offered formally in Parliament. There are more than a million Canadians of South Asian descent.
Trudeau had pledged to make an apology during his election campaign last year.
He noted in Parliament on Wednesday that Canada's current defense minister, Harjit Sajjan, once commanded the reserve regiment that turned back the Komagata Maru and thanked him for helping the Komagata Maru incident get national attention.
"Before entering political life, the minister was the commanding officer of the British Columbia Regiment Duke of Connaught's Own the same regiment that once forced out the Komagata Maru," Trudeau said to applause. "A century ago, the minister's family might well have been turned away from Canada. Today, the minister sits beside us, here, in this House."
Sajjan tweeted that he was humbled and grateful and he thanked Trudeau.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is applauded as he formally apologizes, Wednesday, May 18, 2016, in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, for a 1914 Canadian government decision that barred most of the passengers of the Komagata Maru from entering the country. Canadian officials refused to allow the Indians in, even though they were British subjects just like every other Canadian of the time. The chartered vessel was carrying 376 Indian passengers, nearly all of them Sikhs, bound for what they thought would be a new life in Canada. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
New penis recipient looks forward to being a 'complete' man
BOSTON (AP) The recipient of the nation's first penis transplant says he is looking forward to walking out of the hospital a "complete" man.
"There is no doubt in my mind that everything is going to work. And I mean everything," 64-year-old Thomas Manning said Wednesday with a grin as he continued to recover at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital. "You can interpret that any way you wish."
Seated by a window overlooking the Charles River, Manning was upbeat and chatty after undergoing the 15-hour operation last week.
Thomas Manning, of Halifax, Mass. reacts during an interview in his hospital room at Massachusetts General Hospital, Wednesday, May 18, 2016, in Boston. Manning is the first man in the United States to undergo a penis transplant. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
The former Halifax, Massachusetts, bank courier whose organ was amputated after he was diagnosed with penile cancer in 2012 has been ambling around his room with a walker and said he doesn't feel any pain.
He has taken a few peeks under the gauze covering his new penis, which was taken from a deceased donor, and the swelling and discoloration appear to be diminishing. He said he believes the nerves are even starting to reconnect.
"I just can feel like movement and life in it already," Manning said. "I feel that we belong together."
Manning is just the third man in the world to receive a new penis, following transplants in South Africa in 2014 and China in 2005.
The South African patient remains healthy and was able to father a child, though the baby was stillborn. The Chinese man, however, had his new penis removed weeks later because he said it made him and his wife uncomfortable.
The revolutionary procedure could give hope to cancer survivors, accident victims and maimed soldiers.
Manning's doctors said in announcing the operation on Monday that they hoped to release him sometime this week. But Manning said he will stay and undergo largely cosmetic surgery on Monday to improve the organ's appearance.
"They're in no rush, and I'm in no rush," Manning said. "Let's get this done right."
He vowed: "I'm going to walk out of here complete."
Doctors said that it will be a few more weeks before Manning can urinate normally and that sexual function is farther down the line. But reproduction is not possible since Manning didn't receive new testes.
As for the prospects of having a sex life again, Manning, who is single, never married and has no children, said: "When it happens it happens. I don't have to push it. I hope to be around for another 20 or 30 years. Will it still be working by then? I sure hope so."
Manning's penile cancer was discovered after a workplace accident in which he slipped on ice. Doctors told him they needed to take aggressive action to save his life.
"Part of me was really devastated," Manning said. "I didn't feel like less of a man, but I went through my own version of hell."
He said he had been asking his doctor almost ever since to put him on the short list for a transplant.
"I would have went to the moon for this," Manning said. "I mean, why not? They cut my penis off, and I wanted it back. It's not that complicated."
But Manning said he never hesitated about going public.
"The bottom line is you can't worry about what other people think. You've got to get on with your life," he said. "I happen to be the first person to receive a penis transplant. What's the big deal?"
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Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/philip-marcelo
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Amended to remove reference to penis
This story has been amended to remove a reference to penis transplants possibly benefiting transgender people.
Thomas Manning, right, of Halifax, Mass. clasps hands with Dr. Dicken Ko, director of the urology program at Massachusetts General Hospital, Wednesday, May 18, 2016, in Boston. Manning is the first man in the United States to undergo a penis transplant. Dr. Ko co-led the surgical transplant team. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Records: Doctors say woman declared brain dead still alive
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (AP) As a California mother seeks to stop a hospital from ending life support for her brain dead toddler, a father is marking one year since he convinced a judge that his brain-dead daughter was still alive and should keep getting care.
Mohammad Meshkin was told last May that his 29-year-old daughter Anahita Meshkin was brain dead, the San Jose Mercury News reported Tuesday (http://bayareane.ws/27ApiYl).
The newspaper said she had been in a coma since 2007 after suffering a massive seizure while battling anorexia.
Anahita Meshkin, lies in bed and is hooked up to machines at her care facility in Walnut Creek, Calif., on Tuesday, May 10, 2016. Doctors have determined that Anahita Meshkin, who last year was declared brain dead is still very much alive. She had been in a coma for eight years after suffering a massive seizure while battling anorexia. Doctors wanted to take her off life support machines but her father, Mohammad Meshkin filed a temporary restraining order to block the hospital from withholding Anahita's treatment. (Susan Tripp Pollard/Bay Area News Group via AP)
Mohammad Meshkin called attorney Chris Dolan, who filed a temporary restraining order to block the withholding of treatment.
"In my opinion, it is an example of a physician making a resource determination and using brain death as a way to legitimize their beliefs on the quality of life and how they see this as futile," Dolan said.
A judge ordered further tests and court records show UC San Francisco School of Medicine neurologists Wade Smith and Andrew Josephson determined the woman did not meet the clinical criteria for brain death.
They noted that she moved her head and elbow when they pinched her hands. She remains in a care facility.
Many brain-death diagnoses are no longer taken as certainties. In another California case, a mother filed an emergency appeal to keep her toddler on life support after a lower court order expires on Friday.
Jonee Fonseca asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to override the previous ruling in which a judge refused to order Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Roseville to keep 2-year-old Israel Stinson on life support. However, the judge gave the family time to appeal.
Two hospitals have determined the child is brain dead, but Fonseca wants time to find another facility for him.
Mohammed Meshkin said he has no plans to alter his daughter's care, despite medical professionals who question his decision. He's alone in his decision-making: His wife overdosed and died in 2011 amid grief over their youngest daughter's condition, he said.
"I'll fight as long as she does," Meshkin said. "If she quits, I will quit. But I have my hope that she'll come back."
John Muir Medical Center spokesman Ben Drew said because of medical privacy laws and out of respect for the family's privacy, he could not comment on specifics of the case.
Dolan also represented the family of Jahi McMath, a teen girl who had a heart attack and was declared brain dead in 2013 after a tonsillectomy in Oakland.
Her family moved her to New Jersey, which requires medical treatment of patients like McMath who are declared dead and show minimal brain function.
Jahi's family fought her brain-death diagnosis and won a court order to remove her from UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland.
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Information from: San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News, http://www.mercurynews.com
Feingold says Johnson trying to fool voters on Trump
MADISON, Wis. (AP) Democrat Russ Feingold accused Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson on Wednesday of trying to fool voters with Washington double-speak when he says that he supports but does not endorse Donald Trump for president.
Feingold's comments were in response to Johnson saying Sunday that he supports the presumptive GOP nominee, but that is different from endorsing him.
Johnson and Feingold are in a rematch of their 2010 U.S. Senate race, a closely watched contest that could help determine whether Republicans maintain majority control of the Senate.
Democrat Russ Feingold speaks to the media Wednesday, May 18, 2016, in Madison, Wis. Feingold accused incumbent Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of trying to fool voters by saying Johnson supports, but does not endorse, Donald Trump for president. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)
"People sometimes learn fast political double-speak and the Washington insider game," Feingold told reporters after a tour of a Madison sewage treatment plant. "It's the ultimate Washington insider game by trying to fool people by saying you support somebody but you don't endorse them. These words are kind of close."
Feingold said Johnson should follow the lead of U.S. Rep. Reid Ribble, a Republican from Wisconsin, and disavow Trump.
"He should use some responsibility and reject this candidacy because America should come ahead of political party or his own political neck," Feingold said.
Johnson spokesman Brian Reisinger fired back Wednesday.
"Senator Feingold sure does spend a lot of time thinking about political strategy he's gotten pretty good at the Washington insider game over 18 years in D.C.," Reisinger said. "Ron spends his time focused on doing his job for Wisconsinites, trying to keep America secure, and fighting to protect the interests of hard-working taxpayers."
Feingold said Johnson's comments are different from his own refusal to say whether he voted for Sen. Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin's presidential primary last month.
"I will support either candidate without reservation,'" Feingold said, adding that making public who he voted for "doesn't accomplish anything."
"I want to help unify us," Feingold said. "But I won't be mealy mouthed, I won't be playing games about fully supporting the Democratic nominee, that's the difference."
Feingold also said he didn't think there was any rush for Sanders to drop out of the primary.
"The longer they show that both of them are incredibly different from Donald Trump is not only good for the Democrats it's good for America," Feingold said. "We'll get it all together in July. ... and there will be plenty of time for a unified effort to defeat Donald Trump."
He downplayed reports of discord within the party, including a divisive Nevada Democratic convention that had to be shut down because security could no longer ensure order Saturday night after some Sanders supporters threw chairs and death threats were later made against the state party chairwoman.
"Corporations have taken over our democracy, so people are going to have strong feelings," Feingold said. "And the right to protest is a sacred right in this country I believe in. And one of the places people protest sometimes is conventions."
He added: "I never believe in violence or the threat of violence. If it's a little noisy, that's OK."
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Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sbauerAP. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/scott-bauer
The Latest: Suspect in killing of Houston boy, 11, arrested
HOUSTON (AP) The Latest on the fatal stabbing of an 11-year-old Houston boy who was walking home from school (all times local):
4 p.m.
A man suspected of fatally stabbing an 11-year-old Houston boy who was walking home from school has been arrested.
CORRECTS SPELLING OF GRANDMOTHER'S FIRST NAME TO ELISA INSTEAD OF LESA - Maria Cristina Sepulveda, right, comforts Elisa Mendes, the grandmother of 11-year-old Josue Flores, at a makeshift memorial for Flores, Wednesday, May 18, 2016, near where the youngster was fatally stabbed while walking home from school the day before in Houston. (Michael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Deputy U.S. Marshal Alfredo Perez says federal authorities took 31-year-old Che Lajuan Calhoun into custody Wednesday afternoon on a street corner in southeast Houston.
Calhoun was wanted on a murder warrant for the killing of Josue Flores on Tuesday. A motive for the attack wasn't immediately known.
Perez says Calhoun was arrested without incident. He won't comment on how federal marshals located Calhoun, who's been turned over to Houston police.
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2:50 p.m.
Family members of an 11-year-old Houston boy who was fatally stabbed while walking home from school say he had stayed late at his middle school to participate in a science club.
Josue Flores' 16-year-old sister, Sofia Flores, says, "He wanted to be a doctor, he wanted to help people."
Another sister, Guadalupe Flores, says her family is sad and confused.
A motive for the killing Tuesday wasn't immediately known but police say a murder warrant has been issued for 31-year-old Che Lajuan Calhoun of Houston.
Police say Josue was walking on a sidewalk near his home when a man approached and stabbed him several times in an "unprovoked attack."
Relatives say the boy wasn't carrying a phone, laptop or any other electronic devices when he was stabbed.
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9:15 a.m.
Houston police say an 11-year-old boy was fatally stabbed while walking home from school and that officers are searching for the suspect.
Investigators say Josue Flores was walking on a sidewalk Tuesday when a man walked toward him and stabbed him several times in an "unprovoked" attack. A murder warrant has been issued for the suspect, 31-year-old Che Lajuan Calhoun.
Police provided no information Wednesday on a possible motive or relationship between Josue and Calhoun.
Witnesses reported seeing the man and the boy struggle before the child collapsed onto some grass, then the suspect ran. A bystander flagged down police.
Josue was pronounced dead at a Houston hospital.
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8 a.m.
Houston police have issued a murder warrant for a suspect in the fatal stabbing of an 11-year-old boy who was attacked as he walked home from school.
Police have identified 31-year-old Che Lajuan Calhoun as the suspect in the killing Tuesday of Josue Flores.
Sgt. Tommy Ruland has called the attack "unprovoked."
Police provided no information Wednesday on a possible motive or relationship between Josue and Calhoun.
Police say Josue was walking on a sidewalk when a man walked toward him and stabbed him several times. Witnesses reported seeing the man and the boy struggle before the child collapsed onto some grass, then the suspect ran. A bystander flagged down police.
Josue was pronounced dead at a Houston hospital.
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12:45 a.m.
Authorities say a young boy was stabbed to death while walking home from school in Texas.
Police say the boy was walking down a street in Houston on Tuesday afternoon when an unidentified man walking the opposite direction stabbed the child repeatedly before running away from the scene.
Relatives of the boy told local media outlets he was 11. Authorities have not released the boy's name or age.
Houston police Sgt. Tommy Ruland says the attack was "unprovoked." The suspect is still being sought by police, and the investigation is ongoing.
A look at Trump's Supreme Court picks
WASHINGTON (AP) Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, has released a list of 11 potential Supreme Court justices from which he would draw a nominee to fill the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia. The news comes as Trump works to bring together a fractured Republican Party and earn the trust of still-skeptical establishment Republicans who question his electability.
The campaign's statement emphasized that the list was compiled "first and foremost, based on constitutional principles, with input from highly respected conservatives and Republican Party leadership." They still must pass muster with the conservatives who propelled Trump to the brink of the GOP presidential nomination.
Here's a look at the bench of people Trump would consider nominating:
FILE - In this March 13, 2006 file photo, Allison Eid is sworn in as chief justice of the Colorado Supreme Court in Denver. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has released a list of 11 potential Supreme Court justices he plans to vet to fill the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia. (AP Photo/Linda McConnell, Pool, File)
STEVEN COLLOTON, Iowa
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush in 2003. Educated at Princeton and Yale universities, Colloton is a former federal prosecutor for the Southern District of Iowa and clerked for former Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
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ALLISON EID, Colorado
The associate justice of the Colorado Supreme Court has served in the seat since 2006, when she was appointed by former Republican Gov. Bill Owens and retained by the voters in 2011. Educated at the University of Chicago, Eid is a former state solicitor general and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
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RAYMOND GRUENDER, Missouri
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge was appointed by Bush in 2004. He is a former federal prosecutor and received his law degree and a master's degree in business from Washington University of St. Louis.
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THOMAS HARDIMAN, Pennsylvania
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge was appointed by Bush and confirmed to that seat in 2007. Bush also appointed him U.S. District Court judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania in 2003. He was schooled at the University of Notre Dame and Georgetown University.
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RAYMOND KETHLEDGE, Michigan
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge was first nominated by Bush in 2006, but due to a backup of judicial nominations in the Senate, was not confirmed until 2008. He worked as a counsel to former Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-Mich., and clerked for Justice Anthony Kennedy. He received a law degree from the University of Michigan.
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JOAN LARSEN, Michigan
The associate justice of the Michigan Supreme Court was a law professor when she was appointed last year by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder. She received her law degree from Northwestern University. Earlier in her career, she was assistant attorney general in the Justice Department and clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia. After Scalia's death, she wrote that Scalia's passing "leaves a giant void in the court and in the intellectual discourse over the law. It is difficult to imagine anyone filling the gap."
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THOMAS LEE, Utah
The associate justice of the Utah Supreme Court was appointed by Republican Gov. Gary Herbert in 2010. He is the brother of U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, a staunch ally of former GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz. He's also the son of Rex Lee, a former U.S. solicitor general in President Ronald Reagan's administration. Lee never served as a judge before Herbert picked him for Utah's high court. He worked in private practice, and was a deputy assistant attorney general under Bush and clerked for Thomas. He earned his law degree at the University of Chicago.
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WILLIAM PRYOR, Jr. Alabama
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge was appointed by Bush and confirmed in 2004. He also is a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission. His a former state attorney general and law professor and earned his law degree at Tulane University.
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DAVID STRAS, Minnesota
The associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court was elected to a six-year term in 2012. He received his law degree and master's degree in business from the University of Kansas, and clerked for Thomas.
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DIANE SYKES, Wisconsin
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge was appointed to the post in 2003 by Bush and confirmed the following year. She is a former state supreme court judge and received her law degree from Marquette University.
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DON WILLETT, Texas
The Texas Supreme Court justice was appointed in 2005 by then-Gov. Rick Perry, who was one of Trump's many early challengers for the GOP presidential nomination, and was twice re-elected. He's a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department and received his law and master's degrees from Duke University.
In March, Willett took a swipe at Trump's conservatism, tweeting: "Can't wait till Trump rips off his face Mission Impossible-style & reveals a laughing Ruth Bader Ginsburg."
FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2015 file photo, Joan Larsen, a University of Michigan law professor, speaks after she was appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court by Gov. Rick Snyder, right, in Lansing, Mich. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has released a list of 11 potential Supreme Court justices he plans to vet to fill the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia. (AP Photo/David Eggert, File)
FILE - In this June 20, 2005 file photo, William Pryor is seen in Atlanta. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has released a list of 11 potential Supreme Court justices he plans to vet to fill the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia. (AP Photo/John Amis, File)
FILE - In tis May 13, 2010 file photo, Minnesota Supreme Court Associate Justice David Stras speaks in St. Paul, Minn. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has released a list of 11 potential Supreme Court justices he plans to vet to fill the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File)
Man held in couple's disappearance to return to Washington
EVERETT, Wash. (AP) A man who turned himself in at the U.S.-Mexico border to face charges that he was involved in the disappearance and presumed killing of a Washington couple is expected to return to the state this week.
Snohomish County sheriff's spokeswoman Shari Ireton says Tony Clyde Reed waived an extradition hearing in San Diego on Wednesday and two major crimes detectives will travel to California this week to pick him up.
Reed turned himself in on Monday night. Authorities are still searching for his brother, John Blaine Reed.
FILE - These undated booking photos provided by the Snohomish County Sheriff Office shows Tony Reed, left and John Reed. Authorities say one of two brothers who were charged with murder in the presumed killing of a missing Washington state couple, Patrick Shunn and his wife, Monique Patenaude, has been taken into custody in San Diego. Snohomish County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Shari Ireton says 49-year-old Tony Clyde Reed crossed into the United States from Mexico and was arrested Monday, May 16, 2016, by U.S. Marshals in San Diego. (Snohomish County Sheriff Office via AP, File )
The pair have been charged with first-degree murder in last month's disappearance of John Reed's former neighbors, Monique Patenaude and her husband, Patrick Shunn.
Bolivia police, workers clash at protest over plant shutdown
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) Anti-riot police and workers clashed in Bolivia's capital during a protest against the government's decision to close the country's largest state-run textile company.
Officials said police fired tear gas at protesters and kept them from seizing a factory Wednesday. Several people were injured, including a protester who lost a hand when a stick of dynamite exploded as he tried to throw it.
More than 800 people were laid off when President Evo Morales closed the ENATEX national textile company Monday.
A riot police is silhouetted against a cloud of tear gas during a protest led by laid-off textile workers, in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Workers of Bolivia's largest textile company marched in protest after the government announced its closure after the failure of a state bailout plan. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
More than 5,000 workers joined in the protest led by the COB union, which has been a Morales ally.
The factory went into crisis after Bolivia lost its U.S. market when Morales expelled the American ambassador in 2008. Morales' administration bought the factory in 2011 to save it from bankruptcy.
An injured textile worker is assisted by riot police, after a stick of dynamite exploded in his hand before he could launch it onto a street, during a protest led by laid-off textile workers, in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Workers of Bolivia's largest textile company marched in protest after the government announced its closure after the failure of a state bailout plan. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
A demonstrator directs a torchlike firework at riot police during a protest led by laid-off textile workers, in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Workers of Bolivia's largest textile company marched in protest after the government announced its closure after the failure of a state bailout plan. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Riot police head towards demonstrators after firing tear gas in their direction during a protest led by laid-off textile workers, in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Workers of Bolivia's largest textile company marched in protest after the government announced its closure after the failure of a state bailout plan. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Wyoming man accused manslaughter for putting meth in cup
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) A 53-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to charges that he caused another man's death by putting methamphetamine in his drink.
Jon Freiberg of Casper pleaded not guilty Wednesday in District Court to one felony charge of involuntary manslaughter. He also pleaded not guilty to various other felony charges related to possession and delivery of a controlled substance.
Court documents say 46-year-old Richard Serafin died last August after Freiberg put meth in a cup Serafin was drinking from. The documents indicate Serafin consumed the drugs accidentally.
An autopsy report says Serafin died of cardiac arrest due to the stress of meth intoxication and other health issues.
Lebanese man held in Iran had past US contracts
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) A nonprofit organization headed by a Lebanese citizen held prisoner in Iran received grants totaling $730,000 from the U.S. government for projects in the Middle East, The Associated Press has learned.
Nizar Zakka, 49, a technology expert and advocate for Internet freedom, was arrested in Tehran in September after being invited by the Iranian government to attend a conference there. Although no charges have been announced, Iranian media has accused him of being an American spy, allegations vigorously rejected by his family and associates.
Zakka, who lives in Washington and holds resident status in the U.S., leads the Arab ICT Organization, or IJMA3, an industry consortium from 13 countries that advocates for information technology in the region.
This undated handout image provided by the friend of Nizar Zakka Inc., shows, Zakka, a Lebanese technology expert and advocate for Internet freedom, second right, posing with his relatives at an unidentified location. Zakka, was arrested in Tehran in September after being invited by the Iranian government to attend a conference there. Although no charges have been announced, Iranian media has accused him of being an American spy, allegations vigorously rejected by his family and associates. (Friends Nizar Zakka Inc. via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
It is not clear from records obtained by the AP if any IJMA3 work involved Iran, but it is active elsewhere in the region. The organization has trained women about social media and worked on developing small business in Lebanon. According to Zakka's Lebanese lawyer, the U.S. government is among many donors to the organization.
The U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development annually award tens of millions of dollars to various groups to promote democratic principles in the Middle East and aid civic organizations.
Zakka's family and his supporters are pressing the U.S. government to become more active in trying to obtain his release, arguing that his arrest was due to his ties to America.
Supporters have written Secretary of State John Kerry stating Zakka travelled to Iran "with the knowledge and approval of the U.S. State Department, and his trip was funded by grants" from it.
Those assertions could not be verified by the AP and his friends say they can't obtain copies of the contract from the State Department due to federal regulations.
"Nizar is a man without a country when it comes to consular assistance," the April 18 letter to Kerry reads. "We believe that the State Department has a moral obligation to help Nizar in his time of need."
Relations between Iran and the U.S. are fraught even after the recent nuclear deal and a prisoner swap in January that freed Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian and three other Iranian-Americans.
At least two Iranian-Americans are imprisoned in the Islamic Republic, Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi and his 80-year-old father Baquer Namazi. Also unaccounted for is former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who vanished in Iran in 2007 while on an unauthorized CIA mission.
The State Department warns Americans planning to travel to Iran that the country has a record of "unjustly" holding U.S. citizens on espionage or other charges.
In April, State Department spokesman John Kirby said U.S. officials are concerned about Zakka. But officials also argue that because he is Lebanese, Lebanon must take the lead in handling his case.
"U.S. lawful permanent residents are not U.S. passport holders and must travel on the passport of their nationality," Kirby said. "The Immigration and Nationality Act prevents us from providing consular assistance to non-U.S. citizens."
On Wednesday, U.S. officials clarified they could offer consular assistance, but could not talk about what they might be providing.
Zakka disappeared Sept. 18 during his fifth trip to the country. He had been invited to attend a conference at which President Hassan Rouhani spoke of providing more economic opportunities for women and sustainable development.
Last seen taking a taxi to the airport to fly to Beirut, Zakka never boarded the flight, said Lebanese lawyer Antoine Abou Dib.
On Nov. 3, Iranian state television aired a report saying he was in custody and calling him a spy with "deep links" with U.S. intelligence services. It was the first official word on his whereabouts.
State TV also showed what it described as a damning photo of Zakka and three other men in army-style uniforms, two with flags and two with rifles on their shoulders. But that turned out to be from a homecoming event at Zakka's prep school, the Riverside Military Academy in Georgia, according to the school's president.
It's unclear what prompted Iranian authorities to detain Zakka. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment about Zakka while calls to officials in Iran's judiciary were not returned.
Zakka's organization has described its work in an IRS filing as promoting "Internet freedom programming" in the Middle East. Nearly 40 percent of Iran's 80 million people can access the Internet, though the U.S.-based watchdog Freedom House describes web access as "not free" due to censorship and filtering.
U.S. records examined by the AP show that since 2009, Zakka's IJMA3 organization has received at least $730,000 in contracts and grants from both the State Department and USAID, the lead American government agency fighting poverty and promoting democracy across the world.
The largest, for just over $600,000, was from USAID for as part of a project known as "Women in Charge." It included work on the "development of a secure web portal and administration of Social Media Change trainings." Another worth some $130,000 involved building the "capacity of 16 civil society groups in information security and advocacy fundamentals."
IJMA3 also worked on another $4.5-million USAID project in Lebanon to aid small businesses that began in 2008, though the agency said it discontinued its partnership with the group in part over "chronic delays ... and weak results." It wasn't immediately clear if IJMA3 was paid for that work.
In April, Lebanon's Foreign Ministry said it helped Zakka's wife arrange travel to Iran to visit her husband, conducted one authorized visit by its diplomats with Zakka and sent Iran a series of diplomatic notes on his detention.
Neither American nor Lebanese officials publicly have acknowledged Zakka's work with the U.S. government.
David Ramadan, a former Virginia state legislator who co-founded a group called Friends of Nizar Zakka, said Zakka's work means the American government should be doing more to free him. He said, without elaborating, that Zakka was "there on the Department of State's dime and blessing."
"It's our opinion that the United States has both the moral and legal obligation to get him out of Iran, even though he is not a U.S. citizen," Ramadan said. While Lebanese by birth, "Nizar is an American in heart, an American in soul," he said.
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Online:
Nizar Zakka's supporters: www.friendsofnizarzakka.com
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Associated Press writers Bradley Klapper and Lou Kesten in Washington and Zeina Karam in Beirut contributed to this report.
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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jon-gambrell.
This undated handout image provided by the friend of Nizar Zakka, Inc., shows, Zakka, a technology expert and advocate for Internet freedom, right, with his son at an unidentified location. Zakka, was arrested in Tehran in September after being invited by the Iranian government to attend a conference there. Although no charges have been announced, Iranian media has accused him of being an American spy, allegations vigorously rejected by his family and associates. (Friends Nizar Zakka Inc. via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Ex-manager of Malawian orphanage admits sex abuse of orphans
MIDLAND, Texas (AP) A Texas man who managed an orphanage in Malawi has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing orphans at the East African facility.
Gerald Campbell pleaded guilty before a U.S. magistrate Wednesday in Midland, Texas, to one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place. A Justice Department spokesman says the 66-year-old Odessa man could get up to 30 years in federal prison. Sentencing hasn't been scheduled yet.
Campbell admitted to sexually abusing eight orphans at the Victory Christian Children's Home in Malawi between 1997 and 2009. Campbell was general manager of the orphanage.
To entice the children, Campbell said he offered access to better accommodations and amenities such as hot water. Campbell also said he sent hush money to some victims.
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Slain Kansas detective's handcuffs to be used on suspect
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) Colleagues of a slain Kansas police detective say the late officer's handcuffs will be used on the man charged in the killing when the suspect is released from the hospital.
Kansas City, Kansas, Police Chief Terry Zeigler described the plan in a tweet that says "words cannot express what this means to our department."
The Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/1V9RUme ) reports that it's not yet clear when 28-year-old Curtis Ayers will be released from the hospital.
Ayers is accused of fatally shooting Kansas City, Kansas, police Detective Brad Lancaster. Ayers has been hospitalized since being shot by police hours later in Kansas City, Missouri, during his May 9 arrest.
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At a Glance: Google's newest tools, gadgets and services
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) A new virtual-reality system from Google and a way to use Android apps without downloading Android apps are among the highlights at the company's annual developer showcase in Mountain View, California.
Google also unveiled new messaging apps, a smart-home device and a contest: It wants users to suggest names for its next Android system, currently known as N.
Here's a summary of some of Google's announcements Wednesday:
Google CEO Sundar Pichai gives closing remarks at the end of the keynote address of the Google I/O conference, Wednesday, May 18, 2016, in Mountain View, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
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DAYDREAM
It's a virtual-reality system designed for what Google calls "high quality" VR experiences on Android smartphones. Manufacturers including Samsung, HTC and Huawei will have smartphones capable of handling it this fall, according to Google. The platform, included in its upcoming Android N operating system, is meant to improve upon the Cardboard headset it launched two years ago by making VR experiences that are more comfortable and immersive.
Google is also circulating guidelines for manufacturers to make Daydream VR headsets and a motion-sensing remote that can be used like a steering wheel or a fishing rod.
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ANDROID INSTANT APPS
Designed to fix the pain from downloading an app you will use only once, Instant Apps run on Google's servers instead of your phone. Only the parts you need get sent to your phone. If it works as Google envisions, without lags and other annoyances, users won't have to spend a few minutes downloading and installing that app and having it take up valuable space on the phone.
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GOOGLE HOME
Following in Amazon's footsteps, Google is unveiling a smart-home assistant that lets people listen to music and podcasts, as well as manage tasks such as setting alarms and compiling shopping lists, throughout their home. The Internet-connected device lets users control it with their voice.
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MESSAGING
Allo is a new, "smart" messaging app that lets you text without typing and message without actually having any friends. It features the Google Assistant, which lets you find information and get things done by chatting with Google's computers. You can search, book reservations or play a game. For example, text "is my flight delayed?" to get information about your flight status.
Allo also features what Google calls "smart reply," which learns how you text and shows suggestions "in your style." So you can tap "haha" or "go away" without typing anything. It also gives users an array of emojis and stickers and the option to increase or decrease the size of text to add emphasis.
A video-calling companion called Duo features "Knock Knock." You see who is knocking at your digital door, in the form of a live video stream of a caller who wants to start a video call with you. You can decide whether to pick up based on their expression and environment.
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GOOGLE ASSISTANT
A versatile, ambient experience that extends across various devices in your life is how Google thinks of the assistant. On Allo, you can chat with it to book restaurant reservations. On Google Home, the assistant will help you find the music you want to listen to or the temperature you want your home to be. It's the equivalent of Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa and Microsoft's Cortana.
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SOFTWARE UPDATES
Google is inviting users to name its next version of Android. The name needs to start with N and be a dessert. Google picked the past names Marshmallow last year and Lollipop before that and says it has the final say over the N name.
Besides VR support, the Android N update for phones and tablets will get under-the-hood performance boosts for things like graphics. It will also let you run two apps side by side, something you can do with Apple's iPads but not iPhones.
Google's smartwatches will get the smart replies featured in Allo. The new software will also let apps exchange data. For instance, an app that tracks meals consumed could sync with an exercise app to see if you're burning enough calories. You can also customize watch faces with live updates on stocks and other information.
David Singleton, Google vice president of engineering, talks about updates to Android Wear during the keynote address of the Google I/O conference, Wednesday, May 18, 2016, in Mountain View, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Google engineering director Erik Kay talks about the new Allo messaging app and Duo during the keynote address of the Google I/O conference, Wednesday, May 18, 2016, in Mountain View, Calif. Google unveiled its vision for phones, cars, virtual reality and more during its annual conference for software developers. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Boris Johnson shrugs off 'synthetic outrage' over Hitler-EU comparison
Boris Johnson has dismissed criticism of his comparison between Adolf Hitler and the European Union as "synthetic outrage", after Conservative grandee Lord Heseltine suggested it had damaged his chances of ever leading the party.
Former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine described the comments as reckless and irresponsible, while Mr Johnson's fellow Leave campaigner Chris Grayling repeatedly declined to endorse them in a radio interview.
The Commons Leader said Mr Johnson is a "historian and he was making a historian's comment" when he likened the EU to the Nazi dictator's plans for domination of the continent.
Boris Johnson has not ruled out a second Brexit referendum if the Leave movement loses narrowly
But asked seven times if the former London mayor had been right to draw the comparison, Mr Grayling failed to back the comments.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "What Boris was talking about was the reality that there is a drive towards greater political integration.
"Boris was making an historical analogy from a historian talking about a whole range of actions since the Roman Empire.
"He is a historian making a comment in his own words. My view is that we should be most concerned about integration in the European Union."
Mr Grayling sidestepped questions over whether the Tories were engaged in civil war.
"Yes, we are having a lively debate within the Conservative Party, but we are also getting on with governing the country," he added.
L ord Heseltine accused Mr Johnson of behaving "irresponsibly and recklessly" and suggested "his judgment is going".
Asked if he believed Mr Johnson would ever lead the party, the peer told the BBC: "I'd be very surprised. I think every time he makes one of these extraordinary utterances, people in the Conservative Party will question whether he now has the judgment for that position."
Asked about the former DPM's attacks, Mr Johnson told TV cameras outside his London home: "The most important thing is that everybody should cut out the synthetic outrage about things I haven't said and stick to the facts.
"The facts are that the EU is now producing about 60% of the law made in this country, it's changed out of all recognition from what we signed up to in 1972, it is making it impossible for us to control our borders and it costs about 350 million per week.
"The only safe option is to vote Leave on June 23."
Mr Johnson has refused to rule out a second Brexit vote if next month's referendum sees a knife-edge victory for the Remain campaign.
He insisted he expected the Leave side to score a "decisive" victory, but left the door open to pushing for a second poll if things did not go his way.
He said: "I think to start getting into all sorts of complicated, off-the-back-cushion calculations about further referendums is pointless. We are going to win."
Former Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith suggested that Lord Heseltine was a "voice from the past".
"It's always good to hear voices from the past, I would be grateful if they remained in the past," he told the BBC.
"My simple comment is: cut the name calling because this is childish and the public is fed up with it.
"All of you in the past who were once responsible for these actions, the best you can do is say let's engage with the debate and stop calling people names, because I think that demeans us and I don't think politicians should do that."
Prominent Leave campaigner and Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg hit back at criticism of Mr Johnson, telling the BBC: "Lord Heseltine is a frightful old humbug who divided the Conservative Party more than anybody else in our modern history, and a period of silence on his part would be welcome."
Leave campaign seizes on Interpol warning of 800,000 migrants in Libya
Interpol has warned that 800,000 migrants are waiting in Libya to try and make the crossing to Europe.
A joint report by the crime fighting organisation, and its European counterpart, Europol, was seized on by Leave campaigners.
Looking ahead to future trends, the document stated: " Overall, an increase in the number of migrants trying to reach the EU is expected. In Libya alone, around 800,000 migrants are waiting to travel to the EU."
Migrants and refugees in a rubber dinghy arriving on the beach at Psalidi near Kos Town, Kos.
The report found that a systematic link between people smuggling and terrorism had not be proven, but there is "increased risk" terrorists may use migratory flows as cover.
Migrants are vulnerable to sexual exploitation in order to pay debts to smugglers, the study said.
"While a systematic link between migrant smuggling and terrorism is not proven, there is an increased risk that foreign terrorist fighters may use migratory flows to (re)enter the EU.
"It is expected that, in 2016, more than 90% of the migrants moving towards the EU will be facilitated by smugglers. Within Europe an increase and change of facilitation services is likely due to the recent closure of the national borders of several European countries.
"Key migratory routes identified as main corridors for migrant smuggling are fluid and influenced by external factors like border controls.
"Migrants who travel to the EU are vulnerable to labour or sexual exploitation as they need to repay their debt to smugglers.
"Migrant smuggling is a multinational business, with suspects originating from more than 100 countries.
"The structure of migrant smuggling networks includes leaders who loosely coordinate activities along a given route, organizers who manage activities locally through personal contacts, and opportunistic low level facilitators," the report states.
Ukip's Steven Woolfe said the probe's findings backed up the security fears of ex-MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove who insisted Britain would be safer outside the EU.
" This joint report from Interpol and Europol demonstrates that 800,000 Libyans are queuing up to enter the EU. It is absolutely clear, from Richard Dearlove to Interpol, that we already have thousands of Jihadi terrorists in Europe.
"Libya is awash with trained, skilled and determined Isis terrorists who are bound to be amongst those seeking to enter the EU.
"Intelligence says that it is only a matter of time before another terrorist attack occurs in Europe. The crisis isn't over, it's just continuing and getting worse.
"Unless we vote to leave, we will putting our national security at risk and increasing the likelihood of terrorism on our shores," Mr Woolfe said.
Junior doctors and the Government have finally agreed a deal which is set to end any further strike action, it has been announced this afternoon.
The two sides have come to an agreement after 10 days of fresh talks and three years of acrimonious negotiations over a new contract.
The talks followed five rounds of industrial action which saw junior doctors in England walk out of UK hospitals.
They also stopped providing emergency care for the first time in NHS history during their most recent walkout, which went on for two days at the end of April.
In the last strike alone, more than 125,000 appointments and operations were cancelled and will need to be rearranged.
This was on top of almost 25,000 procedures cancelled during previous action.
Junior doctors stopped providing emergency care for the first time in NHS history during their most recent walkout - but a new deal over pay has finally been reached today
This afternoon, In a statement, Acas - the independent conciliation service mediating the negotiations - said: 'Following ten days of intensive talks to seek to resolve the long running junior doctors' dispute, an Acas statement setting out the terms of an agreement has been presented to the government and NHS employers, and to the BMA.
'This has now been agreed by all parties as resolving the current dispute subject to securing the support of BMA junior doctor members in a referendum.
'Work will be done together by both sides over the next two weeks to finalise the communications with BMA members on all the details of the agreement and their new contract.
'Some elements of the new contract, if approved in the referendum, will be implemented in August this year and all junior doctors will move on to the agreed new terms between October 2016 and August 2017.
'No further industrial action will be called while the referendum is underway.'
The dispute began when the Government took steps to introduce its manifesto commitment of a seven-day NHS.
JEREMY HUNT: 'WE WELCOME THIS BREAKTHROUGH' A deal has been reached in the row between Jeremy Hunt and junior doctors' representatives over pay, after eight days of negotiations The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said this afternoon: 'We welcome this significant agreement which delivers important changes to the junior doctors' contract necessary to deliver a safer seven day NHS. 'The talks have been constructive and positive and highlighted many areas outside the contract where further work is necessary to value the vital role of junior doctors and improve the training and support they are given. 'This deal represents a definitive step forward for patients, for doctors, and for the NHS as a whole.' Advertisement
The key sticking point was around Saturday pay, with the Government arguing it should count as a normal working day but doctors insisting the hours should be paid at an 'unsocial' rate.
Mr Hunt wanted 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.
Despite the Government offsetting this change with a hike in basic pay of 13.5 per cent, it proved to be a sticking point with the BMA.
Key changes announced this afternoon are:
* Saturday and Sundays will be counted as normal working days between 9am and 9pm.
* To compensate for losing money on the weekend day shift, doctors will receive a percentage of their annual salary for working more than six weekends in a year.
* This will range from 3 per cent for working one weekend in seven to up to 10 per cent of their salary if they work one weekend in two.
* The Department of Health says this will make it a third less expensive for hospitals to rosta doctors over the weekend.
* Doctors who work night shifts will still be paid extra, regardless of the day.
* Any shift which starts at or after 8pm and lasts more than eight hours, and which finishes at or by 10am the following day, will result in an enhanced pay rate of 37 per cent for all hours worked.
* In the previous deal, night pay was due to be paid at an enhanced rate of 50 per cent.
* After doctors work three or four night shifts they will be allowed a 46 hour rest period.
* Rather than the proposed 13.5 per cent basic pay rise, all doctors will now get a between an 10-11 per cent raise.
* Under the new contract, there will be also be pay premiums for medics working in specialties such as A&E.
* Junior doctors will not be required to work more frequently than one in two weekends.
* Doctors will be paid on call rates at an enhanced rate of 8 per cent above salary for those working less than one in eight weekends to 18 per cent for those working one in two weekends.
* And in an effort to improve doctors' quality of life, couples who both work in the profession will now be able to apply for joint training programmes so they can work in the same place.
The new deal will be put to a ballot where 55,000 BMA members will be able to vote on whether to accept it
The changes unveiled today represent a significant shift on the position held by the BMA in previous talks.
Dr Johann Malawana, BMA junior doctor committee chair, said this afternoon: 'Following intense but constructive talks, we are pleased to have reached agreement.
I believe that what has been agreed today is a good deal for junior doctors and will ensure that they can continue to deliver high-quality care for patients Dr Johann Malawana, BMA junior doctor committee chair
'Junior doctors have always wanted to agree a safe and fair contract, one that recognises and values the contribution junior doctors make to the NHS, addresses the recruitment and retention crisis in parts of the NHS and provides the basis for delivering a world-class health service.
'I believe that what has been agreed today delivers on these principles, is a good deal for junior doctors and will ensure that they can continue to deliver high-quality care for patients.
'This represents the best and final way of resolving the dispute and this is what I will be saying to junior doctors in the weeks leading up to the referendum on the new contract.'.
Now, the new deal will be put to a ballot where 55,000 BMA members will be able to vote on whether to accept it.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt agreed to pause the introduction of a controversial new contract - due to come into force in August so the talks could go ahead.
And the BMA agreed to lift the threat of further industrial action after leaked documents showed they had discussed a strike of no return - where medics would simply not return to the wards until a satisfactory deal was agreed.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: 'This deal represents a definitive step forward for patients, for doctors, and for the NHS as a whole'
Both parties agreed to return to the negotiating table last week, but Mr Hunt demanded a 'written agreement' from the BMA's junior doctors committee that discussions over the contentious issue of unsocial hours and Saturday pay would be held in 'good faith'.
In response to the announcement of a resolution around a new junior doctor contract, Danny Mortimer, Chief Executive, NHS Employers said: 'We owe a debt of gratitude to Sir Brendan Barber and ACAS for facilitating these constructive talks.
'I am grateful to the BMA for their engagement in the process, and am pleased that by working positively together we have identified a way forward which commands their support.
'NHS Employers extends its thanks to Sir David Dalton for his leadership of our team, and we look forward to working with Dr Malawana and his colleagues in the future.'
Sun editor defiant after watchdog ruling against "Queen backs Brexit" headline
The Sun's Editor in Chief has insisted the newspaper did not make an error over its "Queen backs Brexit" headline despite a ruling by the press watchdog that it was inaccurate.
Tony Gallagher said the paper respected the Independent Press Standards Organisation but insisted the story justified the headline.
The complaint, about a story alleging the Queen expressed her anger with Brussels to then deputy prime minister Nick Clegg during a lunch at Windsor Castle, was the first by a reigning monarch to the press watchdog.
Buckingham Palace complained about the story, which said the Queen had voiced support for an EU exit
In its ruling Ipso found that the newspaper's front-page headline on March 9 had breached Clause 1 (accuracy) of the Editors' Code of Practice.
Mr Gallagher told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I don't accept that we made an error at all. We made a judgment that the headline was right and that it was backed up by the story."
He added: "I don't think were I doing this again tomorrow I would act in any way differently whatsoever. Given what I know about the detail of the sourcing and given what I know about the detail of the conversation, frankly, we would be better packing up and going home as journalists if we didn't actually put these things in the public domain."
Ipso said that while the article itself did not breach the code, the headline did as it was "a factual assertion that the Queen had expressed a position in the referendum debate, and there was nothing in the headline, or the manner in which it was presented on the newspaper's front page, to suggest that this was conjecture, hyperbole, or was not to be read literally".
The original Sun article said two unnamed sources had claimed that the Queen made critical comments about the EU at two private functions - first with Mr Clegg at a lunch for Privy Counsellors at Windsor Castle in 2011, and at a reception for MPs at Buckingham Palace.
At the time the report was published, former Liberal Democrat leader Mr Clegg dismissed it as ''nonsense'', while Buckingham Palace said: "The Queen remains politically neutral, as she has for 63 years.
''We will not comment on spurious, anonymously sourced claims. The referendum is a matter for the British people to decide.''
Justice Secretary Michael Gove refused to rule out being the source of the leak and The Sun said it stood by its story and planned to defend against the complaint "vigorously".
The Sun carried an article in Wednesday's paper which details the ruling - ordered by Ipso as a remedy for the inaccuracy.
The article states: "Ipso acknowledged the importance of headlines in tabloid newspapers.
"However, it did not follow from the comments the article reported that the Queen wanted the UK to leave the EU as a result of the referendum: that suggestion was conjecture and the committee noted that none of those quoted in the story were reported as making such a claim.
"The headline was not supported by the text. It was significantly misleading - given that it suggested a fundamental breach of the Queen's constitutional obligations."
The decision is the first time Ipso has ruled on the newly-revised Clause 1 of the Editors' Code of Practice, which makes specific reference to "headlines not supported by the text" as an example of inaccurate, misleading or distorted information.
Commenting on the adjudication, Ipso chief executive Matt Tee said: "Clause 1 of the Editors' Code was amended in January 2016 with specific reference to 'headlines not supported by the text'.
"The Editors' Code Committee clearly wanted Ipso to pay close attention to the use of headlines, something we have done in the period since the new code was issued.
"The Sun's headline was significantly misleading and represented a failure to take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information"
He added: "Ipso will continue to carry out our work without fear or favour and will continue to support those who feel wronged by the press, whoever they are."
Mr Gallagher said the The Sun had been left in "no doubt" that the Queen wanted Britain to quit the EU but had taken care not to identify its "impeccable" sources in the story.
He told the programme: "Self-evidently we were unable to compromise the people that told us that. We were in no doubt that the Queen's views were strongly of the opinion she would want to leave the European Union."
Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the ruling.
Evan Harris, joint executive director of press reform campaigners Hacked Off, said Ipso's action was "grossly inadequate".
He said: "This ruling shows everything wrong with Ipso - it was a clear and obvious code breach but the remedy is grossly inadequate.
"Millions of people read the false front page banner headline and they deserve to see the truth. But only a small proportion of them will read the adjudication to learn how they were misled, because the front page reference and the page two headline are both small and neither correct the record.
"The burying of the adjudication on page two, the absence of an actual correction and the absence of an apology all demonstrate that Ipso, like the PCC before them, strives to protect the newspapers that control them at the expense of the public interest.
Ministers working on Sovereignty Bill in event of EU 'in' vote
Ministers are still working on measures to assert UK sovereignty and will bring forward proposals "in due course" if voters opt to stay in the European Union in next month's referendum, Downing Street has said.
The comment came after David Cameron took flak from eurosceptic Tories over the absence of a Sovereignty Bill in the Queen's Speech setting out the Government's agenda for the coming year.
Instead, the package focused on reforms to prisons, universities and the care system, while offering eye-catching measures to pave the way to a future Britain of spaceports, driverless cars, commercial drones and a legal right to high-speed broadband for all.
The Queen delivers her speech
Ex-Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said the Sovereignty Bill - which would ensure that British judges can override the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg - was one of a number of Tory priorities "tossed aside" by the Prime Minister in the hope of smoothing the way to a Remain vote on June 23.
The former work and pensions secretary - who quit the Cabinet in March shortly after declaring he would campaign for EU withdrawal - said: "I t seems nothing must stand in the way of winning the referendum.
"The fear in Government must be that, as no-one in Britain buys the idea that the EU has been reformed, the Sovereignty Bill would draw the public's attention back to that failure. After all, if the EU Court of Justice is supreme and can strike down our laws, the British people would have just laughed at the idea Britain can be sovereign unless we leave the EU."
But a Number 10 source said that ministers were still "working towards" a bill and aimed to come forward with proposals on the issue "in due course". There would be no need for a bill if Britain chooses to leave the EU, the source added.
The possibility of a Sovereignty Bill was floated by the PM in February as he struggled in vain to keep high-profile eurosceptics like Boris Johnson and Justice Secretary Michael Gove from joining the Leave camp in the referendum battle.
Delivering the Government's agenda for the year ahead amid the traditional ceremony of the State Opening of Parliament, the Queen made no mention of legislation on the issue, but said: "My ministers will uphold the sovereignty of Parliament and the primacy of the House of Commons."
Downing Street also insisted the PM wants to "move forward as quickly as we can" on a British Bill of Rights to replace the Human Rights Act, after the Speech offered only "proposals" on the issue, sparking speculation that it was being kicked into the long grass.
Mr Cameron described the package set out in the House of Lords as a programme of progressive reform by a One Nation government which would "extend life chances for all" by reforming the care system, extending academy schools, allowing the establishment of new universities and overhauling prisons.
Downing Street rejected suggestions that Mr Cameron had confined himself to a lightweight agenda designed to avoid upsetting voters ahead of the crucial referendum. A source described the package of 21 bills - including the proposals for a Bill of Rights - as "bold and radical".
As debate on the package began in the House of Commons, Mr Cameron told MPs it was "a Queen's Speech that combines economic security with extending life chances for all. It's the Queen's Speech of a progressive One Nation Government".
But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told MPs that the Government had been forced to back down on a series of proposals in recent months - most recently on forced academisation of all England's schools - and predicted that many of the bills announced would never reach the statute book.
"If anyone wants to deliver a more equal society, an economy that works for everyone and a society where there is opportunity for all, it takes an active government to do it, not the driverless car heading in the wrong direction that we have with this Government at the present time," he said.
Labour made clear it will fight alongside students to oppose increases in university tuition fees.
Other legislation set out in the Speech included the introduction of a sugar tax on fizzy drinks, measures to recoup money from overseas visitors using the NHS, a minimum age requirement for viewing pornography on the internet and new powers to crack down on extremism and intervene in unregulated schools which are "teaching hate".
A Prison and Courts Reform Bill will give governors new powers to control their own jails and overhaul education and rehabilitation programmes in what ministers described as the "biggest reform of our prisons since Victorian times".
A Higher Education and Research Bill will make it easier to open new universities, and the academy schools programme will be expanded by an Education for All Bill - though not extended to every school in England as Mr Cameron initially planned.
Court guidelines will be altered by a Children and Social Work Bill in favour of permanent adoptions, and children in care will be given a new "covenant" setting out local authorities' duties to help them with housing, jobs and healthcare after they leave care.
Measures to boost the economy included an Infrastructure Bill to speed the planning process and a Local Growth and Jobs Bill to allow councils to keep and invest all the business rates they raise.
The Queen heads to Westminster for the State Opening of Parliament
The Queen proceeds through the Royal Gallery
Members of the Household Cavalry parade from Buckingham Palace
The crowd waits for the royal procession under umbrellas
The Irish State Coach transporting the Queen
David Cameron described the package as a "One Nation Queen's Speech from a progressive, One Nation, Conservative Government"
The Queen's hand is held by the Duke of Edinburgh as they proceed through the Royal Gallery
The Prince of Wales leaves Buckingham Palace in a carriage
The Queen's Imperial State Crown leaves Buckingham Palace
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh proceed through the Royal Gallery
Justice Secretary Michael Gove, centre, passes through the Central Lobby ahead of the State Opening of Parliament
Actors Jim Carter and Imelda Staunton were in the audience for the speech
The Queen's Imperial State Crown arrives at the Royal Gallery ahead of the State Opening of Parliament
Guardsmen stand outside Buckingham Palace in London ahead of the Queen's departure
The Guardsmen parade marches from Buckingham Palace to Westminster
Yeoman of the Guard walk in through the Sovereigns entrance at the Houses of Parliament
David Cameron and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn walk to the House of Lords
The Queen is seen on a TV screen as she delivers her speech during the State Opening of Parliament
The Queen's Speech set out a relatively modest agenda of 21 bills
The Queen's carriage arrives at the House of Lords
Peter Kennaugh's Tour de France place in doubt with suspected broken collarbone
Team Sky's Peter Kennaugh suffered a heavy fall in the Tour of California on Tuesday which could put his Tour de France place in question.
The Manxman suffered "a suspected broken collarbone", according to his team's website, after hitting the deck late in stage three of the American race.
The injury has yet to be confirmed but if it is as bad as feared, Kennaugh risks missing July 2's Grand Depart from Mont-Saint-Michel.
Peter Kennaugh crashed out of the Tour of California
In addition to the damage to Kennaugh's Tour prospects, Team Sky sport director Gabriel Rasch described the crash as coming at "the worst possible time" for the team.
Rasch said: "We were looking all good until Pete crashed. When he crashed the guys waited for him and pretty quickly we saw he couldn't carry on.
"We still have some good chances this week, with Danny [van Poppel] in the sprints and we will see how Lars Petter [Nordhaug] is. There are a couple of stages with some pretty hard finals so we will see how he goes there."
New deal agreed to end junior doctors' dispute
Doctors' leaders and the Government have agreed a new deal for junior doctors, with a new pay structure for working weekends and evenings.
The deal between the British Medical Association (BMA) and the Government will now be put to a ballot of medics after eight days of intense negotiations.
Under the deal, Saturdays and Sundays will attract premium pay if doctors - the vast majority of whom are expected to - work seven or more weekends in a year.
Acas announced a deal had been reached after 10 days of talks aimed at preventing a summer of strikes by junior doctors
Doctors will receive a percentage of their annual salary for working these weekends - ranging from 3% for working one weekend in seven to up to 10% if they work one weekend in two.
Any night shift - on any day - which starts at or after 8pm and lasts more than eight hours, and which finishes at or by 10am the following day, will also result in an enhanced pay rate of 37% for all the hours worked.
The deal also sets out systems of payment for doctors who are on call.
This allowance is applied as 8% of basic pay over and above any weekend allowance that has been paid.
Across the board, there will be an average basic pay increase of between 10% and 11%, down from the 13% put forward originally by the Government.
There are also new agreements aimed at reducing discrimination to anyone who takes leave to care for others, such as new mothers or those on parental leave.
This includes accelerated training support to enable people to catch up, such as mentoring and study leave funding.
Some elements of the new contract, if approved in the BMA's ballot of junior doctors, will be implemented in August and all junior doctors will move on to the new terms between October and August 2017.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "We welcome this significant agreement which delivers important changes to the junior doctors' contract necessary to deliver a safer seven day NHS.
"The talks have been constructive and positive and highlighted many areas outside the contract where further work is necessary to value the vital role of junior doctors and improve the training and support they are given.
"This deal represents a definitive step forward for patients, for doctors and for the NHS as a whole."
He also told BBC News: "Well I think it's a very positive day for NHS patients and actually for doctors as well. From the Government's point of view we've got all the red lines that we needed to improve weekend care.
"The extra cost of employing another doctor at the weekends will fall by about a third under this agreement, which will make it much easier for hospitals to improve care at weekends."
He added: "But I think we also have to reflect that this has been a very bitter dispute. There are lessons to be learned on all sides.
"I think there was a message in the industrial action that unfortunately took place that there was a lot of unhappiness amongst junior doctors about things that weren't necessarily to do with their contract, to do with the way their training operates, to do with the quality of life in those very, very tough jobs.
"And we want to engage positively and constructively to address those issues because they are the backbone of the NHS."
Dr Johann Malawana, the BMA's junior doctor committee chairman, said: "Following intense but constructive talks, we are pleased to have reached agreement.
"Junior doctors have always wanted to agree a safe and fair contract, one that recognises and values the contribution junior doctors make to the NHS, addresses the recruitment and retention crisis in parts of the NHS and provides the basis for delivering a world-class health service.
"I believe that what has been agreed today delivers on these principles, is a good deal for junior doctors and will ensure that they can continue to deliver high-quality care for patients.
"This represents the best and final way of resolving the dispute and this is what I will be saying to junior doctors in the weeks leading up to the referendum on the new contract."
Professor Jane Dacre, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said: " A way forward in this dispute was needed, both for the wider NHS and the patients we care for every day.
"We now await the outcome of the ballot of junior doctors on this proposal and hope for early resolution.
"As we have said many times before, the RCP believes that negotiations are the best way to see this dispute resolved, therefore it is welcome news that both sides have managed to reach an agreed joint proposal on the outstanding points of contention."
Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said: " I am grateful to the BMA for their engagement in the process, and am pleased that by working positively together we have identified a way forward which commands their support.
"NHS Employers extends its thanks to Sir David Dalton for his leadership of our team, and we look forward to working with Dr Malawana and his colleagues in the future."
The talks were seen as a last-ditch attempt to break the deadlock between junior doctors and the Government.
The agreement to resume talks follows a wave of industrial action launched by junior doctors in recent months, which saw thousands of operations cancelled.
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 postponed, on top of almost 25,000 procedures cancelled during previous action.
Discussions surrounding the new contract first started in 2012 but broke down in 2014.
Asked about what happened to make the agreement possible, Mr Hunt told the BBC he did not want to talk about "winners and losers".
He added: "I think what this really shows is that if we sit around the table and talk about issues that can make care safer for patients and improve the working conditions for doctors, you can have a win win, and I prefer to characterise it that way."
Asked about how he would have done things differently, Mr Hunt said: "It's very difficult because we had a manifesto commitment to a seven-day NHS that we absolutely must deliver to the British people having been elected a year ago to do that.
"But I think what we didn't understand at the start of this process was the amount of discontent amongst junior doctors about things that were not always to do with the contract, about the fact that you could be a junior doctor who's posted to Leeds and your partner is in London, and it's very, very bad for family life if you're apart for six months."
He said frustrations like that came to the surface through the industrial action, adding that the agreement will allow them to address some of those issues.
Pushed on whether or not he has any regrets about the way he handled the dispute, Mr Hunt said: "I think the way to put this is, we have to implement manifesto commitments. I could be critical of the fact that there was a very long period of time when the BMA were refusing to talk at all.
"But I think the point is that on both sides we've learned, through the process of the last 10 days, that actually talking works much better, and it is possible to end with a win win - that we can deliver our manifesto commitment for a seven-day NHS, but also make real progress in addressing some of the concerns that junior doctors have had about their working conditions, and that dialogue is the way to achieve these things, so I think it has been a very positive week."
Dr Mark Holland, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: "We welcome the news of an agreement on the junior doctors' contract and are relieved both sides have come to an amicable understanding.
"In acute internal medicine, we will be interested to see the detail of the new contract.
"We face significant issues with recruitment and retention of staff and we hope our trainees will be recognised on par with the contracts being proposed in emergency medicine and psychiatry."
Mr Hunt heralded the deal as "good news" for junior doctors, as well as the Government.
"I think this is actually a win win: it's a very good day for patients because the Government's got all it needed in terms of our red line which is to deliver the seven-day NHS which we promised in our manifesto," he told 5 News.
"This deal reduces the extra cost of employing more doctors at the weekend by about a third, which will be very welcome news for hospitals.
"But it's very good news for doctors as well because we're reducing the maximum amount of hours they can be asked to work, reducing the number of nights they can be asked to work in row, the number of long days they can be asked to work in a row.
"Although for the first time - and this is a very big reform - some element of weekend work will be included in their basic pay. We're putting their basic pay up by about 11% to account for that. So I think it's a fair deal for them as well.
He said he hoped the junior doctors would "listen carefully" to their leader, Johann Malawana, who he said supported the deal.
"In this package there are a number of things that we have been able to include to deal with a lot of the bug-bears that junior doctors feel," he added.
"I have learnt through this process that there are a number of things, often nothing to do with the contract, that are very frustrating for junior doctors."
Mr Hunt said he was asking Health Education England to take account of family life and was looking at improving flexible working hours, so that rotas would take account of responsibilities at home.
"Becoming a doctor is already one of the most popular degrees because it is a wonderful profession and has the highest employability rates of any profession," he said, but admitted that the NHS needed more doctors and nurses.
"During this parliament, as a result of the spending review, there will be an extra 11,400 doctors going into training and an extra 40,000 nurses going into training. So as quickly as we can afford to, we are increasing the junior doctor workforce.
Lebanon c.bank says must comply with U.S. Hezbollah law
BEIRUT, May 17 (Reuters) - Lebanon's central bank governor said on Tuesday Lebanese banks must comply with a new U.S. law targeting Shi'ite group Hezbollah's finances and that failure to do so risked international isolation of the country's banking sector.
Heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah, which is classified as a terrorist group by the United States, wields enormous political influence in Lebanon and its powerful military wing is playing a major role in the Syrian conflict.
The U.S. Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act (HIFPA) passed in December threatens sanctions against anyone who finances Hezbollah in a significant way.
The law has ignited an unprecedented dispute between Hezbollah and a central bank widely seen as a pillar of stability in an otherwise weak and dysfunctional Lebanese state.
Governor Riad Salameh said banks must comply with the law but that decisions to close accounts would be overseen by the central bank to ensure that the closures were justified.
"The U.S. law has to be implemented worldwide and in Lebanon," he said in a statement. "It is not possible to guarantee credit stability if (the central bank) does not implement the U.S. law.
"If we do not do that ... our banking sector could become isolated from the world," he said.
Salameh has assured citizens that the regulations protect them from having bank accounts arbitrarily blocked or closed.
Banks which intend to close accounts of individuals or organisations considered to be in breach of the U.S. law must provide justification for that decision, and wait for a response from the Central Bank's Special Investigation Committee, which "enjoys independence", he said.
The United States has a list of people sanctioned for terrorism. A Lebanese bank or company doing business with anybody on the list will not be able to deal with any U.S. financial institution because that institution could be fined for non-compliance.
Hezbollah, whose fighters played a major role in forcing Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon in 2000, enjoys strong support in the Lebanese Shi'ite community. Its members include government ministers, lawmakers and local councillors.
Lebanon's banking sector accounts for around 6 percent of gross domestic product.
White House condemns 'barbaric terrorist attacks' in Baghdad by Islamic State
WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - The White House strongly condemned on Tuesday the latest string of attacks in Baghdad by Islamic State, which it said specifically targeted civilians.
U.N. says $1.8 bln Yemen humanitarian appeal only 16 pct funded
UNITED NATIONS, May 17 (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Tuesday its humanitarian aid appeal for $1.8 billion for Yemen was only 16 percent funded and some 7.6 million people were on the verge of famine in the war-torn impoverished Arabian Peninsula state.
A Saudi-led coalition began a military campaign in Yemen in March last year with the aim of preventing Iran-allied Houthi rebels and forces loyal to Yemen's ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh from taking control of the country.
More than 6,200 people have been killed in the conflict, half of them civilians. U.N. aid operations director John Ging told reporters in New York that more than 10 million people rely on international support for basic medical services.
"Over the past couple of months we have seen a shocking fall off in terms of donor funding for basic humanitarian support," Ging said. "We're only asking for the minimum that is required to keep people alive in these awful circumstances."
Ging, who has just returned from a visit to Yemen, said donors to the Yemen appeal in 2016 included the United States, Britain, the European Commission and Japan. He said people in Yemen felt they had been abandoned by the world.
Yemen relies almost solely on imports, but the conflict has slowed to a trickle commercial shipments to the impoverished country where 80 percent of people need humanitarian aid.
The United Nations announced earlier this month it would start inspecting shipments to rebel-held ports in Yemen in a bid to boost commercial imports and enforce an arms embargo. It took the world body some eight months to get the $8 million needed to set up the verification and inspection mechanism.
"So far the mechanism has been working well," Ging said. "What we're waiting to see is what will its positive effect be and we should be able to see that in the coming weeks."
Combat power, allies best way to deter N. Korea -US military official
By David Alexander
WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - North Korea is on a quest to develop nuclear-armed ballistic missiles that can strike the United States, and the best way to counter Pyongyang is with combat power and strong alliances, the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific said on Tuesday.
Admiral Harry Harris, the head of U.S. Pacific Command, told a South Korea support group in Washington that no threat in the region was "more dangerous than North Korea" and its leader Kim Jong-un.
"He recently threatened pre-emptive nuclear strikes against the United States and other countries in the region," Harris said. "Folks, make no mistake about it. North Korea is on a quest for nuclear weapons, the means to miniaturize them and the ways to deliver them intercontinentally."
Harris said the threat from Pyongyang was one reason he has been working to boost trilateral cooperation among South Korea, Japan and the United States. Military cooperation among the three "is good, and I'd like to get it better," he said.
Harris said the recent settlement of the Second World War "comfort women" issue between Japan and South Korea would help enable better cooperation.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's new defense guidelines allowing Tokyo to play a more robust role in security affairs also will help, he added.
"Working trilaterally, I believe we can bolster our collective defense against North Korean provocations," Harris said.
He said U.S., Japanese and South Korean diplomats plan to expand cooperation due to North Korea's aggressive nuclear and missile testing program this year. They also decided to build on a trilateral information-sharing arrangement aimed at countering Pyongyang's missile threats.
Under the umbrella of that deal, they plan to conduct a missile defense exercise on the sidelines of the Rim of the Pacific naval maneuvers this summer, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said this week.
Harris said the exercise would improve their ability to "operate together in a ballistic missile defense environment."
U.S. and South Korean officials are currently discussing whether to deploy the U.S. THAAD missile defense system on the peninsula. Harris said that decision would be made jointly by the alliance.
Regarding China's island-building in the South China Sea, Harris said Washington had more areas of constructive collaboration with Beijing than it had disputes. But he noted China sometimes engaged in "provocative and aggressive behavior."
Monsanto suspends new soybean technologies in Argentina
By Hugh Bronstein
BUENOS AIRES, May 17 (Reuters) - Monsanto Co said on Tuesday it would suspend future soybean technologies in Argentina, a move that could limit output of the country's main cash crop, after a disagreement with the government over inspections of genetically modified soybeans.
The dispute blew up after Monsanto asked Argentine exporters to inspect soybean shipments to ensure growers had paid royalties for using the company's products. The Argentine government told the world's largest seed company that such inspections must first be approved by the government.
The U.S. company issued a statement saying it was "disappointed" that talks with the Argentine government had not yielded an agreement on the inspection issue.
"The company plans to take measures to protect its current assets and will suspend launching any future soybean technologies in the country," Monsanto said in the statement.
Argentina, the world's No. 1 exporter of soymeal livestock feed, relies heavily on Monsanto's genetic technology to produce soybeans.
A spokeswoman for Argentina's agriculture ministry said the country's rules regarding soybean inspections were designed "to guarantee free trade and property rights."
"If they (Monsanto) feel threatened, that's their prerogative," said the ministry spokeswoman.
Soy farming has spread rapidly across Argentina's Pampas agricultural belt over the last 20 years, thanks in large part to the country's embrace of genetically modified seeds. The technology makes soy plants resistant to glyphosate herbicide, which kills most of the weeds that grow in Argentina.
The pullout by Monsanto leaves Argentine growers without the company's new "Xtend" technology, aimed at increasing soy yields and controlling glyphosate-resistant broad leaf weeds. Pedro Vigneau, who farms 1,500 hectares in the bread basket province of Buenos Aires, said no other company offered the same technology that Xtend would provide.
"This is not good news for us," said Vigneau. "We need the company and the government to reach an agreement in order to obtain the best technology we can get."
Argentina last month issued a decree saying the government must authorize any grain inspection, dealing a blow to Monsanto's push for exporters to check cargoes.
Monsanto has pressured shipping companies to notify it when crops grown with its technology are slated for export without documentation showing royalties had been paid.
Argentina, the world's third biggest exporter of raw soybeans, is expected by the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange to harvest a 56-million-tonne crop this year. The estimate was cut from a previous forecast of 60 million tonnes due to floods that hit key farm areas in April.
Nigeria labour union to go ahead with general strike -deputy leader
ABUJA, May 17 (Reuters) - A Nigerian labour union representing millions of workers said on Tuesday that it would stage a general strike in protest against government plans to increase petrol prices by up to 67 percent, despite a court ruling against the action.
"The government was not ready to accede to our demands, so we walked out of the meeting," Chris Uyot, deputy general secretary of the Nigerian Labour Congress, told Reuters. He said it would begin at midnight on Wednesday (2300 GMT, Tuesday).
Anti-trade rhetoric not denting U.S. trade chief's hopes for TPP vote
By Mitra Taj
LIMA, May 17 (Reuters) - The top U.S. trade official is not losing hope for congressional approval of a sweeping pan-Pacific free trade agreement this year despite strong anti-trade rhetoric in the U.S. presidential campaign that may be influencing reluctant lawmakers.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman told Reuters in an interview in Lima, Peru, that he continues to have "good meetings" with members of Congress about the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.
As more industry groups voice support for the deal, U.S. lawmakers are likely to come out in favor of it, he said.
"The more they learn about the agreement, the more comfortable and positive they are about the substance," Froman said. "I think at the end of the day we'll have produced the necessary support."
While he would like to see a vote as early as possible, he said he is discussing with congressional leadership and key committee chairs "about what the appropriate window is for bringing it forward."
Some key Republicans, such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have voiced opposition to a vote before the November presidential election, while others, including Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, have said that a vote this year would be "difficult," especially for a "lame-duck" Congress.
The Obama administration is gearing up for another major TPP sales pitch as a new analysis of the deal by the U.S. International Trade Commission is released on Wednesday.
Froman said he did not know the results of the independent body's cost-benefit analysis of the TPP. But he noted that another study of TPP, by the Peterson Institute for International Economics, which uses a similar long-term estimating model, found that the trade deal would boost U.S. national income by $131 billion annually by 2030.
CAMPAIGN HEADWINDS
Even so, the trade deal has come under withering attacks on the U.S. presidential campaign trail.
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the Nov. 8 election, has attacked the TPP as bad for American jobs and said he prefers bilateral trade deals. Hilary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee, ditched her one-time support for TPP, at least in its present form, as challenger Bernie Sanders has railed against it.
Froman said the backlash against TPP largely stemmed from misplaced frustration with jobs lost to automation and anxiety over rising income equality after years of stagnant wages.
"I think trade agreements have become the proxy for a number of other concerns that people have, it's the vessel into which they pour a lot of their very understandable, very legitimate concerns," Froman said. "And politicians pick up on that."
TPP critics say the agreement does not do enough for workers, the environment or consumers. On Monday, U.S. and Colombian labor unions said Colombia had failed to enforce worker protections in its free trade agreement with the United States, raising questions about similar provisions in the TPP.
Froman said the TPP would help improve labor and environmental standards in a rapidly-globalizing world. After a visit to a remote Amazonian region in Peru, he pointed to joint U.S.-Peru efforts to fight illegal logging that started after implementation of their free trade agreement in 2009.
Militant attacks force Bangladesh's gay community into hiding
By Sanjeev Miglani
DHAKA, May 18 (Reuters) - Weeks after suspected Islamist militants hacked Bangladesh's most prominent gay rights activist to death in his apartment along with an associate, another friend received a chilling message that he was next in line.
"Say your prayers, confess to God for your sins. Eat or drink whatever you wish to, nobody can save you," read the handwritten letter, delivered to his home in Dhaka.
Bangladesh's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community was already marginalised in a country where same-sex sexual activity is illegal and many people strongly disapprove.
Now it has been pushed further into the shadows after Xulhaz Mannan, editor of the country's first LGBT-themed magazine, and Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy were murdered in the capital on April 25.
The attack, claimed by the regional arm of al Qaeda, was the first of its kind to target the community, although it followed similar killings in the last 16 months of university professors, bloggers and atheists who published views critical of Islam.
Reuters interviewed eight members of Bangladesh's LGBT community, some of them activists. All but one spoke on condition they not be named, because of the threat to their safety.
Based on their own and others' experiences, they said some people had scrubbed Facebook pictures that hinted at same-sex relationships or de-activated profiles altogether.
Several had gone into hiding in safe houses in Dhaka arranged by local and foreign friends, while others fled to the countryside, considering it safer than the teeming capital.
"There is this constant, creepy feeling of being followed by someone, even if in reality we are not," said a young gay professional, who froze in fear last week when he mistakenly thought a man carrying a bag was approaching him with a machete.
"This is what is crippling our everyday life. Any bag can have a machete, which can crack my skull open for being a free thinker."
Some have moved to more secure apartment blocks with close circuit television, while others are taking self-defence classes.
ISLAMIC STATE VERSUS AL QAEDA?
The slaying of the two gay men is part of a broader pattern of killings claimed by Islamist militants, who have stepped up a violent campaign in the mainly Muslim nation of 160 million people.
At least 23 people have been hacked to death with machetes since February, 2015. Most attacks occurred in homes, but some happened in broad daylight.
The main groups claiming these murders have been al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Islamic State, lending the impression of an intensifying rivalry between two movements engaged in global jihad and trying to lure recruits.
That prospect has raised alarm in India and the United States, diplomats in the region said, particularly with U.S. forces engaged in battling Islamist insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan facing its own militant threat.
On the quiet street where Mannan, 35, lived in a small apartment block, neither neighbours nor the security guard who let the killers in, believing them to be couriers delivering a package, were prepared to speak.
Friends said Mannan's home was like a "shrine" for members of the gay community, where they could celebrate birthdays and once staged a mock same-sex marriage.
They added that they were too scared even to visit his grave, lest someone see them.
The size of Bangladesh's LGBT community is impossible to estimate, activists said, given that only a small proportion of its members openly admit it.
"CRIMINALS, SINNERS OR PERVERTS"
A few days after Mannan's death, hate messages appeared online saying his mother should also be executed for producing a "bastard son," said Shahanur Islam, a gay rights campaigner who left Dhaka for an undisclosed location after the attack.
"There is so much hatred against us that we fear they will go after our parents and brothers and sisters."
None of the members of the gay and lesbian community who Reuters spoke to said they had approached police for protection, because they feared further harassment.
Some worried that the police investigation into the double murder could "out" them as gays when they had spent a lifetime trying to hide that identity.
"In the eyes of the law we are criminals, in the eyes of our religion we are sinners and from the viewpoint of society we are perverts," said the young professional.
Bangladesh police said on Sunday they had arrested a home-grown Islamist militant in connection with the murder of the gay campaigner and his friend.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said noone involved in the killings would be spared, whether the victims were bloggers or homosexuals. But he urged people to respect religious sensitivities.
"I request everyone to express views moderately. We have learned that Xulhaz was an editor of an LGBT magazine and used to work to protect the rights of gay people. It is not in line with our society," he told reporters.
A lesbian woman said her plight was even more difficult than that of homosexual men; women were simply forced into marriages, or worse.
Japan economy expands annualised 1.7 pct in Q1, dodges recession
TOKYO, May 18 (Reuters) - Japan's economy dodged recession in the January-March quarter, expanding an annualised 1.7 percent thanks to firm exports and a boost from the extra day from the leap year, government data showed on Wednesday.
The preliminary figure for gross domestic product compared with the median estimate of a 0.2 percent expansion in a Reuters poll of economists.
It followed a revised 1.7 percent annualised decline in October-December, dodging two straight quarters of contraction, which is defined as a technical recession.
On quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy grew 0.4 percent in the first quarter.
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Australian minister warns against 'illiterate, innumerate' refugees
By Matt Siegel
SYDNEY, May 18 (Reuters) - Australia's immigration minister brought border security and immigration to the centre of the 2016 election campaign warning that resettling "illiterate and innumerate" refugees would strain the social safety network and take Australian jobs.
Border security and immigration are "hot-button" political issues in Australia which have swayed elections and resulted in a bipartisan policy which sees asylum seekers arriving by boat sent to Pacific detention camps and ineligible for resettlement.
The number of refugees attempting to reach Australia pales in comparison to those flooding into Europe from the Middle East and the United Nations has criticised its detention camps.
The government last year pledged to take 12,000 refugees from Syria on top of its 13,750 annual quota. The centre-left opposition Labor Party says that it will double the annual quota to 27,000 by 2025 if it wins elections on July 2.
"They won't be numerate or literate in their own language, let alone English. These people would be taking Australian jobs, there's no question about that," Immigration Minister Peter Dutton told Sky News when asked about the proposed increase in the humanitarian intake quota.
"For many of them that would be unemployed, they would languish in unemployment queues ... and the rest of it so there would be huge cost and there's no sense in sugar-coating that, that's the scenario," Dutton said in an interview with Sky News late on Tuesday.
Labor says it will continue the government's immigration policy, but Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is seeking to portray Labor as weak on border security.
Dutton on Saturday defended the government's offshore detention policy after two asylum-seeker deaths, weeks of protests and several medical evacuations from a camp on Nauru, which have become a headache for Turnbull.
In the past month two asylum seekers detained on Nauru have set themselves on fire and one of them, an Iranian, died.
Tight security in Hong Kong as China's No. 3 leader attends summit
HONG KONG, May 18 (Reuters) - Thousands of police were deployed across Hong Kong on Wednesday as a top-ranked Beijing official addressed an economic summit, with tensions high amid calls for greater autonomy in the Chinese-ruled city or even independence from the mainland.
Zhang Dejiang arrived on Tuesday for a rare visit in the former British colony and pledged to listen to residents' concerns about the city's relationship with China, an issue that has ignited fierce debate in the Asian financial centre.
Plainclothes and uniformed police were on alert close to parts of the city that were crippled by pro-democracy protests in late 2014. Those protests presented Beijing with one of its greatest political challenges in decades.
On Wednesday, protesters chanted for Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying to step down, while others held up a black banner calling for an end to dictatorial rule and to "stop interfering with Hong Kong affairs".
One small group of protesters burned a portrait of Zhang, China's number three leader, and chanted: "Zhang Dejiang get the hell out of Hong Kong."
They also demanded the release of all political prisoners and true universal suffrage for Hong Kong.
Others waved yellow umbrellas, a symbol of the so-called Occupy demonstrations in 2014 when protesters used them during clashes with police who fired teargas.
Democracy activists and pro-Beijing groups traded insults close to the conference centre where Zhang was speaking, heckling and swearing at each other. One pro-Beijing group held up a blue banner that said: "Oppose splitting up Hong Kong."
Hong Kong guarantees freedom of expression under the agreement that saw Britain return its former colony to Beijing in 1997, but authorities haven't ruled out taking action against pro-independence activists.
Zhang is the first senior Chinese leader to visit Hong Kong in years. He spoke at a conference on Beijing's "One Belt, One Road" initiative, a plan for a new Silk Road and economic belt spreading from Western China to Central Asia and Europe.
Hong Kong media reports said up to 6,000 police officers would be deployed for Zhang's three-day visit.
The official China Daily said in an editorial that Zhang's visit comes at a "crucial" time to underscore China's support and commitment to maintaining Hong Kong's stability and prosperity.
China April home prices accelerate, recovery spreads to smaller cities
By Clare Jim and Brenda Goh
HONG KONG, May 18 (Reuters) - China's home prices posted their fastest growth in two years in April, with gains in regional centres indicating a broader recovery in the country's housing market beyond the major cities.
However, while Shanghai and Shenzhen remained the country's two hottest housing markets, there are signs recent tightening measures are beginning to temper demand in those cities.
Average new home prices in 70 cities climbed 6.2 percent in April from a year ago, up from March's 4.9 percent rise, according to Reuters calculations based on data released by the National Statistics Bureau (NBS) on Wednesday.
That was the quickest year-on-year increase since April 2014, while 46 of 70 major cities tracked by the NBS saw annual price gains, increasing from 40 in March.
"(Price) growth in first and second-tier cities continued to accelerate, while third-tier cities reversed declines to post growth," Liu Jianwei, a senior statistician at the NBS, said in a statement accompanying the data.
The recovery in China's property market since late last year has been a rare bright spot in the world's second largest economy, which has been slowing amid internal restructuring and weak global demand.
However, rising debt levels in the country have also been a source of angst for policymakers who have publicly warned against excessive lending.
Shenzhen and Shanghai were still the two top performers, with home prices rising 62.4 percent and 28 percent from a year ago, respectively.
Compared with March, however, price gains slowed, suggesting recent tightening policies might be gaining traction, with Shenzhen growth easing to 2.3 percent from 3.7 percent, while Shanghai growth slowed to 3.1 percent from 3.6 percent.
Both cities tightened downpayment requirements for second homes and raised the eligibility bar for non-residents in late March.
"A change was observed in the growth trend among cities... secondary homes in Shenzhen even posted a month-on-month drop, while growth in some of the second-tier cities accelerated and exceeded first tiers," Liu said.
Realtors said home sales in Shenzhen and Shanghai have plunged as much as 60 percent after the new policies.
China's housing market bottomed out in the second half of the year on a series of government support measures, although most smaller cities haven't been able to clear their oversupply issues, prompting many local authorities to push for even more stimulus.
Property professionals in some lower-tier cities said prices have been recovering, helped by the slew of support measures.
"Prices have been on the rise since the start of this year after the loosening of mortgage rate and purchase restriction," said Chen Ruisheng, a property development manager in the eastern coastal city of Wenzhou.
"Many developments are completing sales...government stimulus and subsidies must have some positive impact."
The area of property sold in the January to April period grew at the fastest pace in three years, rising 36.5 percent, according to official data on Saturday.
Property investment in April grew 9.7 percent, maintaining March's pace, as developers continued project starts in response to surging home sales, which are giving a much-needed boost to the slowing economy.
Taiwan stocks track overseas markets lower, may breach key 8,000 level
TAIPEI, May 18 (Reuters) - Taiwan stocks fell on Wednesday, giving up gains from the previous session as they tracked losses in overseas markets amid uncertainty over the island's economic outlook, traders said.
As of 0148 GMT, the main TAIEX index was down 0.5 percent at 8,096.32, hovering just above the key 8,000 level, after closing up 0.9 percent at 8,140.48 in the previous session.
The electronics subindex sank 0.5 percent, while the financials subindex lost 0.5 percent.
Among actively traded shares, contract chipmaker TSMC and electronics manufacturer Hon Hai Precision , both top Apple Inc suppliers, were off 1 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.
Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan's president-elect who won a landslide victory in the January elections, will be sworn-in on Friday amid concerns Taiwan's economic ties with China, its biggest trading partner, would deteriorate under her independence-leaning ruling party.
Her inauguration speech is being widely watched as China continues to pressure the new government to stick to Beijing's principle that Taiwan is a part of China.
Australian minister warns against 'illiterate, innumerate' refugees
By Matt Siegel
SYDNEY, May 18 (Reuters) - Australia's immigration minister brought border security and immigration to the centre of the 2016 election campaign, warning that resettling "illiterate and innumerate" refugees would strain the social safety network and take Australian jobs.
Border security and immigration are hot political issues in Australia that have swayed past elections and resulted in a bipartisan policy under which asylum seekers arriving by boat are sent to South Pacific island detention camps in tiny Nauru and Papua New Guinea and are deemed ineligible for resettlement.
The number of refugees attempting to reach Australia pales in comparison to those flooding into Europe from the Middle East, and the United Nations has criticised its detention camps.
The conservative government last year pledged to take 12,000 refugees from Syria on top of its 13,750 annual quota. The centre-left opposition Labor Party says it will double the annual quota to 27,000 by 2025 if it wins elections on July 2.
"They won't be numerate or literate in their own language, let alone English. These people would be taking Australian jobs, there's no question about that," Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said when asked about the proposed increase in the humanitarian intake quota.
"For many of them that would be unemployed, they would languish in unemployment queues ... and the rest of it so there would be huge cost and there's no sense in sugar-coating that, that's the scenario," he told Sky News late on Tuesday.
The comments drew sharp reactions from Labor and the small left-wing opposition Greens Party, which is arguing for the intake quota to be increased to 50,000 people.
Labor leader Bill Shorten blasted Dutton and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for lowering the tone of the election.
"Mr Dutton didn't just insult refugees when he made those comments. He insulted the millions of migrants who've contributed to making this a truly great country," Shorten told reporters.
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young called the comments "xenophobic" in a Twitter post.
POLL HEADACHE FOR PM
Labor says it will continue the government's immigration policy, but Turnbull is seeking to portray Labor as weak on border security.
Behnam Satah, a 30-year-old asylum seeker detained on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, said many in the camp were well educated and would be a boon to the Australian economy.
"If one day we go to Australia, history will prove this. And that day I will go to (Dutton) and say: 'what do you say now?'," said Satah, who was studying a Master's Degree in English Education before fleeing his native Iran.
The Nauru and Manus Island camps have become a headache for Turnbull. In the past month, two asylum seekers have set themselves on fire in protest against their treatment on Nauru. One of them, an Iranian man, died.
China says military drills ahead of Taiwan inauguration part of annual plan
BEIJING, May 18 (Reuters) - China's Defense Ministry said recent military drills on its southeastern coast were annual exercises, after Chinese media had suggested they could have been timed ahead of Taiwan's inauguration of a new president from a pro-independence party.
China and self-ruled Taiwan underwent a rapprochement under the outgoing government which was run by China-friendly Nationalists. But ties have strained with the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Tsai Ing-wen, who is set to be sworn in as president on Friday.
Chinese state media have reported that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has carried out at least three landing exercises on the country's southeast coast since the beginning of May.
The largest drill was conducted in recent days by a regiment under the PLA's 31st Group Army, which is based in coastal Fujian province, across the strait from Taiwan, the official China Daily newspaper said on Wednesday.
China's Defense Ministry said the drills were intended to increase responsiveness to "security threats".
"These drills are routine arrangements conducted according to annual training plans," the ministry said in a short statement on its website.
"They do not target any specific objective. Relevant individuals should not over-interpret," the ministry said.
The ministry made a similar statement after state-media broadcast footage of live-fire military and landing drills just days after the landslide Taiwan election win in January by Tsai and the DPP.
Chinese state media have made no mention of Taiwan in the reports on the exercises, though some Chinese domestic media have hinted that the timing might be coordinated ahead of Tsai's inauguration to deter pro-independence moves.
Taiwan's defence ministry said the recent footage in Chinese-state media of the drills involved annual PLA exercises and that it had "a grasp" of the situation, but declined to further comment.
The United States has expressed concerns about the danger of worsening China-Taiwan ties, at a time when China's navy is increasingly flexing its muscles in the South China and East China Seas and expanding territorial claims.
Suzuki says it used wrong fuel economy tests in Japan
By Minami Funakoshi
TOKYO, May 18 (Reuters) - Suzuki Motor Corp used the wrong methods to test the fuel economy of its cars in Japan, it said on Wednesday, widening a testing scandal that has already rocked smaller rival Mitsubishi Motors Corp.
Japan's transport ministry ordered widespread checks to industry methods after Mitsubishi Motors admitted last month it manipulated fuel economy data for at least four mini-vehicle models, overstating their efficiency.
Mitsubishi Motors' president, Tetsuro Aikawa, said on Wednesday he would step down over that scandal, becoming the first senior departure since it broke, battering the company's reputation and wiping billions off its market value.
Worries over similar damage for Suzuki sent shares in Japan's fourth-largest carmaker down as much as 15 percent during the day.
Suzuki said it would continue selling its mini-cars and saw no impact on its earnings. The correct readings, it said, were not significantly different to those it submitted.
Japanese authorities, however, have asked for further details from Suzuki before May 31, calling its use of non-compliant tests "outrageous".
"The company apologises for the fact that we did not follow rules set by the country," CEO Osamu Suzuki told reporters, adding 2.1 million vehicles were affected.
The company denied using the tests to make its fuel economy data look better. It blamed the decision to cobble together readings from individual car parts - rather than a single reading - on its windy testing location on a coastal hill that made readings erratic. The individual parts were tested indoors, it said.
Suzuki specialises in mini-vehicles, which have engines of up to 660cc and get preferential tax treatment under Japanese law. It has roughly a third of the country's mini-vehicle market. It also has a successful Indian subsidiary, Maruti Suzuki.
MITSUBISHI'S WOES
The transport ministry, which had asked all automakers operating in Japan to re-submit fuel economy readings on all models by Wednesday, said no other carmakers had manipulated data or used improper tests.
It is still awaiting further detail, however, from Suzuki. It said it has yet to decide whether to penalise Mitsubishi Motors and, if so, by how much.
Mitsubishi Motors' admission that it cheated on the fuel economy tests is its third major scandal in under two decades, and has prompted the automaker to agree to sell a one-third controlling stake to Nissan Motor Co.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Mitsubishi Motors blamed excessive pressure, less time spent on research and development and high expectations for fuel efficiency.
"There was no direct order from top management," CEO Osamu Masuko said. "But top management did not have a firm grasp on the proceedings at the R&D department." He said there were several chances for the company to stop its workers - but it did not.
Masuko, who has been at the helm of Mitsubishi Motors since 2005, has been named by Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn as Mitsubishi Motors' "pilot".
UNDER SCRUTINY
Emissions and fuel economy have come under increasing scrutiny from regulators globally after Volkswagen admitted last year it used "defeat devices" on 11 million diesel vehicles to lower emissions during tests.
France, which ordered tests on a random sample of about 100 diesel cars last year, has said some vehicles made by Renault , Fiat, Mercedes, VW, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Nissan, Opel and Ford failed to comply fully with its emissions regulations.
South Korea, which has tested 20 diesel vehicle models, said on Monday it would punish Nissan with a fine and a recall of its Qashqai diesel sport utility vehicles, accusing it of manipulating emissions. Nissan denied the allegation.
Poland - Factors to Watch May 18
Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland's financial markets on Wednesday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 2 hours):
EMPLOYMENT, WAGES
The statistics office is scheduled to publish corporate wage and employment data for April at 1200 GMT.
PKO ON BANKING TAX
The chief executive of Poland's biggest bank, the state-controlled PKO BP, said Poland should take cue from Hungary and amend the banking tax in order not to discourage new lending, Zbigniew Jagiello told Rzeczpospolita newspaper.
LITIGATION CONCERNING PRIVATISATIONS
Poland's treasury ministry plans to inform the prosecutor's office this week of irregularities concerning some of the most well-known privatisations from the previous years, Treasury Minister Dawid Jackiewicz told reporters.
EIB
The European Investment Bank (EIB) plans to maintain its 2016 lending for Poland at last year's level of 5.5 billion euros ($6.2 billion), despite Moody's decision to cut its rating outlook, the EIB's Polish representative said.
KGHM
KGHM, Europe's second biggest copper producer, plans to pay a dividend of 300 million zlotys ($77.8 million) or 1.5 zlotys per share for 2015, the company said on Tuesday.
****Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.****
South Africa's Spar Group reports slower half-year profit growth
JOHANNESBURG, May 18 (Reuters) - South Africa's Spar Group reported on Wednesday a slower rise in half-year profit than in the same period a year earlier, as foreign exchange losses weighed on earnings.
Spar, a wholesaler and distributor to independently owned stores of the same name, said headline earnings per share (EPS) rose 5.4 percent to 480 cents in the six months to the end of March. That compared with 22 percent growth the year earlier.
Headline EPS is the main profit measure in South Africa and strips our certain one-off items.
Sales rose 16.7 percent to 42 billion rand ($2.68 billion), buoyed by the contribution of BWG Group, an Irish retailer, which Spar bought in 2014.
But finance costs, including foreign exchange losses from the acquisition of Spar Switzerland, spiked to 74.8 million rand, up from gains of 23.8 million rand in the same period the previous year.
More than 150 people feared buried in Sri Lanka landslides - rescue officials
By Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez
COLOMBO, May 18 (Reuters) - More than 150 people are feared dead after they were buried under two landslides triggered by more than three days of heavy rain in central Sri Lanka, disaster officials said on Wednesday as rescuers raced to find survivors and recover the dead.
Torrential rains have forced more than 196,000 people from their homes, the latest official data showed, with the recovery of another 19 bodies across the South Asian country bringing the official death toll so far to 35.
More than 350 people were plucked to safety during rescue operations in landslide-affected areas across the country early on Wednesday, officials said.
Rescue efforts have focused on the town of Aranayaka, 100 km (60 miles) northeast of the capital, Colombo, where three villages were buried late on Tuesday in the central district of Kegalle.
A Sri Lankan Red Cross official who attended a disaster meeting at the Aranayaka landslide site early on Wednesday said it was feared the death toll was much higher than the official figures listed so far.
"At that meeting, it was revealed that around 300-400 people are feared to have died in the Aranayaka landslide," Neville Nanayakkara, director general of the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society, told Reuters.
Nanayakkara was speaking before other officials said that about 150 people had been rescued from the Aranayaka area, leaving fears for the safety of at least another 150 people.
The Red Cross has set up a welfare camp for survivors of the Aranayaka landslide.
Police said another landslide at Bulathkopitiya, also in Kegalle district, had buried at least 16 people.
Military spokesman Jayanath Jayaweera said troops had recovered 13 bodies from the Aranayaka site and three from Bulathkopitiya.
He said the 150 people who were rescued from Aranayaka earlier on Wednesday had been sent to six camps set up for displaced people in the area.
Troops using boats and helicopters also pulled to safety more than 200 people trapped in the northwestern coastal district of Puttalam, Jayaweera said.
Turkish warplanes hit PKK targets in Turkey, northern Iraq, 10 killed -sources
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, May 18 (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes hit Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq, killing at least ten fighters, security sources said on Wednesday.
The military has been carrying out regular air strikes against positions of the outlawed group in the mountainous regions of northern Iraq, where it has camps near the Turkish border, after the collapse of ceasefire last year.
Iran's May oil exports set to surge nearly 60 pct from a year ago -source
By Aaron Sheldrick and Osamu Tsukimori
TOKYO, May 18 (Reuters) - Iran's oil exports are set to surge in May, climbing nearly 60 percent from a year ago, with European shipments recovering to about half of pre-sanction levels, according to a source with knowledge of the country's crude lifting plans.
This shows Tehran is regaining market share at a faster pace than analysts had projected as it battles with Saudi Arabia for customers by cutting its prices. April loadings at 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd) were around 15 percent higher than the International Energy Agency estimated earlier this month.
May shipments are set to jump to 2.1 million bpd from 1.3 million bpd during the same month in 2015, when Iranian exports were constrained by Western sanctions imposed because of the country's nuclear programme. The April loadings were the highest since January 2012.
The increase in loadings suggests that Iran has overcome a tanker shortage that threatened to derail attempts to regain market share after the sanctions were lifted in January.
Saudi Arabia will feel the surge in Iranian exports most keenly as it struggles for regional supremacy with Iran, with the oil market becoming a key battleground.
Saudi Arabia plans to boost production in the coming months to squeeze the Iranians, said Ian Bremmer, the president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, who spoke recently with executives and a member of the ruling family.
The production increase could also boost returns for the planned Saudi Aramco share sale and help ensure a smooth succession for deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, Bremmer told Reuters on Wednesday.
Increases of as much as 1 million bpd were mentioned, Bremmer said, though he was sceptical about the higher targets.
"The challenge against Iran will mean an expanded effort to work with Asian economies," he said.
That will mean investing in refineries in the Asian market, "something the Iranians can't do, given both their resource limitations and the remaining sanctions environment," he said.
In the meantime, Iranian exports are rapidly returning to near pre-sanctions levels. Loadings to Asia were 1.7 million bpd in April, about a third higher than a year ago and the most since 2011, according to the source.
Loadings will stay near that level for May, with 1.6 million bpd scheduled.
Loadings for China, Iran's biggest customer, were nearly 840,000 bpd in April and more than 620,000 bpd are planned for May.
Iran's sales to Europe, including Turkey, are also rising fast, according to the source. April loadings to Europe totalled 487,000 bpd and are set for 400,000 bpd this month. European countries were buying as much as 800,000 bpd before 2012.
Oil major Total SA is set to take 160,000 bpd of crude in May, down from the 240,000 bpd loaded in April. The company, along with Spain's Cepsa, signed import deals with state-owned National Iranian Oil Co soon after the sanctions were lifted in January.
Loadings to Spain are set for 32,000 bpd in May, while Greece will take 65,000 bpd.
China's Midea makes $5-billion bid for German robot maker Kuka
By Edward Taylor and Ludwig Burger
FRANKFURT, May 18 (Reuters) - Chinese home appliance maker Midea Group made an offer on Wednesday to buy German factory robot manufacturer Kuka AG, the latest bid by a Chinese investor to gain control of cutting-edge German industrial technology.
The 115 euro per share offer values Kuka at around 4.5 billion euros ($5.07 billion) and represents a premium of 36 percent to Kuka's share price of 84.41 euros at close on Tuesday. Shares in Kuka rose by over 30 percent on the news.
Kuka is one of the world's largest producers of industrial robots and a poster child of Germany's drive to upgrade its manufacturing sector to master the industrial internet.
It is the latest in a series of German industrial groups to be targeted by Chinese buyers as the world's second-largest economy tries to make the transition from a low-cost factory location into a high-tech industrial hub.
Midea said it wanted to keep Kuka's management intact and not delist the German company. Following a pattern set by Chinese suitors seeking to avoid disruption to better understand and adopt Western technology, it said it would not implement a so-called profit transfer and domination agreement.
"KUKA is in excellent condition today and we are committed to investing in KUKA's employees, brand, intellectual property and facilities to further support the company's development," Midea Chairman and Chief Executive Paul Fang said in a statement.
Midea said it aimed to expand Kuka's know-how in robotics for general industry and logistics applications and open doors for better access to Chinese markets.
"One of the leading rationales for the deal is rising labour costs. This means efficiency becomes more important for growing our business and for the Chinese economy as a whole," Andy Gu, Vice President for Midea's international business, told Reuters.
"We want to keep Kuka's separate identity as a German company," he said. "Where we can help Kuka is mostly in China. Kuka management has plans to grow in China. Given our meaningful footprint in China we can help them accelerate growth in terms of our customer base and supply chain."
KUKA SHARES SURGE
Other Chinese investment in Germany this year includes an agreement in January by a consortium led by ChemChina to buy industrial machinery manufacturer KraussMaffei Group for about $1 billion.
In 2012, China's Sany Heavy Industry bought German concrete pump maker Putzmeister for $698 million, while Weichai Power took a 25 percent stake forklift truck maker Kion in 2012.
Germany depends on manufacturing for a larger share of the economy than any of its western European neighbours, with tens of thousands of family-owned businesses building the bedrock of its export-driven success.
The government wants to foster adoption of the fast-evolving industrial Internet, in which smart factory systems are becoming increasingly connected. Kuka has branded itself as one of the pioneers.
Kuka shares jumped as much as 35.5 percent to a record high on Wednesday and traded 32 percent higher at 0743 GMT on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Midea said it had a 13.5 percent stake in Kuka and was seeking to become the largest shareholder by raising its stake beyond 30 percent.
Augsburg Kuka has three large shareholders including Friedhelm Loh, a German entrepreneur who owns 10 percent, and Voith Group which holds 25.1 percent.
Kuka said it had been informed by Midea that Midea would invite the major German shareholders to stay invested and that it wants to preserve Kuka's sites and staff.
Kuka would carefully assess the full takeover offer once it is available, it added.
NO INTERVENTION BY BERLIN
An ally of chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin would not intervene as German companies were also buying stakes in Chinese and other foreign companies.
"We live in a free market economy and expose ourselves to global competition," said Michael Fuchs, deputy leader of Merkel's CDU/CSU parliamentary group in Germany's lower house.
In terms of direct investment in property, plants and equipment, Germany's private sector has spent almost 60 billion euros in China, dwarfing the 2 billion euros that Chinese groups have invested in Germany, according to the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Jost Wuebbecke of Berlin-based China-focused think tank Merics, which is backed by the Schmidt family behind retailer Metro, said Chinese foreign direct investment in Germany was welcome in principle but Kuka was an exception because of its role in the industrial Internet.
"From a German point of view it's not necessarily an advantage to share the technology because of Germany's very considerable lead in this area," Wuebbecke said.
Under German takeover rules, any shareholder gaining control of more than 30 percent in a listed company must make an offer to all shareholders. Midea Group raised its stake in Kuka to 10.2 percent in February, saying at the time that it wanted to further increase its shareholding. ($1 = 0.8868 euros)
PRESS DIGEST - Russia - May 18
MOSCOW, May 18 (Reuters) - The following are some stories in Russia's newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
VEDOMOSTI
www.vedomosti.ru
- Moscow's Domodedovo international airport is forming a special fund to pay compensations to the families of victims of a 2011 bomb blast which killed 37 and injured 172 people. The move will hardly help Dmitry Kamenshchik, who owns the airport and faces a trial for failing to provide proper security measures, the daily writes.
- One of Russia's biggest fish-processing plants, Baltiisky Bereg (Baltic Coast), has refused to process salmon and trout due to their high price, according to a company official.
- It has become normal for Russians to await hard times, the daily writes, summing up opinion polls on what ordinary citizens expects from the economic situation.
KOMMERSANT
www.kommersant.ru
- Russia's state controlled banks are considering ways to sell their subsidiaries in Ukraine.
- The head of Russia's Constitutional Court, Valery Zorkin, said on Tuesday that the Kremlin was not interfereing with the court's independence in making its decisions.
- Russia's communists will use the image of Joseph Stalin in their election campaign to win more seats in the national parliament, according to senior party official Sergei Obukhov.
France must not shrink from reforms, central banker says as protests flare
PARIS, May 18 (Reuters) - France must not pull back from making ambitious reforms, ECB governing council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Wednesday as the country faced a fresh wave strikes and protests over a contested labour law.
Villeroy, who is also governor of the French central bank, said that France's credibility helping to coordinate Europe's budget and economic policies hinged on its reform ambition.
"A substantial increase in our reforms is not only necessary but possible," he said presenting an annual letter to France's president and lawmakers.
He said the Socialist government's labour market reform, which is aimed at making hiring and firing easier, was a welcome step forward, adding that improving training for youths should be a priority in the short term.
Kenyan parents fearing ban on FGM get girls cut at night
By Emma Batha
COPENHAGEN, May 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan families wanting their daughters to undergo ritual genital cutting are increasingly arranging for it to be done secretly at night to avoid arrest, campaigners said at a major women's rights conference.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is illegal in Kenya, which is widely seen as leading the way in efforts to eradicate the internationally condemned practice.
Linah Jebii Kilimo, chairwoman of Kenya's Anti-FGM Board, said the government would introduce an FGM hotline this year that people could call if they thought a girl was about to be cut.
"There are changing trends in Kenya because of the law," Kilimo said.
"People no longer perform the (public) ceremonies, they cut girls at night. Some bring medical personnel to do it in their homes," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation at the Women Deliver conference in Copenhagen.
About a quarter of girls and women in Kenya have undergone FGM, which involves the partial or total removal of the external genitalia.
Kilimo said many still see it as an important part of their culture that is crucial for social acceptance and increasing their daughters' marriage prospects.
OFFICIALS ATTACKED
Campaigners said although FGM is becoming increasingly secretive in many places, some communities, including the Kuria and Pokot in the west, are still carrying out FGM with very public celebrations.
"In some parts of Kenya it happens in the early hours of the morning, but in Kuria it happens in broad daylight with dancing and singing," said Tony Mwebia, an anti-FGM campaigner in the region where FGM is almost universal.
"There's no way the police can arrest the whole community."
Kilimo said a government administrator had had his house burnt down last year in Kuria for trying to enforce the law.
Another official was shot at for trying to stop a cutting ceremony in the Kipsigis community in the Rift Valley highlands.
"We have these defiant communities of course, but we say that the law will catch up with them," said Kilimo, a former government minister.
Kenya has set up a dedicated team of 20 prosecutors to deal with cases of FGM and child marriage, but Kilimo said prosecutions must go hand in hand with education.
"You have to transform people's mindset on how they perceive a person who is not circumcised because there is a lot of stigmatisation," she said.
"People fear being ostracised. Parents say, 'I have to do this for my child. I don't want my child to lead a lonely life, to be laughed at.'"
She said there were even cases where parents had decided not to cut their daughters, but they were later forced to undergo FGM by their husbands who feared being excluded from men's meetings for having married "a child" - an uncut woman.
Kilimo described FGM, which affects around 200 million girls and women worldwide, as the worst form of gender-based violence.
She said the hotline would be particularly helpful in stopping FGM in Kenya's more remote regions, which have mobile phone access.
"Almost everyone in Kenya has a handset - it will increase surveillance," she added.
Some 5,500 delegates from over 160 countries are attending the Women Deliver conference which ends on Thursday.
Austria and Heta creditors strike deal to break debt impasse
By Kirsti Knolle and Alexandra Schwarz-Goerlich
VIENNA, May 18 (Reuters) - Austria's government has reached agreement in principle with creditors of "bad bank" Heta , paving the way for a bond buyback offer in early September to settle a dispute that risked bankrupting an Austrian province.
The overall repayment rate to creditors is seen at about 90 percent if they also accept a special 13.5-year zero-coupon bond as a sweetener, sources close to the matter said on Wednesday.
This would be about 8 percentage points more than an offer rejected by creditors in March.
The latest move comes a month after Austria's financial watchdog cut the nominal value of the bulk of bonds by more than half, making Heta a test case for new European rules aimed at ensuring a failed bank's losses are shared with creditors.
The deal announced on Wednesday by Austrian Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling should stave off the threat of bankruptcy for the southern province of Carinthia.
The province, which guaranteed Heta's outstanding debt of about 11 billion euros ($12.4 billion), will offer senior creditors 75 percent of the original face value of the bonds and junior creditors 30 percent.
"Under the circumstances and upon evaluating the alternatives we consider the offer acceptable," said Friedrich Munsberg, spokesman for an umbrella group of creditors with about 5 billion euros of Heta debt.
Bondholders include Pimco, Commerzbank, Deutsche Pfandbriefbank and Dexia Kommunalbank .
Carinthia will contribute 1.2 billion euros to the buyback, which the federal government will finance with loans, and Schelling said that Vienna will guarantee the zero-coupon bond.
A financial source said that some creditors still hope to get back all their money through a Frankfurt court case that resumes next month. FMS, a German equivalent of Heta, had brought the legal challenge in an effort to speed payment.
ECB CRITICISED
The deal also served to place the European Central Bank under the microscope over its response to the Heta saga, with banking sources saying that the expected repayment rate of around 90 percent showed that the ECB had been wrong when it told banks to write down at least 50 percent of their Heta bonds last year.
Property lender Duesseldorfer Hypothekenbank ran into problems after complying with the ECB request and had to be taken over by Germany's deposit protection fund.
The German banking association, which runs the protection fund, said on Wednesday that it would support the Heta deal but would not comment further. An ECB spokeswoman declined comment.
The Heta case dates back to the failure of lender Hypo Alpe Adria after rapid expansion into Eastern Europe. The federal government had to pour about 5.5 billion euros into Hypo, which was nationalised in 2009.
"If the offer is accepted, we get legal certainty and we can avoid legal proceedings," Schelling told reporters.
"It's a good day if the burden of Heta is lifted from the shoulders of the republic and the finance ministry." ($1 = 0.8871 euros)
German coalition partner dips below 20 pct for first time in 24 years
BERLIN, May 18 (Reuters) - Germany's Social Democrats (SPD), who share power with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, fell to their lowest level in 24 years in a poll published on Wednesday, underscoring the need for possible new alliances after the next election.
The two mainstream parties have suffered in the last six months from a shift toward the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) due to the migrant crisis. However, the personal popularity of Merkel, chancellor of Europe's biggest economy for the last decade, is cushioning her conservative bloc.
The Forsa poll put the SPD down 2 points on 19 percent, the first time in more than two decades that the party has fallen under the 20 percent mark with the pollster.
The SPD has polled below 20 percent in other surveys.
SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel is under pressure from some in his party to shift left before the next federal election in Sept. 2017 to try to mobilise traditional supporters.
Amid speculation he may quit as leader and whether he will stand against Merkel in 2017, he has invited others to put themselves forward so that party members can choose their candidate. So far none else has taken up the challenge.
The Forsa poll put Merkel's conservative bloc on 34 percent, unchanged from last week, and the opposition Greens up one point at 14 percent. The AfD is up 1 point at 11 percent.
China accuses U.S. of "unfair methods" in steel dumping probe
BEIJING, May 18 (Reuters) - The United States has employed "unfair methods" during an anti-dumping investigation into Chinese cold-rolled steel products and should rectify its mistakes as soon as possible, China's Commerce Ministry said on Wednesday.
The United States said on Tuesday it would impose duties of more than 500 percent on Chinese cold-rolled flat steel, which is widely used for car body panels, appliances and construction.
The ministry expressed "strong dissatisfaction" with the ruling, and complained that the United States was trying to protect its steel companies by transferring its industry woes to the world.
"The United States adopted many unfair methods during the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese products, including the refusal to grant Chinese state-owned firms a differentiated tax rate," the ministry said in a statement posted to its website.
"China urges the United States to strictly obey World Trade Organization rules and rectify its mistaken methods as soon as possible," it added.
While a flood of cheap Chinese steel has been blamed for putting producers out of business, China has repeatedly denied its mills have been dumping their products on foreign markets, stressing that its steelmakers are more efficient and enjoy far lower costs than their international counterparts.
China has also denied there are any inducements in place that encourage steelmakers to sell their products overseas, saying trade flows are determined by the market.
In a separate statement faxed to Reuters, the ministry said the U.S. view of China as a non-market economy meant it did not accurately acknowledge the prices and costs of Chinese companies when using alternate country data to calculate dumping rates.
"When determining surrogate country data, it meticulously selected data divorced from the actuality of production for Chinese enterprises, and even used data that was not representative of international markets," it said.
When China joined the WTO in 2001, it agreed to a clause in its accession protocol to give trading partners the option to use a third party's prices to assess if it is exporting below market value.
China has told WTO members that they will have to drop the "discriminatory" methods come December.
As China's economy has slowed, the government has pledged to give more rein to market forces, though foreign business groups and governments have expressed disappointment at the speed of reforms.
Croatian opposition files no-confidence motion against deputy PM
By Igor Ilic
ZAGREB, May 18 (Reuters) - Croatia's opposition on Wednesday filed a no-confidence motion against Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Karamarko and a state body said it would investigate an alleged conflict of interest posed by a business deal between his wife and lobbyist friend.
A newspaper alleged last week that the lobbyist hired the public relations company run by Ana Karamarko for a 60,000 euro project over two years ending 2015.
In addition, the lobbyist works for Hungary's MOL, the biggest shareholder in Croatia's energy company INA . The Croatian government is INA's second-largest shareholder, and the two sides are at odds over management rights and INA's investment policy, and are fighting each other in two international arbitration cases.
The ruling coalition has been arguing over how to proceed with the disputes, with Karamarko in favour of abandoning arbitration for fear of financial losses for Croatia.
Karamarko, who leads the conservative HDZ party, the biggest party in the coalition, has repeatedly denied that his wife's business dealings with a long-time friend and a MOL contractor, presented any conflict of interest.
Wednesday's motion was filed by the main opposition party, the Social Democrat (SDP). The vote must take place within a month. Relations within the ruling coalition have been strained by disputes over political appointments and reform plans.
"I expect that the deputies will see this as an unacceptable relationship and people entering such arrangements should know it is unacceptable," SDP leader and former prime minister Zoran Milanovic told reporters.
The State Commission for the Resolution of Conflicts of Interest, a body appointed by parliament, announced it would start an investigation into the accusations against Karamarko. The commission can impose fines on officials found to have conflicts of interest.
Karamarko told reporters that he had always kept private and public matters separate.
"I do not have any conflict of interest and I expect it to be proven," he said before a government session on Wednesday.
Political analyst Davor Gjenero who is based in Zagreb said he expected the opposition to struggle to muster sufficient votes to force Karamarko's resignation.
Citing election, EU puts off punishing Spain and Portugal over deficits
By Francesco Guarascio and Paul Taylor
BRUSSELS, May 18 (Reuters) - The European Commission on Wednesday put off any disciplinary action against Spain and Portugal for busting their budgets until after the Spanish general election on June 26, a political gift to conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
European Union Economics Commissioner Pierre Moscovici told a news conference that the Commission did not consider this was the right moment economically or politically to get tough.
It was the second time in a year that the EU executive had bowed to political reality rather than strictly enforce the bloc's rules on excessive budget deficicts, fuelling doubts over its willingness ever to apply fiscal sanctions.
Last year, it gave serial deficit offender France two more years to finally cut its budget gap to within EU limits.
The Commission had been due to recommend whether to fine Madrid and Lisbon for their repeated breaches of the deficit limit of 3 percent of gross domestic product, the first time such a sanction would have been applied, even though it was likely to be purely symbolic.
Instead, it told both to take further action to reduce their deficits, and said it would review both countries' positions in early July.
Brussels also granted Italy the maximum flexibility under EU fiscal discipline procedures in response to demands from heavily indebted Rome to be given more space to revive anaemic growth and cope with the cost of an influx of refugees.
Moscovici cited the Spanish election and the fact that a caretaker government could not take budget decisions among the factors in deferring action.
"We are proposing new deadlines for both countries to correct their excessive deficits," he said. "We propose that each country receives one extra year, and one extra year only. The new deadline for Portugal will be 2016, and for Spain 2017."
BARK, NOT BITE
The overtly political decisions seemed likely to fuel criticism from Germany, the euro zone's dominant power, that Brussels is failing to enforce the 28-nation bloc's budget rules properly and should be stripped of its assessment powers.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and central bank chief Jens Weidmann have both said the Commission should hand the task of determining whether states respect the fiscal rules to an independent watchdog to eliminate political discretion.
In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Weidmann said he did not see "the urgent need, nor the required space in many countries" for an expansive fiscal policy.
Rebuffing the German emphasis on austerity, Moscovici said the Commission decisions were justified on economic grounds, arguing that the EU rules had not been written to break an incipient economic recovery.
He drew support from Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING bank, who said in a note to clients: "It is nearly impossible to construct fiscal rules that satisfy everyone at any time and any situation.
"... with most euro zone countries desperately trying to revive growth and tackle unemployment, today's decision was in our view the right decision. It is not always a bad thing if barking dogs don't bite."
Rajoy vowed to cut taxes further if he is re-elected in an interview with the Financial Times published on Wednesday, raising the prospect of further clashes with Brussels over Madrid's chronic fiscal shortfall.
Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said in response that it was up to Spain to take its own tax decisions, as long as it respected the fiscal targets set by the EU, which require Madrid to reduce its deficit by an additional 0.25 percent of GDP this year and 0.5 percent next year.
The debate is typical of tensions between the Brussels authorities responsible for maintaining budget discipline and coordination that is supposed to underpin the common euro currency and national governments facing electoral pressures.
The Commission also said Italy, Belgium and Finland were complying with the rules on government debt levels, but that it would review its assessment of Italy in November, singling Rome out for closer vigilance.
Italy has a public debt level of 134 percent of GDP and rising, the highest in Europe after Greece. Under the EU rules, it should have been falling for the last three years.
The Commission made no mention of France, even though its own latest economic forecast projected that Paris would fail to bring its deficit below 3 percent in 2017 as promised, unless it takes action.
Bangladesh asks SWIFT to give access to technicians on cyber heist
By Krishna N. Das and Serajul Quadir
DHAKA, May 18 (Reuters) - Bangladesh has asked SWIFT to help its police question technicians sent by the global financial network to Dhaka to connect a new bank transaction system months before February's $81 million cyber heist, according to a source and an e-mail seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
Bangladesh's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) told SWIFT in the e-mail sent on Monday that it wants to interview the technicians in Dhaka next week. They were sent to Bangladesh from "around the world" in the second half of last year, it said.
Investigators believe the technicians introduced some vulnerabilities when they connected SWIFT to the South Asian country's first real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system.
"We have some specific and tangible evidence against the technicians," said a CID source with knowledge of the investigation into the heist. "They have to defend themselves. The technicians may have acted without the knowledge of SWIFT, in their personal capacity."
Apart from the nearly half a dozen technicians, some of them contract employees, Bangladesh has also invited senior SWIFT officials to Dhaka, said the source, who declined to be named because of the ongoing investigations. The source declined to identify the technicians or give their nationalities.
SWIFT spokeswoman Natasha de Teran declined to comment.
Sources in Bangladesh have earlier told Reuters the technicians did not appear to have followed their own procedures to ensure the system was secure, because of which SWIFT messaging at the Bangladesh Bank was widely accessible, including remote access with only a simple password.
A Bangladesh government-appointed panel investigating the theft has accused SWIFT of committing a number of mistakes in connecting up the local network.
SWIFT has rejected the allegations.
It has said its financial messaging system remains secure and had not been breached by the hackers during the attack on Bangladesh Bank.
The RTGS, which enables domestic banks and the central bank to settle large transfers between themselves, was installed at Bangladesh Bank in October last year and then connected to SWIFT.
In February, hackers sent fraudulent messages, ostensibly from the central bank in Dhaka, on the SWIFT system to the New York Federal Reserve seeking to transfer nearly $1 billion from Bangladesh Bank's account there.
Virtual reality films comes to Cannes, Spielberg sounds warning
By Matt Gooderick
CANNES, France, May 18 (Reuters) - Virtual reality movie-making is taking flight at this year's Cannes Film Festival alongside traditional film offerings.
A pavilion is dedicated to the immersive technology, with virtual reality film screenings and discussions as part of the festival's tandem Marche du Film sessions.
Among those showing virtual reality films -- all short productions for which viewers must don a headset -- is "Madagascar" co-director Eric Darnell, whose six-minute "Invasion!" tells the story of a mythical world invaded by aliens then outsmarted by a rabbit.
"It's not in my mind just an extension of cinema, it is its own thing and we have to discover so much about what are the tools in our toolbox," Darnell told Reuters.
"It really is just a brand new language."
Another virtual reality film showing in Cannes is "Giant", whose director Milica Zec says the immersive experience means audiences can choose where they look and what they see.
"You have to think that now you have 360 degrees that you have to cover," she said. "When you have a regular standard film, the screen is in front of you but here it feels like you're inside of the screen as a viewer."
Zec and Darnell agree the technology still has a long way to go but virtual reality films will one day become the norm.
However, not everyone is a fan. Director Steven Spielberg said such movies will "take hold in a profound way" but said it was "a dangerous medium".
"The only reason I say it is dangerous is because it gives the viewer a lot of latitude not to take direction from the storytellers but make their own choices of where to look," he said in an interview.
"I just hope it doesn't forget the story when it starts enveloping us in a world that we can see all around us and make our own choices of what to look at."
EU steps up pressure on Poland in dispute over rule of law
By Gabriela Baczynska and Wiktor Szary
BRUSSELS/WARSAW, May 18 (Reuters) - The European Commission took another step on Wednesday in its unprecedented investigation into the rule of law in Poland, saying it would send its criticisms to Warsaw by Monday unless it saw "significant progress" by then.
Poland said it would need more time, though it added that the two sides had narrowed some of their differences.
The EU executive launched its inquiry into whether the rule of law is under threat in Poland after the nationalist-minded government sought changes in the constitutional court that critics said undermined democratic checks and balances.
This has led to an effective paralysis of the tribunal, which has become the focus of heated political dispute.
The Commission has not disclosed the contents of the text, or 'opinion', it plans to send to Warsaw but it has expressed concern over conflicts around the appointment of judges to the tribunal and over new disputed laws amending the court's work that have undermined its ability to review new legislation.
"As long as Poland's Constitutional Tribunal is prevented from fully ensuring an effective constitutional review, there can be no effective scrutiny of compliance with fundamental rights of legislative acts," the Commission said in a statement.
The Commission said Warsaw would have two weeks from Monday to respond to the 'opinion' and then should work with Brussels to remedy problems it has identified. If that does not happen in a "reasonable time", the Commission can set Warsaw a formal deadline to deliver.
Deputy Foreign Minister Konrad Szymanski said Poland needed more time.
"The consultation process (between Poland and the Commission) has been going on for many weeks. I am under the impression that it has brought about a meaningful bridging of the gap between our positions," Szymanski told reporters.
"But we certainly need more time ... For example legislative changes require parliamentary work, so it seems Monday should be seen as an auxiliary date, not an ultimatum for sure."
Since the Commission launched its probe, the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) has agreed to reverse some but not all of the changes affecting the court. The opposition has branded the PiS move as "political theatre".
STRAINING TIES
If Poland fails to resolve the constitutional deadlock, Brussels could move towards the maximum sanction of stripping Warsaw of its voting rights in the European Council, which groups EU governments. This is seen as unlikely.
Some EU countries, already annoyed with Poland over its refusal to show greater solidarity in tackling Europe's migration crisis, have threatened to use a looming review of the EU's joint budget to siphon some funds away from the bloc's largest eastern state.
Others, however, say Brussels should avoid a spat with Poland at a time when the migration crisis is testing EU unity and fuelling Euro-scepticism across the continent.
Slovenia investigates foreigner over failed Vietnam cyber-heist
LJUBLJANA, May 18 (Reuters) - Slovenian police said on Wednesday they were investigating a foreigner over an attempted cyber-heist in which criminals unsuccessfully tried to send money from a Vietnamese bank to a Slovenian one in December.
Police declined to identify the suspect or the Slovenian bank but said it was based in the northeastern city of Murska Sobota and had not suffered any losses.
The foreigner was suspected of theft and money laundering, and the Slovenian bank had alerted the police, force spokeswoman Suzana Raus said.
Le Manh Hung, head of the State Bank of Vietnam's (SBV) Information Technology Department, told Reuters on Tuesday that the Dec. 8 transfer - for 1.2 million euros via the SWIFT network - was the only attempt to steal funds detected by Tien Phong Bank (TPBank).
Unlisted TPBank revealed the interrupted cyber heist in response to Reuters inquiries on Sunday. It involved the use of bogus SWIFT messages, the technique at the heart of a massive theft in February from the Bangladesh central bank.
Meet the Brazilian man who sells property nobody owns
By Chris Arsenault
RIO DE JANEIRO, May 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - B razilian lawyer Aluisio Cantalice has an interesting job: brokering sales for real estate that nobody officially owns.
Sitting shirtless and surrounded by untidy stacks of papers, Cantalice works from a sweltering office inside the sprawling favela of Rio das Pedras, on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.
The shanty town is home to an estimated 170,000 people and when someone decides they want to move, buy or sell their home, even if it was built illegally, the lawyer is their go-to man.
"Most of the property trading is informal - between individuals in the community," Cantalice told the Thomson Reuters Foundation during an interview in his office.
"These kinds of sales are happening frequently," he said, adding there are no official statistics on the number of black market deals in his community, let alone nationwide.
As Brazil prepares for the Olympic Games, millions of the nation's poorest residents continue to occupy homes and land that is not formally documented within the country's already archaic property system.
This means it is difficult for them to prove ownership and they are unable to improve their lot by seeking a bank loan or accessing government services tied to property.
Brazil's favela residents are even more vulnerable when it comes to disputes over land ownership. Most rely on community organizations for protection if their tenure is threatened by local militias or developers.
BOOMING BUSINESS
The lack of official deeds has not stopped a brisk business evolving which sees unofficial sales and rental deals being brokered for the thousands of cheap cinderblock homes clinging to the steep hillsides on the peripheries of Rio.
A world away from the golden beaches, shiny new high-rise condominiums and trendy bars showcased on postcards, many residents of Rio das Pedras appear content to negotiate property outside the legal system.
Mistrust of the state has seen the growth of informal networks of family and friends who band together to protect their own property interests.
"Most people do not want formal ownership, as it comes with high bureaucratic costs and few benefits," Cantalice said, echoing the views of other local residents.
The Ministry of Cities, a government department responsible for urban affairs, including the favelas, did not respond to interview requests.
HISTORY OF EXCLUSION
More than one in five of Rio de Janeiro's 6.5 million residents live in favelas, according to government data, including many construction workers, service employees and cleaners who keep business running smoothly.
Densely packed, largely unplanned neighbourhoods of small red brick homes connected by tangled webs of electric wire, favelas often occupy plots of undesirable land surrounding Rio and other Brazilian cities.
Children scamper through narrow alleyways littered with trash as a result of poor public services, and stray dogs search for food in neighbourhoods that are often the only option available in a city where low cost housing is at a premium.
In much of Rio, monthly rents of 7,000 Brazilian reais ($2,000) can rival those in Los Angeles or Toronto while the local minimum wage is 880 reais per month.
The favelas first appeared in Rio in the late 19th century and expanded rapidly in the middle of the 20th century due to increased urbanization.
Many grew from squatter communities created by new arrivals from Brazil's poor northeast who migrated to the city in search of jobs and opportunities.
Following the collapse of Brazil's military dictatorship in 1985, the nation's new constitution of 1988 enshrined a form of tenure or squatter's rights. People who had lived on a plot of land for more than five years received some security against eviction.
These changes, however, did not provide residents with formal ownership.
"Favela residents often don't have title, but they have rights," said Desmond Arias, a public policy professor at George Mason University in the United States, who studies Brazil.
"A lot of residents are reluctant to obtain title because they will have to pay taxes," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
In some communities, the residents' association acts as an informal moderator of deals, he said.
In others, particularly in favelas dominated by militia groups, such as Rio das Pedras, gangs play a prominent role controlling the market, Arias said.
EXTORTION ANXIETY
Joao and Juliana, the owners of a roadside restaurant in Rio das Pedras, have first hand experience with these problems.
The couple, in their mid thirties, bought their small restaurant from another local business person in an informal trade.
They did not seek the help of a lawyer or government officials and secured the deal without paying property taxes.
While this is common within the favela communities, it also exposes residents to exploitation.
"There's intimidation from the militia," Joao told the Thomson Reuters Foundation without providing his last name, fearing reprisals.
"All of the store owners must pay a 'security tax' of 25 reais per week."
Business owners who refuse to pay face robbery by masked men, or having their stores destroyed, he added.
Some residents view the militia and its leaders as Robin Hood like figures, protecting the poor and marginalized when no-one else will, he said.
But Joao does not see it that way.
"I don't like the current system (of informal ownership), he said. "We don't have autonomy to seek benefits from our property."
"But to resolve it would take a lot of work, and spending money we don't have," Juliana said.
The couple estimate that it would cost around 10,000 reais to gain formal title to their property.
This would include the bill an architect would charge to prepare a ground plan of their home - built on land informally owned by Juliana's grandmother - and the cost for lawyers and taxation to formalise their documentation.
"All of these problems (a lack of formal title, the militia's power and little formal presence of the state) are connected," Juliana said.
GOVERNANCE QUESTIONS
Inside the sparse office of the favela's community council, the elected body which acts as a de facto municipal government, Alexandre Pedro says residents have learned to live without much of a relationship with the state, including a lack of formal property ownership.
But that does not mean they are happy about it.
"About 80 percent of the problems here would be fixed if the state provided basic services," Pedro, the council's vice president, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Garbage collection service is poor and there are not enough elementary school places for the children of new arrivals to the community.
Brazil's recession, described as the worst since the 1930s, has hit local residents hard, Pedro added.
Despite job losses, the community's population has still grown by about 25,000 over the past five years. Attempts by the community council to track who owns which plot of land have not borne fruit.
"The buildings are going up so fast," he said. "Prices in the informal market have risen by about one third."
This burgeoning demand for property has fuelled a brisk business for brokers like Cantalice who also acts as a de facto mediator for disputes between families and neighbors over increasingly lucrative land and houses.
"When I am called to resolve a dispute, I try and get documents such as identification cards or electricity bills to help resolve the case," Cantalice said, leaning back on his swivel chair while his children study at an adjacent desk.
In most cases, favela residents are able to obtain power bills directly from the electricity company to help ascertain their claim to their home, he said.
Proof of formal connection to water mains, however, is far more difficult to obtain as many residents siphon it directly from city pipes to avoid paying bills.
After years of dealing with the informal market, favela residents and lawyers say it may not be ideal but they are used to it.
"The system in Brazil is rather perverse," Cantalice said.
Nigerian schoolgirl rescued after two years as Boko Haram captive
By Lanre Ola
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, May 18 (Reuters) - A Nigerian teenager kidnapped by Boko Haram more than two years ago has been rescued, the first of more than 200 girls seized in a raid on their school in Chibok town to return from captivity in the insurgents' forest lair, officials said on Wednesday.
Soldiers working together with a civilian vigilante group rescued the girl and her four-month-old baby near Damboa in the remote northeast, army spokesman Sani Usman said. They also detained a "suspected Boko Haram terrorist" called Mohammed Hayatu who claimed to be the girl's husband, he added.
"Preliminary investigation shows that she is indeed one of the Chibok schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram terrorists on 14th April 2014 in Chibok," Usman said in a statement.
Rights activists named the girl as Amina Ali Darsha Nkeki. They quoted her as saying her schoolmates remained in the Sambisa forest in the northeast, Boko Haram's biggest stronghold.
The girl will meet President Muhammadu Buhari in the capital, Abuja, on Thursday, his spokesman said, adding that she would be accompanied by the governor of Borno, the northeastern state in which Chibok is located.
A Reuters witness who saw the girl at the governor's office, in Maiduguri, said she seemed tired and was limping. Her age has not been disclosed but she appeared to be in her late teens.
Her rescue may give a boost to Buhari, a former military ruler who made crushing the Islamist militant Boko Haram insurgency a key pillar of his election campaign in 2015.
The military released a photograph of the girl, who was seated, clad in a Muslim headscarf and cradling a baby wrapped in a cloth while holding a plate of food.
Boko Haram seized 276 girls from their school in Chibok, northeast Nigeria, in April 2014, part of a seven-year-old insurgency to set up an Islamic state in the north that has killed some 15,000 people and displaced more than 2 million.
Dozens of the girls escaped in the initial melee in 2014 but more than 200 remained unaccounted for. Parents accused former president Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria's leader at the time of the mass kidnapping, of not doing enough to track down the girls and bring them home.
"She (Amina) says all of the others are still in the Sambisa forest area, that they are heavily guarded," activists at #Bringbackourgirls said in a statement confirming her release.
Hoses Tsambido, chairman of the Chibok Community in the capital Abuja, told Reuters the girl was found on Tuesday in the Kulakasha area on the fringes of Sambisa Forest.
Usman said Ali and her alleged husband had been brought to Maiduguri "for further medical attention and screening".
Boko Haram, who last year pledged loyalty to Islamic State, have kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children in their campaign to carve out a mediaeval Islamist caliphate.
Canada wildfire evacuees get tentative return date
By Nia Williams and Eric M. Johnson
CALGARY, Alberta, May 18 (Reuters) - Evacuees who fled a wildfire in northern Alberta two weeks ago may be allowed to return home as soon as June 1, officials said on Wednesday, as the massive blaze kept oil production shuttered north of Fort McMurray.
Poor air quality in the Alberta city still poses a serious threat, officials said, delaying the return of the more than 90,000 people who were evacuated from the region on May 3 and 4, as the uncontrolled wildfire breached the city limits.
Alberta premier Rachel Notley said that re-entry would begin on June 1, if all safety conditions were met, with the return to be staged over two weeks. She warned that people with health issues, including pregnant women, should not return.
"The air quality issues we've had have set the recovery work back a bit, but progress is being made," Notley told reporters, adding the city will initially only have basic services and a boil water advisory will remain in place until the end of June.
Schools will remain closed until September, with all students moving up a grade despite not finishing their current school year, while the local hospital is not expected to be fully operational until mid-June.
The fire was largely under control in the city by last Wednesday, but authorities warned residents that it would not be safe to return until electricity and other key services were restored. And a shift in direction this week has moved the fire back toward the city.
The air quality health index, usually measured on a scale of 1-10, hit 51 on Wednesday morning, before improving to 11.
Notley warned that if the province's five safety conditions were not met, or if the fire shifted back toward communities, the re-entry would be delayed past June 1.
The fire was still burning around Fort McMurray on Wednesday, with dry, windy weather expected to push it east, in the direction of Suncor and Syncrude facilities, prolonging a shutdown that has cut Canadian oil output by a million barrels a day.
Alberta wildfire manager Chad Morrison said firefighters have so far been successful at holding the 422,000 hectares (1.04 million acres) fire back from those facilities.
"We still have to get through today, we still have some burning conditions to get through, but I'm optimistic as the day turns and we get some cooler weather the next two days, we'll continue to hold it," he said.
On Tuesday, the fire destroyed a 665-room lodge for oil sands workers, then blazed eastward toward other camps. Officials said they were not aware of any further damage to industry camps.
"I want to go home - me and everybody else," said Barritt Wilson, 31, a heavy equipment technician for Suncor forced to leave camp on Monday. "It was good to get back to work, so it was frustrating that we had to leave. We are praying for rain."
INDUSTRY ON GUARD
About 8,000 workers were evacuated from camps and facilities north of Fort McMurray on Tuesday, with both Suncor and Syncrude removing all but essential staff from their major operations.
Reached early on Wednesday, Syncrude spokesman Will Gibson said the company's facilities were intact. Syncrude is majority owned by Suncor.
"The fire sits south of our lease with a series of current and former tailings facilities that form a natural fire break," Gibson said in an email.
None of the oil sands have caught fire, and the industry has redoubled efforts to ensure facilities are well protected.
In one encouraging sign for producers, cogeneration electricity plants around Fort McMurray increased output overnight with the restart of one unit.
($1 = 1.2984 Canadian dollars)
WIDER IMAGE-Citizens of Sanaa yearn for end to Yemen's war
By Mohamed al-Sayaghi
SANAA, May 18 (Reuters) - Anxiety reigns in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, where ordinary people await the outcome of almost a month of peace talks they hope can end a devastating war.
Life was already a struggle for many residents of one of the Arab world's poorest countries, but the onset of the conflict more than a year ago has made mere survival the priority and extreme hardship the norm.
The crump of air strikes, power outages and the deep-seated gnawing fear that their society may never emerge intact have all become part of daily life.
Hope is hard to find, and what little exists lies with the peace delegations representing the armed Houthi movement - which controls Sanaa - its allies, and their enemies in Yemen's exiled, Saudi-backed government taking place in Kuwait.
Seemingly a world away in Sanaa, the ancient city whose old city is clustered with majestic mudbrick towers, the past looks brighter than the future.
But flickers of hope still shine among these Sanaa residents, whose portraits can be seeen at http://reut.rs/23X0ntf.
"We are optimistic that we will see the Kuwait negotiations stop the war, especially in light of the decrease in the number of air strikes," said Abdussalam Hamad al-Harethi, 39, who sells antiques, souvenirs and silverware.
Less upbeat, Ahmed Hizam al-Soudi, 75, who sells traditional Yemeni curved daggers called jambiyas said he hoped wisdom would prevail among negotiating parties in Kuwait.
"We ask God to relieve us from this ordeal, which we were not expecting."
"God willing, they would agree, because we are exhausted. And if they love the country, they will stop the war that brought devastation and destruction to the people of Yemen."
The sentiment is widespread.
Youth activists fed up by the deadly feud among Yemen's political and military elites that has left 25 million citizens suffering the consequences have warned them on social media: "Don't come back to Yemen unless with peace."
Standing amidst her fresh-faced students, Yemen's future, mathematics teacher Wafaa Mansour shared a view held by many - that the conflict has been infiltrated by so many foreign powers that only diplomatic intervention from the outside can help.
"If all sides do not make concessions, I do not think that there would be a proper solution without the intervention from one of the big states sponsoring the dialogue."
In the maternity ward of a Sanaa hospital, 28-year old nurse Hindia Abdurabu al-Zubah looks after some of the country's youngest and most vulnerable citizens and hopes the senior politicians in the land face up to the gravity of their task.
Nokia name to return to mobile phones after licensing deal
By Jussi Rosendahl
HELSINKI, May 18 (Reuters) - The Nokia name will return to the mobile phone market after a company backed by one of its former executives teamed up with manufacturer Foxconn to buy the rights to the brand for mobile devices.
Nokia, once the world's biggest maker of mobile phones, was wrongfooted by the rise of smartphones and eclipsed by Apple and Samsung. It sold its entire handset business to Microsoft Corp in 2014 and now focuses on telecoms network equipment.
But it held on to its phone patents with a view to eventually striking a licensing deal, though it had to wait due to a non-compete deal with Microsoft.
Nokia said on Wednesday it had signed an exclusive 10-year licensing agreement for newly formed Finnish company HMD global Oy to create Nokia-branded smartphones and tablets. HMD is owned by Smart Connect LP, a private equity fund run by former Nokia executive Jean-Francois Baril, and its management.
The products will be made by Taiwan's Foxconn and Nokia will receive an undisclosed royalty on sales, covering both brand and intellectual property rights.
Microsoft announced simultaneously it would sell its entry-level phones business to HMD and Foxconn subsidiary FIH Mobile for $350 million.
Nokia, whose global market share in handsets peaked at around 40 percent in 2008, said its brand remained widely recognised, especially in developing markets.
"The areas where we believe the brand is strongest are Asia, South America and parts of Europe. Clearly China will be one of the target markets," Ramzi Haidamus, chief executive of the Nokia Technologies unit, told Reuters.
Nokia stock rose 2.9 percent to 4.67 euros.
"Nokia seems to have put together a very elegant deal in order to maximize the potential to drive some revenue from the handset business, with no risk in terms of hardware," said Ben Wood, an analyst at research firm CCS Insight.
"The brand is strong in the feature phone space, but does it stand for a cutting-edge future proof smartphone? That's unclear. ... It's a brand that has lost its lustre," he added.
HMD, which will focus on branding and design in the partnership with Foxconn, said it would put 500 million euros ($564 million) into marketing over the next three years.
Nokia declined to provide revenue targets related to the licensing deal, nor a timetable for new devices, which will use Google's Android platform. The deal between Microsoft, Foxconn and HMD is expected to close in the second half of 2016.
Jukka Oksaharju, a strategist at brokerage Nordnet, said annual licensing revenues for Nokia would likely be in the tens of millions.
Microsoft has struggled with phones after the 2014 deal with Nokia, and last year it wrote off $7.5 billion from the business. Microsoft said on Wednesday it would continue to develop its Lumia smartphones.
($1 = 0.8868 euros)
Four Turkish soldiers killed by roadside bomb -military
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, May 18 (Reuters) - Four Turkish soldiers were killed and nine wounded on Wednesday when a bomb was detonated as their vehicle travelled past in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country, the military said.
The army deployed troops backed by helicopters to the area, located about 70 km (45 miles) from the town of Semdinli near the Iraqi border, to launch an operation in the wake of the attack, security sources said.
Explosives had been laid in the road in advance of the soldiers' convoy, the military said on its website.
Security forces have been battling militants in the armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the southeast since a ceasefire collapsed in July 2015, wrecking a peace process aimed at resolving one of Europe's longest-running insurgencies.
Hundreds of soldiers and PKK fighters, as well as 500 or more civilians, have been killed in the violence.
Earlier in on Wednesday, a soldier was killed in Nusaybin, situated at the Syrian border some 500 km (310 miles) away, when militants opened fire on him. The town of 100,000 people has been under a round-the-clock curfew for more than two months as security forces try to root out militants.
Turkish warplanes hit PKK targets overnight in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq, killing at least 10 fighters, security sources said.
Films belong to viewers, Dardenne brothers say at Cannes
By Julien Pretot
CANNES, France, May 18 (Reuters) - "The Unknown Girl" (La Fille Inconnue) by double Palme d'Or winners Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne seems like an allegory about Europe's migration crisis, but the Belgian brothers deny it's sending any message.
Presenting their 10th feature film at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday, the directors said the film was all about Dr Jenny Davin, who tries to identify a teenage girl who was killed just outside her practice.
She starts out feeling driven by guilt, having ignored the doorbell that night because it rang an hour after she had closed the office. As she investigates the case, it becomes clear she is at first the only one interested in finding out the truth.
Asked if the film could be read as a commentary on the closed doors facing migrants risking death to reach Europe, the directors replied that once screened, their films did not belong to them anymore.
"Once it's been seen, a film belongs to the viewers. If they want to see some example in this, they're free to do so. They can see it as both a individual moral story and a diagnosis of society," said Luc Dardenne.
"But we're telling the story of someone who feels responsible ... and refuses to say 'I haven't seen anything'," he added. "We're not trying to send any message."
This feeling of responsibility pushes her to find the truth, even when nobody else around her seems to care, he said. "She did not open her door when she should have."
The Dardenne brothers won the highest distinction in Cannes with "Rosetta" in 1999 and with "L'Enfant" (The Child) in 2005.
Only seven directors - or directing teams - have won the Palme d'Or twice and the Dardenne brothers are in the running for a third top award on the Croisette.
KKR among bidders for UAE's National Food Products Co-sources
By Hadeel Al Sayegh and David French
DUBAI, May 18 (Reuters) - U.S. private equity firm KKR and Saudi dairy company Almarai are among four rival groups shortlisted to bid for a majority stake in Abu Dhabi-based National Food Products Company, sources said, highlighting the appeal of the Gulf food and dairy sector.
With young, fast-growing populations and evolving culinary tastes, Gulf countries are seen as big potential growth markets for food. Global milk prices are also low, making dairy a target for deals, and KKR has made successful investments in dairy in China in recent years.
NFPC, one of the largest food and dairy manufacturers in the United Arab Emirates, whose brands include Milco, Lacnor and Oasis bottled water, appointed Emirates Investment Bank in October to arrange the sale, aimed at raising up to $1.5 billion.
For its bid, KKR is teaming up with Dubai-based Fajr Capital, which mainly pools sovereign funds to invest in Muslim countries.
Fajr announced this week it had completed the purchase of restaurant franchise company Cravia, which operates Cinnabon and Five Guys hamburger restaurants in the Gulf.
KKR and Fajr teamed up last year to bid for fashion retailer Azadea Group, which has stores for brands like the Gap and Intimissimi in the Middle East, although that deal has stalled. KKR was also part of a 2014 bid for Americana, operator of Middle East franchises for Pizza Hut and KFC restaurants.
The other bidders for NFPC include an international financial firm and an international industrial firm, the sources familiar with the shortlist said, without naming them.
NFPC and Fajr Capital declined to comment. KKR did not immediately respond to a request to comment.
Private equity bidders would face a strong rival in Almarai, the Gulf's largest dairy company, which said in April that it was interested in buying a controlling stake in NFPC and had already been invited to conduct due diligence.
NFPC, which also has a joint venture with Danish dairy giant Arla Foods, was founded by Lebanese-born businessman Fady Antonios and the local Bin Hamoodah group.
Antonios is looking to raise funds for the company's expansion and reduce his own stake in preparation for his eventual retirement, sources familiar with the matter have said.
NFPC has already started work on the first phase of a $400 million development of a production complex in Abu Dhabi's Khalifa Industrial Zone.
Almarai's potential acquisition in NFPC would help the Saudi company gain a strong foothold in the UAE, "where they are weaker versus peers", and boost their distribution into other Gulf countries such as Oman, Muhammad Faisal Potrik, head of research at Saudi Arabia's Riyad Capital, said in an email.
He said a rival dairy and juice company would be a better fit for NFPC than private equity firms like KKR, because of prior sector expertise and potential economies of scale.
"Private equity would need to bring in experienced management to run operations, something which existing operators already have," Potrik said.
She's tough capable of punching through 30-foot waves and riptides or smashing into rocks and reefs. She can even be dropped out of a helicopter. But she's also tender, providing hope to those in peril.
Meet EMILY the robotic lifeguard officially known as the Emergency Integrated Lifesaving Lanyard a remote-controlled buoy that recently rescued nearly 300 Syrian migrants from drowning in the waters off the Greek island of Lesbos.
Outfitted in bright orange, red and yellow colors, each cylindrical EMILY buoy is 4 feet long and weighs 25 pounds. It looks like a fat punching bag or tackling dummy.
EMILY is powered by a jet engine, similar to a mini jet ski, and can travel at speeds up to 22 mph. EMILY also has two-way communication radios, a video camera with a live feed to smart phones and lights for night rescues.
The robot was first designed by inventor Tony Mulligan in 2001 to monitor whale movements during Navy sonar testing.
Mulligan has provided more than 260 EMILY devices to navies, coast guards and search-and-rescue units in South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, France, Mongolia, Brazil, Mexico and Greece. Rescue teams in Oregon and Washington, D.C., also have expressed interest in the robotic lifeguard.
As summer approaches and folks travel to the water to relax and have fun, EMILY is a reminder to be safe, always wear a lifejacket and to keep a watch on youngsters playing next to rivers high from spring runoff.
For more information on water safety, log on to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks' website.
Office of Naval Research
Ugajin stunner takes Urawa past Seoul in AFC Champions League
May 18 (Reuters) - A first-half volley by midfielder Tomoya Ugajin secured a 1-0 win by Urawa Red Diamonds over FC Seoul in the AFC Champions League Round of 16 first leg match at Saitama on Wednesday.
The 2007 champions took the lead in the 14th minute when Ugajin connected on to a superb Ryota Moriwaki pass, netting a looping effort from a tight angle.
The J League side successfully clung on to their lead to claim a slight advantage ahead of next week's second leg clash in Seoul.
"It (the move) went just the way we do it in practice," Ugajin said, talking to Kyodo news agency of his stunning goal.
"But seriously, there were players in front of goal so I was just trying to put the ball back in. But I reckon I could score a goal like that one time out of every 10 chances."
In Jinan, David Carney scored an important away goal in Sydney FC's 1-1 first leg draw against Shandong Luneng.
The hosts could have gone ahead early but their Argentine playmaker Walter Montillo missed from the penalty spot in the seventh minute after Wu Xinghan had been brought down.
Carney nodded in a Riley Woodcock cross to put Sydney ahead but the visitors could not hold onto it and Diego Tardelli equalised near the hour mark.
Earlier, Al Jaish put one foot in the quarter-finals after Romarinho struck a brace in their 4-0 thumping of Qatar Stars League rivals Lekhwiya on Tuesday.
Hamedallah Abdurazzaq and Mohamed Methnani scored the other goals and the comprehensive defeat leaves Lekhwiya with a mountain to climb in next Wednesday's second leg at Doha's Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium.
Al Nasr of United Arab Emirates also put themselves in the box seat for a place in the quarter-finals with a 4-1 victory against Tractorsazi Tabriz in Dubai with substitute Salem Saleh striking in each half.
Croatia says boosted by EU's assessment of reforms
ZAGREB, May 18 (Reuters) - The European Union's positive assessment of Croatia's plan for economic reforms will help it implement the measures, which should boost growth and reduce the public debt, Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic said on Wednesday.
The European Commission said Croatia's economic plan adopted in late April was ambitious and, if implemented, would put Croatia on its way to avoiding corrective measures for macroeconomic imbalances.
"Things are developing well. Two months ago we were close to corrective measures. Now I'm convinced that our package of reforms will yield results. We have now 80 percent of the job left and that is implementation," Oreskovic told reporters.
The EU can impose corrective measures on a country with an excessive budget gap and public debt. Croatia has vowed to reduce its budget gap this year to 2.6 percent of gross domestic product from 3.2 percent in 2015 and to start the reducing public debt, which is now at 87 percent of gross domestic product.
"A good assessment by the European Commission is also a positive message to investors and rating agencies," Oreskovic said.
The government hopes that the reforms will help improve its credit ratings, which are now two notches below investment grade with a negative outlook at all three major ratings agencies. The major reformist moves include cutting red tape, improving the investment climate and reducing the fiscal gap and public debt.
China leader admits problems in Hong Kong, pledges to respect autonomy
By James Pomfret and Clare Baldwin
HONG KONG, May 18 (Reuters) - China's number three official Zhang Dejiang said in Hong Kong on Wednesday that Beijing was aware of problems in the city but would respect Hong Kong's autonomy as protesters hit the streets to oppose Chinese attempts to squeeze local freedoms.
Zhang's visit, which comes at a time of mounting political tensions in Hong Kong, is the first by a senior state leader since tens of thousands of people mounted a massive but ultimately unsuccessful push to pressure Beijing to grant full democracy during the 'Occupy Central' street protests in late 2014.
Thousands of police were deployed across Hong Kong, preventing protesters from coming near Zhang as he toured a science park and a harbourfront exhibition centre where he addressed an economic summit.
"The argument that the Central Government is trying to turn Hong Kong into mainland (China), or to turn 'one country, two systems' into 'one country, one system' is totally baseless," Zhang said during an evening banquet, in unusually direct comments from a state leader on recent challenges and tensions in Hong Kong.
Zhang also addressed the trend of more radical activists forming political groupings and staging disruptive protests to call for greater Hong Kong nationalism and even independence from China; an issue that might become more mainstream when city-wide legislative council elections are held in September.
The idea of Hong Kong independence is anathema to Beijing, which fears any separatist or sweeping democratic demands spilling into China to undermine its rule.
Zhang conceded that a small minority of people in Hong Kong had been calling for independence, but said China would "unswervingly" maintain the current "one country two systems" model of governance for Hong Kong, that guarantees a high degree of autonomy in Hong Kong since it switched from British to Chinese rule in 1997.
While the recent suspected kidnapping of a bookseller in Hong Kong by Chinese security agents had undermined public and diplomatic confidence in the city's autonomy, Zhang stressed the rule of law was a "core value" and that if this bottom line was compromised, "how do we continue the prosperity and stability?"
A feature of Zhang's trip has also been repeated pledges of a more engaged Beijing actively listening to public concerns about Hong Kong's core relationship with China.
"For the problems that are being exposed now, some are new and some have been around for years and there won't be an immediate solution. But we can't question, feel hesitant, or even deny 'one country, two systems' because of that," Zhang said.
Despite a massive police presence, small, scattered groups of protesters took to the streets at various locations to demand Beijing respect the city's freedoms. A massive yellow banner was unfurled from a hilltop demanding full democracy, while others held up black banners calling for China to end its "dictatorial rule" and to "stop interfering with Hong Kong affairs".
A few others burned a portrait of Zhang and called on him to "get the hell out of Hong Kong"
Some pro-Beijing groups, however, denounced the democracy activists for jeopardizing Hong Kong's economic interests by opposing Beijing, and held up blue banners with the words: "Oppose splitting up Hong Kong."
Malaysia to impose travel bans on government critics
KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 (Reuters) - Malaysia is able to impose a three-year travel ban on its citizens who discredit or ridicule the government, the Star newspaper reported on Wednesday, as criticism against the scandal-tainted Prime Minister Najib Razak grows.
Malaysia's immigration department enforced this ruling several months ago in a move to safeguard the country's image, the newspaper said, quoting an unnamed source.
The immigration director general Sakib Kusmi confirmed to the paper the existence of such a provision. Reuters could not independently verify the report that the penalty had been used.
It was not immediately clear who the provision had been used against as Kusmi did not comment and the newspaper did not say.
The report comes after outrage this month over a prominent activist being barred from travelling outside the country. Maria Chin Abdullah, the chairwoman of pro-democracy group Bersih, was not allowed to travel to South Korea to receive an award, the group said.
Bersih organised street protests calling for Najib's resignation last year which drew more than 200,000 people.
The prime minister has resisted calls to step down over a multi-billion dollar scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and $681 million that was transferred to his personal bank account.
Najib has denied any wrongdoing, and has said he has taken no money for personal gain.
He has sacked critics within his ruling party and has used a different law, the Sedition Act, which has been criticised by rights groups, against opposition party leaders, activists and lawyers.
His government also passed the National Security Act last year, which critics say gave sweeping powers to the prime minister, imperilling democracy and human rights.
"A travel ban on critics will mark a dangerous escalation in the government's ongoing crackdown on dissent," said Josef Benedict, Amnesty International's deputy director for South East Asia and the Pacific.
"The right to freedom of speech is a key human right which the Malaysian people deserve to enjoy just like any other people."
Opposition leaders said the provision is another sign of the government abusing its powers.
German to take command of International Space Station in 2018
COLOGNE, Germany, May 18 (Reuters) - Astronaut Alexander Gerst will become the first German and only the second European to take command of the International Space Station, the European Space Agency said on Wednesday.
Gerst, 40, previously worked on the ISS in 2014. He will take command during the second part of his six-month mission in 2018. Born in Kuenzelsau, south-east of Frankfurt, he said he was humbled to command the station.
"When one looks down on the planet from space, that is a very special thing," Gerst told a news conference after being congratulated by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Eleven European countries participate in the Station through the European Space Agency, together with the United States, Russia, Japan and Canada.
Asian companies to pour $4 bln into Russian dairy production
By Olga Popova and Polina Devitt
BYKOVO, Russia, May 18 (Reuters) - Asian businesses plan to invest about $4 billion in milk and dairy production in Russia, helping Moscow to replace imports hit by trade sanctions on traditional suppliers.
Russia banned many Western food imports, including dairy, in 2014 in retaliation for sanctions over Ukraine, creating supply shortfalls and spurring investments in its agricultural sector.
Vietnamese dairy producer TH Group began building milk farms in the Moscow region on Wednesday as part of a $2.7 billion 10-year project.
The first stage, costing $500 million, will lead to the production of 800 tonnes a day of milk and other products that are expected to reach the Russian market next year, TH Group's chairman, Thai Huong, said at a ceremony marking the start of construction.
Separately, the state-backed Russia Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) on Wednesday signed an agreement with Thailand's Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group) and China's Banner Infant Dairy Products on joint investments in the construction of a $1 billion milk and dairy complex in the Ryazan region of Russia.
Its total annual production capacity will be 400,000 tonnes of milk, cheese and sour-milk products, RDIF said.
The complex will put CP Group among the top five dairy producers in Russia, Andrey Danilenko, Chairman of Russia's National Dairy Producers Union, told Reuters.
Together with the Vietnamese project, it will help to fill the gap left by banned EU dairy imports and ease dependence on Belarus, Uruguay, New Zealand and Argentina.
English doctors' union and government agree deal to end dispute
By Michael Holden
LONDON, May 18 (Reuters) - The union representing England's doctors and the government said on Wednesday they had agreed a deal to end a long-running standoff which led to their first all-out strike in the nearly 70-year history of the state-run National Health Service (NHS).
Junior doctors, a term which covers recent medical school graduates right through to doctors who have been working for well over a decade, have staged a series of walkouts in a dispute over plans to bring in a new contract.
Prime Minister David Cameron's government say the new arrangements are part of its plan to bring in a safer and fuller seven-day health service, but doctors feared the contract would cause them to work longer hours at anti-social times, putting patients at risk.
The row led to the first all-out strike last month, when junior doctors walked out from all services including accident and emergency and intensive care, leading to 13,000 operations and 113,000 outpatient appointments being cancelled.
After 10-days of talks at conciliation service Acas, the two sides said a deal had now been agreed. This will now have to be agreed by 37,000 doctors who are members of the doctors' union, the British Medical Association (BMA), but industrial action has been called off in the meantime.
"I believe that what has been agreed today ... is a good deal for junior doctors and will ensure that they can continue to deliver high-quality care for patients," said Dr Johann Malawana, BMA junior doctor committee chairman.
Created in 1948, the taxpayer-funded NHS provides all types of medical care for free to everyone in Britain although the row only affected doctors in England as NHS services in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are managed separately.
Polls suggested a majority of the public backed the doctors in the dispute but Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt had refused to back down over plans to impose the new contract which increased doctors' basic pay but reduced the number of hours in the week considered anti-social and attracting additional pay.
"This deal represents a definitive step forward for patients, for doctors, and for the NHS as a whole," Hunt said in a statement.
Kerry, Egypt's Sisi discuss Mideast peace, Libya conflict
CAIRO, May 18 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held brief talks with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo on Wednesday, a day after the Egyptian leader proposed new efforts to try to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Kerry had already been scheduled to meet with Sisi to discuss a series of meetings on the Libya and Syria conflicts which took place earlier this week in Vienna.
A U.S. official said Kerry would explore in more detail Sisi's proposal, made on Tuesday during a speech, to mediate a reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions to pave the way toward a lasting peace accord with the Israelis.
In a statement after the meeting, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said they had discussed a "range of bilateral and regional issues, including recent developments on Libya and Syria."
During the meeting Kerry "stressed the importance of Egypt's role as a regional partner", Toner said.
Egypt was the first of a handful of Arab countries to recognise Israel with a U.S.-sponsored peace accord in 1979, but Egyptian attitudes toward their neighbour remain chilly.
Sisi's proposal, made during an impromptu speech at an economic conference, came as France pushes for an international conference to launch peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told France's foreign minister on Sunday that his country remained opposed to Paris's initiative, which was born of French frustration over the absence of movement toward a two-state solution since U.S.-brokered talks collapsed in 2014.
Kerry spoke by phone with Netanyahu on Tuesday and with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas earlier in the week, the U.S. official said, without elaborating.
During the meetings in Vienna on Monday and Tuesday, world powers said they were ready to consider demands from Libya's new unity government for exemptions from a U.N. arms embargo to help take control of the lawless country.
Brazil is divided, laments Brazilian director in Cannes
CANNES, France, May 18 (Reuters) - The Brazilian director Kleber Mendoca Filho, whose film "Aquarius" was critically acclaimed at the Cannes festival, expressed concern on Wednesday that his country was increasingly divided after the suspension of the president last week.
Interim President Michel Temer was sworn into office after Dilma Rousseff was suspended on Thursday by the Senate while she is tried on charges of breaking budget rules.
"(The situation) is bringing out the worst on both sides and particularly on the right side with notions of fascism," said Mendonca Filho.
One of Temer's first measures was to eliminate the ministry of culture.
On Tuesday, Mendoca Filho and his team staged a protest on the red carpet ahead of the film's premiere. "It was very important to take this international platform here to expose what's happening in Brazil," said actress Sonia Braga.
"People in Congress say women should not work because they get pregnant and things like that, shocking ideas like that. And the ministry of culture being extinguished last week," said Mendonca Filho.
"Wrong month to extinguish the ministry of culture because a film made by public funds is representing Brazil in competition at the Cannes Film Festival."
U.S. trade panel opens patent probe into Volkswagen hybrid vehicles
By David Lawder
WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. International Trade Commission on Wednesday said it launched an investigation into whether Volkswagen AG and its subsidiaries infringed hybrid electric vehicle patents owned by Baltimore-based Paice LLC.
The commission said it has not made any decisions on the merits of the case. But a ruling against Volkswagen could be a significant setback to the automaker's strategy to shift towards hybrid vehicles after a crushing emissions fraud scandal halted sales of its diesel vehicles in the United States last year.
Paice is seeking an ITC order that would block the import and sale of Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche brand hybrid vehicles in the U.S. market. It filed its initial request on April 15.
After a similar ITC complaint and federal lawsuits against Toyota Motor Corp, Paice struck a licensing deal in 2010 with Toyota that covers 23 hybrid electrical control patents. In 2015, it said it reached similar licensing agreements with Hyundai Motor Co Ltd and Kia Motors Corp.
Paice claims on its website that it shared with Volkswagen its patented hybrid technology, including computer modeling and control algorithms with Volkswagen from 2001 to 2004 in a
"But after learning everything it needed from Paice, VW abruptly ended the collaboration and never licensed Paice's technology," the company said, adding that the automaker shifted its efforts to develop diesel technology instead.
Paice, founded in the early 1990s by Soviet-trained electrical engineer Alex Severinsky, said it holds 29 U.S. and foreign patents related to hybrid vehicle technology. The firm is partly owned by the non-profit Abell Foundation in Baltimore, which has provided over $25 million in funding support and is also listed as a complainant in the ITC case.
The Baltimore firm also has pursued patent litigation against Ford Motor Co. since 2014. In that case, however, Ford has managed to get some of Paice's infringement claims dismissed by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, while several other challenges are pending.
In Germany, a VW spokesman said the company "does not comment in principal in ongoing legal disputes". In comments submitted on the ITC website, lawyers for Volkswagen and its subsidiaries described Paice's patents as "weak" and said pursuing an investigation was against the public interest.
A submission from Edgar Haug, a lawyer for Porsche AG, said that Paice's complaint relies too heavily on investments made by Hyundai and Kia as part of their technology licenses with the firm.
LAME DEER A 21-year-old man was stabbed to death at about 6 a.m. Wednesday in Lame Deer, according to Northern Cheyenne Tribal President Llevando Fisher.
The FBI and the BIA are investigating the incident on the east side of Lame Deer. Fisher said he couldn't release any other details at this time.
Kristen Pongah, a relative of the victim, identified him as Chay Little. Little was stabbed outside a home on the reservation next door to his grandparents' house. The east side neighborhood is across the road from the Littlewolf Capitol Building.
Little was part of the Northern Cheyenne mixed martial arts fighting group, Rez Brawl. His dream was to compete in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Pongah said.
"It's a real big loss to the community," she said. "He was friends with everyone."
Unlike the March daytime gun battle at a gas station that injured three people, including a bystander, Pongah said she hadn't heard Little's death had anything to do with drugs.
"It was just senseless," she said.
Ernest Littlebird, who runs Rez Brawl, said Little was a fine young fighter with a lot of potential. He said Little was a good example of how the group could keep young people from slipping into the wrong track.
"We need to show kids they can be somebody, and we need somebody to show that to those kids," Littlebird said. "We lost somebody who was doing that."
Little's sisters, Tre Backer, 18, and Mackenzie Bixby, 14, said their brother was a hard worker and had only found out a few weeks ago that his girlfriend was pregnant.
"Every time I was down, he'd say, 'Eh, sister, laugh, smile,'" Bixby said. "He was a really good guy."
Backer said when the medical van picked him up from the house Wednesday, she thought he was going to be OK. But later prayers were posted for him online and one comment read, "R.I.P."
"It was so unexpected," Backer said.
Colstrip Schools Superintendent Bob Lewandowski said the school wasn't notified about the homicide until 2:45 p.m. When they called the Colstrip Police Department, they had no information about the incident or if police were looking for a suspect.
He said that BIA police on the Northern Cheyenne told him there is no danger in dropping kids off on the reservation and that this was an isolated incident.
Lewandowski said the Boys and Girls Club in Lame Deer, where the school drops kids off normally, is closed at this time with no explanation. The school will drop kids off at another location.
A suspect has been identified, though it is unclear he or she is in custody.
In March, a state of emergency on the reservation was order by Fisher after a daytime shoot out. The tribe also called for an update to the tribe's legal codes.
In addition to drafting the new laws, Fisher called for the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to dedicate more resources to enforcing laws on tribal land.
Fisher said the reservation still only has five BIA police officers to patrol 444,000 acres of land.
Conrad Fisher, Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council, said tribal leadership had been looking at something similar to the measures put in place before the shooting in March.
"That incident accelerated what we needed to do," Conrad Fisher said.
The tribal action plan the council has developed was prompted by other traumatic events in 2015.
"We were at the point that we needed to do something," he said. "We couldn't wait much longer."
The tribal leaders are considering amending the law and order code permanently to include some kind of version of the drugs and alcohol rules laid out in the state of emergency declared by Llevando Fisher two months ago.
Any changes would be subject to a public comment period where tribal members can weigh in, Conrad Fisher said. The changes should be finalized by fall.
The curfew has helped in several ways, Conrad Fisher said. It created a "sense of security that the tribe was doing something."
"We're working on trying to resolve the epidemic of meth, drugs and alcohol," Conrad Fisher said.
A lack of law enforcement resources makes enforcement difficult, but there have been more arrests after the curfew was put in place, Conrad Fisher said.
"It puts pressure on programs like the court system, the jail is burdened." He said the tribe is looking at long-term solutions including treatment for substance abuse to help with the problem.
The next six months will show how much of an effect the curfew had, he said.
"We've gotten a lot of positive feedback. Of course some folks felt violated, but as tribal leaders we are looking at what's best for the tribe."
UK banks ordered to review cyber security after SWIFT heist
By Andrew MacAskill and Jim Finkle
LONDON, May 18 (Reuters) - The Bank of England ordered UK banks to detail steps taken to secure computers connected to the SWIFT bank messaging network about two months after a still-unidentified group used the system to steal $81 million from Bank Bangladesh, according to three people familiar with the effort.
The central bank sent the request to update cyber security measures to all banks it regulates in mid-to-late April, according to these people, who were not authorized to discuss the confidential communications.
The previously unreported action marks the earliest known case of a central bank in a major economy to order its member banks to conduct a formal security review in response to the Bangladesh theft, which has shaken the global system for transferring money among both commercial and central banks.
The Bank of England, one of the G10 central banks that oversee Brussels-based SWIFT, said it had no immediate comment.
The FBI, authorities in Dhaka and private forensic experts are investigating the February cyber heist in Bangladesh where thieves raided a central bank account kept at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, stealing $81 million. They installed malware inside the bank's Dhaka headquarters that hid traces of their attack in a bid to delay discovery so they could access the funds, according to police and private security firms.
The Bank of England told banks to conduct a "compliance check" to confirm whether they are following security practices recommended by SWIFT, which the firm recently reissued to members in the wake of the February heist, one of the people said.
SWIFT declined to comment. The group has previously declined to release those guidelines, which were issued in private communications.
The checks called for by the Bank of England include conducting what are known as user entitlement reviews, which ensure that only authorized staff have access to SWIFT applications and the service's messaging gateway, that person said.
Banks were also told to review computer logs for digital evidence known as "indicators of compromise," including IP addresses and email addresses linked to recent attacks.
Those indicators include technical details included in reports from several private cyber security firms, including Britain's BAE Systems PLC.
The communication from the Bank of England asked banks to respond by early May and provide details about plans for installing a security update to SWIFT Alliance Access software, according to the person. The messaging group last month released the update and asked members to install by May 16
Meanwhile, Sweden's Riksbank on Wednesday called on all users of the central bank's RIX payments system for large transaction to follow the SWIFT recommendations, a central bank spokesman told Reuters.
Earlier this week, Singapore's central bank asked banks to maintain a high level of security for their critical IT systems following recent cyber attacks using the SWIFT financial messaging system.
General Electric reaffirms forecast despite weaker growth
By Alwyn Scott
NEW YORK, May 18 (Reuters) - General Electric Co expects to hit its 2016 earnings targets despite tough conditions in its oil and gas business, lower industrial margins and slower revenue growth, Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said on Wednesday.
Immelt affirmed the diversified industrial company's target of $1.45 to $1.55 per share this year in a presentation at the Electrical Products Group conference in Florida.
But GE's industrial segment profit growth will fall to 5 percent in coming years from a recent annual average of 6 percent, and industrial profit margins will decline to a range of 14 to 14.5 percent this year from 14.8 percent in 2015, he said.
Excluding the lower-margin Alstom business GE acquired last year, GE's industrial profit margins were 15.3 percent in 2015 and are expected to rise to 15.8 percent this year, GE said.
Asked if margins will fall in 2017 when GE ramps up production of its LEAP aircraft engine with partner Safran SA of France, Immelt said he expected GE to maintain or increase aviation business margins during that period.
"I'd be really horribly disappointed," Immelt said. "The LEAP is a big launch. But you have real adults that are doing this. They're as good a technical, manufacturing, engineering team as I've ever seen."
Immelt saw further pressure from low oil and gas prices, which have depressed sales of GE's prospecting and development equipment. The market likely will stabilize in 2017 before it grows again, Immelt said.
But he said he expected "very strong orders" in the second half of 2016 from other businesses, including power generation, renewable energy and services.
Germany asks Opel for more information in Zafira emissions probe
By Paul Carrel
BERLIN, May 18 (Reuters) - General Motors' Opel division has admitted that its Zafira model has engine software that switches off exhaust treatment systems under certain circumstances but says this is legal, German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt said.
A German investigating committee that met Opel officials on Wednesday asked them to provide it with more information to help with their investigations into carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) from its cars, Dobrindt said after the meeting.
Opel confirmed during the meeting that the exhaust treatment systems shut down under certain speed and air pressure conditions in order to protect the car engine, Dobrindt said.
"The investigating committee has doubts about whether this practice is completely justified by the protection of the engine," he told a news conference after the meeting.
The case is distinct from the emissions case involving German carmaker Volkswagen, which concerned the rigging of exhaust emissions tests as opposed to exhaust treatment systems being shut down under certain conditions.
Last month, VW announced a 4.1 billion euro ($4.60 billion) operating loss for 2015 after making huge provisions to cover the cost of clearing up the scandal.
"The accusations concern control of the emissions treatment with the Opel Zafira relating to the revolutions, the air pressure and the speed," Dobrindt said.
"Opel promised complete cooperation at today's talks," he added, saying this would include access to the relevant software. The Commission gave Opel 14 days to provide it with appropriate technical information.
"We also asked whether there were similar measures or elements with the Astra as we discussed with the Zafira," Dobrindt said, adding that the carmaker had been unable to provide detailed information on the Astra but would do so subsequently.
Opel was summoned to appear before the investigative committee following media reports this month about suspected emissions rigging.
Opel said it was fully cooperating with the checks.
"I reiterate that our engines conform to the law and do not use illegal software," Opel Chief Executive Officer Karl-Thomas Neumann said.
"We at Opel do not use any illegal software. The German government wants to check this. We will fully support this," an Opel statement said. An Opel spokesman declined further comment.
Dobrindt said Wednesday's meeting began with Opel telling the investigators how it interpreted the relevant law.
U.S. embassy limits consular services to Venezuela amid tensions
CARACAS, May 18 (Reuters) - The United States is limiting consular services in Venezuela due to staff shortages at its embassy resulting from the South American nation's refusal to grant visas for staff, the embassy in Caracas said.
As of Wednesday, the embassy will no longer provide appointments for first-time applicants for business or tourist visas, according to a statement on its web site.
"The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry has refused for many months to issue visas for U.S. Embassy personnel, resulting in staff shortages throughout the Embassy and also preventing visits by technicians to maintain, upgrade and repair our consular computer systems," the statement read.
Venezuela has had a tumultuous and often acrimonious relationship with the United States since late leftist Hugo Chavez became president in 1999. The two countries have not shared ambassadorial ties since 2010.
The U.S. embassy limited consular services in a similar move in 2014, citing the expulsion of three consular officer and delays in approving visas to bring in new ones. The services were later restored.
Ties suffered another dip after Washington imposed sanctions on several top Venezuelan officials and declared Venezuela a national security threat last year.
President Nicolas Maduro's government counters it is the United States that has dragged its feet on providing visas for its officials and accuses Washington of seeking to subvert his government.
The Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
News that the United States will reduce visa services will come as a blow to what the embassy said were "hundreds of thousands" of Venezuelan citizens who visit the huge ochre-colored mission every year.
A deepening economic crisis and crime have led many Venezuelans to pack their bags, with the U.S. state of Florida a prime destination. Hundreds of people often queue in front of the hilltop embassy from dawn to seek visas.
Trump threat to renegotiate UN climate deal causes dismay abroad
By Alister Doyle and Valerie Volcovici
OSLO/WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) - Donald Trump's vow to renegotiate the global accord on climate change if elected U.S. president caused dismay abroad on Wednesday, with supporters of the deal saying it was in his interests to embrace a plan that seeks to end dependence on fossil fuels.
U.S. insistence on renegotiation could unravel a 195-nation compromise to curb greenhouse gas emissions reached in Paris in December after fraught talks between nations as different as China, the United States, small island states and OPEC members.
"The Paris Agreement is as much in the United States' interests as any other country," said Tony de Brum, ambassador for climate change of the Marshall Islands who, as his country's foreign minister, helped broker the U.N. deal.
"Seeking to unravel it would not only threaten the U.S. economy, damage its environment, and weaken its security, but it would do a great disservice to all of humanity," he said.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, told Reuters on Tuesday he was "not a big fan" of the climate accord.
He said China and other countries would not stick to the "one-sided" deal, which seeks to transform the world economy from fossil fuels in coming decades to slow global warming.
"I will be looking at that very, very seriously, and at a minimum I will be renegotiating those agreements, at a minimum. And at a maximum I may do something else," he said.
Trump has said in the past he believes global warming is a concept that was invented by China to hurt the competitiveness of U.S. business.
Government officials meeting in Bonn, Germany, from May 16-26 to find ways to implement the deal, raised concerns about Trump's comments but doubted he would take serious action.
That's because the deal imposes no real constraints on the United States - it lets all nations define their own actions for fighting climate change. President Barack Obama has promised to cut emissions by 2025, but his successors will face no penalties if they do not comply, meaning little incentive to challenge the U.N. deal.
Many officials also say it is in U.S. interests to limit greenhouse gas emissions, partly because cuts in the use of fossil fuels also means less air pollution, a big cause of disease. Even many nations traditionally sceptical that man-made greenhouse emissions stoke climate change, like OPEC countries, have gone along with the Paris Agreement.
RENEGOTIATING UNTHINKABLE
George David Banks, a senior climate change adviser to President George W. Bush and a Trump supporter, said Trump could try to force countries like China to pledge deeper emissions cuts by renegotiating the agreement.
That's wishful thinking, according to John Coequyt, director of green group the Sierra Club's international climate campaigns.
"You can't get more than 190 countries to renegotiate a deal they are implementing," he said.
The Paris Agreement will formally enter into force when 55 nations representing at least 55 percent of world greenhouse gas emissions have ratified it. China and the United States, representing 38 percent, say they will join this year.
If the deal enters into force before the next U.S. president takes office next year, it will in theory be harder to pull out. Article 28 says any nation wanting to leave has to wait four years from the date of entry into force - the length of a U.S. presidential term.
Trump's easiest option is to neglect the deal if elected, legal experts say. Trump could ignore the targets set by Obama and promise instead to help developing nations cope with global warming.
The Paris Agreement's flexible approach, allowing all to set their own goals, is radically different from the U.N.'s 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which set mandatory targets for developed nations to cut emissions until 2012. The United States did not take part in Kyoto - President George W. Bush denounced it as an economic straitjacket that, he said, unfairly omitted targets for developing nations led by China and India.
Former French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, who helped broker the Paris deal, said this month that the U.S. election was critical to its future. "If a climate change denier was to be elected, it would threaten dramatically global action against climate disruption," he said.
Blue diamond soars to world record $57.6 mln at Christie's
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, May 18 (Reuters) - The "Oppenheimer Blue", a large and rare diamond, sold for 56.837 million Swiss francs ($57.6 million) at auction on Wednesday, setting a world record for any gem after a dramatic see-saw bidding process, Christie's in Geneva said.
"It's the most expensive jewel ever sold at auction," Christie's spokeswoman Alexandra Kindermann told Reuters.
The previous record was held by the "Blue Moon Diamond", sold at rival Sotheby's for $48.6 million last November. The new Hong Kong owner renamed that stone the "Blue Moon Josephine".
The Oppenheimer, the largest fancy vivid blue diamond ever offered at auction, is a rectangular diamond weighing 14.62 carats that previously belonged to Sir Philip Oppenheimer, who controlled the Diamond Syndicate in London. It had a pre-sale estimate of $38 million-$45 million.
The packed Geneva saleroom broke into applause as Rahul Kadakia, Christie's International Head of Jewellery, brought down the hammer after two phone bidders ended a 20-minute battle. The buyer's identity was not immediately known.
Bidding opened at 30 million Swiss francs for the blue diamond, the top lot at the half-yearly sale, and amid the long pauses between telephone bids, Kadakia quipped: "These stones come along once in a lifetime. We have to wait."
"As head of the London-based Central Selling Organisation for 45 years and serving as Chairman for the Diamond Trading Company branch, Sir Philip oversaw a diamond sales cartel set up by De Beers to keep strict control over the diamond supply worldwide," the Christie's catalogue said.
"Oriental Sunrise", a pair of orange-yellow diamond drop earrings sold for 11.36 million Swiss francs ($11.52 million), a spokeswoman said.
At Sotheby's on Tuesday, a rare pear-shaped vivid pink diamond fetched 30.8 million Swiss francs, purchased by a private Asian collector.
Christie's sale netted a total of 146.8 million Swiss francs ($148.69 million), falling short of Sotheby's $175.2 million.
"Two days of highly successful auctions that momentarily made us forget about a quiet market with their good results, even very good," Eric Valdieu, a Geneva-based jewelry dealer formerly with Christie's, told Reuters.
"Geneva auctions have reached new heights in total value, it's unheard of," he added.
China demands end to U.S. surveillance after aircraft intercept
By Idrees Ali and Megha Rajagopalan
WASHINGTON/BEIJING, May 19 (Reuters) - Beijing demanded an end to U.S. surveillance near China on Thursday after two of its fighter jets carried out what the Pentagon said was an "unsafe" intercept of a U.S. military reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea.
The incident, likely to increase tension in and around the contested waterway, took place in international airspace on Tuesday as the plane carried out "a routine U.S. patrol," a Pentagon statement said.
A U.S. Defense official said two Chinese J-11 fighter jets flew within 50 feet (15 meters) of the U.S. EP-3 aircraft. The official said the incident took place east of Hainan island.
"Initial reports characterized the incident as unsafe," the Pentagon statement said.
"It must be pointed out that U.S. military planes frequently carry out reconnaissance in Chinese coastal waters, seriously endangering Chinese maritime security," China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei Hong told reporters.
"We demand that the United States immediately cease this type of close reconnaissance activity to avoid having this sort of incident happening again," Hong said.
Speaking at a regular press briefing, he described the Pentagon statement as "not true" and said the actions of the Chinese aircraft were "completely in keeping with safety and professional standards."
"They maintained safe behavior and did not engage in any dangerous action," Hong said.
The encounter comes a week after China scrambled fighter jets as a U.S. Navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea.
Another Chinese intercept took place in 2014 when a Chinese fighter pilot flew acrobatic maneuvers around a U.S. spy plane.
The intercept occurred days before President Barack Obama travels to parts of Asia from May 21-28, including a Group of Seven summit in Japan and his first trip to Vietnam.
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.
Washington has accused Beijing of militarizing the South China Sea after creating artificial islands, while Beijing, in turn, has criticized increased U.S. naval patrols and exercises in Asia.
The Pentagon statement said the Department of Defense was addressing the issue through military and diplomatic channels.
China's Defense Ministry said in a fax that it was looking into reports on the incident.
"DANGEROUS INTERCEPTS"
In 2015, the United States and China announced agreements on a military hotline and rules of behavior to govern air-to-air encounters called the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES).
"This is exactly the type of irresponsible and dangerous intercepts that the air-to-air annex to CUES is supposed to prevent," said Greg Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank.
Poling said either some part of China's air force "hadn't gotten the message," or it was meant as a signal of displeasure with recent U.S. freedom of navigation actions in the South China Sea.
"If the latter, it would be very disappointing to find China sacrificing the CUES annex for political gamesmanship."
Zhang Baohui, a security expert at Hong Kong's Lingnan University, said he believed the encounter highlighted the limitation of CUES, and shows that Chinese pilots would still fly close to U.S. surveillance planes if needed.
"Frankly, we're always going to see these kinds of incidents as China will always put the priority on national security over something like CUES whenever it feels its interests are directly threatened," he said.
The encounter took place in international airspace about 100 nautical miles south of mainland China and about 50 nautical miles east of Hainan island, a Pentagon spokesman said in a statement issued later on Thursday.
Regional military attaches and experts say the southern Chinese coast is a military area of increasing sensitivity for Beijing.
Its submarine bases on Hainan are home to an expanding fleet of nuclear-armed submarines and a big target for on-going Western surveillance operations.
The Guangdong coast is also believed to be home to some of China's most advanced missiles, including the DF-21D anti-ship weapon.
The Pentagon last month called on China to reaffirm it has no plans to deploy military aircraft in the Spratly Islands after China used a military plane to evacuate sick workers from Fiery Cross Reef, where it has built a 9,800-foot (3,000 meter) runway.
In April 2001, an intercept of a U.S. spy plane by a Chinese fighter jet resulted in a collision that killed the Chinese pilot and forced the American plane to make an emergency landing at a base on Hainan.
The 24 U.S. air crew members were held for 11 days until Washington apologized for the incident. That encounter soured U.S.-Chinese relations in the early days of President George W. Bush's first administration.
Last month, the Pentagon said that Russia had intercepted a U.S. Air Force aircraft over the Baltic Sea in an "unsafe and unprofessional" way.
U.S. trade panel says TPP would have small positive effect on growth
By David Lawder
WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. International Trade Commission said on Wednesday that the sweeping pan-Pacific trade deal President Barack Obama wants Congress to approve before he leaves office would likely have only a small positive effect on U.S. growth.
The influential trade panel said in a new analysis that gross domestic product would be $42.7 billion higher in 2032 with the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership in place than without it, about a 0.15 percentage-point gain.
The increased output would translate to about 128,000 more jobs by 2032, the ITC said. Recent U.S. job gains have averaged 200,000 per month, according to Labor Department data.
U.S. real annual income would be $57.3 billion, or 0.23 percent, higher with TPP than without it in 2032. A TPP analysis by the Peterson Institute for International Economics in January estimated an income gain of $131 billion by 2030.
While many sectors would see mild positive benefits, including agriculture and services, output in the politically sensitive manufacturing sector would be $11.2 billion lower with TPP than without it in 2032, with employment down 0.2 percent. Vehicle production would gain, but auto parts, textiles and chemicals would see reductions, the ITC said.
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has railed against the more than two-decade-old North American Free Trade Agreement as "destroying" U.S. manufacturing jobs and has vowed to kill TPP if elected. Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee, has said she wants to renegotiate the pact to include stronger curbs on currency manipulation.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said the ITC report would be "one data point among many" that members of Congress will consider in deciding how to vote on the trade deal.
"Every major study has said that TPP will benefit the American economy," Froman told reporters on a conference call.
House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady said he would not proceed with a vote until the Obama administration addresses members' concerns, including plans for member countries to implement the deal's obligations to ensure compliance.
Froman said he was working with partner countries on such plans.
The ITC report found that U.S. exports to TPP partner countries in 2032 would be $57.2 billion higher with the deal in force, while imports from these countries would be $47.5 billion higher.
But the report, which uses a forecasting model that assumes the U.S. trade deficit will grow at the same rate as GDP, estimates that the global U.S. trade deficit in 2032 would be $21.7 billion higher with TPP than without it.
Former Punjab chief minister, Captain Amarinder Singh, now leading Punjab Congress for the Assembly election to be held early 2017, and the well-known political strategist Prashant Kishor, who is guiding the party's fortune, are both sitting on a hat-trick. The dice has been rolled for only one of them to score the critical hat-trick.
For Prashant, who is credited with the victory of Narendra Modi in 2014 Lok Sabha elections and that of Nitish Kumar in Bihar 2015 Assembly elections, another victory in Punjab would notch up a hat-trick of success. Amarinder, on the other hand, had led Congress to two successive defeats and another defeat would mean a dubious hat-trick.
Prashant Kishor has realised that managing Congress is a different ballgame than managing Nitish Kumar.
Amarinder was so enamoured with the skills of Prashant that not only did he rope him in for Punjab elections but also convinced Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to entrust him with the responsibility in the critical Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections due in 2017. Prashant is believed to have already started strategising for Uttar Pradesh.
Prashant has also put in place a plan of action for Punjab Congress and has initiated programmes like "Coffee with Captain" and "Punjab da Captain" to drum up support for the party. He and his team have been conducting a constituency-wise survey and have planned a detailed strategy to plot a much-needed victory for Congress.
However, here lies the rub: Cracks are already visible with Amarinder not inclined to blindly follow the diktat of Prashant and his team. The ace strategist and his team too appear to have realised that managing Congress is a different ball game than managing the all-powerful Modi and Nitish-Lalu combine.
A major point of disagreement between Amarinder and Prashant recently was the decision of the former maharaja to embark on a month-long tour of North America and Canada purportedly to woo Non Resident Indians (NRIs). Amarinder, and indeed top leaders of all major political parties in Punjab, have been undertaking such tours even in the past, although, the impact of such visits is anybody's guess.
Political leaders think that even if a few NRIs participate in actual polling, they exercise a fair degree of influence on the voters from their villages. This is mainly because they had either helped other villagers immigrate or invested in the village.
The consensus, however, is that the NRIs are useful for funding the election campaign. In return, NRIs get a kick out of the clout they might gain by being seen close to top political leaders.
Prashant Kishor's team seems to think otherwise. Though neither Prashant nor his team members have said it on record, it is a well-known fact in Punjab that they are totally opposed to wooing NRIs. They think that their support doesn't mean much and the leaders go abroad only to have a good time.
They believe that the support of NRIs is grossly hyped. "If it was true, why had Modi not gone abroad to seek support of Gujarati NRIs, or Kerala politicians gone to the UAE to woo NRIs from that state," pointed out a member of Prashant's team on condition of anonymity.
The absence of the "face" of Congress' in Punjab for such a long time was quite a setback for the planned campaign during the period. It is believed that Prashant insisted that Amarinder curtail the visit and he finally agreed to cut it from four to three weeks. Prashant's team was still not happy, but they appear to have reconciled.
Another instance of difference of opinion and approach between the two came when Prashant, on his own, met two senior Congress leaders who had been expelled from the party recently for anti-party activities, and for openly criticising Amarinder.
The two leaders, former MP Jagmeet Brar, and former deputy speaker of Vidhan Sabha Bir Devinder Singh had often been taking on Amarinder Singh. After talking to the party high command, Captain had recently expelled both from the party. While Amarinder was abroad, Prashant attempted to mend fences with the two and sought to bring them back into the party fold in his attempt at reconciliation with the dissidents.
Amarinder reacted sharply to this and declared that there was no way the two leaders can be taken back into the Congress. He also criticised Prashant for meeting the two without taking him into confidence. Later, when his anger was reported by a section of media, he tweeted the there were "no differences" between him and Kishor, virtually admitting to the differences.
Amarinder also spoke to the party high command regarding the matter. This was evident when Congress general secretary in charge for Punjab, Shakeel Ahmed said that Prashant had "no role in organisational matters and will have no role in distribution of tickets".
There are speculations that Prashant was behind the jumbo list of office-bearers recently announced by the state Congress chief. The office-bearers include a record 36 vice-presidents and 96 general secretaries in the 266 member state executive of the party. Obviously the idea was to please everyone but the moot point is whether in this attempt they may have pleased none.
Last month, I read an interesting story about Anders Behring Breivik, the man responsible for the mass killing of 69 people in Norway, who won a case against the State for denying him human rights. Breivik argued that he was subjected to solitary confinement which breached the European convention on human rights. Furthermore, he listed the quality of the prison food - including microwaved meals that he described as "worse than water-boarding" - and having to eat with plastic cutlery.
I had completely forgotten about the incident, but my memory was refreshed last week when, in a reversal from its earlier stand, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) gave a clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, an accused in the 2006 Malegaon blasts case.
In its defence, NIA DG Sharad Kumar said, "There was insufficient evidence against Sadhvi Pragya." Of course, the U-turn in the NIA's decision has worried many as they suspect that the ruling BJP is going soft on saffron terror suspects - Malegaon as well as Samjhauta blasts accused, which was confirmed by Rohini Salian, a public prosecutor who was taken off the cases last year.
The bigger worry for me, however, is the silence of human rights groups, civil society members and activists on the alleged human rights violations and torture which Thakur was subjected to, during her detention in jail.
In 2014, Thakur recorded a video with the National Human Rights Commission, in which she mentioned that the Maharashtra police beat her up with leather belts through the night, starved her for 24 days straight, gave her electric shocks, verbally abused her and made her listen to pornographic recordings in the company of male undertrials.
"There were five to six policemen whose job was to abuse me. They would beat me round the clock, night and day, to keep me awake. The policemen who were given the job of beating me would change because they would get tired. But my beatings would not stop," Thakur had said.
She even accused the police of calling her a prostitute, drawing unfavourable links to a spiritual guru she considered a father-figure, with an objective to extract a confessional statement. Furthermore, she is said to be suffering from breast cancer and despite her repeated bail pleas for getting treatment, it wasn't granted.
Post Thakur's release recently, her sister had also raised similar concerns and requested for a probe.
Now compare Sadhvi Pragya to Yakub Memon, who was convicted for 1993 Mumbai blasts. His death sentence sparked outrage, with several prominent lawyers and activists holding candlelight marches, and even leading to a midnight hearing of the Supreme Court - which was ultimately granted - for a mercy appeal.
While Thakur may or may not be responsible for the blasts, and BJP may or may not be using their influence to exonerate Hindu terror convicts, the fact remains that every citizen, regardless of the crime he or she has committed, is entitled to basic human rights under Indian laws and the Constitution.
We should all be proud of the country which gave Ajmal Kasab, the terrorist who killed Hemant Karkare and many others during Mumbai 26/11 terror attack, a fair trial.
No noted activist or lawyer has publicly condemned the torture. There weren't any op-eds or explainers either, arguing that Thakur should not have been subjected to torture. Ever since Thakur was arrested, there have been some small campaigns and events by right-wing activists and groups (mostly online), which advocated for her bail and spoke out against the torture, but failed to find support of any prominent voice.
Apart from Thakur, nine Muslim men who were arrested by the Maharashtra ATS post the blasts, were acquitted by the court as well. They spent more than five years in jail but got bail in 2011 when NIA took over the investigation.
Two years back, the NIA had declared that there was no evidence against them. Post their release, several journalists tweeted about the injustice meted out to them. Hindustan Times had an editorial titled "How Malegaon's innocent terrorists lost 10 years of their lives", which included stories on their torture. One narrated an ordeal of how someone's nails were pulled out and two lit cigarettes were stuffed into the nostrils. But there was no such editorial which highlighted and condemned Thakur's time in jail.
Last week, a report was released by the National Law University, Delhi which focused on death penalty convicts, their families, case experiences and their lives in jail. It highlighted revolting revelations of convicts who were reportedly tortured by officers - water boarding, tied to a table with a venomous snake left in the room, inserting bottles in anus, among others. The report's findings generated much outrage and debate among the left-liberal fraternity leading to conversations and admonition of our judicial system.
The ideological bias is evident.
In Thakur's case, many of them discussed and criticised the U-turn of the NIA in the case, but not a single one raised the issue of human rights violation in jail. Her case is a classic example of how we as a nation decide our stand on human rights based on ideology.
However, the right-wing is equally to blame here.
Recently, Kanchan Gupta, a right-leaning journalist tweeted as to how many prominent right-wing voices refused to support a march/campaign which advocated for Thakur's release/justice, fearing that their reputation may get hurt.
Why is Sadhvi Pragya any different from Yakub Memon? Does the religion and ideology of the accused decide our stand on human rights? Why did nobody fight for Sadhvi Pragya despite her repeated claims of being abused and tortured illegally?
Unfortunately, the BJP, which claims itself to be the saviour of Hindus, and time and again reminds us of our nationalism, hasn't pushed for a probe into the grave allegations, and has chosen to keep mum on the issue
MISSOULA Gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte and Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Elsie Arntzen unveiled a four-pronged education initiative on Tuesday that centered on expanding computer science classes to every Montana high school.
After touring Missoula classrooms that incorporate technology, the Republicans headed to Kalispell to announce their joint proposal at Depot Park. They suggested that computer science should qualify as a core science course toward meeting graduation requirements, that coding classes likewise should fulfill foreign language requirements and that state colleges should offer a computer science teaching certificate so that more instructors can be trained. They also suggested leveraging the existing Montana Digital Academy to bring courses to more schools.
Gianforte, an entrepreneur who became a millionaire after selling his Bozeman-based tech company to Oracle for $1.8 billion in 2011, called the initiative common-sense policy changes that fit into the existing system.
I firmly believe that computers are here to stay, and we have to teach our young people not just how to use technology but how to author technology, because its the authoring thats critically important so that they can be prepared for the jobs of the future, he said at Hellgate Elementary in Missoula on Tuesday morning. Computers are infiltrating every single industry, from agriculture to manufacturing, and we certainly have a burgeoning high-tech sector in the state.
Arntzen is a state senator and elementary school teacher in Billings. She's running against Helena teacher and Democrat Melissa Romano for the Office of Public Instruction seat.
As educators, its important for us to recognize that the needs of our students and teachers change as the economy and technology changes, Arntzen said in a campaign statement. The fact is that our students need computer skills if they are going to succeed in the 21st century economy. Computer science is now an important part of a well-rounded education.
The announcement was not a surprise for those following Gianfortes campaign. At events he often references his philanthropic work to improve computer science education, his leadership on the board of Bozemans private Christian Petra Academy or the success of RightNow, the technology company he founded with his wife.
Throughout his campaign, Gianforte has focused his education comments on giving students the skills they need to stay in Montana after graduation and to bring back those who have left. He has not yet announced any other formal education policy proposals nor provided detailed answers about how he might manage school funding and recruitment issues that have been the top focus of education advocacy groups during the legislative interim. Gianforte often notes that he is still seeking input from around the state and that he would work with legislators to find solutions if elected.
Democrats have argued that Gianforte is not a friend of public education, pointing to his volunteer and charitable support of Christian academies, as well as advocacy arguing that publicly supported scholarships and vouchers should help students attend private schools.
Jason Pitt, spokesman for campaigns of Montana Democrats, said in a statement that Gianforte's proposal to lower income tax rates would "slash school funding back to the 20th century" and noted that Gov. Steve Bullock was among dozens of state and technology leaders who signed a petition in April that called on Congress to expand funding for computer science education.
Romano said in a written statement that Montana schools "need to be on the cutting edge in all subject areas." She argued that Arntzen "has consistently voted to take away our children's education funding and dismantle public schools."
The broad swipe echoed criticisms from the state teacher's union, which has given Arntzen a low score for her voting recording. Among other issues, the group has dinged Arntzen for opposing a bill to raise the mandatory school enrollment age to 18 and for supporting a bill later vetoed by the governor that would have used state and local funding to provide tuition vouchers for students to attend private schools.
During a telephone town hall Monday night, Gianforte said teachers need more resources, and students need more avenues to good-paying jobs feeding into his campaign last summer to bring high-salary jobs to the state through telecommuting.
Gianforte said the initiative announced Tuesday wouldnt be cost-prohibitive. He noted that CodeMontana, which develops computer science curricula for schools, cost only tens of thousands of dollars to launch.
It just didnt cost that much money, so I dont think these proposals require a lot of resources, he said. We do need to fund it; Im not saying were not going to fund it.
He also suggested that until more teachers are trained in computer science that the Digital Academy should expand to add more computer science courses, which are offered to students in all districts in the state via an online platform.
Executive Director Bob Currie said the academy already has been looking at ways to expand those types of course offerings.
He noted that web design, which includes some coding instruction, was one of the first classes offered when the academy launched in 2010. In 2014, they started offering a more technical computer science course designed in partnership with Montana State Universitys program.
Were poised to expand those courses further as students identify that as something of interest, he said, noting that to-date the computer science class has not seen enough demand to expand beyond one 25-student section.
Currie said the academy has not yet talked with Gianforte or Arntzen about their ideas for an academy expansion, but noted that the program is designed to supplement classes offered in-person by districts. It does not have the capacity to offer whole programs for districts, which would teach all classes for all students in a particular subject area, he said.
Some of the smallest districts with graduating classes of 20 or fewer might use the academy as their only source of foreign language instruction, for example, while Currie said larger districts might enroll a handful of students in that same class to offer them scheduling flexibility. Academy teachers also teach traditional classes at dozens of districts, and the program is not designed to operate as a fully online school with its own staff, Currie said.
Thats an entirely different model than we have now, he said, noting that such an idea differs from all discussions to-date with the Office of Public Instruction and other state leaders. If their proposal is something that would really, really expand enrollment exponentially then obviously we would want to be involved in planning at the early stages because that isnt what we do right now.
During the tour of Hellgate, Gianforte and Arntzen saw examples of how some teachers already incorporate technology and computer science curriculum into their lessons.
The fifth-grade classes of teachers David Bixby and Erin Ellis demonstrated how they use iPads in their daily education, from attendance to choosing school lunch to math lessons.
They headed to Jamie Blixt's broadcasting class at the middle school, where students learn about journalism, how to shoot video and use the industry-standard Adobe Creative Suite software. The candidates also watched Tim Mosbacher's programming class, where students were putting the finishing touches on video games.
"If you look at the tradition of education, where we've been, where we are, where we're going to go, they have all of that here," Arntzen said of Hellgate.
Gianforte praised the programming course as an example of the direction more Montana schools should take.
Theres a distinction between the use of technology versus authoring technology, he said. We need to do both, but were light right now on the authoring of technology.
When the Montana Medical Marijuana Act passed in 2004 most Montanans thought medical marijuana would have a positive impact on people who needed it for medical purposes in Montana. I, and 60 percent of Montana voters, thought that the ensuing regulations would ensure that patients who need marijuana as part of their treatment would get it after it had been tested, measured, prescribed and monitored by physicians and pharmacists as is normal medical protocol.
Its not.
In fact, the green card system does not safely provide medical marijuana for those who could possibly benefit from it.
The Safe Montana I-176 fight is not necessarily about medical marijuana. It is about fighting all illegal drugs and the corruption that profits from the illegitimate green card system that allows drug abusers to maintain the false pretense that they are taking it for medical purposes. We have not encountered a medical professional at a hospital, a law enforcement officer, or a school administrator who does not want to get marijuana shops out of Montana. Medical professionals dont like the fact that the "medicine" that patients are getting is not controlled, tested, or monitored, and it does not have a warning label, let alone that most MM medicine is smoked. Law enforcement officers are seeing a surge in traffic accidents due to the driver being under the influence of marijuana now that they are testing for it at the scene of the accident. Teachers have seen a rise in kids who are high in school because they have access to their familys medical marijuana.
Colorado and Washington have become examples that there are severe social consequences for those states that buy into the fallacy that marijuana is safe and therefore should be taxed and legal. Crime rates, emergency room visits, unemployment and homelessness, and even marijuana-related deaths have risen in those states.
13,000 green cards
Montana should not be funding infrastructure or anything else on the destruction of our children and families. We have a responsibility to ensure that our children are healthy and motivated not high and without ambition. State and local funding should come from a tax revenue source that is based on a strong economy because people are educated and gainfully employed, not strung out.
According to Montanas own March registry, there are almost 14,000 green card holders and 500 providers. Almost 2,500 growers and users can have 16 plants with four of them being mature at any one time. Each mature plant can produce up to one pound of marijuana, which sells on the market for around $2,000 wholesale or $4,000 retail. Approximately 63 percent of the patients use it for chronic pain. There are only 200 physicians out of 2,300 in the state who have approved medical marijuana cards. However, only three in-state traveling doctors process almost 10,000 green cards or almost 70 percent of the patients. There is a lot of marijuana in the system that is not monitored, there are a lot of patients who have no chance of being monitored and there are a few doctors who are getting rich filling out green cards because they are not being monitored either.
Let us drug test
Medical treatment should be evidence-based and determined by professionals and not delivered by green card providers that are on the drug and truly only want it legalized. Let us drug test the providers. It should not be authorized by a ballot initiative.
Safe Montana does not deny that patients can benefit from a medicinal marijuana program when it is tested, measured, prescribed, monitored and registered in the states pain pill registry. We strongly support the use of FDA approved medicinal marijuana key ingredients such as Marinol (THC), Cesamet (THC in pill form), and Sativex (Cannabis THC and CBD in liquid form for seizure relief for MS and epilepsy patients.) We are not in favor of putting marijuana, a harmful illegal drug, on Schedule 2 of the Controlled Substance Act; it needs to stay on Schedule 1.
Safe Montana has been in conversations with Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Ryan Zinke to encourage them to help fast track these possible medicinal marijuana viable options through the FDA. This proposed solution allows veterans and all Americans in all 50 states would have access to the Schedule 2 medical marijuana products and it would be paid for by insurance.
It is time to for the citizens of Montana to ensure that we make every responsible effort to ensure that our families are safe, happy, healthy and motivated.
CASPER, Wyo. If there is a war on coal, Casper was its battlefield Tuesday. The combatants some 300 miners and ranchers, state politicians and environmentalists descended on the Casper Events Center for the first of six public meetings on the future of the federal coal program.
They came clad in their messages. Cloud Peak Energy miners, bused in from Gillette, wore Friends of Coal stickers over their hearts. An organizer for the Powder River Basin Resource Council sported a No Coal Loopholes sticker. Speakers framed their messages in fighting, and sometimes apocalyptic terms.
The faceless, all-powerful government agencies and their environmentalist masters are not immortal, so lets ride out and beat them, bellowed Travis Deti, associate director of the Wyoming Mining Association, at a pro-coal rally preceding the event.
Richard Reavey, a lobbyist at Cloud Peak Energy, likened the gathering to a Soviet show trial, one where the outcome was predetermined.
All hands on deck, were needed to address the coming climate crisis, warned Jeremy Nichols of WildEarth Guardians.
The official matter at hand was more mundane. Scoping, to use the U.S. Department of Interior term, is the process of determining the outline of an upcoming environmental study. Public comment is accepted to help define those terms.
But the bellicose language underlined the stakes involved in Interiors study of the federal coal program. Roughly 40 percent of American coal is mined on federal land, the vast majority of it in Wyoming, meaning the governments study has the power to reshape the U.S. coal industry. The analysis will examine the climate impact of burning coal mined on public land and determine how much coal companies should pay in royalties.
The Interiors study unfolds against the backdrop of plummeting coal production and mounting concerns over climate change. Production from mines in Wyomings Powder River Basin, where the majority of mining operations are centered, has fallen by a third in the first quarter of 2016, as a surplus of coal, cheap natural gas and new environmental regulations have combined to drive down production.
A halt to new coal leases has been called while the analysis is completed. It is expected to take three years. The moratorium is unlikely to change daily mining operations. Coal companies generally maintain 20 years of unmined reserves, and dire market conditions meant most mining firms had already abandoned plans for new leases.
At the same time, much of the world has begun to shift away from coal. Last April was the warmest on record, according to NASA, the seventh consecutive month to break global temperature records. Some 175 nations signed a climate accord in Paris earlier this year seeking to reduce global greenhouse gases. China has halted plans for some 200 gigawatts of new coal power, enough to power Great Britain, which, in 2015, closed its last deep-pit coal mine. President Barack Obama, for his part, has pledged to cut carbon emissions by a third in the next 14 years through his proposed Clean Power Plan.
Duane Keown, a professor emeritus of science education at the University of Wyoming, addressed those concerns in his comments to federal officials. The planets climate has always changed. But where it once took millennia, carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired plants has accelerated the shift to a matter of centuries, he said.
The pica, the pollinators of food crops, do not have time to adjust, nor do we, Keown said.
But in a state where the coal industry forms the bedrock of the economy, his was very much a minority view. The mass layoffs at Wyomings two largest mines lingered over many speakers remarks. Many spoke of the benefit of high-paying mining jobs and low-cost electricity.
After about two hours of public comment, Gov. Matt Mead took the stage. If climate change is the threat environmentalists and the president claim it is, a national effort akin to the mobilization seen in World War II is needed, the governor argued.
This administration is pursuing an unrealistic vision of a world without coal. Instead they should pursue a realistic vision that recognizes coals place in the world, and should invest to make it better, Mead said. He concluded: Coal supports Wyoming, Wyoming supports coal. Coal supports the United States, the United States should too support coal.
The majority of the crowd then stood and, though they had been instructed not to clap or boo at any speaker, gave the governor a standing ovation.
The close-knit community of Yellowstone National Parks staff suffered an emotional blow this week after public affairs specialist Amy Black Bartlett died on Sunday, only days after giving birth to her third child.
She was one of those people who touched so many people who protect and serve Yellowstone, said Al Nash, her former colleague in the public affairs office. She was truly an engaged and caring person.
Bartlett, 41, had been employed in Yellowstone for 15 years, starting out as a location manager for a concessioner in Mammoth Hot Springs before signing on with the Park Service where she worked a variety of jobs ranging from biological science technician, park ranger, dispatcher and law enforcement ranger. She met her husband, Jerry who is also employed by the Park Service while working in the dispatch center.
In 2012, Bartlett was hired as a public affairs assistant where she often interacted with local, national and international reporters as they contacted her for more information on Yellowstones widespread topics everything from tourists gored by bison to the always-circulating theories that the Yellowstone supervolcano was about to erupt.
Bartlett had recently taken a leave of absence because of her pregnancy. She gave birth to a healthy girl, her third child, last week. Bartlett had returned to her Corwin Springs-area home when she suffered a medical emergency early Sunday morning. An ambulance crew and advanced life support providers from the park responded to the emergency.
The Gallatin County Coroners Office has not released a cause of death. A spokesman said the medical examiners were still working on the case, which is a very complicated medical issue.
Because she had such a breadth of experience, that coupled with her youth, really struck us so hard with her passing, Nash said.
The park is making grief counselors available to its staff.
I know you all join me in sending our sincerest condolences to Jerry and the entire Bartlett family, park Superintendent Dan Wenk wrote in an email. Over the coming days, weeks, and months, I have no doubt that this community will come together to offer support for Jerry and his children.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held for Bartlett on Friday at 6 p.m. at The Chapel at Mammoth Hot Springs. A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Gardiner High School Gym. Arrangements are being made by Franzen-Davis Funeral Home and Crematory in Livingston.
Donations to the family may be made online at GoFundMe. There has also been a Bartlett family fund set up at First Interstate Bank. Donations can be mailed to P.O. Box 810, Gardiner, MT 59030 or dropped off at the bank. For more information phone 406-848-7474.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. A 21-year-old man suspected of murder who led authorities on a five-day multistate manhunt that ended on the Wyoming-Nebraska border will be headed back to South Dakota after waiving his right to an extradition hearing.
Jared Jerome Stone's criminal case in Wyoming has been resolved after he pleaded no contest to driving while impaired and eluding. The remaining Wyoming charges were dismissed by prosecutors.
Stone is accused of killing 28-year-old Baptiste White Eyes on April 22 outside of a Sioux Falls casino. He was arrested on April 27 following the high-speed chase.
Minnehaha County State's Attorney Aaron McGowan says he expects Stone to be returned to South Dakota within a week or so. A court date has not yet been set.
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National research has shown that most employers are reluctant to hire applicants with criminal records but one group in Bismarck-Mandan is aiming to give those people a place to start.
RENEW is a project by members of this years Leadership Bismarck-Mandan class at the Bismarck-Mandan Chamber of Commerce. The project is creating a guide booklet for those recently released from incarceration and is partnering with Ministry on the Margins to distribute it.
The booklet would serve as a tool to solve two problems: helping those with a criminal history find work and giving an untapped workforce to those employers willing to look past a criminal record.
RENEW project member Leslie Pearcy said the North Dakota Department of Corrections released 1,389 people from custody last year. In Burleigh and Morton counties, there are more than 2,000 open jobs, quite a few of them in the retail, hospitality and food service industries.
These are gaps that can be filled, said project member Melissa Yackley, as long as employers can consider the person over the criminal label and be open to interviewing them.
Many of those attending the RENEW presentation were excited to hear that the booklet will come with a list of employers willing to hire those with a criminal record. Some of those employers include Dans Supermarket, Knife River, McDonalds, Menards, Northwest Contracting, Open Road Honda, Panera, the Ramkota Hotel and Runnings.
Its not a guarantee (of a job), but its a starting point, Yackley said.
Project members said there were also other companies that did not wish to be published or that will consider those with a criminal record except for certain crimes. That extended list will be given to Ministry on the Margins, so when the organization has a client that may qualify for a job with those other employers, that client can be referred.
The project members also said there are many services available in the community, such as counseling, housing, transportation, food pantries and job interview training, but the organizations that provide those services may not always work together. The booklet puts all of the information in one place.
The 24-page booklet also includes a sample application page, which users can take with them to help track work history and other information needed when filling out job applications; a budget worksheet to manage finances after getting a job; bus fare and scheduling information, including information about the Guaranteed Ride taxi voucher program for if they work a late shift after the buses stop running; and a weekly schedule of soup kitchens and food pantries.
In about three weeks, the project members will give 200 paper copies and a digital copy of the booklet to Ministry on the Margins. The group is also looking for other partners willing to distribute the material.
The project members said the partnership with Ministry on the Margins works well because it guarantees those people receiving the booklet are also receiving counseling and have a support system. Ministry on the Margins also has the benefit of being in contact with many of its clients who are still incarcerated, so the relationship is built before the client is released.
The team is also working with the Central Dakota Human Resource Association to help spread news of the projects progress and results, said team member Jason Sutheimer. CDHRA has 200 member companies that could benefit from the project.
READ FULL LEAKED SERCO SOAMES TO PM LETTER HERE
Commenting on the leaked letter from the head of Serco to David Cameron, Michael Geoghegan (ex CEO of HSBC) said:
Its laughable, and very telling, that No10 wont comment on this correspondence.
The reality is that the whole re-negotiation of the U.K relationship with Europe on which this government won the general election is beginning to show all the hallmarks of a complete sham.
All of Europe knows it, and for the Prime Minister to continue to pretend otherwise runs the risk that the British People will lose confidence in the integrity of this government. I know from my time in the city that there is extreme pressure from the establishment to stay quiet on these occasions but there is a limit.
The reality is the the CEOs of the banks know all too well that the weakness of Sterling has nothing to do with Brexit and all to do with the financial markets lack of confidence in investing in UK based on the Governments track record to date.The Governor may well be right, interests rates may well go up but not because of Brexit but because as the Governor has said before UK relies on foreigners to fund its ever increasing debts and they already dont like the trends they are seeing in the economy and they certainly wont like now the slightest whiff of duplicity. For this reason alone it is vital that the Prime Minister comes completely clean and explains whether he did or did not negotiate in the true negotiating commitments that he got elected on.
VERMONT - USA - Barack Obama's campaign may have taken severe hits in Texas and Ohio, but now after being smeared by the Clintons with dubious photo releases he has shown - he too can play dirty.
After being smeared by the Clintons release of a photo showing a turban headed Obama, white American voters have deserted the Obama vote in droves.
Obamas campaigners are now fighting back by releasing an old photo of Hillary from the 1970s.
The photo was taken in a Berkeley California nudist camp early in 1973 when Hillary and Bill had just started to live together during their time at law school.
How the Obama camp came across the picture is a mystery, however this photograph is probably one of many in a series.
This is truly an incredible find from the Obama team. We have heard that they even have footage of the couple playing ping pong naked in the nudist camp, a member of the McCain campaign team told the Daily Squib last night.
Hillary is shown in a typical hippy chick pose with dark brown hair and a generous smattering of hair under her armpits as was customary in those far flung days. She even has a small tattoo on her chest with some sort of symbol.
With the release of the topless photos of Hillary, the Barack Obama crew are hoping to destabilise the Clinton confidence. This may however backfire because the pictures show that Hillary is all woman and has a nice pair of jugs and a hot sassy body. Hell id even do her but id get her to shave first and would have to bag her, exclaimed political talkshow host Ed Blitzer Wurst on his show for Columbus Ohio station WVZX.
The election primaries are heating up for the Democrats and Hillary Clinton is so confident of a win that the Clinton camp celebrated as if they had won the entire contest last night.
Confetti rained down on Mrs Clinton as she told supporters: Were going strong and were going all the way.
BRUSSELS - Belgium - If you vote remain in EU, you vote for ISIS to attack Britain. David Cameron is irresponsible to be leading the remain camp and is putting Britain's people in needless danger.
Already, according to the EUs own Frontex group, ISIS have infiltrated the EUs celebrated Schengen zone. There are an estimated 5,000 Jihadi cells waiting within Europe right now, and things are going to get a lot worse thanks to the caught-in-the-headlights EU leaders who are dismissing the danger just to keep the failed project limping along.
EU Free Movement Zone For Terrorists
What the EU is doing, is endangering its own citizens lives so that they can keep their little vanity project up and running, and because of this, there will inevitably be further attacks like Paris and Brussels.
The Syrian crisis has been utilised by Jihadis using false passports and documents to move people into the EU. Once in at any port of entry, they have free movement to any city within Europe and possibly Britain. The Paris attacks were proof of this when forged documents from Syria were found on the attackers.
Dodgy Dave
The PM, David Cameron is knowingly misleading the British public when he says that leaving the EU will encourage ISIS, on the contrary, remaining in the EU will inevitably lead to further closer union in the EU for Britain, as well as adopting the euro currency, Britain will have to completely open the borders of the UK and join Schengen fully. This will increase danger to the UK and its citizens ten fold, as well as increase gun smuggling and weapons through Britains porous borders. With free visa travel from Turkeys borders to the UK, the terrorists will flow in from the war zones.
Even Remains Theresa May has questioned Camerons reckless disregard for security.
What the Remain camp wants is the abolishment of Britains borders completely, flooding Britain with migrants at a pace never before witnessed. This action alone, is probably a terrorists dream, and David Cameron knows it, he is willingly endangering the lives of UK citizens, purely for his EU centric dodgy deals with corrupt business owners.
If you vote remain in EU, you not only sell out Britain but you open the country up to more terrorism from the EUs porous borders. ISIS will champion you for voting to remain in the EU because it will make it easier for them to attack Britain, especially after all control of our country has been ceded to Brussels. Slow to act in any emergency situation, Brussels is a danger to itself, as much as ISIS is a danger to the EU.
LONDON - England - Iain Duncan Smith has commented on the latest employment figures published today by the Office of National Statistics.
Commenting on the publication of the latest UK Labour Market statistics by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Iain Duncan Smith MP said:
Our labour market is thriving, but its notable that more than three quarters of the rise in employment over the last year has come from people born abroad.
The truth is that it is Brits on low pay and those out of work who feel the consequences of uncontrolled migration. They are forced to compete with millions of people from abroad for jobs, and they suffer downward pressure on their wages.
The only way to take back control of our borders, economy and democracy is to Vote Leave on 23 June. That way we can have a fair migration policy that allows us to bring in the skills we need while investing in home-grown talent. A Vote to Leave also means we can take back control of the 350 million we hand to Brussels every week, and spend it on our priorities instead.
The number of EU nationals working in the UK has increased by 224,001 in the last year alone, the equivalent of a city the size of Portsmouth.
The figures show that the number of EU nationals working in the UK in the first quarter of 2016 was 2,145,686. This is an increase of 93,726 from the last quarter of 2015 and an increase of 224,001 from a year ago. The annual increase is the equivalent of a city the size of Portsmouth.
The number of EU citizens working in the UK is up from 1,091,731 from the first quarter of 2010, an increase of 1,053,955 (ONS, 18 May 2016, link). This is the equivalent of a city the size of Birmingham.
The rate at which EU citizens are being added to the workforce is increasing. Between the first quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013, just 24,291 EU citizens were added to the workforce.
As the ONS states the number of non-UK nationals from outside the EU working in the UK has been broadly flat but the number of non-UK nationals from EU countries working in the UK has continued to increase.
Most new jobs in the last year went to EU nationals. The ONS explicitly states this is linked to the EU accessions.
The ONS states that in the last year, UK nationals working in the UK increased by 185,000 to 28.15 million non-UK nationals working in the UK increased by 229,000 to 3.34 million.
This means that 55.3% of new jobs went to non-UK nationals. The overwhelming majority of the increase was due to EU citizens. 54% of the total increase was due to EU citizens.
The ONS states that Looking at changes in non-UK nationals working in the UK between January to March 1997 (when comparable records began) and January to March 2016: the number of non-UK nationals working in the UK increased from 928,000 to 3.34 million the proportion of all people working in the UK accounted for by non-UK nationals increased from 3.5% to 10.6% this increase in non-UK nationals working in the UK reflects the admission of several new member states to the European Union (EU).
412,000 persons were added to the UK workforce in the last year. 94,000 were born in the UK (22.91%). The remainder were born outside the UK, including 252,000 born in the rest of the EU.
Unemployment and the claimant count are falling: the Governments claims about the impact of the referendum are falling apart.
The ONS states that: The unemployment rate for those aged 16 and over for January to March 2016 was 5.1%. This was: unchanged compared with October to December 2015 [and] down from a year earlier (5.6%).
The Government previously claimed that rises in unemployment were down to the EU referendum and the fear of a leave vote. Despite the polls remaining constant, there has now been a decline in unemployment this is embarrassing for the Government.
The claimant count is also falling. The ONS states that: For April 2016 there were 737,800 people claiming unemployment related benefits. This was: 2,400 fewer than for March 2016 [and] 57,600 fewer than for a year earlier.
The number of vacancies is rising year on year. The ONS states that The number of vacancies for February to April 2016 was 13,000 more than for a year earlier. The Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, has claimed: firms are already cutting back on advertising jobs because of their fear of a Brexit.
Xcel Energy officials on Wednesday outlined millions of dollars in options for improving electric service in North Dakota while assuring state regulators that its Fargo system is fundamentally sound despite a recent rash of power outages.
Company officials met with the state Public Service Commission for an informal hearing on reliability after Xcel experienced eight outages in Fargo between April 22 and May 13, affecting more than 24,000 customers.
Commissioner Brian Kalk said he feels Xcel is committed to reliability, but Fargo continues to underperform compared to its systems in Minot and Grand Forks.
Its almost like theres gremlins in the Fargo system, because I know that youve worked hard on it, he said.
Xcel blamed two of the eight outages on faults in old underground cable near downtown Fargo, in one case resulting in nearly 1,800 customers going more than four hours without power on April 26. Crews from Fargo, Grand Forks, Minot and St. Paul worked 10 days straight to replace 6,600 feet of cable, wrapping up the work on Sunday, company officials said.
We take this spate of outages very seriously, Xcel regional vice president Laura McCarten said, adding the company has worked hard to increase reliability. We think weve moved the needle on that.
Xcel officials said they see no systemic problems with the Fargo system, pointing out that the other six outages had various causes, including lightning, an animal, a tree branch and a pole fire.
They noted that Xcels North Dakota customers experienced the fewest minutes of outages among the eight states served by the investor-owned utility, at 71.6 minutes annually from 2011-2015, compared with 97 minutes in South Dakota and 98.7 minutes in Minnesota.
Unfortunately, some of these areas go on a bad streak like this and then you wont see something for a very, very long time, said Kelly Bloch, regional vice president of distribution operations for Xcel. The Fargo system has historically been very reliable. I dont believe that it is all crumbling and falling apart instantaneously but we want to make sure thats not the case.
Xcel officials laid out options that include accelerating its schedule to replace the type of unjacketed cable that faulted in Fargo by 2018 at a cost of $4 million, retrofitting certain utility poles to make them less prone to fire and installing more devices that automatically reroute power from unaffected areas during outages.
Commissioners said Xcel would likely have to front the costs and seek to recover them from customers later, as the company is barred from seeking a rate increase until 2018.
Xcel has replaced about 40 percent of the unjacketed cable statewide since its last rate case agreement in 2012. Of the 60 percent remaining, about half of it is in Fargo, company officials said, noting underground cable is the top cause of outages.
Lets get it done. We know this is causing trouble, PSC chairwoman Julie Fedorchak said.
Commissioners will meet with Xcel officials again next month to refine their plans.
UNDERWOOD Underwood School broke ground on a $2.1 million expansion Wednesday.
Construction of the new 6,000-square front to the school will begin at the end of the month and is scheduled for completion in December. The expansion will include a main entrance and administrative area, a commons area for students and handicap accessibility improvements.
Superintendent Brandt Dick said the school district has been talking about doing different aspects of this project on and off since the '90s but it had not come together until now.
"The timing was right," he said, adding that, with the slowdown in construction in the western part of the state, they were able to get a good price on the project.
"It came together real nice for us," Principal Lee Weisgarber said.
As part of the groundbreaking ceremony, Weisgarber highlighted the enhanced safety the main entrance would provide in terms of monitoring visitors. There will also be a bus lane added as part of a city street project that will take the buses off the street as students load and unload.
Dick said the common area will give students a place to gather before school.
"So no more standing out in the cold," he said.
Students gathered on the school's front lawn and clapped as administrators dug in with golden shovels.
Underwood Mayor Rick Olson applauded the project saying it will provide a better atmosphere for the students as well as for community and sporting events held at the school.
A portion of the project was funded by a $55,000 state oil impact grant. The school also received donations of concrete from Great River Energy and fill material from Fisher Sand & Gravel.
WILLISTON Skipp Miller heard the news after she'd traveled most of the night to get to an early morning speaking engagement.
She arrived at Fort Totten ready to address an audience about substance abuse, but a friend who already knew took her by the shoulders, guided her toward a telephone, and told her to call the Minot Police Department.
The officer on the other end of the line delivered crushing news. Miller's 16-year-old son, Chaska Running Shield, was dead. He'd been stabbed during a street fight the night before and died at the hospital while Miller was driving away from town.
It was Aug. 25, 1993.
Miller took three days off, then resumed her studies at Minot State College and went back to working at Job Corps. For the next two decades, she worked in the mental health field, helping others untangle problems, but failing to address her own broken heart.
Finally, Miller, 71, who's lived in Williston for the past 16 years and sought help from a counselor late last year, is realizing that she never gave herself a chance to come to terms with her son's death.
"I had always put other things as a priority rather than taking time to deal with my loss," she said. "I pushed my issues to the back for another day, and now that time is here. I want to get my son taken care of before I die."
Reaching out
Over the past few months, Miller has written about 15 letters, reaching out to many who were involved in events surrounding her son's death and its aftermath. She is seeking records, reports, and insight into what happened.
So far, she's received no response, save for the attorney of the man who wielded the knife that night. The lawyer wrote to Miller that he could not release information or conversations he'd had with clients.
When contacted by the Herald, an employee in North Central Judicial District Judge Douglas Mattson's office said Mattson, who was Ward County's State's Attorney at the time of Chaska's death, had no comment on Miller's written request to meet with him.
Meanwhile, the Ward County Clerk of Courts office says records there are available, although those dating back to 1993 may not be computerized, and the Minot Police Department is processing Miller's request.
"We'll get her what we can," said administrator Allison Elder.
August 25, 1993
The day of Chaska's death, Miller and her youngest son, who was 11 at the time, were in Williston for a wedding, and returned to Minot late in the evening to find Chaska not at home. A friend arrived to pick them up for the overnight drive to Fort Totten, and noted, in passing, that there were a number of kids out on the street. Miller, focused on the next day's plans, thought little of it, and although she'd planned to bring Chaska on the trip, decided he'd be fine on his own for the night.
Unaware that her son had been drawn into a gang-related street fight nearby, Miller left town. The brawl escalated until, in a scenario that Miller still wonders about, a young man stabbed Chaska in the chest and a teenage girl drove him to the hospital.
The man claimed he used the knife in self-defense, and no one was ever charged.
"I have questions about that," Miller said.
She buried Chaska in Trenton, where he spent most of his childhood before the family relocated to Minot.
In 1999, Miller moved to Williston, finally retiring three years ago, and soon found that quieter days meant time to think.
"It's been on my mind an awful lot. I've often wondered, what could I do. Would I ever get a chance to know what actually happened. There's things missing," she said.
Wendell Albert may live in North Dakota now, but he's a true Boston boy.
Albert, 91, is originally from an old town that goes way back Braintree, Mass., which was incorporated in 1640. He lived just 5 or 6 miles from John Adams' house.
He has a quick sense of humor and a thick Boston accent. Padon me? hed kindly ask to get questions repeated.
"So many people say, Where are you from?' he said, laughing.
Albert also enjoys good beer, which he used to drink often but now its just one glass of wine a day.
He recalls the years he spent in the U.S. Army and Air Force during World War II and the Korean War. In 1943, he was drafted into the U.S. Army three weeks after graduating from high school, along with most of the men in his class.
Albert, the youngest of two boys, tried to join the Marine Corps when he was 17, but said he got laughed at because of his smaller 140-pound frame.
He completed basic training in Texas and Louisiana. He joined the 84th Infantry Division as a rifleman, and, in the late summer or early fall of 1944, he was put on a boat to Europe.
His first campaign was in Rhineland, which was pillboxes and flat, open country because the Germans didnt want any cover.
There were no trees or anything, Albert said.
It mustve looked like 1916 again, you know what I mean? he asked.
He fought in the Battle of the Bulge during the middle of December in 1944 and his arm got wounded, for which he later sought a Purple Heart. He has a handwritten letter from a platoon medic, but, because he didnt go to an aid station, he was told he would not qualify to receive a Purple Heart.
Albert spent seven weeks in Belgium and ended up 80 miles from Berlin.
On May 7, 1945, the war ended.
We all just breathed a big sigh of relief and said, 'Oh my god," said Albert, who was 20 years old at the time.
He was sent to south Germany for occupation near Mannheim. His division was split into units and he was stationed at a small German village.
The misery was all around us, for everybody," Albert said. "(For) the Germans, a lot of the guys were dead, of course, a lot of em are still in POW cages, prisons.
He said he was promised to be released six months after the war had ended.
And of course it didnt end until Hiroshima when they dropped the A-bombs," Albert said.
In a sense, when they dropped them A-bombs, wow, that made a difference to us, on the ground," he said. "Now, when people look back they may scratch their heads and say, Why did they have to do something like that? Because the whole goddamn world was insane!
Albert returned home around Christmas of 1945 and was honorably discharged on Jan. 26, 1946.
Back in Braintree
When Albert came back from the war he was 4 months shy of his 21st birthday.
"I couldn't drink beer or vote," he laughs. I had four months to sweat it out."
Naturally, when he turned 21, he found several Braintree beer joints, his favorite called Cozy Corner Cafe. At the time, all he wanted were several beers, a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes and conversations with other recently discharged vets.
Several months after returning home he got a job as a special police officer in Braintree, patroling the town's public swimming facility at Sunset Lake.
Albert was armed with only a used nightstick and "twisters" to place around a perpetrator's wrists. He didn't make any arrests all summer.
Albert spent a couple semesters studying at the University of Massachusetts at Fort Devens with the other ex-servicemen.
Sometime during the fall and winter of 1947, he began thinking about re-enlisting. He met with a recruiting sergeant who spoke of the advantages of post-war army, including choice of branch location. Albert selected 1st Calvary in Japan but, at the last minute, had second thoughts and instead joined the U.S. Air Force, serving four years and several months on what was to be a three-year enlistment.
In the early spring of 1951, he was sent to South Korea with the 4th Fighter Wing, stationed at Suwon and then Kimpo air force bases. He did handling, storage and issued various types of ammunition-rockets, bombs, flares and small arms ammo.
I kind of sweated it out. The Chinese Spring Offensive was going on at that time, and they werent too far away," Albert said.
Albert was honorably discharged on Jan. 7, 1952, and resumed his studies at the University of Massachusetts, now located in Amherst.
He earned a bachelor's degree in wildlife management and worked for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services as a wildlife biologist for 25 years.
He moved to Bismarck in 1964. Before that, he worked out in the field doing environmental services in the eastern states, Nebraska, Montana and then North Dakota.
That would be like if the Soil Conservation Service, the Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation were going to rip up something, cut down something, destroy some wildlife habitat, we would take a look at it and try to recommend what could be done to prevent or ease the damages to fish and wildlife," said Albert, who retired with his late wife, a typist who worked at the state Capitol, in 1980 and lived in a modular home on 40 acres of land.
When I retired in 1980, it was just real nice," said Albert, who has compiled several journals and military photos chronicling his life in the army, right after high school and through college.
He has worked on the journals two or three times over 10 or 15 years, and donated some copies to the State Historical Society of North Dakota and Bismarck State College.
Between the $100,000 contributions from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and eBay director Robert Kagle, a key sector of North Dakotas economy is noticeably absent from Fargo businessman Doug Burgums campaign finance statements.
Disclosures filed last week show no discernable contributions to Burgum from the states energy sector, led by its robust oil and coal industries, since he jumped into the governors race in mid-January.
Meanwhile, statements filed by Burgums main rival for the Republican nomination in the June 14 primary, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, show his campaign collected at least $50,000 from oil companies political action committees, oil executives and others with strong ties to the industry.
Coal PACs and power companies with coal interests also gave at least $97,000 to Stenehjems campaign since it began accepting contributions in October, disclosures show.
In a phone interview Tuesday, Burgum said he has met with and is actively seeking support from officials in the oil and coal industries, but Im not necessarily seeking their donations, because fundraising hasnt been a priority for me.
Stenehjem dismissed that explanation.
Its not as if he hasnt asked (for money), because I know for a fact he has been, he said. They arent willing to give him any.
Among the oil industry contributions to Stenehjem was $5,000 in December from ND Oil PAC, the campaign finance arm of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, which advocates for more than 575 member companies.
Petroleum Council President Ron Ness said Stenehjem has been a strong supporter for a long time and great on these federal issues, but he added the organization historically has stayed out of primary races.
We all understand how this thing is kind of shaking out. Weve got some people on both sides, he said, adding, Youve got to remember that Doug wasnt really out soliciting contributions, either. I think that makes a difference.
Given the amount of money being thrown at the governors race Stenehjem has reported more than $780,000 in contributions and Burgum nearly $985,000, not counting his own money spent on an extensive advertising and mailer campaign Ness said $50,000 from the industry is kind of a sit back and see what happens.
Both candidates have campaigned on the need to diversity the states economy. Ness said Burgum -- who chose Brent Sanford, mayor of oil hub Watford City, as his running mate -- has given the industry no reason to believe hed be unfriendly to oil and gas.
His comments to us have been very positive and very supportive, he said.
As for Stenehjems contributions, Burgum said he believes a conflict of interest exists when candidates accept donations from those they regulate especially when Stenehjem will continue to sit on the state Industrial Commission whether he wins or loses, because the elections for governor and attorney general are staggered by two years. Stenehjem serves with the governor and state agriculture commissioner on the three-member commission, which oversees the states Oil and Gas Division and also controls its oil and gas and lignite coal research programs.
If youre a member of the NDIC and youre asking for someones support and you regulate that industry and they know youre going to continue to regulate them, think about the power dynamic, Burgum said.
Stenehjem said he doesnt see a conflict of interest in accepting contributions from oil and coal interests, saying, Its all a matter of doing a job. He said the industries have backed him for years because they appreciate his efforts as attorney general to fight federal overreach, including the states lawsuit against the Clean Power Plan, which he called a job killer for coal country.
What they want really is regulatory predictability, and they know Ive been supportive of all of those things for years, and they know who theyre getting, he said.
The largest contribution on Stenehjems pre-primary report was $20,000 from the Bismarck-based Lignite Energy Councils political action committee, which also gave his campaign $5,000 last year.
Lignite Energy Council spokesman Steve Van Dyke said the CoalPAC, which disperses contributions on behalf of member coal mining and utility companies and 300 contractors and suppliers, decided to support Stenehjem because of the leadership hes shown the industry, including the lawsuit with 26 other states that resulted in a stay on the Clean Power Plans implementation.
The attorney general has proven to be a trusted leader in protecting our states sovereignty against federal overreach, and some of that overreach has been in our industry, Van Dyke said Wednesday.
KPCB is one of the Valleys most prolific and successful investors, having funded technology majors like Google, Uber, Twitter, Amazon, Nest and Snapchat.
Hyderabad: Einsite, a California-based technology start-up firm with a presence in Hyderabad, has raised a seed investment from KPCB Edge, the seed stage investment arm of top Silicon Valley VC, Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers (KPCB).
The company founded by two brothers Rajiv Reddy (25) and Anirudh Reddy (23) use Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology to make the construction and mining industries smarter.
KPCB is one of the Valleys most prolific and successful investors, having funded technology majors like Google, Uber, Twitter, Amazon, Nest and Snapchat.
Einsites product uses a combination of hardware and software to make the traditional construction industry more accountable and efficient.
The company is currently developing its product and testing it out in Hyderabad, but has global aspirations. The founders believe that building and running pilots is easier in India, but plan to use India as a launchpad to go overseas.
The initial target market overseas would be the Middle east, but they also see a lot of potential across Asia and Latin America, where contractors face similar problems in project management and execution. The company hopes to perfect its product by the end of the year and sign on its first overseas customer in early 2017.
Talking about the need for such a product in the industry, Mr Rajiv says, Innovation in this space is long overdue, and what were working on can really revolutionise how construction projects are executed and that most tech entrepreneurs dont realise what a major market tech in construction and mining could be.
Mr Rajiv has spent a lot of time on the field in various construction and mining projects, and thinks both industries are ripe for innovation and technology.
The technology being developed for this product is based on the concepts of the IoT or industrial internet, because it connects every machine and piece of equipment on a project site to the internet, and makes the data useful.
Talking about how IoT will transform traditional industries, Mr Anirudh asserts, Our lives today are unimaginable without constant access to technology, and we think construction will be in a similar place a few years from now. Anirudhs time at Stanford has convinced him that every major industry, and infrastructure in particular, will soon be revolutionised by technology.
Mercedes Benz India managing director and CEO Roland Folger and Mahavir Motors chairman Yashwant Jhabakh (left) at the national launch of the S400 in Hyderabad (Photo: DC)
New Delhi: In a jolt to Make in India in the auto sector, German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz said on Wednesday that it has put on hold investments in India due to the ban on sale of larger diesel vehicles in Delhi-NCR. The company said that the issue has put a question mark on the countrys credibility as an investment destination.
Most of the decisions are postponed rather than completely cancelled. If the ban continues, then certainly cancellations will come into play, said Mercedes Benz India MD and CEO Roland Folger. He termed the current uncertain situation surrounding diesel vehicles as a lost opportunity for India.
When we came to India, it was perceived as a large potential market with very continuous, reliable growth. These things (the ban and higher taxes on diesel vehicles) have stopped that, said Mr Folger.
Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), which represent the auto industry in the country said that the issue may even impact Indias emergence as the global hub of automobile manufacturing.
There are many markets where diesel vehicles are exported. If diesel engine development is stopped in India it will impact exports, SIAM, deputy director general Sugato Sen told this newspaper.
He said that a lot of companies are saying that their entire investment has become questionable after the ban on sale of large diesel engine vehicles and there is a lot of confusion in the market. He said the ban on diesel vehicles is a strong statement from policymakers that diesel engines are not desirable in India and this creates uncertainty.
Microsoft, the owner of Nokias mobile device business, has agreed to sell the latters branding rights to Finnish firm HMD Global and contract manufacturer Foxconn for $350 million.
New Delhi: Microsoft, the owner of Nokias mobile device business, has agreed to sell the latters branding rights to Finnish firm HMD Global and contract manufacturer Foxconn for $350 million.
To complete its portfolio of Nokia branding rights, HMD announced today that it has conditionally agreed to acquire from Microsoft the rights to use the Nokia brand on feature phones and certain related design rights. The Microsoft transaction is expected to close in H2 of 2016, Nokia said in a statement.
In a separate agreement, Nokia Technologies will grant HMD Global Oy (HMD), a newly-founded company based in Finland, the exclusive global licence to create Nokia-branded smart phones and tablets for the next 10 years.
Under the pact, Nokia Technologies will receive royalty payments from HMD for sales of Nokia-branded mobile products, covering both the brand and the intellectual property rights.
Microsoft also said it has signed a pact to sell the companys entry-level feature phone assets to FIH Mobile, a subsidiary of Hon Hai/Foxconn Techn-ologies, and HMD Global Oy for $350 million.
As part of the deal, FIH Mobile will acquire Microsoft Mobile Vietnam, the companys Hanoi manufacturing facility. Foxconn has been a vendor for Nokia and also produced Nokia N1 tablets in a licensing agreement with Nokia Technologies.
HMD and Nokia Technologies have signed the pact with FIH to establish a collaboration framework to support the building of a global business for Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets, the statement said. This deal will enable Nokia brand to return to the mobile phone and tablet market at a global scale.
Instead of Nokia returning to manufacturing mobile phones itself, HMD plans to produce mobile phones and tablets that can leverage and grow the value of the Nokia brand in global markets, Nokia Technol-ogies president Ramzi Haidamus said.
C-Zentrix joins IT for Parivahan to promote digital advancements for the Indian Railway sector. (Representational image)
Mumbai: Global software products company C-Zentrix has announced its participation at the #IT For Parivahan Stakeholders Summit 2016 convened by AIM-IT. In view of the largely digital, Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways (MoSRTH) are leveraging information technology to improve efficiency and harness growth for the sector.
The Mumbai chapter for the Stakeholders Summit, #IT For Parivahan 2016 was chaired by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, and Government of India. The Mumbai Chapter for # IT for Parivahan was hosted on May 14, 2016.
The inaugural # IT For Parivahan summit was held in Delhi on 6th of May and C-Zentrix made a huge Impact as a proponent of taking digital revolution to the remotest of corners of India.
Under the aegis of the opening session for #IT for Parivahan which was themed around empowering Indias MSMes, C-Zentrix set-up a unique MSME information desk to particularly address opportunity areas for IT MSMEs in the Indian and global markets from the perspective of sharing unique options of customizations, flexibility, scalability.
To motivate Indian IT MSMEs to realize their true potential, C-Zentrix aims to extend a definitive value-add giving cutting-edge solutions to the MSMEs of India.
The event theme Challenges and Opportunities of Modernising Indian Railways through implementation of IT saw participation from all key stakeholders of the sector including, central and state govt ministers, bureaucrats, IT and logistic companies, start-ups, innovators, and policy makers.
Riveting discussions were held on various important subjects such as, role of MSME companies in railways, shaping the future of smart railways, Internet of Things and Indian Railways, and Smart Cities encompassing smarter roads and smarter transport.
Speaking on the occasion, Saket Setu, CEO, C-Zentrix commented, It is really a proud moment for us to be associated with the #IT for Parivahan campaign and to help transform the Indian Transportation eco-system through Digital disruption.
AIM-IT is a great initiative to showcase how Indian IT MSMEs are leading way for the Digital India and the Smart Cities drive. We are overwhelmed to reach out to the citizens of our country through this first of a kind progress through better transportation initiative, he added.
Railways network in India, in all its vastness provides last mile connectivity to the masses and also proves to be a lifeline for the country.
Singapore: Oil prices were trading near 2016 highs on Wednesday, as supply disruptions and output cuts continued to tighten the market, although traders cautioned that high global crude inventories were still weighing on markets. International Brent crude futures LCOc1 were trading at $49.31 per barrel at 0047 GMT, 3 cents above their last settlement, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were unchanged at $48.31 a barrel.
Both contracts remained near their 2016 highs of $49.75 and $48.76 per barrel, respectively, hit during intra-day trading the previous day. "With oil continuing to suffer from supply disruptions... EIA inventory data will be key to price action. Any further decline in stockpiles could see oil's run higher continue," ANZ bank said.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) is scheduled to release official storage data later on Wednesday. "With wildfires shifting back towards oil sands operations, the risk of supply disruptions extending into June has increased substantially. Combined with further falls in exports from Nigeria, the physical market is particularly tight," ANZ added.
The oil industry is also keeping an eye on Venezuela, where economic and political turmoil is threatening oil production. "Supply outages, when set alongside concerns over Venezuelan supply (due to insufficient funds to pay oil companies or spend on the maintenance of loading terminals), represents a significant amount of oil lost in the short-term, which in turn is reflected in firm time spreads at the front of the curve," BNP Paribas said.
Despite the disruptions, BNP Paribas said that there was still a large storage overhang that would have to be reduced before the market could swing back into balance. The bank even said that global crude inventories were still edging up despite the supply disruptions, implying that there is still more oil being produced than consumed.
'Jagga Jasoos' is pushing Ranbir Kapoor of the edge, quite literally! The actor, who is in Morocco shooting a song and dance sequence with co-star Katrina Kaif, was seen performing some dangerous stunts.
A picture that surfaced online, shows the actor jumping from one rooftop to the other, with the help of a safety wire. Jagga Jasoos, which is being directed by Anurag Basu, is an adventure mystery about a young college lad in search of his missing father. The film will have a mix of adventure, mystery, romance and action.
Ranbir Kapoor performs a daring action sequence for Jagga Jasoos.
While we have seen pictures of Ranbir and Katrina shooting for cute song and dance sequences, this is the first time we are seeing them shoot an action sequence. Katrina had reportedly even trained in martial arts for the film.
The film that is being co-produced by Ranbir, hit several road blocks over the past few months. Ranbir and Katrinas break-up only added to the directors troubles as the two reportedly refused to shoot certain scenes together, including a kissing scene. However, the ex-flames are keeping their differences aside and have been spotted laughing and joking while shooting a few scenes.
A photo posted by Jagga Jasoos Fc (@jaggajasoos.fc) on May 17, 2016 at 12:30pm PDT
A photo posted by Jagga Jasoos Fc (@jaggajasoos.fc) on May 17, 2016 at 12:30pm PDT
Popular Bollywood actress Kajol Devgn met with Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to discuss the need for handwashing behaviour change and use of handwashing facilities in schools in India. They also discussed work on Water Sanitation and Hygiene behaviour change programme and the Help a Child Reach 5 handwashing campaign.
Speaking about her association with the campaign, actress Kajol said, As a mother and an actor, I am proud to be associated with a campaign that stresses on the importance of handwashing behaviour change to prevent needless child deaths. I am delighted that a handwashing indicator has been included in the SDGs. I am inspired by the Governments Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan and I believe that ensuring that all schools have presence and use of handwashing facilities in schools will help make hygiene a reality for children across India.
"He (Modi) has initiated Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan and it coincides with our 'Help A Child Reach 5' initiative, so we thought of meeting and discussing things with him. We are on a same page as our goals are same. We want a hygienic environment. He is the best person to give tips on it. The meeting went well as we discussed lot of interesting stuff. We want the mortality rate of children and people in the society to come down. The Prime Minister, who has been batting for clean environment through Centre's flagship Swachh Bharat campaign, lauded the initiative. He appreciated our work. He understood what we were trying to do. He understood that there is a need to give importance to hand washing to save life of children and people," actress told PTI.
"It was Modi, who gave the campaigners the idea to utilise mass media platform for the advertisements. Through our ad 'Haath Mooh aur Bum, Bimari Hogi Kum', we wanted to bring alive the message of hygiene in a fun and engaging manner. Clean surroundings and following good hygiene are two pre requisites to stay fit and healthy," Kajol added.
Salman is all set to say goodbye to his single life and get hitched.
Mumbai: Ever since Salman Khan made his first public appearance with long time rumoured girlfriend Iulia Vantur at Preity Zintas wedding reception few days ago, B-towns abuzz with the actors marriage speculations.
According to recent reports, Salman is all set to say goodbye to single life and tie the knot with Iulia by the end of this year. As reported by SpotBoye, the Khandaan has already decided a wedding date for Salman. A close friend of the actor told the portal that Salman will be taking his vows on his 51st birthday, December 27.
The day will mark double celebration for the Khan family and Salmans friends and fans.
Marriage rumours were rife since a long time and Salman arriving at Preitys reception with Iulia on tow, acted as a fuel to the fire. At the event, the actor also introduced Iulia to all his close friends.
Tech savvy superstar Shah Rukh Khan will be hosting Apple CEO Tim Cook at his Mannat residence tonight. According to reports, the actor will host a private dinner for Cook, before he heads to Delhi to meet PM Modi.
Tim, who is on his first official visit to the country, will set up a software laboratory in India to help Indian startups and developers working on the company's iOS platform. The CEO arrived late Tuesday night, and is expected to meet the PM along with a few other officials and engineers later this week.
However, Shah Rukh Khan will reportedly host a lavish dinner tonight, at his residence in Brandra to welcome the CEO. It has been reported that Cook is a big fan of the actor's work. SRK will also call on his friends from the industry to be a part of the closed door bash.
Mumbai: Deepika Padukone has been shooting for her Hollywood debut xXx: The Return of the Xander Cage for quite some time now. So far, the inside pictures from the films sets showed the actress in her best self.
Now that the films shoot is coming to an end, Deepika is saying her goodbyes to her co-stars, with whom the actress bonded deeply during the shoot. Wishing all the best and bidding goodbye, Deepika sent a sweet present to her co-star Donnie Yen, who plays the role of Xiang in xXx: The Return of Xander Cage.
Donnie shared the video on his official Instagram account. He wrote, "Made many talented and affectionate friends in this incredible journey, meeting Deepika was one of them! Thank you for the lovely gifts Deepika!"
Watch the video below to find out what the actress gifted her co-star:
Made many talented and affectionate friends in this incredible journey, meeting Deepika was one of them! Thank you for the lovely gifts Deepika ! #deepikapadukone @deepikapadukone #xxxthereturnofxandercage #xxx3 #xxxthemovie #donnieyen # A video posted by Donnie Yen (@donnieyenofficial) on May 16, 2016 at 6:08pm PDT
The actress, who was last seen in the Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie 'Bajirao Mastani' has been religiously working out to fit into the role. Deepika will be essaying the role Serena, a fierce huntress in the film. Deepika will wrap up her Hollywood film next week.
Actress and model Olivia Wilde, who is visiting Syrian refugees in Amman, Jordan, took to Instagram to lash out at US Presidential hopeful Donald Trump, whos known for his racist and indifferent remarks on immigrants.
Sharing a photo of a Syrian refugee, she wrote, Next time you hear someone, maybe even a loser named Donald Trump, say all Syrian refugees should be rejected and suspected, think of this face. These kids deserve our compassion and activism.
Donald Trump wouldnt survive five minutes in her reality. She also shared another photo of herself interacting with kids, writing that they taught her how to sew.
New Delhi: From being a curious kid to penning popular children's stories, Ruskin Bond's extraordinary journey is set to get a book treatment as the
author is busy giving shape to his autobiography.
Yet untitled, the book will include anecdotes from writer's personal life as well as his bond with his adopted family in Mussoorie. "It starts with my growing up years in Jamnagar, Dehradun and Shimla to London where I wrote my first book and
generally my life as a writer and the kind of struggle I had over the years while trying to establish myself.
"It will also have details from my personal life, which consists of my adopted family that has grown around me. I have lived in the hills for last 50 years and it has made me not spiritual but more contemplative," Bond told PTI in an interview ahead of his 82nd birthday tomorrow. The author says he likes to celebrate his birthday by taking a nap but joked that everyone around him will be taking
him out for dinner.
Bond, who has collaborated with Landmark to encourage budding readers to express and hone their narrative skills with 'Child Reading to Child' initiative, will visit the local book shop on his birthday. His young fans turn up to get their books signed from the author at the book shop, where he is a regular visitor. When asked how he will celebrate his birthday, Bond said, "I am a sleepy fellow. I will take a nice long nap the first chance I get. I don't do anything very special. In the afternoon, I go to the local book shop and they celebrate in a small way. I have one of my publishers, they will come and take me out to dinner."
"Well, I think it's something of a surprise for me because I can't think of anybody in my family who got past 70. I think it is because I have been living in the hills for so many years. Hills are relatively healthy compared to cities... I am
fortunate in that respect." Born to a British Air Force personnel in Kasauli, Bond
went to London for a few years to complete his studies but he returned and established a successful writing career.
He is the winner of the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award and the
Padma Bhushan. It was not an easy call for Bond to choose writing as a
career but the author says he finds more youngsters interested in the profession now. "When I finished school, my mother asked me, 'What do you want to do Ruskin?' and I said 'Mama, I think I am going to be a writer'. She said, 'Don't be silly, go join the army'.
"Writing was very unfashionable when I was young. Today, I meet a lot of youngsters who want to become writers. When they say they want to be writers, I tell them to go ahead but it has many pitfalls. It's not easy making a living out of it, at least in the beginning."
The cute AbRam Khan, son of Shah Rukh Khan or Imara, the daughter of Imran Khan, these toddlers are living in the lap of luxury.
Some tykes have it all! Going by the trend some of the celebrity babies are indulging in, looks like these tiny tots are already better dressed than most fashionistas around us, even though their age is still in single digits.
Yes, theyre totally awwdorable and can put even our wardrobes to shame. Some of the designer babies that have hit headlines are Kim Kardashian and Kanye Wests baby North West, who has already been spotted at front rows of fashion weeks, Blue Ivy Carter, who has been pampered by Beyonce and Jay Z, has been spotted wearing trendy designer pieces, besides many others. These less than a few years old and some barely a few months in this world are already dressed in designer hues.
Its not any different closer home. When Salman Khans sister Arpita Khan gave birth to her son Ahil Sharma, there was no doubt she was going to make him the best dressed baby in tinsel town.
Only a month old, the lucky baby has a custom monogrammed nightsuit with Super Sharma embroidered on it and another Versace one piece for his outings. Whether it is the cute AbRam Khan, son of Shah Rukh Khan or Imara, the daughter of Imran Khan, these toddlers are living in the lap of luxury.
Anu Basavaraju of Divas and Dudes, who organises India Kids Fashion Show (IKFS) agrees, Most celebrities and even parents who can afford are spending on high end luxury kids wear, thats why International brands like Baby Dior, Armani, Paul Smith Jr and Marks & Spencer Lil LonDunn collection and some of our designers like Keerti Rathod, Masaba Gupta, Aneeth Arora and Ramona Narang are investing in exclusive kids stores in India. Indian parents whore brand conscious are eager to dress their little munchkins in these luxury brands. These young parents dont hold their purse strings anymore.
Tai chi may work as well as traditional physical therapy for easing pain in people with knee osteoarthritis, a small study suggests.
Knee osteoarthritis, a leading cause of pain and disability in older adults, occurs when flexible tissue at the ends of bones wears down. While it cant be cured, physical therapy or anti-inflammatory medications are often prescribed to relieve pain and improve mobility.
To see if tai chi a Chinese meditation practice that combines deep breathing and slow, fluid movements might be a good alternative to physical therapy, researchers randomly assigned about 200 people with knee osteoarthritis to try one of these options for three months.
Both groups experienced similar reductions in pain at the end of the three months, and after a year, the study found. People in the tai chi group, however, reported greater improvements in wellbeing and mental health than the participants assigned to physical therapy.
The findings suggest that the growing number of U.S. patients practicing tai chi to address musculoskeletal and mental health issues are on to something, said lead study author Dr. Chenchen Wang, director of the Center for Complimentary and Integrative Medicine at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.
Tai chi is a multicomponent traditional Chinese mind-body practice that may systematically promote health . . . by integrating physical, psychosocial, emotional, spiritual and behavioral elements, Wang said by email. In the study, Wang and colleagues assigned about half of the participants to attend hour-long tai chi classes twice a week for 12 weeks. The others got six weeks of 30-minute physical therapy sessions twice a week and were then told to continue with exercises at home at least four times a week for another six weeks.
Participants were 60 years old on average. They were typically overweight or obese and had been suffering from knee osteoarthritis for around eight years. While neither group had perfect attendance, 79 percent of the people in tai chi and 78 percent of patients in physical therapy went to at least half of the scheduled sessions, researchers report in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Because patients knew what treatment they received, its possible that preconceived notions about the potential benefits of tai chi or physical therapy may have influenced the changes in symptoms that participants reported, the authors note. The study was also done at a single academic medical center, making it hard to say whether the results would be similar in other settings.
Even so, the findings suggest that tai chi may offer some relief to patients without the potential cost of attending physical therapy or side effects of medications, said Romy Lauche of the Australian Research Center in Complimentary and Integrative Medicine at the University of Technology Sydney.
Finding effective and safe interventions is a top priority, Lauche, who wasnt involved in the study, said by email. Any kind of exercise including tai chi may benefit patients by improving functional disability, and they also impact coping skills, Lauche added.
The controlled movements that are a hallmark of tai chi can be good for joints because they allow fluid in the joints to move in and out of cartilage, improving flexibility, noted Jean-Michel Brismee, a researcher in physical therapy and rehabilitation at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock.
Both tai chi and physical therapy should have the goal to educate patients in doing the healing movements at home daily, Brismee, who wasnt involved in the study, said by email.
Advertising student Jordan Morris advised people to put the beard hairs in their food before complaining to get a free meal. (Credit: eBay/Twitter)
An account on the online shopping website eBay was suspended after it was known that it was selling beard hair for people to put in their food so they can get free meals. The bizarre scheme was the brainchild of students Jordan Morris and Liberty Papworth so that they could fund their university degree show.
The stundents advertised the beard hair for 2.50 a pop. (Photo: eBay)
Morris, who is a student of Creative Advertising at Bucks New University, advertised the beard hairs for 2.50 a pop. He even advised people to put them in their food before complaining to get a free meal.
The following description which is now deleted was posted by the students to give prospective customers a good idea about the product.
Somy Solomon, a Malayali who had made big news by starting a library in the African country of Tanzania, responds to PMs Somalia comment.
When you hear a mention of Africa, there is a certain perception that comes with it. The starving children of Somalia, hunger, calamity, and other such visuals undeservingly paint a sorry picture of the continent which is much more than what is seen in the mainstream media. Thanks to colonialism they labelled Africa as a Dark Continent, says Somy Solomon. Four years have passed since she settled down in the place. She had stepped into the African country of Tanzania after her marriage in 2012 and did something that would make the world take notice. Somys project of Kichangani Library, a social media driven initiative, made big news back then, and in the years that followed, got much appreciated and supported, nationally and internationally.
Me me nini do, she says in Tanzanian language Swahili and English. It means, What to do. The recent remark of Prime Minister Narendra Modi comparing people of Somalia and Kerala, had angered both the people in Kerala and Africa. Somy, a Malayali who has been breathing the air of Africa and working closely with the children there, has this to say: Even now, only stereotyped news is coming up in mainstream media.
For instance, the mainstream media never discuss the art biennale going on Senegal. It doesnt want to talk about the writers festival happening every year in Kampala Uganda. The media also failed to notice the amazing women entrepreneurs in World Economic Forum in Kigali Ruwanda. They just want to show the poverty porn. They dont want to show the survival stories. They dont want to show the rising face of Africa, she fumes.
Its all based on a racial outlook, she says. When the Prime Minister compared Kerala, a state in India, with a country in Africa with wrong statistics, it became racial. Even the trolls in Malayalam ended up as racial abuse. There are pre-conceived notions about African countries. I want to say, Africa is the land of diverse culture and amazing nature. It is not all famine and poverty. It is neither war nor ethnic conflict. It is true that there is poverty, famine and war, but that is not what Africa is all about. A tumultuous history stained by colonial forces, is what destroyed African history.
Doing her bit, Somy explains her journey with the library. My friendship with my husbands staff, who are from the village, led me to know about life in Kichangani. I started learning about them and tried to understand their issues. India has a good relation with East African coasts. But our contribution to the African society was very little. The East African coast has a very heavy Indian presence. I used to share my thoughts on what prevents us from the cultural exchange, and a friend asked why dont we start one?
With the cooperation of Facebook friends, Somy and her team collected 7,000 books from all over the world. Kichangani Library is not just a library. It is also a learning centre. When I met Saidi Juma Pasi (village chairman, Kichangani sara) for the first time to talk about the library, he happily offered space in the village office building. The village community too extended all support. There were two major issues lack of access to education and of drinking water. After the new president Magufuli came to power, education became free. New leaders said no to European aid. They said if you want to help, give us technology, not charity.
Now, team Kichangani Library is helping dropouts go back to school. Theres also Team Ubuntu, formed from the village community, getting trained to be librarians and teachers. The basic hindrance is lack of financial assistance. We are still figuring out the solutions.
In her complaint to the police, the complainant stated that she was gang raped by the trio in an apartment building in Electronics city. (Representational image)
BENGALURU: In a sign that police are waking up to the perils of refusing to register complaints of rape and molestation of women in the IT capital, police swiftly arrested the three men who allegedly gang-raped a 25-year-old Bhutanese national on Sunday.
The young woman, a beautician by profession registered a complaint against Mukhtiar, Khadim and Babu, employed at Biggies Hotel in Electronics City. All three are 22-years-old and hail from Assam, and work as helpers in the private hotel.
In her complaint to the police, the complainant stated that she was gang raped by the trio in an apartment building in Electronics city. She had been looking for a place to buy cigarettes after attending a common friend's birthday in Hebbugodi at around 11.30 pm when one of the accused offered to take her to a place that stayed open 24/7. From there, he invited her home.
Since she knew him and his room mates well, she did not suspect any foul play. However, the three sexually assaulted her, said police. Based on the information given by the rape victim, the Electronics City police nabbed the three men from Whitefield. Doctors confirmed sexual assault after conducting a medical examination of the woman.
New Delhi: Minister of state for external affairs Gen V K Singh (Retd) has written to the Union urban development ministry seeking the renaming of Akbar Road in Delhis Lutyens Zone after the truly secular and great Rajput warrior Maharana Pratap.
Incidentally, the All-India Congress Committee headquarters is located on Akbar Road.
Last year, the government had renamed Aurangzeb Road after the late former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam despite opposition.
A suggestion to rename Akbar Road was also made by Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and backed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy last week.
In his letter to M. Venkaiah Naidu on May 16, Gen. Singh wrote: We have recognised the contributions of each community in building a stronger and vibrant India, but one historical personality that has truly motivated generations, Maharana Pratap, has not been given his due.
(THIS STORY ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN THE ASIAN AGE AS MAY THE CASE BE)
As drought situation continues, the Centre on Wednesday reviewed preparedness for various natural disasters with state governments and deliberated on ways to tackle them. (Representational image)
New Delhi: As drought situation continues, the Centre on Wednesday reviewed preparedness for various natural disasters with state governments and deliberated on ways to tackle them.
Inaugurating the annual conference of Relief Commissioners and Secretaries of the Department of Disaster Management of States and Union Territories, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said the disasters or adversities are increasing in number and intensity in the country, ranging from earthquakes, droughts, floods, forest fires among others.
There is a need for better preparedness and putting comprehensive, improved risk reduction and mitigation measures in place, he said. The Home Secretary took stock of the status of preparedness for southwest monsoon with the participating central agencies and states and UTs.
Mehrishi informed the participants that in the last financial year (2015-16), 21 states and one Union Territory reported damage caused by floods, landslides, cloudbursts and other disasters. In these disasters, 1543 human lives were lost, about 16.54 lakh houses and huts damaged and crops over an area of 33.57 lakh hectares affected.
Mehrishi said the Ministry of Home Affairs and agencies such as National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) are sharing long-term measures and training with the states for necessary preparedness.
He said the participants should share their experiences in the conference and ensure that an early warning system is put in place. Agencies such as India Meteorological 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 are making presentations at the conference to share their efforts towards preparedness in dealing with disaster situations.
The assistance to states through National Disaster Response Fund and State Disaster Response Fund is being regularly extended by the central government and during the last financial year an amount of Rs 8,756 crore was released to different states from the SDRF in addition to release of Rs 12,452 crore from NDRF to the states.
New Delhi: China has denied that it was blocking India's bid for a membership in elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and said it will "work" with the members of the 48-nation grouping as well as India to find a solution for India's entry into it.
Liu Zhenmin, China's Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, also said that the issue needs to be deliberated on among relevant parties.
"That's not true. I think, the membership of NSG is not a new issue. It has been an issue for many years. This should be sorted out together with the members of the NPT," Liu Zhenmin told PTI when asked whether China was blocking India's entry to the elite club.
Read: China against India in NSG, propping up Pakistan as a shield
"Members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group should be party to NPT. So, I think China will also work with others including Indian colleagues together to find a solution.
"This should be consulted among relevant parties. As a very friendly country, China wants to have good cooperation with India at the international arena on all issues," the Chinese minister said. He is in Delhi to attend a multi-lateral legal meet.
Read: US disagrees completely with China, says India ready for NSG
Earlier this week, China claimed that several members of the group shared its view that signing of the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was an "important" standard for NSG's expansion.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang in Beijing had 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. The Chinese action is apparently at the behest of Pakistan, which is also seeking an entry into the bloc.
India is not a party to Nuclear Proliferation Treaty, the international pact aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, maintaining that it was discriminatory.
Madam had gone to Jalaramnagar area in Jamnagar city of Gujarat on Monday when residents were protesting against the demolition of 237 housing units.
Mumbai: The condition of Jamnagar Lok Sabha MP Poonam Madam, who was injured after falling into a drain on Monday and flown to Mumbai, is stable, hospital officials said.
The 41-year-old BJP MP, who suffered head injuries in the accident which occurred when she was inspecting a demolition site at a locality in Jamnagar, is undergoing treatment at the Sir H N Reliance Foundation Hospital.
"Her condition is stable," a hospital spokesperson said.
Read: Video: BJP MP Poonamben Madam falls into 8-ft deep drain
A Mumbai BJP MP, who is slated to meet her today, said she was "doing well", and added that there was no cause of concern.
Madam had gone to Jalaramnagar area in Jamnagar city of Gujarat on Monday when residents were protesting against the demolition of 237 housing units by the Jamnagar Municipal Corporation.
She was speaking to officials outside one of the housing units when a slab which covered the underground drain on which she was standing collapsed.
Madam had suffered a 4-inch deep gash on her head and also hurt her shoulder and foot. She received five stitches on her head, doctors who treated her at a private hospital in Jamnagar had earlier said.
Gurjar said according to 2011 census report, there are 2 crore 68 lakh differently abled individuals living in the country
New Delhi: The Central Government would soon issue Universal Identity Cards to divyangs (differently abled individuals) in the country.
This was announced by Minster of State for Social justice and Empowerment Krishna Pal Gurjar in Amroha district on Wednesday. He said that this Universal Identity Card would be valid throughout the country. Gurjar was speaking in a programme organized for distribution of assistance equipment to divyangs.
He said the Central Government had already provided assistance equipments of lakhs of rupees to divyangs in 120 Lok Sabha constituencies.
Gurjar said according to 2011 census report, there are 2 crore 68 lakhs differently abled individuals living in the country. He stated the Centre is already implementing several schemes to make them self sufficient.
On this occasion, he distributed tricycles, wheel chairs and ear implants to 504 differently abled individuals of Amorha.
New Delhi: Minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi on Tuesday said online trolling against women will be considered violence. She also accused the police and forensic experts of incompetence in the April 28 brutal rape and murder of the Dalit woman in Keralas Ernakulum district, that sparked mass protests.
Ms Gandhi also said that she was concerned about the way in which forensic experts were handling such cases. One of the things that should emerge from this report is strengthening forensics in the police. It is the forensic department that is always to blame for the miscarriage of justice which is what happened in the Aarushi Talwar case and in this case, she said.
Accusing the police of dithering in its investigation into the attack on the student, Ms Gandhi said an independent probe into the case by the National Commission for Women found glaring problems with the way in which forensic experts were handling the assault.
We sent an NCW team to the state the day the news came out (on May 4). This was a Scheduled Caste girl from a very poor background, who lived with her sister and mother in a hut. This instance is not unique to Kerala but to many other states. A family which has only women members often faces a lot of problems even from their neighbours than (those) with men, the minister said.
She said that the NCW report mentioned that even after the victim had complained to the police about a neighbour who threatened her with rape, the police didnt care to act. It considered it as a case of eve-teasing instead.
(THIS STORY ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN THE ASIAN AGE AS MAY THE CASE BE)
Hyderabad: Even as Telangana IT minister K.T. Rama Rao tweeted about sharing a big news on Thursday, news about the launch of tech giant Apples development centre on May 19 created a buzz in media and IT circles.
Mr Rao tweeted on Tuesday: Will share a Big news with you all day after tomorrow. Suspense till then. Higher officials of Telangana IT department have confirmed the news, but could not confirm whether Apple CEO Tim Cook would be present on the occasion.
It may not be a coincidence that Mr Cook is arriving in New Delhi on Tuesday to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Apple has identified space in a building owned by Tishman Speyer at Nanakramguda to house its new centre. There has been, however, no word from Apple about composition of the delegation that will come for the inauguration.
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Patna: The police on Wednesday launched crackdown against Mohammad Shahabuddin in connection with journalist Rajdeo Ranjans murder and raided his cell inside Siwan Jail.
Though it is still not clear whether they recovered anything from his cell but sources said that the police may take him on remand soon and interrogate him.
The raid was conducted after Shahabuddins name surfaced as a mastermind of the murder. The police are also trying to verify identity of those who visit former RJD MP Shahabuddin frequently in jail.
Around 40 mobile phones were seized from them on Wednesday while they were waiting to meet Shahbuddin. According to Siwan based journalists, Shahabuddin regularly holds darbar inside jail.
They recall that after Nitish Kumar came to power in 2005 he had launched similar crackdown against Shahabuddin and his men. Shahabuddin has been languishing in jail since 2003.
New Delhi: While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Rajnath Singh intend to push development as the main plank for the forthcoming UP Assembly polls, the party cadre is apparently rooting for Hindutva. Sources said that reports pouring in from the state indicate that a large chunk of the party cadre feels that Hindutva blended with nationalism should be the main issue.
The BJPs complete focus will now be on UP as ground reports at this juncture project a grim picture, indicating that the BJP might not even touch 100 seats.
The UP Assembly has 403 seats. A debate is also raging within the party over the projection of a chief ministerial candidate. While a large section in the BJP has begun rooting for the saffron young turk Varun Gandhi to be the face of the party, another influential section is opposing it.
Those supporting Mr Gandhis projection are trying to put across the message that this will not only blunt the Congress attempts to sell party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and his sister, Priyanka Gandhi, but will also counter the Samajwadi Partys young face, UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.
Mr Gandhi reportedly met senior party leaders to discuss the UP scenario on Tuesday night. Those favouring the hardline approach are opposing Mr Varun Gandhis projection because they feel he has been taking a secular and left-of-centre line.
DC had reported on Wednesday that real estate developers were carrying out illegal blasts at the protected site. (Representational image)
Hyderabad: The blasting of heritage rocks at Peeran Shah Wali Dargah by construction workers was stopped after police intervened.
DC had reported on Wednesday that real estate developers were carrying out illegal blasts at the protected site. A Narsingi police team visited the site and asked the workers to stop the work after a complaint was lodged by activist and Great Hyderabad Adventure Club founder president, Diyanat Ali. Mr Ali had also lodged a complaint with Cyberabad police commissioner C.V. Anand, seeking his intervention to stop the alleged destruction of the heritage rock site and the dargah atop it.
The Peeran Shah Wali Dargah is located near the AP Police Academy. The ancient rock formation is listed as item No 8 in GO 68, Ali said.
In the above-mentioned GO, it is stipulated that within 100 metres from the periphery of the dargah, there shall be a buffer zone in which no construction activity is allowed, the heritage activist said.
New Delhi: With less than 24 hours to go for the declaration of results of the Assembly polls held in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, both the Congress and the BJP await the outcome with bated breath.
While the BJP is sensing an outside chance in Assam and would be keen to open its account in the north-eastern state, a loss for the Congress, especially in Assam and Kerala, could lead to political uncertainty for it.
The BJP is buoyed by the exit poll results, which have unanimously handed over Assam to it. If this happens then it would not only open the doors of the north-east for the saffron party, but also help break its pariah status in other states of the region.
The exit polls have also predicted the DMK-Congress alliances victory in Tamil Nadu, though their predictions have sparked a sea of reactions on the social media. Meanwhile going by the exit polls prediction of a BJP win in Assam, the Congress is going to be the biggest loser in such a scenario.
With the Congress-led government ousted under controversial circumstances in Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura being a Left bastion, it currently holds power in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur apart from Assam.
If the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) loses in Kerala, as has been predicted by exit polls, then it would only be left with the aforementioned mountain states in the north and the three north-eastern states. Apart from these, the Congress is in power only in the southern state of Karnataka.
West Bengal seems to be maintaining status quo, as exit polls have predicted a heavy win for the ruling Trinamul. While the TMC has 184 seats in the 294-member assembly, the exit polls have predicted similar numbers and even more, for the Mamata Banerjee outfit.
Lucknow: In another twist to the controversy over Yoga Day, the Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has said that chanting of Om is against the tenets of Islam and has asked Muslims to stay away from the event.
Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani of the seminary said that chanting of Om was a part of Hindu worship and asking Muslims to join in was un-Islamic.
This is against the freedom to worship that is granted to every citizen of the country. Muslims cannot be expected to indulge in idol worship so why should they be expected to chant Om? The order issued by the Ayush ministry deserves to be condemned, he said.
He said that the Darul Uloom Deoband was now appealing to Muslims across the country that if chanting Om was a part of the Yoga Day functions, then Muslims should stay away from the event.
The Maulana said Muslims should ensure that their children do not go to schools where the event is being held because they may be pressurised to join other children in chanting Om.
Interestingly, Darul Uloom Deoband, in June last year, had said that Yoga could be accepted as an exercise to promote better health provided there was no political agenda behind it. We still maintain what we said.
There is no opposition to Yoga because it helps in improving ones health. We cannot accept Om because it is a part of Hindu rituals and Islam does not permit us to chant the mantra, Maulana Nomani said.
Muslims clerics had also raised objections to making Surya Namaskar compulsory in schools, terming it as a Hindu religious practice. Meanwhile, the Dargarh Ala Hazrat in Lucknow has issued a fatwa against the Patanjali products. The Mufti of the Dargah said that since Patanjali products contain cow urine, it was unholy according to Islam and should not be used by Muslims.
Kolkata: During Assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry, BJP was the most discussed political party while West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee the most talked about political leader on Facebook.
An analysis of conversations on Facebook regarding the Assembly polls across all states done by the social media giant shows that BJP featured in 61 per cent of them, while Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee was the top leader, figuring in 22 per cent of the conversations.
Overall, 2.2 crore netizens discussed elections on the social media platform leading to 14.2 crore interactions, Facebook said.
The data is for the period from February 12 to May 10 and covers top political parties, politicians, states and top issues, the social media giant said.
With 47 per cent mentions, Congress was second followed by AAP - 25 per cent. Interestingly, DMK and CPI-M featured in only 6 per cent of online conversations.
In the list of most talked about politicians, Banerjee was followed by Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy who featured in 20 per cent of the conversation.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, DMK patriarch M Karunandhi and BJP's Sarbananda Sonowal were the other talked about leaders, Facebook said, adding among the states, Assam was most popular with conversation of 28 per cent netizens figured around it.
Crime seemed to be of utmost concern to Facebook users as one-third of election-related conversations featured the issue. Defence came a close second with 31 per cent. Foreign affairs, education and transport were other major issues.
"Facebook is making it easier for people to participate in electoral debates and have a real impact. It has become a place for people to get to know their candidates better and discuss issues they care about," a Facebook spokesperson said.
"By providing a platform for engagement and discussion, Facebook is empowering people in India on Facebook to engage in the elections," the spokesperson said.
Bikaner: A senior doctor at Mukta Prasad dispensary in Bikaner is in trouble for advising her patients to follow Islam in order to get cured.
According to reports, the doctor in question, Jameema Hayat, has been warned repeatedly by Chief medical and health officer (CMHO) Dr Devendra Choudhary for her religious approach while on duty. After failing to change her behaviour despite getting many complaints, the CMHO has issued her a fresh notice.
Choudhary said, We have been receiving these complaints for a long time. We also warned her several times and issued notices to her but she refuses to listen to anybody.
The matter has assumed serious proportions so much so that the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) has ordered a probe into it. The PMO has indicated that appropriate action should be taken if there is impropriety involved.
According to the report, one Manish Singhal was stunned recently when he took his daughter to the dispensary and was advised by Hayat to practice Islam, because it can save his family from all troubles. Singhal said, After a formal checkup, Hayat started reciting Islamic quotations while my daughter was running a fever. I took my daughter to another doctor and got her treated.
Hayat has been transferred frequently due to such religious exhortations on duty. Hayats two elder brothers were also famous medical practitioners, said the report.
The June offering of the History Museum of Mobile's monthly Learning Lunch series will feature Cari Searcy and Kimberly McKeand, on Wednesday, June 8, at noon in the auditorium.
Searcy and McKeand will be discussing their story, "Our Fight for Family Equality in Alabama."
Searcy, the owner of a video production company, and McKeand, a marketing manager, moved to Mobile 14 years ago. The couple, along with their 9-year-old son, filed a lawsuit last year challenging the ban that prevented Alabama from recognizing their California marriage and Searcy as a parent to their son that McKeand birthed.
In January 2015, U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. Granade ruled in the couple's favor declaring both Alabama's statutory and constitutional gay marriage bans to be in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Searcy and McKeand will share their experiences in the federal court system and discuss the effects of this landmark ruling.
The Learning Lunch series, offered monthly, allows guests to bring their lunch and enjoy a free presentation on a wide range of historical and cultural topics. Admission to Learning Lunch is free, and all are encouraged to join us.
For more information on the Learning Lunch series, call the museum at (251) 208-7510 to speak with Jennifer Fondren, Curator of Education, or contact her by email at fondrenj@historymuseumofmobile.com.
HISTORY MUSEUM OF MOBILE: Located in the Old City Hall/ Southern Market at 111 South Royal Street in downtown Mobile, the History Museum of Mobile documents the 300-year history of Mobile and the surrounding region. The museum is open Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. For more information, call (251) 208-7508.
Bengaluru: A day after shooting off his mouth and describing private schools as `brothels', Social Welfare Minister Mr Anjaneya made a quick U-turn. Speaking at a function on Tuesday Mr Anjaneya had flayed private schools for collecting huge donations, and selling Saraswati, the deity of knowledge. Therefore, he said, "private schools are worse than brothels."
On Wednesday, Mr Anjaneya said that he was not referring to all the private institutions, but only the institutions which were extorting money from students, who were admitted through RTE. During UPA government tenure, students from poor background were given admission to private schools through RTE but were being charged huge fees.
"It is not that all the schools are doing so. Many private schools run by religious institutions are doing good work. I only said that some of the schools were working like brothels,'' he added. Shashi Kumar, general secretary of Private Education Institutions Association has threatened to file a defamation suit against the minister. He told reporters that a protest would be held against the minister.
New Delhi/Chennai: Counting of votes in the high-stakes Assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry will be taken up tomorrow morning and the first trends are expected to be available after an hour.
By 12 noon, a clear picture could emerge on the winners. Election Commission officials said counting of votes, which will commence at 8 am, will be over by 3 pm.
According to various exit polls shown on TV channels on May 16, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala appeared to have voted for change giving BJP its first government in the northeastern state dislodging Congress which may also lose Kerala. DMK has been tipped to regain power trouncing AIADMK in Tamil Nadu.
Only West Bengal seems to have bucked the trend in exit polls by re-electing Trinamool Congress led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who managed to hold on to power by defeating the Left-Congress alliance convincingly for a second consecutive term.
The Congress could take solace from its projected victory in the tiny Union Territory of Puducherry where it is likely to get power in alliance with the DMK.
The counting of votes will decide the fate of approximately 8,300 candidates including chief minister Tarun Gogoi in Assam and CM contender BJP's Sarbananda Sonowal and Himanta Biswas, chief minister Jayalalithaa and Karunandhi in Tamil Nadu, chief minister Oommen Chandy, CPI(M) leaders V S Achutanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan in Kerala, chief minister Mamata Banerjee and CPI(M) Suryakanta Mishra in West Bengal and chief Minister M Rangaswamy in Puducherry.
According to Election Commission guidelines, half-an-hour after the postal ballots are counted, the process of counting votes from the EVMs begins.
The 'ballot unit' is switched on in the presence of senior poll officials and counting agents of candidates and the result command keyed in to get results per machine.
Where a paper trail audit or 'voter-verified paper audit trail' (VVPAT) has been used, the counting agent can call for a count of the paper slips in the drop box attached to the voting machine, but a final count is taken by the returning officer.
Once the results are declared, the names of the winning candidates will find mention in the gazette. The gazette notification will initiate the process to form the next legislative assemblies in the states.
Necessary arrangements made for counting in rain-hit areas
Necessary arrangements such as power back up would be made in areas affected by rains for ensuring smooth counting of votes polled in the May 16 assembly elections in Tamil Nadu tomorrow, a top official said on Wednesday.
Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhoni said the officials had been directed to provide adequate arrangements including generators at the counting centres in rain-hit areas to ensure uninterrupted power supply.
Several parts of the state, including the city, were experiencing rains for the past three days under the influence of a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal.
However, the Met office has forecast gradual decrease in rainfall with the deep depression moving to Andhra Pradesh coast.
Hyderabad: Congress party favours Priyanka Gandhi Vadra getting into active politics but it has to be decided by the family, according to AICC General Secretary Digvijaya Singh, who said she has the potential to emerge as a mass leader.
Asked if Priyanka would play a significant role in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections due early next year, he said, "It's a family decision."
"As far as we (Congress party) are concerned, we will be very happy if she comes into active politics," the two-time Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh said.
On whether Priyanka would campaign beyond the Nehru-Gandhi pocket borough of Amethi and Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, Singh said: "The decision would be hers and the family's."
Read: Some in Congress want Priyanka Gandhi as Uttar Pradesh CM face
Asked whether Priyanka has abilities of her grandmother Indira Gandhi, he said she has a "striking resemblance" with the former prime minister but he can't say "just now" whether she has the same abilities.
"She has the potential," Singh replied when asked if Priyanka can emerge as a mass leader.
Asked if the "delay" in Rahul Gandhi taking over as Congress President is hurting the party's prospects, he said, "No. This is a decision to be taken by the Congress President (Sonia Gandhi) and she will take a decision when the time comes."
Singh declined to discuss the exit poll results of the recent assembly polls, saying he does not trust them. "I don't trust these (exit) polls. It's (questions) too hypothetical," he responded.
To a query on whether JD(U) President and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's efforts to prop up a broad non-BJP front to defeat BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha election would be a non-starter "given the past experiences", he said: "No. It's not that. 'Mahaghatbandan' has worked in Bihar (Assembly elections recently)".
Asked if the Congress would be a party to such an initiative by Nitish Kumar, Singh said it's a policy decision to be taken by the Congress President and the Congress Working Committee.
On his assessment of Narendra Modi government's two-year tenure, he said: "Very high on publicity, very low on performance."
Hyderabad: While praising the initiatives of the state government in mitigating drought in the state and progress in micro and drip irrigation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed NITI Aayog to set up a task force in consultation with the state government to comprehensively study the economic impact of drip irrigation and how technology can be used for crop insurance. In Delhi on Tuesday, he discussed the drought situation for about an hour with AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
After the meeting, the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) in a press release said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on the drought and water scarcity situation in parts of AP. The meeting was attended by AP CM Naidu and the officials of both state and central governments.
Read: Drought affects 2.35 crore people in Andhra Pradesh, says report
According to PMO release, an amount of Rs 315.95 crore has been released to AP under National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), after adjustments of the state balances. This is in addition to Rs 330 crore released as central share of State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for 2015-16 to the state. A further amount of Rs 173.25 crore has been released as first instalment of SDRF for 2016-17.
Chief Minister Naidu described the states efforts in building check dams, reviving lift irrigation schemes and deploying mobile sprinkler units (rain guns) as part of the drought mitigation effort. He mentioned the state's progress in micro-irrigation. The state has a target of 20 lakh hectares for micro irrigation by 2022. Global best practices and research in the field came up for discussion at the meeting.
Read: AP officials told to see that drought word is banished
Appreciating the states efforts in micro-irrigation, the Prime Minister directed setting up of a task force to comprehensively study the economic impact of drip irrigation in the states of Maharashtra, AP and Gujarat, on various parameters such as water saving, enhanced productivity and savings in terms of reduced input costs of fertiliser, pesticide and labour.
The Chief Minister, praising the Prime Minister for his initiatives of neem coating of urea and the assistance of Rs 1,500 per tonne offered for compost made from municipal solid waste, stated that these will go a long way in improving soil health and checking the diversion of urea.
Read: Karnataka releases 1 TMC ft water to drought-hit Telangana
The Chief Minister also made a brief presentation on how the state government is using technology to get real-time updates on water and agriculture from the field. Appreciating these innovations, the Prime Minister urged the NITI Aayog to set up a task force in consultation with the state that could come up with a model on how to use technology for crop insurance.
Action plan with Rs 2,000 crore:
After the meeting with the Prime Minister, AP Chief Minister Naidu told the media that the state government has prepared action plan with Rs 2,000 crore to face the drought situation in the state.
CM Naidu said that the Centre released Rs 433 crore under NDRF against the state governments request of Rs 2,000 crore. To a question, Mr Naidu said he did not ask the Prime Minister about additional funds. Mr Naidu said the state government is supplying drinking water through tankers in 973 villages and 61 municipalities. He said the state government has decided to release Rs 737 crore as input subsidy to the farmers.
Mr Naidu said the state government is planning to divert about 80 TMC to 100 TMC of Godavari water to Krishna through Pattiseema Project. Mr Naidu said the Prime Minister felt happy for the details explained by him regarding drought mitigation in the state.
New Delhi: Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said Sonia Gandhi should continue as party President irrespective of tomorrow's poll outcome in the five states.
Singh, a former Punjab Chief Minister and a sitting MP, at the same time said that Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi can step into Sonia's shoes if she feels that time has come for her to go and that she is "tired" of being at the helm of the party since 1997.
Exit polls have projected Congress losing power in Assam and Kerala.
"No, not at all," Singh said when asked whether time has come for Rahul to take over as Congress President in the backdrop of suggestions in this regard with Sonia assuming the role of 'Chairman Emeritus'. "I have worked very closely with Sonia and I think she is a great leader."
Singh, who returned as Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) President in November last, said Sonia believed in modern concept of management.
Singh said any decision on elevating Rahul is for him and Sonia to take.
"She(Sonia) has been non-stop in this role since 1997 and she may be tired, may be she feels that time has come that she wants to go and that she is tired of handling this. And in this case the Vice President can take over and Rahul can handle it," he said.
"It has been years since Rahul has been in his current role. I am sure he can step into her shoes," he added.
Singh also denied reports of a rift with strategist Prashant Kishor who has been roped in by the Congress to hammer out strategies for the party for the Assembly polls in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh due next year.
"100 per cent. Things are 100 per cent fine. We've been together for the whole of yesterday, been together whole of this morning. We have no differences whatsoever," he asserted when asked whether all is well between him and Kishor in the light of reports of a rift between them.
Meanwhile, Congress workers on Wednesday staged a protest outside Kapoor's house in suburban Bandra and also pelted stones and shouted slogans against the actor to protest his tweets against the Gandhi family.
The NCP too took strong objection to Kapoor's tweets on naming major assets after the Gandhi family.
"He seems to have forgotten his legendary father Raj Kapoor's association with former PM Indira Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi, Indira and Rajiv Gandhi have laid down their lives for the nation so there is nothing wrong is naming assets after them," NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said.
"The Kapoor brothers have amassed large fortune over the years and if Rishi Kapoor wants an asset in his father's name, the family should spend some money for the welfare of people," he added.
Mr Uma Maheswara Rao told newsmen in Eluru that no such letter was written and dared the TS irrigation minister to produce it, if it was available with him.
Hyderabad: Within hours after AP irrigation minister Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao challenged his TS counterpart to produce evidence, TS irrigation officials released the relevant correspondence that took place between the Adoni revenue divisional officer and the Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme officials.
Earlier in the day, Mr Uma Maheswara Rao told newsmen in Eluru that no such letter was written and dared the TS irrigation minister to produce it, if it was available with him.He said that the issue of RDS was between AP, TS and Karnataka states and opined that if ministers from only AP and TS discussed it, a resolution may not be found.
SMS communication between the Kurnool collector and RDS EE. DC also has copies of the letters between the two officials in its possession.
As per the letters and SMS, the Adoni RDO asks the RDS officials to stop the works. Ch. Obulesu, RDO of Adoni in Kurnool district along with K. Srinivasa Rao, the Sub-Divisional police officer, had on May 16 written to the RDS executive engineer of Karnataka, asking him to stop the ongoing improvement works at RDS immediately.
The letter says: Farmers and the general public of AP are very much alarmed and opposing the ongoing works by the Karnataka officials. We are anticipating large-scale agitations from the AP side, which may lead to severe law and order problems at RDS site.
Further, the AP government is also concerned about the ongoing works taken up without its knowledge. In view of the above, we request you to stop ongoing works at RDS immediately.
Responding to this, executive engineer at RDS, Sri Prakash, sent an SMS informing about the works being taken up at RDS to the Kurnool collector who in turn messaged him, saying, Do not start works without the government of AP directions as there is an agitating mood among farmers in that area. They will seriously object it and will result in a law and order problem.
The EEs response was: Once it is cleared from your side and only after bringing it to your notice we will start. Meanwhile, TS irrigation principal secretary S.K. Joshi has written to the member-secretary, Krishna River Management Board, asking him to get the AP government cooperate for early completion of the RDS anicut modernisation.
Mr Joshi wrote that raising the anicut will in no way affect the interests of Kurnool farmers who are agitating against the work. He also gave a detailed report on the need to take up modernisation works and the recommendations of the expert committee constituted by government of undivided AP.
The governments ambitious desire to consolidate banks because it wants at least two big Indian banks to be able to compete globally is near fulfilment with the proposed merger of the five subsidiaries of the State Bank of India with SBI. The State Bank of India, which was 52nd in the global ranking of banks, will be catapulted into the top 50, at No. 45, when the merger is completed. China heads the global ranking with 11 big global banks compared to the US six, a far second. At the moment it is not clear whether all the five SBI subsidiaries will be merged with it in one go or in phases. But, with the government pushing it, it is only a matter of time. Whilst globally there is concern about big banks as they mean big risks following the failure of the big banks during the 2008 financial crisis triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, India does not face the same problems. Indian banks are well regulated, unlike in the US where reforms of the financial system are still being fiercely resisted. Indian banks have to keep 21 per cent of their deposits as SLR, or statutory liquidity ratio, and four per cent as CRR, or cash reserve ratio, so deposits are safe. Besides, the public sector banks have government support, so they can never fail. This SBI merger leading to further mergers in remains only a distant possibility.
One of the main problems faced by the government and borrowers is funding for infrastructure projects and here behemoths like the SBI can be ideal lenders after the five subsidiaries merge with it. About three decades ago there was talk of merging the financial institutions in order to get the funds to finance big projects. But it never took off because of resistance from the unions and the Left. There was also resistance, and there still is, from the top brass of the banks who see their companies as fiefdoms. The situation has changed dramatically today and though there is resistance to the proposed merger of SBIs affiliates by the unions, which have called for a strike on May 20, the merger will go through.
There is lot to be done regarding cleaning up of the balance sheets of the public sector banks. That process is underway under the supervision of RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, who has the authority to make this happen. Once the banks are on their way to recovery, industry too will find it easier to get loans. Recent reports suggest that there are green shoots appearing in various sections of the economy, so funds will be needed.
Christians celebrate it as the 50th day after Easter Sunday, when Christ rose from the dead and promised his disciples the gift of the Spirit.
Watching Zubin Mehta conduct an orchestra of world-class musicians on his 80th birthday or viewing Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers partnership of 229 runs at the IPL T-20 series are out-of-this-world experiences. Differences in culture, religion, language, style and temperament of these maestros notwithstanding, their synergy is awesome, incredible and heavenly! Sublime examples of unity in diversity.
Three days of this week celebrate unity in diversity: Pentecost Sunday (May 15), UN World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (May 21) and International Day for Biodiversity (May 22). While the first is a Christian feast, the second celebrates our humanity: united-in-diversity, and the third commemorates the differences that characterise our cosmic communion.
The word Pentecost (Greek, meaning 50th day) was traditionally celebrated as the 50th day after the Jewish Passover feast. Christians celebrate it as the 50th day after Easter Sunday, when Christ rose from the dead and promised his disciples the gift of the Spirit. The Acts of the Apostles narrates the disciples experience when the Holy Spirit descended upon them in the form of tongues of fire. Theres a pun on the word glossa that can mean both, tongue and language. Animated by the Spirit-filled tongues, when the disciples begin preaching Jesus good news (gospel), their speech is understood by all peoples each one in ones own language.
Since Pentecost was also a harvest festival, the Bible speaks of fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are virtues that need to be cultivated to lead a spirited, happy, healthy and spiritual life.
Celebrating World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development we could heed the UNs exhortation to take concrete action to support diversity.
Most of the identified attacks were on well-known commercial and government organisations in the country. (Represetational image)
Mumbai: An advanced cyber-espionage group responsible for conducting attacks on a number of South Korean organisations has again come to spotlight after it was revealed that the Indian government organisations were its primary targets.
The group, dubbed Suckfly, had conducted several operations targeted at several countries since April 2014 but a Symantec investigation revealed that most of the primary targets were individuals and organisations from India.
A blog published on Symantecs website indicated that the these attacks were part of a planned operation against specific targets in India.
Government organisations affected
While the Suckly campaign attacked several organisations across industries in 2015, most of the identified attacks were on well-known commercial, and especially government organisations in the country.
The blog said: ''Suckfly spent more time attacking the government networks compared to all but one of the commercial targets.''
For instance, one of the government organisations attacked are responsible for for implementing network software for different ministries and departments within India's central government.
Symantec said that the 'high infection rate for this target is likely because of its access to technology and information related to other Indian government organizations'. The blog also said that similar attacks were carried out in Saudi Arabia as well.
In addition, Suckfly also targeted one of India's largest E-commerce firms, one of Indias largest financial organisations, and an IT firm that assists Indias largest stock exchange.
"All of these targets are large corporations that play a major role in Indias economy. By targeting all of these organizations together, Suckfly could have had a much larger impact on India and its economy. While we don't know the motivations behind the attacks, the targeted commercial organizations, along with the targeted government organizations, may point in this direction", the blog explained.
The blog further pointed out that the cyber-spy group has the resources to develop malware, purchase infrastructure, and conduct targeted attacks for years while staying off the radar of security organizations.
"We believe that Suckfly will continue to target organizations in India and similar organizations in other countries in order to provide economic insight to the organization behind Suckfly's operations," it concluded.
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Washington Post Notes Israels Cyber Strength | Main | Al-Monitor Spins History
May 17, 2016
'Stabbing Intifada' Declines, Tribune Papers Tell Half the Story
The Tribune Newspapersincluding The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sunasked, as a Times headline put it, Whats behind the sharp decline in lone-wolf stabbing attacks in the West Bank?? (May 11, 2016). The same report appeared that day in The Tribune and a shorter version (Palestinian stabbings decrease, officials say?) ran in the May 10 print Baltimore Sun.
Special correspondent Joshua Mitnicks timely article included some useful background. It indirectly and anonymously quoted a Palestinian security commander saying, Many of the attacks [against Israelis] seem to be carried out by youths who suffer from depression or economic hardship,? as well as those who want revenge for relatives or friends injured in the violence.?
But the article omitted too much. For example:
*It portrayed the Palestinian stabbing intifada? as being carried by individuals without ties to militant groups.? But according to a detailed analysis by Adam Shay and Pinhas Inbari (the Palestinian Authority-Fatahs Incitement Strategy,? Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Feb. 29, 2016), rather than plan and coordinate violent attacks, [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas uses the Palestinian public debate and the media as a mechanism for instigating waves of violence. The public debate also uses a dialogue based on cultural codes, which broadcast a specific, pre-defined meaning to the Palestinian listener.
When President Abbas says that they [the Jews] have no right to defile them [the al-Aqsa mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher]we will not allow them, and we will do everything in our power to protect Jerusalem, he is in fact giving permission and legitimacy to intensify the struggle. Within the context of the struggle this is an authorization to move from stone-throwing to knifing and vehicular attacks, as was indeed the case.?
*The Tribune report misses what Shay and Inbari describe as Abbas strategy to circumvent Israels insistence on direct negotiations toward a two-state solution? and Israeli-Palestinian peace. Abbas outlined this in January, 2015, eight months before the stabbing intifada? erupted, declaring in reference to sporadic anti-Israel attacks already occurring: The popular intifada will continue until the occupation is over and there will be no return to negotiations without full recognition of Palestinian rights. Movement towards a settlement will be achieved through international intervention.? Palestinian support of French efforts to convene an international conference in place of direct talks with Israel reflects that strategy.
*The Tribune Newspapers quote PA official and Fatah movement member Kadoura Fares as claiming of the stabbing intifada? that the Palestinian national movement didnt lead this wave.? Perhaps not with a direct order, but by setting and maintaining the atmosphere, including repeated official praise of martyrs, it helped spark and sustain that wave. See, for one example among many USA Today Downplays Anti-Jewish Violence as Clashes,? CAMERA, March 7, 2016.
*Whats behind the sharp decline in lone-wolf stabbing attacks? states, without attribution, Palestinians want to form an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as their capital.? This formula tends to appear chronically in news media coverage, usuallyas hereout of context. That Palestinian leaders rejected U.S.-Israeli proposals of a West Bank and Gaza Palestine? with eastern Jerusalem as its capital in 2000 and 2001, replying with the bloodshed of the second intifada, and rebuffed a similar Israeli-only offer in 2008 virtually always goes unmentioned.
In fact, recent polling indicates that pluralities of Palestinian Arabs continue to oppose a two-state solution,? still favor elimination of Israel as a Jewish state and support anti-Israeli violence over non-violence. See Poll: Majority of Palestinians Favor a New Intifada,? CAMERA, Sept. 25, 2015
Yes, Israeli authorities have credited PA officials with trying recently to minimize support for the stabbing intifada,? including among young people via social media. This Mitnick, formerly of The Wall Street Journal, now a Tribune Newspapers special correspondent, reports. But omitted is those same officials role in stimulating such attacks in the first place. Also missing is the persistence of Palestinian hostility to Israel and opposition to peace with it as a Jewish state, which fuels those crimes.
Posted by ER at May 17, 2016 05:08 PM
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Mumbai: Apple CEO Tim Cook has kicked of his maiden India visit by announcing an app development center in Bangaluru and by paying a visit to the Holy Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai.
Cook arrived in Mumbai around 11.45 pm yesterday via his private jet from China, after sealing a billion dollar deal with Didi Chuxing. Just a day after touching down, he announced that the tech giant would be building a design and development facility in Bengaluru for the millions of capable developers in the country.
On Wednesday morning, Cook visited Mumbais famous Siddhivinayak temple where he bumped in to Annat Ambani, who is the son of Reliance Industries Chairman, Mukesh Ambani. He was accompanied by Apple India head Sanjay Kaul.
Speaking about Reliance, the company has an important role to play in strengthening Apples operations in India. Reliance is already working on rolling out fast 4G internet across the country and Cook said earlier that a lot of iPhone sales in the country depends high speed internet.
Moving on, several reports suggested that Cook plans to meet Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry, and superstar Shah Rukh Khan during his stay in Mumbai.
On Friday, he is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the second time; they first met when Modi went to US last year. He is also expected to visit the IT capitals Bengaluru and Hyderabad respectively.
Cooks visit to India has been kept cagey, maybe because he wants to discuss the issue regarding the sale of refurbished iPhones in the country and device a deal for the same.
Although Apple is the last among the tech giants in the world to open a development centre in India, the facility in Bengaluru will significantly help budding developers and engineers to create new mobile iOS apps. The development facility is expected to make its debut in 2017.
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Mumbai: Apple Inc chief executive Tim Cook, who began his maiden visit to India with a visit to the famous Siddhivinayak temple here, has announced his companys plans to set up a design and development accelerator in Bengaluru to support engineering talent and accelerate growth in Indias iOS developer community.
Mr Cook, who is on a five-day visit to India, one of the fastest growing markets for Apple products, got down to business by meeting Anant Ambani, the son of RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani at the temple. RILs telecom arm Jio is going to launch data-focussed telecom service this year.
Later, he met Sunil Sood, who heads the countrys second largest telco Vodafone India. India is home to one of the most vibrant and ent-repreneurial iOS development communities in the world. With the opening of this new facility in Bengaluru, were giving developers access to to-ols which will help them create innovative apps for customers around the world, he said. The accelerator is expected to open in early 2017.
Mr Cook, who visited ICICI Bank head office to hold talks with CEO Chanda Kochchar and dined with Shahrukh Khan on Wednesday, will fly to Hyderabad to open its R&D centre on Thursday morning.
Spread over 1.5 lakh sq feet, the Hyderabad facility is expected to be used as mapping centre for its applications. The servers, however, will be ba-sed in the United States.The visit was shrouded in secrecy, as Apple executives firewalled any information about the details of his visit until Tuesday.
Mr Cook is also scheduled meet Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry in Mumbai. He would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal in Delhi.
This is a huge vote of confidence in Indias developer community and a tremendous opportunity to gain world-class design and development expertise, said Deepinder Goyal, CEO, Zomato, New Delhi-based restaurant search and discovery platform. Kunal Bahl, co-founder and CEO of Snapdeal said that Apples expert guidance on the interface and user experience has helped us build an app that our consumers love.
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New York: J K Rowling, who once called Donald Trump worse than her fictional Harry Potter villain Voldemort, has said that the controversial real estate mogul has her support to visit the UK and "be offensive and bigoted there."
"Only last year, we saw an online petition to ban Donald Trump from entry in the UK. It garnered half a million signatures," she said at Pen America's annual literary gala in New York.
"Now, I find almost everything that Mr Trump says objectionable. I consider him offensive and bigoted. But he has my full support to come to my country and be offensive and bigoted there," she said.
Ms Rowling, who became famous for creating the iconic Harry Potter book series, was referring to the UK petition with more than 568,000 signatures to ban Mr Trump from visiting.
As a result of the petition, the British parliament held a debate but no vote in January, with lawmakers using the discussion to air their views on Mr Trump under the protection of parliamentary privilege, which legally shields members from accusations of defamation or slander.
Ms Rowling, 50, who accepted an award at the Pen gala for her humanitarian work, said the freedom that protects Mr Trump's right to speak his mind also protects her right to "call him a bigot."
"If you seek the removal of freedoms from an opponent simply on the grounds that they have offended you, you have crossed a line to stand alongside tyrants who imprison, torture and kill on exactly the same justifications," Ms Rowling said in her speech.
Last December, after Mr Trump stood by his proposal for a temporary ban on Muslims from entering the US, Ms Rowling tweeted, "How horrible. Voldemort was nowhere near as bad."
US will continue to support the LGBT community in their struggle for human dignity, Obama said. (Representational Photo: AP)
Washington: Asserting that LGBT rights are human rights, US President Barack Obama today called for ending discrimination against the community globally.
"Our nation is committed to the principle that all people should be treated fairly and with respect," the US President said in a statement on the occasion of International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.
"Advancing this goal has long been a cornerstone of American diplomacy, and I am proud that my Administration has made advancing the human rights of LGBT individuals a specific focus of our engagement around the world," he said.
He also lauded the efforts the US made in recent years in marriage equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.
"I am also proud of the great strides that our nation has made at home in recent years, including that we now have marriage equality as a result of last years landmark Supreme Court decision," he added.
At the same time, there is much work to be done to combat homophobia and transphobia, both at home and abroad, Obama said.
"In too many places, LGBT individuals grow up forced to conceal or deny who they truly are for fear of persecution, discrimination, and violence.
All nations and all communities can, and must, do better," he noted.
"Fortunately, human rights champions and good citizens around the world continue to strive towards this goal every day by lifting up the simple truth that LGBT rights are human rights. The US honours their work and will continue to support them in their struggle for human dignity," Obama said.
Washington: Ahead of his key address at a joint meeting of the US Congress next month, the Barack Obama government has asserted that it is looking forward to continue to work with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on all fronts to strengthen ties between two nations.
Talking about the Prime Minister's upcoming visit to the US on June 8th, state department spokesperson John Kirby said in a press briefing, that the ties between the two nations represented a 'special relationship'.
"It's one that we're very committed to, and we look forward to continuing to work with Prime Minister Modi on all the different areas in which the United States and India will and must work together," Kirby said.
He will be the fifth Indian Prime Minister to address a joint meeting of Congress, and the first since 2005.
The first-ever Indian premier to make such a speech was Rajiv Gandhi in 1985, followed by P.V. Narasimha Rao in 1994 and Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2000.
Prime Minister Modi will be the fifth, speaking 11 years after his predecessor, Congress leader Manmohan Singh.
Every full-term prime minister since 1984 has addressed a joint meeting of the House and Senate.
Under Malaysian laws, the government doesn't have to explain why anyone is barred from leaving the country. (Photo: AFP)
Kuala Lumpur: Malaysians who insult their government will be barred from overseas travel for three years, which authorities say is aimed at "safeguarding the country's image." Authorities have begun enforcing a law that allows them to bar citizens who discredit or ridicule the government from travelling abroad.
Immigration Department Director General Sakib Kusmi, in an email to The Star newspaper, confirmed the existence of such a provision, and said the ownership of a Malaysian international passport was a privilege and not a right. "So, the Government has the discretion to either issue, defer or revoke the travel document," he said.
Those who disparage the government while abroad will also be barred from travelling abroad again for three years upon their return.
The paper quoting an unnamed source reported that the Immigration Department had enforced this ruling several months ago "in a move to safeguard the country's image."
"Anyone who runs down the government in any manner will be barred from going abroad. Only the Immigration Department director-general will be authorised to look into their appeals," the source was quoted as saying.
He said under the latest ruling Malaysians who are caught and deported for overstaying, committing a crime or working without a valid permit abroad will also be barred from going overseas again for two years. Sakib could not provide statistics on the number of Malaysians who have been barred from leaving the country for discrediting or ridiculing the government.
The controversial move came as Prime Minister Najib Razak has fired detractors and curbed dissent to consolidate his grip on power as funding scandals triggered the worst political crisis since he became the premier seven years ago.
Another anti-dissent measure - the country's Sedition Act - has also been often used against media executives and political opponents by Najib.
Under Malaysian laws, the government doesn't have to explain why anyone is barred from leaving the country, the official news agency Bernama had reported on Monday, citing Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed.
Opposition lawmakers and human rights groups have condemned a decision to prevent an activist from going abroad this month.
"We apologise deeply for causing inconvenience," the KMA said in a statement quoted by South Korean news agency Yonhap, which also carried the initial alert (Photo: AFP/ Representational Image)
Seoul: It was a bad day at the office for one unfortunate employee of South Korea's weather service on Wednesday, after a mistakenly-sent fax triggered an earthquake alert.
The message warning of a 6.5-magnitude quake was part of a five-day disaster response exercise and should never have been faxed.
International media including China's official Xinhua news agency ran the warning before the Korea Meteorological Administration issued a red-faced apology.
"We apologise deeply for causing inconvenience," the KMA said in a statement quoted by South Korean news agency Yonhap, which also carried the initial alert.
"The message was made for an exercise purpose, and an employee mistakenly clicked the button to send the message."
The KMA released the message, calling on residents in the affected area of Hoengseong in Gangwon province to evacuate.
Strong quakes are very rare on the Korean peninsula. Some seismological disturbances recorded in the South have been attributed to North Korean nuclear tests across the border.
The military has pushed the jihadists out of much of the northern and western territories they seized in 2014. (Representational Image)
Baghdad: Iraq's military entered the remote western town of Rutba on Tuesday in a fresh offensive against ISIS aimed at cutting off the militants' supply route to neighbouring Syria.
Counter-terrorism forces, backed by US-led coalition airstrikes, entered the town from the south and took control of al-Intisar district, the force's spokesman Sabah al-Numan told Reuters.
"We expect we will be able to reach the centre of Rutba tomorrow morning," Numan said by telephone, indicating it was about one kilometre (mile) from the forces' current position.
He said they faced little resistance in breaching ISIS defences, but expected the insurgents had holed up in buildings and would force street battles in Rutba, 360 km (225 miles) west of Baghdad.
The military has pushed the jihadists out of much of the northern and western territories they seized in 2014, but the group still controls large areas and key cities including Mosul, which Iraqi authorities have pledged to retake this year.
Rutba is important as a "support zone" which ISIS was using to stage operations into battle areas further north and east, said coalition spokesman US Army Col. Steve Warren.
He told reporters in Baghdad last week the town was not as heavily defended as Ramadi and Falluja, further east, predicting the group maintained up to "several hundred" fighters at any given time.
The Iraqi army, federal police and Sunni tribal fighters are also participating in the offensive, which began on Monday when those forces began approaching Rutba from multiple directions.
Islamic State is known for recruiting people online to execute its nefarious activities and now the terror group has taken to dating websites to lure young women into becoming jihadi brides and joining their fold.
According to a report in the UK Mirror, recruiters of the terror group have found dating sites to be ideal hunting ground for convincing young women to marry ISIS terrorists.
Some of the women are told how handsome and rich the terrorists are and are lured with the promise of a good life in their self-proclaimed caliphate.
An intelligence official said that ISIS is not sparing any kind of online platform from spreading its propaganda.
He revealed the case of a family whose daughter who was talking to dangerous people online.
"At the end of last year, we were approached by a family living near Zarqa [Jordans second-largest city] who believed their daughter was speaking to dangerous people online. I told them, Close her Twitter and Telegram, but they said, No, its the dating site she is on."
The man was feared to be an ISIS fighter and had met the girl online on a dating website that is meant for devout Muslims. During their interaction, he told her to come to Raqqa, which is an Islamic State stronghold.
He told her how she would own a big house with lots of servants and told her that the man she would get married to was a handsome fighter. The man even sent her pictures of jewellery that would be gifted to her on the wedding night.
However, the family managed to stop her from joining the ranks of ISIS just in time.
"Her case just shows you that even on dating sites ISIS is recruiting," the official said.
Several children in Yemen are suffering from acute malnutrition and the UN is trying to raise funds to help the country. (Photo: AP)
United Nations: The United Nations has raised only 16 percent of the $1.8 billion needed to help war-torn Yemen, a "shockingly low" level of response to a funding appeal, a senior UN aid official said Tuesday.
Returning from a fact-finding mission to Yemen, John Ging said the crisis was worsening, with some 7.6 million people in urgent need of food aid and 2.5 million displaced from the conflict.
The impoverished country descended further into crisis last year when a Saudi-led coalition began an air campaign to push back Huthi rebels, who still retain control of the capital Sanaa.
The UN's director for humanitarian operations, Ging said the United States and Britain topped the list of donors to the UN aid appeal to Yemen, contributing $76 million and $54 million respectively.
Saudi Arabia, which is leading the air campaign in support of Yemen's government, last year contributed $245 million to the aid effort, but did not renew its contribution this year.
None of the Gulf countries are offering aid to the UN effort, said Ging, stressing that the donations in response to the appeals have "no strings attached".
Islamabad: Pakistan will explore other options to meet its defence needs if the deal for F-16s did not materialise with the US, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said on Tuesday, after the US expressed its inability to fund the USD 700 million deal with its tax payers' money.
"Pakistan is an independent and sovereign state and it could acquire defence related products from other suitable markets of the world," Mr Asif said.
He said F-16 jet fighter has been very successful in counter terrorism operations and hoped that the US would resolve the issue of supply of F-16 to Pakistan without further delay.
"F-16 fighter jets have successfully been used in Zarb-e-Azb operation, and Pakistan has made major contributions in the war on terror and denying the F-16s to Pakistan will amount to denying those contributions," Mr Asif was quoted as saying by The Nation.
He made the comments in the backdrop of a two-day international conference titled 'Refugee crisis and its ramifications for global and national security' organised by South Asian Strategic Stability Institute (SASSI) University in collaboration with the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON), National Security Division and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.
The US State Department had expressed its inability to fund the USD 700 million deal with American tax payers' money.
The US asked Pakistan to "put forward" its "national funds" to buy eight F-16s after some top Senators put a hold on the use of American tax payers' money to partially finance them.
Now Pakistan has time till May end to avail the American offer to procure F-16s.Any delay in the acceptance of the offer, would result in increase in cost of F-16s. Pakistan was to pay only USD 270 million for the jets.
Apple will soon announce a startup accelerator in the Silicon Valley of India to take advantage of its vibrant startup ecosystem.
According to a source who is closely associated with the development said Deccan Herald that the accelerator will help the global smartphone makers initiative to establish an ecosystem for its products.
This is first of its kind initiative from Apple anywhere in the world. It will give greater synergy with the market as the accelerator will incubate companies which will help in the development of apps and products specifically for Indian market, said the source.
The facility will incubate a couple of startups in the initial phase and then nurture more startups. Xiomi, a Chinese company, also began a development centre in Bengaluru to bring synergy in its expansion plan. But the accelerator from Apple will incubate ideas mostly around applications built for iOS and the Apple operating system, said the source.
Apple, through the startup accelerator, would like to make it clear that it would like to work closely with Modi-led governments initiative like Startup India and Digital India. The company CEO Tim Cook is arriving in Mumbai as part of his India visit on Wednesday.
He will visit Hyderabad and New Delhi later. He will hold discussion on make in India initiative and resolve issues after government rejected Apple's plan to sell 'used-iPhones'.
Besides announcing its plan to set up its first retail, brand-owned outlet in the country, the visit of the CEO will further boost its initiatives in the country where it registered 56% growth in Q1, compared with the same period in the last year.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has decided to commission an Attestation Branch Secretariat (ABC) in Bengaluru from June to help people who are travelling abroad.
The MEA will set up the ABC in Regional Passport Office (RPO) at Koramangala in Bengaluru, and operations will begin from June 1, Regional Passport Officer P S Karthigeyan told DH.
The decision to launch the ABC in Bengaluru RPO was taken about two weeks ago. There are 37 RPOs across the country, including Bengaluru, and about 10 RPOs have been chosen for the ABC, said Karthigeyan.
At present, the ABCs are in New Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata for attestation of three types of documents: personal documents which include birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates; educational documents like marks card and degree certificates; and commercial documents like business registration and IT returns.
Foreign governments do not accept documents attested by state governments in India. In case of educational documents, attestation from the Ministry of Human Resources Development and MEAs seal is mandatory.
In case of commercial and personal documents, attestation by competent central government authorities and MEAs seal is required.
So far, people from Karnataka who wished to study, settle or carry out business abroad were required to get their documents attested either at Hyderabad or New Delhi ABC.
The MEA has estimated Karnatakas load to be 34,500 persons per year, including over 50% from Bengaluru, based on the previous years numbers.
The Hyderabad and New Delhi centres will continue to attest documents along with the Bengaluru centre for about one month till the operations are fully stabilised here.
The MEA wants to ensure convenience for the public and expect them to spend less, travel less and complete the work at a faster and better pace, Karthigeyan added.
The major destinations for people from Karnataka are the US, Europe, Australia, Canada, Singapore and the Gulf countries.
A wave of bombings struck outdoor markets and a restaurant in Shiite-dominated neighborhoods of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 69 people, officials said the latest in a string of attacks in and around the Iraqi capital that have left more than 200 dead in the past week.
The four separate bombings were a further challenge to the beleaguered government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who is struggling to prove that his forces can maintain security in Baghdad and elsewhere.
One of the bombings Tuesday struck an outdoor market in the heavily Shiite district of Sadr City, a frequent bombing target.
In the wake of the blast, influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose support runs deep in the district named after his father, issued a statement Tuesday to his followers, saying the attacks "are the clearest evidence that your government has become unable to protect and provide you with security."
Fighters with al-Sadr's militia, Saraya Salam, deployed to the streets of Sadr city following the bombing, another indication of a lack of confidence in Iraq's official security forces.
In an online statement, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility only for the deadliest bombing of the day, which took place in Baghdad's northeastern Shaab neighborhood and where at least 34 people were killed and 75 others were wounded.
In that attack, a roadside bomb first exploded outside the concrete blast walls surrounding an open-air market, followed by a suicide bomber who blew himself up as people gathered to help the victims of the first explosion, a police officer said.
The IS statement said the attack was carried out by an Iraqi who targeted members of Shiite militias. The Associated Press could not verify the authenticity of the statement but it was posted on a militant website commonly used by extremists.
Later in the afternoon today, a suicide car bombing hit a crowded outdoor market in Sadr City, killing 18 people and wounding 35 others. Sadr City has been one of the worst-hit districts as the Islamic State group has increasingly employed terrorist attacks against Iraqi civilians far from frontline fighting.
The attack came less than a week after a massive truck bomb in a crowded market here killed more than 60 and wounded over 80 on May 11.
Al-Sadr led anti-government protests last month that peaked with the breaching of the Green Zone, the highly fortified compound in the heart of Baghdad that's home to many ministries and foreign embassies.
Hillary Clinton today eked out a narrow win in the Kentucky Democratic primary over rival Bernie Sanders who kept his White House hopes alive with a crucial victory in Oregon even as she set her sights on an epic clash with Republican Donald Trump in the November polls.
Clinton, 68, squeezed out a cliffhanger victory over Sanders in Kentucky, a result that keeps her on track to win the party's nomination for the presidential polls but also highlights deep divisions in the party.
The former secretary of state won the state by half a percentage point with nearly all the votes counted.
Sanders, meanwhile, won the Oregon Democratic primary, bagging 53 per cent votes to her 47 per cent.
However, despite the series of defeats in the Democratic primaries over the past few weeks including Oregon and a very close finish in Kentucky, Clinton still appears to be on her way to clinch the nomination of the Democratic party for the November 8 general elections.
This is mainly because she is way ahead of Sanders in the delegate count and requires less than 100 more delegates to reach the magical figure of 2,383 delegates to become the Democratic presidential nominee.
According to US media estimates, with 55 delegates up for grabs in Kentucky, Clinton and Sanders both won 27 delegates with one remaining to be decided.
In Oregon with 61 delegates to be taken, Sanders won 28 delegates and Clinton took 24 with 9 remaining to be accounted for.
Sanders who has 1,526 delegates as against Clinton's 2,289 delegates, needs to win nearly 70 per cent of the rest of the delegates at stake in the remaining nine primaries.
"We just won Kentucky! Thanks to everyone who turned out. We're always stronger united," Clinton tweeted as she was declared the winner by just 1,923 votes.
Such a narrow win may have derailed some of the momentum of the Clinton Campaign but she has set her sights on her epic clash with 69-year-old Trump in the presidential polls.
In a tweet and an email, she urged her supporters to help raise funds to defeat Trump in the polls.
Meanwhile, on the Republican side, Trump garnered nearly two-thirds of the total votes polled in Oregon, further consolidating his position as the presumptive presidential nominee.
Trump, who joined politics less than a year ago, has defeated 16 top Republican leaders to emerge as the presumptive nominee.
With a win in Oregon, Trump has 1,171 delegates in his kitty and needs just 66 delegates to reach the 1,237 figure to officially clinch the nomination.
This is now considered a mere formality given that he is the only one left in the race. Nearly 350 delegates are still to be awarded from the remaining primaries.
"I look so forward to debating Crooked Hillary Clinton! Democrat Primaries are rigged, e-mail investigation is rigged -- so time to get it on!" Trump said in a tweet soon after being declared the winner of the Oregon primary.
"Thank You Oregon. Congratulations to the movement, we have just won the great state of Oregon. The vote percentage is even higher than anticipated! Thank you," Trump said in another tweet to his 8.26 million followers.
After his morale-boosting win in Oregon, Sanders told thousands of his supporters in California that he is not giving up even though he has a steep hill to climb.
"No one can predict the future, but I think we have a real shot to win primaries in a number of the states that will be coming up. And don't tell Secretary Clinton because she might get nervous," he said.
"I think we're going to win here in California," Sanders said. As many as 475 delegates are at stake in California. A massive win here might help Sanders to narrow the gap.
Sanders said he would not give up until the last vote is count.
"We have the possibility, it will be a steep climb, I recognise that, but we have the possibility of going to Philadelphia with a majority of pledged delegates," he said.
"Now some people say we've got a steep hill to climb and that's absolutely true. But together we've been climbing that steep hill from day one in this campaign and we'll continue to fight for every last vote until June 14, and then we'll take our fight into the convention," Sanders said.
The next round of eight primaries in California, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, New Mexico, South Dakota, Puerto Rico and Virgin Island are scheduled for June 7.
Washington DC would host the last primary on June 14.
An Army officer's father and younger brother were killed allegedly by a gangster as they had not voted for accused's brother in Haryana's Sonipat district with the family alleging that the police failed to act on time despite life threats to the victims.
Major Sushil Chikkara's father Jagbir Singh (57) and younger brother Anil (25) were on May 12 shot dead allegedly by gangster Ajay alias Kannu Chhikara near Karewari village when the duo was travelling on a bike, Rohtak Range IG, Sanjay Kumar said today.
"We are trying to apprehend Ajay and we have also announced a reward of Rs five lakh for information leading to his arrest," Kumar told PTI over phone.
The family has alleged the two were killed because they had not voted for the gangster's brother Sanjay Chhikara who was contesting for the Sarpanch's post and had lost, Sonipat's DSP Mukesh Kumar told reporters today.
The Army officer, who is upset with the Sonipat Police, alleged that their "indifferent attitude" had cost his father and brother their lives.
Maj Sushil said the accused had planned the murders.
"My father was facing life threat from the goon. I rang up DSP Sonipat, Bharti Dabas. A day before the double murder, Dabas came to our village where locals told her that my father was facing life threat, but she did not care to visit our house and ask if we needed any security," he said.
"I had personally conveyed the information to the SP that our family is under threat, but no one cared," the Major said.
"Had police acted on time, I am 100 per cent sure that both would have been alive today," he said.
"Our duty is in far flung areas, on borders. But if our family members are not safe, then how can we defend our country. This should be taken very seriously," Maj Sushil told reporters today.
The Major claimed that prior to killing his father and brother, the accused had attacked two others in the village, out of which one has died while other is battling for life.
Another relative of the victims, Capt Rashika Sharda said the family had written to the president and the Haryana governor on the issue as despite pleading with Sonipat Police, they had failed to give protection to the victims.
"They failed to protect our family," she said.
"I lost my father and younger brother, our lives have been destroyed," he said.
The Major said they had named the main accused and his four accomplices in the complaint on the basis of which FIR was lodged.
On the allegations that Sonipat Police did not act on time, the Rohtak Range IG said, "If this is found true, we will take action. But I can assure one thing that police is doing its job and we will catch the culprit sooon".
Meanwhile, Satpal Chikkara, brother of victim Jagbir, said "our village is in a state of terror. The accused has shot four people, while three are dead one is battling for life. We need security. Haryana government is doing nothing. The accused is roaming near the village, but police has failed to catch him."
Donald Trump has said he would speak with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, in what would be a dramatic shift in US policy.
"I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him," the Republican presumptive presidential nominee said.
Until now, the US strategy has been to try and isolate Pyongyang.
"I would put a lot of pressure on China because economically we have tremendous power over China. People don't realise that," Trump added, talking about China as North Korea's lone ally.
"They are extracting vast billions of dollars out of our country. Billions. And we have tremendous power over China. China can solve that problem with one meeting or one phone call," he told Reuters.
Asked how that could unfold, Trump said: "Because they have tremendous power over North Korea."
Reminded that North Korea has nukes, Trump replied: "I know that. So does China, by the way."
The Republican also called for a renegotiation of the Paris climate accord, saying he is "not a big fan," and voiced disapproval of Russian President Vladimir Putin's moves in eastern Ukraine, the report said.
The Paris deal stipulates agreed carbon emissions reductions by more than 170 countries. He said he would want to renegotiate the deal because it treats the United States unfairly and gives favourable treatment to countries such as China.
"I will be looking at that very, very seriously, and at a minimum I will be renegotiating those agreements, at a minimum. And at a maximum I may do something else," Trump said.
Reworking or scrapping the pact would be a big setback for what was touted as the first global climate pact.
The latest WHO report on pollution, which listed over 30 Indian cities among hundred most polluted globally, was "misleading" and India will soon come out with air pollution data of major cities across US and Europe, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said today.
Javadekar said the WHO report had not factored in various key pollutants like sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and benzene while analysing the air quality and wondered why western countries focus more on India and some other countries and not themselves.
The WHO report, based on 2012-13 data, was prepared taking into consideration particulate matter PM 10 and PM 2.5 and listed Delhi as the 11th most polluted city in the world. Environmentalists had sounded caution over the report, saying it does not give the right picture.
Javadekar said to categorise the cities as polluted based on only PM 2.5 was misleading as there are eight other major pollutants which have adverse impact on health.
"There is ozone pollution, benzene pollution, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide pollution among eight major pollutants. All have adverse impact on health. On each parameter, each pollutant, there are different cities in the world which are bad and good," he said.
The Minister said the government will soon come out with air pollution data of major cities in the US and Europe and that sourcing their data will not be a problem.
"We will come out with the statistics as people should know the whole picture. Otherwise, (making the report only) on PM 2.5 is misleading," Javadekar told PTI in an interview.
The Minister also said he was surprised why western countries only focus more on India and some other countries and not themselves.
"Every citizen has the right to have full knowledge. PM 2.5 is not the only pollutant. There are many cities in the western countries as well which are suffering. So let citizens know that pollution problem is all over, in different categories and degrees," he said.
The Minister said government's decision to publish pollution data of other countries is not to counter but to spread awareness.
The Minister said government was also studying ill-effects of PM1 on health which was recently discovered.
"The PM1 is a new thing which has come. We take it as a challenge and study it. So the study is underway," the Minister said.
The Central Pollution Control Board is planning to monitor PM1, the least visible particulate matter, along with PM2.5 and PM10 under its National Air Quality Monitoring Programme.
Asked about air pollution in Delhi, he said Environment Ministry was working with various stakeholders to improve air quality of Delhi, adding it was not at loggerheadss with the city government over the issue.
He said a three-year action plan has been devised to tackle air pollution in Delhi and government was seriously working on it.
"There is vehicular pollution, there is pollution from dust, pollution from stubble burning and industries. We have already tackled industrial pollution to a great extent. We have got good success in containing stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana.
"We have already opened 53 kms of bypass, second leg will be opened next year and final by 2018. Therefore no undestined vehicle will come into Delhi. We have already preponed migration to Bharat VI of fuel and vehicle standard," he said.
The Minister said Bharat VI will come into force from 2020 and not from 2024 as envisaged earlier.
"That will improve the quality of diesel and petrol. 90 per cent of vehicular pollution will go and with all the new waste management rules, there will be less dust," he said.
The Environment Minister described these measures as part of a "long term, sustainable and permanent remedy" to deal with vehicular pollution.
"Modi government is investing Rs 60,000 crore. We are talking of a permanant solution. Every state can do their own experiment but I will not comment," he said when asked about the odd-even scheme of the AAP government.
A Home Ministry official, who was arrested by CBI for allegedly issuing FCRA notices arbitrarily to several NGOs for financial gains, was today placed under suspension.
Anand Joshi, an Under Secretary in the ministry, has been suspended by the Home Ministry with immediate effect following his arrest by the CBI, official sources said.
Joshi, who had disappeared last week from his home in Indirapuram in Ghaziabad, was picked up from Tilak Nagar area of West Delhi on Sunday and taken to the CBI headquarters for questioning. Subsequently, he was arrested by the agency.
The case was slapped against Joshi and some other unnamed persons for allegedly indulging in corrupt practices and arbitrarily issuing notices to several NGOs, registered under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), which were receiving foreign contributions, including activist Teesta Setalvad's Sabrang Trust.
Joshi has rejected the charge and instead accused his senior, Additional Secretary B K Prasad, of pressuring him to give a clean chit to NGOs. Prasad, however, denied the charges.
The matter came to light after files pertaining to alleged FCRA violations by two NGOs run by Setalvad went missing from the Home Ministry. The files were traced and restored to the FCRA division but CBI was asked to investigate the matter.
It was noticed that the files had gone missing when the Home Ministry took a decision to cancel FCRA registration of one of Setalvad's NGOs, Sabrang Trust, the sources said.
Sabrang Trust's licence was suspended on September 9, 2015 by MHA for alleged multiple violations of FCRA rules, including misuse of funds for personal benefit of trustees.
When Home Ministry officials found that the files had gone missing, they conducted an inquiry and identified Joshi as the official who had taken away the files. He was summoned and the files were restored.
An Under Secretary is not allowed to take away files and only officials of the rank of Joint Secretary and above are allowed to take the files home.
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh today said Sonia Gandhi should continue as party President irrespective of tomorrow's poll outcome in the five states.
Singh, a former Punjab Chief Minister and a sitting MP, at the same time said that Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi can step into Sonia's shoes if she feels that time has come for her to go and that she is "tired" of being at the helm of the party since 1997.
Exit polls have projected Congress losing power in Assam and Kerala.
"No, not at all." Singh told NDTV when asked whether time has come for Rahul to take over as Congress President in the backdrop of suggestions in this regard with Sonia assuming the role of 'Chairman Emeritus'. "I have worked very closely with Soniaji and I think she is a great leader."
Singh, who returned as Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) President in November last, said Sonia believed in modern concept of management.
Singh said any decision on elevating Rahul is for him and Sonia to take.
"She(Sonia) has been non-stop in this role since 1997 and she may be tired....may be she feels that time has come that she wants to go and that she is tired of handling this. And in this case the Vice President can take over and Rahul can handle it," he said.
"It has been years since he(Rahul) has been in his current role...I am sure he can step into her shoes," he added.
Singh also denied reports of a rift with strategist Prashant Kishor who has been roped in by the Congress to hammer out strategies for the party for the Assembly polls in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh due next year.
"100 per cent. Things are 100 per cent fine. We've been together for the whole of yesterday, been together whole of this morning. We have no differences whatsoever," he asserted when asked whether all is well between him and Kishor in the light of reports of a rift between them.
Singh said Kishor is "flexible" in his approach and that reports suggesting an uneasy relationship between them are "absolutely wrong".
"His(Kishor) job is to brand Congress to improve its prospects. It is part of political warfare. We are gearing up for the poll battle," he said, expressing confidence that the party will regain power.
Singh said speculation of a turf war between him and Kishor erupted when the strategist met expelled Congress leaders including Jagmeet Singh Brar while he was abroad for three weeks. Brar, a known detractor of the PPCC chief, was expelled last month.
"I was abroad for three weeks meeting NRIs all over America and talking to them, and he(Kishor) met a few people here and when I was asked by the press I said, 'You know, the two people he met were the people who had been expelled from the party--let's put it this way, because of a disciplinary matter--and a disciplinary matter is a matter of the PCC (Punjab Congress) and I will deal with that'.
"And that is all I said. But he met them in my absence and that is the only thing people have made a hue and cry about."
Singh said he did not see Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) as a serious challenger for the Congress in the Punjab Assembly elections, asserting they only have some "damage" potential. AAP had won four seats from Punjab during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, springing a major surprise.
He also claimed that the ruling SAD-BJP alliance was losing ground in the state.
More than 8 million older Americans have a condition that can cause leg pain when they walk even short distances. Yet half of those who have the condition dont know it and consequently dont get treated for it, putting themselves at risk for a heart attack, stroke or worse.
The condition, called peripheral artery disease, or PAD, is marked by diseased or blocked arteries in the legs. More than half of those with such circulatory problems in the extremities also have coronary or cerebral artery disease, Dr Iftikhar J Kullo, a cardiovascular specialist at the Mayo Clinic, noted in The New England Journal of Medicine in March.
Failure to diagnose and treat blocked arteries elsewhere in the body can result in more serious, or even fatal, problems if they affect the heart or brain.
It may seem odd that people who have serious difficulty walking normal distances would not know something is wrong and get checked out. Yet, as Kullo noted, PAD is both underdiagnosed and undertreated. And the number of cases of PAD is only likely to rise as the population ages, he said.
A lot of people limit their activity for other reasons, like a hip problem, back pain or breathing difficulty, and may not push themselves hard enough to provoke symptoms of PAD, said Dr Paul W Wennberg, a cardiologist and specialist in vascular disease at the Mayo Clinic. Or they may think their limited ability to exercise is to be expected, given their advancing years. Still others, Wennberg said, may have only minimal disease in their legs, or they adapt their lifestyle to where they dont notice symptoms anymore.
In other words, since walking brings on pain, people typically find myriad ways to avoid doing it. But this very response remaining sedentary is counterproductive, Wennberg said, because the best treatment for PAD is exercise: Walking up to the point of pain, then resting until the pain subsides, then walking again, repeating the sequence until youve walked for 20 to 30 minutes (not counting rests) every day.
With this approach, Wennberg explained, exercise tolerance gradually increases as collateral blood vessels form in the legs that can compensate for blockages in the main arteries.
Just as teachers often have star pupils, Wennberg talks fondly of a man who was his star patient. When first seen, the patient, a 76-year-old Minnesotan, was afflicted with such severe peripheral artery disease that he couldnt walk much beyond his backyard. Although a nonsmoker, the man had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which also limited how far he could walk.
Yet he desperately wanted to be able to hike the nature trail behind his house, which motivated him to follow the doctors prescription religiously: Walk until it hurts, rest, then walk some more. Repeat several times a day.
He got a treadmill to use in his house, and he walked outside whenever he could, Wennberg recalled. In just three months, he had doubled his walking distance as measured on a treadmill in the lab, and before long he was able to walk the mile-long nature trail.
Not only did the exercise prescription reduce his leg pain, it also improved his breathing. Together, these benefits enabled him to walk the desired distance without pain or fatigue.
Another of Wennbergs patients, Donovan Merseth, 76, of Zumbrota, Minnesota, said he walks his two dogs four or five times a day, accumulating daily walks of 3-4 miles. The more active I am, the better I feel, Merseth said in an interview. I walk at a moderate pace, he said, calling his exercise a senior power walk.
Variable symptoms present another stumbling block to getting a correct diagnosis of PAD. The discomfort PAD causes is more often atypical than typical, Wennberg wrote in the journal Circulation. Descriptions such as tired, giving way, sore, and hurts are offered more often than cramp, which can challenge an examining physicians ability to suspect PAD as the cause of a patients discomfort.
He suggested that doctors ask, Whats the most strenuous thing you do in a typical week? Do you do any routine exercise, like walking? Do you get pain when you walk?
A simple noninvasive test that can be done in any doctors office, called the ankle-brachial index, or ABI, test, can reveal the likelihood of PAD. The test, which takes only a few minutes, compares blood pressure measured at the ankle with blood pressure measured in the arm. Lower pressure in the leg is an indication of PAD.
Risk factors
The index is calculated by dividing the systolic (top number) blood pressure in the arteries near the ankles by the systolic blood pressure in the arms. A low number strongly suggests a narrowing or blockage in the arteries that supply blood to the legs.
Follow-up tests, like an ultrasound exam of the arteries to the brain, may be done as well. If theres blockage in one area of the body, its likely also to be in another, Wennberg noted.
Not surprisingly, the risk factors for PAD closely match those for coronary heart disease: smoking (currently or formerly), diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Consider asking your doctor to do the ABI test if you are 50 or older and have any of the above risk factors, even if you havent yet noticed a problem with walking.
However, Wennberg wrote, the ABI test done during rest may miss peripheral artery disease in nearly one-third of patients; they may require an ABI test after exercise on a treadmill to reveal the problem. The blood pressure measurements must be taken within a minute of stopping the exercise.
Given the same risk factors, African-Americans are more likely than Caucasians to develop PAD. The average age at which people develop PAD is 70, Wennberg said, adding that it occurs a decade earlier in people with diabetes and even earlier in people who both smoke and have diabetes. Smoking increases the risk of developing PAD four-fold, and more than 80% of people with the condition are current or former smokers.
Making it clear that their entry into the BJP was not for any personal gain but in the state's interest, Bahuguna said they will continue to fight for protecting the interests of the state.
"We demand that the state assembly be dissolved and fresh elections ordered immediately as the Harish Rawat government has lost the right to be in power and also lost the confidence of public," he said.
Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bahuguna said, "He is a pragmatic leader and has unflinching commitment towards good governance and development. We have confidence in his leadership and are impressed by his working and policies of last two years.
"We have met BJP President Amit Shah and thanked him for allowing us to join the struggle in ousting the corrupt Congress government and ending the political pollution in Uttarakhand."
Among those came to the BJP fold included former minister in the Rawat government Harak Singh Rawat, who rejoined the party after a gap of 20 years.
Besides Bahuguna and Rawat, those who joined BJP are: Amruta Rawat, Shailendra Mohan, Kunwar Pranav Singh, Subodh Uniyal, Pradeep Batra, Shaila Rani Rawat and Umesh Sharma.
The nine rebel Congress MLAs in Uttarakhand led by former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, who were disqualified from the state assembly under the anti-defection law, today joined the BJP "unconditionally" and sought dissolution of the assembly and holding fresh polls.The much-anticipated move came after Bahuguna along with eight other MLAs met the senior BJP leadership."All the nine rebel Congress MLAs who had raised the banner of revolt against Harish Rawat in Uttarakhand have today joined the BJP unconditionally," Uttarakhand BJP President Ajay Bhatt said.He said another dissident Congress MLA Rekha Arya, who had voted against Rawat during the floor test, was also to join the BJP today but could not as she was away in Ujjain to participate in the Mahakumbh.
Reliance Industries has announced that its Chairman and Managing Director, Mukesh Ambani, has been conferred the Othmer Gold Medal for entrepreneurial leadership that has resulted in the expansion of Indias petroleum refining industry, creation of the Jamnagar Refinery in Gujarat.
The award was handed over to Ambani on May 16, the Heritage Day of The Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF), by its President & CEO Carsten Reinhardt, and Raj Gupta, Chairman of Delphi Automotive.
Speaking at the occasion, Ambani said, As I see the world in the 21st century, there will be 2 very fiercely fought wars one is a war for prosperity and a better life, and the other is a war for talent and security. We can win both these wars with a comprehensive India-US partnership.
The United Nations Childrens Emergency Fund (Unicef) has recommended urgent and comprehensive measures to arrest stunting among children under the age of five in India.
Releasing research paper on stunting, the UN agency said that child malnutrition rates in India are among the highest in the world, with nearly one-half of all children under three years of age being underweight or stunted (lesser height for age). Unicef said that stunting is affecting economic growth of the country.
Research findings on all different aspects of stunting were released on Wednesday in an event attended by Dr Meera Shekar (World Bank) Prof SV Subramanian (Harvard University), Purmima Menon (International Food Policy Research Institute) and Dr Victor M Aguayo ( Unicef Regional Director) and V Somasundaran (Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development).
Between 2006 and 2014, stunting rates for children under five in India have declined from 48 to 38%. Despite this progress, child under-nutrition rates in India are among the highest in the world, with nearly one-half of all children under 3 years of age being either underweight or stunted. India is still home to over 40 million stunted children and 17 million wasted children, says the report. In Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur and Jharkhand the situation has not changed significantly, it said.
The UN agency has said India requires at least $6 billion annually to deliver the nutrition-specific interventions at full coverage. The amount is required for food supplementation, counselling, health interventions and micronutrient supplementation and deworming. An all-out effort is now needed to improve the functioning of nutrition-specific interventions as well as a focus on addressing underlying social factors by reducing income inequality, improving the health and social status of women, scaling-up water and sanitation services, and addressing food insecurity, Unicef recommends.
The UN agency has said India requires at least $6 billion annually to deliver the nutrition-specific interventions at full coverage
Though five days have elapsed since the district bureau chief of a leading Hindi daily Hindustan, Rajdeo Ranjan, was gunned down in Siwan, the police have failed to nab the assailants.
Incidentally, the sensational murder case has now been referred to the CBI for investigation. But the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Bihar Police continued with its raids to hunt out the sharp-shooters of Md Shahabuddin, the former MP, lodged in Siwan jail.
The RJD leader, cooling his heels behind bars, is suspected to be behind the killing of the journalist, though the police have so far refrained from directly naming him an accused in view of the RJD being a ruling alliance partner in Bihar. Notwithstanding the political compulsions, the police conducted raids in Siwan jail on Wednesday but could not find anything incriminating from the cell of incarcerated ex-MP Shahabuddin. A separate police team has been despatched to Bengal to nab the shooters. The police want to gather concrete evidence before pointing an accusing finger at Shahabuddin, who is serving life-term for his involvement in several abduction and murder cases.
Family sources say Shahabuddin was angry with the slain journalist for making public the photograph of Nitishs ministers Abdul Ghafoor dining with Shahabuddin in the jail. At least four of my husbands reports had angered Shahabuddin. The latest report-cum-photograph being the one in which Nitishs minister was seen meeting Shahabuddin in Siwan jail, Rajdeos widow Asha Devi told local media.
Sources close to the family said that Rajdeo had earlier received threat when he wrote that Shahabuddin was suspected to be behind the killing of Siwan MP Om Prakash Yadavs media advisor Srikant Bharti in November 2014.
Unesco condemns journalists killings
Unesco Director-General Irina Bokova on Wednesday called on authorities in India to investigate the murders of two journalists to prevent impunity for crimes and freedom of expression from taking root, PTI reports from London.
Akhilesh Pratap Singh and Rajdev Ranjan were killed in separate incidents in Jharkhand and Bihar respectively in less than 24 hours.
I condemn the murders of Akhilesh Pratap Singh and Rajdev Ranjan, Bokova said.
I call on the authorities to investigate these killings to prevent impunity for crimes against freedom of expression and freedom of information from taking root.
Ranjan, Bihars Siwan district chief of Hindi daily Hindustan, was shot dead when he was going on his motorcycle near a fruit market on May 13.
President Pranab Mukherjee, who will visit Beijing and Guangzhou next week, is likely to do his bit to nudge China to stop shielding terrorists based in Pakistan from United Nations sanctions.
India and China both are huge countries-multicultural, multiracial-if they come together in fighting this menace, I am sure it will have its own impact, Mukherjee said in an interview to CCTV of China ahead of his forthcoming visit to the communist country.
India always believes that every country should have a zero tolerance policy towards terrorism and the fight should be all out, said Mukherjee, who will commence his four-day visit to China next Tuesday.
Mukherjee stressed on India-China cooperation against terrorism just a few weeks after New Delhi conveyed its disappointment over Beijings tacit move at a United Nations Security Council panel to block a plea to impose sanctions on Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Moulana Masood Azhar.
India had moved a fresh plea to a UN panel established under the Security Councils resolutions 1267, 1989 and 2253 seeking sanctions on Azhar, citing evidences it had to prove his links with the attack on the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot in Punjab. But the objection from China made it sure that the plea was put on a technical hold.
Beijing, an all-weather friend of Islamabad, earlier blocked several attempts by New Delhi to get UN sanctions imposed on Azhar and other terrorist leaders based in Pakistan.
I would say that we have very comprehensive relationship with the People's Republic of China. And we consider it is a very important relationship for us, said the President
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday again attacked the Gujarat government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a CAG report on the Krishna-Godavari (K-G) Basin natural gas project. He also sought a judicial probe into issue. The Rs 20,000-crore project was taken up by state-owned Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd (GSPC).
"Remember, unlike previous CAG reports, where the loss was presumptive, this one is an actual loss of Rs 20,000 crore, which was borrowed and squandered. If a CAG report on presumptive losses was enough to launch an independent inquiry and try the protagonists, shouldn't a CAG report with an actual figure at least invoke a similar reaction?" Ramesh said, hinting at the 2G spectrum scam during the UPA regime.
GSPC had won a exploration block in the KG basin. It was announced that it had struck upon 20 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in its block, one of the biggest ever finds in the worlds hydrocarbon history. However, despite pumping in a lot of money, GSPC is yet to produce even one cubic feet of natural gas.
The latest Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report in Gujarat had criticised GSPCs operations and questioned its nearly Rs 20,000-crore investments in the KG Basin.
Speaking to reporters in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, Ramesh questioned the role played by Modi, who was then Gujarat chief minister, in selection of GSPCs partners, as well as overseas acquisitions by the company. He posed 20 questions, including one about why resignation of all the people involved (in the dealings) was not sought and a more detailed judicial inquiry not ordered, as was the case with CAG reports in other cases. And why are lenders not declaring GSPC loans as non-performing assets? Ramesh sought to know.
Ramesh also questioned Modis intentions for choosing Essar Group and Videocon Group as partners for GSPC's overseas exploration blocks. GSPC went on an acquisition spree of 11 oil and gas blocks in Egypt, Australia, Indonesia and Yemen between 2006 and 2010. By 2015, it had surrendered 10 of these blocks and wrote off Rs 2,000 crore. For a company that had no prior experience in operating these blocks, GSPC's reckless acquisition spree of overseas blocks calls into question both its business acumen as well as its intent.
He also questioned the procedures, which were adopted to route the funds for such acquisitions. Did GSPC route money to make these overseas acquisitions? Did it secure the necessary approvals to do so? Ramesh asked.
Raghavendra Tahasildar, son of Excise Minister Manohar Tahasildar, who is in the middle of a controversy has said that he had indeed helped the Forest official be transferred from Belagavi to Sankeshwar.
He, however, denied that he had taken any money from the official for effecting the transfer. When contacted by Deccan Herald on Wednesday, Raghavendra, who is in Bengaluru, said that he had at no point sought money from the Forest official who had sought his help for transfer.
I have no role to play in this. It is true that I met the official Lakshmikanth Morappanavar and his wife 20 months ago in Bengaluru. They were introduced to me by my acquaintance Anand Rathod. Morappanavar, who is posted as a DRFO at Belagavi, requested a transfer to Sankeshwar citing health reasons. I helped them out on humanitarian grounds. At that time, my father was an MLA and I got a letter from him to effect this transfer. But at no point did I ask or receive any money from them, he added.
He said that neither Rathod nor the Morappanavar were in touch with him after that. Raghavendra said that four days ago, Jayashree, Morappanavars wife called him saying that the transfer had not been effected, despite paying money to Rathod.
I told her that I knew nothing about it. She also told me that Rathod had been absconding. After that she has gone to the media and made this allegation against me, he said.
Raghavendra, who is a ZP member from Hirur constituency in Hangal taluk of Haveri district, said that he too tried to trace Rathod, but to no avail.
Recently, Jayashree had accused that Raghavendra had taken a bribe amount of Rs 2.5 lakh through a middleman to effect the transfer.
Well-known Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has termed chanting of Om as un-islamic. It also said that Muslims should make sure that they and their children do not attend the Yoga Day, scheduled to be observed next month .
The seminary, based at Uttar Pradeshs Saharanpur district, about 500 km from here, decried the directive of the Ayush Ministry in this regard and said that Islam did not allow Muslims to chant the word Om.
Chanting Om is a way of worship in the Hindu religion...it should be not imposed on Muslims...it is unconstitutional as our constitution gives everyone the right to follow his or her religion, said Maulana Abul Quasim Nomani, a senior cleric of the seminary in Deoband.
Nomani said that he had not seen the reported directive from the centre in this regard, but if there were such a directive, then it must be condemned. We appeal to the Muslims that they boycott Yoga Day if there indeed is an instruction to chant Om...they should also not send their children to the schools and other educational institutions on that day, the cleric said.
The prestigious Islamic seminary commands widespread respect and recognition among the Muslims in the country. Earlier, the seminary issued a fatwa (religious decree) asking the Muslims not to chant Bharat Mata ki Jai.
In the state capital also, the Muslim clerics voiced their strong opposition to the inclusion of chanting of Om during Yoga Day celebrations. The centre must withdraw the directive...it is against the tenets of Islam, said a prominent Sunni cleric here on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Ayush decided to observe Yoga Day on June 21 at educational institutions. Opposition parties criticised the government for what they termed attempts to impose communal agenda on people.
In a bizarre incident, a woman who was declared dead by hospital authorities came alive moments before being taken for cremation in Mysuru on Tuesday.
The family members, who presumed her dead and had made all arrangements for her last journey, rushed her to a private hospital, where she is recuperating.
The woman is Padmabai Loda, 59, wife of Mahendra Kumar Loda, treasurer of Pinjrapole Society. All preparations were made for her cremation and an obituary was also published in a newspaper, announcing her demise. The weeping relatives paid their last respects to Padmabai and were about to shift the body to the hearse, when they found movement in the body and breathing. The relatives rushed her to Apollo BGS Hospitals, where she is being treated in an intensive care unit.
Sweets distributed
Happiness returned to the family which was mourning. The family members, who had come from far off places, were served festive food and sweets were distributed to the whole street. Special pujas and bhajans are being conducted for her recovery.
According to sources, Padmabai suffered respiratory problems on May 16 and was admitted to a private hospital. The doctors put her on ventilator and by 8 pm the same day, she was declared dead by the hospital authorities.
The news of the death was communicated to the relatives in Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Mumbai. Hundreds of relatives gathered near the house after seeing the obituary published in a newspaper. Her daughters in Mumbai rushed to Mysuru.
The family decided to cremate the body at a crematorium at the foot of Chamundi Hill on May 17 at 11.30 am. The body was shifted to the house from the hospital at 9 am. Last rites were performed as per their family customs. After a few minutes, a few relatives observed movement in the body and Padmabai started breathing. She was rushed to Apollo Hospitals.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, Dayananda Swami of Vishwa Prani Kalyana Mandali said the condition of Padmabai is stable and doctors have assured speedy recovery.
The state government would issue orders in a week for recruitment of as many as 500 police sub-inspectors (PSIs), Home Minister G Parameshwara has said
.
The recruitment of PSIs was delayed due to some legal hurdles. In addition, job aspirants had sought to raise the maximum age limit to 30 from 28. All these issues have now been addressed, Parameshwara said.
He was speaking to reporters here on Wednesday. The minister said that he had no knowledge about the proposed strike by policemen in June demanding pay parity. However, he said that the state government was committed to address pay disparity.
Talks would be held with the chief minister on adopting the salary structure implemented in other states.
Parameshwara said that it had been planned to construct 11,000 houses for police personnel and the work on around 5,000 units would be completed this year.
He said that the Congress high command would decide on appointment of a new president for Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee.
A temple visit and meetings with top business leaders marked Apple chief executive Tim Cooks first day in India. Cook, who met some of the country's top iOS developers in a 5-star hotel in Mumbai on Wednesday, tweeted: "Great to hear from some of India's top iOS developers today. Innovative apps and many ideas for the future!"
On his maiden visit to the country, Cook also met officials from the Tata Group and Vodafone India. According to sources, Cook took time out to meet Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry and TCS chief executive officer and managing director N Chandrasekaran. The Apple boss also met Vodafone India CEO Sunil Sood and ICICI Banks top brass at the countrys largest private sector lenders corporate headquarters.
Cook, whose every meeting is being closely watched here for cues about Apples business plans in India, walked into ICICI Bank Towers in the Bandra Kurla Complex business district here and spent over an hour there, sources said.
He met the banks managing director and CEO Chanda Kochhar and executive directors at a closed-door meeting, they said, but refused to divulge what was discussed.
Reports suggested he would also interact with the countrys largest mobile operator Airtels top-brass later.
According to reports, Cook will also meet Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan at the latter's residence in Bandra.
Earlier in the day, Cook, after arriving in Mumbai from China, visited the Siddhivinayak temple in Prabhadevi where he met RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani's son Anant Ambani. The meeting comes at a time when RIL is close to launching its 4G services across the country through Reliance Jio.
During his four-day visit to the country, Cook will also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and many other industry leaders. Apple had announced on Wednesday that it will establish a design and development accelerator in Bengaluru, an initiative to support engineering talent and accelerate growth in India's iOS developer community.
Child rights and health experts have sought the state and union governments to bring in comprehensive and stringent road safety law to protect millions of lives that are lost in accidents.
In a press meet organised by the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) in association with the Institute of Public Health (IPH), a health NGO and Red Cross Society, experts said 20 children are killed in road accidents every day in India.
Kripa Amar Alva, head of KSCPCR, said Karnataka was the fourth state to have maximum number of road deaths in the country.
To save the lives of children and the productive youth of our nation we must act now. We urge the government of India to pass and implement a comprehensive and stringent road safety law to protect millions of young lives, she added.
Minister for Social Welfare H Anjaneya has kicked off a controversy by suggesting that private schools are managed like brothels. The comment has raised the hackles of the private school managements.
At a programme at the Kurubarahalli government higher primary school in the city recently, Anjaneya had said that private school managements ran their institutes as if it were a prostitution racket.
The minister said this to drive home the point that private schools charged excess fee and did not give enough room for students from all backgrounds to grow equally. He also referred to the private schools asking RTE students to pay for their seats.
But for RTE, many students would have been out of school, he had said. Shashi Kumar, organising secretary of the Karnataka State Private Schools Managements' Federation, said that they were contemplating to file a defamation suit against the minister. We will file a criminal defamation case. We will issue a notice to the minister. The root cause for the issue is that there is no clarity on books and school fees, as to who is expected to pay for these, he said.
Mansoor Ali Khan, general secretary, CBSE Schools Association, said, It is irresponsible and unbecoming of a minister to be talking like that. He needs to realise the contribution of private schools to the state. We urge the chief minister to take action against him. How can one use such language and have such deplorable behaviour? We demand a public apology.
The CBSE and ICSE schools too will file a defamation case against the minister. We will certainly file a defamation suit, as it is totally unacceptable. If someone in that position has this sort of thought process, what can we expect him to do for the state and country? said Srinivasan, president, Management of Independent CBSE Schools Association, Karnataka.
Wednesdays showers brought some relief to Bengaluru but the rain and strong winds also felled 21 trees and left 10 houses flooded.
The evening showers even disrupted traffic on many key roads and left most two-wheeler riders heading back home drenched.
According to details from the BBMP control room, at least 21 trees were uprooted resulting in traffic snarls. At least 10 houses were flooded in Dasarahalli, Seegehalli, Mallasandra, Yelahanka, Bommanahalli and Rajarajeshwarinagar. A building in the police quarters in Adugodi too was damaged after a tree fell on it, the control room operator told DH at 9 pm. BESCOM too received as many as 942 complaints between 6 pm and 9 pm.
Until 8.30 pm, the city received 28.4 mm of rainfall while the area around HAL airport recorded 25.8 mm, officials of the Meteorological Centre, Bengaluru said. The city will continue to experience showers for the next two days. The forecast would generally be cloudy skies with one or two spells of rain and thundershowers. The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 27 and 20 degrees Celsius respectively on Thursday and Friday, the forecast states.
On Wednesday, there was a five-degree Celsius dip from the normal temperature. The city recorded a minimum temperature of 22 and a maximum of 28 degrees Celsius. Rainfall occurred at most places over coastal Karnataka and at a few places over interior Karnataka. This is due to a depression over south west Bay of Bengal. However, Kalaburagi recorded a maximum temperature of 42.6 degrees Celsius in the state.
The BJP on Wednesday blamed the Congress government for not taking the people of coastal region into confidence before taking up the Yethinahole project.
Speaking after a meeting to review the party organisation in Dakshina Kannada and Shivamogga, BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa accused the state government of having commercial interest in mind instead of people's interest in the Yethinahole project.
The BJP is supporting a dawn-to-dusk bandh in Dakshina Kannada on Thursday in protest against unanswered questions like the feasibility of the project, its impact on people of coastal region and environment.
The hush-hush manner in which the government has procured a large quantity of pipes without taking the people of coastal region into confidence speaks of the hidden commercial interest in the multi-crore project, Yeddyurappa said.
The project aims to mitigate the drinking water problem in drought-prone Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Tumakuru and Bengaluru Rural districts by harnessing 24 tmcft from Yettinahole in Hassan district.
Yeddyurappa, at the same time, said his party in principle favour the project as it is in the interest of the larger section of society. He urged that the state government to hold talks with the people of coastal region who have genuine fears about the project before going ahead.
The Agriculture department is working out the modalities to set up Special Agricultural Zones (SAZ) in different parts of the state to provide greater technological and logistic support to farmers for increasing farm productivity.
Sources said the objective of the programme was to encourage farmers use the latest technology for increasing agricultural productivity by providing better facilities in the specially carved out zones.
The department is working on an action plan to fix the parameters to chalk out SAZs in various parts of the state and it is expected to be ready by end of the month.
These zones are different from Special Economic Zones (SEZ) formed for industries where trade and tax laws differ from the rest of the country to attract investment.
Sources said the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) at Bengaluru, Dharwad, Raichur and Shivamogga will be roped in while identifying the SAZs.
The department is also contemplating to provide efficient power, water supply, storage and transportation facilities for agricultural activities once the SAZs are carved out. The aim is also to increase the income of farmers by improving agricultural productivity.
To start with, pulse-growing regions in the state will be given priority while carving out SAZs. Karnataka stands sixth in the production of pulses in the country with Belagavi, Raichur, Vijayapura, Bidar, Dharwad and Chitradurga being the major pulse growing districts in the state. The state has already decided to further increase pulses production on a mission-mode as the year 2016 is being observed as International Year of Pulses, the officials added.
First batch by mid-June
The department is planning to carve out the first batch of SAZs by mid-June when sowing starts and at the same time is keeping its fingers crossed hoping for good monsoons this year.
Uttarakhand, in 2011, became one of the first states in the country to set up SAZs. However, the concept is a little different there. Farmers are encouraged if they come forward for cultivating species to develop high quality seeds of crops typical to hill regions like Uttarakhand.
The Nursing community in the state has urged the Central government not to pass The Karnataka Nursing and Paramedical Sciences Education (Regulation) Authority Act, 2012 as it would render thousands of nurses jobless.
Speaking at the valedictory of Nurses' week in Bengaluru on Wednesday, T Dileep Kumar, President, Indian Nursing Council said that there would be a shortage of nurses in the country by 2017 if the problems faced by them were not addressed.
Many nurses would lose their job if the Act is passed and as they will not be getting jobs anywhere.
The Act mandates that nurses should get their certificates from the Paramedical Council instead of the Nursing Council, he said. Kumar said that the certification of nurses by the Paramedical Council would create problems for those who have already been issued certificate by the Nursing Council.
The Trained Nurses Association of India (TNAI) is celebrating the International Nurses Week for the first time in its history.
On May 16 and 17, the TNAI had organised a special programme on Continuous Nursing Education (CNE) for strengthening and refining the core competencies of nurses. Auxiliary nurses, mid wives, public health nurses and lady health visitor nurses participated in this
programme.
A scam estimated at Rs 400 crore looms large over the fitting of speed governors to over seven lakh vehicles in the ate. The government did not float tenders and overlooked the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements Act, 1999, by giving approvals to favour two companies.
Speed governors are a speed-limiting equipment fitted in all commercial vehicles. The government had made it mandatory to have speed governors in 2015.
With 7.86 lakh vehicles, the estimated business is Rs 825 crore, with each equipment costing Rs 10,500. Not just this, the companies which have bagged the work to fit speed governors are also accused of evading tax as they are refusing to give invoice to vehicle owners.
To favour two companies - Rosmarta Technologies Ltd and Pricol Automative - the government invited applications for approval with certain conditions to eliminate competitors.
Rosmarta has also got the contract for supplying RC book and smart card licence, besides being shortlisted for supplying HSRP (High Security Registration Plates), a matter which is presently in the court.
The government had issued a notification on August 11, 2015, specifying the category of vehicles to be fitted with the device.
The Transport department, through a notice prescribing certain criteria, invited applications from manufacturers.
A subsequent notification stated that prescribed vehicles registered prior to October 1, 2015 shall be equipped with the device on or before April 1, 2016. A certificate is issued after fixing the device which costs between Rs 10,000 and 15,000 per unit. The Federation of Karnataka State Lorry Owners Association states that the same equipment costs not more than Rs 5,000 in other states.
The device has been forced on the truck owners since fitness certificate will not be issued without its installation. The eligibility set by the department is only to favour a particular manufacturer, whereas there were other manufacturers approved by four competent authorities.
The department also refused to issue fitness certificate if the device is not fitted by Rosmarta or Pricol.
There has been no action on our complaint despite drawing the attention to tax evasion by the company, G R Shanmugappa, president of the Association, said.
Social activist Ganesh S Kaundinya said, There is a clear collusion between Transport department officials and Rosmarta company. Earlier, during the tender process for HSRP, five corrigendums were issued only to favour Rosmarta. The same methods were used in installation of speed governors. The department had only invited applications with specific conditions for approval. Since there is no reply to the complaints filed with the department, I am contemplating to file a complaint with the CBI.
Apart from trucks, the notification includes all stage carriages, contract carriages, maxi cabs, school/college buses, omni buses and motor cabs. The government had submitted an undertaking to the Supreme Court in 2011 that it will implement speed governors as per rule 118 of the Central Motor Vehicle rules. In April 2015, the central government notified rule 118. The pre-set speed limit is 80 kmph and the device should conform to the standard - AIS-018-2001.
The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus drivers and conductors staged a flash protest in the wee hours on Wednesday, against incidents of BMTC staff being robbed.
An unknown man barged into a bus and attempted to rob the driver and the conductor recently. He was caught and thrashed by the driver and the conductor. He went away and returned after some time with his associates, who attacked the driver and the conductor, said the police.
The news about the incident spread and about 25 drivers and conductors gathered at the spot and decided to stage a flash protest at the Kempegowda bus stand at around 4.30 am.
They alleged that the they did not have safety as the BMTC security staff were not discharging their duties properly, which led to robberies and pickpocketing. They also said that they were forced to sleep in the buses as they did not have crew rest room facility.
They managed to catch hold of the man who attempted to rob the BMTC staff and handed him over to the police. It is said that the drivers and conductors did not take out buses till 6 am, but the BMTC higher-ups maintained that the flash protest did not affect services.
A 24-year-old Bhutanese woman was gangraped by three people known to her in the early hours of Monday. The incident took place in Electronics City.
The police said that the victim works in a beauty parlour in Hebbagodi and was residing in the same area for over the past three years. She was gangraped by Bhuktiar, Babu and Khadim, who all hail from Karimganj district in Assam. They were working as waiters in a hotel in Electronics City. The trio were residing together in a room in Celebrity Layout in Electronics City.
The victim and the suspects were known to each other through common friends. On Sunday night, the victim along with her friend and the suspects attended a birthday party in Neo Town in Electronic City. After the party, the trio asked the woman to accompany them to their house, which is nearby, and have another drink.
The victim agreed and went with them. All of them consumed liquor and the trio forced themselves on her. They took turns to rape her and warned her not to talk about the incident to anyone. The victim returned to her house, called up her friends and narrated the incident to them. They took her to the hospital and informed the police.
The doctors who conducted the medical test confirmed rape and a case was registered in the Electronics City police station.
The suspects were arrested from Whitefield late on Monday evening, with the help of their call record details. The Electronics City police have registered a case and investigation is on.
A 52-year-old Ayurveda doctor, who was believed to have been abducted, was rescued safely by the Peenya police. It emerged during the investigation that she had duped a family to the tune of Rs 34 lakh and staged an abduction drama.
We will book Dr Uma, 56, a resident of Konanakunte Cross, for cheating a family to the tune of Rs 34 lakh. She is believed to have cheated several families. We will thoroughly interrogate her and take action, a senior police officer told Deccan Herald.
Dr Uma claims to run a clinic at Konanakunte Cross. Umas husband parted ways with her following marital discord and moved to Bhatkal. Umas only son Pavan is pursuing MBBS in Delhi, said the police.
She would target physically challenged patients of rich families. She would become close to the family members. She would then claim to have top contacts and would extract money with a promise to provide them the sites. She would vanish after collecting the money, said the police.
Dr Uma came in contact with a family from Srirampura about five years ago. The head of the family is a retired private firm employee, has three daughters and a physically challenged son. He had sold a piece of land and had deposited the money in a bank, said the police.
She collected Rs 14 lakh claiming to cure his sons ailment. She claimed to provide them a site at a posh locality for a cheaper price and collected Rs 20 lakh. She distanced herself after receiving money, added the police.
However, it took some time for him to realise that he had been duped. She did not repay Rs 20 lakh despite repeated pleas, said the police.
The family members invited her for a talk at Peenya on Tuesday. They wanted to take her to police station to settle the matter, but she pleaded with them against their decision as it would tarnish her reputation. She decided to accompany them to their house for a talk.
She spoke to her son over telephone and requested him to transfer Rs 20,000. Pavan transferred Rs 28,000 to her accounts in Canara Bank and State Bank of India. She told him that she was abducted by three unknown men. At around 6 pm, Pavan informed the police that her mother was abducted, said the officer.
We constituted a team, collected bank details and traced the residential details of the account holder at Srirampura. The police raided the house and rescued Dr Uma. She was safe and was not ill-treated. She had no answers for questions of cheating, said a senior police officer.
The sleuths of the Central Crime Branch arrested a member of Irani gang in connection with chain-snatching and recovered stolen gold chains worth Rs 27 lakh.
The suspect was identified as Hyder Syed Noor Irani, 24, a native of Pune, Maharashtra.
He was involved in 25 chain snatching in the City, the police said. Irani and his associates would move in a bike and target lone and elderly women and rob them of their gold chains.
The duo committed the crime in Jnanabharathi, Vijayangar, Banaswadi, Sanjaynagar and other areas, the police added.
WASHINGTON Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders battled to a neck-and-neck outcome in Kentuckys presidential primary Tuesday, as Clinton declared victory and sought to blunt the momentum of her Democratic rival before a likely general election matchup against Republican Donald Trump.
Sanders won Oregon and vowed to soldier on.
The race in Kentucky was too close to call, but Clinton wrote on her Twitter feed: We just won Kentucky! Thanks to everyone who turned out. Were always stronger united.
With almost all the votes counted, Clinton held a narrow lead of less than one-half of 1 percent as she tried to avoid ending the primary season with a string of losses to the Vermont senator.
Trump won the sole GOP contest in Oregon, where Sanders was declared the winner shortly after the polls closed in the liberal-leaning state.
Rallying supporters in California, Sanders said he would end up with about half of the delegates in Kentucky and promised to press forward even though he would need to win about two-thirds of the remaining pledged delegates to end the primary season in a tie.
Before we will have the opportunity to defeat Donald Trump, were going to have to defeat Secretary Clinton, Sanders said to cheers in Carson, Calif.
Clinton holds a commanding lead of nearly 300 pledged delegates over Sanders and a dominant advantage among party officials and elected leaders known as superdelegates. The outcomes in Kentucky and Oregon were not expected to change that, and the former secretary of state remains on track to clinch the nomination in early June.
Tuesdays elections took place amid new questions about party unity following a divisive weekend state party convention in Nevada. Supporters of Sanders tossed chairs and made death threats against the Nevada party chairwoman at the event in Las Vegas, arguing the party leadership rigged the results of the convention in favor of Clinton.
In a sign of the tensions between the two sides, Sanders issued a defiant statement Tuesday dismissing complaints from Nevada Democrats as nonsense and said his supporters were not being treated with fairness and respect.
In California, Sanders urged the party to be welcoming to voters who are prepared to fight for real economic and social change. Addressing the partys leadership, Sanders declared, Open the doors, let the people in.
Trump won the sole GOP contest in Oregon. The billionaire businessman picked up nine delegates Tuesday in Guam, which held its territorial convention in March, and he had 1,143 delegates heading into the Oregon contest fewer than 100 delegates short of the 1,237 he needs to clinch the nomination.
For Democrats, 55 delegates were up for grabs in Kentucky, and 61 delegates were at stake in Oregon.
Clinton and Sanders will each pick up at least 25 delegates in Kentucky, with five delegates remaining to be allocated pending final vote tallies.
The Sanders campaign did not immediately say whether it will challenge the results in Kentucky, which does not have an automatic recount.
In Kentucky, the former secretary of state visited black churches and a small-town diner and held rallies Sunday and Monday to break up Sanders momentum after his recent victories in Indiana and West Virginia.
Clintons husband, former President Bill Clinton, was the last Democrat to carry the state in a presidential election he won Kentucky in 1992 and 1996 and the former first lady tried to emphasize those ties in the days leading up to the primary.
Im excited about the primary but weve got to turn a lot of people out, Clinton told a packed diner in Paducah on Monday. Ill tell you this. Im not going to give up on Kentucky in November. I want to help to bring back the kind of economy that worked for everybody in the 1990s.
Nearing the end of a long primary slog, the two Democratic candidates are preparing for June 7 primaries in California, New Jersey and four other states and then the District of Columbia primary on June 14.
When pledged delegates and superdelegates are combined, Clinton is about 95 percent of the way toward securing the Democratic nomination.
Also Tuesday, Clinton filed financial documents Tuesday night showing that in 2015 she earned more than $5 million in royalties from her book Hard Choices and about $1.5 million in speaking fees before she launched her presidential campaign.
Bill Clinton continued his lucrative speaking tour through November, reaping more than $5 million from banking, tech and other corporate interests.
Clinton released the candidate financial disclosure form she filed to the Federal Election Commission this week. The 11-page document shows that most of her personal wealth is held in a Vanguard 500 Index Fund and a separate JP Morgan Custody Account, both valued at $5 million to $25 million.
OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- Although official notice has not been sent out, Ocean Springs school superintendent Bonita Coleman-Potter informed the nurses from each of the district's six schools their contracts would not be renewed for 2016-17.
Coleman-Potter told The Mississippi Press Wednesday the move was made as both a budget necessity and in order to keep the Ocean Springs district competitive in recruiting and retaining quality teachers.
"Until two years ago, we had a state grant which covered some of the cost of our nurses salaries," Coleman-Potter said. "That grant expired and the district has been covering the cost out of its local funds since. But our budget has continued to take hits from the state. This year, they cut us another $113,000. We're having to look at all of our services."
Nursing services to the schools will now be provided by LPN's provided by Singing River Health System. Each school will have an LPN, with a nurse practitioner supervising the nursing staff. Coleman-Potter the possibility of an RN "floating" between the schools is also being discussed.
There has been some speculation that the contract nurses would not be able to provide all of the services needed at the schools, particularly for special needs students, some of whom require special medications.
But Coleman-Potter said they "meticulously" worked with SRHS to ensure services for students would not be diminished by the change.
"I don't want it said we are diminishing the level of service, because we are not," she said. "Is this an easy decision? Absolutely not -- in fact, it's the most difficult decision I've had to make since coming to Ocean Springs. But I've been put in a position where I have to stretch each dollar we receive as far as I can."
To that end -- and to stay competitive with other districts where local dollars are more plentiful -- the SRHS nurses will set up a free clinic near Ocean Springs Hospital where school district employees and their dependents can receive medical care at no cost.
"We're competing with other districts to attract and keep quality teachers and we can't offer any increases in the local salary supplement," Coleman-Potter said. "This is an increased benefit we can offer."
The district is spending $361,620 out of the current budget for nursing services. Under the new plan, the district will spend $338,116 for both nursing services and to operate the free clinic for employees.
"We're doing all of this for basically the same amount we were spending on the nurses salaries," Coleman-Potter said. "If we had the money we are supposed to get from the state, we'd be able to keep our nursing staff and set up the free clinic.
"But that's not the situation we are in. As administrators, we have to leverage the money we do get as far as we can."
In addition to the $113,000 in additional cuts resulting from Gov. Phil Bryant's budget reductions, Coleman-Potter said the district is anticipating further cuts as a result of the legislature's $56 million accounting "mistake."
"As long as the state continues to underfund MAEP (Mississippi Adequate Education Program), as long as our budget continues to shrink, you're going to continue to see cuts," Coleman-Potter said.
"We're trying to keep those cuts as far away from the classroom as possible. That's our goal."
PASCAGOULA, Mississippi -- Personnel from Jackson County's various law enforcement agencies will help bring the Special Olympics torch through the county by participating in annual Law Enforcement Torch Run.
Law enforcement around the world were established as the "Guardians of the Flame" for Special Olympics in 1981. Each year, Mississippi law enforcement agencies bring the flame to Biloxi where the Special Olympics are annually held at Keesler Air Force Base.
Friday morning, the torch will leave Pelican Landing in Moss Point as Moss Point police officers run the torch to the intersection of Main Street and Jefferson Street. There, Pascagoula officers will take over, running the torch from Jefferson to Market Street, then south to Jackson Avenue, west to Magnolia Street and north to the Pascagoula Police Department.
The torch will be driven to Gautier and Gautier police will start their run at Oak Street to the Gautier Police Department. From there, the torch will get another car ride -- this one to St. Paul United Methodist Church in Ocean Springs, where there will be a photo op before the torch is driven to the intersection of Holcomb Boulevard and Government Street.
From there, Ocean Springs officers will run the torch west on Government Street to Washington Avenue, south to Porter, and west on Porter to the Biloxi-Ocean Springs Bridge, where Ocean Springs will hand the torch off to Harrison County officers.
Members of the Jackson County Sheriff's Department will be participating in each leg of the run through the county, and will provide escort for the runners, as well.
Opening ceremonies for the 2016 Mississippi Special Olympics are set for Friday night at Keesler AFB.
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.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan , also known as Aishwarya Rai, is an Indian actress, former model and the winner of the Miss World pageant of 1994. Through her successful Bollywood career, she has established herself as one the most popular and high-profile celebrities in India. Rai has received several awards, including two Filmfare Awards from ten nominations. She was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2009 and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Government of France in 2012. She is often cited as the "most beautiful woman in the world" for which she has received worldwide attention.
While in college, Rai did a few modelling assignments. Following appearances in several television commercials, she entered into the Miss India pageant, in which she placed second. She was then crowned Miss World 1994, after which she began receiving offers to act in film. She made her acting debut with the 1997 Tamil film Iruvar and had her first Hindi film release in Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya the same year. Her first commercial success was the Tamil romantic drama Jeans (1998), following which she achieved wider success and two Best Actress awards at Filmfare for her performances in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) and Devdas (2002). She garnered critical appreciation for portraying Rabindranath Tagore's , Binodini, in the Bengali film Chokher Bali (2003) and a depressed woman in the relationship drama Raincoat (2004). Rai's greatest commercial successes have been the adventure film Dhoom 2 (2006), the historical romance Jodhaa Akbar (2008), and the science fiction film Enthiran (2010). She also received praise for performing a nurse in the drama Guzaarish (2010).
Rai's off-screen roles include duties as a brand ambassador for several charity organisations and campaigns. She is a Goodwill Ambassador for the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS).
Allison Braithwaite, 23, of Northampton, was accepted into the Peace Corps and will depart for The Gambia on May 30 to begin training as an education volunteer. Braithwaite will live and work in a community to improve teaching methods at local schools and work towards improving student achievement.
Allison Braithwaithe will depart on May 30 for a Peace Corps assigment in a small African country. (Courtesy Photo)
"I have always dreamed about having the opportunity to join the Peace Corps ever since I was in high school," Braithwaite said in a press release.
Braithwaite is the daughter of Beth and Barry Braithwaithe of Northampton, and a graduate of Northampton Area High School. She a she earned a bachelor's degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
During the first three months of her service, Braithwaite will live with a host family in The Gambia to become fully immersed in the country's language and culture. After acquiring the necessary skills to assist her community, Braithwaite will be sworn into service and assigned to a community in The Gambia, where she will live and work for two years with the local people.
There are 82 volunteers in The Gambia working with their communities on projects in education, the environment and health.
OMG: Meet The New Girl In Ranbir Kapoor's Life!
Shankar Starts New Schedule Of 2.0 In A Mall
Amplify 2016: IBM Introduces New Cognitive Computing Tools to Accelerate Customer Engagement
TAMPA -- With the plethora of information available to companies today, "we know our customers better than we ever have," Harriet Green, general manager of Watson Internet of Things, commerce and education at IBM, said to the attendees gathered at IBM's Amplify conference on Tuesday. "We've risen far beyond traditional methods of market research, focus groups, and surveys. Today, we can record every move a customer makes as they navigate a Web site; we have heat maps that follow foot traffic through store; we can analyze unsolicited social sentiments about brands in real time. And every single bit of of that information can be used to understand exactly where a customer is in their journey [to] craft seamless, relevant customer experiences."
But despite the fact that companies are amassing so much information, it doesn't change the reality: They are inundated by data and often require a helping hand in putting it to good use. Because companies shouldn't be letting so much valuable data go unused, IBM this week introduced several cognitive computing capabilities to help them better connect with their customers.
Among these are enhancements to the Real-Time Personalization component of IBM's Marketing Cloud. "The system goes way beyond what is currently available" from IBM, Green explained during an afternoon press conference, in that it continually learns about a person by looking at their activity and adapting to their interests. The solution operates under the assumption that a customer's preferences evolve over time and thus the content they view should be shaped accordingly. A new Cognitive Rule Adviser feature leverages Watson to learn a customer's preferences and to offer marketers advice regarding what messages they should show their different Web page visitors.
For instance, a customer might develop a budding interest in a particular sport. That person will likely demonstrate the affinity in the way they behave online, the content they post on social media sites, and how they act while they visit a brick-and-mortar store. The Real-Time Personalization can recognize that the customer is early in their buying journey and show them content that is fit for beginners, including tips for getting started, or places to practice that sport in their area. As that person's interest matures and they begin to progress at it, the solution adapts and serves up different, higher-level content, such as information about leagues or contests.
However, it's not just customers companies need to understand, Green said. IBM has also embedded cognitive capabilities into its Commerce Insights product to give retailers the ability to see how their various products are performing on an e-commerce page. This allows retailers, for instance, to automatically change the presentation of products while taking into account important factors such as how many of that item a company has in stock. "It recognizes instantly spikes and shifts in sales and even identifies the reasons behind them," Green said, including promotional events, channel activities, social sentiment, or competitive pricing. It also goes one step further in that it recommends a course of action based on the information it processes. For instance, it might suggest a price increase or drop.
Kareem Yusuf, IBM Commerce's vice president of offering management and development, elaborated on why professionals can safely trust the system. "They can see the reasoning the system has gone through to arrive at such conclusions," and make modifications to the preferences, conditioning it depending on what they want to focus on, Yusuf said. "The system continuously learns, and thus gets better over time."
"This would not work if [users were forced] to switch systems" to accomplish their goals, Yusuf stressed. "What we have been very focused on, and what I believe has been very differentiating for us at IBM, is how we seamlessly bring these powerful capabilities to bear in the hands of our users in a way that fits in with how they work."
To that end, IBM has brought on omnichannel data and tag management provider Ensighten as a partner in its Universal Behavior Exchange (UBX) ecosystem. The goal: to bring in data from multiple sources to one user interface.
"Cognitive computing is fundamentally different from anything that has come before it," Green emphasized. "These systems learn, they understand, they reason, they communicate in natural language. They work with larger, more diverse data sets. They can ingest information from seemingly unrelated systems, whether it's transportation, weather, or social media, and then find correlations between them, discovering patterns and giving insights that are just extraordinary." IBM's goal, Green said, is to infuse this technology into every area of its product portfolio.
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70 bikes and 6 sewing machines were collected during a recent drive at Warren Hills Regional High School. The items will be shipped to Albania.
(Special to Lehighvalleylive.com)
The Chess Club at Warren Hills Regional High School hosted the Pedals for Progress Bike Drive on Saturday (during the hail storm). We collected 70 bikes and 6 sewing machines that will be shipped to Albania next month.
They also collected $675 to help with shipping costs. This was the most success bike drive ever held at Warren Hills.
You can leave a response , or trackback from your own site.
by Kathleen Gilbert BEIJING, September 7, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) Escaped Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng is leading international opponents of forced abortion in calling upon the worlds largest company to end compliance with the Chinas one-child policy. Family planning police have targeted employees (569)
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Church Militant, we need to band together to protect our religious liberties and win the culture war!
The sleep hormone melatonin could be responsible for an increased risk of type 2 diabetes in night shift workers, a study has found.
Scientists in Sweden say new experimental research shows melatonin impairs insulin secretion in people with a common gene variant.
Lead researcher Professor Hindrik Mulder, from Lund University, said: This could explain why the risk of type 2 diabetes is greater among, for instance, overnight workers or people with sleeping disorders.
Melatonin helps maintain circadian rhythm, part of the bodys biological clock. Levels of the hormone differ depending on the time of the day during darkness it increases and it is used as a sleeping drug or to prevent jet lag.
Professor Mulder added: A third of all people carry this specific gene variant. Our results show that the effect of melatonin is stronger in them. We believe that this explains their increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Back in 2009, the researchers were able to present an extensive gene mapping study showing how the gene variant of the melatonin receptor 1B, which is common in the population, increases the risk of type 2 diabetes.
The gene variant causes the level of the melatonin receptor on the insulin cell surface to increase, which makes the cells become more sensitive to melatonin and impairs their ability to secrete insulin.
They are now looking at the processes in mice and human beta cells and have completed a study of how the effects of drugs are influenced by genetic factors.
It included 23 healthy people and carriers of the gene variant in question and 22 non-carriers. They were given four milligrams of melatonin before bedtime over the course of three months.
Insulin secretion was significantly lower among those who carried the risk gene than those in the control group, the study showed.
It also showed that sugar concentration in the blood was higher among all participants after being treated with melatonin for three months but, it was especially evident in carriers of the risk gene who were unable to increase their insulin secretion.
Professor Mulder added: It is perhaps therefore less suitable for carriers of the risk gene to work overnight shifts, as the level of melatonin will probably increase at the same time as the effects of the increase are enhanced.
There is still no scientific support for this theory, but it ought to be studied in the future, on the basis of our new findings.
The study was published in the scientific journal Cell Metabolism.
The multi-bit phase-change memory (PCM) has the speed of DRAM and low-cost density of flash.
Scientists at IBM have achieved a breakthrough in developing the storage capabilities of phase-change memory (PCM). On Tuesday, at the IEEE International Memory Workshop in Paris, they successfully demonstrated storing 3 bits of data per cell, with an endurance of 1 million cycles in a PCM.
PCM as a universal memory storage is recognised for its speed to read/write, endurance and non-volatility. To illustrate, PCM is non-volatile since it does not lose data when the power is switched off. Also, while the average flash USB stick can endure 3,000 write cycles, PCM can endure at least 10 million write cycles. This shows its high endurance property. Previously, PCM could store 1 bit per cell.
The multi-bit PCM that was demonstrated by IBM is connected to a standard IC board with a memory array size of 2 x 1000m x 800m. The PCM cells are based on doped-chalcogenide alloy. IBM envisions the applications of PCM as a standalone storage unit and as a hybrid combining PCM and flash storage. This is also capable of speeding up the algorithms of machine learning.
Phase change memory is the first instantiation of a universal memory with properties of both DRAM and flash, thus answering one of the grand challenges of our industry, said Dr Haris Pozidus, Manager of non-volatile memory research at IBM Research, and also the co-author of the paper presented at Zurich. Reaching three bits per cell is a significant milestone because at this density the cost of PCM will be significantly less then DRAM and closer to flash.
At present, there are mammoth data storage requirements owing to growth of mobile devices and internet of things. This research breakthrough of a multi-bit PCM will play a major role in efficiently providing easy and fast storage of data.
Watch this video where the scientists at IBM explain their remarkable feat
Motorola may launch two Moto Z devices, called the Moto Z Style and the Moto Z Play, on June 9
Motorola may be planning to phase out the Moto X brand and replace it with the Moto Z. According to a report by VentureBeat, the company may launch two Moto Z devices, the Moto Z Style (codenamed Vector Thin) and the Moto Z Play (codenamed Vertex). Both devices are tipped to sport 5.5-inch displays, fingerprint sensors, and modular backplates, called MotoMods. As per the report, the range of backplates may include a Pico projector, stereo speakers, and a camera grip with an optical zoom lens. The two devices are expected to be unveiled at Lenovos Tech World show, scheduled for June 9.
Images and renders of the upcoming Motorola flagship phones have leaked before. The device may feature a large circular camera housing and a home button, which should double up as a fingerprint sensor as well. There appears to be a connector at the back of the device, which might be how the phone docks with the above mentioned MotoMods. Last month, an unannounced Motorola device tipped to be the new Moto smartphone was spotted on GeekBench. As per the listing, the phone may be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 with 4GB of RAM and Android Marshmallow v6.0.1.
Yesterday, Motorola announced the Moto G4 and the G4 Plus. The G4 Plus is available in variants, one with 2GB RAM/16GB storage and another with 3GB RAM/32GB storage. The two variants are priced at Rs. 13,499 and Rs. 14,999 respectively and are available on Amazon India. The Moto G4 will start selling next month and its pricing hasn't yet been revealed. Both devices feature 5.5-inch Full HD displays and are powered by the 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 octa-core SoC. The two also sport 3000mAh batteries and run Android Marshmallow v6.0.1. The Moto G4 Plus has a fingerprint sensor and a 16MP rear camera, with laser and phase detection autofocus, while the standard G4 has a 13MP camera and no fingerprint sensor.
The company has signed an agreement with HMD global Oy to manufacture Nokia-branded products running Android OS
Nokia has announced that it will return to the mobile phone and tablet market. As part of an agreement covering branding and intellectual property rights, Nokia Technologies will grant HMD global Oy its global license. This will allow HMD to create Nokia-branded phones and tablets for the next ten years. In return. Nokia will receive royalty payments from HMD for sales of the products. Further, the new portfolio of devices will be powered by Googles Android OS. HMD has also acquired the rights to use the Nokia brand on feature phones, as well as certain design rights from Microsoft. The transaction with Microsoft is expected to close by the second half of 2016.
Ramzi Haidamus, president of Nokia Technologies stated, Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the Nokia brand in an industry where Nokia remains a truly iconic name. Instead of Nokia returning to manufacturing mobile phones itself, HMD plans to produce mobile phones and tablets that can leverage and grow the value of the Nokia brand in global markets. Working with HMD and FIH will let us participate in one of the largest consumer electronics markets in the world while staying true to our licensing business model.
HMD plans to invest more than $500 million over the next three years to market the Nokia-branded products. In addition, Nokia will be a part of the Board of Directors of HMD and will set mandatory brand requirements and performance related provisions. This is to ensure that the products match up to Nokias own expectations of their devices. Last year, Nokia CEO, Rajeev Suri, had said that the company is planning to licence the brand in 2016.
Almost 1bn in annual research funding would be thrown into doubt if the UK left the EU, according to a study warning that quitting the bloc could turn Britain into the poor cousin of European science. A quarter of all public funding for research in the UK comes from the EU, making the country the second-biggest recipient after Germany. The data, which also revealed the high level of EU science funding for UK universities, were published in a report by Digital Science, a research software company. Financial Times
David Cameron will on Wednesday try to regroup a fractured Conservative party behind a one nation Queens Speech, including legislation to reform prisons to stop them from being warehouses for criminals. Mr Cameron wants to prove he has a modernising agenda for his second term as prime minister, which risks being remembered mainly for the EU referendum and the Tory splits on Europe that it provoked. Financial Times
Administrators are hoping to finalise a rescue deal for BHS by the end of this week after securing four offers for the business on Tuesday. MPs are preparing to call Darren Topp, the current boss of BHS, to give evidence to a parliamentary inquiry next month into the retail chains collapse. Topp, who took over the business after it was bought for 1 from Topshop owner Sir Philip Green a year ago, will stand before a joint hearing of the work and pensions select committee and the business, innovation and skills committee on 8 June. Guardian
Microsoft is the latest business to come out in support of the UK remaining in the EU, in a letter to more than 5,000 of its UK staff. The tech firm said Britains membership in the union made it one of the most attractive places in Europe to make investments. In a letter to employees on Tuesday, Microsofts chief executive in the UK, Michel Van der Bel, said: We appreciate and respect that there are a range of reasons that motivate people on both sides of the debate, but as a business that is very committed to this country, our view is that the UK should remain in the EU. - Guardian
A leading opponent of Heathrow's expansion has called on the airport to publish details of a directors bonus scheme that is partially linked to their success in securing approval for a third runway, a type of incentive plan the hub had previously denied existed. John Stewart, the chairman of the influential Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise (Hacan), said the west London airports apparent secrecy over the scheme meant the bonuses had become an issue. Telegraph
Thames Water has hit back at claims that its pensions schemes are in crisis and that a deficit in its workers retirement funds is comparable to the problems besetting BHS. Any comparision with BHS is frankly outrageous, Stuart Siddall, Thames finance director, said: His comment came after reports prompted by an article in the Financial Timescited Thames pension situation alongside that of BHS and the money taken out of the department stores chain by Sir Philip Green, its former owner. The Times
The debate about Britains relationship with Europe has focused on a small number of questions. Surely there are none more important than those about British exports and about foreign direct investment into Britain. We need them both to help businesses to grow and to create jobs. As the last three trade ministers, who also ran UK companies operating around the globe, we know what it takes for Britain to succeed internationally. In government we travelled the world to showcase Britain as a great place for foreign companies to set up and invest. The Times
UKs big banks are at a nadir in their fortunes and yet to enjoy a sustained uplift in their business, albeit with fundamentals beginning to turn north, says the Financial Times Lex column.
Mortgage, credit card and personal lending all turned a corner in 2014, and in 2015 both Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays booked pre-tax net profits on retail banking of about 1.1% of assets.
Returns a decade earlier were 50 basis points higher, the column noted. On 300bn of assets each, a sortie back to such heady returns would produce 3bn more profit for just these two banks.
Yesterday, the UK government confirmed it plans a retail sale of its remaining 9.2% shareholding in bailed-out Lloyds, returning the shares to the private sector between 2016 and 2017.
Of the UKs big-four banks, only Lloyds had beaten the FTSE 100 index since 2012. Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Barclays all lagged by 30%-50%.
There are plenty of reasons why profit and competitiveness may decouple, said Lex.
A lack of competition can breed inefficiency, so shareholders never see the profits, it said, pointing at middlemen (such as overpaid staff) scooping out the benefits instead.
Moreover, externally imposed constraints, such as capital requirements or more compliance spending, could also weigh on returns. It is true that the big-four banks are also continuing to pare bad debts and misconduct fines, these often dating back some years.
Against this backcloth, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) claimed to have multiple grounds for its umpteenth banking investigation in recent years market concentration, bad service and customer neglect.
Yesterday, the CMA proposed banks cap unauthorised overdraft fees and be required to join a price-comparison website. Its proposals after a 19-month probe, and ignoring calls for a break-up drew flak from consumer groups and posed questions for investors.
Shouldnt a highly consolidated industry that serves customers poorly be rewarding shareholders handsomely? queried Lex. UK banking is evidence against.
Lex further contended that all of this threw the smallness of the CMAs available remedies into relief.
Apart from self-determined caps on overdraft charges, most depend on bank customers shedding their habitual torpor and shopping around, in response to yet more information and apps, said Lex, noting the presence of competition for challenger banks non-bank forms of payment.
Yesterdays collective shrug from both complainants and the markets is easy to understand.
Meantime, Premier Foods is struggling to justify its rebuff of a 65p-a-share takeover tilt from US outfit McCormick after the Mr Kipling owner booked another set of lacklustre full-year results, said The Daily Telegraph's Questor column.
The argument that any offer substantially undervalues the company and its prospects was used so often as to be essentially meaningless, Questor said, contending that while it was true there could be some value in Premier, the questions of to whom it accrued was a good deal more opaque.
Premiers chief executive, Gavin Darby, believed he was justified in rebuffing the McCormick offer, given his recently restructured charge was now on the track to recovery.
The target for sales growth this year and the next had been bumped up to 2%4%, apparently to prove a point, said Questor, which has a Sell rating on the stock and noted previous attempts to drive 3% sales growth in Premiers largest eight brands was quit in 2014.
The question for investors was whether or not they might have been better served by accepting the 65p-a-share cash rather than holding on at 40p for the long-awaited recovery, which would have to be achieved against food-price deflation and market distaste for high-sugar processed foods.
The offer may not come again as Premier Foods has now effectively swallowed a poison pill by signing a relationship agreement with Japan's Nissin Foods." Nissin has taken a 19.9% stake in the company and the right to appoint a non-executive director to the board, Questor observed.
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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.
Westfield co-CEO says malls need to act more like tech companies
Steven Lowy says Westfield is focusing on tech innovations such as a searchable mall, and getting out of malls in smaller cities.
By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO
AP Retail Writer
LAS VEGAS The co-CEO of Westfield Corp., one of the world's largest mall operators, said that shopping centers have to act more like technology companies in order to be relevant to the fast-changing consumer.
Clearly, there's a shake-up going on, said Steven M. Lowy, co-CEO of Westfield, which operates 34 shopping centers worldwide in key cities like London and New York. Amazon is having a massive impact... We understand the need to change and adapt.
But Lowy noted the largest online leader can't do all things, such as create beautiful spaces for shopping. He was addressing a few thousand retailers, suppliers, venture capitalists and analysts on Tuesday, the second day of Shoptalk, a three-day technology and retail conference.
The comments follow last week's reports from major department stores such as J.C. Penney, Macy's, Kohl's and Nordstrom which announced weak first-quarter sales. That has increased worries about the future of these mall icons as shoppers increasingly shift online and focus on buying less stuff and more services.
Lowy said that Westfield, which has a total portfolio value of $29 billion, has been quickly changing, spending as much time on technology as its real estate properties, and is testing new initiatives. Two years ago, the company opened an innovation lab in San Francisco called Westfield Labs.
Among some of the new initiatives the mall operator has embraced: creating a searchable mall where shoppers can click onto the Westfield website to buy 4 million products from 250 retailers. Right now, customers in London use the searchable mall and soon, those in New York will, too.
Westfield is also getting out of malls in smaller cities and concentrating on big world capitals like Milan and London. In its new soon-to-be opened World Trade Center mall, Westfield has worked with Ford Motor Co. to build a so-called Ford Hub, which serves as an innovation showroom, though shoppers will not be able to buy cars. Westfield is rebuilding its Century City mall in Los Angeles to look like no other mall, Lowy said.
In London, it's testing services like enabling customers to order a salad at a local eatery at the mall on an app while walking out of a store. Customers at the mall can also take advantage of technology that will help guide shoppers through the mall.
Lowy told the audience that he is also seeing an increasing cultural change among retailers to start sharing data once deemed as confidential about their customers with shopping centers. That will help malls fine tune marketing strategies to get shoppers into the mall more often and will lead to increased sales.
We have to work together, he said.
Oil ties to get boost with Modi's weekend in Iran
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Iran on a two-day trip over the weekend that is expected to boost bilateral energy and trade ties besides giving a fillip to India's plans to connect with its extended neighbourhood.
India's external affairs ministry announced the visit in a press statement on Tuesday in which it said that Modi was making the 22-23 May trip at the invitation of Iranian president Hassan Rouhani.
Modi and Rouhani have met earlier at Ufa in Russia, on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting.
Modi's visit to Iran comes after his visits to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia and ahead of trips to Qatar and Israel. It comes at a time of flux in the Middle East with the rise of the radical Sunni Islamic State militant group and an Iran freed of sanctions, which has made countries like Saudi Arabia and Israel wary of the rise of the Shia majority country.
''During the visit, the prime minister will call on the supreme leader of Iran (Ali Khamenei) and will hold talks on a wide range of subjects of mutual interest with President Rouhani.
''India and Iran share longstanding civilizational ties. Iran is situated in India's extended neighbourhood and the two countries have significant overlap in their economic and security space.
''The visit of the prime minister to Iran will seek to build on these commonalities by focussing on specific cooperation in regional connectivity and infrastructure, developing energy partnership, boosting bilateral trade, facilitating people-to-people interaction in various spheres and promoting peace and stability in the region,'' the ministry statement said.
Modi's visit will provide ''a timely thrust to the ongoing efforts of the two countries and their business entities to expand bilateral cooperation and mutually benefit from new opportunities in the wake of lifting of secondary sanctions against Iran earlier this year,'' it added.
Iran has been a major source of energy for Asia's third largest economy even during the period when the US imposed crippling sanctions on financial institutions dealing with Iran, making it impossible for countries buying Irani crude oil to pay their bills.
The sanctions - aimed at curbing Iran's allegedly clandestine nuclear programme - were lifted last year after Iran struck a deal with Russia, the US and its other Western allies to allow international monitors to inspect its nuclear facilities.
Earlier this month, India's ambassador to Iran Saurabh Kumar was cited by media reports as saying that India was accelerating a plan to pay nearly $6.5 billion it owes Teheran for crude oil imports.
Turkey's Halkbank has been identified to facilitate the payment and the money will be paid in euros, Kumar said.
Modi's visit is also expected to see progress on New Delhi's proposal for allowing ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) to develop the Farzad B gas field in Iran.
OVL, along with Oil India Ltd and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, had earlier invested about $100 million in the Farzad B gas field, but production could not be started as Indian companies found it difficult to stay engaged in the hydrocarbon sector due to sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union.
New Delhi conveyed to Tehran its interest to return to the project after sanctions were eased last year.
India is also keen on developing Iran's Chabahar port which could ease India's connectivity problems vis-a-vis landlocked Afghanistan. India is to equip and operate two berths in Chabahar Port Phase-I with capital investment of $85.21 million and annual revenue expenditure of $22.95 million on a 10-year lease.
India, Afghanistan and Iran have finalised a trilateral transport and transit deal, which will allow Indian exporters to utilise the Chabahar Port, besides gaining access to markets in Afghanistan through Zahedan in the West Asian country.
Cheating in exams has assumed such proportions in Iraq that officials are blocking the internet nationwide to prevent students from accessing leaked exam answers via Facebook. Since Saturday, authorities had blocked online access from 5 am to 8 am daily, according to education ministry spokeswoman Hadeel al-Ameri. The exam papers are received at schools only hours before the tests start at 8 am. According to al-Ameri, the tough measures were a bid to ensure that some of the country's 600,000 primary school students could not access answers purchased ahead of national standardised tests. "We asked the Communications Ministry to shut off Internet services because we knew that some students - those who are lazy - started to use the Internet trying to get [answers]," she added, broadcaster NBC reported. "Security departments were able to arrest some people who were trying to leak the questions and we found out that there were few people in the [education] ministry who used to leak these questions," al-Ameri said, without specifying exactly how many people had been detained. One Iraqi internet service provider (ISP), EarthLink, announced today's blackout on its Facebook page. The company said, ''As instructed by the Ministry of Communication, internet services will be cut off in all of Iraq during the time of exams from 5am until 8am for all companies across all provinces.'' According to commentators, while shutting off the internet proved to be undoubtedly efficient, the outage impacted every person and business in the parts of the country controlled by the Iraqi government. Human rights campaigners, including Access Now, had condemned the move. The area of Kurdistan, was not affected, by the blackout, Dyn Research said. beyond the control of the Iraqi authorities. Iraq is known to resort to such measures to affect the flow of information. Last year, it conducted similar blackouts at exam times, and also attempted to take areas controlled by Isis offline to clamp down on the spread of propaganda.
A new free booklet on the material culture of the Donegal Diaspora, as well as their migration patterns, will be launched this week.
The County Donegal Heritage Office and the County Donegal Heritage Forum in partnership with The Heritage Council has produced the booklet on selected historical migration patterns from Donegal and the items that Donegal people took with them when they left.
Entitled Material Culture of Donegal Communities Abroad it will be launched as part of the Donegal-Irish Diaspora Conference which takes place at Letterkenny Institute of Technology on Thursday, May 19.
The 32-page, A5-size booklet is the second in the 'Donegal Heritage Series' produced by the County Donegal Heritage Office as part of the by the County Donegal Heritage Plan and includes the several narrative accounts.
Among them are Dr. Fidelma Mullane who considers the possessions and provisions that Donegal emigrants took with them when they went to America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The research draws upon the 1955 questionnaire on Irish emigration to America devised by Arnold Schrier in collaboration with the Irish Folklore Commission.
Dr. Jonathan Bell and Mr. Mervyn Watson investigate the agricultural implements and ideas that seasonal migrants from Donegal took with them when they went to Scotland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Dr. Caoimhin Mac Aoidh recounts the story of renowned-Donegal fiddler Danny Meehan in England and Wales in the mid-twentieth century. Dr. Caoimhin Mac Aoidh is a musician, Irish music scholar and former Chief Executive of Donegal Local Development Company.
If you would like to register for the free Donegal-Irish Diaspora Conference, you can register for the event on the Donegal County Council website at www.donegalcoco.ie
Copies of the booklet will also be available from the County Donegal Heritage Office, Donegal County Council on (074) 917 2576 or by e-mail at heritage@donegalcoco.ie
The booklet can also be downloaded free-of-charge from the County Donegal Heritage Office website at www.donegalcoco.ie/heritage
There was deep sadness in the Twin Towns on Thursday morning last when news emerged of the death of one of the most respected members of the community, a woman who was described by all as a modest and elegant woman.
Mary McGowan (nee Sharkey) of Chestnut Grove, Main Street, Stranorlar, Donegal and originally from Mullaghaduff, passed away peacefully after a long illness bravely borne, surrounded by her family. She was 77.
Mary was a native of Mulaghduff and after qualifying as a primary school teacher in Carysfort,she came to teach in Meenareagh NS and later in St. Marys in Stranorlar where she was to remain for the remainder of her life.
Mary had met her husband, Con, who was one of the few fruit and vegetable distributors in the county in Mullaghduff.
The late Mrs. McGowan was highly regarded and had a reputation as being the best teacher in the school, and one that gave great care and attention to all her pupils they were all her adopted family.
When it came to teaching she didnt need a book, it came from a passion and conviction; she had a great interest in people and nothing was insignificant. Everybody was important, but her family were always number one.
Her funeral Mass in the Church of Mary Immaculate in Stranorlar was celebrated by Fr. Kieran McAteer, assisted by Fr. Patsy Arkinson and Fr. Padraig O Baoighill.
Fr. McAteer said: This morning we celebrated the First Holy Communion of 61 pupils of St. Marys School. In a way it is strangely appropriate that we are all gathered here now to celebrate Marys life on that same day. Mary was a very important part of St. Marys, a person who had such a great influence on hundreds of pupils in her time there.
He added: Today is a sad time for her children, but they have their memories of a mother who took a deep interest in each and every one of them up until two days ago. She fought her illness with great dignity and her family were always at her side morning, noon and night. They were there for her to the very end.
A woman who loved music and the Irish language, Mary would have been extremely happy with the beautifully hymns sung her today by her great friend and neighbour Daniel ODonnell.
Predeceased by her husband Con, Mary is survived by her sons Paul, H.P., Connie, Martin and Brian, daughters Noreen, Gabrielle and Roisin; sisters, Patsy, Margaret, Nell, Noreen, Sheila, and her brother James, as well as the large extended McGowan and Sharkey families.
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.
A collaborative office space venture inside a former law firm building in downtown Dothan is giving technology-based businesses a chance to work alongside each other.
The Dothan Downtown Redevelopment Authoritys Hub on Troy, equipped with one-gig fiber internet service, conference rooms and other creative office spaces, opened recently with its first four tenants. The building, located at 112 W. Troy St., encompasses a courtyard and five private offices, three primary shared areas and two different wings.
DDRA Executive Director Jansen Tidmore said the entire area is designed with tech-savvy clients in mind. The offices have each been fully occupied with a lease payment of $425 a month, while the building has a capacity for up to 40 members who could share the common space.
We want this to be the fun spot to work in Dothan, Tidmore said.
This is something weve talked about for years since launching The Nest on Foster as a way to bring that same concept and acceleration for the tech and design industry. A bunch of the members are inside working already.
Co-office spaces tend to consist of workers from multiple different companies sharing office space in the same facility. According to NAIOP/Commercial Real Estate Development Association, co-office spaces or coworking centers have become particularly popular for tech startups, freelancers and other creative professionals who seek collaboration with like-minded entrepreneurs.
One Hub on Troy tenant, software developer Mark Johnson, said the hubs technology and design rivals similar co-office spaces hes experienced in New York and elsewhere.
I see this as being a magnet for highly-talented technologists and entrepreneurs, graphic designers, artists and independent consultants to come and take advantage of the technology here and the meeting space, he said.
Its so valuable. Establishing one good business partnership here more than pays for the rent.
Another tenant, Zwity founder Terry Barber, said he appreciated the forward thinking officials had to bring tech-inspired companies together in one space. Zwity is a social media site primarily designed for college students of all ages to more easily and safely communicate and network with each other.
With creative people you have to have others around you that can nourish that creative spirit, and I think we have that here, Barber said.
Alabamas state-funded pre-kindergarten program is the best program in the nation for the 10th year in a row, according to the National Institute for Early Childhood Education.
The states pre-k program has long been known for high quality, but has only reached a small number of eligible students because of limited funding. The Legislature has increased funding in recent years, expanding the number of pre-k classrooms throughout the state. The program is now available to about 20 percent of eligible children. Next year, the program will reach 25 percent of eligible pre-k students.
The program has been able to grow without sacrificing quality thanks to strict monitoring and managed growth, according to pre-k advocates.
The decision to expand the program gradually was intentional. It ensures that the department (Alabama Department of Education) is able to continue to meet the standard of excellence the program is known for by making sure new teachers have the proper training and professional development, said Allison Muhlendorf, executive director of the Alabama School Readiness Alliance. Our pre-k task force also prioritized quality in our original legislative recommendations. It was very important to our task force members that the program retained its quality as it grew to serve more children.
Muhlendorf said that expansion of the program is already showing results. She said assessments show that half of Alabama First Class Pre-K students enter pre-k behind socially and academically. By the end of the school year, 95 percent of First Class Pre-K students meet or exceed age-level expectations for kindergarteners.
The Dothan City Schools has four state-funded pre-k classrooms in addition to its HeadStart center, which is funded by federal dollars. The system will open a fifth classroom at Kelly Springs Elementary School in the fall.
Its a great program, Dothan City Schools Superintendent Chuck Ledbetter said. The only negative is that we dont have more classrooms.
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Some of Australias largest tech firms have united with more than 40 startups to launch TechSydney a not-for-profit group aimed at transforming Sydney into Australias Silicon Valley.
According to TechSydney CEO and Spreets founder Dean McEvoy, the group will work to address the Sydney innovation ecosystems greatest challenge: collaboration.
Despite efforts from major tech companies, startups and government to improve Sydneys startup and technology ecosystems, McEvoy said these groups had been working towards this goal in isolation. Consequently, their impact was limited and the citys global startup ecosystem ranking slipped from #12 in 2012 to #16 in 2015.
Best in the business
Recognising this challenge, McEvoy and other serial entrepreneurs Mick Liubinskas (muru-D), Kim Heras (25fifteen), Riley Batchelor (tidyme) and Gen George (OneShift) devised TechSydney to act as a central hub for startups and high growth technology companies.
The goal is for the best in the business to come together, learn from each other and address common issues via advocacy to government and the implementation of initiatives.
TechSydney also aims to promote startups and high growth technology companies locally and abroad, attract world-class technology talent to Australia, advocate the sector as a viable career path and increase participation by women.
Big support
The not-for-profit has already gained the support of Australias largest tech firms including: Atlassian, Tyro, Canva, Airbnb, Prospa, LinkedIn, Airtree Ventures, Reinventure, Blackbird Ventures and more than 30 other funded startups and high growth technology companies.
Recent moves from all levels of government to support our startup and technology sector have been heartening, but we cant rely on them to carry it forward, said McEvoy.
By working together, we will drive the initiatives that will turn Sydney into a world class, top 10 hub for technology companies.
TechSydney will launch at the Powerhouse in Sydney on 30 May. Technology companies can register to attend at www.techsydney.com.au
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Tomorrow, Thursday, May 19th, our friends at Clean Water Action are holding a Lobby Day and rally in Lansing demanding that state legislators FIX FLINT!
Heres their plans for the day:
In the next few weeks, legislators in Lansing will decide how much money will be allocated to Flint to address the water crisis, deciding whether or not to move emergency supplemental funds to Flint now. They will decide how much money our children deserve for education and nutrition. They will decide whether the State of Michigan will help Flint residents have a healthy and safe future. But far too many of them think the Flint issue has blown over.
Flint residents still have had tainted water flowing through our tapswith no clear timeline for when theyll be able to safely use the water. Theyre still reporting skin rashes and hair loss when they clean with it . . . waking up every day having to figure out how theyre going to drink, cook, and batheoften with bottled water. No one should have to go through this simply to have safe water.
Our elected leaders must step up to fix this problem. So join Flint residents in Lansing on Thursday, May 19th to make our voices heard.
People across the state are joining us to tell the legislature to FIX FLINT! Weve received over 5,000 support letters from voters in over 40 districts in Michigan telling their representative to pay up to FIX FLINT!
This is our opportunity to have our voices heard before they decide on the State budget. We must act NOW!
AGENDA Thursday May 19th:
7:45am: Flint car pool from the old K-Mart on Miller Rd and S. Ballenger Hwy in Flint
9:00am: Meet at Clean Water Action offices (2722 E Michigan Ave Suite 201, Lansing MI 48912) for breakfast and lobby visit preparation
10:00am: Visit legislators offices to deliver support letters from voters in their district and tell them the real story of what the water crisis is like in Flint
Noon: Press conference and rally on the Capitol lawn with Flint residents
1:00pm: Prayer vigil for Flint in the Capitol Rotunda
2:00pm: Head back to Flint
We need solidarity from across the state, so please join Flint residents in Lansing on May 19thand tell our elected officials to pay to FIX FLINT!
To RSVP for the Lobby Day, call Sean at 517-203-0754 or visit the Facebook event page HERE. You can download a printable flyer HERE.
HERE
Indias telecommunications ministry has rejected Apples proposal to sell refurbished iPhones in the country, Bloomberg reported this week.
Officials rejected the proposal based on rules that prohibit importing used electronics, according to Reuters.
The countrys environmental ministry nixed a similar request last year.
With smartphone sales starting to stall, India could become an important market for Apple, although it has only a 2 percent market share there.
India is slated to experience strong smartphone growth in the coming years, said Ross Rubin, senior director for industry analysis atApp Annie.
Much of that growth is slated to come from inexpensive Android handsets, he told the E-Commerce Times. Selling refurbished iPhones is one way for Apple to compete without having to produce a device that compromises on features or components.
Vital Market
The Indian market is vital to Apple, especially with sales in China slowing down, said Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst atMoor Insights & Strategy.
Apple has dominated the high end in North America and Western Europe, picked up a lot of share in China, and now is the time for Apple in India, he told the E-Commerce Times.
The decision by Indias telecommunications ministry is a speed bump for Apple, Moorhead said.
This decision could delay Apples market-share ascension in India, he said. Used phones are a start, but ultimately, Apple wants to sell new phones, and I see it as a minor setback.
Doomed to Single Digits
Its a setback, though, that could continue to depress Apples share of the Indian market.
With iPhone sales stalling in mature markets and economic uncertainty hindering Apples market efforts in China, marketing refurbished iPhones in India seemed like a solid strategy, said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.
Allowing refurbished iPhones into the subcontinent could undermine the governments Make In India policy.
Unless the company finds a way to comply with the governments Make In India program, Apples share of the market there seems likely to remain in low single digits, King told the E-Commerce Times.
India isnt Apples highest priority yet, but that could change, noted James Moar, a research analyst withJuniper Research.
As the Chinese market slows, India becomes more attractive as a relatively affluent developing market, he told the E-Commerce Times.
It will likely become more important in the next few years, Moar continued, particularly as they are also one of the most receptive areas for iPad growth.
Tarnishing the Brand
Without the ability to sell refurbished iPhones, Apple faces an uphill struggle to get midrange Indian consumers to buy into the iOS ecosystem, he maintained.
This means that Apple either needs to produce phones specifically in India, for India, or accept that it cannot pursue the same ecosystem-centric strategy that it does elsewhere, Moar said.
The former strategy may result in good penetration of the Indian market, but without its ecosystem as a draw, Apple will have to compete on price to attract many consumers, he continued.
This may have the impact of tarnishing its brand elsewhere and may lead other developing markets where it doesnt have much of a presence such as Africa to demand similar treatment, which will be a very costly investment for Apple, Moar said.
If Indian regulators continue to be a barrier to Apple, the company could recalculate its developing world strategy.
They could look westward to Africa and the Middle East, which are very fertile markets for connecting first-time users, said Ramon T. Llamas, a mobile technology and trends analyst with IDC.
However, it will take awhile before those markets are ready for the iPhone, which is designed for faster networks. There are places in Africa that are still getting their 3G legs. Going back to 3G would be an additional expense for Apple, he told the E-Commerce Times.
More Pressure for a Home Run
With iPhone salessinking, the Indian setback adds to the pressure to make the next version of the iPhone a hit, noted Bob ODonnell, chief analyst for Technalysis Research.
Theres going to be huge pressure on the iPhone 7, and Im not sure its going to be a knock-it-out-of-the- park product thats going to make everybody upgrade, he told the E-Commerce Times.
Were in a difficult time, ODonnell added. I think the overall smartphone market has peaked, and Apple is suffering from that as much as anybody.
Release of the iPhone 7 could be a make-or-break point for Apple, noted Jeff Fieldhack, research director forCounterpoint Technology Market Research.
As important as India is, the need for Apple to persuade its users to upgrade to iPhone 7 is more important, he told E-Commerce Times.
Apple has such a strong ecosystem and such loyal followers, their business can be swayed tremendously by 1 or 2 percent of its installed base upgrading, Fieldhack said.
We have to wait until the 7 comes out to realize if were in a new norm and Apple has peaked or if it will continue to grow, he added, They dont have to hit a home run to get a big upgrade cycle on the 7. They just need to be solid.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission on Monday announced a joint investigation into the issue of mobile device security updates.
The FTC issued an order requiring eight mobile device manufacturers Apple, BlackBerry, Google, HTC America, LG Electronics USA, Microsoft, Motorola Mobility and Samsung Electronics America to provide information about how they issue security updates to address mobile device vulnerabilities.
The information they must provide includes the following:
What factors they consider when deciding whether to patch a vulnerability;
Detailed data on the mobile devices theyve offered for sale since August 2013;
The vulnerabilities that have affected those devices; and
Whether and when they patched the vulnerabilities.
FTC members voted unanimously to issue the order under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act.
Its part of the commissions ongoing efforts to understand the security of consumers mobile devices, which included a workshop in 2013 and a follow-up public comment period in 2014.
Carrier Focus
On Monday, Jon Wilkins, the FCCs Wireless Telecommunications Bureau chief, wrote to wireless carriers asking about their processes for releasing security updates.
His letter is divided into four sections: general questions, questions about the development and release of security updates, consumer-specific questions, and questions specific to the Stagefright Android bug.
The letter was sent to AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Sprint and TracFone, FCC spokesperson Neil Grace said.
The letters were sent yesterday, so I cant confirm that weve received responses, he told TechNewsWorld.
Reason for Concern
Americas shift to mobile devices has been speeding up. Meanwhile, vulnerabilities associated with mobile operating systems, including Stagefright which may affect almost 1 billion Android devices worldwide are increasing, the FCC said.
NorthBit earlier this year detailed anew version of Stagefright, named Metaphor, which affects 30 percent of all Android devices.
Delays in patching vulnerabilities could leave consumers unprotected for long periods, the FCC asserted. OS providers, original equipment manufacturers and mobile service providers have addressed vulnerabilities as they arise, but there are significant delays in delivering patches to devices, and older devices might never get patched.
Features First
Carriers may delay updates because they first want to test them for reliability and compatibility with their own software and apps.
The carriers are saying that maintaining a base of unique software features is more important than the consumers safety and security, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.
This shouldnt be an either/or problem, but since they make it that, safety and security should come first, he told TechNewsWorld.
Nearly 28 million Android devices with medical apps are likely to house high-risk malware,Skycure has found.
Complicating the issue, 26 percent of Android devices worldwide run Android 4.3, released in 2013, or earlier, according toStatista.
Neither OEMs nor OS providers want to update older devices or versions of the OS, partly because of the cost and partly because older devices dont have the muscle to run new versions of Android.
However, OS suppliers and OEMs want the patches to be applied quickly, Enderle pointed out, and that could lead to a massive reduction in control by the carriers.
Regulatory Oversight
Governments first focus is on their citizens, and right now those citizens are badly exposed as a result of [carriers] ill-conceived practices, he said.
That said, for the FCC to assert regulatory oversight in this area so everybody has to file plans for rolling updates is going to slow things down, noted Mike Jude, program manager, Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan.
The vendors will probably take them to court, he told TechNewsWorld, because regulatory oversight will increase costs, slow down maintenance of devices, force vendors to support archaic devices, and make the cost of updating unmaintainable.
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UPDATED
Exactly 62 years after a famous Supreme Court ruling that segregated schools were unconstitutional, segregation in American education is not just alive, it is apparently thriving.
The percentage of U.S. schools in which students mostly are black and Hispanic students and also from low-income backgrounds has risen in the last several years, a condition associated with schools that have fewer resources and important academic opportunities for students, a congressional watchdog agency reported Tuesday.
The report from the Government Accountability Office , Better Use of Information Could Help Agencies Identify Disparities and Address Racial Discrimination, also found disparities in discipline policies between those schools and their wealthier counterparts with smaller shares of black and Hispanic students.
In addition to highlighting instances where states and districts attempted to address the issue, the report also recommends that the U.S. Department of Education track civil rights data more routinely to highlight disparities between different schools. It also says the U.S. Department of Justice should track data related to open school desgregation cases.
School integration and diversity, and the lack thereof in American public education, have become a more significant part of discussions about education policy and politics recently. President Barack Obamas administration put a priority on economic integration in various parts of its recently proposed federal budget. And Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. has said that making schools more racially diverse and socioecomically integrated is a powerful way to improve educational outcomes , especially for disadvantaged students.
These sorts of findings are not new. In 2014, for example, we covered a report from the U.S. Department of Educations office for civil rights that highlighted relatively thin academic offerings for many minority students , among other disparities between students of color and their peers.
The GAO prepared its new report at the request of Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., the ranking member of the House education committee, and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. and ranking member of the House judiciary committee. The data covers the academic years from 2000-01 to 2013-14. The report was released on the 62nd anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Courts Brown v. Board of Education ruling that racially segregated schools were inherently unequal.
Broadly speaking, what does the increase of economically and racially isolated schools look like? Heres a chart from the GAO report to answer that:
The GAO also found that while most of these disadvantaged, racially segregated schools with large shares of low-incomes students continue to be traditional schools, the share of charter and magnet schools qualifying as racially and economically isolated increased from 2000-01 to 2013-14.
An extensive body of research over the past 10 years shows a clear link between schools socioeconomic (or income) composition and student academic outcomes, the GAO report says.
And on a related theme, the GAO says theres a clear correlation between high-poverty schools with mostly black or Hispanic schools and their course offerings. Take a look at the math classes offered by these schools, compared to those offered in their wealthier counterparts with smaller shares of black and Hispanic students:
The report also examines various approaches districts have taken to increase racial and economic integration. For example, the report highlighted one (unnamed) district in the South that said a school could be considered diverse if it met at least one of the following measures:
enrolls multiple racial/ethnic groups, and no single group represents more than 50 percent of the schools total enrollment;
enrolls at least three racial/ethnic groups, and each represents at least 15 percent of the schools total enrollment; or
enrolls at least two racial/ethnic groups, and each represents at least 30 percent of the schools total enrollment;
... As well as at least two of the following measures:
percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-priced meals is at least two-thirds the average of other schools,
percentage of English-learners is at least two-thirds the average of other schools, or
percentage of students with a disability is at least two-thirds the average of other schools.
Other stats from the report include these:
Of the more than 93,000 K-12 schools in this country, 90% are traditional public schools, 7% are charter institutions, and 3% are magnet centers.
In reviewing data from school years 2000-01 and 2013-14, racial and socioeconomic isolation in K-12 public schools grew from 9 to 16 percent. In that same period, students who were eligible for free or reduced-lunch increased by 143%.
Sixty-one percent of all high poverty schools are populated by at least 75% students of color. Hispanic students were the largest minority group (25%) of the total student population in schools for school year 2013-14, compared to Black students at 16%.
Black and Hispanic students have poverty rates that are 2-3 times higher than the rates of White students.
The growth in racial and socioeconomic isolation was concentrated in schools where 75-100% of the students were Black or Hispanic and eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
UPDATE: Scott also announced yesterday that he was introducing legislation in Congress to address the issue. HR 5260 would amend Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to restore the right to individual civil actions in cases involving disparate impact and other purposes.Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin for programs receiving federal assistance. The bill was referred to the House education committee.
Despite the recent priority put on integration and diversity by King and others, not everyone believes that integration should be an educational lodestar. Education advocate and blogger Chris Stewart, for example, who works for Education Post , has argued that integration itself is not a high enough aim to suspend expectation that black children learn in their current environments. Segregated or not, we know they can achieve.
Photo: George E.C. Hayes, left, Thurgood Marshall, center, and James M. Nabrit, the lawyers who led the fight before the U.S. Supreme Court for abolition of segregation in public schools, descend the court steps in Washington, D.C., on May 17, 1954, after the court ruled that segregation is unconstitutional. (AP-File)
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(Photo: Stephen Brown / WCC)
The 500th anniversary of the Christian Reformation in 2017 is to be profoundly ecumenical, with Pope Francis even taking part in a celebratory service with Lutherans in Sweden in October of this year.
The Reformation anniversary will be both a European and international celebration, says Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, chair of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Stephen Brown reports for the World Council of Churches.
"With this clear distinction from all other commemorations of past centuries, we are sending a signal of reconciliation and a new beginning," Bedford-Strohm said.
He was speaking at a May 9 press conference in Berlin announcing events leading up to the anniversary on Oct, 31, 2017.
The commemoration marks the day in 1517 on which Martin Luther is said to have posted his 95 theses denouncing church abuses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany.
Luther's actions set in motion events that led to the Reformation and the division of Western Christianity into Roman Catholic and Protestant churches.
The events following the Reformation pitted Catholics and Protestants against one another for many years.
In recent years, however, Roman Catholics and Lutherans have reached agreement on the doctrine of justification, a key dividing issue between the papacy and Luther and his followers, and many doctrinal differences should no longer have a church-dividing character, said Bedford-Strohm.
CATHOLICS AND LUTHERANS REJOICING TOGETHER
The Pope said in 2013 that confronting the historical reality of the Reformation is important as it enables Catholics and Lutherans to rejoice together "in the longing for unity which the Lord has awakened in our hearts, and which makes us look with hope to the future."
The start of the year-long anniversary events will be marked in Germany on Oct. 31, 2016 with a service in Berlin.
On the same day, Pope Francis and Bishop Munib Younan, president of the Lutheran World Federation, will celebrate an ecumenical service in Lund in Sweden, where the LWF was founded in 1947.
They will pray for forgiveness and the healing of the wounds the confessions inflicted on each other over the centuries.
"We will celebrate with them in Berlin," said Bedford-Strohm. "What follows Lund, what kind of dynamic might be started there, nobody knows," he underlined, saying he did "not exclude" a visit by Pope Francis to Germany.
In autumn 2016, Protestant and Catholic leaders from Germany will undertake a common pilgrimage to Israel and Palestine to be reminded of the roots of their common faith.
This will be followed in March 2017 by a joint service of penitence and reconciliation by the Protestant and Catholic churches in Germany.
One of the central events in Germany during the Reformation year will be a Kirchentag, or church convention, in Berlin in May 2017, expected to gather 100,000 people.
Thousands are expected to join the Kirchentag participants for an open-air service on May 28 in Wittenberg, about 62 miles (100 kilometres) south of Berlin.
"Reformation means courageously seeking what is new and turning away from old, familiar customs," said Christina Aus der Au from Switzerland, president of the 2017 Kirchentag.
At the same time, it means asking what sustains and holds people together when everything is changing, and when the world seems out of joint, she said.
In his remarks, Bedford-Strohm underlined that the Reformation "is not just a German affair", pointing to the work of the 16th-century Reformers John Calvin in Geneva, Huldrych Zwingli in Zurich and Martin Bucer in Strasbourg, among others.
The European dimension of the Reformation will be marked by a mobile story truck, "Stories on tour", that will start in Geneva on Nov. 3, 2016.
It will follow a European roadmap linking 68 towns and cities with a Reformation connection in 19 countries before arriving at Wittenberg on May 20, 2017 for the start of a four-month World Reformation Exhibition, "Gates of Freedom".
Here churches, organizations, groups and artists will present their perspectives on the Reformation.
On Oct. 31, 2017 there is an official ceremony planned for Wittenberg. However, the focus will be on a "decentralised" commemoration, said Bedford-Strohm, with services in the various regional churches in Germany.
(Photo: LWF/ Heidi Martinussen)Bishops Ernisa and Bishop Filo from Slovenia presented with gift from Bishop Younan (center) at a reception in the Lutheran Church Ljubljana on November 20.
Leaders in the Lutheran World Federation have thanked the Slovenian government for safeguarding religious and cultural diversity in a nation that traces its establishment to the Reformation movement.
When Slovenia was part of communist Yugoslavia many people, however, described themselves as atheists, as it was said to be very convenient not to be religious.
The LWF's governing body held recent meeting meetings with the Slovenian President Borut Pahor and with Zoran Jankovic, the mayor of the capital, Ljubljana.
Led by it's the president of the LWF, Bishop Munib A. Younan, the Lutherans heard how the government supports the different religious bodies in the country, the Lutheran communion said in a statement.
Slovenian Christians traditions include Roman Catholics who are in the majority and also the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovenia.
The LWF member church hosted the November 12-14 meeting of LWF leaders, who in addition to talks with government officials met with representatives of the Catholic and Orthodox churches and with Muslim leaders.
Younan, who is also bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, underlined LWF's appreciation for the observance of October 31 - Reformation Day - as a national holiday in Slovenia.
"Today in our world, we are becoming more and more aware that none of us are independent, we are all interdependent. It is our role to speak more about how the values of faith can be implemented in a world that is secularized and broken.
"These values of peace, reconciliation and diversity are values we as religious leaders must have," Younan said, reflecting on the conversations with Slovenian secular leaders.
At the meeting with President Pahor, the head of state offered to set up a working group to enable both the government and the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovenia to explore ways of marking the 2017 Reformation anniversary.
Younan emphasized the LWF's commitment to ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, highlighting the 50 years of dialogue with Catholics and more than 30 years with the Orthodox as important milestones.
He also noted a recent signing of an agreement between the LWF and Islamic Relief Worldwide.
The agreement with the IRW was to cooperate in humanitarian work as the first official cooperation between an international Christian and a global Islamic humanitarian organization.
During a reception hosted by the LWF in the Lutheran church in Ljubljana, the president of Slovenia's Catholic Bishops' Conference Bishop Andrej Glavan emphasized the need to continue working together as ecumenical partners.
The Orthodox Church representative Paroh Milan said, "I feel that we belong to one family because all of us come from one God and that is why I am sure that we not only can but also have to work together to build a society which offers the opportunity to believe together and to be a witness."
In Slovenia, the reformer Primoz Truber is celebrated as the author of the first Slovene language printed book, and the founder of the Protestant Church of the Slovene Lands.
Dr Marko Kersevan, head of the Truber Institute noted that even though only one percent of Slovenians belong to the Lutheran church, the Lutheran tradition has had an impact in society.
"The language became a unifying force in order to constitute the Slovenian nation. The written language of Slovenia came into being through Reformation and with the spirit of Reformation through the Reformation movement," Kersevan said.
Utah preschoolers who participated in UPSTART , a state-funded home-education program created by the Waterford Institute, entered kindergarten with more literacy skills than nonparticipants, and those effects continued as the children moved through elementary school, according to a state study of the program. (UPSTART is short for Utah Preparing Students Today for a Rewarding Tomorrow.)
The Utah Department of Education UPSTART evaluation , released April 14, showed that children who participated in the program scored significantly higher than control-group peers on two tests of early literacy. Researchers used the Brigance Inventory of Educational Development, which measures vocabulary and syntax, preliteracy discrimination, letter knowledge, and decoding, and the Bader Reading and Language Inventory, which measures phonological awareness.
Through 4th grade, the state report also found that students in UPSTART continued to outperform their peers on Utahs standardized Student Assessment of Growth and Excellence, or SAGE.
The UPSTART program shows continued success at helping preschool age children develop literacy skills and prepare for school, the study concluded.
In addition to funding from the state, UPSTART was the recipient of an $11.5 million federal Investing in Innovation grant in 2013 . The program consists of computer-based lessons, games, books, and activities that stress phonics, phonemic awareness, comprehension, and vocabulary and language concepts. UPSTART served 1,248 children in its first year, and in 2014-15, its sixth year, served 5,091 preschoolers. The program puts a priority on low-income families and families whose first language is not English; for the 2015-16 school year, the state allowed families who did not fall into those categories to participate for a fee of $725.
Utah does not have a state-funded traditional preschool program . In an interview with Education Week in 2015, J. Stuart Adams, a Republican state senator and an UPSTART supporter, said that the program was a good fit for state residents who want to keep their preschool children at home.
Theres a group of very conservative individuals, and theyre not really keen on pre-K because they feel like children should be at home with their families. The beauty of UPSTART in a rural or urban setting, is that it is parentally supervised, Adams said.
The program also offers an alternative for families in rural areas who would have a hard time getting to a central spot for a traditional preschool, said Utah educators.
NASHVILLE, Tennessee The 2016 Infiniti Q50 3.0t performance sedan with the all-new 300-horsepower 3.0-liter V6 twin-turbocharged engine starts at $40,805. The price includes a $905 destination charge.
The new Q50 3.0t models, the latest in the 2016 Q50 lineup, are on sale now at Infiniti dealerships.
The 2016 Infiniti Q50 3.0t Premium with all-wheel drive starts at $41,900.
The 2016 Infiniti Q50 Sport is priced at $44,805, while the top-of-the-line Q50 Sport with all-wheel drive starts at $46,805.
All prices include shipping. All are equipped with the 3.0-liter V6 engine.
They join the rest of the 2016 Q50 lineup, which includes the all-new 2016 Infiniti Q50 Red Sport 400 performance sedan, which is priced at $48,855 for the base rear-wheel-drive model.
A moonroof package for the Q50 3.0t adds $1,000 to the bottom line. A maple wood trim package is priced at $400, while pearl paint adds $500.
The base Q50 3.0t is offered at "a price comparable to four-cylinder engine-equipped vehicles offered by our main competitors," said Randy Parker, Infiniti America vice president, in a statement on Tuesday.
The Q50 Sport models feature a sport-styled front fascia, 19-inch sport wheels, larger sport brakes, leather-appointed sport seats, aluminum-accented pedals and solid magnesium paddle shifters.
Key Q50 rivals include the Audi A4, Lexus IS and Mercedes-Benz C-Class.
Edmunds says: Car shoppers in the market for a luxury sedan will be happy to see an affordable $40,000 base price on the 2016 Infiniti Q50 3.0t, which is expected to be the volume leader in the Q50 lineup.
The materials on EngageNY, the online library of common-core-aligned curricula hosted by New York states education department, have now been downloaded more than 45 million times, far surpassing many peoples expectations for the free resource created just five years ago.
But with the websites federal funding source having all but dried up, a new group launched today is stepping in to further EngageNYs mission. The organization, known as UnboundEd, plans to both build off of EngageNYs success and tackle another problem that teachers are facing: Their students, especially those from low-income communities, arent prepared to meet the Common Core State Standards tough grade-level goals.
What we see as the biggest challenge in schools is managing a divide between rigorous high standards for all students and the real developmental consequences of poverty, said Kate Gerson, the managing partner for programs for the new nonprofit organization, and a former lead architect of EngageNY. Were trying to give [teachers] the support to work through that divide.
The nonprofit UnboundEd will both host the new free website, populated with EngageNYs and other K-12 common-core materials vetted by the team members, most of whom previously worked as classroom teachers, and provide paid in-person educator trainings. Of the 23 people now on staff, about a third came over from the EngageNY project.
The organization has raised more than $5 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Bloomberg Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, IBM, and the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. (The Gates and Carnegie foundations support some coverage in Education Week; the Helmsley Charitable Trust helps support its video capabilities.)
Currently, there are about 5,000 total lessons, modules, units, primary sources, and texts on the new site, which also went online today. While most of the curricula are from EngageNY, there are also some instructional materials from Illustrative Mathematics, a curriculum project led by common-core writer William McCallum. The UnboundEd team plans to add more open-source materials over time.
Some folks need a comprehensive curriculum for the entire year, so weve built an experience for them, said Alex Kasavin, the groups director of product development. Some are looking for a lesson to teach this week or next week, and weve built a different experience for them drawing on the same resources.
The site also has a series of guides meant to help teachers better understand what individual standards are really asking students to do, and what skills come before and after each grade-level benchmark.
When youre working with students living in poverty, most often theyre coming to you with parts of the [learning] progressions theyve missed in previous years, Gerson said. This gives very concrete examples and advice for what you do if you have a kid coming to you two or three years below grade levelwhat lessons you insert, how you adapt the good, free curriculum to meet the needs of your kids.
Like a Free Puppy
EngageNY, which was funded through New York states $700 million federal Race to the Top award in 2010 and launched the next year, has generated wide interest among teachers within and outside of the Empire State. The site has had more than 13 million users, according to the states education department. And a recent survey showed that 44 percent of elementary math teachers and 30 percent of secondary teachers in common-core states are using materials from EngageNY.
But the Race to the Top funding period has come to an end. (The state education department would not answer questions about other funding sources or how many people are still working on the EngageNY project.)
The website is still in wide usein fact, New Yorks education commissioner, MaryEllen Elia, announced the release of a New EngageNY in January, which would include a redesign and better access on mobile devices. The state has also recently added some social studies materials to the site.
However, its unclear whether the reading and math materials will be updated or added to.
Jay Diskey, the executive director of the Association of American Publishers PreK-12 Learning Group, speaking generally about open educational resources, said updating materials is a must. OER is sometimes talked about as free beer, but in reality its more like a free puppy which one has to take care of over time.
The UnboundEd website is an effort to expand on the work done through EngageNY, and give it a fully funded new home.
A sometimes-cited criticism of EngageNY materials is that they werent built with proper supports for English-language learners, though some guidance on that topic was added after the fact. UnboundED will also launch without additional supports for ELLs, but Gerson said the group is working with experts on this and is very devoted to including the scaffolds and supports for ELLS and students with special needs.
The designers of the new site also emphasize that they are not chasing downloadsthe UnboundEd content will eventually be compatible with a variety of other platforms. We are not trying to be a replacement solution for learning-management systems and content-management systems and digital delivery tools, said Steve Midgley, the senior technical advisor on the project. Were not trying to say were better than that. Thats a common narrative in the ed-tech space, but thats not our narrative.
Instead, our goal is to get these materials in the hands of as many teachers and in front of as many students as possible, said Gerson. And while the capability isnt quite there yet, we want to meet teachers where they are right now, with whatever platform they are comfortable with.
There are other groups working to expand the availability of free, open instructional content as well. The K-12 OER Collaborative, for example, is a multistate effort that allows both educators and for-profit vendors to take and build on its educational resources.
However, as Diskey cautions, open materials can have some limitations and challenges. For instance, OER developers can sometimes have trouble obtaining copyright permissions. Literature selections, rights to a photo, a table, a map, a passage from another bookthese [permissions] must be secured if theyre copyrighted, he said. Educational publishers routinely know how to clear permissions. ... A number of OER developers have been unpleasantly surprised that they cant find readily available images for free.
Teacher Trainings
In addition to offering free curriculum resources, UnboundEd is also putting on four- and five-day professional development institutes, which districts will pay to have representatives attend. About 1,000 teachers and administrators have already been trained through these institutes in Boston and Washington over the last year. This summer, the group expects to bring in about 700 additional educators.
The institutes undoubtedly emphasize particular philosophies on how the new standards should be taught. In English/language arts, the organization focuses on building background knowledge to improve reading comprehensiona notion also espoused by groups like Student Achievement Partners, a nonprofit professional-development group founded by the lead writers of the common-core standards, and the Knowledge Matters campaign, inspired by retired professor E.D. Hirsch Jr.s work.
Teachers learn to use text sets, or groups of readings around a single topic, to expose students to similar words repeatedly and help build vocabulary.
My real big takeaway for reading was that the content knowledge we want [students] to gain should drive the reading strategies, said Lori Butterfield, the principal at Guilmette Elementary School in Lawrence, Mass., who attended a standards institute in February.
In math, teachers learn to focus on the most important concepts for each grade, even for students who come in below grade level. The way I was operating as a teacher, I would be reactive, said Megan Fehr, a 3rd grade teacher at Guilmette who also attended the institute. If kids came to me with some gaps from 2nd grade, I might spend a lot of time teaching standards from 2nd grade, to the detriment of 3rd grade. Now, she inserts a lesson here or there as needed, but continues to emphasize the grade-level concepts so her students dont fall further behind.
UnboundEd will continue tweaking its website and professional development offerings as needed, the creators said. Our goal is to continue to get smarter as an organization about what teachers need to know how to implement these standards successfully, said Gerson.
Merrick B. Garland, now a nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, was in the first few weeks of his prestigious year as a law clerk to Justice William J. Brennan Jr. in August 1978 when he found himself immersedin a humble wayin a fast-developing drama involving a major education issue of that era: school desegregation.
The 1978-79 term, during which Garland served, would end up with several major rulings in education, not only in desegregation, but in the areas of the application of federal labor law to private religious schools, free-speech rights for public school teachers, and state laws barring permanent teacher certification for non-U.S. citizens.
But anyone looking for clues about what GarlandPresident Barack Obamas pick to succeed the late Antonin Scalia on the high courtwas thinking during that year, or what advice he gave Brennan, will find the record frustratingly bare. While some justices preserve their law clerks memos for posterity, Brennan mostly didnt.
Theres almost nothing that would have clerk fingerprints on it in the justices papers, said Stephen Wermiel, a law professor at American University in Washington, and the co-author of an exhaustive biography of Brennan, a liberal lion who served on the Supreme Court from 1956 until 1990.
Still, just looking at the cases that a law clerk encounters during his or her year serving a justice provides some sense of perspective.
A Supreme Court clerkship is a remarkable training ground, especially for someone who goes on to become a judge, said Todd C. Peppers, a visiting professor of law at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., who has written widely about the relationships between Supreme Court justices and their clerks. I dont see how you can work for someone like Bill Brennan and not be touched by him.
Desegregation Battle
While most clerk memos have been removed from Brennans papers at the Library of Congress, a close look by Education Week found a few of Garlands fingerprints.
In August 1978, the formal start of the term was more than six weeks away, and most justices were still at their summer homes or otherwise on vacation.
The Columbus, Ohio, school system sought emergency relief from lower federal court rulings that the district had engaged in systemwide violations of the equal-protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The district was under an order to begin a desegregation plan by early that September that called for the reassignment of 42,000 of its 83,000 students, including the busing of 37,000 students.
The school district sought a stay, first from Justice Potter Stewart, who denied the motion, and next from William H. Rehnquist, at that time an associate justice, who was more sympathetic to the districts arguments. In 1977, Rehnquist had written the opinion for the court that had raised doubts about a systemwide remedial plan for the Dayton, Ohio, school system and ordered lower courts to re-examine it.
In an Aug. 11, 1978, in-chamber opinion granting the Columbus districts stay request, Rehnquist said he did not believe the lower courts had appropriately applied the Supreme Courts decision in Dayton Board of Education v. Brinkman (also known as Dayton I). Rehnquist suggested that because the high court was in recess, and the start of the school year was looming, it would be impracticable to try to circulate the relevant papers to all members of the court.
Given the severe burdens that the school desegregation order will place on the Columbus school system and the Columbus community in general, and the likelihood that four justices of this court will vote to grant certiorari in this case, I have decided to grant the stay, Rehnquist wrote in his stay opinion in Columbus Board of Education v. Penick.
Raising the Stakes
The stay quickly elevated the stakes in the case. The desegregation plaintiffs, joined by President Jimmy Carters administration, asked the high court to convene a special term before the school year to consider overturning the stay. Such a special term was something the court had only rarely done, such as during the 1957 Little Rock, Ark., school desegregation crisis.
The justices soon started weighing in on the request for a special term. Justice Byron R. White dictated a memo from Denver, expressing his opposition.
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger returned from a vacation on Aug. 16 and was scheduled to leave for Western Europe in a matter of days. In a memo circulated to his colleagues, he worried about a continuing ping-pong game involving the multiple-legal maneuvers in the case.
Brennan was still at his summer home on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts. He was famous for making a ferry reservation around July 1 each year for his family and his car, which put pressure on the court to finish the term by that date each year.
I first learned this noon of the filing of the application supported by the Solicitor General to convene a special session of the court to review Bill Rehnquists stay, Brennan wrote to his colleagues on Aug. 22. I also learned from my chambers that the Chief, Byron [White], Harry [A. Blackmun] and Lewis [F. Powell Jr.] have circulated memos that each would deny the request. There has been no official word from Potter [Stewart], Thurgood [Marshall], or John [Paul Stevens].
Since there are five votes to deny, I see no purpose in my examining the papers and I will simply pass, Brennan wrote. I have authorized my clerk, Merrick Garland, to initial this memorandum for me.
Attached to the memo, in Brennans papers at the Library of Congress, is a small note typewritten by Garland: Mr. Justice: Attached is a copy of the memorandum which was circulated this afternoon. He signed it Merrick in his own handwriting.
Charles J. Cooper, a prominent Washington lawyer who was a clerk to Rehnquist that term, said the August drama over the Columbus stay was a big, big ticket, especially in our chambers.
Though he didnt work on the matter, you couldnt be a law clerk and not know what was going on with it, Cooper said.
On Aug. 25, the chief justice entered an order denying the request for the special term. Rehnquists stay remained in place and the Columbus district did not have to begin its desegregation plan that school year. But the high court did take up full review of the Columbus case during the term.
Memo Trail
Wermiel said that Brennan relied on his law clerks in a different way than most of his colleagues. In most chambers, then as now, the clerks read appeals in the cases seeking high court review and make recommendations on whether to grant or deny. They also prepare bench memos for their bosses before argument in a granted case, outlining the major issues.
Brennan, by contrast, read most appeals himself, Wermiel said. And during most of his 34 years on the bench, Brennan did not assign his clerks to write bench memos, either. But clerks did play a major role in drafting opinions for Brennan.
The justices papers reveal such a role for Garland in one of the education cases of the term.
In National Labor Relations Board v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago, the court weighed whether church schools that employed both religious and lay teachers came under the authority of the National Labor Relations Act. And if they did, the case asked whether the NLRBs exercise of that jurisdiction would infringe the First Amendment religious rights of such schools.
The court eventually ruled 5-4 that the federal labor law did not give the NLRB jurisdiction over such church schools. Brennan, as the most senior justice in the minority, assigned the dissent to himself. Garland evidently ended up with the writing assignment.
In a memo to his bossone apparently left in Brennans files by mistakeGarland outlined two options for the dissent.
One challenges the [majoritys] interpretation of the [NLRA], goes on to decide the constitutional issue precisely before the court, and then explains which constitutional problems can and should be left for another day, Garland wrote.
The second option would not decide the constitutional question. Garland said he favored the latter approach.
First, Im not sure that the constitutional problem is really as easy as I make it sound in Option I, Garland wrote. If the NLRB exercised labor authority over religious schools, he wrote, there may still be a considerable chill on the religious authorities exercise of their religious beliefs. They may fear to fire a heretic, or to exclude teachers from decisions of religious policy, simply because they fear extensive litigation and insensitivity on the part of the [labor] board.
Garland also weighed two competing approaches the court takes in some cases, one to decide only the case now before it and another when there will be many occasions upon which we will want the court to decide more than just the issue before it.
In the end, Brennan went with a version of Garlands Option II.
Under my view that the NLRA includes within its coverage lay teachers employed by church-operated schools, the constitutional questions presented would have to be reached, Brennan wrote in his published dissent, deftly adding: I do not now do so only because the [majority] does not.
A Heady Experience
Garlands term came just after the one during which the Supreme Court decided the landmark case Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, which upheld qualified uses of race in college admissions.
During Garlands service, one of Brennans most-significant majority opinions of the term came in United Steelworkers of America v. Weber, which upheld a race-conscious affirmative action plan in the workplace. The decision would have an impact for school district hiring as well.
Other education cases taken up by the high court during Garlands term included Givhan v. Western Line Consolidated School District, giving First Amendment protection to a teacher who made private complaints to her supervisor about how her school was being run.
And in Ambach v. Norwick, the court upheld a New York state law that barred permanent teacher certification for any non-citizen unless that teacher showed an intention to seek U.S. citizenship.
It was not a blockbuster term, but of course, there were more than 150 cases compared to the 70 or so [per term] these days, said Carter G. Phillips, a law clerk to Chief Justice Burger that term and now a top advocate before the high court.
Cooper, the Rehnquist clerk, disagreed slightly, saying he recalls huge demonstrations outside the court for the United Steelworkers affirmative-action case.
Whether a term is filled with controversial cases, or is relatively mundane, serving as a clerk is a very heady experience, Cooper said, adding that he built a friendship with Garland during their term that remains strong.
On July 2, 1979, the court convened to issue the final nine opinions of the term, including its decision on the merits in the Columbus desegregation case. The court ruled 6-3 to uphold a systemwide desegregation remedy for Columbus. (In a separate decision, it upheld Daytons systemwide plan by a 5-4 vote.)
Rehnquist wrote dissents in both. Brennan supplied a vote for the majorities in both cases, but didnt write any opinions.
Brennan was soon on the ferry for another summer on Nantucket Island. And Merrick Garlands clerkship was over.
Brand identity is carefully designed to make us feel better, so we drive Brand X or drink Beverage Y. Quick, check the tag on the back of your shirt or the brand of your shoes. Premium labels suggest quality to the user.
Unfortunately, a poorly applied brand or label can have just the opposite effect in education. Special education learners dont always feel special, gifted learners dont always feel like they belong, and oddly, we dont celebrate that English-language learners have already mastered another foreign language. As educators, how can we move to celebrating student abilities with people-first language , rather than creating anxiety deficits?
Start With the Right Questions
Good teachers impact students by combining content, interests, and passions in the learning process. That doesnt need a label, but it does need an essential question that connects standards in a relevant way. Finding ways to shift from segregated standards to big ideas can sometimes be a challenge, but virtual-learning communities can help you find content choices handling the same topic in multiple ways. This wealth of materials can help your classroom move from one-size-fits-all approaches to personalization techniques. Gifted, ELL/ESL, and special education teachers can help with pedagogy strategies that can enrich your teaching toolbox.
Believe in the Potential of All Learners
Embedded into many national standards (Common Core, C3 Framework, and NGSS, to name a few) is the idea that all students can learn content. Ask yourself a hard question: Do you believe all students can learn your content? If you dont, or you are on the fence, you may be perplexed about how a student who is differently-abled may be best served in your classroom.
Critical in this effort is the need to limit your direct instruction so class time can be spent helping students with difficulties. Flipping your classroom with a short podcast, creating a learning management system, and providing the option of sample problems, a short video, or content reading to engage the concepts of the day can be helpful to all students. Giving students choices gives them a vested interest in the content.
Different subgroups respond differently to the classroom. Specific ELL strategies may also help address the needs of a student with an IEP or 504 plan. Compacted-learning options for students are helpful because a student may be gifted in one area and have a learning deficit in another. Dont overgeneralize the learning label. One possible solution for math and science is the most difficult first strategy , which structures the evidence for understanding using an either-or assignment. Another option, for humanities, is differentiating the role, audience, format of evidence, and topic (RAFT ) to help students use the tools they are most comfortable with to make their case. Modalities can vary for formatives to include a paragraph or concept maps, and then expand for summative assessments to include a newscast, an original play, dance, or song. The standards still guide the learning, but its not a lockstep process.
Give Students Voice and Choice
Students choose how they learn, and they can frustrate teachers when they choose not to learn. But often, teachers struggle because both student and teacher lack alternative ways to master the content. Specialists in the school district can help bridge that gap by providing pedagogical supports and teaching strategies.
Give students the confidence to explore, analyze, and learn through failure as well as small successes by making frequent formative assessments low-stakes in terms of points. Colleges see the value of this as an early-plus strategy that can help identify struggling learners who need extra support. An abilities focus can shift the learning to the student, while support options, such as a scaffolded study guide, can help students who struggle with test anxiety and organization. Another option is to shift to project-based learning or use rubrics for summative assessments which provide clear expectations for students.
Personalization of the Need (Equalizing the Opportunity)
Some students are wired for mathematical comprehension and need to get better at reading, but both subjects need the cross-cutting concept of cause and effect. Teachers skilled in Marzano strategies use this realization to build ideas through analogy and metaphor, as this allows construction of the students own mental models. Newsela can offer articles on the same topic written with varying lexile ranges to meet student needs. English-language learners have a cultural lens on global education and can offer new perspectives to historical studies. Students who have medical 504s often adapt by discovering online resources that help individual learning. Use your students expertise. A label is meant to be a cautionary word of advice rather than a verdict on intelligence.
Listen and Encourage
Efforts to focus on student abilities do not excuse students from meeting standards. And sometimes, students struggle to master content. Chunking the content into small pieces is recommended as a device to create long-term learning pathways. Small pieces of supportive video clips (three minutes or less) or a three-problems-at-a-time approach may be helpful ways to lower the anxiety. Providing encouragement and teaching perseverance through repeated practice also matters. Students respond well to small opportunities for choosing their learning paths, so lessons should always include that as a goal.
Acknowledge the Different Abilities of All Students
Students are a mix of potential and struggle. A career-and-technical student may also be a student who is gifted, or an ELL student may also be fascinated by fine arts or by STEM. No one size fits all. Learners may focus on whole-to-part or part-to-whole organization of ideas. Honoring these different approaches will often allow solutions never thought of before, or a path less traveled in learning a concept. Individuals who think in two languages already are operating at the synthesis level of Blooms Taxonomy in some areas. At-risk and gifted students need emotional and social supports to help them develop to their full potential. While learning descriptors may be a starting point for student supports, lets avoid making them badges of anxiety. By blending labels for student needs and teaching strategies effectively, well be able to focus on the abilities and potential of our students.
This post was written by Michele Molnar and originally posted on the Marketplace K-12 blog .
Pearson has been awarded a contract worth about $18.5 million for scoring 2015-16 assessments in Tennessee after the state terminated a contract in April with Measurement Inc. over glitches in implementing the test, the state department of education announced this week.
The new seven-month contract with Pearson was finalized using an emergency procurement process after the education department collaborated with the states central procurement office, according to a Frequently Asked Questions document the department released.
Pearson, a global education company that counts assessments as less than 10 percent of its total revenues , will score about 1.8 million tests. The company offered a competitive price comparable to what Measurement, Inc. would have been paid for the same work, a department spokesman said.
The contract covers only scoring and reporting Part I for grades 3-8 and Part I and Part II for high school. Districts will receive raw information for Part I in grades 3-8, while districts, teachers, and parents will receive more detailed information for high school students.
A separate search is underway to select a vendor to develop and administer next years TNReady assessments, education commissioner Candice McQueen said in an email she sent to district superintendents.
The state will be working closely with the central procurement office in strengthening the criteria in the next assessment contract-including providing specific technical requirements for the administration of both online and paper tests, and examining successful experiences in other states.
Measurement, Inc. ran into problems this testing season when, on the first day of the exam, computer screens froze and servers shut down, forcing the states superintendent to call off the test. Then, the company was unable to produce enough paper copies quickly enough to meet the states demands.
Among the factors the department is considering in the selection of a new vendor for next year are an assessment provider that can:
Develop quality content aligned to the states academic standards;
Track records of administering large-scale assessment via paper and an online platform, and
Score and deliver results on a specific timeline.
In late 2014, Pearson was replaced as the states test provider for the Tennessee standardized tests. The company had developed, administered, and scored the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program tests for grades 3-8 and/or the end-of-course exams for high school. Measurement Inc., whose Tennessee contract to develop the states standardized tests, was worth up to $108 million over five years.
Pearson CEO John Fallon, in an earnings call with stock analysts last month, signaled his companys interest in stepping in to help after recent news about testing breakdowns inTennessee , Texas, and other states.
Our view in all these things is, if we can help current or former customers, or hopefully future customers again, well do so, he said.
Last year, Pearson lost a hotly contested bid in California to provide a suite of K-12 assessments. However Pearson has had some problems of its own: in New Jersey, human error caused a technical problem that resulted in a one-day delay for testing through the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC consortium, and a potential test security issue arose in the U.K. when a rogue scorer uploaded test responses to a secure site .
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Just weeks after New Mexico teachers took the state to court over a ban on school employees deriding standardized tests , education department officials have announced that they will abolish the so-called gag order.
Robert McEntryre, a spokesman for the state education department, called the 2009 ban an unintentional holdover from the administration of previous Governor Bill Richardson
This was a Richardson-era rule put into the books, and we never enforced it. We reviewed it just as we said we would, and weve decided to roll it back, said McEntryre, the Associated Press reports .
In settling the case, the state has backed off of earlier claims that the lawsuitwhich was filed by the New Mexico branch of the American Civil Liberties Unionwas just a part of an extreme agenda against all testing.
ACLU attorney Maria Martinez Sanchez says that lifting the ban was necessary for the public to be able to tap teachers critical wisdom in the ongoing debate about the proper role of testing in schools.
Many New Mexico educators have serious and legitimate concerns about over-reliance on standardized testing, and the harms it can cause to individual students and the educational process as a whole, said Sanchez in a statement following the announcement that the ban would be lifted . We should be listening to the teachers expertise on these issues, not trying to stifle their free speech by threatening their jobs.
Mary Mackie, a teacher at Montezuma Elementary School in Albuquerque and one of the suits plaintiffs, told the news service that the decision was also a win for parents.
Educators need to be able to have open and honest conversations about standardized tests, not just in the public sphere, but also in talking with parents about whats best for their children, said Mackie in the same ACLU statement. Ive seen situations where standardized testing can actually be harmful to the education and well-being of certain students, and parents have a right to hear that from their childs teacher.
Your Significant Privacy Interest in Your Phone Doesn't End at Border
Your phone now contains more information than ever before, more even than your home, and the courts recognize this. You do have a significant privacy interest in your phone and you can challenge a search of your tech just as you would a search of your car.
Two years ago, the Supreme Court acknowledged the significant role of technology in our lives in Riley v. California. A recent case out of the Eastern District of Virginia, US v. Kolsuz, illustrates this, saying specifically that search of a smartphone at a border requires reasonable suspicion, according to legal analyst Orin Kerr. Let's consider what it means for you.
Attached to our Phones
Chief Justice Roberts, writing for a unanimous court in Riley v. California, was cognizant of the role that cell phones play in contemporary life, and our significant attachment to our tech. The phone are, he said, "such a pervasive and insistent part of daily life that the proverbial visitor from Mars might conclude they were an important feature of human anatomy."
In the more recent case, US v Kolsuz, the court rejected prosecutors' attempts to distinguish between two kinds of searches -- an extensive cell phone search from a very extensive one. The court found that either type of forensic search of cell phone data invades privacy and requires a warrant.
It noted that the government can reconstruct an individual's private life by putting together the data in the phone and wrote, "Thus although the forensic search of defendant's iPhone did not involve the copying of every bit of data contained on the phone's hard drive, it nonetheless implicated significant privacy interests. To suggest otherwise is like suggesting that a strip search does not implicate a significant privacy interest so long as the government does not look between the person's toes."
Search and Seizure
The courts are increasingly finding we have a significant privacy interest in our technology, and recent rulings indicate that police must treat personal items like smartphones as they would your home or person. But remember that these cases arise when someone is challenging what already happened.
This means that in reality when you are at the border, authorities may ask to search your phone and it is up to you to say no. Even if your phone is taken, you significantly improve your chances of successfully challenging the search by clearly refusing to consent to it.
Accused?
If you have been accused of a crime, don't delay. Speak to a criminal defense attorney today. Many lawyers consult for free or a minimal fee and will be happy to assess your case.
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Florida Police Chief Tickets Himself for Parking Violation
If you could ticket yourself, would you? The Groveland, Florida Police Chief did just that this week, issuing himself a ticket and paying a $45 fine for parking his car on the sidewalk in violation of local laws.
Melvin Tennyson took responsibility for his failure and told reporters, "I paid my fine like anyone else would." But one local citizen disputes this, according to the Huffington Post, saying he caught the chief and shamed him into paying by posting pictures of his parking violation online.
Citizen Patrol
Groveland local David Bires was driving by City Hall when he spotted the police chief's SUV parked on the sidewalk. He snapped some pictures and posted them on Facebook, accompanied by this statement, "Groveland police department is handing out tickets to people who park their vehicles in their own driveway if they block the sidewalk. But when the chief of police block sidewalks it's OK?"
Chief Tennyson, no doubt accustomed to collecting evidence for cases, responded to the Facebook post with one of his own, showing the ticket he wrote and paid, as well as screen grabs from the accusatory post that Bires wrote. The chief also issued a statement explaining that he did not intend to violate a local ordinance.
Mea Culpa
The chief said he thought he parked far enough off of the sidewalk so as not to block the walkway along City Hall. But a city road supervisor pointed out his parking violation to him, and the chief "agreed with the verdict." Tennyson emphasized the fact that he did not wait to be shamed on social media before issuing himself a ticket.
According to the chief, when his error was pointed out to him, he immediately agreed and took responsibility, issuing himself a ticket, and paying the $45 fine. Tennyson told reporters, "I can't realistically and in good conscience hold anybody, a citizen or especially my own workforce, accountable if I don't hold myself accountable. It starts at the top."
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A subsitute high school teacher in Easton, Pennsylvania was taken into police custody Tuesday and charged with institutional sexual assault after admitting to a judge that she had been having sex with a student since 2015.
Local newspaper Lehigh Valley Live was among the first to report that Kelly Aldinger, 49, was arrested two weeks ago when a police officer on a routine patrol spotted Aldinger and the teenage boy having sex inside a car parked at the town's cemetery.
Her arrest report says the Easton Area school district employee first met the student in class in 2015.
Before her job at the high school, Aldinger is reported to have served as recently as Fall 2015 as council president of St. Paul's III Lutheran Church, where she was managed Christian education, and supervised Sunday School and Vacation Bible School.
She lived with her parents in the nearby town of Pen Argyl, PA, some 15 miles away from Easton.
If found guilty, Aldinger faces up to 7 years in jail, and up to $15,000 in fines.
Police continue to investigate the previous sexual incidents, police Lt. Matthew Gerould said. The age of consent is 16 in Pennsylvania when it comes to statutory rape, so that charge wouldn't apply, but 18 for corruption of a minor. Aldinger, however, doesn't face a corruption charge. The institutional sexual assault charge stems from her teaching at the school where the teen was a student. The 17-year-old met Aldinger while he was in seventh or eighth grade at Easton Area Middle School and she was a substitute teacher there, court papers say.
video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player
Previously: "Teacher accused of cemetery sex with student served as church leader"
[via Christian Nightmares]
Backed by huge donations from vitamin companies, the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians is pushing to get naturopathic medicine recognized and regulated in all 50 US states, paving the way to receiving public funds in the form of Medicare reimbursements.
Naturopathic medicine includes homeopathy, which performs no better than a placebo in 60 diseases that researchers examined in 176 studies. Though naturopaths insist that they refer seriously ill patients to real doctors for real medicine, women with breast cancer who receive homeopathic treatment are 84% less likely to get chemotherapy for cancers for which chemo is the standard of care; and children who receive naturopathic care are significantly less likely to get vaccinated against life-threatening diseases.
The AANP's corporate partners include Emerson Ecologics, a giant corporate vitamin and supplement company, which also separately funds conferences, pays consulting fees to the AANP board-members, and lobbies in state houses.
A meta-analysis of vitamin studies, published a year ago, showed a significant correlation between taking vitamins and supplements and developing cancer.
It's unclear how receptive state lawmakers will be to these efforts. Recent pushes by naturopaths to expand the scope of their practice have been beaten back in North Dakota and Colorado. In other states, licensing bills have been introduced and reintroduced for years without ever passing. They're typically opposed by medical groups who worry that licensure would lend legitimacy to treatments that are not based in science. But naturopaths are optimistic anyway. Here in Massachusetts, the licensing legislation which would allow naturopaths to diagnose and treat patients is still very much alive. It's now pending as a single bill in the state Senate.
Naturopaths, who practice an alternative medicine heavy on herbal supplements, are making a big push to gain more authority and stature across the US [Rebecca Robbins//Stat]
(via Dan Hon)
(Image: Nutritional supplements, Clean Wal-Mart, CC-BY)
The agenda for the NATO summit scheduled for July in Warsaw will be packed with compelling and competing demands upon Alliance time and resources. The unifying focus of out of area operations in Afghanistan has been replaced by the twin threats of Russia in the East and the risks emanating from Africa and the Middle East. The United States will want to see European member states recommit and follow through on the 2% pledge made at Celtic Manor, whilst the Europeans will wish to see renewed vigour in American leadership. With the exception of Montenegro, the question of enlargement remains hanging in the air with no clear way forward for aspirant nations. Afghanistan, despite the Alliances attempts to look the other way, remains unfinished business. With so much at stake prioritisation will be key.
The most significant threat to NATOs interests and cohesion is Russia, whose actions and capability development indicate an intent to destabilise Europe and divide the transatlantic community. The recent reconvening of the NATO-Russia Council after a two year gap demonstrated how profound and persistent the divergent perspectives are, to quote the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. This is not a passing phase but rather the new status quo. The dangerous impasse will be with us for the foreseeable future and NATOs response must be vigorous, balanced and sustainable long term. The Alliance should commit to dialogue and cooperation whenever and wherever interests align. Simultaneously, there is a need to reinforce the deterrent posture agreed in Wales with further defence capabilities and exercise activity in the East. Given the continuation of dangerous close encounters on land, sea, and air we need to have in place, and practise, the procedures to contain the fallout or casualties, when, not if, an incident occurs.
NATO needs to demonstrate its relevance to all the members and avoid the scenario when the southern member states, particularly Italy and Turkey, will believe that the Alliance is devoting insufficient attention to the danger posed by the Middle East and North Africa. Whilst the application of NATO instruments to the problems of migrant flows, failed states, extremism and social and economic provision is problematic, imaginative solutions are required. There is clearly scope for reinforcing the current naval presence in the Aegean and greater Mediterranean but reassurance would also flow from deployments of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), and other NATO capabilities to the south. Any action in the south will have to involve improved cooperation between the EU and NATO which has been woefully inadequate to date. High profile pledges towards increased cooperation can be expected in Warsaw, but such gestures lack any substance unless the underlying Turkish/Greek impasse over EU/NATO information sharing is addressed.
The official NATO open doors policy for Alliance enlargement remains in place but it is difficult to see how potential candidates such as Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine can move forward. NATO ministers declined to initiate a Membership Action Plan (MAP) for Georgia in December 2015 despite the widely held view that Georgia had undertaken many more reforms than some other, successful applicants. This uncertainty leaves aspirant nations, NATO members, and presumably also Russia, confused. There is a need to identify a clear, transparent, and substantive relationship with countries that wish to be associated with NATO, which would tacitly acknowledge that full membership is not a possibility in the near term.
Given the other pressures bearing down upon them NATO leaders will not wish to be reminded of the reality of the insurgency in Afghanistan. Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) casualties are increasing and unsustainable. The Taliban are resurgent, desertions amongst the ANSF are growing as moral deteriorates. The current situation is the product of a drawdown of NATO forces based upon the internal domestic political pressures of ISAF nations with scant regard for the requirements of the Afghans. The withdrawal of combat forces would have been sustainable had it not been accompanied by the pull-out of critical enablers: attack helicopters, close air support, medivac, UAVs, anti-IED capability, intelligence systems and logistic support. The NATO Resolute Support mission, focussing upon train, advise, assist, has proven itself inadequate in both size and scope. Discussion in Warsaw will probably focus on how nations can be cajoled into strengthening the inadequate capacity of Resolute Support beyond 2016. This approach reflects the Alliances preoccupation with its own internal issues and what the market will bear rather than the requirements of the operation. There is a need to take the initiative back from the Taliban and back up the rhetoric of support for President Ashraf Ghani and his beleaguered government with tangible support. The future of Afghanistan hangs in the balance, but can be secured with strong leadership from those around the table in Warsaw. Since the US and the UK have invested more in terms of blood, treasure, and political capital in Afghanistan than any other nations in the Alliance, it is they who should lead this reappraisal of current policy.
All of the NATO activities outlined above come with a significant resource bill. Two years ago at Celtic Manor there was a collective commitment to spend 2% of GDP upon defence over the next ten years, but subsequent delivery has been patchy. In 2014 there were five nations hitting the target and that figure has not improved, and whilst some nations have moved forward slightly, others have actually reduced defence expenditure. A common theme from candidates across the political spectrum in the forthcoming US Presidential election is that they are fed up shouldering a disproportionate amount of the security burden. If the European nations wish the US to remain engaged and provide the leadership so evidently required to meet the multiple challenges ahead, there must be a demonstration of intent from those who are failing to meet their stated commitment. This is an area where the UK leads by example and has political traction which it must utilise for the common good.
The opinions articulated above represent the views of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Leadership Network or any of its members. The ELNs aim is to encourage debates that will help develop Europes capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security policy challenges of our time.
In his New York Times column recently, Nicholas Kristof offered A Confession of Liberal Intolerance. A liberal himself, Kristof acknowledges that universities welcome many kinds of diversity except the political and philosophical kind. We could add another: viewpoints on evolution and intelligent design.
Kristof paints a stark picture of discrimination directed against conservatives and Evangelicals:
Outside of academia I faced more problems as a black, he [George Yancy, a black Evangelical sociologist] told me. But inside academia I face more problems as a Christian, and it is not even close. I am the equivalent of someone who was gay in Mississippi in 1950, a conservative professor is quoted as saying in Passing on the Right, a new book about right-wing faculty members by Jon A. Shields and Joshua M. Dunn Sr. Thats a metaphor that conservative scholars often use, with talk of remaining in the closet early in ones career and then coming out after receiving tenure.
This hostile environment sounds uncannily like the one ID proponents face. Think of Richard Sternberg, who as editor of Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington faced retaliation after publishing a peer-reviewed article favorable to intelligent design. Scientific orthodoxy in academia poses a threat to anyone who may not have the correct Darwinian perspective. At Discovery Institute, were very cognizant of this. Take, for example, this note by David Klinghoffer:
Young and vulnerable researchers with iconoclastic ideas about Darwinian evolution can face threats of career devastation if they open their mouths imprudently. Thats one reason we are very careful about protecting the identity of students and scholars who are accepted to participate in our Summer SeminarsI recall being overzealous once about cropping out students in a photo of a seminar session to published here at Evolution News. I worried that someone might be recognizable by the back of his or her head. A colleague reminded me, We dont worry about backs of heads.
Actually, of late, weve revised that policy. We do worry about backs of heads! Such is the unfortunate reality when it comes to academic freedom on American campuses.
But Kristof rebukes universities for their political intolerance:
The stakes involve not just fairness to conservatives or evangelical Christians, not just whether progressives will be true to their own values, not just the benefits that come from diversity (and diversity of thought is arguably among the most important kinds), but also the quality of education itself. When perspectives are unrepresented in discussions, when some kinds of thinkers arent at the table, classrooms become echo chambers rather than sounding boards and we all lose. Jonathan Haidt, a centrist social psychologist at New York University, cites data suggesting that the share of conservatives in academia has plunged, and he has started a website, Heterodox Academy, to champion ideological diversity on campuses. Universities are unlike other institutions in that they absolutely require that people challenge each other so that the truth can emerge from limited, biased, flawed individuals, he says. If they lose intellectual diversity, or if they develop norms of safety that trump challenge, they die. And this is what has been happening since the 1990s.
In other words, education benefits from consideration of multiple viewpoints. Indeed, testing ideas against each other is vital. That absolutely requires intellectual diversity.
Yet weve seen case after case of universities that have forgotten this. Its interesting, for example, to reflect on how differently Baylor University would have treated advocates of intelligent design and evolution skepticism if scholars and administrators valued such diversity in science. Perhaps Baylor wouldnt have removed William Dembski from his post leading the Michael Polanyi Research Center, which engaged in ID-related research, initially denied legal scholar Francis Beckwith tenure before deciding to reverse that decision, or taken off their website Dr. Robert Markss grant-funded research project in evolutionary computing (the Evolutionary Informatics Lab).
Few have, like Kristof, recognized the importance of political diversity in higher education. But thankfully that is changing, slowly. Fewer accept the value of diverse views on origins science. But one hopes that will change too.
Image credit: weerapat1003 stock.adobe.com.
The wife of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump would like to assure voters that he is not Hitler. Politico's Nick Gass reports on Melania Trump's campaign intervention.
"We know the truth. He's not Hitler. He wants to help America. He wants to unite people," the prospective first lady said in an interview with DuJour magazine published Tuesday, when asked about comedian Louis C.K.'s lengthy letter to fans in March in which he proclaimed that the Manhattan reality-star-turned-politician "is Hitler." At the same time, Trump added that it is possible her husband "needs to say it in a softer way," noting that with respect to his call to ban Muslims from entering the United States, it's only "temporary."
The statement follows Heidi Cruz's insistence that husband Ted was not the infamous Zodiac killer, whose late-1960s reign of terror coincided approximately with his birth, in a region he has never inhabited.
The combination of supportive British data and an EU referendum poll giving Remain the lead has caused the Pound Sterling to rally versus the Canadian dollar. Where next for the GBP to CAD exchange rate?
Today's fx investors find the pound to Canadian dollar exchange rate trending 0.87pct higher when compared to the day's opening price.
The future does not look bright for the pound sterling exchange rates, given the scheduled economic announcements.
On the UK side of things, input is only likely to come from some low-impact CBI printings due early in the morning tomorrow.
Canada, however, has the potential to benefit from the announcement of the March retail sales and April inflation rate results that are expected in the afternoon.
Speculation that the Fed could raise interest rates as soon as June has weighed heavily on the price of oil, pushing Brent crude back below US$48 per barrel.
With the appeal of the commodity-correlated Canadian Dollar (CAD) diminished by the strengthening US Dollar (USD), the GBP/CAD rate advanced further on Thursday.
With oil prices falling and risk-appetite reduced, the Canadian Dollar softened versus many of its closest currency rivals.
The GBP/CAD exchange rate advanced significantly thanks to easing Brexit concerns following a supportive EU referendum poll.
Concerns that the Canadian wild fire has cost Canadian exports a massive amount has also weighed heavily on demand for the UK asset.
Other Foreign Exchange News
Latest US Dollar/Canadian Dollar Exchange Rates
On Tuesday the Pound to British Pound exchange rate (GBP/GBP) converts at 1
Today finds the pound to pound spot exchange rate priced at 1.
The GBP to USD exchange rate converts at 1.129 today.
Please note: the FX rates above, updated 25th Oct 2022, will have a commission applied by your typical high street bank. Currency brokers specialise in these type of foreign currency transactions and can save you up to 5% on international payments compared to the banks.
Pound Sterling (GBP) Exchange Rates on Best Run so Far This Year
As explained above, the latest EU referendum poll caused the Pound to rally versus all sixteen of its most traded currency rivals. The poll gave the Remain campaign a 55% lead.
Also supportive of demand for the British Pound was mostly positive domestic data. Of particular significance was record-high employment and better-than-expected wage growth.
In response to the latest employment figures, Scotiabank stated;
There are no signs of pre-Brexit jitters yet, said Alan Clarke, an economist at Scotiabank. In fact, this is a better outcome after a couple of very subdued months.
Canadian Dollar (CAD) Exchange Rates Struggle against Damp Market Sentiment
After Hong Kongs Hang Seng Index closed the Asian session close to 1.5% down, market sentiment dampened considerably. As a risk-correlated asset the Canadian Dollar tumbled in response.
Also weighing heavily on demand for the Loonie (CAD) is mounting concern that the wildfire that destroyed much of Canadas oil sands region will cost Canadian exports considerably.
In response to Canadas oil production issues, Kevin Birn, an analyst at IHS Energy, said;
Some facilities had already started ramping up ready to restart production, but have had to stand down again and evacuate workers. There is rain forecast for this weekend which will hopefully bring an end to this disruption.
GBP/CAD Exchange Rate Forecast
"The BoC is likely to attempt to push back on the tightening in financial conditions and reaffirm a decidedly neutral bias, with added risk in terms of the tone as they acknowledge the recent deterioration in trade and manufacturing data and potentially deliver policy considerations relating to the fallout of the Alberta wildfires."
"We maintain a bias to CAD weakness."
Two gentlemen broke into a watch store in a mall during business hours. A person standing a few feet away shot video of the whole thing. The two burglars didn't get away with the heist, which involved dragging a bag of stolen merchandise behind a scooter.
Two lowlifes robbed the watch shop 'Klockmaster' in Kista Galleria, a shopping mall in the suburbs of Stockholm, Sweden. This all happened at 10 o'clock 13th of May, Friday 2016. As you can tell from the video, the gun that the one of them has in his hand malfunctions when he tries to be tough and fire it off into the air/ceiling. He then tries to unjam it during the whole robbery while the other guy smashes up the display cases etc. When they're done they try to get away on the scooter but it's having a difficult time starting the gunman holds the gun very close to his friends head What a dope. They were later arrested at a check point near a McDonalds.
Housing costs, transport and commuting times can effect a decision on where to stay when moving to a new city and now a new report compares eight of the top cities in the world.The findings show that although Los Angeles and Jakarta compare favourably to Hong Kong when it comes to property costs, commuting times can be cumbersome. Rome and Shanghai are all-round performers offering both comparatively low housing costs and short commutes.The decision whether to buy a property in the city centre with a minimal commute or a more affordable property on the outskirts where travel costs tend to be higher, is one that expats toy with.The new analysis from international real estate firm Knight Frank measures the time taken to travel to each citys Central Business District (CBD) from the citys respective prime residential area, for example in London from Marylebone to The City, and the most common method of transport adopted by commuters.Comparing the worlds top three financial centres of New York marginally edges London at 1,723 per square foot and 1,800 respectively on housing costs and commuters also enjoy a significantly shorter journey to Manhattans CBD at 10 minutes than they do to The City of London at 25 minutes. However, the report points out that with the introduction of Crossrail in London in 2018 New Yorks competitive advantage is likely to narrow.In Hong Kong, Mid-Levels Central is home to the highest housings costs of all the prime markets analysed at 2,716 per square foot and a typical commute to the CBD takes 15 minutes with where walking combined with a bus journey is the most common mode of transport.In Rome it would take you roughly five minutes, the shortest travel time of all eight cities, to travel from the prime district of Rione Colonna to the citys CBD. The cost of housing is also significantly less at 807 per square foot.Shanghai also compares favourably, here the journey from the upmarket area of Xintiandi at 943 per square foot to The Peoples Square, would take only 10 minutes by metro.The three cities which offer the lowest housing costs in the report survey are Jakarta at 493 per square foot in Menteng, Los Angeles at 669 per square foot in Beverly Hills and Mumbai at 750 per square foot in Napean Sea Road. They are also the only cities in which driving is seen to be the most common travel method to work.
We can't locate my husbands payslips. Is their anyway for my FLM-R premium appointment to go through successfully despite this? I do have bank statements showing that the monies were paid into the account and can get a letter from his employer detailing his pay. He does not have a contact (his company is very informal) even though he is a full time permanent employee.
Hi all,
I'm an American who moved to France four months ago to join my French spouse. In early March, my spouse initiated the process to add me to his mutuelle and my understanding was that the company would create a social security number for me.
In the beginning of April, I registered myself as a micro-entrepreneur when I began picking up work as an English tutor. During the application process, I had indicated that I had coverage under my spouse's mutuelle (or at least, I tried to indicate such).
Within two weeks, I received a letter stating from RSI that I had a social security number assigned to me as a result of the creation of my micro-entreprise. A week later, we received a notice from my spouse's mutuelle that I have another new, different social security number.
After talking about our options, my spouse and I decided that I would keep the social security number issued to me by RSI thinking this might keep things from getting muddled with my micro-entrepreneur status. So, he wrote to his mutuelle and ask them if it would be possible to cancel the social security number that they created. Last week, we received a letter stating that his social security number was cancelled. We've kicked a letter back to the mutuelle asking them to rectify.
Has anyone else had a similar predicament of having two social security numbers? Is there a more direct (or less painful) way of trying to resolve this?
Thank you.
Brian K Vaughan's varied career in comics has had numerous and diverse hits like Saga , the epically weird and sexy space-opera; Y: The Last Man , an end-of-the-world story; now, with We Stand on Guard , Vaughan dramatically ups his body count in a tale of an American resource war that's a lot closer to home than the invasion of Iraq.
When We Stand on Guard launched last summer, it made more news in Canada than it did in America, tickling the quintessentially Canadian anxiety about its southern neighbour, and noting with that very Canadian pride that Vaughan was married to a Canadian and that his storyboarder Steve Skroce (who also storyboards for the Wachowskis) was from Toronto.
As the series progressed and completed, it's a fully self-contained story now, collected in a single, handsome, hardcover volume the American media started to take notice, and wasn't always comfortable with what it saw.
The premise of We Stand on Guard is this: in 100 years, the President of the United States is assassinated by a Canadian drone. Canadians insist that it was a false flag operation, but the American retaliation is swift and bloody and convenient. As the missiles rain down on Canada, enormous machines called "hosers" are maneuvered into place around Canada's prodigious stores of fresh water, diverting them to a USA that has been turned into a dust-bowl by poor regulation and climate change.
The Canadian guerrilla fighters who remain are treated without mercy, and vanquished without risk. The American counterinsurgency uses drones including building-sized mechas to stamp out the underground. When leaders are captured, they're tortured in endless neural-interface VR sims, each crueller than the last, while their interrogators telecommute from comfortable offices in the Beltway.
The parallels to 21st century American warfighting aren't exactly subtle, but that doesn't make them easy, either. Modern US military action even the "boots on the ground" kind requires fewer fighters than ever before, thanks to increasing automation. This has the side effect of making the wars more politically palatable, eliminating the need for a draft (the economically desperate can handily substitute for conscript troops when you don't need that many warm bodies), and vastly reducing American military casualties relative to the wars of the past century. The fact that all this automation pays huge dividends to the military technology contractors who supply it is the icing on the cake, providing the capital needed for lobbying to make this a self-sustaining phenomenon.
But setting the occupation in Canada changes its complexion, literally, stamping white faces underfoot, provoking howls of anguish in English (and sometimes French). It's embarrassing how well this juxtaposition works, because Afghanis and Iraqis suffer just as much under occupation. But countries that have suffered under dictatorship are somehow harder to stay outraged about when dictatorship gives way to bombardment and failed states, through some shameful subconscious relativism. The "after" is the same, but there's a difference in the "before" that, I'm embarrassed to say, made my alarm and outrage over real-world events lose the urgency they merited.
That's the real subversiveness in this comic. It's not making us imagine what it would be like for people in a rich, industrial country to suffer occupation it's making us realise how inevitable the occupations in the rest of the world have come to seem.
None of that would matter if this wasn't a good story, and it is: a self-contained, rocketing, aggressively readable, gripping graphic novel in the BK Vaughan tradition. I read it twice in one afternoon, in one sitting, because it's that good likable characters, exciting action, fabulous art.
We Stand on Guard [Brian K Vaughan, Matt Hollingsworth, Steve Skroce/Image]
WASHINGTON In a new rule that could affect 370,000 workers in Texas, the Obama administration is doubling the salary threshold at which salaried employees will be guaranteed overtime under federal law.
The Labor Department plans to issue a rule today that extends overtime opportunities to 4.2 million American workers, which the administration says will boost wages by more than $12 billion over the next decade.
The rule, which goes into effect Dec. 1, increases from $23,660 to $47,476 - about $913 a week the threshold at which most salaried employees are guaranteed overtime. The rule, last updated in 2004, also could affect millions more people by clarifying who is eligible for overtime pay.
Vice President Joe Biden and administration officials, along with H-E-B President and COO Craig Boyan, briefed reporters on the new rule.
Boyan praised the administration for the rule and the process that led to it.
Clearly the race to the bottom is not working well for American companies or for the country, said Boyan, whose San Antonio-based company has been rated by its workers as one of the best employers in the country. Paying employees less than $500 a week does not pass the managerial smell test.
Boyan said the vast majority of H-E-B managers exceed the $47,476 threshold. For those who dont, H-E-B will comply with a combination of higher wages and overtime pay, he said.
Biden billed the rules change as one in a series of steps by President Barack Obama to restore the middle class.
The middle class has been getting clobbered, he said. If you work overtime, you should actually get paid for working overtime.
In 1975, Biden said, 62 percent of salaried workers qualified for overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act. But that number has shrunk to 7 percent, he said.
Thats not a mistake, 65 to 7. And you wonder why the middle class is struggling, he said.
The announcement brings to a close a contentious rule-making process in which employers flooded the administration with comments and complaints. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez told reporters his agency received 270,000 comments last year, many from businesses and trade associations.
The administration initially had proposed a slightly higher $50,440 threshold for overtime, which prompted warnings from businesses that they would have to cut hours and slow hiring.
The National Federation of Independent Business has said the rule would prompt some of its members to switch salaried employees to hourly workers who punch a clock.
Perez said the salary threshold has is woefully out of date due in part to the lack of cost-of-living increases for workers. He said when the rule was last changed in 2004, the George W. Bush administration made policy changes that further eroded the rule and put leverage with employers.
If youre spending 99 percent of your time at work stocking shelves, working 60 hours a week and making $25,000 a year, its simply not right that you dont receive overtime pay. Thats an economy out of balance; thats the erosion of the middle class, he said.
Perez said that under the new rule, 2.5 million children will see at least one parent gain either overtime pay or more wages.
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The 370,400 workers affected in Texas is exceeded only by 392,000 in California who would benefit, according to the White House.
In brief remarks, Boyan said H-E-B has about 96,000 employees, who we call partners, at about 370 stores in Texas and northern Mexico. He noted that the company last year began a program enabling tens of thousands employees to receive stock in the company.
It is our goal in a hyper-competitive retail industry to pay people as much as we can, not as little as we can, he said.
He praised Perez for working with business groups. He noted that Perez had visited an H-E-B store in Austin and that on another occasion he had traveled to Washington with an H-E-B worker to meet with the labor secretary.
Historically, the Department of Labor and business have not worked well together and have not seen eye to eye, he said.
Boyan added that his belief that the new rule makes great sense and does not impose complicated administrative rules.
bill.lambrecht@hearstdc.com
(An earlier version of this story misidentified Craig Boyan. He is the president and COO of H-E-B.)
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The Obama administration tried to strike a cautious compromise Wednesday in setting new biofuel quotas for a controversial renewable fuels program that pits Big Oil against Corn Belt interests.
The Environmental Protection Agency proposed compelling refiners to blend 18.8 billion gallons of biofuel into the U.S. gasoline and diesel supply next year, with no more than 14.8 billion gallons of that coming from conventional corn-based ethanol. The overall number which is higher than oil companies wanted but lower than what biofuel producers sought represents a modest increase over the 18.11 billion gallons of total renewable fuels the agency required for 2016.
But it is still far below a 24 billion gallon biofuel target that lawmakers established in a 2007 statute, and it dips below the laws 15 billion cap on conventional renewable fuel, limiting the potential for ethanol producers such as POET LLC, Green Plains Inc. and Pacific Ethanol Inc.
The EPAs proposal like last years version appears to accommodate oil companies concerns that the Renewable Fuel Standard is pushing them beyond a blend wall where the targets force them to mix a higher proportion of ethanol into fuel than the 10 percent level approved for use in all cars and trucks.
Biofuel backers blasted the EPAs plan, saying the agency was kowtowing to oil companies.
The agency continues to cater to the oil industry by relying upon an illegal interpretation of its waiver authority and concern over a blend wall that the oil industry itself is creating, Bob Dinneen, head of the Renewable Fuels Association, said in an emailed statement. As a consequence, consumers are being denied higher octane, lower cost renewable fuels. Investments in new technology and advanced biofuels will continue to languish and greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles will be unnecessarily higher.
Brooke Coleman, executive director of the Advanced Biofuels Business Council, said the proposed targets dont live up to the goals of the Renewable Fuel Standard: to drive the commercialization and use of low-carbon alternatives on U.S. roads.
If the administration wants our industry to be aggressive when it comes to financing and commercializing low carbon fuels in the United States, as they have asked us to do, they need to hold up their end of the bargain and make some critical adjustments to the RFS final rule, Coleman said in an emailed statement.
Oil industry trade groups had lobbied the EPA to cap the total ethanol mandate at 9.7 percent of gasoline demand an amount that would provide a buffer below the 10 percent blend while simultaneously accommodating sales of ethanol-free gasoline.
Consumers interest should come ahead of ethanol interests, said Frank Macchiarola, director of the American Petroleum Institutes downstream group. EPA is pushing consumers to use high ethanol blends they dont want and that are not compatible with most cars on the road today. The administration is potentially putting the safety of American consumers, their vehicles and our economy at risk.
Under the EPAs proposal, refiners would have to blend 4 billion gallons of advanced biofuels next year, including 312 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol and 2 billion gallons of biomass-based diesel.
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The EPA is partly relying on climbing gasoline use to support the higher overall quotas. Americans will consume a record 143 billion gallons of gasoline this year, according to a May 10 forecast from Energy Information Administration.
The proposal is now subject to public comment through July 11, with a public hearing scheduled June 9 in Kansas City, Missouri. The EPA has until Nov. 30 to finalize the quotas for the following year a deadline it has repeatedly missed. But under a court order last year, the EPA rolled out three years worth of biofuel targets, and agency officials stress that they are back on schedule.
This administration is committed to keeping the RFS program on track, spurring continued growth in biofuel production and use, and achieving the climate and energy independence benefits that Congress envisioned from this program, Janet McCabe, acting assistant administrator for EPAs Office of Air and Radiation, said in a news release.
The mandates were authorized by Congress 10 years ago in a program that requires steadily escalating volumes of biofuels to be blended into the countrys gasoline and diesel fuels. That federal law lays out a target of 24 billion gallons of renewable fuels in 2017, with no more than 15 billion of them coming from traditional corn starch-derived ethanol.
The law also empowers the EPA to lower the numbers in some cases. The agency did that for the first time for overall renewable fuels last year, sparking a legal challenge from biofuel producers. The litigation challenging the 2016 targets is not likely to be resolved before the EPAs November deadline to finalize the 2017 quotas.
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The University of Texas Health Science Center has launched discussions with MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to explore ways to expand cancer care in San Antonio, an executive vice chancellor confirmed Tuesday.
Collaboration between the two health care institutions would allow San Antonio residents traveling to MD Anderson for cancer treatment to receive much of that care closer to home, said Dr. Raymond Greenberg, the UT Systems executive vice chancellor for health affairs.
Both institutions are part of the UT System.
Chancellor (William) McRaven has challenged all of the UT institutions to partner together to better serve the citizens of Texas, Greenberg said in a statement issued by his office Tuesday. In that spirit, UT MD Anderson and UT Health Science Center San Antonio are exploring ways that they can leverage their collective resources to expand cancer services in San Antonio.
MD Anderson presently provides world-class care in Houston to many San Antonians. Through this collaboration, many of these patients could receive much of their care closer to home, thereby saving travel costs and time away from work and family, Greenberg said.
MD Anderson widely is regarded as one of the best cancer centers in the nation. It was designated the top cancer center in the country in U.S. News & World Reports most recent hospitals rankings issued in July a distinction it has held 11 of the past 14 years based on its reputation with specialists, patient survival rates 30 days after admission, patient safety, patient volume and other factors.
UTHSC, which includes the Cancer Therapy & Research Center, said discussions have just begun, so the specific details still are being determined.
Neither side said much about their discussions Tuesday. Both issued only short prepared statements.
UT Medicine and the Cancer Therapy & Research Center are evaluating ways to increase access to cancer services for the residents of San Antonio and the surrounding region, Dr. Francisco Gonzalez-Scarano, the health science centers executive vice president for medical affairs, said in a statement.
Part of this work includes assessing opportunities with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, a fellow UT entity, on possibilities to enhance the patient experience, deliver additional needed cancer services to residents and complement the advanced care and research provided in this market, he said.
Gonzalez-Scarano said officials have just begun discussions and havent yet worked out details on how theyll work together in providing care.
The health science center would not comment further or grant an interview because those talks are in the early stages.
MD Andersons remarks were even more brief.
MD Andersons mission is to eliminate cancer in Texas, the nation and the world. We consider all opportunities to accomplish that mission, said Dr. Ronald DePinho, president of MD Anderson. We are encouraged by Chancellor McRavens support of increased partnerships throughout the UT System, and we look forward to continued conversations with our colleagues in San Antonio.
A formal presentation on a potential collaboration between the two institutions hasnt yet been presented to the UT Systems Board of Regents, but the boards leadership has been briefed informally, said spokeswoman Karen Adler.
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CTRC has provided cancer care to patients in San Antonio and South Texas for more than 40 years. It became part of the health science center in 2007. Its one of four cancer centers in Texas designated by the National Cancer Institute. The institution managed a budget of more than $53 million at the time of its 2015 annual report.
UTHSC spokesman Will Sansom didnt respond to a request for the CTRCs current number of employees and total number of faculty members.
MD Anderson was created in 1941 as part of the UT System. It was one of the countrys first three comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Act of 1971.
Today, MD Anderson employs nearly 21,000 people, including more than 1,700 faculty members. More than 135,000 patients were cared for there in the 2015 fiscal year 28,167 of those were inpatient hospital admissions. Its total revenue last fiscal year was nearly $4.5 billion.
For the first seven months of the current fiscal year, MD Anderson had a $160.5 million decrease in adjusted income compared to the same time period last year, according to financial documents presented at a UT System board of regents meeting held last week. That nearly 57 percent drop was largely due to increased expenses and decreased patient revenues resulting from the launch of a new electronic health record system placed into service in March, according to an explanation of variances from the UT System Office of the Controller.
Patient volumes and associated revenue are returning to normal two months after the launch, MD Anderson spokeswoman Julie Penne said. Expenses related to the launch have decreased significantly over time as planned, she said.
pohare@express-news.net
A stairway cobbled together from pieces of old, weathered doors and suspended from the ceiling by steel cables, Boston-based artist Liz Shepherds sculpture Up & Out was too expensive to ship cross-country for a show at Artpace.
So the artist opted to re-create it on-site during an informal residency at the downtown arts lab.
Constructed with materials purchased from thrift stores and salvaged from junk heaps in San Antonio, the new version has a dash of local flavor, thanks to a feature common to homes in hot, sunny climes like ours.
I really feel like this is somewhat Texan in the sense that a lot of the doors are screen doors, said Shepherd during a walk-through of the exhibit in the Hudson (Show)Room. The original piece like this didnt have any screen doors since it was New England based.
A piece about learning to cope with a loved ones chemical dependency, the makeshift stairway is a metaphor for rising above ... finding a way out of sadness, Shepherd said. It is one of several works in the artists solo exhibition in the Hudson (Show)Room alluding to family history and personal experiences. Now on view, the show also titled Up & Out features sculpture and prints. It is the first show programmed by Executive Director Veronique Le Melle, who came to Artpace in January from the Boston Center for the Arts.
I think one of the things that attracts me to Liz is (that) her work really speaks to who she is and where she is at any given time, Le Melle said. It really is about making a statement and having it there like, Take me for what I am.
A native New Yorker, Shepherd earned her masters degree from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 2006. Now in her 60s, she began her career as a painter. About 12 years ago she began working with found objects. She arrived in San Antonio in April fresh off a residency in Venice, Italy, and spent three weeks working at Artpace in preparation for her current exhibition. Studio director Riley Robinson helped her round up the doors for the title piece.
Materials are very important to the object, so I wouldnt necessarily choose brand-new wood to make this, Shepherd said. I chose doors because Im talking about transitioning from the earthly to the divine, or from one way of thinking to a more elevated way of thinking, like rising above our day-to-day anger or frustrations and being more at peace.
Staircases and ladders are recurring symbols among the works in the show a reference to the Old Testament story of Jacobs ladder. So are domestic objects. Home furnishings chairs, tables, and dressers stand in for people.
One untitled piece from 2006 consists of a blue chest of drawers that has been cut in two. It is not a neat, vertical incision, but rather a more violent-looking slash. Clothes spill from the separated halves like entrails. When Shepherd made the piece, she and her family were being forced to consider surgery for her then-teenage son who has Crohns disease.
I felt sorry for myself; I felt sorry for him. I didnt know what the future would hold, Shepherd said. I thought at some point he might die. And so a lot of this work (is) actually about that.
Another piece, titled Gone, consists of a pair of chairs with translucent backs made from transparent tape. A pair of ghostly shoes also made with transparent tape rests under one of them.
The furniture is selected because its iconic, she said. Its not French style or Italian style. These are American pieces. This is the furniture thats in your grandmothers house or in the back bedroom of your moms house. Its not the fancy dress-up furniture; this is the stuff from a home, personal stuff.
In Hands, a pair of cast resin sculptures of chubby, reaching doll hands, Shepherd comments directly on the difficulties of motherhood.
Its so hard, she said. I feel like babies just want your soul. They dont want you to eat and they dont want you to sleep. And yet, theyre so beautiful and theyre so delicious, you want to eat them up like candy.
Many of Shepherds prints share imagery with her sculptural work. Falling Red Chairs, which depicts dozens of chairs tumbling through the clouds, functions as a worldview litmus test a la Is the glass half full or half empty? conundrum.
Some people look at this like Oh, these are rising! but to me, they are falling, Shepherd said.
In two black-and-white prints, dressers and cups and saucers are piled in heaps the detritus of lives left behind by those who have been displaced.
In addition to making art, Shepherd teaches. She has observed that her students often will discard an idea if it doesnt work out the first time. That is not how Shepherd works.
Once I have an idea, I take a thing and I just beat the hell out of it, she said. Im going to do a silkscreen. Im going to do an etching. And a lot of it just gets tossed aside. But I really explore. It could be six months, it could be a year fooling around with a single image, to really get down, get dirty with it, find out: What is this about?
Up & Out continues through Aug. 28, Artpace, 445 N. Main Ave., 210-212-4900, artpace.org.
lsilva@express-news.net
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What do you serve guests when they come over? A charming array of light beer and chardonnay?
Come on, the craft cocktail resurgence has been going strong for years. Its time to shake things up a bit. Make this the summer that you start adding a few good recipes and liquor bottles to your bar inventory.
But where to start? What kind of liquor, mixers and the all-important hardware should you buy?
Were here to help, with much advice from Jack Preston, a regular guy from San Francisco who over the past two years has amassed a cocktail knowledge likely unmatched by other home bartenders.
I was a wine connoisseur, and Id have a pina colada on vacation or a rum and coke, said Preston, a finance executive at Restoration Hardware. But then a friend told him that she and her husband had a New Years resolution to create two craft cocktails at home each month, and he was inspired.
I loved that idea that it wasnt Drink less, but Drink better.
So he brought out his copy of The PDT Cocktail Book: The Complete Bartenders Guide from the Celebrated Speakeasy, a very specific cocktail guide from the famed New York bar that he received as a gift, and got to work.
I knew I liked rum, so I dog-eared rum recipes that looked good and I started to make those what I could find here (in San Francisco), he said. Ever the methodical finance guy, Preston created a spreadsheet with the cocktails and ingredients so when he saw that two or three cocktails called for the same type of rum, he would buy that bottle.
As he built up his inventory of mixers for those drinks, he branched out to other types of liquor. He made more than 365 cocktail recipes in a two-year span.
Now he has some 200 bottles stashed away in various kitchen cabinets and his own 30-item cocktail menu organized by liquor type that he offers guests. He presented his recommendations this year at a San Antonio Cocktail Conference seminar.
Guests think its pretty cool, absolutely. Ive had guests say, Wow, thats a better cocktail menu than I could get in a bar! he said.
Here are his recommendations, with his comments and notes. You can take your time with these, building from the types of liquors and cocktails you like and want to make and expanding over time, or you can go all in and get set up in one fell swoop. Either way, cheers!
Booze
This is the basic building block of a cocktail, so you want to make sure its good. But unless youre going to drink it neat, it doesnt have to be that good.
Rum: Rum flavors are very unique and so most substitutions can make the drink taste very different than intended. My favorite white rum is Cana Brava from Panama, but it can be hard to find, in which case my next choice is Flor de Cana 4-Year Old Silver Rum. The most versatile darker rum I have found is Bacardi Ocho (aged eight years), but for recipes that call for a Jamaican rum, which has a signature funky quality called hogo, Appleton Estate Reserve or Appleton Estate Rare Blend 12 Year Old are the best bet.
Vodka: I find plain vodka to be flavorless, and so my wife gets to choose this one. Her favorite is Grey Goose.
Rye whiskey: This one is easy: Rittenhouse Rye 100 (bottled in bond). Used by professional bartenders the world over.
Bourbon: For most mixed drinks I use either Bulleit Bourbon, Elijah Craig or Makers Mark (the lower-end versions).
Tequila: Partida Blanco and Partida Reposado are my house tequilas for cocktails. For home bars that do a higher volume of mixed tequila drinks, pretty much any 100 percent agave tequila will do, such as Tequila Cazadores or Milagro.
Gin: For most gin-based cocktails, Beefeater London Dry is wonderful and very economical. Plymouth Gin is a different style of gin than Beefeaters and is increasingly used by many craft mixologists. Beefeater can be substituted for Plymouth in a pinch.
Liqueurs and mixing alcohol
You will need other mixing liqueurs for most cocktails. Here are the basics.
Cointreau
Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
St-Germain elderflower liqueur
Aperol
Campari
Cynar
Carpano Antica Formula sweet vermouth
Optional
Benedictine
Yellow Chartreuse
Heering Cherry liqueur
Bitters
Angostura Bitters
Orange Bitters
Reagans, Scrappys, Fee Brothers or Angostura are all great I use them interchangeably.
Optional
Peychauds Bitters
Essential barware
Mixing
Set of two Koriko Weighted Shaking Tins (small and large)
Two tins are infinitely easier to separate than a traditional Boston shaker (pint glass with tin). Weighted bottoms are critical to avoid accidentally knocking them over while making your drinks.
Measuring
Japanese Style Jigger 1-ounce/2-ounce combo
Has inside markings for different measurements. The taller, steeper side walls make it easier to avoid spilling versus traditional wider jiggers.
Japanese Style Jigger -ounce/-ounce combo
Optional
OXO Good Grips 4-Piece Mini Measuring Beaker Set
While Japanese Jiggers look great, these are super functional. Clear plastic and bright markings making accurate measurements a breeze.
Straining
Koriko Hawthorne Strainer
A very tight coil servers as a great filter for ice chips, and it also will filter out most muddled herbs when a fine strainer is not available.
Coco Strainer
This conical fine strainer is essential for straining muddled herbs and frothy drinks with egg white or pineapple juice.
Optional
OXO Steel Cocktail Strainer
Works really well and is half the price of the Koriko Hawthorne Strainer.
Juicing
Chefn FreshForce Citrus Juicer (Lemon)
Dual gear mechanism produces up to 20 percent more juice versus conventional hand held juicers.
Muddling
Natural Wood Muddler
The flat bottom is best to prevent pulverization, and its is easier to clean than a netted or textured bottom.
Stirring
Seamless Paddle Mixing Glass
Its nice to have for stirred drinks; however its best to chill it before use to avoid diluting drinks too much. In its place, the small Koriko mixing tin works well enough.
Teardrop Barspoon
Gear for ice
Lewis Bag
The Schmallet Ice Mallet
Place your cubes in the bag, close it, and smash away with the mallet for great crushed ice and stress relief.
Tovolo Perfect Cube Ice Trays (1 inch)
Perfect for Collins glasses in particular.
Tovolo King Cube Ice Trays (2 inches)
Great for single ice cube drinks served in a rocks glass.
All items available at CocktailKingdom.com or Amazon.com.
Glassware
Leopold Coupe Glass, 6 ounces
The basic cocktail glass for most cocktails it the Champagne coupe, and this is the one I have. At CocktailKingdom.com.
Leopold Coupe Glass, 7.5 ounces
If youre making any cocktails with egg white, they require a coupe with more volume.
Anchor Hocking Stolzle 3500013T New York 10.75-ounce Collins/Mojito Glass
For recipes that call for a Collins glass, this my favorite. At WebstaurantStore.com.
Rocks glass
I dont have a rocks glass recommendation as there are so many wonderful options out there. Its a highly personal choice, and I dont think you can go wrong with whatever you get, whether from Crate & Barrel or Tiffany & Co.! The key is to have a large 2-inch ice cube for the rocks glass.
espicer@express-news.net
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AUSTIN With one expert calling Zika the the virus from hell, health officials warned state lawmakers about the spread of the Zika virus across the state and offered their insights on possible response measures in case of an outbreak.
John Hellerstedt, commissioner for the Department of State Health Services, warned that the virus is expected to begin spreading as prime mosquito season nears.
We dont know when and we dont know at what level that will occur, Hellerstedt said.
In response to the growing number of Zika cases in Texas in recent months, Tuesday afternoon lawmakers met to discuss what is being done in the state to prevent an outbreak of the virus.
At the hearing, which state Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, called one of the most disturbing hearings hes sat through, lawmakers tossed around the idea of a more cohesive plan for state action in the case of an outbreak, and they listened to expert testimony on Zika management.
The department until now has primarily been preparing its response, including ramping up a public awareness campaign, Hellerstedt said.
There is also mosquito surveillance and control activities that occur across the state, however Texas is a home-rule state so the level and resources that are available for mosquito control vary from community to community, Hellerstedt said.
Additionally, the Task Force on Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response, which Hellerstedt is a member of, is working to formulate a Zika response.
Committee chair Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, expressed interest in formulating a more cohesive state plan for response, especially in light of the 2014 Ebola cases, but getting local governments to cooperate could cause concern about local control.
The state should have an active role in the infectious disease emergencies that threaten the entire state eventually, Schwertner said.
Schwertner said after the hearing that state funding from the Legislative Budget Board during the interim is also a possibility to aid with the cost of Zika prevention and management. Additionally, the U.S. Senate moved forward on a measure Tuesday that would allocate $1.1 billion in emergency funds to help fight the virus.
Zika, which is found largely in Latin America and Puerto Rico, has become a growing concern, especially given this summers Olympic games in Brazil and the looming mosquito season. All of the U.S. cases thus far, excluding U.S. territories, are travel related, though there have been a handful of cases contracted sexually from partners who were traveling abroad.
The Department of State Health Services notes 35 confirmed cases in the state as of Tuesday, one of which was sexually transmited. There have been three reported cases in Bexar County and 12 in Harris County, the highest of anywhere in Texas.
Experts on the virus explained at the hearing that the best course of action for Zika response is controlling the mosquito populations that carry it. Peter Hotez, dean of the Baylor College of Medicine National School of Tropical Medicine said doing so would need to be handled on a house-to-house basis.
Sen. Donna Campbell, R- New Braunfels, had another idea for managing the states pesky mosquito population, including the Zika spreading breed.
Im just interested in killing them all, Campbell said.
edearman@express-news.net
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AUSTIN Nine child-advocacy groups are calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to form a task force to study school policing, citing a spate of recent episodes in which officers were accused of using excessive force.
The incidents cited in a letter to Abbott include the March 29 case of a 12-year-old San Antonio ISD student who was pushed face first to the ground by a school officer.
The groups said the study could recommend any changes to state law that are necessary to stop the problem, in time for the Legislature to address the issue when it convenes in January 2017.
The letter also urges the governor to end participation in a U.S. Department of Defense program that provides military weapons for school police officers to use in K-12 public schools.
We would like to work together to ensure all students are able to learn in safe school environments and school police have clearly defined roles and effective training, the group stated in a letter to Abbott on Tuesday.
Abbotts office said it will take the letter and the groups request under advisement.
Among recent high-profile incidents in Texas schools cited in the letter: an officer slammed a 6-year-old Abilene ISD student into a desk; and a 2013 incident in which an officer used a Taser on a Bastrop ISD high school student who had broken up a fight, causing him to fall to the ground and suffer a traumatic brain injury.
In the San Antonio incident, student Janissa Valdez was body-slammed by SAISD police officer Joshua Kehm after she had a verbal altercation with another student. A bystanders video of Valdez hitting the pavement went viral on the Web a week later and brought the confrontation to the attention of administrators and the public.
An investigation showed Kehm intervened after Valdez and another female student became verbally aggressive toward each other at the West Side campus, SAISD officials said.
They said the officers action was an unwarranted use of force and that he failed to report the incident as required by district protocol. He was fired April 11.
After the incident, members of the Southwest Workers Union protested outside the middle school against police presence in the hallways.
Minority students end up in prison rather than college at a higher rate than their peers, but few attempts are being made to improve conditions at their schools, organizer representative Joaquin Abrego said Wednesday.
School districts should resolve student conflicts through other methods, such as counseling or speaking with parents, before police are called, organizer Lucha Lopez said.
Lopez said Kehms actions were too serious, adding they didnt have police in the schools she attended as a child.
Times have changed, of course, but theyre still innocent little children, and I think everything needs to be done to try to get them through school well and good and supported, Lopez said.
Any state task force needs to give voice to parents and students at schools that have a police presence, Lopez said.
Lauren Rose, director of Youth Justice Policy at Texans Care for Children, a nonprofit, multi-issue childrens policy organization, said: We all want to make sure students are in class learning and staying safe.
She said a state task force should develop clear policies that will better support students, police and teachers. We need to provide officers the support and guidance they need so students are safe and officers can avoid another cell phone video gone viral.
Deborah Fowler, executive director of Texas Appleseed, echoed the sentiment. Students and parents shouldnt have to wait for another lawsuit or troubling video to surface before we take action, she said.
In their letter, the organizations emphasized these incidents highlight the need for a robust dialogue around the appropriate role of law enforcement officers in our schools and the need for all school police officers to receive youth-specific training.
In 2015, the Texas Legislature began requiring school police in districts with more than 30,000 students to undergo training on working with youth and serving on a school campus. About half of Texas students attend classes in districts with fewer than 30,000 students.
The groups include Texas Appleseed, Texans Care for Children, American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, Childrens Defense Fund-Texas, Grassroots Leadership, Mental Health America-Texas, Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, National Alliance on Mental Illness-Texas and the Texas Organizing Project.
mike.ward@chron.com
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While demonstrators outside of Rhodes Middle School on Wednesday objected to a San Antonio Independent School District police officers recent use of force against a student, some students began a counter demonstration in defense of the officer.
About 20 people, including community organizer Carolina Canizales and members of the Southwest Workers Union and the Brown Berets, held up signs and handed out flyers at the schools gates, saying they oppose having officers in the halls because it could lead to more use of force against and extreme punishment of students.
We dont want over policing on our schools, we dont want over policing in communities of colors neighborhoods like this one, Canizales said. I graduated from Alamo Heights High School, I never saw a cop on my campus.
On March 29, student Janissa Valdez, 12, was body slammed by SAISD police officer Joshua Kehm after she had a verbal altercation with another student. A bystanders video of Valdez hitting the pavement went viral on the web a week later and brought the confrontation to the attention of administrators and the public.
An investigation showed Kehm intervened after Valdez and another female student became verbally aggressive toward each other at the West Side campus, SAISD officials said.
They said the officers action was an unwarranted use of force and that he failed to report the incident as required by district protocol. He was fired Monday.
SAISD officials released a statement via email Wednesday that the Texas Rangers are now interviewing Kehm as part of their own investigation of the incident.
After an interview on Good Morning America, Valdez was spotted on social media posting a photo of herself with a fan of cash and the words Just because Im famous.
On Wednesday, activist Joaquin Abrego told students who were gathered around him and other demonstrators that even if Valdez had kicked Kehm, he shouldnt have used that type of force on a child. They demanded further action against him.
About 50 students gathered around the demonstrators and most began chanting for the return of the officer, shouting Bring Kehm back!
Edher Galdeano, who lives close to the school, said he often saw fights inside and around the fence of the campus. Since the incident two weeks ago, he hasnt seen any more fights among students.
Some students said there has been increased police presence since incident became public.
In response to the gathering outside the school, SAISD officials stated: We respect the right of members of our community to speak out about this incident.
It's important to know that this incident is not representative of our officers and their interactions with our students, the statement continued. Our police department has very dedicated officers serving to protect our approximately 53,000 students and our employees.
As students continued gathering around Abrego and other activists, a few parents voiced their disappointment at what they considered the demonstrators politicizing of the confrontation.
Parent Belinda Rengel said she was upset that the incident continues to be a distraction for students weeks since it occurred.
Its pretty dumb, she said. I feel for the parent and for the student, I really do. But for them to be distracting my daughter, thats not right.
Abrego said a public meeting to discuss policing on campus will be held at 5 p.m. Friday at Gallo Pizzeria, 164 Castroville Road.
jbeltran@express-news.net
Twitter: @JBfromSA
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The runoff battle to succeed Ruth Jones McClendon in the Texas House could come down to some old-fashioned, labor-union politics.
On May 5, Democratic primary runoff contenders Mario Salas and Barbara Gervin-Hawkins faced off in a candidate forum at the Windcrest Civic Center. The key moment came with a question about the candidates views on right-to-work laws, which prohibit organized labor from requiring workers to join a union as a condition of employment.
Texas is a right-to-work or, as union activists put it, right-to-work-for-less state, a sore point for progressive Democrats who regard right-to-work laws as crippling to organized labor.
Salas, a former councilman and longtime civil-rights activist, responded to the question by affirming his unwavering support for unions.
Gervin-Hawkins, the founder of the George Gervin Academy, offered a more nuanced take. She pointed out that she has many friends in organized labor and said she will continue to stand strong with them on various issues. But she also sounded a cautionary note about how pro-labor regulations can inhibit businesses from dealing with incompetent or inefficient workers.
As a businesswoman, it is key to understand that certain rules and regulations hurt businesses, and so we dont want that to happen, Gervin-Hawkins said. I get back to creating the win-win, and so we dont want to have to always fight people who are not doing their jobs, because they will keep their jobs and any of you who have been out there in those type of jobs know that.
Salas fired back last week with a Facebook post in which he proclaimed that Gervin-Hawkins stands with Donald Trump and the reactionary right-wing Republicans in supporting this terrible anti-worker legislation.
In addition, the local letter-carriers union, NALC Branch 421, rescinded its endorsement of Gervin-Hawkins and switched its allegiance to Salas.
Saturday morning, things also got a bit testy between Gervin-Hawkins and San Antonios AFL-CIO Central Labor Council, which rents a Cypress Street space owned by the George Gervin Youth Center. On Saturday, 16 two-person labor teams met at the building before setting out to block-walk for Salas.
About 9 a.m., Miss Hawkins called me to say that what we were doing was illegal, that since the building was owned by a nonprofit, we could not block-walk from there, said Tom Cummins, president of the San Antonio AFL-CIO Central Labor Council. I told her that regardless of who owns the building, we rent the space and we can do as we please, as long as its within the lease. She told us that we had to cease and desist, and if we didnt wed be locked out of the building.
An hour later, the conflict got sorted out when Gervin-Hawkins arrived at the building and said her attorney had assured her the unions activities were legal, and there was no problem.
Salas has latched on to the union issue as a way of undermining Gervin-Hawkins standing with East Side Democratic base voters, who are the most likely to overcome election fatigue and show up at the polls for the May 24 runoff.
Gervin-Hawkins has the backing of power players such as Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff and the San Antonio Police Officers Association, not to mention the fundraising muscle of the Austin-based Annies List. But Salas wants to tag her as a Republican in disguise.
He has tried to define her as an opponent of teacher unions and Black Lives Matter protests; a charter-school educator whose commitment to traditional public schools is iffy.
Theres no way that any person whos concerned about wages and benefits ought to be in favor of right-to-work, Salas said. So my position is that I dont think shes a Democrat.
One of the big knocks on Salas over the years is that he can go from zero to 100 on the incendiary-rhetoric scale in a matter of seconds. His decision to connect Hawkins with Trump and define her as a reactionary could backfire with some East Siders.
I never said I was against unions, and they misconstrued it, to their advantage, Gervin-Hawkins said. I come from a right-to-work state, Michigan, and I know the value of unions and I appreciate what they do. At this point, I think (Salass campaign) is just using anything.
Think of it as Bernie Sanders vs. Hillary Clinton in miniature, with twice the vitriol.
ggarcia@express-news.net
Twitter: @gilgamesh470
WASHINGTON The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would allow families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia, rejecting the fierce objections of a U.S. ally and setting Congress on a collision course with the Obama administration.
The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, approved by voice vote, had triggered a threat from the kingdom to pull billions of dollars from the U.S. economy if the bill is enacted.
The legislation, sponsored by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., gives victims families the right to sue in U.S. court for any role that elements of the Saudi government may have played in the 2001 attacks, which killed thousands in New York, the Washington, D.C., area and Pennsylvania.
The House still must act on the legislation.
Relatives of 9/11 victims have urged the Obama administration to declassify and release U.S. intelligence that allegedly discusses possible Saudi involvement in the attacks.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir denied this month that the kingdom made any threats over the bill. He said Saudi Arabia had warned investor confidence in the U.S. would shrink if the bill became law.
In fact what they (Congress) are doing is stripping the principle of sovereign immunities, which would turn the world for international law into the law of the jungle, Al-Jubeir said in a May 3 statement.
The Treasury Department said Monday that Saudi Arabia in March held $116.8 billion in Treasury debt.
Passage of the bill sends the message that the United States will combat terrorism with every tool we have available, and that the victims of terrorist attacks in our country should have every means at their disposal to seek justice, Cornyn said.
Schumer said any foreign government that aids terrorists who strike the U.S. will pay a price if it is proven they have done so.
Senate Democrats had firmly supported the legislation.
The White House has said the bill could expose Americans overseas to legal risks, and spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday that efforts to revise the legislation fell short in addressing the administrations concerns about preserving sovereign immunity.
Its difficult to imagine the president signing this legislation, Earnest told reporters at the White House.
Schumer was confident the Senate had the necessary two-thirds vote of the chamber to override a presidential veto.
We dont think their arguments stand up, the New York lawmaker said at a news conference after the Senate action.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the chairman of the Senate subcommittee that controls foreign aid, had blocked the bill from moving to the Senate floor until changes were made to ensure the legislation didnt backfire on the United States.
Grahams apprehension was rooted in the possibility a foreign country could sue the United States if the door is opened for U.S. citizens to take the Saudis to court.
Graham released his hold this month, clearing the way for Senate action.
An honest essay has numerous characteristics: original thinking, a good structure, balanced arguments, and plenty more.
But one aspect often overlooked is that an honest essay should be interesting. It should spark the readers curiosity, keep them absorbed, make them want to stay reading and learn more. An uneventful article risks losing the readers attention; whether or not the points you create are excellent, a flat style, or poor handling of a dry subject material can undermine the positive aspects of the essay. The matter is that a lot of students think that essays should be like this: they believe that a flat, dry style is suited to the needs of educational writing and dont even consider that the teacher reading their essay wants to search out the essay interesting. You might want to have online essay editor service to boost your confidence in writing with an error-free output. Academic writing doesnt need to be and shouldnt be bland. The excellent news is that there is much stuff you can do to create your essay more attractive, while youll be able only to do such a lot while remaining within the formal confines of educational writing. Lets study what theyre.
Have an interest in what youre writing about
Dont go overboard, but youll be able to let your passion for your subject show.
If theres one thing bound to inject interest into your writing, its being fascinated by what youre writing about. Passion for a subject matter comes across naturally in your essay, typically making it more lively and fascinating and infusing an infectious enthusiasm into your words within the same way that its easy to talk knowledgeably to someone about something you discover fascinating.
Include fascinating details
Another factor that may make an essay boring maybe a dry material. Some topic areas are naturally dry, and it falls to you to form the article more interesting through your written style and by trying to seek out fascinating snippets of knowledge to incorporate, which will liven it up a small amount and make the data easier to relate to. A way of doing this with a dry subject is to create what youre talking about that seems relevant to the critical world, as this is often easier for the reader to relate to.
Emulate the fashion of writers you discover interesting
When you read lots, you subconsciously start emulating the fashion of the writers you have read. Reading benefits you a lot, as this exposes you to a spread of designs, and youll start to require the characteristics of these you discover interesting to read.
Borrow some creative writing techniques
Theres a limit to the quantity of actual story-telling youll do when youre writing an essay; in the end, essays should be objective, factual and balanced, which doesnt, initially glance, feel considerably like story-telling. However, youll apply a number of the principles of story-telling to create your writing more interesting.
consider your own opinion
Take the time to figure out what its that you think instead of regurgitating the opinions of others.
Cut the waffle
Rambling on and on is dull and almost bound to lose the interest of your reader. Youre in danger of waffling if youre not completely clear about what you wish to mention or havent thought carefully about how youre visiting structure your argument. Doing all your research correctly and writing an essay plan before you begin will help prevent this problem.
Editing is a vital part of the essay-writing process, so edit the waffle once youve done a primary draft. Read through your essay objectively and eliminate the bits that arent relevant to the argument or labor the purpose.
employing a thesaurus isnt always a decent thing
Avoid using unfamiliar words in an essay; theres too great a likelihood that youre misusing them.
You may think that employing a thesaurus to seek out more complicated words will make your writing more exciting or sound more academic, but using overly high-brow language can have the incorrect effect.
Avoid repetitive phrasing
Please avoid using the identical phrase structure again and again: its a recipe for dullness! Instead, use a variety of syntax that demonstrates your writing capabilities and makes your writing more interesting. Mix simple, compound, and complicated sentences to avoid your paper becoming predictable.
Use some figurative language
Using analogies with nature can often make concepts more accessible for readers to know.
As weve already seen, its easy to finish up rambling when youre explaining complex concepts mainly after you dont know it yourself. One way of forcing yourself to think about a couple of pictures, present it more simply and engagingly is to form figurative language. This implies explaining something by comparing it with something else, as in an analogy.
Employ rhetorical questions
Anticipate the questions your reader might ask.
One of the ways ancient orators held the eye of their audiences and increased the dramatic effect of their speeches was by using the statement. A decent place to use a statement is at the top of a paragraph, to steer into the following one, or at the start of a replacement section to introduce a brand new area for exploration.
Proofread
Finally, you may write the top interesting essay an instructor has ever read. Still, youll undermine your good work if its plagued by errors, which distract the reader from the particular content and can probably annoy them.
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...
Farmer control has been retained at Farmers First, where more than half-a-million finished UK lambs annually are processed and exported to Europe.
At the Monday 17 May AGM, shareholders voted for seven board resolutions and against three new director nominations, which the board believed were not in the interests of the company's farmer owners nor its 70-plus employees, from an activist shareholder.
Wholly owned by Farmers First, the Farmers Fresh abattoir in Warwickshire buys approximately 12,000 lambs a week, some direct from farm and the rest via livestock marts.
The competitive pressure this creates among buyers of finished lambs, both domestic and European, gives farmers valuable influence up the supply chain, according to chairman Terry Bayliss.
"That is why the business was started and remains our mission today," he explains. "For a business this scale, the norm for AGM elections would be 20% turnout.
"So it was very encouraging that 40% of our 2,700 shareholders, owning more than 50% of shares, took part."
Farmer-founded, farmer-led business
Among resolutions passed were appointment of new directors, farmer John Geldard from Cumbria and former Deloitte accountant Andrew Peters. Shareholders re-appointed solicitor Willian Neville and Welsh sheep farmer Stuart Morris.
Mr Bayliss continues: "During pre-AGM consultations, we found widespread grass-roots goodwill and appreciation for the company's success as a farmer-founded and farmer-led business.
"Let us not forget that the balance sheet at the most recent financial year end shows shareholders' funds of 6.68 million.
"There is an ongoing investment programme to improve facilities and develop the customer offer.
"Over only the past four years, investments include buying the abattoir freehold for 1.36 million and installing solar panels, a biomass boiler and new boning hall for a combined 675,000 total.
"It is quite understandable that some busy farmers may not realise quite what a success this business is.
"Clearly, it is in farmer-shareholders' long term interests that they retain control of the company."
Richard Lochhead has left his post as cabinet secretary for Scottish rural affairs.
Fergus Ewing, member of the Scottish parliament for Inverness and Nairn, is the new cabinet secretary for rural affairs and connectivity in Scotland, following the post-election reshuffle.
Announcing the reshuffle, first minister Nicola Sturgeon said the emphasis of her new government was on the economy.
Richard Lochhead
Mr Lochhead has occupied the post for the past nine years.
Nicola Stugeon's recent Tweet about Mr Lochhead's resignation
A member of the Scottish Parliament for Moray, he has written to Scotlands first minister Nicola Sturgeon to indicate his intention to stand down.
In one of her first acts as first minister, Nicola Sturgeon accepted the Moray MSPs resignation from her government.
Mr Lochhead had faced sustained criticism over his handling of a 178m IT bungle which led to millions of pounds of subsidy payments to farmers being delayed.
Opposition parties had demanded Mr Lochhead be sacked from Ms Sturgeons new cabinet over the fiasco.
But last night the first minister defended his record, saying he left a "rich and enduring legacy of achievement".
Mr Lochhead, who was first elected to parliament in 1999, said he was "very proud" of his time in government and would "take away many precious memories".
New figures on woodland creation show that the Government will fail to deliver its manifesto commitment to plant 11 million trees between 2015 and 2020 unless it takes radical action now.
Official statistics from Forestry Commission England show that between April 2015 and March 2016, only 546 hectares of woodland were planted [less than 5.5 square km] - around 640,000 new trees.
This is substantially short of the 2.2 million trees that have to be planted every year if the Government is going to meet its targets of 11 million new trees by 2020.
The Government has blamed late issuing of approvals to plant trees for these low figures.
Forestry and timber trade body Confor understands IT-related problems and delays between the various government agencies involved in approving tree planting were part of the cause of this situation which is causing significant difficulties for tree nurseries across the UK.
A Defra spokesperson responded to the criticisms: "Woodland cover in England is at its highest level since the 14th centuryand we are committed to growing it even further with our pledge to plant another 11 million trees over the course of this parliament.
"Countryside Stewardship is an important ongoing opportunity to help expand our nations woodlands, which is why the Forestry Commission is supporting landowners to make applications through a series of webinars and workshops.
"Since 2010, the area of woodland in England has increased on average by 2,800 hectares per year, compared to 2,600 per year in the five years before that with the majority created with funding from Government grant schemes."
'Lowest planting figure for more than five years'
However, Harry Frew, Managing Director of Cheviot Trees near Berwick-upon-Tweed, continued the criticsm: "The planting figure for 2015/16 is woeful and is the lowest for more than five years.
"We need urgent Government action to address this or UK nurseries will go out of business - forcing us to import trees from overseas with all the associated plant health risks that brings."
Stuart Goodall, Chief Executive of Confor, said: "With Britains forest and woodland cover barely one-third of our European Union neighbours and growing demand for timber products, it is absolutely clear that the UK needs to significantly increase the number of trees it plants every year.
"At last years General Election, the Conservatives committed to planting 11 million trees in the five years to 2020 in England.
"This was the largest commitment given by any of the main political parties and was welcomed by the forestry and wood processing sector.
"In terms of size, 11 million trees represents a new forest the size of the City of Preston."
Since then, the devastating storms last winter and subsequent flooding have shown an even greater need to plant more trees as a means of natural flood management.
Woodland planting creates jobs and long-term growth
Conservative MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed Anne-Marie Trevelyan called on DEFRA to increase its commitment to 200 million trees and Confor supports that ambition.
Mr Goodall added: "Put simply, unless the Government and Forestry Commission England take action now to reverse the poor uptake of the Countryside Stewardship scheme for woodland creation, theres no chance of Government meeting its target of planting 11 million trees.
"Confor stands ready to help the Government in any way it can. The forestry industry makes a significant contribution to the rural economy in England.
"Woodland planting will create jobs and long-term growth opportunities for forestry and wood manufacturing companies helping to rebalance the national economy and reducing reliance on imports."
Mr Goodall said that a new grant to help with the cost of preparing applications for tree planting demonstrated that there was widespread desire to plant more trees, but the process of approving those schemes had to be fundamentally improved.
Confor also hopes the National Flood Resilience Review chaired by Oliver Letwin MP will recommend much greater planting of trees as a means of reducing flood risks.
Open Farm Sunday organiser, LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming), is calling on the whole farming and food industry to support the hundreds of farmers who are opening their gates on the 5th June.
LEAF is keen to encourage farmers and businesses to lend a hand on the day either in person or by getting involved on social media.
Annabel Shackleton, LEAFs Open Farm Sunday Manager, said: "Open Farm Sunday is a chance for the whole industry to showcase the wonderful diversity of farming in Britain and how farming impacts on all our lives.
"This is our industrys annual open day and we are calling on everyone to get involved either by visiting their local farm, engaging through social media or helping at local events."
On the day, everyone can get involved on social media - on Twitter using the hashtags, #ShareYourStory and #OFS16, sharing information from the Open Farm Sunday Facebook page and by sharing our Open Farm Sunday video which helps the public to Discover the World of Farming.
Annabel continues: "Our research shows that last year 10,000 people helped put on Open Farm Sunday events at 389 farms.
"This industry collaboration is a key part of the initiatives success, and we are keen to ensure this continues.
"The public love meeting farmers and hearing about the story behind British farming.
"So the more farmers, agronomists, feed merchants and vets we can have on farms on the day, the more the public will learn about the world of farming - from how crops are grown, not just for food but for clothing, medicine and fuel.
"Whether its helping to welcome visitors, answering questions, leading a farm walk, or simply going along as a visitor. All support is appreciated."
Since its launch in 2006 100s of farmers across the UK have been participating in this major industry event and welcoming the general public onto farms of all shapes and sizes to share their story about farm life.
Scientists have said the agriculture industry needs to reduce non-CO2 emissions by 1 gigaton per year in order to meet the new climate agreement plan to limit warming in 2100.
They warn that emission reductions in other sectors such as energy and transport will be insufficient to meet the new climate agreement.
"This research is a reality check," said Lini Wollenberg, leader of the CCAFS Low Emissions Development research program, based at the University of Vermont's Gund Institute for Ecological Economics.
"Countries want to take action on agriculture, but the options currently on offer won't make the dent in emissions needed to meet the global targets agreed to in Paris.
"We need a much bigger menu of technical and policy solutions, with major investment to bring them to scale."
119 nations included reductions in agriculture in their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions submitted to the UNFCCC.
However, no work has been carried out to determine how these pledges will be accomplished.
Balance food production and emissions reduction
Agriculture contributes an average of 35% of emissions in developing countries and 12% in developed countries today.
Yet authors warn that efforts to reduce emissions levels must be balanced with countries' need to produce enough food, particularly in poorer nations.
"We need to help farmers play their part in reaching global climate goals while still feeding the world," comments Professor Pete Smith, Theme Leader for Environment & Food Security at the University of Aberdeen and co-author of the paper.
"Reducing emissions in agriculture without compromising food security is something we know how to do.
"A lot can already be done with existing best management practices in agriculture. The tough part is how to reduce emissions by a further two to five times and support large numbers of farmers to change their practices in the next 10 to 20 years."
To realise the 1 gigaton per year reduction target for non-CO2 emissions in agriculture, 21 to 40% of reductions could be achieved by sustainable intensification of cattle and efficient use of water.
Even this effort will not be enough, according to the study.
Promising technical innovations on the horizon include recently developed methane inhibitors that reduce dairy cow emissions by 30% without affecting milk yields, breeds of cattle that produce lower methane, and varieties of cereal crops that release less nitrous oxide.
Today's Queens Speech has been welcomed by farmers and landowners, in particular the broadband universal service obligation, but warnings on the harm of taking land by compulsion has been discussed.
The CLA, which represents landowners, farmers and other rural businesses, has set out its views on the Governments legislative programme saying that it has sweeping implications for rural businesses. Measures announced include:
A Digital Economy Bill
Enshrine the universal service obligation for broadband in law this will mean that all homes and businesses wherever located will have a right to broadband coverage of at least 10 megabits per second by 2020
Impose new rules on how communications infrastructure providers have access to land for siting their equipment under a revised Electronics Communications Code
A Neighbourhood Planning and Infrastructure Bill
Further strengthen the neighbourhood planning process
Tackle the overuse, and in some cases misuse, of planning conditions so as to ensure new developments are not subject to unnecessary delays
Privatise the Land Registry
Compulsory purchase establish a clear, new statutory framework, for agreeing compensation based on the fundamental principle that compensation should be based on market value of the land in the substance of the scheme.
Compensation based on the fundamental principle that compensation should be based on market value of the land in the substance of the scheme.
Local Growth and Jobs Bill which will
Allow local authorities to retain 100% of their business rates
Strengthen local councils powers to cut business rates for local firms and give combined authority Mayors the power to raise additional funding for infrastructure
Draft Law of Property Bill
To implement the Law Commissions report Making land work: easements, covenants and profits-a-pendre to simplify the law around land ownership
Wales Bill
Devolve powers on energy, transport and elections
'Legal guarantee of internet connection'
CLA President Ross Murray said: "Over coming months MPs and Peers will be debating measures that have big implications for our rural economy, from housing, to internet and compulsory purchase of land.
"We welcome the confirmation that we will finally get the legal guarantee of internet connection for all premises in rural areas that we have campaigned to secure for so many years.
"It is time to end the discrimination felt in rural areas and we will work to ensure this law delivers for rural communities.
"Measures in the Digital Economy Bill and Neighbourhood Planning and Infrastructure Bill both extend powers to take land through compulsory purchase.
"In different ways they give mobile companies or infrastructure providers the power to acquire land or gain access to land by compulsion.
"The justification is to make it cheaper and easier for them to do so.
"Our overriding concern is that compulsory purchase should be a measure of last resort, and where it is used it should be scrupulously fair and with the interests of those that are having land taken off them preserved.
"As both Bills progress through Parliament we will be fighting to preserve these principles."
EU biggest customer of Scottish red meat as trade rebounds to 80m
"The first two years has come down, just under $1b because that's what mining and petroleum royalties are, so 2016/17 is set at $872m, and the next year is $914m and then it caps out again.
Some of the key industry features in the State Budget include a payroll tax-free threshold increase from $800,000 to $850,000 from July 1, 2016; $20m towards the WA Open for Business project to increase trade and investment in the regional sector; $6.7m over five years to for the WA Biodiversity Science Institute; an additional $326m for the Perth Freight Link; recurrent expenditure of $4.9m over next four years to support pest and weed management; and $4m in four years for an Animal Welfare Review report.
Importantly, this creates the framework for the Outer Harbour development to be undertaken by the new lessee of Fremantle Port as and when the expanded capacity is required. Should the new lessee choose not to take up the development opportunity, the Government may elect for this to be undertaken by another party, he said.
Many stations in the North are mustering earlier than usual due to the shorter or non-existent wet season, and greater numbers have seen an easing in prices, coming off very high levels, which remain well above the same time last year.
"I know it is also a federal issue, but funding is important, it's not the biggest issue for agriculture, but it certainly is an important one in terms of markets," he said.
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.
Aung San Suu Kyi, State Counsellor of Myanmar, The U.S. Department of the Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control amended the Burmese Sanctions Regulations Tuesday to support trade with Burma.
The new regulations will make it easier for U.S. persons to live and work in Burma, OFAC said.
OFAC, working with the State Department, also removed seven state-owned enterprises and three state-owned banks from the list of blocked entities.
Taken in concert with the regulatory amendments to allow most transactions with designated financial institutions, this leaves few OFAC restrictions remaining related to banks in Burma, OFAC said.
The former military junta changed the countrys name to Myanmar. The United States and many other countries continued to call the Southeast Asian nation by its traditional name of Burma.
The junta ruled from 1962 until 2011. During that time, the United Nations and most of the developed economies imposed sanctions.
The generals kept opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for about 18 years until 2010.
Suu Kyi and her opposition party eventually negotiated a full democratic transition with the ruling generals and took control of the government following elections last year.
On Tuesday, Adam Szubin, the Treasury Departments Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said in a statement:
Burma reached a historic milestone over the last year by holding competitive elections and peacefully transitioning to a democratically-elected government. Our actions today demonstrate our strong support for this political and economic progress while continuing to pressure designated persons in Burma to change their behavior.
OFAC Tuesday added to the list of blocked entities six companies in Burma owned 50 percent or more by Steven Law or Asia World Co. Ltd. Law and Asia World are still on OFACs list of blocked people and businesses.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has alleged that Law uses Asia World to launder drug money from Burma.
OFAC puts people and companies on the blocked list to pressure them to change their behavior, Szubin said.
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Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. Hell be the keynote speaker at the FCPA Blog NYC Conference 2016.
Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini has praised his ex Cheryl as a "great girl".
Cheryl and Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini
The pair split last year after 18 months of marriage but Jean-Bernard, 35, has insisted there are no hard feelings and like Cheryl, 32, who is dating One Direction hunk Liam Payne, he has also moved on.
He told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "It's been a tough year, I'm trying to move on. I'll never think badly of her. She is a great girl. I'm still a married man, but there is someone else."
However, he denied recent reports linking him to Cheryl's former friend Vanessa Perroncel and 'Baywatch' actress Pamela Anderson.
And JB opened up about his first meeting with Cheryl, admitting he fell for her immediately.
He said: "I was having a party at my house in South Africa and she turned up, but I didn't know who she was. I always go for very beautiful women.
"I fell in love, what could I do? I didn't know Cheryl was famous when I met her."
Cheryl and Jean Bernard tied the knot in a secret ceremony on the island of Mustique in 2014, just months after they met but she filed for divorce earlier this year.
A source said at the time: "They split up in August. They are still very good friends but are now getting a divorce.
"In the end Cheryl realised she had married too soon and had been swept away by a bit of a whirlwind romance.
"Over time it became clear to each of them that they were very different people and from very different worlds.
"They are now focusing on making sure they stay friends. The divorce is amicable and they have both said they will always be there for each other."
Anthony Kiedis is "on the mend" following his health scare his Red Hot Chili Peppers bandmate Chad Smith has revealed.
Red Hot Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis
The band had to pull out of their KROQ Weenie Roast headlining slot at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in Irvine, California, on Saturday (14.05.16) and their planned performance for iHeartRadio on May 17 after Anthony was rushed to hospital by ambulance with "extreme stomach pains" at the weekend.
The 54-year-old drummer has revealed the medical emergency was "really scary" but Anthony, 53, is now getting better.
Speaking to UK station Radio X, he said: "His stomach was killing him (and) It was really scary. So we went directly to the hospital and we were really upset we couldn't play for the fans, but also more worried about him. I really appreciate all the well wishes. People sent so much stuff."
Chad also confirmed that the Red Hot Chili Peppers will return to the stage for their scheduled gig in Ohio "this weekend" and will be good for their headline slots at T in the Park and the Reading and Leeds Festival.
But the sticksman admits he and his bandmates Flea and Josh Klinghoffer were very worried about Anthony when he got sick, due to the huge volume of rock star deaths this year with the likes of David Bowie, Prince and Lemmy passing away.
Chad added: "I know everyone's freaked out when they hear about another musician going into the hospital. It's been such a rough year. He's a very strong man and he'll be back better than ever."
Chad also teased some details of the group's upcoming new album 'The Getaway' - which is set for release on 17 June.
He spilled: "It's super funky and extremely melodic and we just can't wait for people to hear it."
Britain's Queen Elizabeth was reduced to tears as she paid tribute to fallen soldiers at a ceremony in Staffordshire on Tuesday afternoon (17.05.16).
Queen Elizabeth
The 90-year-old royal was spotted wiping her emotional eyes before she laid a wreath in honour of the 32 members of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, which was formed in 2006, who have sadly lost their lives over the last 10 years.
The monarch was joined by wounded veterans and victims' loved ones at the service as she unveiled a statue of the Lion of England, which traditionally symbolises bravery, nobility, royalty, to commemorate those who were killed.
After the service, the queen scribbled in the visitors' book.
She wrote: "The visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday 17th May 2016 for the dedication of The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment Memorial," followed by her signature.
Meanwhile, it's been a busy few days for the monarch as over the weekend she celebrated her belated birthday at Windsor Castle in Berkshire with a stunning horse display.
Elizabeth arrived at the royal residence with her husband Prince Philip in the horse-drawn Scottish state carriage, before she took her seat and watched 900 horses - 10 for each decade of her life - prance around the grounds.
The monarch had a beaming smile plastered across her face as she watched performances from the likes of James Blunt, Gary Barlow, Beverley Knight and Kylie Minogue.
Katherine Jenkins delivered the patriotic song 'I Vow to Thee My Country', while a choir version of the coronation anthem 'Zadoc the Priest' filled the stunning grounds.
Queen Elizabeth's final birthday celebration will take place next month with a Service of Thanksgiving, Trooping the Colour and a huge street party in London.
Sir Kenneth Branagh's final 'Wallander' scenes were "painfully memorable".
Sir Kenneth Branagh
The 55-year-old actor, who starred in the BBC Swedish detective TV series as a young police officer Kurt Wallander, has admitted he will never forget the scenes he filmed with the programme's Swedish creator Henning Mankell during his battle with cancer, which saw the author lose his battle against the disease last year at 67 years old.
In a first-person piece with Radio Times Magazine - to mark the DVD release of the 'Wallander' Series 1-3 - the Northern Irish star said: "The scenes where Kurt battles his own mind were played for our cameras as Henning, sick but still visiting us on set occasionally, was battling his own illness. They were painfully memorable days.
"They bring a disturbing conclusion to the character's 12-film odyssey, and it's impossible not to feel the loss of Henning through his loss of Kurt."
'Wallander' is centred on the life of Kurt Wallander, which traces his broken marriage and affair with the wife and mother Annette Brolin who he worked with on some cases, his battle with diabetes and Alzheimer's disease, with which his father was also afflicted.
Kenneth has admitted Henning played his cards close to his chest and would not reveal his character's final scenes.
He explained: "I was only when I met Henning one morning in Hamburg that I knew Kurt's end could not be conventionally happy.
"He [Henning] grabbed me excitedly by the shoulders and said, 'I have it, I have it! ... The last sentence of the last Wallander story!
"He would not tell me what those words were."
But Kenneth has confessed he shared a close bond with Henning, despite his intimidating personality.
He fondly recalled: "Aside from my father, he was the only person who ever called me Kenneth, not Ken ... You always had to be on your toes with Henning. He was quick-witted and meticulous. He was dismissive of lazy thought, and in his personal relationships he wanted stimulus and debate.
Michelle Hardwick wants to return to 'Coronation Street' as a "busty barmaid".
Michelle Hardwick
The 40-year-old 'Emmerdale' actress, who plays the vet Vanessa Woodfield in the ITV soap, has admitted she would like to return to the cobbles, which she starred on in 1997 as Sheila Dixon and again in 1998 as Naomi Russell, to take on the role as an eccentrically dressed pub staff, like Bet Lynch, because she loves to wear leopard print clothes.
Speaking to Inside Soap magazine about appearing on another hit series, the blonde beauty said: "I think I'd stick to me northern roots and play a busty barmaid like 'Corrie's' Bet Lynch - because I love eopard print in real life! When I was in 'The Royal' my character [Lizzie Hopkirk] was dizzy, so I'd bring that element to my barmaid role.
"I've never worked behind a bar, but have pulled a pint, so I'd get used to it."
Michelle is also keen to takeover from Lizzie Goodyear's character so she could listen to her customers' gossip.
She explained: "You'd hear all the gossip; you'd be at the heart of it all."
However, Michelle also has her sights set on appearing in the hit Australian soap 'Home and Away'.
When asked how she would spend her time if she took a break from the green of the Yorkshire Dales, she said: "I'd probably go and see Lynne [McGranger] in Australia - and be an extra on 'Home and Away'. I could be in the background at the Diner. Otherwise a short run in the theatre would be nice. But I'd mostly chill out and recharge my batteries, and spend lots of time with friends and family."
But Michelle has no plans to quit the show just yet and is eager to get to work every morning.
She said: "While some might be dreading the Monday morning blues or whatever, I honestly don't get that with my job.
"I feel very lucky!"
By Deanna Brann, author of Reluctantly Related Revisited: Breaking Free of the Mother-in-Law/Daughter-in-Law Conflict
Reluctantly Related Revisited
Wedding season is here again and those wedding preparation seem to take over the lives of everyone involved. There is so much to do-guest lists to create, invitations to mail, dresses to choose, showers, flowers, ceremony location, reception details, and the list goes on and on. There seems to be an endless list of "to do" details. And it seems so easy to get lost in all the particulars.
Brides-this is your day and you want it to be just perfect! You may be more focused on getting everything "just right" instead of thinking about how this new woman in your life-your mother-in-law-is going to fit into your idea of "family." And let's be honest, it's not easy to let his mother "in" when you are working so hard to establish yourself as a woman in your own right as well as a wife, and, as is the case for some brides-to-be, you perceive her actions toward you to bewell, less than gracious.
Future mothers-in-law, on the other hand, are facing a difficult and often confusing challenge. You struggle to try to figure out where you fit into this new "family plan ." He's my son so does that make her like a daughter? What do I want her to call me? How do I interact with her? Can I be completely myself with her? No one has an instruction guide on what a mother-in-law is supposed do or say to make her relationship with her new daughter-in-law a comfortable one. No one talks about how to make this relationship work between two relative strangers. And because this is all new to your future daughter-in-law as well, she is not able to take the initiative (at least at this moment) to guide you through your confusion.
Both of you can make this transition easier by just spending a little time thinking and reflecting on how you want to make the pieces of this new expanded puzzle fit. It doesn't have to be as difficult as it may feel. However, it does take some forethought and mindfulness. So to avoid setting yourself up for struggles with this new and important relationship-on both sides of the in-law equation, let me give you some things to think about that will help you start off on the right foot with your new in-law.
Mothers-in-law:
Be patient with your new daughter-in-law. She is trying to figure out how to be a wife, and how she and her new husband are going to "be" in their new life together. If she feels she is competing with you, she will do whatever she feels she needs to do to create "her place."
If you are struggling with what your new role is supposed to be, sit down with your daughter-in-law early on and talk with her about it. To say nothing and just guess at where you fit will more than likely cause stress and tension between the two of you. When you talk with her early on it allows each of you to express your vision of this new forming relationship and avoid unnecessary missteps.
Your relationship with your son is changing. He's a man and he is soon to be a husband-let him go. Graciously accept your new relationship with him.
Decide what kind of role model you want to be for your adult son and daughter-in-law-and for your grandchildren. Then act on it!
Daughters-in-Law:
This is your husband's mother-she matters to him (just as your mother matters to you). Respect that she is his mother-after all, she played a role in who he has become.
Your mother-in-law is struggling to find her place with you and her adult son-appreciate her struggle while you help her find her footing in your new family.
You have more power than you realize in your relationship with your husband and your mother-in-law-use it thoughtfully.
Let yourself relax a bit. Mistakes will be made on all sides. Know that, prepare for it, and then let them go.
As a new bride and a new mother-in-law you are embarking on a wonderful journeybut that's what it is-a journey. It is not something you can completely plan out or plan for, but rather you need to deal with it as best you can. There are no manuals for how to be. So move slowly, gently and find your way one-step-at-a-time. When you mess up, because you will, take a deep breath and realize you can always go back and make things better. Also remember, you both are role models for your future children/grandchildren. The way you treat the ones closest to you is the way your children or grandchildren will learn to treat those closest to them. Enjoy your journey!
Deanna Brann, Ph.D. has over 30 years of experience in the mental health field as a clinical psychotherapist specializing in communication skills, family and interpersonal relationships, and conflict resolution. After running her own private practice for more than 20 years, she spent time later in her career providing business consultation to other private practice professionals in the health care and legal fields. As both a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, her own personal experiences led her to research the subject. Her first book, Reluctantly Related, began the discussion of examining and bettering the MIL/DIL relationship and is followed by her newest book, Reluctantly Related Revisited. Brann holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology, a Master of Science degree in Clinical Psychology, and a Ph.D. in Psychobiological Anthropology.
Connect with Dr. Brann at www.drdeannabrann.com or http://www.inlawsos.com/
http://facebook.com/drdeannabrann twitter - @deannabrann
Reluctantly Related Revisited: Breaking Free of the Mother-in-Law/Daughter-in-Law Conflict available on in UK on Amazon UK
Five of New Zealand's largest corporates are working together to find new ways to reuse employee uniforms and reduce textile waste, the website scoop.co.nz has reported.Air New Zealand, Fonterra, New Zealand Post, Skycity Auckland and The Warehouse Group have set up a working group to look at what to do with old uniforms that have been replaced. Collectively these organisations produce more than 60,000 uniforms every year, presenting an opportunity to establish an environmentally and commercially sustainable business solution.
Five of New Zealand's largest corporates are working together to find new ways to reuse employee uniforms and reduce textile waste, the website scoop.co.nz has reported. Air New Zealand, Fonterra, New Zealand Post, Skycity Auckland and The Warehouse Group have set up a working group to look at what to do with old uniforms that #
The Formary, which is expert in textile fibre recovery and re-engineering, is working with the five organisations and leading the project. The Formary's founder Bernadette Casey said technical challenges are often difficult to solve in isolation and the business partnership is a good idea.These companies are leading the way in solving what has been a largely ignored problem - growing textile waste. It's hugely exciting to be involved in discovering new ways to extract the greatest value from garments, in a collaborative way, said Ms Casey. "This involves deconstructing the garments and re-processing the fibres into a range of new products. We'll be looking to work with New Zealand companies with the capability to do this."We want to create a step change in reusing textile waste, says Dawn Baggaley, Corporate Sustainability Manager at New Zealand Post. We've been working on this problem for some time and knew other corporates were too, so reached out to them to initiate this project. We're fortunate to be working with an innovative group of businesses who are all interested in the environmental impacts of their operations. There's real leadership and commitment amongst the group.The group aims to complete the research and identify solutions later this year. (SH)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk India
American retailers are relying heavily on discounts and promotions so far in 2016, continuing the poorly performing holiday discount strategy and pulling the promotional lever far too often, according to the DynamicAction Retail Index: Spring 2016, released on Monday at the inaugural Shoptalk conference in Las Vegas.According to the Index, retailers sold less at full price in Q1 2016 vs. a year ago, with full-price sales down 4 per cent for the quarter and orders using a promotion up 63 per cent. March was an especially promotional month, with an 86 percent increase in orders using promotions compared to 2015.Retailers found it harder to convert first-time buyers into second-time buyers, with those conversions down 6 percent compared to last year.The Index also found that while revenues were up 10 per cent in the first quarter compared to 2015, retailers' ability to control profit has been unstable in early 2016. Retail profits were up an average 5.2 per cent year-over-year in Q1, however most gains occurred in January, with increasing volatility in February and March.The antiquated strategy of retailers relying exclusively on their promotional calendars to run their operations has fostered an ingrained need for discounts by consumers, who are increasingly being trained to wait for promotions or discounts prior to making a purchase, said John Squire, CEO and co-founder of DynamicAction.
In order to have any hope of being prepared to answer customers' needs and shareholders' expectations during the holiday season of 2016, retailers must right now focus on curbing the promotional addiction and utilizing their full data set to better manage their inventory and their operations.
The DynamicAction Retail Index: Spring 2016 is an analysis of more than $5 billion in consumer transactions and benchmarks retail trends in key categories from January-March 2016 in comparison to the previous year. (SH)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk India
Austrian industrial digital printers supplier, Aeoon Technologies is showing the Aeoon Kyo Compact DTG printer series at the ongoing Apparel Sourcing Show, Guatemala.
Kyo Compact series is the latest addition to the Aeoons list of digital printers. This digital direct-to-garment printer prints up to 950 t-Shirts per hour (A4 size, depending on image and resolution).
The three-day event, to be concluded tomorrow, is taking place at Guatemala City. The fair showcases products and services from various textile and apparel companies in South America.
Austrian industrial digital printers' supplier, Aeoon Technologies is showing the Aeoon Kyo Compact DTG printer series at the ongoing Apparel Sourcing Show, Guatemala. Kyo Compact series is the latest addition to the Aeoon's list of digital printers. This digital direct-to-garment printer prints up to 950 t-Shirts per hour.#
Aeoon Technologies has partnered with Grupo HMM to exhibit at the show. The company will be exhibiting at booth number 38 - 47. (MCJ)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India
A range of denim fabrics by Invista's Cordura has been launched at the ongoing Denim Premiere Vision trade fair being held at Barcelona, Spain.
The two-day fair, concluding tomorrow, saw the launch of the fabrics under the Authentic Alchemie Collection by Pakistan-based Artistic Milliners, one of Invista's authorised mills.
The collection, on display at stand #A7, made from blends of natural and man-made fibres, focuses on three key trends and features- The Future is Real, Luxury in Lifestyle and Di-Versitility.
Cordura launched its newest denim collection Authentic Alchemie Collection in stand #A7 of the ongoing Denim Premiere Vision trade fair held at Barcelona, Spain till tomorrow. Pakistani denim garments manufacturer, Artistic Milliners made a debut of Cordura's denim collection at the fair. Fabrics are being showcased by Cordura Denim authorised mills. #
"The Authentic Alchemie Collection is designed to push the boundaries of durability with stylish, modern and comfortable fabric combinations that are suitable for any product, market or lifestyle. Today's consumer is searching beyond just traditional heavy denims for ones that can sit comfortably with them throughout the day - wherever it may take them," Cindy McNaull, global brand and marketing director of Cordura said at the launch. (MCJ)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India
Deniz Export will be using SPGPrints' direct laser engraver, bestLEN 7413, for imaging rotary screens in its new textile printing plant in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The bestLEN 7413 engraver facilitates the production of textiles with sharp images, fine lines, and perfect halftones. It avoids time-consuming processes like exposing and washing and reduces costs by eliminating the need for films, chemicals and their disposal. This cuts screen engraving cycles to just 30 minutes, and minimises chances of human error.
For us, it was important to have the best and latest equipment for our new operations. SPGPrints' reputation for innovation, quality and reliability made the bestLEN engraver particularly attractive. It will provide a solid foundation for our business, said Levent Gok, purchasing manager, Deniz Export.
Deniz Export will be using SPGPrints' direct laser engraver, bestLEN 7413, for imaging rotary screens in its new textile printing plant in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The bestLEN 7413 engraver facilitates the production of textiles with sharp images, fine lines, and perfect halftones. It avoids time-consuming processes like exposing and washing and reduces cost#
High-quality textiles begin with high-quality screens. The choice of the bestLEN 7413 by Deniz Export for its first textile printing operation is gratifying. It is their first SPGPrints system and we look forward to a long relationship with them, said Hakan Uzman, managing director, SPGPrints Baski.
Deniz Export's bestLEN laser engraver will be shown on the SPGPrints at ITM 2016 from June 1-4, in Istanbul. (HO)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk India
The Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association (FOSTTA) has urged the Union Government to slap anti-dumping duty on fabrics imported from China and other countries to save India's domestic man-made fabric (MMF) sector.In a letter to Union Textiles Minister Santosh Gangwar, FOSTTA said that almost half the MMF sector in Surat has been forced to observe a total shutdown for the past one month. Powerloom weavers have stopped manufacturing polyester fabric due to weak demand in the face of cheap imported fabrics from China.
The Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association (FOSTTA) has urged the Union Government to slap anti-dumping duty on fabrics imported from China and other countries to save India's domestic man-made fabric (MMF) sector. In a letter to Union Textiles Minister Santosh Gangwar, FOSTTA said that almost half the MMF sector in Surat has been forced to #
"We have urged the Central Government to impose anti-dumping duty on the imported fabrics. Compared to the fabrics produced indigenously, the imported fabrics are almost 100 per cent cheaper. In the last one year, crores of meters of fabrics has been imported into the country , thereby paralyzing the MMF sector," FOSTTA President Manoj Agarwal said.Agarwal also said the benefits under the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) should be extended to the textile processors as well as the traders. Currently, the TUFS benefits are only for the powerloom sector.FOSTTA has also demanded cargo service form the Surat airport at the earliest. According to Agarwal, this would help local textile exporters to directly export the fabrics to various destinations, instead of transporting the goods first to Mumbai and Delhi. (SH)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk India
Shima Seiki, a leading computerised knitting machine manufacturer will be showcasing its latest seam free WholeGarment knitting technology in the 'Meet the Manufacturer' exhibition in London in booth A17 on May 25 - 26.
On display will be Shima Seiki's flagship MACH2XS WholeGarment knitting machine that features the company's original SlideNeedle on four needle beds as well as the company's patented spring loaded full time sinker system. It can knit high quality knitwear with very high efficiency while minimising dependence upon labour intensive sewing and linking.
Also on display is the latest version of Shima Seiki's SDS-ONE APEX3 3D design system. APEX3 provides comprehensive support throughout the apparel supply chain, integrating production into efficient workflow from yarn development, product planning, design, production and sales promotion. Photo-realistic simulation capability allows virtual sampling to minimise costly time and resource consuming sample making while enhancing presentation quality.
Shima Seiki, a leading computerised knitting machine manufacturer will be showcasing its latest seam free WholeGarment knitting technology in the 'Meet the Manufacturer' exhibition in London in booth A17 on May 25 - 26. On display will be Shima Seiki's flagship MACH2XS WholeGarment knitting machine that features the company's original SlideNeedle on four #
Meet the Manufacturer is a trade show and sourcing event showcasing British manufacturing of clothing, textiles and leather goods. It features clothing manufacturers, textile mills, makers of leather goods and suppliers to the UK apparel and textile industries. (NA)
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
It is indeed tough to hide relationships in this era, thanks to social media! So, very recently, we told you that Ranbir Kapoor is dating a Delhi based girl and guess what, now we have her picture too!
According to a leading website, after breaking up with Katrina Kaif, Ranbir Kapoor is dating Bharti Malhotra, whom he met at his sister Riddhima Sahni's party.
Click On VIEW PHOTOS to see the picture
The story does not end here! Reportedly, they both are quite serious about this relationship and Bharti even visited Ranbir Kapoor in Morocco where he is shooting with his ex-girlfriend Katrina for the movie Jagga Jasoos.
Also Read: Adorably Cute! AbRam Khan Steals The Limelight From Daddy Shahrukh Khan At The Airport
Rumour has it that Ranbir Kapoor is planning to make this relationship official very soon.
So, clearly Ranbir Kapoor has moved on in his life and as we all know that he is no longer in talking terms with Katrina Kaif. The Kapoor lad does not even talk to her on the sets of the movie. They share very cold vibes, so much so that, Ranbir said 'no' to kissing Katrina on-screen for Jagga Jasoos.
On the professional front, Ranbir Kapoor is busy with Jagga Jasoos and he will soon resume the shooting of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. On the other hand, Katrina Kaif just wrapped up the shooting of Baar Baar Dekho with Sidharth Malhotra. Reportedly, she will soon start the shooting for Kabir Khan's next.
Readers, we really want to know what you think about Ranbir Kapoor's new girlfriend Bharti Malhotra. Please share your views by commenting below.
There is no doubt that Salman Khan has made up his mind about marriage and very soon he will bid goodbye to his bachelorhood. Now, the wedding date of the Bajrangi Bhaijaan actor has been revealed.
So what dateis it? Well, let's just say it's one of the most popular dates for all the Salman fans out there! Didn't get it yet? Koi baat nai! According to Spotboye, Salman will be tying the knot with Iulia on his 51st birthday i.e., December 27, 2016.
Have You Seen These Gorgeous Pictures Of Iulia Yet?
In between, did you know that Iulia was married ? No, right? The Romanian beauty was in a serious relationship with the Grammy nominated music producer Marius Moga.
Reportedly, Iulia & Marius were famous for their on and off relationship. Despite their differences, the duo decided to tie knot but soon ended up parting their ways!
Unseen Pictures Of Iulia Vantur With Ex-husband Go Viral!
Salman's Work Commitment
On the work front, Salman will be next seen in Sultan, which is directed by Ali Abbas Zafar. Sultan will be the first ever film in Bollywood, which will witness the never seen before jodi of Salman Khan and Anushka Sharma.
In this film, Salman will be seen playing the title role, which is the character of a wrestler. Reportedly, Anushka, whose character name in the film is Aarfa, will also portray the role of female wrestler while playing the love interest of Salman.
The film is scheduled to release during the festival of Eid this year (2016)!
Saikumar Ramji Rao Speaking (1989)
Saikumar had a dream start to his acting career with Ramji Rao Speaking, which went on to become a trendsetter. Saikumar handled lead role in this film and did the role with ease without any hiccups of a newcomer.
Kunchacko Boban - Aniyathipraavu (1997)
Not many would have enjoyed a smashing debut like Kunchacko Boban did. Aniyathipraavu, directed by Fazil had the actor in the lead role and the film enjoyed a big success, offering a stardom to Kunchacko Boban.
Indrajith Oomapenninu Uriyaadappayyan (2002)
Indrajith made an entry to films playing an antagonist in Oomapenninu Uriyaadappayyan, which had Jayasurya in the lead role. The film directed by Vinayan was a big success and Indrajith made his presence felt with a very convincing performance.
Prithviraj Nandanam (2003)
Prithviraj's debut movie Nandanam, directed by Ranjith went on to become a big hit at the box-office. Prithviraj made a solid debut giving a good performance as the lead actor.
Vineeth Sreenivasan Cycle (2008)
Vineeth Sreenivasan made his debut as an actor through the film Cycle, directed by Johny Antony, which also had Vinu Mohan in the lead role. Malayali audiences whole-heartedly welcomed Vineeth and the film was a hit at the box-office.
Dulquer Salmaan Second Show (2012)
Dulquer Salmaan, the young superstar of Mollywood, made a smashing debut through the film Second Show directed by Sreenath Rajendran. The film won rave reviews and was a box-office hit. Dulquer Salmaan gave an exceptional performance while playing the lead character of Lalu.
Kajal Aggarwal, who has not enacted in a lip-lock scene was caught unawares, when a Hindi actor kissed her forcefully, while shooting for an emotional scene in Malaysia, according to reports.
For an actress, who has always been conscious about the kind of roles she picks up, her Hindi co-star's action came in as a rude shock as she was not aware of the lip-lock scene, the script had.
When actor Randeep Hooda grabbed her and went in for the lip-lock, Kajal politely withdrew and reportedly walked away without saying a word to her co-actor.
The film's director Deepak had to explain Kajal the importance of the scene when she requested him to delete the already captured scene and go for another take sans the kissing part.
She finally gave in and agreed to shoot for her first lip-lock scene in Bollywood, the director has said.
"Well, I do remember Kajal had told me that she does not do kissing scenes on screen, as she is a huge south Indian movie star, and this would impact her career in south movies.
But let me tell you, there was no intention to malign her or kiss her out of force, but it was the emotional moment between two lovers as per the script, and I generally prefer actors doing scenes impromptu, so I followed the emotional quotient of the scene, and made a go at it.
Sure it did take Kajal in a shocking zone, and she did back off calling for a cut, but later on once I had explained to her the significance of the lip lock, she surrendered herself to the script, and went on to do the scene with all the passion she could put in," Deepak said in a statement.
Also Read: Best Kissing Scenes Of Kollywood!
It is no news that Ek Tha Raja Ek Thi Rani actor Siddhant Karnick got engaged to Dream Girl actress Megha Gupta in a private ceremony at the US Club on May 12. Only family members and close friends were present at the occasion.
The media personnel was disappointed with the actors as they were not at all allowed to take a glimpse of their special day. They waited patiently for the cute couple to come out and pose for the pictures, but they had to face the wrath of the Navy police officers instead.
But the couple in love seems to be unaffected by this incident. They took to social media to share their happiness. Siddhant tweeted, " Good morning my lovelies. Been out of action because of a prior(ity) engagement. Be back soon with pictures and more. Thank u 4 ur love."
Megha was not far behind. She shared a lovely message on Instagram which read, " He took my heart.. So I am taking his last name. Meet my fiance - Siddhant Karnick. Sealed the deal on 12.5.16."
The fans are waiting for the lovely couple's engagement pictures. Where as, there is one more adorable picture that is doing rounds on Instagram! Any guesses? Well, it is none other than Megha's birthday celebration!
Megha's birthday falls on May 13. This time, it was a double dose of celebration for Megha, one being her engagement and the other, her birthday. She shared a picture of hers, where she is seen holding Siddhant's hand and she is just about to cut the cake in presence of a few other friends.
She posted a message saying that " Happy happy to me. I think I was making sure Siddhant doesn't cut my birthday cake so im literally (drunk) grabbing knife from him. All in all, a good good birthday, 'cause I got to cut my cake, and eat it too...with my tribe next to me, special thank you to @zezu_dharavirocks for the cake. Was lovely looking, apt for me and delicious too !"
We wish the lovely looking couple, happier times ahead!
Deutsche Bank said on Wednesday it had hired Frank Fang as head of corporate banking for China, filling a post vacated by Anthony Lin, who left to join Bank of America in October.
A 25-year veteran of HSBC, Fang joins the German bank in late June. In the new role, he will lead an onshore and offshore team covering corporate banking for China, as well as overseeing onshore branches across the country. A bank spokesperson declined to elaborate on the size of Fangs team when contacted by FinanceAsia.
Based in Shanghai, Fang will report regionally to Oliver Brinkman, head of corporate finance for North Asia, and Sanjiv Vohra, head of Asia-Pacific corporate banking coverage. Locally, he reports to Feng Gao, chief country officer of Deutsche Bank China.
China remains a critical component of Deutsche Banks global corporate banking coverage network, and an increasingly significant driver of our regional and global business, Vohra said in a press release.
As of end 2015, the bank had issued loans worth 5.65 billion ($6.4 billion) in China, accounting for 1.3% of its total loans issued globally, according its annual report. It recorded 277 million in net revenues from the country last year, or 0.8% of its total net income. The net income of its global corporate banking and securities business reached 10.6 billion, up 11% from 9.5 billion a year earlier.
During his 25-year stint at HSBC, Fang worked in various product and client coverage roles. Most recently, he was the head of corporate banking for China at the British bank.
Lin left to join Bank of America as president for China last October after holding the position at Deutsche Bank for less than two years, Lins LinkedIn page showed.
China coverage
Deutsche Bank first established a foothold in China in 1872 when it opened its first overseas office in Shanghai. The Frankfurt-headquartered bank now runs operations and employs more than 500 staff in six cities across mainland China and over 1,200 in Hong Kong.
In July 2009, Beijng-based Zhong De Securities, a joint venture between Deutsche Bank and local brokerage house Shanxi Securities, received a business license from the Chinese securities regulator.
The approval has since enabled it to underwrite and sponsor equity issues, government and corporate bonds as well as providing corporate advisory services on the onshore market. Deutsche Bank holds a 33.3% stake in the JV while its Chinese partner owns the remaining 66.7%.
According to data provider Dealogic, the German bank outperformed its Western counterparts in terms of core investment banking revenues on the mainland last year.
The income generated from its onshore ECM, DCM and China-related M&A businesses reached $116 million in 2015, ahead of Citi, UBS and Morgan Stanley, but still way behind big domestic brokers including Citic Securities and Guotai Junan Securities, the data shows.
Deutsche Bank was also the only international player ranked by Dealogic in the top 10 A-share ECM bookrunners so far this year, with its deal volume reaching $2.3 billion. Meanwhile, its market share has also increased from 3.2% last year to 4% so far this year.
Apart from its investment banking presence in China, the bank also holds a 30% stake in Beijing-based Harvest Asset Management and has shown interest in retail banking in the country.
In 2006, Deutsche Bank made its first equity investment in Hua Xia Bank, a Shanghai-listed nationwide commercial lender. It upped its stake from 9.9% to 19.99% in 2008.
In last December, Deutsche Bank said it had agreed to sell its entire 19.99% stake to Chinese state-controlled inure PICC, at a time of more onerous capital rules on holding minority stakes in financial institutions and in the wake of a corruption scandal at the Chinese bank.
LONDON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
- tech giant takestopspot in new UK BrandLovelist -
Apple is the UK and Europe's most loved brand and dominates social conversation according to a Brand Lovelist report launched today by enterprise social analytics leaderNetBase. Love, best, great, perfect and awesome were the top five words consumers used when expressing their love (and every single version of it) for Apple which received over 400,000 more mentions than Google in second place and seven times as many total mentions as Lego in third. Tesco in fourth place was the first British and only food and beverage brand to feature and BMW was the first automotive brand to appear at number 5.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160517/368943 )
The report looks at the top 50 brands in Europe determined by market research over the past year and ranks the best-loved brands in technology, consumer goods, automotive, food and beverage, financial services and energy. Data was gathered using NetBase's social media listening platform, from millions and millions of English and French language posts of earned mentions* across Europe during the one-year period April 2015 to March 2016. Brand conversation specific to the UK and France was analysed in English and French respectively to provide two lists of the 25 most loved British and French brands.
Commenting on the report Paige Leidig, Chief Marketing Officer, NetBase said "While it's not altogether surprising that Apple came out on top if we look beneath the surface it tells us that here is a company that has created an enviable passion among its consumers. Alternatively, look at Tesco, why is it the only food and beverage brand on the list, where are the likes of Lidl and Sainsbury? The answer is because it has worked hard to build a strong relationship with its customers and they want to express their love for it."
"Understanding consumer preference is more than simply measuring the volume of social media content it's about understanding the intensity of passion and feeling in those posts. Most consumer purchases are won on emotion and the Brand Lovelist measures brand love and every single version of it; it tells us which brands people love the most. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of having insightful customer data that you can act upon whether it's a new campaign, product launch or purely understanding ongoing customer perception of your brand," adds Paige.
Key insights from the report include:
- Lego was the UK's most loved consumer goods brand
Lego came out on top as the most loved consumer goods brand with consumers sharing their excitement towards Starwars themed lego and underlining the value that partnering plays in leveraging a strong brand presence. Consumer goods companies represented 28% of the most loved brands in the UK and included the likes of Adidas, Chanel and Burberry.
-The UK loves cars!
Automotive brands rule the love list with a total of nine appearing including BMW, Ferrari and Audi who were the top loved brands. Despite this, they only represented 16% of the overall conversation indicating that consumers have similar levels of love for car brands as they do for other industries.
-Tesco was the only food and beverage brand on the list
Tesco's presence illustrated the importance of running targeted campaigns. Triedforless was a campaign that invited customers to share some of their favourite experiences with Tesco products via social media and was the most popular hashtag associated with the brand.
-The UK loves talking about travel destinations
British Airways was the only airline in the list and conversation was centred on passengers sharing stories about flying to their favourite destinations. Transportation represented just 1% of overall mentions on the list and while consumers often share experiences of their travels airlines could certainly do more to encourage consumer love through promotional campaigns.
-The UK are tech talkers
Unsurprisingly technology companies dominated the conversation and accounted for 12% of the top 25 most loved UK brands which was mainly down to Apple and Google who alone represented 64% of the overall UK brand mentions.
Many global brands and ad agencies including Coca-Cola, T-Mobile, Edelman and McCann are using NetBase technology to gain insight through the eyes of millions of daily social media posts into how consumers feel about their brand as well as using it as a marketing campaign evaluation tool to determine its success and the need to make changes.
*earned mentions mean those posts that were not posted by the brand itself
About NetBase
NetBase is the award-winning social analytics platform that global companies use to run brands, build businesses, and connect with consumers every second. Its platform processes millions of social media posts daily to capture actionable business insights for marketing, research, customer service, sales, PR, and product innovation. NetBase was named an Enterprise Listening Leader in Forrester's most recent Enterprise Listening Platforms report for Q1 2016 and is a trusted partner to American Airlines, Coca-Cola, Edelman, McCann, Ogilvy, T-Mobile, Universal Music Group and Walmart. For more information visithttp://www.netbase.comor @NetBase . See your brand's social movement in real-time with NetBase LIVE Pulse' .
Contact: netbase@origincomms.com , Telephone +44-(0)20-38142940
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/17/16 -- Alexco Resource Corp. (TSX: AXR)(NYSE MKT: AXU) ("Alexco" or the "Company") announces that it has closed the previously announced non-brokered private placement of units of the Company ("Units") at a price of C$1.20 per Unit (the "Private Placement") pursuant to which the Company issued 10,839,972 Units for aggregate gross proceeds of C$13,007,966.
Each Unit consisted of one common share and one-half of one non-transferable common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"), each Warrant entitling the holder to purchase one additional common share of the Company at a price of C$1.75 until May 17, 2018. If, commencing on September 18, 2016, the closing price of Company's common shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange is higher than C$2.50 for 10 consecutive trading days (the "Trigger Date"), the expiry date of the Warrants may be accelerated to the date that is 10 trading days after the Trigger Date by the issuance of a news release within two trading days of the Trigger Date announcing such acceleration (the "Acceleration Provision").
In connection with the Private Placement, the Company has paid a Finder and certain of its affiliates (collectively, "Finder") a cash commission equal to 5% of the gross proceeds from the sale of 7.51 million Units sold to purchasers introduced by Finder. Finder also received an aggregate of 225,300 warrants ("Finder Warrants"). Each Finder Warrant is exercisable for one common share of the Company at a price of C$1.49 until May 17, 2018, subject to the Acceleration Provision. The Company also paid finder's fees of $176,110 to other arm's length finders, representing a cash commission equal to 5% of the gross proceeds received in respect of the sale of 2.94 million Units to purchasers introduced to the Company by such finders.
The net proceeds from the Private Placement are expected to be used by the Company for exploration and development activities on the Company's assets and for general corporate purposes.
The securities issued and issuable upon the exercise of warrants under the Private Placement are subject to a hold period and may not be traded until September 18, 2016 except as permitted by applicable securities legislation and the rules and policies of the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Certain directors and senior officers of the Company participated in the Private Placement by purchasing an aggregate of 50,000 Units. Accordingly, the Private Placement constituted to that extent a "related party transaction" under applicable Canadian securities laws. The Company did not file a material change report more than 21 days before the expected closing of the Private Placement as the details of the Private Placement and the participation therein by related parties of the Company were not settled until shortly prior to closing and the Company wished to close on an expedited basis for sound business reasons.
About Alexco
Alexco Resource Corp. owns the Bellekeno silver mine, one of several mineral properties held by Alexco which encompass substantially all of the historical Keno Hill Silver District located in Canada's Yukon Territory. Employing a unique business model, Alexco also provides mine-related environmental services, remediation technologies and reclamation and mine closure services to both government and industry clients through the Alexco Environmental Group, its wholly-owned environmental services division.
This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of any of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful, including in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any securities laws of any state of the United States and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or pursuant to an exemption from such registration requirements.
Some statements ("forward-looking statements") in this news release contain forward-looking information concerning the Private Placement and the use of proceeds thereof, the Company's anticipated results and developments in the Company's operations in future periods, planned exploration and development of its properties, plans related to its business and other matters that may occur in the future, made as of the date of this news release. Forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the anticipated use of proceeds, and future exploration and development activities. Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual events or results to differ from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, risks related to Alexco's ability to raise additional capital; actual results and timing of exploration and development activities; actual results and timing of mining activities; actual results and timing of environmental services activities; actual results and timing of remediation and reclamation activities; conclusions of economic evaluations; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; future prices of silver, gold, lead, zinc and other commodities; possible variations in mineable resources, grade or recovery rates; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; First Nation rights and title; continued capitalization and commercial viability; global economic conditions; competition; and delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the completion of development activities. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions that management believes are reasonable at the time they are made. In making the forward-looking statements included in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including, but not limited to, the assumption that the Company will be able to raise additional capital that the proposed exploration and development will proceed as planned, and that market fundamentals will result in sustained silver, gold, lead and zinc demand and prices. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company 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 as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation.
Contacts:
Alexco Resource Corp.
Clynton R. Nauman
President and Chief Executive Officer
Phone: (604) 633-4888
Alexco Resource Corp.
Mike Clark
Chief Financial Officer
Phone: (604) 633-4888
Email: info@alexcoresource.com
Regulatory News:
United Company RUSAL Plc (Paris:RUSAL) (Paris:RUAL):
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited take no responsibility for the contents of this announcement, make no representation as to its accuracy or completeness and expressly disclaim any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from or in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this announcement.
UNITED COMPANY RUSAL PLC
(Incorporated under the laws of Jersey with limited liability)
(Stock Code: 486)
CONTINUING CONNECTED TRANSACTIONS
PURCHASE OF RAW MATERIALS FOR REPAIRING
Reference is made to the announcements of the Company dated 22 December 2015 and 27 April 2016 in relation to continuing connected transactions regarding purchase of raw materials for repairing. The Company announces that on 17 May 2016, the member of the Group, as buyer, and Public Joint Stock Company "ENERGOPROM-Novocherkassk Electrode Plant", the associate of Mr. Blavatnik, as supplier, entered into the New Purchase of Raw Materials for Repairing Contract.
THE NEW PURCHASE OF RAW MATERIALS FOR REPAIRING CONTRACT
The Company announces that, on 17 May 2016, the member of the Group, as buyer, and Public Joint Stock Company "ENERGOPROM-Novocherkassk Electrode Plant", the associate of Mr. Blavatnik, as supplier, entered into the contract pursuant to which the buyer agreed to buy and the supplier agreed to sell raw materials for repairing (the "New Purchase of Raw Materials for Repairing Contract"). The key terms of the New Purchase of Raw Materials for Repairing Contract are set out below:
Date of
contract Buyer (member
of the Group) Seller (an
associate of Mr.
Blavatnik) Raw
materials
to be
purchased Estimated
purchase
volume Unit price
(Net of VAT) Estimated
consideration
payable
excluding
VAT (USD) Scheduled
termination
date Payment
terms 1 17 May 2016 Limited
Liability
Company
"Russian
Engineering
Company" Public Joint Stock
Company
"ENERGOPROM
-Novocherkassk
Electrode Plant" Graphitized
Electrodes For year
ending 31
December
2016: up
to 54.6
tonnes Up to
USD1,529
per tonne 83,400 31 December
2016 The
contract can
be
automatically
extended to
31 December
2018, subject
to the
entering into
of additional
contracts for
2017 and
2018 Within 45
calendar
days after
actual
delivery Total
estimated
consideration
payable for
the year:
December
2016 83,400
The consideration is to be satisfied in cash via wire transfer or by setting-off against counter claims.
THE ANNUAL AGGREGATE TRANSACTION AMOUNT
Pursuant to Rule 14A.81 of the Listing Rules, the continuing connected transactions contemplated under the New Purchase of Raw Materials for Repairing Contract and the Previously Disclosed Purchase of Raw Materials for Repairing Contracts should be aggregated, as they were entered into by members of the Group with the associates of Mr. Blavatnik, and the subject matter of each contract relates to the purchase of raw materials from the associates of Mr. Blavatnik by the Group.
The annual aggregate transaction amount that is payable by the Group to the associates of Mr. Blavatnik under the New Purchase of Raw Materials for Repairing Contract and the Previously Disclosed Purchase of Raw Materials for Repairing Contracts for the financial year ending 31 December 2016 is estimated to be approximately USD28.43 million.
The contract price payable under the New Purchase of Raw Materials for Repairing Contract has been determined with reference to the market price and on terms no less favourable than those prevailing in the Russian market for raw materials of the same type and quality and those offered by the associates of Mr. Blavatnik to independent third parties.
The Company invited several organizations to take part in the tender in relation to the relevant required purchase of raw materials and chose the contractor offering the best terms and conditions (taking into account the price offered) and then entered into contracts with the chosen party. Accordingly, the New Purchase of Raw Materials for Repairing Contract was entered into.
The annual aggregate transaction amount is estimated by the Directors based on the amount of raw materials to be purchased and their contract price.
REASONS FOR AND BENEFITS OF THE TRANSACTIONS
The Directors consider that the New Purchase of Raw Materials for Repairing Contract is for the benefit of the Company, as Public Joint Stock Company "ENERGOPROM-Novocherkassk Electrode Plant" can supply raw materials to the Group at a price more favourable than the prevailing market rate based on tender. The New Purchase of Raw Materials for Repairing Contract is entered into for the purposes of purchasing raw materials for repair work.
The Directors (including the independent non-executive Directors) consider that the New Purchase of Raw Materials for Repairing Contract has been negotiated on an arm's length basis and on normal commercial terms which are fair and reasonable and the transactions contemplated under the New Purchase of Raw Materials for Repairing Contract are in the ordinary and usual course of business of the Group and in the interests of the Company and its shareholders as a whole.
None of the Directors has a material interest in the transactions contemplated by the New Purchase of Raw Materials for Repairing Contract save for Mr. Blavatnik who is indirectly interested in more than 30% of Public Joint Stock Company "ENERGOPROM-Novocherkassk Electrode Plant". Accordingly, Mr. Blavatnik did not vote on the Board resolutions to approve the New Purchase of Raw Materials for Repairing Contract.
LISTING RULES IMPLICATIONS
Mr. Blavatnik, a non-executive Director, indirectly holds more than 30% of the issued share capital of Public Joint Stock Company "ENERGOPROM-Novocherkassk Electrode Plant". Public Joint Stock Company "ENERGOPROM-Novocherkassk Electrode Plant" is therefore an associate of Mr. Blavatnik and a connected person of the Company under the Listing Rules.
Accordingly, the transactions contemplated under the New Purchase of Raw Materials for Repairing Contract constitute continuing connected transactions of the Company.
The estimated annual aggregate transaction amount of the continuing connected transactions under the New Purchase of Raw Materials for Repairing Contract for the financial year ending 31 December 2016 is more than 0.1% but less than 5% under the applicable percentage ratios. Accordingly, pursuant to Rule 14A.76 of the Listing Rules, the transactions contemplated under these contracts are only subject to the announcement requirements set out in Rules 14A.35 and 14A.68, the annual review requirements set out in Rules 14A.49, 14A.55 to 14A.59, 14A.71 and 14A.72 and the requirements set out in Rules 14A.34 and 14A.50 to 14A.54 of the Listing Rules. These transactions are exempt from the circular and shareholders' approval requirements under Chapter 14A of the Listing Rules.
Details of the New Purchase of Raw Materials for Repairing Contract will be included in the relevant annual report and accounts of the Company in accordance with Rule 14A.71 of the Listing Rules where appropriate.
PRINCIPAL BUSINESS ACTIVITIES
The Company is principally engaged in the production and sale of aluminium, including alloys and value-added products, and alumina.
Public Joint Stock Company "ENERGOPROM-Novocherkassk Electrode Plant" is principally engaged in the production of graphite electrodes.
DEFINITIONS
In this announcement, the following expressions have the following meanings, unless the context otherwise requires:
"associate(s)" has the same meaning ascribed thereto under
the Listing Rules. "Board" the board of Directors. "Company" United Company RUSAL Plc, a limited
liability company incorporated in Jersey, the
shares of which are listed on the main board
of the Stock Exchange. "connected person(s)" has the same meaning ascribed thereto under
the Listing Rules. "continuing connected transactions" has the same meaning ascribed thereto under
the Listing Rules. "Director(s)" the director(s) of the Company. "Group" the Company and its subsidiaries. "Listing Rules" the Rules Governing the Listing of
Securities on the Stock Exchange. "Mr. Blavatnik" Mr. Len Blavatnik, a non-executive
Director. "percentage ratios" the percentage ratios under Rule 14.07 of
the Listing Rules. "Previously Disclosed Purchase of Raw
Materials for Repairing Contracts" the agreements between members of the
Group and the associates of Mr. Blavatnik,
pursuant to which the associates of Mr.
Blavatnik agreed to supply raw materials to
members of the Group in 2016, as disclosed
in the announcements of the Company dated
22 December 2015 and 27 April 2016. "Stock Exchange" The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. "USD" United States dollars, the lawful currency of
the United States of America. "VAT" value added tax.
By Order of the Board of Directors of
United Company RUSAL Plc
Aby Wong Po Ying
Company Secretary
18 May 2016
As at the date of this announcement, the executive Directors are Mr. Oleg Deripaska, Mr. Vladislav Soloviev and Mr. Stalbek Mishakov, the non-executive Directors are Mr. Maxim Sokov, Mr. Dmitry Afanasiev, Mr. Len Blavatnik, Mr. Ivan Glasenberg, Mr. Maksim Goldman, Ms. Gulzhan Moldazhanova, Mr. Daniel Lesin Wolfe, Ms. Olga Mashkovskaya and Ms. Ekaterina Nikitina, and the independent non-executive Directors are Mr. Matthias Warnig (Chairman), Dr. Peter Nigel Kenny, Mr. Philip Lader, Dr. Elsie Leung Oi-sie, Mr. Mark Garber and Mr. Dmitry Vasiliev.
All announcements and press releases published by the Company are available on its website under the links http://www.rusal.ru/en/investors/info.aspxhttp://rusal.ru/investors/info/moex/ and http://www.rusal.ru/en/press-center/press-releases.aspx, respectively.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160517006444/en/
Contacts:
United Company RUSAL Plc
BASEL (dpa-AFX) - Novartis (NVS) said Tuesday that it will reorganize its operations to create separate units for cancer and for other drugs. The new structure reflects the importance of oncology to Novartis following the integration of the oncology assets acquired from GSK. David Epstein, currently Division Head and CEO, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, has decided to leave Novartis.
The company noted that it will focus its Pharmaceuticals Division by creating two business units reporting to the CEO: Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Novartis Oncology. These business units will form the Innovative Medicines Division at Novartis. The leader of each business will join the Executive Committee of Novartis (ECN) effective July 1, 2016.
Paul Hudson will be appointed CEO, Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Bruno Strigini will become CEO, Novartis Oncology. Both will report directly to Joseph Jimenez, CEO of Novartis.
Paul Hudson, currently Executive Vice President, North America and member of the Executive Committee, AstraZeneca, will join Novartis and lead Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Prior to his role in North America, Paul Hudson served as the leader of AstraZeneca's Japanese business. Novartis Pharmaceuticals will include the franchises Neuroscience, Ophthalmology, Immunology and Dermatology, Respiratory, Cardio-Metabolic and Established Medicines. He will be based at the global headquarters of the Innovative Medicines Division and the Novartis Pharmaceuticals business unit, which will be in Basel, Switzerland.
Bruno Strigini, currently Head of Novartis Oncology, will lead the Novartis Oncology business unit, comprised of the franchises Oncology and Cell and Gene Therapies. Strigini joined Novartis in 2014 from Merck & Co. to lead the oncology business and was instrumental in the successful integration of the oncology assets acquired from GSK. He will be based at the global headquarters of the Innovative Medicines Division and the Novartis Oncology business unit which will be in Basel, Switzerland.
From July 1, 2016 Novartis will continue to have three focused, customer-facing divisions: Innovative Medicines (formerly the Novartis Pharmaceuticals division), which will include the Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Novartis Oncology business units; Sandoz, the generics and biosimilar division, which includes the Retail Generics, Anti-Infectives and Biopharmaceuticals franchises; and Alcon, the eye care devices division, which includes the Surgical and Vision Care franchises.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
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New Dates for Amended Tender Offers Also Announced
Intelsat S.A., the world's leading provider of satellite services today announced that its subsidiary, Intelsat Jackson Holdings S.A. ("Intelsat Jackson"), has amended the terms of its previously announced tender offers (the "Tender Offers") to purchase its 6 ?% Senior Notes due 2022 (CUSIP No. 45824TAM7) (the "2022 Notes"), 5 % Senior Notes due 2023 (CUSIP No. 45824TAP0) (the "2023 Notes") and 7 % Senior Notes due 2021 (CUSIP No. 45824TAG0) (the "2021 Notes" and, together with the 2022 Notes and the 2023 Notes, the "Securities") for up to $625,000,000 in aggregate cash consideration (excluding accrued and unpaid interest on the Securities and excluding fees and expenses related to the Tender Offers) (the "Maximum Payment Amount"). The Company's obligation to accept and pay for Securities in the Tender Offers remains subject to satisfaction or waiver of the Financing Condition (as defined below) and the other general conditions prior to the expiration date.
The following table sets forth certain amended terms of the Tender Offers:
Dollars per $1,000 Principal Amount of Securities Principal Acceptance Early Total Amount Priority Tender Offer Tender Consideration(1) Title of Security CUSIP Number Outstanding Level Consideration(1) Premium (2) 6 ?% Senior Notes due 2022 45824TAM7 $815,252,000(3) 1 $667.50 $20.00 $687.50 5 % Senior Notes due 2023 45824TAP0 $2,000,000,000 2 $657.50 $20.00 $677.50 7 % Senior Notes due 2021 45824TAG0 $1,150,000,000 3 $685.00 $20.00 $705.00
(1) Excludes accrued and unpaid interest up to, but not including, the applicable Settlement Date, which will be paid in addition to the Tender Offer Consideration or Total Consideration, as applicable. (2) Includes the Early Tender Premium. (3) Excludes approximately $460.0 million aggregate principal amount of 2022 Notes repurchased and cancelled by the Company in 2016.
The following table sets forth certain amended key dates of the Tender Offers, as amended. All such dates are described in detail below and in the Tender Offer Materials:
Key Date Calendar Date Launch Date May 12, 2016 Early Tender Date 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on May 31, 2016, unless extended or earlier terminated by us. Withdrawal Deadline 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on May 31, 2016, unless extended or earlier terminated by us. Early Settlement Date (option of the Company) The Early Settlement Date is currently expected to be June 1, 2016. Expiration Date 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on June 14, 2016, unless extended or earlier terminated by us. Final Settlement Date The Final Settlement Date is currently expected to be June 15, 2016.
The Tender Offers are scheduled to expire at 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on June 14, 2016 (the "Expiration Date"), unless extended or earlier terminated by Intelsat Jackson. The Tender Offers are being made pursuant to an Amended and Restated Offer to Purchase dated May 17, 2016 and a related Amended and Restated Letter of Transmittal dated May 17, 2016 (together, the "Tender Offer Materials"), which set forth a more detailed description of the Tender Offers. Holders of the Securities are urged to carefully read the Tender Offer Materials before making any decision with respect to the Tender Offers.
The aggregate consideration to be paid for the purchase of the Securities pursuant to the Tender Offers is up to the Maximum Payment Amount. The principal amount of any series of Securities that is purchased in a Tender Offer will be based on the acceptance priority level for such series, as set forth in the table above (the "Acceptance Priority Level"). As discussed in more detail in the Tender Offer Materials, Intelsat Jackson reserves the right, but is under no obligation, to increase or decrease the Maximum Payment Amount, at any time, subject to compliance with applicable law.
The total consideration (the "Total Consideration") payable for each $1,000 principal amount of Securities validly tendered at or prior to 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on May 31, 2016 (such date and time, as it may be extended, the "Early Tender Date") and accepted for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offers will be the applicable total consideration for such series of Securities set forth in the table above. The Total Consideration includes the early tender premium for such series of Securities also set forth in the table above (the "Early Tender Premium"). Holders must validly tender and not subsequently validly withdraw their Securities at or prior to the Early Tender Date in order to be eligible to receive the Total Consideration for such Securities purchased in the Tender Offers.
Subject to the terms and conditions of the Tender Offers, each Holder who validly tenders and does not subsequently validly withdraw their Securities at or prior to the Early Tender Date will be entitled to receive the Total Consideration, plus accrued and unpaid interest up to, but not including, the applicable Settlement Date (as defined below) if and when such Securities are accepted for payment. Holders who validly tender their Securities after the Early Tender Date but at or prior to the Expiration Date will be entitled to receive only the tender offer consideration equal to the applicable Total Consideration less the Early Tender Premium (the "Tender Offer Consideration"), plus accrued and unpaid interest up to, but not including, the applicable Settlement Date, if and when such Securities are accepted for payment.
Intelsat Jackson reserves the right but is under no obligation, at any point following the Early Tender Date and before the Expiration Date, to accept for purchase any Securities validly tendered at or prior to the Early Tender Date (the date of such purchase, the "Early Settlement Date"). The Early Settlement Date will be determined at Intelsat Jackson's option and is currently expected to occur on the first business day following the Early Tender Date, subject to all conditions to the Tender Offers having been satisfied or waived by Intelsat Jackson. The expected Early Settlement Date is June 1, 2016, unless extended by Intelsat Jackson, assuming all conditions to the Tender Offers have been satisfied or waived by Intelsat Jackson. Irrespective of whether Intelsat Jackson chooses to exercise its option to have an Early Settlement Date, Intelsat Jackson will purchase any remaining Securities that have been validly tendered by the Expiration Date and that it chooses to accept for purchase, subject to the Maximum Payment Amount, the application of the Acceptance Priority Levels and all conditions to the Tender Offers having been satisfied or waived by Intelsat Jackson, on a date immediately following the Expiration Date (the "Final Settlement Date" and each of the Early Settlement Date and Final Settlement Date, a "Settlement Date"). The Final Settlement Date is expected to occur on the first business day following the Expiration Date, subject to all conditions to the Tender Offers having been satisfied or waived by Intelsat Jackson. The expected Final Settlement Date is June 15, 2016, unless extended by Intelsat Jackson, assuming all conditions to the Tender Offers have been satisfied or waived by Intelsat Jackson.
To receive either the Total Consideration or the Tender Offer Consideration, holders of the Securities must validly tender and not validly withdraw their Securities prior to the Early Tender Date or the Expiration Date, respectively. Securities tendered may be withdrawn from the Tender Offers at or prior to, but not after, 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on May 31, 2016, unless extended by Intelsat Jackson, by following the procedures described in the Tender Offer Materials.
Subject to the Maximum Payment Amount, the application of the Acceptance Priority Levels and the other terms and conditions described in the Tender Offer Materials, including the Financing Condition (as defined below) and Intelsat Jackson's right to increase or decrease the Maximum Payment Amount, Intelsat Jackson intends to accept for payment all Securities validly tendered at or prior to the Expiration Date, and will only prorate the Securities if the aggregate consideration necessary to purchase the aggregate amount of Securities validly tendered at or prior to the Early Tender Date or the Expiration Date, as applicable, exceeds the Maximum Payment Amount. The amounts of each series of Securities that are purchased in the Tender Offer will be determined in accordance with the Acceptance Priority Levels set forth in the Offer to Purchase and referenced in the table above, with 1 being the highest Acceptance Priority Level and 3 being the lowest Acceptance Priority Level. At the applicable Settlement Date, all Securities validly tendered and not validly withdrawn in the Tender Offer having a higher (i.e., lower numerical) Acceptance Priority Level will be accepted before any tendered Securities having a lower Acceptance Priority Level are accepted in the Tender Offer. If the aggregate principal amount of any Securities of a series tendered and not validly withdrawn in the Tender Offer exceeds the amount of the Maximum Payment Amount remaining available for application, then, if any Securities of such series are purchased, Intelsat Jackson will accept such Securities on a pro rata basis. In the event that Securities with a certain Acceptance Priority Level are accepted on such a pro rata basis, no series of Securities with a lower Acceptance Priority Level will be accepted for payment.
If the Tender Offers are not fully subscribed as of the Early Tender Date and we elect to have an Early Settlement Date, Holders who validly tender Securities after the Early Tender Date may be subject to proration, whereas Holders who validly tender Securities at or prior to the Early Tender Date will not be subject to proration. If the Tenders Offers are not fully subscribed as of the Early Tender Date and we elect to have an Early Settlement Date, Securities tendered at or before the Early Tender Date will be accepted for purchase in priority to other Securities tendered after the Early Tender Date, even if such Securities tendered after the Early Tender Date have a higher Acceptance Priority Level than Securites tendered prior to the Early Tender Date. In addition, if the aggregate consideration necessary to purchase the aggregate amount of Securities of all series validly tendered at or prior to the Early Tender Date exceeds the Maximum Payment Amount and we elect to have an Early Settlement Date, Holders who validly tender Securities after the Early Tender Date will not have any of their Securities accepted for payment. However, in the event we do not elect to have an Early Settlement Date and the aggregate consideration necessary to purchase the aggregate amount of Securities of all series validly tendered at or prior to the Final Settlement Date exceeds the Maximum Payment Amount, all Holders who validly tendered Securities will be subject to proration, subject to the application of the Acceptance Priority Levels. Securities which were not accepted for purchase due to the Maximum Payment Amount or the application of the Acceptance Priority Levels may be accepted if we increase the Maximum Payment Amount, which we are entitled to do at our sole discretion, and such increase is not fully met or exceeded by Securities validly tendered at or prior to the Early Tender Date (in the event we elect to have an Early Settlement Date) or by Securities purchased in a higher (i.e., lower numerical) Acceptance Priority Level. There can be no assurance that we will increase the Maximum Payment Amount.
The obligation of Intelsat Jackson to accept for purchase and to pay either the Total Consideration or Tender Offer Consideration and the accrued and unpaid interest on the Securities pursuant to the Tender Offers is not subject to any minimum tender condition, but is subject to the Maximum Payment Amount, the application of the Acceptance Priority Levels and the satisfaction or waiver of the Financing Condition and certain other conditions described in the Tender Offer Materials.
Intelsat Jackson's obligation to accept for purchase, and to pay for, Securities validly tendered pursuant to the Tender Offers is subject to, and conditioned upon, having obtained debt financing (the "New Debt Financing") in a minimum aggregate principal amount that will generate sufficient proceeds, in addition to cash on hand, to purchase the tendered Securities, including payment of the Tender Offer Consideration or Total Consideration, as applicable, and any fees payable in connection with the Tender Offers, subsequent to the date hereof and on or prior to the Final Settlement Date, on terms and conditions reasonably satisfactory to Intelsat Jackson (the "Financing Condition"). Intelsat Jackson's current intention is to satisfy the Financing Condition by issuing long-term senior secured debt securities but, subject to market conditions and at Intelsat Jackson's sole discretion, Intelsat Jackson may elect to enter into alternative debt financing. There can be no assurance any such New Debt Financing will be available, and thus no assurance that the Financing Condition will be satisfied.
Intelsat Jackson has retained Guggenheim Securities, LLC to serve as Dealer Manager for the Tender Offers. Global Bondholder Services Corporation has been retained to serve as the Information and Depositary Agent for the Tender Offers. Questions regarding the Tender Offers may be directed to Guggenheim Securities, LLC at 330 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10017, Attn: Liability Management Group, Phillip Laroche, ((212) 293-3035 (phone) or Phillip.Laroche@guggenheimpartners.com (email). Requests for the Tender Offer Materials may be directed to Global Bondholder Services Corporation at 65 Broadway Suite 404, New York, New York 10006, Attn: Corporate Actions, (212) 430-3774 (for banks and brokers) or (866) 470-4200 (for all others).
Intelsat Jackson is making the Tender Offers only by, and pursuant to, the terms of the Tender Offer Materials. None of Intelsat Jackson, the Dealer Manager, the Information and Depositary Agent nor their respective affiliates make any recommendation as to whether Holders should tender or refrain from tendering their Securities. Holders must make their own decision as to whether to tender Securities and, if so, the principal amount of the Securities to tender. The Tender Offers are not being made to holders of Securities in any jurisdiction in which the making or acceptance thereof would not be in compliance with the securities, blue sky or other laws of such jurisdiction. In any jurisdiction in which the securities laws or blue sky laws require the Tender Offers to be made by a licensed broker or dealer, the Tender Offers will be deemed to be made on behalf of Intelsat Jackson by one or more registered brokers or dealers that are licensed under the laws of such jurisdiction.
This press release does not constitute an offer to purchase securities or a solicitation of an offer to sell any securities or an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase any new securities, including in connection with the New Debt Financing, nor does it constitute an offer or solicitation in any jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful. Capitalized terms used in this press release but not otherwise defined herein have the meanings assigned to them in the Tender Offer Materials.
About Intelsat
Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I) operates the world's first Globalized Network, delivering high-quality, cost-effective video and broadband services anywhere in the world. Intelsat's Globalized Network combines the world's largest satellite backbone with terrestrial infrastructure, managed services and an open, interoperable architecture to enable customers to drive revenue and reach through a new generation of network services. Thousands of organizations serving billions of people worldwide rely on Intelsat to provide ubiquitous broadband connectivity, multi-format video broadcasting, secure satellite communications and seamless mobility services. The end result is an entirely new world, one that allows us to envision the impossible, connect without boundaries and transform the ways in which we live.
Intelsat Safe Harbor Statement:
Statements in this news release, including statements regarding the Tender Offer and the New Debt Financing, constitute "forward-looking statements" that do not directly or exclusively relate to historical facts. When used in this release, the words "may," "will," "might," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "project," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "intend," "potential," "outlook," and "continue," and the negative of these terms, and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information.
The forward-looking statements reflect Intelsat's intentions, plans, expectations, assumptions and beliefs about future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside of Intelsat's control. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements include known and unknown risks. Known risks include, among others, market conditions and the risks described in Intelsat's annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2015, and its other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and risks and uncertainties related to our ability to consummate the New Debt Financing and the Tender Offers.
Because actual results could differ materially from Intelsat's intentions, plans, expectations, assumptions and beliefs about the future, you are urged to view all forward-looking statements with caution. Intelsat does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160517006742/en/
Contacts:
Intelsat
Dianne VanBeber, +1 703-559-7406
Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
dianne.vanbeber@intelsat.com
or
Michele Loguidice, +1 703-559-7372
Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
michele.loguidice@intelsat.com
NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- Kobalt, the world's leading music services company, today announced the release of the Kobalt App, available to all Kobalt Music Publishing clients for download on iOS devices. The Kobalt App raises the bar for transparency by putting powerful, real-time data into the hands of artists and songwriters.
The Kobalt App revolutionizes the way creators can access their earnings, on-the-go. For the first time, creators will be able to view all their rights globally and see how each song, by right type, directly translates into income.
"This connection between a creator's works and their income is the first of its kind," said Willard Ahdritz, Kobalt Founder and CEO. "It's a fundamental shift in the relationship between rights owners and their data. Imagine how that will influence their decisions, shape their perspectives on the industry and streaming, empowering them with the facts. I believe this will have an enormous impact on the future of music - out of the dark ages, full access, in real time. All in one app. The revolution continues!"
Similar to Kobalt's award winning desktop Portal, the Kobalt App is a window into Kobalt's powerful tech platform, collecting more money, faster for its clients than any other music publisher. A recent comparison of six Top 100 songs, each administered 50% by Kobalt and 50% by one of the major publishers, affirms that Kobalt collects 20-40% more for its clients, significantly faster. Furthermore, this uplift does not include the additional increase that Kobalt is forecasting from AMRA, as early figures showed last week a 28% uplift in Spotify and YouTube revenues within a single quarter since AMRA began administering Kobalt's catalog in Europe.
"Putting the power of Kobalt into the hands of creators has always been a top priority for me. Today's music creators deserve the same transparent, on-demand access to their data that most other industries already have. The Kobalt App is a giant step toward delivering that for our clients," said Ahdritz. "The feedback we are getting from our clients is incredible - no one has seen anything like this before! This is the only app that delivers true transparency for creators."
Kobalt client Gary Go (artist, producer and songwriter for Rihanna, Skrillex, Steve Angello, Benny Benassi) said, "As a songwriter and independent publisher, this app is a dream utility. If I could have only one app on my phone, it would be the Mail app -- but if I could have two, the second would be the Kobalt app!"
Jonny Quinn of Snow Patrol and music publisher, Polar Patrol stated, "As a fan of the Kobalt Portal, the new app is stunning. At a glance, its real time info with artwork and simple to use. It gives you all the song details you need in seconds. The synch tracking and updates are killer!"
Key features of the Kobalt App include:
Music Feed: Kobalt clients can scroll through their top 100 music earnings at a glance, or explore by quarter, right type and territory. With daily updates, they will always have the latest income and activity data from all publishing sources, including Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, Pandora, and many more.
News: Creators can stay up to date on industry news and important account updates from Kobalt, including real-time synch activity, payments, registration, and much more.
YouTube: Clients can track where and how their music is being used on YouTube. Whether it's an official video, a cover song, or a viral sensation, creators will know exactly how many views Kobalt is monetizing.
Financials: Creators can see the money they're making in real time, and break down income by top earning works, right type, or country. They can also compare financial data across previous quarters, and find out when their statements are due.
Synch: From pitch to payment, clients can keep track of every synch opportunity around the world. They can favorite the synch opportunities they want to follow closely, or tap to explore more details.
The Kobalt App is free to use for Kobalt Publishing Clients, and is available in countries where the the Apple App Store operates, starting May 18th. The Android version of the Kobalt App is planned for release in the near future.
To download the Kobalt App, please visit koba.lt/KobaltApp.
To learn more about the Kobalt App, please visit kobaltmusic.com/app.
ABOUT KOBALT
Kobalt is the leading independent music services company. Kobalt's Music Publishing, Label Services, and Neighbouring Rights divisions each offer an alternative to the traditional music business model, empowering artists, songwriters, publishers and labels with advanced technology, transparency, flexibility, ownership and control. Kobalt's innovative technology solutions are designed to maximize efficiency and accuracy across the billions of micro-payments collected in today's highly complex digital world.
Kobalt has experienced tremendous growth year-over-year through the past decade and now serves over 8,000+ songwriters and over 500 publishing companies worldwide. Kobalt works with many of the world's greatest artists and songwriters, representing on average over 40% of the top 100 songs and albums in both the US and UK. Kobalt has built the most trusted brand in music among music creators including Beck, Dr Luke, Kelly Clarkson, Dave Grohl, deadmau5, Max Martin, Paul McCartney, Pitbull, Ryan Tedder, Sam Smith, Noah "40" Shebib, Skrillex and many more.
Kobalt offers its clients a variety of services, including creative services, synch & brand partnerships, global licensing management, neighboring rights, works and rights distribution, royalty collection and processing, online data and royalty statements, record release management, and digital marketing and monetization. For more information on Kobalt, please contact: info@kobaltmusic.com, or visit us at www.kobaltmusic.com.
Media Contact:
Erika Janis
Email: kobalt@praytellstrategy.com
First-of-its-kind report by OPEN and Tent Foundation demonstrates that humanitarian investment can bring substantial economic dividends
NEW YORK, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A groundbreaking new international study released today by the Tent Foundation and Open Political Economy Network (OPEN) powerfully highlights how accepting refugees and empowering them to succeed in the workforce can lead to significant economic growth, increased productivity and wages, new businesses and jobs, and increased international trade and innovation, among other benefits. Specifically, the study demonstrates how investing a euro in welcoming refugees can yield nearly two in economic benefits within five years.
Released just days before the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey, 'Refugees Work: A Humanitarian Investment That Yields Economic Dividends'outlines the many reasons why accepting refugees and enabling them to fully participate in the workforce will have lasting benefits to advanced economies.
Based on a comprehensive literature review and recent data, the report identifies many economic dividends host countries gain by welcoming refugees. These include:
Diversity , which stimulates new ideas and technologies, and enhanced problem-solving abilities due to exposure to varying viewpoints and experiences;
, which stimulates new ideas and technologies, and enhanced problem-solving abilities due to exposure to varying viewpoints and experiences; Dynamism , or refugees' strong disposition toward enterprise and entrepreneurship;
, or refugees' strong disposition toward enterprise and entrepreneurship; Deftness , or specialized skills that can fill existing gaps in labor markets and enhance local productivity;
, or specialized skills that can fill existing gaps in labor markets and enhance local productivity; Demographics , by which typically young refugees can support the working-age population and help pay and care for the growing ranks of retired people; and
, by which typically young refugees can support the working-age population and help pay and care for the growing ranks of retired people; and Demand, or spending on and by refugees that acts like a fiscal stimulus, catalyzing spending that boosts growth
"Refugees are often seen as a burden to be shared or shirked, when in fact they are an opportunity to be welcomed," said the report's author, Philippe Legrain, Founder of OPEN and Senior Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics' European Institute. "With a suitable upfront investment and wise policies, hard-working refugees of all skill levels have a lot to contribute to the economy, individual businesses and the public sector."
"Not only is welcoming refugees the morally just decision, it's also the economically smart one," said Ruma Bose, President of the Tent Foundation. "For more reasons than one, countries that welcome refugees today stand to gain significantly tomorrow. Policymakers should acknowledge the remarkable talents, energy, and dedication of so many fleeing violence and conflict, and appreciate them as the workers, taxpayers, entrepreneurs, and innovators they will one day become."
"This is a truly excellent report which should be read by anyone wishing to be informed on the subject, and particularly by policymakers," said Peter Sutherland, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for International Migration and Development.
The report also makes important policy recommendations that developed-country governments should quickly adopt to improve refugee outcomes and enhance economic benefits. These include:
Making it easier for asylum seekers and refugees to start working quickly;
Allowing asylum seekers the right to be self-employed and to start their own businesses;
Providing resettled refugees with literacy, language, and job skill training, where necessary;
Placing refugees in areas where jobs are available;
Streamlining the recognition of foreign credentials and qualifications and better matching skilled refugees to appropriate jobs; and
Vigorously enforcing non-discrimination laws
The full report and its executive summary are available here.
About OPEN
Open Political Economy Network (OPEN) is a campaigning international think-tank (or platform for progress) which creatively harnesses the insights of a diverse international network of thinkers and experts to inform, engage and influence policymakers and global debate on openness issues.
OPEN was founded by Philippe Legrain, a highly respected thinker and communicator. Mr. Legrain was economic adviser to the President of the European Commission and head of the team providing President Barroso with strategic policy advice from 2011 to 2014. He is the author of four critically acclaimed books, notably Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them, which was shortlisted for the 2007 Financial Times Business Book of the Year award.
About TENT
The Tent Foundation seeks to improve the lives and livelihoods of the 60 million people who have been forcibly displaced around the globe. The Tent Foundation does this by funding direct assistance, investing in innovation, and promoting policies and partnerships to help the displaced realize their full potential. The Tent Alliance leverages the support, ingenuity and dynamism of the world's businesses to help end the refugee crisis.
The Tent Foundation was established by Hamdi Ulukaya, the Founder and CEO of Chobani and an active donor to humanitarian organizations. Mr. Ulukaya launched the Tent Foundation to aid refugees and to end displacement everywhere. In 2015, he became an Eminent Advocate for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and joined the giving pledge, committing the majority of his wealth to help end the global refugee crisis. For more information, visit www.tent.org.
SHUNDE, China, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Offer at EUR 115 in cash per KUKA share
in cash per KUKA share Premium of 59.6 percent over KUKA's unaffected closing price on February 3, 2016 , the day before publication of the increase of Midea's stake to 10.2 percent
, the day before publication of the increase of Midea's stake to 10.2 percent Mutual strategic benefits through complimentary businesses and joint development of robotics for applications in general industry and logistics as well as service robotics
Midea fully committed to KUKA's independence and status as a listed entity in Germany , and is committed to invest in KUKA's employees, brand, intellectual property and facilities to further support the company's development
Midea (Midea Group Co Ltd, SZSE 000333), one of the world's leading industrial groups in consumer appliances and Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) systems, announced today its intention to launch a voluntary takeover offer through its affiliate MECCA International (BVI) Limited for all shares in KUKA (KUKA AG), a leading global supplier of intelligent automation solutions, at EUR 115 per share. The decision confirms Midea's previously stated intention to increase its shareholding in KUKA. Currently, Midea indirectly owns 13.5 percent of KUKA's shares. In line with the applicable regulatory framework, the increase of the shareholding to more than 30 percent requires an offer for all issued shares in KUKA AG.
Midea is committed to maintaining KUKA's independence as a publicly listed company in Germany and has no intention of entering into a domination agreement regardless of the result of the takeover offer.
The all-cash proposal provides KUKA's shareholders with compelling and immediate value, as it represents a 59.6 percent premium over KUKA's unaffected closing price of EUR 72.05 on February 3, 2016, the day before the publication of Midea's 10.2 percent stake. The completion of the takeover offer will be subject to certain conditions. These include, in particular, achieving a minimum acceptance threshold of 30 percent of the issued shares of KUKA, including the shares already owned by Midea, necessary antitrust and other regulatory clearances and approval of the transaction by the shareholders' general meeting of Midea.
Paul Fang, Chairman and CEO of Midea, comments on the announcement: "As a customer and investor, we have been impressed by KUKA's management and employees and have had constructive dialogue since building our initial stake in the company. KUKA is in excellent condition today and we are committed to investing in KUKA's employees, brand, intellectual property and facilities to further support the company's development. We would like to have a meaningful stake in KUKA above 30 percent and have no intention of concluding a domination agreement or delisting the company. We believe that a larger shareholding strikes the right balance between an independent KUKA while also putting both companies in a position to drive further growth through collaboration, especially in China. The investment fits perfectly into Midea's 'Smart' strategy, which aims to upgrade our manufacturing competencies and develop smart home devices."
Mutual strategic benefit through complementary businesses and joint development of robotics for applications in general industry and logistics as well as service robotics
One of KUKA's stated key strategic focus areas is the broader robotics market in China, an area in which Midea also sees substantial growth opportunities driven by rising labour costs and an ageing Chinese population. KUKA stated that by 2020, it plans to grow sales to EUR 1 billion in China from EUR 425 million in its most recent financial year.
As a leading industrial company in consumer products, Midea has an extensive network of distributors, suppliers and other constituents and is therefore an ideal partner to significantly strengthen KUKA's positioning, address local customer needs and increase its exposure to general industries in China, which has the largest and most diverse general industries sector in the world. Based on its excellent manufacturing capabilities, Midea will seek opportunities to support KUKA to fully utilize its capabilities and network and realise efficiencies in its supply chain.
Having serviced households both inside and outside of China for decades, Midea sees substantial potential, specifically in smart home appliances. In 2015, Midea launched its "Smart" strategy, not only to further upgrade Midea's manufacturing and logistics automation via additional investments in robotics, but also to look into developing smart home devices based on robotics technology. Midea's goal is to raise its overall sales over the coming years to over EUR 25 billion, of which smart devices and service robotics will form a significant portion.
Andy Gu, Vice President of Midea, says: "Midea sees KUKA as its partner of choice in further enhancing its automation product and service offerings, while Midea makes an ideal partner for KUKA to develop, manufacture and market KUKA's robotics proposition. We look forward to leveraging our experience and additional financial resources to accelerate KUKA's strategy in China and support their expansion into general industries."
Midea also aims to enhance its manufacturing efficiency through KUKA's technology throughout its industrial base and supply chain, while KUKA can capitalize on Midea's manufacturing expertise to further develop innovative solutions. Moreover, there is a strong strategic rationale in an increased collaboration between KUKA's "Swisslog" business and Midea's broad logistics operations to drive warehouse and logistics automation in the growing Chinese logistics market. Midea sees significant opportunities to combine each company's strengths -- KUKA's robotics expertise and Midea's established position in customers' homes -- and jointly strengthen the footprint in the future service robots market by seeking opportunities to develop customized product lines, such as home and service robotics products.
Midea values KUKA's independence and proposes corresponding commitments
Midea fully supports the operational independence of KUKA's business. Midea regards the continued leadership of the current management team as critical to KUKA's continued success and is fully supportive of KUKA's current strategy, employment base and brand development.
"We intend to seek representation on the Supervisory Board in a manner which appropriately reflects our shareholding and look forward to working constructively with the other KUKA Board members and shareholders to support the company's future development. We are prepared to agree to specific commitments in this regard. We expect these to include continued support for KUKA's employment levels, brands and intellectual property. Moreover, we will look to support KUKA's additional investments in Research and Development and software to maintain its competitive advantage," said Midea Chairman and CEO, Paul Fang.
Additional information
The transaction will be implemented through a voluntary takeover offer for all outstanding shares of KUKA. Midea has the financial capacity needed to implement the transaction. The financing of the transaction will be achieved by a credit facility.
Morgan Stanley is acting as exclusive financial advisor and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is acting as legal advisor to Midea on the transaction.
This announcement does not constitute an offer or an invitation to purchase any securities. The intended takeover offer will be made solely by means of the yet to be published Offer Document, which will contain the full terms and conditions of the intended takeover offer including details of how it may be accepted.
This document may contain certain forward-looking statements. Such statements are, in particular, indicated by terms such as "expects", "believes", "is of the opinion", "attempts", "estimates", "intends", "assumes" and "endeavors" and similar phrases. Such statements express current intentions, views, expectations, estimates and forecasts with regard to possible future events. They are, inter alia, based on certain assumptions, assessments and forecasts, are subject to risks and uncertainties and therefore they may turn out to be incorrect.
Notice to US holders of KUKA AG Shares:
The intended takeover offer is being made for the securities of a German company and is subject to German disclosure requirements, which are different from those of the United States. The financial information included in this announcement has been largely prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards and the generally accepted accounting principles of the PRC and thus may not be comparable to financial information of US companies or companies whose financial statements are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States. The intended takeover offer will be made in the United States pursuant to the applicable US tender offer rules, including Regulation 14E and relevant provisions on exemptions from the prohibition on purchases outside the intended takeover offer and otherwise in accordance with the requirements of the German Securities Acquisition and Takeover Act (Wertpapiererwerbs- und Ubernahmegesetz). Accordingly, the intended takeover offer will be subject to disclosure and other procedural requirements, including with respect to withdrawal rights, offer timetable, settlement procedures and timing of payments that are different from those applicable under US domestic tender offer procedures and law.
To the extent permissible under applicable law or regulation, MECCA International (BVI) Limited (the Bidder) and its affiliates or brokers (acting as agents for the Bidder or its affiliates, as applicable) may from time to time before, during or after the period in which the intended takeover offer remains open for acceptance, and other than pursuant to the intended takeover offer, directly or indirectly purchase, or arrange to purchase, shares of KUKA AG, that may be the subject of the intended takeover offer, or any securities that are convertible into, exchangeable for or exercisable for shares of KUKA AG. Any such purchases, or arrangements to purchase, will comply with all applicable German rules and regulations and Rule 14e-5 under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act to the extent applicable. Information about such purchases will be disclosed in Germany to the extent required by applicable law. To the extent information about such purchases or arrangements to purchase is made public in Germany, such information also will be deemed to be publicly disclosed in the United States. In addition, the financial advisors to the Bidder may also engage in ordinary course trading activities in securities of KUKA AG, which may include purchases or arrangements to purchase such securities.
About Midea
Midea is a leading global player in consumer appliances and Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) systems, with diversified product offering, encompassing air-conditioners, refrigerators, laundry appliances, kitchen appliances and various small home appliances. Midea is committed to build a better life by adhering to the principle of "Creating Value for Customers". Midea is focused on continuous technological innovation, including robotics, to improve product and service quality, to make life more comfortable and pleasant.
Founded in 1968 in Guangdong, China, Midea has now established a global platform of more than 200 subsidiaries and nine strategic business units. Midea had total revenues of over EUR 18.7 billion in the fiscal year ending December 31, 2015 and approximately 100,000 employees worldwide. Midea runs 21 manufacturing sites globally and operates 260 logistics centres. Midea is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (000333).
To learn more about Midea, please visit at http://www.midea.com/global/
To learn more about the takeover offer, please visit http://www.partnershipinrobotics.com/
Midea KUKA Partnership Factsheet: http://photos.prnasia.com/prnk/20160518/8521603191-a
PUNE, India, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
The 2016 foodservice market research on size, trends and 2020 forecasts is of 58 pages providing 30 Figures, 6 Tables and now available in the food and beverages industry segment of MarketReportsOnline.com. Foodservice is business-to-business (B2B) arrangement where specialized logistics providers serve the foodstuff and ingredient needs of businesses.
The "Global Foodservice Market: Size, Trends and Forecasts (2016-2020)" report analyzes the potential opportunities and significant trends in the foodservice market segments globally. Growth of the overall and regional foodservice markets has also been forecasted for the period 2016-2020, taking into consideration the previous growth patterns, the growth drivers and the current and future trends. The report also includes detailed analysis of leading players in the industry including Compass Group Plc, Sodexo, Sysco Corporation and Bidvest Group on the basis of attributes such as business overview, recent developments, financials and strategies adopted by the market leaders in order to ensure growth, sustainability, etc. Complete report is available at http://www.marketreportsonline.com/477186.html.
Geographical coverage of this 2016 foodservice market report includes Asia Pacific (China, Australia), North America, Europe (The UK, Italy), Latin America (Brazil) as well as Middle East & Africa (South Africa). Company Coverage of Foodservice Market: Compass Group Plc, Sodexo, Sysco Corporation & Bidvest Group Limited.
Presently, Asia Pacific is the world's largest foodservice market driven by rising demand in China and India. North America follows at second position with large number of restaurants and food chains due to the rising demand for fast food. Europe, being third largest foodservice market has France, Germany, Italy, the UK and Spain as major foodservice submarkets.
Growth of global foodservice market is driven by rise in disposable income, growing demand of outside food in emerging markets and changing demographics and identities at home which further boosts demand for foodservice. However, factors such as political and economic instability in nations, lack of qualified workforce in the industry and rising cost of food are posing challenge to growth of the industry. Key trends prevailing in the industry includes rise in mergers and acquisitions in the industry globally and growing adoption of technology for day to day functioning.
Order a copy of this global foodservice market research report at USD 800 (Single User License) at http://www.marketreportsonline.com/contacts/purchase.php?name=477186.
Foodservice business comprises of sale of food and beverages prepared out-of-home for immediate consumption either on the point of purchase or for takeaway and home delivery. The market caters to cafeterias, hospitals, cafes, pubs, nightclubs, bars, and hotels. It is also present in schools, colleges, universities, and restaurants. The market can be broadly segmented into four categories - Conventional Foodservice system; Centralized/commissary Foodservice system; Ready-prepared Foodservice system; and Assembly-serve Foodservice system. Out of these, Conventional foodservice systems are the most common type of foodservice system.
Major Points from Table of Contents Provided in Global Foodservice Market 2016-2020 Forecasts Research Report:
1. Executive Summary
2. Foodservice Market
3. Global Foodservice Market Analysis
4. Global Foodservice Market: Regional Analysis
5. Global Foodservice Market Trends
6. Global Foodservice Market: Growth Drivers & Challenges
7. Competitive Landscape
8. Company Profiles
Explore more food and beverages market research as well as other newly published reports by Daedal Research at http://www.marketreportsonline.com/publisher/daedal-research-market-research.html.
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The Chief Executive Officer of Cavotec SA ("Cavotec" or the "Company"), Ottonel Popesco, is pleased to announce that on 17 May 2016, Michael Colaco, the former owner of INET Airport Systems, sold 2.8 million shares in Cavotec SA in order to pay USD 6.7 million pursuant to the court judgment entered in favour of Cavotec in a lawsuit in the Orange County Superior Court in California, USA. The payment of USD 6.7 million is in addition to payments Cavotec already collected from Mr. Colaco that totalled USD 1.8 million.As previously reported, Mr. Colaco has filed a Notice of Appeal of the judgment, and Cavotec expects Mr. Colaco to proceed with his appeal, which could postpone a final settlement to early 2017. The payment made by Mr. Colaco will positively affect the Company's 2Q16 results by approximately USD 5.8 million.The background to this payment is the lawsuit in the U.S. that was filed by Mr. Colaco in 2012 against Cavotec and its Chairman and CEO. The lawsuit was initiated by Mr. Colaco, the former owner of INET Airport Systems, following his suspension and dismissal as Managing Director of Cavotec INET and as a member of the Company's Executive Management Committee. The Company filed several counter-claims against Mr. Colaco, his former company, and others, including claims for breach of fiduciary duty, misappropriation of funds, and breach of contract.Following a seven-week courtroom trial in California between Cavotec and Mr. Colaco, a 12-person jury, on 18 and 19 June, 2015 (PSDT), issued a verdict in favour of Cavotec, the Chairman of its Board of Directors, and the CEO. The jury rejected Mr. Colaco's claim in his lawsuit that Cavotec, the Chairman and the CEO owed him USD 3.8 million pursuant to agreements that were allegedly breached. The jury instead determined that Mr. Colaco breached his fiduciary duties to Cavotec with malice, oppression and fraud, and, that, as a result, he must pay compensatory and punitive damages, plus attorneys' fees and costs, for a total judgment of USD 8 million to Cavotec subsidiary, Cavotec INET US Inc. Accordingly, the verdict effectively amounted to a victory for Cavotec in the amount of USD 11.8 million.ENDSFor more information, please contact:Michael ScheepersChief Communications Officermichael.scheepers@cavotec.com or +41795024010The information in this release is subject to the disclosure requirements of Cavotec SA under the Swedish Securities Market Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. This information was publicly communicated on 18 May 2016, 08:00 CESTAttachment:https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=572182
LOEWEN (dpa-AFX) - SABMiller Plc. (SBMRY.PK, SAB.L), which is in deal to be bought by Belgian brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, or AB InBev (BUD, AHBIF.PK), reported Wednesday that its fiscal 2016 profit before tax declined 16 percent to $4.074 billion from last year's $4.83 billion. Earnings per share dropped to 166 US cents from 203.5 US cents last year. The latest results reflected exceptional charges of $721 million principally relating to the impairment of investments in Angola and South Sudan, together with costs associated with the AB InBev transaction. Adjusted earnings per share were 224.1 US cents, compared to 239.1 US cents a year ago. Revenue declined 10 percent to $19.83 billion from prior year's $22.13 billion. On an organic constant currency basis, revenues grew 7 percent. Group beverage volumes increased 2 percent organically, with lager volumes up 1 percent and soft drinks volumes up 6 percent. Further, the company announced full year dividend per share of 122.0 US cents, up 8 percent on prior year, with final dividend of 93.75 US cents per share payable on 12 August. AB InBev and SABMiller do not anticipate completion of the recommended acquisition prior to this date. Looking ahead, the company expects to deliver good underlying performance in the year ahead. Cost and efficiency programme is on track to reach targeted annualised savings of $1.05 billion per annum by the financial year ending 31 March 2020. The company anticipates to continue to face foreign exchange volatility and the results of certain of key operations would be impacted by currency depreciation against the US dollar. 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) - Ultra Electronics (ULE.L) announced that its Ultra TCS business, based in Montreal, has secured a contract valued at $18.4 million for a customer in a NATO country with options for after-sales support. Ultra sais it will provide Electronic Warfare equipment and engineering support for the delivery of UAV platforms that will be used in surveillance missions. Under this contract, Ultra TCS will provide a variant of its ALR-510 ELINT (ELectronic INTelligence) system, systems engineering, installation and test support. 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.
Regulatory News:
Hufvudstaden (STO:HUFVA) (STO:HUFVC)
Asa Roslund has been appointed as new CFO of Hufvudstaden AB with responsibility for the company's financial management as from May 18, 2016. Asa will be a member of the company's executive management.
Asa holds a Master of Science in Business and Economics. In the position as Head of Accounting, a position which Asa has held since 2005, she has made valuable contributions to the positive development of Hufvudstaden. From October 2015 to March 2016 Asa was also acting CFO of Hufvudstaden.
"It is with great pleasure we welcome Asa Roslund in the position as CFO. Asa has for several years done an excellent work for Hufvudstaden. She has extensive knowledge of the company, the challenges and opportunities faced by us and the work carried out at our financial department. During her appointment as acting CFO she also demonstrated her capability and competence to fulfill the role as CFO of the company." says Ivo Stopner, President of Hufvudstaden.
In connection with Asa Roslund taking up her position the current CFO Ingvor Sundbom will be resigning. We wish Ingvor the best of luck in the future.
Stockholm, May 18, 2016
HUFVUDSTADEN AB (publ)
Ivo Stopner
President
This information is information that Hufvudstaden AB (publ) is obliged to publish according to the Securities Market Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was published on May 18, 2016 at 08.50am.
This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160517006773/en/
Contacts:
Hufvudstaden
Ivo Stopner
President
telephone +46 (0)8-762 90 00
LONDON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Leading Nordic OTA partners with Worldpay to deliver localised service in new markets
Uvet Nordic, one of the fastest growing Nordic online travel agencies (OTA), has selected Worldpay as its exclusive online payments provider to ensure the success of its international growth. Based in Sweden and part of the Uvet Global Business Travel Group, the company currently operates in 12 European countries, with brands Flightfinder, Airfinder, Farefinder, FlyUvet, Doodle, Travelstore, and Flygpoolen.
Uvet Nordic selected Worldpay as it was best positioned to deliver the global coverage it needed to help it rapidly expand into new countries, whilst also allowing the OTA to deliver a consistent and personalised experience in each of the local markets it serves. Worldpay's insight into customer data and local spending habits will help inform Uvet Nordic's global strategy, enabling the company to tailor its service to the preferences of travellers in each country.
Working with one provider also means Uvet Nordic will avoid the complications of dealing with multiple payment processors in multiple markets as it continues to grow.
Uvet Nordic plans to expand its service to 18 new markets across the world, and needed a partner who could help them do so. Worldpay has begun processing the company's online transactions in the Nordics and will take on all of its international activity as the company begins serving travellers abroad - starting with Italy, France, Germany, the UK, and Russia.
Worldpay is also enabling Uvet Nordic to accept the growing range alternative payment methods (APMs) favoured by consumers across Europe, such as Carte Bancaire in France, PostePay in Italy, Sofort in Germany, or Qiwi in Russia, in addition to ensuring the company can support online payments in multiple currencies.
Patric Wagenknecht, CEO of Uvet Nordic, said: "Our ambition isn't just to grow as a company; it is to deliver the best online shopping experience for our customers globally by offering local payment solutions and customer services in each market we operate in. Worldpay is the perfect partner. They have the global expertise and full range of services we need to continue expanding internationally while delivering the personalised experience our customers' value."
Thomas Helldorff, VP Travel and Airlines, Global eCommerce at Worldpay said: "Today's consumers want to use their preferred payment options when booking flights and hotels. The challenge for online travel agencies is to deliver this localised service in each market while keeping complexity to a minimum as they continuing to grow. Our years of international experience and granular view of local payment behaviours help companies like Flightfinder understand their customers in more detail, which allows them to deliver a more personal and convenient online experience to travellers in every country they serve."
About Worldpay
Worldpay is a leading payments company with global reach. We provide an extensive range of technology-led payment products and services to over 400,000 customers, enabling their businesses to grow and prosper. We manage the increasing complexity of the payments landscape for our customers, allowing them to accept the widest range of payment types around the world. Using our network and technology, we are able to process payments from geographies covering 99% of global GDP, across 146 countries and 126 currencies. We help our customers to accept more than 300 different payment types, by providing an end-to-end service including acquiring, treasury, gateway, alternative payments and risk management, all via a single integration to Worldpay. Worldpay makes global payments simple for many of the world's leading organisations.
http://www.worldpay.com/global
@Worldpay
About Uvet Nordic
UVET Nordic is a global multi brand and multi GDS international online travel agency (OTA). The company was founded in 1998 as one of the first OTAs in Sweden, and has since 2013 been part of the Italian global travel and tourism group UVET. The business model is to offer private customers flight tickets and related services such as hotels, car rental, events and travel insurance etc. During 2015 the company changed name in connection with the new ownership and operates the brands: Flygpoolen, Doodle, Travelstore, Flightfinder, Airfinder, Farefinder and FlyUvet, and all their related OTAs in currently twelve different markets.
http://www.flightfinder.se , http://www.flygpoolen.se , http://www.airfinder.it , http://www.farefinder.ru , http://www.flyuvet.com,http://www.flightfinder.no ,http://www.travelstore.se ,http://www.airfinder.de ,http://www.flyuvet.co.uk,http://www.flightfinder.dk , http://www.doodle.se , http://www.airfinder.at,http://www.flightfinder.fi ,http://www.airfinder.pl,http://www.flightfinder.es,http://www.flightfinder.fr
ROSEAU, Dominica, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Range Developments is delighted to announce the appointment of NH International (Caribbean) Ltd (NH), a flagship construction company based in the Caribbean, as the main structural contractor for the Cabrits Resort Kempinski, Dominica.
NH is a regionalleader in the construction industry with an impressive track record of completed hospitality, housing and civil engineering projects across the Caribbean. NHis one of the Caribbean's most trusted construction and design/build company.
Mohammed Asaria, Vice Chairman of Range Developments, has welcomed the appointment of NH. "We have achieved an important milestone today with the award of the structural construction contract to this highly rated firm with decades of experience in the Caribbean," he said. "NH International's proficiency and accomplishments leave us no doubt that the construction of the development will be in accordance with the highest standards of quality and best international practices. We have full confidence in NH International's ability to deliver the project on schedule."
The resort is a major project for the Commonwealth of Dominica and will be Kempinski's first luxury hotel in the Caribbean. The construction of the resort will create hundreds of jobs for Dominicans during the construction period.
"With great anticipation, our NH Team looks forward to working with Range Developments and the People and Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica in delivering the Cabrits Resort Kempinski, Dominica. Over the past 50 years, driven by integrity, NH has successfully delivered many projects that transform businesses and build nations throughout the Caribbean islands. Our NH project team is supported by one of the Caribbean's foremost Geotechnical Engineers, Derek Gay, Ph.D., and Structural Engineers (Aleron Consulting Engineers Ltd.). We will build to ensure high quality and timely completion in the interests of a successful long term relationship with Range Developments, Kempinski and Dominica," said John Connon, Managing Director of NH.
The Cabrits Resort Kempinski, Dominica is the first Government approved real estate project under the Citizenship By Investment Program of the Commonwealth of Dominica. Investors can obtain citizenship of the Commonwealth of Dominica through purchasing a limited partnership interest in the development for US$220,000. Initial sales momentum has been strong, with investors recognising the capital growth and income generation potential of the resort, in addition to the benefits that citizenship of the Commonwealth of Dominica provide.
The Cabrits Resort Kempinski, Dominica is scheduled to be completed in Q4 2018.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Range Developments is an international property company presently developing hotel resorts in the Caribbean. Range focuses on luxury developments that are well-designed, sustainable and desirable. Park Hyatt St Kitts, currently under construction and due to open in 2016, won the prestigious Best New Hotel Construction and Design St. Kitts & Nevis award at The International Property Awards 2014-2015; and the covetedaward of Best New Hotel Construction and Design in the Caribbean 2014-2015.
SEOUL (dpa-AFX) - After many years in the making, Samsung might be ready to launch its first foldable smartphone in 2017, reports said. A report by the Chinese social networking site Weibo said Samsung will release five smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy S8, the S8 Edge, the Galaxy Note 7, the Note 7 Edge, and the brand new Galaxy X, in 2017. The Galaxy X, codenamed Project Valley, is said to be the entirely new category of Samsung's lineup of first foldable display for smartphones. All these devices, except the X, will have a Super AMOLED display with a 2.5K resolution and a RGB subpixel arrangement, while Galaxy X will have a 4K display using a diamond PenTile subpixel arrangement. The company introduced the concept of a foldable display at CES 2013, and showed its first foldable phone prototype in a private meeting at CES 2014. Samsung has filed many number of patents related to foldable smartphone screens, strongly suggesting its interest in this space to be to be made a reality within the next few years. A 3D render of a patent filed by Samsung highlights it even utilizing a tri-folding screen. As per various reports, Project Valley may not have a wide international launch in the beginning. The Galaxy X may be availbale first in the U.K., Germany, Italy, South Korea, France, Poland, and Nordic countries. If the company boosts production, it would be contrary to some previous reports that Samsung would be slowing down production of its smartphones in order to avoid over-saturating the market. Samsung had released Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge earlier this year. 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.
LJUBLJANA (dpa-AFX) - Slovakia's harmonized consumer prices continued to decline in April, the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic said Wednesday. The harmonized index of consumer prices dropped 0.4 percent in April from last year, following a 0.5 percent fall in March. The indicator last increased in December 2013. Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages slid 2.5 percent, while clothing and footwear prices gained 0.5 percent. Cost of transport declined 3.9 percent. Month-on-month, harmonized consumer prices moved up 0.4 percent after staying flat in March. 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.
Elementis plc (the "Company") - Notice of Group Finance Director's intention to step down from the Board
The Company announces today (18th May 2016) that Brian Taylorson, who has been Group Finance Director since 2002, will be stepping down from the Board sometime over the next year, after assisting Paul Waterman to establish himself as Group CEO and after ensuring an orderly handover to his successor.
The Board is undertaking an extensive search process to identify and appoint Brian Taylorson's successor.
Mr Taylorson has made a major contribution to the success of the Company over many years and remains focused on supporting Paul Waterman, Group CEO, in driving the Company's strategic and operating plans and he is committed to fully supporting the Board in delivering a successful transition.
His departure will be subject to the terms of his contract which requires 12 months' notice to be given by the Company.
Wai Wong
Company Secretary
020 7067 2999
Espoo, Finland, 2016-05-18 10:00 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SRV GROUP PLC PRESS RELEASE 18.5.2016, AT 11.00Foundation stone to be laid at Tampere Region's largest construction projectThe construction of what is currently Tampere Region's largest construction project, namely the Tampere University Hospital (Tays) front yard, is progressing well, and the foundation stone will be laid at the project on 24 May. The project, launched in August 2015, is the largest construction project in the Pirkanmaa Hospital District's history, and is SRV's all-time largest project management contracting assignment to date in which the company is not itself acting as a provider of financing. Directly and indirectly, the project will bring over 3,000 person-years of work to Tampere Region."The Tays front yard project represents demanding special construction. The project has more extensive than usual contracting content, because we are responsible not only for structural engineering but also for building systems, which also calls for wide-ranging expertise in hospital construction and hospital systems from SRV's project personnel. An important factor in the construction is taking occupational health and safety as well as environmental impacts into account. Work at the site has advanced safely, and in the future, too, continuous attention will be paid to safety and the environment. The project's own website has served as an excellent channel and tool for giving due attention to environmental impacts," says Project Director Saku Kosonen of SRV.Construction of the front yard differs from many construction projects particularly with respect to planning. Construction was preceded by years of careful planning, in which careful consideration was given to the various functions to be located in the premises as well as patients' needs and future healthcare trends. Patient-care staff have participated in the planning from the very start. Virtual reality systems, for example, have been utilised, enabling staff to view three-dimensional modelling of the floor plans."Functional design as large-scale as this has not been done before in other similar projects", says Isto Nordback, Tays's Director of Development.New life centre and high-technologyThree new buildings and an underground parking facility will be built at the Tays front yard. N building, which will be completed in two years, will house nearly all cardiac-patient services and care as well as the latest medical expertise.D building, which will contain a number of units, will be taken into use at the beginning of 2020. The building will mean, for example, more convenient arrangements for families, because prenatal, obstetric and neonatal care will be located side by side in a new life centre. D building will also bring together vascular surgery and interventional radiology expertise under one roof, forming a new business model and unit unique in the Nordic countries.In the future L building will be centralised nearly all services for children and young people, and both physical illnesses and psychological problems will be treated there, either as outpatient or inpatient care. The new facilities will provide families with the opportunity to participate more comprehensively in the treatment of children and young people, as there will be more space available for them.Further information: Saku Kosonen, SRV, Project Director, +358 40 549 1221, saku.kosonen@srv.fi Paivi Kauhanen, SRV, SVP, Communications, +358 50 598 9560, paivi.kauhanen@srv.fi Isto Nordback, Pirkanmaa Hospital District, Director of Development, +358 50 591 1458, isto.nordback@pshp.fiMedia representative, would you like to visit the Tays front yard site or the hospital renovation project? You are most welcome to attend the foundation stone laying ceremony on Tuesday, 24 May at 2.00 p.m. Guidance to the ceremony location will take place from floor 00 in the elevator lobby of TAYS B building from 1.30 p.m. Access to view the site and the hospital construction, which is making rapid progress, can be arranged on request. Requests for site visits and registration for the foundation stone laying ceremony: Tiina Tanni, Pirkanmaa Hospital District, Director of Communications, +358 50 360 5605, tiina.tanni@pshp.fi Anni Vahala, Pirkanmaa Hospital District, Communications Officer, +358 46 921 6225, anni.vahala@pshp.fiTays front yard Project - The Tampere University Hospital front yard will receive three new buildings - N, D and L - and an underground parking facility. - SRV Rakennus Oy is the main contractor and Rakennuttajatoimisto HTJ Oy is the developer consultant. Construction work began on 17 August 2015. The buildings will be completed and taken into use in stages from 2018 to 2020. - The site is currently employing about one hundred people. The site will expand and the workforce will grow as 2016 progresses. - The estimated cost of the new D and L buildings as well as the general infrastructure immediately adjacent to them is approximately EUR 170 million, and it will be financed by Pirkanmaa Hospital District. The cost estimate for N building is just over EUR 30 million, and it will be financed by Tays Sydankeskus Oy. The cost estimate for the parking facility is approximately EUR 25 million. It will be financed by Tays Pysakointi Oy and those who park in the facility.www.srv.fiYou can also find us in the social media: Facebook LinkedIn Twitter InstagramSRV - Building for life
MAKKAH & MADINAH HOLDINGS LIMITED
("MMH" or the "Company")
General Meeting; Change of Venue
Further to the Circular and Notice of General Meeting posted on 6 May 2016 and the announcement issued on 9 May by the Company in regard to this, MMH wishes to inform the market that, owing to the large number of shareholders indicting their intention to attend the General Meeting on 30 May and the limited accommodation available that day at the Rose Rayhaan by Rotana, the meeting venue has been changed to the Four Points by Sheraton, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai, UAE.
The Four Points by Sheraton is located diagonally opposite the original venue of the Rose Rayhaan on the North side of Sheikh Zayed Road (adjacent to South-bound carriageway) and approximately equidistant between the Dubai Metro stations of Financial Centre and Emirates Towers. The General Meeting shall formally commence at the later time of 1 o'clock p. m. GST to allow all any shareholders who may not be aware of the change of venue until the day of the meeting to attend.
All shareholders and holders of depositary interests shall shortly receive written communication of the above changes, which shall also be posted on the Company's website www.mm-holdings.com/.
Muin El-Saleh, Director,
Dubai, 18 May 2016
This announcement, for the content of which the Directors of MMH accept responsibility, has been made after due and careful enquiry.
Enquiries:
Makkah & Madinah Holdings Ltd:
Reena Sebastian, Legal Manager: tel: +971 (0) 4 818 3030; e-mail: ir@mm-holdings.com; further information on Makkah & Madinah Holdings Ltd. is available from the Company's website: www.mm-holdings.com
Keith, Bayley, Rogers & Co. Limited:
Graham Atthill-Beck: tel: +44 (0) 20 7464 4090; mobile: +971 (0) 50 856 9408/+44 (0) 750 643 4107; e-mail: blackpearladvisers@gmail.com
Hugh Oram: tel: +44 (0) 20 7464 4096; e-mail: Hugh.Oram@kbrl.co.uk
18 May 2016
HARBOURVEST GLOBAL PRIVATE EQUITY TO ANNOUNCE ANNUAL RESULTS ON 31 MAY 2016
HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited ('HVPE'), a closed-end investment company listed on the London Stock Exchange and Euronext Amsterdam, will announce its annual results to 31 January 2016 on Tuesday, 31 May 2016.
The Annual Report and Audited Consolidated Financial Statements and an accompanying press release will be available on 31 May 2016 on HVPE's website.
Enquiries:
HarbourVest
Richard Hickman Tel: +44 (0) 20 7399 9847 rhickman@harbourvest.com
Laura Thaxter Tel: +1 (617) 348 3695 lthaxter@harbourvest.com
FleishmanHillard Fishburn
Henry Adams Tel: +44 (0) 20 8618 2975 henry.adams@fhflondon.co.uk Simon Anderson Tel: +44 (0) 20 8618 2804 HVPE@fhflondon.co.uk
About HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited: HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited ('HVPE') is a Guernsey-incorporated closed-end investment company which has a dual listing on both the London Stock Exchange and Euronext Amsterdam. HVPE is registered as an investment institution with the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets. HVPE is designed to offer shareholders long-term capital appreciation by investing in a private equity portfolio diversified by geography, by stage of investment, by vintage year, and by industry. It invests in and alongside HarbourVest-managed funds which focus on primary fund commitments, secondary investments, and direct co- investments in operating companies. HVPE is advised by HarbourVest Advisers L.P., an affiliate of HarbourVest Partners, LLC.
About HarbourVest Partners, LLC: HarbourVest Partners, LLC is an independent private markets specialist, providing investment programs and customized solutions focused on venture capital, buyout, mezzanine debt, credit, and real assets through primary fund investments, secondary purchases, and direct co-investments. HarbourVest has more than 300 employees in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. In more than 30 years of investing in private equity, the team has committed more than $29 billion to newly-formed funds, completed over $12 billion in secondary purchases, and invested $4 billion directly in operating companies. The firm's clients include pension funds, endowments, foundations, and financial institutions around the globe.
This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute or form part of any offer to issue or sell, or the solicitation of an offer to acquire, purchase or subscribe for, any securities in any jurisdiction and should not be relied upon in connection with any decision to subscribe for or acquire any Shares. In particular, this announcement does not constitute or form part of any offer to issue or sell, or the solicitation of an offer to acquire, purchase or subscribe for, any securities in the United States or to US Persons (as defined in Regulation S under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended ('US Persons')). Neither this announcement nor any copy of it may be taken, released, published or distributed, directly or indirectly to US Persons or in or into the United States (including its territories and possessions), Canada, Australia or Japan, or any jurisdiction where such action would be unlawful. Accordingly, recipients represent that they are able to receive this announcement without contravention of any applicable legal or regulatory restrictions in the jurisdiction in which they reside or conduct business. No recipient may distribute, or make available, this announcement (directly or indirectly) to any other person. Recipients of this announcement should inform themselves about and observe any applicable legal requirements in their jurisdictions.
The Shares have not been and will not be registered under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the 'Securities Act') or with any securities regulatory authority of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States and, accordingly, may not be offered, sold, resold, transferred, delivered or distributed, directly or indirectly, within the United States or to US Persons. In addition, the Company is not registered under the US Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the 'Investment Company Act') and shareholders of the Company will not have the protections of that act. There will be no public offer of the Shares in the United States or to US Persons.
This announcement has been prepared by the Company and its investment manager, HarbourVest Advisers L.P. (the 'Investment Manager'). No liability whatsoever (whether in negligence or otherwise) arising directly or indirectly from the use of this announcement is accepted and no representation, warranty or undertaking, express or implied, is or will be made by the Company, the Investment Manager or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, advisers, representatives or other agents ('Agents') for any information or any of the opinions contained herein or for any errors, omissions or misstatements. None of the Investment Manager nor any of their respective Agents makes or has been authorised to make any representation or warranties (express or implied) in relation to the Company or as to the truth, accuracy or completeness of this announcement, or any other written or oral statement provided. In particular, no representation or warranty is given as to the achievement or reasonableness of, and no reliance should be placed on any projections, targets, estimates or forecasts contained in this announcement and nothing in this announcement is or should be relied on as a promise or representation as to the future.
Other than as required by applicable laws, the Company gives no undertaking to update this announcement or any additional information, or to correct any inaccuracies in it which may become apparent and the distribution of this announcement. The information contained in this announcement is given at the date of its publication and is subject to updating, revision and amendment. The contents of this announcement have not been approved by any competent regulatory or supervisory authority.
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 terms 'believes', 'projects', 'estimates', 'anticipates', 'expects', 'intends', 'plans', 'goal', 'target', 'aim', 'may', 'will', 'would', 'could', 'should' or 'continue' or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology. These forward looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts and include statements regarding the intentions, beliefs or current expectations of the Company. 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 and may be beyond the Company's ability to control or predict. Forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. More detailed information on the potential factors which could affect the financial results of the Company is contained in the Company's public filings and reports.
HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited is registered with the Netherlands 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 financieel toezicht). All investments are subject to risk. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns. Prospective investors are advised to seek expert legal, financial, tax and other professional advice before making any investment decision. The value of investments may fluctuate. Results achieved in the past are no guarantee of future results.
This announcement is issued by the Company, which is registered with the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets and whose registered address is Ground Floor Dorey Court Admiral Park St Peter Port Guernsey GY1 2HT.
2016 HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited. All rights reserved.
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: HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited via GlobeNewswire [HUG#2013366]
BR30MJ8R44
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PHILADELPHIA, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
New Enhanced Resource for Matching Healthcare Professionals With top Career Opportunities Replaces eHealthcareers.com
Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, is launching a new, upgraded career resource for healthcare professionals. The new tool, myHealthTalent.com, replaces Elsevier's current job search resource and reflects a more personalized site for both job seekers and recruiters.
"Elsevier has upgraded and optimized our current career resources site to match the top talent in the industry to the top opportunities," said Allison Risko, Senior Vice President, Pharma and Life Science Solutions, Elsevier. "Elsevier is one of the most trusted providers of content and information solutions for science, health and technology, and is already a part of a healthcare professional's trusted set of educational and career tools. The new myHealthTalent.com site will offer an unparalleled user experience for both active job seekers as well as top talent contemplating a career move."
MyHealthTalent.com offers job seekers the ability to personalize their career search through a mobile-friendly platform that is optimized for any device, allowing users to initiate, save and set alerts for searches based on individualized criteria such as location, position and desired salary. In order to offer the best possible user experience to their job seekers, Elsevier has partnered with market-leading software provider Madgex to power their new online recruitment platform.
For recruiters, myHealthTalent.com provides the ability to set search and screening requirements by location, specialty, qualifications and experience level, among other search criteria, to secure the desired talent. Also, in-house recruiters and recruiting agencies can use myHealthTalent.com to help fill positions with the most qualified talent in a variety of practice settings, from physician offices and surgery centers to the country's most prestigious hospitals and institutions. The site covers more than 80 specialties, including cardiology, emergency medicine, gastroenterology, internal medicine, nursing, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics, surgery and urology.
"Of particular interest to recruiters is that myHealthTalent.com was developed with the input of a recruiter advisory board, who tested and validated that this new tool is a great addition to the other robust recruiting offerings from Elsevier, including print journals, society-affiliated journal websites, career guides and e-newsletters," said Risko.
MyHealthTalent.com attracts the widest spectrum of affiliated healthcare specialists, including physicians, physician administrators, nurses, advanced practitioners, dentists/orthodontists, medical directors, pharmacists, surgeons and veterinary professionals. The website is also directly marketed to more than 200,000 society-affiliated physicians and healthcare professionals.
For additional information or to register, visit myHealthTalent.com.
About Madgex
Madgex is the market-leading job board and recruitment technology provider, powering online recruitment used by many of the world's most successful media brands. Madgex develops software that helps many of the world's best-known media brands grow their digital revenues. For over 15 years, Madgex's innovative, intuitive platforms have gotten results for their job-seeking users while bringing in revenue at the same time.
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking discoveries that advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier providesweb-based, digital solutions - among them ScienceDirect, Scopus, Elsevier Research Intelligence and ClinicalKey - and publishes more than 2,500 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and more than 33,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries.http://www.elsevier.com
Media Contact
Christopher Capot
Director, Corporate Relations
Elsevier
+1 917 704 5174
c.capot@elsevier.com
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - At 4:30 am ET Wednesday, the Office for National Statistics releases U.K. unemployment data. The ILO jobless rate is seen unchanged at 5.1 percent in three months to March. The claimant count is forecast to remain at 2.1 percent in April. Ahead of these data, the pound showed mixed trading against its major rivals. While the pound rose against the euro, the Swiss franc and the yen, it held steady against the U.S. dollar. As of 4:25 am ET, the pound was trading at 0.7804 against the euro, 1.4193 against the Swiss franc, 1.4436 against the U.S. dollar and 158.10 against the yen. 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.
REDMOND (dpa-AFX) - Software giant Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) on Wednesday announced that it has reached an agreement to sell its entry-level feature phone assets to FIH Mobile Ltd., a subsidiary of Hon Hai/Foxconn Technology Group, and HMD Global, Oy for $350 million. As part of the deal, FIH Mobile will also acquire Microsoft Mobile Vietnam, the company's Hanoi, Vietnam, manufacturing facility. Upon close of this deal, approximately 4,500 employees will transfer to, or have the opportunity to join, FIH Mobile or HMD Global, Oy, subject to compliance with local law. Microsoft said it will continue to develop Windows 10 Mobile and support Lumia phones such as the Lumia 650, Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, and phones from OEM partners like Acer, Alcatel, HP, Trinity and VAIO. As part of the deal, Microsoft will transfer substantially all of its feature phone assets, including brands, software and services, care network and other assets, customer contracts, and critical supply agreements, subject to compliance with local law. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2016, subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. 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.
LOEWEN (dpa-AFX) - British brewer SABMiller Plc. (SBMRY.PK, SAB.L), which is in $105 billion deal to be bought by Belgian brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, or AB InBev (BUD, AHBIF.PK), Wednesday reported a decline in profit for fiscal 2016, reflecting higher charges and weak revenues amid negative foreign currency impact. On an organic constant currency basis, revenues grew 7 percent. Further, the company announced higher dividend.
Looking ahead, the company expects to deliver good underlying performance in the year ahead. Cost and efficiency programme is on track to reach targeted annualised savings of $1.05 billion per annum by the financial year ending March 31, 2020.
The company anticipates that it will continue to face foreign exchange volatility and the results of certain of key operations would be impacted by currency depreciation against the US dollar.
For the year, profit before tax declined 16 percent to $4.074 billion from last year's $4.83 billion. Earnings per share dropped to 166 US cents from 203.5 US cents last year.
The latest results reflect exceptional charges of $721 million, principally relating to the impairment of investments in Angola and South Sudan, together with costs associated with the AB InBev transaction.
Adjusted earnings per share were 224.1 US cents, compared to 239.1 US cents a year ago, as the depreciation of key operating currencies against the US dollar impacted results.
On an organic, constant currency basis, EBITA grew 8 percent and EBITA margin increased by 60 basis points.
Revenue declined 10 percent to $19.83 billion from prior year's $22.13 billion.
Group net producer revenue or NPR declined 8 percent to $24.15 billion, with weak results in all regions except North America, where the results were nearly flat. Organic constant currency Group NPR grew 5 percent, with group NPR per hl growth of 3 percent.
Premium lager brands' NPR grew by 11 percent, while global lager brands' NPR increased 13 percent, with growth across all regions.
Group beverage volumes increased 2 percent to 330.87 million hecto liters, with lager volumes up 1 percent and soft drinks volumes up 6 percent. A strong growth in Africa and Latin America was moderated by volume weakness in China and the USA, the company said.
Further, the company announced full-year dividend per share of 122.0 US cents, up 8 percent on prior year, with final dividend of 93.75 US cents per share payable on 12 August.
Regarding its recommended acquisition by AB InBev, the company said significant progress has been made to date, and expects to complete the transaction during the second half of 2016. But they do not anticipate completion occurring before the payment of the final dividend to SABMiller shareholders on August 12.
In London, SABMiller shares were trading at 4,215.50 pence, up 0.13 percent.
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FRANKFURT, Germany, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
The renowned senior sales expert Tarek Fayek Nakhla will strengthen MainFirst's Equity Sales Team. On May 16th 2016 he joined MainFirst as Managing Director - European Equity Sales in New York. He will look after North American clients with advice on European stocks.
MainFirst is pleased about a prominent new joiner. Tarek Fayek Nakhla has joined MainFirst's Sales team in New York on 16th May. As Managing Director - European Equity Sales, he services North American clients with advice on European stocks.
"Tarek Nakhla has more than 20 years' experience in supporting North American institutional investors. We are delighted that he is joining us," comments Hans-Peter Gruenig, President & Chief Executive Officer of the New York office of MainFirst. "Tarek is a highly experienced sales expert with an excellent track record and an outstanding network. He will strengthen our sales efforts in New York, to provide high quality substantive research which brings real added value for our clients."
Prior joining to MainFirst, Tarek Nakhla served as a Partner at the brokerage firm Redburn for 10 years, co-founding their New York office and playing an important role in its build-up. Previous roles included Bear Stearns, Citibank and SG Cowen. "I am looking forward to being able to provide my expertise and experience to the clients of MainFirst," explains Tarek Nakhla.
In the Equities division, MainFirst employs more than 100 professionals in its locations Frankfurt, Munich, London, Zurich, Milan, Paris and New York. They have more than 10 years of experience on average and support more than 400 institutional investors with regard to European stocks. The focus is on stock-specific commentary by the Sales team and high quality substantive research to facilitate superior performance for customers.
MainFirst Equities is part of the independent European MainFirst Group with about 200 staff in the areas Equity Brokerage, Equity Capital Markets and Asset Management.
Press Contact
Edelman.ergo
Jorg Schuren
Senior Consultant
Tel.: +49-221-912-887-29
E-Mail: joerg.schueren@edelmanergo.com
BRUSSELS, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
EIT Digital today announced the launch of the EIT Digital Challenge - the annual Europe-wide call for the most innovative startups in digital technology ready to scale up and enter the EIT Digital Accelerator . Joined at the launch by successful teams from previous challenges, Willem Jonker emphasised the importance of fostering digital innovation across borders to position Europe as a leader in the global digital transformation.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160512/366911 )
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160512/366912 )
"Eighty per cent of European startups plan to internationalize their business, but only about half of them actually take this step. If Europe's goal is to lead digital transformation worldwide, innovation must be enabled to expand across borders. We want to identify and support those thriving European startups who are ready to enter new markets and start their journey to becoming international brands," explained Dominik Krabbe, EIT Digital Challenge Lead.
"However, European startups face a number of barriers including the highly fragmented European market and investor landscape. It is crucial that we actively help startups to ensure European innovation leads the way globally. Through our Accelerator, we support early stage scaleups to gain access to new markets and new customers, as well as providing access to finance by leveraging our pan-European investor network," Willem Jonker, CEO EIT Digital, added.
Joerg Land, CEO of Sonormed, was a 2014 Challenge winner with the innovative Tinnitracks solution, a digital therapy for tinnitus sufferers. He commented: "There are an estimated 70 million tinnitus sufferers in Europe alone. We were honoured to get a chance both to work with a partner like EIT Digital who supported us with market insights and contacts, and to join the amazing EIT Digital network.The EIT Digital Accelerator has helped us to refine our strategy for the market entry in the Netherlands and to our launch there."
Tinnitracks was joined at the launch by 3YourMind, a Berlin-based company providing intelligent 3D printing services to industry and architecture and Konux, whose sensor technology allows for complete digitalization of manual measurements and comprehensive sensor data tracking and analytics.
The EIT Digital Accelerator comprises a team of around 40 experienced business developers and finance experts operating from 13 cities across Europe as well as a hub in San Francisco. Since 2012, they have supported a total of 233 startups to access new markets and helped them raise more than 67 million in investment to date. At present, more than 120 early scaleups from across the continent are part of the Accelerator.
To identify the next wave of top European startups and help them scale up, EIT Digital has launched its third annual pan-European startup contest; the EIT Digital Challenge. Starting on May 18, 2016, EU-based startups can apply with their innovative digital technologies in one of the following five categories: Digital Industry, Digital Cities, Digital Wellbeing, Digital Infrastructure and Digital Finance.
They are competing for a unique prize package: the three best teams in each category will get access to EIT Digital's pan-European innovation network with more than 130 partners that bring together Europe's leading corporations, SMEs, startups, universities and research institutes in the field of digital technology. They will also have the chance to join the EIT Digital Accelerator for a full year. The winners in each category will additionally receive 50,000 in cash.
The deadline for applications is July 15, 2016. For more information and the application form, go to http://www.challenge.eitdigital.eu
Year after year, EIT Digital-supported scaleups are making an impact in our four areas of focus. Previous scaleups that have worked with the Accelerator include:
Konux (Digital Industry) has developed smart sensor solutions to digitalize manual measurements. The Deutsche Bahn uses their technology for predictive rail maintenance that leads to 25 per cent cost reduction in this sector. In April 2016, Konux secured a $7.5 million investment.
VULOG(Digital Cities) is the world leader in new generation car sharing technology.VULOG offers end-to-end solutions enabling mobility operators to launch large-scale car sharing services.With ten years of expertise, VULOG delivers premium car sharing services in Europe and North America.Itrecently raised 8.4 million of growth financing and has positioned itself as a leader in a market that is forecast to expand to over 600,000 vehicles worldwide and 30 million users.
Tinnitracks (Digital Wellbeing) provides a digital health solution to treat tinnitus by listening to individually filtered music. So far, three German health insurers cover the costs for Tinnitracks. With support from the EIT Digital Accelerator, the app has now launched in the Netherlands and plans to expand to the U.S.
Sentryo (Digital Infrastructure) offers an operational security capacity to prevent, detect and respond to cyber attacks targeting the Industrial Internet. The startup recently raised 2 million, expanded to Germany and plans to expand with EIT Digital's help to the rest of Europe.
About EIT Digital
EIT Digital is a leading European digital innovation and entrepreneurial education organisation driving Europe's digital transformation.
EIT Digital delivers breakthrough digital innovations to the market and breeds entrepreneurial talent for economic growth and improved quality of life in Europe. It does this by mobilising a pan-European ecosystem of over 130 top European corporations, SMEs, start-ups, universities and research institutes.
As a Knowledge and Innovation Community of theEuropean Institute of Innovation and Technology, EIT Digital is focused on entrepreneurship and is at the forefront of integrating education, research and business by bringing together students, researchers, engineers, business developers and entrepreneurs. This is done in our pan-European network of Co-Location Centres in Berlin, Eindhoven, Helsinki, London, Paris, Stockholm, Trento, as well as in Budapest and Madrid.
EIT Digital invests in strategic areas to accelerate the market uptake of research-based digital technologies focusing on Europe's strategic, societal challenges: Digital Industry, Digital Cities, Digital Wellbeing and Digital Infrastructure.
EIT Digital breeds T-shaped entrepreneurial digital talent focused on innovation through a blended Education Strategy that includes a Master School, Doctoral School and Professional School.
Head of Communications: Edna Ayme-Yahil
T: +33-6-44-09-1928
E: edna.ayme@eitdigital.eu
ESPOO (dpa-AFX) - Nokia (NOK) announced Nokia Technologies will grant HMD global Oy, a newly founded company based in Finland, an exclusive global license to create Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets for the next ten years. Nokia Technologies will receive royalty payments from HMD for sales of Nokia-branded mobile products, covering both brand and intellectual property rights. HMD announced it has conditionally agreed to acquire from Microsoft the rights to use the Nokia brand on feature phones, and certain related design rights. The agreements would make HMD the sole global licensee for all types of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets. Headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, HMD is a new private venture founded to create a new generation of Nokia-branded mobile devices. HMD is run by a group of experienced industry leaders, including CEO Arto Nummela, previously of Nokia and currently the head of Microsoft's Mobile Devices business for Greater Asia, Middle East and Africa as well as Microsoft's global Feature Phones business, and President Florian Seiche, who is currently Senior Vice President for Europe Sales and Marketing at Microsoft Mobile, and previously held key roles at Nokia, HTC and other global brands. HMD intends to invest over $500 million over the next three years to support the global marketing of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets. Microsoft will continue to develop Windows 10 Mobile and support Lumia phones. 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.
SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE, France, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
The Royal Navy has selected iXBlue's high-grade MARINS M7 to upgrade the navigation systems of 35 major surface vessels and submarines through the award of a 5-year contract to Lockheed Martin UK, iXBlue's strategic partner.
iXBlue, a leading global player in navigation and positioning solutions, is providing 70 MARINS M7 to equip 35 Royal Navy major surface ships and submarines, as part of the Navigation Compass Programme.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160513/367469LOGO )
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160513/368808 )
The decisions to equip both the Queen Elizabeth-Class Aircraft Carriers and the fourth Astute-Class nuclear-power submarine with iXBlue's MARINS Inertial Navigation System (INS) were the first steps made by the UK Ministry of Defense toward the adoption of iXBlue Fiber Optic Gyroscope technology. With a 5-year contract awarded to Lockheed Martin UK, iXBlue's strategic partner, the UK MoD definitively embraces iXBlue's unrivalled inertial technology.
The 70 MARINS M7 INS will replace the obsolete gyro systems on board the Royal Navy ships which include Type 23 Frigates, Hunt and Sandown Class mine countermeasure vessels and submarines. They will be integrated by Lockheed Martin UK within the compass system installed on board.
Robert Kramer, Vice-President of Lockheed Martin UK - Integrated Systems, declared: "We conducted a detailed assessment of all available possible partners along with their proposed technologies. By precisely understanding the Royal Navy expectations and assessing their views on the industry leading suppliers, it clearly appeared that iXBlue's solutions best fitted the needs in terms of performance, capability and cost."
The MARINS family of military-grade FOG INS (M3, M5 and M7 models) are the latest additions to iXBlue range of naval products. They offer outstanding performances and unprecedented reliability to meet the requirements of the most demanding navies. MARINS M7 model is the best available INS on the market, offering a drift of less than 1 Nm in 72 hours of surface GNSS-denied or submarine dived navigation.
"We are very grateful to the Royal Navy for such a decision that demonstrates through a fair and open competition iXBlue's INS excellence in terms of performance, reliability, lifecycle costs and versatility. This success relies on iXBlue core values: innovation, excellence and a strong commitment to the user" said Olivier Cervantes, iXBlue Vice President for Sales and Marketing.
Such a milestone contract opens up bright prospects for iXBlue in the field of military inertial solutions and reinforces the technological leadership of the French high-tech company.
Read more about iXBlue on http://www.ixblue.com
Media Contact
Claire Andre
Communications Manager
+33(0)1-30-08-88-88
pr@ixblue.com
David Cunningham
Area Sales Manager - Northern Europe
david.cunningham@ixblue.com
Metsa Group Press release 18 May 2016According to the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ETLA), Metsa Group is Finland's fourth most important company in terms of value added, when both direct effects and the multiplier effects arising through purchases are included in the consideration. Major Finnish corporations have a significant impact on the total national production and financial growth, given that in 2015, the ten largest companies generated a total of 7.5 per cent of Finland's GDP.As part of its study, ETLA studied the impact of Metsa Group's bioproduct mill being constructed in Aanekoski in terms of revenue, value added and employment. The impact of the largest investment to date in the history of Finnish forest industry has significant repercussions in the economy during both the construction and the operation of the mill.According to ETLA's calculations, the EUR 1.2 billion investment in the bioproduct mill will increase the revenue of companies operating in Finland by around EUR 2.4 billion at the construction stage, and it will generate value added that will be directly reflected in economic growth in the amount of nearly EUR 1 billion during 2015-2018. The annual employment effects arising from construction during 2016 and 2017 total nearly 4,000 person-years when the effects on the value chain and consumption are included in the calculation. This equals 0.16 per cent of the total employed workforce in Finland. In terms of Finland's national economy, an essential thing is that a major part of the machinery and equipment delivered to the mill will be designed and manufactured by companies based in Finland. A large part of the equipment parts and components will also be made in Finland. The effects will spread widely via the suppliers' value chains.The largest significance of the bioproduct mill will arise during its production stage over a time span of three decades, during which period, according to ETLA's calculations, the mill will generate value added of nearly EUR 12 billion in Finland. The cumulative employment effects of the production stage will rise to 61,000 person-years. The employment effects will be generated in the value chain of the bioproduct mill's suppliers and their employees, as the mill's number of employees will not increase from the present level. Finland has an important role as a producer of bioproduct raw materials and intermediate products. Two thirds of the new jobs will be created directly in the value chain of the bioproduct mill.Metsa Group will build the world's first next-generation bioproduct mill in the area of the present pulp mill. The value of the investment is EUR 1.2 billion. Scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2017, the mill will produce 1.3 million tonnes of pulp per year. In addition to pulp, the mill will also produce other bioproducts and bioenergy.More information: http://www.etla.fi/julkaisut/suurten-yritysten-ja-niiden-arvoketjujen-rooli-talo udessa/ (Mainly in Finnish)METSA GROUPFurther information: Ilkka Hamala, CEO, Metsa Fibre Oy, tel. +358 (0)50 598 8617 Juha Laine, Senior Vice President, Communications, Metsa Group, tel. +358 (0)10 465 4541www.metsagroup.comMetsa Group is a forerunner in bioeconomy utilising renewable wood from sustainably managed northern forests. Metsa Group focuses on wood supply and forest services, wood products, pulp, fresh forest fibre paperboards and tissue and cooking papers.Metsa Group's sales totalled EUR 5.0 billion in 2015, and it employs approximately 9,600 people. The Group operates in some 30 countries. Metsaliitto Cooperative is the parent company of Metsa Group and owned by approximately 116,000 Finnish forest owners.
MILL VALLEY, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- Glassdoor, the world's most transparent jobs and recruiting marketplace, today announced the results of its newest jobs report, identifying the 25 Best Cities for Jobs in 2016. San Jose, CA claims the top spot, followed by San Francisco, CA & Seattle, WA.
This list is compiled by ranking U.S. metros with the highest Glassdoor Job Score(1), determined by weighting four factors equally: how easy it is to get a job (hiring opportunity), how affordable it is to live there (cost of living), and how satisfied employees are working there (job satisfaction and work-life balance). As part of this report, we include each metro's median pay for employees, median home value, job satisfaction rating, work-life balance rating, number of current job openings and a few in-demand jobs according to Glassdoor Trends.
Glassdoor's 25 Best Cities for Jobs in 2016 are:
1. San Jose, CA - Glassdoor Job Score: 4.0
Number of Job Openings: 61,038
Median Base Salary: $112,000
Median Home Value: $956,500
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.5
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.5
Hot 3 Jobs: Solutions Architect, HR Manager, Data Scientist
2. San Francisco, CA - Glassdoor Job Score: 3.8
Number of Job Openings: 121,597
Median Base Salary: $88,000
Median Home Value: $806,600
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.5
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.5
Hot 3 Jobs: Data Scientist, Engagement Manager, Junior Graphic Designer
3. Seattle, WA - Glassdoor Job Score: 3.5
Number of Job Openings: 103,124
Median Base Salary: $85,000
Median Home Value: $382,700
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.4
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.3
Hot 3 Jobs: UI-UX Designer, Data Scientist, Engagement Manager
4. Boston, MA - Glassdoor Job Score: 3.5
Number of Job Openings: 121,498
Median Base Salary: $67,500
Median Home Value: $387,400
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.4
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.4
Hot Jobs: Nurse Practitioner, Applications Developer, Sales Development Representative
5. Washington, D.C. - Glassdoor Job Score: 3.4
Number of Job Openings: 163,520
Median Base Salary: $70,000
Median Home Value: $364,100
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.4
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.3
Hot 3 Jobs: Director of Development, Business Office Manager, Data Scientist
6. Austin, TX - Glassdoor Job Score: 3.3
Number of Job Openings: 45,186
Median Base Salary: $61,000
Median Home Value: $247,500
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.4
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.3
Hot 3 Jobs: Creative Director. Finance Manager, Solutions Architect
7. Salt Lake City, UT - Glassdoor Job Score: 3.3
Number of Job Openings: 23,013
Median Base Salary: $58,700
Median Home Value: $234,400
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.4
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.4
Hot 3 Jobs: Technical Support Engineer, Outside Sales Representative, Marketing Coordinator
8. Raleigh-Durham, NC - Glassdoor Job Score: 3.3
Number of Job Openings: 34,660
Median Base Salary: $62,000
Median Home Value: $209,400
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.3
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.3
Hot 3 Jobs: Registered Nurse, Research Associate, Software Engineer
9. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MI - Glassdoor Job Score: 3.0
Number of Job Openings: 65,141
Median Base Salary: $65,000
Median Home Value: $219,400
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.3
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.3
Hot 3 Jobs: Web Designer, Sales Manager, Business Development Manager
10. Oklahoma City, OK - Glassdoor Job Score: 3.0
Number of Job Openings: 20,576
Median Base Salary: $50,000
Median Home Value: $132,500
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.3
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.2
Hot 3 Jobs: Delivery Driver, Accountant, Account Executive
11. St. Louis, MO - Glassdoor Job Score: 2.9
Number of Job Openings: 49,450
Median Base Salary: $56,896
Median Home Value: $141,900
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.3
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.2
Hot 3 Jobs: Software Developer, Office Manager, Attorney
12. Detroit, MI - Glassdoor Job Score: 2.9
Number of Job Openings: 59,494
Median Base Salary: $61,500
Median Home Value: $123,100
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.2
Hot 3 Jobs: Financial Advisor, Teller, Registered Nurse
13. Kansas City, MO - Glassdoor Job Score: 2.8
Number of Job Openings: 43,182
Median Base Salary: $58,000
Median Home Value: $147,500
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.2
Hot 3 Jobs: Buyer, Business Development Manager, Pharmacist
14. Columbus, OH - Glassdoor Job Score: 2.8
Number of Job Openings: 36,873
Median Base Salary: $57,000
Median Home Value: $154,600
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.3
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.2
Hot 3 Jobs: Regional Sales Manager, Senior Financial Analyst, Process Engineer
15. Cleveland, OH - Glassdoor Job Score: 2.8
Number of Job Openings: 35,130
Median Base Salary: $55,000
Median Home Value: $125,500
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.2
Hot 3 Jobs: Medical Technologist, Marketing Manager, Software Developer
16. Indianapolis, IN - Glassdoor Job Score: 2.7
Number of Job Openings: 38,934
Median Base Salary: $56,000
Median Home Value: $130,200
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.1
Hot 3 Jobs: Account Executive, Pharmacist, Retail Store Manager
17. Baltimore, MD - Glassdoor Job Score: 2.7
Number of Job Openings: 67,209
Median Base Salary: $58,000
Median Home Value: $244,800
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.3
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.2
Hot 3 Jobs: Customer Service Specialist, Electrical Engineer, Restaurant Manager
18. Louisville, KY - Glassdoor Job Score: 2.7
Number of Job Openings: 26,311
Median Base Salary: $54,000
Median Home Value: $137,500
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.1
Hot 3 Jobs: Program Manager, Outside Sales Representative, Operations Manager
19. Pittsburgh, PA - Glassdoor Job Score: 2.6
Number of Job Openings: 50,127
Median Base Salary: $56,896
Median Home Value: $126,700
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.1
Hot 3 Jobs: Mechanical Engineer, Nurse Practitioner, Product Manager
20. San Antonio, TX - Glassdoor Job Score: 2.6
Number of Job Openings: 34,895
Median Base Salary: $55,000
Median Home Value: $150,200
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.3
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.1
Hot 3 Jobs: Sales Manager, Human Resources Coordinator, Network Engineer
21. San Diego, CA - Glassdoor Job Score: 2.6
Number of Job Openings: 45,424
Median Base Salary: $71,323
Median Home Value: $506,100
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.4
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.3
Hot 3 Jobs: Marketing Assistant, Senior Research Associate, Senior Data Scientist
22. Chicago, IL - Glassdoor Job Score: 2.6
Number of Job Openings: 170,192
Median Base Salary: $63,000
Median Home Value: $193,800
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.2
Hot 3 Jobs: Creative Director, Data Scientist, UI-UX Designer
23. Cincinnati, OH - Glassdoor Job Score: 2.6
Number of Job Openings: 36,624
Median Base Salary: $57,179
Median Home Value: $143,400
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.1
Hot 3 Jobs: Phlebotomist, Graphic Designer, Business Development Manager
24. Atlanta, GA - Glassdoor Job Score: 2.6
Number of Job Openings: 94,925
Median Base Salary: $60,000
Median Home Value: $163,000
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.3
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.1
Hot 3 Jobs: Engagement Manager, Internal Auditor, Network Administrator
25. Hartford, CT - Glassdoor Job Score: 2.6
Number of Job Openings: 24,590
Median Base Salary: $68,000
Median Home Value: $215,800
Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2
Work-Life Balance Rating: 3.1
Hot 3 Jobs: Paralegal, Manufacturing Engineer, Business Analyst
This year, several mid-sized cities appear for the first time on the list: Detroit, Cleveland, San Diego, Cincinnati and Hartford.
"This demonstrates why so many people are looking to move to the San Francisco Bay Area: job satisfaction, work-life balance and hiring opportunity are unparalleled compared to anywhere else in the country," said Dr. Andrew Chamberlain, Glassdoor Chief Economist. "However, it's also important to recognize that for anyone considering a new job in a new city, bigger doesn't necessarily mean better. Many of the nation's mid-sized cities stand out for offering some of the greatest job prospects combined with salaries that allow people to stretch their dollar further. It's not a surprise to see cities like Seattle and Austin at the top since they all have rising technology communities, great institutions for higher education and research, as well as affordable neighborhoods."
Glassdoor combines the latest job listings with a vast array of user-generated content on more than 540,000 companies, including 12 million workplace ratings and reviews(2), salary reports, interview reviews, benefits reviews, office photos and more shared by employees. Earlier this year, Glassdoor launched a new job search experience designed to help job seekers quickly determine if a job or company is the right fit for them, and create a more effective recruiting pipeline for employers.
(1)Methodology: Glassdoor's Best Cities for Jobs report identifies U.S. metros with the highest overall Glassdoor Job Score, based on a comparison of the 50 most populated U.S. metros. Each region's Glassdoor Job Score, based on a 5-point scale (5.0=best city for a job, 1.0=worst city for a job), is determined by weighting four factors equally: hiring opportunity, cost of living, work-life balance and job satisfaction.
Hiring opportunity is determined by the ratio of active job openings to population. (Job openings per metro represent active job listings on Glassdoor as of 4/25/16. Population data is according to the U.S. Office of Management & Budget).
Cost of living is determined by the ratio of median annual base salary to median metro home value. (Median annual base salary per metro based on at least 1,000 salary reports shared by local employees on Glassdoor over the past year (4/25/15-4/24/16). Median home value is according to the Zillow Home Value Index for All Homes, as of March 2016).
Job satisfaction ratings per metro is based on at least 1,500 company reviews shared by local employees on Glassdoor over the past year (4/25/15-4/24/16; Ratings based on a 5-point scale: 5.0=very satisfied, 1.0=very dissatisfied).
Work-life balance ratings per metro is based on at least 1,500 work-life balance ratings shared by local employees on Glassdoor over the past year (4/25/15-4/24/16; Ratings based on a 5-point scale: 5.0=very satisfied, 1.0=very dissatisfied).
(2)Glassdoor Data Labs, April 2016
About Glassdoor
Glassdoor is the most transparent jobs and recruiting marketplace that is changing how people search for jobs and how companies recruit top talent. Glassdoor combines free and anonymous reviews, ratings and salary content with job listings to help job seekers find the best jobs and address critical questions that come up during the job search, application, interview and negotiation phases of employment. For employers, Glassdoor offers recruiting and employer branding solutions to help attract high-quality candidates at a fraction of the cost of other channels. In addition, Glassdoor operates one of the most popular job apps on iOS and Android platforms. The company launched in 2008 and has raised approximately $160 million from Google Capital, Tiger Global, Benchmark, Battery Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures, DAG Ventures, Dragoneer Investment Group, and others.
(c) 2016 Glassdoor, Inc. Glassdoor is a registered trademark of Glassdoor, Inc.
Allegion, plc (NYSE: ALLE), a leading global security products and solutions provider, has agreed, through one of its subsidiaries, to acquire Trelock GmbH and related companies. The transaction is expected to close in the second or third quarter of this year, subject to regulatory approvals.
Trelock is a portable safety and security provider headquartered in Munster, Germany, producing branded bicycle locks, lights and electronic control units. With roots dating back to 1854, Trelock is a leader in the German bicycle market with a strong footprint throughout Europe as well as a presence in Asia. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015, Trelock generated nearly 20 million in net revenue.
Following the close of the transaction, Trelock will operate as part of Allegion's EMEIA region.
"Trelock has a solid reputation for safety, quality, design and innovation, complementing our own Kryptonite and AXA brands in the U.S. and European bicycle markets," said Lucia Veiga Moretti, Allegion senior vice president and president of EMEIA. "With Trelock added to our portfolio, Allegion will become a world leader in portable security solutions with a comprehensive product offering and broad distribution capabilities that fully support our customers' needs."
Trelock Managing Director Andreas Rott will remain with the Trelock business after close in a consulting capacity, supporting the portable security team in executing on its growth strategies.
"Both Trelock and Allegion have employees that have a passion for excellence driving us to provide the best products and customer experiences possible," said Rott. "Working together in the portable security space and leveraging combined global demand creation activities will create tremendous opportunities for continued growth."
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements that relate to our intent to acquire Trelock GmbH and related companies, the timing of the transaction and its ability to grow. These forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current available information and its current assumptions, expectations and projections about future events. They are subject to future events, risks and uncertainties - many of which are beyond the Company's control - as well as potentially inaccurate assumptions, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Further information on these factors and other risks that may affect the Company's business is included in filings it makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including its Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2015, Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, and in its other SEC filings. The Company assumes no obligations to update these forward-looking statements.
About Allegion
Allegion (NYSE: ALLE) is a global pioneer in safety and security, with leading brands like CISA, Interflex, LCN, Schlage, SimonsVoss and Von Duprin. Focusing on security around the door and adjacent areas, Allegion produces a range of solutions for homes, businesses, schools and other institutions. Allegion is a $2 billion company, with products sold in almost 130 countries.
For more, visit www.allegion.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160518005198/en/
Contacts:
Allegion plc
Media
Maria Pia Tamburri Director, Public Affairs, 317-810-3399
Maria.Tamburri@allegion.com
or
Analysts
Tom Martineau Director, Investor Relations, 317-810-3759
Tom.Martineau@allegion.com
BOSTON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --Recently, erecruit, the leading innovator inenterprise staffing software, VMS and onboarding solutions for large staffing firms and employers, announced that Greg Stott, a seasoned financial executive, has joined the company's leadership team as Chief Financial Officer. Stott brings with him an extensive background in corporate finance, treasury, accounting, financial planning and analysis, investor relations, strategic planning and risk management. Known for building high performance business functions in emerging high-tech business environments, Stott will be instrumental in leveraging erecruit's current momentum to further advance its position as an industry leader.
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"I'm very pleased to announce the appointment of Greg Stott as our new CFO," said Dave Perotti, CEO, erecruit. "Greg's depth and combination of corporate finance and business leadership experience compliments both our operations and long-term growth objectives. We look forward to Greg using his invaluable expertise to enhance our finance organization and I am confident that under his leadership we will drive long-term growth and excellence."
Stott brings nearly 30 years of financial and accounting experience to the position. Most recently, Greg was with Trimble Navigation Limited, as part of the executive team within the Real Estate & Workplace Solutions division, a market leader in SaaS-based solutions for building owners and occupiers. Prior to Trimble, Greg served as the CFO at both SpaceClaim Corporation (acquired by ANSYS) and Convergence, Inc. (acquired by Acme Packet). Greg also served as the VP of Finance and Treasurer at Telica, Inc., which was acquired by Lucent Technologies. Greg began his career at Ernst & Young, where he obtained his CPA status, and has also received an MBA from Nichols College.
"erecruit is experiencing an exciting time of company growth, which I attribute to the quality of the team they have in place and its commitment to providing the best enterprise staffing software in the industry to its clients," said Stott. "I am thrilled to join the leadership team and help plot the course to continue this momentum and success."
About
erecruitis the leading innovator in enterprise staffing software, VMS and onboarding solutions for large staffing firms and employers.erecruituses modern, standards-based technologies to provide a highly scalable and configurable solution that allows today's best firms to put their clients, candidates and vendors at the heart of their businesses.erecruitis headquartered in Boston, MA. To learn more, visit www.erecruit.com.erecruitis a trademark of Erecruit Holdings, LLC.
CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- Empire Industries Ltd. ("Empire") (TSX VENTURE: EIL) is pleased to announce that, further to its news release of February 1, 2016, Empire has entered into an arrangement agreement (the "Arrangement Agreement") with its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Tornado Global Hydrovacs Ltd. ("Tornado") and Tornado Global Hydrovacs Inc. contemplating the spin-out (the "Arrangement") to Tornado of Empire's hydrovac business including all of the tangible and intangible assets, employees and operations of Tornado Trucks, a division of Empire (the "Hydrovac Business").
Pursuant to the Arrangement, the Hydrovac Business will be owned by Tornado and the common shares of Empire will be exchanged for one quarter (1/4) of a new Empire common share and one eighth (1/8) of a new Tornado common share for every common shares of Empire currently owned.
Benefits of the Arrangement
The spin-out is expected to provide certain benefits to Empire shareholders including:
-- The Arrangement is expected to allow Empire shareholders to realize the full value of the media-based attractions and steel fabrication business through their holding of new Empire common shares and also to realize the potential of the Hydrovac Business through their holding of Tornado common shares. -- The Arrangement is expected to enhance the ability of Empire and Tornado to pursue their respective corporate objectives and strategies by allowing Empire to focus on its media-based attractions and steel fabrication business and allowing Tornado to focus on the Hydrovac Business. -- The creation of two separate companies dedicated to the pursuit of their respective businesses will provide Empire shareholders with additional investment flexibility as they will hold a direct interest in two separate companies that are at different stages of commercial development and focused on different objectives and strategies.
The Hydrovac Business
Tornado will acquire the Hydrovac Business and as a result, will design, manufacture and sell truck-mounted hydrovac excavation equipment in North America. The hydrovac trucks use high pressure water to pulverize soil and turn it into mud, and then vacuum up the resulting mud into its tank. Hydrovac excavation is a valuable excavation technique, in large part because it can safely excavate around underground utilities such as gas lines without damaging them. As such, this equipment is frequently used in the oil and gas production industry, the pipeline industry, and by municipalities to safely expose underground utilities for repair.
The Hydrovacs Business currently operates in North America. Following completion of the Arrangement, Tornado intends to expand its hydrovac business into China, as well as maintaining and enhancing its North American business.
In North America, Tornado intends to carry on with its existing business model of designing, manufacturing, and selling hydrovac excavation equipment to end-users. Tornado plans to increase its revenue and profitability in North America by expanding its product line, enhancing its technology, expanding its geographical sales efforts particularly into the United States, and streamlining its manufacturing processes to obtain cost efficiencies.
Historically, the Hydrovac Business' primary market has been western Canada's oil and gas and pipeline industries. Its flagship product is the Tornado F4, which is an industrial-sized hydrovac unit with wide application in the oil and gas and pipeline industries. To mitigate against the economic fluctuation of the oil and gas and pipeline industries, a smaller hydrovac unit, the Tornado F2, was developed which is more suitable for municipal markets. The Tornado F2 municipal hydrovac unit does not require as much capacity as the industrial Tornado F4. It also does not need the heavy duty off road features associated with the Tornado F4 design. These design changes bring the price point and functionality more in line with the requirements of the municipal excavation market. The municipal market is a rapidly growing market for two primary reasons. Firstly, the use of hydrovac excavation is still at a low level of market penetration versus traditional methods of excavation. Secondly, the cost is prohibitively high when collateral damage caused by utility outages and deaths caused by explosions from unsafe excavation is considered. The frequency of underground utility accidents caused by traditional excavation methods is increasingly unaffordable. Targeting increased market penetration of the municipal market provides a less volatile market for the Hydrovac Business, as the demand is not sensitive to the price of oil. The Hydrovac Business has also increased its sales efforts in the United States, where the low Canadian dollar offers a competitive cost advantage over US manufacturers.
In China, Tornado intends to develop a hydrovac service-based business model. It has designed two hydrovac truck designs to comply with the Chinese technical and regulatory requirements and to target the industrial and municipal markets. Provided the Tornado truck design satisfies all the regulatory requirements and is able to manufacture the hydrovac trucks, it will have those trucks manufactured on a subcontract basis in China, with certain proprietary components being supplied from Tornado's North American manufacturing division in order to ensure the security of Tornado's proprietary intellectual property. Detailed discussions with several qualified manufacturers have taken place and management are of the view that its Chinese hydrovac truck will be able to be manufactured to its specifications and put into service in China through this method of manufacturing.
The Arrangement Agreement
The parties entered into the Arrangement Agreement setting out the proposed terms and conditions of the Arrangement. Empire's board of directors has unanimously approved the Arrangement and recommends that Empire shareholders and Empire optionholders vote in favor of the Arrangement at the special meetings of securityholders scheduled for June 21, 2016.
The Arrangement must be approved by a resolution passed by at least 66 2/3% of the votes cast by the Empire shareholders and the Empire optionholders, voting as separate classes, present in person or by proxy at the meeting. In addition to that approval, completion of the arrangement will be subject to certain customary conditions, including the approval of the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta and the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV"). It is a condition of the Arrangement that the Tornado common shares be conditionally approved for listing on the TSXV.
Details of the Arrangement and the special meeting will be set out in Empire's management information circular and proxy statement that will be mailed to Empire shareholders and Empire optionholders in respect of the meeting to approve the transaction. The Arrangement Agreement, the circular and related proxy materials will be filed with Canadian securities regulators and available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Tornado Private Placement
As previously disclosed, in order to fund its planned business operations over the next year, Tornado completed a private placement (the "Private Placement") of subscription receipts ("Subscription Receipts") for an aggregate of approximately $7,500,000, which Private Placement is described in more detail below.
To ensure that Tornado would be sufficiently capitalized following the closing of the Arrangement, Tornado (through an affiliate which will be wound-up into Tornado pursuant to the Arrangement) completed the Private Placement. The Subscription Receipts were subscribed for by Excellence Raise Overseas Limited ( the "Subscriber"), a corporation incorporated in the British Virgin Islands and controlled by James Chui, a proposed director of Tornado, pursuant to the terms of a subscription receipt subscription agreement (the "Canadian Subscription Agreement") entered into by the Subscriber, Empire, Tornado and Carscallen LLP as escrow agent dated January 25, 2016 as well as a subscription agreement entered into by the Subscriber, Empire, Tornado and Everbright Law Firm dated February 29, 2016 (the "Chinese Subscription Agreement" and together with the Canadian Subscription Agreement, the "Subscription Agreements"). The closing of the Private Placement resulted in the issuance of Subscription Receipts by Tornado which entitle the Subscriber to receive, without payment of additional consideration or further action, such number of common shares of Tornado as shall equal no less than 45.5% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Tornado immediately following the completion of the Arrangement for gross proceeds of approximately $7,500,000.
Effective April 15, 2016, the Subscriber transferred: (i) Subscription Receipts representing the right to acquire approximately 4.9% of the common shares of Tornado upon satisfaction of the Escrow Release Conditions to Chao Huang, a proposed director of Tornado; and (ii) Subscription Receipts representing the right to acquire approximately 35.7% of the common shares of Tornado upon satisfaction of the Escrow Release Conditions to Shanghai Pursuance Intelligence Technologies Limited Partnership ("SPITLP"), a limited partnership organized in the People's Republic of China and controlled by James Chui, a proposed director of Tornado. The Subscriber retained Subscription Receipts representing the right to acquire 4.9% of the common shares of Tornado Class upon satisfaction of the Escrow Release Conditions.
In connection with the closing of Private Placement, the Subscriber, Empire and Tornado's affiliate entered into a governance agreement (the "Governance Agreement") providing for, amongst other things: (i) until the earlier of the termination of the Subscription Agreements and the closing date of the Arrangement, the board of Tornado will be comprised of nominees of Empire; (ii) following satisfaction of the Escrow Release Conditions, the board of Tornado will be reconstituted to be comprised of five (5) directors of which two (2) nominees shall be of Empire, two (2) nominees shall be of the Subscriber and one (1) nominee shall be jointly identified by Empire and the Subscriber; (iii) following the release of the Escrowed Funds and the organization of the WFOE (as defined below), $2,000,000 shall be used by Tornado to subscribe for shares in the WFOE, $2,000,000 shall be used by Tornado to provide the WFOE Loan (as defined below) and the balance of the funds of Tornado shall be used for general working capital; (iv) Tornado shall use its reasonable commercial efforts to organize the WFOE as soon as reasonably practicable; (v) the Subscriber shall make available to WFOE within thirty (30) days of the organization of the WFOE, a secured subordinated term loan in the principal amount of $2,500,000 maturing four (4) years following the first advances of funds accruing at a rate of 8% per annum, compounded annually; and (vi) until the listing of the common shares of Tornado on the TSXV, certain corporate matters involving the issuance of securities of Tornado, certain expenditures and certain corporate transactions shall not be carried out.
The proceeds of the Private Placement will be released if certain escrow release conditions (the "Escrow Release Conditions") are satisfied. The escrow release conditions include:
(i) the approval of the Arrangement by the securityholders of Empire; (ii) the listing of the common shares Tornado on the TSXV; (iii) the receipt of final order of the Court of Queen's Bench approving the Arrangement; and (iv) the closing of the Arrangement.
A portion of the proceeds of the Private Placement, in the amount of $4,000,000 will be used by Tornado to capitalize a newly organized wholly foreign owned subsidiary (the "WFOE") of Tornado, to be organized in China to carry on the hydrovac business of Tornado in China. An amount of approximately $2,000,000 will be used by Tornado to subscribe for voting securities of the WFOE and an amount of approximately $2,000,000 (the "WFOE Loan") will be loaned by Tornado to the WFOE on acceptable terms and subordinated to the principal lender of the WFOE.
Following closing of the Arrangement, the Subscriber has agreed to provide a secured term loan to Tornado (the "Subscriber Loan") in a principal amount of Chinese Renminbi equal to $2,500,000 (the "Subscriber Loan Amount"). The Subscriber will receive, amongst other things, a subordinated note (the "Subscriber Note") in a principal amount equal to the Subscriber Loan Amount. The Subscriber Note will bear interest at a rate of 8.0% per annum, payable annually for a term of four (4) years. The principal amount of the Subscriber Note will be repayable in a lump sum at the end of the term of the loan. The Subscriber Note will be secured by all personal property of Tornado and subordinated to Tornado's principal lender.
Pro Forma Consolidated Financial Position of Tornado
Tornado will continue to operate and develop the Hydrovac Business. The pro forma consolidated financial position of Tornado and Empire as at December 31, 2015, assuming completion of the Arrangement, includes the following:
----------------------------------- Empire ------------------------------------------------------------- Tornado ------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pro Forma as of Empire Empire Tornado Subscriber Tornado December 31, With Without (Spin out investment Global 2015 Tornado Tornado Assets) in Tornado Hydrovacs ($000's) (audited) (unaudited) (audited) (unaudited) (unaudited) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total Assets $80,140 $75,012(2) $14,166(1) $10,000 $24,166 Total Liabilities $56,480 $54,852 $5,182(2) $2,500 $7,682 Total Equity $23,660 $20,160(1) $8,984(1) $7,500 $16,484 Revenue (2015) $151,403 $131,225 $20,178 EBITDA (2015) $8,014 $8,139 ($125) Shareholders Equity to EBITDA 3.0X 2.5X ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) Includes gain on disposal (to Empire) and unallocated purchase price adjustment (to Tornado) of $5,484. (2) Includes note payable from Tornado to Empire of $3,554.
Proposed Insiders of Tornado
Assuming completion of the Arrangement, the proposed directors and officers of Tornado will be:
Principal Occupation for Name and Position with Tornado Preceding Five Years ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Guy Nelson Chief Executive Officer and President of Non-Executive Chairman, Director Empire Industries Ltd. Chairman of Empire Iron since 1997. Chairman of Better Work Place Inc. from Sept. 2001 to present. Guy holds an MBA from the Ivey Business School and a B.Comm from University of Alberta. George Tai Lawyer and partner at Carscallen LLP since Corporate Secretary & Director 2006. Darrick Evong Independent Consultant for Cordy Oil Field Director Services (TSX VENTURE: CKK) since February 2015. President of Darsha Business Consulting from 2014 to present. Director of Financial Projects for Mullen Group Ltd. (TSX: MTL) from 2008 to 2014. James Chui Chairman & CEO of Excellence Raise Overseas Director Limited since 2013. Director/President of Sino-Pacific Agency Partners (Hong Kong) Limited since 2010. Director/President of Sino-Pacific Agricultural Investment Inc. from 2011 through 2015. Huang Chao Chief Executive Officer of Shanghai World Director Trade since 2013. Previously Marketing Manager of Shanghai World Trade since 2007. Bill Rollins Chief Executive Officer of Tornado. Chief Executive Officer Previously president of the Tornado business unit of Empire Industries since 2007. From 1985 to 2007, Chief Executive Officer of Tornado Technologies Inc. (TSX VENTURE:TDO) and its predecessor companies. Connie Ping Chief Financial Officer of Tornado. Since Chief Financial Officer 2011, served as Manager, M&A and Commercial Finance for Shell Canada. Previously Manager, M&A and Commercial Finance for Shell China since 2009 and Finance Manager for Shell JV since 2006. Held a number of positions with increasing levels of responsibility in the finance and accounting area at Shell China since 1994.
Additionally, assuming completion of the Arrangement, Shanghai Pursuance Intelligence Technology Limited Partnership ("SPITLP") will own 21,234,661 common shares of Tornado. Fifty percent (50%) of the voting securities of SPITLP are controlled by James Chui, a proposed director of Tornado who also exercises direction or control over Excellence Raise Overseas Limited which will own 2,914,561 common shares of Tornado. In aggregate, Mr. Chui will exercise control or direction over 24,149,222 common shares of representing approximately 40.6% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Tornado. In addition, Fifty Percent (50%) of the voting securities of SPITLP are controlled by Chao Huang who will also be the registered owner of 2,914,561 common shares of Tornado. In aggregate, Mr. Huang will own or exercise control or direction over 24,149,222 common shares of Tornado representing approximately 40.6% of the issued and outstanding Tornado Class "A" Shares. SPITPL will each be considered a "Control Person" under the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange and under securities laws.
About Empire Industries Ltd.
Empire Industries Ltd. manufactures specialized engineered products and sells these products domestically and in select international export markets. The company develops, designs and engineers products for the rapidly growing, global, media based attractions market and also uses these globally competitive competencies in the optical telescope market. The company designs and manufactures Hydrovac trucks for excavation service providers to the oil and gas industry and the municipal markets. The company provides steel fabrication & installation services, primarily to the industrial, commercial and infrastructure market in Western Canada. The company has two key strategic equity partnerships; a 49% ownership of ACE Industrial Services that operates in the oil sands industrial maintenance services market, and a 45% ownership of a Chinese joint venture company in the steel fabrication market in Asia. Empire's common shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol EIL.
For more information about the Company, visit www.empind.com.
Advisory
The Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.
Neither the Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release
Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. The use of the words "may", "expected", "believes", "anticipates" and other words of a similar nature are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Although Empire believes these statements to be reasonable, no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. Such statements include statements with respect to the anticipated benefits of the Arrangement, completion of the Arrangement and any transactions associated therewith, the receipt of any regulatory, securityholder or other approvals required in connection with any transactions described herein, the expansion of the Hydrovac Business to China and the results, if any, thereof" any increase in revenue and profitability of the Hydrovac Business and the success of any efforts in respect thereof, the satisfaction of the Escrow Release Conditions or the release of the proceeds of the Private Placement. There is no assurance that the parties will complete the Arrangement or any related transactions. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of prevailing economic conditions, receipt of requisite regulatory approvals, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of Empire. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release represent Empire's expectations as of the date hereof, and are subject to change after such date. Empire 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 may be required by applicable securities regulations.
Contacts:
Empire Industries Ltd.
Guy Nelson
Chief Executive Officer
(416) 366-7977
gnelson@empind.com
Empire Industries Ltd.
Allan Francis
Vice President - Corporate Affairs and Administration
(204) 589-9301
afrancis@empind.com
www.empind.com
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The South African Rand weakened against the U.S. dollar in European deals on Wednesday, as emerging assets were under pressure on renewed concerns over early Fed rate hike, as well as on political chaos regarding arrest of South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. Gordhan is being investigated over his role in setting up a tax surveillance unit in 2007 when he was the commissioner of the South African Revenue Service, Sunday Times reported over the weekend. The South African rand slipped to 15.87 against the greenback, a level not seen since March 16. On the downside, 16.5 is likely seen as the next support level for the South African Rand. 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.
PUNE, India, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
The report "Wax Emulsion Market by Material Base (Synthetic and Natural), by Type (Polyethylene, Paraffin, Carnauba, Polypropylene, and Others), by End Use Industry (Paints & Coatings, Adhesives & Sealants, Cosmetics, Textiles, and Others), by Region - Global Forecast to 2021", published by MarketsandMarkets, The global market is expected to reach USD 3.2 Million by 2021, at a CAGR of 3.9% from 2016 to 2021.
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Browse 96 market data Tables and 53 Figures spread through 149 Pages and in-depth TOC on"Wax Emulsion Market"
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/wax-emulsion-market-37491323.html
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A key driving factor for the growth of the wax emulsion market is consequent rise in the demand for paints & coatings, and adhesives & sealants.
Polyethylene segment to dominate the global wax emulsion market
Polyethylene has been widely used in the paints & coatings industry across major regions. Polyethylene and paraffin are mainly used in for better slip, scratch resistance, and water resistance on the surfaces. Cost effectiveness, and easy availability of polyethylene makes it a most preferred raw material over other raw materials for wax emulsions.
Paints & coatings is the major end use industry in the global wax emulsion market
The paints & coatings segment is the largest contributor to the global wax emulsion market. Almost one third of the global wax emulsion produced is consumed by the paints & coatings industry. This is mainly attributed to better chemical stability and environment friendly characteristics of wax emulsions. The absence of substitutes also drives the growth of wax emulsion market. In fact, solvent system is expected to get replaced by wax emulsion in paints & coatings, which is more eco-friendly option for the manufacturers.
Asia-Pacific is the most dominant region in the global wax emulsion market
Asia-Pacific dominates the global wax emulsion market. Increasing demand from industries such as adhesives & sealants and paints & coatings is likely to drive the growth of wax emulsion market in this region. This region is becoming one of the most favorable investment locations all over the world because of easily available and cost-effective labor. This in turn helps the industrial sector in the region grow rapidly in recent times, which is further driving the demand for wax emulsion in the region.
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Some of the key players operating in the global Wax Emulsion Market include Michelman Inc. (U.S.), Altana AG (Germany), BASF SE (Germany), Nippon Seiro Co., Ltd. (Japan), Sasol Ltd. (South Africa), The Dow Chemical Company (U.S.), Exxon Mobile Corp. (U.S.), Momentive Performance Materials Inc. (U.S.), Lubrizol Corporation (U.S.), and Danquinsa GmbH (Germany).
The global wax emulsion market is segmented on the basis of material base (synthetic natural), type (polyethylene, paraffin, carnauba, polypropylene, and others), end use industry (paints & coatings, adhesives & sealants, cosmetics, textiles, and others), region (Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe, RoW).
Browse Related Reports:
Polymer Emulsion Market, by Type (Acrylics, Polyurethane Dispersions, SB Latex, Vinyl acetate Polymer and Others), by Application (Adhesives & Sealants, Paints & Coatings, Paper & Paperboard, and Others) - Trends & Forecasts to 2020
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/emulsion-polymers-market-1269.html
Paints & Coatings Market, by Resin Type (Acrylic, Alkyd, Epoxy, Polyurethane, Polyester, & Others), by Technology (Waterborne, Solvent Borne, High Solids, Powder & Others), by Application (Architectural & Paints) - Global Forecasts to 2020
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/paint-coating-market-156661838.html
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TORONTO, ON -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- After years of enduring civil war, more than 25,000 Syrian refugees recently arrived in Canada and are dreaming about a successful life in their new home. Like thousands of refugees before them, they will struggle to reach their full potential if their educational credentials are not recognized. Without appropriate credential recognition, these individuals can find themselves underemployed, underpaid, and unable to achieve their aspirations or meet their potential in society.
"Accessing education and jobs is a key factor for refugees' future success, but many escaped their home countries with only a few essential items, and their official academic documents may be impossible to obtain," said Tim Owen, Deputy Executive Director and Director of WES Canada. "We feel that there's a way to help as a leading provider of credential assessments in the Canada and the United States," he added.
World Education Services (WES) is developing a new "alternative credential assessment" for refugees. The service will help refugees obtain some form of recognition for their academic credentials even if they cannot access official academic documents from the institutions they attended. When the pilot phase is done and a review of the outcome is complete, WES will consider next steps for expanding the service to refugees and people in similar situations from other countries.
"More than 100,000 refugees and their families arrive in Canada and the United States every year and many struggle to re-establish their lives and careers," said Owen. "They will make it out of a war zone or terrible political situation to safety in North America, but they still face many obstacles to restoring their lives. Gaining recognition for their qualifications should not be one of them," he added.
When the unemployment rate for refugees is twice as high as the average for those born in Canada, credential recognition can help to narrow the gap. It can give refugees access to further education, professional licensing, and employment -- and it will offer them the opportunity to overcome the barriers they face to economic success.
"On top of the personal struggle faced by refugee families, our society as a whole suffers when talented individuals are underemployed," said Paul Feltman, Deputy Executive Director of the WES Global Talent Bridge Program. "When well-educated people are unable to work in a job commensurate with their qualifications, this 'brain waste' saps strength from our economy and reduces our tax base. We all lose out in the process," he added.
WES will work with partner agencies to pilot test the alternative credential assessment, beginning in Canada with the Syrian refugee community. Based on the outcomes of the pilot, WES will roll out an ongoing service to help refugees gain recognition for their qualifications with potential employers and educational institutions.
Alternative Credential Assessment Based on Comprehensive International Research and Expertise
WES is also publishing a new research report, Recognizing the Educational Qualifications of Refugees, which identifies alternative practices to assess refugees' educational achievements. The information will help organizations understand and work with refugees to rebuild their lives in Canada. The report includes research on reconstructing a refugee's educational background when full documentation is lacking and suggests methods to corroborate their claims. It also contains recommendations on recognizing applicants' qualifications based on an alternative assessment process.
Email refugees@wes.org for more information about the pilot program and to obtain a copy of the report. For press inquiries, please contact Marcus Parmegiani at mparmegi@wes.org or at 416-528-2799.
About WES
World Education Services (WES) is a non-profit organization founded in 1974 dedicated to helping individuals achieve their higher education and professional goals. WES evaluates and advocates for the recognition of international education qualifications in the U.S. and Canada. WES delivers credential assessments recognized by 2,500 academic, business, and governmental institutions to more than 200,000 people annually.
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Contact:
Marcus Parmegiani
World Education Services
T: 416-972-5050
mparmegi@wes.org
CINCINNATI, OH -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- Datalliance today announced that they recently hosted a one-of-a-kind business event for executives from select electrical, plumbing and industrial manufacturers and wholesalers. The exclusive one-day event was held at Brixen Ivy, adjacent to Wrigley Field. It focused on the growing need for trading partners to embrace change and innovation in order to remain relevant and increase sales in industrial wholesale markets.
The event started with a keynote presentation by Dirk Beveridge, Founder of UnleashWD, who shared top-line results from research he recently conducted with the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) around the need to "Reimagine Distributor and Manufacturer Relationships." In his presentation, he stated: "Market forces and competitive pressures necessitate that manufacturers and distributors take a refreshed look at their business partnerships. Success in this current business environment requires that trading partners fully understand each other's business models, trust more authentically and extend the partnership planning horizon."
"Dirk set the stage for the rest of the morning's presentations," said Tom Hoar, Datalliance Director of Sales. "We wanted to start the day with material that would get the audience thinking about their current business performance and how new business processes and automation could be leveraged to improve results. Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) is one such business process that drives business partners to work together in new collaborative ways for their mutual benefit."
The session continued with two different manufacturers sharing their respective approaches to collaborative business processes and specifically, vendor managed inventory. Ruchir Patel, Director of Strategic Marketing, Connected Services and VMI at AGCO, a global leader in agricultural machinery, shared how their Managed Dealer Inventory program has dramatically improved parts availability, which is critical during peak agricultural seasons. Patel also explained how, AGCO is leveraging "master item" functionality exclusive to Datalliance to better manage over 600,000 SKUs and an average product life cycle of 22 years. John Riley, Director of eCommerce and Business Automation at Hubbell Incorporated, an international manufacturer of quality electrical and electronic products, then shared his team's approach to vendor managed inventory, focusing on the collaborative nature of the relationship. Riley shared how Hubbell has leveraged the returns automation capabilities from Datalliance to drive cost out of the process while at the same time improving customer satisfaction.
Two industrial distributors then took the stage explaining, from their perspectives, the benefits of a well-run vendor managed inventory program and why they are looking to strategically expand their involvement with VMI. Lisa Scinta, VP of Strategic Operations for Rexel USA, a global leader in the distribution of electrical supplies and services, shared how participating in VMI with strategic suppliers supports three key improvement initiatives around productivity, product availability and trade working capital improvement. According to Scinta, "greater interdependency with our suppliers paves the way for sustainable improvements for our customers." John Wisniowski, Purchasing/Product File Manager at MORSCO, a leading U.S. distributor of commercial and residential plumbing, heating and cooling equipment, also discussed the strategic benefits of VMI given their current hyper-growth. He emphasized the improved replenishment and inventory metrics they experience with VMI, as well as the additional benefit of having both the supplier and distributor leveraging consistent data for performance reviews and forecasting. Wisnioski said that Morsco is looking to participate in up to 20 more supplier VMI programs.
"We were pleased to be able to organize this first of its kind business meeting in order to bring together industrial manufacturers and distributors to discuss real, practical strategies for better collaboration around inventory and supply chain management," said Carl Hall, Datalliance President and CEO. "Market forces and competitive pressures are straining the existing relationships between suppliers and their trading partners. But it's clear that innovative business processes built around advancements in data-sharing technology can dramatically improve collaboration in a way that drives increased sales and better inventory metrics."
About Datalliance
Datalliance is the world's largest independent Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) service provider. Delivered as a cloud-based platform backed by extensive customer service, Datalliance VMI makes it easy for suppliers and their customers to establish sales and inventory management relationships that fully align business objectives, improve collaboration, and streamline supply chain operations. Datalliance manages billions of dollars in orders, millions of SKUs, and thousands of locations worldwide for leading companies in consumer, industrial and healthcare markets. For more information about Datalliance, visit www.datalliance.com.
Contact:
Brian Lindner
Datalliance
513-791-7272
PHOENIX, AZ -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- Mobivity Holdings Corp. (OTCQB: MFON), the award-winning provider of patented mobile and non-traditional marketing technologies for the restaurant and retail industries, announced today it has appointed Rick Muldowney as Head of Analytics. Muldowney brings to Mobivity more than 25 years of experience in the areas of data aggregation, infrastructure, and analytics to lead the company and its clients in the areas of data analysis, insights and product innovation. This is a new position for Mobivity and emphasizes the company's further commitment to providing their clients with deep analytics and technological expertise. Rick brings a proven track record of leveraging data gleaned from point-of-sale networks, proving ROI, and using data science to accelerate revenue and power technological solutions.
Prior to joining Mobivity, Muldowney headed marketing analytics at one of Mobivity's key clients, Subway. In this role, he was tasked with building an analytics team, aligning and managing massive amounts of aggregated data, and providing insights for internal and external stakeholder groups such as marketing, franchisees, agency partners, development agents, and key partners like Coke and Frito Lay. Rick was instrumental on the team that used key data analytics to drive the business with the creation of the $5 Footlong campaign, which drove billions of dollars in incremental revenue for the company.
Before his tenure at Subway, Muldowney was Vice President, Marketing Analytics for ToysRUs, where he was brought in to turn the focus from a merchandising and traditional advertising company to a data-driven, consumer-focused organization that could leverage a database of over 80 million US households. The result was a tailored marketing strategy that showed an immediate ROI and continues to be at the heart of their marketing strategy.
Muldowney, who also served as a VP of Analytics at GE Capital, is a graduate of the Binghamton University, with a degree in mathematics, and he holds a master's degree from Syracuse University in mathematics and statistics.
"We are very excited to have Rick join our team as the head of our analytics group," said Dennis Becker, Mobivity's Chief Executive Officer. "Rick brings a wealth of marketing analytics experience specific to our clients' business. His years with Subway and his quick service restaurant (QSR) and retail knowledge, combined with proven results, will be invaluable to our continued growth and innovation. Rick's unique skills and expertise have already had an immediate positive impact on our clients' and our company's business."
"I am impressed with Mobivity's SmartSuite of products and its rapid adoption by major QSR brands," said Muldowney. "To have access to customer basket-level data to analyze at such scale, with world class brands such as Subway, Sonic, Baskin Robbins, and others, will allow us to use what I believe to be truly disruptive technologies to accelerate our clients' revenue potential and drive their businesses in ways that are truly ground-breaking in the restaurant and retail industries. I'm extremely proud to be a part of this tectonic shift in the marketplace."
About Mobivity
Mobivity Inc., based in Phoenix, AZ, is an award-winning provider of mobile and non-traditional marketing technologies that help retail brands grow their business by increasing customer frequency, engagement and spend. Mobivity's SmartSuite of products, including SmartReceipt, SmartSMS, and SmartAnalytics unlock the power of customer, employee and POS data to create a closed-loop solution and provides data-driven insights; digital and traditional marketing attribution; and validation, at scale, to continually adapt and provide more personalized, relevant, and targeted customer communications.
Mobivity clients include SUBWAY, SONIC, Chick-fil-A, and Baskin-Robbins. For more information about Mobivity, please visit: www.mobivity.com
Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning Mobivity Holdings Corp. within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Those forward-looking statements include statements regarding the Company's plans to cross-market its products, including its recently acquired Livelenz operations; expectations for the growth of the Company's operations and revenue; and the advantages and growth prospects of the mobile marketing industry. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and actual circumstances, events or results may differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to differences include, but are not limited to, the application and enforcement of the TCPA amendments in ways not expected; our ability to successfully integrate the Livelenz operations and our recent additions to management; our ability to develop the sales force required to achieve our development and revenue goals; our ability to raise additional working capital as and when needed; changes in the laws and regulations affecting the mobile marketing industry and those other risks set forth in Mobivity Holdings Corp.'s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 filed with the SEC on March 31, 2016 and subsequently filed quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Mobivity Holdings Corp. cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Mobivity Holdings Corp. does not undertake, and specifically disclaims any obligation to update or revise such statements to reflect new circumstances or unanticipated events as they occur.
Media Contacts
Investor Relations
Robert B. Prag
President
The Del Mar Consulting Group, Inc.
858-794-9500
or
Scott Wilfong
President
Alex Partners, LLC
425-242-0891
SILICON SLOPES, UT -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- InsideSales.com, the leading cloud-based sales acceleration technology company, today outlined its vision for a Sales Revolution aimed at helping companies sell more through the expanded application of data and science to sales. This new vision for a Sales Revolution, unveiled at the company's Accelerate 16 conference, brings together a unique blend of data, products, services and partnerships to help sales teams accelerate sales, grow revenue and improve profitability.
"As we work with sales organizations across nearly every industry around the world, we see patterns in the challenges these organizations all face," noted Dave Elkington, CEO and founder of InsideSales. "For example, sales organizations are under pressure, especially given today's market conditions, to become more profitable. In order to do that, many of them are moving or expanding upmarket, pursuing larger, more complex deals. We're also seeing a continued evolution in the balance between accounts and opportunities that can be won and serviced by inside sales teams, versus traditional field sales organizations. These megatrends are driving a profound revolution in sales."
Elkington, speaking at Accelerate 16 in Park City, Utah, pointed out several data, science and service trends that are fueling this new movement. As companies move more and more of their sales data into CRM platforms, where the data can be accessed, normalized and analyzed, they are able to gain insights about how to make their sales teams more efficient. Every layer of sales technology added onto CRM platforms -- such as InsideSales' industry-leading sales acceleration solutions -- generates additional insight opportunities. The emerging application of predictive analytics and machine learning to these growing data sets is helping to unless more sales growth.
In support of this sea of change, InsideSales announced at Accelerate 16 several catalysts to ignite the Sales Revolution:
New account-based sales acceleration platform: The company showed an early preview of two new sales acceleration solutions designed to extend the Sales Revolution to sales teams involved in account-based selling.
Solution Integration Insiders Partner Program: The company announced a new program for regional and global system integrators and referral partners to participate in and benefit from the Sales Revolution by extending exciting new sales growth opportunities to their customer base. Partners in this program bring crucial value-added services to help their customers unlock even more sales growth.
Product Integration Insiders Partner Program: The company also announced a new program for independent software vendors (ISVs) that provides multiple opportunities for application and data service providers to integrate with both InsideSales' core sales acceleration platform as well as the company's innovative Predictive Cloud to extend the power of data + science and the Sales Revolution through their products to their users.
Important data milestone: The company's Predictive Cloud, the industry's first-of-its-kind open platform that enables businesses of all sizes to build rich, powerful predictive apps, surpassed the 100 billion sales interactions processed mark. InsideSales is the first company of its kind to reach this milestone.
How the Sales Revolution Accelerates Sales
By bringing to bear the twin forces of data + science, through its own offerings and the products, data and services of partners, InsideSales' vision for this new Sales Revolution is to fuel accelerated and expanded sales growth in three key ways:
Expanded visibility: Sales executives, managers, and sales reps gain greater visibility about all aspects of their current customers and sales prospects, as well as about the performance of their own sales functions and people.
Enhanced productivity: By enabling reps to raise activity levels through increased motivation and automation.
Increased effectiveness: Through the application of science, including predictive analytics, automated voicemails and other smart selling tools, as well as data-driven sales best practices, sales organizations can become more effective and reduce unit cost economics.
The application of data + science will drive a Sales Revolution across the full sales funnel, from prospecting to qualifying and developing opportunities, to forecasting and closing opportunities, to ensuring customer success and helping them to renew and expand.
The Sales Revolution Creates "Sales Superheroes" Across the Whole Sales Organization
As the Sales Revolution brings the benefits of data + science to the entire sales funnel, key stakeholders across the entire sales organization will benefit, becoming "sales superheroes" in their respective businesses:
Sales executives will be empowered with data, insights and predictive power to make better and faster decisions
Sales managers across all sales functions will get X-ray vision into the mechanics of their teams, down to the individual level, to help them unleash performance improvements and better decisions
Front-line revenue producers, including sales development reps, sales reps, account reps and field reps, will be empowered to meet and exceed their performance targets more efficiently.
For more information about the Sales Revolution, visit www.insidesales.com.
About InsideSales.com
InsideSales.com offers the industry's leading sales acceleration platform built on Neuralytics, a predictive and prescriptive self-learning engine that drives revenue growth by delivering an optimized experience for both salesperson and buyer. The platform fuels sales rep performance and provides buyer personalization with breakthrough innovations in predictive sales communications, engagement tracking, forecasting, and rep motivation. InsideSales.com has received numerous accolades for its technology and has been named as one of the fastest growing companies by Inc. InsideSales.com enterprise customers include ADP, Microsoft, and Groupon.
Media Contact
Margaret Farrell
insidesales@highwirepr.com
646-838-1190 ext. 8
The new PressureWire X Guidewire is designed to adapt to unique, complex anatomies and improve FFR measurement
St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE:STJ), a global medical device company, today announced CE Mark approval and European launch of the PressureWire X Guidewire fractional flow reserve (FFR) Measurement System. Designed to identify the severity of narrowings in the coronary arteries of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), FFR measurement allows for a more effective assessment of coronary lesions (blockages), resulting in more accurate diagnosis. The company will showcase the new PressureWire X guidewire technology at the EuroPCR 2016 meeting, May 17-20, 2016 in Paris. The PressureWire X guidewire European launch will include a measured rollout to targeted countries throughout 2016.
PressureWire FFR guidewire measurement supports more accurate lesion assessment during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) to help physicians make more informed treatment decisions for their patients, which has been shown to improve patient outcomes. The newly launched PressureWire X guidewire offers enhanced durability and improved handling in either a cabled or wireless configuration, both with the accuracy and reliability physicians need when treating patients with CAD.
"Fractional flow reserve has become an indispensable tool for assessing coronary lesions and making informed treatment decisions during percutaneous coronary intervention," said Dr. Bernard De Bruyne of the CVC Aalst, Belgium. "The improved design of the new PressureWire X guidewire tip will simplify the fractional flow reserve procedure by enabling access to lesions in patients with tortuous, complex anatomy."
Designed to provide better durability and shape retention than currently available pressure guidewires, the new PressureWire X guidewire aims to provide physicians with a tip that can be shaped and re-shaped during PCI, which enables it to be used to assess multiple lesions, even in patients with complex anatomy. Allowing physicians to better navigate each patient's unique anatomy will support improved assessment and diagnosis of coronary blockages, which can lead to improved decision-making on how best to restore blood flow to the heart. The latest PressureWire X guidewire is also intended to support faster procedure times, ensuring patients undergo more efficient PCI procedures.
The use of FFR to optimize PCI is supported by strong evidence, such as the FAME (Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR) vs. Angiography in Multivessel Evaluation) trials, which found that St. Jude Medical PressureWire technology can improve patient outcomes over angiography alone in patients with CAD. The FAME body of evidence also demonstrated reductions in the risk of death or heart attack in patients undergoing PCI, as well as reduced health care costs for patients whose treatment was guided by FFR technology.
In addition to clinical trails designed to assess the positive outcomes associated with FFR technology, St. Jude Medical has launched the PRESSUREwire REGISTRY (Practical Evaluation of Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR) and its Association Alternate Indices During Routine Clinical Procedures), a multicenter clinical trial to determine the routine use of FFR measurement and clinical outcomes of FFR-guided PCI in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), a major cause of global morbidity and mortality.
"St. Jude Medical strives to provide physicians with fractional flow reserve pressure guidewire options that are backed by clinical data and match the handling performance of conventional workhorse PCI guidewires, which is a combination that we have always prioritized in designing and developing the PressureWire series of FFR guidewires," said Dr. Mark Carlson, chief medical officer and vice president of global medical affairs at St. Jude Medical. "The new PressureWire X guidewire shows our dedication to providing physicians with cost-effective, easy-to-use technologies that aid them in making the best treatment decisions for their patients."
About the Original FAME Trial
The original St. Jude Medical sponsored FAME (Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR) vs. Angiography in Multivessel Evaluation) Trial compared outcomes of patients whose treatment was guided by FFR to those whose treatment was only guided by angiography. Results from the landmark trial demonstrated improved clinical outcomes in patients with stable coronary artery disease and two or three vessel disease.
The 12-month results published in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrated that instances of major adverse cardiac events were reduced by 28 percent for patients whose treatment was guided by FFR rather than by standard angiography alone. Two year results demonstrated that patients who received FFR-guided treatment continued to experience improved outcomes over time, including a 34 percent risk reduction in death or heart attack.
About Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR)
Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR) is an index determining the functional severity of narrowings in the coronary arteries, and it is measured by PressureWire Aeris or PressureWire Certus FFR measurement system. FFR specifically identifies which coronary narrowings are responsible for significantly obstructing the flow of blood to a patients' heart muscle (called ischemia), and it is used by the interventional cardiologist to direct coronary interventions and assess results for improved treatment outcomes.
About St. Jude Medical
St. Jude Medical is a leading global medical device manufacturer and is dedicated to transforming the treatment of some of the world's most expensive epidemic diseases. The company does this by developing cost-effective medical technologies that save and improve lives of patients around the world. Headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., St. Jude Medical employs approximately 18,000 people worldwide and has five major areas of focus that include heart failure, atrial fibrillation, neuromodulation, traditional cardiac rhythm management and cardiovascular. For more information, please visit sjm.com or follow us on Twitter @SJM_Media.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements include the expectations, plans and prospects for the Company, including potential clinical successes, anticipated regulatory approvals and future product launches, and projected revenues, margins, earnings and market shares. The statements made by the Company are based upon management's current expectations and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include market conditions and other factors beyond the Company's control and the risk factors and other cautionary statements described in the Company's filings with the SEC, including those described in the Risk Factors and Cautionary Statements sections of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 2, 2016 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended April 2, 2016. The Company does not intend to update these statements and undertakes no duty to any person to provide any such update under any circumstance.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160518005504/en/
Contacts:
St. Jude Medical, Inc.
J.C. Weigelt, 651-756-4347
Investor Relations
jweigelt@sjm.com
or
Laurel Hood, 651-756-2853
Media Relations
LHood02@sjm.com
BOSTON, MA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- thinkstep, a global leader in sustainability performance management software, data and services, today announced it is the recipient of Verizon's 2016 Supplier Recognition Award in the Green/Sustainability category. The award recognizes the company for its overall strategic focus and partnership to transition Verizon's emissions reporting to its award-winning, SoFi ts sustainability management software. Verizon also lauded thinkstep for its on-going support of Verizon's greenhouse gas (GHG) assurance efforts.
"SoFi ts has dramatically improved our team productivity saving us many hours of work, particularly in preparing for our annual audit," said James J. Gowen, chief sustainability officer and vice president of supply chain operations for Verizon. "thinkstep is a critical partner to us as we continue to improve our sustainability reporting capabilities and develop best practices for energy and greenhouse gas reduction. "We look forward to working together and continuing to leverage SoFi ts for our ongoing sustainability initiatives."
SoFi ts allows companies to obtain financial-grade sustainability information and improve performance for their own operations, supply chain and products. It has been praised for its quality by analyst firm, Verdantix, who named it a market leader for superior functionality to enhance and expedite sustainability reporting processes. The unique performance analytics, intelligent diagnostics and planning tools found in SoFi ts, coupled with the world's best sustainability content databases, deliver the insight users need to succeed sustainably. More than 150 global firms across industries ranging from basic resources and utilities, to food and beverage and financial services, use the platform to capture, calculate and report on their GHG emissions.
About thinkstep
thinkstep enables organizations worldwide to succeed sustainably. Our industry-leading software, data and services help businesses drive operational excellence, product innovation, brand value and regulatory compliance. With a global presence in 19 countries, we serve more than 2,000 companies including 40 percent of the Fortune 500 such as BASF, Hewlett-Packard, Interface, Siemens, and Unilever. For more information, visit www.thinkstep.com.
Media Contact:
Traci Massaro
thinkstep
617-877-1293
Email Contact
EDMONTON, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- Ceapro Inc. (TSX VENTURE: CZO) ("Ceapro" or the "Company"), a growth-stage biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of active ingredients for healthcare and cosmetic industries, today announced its financial results for the three-months ended March 31, 2016 and provided a business update.
Financial Highlights for the First Quarter 2016
-- Best first quarter performance with revenues reaching historical highs; -- Total sales of $4,064,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 compared to $1,714,000 in 2015, an increase of 137% quarter-over-quarter revenue performance; -- Record income from operations of $1,910,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 compared to a loss from operations of $226,000 in 2015; -- Net profit after taxes of $1,213,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 compared to a net loss of $194,000 for 2015; and -- Cash flows generated from operations for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 of $2,273,000 compared to a cash burn of $173,000 for the same period in 2015.
Gilles Gagnon, M.Sc., MBA, President and CEO of Ceapro, stated, "We are very pleased with ending the first quarter of 2016 with these exceptional results and aim to continue to drive value in our high-value de-risked base business in cosmeceuticals, which has shown to be a proven result of the effectiveness of our business strategy."
"With these results combined with the recent announcement of the renewal of a long-term agreement with our major distributor, Symrise AG, Ceapro has established a solid base for year-over-year growth. Beyond these excellent financial results, we will continue to develop our pipeline and execute our projects rigorously toward market expansion into the profitable nutraceutical and pharmaceutical sectors as we anticipate top-line data from our beta glucan study and our avenanthramides bioavailability study, and our expected launch of Ceapro's first two clinical studies this year with these two important value drivers."
Recent Corporate Highlights
-- Presented its PGX Technology at the prestigious 15th European Meeting on Supercritical Fluids; -- Received issuance of a U.S. patent for Ceapro's unique and disruptive enabling Pressurized Gas Expanded (PGX) technology covering proprietary methods and use of micro- and nano-sized particles generated by applying PGX supercritical fluid technology; -- Signed a Research Agreement with McMaster University for testing of materials using PGX Technology; and -- Renewed a major distribution agreement with long-time partner, Symrise AG.
"We fully believe our unique and disruptive enabling PGX technology will expand our reach into additional high-value programs and facilitate beneficial strategic collaborations in a broad range of industrial applications. The broad utility of this technology is an important part of Ceapro's growth strategy," concluded Mr. Gagnon.
Avenanthramides Update
Due to an enabling technology in-licensed from Agriculture Canada, Ceapro successfully produced three batches at the commercial level in its current facility for a next generation of avenanthramides extracted from malted oat. As part of the International Application of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the Company has already been issued patents in both Canada and China for avenanthramides resulting from this enabling malting technology.
Ceapro is currently assessing avenanthramides in a bioavailability study with a U.S.-based university to compare low-dose and high-dose avenanthramides. The Company fully expects the bioavailability study to further demonstrate the efficacy of avenanthramides in alleviating exercise-induced inflammation as evidenced by a lack of inflammation biomarkers shown previously in published data from a study in elderly people. If additional positive trends are observed, Ceapro expects to commence its clinical program with avenanthramides as an anti-inflammatory compound before year end.
Beta Glucan Update
Following the successful impregnation study conducted at MIT, Ceapro has initiated a study with the University of Alberta for the development of a prototype formulation for a functional drink whereby the Company has impregnated beta glucan with the well-known co-enzyme Q10 as an energy booster. Ceapro anticipates that the development of the impregnated prototype for functional drink will be completed by the end of 2016.
The Company plans to initiate a pilot clinical study to develop beta glucan as a cholesterol reducer in the third quarter of 2016. Previously existing safety and toxicology studies demonstrate a positive safety profile for beta glucan in more than 200,000 individuals from an industry partner currently commercializing beta glucan as a carrier in a urinary incontinence device. Ceapro will also conduct its own safety studies to assess high purity oral beta glucan during the second quarter of 2016.
PGX Research Programs Update
Ceapro is developing its in-licensed PGX enabling technology at the commercial scale level for all industries and all applications. The Company has been issued a U.S. patent covering proprietary methods and use of micro- and nano-sized particles generated by applying PGX supercritical fluid technology.
The Company has conducted encouraging lab scale research with PGX and analyzed biopolymer samples from commercially available starch, pectin, gums, alginate, and other polymers from various multi-national companies in a broad range of industries. Ceapro is evaluating potential collaborations and alliance opportunities with these companies.
Financial Results for Three Month Period Ended March 31, 2016
-- Total revenue of $4,064,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2016 compared to $1,714,000 for the three-month period ended March 31, 2015, an increase of 137% primarily as a result of higher sales volumes of beta glucan in Europe and Asia and strong sales of the Company's flagship product, avenanthramides. Total revenues were also positively impacted by a stronger U.S. dollar relative to the Canadian dollar. -- Net income before tax was $1,734,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2016 compared to a loss of $230,000 for the same period in 2015. -- Net profit after taxes of $1,213,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 compared to a net loss of $194,000 for 2015; -- Research and Development investments of $328,000 for the three month period ended March 31, 2016 compared to $106,000 in the 2015 period. -- General and Administration expenses of $496,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2016 compared to $802,000 for the same period in 2015. The decrease in G&A in 2016 compared to 2015 is mostly due to lower salaries and benefits expense as the Company did not have a significant option granting so the share-based payment charges were considerably lower. The other significant decrease is related to lower legal fees as the AVAC trial was completed in the first quarter of 2015 and there were no corresponding legal fees in the first quarter of 2016. -- Sales and Marketing expenses for the three-months ending March 31, 2016 of only $2,000 compared to $3,000 in 2015, due to the Company's sales strategy to sell mostly through a distribution network. -- As of March 31, 2016, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $1,999,194 as compared to $1,681,125 as of December 31, 2015. CEAPRO INC. Consolidated Statements of Net Income (Loss) and Comprehensive Income (Loss) Unaudited 2016 2015 Three Months Ended March 31, $ $ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revenue (note 15) 4,063,576 1,714,485 Cost of goods sold 1,229,763 922,386 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gross margin 2,833,813 792,099 Research and product development 327,832 105,907 General and administration 495,646 801,933 Sales and marketing 2,186 3,167 Finance costs (note 14) 98,481 106,750 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Income (loss) from operations 1,909,668 (225,658) Other operating loss (note 13) (175,692) (4,430) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Income (loss) before tax 1,733,976 (230,088) Income taxes Current tax expense (458,006) - Deferred tax (expense) recovery (62,578) 36,250 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Income tax (expense) recovery (520,584) 36,250 Total comprehensive income (loss) for the period 1,213,392 (193,838) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Net income (loss) per common share (note 20): ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Basic 0.02 (0.00) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Diluted 0.02 (0.00) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weighted average number of common shares outstanding (note 20): ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Basic 62,583,239 61,543,874 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Diluted 65,676,833 61,543,874 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CEAPRO INC. Consolidated Balance Sheets Unaudited March 31, December 31, 2016 2015 $ $ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASSETS Current Assets Cash and cash equivalents 1,999,194 1,681,125 Trade receivables 144,898 538,995 Other receivables 58,547 124,132 Inventories (note 4) 1,140,316 1,242,417 Prepaid expenses and deposits 141,148 259,560 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3,484,103 3,846,229 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Non-Current Assets Investment tax credits receivable 348,854 603,302 Deposits 93,264 93,264 Licenses (note 5) 32,589 33,329 Property and equipment (note 6) 11,378,419 9,868,676 Deferred tax assets 1,258,674 1,258,674 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13,111,800 11,857,245 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL ASSETS 16,595,903 15,703,474 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- LIABILITIES AND EQUITY Current Liabilities Accounts payable and accrued liabilities 1,900,633 2,005,611 Deferred revenue (note 9) 844,640 1,172,198 Current portion of long-term debt (note 7) 987,989 984,318 Convertible debentures (note 8) 893,056 872,355 Current portion of CAAP loan (note 11) 75,677 72,942 Income tax payable 298,738 95,180 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5,000,733 5,202,604 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Non-Current Liabilities Long-term debt (note 7) 2,020,375 2,277,186 CAAP loan (note 11) 244,507 235,529 Deferred tax liabilities 174,199 111,621 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2,439,081 2,624,336 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL LIABILITIES 7,439,814 7,826,940 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Equity Share capital (note 10) 6,824,626 6,800,018 Equity component of convertible debentures (note 8) 106,200 106,200 Contributed surplus 1,071,119 1,029,564 Retained earnings (deficit) 1,154,144 (59,248) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9,156,089 7,876,534 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY 16,595,903 15,703,474 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The complete financial statements are available for review on SEDAR at http://sedar.com/Ceapro and on the Company's website at www.ceapro.com.
About Pressurized Gas eXpanded Liquid Technology (PGX)
PGX is a unique and disruptive technology with several key advantages over conventional drying and purification technologies that can be used to process biopolymers into high-value, nano-sized polymer structures and novel bio-nanocomposites. PGX is ideally suited for processing challenging high-molecular-weight, water-soluble biopolymers. It has the ability to make ultra-light, highly porous polymer structures on a continuous basis, which is not possible using today's conventional technologies. PGX was co-invented by Ceapro researcher Dr. Bernhard Seifried and University of Alberta professor, Dr. Feral Temelli.
About Ceapro Inc.
Ceapro Inc. is a Canadian biotechnology company involved in the development of proprietary extraction technology and the application of this technology to the production of extracts and "active ingredients" from oats and other renewable plant resources. Ceapro adds further value to its extracts by supporting their use in cosmeceutical, nutraceutical and therapeutics products for humans and animals. The Company has a broad range of expertise in natural product chemistry, microbiology, biochemistry, immunology and process engineering. These skills merge in the fields of active ingredients, biopharmaceuticals and drug-delivery solutions. For more information on Ceapro, please visit the Company's website at www.ceapro.com.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
INVESTOR AND MEDIA CONTACT:
Jenene Thomas
Jenene Thomas Communications, LLC
Investor Relations and Corporate Communications Advisor
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E: jenene@jenenethomascommunications.com
Pitney Bowes Spectrum Technology Platform selected for advanced GeoEnrichment data capabilities to deliver valuable location insights
Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI), a global technology company that provides innovative products to power commerce, announced that leading global logistics industry solution provider WiseTech Global is using Pitney Bowes geocoding and address validation technologies within its CargoWise One platform.
CargoWise One, a global deeply integrated single-platform operating system for the logistics industry is used by the world's largest logistics companies to manage the movement of goods and information across the supply chain and is known for its powerful productivity focus, extensive functionality, comprehensive integration and deep compliance capabilities. WiseTech Global will utilise Spectrum Technology within its CargoWise One platform globally to assist its users with address validation and geocoding to enhance their delivery accuracy rates, improve cross-border compliance and increase productivity.
WiseTech Global CEO Richard White said "Our customers benefit from further enhancements in geocoding and physical address validation which can assist customs compliance and reduce the risks and costs associated with undelivered shipments. We selected Pitney Bowes Spectrum Technology for its precision in global address validation."
Earlier this week, Pitney Bowes announced a new suite of Location Intelligence solutions to help companies across vertical industries glean more insight from their data. With its advanced GIS (Geographical Information Systems) capabilities, extensive data sets and analytics tools, Pitney Bowes is helping businesses enrich their customer data for greater profitability and engagement. Pitney Bowes Location Intelligence solutions also feature access to over 350 global data sets, and powerful analytic and visualisation capabilities with easy integration into your existing IT infrastructure. This comprehensive suite, based on Pitney Bowes' Spectrum platform, can be accessed on premise, as-a-service, or from the recently announced Pitney Bowes Commerce Cloud.
"We are pleased to be selected by WiseTech Global. Spectrum is a game-changer for businesses of all sizes and those who can harness this data appropriately will win," said David Hope, Vice President and Managing Director of Pitney Bowes Software Solutions Asia Pacific.
Location Intelligence solutions are available via the Pitney Bowes Commerce Cloud, a commerce enabler, providing access to solutions, analytics and APIs across the full commerce continuum with speed and agility to help clients identify customers, locate opportunities, enable communications, power shipping from anywhere to everywhere, and manage payments.
About WiseTech Global
WiseTech Global (ASX: WTC) is an innovative, multi-award winning creator and developer of cloud-based software solutions for the international and domestic logistics industries. Supplying 6,000 logistics businesses across 7,000 sites and 150,000 module users in over 115 countries, WiseTech Global is known for its breakthrough software solutions and its leading product, CargoWise One, forms an integral link in the global supply chain. For additional information, visit http://www.wisetechglobal.com/
About Pitney Bowes
Pitney Bowes (NYSE: PBI) is a global technology company offering innovative products and solutions that enable commerce in the areas of customer information management, location intelligence, customer engagement, shipping and mailing, and global ecommerce. More than 1.5 million clients in approximately 100 countries around the world rely on products, solutions and services from Pitney Bowes. For additional information, visit Pitney Bowes at www.pitneybowes.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160518005392/en/
Contacts:
Pitney Bowes
Carol Wallace, 203-351-6974
Stamford, CT, USA
Carol.wallace@pb.com
or
Shefali Jhaveri, +61 437 477 576
Sydney, Australia
Shefali.jhaveri@pb.com
Tesla is supercharging the market for electric vehicles, forcing other automakers to rush to beat Elon Musk to the market.
The manufacturing boom for EVs is sparking a staking rush for lithium, the key element that is critical to all the batteries needed for the EV renaissance. But with few lithium miners in the market, lithium prices are shooting through the roof, tripling from $7,000 to $20,000 per ton over the past year.
The interesting thing about the unfolding lithium boom is that while lithium is plentiful, quality reserves are located in only a handful of places China, Argentina, Chile and Australia, for example. But one other place where lithium production is set to ramp up quickly is Nevada, which, as it happens, means a lot of lithium production may take place not too far from the Tesla Gigafactory.
The rush for so-called "white petroleum" is an investors dream, but there are precious few publicly-listed companies to invest in. One lithium explorer situated near the Tesla Gigafactory is Nevada Energy Metals.
Nevada Energy Metals made news on May 13 when it announced that it had acquired lithium brine exploration assets in Black Rock Desert, 177 kilometers north of Reno. It also has two highly prospective properties in and near the lithium-rich region of the Clayton Valley. And in a sign of the company's progress, a day earlier the lithium explorer announced that it has begun the process to have its ticker upgraded to the OTCQB Venture Market. It has other lithium brine targets on its acquisition list, both in Nevada and elsewhere.
Nevada Energy Metals has raised $1 million and is looking to advance these projects. It is also located near several other lithium explorers, including Dajin Resources and Lithium X. With several companies in geographical proximity, their work tends to de-risk the assets of the other, all working to prove the viability of the region as a whole.
It is early days, but the lithium sector appears on the verge of dramatic growth. Lithium supply is tight, demand for EVs set to rapidly climb over the next decade, and there are just a handful of companies that have astutely positioned themselves at the front end of the boom.
By James Burgess of Oilprice.com
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160518005333/en/
Contacts:
Oilprice.com
James Burgess, 0044 203 239 4080
admin@oilprice.com
WASHINGTON, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) Board of Directors today announced that it has named Richard Scobey as the organization's President, effective July 11, 2016. He will be responsible for providing the vision and leadership to guide WCF's operations and to ensure fulfillment of its mission of promoting a sustainable cocoa sector worldwide.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160517/368911
Scobey joins WCF after a successful career at the World Bank, which he first joined in 1986. He has led public-private efforts focused on natural resources management in Africa, as well as monitoring and evaluation efforts. His most recent position at the Bank was as its deputy director general in the Independent Evaluation Group.He previously also served as Advisor to the Africa Region Vice President and as Director for Regional Integration in Africa.
In making the announcement, WCF Chairman Barry Parkin noted the critical nature of the 105 member organization's mission, at a time when the cocoa sector faces challenges to achieve sustainability in the face of threats that include stagnant yields in some of the world's leading cocoa-producing countries, increasing pest and disease pressure, climate change and declining interest by young people to pursue careers in cocoa farming.
Parkin, who led the search process that identified Scobey, said, "Rick is a strategic and innovative leader who brings to WCF extensive experience in international and community development. His proven ability to create new partnerships, leverage networks and achieve impact will boost WCF's mission to achieve sustainability in the cocoa sector, namely through our CocoaAction strategy. I look forward to working closely with Rick to accelerate our efforts to bring measurable improvements to farmer livelihoods and cocoa-growing communities around the world."
Scobey said, "I am honored to be chosen to lead WCF, which has long been at the forefront of building public-private partnerships to help achieve sustainability in the global cocoa sector. I am eager to engage soon with WCF's membership and other key partners to understand their views and benefit from their counsel. With CocoaAction moving from design into implementation, WCF is at an especially exciting point in its history.I am ready to bring my own experience and energy to all of the organization's efforts."
Scobey was selected following a search process that solicited input from the WCF membership of more than 100 companies and other key players in the global chocolate and cocoa sector.
Scobey assumes his duties after the December 31, 2015 departure of Bill Guyton, who guided WCF from its inception through its first 15 years."
About WCF: The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) is an international membership organization that promotes sustainability in the cocoa sector. WCF provides cocoa farmers with the support they need to grow more quality cocoa and socially and economically strengthen their communities. WCF's members include cocoa and chocolate manufacturers, processors, supply chain managers, and other companies worldwide, representing more than 80 percent of the global cocoa market. WCF's programs benefit farmers and their communities in cocoa-growing regions of Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Americas. For more information, visit www.worldcocoafoundation.org or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
SUSS MicroTec, a global supplier of equipment and process solutions for the semiconductor industry and related markets, has launched the LI Series a new Surface Laser Imaging platform as pre- announced on May 4, 2016.
The highly versatile technology of the LI for laser surface processing ranges from sub micrometric pattering of resist coated substrates to micro- ablation, photo-chemistry treatment as well as metrology.
The patterns, defined by a CAD process, are transferred by accurately moving the targeted substrates underneath a focused and scanning laser beam. In addition, the Laser Imager configuration is highly customizable, to best fit the specific requirements of each user. The technology supports substrate sizes from small pieces up to 300 mm, and it reaches a resolution down to 0.8 m. Multi-layer alignment is possible via both top and bottom side alignment optical systems. Beside the 405 nm GaN laser for standard thin resist lithography processes, a second laser source can also be added to additionally address diverse processes such as, among other, thick resists like SU8, and infrared sensitive materials.
Core advantage of the Laser Imager is its flexibility, making it suitable for the various requirements of academic and industrial R&D facilities. The main applications include a wide variety of nano- and 3D structuring for high resolution wafer lithography, micro-optical components, sensors, microfluidic devices, and photo mask manufacturing.
"With the Surface Laser Imaging platform, we add a tool to our product portfolio that expands our existing exposure equipment set towards higher resolution requirements for leading edge applications." says Dr. Per-Ove Hansson, CEO of SUSS MicroTec AG. "With this addition, we are enhancing our leadership position and offering the most comprehensive set of products and technologies for the lithography R&D market."
About SUSS MicroTec SUSS MicroTec is a leading supplier of equipment and process solutions for microstructuring in the semiconductor industry and related markets. In close cooperation with research institutes and industry partners SUSS MicroTec contributes to the advancement of next-generation technologies such as 3D Integration and nanoimprint lithography as well as key processes for MEMS and LED manufacturing. With a global infrastructure for applications and service SUSS MicroTec supports more than 8.000 installed systems worldwide. SUSS MicroTec is headquartered in Garching near Munich, Germany. For more information, please visit http://www.suss.com
Language: English Company: SUSS MicroTec AG Schleissheimer Strasse 90 85748 Garching Germany Phone: +49 (0)89 32007-161 Fax: +49 (0)89 32007-451 E-mail: ir@suss.com Internet: www.suss.com ISIN: DE000A1K0235 WKN: A1K023 Indices: TecDAX Listed: Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160518005751/en/
Contacts:
SUSS MicroTec AG
Franka Schielke Schleissheimer
Tel.: +49 (0)89 32007-161
Fax: +49 (0)89 32007-451
Email: franka.schielke@suss.com
ATLANTA, GA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- MissionIR today announces the online availability of its interview with Bill Kerby, chairman and CEO of Monaker Group, Inc. (OTCQB: MKGI), a technology-driven travel company focusing on the growing alternative lodging market. The interview can be heard at http://MKGI.MissionIR.com/interview.html.
As is first discussed by Kerby, Monaker is taking advantage of a sizeable shift in the travel industry, in which consumers are gravitating toward renting vacation homes rather than booking hotels. This "alternative lodging" market is currently dominated by Airbnb and HomeAway, both of which have multi-billion dollar valuations and double-to-triple-digit growth.
Through strategic restructuring and key innovations, Kerby explains how Monaker aims to participate alongside these industry players.
"When we got the opportunity to go into this field, we thought that ... if you're going to be in the travel industry and use some of the experience you have, you might as well be in the fastest, hottest-area of it. And that was the acquisition that we did with AlwaysOnVacations, to squarely position us in the center of this universe of travel," he tells interview host Stuart Smith. "We're hoping that we can actually redefine the model a little bit so that we may be even considered somewhat better or at least more unique in terms of some of the offerings that we're bringing to the table."
Kerby next describes his decades of experience in the travel, media and financial industries before discussing the company's core management team, which is comprised of a roster of highly qualified individuals with varied yet relevant industry experience. Also of note is the company's recent partnership with Primero Systems, an enterprise platforms and solutions provider engaged to assist Monaker in the final integration of its flagship travel website, NextTrip.com.
Attracting this "significant talent" and securing key partnerships are just two examples of Monaker's recent milestones, which have opened the door for increased inventory and potential growth.
"For example, we've got close to 1.2 million homes under contract that we're integrating into the new system, which will make us probably just about the same size of inventory that HomeAway has. Having properties for distribution is absolutely key," says Kerby.
Utilizing travel agents, which differs from the other players in the industry, supplements the afore-noted achievements and sets Monaker in a league of its own.
"We've done significant contracting with major players within the travel industry who want to access our inventory ... we've done relationships with large groups that include people like travel agents that the other players do not involve in the marketplace. And travel agents still account for a very high percentage of travel vacation programs that take place ... us having access into several travel agent groups to be able to distribute our product is key, so that when we have the inventory there we also start to do distribution and sales immediately as we link into these groups -- and that's not very far away," Kerby explains.
Monaker has also partnered with Recruitergroup.com, which has a distribution base of approximately 3 million people, as well as a network of executives and corporations that Kerby says could provide additional growth pathways.
"It's a key outlet for us to be able to sell more alternative lodging products through very high net worth and very affluent individuals and their companies," he says.
Kerby wraps up the interview with a quick glance at Monaker's goals for 2016, which includes the complete integration of its properties, supplemented with real-time booking for airfare, car rental bookings, unused timeshare inventory, alternative lodging, activities and more.
"We want to be among the first, if not the first, to be able to provide complete bundled packages in a manner in which the consumer gets the best of alternative lodging, along with activities they want to do. It's a big goal that we're trying to accomplish, but we think we're going to hit all that and have it up and working over the course over the next 90 to 180 days' time," he concludes.
About Monaker Group, Inc.
Monaker Group is a technology driven Travel Company with multiple divisions and brands, leveraging more than 60 years of operation in leisure travel. Monaker's flagship is NextTrip.com, the industry's first booking engine featuring alternative lodging (vacation home rentals, resort residences and unused timeshares) as well as a vast array of airlines, hotels, cruises, rental cars, tours and concierge services all combined in one platform to give customers the power of choice when booking their vacations. With key partnerships and established travel brands used as cornerstones, the Company's mission is to continue to expand offerings to become the "one stop" vacation center. Headquartered in South Florida with offices in California, the Company employs a dedicated team of travel and technology professionals.
For more information, visit www.MonakerGroup.com
About MissionIR
MissionIR is committed to connecting the investment community with companies that have great potential and a strong dedication to building shareholder value. Through a full suite of investor relations and consultancy services, we help public companies develop and execute a strategic investor awareness plan as we've done for hundreds of others. Whether it's capital raising, increasing awareness among the financial community, or enhancing corporate communications, we offer a variety of solutions to meet the objectives of our clients.
For more information, visit www.MissionIR.com
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains 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. All forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain as they are based on current expectations and assumptions concerning future events or future performance of the company. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are only predictions and speak only as of the date hereof. In evaluating such statements, prospective investors should review carefully various risks and uncertainties identified in this release and matters set in the company's SEC filings. These risks and uncertainties could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements.
Investor Relations
Mission Investor Relations
Atlanta, Georgia
404-941-8975
Email Contact
http://www.MissionIR.com
BERKELEY, CA and VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - May 18, 2016) -BriaCell Therapeutics Corp. ("BriaCell" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: BCT) (OTCQB: BCTXF) is pleased to announce that it has signed a definitive agreement with Cancer Insight, LLC, a cancer-vaccine focused clinical research organization (CRO), to initiate Phase I/IIa clinical studies and regulatory filings for BriaVax', its lead vaccine candidate for the treatment of advanced breast cancer. According to the agreement, BriaCell will sponsor the clinical trial which will evaluate the safety and efficacy of BriaVax', a novel vaccine, for the treatment of advanced breast cancer, and Cancer Insight will provide clinical and regulatory affairs management services for the entire trial.
With over a decade of scientific and clinical expertise in cancer immunotherapy, Cancer Insight is a leading clinical research organization that specializes in the discovery, development, and testing of novel cancer vaccines. The team at Cancer Insight is led by Dr. George Peoples, a trained surgical oncologist, and a leading expert in breast cancer vaccines and immunotherapy, currently overseeing clinical trials at over 32 clinics.
"Appointing Cancer Insight to support us in further clinical advancement of BriaVax' is a major milestone for BriaCell," states Dr. Charles Wiseman, Founder and Director of BriaCell. "Cancer Insight's solid track record of successfully conducting clinical trials for breast cancer vaccines and immunotherapies, its expertise in regulatory affairs, and its strong ties with leading academic and research institutions including MD Anderson Center would make it an ideal choice of a CRO for further clinical development of BriaVax'," Dr. Wiseman added. "We have been carefully selecting our partners to be those with extensive experience in manufacturing, regulatory, and clinical development aspects of our cancer vaccine."
"Cancer Insight is extremely pleased that BriaCell has chosen us as a partner to manage this innovative Phase I/IIa program for BriaVax' in advanced breast cancer. Our company is highly experienced in the breast cancer vaccine space, and is a leader in conducting biomarker and imaging analysis studies for the clinical advancement of cancer vaccine candidates. Using our unique platform, BriaVax' will be tested for its anti-tumor effects at multiple sites, in addition to breast tumors -- its primary focus -- as authorized by the FDA in the Phase I/IIa program," Cancer Insight's Founder, Dr. George Peoples stated. "We will use a strict audit program to review the data and reports from the previous clinical studies as well as those from the upcoming Phase I/IIa clinical trials for future FDA discussions," Dr. Peoples concluded.
The vaccine, BriaVax', is a whole-cell breast cancer vaccine genetically engineered to release GM-CSF, a natural substance the body amplifies to activate the immune system. Previously, a small Phase I study documented very prompt and near complete regression of metastatic breast cancer deposits in the breast, lung, soft tissue and even the brain. The new Phase I/IIa study will evaluate BriaVax' in up to 24 advanced breast cancer patients. The dosing of patients is scheduled to begin this summer which will be followed by co-development of BriaDx', a companion diagnostic test.
ABOUT BRIACELL
BriaCell is an immuno-oncology biotechnology company developing a more targeted, less toxic approach to cancer management. BriaCell's mission is to serve late-stage cancer patients with limited treatment options.
Immunotherapy has come to the forefront of the fight against cancer, harnessing the body's own immune system in recognizing and selectively destroying the cancer cells while sparing normal ones. Immunotherapy, in addition to generally being more targeted and less toxic than commonly used types of chemotherapy, is also thought to be a strong type of approach aimed at preventing cancer recurrence.
BriaVax', the Company's lead product, is a genetically engineered whole-cell vaccine derived from a human breast tumor cell line. This targeted vaccine is believed to generate strong antibody and T-cell responses, which in turn may boost the immune system to recognize and eliminate cancerous cells. The Company has already demonstrated encouraging clinical results, and is intent on building upon these results to further advance BriaVax' through additional FDA-approved clinical trials in order to help cancer patients with limited therapeutic options. The results of two previous FDA Phase I clinical trials have been encouraging in terms of both safety and efficacy in patients with advanced solid tumors (17 breast cancer, 1 ovarian cancer).
In some cases, the lifespan of the patient was extended by three to five fold of that of the comparable trials. For more information, please visit www.BriaCell.com.
About Cancer Insight, LLC.
With over a decade of scientific and clinical expertise in cancer immunotherapy, Cancer Insight is a leading Clinical Research Organization focused on discovering, developing and testing emerging cancer immunotherapies with the aim of preventing cancer using vaccination to ultimately eradicate the disease. The company offers an innovative, state-of-the-art approach to product development to accelerate approval timelines and maximize the value of immunotherapy biologics through Phase I-IV studies. The company provides a full range of services including clinical study design, management, regulatory affairs, and quality assurance among other pre- and post-marketing services.
For more information on Cancer Insight, LLC, please visit http://www.cancerinsight.com.
The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the Company and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. 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 securities offered have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information
Except for the statements of historical fact, this news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation which involves known and unknown risks relevant to the Company in particular and to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries in general, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual events to differ materially from current expectation. These risks are more fully described in the Company's public filings available at www.sedar.com. Other forward-looking information in this news release includes but is not limited to the intended use of proceeds of the brokered and non-brokered private placements and other terms of the brokered and non-brokered private placements.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation, except to the extent required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Attachment Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/5/17/11G098840/BCT_Appoints_Cancer_Insight_-_18May2016-71ddcd5165efa71885bc61ead39077a3.pdf
For further information contact:
Ms. Farrah Dean
Manager, Corporate Development
BriaCell Therapeutics Corp.
820 Heinz Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94710
Phone: 1-888-485-6340
Email: farrah@BriaCell.com
MIRAMICHI, NEW BRUNSWICK -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- SLAM Exploration Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: SXL) (the "Company") is pleased to announce it has sold the Superjack and Nash base metal properties to Callinex Mines Inc. ("Callinex") (TSX VENTURE: CNX) of Vancouver, BC. In return for 100% interest, SLAM will receive $425,000 in cash or shares and $200,000 in cash over a 3 year period. The initial payment of $150,000 in cash or shares and $100,000 cash will occur on closing which is conditional on TSXV approval. SLAM will receive an additional $125,000 in cash or shares upon completion of a Preliminary Economic Assessment on the Nash property. If Callinex elects to make any of the above payments in shares, they will be issued at a deemed price of $0.50 per share.
SLAM will retain a 1% NSR on all future production from the Superjack and Nash Projects (the "Royalties"). Callinex may purchase one-half of the Royalties at any time for $500,000. In the event zinc prices exceed US $1.25 per pound and US $1.50 per pound, an additional 0.25% NSR for each price increment will be payable on mineral production from the Superjack and Nash Projects.
SLAM CEO Mike Taylor states: "This agreement is very timely. The Nash and Superjack projects have economic potential, and Callinex, a base metal company, is well positioned to advance such properties. With additional capital in the treasury, SLAM can move forward with a bulk sampling program on the Maisie gold deposit and intends to maintain its focus on gold."
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.
About SLAM Exploration Ltd:
SLAM Exploration Ltd. is a resource company focused on the Menneval gold project where SLAM's advance scouting team discovered the Maisie gold deposit in 2012. The Company also owns the Reserve Creek and Miminiska gold projects in Ontario and holds a royalty on two base metal properties in New Brunswick. Additional information about SLAM and its projects is available at www.slamexploration.com or from SEDAR filings at www.sedar.com. Follow us on twitter @SLAMGold.
About The Menneval Project: SLAM holds 100% interest in 12 contiguous claims that cover 5,000 hectares near Menneval in northwest New Brunswick. The property hosts a number of recent gold discoveries including the Maisie deposit and Zone 9. All permits are in place to allow bulk sampling from the Maisie gold deposit during the summer of 2016.
Qualifying Statements: Mike Taylor, P.Geo. President and CEO of SLAM Exploration Ltd., as the Qualified Person, approves the scientific and technical disclosure in the news release.
Certain information in this press release may constitute forward-looking information, including statements that address the Private Placement, the closing of the Private Placement, future production, reserve potential, exploration and development activities and events or developments that the Company expects. This information is based on current expectations that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward looking-statements unless and until required by securities laws applicable to the Company. There are a number of risk factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those described herein. Information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in the Company's filings with the Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com. Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
SLAM Exploration Ltd.
Corporate Inquiries
Mike Taylor
President & CEO
506-623-8960
mike@slamexploration.com
SLAM Exploration Ltd.
Eugene Beukman
CFO
604-687-2038
ebeukman@pendergroup.ca
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 --
Highlights:
-- Callinex has agreed to acquire 100% ownership in the Superjack and Nash Creek deposits located in the Bathurst Mining Camp of New Brunswick, Canada; -- The Superjack Project 'A Zone' hosts a near-surface Inferred resource of 2.9 Mt grading 3.2% Zn, 0.8% Pb, 0.23% Cu and 30.6 g/t Ag; -- The Nash Creek Project includes a near-surface Indicated resource of 7.8 Mt grading 2.7% Zn, 0.6% Pb and 18.3 g/t Ag and an Inferred resource of 1.2 Mt 2.7% Zn, 0.5% Pb and 18.0 g/t Ag; and -- These acquisitions further strengthen Callinex's strategic portfolio of zinc-rich assets within Canada.
Callinex Mines Inc. (the "Company" or "Callinex") (TSX VENTURE: CNX)(OTCQX: CLLXF) is pleased to announce that a binding Purchase Agreement has been signed with Slam Exploration Ltd. ("Slam Exploration") (TSX VENTURE: SXL) to acquire the Superjack and Nash Creek Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide ("VMS") Projects located in the prolific Bathurst Mining Camp of New Brunswick, Canada. The Superjack and Nash Creek Projects each host significant zinc-rich resources that are near-surface and within close proximity to operating processing facilities. These projects, along with the recently acquired Point Leamington Project, represent a strategic portfolio of zinc assets within established Canadian mining jurisdictions.
The Bathurst Mining Camp is one of the largest and most economically significant VMS districts in the world, similar to the Flin Flon Mining District. The Bathurst district hosts several world-class deposits, most notably the 'supergiant' Brunswick #12 deposit; which contained well over 200 million tonnes of high-grade VMS mineralization and was one of the largest underground zinc mines in the world. The closure of the Brunswick #12 mine in 2013 has been a major contributor to the current zinc supply-demand deficit, which is expected to increase even further within the next two years.
Max Porterfield, President and CEO, stated, "Superjack and Nash Creek greatly contribute to the formation of a leading zinc-rich portfolio of projects located in Canadian mining jurisdictions. Combined with the Point Leamington deposit, we have acquired 100% ownership of three VMS assets that have well defined mineral resources at attractive prices."
Superjack Project
The Superjack Project, which has excellent infrastructure, is located approximately 50km by road to an operating processing facility. The project is interpreted to be underlain by the same felsic volcanic package (i.e., the Nepisiguit Falls Formation) that hosts the 'supergiant' Brunswick #12 mine located 15km to the northeast and the large Heath Steele Mine located 10km due south of Superjack (See Figure 1). The Superjack deposit consists of three mineralized zones that all start at surface, the largest of which is called the 'A Zone'. A Technical Report titled "Technical Report and Resource Estimate on the Nepisiguit Project, New Brunswick, Canada" effective May 31, 2012 was prepared by Tetra Tech Inc. / Wardrop ("Tetra Tech") for Slam Resources Ltd. and estimated an Inferred mineral resource in the 'A Zone' totaling 2.9 Mt grading 3.16% Zn, 0.82% Pb, 0.23% Cu and 30.6 g/t Ag and an Inferred mineral resource in the 'C Zone' totaling 0.3 Mt grading 1.41% Zn, 0.32% Pb, 0.27% Cu and 16.6 g/t Ag (See Table 1).
The most prospective areas of the Superjack Project appear to be the down-plunge expressions of both the known 'A' and 'C' mineralized zones where very little drilling has been completed. Of particular interest are two deep drill holes on the 'A Zone' that essentially leave the zone wide open to be explored at depth below 440 meters. Drill hole NP11-39 intersected 2.55m of 14.97% Zn, 1.38% Pb, 0.27% Cu and 32.53 g/t Ag and drill hole NP11-54 that intersected 5.88m of 5.48% Zn, 2.34% Pb, 0.41% Cu and 73.74 g/t Ag (See Figure 2).
Nash Creek VMS Project
The Nash Creek VMS Project is located approximately 90km from an operating processing facility and, as noted in the Technical Report entitled "Nash Creek Project - New Brunswick NI 43-101 Compliant Technical Report" completed on March 27, 2009 by Wardrop Engineering Inc. ("Wardrop") for Slam Resources Ltd., the Nash Creek property hosts an Indicated mineral resource totaling 7.8 Mt grading 2.72% Zn, 0.55% Pb, and 18.26 g/t Ag and an Inferred resource of 1.21 Mt grading 2.66% Zn, 0.52% Pb, and 18.00 g/t Ag (See Figure 1 and Table 2). Previous exploration work conducted by Slam Exploration has already resulted in a sizeable mineral deposit and preliminary metallurgical testing has indicated amenability to enrichment by Dense Media Separation ("DMS"). DMS is a well-known technology that is designed to significantly increase the grade by reducing waste rock, which could allow for efficient toll milling. Additional studies are necessary to determine the potential economic viability of the Nash Project based on long-term zinc prices. The larger and higher grade Southern Hayes Zone appears to remain open along a flat southerly plunge.
Transaction Terms
As consideration for 100% ownership of the Superjack and Nash Projects along with exploration data, Callinex has agreed to pay to $750,000 as follows: (i) $100,000 due in cash upon closing, (ii) $525,000 due within three years which can be paid in cash or shares with a deemed value of $0.50 per share, and (iii) $125,000, due in cash or shares with a deemed value of $0.50 per share, based on the completion of a Preliminary Economic Assessment on the Nash Project.
Callinex has agreed to provide a 1% NSR on the Superjack and Nash Projects (the "Royalties"), of which half of the Royalties can be repurchased at any time for $500,000. In the event zinc prices exceed US $1.25 per pound and US $1.50 per pound an additional 0.25% royalty for each price increment will be payable on any mineral production from the Superjack and Nash Projects.
The acquisition of the Superjack and Nash Projects is subject to the acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange.
The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by James Pickell, P.Geo, a Consultant to the Callinex, and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Pickell has also reviewed the Superjack and Nash Creek Technical Reports and Resource Estimates prepared by Tetra Tech and Wardrop.
Table 1: 2012 Inferred Mineral Resource for the Superjack 'A' and 'C' Zones using a 1.5% ZnEq cut-off
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tonnes Zn (%) Pb (%) Cu (%) Ag (g/t) Zn (t) Pb (t) Cu (t) Ag (oz) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2,938,613 ('A' Zone) 3.162 0.822 0.226 30.644 92,928 24,164 6,633 2,895,222 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 272,402 ('C' Zone) 1.408 0.320 0.272 16.599 3,836 873 742 145,370 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3,211,015 ('A' + 'C' Combined) 3.013 0.779 0.230 29.452 96,764 25,037 7,375 3,040,592 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 2: 2009 Indicated and Inferred Resource Summary for the Nash Creek Deposits using a 2.0% ZnEq cut-off
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Resource Type Tonnes Zinc Equivalency (%) Zn (%) Pb (%) Ag (g/t) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Northern Hickey Zone ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Indicated 3,044,300 3.00 2.50 0.56 17.83 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inferred 198,100 2.67 2.19 0.55 16.78 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern Hayes Zone ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Indicated 4,763,000 3.36 2.86 0.55 18.53 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inferred 1,013,600 3.23 2.75 0.52 18.25 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Indicated 7,807,900 3.22 2.72 0.55 18.26 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inferred 1,211,700 3.14 2.66 0.52 18.00 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes:
1. CIM definition standards were followed for the resource estimate. 2. Densities varied by rock type 3. Numbers may not add exactly due to rounding. 4. Mineral Resources that are not mineral reserves do not have economic viability. 5. Estimation of the Nash Creek resources included the interpolation methods of nearest neighbour (NN), inverse distance squared (ID2) and ordinary kriging (OK). The resource estimate was prepared by Tetra Tech using Datamine Studio 3 (v.3.20.6420.0) software. The methods were validated by a comparison of global statistics and a visual review of coded block grades. 6. The Nash Creek resource estimate was completed using a 2.0% zinc equivalent (ZNEQ) cut-off grade for both the Northern Hickey Zone and the Southern Hayes Zone. The metal prices were based on four-year moving averages (September 2004 to September 2008) taken from a database maintained by Wardrop. 7. The quantity and grade of reported inferred resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these inferred resources as an indicated or measured mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an indicated or measured mineral resource category.
To the best of Callinex's knowledge, information and belief, there is no new scientific or technical information that would make the disclosure of the mineral resources inaccurate or misleading. Pursuant to section 4.2(7)(c) of National Instrument 43-101, Callinex will file technical reports supporting its disclosure of mineral resources on the Superjack and Nash Creek Properties within 180 days after the date of this news release.
To view Figure 1: Location Map showing the Superjack and Nash Creek VMS Properties, New Brunswick, Canada, please visit: http://www.callinex.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/CNX-SXL-Figure-1.png.
To view Figure 2: Superjack VMS Property, NB - Longitudinal View showing 'A' Zone, please visit: http://www.callinex.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/CNX-SXL-Figure-2.jpg.
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.
About Slam Exploration Inc.
SLAM is a resource company focused on the Menneval gold project where SLAM's advance scouting team discovered the Maisie gold deposit in 2012. The Company also owns the Reserve Creek and Miminiska gold projects in Ontario and holds a royalty on two base metal properties in New Brunswick.
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 and the timing and amount of expenditures. 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
CHICAGO, IL -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- Uproar PR, in partnership with We Are Wearables and 1871, announces the eighth We Are Wearables Chicago event that will feature the latest in consumer wearables, B2B wearables and virtual reality technology. On Thursday, May 19, Chicago's entrepreneurs will join wearable tech industry leaders for an evening of presentations and networking meant to inspire the adoption of and innovation for wearable technology. Speakers will include:
Liz Salcedo, Founder and CEO of Everpurse, a tech company servicing the fashion industry
Christine Hutchison, co-founder of Proxfinity, a wearable tech company that helps users connect at events
Josh Farkas, CEO of Cubicle Ninjas, the company behind Spectacle, the first Augmented Reality app for Gear VR
"The Chicago tech industry is booming, and wearable technology is the next wave of computing that will augment the human experience. This event and our partners behind it continue to spark innovation with top-notch presenters and the opportunity to network with the minds that are expanding the definition of 'wearable'," said Catriona Harris, Partner at Uproar PR and co-organizer of the event. "We're excited to welcome the leaders from Everpurse, Proxfinity and Cubicle Ninjas and all of Chicago's entrepreneurs looking for inspiration and mentorship."
We Are Wearables is an organization that rallies local tech communities together to discuss, discover and demo the latest in wearable tech. The event aims to foster the adoption of wearables and facilitate innovation among the industry's entrepreneurs, startups and established organizations.
"Whether it's a fashionable handbag that keeps you connected while on the go, wearable technology that helps you network at events like never before or a VR app that helps you see the world from a whole new perspective, wearables are changing every facet of our lives, and this month's featured wearable tech companies are great examples of this," said Tom Emrich, Founder of We Are Wearables.
We Are Wearables Chicago will take place Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 1871 (222 Merchandise Mart Plaza, Suite 1212). Doors open at 6 p.m. To register for the event, visit http://www.meetup.com/We-Are-Wearables-Chicago/events/229764469/. For more information, visit the We Are Wearables Chicago website and @WeAreWearables WWCHI.
About Uproar PR:
With offices in Orlando, Toronto and Chicago, Uproar PR applies a cutting-edge technology perspective for companies who are looking to compete in this always-on, socially driven economy. The global PR firm works with a broad spectrum of technology, consumer and professional services clients. For more information, visit www.uproarpr.com
Media Contact:
Katrin Perkins
Uproar PR
321-236-0102 x224
Email Contact
ATLANTA, GA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- GeoVax Labs, Inc. (OTCQB: GOVX) announced today its observance of HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, which occurs annually on May 18th. This observance provides an opportunity to recognize and thank the many volunteers, community members, health professionals, and scientists who are working together to find a safe and effective preventive HIV vaccine. It is also a day to educate communities across the nation about the importance of preventive HIV vaccine research and development.
In the United States, there are approximately 1.2 million people living with HIV, and another 50,000 are infected each year. An estimated 26% of all new HIV cases occur in young people aged 13-24 years, with recent statistics showing diagnosis rates increasing 10.5% per year in this age group. Within this group, minorities are also disproportionally affected; nearly 60% of new infections occur in African-Americans and 20% in Hispanics/Latinos. Worldwide, AIDS has killed nearly 39 million people since the epidemic began, and an estimated 37 million people are currently living with HIV infection. Despite improved access to antiretroviral treatment in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claims an estimated 2 million lives each year. HIV infection rates in the U.S. have remained virtually unchanged for more than 20 years. These statistics point very clearly to the need for an effective preventive HIV vaccine.
Development of a preventive HIV vaccine has been GeoVax's primary mission since its founding in 2001. Under the leadership of our founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Harriet Robinson, GeoVax's team of dedicated scientists and support staff has developed the leading HIV vaccine candidate designed to prevent infection from the subtype of HIV prevalent in North America and Western Europe. Our vaccine, GOVX-B11, has undergone more than 20 years of development, encompassing basic discovery research, preclinical animal testing, and safety testing in humans.
Our vaccine would not exist, however, without the financial and technical support we have received from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and from the NIH-supported HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN). In addition to multiple grants from NIAID supporting our ongoing vaccine research, all of the human clinical trials of our vaccine have been conducted by the HVTN with funding from NIAID. Overall, GeoVax's HIV vaccines, in various doses and combinations, have been tested in 500 humans with very encouraging results.
The next human clinical trial of GOVX-B11 is expected to begin in mid-2016. The trial, designated HVTN 114, will investigate the effect of a late protein boost for vaccinated individuals who participated in the HVTN 205 Phase 2a trial. Protein boosts may augment protective antibody responses that can block virus infections and/or kill infected cells through antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). The one partially successful HIV vaccine trial in Thailand (the RV144 trial) included a protein boost and the HVTN has requested that such a boost be tested for the GeoVax DNA/MVA vaccine regimen.
About GeoVax
GeoVax Labs, Inc., is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing human vaccines against infectious diseases using its MVA-VLP vaccine platform. The Company's development programs are focused on vaccines against HIV, Zika Virus, and hemorrhagic fever viruses (Ebola, Sudan, Marburg, Lassa). GeoVax also recently began a program to evaluate the use of its MVA-VLP platform in cancer immunotherapy. GeoVax's vaccine platform supports in vivo production of non-infectious VLPs from the cells of the very person receiving the vaccine. The production of VLPs in the person being vaccinated mimics a natural infection, stimulating both the humoral and cellular arms of the immune system to recognize, prevent, and control the target infection. For more information, visit www.geovax.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this document are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from those included in these statements due to a variety of factors, including whether: GeoVax can develop and manufacture its vaccines with the desired characteristics in a timely manner, GeoVax's vaccines will be safe for human use, GeoVax's vaccines will effectively prevent targeted infections in humans, GeoVax's vaccines will receive regulatory approvals necessary to be licensed and marketed, GeoVax raises required capital to complete vaccine development, there is development of competitive products that may be more effective or easier to use than GeoVax's products, GeoVax will be able to enter into favorable manufacturing and distribution agreements, and other factors, over which GeoVax has no control. GeoVax assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, and does not intend to do so. More information about these factors is contained in GeoVax's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including those set forth at "Risk Factors" in GeoVax's Form 10-K.
Contact:
Robert T. McNally, Ph.D.
GeoVax Labs, Inc.
investor@geovax.com
678-384-7220
GILLETTE, WY -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- NuTech Energy Resources, Inc. (OTC: NERG) announced today that Company seeks to clarify questions raised during its recently hosted national conference call conducted to update all current and prospective investors.
Following the presentation, there were inquiries presented that the Company, not having had the opportunity to consult with counsel, was not certain how to answer in consideration of disclosure regulations, since the nature of these inquiries contained elements that are either still pending, or had not yet been publicly disclosed.
Management would like to be clear in that there was not an issue here where the Company was trying to evade the truth in any way, but because the Company is publicly traded, every precaution needs to be taken to make sure that disclosure regulations are heeded for integrity of the Company and protection of the shareholders alike.
The points that being clarified are the following:
1. There were 10 million pre-existing preferred shares authorized and issued -- those were owned by legacy shareholders, in addition to a group of warrants. The board of Directors has already taken action to cancel those shares, but the actions have not yet been finalized.
2. The IGOR tool and its respective patent was purchased by NuTech Energy from TCI, a company based out of Casper Wyoming in March of 2015, for considerations, including but not limited to, 900 million shares of newly issued preferred stock. These shares are convertible on a 1 for 1 basis and have no voting rights; however, the shares have not yet been issued. The Company seeks to issue those shares in the very near future. In addition, sufficient consideration for the acquisition has been conveyed to TCI, and there are no disputes as to the validity of the transfer of the patent ownership to NuTech.
3. To safeguard the Company's intellectual property, NuTech Energy will not divulge the patent number to the public until new patents are awarded, or legally obliged in any other circumstance. Management believes that this is the best course of action to protect the exclusive nature of its intellectual property or technology and respectively the interests of its investors.
The Company would like to express sincere appreciation to all who were in attendance at the teleconference, and continue to partner with NuTech Energy in building a strong future in the industry. As previously stated, the Company is fully committed to transparency, hence the clarification of answers not fully articulated on the call.
About NuTech Energy Resources, Inc.: NuTech Energy Resources, Inc. (OTC Markets Symbol: NERG) is a natural gas and oil technology and development company that has developed a patented technology for the production of coalbed methane (CBM) without the need to pump water. NuTech currently operates wells in the Powder River Basin area of northern Wyoming (through sister company Emerald Operating Company) and has commitments to acquire thousands of additional wells. NuTech Energy Resources, Inc.'s development of proprietary equipment uniquely positions the Company to be able to acquire and profitably operate wells that were previously cost prohibitive. For more information, visit: http://www.nutechenr.com/ or for TechnoInvestment visit: http://tehnoinvest.h1.ru/
Safe Harbor: This press release contains forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those projected in such statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made and are not guarantees of future performance. We undertake no obligation to publicly revise any forward-looking statements.
Contact:
Investor and Media
Steffan Dalsgaard
CEO
Everest Corporate Advisors, Inc.
702-902-2361
702-982-1339
DALLAS, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- The Chron Organization, Inc. (OTC PINK: CHRO), announced today that effective Monday, May 23rd at 9:00AM CDT, the Company will be launching its new website for parent company, The Chron Organization, Inc. The purpose of this website will be for the exclusive purposes of communicating with investors with the latest and greatest up-to-date information, news and developments.
The new website can be viewed on Monday and thereafter at www.chronorganization.com.
"Over the past two months, we've steadily been barraged with requests from our shareholders for more information, more updates and more insight. We believe this tool will provide the information that our investors are looking for and are hopeful this will create a connection for all of us," stated CHRON President, Alex Rodriguez.
The website will host all traditional press releases, and will also feature a Corporate Updates section where various company officers and directors will provide content in the way of blogs, video updates and memorandums.
Chairman Byron Young, added, "We receive requests daily from shareholders curious about the latest Chron developments. We decided to develop this website to serve as a tool to assist or shareholders with learning the latest and greatest about the all of the exciting developments with the company. We believe in complete transparency at all levels and I believe that this tool will help to foster that sentiment."
The website will also feed directly into the Company's new social media sites that will include Twitter, YouTube, Google and Facebook.
ABOUT THE CHRON ORGANIZATION
The Chron Organization, Inc. (OTC PINK: CHRO) is a 21st century services company providing state-of-the-art Smart Home technologies and the next generation in energy utility services. The Company provides homeowners and businesses with the latest in security, monitoring and automation controls enabling homeowners and businesses to have a Smart Home and a Smart Business at an affordable price. CHRON combines that with its cloud-based, green energy services, reducing both their carbon footprint and their monthly energy expense. The Company's plan is to capture 5% of homeowners, while dramatically reducing the nation's peak electricity demand. To learn more about Chron Home Services, please visit the website at www.chronhomeservices.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release may contain forward-looking statements. The words "believe," "expect," "should," "intend," "estimate," "projects," variations of such words and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean that a statement is not a forward-looking statement. These forward-looking statements are based upon the Company's current expectations and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ significantly from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file at www.OTCMarkets.com.
INVESTORS & MEDIA CONTACT:
Email: Email Contact
Phone: (469) 626-5275
Investor Relations:
The Eversull Group, Inc.
Jack Eversull, President
972-571-1624
214-469-2361 fax
Email Contact
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- ALTAIR GOLD INC. ("Altair" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: AVX)(FRANKFURT: 90A)(ISIN: CA0213702008; WKN: WKN A14WVP) Mr. John Huguet, Chairman of the Board, is pleased to announce that Altair has agreed to purchase 100% of West Georgia Lithium Exploration Inc. ("West Georgia"), a British Columbia company, the sole asset of which is a claim block of 2,139 hectares (21.39 km2) in the Abitibi area of the province of Quebec, known as the Kino Lithium Property (the "Property").
The Property is made up of a contiguous block of 40 claims totalling approximately 2,139 hectares. The claims were staked directly for West Georgia and are represented as being in good standing.
Limited exploration has been conducted on the Property. The Property was explored in 1978 and 1980 when geologic mapping and sampling was undertaken. Four rock samples and forty soil samples were collected. One of the rock samples was from a granite which was reported to be anomalous in lithium. In addition there is a beryllium showing (Lavandin-2) containing 0.22% Be within the Property.
Located within several kilometres of the western boundary of the Property are four molybdenum occurrences (Ranger, Lavandin-1, Height of Land and Denomme) in pegmatites within a granitic intrusion.
The Property is situated in the region of other significant lithium discoveries. Canada Lithium's Quebec Lithium Mine is located 35 km to the east in similar geology and contains proven and probable reserves of 17.1 million tonnes of 0.94% lithium oxide with a 0.60% bottom cut off. Six kilometres to the southeast of the Property is located the Authier showing which contains 5.8 million tonnes of 0.53% lithium oxide.
The target mineralization on the Property are lithium-rich pegmatites. Lithium-rich pegmatites are commonly located near to, and derived from, granitic intrusions that have been moderately to strongly metamorphosed. The pegmatites can vary in size from a few metres to hundreds of metres in length, with widths ranging from centimetres to hundreds of metres. Rare earth bearing pegmatites may feature internal concentric zonation. The border is generally fine-grained, aplitic texture. The intermediate zone is coarser with quartz-feldspath-muscovite assemblages and compose the main body of the pegmatite. The core is often simple in composition, consisting of mainly quartz-feldspath assemblages. Economic minerals are beryl (Be), spodumene (Li), lepidolite (Li, Rb), colombo-tantalite (Nb, Ta) and cassiterite (Sn).
The acquisition terms for this Property are 300,000 common shares of the Company plus cash payment of $10,000. The Company will pay a finder's fee of 30,000 common shares. The acquisition and related finder's fees remain subject to acceptance of filings with the TSX Venture Exchange.
Mr. C. Ulansky, P. Geo., a Qualified Person, has reviewed and verified the technical contents of this release.
To learn more about Altair Gold, please visit http://altairresources.com.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD,
John Huguet, FCPA, FCMA
Chairman and Independent Director
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.
Contacts:
Altair Gold Inc.
Tel: 604-685-9316
Fax: 604-683-1585
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- Global Remote Technologies Ltd. (the "Company") (CSE: RGT)(FRANKFURT: GR9) is pleased to announce it has entered into a service agreement with Black Gold Pump & Supply, Inc ("Black Gold") for the Company's Helix downhole well simulation tool. This agreement allows Black Gold to use and distribute the Helix tools in California and grants GRT a distributorship for all of Black Gold's products and services in the Texas and Oklahoma markets.
Chris Dorris, CEO of the Company, stated, "We're very excited about this new relationship with Black Gold as an important step towards achieving our goal of 8 new customers by the end of this last quarter of 2016. As Black Gold is a California based company this also will provide the opportunity for Global Remote and the Helix tool to break in to markets outside of our predominant focus of Texas, Louisiana and the South East.
About the Helix Tool
The Helix tool uses a patent pending design and engineering method to achieve unique flow patterns that are more effective for wellbore cleanouts than any other design on the market. The Helix tool is a downhole cleaning and simulation technology that combines traditional oscillation and pulse jetting structures into a single pattern. For more information about the Helix tool, equipment, and technology acquired by the Company, please refer to the Company's news release issued on October 27, 2015.
About Black Gold Pump & Supply
Black Gold is a private company with headquartered in California. Black Gold creates, manufactures, sells, and distributes a wide variety of API and non-API parts, products, and services for oil rigs and supporting equipment. Black Gold Pump & Supply is a leading expert in production well analysis. Black Gold assists with raising production to get the maximum amount of fluid and the slowest unit speed possible; ensuring greater efficiency. Visit http://blackgoldpump.com/ for more information.
About Global Remote Technologies
The Company focuses on the deployment of emerging technologies for the energy sector. The Company has licensed multiple patent pending tools for the oil and gas industry. Using its advanced engineering and leadership experience, the Company brings cutting edge processes and technology to the oil patch. Its remote sensor packages transmit telemetry from drilling and production sites in real time to a central server where it is viewed in the cloud. The systems are designed to provide key personnel an early warning system to avoid equipment failures or costly compliance fines. The Company collects and communicates vital information on the status of equipment, tanks, and pipelines for exploration, production, and transmission of oil, gas and water. In addition, the Company recently acquired a Helix downhole well simulation tool and related technology. The tool uses a patent pending design and engineering method to achieve a unique flow pattern for wellbore simulation. The Company is headquartered in Vancouver, BC, with offices in Denver, Colorado and Houston, Texas.
Further information about the Company is available under its profile on the SEDAR website, www.sedar.com, on the CSE website, www.thecse.com, and on its website, www.grtcse.com.
Forward-Looking Information:
This press release may include forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. The forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the management of the Company. Although the Company's management believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward- looking information because the Company cannot provide any assurance that it will prove to be correct. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws.
Contacts:
Chris Dorris
CEO and Director
+1 888.381.3222
info@grtcse.com
www.grtcse.com
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- Richard Baxter, Patrick Bonney and Simon Buckett, key shareholders (collectively, the "Concerned Shareholders") and senior officers of Parkit Enterprise Inc. (the "Company"), announced today that they have provided notice to the Company of their intention, at the Company's annual general meeting of shareholders to be held on June 21, 2016 (the "Meeting"), to propose resolutions for shareholder approval to (i) fix the number of directors on the Company's board of directors (the "Board") at four, as opposed to the number of six proposed in the information circular of the Company dated May 10, 2016 (the "Company Circular"), and (ii) elect four directors, including the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer, Rick Baxter, and three new independent directors, to the Board.
The Concerned Shareholders believe that the Company is poised for rapid growth and will be best positioned to execute on its strategic plan with a four person board of directors that offers the following critical skill sets:
1. seasoned industry experience with skills complementary to the expertise of management and the Company's strategic partners; 2. independent oversight and leadership of publicly traded real estate companies; 3. a track record of successful stewardship of both high growth businesses and acquisition and optimization of real estate assets; and 4. strong alignment with shareholder interests, balanced with continuity of leadership of the Company.
The Concerned Shareholders also believe that decreasing the number of directors from six to four will permit more efficient decision making, will reduce costs and will enhance the Company's ability to pursue its acquisition and growth strategies in a timely manner.
The Highly Qualified Proposed Nominees
The Concerned Shareholders intend to nominate the four experienced and highly qualified individuals listed below (collectively, the "Proposed Nominees"). The Concerned Shareholders believe that the Proposed Nominees offer the complementary skill sets set out above and have the experience and qualifications necessary to provide the Company with the leadership, stewardship and oversight required to enhance shareholder value and enable management to advance the Company's interests.
-- Richard Baxter. Mr. Baxter is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company and is also a member of the Board. He was instrumental in the development and implementation of the Company's business model, and integral to the administration of the Company's joint venture. As such, the Concerned Shareholders believe that Mr. Baxter is best placed to oversee the continuing growth of the company's assets. He is an experienced entrepreneur and strategic business leader with more than 25 years of operational knowledge in aviation and transportation. He brings stability and continuity of leadership and experience in pursuing the Company's business and maximizing shareholder value to the Company's board. He previously served on the Canadian Advisory Board for Marsh and McLennan Companies, parent company of Marsh and Mercer. Mr. Baxter was also a member of Tourism Vancouver's Board for 12 years and the Chairman of the Board during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Born and raised in Vancouver, Mr. Baxter is an active member of YPO and has been recognized as one of Canada's Top 40 under 40, a national program designed to promote mentorship and professional development. He holds an Economics degree from the University of B.C., and has completed the Executive Leadership Course at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. -- Robert King. Mr. King is a very experienced public company director with a proven track record of strong governance and stewardship of real estate public companies. He has been immersed in real estate acquisition and finance for 20 years and has been an integral part of managing exceptional growth in publicly traded real estate enterprises. Mr. King is the President of Westbridge Finance Inc., a private equity firm involved in corporate and real estate investment and finance. From March 2006 to present, he has served on the Board of Directors of Wall Financial Corporation, a TSX listed real estate investment and development company. Mr. King is a Trustee of Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust and is the Chairman of Pure Multi Family REIT, each of which is listed on the TSX. Operationally, Mr. King will be bring with him years of experience sourcing, underwriting and negotiating real estate transactions, which will help contribute to the Company's anticipated high rate of growth through acquisitions. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of British Columbia. He is also a graduate of the ICD-Rotman Directors education program and holds the designation of ICD.D. -- Kevin Carpenter. Mr. Carpenter brings over 20 years of experience with Onni Group and with CB Richard Ellis. Mr. Carpenter has been sourcing and underwriting real estate deals for 13 years as the Senior Vice President of Acquisitions for Onni Group. In this role, Mr. Carpenter has overseen transactions with a total value of over $1.5 billion in Vancouver, Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Seattle and Mexico. Prior to joining Onni Group, Mr. Carpenter worked in the Investment Division of CB Richard Ellis' Vancouver office for 13 years where he specialized in the brokerage of residential investment and development properties. Mr. Carpenter will provide valuable oversight over the Company's partner outreach and deal sourcing activities. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree (majoring in Finance and Urban Land Economics) from the University of British Columbia. -- Roy King. Mr. King is a long term shareholder of the Company, who will bring a strong, independent perspective that is aligned with the Company's shareholders. Mr. King is a serial entrepreneur with several successful business start-ups to credit in a career spanning 30 years. He is currently the President of Lens and Shutter Holdings Limited, a photographic equipment retail group based in British Columbia, and has a substantial track record with successful entrepreneurial enterprises. He has in-depth knowledge of property acquisition and development and navigating the unique issues arising from rapid growth. He will be an important advocate to promote and advance the interests of shareholders. Mr. King holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Studies from Sheffield University and a Diploma in Marketing from the Institute of Marketing. He is also a licensed real estate broker.
Concerned Shareholders' Proxy Circular and Voting
Further information relating to the Proposed Nominees and other important information on voting is set out in the Concerned Shareholders' proxy circular (the "Concerned Shareholders' Circular") that will be mailed to shareholders, has been filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and is available at http://www.laurelhill.com/parkitconcernedshareholders.
The Concerned Shareholders urge you to review the Concerned Shareholders' Circular and vote the YELLOW proxy form or YELLOW voting instruction form, as applicable, accompanying the Concerned Shareholders' Circular. Shareholders may vote online, by telephone, by fax or any other applicable voting methods set out in the Concerned Shareholders' Circular and the voting materials. The Concerned Shareholders urge shareholders to NOT use the proxy or voting instruction form, as applicable, that was included with the Company Circular. Shareholders are urged to discard that proxy or voting instruction form and follow the instructions on the YELLOW proxy form or voting instruction form, as applicable, and submit it by the required time set out in the Concerned Shareholders' Circular in order to ensure that their votes are counted at the Meeting.
About the Concerned Shareholders
Richard Baxter is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company and is a member of the Board. Patrick Bonney is the Chief Investment Officer of the Company. Mr. Buckett is the Chief Financial Officer of the Company. The Concerned Shareholders collectively beneficially own or control 3,072,058 common shares of the Company, representing approximately 9.53% of its outstanding common shares.
Proxy Solicitation
Proxies for the Meeting will be solicited by or on behalf of the Concerned Shareholders pursuant to the Concerned Shareholders' Circular. Proxies may be solicited by mail, telephone or other electronic means, as well as by way of public broadcast, including press release, speech or publication and any other manner permitted under applicable law. The Concerned Shareholders have retained McCarthy Tetrault LLP as their legal advisor and Laurel Hill Advisory Group as their proxy solicitation agent. In connection with these services, Laurel Hill will receive customary fees (up to $120,000) plus taxes and reasonable out-of-pocket expenses. The costs incurred in such solicitation will be borne by the Concerned Shareholders. However, the Concerned Shareholders intend to seek, subject to the approval of the Board, reimbursement from the Company of certain of the expenses, including certain proxy solicitation expenses and legal fees, in the event that the Board is successfully reconstituted.
Proxies are being solicited and the Concerned Shareholders' Circular is being provided by and on behalf of the Concerned Shareholders, each in his capacity as a shareholder, and is NOT being provided (i) by or on behalf of the Board or the management of the Company or (ii) by or on behalf of any Concerned Shareholder in his capacity as an employee or officer of the Company.
Proxies may be revoked by registered shareholders (i) by completing and signing a proxy bearing a later date and depositing it in accordance with the instructions set out in the Circular; (ii) by depositing an instrument revoking the proxy executed by the shareholder or by the shareholder's attorney authorized in writing at the registered office of the Company at Suite 2900 - 595 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, V7X 1J5 at any time up to and including the last business day preceding the date of the Meeting, or any adjournment of the Meeting, at which the proxy is to be used, or with the chairman of the Meeting prior to the commencement of the Meeting on the day of the Meeting or any adjournment of the Meeting; or (iii) in any other manner permitted by applicable law. A non-registered shareholder should follow the instructions provided to it by its intermediary to revoke a form of proxy or voting instruction form.
Except as otherwise disclosed in the Concerned Shareholders' Circular or any documents referenced therein, to the knowledge of each of the Concerned Shareholders, none of the Concerned Shareholders, any of the Proposed Nominees or any of their associates or affiliates has any material interest, direct or indirect, by way of beneficial ownership of securities or otherwise, in any matter to be acted on at the Meeting.
About the Company
Parkit Enterprise Inc. is engaged in the acquisition, optimization and asset management of income producing parking facilities across the United States. Its registered office is located at Suite 2900 - 595 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, V7X 1J5.
Further Information or Assistance
For more information or if you require assistance with voting, please contact Laurel Hill Advisory Group, proxy solicitation agent for the Concerned Shareholders, at:
Laurel Hill Advisory Group North America Toll Free: 1-877-452-7184 Collect Calls Outside North America: 416-304-0211 Email: assistance@laurelhill.com
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements, including, without limitation, risks and uncertainties related to actions taken by the Company or shareholders in connection with the Meeting. No assurance can be given that any of the events or outcomes anticipated by any forward-looking statement will occur.
Contacts:
Laurel Hill Advisory Group
North America Toll Free: 1-877-452-7184
Collect Calls Outside North America: 416-304-0211
assistance@laurelhill.com
CLERMONT, KY -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- Booker's Bourbon and Knob Creek Bourbon are proud to introduce two ultra-premium, limited edition releases to whiskey fans this month -- Booker's Rye Whiskey and Knob Creek 2001 Limited Edition Bourbon -- each paying tribute to Booker Noe, the Beam Family's 6th Generation Master Distiller and founder of The Small Batch Bourbon Collection.
These special releases are each made from some of the last barrels laid down by the late Booker Noe in the final years of his life and will each be available as limited, one-time offerings. As the first rye whiskey ever offered from Booker's Bourbon, Booker's Rye Whiskey was made from a very limited number of barrels of a previously unreleased rye mash bill in Booker's signature uncut and unfiltered(1) style. Knob Creek 2001 Limited Edition Bourbon debuts as the longest-aged expression ever released from Knob Creek, the ultimate expression of the bourbon's big, full flavor.
"When Dad helped pioneer the small batch movement nearly 30 years ago, he introduced a whole new way of thinking about how whiskey could be made -- introducing small batch, high quality whiskies like Booker's Bourbon and Knob Creek Bourbon with flavor like nobody had tasted before," said Fred Noe, Beam Family's 7th Generation Master Distiller. "Now, all of these years later, we're excited to keep this tradition alive by giving our fans something really special with these two limited releases made from some of the last barrels Dad laid down. Dad knew exactly what he wanted when it came to making whiskey, and I know these releases would make him proud."
The hallmark of Booker Noe's innovative spirit, Booker's Rye Whiskey is made from a never before released rye mash bill, bottled uncut and unfiltered(1) at its natural proof and full of robust flavor, just the way Booker preferred his whiskey. The supply of Booker's Rye is about half that of Booker's 25th Anniversary Bourbon from 2014. Aged for 13 years, about twice as long as a standard batch of Booker's Bourbon, Booker's Rye is now available nationwide with an SRP of $299.99 for a 750ml bottle.
Like all batches of Booker's Bourbon, Fred Noe watched over these barrels to ensure that the liquid was released the way Booker intended so many years ago. It was selected with the following characteristics:
Age: 13 years, 1 months, 12 days
Proof: 136.2
Color: Deep amber
Taste: An intense flavor profile with pronounced, well-balanced notes of wood and oak from the longer aging process. The liquid offers a complex aroma with spicy notes from the rye in the mash bill. This uncut rye has a spicy, robust flavor, but it is not overpowering.
Sipping Suggestions: Booker's Rye is best enjoyed neat or on the rocks.
Knob Creek 2001 Limited Edition Bourbon commemorates a significant year for Knob Creek, as late in 2001, the tradition and responsibility of stewarding Knob Creek Bourbon was passed from Booker to Fred -- from father to son. This release, made from barrels that Booker laid down in 2001, was finished by Fred Noe in honor of all he learned from his father and stays true to the pre-prohibition standards that Booker sought to restore when he introduced Knob Creek Bourbon. Bottled at 100 proof and aged for 14 years, longer than any other Knob Creek release to date, this bourbon has an even bigger, fuller flavor than what Knob Creek fans have come to love. It will be released in three limited batches, each accentuating distinct notes of the 14-year-old liquid, for a suggested price of $129.99 for a 750ml bottle.
Packaged in a commemorative wooden case, Knob Creek 2001 Limited Edition Bourbon was selected with the following characteristics:
Age: More than 14 years
Proof: 100
Color: Deep golden amber
Aroma: Robust oak and char notes balanced by sweet vanillas and caramels with a hint of warm brown spice
Taste: Complex oak and char notes with subtle vanilla and warm spice Batch One: Higher in sweet notes, vanilla and caramel; very smooth Batch Two: Higher in wood and oak notes; more tannic in nature Batch Three: Mid-way between Batch 1 and Batch 2, slightly favoring notes of wood
Finish: Smooth and warm sweetness
For more information on Booker's Rye, visit: www.BookersBourbon.com and for more information on Knob Creek, visit: www.KnobCreek.com.
About Booker's Bourbon
Booker's Bourbon was inspired by a 200-year-old family tradition and came to life when Booker Noe selected the first bottles of Booker's as holiday gifts for his friends and family. With its instant popularity within Noe's close circle, Booker's Bourbon was soon after bottled and made available on shelves for everyone to enjoy. Booker's Bourbon is one of the only bourbons bottled straight-from-the-barrel at its natural proof, which varies from batch to batch. It is crafted in small batches and aged for six to eight years in charred oak barrels, which are stored in the center of the rack house. Today, Fred Noe personally selects every batch of Booker's Bourbon to ensure every bottle contains a robust, full-bodied whiskey that has a taste, aroma and proof that matches Booker's whiskey preference.
About Knob Creek Bourbon
Knob Creek Bourbon has been making extraordinary full flavored bourbon with intriguing taste and bottled in unique flask shaped packaging for over 20 years. Aged for a full 9 years in new, charred American Oak barrels and bottled at an honest 100 proof, Knob Creek Bourbon upholds the standard for what great bourbon ought to be with its big, full signature flavor. Launched in early 1992, at a time when the term "super-premium" bourbon didn't exist, Knob Creek Bourbon is named after the small town in Kentucky where President Abraham Lincoln was born. In recent years, Knob Creek has expanded its portfolio releasing Knob Creek Single Barrel Reserve (120 proof / 60% alcohol by volume) in 2011 and Knob Creek Rye (100 proof / 50% alcohol by volume) in 2012 and Knob Creek Smoked Maple (90 proof / 45% alcohol by volume) in 2013.
About Beam Suntory Inc.
As the world's third largest premium spirits company, Beam Suntory is Crafting the Spirits Brands that Stir the World. Consumers from all corners of the globe call for the company's brands, including the iconic Jim Beam and Maker's Mark bourbon brands and Suntory whisky Kakubin, as well as world renowned premium brands including Knob Creek bourbon, Yamazaki, Hakushu and Hibiki Japanese whiskies, Teacher's, Laphroaig, and Bowmore Scotch whiskies, Canadian Club whisky, Courvoisier cognac, Sauza tequila, Pinnacle vodka, and Midori liqueur.
Beam Suntory was created in 2014 by combining the world leader in bourbon and the pioneer in Japanese whisky to form a new company with a deep heritage, passion for quality, innovative spirit and commitment to Growing for Good. Headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, Beam Suntory is a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings Limited of Japan. For more information on Beam Suntory, its brands, and its commitment to social responsibility, please visit www.beamsuntory.com and www.drinksmart.com.
(1)Booker's Bourbon and Booker's Rye Whiskey are quality screened to remove only pieces of charred barrel wood from the liquid.
Booker's Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey, 65% - 75% Alc./Vol. 2016 James B. Beam Distilling Co., Clermont, KY.
Knob Creek Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, 50% Alc./Vol. 2016 James B Beam Distilling Co., Clermont, KY.
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MEDIA CONTACTS:
Dan Cohen
Beam Suntory Inc.
847-444-7657
Email Contact
Sarah Messenger
DBC PR + Social Media
202-292-4563
Email Contact
Wipro Ltd. (NYSE:WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, today announced that it has been selected by Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS.CO), as its strategic IT partner for Workplace Services. Headquartered in Aarhus, Denmark, Vestas is a global energy company that delivers best-in-class wind energy solutions in over 75 countries. Vestas' core business comprises of the development, manufacturing, sale and maintenance of wind power plants.
Wipro will deploy its proprietary LiVE Workspace solution for Vestas as part of this multi-year digital transformation engagement. The solution aims to enable a superior computing experience for users, while ensuring data security, and also offers users access to applications anywhere, anytime and on any device. This technology deployment will provide Vestas' 20,000 employees, spread across 75 countries, with a user-centric, collaborative and energy efficient workplace, with smart systems, which will boost business agility. The smart systems include predictive monitoring for faster service restoration, automation and preventive self-heal to minimize service disruptions, and round-the-clock resilient end-user infrastructure.
Torben Heg Bonde, CIO, Vestas Wind Systems, said, "In order to fulfill our strategy of profitable growth, Vestas believes IT should be business-oriented. We have a vision to create an agile and future-proof workplace platform for all our 20,000 employees. With Wipro as our strategic partner, we are taking an important step to fulfill our ambition towards an Internet-centric IT architecture."
"Wipro has been chosen by Vestas as their strategic IT partner to transform their Workplace, as part of their digital journey. In this multi-year engagement we will leverage our strong understanding of the manufacturing domain, coupled with our workplace transformation capabilities to improve the end user experience for Vestas' employees. This deal marks the beginning of a strategic relationship between Wipro and Vestas and will form the foundation of an innovative technology program that will strengthen Vestas' leadership position in the industry," said N. S. Bala, President, Manufacturing Technology SBU, Wipro Limited.
"Wipro is pleased to be selected as a strategic partner in Vestas' transformation journey to create a next-gen workplace. Having recently been selected for several transformational engagements in the Nordic region, including Vestas in Denmark, Wipro has emerged as a clear partner of choice for Nordic companies looking to reinvent themselves in the digital age," said Carl-Henrik Hallstrom, Regional Head, Nordic, Wipro Limited.
Note: The deal was mentioned in Wipro Limited's financial results announcement press release, dated April 20, 2016, for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 (Q4 FY15-16), with a description of Vestas Wind Systems, but without naming the company.
About Wipro Ltd.
Wipro Ltd. (NYSE:WIT) is a leading information technology, consulting and business process services company that delivers solutions to enable its clients to do business better. Wipro delivers winning business outcomes through its deep industry experience and a 360 degree view of "Business through Technology." By combining digital strategy, customer centric design, advanced analytics and product engineering approach, Wipro helps its clients create successful and adaptive businesses. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, strong commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship, Wipro has a dedicated workforce of over 160,000, serving clients in 175+ cities across 6 continents. For more information, please visit www.wipro.com.
About Vestas Wind Systems
Every single day, Vestas wind turbines deliver clean energy that supports the global fight against climate change. Wind power from Vestas' more than 55,000 wind turbines currently reduces carbon emissions by over 60 million tons of carbon dioxide every year, while at the same time building energy security and independence. Vestas has delivered wind energy in 75 countries, providing jobs for around 20,000 passionate people at our service and project sites, research facilities, factories and offices all over the world. With 52 percent more megawatts installed than anyone else in the industry and more than 71 GW of cumulative installed capacity worldwide, Vestas is the world leader in wind energy.
We invite you to learn more about Vestas by visiting our website at www.vestas.com and following us on our social media channels:
?www.twitter.com/vestas
?www.linkedin.com/company/vestas
?www.facebook.com/vestas
?www.instagram.com/vestas
?https://plus.google.com/+vestas
Forward-looking and Cautionary Statements
Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in our earnings, revenue and profits, our ability to generate and manage growth, intense competition in IT services, our ability to maintain our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which we make strategic investments, withdrawal of fiscal governmental incentives, political instability, war, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property, and general economic conditions affecting our business and industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. We may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160518005796/en/
Contacts:
Wipro Ltd.
Linda Boman, +46 722 208 329
linda.boman@wipro.com
or
Subhashini Pattabhiraman
subhashini.pattabhiraman@wipro.com
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.
BROOKLYN, New York, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
QYResearchReports.com has recently added a research report to its vast repository. The research report on the global workforce management software industry analyzes the future outlook of the industry on the basis of existing market conditions. With the help of accurate historical data, the research report projects the growth and valuation of the market in the coming years. The data published in the research report has been compiled with the help of analytical tools and sourced with the help of primary and secondary research methods. Further, the report also includes opinions of industry experts and insightful inputs from them.
The report, titled "Global Workforce Management Software Industry 2016 Market Research Report", examines the global workforce management software industry across the key regions to present details such as production capacity, actual capacity, price structure, cost structure, and revenue. The report defines the industry chain structure and takes into consideration the major policies and developments that would define the future growth of the global workforce management software market.
Browse Complete "Global Workforce Management Software Industry 2016 - Market Research Report" with TOC athttp://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-workforce-management-software-industry-2016-market-research-report.htm
Workforce management software let employees to participate in the scheduling process, thereby increasing the productivity of the workforce. The report describes the specifications, classifications, and applications of workforce management software. Analyzing the manufacturing cost structure of the global workforce management software industry, the report notes the various input costs such as the prices quoted by equipment suppliers, raw material suppliers, labours, and others. The report further describes the overall manufacturing process of the workforce management software. Analysis of the industry chain with information about various upstream and downstream components has been included in the report. The report traces the development trends in the global workforce management software market on the basis of consumption and supply.
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The report studies the global workforce management software industry across some of the key regions such as the U.S., the European Union, China, and Japan The growth of the workforce management software market across these regions has been studied on the basis of demand for types of software across various application segments. The report further forecasts the size of the regional markets in the coming years.
Workforce Management Software Market Research Reports by Regional Segments:
Europe Workforce Management Software Industry 2016
North America Workforce Management Software Industry 2016
Describing the competitive hierarchy, the report profiles some of the major manufacturers in the global workforce management software industry such as Kronos, SAP, Infor Global Solutions, McKesson, ADP, Ultimate Software, Atoss, Workday, IBM, Cornerstone On-demand, Workforce Software, and Oracle. It also provides insightful details about the key manufacturers including their product specifications, production capacity, manufacturing cost, price, revenue, and gross margin. For the benefit of new and existing players in the global workforce management software market, the report analyzes the feasibility of new project investments. Updates about the status of various marketing channels in the industry have been included in the report with information about the key traders and distributors.
Related Market Research Reports:
Global Workforce Management (WFM) Software in Healthcare Industry 2015:
The current advancements in the global Workforce Management (WFM) Software in Healthcare market have made it mandatory for leading players to conduct a detailed research to better understand its current scenario, restraints, leading players, and main areas of operation. However, as the global Workforce Management (WFM) Software in Healthcare market is prosperous, it is a challenge for key players to examine the market by only depending on in-house resources; using external sources then becomes a necessity. The study offers a detailed synopsis of the global Workforce Management (WFM) Software in Healthcare market and discusses the major factors responsible for its progress. The effects of Porter's five forces on the global Workforce Management (WFM) Software in Healthcare market are strategically discussed in the report. The research forecasts new projects, key players, applications, market size, and revenue of the global Workforce Management (WFM) Software in Healthcare market for the period 2011 to 2016.
Read more athttp://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-workforce-management-wfm-software-in-healthcare-industry-2015-market-research-report.htm
Global and China Workforce Management Software Industry 2014:
The report studies the global and China Workforce Management Software market and is an all-inclusive yet concise blueprint of the leading players competing in the Workforce Management Software industry. The research publication reviews all aspects of the Workforce Management Software market in a granular fashion, presenting practical and sharp insight to help clients in the industry plan their development strategies. The accurate and reliable information provided in the report has been derived with the help of the latest primary and secondary research methods and shed light on the numerous trends emerging in the global and China Workforce Management Software market.
Read more at http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-and-china-workforce-management-software-industry-2014-market-research-report.htm
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BOCA RATON, FL -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- Tyco Integrated Security, the leading security systems integrator, recently installed a video-enabled exit lane breach control system designed to help automate security at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Tyco aviation security experts will highlight the solution at the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) Conference & Exposition, from May 15-18 in Houston, TX.
The Houston exit lane breach control solution uses analytics technology and door control integration to alert airport officials when an object or passenger tries to enter restricted areas. In such a scenario, an alarm will sound and a warning light will flash, and the event will be captured and recorded by the system's security cameras.
According to Government Security News, in recent years, breaches of airport exit lanes have posed security risks and cost airlines, airports and the traveling public millions of dollars nationwide. The traditional practice of manually monitoring airport exit lanes has historically been staffed with multiple guards from either the Transportation Security Administration or the local airport. Through the adoption of sensor-based technology solutions like exit lane breach control and containment, officials at the airport may be able to redeploy security personnel or eliminate guard staffing altogether.
"We're thrilled to assist George Bush Intercontinental Airport with this cutting-edge Exit Lane Breach Control and Containment System," said John Gaydos, vice president of Tyco Federal Systems, Tyco Integrated Security. "Airport security is of utmost concern to airport personnel and passengers alike, and we're pleased to be able to deliver this safer, smarter Tyco solution."
The technology chosen by the Houston Airport Systems is just one way that Tyco's solutions can help enhance airport operations. With enterprise solutions integrated into more than 300 international airports, Tyco's smart solutions portfolio can help airports target cost savings, operational efficiency and enhance passenger satisfaction.
To find out more about TycoIS, call 1.800.701.8449, or visit www.tycois.com.
About Tyco Integrated Security
Tyco Integrated Security, a business unit of Tyco International, is North America's leading commercial security systems integrator, providing business security services to more than 500,000 customers. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla., Tyco Integrated Security has more than 6,000 employees across 81 locations in business communities throughout North America. For more information, visit www.TycoIS.com.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 18, 2016) - The Jenex Corporation (NEX: JEN.H) ("Jenex" or the "Company") would like to report that it has made significant progress with a large Canadian Pharmacy Retailer (the "Retailer") with a wide retail network across Canada. The Retailer has requested Point of Purchase ("POP") displays for Jenex's InterceptCS product. The POP displays will be presented to select stores within the Retailer's network to seed the market. If discussions with the Retailer prove successful the first shipment of product would occur during the early fall of 2016.
SEE POP DISPLAY LINK HERE:
http://www.interceptcs.com/retail-pop/
Jenex would also like to report that our online e-commerce channels continue to show strength as our social medial searches are trending with search engine optimization improving daily. This social media coverage has translated into increased activity on our e-commerce websites. Jenex has been posting brisk sales traffic as a result of the social media campaign. This encouraging potential retail customer revenue has been a long time coming and the first retail sales represent a significant step forward for the Company. Our contracted sales team is excited to extend these results as we work through the summer to secure a retail order by the fall of 2016.
New Product Development
As a result of the market launch through retail and online channels for InterceptCS we are also making progress in product development with new follow on products related to our future insect, acne and wrinkle devices. Jenex has shortlisted a number of medical device design companies for the development of the new products.
Once our new product line up has passed the proof of concept phase Jenex will review marketing the line up on its own or through partnership either on an exclusive on non-exclusive basis. In the event a partnership is chosen Jenex will discuss funding and a process for technology transfer, prototype development, and the type of contract that is mutually acceptable (to include milestone payments). We will report back on our product channel development during F2017.
Proposed $500,000 Financing
Jenex is currently investigating a financing whereby investors would receive special warrants exercisable into shares or units conditional upon a share consolidation occurring within a certain time frame. Jenex will report back in a future press release regarding this financing.
The Board of Directors has appointed Rob Fia to the position of Interim CEO effective immediately. He succeeds David Duranovich, who resigned from the Company and the Board to pursue other interests. The Board would like to thank David for his recent efforts and wish him success in his new endeavour.
Mr. Fia has been Chairman, a position he continues to hold, since 2009 and has been instrumental in advancing Jenex along with the rest of the Jenex team since 2009. Mr. Fia has a deep understanding of the business and the marketplace and will provide stability and direction for the Company as it pursues the exciting new retail and online opportunities ahead for Jenex.
In addition the Board of Jenex would like to announce that Mr. Joe Heng, CA, has joined the Board of Directors. Mr. Heng is a dedicated and result-oriented finance professional with progressive records of achievements including serving on many TSXV Boards and has acted as CFO over the past 10 years. Mr. Heng brings valuable expertise in business development, financial reporting, audit, finance and taxation.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. More particularly, this press release contains statements which include the timing of closing the offering, the anticipated use of proceeds and the receipt of the required approvals. The forward-looking statements are based on certain expectations and assumptions made by Jenex. Although Jenex believes that those expectations and assumptions are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because Jenex can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. In addition to other risks, the closing of the offering could be delayed if Jenex is not able to obtain necessary approvals when planned and the offering will not be completed at all if approvals are not obtained or some other condition to the closing is not satisfied. Accordingly, there is a risk that the offering will not be completed within the anticipated time or at all. The intended use of the net proceeds of the offering by Jenex might change if Jenex determines that it would be in the best interests of Jenex to use the proceeds for some other purpose. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof. Jenex 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 required under applicable securities laws.
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.
For further information please contact:
The Jenex Corporation
Rob Fia
CEO & Chairman
Phone: (416) 722-4994
e-mail: rfia@thejenexcorporation.com
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RICHMOND, VA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- SingleStone, a Richmond-based consulting firm that specializes in improving customer experiences for its clients, has successfully completed a multi-year project to deliver improved tools for enhanced customer relationship management at the Virginia Department of Transportation.
VDOT's Customer Service Center (CSC) is an in-bound customer engagement center for citizens throughout Virginia to report hazardous road conditions, submit work requests for state-maintained roads (such as filling potholes or removing road debris) and request information on road conditions and construction projects, among other services.
VDOT recognized an opportunity to improve operations and technology in order to share information and respond to customer requests for service more effectively. As part of the project, SingleStone helped VDOT expand and enhance its service capabilities by integrating multi-channel options, including voice, web, text and mobile self-service, and implementing enriched caller-recognition and customer relationship management features based on the Avaya Elite Multichannel and Microsoft Dynamics CRM platforms. SingleStone's team of partners included WorldView Solutions and Carousel Industries.
The CSC project was nominated for the Virginia Governor's Technology Awards, a prestigious award that recognizes the success of public sector information technology (IT) projects that improve government service delivery and efficiency.
"We worked closely with the VDOT business and IT teams over the past 2 years, and are proud to have successfully completed and launched this solution on time and on budget," said Anthony Wenzel, a SingleStone principal who leads the VDOT relationship. "The multi-channel communication and geospatial technology capabilities are new to VDOT, and we are excited that this solution is already delivering improved customer experiences for VDOT's customers, the citizens of Virginia."
About SingleStone
Founded in 1997, SingleStone is a Richmond, Va.-based consulting firm that specializes in customer experience solutions, spanning technology, strategy, business processes and culture. We help our clients improve their interactions and communications with customers by combining these disciplines to create, implement and support end-to-end customer experiences that benefit both business and humanity. SingleStone's solutions drive improved customer attraction and retention, top and bottom-line business growth, and happy and satisfied customers. For more information, visit www.singlestoneconsulting.com
Media Contact:
Emily Lacy
Email Contact
804-648-0600, ext. 3085
AUSTIN, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- Strayer University has released results of a three-year partnership focused on identifying the factors that influence student success within online programs. Developed in collaboration with student-success analytics innovator Civitas Learning, the findings often buck conventional wisdom, suggesting that data captured through a student's digital footprints can provide better predictors of success than the typical demographic data points.
Over the last several years, Strayer University has partnered with Civitas Learning to federate data from disparate sources across the institution. These diverse data sources were pulled together in Civitas Learning's Student Insights Platform, where they are optimized to fuel institution-specific predictive models that provide insights to inform and guide the development and deployment of student success initiatives. At Strayer University, the focus was on identifying the most promising initiatives to increase student and faculty engagement, improving behavioral mindsets, and closing the gap between on-ground and online course success rates.
"The early phases of working with Civitas Learning's scientists were an exciting time of exploration and discovery, especially when we identified that success is better predicted by student engagement and effort -- rather than the old standards of income, demographics, part-time status, or other static factors that are widely discussed," said Joe Schaefer, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at Strayer Education, Inc., parent company to Strayer University.
With approximately 80% of their students choosing to take some or all classes online, Strayer generates unique snapshots of the progress students make each day, measures the time spent in online learning activity compared to their classmates, captures the number and type of posts within a student forum, and the times of day that a student logs into their study portal. When combined, these and hundreds of other data points help bring into focus a more complete picture of a student's work style, communication preferences, and opportunities for support and motivation.
To be able to take measurable action on their insights, Strayer was a founding user of a faculty-facing application also developed by Civitas Learning, called Inspire for Faculty. In a pilot with its highest-risk students, Strayer University used Inspire for Faculty to personalize outreach through highly-targeted and specifically timed messages designed to catch students before they went off course. Compared to a control group identified using propensity score matching, the most at-risk students experienced a 5% increase in attendance, 8% decrease in course drop rate, 12% increase in course success and a 17% decrease in the overall number of students considered at-risk.
"Historically, online faculty have had very limited insight into whether their outreach to students led to incremental or substantial benefits -- or none at all. With sophisticated analytics and faculty dashboards, we can support much higher levels of faculty interaction to engage students and replicate an experience that is more like an on-ground course," added Schaefer. "This analytics layer allows us to deliver encouraging messages at the moments when students need support, measure what's working and change course as needed."
A trailblazer in the application of online education for working adult students, Strayer has been a leader in the use of learning analytics to enhance student experience and outcomes. The university first began its analytics partnership with Civitas Learning in 2013 as a member of the original pioneer cohort of six colleges and universities that piloted the Student Insights Platform as beta users and collaborators.
"From day one of our work together, the team at Strayer University has been completely focused on being a model of quality, access and outcomes focus in online education," said Dr. Mark David Milliron, Co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer at Civitas Learning. "Their commitment to student-success science has enabled them to deliver interventions and inspirations to students at the right time in the right way, helping reduce the historical divide between face-to-face and online education. We're proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them as they work to help diverse students grow and learn -- supported by data and innovation."
Read more about Strayer University's work in analytics here: bit.ly/1R4wdwI.
About Strayer University:
Founded in 1892, Strayer University is a proprietary institution of higher learning that offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business administration, accounting, information technology, education, health services administration, nursing, public administration, and criminal justice, to working adult students. The University includes Strayer@Work, which serves corporate clients by delivering the next generation of performance improvement and workforce development. Strayer University also offers an executive MBA online and corporate training program through its Jack Welch Management Institute. Strayer University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, 3624 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104. (267-284-5000). The Middle States Commission on Higher Education is an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. For more information on Strayer University visit www.strayer.edu.
About Civitas Learning: Civitas Learning partners with colleges and universities to provide a scalable analytics infrastructure to transform disconnected data into actionable insights that help every student succeed. Our Student Insights Platform provides administrators, faculty and advisors with a 360-degree view of student behavior and engagement, and the ability to identify and deploy interventions through intuitive apps. Our network includes more than 285 institutions and systems serving more than 5.9 million students. To learn more, visit: www.civitaslearning.com.
Civitas Media Contact:
Ted Eismeier
Email Contact
Strayer University Media Contact:
Cristina Henley
Email Contact
PALO ALTO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- In the news release, "Adaptive Insights' Cloud CPM Platform Recognized by 451 Research," issued earlier today by Adaptive Insights, we are advised by the company that the subheadline should read "Adaptive Suite 2016.2" rather than "Adaptive Suite 2015.2" as originally issued. Complete corrected text follows.
Adaptive Insights' Cloud CPM Platform Recognized by 451 Research
Adaptive Suite 2016.2 Lauded for Innovation, Enterprise Capability in Latest Report
PALO ALTO, CA -- May 18, 2016 -- Adaptive Insights, the worldwide leader in cloud corporate performance management (CPM), is recognized by 451 Research for its data visualization advances, data integration capabilities, and its continued expansion in the enterprise in its report titled, "Adaptive Insights makes FP&A process more visual and DIY, heads deeper into enterprise CPM." The report provides an overview of Adaptive Suite 2016.2, Adaptive Insights' recent release that achieves significant industry firsts in the areas of corporate planning and integrated analytics, as well as the company's continued growth in the cloud CPM market.
"We have seen the technology and product momentum for Adaptive Insights continue, as the company innovates its cloud CPM platform with features that directly target productivity and visibility for finance teams," said Krishna Roy, senior analyst, data platforms and analytics, 451 Research. "Adaptive Insights is established as one of the largest vendors in the cloud CPM market, demonstrating the traction and success that many enterprise companies require for technology purchases."
Providing an overview of Adaptive Insights' market momentum, the report noted that the company is gaining traction with enterprise customers, a reflection of "the ongoing maturity in the firm's business and product portfolio."
Product Innovations Provide Greater Visibility of Data, Drive Insights
Adaptive Suite 2016.2 empowers finance teams and other business users to access data often siloed across the organization. By bringing analytics into financial planning, users can deeply analyze data during the planning process and make informed decisions without ever having to leave the planning environment.
The 451 Research report also notes Adaptive Suite 2016.2 achieves a number of firsts for the cloud CPM industry, including:
Self-service data integration for finance
New patent-pending data visualization in the planning process for anytime trend analysis
Ability to conduct in-depth visual analytics during planning with a single click
Deeper Integration with OEM Partner NetSuite
The report also detailed a tighter integration between Adaptive Insights and NetSuite, which resells Adaptive Insights Adaptive Planning as the only Financial Planning Module in its NetSuite ERP platform. With more than 700 joint global customers, a new preconfigured NetSuite adapter is now available that further extends the integration so users can bring more types of NetSuite data -- such as project, employee and vendor data -- into the Adaptive Suite to drive planning and analytics.
For more information about the NetSuite and Adaptive Insights OEM relationship, visit today's blog.
Adaptive Live Showcases Strong User Community, Finance Transformation
Adaptive Insights recently showcased Adaptive Suite 2016.2 at its user conference, Adaptive Live, one of the largest gatherings of finance, planning, and analysis (FP&A) professionals. With 1,400 attendees, Adaptive Live provided an opportunity for attendees to share best practices, gain insights, and network.
The company also highlighted finance transformation stories at the conference with its Torchie Awards, which recognize customers who have achieved excellence in strategic FP&A categories such as operational planning, forecasting, and performance management. The winning customers include California Olive Ranch, Cumulus Media, HireVue, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and ZAGG.
For more information about the Adaptive Suite 2016.2, please visit the following links:
Adaptive Suite 2016.2 Learn Page
Schedule a Product Demonstration
Download the full 451 Research Report: Adaptive Insights makes FP&A process more visual and DIY, heads deeper into enterprise CPM
About Adaptive Insights
Adaptive Insights is the leader in cloud corporate performance management (CPM). Via its software as a service (SaaS) platform, the company offers capabilities for budgeting, forecasting, reporting, consolidation, dashboards, and analytics that empower finance, sales, and other business leaders with insight to drive true competitive advantage. The Adaptive Suite is sold direct or is available through Adaptive Insights' robust cloud CPM channel ecosystem of 200+ partners, including Accenture, Armanino, BDO, Cohn Reznick, Intacct, KPMG, McGladrey, Plex Systems, and Workday. NetSuite also offers Adaptive Planning as its NetSuite Financial Planning Module.
More than 3,000 companies in 85 countries use Adaptive Insights. These range from midsized companies and nonprofits to large corporations, including AAA, Boston Scientific, CORT, Epcor, Konica Minolta, NetSuite, Philips, P.F. Chang's, and Siemens. Adaptive Insights is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif. For more information, visit www.AdaptiveInsights.com, the Adaptive Insights Blog, and follow Adaptive Insights on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
Diane Orr
Adaptive Insights
650-422-7334
dorr@adaptiveinsights.com
Bill Rundle
Highwire PR
415-963-4174 ext.31
adaptiveinsights@highwirepr.com
NORTH READING, MA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- TraceLink Inc., the world's largest track and trace network for connecting the life sciences supply chain and eliminating counterfeit prescription drugs from the global marketplace, today announced it has been named a leader among track and trace solution providers in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Pharmaceutical Track and Trace Software 2016 Vendor Assessment (doc US40511116, March 2016) covering the pharmaceutical track and trace software market.
"One of TraceLink's core market leadership differentiators is that we are the most proven track and trace solution, with more live customers than all of our competitors and the highest performance benchmarks in the industry," said Shabbir Dahod, president and CEO of TraceLink. "Feedback from our customers in this report validates our strong leadership position in the market against other industry vendors such as SAP."
TraceLink has over 220,000 pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors and dispensers on its Life Sciences Cloud platform. A single connection to the Life Sciences Cloud allows companies of any size to connect with trading partners that are already configured on the network and instantly begin sharing documents and data for regulatory compliance. The TraceLink network currently protects over 1.4 billion drug products moving through the global supply chain.
To learn more about meeting global pharmaceutical compliance deadlines and how to build a flexible serialization, track and trace, and reporting platform for the US, the EU, China, Brazil, South Korea, India, Turkey, Argentina and other countries, please visit www.tracelink.com.
About TraceLink
TraceLink is the world's largest track and trace network for connecting the Life Sciences supply chain and eliminating counterfeit prescription drugs from the global marketplace. Leading businesses, including 16 of the top-20 global pharmaceutical companies, trust the TraceLink Life Sciences Cloud to deliver complete global connectivity, visibility and traceability of pharmaceuticals from ingredient to patient. A single point and click connection to the Life Sciences Cloud creates a supply chain control tower that delivers the information, insight and collaboration needed to improve performance and reduce risk across global supply, manufacturing and distribution operations. A winner of numerous industry awards including Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 (ranked number 293 in 2015), the Amazon AWS Global Start-Up Challenge Grand Prize, and the Edison Award for Innovation in Health Management, the Life Sciences Cloud is used by businesses across the globe to meet strategic goals in ensuring global compliance, fighting drug counterfeiting, improving on-time and in-full delivery, protecting product quality and reducing operational cost. For more information on TraceLink and our solutions, visit www.tracelink.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
TraceLink is funded by FirstMark Capital, Volition Capital and F-Prime Capital.
About IDC MarketScape:
IDC MarketScape vendor analysis model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of ICT (information and communications technology) suppliers in a given market. The research methodology utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each vendor's position within a given market. IDC MarketScape provides a clear framework in which the product and service offerings, capabilities and strategies, and current and future market success factors of IT and telecommunications vendors can be meaningfully compared. The framework also provides technology buyers with a 360 degree assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and prospective vendors.
Contacts
Laura MacSweeney (for TraceLink)
Red Javelin Communications
(781) 395-6420
Email Contact
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The US Senate has passed a bill that allows relatives of the victims of 9/11 attacks to file lawsuits seeking damages from the Saudi government or other foreign entities who were shown to be directly involved in the terrorist attacks that shook the United States.
The passage of the bill in the Upper House of the US Congress opens up a potential showdown with the White House, which has indicated that President Barack Obama would veto the legislation.
Obama said the Schumer-Cornyn legislation could put the United States and its taxpayers, service members and diplomats at significant risk if other countries were to adopt a similar law. He cited an example that someone in some faraway country would file a lawsuit against the United States if they were unhappy with the way any of those humanitarian relief efforts being carried out by the US Government in countries around the world at any given time.
Saudi Arabia had threatened to sell U.S. securities and other U.S. assets worth $750 billion if the Congress passes the legislation.
The White House has warned that if Saudi Arabia decides to sell off U.S. assets in protest against the controversial legislation, it would destabilize the global financial markets.
This legislation would change longstanding international law regarding sovereign immunity, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday after the Senate passed by unanimous voice vote the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA).
Senator Charles Schumer (D, New York), a co-sponsor of the bill, says it only applies to attacks on US soil, and does not risk lawsuits against the United States.
The JASTA next has to pass through the US House of Representatives, where a vote has not yet been scheduled.
JASTA would remove the sovereign immunity, preventing lawsuits against governments, for countries found to be involved in terrorist attacks on US soil. It would allow survivors of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and relatives of those killed in the attacks, to seek damages from other countries.
But it requires approval by the House and the President's signature to become law.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
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GATINEAU, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- Commissioner of Official Languages Graham Fraser will release his 2015-2016 annual report on Thursday, May 19, 2016, at 10:15 a.m. at the National Press Theatre, 150 Wellington Street, in Ottawa. A technical briefing on the report will be held at the same location at 9:15 a.m.
Media representatives are invited to attend both events.
This annual report launch includes the release of a report on the Commissioner's interventions in the courts over the past 10 years, as well as detailed report card results for 33 federal institutions regarding their compliance with the Official Languages Act.
Date: Thursday, May 19, 2016 Time: 9:15 a.m. EDT - Media room opens. Embargoed materials will be available for journalists participating in the technical briefing. 10:15 a.m. EDT - Statement by Mr. Fraser and embargo lifted. What: Release of the Commissioner of Official Languages' 2015-2016 annual report Who: Graham Fraser, Commissioner of Official Languages Where: National Press Theatre, 150 Wellington Street, Ottawa
You can view the webcast of the press conference on May 19 at 10:15 a.m. EDT at the following URLs:
- English
- French
- Floor
Follow @OCOLCanada and officiallanguages
Contacts:
Nelson Kalil
Manager, Strategic Communications and Media Relations
Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
819-420-4714 / Cellular: 613-324-0999
nelson.kalil@clo-ocol.gc.ca
www.officiallanguages.gc.ca
FREEPORT, NEW YORK -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- DB Schenker today announced the appointment of Robert Walpole to the position of CEO, Schenker Inc., effective immediately. Robert has been with DB Schenker Logistics since January 2007, most recently in the role of Senior Vice-President, Global Logistics Development, and prior to that as leader of the Contract Logistics business in Asia-Pacific. As CEO of USA Robert will oversee both the Contract Logistics and Transportation businesses.
"Robert has a proven track record in leading teams to achieve profitable growth, and is a strong leader with the ability to create and execute a business vision," says Philippe Gilbert, Regional CEO, DB Schenker Americas. "His expertise, deep relationships, and business understanding in the global supply chain operations of Fortune 100 companies around the world will be invaluable in this new role."
"As in many sectors, the USA is one of the most mature markets in our industry, and DB Schenker has big ambition to grow in both scale and scope of services we offer," says Robert. "I'm greatly looking forward to the opportunity to lead the company towards achieving those objectives."
About DB Schenker
DB Schenker in the USA is one of the largest Integrated Logistics Service Providers in the United States. With over 7,000 employees in 39 branches and logistics locations providing over 21 million sq. ft. of distribution operations to its clients, the company spans a coast-to-coast network that extends to all major harbors, airports and border crossings. DB Schenker offers land transport, air and ocean freight, as well as comprehensive logistics solutions and global supply chain management from a single source. For more information, go to www.dbschenkerusa.com.
Note to Editors:
There is a photo associated with this press release. The photo can be found at http://www.dbschenkerusa.com/log-us-en/news_media/media_gallery.html
Contacts:
Fabiana Varela
Manager, Marketing and Communications
Schenker of Canada Limited
+1 (0) 905 671-6290
+1 (0) 905 678-9937 (FAX)
fabiana.varela@dbschenker.com
www.dbschenker.com/ca
A.M. Best has affirmed the financial strength rating of B++ (Good) and the issuer credit rating of "bbb+" of Abu Dhabi National Insurance Company P.S.C. (ADNIC) (United Arab Emirates). The outlook for each rating remains stable. Concurrently, A.M. Best has withdrawn the ratings following the company's request to no longer participate in A.M. Best's interactive rating process.
The ratings of ADNIC reflect its strong business profile in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), solid level of risk-adjusted capitalisation and improving enterprise risk management. These rating factors are partially offset by the deterioration in risk-adjusted capitalisation and weak operating performance experienced in the past two years.
Following weak performance experienced in recent years, ADNIC has taken remedial steps to strengthen its governance structure, underwriting discipline and claims and reserving processes. The measures taken by management have enabled the company to report a return to profit during the first three months of 2016, with ADNIC generating an underwriting and operating profit of AED 16.5 million (USD 4.5 million) and AED 39.0 million (USD 10.6 million), respectively. Going forward, ADNIC expects to rebuild its capital adequacy with improved and full retention of medium-term earnings, along with the issuance of an AED 390.0 million three-year mandatory convertible bond.
This press release relates to rating(s) that have been published on A.M. Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see A.M. Best's Recent Rating Activity web page.
A.M. Best is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.
Copyright 2016 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160518005957/en/
Contacts:
A.M. Best
Myles Gould, +44-20-7397-0267
Senior Financial Analyst
myles.gould@ambest.com
or
Mahesh Mistry, +44-20-7397-0325
Director, Analytics
mahesh.mistry@ambest.com
or
Christopher Sharkey, +1-908-439-2200, ext. 5159
Manager, Public Relations
christopher.sharkey@ambest.com
or
Jim Peavy, +1-908-439-2200, ext. 5644
Assistant Vice President, Public Relations
james.peavy@ambest.com
HOUSTON, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- TrendMiner, which delivers big data search and advanced predictive analytics tools to the process industry, today announced that it has officially established its U.S. headquarters in Houston, TX. The announcement comes as the company, an OSIsoft ISV partner, is actively moving forward with plans to broaden its U.S. customer base.
TrendMiner has already on-boarded its first U.S. customers and is already expanding the local team with open senior sales executive positions. Prior to year-end, the company is also expecting to add senior U.S. executives to their V.P. team and Board. TrendMiner has forecasted its global annual recurring revenue to quadruple this year with more than 30 percent of this expected growth to be generated by U.S.-based customers.
"The OSIsoft's PI System customers have vast repositories of valuable data ideal for advanced analytics investigations. The added value TrendMiner can bring was acknowledged by the great responses from customers at the Global OSIsoft User Conference last April," said Niels Verheijen, TrendMiner's Vice President of Global Sales and manager of the U.S. office.
Demonstrating increased market recognition for TrendMiner is also the recent announcement that company CEO Bert Baeck has received the 2016 Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award which is sponsored by the Junior Chamber International (JCI). The JCI is a global non-profit organization with more than 200,000 members. Baeck was honored for his eloquence, energy and entrepreneurship.
"We see Bert as a true visionary," Verheijen continued. "His leadership has inspired TrendMiner to become a recognized technology disrupter through new ways of supporting the process industry in leveraging operational intelligence. We look forward to bringing that vision to more and more customers in the U.S. with our new office in Houston."
TrendMiner is a high performance discovery analytics engine for process measurement data. Through an intuitive web-based trend client, process engineers and operators can easily search for trends using TrendMiner's patent pending pattern recognition and machine learning big data technologies, without the need for a data scientist.
About TrendMiner
TrendMiner, with U.S. headquarters in Houston, TX, delivers Discovery, Diagnostic and Predictive analytics and real time monitoring tools for the process industry. Its flagship software is based on a high performance analytics engine for process data. Through an intuitive web-based trend client, process engineers and operators can easily search for trends using TrendMiner's patent pending pattern recognition and machine learning big data technologies, without the support of a data scientist. The TrendMiner plug and play solution adds value immediately after deployment eliminating expensive investments in big data infrastructure or long implementation projects. TrendMiner, founded in 2008, is a global software company, with global headquarters in Belgium and offices in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and the U.S. Visit us at: www.trendminer.com
Media Contact
Dawn Fontaine
Ripple Effect Communications
Email Contact
508-353-3777
BRUSSELS, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
This morning WeMove.EU supporters and partners stood in front of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed with a giant 3 m high Round Up bottle and signs calling for a ban on the toxic chemical, glyphosate.
At the event Oliver Moldenhauer, WeMove.EU director explained: "The EU standing committee has no doubt about how Europeans feel towards the toxic chemical, glyphosate. They know Europeans do not want this poison anywhere near their food, their parks or their bodies."
Mr Moldenhauer added: "We are here right in front of where the standing committee will be meeting representing more than 230,000 European citizens calling for an outright ban on the toxic chemical. If the standing committee approves the licence, it would mean the continued spread of the probably carcinogenic chemical into our everyday environment."
Jorg Rohwedder, Senior Campaigner for Germany leading on this campaign weighed in: "Agro-companies such as Monsanto and Bayer have used underhand methods to ensure glyphosate's permissions, as it is used in some of their most profitable products. The protest demonstrates the widespread support in European countries for an all-out ban on the chemical, and the anger towards companies manipulating 'scientific' studies - as well as EU officials."
Notes:
WeMove.EU is a citizens' movement, campaigning for a better Europe; for a European Union committed to social and economic justice, environmental sustainability and citizen-led democracy. We are people from all walks of life, who call Europe our home - whether we were born in Europe or elsewhere. As of May 2016 we have 300,000 members across Europe. Our campaigns are run in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian and (soon to be) Polish.
- Cross reference: Picture is available via epa european pressphoto agency (http://www.epa.eu) -
For more information about our campaign against Glyphosate:
Jorg Rohwedder, Senior Campaigner, joerg@wemove.eu, +49-451-30086913 or +49-178-4078433
SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- AliveCor, the leader in FDA-cleared mobile electrocardiogram (ECG) technology for mobile devices, today announced that its flagship product, Kardia Mobile, was the subject of 9 clinical research presentations at Heart Rhythm Society's 37th Annual Scientific Sessions, the preeminent conference for cardiac electrophysiologists. The research spans a range of clinical applications and shows that Kardia Mobile by AliveCor delivers the same or better readings than traditional ECG options, reduces costs for physicians and patients, and is embraced by caregivers and patients because it is convenient, inexpensive, and easy to use.
AliveCor is using advanced mobile and cloud technology to change the dynamic in cardiac care, enabling patients and doctors worldwide to proactively manage heart health, anywhere anytime. Kardia Mobile enables patients and their care teams to more easily and cost-effectively diagnose and manage cardiac arrhythmias such as Atrial Fibrillation (AF).
"AliveCor's vision is to improve the standard of cardiac care while reducing the costs associated with that care and this research shows we are delivering on those goals -- helping doctors and patients proactively manage heart health," said Dr. David Albert, Founder and Chief Medical Officer at AliveCor. "AliveCor is empowering patients to be more participatory in their care while meeting the same rigor and scientific validity as in-hospital tests and other legacy technology. Kardia Mobile is the most clinically-validated, FDA-cleared mobile ECG solution, and is poised to lead this next evolution in health care, significantly changing how medicine is practiced and how patients are treated."
The research demonstrates that Kardia Mobile gives patients more control over their care and makes it easier for health practitioners to detect and treat heart conditions. Instead of making a trip to the hospital or doctor's office for a time-intensive ECG, in 30 seconds Kardia Mobile provides an accurate recording and instant analysis. Even more importantly, Kardia Mobile enables patients to be monitored for symptomatic arrhythmias outside of a hospital or clinic, without having to wear a conventional ambulatory ECG recorder. Both the studies presented at the 2016 HRS meeting and other previously published papers have shown that Kardia is as effective at diagnosing the cause of symptomatic arrhythmias or palpitations. In addition, using Kardia is both less expensive and significantly better accepted by patients than either conventional looping event recorders or Holter monitors.
Kardia Mobile was found to be as good as, and in some situations, superior to traditional testing and legacy monitoring solutions for diagnosing the cause of palpitations. Key presentations include:
Kardia Mobile Superior to Conventional Monitoring: Researchers at the Leeds General Infirmary found that Kardia Mobile is superior to conventional Holter monitoring in patients with palpitations, providing a higher diagnostic yield, more detected arrhythmias, with a similar workload.
Kardia Mobile Leads to Improved Patient Compliance: Researchers at the University of Buffalo found that Kardia Mobile provides a diagnostic yield comparable to a 30-day ambulatory looping event monitor and that the smartphone-based ECG monitor can be used as a first approach for the diagnosis of palpitations.
Kardia Mobile provided more information resulting in changes in arrhythmia patient management than traditional external event recorders in a study from researchers at the University of Miami.
AliveCor's AF algorithm was reported to be superior by researchers at Arizona State University to the patient's own ability to detect AF via symptoms.
Kardia Mobile is currently used by physicians at top cardiovascular health systems in the US. For more information: https://www.alivecor.com/.
About AliveCor, Inc.
AliveCor, Inc. is pioneering the creation of FDA-cleared 'machine learning' techniques to enable proactive heart care and is recognized around the world for transforming cardiac care. The FDA-cleared Kardia Mobile is the most clinically validated mobile ECG solution on the market and is recommended by leading cardiologists and used by people worldwide for accurate ECG recordings. This simple to use mobile device and app-based service provides instant analysis for detecting atrial fibrillation (AF) and normal sinus rhythm in an ECG. AliveCor was recognized as a 2015 Tech Pioneer by the World Economic Forum and one of the 50 Smartest Companies in 2015 by the MIT Technology Review (#14). AliveCor is a privately-held company headquartered in San Francisco, Calif. For more information, please visit alivecor.com.
AliveCor is a trademark of AliveCor, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
For more information on where to buy Kardia Mobile please visit store.alivecor.com.
For more information on partnership inquiries, please contact the following:
US: bizdev@alivecor.com
International: bizdevintl@alivecor.com
Contact:
Morgan Mathis
Highwire Public Relations
morgan@highwirepr.com
Regulatory News:
Groupe SEB (Paris:SK):
Groupe SEB is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement to acquire the EMSA company. The acquisition, submitted to approval of the German and Austrian competition authorities, should be finalized in the coming weeks.
German-based EMSA, founded in 1949, designs, manufactures and sells kitchen tools and accessories. The company's core business is focused on three categories: thermo jugs and carafes; kitchen utensils; and food storage containers. EMSA's product offering relies on innovation and quality, combining functionality and design. Production is carried out at three industrial sites in Germany, China and Vietnam.
A well-known brand in German-speaking countries, EMSA primarily covers the core-range segment and boasts strong positions in Germany in thermoware and food storage containers, where it is the market leader. EMSA is also present in the rest of Europe and the Middle East.
Having grown solidly over the past few years, the company reported sales of 92 million in 2015.
Commenting on the acquisition, Thierry de La Tour d'Artaise, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Groupe SEB, said:
"The acquisition of EMSA constitutes a strong strategic advantage for our continued development in the buoyant market of kitchen utensils and accessories. The combination of EMSA's expertise and Groupe SEB's worldwide presence will enable us to roll out products on an international base and to extend the range, which will boost sales growth. As such, we are delighted to welcome EMSA's teams into Groupe SEB."
Upcoming events
May 19 2016 Annual General Meeting October 25 Nine-month 2016 Sales and Financial data July 25 First-half 2016 sales and results
Find us on www.groupeseb.com
The world leader in small domestic equipment, Groupe SEB operates in nearly 150 countries with a unique portfolio of top brands including Tefal, Rowenta, Moulinex, Krups, Lagostina, All-Clad, and Supor, marketed through multi-format retailing. Selling some 200 million products a year, it deploys a long-term strategy focused on innovation, international development, competitiveness and service to clients. Groupe SEB has nearly 26,000 employees worldwide.
SEB SA
SEB SA N RCS 300 349 636 RCS LYON with a share capital of 50,169,049 Intracommunity VAT: FR 12300349636
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160518005641/en/
Contacts:
Investor/Analyst Relations
Groupe SEB
Financial Communication
and Investor Relations
Isabelle Posth and Emmanuel Fourret
+33 (0) 4 72 18 16 40
comfin@groupeseb.com
Campus SEB 112 chemin du Moulin Carron
69130 Ecully
or
Media Relations
Image Sept
Estelle Guillot-Tantay
Claire Doligez
Caroline Simon
+33 (0) 1 53 70 74 70
egt@image7.fr
cdoligez@image7.fr
caroline.simon@image7.fr
Regulatory News:
OSE Pharma SA (ISIN: FR0012127173; Ticker: OSE) (Paris:OSE), an immuno-oncology company, and Effimune, a biotech company specialized in immune regulation, today announce that Dominique Costantini, Chief Executive Officer of OSE Pharma, will be participating in a round table dedicated to innovative companies in the field of immunotherapy to be held at the 2nd edition of "Bpifrance Inno Generation" (May 25 26, 2016, AccordHotels Arena, Paris).
This event is focused on entrepreneurship and innovation and a key roundtable discussion will be dedicated to innovation in the field of immunotherapy (on May 26, 2016, from 10:45am to 12:00pm). Dominique Costantini, Medical Doctor and Immunologist, will share her know-how and experience as an entrepreneur who has succeeded in building biotechnology companies in the areas of oncology, immuno-oncology and immunotherapy.
Dominique Costantini is co-founder and CEO of OSE Pharma, an immuno-oncology company developing a specific immunotherapy activating T lymphocytes, currently in a registration Phase 3 study.
OSE Pharma and Effimune, a biotech company specialized in immune regulation for applications in transplantation, autoimmunity and cancer immunotherapy, are intending to merge to create OSE Immunotherapeutics, and become a leader in the field of activation and regulation immunotherapy. Subject to and after completion of the merger end of May 2016, Dominique Costantini will become CEO of the new company.
Maryvonne Hiance, co-founder of Effimune, will become Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of OSE Immunotherapeutics. She was previously awarded the 2015 Trophee de l'Entrepreneur Femme en Sante , a prize awarded to a woman entrepreneur in the health area, by France Biotech, a French association of entrepreneurs in life sciences.
This event will be broadcasted on Bpifranceand on the partner digital media of Bpifrance Inno Generation.
Bpifrance Inno Generation
"Bpi Inno Generation" will bring together about 25,000 entrepreneurs from all over France and from all areas of activity. Very small, small, middle and intermediate-sized enterprises, start-ups, large groups, financiers and student entrepreneurs will meet during this event dedicated to business. "Bpi Inno Generation" aims to enable each group to find points of growth, partners for development, to create value and build alliances.
ABOUT THE MERGER BETWEEN OSE PHARMA AND EFFIMUNE
On February 24, 2016, OSE Pharma and Effimune announced a proposed merger to create OSE Immunotherapeutics, a significant immunotherapy player. The terms of the merger will be submitted for approval to the shareholders of the two companies during the next General Meetings: on May 30, 2016 for Effimune and on May 31, 2016 for OSE Pharma.
The objective of the merger is to create a new international enterprise that offers innovative immunotherapies based on the activation or regulation of the immune system. This new generation of products is optimized to better target key receptors of the activation or regulation of immune response and allow a durable therapeutic effect. The new company will benefit from a balanced portfolio that would open up major avenues to growth and have a financial visibility of about two years to advance its projects toward greater attractiveness
OSE PHARMA is a biotechnology company that designs and develops cancer immunotherapy treatments aimed at re-educating the immune system to fight cancer while preserving patients' quality of life. The Company is conducting a Phase 3 registration trial in Europe and the U.S. for its lead product, Tedopi, in the treatment of NSCLC.
OSE Pharma is listed on Euronext Paris (ISIN: FR0012127173; Mnemo: OSE).
For more information, please visit www.osepharma.com
EFFIMUNE is a biotech company specialized in immune regulation for applications in transplantation, autoimmunity and cancer immunotherapy. The originality of Effimune's therapeutic strategy, compared to conventional immunosuppression, is the modification in the balance between effector and regulatory immune cells. The biological drugs Effimune develops are aimed at restoring the natural balance of these cells by targeting the molecular checkpoint.
The expertise of the company lies in its ability to identify new therapeutic targets and develop effective biomolecules for the pharmaceutical industry by guaranteeing the manufacture of pilot and clinical batches and by validating preclinical and clinical proofs of concept.
For more information, please visit: www.effimune.com
Forward-looking statements
This press release contains express or implied information and statements that might be deemed forward-looking information and statements in respect of OSE PHARMA. They do not constitute historical facts. These information and statements include financial projections that are based upon certain assumptions and assessments made by OSE PHARMA's management in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current economic and industry conditions, expected future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate.
Forward-looking statements include statements typically using conditional and containing verbs such as "expect", "anticipate", "believe", "target", "plan", or "estimate", their declensions and conjugations and words of similar import.
Although the OSE PHARMA's management believes that the forward-looking statements and information are reasonable, the OSE PHARMA's shareholders and other investors are cautioned that the completion of such expectations is by nature subject to various risks, known or not, and uncertainties which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of OSE PHARMA. These risks could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in or implied or projected by the forward-looking statements. These risks include those discussed or identified in the public filings made by OSE PHARMA with the AMF. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance.
This press release includes only summary information and should be read with the OSE PHARMA Reference Document filed with the AMF on 12 June 2015 under the number R.15-051, the consolidated financial statements and the management report for the fiscal year 2015, as well as the Merger Document registered with the AMF on 26 April 2016 under number E.16-026, all available on the OSE PHARMA website.
OSE PHARMA undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements except what would be required by applicable laws and regulations.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160518006040/en/
Contacts:
OSE Pharma SA
Dominique Costantini, CEO
dominique.costantini@osepharma.com
Mob +33 6 13 20 77 49
or
Alexis Peyroles, CFO BD
Alexis.peyroles@osepharma.com
Mob +33 6 11 51 19 77
or
Effimune
Maryvonne Hiance, Chairman
Tel: +33 (0) 240 412 834
Mobile: 33 (0) 680 060 183
mhiance@effimune.com
or
Media contacts
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Laurence Bault
laurence.bault@citigate.fr
+33 1 53 32 84 78
or
Alize RP
Florence Portejoie Caroline Carmagnol
osepharma@alizerp.com
+33 6 47 38 90 04
or
Consilium Strategic Communications
Chris Gardner Matthew Neal /
Hendrik Thys
OSEPharma@consilium-comms.com
+44 (0) 20 3709 5700
or
Rx Communications Group, LLC
Melody Carey
mcarey@rxir.com
+ 1 917-322-2571
or
Acorelis
Gilles Petitot
gilles.petitot@acorelis.com
+33 (0) 620 27 65 94
OYSTER BAY, New York, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ABI Research, the leader in transformative technology innovation market intelligence, forecasts the 4K set-top box market will quadruple from less than two million units in 2015 to more than 7 million in 2016, and then grow by 46% annually through 2021. However, the overall set-top box market is on the decline, expected to drop by about nine percent in 2016 to less than $16 billion in revenue, with both Pay TV and free-to-air boxes losing value.
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"Digital transitions are taking longer than initially planned and the market is experiencing significant downward pressure on set-top box pricing," says Sam Rosen, Managing Director and Vice President at ABI Research. "Hardware revenues will fall, but value through software and services remains an opportunity. Providers should be looking to take on logistics and lifecycle challenges, in addition to testing and integration, to help the overall market flourish as well as focusing on 4K and HDR color set-top boxes will in the years ahead."
Set-top box providers are increasing in scale due to recent mergers and acquisitions, including market leader Arris taking over Pace and Technicolor acquiring Cisco's set-top box unit. Additionally, Huawei, at just more than $1 billion in revenues, leaped ahead of a number of vendors that faced a difficult year with drops of 25 to 40% in revenues, including EchoStar and Humax.
Regionally, China, which overtook the U.S. as the largest set-top box market by units in 2010, remains in the lead. India beat out the U.S. just last year as a failed digital cable transition spurred a large amount of satellite set-top box shipments. Given market circumstances, ABI Research predicts India will continue to grow its set-top box shipments and likely surpass China as shipment leader in 2018 or 2019.
"Significant market consolidation already occurred," concludes Rosen. "Operators worldwide are now carefully considering new opportunities to deliver video services, specifically through the use of streaming media adapters and adaptive bitrate, better known as ABR, IP-based protocols. It is important to note that satellite broadcast remains a significant factor in Pay TV distribution while terrestrial platforms, augmented by set-top boxes with some storage and advanced IP services, are becoming important for select telco operators who are backing away from licensing content."
These findings are part of ABI Research's Set-Top Box, CPE, and Video Devices Service (https://www.abiresearch.com/market-research/service/set-top-box-cpe-and-video-devices/), which includes research reports, market data, insights, and competitive assessments.
About ABI Research
For more than 25 years, ABI Research has stood at the forefront of technology market intelligence, partnering with innovative business leaders to implement informed, transformative technology decisions. The company employs a global team of senior analysts to provide comprehensive research and consulting services through deep quantitative forecasts, qualitative analyses and teardown services. An industry pioneer, ABI Research is proactive in its approach, frequently uncovering ground-breaking business cycles ahead of the curve and publishing research 18 to 36 months in advance of other organizations. In all, the company covers more than 60 services, spanning 11 technology sectors. For more information, visit www.abiresearch.com.
SAN MATEO, CA--(Marketwired - May 18, 2016) - Farsight Security, Inc. announced today it has been selected as a finalist for Red Herring's Top 100 North America award, a prestigious list honoring the year's most promising private technology ventures based in North America.
Farsight Security provides the world's largest real-time actionable threat intelligence information on how the Internet is changing and how it's being used, seeing more than 200,000 DNS-related observations per second. Security analysts around the globe use this information every day to provide critical context to existing threat data to increase detection and mitigation of today's Internet security threats.
"Farsight Security is honored to be named a finalist for the 2016 Red Herring Top 100 North America Award. Securing the Internet is one of the most important challenges of our time. This recognition validates our team's significant contributions towards solving this complex problem. Our rapid growth over the last three years further demonstrates that Farsight's real-time services, collected from around the world, are critical to detecting and mitigating today's most sophisticated cyberattacks," said Dr. Paul Vixie, CEO of Farsight Security, Inc.
Red Herring has been selecting the most exciting and promising start-ups and "scale ups" since 1995. Finalists are still evaluated individually from a large pool of hundreds of candidates based across North America. Twenty major criteria underlie the scoring and process. They include, among others: the candidate company's addressable market size, its IP and patents, its financing, the proof of concept, trailing revenues and management's expertise. Each company goes through an individual interview after filling out a thorough submission, complemented by due diligence from the Red Herring panel. The list of finalists includes some of the best performing and prominent companies of that year.
2016 will be remembered as a special vintage. "The finalists' list confirms the excellent choices made by entrepreneurs and VCs and the start-ups' solid roots in corporate America, embracing their innovations. By all metrics, it emphasizes the United States' entrepreneurial excellence," said Alex Vieux, publisher and CEO of Red Herring.
Finalist selections for the 2016 edition of the Red Herring 100 North America award are based upon technological innovation, management strength, market size, investor record, customer acquisition and financial health. During the several months leading up to the announcement, hundreds of companies in the fields of security, Web 2.0, software, hardware, life sciences, cloud, mobile and others completed their submissions to qualify for the award.
Finalists are asked to present their winning strategies at the Red Herring North America Forum in Newport Beach, CA., June 6 to 8, 2016. The Top 100 winners will be announced during a special awards ceremony the evening of June 8.
About Farsight Security, Inc.
Farsight Security provides the world's largest real-time actionable threat intelligence information on how the Internet is changing, seeing more than 200,000 DNS-related observations per second. Leveraging proprietary technology that was purpose-built to manage the volume of data and real-time analyses, Farsight provides security teams with the Internet's view of an organization's web presence and how it is changing, whether those changes were made purposely, inadvertently, or maliciously. The world's most security conscious organizations use Farsight for their real-time threat intelligence information. For more information, please contact us through our website at https://www.farsightsecurity.com/ or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.
Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/5/18/11G098979/Images/RHNA-Finalist-Logo-53ed5499172a8d58ae3a2408fae10ea7.jpg
Karen Burke
650-814-3764
kburke@fsi.io
SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- Munchery, the leader in high-quality meal delivery, today announced a massive expansion to serve the entire West Coast and Washington, D.C. The move increases the company's serviceable market by more than 700% and takes Munchery one step closer to its goal to make great food accessible to more people, everywhere.
"Same-day delivery has proven to be a fruitful offering in metro areas and we're happy to announce that we'll be expanding that format to more areas soon. At the same time, there's demand for high-quality, convenient meals beyond city centers," said Tri Tran, Munchery co-founder and CEO. "Our vertically integrated model enables us to scale diverse formats and offerings to meet the needs of a broader range of lifestyles and demographics. We're aiming to become a default meal option for millions of new customers nationwide."
Introducing The Plaid Box
Starting today, consumers across California and regions of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington will have access to Munchery's Plaid Box: a weekly subscription meal kit with original recipes and chef-curated ingredients.
Each Plaid Box contains up to three ready-to-cook meals for two people. Meals are designed to be prepared in 15 minutes, allowing diners to enjoy their meal without the time consuming prep work. Pricing begins at $11.66 per serving with free shipping and flexible scheduling. The Plaid Box can be ordered today on Munchery.com, with first shipments delivered May 31.
Expanding Same-Day Delivery
In addition to the release of The Plaid Box, over the next several weeks Munchery will be expanding its same-day delivery service to Sacramento, San Diego, Portland and Washington, D.C. With the addition of these four new markets and the West Coast, Munchery's total serviceable population will grow from 8 million in January 2016 to 65 million across eleven states and districts.
This expansion follows the recent launch of Munchery's membership model in same-day delivery areas, which offers new customers discounts of up to 20% on entrees for an $8.95 monthly or $85 annual fee, with a free 30-day trial. Membership brings the cost of a dinner for two to below $20 -- almost 56% less than restaurant takeout and other delivery options -- opening access to a wider range of household income levels.
For more information on Munchery's offerings, visit Munchery.com. For additional insight on recent expansion and membership announcements, see here.
About Munchery
Munchery is a new kind of food company on a mission to make great food accessible to everyone, everywhere. The team of critically acclaimed chefs prepares a range of ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook meals for all preferences and lifestyles, delivered directly to diners' doors. Munchery currently provides same-day delivery to San Francisco, Seattle, New York City and Los Angeles metropolitan areas and schedule-ahead delivery to Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington, with plans to expand availability to additional cities throughout 2016. For every order placed, Munchery provides a donation of one meal to a local food bank. For more information, visit Munchery's website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
OAKLAND, CA--(Marketwired - May 18, 2016) - GreatSchools, a national nonprofit helping parents access the information they need to support their child's learning, released today a list of the Top Bay Area High Schools for Latino Students. The list features exceptional high schools in the San Francisco Bay Area that are paving the path for educational success for the Latino student community.
The fourteen schools listed have distinguished themselves for the academic success of their Latino students. Latino students make up at least one-third of the student population at these schools, graduate at rates that exceed the state average, and have a high rate of completion for the necessary requirements to enter the University of California or California State University system schools. Latino students at these schools also score higher than 70% of all California students on achievement tests and are often the first in their family to attend college.
"Latino students are the fastest growing demographic group in California schools, but too often they are not receiving the quality instruction and support they need to get on track for college," said Bill Jackson, GreatSchools CEO. "The administrators, teachers and staff at these 14 schools are an inspiration. They are leading the way in supporting Latino students to prepare for the college journey ahead and access equal opportunity in America."
Through its partnership with Innovate Public Schools, this year GreatSchools added a Latino rating for all California schools that helps parents see at a glance how a school is doing at preparing Latino students for college.
"Our mission is to make sure that all students, including low-income students and students of color, receive a world-class public education," said Matt Hammer, CEO of Innovate Public Schools. "Understanding which schools are doing an excellent job serving the Latino community helps parents choose the best school for their child, and also inspires parents to take action to push high schools not achieving similar results to improve."
Earlier this month, GreatSchools released the Top Bay Area Schools for Low-Income Families. In the coming weeks and months, GreatSchools will continue to highlight top schools that are helping to close the achievement gap and where students and families can find equal opportunity to receive a great education.
The 14 Top Bay Area High Schools for Latino student include:
Middle College High School Leadership Public Schools-Hayward Impact Academy of Arts and Technology KIPP San Jose Collegiate Dr. T.J. Owens Gilroy Early College Academy Oakland Charter High School Summit Preparatory Charter High School University Preparatory Academy Charter Gateway High School KIPP King Collegiate High School Oakland Unity High School Dozier-Libbey Medical High School Pioneer High School Ann Sobrato High School
About GreatSchools:
Founded in 1998, GreatSchools is a national education nonprofit helping parents find high-quality schools, support great learning, and guide their kids to great futures. GreatSchools reaches over half of American families with school-age children each year -- more than 55 million people. GreatSchools offers school quality information gathered from federal, state, and local governments, and from parents, students, and teachers. Through its GreatKids program, parents can find thousands of articles, videos, learning tools and worksheets to help support their child's learning. Headquartered in Oakland, California, GreatSchools partners with cities and states across the country to promote access to school quality data to all American families.
Contact:
Carrie Goux
cgoux@greatschools.org
774-563-0295
Technavio has announced the top five leading vendors in their recentglobal location-based search (LBS) and advertising market 2016-2020report. This research report also lists 34 other prominent vendors that are expected to impact the market during the forecast period.
Competitive vendor landscape
The global location-based search and advertising market is highly fragmented and competitive. It includes stakeholders such as location providers, location technology developers, digital map providers, platform providers, application developers, navigation providers, mobile operators, proximity marketing providers, and mobile search providers. The market has an immense potential for growth that is luring new start-ups offering innovative solutions to enter the market.
The market is growing rapidly. In developed countries in the EU and the US, increased penetration of smartphones has left the market overcrowded with many small and big players. There is intense competition among players as they provide geo-couponing to encourage customers to come to their outlets; to increase customer footfall, they offer real-time discounts based on offerings of competitors. "In emerging countries such as India and China, several deal providers, restaurant database vendors, and fast food companies use location-based advertising to increase customer traffic in outlets," says Rakesh Kumar Panda, one of the lead M2M and connected devices analyst from Technavio.
Request for sample report: http://goo.gl/vg7krI
Key vendors:
Admoove (HiMedia)
Admoove was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in Paris, France. The company offers location-based mobile advertising platform and tools to retailers across France. It operates as a subsidiary of HiMedia, a group that has been specializing in digital advertising and mobile payment since it was acquired in January 2015.
The company offers a broad range of solutions, which include GeoPremium, GeoSms, and GeoAudience. In January 2015, HiMedia acquired the company to capitalize on its geo-targeting capabilities.
Foursquare
Foursquare was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in New York, US. The company engages in the development of mobile applications that allow users to check-in and share real-time location with friends.
The company employs over 170 people. The company's investors include Union Square Ventures, Spark Capital, DFJ Growth, O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, SMALLCAP World Fund, Silver Lake Waterman, and Microsoft.
Groupon
Groupon was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Illinois, US. The company operates online local commerce marketplaces that connect merchants to consumers by offering goods and services at discounts. It acts as a third-party marketing agent. The company distributes its deals to customers through three channels: mobile platforms, websites, and emails.
Near
Near was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Singapore. It is a location intelligence platform that provides real-time information on places, people, and products. It has a presence in countries including Australia, South East Asia, India, Japan, and Europe. The company's investors include Sequoia Capital, JPM Private Equity Group, Global Brain, and JPM Private Equity Group.
xAd
xAd was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in New York, US. The company provides mobile marketing solutions by using the context of location. The company operates through one product segment which comprises of location-based products. This product offers in-store targeting, proximity targeting, audience targeting, search and measurement. These products help engage consumers as they are near or around businesses or points of interest in order to impact immediate and future behavior.
Browse Related Reports:
Indoor LBS Market in Western Europe 2015-2019
Global Indoor LBS Market 2015-2019
LBS Market in India 2015-2019
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/20160518005031/en/
Contacts:
Technavio Research
Jesse Maida
Media Marketing Executive
US: +1 630 333 9501
UK: +44 208 123 1770
www.technavio.com
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - In the months leading up to the launch of her presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton made millions of dollars in book royalties and speaking fees, the Democratic frontrunner revealed Tuesday night.
A financial disclosure form filed with the Federal Election Commission showed that Clinton earned more than $5 million in royalties from her book 'Hard Choices' and nearly $1.5 million for paid speeches in 2015.
Her husband former President Bill Clinton earned more than $5 million in speaking fees last year, including from speeches given after his wife announced her intent to run for president.
The Clinton campaign used the release of the financial disclosure form as an opportunity to attack likely general election opponent Donald Trump.
Clinton spokeswoman Christina Reynolds accused Trump of boasting about filing his disclosure form even though it is a legal requirement for anyone running for president.
'The true test for Donald Trump is whether he will adhere to the precedent followed by every presidential candidate in the modern era and make his tax returns available, as Hillary Clinton has done,' Reynolds said.
Trump has steadfastly refused to release his tax returns, repeatedly citing an ongoing audit by the Internal Revenue Service.
The Trump campaign did not publicly release the real estate tycoon's financial disclosure forms but released a statement revealing he had income in excess of $557 million last year.
The statement also claimed Trump has seen his net worth increase since a statement filed last July and now exceeds $10 billion dollars.
'I filed my PFD, which I am proud to say is the largest in the history of the FEC,' Trump said. 'Despite the fact that I am allowed extensions, I have again filed my report, which is 104 pages, on time.'
'I have built an incredible company and have accumulated one of the greatest portfolios of real estate assets, many of which are considered to be among the finest and most iconic properties in the world,' he added. 'This is the kind of thinking the country needs.'
Trump noted that Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Clinton's rival for the Democratic nomination, requested an extension to the file his disclosure forms.
(Photo: Gage Skidmore)
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
FTSE 250 Company Replacing Multiple Instances of Unit4 Coda and Microsoft Dynamics AX with NetSuite Cloud ERP
SAN JOSE, California, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NETSUITE SUITEWORLD -- NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry's leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP and omnichannel commerce software suites, today announced that the worldwide specialist professional recruitment company PageGroup, trading under the brands of Michael Page, Page Personnel and Page Executive, has selected NetSuite OneWorld to help transform its global financial operations. PageGroup will work with systems integrator RSM UK to replace multiple instances of Unit4 Coda, and a separate instance of Microsoft Dynamics AX, with NetSuite OneWorld. This will allow PageGroup to better manage mission critical business processes including accounting; global financial consolidation; reporting; budgeting and analytics; multi-currency management for 30 different currencies; and multi-subsidiary management for 90 different legal entities across 35 countries - all within one single system.
Founded in London in 1976 as a placement agency for qualified accountants, PageGroup has delivered 40 years of strong organic growth and is now a FTSE 250 company with more than 5,800 employees and annual revenues of over 1 billion. As it has grown, PageGroup's on-premise financial systems have grown with it, ultimately leaving the company with a mixture of ERP solutions and associated systems and processes. PageGroup has recognized that there is a strong opportunity to migrate to a single cloud-based solution that will allow the definition and delivery of more efficient and consistent global finance processes, and the provision of better and faster management information.
Why NetSuite OneWorld?
After a comprehensive evaluation that included solutions from Microsoft, Unit4, SAP, and others, PageGroup selected NetSuite OneWorld for:
A single cloud solution with a broad range of global financial capabilities, including support for 190 currencies, 20 languages and automated tax compliance in over 100 countries, to run complex and mission-critical business processes across its head office and its business units spread across the globe.
Global financial consolidation with real-time visibility across all PageGroup's 90 legal entities with one single unified financial system of record and financial reporting across the entire enterprise.
NetSuite's cloud infrastructure aligns with PageGroup's efforts to move toward cloud-based applications, removing the need to support and maintain on-premise software and opening the opportunity to expand a shared services model.
An intuitive and modern user interface that can reduce training time and help PageGroup's employees to operate more efficiently and maximize their potential.
Rapid deployment that can enable PageGroup to get up and running with NetSuite OneWorld across the globe, speeding up time to value.
The agility, scalability and flexibility needed to help enter new markets, expand operations and grow revenue.
"We're intent on simplifying and modernizing our global financial system to better support our finance team, our recruitment consultants, and ultimately our clients and candidates," said Mark Hearn, Group Services Finance Director at PageGroup. "NetSuite OneWorld offers a modern and comprehensive solution that we anticipate can be quickly and easily rolled out to all our offices around the world."
"Large global enterprises like PageGroup are seeing the huge advantages that NetSuite cloud ERP can provide," said Mark Woodhams, SVP and Managing Director of NetSuite EMEA. "We welcome PageGroup to our customer ranks and look forward to helping to support their future growth."
The project to implement NetSuite across PageGroup's global finance operations will be led and run by RSM UK, a leading international professional services firm and NetSuite system integrator. Chris Knowles, RSM UK's Head of Technology Consulting said, "We are delighted to have been appointed by PageGroup to lead the project to implement NetSuite as the standard finance platform across their organisation. For PageGroup this is an opportunity to leverage NetSuite's integrated cloud ERP platform to improve core finance processes, generate efficiencies and provide significantly better management reporting. We look forward to using our deep NetSuite and finance improvement skills to help them achieve this."
NetSuite OneWorld, winner of the 2015 Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) CODiE Award for Best Financial Management Solution and the 2015 UK Cloud award for ERP Product of the Year, provides a unified and cloud-based suite of software that is flexible enough to meet the needs of diverse business models, legal structures and geographies. Customers like Misys based in the UK, HP Software and American Express Global Business Travel in the US and Scoot, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines in Singapore, are turning to NetSuite OneWorld for advanced capabilities to manage their complex business processes across subsidiaries, countries and continents. NetSuite OneWorld supports 190 currencies, 20 languages and automated tax compliance in more than 100 countries, and transaction in more than 200 countries.
Today, more than 30,000 companies and subsidiaries depend on NetSuite to run complex, mission-critical business processes globally in the cloud. Since its inception in 1998, NetSuite has established itself as the leading provider of enterprise-ready cloud business management suites of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and ecommerce applications for businesses of all sizes. Many FORTUNE 100 companies rely on NetSuite to accelerate innovation and business transformation. NetSuite continues its success in delivering the best cloud business management suites to businesses around the world, enabling them to lower IT costs significantly while increasing productivity, as the global adoption of the cloud accelerates.
RSM
RSM is the UK's seventh largest firm of audit, tax and consulting services with revenues of almost 300m a year. The firm has 3,400 partners and staff operating from 35 locations throughout the UK.
RSM International is the sixth largest network of independent audit, tax and consulting firms, encompassing more than 120 countries, 760 offices and more than 38,000 people. The network's total fee income is $4.64bn.
About PageGroup (www.page.com)
PageGroup (formerly known as Michael Page International) is one of the world's best-known and well-respected professional recruitment consultancies. Established 40 years ago in the United Kingdom, we now span 153 offices in 35 countries. We are a leading provider of permanent, contract and temporary recruitment for clerical professionals, qualified professionals and executives.
Through organic growth we have become a FTSE 250 company with more than 5,835 employees globally. We operate a consultative approach to professional recruitment combining local know-how with global expertise, to find the best fit between client and candidate.
Follow NetSuite's Cloud blog, NetSuite's Facebook page and @NetSuite Twitter handle for real-time updates.
For more information about NetSuite, please visit www.netsuite.com.
NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are service marks of NetSuite Inc. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090924/SF81218LOGO-b
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - While recent surveys have suggested likely Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's high unfavorable ratings could put some traditionally conservative states in play this year, the results of a new WBUR poll also show a tight race in New Hampshire. The poll found that 44 percent of likely New Hampshire voters would support Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton if the election were held today, while 42 percent prefer Trump. Clinton's two-point lead is well within the poll's margin of error, and another 7 percent of likely New Hampshire voters are undecided, suggesting the Granite State is up for grabs. New Hampshire has voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in five of the last six elections, although it was a reliably Republican state in prior decades. The WBUR poll showed that neither candidate is particularly well liked, as just 35 percent have a favorable opinion of Clinton and only 33 percent have a favorable opinion of Trump. Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., currently seems unlikely to win the Democratic nomination but is seen far more favorably by New Hampshire voters and performs much better against Trump. Sanders is seen favorably by 55 percent of New Hampshire voters and leads Trump by 54 percent to 38 percent in a potential general election matchup. The poll also showed a tight Senate race in New Hampshire, with Democratic Governor Maggie Hassan with a slim 48 percent to 46 percent lead over Republican incumbent Senator Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H. The survey of 501 likely New Hampshire voters was conducted by MassINC Polling Group from May 12th through 15th and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. (Photo Credit: Lorie Shaull) 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.
Technavio research analysts are expecting positive growth for the global metals and minerals market over the next four years. Between 2016 and 2020, many segments of the metals and minerals market including high-purity aluminageosyntheticsandzeolite will see a significant increase in revenue.
Technavio's market research analysts estimate the global high-purity alumina market to grow at a phenomenal CAGR of over 27% by the end of 2020. A key growth driver for this market is the growing adoption of LED lighting systems. During 2015, single-crystal sapphire used in the manufacture of LEDs accounted for more than 55% of high-purity alumina production. Advantages like its long life span, low radiated heat, reliability, and brightness will lead to the increased adoption of LEDs during the forecast period. Since these lights can easily be adapted and used in industrial, residential, office, retail, hospital, and outdoor settings, its rate of adoption among the end users will also increase significantly. This increase in the adoption of LED lights for a wide array of applications will lead to the strong growth of this market over the predicted period.
At present, the APAC region is the largest market for high-purity alumina and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of nearly 28% by 2020. In APAC, China will be the major revenue-contributing country for LEDs due to the presence of a large number of LED lighting manufacturing companies in this region. Additionally, the manufacturer's focus on the industrial lighting segment will also lead to the growth of this market during the next few years.
Aside from the high-purity alumina, the second most sought after market in metals and minerals is the global geosynthetics market which will grow at a steady CAGR of close to 11% until 2020. There is a huge market demand for geosynthetics in developing economies like Brazil, Russia, India, and China for the construction of civic infrastructure projects like roads and railways. Non-woven geosynthetic materials help in drainage and reinforcement of roads. Additionally, geosynthetics are also being used to control soil erosion in reservoirs and coastal areas. Consequently, the demand for geosynthetics in this region is expected to be quite high throughout the forecast period.
"These materials function very well as moisture barriers and are, therefore, used in the construction of railway tunnels. Since geosynthetic materials play a crucial role in prolonging the lifespan of roads and railways, its demand among the end users will rise over the next few years," says Chandrakumar Badala Jaganathan, a lead analyst at Technavio for chemicals and materials research.
View Technavio's entire metals and mineralsreport library
In recent times, there is an increase in the use of zeolite as refrigeration adsorbents owing to their non-flammable, non-poisonous nature and natural availability. Zeolites are generally used as cooling agents in the refrigeration adsorption systems. Adsorption refrigeration systems are gaining popularity because they can be stimulated by low thermal energy. Also, these systems make use of refrigerants that do not emit chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
An important trend gaining traction in this market is the growing usage of zeolites as a substitute for sodium tripolyphosphates. Several governments have restricted the use of phosphates in detergents as their usage reduces the water quality. Zeolite-A has come up as an eco-friendly alternative to sodium tripolyphosphate, which maintains the maximum builder efficiency and softness for wash water. Thus, zeolites offer superior and economical wash, which in turn will boost growth prospects for this market in the coming years.
Some of the key vendors for the metals and minerals market include Alcoa, Norse Hydro and Orbite Technologies for high-purity alumina, Agru America, GSE Environmental and Low and Bonar for geosynthetics, and Arkema, BASF and Honeywell zeolite.
Browse Related Reports:
Global Piezoelectric Smart Materials Market 2016-2020
Global Silver- and Gold-Based Brazing Materials Market 2016-2020
Global Aluminum Casting 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/20160518005039/en/
Contacts:
Technavio Research
Jesse Maida
Media Marketing Executive
US: +1 630 333 9501
UK: +44 208 123 1770
www.technavio.com
Telit Communications PLC, (AIM: TCM, "Telit", the "Group"), a global enabler of the Internet of Things (IoT), has received certification from AT&T* for its LTE module for use on the carrier's North American LTE wireless network. The CAT-1 module is the first in its class to be certified by AT&T.
Oozi Cats, Telit's Chief Executive, commented:
"This is an important development for us as it means that our CAT-1 IoT module is approved for immediate deployment in scale on AT&T's pioneering CAT-1 service, on the carrier's LTE network."
"Adding this CAT-1 certification paves the way for our customer to launch LTE-CAT-1 based products and accelerate their IoT deployments, and also paves the way for developers and integrators to leverage not only current capabilities but also the evolution of technologies slated to enhance LTE communication in the future."
Telit's dual-mode LTE CAT-1 IoT module (LE910-NA1) with fallback to 3G, supports LTE bands 2, 4, 5, 12 and 13 as well as 3G bands 2 and 5. It is a member of Telit's best-selling xE910 family and can be applied as a drop-in replacement in existing devices based on the family's 2G and 3G models.
Supporting speeds of 5Mbps upload and 10 Mbps download, the certified module is positioned for developers and integrators looking to migrate existing North American 2G or 3G IoT devices to LTE as well as for new IoT solutions not requiring full LTE speeds, leveraging cost savings associated with CAT-1.
The certified module is Telit IoT Portal-ready, supporting high-level commands specifically designed to provide quick and hassle-free onboarding of device and data to the cloud, customer apps, back-end systems and servers. Telit IoT Portal-ready modules powered by deviceWISE make device onboarding simple to program, maintain and scale.
The LE910-NA1 is a member of the xE910 form factor family which features a common uniform 28.2 x 28.2 x 2.2mm LGA package, providing long-life with cost-optimized operation for the integrated solution. For more information about the xE910 family of wireless modules and other Telit products, visit www.telit.com.
*AT&T certification only relates to the technical compatibility of the device for use on the AT&T wireless network and is not an endorsement by AT&T of the device.
About Telit
Telit (AIM: TCM), is a global leader in Internet of Things (IoT) enablement. The company offers the industry's broadest portfolio of integrated products and services for end-to-end IoT deployments including cellular communication modules in all technologies, GNSS, short-to-long range wireless modules, IoT connectivity plans and IoT platform services. Through the IoT Portal, Telit makes IoT onboarding easy, reduces risk, time to market, complexity and costs for asset tracking, remote monitoring and control, telematics, industrial automation and others, across many industries and vertical markets worldwide.
Copyright 2016 Telit Communications PLC. All rights reserved. Telit, Telit Wireless Solutions, Telit Communications PLC, telit.com, telit2market, Telit Technical Forum, secureWISE, deviceWISE and all associated logos are trademarks of Telit Communications PLC in the United States and other countries. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160518006315/en/
Contacts:
Telit
Leslie Hart
Sr. Marketing Director
919-415-1510
Leslie.Hart@Telit.com
BOISE, IDAHO -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- U.S. Geothermal Inc. (NYSE MKT: HTM) a leading renewable energy company, today announced that Douglas Glaspey, President and Chief Operating Officer, will present at B. Riley & Co.'s 17th Annual Investor Conference on Thursday, May 26, 2016 at 2:00pm PST. The conference will be held May 25-26, 2016 at Lowes Hollywood Hotel in Hollywood, California.
The two-day, invitation-only annual event brings together a targeted audience of leading institutional investors, financial services professionals and other qualified investors. The conference will feature presentations from over 200 companies in a broad range of sectors, including technology, consumer, retail and financials. Management will be available both days for one-on-one meetings with investors and top ranked analysts.
The corporate presentation can be viewed by registering at: http://www.wsw.com/webcast/brileyco17/htm
About B. Riley & Co.:
B. Riley & Co., LLC is a leading investment bank which provides corporate finance, research, and sales & trading to corporate, institutional and high net worth individual clients. Investment banking services include initial, secondary and follow-on offerings, institutional private placements, and merger and acquisitions advisory services. The firm is nationally recognized for its highly ranked proprietary equity research. B. Riley & Co., LLC is a member of FINRA and SIPC. For more information, please visit www.brileyco.com.
About U.S. Geothermal Inc.:
U.S. Geothermal Inc. is a leading and profitable renewable energy company focused on the development, production and sale of electricity from geothermal energy. The company is currently operating geothermal power projects Neal Hot Springs, Oregon, San Emidio, Nevada and Raft River, Idaho for a total power generation of approximately 45 MWs. The company is also developing an additional 90 MW's of projects at: the Geysers, California; a second phase project at San Emidio, Nevada; at Crescent Valley, Nevada; and the El Ceibillo project located near Guatemala City, Guatemala. US Geothermal's growth strategy is to reach 200 MWs of generation by 2020 through a combination of internal development and strategic acquisitions.
The information provided in this news release may contain forward-looking statements within the definition of the Safe Harbor provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Readers are cautioned to review the risk factors identified by the company in its filings with US and Canadian securities agencies. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, without limitation, statements relating to the future operating or financial performance of U.S. Geothermal, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "potential", "possible", and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions, or results "will", "may", "could", or "should" occur or be achieved. These forward-looking statements may include statements regarding perceived merit of properties; interpretation of the results of well tests; project development; resource megawatt capacity; capital expenditures; timelines; strategic plans; or other statements that are not statements of fact. Forward-looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from U.S. Geothermal's expectations include the uncertainties involving the availability of financing in the debt and capital markets; uncertainties involved in the interpretation of results of well tests; the need for cooperation of government agencies in the development and operation of properties; the need to obtain permits and governmental approvals; risks of construction; unexpected cost increases, which could include significant increases in estimated capital and operating costs; and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in U.S. Geothermal's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian securities regulatory authorities and in other U.S. Geothermal reports and documents filed with applicable securities regulatory authorities from time to time. Forward-looking statements are based on management's expectations, beliefs and opinions on the date the statements are made. U.S. Geothermal Inc. assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if management's expectations, beliefs, or opinions, or other factors, should change.
The NYSE MKT does not accept responsibility for the adequacy of this release.
Contacts:
Saf Dhillon - Investor Relations
U.S. Geothermal Inc.
Tel: 866-687-7059
Fax: 208-424-1030
saf@usgeothermal.com
www.usgeothermal.com
Weekly net asset value ("NAV") is calculated as of the close of business on each Tuesday and posted on the following business day. In the event that Tuesday is not a business day, the Company will calculate the close-of-business NAV as of the business day immediately preceding that Tuesday. The end-of-month NAV is calculated as of the close of business on the last day of the month and posted on the following business day. For weeks that include a month-end NAV report, PSH will provide only the month-end NAV and not report the Tuesday NAV. Monthly NAVs are published in accordance with the Decree on Conduct of Business Supervision of Financial Undertakings under the Wft (Besluit Gedragstoezicht financiele ondernemingen Wft).
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.
Natuzzi S.p.A. (NYSE:NTZ) ("Natuzzi" or "the Company") will disclose Q1 2016 financial results on Friday May 27th, 2016 after the market closes.
The Company will host a conference call on Monday May 30th, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time (4.00 p.m. Italian time, or 3.00 p.m. UK time) to discuss financial results.
The dial-in phone numbers for the live conference call are 1-888-572-7034 (toll-free) for persons calling from the U.S. or Canada, 1-719-325-2315 for those calling from other countries.
A live web cast of the conference call will be available on line at http://www.natuzzi.com/ under the "Investor Relations" section.
A replay of the call will be available shortly after the end of the conference call starting from May 30th, 2016 (from 1:00 pm US Eastern time), to June 30th, 2016. To access the replay of the conference call, interested persons need to dial 1-877-870-5176 (toll-free) for calls from U.S. and Canada, and 1-858-384-5517 for calls from other countries. The access code for the replay is: 4185955.
About Natuzzi S.p.A.
Founded in 1959 by Pasquale Natuzzi, Natuzzi S.p.A. designs, manufactures and sells a broad collection of couches, armchairs, home furniture and home accessories. With consolidated revenues of 488.5 million in 2015, Natuzzi is Italy's largest furniture house and the player with the greatest global reach in its sector, with eight manufacturing plants, twelve commercial offices and more than 1,100 points of sale worldwide. Ethics and social responsibility, innovation, industrial know-how and integrated management of its value chain represent the points of strength that have made the Natuzzi Group a market leader and established Natuzzi as the most recognized furniture brand in the world among consumers of luxury goods. Natuzzi S.p.A. has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since May 1993. The Company is ISO 9001 and 14001 certified.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160518006056/en/
Contacts:
NATUZZI INVESTOR RELATIONS
Francesca Cocco; tel. +39.080.8820.493
fcocco@natuzzi.com
or
NATUZZI CORPORATE COMMUNICATION
Vito Basile (Press Office); tel. +39.080.8820.676
vbasile@natuzzi.com
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- Newmarket Gold Inc. ("Newmarket" or the "Company") (TSX: NMI)(OTCQX: NMKTF) announces that it will file an amended National Instrument ("NI") 43-101 Technical Report for the Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") on the 100% owned Maud Creek Gold Project. The amended report is entitled "Amended Technical Report, Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Maud Creek Gold Project, Northern Territory, Australia" dated May 18, 2016 (the "Amended Technical Report") and prepared by SRK Consulting (Australasia) Pty Ltd. The Amended Technical Report will be available today under Newmarket's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on its website at www.newmarketgoldinc.com.
All details from the original news release and technical report dated May 16, 2016 are correct except for the Life of Mine ("LOM") Cash Operating Costs which were originally stated as AUD$1,101/oz. The amended and confirmed LOM Cash Operating Costs for the Maud Creek gold project are AUD$822/oz. All other aspects of the Newmarket news release dated May 16, 2016 are confirmed and it is available under Newmarket's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on its website at www.newmarketgoldinc.com.
All figures are stated in Australian Dollars ("AUD$") unless otherwise noted.
PEA HIGHLIGHTS:
Base case parameters assume a gold price of AUD$1,550/oz (US$1,200) and an exchange rate (AUD to US) of 0.77.
-- Pre-Tax Net Present Value at a 5% discount rate ("NPV5%") of AUD$201 million (US$155 million) and Internal Rate of Return ("IRR") of 116% with a 1.25 year payback period. -- After-tax NPV5% of AUD$137 million (US$105 million) and IRR of 80% and a 1.25 year payback period. -- Mine life of 9.5 years with average annual gold production of 52,000 ounces and peak annual gold production of approximately 70,000 ounces. -- Total recovered gold of 496,000 ounces. -- LOM diluted head grade of 4.2 g/t Au. -- Pre-production capital cost estimated at AUD$42 million (US$32 million). -- LOM cash operating cost estimate of AUD$822/oz (US$632/oz) and LOM capital cost of AUD$112/oz.
The following tables are updated from the original news release and technical report dated May 16, 2016 to reflect that the amended and confirmed LOM Cash Operating Costs for the Maud Creek gold project are AUD$822/oz.:
Table 1 - PEA Results - Union Reefs Processing Facility
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parameter/ Result Units Quantity ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gold Price AUD$/oz 1,550 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Exchange Rate AUD$:USD$ 0.77 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gold Price US$/oz 1,200 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mine Life Years 9.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mineral Inventory '000 t 3,911 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Diluted Gold Grade g/t 4.2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contained Gold Koz 528 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gold Recovery (oxide/transitional) % 85 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gold Recovery (sulphide) % 95 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- LOM Recovered Gold Koz 496 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Production Rate Ktpa 500 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average Annual Gold Production Koz 52 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peak Annual Gold Production Koz 70 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Annual Tonnes Concentrate (Dry) kt 30 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Concentrate Grade g/t con 45 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- LOM Operating Cost AUD$M 408 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- LOM Cash Operating Cost AUD$/oz 822 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total Operating Costs/tonne Milled AUD$/t 105 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Net Revenue (less selling expenses) AUD$M 725 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pre-Production Capital cost AUD$M 42 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sustaining Capital Cost (LOM) AUD$M 14 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 8 - PEA Operating Cost Estimates(i)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unit Cost Unit Cost (AUD$/oz Operating Cost (AUD$/t) Activity Recovered) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Open Pit Mining Mined (incl. 5 waste) 328 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Underground Mining 55 stoped 410 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Processing 32 Milled 252 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Concentrate Transport 17 Milled 134 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Indirect 5 Milled 39 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total Cash Cost 105 Milled 822 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total Capital 14 Milled 112 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total Cash Cost plus Total Capital 119 Milled 934 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (i) AUD$/ounce for open pit and underground mining only relate to the ounces by source and thus do not sum for the total AUD $/oz recovered.
Please refer to the Amended Technical Report for further details with respect to the PEA. The PEA is preliminary in nature and is based on a number of assumptions that may be changed in the future as additional information becomes available. The PEA includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the PEA will be realized. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
Qualified Persons and 43-101 Disclosure
The Amended Technical Report on the Maud Creek Project was compiled by Peter Fairfield, Principal Consultant (Project Evaluation), BEng (Mining), FAusIMM CP (Mining) of SRK Consulting (Australasia) Pty Ltd. By virtue of his education, membership to a recognised professional association and relevant work experience, Peter Fairfield is an independent "Qualified Person" as such term is defined in NI 43-101.
Mark Edwards, MAusIMM (CP), MAIG, General Manager, Exploration, of Newmarket, is a "Qualified Person" as such term is defined in NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information and data included in this news release.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
Douglas Forster, M.Sc., P.Geo., President & Chief Executive Officer
To learn more about Newmarket visit our website at www.newmarketgoldinc.com
About Newmarket Gold Inc.
Newmarket is a Canadian-listed gold mining and exploration company with three 100% owned operating mines across Australia. The Company is focused on creating substantial shareholder value by maintaining a strong foundation of quality gold production, over 200,000 ounces annually, generating free cash flow and maintaining a large resource base as it executes a clearly defined gold asset consolidation strategy. The Company is focused on sustainable operating performance, a disciplined approach to growth, and building gold reserves and resources while maintaining the high standards that the Newmarket core values represent.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information
Certain information set forth in this news release contains "forward-looking statements", and "forward-looking information" under applicable securities laws. Except for statements of historical fact, certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements, which include, but are not limited to, the Company's expectations about its business and operations; disclosure regarding possible events, conditions or financial performance that is based on assumptions about future economic conditions and courses of action; future gold prices; operating and capital costs; the timing and costs of future development and exploration activities on the Company's properties; success of development and exploration activities; time lines for technical reports and further studies; planned exploration and development of properties and the results thereof; and planned expenditures and budgets and the execution thereof. Such forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current internal expectations, estimates, projections, assumptions and beliefs, which may prove to be incorrect. Some of the forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "will", "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "projects", "plans", and similar expressions. These statements are not guarantees of future performance or outcomes and undue reliance should not be placed on them. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information.
Such risks and other factors include, among others, risks related to permitting, operating cost overruns, and capital cost overruns; risks related to a sustained and significant reduction in gold prices; risks that the metallurgical performance of different process feeds are not as anticipated; risks related to the availability of financing on commercially reasonable terms and the expected use of proceeds; operations and contractual obligations; changes in development and exploration programs based upon results of exploration; availability of third party contractors; availability of equipment; failure of equipment to operate as anticipated; accidents, effects of weather and other natural phenomena and other risks associated with the mineral exploration industry; environmental risks, including environmental matters under Australian laws and regulations; impact of environmental remediation requirements and the terms of existing and potential consent decrees on the Company's planned development and exploration on the Maud Creek Project; certainty of mineral title; community relations; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing; the nature of mineral development, exploration and mining and the uncertain commercial viability of certain mineral deposits; governmental regulations and the ability to obtain necessary licenses and permits; risks related to mineral properties being subject to prior unregistered agreements, transfers or claims and other defects in title; currency fluctuations; changes in environmental laws and regulations and changes in the application of standards pursuant to existing laws and regulations which may increase costs of doing business and restrict operations; risks related to dependence on key personnel; and estimates used in financial statements proving to be incorrect; as well as those factors discussed in the Company's public disclosure record and annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2015 which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are included in this news release or incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
Contacts:
Newmarket Gold, Inc.
Ryan King
VP, Corporate Communications
604.559.8040
rking@newmarketgoldinc.com
www.newmarketgoldinc.com
PHILADELPHIA (dpa-AFX) - Clothing retailer Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN) reported net income for the first quarter that fell from last year. Earnings per share remained steady, however, matching analysts' expectations. Meanwhile, the company's sales rose more than expected. The company reported net income for the first quarter of $29.6 million, or $0.25 per share. This was down from $32.8 million, or $0.25 per share, in the same period last year. This matched the $0.25 per share Wall Street analysts were predicting, according to a survey conducted by Thomson Reuters. The number of shares outstanding declined from last year, allowing the company to hold EPS steady while net income declined. Sales for the quarter rose to $762.6 million compared to $739.0 million in last year's first quarter. The company saw growth in its three major brands, Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Free People. Analysts had expected sales to rise to $759.4 million. The company runs a variety of clothing stores under different brands, including its namesake locations, as well as Anthropologie, BHLDN, Free People, Terrain and Vetri Family. 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) -- 05/18/16 -- Urbanimmersive Inc. ("Urbanimmersive" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: UI), the real estate content marketing marketplace, is pleased to announce that it has engaged Contact Financial Corp. ("Contact Financial") to assist the Company with the development and execution of a comprehensive strategic communications program.
Contact Financial is a Vancouver-based strategic marketing and communications firm specializing in raising awareness for small- to mid-cap companies. Contact Financial, headed by Kirk Gamley, has offices in Vancouver and Montreal, with affiliate offices in Toronto, the United States and Europe. Contact's services will include providing advice to the Company with respect to corporate development, production and distribution of investor-focused communication tools, and increasing awareness of the Company within the financial community.
"With recent business achievements, we believe it is time to increase awareness of the Company within the financial community. Contact Financial has demonstrated a great knowledge of our industry and their capacity to reach a broader audience within the financial community" said Ghislain Lemire, CEO of Urbanimmersive.
Contact Financial has been retained for an initial term of six (6) months, with service to be renewed on a six-month basis thereafter. Contact Financial will be paid a monthly fee of CDN $5,000.00 (plus GST).
Contact Financial nor its principals currently have any interest, directly or indirectly, in the Company or its security, although it may choose to acquire shares in Urbanimmersive in the future.
About Contact Financial
Contact Financial is a broad-based strategic marketing and communications firm with experience in creating exposure for small to mid-cap companies. Contact Financial's services include providing advice with respect to corporate development, production and distribution of investor-focused communication tools, and increasing awareness within the financial community. Contact Financial has offices in both Vancouver and Montreal, and is owned by Kirk Gamley. www.contactfinancial.com
About Urbanimmersive
Urbanimmersive is a content marketing marketplace for real estate professionals. The Company connects real estate professionals, photographers and writers in order to simplify and optimize original content production workflow. Urbanimmersive enables its customers to leverage their marketing investment while increasing productivity, competitiveness, their web visibility, consumer engagement with their brand and ultimately, their revenue.
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that reflect the current views and/or expectations of the Company with respect to its performance, business and future events. Such statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Actual results and events may vary significantly.
The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.
Contacts:
For more information, please contact:
Urbanimmersive Inc.
Ghislain Lemire - President & CEO
514 394-7820 X 202
ghislainlemire@urbanimmersive.com
www.urbanimmersive.com
For investor relations, please contact:
Contact Financial Corp.
Frederick Chabot
438 863-7071
frederick@contactfinancial.com
DARMSTADT, Germany, May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Not intended for UK- or US-based media
ASCO Abstract #
Avelumab: 4009, TPS4134, TPS4135, 9036, TPS9105, 3055, TPS3106, 8503, 4514, 4516, 5533, TPS5600, TPS4580, 9508;tepotinib: 4072
Abstracts featuring Merck compounds span a broad range of cancers, with an emphasis on those which are difficult-to-treat and represent significantunmet patient need
Avelumab data in seven different cancers from rapidly accelerating JAVELIN clinical program to be presented
Merck, a leading science and technology company, announced that this year's Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO; June 3-7, 2016, Chicago, IL, U.S.) will feature research on Merck compounds across a broad range of cancers. These reports, which focus on cancers with significant unmet patient need, will inform and advance scientific knowledge within the oncology community. This includes data on avelumab*, Merck's high priority, late-stage investigational immuno-therapy, that is being developed in collaboration with Pfizer.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160518/369530LOGO )
"We have a clear and focused commitment to accelerate oncology innovation and transform the way cancer is treated, both by leveraging our internal expertise and capabilities, and through our collaborations," said Luciano Rossetti, Executive Vice President, Head of Global Research & Development at the biopharma business of Merck. "Avelumab is an example of this strategy coming to life, as it was originally discovered by Merck and is being co-developed with Pfizer. More broadly, we will be presenting data across multiple tumor types at ASCO as we continue to advance our oncology and immuno-oncology pipeline."
Collaborating tobringinnovation to cancer patients
Merck and Pfizer are presenting avelumab data at this year's congress that reflect the significant progress this alliance is making. This includes results from the pivotal, Phase II metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma trial which, taken together with data from other challenging tumors being evaluated in the JAVELIN clinical development program, supports efficacy and a favorable safety profile for avelumab. Avelumab, an investigational, fully human, anti-programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) monoclonal antibody, has a dual mechanism of action that is believed to enable the immune system to find and attack cancer cells. Avelumab's clinical program, one of the largest immuno-oncology development programs, now includes approximately 2,200 patients across more than 15 tumor types. Together, the two companies have initiated 30 ongoing monotherapy or combination therapy programs with avelumab, including nine pivotal studies.
Innovation: treatment and beyond
Erbitux (cetuximab) and precision medicine remain a strategic priority for Merck. As a cornerstone of treatment in RAS wild-type mCRC and SCCHN, Merck is committed to exploring Erbitux as an 'anchor' treatment in combination with immuno-therapies in these indications. Erbitux also continues to captivate the interest of leading researchers and the medical community with more than 30 abstracts at ASCO, the majority from investigator-led studies.
Merck aims to improve patients' experiences along their treatment journey by helping patients and physicians to make faster treatment decisions. Merck is the first pharmaceutical company to collaborate with multiple diagnostic companies to co-develop and commercialize innovative liquid biopsy RAS biomarker tests to determine which patients with mCRC would benefit from treatment with Erbitux. At ASCO, Merck's partner Sysmex Inostics will be presenting new data demonstrating the value of the co-developed and commercialized liquid biopsy test, which received CE mark approval earlier this year.
Truly innovative pipeline
Following Merck's strategic reassessment of its portfolio, there is significant potential with later-stage priority programs and Merck's truly innovative early pipeline. Six out of seven of the current pipeline products in Phases I-III were discovered in Merck's labs.
Data will be presented on another of these Merck-discovered compounds, tepotinib**, an investigational, highly selective, small molecule inhibitor of the c-Met receptor tyrosine kinase. The ASCO presentation will report on tepotinib's clinical activity and tolerability in Asian patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, a cancer in which there is a considerable need for new treatment options.
Through Merck's Translational Innovation Platforms in oncology and immuno-oncology, the company is developing differentiated therapeutic drugs targeting distinct cancer hallmarks and multiple immune-system-mediated mechanisms. These include, among others, DNA repair, antibody drug conjugates, oncogenes, tumor antigens, T-cell therapies, and targeted cytokines and chemokines.
*Avelumab is the proposed nonproprietary name for the anti-PD-L1 mAb (also known as MSB0010718C).
**Tepotinib is the proposed nonproprietary name for the c-Met kinase inhibitor (also known as MSC2156119J).
Avelumab and tepotinib are under clinical investigation and have not been proven to be safe and effective. There is no guarantee any product will be approved in the sought-after indication by any health authority worldwide.
Notes to Editors
Accepted Merck-supported abstracts are listed below. In addition, a number of investigator-sponsored studies have been accepted, including several related to Erbitux and avelumab (not listed).
Avelumab
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) in patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer from the JAVELIN Solid Tumor Phase Ib trial: analysis of safety, clinical activity
Lead Author: C Chung
Abstract #: 4009
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 4 08:00-11:30
Session: Poster Session: Gastrointestinal (Noncolorectal) Cancer
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 1)
Title: Maintenance therapy with avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) vs continuation of first-line chemotherapy in patients with unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic gastric cancer: the Phase III JAVELIN Gastric 100 trial
Lead Author: M Moehler
Abstract #: TPS4134
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 4 08:00-11:30
Session: Poster Session: Gastrointestinal (Noncolorectal) Cancer
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 124b)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) + best supportive care (BSC) vs BSC chemotherapy as third-line treatment for patients with unresectable, recurrent, or metastatic gastric cancer: the Phase III JAVELIN Gastric 300 trial
Lead Author: Y-J Bang
Abstract #: TPS4135
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 4 08:00-11:30
Session: Poster Session: Gastrointestinal (Noncolorectal) Cancer
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 125a)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) as a first-line treatment for patients with advanced NSCLC from the JAVELIN Solid Tumor Phase Ib trial: safety, clinical activity, and PD-L1 expression
Lead Author: C Verschraegen
Abstract #: 9036
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 4 08:00-11:30
Session: Poster Session: Lung Cancer-Non-Small Cell Metastatic
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 359)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) vs platinum-based doublet as first-line treatment for metastatic or recurrent PD-L1-positive non-smallcell lung cancer: the Phase III JAVELIN Lung 100 trial
Lead Author: M Reck
Abstract #: TPS9105
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 4 08:00-11:30
Session: Poster Session: Lung Cancer-Non-Small Cell Metastatic
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 425a)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) in patients with advanced cancer: safety data from 1300 patients enrolled in the Phase Ib JAVELIN Solid Tumor trial
Lead Author: K Kelly
Abstract #: 3055
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 5 08:00-11:30
Session: Poster Session: Developmental Therapeutics-Immunotherapy
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 377)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) in combination with other cancer immunotherapies in patients with advanced malignancies: the Phase Ib/II JAVELIN Medley study
Lead Author: A Ribas
Abstract #: TPS3106
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 5 08:00-11:30
Session: Poster Session: Developmental Therapeutics-Immunotherapy
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 422b)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) in patients with advanced unresectable mesothelioma from the JAVELIN Solid Tumor Phase Ib trial: safety, clinical activity, and PD-L1 expression
Lead Author: R Hassan
Abstract #: 8503
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 5 08:00-11:05
Session: Oral Abstract Session: Lung Cancer-Non-Small Cell Local-Regional/Small Cell/Other Thoracic Cancers
Room/Details: Arie Crown Theater
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma from the JAVELIN Solid Tumor Phase Ib trial: analysis of safety, clinical activity, and PD-L1 expression
Lead Author: A Apolo
Abstract #: 4514
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 6 13:00-16:30
Session: Poster Session: Genitourinary (Nonprostate) Cancer
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: A137)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) in patients with advanced adrenocortical carcinoma from the JAVELIN Solid Tumor Phase Ib trial: safety and clinical activity
Lead Author: C Le Tourneau
Abstract #: 4516
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 6 13:00-16:30
Session: Poster Session: Genitourinary (Nonprostate) Cancer
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 138)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) in patients with recurrent/refractory ovarian cancer from the JAVELIN Solid Tumor Phase Ib trial: safety and clinical activity
Lead Author: M Disis
Abstract #: 5533
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 6 13:00-16:30
Session: Poster Session: Gynecologic Cancer
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 356)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) pegylated liposomal doxorubicin vs pegylated liposomal doxorubicin alone in patients with platinum-resistant/refractory ovarian cancer: the Phase III JAVELIN Ovarian 200 trial
Lead Author: E Pujade-Lauraine
Abstract #: TPS5600
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 6 13:00-16:30
Session: Poster Session: Gynecologic Cancer
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 421b)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) in combination with axitinib as first-line treatment for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma
Lead Author: J Larkin
Abstract #: TPS4580
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 6 13:00-16:30
Session: Poster Session: Genitourinary (Nonprostate) Cancer
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 199a)
Title: Avelumab (MSB0010718C; anti-PD-L1) in patients with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma previously treated with chemotherapy: results of the Phase II JAVELIN Merkel 200 trial
Lead Author: H Kaufman
Abstract #: 9508
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 6 13:15-16:15
Session: Oral Abstract Session: Melanoma/Skin Cancers
Room/Details: Arie Crown Theater
Tepotinib
Title: Tolerability and activity of tepotinib in Asian patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)
Lead Author: S Qin
Abstract #: 4072
Presentation Date/Time (CDT): June 4 08:00-11:30
Session: Poster Session: Gastrointestinal (Noncolorectal) Cancer
Room/Details: Hall A (Poster Board: 64)
All Merck Press Releases are distributed by e-mail at the same time they become available on the Merck Website. Please go tohttp://www.merckgroup.com/subscribetoregister online, change your selection or discontinue this service.
About Avelumab
Avelumab (also known as MSB0010718C) is an investigational fully human anti-PD-L1 IgG1 monoclonal antibody. By inhibiting PD-L1 interactions, avelumab is thought to enable the activation of T-cells and the adaptive immune system. By retaining a native Fc-region, avelumab is thought to potentially engage the innate immune system and induce antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC). In November 2014, Merck and Pfizer announced a strategic alliance to co-develop and co-commercialize avelumab.
About Erbitux
Erbituxis a highly active IgG1 monoclonal antibody targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). As a monoclonal antibody, the mode of action of Erbitux is distinct from standard non-selective chemotherapy treatments in that it specifically targets and binds to the EGFR. This binding inhibits the activation of the receptor and the subsequent signal-transduction pathway, which results in reducing both the invasion of normal tissues by tumor cells and the spread of tumors to new sites. It is also believed to inhibit the ability of tumor cells to repair the damage caused by chemotherapy and radiotherapy and to inhibit the formation of new blood vessels inside tumors, which appears to lead to an overall suppression of tumor growth.
The most commonly reported side effect with Erbitux is an acne-like skin rash that seems to be correlated with a good response to therapy. In approximately 5% of patients, hypersensitivity reactions may occur during treatment with Erbitux; about half of these reactions are severe.
Erbitux has already obtained market authorization in over 90 countries world-wide for the treatment of colorectal cancer and for the treatment of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). Merck licensed the right to market Erbitux outside the US and Canada from ImClone LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eli Lilly and Company, in 1998. Merck has an ongoing commitment to the advancement of oncology treatment and is currently investigating novel therapies in highly targeted areas.
About Tepotinib
Tepotinib (also known as MSC2156119J) is an investigational small-molecule inhibitor of the c-Met receptor tyrosine kinase capable of inhibiting both hepatocyte growth factor-dependent and -independent c-Met activation in low nanomolar concentrations. Alterations of the c-Met signaling pathway are found in various cancer types and correlate with aggressive tumor behavior and poor clinical prognosis. Tepotinib is currently under evaluation in Phase I/II trials.
About Merck
Merck is a leading science and technology company in healthcare, life science and performance materials. Around 50,000 employees work to further develop technologies that improve and enhance life - from biopharmaceutical therapies to treat cancer or multiple sclerosis, cutting-edge systems for scientific research and production, to liquid crystals for smartphones and LCD televisions. In 2015, Merck generated sales of 12.85 billion in 66 countries.
Founded in 1668, Merck is the world's oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company. The founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed corporate group. Merck, Darmstadt, Germany holds the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the company operates as EMD Serono, MilliporeSigma and EMD Performance Materials.
Your Contact: Gangolf Schrimpf: +49-6151-72-9591
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NORTH CAROLINA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc. (TSX: FRX)(OTCQB: FENCF) (the "Company" or "Fennec"), a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development of Sodium Thiosulfate (STS) for the prevention of platinum-induced chemotherapy ototoxicity in pediatric patients, announced today upcoming events and presentations:
ASCO 2016 - STS will be featured in an oral presentation titled "Two year results of clinical efficacy of cisplatin in combination with sodium thiosulfate (STS) vs cisplatin alone in a randomized phase III trial for standard risk hepatoblastoma (SR-HB)." at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting being held June 3 through June 7, 2016 in Chicago, IL. The oral presentation will be held on June 5, 2016 during the Pediatric Oncology II session. The abstract (Abstract #10514) is scheduled to be made available today on the website http://www.abstract.asco.org/.
Annual Meeting of Shareholders - Fennec would like to invite all shareholders to attend its Annual General and Special Meeting on Wednesday, June 8, 2016 at 10 am at the Langham Hotel in the Grant Room, 250 Franklin Street, Boston, Massachusetts.
Jefferies 2016 Global Healthcare Conference - Rosty Raykov, CEO of Fennec, will provide an overview of the Company's business on Friday, June 10, 2016 at 2:30 p.m. (ET) at the Jefferies 2016 Global Healthcare Conference being held in New York City. The Fennec presentation will be webcast live and can be accessed by visiting the investors relations sections of the Company's website at http://fennecpharma.com/investors/presentations-events/. A replay of the presentation will also be available and archived on the site for ninety days.
About Fennec Pharmaceuticals
Fennec Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development of Sodium Thiosulfate (STS) for the prevention of platinum-induced chemotherapy ototoxicity in pediatric patients. STS has received Orphan Drug Designation in the US in this setting. For more information, please visit www.fennecpharma.com.
Forward-Looking Statement Disclaimer
Except for historical information described in this press release, all other statements are forward-looking, including statements or assumptions about regulatory approvals, anticipated use of proceeds and any other statements regarding the Company's objectives (and strategies to achieve such objectives), future expectations, beliefs, goals or prospects. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties inherent in the Company's business that could cause actual results to vary, including that regulatory and guideline developments may change; that scientific data may not be sufficient to meet regulatory standards or receipt of required regulatory clearances or approvals; that clinical results may not be replicated in actual patient settings; that protection offered by the Company's patents and patent applications may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented by its competitors; that the available market for the Company's products will not be as large as expected; that the Company's products will not be able to penetrate one or more targeted markets; that revenues will not be sufficient to fund further development and clinical studies; that the Company may not meet its future capital requirements in different countries and municipalities, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015. Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc. disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements except as required by law.
For a more detailed discussion of related risk factors, please refer to our public filings available at www.sec.gov and www.sedar.com.
Contacts:
Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Rosty Raykov
Chief Executive Officer
(919) 636-5144
www.fennecpharma.com
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/18/16 -- SnipGold Corp. (TSX VENTURE: SGG) ("SnipGold") today announces the SEDAR filing and mailing of the materials for the annual general and special meeting of shareholders (the "Meeting") at which the previously announced statutory Arrangement (the "Arrangement") with Seabridge Gold Inc. ("Seabridge") will be an item of business.
The Arrangement
Pursuant to the Arrangement it is proposed that Seabridge will acquire each outstanding common share of SnipGold (a "SnipGold Share") for 1/63rd of a Seabridge share (a "Seabridge Share"). As announced in the joint news release issued by Seabridge and SnipGold on April 19, 2016, this transaction has been unanimously approved by SnipGold's board of directors and the board has recommended that SnipGold shareholders vote in favour of the Arrangement.
The Meeting
SnipGold shareholders as of the record date of May 9, 2016 have the right to vote by proxy or in person at the Meeting to be held on June 15, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. (Vancouver time) at 10th Floor, 595 Howe Street, Vancouver, British Columbia.
Benefits of the Arrangement
The Arrangement is expected to provide SnipGold shareholders with the following benefits, amongst others:
-- The Arrangement is expected to provide SnipGold shareholders with a premium of approximately 124% based on the closing price of the Seabridge Shares on the TSX ($18.32) and the SnipGold Shares on the TSX- V ($0.13) at the close of business on April 18, 2016 (the last trading day prior to the public announcement of the Arrangement). -- Shareholders of the combined company will benefit from a broader portfolio of assets, including Seabridge's KSM Project and Courageous Lake Project. -- The Arrangement is expected to provide SnipGold shareholders with more certainty of value given the enhanced liquidity in respect of the Seabridge Shares, which are listed on the TSX and NYSE. Seabridge has a significantly greater market capitalization and significantly greater trading liquidity than SnipGold. -- Seabridge's management team and board of directors include established mining industry executives who have participated in the successful acquisition and development of mineral projects worldwide.
The Meeting materials will include a notice of Meeting and accompanying management information circular that contains, among other things, details concerning the Arrangement, the reasons for and benefits of the Arrangement, the risks associated with the Arrangement, the requirements for the Arrangement to become effective, the procedure for receiving Seabridge Shares, and voting at the Meeting and other related matters. SnipGold shareholders are urged to carefully review the management information circular and accompanying materials as they contain important information regarding the Arrangement and its consequences to SnipGold shareholders. Assuming a successful shareholder vote and satisfaction of the other conditions required under the Arrangement, closing is expected to occur on or about June 21, 2016.
The Board of SnipGold unanimously recommends that shareholders vote IN FAVOUR of the Arrangement resolution.
Your vote is important regardless of how many SnipGold Shares you own. SnipGold encourages its shareholders to read the Meeting materials in detail.
Shareholder Questions
Laurel Hill Advisory Group ("Laurel Hill") has been engaged as proxy solicitor in connection with the Meeting. Please contact Laurel Hill if you have any questions or require assistance with voting. Laurel Hill can be reached by email at assistance@laurelhill.com or by telephone at 1-877-452-7184 (416-304-0211 collect).
Copies of the Meeting materials and certain related documents are available on SnipGold's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
SnipGold Corp.
Patrick Soares, Chairman of the Board
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 Information Disclaimer
This release contains certain "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian securities laws concerning the events and transactions contemplated by the Arrangement Agreement. Forward-looking information reflects SnipGold's current internal expectations or beliefs and is based on information currently available to the two companies. In some cases forward-looking information can be identified by terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "projects", "potential", "scheduled", "forecast", "budget" or the negative of those terms or other comparable terminology. Assumptions upon which such forward-looking information is based include, among others, that the conditions to closing of the Arrangement will be satisfied, that the transactions contemplated by the Arrangement Agreement will be completed on the terms set out the Arrangement Agreement, that all required regulatory, security holder, court and governmental approvals will be obtained on a timely basis, and that the business prospects and opportunities of each of the companies will proceed as anticipated. Many of these assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of SnipGold, and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct or accurate.
Risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted herein include, without limitation: that the Arrangement will not be completed at all or on the terms less favourable to one party or the other, that required regulatory, security holder or court approvals will not be obtained and that the business prospects and opportunities of each of the companies will not proceed as anticipated. In addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining, including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins and flooding (and the risk of inadequate insurance or inability to obtain insurance to cover these risks), as well as the risks disclosed by Seabridge and SnipGold in their respective filings on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and actual results and future events could differ materially from those discussed in any such forward-looking information. All of the forward-looking information contained in this news release is qualified by these cautionary statements. Readers cannot be assured that actual results will be consistent with such statements. The Arrangement may not be completed on the terms described above, or at all. Accordingly, readers are cautioned against placing undue reliance on any of the forward-looking information contained herein. SnipGold expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information in this news release, whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.
Contacts:
SnipGold Corp.
John Zbeetnoff
jzbeetnoff@SnipGoldCorp.com
www.snipgoldcorp.com
Laurel Hill Advisory Group
1-877-452-7184
416-304-0211 collect
assistance@laurelhill.com
Hubb, a Vancouver, WA-based event technology startup, raised $155k in angel funding.
The funding came as an award for having won the ninth annual Seattle Angel Conference.
The company will use the funds to continue to expand operations.
Founded in 2012 and led by Allison Magyar, CEO, Hubb provides cloud-based event management software, which allows managers to streamline the process for collecting, managing, and marketing event content.
The company is now working with customers such as Microsoft and Tableau to support their in-house event teams in overseeing programs for their major conferences.
FinSMEs
18/05/2016
RedPoint Global Inc., a Wellesley Hills, MA-based provider of data management and customer engagement software, raised $12m in Series C funding.
The round was led by Grotech Ventures of Vienna, Virginia, and WP Global Partners LLC.
The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and accelerate development of new product offerings.
Led by CEO Dale Renner, RedPoint Global provides the Convergent Marketing Platform, a customer engagement platform that enables users to extract structured and unstructured data from wherever it is, analyze customer behaviors and preferences, and create the right messaging, whenever and through whatever channel required, from a single platform.
Customers include premier brands in banking, insurance, healthcare, retail, travel services, automotive, non-profit, and consumer and business data compilers. Among others, the roster includes AAA National; AIG; American Express; CompareTheMarket.com; Equifax; GuideWell Mutual Holding Corporation; Kingfisher plc; Rite Aid Corporation; The Limited; and Under Armour, Inc.
FinSMEs
18/05/2016
SpeechVive, an Indianapolis, Indiana-based startup developing medical devices to improve speech clarity of Parkinsons patients, raised $2.275m in seed funding.
The company was awarded a two-year $1.3m grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and received an additional $975k investment from BioCrossroads Indiana Seed Fund II, The Purdue Foundry and a private investor.
The funds will be used to design, build and test a telehealth platform that enables speech pathologists to program the SpeechVive device from a remote location anywhere in the world. The telehealth platform will allow SpeechVive to reach elderly or physically impaired patients who cannot travel to speech pathologists.
SpeechVive is based on the research of Jessica Huber, Ph.D. at the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, focused on developing medical devices to improve speech clarity of Parkinsons patients.
The SpeechVive device, which fits like a hearing aid in the patients ear, detects when a patient is speaking and elicits louder and clearer speech through an involuntary reflex known as the Lombard Effect.
FinSMEs
18/05/2016
Unacast, an Oslo, Norway-based operator of a proximity network which enables brands and retailers to retarget customers online based on offline behavior, raised $5m in Series A venture capital funding.
The round was co-led by Open Ocean Capital and Investinor, with participation from Jonah Goodhart, Michael Barrett, Jason Kelly, and Bill Wise.
The company will use the funds to continue to hire new people and expand operations.
Led by Thomas Walle Jensen, CEO, and Kjartan Slette, COO, Unacast operates a network of beacon and proximity data, connecting the physical world to the digital for online retargeting and attribution.
The company partners with large proximity companies, which currently covers 1.4m of the worlds beacons, and connects the resulting data sets to global ad platforms to enable digital ad retargeting based on physical behavior.
Unacast has offices in NYC, San Francisco and London.
FinSMEs
18/05/2016
Let us rename the Taj Mahal immediately.
Now that we are overcome with the desire to erase memories of our Mughal emperors, divide history on religious lines, rename roads, monuments and cities, let us make a bold statement by attacking the biggest symbol of Babar's dynasty.
Changing names of minor roads, small towns in the hinterland, making petty changes here and there won't be worthy statements of our intent to reframe our living history. These are just sporadic, guerrilla attacks on the Mughal heritage. To erase memories of a dynasty that ruled India for almost 300 years from our history, geography and culture, such feeble attacks will not be enough.
We need an all-out war.
So, let us begin from the top and rename the defining symbol of our subservience to the Mughals. Let's call the Taj either Tejo Temple some bhakts believe a shrine by that name was demolished to build the mausoleum or, since we are in the middle of honouring Rajput rulers, call it Jai Singh Mahal for his benevolent act of donating the land for the structure to Shah Jahan.
In fact, it would be immoral and opportunistic of us to be ashamed of an Akbar Road, get embarrassed by an Aurangabad and simultaneously feel proud of the Taj Mahal. It will be hypocritical to have it both ways: Demonise Akbar for invading a Hindu kingdom and romanticise in the same breath his grandson for building a wonder of the world. No, the Taj must go. Why just stop at Akbar Road, Aurangzeb Road and Aurangabad?
On Tuesday, Union minister VK Singh wrote to the government, asking it to rename Akbar Road after Mewar's ruler Rana Pratap. Singh argued that Pratap was a real secular, a man of the masses. But he has still not got his due.
Singh's suggestion can solve several problems. Akbar Road is one of the most famous addresses in Lutyen's Delhi. Some of the top BJP leaders like Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and Speaker of Parliament Sumitra Mahajan have their official bungalows on this road. Imagine the discomfort of the Hindutva brigade when it has to suffer the pain of seeing their heroes live at an address that reminds them of the emperor who beat a secular hero.
Akbar, of course was a tyrant and a bigot. It is a myth that he tried to introduce a new religion, Deen-e-Ilahi, that tried to borrow from the best of all prevalent religions of his time. It must be a canard that Akbar promoted people from every religion as his navratnas--Birbal, Todarmal, Tansen et al--or tried to strike peaceful alliances with Rajput ruler through his matrimonial policy.
So, as its workers once famously chanted, "Tel lagao Dabur ka, Naam mitao Akbar ka!"
Never mind the fact that historians often argue that history is complicated. Looking at it through the prism of religion, creating a communal binary for judging rulers is a disastrous way of understanding the past. History is shaped by several simultaneous narratives, some competing, some contradictory and some shaped by the extant context and cultures.
But then, as historian Harbans Mukhia argues, history is everyones discipline. "Everyone is a born historian with equal entitlement to speak with full confidence. Especially if you have learnt the subject at an RSS shakha. So unlike any other discipline like physics or chemistry or even economics and sociologywhere one has to devote to a lifetime to master it," he writes.
The BJP's aversion to our Mughal past is well known. Left to it, the party would have loved to devise a mechanism for wiping the slate clean, creating eternal sunshine of the spotless time. It is for this reason alone that it tries to pit Hindu heroes if you can call Pratap one only against Mughal rulers.
For argument's sake, if VK Singh, like his ideological brethren, was really keen to get Pratap his dues, he could have asked for creating a fresh monument to the Mewar ruler's greatness. Even if he was keen on getting a road renamed after him, Singh could have identified Delhi's Man Singh Road, named after the Rajput general who led Akbar's army that defeated Pratap, for the project. But, for obvious reasons, his gaze has fallen only on Akbar Road.
Ironically, the BJP doesn't show such enthusiasm when it has to honour heroes like Bhagat Singh. For almost a year, a proposal to name Chandigarh's airport after Bhagat Singh remained stuck because Haryana's ML Khattar government was eager to bestow the honour on some RSS leader. It relented only after public outrage.
The problem, of course, is that the Congress started a tradition that the BJP is now misusing. As Rishi Kapoor rightly pointed out in his tweet, the Congress tampered shamelessly with history to honour only the Gandhis. The BJP is now taking this to a different level, supplanting its Hindutva agenda with the Congress philosophy of sycophancy.
Some day, when this outrageous debate spins out of hand, the madness for manipulating history turns into an irrational frenzy, nothing would remain sacrosanct.
And the Taj could indeed become a Jai Mahal.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp (7211.T) President Tetsuro Aikawa will step down to take responsibility for the fuel economy data scandal, the Nikkei reported.
Aikawa, who temporarily will be succeeded by Chairman Osamu Masuko, is set to leave around the time the third-party investigative committee compiles the final report in July or the stockholders meeting in June, the paper reported.
Masuko would continue in the dual role until the completion of Nissan Motor Co's (7201.T) acquisition of a stake in Mitsubishi, the Nikkei added.
Mitsubishi Motors and Nissan could not be immediately reached for a comment.
Nissan would appoint one of its directors to head Mitsubishi Motors' product development division after Mitsubishi Motors' regular shareholder meeting on June 24, the paper reported.
Japan's sixth-largest automaker, Mitsubishi, admitted in April it had overstated the fuel efficiency of 625,000 cars, wiping off around 40 percent of its market value, or $3.2 billion in three days.
Mitsubishi Motors plans to decrease its own directors from 13 to 11, while Nissan is set to nominate four directors, including the chairman, the paper added.
(Reporting by Rishika Sadam in Bengaluru; Editing by Stephen Coates)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
WASHINGTON Bitterness over the Democratic nominating process trailed Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders on Wednesday as they headed into the final stretch of their protracted battle to represent the party in November's White House election.
On the Republican side, presumptive nominee Donald Trump ignited controversy over both domestic and foreign policy. In an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, Trump outlined a string of controversial proposals including dismantling most of the U.S. Dodd-Frank financial regulations, calling for a renegotiation of the Paris climate accord and saying he is willing to meet with North Korea's leader.
As Trump, who all but secured his party's nomination when his last two rivals dropped out this month, focussed squarely on the Nov. 8 general election, the Democrats faced a feud over a chaotic state party convention in Nevada at the weekend that included a chair thrown by Sanders supporters.
More Democrats urged Sanders on Wednesday to take a stronger stand against the uprising by his supporters in Nevada and said he did not go far enough in condemning the violence there.
"That was the time to have sent a full-throated message to his followers: that we don't do this kind of thing," U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein said on CNN.
Democrat Barbara Boxer, the other U.S. senator from California, was at the Nevada convention and expressed her concern to Sanders in a phone call on Tuesday night. "I feared for my safety and had a lot of security around me," she told CNN. "I've never had anything like this happen."
Sanders said he condemned violence and harassment against individuals but he framed Nevada's incident as a warning to Democratic leaders to treat his supporters with fairness.
Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, is determined to fight on against front-runner Clinton in what has become a longer-than-expected and sometimes acrimonious battle. In contests Tuesday, Clinton narrowly edged out Sanders in Kentucky, a state where she had not been expected to win. Sanders won Oregon, a state that played to his strengths.
Democrats are faced with a delicate balancing act as long as Sanders remains in the primary race, needing to pivot towards Trump without taking Clinton's nomination for granted and alienating passionate backers of Sanders.
Sparring on Tuesday between the Sanders camp and the Democratic National Committee leader over the Nevada events further threatened party unity less than two months before its national convention in July in Philadelphia.
"Unaddressed, the toxic relationship between DNC @ @SenSanders campaign, so evident last night, could cast dark cloud over Philly convention," David Axelrod, a former top Obama strategist, said on Twitter.
UPHILL BATTLE FACES CLINTON
Despite having an almost unassailable lead in the delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination, and with the primary battle heading towards the final contests next month, Clinton will need Sanders supporters on her side in the general election.
According to a recent Reuters/Ipsos survey, what played out in Nevada is just a glimpse into the uphill battle Clinton faces in courting them.
If Clinton wins the nomination, for every six Democrats who support Sanders, one will switch their allegiance to Trump in the general election and two say they would not support either candidate. Only three of every six say they would support Clinton as the partys nominee.
Sanders' campaign has long accused party leaders of favoring Clinton, a former U.S. senator and secretary of state, for the presidential nomination in the face of his unexpectedly strong primary challenge.
On Saturday, his supporters in Nevada became angry at the delegate selection process, booing, yelling and hurling insults, and at least one chair, towards the convention leaders.
Nevada Democratic Party chairwoman, Roberta Lange, said she and her family, including a 5-year-old grandson, have received death threats and numerous callers have disrupted her workplace.
On Wednesday, Lange said she wanted Sanders to acknowledge the threats, and apologise.
"His statement was pretty weak," she said on CNN. "Until you say you're sorry, until you say what happened in Nevada should not have happened and it was wrong and it was fuelled by your senior campaign staff people, then that's an apology and then I think there's some responsibility is taken."
She defended the state party's delegate selection process and said Clinton's campaign was better organized, adding that "he was going to lose the convention no matter what because they didn't turn out their people."
Growing uproar this week over the events in Nevada prompted party leaders including DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and senior U.S. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada to call on Sanders to rein in his supporters.
Wasserman Schultz told CNN on Tuesday night that, "Unfortunately, the senator's response was anything but acceptable. It certainly did not condemn the supporters for the violence and added more fuel to the fire."
Sanders spokesman Jeff Weaver said on Wednesday that Sanders categorically condemned any kind of threats as unacceptable.
"We can have a long conversation about Debbie Wasserman Schultz just about how she's been throwing shade on the Sanders campaign from the very beginning," Weaver told CNN.
(Addition reporting by Alana Wise, Susan Heavey, Megan Cassella in Washington; Chris Kahn in New York; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Frances Kerry)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
New Delhi: Six persons, including the owner of a prominent hotel in New Delhi area, were on Wednesday detained in connection with the murder of a 57-year-old lawyer in southeast Delhi's Jamia Nagar area.
Apart from the hotel owner, the detained persons include a group of contract killers, who allegedly shot dead MM Khan, an assistant legal advisor with the NDMC, police said.
Khan was allegedly shot dead at a crowded street on Monday evening when he was heading back home in his car which was intercepted by motorcycle-borne assailants, who shot at him from a close range.
The hotel owner was allegedly putting pressure on Khan to waive off penalty worth hundreds of crores due to NDMC, imposed on the hotel on several grounds.
Lately, Khan was also being threatened regarding the same.
His relatives told police that he had been receiving calls from unknown people during odd hours of the day. Police had recovered his mobile phone and the call data was being analysed, an official had said.
On 14 March, 300 people from Shahapur (the largest taluka in Thane), led by local BJP leader Santosh Shinde, embarked on a walk towards Mumbai. They were peeved at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for drawing water from reservoirs in their area, which was already water deprived and threatened to stop Mumbai's supply, if the government failed to ensure adequate water for them.
Their 'Jaldindi Padyatra' reached Mumbai on Tuesday after covering a distance of around 75 km, and the residents submitted their 10-point demands to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Their number one demand: that BMC adopt Shahapur so they don't have to rely on tankers. "We demand adequate water provision for us too, otherwise, we will have no choice but to stop the supply of water which is being diverted to Mumbaikars from our soil," Shinde said, while addressing the gathering at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai.
This brings us to the question: where does Mumbai get its water from?
The outskirts of Shahapur have four reservoirs Bhatsa, Tansa, Modak Sagar and the Vaitarna that supply 2,960 million litres of water to Mumbai every day through pipelines.
According to the Mumbai City Development Plan 2005-2025, Mumbai's population has reached 12 million which requires around 3,900 million litres per day (MLD). At present, 3,100 MLD is being supplied for domestic, commercial and industrial requirements.
Apart from the four reservoirs in Shahapur, Mumbai obtains water from various other schemes including Vihar, Tulsi and Powai, Lower Vaitarna, Upper Vaitarna, Bhatsa Stage I and II.
In 1860, Vihar was the first piped water supply scheme and it now supplies 68 MLD to 7,00,000 people. The Tulsi and Powai scheme supplies 4 LD used for agriculture and dairy purposes. The water from the Tansa scheme is drawn through seven outlets at different levels and it supplies a total of 410 MLD and the Lower Vaitarna scheme increased the city's water supply by an additional 540 MLD.
According to a report by the Bombay Community Public Trust and the Chitale Committee, as the population is projected to expand to 16 million by 2021, future water sources have been identified to augument Mumbai's increasing thirst. In the report mentioned above, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, recognising the need for water will rise to 5,388 MLD, has further proposed the Mumbai Middle Vaitarna Water Supply Project, which make the total up to 3,810 MLD.
A report in The Hindu details the Shahapur residents' plight who say that they can survive a year with the same amount of water that Mumbai consumes in a day. It further adds that the taluka requires 17.62 MLD for a population of four lakh.
Water-scarcity in the taluka has led to the shutdown of industries which in turn has led to severe unemployment among youngsters.
With inputs from PTI
Beijing: President Pranab Mukherjee will visit China from 24 to 27 May during which he will hold talks with the top Chinese leadership, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, announcing the first trip to the county by an Indian Head of State in six years.
Mukherjee will be visiting China at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping, the Foreign Ministry said.
Mukherjee, the first President to visit China after his predecessor Pratibha Patil's trip in 2010, will arrive in the highly industrialised Chinese city Guangzhou on 24 May. The city has strong business links with India.
Besides interacting with the Indian community, which has over 3,000 businessmen, Mukherjee will also address India-China Business Forum to highlight the investment opportunities in India.
Top Chinese officials of the province are expected to attend the event. A number of Indian and Chinese businessmen are also expected to take part in the event, official sources said.
Later, he will arrive in Beijing on 25 May and attend a reception hosted by The Chinese People's Friendship Association for Foreign Countries (CPAFFC).
On 26 May, he will address a meeting at the Peking university and later hold talks with Xi and also meet Premier Li Keqiang along with other Chinese leaders before leaving for home on 27 May.
Mukherjee's visit would set off a series of high-level visits between the two countries as they seek to deepen bilateral engagement despite differences like China's attempts block India's bid at the UN to get JeM chief Masood Azhar banned.
The President's visit, which is a reciprocal visit to Xi's trip to India in 2014, will be followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Chinese city of Hangzhou to take part in the G20 leaders summit to be held on 4 and 5 September this year.
Xi was expected to travel to India to take part in the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) summit scheduled to be held in Goa from 15-16 October this year. Modi had made a high-profile visit to China last year.
New Delhi: The Congress party on Wednesday took a swipe at actor Rishi Kapoor for questioning why important assets of the country were named after the Gandhi family, by asking if the veteran actor has "any role to play in India's public life".
The Congress on Wednesday said people were targeting the Gandhis "to get into the good books" of the ruling BJP.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewary said: "Last time I heard of him was when he acted in some movie called 'Bobby'. That's quite a few years ago. After that I have not heard of him. Does he have any role to play in India's public life? This stage doesn't deem fit to reply to this question."
Congress spokesperson PC Chacko, without naming the veteran actor, told the media that the comments targetting the Gandhis were "merely an attempt by some people to get into the good books of those in power".
Chacko said he had not seen Rishi Kapoor's tweets "but it seems that some people are trying to abuse the Congress leadership just to get into the good books of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)."
"They want to please somebody in power. They can have it but not at the expense of the Congress. We don't take it seriously and it is not worth any comments at all," he said.
Rishi Kapoor earlier in a series of tweets deprecated the fact that previous Congress governments have named important assets of the country only after the Gandhi family.
He said the present government must consider renaming the assets after those who have contributed to the society.
He asked why Delhi's airport was named Indira Gandhi International Airport. "Why not Mahatma Gandhi or Bhagat Singh, Ambedkar or on my name Rishi Kapoor. As superficial! What say."
New Delhi: On Tuesday RSS paid glowing tributes to Nirankari saint Baba Hardev Singh, who died in a road accident in Canada last week, saying his contribution towards society, mankind and spiritual world would remain unforgettable.
In their joint condolence message RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and his deputy Suresh Bhayyaji Joshi said his demise has caused an irreparable loss to the spiritual world.
"The departure of the Nirankari Baba is like an irreparable loss to a valuable asset of the spiritual world. His life in the Indian saintly tradition enlightened lakhs of people and will continue to do so for ages and his works in the service of humanity will continue to be carried out. On behalf of all RSS Swayamsevaks, we pray that his soul may rest in peace," they said in their message.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad also paid homage to the Nirankari saint and spiritual leader Baba Hardev Singh, with its leaders doing the last 'darshan' and offering their condolences in Burari.
VHP International vice president Om Prakash Singhal expressed sorrow on the untimely demise of the leader who dedicated his entire life to world peace and humanity. He prayed to God to inspire everyone to follow his path and wished the departed soul may rest in peace.
Baba Hardev Singh, head of Nirankari Mission, was killed in a road accident in Canada on 13 May.
After the death of Baba Hardev Singh, the leader of the Sant Nirankari Mission, some news reports speculated that his daughter would take over. Now, according to a report in the Hindustan Times, the decision was taken on Tuesday night that his wife Savinder Kaur will head the spiritual organisation.
Kaur, who married Hardev Singh in 1975, will reportedly be the first woman to head the sect that was founded in 1929, the HT report also added.
A report by Zee News noted that Kaur hailed from Uttar Pradesh and that she used to accompany Baba Hardev Singh at every congregation, sitting on his right as an equal. It also added that she asked for the followers to be friendly with each other and take the mission forward as willed by the former leader.
A report by the website India.com said that Kaur was given the ceremonial dupatta during a ceremony on Tuesday and a 21-member management committee was also present.
On 13 May, Hardev Singh, 62, was killed in a road accident in Canada.
Hardev Singh is the son of assassinated Nirankari head Gurbachan Singh. After his early schooling at Rosary Public School, Sant Nirankari Colony, Delhi, he joined Yadavindra Public School, Patiala, a boarding school, in 1963.
On completion of his schooling, he studied in Delhi University. In 1971, he joined the Nirankari Sewa Dal as its primary member.
After the assassination of his father Gurbachan Singh, who was then head of the Sant Nirankari Mission in 1980, Hardev Singh succeeded as the 'Satguru' of the organisation.
Sant Nirankari Mission was established in 1929, by Buta Singh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the demise of Hardev Singh terming it as a "tragic and great loss to the spiritual world. My thoughts are with his countless followers in this sad time."
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh mourned the death of Baba Hardev Singh.
In a condolence message, Khattar described Hardev Singh as a "great spiritual leader" who would be long remembered for his tireless service to the humanity. His death is a great loss to the spiritual world."
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Amarinder Singh said Hardev's death "is a great loss not only to his followers but also humanity as a whole since he was a great spiritual leader."
The former chief minister said, the spiritual void created by his death will be very difficult to be filled. "I personally share the grief of the family and followers over this great loss", he said.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat described Hardev Singh's death as an "irreparable loss to humanity."
"Baba Hardev Singh ji's work in the field of spirituality cannot be forgotten. He added a new dimension to the Nirankari Mission. His death is an irreparable loss to humanity," Rawat said in a statement.
Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress President Kishore Upadhyay also condoled his death saying his words of wisdom in a terror-torn world were like a guiding light in a room filled with darkness.
With inputs from PTI
180516JOHN KEN THANKS AWARENESS TEAM
By Aloysius Laukai
The former ABG Member for South Nasioi (2010-2015) and Director of the South Nasioi Co-operative Society, JOHN KEN today praised the people of Paraiano Village Assembly for attending the first Copra Processing awareness conducted by officers from the Kokonas Indastri Koporetion, DPI and Copra Exporter TAMBOLEMA HOLDINGS LIMITED .
MR. KEN said that the people of Bougainville need to be re-trained to produce good export quality copra so that they can get money for their sweat.
He said currently Bougainvilleans are not producing quality Copra as they have been neglected for so long by Government Authorities that are supposed to support farmers on their blocks.
MR. KEN said that his association with Tambolema Copra Exporters which is a new player in Central Bougainville is already showing signs of improvements and also farmers are getting good money in their pockets right at their doorsteps.
He said the operation by Tambolema to get into the farmers has cut off middlemen who in the past continued to pay farmers at very low prices discouraging farmers from working on their coconut plantations.
MR. KEN called on TAMBOLEMA and its partners to continue with their work of training farmers to other areas of Bougainville.
The awareness trainings will lead to a further copra assessor workshop that will be conducted by KIK in Central Bougainville later this year.
The trainings started at Numanuma in Wakunai, Paraiano in South Nasioi today, KOROMIRA tomorrow and Manetai on Friday.
Tambolema Copra Exporters is organizing farmers to produce dried Copra and that any sub-standard Copra brought into its buying points after these trainings will be rejected.
As an Exporter it will start paying Copra in three Grades that is Hot Air, FMS and Smoke after all the awareness at their main buying points are completed.
Apart from trainings, Tambolema Copra Exporters will also support its organize suppliers to improve their Copra Dryers.
Tambolema is interested in working with Co-operate Societies to support the ABG with its Economic Recovery program.
It will spend almost THREE MILLION KINA on Copra buying in Central Bougainville alone by the end of this month.
Ends
CALGARY, Alberta A massive wildfire raged near Fort McMurray, Alberta on Tuesday and threatened major oil sands production facilities, forcing the evacuation of thousands of workers and prolonging a shutdown that cut Canadian oil output by 1 million barrels a day.
The fire jumped a critical firebreak late Monday where plants and trees had been removed to stop its spread, moving north of Fort McMurray into oil sand camp areas. Some 8,000 workers were evacuated in the heavily forested northern part of the province.
The wildfire was taking a toll on the province's economy, with one study estimating the lost oil production would cut gross domestic product (GDP) by more than C$70 million a day.
The uncontrolled blaze covered 355,000 hectares (877,224 acres), up from 285,000 hectares on Monday. The fire on Tuesday burnt a 655-room lodge for oil sands workers about 35 km (20 miles) north of Fort McMurray and threatened other housing.
High temperatures and winds were working against firefighters, and the fire was forecast to move to the east, putting oil operations in its path, officials said.
None of the oil sands have caught fire, and the industry was redoubling efforts to ensure facilities were well-protected, said Alberta wildfire manager Chad Morrison.
"Because of the cleared vegetation, lots of gravel on site and because they have an industrial firefighting service on site that understands this ... we feel fairly confident the sites themselves will be OK," Morrison told a news conference.
The lost Canadian production of 1 million barrels a day represents about one-quarter of total Canadian output. Canadian crude oil prices strengthened in light trading on Tuesday and Global oil prices touched a six-month high, with the Alberta outages among factors lending support.[O/R]
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said westerly winds were expected to push the fire closer to facilities operated by Suncor Energy Inc (SU.TO), one of the area's biggest operators, and Syncrude, majority owned by Suncor, on Tuesday.
Suncor started an orderly shutdown of its base plant operations and said its Firebag facility will move to minimal essential personnel, while Syncrude has evacuated the majority of its workforce to Edmonton but left a minimum staff of some 100 people at its Mildred Lake upgrader and Aurora Mine.
The fire also threatened Enbridge Inc's (ENB.TO) Cheecham crude oil tank farm south of Fort McMurray, but Notley said the fire line built there has held and winds were blowing away from the facility.
TransAlta Corp's (TA.TO) Poplar Creek cogeneration power plant, operated by Suncor and providing power to its site, was also shut by early Tuesday due to the wildfire.
17 WILDFIRES IN PROVINCE
In Ottawa, federal Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr said he planned to have talks soon with energy companies to assess the damage from but gave no further details.
Prior to the latest setback, lost oil production was expected to average about 1.2 million barrels a day for 14 days, or roughly C$985 million ($763 million) in lost real GDP, according to the Conference Board of Canada.
Notley said the Conference Board's numbers were in the range of the government's estimates.
The premier added that the province has not underestimated the fire and had the resources to fight the fire. There are nearly 1,800 firefighters fighting 17 wildfires across the western Canadian province, with four of them out of control.
Canada has declined help from allies including the United States and Australia. Federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said Ottawa had full confidence in Alberta's ability to fight the blaze.
Fort McMurray's roughly 90,000 residents were forced to flee nearly two weeks ago as the fire raged through neighborhoods and destroyed about 10 percent of the city's structures.
With new explosions in the city damaging 10 homes and hot spots still a risk, Notley is not yet allowing residents to return.
(Additional reporting by Andrea Hopkins in Toronto and Julie Gordon in Vancouver; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Cynthia Osterman)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
WASHINGTON Hillary Clinton was narrowly ahead of Bernie Sanders in Kentucky's Democratic presidential primary with 99 percent of the vote counted on Tuesday night.
The tight contest was yet another demonstration of how divided Democrats are in the drawn-out national race for the party's nomination.
Kentucky was not considered favourable terrain for Clinton, after neighbouring West Virginia and Indiana both went to Sanders. Clinton's ability to stave off a resounding defeat in Kentucky now gives her a little breathing room, as she looks forward to a lull in the primary campaign before the final contests on June 7.
Clinton, who spent the past two days campaigning in Kentucky, would like to lock up the nomination and turn her attention to November's general election and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Trump, in an interview with Megyn Kelly that aired on Fox News Tuesday night, said he did have regrets about his actions during the Republican primary process.
"I could have used different language in a couple of instances, but overall Im happy with the outcome," Trump said.
Clintons sizeable lead in delegates means it is likely she will eventually be her party's nominee, but she remains more than 100 delegates short of sealing the deal.
Oregon also held its Democratic primary contest on Tuesday. For the Democrats, there are 55 delegates up for grabs in Kentucky and 61 in Oregon. All of the delegates are awarded proportionally, meaning the results could do little to upset the current trajectory of the Democratic race.
Tuesday's vote in Kentucky followed sometimes violent outbursts in Nevada that increased tensions within the party.
NEVADA STILL RANKLES
Sanders supporters became angry when Nevada state party officials chose to end their convention and block efforts to award the U.S. senator from Vermont more delegates than he initially won in the February caucus. Clinton won the caucus.
The Nevada incident was a warning about the potential for fireworks at July's Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
Sanders on Tuesday joined his supporters in criticizing the Nevada Democratic Party after Saturday's events.
One Sanders supporter threw a chair, unhappy about being blocked in a rules vote that was part of the effort to help the senator win more delegates to the national convention. Others applied chalk graffiti to a party building. And the state's party chairwoman has been receiving death threats since then.
Sanders framed Nevada's incident as a warning.
"If the Democratic Party is to be successful in November, it is imperative that all state parties treat our campaign supporters with fairness and the respect that they have earned," Sanders said in a statement on the Nevada incident.
Sanders - who said he condemns violence and personal harassment of individuals - levelled some of the same complaints his supporters did, arguing that state party Chairwoman Roberta Lange did not allow a headcount on a disputed rules change. He also argued that 64 delegates to the state convention were not given a hearing before being ruled ineligible.
The state party disputed the Sanders campaign's interpretation of the events. It said some delegates did not show up at the convention and others were disqualified because they were not registered as Democrats in time.
"The Sanders campaign is continuing to be dishonest about what happened Saturday and is failing to adequately denounce the threats of violence of his supporters," the Nevada Democratic Party said in a statement.
Sanders supporters began circulating a picture of Lange on the internet that included her cellphone number and encouraged others to contact her to express their unhappiness.
Lange said in an appearance on MSNBC that she has been receiving death threats, including many containing vulgar language. Public messages sent to her Twitter account included a barrage of derogatory statements.
MSNBC played some of the voicemails, including one saying people like you should be hung in a public execution.
What you heard is a few of the thousands of emails and texts and Facebook messages and Twitter messages that Ive gotten," Lange said on MSNBC. "Threats to my family, to my grandson, to my husband.
WORRY ABOUT SANDERS
Sanders' continued presence in the race is prompting concerns among Clinton allies that he will damage her ability to take on Trump and hurt her in the fall.
But Sanders supporters shrug off that worry, arguing that Trump is such a flawed candidate that Clinton will easily dispatch with him if she faces him in the Nov. 8 election.
"Either way were going to get a Democratic president," Alisha Liedtke, 28, a Sanders supporter from Ellensburg, Washington.
(Additional reporting by Luciana Lopez in New York and Doina Chiacu, John Whitesides and Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Editing by Caren Bohan, Jonathan Oatis and Leslie Adler)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Sony has invested an undisclosed sum in artificial intelligence start-up Cogitai. Founded a year ago, Cogitai focuses on technology that allows machines to learn continually and autonomously from interaction in the real world.
The latest investment comes from Sony as it struggling to garner revenue from its smartphone business. Major tech companies like Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft are already investing large sums in artificial intelligence. As a result of the acquisition, Sony plans to release a product or service derived from collaboration with Cogitai as early as next year.
Dr. Mark Ring, CEO of Cogitai said,
Our continual-learning technology will allow computer systems to build knowledge and skills simply through interacting with the world around them. Simple knowledge and skills gained through early experience will allow development of more complex knowledge and skills in a powerful cycle of never-ending self-improvement. Though this ambition has always been one of the major goals of AI, it has never been considered feasible in the near term by those knowledgeable in the field, but our team believes it sees a path toward this dream.
Toshimoto Mitomo, Corporate Executive in charge of Intellectual Property and Mid-to-Long Term Business Development of Sony Corporation said,
As strategic investors, we believe that continual learning is the core of future AI. We are deeply aware of how previous claims in AI have failed to pan out, but we believe that Cogitai has assembled the people and tools necessary to make rapid progress toward real, continual learning AI and to harness this technology for the betterment of society through innovative commercial applications.
Renault Samsung Motors has announced that it will develop a 1-ton electric light commercial vehicle to support its eco-friendly policy. It will form a consortium with small local companies for the development of the truck that can travel 250 kilometers on a single charge, for the first time in the world. It also plans to develop electric light commercial vehicle platforms and domestically produce components.
Renault Samsung Motors had been developing passenger electric cars for a few years and it said that it has so far sold about 2,000 units of the SM3 compact electric cars. The company will partner with small and mid-size companies with technologies in the electric commercial vehicle battery, driving system and related components. The vehicle could be used to deliver goods within Seoul and other areas.
Renault Samsungs electric light commercial vehicle is said to release in about three to four years.
Regarding the announcement, Renault Samsung official said:
Until now, the development of electric vehicles (EVs) and EV components has been focused on mainly passenger cars. However, commercial vehicles have been considered the next-generation EV market as they are limited to operation purposes, including driving distance per day and freight transportation. In particular, electric commercial vehicles are emerging as a potential alternative which can solve air pollution problems caused by older commercial cars running cities.
Source 1, 2 | Via
We have already seen couple of leaks and live images of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Active (SM-G891A) . Now the phone has surfaced in gold color variant.
Popular tipster @evleaks has shared a press render of the Galaxy S7 Active which he calls desert camo. The phone has gold textured at the back and also on the front physical buttons. The official name of the phone is not known yet. Live images that had surfaced earlier had showed a camouflage back with IP68 certified casing. Now the S7 Active has also surfaced in the green camouflaged case. Similar to its predecessors, the phone will be water and dust resistant.
Samsung Galaxy S7 Active rumored specifications
5.5-inch Quad HD (25601440 pixels) Super AMOLED display
Quad-Core Snapdragon 820 processor with Adreno 530 GPU
4GB LPDDR4 RAM, 32GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 200GB with microSD
Android 6.0.1 (Marshmallow)
Rugged Design, Shock proof, IP68 ratings water and dust resistance
12MP rear camera with LED Flash, f/1.7 aperture, Smart OIS
5MP front-facing camera, f/1.7 aperture
Fingerprint sensor, Barometer
4G LTE, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, GPS with GLONASS, USB 2.0, NFC
The Samsung Galaxy S7 Active will be heading to AT&T in the U.S. first and is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
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Google has officially announced its own voice activated home assistant device, as expected. Dubbed as Google Home, the device will let you enjoy music, manage everyday tasks and ask Google questions via voice commands.
Users can book a cab, send flowers, ask weather, control gadgets, house temperature, and ask about day to day events and queries using Google Home. The device recognizes the popular Okay Google voice command to initiate a search. The built in search feature on Google Home learns from your habits and patterns and knows you overtime.
Google Home is cylindrical in shape and looks quite contemporary. Similar to Googles OnHub router, it is also quite customizable thanks to the modular base that can be set to match your rooms decor.
It will offer you details about your travel itinerary, track package deliveries, check on flight details and so on. Google Home is Googles answer to Amazon Echo that is powered by Alexa voice assistant. Google Home will launch later this year.
For the founders of RLTY, one of New York Citys most prominent real estate agencies, they always had an entrepreneurial spirit. Emir Bahadir and Ben Benalloul, the co-founders of RLTY, knew that at the right moment and time they would start their own business.
From the moment I felt prepared, I knew I was going to start something my own way, my own brand, my company says Bahadir who hails from a long line of entrepreneurs (his family is well established in Turkish construction and real estate). And for Benalloul, whose great grandparents founded Swingline Staplers, the entrepreneurial bug was just as strong.
In the fall of 2014, RLTY was born in New York City. Bahadir had recently graduated from New York University and Benalloul was parting ways with his previous firm. The two met through friends and soon after became business partners. In RLTYs first week, they made a $35 million sale. Looking at RLTYs website now shows they handle listings for some of New Yorks most luxurious properties ranging from rentals of $300,000 to condos for $50 million. The brand recently launched a Miami office due to heavy interest from their clients.
One thing that both Bahadir and Benalloul had early on was plenty of experience in real estate and a drive. Bahadir grew up in real estate and interned at numerous real estate firms during college, while Benalloul started out in private equity at age 18, before starting his own real estate firm and then co-founding RLTY.
But the journey hasnt always been easy for the entrepreneurial duo. Bahadir describes how being fresh out of college at the time was difficult and that he had to overcompensate to impress older agents. I started reading the news every day so if anyone asked me anything in the office, I would have answers for them says Bahadir. For Benalloul, who dropped out of high school and did not attend college, he says that the family pressure on him to succeed was strong. I had to learn everything myself, no one handed me anything says Benalloul.
And starting a business means that the two had to allocate more time on operations and management with less time for working with clients. The two have cut back on their client interaction to manage the day to day operations of RLTY. You have to do whats in the best interest of the company says Benalloul on how hes had to devote more of his time to business development. Bahadir says that hes hoping to differentiate between his roles more.
Now that the company has gone international, communication issues have at times impacted Benalloul and Bahadirs relationship. When working with international clients, sometimes tone and language barriers can clash between countries according to Benalloul and Bahadir says that the two have had communications related issues.. Im a New Yorker. What can I say says Benalloul. But as business partners, the two know that they need to work together and Benalloul describes their relationship as fantastic.
Just shy of the brands two year anniversary, RLTY plans to expand into two cities in Europe and one in the Middle East soon.
This is the fourth installment in FOXBusiness.com's four part series on millennial entrepreneuers. Next week we feature the founders of FROTH, First Round On the House.
Investing in the airline industry with proper diversification isn't as simple as you might assume. Those who gravitate toward exchange-traded funds are used to having several ETF choices at hand with nearly any investment theme or industry sector. Yet the airline industry, while sporting a massive aggregate market capitalization of nearly $190 billion,is covered by surprisingly few ETFs.
The best airline ETF is also currently the only pure-play airline ETF:U.S. Global Jets ETF. Three major U.S. airlines comprise one-third of JETS' holdings:Southwest Airlines Co.,Delta Airlines, Inc. andAmerican Airlines Group Inc. . The fund also holds airline manufacturers such as Boeing Co. .
It may seem odd that there aren't other ETFs that invest solely in airline and aviation stocks. Muted interest on the part of ETF sponsors is due to the historical boom-and-bust cycle that aviation companies have endured over the past several decades. Over-leveraging, the often indiscriminate adding of capacity, and high fixed costs are just a few of the factors that have led to periodic bankruptcies among the even the largest carriers. For example, Delta and American Airlines, which figure so prominently in JETS' holdings, each endured Chapter 11 reorganizations not very long ago, in 2005 and 2011, respectively.
Because of the doubly beneficial conditions of declining oil prices and a low-interest-rate environment, however, balance sheets in this industry are now in relatively decent shape compared with the early to mid-2000s. Many airlines have refinanced debt and used fuel-driven profits to pay down borrowings. If you're up for a bit of industry-specific risk, "JETS" is a logical investment option.
A product of investment advisor U.S. Global Investors, Inc.,JETS is a relatively recent entry to the ETF world, having launched on April 28, 2015. The ETF's total net asset value (NAV) is roughly $52 million, and it tends to trade at a very slight premium to NAV. With an expense ratio of 0.60%, JETS functions as a cost-efficient vehicle to gain broad airline exposure.
In the short time JETS has traded, it's mirrored recent airline industry performance in the stock market and has declined 6.3% over the last trailing 12 months. However, the fundamentals of its holdings reflect the value many believe is still inherent in an airline industry investment: Average return on equity among JETS' holdings is 38%, and the average price-to-earnings ratio for the fund is a mere 7.66.
Another option for ETF-based airline investing
You can, of course, still obtain holdings in airline stocks via more general transportation-industry ETFs, but the concentration of aviation opportunities in these funds is much reduced versus a position in JETS.
The SPDR S&P Transportation ETF is a popular ticker for airline investors who don't mind the dilution of other transportation sub-industries. The fund often features airline stocks in its top holdings.
For example, at the end of XTN's most recent fiscal year, airline stocks made up four of the fund's top five holdings.And as of mid-May 2016, Virgin America Inc. , soon to be acquired by Alaska Air Group Inc. , takes the top spot as the fund's largest holding, at nearly 5% of the total portfolio.
If your goal is to take advantage of a projected short or long-term rise in the aggregate market capitalization of the U.S. and global airline business, investing in XTN is a sensible, though rather indirect, way to go about it. Here's a breakdown of the fund's recent sub-industry holdings:
Image source: spdrs.com.
Airline stocks make up less than 30% of the SPDR XTN ETF. For some, this allocation may be just right, as it allows participation in an industry that has performed extremely well over the past three years, while potentially reducing the impact when airlines next experience a cyclical downturn.
But for those who have the itch to take on a diversified but meaningful position in airlines and related airline manufacturing stocks, this ETF, and others similar to it, don't provide nearly enough of an aviation weighting to make a difference. Bullish airline investors who understand the risks should consider accumulating shares of JETS, the only ETF that allows shareholders to focus solely on air carriers and manufacturers.
The article The Best Airline ETF in 2016 originally appeared on Fool.com.
Asit Sharma has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2017 $35 calls on American Airlines Group. The Motley Fool recommends Virgin America. 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.
Dividends are great, but dividends that have room to grow can make you rich over time. And, while it may not happen right away -- and in one case, we don't want it to -- here are three examples of stocks whose dividends could double. In fact, I'm so confident about these three dividend-paying stocks that I own all three in my personal portfolio.
As of this writing, Bank of America's dividend stands at just $0.20 per year, which translates to an annual yield of 1.34%. So, it's fair to say Bank of America isn't exactly an "income stock" in the traditional sense of the word.
I've written before Bank of America is extremely attractive at its current valuation, and that it's share price doesn't reflect the bank's dramatic improvements since the financial crisis.
Although its dividend is low, the bank is rather generous about distributing capital to investors. In fact, the bank returned $4.5 billion to shareholders in 2015 and hopes to increase this amount going forward. The thing is -- the majority of this return of capital was in the form of buybacks, not dividends. This trend has continued into 2016: During the first quarter, the bank spent twice as much on buybacks as dividends.
Bank of America has chosen to emphasize buybacks for one simple reason: It's stock is extremely cheap right now. In fact, the bank trades for just 64% of its book value, and even trades for less than its tangible book value of $16.17 per share. In other words, Bank of America can spend $0.64 to buy a dollar's worth of its own assets. No wonder dividends aren't the priority.
In a nutshell, although I'm confident the bank could get approval to double its dividend if it wanted to, doing so wouldn't be in the best interest of shareholders at this time. I believe Bank of America will someday become a solid income stock again, and as a B of A shareholder myself, I hope the bank continues to take advantage of its depressed valuation. And for the time being, you can, too.
The newest Buffett stock has lots of room for dividend increases
Apple was recently added to Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio by one of Warren Buffett's trusted stock pickers, and it's not too tough to guess why.
The company has several characteristics Berkshire loves. For one thing, Apple is the clear leader in its industry; when it comes to phones, there are iPhones and everything else. And, in the tablet computing market, there are iPads and everything else.
Also, Berkshire loves a cheap stock. Apple has been cheap for some time, but it's especially attractive right now after losing 24% of its value over the past year. As of this writing, Apple trades for just 11.2 times TTM earnings, and it's sitting on a massive stockpile of about $216 billion in cash and securities. When backing this out and only including Apple's business, the company's P/E ratio drops to an unheard-of 6.8-to-1. Granted, the majority of Apple's cash is parked overseas and can't be repatriated without a massive tax bill, but it's still worth considering.
As far as the dividend goes, Apple's current annual payout of $2.28 represents just 25% of its earnings over the past year, so there's plenty of room to grow. While I don't expect it to double from its current level right away, it could happen within the next few years.
This REIT's best days could still be ahead of it
Just to reiterate, I never said these stocks will double their dividends immediately. In dividend investing, long-term trends are much more important than short-term dividend growth. With that in mind, one stock that's definitely worth mentioning is Digital Realty Trust , a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on data center properties.
Over the past decade, Digital Realtytriple its dividend thanks to the exponential growth in data storage needs. Even more impressively, shareholders have been rewarded with an average total return of more than 19% per year.
I realize that a stock's past performance doesn't guarantee future success, but in this case, there's no reason to believe Digital Realty's best days are behind it. In fact, a report from Cisco forecasts that global IP traffic will continue to grow at a rate of 23% per year until at least 2019, and mobile and cloud data traffic will grow even faster. So, there should be no shortage of opportunities to grow in the years ahead, and it shouldn't be too difficult to keep occupancy high.
A word of caution
Just because I say these stocks' dividends could double doesn't mean they will, and there are several things (both good and bad) that could prevent this from happening. As I mentioned, Bank of America could decide to focus the majority of its efforts on buybacks and leave its dividend alone for years to come -- which I believe would be the right move. Or, Apple could decide to use a large portion of its cash to make acquisitions, and could rule out large dividend raises for the near future. These would probably both be good things for shareholders unless, of course, you rely on your stocks for income.
On the negative side, Digital Realty could struggle to fill its properties and retain tenants if data needs don't grow as expected. And, since it depends on regulatory approval to return capital to shareholders, Bank of America could be forced to trim its dividends and buybacks in the event of another recession.
The point is, while I think it's likely these dividends will increase substantially, it's important to know there are many different possibilities that could prevent it from happening, so invest accordingly.
The article 3 Attractive Income Stocks Whose Dividends Could Double
Healthcare-focused investors have been on a rough ride in 2016. The Vanguard Health Care ETF , a popular exchange-traded fund that holds hundreds of individual healthcare stocks, is down more than 8% year to date, placing it more than 6% behind the returns of the S&P 500.
That fact likely delights many short-sellers, as there are plenty of healthcare stocks with high short-interest ratios, meaning some investors have bet against the company's stock in the hopes of making a profit if the share price falls. This strategy works well when the market turns bearish, but things can go horribly wrong if the companies these short-sellers have targeted wind up reporting good news.
Knowing that, we asked a team of our healthcare contributors to share a healthcare stock they think the short-sellers have all wrong. Read below to see which companies they highlighted.
Short-sellers have certainly placed a target on the back of Opko Health ,a biopharmaceutical and diagnostics company.More than 64 million shares ofthiscompany's stockhave been sold short. That represents more than 20% of its publiclytraded float, so there's a lot of negative sentiment surrounding this stock right now.
That likely owes to the fact that the FDA issued a complete response letter in March for Rayaldee, a drug designed to increase vitamin D levels in patients with chronic kidney disease. The agency stated it found deficiencies at Opko's third-partycontract manufacturer that caused it to reject Rayaldee's submission. In response, Opko was forced to resubmit a new application for Rayaldee, which pushed the decision date all the way to Oct. 22, 2016.
If that weren't bad enough, investors also recently learned that several of Opko's top executives resigned in the first quarter of 2016. That's a lot of negative news to take all at once, so it's no wonder this company has attracted short-sellers' attention.
Despite the string of bummer news, I still think there are reasons to be optimistic. First, the delay with Rayaldee had nothing to do with the drug's clinical results, as the FDA did not force any new clinical studies or identify any safety issues with the first submission. That hints that the drug stands a great chance of winning approval in October, which is a big deal, since Opko estimates Rayaldee will compete in a market valued around $12 billion.
Second, the company has moved quickly to fill the vacant executive seats, already having made a few key hires. The remaining seats are expected to be in place by the end of this quarter.
Finally, the company recently signed a collaboration agreement with Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma to commercialize Rayaldee in a huge number of international markets. If Rayaldee proves to be a winner, it could be a windfall for Opko, as it could receive up to $282 million in upfront and milestone payments, plus a double-digit royalty rate.
The company's waning share price hasn't gone unnoticed by its CEO, either: Phillip Frost -- a billionaire healthcare entrepreneur and former executive at Teva Pharmaceutical -- recently added more than 47 million shares of Opko's stock to his portfolio, bringing his current position up to a whopping 182 million shares. That's a huge vote of confidence for someone with a track record of success, so if I were short Opko's stock, I'd certainly be nervous.
Over the past year, shares of clinical-stage biotechCelldex Therapeutics have lost over 80% of their value,putting its market cap at about $421 million.
Granted, its first attempt at a pivotal phase 3 trial with Rintega failed to beat the standard of care in a deadly form of brain cancer.But what Wall Street bears have overlooked is that the company finished last year with nearly $290 million in cash and marketable securities --and another candidate in a pivotal trial for triple-negative breast cancer.
That indication is so named because three common targets for existing breast cancer therapies aren't present on the surface of these patients' tumors. What is commonly found on the surface of these patients tumors' is a protein called gpNMB. Celdex's "new" lead candidate -- formerly known as CDX-011 and recently given the horribly long name of glembatumumab vedotin -- is a protein that binds to gpNMB.
Image source: Celldex Therapeutics.
Once invited inside tumor cells identified by gpNMB, glembatumumab vedotin introduces tumor cells to its "little friend"monomethyl auristatin E, a chemo drug between 100 times and 1,000times more toxic than commonly used chemo drug Doxil.
About 1 in 8 U.S. women will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of their lifetime, and between 10% and 15% of all breast cancers are of the triple-negative variety. These women have few options once the disease reaches its later stages. This gives glembatumumab vedotin blockbuster potential in this indication (i.e., triple-negative breast cancer with high gpNMB expression) alone.
Breast cancer tumors aren't the only sort that over-express gpNMB,which is why Celldex is sponsoring exploratory trials in skin and lung cancer, too.The National Cancer Institute's willingness to sponsor glembatumumab vedotintrials for rare bone and eyeball cancers is also encouraging.
Add glembatumumab vedotin's potential to enhance Celldex's current assets, and the company's $421 million market cap seems insanely low. Factor in a few more of Celldex's clinical-stage candidates, and it's clear as day that the bears are wrong about this healthcare stock.
Over two-thirds of Lannett Company's market valuation has been wiped out over the last 12 months. Many thought the generic-drug maker bit off more than it could chew with its acquisition of Kremers Urban Pharmaceuticals. A downward revision by Lannett of its fiscal 2016 earnings outlook,combined with the departure of a key executive, didn't help.But I think the continued pessimism about Lannett overlooks the potential for this beaten-down stock.
First, I think it's way too soon to write off Lannett's chances of successfully integrating Kremers into its operations. The company already announced restructuring plans that should allow it to net around $40 million in savings in the first year after the acquisition closed.That's a great start to achieving the full synergies expected from the deal.
The tougher challenge, though, is replacing the $87 million in revenue from the unnamed customer that left Kremers just before the Lannett acquisition was finalized.Lannett management has previously stated that over 30% of that lost revenue has been replaced.The company is also talking with the big customer about restoring the relationship. Those are also good starts to rebuilding investors' confidence.
What about that lowered earnings outlook? I think it's a temporary issue. Lannett's reduced earnings forecast owed partly to delayed product launches. Those launches will move forward -- but just a little later than originally planned.
Lannett is currently trading at a bargain-basement valuation of a little over 10 times earnings. That price reflects a downright gloomy opinion about the company's future prospects. In reality, those prospects aren't that bad. It might take some time to recover from the negative events of the past year, but I think Lannett will be a winner over the long run.
The article 3 Healthcare Stocks Bears Are Wrong About originally appeared on Fool.com.
Brian Feroldihas no position in any stocks mentioned.Like this article? Follow him onTwitter where he goes by the handle@Longtermmind-setor connect with him onLinkedInto see more articles like this.Cory Renauer has no position in any stocks mentioned. Keith Speights owns shares of Lannett Company. The Motley Fool recommends Celldex Therapeutics and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
In 2014, there were 7,923 mutual funds, not including funds that invest in other mutual funds. But despite the massive number of choices, most mutual funds fit inside just five basic categories.
Your investment options in mutual funds generally boil down to:
Equity funds
Fixed income funds
Balanced funds
Index funds
Specialty funds
I'll briefly explain each type of fund, and subtypes within each category, below.
Equity funds
This is what most people think of when they think of a mutual fund -- it's your classic mutual fund that invests in stocks (equities). The equity fund category naturally includes a number of subcategories.
U.S. Equity funds: American stocks only.
Sector equity funds: Funds that invest in certain sectors (broad industries).
International equity: Funds that invest in stocks outside the United States.
Growth: Funds that invest in companies with above-average growth potential.
Value: Funds that typically invest in lower-priced, slower-growth companies.
Equity funds are generally the most expensive of all mutual funds. The average U.S. equity fund carried an expense ratio of 0.74% of assets in 2013, according to the Investment Company Institute (ICI).
Fixed income funds
Probably better known as "bond funds," these funds invest in debt issued by local and national governments and large companies. Some also invest in debt owed by individuals (mortgages, for example). The fixed income fund category can generally be broken down into three subcategories.
Alternative funds: These hold assets like bank loans or junk bonds, which are less liquid.
Taxable bond funds: Funds that invest in bonds issued by nations or corporations.
Municipal bonds: Funds that hold debt issued by municipalities, and generally seek to generate tax-free income.
Fixed income funds generally carry lower fees than equity mutual funds because of their lower return potential. The average expense ratio on fixed income funds was 0.61% in 2013, according to the ICI.
Balanced funds
Also called hybrid funds, balanced funds hold both equity (stock) and fixed income (bond) investments in one fund. The basic premise behind a balanced fund is that the manager has the opportunity to pick from a larger selection of assets (stocks and bonds, rather than one or the other).
In addition, balanced funds are designed for more conservative investors who also like a bit of convenience. Rather than hold a stock fund and a bond fund, a properly allocated balanced fund might fit the bill. Balanced funds carried an average fee of 0.80% when weighted by assets in 2013, according to the ICI.
Index funds
The index fund is taking the world by storm, collecting the lion's share of newly invested assets. Index funds are funds that track an index like the S&P 500 Indexfor stocks, or the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index for bonds.
By tracking an index, these funds avoid the high costs of hiring investment professionals. For example, S&P 500 index funds simply buy the stocks in the S&P 500 index, which basically includes the 500 largest companies on American stock exchanges.
Index fund investors are essentially guaranteed to receive the returns of an index minus a very small fee. That's a winning proposition, given most actively managed funds fail to match or beat the returns of an index. In 2013, the average index fund of stocks carried an annual expense of 0.12%, while bond index funds carried an average expense ratio of 0.11%, according to the ICI.
Specialty funds
This group generally encompasses all the oddballs -- funds that generally focus on a very small subset of the stock market. The most common type of specialty funds are sector funds, which invest in just one of 10 sectors of the stock market.
Consumer discretionary
Consumer staples
Energy
Financial
Healthcare
Industrials
Information technology
Materials
Telecommunication
Utilities
These are fairly self-explanatory. Financial sector funds invest in things like banks, insurance companies, and real estate investment trusts. Consumer staples funds hold stock in companies that produce things like toilet paper, canned goods, and deodorant. Materials sector funds invest in metals and mining companies.
Sector funds probably don't have much place in the average saver's retirement fund, however, as they are generally underdiversified and their performance can deviate significantly from the performance of the stock market as a whole. Sector funds are typically indexed, and have expenses that generally mirror that of broad stock index funds.
The article The 5 Types of Mutual Funds originally appeared on Fool.com.
Jordan Wathen 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.
Last week, news broke that Bayer had made a $40 billion offer for agricultural technology leader Monsanto . That figure represented only a 10% premium to the company's market cap at the time and remains significantly lower than the $60 billion value assigned by the market before commodities prices tanked in late 2014. But you know what they say: "Buy low."
MON Market Cap data by YCharts
It may be impossible to determine the true value of Monsanto, or any large and growing company, but I'm pretty confident it's substantially more than $40 billion. The company boasts some of the most innovative new technology platforms in the industry that look to move beyond new pesticide approvals, which is where most competitors (desperately merging with peers) are eyeing growth for the foreseeable future. Instead, Monsanto is looking to leverage advances in genomics and data -- what launched the company to a leadership position in the first place -- to power future operations. All it takes is a brief look at several of the leading R&D projects to be insulted by Bayer's $40 billion offer.
Digital agriculture
In 2013, Monsanto purchased The Climate Corporation for $1 billion to get its hands on the start-up's data collection and processing capabilities. Now combined with the internally developed Integrated Farming Systems platform, powered by FieldScripts software, the platform gives farmers access to the Internet of Things for agriculture. Really.
The digital ag platform offers farmers insights into planting, fertility, yield impacts, and more with integrated use between other machines and third party apps. That includes a precision planting collaboration with John Deere. Farmers can run automated scripts from their combines for optimizing seed distribution or variable rate nitrogen applications. Advanced imaging and yield analytics can be used to estimate yields and alter strategies for future harvests.
Image source: Monsanto investor presentation.
The freemium business model eclipsed over 5 million acres of paid services in the United States and 75 million active acres in 2015, which is expected to grow to 12 million acres and 90 million acres, respectively, in 2016. Considering the platform launched with only hundreds of thousands of paid acres in 2014 the demonstrated traction is pretty encouraging for investors. Better yet, these numbers only represent domestic use. Monsanto recently announced that it will expand in-field beta testing in Brazil next year with the first product launch expected in the next two years.
Biologicals
There are two platforms currently wrapped up under the blanket term "biologicals." The first is the BioAg Alliance with leading enzyme manufacturer Novozymes, which aims to enhance the plant microbiome to boost yields and protect against certain pests by enhancing root health. By providing inoculants of beneficial soil microbes that are coated onto seeds, BioAg products allow farmers to capture yield increases of up to 8% for corn and 7% for soybeans. Monsanto and Novozymes estimate that, at worst, farmers realize a return on investment of 199% and 139%, respectively. The platform is expecting state regulatory approvals to pave the way for commercial launch in 2017.
Image source: Monsanto investor presentation.
The second biologicals platform is BioDirect. It's a bit more controversial than other agricultural products because it employs RNAi technology to tap into natural processes within plants and insects. In theory, RNAi disrupts species-specific biological functions, although some scientists aren't sure we can utilize the technology in the field without accidentally affecting other organisms. While risks can be mitigated, there's really no way to provide full assurances. (Is there ever?) But the potential benefits are certainly intriguing. Monsanto hopes to deploy BioDirect biopesticides to control viruses ravaging honeybees, beetles devastating canola and potato crops, and even herbicide tolerant weeds, among other things. In other words, "Monsanto Saves America's Honeybees" could be a real headline for BioDirect's first commercialized product later this decade.
Next-generation crop protection
Image source: Monsanto.
Root health is the focus of another innovative product platform from Monsanto: Nemastrike. The nematicide (yes, add that to your pesticide vocabulary) has been found to boost corn and soy yields by 9 bushels and 2 bushes, respectively. It works by targeting nematodes, tiny worm-like animals that feed on plant roots, and can target a wide range of species. Better yet, one application works to reduce emergence later.
Monsanto plans to launch Nemastrike in 2018 with a corn-focused product and follow up with a solution for soybeans, although other crops could also benefit from the technology. The company has set a goal of covering 125 million acres by 2025, which represents a net present value greater than $1 billion, according to internal estimates.
What does it mean for investors?
Each of the technology areas identified here have at least one product portfolio capable of generating $1 billion in annual sales. These platforms represent a crucial driving force behind Monsanto's strategic plan for growing income and EPS through the end of the decade. Bayer is right to be interested in the company's future growth potential in a consolidating industry, but $40 billion is, simply put, an insulting offer. If I were Monsanto's management team I would not follow the industry's knee-jerk merger parade. Instead, I would continue to weather out short-term commodity prices and keep my eyes on the long-term opportunities in front of the company.
The article Bayer Offered $40 Billion for Monsanto: Why Investors Should be Insulted originally appeared on Fool.com.
Maxx Chatsko has no position in any stocks mentioned. Follow him on Twitter to keep up with developments in the engineered biology field.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: Altria.
Investors seeking income like high-yielding dividend stocks, and both Altria Group (NYSE: MO) and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) consistently rank among the top yielders in the blue-chip stock world. The two businesses don't have a lot in common, but one thing they share is that they both produce ample cash flow, and they have both decided to return much of that available cash to shareholders through dividends. Yet with competitive challenges facing both companies, investors want to know which one makes a better stock pick right now. Let's look more closely at Altria and Verizon, comparing them on a number of metrics to see which one looks more attractive right now.
Stock performance and valuation
Both Altria and Verizon have done extremely well over the past year, and although the cigarette maker has a slight lead, the telecom giant has done a good job of catching up in recent months. Altria's gain of 30% beats Verizon's total return of about 24% since Sept. 2015, but both have dramatically outperformed the market's smaller rise.
One way in which Altria and Verizon are quite different is in how market participants assign values to their stocks. Using simple valuation metrics based on trailing earnings, the disparity between the two companies is quite clear. Altria currently trades with a trailing earnings multiple of 23, compared to just 15 for Verizon. Those two numbers have converged slightly in recent months, but they still give a big lead to Verizon.
In addition, when you take near-term growth projections into account, Verizon still maintains its lead. Verizon's forward earnings multiple of 13 is far cheaper than Altria, which trades closer to 20 times forward earnings. The lower valuation that Verizon sports here gives it the nod in this category over Altria.
Dividends
Many investors in Altria and Verizon focus almost solely on dividends, and current yield is the first thing that many people look at. Here, Verizon has built up a lead, paying a dividend yield of 4.4%. Altria weighs in at 3.7%, which is also respectable and has risen slightly in recent months.
One trend that investors have seen lately is that payout ratios for the two stocks have gotten closer together. Verizon's payout ratio has risen from around 50% into the 60% to 65% range. Altria, meanwhile, has seen its payout ratio stay between 75% to 80%. That still leaves Verizon with more room to consider dividend increases, but the telecom has traditionally been more conservative about its dividend growth policy.
Altria has done an excellent job of rewarding shareholders with dividend increases. In August, the cigarette maker gave investors an 8% boost to its quarterly payout, and going forward, it will pay $0.565 per share every three months. The move marked the 50th increase in 47 years for Altria, and it's a lot bigger than the 2% increase that Verizon recently announced earlier this month. Verizon will pay $0.5775 per share going forward, but its pace of long-term dividend growth has been slower than Altria's. Which stock gets the overall win in dividends depends on whether you focus on Verizon's current income edge or Altria's better future dividend growth potential.
Growth and fundamentals
Both Altria and Verizon are large, mature companies, but they each have opportunities they can capitalize on in order to grow further. Altria has showed the value of its diversified set of businesses in its recent results, in which growth for the smokeless tobacco division has outpaced sluggishness in the core smokeable products segment. From a longer-term perspective, Altria's strategy of using pricing increases to offset volume decreases continues to work well, and the company has been able to produce nearly double-digit percentage growth in earnings by focusing on improving productivity and cutting unnecessary costs. Forays into the e-cigarette business through its Nu Mark division have shown promise, and although that business is early in its growth cycle, Altria has high hopes for alternatives to cigarettes. Finally, Altria's stake in SABMiller should turn into a corresponding interest in Anheuser-Busch InBev in the near future, and that gives Altria shareholders exposure to the fast-growing global beer market.
Meanwhile, Verizon has worked hard to stay atop the U.S. wireless industry. The company has had to deal with falling operative revenue on an adjusted basis, but it has done a good job of retaining customers despite huge competitive pushes from its rivals to take away its customers. Divestitures of legacy landline assets have allowed Verizon to focus on its higher-growth areas, and the coming release of the iPhone 7 might well help stoke greater interest in upgrading and give Verizon a chance to woo new customers to its service. The threat of a price war is always present, but Verizon is positioning itself to emphasize its quality, and that could help it stand out among the crowd of wireless providers serving the U.S. market.
Based on all of these factors, both Altria and Verizon have good points and challenges to overcome. Verizon's cheaper valuation makes it a more attractive value pick, but Altria's record of long-term dividend growth makes it look better for those who prioritize portfolio income.
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.
Dan Caplinger has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool recommends Anheuser-Busch InBev NV. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Investors like tobacco stocks for the strong returns and plentiful dividend income that they provide to their shareholders. Both Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) and Reynolds American (NYSE: RAI) have enjoyed success lately, even though they focus on different markets. If you're looking to add some tobacco exposure to your investment portfolio, the big question is which of these two companies is the better addition right now. To evaluate Philip Morris International and Reynolds American, it makes sense to compare them on basic metrics to find which one performs better.
Valuation and stock performance
Both Philip Morris and Reynolds American have done extremely well over the past year, but Reynolds American has delivered better overall returns. Since April 2016, Reynolds American has given investors a total return of 29%. That beats out Philip Morris' 16% return.
At first glance, Reynolds American appears to have a substantial advantage in terms of simple valuation. Using trailing-12-month figures, Reynolds American's earnings multiple is just 15. That's quite a bit less than the 25 times trailing earnings that Philip Morris sports right now.
Yet some of that advantage is illusory, because some one-time items have boosted Reynolds American's earnings over the past 12 months. When you look at future estimates, the two stocks come into alignment much more closely. Philip Morris currently trades at 21 times forward earnings, compared to a forward multiple of 22 for Reynolds American. Still, based on valuation, the two stocks are quite similar despite Reynolds American's big performance advantage recently.
Image source: Reynolds American.
Dividends
It's hard to complain about either of these two tobacco stocks in terms of dividends. Philip Morris International has a slight lead with a dividend yield of 3.7%, but Reynolds American isn't far behind at 3.2%. In addition, both companies have delivered long-term dividend growth to shareholders, with Reynolds American having tripled its quarterly payout in the past 10 years and Philip Morris having more than doubled its own dividend rate. Both sport consistent annual increases.
One challenge stems from the fact that Philip Morris has had to use almost all of its earnings to sustain its dividend growth lately. By contrast, Reynolds American has a more sustainable payout ratio, giving it more room to consider future boosts. Nevertheless, both stocks have pros and cons on the dividend front that make them roughly equally attractive.
Growth and fundamentals
Both Philip Morris and Reynolds American are going through major strategic shifts that could transform their respective businesses. For Philip Morris, the past quarter has awakened the traditional cigarette business, and the company produced sales growth of 9% as net income jumped by nearly two-fifths. Currency issues have continued to weigh on Philip Morris' bottom line, but the company has had huge success with its iQOS heat-not-burn tobacco technology. In fact, Philip Morris sees iQOS as just the beginning of a master plan that could eventually replace traditional cigarettes with reduced-risk products, and CEO Andre Calantzopoulos is extremely optimistic about the future prospects for the business worldwide.
Meanwhile, Reynolds American is moving forward with its merger with British American Tobacco, which already had a substantial minority stake in the U.S. tobacco company. For the most part, Reynolds doesn't see the BAT transaction affecting its U.S. operations to a large extent, as the two companies appear satisfied with the way that Reynolds American has used its past acquisition of Lorillard to foster growth in the U.S. market. Yet where the deal could provide a big boost is in the next-generation product arena, which is how Reynolds refers to e-cigarettes, vapor products, and other cigarette alternatives. Reynolds and BAT clearly see the competitive threat that Philip Morris poses, and they hope that by combining forces, their research and development teams can keep pace and strike out on their own with new initiatives.
Between these two tobacco stocks, Reynolds American appears to be the safer play right now, with less uncertainty about its future progress. However, for those who are willing to bet on transformative growth, Philip Morris could offer better prospects if things pan out well for the international tobacco giant down the road.
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Dan Caplinger has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
One is the hulking industry behemoth, the other the upstart (despite having been in the motorcycle game for nearly two decades). But size alone doesn't give Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) the automatic edge over Polaris Industries (NYSE: PII), and the two actually have more differences than similarities.
Yet it's fitting that Harley-Davidson and the owner of Indian Motorcycle -- two century-old industry nameplates -- are still going head to head, so let's take a look at the two leading names in the motorcycle business and see which of the iconic nameplates is the better buy.
Image source: Getty Images.
The differences
Where Harley-Davidson is a global motorcycle maker through and through, deriving all of its revenue from motorcycle sales (as well as parts, accessories, and financing purchases), Polaris has divided attentions. Because it has less than two decades in motorcycling and only now is it really turning its attention to the sport,motorcycles only make up a very small part of its revenue, around 15% of the total $4.5 billion it reported last year. And that's not just Indian motorcycles, either. As noted, last year it also had the Victory brand as well as its three-wheeled Slingshot, which is also classified as a motorcycle.
Where Polaris makes most of its money and profits is in off-road vehicles, like its leading RZR and Ranger ATVs. Those and snowmobiles represented some three-quarters of Polaris' annual sales.
Growth prospects
The motorcycle industry is in a slump. Both Harley and Polaris recently reported earnings, and both exhibited significantly lower sales. Harley said U.S. sales were down 5.7% for the period while worldwide sales were off 4.2%. Polaris reported a 35% drop in segment sales, though the Indian nameplate itself recorded 20% growth in retail sales. The disparity in the segment numbers was the result of ending the Victory brand and a recall of the Slingshot for mechanical problems, plus tough comparables from a year ago, when it released a high-end model of the three-wheeler.
Image source: Getty Images.
There's no sign the industry slump is abating. A dicey economic picture and changing industry demographics have led to both manufacturers needing to change just who they market their bikes toward. The middle-aged white male that has long been the core buyer of heavy bikes is receding, while younger, more urban, and female riders are entering the sport. Both Harley and Polaris now have bikes that are geared to these new riders, and Harley is committing to introducing 100 new models over the next 10 years, presumably many of which will also target this segment.
Valuation
Both big-bike makers carry multiples that are lower than the market, though Harley is more discounted than Polaris. That could reflect the fact that the latter has a more diversified revenue stream, so it is not so beholden to the slumping motorcycle industry.
Unfortunately for Polaris, the off-road vehicle market is also in a slump. ATVs and utility vehicles are popular in oil- and agriculture-heavy states, which are suffering from the collapse in commodity prices. Even as they've largely stabilized over the past year, companies in these areas aren't hiring enough people to justify the need for more vehicles.
Moreover, Polaris has been plagued by an unrelenting series of recalls of vehicles across almost all of its platforms, but primarily of its ORVs, and that has damaged sales and confidence in the brand. All of that suggests Polaris is carrying an unwarranted premium to Harley.
Image source: Harley-Davidson.
The verdict
Harley-Davidson is in the midst of a protracted slump. U.S. sales have fallen in nine out of the last 10 quarters, and the one quarter it did notch growth it managed to sell just 33 more bikes than the year before, hardly a robust increase.
Polaris, on the other hand, continues to see double-digit retail sales growth of the Indian Motorcycle brand, something that hasn't changed since the powersports vehicle maker first resurrected the nameplate. That it now is putting all of its attention on Indian and allowing Victory to die speaks to further growth opportunities ahead.
However, this is not a matchup of Harley-Davidson and Indian, but rather Harley and Polaris, so we need to take into account the totality of Polaris' business and the valuation the market is assigning both, and that makes Harley-Davidson the better buy.
The motorcycle industry might be in a slump, but Harley is a behemoth owning half the market, and Polaris, while second, is distant with single-digit share numbers. Harley can afford to ride out the slump and wait for it to turn. Polaris Industries is also suffering from multiple recalls,especially in its primary ORV market. That it also carries a premium despite its declining fortunes suggests investors ought to be wary of buying in just yet.
10 stocks we like better than Harley-DavidsonWhen 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 Harley-Davidson wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.
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*Stock Advisor returns as of April 3, 2017
Rich Duprey has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Polaris Industries. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Boeing and Airbus are in the midst of ramping up production of their newest widebody offerings: the 787 Dreamliner for Boeing and the A350 for Airbus.
Both manufacturers accumulated huge order backlogs after launching sales of these new models, as airlines looked to lock in a supply of new, fuel-efficient planes. However, sales of both models have cooled off in recent years. To support their high planned production rates, Boeing and Airbus are counting on a rebound in order volumes within the next few years.
Boeing and Airbus have seen slowing orders for their state-of-the-art widebodies. Image source: Boeing.
This raises the stakes for upcoming widebody fleet replacement decisions at all three U.S. legacy carriers: American Airlines , Delta Air Lines , and United Continental .
Sales slow for Airbus and Boeing
Between 2004 and 2007, Boeing secured 817 net orders for its revolutionary 787 Dreamliner. In the next eight years combined, it accumulated just 325 net orders, with only one year of 100-plus orders and three years with more Dreamliner cancellations than orders.
It's a similar story for the Airbus A350. Airbus recently boasted that it has nearly reached 800 firm orders for its A350 family. What Airbus failed to mention is that it had reached that milestone back in 2013, but has had more cancellations than orders since then.
Neither company is in dire straits right now. Boeing and Airbus have more than 750 unfilled orders for the 787 and A350, respectively: enough to support years of production. Nevertheless, if order rates don't pick up in the next few years, Boeing and Airbus won't be able to go ahead with planned production increases.
U.S. airlines still need more widebodies
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Continental are each in the early stages of major widebody fleet renewal projects. All three carriers have dozens of widebodies on order.
Despite these bulging order books, American, Delta, and United will likely need to order more widebodies within the next few years. That's largely a consequence of the aircraft order binge that swept the U.S. airline industry in the late 1990s. Planes ordered then will reach retirement age during the 2020s, driving a big replacement cycle.
More Dreamliners for United: A350s too?
United Continental is in the midst of receiving 51 787s from Boeing. (At one point, the order totaled 65 planes, but since early 2015 United has swapped 14 orders for the larger 777-300ER.) Five years ago, United planned to use most of these 787s to replace retiring 767s.
United Airlines is adding lots of Dreamliners to its fleet. Image source: The Motley Fool.
Instead, United has taken advantage of the low fuel price environment to keep its 767s flying. By the end of 2016, United will have received 30 Dreamliners without retiring a single 767.
Nevertheless, United will need to retire these 767s in the next decade or so. The oldest are already 25 years old, while even the youngest are 14 years old. The Boeing 787 is by far the best 767 replacement available, so Boeing has a good chance of getting 30-40 more orders from United over the next few years.
United Continental also has 70 Boeing 777s that were delivered between 1995 and 2002. These planes will start to reach retirement age in five years. Some of United's 787-10 and A350 orders will replace its 777s. Nevertheless, United will probably need to order several dozen more medium-large widebodies to fill this need. The choice between the 787 and the A350 may ultimately come down to pricing.
Delta also needs a 767 replacement
In late 2014, Delta ordered 25 A330-900neos and 25 A350-900s to jump-start its widebody fleet renewal. It also has a long-standing order for Boeing 787s on the books, but it has the right to cancel this order -- and many analysts expect it to do so.
Of the planes it has on order, Delta has earmarked the A330-900neos to replace its aging 767-300ER fleet. Delta has 58 767-300ERs, which are 20 years old, on average. It also has another 21 767-400ERs that are 15 years old, on average.
Delta has been known to keep aircraft in its fleet longer than other U.S. airlines. It has also been opportunistic about buying cheap used airplanes at times to meet its fleet replacement needs.
However, if Delta decides to replace its remaining 767s with new aircraft, Boeing will have the inside track again. The A330-900neo and A350-900 will each hold about 300 seats in Delta's configuration: far more than a Boeing 767. The 787-8 or 787-9 would work better for routes with less demand. Airbus' offering in that segment of the market, the slow-selling A330-800neo, isn't nearly as capable.
American Airlines needs more widebodies, too
Finally, American Airlines has aggressively replaced older aircraft in recent years, but it will still need to order more widebodies a few years down the road. At the end of Q1, American had 49 outstanding orders for Boeing 787s and A350s: enough to replace 23 767s and 9 A330s that will retire between now and 2018 while also supporting some growth and additional replacements in 2019 and 2020.
American Airlines has ordered both the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A350. Image source: Airbus.
American currently plans to keep 17 Boeing 767s beyond 2018. Yet even the youngest of its 767s will be 15 years old by then. American will probably retire these planes by the early 2020s, based on its decision not to extend its new international premium economy class to the 767 fleet.
Additionally, most of American's 47 Boeing 777-200ERs were delivered between 1999 and 2001. These planes will probably be retired in the mid-2020s. The 787-10 and the A350-900 are both good replacement options in this size range. Given that American has outstanding orders for both 787s and A350s, it could go either way.
In the meantime...
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Continental are likely to wait a few years to see how their fleet needs evolve before placing major follow-on orders for the 787 or A350. This year's big contest between the 787 and the A350 is for a long-awaited order of 50-70 jets from Emirates Airline.
But ultimately, U.S. airlines are likely to need hundreds more planes in the 787 and A350 size classes within the next 10-15 years, assuming relatively modest growth. That will help Boeing and Airbus keep their production lines busy beyond 2020.
The article A Boeing 787 Dreamliner vs. Airbus A350 Showdown Is Looming in the U.S. originally appeared on Fool.com.
Adam Levine-Weinberg owns shares of The Boeing Company and United Continental Holdings, Inc. and is long January 2017 $40 calls on Delta Air Lines, Inc. and long January 2017 $30 calls on American Airlines Group. The Motley Fool is long January 2017 $35 calls on American Airlines Group. 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: Fitbit.
Fitbitis in a fight for its life right now, though it may not seem like it. Sales of the company's wearable devices were up about 25% in the first quarter of the year, according to new data from IDC.
That sales increase was more than enough to keep Fitbit in its spot as the No. 1 wearable device maker worldwide.
But the darker side of the story is that its leadership position is slowly being chiseled away. In the first quarter of 2015, Fitbit held a commanding 32.6% market share in wearables space, while Applehad 0% (on account of the fact that it hadn't launched its Watch yet), and its closest competitor, Xiaomi, had just over 22%.
What's interesting about Fitbit's wearable market share loss since then is that it hasn't come only from Apple's gains. The iMaker now holds 7.5% of wearable market share compared to Fitbit's nearly 25%. But additional gains were made from Chinese vendor BBK and other smaller vendors.
And there are a few reasons Fitbit should be worried.
It's getting crowded in here
It's been clear for a while that Apple's move into the wearable technology space would be bad news for Fitbit, but the rise among smaller players shows that Fitbit is also vulnerable as the wearable tech space becomes more crowded.
Apple dominates the smartwatch market, and it's not likely Fitbit's Blaze, or subsequent smartwatch releases, will change that much. The Apple Watch's superior design and its ability to run third-party apps, Apple Pay, and the broader Apple ecosystem give the Watch significant advantages that Fitbit can't match.
But now it's clear that Fitbit will also have to contend with smaller players that ship inexpensive wearable devices as well. According to IDC the "Others" category of vendors took 37% of wearable shipments in the first quarter, up from 33% a year earlier.
A two-front war
I think Apple's high-end wearable tech market share and the cheaper wearables from the IDC "other" category represent a two-front war for Fitbit.
Clearly, the company knows how to sell good devices to consumers, but as I've mentioned before, Apple could easily enter the cheaper segment of the wearables market and cut Fitbit's lead relatively easily. All Apple would need to do is introduce an iBand (just guessing on the name here) that targets Fitbit's popular $130 Alta band or $110 Fitbit Charge, and its current sales numbers could be in big trouble.
All of that is hypothetical of course, but even if it doesn't happen Fitbit investors should still be concerned about smaller vendors. As wearable technology becomes more pervasive and cheaper, it'll be harder for Fitbit to differentiate itself in the market.
The company has the lead right now, and it's doing a decent enough job holding onto it, but the bigger question is where does it go from here? If it adds lots of new sensors, displays, etc. then it needs to raise prices -- which will put it in closer competition to Apple. If it keeps the status quo then vendors making inexpensive devices that offer good-enough features will continue to encroach on Fitbit's market share lead.
Investors really need to see Fibit releasing new products that set them apart from cheaper wearable devices. Fitbit's advantage right now is that it got into wearables early, but I don't see any true competitive advantage that other device makers can't replicate. And that should be just a little worrying to for the company's investors.
The article Fitbit's Wearable Market Share Slips Even as Sales Surge originally appeared on Fool.com.
Chris Neiger has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2018 $90 calls on Apple and short January 2018 $95 calls on 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.
Image source: NXP Semiconductors.
What happened?This week,NXP Semiconductors N.V. revealed its off-the-shelf autonomous driving system called BlueBox. It's big news from the company because NXPI says the system will allow automakers "design, manufacture, and sell" Level 4 self-driving cars by 2020.
Right now, most semi-autonomous systems only reach Level 2 or Level 3 automation, while Level 4 automation is effectively complete autonomy where the vehicle maintains controls at all time with no expectation of the driver being available for control.
BlueBox includes NXPs semiconductors for processing power, along with radar, lidar, and on-board vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication sensors. The system is also open-sourced, so automakers can make adjustments to it as they see fit.
Does this matter for shareholders? This is a very important move both for the company and the driverless car industry. After its purchase of Freescale Semiconductor last year, NXP is now the No. 1 semiconductor manufacturer and is already a leader in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). The release of BlueBlox means NXP will be able to leverage its position in the automotive market to better compete with other companies that are building autonomous driving platforms, namely NVIDIA .
Eighty automakers and Tier 1 suppliers are already using NVIDIA's Drive PX and Drive PX 2 driverless car platforms, and the company is already a leading provider of GPUs for in-car infotainment systems. NXP said in a press release that four out of the five largest automakers have already been testing BlueBox since September 2015, and the company's dominant position in the automotive semiconductor segment means it should have a smooth transition into getting BlueBox into more carmakers' hands.
The driverless car technology market is expected to grow to $42 billion by 2025, according to Boston Consulting Group. NXP is in a perfect position to benefit from this growth with its current automotive semiconductors, and especially now with the unveiling of BlueBox.
The article Instant Analysis: NXP Semiconductors N.V. Just Took a Big Step Into Driverless Cars originally appeared on Fool.com.
Chris Neiger has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends NVIDIA and NXP Semiconductors. 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.
No one likes to pay taxes, and having to pay state income taxes as well as writing a check to the IRS for your federal tax bill adds insult to injury. However, some states don't require you to pay state income taxes at all. Florida is a popular location both for retirees seeking warmer climes after a long career as well as for anyone seeking to avoid double taxation on their money, because the Sunshine State doesn't have a state income tax. In fact, unlike some other states that don't impose tax on earned income, Florida doesn't require investors to pay taxes on their investment income either.
Tax-free states and how they differ
There are currently nine states that don't impose a state income tax on earned income. If you get money in the form of wages, salaries, tips, or income from a business that you run as a sole proprietor or in another form that creates self-employment income, then you won't have to pay personal income taxes in any of these states. Florida is one of them, and the others are Alaska, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming.
However, a couple of those states require people who get income from certain investment-related sources, including both dividends and interest, to make income-tax payments on that type of income. Specifically, New Hampshire imposes a 5% tax on dividends and interest, while Tennessee charges a 6% tax on investment income in excess of $1,250 per person.
Florida doesn't have that distinction between different types of income. There, regardless of whether your income comes from wages, salaries, interest, dividends, or just about any other source, Florida won't collect a state income tax.
A different answer for businesses
Individuals don't have to pay tax on investment income in Florida, but for businesses, the answer isn't as favorable. Any corporation that isn't treated as a pass-through entity in Florida will have to pay corporate level income tax on its income, whether it comes from business activity or from investment income on company-owned assets. However, for the bulk of individuals deciding where they want to move, business taxes won't be an issue.
Sunny weather, long beaches, and a festive atmosphere are just part of the appeal that Florida has. For those who watch their money closely, the lack of an income tax on investment income or any other type of personal income is also a big draw.
This article is part of The Motley Fool's Knowledge Center, which was created based on the collected wisdom of a fantastic community of investors. We'd love to hear your questions, thoughts, and opinions on the Knowledge Center in general or this page in particular. Your input will help us help the world invest, better! Email us atknowledgecenter@fool.com. Thanks -- and Fool on!
The article Is There Tax on Investment Income in Florida? originally appeared on Fool.com.
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: Tesla.
For the past few years, Tesla Motors has had an exclusive relationship with Panasonic as its primary battery supplier. That may be about to change for Model 3, even as Panasonic is also Tesla's primary partner with building the Gigafactory.
While Tesla did ink a deal last year with LG Chem to provide battery upgrades for the original Roadster, that was inherently limited since there were only about 2,500 Roadsters ever sold -- and the upgrade costs $29,000. Tesla notes that this is the expected cost of the upgrade and the company is not seeking to profit on these upgrades. The high cost is attributed in part to the fact that the Roadster battery packs are hand-made and only produced in low volumes.
Well, The Korea Times is reporting that Tesla is in talks with LG Chem, Samsung, and SK Innovation to potentially add more battery suppliers.
Three's company
LG Chem appears to be the frontrunner in the negotiations, since the LG Electronics subsidiary was able to commit to sufficient output levels while offering competitive pricing and delivery timelines. Executives from Tesla have toured research centers and met with executives at all three South Korean companies.
The EV maker is also reportedly adding other South Korean components to its vehicles such as tires and OLED displays, and it's already been reported that LG Display (another LG Electronics subsidiary) is the sole supplier of the Model 3's center infotainment display.
Both LG Chem and Samsung currently manufacture round cylindrical battery cells like the ones that Tesla currently uses from Panasonic. LG Chem and Samsung are advocating for different battery cell form factors such as pouch-type or rectangular-type, but the thermal system that Tesla uses is built around cylindrical cells.
LG Chem wants to become a go-to EV supplier
It's worth noting that LG Chem is General Motors' primary development partner for the forthcoming Chevy Bolt. LG Chem will supply the battery cells, the battery pack, the GM-designed electric motor and power inverter, the onboard charger, and many other components related to the powertrain. Those are all big steps for LG Chem into new areas where it previously had limited experience, made possible by the collaboration with General Motors.
It won't be a surprise if LG Chem indeed scores the contract, as the company has high hopes of expanding its supplier position in the EV market.
Another theory
Even as Tesla and Panasonic have been exclusive for years, it was never meant to stay like that forever. The two companies do have a supply agreement where Tesla can purchase the full output of the Gigafactory initially, but once the Gigafactory is built it would make sense that Panasonic would want to sell some of the output to other customers as well after the supply agreements expire and the facility is pumping out 50 GWh of output.
There's another possible explanation for why Tesla is considering dual-sourcing. With the company's borderline-insane plan to ramp production to 500,000 units in 2018, that would also seemingly imply a similarly accelerated construction ramp for the Gigafactory. But Tesla is already going to need to raise external capital just to fund the tooling and manufacturing infrastructure, which is already seemingly a tough sell considering the market's reaction to the plans.
If the Gigafactory won't be ready yet to accommodate the target unit volumes and accelerating its construction would be too costly, it makes a lot of sense to seek additional battery suppliers that can compensate for the shortfall and help Tesla meet Model 3 demand. Adding LG Chem to the mix could potentially serve as a short-term bridge until the Gigafactory is complete.
The article Tesla Motors Might Add More Battery Suppliers for Model 3 originally appeared on Fool.com.
Evan Niu, CFA owns shares of Tesla Motors, andhas the following options: long January 2018 $180 calls on Tesla Motors. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Tesla Motors. The Motley Fool recommends General Motors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
What:Shares of inContact Inc. were up 53.7% as of 11:00 a.m. ET Wednesday after the cloud contact center software company announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by NICE Systems .
So what:NICE will acquire inContact for $14 per share in cash, good for a healthy 55% premium over yesterday's close and a 49% premium to inContact's 30-day volume weighted average price.
"We strongly believethat this transaction best positions the Company to execute on our vision of helping our customers deliver exceptional customer experiences," added inContact CEO Paul Jarman, "while rewarding our existing stockholders for the work we have achieved to date.We are excited to work with our new business partners at NICE and enter our next chapter of industry leadership."
"We look forward to working with the talented management team and employees to accelerate inContact's customer relationships and strengthen its market position in cloud contact center software," added NICE CEOBarak Eilam. "We worked hard to make this deal happen because we understand the tremendous value that inContact can bring to its customers and the marketplace."
Now what: The deal has already been unanimously approved by inContact's board of directors and, assuming it receives shareholder and regulatory approval, should close in the second half of 2016. The purchase will be funded by a combination of NICE's cash on hand and committed debt financing.
In the end, I see little stopping this acquisition from going through. So with shares trading within pennies of the agreed acquisition price -- and unless inContact shareholders have owned the stock for almost a year and waiting to sell would result in more favorable long-term capital gains taxes -- I think investors would be wise to take today's profits and put them to work elsewhere.
The article Why Incontact Inc. Stock Rose 53% Today originally appeared on Fool.com.
Steve Symington 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.
Democrat candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders each picked up primary wins on Tuesday in yet another demonstration of how divided the party is in the drawn-out national race to win the nomination for November's general election.
Clinton narrowly defeated Sanders in Kentucky, a state where she was not expected to win. Sanders bested her in Oregon, a state that played to his strengths.
In Kentucky, the two candidates will likely split the 55 delegates up for grabs. In Oregon, Sanders will take only a handful more of the 61 delegates that were awarded.
Clintons sizeable lead in delegates means it is likely she will eventually be her party's nominee, but she remains more than 100 delegates short of sealing the deal. The Democratic primary now hits a two-week lull, with the final set major contests, including California, scheduled for June 7.
Clinton, who spent the past two days campaigning in Kentucky, would like to lock up the nomination and turn her attention to the Nov. 8 general election and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Trump has begun to organize his general election campaign. On Tuesday, he signed a joint fundraising agreement with the Republican National Committee. The agreement allows him to raise $449,400 from a single donor by splitting the funds between his campaign, the RNC and state Republican parties.
Trump, who eschewed donations in the political system through the primary, has thus far insisted on mostly self-funding his campaign. The shift to a more traditional fundraising approach could draw the ire of some supporters.
Trump, in an interview with Megyn Kelly that aired on Fox News Tuesday night, said he did have regrets about his actions during the Republican primary process.
"I could have used different language in a couple of instances, but overall Im happy with the outcome," Trump said.
NEVADA STILL RANKLES
Sanders supporters became angry when Nevada state party officials chose to end their convention and block efforts to award the U.S. senator from Vermont more delegates than he initially won in the February caucus. Clinton won the caucus.
The Nevada incident was a warning about the potential for fireworks at July's Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
Clinton's campaign continued to express confidence that she would be able to unify the party.
"Hillary Clinton is grateful to the thousands of Nevadans who came out to participate in the caucuses and convention process," Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said.
"She believes every voice should be heard and no one should be intimidated, harassed or threatened in this process. When the primary process is complete, our party must come together and ensure a Democrat is elected to serve as our next president," Mook said.
Sanders on Tuesday joined his supporters in criticizing the Nevada Democratic Party after Saturday's events.
One Sanders supporter threw a chair, unhappy about being blocked in a rules vote that was part of the effort to help the senator win more delegates to the national convention. Others drew chalk graffiti on a party building, while the state's party chairwoman has been receiving death threats.
Sanders framed Nevada's incident as a warning.
"If the Democratic Party is to be successful in November, it is imperative that all state parties treat our campaign supporters with fairness and the respect that they have earned," Sanders said in a statement on the Nevada incident.
Sanders - who said he condemns violence and personal harassment of individuals - leveled some of the same complaints his supporters did, arguing that state party Chairwoman Roberta Lange did not allow a headcount on a disputed rules change. He also argued that 64 delegates to the state convention were not given a hearing before being ruled ineligible.
THREATS OF VIOLENCE
The state party disputed the Sanders campaign's interpretation of the events. It said some delegates did not show up at the convention and others were disqualified because they were not registered as Democrats in time.
"The Sanders campaign is continuing to be dishonest about what happened Saturday and is failing to adequately denounce the threats of violence of his supporters," the Nevada Democratic Party said in a statement.
Sanders supporters began circulating a picture of Lange on the internet that included her cellphone number and encouraged others to contact her to express their unhappiness.
Lange said on MSNBC she had been receiving death threats, including many containing vulgar language. Public messages sent to her Twitter account included a barrage of derogatory statements.
MSNBC played some of the voicemails, including one saying people like you should be hung in a public execution.
What you heard is a few of the thousands of emails and texts and Facebook messages and Twitter messages that Ive gotten," Lange said on MSNBC. "Threats to my family, to my grandson, to my husband.
Sanders' continued presence in the race is prompting concerns among Clinton allies that he will damage her ability to take on Trump and hurt her in the fall.
But Sanders supporters shrug off that worry, arguing that Trump is such a flawed candidate that Clinton will easily dispatch with him if she faces him in the Nov. 8 election.
Clinton's camp seems to agree.
"Ultimately, we are confident that the passion and energy from the primary will be united in a common purpose to move forward the ideals of our party and keep the White House out of Donald Trumps hands," her campaign manager Mook said.
(Additional reporting by Luciana Lopez in New York and Doina Chiacu, John Whitesides and Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Editing by Caren Bohan, Jonathan Oatis, Leslie Adler, Michael Perry and Paul Tait)
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders is upping the ante on his chief rival Hillary Clinton. Not only did he re-enforce his commitment to debate Clinton in California, he said he is open to doing it via a Fox News sponsored format.
"Both campaigns have been invited by Fox News to a debate. We have told the network that we would accept the invitation with the understanding that we can reach mutual agreement on the debate moderators, the format and other details, said Jeff Weaver, Sanders campaign manager in a statement release on Wednesday.
In January, Sanders and Clinton had agreed to partake in a debate in the key state of California this month ahead of the June 7 primary. So far, Clinton has remained non-committal.
Clinton is just 90 delegates shy of the 2,383 needed to seize the nomination, as reported by Fox News. Still, Sanders has proved a resilient democratic challenger to the former secretary of state and senator from New York.
On Tuesday he won the Oregon primary and while Clinton claimed victory in Kentucky, the race was so close it has not officially been called at the time of publication.
Fox News Channel is the sister arm of FOXBusines.com and FOX Business Network.
Dustin Diamond is speaking out for the first time since he served jail time following a bar brawl. He sat down with his former Saved by the Bell co-star Mario Lopez to discuss what it was like living behind bars.
Diamond, best known for playing Screech in the beloved show, was sentenced to four months in jail in June for carrying a concealed weapon and disorderly conduct. He served time in the Ozaukee County Jail in Wisconsin and was released after about three months.
Its pretty daunting, Diamond told Lopez on Extra. Its pretty scary going into that environment. I found that as long as you follow the rules and stay with the system, it works. You can get in and out unscathed.
Diamond detailed the bar fight that sent him to jail. He said he was defending his fiancee Amanda Schultz.
One of the girls friends [Amanda] was talking to sucker-punched my fiancee she leaned back to me and her face was covered in blood, he recalled.
Diamond said someone then grabbed his fiancee by the hair.
I opened my pocket knife and said, Let my wife go immediately, which worked.
Diamond insists he didnt stab anyone.
I had my pocket knife like this... and the blade was right here and the guy came from around me and grabbed my throat, and so he nicked his arm on the tip of it -- it was a Band-Aid, the most expensive Band-Aid Ive ever bought.
Lopez noted that Diamond does not have the best relationship with his former Saved by the Bell co-stars, mostly because of a tell-all book he wrote that they have labeled as false.
He blames a ghostwriter for the book going awry.
I wanted to write a book about my life I was supposed to talk to a ghostwriter for 40 hours total. I talked to a guy for 90 minutes total another two weeks go by, and I get something in the mail, I get a copy of the book They fabricated a whole bunch of stuff I kind of super railroaded on that.
Diamond also discussed the X-rated film he created in 2006.
There was a stunt person, he said of the porn flick. I had to take a chance. What if that thing had made $3 or 4 million?
Now, Screech wants to turn his life around. He told Lopez he is turning over a new leaf.
I want to put the tomfoolery and malarkey behind me for that clean slate. Time for a change.
Kate Hudson didn't hone her flawless body overnight.
The 37-year-old actress covers Shape magazine's June issue and shows off her slim physique in a variety of sexy swimsuits for the accompanying photo shoot, revealing how she maintains her famous figure. It turns out Hudson already found the fitness program that works for her when she was only in her teens.
"I was 19 when I discovered Pilates, and I'm still doing it," she shares. "It's the workout my body really responds to. Its all about alignment, elongating your spine, and strengthening your core. It makes me feel my strongest."
Ive always prided myself on being different and forging my own path. I was the first woman in my family to earn a college degree. I was the first (and still the only one) to move to New York to start a career. I like being different. But that changed on April 28. -- Im no longer a trail blazer. On that day, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and became one of a large and growing number of women with breast cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death in women.
More than 307,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year alone in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society . One in eight or 12 percent of women in the U.S. will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. Survivors of the disease number 2.8 million, including those still being treated. As a breast cancer patient, I have plenty of company.
This is not a club I asked to be a member of. But there you have it. Getting people to talk about it is not easy. Even medical professionals struggle with saying the C word. My tests were positive. Thats how my doctor described them when she gave me my diagnosis. It was up to me to fill in the blanks. I have breast cancer? I responded. Yes, she said.
Im not the kind of person who enjoys talking about my medical conditions but I am talking about this and here is why: The type of cancer I have is called lobular and represents just 10 to 15 percent of breast cancer cases. Its not what you expect the cherry or plum shaped tumors easily spotted by mammograms. My cancer tumor is shaped more like a miniature Mars bar. Its oblong. One of the healthcare experts I talked to described it as stealthy. A cancer shape shifter. And, for that reason, its difficult to detect by mammograms.
The type of cancer I have is called lobular and represents just 10 to 15 percent of breast cancer cases. Its not what you expect the cherry or plum shaped tumors easily spotted by mammograms.
Lets face it, in our society, mammograms are seen as the definitive test for breast cancer. But I had a mammogram just six months before diagnosis and it came up negative.
So here is what I am saying: Please check yourself. Give yourself a thorough exam regularly. For guidance check out the Susan G. Komen website. Watch for changes in your breasts. An inverted nipple, discharge or new pain in a spot that doesnt go away are signs of potential problems. Self-examination doesnt replace mammograms, not by a long shot. Its simply an extra step you should do to stay safe.
Bottom line here: My recovery chances are high. My cancer is Stage 2, an early stage. The tumor is such that it will respond to many different therapies. I will likely be just fine. But I hope and pray that other women will remember despite all the other demands of their lives -- the kids, the job, the husband -- to regularly examine themselves. There is no substitute.
Next week, I will start treatment at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center where I am lucky enough to have some of the best doctors in the world taking care of me . The first step will be a mastectomy, followed by chemotherapy, and possibly radiation.
I am ready to get started. Because getting started is the first step towards getting better, which is something I fully intend to do.
Donald Trump, in an extensive interview with Fox News Megyn Kelly, responded to critics of his barbed campaign style by saying he never would have been successful in the primary race if he had acted presidential and held back on hitting his political rivals while declaring that if he doesnt win the election this fall, hell consider his campaign a complete waste.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee was blunt in describing the stakes of the 2016 race as he sees it. Without a victory in the fall, he said, he wont be able to lower taxes, strengthen the military or make America great.
I will say this: If I dont go all the way, and if I dont win, I will consider it to be a total and complete waste of time, energy and money, Trump said, in the interview that aired Tuesday night on Fox Broadcast Network affiliates.
The candidate addressed a range of topics in his sit-down with Kelly, from his tone to the lead-off presidential debates to his past clashes with the Fox News host.
Trump conceded that, in looking back, he absolutely has regrets, without going into detail. But he said if he hadnt conducted himself in this way, he wouldnt have come out on top.
If I were soft, if I were presidential in a way its a bad word, because theres nothing wrong with being presidential, but if I had not fought back in the way I fought back, I dont think I would have been successful, he told Kelly.
Trump argued that hes a counter-puncher whos only responding to the attacks against him.
I respond pretty strongly, but in just about all cases, Ive been responding to what they did to me, Trump said. Its not a one-way street.
The interview was conducted on the heels of an April meeting between Kelly and the Republican candidate at Trump Tower in New York City.
Before that meeting, the two had been at odds for months dating back to a Fox News-hosted debate last August, when Trump accused The Kelly File host of asking him unfair questions.
Today, Trump is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, having vanquished 16 primary rivals and now turning his attention toward an expected general election battle against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. The former secretary of state, while still trying to shake a primary challenge from Bernie Sanders, has sharpened her criticism of Trump as well in recent weeks, even saying Monday that hes a loose cannon who would be dangerous for the country. And she said hed return to failed economic policies.
Speaking with Kelly, Trump suggested the August debate actually helped prepare him for the battle ahead.
In a certain way, what you did might have been a favor, because I felt so good about having gotten through -- I said, If I could get through this debate, with those questions, you can get through anything, he said.
Trump pointed to that debate when asked at what moment he realized he might actually win the race. I think that first debate meant something, Trump said, adding that he felt comfortable with the subject matter and the people he was competing against.
At the same time, Trump tried to explain why he fired back at Kelly for confronting him about his past disparaging comments about women. I thought it was unfair, Trump said of the question, while noting it was the first question hed ever been asked at a debate. And Im saying to myself, man, what a question.
He added, I dont really blame you because youre doing your thing, but from my standpoint, I dont have to like it.
As for his role in the presidential election in this year, Trump said: I really view myself now as somewhat of a messenger This is a massive thing thats going on. These are millions and millions of people that have been disenfranchised from this country.
Trump for the last several weeks has been working to reach out to members of the so-called Republican establishment in Washington hes spent much of his campaign railing against. He met last week with GOP congressional leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan who has held back an endorsement for now. Trump and the lawmakers came away describing the meetings as positive.
In the interview with Kelly, Trump briefly discussed his personal life, and how his older brother Fred died after a battle with alcoholism. I have never had a glass of alcohol, he said, calling his brothers death the hardest thing for me to take.
And while defending his tone on the campaign trail, Trump also said he takes very seriously the responsibility of the office hes seeking.
I understand what's going on. And when I see the fervor, when I see 25,000 people that have seats, and not one person during an hour speech will sit down. I say, sit down, everybody, sit down. And they don't sit down," he said. " I mean, that's a great compliment. But I do understand the power of the message. There's no question about it.
A federal appeals court on Tuesday delayed the release of a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the 2013 George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal as it considers whether to allow someone named on the list to block its publication.
The ruling from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia called for June 6 oral arguments from attorneys for the unidentified person, referred to as John Doe, and from several media organizations, including The Associated Press, that are seeking access to the list.
Tuesday's ruling left open the possibility that the hearing could be closed to the public.
Bridget Kelly, Republican Gov. Chris Christie former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a top Christie appointee to the agency that operates the bridge, face wire fraud and civil rights charges. A second former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey official, David Wildstein, has pleaded guilty.
They were charged with conspiring to create traffic jams near the bridge in Fort Lee to punish the town's Democratic mayor for not endorsing Christie's re-election.
Christie has disavowed any knowledge of the scheme and hasn't been charged.
One of the 24 judges sitting on the 3rd Circuit bench is Maryanne Trump Barry, sister of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. It isn't clear if Trump Barry will recuse herself from the matter since Donald Trump recently named Christie to head his transition team. A panel of three judges will hear the case.
The court also on Tuesday ordered that both sides' briefs be filed under seal, meaning they won't be publicly available. An attorney for the media organizations filed papers later Tuesday requesting a modification of the order and release of the list with John Doe's name blacked out.
The indictment alleges Kelly and Baroni conspired "with each other and others, including Wildstein." Defense attorneys have been furnished with the names of the other co-conspirators as part of routine pretrial discovery. The media organizations filed a request for the list several months ago.
Unindicted co-conspirators are people who were involved in a conspiracy to commit a crime but haven't been criminally charged, usually because they are cooperating with the government or prosecutors feel they don't have enough evidence to convict them.
A federal judge ruled last week that the list should be released by noon Tuesday. The same judge on Friday denied a request by John Doe to further delay the release of names of unindicted co-conspirators in the plot. Doe then appealed to the 3rd Circuit.
Doe's attorney, Jenny Kramer, has argued in court filings that Doe would be "publicly branded a felon" without the chance to clear his name in court, violating his rights to due process.
Bruce Rosen, an attorney for the media companies, called Doe's attempt "frivolous and desperate" in a response filing and argued the due process clause doesn't protect a person's reputation. He also wrote that names of unindicted co-conspirators often are revealed during a trial anyway.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced Tuesday the United States and Germany will sign an agreement aimed at enhancing information sharing between the two countries.
The agreement, a Homeland Security Presidential Directive 6 or HSPD-6 is a joint effort by the Obama Administration and Berlin to step up international counterterrorism efforts.
Johnson made the announcement alongside German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere at a press conference in Washington, DC.
De Maiziere will sign the HSPD-6 Wednesday morning with Attorney General Loretta Lynch at the Justice Department. The agreement is a direct result of the continued heightened terrorism threat environment posed by groups like ISIS and follows highly sophisticated terrorist attacks in Brussels and Paris.
Speaking at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast in April, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper acknowledged there being evidence of clandestine ISIS cells placed within the European Union. Clapper specifically acknowledged evidence of the groups presence inside Germany and the U.K. He also noted the U.S. Intelligence Community continues to see evidence of plotting by ISIS in those same countries.
In his remarks at Tuesdays press conference, Johnson praised the Germans for leading the EU in adopting a measure that gives European authorities access to airline passenger data the Passenger Name Record (PNR) measure. He noted that he and Interior Minister de Maiziere discussed efforts on the part of both nations to curb the flow of foreign fighters and counter the ISIS movement.
Asked by Fox News to comment on recent remarks by FBI Director James Comey of there being a lessened flow of foreign fighters leaving the U.S. to join ISIS in Iraq and Syria, Johnson agreed with the directors assessment and said DHS is observing a similar trend. He, however, could not attribute that slowdown to any one specific thing. Instead, Johnson said that he hopes it is a result of joint homeland security efforts and the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) movement here at home.
De Maiziere said too that Germany has observed a slowdown in the number of individuals leaving Germany to join the so-called caliphate. He attributed that to a possible weakened fascination with ISIS before noting that 140 Germans have been killed on the ground with ISIS.
In addressing the HSPD-6 and other joint counterterrorism efforts between the U.S. and European nations, Secretary Johnson said that in light of recent attacks in the region he is seeing an increased resolve on the part of the EU to work more effectively with its U.S. partners.
Bernie Sanders just won't go away -- and that's a growing problem for Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party as the front-runner once again failed Tuesday to score the decisive victory needed to put the Vermont senator in her rear-view mirror and turn her full attention to Donald Trump.
Sanders easily beat Clinton in the Oregon Democratic primary, and was running neck-and-neck with her in Kentucky, though Clinton claimed victory with less than 2,000 votes separating them and not all precincts counted.
I say to the leadership of the Democratic Party, open the doors, let the people in, Sanders said, alluding the Kentucky's voting format which allowed only registered Democrats to vote.
Should Clinton pull out a win in Kentucky, the closeness of the race and her loss in Oregon still prevents her from doing a full pivot to a November general election matchup with Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.
With 99 percent of the precincts reporting in Kentucky, Clinton led Sanders by just over 1,900 votes out of more than 423,000 that were cast.
We just won Oregon, and were going to win California, the Vermont senator told supporters in Carson, Calif., where he vowed to take our fight to July's Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
Sanders' victory was his 21st of the election cycle and his 11th in the past 17 contests. The win also broke Sanders' streak of eight straight losses in so-called "closed primaries", where only registered Democrats can vote.
The Kentucky Secretary of State's office reported that Clinton led Sanders 46.8 percent to 46.3 percent with 100 percent of the votes in. The Sanders campaign did not immediately say whether it will challenge the results in Kentucky, which does not have an automatic recount.
According to an Associated Press tally, Clinton and Sanders each received 27 of Kentucky's 55 Democratic delegates, with one delegate to be awarded to the statewide winner. In Oregon, Sanders had won at least 28 of the Beaver State's 61 Democratic delegates, with Clinton winning at least 24 and nine other delegates outstanding.
Clinton currently has 2,291 pledged delegates and superdelegates to Sanders' 1,528. She requires a total of 2,383 to clinch the Democratic nomination.
Clinton repeatedly tried to turn the focus to Trump while campaigning in Kentucky over the weekend, calling the billionaire real estate mogul a "loose cannon" and saying she had "never heard such reckless, risky talk from somebody about to be a nominee for president than Ive heard from Donald Trump when it comes to nuclear weapons."
For his part, Trump taunted Clinton on Twitter shortly after the polls closed in Kentucky Tuesday night.
In Oregon's Republican primary, Trump faced no active opposition in winning 67 percent of the vote. Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz received 17 and 16 percent of the vote respectively, as more than 104,000 ballots were cast for Trump's former rivals.
Trump won at least 17 of Oregon's 28 Republican delegates, with Cruz and Kasich each receiving at least three and five other delegates outstanding. Trump now has 1,160 delegates, just 77 away from the threshold needed to clinch the GOP nomination.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Buzz Cut:
Dem diagnosis: Early-stage Jebola
Trump touts disclosure, but not taxes
Huma to be deposed on email, triple dipping
Power Play: This election brought to you by the word support
Double whammy mammy
DEM DIAGNOSIS: EARLY-STAGE JEBOLA
Democrats are starting to suffer from Jeb Bushs ailment. Jebola is that queasy feeling in the pits of their stomachs that they may not be able to handle the man they once dismissed as a carnival barker with no chance.
For Bush, it was a confidence-sapping and ultimately debilitating condition, mostly because the diagnosis came too late. By the time Bush was ready to admit he had a Donald Trump problem, he was already a goner.
Others, most notably Ted Cruz, succumbed in equally gnarly fashion. And in each case, the reason was the same: a refusal to acknowledge reality.
So have Democrats caught the disease in early enough stages to treat their malady?
Journalists on the left are offering some dire diagnoses. Vanity Fair, for example, makes the case that Hillary Clintons primary-season left turns pose real problems in the general, especially on immigration. Clintons strategy to run as heir to Obamas legacy on that and other issues has neither prevented a protracted primary fight nor given her adequate running room in the general.
In short, what was formerly conventional wisdom Republican deficiencies with women, Hispanics and other groups were insurmountable is looking more than a little reedy after Trump ate the GOP.
Now, we dont know enough to be able to test that thinking. There will be new Fox News polls out tonight at 6 p.m. ET that will help us to see the state of the post-primary race. They will be followed by a slew of other surveys that will help us to see how things stand.
But for the moment, whats happening to Democrats is probably a healthy dose of fear.
Tuesdays results in Kentucky and Oregon would seem to reflect that reality. Clinton pulled off a squeaker victory in Kentucky a week after a 15-point blowout in neighboring West Virginia. The states have some major demographic differences, but even in the places in the Bluegrass State where the populations and issue slates are similar, Bernie Sanders underperformed.
It was the same in Oregon, where Sanders ought to have romped with his coalition of Portlandia extras and rural, downscale voters. Ultimately, he walked away with a win and no change in his dead-end delegate situation. One Democratic strategist not affiliated with either campaign described Sanders candidacy to Fox News First as unwinding.
And Democrats are also losing patience with the Bernie bros and their reign of terror. The spectacle in Nevada was enough to make any Democrat not enthralled by Sanders talk of revolution feel seasick.
We will know a great deal more about the state of the race a month hence particularly on the key question of whether Trump can pass the commander-in-chief test with skeptical voters but for now Democrats would be wise to run like he already has.
WITH YOUR SECOND CUP OF COFFEE
Native West Virginian Matthew Neill Null describes one of the states old newspaper editors, and how he captured the essence of the Mountain State in his publication. Paris Review: The Hillbilly wasnt just a paperit was an art project, a platform for historic preservation, a conservative wailing wall, and, above all, an exploration of the West Virginian id. Once, in early spring, [the newspapers editor Jim Comstock] famously added ramp oil to the ink at the printing press, a tribute to Richwoods Feast of the Ramson, which celebrates the wild leeks that sprout in the mountains after a hard winter. They give off a terrible stench. Warehouses full of mailmen were made to gag. To his delight, Jim received a stern rebuke from the postmaster general. Now were the only newspaper under orders from the federal government not to smell bad, Jim told the Associated Press.
Got a TIP from the RIGHT or the LEFT? Email FoxNewsFirst@FOXNEWS.COM
POLL CHECK
Real Clear Politics Averages
General Election: Clinton vs. Trump: Clinton +5.2 points
Generic Congressional Vote: Democrats +2.3
TRUMP TOUTS DISCLOSURE, BUT NOT TAXES
WaPo: As Donald Trump faces escalating criticism for not releasing his tax returns, the likely Republican presidential nominee instead filed his annual personal financial disclosure with federal authorities on Monday and then bragged about it in a news release on Tuesday eveningUnlike a tax return, which requires using exact numbers, the election disclosure form only requires that candidates disclose their income using wide rangesTrump claims that his net worth has increased since his last disclosure was filed in July and that his annual income is more than $557 million, not including dividends, interest, capital gains, rents and royalties. The campaign has yet to respond to a request from The Washington Post for a copy of the disclosure, which he says is 104 pages long and the FEC has yet to make public.
[Talk about income - WashEx: Hillary Clinton released a financial disclosure form on Tuesday evening revealing that she and her husband earned over $11 million last year from paid speeches and book royalties.]
Regrets? Trumps absolutely had a few - Fox News: Donald Trump, in an extensive interview with Fox News Megyn Kelly, responded to critics of his barbed campaign style by saying he never would have been successful in the primary race if he had acted presidential and held back on hitting his political rivals while declaring that if he doesnt win the election this fall, hell consider his campaign a complete waste.The candidate addressed a range of topics in his sit-down with Kelly, from his tone to the lead-off presidential debates to his past clashes with the Fox News host. Trump conceded that, in looking back, he absolutely has regrets, without going into detail. But he said if he hadnt conducted himself in this way, he wouldnt have come out on top.
Trump, RNC merge accounts - WSJ: Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee finalized a joint fundraising agreement late Tuesday that would allow individual donors to write checks of as much as $449,400far higher than the $2,700 cap on what the presumptive GOP nominees presidential campaign can accept. Under the agreement, Mr. Trumps campaign and the RNC will raise money for two joint fundraising committees. The first, called Trump Victory, will raise money for the RNC, the campaign and 11 state party committees. The second, called Trump Make America Great Again Committee, will direct funds only to the RNC and the Trump campaign.
HUMA TO BE DEPOSED ON EMAIL, TRIPLE DIPPING
Bloomberg: Former Hillary Clinton deputy chief of staff Huma Abedin and at least five others will be questioned by a conservative watchdog groups lawyers seeking information about Abedins overlapping employment at the U.S. State Department, the Clinton Foundation and an outside consulting firm. The conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch claims Clintons use of a private e-mail server hindered its efforts to get records about what it called the controversial employment status of Abedin. The first of the six to testify in a sworn deposition will be former State Department employee Lewis A. Lukens, according to a schedule filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington. Lukens will be questioned Wednesday. Judicial Watch was less definitive about other former staffers saying they were served with subpoenas. Clintons chief of staff at the State Department, Cheryl Mills, might testify on May 27. Abedin, now the vice chair of Clintons presidential campaign, may be deposed on June 28.
POWER PLAY: THIS ELECTION BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE WORD SUPPORT
Each election cycle has a new word or phrase that seems to define the election. Think binders of women or its the economy, stupid. Of the many colorful phrases from 2016 though, the key word for this historic election is support. Why? Chris Stirewalt explains in just 60 seconds. WATCH HERE.
RACE NOTES
Team Trump targets blue states first - AP
Trump faces deposition in June over restaurant lawsuit - Politico
In a bag or in a box, Christies numbers are no treat - NJ.com
Nate Silver lays out how he got it wrong on Trump - FiveThirtyEight
The circle be unbroken: The indispensable Clintonologist, Sally Bedell Smith, sees her 2007 piece on power dynamics in the Clinton marriage made current again - WSJ
WITHIN EARSHOT
When Im wounded, I go after people hard. And I try to un-wound myself. Donald Trump on Tuesdays Megyn Kelly Presents special.
DOUBLE WHAMMY MAMMY
[Fort Worth] Star-Telegram: The twins, a boy and a girl, were born at the University of Virginia Hospital at the beginning of May. It was the second and third babies of Melissa and David McLain, and they decided to name the girl Taylor. And the boy? Espn. I jokingly asked my wife what she thought about the name Espn, David McLain told WITN. She said she really liked it. When I told her I was just kidding, and that I was just saying ESPN as a single word, she said she still really liked it. And thats not the only colorful part of the twins names. Because the twins were almost born on May 4 also known as Star Wars Daythe couple decided to have some Star Wars-themed middle names. So their middle names are Luke and Leia, because boy and girl twins you have to do that, said Melissa McLain.
AND NOW A WORD FROM CHARLES
[The NYT story on Trumps past with women] was nuanced, interesting, but there was nothing scandalous about it. If this is the best that the Times and the press can do, trying to create scandal around Donald Trump, its time to plan for the inauguration. -- Charles Krauthammer on Special Report with Bret Baier Watch here.
Chris Stirewalt is digital politics editor for Fox News. Sally Persons contributed to this report. Want FOX News First in your inbox every day? Sign up here.
Two Republican attorneys general have come out fighting against a sweeping investigation into whether ExxonMobil misled the public on global warming, asking a judge to block a subpoena that they call an abuse of power -- and a threat to First Amendment rights.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange asked a Texas state judge Monday to put an end to the investigation being pursued by Virgin Islands Attorney General Claude Walker.
Walker, an independent, issued a subpoena in March seeking 40 years' worth of Exxon communications with 90 conservative groups and any other organizations engaged in research or advocacy concerning Climate Change or policies. Walker claims the company misled the public on climate change by downplaying the risks.
But Paxton called the subpoena against the Texas-based company a fishing expedition of the worst kind.
This case is about abusing the power of the subpoena to force Exxon to turn over many decades worth of records, so an attorney general with an agenda can pore over them in hopes of finding something incriminating, Paxton said in a statement. [It] ... represents an effort to punish Exxon for daring to hold an opinion on climate change that differs from that of radical environmentalists.
Walkers office did not respond to a request for comment from FoxNews.com.
The subpoena is part of a broader battle against the oil giant by a coalition of 20 attorneys generals, led by New Yorks Eric Schneiderman, and environmental groups.
While a number of states -- including Massachusetts, Vermont and California -- have launched different investigations against the company, they generally aim to replicate the success of the federal governments 1999 case against Big Tobacco, in which the industry was accused of misleading the public about smoking and nicotine risks.
Schneiderman, who himself subpoenaed Exxons financial records and emails last November, has indicated ExxonMobil is not the only energy company in his office's crosshairs, vowing to prosecute any that committed fraud to maximize profit at the public's expense to the fullest extent of the law.
Exxon challenged the Virgin Islands subpoena in March, dismissing it as politically motivated and based on discredited reporting by activist organizations. The company also noted that it does not have any operations or staff located in the Virgin Islands.
A spokesman for Exxon told FoxNews.com Tuesday that they welcomed the intervention by the Texas and Alabama attorneys general.
We appreciate that Texas and Alabama support our position opposing the Virgin Islands subpoena for lacking jurisdiction, not recognizing First Amendment rights and the obvious conflict of interest in delegating to a contingency-fee law firm the duty to conduct an impartial investigation, Alan Jeffers, media relations manager for Exxon, told FoxNews.com.
Meanwhile, a prominent libertarian think tank subpoenaed by Walker as part of the same operation is also going to court, seeking to fine Walker for allegedly violating their First Amendment rights.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute says the subpoena, that sought 10 years of communications regarding its work on climate change, should never have been issued and caused constitutional damage for which it is seeking compensation.
Mr. Walkers attempt to silence us and others who share our views is an unconstitutional abomination, CEI President Kent Lassman said in a statement. CEI will not sit still with this illegal threat hanging over our head, which is why we are asking the court to fine AG Walker and end his abuse of the legal process to intimidate CEI.
FoxNews.coms Adam Shaw and Jennifer Hickey contributed to this report.
The chairman of the top House investigative panel introduced a measure Wednesday to censure IRS Commissioner John Koskinen -- and remove him from office without a pension -- in the latest bid by Republicans to pressure him into being more cooperative in their probe of the 2013 IRS targeting scandal.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is seeking Koskinens resignation or removal for what he calls an alleged pattern of conduct inconsistent with the trust and confidence placed in him as an officer of the United States.
If censured, Koskinen, who became commissioner in 2013, would also forfeit his government pension and other federal benefits.
House Republicans are upset with what they consider Koskinen's failure to cooperate with their investigation of Lois Lerner and other IRS officials who targeted for additional scrutiny conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.
Chaffetz on Wednesday cited a long list of grievances in calling for the censure -- including Koskinen allegedly lying under oath, allowing key evidence to be destroyed by failing to comply with a subpoena and not preserving backup computer tapes that contained as many as 24,000 missing Lerner emails, allegedly destroyed by a computer malfunction.
Koskinen must be held accountable for his misconduct, Chaffetz said in a statement. I am committed to using every tool at my disposal to hold Mr. Koskinen responsible for his offenses.
A Justice Department probe completed last year found no evidence that any IRS employee acted in a way that would support criminal prosecution.
The committees efforts Wednesday to begin the censure effort comes six days before the House Judiciary Committee holds a hearing to examine alleged Koskinen misconduct.
In July 2015, Chaffetz and 51 members of Congress sent President Obama a letter calling for Koskinens removal.
Three months later, Chaffetz introduced a resolution to begin House proceedings to impeach the commissioner. The resolution was referred to the House Judiciary Committee and now has 69 co-sponsors.
The IRS has disputed Republican allegations that Koskinen has been unhelpful, saying last year, "We have fully cooperated with all of the investigations."
Democrats have derided the GOP investigations as ungrounded partisan attacks aimed at stirring up conservative voters.
"House Republican efforts to impeach or censure the IRS commissioner are exercises in partisanship and a total waste of time and money," Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, top Democrat on Chaffetz's committee, said Wednesday in a written statement. He said Republican investigations have cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars "chasing false political conspiracy theories."
Censure is sometimes used to discipline House members. The chamber voted in 2010 to censure Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., for roughly a dozen infractions include ones related to failing to pay property taxes.
Fox News' Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Despite a series of deadly bombings in Baghdad killing more than 200 people in the past week, a U.S. military spokesman in the Iraqi capital told reporters Wednesday that no additional U.S. troops are needed to bolster security and protect assets like the U.S. embassy.
We don't believe we need any additional security. We believe that the security that we have in place is adequate to the threat, Col. Steve Warren told Fox News.
Warren said the recent bombings against Shia neighborhoods in Baghdad were proof that ISIS is moving in a different direction.
These attacks appear to be a shift in ISIL's tactics, said Warren. ISIL wants to throw punches that land. To do this, they appear to have chosen to revert to some of their terrorist roots. ISIL is another name for ISIS, or the Islamic State, which is a Sunni Muslim terror group.
Warren said the recent ISIS bombings have not impacted American or Iraqi forces fighting ISIS. He said senior U.S. military leaders requested that no Iraqi forces fighting ISIS across Iraq return to the capital and, so far, the Iraqis appear to be honoring that request.
We have not seen the Iraqi government redeploy any troops to Baghdad. There was some discussion of it, but they changed their mind, said Warren. So, as of now, none of the field forces have returned to Baghdad. But Warren acknowledged that half of the Iraqi security forces already are protecting the capital.
Despite recent military victories against ISIS, Warren said the terror group continues to control Fallujah, located an hour to the west and a place where ISIS can plan future attacks on Baghdad.
Warren said ISIS territory had been reduced by 45 percent in Iraq to date, only a 5 percentage point change in the past five months. President Obama announced at the Pentagon in December that the U.S.-led coalition had taken back 40 percent of ISIS-held territory in Iraq.
An area where Warren said the U.S. military was exceling was killing ISIS leadership. Warren said 120 high-value ISIS fighters had been killed in U.S. airstrikes to date.
Warren said two mid-level ISIS commanders were killed on May 13.
Warren said the U.S.-led coalition has trained 31,000 Iraqi security forces to date and 3,800 Iraqi soldiers are in training currently, the most at one time. Warren said over 1,000 Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have been trained in the past month and another 1,100 are currently in training.
Warren said Iraqi troops recently pushed a few hundred ISIS fighters out of Rutbah, a city in Anbar province in western Iraq along a highway leading to Jordan, roughly 80 miles from the border.
Warren estimated that ISIS has 20,000-25,000 fighters split between both Iraq and Syria. The majority of fighters in Iraq are in Mosul, he said.
House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., plan to introduce what they are terming an alternative health care bill Thursday which will not repeal ObamaCare, but work alongside the existing Affordable Care Act and modify various parts of the system.
The legislation was originially called the HELP Act, but was renamed Wednesday to The Worlds Greatest Health Care Bill. Ever a title infused with a dose of Donald Trump-esque hubris.
Sessions notes that the legislation allows people to keep ObamaCare if they so desire, noting that his measure does not entail a full repeal of ObamaCare.
Someone who repeals (ObamaCare) is left with nothing, he said.
Thats why his bill works in tandem with the existing law.
I will put anyone elses bill against this bill, Sessions said.
The legislation does not repeal any of the taxes in ObamaCare, but involves Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) where people can save for expenditures, pay for out of pocket needs or also use those funds to pay for health deductibles.
At a minimum, Sessions says that people must at least carry a health plan which has a high deductible and that his bill is silent on whether or not plans should or should not cover abortion and reproductive health services.
The engineering of a replacement bill for ObamaCare has stymied Republicans since 2009, which was amplified by the 2010 campaign slogan of repeal and replace.
Congressional Republicans finally managed to successfully vote to repeal ObamaCare in both bodies recently, but President Obama vetoed that effort. The continuing trouble for Congressional Republicans since has been finding a replacement bill which would pass.
Up until now, there has never been such a plan because no such blueprint ever had anywhere close to the votes needed to pass.
Authoring a bill, let alone a bill which doesn't call for a full repeal of ObamaCare, is a huge break in where Republicans have been on the heath care issue.
That's not to say that all Republicans can go along with the proposed bill because it goes against what has been the GOP doctrine for so long, but it's significant in the fact that two Republicans are taking this approach.
A task force commissioned by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is expected to roll out a set of general health care goals sometime in the next five weeks.
Ryan hopes the House would address the topic next year, but Sessions notes that his legislation is not just a set of ideas, but an actual bill, complete with a bill number.
Its to influence them, said Sessions when discussing his plan. Instead of principles, I want a bill.
The Republican National Committee and presumptive nominee Donald Trump's campaign announced late Tuesday that they had reached a joint fundraising agreement, allowing the Trump campaign to raise funds to elect GOP candidates at all levels in this fall's election.
The agreement creates two joint fundraising committees. One of these, dubbed Trump Victory, will raise money for the RNC, the Trump campaign and 11 state Republican parties. The other, the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, will raise funds only for the Trump campaign and the RNC.
"Donald Trump knows the importance of keeping our Republican majorities at the local, state, and national level, and these joint fundraising agreements are another vital step in making that happen," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement. "Donald Trump has received millions more votes than any candidate in the history of the Republican Party and we are confident that will carry forward into the general election."
The joint fundraising agreement allows individuals to donate up to $449,400 to Trump Victory., while the Trump Make America Great Again Committee will be able to accept smaller donations. RNC finance chairman Lew Eisenberg will hold the same position on the Trump Victory committee.
"We are pleased to have this partnership in place with the national party," Trump said in a statement. "By working together with the RNC to raise support for Republicans everywhere, we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, keep Republican majorities in Congress and in the states, and Make America Great Again."
Trump's likely general election rival, Hillary Clinton, reached a similar agreement with the Democratic National Committee this past August. The Wall Street Journal reported that as of the end of March, the Hillary Victory Fund had raised more than $60 million, of which $13 million had gone to the campaign.
The 11 state parties that will receive funds from Trump Victory are Arkansas, Connecticut, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Tuesday that he would be willing to negotiate with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in an effort to curtail the Communist country's nuclear weapons program.
"I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him," Trump told Reuters, adding "at the same time I would put a lot of pressure on China because economically we have tremendous power over China."
"China can solve that problem with one meeting or one phone call," Trump continued.
It was unclear whether Trump was referring to bilateral talks between the U.S. and North Korea or a face-to-face meeting. But either would mark a significant departure from the current situation. There has been little dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea since Pyongyang pulled out of international aid-for-disarmament negotiations with the U.S. and other nations in 2008.
The Obama administration says it has been willing to resume those talks, but only if the North commits to the aim of giving up nuclear weapons. Kim Jong Un has instead doubled down on his nuclear program, holding two nuclear test explosions since he took power four years ago. He's also launched long-range rockets into space, intensifying fears that the North is moving closer to have a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile that could threaten the American mainland. In response, the U.S. has led the international effort to step up sanctions on the North.
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton's campaign jumped on Trump's remarks.
"Let me get this straight," said Clinton adviser Jake Sullivan. "Donald Trump insults the leader of our closest ally, then turns around and says he'd love to talk to Kim Jong Un?" Sullivan was referring to Trump's recent feud with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Sullivan added: "I suppose that makes sense for him, since he also praised Kim Jong Un for executing his uncle and seems to have a bizarre fascination with foreign strongmen like (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and Kim. But his approach to foreign policy makes no sense for the rest of us."
No sitting U.S. president has met with the leader of North Korea, although former U.S. presidents have met with Kim Jong Un's predecessors on visits to the isolated nation. Jimmy Carter met in 1994 with Kim Il Sung, the current leader's grandfather a meeting that paved the way for a disarmament agreement negotiated by the Clinton administration that later collapsed. Bill Clinton met with Kim Jong Il, the current leader's father, in 2009 when he traveled to Pyongyang to secure the release of two detained American journalists.
As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama was criticized by both Republican and Democratic rivals for saying he would be willing to meet with leaders of nations like Iran, Cuba and North Korea without preconditions. Hillary Clinton said at the time that Obama's position was naive and irresponsible.
Obama cast his position as a break from President George W. Bush's foreign policy and the notion that the U.S. could punish a country by not talking to its leaders.
Now in his eighth year as president, Obama has never met with North Korea's leaders. He has met with Cuban President Raul Castro, including in Havana this year, though their first meeting came only after negotiations between their countries about normalizing relations.
Obama was willing to meet with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani at the United Nations in 2013, but the Iranian leader turned down the meeting. The two did speak by phone days later, a call that came as the U.S. eyed nuclear talks with its longtime foe.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Click for more from Reuters.
The United States sees evidence that hackers, possibly working for foreign governments, are snooping on the presidential candidates, the nation's intelligence chief said Wednesday. Government officials are working with the campaigns to tighten security as the race for the White House intensifies.
The activity follows a pattern set in the last two presidential elections. Hacking was rampant in 2008, according to U.S. intelligence officials, and both President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were targets of Chinese cyberattacks four years later. Despite that history, cyber experts say neither Donald Trump's nor Hillary Clinton's campaign networks are secure enough to eliminate the risk.
"We've already had some indications" of hacking, James Clapper, director of national intelligence, said Wednesday at a cybersecurity event at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington. He said the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security were helping educate the campaigns.
Of the attacks, Clapper predicted, "we'll probably have more."
The revelation comes after a Clapper's office released a document earlier this month saying foreignintelligence services tracked the 2008 presidential election cycle "like no other." The document was part of a slide show used to warn incoming Obama administration officials that their new jobs could make them prey for foreign spies.
Eight years ago, foreign intelligence services "met with campaign contacts and staff, used human source networks for policy insights, exploited technology to get otherwise sensitive data, engaged in perception management to influence policy," the document said. "This exceeded traditional lobbying and public diplomacy."
Jonathan Lampe with InfoSec Institute, a private information security company in Chicago, said security hasn't improved significantly since then.
In October, he evaluated the security of sixteen candidates' websites and wrote a pair of 20-page reports. Using the reconnaissance skills of a casual hacker, Lampe pulled full lists of site user names and technologies used on most sites. In some cases, he discovered which directories were accessible from the Internet and which weren't. He learned what software products Hillary Clinton campaign's used from a job posting soliciting a computer-wise staffer.
"Everybody was sitting with their pants down and by the time we looked at the sites in March, everybody had made fixes," Lampe said.
But countries are probably still snooping, he said: "The sites were open enough back in October that anyone who grabbed the information then and wanted to use it, could still use it now."
Some threats are publicly known.
Several weeks ago, the international group of activists and hackers known as Anonymous declared cyberwar on Donald Trump, urging supporters to take down his website and expose private information. A masked figure appeared on YouTube, saying, "Dear Donald Trump, we have been watching you for a long time and what we see is deeply disturbing."
The New York billionaire probably has the largest "attack surface" of all of the candidates, said John Dickson, a partner in the Denim Group, a San Antonio developer of secure software. "If it's the Bernie Sanders campaign, it's probably one website. If it's Donald Trump, it's his entire empire."
Dickson and other experts said they weren't privy to any incidents of foreign hacking of the campaigns. But as the political conventions and general election near, they worry about a well-timed, sophisticated attack by a nation state that could help a candidate.
"Think of the Chinese. Think of the Iranians. They have the intelligence capabilities, obviously, and maybe even the desire to disrupt elections," Dickson said, adding that foreign efforts at least to learn more about the candidates must be taken for granted. "You would hope that the CIA is doing the same thing in following foreign elections," he said.
Indeed, the U.S. spies on both allies and adversaries for policy, political and commerce information.
The Clinton and Trump campaigns didn't respond to questions about cybersecurity.
Dickson said the campaigns focused more on computer security because of the investigation into Clinton's useof a private email server while she was secretary of state, and a computer breach of voter data at the Democratic National Committee.
Last year, Clinton's campaign accused rival Bernie Sanders of stealing information about potential voters from the committee's extensive voter trove. Sanders apologized for his campaign improperly gaining access to Clinton campaign data and fired a data director.
V. Newton Miller, chief executive officer of the Milwaukee-based PKWARE, which provides encryption software and advises federal agencies on data security, said foreign spying on campaign sites was inevitable.
"These campaigns are not working on encrypted platforms," he said. "It's a matter of when and how serious of an impact it is going to have on this election."
Foreign hackers are more interested in sensitive, revealing campaign emails and reports, especially with the unprecedented mudslinging of this campaign, rather than acts of cyber vandalism, Miller and other experts said.
"If they shut down a candidate's website, I mean OK. So what? It impacts fundraising for 24 to 48 hours," Miller said. "It's the sensitive information that's the driver on this one."
A website for Romney's presidential campaign was shut down for a few hours by hackers in 2012, costing the campaign scores of potential donations.
In the 2008 race, Obama and Republican candidate, Sen. John McCain, were targeted.
One letter obtained by hackers showed McCain expressing his support for Taiwan. The hackers were believed to be backed by China's government, and a Chinese diplomat called the campaign to complain about the letter before it was even sent.
Meanwhile, an Obama campaign staffer clicked on a corrupted attachment that allowed a virus to enter the system.
Clinton and Trump both have taken jabs at China on the campaign trail and might seem ripe for similar attacks. Trump wants to punish Beijing for hacking and unfair trade practices. Clinton accused China of "trying to hack into everything that doesn't move in America" and stealing huge amounts of government information.
In February 1493, Christopher Columbus described his historic journey of the previous year in a letter to the king and queen of Spain. Though the letter was reprinted and circulated throughout Europe, only about 80 copies remainand now the US is sending one of them, a stolen one, back to Europe, reports the Los Angeles Times.
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement says the $1.1 million "Plannck II" copy donated to the Library of Congress in 2004 was being delivered to Italy after an investigation found it was stolen from Florence's Riccardiana Library and replaced with a high-quality photocopy decades ago, per the Local and Delaware News Journal.
After a researcher finally detected the forgery in 2012, authorities received a tip that the real one was in Washington. New tests have revealed that to be true.
Among other things, researchers detected bleach on the Library of Congress' copy, suggesting that the Riccardiana Library's stamp was once there but had been removed. It isn't clear when the letter was stolen from the museum, but officials say a Swiss collector somehow obtained it and sold it to an American in 1990.
It was then purchased at a New York auction in 1992 before that owner donated it to the Library of Congress in 2004. "It is interesting how 500 years after the letter was written it has made the same trip back and forth from America," says Italy's culture minister, per NBC News.
(Don't blame Columbus for syphilis.)
This article originally appeared on Newser: After Decades-Old Theft, 1493 Columbus Letter Is Returned
The oldest space dust yet found on Earth suggests that the ancient atmosphere of Earth had significantly more oxygen than previously thought, a new study finds.
Although oxygen gas currently makes up about one-fifth of Earth's air, there was at least 100,000 times less oxygen in the primordial atmosphere, researchers say. Oxygen easily reacts with other molecules, which means it readily gets bound to other elements and pulled from the atmosphere.
Previous research suggests that significant levels of oxygen gas started permanently building up in the atmosphere with the Great Oxidation Event, which occurred about 2.4 billion years ago. This event was most likely caused by cyanobacteria microbes that, like plants, photosynthesize and release oxygen. [Infographic: Earth's Atmosphere Top to Bottom]
Most evidence regarding how much oxygen there was in Earth's air in the past concerned the lower atmosphere. Until now, scientists had no way to sample oxygen levels in Earth's ancient upper atmosphere.
In a new study, scientists analyzing tiny meteorites found that the upper reaches of the early Earth's atmosphere may not have been oxygen-poor as once thought. Instead, the ancient Earth's upper atmosphere may have possessed nearly the same amount of oxygen as it does today, the researchers said.
"With this project we have opened up a new way of investigating Earth's ancient atmosphere," said study lead author Andrew Tomkins, a geoscientist at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
Space dust
The researchers analyzed 60 microscopic meteorites from samples of ancient limestone collected in the Pilbara region in Western Australia. These cosmic dust particles are 2.7 billion years old, the oldest yet found.
"We weren't certain that the project was going to work," Tomkins told Live Science. "The project started out as a student research project, and it was a bit of a risk to try and find micrometeorites when few other people had tried it before. I had some backup plans, but the extra tension made for a lot of excitement when we found our first micrometeorites."
The micrometeorites ranged from two to 12 times thinner than the width of an average human hair. They are cosmic spherules remnants of meteorites the size of sand grains that broke apart during atmospheric entry. Previous research suggested that these kinds of particles melt at altitudes of about 45 to 55 miles (75 to 90 kilometers).
The scientists analyzed the micrometeorites using electron microscopes and high-energy X-rays from the Australian Synchrotron. They found that a significant portion of the iron in these meteorites had reacted with oxygen to form iron oxide minerals, which suggests that the thin upper atmosphere in which they melted was richer in oxygen than thought.
"Once we recovered the first micrometeorites, I realized that the minerals inside them were telling us that they had been oxidized in the upper atmosphere," Tomkins said. "These were essentially the first samples of our Earth's ancient upper atmosphere." [Fallen Stars: A Gallery of Famous Meteorites]
This finding was unexpected, "because it has been firmly established that the Earth's lower atmosphere was very poor in oxygen 2.7 billion years ago," study co-author Matthew Genge, a professor in the Department of Earth Science & Engineering at Imperial College London, said in a statement. "How the upper atmosphere could contain so much oxygen before the appearance of photosynthetic organisms was a real puzzle."
What could have happened?
One possible origin of this oxygen is that sunlight broke apart water vapor in the lower atmosphere into hydrogen and oxygen the oxygen could have risen to the upper atmosphere, while the lighter hydrogen would have escaped Earth's atmosphere into outer space. Another possibility is that sunlight broke apart sulfur dioxide gas emitted from volcanoes into sulfur and oxygen the sulfur could have condensed to form particles that fell to Earth, leaving oxygen behind, the researchers said.
"A caution it's important to understand that the density of the atmosphere at the very high altitudes sampled by micrometeorites is extremely thin," Tomkins said. "We are not talking about generating large amounts of oxygen here, but rather elevated proportions of oxygen relative to the other gases."
It remains uncertain how the ancient upper atmosphere could have stayed oxygen-rich while the ancient lower atmosphere remained oxygen-poor. The researchers suggest that a methane haze layer may have existed between the upper and lower atmosphere, reducing mixing between them.
"Methane is thought to have been produced by early single-celled organisms known as methanogens. These exist today as well," Tomkins said. "There has been a lot of debate as to how much methane there might have been, and when it might have first arisen. The general thought is that the methane, combined with carbon dioxide, may have created an organic haze if the conditions were right."
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The next step "is to try and extract micrometeorites from rocks of a range of ages, to examine how the chemistry of Earth's upper atmosphere might have changed over very long periods of geological time," Tomkins said. "It should be possible to use micrometeorites to investigate changes in atmospheric composition across very broad periods of time."
"It should also be possible to find micrometeorites on Mars," Tomkins added. "If the rovers can find them, and somehow determine their age of atmospheric entry, they could be used to investigate changes in Mars' atmosphere."
The scientists detailed their findings in the May 12 issue of the journal Nature.
Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Good fences make good neighbors, which is why the United States is building a space fence.
But the first thing to understand about the space fence is that its not actually a fence its radar. And when its operational, pulsing up from an atoll in the Pacific, it will be able to track objects in space that are softball-sized, the Air Force says.
The purpose? To keep track of space debris, but also for deterrence, in order to keep U.S. assets in space safe from other powers that might want to attack them.
Bubble of Uncertainty
There are 23,000 human-made objects orbiting the Earth, and about 1,300 of those are active satellites, according to Capt. Nicholas Mercurio, the director of public affairs for the Joint Functional Component Command for Space at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Existing systems track those objects, and are able to detect pieces of debris that are about four inches long in low-Earth orbit, he said.
Related: Could space research offer new hope for cancer patients?
The new space fence will have much greater sensitivity, allowing it to detect and track and measure an object the size of a softball, orbiting more than 1,200 miles in space, Mercurio told FoxNews.com. The new system which will detect objects in space as they pass through what Mercurio described as a curtain of radar will be able to track objects that are about two inches long.
When tracking objects, the Air Force uses the term bubble of uncertainty to describe a satellites projected location when it nears another object, and if a satellites bubble overlaps with the bubble of a piece of debris, then thats what the Air Force calls a conjunction. The new space fence, since it promises to be more accurate, will shrink those uncertainty bubbles, Mercurio said.
Brian Weeden, the technical advisor for the Secure World Foundation, has written a lengthy analysis of the space fence.
Related: Three million photos and counting: Space station crew takes milestone snapshots
We know through some scientific work, that theres roughly half a million pieces of space debris larger than lets say half an inch, but smaller than four inches, thats there but we cant track it right now, Weeden told FoxNews.com So one of the big reasons why the military is investing in the new space fence is to track those objects.
This isnt the first space fence. The original one was a radar system based in the continental United States, which the Air Force shut down in 2013.
The decision itself was interesting in that it was wrapped up in the whole sequestration discussion. That was the rationale that the Air Force Space Command gave, Weeden said. But that was just "part of the story," he said. I think theres a case to be made that shutting down the original was kind of part of the budget justification for the new one.
I think tracking more of the space debris, and particularly the smaller space debris objects, is a very good goal, Weeden added. I think there are a lot of questions, though, about whether this really is the most bang for the buck.
Deterrence
But the space fence isnt intended to just track debris.
Theres a reason why the military is doing this, Weeden said. A big part of that is they are worried about not only debris collisions with military satellites, but potential adversaries using small space objects to try and attack satellites.
Weeden highlighted the development of cube satellites, small objects with edges that might be about four inches long. Theres a sense of concern that these small devices could potentially be used to attack bigger satellites, he said.
Related: 1917 glass plate offers oldest evidence of exoplanetary system
No one would benefit from a war which extends to the space domain, Mercurio said, citing spaces centrality in everyday life. With that in mind, the space situational awareness capacity of the [Joint Space Operations Center] has a deterrent aspect to it, because we are able to identify, characterize, [and] attribute actions in space.
The space fence is part of that, he said.
Omar Lamrani, a senior military analyst for Stratfor, an intelligence firm, said that the space fence could help the U.S. move a satellite away from another satellite that could harm it, and could also help attribute aggressive actions if they occur.
The first part of deterrence is attribution, Lamrani told FoxNews.com. In other words, if a country like Russia or China knows that the United States would be able to attribute a hostile action in space, they are less likely to do it.
As for his opinion of the space fence? Theres what they say its capable of, which is really, really, impressive on paper, Lamrani said. If that is the case, then thats really strong technology.
The space fence radar system is being built by Lockheed Martin, and will be based on the island of Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands in the North Pacific. Testing has started in New Jersey, and last month, General Dynamics reported that a part of the space fence facility it had built, weighing 700,000 pounds, was ready for shipment to Kwajalein.
Mercurio said that it will begin its operations at the end of 2018.
Follow Rob Verger on Twitter: @robverger
NASA has funded eight advanced-technology concepts that agency officials believe could help transform space science and exploration.
The high-risk, high-reward ideas which received grants under Phase 2 of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program include a possible way to induce a hibernation-like state in Mars-bound astronauts and a proposal to blast tiny spacecraft between the stars using powerful lasers.
"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," Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C, said in a statement Friday (May 13). "This year's Phase 2 fellows have clearly met this challenge." [Gallery: Visions of Interstellar Starship Travel]
Phase 2 NIAC awardees receive up to $500,000 for two years of work. The goal is to further develop ideas that have already been fleshed out with the aid of a $100,000 Phase 1 NIAC grant, which supports initial analysis studies.
Here are the 2016 NIAC Phase 2 concepts, along with the principal investigators for each:
? Advancing Torpor-Inducing Transfer Habitats for Human Stasis to Mars; John Bradford, Space Works, Inc. in Atlanta. Bradford and his team are working on a way to put astronauts in a sort of hibernation, by lowering their core temperatures significantly. This strategy could make the long trip to Mars cheaper, safer and less taxing physically and psychologically for crewmembers, the scientists say.
? Directed Energy Interstellar Study; Philip Lubin, University of California, Santa Barbara. This project's investigators aim to develop an interstellar spaceflight system that would accelerate sail-equipped probes to incredible speeds using powerful laser blasts. This basic idea is at the heart of the $100 million Breakthrough Starshot project, which Stephen Hawking and other scientists announced last month.
? Magnetoshell Aerocapture for Manned Missions and Planetary Deep Space Orbiters; David Kirtley, MSNW, LLC in Redmond, Washington. In this concept, a spacecraft would slow down upon approach to a planet by generating its own magnetic field. This field would trap ions, which would then be dragged through the planet's atmosphere, decelerating the probe. Magnetoshell aerocapture could conceivably allow missions to dispense with thermal-protection gear, thereby saving lots of money, its developers said.
? Cryogenic Selective Surfaces; Robert Youngquist, Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Youngquist and his team have developed a highly reflective coating called "Solar White" that, the scientists said, could enable long-term cryogenic fuel storage, superconductor operation in deep space and other advances.
? Experimental Demonstration and System Analysis for Plasmonic Force Propulsion; Joshua Rovey, University of Missouri in Rolla. The researchers involved in this proposal aim to demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of plasmonic force propulsion, which would take advantage of the interaction between sunlight and "asymmetric nanostructures" on a tiny spacecraft to move that spacecraft around cheaply, efficiently and precisely. This novel type of propulsion could open up new space-exploration possibilities for small spacecraft, Rovey and his colleagues said.
? Flight Demonstration of Novel Atmospheric Satellite Concept; William Engblom, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. The idea here is to connect two uncrewed, glider-like aircraft using a long, strong cable. This system could stay aloft high in Earth's atmosphere pretty much indefinitely, using only wind and solar energy, Engblom and his colleagues said.
? Further Development of APERTURE: A Precise Extremely Large Reflective Telescope Using Re-configurable Elements; Melville Ulmer, Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. APERTURE is a space-telescope concept that would boast an extremely large, membrane-like primary mirror, whose shape would be corrected after deployment in space.
? Tensegrity Approaches to In-Space Construction of a 1g Growable Habitat; Robert Skelton, Texas Engineering Experiment Station in La Jolla, California. This projects originators aim to show how a ring-shaped, rotating human habitat could feasibly be built in space and how that structure could grow, to accommodate more and more visitors (or inhabitants). - See more at: http://www.space.com/32894-nasa-interstellar-flight-tech-niac-space-grants.html#sthash.r4Idujwq.dpuf
"Phase 2 decisions are always challenging, but we were especially challenged this year with so many successful Phase 1 studies applying to move forward with their cutting-edge technologies," Jason Derleth, the NIAC program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., said in the same statement.
"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 2 studies NIAC is funding, I'm thrilled to welcome these innovations and their innovators back to the program," Derleth added. "Hopefully, they will all go on to do what NIAC does best change the possible."
Originally published on Space.com.
Scientists have added another dinosaur species to the prehistoric catalog, and this one was found in present-day Utah.
Researchers working in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument discovered the new species of dinosaur a large, horned, herbivorous creature that could have been anywhere from 19 to 26 feet long and weighed in at one to two tons. It took them three field seasons to excavate the fossils.
The dinosaur, named Machairoceratops cronusi, is thought to have lived about 77 million years ago. Its uncommon for a dinosaur of this type to be discovered in this region of the United States, as usually their fossils are found in places like Alaska and Montana.
Even in a place like western North America, where intense work has been conducted over the past 150 years, we are still finding species new to science," Patrick OConnor, a coauthor on the study reporting the find, said in a statement.
Related: Fearsome dinosaur-age 'hammerhead' reptile ate plants?
This dinosaur dwelled during the Cretaceous Period in a part of North America that scientists call Laramidia, which was to the west of a sea that divided the continent. This new discovery, found in southern Laramidia, is different from dinosaurs from the same group found in the northern part of Laramidia, suggesting that these dinosaurs lived in two different regions and thus comprised two sub-groups that were shaped differently by evolution.
Dinosaurs in this group, called Centrosaurine ceratopsids, had horns, beaks, and neck shields.
Machairoceratops is unique in possessing two large, forward curving spikes off of the back of the neck shield, each of which is marked by a peculiar groove extending from the base of the spike to the tip, the function of which is currently unknown, Erik Lund, one of the researchers involved in the discovery, said in a statement.
Related: Dinosaur decline started long before asteroid impact
Lund is the lead author of the study, which was published today in the journal PLOS ONE.
Once a year, Google sets aside a few days to telland sellits own future.
Since 2008, the Google I/O conference has drawn thousands of developers of apps and gadgets, while also functioning as a sales pitch to the public about the next six to 12 months worth of projects.
Google likes to keep much of each years lineup of product announcements a surprise. But we know a few things about this years I/O, which is scheduled for Wednesday through Friday at the Shoreline Amphitheatre, near the company's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Heres what we expect to see.
The Nth version of Android
Android announcements are sure to grab headlines at I/O 2016. New editions of Googles mobile operating system are often introduced at this event, and in March of this year Google tipped its hand with a preview version of "Android N."
We know that this Android release will add a split-screen mode that puts one apps window alongside or above anothers. Thats a good idea on both larger phones and tablets. Its also an overdue catch-up to others in the mobile business. Samsung added a split-screen feature to Android devices years ago, and Apple did the same with iOS 9.
Google is also touting tidier notificationsthose alerts that appear at the top of Androids screenthat will give users more ways to act on them without first opening the corresponding apps. For example, youll be able to answer a Hangouts message by tapping a Reply button under the notification.
Android N also promises better battery life and reduced memory consumption, addressing two areas where smartphone users have probably never been satisfiedand may never be.
History suggests, however, that Google is keeping a few other Android N details under its hat. One of them is the operating system's full nameGoogle has christened each major Android release after a dessert, and Nutella seems to be one name popping into bloggers' minds, to follow last years Marshmallow. (Nutella is trademarked name, but that wouldn't necessarily deter Googlean earlier version of Android was called KitKat.)
Another, much more significant development would be the merging Googles Chrome OS laptop operating system into Android. This possibility, raised in reports by the Wall Street Journal and other sources since last fall, could make those inexpensive Chromebooks more capable machines by allowing them to run mobile apps, and to more easily share information with Android smartphones.
Virtual Reality and the Internet of Things
I/Os schedule of talks and presentations features a dozen sessions about virtual reality alone. Googles interest in interactive 3-D panoramas isnt new2014s I/O featured the debut of its cheap, clever Cardboard viewer, which uses plastic lenses in a cardboard, ViewFinder-esque housing to hold the user's phone, which can then play virtual reality (VR) content.
But Google may have a more ambitous headset in the works. The VR market is a highly competitive space right now; Google is up against Facebook (which owns Oculus VR), Samsung (which sells the Gear VR), and HTC (which has a headset called the Vive).
Google's Project Tango figures heavily in the companys VR ambitions. This technology uses cameras and motion sensors to map out a space in three dimensions for later recreation in a VR headsetor an augmented reality (AR) overlay of what your phones camera sees. VR headsets have remained rather expensive, bulky contraptions, so in the near term AR experiences could be more attractive to a wider group of people.
The other big acronym to watch for at the conference is IoT, which stands for the Internet of Things. Google has gone on a spending spree buying up IoT companies such as Nest and Dropcam. Small, self-aware and Internet-connected devices IoT devices like Nests thermostat and Dropcams security cameras promise to make our homes smarter and safer, but theyve also given us new setup hassles and new security worries.
And some time soon, Google could unveil a competitor to Amazons voice-controlled Echo personal assistantreportedly code-named Chirp." The Echo has sold well, providing its users a hands-free way to ask for weather updates, play music, and control IoT devices. Since voice control is looking like a big part of the future of both search and home automation, it's not surprising that Google wants to make its mark in that arena.
Reminder: It Won't All Actually Happen
The most important thing to keep in mind about I/O and tech events like it and Apple's upcoming WWDC: Their prophecies dont always pan out.
For every product launched or promoted at an I/O conference that has since become a daily habitfor instance, the free and unlimited-storage Google Photos service introduced last yearothers flop in the market or never even get into the hands of customers.
The Wave collaboration service demoed in 2009 never replaced e-mail. Google TV software looked promising as a smarter interface for your television in 2010 but paired poorly with existing cable boxes. Having wingsuited skydivers use Google Glass to livestream a jump onto the roof of San Franciscos Moscone West convention center in 2012 did not make that cybernetic eyewear any more popular, and the Nexus Q streaming-media player introduced then never went on sale. The Android Wear smartwatches we saw touted in 2014 remain a marginal electronics accessory.
But what users want isn't always novel technology. Even after half a decade of Google saying its working to make it easier for smartphone manufacturers and wireless carriers to get new versions of Android onto existing smartphones, most users continue to be stuck with older, less capable, and less secure versions. Unfortunately, progress on that front is one development we don't expect to see this week.
Copyright 2005-2016 Consumers Union of U.S., Inc. No reproduction, in whole or in part, without written permission. Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this site.
All Terrain Vehicle fan? The latest and greatest in pimped-out ATVs designed for Special Operations just got even better.
Polaris Defense will announce a new high-performance MRZR turbo diesel (MRZR-D) Wednesday, joining its stable of state-of-the art off road vehicles. The company will debut the new vehicles at the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference in Florida next week.
The ultra-light MRZRs have long been a military favorite for their excellent off-road mobility. They are easily configurable and allow operators to quickly prepare for missions and tackle the most extreme terrain with maximum flexibility. In addition to the U.S., more than 20 allied countries rely on MRZRs to meet mission demands.
The new MRZR-D features a turbo-charged diesel engine that has been engineered to meet the same outstanding performance of the original MRZRs.
Related: Hidden high-tech ocean pods will unleash Naval drones
Diesel is standard for military vehicles and often far more readily available in areas of operations, so this change will provide more flexibility. MRZRs are also easily transportable via tactical aircraft to wherever in the world they are needed another key feature that makes them very fit for the purpose of Special Operations work.
Whats new?
Polaris Defense actively gathered feedback from operators and incorporated it into the new vehicle. Throughout the last three years, weve had an open dialogue with Polaris about how we were using the MRZRs, and enhancements that would help us complete our missions more effectively, explained U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Light Tactical All-Terrain Tactical Vehicle (LTATV) Acquisition Program Manager Brendon Reedy, in a statement. In the case of the MRZR-D, we suggested changes to improve sightlines and ergonomics which were incorporated.
The enhancements include refinements such as better sightlines, occupant seating space and ergonomics. The MRZR-D also has even better range and more auxiliary power. Features such as handling, dimensions, payload and ground clearance have remained the same.
Have Aircraft will Travel
Like the MRZRs, the MRZR-D vehicles can be transported downrange with V-22 helicopters. They can be configured a range of ways - including two-, four- and six-person teams.
Related: Australia's $39 billion submarine deal heralds new era of super-subs
Once on land, off-road capability can be essential for Special Operations to execute many types of missions so the MRZRs can provide lots of advantages.
For example, the vehicles ruggedness broadens access to remote locations and teams can move faster and lighter with more gear. By reducing the weight they need to carry and shifting the work to the MRZR-D, combat fatigue for the warfighter can be reduced and performance optimized.
These Special Operations-optimized ATVs feature on-demand advanced all-wheel drive. When more traction is needed, the vehicle automatically engages all four wheels and can automatically revert back to two-wheel. This advanced technology translates into more power when an operator needs it on a mission and also less general wear and tear on the vehicle.
The MRZR-D 2 can carry 1,000 pounds while the MRZR-D 4 can carry 1,500.
Both variants also reach about 60 mph maximum speed with 88 HP engines that have been designed for extreme performance in the toughest terrain. The vehicles have fantastic throttle response and acceleration.
Related: Meet the military's new $1 billion jammer
They also have standard features like a winch, aircraft tie-downs, large cargo boxes and fold-down rollover structures for operator protection.
To ensure maximum agility, the ATVs are built with a low center of gravity. In part, this is achieved by cunning placement of key components like the engine. The vehicles also have keyless ignition, which makes it easy to jump in and go.
The smooth, highly responsive electronic power steering can help reduce fatigue for operators that have to drive for very long periods. The roll cage has a smart design that provides protection, but can be quickly and easily removed without tools.
Last year USSOCOM awarded Polaris Defense a new contract for the MRZR. The $83 million, five year deal continued delivery order options for the MRZR 2 and MRZR 4s. The MRZR2 is an ideal variant to carry two operators and the MRZR 4 can carry four, or even six, depending on the configuration.
Production of the vehicles will continue for USSOCOM and other international contracts.
Its one of the most beloved movies of all time but The Wizard of Oz is noticeably absent from the never-ending roster of many movie-based theme park attractions.
This summer, Land of Oz, a defunct amusement park in western North Carolina will reopen for six exclusive tours a day during Fridays in June as part of a Family Fun Month promotion, reports FOX 8.
Originally opened in 1970, Land of Oz featured hot air balloon rides, meet-and-greets with costumed characters like the Tin Man and Cowardly Lion, and an elaborate Yellow Brick walking path with popular places from the movie like Munchkin Land and Emerald City.
Although receiving 400,000 visitors during its first summer in 1970, the park eventually closed in 1980 due to economic difficulties and changing consumer expectations about theme parks.
In the late 1990s, the park opened periodically to host invite-only events but this years tours are open to all who are lucky enough to snag tickets.
"This is an opportunity to walk through a classic story with the main character," Jana Greer, who plays Dorothy and takes guests skipping down the Yellow Brick Road, told FOX8. There may not be a Toto but guests will likely be invited to join in a sing-a-long as they follow the bright yellow path.
"Escape the 'cyclone' and run to the storm cellar and enter into the magic Land of Oz. Skip and sing with the Dorothy as you try to find your way home," explains Greer.
Land of Oz is in Beech Mountain, N.C. about 85 miles from Asheville.
The park will open every Friday in June and tours take place at 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., according to event organizers. Tickets cost $12.50 plus a $10 roundtrip lift ticket and must be reserved online the Monday before each tour.
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the kind of techie, jargon-filled field that can give those outside the industry a feeling of dread. It can sound overwhelming and difficult, and it might be enough to turn you off SEO consulting for good. But it shouldnt.
SEO is just what it sounds like -- optimizing your website so that a search engine like Google ranks it favorably. In North America, SEO is pretty much synonymous with SEO for Google.
Google it.
Google is by far the most popular search engine used. It is also notoriously hush-hush about exactly how their SEO strategy works (even if its very transparent in other areas). We assume other search engines, including Bing and Yahoo, use very similar SEO strategies as Google.
Unfortunately, SEO can never be fully mastered because its an evolving set of best practices.
That said, one of the most important aspects of good SEO -- and this will always be the case -- is content. This may include website text, images and videos.
Related: 10 Questions to Ask When Hiring an SEO Firm
Good content.
If you hear your SEO consultant say, We'll use LSI keywords to suit recent algorithm changes and get you to the top of the organic rankings, your instinct might be to nod your head and go with the flow.
But what does that really mean?
In that jargon-filled sentence alone, there are four phrases that can be tough to understand. Lets break them down:
LSI: Latent semantic indexing, or LSI, is a strategy used by search engines that searches for synonyms related to your keywords. For example, if the title of a web page is Top Decorating Trends of the Year, youll likely see key phrases like outdoor kitchens, barn doors and granite islands.
Latent semantic indexing, or LSI, is a strategy used by search engines that searches for synonyms related to your keywords. For example, if the title of a web page is Top Decorating Trends of the Year, youll likely see key phrases like outdoor kitchens, barn doors and granite islands. Keywords: These are the most important words in your online content. These are the words potential visitors are typing into Google and other search engines. For example, if you operate a doughnut shop in Houston, a keyword is probably doughnut. However, a key phrase is best Houston doughnut. Increasingly, key phrases are more important than keywords because, as you can see, doughnut doesnt really narrow down searches so Houstonites with a sweet tooth can find you.
These are the most important words in your online content. These are the words potential visitors are typing into Google and other search engines. For example, if you operate a doughnut shop in Houston, a keyword is probably doughnut. However, a key phrase is best Houston doughnut. Increasingly, key phrases are more important than keywords because, as you can see, doughnut doesnt really narrow down searches so Houstonites with a sweet tooth can find you. Algorithms: Technically, an algorithm is a set of rules/formulas to be followed for best results. The term is found in many industries. In SEO, its the semi-secret formula search engines use to decide which websites rank number one, two, three and so on when somebody Googles a keyword or phrase. If someone Googles guitar lessons Tampa, theres a reason a certain site pops up first -- its because of Googles algorithm, which is constantly evolving and being tweaked.
Technically, an algorithm is a set of rules/formulas to be followed for best results. The term is found in many industries. In SEO, its the semi-secret formula search engines use to decide which websites rank number one, two, three and so on when somebody Googles a keyword or phrase. If someone Googles guitar lessons Tampa, theres a reason a certain site pops up first -- its because of Googles algorithm, which is constantly evolving and being tweaked. Organic rankings: Organic rankings are rankings which occur naturally. Theres really nothing natural about it -- a lot of hard work goes into your SEO strategy and search engine algorithms. The term organic rankings was created to differentiate it from paid rankings. Have you ever noticed that when you Google something, paid results that say ad pop up first? Those arent organic. Like everything else in life, you can pay to be at the top.
Related: Here's What Really Matters for SEO in 2016
Keyword variables.
You can probably guess that your keywords and key phrases will change over time. These are called keyword variables. For example, a variable of Houston dog grooming might be Dog grooming Houston, Houston dog groomer or Sugar Land groomer.
Keyword variables can change quickly -- even throughout the day -- or slowly, depending on your industry, the keyword/key phrase and trends affecting your business.
Thats one of the reasons youre never finished with SEO, and why its so helpful to have an SEO expert taking care of this constantly shifting landscape for you.
The importance of speed.
The speed of your website is another important SEO factor that your consultant should bring up. If he doesnt, its time to look elsewhere.
Googles goal is to connect people typing in queries like Houston dog groomer to the best possible match. The best matches dont just have great content, but also load quickly and look beautiful.
Many factors determine the speed of a website. Some are in your control, and others, like the Wi-Fi connection of your visitor, are not. You can speed up your website by reducing clutter on your site, such as pop-ups and invisible text your web designer may have left behind.
Related: 7 Red Flags Your SEO Firm is Going to Rip You Off
To optimize the speed of your site, a skilled SEO consultant will analyze your site and determine what might be slowing it down.
Here are a few other pieces of SEO jargon that might come up in this conversation that are actually pretty simple to understand:
Mobile readiness: Like SEO, this phrase is also what it sounds like -- ensuring your site is ready to display well on any mobile device. This can be done by creating a mobile version of your website and/or by creating an app.
Like SEO, this phrase is also what it sounds like -- ensuring your site is ready to display well on any mobile device. This can be done by creating a mobile version of your website and/or by creating an app. Responsive design: Again, its all in the name. This is a website thats designed to respond well no matter what browser or device a person is using. Google considers the highest quality sites to have responsive design as a mobile readiness strategy.
Again, its all in the name. This is a website thats designed to respond well no matter what browser or device a person is using. Google considers the highest quality sites to have responsive design as a mobile readiness strategy. Keyword stuffing: An old school trick that Google is very savvy to is taking keywords/key phrases and stuffing them on a website so much that it makes the content read like nonsense. Years ago, this made sites shoot to the top of Google rankings, but today youll get a stiff penalty for it, sometimes being removed from Googles search results entirely!
Its possible that an SEO consultant might toss a lot of tech jargon your way, but they should be more than happy to explain terms clearly and speak in laymens terms if you ask. Thats their job! Theyre the SEO experts, not you.
If youre feeling lost, tell them youre new to SEO. If they dont change their lingo pronto, theyre not the right SEO consultant for you.
What other tech jargon terms have you heard SEO consultants tossing around? Leave yours in a comment below and Ill translate:
Images: DeanInfoTech.com, IEEE-ICSET.org
A 13-year-old girl and her mother were charged with murder Tuesday in connection with the stabbing death of a 15-year-old girl over the weekend in Chicago.
Prosecutors said the 13-year-old, who has not been publicly identified because she is a juvenile, got the knife from her mother, 35-year-old Tamika Gayden. The victim, 15-year-old De'Kayla Dansberry, was stabbed during a fight that broke out Saturday evening in front of a housing complex on the city's South Side.
Cook County Prosecutor Christina Hake, citing eyewitnesses, told a juvenile court hearing that the teen suspect tried to wash Dansberry's blood off the knife when she got home, while repeatedly saying "I killed her. I killed her." An eyewitness told authorites that the girl was "panicking" when she returned home.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the mother and daughter turned themselves in to police, accompanied by an attorney.
Prosecutors said that video of the fight existed, but did not elaborate on its origins.
The 13-year-old pleaded not guilty and was remanded into custody by Cook County Judge Cynthia Ramirez. Gayden was charged with murder and felony contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Dansberry was an honor student and track star at Johnson College Prep, a local charter school. She was scheduled to run in a meet at Eastern Illinois University this Friday.
Dansberry's father, Julian Glanton, said he didn't know what caused the fight.
"Im sure it was probably just children, like kid stuff," he said. "But it shouldnt have escalated to where someone was stabbed or anything like that."
"Im just lost for words," Glanton added. "I dont know what to say."
Click for more from the Chicago Sun-Times.
Authorities in Dallas asked the public for information about the suspicious death of a prominent lawyer and the burning of his home.
Ira Tobolowsky was found dead inside the garage of his burning North Dallas home on Friday. The fire has been labeled as suspicious by arson investigators but officials havent released details or identified any suspects in Tobolowskys death.
Steve Schottmer, Tobolowskys lawyer, told Fox 4 News that an accelerant was found inside the garage that shouldnt have been there. Schottmer said his client wouldnt have stored any type of chemicals into home because he was unable to do any kind of physical labor.
Arson investigators asked Schottmer if there was anyone that had litigation against Tobolowsky or if there was anyone who had been angry at him. Schottmer told investigators he did have someone in mind.
UPDATE: ME's office waiting on toxicology report as to Tobolowsky's actual cause of death. Could take 8-12 weeks. pic.twitter.com/leHr8YKG5b Justin W. Waldrop (@JustinWWaldrop) May 17, 2016
The gentleman that I identified had brought a lawsuit against his mother who was the trustee of the family trust, Schottmer told Fox 4 News.
Tobolowsky was involved in a long-running legal battle with the mother in the lawsuit. There was supposed to be a hearing in the case Wednesday.
Dallas Judge Eric Moye, who is hearing the case, had extra security placed at his home after hearing about what happened to Tobolowsky and extra bailiffs were placed at the courthouse.
Authorities told Moye to be on extra alert, Fox 4 News reported. Moye said he had someone following him on a Dallas highway.
A picture of his car was posted on Facebook with a message saying the driver of the car pulled a gun on her. Moye said he thought the driver was tailgating him and placed a gun on the passenger seat of his car.
Click for more from Fox 4 News.
A black woman arrested following a car accident in Texas declined medical treatment after the wreck but died two weeks later after going into convulsions in jail, authorities said Wednesday.
Autopsy results are pending for 22-year-old Symone Marshall, who died May 10 after being taken to a hospital from the Walker County jail in Huntsville, about 70 miles north of Houston. She had been in jail since April 26 on a $5,000 bond, according to jail records.
Marshall was arrested following a single-car accident by Texas Department of Public Safety officers for alleged possession of a controlled substance and failure to identify by giving false information, Walker County Sheriff Clint McRae told The Associated Press.
Marshall's sister, Honey Marshall, told Houston television station KHOU that her sister complained to her from jail that her head was hurting and she felt like blacking out. She also said her sister had recently moved to Texas, looking for a fresh start.
Honey Marshall, who the station said lives in Michigan, did not respond to messages from the AP. The case is drawing attention on social media with a hashtag using Symone Marshall's name.
McRae said emergency medical responders were called after the wreck. The sheriff said Symone Marshall and another person exited the car and walked around. He said neither had visible physical injuries and both denied medical treatment.
The sheriff said while Marshall was jailed, she was seen by medical staff after experiencing a loss of appetite and was at one point seen by a doctor.
Honey Marshall told KHOU that jail staff said her sister had seen a doctor at the jail but that she wanted her to go to the hospital.
The sheriff said everything at the jail was handled per protocol, but that his office is investigating the death with the Texas Rangers, which is standard policy when someone being held in jail dies.
The other person in the vehicle also was arrested for alleged possession of a controlled substance but bonded out within a day, the sheriff said. McRae estimated that if Symone Marshall had used a bondsman, she could have bonded out for around $750.
Two Pennsylvania brothers are accused of constructing improvised explosive devices and detonating the bombs at five locations during their winter break from college in December, FOX43 reported.
Twins Daniel Tate and Caleb Tate, both 22, are charged with arson by explosion, arson by possession of explosive devices, conspiracy and theft. The arrests were announced Tuesday.
We live in a world where the thought of bombs exploding around us is a very real fear, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan told FOX43. These defendants brought that fear to our region during a two-week crime spree where they detonated multiple IEDs.
The Tate brothers are alleged to have bombed a mailbox, a wooded area, an Amish phone shed, an Amish produce shed and a well pump shed during an 11-day spree from Dec. 20-Dec.31 in Chester and Lancaster counties. The two Amish sheds were damaged and the well pump shed destroyed. No people were in any of the buildings when the blasts occurred, which was typically during the early-morning hours.
Daniel, who recently graduated Pepperdine University, and Caleb, a Belmont University student, allegedly cobbled the bombs together using materials such as metal pipes, fuel containers, propane canisters and propane torch tips.
Investigators were led to the Tate brothers after authorities viewed video footage reportedly showing Daniel and Caleb shoplifting some of the items needed to build the bombs from local retailers. Other store surveillance footage allegedly shows the two purchasing other parts used in the devices. Debit/credit card receipts additionally proved the brothers bought some of the supplies, officials said.
Daniel Tates fingerprint was also allegedly recovered from a piece of electrical tape found at one of the bombing scenes.
Improvised explosive devices are not harmless fire crackers, ATF Special Agent in Charge Sam Rabadi said. They are dangerous, destructive and can be very deadly.
A Florida man was arrested Monday after being accused of holding five people hostage for three months.
The Ledger in Lakeland reported that Larry Gene Howard, 29, faces multiple assault, kidnapping, robbery and firearms charges.
Howard, of Haines City, was arrested Monday while hiding from law enforcement in a crawl space under the victims home, the Polk County Sheriffs Office said. A man called 911 to report that he and his two nieces and nephews had been held against their will the day prior to Howards arrest.
The man told investigators that a distant relative had come to visit him three months earlier and brought Howard with him. According to The Ledger, Howard returned two days later with his own four children and told the victim they would be staying. The victim said Howard threatened them with a shotgun. After Howard's arrest, investigators reported finding a shotgun at the home.
WFLX-TV reported that Howard let his girlfriend, Hanna Wright, move into the home, according to an arrest report.
The station reported that the Department of Children and Families officials and police came in search of Howard and his children in April. The agency took his children, while Howard was hiding under the home. Howard allegedly kept the victims phone in order to keep him from calling for help.
Over the course of the hostage situation, Howard learned that the homeowner was receiving a monthly disability payment of $718. Howard forced the man to withdraw all of his money in the first month, while the suspects girlfriend watched the nephews and nieces.
Howard would force the victim to do the same thing for the next two months. The suspect was driven by a man named William Stargel and another unidentified couple.
Howard is accused of holding a gun to the victims head and telling him he was going to die Monday, WFLX-TV reported. Howard also allegedly told the man something was going down today.
The victim told his nieces and nephews to sneak out of the home and he went with them and called police from a neighbors home.
Along with the aforementioned charges, Howard is also facing a hate crime charge. He allegedly called the victim homophobic slurs while beating him, the arrest report said.
Howard has denied the charges, according to The Ledger.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Click for more from WFLX-TV.
A Navy officer who spent time at the Pentagon and served in a secretive squadron pleaded not guilty to espionage charges Tuesday during a hearing at Norfolk Naval Station.
Lt. Cmdr. Edward C. Lin faces two counts of espionage, three counts of attempted espionage and five counts of communicating defense information, The Virginian-Pilot reported. If convicted by a panel of officers of the espionage charge, Lin could face the death penalty. No trial date has been set.
Lin is accused of spying for a foreign power from 2012 to 2014, during which time he was primarily a staff aide to Vice Adm. Joseph Mulloy. It is not publicly known what classified information Lin is alleged to have passed on, but his attorneys have said hes accused of spying for Taiwan, where he was born. Lin moved to the U.S. when he was 14 and became a citizen in 1998, a year before joining the Navy, The Virginian-Pilot reported.
While in the Navy, Lin worked at the Pentagon and also was part of a squadron in Hawaii, where the military believes some of the information handoffs may have occurred.
The Navy has designated Lins prosecution as a national security case. He was arrested at the Honolulu airport in September.
Lins attorney contended during a preliminary hearing that some of the charges against his client stem from entrapment.
No one will face discipline after a video surfaced of Texas high school students using a cats intestines as a jump rope during a lesson, school officials said Tuesday.
North East Independent School District told KENS-TV the incident happened earlier this month during an anatomy class at Winston Churchill High School in San Antonio. The district defended the lesson, saying it was effective for demonstrating how long and tough intestines are.
According to the station, the video was posted to SnapChat. The clip caught the attention of the animal rights activist group PETA, which said the students should be held responsible for their actions.
"Studies show that classroom animal dissection can foster callousness toward living beings, and these gruesome 'jump rope' videos are a particularly sad example," PETA Senior Director of Youth Outreach and Campaigns Marta Holmberg said in a statement to KENS-TV.
"PETA is calling on Winston Churchill High School to teach its students to respect life and science by replacing crude and cruel animal dissection with humane and effective non-animal teaching methods."
Spokeswoman Aubrey Chancellor said the lesson was not meant to be disrespectful. She said neither the students nor teacher will be punished because there is no "ill will." But she said the district will update the lesson plan.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Click for more from KENS-TV.
A Tennessee lawman who posted an Easter message and other religious-themed comments on Facebook said Tuesday he is ready for a legal showdown with an atheist group that accused him of violating the Constitution.
Bradley County Sheriff Eric Watson, who had the message posted on the departments Facebook page on Easter, said he is considering a countersuit against American Atheists and a woman identified as Jane Doe, after they sued him in federal court over the message.
"Today is one of the most historic days; not only did Jesus die on the cross for our sins, but he rose on this day, read the post. Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice, and offered himself for our sins. This day represents the best gift any of us could receive, which is 'Eternal Life' with our Heavenly Father."
Watson says the response to the post has been overwhelmingly positive.
It has come to a point I cant even keep up with the positive and ongoing images, texts and emails we have received supporting this effort in standing up for our religious freedom, Watson told the Cleveland Daily Banner. I am up until 2 and 3 o'clock in the morning responding.
American Atheists denounced both the message and the apparent scrubbing of comments critical of the Easter post and Watson's religious views. The groups federal complaint charged that Watson's religious post and subsequent deletion of critical comments "have caused and are causing immediate and irreparable injury, loss or damage" to the plaintiffs.
In a letter to the sheriff the day after Easter, the Cranford, N.J.,-based atheist group said it had received a complaint from a Bradley County resident about the message and noted previous ones praising a recently deceased county resident as a man of God, decrying the dumping of tires in a church parking lot and wishing readers a Merry Christmas.
I would like to make clear that neither the person who complained nor American Atheists has any issue with Sheriff Watsons personal religion, wrote Amanda Knief, national legal & public policy director for American Atheists Legal Center. We believe strongly in the rights of individuals to their personal beliefs, religious or non-religious.
However, the instances we have specified above are not about Sheriff Watsons personal religious beliefs they are all done in his official and professional capacity as sheriff, the letter continued.
The atheist group sued in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Chattanooga on behalf of Jane Doe, a Bradley County resident whose name Louise Crawford -- was later inadvertently revealed by her lawyer, according to the Daily Banner.
Watson said his countersuit may focus on the atheist groups claim he censored the posts of residents in violation of their freedom of speech. The Alliance Defending Freedom has offered to represent the sheriff.
Two Chinese fighter jets buzzed a US military reconnaissance plane in the South China Sea Tuesday in an unsafe manner, according to the Pentagon.
The incident comes a week after a U.S. Navy destroyer sailed within 12 miles of Chinas Fiery Cross reef, an artificial island made after months of dredging operations, more proof that tensions in the region are escalating between two global powers.
It was the third time the U.S. Navy sailed a warship close to a contested Chinese island in what the Pentagon calls freedom of navigation operations.
In response to Chinas unsafe actions Tuesday, the Pentagon is addressing the issue through the appropriate diplomatic and military channels, according to Major Jamie Davis, a Pentagon spokesman who said the incident occurred in international airspace during a routine patrol by the U.S. aircraft.
In January, China landed civilian jets on a 10,000-foot runway on Fiery Cross reef, more proof that China is militarizing the South China Sea and threatening U.S. allies in the region.
In February, China deployed fighter jets to a contested island in the South China Sea, the same place, Woody Island, where China deployed surface-to-air missiles a week before, according to satellite imagery exclusively obtained by Fox News.
The dramatic escalation in February came as Secretary of State John Kerry hosted his Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, at the State Department.
Wang said he hoped that close up military flights and patrols by U.S. Navy ships over the contested islands would end.
Kerry said he wanted China to end its militarization of the contested islands in the South China Sea.
"We want to halt the expansion and the militarization of occupied features," he said.
His Chinese counterpart added that he didn't want to see any more U.S. military over flights or patrols.
"We dont hope to see any more close-up military reconnaissance or the dispatch of missile destroyers or strategic bombers to the South China Sea," said Foreign Minister Wang.
Chinese President Xi pledged not to militarize the South China Sea when he visited the White House last fall.
In February, Adm. Harry Harris, leader of the U.S. militarys Pacific Command, told Congress that China was clearly militarizing the South China Sea. "You would have to believe in a flat earth to think otherwise," he told lawmakers.
After the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer sailed past Chinas artificial island last week, China scrambled fighter jets to show its displeasure.
NBC was first to report the latest incident.
European Union members plotted secretly in March to have African dictators, including accused war criminal and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, help stem the tide of refugees pouring into Europe, according to an explosive report in the German publication Der Spiegel.
An action plan discussed at the March 23 meeting led by Germany, included earmarking $45 million to al-Bashirs Sudan and seven other African countries to intercept and take in refugees bound for the west, according to the report.
"Under no circumstances" was the public to learn of the talks, ambassadors of the 28 European Union member states agreed. A staff member of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini warned that Europe's reputation could be in jeopardy if word of the talks leaked, according to the report.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has advocated helping improve conditions in the countries producing refugees as a means of stopping the movement. But minutes from the March meetings and additional classified documents obtained by Der Spiegel and German public television station ARD show "Report Mainz" indicate the strategy may be to cut the influx off in Sudan.
The EU plan is to send cameras, scanners and servers for registering refugees to the Sudanese regime, to train the nations border police and help construct two camps with detention rooms for migrants, Der Spiegel reported. The German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development confirmed the plan, although it has not been implemented.
While much of the refugee flow has originated in the Middle East, migrants from Eritrea, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic all travel through the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on their way to Libya, where they board boats bound for Europe. UN officials say as many as 4 million people from the region south of Sudan are on the move toward Libya.
Al-Bashir is wanted for genocide and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for his role in the Darfur conflict. His regime also is accused of torturing opposition members and sponsoring terror.
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One of the teenagers kidnapped by Boko Haram extremists over two years ago from a school in northeastern Nigeria has been found with a baby and was reunited Wednesday with her mother the first of the Chibok girls to be freed since the mass abduction.
Nigerian hunters found the young woman and baby wandering near the Sambisa Forest and her uncle describes her as traumatized.
The young woman told her mother that some of the Chibok girls have died in captivity and the others still are held by Boko Haram, according to family's doctor, Idriss Danladi, who spoke to The Associated Press after a conversation with the mother.
She is the first of the 219 Chibok girls to be seen since the kidnapping grabbed worldwide attention and put a spotlight on the the violence of Nigeria's homegrown Islamic extremists.
Nigeria's military tried to claim her rescue. "This is to confirm that one of the abducted Chibok school girls ... was among the rescued persons by our troops," said a one-line statement from army spokesman Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman.
Hunters took the 19-year-old she was 17 when abducted to her home village of Mbalala, near Chibok, on Tuesday and she reunited with her mother, Danladi said. Her father died while she was held captive, said her uncle Yakubu Nkeki. Mother, daughter and baby have been taken to a military camp in the town of Damboa.
The girl's mother tried to commit suicide some months after her daughter was seized, said Danladi, who is from Chibok and has treated several of the parents. He said the mother "suffered a huge traumatic disorder ... I had to convince her that she just has to stay alive if she really wants her daughter returned home safe and sound."
At least 16 of the girls' parents have died since the kidnapping, he said. Others have ailments they blame on their ongoing trauma.
"I suffered a stroke on Friday, that's why you don't recognize my voice," said the Rev. Enoch Mark, whose two daughters are among the missing girls. He said the escape of the first Chibok girl brings renewed hope.
"I believe that, by the grace of God, our daughters, some of them, will be found if they are still alive."
Other Chibok girls may have been rescued by soldiers hunting down Boko Haram in the remote northeastern Sambisa Forest on Tuesday night, said Chibok community leader Pogu Bitrus. He said he is working with officials to establish their identities.
Boko Haram Islamic extremists stormed and firebombed the Government Girls Secondary School at Chibok on April 14, 2014, and seized 276 girls who were preparing to write science exams. Dozens escaped in the first hours, some hanging on to tree branches from the back of an open truck, but 219 remained missing.
The inability of Nigeria's government and military to rescue them led, in part, to last year's electoral defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan, who was seen as uncaring and not committed to freeing them.
The United States, France and Britain offered help to find the girls, sending drones that flew over the Sambisa Forest, hostage negotiators, intelligence officers and others.
A social media campaign using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls reached to the White House, where U.S. first lady Michelle Obama promised her husband would do all in his power to help. "Our prayers are with the missing Nigerian girls and their families. It's time to #BringBackOurGirls," she tweeted in May 2014.
"God reigns!" one of the founders of the Bring Back Our Girls movement, Oby Ezekwesili, trumpeted on social media Wednesday. "OUR #ChibokGirl ... IS BACK!!!!!!! #218ShallBeBack because #HopeEndures."
It's not known how many thousands of girls, boys and young women have been kidnapped by Boko Haram in a nearly 7-year-old insurgency that has killed some 20,000 people and spread across Nigeria's borders.
The freed young woman may well face a difficult time returning to ordinary life, according to experts.
"Children in this situation typically require medical assistance and psycho-social support to help them cope with what they have been through while they were in captivity," Helene Sandbu Reng, spokeswoman of the U.N. Children's Fund, said in a statement noting the agency could not verify that one of the Chibok girls is free.
"Our experience with children and women who were kidnapped by Boko Haram and freed by the military or escaped shows that they often face mistrust, stigma and rejection when they return to their communities," she said.
Boko Haram held a large swath of northeastern Nigeria where it declared an Islamic caliphate. A multinational force from Nigeria and its neighbors has reduced their territory, reportedly hemming them into the Sambisa Forest. The insurgents have taken to hitting soft targets like markets and mosques with suicide bombers, often girls and young women who are feared to be among their captives.
Now there are fears that Boko Haram is sending fighters to Libya to join the Islamic State group, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a summit about fighting Boko Haram on Saturday. Boko Haram declared itself the West Africa Province of IS last year, and Blinken's suggestion raises fears the two groups could start an extremist push into the vast and lawless lands of the Sahel region.
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A letter written by the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus in 1493 that detailed his historic voyage to the New World was formally returned to Italy Wednesday.
The letter, an 8-page litany of Columbus' impressions about the people, flora and fauna of the Americas that he had sent to Spain's King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, had been replaced at Florence's Riccardiana library with a forgery that no one noticed until a few years ago.
The original, meanwhile, had been sold to a rare book collector in Switzerland in 1990, then purchased by another collector at a Christie's auction in 1992 in New York. It was finally bequeathed to the Library of Congress in 2004 by the estate of its final owner, Italian and U.S. officials said Wednesday.
"Five hundred years later, it did the same trip (as Columbus), round-trip," Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini told a press conference in Rome with the U.S. ambassador by his side to announce the letter's return.
U.S. Ambassador John Phillips declined to identify the estate that gave the letter to the Library of Congress, saying the investigation was still ongoing. But U.S. officials said both the final owner and the Library acquired the letter in good faith, assuming its provenance was legitimate.
The auction price was $450,000 but police officials estimate its true value is $1.13 million.
The head of the Riccardiana library, Fulvio Stacchetti, said the letter was likely substituted with a fake in 1950-51, when the Riccardiana loaned the letter to national library authorities in Rome. He said that was the only time the document had left the Riccardiana, and that it would have been impossible for it to have been substituted with a fake while it was home because the reading room is so closely monitored.
The letter is one of about 30 authentic, reprinted copies of Columbus' original letter and is known as one of the Plannck II copies.
Carabinieri art squad officials said they determined the version that was in the Riccardiana was a fake because the print style and page size were incompatible with the original.
Fox News' Matt Dean and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A group of 51 Muslim states has blocked 11 gay and transgender rights organizations from attending a meeting at the United Nations next month on ending AIDS, sparking protests from the European Union, Canada and the U.S., who say the exclusion will only impede global progress in combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic."
Egypt, a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), wrote to the president of the U.N.s General Assembly to object to the participation of the groups, Reuters reports. The OIC also includes Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Syria and Iraq as member states.
In Egypts letter, a reason for the OICs rejection of the groups was not specified, but Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the groups appeared to have been blocked for their role in LGBT advocacy.
"Given that transgender people are 49 times more likely to be living with HIV than the general population, their exclusion from the high-level meeting will only impede global progress in combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic," Power wrote in a letter to General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft.
U.N. officials told Reuters that the E.U. and Canada also wrote letters to Lykketoft in protest.
"The movement to block the participation of NGOs on spurious or hidden grounds is becoming epidemic and severely damages the credibility of the U.N.," Powers added.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon caught in the middle of the battle for gay rights has been an advocate for LGBT equality but has faced opposition from African and Arab states as well as Russia and China. In February, the countries protested six new U.N. stamps promoting LGBT equality.
Click for more from Reuters.
NATO foreign ministers this week will discuss how the alliance can deal more effectively with security threats outside Europe, including by training the Iraqi military and cooperating with the European Union to choke off people-smuggling operations in the central Mediterranean.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday a major focus of the ministers' meeting will be on "projecting stability beyond our borders," namely in the Middle East and North Africa.
The two-day session, to be attended by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his counterparts from NATO'S 27 other member countries, begins Thursday at alliance headquarters in Brussels.
The wide-ranging agenda includes welcoming the Balkan nation of Montenegro as NATO's newest member-designate, and a dinner discussion on what policy to adopt toward a resurgent and increasingly bellicose Russia. But the centerpiece is likely to be discussions on how NATO should interact with what U.S. Ambassador Douglas Lute called "a whole set of weak, failing and failed states" to Europe's south and southeast.
Stoltenberg told a news conference the ministers will discuss a request from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to expand or transfer a NATO military training program for Iraqi officers already underway in Jordan to Iraq itself. He said NATO is also considering stepping up aid to the U.S.-led coalition combating the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria by supplying AWACS command and control aircraft.
"We're looking for niche capabilities that the alliance can add to reinforce or support the coalition," Lute told reporters later.
He said he also expected ministers to discuss what NATO can do to beef up the defenses of Libya's newly formed government, which faces a brutal insurgency mounted by an Islamic State affiliate. On Monday, the United States and other Western countries threw their support behind the U.N.-brokered government, saying they would supply it with weapons.
Lute said NATO has the ability to train, advise, and help build the military capabilities not only of Iraq, but of Jordan and Tunisia, countries he said are also under stress or located in "a dangerous neighborhood."
"By helping our partners strengthen their own forces, and secure their own countries" NATO members will enhance their own security, Stoltenberg said.
A Friday meeting of the NATO foreign ministers with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and the foreign ministers of neutral EU members Sweden and Finland will consider how the two international organizations can pool efforts to address "unprecedented security challenges," Stoltenberg said.
Those challenges include hybrid warfare threats like disinformation campaigns, cyberattacks or maritime security risks and possible NATO cooperation with the EU's Frontex agency to detect and stop human trafficking and terrorist infiltration in the Mediterranean.
Ivo Daalder, former U.S. ambassador to NATO, said the alliance has been quick to react to the "threat from Russia" but "the bigger immediate challenge is to get the alliance engaged in actions focused on the threat from the south."
"NATO can do much more from intelligence and surveillance of migrants and refugees to helping coordinate efforts to stabilize Libya to joining the coalition against ISIS (Islamic State)," Daalder said.
Nearly one in five suicide bombers used by the Boko Haram terrorist group is children, with such attacks rising tenfold in one year, a shocking new report from the U.N. reveals.
The report from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also states that more than 75 percent of the children used in Boko Haram suicide attacks are girls.
The news comes as Nigerian soldiers on Tuesday rescued the first of 219 Chibok schoolgirls who were kidnapped by the group in 2014.
Boko Haram, which operates in western Africa, carried out 44 children-involved suicide bombings in 2015, up from four the previous year.
Over the past two years, nearly 1 in 5 suicide bombers was a child, the report says.
In Niger, where Boko Haram attacks have increased since January, military offensives from regional multinational forces have pushed the extremists to border areas between Niger and Nigeria where they are attacking villages with little to no security.
In just one year, the number of displaced children in the region increased by more than 60 percent, from 800,000 to 1.3 million, the report states, citing figures from UNICEF.
Between January 2014 and February 2016, Cameroon was hit with the highest number of suicide attacks involving children at 21, followed by Nigeria at 17 and Chad with 2, according to the report.
The U.S., in April, announced nearly $40 million in new humanitarian assistance to those affected by Boko Haram violence.
The United States military killed a senior Al Qaeda leader Tuesday in an airstrike in Afghanistan's southern Zabul Province, the local website Tolo News reported, citing a statement from Afghan special forces.
The Al Qaeda commander killed in the airstrike was identified by Afghanistan's Ministry of Defense as Mullah Mohammad Ali.
The U.S. military confirmed a strike took place in the same location yesterday, but would not say whether a senior Al Qaeda leader was killed.
"We can confirm that U.S. Forces conducted a counter-terrorism strike in the Shah Joyi district, Zabul province, May 17. For operational security reasons, we do not discuss the details of counter-terrorism operations," said the statement from Operation Resolute Support, the name for the U.S.-led mission in Afghanistan.
From the beginning of January through March 1, the U.S. has conducted roughly 100 counter-terrorism strikes. In April, it conducted another 19, according to Brigadier General Charles H. Cleveland, deputy chief of staff for communications for Operation Resolute Support. He said the majority of the strikes were against ISIS or ISIS-affiliated groups in eastern Afghanistan, but some were against Al Qaeda.
Brig. Gen. Cleveland added that there are now between 100 and 300 Al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan, 15 years after the 9/11 attacks.
When asked about the current level of coordination between Al Qaeda and the Taliban, Cleveland said there is evidence the two groups are working "closely" at times.
"We have seen more interaction. We have seen them working more together," Cleveland said. "Bottom line is there is still an Al Qaeda presence here in Afghanistan."
There are an estimated 30,000 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, according to Cleveland -- a roughly 20 percent increase over 2009 estimates.
The nearly 10,000 U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan are supposed to be roughly cut in half when President Obama leaves office in January.
AAMCO Franchise Celebrates Successful First Anniversary Of AAMCO University
Leader in Total Car Care Continues Commitment to the Professional Development of its Franchise Owners and their Employees
May 18, 2016 // Franchising.com // HORSHAM, Pa. AAMCO Franchise, the worlds largest chain of transmission specialists and leader in total car care, today announced it is celebrating its first anniversary of AAMCO University. The specialized training facility, which opened in Newnan, Georgia during the first quarter of 2015, is part of AAMCOs long-term strategy to drive operational excellence and growth systemwide. Over the last year, AAMCO University graduated 11 New Dealer classes; and has had more than 800 trainees enroll and complete over 10,500 courses via the Universitys flexible, online Learning Management System.
Under the direction of qualified instructors, AAMCO University offers a wide range of programs at its School of Franchise Ownership, School of Management, School of Technical Excellence and School of Franchise Support. Its expansive curriculum goes beyond the classroom by incorporating hands-on demonstrations, webinars and on-demand video, as well as in-field programs that are specifically designed to meet the needs of AAMCOs franchisees, customer service managers and technicians.
Were thrilled to be celebrating AAMCO Universitys one-year anniversary, said Rob Rajkowski, chief operating officer of AAMCO Transmission, Inc. We have received a lot of positive feedback from our franchisees and their employees about the benefits of receiving ongoing training. Not only are our franchisees learning to become more efficient entrepreneurs, their technicians and managers are enhancing their skills and improving customer service for top-down business improvement. Through AAMCO University, weve established a world-class training program, which sets us apart in the automotive aftermarket repair industry.
In 2016, AAMCO University will introduce training courses focused on the brands new approach to the customer experience in their centers. Franchisees and their service managers will participate in training classes that provide key insights on simplifying processes for both the customer and the center staff, as well as, new service recommendations to offer consumers more options when it comes to their transmission service. Also in 2016, AAMCO will be launching a comprehensive training program around its new Brake Service packages. This brake training will be a chain-wide initiative and includes both technical and customer experience training modules.
The brand is continuing to raise the bar on excellence in our industry through AAMCO Universitys comprehensive training programs, said Andrew Garrett, dean of AAMCO University. The future is very bright, and I look forward to watching another round of trainees graduate and transition into our service centers across the country.
For over 50 years, AAMCO's locally owned and operated independent service centers have employed the latest technology. Expert technicians diagnose a repair, fix it right the first time, and back it with a nationwide warranty. Known as the world's leading transmission expert, the company has evolved into a total car care brand providing a variety of services including brake repairs, tune-ups, shocks and struts, routine maintenance and more. AAMCO was recently named to Entrepreneurs 2016 Franchise 500, ranking at the top of the transmission repair category. Based on system size, growth rate and financial strength, the brand also earned a spot on Entrepreneurs Best of the Best list.
With nearly 700 centers across North America, AAMCO is actively seeking single- and multi-unit operators who are passionate about the brand and committed to providing the highest quality service. Interested candidates should have a minimum net worth of $250,000 and liquid assets of at least $65,000 per unit. Depending on the real estate site selected, franchisees can expect the total investment to be approximately $227,400 $333,000 with a $39,500 initial franchise fee. Reduced franchise fees are available for honorably discharged veterans.
To learn more about franchise or conversion opportunities with AAMCO, contact Eric Simon, director of franchise development, at 866-379-5649 or esimon@americandriveline.com or visit aamcofranchise.com.
About AAMCO
AAMCO is the world's largest chain of transmission specialists and a leader in total car care services. AAMCO has nearly 700 automotive centers throughout the United States and Canada. Established in 1962, AAMCO centers are proud to have served more than 45 million drivers. For more information, visit aamcouniversity.com, aamco.com or www.aamcoblog.com.
SOURCE AAMCO
Media Contact:
Tiffany Trilli
Account Coordinator
Fish Consulting, LLC
O: (954) 893-9150
C: (305) 299-4581
ttrilli@fish-consulting.com
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Brightway Insurance Adds Eight New Agency Owners since February
May 18, 2016 // Franchising.com // JACKSONVILLE, FLA. - Brightway Insurance, a national property/casualty insurance retailer selling through a network of franchised independent agencies throughout the country, has added eight new Agency Owners since February.
Charlie Bourgeois, Charlotte, N.C.
Kate Gowen, Lansdale, Pa.
Alex De Jorge, Kissimmee, Fla.
Peter Linke, Dallas
Tayler Harding, Orlando, Fla.
Rich Saltzman, Tampa, Fla.
Rob Richardson, Limerick, Pa.
Jay Kaiser, Miramar, Fla.
The Brightway system provides a comprehensive system of support to its Agency Owners, enabling them to focus on selling new policies while other needs including systems, telephony, marketing, accounting and all service after the sale of a policy are handled by the 200+ employees at Home Office in Jacksonville, Fla.
And, the Brightway model also features access to at least twice as many insurance companies as other independent agents have. As a result, Brightway agents offer unparalleled levels of expert advice and choice, enabling them to consistently outsell their insurance agent counterparts.
Co-founder and Chairman David Miller said: From the start, we reimagined what an independent insurance agency system could be - how it could work, what it could offer. In the last three years, weve made significant investments ensuring everything we do - from accounting to business analytics, to customer service to marketing and communications - is world class. Weve never offered better value to our Agency Owners and to our customers. And, we continue to make investments to fulfill on our commitment to providing our agents with best-in-class comprehensive support. Our agents, in turn, parlay that into market-leading performance.
About Brightway
Founded in 2003, the company is now the nations seventh largest privately held Personal Lines insurance agency in the country. The company has grown from 38 locations in Florida and $36 million in annualized written premium in 2008 to 118 locations in 11 states and more than $405 million today.
In 2015, the company was named the nations No. 1 Franchise to Buy in the U.S. by Forbes and to the Inc. 500 as one of the fastest-growing privately held companies in the country eight years in a row. Most recently, the company has been named to Entrepreneur magazines 2016 Franchise 500 list for the third year in a row, to Franchise Gators list of the 50 Fastest Growing Franchises, a Top 100 Overall Franchise by franchiserankings.com and a Bonds Top 100 Franchise by World Franchising for the fourth year in a row.
Consumers wanting more information can go to brightway.com. Interested in a franchise? Go to brightwaydifference.com.
SOURCE Brightway
Contact:
Leslie Kolleda
904-442-2897
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HouseMaster Announces Launch of New Mobile Website
SOMERVILLE, NJ - (Marketwired - May 17, 2016 - HouseMaster, the first and most experienced home inspection franchise company in the US and Canada, announces the launch of their new mobile site, enabling consumers to better understand the inspection process, home ownership, and the credentials of HouseMaster inspectors as well as the extent of services offered through our local offices. The site is also designed to be an educational resource for real estate professionals to use with their home sellers and home buyers.
In today's digital marketplace, a mobile site is essential to being found with 93% of the population searching via mobile devices. The new site features responsive design optimized for all mobile phones and small tablets, faster download speeds, easier reading experience, playable videos, and related story links on articles.
"It is very gratifying to see the end result of our planning for this cutting edge website. The new site allows our owners to be a small business with a big presence online," states Brian Ranck, HouseMaster's Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing.
Kathleen Kuhn, President of HouseMaster, states, "We are very excited to demonstrate the experience and expertise of our HouseMaster Family throughout the US and Canada, and to educate home owners and home buyers on what we do through the use of over 160 videos created for this purpose. The response to the content, functionality, and design of the site has been very positive."
HouseMaster provides home buyers and sellers an independent, third-party, professional evaluation of the condition of the major elements of a home. HouseMaster inspections enable potential home buyers and sellers the opportunity to make educated real estate decisions. From interior systems such as plumbing and electrical to exterior components like the roof and siding, a HouseMaster Home Inspection includes the evaluation of all visible and accessible elements of the home.
HouseMaster also conducts new construction, commercial property, and foreclosure inspections as well as other inspection services depending on the needs of the local community.
About HouseMaster
Founded in 1979 and Headquartered in Somerville, NJ, HouseMaster is the oldest and one of the largest home inspection companies in North America. With more than 310 franchised areas throughout the US and Canada, HouseMaster is the most respected name in home inspections. For over 35 years, HouseMaster has built upon a foundation of solid leadership and innovation with a continued focus on delivering the highest quality service experience to their customers and providing HouseMaster franchisees the tools and support necessary to do so. Each HouseMaster franchise is an independently owned and operated business. HouseMaster is a registered trademark of HouseMaster LLC. https://housemaster.com/buyers/home-inspection-buyer-video
For more information please visit www.housemaster.com or call 800-526-3939.
Embedded Video Available: [https://housemaster.com/buyers/home-inspection-buyer-video].
SOURCE HouseMaster
Contact:
HouseMaster Headquarters
800-526-3939
hminfo@housemaster.com
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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.
Roland Dickey, Jr. Announces 12-Store Dickey's Barbecue Pit Development Agreement in California
Dickey's Barbecue Pit CEO Roland Dickey, Jr. has congratulated Owner/Operator Michael Tucker of the La Quinta location on their new plan to expand into Northern San Diego County and beyond with 12 new stores.
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(San Diego, CA) Dickey's Barbecue Pit CEO Roland Dickey, Jr. has announced a new 12-store development agreement with Owner/Operator Michael Tucker. Already the owner of the La Quinta Dickey's location, Tucker's agreement originally included four stores, which are slated to open in Indio, Moreno Valley and Redlands. This new agreement adds eight more stores to the existing four-store deal. Dickey's Barbecue Pit now has more than 100 stores in California and is rapidly expanding in The Golden State.
Roland Dickey, Jr. saw the potential in extending the partnership with Tucker, who is an award winning entrepreneur in his own right, also owning several 7-Eleven franchises. Roland Dickey, Jr. and Tucker have extended their Dickey's Barbecue Pit Franchise agreement to encompass the northern part of San Diego County, starting in Mira Mesa and extending north. He will also open a new location as far south as National City.
The new stores will all be opened using Dickey's new store model, complete with sustainable elements such as reclaimed wood throughout the dining room and Dickey's proprietary blend of wood pellets to be used in the smoker.
Michael Tucker explained, "The community in La Quinta has wholeheartedly embraced us, and so many people who came during our grand opening have become loyal guests who stop in several times per week. We are delighted to serve our community delicious barbecue and look forward to expanding into San Diego County."
Roland Dickey, Jr., CEO of Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc., said of the deal, "Dickey's has grown rapidly along the West Coast, and we are proud to have dedicated Owner/Operators such as Michael Tucker who further our brand every day. The Dickey family congratulates Michael on his development agreement and we look forward to celebrating many grand openings in the future."
About Roland Dickey, Jr.: Roland Dickey, Jr. is the CEO responsible for the explosion in popularity of the Dickey's Barbecue Pit chain of restaurants. He has taken the family business from five locations in Texas to more than five hundred and fifty throughout the continental United States. Dickey Jr. now tours the country helping franchisees and business owners set up for success through his own consultancy, as well as regularly lecturing on the convention circuit.
For more information about us, please visit http://www.rolanddickeyjr.com/
Contact Info:
Name: Mark Valentino
Email: Mvalentino@Franchisingreviews.com
Organization: Dickey's Barbecue Pit
Phone: 9729741496
Source: http://marketersmedia.com/roland-dickey-jr-announces-12-store-dickeys-barbecue-pit-development-agreement-in-california/115610
Release ID: 115610
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Ben Franklin Plumbing Launches Trenchless Repair Benefits Awareness Campaign
Northern Illinois property owners have less invasive sewer repair alternatives, publishes benfranklinnorthernillinois.com
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Based on year-old reports from authorities within the plumbing industry, average sewer line repair projects carried out using traditional methods can potentially run homeowners $5,000 or more beyond basic remediation costs. This price surge leaves a number of consumers searching the market for more cost-effective alternatives. In light of this development, a spokesperson for Ben Franklin Plumbing Northern Illinois (http://benfranklinnorthernillinois.com) has launched a campaign to better inform area residents of the benefits of trenchless sewer repair.
Said the company spokesperson, "We're the northern Illinois area's leaders in sewer repair, and our team specializes in trenchless technology and techniques. We've been offering this service here in the greater Chicago area for more than 14 years. That's not combined experience; it's actual years of training and installation. Despite the many advantages of no-dig repairs and the widespread use of these methods, it has recently come to our attention very few home and property owners are aware this option is available to them. We hope to change that."
According to the previously-mentioned report, additional expenses associated with conventional strategies stem from post-repair restoration of streets, paved driveways, sidewalks and other hardscape or landscape features. Though per-foot costs of trenchless repairs were considerably higher than traditional techniques during this technology's early days on the market, this aspect has leveled off over the years. Both pipe bursting and pipe lining now fall into price ranges comparable to those of more invasive approaches.
Trenchless techniques entail creating either a single or double access hole through which repairs will be implemented. Pipe lining, or cured-in-place pipe, is a repair method in which a flexible pipe is pulled through the existing one and left to harden, eliminating leaks and cracks. Pipe bursting, another widely used trenchless tactic, is carried out by simultaneously installing a new pipe and breaking away its damaged counterpart. Further information can be found at http://benfranklinnorthernillinois.com.
Concluded the Ben Franklin spokesperson, "We've performed hundreds upon hundreds of trenchless repair projects over the years and have been a certified Perma Liner Platinum Installer Member since 2009. Our work comes with a lifetime warranty as well as the experience, efficiency and professionalism for which our company has become known. On top of that, customers gain the added benefit of not having a great deal of out-of-pocket follow-up repairs to deal with. We encourage anyone in the northern Illinois region in need of our services to contact us for a free estimate."
Questions and estimate requests may be presented by phone or submitted via the form provided at http://benfranklinnorthernillinois.com/contact-us/.
About Ben Franklin Plumbing Northern Illinois:
Offering the full array of plumbing services, Ben Franklin Plumbing of northern Illinois provides around-the-clock repairs. The company is bonded, licensed and fully insured while granting customers the benefit of extensive industry experience.
For more information about us, please visit http://benfranklinnorthernillinois.com
Contact Info:
Name: Aaron
Organization: Ben Franklin Plumbing Northern Illinois
Phone: (815) 756-8484
Source: http://marketersmedia.com/ben-franklin-plumbing-launches-trenchless-repair-benefits-awareness-campaign/115639
Release ID: 115639
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JobAdder and Oncore Services Ink the Deal on a Partnership
JobAdder and Oncore Services, both cloud-based software platforms, have struck up a partnership that recruitment professionals and contract workers will benefit from.
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In good news for contractors everywhere, recruitment software provider JobAdder and contractor management system Oncore Services have struck up a partnership.
It comes as no surprise considering that both businesses already have a number of clients in common and hold a strong presence in the global marketplace. While Oncore Services maintains a strong presence throughout Australia, New Zealand and the UK, JobAdder is currently used by over 8,000 recruitment professionals around the world.
This partnership will introduce simplicity to contractor management and to the processes of hiring and keeping track of contract workers. JobAdder Support Manager Jez Louise sums up, "Contract workers make up a large part of the workforce and we are excited that this partnership will help simplify some significant tasks associated with their role."
Oncore Services specialise in providing contractor payroll software and solutions, including admin, reporting and payroll management. They also offer expert risk mitigation advice and tax-compliant engagement models.
Speaking of the integration with JobAdder, Oncore Services' ICT Manager John Tweedy said, "Having this integral relationship now makes it even easier for our customers to benefit from the automatic exchange of data between our ECM system and JobAdder's specialised software."
Once the integration is live, JobAdder users will be able to use Oncore Services from their account with ease from one centralised integrations hub. Recruitment professionals will then be able to benefit from Oncore Services' performance management functionality. For more information about how this integration will join the dots between finding and securing the right contract workers and managing their role, read on here.
JobAdder is a cloud-based platform from which recruitment professionals, both in-house and within agencies, can perform all tasks associated with recruitment. This includes sourcing contingent workers and enabling recruiters to build a secure database of contractors in order to fill roles.
Oncore Services is the latest addition to JobAdder's diverse partner marketplace.
- ENDS -
For more information about this integration, or about either company, please contact Oncore Services at solutionsaus@oncoreservices.com or JobAdder at simplicity@jobadder.com.
For more information about us, please visit https://jobadder.com
Contact Info:
Name: Stuart Read
Organization: JobAdder
Address: Lvl 3, 19 Pitt Street, Sydney
Phone: 80055711
Release ID: 115583
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Offices.net Now Promotes Office Space in 9 Buildings throughout Addison, Texas
Offices.net announced today that they now have 9 office centres to rent in the city of Addison, Texas.
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Offices.net, a leading U.S. based office space provider, today announced that they now have offices available for rent in 9 key buildings throughout Addison, Texas.
"We are happy to be able to announce that our office space portfolio in such an important city has been enhanced with the addition of 2 new office buildings," said Offices.net spokesperson Teresha Aird. "With this announcement, Offices.net now has a wide selection of offices available in 9 buildings throughout Addison, ready for immediate occupation."
To highlight the new offices available from Offices.net in Addison, the first, on Dallas Parkway, is a modern high-rise office building providing resource rich, furnished office space along with dedicated reception staff, fully equipped boardrooms, 24 hour access and on-site car parking facilities. Additional features include passenger elevators, high speed broadband, air conditioning and break out areas.
The second is a fourteen story landmark office building, also situated on Dallas Parkway, offering fully furnished office accommodation complete with a professional admin team, lounge and relaxation areas for staff and visitors as well as meeting rooms equipped with remote conferencing options. Business support services include telephone answering, virtual office services, alarm security, air conditioning and parking facilities.
"Being able to provide a wide range of flexible office accommodation is an important step towards realising our ambition of offering the best possible business premises to companies in Addison," continued Teresha Aird. "At Offices.net, we have been finding that demand for flexible, affordable office space has been increasing, especially when looking at the needs of small to medium sized businesses looking to expand in the Dallas area."
About Addison
Addison is a northern suburb of Dallas County, Texas. The conference industry is a key economic driver within Addison and the city is also home to a number of large corporation headquarters along with entrepreneurial start-ups. With approximately 55 per cent of the population having a higher degree, the community's skilled workforce is a major draw for businesses. Dallas Fort Worth Airport is only 16 miles away, making Addison easily accessible for both national and international businesses.
Find out more about the Addison office space on Offices.net.
For more information about us, please visit http://offices.net
Contact Info:
Name: Teresha Aird
Organization: Offices.net
Address: www.offices.net
Phone: 1 866 399 1166
Release ID: 114537
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Webscout Announces Expansion with Three New Offices in Shanghai
Webscout announced today that three new centres in Shanghai, China are now available to rent through their online service.
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Webscout, a leading global office space provider, today announced that they have added three new office centres in Shanghai, China.
"We are very happy to be able to announce the availability of new office space for rent in China", said a spokesperson for Webscout. "Following this announcement, Webscout now has fifty office buildings available in this economically important city, and we are confident that these three new addresses will help us better accommodate the needs of new businesses looking for premises in the key city of Shanghai."
The first of the new office buildings available is strategically located on Huauhai Zhong Road, which is within a short walking distance of a number of metro stations and twenty minutes drive from Hongqiao International Airport. This modern business centre provides furnished office suites complete with a range of business support packages that include dedicated reception, security and IT personnel onsite. With HD video ready conference rooms, state of the art IT and communications, passenger lifts and virtual office options.
The second of the new office properties available is a situated on Hubin Road, a few minutes from the Shunchang Road-Hubin Road Bus Stop and ten minutes walk from the Metro Station. Office space come fully furnished and includes business lounges, a professional reception team, IT support, air conditioning, hot desking options and integrated IT infrastructure.
The other new office centre is situated on Century Avenue, in the Pudong Finance and Trade quarter, and offers a selection of contemporary furnished office suites inclusive of fully equipped meeting rooms, admin staff, building security, IT and communications systems, climate control and tech support.
"Our database includes a huge range of serviced office space, business centre accommodation, office complexes, and units throughout China, and we see the two new offices added in Shanghai as an important addition to this service," concluded Webscout's spokesperson.
About Shanghai Shanghai is located in eastern China and has a population of over 23.4 million people. Besides the trading sector, the largest revenue winners for the city are financial and banking services, although it does also have a manufacturing and high tech industry base. The city's incredibly developed public transportation system means that it is very easy to navigate the area and its airports provide good international links. Find out more about Webscout's office space in Shanghai.
About Webscout Webscout is an international service dedicated to helping businesses find serviced office space in thousands of locations worldwide. The Webscout.com site offers serviced offices, managed office accommodation, traditional office rental and fully-serviced executive suites in cities in more than thirty countries.
For more information about us, please visit http://www.webscout.com
Contact Info:
Name: Clare Jones
Organization: Webscout.com
Address: www.webscout.com
Phone: 00 44 207 166 7980
Release ID: 114547
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New Article Entitled "17 Mark Cuban Success Quotes For Millennials" Released
Prosperity Networker has published its latest article covering success, which is aimed primarily at aspiring entrepreneurs. The article is available for viewing in full at http://prosperitynetworker.com/motivation/17-mark-cuban-success-quotes-millennials/
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An article covering the subject of 'Success' entitled '17 Mark Cuban Success Quotes For Millennials' has now been released and published by Prosperity Networker, an authority website in the Personal Development niche. The article brings to light fascinating information, and especially for aspiring entrepreneurs, home business owners and anybody else who's interested in success can read the entire article at http://prosperitynetworker.com/motivation/17-mark-...
Because these 17 success quotes could really help millennials succeed, perhaps one of the most interesting, or relevant pieces of information is that the article includes some inspiring wisdom from Mark Cuban the billionaire investor and owner of the Dallas Mavericks.
The article has been written by Calvin Williams, who wanted to use this article to bring particular attention to the subject of success and personal development. He feels that they may have done this best in the following extract:
'I look at my annual budgets for everything and anything, and I look to see where I can save the most money on those items. Saving 30% to 50% buying in bulk - replenishable items from toothpaste to soup, or whatever I use a lot of - is the best guaranteed return on investment you can get anywhere.'
Prosperity Networker now welcomes comments and questions from readers, in relation to they article. Calvin Williams, Owner at Prosperity Networker has made a point of saying regular interaction with the readers is so critical to running the site because his mission is to help aspiring entrepreneurs reach their goals.
In discussing the article itself and its development, Calvin Williams said:
"These 17 success quotes have motivated myself greatly and I believe they will help others as well."
Anyone who has a specific question or comment about this article, or any article previously published on the site, are welcomed to contact Prosperity Networker via their website at http://prosperitynetworker.com
Once again, the complete article is available to in full at http://prosperitynetworker.com/motivation/17-mark-cuban-success-quotes-millennials/.
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Dog Probiotics Receive New Feedback From Customers
Wagglies' brand new Probiotics for Dogs have received a new batch of positive customer feedback.
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Brand new customer feedback for Wagglies' Probiotics for Dogs has been received today and the brand are keen to discuss it.
Since launching their dog probiotics onto Amazon U.S. in April, the brand have received multiple batches of feedback from customers.
One customer discussed the effect of Wagglies' Probiotics for Dogs on her dog, "Not only do WE love it, but the DOG loves it too! Our dog is a picky eater and suffers from chronic constipation due to older age and allergies...this stuff works! Not only is she eager to eat her food again but she hasn't had a constipation OR allergy issue...", another mentioned the ingredients in the dog probiotics, "...The ingredients definitely are beneficial to dogs. You don't see too many products with prebiotics. They're usually really expensive..." and the last spoke of the short term benefits of Wagglies' dog supplements, "I have German Shepherds and one of my girls has a notoriously finicky stomach. I give her pre and probiotics several times a week. So far Wagglies has had no ill effects and her tummy is still friends with her, and me! I just sprinkle it on her food and she gobbles it right up. No bad odor or taste..."
The brand are keen to discuss the feedback that they have received from customers.
"This sort of feedback from customers is exactly what we hope for." said Dan Clayton, Founder of Wagglies, "We invite all of our customers to provide us with feedback on our product and customer service so we're really pleased to get such a positive response from these customers."
Wagglies are a relatively new company but they have previously released their Puppy Training Pads and Dog Nail Clippers onto Amazon UK and U.S.
"Our latest product, Probiotics for Dogs, is something that we're really proud of." continued Dan, "We've worked really hard to produce a product that has good manufacturing processes, high quality ingredients and real effectiveness. Our powder probiotics are made in the USA and contain 5 strands of probiotic and 1 prebiotic."
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...
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Ruth Price and Sarah Carmichael release An Amish Goats Gone Wild Calamity 3
Amish authors, Ruth Price and Sarah Carmichael release An Amish Goats Gone Wild Calamity 3, the newest in their Yule Goat Calamity series. Christian Amish book lovers will be delighted with this hilarious book.
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Christian book lovers looking for a delightful Amish book can purchase An Amish Goats Gone Wild Calamity 3 by Ruth Price and Sarah Carmichael for $2.99 on Kindle, Nook, iBooks, Kobo, Page Foundry and 24Symbols today. This is Book 3 of the Yule Goat Calamity series. It is also available in Paperback for $9.99.
In An Amish Goats Gone Wild Calamity 3, after Annie Miller's beau, Samuel Stauffer's reckless buggy racing leaves a young child clinging to life, he turns his back in shame on Annie and his Amish life. Confused and angry, Annie struggles to keep her goat business afloat, but between new suitors, robbers, and brutal coyote attacks, Annie's life swiftly spirals towards disaster. Readers will be riveted, praying that Annie have the strength to help her friends, save her goats, and salvage her relationship with Samuel.
Readers can learn more about this Amish book here: http://familychristianbookstore.net/index.php/2016...
Christian author, Ruth Price strives in her fiction channel a higher good, and while she doesn't always reach that ideal, she hopes that her readers are entertained and inspired by her stories. Christian author, Sarah Carmichael has always loved telling stories, and when she met Ruth and the subject of writing came up, they began collaborating on this and other books. In her writing, Sarah works hard to tell an entertaining story that shows the beauty of God through moments of everyday life. Readers will find this book hilarious, absorbing, and ultimately a goat-load of fun.
Readers have raved about Ruth Price and Sarah Carmichael's Yule Goat Calamity series:
About the first book of the series, An Amish Goats Gone Wild Calamity, Amazon reader, Deborah Spencer says: "I whipped through this book -- couldn't put it down! Annie Miller is such a great character. She's honest, prickly at points, sincere, careful and kind (even when the goats really seem impossible -- I never knew goats were so difficult!) This series offers just the right mix of humor, romance, and fun! I can't wait for this series to finish!"
About An Amish Goats Gone Wild Calamity 2, Amazon.com reader, Kim, raves, "Amish book discusses good virtues and has a good story-line throughout. Easy to read and will deffo read some of her other books."
And about this most recent addition to the series, An Amish Goats Gone Wild Calamity 3, Amazon.com reader, D. Greenacre, raves, "I didn't expect that ending! Annie MIller has a lot of perseverance and strength, but seems to face obstacles daily to challenge her Amish roots! Not many of us have two loves at the same time like this story's heroine who both promise to give her happiness. I'm thinking her love for her family and her faith will win out in the end. I will be anxious to read what happens next!"
Readers can learn more about An Amish Goats Gone Wild Calamity 3 here: http://familychristianbookstore.net/index.php/2016...
An Amish Goats Gone Wild Calamity 3 is being offered for $2.99 on Kindle, Nook, iBooks, Kobo, Page Foundry and 24Symbols. It is also available in paperback for $9.99 through Createspace, Amazon.com and other online book distributors.
About Global Grafx Press:
Global Grafx Press was founded in 1997. This Christian book distributor is known for publishing great Western romance novels, Christian nonfiction, and Amish books. They are committed to helping readers find the best, clean Christian books online and hope that their readers enjoy browsing their Christian Bookstore. Those interested in learning more about Global Grafx Press can do so at http://familychristianbookstore.net
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Rathbones has partnered with Credit Suisse as it looks to develop its private client office.
In its first quarter results released today (May 18), Rathbones announced it had reached an agreement with the Swiss firm to offer a range of specialist private banking products and services to its clients.
The alliance aims to complement Rathbones own discretionary fund management, tax, trust, financial planning and banking services.
Mark Nicholls, chairman of Rathbones, said he remains alert to acquisition opportunities which might arise as a consequence of the tough market conditions.
He said the board decided to pursue longer term initiatives, despite the expectation that markets will continue to lack direction over the short term.
According to the results, the companys fee income stood at 37.7m, up from 34.8m reported over the same period last year. This 8.3 per cent increase was partly reflected by the tariff changes made in 2015, Mr Nicholls said.
Rathbones saw income through commission decline by 31.9 per cent year on year, hitting 9.8m at the end of March, due to the continuing trend towards higher quality fee-based income.
Overall, the firm has seen a modest boost in its funds under management, reaching 29.3bn at the end of the first quarter, up 1.4 per cent from 28.9bn a year ago.
However, it continued to see outflows in its investment management division, falling by 382m for the first three months of 2016, after seeing outflows of 414m the previous year.
Mr Nicholls said volatile investment markets have presented challenges, reflected both in commission income and new business inflows for the first three months of 2016.
katherine.denham@ft.com
Investor sentiment on commodities has turned positive for the first time in six months, according to Lloyds Banks latest index.
Commodities have seen the greatest monthly increase in confidence, while gold and UK property remain popular.
Overall, investor confidence has risen slightly since last months record low , reflecting in part an improvement in the actual market performance of all but two asset classes, according to the index.
Ongoing nervousness in markets has contributed to a continued cautious response from investors on the whole, however.
Volatile investor attitides to emerging market equities has also continued, with this month seeing a positive swing of 4.39 per cent, potentially showing a more short term preference for this asset class.
Despite an improved picture, investor sentiment is more negative towards the more unfamiliar and riskier asset classes, regardless of their performance, accrording to the Lloyds index.
Lloyds index showed investors seem to have little confidence in UK government bonds and UK corporate bonds at the moment, whilst Eurozone and Japanese equities have the lowest confidence ratings across the board.
Alongside this, US equities have also now crept into negative territory.
Markus Stadlmann, chief investment officer at Lloyds Private Banking, said investor sentiment has become more positive for most asset classes, albeit from a low base.
There are growing reservations about investing more money in equities, with the exception of emerging markets. UK gilt and corporate bond sentiment has fallen considerably, which probably reflects concerns about whether they can deliver positive returns in the future.
Although they remain popular with investors, the safe haven assets of gold and domestic property have both seen a slight fall in sentiment over the last few weeks.
He added that while commodities and emerging markets have both seen improvements in sentiment, this perhaps just a reflection that UK investors think both of these asset classes are over the worst.
ruth.gillbe@ft.com
Active fund management is under scrutiny like never before. Indeed, seldom does a day now go by without someone or some organisation providing research damning the industry for poor performance, under-performance or debilitating charges.
Morningstar is the latest organisation to pour scorn on the assertion that active fund managers (living breathing ones rather than robots) can justify premium ongoing charges. In fairness, Morningstar has long argued that a funds expense ratio is the best predictor of future investment returns. In simple terms, it believes that the cheaper a fund is, the greater chance it has of delivering superior performance.
Its latest analysis supports this conclusion. Scrutinising data for US equity funds over the five years to the end of December 2015, it says that the funds with the lowest expense ratios were three times more likely to generate a high total-return success rate (deliver superior performance) than the most expensive. Analysis of other equity classes delivered similar results.
The expense ratio is the most proven predictor of future fund returns, said Russel Kinnel, author of the report. Thats not to say investors should only consider cost when selecting a fund. There are many other variables, but investors should make expense ratios their first or second screen. The expense ratio is the most proven predictor of future fund returns
Peter Kraus, chief executive of New York asset manager AllianceBernstein, has also had his say on active fund management. Although his comments were made about the US mutual funds industry, they apply equally to Blightys fund management industry.
Speaking to the Financial Times, he said there was a scale problem in the industry. Funds that reach a certain size, he said, become different investment animals, no longer run to outperform a chosen benchmark but instead managed not to underperform.
In other words, they become less aggressive and more defensive, more akin to closet index trackers. It is a problem that the Financial Conduct Authority has already identified in the UK fund management industry and is keen to address.
Interestingly, Mr Kraus went on to say that he was perturbed by the amount of money flooding into exchange traded funds, stating: There is probably too much money in the world today for active. But people are making the illogical leap that they should put all their money into passives. If people realised the risks around exchange traded funds, the behaviour would be much more moderate.
With this focus on the value of active fund management very much in mind, I recently spent an hour in the splendid company of Rob Burdett and Gary Potter, who have just celebrated 20 years running money on a multi-fund (fund of funds) basis.
Working for a variety of investment houses along the way Rothschild Asset Management, Credit Suisse, Thames River and now BMO Global Asset Management Burdett and Potter estimate that they and their team have conducted more than 10,000 fund manager meetings, attended more than 500 UK investment conferences and invested 12bn in funds.
Sexpo Australia 2016 Is Not Your Regular Cosplay Competition
On Sunday night, May 15, Sexpo Australia happened in Sydney. The huge sex expo gave away a AUD$2000 cash prize to the winner of their very first cosplay contest.
The cosplay community was very excited about the competition when it was originally announced in February 2016, where they were encouraged to fuse both cosplay and sex.
According to Kotaku, cosplayer Eve Beauregard said that there is more to cosplay at Sexpo than just sexy cosplay. Sexpo cosplay host Lucie Bee said that there were so many participants representing their own concept of sexy.
The sheer diversity of the competition was spectacular and I dont think thats some we get a lot of at standard Cosplay competitions, said Bee.
The Sexpo cosplay contest was held over three days. There were two heats during the initial two days. The finals featuring the four heat winners was held on the third day. The four grand finalists showcased four special kinds of sexy. The first was a sexy Cubone, the second was a Lollipop Chainsaw cosplay, the third is a man dressed as a sexy Pokemon, and the fourth was a curvy burlesque-style Harley Quinn.
The audience was greatly involved in the finals. They cheered who among the top four will remain as the two finalists. Lucie Bee said that audience participation at Sexpo is very important. It was essential that they helped choose a diverse winner who represents a part of the community who can defy the odds and stereotypes. The attendees were also very polite and friendly, celebrating sexuality together and making new friends at the venue.
The judges subsequently chose the grand winner the burlesque Harley Quinn by Vandolly Cosplay. Bee noted that the crowd supported her because she interacted well with them and was sexy and confident about her cosplay. The other participants were equally happy about joining the contest, after receiving major prizes and loot bags valued at $250.
Sexpo Australia 2016 was a huge success, which prompted Lucie and her team to continue preparing for future contests. They plan to arrange each heat better and to improve how the audience are involved in judging. The judging process will be streamlined as well. They also expect to see more Cosplay guests to help with the whole planning and process in future competitions. They expect the event in Melbourne to be bigger and better.
More updates and details on Sexpo Australia 2016 are expected soon.
Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia was among the right people enshrined on the memorial wall on Saturday, Oct. 21.
House District 23 state Rep. Mike Nearman captured the Republican primary on Tuesday night with an almost 1,135-vote victory against former Dallas councilor Beth Jones.
Nearman had 3,963 votes or 58.4 percent, compared to 2,828 votes and 41.6 percent for Jones, according to returns released by the districts four counties by 10:45 p.m.
Were free to declare victory and that feels good, Nearman said. She (Jones) put in a lot of work, and I hope to be able to court her followers. She ran a good campaign and I appreciate it.
Jones had a slight lead in Polk County, but Nearman won Benton, Yamhill and Marion by fairly wide margins.
Nearman, who challenged and defeated three-term incumbent Rep. Jim Thompson by a 63 percent to 37 percent margin in the 2014 GOP primary, will face off with Thompson again, this time in the general election in November.
Thompson ran unopposed in the Independent Party primary. No Democrat filed papers to run in the district, which includes pieces of Benton, Polk, Marion and Yamhill counties. Key cities in the district are Adair Villages, Alsea, Amity, Dallas, Dayton, Jefferson, Monroe, Rickreall, Willamina and parts of McMinnville.
I feel good about the prospects for November, Thompson said. My campaign is about bringing back a center to the Legislature and working across the aisle to solve problems. We have a lot of problems to solve that require cooperation, not division.
Nearman noted that although he defeated Thompson soundly in the GOP primary in 2014, the general election voter pool will be different. I expect hell come at me from the left. It will be a very interesting race to watch," Nearman said.
Nearman is an Independence software engineer. Before being elected to the Legislature Nearman was chairman of the Polk County Republican party/ He is on the board of directors of Oregonians for Immigration Reform and served on the Central School District Budget Committee. His community work includes service with the Oregon CASA Network.
Jones, a Dallas resident, is founder and president of Bambinos, a nonprofit ministry serving low-income families in Polk County. Jones served on the Dallas City Council from 2011-14, was a board member on the Polk County Commission for Children and Families and still serves on the Dallas Area Chamber of Commerce public policy committee. Her community work includes advocacy for veterans and Oregon Army National Guard families.
Thompson, a consulting medical botanist who lives in Dallas, served on the Monmouth City Council and the Polk County Fire District board and is a citizen representative on a national group working to reduce prescription drug costs.
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Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.
Arrest in Niklas P. case : 20 year old suspect denies involvement
Bonn At todays press conference, police and public prosecutors gave further information on the crime and the suspect.
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After the deadly beating in Bad Godesberg, police are certain they have caught the killer of 17 year old Niklas. The senior public prosecutor for Bonn, Robin Fabender, said a warrant for manslaughter would be issued against the 20 year old arrested on Tuesday. He denies any involvement in the crime, but during his interrogations got tangled in a web of contradictions, said Fabender. He was also identified by a witness.
Two further men who were detained have now been released because suspicions against them could not be substantiated. Two suspected accomplices of the arrested 20 year old are still at large.
Niklas died last week in hospital. The 17 year old from Bad Breisig was attacked the week before by a group of young men in Bad Godesberg , after he had visited Rhein in Flammen (Rhine in Flames).
According to Fabender, Niklas died as a result of a heavy blow to the temple and a subsequent kick to the head.
Police said the 20 year old suspect is an Italian who has lived in Bonn for years and has already come to their notice many times for violent crimes.
The investigations into the arrested 20 year olds statements and into his accomplices continue. The two men still being sought are described as follows:
Person 1
17-21 years old
1.80 - 1.85 metres tall
brown, dark skin
stocky build
black hair, shorter on the sides and longer on top, gelled back
black jacket (possibly leather)
jeans
white shoes
spoke German without an accent
Person 2
17-20 years old
dark black hair
1.8 1.85 metres tall
brown skin
normal build
white jogging pants
white pullover (Adidas or Nike) possibly with zip
white or grey cap
possibly carrying a black bag
spoke German without an accent
Possible witnesses should call police on (0228) 150.
Niklas P attack : Press conference on suspects arrest this afternoon
Bonn Police and the public prosecutors office are to release further information on Tuesdays arrest at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
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Following yesterdays arrest of a 20 year old suspected of being the principal perpetrator in the deadly attack on Niklas P, police and public prosecutors will hold a press conference this afternoon to release further details of the current status of the investigation.
The police would not give any details on Tuesday of the background and origins of the 20 year old. The public broadcaster WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk) reported that the young man allegedly came from a migrant background. According to General Anzeiger information, this seems to be correct.
The 17 year old Niklas, from Bad Breisig, who was critically injured in a brutal attack, will be buried this coming Saturday at the Burg cemetery in Bad Godesberg. His tragic death marks the peak in an ascertainable escalation in violence.
We are witnessing a potential for aggression among some young people that is ever more unpredictable and is becoming a danger for all citizens, said Dean Wolfgang Picken. Politicians in particular are now called upon to look closely and above all honestly at the worrying situation, to not cover anything up and to react. As we currently do not reach many young people through youth and social work, we urgently need to think about a compulsory prevention programme for all young people in all Godesberg schools. Something needs to happen now, or there will be large protests and also possibly increasing radicalism in Bad Godesberg, continued Picken.
The mayor of Bonn, Ashok Sridharan (CDU), wants to hold a round table against violence this month with representatives from the church, the police and the city of Bonn. The objective is to discuss possibilities for reaching out to young people as a preventative measure. The aim is to make young people sensitive of one another and to avoid future violent attacks as far as possible.
On Thiesday Melanie Dittmer, who is behind the right extremist Bogida group and who has been sentenced for inciting hatred and violence, held a demonstration with five other men and women at the Theaterplatz. She was demonstrating because police had forbidden her from speaking at a demonstration on Saturday near the scene of the crime.
An opportunity for foodies and beer lovers to get lost in a world of food and drink from a hand-selected range of food trucks and breweries from around New Zealand.
Busy schedule likely for Apple CEO Tim Cook in India News oi -GizBot Bureau
With Tim Cook set to arrive in Delhi on his first visit as Apple CEO on Tuesday, his diary seems to be full with visits to various places in Gurgaon, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.
Cook's visit to India comes at a time when the US technology giant is hit by slower growth in global sales of its flagship products -- iPhone, iPad and Mac.
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He is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. He had met Modi at a Silicon Valley event in the US last September, where they discussed manufacturing plans under Modi's 'Make in India' initiative.
"In Delhi, after greeting employees at the Apple's corporate office at One Horizon Centre in Gurgaon, he is expected to visit iZen Store (Apple authorised reseller) in Green Park and the iWorld Store (Apple premium store) in Ambience Mall in Gurgaon," an Apple source told IANS on condition of anonymity.
The source, however, did not give details of his meeting with Modi.
Cook is flying to the country from China, where Apple announced a $1 billion investment in the local ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing.
"The trip signifies how significant Indian market has become for Apple. Cook is coming here to announce technology for the future," Vishal Tripathi, research director at global market consultancy firm Gartner, told IANS.
The fact is that Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn is present here and is looking to set up a manufacturing base in the country.
Top 12 Best Motorola smartphones to buy in india in may 2016
"If Cook announces concrete plans to set up a manufacturing unit here, this will create more jobs and bring in better competition in the smartphone and other devices market in the low-price segment," Tripathi added.
According to him, Cook may raise the issue of allowing Apple to import and sell refurbished iPhones at a cheaper price in India. This will give Apple a slot in mid and low-price segment.
"India is incredibly exciting. The population of India is incredibly young. Almost half the people in India are below 25. And so I see the demographics there also being incredibly great for a consumer brand and for people that really want the best products," Cook had said earlier this year.
Cook, who joined Apple in March 1998, was made chief executive of the company, succeeding Steve Jobs, on August 24, 2011.
Hit by slower growth in the sale of its flagship products iPhone, iPad and Mac globally, Apple's revenue dropped for the first time since 2003 as the tech giant released earning reports for the second quarter of fiscal 2016 in March.
The company on April 27 posted a quarterly revenue of $50.6 billion and quarterly net income of $10.5 billion ($1.90 per diluted share), compared to revenue of $58 billion and net income of $13.6 billion ($2.33 per diluted share) in the year-ago quarter.
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The revenue was down in both Americas and China -- Apple's two biggest territories. It declined around 10 percent in the Americas and 26 percent in China. According to reports, the company is looking for new growth markets like India after its sales declined.
In the last two years of Modi as prime minister, top global executives have lined up to visit India. These include Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO; Satya Nadella, India-born CEO of Microsoft; Mark Zuckerberg, 32-years-old co-founder of Facebook; Sundar Pichai, Chennai-born CEO of Google and Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba, among others.
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Denmark's Government Recommends Buying 27 F-35s
May 12, 2016
At a press meeting on May 12, 2016 at approximately 10 a.m. local time, the prime minister and the defence minister of Denmark announced that the government recommend buying 27 F-35 aircraft.See the report from the Danish Ministry of Defence on why they selected the F-35.
Joint Program Office Statement on Denmark F-35 Selection
We are honored Denmark is considering the F-35A to meet its national defense requirements. We understand the selection process for the New Fighter Program is still ongoing and the Joint Program Office will continue to provide the Danish Government with the data needed to make an informed decision that is in their country's best interest
Lockheed Martin Statement on Denmark F-35 Selection
Lockheed Martin is pleased that Denmark has reaffirmed its commitment to the F-35 program with the down select of the F-35 in this fair and open competition. Denmark is a longtime partner of Lockheed Martin and we are proud of our strong record of supporting its national security requirements. The F-35 Lightning II will help ensure Denmarks national security, and also positions Danish industry to capture long-term work throughout the life of the program. We remain committed to assist the U.S. government and F-35 Joint Program Office to support Denmarks future fighter and other aircraft requirements.
Additionally, we will continue to work with Danish Industry on F-35 production throughout the life of the program. The projected industrial opportunities with the F-35 will bring long term economic benefits to Denmark for decades to come.
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Flying with DRAGON improves capabilities
By Patty Welsh, 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs / Published May 17, 2016
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. (AFNS) -- A recent successful test flight of an upgraded Flight Management System Suite for the E-3 Sentry (AWACS) provides the warfighter with enhanced battle management capabilities.
AWACS aircraft provide an integrated command and control battle management, surveillance, target detection, and tracking platform. The aircraft provides an accurate, real-time picture of the battlespace to the Joint Air Operations Center.
The upgrade provides three principal benefits to the warfighter. It ensures compliance with current and future air traffic control requirements, giving the aircraft broader access to conduct battle management operations in airspace around the world. It resolves non-sustainable analog equipment with commercially viable digital avionics, replacing 1970s-era systems; and it also reduces cockpit crew personnel from four to three by automating the navigation function.
"The cockpit upgrade will make the AWACS fleet operationally ready for worldwide deployments, meeting all the new air traffic management mandates for the ever-increasingly congested international airspace -- while reducing the logistical footprint and increasing cost savings," said Collin Manzo, the engineering and manufacturing development program manager.
The test flight took place on April 20 at Boeing Field in Kent, Washington, as part of the Air Force's CNS/ATM DRAGON, program, which stands for Communication, Navigation and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management Diminishing Manufacturing Sources Replacement of Avionics for Global Operations and Navigation. Officials have said the benefits springboard the AWACS platform into the future while reducing overall system maintenance and sustainability costs.
"The modernized flight deck is more user-intuitive, with full-color glass displays that enable customizable engine, navigation and radar information," said Gwen LaMuro, the DRAGON program manager. "This enhanced avionics system suite utilizes commercial, off-the-shelf equipment which eliminates diminishing manufacturing source issues, provides a commercially available replacement solution and reduces sustainability risk to the AWACS platform."
The program now enters the flight test qualification phase to prove out any unique Air Force requirements. Following that, program managers anticipate delivery of modified D1 aircraft to the 552nd Air Control Wing at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, in May 2017. There, the aircraft will undergo government operation test and evaluation and then production modification for the rest of the fleet, to be accomplished by the depot staff at Tinker AFB beginning in 2018.
The CNS/ATM DRAGON program is a cooperative program between the U.S. and NATO. NATO's first aircraft, known as N1, completed testing in April and is nearing completion of the full EMD phase.
"This program is a great example of international cooperation benefiting both partners, as the U.S. and NATO AWACS fleets are about 95 percent common in design," LaMuro said. "We have incorporated the efficiencies and learned lessons from the NATO N1 aircraft in the U.S. Air Force aircraft design, reducing the overall shared costs by tens of millions of dollars for both stakeholders. This truly culminates a successful relationship between NATO and the U.S. and these modifications ensure the critical capability AWACS provides to our warfighters and allies around the world."
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African Air Chiefs Symposium focuses on mobility
By 1st Lt. Ben Sowers, U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa / Published May 17, 2016
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFNS) -- Air chiefs from 26 nations gathered here May 9-13 for the largest African Air Chiefs Symposium in its six-year history.
The purpose of the symposium is to create a forum for air chiefs from across the African continent to come together to address common issues, cultivate relationships and emphasize cooperation. Mobility was a primary focus point this year along with the special role of airpower in the vast continent of Africa.
"All of the events that we do in Africa and conferences like this make sure that we have enough touch points with these countries to let them know that we are interested in their challenges," said Gen. Frank Gorenc, the commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa. "We're interested in their capabilities, we're interested in the things that we aspire to do together and we look for the ability to, together, handle some of the challenges that comes with the capability that is able to be brought up overnight."
This is the first African Air Chiefs Symposium that was not held on the African continent.
"Because the focus of the event is air mobility, it made sense that we hosted it at Ramstein Air Base," said Lt. Col. Christopher Blackwell, the USAFE-AFAFRICA branch chief of international affairs for Africa. "It is the cornerstone of mobility for the U.S. Air Force outside of the United States so it makes sense that this is where we would host it."
The U.S. and Mauritania co-hosted this year's symposium. Last year, the symposium was held in Nouakchott, Mauritania, with 18 African nations attending.
Throughout the symposium, there were several roundtable discussions and breakout sessions, giving air chiefs the opportunity to discuss regional issues together. Some topics discussed were mobility strategies, force development and airfield management.
As part of the symposium, the group had an immersion trip to the Verdun battlefield to learn about European history. While at Verdun, the air chiefs learned about the soldiers from Africa who fought in the battle.
This symposium was the first opportunity for many air chiefs to talk with their counterparts from other African nations. It was the first symposium for Brig. Gen. Charles Karamba, the Rwanda Air Force Chief of Staff.
"The African Air Chief Symposium is an important organization although it's kind of a non-formal organization. It helps us come together. We get to know each other," Karamba said. "There is terrorism in most of our regions, so we get together, share the threats that we face, share the challenges that we face as far as air mobility is concerned and of course it helps us understand the capabilities each of us have."
One of the pinnacle moments of the symposium was the signing of the Association of African Air Chiefs Charter, which encourages members to seek opportunities to cooperate and collaborate to improve and support air operations across Africa. Eleven nations signed the charter this year, which is the highest number of nations to sign at any symposium.
The 26 countries that attended were Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia.
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Africom's Chief Discusses Mission to Build Partner Capability
By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity
BRUSSELS, May 17, 2016 U.S. Africa Command aims to assist African nations in building capacity and establishing institutions to maintain peace and create stability on the continent, Africom's commander said here today.
Army Gen. David M. Rodriguez spoke to reporters traveling with Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Dunford is attending meetings of the NATO Military Committee here.
Africa is the world's second-largest continent and is diverse ethnically, religiously, geographically and linguistically, Rodriguez said. There are threats, he said, from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, in Libya; Boko Haram, centered around Nigeria; and al Shabab, in Somalia.
Working With African Partners
The key to operating in Africa is to work through African nations and with allies, the general said. "We've worked hard to always make it a multinational effort and the African partners to be the first part of the solution," he said.
Rodriguez highlighted Somalia as an example. The African Union, he said, leads a peacekeeping effort in the country. Five nations -- Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Burundi -- provide the bulk of the forces that train the Somali National Army and help maintain stability as the government tries to stand up. The terror group al Shabab has been pushed back in most areas of the country, but still maintains a fighting force.
This regional involvement has been crucial to the progress made against al-Shabab, Rodriguez said. The Djiboutians, he said, are working in the north and they have ties to that region. The Kenyans, he added, work in southern Somalia and they, too, have ties of kinship with the people across the border.
The Ethiopians are also working in the west, the general said. "This is hugely important, because they better understand the culture, and those nations helping each other is a big, big deal," he said.
"There's nothing that stays in the boundary of a country anymore," Rodriguez said. "All of the threats end up being regional and transregional in nature ."
He added, "In addition to 'regionalizing' [the effort] on the African continent, we 'internationalize' it with the other partners -- the European Union, France, the U.K., the Italians."
The command coordinates the efforts as much as it can, "and we look at the gaps and see where we can fill them in," Rodriguez said.
Assisting African Nations
Many nations in Africa have capable militaries, he said. Some countries have challenges in logistics, in command and control, in intelligence and with building joint enablers, he added. Some countries are doing well, he said, but overall the progress is uneven.
However, "10 years ago, in the United Nations peacekeeping missions, African nations provided 24 percent of the troops," Rodriguez said. "Now they provide 47 percent -- it's almost doubled in 10 years. That's all good news for the Africans."
African nations need these capabilities to protect their citizens, he said.
"Boko Haram is the biggest killer of people in the world -- they actually eclipse ISIL as far as most dangerous and largest number of casualties they caused this past year," the general said. "ISIL is one of the most dangerous because they spread quickly and they own territory, especially in Libya and they have aspirations to export some of their violence."
There is a multinational joint task force established by African nations to combat Boko Haram, Rodriguez said. Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad are part of that task force, he said, noting troops from Benin will soon join them.
ISIL in Libya
The growth of ISIL in Libya concerns neighbors and international partners, Rodriguez said. "The biggest thing in Libya is the stand-up of the Government of National Accord and how that works [to confront ISIL]," the general said.
The Africans, he said, are doing "a tremendous amount of work outside of and around Libya, whether it is the Tunisians who are working hard on the border, the Chadians on their northern border or the Nigerians working on the northeastern border to help limit the flow of foreign fighters into Libya."
Secretary of State John F. Kerry participated in a meeting in Italy yesterday to provide support to the U.N.-endorsed Libyan Government of National Accord, Rodriguez said.
"Everybody now is waiting for the U.N. process to work for the weapons and the arms waiver to support the GNA," the general said. "It will take some time to do that. The support the GNA needs and how and where they want it we will just have to see how that develops over time."
The Libyans don't need huge weapons shipments, and there are many Libyans with military backgrounds and experience, Rodriguez said. The United States, he added, needs more information on what is happening in Libya politically to plan how to help the GNA.
"We're continuing to work to improve that picture," Rodriguez said. "We know more now that we did six months ago, and we will continue to get better as [will] the whole international community."
How the various militias inside Libya will sort out is a big question, the general said. The Misrata brigades "look like they have aligned with the GNA, but we really are dependent on the Government of National Accord to figure out who is with them and who is moving more toward them," he said.
Rodriguez came here to discuss ways to more closely work with the European Union on the African continent.
"Ten of their 17 missions in the world are down in Africa," the general said of the European Union. "About 88 percent of [the EU's] military budget is spent in Africa. The European Union is a big partner [for Africa Command]. They are in Somalia, they are in Mali, they are in Tunisia for the Libya effort. They are out there with our people all the time."
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Coalition Strikes Target ISIL Terrorists in Syria, Iraq
From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release
SOUTHWEST ASIA, May 18, 2016 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Iraq and Syria yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.
Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.
Strikes in Syria
Attack, ground attack and remotely piloted aircraft conducted six strikes in Syria:
-- Near Tanf, a strike destroyed an ISIL tactical vehicle.
-- Near Manbij, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL vehicles.
-- Near Mara, three strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL fighting position and an ISIL command and control node.
Strikes in Iraq
Attack, bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 11 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government:
-- Near Albu Hayat, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.
-- Near Fallujah, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL weapons cache, an ISIL mortar system and an ISIL tunnel.
-- Near Hit, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL heavy machine guns.
-- Near Kisik, a strike suppressed an ISIL mortar position.
-- Near Mosul, four strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed five ISIL weapons caches, two ISIL vehicles, two ISIL vehicle bombs and an ISIL assembly area.
-- Near Qayyarah, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL assembly area and three ISIL boats.
Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.
Part of Operation Inherent Resolve
The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said.
Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
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NATO Military Committee Will Lay Groundwork for Warsaw Summit
By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity
BRUSSELS, May 18, 2016 Czech Gen. Petr Pavel, the chairman of NATO's Military Committee, laid out an ambitious agenda for the 175th meeting of the committee here today.
Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, joined the chiefs of defense from 27 other NATO members to discuss NATO operations in Afghanistan, the challenges from Russia, operations in the Mediterranean, the threat of terrorism, cyberdefense and numerous other issues facing the alliance.
This was Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti's first military committee meeting since becoming NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe, and it is the last meeting of the committee before the alliance's Warsaw Summit in July.
Warsaw Summit
Warsaw is very much on everyone's mind. "Our discussions today provide an opportunity to establish a common understanding of recent developments in our constantly evolving security environment," Pavel said. "We will identify the most important advice for our ministers and heads of state and government as NATO prepares for the Warsaw Summit."
He said the alliance's military leaders will discuss the need for full-spectrum capabilities to counter any current or future threats. "Our message is clear: NATO is and will remain the most powerful and successful military alliance in the world, and we will protect our values, our people and our territories," The Czech general said.
Resolute Support Mission commander Army Gen. John "Mick" Nicholson will brief the military leaders on the train and equip efforts in Afghanistan and what will be needed in the future, Pavel said. "We will then debate how best to continue improving the effectiveness of the Afghan national defense and security forces," he said. "[These forces] are essential to the stability of the Afghan state and a critical component in building the confidence of the Afghan people in their society."
Interoperability
Improving interoperability -- both within the alliance and amongst alliance partners -- will be a special emphasis. Australian defense chief Air Marshal Mark Binskin will share his country's experiences in building defense capacity, Pavel said. Binskin will be followed by NATO's supreme allied commander for transformation, French Air Force Gen. Denis Mercier, who "will present the status and the way forward on the Individual Tailored Roadmaps that have been developed to deepen our partnerships and improve interoperability," the general said.
The chiefs will end the day discussing the situation on the alliance's eastern flank.
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OIR Spokesman: Attacks in Baghdad Show ISIL Reverting to 'Terrorist Roots'
By Terri Moon Cronk DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, May 18, 2016 The recent rash of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant attacks in Baghdad that have killed hundreds of civilians likely reflects a shift in enemy tactics, Army Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, said today.
In a teleconference from Baghdad, Warren told Pentagon reporters that the enemy has suffered a string of defeats in the last six months because Iraqi forces are increasingly effective.
"ISIL wants to throw punches that land. To do this, they appear to have chosen to revert to some of their terrorist roots," he said. "Thus far, these attacks have not impacted operations on the battlefield, however. These indiscriminate attacks are heinous, and we grieve with Iraq, but we are undeterred."
Two ISIL Emirs Killed
Warren said two high-value individuals were targeted and killed May 13 in Anbar when the 7th Iraqi Army and Sunni tribal fighters liberated Juba as part of Operation Desert Lynx.
One was Abu Hamza, a mid-level military commander and former al-Qaida in Iraq member who planned and conducted attacks against Americans during Operation Iraqi Freedom and also recently coordinated ISIL fighters, reinforcements and finances in the Euphrates River Valley, the colonel said.
Also killed was Hamza's associate Abu Sufyan, a senior chemical expert who staged chemical attacks in the Euphrates River Valley, Warren said.
He emphasized the importance of Iraqi security forces entering Rutbah in the last week. While a small town, Warren said, Rutbah has "outsized strategic value," because it lies on the main route between Baghdad and Jordan.
"Opening it will impact the economies of both Iraq and Jordan, and will deny ISIL a critical support zone," he said.
The Rutbah operation is also critical because it highlights the increased interoperability of Iraqi forces, the colonel said. "The Iraqi Counterterror Service, who are without any question the most elite forces on this battlefield, are spearheading the operation. But for this fight, the CTS is working closely with several other forces -- the Anbar Police Special Tactics Battalion is fighting side by-side with the CTS to clear the town, while the Iraqi border force and Anbar Sunni tribal fighters have established a blocking position outside the town."
Partner Capacity Enhanced
As counter-ISIL forces weaken the enemy, Warren said, "We're strengthening our friends. We continue to build partner capacity through our training sites across Iraq. Today, we've trained more than 31,000 Iraqi security forces. This includes army, CTS, Peshmerga, police, tribal fighters and border security forces."
There are 3,800 Iraqi army soldiers in training today, he said, and in Irbil, 1,100 Peshmerga fighters have completed training in the last 30 days while another 1,100 are in training.
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Afghanistan Disappointed in 4-Way Talks About Taliban
by Ayesha Tanzeem May 18, 2016
Afghanistan is showing its anger at Pakistan by downgrading its representation to the international group trying to arrange peace talks with the Taliban.
Kabul says Pakistan needs to honor its commitments to take action against militant groups operating from Pakistan. The groups include the Afghan Taliban and the lethal Haqqani network that Afghanistan and the United States say operate out of Pakistan to launch violent attacks in Afghanistan.
"Any future QCG meetings with Pakistan will be held on the ambassador level," Dawa Khan Menapal, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's deputy spokesperson said.
Afghanistan's ambassador to Pakistan, Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal, led his country's delegation at Wednesday's meeting of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG). The delegation was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai at previous meetings.
The delegations for the United States, China and Pakistan were led respectively by U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Olsen, Chinese Special Envoy on Afghan Affairs Deng Xijun, and Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry.
"Until there is action, for Afghan government peace negotiation is a waste of time," Menapal added. He also said his government would focus more on the "intra-Afghan" negotiations.
Pakistan's political considerations
Pakistan insists it is sincerely trying to bring the Afghan Taliban to the table, but says such things take time. The Afghan government, Pakistani officials say, is in a hurry because of internal political considerations.
Afghan demands from Pakistan for action against the Taliban have peaked after a devastating attack killed nearly 70 people last month in Kabul.
President Ghani has asked Pakistan to either expel the Taliban or take military action. But Pakistan says a military solution has not worked in the past 15 years.
While the meeting was behind closed doors, analysts like Haroun Mir of the Kabul-based Afghanistan Center for Research and Policy Studies, expected it to be tough, with Afghanistan and Pakistan trading accusations.
A joint news release after the meeting said, "The QCG reiterated that violence serves no purpose, and peace negotiations remain the only option for a political settlement. In this respect, QCG countries reaffirmed to use their respective leverages and influences."
Mir said Afghanistan should stay engaged in the QCG process despite slow progress, because finding common ground between Afghanistan and Pakistan is the "first step towards settlement in Afghanistan."
Others, like journalist and regional expert Rahimullah Yousufzai are less optimistic. Even if talks with the Afghan Taliban started, Yousufzai said, they would not be fruitful anytime soon. The Afghan government and Taliban have each announced offensives and a breakthrough this summer was going to be hard.
"This issue is so old, so complicated, it involves so many hands, governments, non-state actors... that if anyone thought it could be resolved soon, it was wishful thinking," Yousufzai said.
Dealing with Taliban
He also thought Pakistan made a mistake by giving the impression it could bring the Taliban to the table.
"I don't think it is in Pakistan's power to force the Taliban to make an agreement with the Afghan government against their interest," he said.
Pakistan had arrested 100 Afghan Taliban leaders and released 48 of them on Karzai's request so they could talk to them, but that didn't work, he reminded.
"Taliban have alternatives. Anyone arrested or killed will be instantly replaced," Yousufzai said.
Mir acknowledged it is difficult for Pakistan to do everything President Ghani demanded, but said Pakistan could still do more in terms of confidence building.
"Pakistan always says there is a change in policy, but we do not see it yet. It is not tangible for us," he said.
He also criticized Pakistan's diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, which he said is responsible for alienating the young generation and the new leaders.
"Pakistan's embassy in Afghanistan is not active. It is still the old mindset. They interact only with those they consider friends of Pakistan. The communication is lacking," Mir said.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which appeared to be on an upward trajectory for a few months in early 2015, took a nosedive as Afghan Taliban increased its violent attacks in the country. 2015 was one of the bloodiest years since 2001.
The only long-term solution to reducing tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Yousufzai said, is strong action.
"If Pakistan expels Afghan Taliban and Haqqani network leaders, and Afghanistan expels Pakistani Taliban... then the root cause... will be resolved."
That solution, he acknowledged, was difficult and unlikely to be implemented anytime soon. Meanwhile, he said, the QCG process will survive simply because there is no other forum to move forward.
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Somaliland Celebrates 25 Years of Self-Declared Independence
by Jill Craig May 18, 2016
People, cattle, camels, donkeys and even a lion dressed up in Somaliland's red, white and green flag colors for parades and celebrations Wednesday marking 25 years since Somaliland's self-declared independence from the Federal Republic of Somalia.
Mohamed Ahmed is the executive director of the Somaliland Non State Actors Forum, based in Hargeisa. He, like many other Somalilanders, takes offense to the phrase "self-declared."
"As you see, many African countries, they become either dictatorships or failed states, like Somalia," said Ahmed. "But Somaliland is a democratic country like Europe or like America, which you know, [have] a free realm of speech and human rights so Somaliland is one of the rare countries in the Horn of Africa and the sub-Saharan countries."
But to the international community, Somaliland is not recognized as a country, even though it has called itself independent since 1991, following a three-year civil war with Somalia. Somalia has refused to recognize that independence but has afforded the region autonomy.
Own government, military
Somaliland has its own government and military and a separate currency. It holds elections and even has a national passport, although travel can often be difficult on an unrecognized country's documents. And unlike their southern neighbors, Somalilanders enjoy relative security.
For these reasons, Ahmed argues that Somaliland has earned its right to statehood.
"We are very much strong," said Ahmed. "The international community must accept our case, and I think there is no reason the international community [should] hesitate this time [for] Somaliland not being recognized, because already we have shown that Somaliland has maintained its peace and security, economic development, infrastructure."
Diplomatic issue
But University of Minnesota professor Abdi Samatar says the international community has reasons for not recognizing Somaliland.
"And if the northern Somalis become Somaliland, and the African Union sanctions that, there is nothing that will stop the African Union from looking into other secessionist groups and saying that they should also go," he said. "So the international community, particularly the United States and the European Union, have been playing second fiddle to the African Union to see where Somaliland or Somalia goes."
Despite its gains, Somaliland is not perfect, says Samatar. A territorial dispute between Somaliland and Puntland continues over the provinces of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn. Somalilanders suffer from high unemployment rates, and many are still risking the dangerous trip across the Mediterranean to illegally migrate.
Governance crisis
And according to Samatar, there's yet another problem.
"I mean if you look at what's going on today," said Samatar, "there's a real governance crisis in Hargeisa between different groups who are jostling for power."
Acknowledging the current security challenges faced in Mogadishu and other parts of Somalia, Samatar argues that Somalis are still better off as one larger block than separate, smaller ones.
"And so, jointly putting their resources together, they will be at a greater advantage to compete with Ethiopia, and Kenya, rather than become different principalities," Samatar said.
Before 1960, Somalia was divided by colonial powers the British controlled the northern protectorate of Somaliland, while the Italians were in charge of what is now the Federal Republic of Somalia. In June 1960, Somaliland gained independence from Britain, and five days later, the two former colonies united as the United Republic of Somalia. This arrangement lasted until civil war broke out in 1988.
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US Senate OKs 9/11 Lawsuits Against Saudi Arabia
by Ken Bredemeier May 17, 2016
The U.S. Senate approved legislation Tuesday that would allow the survivors and relatives of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States to sue Saudi Arabia's government for damages.
Riyadh has denied any involvement in the attacks, the worst terrorism ever in the U.S., but 15 of the 19 airline hijackers who commandeered four passenger jets to carry out assaults in New York and Washington were later identified as Saudis.
The legislation, approved on a voice vote, would give victims' families the right to sue Saudi Arabia for damages for any role it played in the attack. Saudi Arabia, in return, has threatened to pull billions of dollars from the U.S. economy if the measure becomes law.
The legislation still must approved by the House of Representatives, and then signed by President Barack Obama.
The president has threatened to veto the measure if it clears the House, saying it would expose Americans overseas to legal risks.
After Senate passage of the legislation, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, "Given the concerns that we have expressed, it's difficult to imagine the president signing this legislation."
The measure is winding through Congress as Obama considers whether to make public 28 pages of classified material, contained in the official government investigation report of the attack, that touches on possible Saudi involvement.
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PLA simulates beach landings in southeast coast
People's Daily Online
(Global Times) 09:12, May 18, 2016
China conducted military drills in waters off its southeast coast to further improve mobile combat capabilities, media reported on Tuesday.
The drills involving the 31st Group Army simulated beach landings, Chen Xiaoming, a regiment commander, told the PLA Daily, the official newspaper of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
The 31st Group Army is based in Xiamen, Southeast China's Fujian Province.
"We are exploring new modes of landing operations and new tactics to improve our combat capabilities," Chen told js7tv.cn, a website affiliated with the PLA, in an interview broadcast on Monday.
The combined battalion consisted of infantry, armored forces, artillery, and special-operation forces, which are linked by integrated command information system, the PLA Daily quoted an official with the 31st Group Army as saying on Tuesday.
Ground, sea and air forces joined the drills, the report added.
The official added that the combined battalion is more adaptive, flexible and better prepared for attacks, and is one of the army's basic combat groups.
This is not the first time the 31st Group Army has conducted drills in the area. China Central Television reported in January that the army also conducted landing exercises in which long-range rocket launchers, self-propelled howitzers and amphibian carriers were used.
Since 1995, the 31st Group Army participated in several large-scale landing exercises on Dongshan Island in Fujian, news site china.com reported in January.
Routine military drills are conducted around the island, mostly landing exercises, the Beijing Times reported. The largest drills took place in 2001, with over 100,000 troops involved in the 4-month drills.
Large-scale military drills were also held on the island in 2004, media reported.
In February, China unveiled a long-anticipated plan to regroup its seven military area commands into five theater commands, a move that observers said is aimed at improving the PLA's combat capabilities and enhance its response through a joint command system to meet the challenges of a new era.
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India Successfully Tests Nuclear-Capable Prithvi II Missile
Sputnik News
12:48 18.05.2016(updated 13:00 18.05.2016)
India has successfully test-fired its supersonic interceptor missile, the Indian Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
NEW DELHI (Sputnik) India has successfully test-fired the Prithvi II surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missile, the Indian Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
The Indian-developed and manufactured nuclear-capable missile was fired from a test range at Chandipur in the eastern coastal state of Odisha, the ministry said in a statement.
The Prithvi II missile has a strike range of 350 kilometers (217 miles) and is capable of carrying 500 kilograms to 1000 kilograms (1100-2200 pounds) of warheads. It is powered by liquid propulsion twin engines.
The Prithvi II missile was inducted into the Indian army in 2003 and is the first missile to be developed by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) under Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme.
Sputnik
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Iran's Parliament Seeks Compensation From U.S. For 'Moral Damages'
May 17, 2016
by RFE/RL
In an apparent tit-for-tat move, Iran's outgoing parliament has passed a bill that requires the government to seek compensation from the United States for "material and moral damages" due to U.S. policies toward Tehran over the past six decades.
The general outline of the bill was approved May 17 with the backing of 174 lawmakers in the 290-seat parliament. It now needs approval by the Guardiand Council, Iran's top legislative body, to become law.
Iran's hard-line Fars news agency reported that lawmakers chanted "Death to America" after the vote.
"It is necessary for the parliament to take action against the series of U.S. actions to seize Iranian assets," lawmaker Ebrahim Karkhaneyi, one of the bill's sponsors, was quoted as saying by Iranian media.
The bill was adopted less than a month after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Tehran must pay nearly $2 billion in frozen assets to victims and families of those killed in the 1983 bombing of U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut and other terrorist attacks blamed on the Islamic republic.
Tehran has denied any role in the attacks. Iranian authorities have denounced the ruling as "robbery" while vowing legal action to recover the frozen funds.
"The government will never allow for the money that belongs to the Iranian nation to be easily gobbled up by the Americans," President Hassan Rohani said on May 10.
He added that Tehran would take the case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
The U.S. Supreme Court decision and the new Iranian legislation come amid a thaw in relations between Tehran and the West following a July deal with global powers that placed restrictions on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
The Iranian bill seeks damages for the 1953 coup orchestrated by the Central Intelligence Agency that ousted Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh; Iran's 1980-88 war with Iraq, in which Washington provided support to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein; and U.S. backing for Israel's actions against Iran.
It says that Iran should also seek damages from the United States for the death of "17,000 martyrs of terror attacks," espionage against Iran, and the destruction of oil platforms in the Persian Gulf.
During the May 17 parliamentary session, hard-line lawmaker Hamid Rasayi proposed that Iran seize U.S. assets passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
"If the U.S. should seek to misappropriate the Iranian nation's assets, the strait must be turned into an insecure place for them and U.S. vessels banned from passing through it," Rasayi was quoted as saying.
Lawmakers rejected his proposal.
Iran's vice president for parliamentary affairs, Majid Ansari, said Rasayi's proposal ran counter to Iran's national interests and the country's constitution, despite "its revolutionary appearance."
Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/iran-parliament-compensation- from-united-states-moral-damages/27741382.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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Kazakhstan Cracks Down On Activists Ahead Of Land-Law Protests
May 18, 2016
by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service
Kazakh authorities have intensified a crackdown on activists ahead of planned nationwide protests on May 21 against controversial new legislation on the privatization of agricultural land.
Courts handed down short jail sentences to several activists in Astana, Almaty, and other cities, while police searched the homes and offices of government opponents, according to activists and authorities.
Hundreds of people have protested in several cities in recent weeks in a rare display of discontent in the oil-rich Central Asian nation, ruled since the Soviet era by authoritarian President Nursultan Nazarbaev.
The protesters oppose new land privatization laws that will allow foreigners to lease state-owned agricultural plots for up to 25 years.
Activists say they fear land auctions would not be transparent, paving the way for corruption. They have said they plan to hold large demonstrations on May 21 despite the crackdown and Nazarbaev's May 5 order to postpone the implementation of the legislation until 2017.
In the western city of Atyrau, where the first protests took place last month, a court handed down 15-day jail sentences to activists Maks Bokaev and Talgat Ayanov at a hearing that lasted until the early hours of May 18, relatives said.
Tolepkali Ayanov, a defense lawyer who represented his son, Talgat, said the activists were arrested in the morning the day before.
He said that the two men were accused of planning unsanctioned public rallies, and that their social media posts were used as evidence against them.
"Bokaev stated on Facebook that he will join the rally," Tolepkali Ayanov said. "Talgat Ayanov said on Facebook that everyone has the right to organize a rally."
Several Activists Detained
Similar charges were brought against several activists in Almaty, where at least five people were sentenced to 15 days in custody in separate trials late on May 17 as well as on May 18.
Almaty city court officials confirmed the sentences but provided no details.
Bakhytzhan Toregozhina, the leader of the nongovernmental organization Ar.Rukh.Khaq (Dignity, Spirit, Truth), was among those jailed in Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city.
Shortly before the hearing, Toregozhina told RFE/RL's Kazakh Service by telephone that she was in a police vehicle, being taken to court along with several other activists. She said the activists were not given access to defense lawyer.
In the city of Oral, activist Zhanat Esentaev was jailed on May 17 and was being kept in three-day pretrial custody, his lawyer said.
Esentaev is being accused of inciting social and religious discord, the lawyer told RFE/RL.
Activists said police searched the homes of Esentaev and another local campaigner, Isatay Utepov, as well as the office of Abyroy, an NGO.
Hearings continued in Oral on May 18, with Bauyrzhan Alipkaliev and Aibolat Bukenov sentenced to 15 days in custody each.
Both men were accused of organizing illegal protests, a charge that stemmed from their recent social-media posts about the planned May 21 protests.
Oral city authorities recently rejected a request by activists for permission to hold a rally against the land-reform legislation on May 21.
In the capital, Astana, meanwhile, activist Maksat Ilyasuly was sentenced to 10 days in custody late on May 17, his wife told RFE/RL.
Ilyasuly had recently quit a commission authorities set up to review the land-reform plans.
The government established the commission and invited some opposition figures to join it after Nazarbaev postponed implementation of the legislation until 2017 both apparent attempts to appease its opponents and avert further protests.
The wave of protests began when at least 1,000 people rallied in Atyrau on April 23, and soon spread to other cities.
Nazarbaev's government has used a combination of force and restrictive legislation to discourage protests, which have not been frequent in post-Soviet Kazakhstan.
They became rarer after police fatally shot at least 16 people during protests by oil workers and their supporters in the southwestern city of Zhanaozen and the nearby town of Shetpe in December 2011.
Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/kazakhstan-crackdown- activist-land-reform-protests/27743010.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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Friend or Foe? Doubts Plague US Military in Libya Training
by Carla Babb May 18, 2016
The U.S. military is "prepared to support" a train-and-equip mission to fight the thousands of Islamic State militants in Libya when the Libyan government is ready for it, the head of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) said Tuesday.
AFRICOM commander General David Rodriguez added that Libya's internal politics have made it unclear which armed groups are fighting alongside the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), leaving the U.S. "really dependent" on the Libyan interim government to determine "who is with them and who is moving over to them."
Militias will likely be key to stopping the spread of Islamic State once friendly forces are identified and aided he said, but, "We're not at that point yet."
Libya is under a U.N. arms embargo, imposed to keep lethal weapons away from terrorists and militias vying for power.
However, a joint communique issued after international talks Monday in Vienna signaled that international powers, including the U.S., are set to provide arms and support to the Libyan government to fight Islamic State.
"The thing that they need most is really ammunition and small arms," Rodriguez said. "It's not fighter aircraft and that kind of stuff."
Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters Tuesday at the Pentagon that there were small teams of U.S. forces on the ground in Libya to get a "better sense of the players" and to more accurately understand the Islamic State group's presence and strength level.
Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow on defense strategy at the Brookings Institution, said the 20 to 25 U.S. forces now in Libya, along with other NATO allies on the ground there, should "get serious" about a training mission for a Libyan military or integrated paramilitary.
"I'm interested in asking if 1,000 to 2,000 Americans at the right time could make a big difference," he told VOA.
US military locations
The U.S. military has looked at 11 locations for small "cooperative security locations" to help African nations fight extremist groups and other security threats, according to AFRICOM spokesman Colonel Mark Cheadle.
In response to a VOA question about military base locations in Africa, Cheadle had initially said the U.S. was looking at 11 locations for a second base, but later told VOA he misunderstood the question.
The United States currently has one military base in the east African nation of Djibouti. U.S. forces are also on the ground in Somalia to assist the regional fight against al-Shabab and in Cameroon to help with the multinational effort against Nigeria-based Boko Haram.
One of the possible new cooperative security locations is in Cameroon, but Cheadle did not identify other locations due to "host nation sensitivities."
The military is not looking at a cooperative security location in Nigeria, he said, despite increased cooperation between the U.S. and Nigerian militaries.
AFRICOM commander General David Rodriguez told reporters in Brussels that the U.S. military has trained members of Nigeria's intelligence corps as well as three Nigerian battalions, including one that "just recently" graduated.
"Boko Haram is the biggest killer of people across the world," the general said.
Rodriguez also said the AFRICOM headquarters, located in Stuttgart, Germany, will stay in Europe for the foreseeable future.
The command's stated mission is to advance U.S. interests and promote security and stability in Africa.
VOA's Dan Joseph contributed to this report.
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US Sanctions on Myanmar 'Will Not Hurt,' says Aung San Suu Kyi
by Wayne Lee May 18, 2016
The Obama administration's decision to continue certain sanctions on Myanmar will not harm the Southeast Asian country, according to Myanmar State Counselor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi.
On Tuesday, the Obama administration further eased financial sanctions on Myanmar to support the nation's political reforms and economic growth, and to facilitate U.S. trade with the country, also known as Burma.
But the U.S. also extended other sanctions in an effort to thwart human rights abuses and military trade with North Korea.
In her first public remarks on the extension of some sanctions, Aung San Suu Kyi told a Wednesday news conference in Myanmar they are "not a big problem and will not hurt us in any way. We have the strength and the means to overcome any obstacles that may be imposed," reported Channel NewsAsia.
Aung San Suu Kyi added that the U.S. is a "good friend" and will remain as such with Myanmar.
Senior U.S. officials announced the decisions Tuesday, days ahead of Secretary of State John Kerry's May 22 visit to Naypyidaw.
Seven state-owned Myanmar enterprises and three state-owned banks are being removed from the blacklist, according to amendments by the Treasury Department in consultation with the State Department.
Other regulatory amendments include general license to authorize trade-related transactions and personal transactions related to Americans residing in Myanmar. Those changes are intended to facilitate trade and the movement of goods within Myanmar.
The U.S. left in place, though, sanctions on Myanmar's powerful military, because of its major economic interests.
Barred businesses
It updated the so-called Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list, to add six companies to be barred from U.S. business dealings. The businesses are owned 50 percent or more by Steven Law, a tycoon accused of ties to the military and the heroin trade through a corporation called Asia World.
The remaining sanctions on individuals and entities primarily target those who obstruct political reforms, commit human rights abuses in Myanmar, or propagate military trade with North Korea.
Former U.S. Chief of Mission in Myanmar Priscilla Clapp told VOA that while Washington is restructuring the remaining financial sanctions, individuals and entities should be targeted to promote better behavior.
Among seven state-owned enterprises removed from the blacklist are Myanmar Pearl Enterprise and Myanmar Gem Enterprise. But senior U.S. officials said a ban on the import of jadeite and rubies, one of Myanmar's most profitable industries, remains in place.
The latest U.S. actions follow a landmark November election in which the party of long-time democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, won a one-sided victory, ending decades of military rule.
In a message to the U.S. Congress, President Barack Obama said Myanmar has made significant reforms since 2011 when it first formed a civilian government. He also said "concerns persist regarding continued obstacles to full civilian control of the government, the ongoing conflict and human rights abuses in the country, particularly in ethnic minority areas, and military trade with North Korea."
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Russia Open for 'Added Value' Dialogue With NATO
Sputnik News
19:58 18.05.2016(updated 20:23 18.05.2016)
Moscow is open for dialogue with the Northern Alliance, including in the Russia-NATO Council format, but the discussions should bring "added value" to bilateral relations, Russia's envoy to NATO Alexander Grushko said Wednesday.
BRUSSELS (Sputnik) NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said earlier on Wednesday that the Alliance combines deterrence with dialogue in its approach to Russia.
"Russia is open for dialogueCertainly, the meetings of the Russia-NATO Council should bring added value, taking into account that we had a comprehensive exchange of views on key issues and security threats during the latest meeting on April 20," Grushko told Russian reporters in Brussels.
"Unfortunately, the growing rhetoric about the need to increase NATO military presence in the eastern part of the alliance in order to deter Russia hampers the creation of favorable atmosphere for serious dialogue. Let's see what decisions will be made at NATO foreign ministers' meeting," Grushko stressed.
Foreign ministers of the 28-member military bloc will meet in Brussels on May 19-20.
Sputnik
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Joint Press Availability With Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura
Press Availability
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Vienna, Austria
May 17, 2016
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good afternoon, everybody, and let me begin by thanking the Government of Austria again. They have very generously facilitated this latest meeting of the International Syria Support Group and they've facilitated two rounds before this.
I want to express my appreciation to the co-chair of the task force, Sergey Lavrov, and to Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura. They have both been obviously integrally involved in every aspect of this and they are partners in the effort to try to make the International Syria Support Group have impact.
The broad range of countries represented and by the way, it has grown since the last meeting, there were additional countries here Japan, Australia and France and Canada excuse me, and Spain and Canada it underscores the scope of those countries that have a stake in this, those countries that are engaged in helping the fight against Daesh as well as those countries that understand the importance of bringing an end to the conflict in Syria.
And in order to do that, a variety of competing interests are going to have to be reconciled, and those involved in this conflict with competing agendas are going to have to be willing to prioritize peace. So we've already shown that it's possible to get all of the major international partners to agree on a set of common objectives. In fact, all of the international parties some that are not partners have agreed on the objectives. And it's possible, we've proven, to reduce the level of violence. It is possible to expand humanitarian assistance. And it's possible to design a framework and set a timeline for the kind of viable and inclusive negotiating process that we need in order to bring about a political transition and to put an end to this terrible conflict.
Now, let me underscore to everybody, all of the parties some through their representatives, like the regime but all of the parties, most importantly Russia, Iran, that have been supportive of Assad and key countries in the region who have been opposed to him, have agreed on a basic framework, which is a united Syria, nonsectarian, that is able to choose its future through a transitional governing body which is, in effect, the implementation of the Geneva process.
The challenge that we face now is to transform these possibilities into a reality of an agreement at some point. And because of the gains that we've made in recent months, yet because of their fragility and we acknowledge they're fragile and increasingly threatened by irresponsible and dangerous actions taken by those who would rather have this effort fail, who want to create problems, because rather than solutions, they seek a different outcome. And there are, frankly, actors on both sides who we think make that choice. And the stakes are too high and this conflict has gone on too long in order to succumb and in order to allow all of those nations at that table to be sucked down into a veto of one or two individual actors who want a different outcome. So we can't give vetoes to bad actors or avoid consequences for any side's actions who have an agenda that is different from that of reaching an agreement and trying to make peace.
So today, we believe we moved the ball forward in some ways, and I'll say specifically.
First, we pledged our support for transforming the cessation of hostilities into a comprehensive ceasefire. And we committed to use our influence to use the parties to the cessation in order to ensure compliance.
Second, we agreed that if a party to the cessation of hostilities engages in a pattern of persistent noncompliance, the task force can refer that behavior to the ISSG ministers or those designated by the ministers to determine appropriate action, including the exclusion of such parties from the arrangements of the cessation. Interpreted directly, that means that if they continue to do it and they're pretending to be part of the cessation and they're not, they could be subject to no longer being part of the cessation immediately. In addition to that, we underscored the failure of the cessation of hostilities or granting access to the delivery of humanitarian relief that we've already seen in some instances. And if that continues, that will increase international pressure and potentially other actions on those who do not live up to those commitments.
Third, we will intensify efforts to get the parties to stop all indiscriminate use of force. We welcome Russia's commitment to work with the Syrian authorities to halt aerial bombardments over areas predominantly inhabited by civilians or parties to the cessation, and the U.S. commitment to intensify support for regional partners to help prevent the flow of foreign fighters, weapons, and financial support to terrorist organizations.
Fourth, we call on all parties to the cessation of hostilities to disassociate themselves physically and politically from Daesh and al-Nusrah and to endorse the intensified efforts by the United States and Russia to develop shared understandings of the threat posed and the delineation of the territory that is controlled by Daesh and al-Nusrah and to consider ways to deal decisively with terrorist groups.
Fifth, we agree that the delivery of humanitarian assistance must begin or resume depending on the case in Douma, East Harasta, Arbeen, Zamalka, Darraya, Fouah, Kefraya, Madaya, Zabadin, Muadhamiya, Yarmouk, Zabadani, and Kafr Batna. And these deliveries will continue as long as the need persists. And starting on June 1st, if the UN is denied humanitarian access to any of these designated areas, the ISSG calls on the World Food Program to immediately carry out a program for air bridges and air drops for all of those areas in need. And the ISSG pledges to support such a program and also calls on all parties to provide a secure environment for that program. The World Food Program will, of course, determine where it is operationally feasible to conduct this program. And the World Food Program will accelerate air drops in Deir al-Zour, where it has already provided some 460 metric tons of food to more than 100,000 people. Aid to these areas must be a step towards a full, sustained, and unimpeded access throughout the country. And the UN will report weekly on aid deliveries to members of the support group to these members so that members of the support group can allow the parties to have access without delay or denial. And if problems arise, the humanitarian task force, under the ISSG, will work to resolve them.
Sixth, Special Envoy de Mistura will facilitate agreements between the Syrian parties for the release of detainees. And we call on any party holding detainees to protect the health and safety of those in their custody.
Finally, we underscored the need for substantive discussions on the objective of meeting the target date established by the UN Secretary by the UN Council Resolution 2254 of August 1st to reach agreement on a framework for a genuine political transition to a transitional governing body. Those talks should address the structure, membership, operational rules, and the roles and responsibilities of a broad, inclusive, nonsectarian transitional governing body with full executive powers, and we agreed to work on that. Now, the August date is not a drop date; it's a target date and we all recognize that if we're making significant progress and we're moving, we will respect that process.
So, folks, obviously, there's nothing self-executing about the list I just shared with you. None of us no one can be remotely satisfied with the situation in Syria. It's deeply disturbing and we are all concerned about the levels of violence that broke out in recent days challenging the cessation. Russia has worked closely with the United States to upgrade our ability, which now has a 24-hour basis in Geneva with high-level people working consistently, but even then, it's difficult. And in the end, in order to make all of this more than words on a page, some very clear and determined actions are going to be needed in order to implement the steps that we just set out today. And we talked considerably about how that can happen and perhaps even what kind of enforcement mechanisms could be developed in order to achieve this full ceasefire that we are seeking.
So with that, let me turn to Foreign Minister Lavrov and then to Staffan.
FOREIGN MINISTER LAVROV: (Via interpreter) Thank you, John, dear ladies and gentlemen, I share your assessments voiced. After our today's meeting, John substantially explained what we achieved as the main result. I think it's confirming without exceptions the fundament of our work that is a joint statement of the ISSG members and the UN Security Council Resolution 2215, 54, 2218, 2262. Today's document confirmed that all the arrangements that they had are relevant and our collective position is relevant because it is comprehensive and embraces all the aspects of our work first of all, cessation of hostilities aiming at a full ceasefire nationwide; second, widen humanitarian access; and of course, political process.
I would like to note that all three aspects see movement forward and violence has decreased since February when cessation of hostilities was declared. Humanitarian access has improved. Also, we have to do better there in term framework of the legal process. We had another round of Geneva talks chaired by Mr. Staffan de Mistura and his team. And so after this round, we have some results to organize next meeting, which must push for Syrian parties to cooperate efficiently with the United Nations.
At the same time, it is very important that our joint position in the UN Security Council supposes an inclusive charter of the Syrian talks and we don't have to exclude any parties, including Kurdish parties. We think it is something that we mustn't do, and we mustn't hinder including their party and to give them access to talks in Geneva.
Today's document, today's communique, has fixed all the previous agreements and added new steps, voiced now by John. Most of these steps have the basis of Russian-American agreements. In early March, we adopted a document. We have procedures that we have to take in case of ceasefire violations and another statement by Russians and Americans, adopted on May 9th, what to do in case of these violations.
As John said, we work on a daily basis. We have a joint center in Geneva, created thanks to cooperation of our UN colleagues. And we work 24 by 7. Besides that, those military commanders that lead Russian military operation, what is requested by Russian Syrian Government and our center in Amman, hold video conferences on a daily basis and examine all the cases of ceasefire violations and prepare coordinated joint steps to prevent all the issues that appear on the field.
Something that John mentioned now, that Russia and the United States, as co-chairs of the ISSG, is to contrast that our daily contact on all aspects of the Syrian settlement bear special responsibility. And all the decisions taken in the UN Security Council must be fulfilled and to reassume the commitment in statement as of 9th of May. And the Syrian Government must observe the implementation of this (inaudible). And the United States must work closely with the opposition, with regional actors, and to with the ongoing flows of militants from outside the Syrian border.
I would like to say separately about what is most relevant now, because what is behind our efforts is a joint concern about increasing terrorism in the region and in Syria in particular. And we have the problem of Jabhat al-Nusrah. It is changing; it makes alliances with some groups that accede to cessation of hostilities, but when it is comfortable to them, they pull out of these arrangements and then go back. And we hope that the commitments by the United States and other countries concerning the need to achieve so that no extremist (inaudible) from the normal position so that this commitments be fulfilled and the countries that still give support to Jabhat al-Nusrah so that they don't have pretext to bomb their positions.
Besides that, I think that any other issues we have movement forward. As John said, it was fixed on paper, and our joint aim is to fulfill it in concrete particular actions on the ground. Thank you.
MR DE MISTURA: Just to add to what you just heard, you probably would want to know where are we on the next intra-Syrian talks. And the issue is still waiting for some type of concrete outcome of this meeting. But we cannot wait too long. We want to keep the momentum. The exact date, I'm not at the moment revealing it, because it will depend also on other facts.
What we mean by that? Well, we mean that, of course, we're having Ramadan starting soon, so we need to keep that in perspective. And we need to bear in mind that credible intra-Syrian talks will become credible when, as we heard, there is a credible development on the cessation of hostilities and a credible implement on the humanitarian side.
So on all three elements, we had a discussion, and in my opinion, a useful for me discussion and for the UN mandate.
On the humanitarian on the cessation of hostilities side, you heard it. The main real difference is that what we used to have at 80 percent has gone down to 50. But we need to bring it back, and there's been a strong effort in a common line on that. And the main new element, apart from the willingness to address it, is the upgrading in Geneva of this operational center between Russian and American military and civilians. That's been extremely useful, and we will test it now.
The second element is humanitarian aid. And on the humanitarian aid, we are still not reaching those we want to reach. You heard it. Out of 18 besieged locations and by the way, besieged areas is the closest to a medieval type of siege that we're seeing in recent history only, and perhaps not only, but 12 of them have been reached. So the concept and the idea have been approved that if we cannot reach them by land, as we have been doing together with the World Food Program Deir al-Zour successfully, having a joint operation with the Russian Federation, U.S., and other countries in dropping aid to 110,000 people, we need to start working hard in order to be able to look at the option within security limits. But that's why we all have to work hard to actually do the same everywhere else where we cannot get by land unless we are allowed to go by land. That goes from Dariya which has been so close to Damascus that there is no reason to stop baby food, to Kefraya and Foah, to every other location. That is, I think, another thing, and a new element which came out from this meeting. We would have never talked about it just a month ago.
Next point, and last, detainees and abductees. Because there are people who have been abducted by the opposition and detainees which are being taken in large number by the government. We need, and we will be addressing that topic, because the families are asking for it, and the ISSG did take note of that with serious concern. So that's the next challenge. And thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, Staffan. Thank you very much for everything you're doing.
So I think we'll open (inaudible). You're running it?
MR TONER: First question is David Sanger of The New York Times.
QUESTION: Thank you very much. Thanks for doing this. Secretary Kerry, one of the reasons that you were successful in the Iran negotiations here in Vienna a year ago was you had leverage; you had the combination of sanctions and sabotage to convince the Iranians it was necessary to make a deal. In the Syrian case, however, as you've often heard, it appears you have less leverage over President Assad now than you did when the Vienna agreement was reached at the end of October. If anything, thanks to the intervention of Mr. Lavrov's government, Mr. Assad seems to feel now more secure than he did eight months ago. And as you've described, the ceasefire has collapsed in part, you're not getting the aid in that you need, and there's no indication that there is any reason for Mr. Assad to start talking about a transition. So can you tell us what additional leverage you would need against Mr. Assad, especially now that he appears convinced that there really isn't a plan B out there that the White House is going to implement?
And Mr. Lavrov, speaking of leverage, do you believe Mr. Assad is now ignoring or resisting pressure from your government to abide by the ceasefire and allowing the humanitarian aid?
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, thank you, David. You're correct that leverage is important in any negotiation. But you're incorrect in your supposition, I think, that there isn't leverage in this situation. And I would disagree with you I mean, if President Assad has come if you know that he's come to a conclusion there's no Plan B, then he's come to a conclusion that is totally without any foundation whatsoever and even dangerous. Dangerous.
There is leverage in the fact that this war will not end for him or for his people without a political settlement. Everybody understands that. That is why the International Syria Support Group came together in the first place. That is why we have the cessation of hostilities we have today, and some delivery of humanitarian assistance, not as good as we want, correct, but it's there because we have some leverage.
Standing to my right is leverage Russia. Iran. Others in the community, in the region who have relationships. But in the end, Russia has made it very clear to us at least that President Assad has made a series of commitments to them, that he's prepared to engage seriously in Geneva, in the transitional negotiation of the Geneva process, that he is prepared to have constitutional reform, prepared to have election those are three major commitments. And we have yet to see President Assad live up to commitment number one, which is negotiate in good faith on the transition.
So if I were Assad, I'd be thinking hard about the possibilities of leverage out there. I also think he should never make a miscalculation about President Obama's determination to do what is right at any given moment of time, where he believes that he has to make that decision. And the fact is that President Assad has flagrantly violated Resolution 2254. There's no exemption in that resolution. Resolution 2254 calls for a broad-based ceasefire and it calls for a broad-based delivery of humanitarian goods not to one place or two places or 10 places, but throughout the country. And the ceasefire the UN has called for, unanimously passing, is throughout the country. Assad doesn't have a pass to go attack Aleppo and to attack in Latakia and to cut sweetheart deals with ISIL for oil and other things like that.
So I would say to him that I think the United States of America always has leverage, and all of the options are available to any president of the United States. But in the immediacy of this moment, it is clear that we have come here because the greatest leverage of all is the fact that Assad and his supporters will never end the war, will never be safe as long as they continue to prosecute this war and not negotiate a political settlement. There is no way to end this without a political solution. And the reason that Foreign Minister Lavrov and I and Russia and the United States, our countries, are working together is because we long ago came to understand the futility and stupidity of an escalated process that could destroy Syria altogether and create even greater problems throughout the region as well as elsewhere in Europe and elsewhere with more migrants and that this instability, which attracts more and more jihadis to Syria, is not good for anybody. That's leverage, and I think President Assad needs to take stock of reality and understand that.
FOREIGN MINISTER LAVROV: (Via interpreter) In principle, if on the leverage you meant sanctions, then I'm concerned a little bit. Because last time we see, in case of our American partners and the European Union, a temptation if you fail in something, you turn to sanctions. Concerning the Assad regime, Europe and the United States and other countries applied unilateral sanctions, which aggravates already complicated humanitarian situation, and we must not remember that besides refugees, there are almost 6 million internally displaced persons, and these aspects is something that we'll bear in mind. And sanctions as a leverage for political purposes do harm for the humanitarian situation, and unilateral sanctions in a case when you fail in something and in exchange instead of political dialogue leads to something that we see in Iraq and Libya and it impedes national reconciliation in a situation of internal conflict.
In his first words, John said that Russia and Iran will support Assad. We don't support Assad. We support fight against terrorism. Today on the ground we don't see any more real and efficient force than the Syrian army, given all its weaknesses, and this armed formation that we launched dialogue with at our base in Khmeimim, several attachments of position, signed up to the ceasefire. And we are going to continue this work, but we don't protect somebody personally. We protect, we defend a state a UN member-state at the request of the government of this sovereign state whose sovereignty and political independence we have to protect, as it comes from the UN Security Council resolution.
Another aspect that we must keep present in mind we must choose our priorities. Today we heard from many ISSG members that you have to choose whether you support the fight against terrorism over the use of (inaudible). I think it is wrong, because somebody says, "If Assad goes, everything will be all right and we will come," but al-Nusrah and Daesh and other external groups (inaudible). UN Security Council adopted resolutions that terrorism (inaudible) cannot be justified by anything; any terror act can be justified by anything. And in this aspect or we force the Assad out or we don't fight terrorism contradicts this universal principle.
At today's meeting when we put this issue why can't we separate normal position from Jabhat al-Nusrah so that we don't have a pretext to request to fight al-Nusrah, somebody said that now we will combat al-Nusrah, and who will take the land that we will free? It is a Freudian slip, but it shows that somebody is thinking in the categories of categories that contradict the UN Security Council principles until somebody sees al-Nusrah as a good force. It is something that we have to discuss with our colleagues in ISSG.
And concerning leverages, you can use leverages against one country, as you request Russia. The other side also needs to be influenced. John said today that we need to get financial and terrorist flows stopped from outside Syria because they nutrition the conflict. We see supplies of tanks to Syria and when suicide bombers used tanks for terror acts, it is something new in this crisis.
I will reiterate: Those who say until Assad goes we won't stop this type of support, I think it is wrong that and our priority is fight against terrorism. More than once we talked about it with our Western colleagues. We talk about it sincerely. And everybody said everybody acknowledged that Assad's regime is a lesser evil for them if we compare it with an increasing chaos if there is no political process. We are trying to establish a political process, and those who support regime change and work with this (inaudible) opposition is wrong.
Our priority is anti-terror struggle and but we understand that we have to move forward in all aspects, expanding humanitarian access and cessation of hostilities and (inaudible), also ceasefire and the political process of this aspect must we have to seek a compromise and we don't have to we must not break the political institutions until we have an ISSG decision on this topic.
And whether Assad ignores our work with him, our advice no, he doesn't ignore it. He knows well and he remembers that he assumed a commitment to fulfill those order of actions explained in Resolution 2254 from a transition joint mechanism between the government and (inaudible) opposition in the framework of this mechanism, forge a new constitution, and on that basis hold parliamentary elections. All that must take up to 18 months. And these agreements were confirmed by President Assad with the Russian president.
MR TONER: Second question goes to Darya Grigorova of Rossiya TV.
QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Good morning. (Inaudible) said about it already the control on the border. How will Syrian-Turkish border be controlled if you speak about terrorist movements there?
FOREIGN MINISTER LAVROV: (Via interpreter) We have been speaking about that since a long time ago. The main channel for supplying extremists and those who take a moderate position there is a swath of border, something more than 19 90 kilometers controlled to on the Syrian territory by the ISIL and on the Turkish side by the Turks. And there are two enclaves of Kurds, and from time to time, Turkey says that if the Kurds push the ISIL out from this border zone, it will not put up with that because it is not acceptable for them.
In any case, somebody must combat ISIL on that border area because it is fragile. The contraband flow now it has decreased and there was a flow of supplies, of weapons to the extremists and to flows of militants, and everybody acknowledges that this is not acceptable. But there are a lot of facts showing that there is a big network created on the Turkish side to continue these supplies, to camouflage it. And some time ago we circulated in the UN Security Council an open document where we gathered facts showing this (inaudible) activity. Our colleagues said that it is not true, and today they said that they deny everything that was written in that document. But there we have names of organizations, of population points, and other facts. So I think instead of denying it ungroundedly, they would have to explain what is not true and ask us for help if they can do it for themselves.
Our main goal is to settle the problem of the Syrian conflict peacefully, and everything we do is aimed at this point.
MR TONER: That concludes the press conference. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, folks.
FOREIGN MINISTER LAVROV: (Via interpreter) Thank you.
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Syrian forces hit militants hard in Dayr al-Zawr, Dara'a, Homs
Iran Press TV
Wed May 18, 2016 5:12PM
Syrian army troops have conducted military operations against foreign-backed Takfiri militants in several areas across the Arab country, inflicting further losses on them.
Syria's official news agency, SANA, said the army clashed with Daesh terrorists in the al-Panorama area in Dayr al-Zawr Province on Wednesday, and killed at least 20 militants.
An unspecified number of Daesh terrorists were also killed in a military operation against their concentration centers in al-Tharda Mountain and al-Mayadeen road in the same province.
Earlier on Tuesday, Syrian warplanes targeted Daesh positions in the neighborhood of al-Sona' and to the west of Dayr al-Zawr airport, killing a number of Takfiri militants and destroying their military equipment.
Meanwhile, the Syrian forces attacked gathering centers of terrorists from Daesh and al-Nusra Front in Dara'a Province as well as the northeastern countryside of Suwayda Province, leaving a number of Takfiri militants dead.
Separately, Daesh positions near the oil fields of Jazal and Shaer in the eastern countryside of Homs were targeted by Syrian troops. A number of militants were killed in the operation.
Syrian army forces retook control of the hill of Sawan to the west of Shaer oil field on Tuesday, a day after they purged Zamlet al-Mohr hill of the terrorists.
Meanwhile, 12 militants from the so-called Free Syrian Army were killed in a Daesh car bomb blast in the southeastern countryside of Homs, Lebanon's al-Ahed news website reported.
Syria has been gripped by a militancy it blames on some foreign governments.
UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which has also displaced over half of the Arab country's pre-war population of about 23 million.
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In Kerry's Footsteps: What Saudi 'Plan B' Actually Means for Syria and Iran
Sputnik News
20:17 18.05.2016
Saudi Arabia has signaled it is ready to implement the much-talked-about 'Plan B' in Syria. What does Riyadh actually mean?
Following the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) meeting in Vienna Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister told journalists that it is time to shift the focus to the so-called 'Plan B' in Syria.
"We believe we should have moved to a 'Plan B' a long time ago," Adel al-Jubeir told reporters, as quoted by Reuters.
"The choice about moving to an alternative plan, the choice about intensifying the military support (to the opposition) is entirely with the Bashar [Bashar al-Assad] regime. If they do not respond to the treaties of the international communitythen we will have to see what else can be done," he stressed.
What lies behind al-Jubeir's statement?
Saudi Arabia has long been calling for toppling the legitimate and democratically-elected Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad. It is no secret that the Gulf kingdom has poured millions of US dollars into anti-Assad Islamist radical groups.
The Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee (HNC) includes such Syrian "opposition groups" as Ahrar ash-Sham and Jaish al-Islam groups which differ from Daesh and the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front in name only.
In April, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov underscored that Ahrar ash-Sham and Jaish al-Islam shared the same ideology as Daesh, which is outlawed in Russia, the United States and many other countries.
However, the West still hesitates to recognize the brutal extremist groups as terrorists.
The possibility of Plan B's implementation was voiced by US Secretary of State John Kerry immediately after the US and Russia announced an agreement on cessation of hostilities in Syria.
"There is a significant discussion taking place now about a Plan B in the event that we do not succeed at the [negotiating] table," Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on February 23, 2016.
The plan envisages the partition of Syria and empowering the country's "moderate opposition." It should be noted that Washington is well aware that the so-called moderates have no scruples about intermingling with al-Nusra Front terrorists from time to time.
As for Riyadh, it has repeatedly pledged its willingness to deploy Saudi boots on Syrian ground. In the eyes of Saudi Arabia, 'Plan B' will allow Riyadh to ultimately get rid of Bashar al-Assad, paving the way for undermining the Middle Eastern Shiite Crescent and "encircling" of Iran.
Actually, the roots of the US-Saudi 'Plan B' originated in the times of George W. Bush. After Iraq had been occupied by the US, Saudi Arabia urged Washington to shift its attention toward Iran and Syria, parts of the so-called Shiite Crescent in the Middle East.
"In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January [2007], Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that there is 'a new strategic alignment in the Middle East,' separating 'reformers' and 'extremists'; she pointed to the Sunni states as centers of moderation, and said that Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah were 'on the other side of that divide.' (Syria's Sunni majority is dominated by the Alawi sect.) Iran and Syria, she said, 'have made their choice and their choice is to destabilize'," Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh wrote in his 2007 article "The Redirection" for The New Yorker.
According to Kerry and al-Jubeir, Plan B would be implemented should the ceasefire in Syria collapse. As of yet the truce is holding despite numerous violations.
The recent 17-nation ISSG talks were devoted to discussing the stalled negotiations, suspended after the Saudi-backed opposition faction, the HNC, unilaterally withdrew from negotiations, demanding serious concessions from the Syrian government.
It seems that neither HNC, the Riyadh-sponsored "opposition" group, nor its Saudi masters are interested in further diplomatic efforts.
Sputnik
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Members of the Dan River Region Association of Realtors recently traveled to the state capital to meet with local legislators and discuss issues that impact Danville and Pittsylvania County specifically, as well as housing and homeownership in general.
During the General Assembly session each year, Realtors from across Virginia convene in Richmond to represent property rights and housing opportunity for their clients and neighbors, and to represent the business interests of real estate professionals.
DRRARs advocacy has been especially distinguished this year. Earning national recognition from its parent association, the National Association of Realtors, DRRAR advocacy was strengthened by the fact that every member of their association contributed to the Political Action Committee of 1,400 associations nationwide, fewer than 30 achieved that success.
This years priorities included a consumer protection initiative to license home inspectors and an amendment to the Property Owners Association law that ensures owners are not overly restricted in their rights to rent out their property. Other initiatives include a measure for real estate brokers to deal with earnest money deposits held in escrow and a revision of the agency law to clarify distinctions in what applies to residential transactions and commercial transactions.
According to DRRAR President Julie Hughes, the contribution of every member to priorities for the industry and clients has significantly strengthened conversations with officials about advancing the shared interests of the local community.
Having the opportunity to speak directly with our elected officials on what concerns our area is a powerful experience, she said. It was especially powerful this year to share that every single one of us, as constituents and business people, are vested in the priorities that we came to discuss.
I appreciate the Realtors coming to visit during legislative session, said Delegate Danny Marshall. They represent an important business segment of our community and our economy. Realtors always bring excellent information. I still believe the American Dream is home ownership. I always vote to support home ownership.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - May 17, 2016) - UEX Corp. (TSX:UEX) ("UEX" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has closed its previously announced flow-through common share offering and overallotment option (the "Flow-Through Offering") with Primary Capital Inc. ("Primary") for 21,000,000 common shares of the Company, which qualify as "flow-through" shares pursuant to the Income Tax Act (Canada) at a price of $0.25 per flow-through share. The Company has also closed its additional private placement with Primary and Clarus Securities Inc. (the "Agents") for 9,523,810 units of the Company at a price of $0.21 per unit (the "Hard Dollar Offering"). Each unit consists of one common share of the Company and one-half common share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant gives the holder the right to purchase a common share of the Company at a price of $0.30 for a period of two years from the closing of the Hard Dollar Offering. The aggregate gross proceeds of the Flow-Through Offering and the Hard Dollar Offering totalled $7.25 million.
The Agents received a cash commission on the sale of the Flow-Through Offering and Hard Dollar Offering equal to 5% of the gross proceeds raised.
UEX intends to use the proceeds of the Flow-Through Offering to fund exploration of the Company's uranium properties and proceeds from the Hard Dollar Offering are to be put towards general working capital.
The securities issued by UEX in connection with the Flow-Through Offering and Hard Dollar Offering are subject to a four month plus one day "hold period" as prescribed by the Toronto Stock Exchange and applicable securities laws.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of UEX
Roger Lemaitre, President & CEO
Forward-Looking Information
This news release may contain statements that constitute "forward-looking information" for the purposes of Canadian securities laws. Such statements are based on UEX's current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections. Such forward-looking information includes statements regarding the use of the proceeds from the Flow-Through Offering and the Hard Dollar Offering, UEX's mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates, outlook for our future operations, plans and timing for exploration activities, and other expectations, intentions and plans that are not historical fact. The words "estimates", "projects", "expects", "intends", "believes", "plans", "will", "may", or their negatives or other comparable words and phrases are intended to identify forward-looking information. Such forward-looking information is based on certain factors and assumptions and is subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from UEX's expectations include conditions relating to general economic and financial markets, uncertainties relating to interpretation of drill results and geology, additional drilling results, continuity and grade of deposits, participation in joint ventures, reliance on other companies as operators, public acceptance of uranium as an energy source, fluctuations in uranium prices and currency exchange rates, changes in environmental and other laws affecting uranium exploration and mining, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in UEX's Annual Information Form and other filings with the applicable Canadian securities commissions on SEDAR. Many of these factors are beyond the control of UEX. Consequently, all forward-looking information contained in this news release is qualified by this cautionary statement and there can be no assurance that actual results or developments anticipated by UEX will be realized. For the reasons set forth above, investors should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking information. Except as required by applicable law, UEX disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - May 17, 2016) -
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES
Alexco Resource Corp. (TSX:AXR)(NYSE MKT:AXU) ("Alexco" or the "Company") announces that it has closed the previously announced non-brokered private placement of units of the Company ("Units") at a price of C$1.20 per Unit (the "Private Placement") pursuant to which the Company issued 10,839,972 Units for aggregate gross proceeds of C$13,007,966.
Each Unit consisted of one common share and one-half of one non-transferable common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"), each Warrant entitling the holder to purchase one additional common share of the Company at a price of C$1.75 until May 17, 2018. If, commencing on September 18, 2016, the closing price of Company's common shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange is higher than C$2.50 for 10 consecutive trading days (the "Trigger Date"), the expiry date of the Warrants may be accelerated to the date that is 10 trading days after the Trigger Date by the issuance of a news release within two trading days of the Trigger Date announcing such acceleration (the "Acceleration Provision").
In connection with the Private Placement, the Company has paid Sprott Private Wealth LP and certain of its affiliates (collectively, "Sprott") a cash commission equal to 5% of the gross proceeds from the sale of 7.51 million Units sold to purchasers introduced by Sprott. Sprott also received an aggregate of 225,300 warrants ("Finder Warrants"). Each Finder Warrant is exercisable for one common share of the Company at a price of C$1.49 until May 17, 2018, subject to the Acceleration Provision. The Company also paid finder's fees of $176,110 to other arm's length finders, representing a cash commission equal to 5% of the gross proceeds received in respect of the sale of 2.94 million Units to purchasers introduced to the Company by such finders.
The net proceeds from the Private Placement are expected to be used by the Company for exploration and development activities on the Company's assets and for general corporate purposes.
The securities issued and issuable upon the exercise of warrants under the Private Placement are subject to a hold period and may not be traded until September 18, 2016 except as permitted by applicable securities legislation and the rules and policies of the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Certain directors and senior officers of the Company participated in the Private Placement by purchasing an aggregate of 50,000 Units. Accordingly, the Private Placement constituted to that extent a "related party transaction" under applicable Canadian securities laws. The Company did not file a material change report more than 21 days before the expected closing of the Private Placement as the details of the Private Placement and the participation therein by related parties of the Company were not settled until shortly prior to closing and the Company wished to close on an expedited basis for sound business reasons.
About Alexco
Alexco Resource Corp. owns the Bellekeno silver mine, one of several mineral properties held by Alexco which encompass substantially all of the historical Keno Hill Silver District located in Canada's Yukon Territory. Employing a unique business model, Alexco also provides mine-related environmental services, remediation technologies and reclamation and mine closure services to both government and industry clients through the Alexco Environmental Group, its wholly-owned environmental services division.
This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of any of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful, including in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any securities laws of any state of the United States and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or pursuant to an exemption from such registration requirements.
Some statements ("forward-looking statements") in this news release contain forward-looking information concerning the Private Placement and the use of proceeds thereof, the Company's anticipated results and developments in the Company's operations in future periods, planned exploration and development of its properties, plans related to its business and other matters that may occur in the future, made as of the date of this news release. Forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the anticipated use of proceeds, and future exploration and development activities. Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual events or results to differ from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, risks related to Alexco's ability to raise additional capital; actual results and timing of exploration and development activities; actual results and timing of mining activities; actual results and timing of environmental services activities; actual results and timing of remediation and reclamation activities; conclusions of economic evaluations; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; future prices of silver, gold, lead, zinc and other commodities; possible variations in mineable resources, grade or recovery rates; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; First Nation rights and title; continued capitalization and commercial viability; global economic conditions; competition; and delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the completion of development activities. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions that management believes are reasonable at the time they are made. In making the forward-looking statements included in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including, but not limited to, the assumption that the Company will be able to raise additional capital that the proposed exploration and development will proceed as planned, and that market fundamentals will result in sustained silver, gold, lead and zinc demand and prices. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company 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 as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation.
Vancouver, Canada--(Newsfile Corp. - May 18, 2016) - CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. (TSXV: CVV) (OTCQB: CVVUF) (FSE: DH7N) "CanAlaska" and "Company" is pleased to report that it has entered into an Option-Participation Agreement with De Beers Canada Inc. "De Beers" for expenditures up to $20.4 million on kimberlite-style targets staked by CanAlaska in the Northwestern Athabasca basin, Saskatchewan.
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The claims staked by CanAlaska and optioned to De Beers cover 75 kimberlite-style targets developed from a recent high resolution airborne geophysical survey carried out on behalf of the Saskatchewan Geological Survey. The 2011 airborne magnetic survey, flown at 400 metre line spacing, reveals a series of discrete magnetic anomalies northeast of the Carswell structure and close to the large crustal suture related to the Grease River Fault zone. The Saskatchewan Government's Kimberlite Indicator Minerals (KIM) sampling programs reached close to the Carswell structure, but the northern most samples are southeast of the down-ice trend from these magnetic anomalies.
There is little exploration work in this area of the Athabasca basin. In the Fort McMurray area of Alberta, the sampling for KIM shows a grouping of KIM dominated by chromite, with some pyrope and eclogitic garnets. These appear to be down-ice from the kimberlite-style targets identified within the Athabasca Sandstone in the northwestern Athabasca. Basement rocks below the Athabasca Sandstone form part of the Rae Province, with a projected lithospheric thickness in excess of 150 kilometres, thereby within the diamond stability field. The Rae Province, north of the Athabasca in the Nunavut, hosts diamondiferous kimberlites which have been briefly investigated in the past.
The multi-stage C$20.4 million option agreement allows De Beers to carry out a series of work programs to earn-in to the Project as follows:.
Phase Duration Funding Interest acquired 1 One year C$1.4 million 51% 2 Two years C$2.0 million 70% 3 One year C$3.0 million 80% 4 Three years C$14.0 million 90%
De Beers is required to progress through the options within the time periods or return the property to CanAlaska, however the sequential options are subject to CanAlaska's right to participate in the exploration as a Joint Venture partner. CanAlaska's participation rights (to prevent further dilution of its interest) start once De Beers has earned its 70 per cent interest. The work programs will be operated by De Beers, but with assistance from CanAlaska. The priority work will include a detailed airborne survey, diamond indicator sampling in the vicinity of the targets, followed by drill testing prioritized targets.
Peter Dasler, President, CanAlaska, said: "These 75 circular targets fit all the geological and geophysical criteria of kimberlites. The location of the targets within a thick sequence of crustal rocks and their clustering around major structural features, provides a compelling target for CanAlaska and De Beers. We are very pleased to have joined forces with the world's premier diamond explorer to evaluate this 17,400 hectare (43,000 acre) claim package, which hosts numerous targets. Our alliance with De Beers will allow rapid first pass evaluation, and we look forward to the ability to participate with De Beers as a partner as the project grows."
For more information about CanAlaska's Athabasca kimberlite project visit http://www.canalaska.com/s/AthabascaKimberliteProject.asp?ReportID=740492
The qualified technical person for this news release is Dr Karl Schimann, P. Geo, VP Exploration, for CanAlaska.
About De Beers Canada Inc.
De Beers Canada Inc. is part of the De Beers Group of Companies, a member of the Anglo American Group. Established in 1888, De Beers is the world's leading diamond company with expertise in the exploration and development, mining, and marketing of diamonds. Together with its joint venture partners, De Beers employs more than 20,000 people (directly and as contractors) across the diamond pipeline, and is the world's largest diamond producer by value, with mining operations in Botswana, Canada, Namibia and South Africa. As part of the company's operating philosophy, the people of De Beers are committed to Living up to Diamonds by making a lasting contribution to the communities in which they live and work, and transforming natural resources into shared national wealth.
For information about De Beers Canada Inc. visit www.debeersgroup.com/canada. For further information about the De Beers Group of Companies visit www.debeersgroup.com.
About CanAlaska Uranium
CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. (TSX-V: CVV; OTCQB: CVVUF; Frankfurt: DH7N) holds interests in approximately 700,000 hectares (1.7 million acres), one of the largest land positions in Canada's Athabasca Basin region the "Saudi Arabia of Uranium". CanAlaska's strategic holdings has attracted major international mining companies Cameco, Denison, KORES and KEPCO as partners at its core projects. CanAlaska is a project generator and is positioned for discovery success in the world's richest uranium district. For further information visit www.canalaska.com.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
"Peter Dasler"
Peter Dasler, M.Sc., P.Geo.
President & CEO
CanAlaska Uranium Ltd.
Contacts:
Peter Dasler, President
Tel: +1.604.688.3211 x 138
Email: info@canalaska.com
John Gomez, Corporate Development
Tel: +1.604.484.7118
Email : jgomez@canalaska.com
Tom Ormsby,
Head of External & Corporate Affairs
De Beers Canada Inc.
Tel: +1.403.930.0991 x 2703
The TSX-V has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release: CUSIP# 13708P 10 2.
Gilmore's signature chocolate cake was created to celebrate his eighth anniversary at Quay. Photo: Steven Siewert
When Peter Gilmore started down the road of becoming a chef at 16, he found himself cleaning prawns, deboning duck and arms-deep in a sink full of dirty dishes. It's unlikely he could have forecast the accolade-heavy career ahead of him.
The executive chef of Quay is the creative force behind a restaurant that has held three hats for 14 years straight, been named Restaurant of the Year four times in the Good Food Guide and he also was Chef of the Year in 2012 - not a bad way to mark his first decade at Quay.
There was, of course, also the time Russian President Vladimir Putin came into Quay and spent $17,000 on the experience (which his party - impressively - paid in straight-up cash). Peter Gilmore describes that experience in the video above - as well as the time his snow egg dessert became a Masterchef sensation.
Peter Gilmore's career is filled with highlights. Photo: Supplied
He also reflects on his eight-texture chocolate cake, which he upsized from its prior five-texture state to eight to celebrate his eighth anniversary at Quay. The dessert was recently named one of the 10 dishes that changed Sydney by our restaurant critic Terry Durack.
You can also find the cake at his other venue, Bennelong, which was named Best New Restaurant in 2016's Good Food Awards and scored two hats in the Good Food Guide. There, it pays a wry tribute to its sister restaurant across Sydney's harbour - at Bennelong, the dessert is renamed as Chocolate Cake From Across The Water.
Michael Tercha/Chicago Tribune/TNS To build that taco, start with filling, then salsa, then finishing toppings, such as the cilantro and slivered almonds in our zucchini, chorizo and almond tacos.
SHARE Michael Tercha/Chicago Tribune/TNS You can't have a great taco with a terrible tortilla. Although flour tortillas are more sturdy than corn, the superior flavor and fragrance of corn tortillas means you should choose them most of the time. Roasted tomatillo salsa is our go-to, because it's acidic and flavorful, and tomatillos are available year-round. Salsa isn't optional. Salsa separates tacos from wraps and other tepid creations. Roast tomatillos, garlic and chilies for our tomatillo salsa. Pre-fried U-shaped taco shells break easily, but a fried taco can be amazing. Try our potato-filled version, topped with fresh cabbage, queso fresco and tomatillo salsa.
Build them better; eat more of them
By Nick Kindelsperger, Chicago Tribune (TNS)
Around age 25, I realized I loved tacos more than any other food. I'd like to believe that the innate glory of the taco revealed itself to me, like some kind of divine tortilla-wrapped vision, and that a couple of trips to Mexico broadened my horizons. But who really knows.
Eight years and a literal thousand nights of tacos later, I've come up with some helpful tricks to improve your taco game at home. Because all most people want is to eat better tacos more often, right?
First, a strict definition: tacos equals tortilla + filling + salsa. Any so-called taco missing one of these components is a fraud.
Tacos are temporal. Don't sit around and idly chat while hot tacos sit in front of you ready to be devoured. Eat them immediately.
Tacos taste better standing up. I don't know why.
Don't let inflexible ideas of authenticity get in the way of deliciousness.
OK, let's break this down:
TORTILLAS
Tortillas are the soul of the taco. You can't have a great taco with a terrible tortilla.
In a battle of sturdiness, flour tortillas beat corn tortillas every time. Use flour tortillas for larger, messier tacos.
The slight structural deficiency of corn tortillas pales in comparison to the superior flavor and fragrance they lend to each bite. I use corn tortillas 99 percent of the time.
Corn tortillas are simple to make at home, but frustratingly hard to master. Feel no shame in purchasing top-quality corn tortillas for most of your taco needs. Buy them the same day you plan to use them.
One of the main reasons I live in Chicago is the concentration of quality tortilla factories. (I am only partly joking.)
Warm corn tortillas until soft, supple and fragrant. Place tortillas in a heavy skillet set over medium-high until you notice steam wafting off. Flip and wait until you spot steam again. At this point, the tortilla should be very soft. If not, continue heating for a few more seconds. Wrap warmed tortillas in a towel when done, and let them hang out for a few minutes to further steam.
Heating tortillas on top of the grate over an open flame of a gas stove is also a great idea.
One tortilla is usually enough. Some saucier taco fillings will soak through one, thus requiring two, but there is nothing automatically better about doubling up. If anything, two tortillas make it harder to appreciate the filling.
FILLINGS
Free your mind of what constitutes a taco filling.
Veggie tacos are a thing, and they are exceptional. If I can advance one, ahem, opinion here, it is that vegetables make incredible taco fillings.
Great vegetables for tacos: zucchini, mushrooms, kale, squash blossoms, potatoes, Swiss chard, huitlacoche (a prized corn fungus), refried black beans, poblanos, butternut squash and pumpkin.
I love griddled steak tacos, too, but you can braise beef shoulder for barbacoa or cure round for cecina. Heck, you can eat tongue, intestines, brains and all kinds of other fun parts of the cow. And that's just one kind of animal!
Chorizo is the bacon of the taco world; it makes everything taste better, but it needs a partner. A taco with only chorizo is like a cake made entirely out of frosting.
Grilled fish tacos are almost always mushy. Fried fish tacos are great but messy to make on a weeknight. Don't forget about shrimp tacos.
Adding rice is almost always a terrible idea.
SALSA
Salsa isn't optional. Salsa separates tacos from wraps and other tepid creations.
Salsa requires chilies. Chilies bring excitement and vibrancy to our dull, drab lives.
Make roasted tomatillo salsa. I've got nothing against fresh pico de gallo (made with plump summer tomatoes, of course), but tomatillo salsa is what I usually make, because it's acidic and flavorful, and tomatillos are available year-round. (See recipe.)
The broiler and blender are your best salsa friends. If you want to go hard-core authentic, you could toast all the ingredients on a comal and then grind them by hand using a stone molcajete. Or you could replicate this process in one-tenth of the time by broiling the vegetables and then processing them in a blender.
You can combine salsa and the filling into one dish. If you braise chicken and tomatillos together (which you should), there's no need to waste time making a completely different salsa.
Guacamole counts as a salsa.
Most canned salsas suck. Rick Bayless' Frontera brand does not.
Hot sauce is different from salsa. Its main purpose is to add a final flash of intense heat, which is quite convenient if you're serving tacos to a group of people with varying levels of spice tolerance.
Quick and biased hot-sauce guide: Valencia > Cholula > El Yucateco > Tapatio > Tabasco
TACO CONSTRUCTION
Small tacos are usually better than large tacos. It's tempting to stuff each tortilla with as much as possible, but always consider proportion. You want to get a bite with all the components, which is hard if you can barely fold the tortilla over the mass of fillings and toppings. Better to make a slim and satisfying taco, and eat more of them.
Additional toppings are completely optional but can separate a good taco from an exceptional one.
Great toppings: pickled red onions, pickled jalapenos, shredded cabbage, radishes, queso fresco.
Boring toppings: lettuce, chopped tomatoes, pre-shredded "Mexican" cheese, canned black olives.
Chopped white onions and cilantro are great toppings but unnecessary if you've included both in your salsa.
Other taco thoughts
The problem with the pre-fried U-shaped shells the kind made famous by Taco Bell and Old El Paso is that when you bite in, the filling slides out the side too easily. Plus, they are usually structurally unsound, crumbling apart after one bite.
But fried tacos can be amazing. You just need to fry the tortilla with the filling already inside. Try fried potato tacos (see recipe).
Break any of these rules if you want. The goal is not to adhere strictly to these tips but simply to eat more tacos. Experiment. Cook. Repeat.
ROASTED TOMATILLO SALSA
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes
Makes: about 1 cup
8 ounces tomatillos, husked, rinsed
1 to 2 serrano chilies
2 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 handful fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 white onion, chopped
Place tomatillos, serranos and garlic cloves on a foil-lined baking sheet. Cover garlic with an additional layer of foil. Place under a hot broiler and cook until tomatillos are blackened on top, about 6 minutes. Flip tomatillos and serranos; blacken on the other side, about 5 minutes. Remove baking sheet from oven; allow everything to cool. Stem serranos and peel garlic. Transfer tomatillos, serranos garlic and salt to a blender. Process until almost smooth. Taste, and season with more salt if necessary. Transfer to a bowl; stir in cilantro and onion.
Nutrition information per serving: 9 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 2 g carbohydrates, 1 g sugar, 0 g protein, 73 mg sodium, 1 g fiber
FRIED POTATO TACOS
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Makes: 12 tacos
1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, cubed into 1/2-inch pieces
1 teaspoon salt
12 corn tortillas
1 cup vegetable oil
Roasted tomatillo salsa, see recipe
1/2 head red cabbage, thinly sliced
1/2 cup queso fresco
3 limes, quartered
Heat a medium saucepan of water over high heat until boiling. Add cubed potatoes; reduce heat to a strong simmer. Cook until tender, 8-10 minutes. Drain potatoes in a colander. Transfer to a bowl, add salt and use a fork to mash until smooth.
Heat a large skillet over medium. Warm the tortillas for a few seconds on each side until pliable. Spoon 2 tablespoons of mashed potato into each tortilla. Fold each tortilla over, pressing firmly to close.
Heat the oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat. Add as many tortillas as will fit in one layer, usually three. Cook until lightly browned on the bottom, 1-2 minutes; flip and brown on the other side, 1-2 minutes. Transfer tacos to a plate lined with paper towels. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
Serve tacos topped with salsa, a handful of sliced cabbage, queso fresco and a wedge of lime.
Nutrition information per taco: 141 calories, 6 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 2 mg cholesterol, 18 g carbohydrates, 1 g sugar, 3 g protein, 251 mg sodium, 3 g fiber
ZUCCHINI, CHORIZO AND ALMOND TACOS
Prep: 25 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Makes: 12 tacos
8 ounces fresh Mexican chorizo
1 large white onion, sliced
1 pound zucchini, ends trimmed, thinly sliced crosswise
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup slivered almonds
12 corn tortillas
1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
3 limes, quartered
Roasted tomatillo salsa, see recipe
Add chorizo and onion to a large skillet set over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft and translucent and chorizo is starting to brown, 8-10 minutes. Add zucchini, garlic, cinnamon and cumin; stir well. Cook, stirring often, until zucchini softens, about 5 minutes. Taste, and season with salt, if necessary usually about 1/2 teaspoon and pepper to taste.
Meanwhile, toast almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until lightly browned, 3-5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add a tortilla; warm until you notice steam rising off, 5-10 seconds. Flip and warm until very soft, another 10 seconds. Wrap in a towel and repeat with remaining tortillas.
Spoon some of the filling into the tortilla; top with a sprinkle of almonds, cilantro, a squeeze of lime and roasted tomatillo salsa.
Nutrition information per serving: 180 calories, 10 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 17 mg cholesterol, 16 g carbohydrates, 1 g sugar, 7 g protein, 440 mg sodium, 3 g fiber
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According to Benny Cox, sheep sales manager for Producers Livestock Auction, the demand for 70 pound lambs remains strong for the ethnic market.
"The ethnic market generally demands a smaller carcass on both goats and lambs," Cox said.
Choice and prime slaughter lambs weighing from 60-70 pounds sold from $1.70 to $1.86 per pound at Tuesday's sale and kid goats 40-60 pounds brought from $2.80 to $2.92 per pound.
Producers in San Angelo join auction barns in New Holland, Pennsylvania, and Ft. Collins, Colorado, as major market centers for the ethnic population.
Estimated receipts at Tuesday's regular sheep and goat sale totaled 6,700 head. Last week, 7,639 head were sold compared to 4,175 at the same time one year ago.
The market for slaughter lambs compared to last week was weak to $5 lower; slaughter ewes $5 to $10 lower; feeder lambs were firm to $5 higher. Supply included 45 percent slaughter lambs, 5 percent slaughter ewes, 10 percent feeder lambs, and the balance goats.
Representative sales included: Debbie Dorie, Sonora, 12 wooled lambs, 71 pounds, $1.78 per pound; Holubec Farms, Melvin, 132 wooled lambs, 81 pounds, $1.71; Glass Bros, Winters, 22 wooled lambs, 71 pounds, $1.70; Valliant Ranch, Sonora, 102 wooled lambs, 70 pounds, $1.68; Rancho Bonito, Menard, 33 wooled lambs, 70 pounds, $1.68; Joe Harmon, Robert Lee, 35 wooled lambs, 79 pounds, $1.64; Dean McMullan, Iraan, 22 hair lambs, 60 pounds, $206; Jock Dutton, Sonora, 11 hair lambs, 63 pounds, $1.82; Mike Lux, Eldorado, 57 hair sheep, 82 pounds, $1.65; Gene Nixon, San Angelo, 10 hair lambs, 54 pounds, $1.18; George Bunger, Ozona, 54 hair lambs, 70 pounds, $1.78; Pleas Childress, Ozona, 22 hair lambs, 68 pounds, $1.76; Diane Hines, San Angelo, 15 kid goats, 48 pounds, $2.85; Spring Canyon Ranch, Robert Lee, 39 kid goats, 63 pounds, $2.78; and Wardlaw Ranch, Sonora, 71 kid goats, 55 pounds, $2.82.
Meanwhile, the U.S. lamb industry has identified regaining access to the Taiwan and Japan markets. The value of Taiwan's lamb imports increased by approximately 80 percent from 2003 to 2012 and Japan was a top five market for U.S. lamb before the market closing in 2003, according to American Sheep Industry Association.
Taiwan banned imports of lamb from the United States since December 2003, when the first case of BSE was recorded in the U.S. cattle herd. In 2014, the Taiwan Food and Drug Authority conducted audits of U.S. lamb packing establishments, which began the process that continues to this day for re-establishing access for U.S. lamb exports to Taiwan.
"If the U.S. were to capture just 10 percent of Taiwan and Japan's lamb import market, the value would be $7 million and $13 million, respectively. The added revenue that would result from resuming exports to Taiwan and Japan would contribute to the profitability of the lamb industry and further diversify the industry's portfolio of available markets," stated a letter from ASI to the USDA undersecretary of farm and foreign agricultural services.
Commercial lamb production totaled 150 million pounds in 2015, down 3.6 percent compared to 2014. This was on 4 percent less commercial slaughter and a 0.5 percent increase in average dressed weights year-over-year. The decrease in commercial slaughter totaled 92,000 head less than 2014, according to USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service.
David Anderson, livestock economist at Texas A&M University, said he expects to see an increase in American lamb production in the next two years. With the largest frozen stocks in history, combined with a large increase in imports, the industry has to work off the burdensome level of stocks available to the market. "It remains to be seen how that will work itself out," he said.
Jerry Lackey is the agriculture editor emeritus. Contact him at jlackey@wcc.net or 325-949-2291.
Salem oncologist Bud Pierce defeated Allen Alley for the Republican bid to unseat Democratic Gov. Kate Brown in November.Pierce will now receive a daunting assignment: end Republicans' 34-year shutout from Oregon's top office.Pierce secured 47 percent of votes, while Alley received 30 percent, according to partial returns.Pierce, who has never run for office, announced months before the election and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money. Alley, a Lake Oswego investor who failed to win his party's nomination in 2010, entered the race just before the filing deadline after months of rumors.
Bernie Sanders clashed with Democratic Party leaders Tuesday over violence that erupted over the weekend at the Nevada Democratic convention, which party official blamed on a disgruntled group of Sanders supporters.At issue in the escalating fight is a troubling question for Democrats: Will the fire that Sanders has lit among millions of supporters with his critiques of Wall Street greed and political corruption burn the party this summer?Democratic leaders have hoped to see the party begin unifying against the presumed Republican nominee, Donald Trump, and numerous polls have indicated that most Sanders backers are prepared to vote for Hillary Clinton if she becomes the party's candidate.But as Sanders' hopes for winning the nomination have all but disappeared, a segment of his supporters have become increasingly embittered.Their anger spilled into public view over the weekend as Sanders supporters at the Nevada Democratic convention threw chairs, tried to shout down Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., vandalized buildings and made death threats against the state party chairwoman after Clinton won more pledged delegates than the Vermont senator.After angry complaints by Nevada Democratic Party officials and a chiding statement from Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said he had spoken to Sanders and expected him to condemn the violence.Instead, the Vermont senator issued a lengthy statement that included one line saying he does not support harassment, but mostly blamed the problems on Nevada Democratic officials."If the Democratic Party is to be successful in November, it is imperative that all state parties treat our campaign supporters with fairness and the respect that they have earned," he said."It is imperative that the Democratic leadership, both nationally and in the states, understand that the political world is changing and that millions of Americans are outraged at establishment politics and establishment economics," Sanders said.The statement clearly angered Reid, who has long dominated the Democratic Party in his home state."Bernie is better than that," Reid told CNN. "Bernie should say something and not have some silly statement" that "someone else prepared for him," he said.Sanders' willingness to prolong an argument with powerful leaders of his own party was particularly striking because the actual stakes in the weekend dispute were tiny.Clinton won Nevada's caucuses in February, but the Sanders campaign had hoped to pick up some additional delegates by sending large numbers of his supporters to the state convention.In the end, not all of Sanders' supporters showed up and others were ruled ineligible. As a result, Clinton gained a couple of delegates more than she might otherwise have won. Her current lead over Sanders in pledged delegates nationwide is nearly 300.On Monday, the state party lodged a formal complaint with the Democratic National Committee about the disruptions at the convention.Sanders supporters had demonstrated a "penchant" for violence that could lead to disruptions at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July, said the letter from Bradley Schrager, general counsel for the Nevada State Democratic Party."We believe, unfortunately, that the tactics and behavior on display here in Nevada are harbingers of things to come as Democrats gather in Philadelphia," Schrager wrote.He said Sanders supporters had screamed profane insults throughout Saturday's convention _ they can be seen in YouTube videos of the proceedings _ and at one point threw chairs, leading party leaders to shut down the event because of security concerns.The following day, Schrager said, Sanders supporters defaced the party's headquarters with graffiti. In the days since, party chairwoman Roberta Lange has been bombarded with hundreds of threatening phone calls and text messages after Sanders activists posted her cell phone number and home address online, he said.Sanders, in his statement, said Schrager's claim that his supporters have a penchant for violence "is nonsense.""Our campaign has held giant rallies all across this country, including in high-crime areas, and there have been zero reports of violence," Sanders said.He suggested his supporters had the right to be angry, saying party officials had ruled that some Sanders delegates were ineligible without offering an opportunity for some of them to be heard.In her statement Tuesday, Wasserman Schultz rejected the idea that party officials had provoked the violence. She said she planned to contact both campaigns "to ask them to stand with the Democratic Party in denouncing and taking steps to prevent the type of behavior on display over the weekend in Las Vegas.""There is no excuse for what happened in Nevada, and it is incumbent upon all of us in positions of leadership to speak out," she wrote.That some Sanders supporters in Nevada appear to have embraced aggressive behavior despite an earlier plea from the Vermont senator that they work with other Democrats "respectfully and constructively" shows that Sanders may not have full control of his backers, said Nevada political analyst Jon Ralston."Sanders has unleashed something that I don't think even he knew he would unleash," Ralston said. "Has he started this wildfire that he can't put out?"If the answer is yes, that could lead to problems at the national convention this summer."The potential is definitely there," said Robert Loevy, a retired professor of political science at Colorado College. There is a long history of fractious conventions, Loevy said, and they typically result from "sharp ideological divides."Sanders, who has run far to the left of Clinton, has waged a largely ideological campaign centered around income inequality. His campaign has drawn in independent voters and others who feel disenfranchised from the political system, and many of them have embraced his ideas with a level of fervor not seen on Clinton's side.Loevy said he doubted Philadelphia would be a repeat of the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, which erupted in violent street protests after the nomination of Hubert Humphrey. But by staying in the race, Sanders is opening the door for rifts on the convention floor, Loevy said."If he wants to go to the convention and make trouble, Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party leaders are just going to have to deal with it," Loevy said.Early in the campaign, Sanders talked about the need to keep Democrats unified and sometimes admonished supporters at rallies not to boo when he mentioned Clinton's name.In recent weeks, however, he has appeared reluctant to call out pugnacious supporters who cross the line from political activism to harassment. Sanders has frequently said that he believes the election is stacked against him by Democratic party leaders who want Clinton to be elected. His campaign has alleged voting irregularities in several primary states.Winnie Wong, who helps lead an outside group called People for Bernie that is working to elect Sanders, said her group does not condone violence and has already started talking about how its members should comport themselves at the convention in Philadelphia."I don't think that kind of violence is ever going to create a consensus," Wong said. "We're working toward making sure that doesn't happen."But still, she said the Sanders supporters in Nevada had legitimate concerns, saying many state Democratic conventions have been "stacked in favor of the establishment candidate.""These are just ordinary people," she said. "They're citizens who feel like their voices aren't being heard."
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, under fire for months over how the city investigates excessive force allegations against Chicago police, plans to propose abolishing the city's beleaguered Independent Police Review Authority.The city would replace the agency -- known for sluggish investigations that rarely led to discipline -- with a civilian agency "that has more independence and more resources to do its work," Emanuel wrote in an essay released Friday. The essay offered few specifics about the new agency, though the mayor wrote that the details will be worked out in the coming weeks and presented at a City Council meeting June 22."...It is clear that a totally new agency is required to rebuild trust in investigations of officer-involved shootings and the most serious allegations of police misconduct," the column says.Emanuel's proposal comes as he continues to navigate the political controversy that erupted late last year when the city released video of a white police officer shooting African-American teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times. After the video's release, Emanuel appointed a task force on policing that last month issued recommendations for sweeping reform in the Police Department and its oversight systems.The changes Emanuel has made and announced have come against the backdrop of an ongoing U.S. Department of Justice investigation aimed at determining whether police have systematically violated residents' rights. That inquiry could result in court-enforced changes to policing in the city.Abolishing IPRA -- created in 2007 to replace the widely criticized Office of Professional Standards -- was one recommendation of Emanuel's Police Accountability Task Force, which accused the agency of being opaque, inefficient, ineffective at investigating alleged police misconduct and, ultimately, "beyond repair."Emanuel also said in his opinion piece that he would embrace two other panel recommendations by appointing an inspector general specifically to monitor policing and creating a Community Safety Oversight Board designed to give residents a role in overseeing law enforcement.Emanuel has enacted other changes that are less involved than scrapping a city agency, ranging from a vow to hold more meetings in minority communities to expanded training.The panel's recommendation for replacing IPRA -- which has about 90 employees -- called for a new Civilian Police Investigative Agency with broader investigative powers. The panel suggested that the agency's head would be selected by the Community Safety Oversight Board, and the group recommended that the agency's budget be tied to the Police Department's.Lori Lightfoot, who chaired the task force and heads the Chicago Police Board, said the mayor's proposal "feels like an important step" but cautioned that it lacks important details."The devil will be in the details," she said. "How it will be different (from IPRA) is a fundamentally important question."The Tribune sought details from City Hall, but none were provided. Dean Angelo, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, couldn't be reached for comment.On Saturday, Emanuel talked briefly about scrapping IPRA and the goals of a new civilian agency -- but only in broad brush strokes."IPRA's work is important. An independent review of actions. But IPRA itself has lost credibility with the public, so while the work is important, we need to have a new organization with a new endeavor to do that," Emanuel told reporters at an unrelated event at Simeon Career Academy on the South Side. He later added: "We're gonna have better oversight, better accountability, and build this level of trust, rather than the distrust that exists. I think that's gonna be an important process."Police Supt. Eddie Johnson also attended the event at the high school -- an annual block club convention hosted by the Chicago Police Department's Gresham District aimed at building police-community relations. He didn't comment on the mayor's plan to replace IPRA.IPRA Chief Administrator Sharon Fairley -- a former federal prosecutor who took over the agency late last year as the controversy over the shooting of the 17-year-old McDonald by Officer Jason Van Dyke deepened -- said in a statement that the mayor's proposals represented an "important and necessary first step toward true reform.""We know that in order for police accountability to be truly effective it has to have the support and trust of the community," Fairley said in the statement. "I believe this commitment will start the process of building a system that will engender that trust. I look forward to working with the community, the aldermen and the mayor's office to bring about the changes the citizens of Chicago expect and deserve."Since IPRA's creation, it has gained a reputation for taking years to investigate cases and consistently clearing officers. The agency's many critics have said investigators are overmatched by complicated cases, burdened by heavy workloads and hamstrung by union rules and state laws designed to protect officers. As of late last year, the agency had investigated more than 400 shootings by police, and had ruled the shootings justified in all but two cases. Both involved off-duty officers.Among civil attorneys who frequently sue the Police Department over alleged wrongdoing -- and often win large verdicts and settlements -- IPRA has been widely viewed as irrelevant."IPRA was broken," said attorney Jon Loevy. "It did not perform its mission but, you know, the real question is if they're just changing the letters like last time or they're making genuine institutional reforms."As the city moves to replace the agency, Lightfoot urged City Council members to ask tough questions before voting on a new ordinance. She said the public needs to be confident that a new agency is "completely independent" from the Police Department. Under the current system, IPRA relies on the work of Police Department evidence technicians and is dependent on its computer systems.Lightfoot praised the idea of adding an inspector general to oversee the Police Department and investigative agency."Right now nobody has responsibility for doing detailed oversight of the law enforcement infrastructure of the city," she said.
On Tuesday, in the morning, at Boroko Police Station, Port Moresby, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC and Mrs Kaye de Jersey received a briefing from staff and toured operations at the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary Family and Sexual Violence Unit Facilities.
Following, at Grand Papua Hotel, Port Moresby, the Governor and Mrs de Jersey attended morning tea with Papua New Guinea National and Supreme Court Judges.
In the afternoon, at the Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery, Port Moresby, the Governor and Mrs de Jersey toured operations and received a briefing from Dr Andrew Moutu, Director.
In the evening, at the Australian High Commissioners Residence, the Governor and Mrs de Jersey attended a Friends of Queensland, Business and Alumni Reception hosted by His Excellency Mr Bruce Davis, Australian High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea, where the Governor addressed guests.
This reply was given yesterday in the National Assembly by the Prime Minister, Sir Anerood Jugnauth, to a Private Notice Question in regard to the sovereignty of Mauritius over the Chagos Archipelago and over the Tromelin Island respectively
The Prime Minister referred to the Award delivered on 18 March 2015 by the Arbitral Tribunal in the case brought by Mauritius against the United Kingdom to challenge the "marine protected area which the United Kingdom purported to establish around the Chagos Archipelago.
He highlighted that Mauritius does not recognise the so-called British Indian Ocean Territory which the United Kingdom purported to create by illegally excising the Chagos Archipelago from the territory of Mauritius prior to its accession to independence, in violation of international law and United Nations General Assembly Resolutions 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960, 2066(XX) of 16 December 1965, 2232 (XXI) of 20 December 1966 and 2357 (XXII) of 19 December 1967.Government is sparing no efforts so that Mauritius can effectively exercise its sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago and the Island of Tromelin, he added.
He underscored that the Tribunal unanimously held that the marine protected area which the United Kingdom purported to establish around the Chagos Archipelago in April 2010 violates international law. It ruled that the United Kingdom had breached its obligations under Articles 2(3), 56(2) and 194(4) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Sir Anerood Jugnauth underlined that in reaching these conclusions, the Tribunal made a number of important findings and found that the United Kingdoms commitments towards Mauritius in relation to fishing rights and oil and mineral rights in the Chagos Archipelago and its surrounding waters are legally binding. Moreover, the Tribunal found that the United Kingdoms undertaking to return the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius when no longer needed for defence purposes is legally binding. The Tribunal went on to hold that the United Kingdom had not respected Mauritius binding legal rights over the Chagos Archipelago, he added.
Following the delivery of the Award, the Prime Minister stated that he wrote to the British Prime Minister on 14 April and 14 May 2015 to indicate that Mauritius stands ready to enter into negotiations with the United Kingdom, on the understanding that the latter shall fully respect the rights of Mauritius under UNCLOS and international law.
The Prime Minister also pointed out that the United Kingdom had illegally excised the Chagos Archipelago from the territory of Mauritius prior to its accession to independence and also referred to the undertaking which the United Kingdom had given to Mauritius on several occasions, including during meetings which he had with his British counterparts in the past.
He underscored that if the UK were to honour its promise by returning the Chagos Archipelago to the effective control of Mauritius, this would contribute to completing the decolonisation process of Mauritius and would be a win-win situation for both countries.
As regards to Tromelin the Prime Minister underlined that pending the settlement of the sovereignty dispute between Mauritius and France over the Island of Tromelin, the two countries reached an agreement in 2010 on the co-management of the Island of Tromelin, without prejudice to the sovereignty of Mauritius over the island and has proposed to take up the issue of sovereignty over the Island of Tromelin with the French President at his next meeting with him.
He pointed out that in the meantime, he had the opportunity to raise the issue of the sovereignty over the Island of Tromelin with the French Ambassador and other French dignitaries.
He recalled that he has informed the President of the French National Assembly that Mauritius might have to reconsider its position if the French authorities do not show greater interest in moving forward the ratification process of the agreement on co-management of the Island of Tromelin in the French Parliament.
Description
GIS - 18 May, 2016: As Prime Minister, I am determined and have the political will to take necessary measures to fight against Road trauma, because the road safety situation in our country is unacceptable.
At the first meeting of the National Road Safety Commission held today in Port Louis, the Prime Minister, Sir Anerood Jugnauth reiterated Governments determination to address the issues regarding road safety for the citizens and visitors as well. The rate of road crashes is alarming, with an annual average of 146 persons killed and 481 seriously injured for the period 2005-2014, deplored Sir Anerood Jugnauth.
According to the Prime Minister, the most vulnerable road users are often from the lower socio-economic class and face greater likelihood of injury since the use of affordable means of transport put them at higher risks in comparison to those using private cars. In addition to the sufferings and grievances of the victims and their families, road crashes have socio-economic costs which impact on our economy and it is estimated to have cost around 6 billion rupees in 2015, he stressed.
Underlining the main objective of the Commission, which is the adoption of the National Road Safety Strategy 2016-2025, Sir Anerood Jugnauth stated that the aim underpinning the strategy document is to halve the number of fatal and serious injury road crashes by the year 2025 against the baseline figure of 627 Killed and Serious Injury road crashes for the period 2005-2014. The challenge is daring but if we put our efforts together and implement the Strategy as it should be, results will certainly follow, he averred.
While recalling that Road Safety has been declared National Priority since last year, and various decisions and measures taken to attain the target of reducing the number and the severity of road crashes, the Prime Minister put forward the necessity to achieve a safe road traffic system for safe sharing of the road space with the most vulnerable group of road users as well as to improve road safety management capacity.
It is noted that the National Road Safety Commission has been set under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister to, among others, define national objectives and goals, and determine policies and priorities regarding road safety projects and programmes. The Commission comprises the Minister of Education and Human Resources, Tertiary Education and Scientific Research; the Minister of Health and Quality of Life; the Minister of Local Government; the Attorney General; and the Minister of Environment, Sustainable Development, and Disaster and Beach Management.
The adoption of the National Road Safety Strategy 2016-2025, which consists of ten strategic field of actions which would pave the way towards achieving the target set under the strategy, was on the agenda of the first meeting of the Commission.
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(TNS) The U.S. Department of Transportation is trying to figure out where it can get the most out of a $40 million investment that could turn Columbus into a test track for transportation technology.Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx visited Columbus on Monday for a roundtable discussion about Columbus transportation network ahead of the deadline to submit applications for the grant.We want to see what we invest in work, Foxx said. Were really looking at what you want to accomplish and how well suited you are to get there and what difference our investment will make here versus someplace else and whether we get more distance out of that investment here.Columbus is one of seven finalists for the departments Smart City grant, which will provide $40 million to a city to use advanced technologies to reduce congestion and improve the environmental effects of travel. Vulcan Inc. plans to award $10 million more to look at electric vehicles.The city hasnt submitted its application yet, but local officials have said it is looking at autonomous and electric vehicles and a payment system that bridges all modes of transportation. Mayor Andrew J. Ginther said the city also is looking at ways to better connect Linden residents to the rest of the city.Ginther said he wants to see Columbus become the Silicon Valley of intelligent transportation systems.Officials also are pledging to make sure the federal government gets a good return on its investment.At the discussion, former Mayor Michael B. Coleman said if the city wins, it and the private sector would come up with additional money to support the programs that the grant starts.Foxx said the department will decide this summer which city will receive the funding. It will look at how each city plans to improve safety and advance electric vehicles, among other criteria.The city that is selected will have a national spotlight on it to see how new transportation technology can work, Foxx said.I think Columbus has an advantage, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown said. Columbus is really sort of every persons city in this country. If it works in Columbus, it works, we know that. Weve been a test center for so many corporations.
(TNS) -- Gov. Tom Wolf Monday announced that 109 municipalities, including those in Cumberland County, will receive $12 million to underwrite the costs of upgrading traffic signals under PennDOT's Green Light-Go program.The program establishes partnership agreements between municipalities and PennDOT, through which municipalities request up to 50 percent funding for traffic signal projects.State and local partnerships like this are critical to improving traffic flow and safety across the state, and this program helps us meet that goal, Wolf said in a news release. Through this investment, communities across the state will benefit from upgraded signals and intersections.Grants can be used for installing LED technology, upgrading traffic signals and performing regional operations, such as retiming, developing special event plants and monitoring traffic signals.Cumberland County had a number of funding recipients through the program.Carlisle Borough will receive $11,250 to install optical emergency pre-emption systems at the intersections of Ritner Highway and Industrial Drive, Ritner and Key Real Estate Warehouse entrance and Ritner and Shearer Drive to improve emergency vehicle pre-emption service.Monroe Township will receive $7,950 to install an uninterrupted power supply at the intersections of Williams Grove Road at Lisburn Road and York Road at Boiling Springs Road.Mount Holly Springs will receive $22,000 to replace and relocate the traffic signal pole at the intersection of Route 34 and Mill Street.Newville Borough will receive $38,976 to upgrade the traffic signal at the intersection of Main Street and High Street with new mast arms, controller cabinet and pedestrian facilities.North Middleton Township will receive $127,394 to upgrade the intersection of Cavalry Road and Spring Road with new mast arms, pedestrian facilities, a battery back-up system and emergency vehicle pre-emption.Silver Spring Township will receive $65,595 to improve 11 intersections along the Carlisle Pike, one intersection along Route 994 and seven intersections along Route 114 by installing uninterrupted power supplies.South Middleton Township will receive $82,282 to replace controllers at the intersections of York Road at Fairview Street and York Road at Westminster Drive; to install emergency pre-emption at certain intersections on Willow Street and Walnut Bottom Road, as well as along York Road; to complete a traffic engineering study to determine optimal signal timing and reconfiguring the controllers at the intersections of Walnut Bottom Road; and to assist with traffic signal maintenance at 13 traffic signals along Allen Road, Walnut Bottom Road, Holly Pike and York Road.
(TNS) Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White announced Tuesday that his office will begin upgrading security features this week to driver's licenses and identification cards, a step toward compliance with the federal Real ID law.By the end of July, applicants will no longer be issued a new permanent driver's license or ID card at the end of the application process at driver's license offices. Instead, they will receive a temporary paper license or ID valid for 45 days, officials said.Photos of applicants will be submitted into a facial recognition system, and a permanent license or ID will be mailed in about 15 days at no additional fee to the applicant."These changes are designed to further enhance our efforts to protect Illinoisans from fraud and identity theft," White said. "These changes are required by the United States Department of Homeland Security to meet the Real ID requirements."Some driver's license offices will start the transition this week, although officials did not specify which ones. The system will cost the state an additional $8.3 million in vendor and postage costs a year, said Nathan Maddox, White's senior legal adviser. The state plans to use a fund dedicated to driver's license upgrades to pay for the new system."We have been making steady progress in implementing Real ID," Maddox said. "We've met approximately 84 percent of the requirements."Illinois is among 27 states either not in compliance or taking steps to comply with the Real ID Act. Under this act, stricter identification is required to pass through airport security and enter federal buildings. Homeland Security earlier this year postponed the deadline for states to comply to 2018.Homeland Security also will accept the temporary paper document in conjunction with an old driver's license or ID card to board an aircraft until the permanent card arrives in the mail.Congress passed the law in 2005 after a 9/11 Commission recommendation to take steps that would make it tougher to counterfeit government-issued IDs.Critics of Real ID, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, have complained that it is a blatant invasion of privacy and would make people vulnerable to identity theft.Ed Yohnka, director of communications at American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said he believes Illinois and other states have been doing a good job protecting peoples' identities, and switching to a national identification card would do more harm than good."Congress ought to pull the plug on this," he said. "It creates a national identification system that puts people at a greater risk of having their identity stolen."They talk about this in terms of it being for safety and security, but there is no evidence that it adds any of those things," Yohnka said. "But what we do know is that it creates this powerful dynamic that can be used for surveillance."Once you have this national database, the only natural thing to do next is to take it and begin to use it to track people," Yohnka said. "Then you are just creating a huge surveillance system, and that's the real danger."Yohnka said if Real ID is developed, the government would have the potential to track what people buy and where they go.White contends the extensive process will rule out and prevent any possible fraud and identity theft before applicants receive their driver's license or ID card.Applicants will have their photograph taken at a local office and a digital copy will be submitted immediately to Springfield for comparison in a pool of several million digital photos, according to Jim Burns, inspector general for the secretary of state's office."We have in Illinois one of the better facial recognition systems in the country," he said."Those digital photos will match up in our facial recognition system, and if we have a problem ... it will immediately kick up, whereas the old counter service, they would already be out the door and it might be 48 hours later that you discover a problem with it," Burns said.Not only does the license use facial recognition, it also has secure parameters because of laser technology engraved into the card versus plastic with preprinted laminate, said Michael Mayer, the director of the driver services department."We control that laser document, and it's all done at one secure location instead of 126 other facilities that are out there," Mayer said. "So you don't have the variations, you have the same consistency on that driver's license."Burns said under the old system, people would leave the counter and walk out with a license, and employees at the driver's license office had to do a lot of work."They had to be on their toes in case they saw something that didn't look right," he said. "The equipment at those facilities could produce a good amount of quality documents but could not produce a document anywhere close to the new license that we are going to have under the new system."
The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) is moving fast toward its goal of a dedicated nationwide public safety communications network. On May 13, the federal agency published an updated map that gives an overview of the states progress in preparing for the network, which is expected to launch within the next couple of years.Every state but Mississippi has met with FirstNet for an initial consultation, and all but New Jersey and Mississippi are included in FirstNets data collection process. FirstNets current phase is to consult with the states governance bodies, and 12 states have completed this phase. These meetings are centered around FirstNets goal of awarding and approving a 25-year vendor contract for the network by this November, after having only issued the RFP in January.FirstNet wants states to get all stakeholders aligned so theyre ready to approve individual state plans when they go out, said Dave Buchanan, the authority's director of consultation. FirstNet is doing as much planning as possible now so there are no unpleasant surprises later when states will have limited time just some months to approve FirstNets plans, he explained.Each state has its own challenges, he said, citing Vermont as an example.They know that theyre going to go through a governors election in the fall and they believe they have the right people who have been involved to date, but we also realize theres a number of folks who are going to want to review this process who wont be in until after the election, he said.Asked to give states one piece of advice, Buchanan said states should be thoughtful in considering which parties should be included in the planning process.FirstNet met with Washington state stakeholders on April 21, said Bill Schrier, Seattle Police Department chief information officer and Washingtons FirstNet point of contact. Schrier said one of the states biggest concerns is the federal agencys aggressive timeline. Vendor responses to the RFP are due May 31.Based on those responses, FirstNet intends to award a 25-year contract to develop and operate the network nationwide in 56 states and territories that is probably worth $100 billion, Schrier said. FirstNet intends to not just decide who the winning vendor is but also sign a contract by November of this year. So that only gives them from May until November to actually evaluate all the proposals, work through all the legal stuff with all these attorneys the vendors have lots of attorneys and the federal government has lots of attorneys and then award this 25-year contract by November.This aggressive timeline places network availability around late 2017.Having a network available by the end of next year is aggressive, but with public interest from AT&T and rumors of interest from Verizon, such a timeline is possible. And though the timeline is aggressive, an interoperable and dedicated public safety network cant come too soon, said Schrier.During the day, near Amazon headquarters in downtown Seattle, the commercial networks get slow, Schrier said. And that means they get slow for responders too EMTs and their mobile computers and police officers and their mobile computers and thats just during a normal weekday without an incident that might include a traffic jam or something. So theres some urgency from a first responder point of view to get in a network where theyve got priority.Schrier agreed that getting the states stakeholders aligned is the most important task that states face in preparation of FirstNet. In Washingtons case, it meant gathering the associations that represent those who will use the network the police chiefs associations and 911 call center groups. The other set of users who need to be involved are the state agencies who engage in public safety functions: the Department of Transportation, the Department of Natural Resources and state police.Perhaps the biggest issue for states, however, will be something beyond their control, Schrier said.My mantra to FirstNet is you have to have equal or better coverage than a commercial network and youve got to have equal or less cost than a commercial network, he said. Most fire departments and police departments are already using Verizon, AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile, so its going to be hard for them to justify switching unless FirstNets coverage is equal or better and their cost is equal or less.Competitors to AT&Ts aggressive bid for the FirstNet contract include wholesale wireless company Rivada Networks, which was recently joined by former Sprint CFO Joseph Euteneuer. Some place Sprints possible participation as questionable . T-Mobile bowed out of the bidding in April, citing interest in increased spectrum purchases and LTE network buildouts.Initial funding for FirstNet comes from a $7 billion federal budget, while the remaining revenue is expected to come from fees paid by state customers and profits from excess capacity sold to private companies and consumers.
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.
Obituary
Anna Jeannette Roberts, age 90, passed peacefully on Sunday, May 8, 2016. She lived a wonderful and loving life. Jeannette was born December 16, 1925, in Baker, Montana. She was the fourth oldest of eight siblings. After moving several times, she and husband Charles (Bob) Roberts moved to Wilbur, Washington, in the early 1970s, and Jeannette quickly turned it into her home. She touched the lives of many, not only in her personal life, but also as a CNA caring for folks that were frequently younger than she was.
Jeannette was preceded in death by her husband of 47 years, Charles (Bob) Roberts, and son, Edward Roberts. She is survived by her children: Chuck Roberts, Ann Roberts, Jim Roberts and Tom Roberts, along with six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Jeannette will be greatly missed by her family and many friends.
A celebration of life will be held Saturday, May 28, at 1 p.m., at Strate Funeral Home in Wilbur.
The sky is the limit for Max Verstappen, according to F1 legend Alain Prost.
Just days after his shock switch from Toro Rosso, the 18-year-old made history in Barcelona as he won his first grand prix for Red Bull.
"It's a breath of fresh air for F1," quadruple world champion Prost, an ambassador for Renault, told the French broadcaster Canal Plus.
"He certainly won the best race for a long time with great authority," said the Frenchman.
"He made not a single mistake since the beginning of the weekend, resisting the pressure of Raikkonen in the race.
"Although he benefitted from the collision of the two Mercedes drivers, his incredible maturity was really surprising. This is the confirmation of a champion.
"Now one wonders how far he can go," added Prost, "because he is only 18 and it's almost going too fast for him. He's already a star."
(GMM)
The 2015 annual reports demonstrate exceedingly high levels of overall compliance. Of the 52 entities who sell high carbon fuels, and have an obligation under the program, only a single companyAstra Oil Company LLCended the compliance period with a small shortfall of 337 credits and will be required to purchase the necessary credits from the LCFS Credit Clearance Market (CCM) between 1 June and 31 July 2016.
The California Air Resources Boards report on the state of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) program for the compliance year 2015 indicates a compliance rate of 98%, with a total of 5.49 million credits generated in the year. These credits are roughly the same as removing 1 million cars from the roads for a year in terms of preventing greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere.
The CCM is a cost-containment mechanism introduced into the regulation last year and allows a company to purchase credits offered for sale by producers who have generated a surplus. Sellers in the CCM voluntarily offer them into the pool of credits to be made available to other companies that may require them for compliance purposes.
Companies that have pledged credits to the CCM in 2016 include BP Products, North America Inc.; Calgren Renewable Fuels; and Titan El Toro LLC.
This program is succeeding: California has a thriving market for new, low-carbon fuels, there is an ample supply of low-carbon fuel credits, and the marketplace and the regulation provide businesses with the flexibility needed to comply. The Low Carbon Standard is fully delivering on its promise to drive innovation and create a thriving market that delivers clean, low-carbon fuels for the trucks, buses and cars in California. CARB Chair Mary D. Nichols
The Low Carbon Fuel Standard took effect in 2011, and is designed to lower carbon emissions generated at every stage of a fuels production. In California, transportation is the single largest sector for climate impact, responsible for 37% of the states total greenhouse gas emissions.
To date renewable and low-carbon fuels rewarded under the LCFS have displaced 5.3 billion gallons of gasoline, and 1.2 billion gallons of diesel fuel. Overall, the program has generated 16.55 million credits with a current balance (that is, over-compliance) of 7.41 million credits. Each credit is the equivalent of 1 metric ton of carbon dioxide.
The transportation sector is also responsible for the majority of the states air pollution which adversely impacts public health. Thus, by encouraging the production and use of clean fuels in California, the LCFS is reducing emissions of other pollutants of concern, ARB said.
Tetsuro Aikawa, President and COO of Mitsubishi Motors (MMC) in Japan, and Ryugo Nakao, Executive Vice President have resigned over the fuel economy testing scandal that emerged in April. ( Earlier post .) The resignations are effective 24 June 2016.
The company said it would decide on the successors at the board of directors meeting.
Nissan is swooping in to take a 34% equity stake in MMC for 237 billion (US$2.17 billion) in the wake of the unveiling of the scandal.
In Wyoming, if someone has a question about where their tax money is being spent or how much is spent on their county libraries, they can ask to look at the public documents containing that information.
However, there are people who think local governments should be able to charge their constituents a fee simply because they want to look at a list of employee salaries or a yearly budget. We think theyre wrong.
A proposed rule change in Wyoming would allow local governments to charge reasonable costs for producing and building a copy of an electronic record for inspection. The cost...
If we end up with President Donald Trump, we might have Bernie Sanders and some of his rabid followers to thank.
The ugly scene at the Nevada Democratic Convention Saturday, where Sanders partisans shouted down the speaker, threw chairs and otherwise acted like hooligans, warns that more violence is possible possibly even at the national convention in Philadelphia.
Sanders isn't going to win the nomination, despite his many primary and caucus victories. He can't accept that obvious fact and continues his campaign with the effect of weakening the candidate who will carry the Democratic banner against Trump, Hillary Clinton.
If his most zealous supporters also refuse to accept Sanders' defeat, will they stir up similar trouble the rest of the way? Will they refuse to back Clinton in November? Will they scare off other voters by confirming an image of the Democratic Party as consisting of undisciplined, irresponsible louts?
Isn't that supposed to be Trump's crowd?
It's notable that Trump and Sanders have tapped into a similar vein of anger and distrust among disaffected Americans. These emotions can spill over into violence.
Clinton is criticized for not generating "excitement." Our country doesn't need this kind of excitement. It's dangerous, but that's where we seem to be going.
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GREENWICH Five years ago, businessman Brian Peldunas created the Riverside Math Club for Girls Only to solve a numbers problem.
When his daughter, Julia, came home from her first day of third grade at Riverside School, she remarked on the gender ratio in her advanced math class. For the approximately 15 boys in the class, there was just one girl, Julia.
After I heard that, I said weve got to get some more girls in there, Peldunas said Tuesday, after a meeting of his fourth-grade students.
In the five years since then, Peldunas has figured out the equation for building a popular and engaging enrichment program that has attracted increasing numbers and is helping to tackle a gender gap in math education. The club is as important as ever, educators say, as they set new goals for math achievement that depend on students building a solid foundation in elementary school.
I want to underscore how important Brian's gift of time and talent are for advancing the mathematical skills and abilities of Greenwich Public Schools girl students, said Superintendent of Schools William McKersie, whose second-grade daughter, Riona, is a member of the club.
Held at Peldunas Riverside home, the club meetings for girls throughout town in grades 2 through 5 are fast-paced and lively. At a fourth-grade meeting Tuesday, Peldunas presided at his white board, explaining greatest common factors, divisibility and prime factorization. Hands shot up throughout the meeting, as students vied to give the quickest answers. They test their knowledge with periodic tests, and lots of games, including the Scrabble-like Equate.
There was even time Tuesday for a discussion about number theory involving the unsolved Goldbachs conjecture that states that every even integer greater than two can be the sum of two prime numbers.
You can really pay attention here, said Riverside School fourth-grader Lara Olmsted. Your mind doesnt space out.
About 55 girls are members of the club this school year, compared with only four when the club started.
The girls in the club rate Peldunas teaching skills highly.
Mr. Peldunas is so clear and patient, and he helps us in so many different ways, said Riverside School fourth-grader Julia Doss.
Peldunas is not a teacher by training he is a small-business owner who formerly worked at Credit Suisse but he has been involved in the school district for many years. He ran unsuccessfully for the Board of Education in 2013, and he also served on a committee that reviewed the districts elementary math curriculum.
Reflecting a nationwide gap, girls in the Greenwich school district still lag boys in enrollment in advanced math courses. In the 2014-15 school year, girls accounted for only 33 percent of those taking Advanced Learning Program math classes in grades 2 through 8, about the same percentage as the previous year.
Some of the girls particularly in second grade and third grade get switched off from math, Peldunas said. Theyre not interested in it. I want to try to get them to the point where theyre interested and where they might have a specialist math teacher who can encourage them or pull out whatever can keep them interested.
The progress of Peldunas students shows that the gap can be closed. Many of the girls in the club are on track to take algebra in eighth grade, which the Board of Education voted last month to re-establish as a long-term district goal.
Ive learned a lot, said Riverside School fifth-grader Emily Phillipps, who will take a higher-level math class in sixth grade. Its given me knowledge of things that were more advanced than what was on the tests.
Others in the club said that they envision using the skills they learn with Peldunas well into the future.
Math will help you with almost any career, said Riverside School fourth-grader Mary Kate Frey, an aspiring teacher. I want to learn a lot about math so I can use it further in life.
Parents said that they are pleased with their daughters progress in the club. A number of them have older daughters who also participated in the club.
Its become a family tradition, said Lara Olmsteds father, Paul Olmsted. Laras seventh-grader sister is an alumna of the club.
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GREENWICH Tom Gallagher is a regular parishioner at St. Catherine of Siena, where taking communion is an expression of faith that entails little more effort than a short drive on Sunday morning.
Last month, Gallagher found himself taking communion in Iraq with Christians displaced by war and persecution, not far from territory where overt displays of Christianity could bring a death sentence.
Very moving, Gallagher said of the experience. He went to northern Iraq to report on dangers facing Christians in the region for the National Catholic Reporter.
More than 125,000 Christian men, women and children have been forced from their homes over the past year by the spread in northern Iraq of the Islamic militant organization known as IS or the Islamic State group. Gallagher took part in a tour of the region with high-ranking Catholic clergy and an aid organization.
About 300,000 Christians are believed to live in Iraq, a number that has been steadily dropping, and the mission spearheaded by two Catholic bishops was aimed at showing support and increasing aid to the imperiled Christian community.
Gallagher, a corporate lawyer who has reported for the National Catholic Reporter, joined Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, and Bishop William Murphy of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y., on a tour of the refugee camps. Gallagher coordinated the trip with the Catholic Near East Welfare Association.
The Greenwich lawyer from Riverside was moved by the plight of Chaldean, Orthodox and Syrian Christians, along with a smattering of Roman Catholics, who were displaced by the ISIS invasion of their homes near Erbil.
They left with the shirts on their backs, babies in their arms. It was a sea of people, Gallagher said, How are they doing today? The shock seems to have worn off. But the camps are full, and theyre living in box containers, 20 feet by 7 feet, two windows and a door. Theyre a people in crises, and theres no relief in sight.
The mission was aimed at improving aid for the displaced population.
I and Bishop Murphy and Msgr. Kevin Sullivan have just spent almost five days going to places that are really loves and fishes operations, creating miracles with the little bit of money that they have, Cardinal Dolan said in a statement. We literally stand breathless and in admiration for the work they are doing. Think of what they can do with 10 times more resources.
Dolan was a particularly compelling figure in the camps, Gallagher recalled, putting his engaging manner to good use. It played to his strengths, said the visiting journalist.
Amid the misery of the situation, Gallagher said, he was impressed by the strength of the Christian community and its determination to hold onto its ancient homeland while maintaining the faith.
Watching the people manage this trauma, there was real determination there, he said.
Another positive aspect of the journey was to see the cooperative approach that Kurds and other non-Christian Iraqis have taken to protect and defend followers of the Gospels.
Christians and Muslims get along in many parts of the world. Thats important to remember. There are those positive examples, noted Gallagher.
Gallagher, who is more used to office work than dusty car rides with donkeys and palm trees for scenery, said his stint as a foreign correspondent was exciting.
Back in the United States, he said he feels a renewed urgency to assist in relief efforts and offer his services to the Dominican Sisters, who have taken a major role in the field.
Without hesitation, he said, Id love to go back.
Robert.Marchant@scni.com
The trailer in its pre-poodle days. Photo: RajingCajunBBQ/Twitter
Arizona police say they had to arrest a man who runs a barbecue food truck after he cooked the family dog in his smoker and blamed it on Satan. According to the police report, Raging Cajun Smoking BBQ owner Pat Thompson got upset after seeing his daughter with a T-shirt he believed had to do with the devil. His answer was to burn the offending piece of apparel in Raging Cajuns giant smoker trailer, but he added that the Bible required a male sacrifice in situations like these as well the options were Thompson, his 6-year-old son, or their poodle. Authorities say Thompson settled on the 15-pound dog as atonement and, despite the familys horrified pleas, added it to the lit smoker. He then went into the front yard and prayed until police arrived.
Thompson reportedly ranted to his family that the devil made him do it, but authorities are more interested, not shockingly, in the marijuana he said gave him an episode earlier that day (pot may trigger psychosis in people predisposed to mental illness). Raging Cajun has offered up the fact that Thompson was over-stressed from the business as apparently another alternate explanation. Hes currently in jail on charges that include animal cruelty and threats against his family, but his daughter said in a Facebook post (which has since come down) that the devil shouldnt declare this a victory just yet, because they plan to stay open and keep on barbecuing.
[KPHO, NYDN]
The good old days. Photo: Eva Hambach/AFP/Getty Images
On the list of things worth being nostalgic about, chain-coffee-shop baristas messing up your name should probably not even be in the running. But for a handful of Starbuckss Frappuccino faction, getting a coffee cup with the correct name is a future they dont want to belong to. The Wall Street Journal tracked down a handful of these dissatisfied Luddites, who complain that while they enjoy the convenience of the companys mobile ordering app, it has otherwise detracted from their experience. The problem for these customers isnt a buggy app though others complained about glitches like orders being sent to the wrong location but that names arent handwritten anymore, smiley faces are nowhere to be found, and excitedly anticipated mispronunciation is no longer a part of the customer-service experience. Some might argue that the real problem is the scourge of fake names and the associated stunts, but theyre misguided. The Luddites, though, know that these touches were what made getting coffee from an international behemoth with more than 24,000 locations worldwide different.
[WSJ]
It wont take long for the bartenders to remember your name here. Photo: Camilo Fuentealba
These are the finest places to sip a cocktail in peace after a dreary nine-to-five, or even just to grab some pints with co-workers, should you find yourself looking for a bar in midtown.
The Absolute Best 1. Hudson Malone
218 E. 53rd St., nr. Third Ave.; 212-355-6607 Doug Quinns bar opened in 2013, but it seems far older. It has little to do with the mahogany trim or all-purpose, dude-skewing nostalgia lining the walls. The thing here is that bartenders know what regulars drink. They offer up legitimate conversation, and that relationship pays dividends over time. The no-fuss classics an old-fashioned, a Bobby Burns, a Sidecar are made fast, and with precision. In other words, it creates the ideal environment in which basically anyone can unwind, which is exactly what you want. (Food options, like creamed spinach and an au jus beef sandwich that look like they were beamed in from the Eisenhower era, are a nice bonus, should you want to stay awhile.)
2. Tanner Smiths
204 W. 55th St., nr. Seventh Ave.; 646-590-2034
This cavernous bi-level space has all the hallmarks of a place thats named after a quasi-reformed gangster who was shot in the back in 1919: mounted heads of taxidermied fauna, ancient telephones, and copper teapots all retrofitted into a sleek space of reclaimed wood and bare brick. Several booths offer a welcome degree of privacy, the platoon of servers is attentive, and the tap list brims with beer-geek surprises like Rodenbach Grand Cru. The sprawling menu of the usual finger-food suspects (flatbreads, sliders, skewers) is also more polished than it needs to be. Most of all, the place can be really fun: Watch your bartender pump wood smoke into a cocktail of bourbon, maple syrup, and Jerry Thomas bitters. For a moment the plumes will hang in place like an Arthurian fog. Its a simple enough bit of cocktail artistry, but sufficient to make any spreadsheet wizard feel like a genuine magician after a long day.
3. Ardesia
510 W. 52nd St., nr. Tenth Ave.; 212-247-9191
The fact that a table of four can have a legitimate, shout-free conversation even when the handsome, bottle-lined bar is filled with customers puts Ardesia in a category by itself. Think of it as a veritable decompression chamber, but with solid Riesling choices and decent bar snacks. Wine prices start at $40 for a bottle, and the 30-seat patio is a major draw in warmer months. Cheese and charcuterie pairings are spot-on, and servers seem downright gleeful, not annoyed, around customers who dont know the first thing about mineral and oaky notes.
4. The Rum House
228 W. 47th St., nr. Broadway; 646-490-6942
The drinks are strong, and new options that are thematically tethered to one historic cocktail precedent or another are frequently rotated in. The extra-long happy hour runs from noon to 6 p.m., Monday to Friday, which makes the establishment a good choice for anyone knocking off a little early. Otherwise, the after-work crowd tends to descend in force, and theres a slim chance youll nab one of the coveted red-leather banquettes before 7 p.m. at the earliest. Despite this, the Rum House remains a haven for well-made drinks, such as a stellar nonpina colada pina colada, not to mention ragtime plunked out by a real live piano player.
5. Aldo Sohm Wine Bar
151 W. 51st St., nr. Seventh Ave.; 212-554-1143
The Le Bernardin teams megawatt wine bar was engineered to handle the fine-dining spots overflow and to provide a less formal setting for its loyal clientele. Two years after opening, though, the crowd has morphed gradually to accommodate a robust after-work contingent think actuaries who moonlight as pet-nat enthusiasts, or an off-duty diplomat raving about Zalto stemware. Bottle prices range from a bargain $36 Gruner to a $2,600-something Romanee-Conti. By-the-glass options include a budget Zierfandler, a flight of three Portuguese wines for less than $20, and a dry Lambrusco that tastes like strawberries and is nicer than what youd get for twice the price at neighboring establishments.
6. Jimmys Corner
140 W. 44th St., nr. Broadway; 212-221-9510
Its always crowded, usually civil, and is these days the lone Times Square holdout against the forces of Disneyfication and slender new skyscrapers that pierce the clouds. James Lee Glenn, a former trainer and the bars sainted namesake, started off decades ago with the idea of celebrating the boxers whose photos hang on his walls, and to offer a place to catch part of a match. These days, mixed drinks are still undiluted and still $5 or less, and hundreds of signed dollar bills are taped to the back bar, as a lingering sign of patrons both past and present. It still gets crowded, but what Jimmys lacks in legroom it makes up for by never having pulled any punches.
7. Crimson & Rye
198 E. 54th St., at Third Ave., 212-687-6692
You can grab after-work drinks out of the office building, but its possibly a little more convenient when theyre in the actual lobby. Thats the situation here, with Charlie Palmers well-appointed space taking up residence in one corner of the Lipstick Buildings ground floor. Theres a team of crackerjack, leather-suspendered barkeeps with unfurled bags of esoteric cocktail tools and stations stocked with assorted elixirs. Theres also some welcome experimentation here: Trendy 96-proof baijiu is the star of one cocktail, and a bartender might drop some crushed dried rose petals into another. Order a punch bowl of Lipstick Fizz, which contains Navy-strength gin, lemon juice, soda, and grenadine made in house. It serves five or six and costs $66. Bourbons, single malts, and the establishments namesake spirit are also well-represented.
Sushi Noz transports you to Tokyo. Photo: Scott Heins
In the world of high-end, big-city dining, few subjects elicit more passion and contentious argument than the delicate, subjective, ever-changing realm of first-class sushi. This is especially true these days, when a new, younger generation of chefs from Japan is opening restaurants around town, and some local sushi aesthetes we know are beginning to whisper that in terms of the variety of styles and even in terms of quality, New York might actually be beginning to rival Tokyo itself (which, to be fair, generally boasts only the traditional edomae style). Here are our current favorite destinations for a pure sushi fix, which we humbly present for your debating pleasure, with the usual caveats that the last sushi dinners one has had (Sushi Noz and Ichimura, in our case) have a way of lingering foremost in the mind, and that it always helps, in the realm of big-city sushi, to have an expense account or a high-roller friend (or two) in tow to foot the extravagant bill.
The Absolute Best 1. Sushi Noz
181 E. 78th St., nr. Lexington Ave.; 917-338-1792 Its always been chic, in New Yorks high-end sushi circles, to trace your lineage back to the old masters in Tokyo. Few restaurants have managed this theatrical trick in quite such an elaborate and convincing way as this polished little atelier on the Upper East Side, with its white stucco facade, kimono-clad wait staff, and hushed little rooms constructed without nails in the ancient sukiya style. But what distinguishes this pricey new restaurant ($300 for the full chefs-choice dinner, prepaid, before a drop of champagne or sake passes your lips) from the rest of the gilded new crop of sushi palaces around the city is the recent addition of the sushi-only six-seat Ash Room, where dinner costs a little over half the price of chef Nozomu Abes expertly presented full menu next-door (cod milt soup, anyone?) and allows you a taste of the elegant, beautifully sourced nigiri portion of the omakase experience without breaking the bank.
2. Ichimura at Uchu
217 Eldridge St., nr. Stanton St.; 212-203-7634
Photo: Scott Heins
After wandering in the proverbial desert for a short time following the unfortunate blow-up of his eponymous project down in Tribeca, one of the citys great masters of the edomae style has found a properly palatial home at this discreet, big-money tasting-room complex on Eldridge Street. With its flattering lighting, wide pine-wood bar, and soft, red leather chairs, the little room is surpassingly stylish, and the same goes for Ichimura himself, who doles out his impeccable omakase menu nattily dressed in a traditional Japanese yukata. If there were a slightly less expensive way to get a taste of the plump, shiny scallops, or the delicately cross-hatched ika, or the multitude of toro variations (we counted four different kinds), this posh little establishment might be at the top of the list, but if you have $300 in your pocket (before tax, tip, and the invariable carafes of sake), we suggest you run, dont walk, down to Eldridge Street.
3. Sushi Satsuki
114 W. 47th St., nr. Sixth Ave.; 212-278-0047
Photo: Scott Heins
Former Sushi Zen chef Toshio Suzuki is one of the OG godfathers of the citys sushi scene, and if you happen to have $230 at your disposal, its a pleasure, early in the evening or after the lunchtime rush, to slip into one of the eight seats at this tastefully appointed subterranean bar on West 47th Street and listen to him discourse in his friendly, dignified way on the traditional style of doing things. Everything we tasted was top-notch, but pay attention to the chefs signature eggy tamago, which he mixes the way the sushi masters in the old country taught him to do, with dashes of tofu and yam, because eggs were a scarce commodity back in wartime Tokyo.
4. Noda
6 W. 28th St., nr. Fifth Ave.; 212-481-2432
With its violet-cushioned chairs and elaborately stocked whiskey bar, this discreet Flatiron establishment looks an awful lot like a caricature of a young bond traders fantasy sushi den, but the young Tokyo chef, Shigeyuki Tsunoda, serves one of the better new omakases in town. Our edomae-style 14-course nigiri-sushi dinner included maki rolls made with long, silvery strips of mackerel, fat grilled scallops folded in slips of toasted nori seaweed, and slices of esoteric cherry sea trout, which, as the genial chef will tell you in his polished English, inhabit the tidal river estuaries of northern Hokkaido in the spring. At $285, the prices arent cheap, but the meal is filled with subtle touches, and toward the end of dinner Tsunoda mixes a great bowl of tuna tartare, which he hands around to his customers folded into nori hand rolls, like hes serving guests at a party.
5. Sushi Yasuda
204 E. 43rd St., nr. Third Ave.; 212-972-1001
There are more intimate and inventive sushi parlors around town, but as weve written before, few of them combine the clean, purist style of Tokyo with the big-city hustle-bustle of New York in such a unique and satisfying way. The best seat in the house at this midtown mainstay is at the bar, of course, during the weekday lunchtime rush, when the room is filled with a mix of tourists, Japanese salarymen, and animated wise-guy regulars from the trading desks around the neighborhood. The omakase is aggressively priced, and not as intimate or polished as other chef-centric restaurants on this list, so do what the lunchtime regulars do and order a la carte.
6. Shoji at 69 Leonard Street
69 Leonard St., nr. Church St.; 212-404-4600
Photo: Scott Heins
The presence of the genial Derek Wilcox behind the counter at this top-notch Tribeca omakase joint might come as a shock to traditionalists who are used to receiving their monthly (or yearly) rations of fatty otoro from lordly Japanese gentlemen who can trace their pedigrees back through generations of chefs in Japan. But never fear, sushi snobs. Wilcox grew up in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., and spent a decade learning the intricacies of the trade in the restaurants and fish markets around Tokyo and Kyoto with a kind of converts fervor. At $252 per head (there are slightly cheaper and also more lavish menu options, but this is the most popular), the price of dinner here is on par with other high-tone sushi palaces around the city, and as one carefully sourced, well-constructed little course succeeds another (triggerfish from Montauk, Atlantic bluefin tuna belly, uni from Hokkaido and California, sweet little spot prawns from Santa Barbara), so is the quality.
7. Shuko
47 E. 12th St., nr. Broadway; 212-228-6088
Photo: Carolyn Griffin
Nick Kim and Jimmy Laus popular, much-praised (including by us) Union Square operation tumbles a little in these updated rankings for all the usual reasons the unrelenting crush of popularity, the arrival in town of a new wave of competition, the challenges of innovation, and the sense, on our last visit, of the same ideas being repeated again and again. By todays standards, however, $180 is not a bad price to pay for a full mini-omakase feast (up to 16 pieces of sushi with a few non-sushi items thrown in), and theres still no glorified fish house in town that combines upscale quality with that down-home, distinctively infectious New York City backbeat.
8. Sushi Amane
245 E. 44th St., nr. Second Ave.; 212-986-5300
Photo: Scott Heins
There are some purists who consider this high-priced, no-frills, eight-seat operation in the basement of the upscale restaurant Mifune to be the ultimate Tokyostyle sushi experience in town, and why not? The young chef is Shion Uino, who began his apprenticeship with the venerable Takashi Saito of Tokyos three-star Sushi Saito at the age of 18. His sourcing (most of the fish are wild-caught around Japanese waters) and effortless, deceptively simple style youll find no signature sake cocktails here, nor newfangled fusion caviar rolls, and the cool, subtly eggy tamago is one of the best in town mirror the master, although New Yorkers who are used to a certain kind of theatrical style (yes, the lighting in the cinder block-walled room is a tad harsh) might want a little more bang for their 250 bucks.
9. Sushi Nakazawa
23 Commerce St., nr. Seventh Ave. S.; 212-924-2212
According to our spies, the infectiously genial Chef Nakazawa is not in evidence behind the counter much anymore, although in case you havent heard, theres a signature Nakazawa Caviar Russe on the menu, and the chefs name is conveniently emblazoned on the bottom of every serving tray for Instagram branding purposes. Except for the slightly over-gummy rice, however, the quality of the product was as good as ever when we dropped in for a pleasant lunch not long ago, and if you avoid the thousand-dollar bottles of sake and wine, and the endless upselling offers (yes, there is A-5 Wagyu), the omakase option ($150 at the counter, $120 at a table) is a true bargain compared to the aggressively priced sushi joints around town.
10. Tanoshi Sushi
1372 York Ave., nr. 73rd St.; 917-265-8254
There are much grander venues in this neighborhood in which to get your elevated sushi fix these days, but not many of them combine the relaxed, slightly ramshackle sense of intimacy and occasion that this quirky little York Avenue institution does a testament to the legacy of the late, great chef-owner, Toshio Oguma. The greatest drawing card used to be the prices, which hovered in the mid-two figures for the standard 12-piece omakase for years. Lately, weve noticed, theyve been creeping up toward the $100 mark.
11. Sushi Ginza Onodera
461 Fifth Ave., nr. 40th St.; 212-390-0925
Photo: Sophie Fabbri
The grandiose Fifth Avenue outlet of this lavishly upmarket Tokyobased omakase operation is beloved by members of the no-expenses-spared, Midtown sushi-bro set, and if you happen to get hooked in to the trophy sakes and wines, the grandest $400 omakase option can balloon into the four-figure stratosphere in a hurry. The lunchtime prices tend to be more reasonable ($150 and under for a 10 to 15-piece meal) in a relative, sushi-plutocrat kind of way, and according to our sources in midtown, theres now a $70 futomaki to-go option filled with all sorts of goodies (seawater eel, prawns, shiitake mushrooms), which you can take back to the office tower and devour at your trading desk.
12. Kura
130 St. Marks Pl., nr. Ave. A; 212-228-1010
Norihiro Ishizukas snug little operation on the western edge of Tompkins Square Park is a throwback to the peaceful, relatively democratic, not-so-distant days before $300 menus and packs of verbose, Billionswatching sushi bros invaded the upper echelons of the citys sushi scene. The atmosphere is cheerful and unhurried, the menu is nicely sourced (sea scallops tipped with yuzu, silvery slices of jack fish and sardines, four different grades of tuna), and its one of the last neighborly-feeling sushi establishments where the prices arent officially insane.
13. Sushi Zo
88 W. 3rd St., nr. Sullivan St.; 646-405-4826
Many of the citys established sushi masters (Masa Takayama, Jimmy Lau) got their start in L.A., but if New Yorkers want to experience the uniquely spare, no-nonsense West Coast omakase style, this unassuming 14-seat branch of the famous L.A. restaurant of the same name is the place to do it. In keeping with the L.A. schools famously no-frills, Zen-like aesthetic, the atmosphere in this unobtrusive little dining room just below Washington Square is quiet, bordering on hushed. The fish is fresh, expertly sourced, and beautifully cut, and your only option every evening is the take-it-or-leave-it $200 chefs-choice omakase dinner. This seemed like an awful lot to pay when the restaurant opened a couple of years back, but compared to todays increasingly stratospheric power-sushi prices, it could almost be considered a relative bargain.
14. O Ya
120 E. 28th St., nr. Lexington Ave.; 212-204-0200
The room, lying off of an anonymous, Flatiron District hotel lobby, lacks the intimacy of a great sushi bar, its true. The elaborate, layered style that Tim and Nancy Cushman and their little army of cooks helped popularize over the last decade, first in Boston and now here, has also been overwhelmed, in recent years especially here in New York by the rise of a new generation of Tokyocentric edomae purists. But the vibe remains refreshingly relaxed, and if you have the necessary resources and dont feel like groveling for a seat at one of the citys stuffy omakase palaces, this isnt a bad option.
15. Sushi Katsuei
Multiple locations
The original Brooklyn location. Photo: Christian Rodriguez
This popular little Park Slope establishment has long been a favorite haunt of local sushi snobs who prize variety (you can choose from uni trucked in from Maine, or flown in from Hokkaido) and provenance (most of the fish comes from local Atlantic waters or the Tsukiji Market in Tokyo). Theres a kosher omakase option available, and at $52 for the most basic sushi omakase option ($60 at the West Village branch, which opened not long ago on Sixth Avenue), the prices are hard to beat.
16. Sushi of Gari
402 E. 78th St., nr. First Ave.; 212-517-5340
The great Masatoshi Gari Sugio runs a large, unruly, somewhat uneven chain of high-end sushi joints around the city these days, but if you want to experience the vivid, high-wire creations that made him famous, this original, snug little flagship restaurant, which opened back in 1997 on a leafy, unobtrusive stretch of 78th Street near First Avenue, is the place to do it. As usual, the best seats in the house are at the bar, which seats only ten and tends to be filled with devoted regulars. Call well in advance for your spot, or show up early, like we do, and beg.
17. Sushi Seki
1143 First Ave., nr. 63rd St.; 212-371-0238
Theres a Seki branch in Times Square these days, and another one in Chelsea, but like the original Gari, this Upper East Side flagship, which opened in 2002, retains a little of the glamour and style that launched the franchise. As with his great compatriot, Gari, Chef Seki is rarely seen behind the counter these days, but the menu features omakases priced for every income level (the nine-piece, one-roll Seki Special is currently $49). As far as we know, the bar remains a favorite haunt for noted neighborhood sushi fiends Eric Ripert and Daniel Boulud, and like any chef hangout worth its salt, it still stays open until 2:30 a.m.
This post has been updated throughout.
Nokia is back! The former phone king officially announced its plan to return to the world of phones, smartphones and tablets. And to answer your burning question - yes, it will be Android smartphones and tablets!
This move will include the formation of a new company - HMD global Oy, a newly founded company based in Finland that will be headed Arto Nummela as CEO, who was a senior Nokia exec in the past and currently manages a big chunk of Microsoft's phone divisions.
Nokia will take a seat on the board of directors of HMD and will set standards for performance and brand requirements so "that all Nokia-branded products exemplify consumer expectations of Nokia devices, including quality, design and consumer-focused innovation."
HMD will pump $500 million in global marketing over the next three years to revitalize the Nokia name, which has been cooling off after years of relative inactivity.
There's another company FIH Mobile Limited, a subsidiary of Foxconn. It will acquire the rights to Nokia feature phones from Microsoft in the second half of this year for $350 million. It also acquires Microsoft Mobile Vietnam, which along with its 4,500 employees were responsible for manufacturing the Nokia-branded feature phones.
Nokia has signed an agreement with FIH "to establish a collaboration framework to support the building of a global business for Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablet."
As Nokia's announcement warns "there is still much work for HMD to do, so youll need to wait a bit longer to see what the next wave of Nokia phones and tablets look like."
Source 1 Source 2 Source 3
Just last week, there were reports that Android Pay's UK launch is imminent. And earlier today, the mobile payments service actually started rolling out in the country, with the official Android Twitter account saying, "Download #AndroidPay today from @GooglePlay. Now available in the UK."
However, the joy was short-lived as a follow-up tweet from the same account effectively confirmed that the launch has been withdrawn:
Excited for #AndroidPay in the UK? We are too! Not quite there yet, but keep checking back Android (@Android) May 17, 2016
While there was no word on exactly why the launch was pulled, the tweet does suggest that someone at Google jumped the gun and pressed the launch button.
It's worth mentioning that Google has already announced a list of banks whose credit and debit cards will be supported by Android Pay in the UK. What's more, some businesses have even started advertising that they accept payments through the service.
Source
After announcing the new Moto G4 line-up, Motorola has now also announced the availability details for the devices. Both Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus are now available for purchase in Brazil, while the Plus variant is on sale in India as well.
The two versions "will arrive soon in various countries across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific," the company said in a blog post. As for the Moto G4 Play, it will go on sale globally starting later this summer.
Specifically, Motorola also announced the Canadian availability for the Moto G4 Plus, saying that the device will be available in the country by early summer. The Moto G4 Play is expected to land in Canada in late summer, like it is the case globally. The standard Moto G4, it looks like, won't land in Canada.
Source | Via
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Haiti - Security : Sandra Honore condemns the attack on the Police Station of Les Cayes
Tuesday in a note Sandra Honore, the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) of the United Nations has condemned in the strongest terms the attack against the Police Station of Les Cayes, which occurred Monday by an armed commando https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17467-haiti-flash-an-armed-commando-attack-the-police-station-of-les-cayes.html
Ms. Honore "[...] Salute the professionalism of the PNH to restore calm and arrest the people responsible for this murderous attack against the institution in charge of public safety.
The SRSG and the Minustah offer their condolences to the family of police officer killed and a speedy recovery to the injured police officers. The SRSG calls to pursue, in accordance with the prescribed of the rule of law, all persons involved in the attack.
The Minustah will continue to support the PNH in its
continuous professionalization, the strengthening of its institutional and operational capacity and in its efforts to fight against crime in order to consolidate security and stability in Haiti."
See also :
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17467-haiti-flash-an-armed-commando-attack-the-police-station-of-les-cayes.html
HL/ HaitiLibre
Haiti - FLASH : Shootout in Petit-Goave
Despite the arrest in mid-March of a dozen suspected members of the gang Haute tension https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-16892-icihaiti-flash-12-suspected-members-of-the-gang-haute-tension-arrested.html and that of his Chief, Jean Michel Hilaire on May 2 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17341-haiti-flash-arrest-of-dangerous-gang-leader-haute-tension.html the Gang "Haute tension" continues of making talk weapons and spreading terror in Petit-Goave.
In Sunday night to Monday 16th May, members of the gang "Haute tension" pened fire on the residence of Benis Sincere, an employee of the Court of First Instance of Petit-Goave who also runs a security brigade at Fort-Liberte where is perpetuated vandalism.
No loss of life is recorded, however, the many bullet holes on the walls of the house reflects the intensity of the shooting "from the first shot, we threw on the floor. The bandits fired long on our house and they also threw stones. We have been saved by God," declared Benis who had already received threats for his fight against insecurity.
Moreover, always in the night from Sunday to Monday, the members of this gang have ransomed people on the national road #2 (at Cupide and village Codnor, Petit-Goave).
The police intervened, but the perpetrators had already had time to escape, we learned from a reliable source.
HL/ HaitiLibre / Guyto Mathieu (Correspondant Petit-Goave)
Haiti - Diplomacy : Privert welcomes the re-election of President Medina
In a note, the President a.i. Jocelerme Privert addressed his warmest congratulations to Dominican President Danilo Medina of the party "Partido de la Liberacion Dominicana" (PLD), for his re-election (2nd term) during the presidential election, held Sunday, May 15, 2016, with 61.61% of votes against his main rival Luis Abinader, of the "Partido Revolucionario Moderno" (PRM) which obtained 35.22% of votes.
On behalf of the Government and people of Haiti "the Head of State formulates his best wishes to the President of the Dominican Republic and reaffirmes his willingness to consolidate the cordial relations that have always characterized the history of both countries. The President of the Republic hopes that the cooperation between the Dominican Republic and Haiti will continue and strengthen in this new administration."
HL/ HaitiLibre
Haiti - Justice : Action to annul the agreement of February 5, 2016
In a note signed by Leonard Jean Renal Nau, the Secretary General of the Coordination of Support Group to the 1987 Constitution (GSC), informs that in accordance with its mission of combating violations of the Constitution, the GSC has seized on 13 May, the Court of First Instance (TPI) of Port-au-Prince in its referred assignments, of an action for nullity of the agreement of 5 February 2016 for its unconstitutionality, its illegality and its nullity.
The case, currently recorded in the Registry of TPI of Port-au-Prince at #673 and distributed by Dean Bernard Sainvil on the petition of Judge Maxime Pierre, will be discussed Friday, May 20, 2016.
The GSC specifies that "This action involves the responsibility of signatories to the said agreement, including amon others the Former President Michel Joseph Martelly, the Provisional President Jocelerme Privert, the President of the Chamber of Deputies Cholzert Chancy, the Senate President and the DGI as a representative of the Haitian State.
[...] The GSC invites the general public, law students, members of the legal fraternity, the Young Bar of Port-au-Prince in particular to come to express their support for the GSC to demand respect for the principle of strict enforcement of the Constitution.
Download the original document of the lawsuit of the GSC : https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/GSC.pdf
HL/ HaitiLibre
Haiti - News : Zapping politics...
Rosny Desroches fears the rejection of the findings of the Commission
Rosny Desroches, head of the Civil Society Initiative (ISC) notes the progress in the framework of the agreement of 6 February but expresses concern about the work of the verification commission, which according to him, is far from being unanimously among different policy sectors. He believes that the sample of 25% of the minutes will not change anything compared to the 15% originally selected. He expressed concern about the rejection of the conclusions of the Commission by some party...
Election timetable late May
Tuesday, at a press conference, Nicole Simeon, the Spokesman of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) declared that the electoral timetable will be released May 31, 2016 (originally scheduled between 15 and 31 May), saying "
We can not wait for the completion of the Verification Commission to continue working [...]"
Amending budget will not meet the needs
According to the Deputy Antoine Rodon Bien-Aime, President of the Permanent Commission "Economy and Finance" of the Lower House, the analysis of the draft amending budget 2015/2016 by the Commission began Monday. However he stressed that the amending budget, given the economic situation, can not meet the needs and demands of the moment.
Fanmi Lavalas denounces a lack of collaboration at CTV
The former Lavalas Senator Yvon Feuille, observer at the Vote Tabulation Centre (CTV), denounces the lack of collaboration between the technicians assigned to the Commission and the staff of the Centre.
LAPEH want electronic voting
Pascalnard Denis, the representative of "Alternative League for Progress of Haiti" (LAPEH) at the Votes Tabulation Center said he hopes the use of electronic voting in the next elections in order to reduce irregularities.
PM at the funeral of Me Gary Lissade
Tuesday, Prime Minister Enex Jean-Charles attended the funeral of Me Gary Lissade, former Minister of Justice and Public Security to the Church Saint Pierre of Petion-ville https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17413-haiti-social-passing-away-of-former-justice-minister-louis-gary-lissade.html . By his presence, Prime Minister Jean-Charles wanted, on behalf of the government and the Haitian people pay a last tribute to Me Lissade whose disappearance reveals a great loss for the country. https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17466-haiti-news-zapping-politics.html
HL/ HaitiLibre
Published on 2016/05/17 | Source
Kang Ye-won and Jin Ji-hee have been confirmed for 'Baek-hee is Back'.
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Kang Ye-won and Jin Ji-hee will play the main characters, Mother and Daughter in KBS 2TV's Monday & Tuesday drama, 'Baek-hee is Back'. The duo are anticipated to present the fabulous mother-daughter chemistry that will threw the quiet island Seomwoldo into utter confusion.
'Baek-hee is Back' is a comedy family drama depicting the story about the main character Yang Baek-hee, who launders her identity and returns to her hometown village, the quiet island, Seomwoldo in 18 years.
Kang Ye-won will play Yang Baek-hee who used to stir up the entire island with her splendid beauty and the untouchable toughness. She launders her identity and turns into a natural food recipe developer and returns to her hometown village, Seomwoldo along with her daughter Ok-hee in 18 years since she left the island.
Jin Ji-hee will play Sin Ok-hee, Yang Baek-hee's daughter. Since day one Ok-hee at her new school on the island, she puts the entire school under her control. She is anticipated to bring the rebellious and unpredictable character to life. Her action bolder than her mother during her younger days will capture the attention from drama fans for sure.
'Baek is Back' will begin at 10 in the afternoon on June 6th.
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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.
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Foxx to Host Information Session for Veterans
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., today announced that she will host an information session for veterans on Friday, June 17, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the VFW Post 9010, 4675 Hampton Road, Clemmons, NC 27012.
The entire nation owes our military personnel and veterans a huge debt of gratitude, and ensuring that debt is properly repaid is one of my top priorities in Congress, said Foxx. It is always an honor to assist veterans from the 5th District in any way possible, and I hope they find this event informative and beneficial.
Representatives from nonprofit organizations and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will be on hand to answer questions from veterans and their families as well as provide information and guidance regarding obtaining available benefits.
For more information or to RSVP, please contact Patricia Bandy at (336) 778-0211 or[email protected].
Evening Programs on the Parkway May 28
Linville Falls Campground Amphitheater Milepost 316
7:00pm Wilderness Skills: What to do when
During your adventures along the Blue Ridge Parkway, you may encounter wildlife. This can be an awe inspiring event or one filled with fear. Come find out how to deal with these encounters so that both you and the wildlife can continue to enjoy your time along the Parkway.
Approximately 45 minutes in length
Crabtree Falls Campground Amphitheater- Milepost 340
7:00pm- Dinosaurs and the Blue Ridge Mountains
Can you find dinosaur fossils in the mountains around here? This is a frequently asked question by our Park visitors. Learn the answer and more about dinosaurs, fossils, geology and paleontology of the mountains of Western North Carolina at this ranger led program.
Live Music This Weekend at Banner Elk Cafe
Live music on the Patio this weekend at
The Banner Elk Cafe & The Lodge Espresso Bar and Eatery. Friday, May 20th 6-10pm The Boomers Saturday, May 21st 6-10pm Jonathan Maness Paws for a Cause Doggie Fun Walk and 5K June 4 in Newland Paws for a Cause is a FUN-draiser taking place in Newland to benefit the hard work that the Avery Humane Society does every day. All proceeds go to provide necessary supplies, medicine, treatments, love and shelter for Avery Countys animals in need. Visit https://runsignup.com/race/nc/newland/pawsforacause for more informatino or email [email protected]
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(Reuters) Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) senior managers agree with many of the criticisms made by British hedge fund TCI about the performance of Europes largest carmaker, according to a letter seen by Reuters.
In a letter sent by Volkswagen Chief Financial Officer Frank Witter on May 17, addressed to Sir Chris Hohn, Europes largest carmaker responded to criticism that it was in need of a performance hike and a new governance structure.
The Volkswagen Group always welcomes constructive dialogue with its investors and we appreciate that you have taken the time to set out your views, a copy of the letter, seen by Reuters said.
to read this article:
The modifications will be based on updated assessments of the security situations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, which are estimated to have improved to the extent that it is possible for asylum seekers to return to these areas without the ongoing armed conflicts posing a threat to them because of their presence in the country.
Nearly 80 people were killed and more than 140 wounded after three explosive devices were detonated in Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Jaana Vuorio, the director general at Migri, explains in an interview with Helsingin Sanomat that it is essentially a question of whether or not Baghdad is so unsafe that all of its eight million residents would be eligible for asylum in Europe.
The answer is no, it isn't, she says to the newspaper.
Migri also announces that it will no longer grant residence permits on grounds of humanitarian protection a permit category previously used exclusively in Finland following an amendment introduced to the Aliens Act on Monday. The grounds for granting residence permits based on international protection will therefore be limited to the asylum procedure and subsidiary protection.
Finland has granted residence permits on grounds of humanitarian protection to applicants who do not satisfy the requirements for subsidiary protection but are unable to return to their home country due to an armed conflict or environmental catastrophe.
The amendments will not affect the validity period of already granted residence permits. Permit holders who have been granted a residence permit on grounds of humanitarian protection will, however, have to apply for a new permit on other grounds following the expiry of their current permit, reminds Migri.
Aleksi Teivainen HT
Photo: Vesa Moilanen Lehtikuva
The Government waved its magic wand and brought peace to at least three countries. Finland has determined that it is principally safe in all areas of Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, Olli-Poika Parviainen (Greens) writes on his blog.
The newly-updated assessments of the security situations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia have raised serious concerns among members of the opposition.
The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) announced yesterday that its updated assessments indicate that the security situations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia have improved to the extent that the ongoing armed conflicts are no longer such a threat that they would prevent asylum seekers from returning to their countries of origin.
Migri also announced that it will no longer grant residence permits to asylum seekers on grounds of humanitarian protection as per to amendments made to the Aliens Act on Monday.
Parviainen points out that the travel recommendations of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs describe the security situation in Somalia as poor and unpredictable, that in Iraq as poor and that in Afghanistan as unstable.
It is absolutely clear that these countries are by no means safe, he concludes.
Ville Niinisto, the chairperson of the Green League, is similarly concerned about the updated guidelines. It is a sad conclusion about the moral collapse of the Finnish Government that these countries are only considered safe for people who are seeking protection for themselves and their families from dangerous conditions, he writes on Facebook.
Niinisto also points out that the decision to no longer grant residence permits on grounds of humanitarian protection will complicate the position of environmental refugees.
Aleksi Teivainen HT
Photo: Roni Rekomaa Lehtikuva
Source: Uusi Suomi
A fifteen-year-old boy died in a high-speed crash just before Christmas in a car bought online for 400, an inquest heard.
Front-seat passenger Dayne Cody was pronounced dead at the scene.
The transition-year student was one of five young males travelling in the 2.5l Kia Magentis that spun out of control and hit a tree on Station Road, Clondalkin, on December 20 2014.
Dublin Coroner's Court heard the car was advertised for 500 and the registered owner had given a real name but a false address and engaged a seller who was paid 50 to sell it.
"The owner got 350," Det Insp Richard McDonnell told Dublin Coroner's Court, adding that the unregulated sale of cars on websites such as Done Deal is a "major, major issue".
"We have had incidents where two or three cars have been made into one, it happens on a regular basis," Det Insp McDonnell said.
Coroner Dr Brian Farrell said it was an area "in great need of regulation".
"It just seems anyone can purchase anything from this website and there is no regulation," he said.
Giving evidence, the driver told the inquest he was 16 when he saw the car for sale online and took the bus to Swords to buy it.
Screaming
He got off the 41 bus at the last stop and paid the seller 400 for the car. Later, with friends, he was driving to get petrol when he saw a Garda van and sped up at Station Road.
"I thought they were coming after us," he said in his deposition. "I woke up screaming for help."
The driver, who had no licence, was convicted of dangerous driving causing death on November 19, 2015. He was sentenced to 16 months' detention.
Gda David O'Brien said: "There are no rules or regulations . . . as regards selling cars that are not roadworthy, anybody can do it. The person selling it doesn't really care about who they are selling it to."
The rear tyres on the car were well worn, one excessively, forensic collision investigator Garda Edward Davin said.
Dayne Cody - from Barnville Park, Ballyfermot, Dublin 10 - was pronounced dead at the scene.
He died of multiple injuries consistence with a road traffic accident. Toxicology reports showed neither he nor the driver had taken drugs or alcohol.
The jury returned a verdict of dangerous driving causing death in accordance with the Circuit Criminal Court finding.
The coroner said he would contact the Department of Transport to convey the jury's recommendations, which include measures to prevent the selling of cars without a valid NCT and to underage drivers.
A man who was mugged while paying for groceries at a 24-hour petrol station bravely chased after and caught the culprit, a court heard.
Michael Ward (25) snatched 250 from the victim's hand and he ran away.
An off-duty garda saw what was happening, he intervened and he helped the young victim to detain the defendant.
Sentencing Ward to four months in jail, Judge David McHugh said he had committed "a vile act on an innocent person".
The defendant, with an address at Morgan Place in Blanchardstown, admitted before Blanchardstown District Court to stealing 250.
The incident took place at Esso On The Run, Navan Road, Dublin 15 on January 17 last.
Garda Canice Phelan said the petrol station is open 24 hours and the victim had gone to the hatch to buy a number of items when Ward snatched the money from him and ran off.
Gda Phelan said the injured party chased after Ward and caught him.
Gda Phelan said the victim, who is a foreign national, was helped by an off-duty garda who came upon the scene and Ward was arrested.
Convictions
The court heard Ward has 21 previous convictions, including six theft-related matters.
He hasn't been in trouble for three years.
Defence solicitor Mark O'Sullivan said Ward had 400 compensation for the victim.
Mr O'Sullivan said the defendant was very drunk at the time of the incident, was very remorseful for his behaviour, and had apologised to the victim prior to court.
Mr O'Sullivan said it is clear the defendant has a problem with alcohol.
He said Ward can go months without consuming any alcohol, but when he does drink he cannot handle it.
Mr O'Sullivan said Ward, who is married with two young children, really wants to turn his life around, and realises this is the "last chance saloon".
He asked the judge to test Ward's bona fides and impose a suspended sentence.
Judge McHugh refused to impose a suspended sentence, saying Ward had committed a "woeful act of thuggery".
The judge sentenced Ward to four months in jail, adding that he "should be getting eight months".
Ward immediately appealed the sentence.
The scene of a collision between a car and a mini-bus at Whitehall which caused major traffic disruption (Photo: Tony Gavin)
A number of people were hospitalised after a mini-bus carrying passengers with special needs collided with a car in the capital.
Emergency services, including paramedics and gardai, attended the scene in Whitehall, Dublin yesterday afternoon.
The incident occurred at the junction of Swords Road and Collins Avenue at approximately 3.10pm.
A garda spokesperson confirmed four people were brought to hospital following the incident, which included the two drivers.
They were brought to Beamount and the Mater Hospital. However, their injuries were not described as serious.
It is understood the minibus was carrying a number of people with special needs when it collided with a white Audi with a northern registration plate.
A spokesperson for the Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB) confirmed that five of their units attended the scene, along with ambulances from the eastern region of the HSE.
Gardai also attended and a cordon was put in place while paramedics tended to the drivers and passengers.
Tailbacks
Severe traffic delays were also caused as a result of the collision, with tailbacks affecting the Swords Road and Collins Avenue.
Separately, figures released at the most recent Joint Policing Committee (JPC) meeting of Dublin City Council showed that the number of road deaths and serious road traffic collisions in the capital are increasing.
Figures supplied by Assistant Garda Commissioner Jack Nolan show that seven lives have so far been lost on Dublin's roads, compared to four in the same period last year.
For the period up to the end of April there were also 27 serious injury collisions, compared to 21 in the same period in 2015.
Mr Nolan said that "reduction in road deaths and serious injury collisions remains a focus for An Garda Siochana".
Mid-ranking gardai have warned of official strike action - despite such a move being illegal - if the Government refuses to engage in direct negotiations over pay restoration.
It comes as around 300 off-duty gardai marched on the Department of the Taoiseach.
The group began at Castle Street before walking to Merrion Street Upper and delivering a letter to a representative of Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, demanding talks.
John Jacob, general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI), said there would be no repeat of the 'blue flu' where gardai called in sick en masse in 1998.
"We know that the blue flu, the public didn't appreciate it. If it's a matter that we are withdrawing labour, we will declare we are withdrawing labour.
"We won't hide behind the blue flu, we will come out publicly and say this is a legitimate protest and this is what we are doing. And if there has to be consequences, unfortunately, yes we'll accept them," he told the Herald.
Mr Jacob said that the exact manner of industrial action would be a matter for a special delegate conference in June.
The gardai, who marched dressed in blue to signify their connection with law enforcement, say they have suffered 25pc pay cuts since 2008.
Mr Jacob said gardai decided to march out of uniform yesterday to give members the option of escalating their protest, by marching in uniform. Further protests are planned over the next three weeks.
He said that the members didn't expect to get 25pc back "in one fell swoop," but to be able to engage in negotiations.
Restoration
"We want them to sit down with us and to plan when they are going to give it back to us and to set out a time frame for restoration, because that's what our members want to hear."
President of the AGSI Antoinette Cunningham said that she would seek the views of members on whatever forms of action they want to take.
She said there was "absolutely" a mood for strike action among AGSI members.
"Our people are simply not going to take any more talking, or any more placing of garda pay far, far down below the Government agenda.
"They need to sit up and take notice and this will be a protracted campaign if that is what it needs to be," she said.
Meanwhile, Mr Jacob also said that gardai wanted to be able to negotiate their own pay.
"We would not want and we will not tolerate somebody else negotiating our pay for us and that has been happening heretofore," he said.
Halloween is coming! Here's when to trick or treat in your town
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Although catastrophic communal massacres recur from time to time, the Indian State has never appointed truth and reconciliation commissions. Instead, in the political heat that follows major communal and caste massacres, governments often appoint judicial commissions of enquiry, headed by serving or retired judges. Although commission recommendations are not binding, their findings can, if conducted with fairness, carry moral weight. The Justice Srikrishna Commission that investigated the 1992-93 Bombay riots is a shining example of this. The report established the criminal role of both the Shiv Sena and police officers in the carnage. It is another matter that successive governments took no steps to punish those indicted by the commission, but still the report remains a highly credible source of truth-telling.
However, for the greater part, complicit governments deploy several devices to subvert the important democratic instrument of judicial commissions for communal riots. The first is to appoint compliant and ideologically compatible judges to these commissions. The second is to delay the proceedings of the commissions inordinately. The third is to not place the report of the commission in the legislature or Parliament, by which strategy the document remains secret and cannot be accessed by citizens. The Gujarat government deployed all three strategies after the 2002 carnage. It appointed a commission with judges close to the political leadership, the judges took 12 years to present the report, and there is no sign of the report being placed before the legislature, so we have no idea what it contains.
Read | Old pain, just in new bottles
The judicial commission headed by Justice Vishnu Sahai appointed after the 2013 Muzaffarnagar communal violence that left more than 60 people dead, and displaced more than 40,000 people, seems to score better than this. Its report was submitted in two years, and the state government tabled it in the legislature expeditiously. However, a reading of the 776-page report reflects instead how such commissions can actually subvert both truth and justice. It legitimises the majoritarian Hindutva communal version about the events and causes, and frees the political leadership from any culpability for the violence and displacement.
The popular imagination about the Muzaffarnagar communal violence remains that it was sparked off by the sexual harassment by a Muslim youth at Kawal in Muzaffarnagar of a Jat girl. According to this version, the brothers of the girl killed the Muslim boy Shahnawaz to protect their sisters honour, and the Muslim villagers avenged this by brutally lynching the two Jat brothers. BJP MLA Sangeet Som circulated a video of this alleged slaughter, which fuelled further anger against the local Muslim population. After a massive maha-panchayat 10 days after the killing of the three men, enraged Hindu mobs went on a rampage, setting the homes of their Muslim neighbours on fire, and killing several of them.
Read | Despite report, opposition blames SP govt for Muzaffarnagar riots
The Sahai Commission admits that this version was a fabrication. The report confirms that the police complaint filed by the Jat boys family made no allegation of any teasing or harassment by the Muslim youth of the Jat boys sister. The dispute arose instead from an accident of the motor-cycles belonging to the Muslim and Jat youth. In revenge, the Jat boys went to Shahnawazs home and stabbed him to death. Angry Muslim neighbours caught and killed the two Jat youth. The report also accepts that the video of the two youths being killed by a mob was of a lynching in Pakistan, and that it was mischievously circulated widely with posts including from MLA Som claiming that the youths being lynched mercilessly were the Jat brothers. This inflamed communal tempers feverishly among the Jats against the Muslims. It also accepts that false rumours were deliberately circulated before the maha-panchayat of September 7, 2013, that hundreds of Jats had been slaughtered by Muslims and thrown into a canal, that communally provocative speeches were made in the maha-panchayat, and that the widespread arson and slaughter of Muslims started after this.
This should have established clearly the culpability of the BJP and Hindutva organisations for raising communal tempers with criminally circulated falsehoods against the local Muslims, and the communally charged speeches. Instead the commission chooses to give equal, actually greater weightage, to the version of the Hindu Jat majority.
Read | Muzaffarnagar riots probe finds no lapse by UP govt, blames police
The judge accepts without evidence the charge that while Shahnawaz did not know or tease the sister of the Jat brothers, tensions were high because Muslim youth in general did tease Jat girls. He also accepts (again admittedly without evidence) that Muslim leaders made communally provocative speeches, and also provoked Jat anger by attacking them as they gathered in large numbers for the September 7 maha-panchayat, and also after they dispersed. He ignores completely official and fact-finding reports that the Jat mobs were raising threatening slogans asking Muslims to go to Pakistan or the cemetery and attacking them in large numbers, and the few acts of violence by Muslims had to be seen in that perspective. In this way, the commission mostly accepts and reproduces the Jat and Hindutva narrative of what caused the Muzaffarnagar massacre.
In general, apologists for communal violence by Hindus always build up a similar narrative, that Hindus by nature are peace-loving. It is Muslims who create trouble by harassing Hindu girls, making communally provocative speeches, and unprovoked acts of aggression. Hindu violence against Muslims is always retaliatory and defensive acts, against pervasive Muslim aggression. The Sahai commission succeeds in endorsing precisely this majoritarian rationalisation of Hindu violence against Muslims in Muzaffarnagar.
It goes further by never once in the report even reflecting on the role, let alone indicting the political leadership of the state government for its criminal mishandling of the communal carnage. Even the local administration is let off by the commission with a rap on its knuckles for minor lapses. The commission suggests that for the most part, the administration did all that was possible to control the violence.
Read | Muzaffarnagar after 3 years: Riot victims, witnesses get cold feet
This is a shameful falsehood, entirely unbecoming of the office of a judicial commission that is expected to fearlessly and impartially hold up the light to the truth. With fair and decisive handling, the violence could have been prevented, by forcefully quelling rumours that the Muslim youth was killed for harassing Jat girls or that Muslims had slaughtered hundreds of Jats, by acting firmly and fairly in arresting the killers on both sides, and by preventing the series of panchayat gatherings that roused to fever pitch communal tempers against the Muslims. It did none of these. Instead, at every stage, the state administration of Uttar Pradesh tried to appease and accommodate the Hindutva activists, and after the violence also appease Muslim political and religious leaders.
But the commission never once holds the state leadership accountable for these indefensible failures that led to communal killings, permanent displacement of thousands of Muslims from the villages of their birth, and estrangement of the two communities not just in western UP but across the state.
If judicial commissions will not tell the truth about who and what was responsible for communal massacres, who will?
Harsh Mander is convener, Aman Biradari
The views expressed are personal
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A day before assembly election results, the Congress-led UDF on Wednesday approached the Election Commission, complaining large-scale bogus voting in Kannur districts Dharmadam constituency, where CPI(M) senior leader Pinarayi Vijayan is the candidate.
Congress candidate Mambaram Divakaran has filed a complaint along with video footage to back his claims. In the video released to the media, at least 21 people, including a CPI(M) woman panchayat ward member, were purportedly seen casting their votes in more than one booth.
One M Navya, who voted in booth number 133, was purportedly seen casting her ballot again in booth number 132.
We have filed the complaint with clinching evidences. We downloaded the visuals from CCTV cameras installed by the election commission, Divakaran said.
Chief minister Ooomen Chandy and state Congress chief VM Sudheeran also sought action on this.
However, the CPI(M) denied the charges. The Congress is raising baseless allegations due to the fear of a big debacle, said party district secretary M V Jayarajan.
Out of six exit poll surveys, four gave a clear mandate to the LDF, while one gave a slight edge to the ruling UDF. The other predicted a fractured mandate.
Case against Sudhakaran
Meanwhile, police registered a case against former minister and CPI (M) candidate from Ambalapuzha, G Sudhakaran, for peeping into the polling station when party veteran VS Achuthanandan and his wife were casting their votes on May 16. The Congress had filed a complaint.
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The governments Rajya Sabha fortunes are unlikely to look up even if the saffron party performs according to predictions by exit polls for assembly elections to four states.
The exit polls predict a landmark BJP victory in Assam and say the party will open its tally in Kerala and West Bengal.
But the results are unlikely to add to the NDA numbers in the Rajya Sabha for the remainder of Prime Minister Narendra Modis tenure as Assam doesnt send any MP to the Upper House before the 2019 general elections.
The NDA is in a minority in the upper House and its reform agenda has been paralysed over the last three Parliament sessions by a belligerent Opposition.
The NDA enjoys the support of 72 MPs, including nominated and independents, in the 245-member Rajya Sabha. The Congress is the single-largest party in the upper House.
As the BJP is not expected to mop up a large number of MLAs anywhere except Assam, its fortunes in the Rajya Sabha is likely to remain unchanged.
Twenty Rajya Sabha seats will fall vacant between now and 2019 -- when the current governments term ends -- from the five states where polls were held.
Six seats are up for grabs in Tamil Nadu next month. Of the two Dravidian parties, the AIADMK has consistently supported the NDA in Parliament except on the GST bill.
But Jayalalithaas party might not be in a position to send its nominees to the Rajya Sabha as most exit polls predict the DMK-Congress alliance to squeeze through.
Six seats will be vacant next year in West Bengal, where the Trinamool Congress is expected to score a big victory. Another five West Bengal seats will go to polls in 2018 along with three seats from Kerala, where the Left parties are poised to win. The NDA has a marginal footprint in these two states.
Rajya Sabha seats which will be vacant by 2019 from states that went to polls recently:
Year, month State No. of seats Current seat positions June, 2016 Tamil Nadu 6 2 DMK, 1 Cong, 3 ADMK July, 2017 West Bengal 6 1 CPI(M), 5 Trinamool April, 2018 West Bengal 5 1 CPI(M), 4 Trinamool July, 2018 Kerala 3 1 CPI(M), 1 Cong, 1 KC(M)
The leaders of the five organisations of the survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal appealed to people here on Tuesday to support the signature petition launched by their international supporters to make Dow Chemical, owner of Union Carbide, appear in the criminal proceedings on the disaster in the Bhopal District Court on July 13. They made this appeal at a press conference here.
The leaders of the five organisations include Rashida Bi (Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh), Nawab Khan (Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha), Balkrishna Namdeo ( Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogi Sangharsh Morcha), Satinath Sarangi, Rachna Dhingra (Bhopal Group for Information and Action) and Safreen Khan (Children Against Dow Carbide). Except for the Rashida BI, leaders of other four organisations were present during the press conference.
On this occasion, they informed that the petition, moved by the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, North America on May 15 at the website of the White House [https://petitions.whitehouse.gov] calls on the US Department of Justice to serve a notice issued by the Bhopal District Court upon Dow Chemical to appear in the ongoing criminal proceedings in India.
The petition will have to get 100, 000 signatures before June 15, 2016 to make the US government formally respond to the petition, they said. Already 3,500 people have signed the petition. As a result of social media initiatives around the launch of the petition, Dow Chemicals CEO, Andrew Liveris has had to make his twitter account private, they added.
In addition, they claimed that the US Department of Justice was breaching a 15-year-old Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between the US and India by refusing to serve the four notices from the Bhopal District Court sent by the Indian home ministry.
They said that their supporters in USA have garnered support for the petition from a number of US environmental and human rights organisations. Eminent US citizens including Gary Cohen, one of the Champions of Change nominated by the US President in 2013, Martin Sheen, acclaimed Hollywood actor and activist and Noam Chomsky, professor at MIT, and world-renowned academicians have extended their support to the petition, they added.
Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor is not one to mince words. Be it his son Ranbir Kapoors personal life, his opinion on the society or our political system, he rarely holds back when it comes to expressing his views.
In a series of tweets, Rishi on Tuesday snapped at the political system of India and the Gandhi family. The 63-year-old actor questioned the naming of roadways, airports and railway stations after the Gandhi family members.
Change Gandhi family assets named by Congress.Bandra/Worli Sea Link to Lata Mangeshkar or JRD Tata link road. Baap ka maal samjh rakha tha ? Rishi Kapoor (@chintskap) May 17, 2016
Read: Rishi Kapoor, the man of bold tweets
Rishi has been winning fans on Twitter - which he joined in 2010 but got active only a few months ago - with his opinionated, self-deprecating and charming self. And has often created storms online with his frank and outspoken tweets.
If roads in Delhi can be changed why not Congress assets/property ke naam? Was in Chandigarh wahan bhi Rajeev Gandhi assets? Socho? Why? the actor tweeted.
If roads in Delhi can be changed why not Congress assets/property ke naam? Was in Chandigarh wahan bhi Rajeev Gandhi assets? Socho? Why? Rishi Kapoor (@chintskap) May 17, 2016
The Kapoor and Sons actor, with these allegations, added the fact that the names should be after people from every genre, who have contributed to the society. We must name important assets of the country who have contributed to society. Har cheez Gandhi ke naam? I dont agree. Sochna log! he tweeted.
The veteran actor then asked for suggestion from people on whether or not the names can be after film personalities like Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Ashok Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and others.
Film City should be named Dilip Kumar,Dev Anand,Ashok Kumar ya Amitabh Bachchan ke naam? Rajeev Gandhi udyog Kya hota hai? Socho doston! Rishi Kapoor (@chintskap) May 17, 2016
Raj Kapoor has made India proud over the years all over even after his death. Certainly more than What has been perceived by politics, Rishi added.
Raj Kapoor has made India proud over the years all over even after his death. Certainly more than What has been perceived by politics. Rishi Kapoor (@chintskap) May 17, 2016
The Congress responded to Rishi Kapoors comments by hinting that the statements were made to get into the good books of the BJP.
Congress spokesperson PC Chacko, without naming the veteran actor, told the media that it was merely an attempt by some people to get into the good books of those in power.
Chacko said he had not seen Rishi Kapoors tweets but it seems that some people are trying to abuse the Congress leadership just to get into the good books of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party).
They want to please somebody in power. They can have it but not at the expense of the Congress. We dont take it seriously and it is not worth any comments at all, he said.
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Apart from walking the red carpet in the most stunning designer outfits, Sonam Kapoor also gets a chance to socialise with several celebrities from around the world at the Cannes Film Festival, every year.
On May 16, for instance, the Bollywood actor attended an after-party, where she met many popular public figures, including Kendall Jenner. As a matter of fact, the two apparently got along very well, and spent a lot of time together. They were overheard talking about the fashion designers they love. Sonam was at the party for an hour, reveals an insider.
Model Kendall Jenner poses on the red carpet as she arrives for the screening of the film "Mal de pierres" (From the Land of the Moon) in competition at the 69th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes. (REUTERS)
Read: Sonam Kapoors Cannes red carpet dress sparks Twitter reaction
Apart from Kendall, Sonam also interacted with Hollywood actor Colin Firth at the bash. Sonam and Colin spoke at length about the films that have already been screened at Cannes this year, and the ones they liked the most. Sonam also spoke to him about her film, Neerja, and the response it had received in the US, adds the source.
While Sonam remained unavailable for a comment, her spokesperson confirmed the news.
Read: Sonam Kapoor stuns at Cannes red carpet in white gown
Chinese multinational conglomerate, Tiens Group, is set to launch an e-commerce portal in India, where it would sell speciality products from 119 countries.
The list includes apples from China, ayurvedic products from India, Bordeaux wine from France, aloe vera products from South Africa, and coffee beans and Rooi Bos tea leaves from Africa.
We will bring about 3,000 products, on a website named Tiens Legion. The website will go live in second half of the year which will sell products at discounted or affordable price, Kevin Hou, president, Tiens South Asia Region told HT. However, the company did not share specifics related to catalogue and pricing.
According to estimates by Morgan Stanley, Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon dominated the Indian e-commerce market in 2015 with a combined share of 83%.
In 2015, Flipkart, including Myntra, led the e-commerce market with a 45% share, followed by Snapdeal at 26% and Amazon India at 12%, according to estimates by Morgan Stanley.
The Indian e-commerce market is estimated to touch $119 billion (` 8 lakh crore) by 2020.
Moreover, Tiens will also set to expand its presence in direct selling business to compete with US-based Amway and Swedish firm Oriflame. We already operate in the direct selling space with much larger product catalogues and segments that Amway and Oriflame. But now, we plan to grow stronger. The companys total user base in India is currently 2 million. We plan to take this to 10 million in the next five years, Hou said.
The company has already opened its South Asian headquarters in Delhi. We have increased our focus on the Indian market. The idea is to become a top multinational operating in India by sales and social contribution in next five years, he added.
While company refused to share its turnover, Li Jinyuan, founder of Tiens, was ranked as the 24th richest person in China with an estimated wealth of $1.2 billion by Forbes.
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Shares of the Maruti Suzuki India Ltd tumbled by 4% on Wednesday following Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) chairman Osamu Suzukis confession that the Japanese carmaker made inflated claims of fuel efficiency.
However, Maruti executives insisted there will be no direct impact on India because the country follows a different system of certification done by government-approved agencies as opposed to Japan which follows a self-certification.
Maruti is the largest carmaker in India, with nearly half the share of the market. Car buyers in India are especially sensitive about the fuel efficiency of their cars, which has made it a critical selling point.
Some of the Suzuki cars under investigation are household names in India: Alto, Wagon R, Baleno, SX4 S-CROSS, and Swift. Another, Ignis, will soon be here.
Read | Suzuki shares crash by 15% after reports of improper fuel-testing
At the time of writing this article, there had been no official announcement from Maruti. However, a Suzuki statement issued in Japan sought to exonerate Maruti and all of its other overseas arms.
The above issues do not apply to products sold under the Suzuki badge outside Japan, said Suzuki which specialises in mini cars, and controls almost a third of the mini segment in Japan.
According to SMC, the tests to determine fuel efficiency were done in controlled conditions. Data of individual components like tires, brakes and transmission were tested inside a wind tunnel instead of an outside environment as a part of rolling resistance test and air resistance test.
SMC is the second Japanese company to find itself engulfed in the mileage scandal; Mitsubishi Motors confessed to having cheated customers for 25 years.
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Panama has officially signed on to comply with OECD standards on exchanging tax information, a move that comes more than a month after the Panama Papers data leak.
OECD officials say they have long tried to get Panama to agree to their common reporting standards on exchanging tax information, to no avail.
However Panamas Foreign Ministry announced yesterday that the country had inked its adhesion to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Developments reporting standards.
Foreign Minister Luis Miguel Hincapie delivered the document to OECD headquarters in Paris. The new membership however does not take practical effect until 2018.
The public gained its first access to the Panama Papers records of over 200,000 secret offshore companies when the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) put a searchable database online in May.
The database, built on just a portion of the 11.5 million documents leaked from Panamas Mossack Fonseca law firm, reveals more than 360,000 names of individuals and companies behind the anonymous shell firms.
The Panama Papers reveal the full extent to which the worlds wealthy, alongside criminals, create nominee companies to stash and transfer assets out of sight of the law and tax officials.
Reports already published in April based on the explosive dossier linked some of the worlds most powerful leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister David Cameron and others to unreported offshore companies.
Sri Lanka will cancel plans for a 500 megawatt Indian-built coal-fired power plant at its strategic eastern port city of Trincomalee and will instead opt for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plant, a cabinet minister said late on Tuesday.
Chandima Weerakkody, petroleum minister, said Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena told Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the decision at a meeting on Saturday during Sirisenas visit to the island nations larger neighbour.
We do not want to hurt India. So President Sirisena, in his visit, has offered an LNG plant instead of the coal plant, Weerakkody told Reuters. This has been discussed at the highest level and there is consensus.
Sri Lanka is trying to increase its power generation capacity after a recent blackout that was the worst in 20 years, government officials say.
BMS Batagoda, the energy ministry secretary said the switch to LNG was proposed after ten years of opposition to a coal-fired power plant by the residents of Sampur, a village near Trincomalee, where India has already proposed to build South Asias largest petroleum hub.
Area residents and environmental groups have resisted the coal power plant ever since it was originally proposed in 2006 due to worries about land clearance and pollution.
Plans for the $500 million coal power plant project were finalised in 2011, when state-run Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and Indias state-run National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC) agreed to form a joint venture for its construction.
It is not clear which Indian companies would be considered as partners on the proposal to build a gas-fired power plant. Natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel than coal, but there would be the added hurdle that Sri Lanka has no LNG import infrastructure.
Sri Lankas only coal-fired power plant with 900 MW capacity was built with a $1.4 billion loan from China in two phases. However, the Chinese plant has faced frequent repairs.
India and China have been increasingly loaning funds to Sri Lanka over the last few years, mainly for infrastructure projects. Since the islands civil war ended in 2009, the two rivals have been competing for influence in Sri Lanka, which sits right off one of the worlds busiest shipping routes.
The reported move by the Bharatiya Janata Partys central leadership to induct nine rebel Congress leaders of Uttarakhand into the party will prove counterproductive in the 2017 state elections, warned state BJP leaders on Tuesday.
Party insiders said that the issue of induction was likely to be decided during the BJP core committee meeting in Delhi on Wednesday. The meeting will be headed by party president Amit Shah. However, the senior state BJP leaders are against the reported move as they feel the party has already suffered a loss of image after its alleged move to topple the Rawat government failed. The Presidents rule was revoked and the Congress-led government was reinstated after the floor test went in favour of the Rawat government.
A senior state BJP office bearer said, Such a move (to induct rebel Congress leaders) will have serious repercussions on the partys prospects in 2017 assembly elections. He said that the move could be a setback for as many as nine senior BJP leaders, including himself, as they might not get the ticket for the assembly election. The Central leadership might have had a pre-induction understanding with the nine rebels and that might cost nine deserving BJP leaders the tickets, he suspected.
Read: Rawat faces Rajya Sabha litmus test next month
The party insiders said that similar fears prevailed across the second and third-rung state leaders too and hundreds of their supporters who would be angry and unhappy if the central leaders go ahead with the rebels induction.
Another senior state leader said those who are members of the core committee, would raise the issue during the meeting in Delhi and persuade the top brass to let the rebel Congress legislators contest the elections as a separate group with the BJP support.
The Centre had imposed the Presidents rule after nine rebel Congress MLAs sided with the BJP on the Money Bill vote, which led to their disqualification. They moved a petition in the high court against their disqualification. But the rebel Congress MLAs failed to get a relief and moved the Supreme Court. The apex court that directed the Rawat government to take floor test on May 10, however, barred them (rebel MLAs) from voting.
State BJP spokesperson Virendra Singh Bisht, however, said the party cadres and leaders would accept whatever decision the leaders take on the issue. So far we have received no proposal regarding their merger in the party, he said.
Read: Amit Shah calls meeting to discuss Uttarakhand fiasco
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The Delhi Police on Wednesday detained six people, including the owner of a prominent hotel in New Delhi area, in connection with the murder of a 57-year-old lawyer in southeast Delhi.
Police sources said that apart from the hotel owner, his personal security officer and a group of contract killers were detained for allegedly murdering MM Khan on Monday evening in Jamia Nagar area.
Khan was an assistant legal advisor with the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC).
He (Khan) was shot dead inside his car near his residence in Jamia Nagar. His car was intercepted by motorcycle-borne assailants, who shot at him from a close range, said police.
The detained hotel owner was allegedly pressurising Khan to waive off the penalty on his hotel worth hundreds of crore of rupees due to NDMC, police said.
We are still questioning the suspects As per the statement of the family members, Khan had received several threat calls over the past few days, police said.
A high ranking official said that while Khans phone has been recovered, call data was being analysed for further leads in the case.
The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has suggested to the Supreme Court several mitigating measures to restore and restart the amphitheatre, Rabindra Rangshala, currently in ruins in the Central Ridge -- a protected forest area of the Capital.
Conceived and created by the Rabindranath Tagore Centenary Committee, headed by then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, the structure was Delhis cultural hot spot for three decades. The open air theatre has been lying abandoned for the last two decades after the Centre declared the area a reserved forest in the mid-1990s.
But now the government wants to renovate it and turn it into a cultural hub of the capital. The ministry of culture has moved the SC for permission to start the restoration of Rabindra Rangashala, promising that no concrete structure will be set up.
The government said several schools and hospitals were running in the Upper Ridge area with the courts permission.
In its environment impact assessment (EIA) report submitted to the court last week, the MoEF said: The renovation will done as per the green norms. Adequate measures must be taken to follow the criteria.
Five per cent of the total project renovation cost will be allocated to monitor the air, noise and dust pollution and habitat enrichment. A framework will be made in consultation with the relevant department for implementation. Regular monitoring will be done, the MoEF report said.
Since renovation would require the felling of trees in the ridge area, the EIA suggested that indigenous vegetation could be planted to improve wildlife habitat and restore the ecological function of the forest.
But a bench headed by Justice JS Kehar refused to take up Centres application that wanted permission to restore and restart Rabindra Rangshala.
Justice Kehar told attorney general Mukul Rohatgi on Friday he visited the place and was not inclined to give permission to the government, which moved court 16 years after a recommendation was made to restart it.
We have been there. If we allow you, then it will give me pain for my entire life. Let another bench hear and decide it, he told the law officer in a candid admission.
Its a forest. Around 8,000 people will visit the place, there will be cars. It (forest) will get destroyed, Justice Kehar said. His colleague Justice C Nagappan was of the same view.
Rohatgi said that once a forest couldnt always be a forest and contended the court could impose strict restrictions for the operation.
We can bring down the audience strength from 8,000 to 2,000. The shows will not be held every day but once a week, Rohatgi said. He said the entire area was spread over 800 acres and the theatre occupied only 37 acres.
Hired killers followed Mohammed Moin Khan, a legal advisor with the NDMC, on Saturday and Sunday from his office to home before shooting him dead on Monday.
Police said the plan to kill Khan was executed in 10 days. The contract killers were hand-picked, weapons were arranged and a detailed recce was conducted to ensure there were no gaps.
What helped the police crack the case was CCTV footage from the Johri Farm area, where Khan was killed, in Jamia Nagar. The police established the link of hotelier Ramesh Kakkar to the murder by scanning his call records.
Police said Khans daughter, Iqra, helped them reach Kakkar, the owner of The Connaught. She told the police that her father had been receiving threat calls to resolve the case regarding Hotel Connaught or face dire consequences. She said she had asked her father to report the matter to the police.
The police checked the call detail records of Kakkar and found that he used to talk to his body guard, Ram Phool, at odd hours. When the police checked Ram Phools call records, it was found that he had been speaking to Israil, who earlier used to work with him.
Read: Delhi hotelier, five others detained for NDMC lawyers murder
We identified a pattern and came to know that both Ram Phool and Israil were in touch with Bilal, Anwar and Saleem -- all local criminals. This raised serious doubts as to why Ram Phool was talking to criminals. Once we established the link, it was clear that Kakkar planned Khans murder through his body guard. After sufficient evidence was collected, Kakkar was detained for questioning, a senior police officer said.
During investigation, it came to light that Khan had been appointed the estate officer in the case of lease terms violations by The Connaught. He was the one who had the power to decide how much the hotel would have to pay. The dues were to the tune of R140 crore. This strengthened our suspicion that Kakkar had the motive and might be involved in the case, the officer said.
The CCTV footage from Johri Farm area on Saturday, two days before Khan was murdered, also shows the four men carrying out a recce in the area.
The men can be seen on bikes doing rounds of the area. They followed Khan to his home on Saturday and noted the time when he left from office and also the route he took. On Sunday, the men visited the area again. They finally struck on Monday. The men were identified with the help of the CCTV footage and the information of their hideouts was developed through local intelligence, a police source said.
Khan, hailing from Pratapgarh, had shifted to Delhi after completing his LLB from Allahabad University. His father Naseer Khan was a social activist.
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Police on Wednesday arrested four people accused in the murder of the 61-year-old doctor in southwest Delhis Palam area on Friday.
Investigation officials said that the doctor, Ramawat Singh was shot dead by two contract killers hired by his partners lover, Hari Om.
Hari Om and the doctors friend were in a relationship but they had a fallout recently. When Singh began seeing the woman, Hari Om objected. When all his other attempts failed, he hired two contract killers to kill Ramawat Singh, a police official said.
Police said that while both the killers have been arrested, a friend of Hari Om has also been taken into custody on charges of supplying the murder weapon.
Hari Om had hired the contract killers at Rs 1 lakh and the pistol to shoot Singh was supplied by his friend, police said.
The official added that Hari Om had already paid Rs 87,000 to the assailants when the accused were arrested.
We are also trying ascertain the role of the woman in the case or if she had any knowledge about the murder, said an investigating officer.
Tne Ayurvedic doctor was renovating his single-room clinic. He was about to leave for home after workers left around 10 pm on Friday when a person shot him and fled.
Residents of south Delhi localities like Tughlakabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Lado Sarai, Mehrauli, Kishangarh will soon be able to board a direct Metro to Terminal 1 of IGI Airport. Sources said the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), in its revised detailed project report for phase 4, has decided that the TughlakabadAerocity station line will now extend to connect to IGI Terminal 1 station.
The Tughlakabad-Aerocity corridor will be of 20.20km with 15 stations in between. With the extension, another 1.8km will be added to it. The line will meet violet line at Tughlakabad, yellow line at Saket and the Magenta lines Terminal 1 station.
The stations that fall on the route are Tughlakabad, Tughlakabad Railway Colony, Anandmayee Marg Junction, Tigri, Khanpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Saket G Block, Saket, Lado Sarai, Mehrauli, Kishangar, Masoodpur, Vasant Kunj (Sec-D), Mahipalpur and Delhi Aerocity.
Somdev Verma, a Mehrauli resident said, The move will be very beneficial for south Delhi residents going to Terminal 1 as Delhi traffic is unpredictable and there is a high chance of missing the flight due to a jam.
A Detail Project Re por t (DPR) for phase IV has been prepared and submitted to Delhi gover nment and the Union Urban Development Ministry for approval. Metro officials hope the project report would get a final nod by December.
In phase 4, Saket will get two more Metro stations Saket G block and Saket D block. Saket G block will also be an interchange station connecting the corridor to the proposed Tughlaka bad-IGI Airport Terminal 1 line. Saket D block, on the other hand, will be a station on Saket G block and Lajpat Nagar corridor.
According to reports, the government has asked DMRC to reduce the size of phase-IV plan or to sub-divide it in the face of financial constraints. Sources said DMRC has also been advised to first explore the possibility of executing certain stretches under public private partnership. The DMRC has set a deadline of 2021 for the phase 4 expansion.
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Mohammed Moin Khan, a lawyer and an assistant legal advisor with the New Delhi Municipal Council, was supposed to pass the final order on a disputed propertys lease terms on May 17. He was shot dead on May 16 near his Jamia Nagar home.
He had joined NDMCs law department in 1984-85. He had completed over 30 years on the job and had more than a year of service left. His uncle was also an employee of the council, a senior council official said.
He said Khan was under tremendous pressure to waive off licence fee dues on a property occupied by Prominent Hotels Limited. The property was sealed last year when the company did not evict after the expiry of the lease. The firm moved the court, the official said.
On the direction of the high court, Khan was made the Estate Officer. The Delhi high court had directed him to complete eviction proceedings within 6 months. He was to pass final order in the lease matter, which is a quasi-judicial action, on May 17, the official said.
Read: Delhi hotelier, five others detained for NDMC lawyers murder
A friend of Khan said he used to get threat calls and was offered bribe.
Khan could decide the exact amount to be paid as licence fee. There was pressure on him and he received numerous threat calls. The dues were around R140 crore and Khan had been offered R4 crore as bribe. He declined and lost his life, a friend of the lawyer said.
Condolence meeting
A condolence meeting was organised by NDMC on Wednesday in memory of the deceased lawyer.
He was a courageous, honest and dedicated officer and his administrative acumen, clarity of thoughts and ability to take fair and bold decisions was widely appreciated. The Council understands the depth of pain the entire family must feeling right now and at this juncture the NDMC stands united with the family of Late MM Khan, NDMC chairman Naresh Kumar said.
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Following the forecast of above normal monsoon by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has decided to create awareness among residents to tap rainwater to tackle water crisis in the national Capital. For the purpose, two sites have been identified for the construction of two rainwater harvesting (RWH) centres at Sector 7, RK Puram and Dwarka.
At these centres, the staff will demonstrate the process by which groundwater can be recharged. Users can also refer to the official website of DJB wherein the agency has recently uploaded the updated policy on rainwater harvesting. As a pilot project, we have also finalised nine sites at government and semi-government office complexes for developing rainwater harvesting pits. Estimates have already been prepared and work will start soon, said Keshav Chandra, CEO of DJB. It was, however, stated that the agency has discontinued the policy of providing financial assistance to the individuals or Residents Welfare Associations (RWAs) to set up rain harvesting plants.
Meanwhile, Puneet Goel, commissioner, South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) also issued a circular in all the zones to initiate the maintenance of the RWH pits. About 200-250 such pits have been constructed by the SDMC in parks, schools and office buildings. We have drafted an action plan and we will deploy teams to check the sites in a couple of days, said SC Yadav, executive engineer, SDMC.
To meet the ever increasing demand for potable water supply in city, people are exploiting the groundwater resource callously. This has resulted in an alarming fall in the groundwater levels. To control the situation, adopting RWH is the only solution, said a senior SDMC Official.
Guide on RWH
The DJB has also made simultaneous preparations to sensitise people about water conservation. It has already drafted a booklet explaining the concept of RWH, guidelines for its implementation, benefits and other features in detail. Before the onset of monsoon, the agency is planning to distribute these booklets through various modes including meter readers.
We will emphasise on distributing the booklets in south and southwest districts in large numbers considering these have been declared as notified zones by Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) due to depleting groundwater resources. We will be roping in the local RWAs as well as area representatives to distribute these booklets, said Chandra.
Plans have also been made to organise workshops to extensively promote rainwater harvesting programmes. This will be followed by a series of advertisements through outdoor and print media.
However, activists believe that these endeavours will not bring any results unless measures are taken to implement the existing rules and regulation strictly. Despite making the rainwater harvesting system mandatory by the ministry of urban development and poverty alleviation (Delhi Division) in 2001 for all new constructions with a plot size of more than 100sqm, the results are not exciting. Reason? There is no system of penalising residents who dont follow these notifications, said Anil Sood of NGO Chetna.
In 2007 , the DJB had also issued a notice saying that for all new water connections it was mandatory for the applicant to make rainwater harvesting arrangements according to the modified building bylaws. But people are violating the building bylaws and not constructing the rainwater harvesting pits due to lack of enforcement of laws by the land owning agencies, said a senior DJB official. Unfortunately, the agency itself has no exact data to support their claims.
While visiting some RWH pits in south Delhi last year, the members of United Residents Joint Action (URJA) found that these pits didnt exist anymore and had been concretised due to callousness of authorities. To promote the concept of RWH, URJA is providing funds and assisting RWAs in maintaining and recharging the pits. We have already covered 25 pits in Defence Colony, Vasant Kunj, Sainik Farms and CR Park. The drive started last year and this year we are planning to cover more pits. But people also need to understand their responsibility for saving the natural resource, said Atul Goel, president of URJA.
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Delhis air will have twice the normal amount of PM 2.5 in it even if all emission sources are controlled within the city limits, Mukesh Kumar, the co-author of an IIT-Kanpur study on the sources of Delhis pollution, said on Wednesday.
Kumar said Delhis air quality depended heavily on areas surrounding the Capital.
Even if we control all sources of pollution within the city, off-site pollution will still contribute and take Delhis air pollution levels to around 120 microgram per cubic metres, said Sharma. The standard for PM 2.5 in India is 60 microgram per cubic metres.
Kumar, who was speaking at the Indo-US air quality workshop in the city on Wednesday, stressed on a regional plan for the north Indian cities to combat air pollution.
Later in the day, Sunita Narain, director general, Centre for Science and Environment, told experts to stop lecturing about air pollution control measures without knowing the challenges faced by the country.
Dont lecture us on air pollution control unless you are sensitive and aware of the challenges. Farmers in Punjab and Haryana burn agricultural stubble because they dont have a viable option to remove the agricultural waste, she said.
She also asked what the US was doing about the increasing green house gases.
The workshop saw participants from US universities, Indian Universities and government agencies, auto industry and civil society.
Earlier in the day, Liam Fitzgerald from the US Embassys Resource Conservation Unit said that they were looking at reconstructing the embassy complex to insulate it from the polluted air outside.
Toxicity of emissions and regional plans
The participants of the workshop on Wednesday also said that there was a clear need to formulate a programme for Delhi.
Studies say that particulate matter released from burning coal and diesel is more harmful than road dust. These things need to be taken into account, said CSEs Anumita Roy Chowdhury.
The Patiala police on Wednesday arrested two Delhi residents with one kg of heroin worth of `5 crore in the international market.
The masterminds of the drug racket were allegedly operating from Tihar jail.
The accused have been identified as Ashok Kumar from Mangolpuri and Baldev Krishan from Punjabi Camp in Delhi. Both were nabbed when they were entering Punjab through the Shambu border.
SSP Gurmeet Singh Chauhan said that the incident has established the trend that the peddlers are bringing heroin from Delhi.
Questioning of the accused revealed that they had links with smugglers jailed in Tihar Jail. The smugglers, they claimed, are operating the racket.
He said that due to tight vigil in Punjab, the smugglers were now bringing drugs from Delhi, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, and trying to supply in Punjab.
We could put it down to midsummer madness but it seems to have become a trend the whole year round. Even so, the latest battle royale over renaming the Capitals gracious boulevard Akbar Road after Maharana Pratap is worrying coming as it does from the minister of state for external affairs VK Singh.
The minister who, one would assume would have his hands full looking after the affairs of a fractious neighbourhood and changes across the world, seems more preoccupied by righting historic wrongs and giving the kings of yore their rightful place in public spaces. This has led to a situation where everyone who is really no one has jumped into the fray with their two bit worth on why certain names get more prominence than others and so on. Alongside we have an almighty kerfuffle over the chanting of Om and Vedic mantras as part of the celebration of the upcoming International Day of Yoga.
Read | VK Singh wants to rename Akbar Road after Maharana Pratap
While the ministry concerned has said the chanting is not compulsory, it is being seen as an imposition and an attempt by the ruling party to usurp the whole idea of yoga. Muslim clerics have got into the act saying such a practice goes against their faith, and the issue has acquired ugly overtones. The renaming of roads is a passion with many in our political class. It is difficult to understand this obsession with cosmetic changes when the country is confronted with real problems, the drought being one of them.
Read | Chant Om on Yoga Day: Row erupts over UGC directive to varsities
This focus on what are non-issues detracts from the need for addressing our infrastructure deficiencies, economic problems, environmental shortfalls and so on. If the zeal for naming structures and places after great men of history is so overwhelming, then surely there are enough in the making to cover the whole gamut of names. To see this inordinate amount of time being spent on renaming and chanting suggests that India is not serious about business, not an image we want to convey either to stakeholders within or to the world at large.
Read | Muslim body demands ban on renaming of roads, cities
If we were adding to the greater common good by renaming roads or public structures, then it would make sense. Here, these efforts are only making a fractured and fragile society even more polarised. Today, yoga is seen as a unique contribution from India to the world. This unseemly wrangling only diminishes its value. As it does our value as a nation.
Azamgarh district secured the top spot in the state with 95.12% results in UP Boards high school examination while Basti bagged first position in Intermediate examinations with 96.42 % results. Lucknow secured fifth spot in state in Intermediate exam with 95.25% result.
As per Class 10 results declared on Sunday, in the top 10 list of districts in state whose students excelled in UP board examinations Ballia claimed second spot with 94.87% results, Mathura on third spot with 94.41% results, Agra on fourth position with 94.28% results and Mau district on fifth position with 94.06% results.
Read more: UP board 2016 Class 10 and Class 12 results out, check list of toppers
Similarly, Aligarh district bagged sixth position with 94.02% results followed by Santkabir Nagar claiming seventh position with 93.57% result, Ghazipur bagging eight spot with 93.49% result while Maharajganj and Basti secured ninth and tenth position in state with 92.99% and 92.94% results respectively.
Further, in Intermediate examinations of the Board, Basti secured top spot with 96.42% result followed by Santkabir Nagar and Muzzaffarnagr claiming second and third position with 96.02% and 96.01% results respectively.
Further results revealed, Gonda secured 95.97% result for fourth position while Lucknow secured fifth spot with 95.25% result followed by Amethi and Sultanpur districts claiming sixth and seventh positions in state with 95.20% and 94.88% results respectively.
Read more: UP board exam: Farmers daughter is the second topper in Class 12
Sitapur, Kanpur Nagar and Shamli bagged eight, ninth and tenth positions with 94.76%, 94.33% and 94.31% results respectively.
Allahabad secured 18th position in state in High School examinations with 91.68% results while in Intermediate examinations, the district was present on 51st spot with 87.72% result.
Read more: Meet UP board Class 12 topper Sakshi Verma from Barabanki
There is a solution to every problem and three teams are its firm believers.From creating apps that can alert farmers to crop disease to diagnosing epilepsy, these people have done it all.
These teams emerged as winners in Intel DST Innovate For Digital India Challenge, held in the Capital recently. Intel plans to put in an equity investment of up to Rs 20 lakh per team and will be providing them additional go-to-market support and engineering support. Intel believes that opportunities such as these can channelise the capability of Indian citizens in the right direction, and eventually benefit the larger society, says Debjani Ghosh, VP - sales and marketing group and MD - South Asia, Intel Corporation.
Heres what inspired them to innovate:
Dealing with crop problems
Having grown up in a farmers household in Hagaribommanahalli of Bellary district in Karnataka, Anand Babu was encouraged by his father to use his knowledge and experience to make a difference to the way farmers deal with agricultural problems.
Even after spending 12 years in IT firms in India and abroad, the idea of giving back to the farming community stayed with him. Babu, his cousin and another friend, Hareesh U, together created a mobile app for crops and a device called Agri Pole from which farmers can download these apps.
The team has already created 25 crop-specific apps, taking information from regional journals, in four languages Kannada, English, Marathi and Telegu. The app contains information on different varieties of crops, plantation methods, calculations of the amount of fertiliser and water to be used for the particular crop, nutrition details, possible diseases and cost management. It operates without an internet connection. A farmer can listen to the audio or watch a video.
The Agri Pole device helps farmers download 25 crop-specific apps that contains information on different varieties of crops, plantation methods, calculations of the amount of fertiliser and water to be used for the particular crop, nutrition details, possible diseases and cost management. (Handout Image)
Our apps reach one farmer every six minutes. As of today, we have 70,000 users and are expected to touch million by next year, Babu says.
The team usually installs Agri Pole in rural banks or in gram panchayats. Of late, the banks have put their own banking app in the device to promote net banking among farmers.
As a farmer uses the app, we collect and analyse the usage patterns of lakhs of farmers under specific crops and regions using advanced analytics tools. For example, if several farmers search for certain pests at a time in a specific location, we can immediately alert farmers in the area and policy makers to send a scientist to take care of it. By measuring on-ground data we can even help agri-input companies decide on what product they need to market in which area. If we are able to generate two to three years of data, we can start making predictions for the future. This is true power of analytics, says Babu.
Diagnosing epilepsy with accuracy
Rajilakshmi Borthakur who has 18 years of experience in IT, wanted doctors to diagnose her sons epileptic condition. This drove her to invent a device that could help him.
While interacting with doctors she realised that the diagnosis of epilepsy was based on assumptions on drugs that might or might not work on patients. Doctors rely heavily on caregivers observations and also on electroencephalogram (EEG) for diagnosis.
Epileptic patients can wear this glove and the portable gateway acts like a mini supercomputer personalised for the patient in a way that it understand his/her epilepsy type. (Handout Image)
The device comprises a wearable hand glove and a small portable gateway device that patients can carry with them. The glove receives signals when it is worn, while the gateway device streams real-time data, when he/she is at work, in school or sleeping. Based on the information collected by this gateway, doctors can customise medicines.
I wanted to give enough information to doctors to understand what actually was happening to my son in the normal course of a day, with data aggregated over a period of time. This information, I felt, was crucial to help understand his peculiar epilepsy type and customise his treatment plan. I also wanted a predictive mechanism so that I at least have the bare minimum notice to rush my son to hospital before things went out of hand, says Borthakur. The theoretical research for the project took her three-and-a-half years.
An all-in-one ambulatory care
Sairam Mannar came up with the idea of integrating multiple devices used during emergency situations. Sairam, an electronics engineer, with his sister Dr Sai Sangeetha, and former colleagues B GJayashri and Sai Sruti Akula, a chartered accountant came up with an integrated device comprising a digital stethoscope, pulse oxymeter, thermometer and a blood pressure monitor. It measures blood glucose levels and ECG.
An integrated device to help doctors treat patients during emergency. (Handout Image)
Read more: Innovations with robots, the IIT Bombay way
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Government schools performed better than private schools in Classes 10 and 12 examinations of the state board in Madhya Pradesh, reversing popular opinion that state-run institutions have poor academic standards.
In class 10, the pass percentage of government school students is 57.32% and that of private schools is 49.99%. Private institutions did better in only 22 of the states 51 districts.
Similarly, in Class 12, government school students outclassed their private school peers as the pass percentage of government schools is 73.94% and that of private schools is 63.66%. In 16 districts, the success rate of students in private schools was better.
Govt schools students from small towns, villages did better as they arent so active on social media
Educationists and experts feel government schools students performed well as they are away from technological distractions.
The students of government schools, especially from small towns and villages, performed well as they are not so active on social media. In the absence of any distraction, they could able to do focus study, said SK Reniwal, principal of Model School, Bhopal.
Proper monitoring of performances of schools is another reason behind improvement in pass percentage of students.
As compared to last year, the graph of successful candidates of government schools shot up by 9.16% in class 10 and by 7.21% in class 12.
The students of private schools did well in the Vindhya and tribal region.
Govt school teachers fulfil all basic qualification but pvt school owners flout the norms
To serve in government schools, a teacher needs to fulfil all the basic qualification but private school owner flouted the norms and appointed those teachers only who get ready to work on lesser salary. This is the main reason behind lowering of standard of private schools, said Zamiruddin Ahmed, convener, Guardian Guilds and educationist.
General public have apprehension that teachers dont attend classes but in reality, the scenario has changed. Some government teachers are really good and put serious effort on students study.
School education departments effort to impart quality education bore fruit
But the school education department feels neither social media nor any other factors are behind the improvement of result. Its only departments effort to impart quality education that bore fruit.
Last year in Class 10 results, only 48.16% students of government schools cleared the exam while from private schools the percentage was 51.89%. We put many efforts to improve the quality of education. From student and teacher ratio to proper attendance of students, every aspect was covered under our vigilance scheme to provide quality education in government run schools, said Deepak Joshi, minister for state of education.
Around 64.7% rural students passed in the Class-12 board exams, results of which were announced by the Board of School Education Haryana on Wednesday afternoon, as compared to their urban counterparts whose pass percentage was 58.6. The board, infamous for poor results, had much reason to cheer this time as it saw an increase in overall pass percentage of around nine points. The passing percentage of students this time was 62.4 as compared to 53.9 last year.
Girls outperformed boys once again in the state by over 15%. The pass percentage of girls was 70.8, as compared to 55.8% boys who cleared the exam. As many as 2.5 lakh students appeared for the exams which were held from March 8 to 29 this year. However, only about 1.5 lakh cleared the exam. Around 1.4 lakh boys had appeared on the exam, while the number of girls was a little less than 1.1 lakh.
The passing ratio was maximum in science stream with 69.9% clearing the exams. For arts and commerce, it was 59.9% and 59.5%, respectively. Students who took agriculture as a subject showed the best result with 98.2% clearing the exam. In districts, Sonepat grabbed the top spot with 77.2% students of the district passing the exam. The second spot was for Mahendragarh with 72%, while the last spot went to Faridabad with only 43.9% students of the district making the cut.
Also read I PSEB Class 12 results: Ludhiana girl tops, 2 merit lists declared
Must read I At Punjabs schools for the meritorious, 2.3% students fail
With six students from Shajapur district on the merit list of 39 toppers in the Class 10 (high school) MP board examination, the Operation Dronacharya carried out by Shajapur district administration throughout the year has reaped rich dividends.
The Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education (MPBSE) on Monday announced high school board exam results along with the list of 39 merit students. As per the list, six students including state topper Mukesh Chandel are from Shajapur district. This year, more than 68% (precisely 68.35%) students from Shajapur district were successful against the states 53.87% results.
According to the district school education department officials, in 2015 no students from Shajapur district got place in the list of 37 merit students, but this year, six students including topper were on the merit list and this is all because of the Operation Dronacharya carried by the district administration.
Its a complete game changer for the district students as the district not only managed to give highest number of merit students in the state but also improve its performance, said district education officer Thomas Bhuria.
Our prime focus was to improve board results in the districts both in terms of quantity and quality and we achieved this in a big way, said district collector (DM) Rajiv Sharma who started the programme.
Ensure teachers presence at schools
First of all, we ensured 100% teachers attendance at schools, especially in schools situated in remote areas. To bring teachers to schools, we started deducting their salaries and as a result, we managed to contain absenteeism up to a large extent, Sharma added. Under this move, about 200 teachers at different schools were penalised for their absence.
Monitor teaching activities
Administration and school education department teams also regularly monitor teaching activities at all the schools with the help of 20 teams. Under this drive, we not only punish teachers for the careless attitude, but also motivate teachers to deliver their best and as a result, we managed to get this success.
Connect 40 schools with internet
At some government schools, non availability of mathematics and English subject teachers was a big issue. To deal with the situation, the administration connected 40 government schools through internet and started teaching them through video conferencing. Sharma informed that under the Sarvatra Shiksha drive, twice a week, subject experts started delivering lecture from collector office.
We had asked every village gram panchayat in the district to arrange television sets and internet connection for schools and this experiment proved to be stepping stone. We also provided study materials to the school principals in pen drives so that they can teach students in case there is no internet connection, said the DM. This year we managed to bridge the gap up to certain limit and from next year, we would try to connect rest of the schools in the district so that we could get much improved results in 2017, Sharma said.
Heart patients, you have got to be more cautious. Almost half of all heart attacks show no obvious symptoms, but can still be life-threatening, claims a new research.
Conducted on more than 9,000 middle-aged men and women, its one of the biggest studies to examine so-called silent heart attacks, and to also explore them across racial and gender groups.
Researchers at Wake Forest Universitys medical school led the government-funded study. Results were published online Monday in the American Heart Associations journal, Circulation.
Read: Mind your waist: Bigger the size, bigger the risk of heart disease
The details
Middle-aged adults from four US communities were enrolled. The studys aim was to examine causes of age-related artery damage that can lead to heart disease. Participants had periodic clinic exams including electrocardiograms and phone interviews with the researchers. They were followed for about 13 years.
Results
Overall, 45 percent of heart attacks were the silent kind, which are usually discovered some point later when a patient has an abnormal EKG reading that suggests previous heart damage.
Silent heart attacks were found on EKGs in 317 participants, or about 3 percent, who hadnt had suspicious symptoms. By contrast, 386 patients, or 4 percent, had full-blown heart attacks with symptoms. Symptoms often include chest pain, jaw and arm pain and shortness of breath. Silent heart attacks may cause mild fatigue or other vague symptoms that dont seem serious.
Silent heart attacks may cause mild fatigue or other vague symptoms that dont seem serious. (Shutterstock)
The risks
About 1,830 participants died during the study, 189 of them from heart disease. Those who had silent heart attacks were three times more likely to die from heart-related causes during the study than those without heart attacks. Among participants who had classic heart attacks, these deaths were five times more common than among those without heart attacks.
Comparisons
Both types of heart attacks were most common in men. Classic heart attacks were more common in white men; the rates were about equal in black men.
Among black women, silent heart attacks were more common than classic attacks; among white women the rates were about the same.
Read: Fighting fit: Heres how you can survive a heart attack
Previous studies on the prevalence of silent heart attacks have had varying results ranging from about 20 percent to 60 percent of all heart attacks. The authors of the current research note that many were on smaller, less diverse groups of patients.
Smoking and family history of heart disease were slightly less common among silent heart attack patients but otherwise the groups were pretty similar.
Recommendations
Government data show that each year more than 700,000 Americans have heart attacks and about 120,000 people die from them. Once discovered, the researchers say silent heart attacks should be treated as aggressively as classic ones. That includes getting blood pressure and cholesterol under control, maintaining a healthy weight and getting lots of exercise.
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Lord of the Rings actor Andy Serkis says his adaptation of Rudyard Kiplings much loved Jungle Book will be a darker take than what was shown by Jon Favreau in his movie recently.
The 52-year-old actors version, backed by Warner Bros, is also his directorial debut.
Neel Sethi as Mowgli in a still from The Jungle Book. (Disney)
Ours is for a slightly older audience. Its a PG-13, more a kind of Apes movie, a slightly darker take, closer to Rudyard Kiplings.
Its great to scare kids in a safe environment because its an important part of development, and we all loved to be scared as kids, so we shouldnt overly protect them.Kids are so sophisticated, and that is why our Jungle Book is quite dark, Serkis said.
Read: The Jungle Book review- More Mowgli, more special effects, more heart
Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale and Benedict Cumberbatch are lending their voices to Serkis Jungle Book slated for release in 2018.
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Islamic educational institutions and the Dar-ul-Uloom slammed the Union HRD ministry directive to chant Om at yoga practice in schools, colleges and universities on the International Day of Yoga on June 21 on the ground that pronouncing it is against Islamic teachings.
The UGC has directed all universities and colleges to follow the protocol on June 21, under which it has been made compulsory to pronounce Om and chant Sanskrit shlokas.
However, Muslim intellectuals and Islamic teachers are averse to chanting these verses while admitting that yoga is a good form of exercise. Dar-ul-Ulooms Maulana Abdul Qasim Naumani said, Om is part of Hindu worship rituals, making it compulsory for Muslims is against the Indian Constitution. He appealed to Muslims to boycott the Yoga Day programme if the government pressurised them to pronounce Om Muslims should not send their children to school on Yoga Day, he said.
Aligarh Mufti Muhammad Khalid Hameed, said, Muslims pass through various yoga stages during their namaz and nobody has any objection to yoga . It helps us maintain health. But inclusion of Om and other shlokas cannot be accepted as pronouncing Vedic verses is against Islam. We will oppose all such government directives.
Police looked for cell phones inside Siwan jail during a three-hour search on Wednesday after information that around 36 calls were made from the prison to a suspect present at the spot where journalist Rajdeo Ranjan was murdered.
Intelligence inputs suggest that the order to kill 42-year-old Ranjan, the head of Hindi daily Hindustan in Siwan town, on May 13 went from somebody lodged in the jail.
Authorities confiscated about eight phones inside the prison and found that SIM cards of all of them were procured on fake names from a particular shop. The shopkeeper was detained later.
Authorities detained 63 people who came to visit high-profile prisoner Shahabuddin, a former RJD MP serving a life sentence for the murder of two brothers.
Read | Fear for my life today: Bihars Siwan clams up about journos murder
The cell of the former Siwan MP, who is in jail since 2004, is being searched too while three of his visitors were questioned.
Police said 38 mobile phones were seized from the visitors, including former chairman of Siwan municipal council Krishna Devi.
We came to verify whether the jail manual was being followed during interaction of visitors with prisoners during visiting hours. We seized mobile phones which were taken to prohibited areas and will send a report to IG (prisons), said district magistrate Mahendra Kumar.
Authorities called the surprise inspection a routine security audit, though it was not hard to understand the urgency. The suspect, who received calls from the jail when unidentified assailants shot dead journalist Ranjan, is on the run.
His last call was to a prisoner in the jail and police tracking his phone said he was possibly in UP.
Investigators are focussing on a possible political motive for the murder and questions are being raised over keeping Shahabuddin in Siwan jail though there is no trial in progress against him.
People want him shifted to Bhagalpur jail.
Sources said the former MP meets visitors every Wednesday. But the search revealed that the majority of his visitors broke jail rules they didnt take permission in advance for the visit and were not carrying valid identity cards. SP Saurav Kumar said phones seized during the search will be scanned and their call records verified.
Jail rules are often broken with bribery and stealth to give prisoners uninterrupted access to the outside world. In the past, jail searches revealed large hauls of weapons, mobile phones and cash that indicate how jailed criminals were carrying out illegal activities.
The Bhartiya Janata Party said on Wednesday that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should take up the AgustaWestland issue as the parliamentary audit watchdog held its first meeting after being reconstituted.
The meeting also saw a Trinamool Congress (TMC) member questioning the probe by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Shashi Kant Sharma into defence deals, saying there could be conflict of interest as he is a former defence secretary.
Sources said that Vijay Goel of BJP said that the PAC must examine the report of the CAG on AgustaWestland, which was submitted in 2013.
He was supported by BJDs Bhartruhari Mahtab who said there should not be any issue in PAC examining such matters, including those which are being probed by investigation agencies or looked into by courts. He cited the coal scam as a precedent.
PAC Chairman KV Thomas, however, remained non-committal over these demands.
He is learnt to have said they can discuss it later as Wednesdays meeting was confined to deciding on subjects the panel has to look into over the next year.
TMC member Sukhendu Sekhar Roy noted that the CAG is examining a number of issues, including defence purchases that were made in the past. She said that Sharma had served in the ministry and there could be questions about conflict of interest.
He made these remarks in the presence of the CAG who had appeared before the panel to make his customary briefing before the first meeting of the reconstituted committee.
Roy also suggested that the panel take up the CAG report on purchase of trainee aircraft in which the audit watchdog has found certain irregularities.
Kirit Somaiya of BJP wanted the panel to speedily examine the issue of NPA of banks while Shantaram Naik of Congress wanted it to take up the issue PPP model again.
The previous committee had recommended that the PAC should also have the power to examine PPP projects as public money is involved there.
Congress party workers owing allegiance to state Youth Congress president Vishwajeet Kadam created a ruckus at an event organised by state secretary Shehzad Poonawalla and his brother, Tehseen, in Pune on Tuesday.
The Poonawallas are relatives of Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Tehseen had recently married Vadras cousin, Monica.
The event, titled Social Media and Political Communication, was organised at the Congress Bhavan with senior party leader Shashi Tharoor as the main speaker.
Supporters of state Youth Congress president Vishwajeet Kadam were annoyed over their leader being sidelined at the event. (HT Photo)
The protesters, who were reportedly annoyed by how Kadam was reportedly sidelined at the programme, began shouting slogans against the Poonawalla brothers. Later, they complained to Tharoor that the local party unit and senior leaders were not taken into confidence while the programme was being organised.
Sources said the workers stopped Poonawalla from speaking, shouting aloud that just being somebodys relative doesnt make him their leader.
Though senior Congress leaders asked the protesters to stop sloganeering, they refused to back down. The commotion died down only after Tharoor got up and began addressing the gathering.
A depression over Bay of Bengal bypassed Chennai and moved towards Bangladesh on Wednesday, but triggered heavy rains in parts of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.
A cyclone warning was issued for northern areas of Tamil Nadu and southern parts on neighbouring Andhra earlier in the day.
Four National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams arrived in Chennai on Wednesday with 24 boats. The Tamil Nadu capital had suffered damages and witnessed flooding in its worst rainfall in 100 years last November.
A man walks under an umbrella amid heavy rains at Marina Beach in Chennai on May 17, 2016. (AFP)
An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer was appointed to supervise flood-related relief efforts and safety measures in each of Chennais 30 zones.
Officials said they deployed motor pumps near subways - such as Ganeshapuram, Perambur High Road and the Villivakkam Redhills Subway - prone to flooding. Medical teams were formed to assist affected residents.
The weather office said squally wind speed reaching 55-65km will prevail along and off north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in the next 24 hours.
Sea condition will be rough to very rough, and fishermen have been advised not to venture out to sea during next 48 hours.
Weather blogger R Pradeep John posted preliminary rainfall figures on Facebook, saying Chennai witnessed its wettest one day May month rainfall since 1995 (sic).
The commissioner of revenue administration said an emergency hotline number of 1070 can be contacted for any rain-related grievance.
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The Supreme Court has asked all state bar councils to make an effort to conclude verification of all advocates registered with them by June 30. The verification process is in conformity to the new rules Bar Council of India the apex disciplinary body issued last year to weed out fake advocates.
On May 10, a bench headed by justice PC Ghose said: It appears that the BCI has taken steps to cause an enquiry and find out fake lawyers out of its members and persons who are not even members of the Bar Councils in accordance with the Advocates Act, 1961(law that lays down ethics and regulations for the legal committee).
The councils will submit a report to the BCI, which will in July first week update the SC on the steps taken to abide by the order. The bench has given liberty to the councils to seek more time if there is they are unable to complete the verification process.
The courts order came on an application filed by a Delhi-based advocate asking the bench to fix a deadline. He complained the BCI has barred state councils from holding elections until the verification is over. According to him the Delhi Bar Councils term has ended and there is no announcement to hold fresh polls.
BCI chairman Manan Kumar Misra, however, told HT that though the councils have been asked to speed up the process, there will be no compromise on their part to ensure fake advocates are thrown out. There are 17 lakh advocates practising in the country. The process involves verification of all the certificates. It will take time and we will not do it in a hurry, he said.
Misra said if the councils are able to complete 50% then the BCI will seek for an extension of the deadline.
The Congress said on Wednesday Rishi Kapoor was parochial and sought power after the actor questioned why landmarks in the country were named after the Gandhi family.
Rishi Kapoor fails to realise the contribution of the Gandhi family towards nation building, Mumbai Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam told PTI.
Some people say anything for the sake of power and due to their parochial attitude, he said.
Kapoor, in tweets on Wednesday, had accused Congress governments of naming landmarks after the Gandhi family, but Nirupam rejected the his allegations.
I have sent him a list of airports in the country, named after several important leaders from Maharana Pratap and Shivaji Maharaj to Lal Bhadur Shastri. Saying that everything is named after the Gandhi family is not correct, Nirupam said.
READ: Anupam Kher backs Rishi Kapoor on renaming assets
In Delhi, Congress spokesperson P C Chacko said some people wanted to please the BJP. They want to please somebody in power. They can have it but not at the expense of the Congress. We dont take it seriously and it is not worth any comments at all, he said without naming Kapoor.
Chacko told IANS he had not seen Kapoors tweets but it seems that some people are trying to abuse the Congress leadership just to get into the good books of theR
They want to please somebody in power. They can have it but not at the expense of the Congress. We dont take it seriously and it is not worth any comments at all, he said.
Kapoor had asked why Delhis airport was named Indira Gandhi International Airport. Why not Mahatma Gandhi or Bhagat Singh, Ambedkar or on my name Rishi Kapoor. As superficial! What say.
Ram Singh, Mohammed Sabir, Haseena and Asma have many things in common. Hailing from different states around Delhi, they have come to the national capital in search of a decent life; all of them are trying to sustain their families by doing odd jobs. And, their children are missing.
As the desperate parents meet at the office of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), an NGO run by Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi, they share their grief and console each other. They can only hope and pray that their children dont end up as mere statistics in government records.
Data tabled at the Lok Sabha recently revealed that in the past three years, more than 22,000 children went missing in Delhi. 9,000 are yet to be traced.
Every year, more than 7,000 children go missing and 1,500 of them remain untraced in Delhi, the second highest in the country after Maharashtra. Many of them are never found.
Activists say that most of the missing children are trafficked by organised gangs which push them into a life of bonded labour in big cities or in Gulf countries. Girls are mostly forced into prostitution, many of them sent to villages with poor sex ratio and married off to men twice their age.
According to NGOs such as BBA, Delhi is fast emerging as the hub of children trafficking and gangs mostly target children from lower income groups as both parents go out for work, leaving the minors alone and vulnerable.
Family members of children missing from New Delhi can only hope and pray that their children dont end up as mere statistics in government records. (Ravi Choudhary/HT Photo)
Ram Singh, a factory worker in Sohna, Gurgaon, said he has scoured all possible places -- railway stations, bus stops, temples, mosques -- looking for his 11-year-old son Ankit who disappeared on April 3.
He took my permission to go out with friends but never returned. I lodged a police complaint but till now I havent received any relief. Every morning I go out looking for my son. I hope, one day I will return home with him, Singh said.
In Haryana, more than 3,700 children have remained untraced in the past three years and like Singh, most of the victims are workers who have come to Delhi in search of a livelihood. Singh said he has spent over Rs one lakh searching his son and doesnt have any other source of income as he has stopped going to the factory he was working.
Like Singh, there are other parents who have stopped going to work in order to find their children.
Activists say Delhi Polices investigations into missing children are not serious, leading to a rise in the number of untraced children.
Police in Delhi and from neighbouring statesmost of the time they just go to shelter homes and look for missing children. Ideally, they should look for organised gangs who are involved in child trafficking, said Rakesh Senger, programme coordinator of BBA.
Read | Sex tourism & child pornography major threat to children: Rajnath Singh
Delhi Police claim that if the missing children are above 12 years of age, there are chances that they may have run away from their homes.
Activists, however, dont agree.
Asma,mother of Mohd Jariz (8), who had gone missing from Dwarka in New Delhi. (Ravi Choudhary/ HT Photo )
Children from Delhi are often taken to Punjab and western UP to work in agriculture field. In cases where we have managed to track children, this was the trend. In cases of girls, they are pushed into prostitution, said Senger.
Delhi Police, who have rescued and reunited 1,680 children with their families since January 2015, say they visit observation homes to reunite the children.
We have managed to reunite 900 children this year and 789 last year. We visit children homes and counsel them to get their addresses. We then coordinate through details given by them. If we get information on child labour or any organised gang, we do act on that, said RS Yadav, joint commissioner of police (crime branch).
Besides trafficking, the rate of crime -- incident per lakh population -- against children is also the highest in Delhi.
According to statistics available with the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 132 children in one lakh faced some kind of crime in 2013 while the rate of crime in 2012 in Delhi was 75 per lakh population.
Most of the cases are registered for abduction and rape.
Read | Poverty forced Bihar parents to sell children in Madhya Pradesh
Police said border areas like Aman Vihar, Shahbad Dairy, Nangloi and Jehangirpuri areas are the most vulnerable for children.
Ram Singh from Sohna, Gurgaon, holds a picture of his son Ankit (11) who had gone missing in New Delhi. (Ravi Choudhary/HT Photo)
Case studies
Nazir (11)
On the morning of May 10, Nazir, like any other day left for school, which is just a few metres away from his house. When he didnt return till 5 pm, his father Mohammed Sabir sent his wife to look for him. She went to the school but was told Nazir didnt come to school.
We then started searching for him. I called my relatives and during first few hours we concentrated on the nearby areas. Apart from lodging a police complaint, we searched every possible area. His friends told me that he had come to school but school authorities refused. Usually I go to pick him up but that day I didnt, which I regret the most, said Sabir.
Read | Two children go missing daily in Tamil Nadu, fears of trafficking: NHRC
Nazir is the only son of Sabir, who is a street vendor. Apart from stations, I went to Nizamuddin, Jama Masjid, Red Fort and even Narela to look for him. My wife will not be able to survive without him. I just want my child back, he added.
Mohammed Saddam (four-and-a-half)
Saddams mother Haseena came to Delhi about five months ago in search of a job. She works as a domestic help, four houses a day. On the morning of May 10, Saddam went out to answer natures call while Haseena was sleeping. He hasnt returned till date.
I thought he went out to play so I started my routine work. It was only in the evening, I found that he hasnt returned. I am new to Delhi and dont know many person, she said.
Haseena, (left) mother of four-and-a-half year- old Mohd Saddam, and Asma,mother of Mohd Jariz (8), who had gone missing from Dwarka, New Delhi (Ravi Choudhary/HT Photo)
Haseena, a native of Begusarai, Bihar, barely manages to speak. When I came to Delhi, I didnt know this would happen to my child. Now, even if I want to return, I wont be able to without getting back my son. He is everything to me, she added.
She lives in a small home in Dwarka sector 1 and has stopped working ever since her son went missing.
Read | Missing children found: Siblings rescued from a village , another from Jaipur
Mohammed Jariz (8)
Asma, mother of Jariz, is the elder sister of Haseena. They are neighbours and it was Asma, who suggested Haseena to come to Delhi for work. Now, both have met with the same fate, their only children are missing and they have no idea where they are.
I dont know whether they (Jariz and Saddam) have gone together or not, but there have been such cases in my locality earlier too. I have borrowed money from my relatives to look for my son. I hope he is fine wherever he is. I have approached the police and NGO to look for my child, she said.
Jariz also went missing on May 10 morning but it is not clear whether both went together or not. She has got a poster prepared and have pasted it at railway stations to get the clue of her missing son.
Also read | This Delhi police station is also schooling lost, abandoned kids
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The counting of votes in the latest round of assembly polls starts Thursday morning, the finale to a ten-week long political drama that began with the announcement of polls in early March.
Exit polls suggest a summer of discontent against incumbent governments might sweep across Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry, leaving only the redoubtable Mamata Banerjee untouched in West Bengal.
A clear picture is likely to emerge by Thursday noon, although the final figures will be out only later in the day.
The BJP, which suffered a series of electoral reveres last year after its stupendous show in 2014, is predicted to romp home in Assam, a first for the saffron party in a state ruled by the Congress for the last 15 years.
It will set the stage for the BJP to make further forays into the northeastern region.
Read: Assam win can be a shot in the arm for PM Modi
Workers preparing banners at the BJP head office in Delhi on Wednesday. (Vipin Kumar / Hindustan Times)
Exit polls also suggest the BJP might make an entry in the Kerala assembly, another first for the party that has so far failed to capitalise on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sanghs considerable presence in the state.
A debut in the assembly by itself might not be of much consequence, but it would bolster the BJPs claims of being a pan-India party.
Read: Kerala polls: CPM candidate in trouble for peeping into voting enclosure
There are high stakes for the Congress in these elections. Already edged out of power by the BJP at the Centre and also in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir, the opposition party now faces the prospects of two more states getting out of its hands- Kerala and Assam- as predicted by exit polls.
The polls indicate the return of the M Karunanidhi-led DMK to power in Chennai and of the Congress in Puducherry. The Congress opted for an alliance with the DMK in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, and with rival CPI(M) in West Bengal.
Even if the principal opposition party at the Centre ends up on the winning side in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, it might not do much to its image as a party on the downslide nationally.
Election commission officials seal an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) prior to the start of voting at a polling station in Dibrugarh, Assam. ( photo) (AFP)
Full coverage: Assembly elections
In an interview with HT on Tuesday, finance minister Arun Jaitley took a dig at the Congress saying that even if the opposition party survives as a tailender of an alliance, its ability to be an anchor of a national alliance in future will become suspect. Many in the Congress share the finance ministers assessment.
If Mamata Banerjee survives in West Bengal, despite the Congress and the CPI(M) joining hands and reducing her victory margin, it would only buttress the Lefts crisis of credibility.
The collapse of a flyover in Kolkata was projected as a symbol of the Trinamool governments failure on the development front. If Banerjee retains power, it would be a reflection of the Lefts inability to regain peoples confidence, rather than of the chief ministers ability to govern.
The Lefts projected victory in Kerala will, however, add some heft to its diminishing political clout at the national level. The BJP was expected to eat into the Lefts support base, especially given its aggressive outreach to the influential Ezhava community.
For a change, the Congress was banking on the BJP to do well. If the ruling party in the state still fails, it might also be an indication of public anger against a scam-hit Oommen Chandy government and disillusionment with a faction-ridden state Congress.
Kerala registered 77.35% voter turnout, the best in 25 years. High voter turnout is usually associated with anti-incumbency, as validated by exit polls. It might not hold true for other states though. Tamil Nadu registered 74.24% voter turnout, about 4% less than the 2011 figure, but Jayalalithaa government seems to be on the way out according to exit polls.
As one waits for the verdict on Thursday, here is a caveat: Opinion and exit polls have a chequered history and be ready for surprises, if any.
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Goa legislator Atanasio Monserratte, who was arrested for allegedly buying and raping a minor girl, was granted bail by a local court on Wednesday.
District and Sessions Judge Pramod Kamat granted bail to Monserratte, and also to the girls mother and another woman, Rosy Ferros, arrested for allegedly selling her to the MLA for Rs 50 lakh.
The St Cruz legislator has been asked to furnish bail amount of Rs one lakh and a surety of the like amount. He has been asked to appear before Crime Branch for next seven days.
The two other accused women were asked to furnish bail amount of Rs 25,000 each and sureties of the like amount. They were also asked to report to the Crime Branch for seven days.
The legislator, who had been expelled from Congress last year, was arrested on May 5.
Goa police is investigating the case against Monserratte who has been booked for buying the 16-year-old girl and raping her in March.
He was booked under IPC sections 376 (rape), 328 (poisoning), 342 (wrongful confinement), 370 (A) (trafficking), provisions of Goa Children Act and Protection of Children From Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The MLAs counsel Rajiv Gomes had argued against slapping of section 370 of IPC and section 8(2) of Goa Childrens Act in the FIR against the MLA.
Referring to the statement recorded by the girl, Gomes said there was no sexual assault in this case as the girl never claimed or disclosed about it in her complaint.
He also challenged the arrest of Monserratte on May 5, the day he appeared before police, by an officer who was not investigating the case.
Gomes had pointed out that the arrest was executed by Police Inspector Dattaguru Sawant, while the case was investigated by Sawants colleague Sudiksha Naik.
The lawyer had claimed that the investigation was conducted at the behest of political opponents of the accused.
He also said that by charging the legislator with rape, the police were making the girl as rape victim and tarnishing her image.
In his bail plea, the MLA said the charge of rape against him was a fertile imagination of investigating officer.
The condition of Jamnagar Lok Sabha MP Poonam Madam, who was injured after falling into a drain on Monday and flown to Mumbai, is stable, hospital officials here said.
The 41-year-old BJP MP, who suffered head injuries in the accident which occurred when she was inspecting a demolition site at a locality in Jamnagar, is undergoing treatment at the Sir H N Reliance Foundation Hospital here. Her condition is stable, a hospital spokesperson told PTI.
A Mumbai BJP MP, who is slated to meet her on Wednesday, said she was doing well, and added that there was no cause of concern.
Madam had gone to Jalaramnagar area in Jamnagar city of Gujarat on Monday when residents were protesting against the demolition of 237 housing units by the Jamnagar Municipal Corporation.
She was speaking to officials outside one of the housing units when a slab which covered the underground drain on which she was standing collapsed.
Madam suffered a 4-inch deep gash on her head and also hurt her shoulder and foot. She received five stitches on her head, doctors who treated her at a private hospital in Jamnagar earlier said.
Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday flew a Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft, joining an elite club of VIPs who have taken the frontline fighter jet for a raid .
Clad in a jump suit and special eye-gear, 44-year-old Rijiju, took off from Indian Air Forces Halwara base in Punjab and flew around for about 30 minutes in the supersonic jet, which can reach 56,800 feet and fly at a maximum speed of 2,100 km per hour.
Kiren Rijiju after the raid. (PTI)
Kiren Rijiju on board Sukhoi 30-MKI. (PTI)
Sukhoi flying brought me closer to IAF team at Halwara Air Force Station. Salute to brave pilots for securing our sky, the Union minister of state for home affairs said after the flight.
Rijiju joined a small list of VIPs who have flown the aircraft which include former presidents late A P J Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil and former defence minister George Fernandes.
Kiren Rijiju with an IAF fighter pilot. (PTI)
Rijiju occupied the co-pilots seat along with an experienced fighter pilot of the IAF. Sources said a few days ago Rijiju underwent a fitness test.
He agreed to fly following a request by IAF chief air chief marshal Arup Raha, sources said.
Bihar legislator Manorama Devis chequered family past is unlikely to make matters better for her as she faces charges for possession of alcohol under the states new excise law.
The Janata Dal (United) MLC surrendered on Tuesday and was sent to 14 days judicial custody. Devi has called the charges part of a political conspiracy.
Read | Suspended JD (U) leader Manorama Devi absconding, house sealed
An elected member of the Bihar legislative council, Devi was allegedly charged only after the department of registration and excises principal secretary, KK Pathak, contacted the district administration.
Police claimed they found alcohol bottles in her house when they raided it to find her son, Rocky Yadav, the main accused in the sensational Gaya road rage incident. Last week, 18-year-old Aditya Sachdeva was killed after Rocky allegedly fired at the teens vehicle for overtaking him.
Read | Bihar youngster shot dead after overtaking car of JD(U) leaders son
A first information report (FIR) was filed against Devi under the new excise law which made possession, storage and/or consumption of alcohol an offence in the state since April 1 this year, when prohibition was imposed.
I am a victim of political conspiracy. No liquor bottle has been recovered from my house. If it was so, I should have been arrested immediately. I was present during raid and cooperating. The FIR against me under excise act was lodged 24 hours later, she said.
With Devis surrender, the entire family, including her husband Bindeshwari Yadav alias Bindi Yadav, nephew Teni Yadav and Rocky, is now in jail.
Bindi, a moneyed man in construction who also owns petrol pumps and real estate businesses, was arrested for harbouring his son a day after Sachdeva was killed.
Read | Godfather: How Gaya road rage suspects dad muscled his way to top
Incidentally, the family, except for Bindi, surrendered to the police despite a manhunt to nab them and the oppositions vitriolic attack on the Nitish government over the return of jungle raj since Sachdevas death on May 7.
Read | There wont be any laxity: Nitish vows action in Gaya road rage death
Sources say Manorama Devi comes from a very modest background. But her marriage to Bindi changed everything. She became the panchayat samiti chief in 2001, the year Bindi became the district board chief.
There are allegedly 11 criminal cases lodged against Bindi in Gayas Rampur police station area, where Aditya was killed. He was nabbed with around 4,000 cartridges for sophisticated weapons like SLRs and AK-47 in March 2011.
Police say he is also involved in road and building construction as well as the real estate and liquor business.
Fellow JD(U) member, Anuj Kumar Singh who defeated Devi to win a legislative council seat in 2009, said it was Bindi who was the real politician in the family. Alleging he had links to Maoists and state-level politics, Singh said Devi came into politics after Bindis political career panned.
Though Bindi joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal and fought the assembly election twice once as an independent in 2005 and on a party ticket in 2010 he lost on both occasions.
He (Bindi) decided to make a backdoor entry into politics through his wife, as many musclemen-politicians do in Bihar. In 2009, he fielded Manorama Devi for the legislative council seat, but she also lost, Singh said.
In 2015, Devi won, defeating Singh, who had switched sides to the BJP after a long stint, first with the erstwhile Samata Party and then with the JD(U). This was around the time that the grand alliance was taking shape.
It was former Bihar assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary who was instrumental in inducting Manorama Devi to the JD(U) despite being aware of the acts of Bindi. He kept even Nitish Kumar in the dark, alleged Singh, adding that it was only because of the chief minister that such strong action had been taken against Bindi and the family.
Sources also said Bindi was planning to push Rocky into politics since his own tainted background would impede his career. However, these plans are doubtful now.
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A Jaipur woman approached the Supreme Court against the triple talaq system after her husband divorced her under the Muslim practice over a letter sent via speed post.
Aafreen Rehman says after her marriage in August 2014, her husband repeatedly beat her over dowry demands for months. In January 2016, she got a letter where her husband -- Ashar Warsi questioned her character and declared divorce through triple talaq.
I was angry at the sheer injustice. He never once spoke to me about it. I want to know if there was any valid reason for the talaq, said Rehman, an MBA graduate and a top professional in a private firm.
Aafreen said Muslim women progressed in their outlook but men were still regressive. (HT Photo)
The 28-year-old is the second Muslim woman after Shayara Bano of Uttrakhand to challenge the triple talaq system in the apex court.
Aafreen said Muslim women progressed in their outlook but men were still regressive. Men need to change their outlook. They are misusing the rights given to them by the Quran.
The triple talaq under which Muslim men can divorce their wives by using the word talaq (divorce) thrice is one of the most controversial practices of the Muslim personal law. Activists have long argued the ritual is loaded against women.
Aafreens sister Naseem said the match was fixed through a matrimonial website and the marriage conducted in August 2014. Warsi, was a lawyer from a prominent Muslim family in Indore.
Aafreens father passed away in 2009 and Warsis familys expectations of dowry were met by her brothers who took loans to give a cheque of Rs10 lakh to the boys side, Naseem said.
Aafreens sister Naseem said the match was fixed through a matrimonial website and the marriage conducted in August 2014. (HT Photo)
But a few months later, her husband and mother-in-law started taunting her for dowry, Aafreen said.
The fights got worse and a year into her marriage in August 2015 when Ashar beat her up and threw her out of the house. In September, he hit her again and she returned to her parents house.
During that period, Aafreen was travelling with her mother to Jodhpur when their bus met with an accident and her mother passed away. Her husband came to her house for 10 days and was very caring, said Aafreen.
But in January 2016, she got Warsis letter, where he alleged she was greedy for property and declared triple talaq.
He cut off all contact. He changed his number, unfriended me on Facebook, blocked me on WhatsApp. When my sister and I went to Indore to meet them, their house was locked, Aafreen said.
The top court issued notices to her husband, the Centre, the ministry of minority affairs, ministry of law and justice and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board to give their replies within 30 days.
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Braving Delhis searing heat, devotees of Baba Hardev Singh, head of the Sant Nirankari Mission, joined his funeral procession as it made its slow, meandering way towards the Nigam Bodh Crematorium Ground , where his last rites were performed today. The 62-year-old spiritual leader died in a road accident in Canada last Friday.
The bodies of Baba Hardev and his son-in-law, Avneet Setya, who also died in the accident, were flown to Delhi from Montreal on Monday. For the past two days, the bodies were being kept at Burari Road in west Delhi, as devotees lined up to pay their respects.
Surging crowds at the funeral procession of Baba Hardev Singh, as it proceeded towards the Nigam Bodh Crematorium Ground in New Delhi. (Sonu Mehta/ Hindustan Times)
Speculation over who would lead the sect after the Babas untimely death came to an end on Tuesday night, with the Nirankari Mission announcing that it had anointed his widow Savinder Kaur as their head. In her late fifties, Kaur will be the first woman and the fifth in line to lead the sect.
At the anointment ceremony attended by all the 21 members of the missions management committee,Kaur was offered the symbolic dupatta. After taking over, Kaur told the followers of the sect to remain in harmony with each other.
Savinder Kaur, Baba Hardev Singhs wife, has been anointed as the next head of the sect, putting a rest to rumours and speculation over succession. (Sonu Mehta/ Hindustan Times)
Besides his wife, the Baba is survived by three daughters -- Samta, Renuka and Sudeeksha. Early rumours had strongly suggested that Sudeeksha, who is the youngest of the three, was tipped to become the next leader. Her husband Avneet Setya also died in the accident. Apart from Sudeeskha, the name of Babas eldest son-in-law, Sandeep Khinda, was also doing the rounds.
Baba Hardevs daughters, Samta and Renuka, mourn their father at his funeral today. (Sonu Mehta/ Hindustan Times)
Baba Hardev Singh headed the sect for 36 years, after he was anointed in 1980. The Nirankari sect, which claims to have more than 10 million followers across the globe, was founded by Baba Buta Singh in 1929. Buta Singhs teachings confronted the tenets of Sikhism, leading to bloody clashes between the two. His followers were ex-communicated from the Sikh fold in 1978.
Baba Hardev Singh lead the Nirankari Mission for 36 years, after he was anointed at the head in 1980. The sect claims to have over 10 million followers across the globe. (Sonu Mehta/ Hindustan Times)
The Nirankari sect is credited with many philanthropic ventures, including running blood banks, dispensaries and schools. The sect has over 2,000 centres across the world.
Traffic police had circulated an advisory, informing that movement would be closed from Kingsway Camp to Burari Road from 8 am to 12 pm. (Sonu Mehta/HT Photo)
The miles-long funeral procession brought traffic to a halt in north Delhi. Traffic police had circulated an advisory, informing that movement would be closed from Kingsway Camp to Burari Road from 8 am to 12 pm. The funeral procession passed through Burari Chowk, Outer Ring road, Kingsway Camp, Delhi University metro station, IP College,Chandhi Ram Akhaara, Ring Road, ISBT to reach Nigam Bodh Ghat.
The funeral procession forced parts of Delhi to a standstill.Traffic crawls at Ring Road, near ISBT, which was one of the points on the processions route. (Sonu Mehta/ Hindustan Times)
India on Wednesday successfully test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear capable Prithvi-II missile as part of a user trial by the army from a test range at Chandipur in Odisha.
The trial of the surface-to-surface missile was carried out from a mobile launcher from launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at around 09:40 hrs, defence sources said.
Sources said there was plan for two trials of Prithvi-II in quick succession. However, after the successful trial of the first one, the second trial was abandoned due to a technical problem, they said.
A similar twin trial was conducted on October 12, 2009 from the same base where both were successful.
With a strike range of 350 km, the Prithvi-II is capable of carrying 500 kg to 1,000 kg of warheads and is thrusted by liquid propulsion twin engines. It uses advanced inertial guidance system with maneuvering trajectory to hit its target.
The missile was randomly chosen from the production stock and the entire launch activities were carried out by the specially formed strategic force command (SFC) and monitored by scientists at the Defence Research and Development Organisation as part of training exercise, a defence scientist said.
The missile trajectory was tracked by DRDO radars, electro-optical tracking systems and telemetry stations located along the coast of Odisha, sources said.
The downrange teams on board the ship deployed near the designated impact point in the Bay of Bengal monitored the terminal events and splashdown, they said.
Inducted into Indian armed forces in 2003, the nine-metre-tall, single-stage liquid-fueled Prithvi II is the first missile to be developed by DRDO under Indias prestigious IGMDP (Integrated Guided Missile Development Program) and is now a proven technology, defence sources said.
Such training launches clearly indicate Indias operational readiness to meet any eventuality and also establishes the reliability of this deterrent component of Indias Strategic arsenal, they said.
The last user trial of Prithvi-II was successfully conducted on February 16, 2016 from the same test range in Odisha.
The Maoists splinter group Tritiya-Sammelan Prastuti Committee (TPC) had got the Chatra-based TV journalist Indradev Yadav aka Akhilesh Pratap Singh killed when he did not agree to their repeated demands for levy. The outlawed extremist outfit had demanded Rs 7 lakh as levy from the slain scribe.
The Chatra police on Tuesday made this revelation claiming to have solved the journalists murder mystery.
The police nabbed Suraj Sao, the representative of Simaria MLA and chairman of Jharkhand housing board Ganesh Ganjhu on Monday night. His was the third arrest in this case so far. The police had earlier arrested Birbal Sao and Jhaman Sao, both supporters of Simaria legislators on Monday.
The Chatra superintendent of police Anjani Kumar Jha said, The TPC ultra Mukesh Ganjhu was the mastermind of the murder. He had plotted the journalists murder on Thursday morning after the scribe did not pay him levy. Suraj Sao was also present there. The TPC had demanded Rs seven lakh as levy from Indradev for executing transmission line work with NTPC.
The mastermind of the murder Mukesh Ganjhu is considered to be the number two in the TPC after its supremo Brajesh Ganjhu.
The Chatra SP further said, A total of six persons were involved in the murder. Three of them have been arrested while the raids are being conducted to nab others.
The TPC cadre Mukesh Ganjhu, shooter Munesh Ganjhu and an unidentified person were absconding.
The SP said, Birbal had called Indradev on the pretext the arranging a meeting with Suraj on that night. Jhaman had helped the shooters Munesh Ganjhu and other yet to be traced identify the journalist and passed information about his movement to the shooters.
Read | Press freedom groups urge probe into journalist killings
The Tazza TV journalist was killed by unidentified persons near Dewaria Panchayat secretariat under the Sadar police station in Chatra district on Thursday night. He died on the spot.
The murder had triggered widespread condemnation of the attacks on journalists across the country. The locals of Chatra town had on Friday observed bands and blocked NH 99 for seven hours demanding immediate arrest of culprits, compensation of Rs 50 lakh and government job to the kin.
Three days after the murder of a TV journalist in Chatra, the Jharkhand CM had announced a financial assistance of Raj 5 lakh for the victims family besides seeking a report from the DGP about the progress made in the case.
Read | Rs 5 lakh compensation for Jharkhand journalists family
The CCTV footage that had captured Birbal along with the journalist just before the murder provided the vital leads. The police nabbed Birbal the same night and during interrogation, he revealed the entire plot, said the police.
The police had on Saturday sought the services of a photo analyst to identify a.suspect captured in CCTV footage near the spot.
The police had earlier seized the bike used in the crime from a house owned by one Jairam Singh Bhokta in Lawalong of Chatra. Police also seized three mobile sets in this connection.
Manzil Saini, a 2005 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, took charges as the first woman police chief of Lucknow on Wednesday..
Popular as Lady Singham, Saini had already reached the state capital after getting confirmed about her new posting on Tuesday.
Sainis posting was confirmed after chief minister Akhilesh Yadav tweeted about her posting on Tuesday afternoon.
Later, principal secretary (Home), Debashish Panda also confirmed about Sainis posting as new SSP Lucknow while taking to HT over phone. Saini has replaced outgoing SSP Rajesh Pandey, who has been attached with the DGPs office. Before the coveted Lucknow posting, Saini was the district police chief of Etawah, home town of Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Saini made to the countrys police force to become Indias first married woman IPS officer. She was married in 2000 and five years after she got inducted as IPS officer during her first attempt in civil services examination. She is married to Jaspal Dehal, who runs an export business in Noida and belongs to Pandoh, Himachal Pradesh and have two kids. This special cop is considered as sensitive and a workaholic officer.
To add to her long list of achievements, Saini topped MBA from Delhi School of Economics after completing honours in Physics from St. Stephens College, New Delhi. During her IPS training at Sardar Vallabhbai Patel National Police IPS Academy, Hyderabad, Saini excelled as an athlete.
It was Saini who busted the infamous Amit Kumar kidney racket in 2008 just after six months of her first posting in Moradabad. She again made news when she was all of a sudden transferred in the midst of 2014 Muzaffarnagar riots along with the then district magistrate, Muzaffarnagar, Surendra Singh.
Three students committed suicide after faring poorly in the Madhya Pradesh Class 10 examinations within 24 hours of the results being declared on Monday, police said.
Two suicides were reported from Bhopal -- both failed in the exams -- and the third from Sagar where the candidate failed in one subject.
Police said two more similar cases have been reported, but no case has been registered yet.
The incidents once again highlight the growing career-related stress Indian students are facing. In April, a 17-year-old girl committed suicide in Rajasthans Kota a day after cracking the IIT-JEE examinations because she did not want to become an engineer.
On Tuesday, Pooja Sandhe, 16, hanged herself at her house in Shahjahanabad area, Bhopal. Police said she did not speak to anyone after the results.
She did not leave behind any suicide note, but her father said she was upset over failing Class 10. A case has been registered and investigations are on, police said.
An 18-year-old student, Rajesh Patel, killed himself in Bairasia locality hours after the results were announced.
Police said he walked out of his home on Monday evening and started vomiting after he returned.
The viscera samples of the deceased would be sent for forensic test to determine the exact poisonous substance he consumed, police said.
In Sagar, a 16-year-old boy hung himself from a tree near his house on Monday. Praveen Rajak, a resident of Gehuras village, had failed in one subject, police said.
(An earlier version of the copy said five students committed suicide. While police have confirmed three cases, they say two similar incidents have been brought to their notice but no case has been registered)
Read | Students from small towns dominate MP Board Class 10 merit list
Delhi Police on Tuesday detained the man who allegedly made two calls last evening, including one threatening to blow up the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The man, whose identity was not disclosed citing security concerns, was detained at southwest Delhis Sagarpur area and grilled for hours jointly by police and intelligence agency officials.
A case has been registered in connection with the matter and the man is being interrogated.
So far, it has emerged that he is now unemployed and had a heated argument with his wife before he made the calls on Monday evening.
He is also suspected to be a drug addict.
The number through which he had called up the control room was registered in the name of a lady known to him, who resides in central Delhis Daryaganj area, the official added.
Yesterday, he had first called up police control room at around 6 PM asking for former Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassis phone number and when refused, he threatened to have bombs planted in the city.
Around half an hour later, he called up the police control room again, threatening to blow up the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to drag the name of Nehru-Gandhi family into the controversial AgustaWestland deal in tune with the NDA governments agenda to malign their image on the issue, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh said on Tuesday.
He alleged that it was the BJPs strategy to defame members of the Nehru-Gandhi family as well as the Congress as they (NDA Government) could not prove anything linking them in the case during the past two years.
Singh said the then UPA government had blacklisted the Italian firm (Finmeccanica) as soon as it suspected foul play in the VVIP chopper deal.
As soon as the UPA came to know about the scandal, the contract was cancelled and AgustaWestland was blacklisted. A CBI probe was also ordered and a case has been filed.
There is no charge on the Nehru-Gandhi family members in the Italian court. Even defence minister Manohar Parrikar had said there were no names mentioned by the court. But Narendra Modi is trying to drag Nehru-Gandhi family into the issue, the AICC general secretary told reporters here.
Why has CBI not established who took the bribes till now? Singh questioned, in response to the BJPs barbs on the issue.
Referring to the NIA move to drop all charges against Sadhvi Pragya Singh and five other accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, he said, ever since the BJP came to power, it is assumed that the persons who are associated with Sangh Parivar would be given the clean chit.
He alleged that the ruling BJP has gone to the extent of discrediting slain ATS chief Hemant Karkare who had probed the blast case.
NIA had also given up charges under the stringent MCOCA law against all the other 10 accused, including Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit in the case.
Singh alleged that the ruling TRS government in Telangana has failed to fulfil the promises it had made during assembly elections.
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president Uttam Kumar Reddy announced on the occasion that the Congress would not maintain any media relations with a Telugu newspaper and a television channel that are said to be owned by the people close to TRS.
He alleged the concerned media house has been airing biased news without taking all versions.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi may attend a function that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will organise at Assi Ghat in Varanasi next week to celebrate two years of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre.
Modi, the parliamentarian from Varanasi, took over on May 26, 2014, after a landslide win in the general elections. During his visit to Varanasi on November 8 that year, the PM launched a cleanliness drive under his governments Swachch Bharat mission at Assi Ghat, where he wielded a spade.
BJP workers have been asked to carry out a sanitation drive at all intersections in the city and even in the rural areas as part of the celebrations.
Read: In pics | Modi rides e-rickshaw, then e-boat: PMs day out in Varanasi
Folk artistes will perform stage shows, highlighting different schemes launched by the Centre. Deepdan (floating of earthen lamps in the Ganga) and rangoli will also feature in the programmes.
Sanjay Bhardwaj, the BJPs east UP media in-charge, said: We have decided to celebrate the successful completion of (two years)in a grand manner.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government launched several schemes during the first two years of its tenure, Bhardwaj said, and added that the party planned to highlight schemes such as Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, Ujjwala and Jan Dhan during the event.
What the PM has done during the last two years, the previous governments could not do in the last six decades. We are delighted that Indias position has strengthened globally under the PMs leadership, Bhardwaj said.
Chandrashekhar, the BJPs Kashi region general secretary (organisation), has constituted a committee that has been asked to make the arrangements.
In what can be called a bizarre blend of medical science and religious faith, a senior doctor at one Mukta Prasad dispensary in Bikaner advises her patients to practice Islam to cure themselves of diseases.
Chief medical and health officer (CMHO) Dr Devendra Choudhary has warned the doctor in question, Jameema Hayat, time and again after getting many complaints about her religious approach while on duty. Now, the CMHO has issued a fresh notice to her.
Choudhary, who coincidentally is a batch mate of Hayat, told HT, We have been receiving these complaints for a long time. We also warned her several times and issued notices to her but she refuses to listen to anybody.
Sensing the gravity of the issue, even the Prime Ministers Office (PMO), which came to know about it through a complaint on its portal, has ordered a probe into this matter.
The PMO has ordered a probe into it and has instructed the department to take an appropriate action if any improprieties are found, a departmental official told HT on the condition of anonymity. We are conducting an inquiry in this matter and will conclude it very soon, said Choudhary.
Recently, one Manish Singhal was stunned when Hayat advised him to practice Islam instead of getting medical treatment for his eight-year-old daughter who was suffering from heat stroke.
She explained to him how following Islam can save his family from all troubles. Singhal told HT, After a formal checkup, Hayat started reciting Islamic quotations while his daughter was running a fever and was restless. I took my daughter to another doctor and got her treated.
Due to many such instances of religious practices while on duty, Hayat has been transferred frequently.
Earlier, she was posted at the district hospital in Bikaner. The department received a number of such complaints and she was transferred to a community health centre in districts sub-division Sridungargarh. Here too, she has been put on awaiting posting order due to such kind of complaints. Her two elder brothers were famous medical practitioners.
The urban development ministry has refused to entertain Gen(rtd) VK Singhs demand to rename Akbar Road in New Delhis Lutyens Zone after Mewar ruler Maharana Pratap.
Union urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday said the name change discussion was not on the cards.
Naming and renaming of street is not the subject matter of the Urban Development Ministry. It is not on the governments agenda. Governments focus is only development, Naidu told reporters.
Minister of state for external affairs VK Singh had proposed the change through a letter written to Naidu.
The demand reiterated by had created a furore on social media, with people accusing the government of trying push its saffron agenda, and obliterating Muslim rulers from history.
Haryana government too had pushed for the change, creating a social media flutter with people accusing the government of trying to push its saffron agenda thereby erasing Muslim rulers from history.
In 2015, the government had renamed Aurangzeb Road to APJ Abdul Kalam Raod in memory of the late President.
Baju bathes her 7-year-old son in a metal pan and doesnt use soap because she will give the bathwater to cattle. Cattle will not drink it if theres soap, the 30-year-old woman says as she washes her son in 41 degrees Celsius at Badi Khatu, a town 60 kilometres from Nagaur in Rajasthan.
Her family orders two-three water tankers every month at ` 300 each for drinking and cooking. She stores the water in plastic drums and large containers. If the tanker doesnt come on time, she borrows water from her neighbour living a kilometre away.
This family of ironsmiths doesnt run a workshop. Bajus husband Baku Ram, 35, is a dailywage labourer and she looks after their four children at home.
Twenty- two districts of Rajasthan are reeling under water crisis. Officials claim tankers are sent to 1,056 habitations in 748 villages, but the supply is not enough.
The Centre sanctioned ` 1,345 crore to Rajasthan on Saturday to tackle drought and water scarcity after chief minister Vasundhara Raje met PM Narendra Modi.
The CM briefed Modi on drinking water woes in the state. The PM suggested that traditional waterstorage structures be revived with peoples participation, said a report by PTI, quoting a statement from the PMO.
The story is no different for villagers of Beer in Ajmer district. A dam, which was a water source for the villagers, is dry for the past 20 years. Government water supply comes once in five days and we are forced to buy tankers, said Alladin Khan, 63.
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Hindu activist Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, who got a clean chit from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, broke her two-day-long hunger strike, after police agreed to her Simhastha visit.
Pragya started an indefinite hunger strike on Monday demanding that she be allowed to take a dip in the Kshipra river, in Ujjain, during Simhasth Kumbh.
The Bhopal police had been denying her the visit, citing security issues, despite a court in Dewas allowing her demand on May 5.
On Tuesday, doctors at Bhopals Pandit Khushilal Ayurvedic Hospital, had warned that her blood pressure and heartbeat rate were not normal. She has been receiving treatment at the hospital for various ailments including cancer.
Siwan wont talk about Rajdeo Ranjan though the journalists murder has caused a national outrage. In homes, tea stalls and street corners, the Bihar towns residents appear to have censored themselves.
Siwan appears to be living in fear after the murder of Ranjan, who worked for the Hindi daily Hindustan. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to the lawlessness that prevailed in Siwan during the Lok Sabha elections on the peripheries of the municipal area in 2014.
The scribes death has shattered us all. We all have to rethink on our way of writing, a local journalist, who did not wish to be named, said.
Read: Journalist murder: More Shahabuddin men held, suspicion on ex-MP deepens
Read: Journalist murder: Bihars Siwan slipping back into lawlessness of 90s
At Rajdeos native village Hakam, his widow Asha Yadav is yet to come out of the shock. She is anguished by police action and blames them for being haphazard and not addressing the murder.
Her family claims to know the killer, but she will not give it away. My husband was killed because of his writings. If there were some enemies, it was because of his writings, she tells Hindustan Times.
She is careful and guarded. How do I know, you are not a killer in the guise of a reporter. I fear for my life today, as well as my lone son and daughter. I have nowhere to go from here, she says.
Her comments reflect the larger fear stalking the people of the town, who are wary of speaking out about the incident or its possible conspirators.
Read:Murdered Bihar journalist wrote on jailed RJD leader Shahabuddin
Needles of suspicion
With the media aggressively pursuing the murder and police investigations pointing the needle of suspicion towards Siwan jail where former Siwan strongman and former Rashtriya Janata Dal legislator Mohammed Shahabuddin is lodged, there is a giant shadow, as it were, over the entire town.
Chirag Paswan, Lok Janshakti Partys parliamentary party chief, who met Rajdeos family, said Shahabuddin should be moved out of Siwan jail where he is serving a life sentence for the murder of two brothers.
If investigations have found RJDs former MP Shahabuddins role in the murder, it is a fit case for the strongman to be shifted elsewhere. I think, any investigation could be influenced by him, if he stays in Siwan, the young leader said.
For a change, a group of local RJD workers staged a protest near Rajdeos village demanding the immediate arrest of the killers. It was clearly intended to stay clear of the controversy and save their political careers should the investigation throw up links to Shahabuddin or his aides.
Read:Ready for CBI probe into journalists murder: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar
On Tuesday, police detained seven more people for interrogation, a few days after Upendra Singh, considered Shahabuddins close aide, was picked up a for his alleged role in the crime.
Police, however, have not made Singh, who is out on bail, an accused in Rajdeos murder and have instead booked him for violation of the Excise Act, indicating how their investigations still are far from any conclusion.
Read:Bihar scribe murder: Nitish says guilty wont be spared
A policeman argued differently saying it could be a strategy to mislead the conspirators. He did not give a name.
We are interrogating several people. We have got some vital clues and expect to make a breakthrough soon in the case, Priyaranjan, station house officer of Siwan town police station, said.
He refused to comment when asked whether Singh disclosed during interrogation that Rajdeos killing was ordered from Siwan jail. I will not comment on it. We are working on the case, he said.
Siwan superintendent of police, Sourabh Kumar Sah, told reporters that seven people have been picked up and were being interrogated. We are working on some leads, he said.
People are clearly not convinced and it seems it would take a lot of time for them to trust the police.
Reign of fear
For Siwan, diktats from the jail are nothing new.
Locals, on condition of anonymity, recall the days when businessmen, academicians, lawyers and reporters used to get threat calls for speaking against the ruling establishment from jail.
Getting a threat on the phone or just being ticked off by a criminal is intimidating. In last few decades, people who have tried to raise their voice against criminals with political patronage have all paid a big price. It may not happen so frequently in big cities but in Siwan it is common. Hence, the fear, a senior professor of a local college said.
Locals also allege that the administrations inability to act on the complaints of threats or extortion from jail has also emboldened criminals. They have managed to set up a parallel administration in the town, which has witnessed many high profile killings, including that of former Jawaharlal Nehru University students union president Chandrashekhar and the three sons of Chandrakeshwar Prasad, a businessman associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Two of them were soaked in acid after their abduction, while the third, an eyewitness was shot dead. Shahabuddins aides were blamed for all the murders.
These incidents are still etched in the public memory. The recent murder has only brought the dark memories alive. So, one can fully understand the palpable fear among the people, a local politician said.
Read:We will fight for Rajdeo Ranjan, because it is necessary
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The Bihar Police conducted raids at the Siwan divisional jail on Wednesday in connection with the murder of journalist Rajdeo Ranjan. The police searched the jail cell of former RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin during the raid, according to a source.
The raid was conducted after the police received inputs that directions to kill Ranjan, the bureau chief of Hindi daily Hindustan, on May 13 came from the jail. Shahabuddin is lodged in the jail since 2004.
Read: Journalist murder: Bihars Siwan slipping back into lawlessness of 90s
Police have already arrested Upender Singh, an aide of Shahabuddin, and are likely to take him on remand to quiz him in connection with the killing. Singh was briefly arrested over the murder of Shrikant Bharti, an associate of the BJP MP from Siwan in November 2014.
During the raid, the police recovered cell phones and knives from the jail. The police source said that the SIM cards of all the seized phones were procured on fake identities. The owner of a shop that sold the SIM cards has been detained for questioning.
According to a source with knowledge of the investigation, on the day of Ranjans murder, around 36 calls were made from Siwan jail to a suspect who was stationed at the place of the crime.
Investigators have told HT Ranjan spent the last few months probing Bhartis death, for which he had blamed Shahabuddin in his news reports for Hindustan, a sister publication of Hindustan Times. Ranjan was also said to have helped release a video clip of a meeting between Abdul Gafoor, a minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet, and Shahabuddin at the Siwan jail in March.
Five police teams have been constituted to investigate the case. The Bihar government led by Nitish Kumar has already recommended a CBI probe into the journalists killing.
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A new English newspaper is set to hit the stands in Hyderabad this July, but what sets the new entrant apart in the crowded Telangana media market is its high-profile owner: Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
The paper Telangana Today will be published by Raos media house, Telangana Publications Private Limited and help the CM shape public opinion. He already owns a Telugu daily, Namaste Telangana, and a television news channel, T-News.
Apparently, KCR is not satisfied with the way existing English dailies are covering his party and government. He feels they are not giving enough positive coverage. So, he wants to have his own mouthpiece, said Indian Journalists Union (IJU) secretary general Devulapalli Amar.
The opening of a new media outlet is usually cheered by local journalists as it triggers more employment and higher salaries in a highly competitive industry.
But the media fraternity is deeply worried about Telangana Today and feels the newspaper will aggravate Raos stranglehold on news coverage in the state.
Sources say KT Rama Rao, the CMs and minister for information technology, is personally overseeing the content and design of the new daily.
The focus of Telangana Today is on Hyderabad and Telangana, speaking out for the people. It is not that our paper is going to be the mouth piece of the government, we shall take the side of the people and highlighting their issues, said Telangana Today Editor K Srinivas Reddy.
Since India newest state was formed in June 2014, the CM has steadily expanded his influence in the media with a mixture of patronization and intimidation. In the past two years, most newspapers and channels have cut back on negative coverage of the government, fearful of losing government advertisements and political favour.
For example, Andhra Jyothy, which has the backing of the Telugu Desam Party, initially adopted an aggressive stand against the KCR government and exposed alleged misdeeds of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) MLAs.
But in the last few months, it has fallen in line. The reason: Its news channel ABN-Andhra Jyothy was blocked for more than a year for allegedly taking an anti-Telangana stand.
The channel was restored after the Andhra Jyothy management patched up with the KCR family.
The case of the popular channel TV9 was similar. After being taken off the cable TV network for a few months, its management struck a deal with the government and got the channel restored. It started a separate channel Jai Telangana that is pro-TRS.
It is a dangerous situation. Whoever talks against KCR or whichever media criticises his government, they are branded as anti-Telangana. The pro-KCR forces are very active on social networking sites, attacking KCR critics in a big way, Amar said.
The top two media houses Eenadu and Sakshi back the TRS as they have business interests in Telangana.
Other vernacular dailies and even English newspapers from Hyderabad arent critical of KCR. A dozen major Telugu television channels follow suit, giving little space to opposition parties.
Experts say most media houses are owned by Andhra businessmen, who used to criticise KCR and oppose the formation of Telangana before 2014.
After the for mation of Telangana, media houses had no option but to go soft on the TRS government, since they have to survive in Hyderabad, said veteran journalist and former Andhra Pradesh Press Academy chairman Potturi Venkateshwara Rao.
Besides adopting coercive tactics and appeasing the media with advertisements, KCR also offered sops to media persons, such as the construction of threebed room houses and issuance of health insurance cards. But he cannot silence the media for a long time with such tactics. Once there is disillusionment among the people against the government, the media will be forced to take their side and expose the government, the IJU leader added.
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In the two years of NDA government, the Union Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change has been constantly in news for bringing policy changes that affect business and environment. In an interview to HT, environment minister Prakash Javadekar talks about his ministrys policies and their impact on industry, forest and wildlife, tribals and climate change. Edited excerpts of the interview:
Q. How do you see your ministrys work of the past two years?
There are three-four major areas where we have got good success. First is that forest cover of India has increased by 3500 kilometers and mangroves have increased by 100 square kilometers. Now we are unlocking 42000 crore rupees that will have impact of more afforestation. And we are incentivizing tree cover outside forests. We are moving towards our target of increasing forest cover to 33% of countrys land from the current 21%.
Second, we are now better monitoring the pollution. Pollution load from many industries have reduced because we have made the pollution norms more stringent for 20 industries like cement, textile, thermal, paper and pulp and many other industries. We are monitoring it through 24/7 monitoring mechanism. We have mandated all the polluting industries to install 24/7 monitoring censors on their chimneys and effluent discharge points. The are generating alerts. Thats a good beginning.
Third major achievement is the ministry which was perceived as a roadblock ministry, we have made it transparent by making the process online. Instead of concentrating the entire power in the ministry, we have decentralized the power at 10 regional centers. So, all the important projects of roads, rails etc are cleared at the regional level itself. So, we have been able to clear 2000 projects which has unlocked 10,00,000 crore of investment. Thats a big thing. The process of environment clearance which used to take 600 days earlier, we have brought down to 190 days. We are going to bring it down to 100 days. With proper appraisal and proper environmental conditions, we can achieve that target by standardization, decentralization and transparency.
Q. You claim there is an increase in the forest cover. But the data of the Forest Survey of India show massive deforestation in natural forests in the past 10-12 years. Increase in plantations outside forests is masking loss of biodiversity-rich natural forests.
See, for last 10 years, one thing happened in this country. Funds meant for aforestation have not been used for afforestation. They were locked up in legal tangle and in the banks. That is what the CAMPA Bill is unlocking and that is why all the parties and all the states supported it in Lok Sabha. I am very sure Rajya Sabha will also pass it Unanimously. And therefore some kind of deforestation that we have seen in forest areas will now get rectified. Our target is to convert degraded forests into moderately dense forests and moderately dense forests into dense forests. And yes, we want to incentivise plantation outside forests. Because our forest land is only 21 per cent. Our target is to bring forest into 33 per cent land. How can we achieve this? Only by incentivizing plantation outside forests.
Watch | Prakash Javadekar on tiger conservation
Q. There is also a scheme of bringing private companies into afforestation. Concerns are raised by environmentalists that consent of tribals will not be taken for such plantations.
No. Never. It is actually the empowerment of tribals. It will improve the habitats of tribals. They will get employment for doing so. This will enrich India. It will help in creating carbon sink. Wherever there is a public hearing required by the law, we are doing it. There is no compromise on tribal welfare and tribal and forest-dwellers rights.
Q. You said India should take its time for implementing the Paris Agreement. What do you want to wait for?
We dont want to wait. We have already signed the agreement. We will be ratifying it in due course. But the Paris agreement starts implementation from 2020. What developed world will do between 2016 and 2020, that is the question we are raising. And we are saying there cant be an action holiday for five years. Five years should be affectively used and developed world must ratify their second commitment period of Kyoto, and those who are not part of this agreement like US and Japan, Canada, Australia, they must declare their ambitious targets for five years. That is all our demand is.
Q. You have said that almost 90 per cent of the work of approval for projects is being done by the state.
Yes, in forest issues. But without compromising on any environmental condition. Actually, the environmental conditions have been made more stringent. There is state participation; there are officials and experts, all together. Its an interstate mechanism we have created for the empowerment of the states.
Q. You are saying that the environmental conditions have been made more stringent, but the changes in the regulations show they are dilutions of environmental safeguards.
No, that may be your interpretation. I dont agree with that. We have made pollution norms more stringent for 20 industries. We are building the eco-bridge for the first time in the country for the four-laning of highway near Kanha (Tiger Reserve). For 70 years nobody did that only lip service to the wildlife. We are providing eco-bridge to the tigers and for the wildlife. The forest will be below and the wildlife will be passing from above with a natural habitat. Thats a great achievement. And we are making it more stringent.
Q. You talk about decentralization but at the same time there have been attempts by the ministry to dilute the Gram Sabhas consent requirements for various projects under FRA.
No, Never.
Q. For the linear projects, it had been done. There has been correspondence between your ministry and the tribal affairs ministry which shows this.
No. No. that is wrong. Let me tell you we are not diluting any forest rights. Modi government is actually committed for the empowerment of tribals.
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Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle unleashed a no-holds barred pounding of the Kings XI Punjab bowlers. It was so savage that they would be forgiven for probably thanking the rain that ate into 10 overs of the match. This, however, was again Kohlis day. Rewriting record books with a consistency never seen in modern-day cricket, Kohli reached his fourth century of the tournament and took RCB to an unthinkable 211 in 15 overs, all with seven stitches in his torn left-hand webbing.
Winning the toss and electing to chase has been the norm this IPL but doing that at the Chinnaswamy stadium, where RCB have two 200-plus totals batting first, was a risky decision by Kings XI Punjab captain, Murali Vijay. The first three overs, bowled by Sandeep Sharma and Mohit Sharma, went for just 17, but it was the lull before the storm. The decimation was finally uncorked in the fourth over by Kyle Abbott, who went for 18 runs, including two sixes that went off Gayles bat over long-off and cover.
Spinner KC Cariappa was thrown in the mix to see how Gayle reacted to him. Out came Gayles slog across the line that had enough power to land just beyond the boundary. With a boundary behind point, Gayle then gave strike to Kohli who churned out a six over long-off to bring up another 18-run over. It set the tone for the match as even Axar Patel couldnt plug the run flow.
Cariappa was then chosen for a mauling in the next over as Kohli milked him for 19 runs, including two sixes and a boundary. Every shot seemed to evade the fielders, giving KXIP no chance of making a comeback. Patel even started bowling negative and conceded three wides. The moment he bowled straighter, Gayle smoked him for two sixes to bring up his first half-century of the tournament.
Patel finally dismissed Gayle but not before the Jamaican had teased him with three brutal sixes. AB de Villiers didnt fire but Punjab were clearly dreading the worst as Kohli was in no mood to concede any quarter. Launching into a six off Abbott, Kohli then laid into Mohit with three consecutive fours. Not only did Kohli pack a punch but his placements were also immaculate, like guiding Mohit between point and third man for a boundary.
A flick through deep midwicket in the next over finally fetched Kohli his fourth IPL century. Had it not been for the bat turning in his hand, Kohli could have gone on till the last ball. RCB however, couldnt have asked for more from their captain.
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Tension prevailed at Kundal village in Barmer district on Wednesday after the dominant Rajputs launched an agitation against an inter-caste marriage involving a woman from their community.
The woman absconded with her partner a Meghwal Dalit soon after their reported marriage on May 9. Her relatives responded by registering a case of kidnapping against the groom under Sections 363 and 366 of the Indian Penal Code, claiming that she was a minor.
However, police said the womans school transfer certificate clearly shows she was over 18.
The Rajput community has submitted a memorandum to the Barmer administration, demanding that they locate the missing girl. Police said the agitators also announced a partial bandh on Monday, which fortunately received a lukewarm response.
Read: Madras HC orders special cells set up to protect inter-caste couples
Balotra deputy superintendent of police Rajesh Mathur dismissed reports of Dalits being beaten up by members of the dominant caste during the bandh. Those are just rumours. The bandh was unsuccessful, and no incident of violence was reported, he said.
Many activists expressed concern for the villages Dalit community on social media. Sudhindra from Barmer told HT that the police must brace themselves for the worst, given the delicate situation in the village. Kundal is a Rajput stronghold. None of the Dalits are willing to speak up because they are terrified. Is the state waiting for another Dangawas to happen? he asked.
PL Mimroth, chief functionary of the Centre for Dalit Rights in Jaipur, demanded increased security for the Dalit community in Kundal village. These people are unwilling to accept inter-caste marriages even 69 years after Independence. We have seen many cases where Dalit men are harassed by relatives of upper-caste girls. The police must protect them, he said.
The Barmer police say they have taken every precaution to ensure peace in the area. We have deployed police personnel across the village, and intend to increase security levels at night too, said Paris Deshmukh, Barmer superintendent of police.
Irked by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation drawing water from reservoirs in their area, villagers from scarcity-hit Shahapur in neighbouring Thane district have threatened to stop the water supply to Mumbai if government fails to ensure adequate water for them.
Around 300 people, led by local BJP leader Santosh Shinde, who had embarked on the Jaldindi Padyatra on March 14 to register their protest against BMC, on Tuesday reached Mumbai after covering the distance of around 75 km and met chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Submitting their 10-point demands to CM, the group, including women, requested him that they be adopted by the BMC so that entire Shahapur taluka will become tanker-free.
Through this padyatra, we demand adequate water provision for us too, otherwise, we will have no choice but to stop the supply of water which is being diverted to Mumbaikars from our soil, Shinde said while addressing the gathering at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai.
He said they have submitted their demands to Fadnavis and are hopeful that their problems will get resolved soon.
The outskirts of Shahapur tehsil have four reservoirs of Bhatsa, Tansa, Modak Sagar and the Middle Vaitarna which supply 2,960 million litres of water to Mumbai every day through pipelines.
Shinde also added that they are not opposing the water supply to Mumbaikars per se.
We are only highlighting our problems by asking that when there is water around us, why we are dying thirsty...We have nothing to drink...We have to walk kilometres to fetch a bucket of water, he said.
Shravan Telam, a resident of Kasara who reached Mumbai after walking 95 kms in blazing sun, said the water which is supplied to Mumbaikars for a day will suffice them for the whole year. We want to convey this message to the state government, he added.
BJP MP Kapil Patil (Bhiwandi) also accompanied the protesters and urged the Chief Minister to do the needful to solve their woes.
I along with representatives of the affected residents suggested the CM to convene a meeting involving all the stake-holders such as the officials of the BMC, irrigation and water supply departments, to which the CM readily agreed, Patil told PTI.
Underlining the gravity of the situation in the region, Patil said, All the industrial units have been shut (in view of water scarcity) which has led to severe unemployment among youths, which needs to be addressed immediately.
Anupam Kher on Wednesday stood in agreement with fellow actor Rishi Kapoor against everything being named after the Gandhi family. Contribution of other people who have done a lot, such as JRD Tata and Lata Mangeshkar, cannot be ignored. Even some Congress leaders such as (former prime ministers) PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh have not been mentioned, he said.
Along with co-actors Neena Gupta and Rakesh Bedi, Kher was in Chandigarh from where his wife and actor Kirron Kher is the BJP Lok Sabha MP for staging a play called Mera Woh Matlab Nahi Tha, or I did not mean that. Since Independence, most things have been named after the Gandhis... I think he (Rishi) has a valid point but people will start attributing motives, Kher said.
Read: Entertainment tax waive off on Anupam Khers play: Youth Congress stages protest
Scepticism essence of India now
On social media, he said, It gives reach to a lot of people, especially to youngsters. I keep getting trolled and abused, but I continue to be there. I have only blocked two persons in my seven years of Twitter life, only because they abused my parents. I am too smart to be bogged down by Twitter abuse.
On mainstream media, he commented, News is based on TRP these days; positive news is no news. To a certain extent, it is orchestrated too. I am just eight years younger to Independent India; I have gone through Emergency. Scepticism is the essence of our country now.
No harm in yoga and Om chant for everyone
He opined that it was comical how anything coming from the government and even [something that] talks of well-being is made into a controversy. He cited yoga, which he said was not any city- or religion-specific but belongs to the entire country. Yoga is linked to Om, and there is no harm in chanting it. Yoga is good for the body, he further said. However, Kher would not be coming for the second International Yoga Day celebrations in Chandigarh where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in attendance too.
Also read I Anupam Kher a darbari artist, says Punjabi writer who returned award
Actor Anupam Kher in Chandigarh on Wednesday. (Keshav Singh/HT Photo)
On politics: Never say never
Asked about the recent row at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, over some slogans and subsequent arrests of students union leaders, he insisted that there cannot be different interpretations of nationalist. We need to stop with this anti-country movement while also trying to be nationalists, he said, adding, Humanity, nationalism and religion is the order according to me.
Clarifying that he was not joining politics immediately, Kher said, As an individual I have more power than Id have by being in politics. But I will never say never.
He also took a dig at artists and writers who had returned their awards after killings of rationalists and a general sense of intolerance in the country ever since the Modi-led BJP government has taken over at the Centre. What has happened to the award-wapsi (return) gangs? Where have they disappeared? They have not even come out over recent killings of journalists.
Meanwhile, claiming that anybody who talks about national interest faced abuse, in an interview to a TV channel he also took a shot at trollers of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), though he did not expressly name the Delhi chief minister or the AAP. Someone will not concentrate on Delhi but keep talking about Modi-ji... about how Modi-jis mother came and met him, how his degrees are not correct, and so on.
There have been more political disappointments in this country than this government, he also said.
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The bickering within the Congress over formation of the new Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) announced by Captain Amarinder Singh has come to the fore with daughter of former chief minister Beant Singh and former minister Gurkanwal Kaur announcing to quit as a special invitee of the PPCC.
Gurkanwal, a former MLA from Jalandhar Cantonment constituency, the segment represented by late Beant Singh, said she doesnt need such meaningless post. I am writing to the PPCC chief to take me out of this list. It looks like belittling seniority. In the coming days, I will meet national party chief Sonia Gandhi to expose the present state of affairs of the PPCC run by Amarinder, she said.
She alleged Amarinder was ignoring senior leaders and was giving preference to those who joined the party only to contest polls.
Amarinders choice to project leaders such as Jagbir Brar (former Akali MLA, who had joined the Congress in 2012, just before the polls) will ruin the party. Giving preference to a turncoat and making him district Congress chief of Jalandhar Rural by ignoring me is an insult. Many senior leaders are unhappy with the autocratic attitude of Amarinder, Gurkanwal told HT.
She also accused Amarinder of ignoring Beant Singhs legacy. The party uses my fathers name when they need votes. But the PPCC chief ignored his daughter who is a former minister, she added.
When asked how the question of ignoring Beant Singhs family arose when her nephew (her brothers son) and Khanna MLA Gurkirat Kotli had been made the party general secretary, Gurkanwal said: I am Beant Singhs daughter and I deserve much more than Gurkirat.
Gurkanwal had earlier accused previous PPCC chief Partap Singh Bajwas style of managing the party affairs.
Executive member resigns
Ludhiana: Newly appointed executive member of the PPCC Ashok Prasher (Pappi Shahpuria) on Tuesday resigned from the post stating that senior party leaders from Ludhiana, who do not owe allegiance to member of Parliament (MP) Ravneet Singh Bittu, were ignored in the PCC list announced recently.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Prasher, who remained a general secretary of the state Congress committee, said leaders with mass base were ignored.
I have sent my resignation to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, state party president Amarinder Singh, and party general secretary and in-charge of Punjab affairs Shakeel Ahmad, said
Prasher. He said Ravneet Bittu, MLA Rakesh Pandey and Surinder Dawar were demoralising the party cadre.
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The municipal corporation (MC) will spend Rs 12.13 crore on the project to beautify the main points of the industrial city. The civic body has designed special structures for the purpose.
These structures will be installed at the entry points, including Jalandhar byepass chowk, Sherpur Chowk, Gill Chowk and Samrala Chowk.
The department has finalised four structures which have been prepared by an architect and the installation will begin shortly. The beautification plan was jointly discussed by the municipal corporation commissioner Ghanshyam Thori and mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria. The mayor gave anticipation approval to the project work.
Along with installation of these structures special plantation drive will also be conducted by the horticulture wing during monsoon season. The civic body is likely to spend Rs 12.13 crore on the entire project.
However, the officials have already started beautification of the approach roads to these chowks. On Tuesday the work on Chandigarh Road, old GT Road, Malhar Road and Hambran Road has been started by the officials of the respective zones.
The civic body will beautify the Jalandhar byepass Chowk including its landmark and horticulture. RCC grills will be installed on the central verge from Ambedkar Chowk to Buddha Nallah.
Similarly, for Sherpur Chowk, Gill Chowk and Samrala Chowk the officials have same planning. For the plantation the officials will take up centre verges of Chandigarh Road, Ferozepur Road, Samrala Chowk to Cheema Chowk, Jalandhar bypass to Buddha Nallah, Jagraon Bridge to Sherpur Chowk, Vishwakarma Chowk to GNE College, Dandi Swami Road to Hambran Road and Suffian Chowk to Oswal Hospital.
MC commissioner Ghanshyam Thori said the combination of four designs would be used at chowks along with extensive plantation drive.
He added that they have already started beautification of the approach roads with painting on the central verges and trees and installation of the cat eyes, thermoplastic paint as well as the zebra lines were being painted.
Even as the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) called off their operations to search the five missing tourists who went missing on May 7, their relatives are not ready to give up hopes. As many as 60 people including relatives and villagers from Ranewal and Chahrmajra villages on Wednesday undertook extensive digging to search the bodies presumed to be buried under flood debris at Loti Khad, 60 kilometers from the capital town.
On May 10, flash flood triggered by cloudburst in Loti Khad swept away eight people of which three were rescued, while there is no trace of remaining five which include four from Punjab and a guide from Uttarakhand. Lacking expertise to search the missing persons through rubbles, the government called NDRF on May 11 for the search operation. The NDRF called-off the operation on May 14 after observing that the possibility of bodies buried under debris was remote.
Read: Cloudburst in HP: Nawanshahr villages in shock as no trace of 4 boys
However, few relatives of the missing tourists continue to camp along river Sutlej in the hope to sight the bodies somewhere in the muddy water. We held a meeting and decided that people from both villages will go to the spot and start their search operation, an uncle of one of the missing youth Hardeep Singh told HT over the telephone.
Read: Four days on, no trace of five persons
Four of the missing tourists have been identified as Sharanpreet Singh (22), Hardeep Singh (20), Evanjot Singh (20) from Ranewal; Amanpreet Singh (20) of Chahrmajra in Nawanshahr while the fifth tourist from Uttarakhand is yet to be identified.
Chief minister Virbhadra Singh, who visited the flash flood affected area had assured the villagers to deploy an excavator to dig-up the debris. But adding to the agony of the kins of the missing tourists, the excavator developed snag and the digging work was being carried manually.
Hardeeps father Bhupender Singh, said they did not want to leave out any chance of recovering their children. The government tried their best. We want to put all our efforts too, he said.
Shimla deputy commissioner (DC) Rohan Chand Thakur said the state machinery including home guards, fire brigade and police department had put their efforts along with the NDRF team. There is no success so far. I am told that villagers from Nawanshahr have arrived there, he said.
We have no problem if they want to search bodies in the Khad. However NDRF had expressed that there was only 1% possibility of bodies being buried under the debris, Thakur told HT, adding that so far they had not approached the local administration.
Local admin to take care of Punjab villagers need
Meanwhile, the local administration on Wednesday deployed an excavator. It also cleaned up the Rain Basera building, where the NDRF team was putting up. If they approach us, we will arrange their stay, an officer said.
Timeline
May 10: Flashflood swept away 5 people
May 11: NDRF called
May 12: NDRF arrived
May 13: Sniffer dog searched the area but no success
May 14: NDRF winded up the operation
May 15: Relatives moved back home
May 18: More than 60 villagers arrived at Loti Khad to search the missing
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A day after surviving a murderous attack, Sikh preacher Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale was visited by a number of people, including politicians, at Gurdwara Parmeshar Dwar near Patiala on Wednesday. The police have beefed up the security at the gurdwara as well as at the preachers house.
Supporters of Dhadrianwale also blocked the Patiala-Sangrur road, but he asked them not to harass the public and maintain peace.
Read: Dhadrianwale attack: 9 suspects held, 4 cars impounded by Ludhiana police
Read: Know Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale, and a spat with Taksal head
Among the first ones to pay the visit was Congress vice-president Brahm Mohindra, followed by Aam Aadmi Party leaders Sanjay Singh and Sucha Singh Chhotepur. AAP convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal too called up Dhadrianwale to know his wellbeing and offered condolences at the killing of his aide Bhupinder Singh.
Mohindra said from the common, religious preachers to cops, no one is safe in Punjab. The SAD-BJP has become a threat to the peace and harmony of Punjab, he said.
Talking to mediapersons, Sanjay Singh said Badal government was responsible for the deteriorated law and order in the state where even the religious preachers were not safe. He also pointed out the recent murder of Namdhari Sect matriarch Chand Kaur, whose killers were yet to be arrested.
If religious preachers are not safe, one can make out the condition of the common man. The law and order in the Punjab has collapsed, Sanjay said, adding if the Badals cant ensure peoples safety, they have no right to continue on their posts.
Read: One dead in attack on Sikh preacher Dhadrianwale
Chhotepur said communal forces wanted turmoil back in Punjab and the people should not fall into the trap.
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The newly-opened multi-level parking at Sector 17 registered a dip on Tuesday, as traders parked their vehicles at the two re-opened lots, instead of the new one.
In the past seven days, on an average, around 650 cars were being parked daily at the new lot, but a day later, only 276 cars were parked.
Under the agreement signed by the traders on Monday, the municipal corporation was to close both the lots Sahib Singh and Empire Store till 11.30 am. As they were not closed, most of the traders parked their vehicles at these lots.
Neeraj Bajaj, president of business promotion council, Sector 17 said, We held a meeting today with traders and urged them to park at new lot. Parking passes will be issued to them in day or two and all vehicles with passes will be parked at the new lot only. We will adhere to the agreement with civic body.
Contractor of the new multi-level parking, Ashok Chauhan said, On Tuesday, only 276 vehicles were parked in the new lot and most of the traders parked their vehicles in two lots that were re-opened on Monday night.
City mayor Arun Sood said, Since we could not close both the lots on Tuesday till 11.30, so traders parked their vehicles in front of the shops.
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A head constable was booked on charges of abetment to suicide as he allegedly released an objectionable picture with a woman on social media following which she committed suicide. The accused was at large till the last information came in.
Victims father Balkar Singh, in a statement to police, stated that Harjinder Singh, head constable posted at PCR Moga, was known to their family and used to visit her at Daule wala in Moga district.
He alleged that few days ago, when she was alone at home, he visited her and gave some intoxicant and later videographed her in objectionable position.
He later viraled the same on social media following which she became very upset and on Monday jumped into canal, he further alleged.
Her body was fished out and after postmortem was conducted, following which, the body was given to family.
Ferozepur SSP Manminder Singh said that accused was booked under section 306 (abetment to suicide) while further probe was on.
A heat wave continued to sweep the northern region with major cities registering temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the coming days will offer no respite. The meteorological department has issued severe heat wave warnings for Punjab and Haryana.
In Punjab, Amritsar recorded a maximum temperature of 43.2 degree, three notches above normal. Ludhiana recorded a maximum of 42.6, and Patiala braved the hot weather at 42.3 degrees, three above normal here too. The maximum temperature in Chandigarh settled at 41.7 degrees Celsius, four notches higher than normal.
Click for pics: Shades of heat
What is a heat wave?
According to the National Disaster Management Authority website, a heat wave is a period of abnormally high temperatures, more than the normal maximum temperature that occurs during the summer season in the North-Western parts of India. Heat Waves typically occur between March and June, and in some rare cases even extend till July. The extreme temperatures and resultant atmospheric conditions adversely affect people living in these regions as they cause physiological stress, sometimes resulting in death.
Also read I Worlds largest single rooftop solar plant opened at Beas dera
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Lambasting Ludhiana police for letting off Dugri station house officer (SHO) Davinder Chaudhary in the inquiry report submitted in the case of Inderpal Singh Ahujas death, who committed suicide alleging police harassment, victims mother Kuldeep Kaur has rubbished the report calling it a mere eyewash.
She said, It was clear that the senior officers were shielding their men, but I will move the Punjab and Haryana high court to get justice for my son.
Harassed by cops, Ludhiana man puts it on FB, jumps before train
In the delayed inquiry report submitted on Monday by additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP-2) Sandeep Garg, assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Buta Singh and head constable Swaran Singh have been found guilty, but the SHO has been exempted with the police claiming that no direct involvement of the SHO has been found.
An SHO is the functioning head of a police station. He is responsible for all the matters within his jurisdiction. But, senior police officials have been shielding him in the inquiry, Kuldeep alleged.
Ahujas mother said that all cops, including SHO Davinder Chaudhary, were equally involved in the death of her son.
My son has died such a tragic death. He was the support system of my family of five, including three daughters. The report has shattered my hope, Kuldeep Kaur added.
She said, Since beginning, the cops were trying to hush-up the matter. The Government Railway Police (GRP) took three days to register a case of abetment to suicide against cops, who were responsible for his death.
Railway police constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for investigation, but they contacted me only once to ask questions, and at that time I was not in a position to talk. They never came after that, she alleged.
Moreover, the report was out last week, but commissioner of police eventually took three days to reveal the contents of the investigation report.
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Two days after locals thrashed an assistant sub-inspector (ASI), the Batala police was again at the receiving end when a police team was attacked by a group of criminals at Jaurian Khurd village, 2km from the Dera Baba Nanak police station, on Monday evening, leaving a head constable critically injured.
Though senior police officials tried to keep the incident under wraps saying the head constable had a fall and fractured his arm, the first information report (FIR) registered at the Dera Baba Nanak police station states that on Monday evening, a police team led by station house officer (SHO), Dera Baba Nanak police station, Paramjeet Singh went to Jaurian Khurd village for investigating a case when they were attacked with sharp-edged weapons and firearms. Head constable Gurmeet Singh was seriously injured and was rushed to a hospital in Amritsar.
On the SHOs statement, the police registered a case under Section 307, 332, 333, 353, 186, 341, 148 and 149 of the Indian penal Code (IPC) and 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act against Amarjot Singh, Avtar Singh, Raman, Kaka, Gora, Mithu and six unidentified persons, who are absconding.
When contacted, Batala senior superintendent of police (SSP) Daljinder Singh said Amarjot and his brother Avtar were habitual criminals and have more than 15 cases registered against them.
This is the fourth incident in the past nine months in which Batala cops have been assaulted. On August 27 last year, two cops Manjinder Singh and Gurvinder Singh were beaten up and their uniforms were torn by some Akali workers inside the Qila Lal Singh police station.
On September 2, two constables of Dera Baba Nanak police station were beaten up and their uniforms were removed by liquor smugglers at Harowal village.
On May 15 this year, assistant sub-inspector, Nirjit Singh was tied to an electricity pole by a mob after he had allegedly let go a tractor driver who had run a motorcyclist over.
State Congress vice-president and Dera Baba Nanak MLA Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said both the incidents in which the cops of Batala police were thrashed had hit the image of the police. He advised deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal to form another police wing on the pattern of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team for the of policemen. If he agrees, Congress workers are ready to pitch tents outside police stations in the Batala police district to provide security to the cops, he added.
A day after the attack on Sikh preacher Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale, in which one of his followers was killed , police claim to have rounded up nine suspects who are being interrogated for their involvement in the crime.
CCTV footage has helped cops in gaining vital leads about the assailants. Near the chabeel where heavily armed assailants opened indiscriminate fire at Dhadrianwales vehicle, CCTV cameras were installed. Not only the assailants but also details about the vehicles used have been captured in the CCTV footage. Police have ruled out a terror angle behind this attack.
Footage captured by the CCTV cameras. (HT Photo)
Read more: One dead in attack on Sikh preacher Dhadrianwale
The post mortem of Bhupinder Singh, who was gunned down in the attack, was conducted in the civil hospital Wednesday morning.
A large number of followers protested at the Samrala chowk, demanding arrest of the killers.
Supporters of Bhupinder Singh, who was killed in the attack on Dhadrianwale, staging a protest at Samrala chowk in Ludhiana on Wednesday. (JS Grewal/ HT Photo)
Traffic at the Samrala chowk came to a standstill, causing inconvenience to scores of commuters, as followers opened the door of the ambulance in which the Bhupinder Singhs body was kept.
Know Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale, and a spat with Taksal head
Senior police officers assured the protesters that the four cars used in the crime had been impounded and nine suspects had been rounded up. Subsequently, the crowd dispersed.
Bhupinder Singh supporters with the body. (JS Grewal/ HT Photo)
Cremation of the deceased will take place at Dhakkiwale at noon.
Unidentified gunmen had opened fire at Dhadrianwales cavalcade near Ludhiana on Tuesday, leaving his follower dead. The 36-year-old preacher, however, escaped with minor injuries in a well-planned bid to eliminate him.
While farmers are facing a lot of difficulties in selling their wheat crop in grain markets, the per hectare yield of the crop speaks volumes about the hard work put in by them to achieve such results in Amritsar district.
Results of the randomly selected agricultural plots across the district where wheat was sown in November have started pouring in at the office of the chief agriculture officer (CAO), and these indicate an increase in the yield of the crop over the previous year. Figures of 124 experimental plots of the 150-odd indicate the yield touched 4,500 kg per hectare. In comparison, the yield obtained from all 150 experimental plots last year was 3,940 kg per hectare.
Giving credit to farmers, CAO Balwinder Singh Chinna said here on Tuesday that the high yield was mainly due to the fact the farmers followed practices recommended by the agriculture department and the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana. Farmers sowed the recommended varieties only and used the right amount of fertilisers, he said.
Even when there were cases of outbreak of the yellow rust disease in certain parts of the district, farmers were quick to inform the agriculture block development officer concerned. The officers in turn advised them about fungicides or other chemicals to be used for controlling the disease, and they followed the advice, said Chinna.
With the yield going up, the overall production of the crop, too, shot up this year. In the last season, from a total area of 1.88 lakh hectare under wheat, the production achieved in the district was 7.39 lakh tonne.
Chinna said the exact production figure will only be known when the entire wheat comes to mandis, as the arrival of the crop is still on. So the projected production this year is expected to be 8.46 lakh tonne.
He said the inclement weather in late March and early April only had a marginal effect on the crop yield. The prolonged cold conditions helped in better and healthy grain formation as compared to last year, he said.
The CAO said that as has been the case in the past few years, farmers in the district as well as those in other parts of the state preferred to sow the varieties produced by the Haryana Agricultural University (HAU). This was because of their high yield as compared to the Punjab varieties, he said.
Two indigenous crossbred cows in Ludhiana have set a national record by producing 54.3 and 53.6 litres of milk, respectively, in a day, smashing the previous record of 53 litres set in 2010.
The cows FC 1363 and FC 1319 have been crossbred by Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), Ludhiana. Director of GADVASU livestock farms Prakash Singh Brar said both the cows had been genetically modified through crossbreeding. These cows have broken the previous record of milk production on April 27. These cows give milk thrice a day against twice a day by an indigenous cow, Brar added. Both the cows can take the extreme heat and can survive harsh conditions.
Both the cows are a hybrid of Holstein Friesian (Holland) and Sahiwal. While FC 1363 is five-year-old, FC 1319 is six. Both were born at the GADVASU dairy farms.
On an average, the daily milk yield of a cow varies between 20 and 25 litres, say GADVASU experts.
A lactation period of 305 days is set for these crossbred cows to check the exact milk yield. Scientists at the university said the estimated production of milk from each cow during this period would be nearly 10,500 litres.
University vice-chancellor AS Nanda said crossbreeding was introduced in the country to boost milk production and enhance per capita availability of milk in the country. The exotic breeds of cows have high milk yield, whereas the indigenous cattle are better adapted to local climatic conditions. Crossbreeding of indigenous with exotic germplasm can harvest the benefits associated with both the breeds, he said.
At present, GADVASU has a herd of 200 such crossbred cows that could produce more milk than indigenous cows.
Brar said male calves born to these cows would be used as future breeding bulls to disseminate superior germplasm through artificial insemination for the benefit of the farmers.
GADVASU dairy manager Puneet Malhotra said the genetic makeup of animals coupled with the management at the farm had led to improvement in milk production.
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Democrat candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders each picked up primary wins on Tuesday in yet another demonstration of how divided the party is in the drawn-out national race to win the nomination for Novembers general election.
Clinton narrowly defeated Sanders in Kentucky, a state where she was not expected to win. Sanders bested her in Oregon, a state that played to his strengths.
In Kentucky, the two candidates will likely split the 55 delegates up for grabs. In Oregon, Sanders will take only a handful more of the 61 delegates that were awarded.
Clintons sizeable lead in delegates means it is likely she will eventually be her partys nominee but she remains more than 100 delegates short of sealing the deal. The Democratic primary now hits a two-week lull, with the final set major contests, including California, scheduled for June 7.
Clinton, who spent the past two days campaigning in Kentucky, would like to lock up the nomination and turn her attention to the November 8 general election and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Trump has begun to organise his general election campaign. On Tuesday, he signed a joint fund-raising agreement with the Republican National Committee. The agreement allows him to raise $449,400 from a single donor by splitting the funds between his campaign, the RNC and state Republican parties.
Trump, who eschewed donations in the political system through the primary, has thus far insisted on mostly self-funding his campaign. The shift to a more traditional fund-raising approach could draw the ire of some supporters.
Trump, in an interview with Megyn Kelly that aired on Fox News Tuesday night, said he did have regrets about his actions during the Republican primary process.
Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Eugene, Oregon. (Reuters File Photo)
I could have used different language in a couple of instances, but overall Im happy with the outcome, Trump said.
Nevada still rankles
Sanders supporters became angry when Nevada state party officials chose to end their convention and block efforts to award the US senator from Vermont more delegates than he initially won in the February caucus. Clinton won the caucus.
The Nevada incident was a warning about the potential for fireworks at Julys Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
Clintons campaign continued to express confidence that she would be able to unify the party.
Hillary Clinton is grateful to the thousands of Nevadans who came out to participate in the caucuses and convention process, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said.
She believes every voice should be heard and no one should be intimidated, harassed or threatened in this process. When the primary process is complete, our party must come together and ensure a Democrat is elected to serve as our next president, Mook said.
Sanders on Tuesday joined his supporters in criticising the Nevada Democratic Party after Saturdays events.
One Sanders supporter threw a chair, unhappy about being blocked in a rules vote that was part of the effort to help the senator win more delegates to the national convention. Others drew chalk graffiti on a party building, while the states party chairwoman has been receiving death threats.
Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders attend an election night rally in Carson, California. (AFP Photo)
Sanders framed Nevadas incident as a warning.
If the Democratic Party is to be successful in November, it is imperative that all state parties treat our campaign supporters with fairness and the respect that they have earned, Sanders said in a statement on the Nevada incident.
Sanders - who said he condemns violence and personal harassment of individuals - levelled some of the same complaints his supporters did, arguing that state party chairperson Roberta Lange did not allow a headcount on a disputed rules change. He also argued that 64 delegates to the state convention were not given a hearing before being ruled ineligible.
Threats of violence
The state party disputed the Sanders campaigns interpretation of the events. It said some delegates did not show up at the convention and others were disqualified because they were not registered as Democrats in time.
The Sanders campaign is continuing to be dishonest about what happened on Saturday and is failing to adequately denounce the threats of violence of his supporters, the Nevada Democratic Party said in a statement.
Sanders supporters began circulating a picture of Lange on the internet that included her cellphone number and encouraged others to contact her to express their unhappiness.
Lange said on MSNBC she had been receiving death threats, including many containing vulgar language. Public messages sent to her Twitter account included a barrage of derogatory statements.
MSNBC played some of the voicemails, including one saying people like you should be hung in a public execution.
What you heard is a few of the thousands of emails and texts and Facebook messages and Twitter messages that Ive gotten, Lange said on MSNBC. Threats to my family, to my grandson, to my husband.
Sanders continued presence in the race is prompting concerns among Clinton allies that he will damage her ability to take on Trump and hurt her in the fall.
Bernie Sanders addresses a primary election night rally in Carson, California. (AFP Photo)
But Sanders supporters shrug off that worry, arguing that Trump is such a flawed candidate that Clinton will easily dispatch with him if she faces him in the November 8 election.
Clintons camp seems to agree.
Ultimately, we are confident that the passion and energy from the primary will be united in a common purpose - to move forward the ideals of our party and keep the White House out of Donald Trumps hands, her campaign manager Mook said.
Jeff Nichols, sitting calmly by the beach, was surprised to notice a curious lack of butterflies amid the usually anxiety-ridden premiere experience at the Cannes Film Festival. His film, Loving, is about Richard and Mildred Loving, the Virginia couple whose biracial marriage in 1958 led to a landmark Supreme Court decision on marriage equality.
Its not my story, said the writer-director, whose previous films, including the Mississippi River coming-of-age tale Mud and the science-fiction thriller Midnight Special were original creations. Its their story.
Loving, starring Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga, is told straightforwardly and simply. Although it has the context of a civil rights drama, its a portrait of a humble, unassuming love so steadfast that it eventually toppled one of the most odious legal remnants of slavery-era America - the ban against interracial marriages.
Without the standard Hollywood histrionics, the film patiently accumulates considerable force before finally overwhelming the viewer.
Director Jeff Nichols (L) poses with cast members Joel Edgerton (R) and Ruth Negga as they arrive on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival.
No one moment adds up to the whole. But if you put them all together, hopefully, the weight of it gains this emotional density, said Nichols. Part of the cruelty of what was happening to them was time. Time was being taken away from them.
The Lovings didnt seek the spotlight, but their efforts to return home after being exiled from Virginia eventually led to the 1967 Supreme Court ruling of Loving vs. Virginia - a decision cited in the courts 2015 ruling on same-sex marriage.
Nichols and Edgerton believe the film has obvious significance at time when religious liberty laws and restroom battles are being fought in the U.S.
Its kind of shameful to watch and look back and think 50 years ago that that was happening and yet its still very much relevant today, says Edgerton. Things are changing, obviously, but its weird to think well look back in 20, 30 years time and say that law (gay marriage) changed in 2015.
Of the many films in Cannes, Loving, which Focus Features will release in the heart of awards season in November, is among the most likely to garner significant attention from both moviegoers and the Academy Awards. The performances of Negga and Edgerton have already been widely hailed.
This is the most important film Ive made and its one of the most important films in history, I think, Negga told reporters in Cannes. The Irish-Ethiopian actress - the first Nichols auditioned for the role - pursued the part fervently. There was no alternative, really. I just really had to play her.
Jeff Nichols, Irish-Ethiopian actress Ruth Negga and Australian actor Joel Edgerton arrive on May 16, 2016 for the screening of the film Loving at the 69th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes. (AFP)
Both actors drew from the famous images of the couple , who were photographed by Life magazines Grey Villet (Michael Shannon in the film) in 1966. The photographs captured their sweet, almost teenage-like manner together. In one, Richard - a buzz-cut blond country boy - lies with his head in Mildreds lap while watching TV.
Nancy Buirskis 2011 documentary The Loving Story was also a major inspiration.
The court case is fascinating, but I just wanted to hang out in that documentary footage more, says Nichols. I wanted to go around the edges of it. I wanted to go around the corner of it.
Avoiding inflated dramatics, Nichols and his cast sought to stay true to the Lovings, who effected change just by being.
To me, its like this series of checkmates. It tends to move and be shut down. Move and be shut down. Have a voice and be stifled, says Edgerton. Finally when the Supreme Court decision releases that weight, its quite an overwhelming feeling. Its a triumphant feeling, but when Richard proposed in the field that should have been their right and freedom at that time.
Read: At Cannes, Pedro Almodovar talks about Panama Papers and Julieta
Read: Cannes: Ken Loachs I, Daniel Blake is a brutal look at bureaucracy
Richard Loving died in 1975, the victim of a drunk driver, and Mildred Loving died in 2008.
Loving may be a departure for Nichols in that its a true-life tale. But it continues the Arkansas-natives interest in the preservation of family amid elements out of ones control.
Choosing to make the film, though, was easy enough. When he first shared the trailer of The Loving Story with his wife, she told him if he didnt make it, shed divorce him.
Thats all she wrote. She didnt sign off or anything, recalled Nichols, chuckling.
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The Spanish movie legend, Pedro Almodovar told a press conference at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday -- soon after his Competition work, Julieta, was screened -- that his and his brothers names were some of the least important among those listed in the Panama Papers. Almodovar was said to have had links with an offshore company in the 1990s.
My name and my brothers name are some of the least important names in the Panama papers, he said. If it was a movie, we wouldnt even be extras. The Spanish press has cast us in leading roles. There are so many names and there hasnt been enough investigation yet.
Read: Loving, a film about interracial marriage, sparkles at Cannes
Like most of Pedro Almodovar films, Julieta is set in Spain.
Almodovar chose to answer questions about his reported role in the Panama Papers scandal even though the moderator at the conference gave him the right to skip such quizzing.
Earlier in the conference, Almodovar said he loved the thrill of the race -- unlike directors like Woody Allen and Steven Spielberg who found the idea of competing against common sense.
Read: Cannes fest begins with an ugly rape joke against Woody Allen
I dont have Woody Allen or Steven Spielbergs talent, he said. I respect the posture that they have, but if Im here, Id prefer to be in competition. I think its more exciting for me and the media. It also shows that Im not a sacred cow here.
Almodovars latest work, Julieta, is a melodrama handled with brilliant restraint, and is based on Alice Munros short stories about a woman reflecting on her estranged relationship with her daughter. Like most of his films, Julieta is set in Spain, though he had toyed with the idea of shooting the movie in the US with Meryl Streep.
I was hoping to do the film in English and in New York, he said. I even spoke to the American actress who was delighted at the thought of working with me. But I wasnt sure of myself.
Read: Cannes | Ken Loachs I, Daniel Blake is a brutal look at bureaucracy
Julieta is the auteurs 20th feature, and like most of his movies, is centred on the lives of women. (Cannes Film Festival)
Saying that a lot of Julieta was set in the 1980s and that it was also inspired by his own mother, Almodovar felt that women in that era had much more freedom than what they have today. Women now are different because of the world they live in.
Julieta is the auteurs 20th feature, and like most of his movies, is centred on the lives of women. His latest creation reminded one of his 2006 Oscar-clincher, Volver and Julieta has also been liberally influenced by his recent Hitchcockian dramas -- Broken Embraces and The Skin I Live In. However, Julieta is the least complex of the lot and is a simple story of a mother whose daughter on turning 18 goes away. The girl holds her mother responsible for her fathers accidental death at sea.
Read: At Cannes, The Handmaiden is a ravishing lesbian crime thriller
Adriana Ugarte and Emma Suarez play the title character of Julieta at different periods of her life and the two actors look uncannily similar.
Narrated as a flashback told through a letter which Julieta writes to her daughter 12 years after she disappears -- and whose address the older woman chances upon -- Julieta is every bit an Almodovar work. Strong colours (silky reds greens and blues) that are often flashy and ornately decorated interiors make Julieta enticing. One notices a Lucien Freud poster and a score book by Sakamoto in Julietas home at Madrid.
Read: Woody Allens Cafe Society to push Cannes fest into motion and magic
The film begins by showing a middle-aged Julieta all set to leave Madrid with her lover, Lorenza, when she meets a childhood friend of her daughter -- a meeting that forces a change of plans, and pushes the movie into its rocky course. Julieta unpacks and begins to write long letters to her daughter explaining how she and her father had met on a train.
Once considered enfant terrible of Spanish cinema, Almodovar has now mellowed down and Julieta may seem like a huge contrast to his early and brazen, Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down. As Almodovar once quipped, mistakes are made, stakes have been high, but hopes remain. And life is long. The man has terrific optimism, and we see this in the way he uses colour to pep up our mood and help us troop out of the auditorium with a swing in our stride.
(Gautaman Bhaskaran is covering the Cannes Film Festival.)
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It was a bad day at the office for one unfortunate employee of South Koreas weather service on Wednesday, after a mistakenly-sent fax triggered an earthquake alert.
The message warning of a 6.5-magnitude quake was part of a five-day disaster response exercise and should never have been faxed.
International media including Chinas official Xinhua news agency ran the warning before the Korea Meteorological Administration issued a red-faced apology.
We apologise deeply for causing inconvenience, the KMA said in a statement quoted by South Korean news agency Yonhap, which also carried the initial alert.
The message was made for an exercise purpose, and an employee mistakenly clicked the button to send the message.
The KMA released the message, calling on residents in the affected area of Hoengseong in Gangwon province to evacuate.
Strong quakes are very rare on the Korean peninsula. Some seismological disturbances recorded in the South have been attributed to North Korean nuclear tests across the border.
A top leader of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs PML-N party said on Wednesday that members of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Jaish-e-Mohammed cannot be prosecuted because the state has been involved in their activities.
Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah, who has often been criticised for his links with militant groups such as the Sipah-e-Sahaba, made the remarks during an interview with BBC Urdu. He was responding to a question on action being taken against pro-establishment and anti-India groups active in Punjab, the countrys most populous province.
By pro-establishment groups if you mean JuD and JeM, then let me tell you that they have been declared proscribed organisations and have no permission to carry out their activities, he said.
As far as prosecuting these people is concerned, when the state has been involved in their activities, on that basis can you prosecute them?
Sanaullahs comments come at a time when the federal government is heading towards a possible confrontation with the armys high command. Observers said his remarks pointed fingers at the military, which is believed to be patronising a number of anti-India militant groups.
India has for long accused Pakistan of cracking down only on militant groups that carry out attacks within the country while turning a blind eye to the activities of organisations such as the JuD and JeM.
Both JuD, described by the US and UN as a front for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, and JeM have a strong presence in Punjab, Pakistans most populous province. The JuD has been blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks while India has accused the JeM of attacking the Pathankot airbase in January.
Interpol on Tuesday issued a fresh Red Corner Notice for JeM chief Masood Azhar and his brother Abdul Rauf Asghar in connection with the Pathankot attack. A similar notice was issued in 2002 for Azhars alleged involvement in the attack on the Jammu and Kashmir assembly. A warrant is pending against Asghar in connection with the hijacking of an Indian airliner in 1999.
Sanaullah was also asked about south Punjabs links to militancy but he contended that the whole of Pakistan was plagued by extremism. The impression that south Punjab is the hub of militancy is not correct, he said.
The JeM is among the groups that have a strong presence in south Punjab.
After a suicide attack at Lahores Gulshan-e-Iqbal on Easter that killed more than 70 people, authorities in Punjab carried out more than 10,000 intelligence-based operations and questioned more than 50,000 people, Sanaullah said.
Defending the governments actions against militants, he said, More suspects have been arrested and prosecuted in Punjab than any other province.
China is staging joint war games featuring mock beach landing, helicopter assaults and tank battles along its east coast facing Taiwan, just days before the inauguration of the self-governing islands new independence-leaning president.
The defence ministry said on Wednesday the air, land and sea drills were aimed at testing and upgrading the ability to respond to security threats and complete military missions.
The drills were not aimed at any specific target and relevant persons shouldnt read too much into it, the ministry said. The statement in question-and-answer format did not mention Taiwan.
China maintains a standing threat to use force to achieve its goal of absorbing Taiwan and the timing of the drills was noticed widely both on Taiwan and in Chinas entirely-state controlled media.
Without detailing the consequences, Beijing has warned that delicate relations between the sides would be destabilized unless Taiwanese President-elect Tsai Ing-wen explicitly endorses Beijings view that Taiwan and the mainland are both part of a single Chinese nation. The outgoing Nationalist Party government of Ma Ying-jeou endorsed the so-called 92 Consensus and signed a series of agreements on trade and other non-political topics during its eight years in power.
China last staged military drills and missile launches in 1995-96 in a bid to intimidate voters ahead of Taiwans first direct presidential elections. The effort was seen as an abject failure that further alienated Taiwanese from Beijing.
Chinese state media said the latest drills involved mock landing operations and the use of attacks helicopter and tanks. The largest drills were carried out by the Peoples Liberation Armys 31st Group Army based in the city of Xiamen that looks directly out onto the 160km-wide Taiwan Strait, the China Daily newspaper said.
Armaments used included WZ-10 attack helicopters Chinas most powerful along with ZTD-05A amphibious assault vehicles, Type-96 main battle tanks and HJ-9 anti-tank missile launchers.
In recent weeks, Chinas navy has also staged a number of live firing drills in the disputed South China Sea and deployed its massive Ukrainian Zubr military hovercraft.
A Chinese airline has launched an investigation into a woman travellers allegation that an Indian man sexually harassed her during an international flight earlier this month.
China Eastern, one of the countrys top airlines, issued an apology to the woman and assured her the matter will be looked into, state media reported on Wednesday.
The incident occurred on May 9 on a flight from Vancouver in Canada to Shanghai.
The complainant, Xiaoyan, identified as a Chinese student living in Vancouver, was allocated a seat at the back of the aircraft.
She was quoted by Peoples Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China, as saying that foreign passengers sat around her, four of whom wore traditional Indian clothes. Trouble apparently began after the flight took off.
She said a passenger sitting in front of her allegedly switched on a pornographic video on his phone and made lewd gestures at her.
Xiaoyan claimed that a man sitting directly in front of her showed her a pornographic video on his mobile phone and made sexually suggestive gestures at her at least five times, the report said, indicating the allegation was levelled against an Indian passenger sitting ahead of her.
She felt uncomfortable in asking for help from people around her "because all the passengers sitting near her were acquaintances of the alleged harasser, the report added.
She asked the crew to change her seat but her request was turned down as the aircraft was packed.
A male crew member said that he had not seen the Indian passenger using his mobile phone, and that if Xiaoyan saw him using it again she should tell him so he could remind the man to turn off his phone, the report said.
Her complaint was apparently not passed on to ground staff and employees on the ground did not follow up with any repercussions for the Indian man.
The report did not say what led to the airline apologising to the woman and launching an investigation.
The airline was responsible for Xiaoyans safety, according to the Law of Protection of Consumers Rights and the Law of Contract. The report added the passenger had the right to seek an apology or even compensation from the airline if she could prove her allegations.
Hillary Clinton was clinging to a razor-thin lead on Tuesday over rival Bernie Sanders in Kentucky, where a win would blunt his momentum and help her move closer toward clinching the Democratic presidential nomination.
Clinton has a commanding lead in the all-important national delegate count and is marching toward vying for the presidency in the November 8 general election despite a string of recent primary losses.
Victories in Kentucky and Oregon, the other state voting on Tuesday, would halt her slide and help reverse the narrative that her campaign is showing significant weakness ahead of an almost certain showdown between Clinton and Donald Trump, the Republican Partys presumptive nominee.
But more than three hours after polls closed, the race remained too close to call. With 99% of precincts reporting, Clinton led Sanders by 46.7% to 46.3% -- a margin of less than 2,000 votes.
Polls in Oregon, which holds Democratic and Republican primaries, close at 8:00 pm (0300 GMT Wednesday). Limited polling there showed Clinton ahead on the Democratic side.
Sanders had counted on a Kentucky victory to build on his win last week in neighbouring West Virginia as he battles to keep his long-shot nomination bid alive.
West Virginia and Kentucky are linked to coal, as is much of Appalachia -- the largely white, long-struggling eastern US region where many feel they have been left behind in the lukewarm recovery from the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
We need your help today to win in Oregon and Kentucky, Sanders implored his 2.2 million Twitter followers, urging them to man phone banks and call voters.
Democratic presidential candidate senator Bernie Sanders speaks to his supporters during a campaign rally in Salem, Oregon. (AP File Photo)
Kentucky held its Republican caucus in March.
Clinton sees Kentucky as an opportunity to appeal to working-class white men -- a demographic where the former secretary of state has lagged behind both the celebrity billionaire Trump and Sanders.
John Spenlau, 28, speaking to AFP outside a voting station in rainy suburban Louisville, said he voted for Sanders because he represented the best hope for continued change and the fight against income inequality, among other problems.
Hillary would be a more stable candidate but I think that Bernie continues to push the envelope, towards a few more of the social programs that I believe in, Spenlau said.
Closing the deal
Clinton defeated Barack Obama in Kentuckys primary in 2008, and her husband Bill Clinton was the last Democrat to carry the Bluegrass State in a general election.
On Sunday, playing up her husbands popularity, the former first lady appeared to indicate Bill would play a role in her administration if she were elected, promising to put him in charge of revitalising the economy. She later said she would not give him a cabinet position.
As voting got underway, Trump fired off a series of nasty tweets at Clinton.
Crooked Hillary cant close the deal with Bernie Sanders. Will be another bad day for her! Trump wrote.
The Clintons have struggled to contain the damage from comments Hillary made in March, when she said she vowed to put many coal miners out of business in the transition to cleaner energy.
In recent appearances she has struck a more inclusive tone.
We need to take coal country, coal miners and their families with us and not leave them behind, Clinton told supporters on Monday.
Risky and dangerous
Clinton, 68, made three stops in Kentucky on Sunday and four more on Monday, shaking hands, taking selfies, offering hugs -- even chatting with Trump supporters at a smoke-filled diner in the southwestern city of Paducah.
I will not vote for you. I will never vote for you, disabled veteran Dianna Dooley, 66, told her.
Clinton kept her composure, saying: Thats OK. You vote for whoever you want.
Sanders, 74, invested time in Kentucky as well, campaigning in Paducah on Sunday and Bowling Green on Monday.
But with the Democratic nomination in sight, Clinton is looking beyond the showdown with Sanders to position herself for a bruising campaign battle against Trump.
At a rally in Hopkinsville, Clinton pummeled the risky and dangerous Trump, suggesting he is unqualified to handle tough foreign policy decisions.
A main super PAC supporting Clinton on Monday unveiled a new television ad that skewers Trump for his treatment of women.
The ad, which will air across the crucial swing states of Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Nevada, shows women mouthing Trumps own words, including you could see there was blood coming out of her wherever -- a comment Trump made last year in reference to a debate moderator who asked him tough questions.
Trump shot back Tuesday with criticism that could foreshadow the tone of the coming election battle.
Amazing that Crooked Hillary can do a hit ad on me concerning women when her husband was the WORST abuser of woman in US political history, Trump tweeted.
French parliamentarians, in a near unanimous vote on Tuesday, adopted a bill authorising the government to ratify the landmark climate agreement reached by 195 nations in Paris in December.
France, which is chairing the COP21 climate talks until the end of the year, is the first European Union member state to move ahead with the ratification of the agreement that aims to curb global warming.
Environment minister Segolene Royal, who presented the bill in Parliament on Tuesday, told journalists earlier that she expected other EU member states to at least adopt the bill at ministerial level by the end of June.
The bill, which was adopted by all parliamentarians except a member of the far-right National Front party who abstained, is expected to be taken up by the Senate for another vote before it is ratified by the government.
Led by France in December, some 195 countries reached the agreement, which was then signed by 175 nations in New York in April.
China and the United States, the worlds top producers of greenhouse gas emissions, have pledged to formally adopt the agreement by the end of the year, raising the prospect of its being enforced much faster than anticipated.
However, US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said that he will call for a renegotiation of the accord if he is elected, saying the United State is treated unfairly in the accord.
On Monday, governments began work in Bonn, Germany, on a rule book to implement the agreement with the United Nations, urging stronger action after a string of record-smashing monthly temperatures.
Read | April 2016 hottest ever month on record: NASA
Around 20 descendants of the voyagers on the Japanese steamship Komagata Maru will witness an apology to be offered by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Parliament for the discrimination against those passengers in 1914 .
The group is in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, at the invitation of the government and will be in the House of Commons when Trudeau makes the apology on Wednesday afternoon.
Among the descendants is Jaswinder Singh Toor, president of the Families of Komagata Maru Society, and a resident of Vancouver. He was elated that their struggle for a formal apology in Parliament will culminate successfully within 24 hours.
This is a proud moment for all Indians; their sacrifices were for us, said Toor, whose grandfather Puran Singh, then just 24 and a student, was aboard the steamship when it was not allowed to dock in Vancouver harbour by Canadian authorities 102 years ago.
Officials at that time had cited the discriminatory Continuous Passage Regulation, a law which mandated that immigrants arrive in Canada directly from their home country. After a standoff that lasted weeks, the ship was escorted away from Canada by a British cruiser.
When it returned to India, British police boarded the vessel at Budge Budge near Kolkata to arrest some passengers who they considered insurgents. A riot ensued, and 19 passengers were killed and more than 200 arrested.
Toor said his grandfather, also a freedom fighter in India, harboured bitter memories of the episode and refused to emigrate to Canada.
His brother Raj Toor said he had met Trudeau, when he was the opposition Liberal Party leader, in front of the historic Khalsa Diwan Society gurdwara in Vancouver in 2014. I had asked him about this and he said if he became PM, he would make an official apology. He has kept his word. We also want to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Indian governments support.
Also present will be Tejpal Singh Sandhu, from Brampton, a Toronto suburb. His great-grandfather Gurdit Singh had organised the journey and chartered the ship, and had been accompanied by his then seven-year-old son. Im grateful to God that on this day Im here in Canada. I feel great, excited, Sandhu said.
The descendants will be in the Speakers Gallery in the House and will have a direct view of the apology as it is delivered after Question Period, to be followed by remarks by others MPs cutting across party lines.
On Tuesday evening, Christy Clark, the Premier of British Columbia, the province where Vancouver is located, hosted a reception for those who had arrived in Ottawa.
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The first of more than 200 schoolgirls missing after being kidnapped by Boko Haram militants from Chibok in northeast Nigeria more than two years ago has been found, a parents spokesman told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Wednesday.
Lawan Zannah, secretary of the association of parents of missing Chibok girls, said teenager Amina Ali, carrying a baby, was found on Tuesday near the Sambisa forest.
Here is a snapshot of key events since the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from the remote town of Chibok in northeastern Nigeria two years ago.
Read | First Chibok girl snatched by Boko Haram found, pregnant: Relative
Snatched from school
On April 14, 2014, gunmen from the Islamist group Boko Haram seize 276 girls from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno state.
The girls are forced from their dormitories onto trucks and driven into the bush. Fifty-seven girls manage to flee.
An international media campaign is launched, backed by personalities including US First Lady Michelle Obama and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai.
The hashtag #BringBackOurGirls underpins a social media storm that ultimately achieves little.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau claims responsibility for the mass abduction in a video released on May 5, and vows to sell the girls as slave brides.
One week later, a second video shows about 100 of the missing girls. Boko Haram says they have converted to Islam and will not be released unless militant fighters held in custody are freed.
Global response
On May 17, Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria vow to fight Boko Haram together, in what Cameroon President Paul Biya terms a declaration of war.
The UN Security Council says the kidnappings may amount to crimes against humanity, after Britain, China, France, Israel and the US offer help.
US military specialists deploy to neighbouring Chad but later move elsewhere after Nigeria stops requesting their services.
On May 26, Nigerias Chief of Defence Staff Alex Badeh says the girls have been located but warns a rescue operation would put their lives at risk.
Married off
On October 31, Shekau quashes rumours of a deal with Nigerian authorities and says the girls have converted to Islam and been married off.
One year on
On April 14, 2015, Nigerias president-elect Muhammadu Buhari warns he cannot promise that we can find the girls, as vigils are held in many countries to mark their first year as hostages.
Amnesty International believes the girls have been separated into three or four groups and are being held in camps, some of which might be in Cameroon or Chad.
Buhari says in late December he is willing to negotiate with any credible Boko Haram leadership, a week after claiming the country has technically won the war against Boko Haram.
Others freed
Throughout 2015, the Nigerian military announces the rescue of hundreds of people, most of them women and children, who have been kidnapped by Boko Haram.
But the missing schoolgirls are not among them, despite several unconfirmed sightings.
Suicide attacks using women and young girls increase against soft civilian targets such as mosques, markets and bus stations, fuelling fears about Boko Harams use of its captives.
In March 2016, it emerges that Boko Haram also seized 500 women and children from the Borno town of Damasak just months after the Chibok abduction. The kidnapping had been denied at the time.
Proof of life
On April 13, 2016, US television station CNN reports that Boko Haram has sent a proof of life video which shows 15 of the girls, the first concrete indication that at least some are still alive.
On May 18, 2016 the Nigerian army confirms the first of the schoolgirls has been found.
A twin bombing killed a Pakistani police officer and wounded nine people in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Wednesday, police said.
A roadside explosion first hit on the outskirts of the city, and the second bomb went off about half an hour later, after police and local TV crews arrived at the scene, police official Sher Khan said.
Some members of the media crew were among the wounded, Khan said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The area has long been a centre of Islamic militancy in Pakistan and Peshawar itself has seen several large-scale militant attacks.
One of the most horrific Taliban attacks struck an army-run school in Peshawar in late 2014, killing over 150, mostly schoolchildren. Pakistan has since taken strict measures to curb militancy and stepped up army operations in the lawless tribal areas along the Afghan border.
Another measure included the lifting of a ban on the death penalty and setting up military courts for terrorism trials.
Police have also stepped up crackdowns on militants hiding in urban areas. In one such raid on Wednesday, a Pakistani counter terrorism team intercepted seven militants in the eastern Pakistani city of Gujranwala, police official Khalid Mahmood said.
The militants were on their way to the nearby city of Lahore where they planned to carry out attacks, he added. A shootout that ensued left four of the militants dead while the rest escaped. Explosives and assault rifles were seized from their car, Mahmood said.
Political parties and organizations opposed to Nepals new constitution decided on Wednesday to continue with their agitation till their demands are met.
Federal Alliance has decided to continue the protests till the constitution is rewritten to address demands of Madhesis, Tharus, backward, marginalized, tribal, Muslim, Dalit, women etc., said a statement from the umbrella organisation of 29 parties from Madhes region bordering India, indigenous people and other minorities.
The alliance has decided to carry out rallies for the next 10 days in various parts of Kathmandu Valley, beginning on Friday. Two rallies will be held in Birgunj and Pokhara also.
Hundreds of protesters had picketed outside Singha Darbar, the seat of government, on May 15 and May 16, and outside the prime ministers official residence on May 17.
Violent protests in Madhes since August last year had resulted in over 50 deaths. A border blockade imposed by anti-constitution protesters for five months till February this year had led to severe scarcity of essential goods.
Talks between the protesters and the government have failed to yield any outcome. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has stated that while genuine demands would be addressed by amendments, there is no question of re-writing the statute.
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Hugo Swire, the Foreign Office minister responsible for India and the Commonwealth, on Wednesday debunked the claim of the Brexit camp that ties with India will receive a massive boost if Britain votes to exit the European Union.
Swire told Hindustan Times in what used to be the colonial India Office that it will crazy to come out of the EU, which will not only have an adverse effect on ties with India but prevent high-achieving professionals in the Indian community here from leveraging access to the EU and its markets.
He said: The idea that somehow trade with the Commonwealth can replace trade with the European Union (as claimed by the Brexit camp) is misguided and misleading. As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, Indian companies use Britain as a gateway to the EU.
It could take 15 or 20 years to have a free trade agreement with India if Britain is outside the EU. It is not a clever thing to do. We know the certainty of increasing Indian investment into Britain in the current situation. No one knows, but I cant believe it (Brexit) will have a positive impact on ties with India.
Swire made light of the claim of his ministerial colleague Priti Patel (minister of state for employment), who believes leaving the EU will give a massive boost to Britain-India ties, and ridiculed the picture of milk and honey that the Brexit camp has been portraying.
Responding to claims by Patel that much-needed skilled chefs from India and Bangladesh are being prevented from coming to Britain by tougher controls imposed in the wake of uncontrolled immigration from the EU, Swire said: Priti is making up Home Office policy on the hoof here.
What she is suggesting is that if we were outside the EU, we would have free flow of people from India and Pakistan and Bangladesh. That simply wouldnt be the case. It is regrettable that she is giving false hopes. I dont think thats the most responsible claim Ive heard, he said.
Swire agreed the debate on the EU referendum scheduled for June 23 has led to strains within the ruling Conservative Party, with six ministers and several MPs opposing the pro-EU position taken by the David Cameron government.
He wanted the Indian community to register in larger numbers with the Electoral Commission and vote in the referendum. New research suggests the ethnic minority vote, including the Indian community, will have a crucial role in the outcome.
Britain out of EU will lead to very complex negotiations with several countries, including India, on trade, a process Swire said will be wonderful work for officials, but could take years and decades.
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The US Senate on Tuesday voted to advance $1.1 billion in emergency funds to fight the Zika virus, setting the stage for a battle with House Republicans who want $622 million for the mosquito-borne disease.
The Senate vote came three months after the White House asked lawmakers for $1.9 billion for Zika research and prevention, citing concerns over the fast-moving disease that is behind a surge in birth defects in Brazil.
The $1.1 billion -- passed by a 68-29 vote in the Senate -- fell short of President Barack Obamas request but faces resistance in the Republican-led House of Representatives, which has proposed just $622 million cobbled together from other programs, including those intended for Ebola.
A total of $589 million has already been siphoned from the US governments Ebola reserves to bolster the US research program against Zika.
White House press secretary John Earnest described the House plan as woefully insufficient, and top officials at the National Institutes of Health and the US Centres for Disease Control have said limits on funding make it difficult to pursue important vaccine research.
However, House speaker Paul Ryan said the $622 million would bring to $1.2 billion the total amount of money allocated by Congress for Zika, and imposes responsible constraints on the administration by requiring the funds be used by September 2016.
There is no vaccine to prevent Zika, which is actively spreading in about 50 countries and territories, including Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and American Samoa.
Experts have warned the continental United States will likely see mosquito-borne transmission this summer.
As of May 11, 2016, there were more than 1,200 confirmed Zika cases in the continental United States and US territories, including over 110 pregnant women with confirmed cases of the Zika virus, said a White House statement.
Zika virus can cause microcephaly and other severe foetal brain defects, and is blamed for more than 1,200 cases of babies being born with unusually small heads and deformed brains in Brazil since last year.
WhatsApp crashed in Pakistan on Wednesday, with many users expressing anger and outrage at the disruption of the messaging service.
Thousands of users across the country were unable to connect to WhatsApp on both Android and iOS devices. People were unable to respond to existing chats, start new ones or use the apps web service.
Users said when an existing chat was opened, the name of the person or group was replaced with a spinning wheel and the word connecting. When users attempted to change the privacy settings, the service generated an error message that said: WhatsApp was not able to retrieve current privacy settings. Please try again later.
WhatsApp has become increasingly popular in Pakistan because of its new security features. The encryption facility for messages offered by the service has resulted in an increase in users.
The CH-46F quickly became the Marine Corps workhorse in Vietnam, used in airmobile assault, combat support and medevac
On January 31, 1968, eight CH-46s from the Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron (HMM) 165 delivered part of the 4th Battalion, 2nd Regiment, of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam into the Citadel in Hue. The weather was marginal, ceiling at less than 300 feet and the landing zone was under enemy mortar fire. Nevertheless, during the 30-day Hue battle, HMM-165 pilots flew wherever there was a need, delivering troops, ammunition and food to ad hoc LZs around the city and evacuating the wounded.
The Marines primary lift at Hue, the CH-46 Sea Knightknown as the Phrog for its head-on appearancebegan life as the YHC-1A, one of two proposed medium lift transports for the Army. The Army chose the larger, more powerful YHC-1B, which became the CH-47 Chinook. When the Marine Corps required a gas turbinepowered replacement for its UH-34 medium lift assault helicopter, Boeing Vertol proposed a smaller version of the YHC-1A, which was designated the HRB-1. Powered by two 1,250-shp T58-GE-8-8B gas turbine engines, the CH-46A, as it was redesignated, carried 17 troops or 4,000 pounds of cargo.
Entering production for the Navy and Marines in 1964, the CH-46A proved underpowered and its transmission unreliable under combat conditions in Vietnam. The shortcomings led to development of the CH-46D, with a more powerful engine, a more robust transmission and stronger, lighter rotor blades. It could descend and climb much faster than the CH-46A or UH-1. Despite the 46Ds improvements, six crashed in 1967 when the entire aft pylon came off. Investigators found the cause was whirl mode flutterthe rotor blade generated twisting air pressure, inducing metal fatigue. Engineers strengthened the fuselage, changed the rotor blade design and directed pilots not to do the hover aft maneuver.
The more powerful CH-46F entered service in 1968 with improved avionics and all-weather performance, a better navigation system and three M-2 .50-caliber machine guns. It quickly became the Marine Corps workhorse in Vietnam, being used in airmobile assault, logistics and combat support; even in medevac and combat search and rescue roles.
Production of the CH-46 ended in 1971 with more than 600 delivered. Ubiquitous in the skies of Afghanistan today, all current Phrogs are Vietnam-era models, refurbished and upgraded. The CH-46 reflects the designs of the early helicopter pioneers and stands as enduring testament to their brilliance and vision.
Confederate Captain Charles Bruce kept his father apprised
of conditions during the crucial Peninsula campaign.
Submitted by Faye Royster Tuck
On March 29, 1859, two years before the beginning of the Civil War, Charles Bruce, 18, was attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Little did he know then how much the terrible war would soon change everything. The letters Charles Bruce, Jr. (he was a Jr. even though he was named for his uncle), wrote to his father, James, in Halifax County, Virginia, after joining the Confederate Army offer firsthand accounts of the war.
Lands End [Va.], Jan. 7, 1862
Dear Father,
I arrived here last Saturday in safety but very cold from having to ride 18 miles in an open wagon & that too on a rainy night. The change from a warm room to these board-covered houses is tolerably severe, almost sufficient to bring on an attack of rheumatism. I have been suffering with sore throat but am better today.
When I came through Richmond I went up to the Spotswood Hotel to see Mr. Seddon & give him your letter, but as he was not in I left it for him at the office. I heard nothing at all of Ballard [Charles brother William Ballard Bruce]. I did not go to Staunton [the plantation that James Bruce owned in Charlotte Co., Va.] to see him because I heard that they had become very severe about absence without leave and my furlough was out on Saturday. I would have called on his wife at Mr. Morsons but I was suffering with headache all the time I was in town. If you have heard anything from him or his trial I would like very much to hear of it.
I heard today that there was a fleet of 200 vessels in Hampton Roads with an army on board but these sensational dispatches have become so frequent that we pay no attention to them.
When I got back here I found that our regiment had received orders to fall back at 1 oclock at night & that they were countermanded before morning. By the way, these contradictory orders from headquarters are not improving the spirit of the soldiers much.
Capt. Claiborne went up yesterday on furlough. If there are any socks at home to spare I wish you would send them to Mr. Claiborne so that he may be able to bring them down with him when he returns.
Wilkins [Charles brother, who was three years older than Charles] has been complaining a little but is some better this evening. I shall send you a mouton by the first man that goes up on furlough, to be left at Boston for you. Tell Kate that Wilkins had hardly been here a day before he was wishing to be at home again.
Give my love to Kate and my sister Nannie & believe me,
Dear Father, Your affectionate son, Charles Bruce, Jr.
Lands End, Jan. 21, 1862
Dear Father,
I wrote to you three or four days after I got here & as I have received no answer I suppose it must have been miscarried. Our mail is so uncertain that Wilkins even has not heard from his wife for a week.
I was very glad to hear that Ballard had gotten out of his scrape so well. I always had great faith that Ballard would not get himself into a difficulty out of which he could not talk himself. I was very much amused at his idea of bringing charges against Colonel Harmon for an illegal arrest.
I heard the other day that Uncle Charles had been sent to Charleston with his company. I suppose he is very glad to go there for the winter so as to miss the cold weather & snow.
I see there is a bill before the legislature to force the volunteers now in the field to remain for the war. If it is passed it will ruin our army completely. If they will let the soldiers alone they will come back within a month after their term of enlistment is out. They will, however, go home at the end of the year in spite of everything that can be done. I think that the volunteers would be much better satisfied if the militia were drafted. The weather has been horrible ever since we got here. I do not think that we have had a clear day for a week. We had a snow a few days ago which bothered us a good deal. It drifted under the slabs & almost covered the floor. I think if the yankees are as tired of this war as we are, peace would be made in a very short time. Capt. Claiborne & Logan went a short time ago with the intention, I understand, of making a regiment for next year. I do not know when I shall be able to get off again as I have just heard that the General has said that he would not grant any more furloughs to officers.
Give my love to Kate & Sister Nannie.
Your affectionate Son, Charles Bruce.
Camp Randolph, April 21, 1862
Dear Father,
We march at 12 oclock & consequently I have time to write only a few lines. We are going towards Elizabeth City in order to cut off a body of enemy who are making a raid into this county. They are said to be about 3,000.
Our brigade, which consists of 3 regiments of infantry & 2 battalions of artillery, is to get between them & the sound whilst the Norfolk forces attack them in front. We have about 40 miles to march through the rain & heavy roads. They had a skirmish there last Saturday in which we lost 50 men. I am very well. What will you do if the Confederate army evacuates Virginia? It is getting to be the opinion in the army that the government is going to do that pretty soon.
I remain Dear Father your affectionate Son, Charles Bruce
Suffolk, May 4, 1862
Dear Father,
We have just returned from our camp. We were about 2 weeks & I never spent a more disagreeable time in my life. When we started the General told us that we would not be absent more than two or three days & consequently we carried only one change of clothing.
I hear here that our troops are going to evacuate Norfolk. Two trains passed here for Petersburg laden with government stores from Norfolk & I understand that all the sick have been ordered from Norfolk & Suffolk to Petersburg.
I am afraid that it will be some time before I can pay you all a visit home as we expect to go on the Manassas line in a few days. I am getting extremely tired of camp as I have been here ever since Christmas. I think if the Southern Confederacy succeed, that I will deserve my part of the liberty gained by our victory.
I have not heard from you now in 4 or 5 weeks. I suppose your letters must miscarry some way or other. I find that Wilkins, tired of waiting for us to return, has set out for home.
I remain Dear Father your Affectionate Son, Charles Bruce, Jr.
Petersburg, May 17, 1862
Dear Father,
I got here safe this evening after having been delayed by the Richmond train running off the track near the Junction.
My regiment is here having arrived yesterday after marching all the way from Suffolk. I heard this evening that Petersburg would be evacuated in a week or two.
It is a mere rumor but I am very much afraid that there is some foundation for it. I have got another move of Hugers to tell you. They tell me that the 53 Va. Reg. has been left near Suffolk & that it is very likely to be captured merely from our general neglecting to send them orders to march.
I remain Dear Father your affectionate son, Charles Bruce, Jr.
Camp near Petersburg, May 22, 1862
Dear Father,
We are now camped near Petersburg about half a mile beyond the race track. I was in town yesterday & saw them hauling all the cotton & tobacco to the other side of the Appomatox in order to burn it in case the yankees should get possession of this place. The Petersburg people seem to be in good spirits although I do not think that they would be willing to burn their town to keep the enemy from getting possession of it.
I heard today that Capt Claibornes brother was killed at Williamsburg. Have you heard anything about it? Instead of moving us to Jacksons division I understand that we are to be reinforced here as the yankees have landed a large force near Smithfield intending, I hear, to form a Junction with Burnside & advance on Petersburg by the way of Suffolk. Tell Wilkins & Sandy that my company has to go on picket to City Point day after tomorrow & as there is a chance of a Skirmish I would like to have them along. I wish you would send me a pot of butter in the care of William Pannill, Petersburg.
I remain Dear Father your affectionate Son, Charles Bruce, Jr.
Camp of 14th Va. Reg., June 6, 1862
Dear Father,
I received a letter from you yesterday dated the 27th May. It was sent to Petersburg & by that means missed me. We are now camped on the York River railroad about 4 miles from Richmond. We got here yesterday after being on the outposts since Monday in a swamp knee deep in water all the time. Everything is quiet on the lines today. There was a pretty sharp artillery fight yesterday on our left without either gaining any advantage. In our fight on Sunday our regiment lost 8 killed & 37 wounded. When we were returning from the field on Sunday the commanding general, Hall of N.C., drew our regiment up in line & thanked them for their gallant conduct during the day.
The 53rd Va. Regiment was on our left during the engagement and at the first fire broke & fled but were afterwards rallied and we were compelled in consequence to fall back for a time to hinder the enemy from flanking us. We retook some of our men from the yankees who told us that the yankees had lost 150 men in the regiment opposed to the 14th alone. I think my company behaved as well as any I saw. When the general ordered us to fall back in consequence of our flank being recovered by the flight of the 53rd, I mistook the order & instead of falling back to a swamp behind us I stopped my company in a road fifty yards in front of it & was considerably exposed in consequence of it.
We stayed in the enemy camp Saturday night & the men loaded their knapsacks with quantities of clothing & blankets & the next day when we were ordered to the field the general ordered us to leave our knapsacks behind. Whilst we were gone fresh troops were ordered up & finding our knapsacks on the ground filled with clothes that we had gotten from the enemys camp, they completely emptied them & my men in consequence without clothing.
You tell Sandy & Wilkins that if they should like to take a part in a fight to come down & they can be accomodated. It seems to be the general impression that there will be no Big fight around Richmond but a series of small engagements until either the enemy or ourselves are compelled to retreat.
I am pretty well but I dont think that I can continue so long under the exposure which I have been under for the last few days.
I remain Dear Father your affectionate Son, Charles Bruce, Jr.
Camp on the York River Railroad,
June 8, 1862
Dear Father,
We are still at the same encampment as we were when I wrote last. No advance movement on either side as yet. The enemy are throwing a breastwork on the railroad about 2 miles below us & I expect will make the woods about here too hot to hold us in a few days. There was a slight skirmish a half a mile ahead of us early this morning in which we drove in their pickets. There is heavy firing going on at this time on our left but whether we are just firing off our muskets or not I cannot tell. Our General sent us word yesterday that if any of our officers wished to go out on a scouting expedition, we had only to notify our outside pickets & go ahead right into the yankees lines if we wished. Now that the Battle of Seven Pines is over I have heard a great many persons asking what we gained by the victory. We whipped the enemy, took their camps, captured sixteen pieces of artillery and a good many stores both commissary & ammunition but on the other hand we lost from 25 hundred to 3 thousand men Killed & wounded & fell back to our former lines. It was reported here this morning that the enemy was throwing his forces on the right of our line across the railroad. Both parties seem to be afraid of each other, especially about this pointas both have thrown up a good many entrenchments here.
Mr Terry, Wilkins overseer, came down yesterday & told me that the dike at Wilbon had given away and that Wilkins would lose his corn crop.
Is Ballard in Richmond now for I should like to see him if he is. I sent Rob [Charles personal slave who went with him in service] up to Halifax today to bring down something to eat for it is almost impossible to get anything here in the midst of all this army. We have been without tents ever since we left Petersburg & we have to have our baggage 3 or 4 miles in our rear. I have been sleeping or rather lying down for two weeks without taking off my clothes or my shoes. By the way Edgar Carrington, son of Mr. Paul Carrington, was killed on Saturday by a piece of a shell striking him in the groin.
Give my love to all at home, your
affectionate Son Charles Bruce, Jr.
P.S. Enclosed I send you a letter one of our men found in the enemys camp sealed & ready to be mailed the morning of the battle.
Camp of 14th Va. Reg., June 22, 1862
Dear Father,
We are doing nothing today but lying in our tents waiting for something to turn up. There was some heavy skirmishing on the lines last night after midnight. There was quite an unfortunate occurance during the fight. One of our regiments coming up to reinforce the pickets met another one coming out of the woods & mistaking them for yankees fired into them & killed 5 men & wounded some 20 or 30. I think something ought to be done to put an end to this picket-firing. It is of no use and besides being very disagreeable it is no use to either side. One day we drove in the enemys pickets & the next day perhaps he drives us back to our former position. The other day when I was on picket they sent us word to advance on the enemy. We were ordered to advance till a signal was passed from the right for us to halt. My company being the left company was seperated from this regiment by a pond with thick bushes around it so that I could not see any signals at all. I continued to advance with my company however until I got to the edge of an old field in which there was a battery with a regiment of infantry to support it. As soon as some of my men appeared on the edge of the field they were fired upon but fortunately they dodged behind some large pines that were near at hand. As I was not ambitious of distinguishing myself by storming a battery with a single company. I halted & sent back word that I was about as far as circumstances would permit me to go at that time. The enemy continued to fire on us for 15 or 20 minutes but without doing us any injury as we were all lying down behind the biggest pine trees we could find.
It is reported throughout camp that we are going to attack [Maj. Gen. George B.] McClellan in his entrenchments in a few days, but with what truth I do not know. If we do you may look out for the bloodiest battle that we have had yet. I expect that we will have to do it sometime for McClellan has not advanced his pickets a hundred yards in three weeks.
They say that the mortality amongst the sick & wounded in Richmond is terrible, amounting I understand to a hundred a day.
I hear it stated also that McClellans army is less by 68 thousand than when he left Yorktown.
I should like very much to pay you a visit at home now but I suppose that is impossible for a long time as yet, for I can not even get a pass to go to Richmond for a few hours to look up my sick men. I am better than when I last wrote but am still far from well.
Give my love to all at home.
I am Dear Father you affectionate
Son, Charles Bruce, Jr.
Captain Charles Bruce was killed on Tuesday, July 1, 1862, at 5 p.m. at Malvern Hill. The entry in James Coles Bruces Bible says, Alas for thee my dearest, dearest son.
Malvern Hill was the last of the famous Seven Days Battles on the Virginia Peninsulaa battle that Confederate General Robert E. Lee expected to win, despite the fact that Union troops occupied a nearly impregnable position. The 150-foot-high hill towered above the surrounding terrain and was protected on its flanks by deep ravines. Union gunners, with an open field of fire, slaughtered the atttacking Confederates in clusters, providing the wars harshest example of the superiority of Northern artillery.
Confederate Maj. Gen. Daniel H. Hill said of the battle, It was not warit was murder. At the conclusion of that one day of fighting, 5,355 Confederate troops had been lost.
Dr. P.S. Carrington, a local physician who attended the Bruce slaves and who lived with his family near Mount Laurel on land adjoining that of Clement Adkisson, wrote to James Coles Bruce on August 21, 1862, after Charles Bruce had been killed:
My dear Sir
I take up my pen to tell you some incidents which I have just heard, which gave me pleasure though melancholy & touching. My son, Dr. William A. Carrington, went on the Battle field in search of his brother & other friends & there heard of the fall of your son Charles. He searched for him & found himhad him carried into a house & put on a bed. Charles requested William to operate on him if it was necessary. William examined his wounds & told him that he must die. William had a good deal of conversation with him & remained with him until the approach of the enemy, it was unsafe to be in the house. William retired leaving another wounded man & his attendant, promising Charles to keep as near the house as he could & to return to him if it was possible. Charles told him he did not expect ever to see him again. What touches my feelings in this melancholy & trying hour was that Charles asked William when he was taking leave of him to kiss him. Amidst the horror of war such little incidents should be recorded in honor of humanity.
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In the 1860s and 70s, one of the best-known Plains Indians was the Kiowa war chief Satanta. In the East, he was seen as the orator of his people, a sort of rustic philosopher who represented them in treaty negotiations, and his observations on Indian-white relations were often repeated in great metropolitan newspapers. In Texas, he was regarded as the architect of the Warren Wagon Train Massacre in which seven teamsters were killeda murderer who deservedly had been condemned to die, but who, at the last minute, had been given life imprisonment due to Reconstruction politics.
Both these views overly simplified one of the most complicated men ever to rise from the Great Plainsa highly intelligent chief, diplomat and philosopher who was also a murderer, but a man whose life story has only recently begun to receive its full measure of justice.
Satanta was already an adult of distinction when he entered the history of the southern Plains. What is known of his early life is based on tribal tradition passed down through generations of Kiowa until the present day. When or where he was born is uncertain, but based on a general agreement about his age among white contemporaries, it may be assumed he was born between 1815 and 1818, when his people ranged between the North Platte River in what is now western Nebraska and the Canadian River of what is now north Texas and central Oklahoma. His father was Red Tipi, the ranking Kiowa priest of his day; his mother appears to have been Arapaho.
As a baby, Satanta was called Big Ribs, referring to the massive physique for which he was known throughout his life. When he grew older he received his permanent name, Set-tainte or White Bear, perhaps based on a vision or some sort of personal achievement. Because Set-tainte is virtually unpronounceable to anyone besides a Kiowa, the whites anglicized the name to Satanta.
Kiowa boys began training as warriors at a very early age and were sent out on their own as soon as they proved capable. By the age of 20, most had married and begun families of their own. Satanta, however, was not allowed this early freedom; Kiowa tradition holds that Red Tipi was so proud of his son that he kept Satanta under strict supervision long after most young men would have gone out on their own. When his father finally released him into the world, Satanta was almost 30 and thoroughly prepared for his role in the Kiowa Nation.
Satanta enters conventional history in the mid-1850s, when he first attracted the attention of soldiers attached to military expeditions in Kiowa country. Although he was still a subchief, everyone noticed his large frame and fine features. One officer, Captain Richard T. Jacob, described him as a man of magnificent physique, being over six feet tall, well built and finely proportioneda description that would be repeated throughout Satantas life. Whites also noted his intelligence, forceful personality and arrogance. He had a fine sense of the dramatic, but anyone who considered his posturing nothing but show entirely underestimated the man. Beneath his theatrics, he was an outstanding warrior and leader. At the height of his prestige in the late 1860s, frontier whites hated and feared him.
Satanta figured prominently in the intertribal warfare of the 1850s, as well as in treaty negotiations with the U.S. government. During a treaty conference at Fort Atkinson, Kansas Territory, in 1853, he aired Kiowa grievances to a dragoon officer, Major Robert Hall Chilton. One of the soldiers, Private Percival Lowe, thought Chilton and Satanta were pretty well matched, both being tough and uncompromising, and each understanding the other.
By the time of this treaty, Satanta was almost 40 years old and a noted warrior. In battle he wore red paint on his upper torso, face and hair, and a buckskin vest painted red on one side and yellow on the other. Among his associates was the ancient medicine man Black Horse, who provided Satantas most important piece of battle equipmentone of the sacred shields used during the Kiowa Sun Dance. To accept it, Satanta had to sacrifice his own flesh to the sun by having four deep gashes cut into the back of each shoulder just above the joint with the arm, a painful and enduring offering. He carried the shield during raids against other tribes and into Mexico.
While the Kiowa might have regarded the sun shield as Satantas most important possession, among the whites his best-known trademark was the bugle that he blew to signal an attack or announce his presence. The Kiowa say he captured the bugle during a fight with federal troops after observing the soldiers responding to the different bugle calls. Although other Indians also carried bugles and signaled warriors with army calls during fights, whites linked it with Satanta and automatically assumed he was present if they heard a bugle during an Indian fight.
The Civil War provided new opportunities for the Indians to expand their depredations with virtual impunity. With most soldiers withdrawn for fighting in the East, the frontier was more or less undefended, and they could raid at leisure. Texas, one of their traditional marauding grounds, was a particularly attractive target. Because Texas was a Confederate state, the North not only looked the other way but actively encouraged the raiding. According to ethnologist James Mooney, the Kiowa distinctly stated that they had been told by military officers of the [federal] government to do all the damage they could to Texas, because Texas was at war with the United States.
The year 1864 was one of the bloodiest in the history of the southern Plains. Satanta began by leading a raid into the vicinity of Menard, in west Texas, where he and his warriors killed several whites and carried off one woman into captivity. Then, he joined other Plains Indians in depredations in Colorado, for which Black Kettles friendly Cheyenne followers subsequently were made to suffer in the senseless Sand Creek Massacre.
One of the worst raids was in Young County, Texas, in October 1864. Although the Comanche Chief Little Buffalo led the war party, one of the captives later told her rescuers that a Kiowa chief called Satine had blown a bugle to signal the others. There is little doubt this was Satanta. In a later raid he kidnapped several members of a Texas family named Box and, pleased with the ransom paid by the government, remarked that trafficking in white women was more profitable than horse stealing.
In 1867, raids by Satanta and others in the south, combined with the Red Cloud War in the north, prompted the government to try to negotiate treaties with the various Plains tribes. This was the second peace effort in two years. The earlier Treaty of the Little Arkansas, in which Satanta participated, had accomplished nothing. Now, once again, the federal commissioners met with the tribes, this time near Medicine Lodge Creek in Kansas in October 1867.
The commissioners gathered at Fort Larned, where Satanta and several other chiefs met them and accompanied them the 80 miles to the conference site. During the council, Satanta commanded the attention of the news correspondents, including young Henry Morton Stanley, who would later gain fame as the greatest of all African explorers.
Satanta spoke often, at one point making a speech that later became required reading in American literature classes. He said: I have heard that you intend to set apart a reservation near the mountains of [western Oklahoma]. I dont want to settle; I love to roam over the prairie; I feel free and happy; but when we settle down we get pale and die.A long time ago this land belonged to our fathers; but when I go up to the [Arkansas] river I see camps of soldiers on its banks. The soldiers cut down my timber, they kill my buffalo; and when I see that my heart feels like bursting; I feel sorry.
While his words may have impressed later generations, at the time they had little affect on the peace commissioners, who, according to Stanley, gave Satanta a rather blank look. Nevertheless, in this and subsequent statements, the chief succeeded in discomfiting the commissioners about the governments failure to live up to the obligations of past treaties. The fact that Satanta himself violated treaties when it suited him did not become a major issue. In the end, the Kiowa agreed to sign the treaty and accept the reservation Satanta found so objectionable. They also agreed to accept schools, annuities and supplies from the government and to shift from raiding to agriculture.
Like so many other treaties, the Medicine Lodge pact was unworkable. The government attempted to keep faith but was hampered by bureaucracy. The Kiowa war faction, headed by Satanta and Lone Wolf, was not really interested in making it work. Despite allegations by Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, however, documented evidence shows that Satanta was elsewhere when Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer attacked the Plains Indian camps along the Washita during Sheridans winter campaign of 186869. And being absent, he likewise was not responsible for the death in that fight of white captive Clara Blinn, for which Sheridan specifically blamed him. Even so, Sheridan ordered Custer to arrest Satanta and Lone Wolf, and they were kept in close confinement for several weeks. Upon release, Satanta went back to his old habit of raiding.
Satanta finally pushed his luck too far when he participated in the Warren Wagon Trail Massacre near Fort Richardson, Texas, on May 18, 1871. Returning to the KiowaComanche Agency near Fort Sill (southwestern Oklahoma), he bragged about the raid and the killings to Agent Lawrie Tatum and incriminated several other chiefs, including the aging war chief Satank and the teenage subchief Big Tree. Tatum reported the boasts to Fort Sill, where General W.T. Sherman was on inspection, having just arrived from Fort Richardson. Sherman was aware of the Warren raid, and he had narrowly missed death at the hands of the same war party, which had spotted him the day before the massacre. Sherman arrested Satanta and Satank and ordered them, together with Big Tree, to Texas for trial.
Old Satank (who is often confused with Satanta because of their similar names) jumped a guard at Fort Sill and was killed. Satanta and Big Tree were tried by a Texas jury and convicted of seven counts of murder in the Warren massacre. The jury fixed their sentences at death by hanging. At the behest of Agent Tatum, a Quaker, and Judge Charles Soward, who presided over the trial, Governor Edmund Davis commuted their sentences to life imprisonment, and on November 2, 1871, Satanta and Big Tree entered the state penitentiary at Huntsville.
Although Tatum advocated sending more hostile chiefs to prison, his superiors in the Quaker committee that administered all the southern Plains agencies immediately began lobbying for a pardon for the two chiefs. Davis, a Reconstruction governor, balked at the idea, but after 23 months of wrangling and pressure from Washington, finally agreed to parole Satanta and Big Tree against the good behavior of the Kiowa as a whole.
Much of the fighting spirit had left Satanta when he returned to his people, and, when the Kiowa debated whether to enter the Red River War of 1874, he publicly stated his position by resigning his office as a war chief and giving his symbolic medicine lance and shield to other warriors. Even so, he was present when fighting erupted. Although he may not have participated in it, he did consort with hostile chiefs, and Kiowa involvement in the war was, itself, considered a parole violation. He was arrested and returned to Huntsville.
As time passed, Satanta seemed to lose the will to live and became a sympathetic figure. Even Thomas J. Gorree, superintendent of the penitentiary, advocated his release. The government, however, was adamant that he remain confined. Finally, on October 11, 1878, he slashed his wrists. As he was taken to the second floor of the prison hospital, he jumped off the landing. The fall killed him.
Satantas descendants believe he was pushed off the landing, because suicide was not in his nature. Still, it would have been in character for Satanta, in his last act as a Kiowa warrior, to deprive the whites of victory by taking his own life. They had his corpse, but not his obedience. And for a warrior, that is an honorable death.
Wild West.
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The Fight Over Women in Combat
The article Why Not Send Women to War (Spring 2013) sparked a lively exchange at MHQmag.com. Some highlights:
Stalingrad (todays Volgograd) was taken by the Axis forcesand, somewhat later, retaken by Soviet reinforcements. So to mention the first defenders of the city as examples of women being fit for frontline duty is silly: That citys first defenders failed miserably. In any event, Soviets did display heroism, but in many instances they were inspired by the very real possibility of being machine-gunned down by the security-enforcement battalions placed right behind most units of questionable determination, which most Red Army units were, until 1944.
Andras Boros-Kazai
Beloit, Wisconsin
Sure, my mum was a Wren in the Womens Royal Navy Service during World War II. She worked as a radio operator trying to intercept German naval communications from a safe office on land. She had a great time and made many lifelong friends.
But this wasnt remotely combat, and so long as countries engage in combat, people without combat experience are going to have hard time being promotedas they should. Part of the thrust to put women into combat roles is to clear the way for women to be promoted to higher ranks. Im not sure this is a good enough reason.
Christopher Burd
Victoria, British Columbia
The real opposition to allowing women in combat units in the U.S. Army is not that combat is an environment in which no woman can perform well. A lot of men cant perform well in combat, and some women sure can.
Rather, the resistance stems from a suspicion that the army will come up with a quota for the number of women needed in combat unitsa number that will be based upon social-engineering policies that commanders will be expected to make succeed, regardless of the facts.
The test for women in combat will not be how many Silver Stars they earn. It will be the day that some male commander can fire an incompetent female subordinate secure in the knowledge that he will face no more scrutiny than if he had fired a male. And based upon my observations, that day is a long way off.
Shaun Darragh
Tampa, Florida
And from our online discussion forum:
During the Blitz periods of 19401941, my mother spent her days as a secretary and her nights fire-watching during air raids over wartime Birmingham, England. This entailed speedily descending upon the Luftwaffes incendiaries armed with a stirrup pump and buckets of sand. Dangerous? Certainly. In fact she saw more enemy action than my father did during the early part of the war. Not quite in the sniper Roza Shanina [left] class perhaps, but then she was only doing what thousands of women did in wartime Britain. It was the thing to do.
Phillip Whitehouse
Melbourne, Australia
Who Started the Trouble at Malta?
To set the record straight on the 1565 Siege of Malta, featured in Paul Lockharts War List [When Walls Came Tumbling Down, Spring 2013] on significant sieges, the reason the Hospitaller Jean de Valette fired the heads of Turkish prisoners at the Turks was to respond in kind to an atrocity the Turks committed.
When the Turks captured Fort St. Elmo earlier that year, they nailed their decapitated Christian prisoners to crosses and floated them into the harboran act of intimidation. Valette sent them a message right back: We are not intimidated.
The siege of Malta is one of the great turning points in Western civilization. A small Christian army beat back a Muslim army intent on conquering parts of Europe, and the heroism of the Knights of Malta, outnumbered 40 to 1, deserves more recognition.
Tom Murrey
via MHQmag.com
Wage War
I enjoyed Chuck Lyonss article Victory of a New Order [Spring 2013] concerning the triumph of Englands Edward I over William Wallace and the Scottish rebels at Falkirk.
However, I found something rather confusing where wages are discussed for the various specialties in Edwards army: Longbowmen collected the same pay as other infantry [two pence], but crossbow archers made four pence a day. In all the material I have read on the subject of English military dominance in this period, the English longbow was the premier weapon and was instrumental to multiple victories over the Scottish and the French as outlined in various works by Jonathan Sumption and Bernard Cornwell as well as Mr. Lyonss excellent article Simple but Deadly in your Summer 2010 issue.
To my understanding, the crossbow was replaced in the early 1300s by the longbow. If that is so, should not longbowmen have received higher pay, since it took as many as 10 years to develop a skilled archer?
Matt Butow
Rota, Spain
Chuck Lyons responds:
The longbow was certainly the premier weapon, and it did take much longer to train a longbowman than a crossbowman. So, yes, the longbowman should have received the higher pay. Life is not always just, however, and my sources indicate the crossbowmen were more highly paid whether they deserved it or not.
Correction
Why Not Send Women to War? (Spring 2013) stated incorrectly that Sergeant Lee Ann Hester received her Silver Star for combat action in Afghanistan. Hester was honored for her role in a firefight in Iraq.
Around 4:00 a.m. on July 2, 1839, Joseph Cinque led a slave mutiny on board the Spanish schooner Amistad some 20 miles off northern Cuba. The revolt set off a remarkable series of events and became the basis of a court case that ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The civil rights issues involved in the affair made it the most famous case to appear in American courts before the landmark Dred Scott decision of 1857.
The saga began two months earlier when slave trade merchants captured Cinque, a 26-year-old man from Mende, Sierra Leone, and hundreds of others from different West African tribes. The captives were then taken to the Caribbean, with up to 500 of them chained hand and foot, on board the Portuguese slaver Tecora. After a nightmarish voyage in which approximately a third of the captives died, the journey ended with the clandestine, nighttime entry of the ship into Cubain violation of the Anglo-Spanish treaties of 1817 and 1835 that made the African slave trade a capital crime. Slavery itself was legal in Cuba, meaning that once smuggled ashore, the captives becameslaves suitable for auction at the Havana barracoons.
In Havana, two Spaniards, Jose Ruiz and Pedro Montes, bought 53 of the Africansincluding Cinque and four children, three of them girlsand chartered the Amistad. The ship, named after the Spanish word for friendship, was a small black schooner built in Baltimore for the coastal slave trade. It was to transport its human cargo 300 miles to two plantations on another part of Cuba at Puerto Principe.
The spark for the mutiny was provided by Celestino, the Amistads mulatto cook. In a cruel jest, he drew his hand past his throat and pointed to barrels of beef, indicating to Cinque that, on reaching Puerto Principe, the 53 black captives aboard would be killed and eaten. Stunned by this revelation, Cinque found a nail to pick the locks on the captives chains and made a strike for freedom.
On their third night at sea, Cinque and a fellow captive named Grabeau freed their comrades and searched the dark hold for weapons. They found them in boxes: sugar cane knives with machete-like blades, two feet in length, attached to inch-thick steel handles. Weapons in hand, Cinque and his cohorts stormed the shadowy, pitching deck and, in a brief and bloody struggle that led to the death of one of their own, killed the cook and captain and severely wounded Ruiz and Montes. Two sailors who were aboard disappeared in the melee and were probably drowned in a desperate attempt to swim the long distance to shore. Grabeau convinced Cinque to spare the lives of the two Spaniards, since only they possessed the navigational skills necessary to sail the Amistad to Africa. Instead of making it home, however, the former captives eventually ended up off the coast of New York.
Cinque, the acknowledged leader of the mutineers, recalled that the slave ship that he and the others had traveled on during their passage from Africa to Cuba had sailed away from the rising sun; therefore to return home, he ordered Montes, who had once been a sea captain, to sail the Amistad into the sun. The two Spaniards deceived their captors by sailing back and forth in the Caribbean Sea, toward the sun during the day and, by the stars, back toward Havana at night, hoping for rescue by British anti-slave-trade patrol vessels.
When that failed, Ruiz and Montes took the schooner on a long and erratic trek northward up the Atlantic coast.
Some 60 days after the mutiny, under a hot afternoon sun in late August 1839, Lieutenant Commander Thomas Gedney of the USS Washington sighted the vessel just off Long Island, where several of the schooners inhabitants were on shore bartering for food. He immediately dispatched an armed party who captured the men ashore and then boarded the vessel. They found a shocking sight: cargo strewn all over the deck; perhaps 50 men nearly starved and destitute, their skeletal bodies naked or barely clothed in rags; a black corpse lying in decay on the deck, its face frozen as if in terror; another black with a maniacal gaze in his eyes; and two wounded Spaniards in the hold who claimed to be the owners of the Africans who, as slaves, had mutinied and murdered the ships captain.
Gedney seized the vessel and cargo and reported the shocking episode to authorities in New London, Connecticut. Only 43 of the Africans were still alive, including the four children. In addition to the one killed during the mutiny, nine had died of disease and exposure or from consuming medicine on board in an effort to quench their thirst.
The affair might have come to a quiet end at this point had it not been for a group of abolitionists. Evangelical Christians led by Lewis Tappan, a prominent New York businessman, Joshua Leavitt, a lawyer and journalist who edited the Emancipator in New York, and Simeon Jocelyn, a Congregational minister in New Haven, Connecticut, learned of the Amistads arrival and decided to publicize the incident to expose the brutalities of slavery and the slave trade. Through evangelical arguments, appeals to higher law, and moral suasion, Tappan and his colleagues hoped to launch a massive assault on slavery.
The Amistad incident, Tappan happily proclaimed, was a providential occurrence. In his view, slavery was a deep moral wrong and not subject to compromise. Both those who advocated its practice and those who quietly condoned it by inaction deserved condemnation. Slavery was a sin, he declared, because it obstructed a persons free will inherent by birth, therefore constituting a rebellion against God. Slavery was also, Tappan wrote to his brother, the worm at the root of the tree of Liberty. Unless killed the tree will die.
Tappan first organized the Amistad Committee to coordinate efforts on behalf of the captives, who had been moved to the New Haven jail. Tappan preached impromptu sermons to the mutineers, who were impressed by his sincerity though unable to understand his language. He wrote detailed newspaper accounts of their daily activities in jail, always careful to emphasize their humanity and civilized backgrounds for a fascinated public, many of whom had never seen a black person. And he secured the services of Josiah Gibbs, a professor of religion and linguistics at Yale College, who searched the docks of New York for native Africans capable of translating Cinques Mende language. Gibbs eventually discovered two Africans familiar with MendeJames Covey from Sierra Leone and Charles Pratt from Mende itself. At last the Amistad mutineers could tell their side of the story.
Meanwhile, Ruiz and Montes had initiated trial proceedings seeking return of their property. They had also secured their governments support under Pinckneys Treaty of 1795, which stipulated the return of merchandise lost for reasons beyond human control. To fend off what many observers feared would be a judicial massacre, the abolitionists hired attorney Roger S. Baldwin of Connecticut, who had a reputation as an eloquent defender of the weak and downtrodden.
Baldwin intended to prove that the captives were kidnapped Africans, illegally taken from their homeland and imported into Cuba and thus entitled to resist their captors by any means necessary. He argued that the ownership papers carried by Ruiz and Montes were fraudulent and that the blacks were not slaves indigenous to Cuba. He and his defense team first filed a claim for the Amistad and cargo as the Africans property, in preparation for charging the Spaniards with piracy. Then they filed suit for the captives freedom on the grounds of humanity and justice: slavery violated natural law, providing its victims with the inherent right of self-defense.
The case then entered the world of politics. It posed such a serious problem for President Martin Van Buren that he decided to intervene. A public dispute over slavery would divide his Democratic party, which rested on a tenuous North-South alliance, and could cost him reelection to the presidency in 1840. Working through his secretary of state, slaveholder John Forsyth from Georgia, Van Buren sought to quietly solve the problem by complying with Spanish demands.
Van Buren also faced serious diplomatic issues. Failure to return the Africans to their owners would be a violation of Pinckneys Treaty with Spain. In addition, revealing Spains infringement of treaties against the African slave trade could provide the British, who were pioneers in the crusade against slavery, with a pretext for intervening in Cuba, which was a long-time American interest.
The White House position was transparently weak. Officials refused to question the validity of the certificates of ownership, which had assigned Spanish names to each of the captives even though none of them spoke that language. Presidential spokesmen blandly asserted that the captives had been slaves in Cuba, despite the fact that the international slave trade had been outlawed some 20 years earlier and the children were no more than nine years old and spoke an African dialect.
The court proceedings opened on September 19, 1839, amid a carnival atmosphere in the state capitol building in Hartford, Connecticut. To some observers, Cinque was a black folk hero; to others he was a barbarian who deserved execution for murder. Poet William Cullen Bryant extolled Cinques virtues, numerous Americans sympathized with the noble savages, and pseudo-scientists concluded that the shape of Cinques skull suggested leadership, intelligence, and nobility. The New York Morning Herald, however, derided the poor Africans, who have nothing to do, but eat, drink, and turn somersaults.
To establish the mutineers as human beings rather than property, Baldwin sought a writ of habeas corpus aimed at freeing them unless the prosecution filed charges of murder. Issuance of the writ would recognize the Africans as persons with natural rights and thus undermine the claim by both the Spanish and American governments that the captives were property. If the prosecution brought charges, the Africans would have the right of self-defense against unlawful captivity; if it filed no charges, they would go free. In the meantime, the abolitionists could explore in open court the entire range of human and property rights relating to slavery. As Leavitt later told the General Antislavery Convention in London, the purpose of the writ was to test their right to personality.
Despite Baldwins impassioned pleas for justice, the publics openly expressed sympathy for the captives, and the prosecutions ill-advised attempt to use the four black children as witnesses against their own countrymen, Associate Justice Smith Thompson of the U.S. Supreme Court denied the writ. Thompson was a strong-willed judge who opposed slavery, but he even more ardently supported the laws of the land. Under those laws, he declared, slaves were property. He could not simply assert that the Africans were human beings and grant freedom on the basis of natural rights. Only the law could dispense justice, and the law did not authorize their freedom. It was up to the district court to decide whether the mutineers were slaves and, therefore, property.
Prospects before the district court in Connecticut were equally dismal. The presiding judge was Andrew T. Judson, a well-known white supremacist and staunch opponent of abolition. Baldwin attempted to move the case to the free state of New York on the grounds that Gedney had seized the Africans in that states waters and not on the high seas. He hoped, if successful, to prove that they were already free upon entering New York and that the Van Buren administration was actually trying to enslave them. But Baldwins effort failed; the confrontation with Judson was unavoidable.
Judsons verdict in the case only appeared preordained; as a politically ambitious man, he had to find a middle ground. Whereas many Americans wanted the captives freed, the White House pressured him to send them back to Cuba. Cinque himself drew great sympathy by recounting his capture in Mende and then graphically illustrating the horrors of the journey from Africa by sitting on the floor with hands and feet pulled together to show how the captives had been packed into the hot and unsanitary hold of the slave vessel.
The Spanish government further confused matters by declaring that the Africans were both property and persons. In addition to calling for their return as property under Pinckneys Treaty, it demanded their surrender asslaves who are assassins. The real concern of the Spanish government became clear when its minister to the United States, Pedro Alcantara de Argaiz, proclaimed that The public vengeance of the African Slave Traders in Cuba had not been satisfied. If the mutineers went unpunished, he feared, slave rebellions would erupt all over Cuba.
Argaizs demands led the Van Buren administration to adopt measures that constituted an obstruction of justice. To facilitate the Africans rapid departure to Cuba after an expected guilty verdict, Argaiz convinced the White House to dispatch an American naval vessel to New Haven to transport them out of the country before they could exercise the constitutional right of appeal. By agreeing to this, the president had authorized executive interference in the judicial process that violated the due-process guarantees contained in the Constitution.
Judson finally reached what he thought was a politically safe decision. On January 13, 1840, he ruled that the Africans had been kidnapped, and, offering no sound legal justification, ordered their return to Africa, hoping to appease the president by removing them from the United States. Six long months after the mutiny, it appeared that the captives were going home.
But the ordeal was not over. The White House was stunned by the decision: Judson had ignored the great [and] important political bearing of the case, complained the presidents son, John Van Buren. The Van Buren administration immediately filed an appeal with the circuit court. The court upheld the decision, however, meaning that the case would now go before the U.S. Supreme Court, where five of the justices, including Chief Justice Roger Taney, were southerners who were or had been slaveowners.
Meanwhile, the Africans had become a public spectacle. Curious townspeople and visitors watched them exercise daily on the New Haven green, while many others paid the jailer for a peek at the foreigners in their cells. Some of the most poignant newspaper stories came from professors and students from Yale College and the Theological Seminary who instructed the captives in English and Christianity. But the most compelling attraction was Cinque. In his mid-twenties, he was taller than most Mende people, married with three children, and, according to the contemporary portrait by New England abolitionist Nathaniel Jocelyn, majestic, lightly bronzed, and strikingly handsome. Then there were the children, including Kale, who learned enough English to become the spokesperson for the group.
The supreme court began hearing arguments on February 22, 1841. Van Buren had already lost the election, partly, and somewhat ironically, because his Amistad policy was so blatantly pro-South that it alienated northern Democrats. The abolitionists wanted someone of national stature to join Baldwin in the defense and finally persuaded former President John Quincy Adams to take the case even though he was 73 years old, nearly deaf, and had been absent from the courtroom for three decades. Now a congressman from Massachusetts, Adams was irascible and hard-nosed, politically independent, and self-righteous to the point of martyrdom. He was fervently antislavery, though not an abolitionist, and had been advising Baldwin on the case since its inception. His effort became a personal crusade when the young Kale wrote him a witty and touching letter, which appeared in the Emancipator and concluded with the ringing words,All we want is make us free.
Baldwin opened the defense before the Supreme Court with another lengthy appeal to natural law, then gave way to Adams, who delivered an emotional eight-hour argument that stretched over two days. In the small, hot, and humid room beneath the Senate chamber, Adams challenged the Court to grant liberty on the basis of natural rights doctrines found in the Declaration of Independence. Pointing to a copy of the document mounted on a huge pillar, he proclaimed that,I know of no other law that reaches the case of my clients, but the law of Nature and of Natures God on which our fathers placed our own national existence. The Africans, he proclaimed, were victims of a monstrous conspiracy led by the executive branch in Washington that denied their rights as human beings.
Adams and Baldwin were eloquent in their pleas for justice based on higher principles. As Justice Joseph Story wrote to his wife, Adamss argument was extraordinary for its power, for its bitter sarcasm, and its dealing with topics far beyond the records and points of discussion.
On March 9, Story read a decision that could not have surprised those who knew anything about the man. An eminent scholar and jurist, Story was rigidly conservative and strongly nationalistic, but he was as sensitive to an individuals rights as he was a strict adherent to the law. Although he found slavery repugnant and contrary to Christian morality, he supported the laws protecting its existence and opposed the abolitionists as threats to ordered society. Property rights, he believed, were the basis of civilization.
Even so, Story handed down a decision that freed the mutineers on the grounds argued by the defense. The ownership papers were fraudulent, making the captives kidnapped Africans who had the inherent right of self-defense in accordance with the eternal principles of justice. Furthermore, Story reversed Judsons decision ordering the captives return to Africa because there was no American legislation authorizing such an act. The outcome drew Leavitts caustic remark that Van Burens executive order attempting to return the Africans to Cuba as slaves should be engraved on his tomb, to rot only with his memory.
The abolitionists pronounced the decision a milestone in their long and bitter fight against the peculiar institution. To them, and to the interested public, Storys eternal principles of justice were the same as those advocated by Adams. Although Story had focused on self-defense, the victorious abolitionists broadened the meaning of his words to condemn the immorality of slavery. They reprinted thousands of copies of the defense argument in pamphlet form, hoping to awaken a larger segment of the public to the sordid and inhumane character of slavery and the slave trade. In the highest public forum in the land, the abolitionists had brought national attention to a great social injustice. For the first and only time in history, African blacks seized by slave dealers and brought to the New World won their freedom in American courts.
The final chapter in the saga was the captives return to Africa. The abolitionists first sought damage compensation for them, but even Adams had to agree with Baldwin that, despite months of captivity because bail had been denied, the regular judicial process had detained the Africans, and liability for false imprisonment hinged only on whether the officials acts were malicious and without probable cause. To achieve equity, Adams suggested that the federal government finance the captives return to Africa. But President John Tyler, himself a Virginia slaveholder, refused on the grounds that, as Judge Story had ruled, no law authorized such action.
To charter a vessel for the long trip to Sierra Leone, the abolitionists raised money from private donations, public exhibitions of the Africans, and contributions from the Union Missionary Society, which black Americans had formed in Hartford to found a Christian mission in Africa. On November 25, 1841, the remaining 35 Amistad captives, accompanied by James Covey and five missionaries, departed from New York for Africa on a small sailing vessel named the Gentleman. The British governor of Sierra Leone welcomed them the following Januaryalmost three years after their initial incarceration by slave traders.
The aftermath of the Amistad affair is hazy. One of the girls, Margru, returned to the United States and entered Oberlin College, in Ohio, to prepare for mission work among her people. She was educated at the expense of the American Missionary Association (AMA), established in 1846 as an outgrowth of the Amistad Committee and the first of its kind in Africa. Cinque returned to his home, where tribal wars had scattered or perhaps killed his family. Some scholars insist that he remained in Africa, working for some time as an interpreter at the AMA mission in Kaw-Mende before his death around 1879. No conclusive evidence has surfaced to determine whether Cinque was reunited with his wife and three children, and for that same reason there is no justification for the oft-made assertion that he himself engaged in the slave trade.
The importance of the Amistad case lies in the fact that Cinque and his fellow captives, in collaboration with white abolitionists, had won their freedom and thereby encouraged others to continue the struggle. Positive law had come into conflict with natural law, exposing the great need to change the Constitution and American laws in compliance with the moral principles underlying the Declaration of Independence. In that sense the incident contributed to the fight against slavery by helping to lay the basis for its abolition through the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1865.
This article was written by Howard Jones. Jones is the author of numerous books, including Mutiny on the Amistad: The Saga of a Slave Revolt and Its Impact on American Abolition, Law, and Diplomacy, published by Oxford University Press.
This article was originally published in the January/February 1998 issue of American History Magazine. For more great articles be sure to pick up your copy of American History.
In the spring of 1906 San Francisco was a city boasting 410,000 inhabitants a world-class metropolis whose citizens, at the dawn of a new century, looked forward with a sense of civic pride and growing confidence. San Franciscos very existence was the triumph of imagination over reality. In 1846 the site was largely barren sand dunes fringed with wind-stunted oaks and populated mainly by billions of fleas that tormented man and beast alike.
In 1846 the scraggly little village of Yerba Buena, named after a local shrub, was clustered near the lip of Yerba Buena Cove in San Francisco Bay. It would be transformed by the discovery of gold in 1848. The Gold Rush helped Yerba Buena, now called San Francisco, vault from sleepy hamlet to instant city. Thousands of gold seekers from every corner of the globe poured into California, boosting the citys population from around 500 in 1847 to 30,000 in 1851. This intense growth continued throughout the 19th century.
In 1906 Market Street was San Franciscos main artery, a 120-foot-wide thoroughfare that showcased some of the citys most impressive landmarks. Americans couldnt help but be awed by what had been accomplished in a mere 60 years. The Union Ferry Depot, simply called Ferry Building by most locals, anchored the eastern end of Market. Since San Francisco was on the tip of a peninsula, Ferry Building was one of the citys major gateways. Its clock tower, which was inspired by the Giralda Bell Tower in Seville, Spain, spiked the sky above the waterfront like an exclamation point.
San Franciscos bustling Market Street (below) and crowded Chinatown (top) would all be devastated by the massive earthquake and subsequent (Library of Congress)
The Palace Hotel was another jewel in the Market Street crown, the largest and most luxurious hostelry on the West Coast. Opened in 1875, it boasted 800 well-appointed rooms and rose an impressive seven stories high. It was the interior that awed most visitors, featuring a central grand court surrounded by tier after tier of columned galleries and crowned by a domed ceiling of amber-colored glass.
The hotel was the brainchild of William Ralston, one of San Franciscos earliest boosters. Equal parts hardheaded businessman, robber baron and dreamer, Ralston knew the area was vulnerable to earthquakes. In 1865 and 1868 the Bay Area had been shaken by temblors, and Ralston was determined to protect his creation from the capricious forces of nature. Three thousand tons of earthquake proof iron banding strengthened the 2-foot-thick walls.
Ralston also knew that fire was a danger, so he left nothing to chance. There was a 358,000-gallon subbasement reservoir beneath the grand court, and also six water tanks on the hotels iron roof. Hoses were stored on each floor to allow bellboys to fight any blaze. As a final touch, no less than 12 fire hydrants just outside the hotel on Market and New Montgomery streets were linked to the roof tanks.
Passing the 18-story Call/Spreckels Building at Third and Market, a visitor would soon find himself at a triangle of land bounded by Market, Larkin and McAllister streets. This was the civic center, whose centerpiece was San Franciscos new City Hall. The building was contracted by the city in 1871, but cost overruns seasoned with corruption on a massive scale delayed its completion for decades. During that period, the partially finished building, its exposed steel girders looking like a forlorn skeleton, was soon dubbed The New City Hall Ruin. It was finally completed and fully occupied by 1900.
The massive forces unleashed during the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906 ripped gaping fissures in the streets, resulting in broken gas lines and toppled candles and lamps that fueled raging fires. (Library of Congress)
Turn-of-the-century San Francisco was a cosmopolitan city with one of the most ethnically diverse populations in the country. Only a few blocks north of Market Street was Chinatown, a district widely known as the largest Chinese community outside Asia. The official census of 1900 recorded some 11,000 Chinese living within Chinatown, but the real figure was probably 25,000 or more. Chinatown was both a thriving, self-sufficient community and a gilded ghetto, a bastion of Chinese culture and an expression of the white racism that forbade Asians to live anywhere else.
To most whites, Chinatown was an exotic place of oriental mystery, where one could shop for Chinese trinkets, gawk at real or alleged opium dens, eat at a Chinese restaurant or simply stroll the streets taking in the colorful shops and temples festooned with Chinese characters and bulbous lanterns.
But Chinatown was also an artificial creation, and any Asian who ventured out beyond its borders risked a severe beating or worse by ever vigilant white street thugs. Forbidden by racist laws to become naturalized citizens, most Chinese didnt have the solace of family life. Chinatowns population included only 1,300 women, in large part due to restrictive immigration laws.
San Franciscos new maturity was manifested in the arts, where it ranked alongside Chicago or even New York. On April 17, 1906, the great Italian tenor Enrico Caruso opened in Carmen at the Grand Opera House on Mission Street. He was scheduled to sing in La Boheme the next day, Thursday, and Faust on the following Saturday. Carmen was a great success, and after the performance Caruso returned to his suite at the Palace Hotel a happy man.
The earthquake and fires left San Franciscos City Hall (below) in ruins and residences slumping or collapsed in heaps. (Library of Congress)
At 5:12 a.m., Wednesday, April 18, 1906, San Franciscans were rudely awakened by a sharp jolt that lasted about 45 seconds. This was a foreshock, an overture to a terrible symphony of destruction. About 10 or 12 seconds after the shaking subsided, the city was rocked by a far more powerful temblor that lasted some 45 to 60 seconds. The earthquakes had come from the San Andreas fault, a deep fissure in the earths crust that extends some 600 miles.
In 1906 scientists could only speculate on why earthquakes occur, but now, thanks to the study of plate tectonics, we have a better idea of the forces that had been unleashed. The San Andreas fault is the boundary between the earths North American Plate to the east and the Pacific Plate to the west. The Pacific Plate is moving north, the North American is moving south, the rate of creep being about 2 inches a year.
The Crossley Building burns during the San Francisco earthquake and fire. (Library of Congress)
Sometimes the plates lock, allowing no room for further movement. The earth, however, is a dynamic entity, and as the plates continue to shift, incredible strain is produced. An earthquake occurs when the strain finally reaches the breaking point, and the two plates lurch forward, often overlapping, releasing huge amounts of pent-up energy in the process. Techniques for measuring the intensity of quakes had not been invented by 1906, but modern estimates place the San Francisco earthquake at about 7.9 on the present Richter scale.
The shaking was terrible, accompanied by a freight train rumble that was forever etched into the memories of survivors. Buildings swayed crazily, their facades collapsed, draft horses galloped in blind terror and brick walls tumbled into the street, raising acrid clouds of choking dust. At the Palace Hotel, Caruso literally got a rude awakening. The famed tenor remembered: Everything in the room was going round and round. The chandelier was trying to touch the ceiling, and the chairs were all chasing each other. Crash-crash-crash! It was a terrible scene.
One of the first casualties was Fire Chief Engineer Dennis T. Sullivan, who was mortally wounded when a chimney from the California Theater smashed without warning into the fire station where he was living. The fire department, faced with the greatest crisis in its history, was effectively decapitated.
Most of the citys residents were still in bed when the quake struck, but a few policemen, delivery wagon teamsters and other early risers were witnesses to the initial impact. San Francisco Examiner reporter Fred Hewitt had just talked to two policemen when the shaking started. Fissures appeared as streets rose and fell and rose again in a rolling motion, the undulations making it seem as if the earth itself was, as Hewitt reported, breathing.
Workers manning cranes remove debris so rebuilding can begin (top). Residents wander the streets in midst the destruction. (Library of Congress)
To the casual eye, the quake damage seemed arbitrary, the whim of capricious nature. Some buildings were virtually intact, while others were heavily damaged. Much depended on construction techniques, materials used and above all the makeup of the ground underneath. During the Gold Rush, parts of the bay had been filled in to create new real estate. This made ground was essentially landfill, and had performed badly in previous major shakes. The made ground consisted of loose earth, old timbers, rocks and other debris, and when shaking occurred, this hodgepodge lacked cohesion. Very strong temblors transformed landfill into a soft, unstable pudding, a process known to science as liquefaction.
City Hall was particularly hard hit, reduced to a ruin as the Greco-Roman columns that ringed the dome fell away with much of the masonry facade in a matter of seconds. The building site had once been a marsh, the soft ground making any large building erected there vulnerable in a major earthquake. In this case, however, nature had been helped by the greed of city officials and contractors during the nearly 30-year span of the buildings construction.
In order to save money and to pocket government funds, shoddy materials were deliberately used. Old newspapers and trash had been incorporated into the building materials. Even before the great quake, City Halls internal sewage had seeped into its basement, collecting in a stinking pool of filth. The stench of sewage was the perfect metaphor for the stench of corruption seeping from behind the citys handsome facade.
The densely populated South of Market area was also hit hard. It was largely a working-class district with small businesses, rooming houses and restaurants. Much of the site had been a marsh in the Gold Rush period. The four-story Valencia Hotel came to symbolize the entire South of Market disaster. Three stories had sunk into the marshy soil before the whole building collapsed on itself. Only the fourth story, its walls crazily askew, remained above ground. Heroic rescue efforts managed to save about a dozen victims, but nearly 30 perished in the hotel. Many probably drowned, because a nearby water main had flooded the already mushy soil.
Since City Hall was a total loss, a temporary command post was set up at the Hall of Justice near Portsmouth Plaza. When the quake hit, Mayor Eugene Schmitz was at his home at 2849 Fillmore St., a short ride from the Hall of Justice, so he lost no time in reporting for duty. He had been under a cloud lately, accused of graft and taking bribes, and this disaster was a chance for political salvation. Schmitz was originally president of the local musicians union, but in city affairs he really played second fiddle to political boss Abraham Ruef.
Ruef was a Republican Party organizer who saw greater opportunities for riches by switching to the newly formed Union Labor Party. A master manipulator, Ruef used Schmitzs handsome looks and Irish Catholic-German roots to win votes. Although he was a charismatic speaker and charming family man, Schmitz was still considered a lightweight who did the bidding of his puppet master, Ruef.
Since the entire slate of Union Labor candidates had been elected in 1905, that party now controlled the entire board of supervisors, with predicable results. Ruef, himself no stranger to accepting fees for political favors, characterized his rapacious supervisors as the paint eaters, because they were so greedy that they would eat the paint off a house. Crusading editor Fremont Older of the San Francisco Bulletin had begun printing a series of exposes on the corruption, and Schmitz was heavily implicated.
The earthquake was a heaven-sent opportunity for Schmitz to prove his worth and confound his detractors. Seeing some looting on the way to the Hall of Justice, the mayor decided to take immediate action. He issued a proclamation declaring, Federal Troops, the members of the Regular Police Force, and all Special Police Officers have been authorized to KILL any and all persons engaged in looting orany other crime.
In the meantime, large and small fires had broken out all over the city; some estimates suggest as many as 60 blazes. These fires had many causes, including broken chimneys, overturned stoves, crossed electric wires and shattered gas mains. But when hard-pressed firemen attached hoses to hydrants, they found to their horror that there was little or no water available. Most hydrants only produced a weak, sporadic trickle before running completely dry.
The citys major reservoirs, Crystal Springs and Pilarcitos, were miles away to the south in San Mateo County. All the conduits that transported water to San Francisco were either near, or actually crossed, the San Andreas fault. And even if the reservoirs and aqueducts had emerged unscathed, it would not have made much difference. There were more than 300 water main breaks within the city limits.
San Franciscans displaced by the 1906 disaster queue up to receive meat rations. Homeless survivors pose in one of the many shanty towns they erected amid the ruins, providing rudimentary shelter. (Library of Congress)
The San Francisco Bay area was home to several military bases, including the historic Presidio and Mare Island. Brigadier General Frederick Funston was on hand when the temblors struck and found himself in command of the Department of California because his superior, General Adolphus Greeley, happened to be away in Washington, D.C. Funston, who stood 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed a mere 120 pounds, was a pint-sized and pugnacious officer who was determined to save the city by any means possible.
While Funston issued a flurry of orders to Army units, the Navy galvanized its own forces. Navy Lieutenant Frederick Newton Freeman, in temporary command of Preble, sailed the destroyer and two tugboats, Active and Leslie, to the stricken city. Freeman, who would emerge as one of the heroes of the tragedy, recognized that water was the key to San Franciscos survival. There were a number of tugboats along the waterfront, and all performed heroic service under Freemans direction.
The tugs pumped seawater from the bay, which was fed into hoses to fight the fires along the waterfront. Freeman also pumped 5,000 gallons of fresh water from tug Sotomoyos tanks into the boilers of the fire engines desperately fighting the conflagration. And the lieutenant had the foresight to store 200 gallons in barrels for parched San Franciscans, who were piteously crying for water.
When the waterfront blazes were under control, Freeman offered assistance that helped save the area around Montgomery and Jackson streets, todays Jackson Square. A hose snaked from the tug Leslie up and over Telegraph Hill, through Broadway to New Montgomery (now Columbus Avenue) and finally to the Jackson area. Freeman later commented that his men did their best work here, Leslies precious conduit of saltwater stretching over 11 city blocks. Because of Freeman and his men, a number of Gold Rush-era buildings, some of the oldest in San Francisco, survive to this day.
Earlier, a few hours before Freeman arrived on the scene, Funston sent messages to the Presidio and Fort Mason ordering the troops there to report to San Francisco Police Chief Jeremiah Dinan at the Hall of Justice. The troops fanned out into the city, guarding vulnerable buildings, restoring order and preventing looting. In many cases, however, the soldiers did more harm than good by forcing thousands to evacuate their homes, ostensibly in the name of saving lives. But many of these people were able-bodied and more than willing to take an active part in saving their homes and businesses.
The story of Dr. J.K. Plincz is a prime case in point. He was a young surgeon who lived in an octagonal house at 1027 Green St., and he and some neighbors and a few others decided to save their homes. Working with determination, they wet blankets, rugs and carpets with water that had been painstakingly collected and used them to smother small fires and extinguish sparks before they could spring to malevolent life.
A soldier appeared and ordered Dr. Plincz to evacuate immediately. Orders were orders, and it seemed foolhardy to argue with an armed soldier. One wrong word and you might find yourself facing the business end of a bayonet-tipped Springfield rifle. But Plincz decided to take a different tack. He was friendly, talkative and plied the soldier with several glasses of good wine. The doughboy relented and allowed the Green Street defenders to stay. Five houses including Dr. Plinczs home survived.
Since the fire department had few means to combat the blazes, it was agreed that firebreaks would have to be created, by ruthlessly dynamiting buildings that were in the path of the growing conflagration. Fire department officials were in favor of the new and desperate tactic, and Funston insisted it was the only way. Mayor Schmitz was not so sure, especially when the properties in question were owned by some of his supporters. In the end, Schmitz allowed himself to be persuaded, but orders were given to wait until the last possible moment before a building was blown. Unfortunately both civilian firefighters and soldiers had little or no experience with explosives, and their clumsy efforts actually spread the fire.
Funston made an effort to consult with Schmitz, but at times he acted in a high-handed, arbitrary manner, virtually ignoring civilian authority. Martial law had not been declared, but the general issued orders as if he were on a campaign. He grew more convinced dynamiting was the citys only salvation, even though it was clear by the second day that the strategy was deeply flawed.
When dynamite stocks ran low, Funston became obsessed with finding more. He didnt seem to know, or care, that the tugboats along the waterfront were helping combat the fire with their supplies of water. The general ordered that all such vessels be pulled out of the firefighting line and sent for more dynamite. In one instance, Funston ordered the tug Pricillaseized, placed under the command of 1st Lt. Raymond W. Briggs, and then sent it to Point Pinole to get more explosives.
Lieutenant Freeman was obviously loath to criticize a superior officer, but he noted Pricilla was the only tug available in my vicinity. His report also used the wordsseize andseized, the implication of force being a strong, if oblique, criticism of Funston.
The fabled Palace Hotel, iconic symbol of the Bay City, survived the earthquake only to succumb to the fire. Guests like Caruso were shaken, windows were broken and some interiors were wrecked, but the building seemed to have remained structurally sound. Fears that the Palace would collapse and its floors pancake happily proved false.Ironically, the fire department siphoned off all the Palaces water resources to fight waterfront blazes, and when the flames attacked the building in earnest it was as helpless as its neighbors. The Call Building was also a fire victim. Steel frame buildings generally perform well in earthquakes, and the Call building was no exception. Unfortunately it too was gutted by the great fire.
In Chinatown, one of the most densely populated sections of the whole city, casualties must have been high. Most Chinese were from Kwantung (Guangdong), so shouts and pleas for aid were in the Cantonese dialect. Aeeya! dai loong jen! they screamed. The earth dragon is wriggling! Frightened residents ran out of the damaged buildings, but Chinatowns picturesque narrow streets and alleys were potential deathtraps from falling cornices and other debris. Hundreds of Chinese ran to the relative safety of Portsmouth Square, where they gathered in large groups.
In some respects, the Chinese were even more vulnerable than other San Franciscans. Because of heathen Chinee stereotypes and the prevailing racism of the time, they would get little help and less sympathy from hard-pressed city authorities. Traumatic memories of white persecution ran deep, and most Chinese were afraid of seeking food, medical attention or shelter from city aid stations.
Soldiers evacuated Chinatown as they did other parts of the city, and the dynamiting began. Lieutenant Freeman, so heroic in other respects, shared the common prejudices of the time. Some Chinese remained behind and the naval officer noted that at least 20 Chinese, opium fiends and drunks, were blown up by dynamite. Another report laconically mentioned that several mangled Chinese bodies could be seen in the ruins, and that in at least one building 5 or 6 bodies were thrown 50 feet into the air and back into the flames.
The fires coalesced into three major blazes south of Market, north of Market and in the Hayes Valley, west of the shattered City Hall. Fanned by high winds, this malevolent trio soon united to become one raging firestorm. The inferno grew so intense that temperatures reached upward of 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit. Flames crackled and roared, producing a huge black column of smoke that some claimed rose five miles into the sky. The great city by the bay seemed to be doomed, immolated on its own funeral pyre.
Van Ness Avenue, a broad thoroughfare that ran on a north-south axis, was a natural firebreak and the citys last major line of defense. There were still residential areas west of Van Ness that were relatively unscathed by the earthquake but would they succumb to the fire? The great inferno jumped Van Ness in one or two places, but exhausted firefighters managed to hold the line. By Saturday, April 21, the fire had essentially burned itself out. Not long after, a drenching rain fell, too late to fight the fire but welcome nevertheless.
In the coming months, relief and reconstruction were the top priorities. No fewer than 514 city blocks four square miles had been destroyed by fire. An estimated 28,000 buildings had been consumed in the great fire, and property damage losses ranged up to $500 million. City fathers, worried that future investors might be scared off, downplayed the number of casualties. Various figures were bandied about, but they had one thing in common they were suspiciously low, at least given the magnitude of the disaster. One early estimate claimed 667 dead and 352 missing. Pioneering research by San Francisco City Librarian Gladys Hansen put the death toll at more than 3,000 people, while recent researchers suggest around 4,000. All generally agree that 250,000 people were rendered homeless.
San Francisco government officials made an attempt to move Chinatown to Hunters Point, a remote location barely within the city limits. The plan was foiled, in part due to the building plans of local businessman Look Tin Eli. Eli was ABC American-born Chinese and he hired architects to make his rebuilt store more exotic and Asian looking. The idea caught on, and pagoda roofs and other Chinese motifs helped make the restored Chinatown a major tourist attraction.
Ironically, the disaster had an unexpected silver lining for the Chinese. The earthquake and fire completely destroyed city records, including birth certificates. The only way a Chinese person could be a citizen was to be born in the United States, so hundreds came forward after the quake to get new documentation, claiming their birth certificates had been consumed by the flames. Many were successful, though eventually the authorities caught on. If every citizenship claim had been true, each Chinese woman living in San Franciscos Chinatown would have had to have given birth to 500 children!
San Francisco has a history of surviving disasters. In the Gold Rush period, the city burned to the ground no less than six times between 1849 and 1851. The phoenix was adopted as its symbol, a mythical bird that arises reborn from its own ashes. San Francisco did rise again, and by 1915 it was hosting the Panama Pacific International Exhibition. San Francisco survived because of the courage, endurance and unfailing sense of humor of its citizens. Not long after the disaster, a sign appeared that poked fun at an East Bay rival and summed up the San Francisco spirit. Eat, Drink, and Be Merry, the slogan read, For Tomorrow We May Have to Go to Oakland.
This article was written by Eric Niderost and originally published in the April 2006 issue of American History Magazine. For more great articles, subscribe to American History magazine today!
From the Summer 2010 issue of MHQ
Returning plunder to its rightful owner may sound straightforward, but in practice it is extremely difficult, particularly for objects seized in the distant past. Who the rightful owner is seems to depend largely on your point of view
The Swedes came at night, rushing through a gap in the walls protecting the Mala Strana neighborhood at the foot of Prague Castle. By the break of day on July 27, 1648, the invaders had captured the entire western side of the city, including the castle, with its famous collections of art, rare books, and astronomical instruments. Over the coming weeks, the Swedes tried several times to cross the Charles Bridge to seize the Old Town on the opposite bank of the Vltava River, but were repelled by a ragtag force of townspeople and Jesuit priests. Despite receiving reinforcements, the Swedes were stuck on their side of the river in November when news of the Peace of Westphalia reached the city. The Thirty Years War, one of the bloodiest conflicts in European history, had finally come to a close, ending Swedens campaign against the Holy Roman Empire. N The Swedish army had been denied control of the commercial side of town but had achieved its main objective: the capture of the renowned trove of art, treasure, and curiosities collected in Prague Castle by the late Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II. For decades prior to his death in 1612, Rudolf had directed a small army of agents to scour the known world for unusual objects. There were paintings by Albrecht Durer and Pieter Brueghel, jewels, precious stones, and ancient coins from Italy, the Balkans, and the Middle East, exquisite clocks from the four corners of Europe, and statues in stone and bronze. There was a horn allegedly taken from a unicorn, the jawbone of one of the Sirens who tempted Ulysses, and even a pair of iron nails supposedly salvaged from Noahs ark. Rudolf had commissioned a greenhouse in which his staff maintained a collection of exotic plants and a menagerie where they tended unusual beasts, including a live lion. His paintings alone took up seven halls of Pragues sprawling castle complex.
But perhaps the most wondrous of Rudolfs many treasures was a book of enormous value and antiquity: the Codex Argenteus, better known today as the Silver Bible. The bookin which the four gospels of St. Mark were transcribed in gold and (especially) silver inkhad been created in the sixth century, probably for Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, not many years before his nation was conquered by Justinian during the Gothic War of 535554. For a thousand years its movements were lost to history, passed from owner to owner between its jewel-encrusted covers. At some point one of its vellum leaves was torn out and hidden with the relics of a saint within the walls of a church in the southwestern German town of Speyer. The remaining 187 leaves came into the hands of Benedictine monks cloistered on the outskirts of Essen in western Germany, where Rudolfs agents somehow acquired them in the late 1500s. By the time the Silver Bible reached Prague, the book was so old that the language in which it was written had been forgotten. Today, in fact, its pages represent nearly half of all surviving examples of the Gothic language. Without it, scholars might never have been able to reconstruct that ancient language, a cousin to Old Norse, Old High German, and Old English.
The Swedish queen Christina wanted it all. On her orders, 500 paintings, 370 scientific instruments, 70 bronze statues, thousands of jewels, medals, and curios, and the live lion were loaded onto barges and shipped to Sweden. But most of all she wanted the books. Do not forget to procure and send me the library and the rarities there in Prague, she told her military commanders. These, as you know, are all I really care about. The Thirty Years War was all about plunder, and Christina wanted to get one last shipment in before the peace treaty was signed.
Fast-forward 362 years and the Silver Bible is still in Sweden (despite a brief sojourn to the Netherlands in the late 17th century), the most prized volume in the collections of the University of Uppsala and, indeed, the most valuable book in all of Sweden.
And the Czechs want it back.
After the collapse of communism, Czech president Vaclav Havel tried to persuade Sweden to return the Silver Bible and several other objects taken from Bohemia during the Thirty Years War. He was refused, leaving the Czechs despondent. As the director of the Czech National Library later put it, If Vaclav Havel did not succeed then no one will succeed. Sweden has allowed another manuscript seized from Praguethe Devils Bible, or Codex Gigasto be exhibited in the Czech Republic, but has made it clear that the books and everything else their armies seized now belong to them.
Over the past two decades, globalization, changing attitudes, and the spread of both international law and civil lawsuits have emboldened aggrieved nations to demand the return of cultural property seized by enemy forces decades or even centuries ago, and a few holders of these spoils have complied. Five years ago, Japan returned a Korean monument on the centennial of its theft during the Russo-Japanese War; three years before that, Italy returned a 3,000-year-old obelisk taken during Mussolinis invasion of Ethiopia.
But more often than not, the plunder has remained with the plunderer, despite near universal condemnation of the practice by some current belligerents. The Swiss canton of St. Gallen lobbied for years to force Zurich canton to return a 16th-century wooden globe seized in a 1712 invasion, but in 2006 had to settle for a replica. Sweden, which hasnt fought a war in two centuries, has been under pressure to return looted cultural items not only to the Czechs but also to Poland, Denmark, Norway, and even its own region of Skane, which it seized from the Danes in 1658. (As one blogger puts it: It cannot be acceptable that I should have to take my grandchild in the hand, travel 650 kilometers to [the Swedish town of] Skokloster in order to see and experience our own Scanian history and culture.)
Meanwhile, Germany has been angrily insisting that Russia return a vast trove of art looted at the end of World War II, even as Poland demands billions in compensation for cultural artifacts stolen or destroyed during the Nazi occupation.
Returning plunder to its rightful owner may sound straightforward, but in practice it is extremely difficult, particularly for objects seized in the distant past. Who the rightful owner is seems to depend largely on your point of view. After all, for much of human history, armies plundered the vanquished as a matter of course and sometimes went to war solely to do so. Well into the 17th century, armies survived by stealing crops, livestock, and other civilian property, their soldiers pilfering valuables in lieu of a proper salary or disability benefit. Virtually every belligerent participated, causing particular treasures to change hands over and over again, the original owner sometimes having been forgotten altogether, occasionally because their civilization had ceased to exist. Spanish conquistadors seized shiploads of Aztec gold artifacts that are now scattered in museums around the world, while European powers and American armies absconded with the cultural heritage of numerous African and Native American peoples by force of arms. In some cases, it is difficult or impossible to establish who would be a legitimate inheritor of these objects, even if the present owners agreed to return them.
Determining the legitimate owner of something as old as the Silver Bible can be a futile task. The Ostrogoths who created it died out centuries ago, and the Czechs werent in control of Prague when the Swedes arrived in 1648, the city being part of the now extinct Holy Roman Empire. Sure, the bible belonged to German-speaking emperors for 60 years, but nobody knows how they extracted it from the Benedictines. The Swedes have at this point possessed the book six times longer than anyone in Prague ever did, so it is not surprising that they dont feel compelled to hand it over.
The fact is, there is no legal or customary basis to demand the return of anything plundered prior to the turn of the 20th century. Doing so successfully is ultimately a matter of public relations, of convincing whoever possesses the object that giving it back is the right thing to do.
Theres no source of international law that clearly goes back before the late 19th century, and theres no [international] statute of limitations that would get you back to the 15th, 16th or 17th centuries, says Patty Gerstenblith, director of the Center for Art, Museum, and Cultural Heritage Law at the DePaul University College of Law. There are examples of things being returned from long ago, but they were done on a cooperative or moral basis, not a legal one.
Indeed, moral campaigns can succeed, even when the law is fixed against them. Take the case of the ghost shirt of Glasgow. The sandy brown tunic adorned with eagle feathers was a magical object created in the 19th century by the Lakota (or Sioux) Indians and worn by followers of the Ghost Dance religion. Lakota Ghost Dancers believed the ghost shirts would make them invulnerable to Western weaponry, which, unfortunately for them, was not the case. On December 29, 1890, the U.S. 7th Cavalry ambushed a band of Lakotas at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, killing between 150 and 300, including women, children, and Ghost Dancers. (The army lost 25 men, most to friendly fire.) The bodies were looted and piled into mass graves. One of the plundered ghost shirts was acquired a month or so later by George Crager, a Lakota-speaking adventurer and journalist, who took it with him when he joined William Wild Bill Codys traveling Wild West Show as a translator for Indian performers. While on tour in Scotland in 1892, Crager donated the bloodstained ghost shirt to the city of Glasgow, where officials placed it in their museum.
A century later, an American tourist of Cherokee descent came across the museum exhibit and was stunned to find something stolen from a dead body at Wounded Knee. The tourist contacted the Lakota, who were amazed to learn that a ghost shirt from the famous massacre had survived, and began a tenacious letter-writing campaign to have it returned to their reservation. Glasgows city council was adamant that the celebrated artifact should stay put, its case backed up by a recently passed British law declaring all museum artifacts in the United Kingdom to be British property.
The Lakota had no legal footing, but they sent delegations of tribal members to Glasgow who performed solemn ceremonies to bless the shirt and took their case to the local media. Letters poured in to the museum and to newspapers expressing overwhelming support for the shirt to be returned. The Lakotas tragic story, introduced to the Scots by the wildly successful 1990 film Dances with Wolves, struck a chord in a nation that had itself been brutally subjugated by a more industrialized neighbor. We as a nation have witnessed our own culture being ravaged and treated with disrespect and contempt, one writer declared. The shirt should be handed back immediately. When the Lakota delegations returned to city hall in 1998, the city did just that. The ghost shirt is now being held at the South Dakota State Historical Society in Pierre until the Lakota complete a museum to house it.
Repatriation becomes a more confusing undertaking for objects seized in the early 20th century, a period for which legal remedy is uncertain, but possible. This gray period spans the time between the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1954, a half-century in which the wartime plunder of cultural objects went from being frowned upon to being explicitly forbidden under international law. While the 1899 treaty forbade confiscation of most sorts of civilian property (military property can be confiscated, including supplies, ammunition, and souvenirs like side arms, hats, and uniforms), it wasnt until 1954 that states worldwide were authorized to take action against violators in their own courts. A lot of cases may have had merit during that gray period, but there was no easy way to have them heard.
State practice was evolving, and by World War I it would certainly have been acknowledged by all parties in a conflict that there was no legal basis to seize cultural property, says Fred Borch, regimental historian and archivist at the U.S. Army Judge Advocate Generals Corps Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Virginia. But until 1954, theres no international convention under which to seek remedy, so its all custom and state practice. In effect, the only legal remedy available to an aggrieved party is to take the case to the courts in the country that possesses the plundered object, an uncertain forum at best. Every country in the world says that you can only sue the government in my court if I give you permission to do so, Borch explains. In China or Russia today, I doubt you would receive a waiver from this sovereign immunity.
The picture is further complicated in the early part of this period because most of the world was under colonial rule. For the colonized, this often felt like a belligerent occupation, particularly when independence movements were crushed with military force. But if a now independent nation seeks the return of objects allegedly plundered during such occupations, a former imperial power can easily dismiss a suit on the grounds that at the time the colony was, legally speaking, its own sovereign territory. Under such circumstances, claimants can turn only to the court of public opinion. If their country had to fight for its independence, winning the hearts and minds of their former rulers can be difficult.
The dispute over the rightful ownership of the Balangiga bells is just such a situation. American forces took the three bells from a church tower on the central Philippine island of Samar during the Philippine-American War, fought primarily from 1899 to 1902 (although the Moro Rebellion phase lasted until 1913). For the past 13 years, the government of the Philippines has pressed for their return, so far without success. Its case probably isnt helped by the fact that it asks Americans to confront a conflict in which their nations objectives and conduct were at odds with its traditionally professed values.
American forces seized Manila at the close of the Spanish-American War, charged with turning the Spanish colony into an American one. That put American forces in conflict with Filipino independence fighters, who had already liberated most of the country and, in the aftermath of an American naval victory over Spain in Manila Bay, declared an independent republic. A protracted and bloody war ensued, in which the United States explicitly fought to force Filipinos into an American empire, killing a quarter million in the process, chiefly civilians who succumbed to starvation or disease, including thousands forced into concentration camps. The unabashedly imperialistic war caused deep divisions within the United States, with opponents arguing that the creation of overseas colonies was at odds with the republican ideals of the American Revolution. Supporters pointed to the Filipinos racial inferiority as evidence they were unprepared to govern themselves, which exacerbated North-South tensions at a time when the Civil War was still very much in living memory.
The bells were seized during the most contentious incident of the war. On September 28, 1901, 74 soldiers from the U.S. Armys 9th Infantry Regiment were ambushed in the Samar port of Balangiga while eating breakfast. The insurrectionists had infiltrated the town disguised as laborers or as women mourners carrying coffins ostensibly bearing cholera victims, but actually packed with machetes. The attack began on the prearranged signal of the local police chief: the ringing of the three bells in the church tower. Forty-five soldiers were killed and 11 wounded, the worst single-day losses for the army since Custers Stand. The American response was brutal. Brig. Gen. Jacob H. Smith ordered his men to kill every male over the age of 10 on the island, which had a population of 250,000.
I want no prisoners, Smith, who was later court-martialed for his actions, instructed a subordinate. I wish you to kill and burn, the more you kill and burn the better it will please me. Exactly how successfully these orders were carried out is unclear: Estimates of the number of islanders killed by American reprisals range from 1,000 to 50,000, with most scholars endorsing the smaller end of the range. General Smiths men also burned Balangiga to the ground and carried off the bells that had signaled the attack.
In the century that followed, the Balangiga bells took on symbolic importance for both sides. For the 9th Infantry, they were important war trophies that memorialized the dead and paid homage to the units participation in a bloody jungle counterinsurgency. One of the bells, which the 9th Infantry claims was given it by the people of a village, is currently deployed with its troops at Camp Red Cloud in South Korea; the other two are on display in Trophy Park on the F. E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming. For Filipinos, they have become a resonant symbol of their long independence struggle, equivalent to the Liberty Bell had it been tolled by Paul Revere on the eve of the Battle of Lexington. Since the mid-1990s, Philippine presidents, senators, and Catholic bishops have been pressuring the United States to return themto no avail. We are not involved in the business of dismantling memorials to our comrades that have fought in other wars, the commander of the American Legion in Wyoming, Joe Sestak, told the New York Times when the issue first came to the fore in 1997.
But do the Filipinos have a legal case for the return of alleged war booty? A slim one, at best, legal experts say. The bells were seized at a very early point in the gray periodthree years after the United States signed the 1899 Hague Convention, the first international formulation of the laws and customs of war. While addressing other concerns of the agethe observance of flags of truce and the prohibition of the launching of projectiles or explosives from balloonsthe agreement placed limits on the seizure of nonmilitary assets. Attacking or bombarding undefended towns, buildings, and homes was prohibited, and during bombardments all necessary steps had to be taken to spare edifices devoted to religion, art, sciencecharity [and] hospitals. Pillage and the confiscation of private property, including that of religious institutions, were prohibited in all circumstances. The laws were further strengthened in 1907, requiring parties to avoid damage to cultural and historical monuments and to return even seized military assets after the conclusion of hostilities. The bellsreligious property of questionable utility as war materialwould seem a simple case.
But the 1899 and 1907 Hague Conventions provided no forum for the recovery of cultural objects, effectively leaving arbitration in the hands of the victors (as at the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919) or national courts. Thats where colonial-era claims like that of the Philippines get complicated. As a matter of international law, the archipelago belonged to Spain until 1899, when it was sold to the United States for $20 million. When the bells were seized, Balangiga was part of the United States and the conflict could be construed as a domestic affair outside the reach of international treaties. I dont think its an international law case; its a domestic law case, says army archivist Borch. You might be able to fashion a legal argument to have it heard, but it would likely be so convoluted that you would really be back in the court of public opinion.
The Filipinos, like the Lakota, may only be able to get the bells back by winning a battle for hearts and minds abroad.
Perhaps the most searing debates over wartime looting of cultural property have come at the other end of the gray period and deal with the mass state-sponsored looting by Nazi Germany and, later, the Soviet armies that helped bring about the Nazis end. While distinguishing between right and wrong is more clear-cutneither Hitler nor Stalin had the slightest respect for the laws of warthat hasnt made resolving disputes much easier.
Even before the war, the Nazi leadership had an extraordinary penchant for stealing artistic and cultural objects by state decree. As the Reichs Jewish citizens were by stages disenfranchised, pauperized, driven out, and rounded up to be murdered, the Nazis took great care to seize any works of art in their possession. Vast bureaucracies were created to accumulate, evaluate, and relocate the millions of objects, a chilling story detailed in Lynn Nicholass The Rape of Europa, and in Robert M. Edsels Rescuing Da Vinci. It was, Edsel wrote, the most thorough and extensive looting operation in history.
Works by Modern or Jewish artistsPicasso, Gauguin, Chagall, and Kandinsky among themwere declared degenerate and sold on the foreign art market to bolster the Reichs treasury. Works favored by Hitlerhe especially loved pastoral scenes painted by the Dutch masterswere reassigned to the fuhrers planned museum in Linz or to the walls of senior officials mansions. Organized expropriations continued after the annexation of Austria and the invasions of France, the Netherlands, and other West European nations, and were extended to include any works of art declared to be German in origin. In France, the Nazis produced a 300-page list of objects that had been transferred to foreign ownership, either without our consent or by questionable legal transactions since the year 1500. While relatively little publicly owned artwork was transferred, the Nazis confiscated at least 22,000 items from Jewish owners that were exported to the Reich. Many were stored for Hitler at the Neuschwanstein Castle (the model for one at Disneyland). Other artwork was purchased from museums and collectors for extremely low prices and brought to depots in Germany.
On the Eastern Front, the Nazis were more brutal. Convinced that the Slavic race was inferior, Hitler intended to eliminate its culture and reduce Poles, Ukrainians, and Russians to a slave caste within the Reich. (Jews were to be exterminated.) In addition to confiscating art, in these countries the Nazis attempted to erase the cultural memory by demolishing monuments and stripping palaces, cathedrals, and museums. During the occupation, Warsaw was systematically destroyed, block by block, its libraries burned, and the Royal Palace dynamited. (In 2007 Poland demanded $20 billion in compensation for the lost and stolen artifacts alone.) In the Soviet Union, German troops sacked Leo Tolstoys estate, Yasnaya Polyna, desecrating his grave and burning his manuscripts in their stoves. Soviets estimated the Germans looted and destroyed more than 400 museums, 2,000 churches, and 43,000 libraries in their country.
No historic or artistic treasures in the East, German field marshal Walther Reichenau had decreed at the outset of the invasion, are of any importance. Even so, Russia now estimates some two million works of art were stolen by the Germans during their short-lived occupation of western Russia.
The shoe was about to be switched to the other foot. In the winter of 19421943, the Germans found themselves on the retreat in the East and soon were being squeezed from three directions as American and British forces pushed toward Berlin from Italy and Normandy. But as the Reich was snuffed out, there were sharp contrasts between how the Americans and the Soviets dealt with the artwork and other cultural property they captured from the Germans.
In past conflicts, captured art tended to flow in one direction: from vanquished to conquerors. After Napoleons defeat, France had been forced to return the cultural trophies it had taken during its short-lived conquest of Europe, including the carved horses of St. Marks in Venice and the Medici Venus. At the end of World War I, Germany was made to disgorge items it had taken, and even some it had legally purchased. But at the end of World War II, the United States broke with tradition. Despite pressure from the National Gallery in Washington and New Yorks Metropolitan Museum of Art to confiscate German collections, United States military commanders insisted collections that rightfully belonged to German museums should stay at those museums. Taking the art, military archivists said, was neither morally tenable nor trustworthy. Works that had been shipped to the United States for safekeeping were returned to Germany. Art historians staffing the U.S. Army Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section undertook an unprecedented effort to return tens of thousands of works of art to their rightful owners, public and private.
Those folks really set the standard for the treatment of cultural property, says Richard B. Jackson, special assistant for Law of War matters at the U.S. Army Judge Advocate Generals Corps. Weve been following in their footsteps in our efforts.
Despite the work of the Monuments Men, some famous works were never recovered and, of course, many private owners had died or been murdered during the war. Museums worldwide are still coming to grips with the identification of this Holocaust Art. American museums alone have identified 16,000 objects in their possession that may have been seized by the Nazis. Plaintiffs have won suits in the United States for the return of objects held by American institutions that had previously been seized by the Nazis, including a 1989 suit against the U.S. Army involving the archive of Hitlers official photographer. Numerous cases are ongoing, most involving private art museums. Different countries have taken different approaches to the issue, says DePauls Gerstenblith. While the U.S. relies on private litigation, in Europe the museums are national institutions, so there tends to be more of a governmental process.
What of the guilty? Germany had clearly violated the 1899 and 1907 Hague Conventions in just about every way imaginable, including the plunder and destruction of cultural property. At the Nuremberg trials, the Allies made a point of charging the Nazi official responsible for organizing most of the art seizures, Alfred Rosenberg, for the looting and destruction of works of art and cultural institutions. He was found guilty of this and many other heinous crimes (including organizing genocide operations in the Occupied Eastern Territories) and was hanged.
The Soviets took a decidedly vengeful approach to cultural objects as their armies overran the eastern Reich in 1944 and 1945. The Nazis would be made to reap what they had sown.
At first, Red Army commanders focused on recovering looted Soviet properties, which they found in enormous caches as they recaptured western Russia and Belarus, Poland. But as the scale of German looting became clearpriceless objects from the Catherine Palace and Pavlovsk were found in barracks, cafeterias, and officers quarters throughout the Balticsthe mood turned darker. As armies advanced into Poland and Germany, special Trophy Commission units were dispatched to gather valuable movable objects of all kinds before general looting by regular soldiers commenced. In Berlin, they raided museums and repositories, starting with those in sectors that would soon be turned over to their Western Allies. Some 2.5 million objects were loaded aboard special trains bound for the Soviet Union, including masterpieces by Renoir, Manet, and Goya and the famous Priams treasure of ancient Troy. Russia later returned more than a million objects to Communist East Germany, but many thousands of others remained hidden for decades in museum vaults in and around Moscow.
The dispute over what has come to be called Russian Trophy Art heated up in 1995, when the Pushkin Museum in Moscow and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg revealed hundreds of seized paintings they had secretly kept in storage for half a century. The works included many assumed destroyed and one Renoir previously unknown to the art world. Germany demanded the paintings be returned, citing a bilateral 1990 treaty in which both parties had promised to restore war booty to its rightful owners. The Russians flatly refused.
Germany destroyed more than 400 museums and took two million pieces of art out of the country, explained Pushkin Museum director Irina Anatova, who was among the museum workers who unpacked the treasure-laden trains arriving from Berlin in 1945. Such unprecedented damage requires a special form of compensation. Shortly thereafter, the Russian parliament passed a moratorium on the return of looted art and, by a vote of 291 to 1, legislation declaring all of it to be the property of the Russian Federation. While Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin both promised to return many disputed objects, an estimated one million pieces of art looted from Germany remain in the country.
So do the Russians have a point? Ethically, perhaps, but as a matter of international law, not at all. It isnt that Russia isnt entitled to reparations from Germany, but they cant keep the art work unilaterally, says Gerstenblith, noting that it is a clear violation of the Hague Conventions and at odds with the Nuremberg rulings against Rosenberg. The catch is one common to cases arising from the period between 1899 and 1954. Theres no international mechanism to enforce this, so its up to national laws. If Germany wants to recover something from Russia, they are going to have to go into a Russian court where their chance of recovery is not high. Winning hearts and minds is always an option, but it is not easily done when the aggrieved party is responsible for the Holocaust and the attempted elimination of the possessors national culture.
From the point of view of international law, things become much more cut-and-dried with the adoption of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. The treaty clearly defines cultural property, recognizes its global (as opposed to strictly national) importance, and obligates state parties to prohibit, prevent, and if necessary, put a stop to any form of theft, pillage, or misappropriation of, and any acts of vandalism against, cultural property. Under Article 28, all parties are required to take all necessary steps to prosecute and impose penal and disciplinary sanctions upon violators, regardless of their nationality.
It is, in theory, as binding and enforceable as any other international treaty, which is to say, dependent on the political calculations of its signatories. And several major powers only became state parties recently. The United States signed the treaty a half-century ago, but ratified it last year. (As a matter of policy, the Department of Defense has complied with it in all our internal policies, notes JAG lawyer Jackson, who served as a military delegate to the convention.) China joined in 2000, Japan in 2007, and the United Kingdom not at all. Scholars are divided as to whether the treaty provisions can now be considered part of customary international law, binding on every state.
So how has the treaty stood up in more recent conflicts? The results are thus far mixed, as demonstrated by the Yugoslav wars and the aftermath of the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.
In terms of preventing the destruction of cultural property, the Hague treaty had little effect on the behavior of belligerentsparticularly Serb and Bosnian Serb forcesduring the violent breakup of Yugoslavia. Taking a page from Nazi Germany, the Bosnian Serb leadership sought to cleanse territories it controlled of Croatian and Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) people and cultural symbols. Centuries-old mosques were dynamited. The National and University Library in Sarajevo was intentionally bombarded and burned, resulting in a loss of 1.5 million books, including the Bosnian National Archive and 155,000 rare volumes.
The 1954 Hague Convention provided for a special blue shield emblem to be placed on culturally important buildings to prevent their destruction; in former Yugoslavia, the measure backfired. Where so much of the targeting of cultural sites was deliberate, the blue rhombus of the Hague emblem did not seem to do much good, notes prominent Harvard University Islamic art and architecture expert Andras Riedelmayer. If anything, it served to attract attention to buildings it was hung on, and would often result in more damage, not less. In fact, Belgrade-controlled military units intentionally bombarded the old town of Dubrovnik, Croatia, (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and burned Muslim religious monuments and cultural sites in Kosovo. Bosnian Croat forces, for their part, intentionally destroyed another UNESCO site, the famous 16th-century bridge in the city of Mostar in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The treaty system did a better job of holding perpetrators to account, however. The United Nations War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has treated the destruction of cultural property as a serious war crime, something more onerous than destroying a factory or railroad. Two senior Yugoslav Peoples Army officers were convicted for ordering the attack on Dubrovniks walled city, receiving prison terms of seven and eight years. Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic faced charges related to the destruction of the cultural heritage of Bosnia and Kosovo when he died in his cell in 2006, apparently from heart failure. At this writing, the leaders of the Bosnian Croats wartime statelet, Herzeg-Bosna, are on trial for numerous war crimes, including the deliberate destruction of several mosques and the Old Bridge at Mostar.
Iraq offers the most recent high-profile test case, though one in which an occupying power is accused not of plundering the vanquished but of failing to prevent others from doing so. The 1954 treaty obligates occupying nations to prevent looting and destruction of cultural resources. But in the aftermath of their 2003 invasion, American military forces were not ordered to protect significant sites like the Iraqi National Museum and the National Library and Archives. Both institutions were looted;?nearly a third of the librarys collection was wiped out, while the museum was ransacked for three days straight and lost some 15,000 objects dating back to ancient Assyria, Babylon, and Mesopotamia. (More than 5,000 have since been recovered.) Pleas by the museums director, Donny George, for the United States military to secure the area went unheeded. According to George, American troops didnt move in until a foreign journalist loaned him a satellite telephone, allowing him to speak to colleagues at the British Museum; they, in turn, contacted the office of the British prime minister, which contacted the Pentagon. Confronted by journalists, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dismissed it as an inevitable consequence of war.
A strong case can be made that the inaction of the United States constitutes a violation of its international commitments. The International Council on Monuments has even said the neglect amounts to a crime against humanity. Martin Sullivan, chairman of President George W. Bushs Advisory Committee on Cultural Property, resigned in protest, saying the looting was both foreseeable and preventable. Indeed, many have asked how the military could not have planned to secure key institutions, especially given the looting experienced in Iraq during the 1991 invasion. It later emerged that American scholars, museum directors, and art dealers had met with Pentagon officials two months before the war began, warning them of the threat to the museums priceless collections. The fact that unarmed museum personnel and foreign journalists reached the museum on April 12, days before the United States military secured it, suggests the museum, at that stage at least, was not in the hands of a formidable enemy force. That American forces swiftly secured the Iraqi Oil Ministry, oil fields, and other assets supports the argument that they could have also protected the museum, had they been ordered to.
The facts of the case are still in dispute. Matthew Bogdanos, the marine reserve colonel charged with recovering looted objects, has argued that American forces could not have secured the museum prior to the 12th. When the looting began in earnest two days earlier, enemy forces occupied the museum, and, in any case, committing forces to stop looters might have reduced the museum to rubble in a fight, he says. [A]ny suggestion that U.S. forces could have done more than they did to secure the museum before the twelfth is based on wishful thinking or political ideology rather than any rational appreciation of military tactics, the reality of the conflict on the ground, the law of war or the laws of physics, he has written, instead blaming the Iraqi army, for taking up fighting positions within the museum. He agrees that the failure of the United States to secure the museum until the 16th is inexcusable, although the museum staff did prevent further looting during this period.
Might the United States be liable under international law, all the same? That likely depends on whether the 1954 Convention really has achieved the status of international customary law, since in 2003 the United States had not yet ratified the treaty. If not, a legal case would have to move forward under the 1899 and 1907 treaties, which dont require occupiers to prevent looting by third parties. (This would be more in accord with the Bush administrations frequently expressed position that it took careful measures to avoid damaging major cultural sites, but did not make plans to prevent looting by others.) Any suit might have to be submitted in an American court, since theres no international tribunal for the Iraq conflict.
If the 1954 Convention is found to be international customary law, theres another snag for those wishing to bring the United States to account: Some lawyers argue that the clauses requiring an occupying power to prevent looting dont necessarily apply to looting by private parties, but only to agents of other states. One lawyer who analyzed the situation, Sasha P. Paroff, concluded that a legal argument can be made that the United States did not violate the 1954 Convention, largely because the drafters of the convention never contemplated the private looting that took place in Iraq and thus didnt clearly require that states prevent it. The United States would only bear responsibility under the 1954 Hague Convention had the looting been accomplished by the United States armed forces or other persons officially affiliated with the United States, Paroff wrote.
International laws, he concluded, will only be effective in protecting the cultural property of the world when the great nations of the world decide that such property is worth protecting and act upon that decision. Had they done so back in 1648, perhaps the Silver Bible would still be in Prague.
Dear Editor: Why is the work on Highway 92 being done in the daytime rather than at night? T
Is this a matter of research or disrespect? This is the current debate that's going on at a Texas high school after a group of students was caught on camera using cats' intestines as a jump rope during a lesson.
On one side, there's the North East Independent School District, which says that the act committed by the students at Winston Churchill High School was part of a lesson. On the other, there's People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which says that the act was disrespectful towards the animals and the students who committed it should be held responsible for their actions.
School officials say that the incident in question occurred sometime earlier this month during an anatomy class at the San Antonio-based high school. One of the student's recorded the lesson, which shows the students handling and jumping over the dissected intestines at the back of a classroom, and published it on his/her personal social media page.
The video quickly made the rounds on the Internet and caught the attention of PETA, which was less then thrilled to see the innards of a dead animal being used as a jump rope.
The organization quickly voiced its objections to the lesson, saying, "PETA points out that behavior that makes light of the suffering and mutilation of animals is not only disturbing but also violates leading science education organizations' guidelines, which state that classrooms must treat animals respectfully and ethically."
However, while PETA vilified the students and teacher who were part of the lesson, NEISD Executive Director of Communications Aubrey Chancellor came out in their defense, saying that the video was not meant to be degrading or disrespectful.
"The idea of the lesson was to explore the tensile strength of the organs, the intention was for students to grasp that concept," Chancellor said.
She added that the teacher responsible for the lesson had participated in one like it during her college classes at Texas A&M University.
The NEISD revealed that the incident is being investigated but added that it's unlikely the students or teacher will face disciplinary action.
"We understand best practices change over time, so we are deciding if this is the most appropriate lesson and way to demonstrate this concept," Chancellor said.
In addition to condemning the lesson and those involved, PETA suggested that the school replace "cruel and crude" dissection methods with digital, animal-free ones.
"PETA is calling on Winston Churchill High School to teach its students to respect life and science by replacing crude and cruel animal dissection with humane and effective non-animal teaching methods," PETA said.
Chancellor said that in the meantime, the school will keep an open mind to the suggested changes but noted that animal dissections are "common" and will remain a part of the curriculum for the time being.
@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Any true-blooded New Yorker can tell you that the buses in the city need an upgrade. Many of the routes are incomprehensible, and they are subject to the whims of everyday traffic, making them late more often that not.
Well, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has finally heard New Yorkers' pleas and finally addressed the issue by releasing a series of buses outfitted with Wi-Fi and USB charging ports in Queens.
Yes, you read correctly. The MTA is not changing up the routing system, but it is making buses more technologically advanced. If it's any consolation, however, these buses really are the creme de la creme as far as bus tech is concerned.
The buses, which hit the streets on Tuesday, will allow riders to surf the web on their devices while riding to their destination. Furthermore, forgetting to charging your device the night before is no longer an issue, as riders can now keep them topped off using the many USB ports placed throughout the bus. The only caveat is that nearly all of them line the top of the bus, above the windows, so riders will need to be sure that the cord for their charges are long enough to reach the port while seated.
Revealing the new series of buses inside the Michael J. Quill Bus Depot in Midtown, Gov. Andrew Cuomo referred to these buses as part of the "New MTA."
"The system has to now adapt to the new technology," he said. "People don't get on a bus and read a newspaper anymore. People get on a bus and they expect to have that digital connectivity that they need to lead their life."
In addition to the technological perks, Cuomo also raved about the buses brand-new New York-themed blue-and-yellow design.
"I am not a design expert, but I think it is a good looking bus," Cuomo said. "I like the blue, I like the sense of motion and the graphics. It is sophisticated yet not tedious; it is playful but serious."
For now, there are only seven of these buses in service, and they're only in Queens on different lines. However, 75 more are coming this summer, and by the end of 2021, there will be 2,042 of these buses, replacing 40 percent of the MTA's current fleet in all five boroughs.
These new buses are just a small part of the MTA's efforts to make transportation throughout New York City more high-tech.
In another effort, digital screens will be installed in buses both new and old. The MTA plans to have 205 buses outfitted with information screens this year, while 1,900 buses will have them by 2018.
On top of that, Cuomo announced that the MTA is moving forward with the eTix app, which allows customers on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North to purchase tickets using their mobile device. It will be available for the LIRR's Port Washington Branch and Metro-North's Hudson line in June. All rail travelers will get to use it by the end of 2016.
"We see the debut of these new buses and the roll out of the MTA eTix field test as important steps forward as we continue to renew, expand the transit system and create an enhanced experience for our customers," said Thomas Prendergast, chairman and CEO of the MTA.
@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Airbnb is rapidly becoming one of those brilliant ideas gone bad. Growing concerns that the "sharing economy" company upsets the natural order of the housing market has spurred lawmakers to curtail the Silicon Valley startup wonder's growth. Now other cities are looking at banning, or limiting Aibnb and other similar companies from disrupting housing markets and neighborhoods.
When Berlin ceremoniously banned the short-term leasing of flats in the city, it seemed only a matter of time until the floodgates of housing authority discontent would burst. The bottom line is, if the "Berlin trend" continues, Airbnb may be in big trouble. The rub for Berlin was that real estate investors were snatching up properties and renting them only to visitors, which caused in turn an acute housing shortage, and escalation of prices. Now London, another large European city plagued with a scarcity of inexpensive properties, is on the threshold of banning or limiting Aibnb operations. This article via the Independent goes so far as to call for it. Author Kisrty Major tells readers:
"Rather than facilitating peer-to-peer sharing, Airbnb has become a platform for professional landlords and buy-to-let investors."
The author goes on to point out that the majority of Airbnb's listings inside the city of London are entire properties, and that over half of all property listings show multiple properties. Many of the listing are, in fact, unregistered hotels, and according to the Independent piece, rules governing Airbnb's listings there have been loosened, rather than strengthened, further exacerbating a growing problem. In the end, officials are left with no feasible way to regulate these listing, which threatens to turn topsy-turvy a London affordable housing market. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, officials are eyeing regulatory actions to solve similar problems. The LA Office of Finance will require the home-sharing platform to hold on to three years' worth of information about who rented a property, for how long, and at what price, should the law pass.
Airbnb was founded on the notion that home owners could host guests in their spare rooms, or within their entire properties for vacation. The ultra-popular service quickly became a standalone booking channel, as well as part of the socio-economic ecosystem surrounding the shared economy. Airbnb represents not only a booking outlet for tens of thousands of homes, villas, and apartments, but, in a very real way, it is a separate online travel agency (OTA). Hotels hate Airbnb for the obvious lost bookings; housing commissions hate Airbnb for the reasons described above; and neighborhoods hate the service for destroying neighborhoods.
From the perspective of a public relations professional, it is fairly easy to see Airbnb is already attempting to mitigate some of the negative media effect, with offsetting positive dialogue. And it is true that substantial support from influential investors and other interests back the Airbnb play. Even still, the questions as to whether or not "sharing economy" companies being regulated like many others stand. Consumers gain a substantial value many times in renting Airbnb properties, but sometimes the greater good is not served when practices are not kept in check. A kind of "range" war is in its early stages as far as I can see, a war where traditional property structures are being assaulted by an idea. But the idea of Airbnb seems to have metastasized into a kind of "business as usual" monopolization scheme for me.
Publicity ploys, PR, and a kind of marketing avarice seems to have seized a company with untold potential. As a media specialist, scanning Google News reveals the company's content lobbying. This Home & Property section piece on New Zealand's Stuff pitches Airbnb community value HARD. This piece, came on the heels of a viral story of an Airbnb host stealing someone's husband, and this story of quality control concerns over Airbnb saturating the New Zealand market. There's no doubt in my mind, Airbnb is now in an unparalleled PR apocalypse. My attention to the company's fight actually came about when I approached them about co-branding alongside one of their hosts in Greece (a massively positive win-win). At first, I wrote of Airbnb's seeming obtuseness as arrogance or foolishness, but now I see their PR people are tasked like beasts of burden. And the Silicon Valley company's battle is not going to get easier.
News Airbnb competition is bashing Swiss hoteliers and independents may seem like a positive for some, but as hotels feel the pressure more, so too will Airbnb's legal and marketing teams. A startup I was originally enamored with. for the obvious value. has gone "corporate" in a big way. Growing pains, scale, and the lack of real profits, may well take the wind out of Airbnb soon. The team behind Airbnb is going to have to develop a strategy engine, rather than running to catch up using a growth metric alone. The company will not be able to market its way out of too many more horror stories like this UK subletting catastrophe brought to light by Property Wire. In Italy, the Airbnb killer may have been awakened. According to ZDNet, back in March regulators introduced a bill to systematically address all the issues surrounding share economy companies like Airbnb. The bill includes regulations on competition, consumer protection, and most potently, fiscal policy. The Shared Economy Act (here), talks a lot about reducing barriers and the potential of shared economy initiative, but in the end Airbnb's current model loses stimulus big time if it is passed. The Italians have created a conversation around this legislation in the true spirit of "shared ecosystems," but, in the end, tax avoidance and the government's piece of this enormous new economic pie loom. This is best reflected with a section from the text:
"The main task that the legislator has to fulfill is to ensure fairness and transparency, especially in terms of the rules, and taxation, among those who work in the field of the sharing economy and economic operators, traditional and to protect consumers, in particular as regards the aspects related to the safety, health, privacy, and transparency on the conditions that are the basis of the service or the good used."
Reading the proposed legislation, it is evident Airbnb and other shared economy endeavors are not going to simply slide past new regulations and regulatory agencies that are now being created. Even straight barter systems have always fallen under the spells of traditional economic systems. Airbnb runs on money, and nobody is going to invest in an IPO that helps people swap chickens. This is the final rub for the team at Airbnb too, if the company cannot launch a successful IPO, future funding rounds will not even be feasible. The shared economy may well go on, but it may go one with its biggest new member to TechCrunch'd Dead Pool. Remember, we all thought MySpace was forever too, Airbnb's "Facebook" may have regulations built in from the start.
Phil Butler
Senior Partner
Pamil Visions PR
As Africa develops its tourism industry, the question of sustainability is one that requires more attention now than before. The need for tourists to make positive impact on the environment, society and economy of their countries of origin as well as their tourism destinations is imperative. As the world preps for the second United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA) to take place in Nairobi this 23rd to 26th May, all eyes will be on the global convention which will seek to, among other issues fast-track action on previously agreed agendas, especially on curbing illegal wildlife trade, the continent's adaptation to changing environments and structuring ways of delivering on the 2030 Agenda.
It takes the efforts of us all to ensure sustainable tourism; therefore even as the world leaders converge over this agenda, it's important for individuals to take responsibility and ownership of goals and actions that support this calling. Here are a few guidelines on how to possibly contribute to achieving sustainable tourism.
Do not Humanize Animals
The wildlife is made and cut for the wild. Pictures of celebrities dotingly posing with animals in zoos and parks have in recent times raised public outcry by conservationists. This is not just blissful push for cheap publicity; it's a concern to the few who understand that, over-stimulation and integration with humans does upset the animals' way of life, sometimes rendering them incapable of living in their natural habitats or co-existing with their species.
Respect the Local Culture
The locals do appreciate every dime and dollar invested in their environs by the tourists and the development therein. However, tolerance and patience are very vital virtues when mixing up and visiting new cultures. For instance, religious differences, family values, mealtimes and even greetings may differ with every culture; but none will whatsoever be formed to endanger the lives of a traveler. They say "when you go to Roma, do as the Romans or at least, respect the Roman way!" The downside of disrespecting people's culture, apart from missing on great learning opportunities is that you will certainly be fuelling up hostility and thereby hampering efforts to realizing full potential of the particular destination.
Champion for Human Rights
Among other issues, high traffic areas are also prone vices rising from cosmopolitan integration of cultures, with concerns raised worldwide on the rise of commercial sex rings, child trafficking and molestation as well as drug and substance abuse. It's normal, for otherwise 'sane and sober' persons to adopt a totally different personality while away from home without caring much on the impact; both on self and on residents. Upholding morals and championing for human rights and dignity is a sure fire way of ensuring sustainable tourism; profitable to both guest and host community.
Do not Litter
Sounds obvious, right? But you'll be horrified how many beaches are clogged up with all sorts of trash. It's not just unsightly, but also causes harmful exposure to the sea life, who, apart from exposure to unsafe water will also be at risk of getting stuck in plastic and metal ware, or even lost kaftans and scarves. In-land, it's not uncommon to see motorists shamelessly throwing out hips of trash along the by-roads and in the peripheries of national parks as well as backdrops of waterfalls. Littering, beyond clogging up systems does say a lot about the offender. Do not be that person.
Stick to the lenses
Do not carry anything that you should not from your destination. Cases of abducted animals, missing crafts and lost information are common in tourism circles. Remember, the next person visiting after you will also be hoping to enjoy and indulge in the same original experience. The only thing you should take are pictures, the only thing you should take with you are memories.
Following the one millionth Chinese visitor arrival into Australia milestone, AccorHotels is at the forefront of maximising the potential of the Chinese market with its newly enhanced and rebranded 'Optimum Service Standards' program Hao Ke Ya Gao.
AccorHotels was the first hotel group in Australia to launch such a pioneering initiative in 2011 specifically catering to the needs of Chinese inbound travellers, and now has over 50 hotels accredited to the program.
In a new partnership with the independent and globally recognised China Ready & Accredited certification organisation, AccorHotels' hotel teams receive vital training and greater cultural understanding of Chinese travellers' service expectations, preferences and sensitivities. AccorHotels Australia is the first global accommodation provider to receive accreditation with China Ready & Accredited.
Hao Ke Ya Gao encompasses translated welcome kits and maps in Mandarin, UnionPay, Chinese newspapers, television channels, electrical adaptors, menu items and teas, as well as twin room configurations and internet access with a simplified Chinese character map.
Simon McGrath, Chief Operating Officer AccorHotels Pacific, said "To maintain our above market share of the multi-billion dollar Chinese segment, our highly successful and refreshed Hao Ke Ya Gao program will see continued investment in 2016.
"Pleasingly, the trend of strong inbound growth from Greater China continues, now surpassing one million visitors, and as a result we have seen a healthy increase in room nights, up by 12.9 per cent for year ending Dec 2015, versus 2014. One in eight Chinese travellers stay with us an average of 3.5 nights and that is across both major cities and regional areas.
"While group bookings are still the core of our business, we're keeping close to China's new breed of middle class traveller who is seeking individual tourism experiences outside of the traditional tier one cities and are venturing to provincial and coastal parts of the country."
"We have already seen the positive impact that our partnership with China Ready & Accredited has had on our hotels, with staff absorbing a deeper understanding of the service expectations and cultural differences of Chinese guests. The China Ready & Accredited endorsement translates into a huge degree of trust and comfort for Chinese travellers, and its simple things such as having UnionPay available in our hotels which reinforces that we are ready to welcome them and provide the best possible service," Mr McGrath said.
The Chinese meaning for 'Hao Ke' is hospitable, friendly or to treat guests well and 'Ya Gao' refers to AccorHotels. The concept of the new logo, a bold brush stroke was used to depict the roof of a house. This carries the message to the Chinese that warmth and comfort, like home, can be experienced at any AccorHotels property around the world. At the same time, the 'roof' element is also Chinese the character "" for people which means AccorHotels offers Chinese hospitality and service and is welcoming to guests.
The latest hotel accredited to the AccorHotels Hao Ke Ya Gao program is Mercure Kangaroo Island Lodge, which has translated its local website www.kilodge.com.au into Mandarin. A full list of accredited hotels and special Chinese New Year accommodation offers, visit www.accorhotels.com/chinaoss
China Ready & Accredited signifies international quality service, cultural understanding, internationally benchmarked business practices and assures Chinese travellers of safe, worry-free travel, products and experiences. For more about China Ready & Accredited, visit www.chinareadyandaccredited.com
About Accor, a world-leading hospitality group
Accor is a world leading hospitality group consisting of 5,300 properties and 10,000 food and beverage venues throughout 110 countries. The group has one of the industry's most diverse and fully-integrated hospitality ecosystems encompassing more than 40 luxury, premium, midscale and economy hotel brands, entertainment and nightlife venues, restaurants and bars, branded private residences, shared accommodation properties, concierge services, co-working spaces and more. Accor's unmatched position in lifestyle hospitality one of the fastest growing categories in the industry is led by Ennismore, a joint venture, which Accor holds a majority shareholding. Ennismore is a creative hospitality company with a global collective of entrepreneurial and founder-built brands with purpose at their heart. Accor boasts an unrivalled portfolio of distinctive brands and more than 230,000 team members worldwide. Members benefit from the company's comprehensive loyalty program ALL Accor Live Limitless a daily lifestyle companion that provides access to a wide variety of rewards, services and experiences. Through its global sustainability commitments (such as achieving Net Zero Carbon emissions by 2050, global elimination of single use plastics in its hotels' guest experience, etc.), Accor Solidarity, RiiSE and ALL Heartist Fund initiatives, the Group is focused on driving positive action through business ethics, responsible tourism, environmental sustainability, community engagement, diversity and inclusivity. Founded in 1967, Accor SA is headquartered in France and publicly listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (ISIN code: FR0000120404) and on the OTC Market (Ticket: ACCYY) in the United States. For more information visit group.accor.com or follow Accor on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
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The battle for the travel consumer is heating up! In an increasingly competitive, price sensitive and commoditized industry, the brands who communicate the true value of their product and provide an exceptional end-to-end experience will be the ones who gain crucial market share.
Is your strategy robust enough to take on your competitors in 2017 and beyond? What could you learn from 60+ senior executives from top online travel brands?
Panelists Divulge on Maintaining Relevancy for Todays Traveler
Best Western Hotels & Resorts alongside Destination Canada, TripAdvisor, Hotel Association Canadaa nd the Tourism Industry Association of Canada spoke to the growth of inbound American travel to Canada as well as trends in the industry at Best Westerns 11th annual Leisure Travel Summit in Toronto.
This year, Canada has noted a 20 percent increase in inbound travellers from the U.S. to Canada, according to the national travel survey done by Destination Canada. In addition, the country is seeing an uptick in winter and shoulder season travel. David Goldstein, president and CEO of Destination Canada, noted that once visitors have been to Canada, they are four times more likely to come back and seven times more likely to recommend travel to the country to others. He also mentioned Destination Canada recently launched a new campaign targeting Americans called, Keep Exploring, focusing on what todays traveller is seeking experiences.
Beyond experiences, panelists noted travellers seek cleanliness, appearance of a hotel and fast and reliable WiFi. Even more so, travellers are depending on other travellers reviews when researching and booking travel. According to Brian Payea, head of industry relations for TripAdvisor, 230 new contributions are added every minute to TripAdvisor. He added, Travellers want things fast and need information to be readily available.
Beyond seeking and expecting other travellers reviews, the panelists discussed the importance of loyalty programs to Canadian travellers. Dorothy Dowling, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Best Western Hotels and Resorts shared, We speak to rewards members routinely to find out what matters the most to them and the biggest fear for Canadian travelers is expiration and devaluation of rewards points. She continued to explain hotel mergers and acquisitions fuel this concern. Dowling added, Our goal is to always maintain a strong currency value [for rewards points] and always encourage travellers to stay with us and reward them for their patronage.
For example, Best Westerns award-winning loyalty program, Best Western Rewards offers its members points that do not expire, and with the strong U.S. dollar, more Americans are taking advantage of rewards points for travel to and across Canada. Hotel Association of Canada President Tony Pollard shared that 44 percent of Canadian leisure travellers and 61 percent of business travellers use and rely on rewards programs.
Charlotte Bell, president and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, shared another concern amongst Canadian travellers: high cost of air travel. There is a 40 percent difference in Canadian and U.S. air travel, added Tony Pollard.
With the high cost of air travel, Canadians are seeking travel to the US. because of better airfare options. Even with the high cost of air travel, Goldstein noted that air travel is up 19 percent and auto travel up 15 percent. Air travel is outpacing car traffic and tends to bring a longer-stay customer, he said.
Also on the rise are travellers extending business trips to experience destinations, also known as bleisure travel. According to a survey done by Best Western, more than half of the respondents are taking advantage of business travel with the highest percentage 56 percent being Millennials. According to the Hotel Association of Canada, bleisure travel is up seven percent from last year (47 percent overall).
When the topic of the sharing economy was mentioned by moderator Bryson Forbes of Forbes Marketing Consultants Inc., panelists agreed that consumers are driving this economy.
Dowling noted, The sharing economy is here to stay and the industry needs to embrace it, but its important all players abide by the same rules. Dowling further expanded on how commercial operators such as Airbnb need to maintain health and safety regulations and pay occupancy taxes. She added, Not only is Airbnb eating up a significant portion of hotel demand, it is also impacting future hotel development.
When asked who will be the winner this next year in the industry, panelists predicted the midscale hotel segment will continue to perform well, especially in Canada. Furthermore, industry organizations that adapt quickly to change will bode well. With a new, targeted tourism campaign Canada also looks to regain a competitive edge in the marketplace.
Furthermore, maintaining relevancy for todays traveller will be key for the tourism industry moving forward. After launching a brand refresh last fall, Best Western shared that the company is investing $2 billion by the end of the year in property improvements and renovations to North American hotels. At the Summit, the hotel brand unveiled its immersive 360-degree look into its hotel offerings through the use of the Best Western Virtual Reality Experience (BWVRE). With this new technology, the brand is leading the industry in reinventing how guests view hotels, further enhancing the decision making process.
Dowling shared that by summer, every Best Western branded hotel in North America will have implemented the BWVRE. Through this virtual reality experience, guests will be able to view guest rooms, hotel lobbies and amenities as if they were there in person. Best Western is the first major company of its size and scale to launch this cutting-edge technology, setting a new industry standard for how virtual reality can be used to enhance the consumer journey.
To view and download the Leisure Travel Summit highlight video, please click here.
Hotel Shocard Opens in Times Square
Real Hospitality Group (RHG) announced that Hotel Shocard is now open in the heart of New York City's Times Square. The boutique hotel encompasses seven floors with 45 guest rooms, two penthouse suites, and a lobby restaurant.
Taking from the 1960's and 1970's, the hotel's name is inspired by the cards that once advertised Broadway shows from inside shop windows. Hotel Shocard's opening rates range from $149 to $899 a night."We're thrilled about the opening of Hotel Shocard and believe it adds something less conventional to the neighborhood's current landscape of accommodations," said Ben Seidel, President and CEO of Real Hospitality Group. "Looking to New York City's past, this design-driven property takes from vintage elements in a refined and modern way, offering guests a vivacious experience and friendly, local expertise on navigating the city."
Designed by New York-based firm Mapos, Hotel Shocard derives inspiration from the grit and the glamour of NYC in the 1960s and the 1970s. The hotel's name glows in true Broadway fashion from a sign spanning several stories of the building's jet black facade. Producing a sea of golden light underneath, a classic marquee features a canopy of Edison-style LED bulbs, welcoming guests entering the hotel and its restaurant. Within the hotel, guests can find patina brass hardware details melded throughout guestroom lighting, front entrance, bars, mirrors, and reception desk. Inspired by the dot matrix pattern of old-Broadway marquee lighting and the pixilation of old print photographs, the designers reinterpreted this pattern in details, lighting, fabric, and tilework throughout the hotel. Against a palate of black and white, the hotel's signature Shocard yellow pops in unexpected locations.
"We wanted this hotel to be a counterpoint to the slick commercialized Times Square of today while remaining true to its world-renowned location," said Caleb Mulvena, Principal at Mapos. "We began by discussing the old Times Square depicted in great movies like Midnight Cowboy and Taxi Driver from the 70's, a time when NYC was grittier, sassier, and creatively exploding. But rather than literally recreating the look of time, we took the old-school material palette of that era and applied a modern playful design to it. The result is something totally new but mysteriously familiar."
The pet-friendly accommodations feature built-in mill woodwork and furniture designed by Mapos and custom-made in Italy for super-efficient use of spaces. Inspired by the floorboards of Broadway stages, luxurious white oak panels blanket guest room walls. Crafted carpentry combined with full-length mirrors and custom LED lighting designed by Mapos work to expand the rooms even further. Other room details include vibrant use of yellow and bronze throughout (inspired by glowing marquees), custom wallpaper, premium beds with 100% Egyptian cotton linens as well as dark wood finishes reminiscent of dance-worn floors of show stages.
For events, the hotel's two penthouse suites are available for rent. Both feature custom-designed Murphy beds which fold-up to reveal seating areas, and airy private outdoor spaces. The larger of the two's outdoor area stretches 400 square feet and are nestled under a sea of draped Edison bulbs.
Serving craft beers, cocktails and a fresh take on American fare, Gleason's Tavern continues the hotel's nostalgic design, bringing the lights down a notch to transport guests to an intimate bar and restaurant. The space encompasses 74 seats, 40 of which stretch along an impressive brass-top bar and give access to the restaurant's beverage-driven menu. The bar/restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week and offers 14 rotating craft beers on tap, two dozen bottled and a classic cocktail menu. Gleason's Tavern highlights include the Red Wine Poached Pear Salad with baby arugula, blue cheese and prosciutto; the Wild Boar Bolognese with fettuccine, sweet carrots, ricotta and garlic toast; and the BLAT Sandwich, a take on the classic BLT with herbed mayo, Applewood smoked bacon, avocado and vine ripe tomatoes on seven-grain bread
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) yesterday announced the latest additions to the growing Holiday Inn Expressportfolio with the signing of two new-build properties in Peru: one in Lima, the country's capital city, and a second in Piura, a strategic business center in the northern part of the country.
Both properties are expected to open in 2019 and will be developed through a joint-venture between Grupo Centenario and Grupo Agrisal. Grupo Centenario is an 85 year-old publicly-traded Peruvian real estate company, and Grupo Agrisal is one of Central America's most respected enterprises as well as a key IHG development partner with seven hotels open in the region.
Jorge Apaez, Chief Operating Officer, Mexico, Latin America and Caribbean, IHG said: "IHG is extremely pleased to further expand our brands in Peru, a country which has excellent growth opportunities. We are also proud that when Grupo Centenario decided to diversify into the hospitality sector, it chose IHG as its partner. This also represents an expansion of our relationship with Grupo Agrisal, a testament to our long-standing partnership and commitment to our brands' success in the region."
The 164-room Holiday Inn Express Lima San Isidro hotel will be located within the municipality of San Isidro, known as the financial center of Lima. It is home to the country's largest and most important banks and insurance companies, as well as national and international corporations. The property is conveniently located near major thoroughfares and less than 30 minutes from the Lima International Airport.
The 120-room Holiday Inn Express Piura hotel will be built within the Plaza de la Luna complex, a major shopping center in Piura, the largest city in northern Peru. The city is located just 40 minutes from Talara, one of the country's most important ports, and is only a 90 minute flight from Lima.
Gonzalo Sarmiento, General Manager, Grupo Centenario said: "We are consistently evaluating opportunities to diversify our holdings. We have concluded that the hospitality sector provides excellent opportunities to support Peru's ongoing need for internationally-flagged hotels, and we are proud of our relationship with both Grupo Agrisal and IHG."
Eduardo Quinonez, Director, Agrisal Hoteles, said: "Having the opportunity to partner with Grupo Centenario is an important strategic decision for both organizations as we each look to diversify our interests. We have a very strong track record with IHG and are extremely confident in the future success of both hotels."
Grupo Centenario's holdings include planned communities, multi-family housing and urban developments, among others. Grupo Agrisal's primary business focus is to develop and operate hotels and commercial real estate projects in Latin America.
Agrisal Hoteles, the hotel management arm of Grupo Agrisal, currently manages the Crowne Plaza San Salvador and Holiday Inn San Salvadorhotels in El Salvador, the Holiday Inn San Jose Escazu and Holiday Inn Express San Jose Forum hotels in Costa Rica, the Holiday Inn Express Panama Distrito Financiero hotel in Panama, the Holiday Inn Express Managua hotel in Nicaragua, and the Holiday Inn Express Tegucigalpa hotel in Honduras.
It will be the first live album from the Leeds lads.
The album was shot and recorded last year when the indie rockers performed at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado.
Playing to a crowd of 10,000, we cannot wait to hear the live, electric atmosphere that this live album will no doubt exude. For alt-J fanatics Live at Red Rocks will be available in various forms to choose from. You can purchase the live album as a CD, DVD and Blu-ray, double LP or special edition box set, with double LP, CD, DVD, Blu-ray and 32-page photo book and necklace. alt-J heaven!
UK & Europe. We are releasing a 'Live at Red Rocks' limited edition box set on June 24th - https://t.co/C0hEt6AaXQ https://t.co/AIKvcmA9XT (alt-J) (@alt_J) May 18, 2016
Here is just a snippet of the magic Live at Red Rocks beholds, a live performance of their hit Left Hand Free;
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The track list for Live at Red Rocks goes as follows;
Hunger Of The Pine
Fitzpleasure
Something Good
Left Hand Free
Dissolve Me
Matilda - Interlude 2
Bloodflood
Bloodflood Part II
Interlude 1
Tessellate
Every Other Freckle
Taro
Warm Foothills
The Gospel Of John Hurt
Lovely Day
Nara
Leaving Nara
Breeze Blocks
No indication yet has been given to when a follow up to This Is All Yours is due but here's hoping we'll be hearing very soon from alt-J.
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The unthinkable has come to pass. A former reality television star and world-famous blowhard is the presumptive Republican Party candidate. But how did The Donald outflank party favourites to come within a hairs breath of the most powerful office on earth? Here is a frontline report from our man in Washington DC.
WASHINGTON, D.C. so we were all wrong. Donald Trump, derided by pollsters, pundits and political rivals when he launched his White House campaign 11 months ago, will be the Republican Partys nominee for President of the United States. It is extraordinary, by any measure. This article can only be read with a Premium Account Please Log In or Subscribe to continue reading
Over 30 NGOs, and community leaders, including the Irish Association of Social Workers and Fr. Peter McVerry have issued an open letter calling on the government to appoint a Minister for Drugs and to put the emphasis on a health-based, rather than a criminal justice, approach...
In a major initiative which will hopefully impact at official level, over 30 NGOs and charities have written an open letter calling for the Government to appoint a Minister for Drugs.
The letter is obviously very carefully worded to gain the support of all or at least most of of the significant stake-holders. However, it is made clear nonetheless that there is a consensus that the prohibitionist approach characterised in the phrase originally coined by disgraced US President Richard Nixon, The War on Drugs" has not worked, and that a change is now required.
"Currently drugs are dealt with through the criminal justice system, the letter states.
"...In many ways the current approach has not deterred drug use, it continues, "but it has deterred people from seeking help by stigmatising people who use drugs in the criminal justice system. With an average of one drug overdose every day in Ireland, we believe the topic should be dealt with in a holistic approach that includes public health, education, prevention and harm reduction in coordination with the authorities.
In the previous government, Labour TD Aodhan O Riordain had been Minister for Drugs and there was a hugely positive feeling on the ground about a range of innovations which he was in the process of activating. O Riordain lost his seat by a whisker in the recent general election, though he was subsequently elected to the Seanad. While his loss has been acute, the organisations behind the letter nevertheless see some cause for hope in the new programme for government
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The letter adds: "We welcome in particular the commitment made in the new Programme of Government to implement a health-based approach rather than a criminal justice approach. Only under the supervision of a Minister can such reforms be effective."
However, ultimately it is only Enda Kenny pictured) who can insure that the brief is given to a specific minister and so it looks like this call has to end up on his desk.
The full text of the open letter is here, along with details of all of the signatories.
OPEN LETTER TO THE GOVERNMENT ON DRUGS POLICY
As drugs impact the lives of more and more people in this country, we the undersigned are calling for a comprehensive drug policy to be at the front and centre of the new government. A lack of action will only lead to further preventable deaths and therefore we call for the retention of a Minister for Drugs Strategy.
Currently drugs are dealt with through the criminal justice system and what has been a legitimate attempt at reducing the supply of drugs, has unfortunately not worked. In many ways the current approach has not deterred drug use but it has deterred people from seeking help by stigmatising people who use drugs in the criminal justice system. With an average of one drug overdose every day in Ireland, we believe the topic should be dealt with in a holistic approach that includes public health, education, prevention and harm reduction in coordination with the authorities. We welcome in particular the commitment made in the new Programme of Government to implement a health-based approach rather than a criminal justice approach. Only under the supervision of a Minister can such reforms be effective.
82% of 3rd level students in Ireland have tried drugs in their lifetime. Despite more than forty-years of criminalising the user, drugs have never been more in demand, as cheap and widely available. It is clear that a pragmatic approach is required in order to reduce the harm to society. Saving lives and reducing the harms of drugs is the priority and we believe a designated Minister for Drugs Strategy can help.
Signed,
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Help Not Harm
Citywide Drugs Crisis
HIV Ireland
Irish Needle Exchange Forum
Dublin North East Drugs and Alcohol Task Force
The Irish Association of Social Workers
Students for Sensible Drug Policy
BeLongTO
Youth RISE
Fr. Peter McVerry
RADE Recovery through Art, Drama & Education
Clondalkin Tus Nua
South East Region, Family Support Network
St. Dominics Community Response Project Tallaght
Pavee Point Traveller & Roma Centre
North East Inner City Community Policing Forum
ADAPT Addressing Drug & Alcohol Problems Together
FAST Finglas Addiction Support Team
DAISH Project
Bray Travellers CDG
TRP Community Drugs and Alcohol Rehabilitation Services
Liberties Recycling Training and Development
Community Response
Addiction Response Crumlin (ARC)
NORML
The Psychedelic Society of Ireland
DCU Urban Artz
SWAM Youth Services
DCU Students for Sustainability in Human Lifestyles
Students for Sensible Drug Policy UK
People Before Profit
The pop rock band member was arrested last January.
Mickey Madden, bassist for Maroon 5, has been sentenced to one day of community service after being arrested for possessing cocaine in New York earlier this year.
NYPD police officers caught Madden handing a vial of the Class A drug to film producer James Gubelmann outside an East Village neighbourhood bar around 1:30am on January 21. He was offered and accepted a conditional dismissal offer and agreed to the single of day community service. The service will be done for a Los Angeles non profit organisation of his choosing. The offence will also be struck off his record after six months.
Madden is one of Maroon 5's founding members and has won three Grammy awards with them. James "Bingo" Gubelmann is a movie producer best known for the film Detachment.
It's their biggest headliner to date
Hot Press favourites Overhead, The Albatross weve an interview with them in our current issue play their biggest headlining show yet on December 9 in Vicar St., Dublin. Tickets are 20.
The defiantly instrumental six-piece outfit will be showcasing their epic Learning To Growl debut, which was partly assembled in the Czech Republic.
A tasty heavy duty vinyl version is available from their Bandcamp. You should also treat yourself to one of their Words Are For Nerds t-shirts. Learning To Growl by Overhead, The Albatross
Who said dreams don't come true?
Paul McCartney shared the stage with a young fan for a rendition of 'Get Back' last night. Ten year old Leila Lacase was spotted in the crowd of Buenos Aires' La Plata stadium holding a sign asking him to sign her stuffed bear.
Once stage McCartney asked her, "would you like me to sign your doll?", to which Leila replied, "I would like to play the bass with you".
The pair then launched in to 'Get Back' from The Beatles' final 1970 album Let It Be. McCartney began singing the track before lowering the mic so Leila could join him.
10-year-old Leila has wish granted, playing bass with Paul onstage in Buenos Aires #OneOnOne pic.twitter.com/4v2ymUgshY Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) May 18, 2016
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A huge applause erupts from the crowd at the end of the performance with McCartney asking them, "what do you think of that?". The Liverpudlian rocker is currently on the South American leg of his One on One tour. Check out fan footage of the duet below.
Im just back from sitting on the TV3 breakfast couch, which was one of the most surreal experiences of my life, Hooky resumes in between crunches of newly-arrived toast. It was good though the blokes a mate of Dave Fanning and the girl knew her stuff too.
Im sure Mark Cagney and Sinead Desmond will be delighted by the Hooky vote of confidence. Never exactly the bezziest of mates, his relationship with Messrs. Sumner and Morris flatlined completely last year when they decided to resume New Order touring duties without him.
Im still taking legal action against them because of their excluding of me and the business antics theyve done to seize the New Order name, Hooky told Hot Press in May. I think its despicable, I think its cowardly, I think its wrong and I will fight them to prove that.
Nearly two decades after the Renegades album are the Los Angeles rap metal maestros making a comeback?
Rage Against The Machine are gearing up to make a major announcement. A countdown timer has appeared on the new Prophets of Rage website and posters bearing the same logo and slogan have appeared all across Los Angeles.
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On the new website the only interactive feature is a box for entering email addresses. This allows you to sign up for the band's mailing list. The first email that is received upon signing up will say "CLEAR THE WAY FOR THE PROPHETS OF RAGE. THE PARTY'S OVER. SUMMER 2016". All this comes with the new hashtag #TakeThePowerBack which takes its name from the song from RATM's self titled debut album. 'Prophets of Power' is also the title of a Public Enemy song. The leader of the rap group has also been sharing live footage of RATM on Twitter. This had led to speculation the two groups may tour together.
Rage Against The Machine - Bulls On Parade - Live At Finsbury Park, Lond... https://t.co/JB3o9KaupZ via @YouTube Chuck D (@MrChuckD) May 17, 2016
Rage Against The Machine have not performed together since 2011. In October last year bassist Tim Commerford was asked by Rolling Stone if the band were inducted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame would they perform at the ceremony. While Commerford was doubtful he would even show up to the ceremony if they were he did add, "we are still a band, and we still might play again. We don't have anything scheduled right now, but you never know what the future will bring".
In 2009 Rage Against The Machine claimed the Christmas No. 1 single in the UK with the anthem 'Killing In The Name'. This was achieved with an online campaign to prevent yet another X Factor winner clinching the top spot. To celebrate this the band played a free gig for fans at Finsbury Park In London in June 2010.
The actress has opened up about her struggle to earn the same wage of House of Cards co-star, Kevin Spacey.
It's an ugly truth that even in the 21st century, in a supposed progressive state, most women do not earn the same as men despite doing the same job.
Robin Wright channeled the steely and fierce attitude of her character Claire Underwood when she threatened to bring the battle for pay equality public with Netflix. Speaking yesterday at a press conference, Wright was asked about the barriers that faced her as a woman in Hollywood. This led on to her revealing her own fight; "I was like 'I want to be paid the same as Kevin'," Wright got straight to the point, "Claire Underwoods character was more popular than [Franks] for a period of time. So I capitalized on it. I was like, You better pay me or Im going to go public And they did.
Like her male co-star, Wright has starred in all 52 episodes of the Netflix political drama, directed several episodes and was listed as an exec-producer in the last series. Yet there was an $80,000 discrepancy between her earnings and Kevin Spacey's according to The Huffington Post.
Wright is the latest high-profile actress to speak out publicly on the issue. The Gender Pay Gap has become a topic that is pushed more and more to the forefront of Hollywood in recent years with actresses like Jennifer Lawrence, Patricia Arquette and Meryl Streep all becoming advocates in the fight for pay equity. Although these women are banking 7-figure pay cheques, the gender pay gap that exists in today's society, whether in Hollywoood or here, remains morally bankrupt.
SAN ANTONIO - The University of Texas Health Science Center has launched discussions with the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to explore ways to expand cancer care in San Antonio, an executive vice chancellor confirmed Tuesday.
Collaboration between the two health care institutions would allow San Antonio residents traveling to M.D. Anderson for cancer treatment to receive much of that care closer to home, said Dr. Raymond Greenberg, the UT System's executive vice chancellor for health affairs. Both institutions are part of the UT System.
Greenberg said in a statement issued by his office Tuesday that Chancellor William McRaven "has challenged all of the UT institutions to partner together to better serve the citizens of Texas. In that spirit, UT M.D. Anderson and UT Health Science Center San Antonio are exploring ways that they can leverage their collective resources to expand cancer services in San Antonio.
Top ranking
M.D. Anderson is widely regarded as one of the best cancer centers in the nation. It was designated the top cancer center in the country in U.S. News & World Report's most recent hospitals rankings issued in July - a distinction it has held for 11 of the past 14 years - based on its reputation with specialists, patient survival rates 30 days after admission, patient safety, patient volume and other factors.
To be determined
The health science center in San Antonio, which includes the Cancer Therapy & Research Center, said discussions have just begun, so the specific details are still being determined.
Neither side said much about their discussions Tuesday. Both issued only short prepared statements.
A formal presentation on a potential collaboration between the two institutions hasn't yet been presented to the UT System's Board of Regents, but the board's leadership has been briefed informally, said spokeswoman Karen Adler.
The Cancer Therapy & Research Center has provided cancer care to patients in San Antonio and South Texas for more than 40 years. It became part of the health science center in 2007. It is one of four cancer centers in Texas designated by the National Cancer Institute. The institution managed a budget of more than $53 million at the time of its 2015 annual report.
UT Health Science Center spokesman Will Sansom did not respond to a request for the cancer center's current number of employees and total number of faculty members.
M.D. Anderson was created in 1941 as part of the UT System. It was one of the country's first three comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Act of 1971.
Employs 21,000
Today, M.D. Anderson employs nearly 21,000 people, including more than 1,700 faculty members. More than 135,000 patients were cared for there in the 2015 fiscal year - 28,167 of those were inpatient hospital admissions. Its total revenue last fiscal year was nearly $4.5 billion.
For the first seven months of the current fiscal year, M.D. Anderson had a $160.5 million decrease in adjusted income compared to the same time period last year, according to financial documents presented at a UT System Board of Regents meeting held last week.
That nearly 57 percent drop was largely due to increased expenses and decreased patient revenues resulting from the launch of a new electronic health record system placed into service in March, according to an explanation of variances from the UT System Office of the Controller.
Patient volumes and associated revenue are returning to normal two months after the launch, M.D. Anderson spokeswoman Julie Penne said. Expenses related to the launch have decreased significantly over time as planned, she said.
WASHINGTON - The House Judiciary Committee's decision to hold hearings next week on whether to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen is a victory for the chamber's far-right caucus, still smarting over the agency's treatment of conservative groups.
Over five years, House Republicans have slashed the IRS budget, passed bills banning employee bonuses and prohibiting employees fired for misconduct from getting rehired. The GOP has vowed to simplify the tax code, pounced on agency management failures and assailed customer service failures caused by the budget cuts.
And last week, anti-IRS lawmakers convinced previously hesitant House leaders to start the unusual process of removing the tax collector from office.
One of the biggest questions now is whether the 76-year-old tax commissioner will show up for the grilling. IRS officials said Monday they have made no decision on whether Koskinen will accept the Judiciary committee's invitation to appear May 24 and at a hearing in June.
"The IRS continues to discuss hearing logistics with the House Judiciary Committee," the agency said in a statement provided by spokesman Dean Patterson. Koskinen has cooperated with four congressional investigations stemming from the IRS's handling of applications from conservative groups, the statement said, "and will continue to do so."
More for you Top Republican to IRS: How can you afford 700 new employees?
"Commissioner Koskinen has also said previously that he has testified fully, truthfully and to the best of his ability during his numerous previous congressional hearings on this matter."
The GOP's seven-month effort to oust Koskinen, whose term does not end until November 2017, is nonetheless a long shot, experts say, given the short congressional calendar remaining before the November elections and procedural hurdles.
Impeachment of an agency leader is rare. The last time Congress brought similar articles of impeachment was in 1876, after the House uncovered evidence of a pattern of corruption by War Secretary William Belknap.
But by allowing hearings to go forward, House leaders are letting IRS opponents keep their constituents' frustration with an unpopular agency in the foreground and a good political target in their crosshairs.
The two congressmen leading the charge for impeachment, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairman of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, had for months received little traction with Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., and Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., But things have shifted, at least partway.
"A lot of people have to warm up to the idea" of impeachment, Chaffetz acknowledged in an interview. "But we're not letting go of this one."
The effort stems from 2013, when the IRS inspector general reported that the tax-exempt division gave extra scrutiny to conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status. Partisan hearings and investigations by Congress preceded Koskinen, a fix-it executive from the corporate world President Obama brought in to clean up the damage.
But Republicans accuse Koskinen of covering up his staff's mistakes in providing information to House investigators who asked for emails written by the central official in the scandal, Lois Lerner. In articles of impeachment Chaffetz filed last October, he charged that Koskinen erased backup computer files containing thousands of emails written by Lerner. Koskinen had told lawmakers his staff turned over all of the relevant emails, and when some were found to be missing, said they were unrecoverable.
The Justice Department formally closed its investigation of the targeting scandal last fall without filing criminal charges.
"Despite repeated congressional efforts to get to the bottom of this matter, Obama Administration officials, including the IRS Commissioner, have consistently undermined the investigation,"
Goodlatte said in a statement on the Judiciary Committee website. The hearings "will closely examine Commissioner Koskinen's misconduct and the implications of his actions."
Chaffetz, Jordan and several other IRS detractors serve on the committee, and Chaffetz said he expects to testify against Koskinen next week. At the June hearing, outside experts are expected to weigh in on whether impeachment is warranted.
Chaffetz has been in conversations with colleagues about a vote on the lesser but still harsh charge of a censure. He reiterated his support for censure this week, calling the hearings a good way to lay the groundwork. But he said he and Jordan still will press Ryan to bring impeachment to the House floor.
But a partisan impeachment could be a distraction during the volatile presidential campaign. Congress has relatively few legislative days left on the calendar, and they are likely to be taken up by more pressing issues.
The House has impeached just 19 public officials, including 15 federal judges, the war secretary, a senator and Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, according to the Congressional Research Service. The Senate has conducted 16 full impeachment trials: Half resulted in convictions of federal judges.
Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., chairman of the House Ways and Means oversight panel, told Politico earlier this month that proceeding with impeachment is not realistic. "By mid-July, the congressional year will essentially be done," he said.
In the plastics industry, it's a good time to be a buyer.
The Gulf Coast petrochemical boom and an expansion of the industry in China are leading to an oversupply of the world's two most common plastics, polyethylene and polypropylene, according to a new report from the IHS research firm. As a result, IHS projects that prices and profits will fall and plans to expand or build petrochemical plants will be delayed or scrapped.
The "economics will be challenged in the near term as global capacity expansions exceed demand growth and pressure margins," Nick Vafiadis, IHS Chemical global business director for polyolefins and plastics, said in a statement.
The U.S. shale boom created an abundance of cheap natural gas, which is used to make chemicals that serve as the building blocks of plastics. IHS estimates more than 24 million metric tons of new polyethylene capacity - equivalent to one-fourth of current global consumption - is coming online by 2020. About 8 million metric tons of the new production will come from the United States.
The American Chemistry Council counts 266 petrochemical projects planned across the country through 2023 that will cost $164 billion to build. Texas would be home for 104 of the projects, worth $51.3 billion. The council expects those projects to result in 15,800 direct new jobs in Texas - not counting construction jobs - and 67,000 nationwide.
Companies including Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Phillips, Dow Chemical Co., BASF and LyondellBasell have multibillion-dollar expansion projects underway in areas such as Baytown, Channelview, Mont Belvieu, La Porte and Freeport. But as new petrochemical plants are built, fears of a plastics glut has led some companies to put planned projects on hold indefinitely.
For instance, Houston-based Ascend Performance Materials said Monday it would further delay the construction of its $1.2 billion propane dehydrogenation, or PDH, plant at its Chocolate Bayou campus in Alvin. The plant, which would make propylene, a primary building block of many plastics, was originally scheduled to be completed at the end of 2016. Last year, however, the company said it would push back the opening to 2019. Now it's been delayed indefinitely.
Another key Texas project, Paris-based Total's planned $2 billion plant in Port Arthur, is still awaiting the go-ahead. A final investment decision is expected in the second half of the year.
In Louisiana, Houston-based G2X Energy recently delayed its planned $1.6 billion Big Lake Fuels methanol plant in Lake Charles, said Marc Alvarado, associate director of methanol research for IHS. South Africa's Sasol opted to delay by a year its $8 billion project near Lake Charles in order to let the market rebound somewhat. It's now projected to open in 2019.
SAN ANTONIO -- The University of Texas Health Science Center has launched discussions with MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to explore ways to expand cancer services in San Antonio, an executive vice chancellor confirmed Tuesday.
Collaboration between the two institutions would allow San Antonio residents traveling to MD Anderson for cancer treatment to receive much of that care closer to home, said Dr. Raymond Greenberg, the UT System's executive vice chancellor for health affairs. Both institutions are part of the UT System.
"Chancellor (William) McRaven has challenged all of the UT institutions to partner together to better serve the citizens of Texas," Greenberg said in a statement issued by his office today. "In that spirit, UT MD Anderson and UT Health Science Center San Antonio are exploring ways that they can leverage their collective resources to expand cancer services in San Antonio.
"MD Anderson presently provides world-class care in Houston to many San Antonians. Through this collaboration, many of these patients could receive much of their care closer to home, thereby saving travel costs and time away from work and family," Greenberg said.
The health science center in San Antonio, which includes the Cancer Therapy & Research Center, said discussions have just begun, so the specific details are still being determined.
"UT Medicine and the Cancer Therapy & Research Center are evaluating ways to increase access to cancer services for the residents of San Antonio and the surrounding region," said Dr. Francisco Gonzales-Scarano, the health science center's executive vice president for medical affairs, in a statement released today.
"Part of this work includes assessing opportunities with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, a fellow UT entity, on possibilities to enhance the patient experience, deliver additional needed cancer services to residents and complement the advanced care and research provided in this market," he said.
Gonzales-Scarano said they've just begun discussions and haven't yet worked out the details of how they will work together in providing care.
The health science center said it will not be commenting further because those talks are in the early stages.
MD Anderson did not immediately comment on the matter when contacted by the San Antonio Express-News.
The Cancer Therapy & Research Center has provided cancer care to patients in San Antonio and South Texas for more than 40 years. It became part of the health science center in 2007. It is one of four cancer centers in Texas designated by the National Cancer Institute. The institution managed a budget of more than $53 million at the time of its 2015 annual report.
MD Anderson was created in 1941 as part of the UT System. It was one of the country's first three comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Act of 1971.
Today, MD Anderson employs around 20,000 people. Its total revenue in the 2014 fiscal year reached more than $4.4 billion.
Cuba is famous for many kinds of music: salsa, jazz, son, among others.
But classical music? Not so much.
Yet the Houston-based Apollo Chamber Players has drawn inspiration from the island nation for "Cuba Libre!," a Sunday evening concert at the MATCH.
The Apollo Chamber Players are a classically trained ensemble - a string quartet that can be expanded to include other musicians when necessary. But the ensemble is no less devoted to folk music. Indeed, the influence of folk traditions on classical music is a central theme in the ensemble's artistic mission.
So it's no wonder Apollo has taken an interest in Cuba, where musical ideas from Africa, Spain and other places have generated rich, hybrid styles.
"Musical categories are blurred in Cuba," says violinist and Apollo Chamber Players artistic director Matthew Detrick. "Musicians there identify themselves simply as musicians - and they don't have strict delineations of different genres. Maybe that's something that classical musicians in the United States could learn something from."
For this reason, "classical" music in Cuba is often infused with pop and folk styles. And this will be reflected in Apollo's Sunday program.
More Information 'Cuba Libre!' featuring the Apollo Chamber Players When: 6 p.m. Sunday Where: The MATCH, 3400 Main Tickets: $10-$30; 713-521-4533, apollochamberplayers.org See More Collapse
Cuban composer Leo Brouwer's "Quintet for Guitar and String Quartet" is a rhythmically lively and harmonically sophisticated showpiece. For this work, Apollo's strings will be joined by Austin guitarist Thomas Echols.
As well, there's a world premiere on the program - "Imagenes de Cuba" ("Images of Cuba") by Houston composer Arthur Gottschalk, for string quartet and a Cuban percussion instrument called a chekere.
This piece was commissioned by Apollo as part of its ongoing 20X2020 project, to create 20 new compositions for the ensemble by the year 2020.
"Imagenes de Cuba" is the product of Gottschalk's two decades of musical research in Cuba.
"My goal," says the composer, who teaches at Rice University, "was to interpolate Cuban folk music in this composition. There's a peanut-vendor's song in the first movement. In the second movement, the song 'Guantanamera' can be heard in fragments. And the third movement, 'Timba,' is based on salsa and other popular styles."
A third piece on the program is "Mas Alla de una Verdad" ("Beyond the Truth"), by the Cuban-born and Miami-based composer Maureen Reyes Lavastida. Originally a string orchestra work, it has been re-arranged by the composer for string quartet.
Gottschalk hears many influences in her music - Cuban, American and European.
"Cuban composers haven't had much contact with the United States," he points out, "but they've had lots of contact with Europe. They're very much aware of what's going on culturally at the highest artistic levels."
Apollo's "Cuba Libre!" concert comes at a time of expanding cultural relations between the U.S. and Cuba. Yet Detrick insists that Apollo isn't simply jumping on a bandwagon.
"To be honest," he says, "we started planning for this program prior to the relaxation of the embargo."
But now that travel between the two countries is easier, Detrick is considering a tour to Cuba by the Apollo Chamber Players.
"We are looking at some options to go down there," he says. "And I'm hoping we can work out some kind of collaboration. It's a wonderful musical culture to explore. It's right up our alley - and now it's possible."
Colin Eatock is a writer who covers classical music. He lives in Toronto.
Into the restaurant desert that is Bissonnet between West University Place and downtown Bellaire comes Enoteca Rossa, one of those capable neighborhood spots that immediately seems right for its audience.
For one thing, it's Italian, a sure draw in our city.
For another, with its warm brick and stucco interior, it is handsome and convivial enough to suit the prosperous suburban burghers who flock there by day and by night: hoisting a cup of espresso or a glass of Italian wine at the bar, which has counter seats and high communal tables; downing pizza and pasta with the tween-age kids; toasting each other on date night in one of the high booths along the far wall.
For a third, Enoteca Rossa is flexible enough to accommodate both big spenders and diners out to grab just a bite. There's breakfast - the new big thing for upscale Houston restaurants - starting at 7 a.m. and involving both espresso drinks and house-made pastries, with a tempting bar-top case functioning as a mini-bakery. (Tick another one off on the trend list.) In the background, a wood-fired oven flares as pizzas are shoveled in and out. (Tick yet again.)
None of this would matter if the food weren't any good. But the menu is mostly solid, with some surprising treats lurking within a basically conservative roster. The desserts really shine. And the mostly Italian wine list is just what the dottore ordered, with sensible prices and bottles you might not expect at a neighborhood place: Verdicchio, Lugana, Pecorino, Dunarobba, a red Lacryma Christi, among others. Many are available by the glass, as they should be in an establishment billing itself as an enoteca
More Information Enoteca Rossa 1 star 4566 Bissonnet 346-204-4403 Hours: B: 7-11 a.m. Mondays-Fridays; 7 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Saturdays & Sundays. L: 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays; D: 5-9 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays; 5-10 p.m. Fridays & Saturdays Credit cards: all major Prices: starters $8-$18; entrees $12-$35 (lunch $9-$15); desserts $8-$10 Must-orders: pizza Napoletana with oregano and capers; house-cured salmon with herb-lavender jelly; linguine with clams in a cream of leek sauce; tagliolini primavera; Gulf shrimp wrapped in house-made lardo; baked Alaska; rhum baba; bomboloni bread pudding Reservations: recommended at dinner, especially on weekends Noise level: moderate Website: enotecarossa.com STAR RATINGS Four stars: superlative; can hold its own on a national stage. Three stars: excellent; one of the best restaurants in the city. Two stars: very good; one of the best restaurants of its kind. One star: a good restaurant that we recommend. No stars: restaurant cannot be recommended at this time. See More Collapse
Scanning the menu quickly on my first visit, I thought I had seen it all before. But I hadn't. Linguine with little clams came not with the usual wine-butter sauce but with a delicate leek cream, a refreshing change. Sure, there was a Gulf shrimp dish, but the big shellfish came wrapped in house-made lardo rendered bronzed and crisp, a clever take on the bacon-wrapped shrimp Houstonians love so well.
Those shrimp would have been even better with a twist of lemon. There's a fine line between subtlety and blandness, and the cooking here occasionally feels too muted. A big, pearly slab of red snapper Acqua Pazza was deftly pan-seared, but its splash of white wine, garlic and basil needed a little bump of acid - over and above a scatter of cherry tomatoes - to make a vivid impression. (Again, nothing that a wedge of lemon on the plate wouldn't have solved.)
A beautifully put-together eggplant parmigiana from the lunch menu alternated thin slices of grilled eggplant with bright tomato and molten cheese, a non-breaded style that allows the eggplant to taste more fully of itself. If only the dish had had a tinge more salt, it would rate among my local favorites. As it was, I still ate every speck, under-seasoning be damned.
The pizzas that come from that wood oven are fun to eat, with thin, softly crisped crusts and sprightly ingredients. There's not enough character to those crusts to put these pies in the city's first pizza tier, but they are very decent second-tier specimens. I liked the basic Margherita pie with its simple tomato-basil-mozzarella combination, and I loved the friskier Napoletana pie, which adds oregano and snappy, salty capers to the mix.
House-cured salmon came to the table in smooth, soft sheets, enough for three or four diners to share on do-it-yourself thin toasts smeared with a gently sweet lavender jelly. To my surprise, this unorthodox idea worked. Not all the starters work so well. The regulation burrata orb with cherry tomato confit was as pleasant as the panzanella salad was off-putting, its tomatoes hard as a rock, its bread cubes unyielding and its black olives canned, a startling lapse in a place that seems to care about details.
Nothing about that panzanella hung together, a syndrome echoed in a curious pasta dish of house-made cappelletti stuffed with pumpkin and topped with Gulf shrimp in a pinkish "New Orleans style" butter sauce. All the elements were perfectly fine, but they kept their distance.
Not so with the tagliolini given a primavera treatment, the skinny flat ribbons tossed with precisely cut batons of vegetables right on the cusp of tender and crisp: carrot, leek, zucchini, red bell pepper and celery bathed in olive oil and basil for a lovely, fresh effect. The vegetarian in my party that night admired it as much as I did.
I'd return here just to investigate the fettuccine with a Texas-raised lamb and vegetable sauce because a simple-grilled lamb chop dish was a hit, its thin, medium-rare chops edged with rosemary and bouncing with garlicky, lemon-zested gremolata.
My guests and I gleefully fought over the bones. We did the same over our desserts. A round of Italian cream cake arrived swathed in a toasty meringue dome that hid vanilla ice cream - an individual baked Alaska variant with ribbons of tart passionfruit sauce to set off the sweetness and softness. Rhum baba was a classic version of this old-fashioned rum cake, fiercely boozy and mitigated by a big puff of whipped cream. Even the bread pudding, a dessert of which I have tired, got an interesting twist: It was made with bomboloni, the little Italian doughnuts that used to be featured on the dessert menu in their own delightful right. (Please, could they return?)
With desserts this appealing, it's no surprise that the morning lineup of breakfast pastries is promising, too. A round of downy almond coffee cake dusted with cinnamon and powdered sugar transported me to my mother's long-ago holiday table. I wished my cappuccino had been a little less bitter (some tweaking of machinery and timing may be in order).
Still, in a city where top-flight baked goods are only now taking off, my cake and coffee seemed like a very welcome amenity - much like this earnest new restaurant itself.
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"I'm not a tree hugger," says lawyer Philip Hilder. But a little after 9 a.m. Tuesday, as he arrived at work, he was shocked to see workmen bringing down, limb by limb, a tall old tree in the leafy esplanade across from his office on Lovett Blvd.
It was an esplanade-improvement project, he was told, by the Montrose Management District. To Hilder's mind, removing the tall tallow tree, and a group of mature crepe myrtles, was anything but an improvement. "To tear down these trees is a disgrace and a waste of money," he says. "They call them 'junk trees.' But the big one was perfectly healthy. And crepe myrtles are trash trees?"
Sixteen people including a University of Houston-Victoria finance professor have been charged in a sweeping federal indictment with participating in a $35 million international ring that produced more than 9.5 tons of a drug known as synthetic marijuana or kush.
The indictment, announced Tuesday by federal officials, followed a multi-agency sting operation against one of the largest known synthetic drug trafficking organizations, U.S. Attorney Ken Magidson said.
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The U.S. Supreme Court ended an eight-year legal brawl this week between the city of Houston and a police officer who faced department retaliation in a decision that will force the city to pay $150,000 in damages.
The decision issued late Monday lets stand a lower court ruling in favor of Houston Police Officer Christopher M. Zamora.
"After eight years, the Supreme Court has affirmed a jury's verdict that Chris Zamora was a victim of retaliation," exulted Kim Ogg, the lead attorney on the case, at a news conference Tuesday outside the federal courthouse in downtown Houston.
"It's a very important verdict because any governmental agency willing to violate its own police officers' rights is likely to be willing to violate citizens' rights," Ogg said later, adding that the case "has implications for law enforcement across the nation, that the 'Code of Silence' will not be allowed to be used against police officers as employees when they want to report wrongdoing within their ranks."
The saga began in late 2007, when Zamora's father, HPD Lt. Manuel Zamora, filed a class-action suit with more than two dozen other Latino officers arguing that HPD was discriminating against them and passing them over for promotion.
Then 24 years old and a rising star in the department, Zamora was transferred out of the department's "Crime Reduction Unit" to night patrol the following March. He joined his father's suit in September 2008, arguing that he had been retaliated against because of his father's lawsuit.
The same year, he was selected as HPD's South Patrol Officer of the Year and was named Officer of the Year by The 100 Club, a nonprofit group that supports the families of officers killed in the line in duty.
The younger Zamora was later accused of lying during an internal affairs investigation into a complaint filed by his father over his son's removal from the division. Zamora was suspended for 10 days - a suspension that was ultimately overturned.
Alleged retaliation
Zamora claimed the transfer and internal affairs investigation were retaliatory because he aired his complaints about the department.
"This victory is loud and clear that retaliation and discrimination exists in the police department," said Johnny Mata, president of the Greater Houston Coalition for Justice and a frequent critic of the department.
Ogg's assertion of a "Code of Silence" existing within the department rankled current and former officers.
"There is no such thing (as a Code of Silence), and the fact Kim Ogg is claiming that just shows her complete ignorance," said Houston Police Officers' Union President Ray Hunt.
Former Houston Police Chief Charles A. McClelland likewise disputed her claims.
"If there was a code of silence, you wouldn't have 70 percent of all internal affairs complaints being generated on police by each other," he scoffed.
Over the years, Zamora's co-defendants dropped out of the case as their funds ran out. Manuel Zamora lost his case, which had been filed on civil rights grounds.
He retired in 2013 with an honorable discharge from the department and more than 30 years of service.
Zamora's retaliation case was initially dismissed by a district judge, a decision that was reversed on appeal.
In 2012, a jury sided with Zamora and awarded him $378,000, but he was forced to return to court for a second trial after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a separate employment case established a greater burden of proof on plaintiffs such as Zamora. A jury in 2013 ordered that Zamora be paid $150,000. Last year, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court's ruling.
Increased liability
City officials said the decision could expose public and private organizations to greater liability.
A federal judge still must decide how much the city must pay in attorneys' fees and future compensatory damages, which could easily rise to a million dollars, Ogg said.
In the meantime, Zamora, now 32, remains assigned to night patrol. He believes he will be unable to ever advance within the department or transfer to an investigative unit, his lawyers said.
He declined to talk to the media Tuesday.
His father, however, had a message for those accused of retaliating against his son.
"Find another job," he said. "They're not doing the job they were sworn to do. They lack the moral courage and the ethics. And they're not doing the citizens of Houston any good."
Sixteen people - including a popular University of Houston-Victoria professor - have been charged in a sweeping federal indictment alleging a $35 million international operation that manufactured and distributed at least 9.5 tons of a drug sold on the street as kush or 'synthetic marijuana.'
The indictment, announced Tuesday by federal, state and local law enforcement officials, is the result of a four-year, multiagency investigation targeting one of the largest known synthetic chemical trafficking groups, said U.S. Attorney Ken Magidson.
Magidson said unregulated synthetic chemicals sold as drugs have "become one of the most dangerous emerging public health threats in the United States."
Aimed at youths
Much of the product is targeted to juveniles, with cartoon packaging including Sponge Bob, Scooby Doo and Pokemon, and special flavorslike blueberry. Known as kush, spice, K2 or synthetic marijuana - a term that doctors say is technically incorrect - it's made by spraying chemicals on plant material to mimic marijuana.
The chemicals used may trigger dangerous effects, leading to overdose and sometimes death, officials said. Ben Taub General Hospital sees about four to five emergency admissions a day and a handful of deaths each year related to the synthetic drugs, officials said.
The drugs in this case were seized in various locations over several years, officials said. A federal grand jury in Houston handed down a sealed indictment April 28 in the alleged scheme.
Twelve people have been arrested, and two others have indicated they will surrender to authorities. Two of the people indicted remain fugitives, federal authorities said.
Among those arrested is Omar Maher Alnasser, 36, of Houston, an assistant professor of finance at the Sugar Land campus of the University of Houston-Victoria. He is accused of illegally moving the proceeds of drug sales to bank accounts outside the U.S. beginning in 2014. He is charged with conspiracy to launder money and with aiding and abetting an unlicensed money-transmitting business; he could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
Alnasser's work as a professor received rave reviews from colleagues and students on LinkedIn and Rate My Professors. He is scheduled to teach a 10-week financial management course at the Sugar Land campus starting May 31.
Paula Cobler, a UHV spokeswoman, said the institution "takes this matter very seriously and will fully cooperate with law enforcement on all aspects of their investigation."
She added that "as more information becomes available, UHV officials will consider action appropriate to the situation."
Also charged in the 13-count indictment are six Houston men: Salem Fahed Tannous, 55; Ali Shaker Tafesh, 35; Khalil Munier Khalil, 40; Nagy Mahmoud Ali, 59; Mohammed Rafat Taha, 27; and Steve Shafiq Amira, 58; and Sugar Land residents Muhammad Shariq Siddiqi, 45; Ayisha Khurram, 40; and Sayed Ali, 41. Others arrested were Abdalnour Izz, 31, of Missouri City, and Hazim Hisham Qadus, 31, of South Houston.
Khader Fahed Tanous, 49, of Stephens City, Va., and Frank Muratalla, 23, of Hawthorne, Calif., have told federal officials they plan to surrender.
Authorities are seeking the arrest of Ziad Mahmoud Alsalameh, 56, of Pear-land, and Aqil Khader, 33, of Houston. Magidson said federal authorities believe they live abroad.
'All sorts of junk'
In cases like this Dr. Spencer Greene, director of medical toxicology at Baylor College of Medicine and attending emergency physician at Ben Taub, said there may be hundreds of different cannabinoids, with wildly varying effects. Scientists have not made consistent findings about the drug's components.
"There's all sorts of junk that you find mixed into this," he said.
If the chemicals include benzodiazepines such as Valium or Xanax, the patient might "be out of it" or could stop breathing, Greene said. If they include stimulants, they could cause increased heart rates, high blood pressure, strokes or seizures.
Benjamin Wermund contributed to this report.
The oil bust is spreading to the broader Houston economy, suggesting at least two years of job losses, sluggish growth, and softening home sales before the region sees a rebound, according to a new forecast from the University of Houston.
The forecast, presented Tuesday by economist Bill Gilmer, is considerably darker than projections made just six months ago, when it looked like the oil crash would bottom out in 2015 and the region would continue to add jobs, albeit at a slower pace. Instead, prices and production continued their free-fall, nearing the proportions of the epic oil bust of the 1980s and rippling into retail, restaurants, real estate and other sectors supported by the wages, salaries and spending of the local energy industry, the forecast said.
The headline number: a projected 40,000 net jobs lost in Houston through 2017.
"I hope you didn't come looking for a lot of good news today," Gilmer told the audience of about 800 business people downtown. "It's going to be very difficult for a lot of the sectors that have been providing job growth here to continue to do so in the future."
Oil prices began their slide in the summer of 2014, plunging from more than $100 a barrel to less the $30 in February, leading to production cuts, bankruptcies, and widespread layoffs in the industry. While prices have since rebounded, closing above $48 a barrel in New York on Tuesday, it will likely be months before production begins to pick up, and months - or years - after that before any significant hiring in the industry resumes, said Gilmer, director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting at the University of Houston's Bauer College of Business.
The intensity of the crash has been unprecedented, Gilmer said. In the 1980s the number of rigs in operation plunged 82 percent over four years; this time, the rig count has plunged nearly that much - 79 percent - but in just two years.
"This has come harder and faster than anything we have ever seen before, in terms of damage to the American oil industry," said Gilmer.
The question now is how much longer that damage will stay contained to the energy industry and directly connected sectors, such as manufacturing.
The Houston economy has benefited from a strong U.S. economy, which has provided markets for national companies headquartered here, such as the retail chain, Men's Wearhouse and the food distributor Sysco Corp. It has also been bolstered by the strength of its petrochemical and refining industries, which have benefited from the low prices of oil and natural gas, their feedstocks.
But the support from those sectors is beginning to weaken as their rapid growth slows. Some $50 billion worth of refinery, petrochemical and LNG plants are underway, providing thousands of construction jobs, but that activity will peak over the next two years.
In 2017, nearly $23 billion in such projects are scheduled to be completed, according to the forecast. That will plunge to less than $5 billion in 2018.
"Our argument has been until this point that those two forces were going to be just enough to offset the negative (from oil production) and that we would break away from recession," Gilmer said. "It's an argument that's getting harder and harder to make, because we're running out of time."
All of that suggests another shoe could drop on the Houston economy, as the kind of jobs that have been making up for the layoffs in oil and gas begin to disappear as well. The unemployment rate in the Houston area, 4.9 percent in March, has climbed more than a half-percentage point in a year. The housing market is beginning to soften, with sales and prices essentially flat, and building permits for single family homes slipping. The vacancy rate for apartments is also starting to climb.
So, when do things get better?
It could be a few years, Gilmer said. The futures market - one of the best indicators of where oil prices are heading - sees the price of oil staying below $51 per barrel through 2019. Gilmer said prices would need to reach about $65 in order for companies to start producing at significantly higher levels and hiring significantly more workers.
Even then, Gilmer doesn't expect the industry will ever return to the number of jobs it once had. Producers have gotten more efficient, meaning fewer people are required.
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The district attorney overseeing the prosecution of more than 150 bikers charged in the clash at the Twin Peaks in Waco last year should be disqualified from the case because he took charge of police officers trying do their jobs that day, a Houston lawyer contends.
A motion filed in court Tuesday - the one-year anniversary of the May 17, 2015 melee that left nine people dead - asked that McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna be removed from the case, along with two assistants, Michael Jarrett and Mark Parker.
READ MORE: 12 key unanswered questions Waco biker case
Their actions made them potential witnesses who could be subpoenaed to testify at trial, according to the motion filed by lawyer Abigail Anastasio.
Reyna did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment on the motion before state District Judge Matt Johnson.
Anastasio, a former Harris County prosecutor, represents Ray Nelson, a Central Texas biker who like all others arrested that day is charged with engaging in organized crime. Prosecutors said the shoot out began as part of a turf war between the Bandidos and Cossacks motorcycle clubs.
If convicted, the defendants face 15 years to life in state prison, but so far, no trial dates have been set.
READ MORE: One-year anniversary of biker brawl today raises lingering questions, concerns
Prosecutors contend the bikers met up at the restaurant in a sprawling outdoor shopping mall to engage in violence. Defense lawyers contend the overwhelming majority of the bikers were acting in self defense or simply trying to flee harm's way when angry words quickly escalated to gunfire.
The motion filed by Anastasio contends that Waco police detectives were told following the clash that anyone who was a member of the Bandidos or Cossacks or who showed any support or affiliation with either group - regardless of their actions that day - was to be charged with engaging in organized crime as per an affidavit prepared by the district attorney.
Investigative decisions at the crime scene were not made by police, but by prosecutors, according to the motion.
READ MORE: New dashcam video leaked in Twin Peaks biker clash
Police are often put on the witness stand in a criminal trial to explain how they worked a case and how they came to conclude that a defendant had committed a crime. But that won't be able to happen in the Twin Peaks case, according to Anastasio.
"The law enforcement officers involved cannot answer questions about what decisions were made in directing the investigation," she contends in the motion. "That role was usurped by ... members of the McLennan County District Attorney's Office.
"They, and only they, are competent to speak of what decisions were made in directing the investigation in this case, because they were the ones who made those decisions and directed the actions of the officers at the scene," the motion continues.
Houston lawyer Paul Looney, who is representing another biker charged in the case, said that while it is"appropriate and helpful" for prosecutors to be at a crime scene to advise officers, it is another matter when they take control of the investigation and direct the officers.
If Reyna and the others are disqualified from the case it would simply mean that other prosecutors, who were not directing the actions of police that day, present the case to the jury, Looney said.
"This isn't a reach, it isn't a stretch, it is basic law," Looney said.
DEFENSE
Senate confirms new Army secretary
WASHINGTON - The Senate confirmed the long-stalled nomination of Eric Fanning to be Army secretary, making him the first openly gay leader of a U.S. military service.
The voice vote approval Tuesday came after Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., dropped his opposition to Fanning after a senior Pentagon official told him that no detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, would be sent to the Army prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, or other facilities in the United States.
Fanning served as the Army secretary's principal adviser on management and operation of the service, with a focus on the budget. He was undersecretary of the Air Force from April 2013 to February 2015, and for half a year was the acting secretary of the Air Force.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Lawmakers OK ban on abortions after 20 weeks
COLUMBIA - South Carolina lawmakers have passed a bill that would ban abortion at 20 weeks or later.
The South Carolina House voted 79-29 to give final approval to the bill Tuesday. After it is ratified, the bill will head to Republican Gov. Nikki Haley's desk.
The bill offers no exceptions for rape or incest - omissions that opponents say will further harm some of the state's most vulnerable women.
NORTH CAROLINA
Perlman cancels appearance over anti-LGBT law
RALEIGH - World-renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman said he canceled his Wednesday performance with the North Carolina Symphony after he was told he would not be able to include a personal statement opposing the state's new law limiting antidiscrimination policies for LGBT people in the event program.
Perlman said he will not perform in North Carolina until the law is reversed.
"If I'm invited, I will come once the law's repealed. But as long as this thing is there, I have to take a stand," Perlman said.
U.S. HOUSE
Benghazi probe chairman backs off on military
WASHINGTON - The chairman of the House select committee investigating the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, said Tuesday that military reinforcements could not have reached the besieged diplomatic outpost in time to prevent the killings of four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.
The panel's chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., told Fox News: "Whether or not they could have gotten there in time, I don't think there's any issue with respect to that. They couldn't. The next question is: Why could you not? Why were you not positioned to do it?"
Democrats said Gowdy's admission nullifies one of the main Republican criticisms of how the Obama administration - including Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state at the time - handled the episode.
FLORIDA
Alligator goes viral after theft of watermelon
Florida alligators are known for eating many things: turtles, birds, the occasional human limb.
But one large gator with an apparent sweet tooth was recently photographed sliding into a canal with a whole watermelon clamped in its jaws.
"Gator caught stealing watermelon out of watermelon field in Hendry County," a Florida Agricultural Crimes Intelligence Unit officer posted on the group's Facebook page. A photo of the gator's theft had been shared thousands of times by Tuesday.
From wire reports
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AUSTIN - A Harris County state district judge ruled Tuesday that a state law barring the use of audio and video produced by the Legislature in political ads likely is unconstitutional, blocking enforcement of a two-decade-old ban that critics said was aimed at protecting incumbents from election challengers.
A tea party House candidate challenging one of Speaker Joe Straus' lieutenants in a runoff sued the Texas Ethics Commission to strike down the law that prohibits the use of audio and video from the floor of the House and Senate, along with committee hearings, in political ads.
State District Judge Brent Gamble granted a temporary injunction requested by Briscoe Cain, a Harris County lawyer in a May 24 runoff with state Rep. Wayne Smith, R-Baytown.
Cain wants to use footage in his campaign ads of Smith from the House floor during the 2013 and 2015 legislative sessions. According to a court filing, Cain is planning to use the taxpayer-funded footage of Smith in ads on social media websites.
The law prohibits "a person from using in political advertising any audio or visual materials produced by or under the direction of the legislature or of a house, committee, or agency of the legislature." It carries a fine of up to $5,000.
Cain sued the ethics commission, which enforces the law, in late April and claimed the state was engaging in censorship and trying to stifle political speech. Cain also charged that the state law amounted to nothing more than protection for incumbents who did not want potentially unflattering footage of their work at the Capitol to appear in political ads.
"Overall it's a win for the First Amendment because it allows anybody in the state of Texas to use audio and video produced by taxpayers to hold elected officials accountable," said Trey Trainor, a lawyer representing Cain.
The law originally was passed in 1995 and amended in 2013 by state Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, "to impose additional limits on the use of audio or visual materials produced by or under the direction of the legislature," according to a bill analysis.
Legal experts had predicted the law would be thrown out by a judge, and the current and former chairman of the ethics commission also cast doubt on whether the Legislature could place prohibitions on the use of the taxpayer-funded footage.
The ethics commission recommended before the start of the 2015 legislative session that lawmakers repeal or narrow the law. The suggestion was ignored.
It led to a somewhat awkward situation when the lawsuit was filed last month and Attorney General Ken Paxton's Office refused to represent the ethics commission in the case.
Paxton's office never explained why it was refraining from the case, but ethics commission Chairman Chase Untermeyer said the attorney general's office also thought the law was unconstitutional. The ethics commission ended up hiring an outside lawyer, Eric Nichols, a former deputy attorney general for criminal justice to defend the state in the case.
Nichols did not return a request for comment Tuesday.
Gamble's ruling Tuesday is not the final say in the case. The law has been temporarily blocked.
A trial, which will be overseen by Gamble, has been set for Dec. 5, just weeks before the start of the next legislative session.
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WASHINGTON There may be no Ted Cruz 2.0. Instead, all signs point to Cruz 2020.
The first clue came in a final pep talk to dispirited campaign staffers last week in Houston, where Cruz recalled Ronald Reagan's first failed White House bid in 1976, a prelude to his victory in 1980.
"Reagan in 1976 came up short," Cruz told them. "I suspect at that convention more than a few tears were shed. It's going to be our task to go forward and continue fighting."
The moment was captured in Cruz's last campaign video, titled "To Be Continued," a production Gawker called "the first campaign ad of 2020."
That defiance showed up again in a tweet by national campaign spokesman Ron Nehring. "Attention opponents," Nehring wrote over a photo of packing boxes strewn around an emptying Cruz headquarters. "Rent, don't buy, because we will be back."
Cruz, who bested all Republican comers but Donald Trump, has made no direct statements about a future White House run. Instead, he has announced plans to run for a second term in the Senate, where he promises to maintain the confrontational conservative stance that earned him near pariah status among his colleagues, including top Republican leaders.
"I'm going to continue fighting for the American people," Cruz told reporters outside his Senate office last week. "If fighting for the American people makes you an outsider in the Senate, then I will happily remain an outsider."
More for you Cruz makes no mention of Trump or unity in convention speech
He was coy about his plans beyond that, other than to rule out a third-party run this year.
Cruz insiders and political analysts who have followed his career say all the signs point to another run in 2020, when the tea party champion will only be only 49-years old.
"My guess is that he intends to run again and will run in 2020, on the presumption that it will be Hillary's midterm," said Texas GOP strategist Matt Mackowiak, referring to Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
His former campaign spokesman, Rick Tyler, argues that as the leader of the party's conservative wing, Cruz would have to be one of the top figures Republicans turn to.
One of Cruz's top Senate and campaign aides, national security advisor Victoria Coates, also does not rule it out. "There's no doubt in anybody's mind that this extremely talented 45-year-old politician has a bright future," she said.
Much, of course, depends on how Trump fares in the coming fall election, and the four years that follow. Cruz also has denied interest in a U.S. Supreme Court nomination, an honor that could take him out of the 2020 mix.
A Trump flameout - long predicted by Cruz - would start the next Republican primary cycle almost immediately. Cruz would enter that fray armed with a huge fundraising apparatus, fresh lists of donors, national name recognition and a strong network of grass-roots support in the early voting states.
"He would enter the 2020 race in a very strong position," Mackowiak said. "He would have as much support as anyone I can think of."
Cruz and his campaign aides say few Republicans inside or outside the "establishment" are better positioned to pick up the pieces of what he calls the "remnant" of the political right. "What we accomplished is frankly insane," he told his aides. "Nobody thought we had a prayer. What we did collectively here is, we sparked a fire and started a movement. That's powerful and it doesn't go away with one election result."
The leader of that movement, according to Texas tea party activist Joann Fleming, is none other than Cruz, the candidate who became the tip of the conservative #NeverTrump spear.
As he returns to his day job in the Senate, however, Cruz faces a crossroads: Does he enhance his national stature by mending fences and working to get things done within the strictures of Senate comity? Or does he play the bomb-thrower and excite the national political base he would need for another White House bid?
In his first week back on the job, Cruz has sent mixed signals, keeping friends and foes guessing. He has pledged to work constructively on tax reform, and touted policy changes he wrought in a new defense policy bill in the Armed Services Committee.
Then he voted against the very same defense bill he had amended, citing irreconcilable differences over a provision mandating draft registration for women.
More broadly, Cruz told reporters that it is the political culture of Washington that needs to change, not him.
"This election cycle should be a wake-up call to Washington, D.C.," he said as he returned to his Senate office. "The frustration, the volcanic anger with Washington, was echoed throughout this election."
Despite the swagger, his aides say he returns to the Senate with the same disciplined work ethic that brought him success on the campaign trail. "These things don't happen in a vacuum," Coates said. "His immediate goal is to do his job."
That does not mean that he plans to back down from the ideological fights that saw him clash with his own party leaders over the 2013 government shutdown and a subsequent showdown over the U.S. Export-Import Bank, in which Cruz called Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell a liar.
"For (Cruz), it's not personal," Coates said. "He is what he is. The spotlight is brighter and the microscope is more intense, but I think you're going to see him doing pretty much what he's always done."
Senate leaders express wariness. "You have to be impressed with the sophistication of his campaign organization," said Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, the Senate Republican Whip. "The unknown is what his plans are for the next couple of years in the Senate. That's what I'm interested in."
Outside political analysts say the Senate provides the perfect foil for a national political figure bent on highlighting Washington dysfunction.
"The Senate allows you to stay in the spotlight, even if your day-to-day life is very frustrating," said Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
At the same time, Jillson is bearish on Cruz's prospects of enacting meaningful tax reforms, a project that has eluded far more experienced lawmakers with good relationships in Congress, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Texas Republican Kevin Brady, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Moving legislation in the famously chummy Senate often depends on playing nice with colleagues not something for which Cruz is known. "Judging from his first day back, he's not going to make many changes in his personal style or demeanor, which almost guarantees he'll get next to almost nothing done," Jillson said.
Coates countered that, despite Cruz's reputation as a Washington outsider an image he played up on the campaign trail he actually has a penchant for the inside game.
"He enjoys the Senate. He enjoys the debate," she said. "He enjoys the opportunity to shape policy and shape legislation, to engage his constituents. It's a dirty little secret, but he actually likes it."
With the nation focused on the likely clash between Trump and Clinton, some Congress watchers wonder whether there will be much policy to shape for Cruz or anyone else in the Senate.
"The Senate's not going to do much the rest of this year of any real consequence," said University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias. "So, I don't think Cruz would have to be that busy."
Cruz is signaling, however, that he still has plenty to do. On Friday, as his presidential campaign office was being cleared out, Cruz sent out a fundraising email highlighting a dismissive remark from his old congressional nemesis, former House Speaker John Boehner: "Thank God that guy from Texas didn't win."
Cruz wrote, "This is just another sign that the establishment in Washington has learned nothing over the past year. Our movement now faces a new front."
Lawmakers on Thursday again questioned President Barack Obama's commitment to sending humans to Mars as they begin hashing out NASA's $19 billion budget proposal for fiscal year 2017, a plan some said does little to pave the way to the red planet.
During a meeting of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, members of Congress zeroed in on a proposed $1 billion cut to programs that support human spaceflight, namely the controversial Space Launch System and Orion programs.
School funding
Regarding "School funding just passes muster" (Page A1, Saturday), it has always seemed ridiculous to me that school funding would be dependent on local property tax revenue.
Obviously, such a system inherently favors children of wealthy parents who live in high-income neighborhoods, although it's clear that children from low-income neighborhoods actually need more resources.
In the past, our Legislature has made some half-hearted and convoluted attempts to remedy the problem, but they have all failed. A simple proposal: Pool all funds dedicated to education statewide (property taxes, state contribution, federal contribution, etc.) and distribute them equally on a per student basis to each district.
Doug Venverloh, Houston
Military equality
Regarding "Drafting of women now tied to defense bill" (Page A8, Saturday), equality under the law is achieved only when our government treats everyone equally.
The civil rights work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will not be complete until women can be drafted.
J. Reynolds, Houston
Presidential interference
Regarding "Federal edict issued on school bathrooms" (Page A1, Friday), the bathroom issue is the most ludicrous thing yet. This is nothing but another tool to use against longstanding values and to tear down the last vestiges of decency.
I support Dan Patrick telling the president Texas will not stand for this.
Bill McDaniel, Houston
Crossley on urbanism
Sunday's Chronicle contained a letter erroneously attributed to me that decries walkable urbanism and supports sprawl development. Anyone who knows me and my 25 years of work on sustainability must have been surprised to see a letter in which I appear to change my mind.
The letter claims that "politicians love density because it makes it cheaper to provide city services." While it is true that city services cost less in more efficiently developed areas, I'm not aware of more than three or four politicians who support density.
In a region that likes to brag about free markets, the market is seriously perverted by using public money to enable sprawl development. Additionally, regulations, particularly in the city of Houston, have been designed to discourage walkable urbanism.
We know from the Kinder Area Survey that about 62 percent of city of Houston residents would prefer to live in walkable areas, but we also know there is only enough such housing for about 35 percent of people who want it.
The list of benefits of walkable urbanism, particularly when it is supported by good transit service, is an extensive one that includes better health, better equity, better access to jobs and services, and a more positive effect on municipal revenues and expenses.
People who argue against urbanism seem to be trying to force public officials not to support the majority who actually like living in cities. For some reason, officials tend to listen to them in preference to the majority.
David Crossley, Houston
Miffed about name change
Regarding "HISD trustees OK news names to replace Confederate ties" (Page A3, May 13), I am proud to have graduated from John H. Reagan High School, and nobody can change that. These school name changes are ridiculous, unnecessary and costly. They accomplish nothing.
Our school leaders could have used that money in a more effective way.
Natalie Waggoner, Houston
Practical experience
Regarding "Trying to unravel the Trump mysteries" (Page A13, Monday), In his column Paul Krugman criticizes Donald Trump - "it's not as if he has any independent knowledge of economics."
While not an admirer of Trump as either an ethical businessman or a potential president, I do believe this statement by Krugman exemplifies the problem with many academic economists: They fail to acknowledge the reality that those in the business world have a more intimate knowledge of economics than those "scholars" who study it.
Bill Spear Bartlett, Houston
WASHINGTON - You could say that it all depends on how you define "lie." Or, perhaps, that it's hell to have a public record.
Either way, Hillary Clinton's vast resume of, shall we say, inconsistencies, is the dog that caught the car and won't let go. A viral video collection of her comments on various subjects through the years is bestirring Republican hearts.
To those who'd rather vote for a reality show host than a Clinton, the video merely confirms what they've believed all along. For independents and even Democrats, it's a reminder of how often Clinton has morphed into a fresh incarnation as required by the political moment.
Most of the highlights would be familiar to anyone who follows politics - her varying takes on Bosnia, health care, Wall Street, NAFTA - but the juxtaposition of these ever-shifting views is more jarring than one might expect. Politicians count on Americans' short attention spans as much as they do their own policies and/or charms. This video (https://youtu.be/-dY77j6uBHI), titled "Hillary Clinton lying for 13 minutes straight," clarifies blurred recollections and recasts them in an order that, among other things, reminds us how long the Clintons have been around.
If you're looking for a fresh face or an anti-establishment candidate, Hillary Clinton isn't it. But then, neither are Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, both of whom have been haunting the public square nearly all of their adult lives - one a raging radical, the other a radical rager.
Presumptive nominees Clinton and Trump are egregious in their misstatements, if in substantively different ways. Clinton is measured, poised, concentrated and studied when she revises her personal history. Trump just says whatever tiny thought penetrates his prefrontal cortex where inhibitory functioning is obviously kaput, blurting absurdities and bromides the way pirates toss plastic beads from papier-mache ships at Mardi Gras.
Lacking a policy record to defend or reverse, Trump gets to gloat and sneer at his female foe. He did reverse himself on his irrelevant position regarding the Iraq War, but the number of real estate developers whose opinions entered into the nation's military calculus in 2003 was exactly zero. Otherwise, his evil-clown act toward women, minorities, the disabled and others is apparently acceptable to the Republican Party.
Clinton's record is something else. The woman who would become president promises a continuation of President Barack Obama's policies, even though she rejected many of them in 2008. The candidate who hates NAFTA almost as much as she now despises Wall Street is captured in several clips praising NAFTA.
A review of her bizarre accounting of landing in Bosnia under sniper fire in 1996 is almost entertaining. Audacious, really. Rather than ducking and dodging across the tarmac where no welcoming committee was present, film footage reminds us that she and daughter Chelsea Clinton calmly walked from the plane, posed for photographs with students there to greet them, and shook hands with a little girl.
No news here, just a rehash of history. One web author who posted the video - sent to me by several readers - insists that it would be impossible to vote for Clinton after viewing the 13-minute montage. This may or may not be true given the alternative, but a refreshed memory does invite fresh consideration of Clinton's character.
On questions of honesty and trustworthiness, Clinton polls low, which partly explains Sanders' support. His economic plan may be fantastical, but he's honest!
Well, maybe. With Clinton, there's no maybe, as the 13 minutes make clear. For whatever reason, she can't seem to stick to the truth, which, at times, needs neither embellishment nor denial. Wasn't it enough to have gone to Bosnia to conduct the nation's all-important soft diplomacy?
Clinton has been in public life long enough to have made some honest mistakes and even changed her mind a few times, which aren't sins. But trustworthiness requires honesty, which often begets forgiveness.
After all these decades, Clinton still wants everything every which way, just never straightforward. Her tenure as a public figure has become her greatest obstacle. This isn't only because of her lack of forthrightness, but also because, having lived under such scrutiny for so long, she seems incapable of allowing herself the ultimate dodge: She's merely human.
A person who can admit to mistakes, express genuine remorse, apologize for errors of judgment or failures to act, and who revises history only in the service of truth - that person could become president of the United States.
If only.
Parker's email address is kathleenparker@washpost.com.
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Tags : training analysis policy
Here are some practical ways to gather data about employee performance to determine Training Needs: 1. Observe Evaluate employee performance through first hand observation and analysis. Watch as a non-participating observer, evaluate what you see and hear without getting directly involved in the work process. Using a checklist, identify strengths to build on and weaknesses to overcome. 2. Interview Interview Guides ensure that you get the same type of data from different sources. This enables you to differentiate between individual opinions or widespread perceptions. Select predetermined questions that are essential to what you are trying to learn from this process. 3. Questionnaires Makes data easy to compile, is cost effective and useful in obtaining a holistic view of employee "group think". Also makes employees feel that they have had a chance to contribute to the process. 4. Job Descriptions/Job Analysis Job Descriptions/Analysis, if they are comprehensively accurate, should be the yardstick for content of training programmes. A well-defined Job Description enables trainers to tailor content to a very close proximity of organizational expectations. 5. The Difficulty Analysis Difficulty Analysis establishes which tasks/duties are the cause of the most difficulties and how these can be mitigated through better training. A well thought out analysis will provide an abundance of material for discussions and role playing sessio...
second annual Asia-Pacific HR Report survey launched this week, asking HR professionals across the region to weigh in on the major challenges, issues and priorities in the HR space in 2016.Complete the survey nowThe short survey covers aspects including strategic priorities and challenges, HR support and professional development. The purpose of this study is to gain insight into the trends and developments shaping the HR profession in the APAC region and identify shared challenges as well as differences between geographies.The Asia-Pacific HR Report is an initiative of HRD magazine and sister publications HC Online, HRD Singapore and HRM New Zealand. Last year over 3,000 respondents from 14 countries took part in this study, making this report one of the most significant of its kind. HR professionals from all business sectors are encouraged to share their opinion to help shape this years findings.The Asia-Pacific HR Report survey is open until Friday 24 June. All survey respondents will have the opportunity to enter a draw to win an Apple Watch (RRP $499).
le 69 per cent of industry leaders believe gender equality is within reach over the next 25 years, only 13 per cent expect a real increase in the number of women in leadership roles over the next five.These paradoxical results come from the latest EY report, Navigating disruption without gender diversity? Think again, which surveyed 350 C-suite executives from the top 200 companies across 51 countries.HRM talked to Max Loh, ASEAN and Singapore managing partner at EY, to shed light on the reasons behind these counterintuitive survey results.Businesses may often assume that gender parity will simply take care of itself when in reality, there needs to be a conscious effort to push the agenda, he said.This disconnect from reality isnt so surprising, he added, since most companies operate without closely watching their internal gender metrics and data.Despite almost universal agreement on the value of diversity, less than half of organisations have programs to formally measure their progress in achieving gender diversity.In most cases, gender metrics are used to simply count the number of female employees on the leadership team, he noted. This totally ignores other aspects such as measuring the succession pipeline.Questions that business leaders need to ask include: What about womens progress through the business? Or understanding when and why they leave? What about developing a future pipeline of female leaders?Internationally, the banking sector seems to be making better progress with gender parity than other industries, Loh said.The banking industry is making headway through a higher willingness to recognise the need to do more to attract, retain and promote women to senior leadership; a stronger focus on structured, formal programs that identify and develop female talent; and a committed use of formal metrics to track their progress.These practices can all be replicated in other sectors to create a long-lasting plan that ultimately results in a more diverse and inclusive workforce, he added.
CP
OTTAWA Justin Trudeau's Liberal government has no plans to bring back the per-vote subsidy the cash given to each political party in relation to their portion of the popular vote, The Huffington Post Canada has learned.
The financing was brought in in 2004 when former Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien introduced limits to individual, corporate and union donations.
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In 2011, the subsidy was worth about $2.04 for every vote obtained by a political party beyond a minimum threshold. It was gradually reduced and then eliminated after Conservative Stephen Harper won a majority government.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May.
All opposition parties decried the move. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said removing the subsidy would concentrate power in the hands of those with deep pockets.
Liberal MP Ralph Goodale, the current public safety minister, told CBC News at the time that the subsidies level the playing field between parties, allowing even the smaller ones to compete.
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But Mr. Harpers position is, essentially, let the big and the wealthy and the most privileged run the show and all the other voices should simply be silenced," he said.
Stephen Harper sought to eliminate the per-vote subsidy after winning the 2008 federal election. (Photo: CP)
Soon after coming into office, Harpers government reduced the amount individuals can contribute, and banned corporations and unions from donating altogether. But it was his desire after the 2008 election to scrap the per-vote subsidy that really caught the oppositions ire and it was one of the reasons why the parties banded together to try to defeat the newly elected government.
But now that the Liberal party has adapted to the lower individual donation limits and life without the per-vote subsidy, Trudeau's government appears to be in no rush to reinstate the public financing, which would greatly benefit the NDP and smaller parties.
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According to the latest filings available at Elections Canada, between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2016:
The Conservatives raised the most money, $5,469,856
The Liberals raised $4,031,043
The NDP had one of its worst quarters, raising only $1,351,179
The Greens raised $451,555
The Bloc reported $96,540 in donations.
Trudeaus Liberals did not campaign on reinstating the subsidy.
But Tuesday, its provincial cousins in Ontario moved to reform political fundraising by slashing the amount of money individuals can donate, and by introducing a public subsidy, among other changes.
Next year, the Ontario provincial parties (Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democrats, and Greens) will get $2.26 for each vote they received during the 2014 campaign. The amount will be gradually reduced and could be phased out by 2022.
"Democracy is not free," Yasir Naqvi, the Ontario government House leader, told reporters at Queens Park.
Not considering such changes: Monsef
In a statement to HuffPost, federal Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef said her attention is currently focused elsewhere.
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"We're not considering such changes at the moment; my focus is on electoral and senate reform and I am also considering reforms to the Fair Elections Act," she wrote.
"Our ultimate goal with all reforms is to foster a more inclusive and engaged Canada and that's what we're going to do."
NDP Democratic Institutions critic Nathan Cullen told HuffPost he thinks the discussion about returning the per-vote subsidy could be included when reforms to the Tories Fair Elections Act are reviewed.
It keeps the influence of money out of politics, he wrote in an email.
May told HuffPost the per vote subsidy should be revisited.
"It was the only taxpayer support to political parties that was generated by a citizen's choice," she said. "Like, I don't choose to have 75 per cent of all donations that go to Conservatives come out of the public purse."
Under the current rules, if someone donates $400 to a political party, the taxpayers give them back $300, May said. Those tax breaks for party donors, and the generous refunds on election expenses MPs and parties get unfairly benefit parties who raise and spend the most, she said.
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One mom is proving that cake smashes are even better for adults.
Minnesota mom, Serina Brueggeman took the birthday photo shoot to the next level using glitter, champagne and a healthy dose of humour.
"I wanted to do something to show that turning 40 doesn't mean you can't still be sassy," the mom-of-two told The Stir. "You can still totally be cute and do something fun and lighthearted to celebrate.
What resulted was a hilarious series of photos taken by her friend, local photographer Rachel Farganis.
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In the images, Brueggeman is decked out in a frilly white-and-gold tutu and a T-shirt that reads "forty."
On Facebook, photographer Farganis wrote: "Cake smashes are all about the little details. The perfect cake. The (epic) chalkboard sign. The little feet (and perfect shoes). The glittery crown and fluffy tutu. The subtle glow from the candle(s) ... and, of course, the bubbles from that first glass of champagne. You only turn 40 once."
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Cakes smashes became a hot parenting trend in 2014, Today.com reports. If you're unfamiliar with this fad, it's when a one-year-old is given a cake to destroy, or "smash," in front of guests at their birthday party. What results is one adorable mess and some truly memorable photos.
Because Farganis specializes in baby and family photography, she was able to channel the joy of cake smashes in epic fashion for Brueggeman's birthday.
"The experience of working with one-year-olds definitely helped when directing [Brueggeman on] what to do," the Saint Paul-based photographer told Scary Mommy. "I tried to mirror the fun that comes along with placing a kid in front of a cake and letting them go to town on it."
Farganis also admitted that she "hadn't laughed that hard at a photo shoot in a long time."
The "cake smash to end all cake smashes," as dubbed by Farganis, has now gone viral, with one photo receiving more than 5,000 likes and 5,000 shares on Facebook.
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In the comments, many users praised Brueggeman for her brilliant birthday idea and Farganis for taking such memorable photos.
"This is amazing!" one commenter wrote. "Best adult cake smash ever, right down to the middle finger!"
Another joked, "Best photo ever!!!!!! It would only be better if you cried."
This isn't the first time we've seen a mom put her own spin on the cake smash trend. Last month, a Texas mom-of-two celebrated her 30th birthday with a similar photo shoot.
ALSO ON HUFFPOST:
Canada's open-arm stance welcoming Syrian refugees continues to puzzle and stoke fear among some Americans thanks to some fear-mongering U.S. news reports.
So to get a better understanding of the issue, Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" sent an intrepid reporter up north to talk to Canadians about "[Justin] Trudeau's refugee invasion."
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'This isn't about you'
"Daily Show" correspondent Hasan Minhaj asks the group if they're worried refugees are a risk to U.S. national security. The responses are sharp and critical in the satirical segment.
"This isn't about you. We're doing this for ourselves and we're doing it for the refugees we're bringing," says one woman from the group.
"We don't blame all Americans for Donald Trump."
"Don't you have more Americans dying from gun incidents and mass shootings than from terrorism every year?"
Minhaj then brings up the notion that even one bad refugee could be a threat to Canadian lives, and the same woman mentioned earlier responds again brilliantly.
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"So we're going to decide not to help 49,999 people because one person went bad?" she says.
"That's not how we look at it. We wouldn't blame all Syrians for that one Syrian. We don't blame all Americans for Donald Trump."
Watch the full segment above.
Last week, a CBS report claimed "radicalized groups in Canada" posed "a tremendous concern" for U.S. border security.
The second part of Minhaj's report will air Thursday, according Uproxx. It includes a sit-down with the man "who started this mess" Justin Trudeau.
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The deep sea is about as mysterious to us as outer space, but a group of scientists recently discovered surprising diversity of life in the dark depths.
Eight researchers, including two from Dalhousie University in Halifax, published a report this week revealing that the distribution of deep-sea biodiversity is much different than it is on land or in shallow waters. The group focused their study on the brittle star species a star-shaped creature that lives on the ocean floor.
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After analyzing over 165,000 records from museums all over the world, they found that variation in deep-sea species is more concentrated further from the equator, particularly in the North Atlantic and around New Zealand.
Access to food in the form of marine snow organic waste from dead organisms that falls down to the ocean floor draws life to these areas.
Variation of the brittle star. (Photo: Julian Finn)
Derek Tittensor, a Dalhousie biologist and co-author of the study in the journal Nature, said that the results were not what he expected.
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What we know about biodiversity on land and in the shallow ocean tells us that the places with the most species tend to be in the tropics. They tend to be near the equator and in the warmer parts of the world, he explained in a phone interview with The Huffington Post Canada.
You might expect to see a similar pattern in the deep ocean. When we found something that was completely different, that was a real surprise.
Importance of sea life preservation
Understanding the distribution of biodiversity in the deep sea is important because it helps to guide ocean conservation efforts, specifically in biodiverse hotspots, he said. By knowing where these areas are located, preservation can be focused on a greater variety of species.
He also said that if humans protect the ocean, it might return the favour.
Its a place where theres a lot of unique life thats adapted to really extreme conditions.
The ocean floor can also create carbon sinks that absorb more carbon than they expel, limiting the emissions believed to be contributors to climate change that are released into the atmosphere.
For himself, Tittensor said that its worth conserving simply because its such a fascinating environment.
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Its vast, it covers a huge area, its lightless, its cold, its extremely food-limited and yet it has this astonishing variety of life, he said. Its just an extraordinary place to try and understand.
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The devastating wildfires that ravaged Fort McMurray, Alta. uprooted families and torched homes. The disaster has separated beloved pets from owners. It put brave first responders in once in a lifetime situations.
But the blaze has also produced a portrait of the unassailable good this country can do during a crisis.
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Cots litter the gym floor at an evacuee reception centre set up and operated by the regional municipality of Wood Buffalo in Anzac, Alta. on May 4, 2016. (Photo: Greg Halinda/The Canadian Press)
Since May 3, scores of incredible acts of kindness toward Fort McMurray's evacuees have emerged. Here's a sample of some of the amazing deeds Canadians have done for other Canadians.
If anyone is coming as far south as Calgary. I am opening my home. #YMMHELPS Terry-Ann Duitman (@princesstad) May 3, 2016
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Members of the Syrian Refugee Support Group Calgary fill hampers to send to Fort McMurray evacuees. (Photo: Saima Jamal/Syrian Refugee Support Group Calgary)
Some refugees in Alberta collected donations for evacuees. Others chipped in with five-dollar donatations.
"Those newcomers who just came two, three months ago ... five dollars to them is just a huge amount of dollars," Sam Nammoura, co-founder of a refugee support group in Calgary, told The Huffington Post Alberta.
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"I was so proud. It brought tears to my eyes, it brought joy to my heart."
Another group of refugees in Waterloo, Ont. are on a "mission" to rebuild homes in Fort McMurray, CBC News reports.
Pilot Keith Mann says these pets were calm and tranquil flyers. (Photo: Suncor aviation crew and chartered companies and services)
Keith Mann, manager of flight operations for Suncor Energy, had to make a call. Three hundred evacuees needed to be flown out from his company's lodges, and they had almost 100 pets with them.
"We didnt want any people to make the decision to stay behind because they couldnt take their pets so we sort of broke, or bended our policies on the carriage of pets to let that happen," he told The Huffington Post Alberta.
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"It was worry about it after. The main thing was make sure we had enough airplanes and enough time to get people out and do it safely because it was a mass effort."
A small group of animal lovers in Alberta also decided to bend rules in a similar situation.
After rescuing more than 200 pets from the area, members of the Fort Mac Fire - Pet Rescue Facebook group were told by authorities that local officials were taking over pet rescue duties.
The group was worried the animals wouldn't be reached in time. They went back in and got kicked out by police. Determined to keep helping, the group continued its efforts in coordination with authorities.
Young Canadians in B.C., Ontario, Alberta and P.E.I. raised thousands of dollars for relief efforts. In Edmonton, one group of children raked in $2,000 from their lemonade stand.
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Alexander Tuck, a five-year-old from Whitby, Ont., raised more than $2,500 alone, according to CTV News.
5 y/o Alexander Tuck has opened a lemonade stand in Whitby to help raise money for Fort McMurray pic.twitter.com/kSpDn7Hi0E Erica Vella (@ericavella) May 7, 2016
One applicant told the Edmonton Journal she heard more than 800 people responded to a callout for 500 applicants.
Im really hoping Im one of them who gets picked and help clean up Fort McMurray, and rebuild their town," Sophie Vruno told the paper.
Another company, Drake International, put a callout for 200 people to help with clean up. A company manager told Global News they received more than 2,500 resumes in less than a day.
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Volunteers load donated items near Bold community center in Lac la Biche, Alta., south of Fort McMurray. (Photo: Amru Salahuddien/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
The Canadian Red Cross took to Twitter to say Attawapiskat Chief Bruce Shisheesh presented a $5,000 donation to the Alberta fire relief.
We know what it is like to be hurt... Just because we are in a crisis, we still want to help," Shisheesh said.
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(Photo: Labatt Breweries)
Several businesses stepped up to help Fort McMurray evacuees. GoodLife Fitness, for example, offered those displaced from their homes with free use of their gym showers. Labatt yes, the brewing company offered canned water to firefighters and residents.
Many companies donated to the Canadian Red Cross, as well.
From organizing online groups dedicated to fundraising, collecting donations or finding lost pets, to going up to Fort McMurray to help battle the blaze even if they were warned not to.
Ricky Vassberg told The Huffington Post Alberta that he went to the northern Alberta city to support a local fire hall.
Vassberg, who had training, was given proper equipment from firefighters. But he was injured while helping to clear a house that was on fire.
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He said he doesn't regret doing what he did one bit.
Vassberg shows off a bandaged hand that was injured while attempting to clear the building pictured on the left. The volunteer's white truck, pictured, was also damaged in Fort McMurray. (Photo: Richard Vassberg)
"I'm just a volunteer," he said.
"But just anything I could do that would help I'd do."
With files from The Canadian Press, Angelyn Francis, Sarah Rieger, Jesse Ferreras and Rhianna Schmunk
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Call it providence, or remarkable coincidence.
An Ontario-based sculptor was commissioned to create a monument to Fort McMurray's firefighters just two weeks before devastating wildfires swept through the northern Alberta city.
Timothy Schmalz was commissioned in mid-April by the Fort McMurray fire department to create a large bronze monument for the city, the artist wrote in a Facebook post. In the first week of May, he returned from a trip to Rome to hear that over 2,400 structures in the city had been destroyed and more than 88,000 people forced to flee their homes.
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"The work, which focuses on the spirituality of the firefighter, will forever be connected to this tragedy for me," Schmalz wrote on Facebook.
"This to me is providential," he added in a comment.
Artwork is created to help people, to tell stories, and I think this is a great story that will forever be showcased in Fort McMurray, the story of the sacrifice, the courage, he told the Edmonton Journal.
Schmalz primarily sculpts religious-themed pieces, but has made monuments to firefighters and soldiers in the past.
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Sculpture inspired by "Fireman's Prayer"
The bronze sculpture will take the shape of a Maltese cross, the international symbol of firefighters.
Inside the cross will be images of firefighters performing heroic acts, like extinguishing flames and saving a baby and an elderly man from a fire.
The cross' centre depicts a lone, kneeling firefighter, presided over by an angel above.
"This to me is providential."
The piece is inspired by the "Fireman's Prayer," which is posted to the Fort McMurray fire department's website.
"Enable me to be alert, and hear the weakest shout, and quickly and efficiently to put the fire out," reads an excerpt from the poem.
Schmalz said he hopes the sculpture will represent Fort McMurray's resiliency.
Hopefully, it will become a symbol of the strength of that community, as well as all of Canada, working to rebuild," the artist told the Toronto Star.
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The finished piece will be installed in the centre of Fort McMurray in September, according to CBC News.
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New Democrats and Conservatives are alleging that a government motion to change how they do their work in the House of Commons is retribution after an embarrassing Liberal fumble this week.
And while both parties say the move is unlike anything seen before, the Liberals maintain they are just trying to get things done.
Late Tuesday, Government House Leader Dominic LeBlancfiled notice of a motion that, if adopted, would let Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet extend sitting hours in the House until a minister or parliamentary secretary decides to adjourn proceedings something that would be "deemed adopted without debate or amendment."
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau congratulates Dominic LeBlanc as he is sworn in as the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Wednesday, November 4, 2015. (Photo: Sean Kilpatrick/CP)
The motion proposes extending the House sitting to June 23, and would also give a minister or parliamentary secretary the power to adjourn the House until September on the spot and with no warning to other parties.
The proposal includes strict time limits on opposition motions and would make it difficult for the opposition to call a snap vote. The powers are temporary, though, and will lapse when Parliament returns from summer break.
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Earlier this week, Liberals were caught napping after opposition parties forced a snap vote on Bill C-10, the Air Canada Public Participation Act. Though Liberals boast a majority, many government MPs weren't in the House at the time. House Speaker Geoff Regan averted disaster for the government by breaking a 139-139 tie.
Now, New Democrats and Tories believe it is payback time.
"What we're seeing today is the total betrayal of Justin Trudeau's promise to be more respectful or open to Parliament." NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair
NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair told reporters Wednesday that the Liberals' gambit was "unprecedented in the history of Canadian Parliament."
"What we're seeing today is the total betrayal of Justin Trudeau's promise to be more respectful or open to Parliament," Mulcair said.
He dismissed the motion as "childish petulance" from Liberals who nearly lost a vote this week and now want to put a "straitjacket" on Parliament.
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NDP House Leader Peter Julian said that "even the Conservatives never went this draconian" in terms of trying to control the debate in the House. He said the motion will take away tools from opposition to debate and express dissatisfaction with the government. It would also prevent the kind of negotiations between parties that Canadians want, he said.
"We're living in a democracy not a dictatorship," Julian said in French.
"This is changing it from having a government and opposition to a government and an audience." Tory House Leader Andrew Scheer
That was much the same message Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer delivered to reporters. He blasted the motion as "vindictive," and the result of the bruised egos of Liberals.
Scheer, a former House Speaker, also called it "unprecedented."
"What's really interesting here is that nothing up to this point has warranted any kind of response about taking away opposition tools," he said, noting that Tories and New Democrats haven't unduly delayed any piece of legislation.
He accused the Liberal majority of "unilaterally disarming" MPs across the aisle.
"This is changing it from having a government and opposition to a government and an audience," Scheer said.
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Opposition exaggerating things: LeBlanc
LeBlanc told reporters that the situation was being exaggerated. The motion, he said, would allow for more debate beyond normal sitting hours something opposition MPs want.
Later, in question period, LeBlanc tried to beat back a claim from Scheer that the prime minister was showing "disdain" for Parliament.
"My friend across the aisle knows very well that what we are seeking to do, in fact, is allow more members of Parliament to speak to ensure that important government legislation can have a full and complete debate in the House," he said.
LeBlanc suggested Scheer was upset he won't be able to "get up in the middle of the day" and try to adjourn the House.
"In no other workplace is it acceptable to arrive at work, pull the fire alarm, and make all of one's colleagues cancel their meetings in committees," LeBlanc said.
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Previous Tory track record
Interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose also accused Trudeau of disrespecting Parliament, treating the opposition as an "audience," and abandoning a campaign pledge not to resort to "legislative tricks."
The prime minister said Liberals seek to extend hours to allow MPs to "contribute thoughtful, responsible interjections on a broad range of topics."
"We knew that the prime minister admired (the) basic Chinese dictatorship but we did not think he would actually emulate it," she said, resurfacing an old gaffe.
Of course, some have already argued Conservative MPs aren't in a place to complain considering the previous government's track record with prorogation including shutting down Parliament to avoid a non-confidence vote in 2009.
Tory MP Michelle Rempel said on Twitter that "even we didn't go this far."
Tbh, even we didn't go this far. This is a govt house leader using draconian methods to be lazy / keep his job. https://t.co/fYKGcFjv4k Michelle Rempel, MP (@MichelleRempel) May 18, 2016
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Rempel also suggested that the move was more about LeBlanc seeking to keep his gig after the close call earlier this week.
"I know I almost made us lose that vote the other day. Can I please keep my job?" https://t.co/zN1JB7Rk0zpic.twitter.com/0awGb02sID Michelle Rempel, MP (@MichelleRempel) May 18, 2016
The new Liberal government has also come under fire in recent weeks for using time allocation motions to shut down debate on government bills.
With files from The Canadian Press
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After a vicious attack caused because he was wearing a dress, one queer man's bloodied face became synonymous with gay bashing in Australia.
Isaac Keatinge, 25, was physically assaulted by three men in April, on his way home from a party. Keatinge told the Sydney Morning Herald that he was targeted because he was wearing a dress, which the men mocked using homophobic and transphobic slurs.
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WARNING: Image below is graphic.
"I was confronted by some straight men who didn't appreciate the gorgeous gown or make-up I was wearing," Keatinge wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post, that accompanied a selfie where he looked severely beaten and sported a black eye. The photo was circulated by various news outlets, such as Buzzfeed and ABC, which reported Keatinge needed 15 stitches after the assault.
After seeing that photo, Heaps Gay, an LGBTQI+ event organization and digital publication, wanted to help Keatinge change the narrative behind his public image.
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New shoot up now on @heapsgay / @pedestriantv featuring the incredible Isaac Keatinge. Make-up by @victoriaforrestermakeup and styling by @hannah__darling @minceylord A photo posted by Bradley Tennant (@bradtennant) on May 15, 2016 at 7:06pm PDT
Heapsgay was inspired by both Keatinge and the "Keep Newtown Weird And Safe" rally, which was ignited by a string of assaults associated with homophobia in Keatinge's area.
Newtown, a neighbourhood in Sydney known for its many queer and transgender residents, experienced an influx of increase assaults which some have attributed to "lock-out laws." The bylaws enacted night curfews in surrounding areas near Newtown, leading those who want to stay outside longer to enter the suburb.
In doing the photo shoot, Keatinge wanted to emphasize that there should be no penalties for wearing any clothing, regardless of one's gender.
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"The rules of gender are so heavily enforced, and I think certain groups of people have an institutionalised idea of reinforcing those norms. Its almost like theres a vested interest in the pecking order," he told Heaps Gay. "But the future is so bright!"
And while Keatinge was thankful for support sent to him after the assault, he was also critical of his nation's role in perpetuating oppression.
"While Australia continues to be ruled by rich white people, and continues to ignore its violent history/present of oppression and dispossession, its hard to have faith in the extended, arbitrary and very imagined community we call Australia," Keatinge said.
Queer, transgender, gender non-conforming and intersex individuals in Australia experience disproportionate amounts of violence than the general population, reports the Australia Human Rights Comission.
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Coming at u # A photo posted by @minceylord on May 3, 2016 at 3:40am PDT
Over 85 per cent of queer, transgender, and intersex Australians have experienced abuse, harassment, and/or violence, reports a New South Wales study.
Although Keatinge wishes he could change what happened to him, he wouldn't do so if it meant he couldn't be himself.
"I would certainly have called an Uber rather then walk to the bus stop, could I change the past," he told Attn. "However, I would not change my appearance, for this would be allowing the gender terrorists to win."
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Dating can be confusing, but one thing is clear and now backed up by research some men typically overestimate how sexually appealing they are to women they've just met.
According to a new study published online in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, men who are in long-term relationships tend to underestimate how much their partner wants to have sex with them. And, as the research notes, this isn't necessarily a bad thing.
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Canadian researchers studied 48 married or cohabiting heterosexual couples between the ages of 23 and 61 from the Greater Toronto Area. Couples were asked to complete surveys each night for 21 consecutive days about their sexual desires and what they perceived to be their partner's sexual desire for them. They were also asked to report on their own sexual satisfaction and sexual frequency in the relationship.
"Theory would suggest that underperception might serve the function of keeping people motivated to entice their partner's interest and avoid becoming complacent."
Some of the results were a bit surprising: although most couples could accurately tell if their partner was in the mood for sex or not, the research indicated that men in relationships typically think that their partners want to have less sex than they actually do.
"We had predicted the underperception bias in established relationships," lead researcher Amy Muise told Medical Daily. "But it is certainly interesting how context (initial encounters versus established relationships) changes the direction of perceptual biases about sexual desire."
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Muise, who's based at the University of Toronto, said that this underperception bias could actually be beneficial to couples, leaving partners more satisfied.
"Theory would suggest that underperception might serve the function of keeping people motivated to entice their partner's interest and avoid becoming complacent," Muise explained. "Specifically the sexual underperception bias may help manage the careful balance between pursuing sexual connection with a partner and avoiding sexual rejection."
"When people were accurate in their perceptions of their partner's high desire, both partners felt more satisfied and committed to the relationship."
She told Broadly, "One possibility is that perhaps when men are under-perceiving, they're much more motivated to do things to entice their partner, make their partner feel good, and express their love and commitment to the relationship. And women are feeling more satisfied and committed as a result."
One of the main takeaways from the study highlights the importance of communication around sexual appetites and desires between couples, regardless of gender.
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"When people were accurate in their perceptions of their partner's high desire, both partners felt more satisfied and committed to the relationship," she said, meaning that even if expressing your mood to your partner doesn't always lead to sex, it can still help boost your satisfaction with the relationship.
It's also important to note that the tendency to underperceive sexual desire isn't gender specific, Muise adds. In fact in most cases, it corresponds to the person who has the higher sex drive.
"The bias occurs in who tends to be more interested in having sex," Muise told Broadly.
"Theoretically, this would help to maintain the relationship overtime, but to have that evidence we would need to follow couples for a longer period of time."
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Saudi Arabia is considering them as it continues to grapple with low oil prices that have, in many ways, been of their own doing, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
Low oil prices have made it more difficult for the kingdom to pay suppliers and contractors, as the resource makes up most of its revenue.
So instead, it's offering contractors payment in the form of "IOUs" that work like government bonds. Contractors could sell them to banks, or hold on to them until their value matures, the news agency said.
This all comes one month after Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman threatened to flood the world with oil, thus tanking prices even further.
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Oil prices have fallen dramatically in the past two years thanks to a boom in production from alternative sources like shale oil, and thanks to an increase in Saudi production in an effort to gain market share over its competitors.
Countries that depend on oil, including OPEC members, have urged the Saudi to cut production, but the country has refused to do so unless other players such as Iran do the same.
Iran, meanwhile, doesn't want to lower its own production because it only recently got back into the oil-exports game after international sanctions were lifted in January.
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The resulting lower prices have taken a toll on countries such as Venezuela, which depend on the resource.
But they have also hurt Saudi Arabia, whose credit rating was downgraded by Moody's in response to "lower growth, higher debt levels and smaller domestic and external buffers that leave the Kingdom less well positioned to weather future shocks," Business Insider reported.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that the kingdom's debt could grow to 33.4 per cent of its GDP by 2020, according to Zero Hedge.
HSBC, meanwhile, has warned that the kingdom faces a "protracted cycle of stagnation and decay" if it can't implement economic reforms.
And it is skeptical of the Saudis' plan to wean themselves off the resource by selling off part of the Saudi state-owned oil company, and using the money to invest: "We can think of no example of an energy rich economy that has successfully reformed itself after decades of commodity dependence," HSBC said, as reported by Business Insider.
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In other words, everyone is feeling the pain including the people who helped to cause it in the first place.
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A group of B.C. tourists have apologized for disturbing a protected area at Yellowstone National Park, but the Internet isn't letting them off easy.
High on Life, a group of four young men who make travel and adventure videos for a living, walked off designated park trails onto Grand Prismatic Spring, the largest hot spring in the United States, according to CTV Vancouver.
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The spring is known for its bright, vivid colours caused by a delicate balance of bacteria.
Aerial view of Grand Prismatic Spring. (Photo: Getty Images)
Charges have been laid by the Wyoming Attorney General's office against three members of the group, according to K2 Radio.
Charles Ryker Gamble, Alexey Andriyovych Lyakh and Justis Cooper Price-Brown have been charged with violating a regulation that requires visitors to stay on designated paths, and for creating a hazardous condition.
The attorney general's office has also issued a warrant for their arrest.
Busted on video
The four guys, known as Ryker, Parker, Alexy, and Justis, walked onto the spring to take pictures and shoot video, ignoring posted signs warning visitors to keep away from the area.
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Another visitor witnessed their venture off-boardwalk and posted video of them walking on the spring to YouTube.
High on Life initially posted photos and videos of their off-path excursion on Facebook, but removed them Sunday.
The group apologized for their stunt in two separate posts and pledged to donate $5,000 to the park.
They said they made an "unfortunate error of leaving the pathway."
"We want to inspire others to go out and explore this vast land, to treat nature and our world with love and respect and to remind everyone watching to never take the wonders in their backyard for granted," they said.
"This is what we stand for, this is who we are, with the purest of intentions we managed to screw up."
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But comments on the post remained critical. Several said the group willfully ignored posted signs and pamphlets distributed by the park, which explain that leaving the path is illegal and dangerous.
Others called the men an "embarrassment" to Canada.
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One person criticized the group for pledging a dollar for every photo shared with the hashtag #donationforYellowstone, rather than donating the money outright.
In wake of the public backlash, the group removed a page from their website that lists their sponsors
Earlier this week, the park made headlines after Canadian tourists from Quebec ignored warnings to not approach wildlife and put a bison calf in their car because it looked cold. The calf was later euthanized.
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As Canadas Liberal government pushes forward with a controversial $15-billion arms export deal with Saudi Arabia, a spokesperson for Swedens government says cancelling its own Saudi arms deal didnt hurt the country.
We have not experienced any economic effects due to [the cancellation] and our bilateral relations with Saudi Arabia are good, Swedish foreign ministry spokesperson Anna Ekberg told the Globe and Mail.
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Swedens own arms and training contract with Saudi Arabia was smaller than the proposed Canadian deal. According to the Financial Times, the Swedish deal was worth some C$750 million between 2011 and 2014.
Still, Swedens experience stands in contrast to Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dions claims that cancelling the Canadian deal would negatively impact Canadian trade.
Dion said last month that the Saudis reaction to Swedens cancellation was very harsh. Saudi Arabia reacted in a way that cut many things.
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Sweden failed to renew its deal with the Saudis in March, 2015, after Saudi Arabia blocked Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom from giving a speech at the Arab League. Wallstrom had been critical of sharia law and of Saudi Arabias flogging of blogger Raif Badawi.
Calling Wallstroms comments "offensive" and a "blatant interference in ... internal affairs, Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador and suspended business visas for Swedes.
But the Globe reports that within weeks, relations had been normalized. Wallstrom struck a more conciliatory note, saying she wanted to clear up the misunderstanding that we have insulted the religion of Islam, but did not apologize for her criticisms.
According to data obtained by the newspaper, only one specific sector of Sweden's economy arms exports suffered as a result of the cancellation. Though trade between Sweden and Saudi Arabia declined last year, it also did so the year before, making it difficult to tell if the deal's cancellation played much of a role in that.
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The federal Liberals have taken heavy criticism for their decision to go forward with the arms deal that the previous Conservative government struck in February, 2014.
The $15-billion contract for a fleet of armoured vehicles is expected to create 3,000 jobs in southern Ontario, where the vehicles will be produced by General Dynamics Land System.
Though polls show that only one-fifth of Canadians back the arms deal and nearly half oppose it, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has argued its a matter of principle.
"The principle at play here is that Canada's word needs to mean something in the international community," Trudeau said last month.
Asked last month if there were any countries that would be disqualified from trading with Canada over their human rights record, Trudeau would not answer, saying only that Canada has a nuanced position on trade, and engages with adversaries such as Iran.
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Disclaimer: this is not real menstrual blood (paint). (Photo: Aya Al-Hakim)
Many believe that menstruation is a hassle that needs to be dealt with. It is that time of the month where women become demonic PMSing women, confusing the men and devouring chocolate. But underneath that silly over-consumed image there is a suppressed spiritual potential that needs to be brought to light.
A woman's reproductive cycle lasts an average of 29.5 days, which is the same length as the lunar cycle. This means that a woman's body is deeply connected to the rhythm of the cosmos. Just like the earth, women's reproductive cycle embodies the cycle of life, death and rebirth, which everything and everyone is subjected to.
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Once women realize their body works in harmony with the universe, menstruation is no longer experienced passively, as if it is something we should simply endure. Rather it becomes a time where women actively observe how their bleeding affects and transforms their behaviour, thoughts and intuition.
Religions have been a strong influence in alienating women from their own bodies by enforcing the belief that menstruating women are unclean and spiritually inferior.
The dominant view in Western culture
Unfortunately, in mainstream Western culture "menstrual blood is not seen, smelled, touched or discussed" (Elizabeth Low Webster Shillington, The Moon in her Womb) for the purpose of soul growth. In Western culture, the dominating monotheistic religions have been a strong influence in alienating women from their own bodies by enforcing the belief that menstruating women are unclean and spiritually inferior.
Judaism, Christianity and Islam view menstruation as a punishment from God that resulted after Eve took a bite from the apple. It is a punishment for being initiated into womanhood. At the first drop of blood, young girls become embodied sexual beings that need to be controlled, where a woman's bold expressions of eroticism is suppressed.
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In the Christian and Jewish tradition, the book of Leviticus states that, "When a woman has a discharge of blood which is her regular discharge from her body, she shall be in her impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening... And if any man lies with her, and her impurity is on him, he shall be unclean for seven days; and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean" (Leviticus 15:19, 24).
Writer and feminist Elizabeth L. W Shillington says that the Judeo-Christian view of menstruating women as unclean and impure is largely derived from the book of Leviticus. The holy book considers the blood of a menstruating woman to be polluting. For that reason, men who engage in sexual intercourse with a menstruating woman end up sharing the status of being unclean and spiritually inferior.
Menstruating women as a 'threat to holiness'
The Qur'an shares the same sentiment, where it states, "They question thee (O Muhammad) concerning menstruation. Say it is an illness, so let women alone at such times and go not into them till they are cleansed. And when they have purified themselves, then go in unto them as Allah hath enjoined upon you" (Qur'an 2:222). Some translate the verse by saying that "it [menstruation] is an Adha," (a painful or harmful thing for women) or a pollution.
Menstruating Muslim women are considered to be a "threat to holiness" (Elizabeth M. Whelan, Attitudes towards Menstruation). They are not allowed to visit holy places, such as a mosque or to fast in the month of Ramadan. A woman is also forbidden from having sex "for at least seven full days after the flow begins and is considered unclean until she completes a ritual washing" (M. Whelan).
According to the Jewish practice of niddah (separation), Orthodox Jewish women who are menstruating are also not allowed to have any sexual contact with their husbands. M. Whelan says, a woman in the Jewish tradition is considered unclean "just prior to the menstrual flow, during the bleeding itself, and for seven full days after the end of the flow at which she needs to take a ritual bath to reclaim her marital cleanliness."
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Empowerment
It is worth noting that not all Muslims, Jews or Christians abide by these laws and practices. Some would even argue that the Islamic, Christian and Jewish regulations of a woman's period are empowering. Women in their time of bleeding are given the space to be more intimate with their bodies, gaining more sexual control in their marriages and helping to strengthen a non-sexual communication with their husbands (L. W. Shillington).
However, that doesn't change the fact that menstruating women in the monotheistic traditions are viewed to be impure and incapable of holiness, creating a legacy of shame, silence and alienation. For that reason, Shillington says many spiritual feminists have embraced their menstrual blood to liberate themselves from what the patriarchy believe to be holy or mundane. Many spiritual feminists have done so by "aligning themselves with the natural processes of the earth."
Menstruation and eroticism
I grew up in an Arab country. Getting my period meant that I was no longer a kid. It meant that I, and other girls, should be more careful around boys and that my body was officially a seducing piece of meat. The experience of bleeding didn't belong to me, but to the men around me.
Years later, I came to view menstruation as one of the many expressions of the erotic that has been abused and vilified. As feminist and civil rights activist Audre Lorde says, the erotic is "to be the personification of love in all its aspects... and personifying creative power and harmony." It is considered "a source of power and information within our lives" (The Uses of the Erotic).
In embracing the experience of menstruation, I noticed that my practice of meditation grew more powerful around that time of the month. I realized that my sudden outbursts of emotions weren't just hormonal, but an exorcism of repressed feelings -- healing.
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The flow of feelings and blood opened new doors of creative inspiration, so I wrote better. I was more sensitive to my surroundings and my inner worlds, sensing the movements of Eros in the womb.
To conclude, it is essential to break the silence and the legacy of menstrual shame by sharing our stories, discussing our menstrual blood, as it is something that belongs to us women. It doesn't make us any less spiritual. Whether we follow a religion or not, we must resist the patriarchal influences that aim to corrupt our sources of creative and erotic power.
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ASSOCIATED PRESS Sri Lankan landslide survivors walk through the mud after a landslide in Elangipitiya village in Aranayaka about 72 kilometers (45 miles) north east of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Soldiers and police used sticks and bare hands Wednesday to dig through enormous piles of mud covering houses in three villages hit by massive landslides in central Sri Lanka, with hundreds of families reported missing. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
By Susan Johnson
This post is the fifth of a seven-part series on the themes of the High-Level Leaders' Roundtables at the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit, to be held May 23-24 in Istanbul, Turkey.
When Canada's Development Minister Bibeau joins with world leaders in Istanbul later in May for the World Humanitarian Summit, she will have a lot of very critical issues to consider.
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One of the leaders' High-Level Round Tables, entitled "Managing Risks and Crises Differently," will focus on disasters, climate change and community resilience.
Why would this be on the agenda?
Two simple reasons:
First, still too many people are in harm's way when disasters strike. In the 20 years between 1995 and 2015, 90 per cent of recorded major disasters caused by natural hazards were linked to climate and weather including floods, storms, heat waves and droughts. Since the first UN Climate Change Conference in 1995, more than 600,000 people have lost their lives in these kinds of tragic events, and more than four billion people have been injured, left homeless or in need of emergency assistance as a result of weather-related disasters.
Second, we know that many of these deaths and injuries are preventable with simple community level investments. In the past twenty years there have been several studies -- by the World Bank, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and several insurance companies -- which have demonstrated time and again that investing before disasters happen to get communities ready to cope with disasters is much more cost-effective than waiting for disasters to happen.
Yet investments in disaster risk reduction remain a low priority for governments and public campaigns to raise money for preparedness usually fall far short of meeting needs.
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So, to address these issues governments will be asked to make four important commitments:
To invest in data, analysis and early warning of natural disaster and climate change risks to improve understanding, anticipation and early action;
To reinforce the management of natural disaster and climate change risks by enabling national and local leadership, taking a more collective, longer-term approach and focusing, in particular, on strengthening preparedness and predictable response arrangements;
To build community resilience as a critical first line of response; and
To ensure regional and global humanitarian assistance for natural disasters complements national and local efforts.
Climate change will no doubt mean more and more communities will be at risk.
Through these commitments governments are asked to make a couple of important shifts: first, to recognize and invest in local organizations, and second, to invest before disaster strikes. Both of these are eminently sensible.
From our many years of experience here in Canada and internationally, we know that when disaster strikes it is local people -- our neighbours -- who are the first to respond. When they are overwhelmed it is important to have reinforcement from other communities -- be they nearby or across the world. Making these WHS commitments comes at a perfect moment for Canada. The Minister is expected to launch our own government's Development Framework Review in May also. The WHS menu of commitments will give government officials and the Canadian humanitarian and development communities a strong set of aspirational yet very achievable goals that can be woven into Canada's approach to development assistance.
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Canada has, once again, the opportunity to be a world leader in forward-thinking and concrete actions that will translate into making communities safer. Climate change will no doubt mean more and more communities will be at risk. Strong commitments to invest in resilience, preparedness and response capacities -- all of which will reduce the impact on the most vulnerable -- are vital.
Susan Johnson is Deputy Secretary General and Senior Vice President at the Canadian Red Cross.
This blog series on the World Humanitarian Summit was convened by the Canadian Council for International Co-operation. The views expressed in each blog are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the positions of CCIC, its members, or other participating organizations.
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Eco Images via Getty Images These environmental refugees are among the most disadvantaged people in the world.
I remember when I first witnessed extreme poverty. While my parents immigrated to Canada in the early 70's, the struggles we went through to survive in our new home paled in comparison to my first trip to Haiti in 1986. It was there where I truly understood the disparities of poverty between Canada and the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.
At the time I visited the country was undergoing a revolution, with dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier's flight from Haiti. His dictatorship brought about years of brutal suppression of the country's masses, creating a military state that did little to develop economic welfare for its people.
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Perhaps the devastating effects of the Haitian Earthquake on January 12, 2010 was a blessing in disguise. The government estimates 223,000 were killed and over 2.3 million people displaced including over 300,000 children. But as a result of that earthquake, over $17B in international aid has been allocated to Haiti until 2020. It has taken its form in improving the local water supply, reconstructing shelters and homes, providing tools and seeds to enable subsistence farming, and instituting literary programs for women - all to enable sustainable development.
Why do we need an event of such devastation to scream for the world's help when tragedies occur everyday in countries such as Haiti?
The World Economic Forum's (WEF) Goal to Eradicate Poverty by 2030
The chart below shows significant progress in eliminating extreme poverty rates by 50% in 30 years, but there is still significant work to be done. The Sustainable Development Goals outlined by the WEF seeks to apply to all nations and "leave no one behind".
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However, the dooming impact of climate change, world economic instability and the futile dependence on oil are among the few factors stalling progress.
There are many stories of hope despite these setbacks.
I know of two organizations that continue to persevere despite the challenges each face.
4Africa.no is an NGO with a mission to "achieve short-term and lasting change in the lives of impoverished HIV/AIDS positive women in Uganda by creating long-term profitable value chains through local production."
In the slums of Kampala alone, the conditions are devastating:
There are high numbers of orphans and widows due to the HIV scourge who struggle for survival through doing odd jobs I .e prostitution which risks them to contracting HIV. They face public isolation due to their social sphere. Many of the residents are illiterate and providing adequate information about HIV/AIDS prevention is challenging.
In 2011, three Norwegian women, Elin Zenker Aune, Line Svingen and Mona Rege, founded the organisation 4Africa as a result of the above and many other untold conditions in the region.
One of the pre-eminent goals of economic sustainability is improving gender equality. In many developing nations, women are still underrepresented in positions of power. They continue to receive unequal pay for equal work and are quite often targets of sexual and physical abuse. Women-owned enterprises face economic and legal disadvantages and continue to struggle for opportunities.
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4Africa has succeeded in mitigating some of these barriers. By developing a facility in Mutungo, Kampala, 40-50 women are trained to create "high quality branded handcrafted products (crochet, knitting and jewellery). The products are primarily sold to high end/fair trade outlets in East Africa, Norway and the UK. Ladies also receive the much needed education in budgeting and business management.
While improving their welfare, 4Africa is also empowering these women to succeed and self-sustain. In the process the organization is making significant strides by instilling in these women a stronger degree of self confidence and dignity by making available:
increased predictable income
a saving scheme to boost development and sustainability
continued education for their children
increased access to health and HIV/AIDS information
development of local community support through socialization
A key objective has been to build the organization to sustainability by 2017/18. It seems they are well on their way.
RayJon Share Care (RJSC) a long-standing community development organization established in Sarnia, Ontario, began its journey in 1985. The experiences of Rayjon founders, Ray Wyrzykowski and John Barnfield in their first visit to Haiti, became the impetus to create opportunities for others to share their experiences.
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My own experience through RJSC began here. Like many of my classmates and friends who immersed themselves in the experience of Haiti and its people, the profound effect it had on each of our lives gave us opportunities to share our stories and to perpetuate the mission for others.
For Jon Barnfield and Ray Wyrzykowski, the experiences morphed into other opportunities. With their focus on Haiti and Dominican Republic, they hired 2 Canadian field staff to support the day-to-day running of 3 rural schools in Hut de St. Marc, Haiti. This also led to establishment of rural women's groups for preventative care. Local women who were trained to give vaccines began to organize their own vaccine posts. Here was one incredible result:
Now, Measles, once the #1 killer of children under 5, has been eradicated in Haiti.
Since then RJSC worked with local community groups to construct a 6-bedroom clinic, which continues to operate to this day and which has achieved "rural hospital status".
CIDA also contributed funding by way of $500,000 annually which allowed RJSC to employ teachers, health care and women-in-development personnel in the region. Since the height of the earthquake in Haiti, RJSC has gone through dramatic changes, receiving less funding from CIDA. With fewer resources, Jon Barnfield notes,
We are moving away from Rayjon having its own organization in St. Marc (RSCH) and looking for partners, both government and non-government, who can take on the leadership of Community Development in the region. This, we are finding, is a slow process but one we are willing to support for at least the next 10 years.
They say "it takes a village to raise a child."
From these examples, it takes only a few passionate people to raise a village. I'm privileged to have been introduced to the founders of 4Africa and RSCH. The war on poverty is unrelenting. The coming decades will continue to challenge each of us.
Bloomberg via Getty Images Justin Trudeau, Canada's prime minister, stands for a photograph after an interview in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Wednesday, March 2, 2016. Trudeau said money will be provided to Federation of Canadian Municipalities 'to help our cities and towns in responding to pressing climate change challenges.' Photographer: Ben Nelms/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Trudeau government announced a new ministerial panel with a mandate to review Kinder Morgan's proposal to build a new, export-only crude oil pipeline from Alberta to Burnaby. Wait -- a new panel? But what about the National Energy Board? Isn't the NEB panel set to give the thumbs up to Kinder Morgan this Friday?
Don't worry, there's nothing much going on here. Just a mini-sham consultation process designed to give the Liberal government political cover as it decides how to best sell this pipeline to the public. To see through this smokescreen, the important thing to remember is that cabinet will still be making the final decision on whether the project goes ahead.
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Only Prime Minister Justin Trudeau can stop Kinder Morgan, and British Columbians need to make sure he gets that message loud and clear.
Kinder Morgan's project would see one super tanker per day passing though Vancouver Harbour and a pipeline as big as the Skytrain.
Just in case you missed it, Texas-based Kinder Morgan wants to build a new pipeline through B.C. to export nearly one million barrels of diluted bitumen per day to China and other countries. This isn't the Northern Gateway pipeline proposed by Enbridge, but a different proposal along a different route right through the Lower Mainland.
If built, Kinder Morgan's project would see one super tanker per day passing though Vancouver Harbour and a pipeline as big as the Skytrain running through densely packed residential neigbourhoods and the traditional territories of dozens of First Nations.
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The National Energy Board will table its official review of the new pipeline this Friday. After being gutted by Stephen Harper, Justin Trudeau promised during the election that the Liberals would overhaul the NEB review process. But since then, it's been nothing but business as usual from the new Liberal government. In fact, the NEB is still using Harper's unfair rules and Harper's hand-picked appointees.
Demonstrators hold signs while protesting against the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline on Burnaby Mountain in Burnaby, British Columbia November 17, 2014. (Photo: REUTERS/Ben Nelms)
Opposition to Kinder Morgan continues to grow across the province.
Tens of thousands of those living in Metro Vancouver don't want to see their Harbour turned into one of the word's largest oil-exporting ports. With 40,000 barrels having already leaked from Kinder Morgan's current pipeline, my constituents in Burnaby are worried about the risk of another on-land spill.
Premier Christy Clark; Opposition leader John Horgan; First Nations leaders such as Grand Chief Stewart Phillip; Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson; Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan; labour unions and environmental organizations have all expressed opposition to the Kinder Morgan pipeline.
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They oppose the project because it is a bad deal for B.C. Because we face all of the risks but get none of the benefits. Because the pipeline will be built by temporary foreign workers.
They oppose it to protect our environment. To protect their neighbourhoods. To protect the integrity of Indigenous lands.
The public shouldn't be fooled by thinking the new fig-leaf panel has any power to do anything. It doesn't. It will wander around various communities, ask some questions and then produce a report for Cabinet. The report will be stern and the panel will say it heard a lot of opinions.
But in the end, it will be Trudeau who decides. This "new" consultation is just a fog to give the government some cover after they broke their promise to overhaul the National Energy Board review process. Those who were shut out of the NEB's official review by Harper won't be brought back in any meaningful way. Don't expect any funding for participants.
Don't forget, way back in January 2014 Trudeau said about Kinder Morgan, "I certainly hope that we're going to be able to get that pipeline approved." Unless we make things uncomfortable for him politically, the prime minister will force this pipeline through our communities against our will -- the public's will.
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To join the campaign against Kinder Morgan, send a message to Trudeau at NoPublicNoPipeline.ca.
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Lawyers like me don't often come across cases that impact the world. Such opportunities are incredibly rare, but every once in a while we end up taking a case that represents much more than the sum of its legal parts.
I became the lead defence counsel for several men of Libyan origin who were disappeared by the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) State Security Service (SSS) in 2014. I knew at the time that our position was a just one, but I didn't realize how much the fate of my clients would impact the conduct and reputation of nations.
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Our case is a daunting one. I lead a team of international defence lawyers in defence of one Canadian-Libyan, 45-year-old Salim Alaradi, along with two U.S.-Libyan nationals, Kamal and Mohamed Eldarat, who were all essentially subjected to enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention when they were locked up by the SSS in secret prisons for several months.
Nobody knew where these men were and why they were taken, other than that all had lived in the UAE and had strong ties there. After 16 months of waiting, our clients were brought before the UAE Supreme Court under allegations that they provided material support for Libyan groups described as terrorist organizations. This was a preposterous allegation. None of these men have any ties to terrorism and are well-known businessmen with long records of international commerce and philanthropy.
We were convinced that the Supreme Court would rule on our side and acquit them, especially when we discovered that the prosecution had built its case almost exclusively on fabricated evidence obtained through torture. Our resolve was further strengthened when in March the court had ordered the release of several other Libyan men who were locked up for similar reasons.
In fact, these innocent men were subject to numerous methods of torment by SSS, including electric shocks and beatings. Their families, upon hearing such news, decided admirably to not politicize this case in a way that would overshadow our main call for the court to recognize basic human dignity.
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Tireless campaigning by family members and other advocates has resulted in global awareness of this case, prompting organizations and bodies like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the UN Human Rights Council to issue explicit condemnations against the UAE SSS's inhumane behaviour. This international exposure, which includes coverage by just about every mainstream media outlet one can think of, has certainly gotten the prosecution's attention.
Salim Alaradi appears in a photo provided by members of his family. (Photo: Free Salim)
During the home stretch of our trial before the UAE Supreme Court, right when we could smell the victory of justice, the prosecution decided to pull a legal stunt that made a true mockery of its own position. They decided to drop the terrorism allegations and to instead pin our clients with charges that were much less serious.
This shift in legal strategy showed just how preposterous the prosecution's case truly is. We had to rebuild our defence accordingly, but later discovered that the prosecution offered zero evidence to back up their claims. Literally nothing. This means we're left to argue against an empty-handed prosecution before the highest court in the country -- a truly bizarre situation.
On the flip side, our defence has only gotten stronger. We've acquired affidavits and testimonies from important Libyan officials, including the country's attorney general; the former president of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC); the defence, interior and local government ministers; along with numerous mayors -- all of whom maintain that Salim, Kamal and Mohamed did nothing wrong.
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Even Libya's chamber of commerce and the Red Cross, along with numerous other relief organizations, have spoken out on our behalf, noting our clients' support for their work during Libya's post-revolution chaos.
Our incredible legal team, made up of leading lawyers from the UAE, U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, Switzerland and Libya presented our final defence last month. The verdict will be read on May 30 and the decision will be final, with no opportunity to appeal. We are cautiously optimistic and hope that this nightmare for our clients and their families will end with justice.
The whole process has been distressing and draining, and I've tried to keep silent as the leader of our defence team. It's been tough, having witnessed the kind of pain and trauma that such a blatant violation of basic human dignity inflicts. It's time for this dark episode to come to a close and for Salim, Kamal and Mohamed to be reunited with their families.
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The Queen's Speech in 2015 was the first of this Conservative Majority Government. A proud Yorkshire lass on loan to London at the time, I was blessed enough to be in Parliament on the day and I can still clearly remember the buzz of anticipation in the place.
I was proud to stand as a Conservative Party Parliamentary Candidate during the 2015 General Election, knowing I was standing representing a Party that was putting support for working families, a passion for increasing the life chances of the most disadvantaged and investment in the North at the heart of its platform. Therefore I, like many, was keen to hear in the Queen's Speech in 2015 how the Government would take this forward now it had a clear mandate from the British public.
It did not disappoint. Pledges to push apprenticeships, cut tax and support small business; mixed with the expansion of the Troubled Families programme, the expansion of free childcare and measures to improve education proved to me and many others that this Government was taking its duty towards helping families, towards tackling the root causes of poverty and towards investing in our local communities seriously.
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On the day of the Queen's Speech last year, a friend and I started a conversation on Twitter. We were letting off steam about how we are often wrongly stereotyped as being extremely well off because we are Conservatives. The public responded in their thousands telling similar stories. Nurses, teachers, former coal miners and many others joined in to declare publicly why they are Conservatives. 24 hours later #WorkingClassTories was trending at number one on Twitter in the United Kingdom. The so-called 'quiet Tories', who had been labeled as such during the General Election, were quiet no more. After the Queen's Speech last year, the nation stood up and took notice of this new Conservative Majority Government and threw its weight behind it.
Now working back in my home county of Yorkshire, this year I had to wait until my break to catch up on the Queen's Speech on my phone.
Though I was watching it in a different location under different circumstances, today's Queen's Speech was no different in signaling the Government's intent to carry on with the same agenda of opportunity, aspiration and support for everyone, no matter what their background or current situation.
Today the Government made it clear it will continue in its all-out assault on poverty, its work to increase the life chances of many and its push to help people save for the future; along with much needed reforms to prisons, expansion of access to high speed broadband and further development of the Northern Powerhouse.
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It has been an interesting few months politically, there is no doubt. However this speech was a signal that, whatever may come, this is a Government committed to building a strong economy, investing in our communities and supporting people of all ages. A Government committed to opportunity, aspiration and increasing life chances for all.
In an article I wrote after last year's Queen's Speech, I spoke about how Conservatism is not about pushing things down to people; it is about giving them a hand up whilst still protecting those who do need it most. I still stand by this today and I am glad the Government is too.
On Monday the lifelong Brexiteer Daniel Hannan, who also sits on Vote Leave's campaign committee, made a typically thoughtful intervention, in a video uploaded to his YouTube account. In so doing he also demolished two central planks of Vote Leave's campaign, saying he believes the UK should accept the free movement of people and pay into the EU budget, adopting a similar model to EFTA members Switzerland or Norway. Daniel also admitted the UK would have to accept much EU regulation while losing any influence over rules that will continue to affect British businesses, should we vote to leave.
While Daniel was busy contradicting their core arguments, Vote Leave were advocating that UK firms exporting to the EU should be hit with tariffs by adopting a similar model to the United States. Within the course of a single afternoon, the Brexiteers had proposed three different alternative models for the UK. Each had one thing in common, they would all be deeply damaging to the British economy and lead to fewer jobs, less investment and lower growth.
A Swiss-style EFTA agreement would mean only partial access to the single market, crucially excluding financial services, and would take up to a decade to negotiate meaning years of damaging uncertainty. Both Norway and Switzerland abide by EU rules without any say over them, pay into the EU budget and accept the free movement of people. This would be a huge loss of sovereignty. We would be giving up our influence in Europe for almost nothing in return.
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Meanwhile trading under WTO rules, as Vote Leave are now advocating, would mean hammering UK businesses exporting to the EU with tariffs of 10% for cars, 12% for clothing and 40% for lamb. This would be the worst of all options, crippling for the thousands of businesses and investors who rely on the UK's membership of the EU single market. Treasury analysis shows adopting this model would hit the UK economy to the tune of 5,200 a year for the average household and lead to a black hole in the public finances of 45 billion. This would dwarf the small savings from leaving the EU and decimate public services including the NHS.
Daniel Hannan and other leading Vote Leave figures are of course entitled to their views. But they owe it to the British people to at least agree on the very basics of what their vision is for Britain outside the EU. To add to the general confusion, Boris Johnson has also wrongly claimed that outside of the EU, British supermarkets would be free from [non-existent] restrictions that stop them selling bananas in bunches of more than two or three.
Across the United Kingdom, communities, organisations, supporters, carers, families and stroke survivors are joining the Stroke Association as we celebrate our fifth annual awareness month, now known as Make May Purple for stroke. All manner of things have been lit up, dressed up, painted, planted and baked purple for stroke (#MakeMayPurple). Everyone's doing a brilliant job helping to raise awareness of this devastating condition and our charity's work.
While it's great to see so many people coming together and having fun, there's also the serious side of stroke. It's a devastating condition that strikes in an instant, but its effects can last a lifetime. Today (17 May), the Stroke Association is launching our latest campaign, A New Era for Stroke, which calls on the Government to commit to a new National Stroke Strategy for England. The current strategy ends in 2017 (stroke strategies for the other UK nations will end over the next few years).
Ten years ago, we were developing our campaign for the first ever National Stroke Strategy, and that success saw many great achievements in the way stroke is treated. Prior to that, stroke was viewed across the board, including by health professionals, as a sad, but inevitable part of the ageing process and was considered largely untreatable. Thankfully, developments in stroke treatment and life-changing support for survivors through medicine, research and technology have positively transformed outcomes for stroke patients today. While much progress has been made in the way stroke is treated in hospital, the level of care some stroke survivors receive when they return home falls shamefully short of what they should be getting.
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The Stroke Association surveyed over 1,100 stroke survivors in England earlier this year and found that while many people received first class care and support in hospital, this did not carry through on their return home. Almost half (45%) of stroke survivors told us they felt abandoned following their discharge from hospital. These findings are deeply concerning and serve as a stark reminder that, while we have made major strides in the way we treat stroke, we now need to ensure that stroke survivors are given the support they need to have a life after stroke.
With the National Stroke Strategy coming to an end in 2017 (and actually, already sadly archived on the Department of Health Website), and with the Government telling MPs they have no plans to create a new one, we have nothing in place to safeguard the progress we've made. This will jeopardise stroke survivors' recoveries and could put lives at risk.
Without a national strategy, stroke survivors will, as our survey shows, continue to miss out on the therapy and support they desperately need to cope with the physical, mental and emotional impact of stroke. Good support following discharge from hospital makes all the difference to a person's recovery. It can help a stroke survivor take their first steps, and re-learn how to speak. We also know that stroke survivors are more likely to make a much better recovery and regain their independence if they have access to therapies, such as physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and occupational therapy.
But stroke survivors have told us that they have to wait weeks - and in some cases months - for the support and therapy they need to rebuild their lives. For too many people, their support comes too late, it stops too soon, or they don't have access to the range of therapies they need.
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The current National Stroke Strategy for stroke, which evolved largely from our campaigning activity and the launch of our 2005 manifesto, provided long overdue national leadership and ring-fenced funding for stroke. A central part of the strategy was the creation of specialist stroke units (Hyper Acute Stroke Units) in hospitals, where stroke experts, such as consultants, nurses, physiotherapists and speech and language therapists, were brought together under one roof. Ambitious targets for the rapid assessment and treatment of stroke patients were also set.
This reorganisation of acute care over the past 16 years means that today, stroke is treated as a medical emergency. More people are treated in specialist stroke units after arriving at hospital, and get rapid access to brain scans and treatment, such as clot busting drugs. There's also better public and professional awareness of stroke, thanks to national advertising campaigns, such as FAST.
Sadly, as our survey clearly shows, these improvements have not carried through to the support stroke survivors need when they return home. This is preventing people from leading full, independent lives, and is increasing the risk of avoidable readmissions to hospital. We know that there are people out there doing great work across health and social care - people who really understand the physical and emotional shockwaves that stroke can bring. But this must become the norm, not a privilege, for stroke survivors. They must be supported throughout their recovery - from hospital to home.
A gentleman I spoke to recently summed it up best in a most heart breaking yet powerful way: "The difference between getting and not getting the support you need after a stroke is the difference between living and existing." This is not acceptable. No one plans for a stroke, but the Government can, and should, ensure that the right care and support is there when people need it most.
To make this a reality, we urgently need the British public to get behind our campaign. As part of A New Era for Stroke, we've launched a petition, which calls on the Government to commit to a new stroke strategy. With the scale of disability, long-term illness and premature death caused by stroke predicted to more than double by 2030 globally, obesity and diabetes rates rising at unprecedented levels, and a rapidly ageing population, a renewed national focus on stroke is vital to build on the achievements of the national stroke strategy. The voices of stroke survivors are too powerful to ignore. The Government must act now and bring in a new era for stroke.
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The Sun's notorious "QUEEN BACKS BREXIT" headline was published on 9 March. The Queen's complaint was made on the same day. Some 10 weeks later Ipso has published its adjudication despite claiming on its website to offer a "speedy resolution" to complaints.
The newspaper's defence was that "readers would have known that the headline referred to no more than a claim that the Queen backs Brexit. The text of the article set out the basis of that claim: the accounts of the pound in Eurosceptic views said to have been expressed by the Queen on two previous occasions." Ipso's response to this was that "it did not follow from the comments the article reported that the Queen wanted the UK to leave the EU as a result of the referendum: that suggestion was conjecture and the Committee noted that none of those quoted in the story were reported as making such claim."
The Queen was badly advised in complaining both about the headline and the body of the article; there being no prospect whatsoever of a successful Ipso complaint about the article itself given the Sun's untested claims that it has a small army of anonymous . However the success of her complaint pursuing the headline was emphatic, and the response of The Sun's editor to the adjudication on this morning's Today programme was just as distorted and misleading as the headline itself.
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Tony Gallagher, who confirmed that he had personally approved the misleading headline, was unrepentant: "Oh, I don't accept that we made an error at all. We made a judgement that the headline was right and that it was backed up by the story". The headline was however blindingly obviously not supported by the "story" - as Ipso was bound to find.
He also disingenuously criticised the Ipso adjudication as finding against The Sun despite the fact that the top of the front page bearing the offending headline had been the apparently qualifying words; "BOMBSHELL CLAIM". This is what he said; "...the headline is only misleading if you exclude the words "bombshell claim over Europe votes" which were in capital letters on the front page." Ipso had however dealt with that argument by effectively saying that the "BOMBSHELL CLAIM" was one being made by The Sun itself, rather than any of its sources.
Mr Gallagher went on spinning against the adjudication; "I can assure you we were left in no doubt that the Queen backed leaving the European Union". When asked why he did not put that in the body of the article he said; "...self evidently, we were unable to compromise the people that told us that." This is nonsense. Mr Gallagher and his paper can perfectly well quote anonymous sources he claims justified the Sun's "BOMBSHELL CLAIM" - as it did a number of other "highly reliable sources" which The Sun elected not to name. Why could it not attribute to one of those sources words from the Queen's mouth to support the claim made in the headline?
The Ipso Code says that the corrections must be published with "due prominence" which must as a matter of rudimentary logic mean that is proportionate to the offending publication. As a PCC chairman said to the culture, media and sport select committee, any other interpretation would be "ridiculous". The offending headline was 360 cm2, whereas the area covered by the correction was 29cm, which is 8% of the size of the offending headline. The front page of The Sun which carries the Ipso correction has by contrast a headline about Boris Johnson's wife in letters which are 45mm in height whereas the notification of the Ipso ruling at the foot of the page is published in letters a mere 12mm in height.
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The lettering of the "BOMBSHELL CLAIM" that the "QUEEN BACKS BREXIT" headline was 2 inches high. The means that it can easily be read from a distance of 25feet; though since it was also published in capital letters the headline will probably be readily readable from at least 30feet. Lettering of that size is generally readable from a distance of 75feet - but probably 100feet for capital letters. That means that a substantial proportion of the publication of the UK will have read the headline just from having passed within 100feet of the hard copy of the paper. Only a tiny proportion those people will see the box at the bottom of the front page.
Millions of people read a front page story who would never buy the newspaper. Front pages are read and shown on both the late evening news broadcast news programmes, and in the morning news when the newspapers were being reviewed. They turn up on news aggregation websites, aggregator apps, Twitter, Facebook etc. That will mean that the "QUEEN BACKS BREXIT" headline will have been read by a very substantial proportion of those eligible to vote in the EU referendum.
So an effective regulator must ensure that front page breaches of the Code are corrected on the front page. If they are corrected anywhere else, or if they are merely trailed on the front page (especially in a small box at the foot of the front page) then for 99% of those who read the Code-infringing article they have derived no benefit from IPSO's adjudication; and nor has the complainant. The Sun was also plainly not told to transmit the correction to its 1.12million Twitter followers.
Natalie Bennett only announced her intention not to restand for the Green Party leadership again this August, but inevitably, the speculation about who would take over has already begun.
With that in mind, let's look at some of the runners and riders for the next leadership ballot:
1. Caroline Lucas
Obviously, the figure many are calling to stand for leadership is the most well-known both within the party and among the public. Lucas was leader between 2008 and 2012, elected twice and taking the Green Party to a new peak - in that time she became the party's first MP, for Brighton Pavilion in 2010, and both membership and public profile of both Lucas and the party grew significantly. In 2012, she announced her intention not to restand in a Guardian article - arguing now that she had a national profile it was time to clear space for a less prominent figure to emerge.
However, Lucas has so far refused to rule out re-standing this time - which in the world of politics suggests it is very much a possibility. A contest with Caroline is not something relished by potential competitors, and would widely be seen as a (potentially welcome) de facto coronation.
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But she may be waiting to see who else stands before she throws her hat in the ring - particularly if her fears about the party being seen as a one-person-show persist. There is a view that she would only stand if it seemed necessary given the state of the race. Lucas now has significant Parliamentary experience, and her focus on progressive alliance-building would make her a strong figure to work with a left-wing Labour Party.
One thing so-far ignored about the prospect of Lucas' entrance in to the race is that Green Party rules allow for a co-leadership ticket - two candidates. Lucas could choose to stand with someone less prominent, securing the direction of the party while boosting a relative newcomer or rising star.
2. Shahrar Ali
Deputy Leader since September 2014, Shahrar Ali is the first black leadership figure in a major British party. An academic and Doctor of philosophy, he previously worked as a researcher in the European Parliament, and is seen as being more traditionally 'green' than other potential candidates (as opposed to the 'watermelon' left of the party - red on the outside, green on the inside). Ali was also number three on the London-wide list for the London Assembly at the recent election, just missing out to Sian Berry and Caroline Russell for the two elected AM spots.
Ali seems like the first potential candidate to be openly discussing standing, saying on Twitter that 'the party and people' are ready for the first BME leader, and is currently running close second on the Ladbrokes odds for next leader at 5/1. It's rumoured he is assembling a team, and a formal announcement could get the ball properly rolling for the campaign. It's perhaps fair to say that Ali's style is seen as less conciliatory than other potential candidates, and could split opinion in the party depending on who else stands.
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But whatever the case, it will be an interesting race if he runs - as it seems likely he now will.
3. Amelia Womack
Also Deputy Leader since September 2014, Amelia Womack is widely seen as a potential contender for the top spot, having built her profile over the last two years. The youngest leadership figure among any mainstream party, Womack was elected with the highest vote among the candidates at the age of 29, and is seen as someone on the pragmatic left of the Greens.
Originally from Newport, Womack was the lead candidate for the South Wales Central region of Wales in this year's Welsh Assembly election, and co-founded the progressive 'In' campaign Another Europe Is Possible. She's also the party's spokesperson for Culture, Media and Sport, and is a popular and increasingly well-known figure across the England & Wales party. That's particularly the case among the large numbers of young 'Green Surge' members who now make up around 80% of the party (although I declare an interest in that she is a personal friend).
Like Caroline she has refused to rule out standing and would be a leading contender if she ran. Whatever the case, she has however ruled out standing against Caroline Lucas, adding a new level to the exercise in game theory that the leadership 'race' is already becoming.
4. Jonathan Bartley
Founder and Director of the Christian think tank Ekklesia, Jonathan Bartley is well known in the more than 10,000 member-strong London Green Party. Bartley is the convenor of Lambeth Green Party, standing to be the party's London Mayoral candidate but missing out to Sian Berry. Nonetheless, as the party's Work and Pension's Spokesperson and a voice in public life, Bartley has a higher profile than many, making headlines when he confronted David Cameron over the treatment of disabled children - including his son - in the education system.
He is widely viewed as charismatic and a potential candidate, and while he hasn't publically expressed any intention, it seems there have been briefings that there could be a joint ticket on the cards. The Guardian note that 'it is understood that [journalist] Jennifer Nadel and Jonathan Bartley could stand, potentially jointly as a job share. Nadel is a broadcaster, barrister and writer who stood for the Greens in Westminster North at the general election.' Watch this space.
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Other potential candidates
There are dozens of names being thrown around at the moment (including myself at a healthy 100/1 - better than both Corbyn and Leicester City's original odds...) - perhaps showing the paucity of clear front-runners or big names outside of Caroline Lucas, and reinforcing the point she made when she stood down in 2012.
Among them are South West MEP Molly Scott-Cato - a green economist and the party's finance spokesperson. Prior to being elected the South West's first MEP in 2014, she was Professor of Strategy and Sustainability at the University of Roehampton and is seen as being on the non-socialist - but obviously still progressive - wing of the party.
Rupert Read, Reader in Philosophy at the University of East Anglia and Chair of the Green House think tank, has today ruled out standing, outlining in a Facebook post that he will instead 'continue my work on eco-philosophy at UEA, and my work chairing Green House think tank'. Rupert is seen as on the relative 'right' of the party, condemning high immigration in a Guardian letter last year.
Finally, Sian Berry - London Mayoral Candidate and now London Assembly Member, as well as former Principal Speaker (before the Greens had leaders) - has, to the disappointment of many, ruled out standing as she has not had continuous membership. Seen as close to Caroline Lucas, many will hope that Berry stands in the next time round to lead the party into the 2020 election.
The rule of the moment however, is that no one - inside or outside the party - has much of a clue yet who'll stand in the end. So expect a few surprises - depending on whether Caroline Lucas chooses to run or not.
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When you think of a soldier being wounded, what first springs to mind? A physical injury, scars from the battlefield, an amputation? While these may be more immediately apparent, what many of us likely don't realise is that a significant number of the Armed Forces community are struggling with a burdening wound that's less obvious to the eye - mental illness.
It's high time that the silence ends and that this problem gains the recognition that it deserves, something which Contact - a pioneering collaboration between charities and state organisations - seeks to achieve. Contact is one of the core partners in Heads Together, a new mental health campaign led by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry which launched Monday 16 May to tie in with Mental Health Awareness Week.
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"The main issue with a lot of mental health issues is that there is a stigma attached, because it is hidden; it's a hidden wound," said Mark Taylor, an Ex-Serviceman. "You could have a mental health issue and walk down the street and no one would know. We're quite reserved as a nation; many people just shut down and push it to the back of the mind, feeling they have to be macho, man up and just deal with it themselves."
Mark spent 25 years serving in the British Army until he was medically discharged back in 2013 after struggling with severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, which he was diagnosed with in 2005. His last tour was in Iraq, in which he endured 6 weeks of constant fighting.
"I was diagnosed quickly, but the stigma involved had a massive impact on me and my family, leading to divorce, and meant that my career was potentially stifled," Mark said. "It's like a massive rock being dropped in a pond, and it causes ripples. If there is no help, the ripples will go on and on."
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But Contact wants to make sure that support is available across the spectrum, from common mental health challenges to more complex issues like Post-Traumatic Stress. They are encouraging Servicemen and women, Ex-Service Personnel and their families to seek help, improving care management and service provision, and increasing public knowledge of the support available and how to access it. This is where Heads Together also comes in, helping to raise awareness and bring together a number of charities and organisations working towards a common goal: ending the stigma surrounding mental health. Having members of the Royal Family involved also "adds gravitas" to the situation, said Mark.
"The Contact group fully understands that in the near future, there is going to be a large number of military personnel suffering from mental injury," Mark added. "We've got to be proactive where we have been reactive in the past.
"I want people to put their hands up and start seeing that mental illness is like every other physical injury, that there is no separation between the two. You need help, but more importantly you deserve help. Don't be ashamed of something that is not your fault."
Contact is a collaboration of the NHS, the MoD, Help for Heroes, Combat Stress, Walking With The Wounded, Big White Wall, The Royal British Legion, Cobseo, Kings College London, KCMHR and UK Psychological Trauma Society, working to improve mental health support to the Armed Forces community.
We are organising ONE FINAL TAMPON TAX DEMO on the 21 May 2016 outside Westminster at 12 midday. Here's why WE NEED YOU to join us:
The tampon tax. It's STILL a 'thing.' A sexist, illogical and inequitable policy. Last November George Osborne pledged to end the tampon tax. In March, the European Union relaxed regulations that once prevented him from doing so. Despite Osborne's new-found freedom from EU red tape, he STILL hasn't followed through with his pledge. Sanitary pads, tampons and menstrual cups remain taxed at 5% here in the UK and our government doesn't seem to be interested in making that final step to change this. PERIOD.
BUT THERE'S SOMETHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!
Since I started the change.org 'Stop Taxing Periods' campaign two years ago, our protests, demonstrations and fearless campaigning have forced Government action on countless occasions. People power is alive. We can make change happen.
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The fight is also happening in the United States - where it is being waged 40 times over, in each of the states that refuse to exempt menstrual products from sales tax. The organiser of the US campaign, Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, is coming to join us in London. Her work has succeeded in getting 14 states and three major US cities to introduce legislation this year to eliminate the tampon tax. She's written about it for The New York Times, Newsweek, TIME, Cosmopolitan, Ms. Magazine and many others.
Together we are a powerful force! Our combined efforts have already rallied major political figures including President Obama and David Cameron to speak out against the tampon tax. Here in the UK, we have changed EU law in a way that has been unprecedented in EU history. We have jumped through all of the hoops that have been foisted upon us. The time has come to make final the decision to end tampon tax. NOW.
On 21 May 2016 we are organising ONE HUGE FINAL DEMO to rally up Osborne and remind him that we know he hasn't finished his job. He needs to end this tax once and for all. We have done the hard work, and now he needs to sign on the dotted line.
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The theme of the day is British-US Alliance on Unfair Taxation. When The Daily Show covered the issue recently they included a funny spoof of "what men do when they revolt against unfair taxes" and cut from the Boston Tea Party to an image of women tossing cartons of tampons overboard. We are the REVOLUTION!
Our overarching goal: to raise awareness of the issue of the tampon tax - in the UK the US and around the globe - and to highlight our productive cross-pond, collaboration. And our immediate goal: to demand that the UK's tampon tax be eliminated once and for all!
Today, we are seeing the highest number of displaced people since the Second World War, and the threats to women and girls are numerous. Displacement, refugee camps, human trafficking, the loss of education, the lack of even basic healthcare, sexual exploitation and violence - the list seems endless, and insurmountable.
And post conflict, the list of issues facing women and girls will continue to grow. As part of the UK government's civil service team in Iraq, immediately after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, I remember well the efforts to enshrine women's right to vote, to education, to good health, as we helped convene the first post-war conference in Baghdad on 'Women in Iraq'.
Entrenched in many of these issues is the human right to water and sanitation. It is just one factor in the difficulties that girls and women face, but it is an area in which progress is tangible and has knock-on effects, from health and education to gender rights and more.
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Rights, health and dignity
WaterAid's participation in the 5,500-delegate-strong Women Deliver conference in Copenhagen this week has never been more important. As we approach the half-way point on Year 1 of the new UN Global Goals, now more than ever we need to consider the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene in discussions on the rights of women and girls, their health and their dignity.
The chairperson of the newly formed School Health Club at Kalampete Primary School, Uganda teaches the other club members how to make sanitary pads to help them manage their periods in school. WaterAid/James Kiyimba
Whether in refugee camps or in ensuring fast-growing countries in the developing world can handle their influx of new arrivals, water, sanitation and hygiene are key. We cannot fully meet the new Global Goals without them.
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Ensuring access to safe water and well-kept latrines, as well as soap for handwashing, helps lessen the risk of diarrhoea and other illnesses. Safe, well-lit latrines with locks - whether in refugee camps or urban slums - can help reduce the vulnerability to violence that women and girls face when there is nowhere but a bush under cover of darkness to relieve themselves. Equipping schools with water and proper toilets means girls are more likely to stay and participate in their lessons during menstruation, and less likely to fall behind. And making sure health centres also have continuous access to safe water, private latrines and rigorous hygiene means better healthcare for all.
The world has made stunning strides since 2000 - lowering the rate of maternal and child mortality, improving immunization rates and reducing the number of people living in extreme poverty.
But the lack of life's basics threatens to limit these gains. How can we hope to further cut the rate of maternal mortality if the places where women give birth cannot be kept clean and sanitary, because there's no safe water or soap, or because the nearest latrines are fetid and overflowing? How can we help baby girls survive infancy if they are born into these conditions? How can we rid communities of diseases that spread in insanitary conditions, like cholera and polio, if children still have nowhere to relieve themselves but the dirty yards where they also play?
Girls face enough obstacles in attending and staying in school. A lack of safe water and toilets is just one - but one that can be addressed. Keeping them in school means they're less likely to marry young, less likely to have children before they themselves are women, more able to generate income or care for their families as adults, and more likely to raise their children to be educated themselves.
Water, sanitation and hygiene - as outlined in Goal 6 - are critical for universal health care, for advancing gender rights and for eradicating extreme poverty.
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Bringing the issues to life at Women Deliver
At the fourth global conference of Women Deliver between 16-19 May, WaterAid will be talking about the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene in healthcare facilities for maternal and newborn health, and about how menstrual hygiene management is key to girls' health, education and rights. We have been lucky to draw upon the support of other organisations to amplify our calls to action. We'll be showing our work through film and reports, including our What Cost Water? report, about the tremendous cost of water for the world's poorest and an article calling for more action on menstrual hygiene management in schools from journal PLOS Medicine.
We'll bringing the issues to life for delegates at the conference itself with a clean-water lottery, a film showing the ultimate pregnancy test that tells mothers-to-be whether their baby will be born in a safe environment, our roaming giant poo and our jerry can-carrying challenge.
To reach everyone everywhere by 2030 with safe water, decent toilets and hygiene will require coordinated efforts from governments at all levels as well as from those working on education, health and human rights.
I've spent the last couple of weeks going up and down the country, going to students' unions and having debates about NUS. I've had some to think about and answer some really tough and legitimate questions.
Can NUS change and improve? I think it can. Does NUS properly represent 600 students' unions and through them, their students? We certainly give it a good go. Do we want to be seen as a credible, legitimate campaigning organisation? Yes, we very much do.
But one question that's really bugged me, is the most obvious and Monty Python-esque of all. What has NUS ever done for me?
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NUS was formed in 1922, in the aftermath of the First World War - an idealistic vision of students across the world coming together to talk and debate and learn, rather than to wage wars. We've done many things, but what I want to outline is some things we take for granted - simply because we won them so long ago that it's just seen as the way it is and other things we've won way more recently that you may not have heard of.
1. Insurance Rights
In 1965 we founded Endsleigh Insurance so that students could access insurance products. It may seem odd now, but before that point students literally couldn't insure things. That's the way things we were and then we changed it.
2. The Vote
Shortly after, in 1967, NUS' evidence convinces the Latey Committee to recommend reducing age of majority from 21 to 18. In 1971 the law changed so we were considered adults from 18 and could for the first time for instance, vote. That's the way things were and then we changed it.
3. Discount Railcards
In 1974, we negotiated with British Rail to create the student railcard (now 16-25 railcard) which has discounted millions of pounds for young people and students over decades. It still befuddles me that I've had mine for three years now (it's on my desk right now) and I didn't know that.
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4. No Council Tax
It's 1992 (the year I was born, by the by) and John Major's government is reforming council tax in a big way. We secured an exemption for students. Students don't pay council tax because of NUS.
5. Tenancy Deposit Schemes
Jumping ahead to the noughties, in 2007 NUS was behind the establishment of Tenancy Deposit Schemes in England, which protect student deposits in the private rented sector.
6. 5million For Sustainability Projects
In 2013 NUS secured 5million from HEFCE for sustainability projects in students' unions across England. Over 120,000 students were engaged and 5000 in-depth volunteers worked on sustainability, with nearly 200 student-led projects funded.
7. 6million In Savings
Since NUS teamed up with The Co-op in 2013 to offer 10 per cent off, students have saved a total of 6million while shopping. And this is just one of many, many discounts students can get with their NUS Extra cards.
8. No Academic Sanctions
NUS is the reason the Office for Fair Trading ruled in 2014 that universities can't use academic sanctions (such as not allowing people to graduate) to recover non-academic debt (like library fines).
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9. Violence Against Women Taskforce
After extensive research and campaigning by NUS, Business Secretary Sajid Javid announced a taskforce to help reduce violence against women on university campuses in 2015.
10. Court Ruling In Favour Of International Students
Just this year, a court finding ruled 48,000 international students were wrongly deported by the Home Office using a flawed English language test. The results were based on expert legal opinion provided by NUS.
For all of those massive improvements in learner's lives, NUS has been the reason, or one of the main reasons why they've happened.
These wins barely mention our work across four nations, building bridges before anyone else in Northern Ireland, the work on widening access and care leavers in Scotland or protecting budgets in Wales. Nor most of our work on liberation, and always being the first or one of the first to be on the right side of history - whether it's electing black leaders or having pro LGBT+ rights policy or trans representation. We were there. But there are others who can and will talk about that in more detail.
At last, the Coates review of prison education is officially in the public domain. For those committed to improving the education we offer those in custody, and for the men and women who are learning within our jails, it has been a long wait. The reforms go further than expected in tackling some of the failings of the system, and news that the Ministry of Justice will, in theory, accept all Dame Sally's proposals in full, offers cause for celebration. But as we celebrate, we should not ignore the context in which the reforms will seek to operate - and the serious security and financial issues that will continue to burden Governors, however much freedom they are offered.
When the Justice Secretary Michael Gove commissioned Dame Sally last September I was delighted to be asked, on behalf of Prisoners' Education Trust (PET) to be a member of the expert panel to support her work. It was quite a commitment. Over 500 submissions of evidence from prisoners, teachers and others, 17 separate prison visits and 15 half-day review meetings later, the chronic issues facing the education system in our prisons became all too clear.
And what of the findings? The first point to make is that they generally confirm the diagnosis of organisations with hands-on experience of working in the sector. The Prisoner Learning Alliance - made up of 23 experts in the prison education field - outlined serious issues in prison education contracts in a briefing to the Government last year. The PLA found a lack of clarity over who was accountable for education; a lack of flexibility to meet prisoner needs; scant educational progression; barriers to using prisoners and voluntary organisations to support education; lack of access to digital technology and poor support for transition on release, among other shortcomings. Dame Sally's review picks up on all these themes, and recommends bold measures to address them.
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In visiting prisons, I am continually struck by the conviction that education and custody staff, careers advisers and resettlement teams all wanted to achieve positive outcomes for prisoners. But I am also struck by the recurrent message, explicit or implied, that if it were their own money they were using, they would organise support differently and achieve more with it. Essentially the Coates review meets this demand, giving prison Governors a lot more freedom to set their own rules, subject to strict measures of accountability. This includes giving prisoners the opportunity to access higher-level learning, and to use technology to aid learning, both of which PET regards as essential.
I believe these freedoms can release the potential to achieve in our prisoners and support their future as constructively engaged citizens on release. But alongside this, I will make three points of caution as we see this becoming a reality:
1. Just because a prison Governor has the freedom to use his or her budgetary freedom to fund pretty much any form of education it will not give the ability to fund every form of education. There is potential to make money go further, but there will not be a whole lot more cash and austerity will still mean hard choices over priorities;
2. Freedoms will allow Governors to achieve imaginative and creative solutions; but it will also enable them to make mistakes. Politicians will need to stick to their statements about supporting prison leaders when risks and judgements go wrong; sustained and consistent political leadership (and that means beyond the 23 June referendum) is essential for these reforms to work;
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3. Implementing change on this scale in any organisation carries huge risks to the delivery of the service. Middle managers and staff become unsure about future direction and even uncertain over who will employ them; senior managers can become bogged down in issues of governance and contracts and lose touch with day-to-day demands. That risk is even greater for a service facing huge pressure to uphold the basics of safety for prisoners and staff, and prisoners will struggle to learn much if they feel unsafe or lack the basics of human dignity. Effective support for managers therefore will be essential to achieve the ambitious results we are hoping for.
So the route to achieving improvements to prisoner education is hedged with risks and pitfalls. But it is the right journey to be embarking on, and Dame Sally's vision for a prison system with education at the heart is a great way to start. I, and the rest of PET, looks forward to working to support prison governors, officers, teachers and prisoners themselves every step of the way.
It's an exciting time to be gay. Well, it's an exciting time to be me. Feel free to grab a bucket to vom in. I am newly engaged and therefore an absolute bore to anyone who has to spend any time with me. We aren't even in the throws of planning the big day yet, we just know it's there, in the future, hanging out, waiting for us to have enough money for me to wear a couture suit and her to have white Louboutins (I am a comedian, let's hope she's patient). Also I am as annoyed as you are that we fit so neatly into heteronormative stereotypes. Don't worry we both have long hair. F**k the system.
I never thought marriage would be for me, obviously my abhorrent personality is one thing but until very recently it wasn't even an option. I hoped for it. Sure, I went on marches wearing my 'Some People Are Gay, Get Over It' t-shirt but even if the Marriage Bill went through I wasn't really that interested in something as old fashioned and 'normal' as marriage. I was also happily single. Of course, equal marriage was legalised. I celebrated by getting so drunk in Soho I forgot where I lived (Suzi Ruffell Gay Ambassador of the People). But since that dreadful hangover in July 2013 I have met someone and guys, let me tell you, I think it's serious. We have rings but also a cat and once you make that kind of feline relationship investment you know you are officially off the market for life.
I met her about a month after the Bill passed. I knew immediately that she was an amazing person/super hot. I am not gonna give you the gory details but, spoiler alert, we fell in love. Pretty hard.
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I knew quite fast that I would like to marry her - don't worry, she wasn't pregnant. I just knew she was the one. This surprised me, I have always been a 'marriage is for the patriarchy, who needs a piece of paper to say they are in love' kind of a gal. Also I hated the idea of being tied down. What if I want to sod off to New York? Or live for a year in Berlin? Or shag about? A wife wouldn't be okay with that. But then with her it was different. She'd come to New York or live in Berlin or kill me if I shagged about. All of a sudden I understood what I went out marching for in July 2013, it wasn't for other peoples equality if was for my own.
Of course not everyone is happy that equal marriage exists. The Catholic church is still very concerned about protecting marriage, which seems bizarre, I am sure Johnny and Karl's big day won't make yours any less special. What do you think will happen? A cardigan of lesbians will show up (yes, that is the collective noun) and sing KD Lang while you sign the register? It has been big news in the current presidential race in the States, with the until very recent Republican candidate Ted Cruz saying gay marriage was a 'crisis' for America. I don't understand how love can ever be a crisis.
It's happening closer to home too, a little while ago in cool hipster London, the fiancee and I were on a Tube holding hands (no kissing or touching or heavy petting just sweet, innocent hand-holding, the type we did at primary school) when a man looked at us, tutted and then called us dirty, which was bang out of order as my hair was still wet from the shower. But how can I be surprised when we live in a country where our equalities minister voted against equal marriage? (shoots self in face). Our neighbours are unsure of us too, once one of them saw us leaving the flat, he looked puzzled then said "I always thought that was a one bed?!". It's worth pointing out we live in Holloway, not 1922.
These things hurt me, probably more than they should. I am a comic, I am meant to have thick skin, but when it comes to people degrading us or telling me that our love isn't good enough for marriage (of which 50% end in divorce) it hurts, I am all of a sudden 15-year-old me, bullied and shamed that I am not the same as everyone else. In fairness, now I couldn't think of anything worse than being the same as everyone else. What a bore! I don't want to blend in with the crowd or start wearing beige, but that's mainly because my mother says I am too pale for it.
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So I knew I wanted to marry her but then what? Who proposes? Does someone get down on one knee? Do you both cry? Do you shake on it? We don't have a set precedent that some straight couples stick to, we are making history, we are writing our own.
After two and a half years together I started making plans, saving money for a diamond, I booked a super posh restaurant. Then one night about two weeks before I had planned to ask the big question, getting into bed I was rumbled: "Are you gonna propose?". She knew, she can read me like a Kindle - that, or I need to delete my internet search history more often.
"Please don't", she asked. Ouch, that hurt! It's okay she wasn't saying no, she said she wanted us both to have a story. She didn't want it to fit into that boy/girl tradition we all grew up with. So we went out together and bought each other rings. One woman in a very posh shop was very confused about why we both needed a ring and couldn't get past the fact that we weren't gal pals looking before we send our fellas out. A few of the shops were rude, not just because we were two girls but because we didn't look rich. I was wearing trainers for goodness' sake (in fairness they were quite expensive ones). Eventually we found a little independent jewellers, the guy behind counter immediately told us his niece had a lovely wife. This is the gay version of "having lots of black friends". After trying on about 15 rings that were all nice but not us we found the right ones. He said "these are different rings but are from the same set", which seemed pretty perfect.
After an evening of champagne, cocktails and excitement (just for the record you both cry), we told our best friends and families the next day. All very happy for us. The first question is always "When? When are you gonna do it?". Oh shit, we have to plan that now. That sounds like it might be a lot of work.
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Two bridezillas? Probably not. She will choose the pretty things, I will be on food and music - which will mostly be '90s RnB and hip-hop, yes it will be awkward to dance to music that often has obvious misogynistic and homophobic messages but I just can't deny a good beat.
You make under $47,476? You're about to qualify for overtime. [Dave Jamieson, HuffPost]
While Bernie's Oregon win means he took home more delegates last night, his shot at the nomination is still mathematically out of reach without a resounding victory in all future primaries. Here are the key takeaways from the latest heated Democratic contests. [NYT]
Inside the brewing battle in the Florida Keys on whether or not a biotech mosquito can stave off Zika. [WSJ | Paywall]
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A look at the horrific lynching which "helped galvanize the anti-lynching movement and solidify the influence of the recently formed NAACP." [The Undefeated]
Even if they get the infrastructure improvement boost allocated by Congress. [Casey Williams, HuffPost]
"The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday found that the probable cause of the horrific Amtrak wreck in Philadelphia that killed eight people last year was that the engineer sped into a curve after losing track of where he was, opening the throttle because he believed his train already was past the sweeping curve where the derailment occurred." [WaPo]
WHATS BREWING
And prepare to wait and wait and wait. [CNN]
Google's parent company has teamed up with traffic app Waze to create a carpooling system in San Francisco. [WSJ | Paywall]
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A British company plans to work with the buses to create a moving spin class, so those minutes spent commuting can be spent sweating. [Mashable]
Shondaland won't be all Shonda for the fall, as "Scandal" will premiere in late January due to star Kerry Washington's pregnancy. [Variety]
Turns out up to 85 percent of Facebook live video is watched -- without sound. [Digiday]
Matt Lauer 2.0? [USA Today]
"FindFace, launched two months ago and currently taking Russia by storm, allows users to photograph people in a crowd and work out their identities, with 70 [percent] reliability." [The Guardian]
For more from The Huffington Post, download our app for iOS or Android.
WHAT'S WORKING
Could mean the end of street lights. [HuffPost]
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BEFORE YOU GO
~ This Virginia woman's obit reads: "Faced with the prospect of voting for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, Mary Anne Noland of Richmond chose, instead, to pass into the eternal love of God." We understand Mary Anne, we do.
~ A landslide in Sri Lanka has buried three villages where at least 150 families are known to live.
~ A look at what Trump actually said to Megyn Kelly in their long-awaited interview.
~ Bee thieves are on the rise.
~ Here's what Bill Gates thinks you should read this summer. And unless you're also a billionaire, you probably should.
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~ Washington, D.C., continued to top the fittest cities in America list this year. So now we know they can accomplish something.
~ The typefaces getting all the love -- and moolah.
~ There is such a thing as a "cheese glut." Only in America.
~ We love this "Arrested Development" easter egg in "Captain America."
~ This shooting victim came back to the hospital he was treated nine years ago, this time as a surgeon.
~ This cell phone tower is trying way too hard to be a tree.
Colloquially known as "The Land of Smiles," Thailand has become the mecca for tourism in Southeast Asia. According to the World Bank, over 24 million people visited Thailand in 2014 alone. For many tourists, the strength of foreign currencies (notably the Euro and US dollar) in comparison to the Thai baht makes traveling to Thailand a luxurious vacation at an attractive price. Tourism has become an integral part of the Thai economy, especially with programs such as "Unseen Thailand" that promote the tourism in less traveled areas.
An increase in the number of "Yoga Retreats" and "Mindfulness Workshops" has drawn even more vacationers to Thailand, which presents a unique opportunity to explore Buddhism. Many come to view ancient temples, such as the UNESCO World Heritage sites in Ayutthaya and Sukhothai. These visits are the more traditional way tourists engage with Buddhism in Thailand. However, many tourists, perhaps unknowingly, encounter Buddhism in a more commercialized way.
One of the more popular activities tourists engage in when on holiday in Thailand is getting tattoos of the Buddha image or getting tattoos from a monk--a Buddhist tradition. The Sak Yant or Yantra tattoo has been part of Buddhist culture for thousands of years. The tattoos, which are engraved by a monk, using only a long metal spike or sharpened bamboo, are believed to hold magical powers and good luck. Many people flock to the Wat Bang Pra just outside of Bangkok to receive the geometrical patterns from the monks living there. Along with receiving the tattoo, the wearer must follow a set of rules according to Buddhist tradition. To many tourists, this "exotic" activity is a huge draw and a way to engage with Buddhism.
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Many foreigners visiting Thailand are enamored by Buddhism--as a fad and an exotic culture, not for the teachings of Theravada Buddhism, the branch of Buddhism more commonly practiced in Thailand. Many tourists also enjoy taking photos with monks, buying figurines, jewelry and small statues of the Buddha, going on meditation retreats, or even attending "full moon parties."
There is a two-pronged problem here: the appropriation of Buddhism by tourists that has increased the commercialization of Buddhism by Thai government bodies and businesses in the tourism industry that see an opportunity for major profits. Appropriation in this case refers to how tourists engage with part of a culture, in this case Buddhism in Thailand, and adopt and modify that culture for their own use. This kind of behavior serves to dilute the meaning of Buddhism as a religion and can be extremely problematic for how Buddhism is perceived worldwide.
Many people in the West, or those who are not acquainted with Buddhism as a religion, see the image of the Buddha and associate it with a relaxed culture, a representation of the free-spirited and of the spiritual. To many foreigners, Buddhism is not looked at as a religion in the same way as Christianity or Islam. Rather, Buddhism is seen as a part of popular culture, appropriated by the West.
The image of the Buddha and associated symbols of Buddhism have been used as marketing techniques by clothing companies and even bars, both in Thailand and around the world. Meditation has also become very popular in the West, but removed from the religious context that is associated with Buddhism. With this rise in popularity, it is people in the West that are appropriating Buddhist practices and traditions.
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When coming to Thailand, one of the first signs you see upon passing through immigration at Suvarnabhumi Airport implores visitors to not appropriate Buddhism, but rather to respect the religion as part of Thai culture. Yet, as soon as you step out into Bangkok, opportunities to buy relics of the Buddha image, to get a Sak Yant or Yantra tattoo from a monk or to visit the Grand Palace are easily available for a reasonable price.
The contrast of traditional Buddhism with tourist culture in Thailand can be quite striking. Song Kran, the holiday that is now well known for its all day water fighting escapades and drinking events, is actually a Buddhist holiday celebrating the Thai New Year. Song Kran has been increasingly commercialized to foreigners, notably in southern Thailand, Bangkok and Chiang Mai. In these tourist hot-spot areas, the Song Kran holiday is catered to the vacationer, looking more like a college spring break trip than a religious holiday.
It is important to recognize that Buddhism is a religion that is practiced worldwide; according to the Pew Research Center, over 488 million people practice Buddhism around the world as of 2010. At the same time, the large majority of practicing Buddhists are in Southeast Asia, primarily countries that are economically centered on the exportation of raw materials to the West and tourism--which equates to a lot of foreign influence.
One can also make the argument that the increase in tourism related to Buddhism in Thailand and the rest of Southeast Asia actually does more good than harm. The increasing amount of foreigners allows for greater cultural exchange and provides awareness about the religion to foreigners. In turn, the increased tourism provides a major boost to the Thai economy.
However, when tourists coming to Thailand for Buddhist experiences use aspects of these practices, it takes away from the original people's culture--even if no one seems to be offended by the appropriation.
Within Thailand specifically, there is a large population of people that have been historically marginalized, notably those from the northeastern region, called "Isaan." These people are increasingly working in Bangkok and southern Thailand as a means to earn a higher income than an agrarian lifestyle. The way tourists are currently engaging with Buddhism in Thailand appropriates traditional cultural practices and further marginalizes the people of Isaan.
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By Stuart Taylor, CEO of Kinetic UK
Out-of-home (OOH) is set to deliver marketers and their agencies some significant new opportunities, as digital technology improves our ability to offer contextual advertising.
This development has already transformed digital advertising. Its no longer note-worthy to spot an ad on Facebook for a product we spent time researching online the day before. Bringing contextualisation to OOH offers similar possibilities in a slightly different way we can use appropriate data to increase an ad's relevance, based directly on the context around the interaction between consumer and location.
Kinetics partnership with Exterion Media, signed earlier this year, is a landmark in this OOH revolution. The initiative will lead to beacons being sited across the UK rail, bus and Underground network, and Westfield shopping centres.
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Beacons act as a digital conduit between passengers and shoppers' mobile phones and the posters they pass by, allowing us to send tailored notifications to mobiles. We could also, for example, customise the digital OOH creative depending on a passing shopper's app usage (have they downloaded vouchers, for example, or already been to a rival's store?).
It's an exciting prospect but needs testing. We want to trial the best uses of beacons and look at what works for both advertisers and consumers.
Exterion is also working with app producers Proxama and Mapway in a collaboration that will offer iOS-using bus passengers real-time travel updates and contextual in-app ads via the Bus Times London app. Android users are already able to access this.
There are also huge possibilities for using aggregated customer data to underpin the creative on OOH ads. Taxi Trails in Stockholm, for example, incorporates journey data to let passengers know of the most-visited places in the city in the form of ads in the taxi. This kind of information use offers so much potential for advertisers to incorporate into the creative of campaigns to elevate their appeal.
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It's the kind of thing Google does well with the Popular Times element on its search facility. This gives people searching for info on public venues like restaurants an idea of when it is at its busiest using location data culled from Google Maps users. It's not hard to see how this kind of anonymised data could be employed in OOH ads to show consumers other useful information relevant to their location/occasion.
Real-time social data is making an impact creatively in OOH too. Recently we worked with Unilevers Lynx brand to drive awareness around the hugely important, but rarely mentioned issue of male suicide.
To illustrate how much society ignores the topic, we mined social media and paired the latest, comparatively trivial, trending topics with the rarely mentioned killer, distributing the content to a multitude of screens in real-time using our in house content management system D:Four. Mirroring the rate at which men in the UK commit suicide and in line with changing social trends, the data updated every two hours.
The other major way that digital contextual data is set to transform OOH is via programmatic advertising. Although this is still early days, it is already happening on a small scale. Being able to serve adds automatically informed by live audience data will transform how we buy DOOH and will have significant impact in the near future.
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But amongst all this excitement about digital potential for contextualising with immediate customer data, it's important not to lose sight of established OOH. Sites dont need to be digital to deploy beacon tech and its still hard to argue with the scale, reach and frequency of paper-and-paste posters.
Despite all the increasingly available technology to enhance our ability to contextualise ads, sometimes all that is needed is a clever way to tie an ad in to a relevant current or recent event. Knowing millions of commuters would be looking for alternative ways of getting home, deodorant brand Sure took advantage of a recent London Underground tube strike to promote its products on digital screens around the capital with quirky creative referencing the strike. It generated buzz on the streets and online demonstrating the power of an ad that links to the world around it.
When Qasim reached out to me, wondering if I would review his e-manuscript for Talk to Me: Changing the Narrative on Race, Religion & Education, I was delighted to say the least. I do not know Qasim personally but we have had some online interactions and I respect his work.
My initial thoughts on the book post introduction were that it reads almost like a memoir. I enjoyed the first part of the introduction, however I felt the latter part was somewhat lacklustre. Qasim recalls a [childhood] story of being told by Muhaimin (an older boy in his community) never to use the "H-word" (hate), even on "mosquito bites". This, coupled with some cliche Dr King quotes heard many times over, created an element of predictability, adding little value to the overall text. I felt that using the "H-word" in relation to peoples, religions or belief systems was unnecessary, although perfectly acceptable as description of feeling.
Nonetheless, I persisted in reading further and I am very pleased that I did! 'Talk To Me' isn't just about Qasim's life, it is a collection of stories from other individuals who have encountered racism, prejudice, sexism, and domestic violence, and explores how these individuals have conquered these hurdles through meaningful discussion and open dialogue. It is not an academic book, which I preferred, as it made the journey through these stories more relatable than a dry academic text exploring the same themes would have done. The contributing authors are descriptive, informative and colorful, reading more like a conversation at times.
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What I most enjoyed about 'Talk to Me' is that it contains a narrative relevant to everyone. Some stories made me gasp, laugh and (although I hate to admit it) even cry! The story of Robert Salaam, a marine and convert to Islam is dear to my heart. My husband, also in the US Army, has been serving for 6 years now and he too is a Muslim convert. Both men are products of similar circumstance and I want to say Robert, that you are not alone in your experiences.
There are other stories, which were equally gripping. The heartfelt story of the NICU nurse, Nusrat Chaudhry, who has been a mother to thousands of babies in her ward, yet remains motherless. The empowering struggle of Rabia Chaudry to leave a violent marriage, raise her child and still become a successful lawyer [was inspirational]. Then the story of an inter-racial Christian couple, Pastor Leo Cunningham and his wife, who were faced with prejudices from a small congregation, speaks volumes about racial divides in present day America.
'Talk to Me' assists and succeeds in building bridges across the divides of culture, race, power and much more. It certainly provides an insight into the way others live in society, victims we wouldn't normally see struggle or their stories untold on the six o'clock news, but equally important.
By Andrew J. Hoffman
As a business school professor, when my students ask for career advice, I often recall Mark Twain's words: "The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why." I think we all need to find our calling or vocation, our purpose in life. This might be seem out of vogue, but it's returning to today's business world, as I explain to my students and in my new book.
I don't think of "a calling" or a vocation as necessarily God-centered or religion-based. It is about being connected to a purpose that is bigger than each of us, and caring enough to devote our lives, energies, passions, and love to address it. It reflects our appreciation for the connectedness we share with our planet and those around us. It requires that we intentionally balance how we relate to-and how much time we spend with-people we love, nature we enjoy, and wealth we acquire. It also requires that we consider deeply when our relationships are transactional and when they are relational. That is, when are our relationships devices for achieving our own success, and when are they for treating people and the natural world as a community that sustains and includes us? It calls for an awareness of subtle and not-so-subtle influences on our perceptions and decisions. Are our answers to these questions generated by our sense of our life's purpose, or are we listening to others to decide what we are meant to be? Satisfaction in life's work comes from knowing what each us are called to do, and then sticking with our own sense of "how a life well lived" is measured as we see where that spirit takes us. It is a life based not on pleasure, but on meaning.
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We need more people who find their meaning in accepting the responsibility we face to steward our planetary ecosystems. Every generation faces its own Great Work, the obligation to fulfill "the special role that history has imposed upon them" where "the nobility of our lives...depends upon the manner in which we come to understand and fulfill our assigned role," in the words of the cultural historian Thomas Berry. The Great Work of the 21st Century is represented by the Anthropocene, an era in which the influence of human activities has grown so vast, that they actually influence the global ecosystem. This imposes upon us a responsibility that we are ill-equipped to handle, but ignoring it burdens future generations with a hostile world for no other reason than that we were too selfish to care. The current generation has every right to be angry that this Great Work has been thrust upon it. And while we often don't know the answers or even how to construct the questions, we must respond. The "nobility of our lives" will be determined by that effort.
The Great Work of Sustainable Business
The need to instill the pursuit of a calling to this Great Work is critical in business and business education. And business students seem to be fertile ground. As I look back at my 20 plus years as a professor, I see an interesting and hopeful shift. Where previous generations of graduate students went to schools of government and non-profit management to make a difference in the world, today many are going into schools of business. This shift acknowledges the awesome power that businesses have in our world, and the awesome responsibility that business managers have in running them. They can bring the world to sustainability, or bring it to ruin.
Many of the most critical solutions to problems like climate change, water scarcity and eco-system destruction must come from the economic market, including business, non-profit organizations, and governments. The market is the most powerful institution on Earth and, like it or not, business is the most powerful entity within it. Business will design the next building we live and work in, the food we eat, clothes we wear, and the automobile we drive and sources of energy that propels it--and the next form of mobility that replaces it. As I look at the next generation of business student's passion and drive to make their contribution to finding solutions, I am left hopeful. These future managers and business leaders--and some of our current ones-- are pursuing their calling, their vocation, their purpose in life, by bringing environmental stewardship into the center of their life's work. As such, they can decide what world they want and work to make it so.
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I encourage others to join this next generation and be open to the possibilities of a calling when deciding what their life's work will be. Don't ask "what do I want to be?" Instead, ask "What was I meant to be?" Transform your sense of work from a career in which you earn a living to a vocation in which you express a set of deeply held values in pursuit of goals far greater than yourselves.
I hope you will take up this charge; your lives and all of our lives will be better for it.
This essay is drawn from Finding Purpose: Environmental Stewardship as a Personal Calling (2016) by Andrew J. Hoffman. Available here.
While the debates over Obamacare have faded into the rear view mirror of public discourse, another major crossroads lies ahead as health insurance giant Anthem has unveiled plans to merge with Cigna in a $54 billion deal. Health care industry specialists cannot agree on whether bigger is better when it comes to this pending health care merger.
This month, Denver Post health care reporter David Olinger laid out the debate around the Anthem-Cigna merger. Insurance Commissioners and Attorney Generals across the country are reviewing this merger, along with another merger of Aetna and Humana, according to state laws that govern the consumer protections around health insurance.
While millions more Americans now have insurance, the prospects of everyone getting quality affordable health care--particularly in underserved communities--is are still unclear. Many people underutilize their insurance because the process is too complex. Some stop paying for their insurance plans shortly after they get covered. Colorado's health exchange recently went through a shutdown of the non-profit health care co-op and the departure of United Health Care from the market.
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So amidst all of this complexity, how are we to figure out whether these health insurance mega-mergers going to impact the average person?
Here are five questions that should be answered before the merger is approved or denied by the Colorado Division of Insurance (DOI), which regulates the insurance industry in our state.
1. The merger may be good for Anthem, but is it good for Colorado?
The merger would increase Anthem's bottom line by billions of dollars. Yes, that is good for Anthem, but it doesn't benefit Coloradans. For instance, different insurance companies have different approaches to coverage for transgender people. In fact, these two companies differ in how they treat this population--which policy will they adopt?
The Colorado Medical Society has opposed this merger. How will their voice be incorporated into this discussion? Will the health care choices of Coloradans be limited?
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2. What does Connect for Health Colorado (the health insurance marketplace) think about this merger?
Colorado Connect for Health is the state's marketplace for affordable health care, commonly known as "Obamacare." Its mission, clearly stated on its website, is "to increase access, affordability, and choice for individuals and small employers purchasing health insurance in Colorado."
The pending merger would cut one more insurer out of the market giving Colorado consumers one less option in selecting a health care provider. Is that a good idea? While the DOI considers this merger, the Colorado Exchange is a crucial voice in this debate. Have they discussed this issue at any of their public board meetings? Aetna has a seat on the board of the exchange.
3. What about rural health care providers and their patients?
Doctors are scarce in some rural communities. These doctors or sole practitioners could be forced out of health care networks, raising health care costs for some communities that continue to face economic challenges. Will rural communities suffer?
4. What will this do to indigent care?
The Colorado Indigent Care Program is funded with federal and state dollars to partially compensate participating providers who provide health care to the uninsured and underinsured.
The question remains: How will Anthem-Cigna merger impact Colorado's low-income families who are dependent on this program?
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5. Should there be a public conversation about this?
Yes. I applaud Division of Insurance Commissioner Marguerite Salazar for pledging to hold a public hearing on the Anthem-Cigna merger. However, the regulations offer a comment period of only 30 days--is that enough time?
Discussions at the hearing must address the important questions raised above. And, we as a community have a responsibility to participate in the public hearing and let the Commissioner know that we care about our health care providers and how they treat us.
Two young women and a young man reached out to me around the same time, not knowing one another but all having gone through a similar experience as children. Each person was the victim of sexual abuse at a very young age, and none of them had really spoken about it. At some point, all three had tried to speak with one or both of their parents about their experience (one spoke only to the mother as her father was the abuser) and none had received any support or validation of their concerns -- one was even told it's not a big deal. All three were told not to speak about it with anyone so each ended up holding it inside for quite some time.
I have met a lot of Muslims dealing with issues ranging from depression, anxiety, suicidal tendency, domestic violence, alcohol and drug addiction, sexual orientation, mental health disorders, marital issues, issues with parents, relationship issues, theological issues, and much more. They have corresponded with me in the form of emails, phone calls, and in-person meetings. These individuals are mostly from the New York City area, but a good number of them are from different parts of the United States. The smallest demographic is from individuals living outside of the country.
The individuals who reach out to me are both male and female, old and young, with diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. What they share in common is the search for someone to talk to -- most of them are finding a hard time finding that person.
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There is nothing wrong with seeing a counselor. I believe it's rather important to have someone to talk to. The difficulty for the Muslim community is two-fold: primarily, it can be hard for us to get the motivation and feeling of comfort needed to seek out a counselor and, secondly, in the instances that we do, it's hard to find someone who actually understands what we are going through.
It's common to find Muslims uncomfortable with the idea of speaking about what they have gone or are going through. Some believe it somehow displays weakness of faith and is a form of questioning God, others come from cultures that don't encourage seeking out such help. Many think it's wrong to "reveal sins" whether it be their own sins or those of others. Most individuals have been in a place where when they attempted to speak to someone, their attempts were immediately shot down and it took a long time before they were comfortable to speak about it again or, unfortunately, they never spoke about it again.
Education is key, and training current religious leaders as well as mental health professionals, whether they are Muslim or not, on issues relevant to the Muslim community is essential. The stereotype that paints the Muslim community as monolithic is most problematic here because it keeps us from being in touch with how diversity plays a role in proper counseling. Not all Muslims are the same and dealing with them means understanding that one will be different from the next, even though they adhere to the same faith.
Despite this reality, there are many individuals who are trained, aware of the issues that Muslims are facing, and are great resources. If you find yourself in a place where there is something that you need closure on and feel like talking about, whether you are going through it now or went through it a long time ago, don't let yourself think you have to go through it alone. It is not a sign of weakness of faith to seek support from the people around you. The companions of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, sought support from him in this manner all the time. Young and old, male and female, Arab and non-Arab all spoke to him about things they were going through and he listened. He heard them out, helped them make critical sense of it and set out on a path to reach their highest potential. People who had addictions, bereavement issues, relationship issues, mental health issues, were victims of domestic violence, as well as people who dealt with issues related to race, ethnicity, gender, privilege, and many others came to speak to him about what was going on in their respective lives, and he listened. He also turned to those around him at times when he needed counsel and advice. If we require religious legitimacy to seek support when we need it, undoubtedly Islam tells us we are allowed to and that we should seek out this type of support.
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You don't have to speak to just anyone; find someone you are comfortable with and will hear you out before simply telling you what you should do. Not every religious scholar will be able to play this role, nor should they be expected to. It's not a shortcoming on their part by any means. Professional help in the form of a psychologist, psychiatrist or social worker is also important and should not be frowned upon. Just like a doctor is there to help us be physically well, these individuals are there to help us be emotionally well, which in turn has the potential of contributing to our spiritual growth.
For those of you who are not in a place where you need this kind of help, be mindful that there are those who do. When speaking to people, understand that many have lived lives with unfortunate experiences. Not everyone has good parents, not everyone has Muslims in their families, not everything is a test from God. Forgiveness is not always the easiest thing to do, and it is not a weakness of faith to try to understand why you have gone through what you have gone through.
Shannon Adler once said, "Never give up on someone with a mental illness. When 'I' is replaced by 'we,' illness becomes wellness." You don't even have to be their friend. You just have to be there. Take a step toward them so that they can continue to take steps forward in their lives.
Imam Khalid Latif is the Executive Director and Chaplain for the Islamic Center at New York University (NYU). In 2005, Imam Latif was appointed the first Muslim chaplain at NYU. At NYU, Khalid initiated his vision for a pluralistic American Muslim community, rooted on campus and reaching out to the city. In 2006, Imam Latif was appointed the first Muslim chaplain at Princeton University.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION:
For more reasons than one, many people still do not choose to seek treatment or fear disclosure of mental health issues in the Muslim-American community. Stigma is one of the largest factors contributing to this health disparity in the Muslim-American community. The speakers on this upcoming webinar panel will discuss the impact of stigma in the Muslim communities they serve and address what we need to consider in order to address stigma in the community.
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Bialystok children in the Udmurtia Republic in the Urals, 1941. (Courtesy: B'nai B'rith World Center)
Nearly 75 years ago, the Nazis launched Operation Barbarossa, a massive invasion of the Soviet Union, in which 4.5 million Axis soldiers surprised the Soviets with blitzkrieg attacks across the 2,900-kilometer border.
Although Germany had signed a non-aggression pact with the USSR in 1939, Hitler broke the agreement and on June 22, 1941, Germany carried out what was to be one of the largest and deadliest military operations in history in its attempt to conquer the Soviet Union.
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Caught in the middle of the attacks were 300 children at a Soviet Pioneer Camp in the summer vacation spot of Druskininkai, Lithuania.
Zeev Balgali, 15, and Yitzhak (Isser) Niv, nine, were among the 140 Jewish children taking part in the Soviet scout camp along with 160 other participants who were not Jewish, including Polish and Lithuanian youth. The Jewish children were from Bialystok, a Soviet-controlled city in northeastern Poland, and the surrounding region, which was eventually seized by the invading German troops.
As Druskininkai came under German attack, the director of the summer camp's Polish troop, 29-year-old Shmuil Markowitz Pevzner, a Jewish man from Leningrad, took immediate action.
Pevzner boarded the 300 children onto a train that was originally intended for Bialystok so that the children could return to their parents.
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However, the aerial attacks had devastated the Bialystok area, so the conductor continued to the Soviet border, at which point he refused to go any further. Pevzner knew that the only safe place for the children would be deep into Soviet territory, so he threatened the conductor with his empty gun, forcing him to reluctantly continue with the dangerous journey. After a harrowing 12 days, the entire group of children, together with Pevzner, made it to the safety of the Ural Mountains in western Russia.
"Shmuil Pevzner is the angel who saved us," said Zeev Balgali, today 90, to the Jerusalem Post Magazine in a recent interview.
"He took care of us and made sure that each one of us was safe. We can never forget this man -- he was both a father and mother to us kids."
Balgali clearly remembers the chaos at the Druskininkai train station on that June morning in 1941 as masses of people frantically converged at the train station, trying to escape the vacation town.
"We woke up that morning to the sound of explosions. When we arrived at the train station, everyone was trying to leave. Pevzner made sure that all 300 children boarded the last train out amid all the chaos -- he even carried some of the children and put them on the train through the windows.
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During the journey, the train came under repeated German aerial attack.
"There were bombings all the way, and we could even make out the faces of the German pilots -- they flew that close to us. Every time the German attack planes approached, we would have to get off the train and take cover in the fields and forests," Balgali recalled.
Pevzner kept a dedicated eye on the children throughout the journey. At one point, a young boy went missing after fleeing the aerial bombardment with the other kids. Pevzner refused to allow the train to continue until the child was located, said Balgali. Eventually an older Jewish youth from Bialystok found the boy -- he had fallen asleep on a pile of hay.
In another incident, Pevzner was injured in a bombing when the train stopped for food rations at a city along the way. Forced to stay behind to get medical attention, Pevzner managed to catch up with the children on the next train.
Once the group reached Udmurtia, a region in the Ural Mountains of western Russia, Pevzner continued to care for the children for the next five years, establishing a home for the children under the Soviet government's patronage, where they remained for the rest of the war.
"The conditions weren't easy -- the harsh cold weather of 40 below zero was hard for us to get used to, and there were limited supplies," said Balgali.
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"While we were never hungry, we were never full either. But no one ever complained."
Pevzner also made sure that the children received a good education.
"He brought us the best teachers from Leningrad, who know how to teach well," said Balgali.
Shmuil Markowitz Pevzner sits second to left with the staff of the children's home in Udmurtia. (Courtesy: B'nai B'rith World Center)
Meanwhile, as the Bialystok children took refuge in Pevzner's orphanage in Udmurtia, the Nazis had taken over their home city, where their families were among 50,000 Jews who lived there at the time. On June 27, 1941, the Nazis entered Bialystok, murdering some 2,000 Jews in one day, as they set the city's main synagogue and Jewish quarter on fire and drove all the Jews they could capture into the fire. The Nazis ordered a ghetto established, from there thousands of Jews were deported to death camps and killed. At the end of the Holocaust, 1,085 Jews remained in Bialystok; of the ghetto inhabitants, only 260 survived the deportation camps, and some others as members of partisan units.
When the 140 Jewish children under Pevzner's care returned to Poland after the war to find their families, only four found surviving parents. Balgali was one of those who found that his mother and his sister had survived.
"I was one of the four kids who found a parent alive," said Balgali. He recalls that it took him a while to learn how to speak Yiddish again.
"I had forgotten how to speak Yiddish with my mother because we only spoke Russian at the school for the five years we were there."
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Balgali noted that never felt an anti-Semitism during his time in Udmurtia or when he enlisted to serve the Russian army.
"We didn't experience any anti-Semitism until we returned to Poland after the war," he said.
Once in Poland, the underground organization known as the Bricha, which helped Holocaust survivors escape post-WWII Europe to Palestine, helped the Jewish children of Bialystok reach Eretz Yisrael. The first group of 50 children left to Israel from France on the illegal immigrant ship Theodor Herzl, which was intercepted at sea by a British warship.
Several passengers, including some of the children, were wounded, and taken ashore to the Atlit detention camp 20 kilometers south of Haifa. The rest of the children and passengers were transferred to a detention camp in Cyprus, where they spent the next seven months until they were allowed to immigrate to Israel in December 1947.
Back in Udmurtia, Pevzner married one of the older girls he had rescued, and the couple stayed there to raise their family while Pevzner worked as an educator. He remained in contact with the children he had rescued throughout his entire life.
Among the 120 Bialystok children who made aliya over time, there was a feeling that their heroic rescuer was never properly recognized. While Pevzner was decorated by Poland and the Soviet Union for his rescue of the children, he was relatively unknown in Israel except by the survivors. Indeed in 1997, when Yad Vashem recognized Stasys Sviderkis, the director of the Lithuanian troop at the Soviet Pioneer Camp, as Righteous Among the Nations for his role in the rescue of the children as a non-Jew, Pevzner was not mentioned.
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"For a long time we looked for a way to honor Shmuil Pevzner," said Yitzhak Niv, who today is 84. "He was a very special man with a heart full of warmth and wisdom," said Niv.
"He even came to visit us once in Israel. He traveled across the country and reunited with the Bialystok children he saved and met the families they created."
"Thanks to Shmuil, none of us turned out criminals. We went on to become accountants, engineers, doctors, nurses, fathers and mothers, and just good people who contributed to the building of the State of Israel," he added.
"It was important for us that Shmuil receive the recognition he deserved."
Last year, when Niv and Balgali came across the news story of the Holocaust memorial event that commemorated the heroism of Jews who rescued fellow Jews during the Holocaust, they knew immediately they had to share Pevzner's story with the event's organizers.
For the past 13 years, the B'nai B'rith World Center in Jerusalem and Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL-JNF) have held a unique joint commemoration ceremony on Holocaust Remembrance Day recognizing Jewish heroism during the Holocaust.
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Subsequently, Niv and Balgali contacted Alan Schneider, the director of the B'nai B'rith World Center in Jerusalem, and told him about Pevzner.
"Zeev and Yitzhak were very excited and determined to have Shmuel Pevzner recognized," recalled Schneider.
"I had never heard of Shmuil Markowitz Pevzner before," admitted Schneider, who has invested years of effort recovering rescue stories of Jews in the Holocaust.
As a member of the Committee to Recognize the Heroism of Jewish Rescuers During the Holocaust (JRJ), which was established by Holocaust survivors and rescuers some 15 years ago, Schneider has worked tirelessly to make the public aware of the many Jews who endangered themselves in order to rescue their brethren from imminent death during the Holocaust.
"Through this year's ceremony and citation, the organizers seek to right the historical record by giving due recognition to Shmuil Markowitz Pevzner for rescuing these vulnerable children, some as young as seven, and all but four of whom were orphaned by the war's end," explained Schneider.
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The "Jewish Rescuers Citation" has been given out for the past five years by the JRJ, and honors have been awarded to some 100 Jewish rescuers who operated in Germany, Hungary, France and Holland. This year, the Jewish Rescuers Citation will be posthumously conferred on Pevzner who died in 1991 and on six other Jewish rescuers from Greece, Poland and Hungary.
"We salute Pevzner's dedication to the children, supporting them through emotional and physical hardships to become upstanding adolescents and adults," Schneider said.
Shmuil Pevzner decorated with medals from the Polish and Russian governments for rescue of the children. (Courtesy: B'nai B'rith World Center)
Pevzner's son, Dr. Mark Pevzner and his grandson, Boris Pevzner, who reside in Udmurtia, recently traveled to Israel to represent Pevzner at the KKL-JNF Holocaust Day Ceremony at the B'nai B'rith Martyrs' Forest "Scroll of Fire" Plaza on May 5. Dr. Mark Pevzner told the Magazine that he was very moved to be in Israel as part of the ceremony recognizing his father's efforts and thanked B'nai B'rith for honoring his father with the Jewish Rescuers Citation.
"My father saw God's hand in the effort to rescue the children during the Holocaust, and I see in this commemoration of my father's work, God's hand as well.
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For Yitzhak Niv and Zeev Balgali, what was probably Pevzner's most important quality was his ability to see a bright future in bleak times for his young charges.
"I got married, had two daughters, and today have six grandchildren - and this is all thanks to Shmuil Pevzner," said Niv.
"He knew how to take care of us at a time when no one else could, so that we could have a future."
Last week saw an extraordinary event in Washington; a rare sight, the smiling leaders of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, and a smiling Obama. This state visit of the Nordics was in diplomatic parlance, a scoop. It was not a party really, but the outside spectator could have mistaken it for one. The Nordic leaders spent most of last Friday at the White House: first for a long conversation with the President, then, in what counts for a really big deal, a state dinner in the evening. The discussions were serious and covered the most urgent issues facing the transatlantic community. But the latter must have been a fun, to the liking of the Obamas, because the President suggested that Danish Prime Minister Lars Lkke be invited to next years' White House Correspondents Dinner, as a performer.
As I had the opportunity to tell one of the foreign ministers, the way to judge the importance of this summit is to watch how many leaders in Europe have been biting their nails and asking "why not me." Envy is a terrific way to measure success. The reasons for the visit are obvious. The Nordic countries have worked hard to make this happen. Invitations as we know don't just happen. It was a demonstration of the close ties and America's respect for the five countries, which while quite different, are an entity nonetheless.
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This event was also a statement about the appreciation for the rock-solid democratic foundations, and the ability of the Nordics to find a balance between market forces and taking care of people. And it is also about their stabilizing and constructive role in international politics, for the United States and European relationship, at a time when the pillars of this relationship and the international security architecture as a whole, are under attack. It is surely also a message to Poland, Hungary, Austria and others that regardless of the crisis facing all of us, the U.S. will continue to value democracy, free speech, the separation of power and checks and balances over authoritarian rule.
But then, when all the back patting is done and all the congratulatory notes have reached Copenhagen, Helsinki, Reykjavik, Oslo and Stockholm, the leaders need to draw some lessons and understand that there is a sense of urgency to follow up on the summit. The Nordic countries individually and as a group must use the attention and their limited, but very important influence to the fullest in order to protect the transatlantic relationship, which is being challenged both in Europe and in the United States. There might come a time, and this time could come soon, when it will rest upon the Europeans, to hold the attention of the U.S. The Nordics have an indispensable role. They must be the spokesmen in Europe for increased cooperation in both security and defense, in economics, trade and business, in science, education and research, in social innovation. They must continue to hold hands with the U.S. to work on climate, the Arctic and energy, showing the way for others.
The Nordic countries must also keep working on their image in the United States. There is still too much misunderstanding about their societies; illusions about the nature of their political and social system. They must repeatedly tell Americans that they are democracies, with market economies, which have found very different roads to social well-being.They must continue to make clear that they are "Capitalism with a Heart". It is easier said than done, when we have moved on to the two hour news cycle and Americans are paralyzed by the brutal election campaign. But it is doable: there is a keen interest in America to get the next phase of development right, and the Nordics are a great source of inspiration.
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They know exactly what is on the agenda, Obama and the Nordic leaders have agreed on an impressive list of issues they will focus on in their future cooperation. This is great, and they must start implementing the items immediately. To the list of things to do I would however add two, just to make clear that the Washington think tank world is focused on this as well.
One, they must be the leaders in Europe in the fight against anti-American sentiment, which has been the infectious disease hitting way too many countries. It seems to spare no one, including countries which owe their freedom (like all of Europe?) and democracy, the peaceful development of their economies and their security to the United States. The Nordics must tell Europe not to take this relationship for granted. The plague of anti-Americanism is spreading and in the long run will never hurt the United States as much as it will Europe and its ability to deal with its enormous challenges.
They must also push as hard as possible to forge even more personal relationships between Nordics and Americans on all levels, from all walks of life, politicians, scholars, business leaders, artists and the people in every country who define and make us what we are. Because if and when the ties that bind us together as family begin to fray, these personal relationships will keep us together.
On May 20-21, 2016, the University of Memphis will host "Memories of a Massacre: Memphis in 1866, a Symposium Exploring Slavery, Emancipation, and Reconstruction." The culmination of a semester-long series of lectures, workshops, discussions, and book talks, this symposium will feature historians and scholars from across the country, including Robert K. Sutton, Chief Historian of the National Park Service. Together, their presentations and the ensuing discussions will pry open what has for 150-years been the carefully concealed history of Reconstruction, its legacies, and the significant role that Memphis played in both. As both a scholar and Communication Director of the project I am thrilled to be a part.
In my researching of the ways media helped shaped the narrative of the Massacre (one sadly we are still living in today), I ran across a story that I found quite interesting. On May 12, 1866, the Memphis Public Ledger reported a story about a German man from Cincinnati who was in Memphis during the Massacre. The report said that the man was "so terrified by the excitement that he became partly deranged." Further the report stated that this man continue to give evidences of the terror of the riots (massacre) and always finishing with
Due to his "derangement" a friend watched and guarded him when traveling. However, one Saturday evening as the two were traveling by ship and after the German retired for the evening, his friend decided to get up and leave the cabin. When the friend came back to the room he found the door locked and after trying to get in, his friend found the "occurrence" funny. However, suddenly, the German man rushed from the room, passing by the guards on the ship and he jumped overboard and drowns.
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When I read this, I could not help but to think about the horror of the Memphis Massacre. It really must have been intense. So intense that a man who just witnessed the carnage was so distraught that he committed suicide. But then my mind began to think about the black people who also witnessed and survived the massacre. What about the women who survived the rape and abuse? What about the men who were beaten and left for dead? What about the one woman who held the head of her tortured husband in her lap as he slowly died? And what about the children who witness the carnage? How did they survived? How did they make it? Did any of them "lose it" or become "deranged?"
These questions many times are not reflected upon because we are busy producing and promoting a narrative that highlights the strength and vitality of the Memphis black community or what I call the "how we bounced back" narrative. While we may discuss the Memphis Massacre as a tragic and troubling event, we are also quick to promote how black Memphians rebuilt their community. While hopeful and optimistic, we sometimes forget that the Memphis Massacre (May 1-3, 1866) was a police inspired and carried out event that systematically and without regard to black humanity destroyed not only schools, churches, and homes, but also killed 46 people and injured many more. And the truth is that while some "bounced back," many others did not. What happened to them? Where are their stories? We hope this symposium is the beginning of that conversation and one that will produce fruitful results.
If you cannot attend the symposium, please follow us on Twitter @MemphisMassacre. We will also live tweet the event using #MemphisMassacre1866. You can also like us on Facebook.
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Appearing in newspapers in my conservative congressional District in Virginia.
This is not addressed to those Republicans who think Donald Trump is an appropriate kind of person to be President of the United States. If you like what you see, go ahead and vote for him.
It is addressed rather, to those Republicans who have regarded Mr. Trump unfavorably because they saw him as lacking the character and temperament necessary for our nation's highest office. (Reports indicated not so long ago that quite a few Republicans felt that way.)
I would like to ask those Republicans: Given what you saw about your party's nominee, can you now vote for him?
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Three reasons occur to me why you might.
1)As you've seen more of Trump, you've changed your mind about what kind of person he is.
This would surprise me, as his conduct has been rather consistent. Although some expected Trump would shift toward acting "presidential" once he had the nomination sown up, he has done nothing of the sort. So why would anyone change their mind?
2)Supporting your party's nominee is a matter of party loyalty.
Loyalty is surely a virtue, and I recognize that it is one especially emphasized among Republicans.
But isn't loyalty to country a greater virtue than loyalty to party? If you judge your party's standard bearer as potentially threatening the well-being of America, does it make moral sense to put allegiance to party first?
Back in the dark days of Watergate, among the heroes of that time was the Republican Senator from Tennessee, Howard Baker. What gave Baker lasting luster - years later he was brought in to be Ronald Reagan's chief of staff - was that he put nation ahead of party. For the good of his country, Baker pursued the question about his own party's leader, President Nixon: "What did the President know and when did he know it?"
Should not voters who see the dangers to the nation of a Donald Trump in the Oval Office act on the same priority: "Country First"?
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For Republican office-holders, the dilemma is more complex than for voters. For them, protecting the nation would be at the expense not only of party loyalty but also, at least potentially, of their own personal ambitions. If they reject the nominee of their party, will they be punished by their partisan supporters?
For moral guidance on such choices, one can turn to another Republican hero from those troubled times of Watergate: Elliot Richardson. Richardson was Attorney General when his President, Richard Nixon, ordered him to fire the Special Prosecutor (Archibald Cox) who was closing in on Nixon's crimes and abuses of power. Rather than subvert our national ideals of the rule of law, Richardson resigned. It was Richardson's willingness to sacrifice his own power and ambition to honor what is best about our nation that makes him a hero.
Should not all Republican office-holders who see Trump as someone who would degrade our political heritage be willing, if necessary, to make such a sacrifice?
3)Finally, you might support Trump because withholding your support would indirectly support his opponent, and you hate Hillary Clinton.
However valid or invalid your reasons for hating Hillary may be, there's one point I would assert:
The nation would emerge from four years of a Hillary Clinton presidency entirely recognizable as the nation we have known. With Trump, there is no such assurance.
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Hillary is clearly a centrist. Her ideas are entirely mainstream. Her approach is "incrementalist"--slow progress a step at a time. American politics as usual.
As for what Trump might leave behind, consider this: How much, and in what ways, did Trump's presence affect the tone and quality of the Republican presidential contest? (Do you imagine that Marco Rubio imagined, when he decided to run, that he'd end up casting aspersions on the size of his opponent's genitals?)
How would you like it if he had the same effect on our entire national discourse for some years? And how readily could such damage be undone?
Add to that the question of the possible consequences of having our armed forces and nuclear arsenal commanded by a man who likes to pick fights, to insult opponents, and at all costs to come out on top.
In the face of such risks, would it not be morally more responsible to accept, for a short time, what you find distasteful than to support what you know might do lasting damage to America?
Andrew Bard Schmookler -- the Democratic nominee for Congress in Virginia's 6th District in 2012 -- is the author of What We're Up Against: The Destructive Force at Work in Our World--and How We Can Defeat It.
Donald Trump is so reckless and unpredictable that he just might decide to select as his running mate Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the most dangerous law enforcement official in America. Indeed, Trump and Arpaio are soul-mates with much in common. For starters, they both cultivate a macho image and identify themselves explicitly as "tough." Trump promotes himself as tough on NATO allies, veterans, China, Muslims, Isis, Republican Establishment, media, immigrants, women, free trade, protesters, physically disabled, to name just a few. Arpaio proclaims in his autobiography that he is "America's Toughest Sheriff" who for decades in Phoenix, Arizona, has engaged in the greatest abuse of law enforcement power of any law enforcement official in modern American history. Arpaio has reveled in using his power in the cruelest, most inhumane ways. He built a concentration camp (his term) called "Tent City" for convicted felons, with limited food and medical care; forced inmates into "chain gangs," and forced them to wear pink underwear; instigated racial profiling and illegal detention of Latinos; conducted with his disbarred sidekick county attorney Andrew Thomas a reign of terror against local judges and county officials; misused and possibly stole $100 million of public funds; and covered up accusations of misconduct against his deputies. Last week, after a lengthy hearing, a federal judge held Arpaio in contempt of court for his manic pursuit of unauthorized immigrants, citing "multiple acts of misconduct, dishonesty, and bad faith."
Trump and Arpaio have strikingly similar agendas that would make them a formidable political team. Take the issue of President Obama's birth. In 2011 Trump was one of the most outspoken critics of Obama's citizenship, and publicly demanded that Obama release his birth certificate. Obama did, which showed indisputably that he was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Arpaio, posing as a Trump tag team-mate, held a news conference at the time in which he asserted that the birth certificate was a computer-generated forgery. Although Hawaii and Arizona officials, including the governor, dismissed Arpaio's allegations as preposterous, Arpaio persisted, saying that "I know a fake document when I see it." That's the kind of remark Trump would make.
Trump and Arpaio are narcissists who are adept at self-promotion. Trump's ability to exploit his name and brand is uncanny, almost magical. Arpaio, too, feverishly pursues national and worldwide fame, claiming hundreds of news appearances per month. And just as Trump is famous for his reality TV gambits, notably "The Apprentice," Arpaio also has promoted himself on reality TV, especially the Fox Reality Channel's three-part series "Smile...You're Under Arrest," in which persons with outstanding arrest warrants are tricked by Arpaio and his minions into presenting themselves for arrest.
Trump famously celebrates his business acumen and deal-making, but Arpaio also has shown if not a mastery at least an interest in business ventures. Together they would make a formidable commercial partnership, not a bad thing if you have to raise lots of money to get elected. Trump claims his businesses have netted him billions, although his refusal to release his tax returns raises questions. Arpaio too has launched business ventures, notably his promotion of the Phoenix E Space Rocket, which he claims to have developed and planned to take off on the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's voyage to the new world. Although Arpaio claimed that 19 flights on the Phoenix E were booked, no flights were ever made, so it is not known whether the project was a fraud.
On their signature issues, Trump and Arpaio would make an extraordinarily attractive team of tthe most rabid anti-immigration fighters in American history. Arpaio and his Wild Bunch of deputies - he calls them his "posse" - would no doubt implement and supervise the erection of the "Trump Wall," and as they have been doing for years in Maricopa County, and wistfully under President Trump, employ his Immigrant Smuggling Squad throughout the country to raid homes, business, schools, and shelters and stop cars with Latino drivers or passengers. Arpaio and his deputies have launched many thousands of such sweeps, raids and stops, which continued unabated even after a federal court ordered him to halt his unabashed reign of terror.
Trump and Arpaio also are adept at public relations gimmicks. They self-consciously promote the color pink. Trump wears pink shirts and neckties, and some of his famous logos - especially the logo renaming the White House the "Trump House" - appear in pink. Arpaio, too, loves pink. As a public relations stunt he famously required inmates in his jails to wear pink underwear. Indeed, he became so enamored of his creativity that he began to market the product, selling customized pink boxers with the Maricopa County Sheriff's logo and "Go Joe" as a fundraiser for the Sheriff's Posse Association, and his re-election. Despite allegations of misuse of funds, Arpaio provided no accounting. Indeed, Arpaio has consistently deflected widespread allegations of his misuse of millions of dollars in county funds. Litigation against Arpaio and his office has cost the taxpayers nearly $150 million.
Among Trump's possible choices for a running mate, Arpaio undoubtedly would be an unusual choice. He has spent virtually his entire career in the executive branch, certainly an important consideration given Trump's lack of any government experience. Moreover, Arpaio has lots of qualities that would endear him to Trump and his followers: his cruelty toward immigrants, his flaunting court decrees, his attacks on the political establishment, and his public relations gimmicks. To be sure, Arpaio is 83-years-old and some might say a bit old to be the Vice President. But Arpaio plans to run again in November for a seventh term as America's toughest sheriff. He might help Trump get elected, and certainly, as Vice President, would do much less harm than he has done as sheriff.
Gloves have been around for centuries. Pharaohs wore them as a symbol of their power and position. Vikings fought over them. Queen Elizabeth 1 was into glove play, flaunting her pretty hands before her courtiers by putting on and removing her gloves. Queens, Kings, Popes and bishops still wear ornate ceremonial gloves. Duels were instigated by bitch slapping the offender in the face with a glove. In the 1800s long gloves were de riguer at the opera and other formal events. In 1925 Hermes introduced leather gloves with matching handbags. In the 50s and 60s Coco Chanel accessorized her iconic suits with short gloves. Jackie Kennedy brought the glamour of couture and her signature white gloves to John F Kennedy's White House. What well dressed dominatrix would be caught without them? Michael Jackson's Swarovski crystal covered glove sold at auction for $350000.00.
Daniel Storto understands the art and seduction of gloves. He's the last glove maker in Gloversville a small town located in the foothills of the Adirondacks. In it's heyday Gloversville's factories and workshops produced more gloves than it's counterparts in France's glove making regions. As times changed the town's economy slumped as gloves began being mass produced in factories overseas.
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The blood of Abruzzo runs in Storto's veins. His grandfather was a shoemaker and artisan. Gloves are Daniel's grand passion. From his shop on Main Street he carries on the tradition of Gloversville's past working with tools, dies, and vintage glove molds passed down from the 1800s.
Hamish Bowles, Vogue's European editor at large, invited Storto to recreate all the gloves for the Met's 2001 exhibition Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years. Irving Penn photographed Storto's gloves for the last cover he shot for American Vogue. Storto has collaborated with an A list of fashion's most innovative designers. His work has appeared in Esquire, Interview, The New York Times and TIME magazine. His gloves are part of the permanent collection at the Met's Anna Wintour Costume Center and The Art Gallery of Ontario.
How did you get started making gloves?
It was 1973 in Toronto. My boyfriend at the time would buy me vintage gloves. His was a weirdo. I don't know why he did but I liked it. I was fascinated by the construction. How they were sewn. The Victorian period as well as gloves from the 50s. All hand sewn. I wanted to make some. It was a technical challenge. I was up for it.
What goes into the glove making process? Are all your gloves hand sewn?
My leather and suede gloves are all completely hand sewn. Needle, thread and thimble only. I make every pair myself. So if you own a pair of my gloves know this, I made them. And that's rare in today's fashion world. I've sewn gloves as a passenger in a car, airplane, and heck even in a horse driven buggy.
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The process of making custom made gloves is very personal. Imagine this. I'm touching, studying, measuring and tracing your hands. Of course the process is erotic. From my hands to yours. I have had many glove affairs.
Tell me about the town of Gloversville and your shop.
Gloversville New York was once the glove capital of the world. I am the last glove maker here that makes fine dress gloves with the only storefront glove making shop in North America where you can look in and watch me at work. Today, Gloversville is like living in a Diane Arbus photograph. It's surreal. This town once had over 750 glove factories going at it full tilt boogie. The locals could care less of what this town was famous for. I struggle with this. As a Canadian I am preserving a piece of American history. Now it is all but completely erased. I find this shocking. It's a sad story. The town is littered with empty glove factory buildings. Some monumental in size others as tiny as doll houses. All with a history. Its like the day the earth stood still. It's a great American story waiting to be told.
What designers have you collaborated with and who would you like to work with?
I have worked with many designers. Geoffrey Beene was totally far out and a genius. He would send me large padded envelopes with just fabric swatches and then let me design and make gloves for his collections. Alexander McQueen loved my large scale sculptural gloves. Weirdo's like me work really well together.
I was spoiled early on. I lived in Hollywood from 1982 to 1997. I started with Bob Mackie when I walked into his design studio on Melrose Avenue carrying a violin case filled with gloves. He introduced me to everyone. I worked on a lot of pictures. I made gloves for Meryl Streep, Jessica Lange, Whoopi Goldberg, Debi Mazar, Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton, and Cher. You know, the best.
In fashion I pretty much have worked with some of the greats. Geoffrey Beene, Paul Smith, Alexander McQueen, Dries van Noten, Thom Browne, etc. (Tom Ford please call me.)
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What projects are you working on now?
Currently I am developing a new series of sculptural shapes for my leather gloves. They are like soft sculptures similar to the work of Claes Oldenburg. I enjoy working against the grain because it is so not fashion industry shit. I am inspired as always by shape and form and by some great artists such as Richard Serra, Ellsworth Kelly, Zaha Hadid just to name a few.
Can you share something about your son Andre? From the photographs I've seen, he looks cool and enigmatic like his dad.
My son Andre was born in Antwerp Belgium. I was living there working with Dries van Noten. I have raised him all on my own. Today the two of us live in Gloversville and he is pursuing a career as an actor. At age 5 he knew every Bette Davis line from the film Whatever Happened To Baby Jane. He grew up listening to Peggy Lee, Dusty Springfield, Joni Mitchell and Buffy Saint Marie. His favorite artists are Yoko Ono and Salvador Dali. He is a wonderful weirdo.
It's Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Near Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I live, the hummingbirds have returned and green is sprouting all around. The huge native cottonwood trees outside my bedroom window wear a headdress of new growth.
I am so inspired by Nature! So much goes on underground before the green sprouts one day greet us. It's the rebirth of the Mystery over and over again. We watch with a patient and compassionate eye, for this cycle is internal as well.
Nature blesses us with groundedness, beauty and oxygenating presence. Do you bless Nature? We can do this! We "witness and bless" as Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi would say. Bless the people you love with love. And more especially, bless the ones you don't feel love for!
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The act of blessing is an opening to wholeness, healing and forgiveness that you can do anytime, anywhere. You don't need an ordination or religious affiliation or teacher. Blessing is soul to soul. We turn toward each other with our souls, and the soul itself is the source of blessing. It is similar to the Hindu greeting "Namaste": the God in me salutes the God in you.
I bless you, dear ones, and all our relations. May these prayers and explorations continue to bring us together in praise and gratitude.
Sure, I'd like to look into your eyes and take your hand, but for now I'll bless you with this blog. Our kind acknowledgements often are expressed through thumbs-up symbols and smiley faces in texts and social media. I can even bless you with an emoji that I infuse with love and light, and then press send.
I feel inspired to share with you some of my favorite quotations about blessing:
The practice of blessing is a simple way to develop a constantly centered awareness. It is also a tool for growing in universal love and avoiding judgment. When you bless all those you meet in their total happiness and true integrity, without the slightest concern for their appearance, expression, race, class, sex, or any other label, when you wish them the very best from your innermost being, it is impossible for your heart not to expand. From a narrow cubicle, it will become a temple without walls.
~ Pierre Pradervand, The Gentle Art of Blessing
What is a blessing? A blessing is a circle of light drawn around a person to protect, heal, and strengthen. It would be infinitely looney to live in a world without blessing. The word blessing evokes a sense of warmth and protection; it suggests that no life is alone or unreachable. Each life is clothed in raiment of spirit that secretly links it to everything else. Though suffering and chaos befall us, they can never quench that inner light of providence.
~ John O'Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us
It's a Monday. I scour the large cafeteria and opt for a table in the centre of the room. It's late morning here at the Acropolis Museum in Athens. I take a look out towards the large veranda. Beyond that, a monument gazes down on us - an everlasting symbol of Ancient Greece. The Parthenon has taken a few beatings over its three plus millennia of existence, yet it has survived those beatings such as the bombing it suffered in 1687 during the Great Turkish War.
With Greece still in the midst of the financial crisis - it's coincidentally the morning after another protest in nearby Syntagma Square - it's easy to dreamily gaze at this magnificent temple with defiant thoughts that this country will survive the hardships of recent times in the same way as the Parthenon withstood its obstacles.
Other than being here and feeling patriotic, I'm actually here to meet two budding entrepreneurs who have recently embarked on a new venture and they arrive soon after me.
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They're likeable straight away and it's not long into the conversation before I notice their passion and enthusiasm for what they've started and it's pretty evident that they have big plans.
Nikos Theodoris and Anna Manias set up Greeking.me at the beginning of this year. The company focuses on showing the city of Athens in a different light to your average tour guides. In fact, they omit the word tourist completely - that is their trick. They want visitors to experience the city through the eyes of a local. From cultural walking tours in Athens to cooking lessons (to learn more about Greek cuisine) to 'night crawls' discovering the city's nightlife to learning the steps of Greek folk dances, there are many options to choose from to experience all of Athens.
Greeking.me focus on quality sets them apart as they aim to exceed expectations thanks to the passionate team set up by Nikos and Anna.
Whether you are an American hopping around Europe, or someone who is visiting from within Europe itself (each of Greeking.me services are offered in English, German, French, Italian and Spanish), this is a unique opportunity to see one of the world's oldest cities in a local, fun and authentic way.
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The very informative and user-friendly site elaborates more on what is on offer.
As Nikos and Anna explained the vision for Greeking.me - they intend to expand to other towns and cities in mainland Greece - the conversation inevitably turned towards the current climate here. It is testament to people like them that this country still retains a sizeable chunk of its younger generation. Many have moved abroad owing to the ever-increasing rise in unemployment, so it is assuring to meet those who have opted to stay and make things happen for themselves. Personally, crisis or no crisis, I've always held the belief that everyone should make a difference in a way that they enjoy.
I walked my nine-year-old to school today, as I have when I'm home since she was three.
It used to be that Cali wanted me to walk her all the way into her classroom, and even tarry a while.
Then she just wanted me to walk her to the classroom door.
Now her boundary for me is the entrance to the school property. She gives me an earnest and heartfelt hug in the blink of an eye, says "Bye, Daddy," and is gone.
Perhaps one day, perhaps soon, though I selfishly hope not, she'll quit automatically taking my hand in her soft grasp as we make our way there. Perhaps another day she'll no longer call me Daddy.
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Maybe tomorrow. Maybe not for a long while. Some children, no matter their age, continue to call their dads 'Daddy,' and even continue to hold their daddy's hands as a matter of course whenever they're together. Maybe I'll be so lucky. Either way, it's okay. I'll be fine. Really. Boo hoo.
I try every day to be mindful of Cali's hand obliviously clasped around mine, of the wonderful sensation of being held onto by this darling person I had a hand in making and try my utmost to help flourish.
Lately she's been telling me about a boy she has taken a shine to. Cali doesn't know that I already was in the know. I've watched them interact. It's almost impossible for an observant person not to see the touching chemistry between her and this handsome and humorous and caring boy.
Cali can be shy and insular, as are many artistically inclined souls, but he brings her out of her shell and is so solicitous towards her. I've seen him absent-mindedly stroke her pony tail during a school performance, and seen her glow on the inside and out as he does.
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I am so glad Cali still does me the honor of asking me to walk her to school, and to traipse along with her after school to her ballet and clarinet classes.
I imagine one day she won't need me to accompany her. A more difficult and awkward question for me is: Will the same hold true for me? Will there come a time when I also won't need to go with her? Or will I always want, and need to, even when I don't or can't?
Parenting and Childing
Does how I respond to Cali's changes in 'daddy needing' determine how I measure up in the parenting department?
I used to go along with the dictionary definitions of parenting -- namely, the raising of a child.
But really, my Socratic reasoning kicked in, I eventually came to the conclusion that parenting is more or mostly about the raising of a parent, by being blessed to have a child of your own in your orbit.
If that's so, I wondered, would a better term for the raising of a child be 'childing'?
I did some gumshoe work. Turns out the term 'childing' first arrived on the scene around 1250 A.D. Collins American dictionary defines it as: "bearing a cluster of newer blossoms around an older blossom."
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'Childing' entered our lexicon starting in the mid-thirteenth century, but had long ago fallen out of use. I'm trying to bring it back.
But I've given it a more expansive definition in my new book The Philosophy of Childing: Unlocking Creativity, Curiosity and Reason through the Wisdom of Our Youngest. I assert that 'childing' is not primarily or just about the raising of a child, but rather the raising of a human throughout her life.
The term 'childing' first arrived on the scene around 1250 A.D. Collins American dictionary defines it as: "bearing a cluster of newer blossoms around an older blossom." all ages and stages -- and in a way that makes sure the new clusters of blossoms that she bears around older ones are a sort that leads to ever greater joy and well-being -- not just for the individual, but in ways that elevate society as a whole.
A Childed Human Being is a True Human Being
When I lived in Chiapas, Mexico, I regularly held dialogues with indigenous children. Most are illiterate, and have no hope of going to school. They work seven days a week in the plazas of the gem of a colonial city, San Cristobal de las Casas, in the heart of Chiapas, selling to tourists their beautiful handwoven goods.
Once I had a Socrates Cafe (or Philosophers' Club, as we often call our confabs with kids) with them on the question, 'What is a good person?'
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One of the children, a 9-year-old who speaks the Mayan tongue Tzeltal, told me that a good person is a 'true human being' -- and their term for that, she instructed me, was 'basil winik.'
All people born into the world, she explained, are human beings, but you have to spend time acting in the world for anyone to be able to determine whether you are 'good,' and hence are a true human being.
To her, as she went on to say, goodness, and trueness, when it comes to gauging a person's nature, has very much to do with whether they treat you with kindness, whether they recognize you as a fellow human being and want to do what they can to make you shine, to make your day brighter.
I asked the child, Veruch, how a person would go about demonstrating this.
She told me, "Today, when I asked a woman to buy a bracelet from me, she stopped, looked at me, and said, 'I'm sorry, I've already bought some and don't have more money to spare. She smiled, asked about me and where I was from.'"
Veruch looked at me. "She didn't just pretend I"m invisible like most tourists do. They walk by me without saying anything. Some even try to walk right through me and push me aside, like I'm invisible. But this woman, she was kind. It didn't matter that she didn't buy anything. She treated me like an equal. She's a true human being, a basil winik.'
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Veruch, as with all the kids who took part in that dialogue, has a store of wisdom born from experiences that I'll never have. But because I engage with children as equals in dialogue, I open myself to the possibilities of being 'childed' continually.
This has been a difficult week for many Austinites as Prop 1 failed to pass and Uber and Lyft discontinued service, making Austin the only major city without them. The Prop 1 campaign has galvanized the community, and rightly so. There was no shortage of opinions, interests or ego on either side of the debate. I believe it was a poorly executed campaign on both sides, but I'd like to put aside the campaign itself for a moment and discuss the implications and true cost of Prop 1 for Austin.
I took 45 trips with Uber in the last year. I voted for Prop 1, but prior to the election, I hardly paid attention to the campaign or the issues. I'm not affiliated with Uber, Lyft or the City of Austin. I'm the CEO of Austin-based, Real HQ, but these opinion are entirely my own.
I'm not heavily involved in any form of politics -- in fact, I voted for the very first time in the most recent presidential primary. I'm not proud of my lack of political involvement, I guess I've always told myself that given the current state of politics, a single vote wouldn't make a difference. I was wrong.
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Thousands of Austinites Lost a Primary or Secondary Source of Income
There are over 10,000 Uber and Lyft drivers in Austin. More than 60 percent of these drivers are estimated to drive less than 10 hours per week. On average, nationwide, a part-time Uber driver earns around $19 per hour (here's a detailed post on how the average varies by location and other factors). The federal minimum wage is only $7.25 per hour. By contrast, a full-time taxi driver makes, on average, around $10.19 per hour.
For thousands of Austinites, Uber and Lyft was the "perfect second job," allowing moms to drive during the day when the kids were at school, allowing students to earn money for living expenses and tuition, or simply allowing someone a profitable, change of pace from their normal routine.
But for many Austinites, driving for Uber or Lyft was their primary source of income. In addition to increased earnings, Uber drivers are their own boss, set their own hours, and have the benefit of knowing who they will pick up, in advance.
Beyond higher pay and flexibility, Uber and Lyft created opportunities for underrepresented communities. I've seen Austinites who are deaf, or for whom English is not their first language, drive for Uber and Lyft successfully. Imagine an entire underrepresented community offered a new opportunity to earn a living, now part of the more than 10,000 people that have lost income.
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Coming from the startup community, I think it can be easy to overlook how difficult finding a well-paying, flexible job for most people can be. I've even seen people refer to the Prop 1 aftermath as "first-world problems." This issue is not just about finding a faster, cheaper way to get to the airport. It's about the financial impact on real people.
Over half of American children receive free or subsidized lunches and 22 percent of American children live BELOW the poverty line. According to CultureMap, Austin is now has the 8th fastest-growing poverty rate in the country, with over 230,000 people living in poverty.
Uber and Lyft offer many people a chance to earn money they desperately need to make ends meet. Note that in the requirements to become an Uber driver, although you need a safe vehicle, insurance, a clean driving record and no criminal history, there are no educational requirements. This is important. 68 percent of Americans do NOT have a college degree but more and more jobs now require one. Compare the Uber driver requirements with those of a Testing Assistant at Austin Community College, where you'll need at least a high school diploma and preferably an associate's degree. The hours are not flexible, and the pay is $10.75 per hour. For most Americans, every dollar counts.
Many have said that the resulting job loss is Uber and Lyft's fault. I disagree. The inherent role of a business that has taken on (in this case massive) outside funding, is to produce a financial return for their shareholders. This doesn't mean funded businesses shouldn't operate ethically, care deeply for their employees and customers, or contribute to the communities they do business in, but at the same time, they are bound by a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders.
The City of Austin, however, has no such constraints. The Office of the Mayor and City Council is beholden to the people, and people alone. Their primary job is to protect the interest of the city and it's citizens. I know of no greater interest for Austinites than enabling every opportunity for as many citizens as possible to earn a living.
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Uber and Lyft Leaving May Cost Austin Over $29 Million Per Year
If we estimate the total wages earned by part-time Uber and Lyft drivers in 2015 using the numbers above -- 10,000 drivers in Austin multiplied by 60 percent part-time drivers, multiplied by 5 hours per week (as the only data I have says 60 percent of drivers work less than 10 hours per week, I'm using this as a safe estimate), multiplied by $19 per hour -- that's $29 million in part-time yearly earnings alone that will no longer be fed right back into the local economy in the form of income, spending, and taxes.
Uber and Lyft also agreed to pay an additional 1 percent of revenue earned in Austin to the city. In Uber's first year in Austin, they conducted 2.5 million rides. Uber's minimum fare is $5.30. The 1% revenue fee paid to the city of Austin for Uber each year alone, would be significant. $29 million in part-time yearly earnings alone will no longer be fed right back into the local economy in the form of income, spending, and taxes.
Many ask why, if Uber and Lyft are making so much money in Austin, would they leave over something as seemingly simple as fingerprinting? Incorporating fingerprinting (and the many other requirements put in place by the city) is challenging for the Uber and Lyft model because they are operating at international scale. Ridesharing is built on quickly enabling new, part-time drivers to join the supply side. Uber has managed the background check process themselves, typically via a third-party, and it only takes a couple of days for a driver to be approved. This low barrier of entry not only contributes to quickly onboarding new drivers, but it is also crucial to offset driver turnover each year which Uber estimates is over 50% due to the part-time nature of most drivers -- if their circumstances change, they move on.
Most cities are not set up to process fingerprinting-based background checks quickly or effectively. The City of Austin cannot even enforce the ordinance as it is written today.
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Without Uber and Lyft, Austin's Transportation Crisis Worsens
I've heard people say that Austin got along just fine before Uber and Lyft arrived. Uber and Lyft's arrival in 2014 came at the same time that Austin was experiencing extraordinary population growth and increased popularity as a tourist destination. According to the Austin Chamber of Commerce, 7.1 percent of Austin residents in 2014, did not live here the year before. The population has grown 37 percent since 2010 and there are no signs of it slowing. We are not the same city we were even two years ago, and we were not at all prepared for this level of growth.
Previous attempts to pass massive transit improvements over the past few decades were voted down and the entire city is now paying the price. Austin's traffic and mobility crisis is to Austin what housing is to the Bay area. Poor legislation, and voters who dug in their heels in the name of dogma or a moral high ground, as opposed to pragmatism, will continue to cost its citizens dearly. Just as in the Bay area, it's the least advantaged citizens who will pay the biggest price. The less transportation options, the less job opportunities, the greater the economic divide will become.
Damage to Austin's Reputation as a Tech Friendly City Will Cost Jobs
Paul Graham, arguably one of the most influential people in startups and venture capital, tweeted the following about our city.
This is bad for Austinites. Fundraising isn't everything, Silicon Valley isn't everything, and Austin is still one of the best places to launch a startup, but the ability to raise funds in order to grow a company is essential. There are very few companies in the last few decades who have reached meaningful scale without some outside funding.
Until you have years of profitability under your belt, banks don't want to touch you -- they're not built to invest in innovation or unproven markets. Several great venture capital firms are based in Austin, as are a few angel investor syndicates, and a number of independent angel investors. However, relatively few deals beyond the seed stage -- and especially beyond a Series A financing -- get done without the participation of at least one investor that is not based in Austin.
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Many investors are biased against startups from outside of the Bay area. It's nothing personal, it's statistical. In the last two years, 47% of all exits came from Bay area companies. The next highest exit concentration was in London, at 10 percent. Austin ranks 14th. Given the negative perception of Austin post-Prop 1, and the fact that influential investors and tech leaders are now tweeting things similar to Paul Graham's sentiment, I fear that Austin will become a "negative signal" for investors. No matter how silly this sounds, perception is reality when asking other people to part with their money.
And if the impact on fundraising isn't bad enough, think about recruiting. Tech companies are dependent on software engineers and the majority of Austin tech companies must compete with big, well-funded behemoths like Facebook, Dropbox and Google for the relatively small supply of engineers in Austin. Real HQ is a remote company, but I've already heard engineers and other tech employees say they wouldn't move to Austin because, in a city where a car seems like a necessity, not having Uber or Lyft just does seem backwards. Will Prop 1 result in more startups in heavily-regulated industries being forced to leave Austin?
For startups aimed at disrupting existing incumbents in industries that are heavily regulated, the negative impact on fundraising will be even greater. Mike Maples has already stated publicly that Floodgate will not invest in on-demand startups in Austin, and he's from Austin! Imagine what the rest of the investment community must think. Will Prop 1 result in more startups in heavily-regulated industries being forced to leave Austin?
Making fundraising and recruiting more difficult for Austin entrepreneurs means fewer jobs will be created for Austinites across the board. The City Council does not create jobs, they exist off of the taxes of working citizens. Of the 20 non-government employers in Austin right now (Dell, Home Away, BaazarVoice, etc) nearly all of them have raised capital to get where they are now -- a top employer of Austinites. Entrepreneurs need to be able to fundraise and recruit in order to create jobs. We need a Mayor, a City Council, and community that prioritizes job creation.
Uber and Lyft Help Save Lives
The city of Austin has over 50,000 college students and one of the liveliest party scenes in the country. Everyone who comes to Austin knows about Sixth Street; Austin was even ranked as the 5th drunkest city in America. Sadly, some Austinites choose to drive drunk rather than wait long periods for a taxi, ask a friend to be a designated driver, or take advantage of designated driver services like Sober Monkeys.
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Driving drunk should never be a solution but the reality is, it happens every single night in Austin (and across the country). According to this study, 20 percent of college-aged students have driven drunk and over 40% have ridden with a drunk driver. It is no surprise that Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) endorsed Prop 1.
In 2015, 11 Austinites were arrested for manslaughter for driving and killing someone while under the influence. During the 2015 winter holiday season alone, the Austin Police Department arrested 229 individuals for driving under the influence during No Refusal periods. But in 2014 and 2015, ridesharing reduced drunk driving crashes in Austin by 12 percent. It has been proven that Uber and Lyft can help save the lives of our loved ones. If for NO OTHER REASON, Austin needs Uber and Lyft.
We're Not Safer. Unregulated Transportation Options are Filling the Vacuum Left By Uber and Lyft.
During the run-up and fallout from the Prop 1 election, fingerprinting-based background checks for drivers has been the linchpin of those in favor of Prop 1 -- even though there is no correlation between fingerprinting and increased safety for passengers. None. Zero. (Read this Atlantic article for a nuanced view of the fingerprinting and background check issues on both sides of the argument.)
Following my last time in a cab (where the driver repeatedly asked me to move to the front-seat throughout the duration of the ride), I've not felt comfortable enough to get into a taxi by myself. I feel safer with Uber, where I can see the person's rating history and make a choice, based on data, whether or not I will take the ride. If there is an issue with a driver, I can instantly provide feedback to Uber and they have the ability to immediately remove the individual from the pool of available drivers. That is simply not possible with a taxi.
Aside from the comfort, tracking, and accountability we're now lacking with taxis, without Uber and Lyft, Austin is experiencing a tremendous ride shortage. There are hours long lines for taxis at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport now, something I have NEVER seen in my thirteen years here. Can you imagine F1, SXSW or ACL without Uber or Lyft?
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I've heard many comment that this vacuum creates tremendous opportunity for a newcomer. Building platforms that are as easy to use, dependable, and as safe as Uber or Lyft takes years of work and BILLIONS of dollars. I'm sure that someone could put together a ridesharing platform that works in a limited function, but I doubt it will offer enough trips to make it worth a driver's time, affordable rides or the many accountability and safety measures provided by Uber and Lyft. No sophisticated investor would commit to a ridesharing company in Austin given the current climate, especially knowing that any newcomer will be instantly marginalized if Uber or Lyft returns. The City of Austin has been encouraging people to use the Get Me app, which by all accounts, has not been going well (though I applaud them for the hustle).
Humans are inherently creative and will attempt to find a solution, even if it poses a greater risk to their safety than a traditional taxi or Uber or Lyft. Over the last couple of days, Arcade City has amassed 12k+ likes on their Austin community Facebook page. Arcade City is a movement that facilitates messaging between potential drivers and would be passengers to plan rides and handle payment. The goal is to create a non-centralized, community driven initiative. I understand and respect the right of consenting adults to do anything they please, and I think Arcade City is interesting, but this is hardly a better, safer option that Uber or Lyft.
What Can We Do to Bring Uber and Lyft Back to Austin?
Prop 1 could cost Austin millions of dollars in income, new revenue for the city itself, opportunity for entrepreneurs to create more jobs in Austin, much needed solutions to our transportation crisis, and worst of all, the very safety of citizens it purported to protect.
We must work together to make our voices heard, get educated, and engage at the local level to fight for policies that enable continued economic growth and prosperity for the city and all Austinites.
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Here's a few suggestions to make your voice heard and help bring Uber and Lyft back to Austin.
Educate yourself about the issues surrounding ridesharing regulation and Prop 1
Email, tweet, write, or call and tell Mayor Adler and your City Council rep that you want them to do everything possible to bring Uber and Lyft back to Austin. Continuously remind them that the current state is unacceptable.
Ask Uber and Lyft to meet with the Mayor and Austin representatives to craft a solution and move forward.
Join the Austin Tech Facebook group to keep abreast of policy issues that affect Austin and the greater tech community.
Share your position and encourage others to make their voice heard too.
Treat every citizen with respect. We don't all share the same viewpoints and that's okay.
Educate yourself on how and when to register to vote and then show up!
If the Mayor or city council doesn't represent you, VOTE THEM OUT!
One Final Note
I'd like to acknowledge the many people working hard both publicly and behind the scenes to bring Uber and Lyft back to Austin. Thank you.
You can find Courtney on Twitter.
Hey, I'm a big supporter of veterans and milfams, and the orgs that help 'em out. One way that I support them each year is through the Veterans Charity Challenge. This is our 4th year hosting the Challenge as a way to help raise as much money and awareness as possible for organizations benefitting America's heroes and their families.
The Veterans Charity Challenge is a crowdfunding competition where orgs benefitting veterans, military families, police, and firefighters compete to raise money for their cause. I'm donating $50K to help out. I would love to see your organizations join the Veterans Charity Challenge.
There are lots of opportunities to win money for your org:
The top raising charity will receive a $20,000 donation,
donation, Second place will get $10,000,
Third will get $5,000,
Fourth will get $2,500,
And fifth will receive $1,000.
Plus, there's a total of $11,500 in weekly Bonus Challenges being given away, as well. Check out the Bonus Challenges Here for all the info.
The Challenge starts May 25th and is a great opportunity for orgs of all sizes to raise money and get exposure for their cause. My team's added a few more details about the Challenge that are pretty important below, and if you have any questions at all, please contact our Challenge platform, CrowdRise using: Veterans@CrowdRise.com.
A few more Challenge details...
The Veterans Charity Challenge launches on Wednesday, May 25th at 12pm ET and runs through Wednesday, July 6th at 1:59:59pm ET.
July 6th at 1:59:59pm ET. Even if your organization does not win a grand prize, you still get to keep all the money you raised.
The Challenge is open to any 501(c)3 benefitting America's heroes, such as veterans, military families, police, and firefighters.
CrowdRise helps you every step of the way including webinars, email content, social media posts, 24/7 support, tips, and more. The goal's to make this Challenge super successful for your cause without adding any bandwidth to your team.
To apply, please Go Here.
The thing is, I figure that service members, vets, and milfams all risk a lot for us, so the least we can do is help 'em out when we're able...
Will the issue of Social Security dominate the 2016 presidential election? Well, why shouldn't it?
Steven Hill of the New America Foundation has written a new book, Expand Social Security Now! How To Ensure Americans Get the Retirement They Deserve (Beacon Press), which should ensure that the need to strengthen Social Security will be placed into the main event of this fall's political discussion. In a recent interview, Hill explained why he wrote the book, and why the moral obligation to defend and strengthen Social Security should be the number-one issue for citizens headed to the ballot box on November 8.
"Social Security is one of the most important government programs in history," Hill said. "It not only has been crucial as a 'security foundation' for our nation's retirees and as the most effective anti-poverty program ever, it also has been indispensable as the policy cornerstone of a decades-old philosophy that believes that we can use the 'visible hand' of government to bind together public and private interests into a cohesive whole. Social Security has been good not only for individual retirees, but also for US businesses and the broader macroeconomy.
"In writing this book, it struck me over and over how wise and visionary was the generation of leaders led by President Franklin Roosevelt. More than any other presidential administration before or since, Roosevelt utilized the irreplaceable capacity of 'smart government' to bring different sectors of Americans to the table, and to create pools of social insurance that to this day still help protect most Americans against the unpredictable vagaries of the economy. Those of us living today are standing upon their mighty shoulders, as we try to chart a course forward for the challenges of our era. I wanted to write a book that would not only defend and expand Social Security, but that would honor that tradition that I believe represents the best hope in the 21st century."
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Hill was confident that Social Security protection would dominate the 2016 presidential discourse, drawing a comparison to the 2000 presidential campaign, "when Al Gore campaigned on creating a Social Security lockbox. [In the primary debates] we already we have seen sparring over it, especially between [Democratic presidential contenders] Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, with Sanders rightfully criticizing Clinton for her past waffling and unwillingness to support expansion of this important program. But Donald Trump also has emerged as the only Republican candidate defending Social Security against 'entitlement cuts.' If Hillary Clinton is smart, she will push Trump on this issue by calling for Social Security's expansion in a clear and decisive way. Why not? Opinion polls show that even 70% of Republicans and conservatives are in favor of Social Security. Social Security is one of the most popular government programs of all time. Clinton could deflect some of the criticisms that Trump is going to aim at her about her high-priced lectures to Goldman Sachs and Wall Street by championing a proposal like the one I have made in my book for 'Social Security Plus' - namely, a doubling of the monthly benefit for the nation's retirees. We can pay for it, as I demonstrate, by lifting the payroll cap and by closing many of the tax deductions and loopholes (such as for capital gains, 'step-up in basis,' and 'carried interest') that disproportionately favor the wealthy few."
Hill praised Sanders's leadership on Social Security protection, with one caveat. "Senator Sanders has called for an expansion of the program and introduced legislation to make Social Security benefits more generous. Sanders has proposed to pay for expansion by eliminating the cap on the payroll tax on all income above $250,000. This way, he has said, 'millionaires and billionaires pay the same share as everyone else.'
"But as good as Sanders has been on this issue, his proposal does beg the question: Why should those who make between $118,500 to $250,000 per year pay a lower overall rate of Social Security contribution than those making less than $118,500? What makes them so special? Is this the 'moderately affluent voter' donut-hole exemption for a candidate's political expediency? I already know the answer to my question - it's politics. And I have a great deal of trust in Senator Sanders on this issue. But it does show that the devil is in the details, and we have to be careful about what we ask for. We also have to be careful not to be too timid in what we ask for, and ready to hold candidates' and elected officials' feet to the fire. Even Bernie Sanders."
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Hill wasn't as high on Hillary, however: "Her views have remained disturbingly opportunistic...She has a long track record of waffling and fudging on the subject of what to do about entitlements. In the 2008 Democratic presidential primary debate in Philadelphia, Clinton was asked if she would agree to lift the Social Security payroll cap on individuals making more than the then-upper limit of $97,000 per year so that wealthier people would pay a fairer share into the Trust Fund. In the debate, Barack Obama correctly stated, 'Right now millionaires and billionaires don't have to pay beyond $97,000 a year.' To this, Clinton responded blandly, 'I don't want to raise taxes on anybody,' and made a feeble defense of why it was OK that the wealthy paid a lower percentage of their income toward Social Security than their secretaries and chauffeurs. In a [2007] debate in Las Vegas, Clinton called Obama's proposal to lift the payroll cap a trillion-dollar increase 'on middle class families'--despite the fact that (at the time) only 6 percent of Americans made over $97,000 per year...
"[Today], feeling pressure from the Sanders campaign, Clinton's positions have gotten better," Hill continued. "She finally agreed she would expand Social Security - but only for 'those who need it most,' including women who are widows and workers who take career breaks to care for their children, parents, or ailing family members. But what about all the other hard-working Americans who don't have sufficient savings for their retirement years -- which it turns out is most of us! Overall, her track record on Social Security is so unconvincing that she will surely be vulnerable against Trump over this issue. It is easy to imagine some version of 'Swiftboat Entitlement Veterans for Truth' attacking her long-standing inconsistency. Trump will show himself as sticking up for the little guy and gal, while Hillary is portrayed as something like a hypocritical Uber executive, extolling the virtues of labor relations!"
Hill also felt the previous two Democratic presidents dropped the ball on Social Security protection; in his view, both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama "knelt at the altar of proposing cuts 'to save Social Security.' And because they turned out to be so feckless on this issue, no question that has made it more difficult for Hillary Clinton to find her political as well as her moral compass here."
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Hill warns that Clinton could be vulnerable to skillful attacks by Trump on this issue, noting, "[B]elieve it or not, Donald Trump sounds like a beacon of sanity in the Republican cave, as far as Social Security goes. Trump, as well as organizations like the Tea Party, don't follow the GOP establishment's line on cutting or privatizing Social Security. Despite holding many other traditional conservative views - for the moment, anyway -- Trump has been a strong defender of Social Security and Medicare. While most Republican politicians believe Social Security and Medicare are wasteful entitlement programs, Trump has said, 'People who think this way need to rethink their position. It's not unreasonable for people who paid into a system for decades to expect to get their money's worth--that's not an 'entitlement'; that's honoring a deal.' Similarly on Medicare, Trump has argued that, 'People have lived up to their end of the bargain and paid into the program in good faith. Of course they believe they're 'entitled' to receive the benefits they paid for--they are!'
"Unlike Sanders, Trump does not espouse Social Security expansion, and in his younger years called Social Security a Ponzi scheme and said it should be privatized. But the ever-mutable Trump has emerged as an entitlement maverick, and more than any other candidate has helped push the political center on this issue in a new direction. It is the height of a sad kind of irony - and a reflection of the strange odyssey of the Democratic Party - that the bombastic Trump has been a more staunch supporter of safeguarding entitlement programs for retirees than either President Obama or Bill or Hillary Clinton. And he has taken on the conservative establishment, including the other GOP presidential candidates in the 2016 election, giving voice to the nearly 7 out of 10 rank-and-file Republicans who support Social Security. With economic populist positions like this one and others, I think Trump will be a tough opponent for Hillary Clinton this November."
Asked if there should be an organized effort to turn out voters focused on Social Security protection, similar to the Environmental Voter Project to boost voter turnout among those who regard human-caused climate change as America's top political issue, Hill responded, "During this presidential election season, now is the time, and this is the moment, to try and make this a front-burner issue. Nearly every American has a stake in how this battle turns out. Important organizations like Social Security Works, Progressive Change Campaign Committee and others already are fighting on the front lines for Social Security expansion. But they need assistance, they need activists and the resources to push this issue to the forefront."
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Former U.S. president Bill Clinton (L) introduces former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to the podium at the official launch of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation in New York May 30, 2008. REUTERS/Mike Segar (UNITED STATES)
There is an understandable tendency, when in the thick of a long set of presidential primaries, to treat all of them simply as exercises in the choice between individual candidates, and to make them as much about character as about policy. There is also an understandable tendency to assume that what is at stake in these primaries is purely an American matter with entirely domestic roots.
It is much more difficult to place the competing candidates and their differing policy packages on a bigger and a longer map that takes in previous candidates and previous policies. It is also very hard to break out of a purely American focus, and to see what is happening in the United States as part of a more general story.
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But it is worth the effort: because by going out to the bigger picture, and then back to the detail of the campaigns, the issues that are actually at stake in those campaigns becomes just a little bit clearer.
I
One way of generating that greater clarity is to place the Democratic Party primary battle between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in the shadow of something normally labeled "neoliberalism" -- place it in the shadow, that is, of the economic policies and general economic philosophy successfully espoused by Ronald Reagan in the United States and by Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom. Neoliberalism is that economic philosophy that prefers markets to governments as allocators of resources, and prefers individual and private -- rather than collective and public -- solutions to social problems. For the last three decades, it has been the ruling orthodoxy on both sides of the Atlantic, but when neoliberalism was first advocated -- in the second half of the 1970s -- it was not. It marked then a revolutionary break with an earlier orthodoxy: one linked to the writings of John Maynard Keynes and to the politics of the New Deal; one that had markets managed by governments, and had social problems solved by public spending and policy.
The Reagan/Thatcher neoliberal revolution kept Democrats out of the White House, and kept the Labour Party out of power in London, for three whole electoral cycles; and by the end of the third of those, leading politicians in both parties had come to the same view. They had decided that their only way back to power was to meet Reagan- and Thatcher-shaped electorates on neoliberal terms. Under Bill Clinton's leadership in the United States, and that of Tony Blair in the United Kingdom, each center-left party abandoned their earlier and more progressive sets of policies in favor of an explicit acceptance of, and accommodation with, the major tenets of the new conservative orthodox. They gave up their role as "tax and spend" progressives in favor of "new" positions. They pulled back from active industrial policies that regulated business. They "ended welfare as we know it;" and they even began to call themselves "New/Centrist Democrats" and "New Labour" to make that accommodation to neoliberal principles clear to those who would vote for them.
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For Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, being a progressive in the 1990s meant being a more civilized and kind-hearted Reaganite/Thatcherite. It meant taking for granted, and never challenging, very central neoliberal principles and practices that included:
LIST A
Lower corporate and personal taxation to encourage innovation, enterprise and job creation
A thinning of the welfare net to avoid welfare dependency and increase the incentive to work
The deregulation of labor markets by the weakening of trade unions
The parallel deregulation of the business community, and the celebration of income inequality
The privatization of publicly-owned industries and companies, and the exposure of public bodies to market forces.
That 'third way' acceptance of Reaganite/Thatcherite policies worked for a while. There was great job growth in the United States in the 1990s, and New Labour actually grew the UK economy without a recession from 1997-2007. But then the wheels really came off the neoliberal bus. Lightly regulated financial institutions triggered first a major credit crisis, and then the deepest recession either economy had known since the 1930s. In late 2008 and early 2009, no one was a passionate neoliberal anymore. Keynesian demand management, big injections of public spending, and the tight direction of the banking system -- all three were briefly back in vogue. But only briefly. For quite quickly, conservatives in both countries found other explanations for the crisis, and told their electorates that it was the government spending that caused the crisis (and not, as in reality was the case, the other way round). Even moderate Democrats like Barack Obama then found themselves unable to govern across the aisle, because the Republican wing of the political class was in full retreat to even more extreme neoliberal positions again.
II
Two things then happened that frame the choices before us now. On the Democratic side of the aisle here in the United States, both a moderate and a more radical challenge to the earlier neoliberal orthodoxy began to crystalize. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders may now personify those different challenges, but they are not their sole architects. On the contrary, across the Democratic coalition as a whole, the last seven years have witnessed the increasing presence in the progressive policy debate of two linked but competing lists of policy preferences. The moderate list includes
LIST B
The maintenance of demand through public spending and the toleration of public debt
The avoidance of further financial crisis by tighter financial oversight
The infrastructure route to growth (public spending to modernize roads, bridges, rail & internet)
Progressive taxation to reduce excessive inequality and to spread the cost of welfare provision to those best able to bear it
Greater rights for women and minorities at work, more childcare & paid parental leave
Moves towards a carbon-free energy policy
The more radical list includes the moderate agenda, but adds some/all of the following
LIST C
Greater rights for trade unions, and a major hike in both the minimum wage & Social Security
Systemic attack on the sources of poverty, with affirmative action while poverty persists
The deconstruction of the system of mass incarceration and the ending of the war on drugs
New trade policy to reverse the outsourcing of well-paying jobs
The breaking up of banks that are too big to fail
Less spending on the military & on foreign wars: more nation-building at home, less abroad
Those lists contain very specific American dimensions (not least the ending of mass incarceration and the winding down of foreign wars). But they are not, in all their essentials, American lists alone. Parallel changes in understanding and policy are in debate and dispute in many western European center-left parties right now. They certainly are in the British Labour Party, where leadership has recently switched to Jeremy Corbyn, in many ways the UK's Bernie Sanders equivalent. For the post-2008 struggle, in all advanced capitalist economies, to return to generalized prosperity and job security is obliging the center-left everywhere to re-examine the wisdom of its earlier enthusiastic accommodation to neoliberalism. It is that re-examination that lies at the heart of the current clash, in the on-going series of Democratic Party presidential primaries, between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
III
The three policy lists now in play are not the same. Their centers of gravity are different because the analyses underpinning them also differ. And because they are different, and because of the history in which they sit, Hillary Clinton in particular has a double problem with her potential electoral base.
Her first problem is this. When she was the politically active first lady to her husband's presidency, economic policy under that presidency operated on List A. So one question that Hillary Clinton has to answer now is whether economic policy under a second Clinton presidency (namely hers) will be similar, or will it be different? Her Republican opponents will attempt to tar her with the Bill Clinton brush, pointing to sexual infidelity and possibly financial corruption or worse. Her progressive critics should worry more about the extent to which the current global activities of the Clinton Foundation point to her husband's on-going commitment to neoliberal principles. Because if he hasn't made the break, and he remains among her counsellors, how much of a break has she really made, or how much of a break will she be able to sustain?
Then there is the second problem, the really big one: if the answer to the first question is that yes, next time policy will be very different, will it be different by operating on List B (which is basically the blocked economic policy of the Obama presidency), or will it stretch out to encompass some dimensions (or the totality, indeed) of List C, as so many radical supporters of Bernie Sanders now believe to be essential? Just how radicalized has Hillary Clinton become? How much is show, and how much is real?
The great fear, on the left of the Democratic coalition, is that the rupture with the original Clinton list (List A) is still paper thin: and that Hillary Clinton will say radical things (from the other two lists, including List C) simply to win office. Then, when in office, she will go back to List A, triangulating with neoliberal Republicans in the manner of the first Clinton presidency. Reassuring her progressive supporters that she will not do any of this is therefore a vital task for her between now and November, because only if that reassurance is forthcoming -- only if the depth of her rupture with her own past is unambiguously clear -- will the vast majority of those mobilized by Bernie Sanders act as willing foot-soldiers in the electoral battle to save America from a Trump presidency. And she will need those foot-soldiers.
Re-architecting the firm with blockchain: Is Craig Wright really Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of Bitcoin? Who knows -- and really, who cares? The bigger issue is blockchains, the distributed ledgers that underpin cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
Blockchain technology has so many uses that trying to summarize them can make veteran tech experts sound like PR hacks. "As such, it holds the potential for unleashing countless new applications and as yet unrealized capabilities that have the potential to change everything," write Don Tapscott and his co-author and son Alex Tapscott in their new book, Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin is Changing Money, Business, and the World.
That might sound like hyperbole, but it seems like everywhere you turn these days you run into blockchains. Banks are trying to harness blockchain before its blows up their business models. IBM is betting on blockchains to give its revenues a bump. Disney has a blockchain team doing ... well, who knows what.
What we haven't heard very much about is how blockchain could fundamentally change how companies are managed and operate. That's a good reason to take a closer look at Blockchain Revolution, in which the Tapscotts devote a chapter to the topic. "Blockchain technology is enabling new forms of economic organization and new portfolios of value," they write. "There are distributed models of the firm emerging -- ownership, structure, operations, reward, and governance -- that go far beyond enhancing innovation, employee motivation, and collective action."
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Intrigued? If you'd like read more about how blockchains might change the everyday operation of a business, check out the excerpt from the chapter, reprinted with permission, below.
***
How Do We Find New Talent and New Customers?
How do we find the people and information we need? How do we determine if their services, goods, and capabilities are best for us as we seek to bring the tonic of the market to bear on our internal operations?
Although the architecture of the firm is basically intact, the first era of the Internet dropped such costs significantly and enabled important changes. Outsourcing was really just the beginning. Tapping into ideagoras (open markets for brainpower), companies like Procter & Gamble are finding uniquely qualified minds to innovate a new product or process. In fact, 60 percent of P&G's innovations come from outside the company, by building or harnessing ideagoras like InnoCentive or inno360. Other firms like Goldcorp have created global challenges to search for the best minds to solve their toughest problems. Goldcorp, which published its geological data and talent outside its boundaries, discovered $3.4 billion worth of gold, resulting in a hundredfold increase in the company's market value.
Now imagine the opportunities that arise from the ability to search the World Wide Ledger, a decentralized database of much of the world's structured information. Who sold which discovery to whom? At what price? Who owns this intellectual property? Who is qualified to handle this project? What medical skills does our hospital have on staff? Who performed what type of surgery with what outcomes? How many carbon credits has this company saved? Which suppliers have experience in China? What subcontractors delivered on time and on budget according to their smart contracts? The results of these queries won't be resumes, advertising links, or other pushed content; they'll be transaction histories, proven track records of individuals and enterprises, ranked perhaps by reputation score. Get the picture? Said Vitalik Buterin, founder of the Ethereum blockchain, "Blockchains will drop search costs, causing a kind of decomposition that allows you to have markets of entities that are horizontally segregated and vertically segregated. That never really existed before. Instead you had kind of monoliths that do everything."
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Several companies are working on search engines for blockchains, given the potential bonanza. Google's mission is to organize the world's information, so it would make sense for it to assign considerable manpower to investigate this.
There are three key distinctions between Internet search and blockchain search. First is user privacy. While transactions are transparent, people own their personal data and can decide what to do with it. They can participate anonymously or at least pseudonymously (anonymity through a false name) or quasinymously (partial anonymity). Interested parties will be able to search for information that users have made open. Andreas Antonopoulos said, "Transactions are anonymous if you want them to be anonymous ... but the blockchain enables radical transparency a lot easier than it enables radical anonymity."
Many firms will need to rethink and redesign the recruiting process. For example, human resources or personnel staff will need to learn how to query the blockchain with yes/no questions: Are you a human being? Have you earned a PhD in applied mathematics? Can you code in Scrypt, Python, Java, C++? Are you available to work full time from January through June next year? And other qualifications. These queries will scurry about the black boxes of people on the job market and yield a list of people who meet these qualifications. They could also pay prospective talent to place pertinent professional information on a blockchain platform where they can sort through it. HR staff must master the use of reputation systems, moving forward with candidates without knowing anything irrelevant to the job, such as age, gender, race, country of origin. They also need search engines that can navigate various degrees of openness, from fully private to fully public information. The upside is an end to subconscious or even institutional bias and headhunter or executive recruiting fees. The downside is that precise queries lead to precise results. There is less possibility of serendipity, the discovery of a candidate who lacks the qualifications but has great capacity to learn and to make the random creative connections that a firm desperately needs.
Ditto for marketing. Firms may have to pay just to query a prospective customer's black box, to see whether that customer meets a firm's target audience. That customer may decide globally to withhold certain data such as gender, because a no answer is still valuable. But in so doing, the firm will learn nothing more about the prospect beyond the yes/no results of the query. Chief marketing officers and marketing agencies will need to rethink any strategy based on e-mail, social media, and mobile marketing: where the infrastructure may lower communications costs to zero, customers will raise costs to a figure that makes reading a firm's message worth their while. In other words, you'll be paying customers to listen to your elevator pitch, but you will have tailored your query to pitch only to a sharply defined audience so that you will be reaching exactly the people you want to reach without invading their privacy. You can test different queries to learn about different microniches at every stage of new product development. Let's call it black box marketing.
The second distinction is that search can be multidimensional. When you search the World Wide Web today, you search a snapshot in time, as indexed over the last several weeks. Computer theorist Antonopoulos called this two-dimensional search: horizontal, a wide search across the Web, and vertical, a deep search of a particular Web site. The third dimension is sequence, to see these in the order of uploading over time. "The blockchain can add the additional dimension of time," he said. The opportunity to search a complete record of everything that ever happened in three dimensions is profound. To make his point, Antonopoulos searched the bitcoin blockchain to find its famous first commercial transaction, the purchase of two pizzas done by someone named "Laslo" for 10,000 bitcoins. "The blockchain provides an almost archaeological record, a deep find, preserving information forever." (To save you from doing the math, if the pizza costs $5 when $1 was equal to 2,500 bitcoins, that would be worth $3.5 million as of the writing of this book ... but we digress.)
For firms, this means a need for better judgment: managers need to hire people who have demonstrated good judgment, because there's no walking back poor decisions, no spinning the order of events, no denying an executive's disreputable behavior. For really important decisions, firms could implement internal consensus mechanisms whereby all stakeholders vote on mission-critical decisions to end the chorus of ignorance and denial of prior knowledge. Or use prediction markets to test scenarios. If you're an executive of a future Enron, no scapegoating. As for New Jersey governor Chris Christie, good luck telling a prosecutor that you knew nothing of plans to close the George Washington Bridge.
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The third distinction is value: where information on the Internet is abundant, unreliable, and perishable, it is scarce, tamperproof, and permanent on the blockchain. To this last characteristic, Antonopoulos notes: "If there is enough financial incentive to preserve this blockchain into the future, the possibility of it existing for tens, hundreds, or even thousands of years cannot be discounted."
What an amazing concept. The blockchain as part of the archaeological record, like the original stone tablets of Mesopotamia. Paper records are ephemeral and temporary, whereas (ironically) the oldest form of recording information, tablets, is the most permanent. The implications for corporate architecture are considerable. Imagine a permanent, searchable record of important historical information, like the history of finance. Corporate staff responsible for developing financial statements, annual reports, reports to governments or donors, marketing materials for prospective employees, clients, and consumers--will start with this public, indisputable view of their firm, maybe even creating a filter that enables stakeholders to see what they see at the press of a button. Companies could have transaction ticker tapes and dashboards, some for internal managerial use and some public. Rest assured: All your competitors will construct such feeds and dashboards of your firm as part of their competitive intelligence programs. So why not put those on your Web site and draw everyone to you?
This provides enormous incentive for firms to look for resources outside their boundaries, as they have almost infinitely better information about the qualities and record of candidates, be they individuals or companies.
Companies like ConsenSys are developing identity systems where job prospects or prospective contractors will program their own personal avatars to disclose pertinent information to employers. They can't be hacked like a centralized database can. Users are motivated to contribute information to their own avatars because they own and control them, their privacy is completely configurable, and they can monetize their own data. This is very different from, say, LinkedIn, a central database owned, monetized, and yet not entirely secured by a powerful corporation.
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[Who could] have imagined a platform that could drop search costs so that firms could find capability outside their boundaries that cost less and could perform better?
The innovation hub -- same as it ever was?
The Internet has wrought significant changes in how we work, but some things -- innovation hubs, for example -- remain remarkably durable. "For hundreds of years," writes freelance journalist Emily Sohn inNature, "regions developed specialities that often arose from access to a natural resource, but then intensified as people moved to the regions to be among the expertise. The Internet was supposed to change all that. Around-the-clock connectivity that allowed researchers and entrepreneurs to collaborate from anywhere at any time meant that distance would no longer be an issue, predicted popular economic theory of the early 2000s. A decade later, it hasn't panned out that way."
Sohn reports that global connectivity seems to have stimulated the growth of innovation hubs, like Silicon Valley, rather than shrunk them. "Innovators and PhD students are now clumped together in fewer places, often in big cities," she says. "And collaborations are more likely to happen between researchers who live, or have lived, close to each other."
New and existing companies can't afford to buck this finding. Locating in innovation hubs gives them greater access to talent. It also boosts their performance: Sohn cites studies that show start-ups located in hubs are more likely to survive, and firms in hubs are more likely to file patents than companies outside hubs.
It turns out that no matter how easy it is to collaborate at a distance, proximity remains an essential element in stimulating innovation. It sets the stage for serendipitous meetings. Face-to-face interaction also creates feel-good reactions in our brains that promote trust and more effective collaboration.
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It's not that digital connectivity inhibits innovation. Far from it, reports Sohn. Rather, it stimulates the enhanced innovation that is already taking place within innovation hubs -- in effect, supercharging it. It's a finding worth keeping in mind that next time your company is considering where to locate a new business unit or research facility.
Putting data to work with knowledge graphs:
A brief story popped up in The Seattle Times last week: A data analytics company named Maana announced it had raised $26 million in Series B funding from the investment arms of Saudi Aramco and Shell. In these (waning) days of billion-dollar start-up valuations, $26 million isn't especially jaw-dropping. But the company does have has an interesting approach to data analytics, which uses "enterprise knowledge graphs."
There are a couple of problems with data in big companies. First, there's lots of it, and it's often stashed in separate silos. "A single division could have over 60 different information systems that they work with," CTO Donald Thompson told tech reporter Rachel Lerman. Second, you need to turn the data into useful insights and recommendations. Third, you have get those into the hands of people who can use them to enhance results.
Bearing in mind that I'm a layman at best, here's how Maana approach works: Instead of placing the company's data into a common pool, it sends out a search engine to crawl the various data silos in your company. Then, instead of simply delivering a list of results, it uses analytics and machine learning to construct knowledge graphs -- kind of like the ones that Google introduced a few years back -- that provide actionable recommendations based on the goals and needs of the business and delivers them to line-of-business applications. Maana has used cases on its website that show how this approach works and the results it has produced in operational settings in industrial and oil and gas companies.
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PM Netanyahu is not the only or even the most famous example of a politician who runs away from big decisions, as if attacked by a snake. The devil you know is nearly always preferable to the one you do not. This careful approach to politics may be in a sharp contrast to the fiery image he has cultivated during his long career, but Netanyahu is a politician who understands one or two things about the role of images , and he also knows how to use images in his domestic political campaigns. Much less though in his external ones. These days he confronts the need to do just that, to make a big decision about domestic politics which seems to be inseparable from foreign policy issues. His decision will have a great impact on future developments in the Middle East, especially with regard to the moribund peace process with the Palestinians, but not only.
The context is the inability of the current coalition of 61 in Knesset of 120 to effectively rule the country and pursue its agenda. Agenda?. Depends on what. There is no move with the Palestinians, and this is never only or mainly the fault of Israel. There is a Palestinian side which incites for violence and hatred, relying on external pressures on Israel and fomenting religious bigotry, and there is the Netanyahu government which is all too pleased to say ''we told you so'', to both Israel's public opinion and the rest of the world. This is no policy, no strategy, just Hasbara, PR, which works only up to a point. Many of Netanyahu's domestic items of policy are stuck, and the PM wants , really desperately needs to expand his coalition , so as not to permanently be dependent on the whims of two of his partners, the Shas and Jewish Home parties, as well as some mavericks in his own Likud caucus. One possible partner is the Labor party, under the leadership[?] of Yitzhak Herzog. Leadership and Herzog are oxymoron , and the Labor politician sinks in the polls quicker than the Titanic did. So, when you are challenged from within your party , why not join the coalition , get jobs to yourself and the boys, but also make a pose of leadership, and demand change of course from the PM. This is the Herzog game, portfolios alongside concessions from Netanyahu over settlements , as well as an expressed and actual readiness to resume the negotiations with Mahmoud Abbas. No one in Labor will be ready to join Netanyahu for only some portfolios , so the Palestinian issue is the litmus test for many there. Netanyahu personally will not hesitate to declare a freeze on new settlements, and he already did that before. The connection between such a declaration and a meaningful resumption of talks is very doubtful as past experience shows, but politicians need fig leafs. So were Netanyahu to make such a declaration , Herzog will be happy , but Netanyahu hawks within and outside Likud will not be, and here is the dilemma for Netanyahu. The ''terrible'' need to make a decision which is NOT going to be risk free politically.
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Netanyahu being always the shrewder politician is also looking for another option. This is to switch sharply to the Right Wing and co-opt Avigdor Lieberman in the government. His inclusion will make any possible change of policy about the Palestinians an impossibility, alas not exactly. On everyday security matters , there will be a tougher policy, and the reaction to the provocations of Hamas in Gaza much sharper. Netanyahu is therefore in a limbo, but not fully so.
Disbelief in the existence of human-influenced climate change is behind three Republican senators' legislative proposal to block funding of United Nations programs to address that environmental challenge.
Senators James Inhofe of Oklahoma, David Vitter of Louisiana, and John Barrasso of Wyoming are using Palestinian participation in the UN course of action as a pretext to quash our fiscal contribution. The senators cite a law banning our government from financing any UN agency that has a member we do not recognize as a sovereign state--in this case Palestine.
President Obama's administration, which has pledged $3 billion over four years to the UN climate effort, says the program is a product of a treaty, rather than an actual official agency. Hence, the senators' legal justification for their bill does not apply.
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That the senators would attempt to use Palestine as an excuse for barring our contribution to a global climate change campaign shows how detached they are from reality.
Climate change is a phenomenon in which all countries in varying degrees ultimately impact each other. Global problems thus demand global solutions which is why longtime adversaries may be forced into begrudging cooperation to avert mutual disaster. And that is what has started to happen with the Israelis and the Palestinians, even though the latter would be disqualified from our assistance by the three senators.
Water availability in the arid Middle East is a key component to combatting climate change. Without at least a minimal supply, the landscape is susceptible to prolonged drought, which deprives the landscape of carbon-absorbing vegetation.
Since 2001, there has been a modest sharing of water resources between Israelis and their Arab neighbors. Despite hostilities, 11 Palestine communities, nine Israeli and eight Jordanian communities are currently participating in the program. Water is apportioned from the Jordan River, Dead Sea, and across-the-border aquifers and streams.
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Jews and Arabs are also collaborating on a solar energy project to pump water from an underground aquifer on the West Bank. Joint ventures in desalinization plants are on the drawing boards to alleviate water shortages from a region that is projected to be one of the hardest hit by global warming.
Conservation techniques are being shared, and Israeli agriculture's innovative water-saving drip irrigation methodology has been adopted by many Arab farmers.
The need for mutual cooperation in coping with climate change has not resulted in a full-scale Arab-Israeli detente, but it has laid the groundwork.
In that vein, sea level rise lapping up on the shores of the Mediterranean dictates future cooperation between coastal enemies as well as allies.
Hopefully, the true nature and scope of climate change will dawn on these senators and those who share their parochial views. With their revelation would come a recognition that climate change can just as easily be a catalyst for co-existence as conflict.
We've been away for a couple of weeks, so there's been no home cooking to report on. But here's a food-related travel tip for anyone planning a visit to Lisbon.
Food-related souvenirs and gifts can be difficult to select. They're too big or too heavy to travel with (kitchenware). They're illegal (ham, salami, cheese, etc.). They're mistakes in the making (craft items that look great in situ but are unutterably tacky once they arrive home). Chocolate melts; other confections get sticky or stale.
But canned fish is none of those things. You may not think of it in terms of gift-giving - to others or to yourself - but in many places it can be just the ticket. It's small, not perishable or breakable, permissible to import - and more varied and delicious than anything you're likely to find in the US or most other countries. In France, you buy plump Breton sardines; in Italy or Spain, amazing tuna and anchovies. The right ones (read the label) are traditionally prepared: hand-packed fresh (not frozen) fish canned in good olive oil - or in at least one case, butter. They're worth buying for yourself, and they're worth buying as inexpensive but precious little gifts.
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Jackie and I were in Lisbon last week and, along with Jackie's sister, stumbled into what is now my favorite place for canned-fish shopping: the Loja das Conservas at 130 Rua do Arsenal, not far from the great riverside Praca do Comercio (there's another branch at 62 Praca das Flores). The shop is affiliated with a consortium of tradition-minded canners and is notably stylish in its looks, with shelves devoted to the wares of more than a dozen canneries, a mural on the back wall showing workers doing their jobs, and a repurposed snack vending machine stocked not with tortilla chips and M&Ms but with cans of sardines. There's also a person-sized canning machine that, if asked, they will demonstrate. The salespeople know the history of each can - and they speak good English (and French and Spanish and who knows what else).
What to buy? It's easy to be seduced by beautiful can designs, and, whether old-fashioned or modern, great graphics are as good a reason as any to select one brand over another in a trustworthy shop like this. But you may wish to spend a little time reading what's in the cans too: There were plenty of sardines, tuna, mackerel and shellfish, of course, but also such things as roasted cod (bacalhau) and, of the greatest interest to me, eels (enguias). I'd never heard of either ending up in a can.
The several varieties of eel all came from the same company, Comur, which was founded in 1942 in an eel-rich part of the country and which began with a single product: eels in molho de escabeche (onions, garlic, tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar and other ingredients); the company remains the country's only eel cannery.
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We bought some for ourselves and some for presents, which were gratefully received: our friends hadn't heard of canned eel either. The shop has nice boxes for presentation, but they also have pretty paper bags printed with an image of the cannery mural. The advantage of these is that they pack flat, and the individual cans can be distributed around your suitcase - much more convenient than trying to find room for a carton among the shirts and socks.
Canned fish is not only a surprising and delicious gift; it's also one of the more "authentic" presents you can bring back from vacation. And it will evoke that vacation for years to come - served with grilled bread, for example. I can hardly wait for tomato season to arrive!
At the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, where I serve as dean, I don't traditionally offer much more than welcoming remarks at Commencement. But I thought that this year's May 15 Commencement required at least some comments from me on what's happening in our national political discussion. Those comments follow.
While much of our focus in this institution is on developing the technical skills for success, ours is not a value-free environment. When Hubert Humphrey stood up at the 1948 Democratic National Convention and exhorted the Democratic Party to walk out of the shadow of states' rights and march forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights, he stood for the proposition that public institutions have a role and responsibility to promote objectives consistent with the values of a democratic society, including non-discrimination, inclusion, equal rights and justice for all.
So given the current tenor of our national political debate, I've thought a fair amount about what I might say this afternoon, beyond my traditional welcome. Of course, what I will not address is the question of what one's partisan political preferences ought to be, or ought not to be. We are a non-partisan institution.
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But as I mentioned, we are not a value-free, or an evidence-free, institution. So what does a dean say to graduates going out into the world of practice, as we observe a public discussion in which there is considerable support for calls for a complete and total shutdown of Muslims entering the United States? And what to say to public policy and public affairs graduates about a national political environment in which there is public sympathy or at least acceptance for nasty expressions of intolerance toward the disabled, toward women, toward immigrants, and others?
So I've thought about this, and realized that I probably don't have to say much, as I expect -- as I know -- these challenges only steel the determination of our students, students who are hopeful and optimistic about the boundless potential of humankind, but who are not naive about obstacles to progress.
In contrast to the tenor of some of the public discussion today, the kinds of comments that largely guide our students and our community are from a political figure of another generation, one who said, "if we believe in our past and have faith in our future, we must dedicate ourselves to making each man, each woman, each child in America a full participant in American life"; a public figure who said that "equality means equality for all -- no exceptions, no 'yes, buts,' no asterisked footnotes imposing limits"; a political figure who further said that we must "make America a land where no one is forgotten [and in which] we make our prosperity not the servant of our selfishness but the instrument of our conscience."
Of course, in all these statements, I'm quoting Hubert Humphrey, our school's namesake, who was so very uneasy about leaders who, to use Humphrey's words, based their authority on "the passions and hates of a people."
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Hubert Humphrey spoke a good deal about the purpose of politics and about political leadership, and, frankly, it's an issue that occupies, in one way or another, a fair amount of the discussion at our school, as it should.
The conservative columnist, Michael Gerson, who was a speechwriter and adviser to former President George W. Bush, recently wrote about this issue and used words that, well, could have come from Hubert Humphrey. Gerson noted that truly inspiring leaders identify with the vulnerable among us. And, like Hubert Humphrey said in so many ways, Gerson wrote that "the justice of a political system is determined by its treatment of the vulnerable and weak... [a commitment that is] inconsistent with a type of politics that beats up on the vulnerable and weak."
So I'd encourage you all, though, again, I don't think I need to encourage you to do that which I know you will already do... So, rather, I will express our school's support for you, as you take the long view and appreciate that nativism, chauvinism and bullying is nothing new to our political culture.
Whether it is our original sin of slavery, 19th century no-nothing appeals to anti-immigrant sentiment, early 20th century anti-semitic rants, say, like those spewed by Charles Edward Coughlin, who had tens of millions of follows during the 1930s, or later 20th century trafficking in innuendo and guilt by association of Senator Joe McCarthy, there have always been loud voices of intolerance appealing to our fears rather than to our hopes and our aspirations.
And to our many international students and all our students, you know well that this challenge of combating intolerance is not confined to the United States. We find it around the world, from Burma and India in Asia, to Austria, Greece, Denmark and other parts of Europe, to Central Africa and beyond.
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Our challenge -- your challenge -- is two-fold, it seems to me: first, to confront and contest forthrightly those loud voices of intolerance at each and every turn; and second, and as difficult as this may be, to promote a politics of civility that recognizes and seeks to address real fears and anxieties of millions of Americans and people around the world who feel threatened by rapid change that seems far out of their control.
Frankly, I think Hubert Humphrey wouldn't have it any other way.
Discovering the past is necessary but elusive. You think of what you did yesterday and you are often in doubt in seeking the truth of a few hours ago. Imagine then walking back into thousands of years and discovering the tombs and treasures of your ancestors.
Imagine being Greek with a history of millennia. The ancient Greeks, removed from us by two to four millennia, were talking about their ancestors. The Trojan War was ancient history to Plato.
Ancient Greeks went through periods of enormous creativity, inventing and constructing what we call Western civilization: science, technology, architecture, literature, poetry, the tragic theater and democracy.
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The Greeks did all that while offering prayers to several gods. Some of the Greek heroes were children of those gods.
But the Greeks had lots of enemies who, in time, conquered them.
Those conquerors included the Romans, barbarians, Western Europeans, and Turks. They nearly wiped out the material and intellectual world of the Greeks.
The Romans imposed on Greece Christianity, an enemy of ancient Greek civilization.
Only relatively recently, in early nineteenth century when the Greeks regained their freedom, did they start searching for their ancient ancestors. They witnessed Philhellenes scouring their country for buried treasures. They, too, entered the field of archaeology.
The Archaeological Society of Athens was the first Greek institution to take up this noble cause. Michael Cosmopoulos, professor of Greek studies at the University of Missouri-St Louis, explained to me that the Society has been in existence since 1837.
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"In its long history," he said, "it has had the distinction of discovering, excavating, and protecting some of the most important archaeological sites in Greece, from the Acropolis in Athens to Epidaurus and from Mycenae to Sparta. At the same time the Society is responsible for a tremendous body of archaeological research and publications. In short, [the work of] this a venerable institution has advanced our knowledge of ancient Greece like no one else."
However, we are now, in 2016, in a new age that blindly ignores culture for ephemeral matters like money. Once again, Greece is an occupied country. It is the victim of internal and external corruption. It has a huge debt. As a result, foreigners are invisibly running the country.
Archaeology is at the bottom of the priorities of the "leftist" anti-Greek Greek government. As for the lenders, they probably eye Greek archaeological treasures as a deposit to their demands for repayment.
Cosmopoulos is aware, though cautious, of this deleterious reality in Greece. He said to me that "austerity" in Greece is affecting Greek archaeology in major ways:
"The most crucial aspect of the impact of the financial crisis on archaeological research and the protection of cultural treasures concerns the cuts in the funds needed for these two major areas of archaeology. These cuts have impacted both the infrastructure and the human resources needed for cultural organizations, such as the Athens Archaeological Society, to perform their work and fulfill their mission."
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In other words, Greek archaeologists have no money for research, excavation, and protection of their discoveries and protection of the considerable and unmatched treasures in the Greek museums.
This signals the looters to be on high alert. In fact, in 2012, thieves broke into the National Gallery in Athens and stole a painting by Picasso. They also burglarized the Museum of the History of the Olympics in Antiquity in Olympia and grabbed dozens of treasures.
Staff of the Greek Archaeological Museum in Olympia complained that the government fired about 1,500 guards protecting museums all over the country.
Another Greek archaeologist and professor of classics and archaeology at the University of Illinois-Chicago, Nanno Marinatos, expands the argument to include much more than museums falling apart and Greek archaeological services in disarray.
"The crisis in Greece," she said to me, "is not just financial. It has profoundly affected our confidence in the future and has questioned our identity. The Modern Greek State since 1825 had to rely on archaeology as a major resource for building up the idea
of Greekness, or, its Hellenicity, as I like to call it. Antiquities are a tangible link to the past ages and Greek archaeologists, being trained superbly, are well suited to be ambassadors of Greece at a time when negative publicity is flourishing."
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But then why should these Greek crises be of any interest to Americans? Marinatos is convinced Americans should care and care very deeply. They are also at risk.
She says:
"As long as Americans feel that they have been somewhat inspired by the democratic institutions of Greece and Rome, antiquities will always have relevance to their identity as well. They represent not just history but ONE of the golden ages of mankind."
Marinatos' father, Spyridon Marinatos, was a great Greek archaeologist who in 1967 brought to light the four-thousand-year-old magnificent treasures of the Greek Aegean island of Thera.
Thera blew up around 1650 BCE. It was a thriving polis in the Minoan Age. Spyridon Marinatos uncovered a town with houses two and three stories high, paved streets, and modern-like water and sewage works. But, above all, Thera was full of stunning wall paintings.
Nanno Marinatos bemoans that to this day the world has not seen the magnificent paintings her father discovered in Thera.
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The reason? Money, of course.
"The splendid paintings from Thera, representing the great goddess," she says, "have been buried in a basement for years because there are no resources to build a gallery for paintings. Many other treasures have had the same fate."
In 2015, Marinatos, Cosmopoulos and three of their colleagues from Harvard (Gregory Nagy), Princeton (Angelos Chaniotis), and Berkeley (Ronald Stroud) founded the Archaeological Society Foundation to assist in raising funds for the Archaeological Society of Athens.
God tends to be a placeholder for many things other than a deity. In the ancient world, it was believed that the ruler was either chosen by a god, or in fact, was a god. Phrases like 'son of god', 'light of the world', 'son of the morning' were not titles that originated in the Christian canon, but in the ancient Levant region where pre-semitic tribes dwelt. The Pharaoh was thought to be the direct channel to god in the monotheistic strand of the Egyptian religion. Although these titles had spiritual meaning, the ideas behind them originated out of the minds of the people who created them. Free will existed before god did.
Look at the Biblical examples that prove that god did not control them. The first mega-church pastor, Moses wasn't even Hebrew, was most likely an Egyptian and may not have even actually existed, but if he did, he murdered someone before becoming a tribal head of state. So, if god controlled Moses' actions, then god is either a murderer or in the least, an accomplice. However, if Moses did it, by choice, then humans are free because Moses committed violence out of choice, not out of a forced divine hand.
Isn't this what most want? No one really wants to be ruled, controlled, or domineered. This idea of freedom being unconditional, however, is an extremely American one. For many, its tied into the forefathers ideology who penned the constitution. But, is freedom unconditional? Can such a thing exist? It was Jesus of Nazareth who told Peter to give up his sword, to not use violence (writers would later refer to Jesus as god and Christ), that giving up control was the most divine thing you could do. If Jesus was god, then god gave up its control, so we could have it back.
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However, if God, as a singular ruling being who dwells somewhere in the cosmos, does not actually control or direct the fate of all mankind, then what are we left with? If the desire to explain evil acts through the embodiment of some dark anti-god (aka, Satan/Devil) is only part of historical mythology, then who is to blame? These are the key questions, and the answer to both of those questions are staring us right in the face. You and I. We are free. But freedom costs something. We only realize we are or aren't free because others exist. This could be why war is such a popular form of violence, because if we eradicate this 'other', then we wont' have the reminder that we aren't free. This is why tribal wars in the ancient world were so popular. "If I want more of what they have, well then, its a reminder that I don't have that, so I will perform any sort of violence necessary to get it".
This is the story of god vs the common man. A revolution is afoot. No longer are humans taking cues from dead gods, or old arid myths of divine retribution. This is the proletariat revolution, but on a cosmic scale. The bourgeois share the trait with a more mainstream view of god. Namely in the way of production. God creates, and so do the bourgeoisie; to the point of controlling the means of production. In religion, we are told to be grateful to the deity who created what we have. As children, we are told by our parents that "We should be grateful for what we have", rather than notice the very socio-economic discrepancies hiding in that very axiom. The bourgeoisie have megalomania issues, that for many, lead to fascism. They desire some form of worship, some form of payment or recognition. Like god, they demand worship.
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Right now, we see this in the very space that Donald Trump occupies, he willingly makes controversial statements, and uses the very controversy to simultaneously endear and incite. His statements are two-edged swords. He makes xenophobic and racist statements like his popular quote: "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending the best. They're sending people that have lots of problems and they're bringing those problems. They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime. They're rapists and some, I assume, are good people, but I speak to border guards and they're telling us what we're getting." These lazy metaphysical statements enforce the vilification of certain people groups to justify scapegoating and escapism necessary to hide the flaws in a system that needs sacrifices to appease itself. This very system that promises democracy (which it will never be able to do, because not every single person can really be represented) and that voting matters and that all voices and desires will be heard is directly akin to the notion of prayer in most major religions. As if to imply, like prayer, your vote counts and is heard. But with so much corruption within the voting system, we now know, this is not true.
Why? Because, we pray to a god outside of ourselves who tells us: ""Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?" So, on one hand we're encouraged to ask for we want, but are never told that the problem lies in the fact that we have a government (god) who mediates for us on our behalf. That we then rely on a system to do the work for us.That prayer exists as a mechanism of control. Because it is easier to blame the system or the people running it, rather than actually working together to do something about it. This religious strain hiding in American politics blinds us from that reality. It immobilizes us into inactivity, and then helps us find ways to justify that inactivity by blaming others and no one else. Blaming god, blaming religion, blaming systems - these give us the feeling of being constructive with our existence, rather than realizing that we are prisoners of the very things we concede to.
In this Aug. 21, 2015 photo, a Chinese man works amid orange robot arms at Rapoo Technology factory in southern Chinese industrial boomtown of Shenzhen. Factories in China are rapidly replacing those workers with automation, a pivot thatas encouraged by rising wages and new official directives aimed at helping the country move away from low-cost manufacturing as the supply of young, pliant workers shrinks. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
Automation has been responsible for improvements in manufacturing productivity for decades.
Advanced robotics will accelerate this trend. Machines, after all, can perform many manufacturing tasks more efficiently, effectively and consistently than humans, leading to increased output, better quality and less waste. And machines don't require health insurance, coffee breaks, maternity leave or sleep.
The industrial world realizes this and robot sales have been surging, increasing 29 percent in 2014 alone, according to the International Federation of Robotics.
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Robots at the Hyundai factory in Asan, South Korea, on Jan. 20, 2015. (SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Of the more than 229,000 industrial robots sold in 2014 (the most recent statistics available), more than 57,000 were sold to Chinese manufacturers, 29,300 to Japanese companies, 26,200 to companies in the U.S., 24,700 to South Koreans and more than 20,000 to German companies. By comparison, robot sales in India totaled just 2,100, IFR reported.
None of this should surprise us. Automation makes little or no economic sense in countries where there is comparatively little manufacturing or where abundant cheap labor is readily available. The basic economic trade-off between the cost of labor and the cost of automation is the primary consideration. Labor laws, cultural considerations, the availability of capital and the age and skill levels of local workers also are important factors.
Consider an economy such as India's. When you have 1.3 billion people who can make things cheaply, it doesn't make a lot of economic sense to automate. In fact, Indians appear more likely to design and produce labor-saving robots and other such machinery than to use it in their factories.
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When you have 1.3 billion people who can make things cheaply, it doesn't make a lot of economic sense to automate.
Also important in the "buy" or "don't buy" calculation involving robotics is the technical ability of machines vis-a-vis manual labor. Some jobs -- think textile cutting and stitching, for example -- simply need human hands, at least for now. This is good news, all else being equal, not only for China and India, but for other emerging market economies like Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand and Turkey, which are significant textile exporters.
But with wages increasing in emerging economies, we soon may see more robotics even in textiles, especially in cotton products where the raw material is shipped to countries like Pakistan, converted to textiles and sent back to the U.S.
What this all means is that the next stage of the robotic revolution -- dubbed Industry 4.0 -- will affect some countries more than others and some industries and job categories more than others. Every industry has certain unique jobs, each with its own required tasks. Some jobs can be automated, others not. Moreover, different tasks require different robotic functions -- some of which will require very expensive robotic systems. All of this has to be considered.
A worker in Guangzhou, China on March 4, 2011. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Last fall we took a close look at the world's 25 largest manufacturing export economies to see which countries are most aggressively automating production and which are lagging. Nearly half of the countries -- Brazil, China, the Czech Republic, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand -- are generally considered emerging markets.
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Surprisingly, the countries moving ahead most aggressively -- installing more robots than would be expected given their productivity-adjusted labor costs -- are emerging markets: Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Manufacturers in South Korea and Thailand, in particular, have been automating at a comparatively breakneck pace; the Indonesians and Taiwanese slightly slower.
The fast pace of automation in South Korea and Taiwan can be explained in part by higher-than-average wage increases, aging workforces and low unemployment rates. In a developing economy like Indonesia, the motive might be different -- to improve quality so local factories can compete with those in Japan and the West.
Chinese manufacturers see the writing on the wall.
Other countries that have been rapidly integrating robotics into manufacturing, but not quite as quickly, are Canada, China, Japan, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S. China is an interesting case because it's automating rapidly despite the fact that Chinese wages are still comparatively low.
The reason for this, we believe, is that Chinese manufacturers see the writing on the wall. Labor costs have been increasing rapidly in China, a trend that is likely to continue. Moreover, with an aging workforce -- complicated by the country's decades-old though recently abandoned one-child policy -- skill shortages appear on the horizon. And quality remains a big concern. The strategic use of robots can help compensate for these shortcomings.
Countries moving more slowly in the adoption of industrial robotics include Australia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Mexico and Poland. While there are other factors at play as well, labor regulations that require employers to justify layoffs and pay idled workers for long periods of time appear to be largely responsible for the slower pace.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel shakes hands with a robot at an industrial fair in 2006 alongside Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. (AP Photo/Joerg Sarbach)
The slowest adopters of robotic technology among the 25 largest manufacturing exporters have been Austria, Belgium, Brazil, France, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain and Switzerland. With the exception of India, all of these nations have aging work forces, some of the highest productivity-adjusted labor costs in the world and are likely to face serious skill shortages in coming years.
Under the circumstances, automation would appear to be a no-brainer -- except that their governments, in effect, discourage it with various restrictions on replacing workers with machines, including years of mandatory severance pay in some cases.
Surprisingly, the countries moving ahead most aggressively installing more robots than would be expected given their productivity-adjusted labor costs are emerging markets.
India has been moving slowly because the economic balance still favors India's abundant cheap labor. But there are bureaucratic hurdles as well. Indian companies with more than 100 employees must obtain permission from the government before they fire anyone. Imagine what that involves. This lack of flexibility not only discourages the automation of existing factories, it also sends a powerful signal that any company or investor considering automation needs to think twice -- maybe three times -- before sinking money into a new modern factory.
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As the world's emerging economies industrialize and labor costs rise -- as is now happening in China and happened even earlier in South Korea and Taiwan -- the picture is likely to change.
For now, however, workers in most developing economies would appear to have little to fear. Robots may be coming to their factories, but not any time soon.
Also on WorldPost:
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders addresses a primary night election rally in Carson, California, May 17, 2016. Sanders scored a decisive victory over Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary in Oregon, boosting his argument for keeping his underdog campaign alive through the conclusion of the primary process. Several US networks called the Pacific northwest state for the liberal Sanders, who was leading the former secretary of state 53 percent to 47 percent. Earlier in the night, Clinton claimed victory in an extraordinarily tight race in the state of Kentucky. / AFP / ROBYN BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)
Supporters of Bernie Sanders have been stereotyped as young, mostly male millennials, who, for some reason, are connecting with a 74-year-old Jewish grandfather. I wanted to learn more about Sanders supporters who didn't fit this label, so I talked to two of his biggest fans: my grandmas. While my grandmas come from different backgrounds, they are both lifelong Democrats, Midwesterners and seriously #feelingthebern.
My maternal grandmother, Patrecia Devon, is first generation German-American and grew up Catholic on Chicago's north side. She raised my mom and her siblings as a single parent while putting herself through college. She is very active in the Sanders campaign in her state of Wisconsin and will serve as a regional delegate for that state's caucuses. My paternal grandmother, Rita Frank, is from a family of Chicago Jews and prefers to be called "Nana." She fell in love with my grandfather, who she has been married to for 65 years, at Teachers College after he returned from fighting in World War II.
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Because I am their granddaughter, they agreed to a phone discussion on the one topic you don't bring up in polite conversation: politics. Luckily, they both had similar beliefs, particularly their desire for change in American government and their frustrations with the Republican Party. We laughed and disputed and by the end, they had me in tears. Besides gaining a wider understanding of what it means to be a Sanders supporter, I also have a newfound appreciation for grandmas, and the struggles they have faced in their lives. I am proud of how they continue to use their political power to create a better future for my generation.
Me, far right, with my arm around my maternal grandmother, Patrecia Devon. My father, far left, stands next to his mom, my grandma Rita Frank. Her husband, Robert Frank, sits in the middle.
Hannah: To start, why do you support Bernie Sanders?
Rita: I just voted for him because I'm sick of the so-called politicians that are running and those that are in office today, and I thought he made sense. I think we need someone in office who gives us a different look. That's all.
Patrecia: Well let me count the ways. Well first of all because he is a real, authentic person. He has not changed any of his positions for thirty or forty years. You go back to his start in the early '80s, and the man has been saying basically the same things he is saying now. I think he is the only person really in my lifetime who can bring hundreds, literally hundreds of thousands of people and make them active and engaged in a political movement that is going to be a benefit of the middle class and not the very wealthy.
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Hannah: Would both of you say you care more about this election more than past elections?
Patrecia: Ah boy. That's a tough one. I've cared about them all, Hannah. But I've got to say, this is the first election where I have canvassed. I have phone banked. And I can't send a lot of money, but I think I've contributed to his campaign already five or six times.
Hannah: What stands out about this election?
Patrecia: It's the revolution! He's a leader.
Rita: I only have one thing I don't agree with. I don't agree with him on paying for college. I agree with the medical and some of the other things he talks about, but free college? Sometimes when you get something for nothing, you don't honor it as much. I just can't see everybody going to college for free. That just doesn't make sense in my mind. But that's me.
Hannah: Do you remember how you paid for college?
Rita: I went to Teachers College, and that was nothing (financially) practically. But it had an end result in teaching. That's how it worked in Chicago. And not only that, it was very hard to be Jewish and get into college. There were nine or 10 Jewish kids every year that got in. So we knew there was a quota system. There were maybe four or five black kids who got in. It was a very Irish Catholic school system until after World War II. That's when it kind of opened up.
Hannah: But don't you think it's different nowadays because the cost of college has gone up so much and it's harder for graduates to find jobs?
Rita: Yeah they come out owing a lot of money. That's very true.
Patrecia: They're in debt for practically the rest of their lives, and so it boils down to with the system that we have now, it's only wealthy kids who can afford to go to college. That's just so unfair. I didn't go to college until I was in my 30s, but it took me ten years, ten years, and another, I don't know how many, seven to ten years, to pay off my student loans. I really hear what you're saying Rita, but I also think that it can be so burdensome. Maybe there is a middle road in between there.
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Hannah: Do you remember the first time you each became politically involved?
Rita: I don't know if I'm politically involved. It's World War II for me when they wouldn't let the Jews into the country. That's when I got mad at Roosevelt, and that was my first inkling towards that. Of course at that point in time I was maybe 15 or 16 years old.
Hannah: Do you remember the first election you voted in?
Rita: It was the dark ages. I would imagine when we were able to vote at 21.
Patrecia: I can actually remember the afternoon because my mom and dad were talking about President Truman and the Korean, well they called it a police action then Hannah, not a war. It was just another euphemism, you know. But it was war. And I remember I was probably 8 years old, and I was frightened hearing them talk about it. That was the first time my interest got sparked in politics in general and government and world affairs. The first time I voted was for John F. Kennedy. So of course following his assassination, it was just a terrible turmoil. Martin Luther King got shot and then Robert Kennedy. I think that our nation has never been the same really since all of that. All through it, the 1968 Convention, all of it, I've been passionate. I felt passionate about what was happening in our country. Not just now.
Hannah: How have your personal backgrounds affected your political opinions?
Rita: I don't know. I feel very bad because I never had any political connection at all really. Just that my friends and I grew up, we were Democrats, and that was our interest. And after I finished college, I got married, had four kids, and I was too busy to get much done. Of course there was a fascination with Kennedy and all of that, but politically, I was never an activist. In fact with all of our friends, nobody really was an activist. And I'll tell you, with some of the friends I know whose kids, of course they are not kids, they are in their 60s and late 50s, those with a lot of money, who have made money in their lifetimes, they have joined the Republican party. Their sisters and brothers around them who haven't made a lot of money, they're still Democrats. But the kids like who I said have gone on to better things, they have all gone
Republican. It's interesting.
Hannah: Do you have any idea why that is?
Rita: Because the Republicans were always known as the money people. Democrats were always more in Bernie's class.
Patrecia: Yeah, middle class. Working class especially and pro union. And I think because both of my parents were staunch Chicago Democrats, I grew up with that around me. My dad was a union man. Then when I went to high school, it was all about the Kennedys. Of course because he was Catholic, so that influenced me, and I think still does to this day. Plus my own history. I remember the first time I really got involved was when the women's movement came to the forefront, and then I became a feminist, and I became active to pass the ERA, Equal Rights Amendment, which never did pass. And I could only be a little bit active because at that point, I was a single parent, and I had a lot on my plate. But I did actively take part in that movement. That was the real beginning for me as far as not just being interested but becoming active.
Hannah: Why do you prefer Sanders over Hillary Clinton?
Rita: Maybe it's a continuation of all the presidents who have been in the White House. You know what I mean? She is very politically inclined, and I think he's more human. That's maybe why all the kids like him so much. I think the big thing he has got to do is get those kids out to register. I'm trying to work my own grandkids to make sure they register because in November, they are going to be back in school. Not just saying they're for Bernie. They've got to make sure they vote for him, which is a big difference: saying something and doing it.
Hannah: How have you used the Internet during this election?
Patrecia: I've become a troll, Hannah. I'm on every day. I must put in I want to say two or three hours a day, which is ridiculous. And I think with some stuff, I can't wait until this whole election cycle is over so I'm not so hooked into what's happening there. But it's like I can't leave it alone. I'm obsessed with what's happening. But on the other side, I've made a lot of new friends, so that's good.
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Hannah: Have you had any interesting discussions about this election?
Patrecia: I've had so many. I think that everyone is sick of hearing about it from me. I think they try to avoid it, and I truly try not to bring it up in conversations. I feel like a broken record. It's boring after awhile.
Rita: Religion and politics you don't discuss.
Patrecia: You're right Rita. That's so true.
Rita: Well the thing that gets me most angry is this business with women. Who the hell are they to tell me I can't get an abortion. Who the hell are they to tell us anything? You know I don't think it should be a political thing.
Hannah: Have both of you been open about your support of Sanders?
Rita: Yeah, not that anybody really cares. I mean my kids and the grandkids. But besides that, if I talk to a friend or something, but it's not usually conversation. At my grand age, we don't talk about it unless it's brought up, and usually, it's more health issues. All we hear about is health issues.
Patrecia: Hannah, to give you an honest answer to that question, I'm not a hypocrite, but I am somewhat of a coward. I live in a very redneck neighborhood. You see no political signs up anywhere around here because everybody knows you will make enemies. I'm ashamed, in a way, of my cowardness, but I don't have a sign in my car. Although on my dining room table, I have umpteenth signs to put up, stickers for my car. When I went canvassing, I wore pins and all that stuff. But to be in my neighborhood, I'm a coward. I have to live here.
Rita: You're right though Pat.
Patrecia: I know, but sometimes I go to bed at night, and I think, "Oh forgive me. I'm such a coward." But I'm kind of afraid I'll be ostracized or maybe even someone could do some vandalism.
Rita: It's a crazy time.
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Patrecia: Yeah exactly. So I'm not proud of it, Hannah. If I was a braver soul, I would have my sign in the front yard and on my car and everywhere, but I don't. And my neighbor who is probably the most popular person on this block, very early on, she had a Sanders sign out on her lawn, just a little tiny one. You would have to get close to even read "Sanders." And you know what? It was gone already months ago. So I'm not the only one. She was braver than me to have it out for a little while.
Hannah: If you could talk to Trump, what would you say to him?
Patrecia: Hannah, what I can say? It would be an expletive. I won't say any more.
Hannah: If you could give Bernie any advice, what would you tell him?
Patrecia: I would ask him for advice. Everything that he is doing, he is doing right to me. I don't see anything that he could do better. Do you, Rita?
Rita: Well there is a lot about his background that will come out. I would just say, stay strong.
Patrecia: He's my hero. And when I look at his schedule. You know what I do? I pray at night. I pray that he is able physically. How does he do it? Rita, my God. I don't know how he does it. He's everywhere. He's tireless. And I just think physically, at 74, God help him stay physically able to continue this. I have never seen anybody work so hard.
Hannah: At this point in your lives, being retired and having grandchildren, what specific things appeal to you about Bernie?
Rita: Well I would say at my age, I'm not really worried about much of that. I would say for my kids. I just hope that he's a good and honest person and sees things a little bit of the way we see things and not in the opposite direction towards the Republican view. And that's really all we can hope for. That he is an honest person.
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Gavel on desk. Isolated with good copy space. Dramatic lighting.
I've always been known as a tough-on-crime, pro-law enforcement individual, and I still am. During my years as a North Carolina State Senator, I vigorously advocated for the death penalty. As a superior court judge, I presided over trials where the death penalty seemed like the only suitable punishment for the heinous crimes that had been committed. Finally, as a Justice, and then as Chief Justice, on the Supreme Court of North Carolina, I cast my vote at appropriate times to uphold that harsh and most final sentence.
After decades of experience with the law, I have seen too much, and what I have seen has impacted my perspective. First, my faith in the criminal justice system, which had always been so steady, was shaken by the revelation that in some cases innocent men and women were being convicted of serious crimes. The increased availability of DNA testing in the early 2000s highlighted this problem so clearly to me. I spent the next decade working with others to devise systems and develop task forces dedicated to the prevention of wrongful convictions in North Carolina. I take, I believe, justifiable pride in the fact that North Carolina established the first state Innocence Inquiry Commission in the country. Numerous legal experts publicly acknowledge that the safeguards that have been implemented in North Carolina are wildly successful. However, one thing we did not adequately address is that individuals with intellectual disabilities, mental illness, and other impairments are more likely to be wrongfully convicted. The case of Henry McCollum and Leon Brown makes that point vividly clear. McCollum was 19 and Brown was 15 when they confessed to the rape and murder of 11-year-old Sabrina Buie. Both men are intellectually disabled, which greatly increased their susceptibility to false confession. As a result, they spent 31 years in prison, including time on death row, for a crime they didn't commit.
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The death penalty is not and should not be available as a punishment for all homicides. In Kennedy v. Louisiana, the Court found that under the Eighth Amendment, capital punishment "must be limited to those offenders ... whose extreme culpability makes them the most deserving of execution." Both the crime itself, and the offender, must be deemed the so-called "worst of the worst." The Court has categorically barred persons with intellectual disability and juveniles from execution because they have diminished culpability, and defendants are also allowed to introduce mitigating evidence to demonstrate impairments. However, I've seen how these safeguards can fail to adequately protect individuals with significant impairments.
Last year in America, over half of the individuals that were executed had severe mental impairments. Too much reliance is put on jurors to identify those who are the "worst of the worst." As Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, I was responsible for assessing the personal culpability of defendants in capital cases to ensure that the punishment would be applied appropriately, so I understand just how difficult this task can be.
In order for mitigation evidence to be considered it must be collected and introduced at trial. In states where indigent defense systems are woefully underfunded, as it is in North Carolina, or where standards of representation are inadequate, this evidence regularly goes undiscovered.
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Additionally, a number of impairments are difficult to measure. For intellectual disability, we can use an IQ score to approximate impairment, but no similar numeric scale exists to determine just how mentally ill someone is, or how brain trauma may have impacted their culpability. Finally, even when evidence of diminished culpability exists, some jurors have trouble emotionally separating the characteristic of the offender from the details of the crime.
The categorical exclusions for juveniles under the age of 18 and those with intellectual disability are simply drawn too narrowly to encompass everyone who has diminished culpability. These categorical exclusions are particularly inadequate when multiple impairments exist. Take for instance the case of Lamondre Tucker, whose case will be conferenced by the Supreme Court this week. Tucker was convicted of murdering his pregnant girlfriend in Caddo Parish, Louisiana. He was just 18 years old at the time of the offense, and was repeating his senior year of high school. He has an IQ score of 74. Taken together, these factors indicate that he is most likely just as impaired as those individuals that the Court has determined it is unconstitutional to execute. Yet, because of a variety of systemic factors, including ineffective legal representation, Tucker sits on death row. Ten former State Supreme Court justices signed an Amicus brief last month questioning the constitutionality of Tucker's death sentence due to his impairments. Today I join my colleague's call.
My server was taken down by a well-known hacker group trying to extort me for 3 Bitcoin, which in US dollars, is in the tune of $1500. They said that they would continue attacking my server and my websites until I paid them, and that the attack would continue to increase in severity until they got what they wanted.
Having your website attacked is one of the most frustrating things that can happen to a business owner. Web hosts are not always readily available, and if/when you finally get ahold of somebody, the chances are slim that they are a higher-level technician that can actually help you diagnose the issue.
Of course, creating a support ticket is your best long-term bet, and should be your very first move.
Support tickets can take hours or even days to get a response from a technician at most major hosting companies. If you feel like doing something to stop the attack in the meantime, you'll need to figure out how your website is being attacked and fix the issue.
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Let's determine what kind of attack your site is being hit with.
Determining Attack Type
The first step is to determine what kind of attack your website is experiencing.
Most of the time, if your website isn't loading, you are being hit with a DoS or DDoS attack, which stands for Denial of Service (or Distributed Denial of Service, respectively). This means that one or more computers is attacking your website to overwhelm your server and knock it offline so your visitors can't access your content.
This is one of the easiest attacks to execute, and it is a very common one to be hit by your competitors, or perhaps an angry customer.
If you're getting pop-ups, browser warnings, redirections, or viruses on your site, you most likely have a software or plugin vulnerability on your site, which requires a more thorough investigation from your host.
If you don't see any of these, but your website is still offline, let's move ahead to find out which connections are responsible for your server being offline.
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Determining If You Have SSH and FTP Access
Have you tried connecting to your website via FTP? Does it load? If so, this is further evidence of a Denial of Service attack.
Have you tried connecting to SSH? If you have a dedicated server (which you really should), connect to your site via SSH.
Once you're connected to your server through SSH, we can run some commands to see what's going on.
Scanning for Abusive IP Addresses
Once you're connected to SSH, run this command to see a list of every IP that is connected to your server:
netstat -ntu | awk '{print $5}' | cut -d: -f1 | sort | uniq -c | sort -n
Take note of any IP addresses that have an alarming amount of connections. Your average user will have anywhere from 1 to 10 connections, where-as an IP that is attacking your server will have hundreds. In my case, each IP had about 500 connections.
Next, do a Google search of the IP address, or use a site like whatismyipaddress. What country is it from? Do you see a similarity between the attack IPs? Are they all from Romania, or are they all from Tor's network? Take note of any similiarities, as they may be the final clue that you need to block these.
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Next, block the offending IPs. This will stop most of the less-sophisticated denial of service attacks.
You can permanently block the offending IP with this command (replace xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx with the attacker's IP address, and repeat as necessary:
iptables -A INPUT -s xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx -j DROP
You can also paste this in, which creates a rule that will drop connections from people trying to load your website more than 10 times simultaneously:
iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -i eth0 -m state --state NEW -m recent --set
iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -i eth0 -m state --state NEW -m recent --update --seconds 60 --hitcount 10 -j DROP
iptables-save >/etc/iptables.up.rules
Lastly, save what you've done so these changes will stick, even after a sever restart:
iptables-save > /etc/iptables.up.rules
iptables-restore < /etc/iptables.up.rules
Check your website. Does it load? Yay!
If it doesn't load, keep running checks with the first command I listed, and look for new IPs that are using way too many connections. In my case, the attacking IP would change every minute, and every single IP was from the Tor network. I ended up having to block every single Tor exit node on this list, which stopped this attack.
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Other Types of Denial of Service Attacks
With the previous method, attackers can take down large websites, even websites with anti DDoS measures in place. It works by exhausting every connection that your website has to offer, and doesn't allow real users in, since it's too busy trying to serve the fake users.
However, if you didn't see any high connection IP addresses in the above steps, or you can't connect to FTP or SSH, it's likely you're getting hit with a UDP or TCP flood, which relies on brute force from a single connection. A single IP can send a tremendous amount of data, especially if it's from a datacenter, and it will only show up as a single connection.
This requires a more thorough pruning of your active connections, and in some cases (if the attack is large enough), a dedicated hardware / software firewall for your server. This is something you should be able to purchase from most hosts.
Hopefully -- after these steps -- you've managed to get your site back online. Now, let's look into preventative measures to reduce the risk of being affected by something like this again.
Server Hardening
If a software or dedicated hardware firewall isn't available by your host, you can always harden Apache on your web server, which will prevent help your server identify and automatically block malicious connections like these.
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You'll want to install the mod_reqtimeout module for Apache, documented here.
You can adjust configuration for this in the WHM Includes Editor under "Pre-Main-Global". A basic configuration for this to drop most malicious connections automatically would look something like this:
RequestReadTimeout header=20-40,MinRate=500 body=20-40,MinRate=500
Depending on your host and skill level, you might need to create a support ticket to have a tech help you with this.
Reducing Server Load and Attack Surface Area
A heavy website with a lot of images, videos, and moving parts will strain your server more, and will have a larger 'attack surface area'.
There are a few things you can do to help this. The first would be setting up a Content Delivery Network (CDN), which automatically hosts your website code, images, and dependencies on blazing fast servers. Companies like MaxCDN or Amazon CloudFront are very easy to use, and if you use Wordpress, you can usually set up your CDN in about 5 minutes with the W3 Total Cache plugin.
The next time somebody attacks your site, they will be trying to load a page that is practically a simple HTML page, since all of your website's images and content are hosted on their servers. This reduces the strain on your server dramatically, and a site with a CDN will survive a DDoS much more easily.
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It will also load much faster and will rank better in Google. I pay a few bucks a month for Amazon CloudFront; it's a worthwhile upgrade.
A caching plugin like W3 total cache will also help you serve cached HTML pages to your visitors, instead of the bloated Wordpress code. This essentially takes a snapshot of what your website looks like loaded, and serves that version to your visitors. It functions the exact same way, but since it's cached, your server isn't working as hard. A cached website will often times survive a DDoS attack, where a non-cached website will fall.
Cloudflare "Always Online" and DNS Level DDoS Protection
I personally don't use Cloudflare, but if your site is under attack, Cloudflare is a very easy upgrade to stop the majority of these types of attacks.
It works by acting as a bullet proof DNS server. Every connection to your site first has to pass through Cloudflare, which has sophisticated DDoS protection and special features like "Always Online", which will serve up your website even if your server is offline from an attack.
Their free option is fine for most people, but paying to upgrade certainly has its benefits, like better DDoS protection and hardening options.
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Final Thoughts
When it comes down to it, unless you're a skilled Linux server technician, your host is going to do the best job at isolating and fixing the issue.
In my case, I was able to stop the attack before my support ticket was answered by using the above steps, and then they helped me harden Apache to prevent this from happening in the future.
Keyser: "But frankly, there are a lot of media outlets in this state that have really done lots of heavy lifting, carried the water, for liberals on this to disguise Michael Bennet's record and get us talking about anything that doesn't involve Michael Bennet...
There's big problem here in the media, because, there's a double standard that exists. You know, frankly, I don't know of anybody jumping out of the bushes to ask Michael Bennet questions about Iran or his support of closing Guantanamo Bay...
For this blog, I interviewed Daniel Golding, the founder of the Golding Group. It's a company that provides adventures and experiences for the wealthy. They take groups of people on various trips to many different destinations around the world.
But it's not just about travel. It's about creating an experience. They have many different events and adventures for its members.
There are many different lessons we can learn from the success of The Golding Group. That's what this blog is about. In this post, you will learn how to grow your business by not accepting every potential customer. You will also learn how important it is to get your customers to market your business for you.
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When you implement the tips given in this post, you will see how much easier it can be to get more clients and grow your business.
What did you do before founding Golding Group?
The Golding Group isn't Golding's only entrepreneurial venture. As a matter of fact, he's been a serial entrepreneur for 5 years and he became a millionaire by the age of 27. Yes, I'm jealous too. However, his beginnings were fairly humble.
"I started with a laptop and a website I made that promoted vacuum cleaners and
have since expanded to now own a large share in a cosmetic brand, own a few rental properties and have a number of online ventures I'm involved in."
Since he was 6 years old, Daniel Golding has been an entrepreneur. It was at this age that he first started exploring the world of business ownership. Here's how he tells the story:
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"My first business was making and selling paper aeroplanes when I was 6. I would add little designs to them, complete with a paper sleeve to house them in and I'd sell them for 5p to friends and (mainly) family!"
Of course, like all entrepreneurs, Golding evolved. After his "paper aeroplane" venture, he entered into the digital realm. At the age of 9, he began programming his own computer games. He'd sell them on floppy disks to his peers. After that, he got into e-commerce. He started importing sporting guns from Hong Kong.
Golding is a prime example of how a person can become successful as a digital entrepreneur.
What led you to start Golding Group?
The origin of the Golding Group is pretty interesting. Golding got the idea when he was experiencing the isolation that comes with success. After accomplishing so much, he found that he was doing a lot of activities alone.
Not that he didn't have friends. He still had friends that he knew from childhood. However, the issue was that most of his friends didn't have the time or the means to participate in the same activities as he did.
This isn't an uncommon problem for people who have acquired a certain level of wealth:
"Speaking with numerous other wealthy people I've met, it became very clear that I was not alone with my problem. Through travel I met and developed relationships which opened doors and allowed me to experience the world on a whole other level."
It was then that he discovered that there was a need for the Golding Group. He started the company in order to serve those who have the means to participate in the travels, adventures, and other such activities.
After starting the company, Golding launched his first adventure:
The first Golding Group adventure, a super car trip across the Riviera, stopping in luxury destinations such as St Tropez and Monaco was an absolute hit and spearheaded my desire to ensure the company maintained a first-rate service and invited truly open minded individuals.
What's Your "Secret Sauce" For Getting Clients?
As you might already know, your success as an entrepreneur is dependent on your ability to get prospects to become customers. If you're not able to convince potential customers that they should buy from you, it'll be impossible for you to grow your business the right way. However, successful selling is more than just giving a great sales pitch.
One of the most important things you can do when you're learning how to sell is to find out what works for your business. While there are sales techniques that are universal, the type of business you're building will have a major influence on what works best for you.
What works for Golding is two main factors: scarcity and social proof:
When it comes to selling, this is what Golding had to say:
"The strength of Golding Group is in the exclusivity and quality of its members. The annual membership fee is enough to allow us to be very selective in our approval process."
Sometimes, it's beneficial to be more exclusionary in your approach. In Golding's case, he has been able to gain buy-in from his clientele by not accepting anyone who wishes to purchase his service. When you communicate the fact that you won't do business with everyone you make your brand more attractive.
The Golding Group has found success because it has narrowed its niche. By doing this, Golding has positioned itself as the major authority in its industry.
When it comes to social proof, this is what Golding had to say:
"At this stage, I don't think we have one member who hasn't referred or
recommended at least one other person. Let your customers do the marketing for you."
We've all heard of word-of-mouth, right? It's an incredibly powerful way to get people to buy from you. When you're able to get your customers to sell for you, it becomes much easier to grow your business! Building social proof is one of the best ways to grow your business.
That's why it's important to focus on more than just getting someone to buy from you. With every customer relationship, your focus should be creating evangelists for your brand. ;
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Conclusion
There are probably many reasons The Golding Group is successful. By identifying a problem that a particular type of people deal with, he was able to craft a solution that these people needed.
"We can change the country, it is a democracy and it is in our hands." - Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Historian; American Promise Advisory Council.
African Americans are property. Women have no right to vote. Americans who favor an income tax violate the Constitution. Poll taxes may lock out millions of Americans from the voting booth. Americans may be drafted into the armed services yet have no right to vote. Money is speech and corporations are people.
The Supreme Court made every one these rulings. Except for the last (Citizens United v. FEC), none of these dangerous propositions stood for long because Americans responded with Constitutional amendments. Seven of our 27 amendments overturned Supreme Court rulings. Every generation of Americans has used the Constitutional amendment process to overturn the court and renew the American promise.
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Watch Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, and others talk about why a 28th Amendment to overturn Citizens United is 100 percent possible and 100 percent necessary so that America is governed by people, not big money. We amended the Constitution 12 times in the 20th century and we can do it again now.
The problem has been a long time coming, but Citizens United brought the crisis to a head. In 2010, the court ruled that corporations, unions and those with vast wealth have "free speech" rights to spend unlimited money and override the rights of all Americans. As a result, more than $30 billion from corporations, unions and billionaires has poured into our political process to buy elections, corrupt government, and control policy.
Human constitutional rights now are claimed by the largest, most global corporations to block reform and control our government.
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Equal citizenship has been transformed into a class system, where "super-citizens" whose wealth, we are told by the Supreme Court, entitles them to more representation, a louder voice, and more privileges than everyone else.
And our responsibility for self-government is collapsing as well. The hallmarks of citizenship -- deliberation, collaboration, civic engagement -- have given way to anger, hyper-partisanship, and apathy. With most Americans excluded from meaningful participation, approximately only one in three eligible citizens even bothered to vote in 2014, and some contested elections in 2015 saw voter participation at 14 percent.
No reform standing alone can solve this until we overturn Citizens United and rebuild our Constitutional foundation of human, not corporate, liberty and equal citizenship, not purchased power for a few. The way we do that is to pass the 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Americans overwhelmingly support the 28th Amendment to overturn Citizens United, with repeated polls showing support of more than 75 percent of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. Sixteen states have enacted 28th Amendment resolutions, as have 700 cities and towns in every region of the country. Many of these have involved voter initiatives, which consistently pass by huge cross-partisan margins.
Citizens United and its money-dominated "marketplace" political system frames a national conflict between two irreconcilable Constitutional values: principles of wealth-based representation and corporatism versus principles of human freedom and equal citizenship.
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You don't choose to be transgender, but you do choose to do something about it.
As someone who has gone through a public transition, I say this a lot.
The decision to transition at work isn't an easy one.
According to the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 90% of transgender and gender non-conforming people reported harassment or discrimination on the job. A quarter report losing a job due to bias. A transgender person is nearly four times as likely than the general population to have an income of less than $10,000, four times as likely to be unemployed, and twice as likely to be homeless.
I was certainly aware of the risks when I came out to my new bosses at POSSIBLE in Cincinnati, Ohio. Though the company holds inclusive policies toward LGBT people and other minorities, Ohio is an "at-will" employment state, which means that you can be fired for almost any reason. Ohio has no statewide employment protections for sexual orientation or gender identity outside of state employment. I'm a person whose job requires that I not only interact with our clients, but be seen as a representative of the business. Thankfully, they gave me their full support.
At the time, I was presenting as Jen--my female self--only outside the workplace. But with a medically supervised transition underway, my appearance was becoming more feminine and I would soon need to reveal myself at the office. We didn't have a policy to guide us through the human resource issues we might face. So my next step became clear: we need to write one, and in doing so it meant I could do more than transition without fear, I could help people who came after me. With support from HR, I literally wrote the book on transitioning in the workplace.
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Firstly, the document clarifies rights: as a transitioning individual at POSSIBLE, you have the right to openly be who you are. While maintaining professional expectations, you may express your gender identity, characteristics, or expression without fear of consequences.
I came out to staff during an office-wide presentation, making myself available to answer questions. I'm someone who often presents, so this felt natural. But every transition is different. Some people may want to tell colleagues with an email, others with a celebration. We rely on the transitioning employee to guide us and we back it up with explicit communications of support from leadership.
Transition is a process that not only affects the individual but all those around them. Most estimates put the transgender population at around 0.3%. Few people, in relative terms, are close to a person in transition, let alone a person in transition at work. This means that even the broadest education does little to dissolve fears. In addition to introducing many trans-related terms like "cisgender" in a glossary format in the policy, we asked a local LGBT awareness group to lead a Q&A session. I excused myself from that session so that the staff would feel comfortable raising concerns or asking what may be considered sensitive questions without fear.
I knew the policy fulfilled its role when we didn't need it anymore, at least not for myself. After the initial adjustment period, the unknowns became part of the everyday. Today, my gender is not an issue. The bathroom is not an issue. Pronouns are not an issue.
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People tell me that, irrespective of the transition, the office atmosphere feels more open. When a rare event like transition happens in an office with a climate of mutual respect, it has a ripple effect through an organization.
But the world at large? That's another story. The world is a giant issue factory.
In the study cited above, 78% of people who transitioned from one gender to another reported that they felt more comfortable on the job. Moreover, their job performance improved. This is in spite of high levels of mistreatment they experienced.
Imagine the heights people will reach when discrimination is also, so to speak, not an issue. When it is not the expectation. Recent vocal support from U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and corporations, like Target, give me hope.
Until that time, we will need more policies.
"We pray for the souls of the Islamic State militants that killed our families. We know they are motivated by evil and pray they can be freed." I will never forget these words from Jaya Stephanos, the sister of two men that were beheaded by the Islamic State of Syria and the Levant (ISIL) in Libya last year. While working as the Regional Manager for the Middle East at a Washington-based non-profit organization, I was able to meet with family members of the 21 Egyptian Christians that lost their lives on that infamous beach last February. Of all people that should be filled with hate for a religious group, it is these family members; yet, what I heard was love and sadness for those brainwashed by extremist ideology.
My work with persecuted minorities also brought me to Iraq, where the Christian population has fallen to less than 250,000. The roots of differing religious ideologies are being wiped out by ISIL militants who have gone through areas of Iraq destroying churches, mosques, synagogues, and school history books. Despite this, one of the most beautiful things I experienced was from a contact of mine in Iraq, who shared the story of a Yazidi man that built a cross for his displaced Christian brothers after their church was demolished by ISIL militants.
Photo: A Yazidi Man in Iraq places a cross on top of a Christian Church destroyed by ISIL in 2015 in solidarity with his Christian neighbors who had fled the area. Courtesy: Clarion Project
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I witnessed Middle East Christians deny our offers of humanitarian aid because their Shi'a, Sunni, and Yazidi neighbors were in "far more dire need" than they. Despite their different religious backgrounds, Yazidis, Christians, and Muslim minorities have come together as victims of the violence promoted by ISIL in Iraq and Syria.
The truth is that there are many Muslims speaking out against extremist ideologies. Take, for example, Khurram Zaki, the Muslim Pakistani activist who was murdered by the Taliban; or the Muslim shopkeeper in the Middle East who took the time to keep me safe by teaching this American girl crucial Arabic phrases; or the Muslim activists at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights who work hard to counter the stringent Egyptian blasphemy laws that land many people, including children, in jail for unclear charges under the umbrella of "insulting Islam."
Back in the US, I learned about "Friends of Refugees," a non-profit organization in Georgia that assists refugees in the community by equipping them to work and acclimate to American life. A volunteer from "Friends of Refugees" spoke with me about his experience.
I was privileged to assist an Afghani refugee who wanted to develop her family's jewelry business. Even though she is responsible for the financial side of the jewelry business, she also runs her own consulting business while raising a family. I was very impressed with her drive, intelligence and determination to succeed, while also helping others. Another time, I helped a recent high school graduate from Liberia apply for a job in construction, where there is a shortage of skilled workers, because it seems there are more jobs available than there are qualified applicants willing to apply. My personal experience with these refugees is that they are hard-working legal immigrants, who want nothing more than the opportunity to achieve the American dream.
With my background in law, I assisted a Muslim refugee who dreamt of running her own clothing alteration shop in the Atlanta area. I explained the laws and zoning ordinances she needed to follow to make her American dream a reality. She stared in humble amazement at my willingness to help her without expecting anything in return. I became emotional experiencing the deep gratitude from her and others like her.
Today, the Islamic State repeatedly releases statements calling upon all Muslims to join their ranks because "the West rejects you and therefore, you belong nowhere but with us." In November 2015, stories emerged that 31 states opposed allowing Syrian refugees into their territories. Given that it feeds perfectly into ISIL's propaganda strategy, this statistic is alarming.
Some places are known for their beaches - the Caribbean, California, Croatia - while others remain hidden, just waiting to be discovered. Chelsea Bengier goes on a hunt for the world's most unexpected strips of sand.
1. Northern Michigan
St. Joseph, Muskegon, Grand Haven. Come summer, locals crowd these lakefront towns in the state's southwestern corner, but the northern tip is still relatively undiscovered. Along the Michigan and Canada border is Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, which has colorful sandstone cliffs, scenic waterfalls and large dunes. Our advice? Pack the hiking boots with the bathing suits. And when hunger strikes, head to Falling Rock, a charming bookstore and cafe that serves smoothies and sandwiches.
2. Washington
The shores of Washington may be lesser known than California's, but they are equally impressive. Home to the nation's only temperate rainforest, Olympic National Park is also the setting of Ruby Beach: a rocky, driftwood-laden alcove where seals often lounge about. Go in time for sunset when the landscape turns a pink hue. (There's a reason it's called Ruby Beach, people!) If you prefer your sand a little less wildlife-y, check out the 28-mile Long Beach. Grab a sloppy hoagie to go (the Big Kahuna with steak, grilled onions, bell peppers, mushrooms and swiss cheese is a must) at the roadside Surfer Sands sandwich shack and eat it on the boardwalk while you watch dozens of kites flying overhead.
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3. Rhode Island
Nearly equidistant from New York and Boston, Block Island, just off Rhode Island, is notably less sceney than Nantucket or the Vineyard - and therein lies the appeal. The 17 miles of powdery sand are all free - including parking. Skip town beach and head to the quieter Mansion Beach on the northern part of the island, where calm waves and pristine powder make it the perfect stretch for families. Once you've had enough sun, make your way to the Oar restaurant to watch the sunset while sipping rum punches and mudslides. As for where to stay, the island has no shortage of cute inns and B&Bs. But don't expect flatscreen TVs and 1000-thread-count sheets; the Block, as locals call it, is heavy on Victorian-style decor and old-school diversions (croquet, anyone?) - and that's just why we love it.
4. Portugal
The beaches of Portugal are long and varied. Rugged rocky bluffs border Praia de Adraga, a 45-minute trip from Lisbon, while Comporta is a chic resort town reminiscent of the Hamptons. If that's not up to your speed, head three hours south to Salema, a quiet fishing village tucked into a cliffside along the Algarve Coast. Here, it's all about the whitewashed houses, local markets and seductive, drowsy rhythm.
5. Iceland
You don't think of Iceland as a particularly beach-y destination, but with temperatures in the mid-70s, it's an ideal summer getaway. Test the waters with a dip at Nautholsvik Geothermal beach, then visit the volcanic black-sand fjara, Reynisfjara, which has striking basalt caves. Just don't fall asleep tanning - in June, it's light out 24/7, meaning you'll wake up with the worst sunburn ever.
6. Germany
The land of beer, brats and schnitzel is also a well-hidden beach escape among in-the-know Europeans. Bordering northern Germany are the postcard-perfect islands of Sylt and Rugen. On Sylt, Kampen beach has striking red cliffs and the white sand Westerland is dotted with striped strandkorb (basket-like beach lounges). Rugen, an isle in the Baltic Sea, is known for its lighthouses, seaside resorts - our favorite is Seebruecke Sellin - and family-friendly nude beaches (yes, you read that right.)
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Cute boy sitting in the car seat
I try to avoid reading news stories about child abuse and dying babies--but last week someone posted on Facebook a story that is every parent's worst nightmare, and I read it.
On Wednesday, May 11, a mother in Mississippi put her two-year-old daughter, Caroline, in the car and drove her to day care at Little Footprints Learning Center. Then the mom parked the car in a nearby garage, and walked to work. At the end of the day she came to pick up the toddler and was told that she had never dropped her off. The panicked mother raced to the car only to discover that the little girl was dead. Police have filed no charges and have not released the mother's name, saying it was a tragic accident.
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I couldn't get the story out of my mind for the rest of the week. I did some research and learned that an average of 38 babies and children die in over-heated cars every year--over 700 in the last 20 years. You can see stories and photos of 22 children who died of heatstroke and five more who nearly died at: http://www.kidsandcars.org/heatstroke.html.
Here are some shocking facts from kidsandcars.org:
Heat stroke is the leading cause of non-crash, vehicle-related deaths in children under 15.
A child's body heats up three to five times faster than an adult's does.
oWhen left in a hot car, a child's major organs begin to shut down when his temperature reaches 104 degrees Fahrenheit (F).
oA child can die when his temperature reaches 107 degrees F.
Cars heat up quickly! In just 10 minutes, a car can heat up 20 degrees F.
Cracking a window and/or air conditioning does little to keep it cool once the car is turned off.
Heat stroke can happen when the outside temperature is as low as 57 degrees F.
Yes, a child can die within an hour, even if the outside temperature is in the fifties. I read about a couple who came home from the supermarket, unloaded the groceries, but forgot that the baby was sleeping in the car. When they realized it an hour later, it was too late.
I learned that a company named Intel asked a young woman engineer, a new mom named Marcie Miller, to come up with ways to prevent child deaths in hot cars and she created the Smart Clip, a gadget filled with sensors that parents can slide onto the strap of their baby's car seat. The clip communicates with an app on the parent's smart phone and sounds an alarm if it senses the baby is still strapped in while the parent is walking away.
But the device costs $50 and I suspect that most parents wouldn't buy it because they think they would never forget the baby in the car ( judging from comments I saw about the Mississippi girl's death.)
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It was a tragic irony that, two years after they announced the Smart Clip, an Intel employee's six-months-old baby died in a car parked in the Intel parking lot in Hillsboro, Oregon. Her father, Intel engineer Joshua Freier, said he had taken her to the pediatrician for her six-month appointment and then was supposed to drop her at day care, but Freier started to think about work and drove past the day care and straight back to the Intel campus, he told investigators.
When I was a small child 70-some years ago, there were no car seats. My father would let me sit in his lap and pretend I was driving. Any parent who did that nowadays would be immediately arrested. Now every detail of car safety is spelled out by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213. When my first grandchild was born five years ago, no newborn was allowed to leave the hospital until the nurses had examined the car seat and its installation (back seat, facing backward.) When I had to install baby seats for the grandchild in my car, a specially trained local fireman did it for free, and signed papers as to its safety.
I'm certainly no engineer, but after puzzling over the problem of babies dying in hot cars, I'd like to suggest the following solution:
1.Every car seat should be equipped with a thermometer that will set off a loud, continuous alarm once the temperature inside the car rises above, say, 85 degrees. It should be as loud as the car alarms set off with the panic button on car keys. (Yes, the noise would traumatize the baby, but it could save his life.)
2. This alarm would be activated when you click the straps on the child's car seat into place. When you release the straps to take the child out, the alarm would be deactivated--the opposite of the way your car beeps when you haven't put on your seat belt.
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3.Parents and grandparents should petition the major child car seat makers to build this alarm into every car seat. Our legislators should also be petitioned to add this requirement to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
Go to healthychildren.org here http://bit.ly/1RB15Mq and scroll down to "Manufacturer web sites" to find the link to the maker of your child seat. Then e-mail them, alerting them to this post and demanding a temperature warning alarm in every car seat.
"Not in vain, just a few days after the sentence was handed down that convicted the worst killer of all killers for the crime of genocide, the earth trembled in Guatemala; the earth shook because she knew that impunity had not yet been overcome: the earth shook with rage, and rightly so."
The revered Latin American writer Eduardo Galeano wrote these words a few months after the events he alludes to: On May 10, 2013, 30 years after the crimes were committed, former dictator General Efrain Rios Montt was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity against the Maya Ixil population and sentenced to 80 years is prison. Ten days later, pressured by recalcitrant sectors of the military and the economic elite, fearful perhaps that the newly muscular arm of the law might reach out to touch them, the Constitutional Court ruled to send the trial back in time, effectively nullifying the verdict. It was a split vote, 3-2; two of the judges, as well as constitutional experts and human rights lawyers, convincingly argue that the Court had no business intervening at this point in the legal process, and that its arguments were tendentious. It was, for all intents and purposes, a judicial coup d'etat.
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As an observer to the genocide trial, I was profoundly moved to see and hear the victims of Rios Montt's genocidal scorched earth campaigns, silence by years of terror and fear, testify in open court. They spoke plainly and forcefully about the horrifying crimes to which they, their family members, and their neighbors, had endured. Men and women, children when the atrocities occurred, testified that they watched as soldiers butchered their parents before their eyes. Women, their heads covered in the colorful traditional weavings of their communities to protect their identities, spoke of gang rapes committed by soldiers. Others told of how they were forced to abandon their homes to escape the military rampage, how they fled into the mountains where they lived for years under constant threat of capture, starvation, death.
Based on the witness testimony, expert reports and documentary evidence presented by the Attorney General's office, the trial court found that during Rios Montt's rule, the Guatemalan state's official policy was to exterminate its indigenous population in the name of national security. U.S. scientist Patrick Ball, who testified in the genocide trial, affirmed that during this period, the Guatemalan army killed indigenous people eights times more frequently than non-indigenous people, revealing the genocidal nature of the military campagns. After reading the verdict, presiding Judge Yassmin Barrios remanded Rios Montt to prison. This was an earthquake of massive proportions, the first time a high-ranking military official was being sanctioned for grave violations of human rights in Guatemala. The first time ever a former head of state was held accountable for genocide in a domestic court of law.
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Guatemalans I spoke to in the weeks and months after the verdict was overturned demonstrated a remarkably placid response to the Constitutional Court's ruling. "We are not surprised," remarked Juan Francisco Soto, executive director of the Center for Legal Action for Human Rights (CALDH), the organization that provided legal representation to the victims in the genocide trial. "That is the way things are done in Guatemala. What is surprising is that we were able to bring the case to court and see it through. We proved in a court of law that there was a genocide in Guatemala." The verdict was overturned, he noted, not by virtue of legal arguments or evidence, but by dirty legal tricks. "For us," he says, "the sentence is still valid."
Moreover, says Soto, the genocide trial and verdict holds meaning for Guatemala's struggle against impunity far beyond the legal dimension. The mere fact that Rios Montt, Guatemala's most feared dictator, faced criminal charges for genocide was seen by victims as a political and historical triumph. By bringing the case to the Guatemalan courts, the victims affirmed their rights as citizens to access justice. This is of great significance, given that the vast majority of victims of Guatemala's internal armed conflict are indigenous Maya who have been historially excluded and marginalized by the Guatemalan state.
The fight against impunity for war crimes in Guatemala has also inspired broader citizen demands to end impunity for other types of criminal activity carried out or condoned by government officials. The massive anticorruption protests that erupted last year--and that resulted in the deposal of sitting president and retired army general Otto Perez Molina--are inextricably linked to the long-standing efforts of victims and their civil society allies to end institutionalized impunity in the genocide case and other instances of human rights violations. For it is in this nexus of institutionalized impunity, born of a counterinsurgency war steeped in Cold War logic that survived after the Peace Accords and morphed into new structures of criminality, that the official corruption that ordinary Guatemalans took to the streets to protest last year solidified itself.
In the meantime, demands for justice for conflict-era crimes continue unabated. Earlier this year, in a stunning illustration that Guatemala is determined to challenge impunity for past crimes, the Attorney General's Office arrested 18 high-ranking military officers accused of a series of war-time human rights violations. And in February, two military officers were convicted for sexual violence and domestic and sexual slavery in the landmark Sepur Zarco trial.
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Rios Montt declares before the court, Guatemala City, May 9, 2013. Image courtesy Sandra Sebastian/Plaza Publica
Where does the genocide trial stand today?
The retrial of the genocide case appears to be hopelessly deadlocked. The first retrial attempt in January 2015 collapsed after two of the three judges accepted the motion presented by Rios Montt's defense lawyers to recuse the presiding judge because she had written her thesis, years ago, about genocide. In the meantime, Rios Montt was found to be suffering from dementia. In August, the court ruled that the trial could continue, but under special measures that would be held behind closed doors and did not require him to be present. If found guilty, Rios Montt would not be sentenced, though he could potentially be remanded to a psychiatric hospital.
The plaintiffs had little choice but to accept this decision. However, they argued that the court should separate the case against the other defendant in the case, Rios Montt's chief of intelligence, Jose Manuel Rodriguez Sanchez. Not only did Guatemalan law demand that he be tried in open court; it was also a right of the victims and of society at large to witness the proceedings. The retrial was again postponed, until January 2016. That was also frustrated when the court decided that it would not start until this and other appeals were resolved.
It thus came as a surprise when, on March 16, though the appeal decisions remained pending, the same court decided to start the proceedings. The judges then ordered the public and the press removed from the room, and the hearings continued behind closed doors for the next several weeks. But the trial was again suspended last week after an appeals court agreed to hear the arguments of the plaintiffs to separate the proceedings against Rios Montt and Rodriguez Sanchez. They argue that the court's decision to prosecute Rodriguez Sanchez under the special security measures adopted for Rios Montt due to his dementia is illegal. A decision is pending as of this writing. The legal morass thickens; perhaps this was the intent all along of those who opposed the proceedings, those who feared a guilty verdict for genocide would stain Guatemala's international reputation and embolden indigenous communities to demand their rights, especially now given the growing conflicts over the exploitation of natural resources in their territories by transnational extractive industries.
Writing has taught me some valuable lessons: Writer's block is real. Carpal tunnel hurts like a bitch. Wrist stabilizers can be ordered from Amazon and delivered the same day.
Also, you will think you suck at a lot of things a lot of the time -- even when you don't -- which is basically the theme of human life.
It has taught me that sometimes you might open yourself up to being called a "disgusting pig," that people will create fake identities, fake Twitter profiles, fake Facebook accounts, sometimes for the sake of harassment or boredom, but mostly for the sake of assholery.
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It has taught me that sometimes you need to protect yourself from the people who hate themselves so desperately that they would spend some fraction of their day trying to insult you. It has taught me that sometimes you need to tell those people to get a hug, and sometimes you need to tell them to fuck off.
It has also taught me that being vulnerable, being seen (even lumpy and naked), admitting weakness, asking for help -- these acts inspire and edify.
And that inspiration is contagious, in the best possible way.
Have you ever had your heart crushed into a million tiny bloody fragments (or possibly a slightly less dramatic version of that)? Did your parents abuse or abandon you? Did you bust your ass (and give yourself an aural migraine) creating a spreadsheet for your boss who never even acknowledged it? Did your best friend steal your boyfriend or girlfriend, favorite sweater, Naked eyeshadow palette? Did some asshole cheat on you?
Probably, yes -- to at least one, if not many of these things.
Did this devastation cause you to cover yourself in armor to create a sense of safety? To be "strong?"
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How did that work out for you? Did it prevent further pain, insult, injury, devastation?
You don't have to answer that, because I know.
It definitely did not. Because life is suffering, and that is real.
Sorry.
I'm what Meyers-Briggs would call an "I can handle it" person. Work? I can handle it. Everyone else's work? No problem. Alone? I don't need anyone else. Mental illness? I'm fine. I'm fine. I am totally fine.
How I became an "I can handle it" person isn't really clear.
It might have been my addict mother. It might have been the experience of being left, being alone, the uncertainty of what was next in my unstable existence. It might have been my birth sign (Leo) or my moon sign (Virgo) or my Chinese zodiac (Tiger) or the fact that in 2nd grade, Vernon Avila told everyone that I wasn't a virgin (asshole).
Regardless...
As a child I was frightened; I felt unworthy of love, undeserving. So I shielded myself from pain with "I don't need anyone/anything." I felt really powerful in the face of all the other people who saw me "handling it." Turns out "I don't need you" is a convenient way to look self-assured while avoiding the pain of let-down.
Except it doesn't really work.
No matter how guarded you are, there will be pain, loneliness, loss. The walls you build aren't going to save you from suffering. Even if you close yourself off completely from the universe and the pain it can inflict, it's still going to inflict it (I mean, unless you go live in the woods, but even then a bear might steal your food). Sorry. Bad news for you. Life is just going to suck ass sometimes.
I didn't wake up one day and decide that the walls weren't working. It took time, $180-an-hour therapy (you're welcome for the trip to India, doc), and a real come-to-[the deity of your choice] moment.
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It started with the words "I need you."
I said those words to my husband, whom I was just 100% sure was going to abandon, cheat, wound, and generally destroy me.
To be clear, he hadn't given me any indication that he would do any of those things; I had just assumed he would do them all because assuming I would be hurt eventually, and being "strong," was safer than opening myself up and being wounded.
My therapist told me to read the book Hold Me Tight; he told me that it was OK to need. He made me sob for what I was afraid of, and what I had missed by being "strong" (typical!).
He made me realize I did need, and I needed a lot.
And it was terrifying.
It was terrifying because when you say "I need you," you're saying "You are important to me." You're saying "I'm fearful that you might wound me." You're saying "I'm opening myself to this pain because I'm willing to risk it for what that openness might bring."
I'm letting down my wall... for you.
My husband and I say "I need you" a lot. Sometimes he's mad because my "stuff" is all over the house (mostly yarn). Sometimes I'm mad because his coffee filters full of coffee are on our butcher block counter DRIPPING COFFEE EVERYWHERE, AND IT IS WOOD, YOU GUYS.
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But even when I want to throw his all of his blessed coffee paraphernalia out the window, I still need him.
And it's scary sometimes.
It's scary to know that "needing" someone might mean that someday they won't need you, and they'll leave. It's scary knowing that "needing" means you have to say "I'm hurting," I'm fearful," "I am vulnerable."
But here's the stone-cold truth: We live in what I'm calling a "suffer culture."
Suffer culture makes us believe we have worth when we are in pain or independent, and part of that suffering means believing that you don't need anyone, that you can handle it all yourself.
But we can't actually handle it all ourselves. We don't want to -- even if we don't know we don't want to. We are built for connection. We are hard-wired for love and companionship. Our brain chemistry begs for people to love and partner with.
We need each other.
And here's another one to blow your mind: Almost all the conflict you experience in your relationships can be traced back to one original source -- fear. Because we need each other so deeply, the fear associated with the possibility of loss is blinding. Fear ignites fight-or-flight, the most fundamental of human hormonal reactions, and fight-or-flight is the manifestation of profound fear.
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There is little more frightening in your relationship that to believe it might end, that is it somehow threatened.
It takes a lot of work to be able to pause to consider that you are coming from a place of fear. And it takes even more work to be able to slow your thought process, halt that hormone influx, and say to yourself, and your partner, "You know, I am just really afraid. And I need you."
It's revolutionary, when you consider the implications of this awareness, when you open yourself to it. When you say "I need you" and you mean it, and you know that need might mean you'll hurt someday -- but in the interim, your relationships become stronger, deeper, better.
When your partner knows you need them, you have given them a sacred responsibility to care for you. You have told them that you don't want to live without them. You have made them the most important person in your life. You are scared.
You have acknowledged that independence is an illusion.
The more we try to pretend we don't need anyone, the more isolated we become. The more isolated we become, the more we need.
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Didn't see that coming?
We think we are built for self-sufficiency, but in truth, we are built for support: to give it, and to receive it.
***
This article by Joni M. Edelman first appeared at ravishly.com, real feminism for real life.
fitness, sport, training, gym, technology and lifestyle concept - smiling woman with smartphone
If you are looking to get in better shape, I'm willing to bet in the last 12 months you have said or have heard the phrase "I just don't have the time". Between work and running a full house, it can be difficult to find the time to exercise. Whenever I hear the phrase "I don't have time to exercise", there is normally two things that I do right away: 1) Smile and nod to show my empathy and 2) I politely call bullsh*t!
If you don't have even 10 minutes a day to take care of your body, I think you are kidding yourself. "I just don't have the time" is the biggest excuse I hear both online and offline when I meet with potential clients. I truly believe that everyone can find the time to exercise, but often fail to start for a number of reasons.
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One of the biggest reasons for failing to start a fitness regimen is lack of a plan. Like anything, if you don't have a plan in place, you will fail to take action. Another big reason that accounts for lack of inactivity is the fear of failure. Fitness can be a very scary journey if you are doing it alone - which is why I always recommend joining a group of like-minded individuals. Richard Simmons, a famous American fitness guru has said that "most people are in denial about their health"! He continues to say that "we all have reasons for not exercising, but it all comes down to time management and fear. Fear you'll get hurt. Fear of embarrassment. Fear of failure."
I completely agree with Richard's comments above and want to help spark the motivation you need to get off your butt and start moving. You have 10-60 minutes/day that are probably spent wasted on mindless activities, where you could be taking care of your health instead. Remember, fitness is not about strenuous physical activity; it's about moving more, taking care of your body and feeling better. If you "just can't find the time to exercise", here are nine ways to make time for your fitness.
1. Have a Plan
Starting with the most important factor of your fitness, you need to have a plan if you want to succeed. Take a good look at your calendar and look for a 10-15 minute window which is free. Book this time out in your calendar right now and label it "Taking Care of My Health". If you don't actually do this, you will not reap the same rewards as someone that takes action. If you see it in your calendar and get a reminder, your chances of actually exercising will increase 80-90%. Once this window is secured, you need to create a plan. In your first couple days/weeks, stick to the basics. Do 5-10 reps of each of the following exercises: push-ups, bodyweight squats, high-knees and jumping jacks. Complete as many rounds as you can in your allotted 10-15 minute window and I promise you will feel like a million bucks.
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2. Audit Your Time
Want to know a little known secret? I think that 'to-do lists' are the biggest waste of your time. These lists are often filled with meaningless tasks that you can do without. Generally, people make a 'to-do list' because they falsify what they feel is important at that given time, but fail to see what really matters the most (your health). These lists make you feel good because you get to cross or check off an item when you complete it, giving you the sense of productivity. I'm willing to bet that if you 'audit' your list, there are 2-3 things on that list that you could do without and exercise instead. Remember, starting slow will be the key to your success. Start with a daily 5 minute ritual, whereby you promise yourself to go for a walk or do a quick workout.
Within a week, this 5 minute routine will turn into a 15-20 minute routine because of how it makes you feel. Successful people don't try and find the time for exercise, they make the time. Tip: keep a log/journal for 2-3 days and account for your time. I bet in the run of a week, there are hours of unaccounted time and time wasted on activities that make you feel productive.
3. Limit TV Time
The average North American spends 21-30 hours/week behind a television. That is absolutely insane! To put that in perspective, think about it this way - the average work-week is around 35-40 hours for most people. This means that some of you are watching TV for close to the same amount of time as a week's worth of work! Holy cr*p! If you have ever watched Netflix and received the "are you still watching?" message, you are guilty of this (you know who you are). Think about the value that 20-30 hours of TV/week brings to your life; chances are it's not much. Now, think about how this time could be better spent on countless other activities, including physical fitness. I'm not asking or recommending that you devote 20 hours a week to your fitness. I'm asking you to take a good look at your TV screen time and start reducing it day by day.
This will free up a lot of unaccounted for time and help you make the time for exercise. Tip: if you are going to watch TV/Netflix, challenge yourself to do 5 push-ups or sit-ups between every commercial/episode. Depending on your TV habits, this could turn into a very successful workout!
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4. Earn Your Shower
Confused? Keep reading.
I challenge you to earn your shower every morning going forward. This simply means that you need to complete some sort of physical activity (get sweaty) before you are allowed to shower. It's amazing how a simple challenge like this has helped change the lives of many entrepreneurs and business owners and has helped increase their fitness levels. Starting tomorrow, I challenge you to wake up 10 minutes earlier and complete your favorite physical activity. Whether that's going for a quick walk, doing some jumping jacks/push-ups, yoga - the options are endless. Use your creativity and every morning try a new physical activity that you've been meaning to do. Google and YouTube are your biggest friends here; simply search phrases like "10 minute beginner workout" or "10 minute yoga" - once again, the options are endless!
Over the course of a week, waking up 10 minutes earlier every week day will give you a bonus of 50 minutes/week that you can devote to living a healthier life. Tip: once your workout is complete in the morning, you can enjoy the rest of your day knowing that the 'hard part' is over!
5. Break Up Your Day
Many entrepreneurs and business owners have the convenience of setting/working their own hours. If you work like the typical North American, chances are your work week starts at either 8 or 9am and goes through 5 or 6pm. If you don't have the luxury of setting your own hours, you need to become creative and look for opportunities to sneak in a workout during the work day. Generally, most people are given a 60 minute lunch break throughout the day. If you're like me, you know that it only takes about 10-15 minutes to actually eat your lunch.
Bring your workout clothes with you to work and spend the first 20-25 minutes of your lunch break exercising. You don't need any gym equipment and you don't even need a gym membership. Go for a walk around a nearby trail, run around the block 2-3 times, create a mini bootcamp with your colleagues, sign up for a walking challenge - the sky is the limit. If you are really looking to step it up a notch, find a set of steep stairs nearby that you can go up and down on!
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Here is what I'm talking about These are the stairs that I run 1-2 times a week on my lunch break!
7. Workout @ Work
Here are 8 exercises you can do while sitting down in your chair. Now, you literally have no excuse!
8. Make it a Challenge
Do you ever notice around your office when someone is taking part in a health/fitness challenge? Chances are, this person wants to share the details of the challenge and by the end of it, leaves you more motivated than ever before. Challenges seem to always work, especially in a team-oriented environment. When you are part of a team, not only do you want to contribute to the success of the team, but you also want to the team to feel that they can keep you accountable.
Whether it's your fitness or work life, accountability is a major key to success. Round up 2-5 of your closest work colleagues (or your spouse/partner), and create a fitness/wellness challenge. Here are some ideas for quick and simple challenges that can help kick-start your fitness:
Walk 15 minutes/day or STEPS challenge
Drink eight cups of water/day
Take the stairs at work
Make your own lunches/snacks instead of store bought for a week, etc.
To add to the excitement, feel free to include an incentive for the participants, such as taking them out for coffee/treat to celebrate their (and your own) win!
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9. Have Fun
The other eight ideas above will mean absolutely nothing to you if you're not having fun. Fitness can and should be made fun, simple and exciting. The days of 'killing' yourself in a gym or hunched over gym equipment are OVER for you. Get outside and act like a kid again, go to the park and swing on the jungle-jims - whatever it takes, just make sure you are having the time of your life.
Like anything in life, your heart is not into it, you're just wasting time. Find an activity or hobby that motivates and drives you to become more physically fit. Being outside and moving around will help you feel so much better. You will become happier, more physically active and start enjoying your life like you never have before!
The LA Times investigation of Purdue Pharma's manufacture and marketing of the narcotic painkiller OxyContin published last week should be regarded as a standard case study in corporate fraud.
Except this particular tale also features a body count.
This fact does nothing to call into question the validity of corporate fraud framework for understanding the story of OxyContin; it only makes its principal victims more visible, and the misbehavior in question more abhorrent, than is typical for the genre.
All the major features of Purdue's handling of OxyContin conform to similar acts of corporate fraud perpetrated in recent years: it encompasses not only what the company did (lie to generate profit), but what government regulatory agencies failed to do (detect and expose those lies), as well as the absence of any serious legal or other penalties imposed on Purdue Pharma as a result (a $634.5 million fine on a drug that has earned it $31 billion in revenue, or 2 percent of earnings).
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Still the story is peculiar in some key respects. Many times corporate fraud originates in some fairly innocent business model. Not so with OxyContin, a dubious affair from the start. As the LA Times investigation shows, Purdue formulated the drug because a patent on another its painkillers was set to expire. Anticipating competition from generic brands--and a subsequent loss of revenue--the company pursued an innovation that would render a narcotic painkiller eligible for a new patent, and consequently insulate it from competition. Purdue scientists pioneered a slow-release methodology designed to release a drug into a person's system incrementally instead of all at once.
The problem was, although the innovation was real, the claims made on its behalf did not materialize for many of the drug's users. In early drug trials, OxyContin failed to ensure twelve hours of pain relief in a substantial number of patients. But without twelve hour scheduling, the drug represented no genuine innovation, and no comparative advantage, when compared to other less expensive, long-lasting drugs.
So Purdue Pharma chose to simply ignore inconvenient data, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chose to let them. They could not alter the facts, but they could try to avoid them. Nevertheless, as the saying goes, facts are stubborn things. One study conducted in 2002, seven years after Purdue secured application approval for OxyContin from the FDA, found that almost 87% of people taking the drug were taking it more frequently than every 12 hours. In drug trials and in subsequent clinical use, patients told their physicians that OxyContin wore off after five to eight hours, subjecting them not just to bouts of pain but narcotic withdrawal. Unwilling to forfeit the feature deemed necessary to persuading insurance companies to continue to reimburse for the high cost of the drug, Purdue formulated a disturbing response. According documents revealed by the LA Times, the company instructed doctors "to prescribe stronger doses, not more frequent ones, when patients complain that OxyContin doesn't last 12 hours." As the reporters note in a measured tone, this approach "creates risks of its own."
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More accurate would be the assessment of Professor Egilman, a family health doctor who has served as expert witness in lawsuits filed against Purdue: the 12 hour dosing schedule, he told the Times, is "an addiction producing machine." Higher doses only compounded the withdrawal problems patients encountered. Periodically plunged into a ravine of agony, patients were subsequently guided to jump off a higher cliff. To this day, the FDA has not asked Purdue to change its recommendations regarding higher dosing, despite the fact that a recent examination of medical records in Ontario, Canada concluded that one in 32 patients on high doses of the drug fatally overdosed.
Added to this disgrace is the way in which Purdue presented OxyContin as less addictive than its peer narcotics, and therefore a candidate for use in settings previously not treated with opioids. Just like a mortgage securitization machine that eventually resulted in mortgages for homeowners who did not qualify for them, Purdue Pharma recommended OxyContin be prescribed to patients and for durations unprecedented in modern medical practice. The LA Times makes the key point: other drug companies quickly followed suit. Since the approval of OxyContin in 1995, the United States has been overdosed with prescription narcotic painkillers--with only 5% of the world's population, the US consumes 80% of its painkillers--and spiraling rates of addiction, suicide and deaths from overdose are the inevitable result. Only recently, in the face of complete and ongoing regulatory failure by the FDA, the Center for Disease Control stepped in to provide new recommendations for the protocols on prescribing narcotic painkillers. The dire circumstances of the opioid epidemic would seem to dictate more rigorous action, but a political establishment under the sway of large corporate donors has yet to summon the will.
Another recurring feature of corporate fraud makes an appearance in the OxyContin saga as well: the revolving door between government and industry. In an age of at least ostensible government regulation, no truly massive corporate fraud scheme can be perpetrated without government complicity, discernable as either a bewildering set of decisions or inexplicable complacency. At critical moments, sometimes nothing more than venal self-interest is in play. In the case of OxyContin, Dr. Curtis Wright, charged with medical review of the drug for the FDA, left the agency shortly after he approved the drug. According to the Times, Wright was working at Purdue on new product development within two years of his departure. In the absence of confession or other material evidence of motive, these sorts of career moves are more than merely suggestive; they are, in and of themselves, suspicious.
For all its similarities to other kinds of corporate malfeasance, the shadow of death cast by OxyContin, which, according to federal government surveys, has been abused by more than 7 million Americans over the past 20 years, places Purdue Pharma in exceptional standing among other serial offenders of corporate America.
That's not just because of the incalculable harm that resulted from its actions. After all, other comparable incidents of fraud inflicted grievous personal damage as well--though the news media makes no serious or consistent attempt to measure or take account of this trauma. In the case of opioid overdoses, they sometimes have to. While newspapers decide what to print in their articles, they cannot tell people what to write in their death announcements.
Not surprisingly, thousands of obituaries submitted to commemorate the victims of opioid overdose omit any mention of a cause of death or addiction. Still, it's undeniable that a growing number of families and loved ones opt to reveal both, often in unvarnished terms. As families refuse speak euphemistically or elliptically about the opioid use in their death announcements, an organic movement of "obit activism" is underway across America. Deprived of a voice on the front page, victims' advocates find one in the few remaining media platforms available to them and under their control.
And it is agonizing to read what they have to say. The mother of Kelsey Endicott reminds us that it is "not true that everything happens for a reason;" her daughter's death from overdose only weeks ago had "no possible reason to justify for the loss." Another family chronicles a life of homelessness and injuries as the result of the untreated mental illness and substance dependence of Jaime Noelle Velarde, who died, in their words, "in a dry tent curled up in a warm sleeping bag." The obituary for Alex Michael Hesse strikes a familiar note in the world of obit activism: "Growing up [Alex] was just like any other young man," his family says, but "he made some mistakes that ended up costing him his life." In his obituary, Sean Stem's family urged communities to "tear down whatever obstacles" exist in the way of treatment. "We have learned the hard way that no amount of love can cure this illness" of opiate addiction, his family acknowledged, in a confession that implicates us all.
In explaining their decision to declaim heroin overdose as cause of death in their daughter's obituary, Alison Shuemake's parents told USA Today that "Shame doesn't matter now." A Massachusetts father agreed, asking his local news station, "If parents are too afraid to put it in an obituary, how is the rest of the world going to see it?" Only days ago Molly Parks' parents reached the same conclusion. "I see a lot of obituaries from families losing 20-somethings, 30-somethings, and 40-somethings and they are all saying they died suddenly," her father said. "But that's not the truth."
In the United States, fatal overdose from opioids exceeded deaths from car accidents in 2014; it is the leading cause of acute preventable death in America. A non-trivial number of these deaths come at the hands of illicit heroin, not OxyContin or other prescription opioid. However, many of these victims found their way to an underground painkiller because of their initial use of a prescribed one. As government officials point out, almost half of all young people using heroin today "reported abusing prescription opioids" before they turned to the cheaper illegal street version of the drug.
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And in fact, most overdoses do come at the hands of legal substances: "unintentional poisoning deaths" from prescription opioids quadrupled between 1999 and 2010, outnumbering deaths from heroin and cocaine combined.
Adriana Alvarez (left) with fastfood and underpaid workers from the US (left) and Nordic countries (right) earlier this year in Copenhagen
This month people like Adriana Alvarez will come to Oak Brook, Ill. for the annual McDonald's shareholders' meeting. As McDonald's pats itself on the back for its highest-ever stock price, Adriana and hundreds of other McDonald's workers will protest and call for $15 and union rights.
Adriana is someone to watch. Earlier this year she met with other fast food workers in Denmark. There she said: "I really fear for Christmas because I can't afford the toys my son wants and I know he will be disappointed."
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In Denmark she shed light on the reality of everyday life for the millions of low-wage fast food, homecare, childcare, airport, adjunct, retail, and other underpaid workers across the United States and the world.
While others are eating, drinking, and celebrating with their families, millions more, like Adriana, are dreading Christmas morning in basement apartments, public housing, a relative's extra room or couch, and for some, homeless shelters.
In Denmark and the other Nordic countries that Adriana and her coworkers recently visited, most fast food workers do not fear for the holidays. They at least have the basics of a decent life: instead of minimum wage, they benefit from national bargaining agreements that allow them to earn more than $17 per hour (US) and enjoy fully paid healthcare, pensions, sick days, personal days, and up to 30 paid vacation days per year.
And the cost of a Big Mac? Contrary to assertions by McDonald's and other companies that say they can't afford living wages and benefits that a union contract would bring, the price difference between a Big Mac in the US and a Big Mac in the Nordic countries is only 40 cents.
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Adriana is a true leader in the Fight for $15. Without her bravery and sacrifice, the presidential candidates would not be weighing in on the federal minimum wage. Her courage, and that of many people around her is essential to winning $15 and a union at the nation's largest fast food chains, and it reminds me of an effort by workers in the Midwest more than 30 years ago.
Fastfood worker organizing committee in Detroit in 1980
In 1980, US Steel and GM were still major employers in the country, but McDonald's and other fast food giants were gaining fast. Oil shocks and economic shocks were throwing millions out of work and some of the few remaining jobs were in fast food.
In the early 1980s, workers employed by McDonald's and Burger King in Detroit started organizing for better wages and benefits. The workers partnered with United Labor Unions (ULU), an offshoot of the national community organization, ACORN. I was a young organizer working alongside this first generation of fast-food leaders at the Greyhound Burger King inside the bus station in downtown Detroit. After three years, workers won a union contract, one of the first union contracts in fast food settled in the United States.
But even with that victory, it was clear that management would do anything to fight off workers' attempts to organize and had the money and resources that workers did not.
From that small effort, workers learned how the fast-food giants think and that they will stop at nothing to keep wages low, jobs part-time, and zero benefits. Almost 30 years later the tactics of McDonald's have not changed.
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In November 2012 a new generation of courageous fast-food workers called for $15 an hour in New York City and were supported by fastfood workers in Chicago. A few months later, they did the same thing on Chicago's Magnificent Mile. Like the earlier effort I was involved in, the workers received critical support from the community--this time from SEIU, New York Communities for Change(NYCC), Chicago's Action Now, Leadership for the Common Good, and ACCE.
With workers taking the lead and unions and community groups showing support, a movement rose that has expanded to more than 300 cities and tens of thousands of workers. This is a model that works.
Homecare and childcare providers, university adjuncts, nursing home workers, health care workers, airport workers and security guards are joining together and speaking out, contributing to the recent passage of minimum wage laws that put more than ten million workers on a path to $15 per hour. Across the country, 17 million workers have won big raises since those brave workers in New York City started their Fight for $15 in 2012.
The workers in the Fight for $15 are learning the same lesson we learned 35 years ago--when workers come together and take a stand, they win.
Keith Kelleher is president of SEIU Healthcare Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Kansas (HCIIMK), the largest SEIU local union in the Midwest, representing over 92,000 homecare, childcare, nursing home, hospital and healthcare workers. He began his organizing career organizing fastfood and other low wage workers in Detroit in 1980, resulting in the first fastfood contract at that time. Since 1980, his local has organized over 70,000 new homecare, childcare and healthcare workers, and helped spark a movement that has led to over 600,000 homecare and childcare workers joining SEIU. An early strategist and supporter of the Fight for 15 organizing of fastfood, homecare, childcare and healthcare workers, he is actively organizing and supporting these efforts today.
Winning ain't stealin'. With few exceptions in electoral politics, winning an election is simply just winning. The Presidential election of 2000 is one of the few examples that come to mind where it was probably stolen when conservatives on the Supreme Court stopped the counting of ballots in Florida.
Yet, all the way through the Democratic Presidential Primary, Bernie Sanders and many of his supporters have blamed every loss of his on something: close primaries, DNC meddling, election fraud, long lines, too few polling sites, voter registration deadlines and probably more. These excuses have come from Bernie all the way down to rank and file supporters.
It is very difficult to recall a single loss in a state contest in which Bernie and his supporters just took the loss and moved on. Instead, Bernie has leveraged the imperfections in our electoral system, many of the Republicans' doing, and used them as attacks on both Hillary and the Democratic Party.
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Let me say up from that the issues that Bernie has raised in this Primary are incredibly important and I'm thankful that they have been moved to the front and center of political discourse in our nation. However, along the way, his championing of these issues turned into personal attacks on Hillary Clinton and now they have turned into attacks on the Democratic Party itself.
Here is the current of the race, courtesy of the AP Delegate Tracker and Real Clear Politics: Pledged DelegatesBernie: 1488Hillary: 1767 (+279) Including Super DelegatesBernie: 1528Hillary: 2291 (+763) Delegates needed to secure nominationBernie: 855Hillary: 92 Popular Vote TotalsBernie: 9,946,565Hillary: 12,982,904 (+3,036,339)22,929,469 Popular Vote %Bernie: 43.37%Hillary: 56.62% (+13.25%)
Ya see, it's really hard to make an argument that the election is being stolen when you're losing by a significant margin. To pull off some kind of conspiracy that is intentionally denying Bernie Sanders the Democratic nomination would be absolutely impossible. Yet, *some* Bernie supporters continue to act as if there is some grand conspiracy to cheat Bernie of the nomination.
Cue, the bedlam that took place in Nevada over the weekend. In short, Hillary won the caucus by 6 points. Because Nevada has some complex delegate allocation rules, Bernie's campaign saw an opening and outworked Hillary's campaign to have more folks at County conventions and elected a few hundred more delegates to the state convention. However, at the state convention, Hillary filled 98% of her delegate slots and Bernie failed to turn out folks and only filled 78% of his delegate slots. In the end, Hillary won two more delegates, as she was expected to.
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But along the way, the convention turned nasty. Speakers were interrupted. Chairs were thrown. The State Party Chair has received death threats. Sander supporters cried foul because they weren't allowed to amend the convention rules. They cried foul because a handful of people who didn't meet the qualifications weren't seated as delegates. Some have suggested this kind of bedlam was the intended outcome of the Sanders campaign. Others, including the Nevada Democratic Party, have suggested that this was a trial run for how to disrupt the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
When Bernie was questioned about this at his first encounter with the media after the Nevada convention, he literally walked away form the camera as the question was being asked, hardly showing leadership against such aggressive and offensive tactics. When a statement was put out, he dug in his heels and seemed to stoke further anger with the Democratic Party.
The new posture taken by Sanders hasn't gone unnoticed. Speaking for myself, my effort to find common ground with Bernie supporters by self declaring a moratorium on criticizing him came to an abrupt end. Commentators all over the place have weighed in:
Newsweek's headline: "Get control, Senator Sanders, or Get out"
Violence. Death threats. Vile, misogynistic names screamed at women. Rage. Hatred. Menacing, anonymous phone calls to homes and offices. Public officials whisked offstage by security agents frightened of the growing mob. None of this has any place in a political campaign. And the candidate who has been tolerating this obscene behavior among his supporters is showing himself to be unfit for office.
Wonkette: "Nice Grandpa Bernie Sanders gonna BURN YOUR SH*T DOWWWWWN"
If you were waiting for Bernie Sanders to release a statement on the clusterfuck that was the Nevada state Democratic convention, hooray! He has done so! If you were waiting for Bernie Sanders to release a statement telling his supporters "hey maybe don't drown out and scream at Barbara Boxer that she's a fucking bitch for having a different preference in the Democratic primary than you do," you are going to have to wait a little bit longer.
Talking Points Memo's Editor Josh Marshall: "It Comes From the Very Top"
Over the last several weeks I've had a series of conversations with multiple highly knowledgable, highly placed people. Perhaps it's coming from Weaver too. The two guys have been together for decades. But the 'burn it down' attitude, the upping the ante, everything we saw in that statement released today by the campaign seems to be coming from Sanders himself. Right from the top.
New York Observer columnist Jon Reinish: "Intimidation: The Only Thing Bernie Sanders Supporters Actually Do Well"
In politics, words matter. Campaigns should know this, particularly those for President. Especially knowing that our politics are pitched on the best of days, and endgames--such as the one the Sanders campaign currently finds itself in, and not a minute too soon--get emotional, candidates have responsibilities to recognize that they are powerful figures, occupy a bully pulpit and exert influence. They need to conduct themselves as such. Mr. Sanders and his campaign have not.
Washington Post's Paul Waldman: "Why the Sanders Movement is Just About Dead"
This is the problem with framing your campaign and everything you want to do as "revolution". You can't have a partial revolution; either you overthrow the old order or the old order survives. And Sanders is encouraging his supporters to believe that if there is anything left of the old order, then all is lost.
This primary process will be over in less than a month. There are some serious decisions that Bernie Sanders is going to have to make if this endeavor will have been worth it for him. Presidential campaigns are a unique experience. Just as quickly as it builds someone up, it can just as quickly tear that person down. For quite a while, it looked as if Bernie would come out of this campaign with an elevated stature in national politics and an ability to be a patriarch of the progressive community. With the state of things today, that is in question.
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We would all be better off in the long run if Senator Sanders would categorically reject these bullying tactics. The evidence is clear that Hillary is winning by a large margin. In fact, she is likely to go into the convention with more than four times the pledged delegate lead that then-Senator Barack Obama had in 2008. Senator Sanders has a significant delegation that he will take to Philadelphia and that is plenty of leverage to influence the platform. He doesn't need bullying tactics. He needs to show leadership.
Competition is fierce in the legal profession, with work being outsourced to India and legal form companies advertising on TV. As a result lawyers are increasing their investment in marketing and business development -- so you can expect to hear from your favorite law firm soon.
We are talking about sophisticated marketing, like using social media, competitive intelligence and content marketing (not the barking TV commercials, billboards and and radio spots).
Law is a major industry. In the profession there are 1.22 million lawyers who generate $256 billion in annual revenue, according to Statistica. But in the new normal, firms are feeling rate pressure, demands for alternative fees, and RFPs for legal work run by corporate procurement.
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Today's clients want responsive law firm websites that can be viewed on a cell phone, practical updates about legal issues affecting them, and hot information about legal developments.
Digital Marketing
Only the alpha marketers will survive. 20th Century tactics like search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click advertising (PPC) are being relegated to the dustbin.
21st Century law firms -- small and large -- are doing significantly more in content marketing, according to a new Bloomberg Law/Legal Marketing Association research.
Lawyers know that clients go online to find lawyers, rather than using word-of-mouth or yellow pages. "The myth persists that in order to rank well in search results, attorneys must be focused on SEO and things like keywords," writes tech blogger Victoria Blute. "Google is in the business of giving search engine users the best results for their queries. It eventually developed algorithms to handle this problem."
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"Search engines are always looking for new content. Content marketing makes that happen. By writing new content for your law firm's website or blog on a regular basis, you give Google something new to index," Blute says.
is also the biggest area in which law firms have recently added resources, with 19% of law firms making this investment within the past two years. To push out the marketing online,
45% of law firms have hired a chief marketing officer.
More than half of all law firms employ outside consultants (69%).
60% of law firms have hired a content generation or management service.
The law needs better tech
"For attorneys, prospecting/lead generation tools top the list of technology that is not meeting their needs. This should not be surprising given that nearly 50% of attorneys cited difficulty finding leads for new work or new clients as one of their greatest business development challenges," the Bloomberg study says.
This, of course, is where smart digital marketing comes in. Social media activity is a top new emphasis for law firms. Up to now, most law firm social media accounts were dormant afterthoughts. Today, smart lawyers are active in digital media.
For example, attorney Duncan Garnett in Newport News, VA, posts on Twitter to 3,000 followers throughout the day on @HDuncanGarnett. He also posts legal news regularly on Facebook, where the average user spends an average of 50 minutes per day. And Mr. Duncan is not a kid -- he is a serious trial lawyer with 30 years of experience.
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The legal profession is embracing all kinds of new technology. For instance:
The National Trial Lawyers broadcast its annual Summit in Miami live on Periscope.
Orange County, CA, trial lawyer Mitch Jackson regularly livestreams programs on StreamingLawyer.com.
Attorneys are turning to platforms like LawLytics that have recommendation engines built in.
No longer does law take place in dusty libraries. Instead, modern lawyers are sending videos in emails, checking the analytics on their blogs and creating infographics to distribute on Instagram.
How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
I have always been insanely curious and love to learn from others, whether it be through travel or reading the news and literature. I firmly believe it is possible to learn something new every day as long as you have a passion, apply yourself, actively listen and have a killer work ethic.
I also gained independence at an early age following my parents' divorce. The experience led me to learn to easily adapt to new environments and new people, at a young age, as a result.
How has your previous employment experience aided your tenure at Keds?
I started my career in the digital space and that has strongly influenced my professional path, and how I approach omni-channel marketing. I fundamentally believe that it is critical to embrace smart risk, and acknowledge that every program is in a perpetual beta - this way you always strive to make improvements while being mindful of consumer feedback. Finally, I believe that the most valuable asset any company has is its people.
While at Rebecca Minkoff, I was able to truly bring all of my omni-channel skills/experiences into one unified consumer experience which included: launching mobile, re-launching the Rebecca Minkoff website, rolling out a multi-touch CRM program and opening a state-of-the-art store (Which included: beacons, a "connected mirror," & RFID technology etc.). Prior to working with Rebecca Minkoff, I learned invaluable lessons while at Clinique, Digitas (L.L.Bean) and Ogilvy (Kodak)--one unifying lesson learned was to understand that as a marketer of a heritage brand it is our job to honor the past and ensure we are shepherding the brand in the right direction toward the future.
Now at Keds, I can tap into my understanding and experience with heritage brands and apply my deep passion and knowledge of innovative omni-channel marketing. I am thrilled to be rolling out new programs and initiatives like the Keds Custom Studio, launching snapchat, and partnering with empowered women in technology like Billie Whitehouse (part of our Keds Collective).
What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at Keds?
One of the defining moments of my tenure with Keds was receiving the opportunity to lead the selection process for the inspiring and notable women that we partnered with for the new Keds Collective campaign. From Allison Williams to Ciara this defining group of leading women mirrors the individuality of the women in the world that wear our sneakers.
Being part of a brand that, for more than 100 years, has created shoes just for women is absolutely inspiring. This is completely unique - our product team is 90% women, and therefore, maniacally focused on the end consumer and what her needs are.
I am honored and proud to work on a brand that authentically aligns with a higher purpose--female empowerment. Whether you look at the diverse composition of Keds' leadership team which along with President Chris Lindner includes female VP of sales, Product and CMO or the fact that we're launching a "Made in America" collection that is finished by women in the U.S., its clear that we are a co- ed team of execs embracing women at all levels.
Another highlight includes our "Centennial Celebration" event, which we hosted in February. We kicked off NYFW by inviting members of the media and influencers to celebrate the brand's 100-year milestone as the first sneaker for women. The event featured an interactive timeline to tell the brand story and members of the new Keds Collective were in attendance, including Allison Williams, Ciara, and Jamie Chung. We achieved the KPIs we set in place and are excited to see the genuine love for the brand continue to grow and expand.
Tell me more about the Custom Studio?
Consumers have more access to information today, and are more discerning than ever before. In response, we have launched the Keds Custom Studio, which hands the design reigns over to the consumer. The studio serves as a branded experience and digital design lab offering thousands of customizable options. Based on the options they choose, we are able to glean insights and trends in consumer preferences, which then influences and optimizes our product strategy.
What advice can you offer to women who want a career in your industry?
When I'm hiring, I look for people who are curious, intelligent, high-integrity and beyond passionate about our brand.
What is the most important lesson you've learned in your career to date?
I've learned that your most valuable asset is your integrity. So treat it as such, and remember that how you do things is just as important as what you achieve.
How do you maintain a work/life balance?
I'm a believer in work-life integration. With technology allowing us to stay connected 24/7, it's about finding a way to integrate work into your life that makes sense for you. There's no one approach that works for everyone, but it's about finding what works for you. There are days that you think you have it mastered, and then days where you are positive you don't. Find an amazing group of women who are at a similar stage in life (career, children etc.) who inspire, challenge and help you on your journey. Finally, I can't imagine having my career without my most trusted advisor and advocate -my husband.
What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace?
Maternity leave policies are a huge issue for women in the workplace. I look forward to tackling this issue and committing more time to help create a different experience for my daughter. US policies are very short in duration and extremely difficult for a myriad of reasons. Hence why I have watched many of my peers drop out of the workforce and not be able to re-enter.
How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life?
I have greatly benefited from not only being a mentor but also being a mentee. As a mentor, I don't take the mentorship process lightly and believe it takes a significant amount of dedication. As a mentee I thrive on asking questions and truly value both professional and personal advice.
Which other female leaders do you admire and why?
I greatly admire Jane Lauder. She is one of the brightest women I have had the pleasure of working for, and is extremely humble. Jane perfectly balances the art and science of marketing, and is also someone with amazing integrity.
Sallie Krawcheck is inspirational to me on many levels. She has endured public firings and each time been extremely professional, going on to do even more impressive things in her career. She embodies the principle of "embrace smart risk" and I also appreciate that she is now dedicating her career to empowering future generations of women. Finally, she is one of the very few female leaders that has openly spoken about her family at work and for that I am very grateful.
Yael Aflalo, Founder & CEO of Reformation, is someone I greatly admire. She built a business around her passion and is a wildly successful female entrepreneur who embraces technology and innovation. She is decisive in her approach to her business, and is in the process of educating millions of consumers about how knowledge is power.
What do you want Keds to accomplish in the next year?
In the next year, I want Keds to continue to champion our ladies to be who they want to be and go where they want to go. We will continue to balance sharing the amazing rich heritage of Keds, which includes notable style icon and brand loyalists from Audrey Hepburn to Yoko Ono - with telling new modern stories around our amazing new initiatives like the Keds Collective. We are hyper-focused on connecting with our consumers and getting them even more passionate about our brand and products.
During his first years as president, Vladimir Putin has repeatedly declared that the rebuilding of the Russian state is his goal and his very highest priority.
Chimera of the State by Lena Hades. Photo credit: Lena Hades
For Putin, the Russian state is unified, there are only national interests and there can be no interests that are more important than these. The official propaganda says that he is a strong leader who protects Russia from foreign threats, that he cares about people's needs etc etc. But as a matter of fact, the Russian economy under Putin is weak and ineffectual -- the quantity of population with the money income below the subsistence minimum is growing rapidly.
The Chimera of the State
The painting's size is 39" x 47", it depicts a monster with the head of a man, with wings and the beak and of a crane, three snake-headed tails and four hands. The Chimera -Tsar wears a crown, Chimera's hands hold a gas pipe and a head of cabbage. The oil painting was created by me, Lena Hades, in Juny 2013. On Sunday night, July 14, 2013, my studio was robbed by three Russian artists with pro-Putin political views, they organized a real pogrom destroying some art works.
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Pogrom in the studio. Photo credit: Lena Hades
Previously, one of them had written a complaint to the Chief of Moscow Police, talking about my "antigovernmental" chimeras to justify their actions that followed. It appears that my Chimera Art would be a real non-conformist "forbidden art" in today's Russia.
Chimera's symbols of authority
Chimera's hands hold two Christian symbols of authority -- a sceptre and a globus cruciger.This is the visual symbolism of holding the world in one's hand, the globus cruciger (Latin, "cross-bearing orb") was used also in the Byzantine Empire. As the sceptre and the globus cruciger the Chimera holds a gas pipe and a head of cabbage -- the gas pipe is a symbol of the raw material economics and the head of cabbage symbolizes "money" because on gang slang the word "cabbage" means "money".
Chimera's Supper
The Chimera of the State does not know how to resolve problems bloodlessly, for blood and human flesh is its favorite food. If you take a closer look on the painting, you can see a white fork in the left hand and a glass of wine in the right.
Chimera of the State by Lena Hades. Photo credit: Lena Hades
Beware, this is not a wine, this is human blood! The Christians know that the Eucharist (Lord's Supper) requires the participant to eat human flesh and drink human blood symbolically. The Chimera of the State makes it literally - the monster eats human flesh and drinks human blood. The Chimera eats its citizens...
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Chimera's watches
The Chimera of the State loves luxury watches, the monster wears two wathes at the same time - Lange & Sohne Tourbograph on its right hand and Patek Philippe on its left hand. Both cost more than 1 million U.S. dollars, but the Chimera knows perfectly that the number of people living in extreme poverty increases always faster!
Chimera's Constitution
If you look attentively on the painting, you may see that the Chimera shoved the Constitution of the Russian Federation into its pocket. Why did the monster do it? Let me clarify two points before I try to answer this question. First, according to the Russian Constitution (Article 31), "citizens of the Russian Federation shall have the right to assemble peacefully, without weapons, hold rallies, meetings and demonstrations, marches and pickets".
Chimera of the Justice and Chimera of the State by Lena Hades. Photo credit: Lena Hades
Second, in July 2014, the Russian Parliament adopted amendments to the Law on Public Assembly that penalize the participation in "unauthorized public gatherings, rallies, demonstrations, marches, or pickets" with heavy penalties and administrative detention up to one month. In addition, the same year, lawmakers added a new article 212.1 to the Criminal Code that penalizes unauthorized public assemblies with a five-year deprivation of liberty. So, I explained the reason why the Chimera put the Constitution in its pocket.
Chimera's tails
The Chimera's tails have the form of a huge poisonous snake. These snakes wear dark glasses, as all Secret Service agents do, at least stereotypically Secret Service agents are often portrayed wearing reflective sunglasses. On the lower right part of the painting you may see the snake-headed tail trying to strangle a man to death.
Meister Eckhart (1260-1328), a German mystic, a Dominican prior in garment but a Sufi at heart, is deeply embedded in the intellectual sensibilities of Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and Ibn Rushd (Averroes), whose works were available to Latin readers during the thirteenth century. Like most Sufis, Eckhart knows that God is a non-residential entity and cannot be found in houses of worship. God's manifestation is faintest in temples. It is perhaps non-existent in Avignon, the transient seat of Papacy during Eckhart's life. Eckhart shifts from convent to convent, between Germany and France, reason and intuition, sermons and writing, to sense the propinquity of divinity.
The historical testimonies reveal to Eckhart that ritualistic formalism is not a key certain to experiencing God. Buddha leaves the royal palace for the uncharted wilderness to free his being. Jesus enters the temple but overturns the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. Abraham raids the Babylonian sanctuary and smashes the idols the people are worshipping. Abraham's demolition of sacred images is not an assertion of monotheism over polytheism; it is a call to remove barriers to self-awareness. Muhammad discovers Allah in a cave away from the Kaaba, the popular house of worship. Despite spending most of his life in churches, Eckhart understands that the open doors of sacramental buildings are barricades to reaching God.
Much like sacramental edifices, however, the wilderness too can be spiritually barren for the seekers of God. Eckhart rejects seclusion, abstinence, and abandonment as prerequisites for retrieving God from the layers of personal darkness. A person seeking God can experience God in everyday life, in broad daylight, doing ordinary things, such as eating, walking, making love. For seekers, God is everywhere. The eye that sees can see God and the eye that does not see can also see God. "The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me," says Eckhart.
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What a devotee needs to experience God is not theology but stillness. Eckhart stills the mind and the body, but this stillness does not abandon the world, the family, or the self. A mind is still not because it is empty, a mind is still because it is clear. A clear mind is still while a muddled mind is in unruly motion. A mind released from the effort of knowing is free like a bird in the air. "Have they not seen the birds poised in the air?" (Qur'an 16:79). Likewise, a body is still not because it is immobile but because it is calm. A body in harmony with itself is poised to sensate God. A body that does not know itself cannot know God.
As an accomplished Sufi, Eckhart toys with heresy within the confines of orthodoxy. A Sufi does not abandon orthodoxy but explores its frontiers. "Ana al-haqq (I am the truth), says Mansur Al-Hallaj (858-922) and he is torn to pieces by the Caliph. "I am the way and the truth and the life," says Jesus and he is nailed to the Cross. Eckhart chooses a different route; he writes copiously to shroud the heresy, knowing that heresy must be concealed from militant fools. An open heresy is perilous, as it rouses the fearful but repressed doubts of orthodox communities.
Eckhart's statements, if taken out of context, are heretical. If the same statements are anchored within the framework of scholastic rationalism, they are orthodox. This art of speech is intrinsic to Sufi discourse. When a Sufi speaks, not everyone receives the same message. The Sufi speech is relative to the listener's existential stage (maqam). A heretic may find the speech conventional and an orthodox may find the speech sacrilegious. The fool may find the speech foolish and the wise a pearl of wisdom. The Sufi speech incarcerates the incarcerated and liberates the free. The Sufi speech contains nothing startling for the somnambulist; it ignites a bonfire for the awakened. The Sufi speech travels in time and space, with different speeds and colors and meaning. It is no surprise that the Europe is rediscovering Eckhart after eight centuries.
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During his life as a Dominican friar, Eckhart is condemned and forgiven. In Avignon, Pope John XXII issues a bull to list Eckhart's numerous statements suspected of heresy. By the time the bull is issued, Eckhart has died. While facing inquisition, Eckhart withdraws every objectionable syllable he has uttered, less out of conviction more for fear of punishment. He retracts the word after illuminating the word. He corrects the errors after exposing the errors. Eckhart does the right thing because survival is a virtue for the learned. Centuries later, Galileo too would retract for survival. In hindsight it seems unwise for Socrates to drink Hemlock. The ignorant desires to kill the heretic and rejoices when the heretic kills himself. Knowing this, Eckhart does not oblige the ignorant.
Mom & Me 2012
Interviewing My Mom With Alzheimer's
I recently watched the powerful documentary on Glen Campbell -- "I'll Be Me." It left me with a feeling of respect, as well as pain, for his family. Since my own mother has had Alzheimer's for the last 12 years, I completely understand for I have been walking down a similar path. The film reminded me of something I had written in September 2012, which was a conversation that I had with my mother.
Sept. 2012
On one of my many visits to Florida to see mom, I had decided that I wanted to interview her. The way she responded touched my heart in a deep profound way. I would love to share this with you.
"Mom, what does it feel like not to be able to remember something?" She responded, "It's not always so bad not to remember everything."
Several years earlier I had presented a similar question to her, where her answer was quite touching. Mom said "I know that whatever happened yesterday to me had to be nice, whether I can remember it or not." Through the years that my mother has Alzheimer's there certainly have been moments when she becomes her own Buddha.
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I never fear asking her any questions, for I know that immediately after everything disappears from her memory. Since this disease runs in my family, when I forget simple things I am quite aware of it. It's funny because I never worry about getting cancer for my mom has been cancer free. Yet when it comes to Alzheimer's the question still remains.
Back to my past interview: "Mom is all this scary to you?" Her quick reply is "no it's not scary because if you cannot remember something, you just don't remember it." With wisdom mom was able to answer so easily.
She then started to reminisce about her own mother and growing up in Williamsburg and Coney Island, Brooklyn. "Mom do you remember your mother's name?" "Of course, it was Pauline Schnitzer." "Mom, what's your name?" "Ruth Schnitzer," and "what was your father's name?" She simply says, "I cannot remember." With sadness I say his name was Louie.
I wonder if she knows my father's name. Better yet does she remember him? How could she not for they were married for 50 years. She has to, it's my dad! She does not remember.
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"Mom how many brothers or sisters do you have?" "I have both a brother and a sister," she answers. No mom, I say to myself, you had only one younger brother who died from Alzheimer's. I decided to lighten up and move away from this conversation.
I have been back home for almost a week now and each day that I speak to her she seems to have some recollection that I was there. Mom said that when she woke up she was looking all over her home for me, and could not find me. It saddened me that we live so far apart. It makes my heart ache. So, do I jump on a plane and run back to her?
I often wonder how this little lady who stands only 4 feet 10 inches can melt my heart in such a way that I cannot contain my love for her.
May 2016
This interview took place when mom was still living at home. Since writing this in 2012 so much has changed. Mom has been living in a nursing home for almost three years. She still speaks about her parents and most of the time does not know my name.
Most of her memory is gone and yet, on a more positive note, she is still mobile and able to speak. For this I am quite grateful.
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Earlier on Huff/Post50:
On a superficial level, Moliere's play, Tartuffe, or the Hypocrite has a lot in common with Donald Trump . It's about a man who makes himself out to be what he is not; that is, he wears a mask of piety and convinces everyone that he is even though he isn't. What Moliere knew so well is that the word "hypocrite" has a rather fascinating origin. It comes from the Old French ypocrite, via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek hupokrites meaning, "actor." In other words, a hypocrite is one who claims to have moral standards or beliefs, but to which one's own behavior does not conform to those beliefs hence the notion of "acting." What Moliere also knew is that being an actor is akin to wearing a mask and the mask of hypocrisy seems to be an almost perfect fit for Trump (as it was for Tartuffe), and, presumably, ensures a steady increase of power to the wearer.
In Trump's case it works very well since, in fact, he is an actor and has been both on and off television. This elementary contrast within the man who plays a "part" is a basic feature of the role of being Trump. The part he plays is of vital importance to him. It assures his well-being and his domination over his Republican constituents. What's different for Trump is that the mask is not a mask of piety, ascetic, world-renouncing, sanctimonious, but just the antithesis since it plays on the fears and prejudices of a vast swathe of the American electorate. But this part is not kept up all the time. We see more than the mask, at times, when for one reason or another he, like Tartuffe, is not hypocritical, but sincere. For example, in Ray Nothstine's July 23, 2015 report for the Christian Post Reporter, Northstine writes relative to CNN's Anderson Cooper's interview, "Trump has reiterated on several occasions on the campaign trail his Protestant and Presbyterian background, and more recently, his admiration for his former pastor, Norman Vincent Peale, a popular Reformed minister. Anderson Cooper followed up asking Trump if "asking for forgiveness" is a central tenet in his faith life." I try not make mistakes where I have to ask forgiveness," Trump answered. When further asked about repentance again by Cooper, Trump said "I think repenting is terrific." "Why do I have to repent or ask for forgiveness, if I am not making mistakes?" asked Trump. "I work hard, I'm an honorable person." In talking about his Iowa appearance, Trump said, "We were having fun when I said I drink the wine, I eat the cracker, the whole room was laughing." One of the great ironies here is that Peale was most notable for his book, The Power of Positive Thinking which, in Trump's case would be just the antithesis; however, in a doubly ironic way, Peale's theory does fit in with Trump's theory. In a 1955 The Nation article by psychiatrist R. C. Murphy, titled "Think Right: Reverend Peale's Panacea," Murphy writes: "Between races for instance, this belief leads to prejudice. In child-rearing it drives parents into trying to obliterate rather than trying to nurture one or another area of the child's emerging personality ... In international relationships it leads to war. As soon as a religious authority endorses our capacity for hatred, either by refusing to recognize unpleasantness in the style of Mr Peale or in the more classical style of setting up a nice comfortable Satan to hate, it lulls our struggles for growth to a standstill ... Thus Mr Peale's book is not only inadequate for our needs but even undertakes to drown out the fragile inner voice which is the spur to inner growth." This would seem to come out of the Trump-Manafort playbook if not the Trump-Tartuffe playbook.
Just about everyone knows someone who has benefited from the companionship and life assistance of a home health aide (HHA). And we all want to see these dedicated workers get paid a wage they can live and thrive on. The question is, how do we make this work?
By "we," I mean the home care industry and America's federal and state governments. Last September, I wrote a blog post in this space talking about the unintended consequences of the U.S. Department of Labor's decision to extend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to HHAs--a group that had long been exempted from this legislation. Under this new arrangement, all HHAs nationwide must be paid at least the national minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. The revised regulation also raises the overtime pay rate for HHAs nationwide, mandates that their travel time be strictly reimbursed, and requires that the working hours of live-in HHAs be carefully documented.
Overall, the goal of this action was to increase the compensation that HHAs get for the important work they do. This is a goal that my organization, the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY), applauds, and one that we've been working toward as well. But as my previous post pointed out, since the vast majority of HHA hours are reimbursed either by Medicare or Medicaid, the federal government and the states also have to step up and make more funds available to cover the increased cost of these wages.
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The new Department of Labor regulations have been in effect since last October. The home care industry is now petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to review the legality of the revised FLSA regulations, and is also in discussions with Medicare and Medicaid officials on the federal and state level about adjusting reimbursement levels to account for the increased costs due to the regulatory changes. These discussions have had an added urgency in New York State, where Governor Andrew Cuomo and state legislators agreed earlier this year to raise the state minimum wage from $10 to $15 per hour over the next several years. (Additionally, in a separate action, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio just implemented a $15 per hour minimum for workers contracted by the city.)
This increase in the state minimum wage will hit New York's home care agencies harder than anyone else, costing our industry an estimated $1.1 billion in increased wages over the first two years of the phase-in. Fortunately, the ongoing conversation between industry representatives, state legislators and the governor's office is producing the outlines of a solution: The state recently agreed to make additional Medicaid funds available for an increase to $11 per hour for HHA pay, and has indicated it will not count this increase against the state's overall Medicaid cap--this needs to be assured for future planned increases as well
While the exact numbers are still evolving, New York State has indicated its willingness to distribute up to $218 million in extra Medicaid payments over the next two years for increased health care wages, with most of that going to home care agencies. The state previously had agreed to contribute an additional 34 cents per hour in Medicaid funding to cover the impact of the revised FLSA regulations, as well.
Will these additional funds be enough to fully cover the boost in HHA wages and also keep home care agencies on a solid footing? The estimates of financial analysts suggest it may not be, but it's a good start. Most importantly, this development shows that all the various stakeholders in this issue--which include the state's home care agencies, the healthcare workers' union, different groups of state legislators, the New York State Department of Health, and the Governor's office--are willing to work together in good faith to craft a solution that works for everyone, including our HHA workforce, the agencies that employ them, and the patients they serve.
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Man and a cat taking a nap on the couch
The Appropriate Weight of Grief: Men, Cats and the Writing Life
My cat died.
I say this not to elicit sympathy, but to merely state a fact: My cat died and I am sad. Which, if you have ever loved an animal, is a perfectly appropriate response. Yet I'm not telling the entire story. I am very sad. I am breathlessly, obsessively, perhaps ridiculously sad over the death of my cat, Bongo.
I have cried every day for the past 16 days since his passing. The days shortly following his death included long sobbing fits, with my nose running and so much saltwater pouring from my eyes that my beard became spongy with tears.
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Other days have been short gasps of grief, eyes welling at the sight of a favorite toy or the now barren place by the heat register where he would curl up on cold Michigan afternoons. (A place where my other cat will no longer roam.)
Imagine this: I have even cried as I cleaned out their now only half-filled litter pans. It's quite an image, isn't it? A middle-aged man weeping over a litter box. Before you judge me, I should mention that my other cat was down there with me, yowling and staring at the nook in our storage area where Bongo used to nap. She was looking for him.
Okay, now you can judge me.
I have what many would consider an inappropriate amount of grief for a cat. But I have to ask: what is the appropriate amount? How much am I allowed? No one really says it, but my guess is that it's not a huge allotment.
I have what many would consider an inappropriate amount of grief for a cat. But I have to ask: what is the appropriate amount?
According to the rules that many men still live by, if I absolutely had to grieve over an animal, a large dog would be much more appropriate. Which would seem to indicate that grief is proportional to the size, weight and genus of said deceased animal. Which is a nice way of saying that a goodly part of the world believes that a two hundred pound man should probably get over the death of a 10-pound tabby in about a couple of days. Shake it off, dude. It's a cat.
Yet grief does not work that way. At least my grief doesn't. Which leads me to something else that I've had to deal with since the death of Bongo: my own shame over my grief. I have been hiding it from everyone, including my wife. The fact that men often hide their emotions is certainly no big news, but there is an extra element here since the object of said emotions is a cat, a small, delicate, furry creature.
There is something in my male mind that tells me, I am not allowed to be doing this over a cat. Perhaps it's because men are not supposed to be cat people to begin with. The collective mindset tells us that cats are feminine and dogs are masculine, hence I'm supposed to love dogs.
Why? Because dogs are bigger, sloppier, smellier, not to mention pack-oriented. All of which is to say, more like men. Cats are supposed to be feminine because they're smaller, cleaner, elusive and mysterious. There's plenty for feminists to unpack here, but suffice to say that societal perception of companion animals still feels a lot like Bros before Hos.
Either way, the collective mindset is an idiot. You might even say that the ideas about men and cats are starting to change. You could bring up Marc Maron, the respected podcaster who recently interviewed President Obama. Maron calls his house "The Cat Ranch" because of his fondness for neighborhood feral cats that offer him just the kind of damaged affection that he craves.
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When local humane societies want to do "provocative" advertising, they'll photograph a tattooed biker badass on his Harley with his favorite Persian long hair. Which is fine, but they're still doing it because it's a novelty and it goes against a stereotype. All because there's still a strange unspoken (or spoken, depending on who you're with) stigma attached to "men who love cats." They are a notorious Beta male type.
Obviously, I am that type. I am another type as well: A male writer who loves cats. Which presents a decent counter argument to the idea that men are not supposed to love cats. Or that men who own cats are something less than masculine. How can you not think of Ernest Hemingway, the prototypical macho, hard drinking, bullfight-loving writer with his brutally spare style, whose Key West estate was overrun with polydactyl felines? There are countless photos of Hem shamelessly lavishing affection on his kitties. He had nothing to prove. Jack Kerouac adored cats, too.
It's true that there is something about cats that fit with the writer's life. Both cats and writers do a lot of sitting and staring and pondering.
In his autographical novel Big Sur, when Jack Duluoz reads a letter from his mother telling him that his beloved cat Tyke has died, he falls into paroxysms of grief. Fellow Beat William S. Burroughs loved his felines as well, along with poets T.S. Eliot and Charles Bukowski. These guys even wrote about cats.
It's true that there is something about cats that fit with the writer's life. Both cats and writers do a lot of sitting and staring and pondering. Writers love to talk about how writing is a lonely job, which is why a cat jumping on one's desk is a welcome distraction or simply good company during those agonizing hours of writing, rewriting, soul-searching, muse-waiting and whatever the hell else we do.
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When I worked at my desk, Bongo used to jump up and nudge me until I would unzip the top of my hoodie enough so he could climb inside and curl up against my shoulder and stomach. He could stay that way for hours. Sometimes I would forget that he was there. I would get up for a cup of coffee and realize that I still had a cat in my sweatshirt.
Bongo
Which leads me to another reason why the death of Bongo has perhaps affected me in such a profound way. His illness and subsequent death occurred at the same time that I was leaving a job that had subsidized and sustained my writing career for the past two decades. Leaving a long-held job is it's own type of small death. (Not to be confused with la petit mort, which is considerably different.) The fact was that this job had, for the first time since I had held it, seriously sent my writing schedule off the rails.
After a year of not having the time to write, I was severely depressed. Pair it with the crisis of faith that I'd been experiencing about writing and publishing in general. (What's the point of continuing to do this? Why don't publishers want this new book? Does anyone even care?) That's a potent combination. And the fact that these two events -- the loss of a long-term job and the loss of a long-loved cat -- happened simultaneously, well, I guess that could explain some of the intensity of my grief.
None of which is not meant to diminish my love for my cat. As Bongo grew sicker and sicker and I knew I was going to lose him, I thought about my last cat, a sweet tabby named T-Bone that had died about twelve years ago. He was another writer's cat, who curled up on my desk as I wrote Second Hand, my first novel, a love story about the relationship between a junk store owner and an animal shelter worker. I realized that at this point that I possessed only a handful of memories of T-Bone. Of course I remembered him, but I wanted specifics.
Why didn't I remember more about him? I loved him too and I grieved furiously for him as well. So I assembled a list of things that I wanted to remember about Bongo. Somehow it made me feel better to do it while he was alive. It's a long list with many items, but here are a few:
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1. Sometimes when he would chirp at me, I would just meow back to him, copying the way he said it, then he would meow back, then I would copy that. We could go on for quite awhile. Most cats don't seem to like when humans imitate them, but he seemed amused by it.
2. Watching him jump onto the fridge. It was almost slow motion. He did it with such ease and grace. And he would do it even if you were standing two inches away.
3. The question mark at the end of his meow when he would walk into a room.
4. How when I held him, he would wrap his arms around me and hold his head tight against my neck. I've never known a cat that would actually hug you.
5. In the middle of the night, he would jump into bed, burrow under the covers, then pop up with his head directly on Rita's (my wife's) pillow, the rest of him still covered, but with both his paws touching her neck.
I just wanted to write about the gifts that this small furry creature had given me. Even then, by using the past tense, I was trying to get used to the idea of him being gone. I don't know if it helped or not, but at least I have this short record of him now. And at least I was writing something.
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We feel what we feel. Grief is involuntary. Grief has no proportion to weight or size, genus or gender.
All this might explain some of my extreme reaction to my cat's death, but I have still not answered the question that I posited earlier: How much is a grown man allowed to grieve for a small, incredibly affectionate, inquisitive, playful, talkative Mackerel tabby?
I will now say this: It's a stupid question. We feel what we feel. Grief is involuntary. Grief has no proportion to weight or size, genus or gender.
So why do men, or this man at least, feel it is somehow wrong to grieve over the death of a cat?
The day we found out that Bongo was seriously ill was not a good one for anyone at our veterinarian's office. Which is, I should add, a facility exclusively for cats run exclusively by women. I was stationed in the waiting room, while my wife Rita sat in the car with Bongo. We were trying to minimize the trauma of yet another vet visit. There had been a lot of them since he had started vomiting numerous times a day. Rita had him wrapped in a blanket, but he was still yowling and shivering with fear.
While I was waiting for the receptionist to call Bongo's name, a man in his fifties rushed out of one of the exam rooms. He was walking so quickly, I barely got a glimpse at his face. He was trying very hard to look expressionless, but the redness around his eyes and the rumpled tissue he held in his hand indicated something else.
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In a moment, he was out the front door. From where I was sitting I could see him get into a car, but I did not hear the engine start. After ten or twelve minutes, the car finally started up, but then Bongo's name was called. When I walked out to retrieve everyone, the car was gone.
When the vet tech ushered us in, she weighed Bongo and found that he had dropped another half pound. He had not been eating though I had been trying desperately to get food into him. My anxiety over his illness manifested itself in the compulsive opening of cat food tins. Trying one, then another, then a different one -- creamy, chunky, flaked, meaty bits, classic pate, shreds - - all of them, just trying to get him to eat something.
At one point, there were probably seven or eight different types of cat food in our refrigerator, crowding out the human food. Most of the time though, he would give his food a sniff, stand there for a moment, and then just walk away. Or just ignore it. But sometimes, if his meds were working right and he was hydrated, I could get him to lick up the sauce from a dish of Friskies Gravy Lovers. That was a major victory. Still, we all knew. It was not looking good.
I will no longer apologize for my tears, for my outsized, disproportional, inappropriate grief for a small creature.
After our vet told us that she believed that Bongo had cancer of the stomach and intestines, she looked almost as unhappy as we did. "I'm so sorry," she said. "We'll hope for the best, but you should know that he may not even make it through the holidays." Christmas was 10 days away.
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We discussed how to keep Bongo comfortable and out of pain. And how to know when it was the right time. I was trying very hard not to cry. So was my wife. We were both not doing a very good job of it. Even our vet looked ready to cry.
"I'm sorry," she said, her voice quavering. "It's not a good day around here. Two euthanizations today. I just got out of one."
"I think I know who it was," said my wife. "There was a man in the car next to ours. He was crying for a long time."
The vet nodded. "He kept apologizing for being upset. We kept telling him that there was nothing to be sorry about."
A man ashamed of grieving for a small furry creature. I am not allowed to do this.
At that moment, I told myself that I would not apologize for what I was feeling. These people, these women, didn't expect it of me. And on the Sunday before Christmas, when Bongo became suddenly and violently ill and we had to bring him in, and there was nothing anyone could do for him, there were many, many tears. But I did not apologize for any of them.
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Yet somehow, what I had learned in that vet's office I was not ready to apply to the rest of my life, or at least to the period after his death. I still felt ashamed of my grief. I still thought, I am not allowed.
Bongo's ashes were scheduled to arrive on my very last day of official employment after 20 years. It was not a coincidence that pleased me. By that time, I was glad to leave the job, but this dreaded delivery of my dear cat's remains sucked the joy out of what should have been a good day. That afternoon, the man from the animal cremation company called at about three to tell us that he'd be coming by "to bring Bongo home," a phrase which right there just about brought me to tears, so I had to try very hard to keep it together. I was glad my wife was there.
Before long, there was a knock at our door. When I opened it, a man in his forties with sandy hair and a gentle half-smile was standing on our porch. He spoke in a low, quiet voice, probably having sensed on the phone that he was dealing with a fragile person.
"I have Bongo's remains," he said. "I just need you to sign here."
I signed the paper and accepted a beige gift bag that contained a small white plastic urn with Bongo's name on it. I also saw what looked to be a sympathy card as well as a brochure with a photo of a tow-headed boy holding a cat on it. Above their heads, it said in script: Faithful Companion. I handed the form back to the man, at which point he took a closer look at my name.
His eyes met mine and he said, "Are you by any chance a writer?"
I nodded.
He said, "I can't believe it. I loved Second Hand. It's one of my favorite books."
"Thanks," I said, trying to smile, not really succeeding.
"I didn't even know that you were from around here. Wow. Thank you so much for that book."
Most writers will tell you that it's not often that someone recognizes your name or face from your books. It's another reason why we're always saying that writing is a lonely profession. So for someone to recognize me as the author of a moderately successful novel published fifteen years ago is a strange and wondrous thing. Though I had heard from animal care workers over the years, I certainly hadn't expected to hear something on that day, at that particular moment.
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I thanked him again. He shook my hand and walked away.
Later, I told a friend about what happened and without hesitation, he said that it was a sign. It was the universe telling me to keep writing and that what I write can actually matter to people.
I wanted to argue, but then I just decided that he was right. This was Bongo's final gift to me. So from this moment on, I will no longer apologize for my tears, for my outsized, disproportional, inappropriate grief for a small creature.
It's the least I can do.
Wars. Terrorist attacks. Earthquakes. Floods.
They are the stuff of front-page news, the kinds of stories we associate with a scramble for health care workers whose expertise is emergency medicine - people who know how to stitch up lacerations, set bones, transfuse blood.
Until recently, the more mundane health needs typically associated with non-communicable diseases (NCDs), like insulin injections, cancer medicines and asthma inhalers, were put to the rear. They could wait until the emergency needs had been met, right?
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Wrong.
Public health experts now know that meeting the needs of people with NCDs after an emergency can prove just as important - and nearly as time-sensitive -
as stanching a hemorrhage.
With the prevalence of NCDs growing most rapidly in developing countries, it is during emergencies in countries like The Philippines, Syria, Iraq and Yemen that their impact is most obvious.
After a disaster, when stress may be ubiquitous and access to medications scant, routine cases of cardiovascular disease, cancer, lung disease and diabetes can quickly evolve into life-threatening emergencies.
WHO moving on many fronts to respond to NCDs in emergencies
That is why the World Health Organization (WHO) is working on many fronts to respond to NCDs in emergencies.
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The effort is part of the Organization's overarching push to prevent and control NCDs, especially after emergencies. That push has translated into:
-Close collaboration with national responders and humanitarian partner agencies of the Health Cluster;
-Inclusion of NCD essential medicines and other supplies in the Interagency Emergency Health Kits being available in quantities to ensure uninterrupted access for those who need them;
-Adaptation and implementation of the WHO Package of Essential Noncommunicable (PEN) Disease Interventions in Primary Health Care, especially in low-resource settings;
-Mobile clinics equipped to treat NCDs and able to be set up quickly; and
-Efforts to strengthen countries' health systems.
I witnessed the special challenges created by emergencies during 20 years with the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, the Russian Federation, the former Yugoslavia and Chernobyl in Ukraine - countries affected by conflict as well as natural and technical disasters.
In managing the delivery of humanitarian aid, I learned to include NCDs in the emergency agenda.
For example, after a major earthquake, first responders typically focus on digging people out from the rubble of collapsed buildings and treating their injuries.
But that is not enough. The emergency for NCDs starts soon after. For example, the incidence of and mortality rate for heart attacks and strokes can more than double. Many of those deaths are never linked to the disaster, but they should be.
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Identify those at highest risk of life-threatening complications
To lessen the NCD toll after emergencies, a health worker's first priority is to identify people with NCDs whose lives would be immediately threatened if treatment became unavailable. This includes people living with type 1 diabetes requiring insulin, or those with end-stage renal failure requiring dialysis. The next step is identifying other people who are being treated for an NCD or their risk factors, like type 2 diabetes or raised blood pressure, and ensure continuity of care to avoid acute exacerbations or complications in the longer-term.
WHO understands the importance of including NCD medicines and other materials in its emergency response packages, and sends experts able to evaluate the needs of people with NCDs.
For example, when I have been in cities struck by calamity, I go to the chief doctor and ask, "How many people under your supervision have diabetes?" Only then can I begin to grasp the needs. More informed assessments can be made by using WHO estimates on the prevalence of some NCDs and their risk factors, including hypertension, high blood cholesterol and diabetes.
The job of a health worker then requires moving quickly, since a person with type 1 diabetes can easily die after a few days through lack of insulin.
Half of households had a resident with an NCD
The issue affects many. A survey of households in Lebanon and Jordan found at least half of those containing displaced people or refugees included at least one person with an NCD.
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If the country's health systems were not in place to meet the needs of people with chronic conditions prior to a conflict or natural disaster, they are worse after.
A country's residents can better withstand a health emergency if a system of universal health care has been put in place -- before the emergency occurs.
Any emergency that wipes out a country's health system must be considered a tragedy. But some can prove to be an opportunity, too -by making it easier for health officials to rebuild - stronger and better.
WHO is working to identify the essential health services package in emergencies, of which a strong focus on NCDs is critical, especially to ensure continuity in the delivery of care for people in need. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction also highlights the need to ensure people living with NCDs are included in the design of policies and plans to manage their risks before, during and after disasters.
Walmart sits in the top spot in the Fortune 500 list of largest public companies. It is the world's largest company by revenue, as well as the biggest private employer in the world with 2.2 million employees. In terms of market value, it is one of the world's most valuable companies.
When you're sitting at the top of a hill, you're an easy target. And this company is a magnet for criticism of our capitalist system. And there are other reasons why Wal-Mart has drawn fire: mostly, its famously cheap pay scales. In the past, many employees at Wal-Mart have taken home some such meager paychecks they need government assistance to pay bills. Not long ago, in a panel discussion, a percentage from a number of years ago resurfaced: the Wal-Mart family, which owns the majority of the public company's stock, has more wealth than the entire bottom 30-40 percent of the American population.
All of this is why Wal-Mart's decision represented very good news indeed, a clarion call to all companies considering how much to pay their workers:
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More than 1.2 million Walmart U.S. and Sam's Club associates will receive a pay increase under the second phase of the company's two-year, $2.7 billion investment in workers. The pay raise, which takes effect Feb. 20, will be one of the largest single-day, private-sector pay increases ever.
What the Wal-Mart story actually represents is opportunity our private sector faces to help heal the American economy. It's exemplary of many things, but right now it should be celebrated for serving as an example of what a company can do to help close the wealth gap, not make it worse. Wal-Mart was praised for announcing this pay hike, but it was quickly followed by qualifications. There were complaints that the retailer was simply reacting to public ire over its wage policies. Others suggested it was trying to hang onto workers in a tougher labor market, where increasing jobs meant its people could defect to another employer at any moment.
Even if those are the motives, it's to the company's credit. It ought to protect its brand, which depends on public opinion about how the company is run. And it ought to pay people enough to make them want to stick around and work creatively for the company's future. Aside from its macro-economic benefits, this is the most fundamental point of a fair wage: to inspire loyalty and a sense of mission throughout a company, from top to bottom. I suggest any effort to discredit the company's motives are beside the point. What it's done is set an example for the rest of the private sector: it's granting of higher wages represents a recognition that workers are a company's number one priority now.
Eventually companies will wake up to the fact that employees are what matter most in any enterprise. In a world where customers have can choose from multiple providers--for hotel rooms, flights, groceries, household goods, and nearly every other product and service--employees have become the origin of added value. Get your employees on board in building trust with customers by working toward personalized solutions, even in the simplest purchases, and you will win in the market.
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Not only that, you will begin to stimulate our sluggish economy. The private sector, in its choices on how to pay workers, represents are best hope for averting an economic meltdown--every pay raise is a form of "stimulus spending." With a third or more of the population struggling with debt, our first order of business is to build a profitable future for everyone by helping lift those people out of the red and into the black.
(Former President Ram Baran Yadav launches the book "Lost in Transition: Rebuilding Nepal from Maoist mayhem and mega earthquake" by former UN Assistant Secretary-General Kul Chandra Gautam)
"Lost in Transition" is a book written by former Deputy General Secretary of UN Kul Chandra Gautam after personally observing the conflict, political transition and contemporary world situation with his international experience. This book is like an eye for the world to look at Nepal.
It is very patriotic of Kul Chandra Gautam to show his love and affection towards Nepali people, despite living abroad for so many years. His book has depicted many dark days and history of Nepal. Besides, it has deeply analyzed each and every incident. Moreover, it has included matters relating Maoist insurgency, earthquake to rule of Shah and Rana dynasties. Books major contribution is in the fact that it includes population statistics of indigenous people and their problems. That's the very reason why this book is so readable. The book shows how Nepalese people can become independent of other nations by proper utilization of their natural resources. The book is a historical representation of a period in the history of Nepal.
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He has included the 10 years, Maoist conflict, the prolonged transition period in between, the ensuing conflict between different parties during the constitution assembly election and drafting of the constitution. Gautam has first hand experience of being involved in various national conflicts, political transitions and peace process. Gautam has included various mistakes that occurred during the peace process and weaknesses of the international community in his works. Gautam believes that responsible parties should never compromise in matters concerning human rights, rule of law or democracy whatever the circumstances may be.
In the page 33 of the book, Gautam explains his life in America since he was a student. Besides, in page 51 of the book he describes how he denied the offer of his friend Prabhakar Rana to be a minister by reiterating that he had no expectation of power and position in all the service he was engaged in. He has included a treatise on his 1 hour meeting with King Gyanendra as well. Between the pages 150-205, he describes all the havoc caused by Maoist insurgency and his role in maintaining peace and order in the country during that period. The writer mentions how he dreams of a special Nepal by the year 2051. He has described how the indigenous, poor Madhesis and mountain people should be united. It would have been better if he had provided us solutions to do so. People like Gautam should have thought more about the ways the national progress could be enhanced.
"Maoists used the discriminated classes and minorities to capture the political power at a moment when the infrastructures of democracy were being established," Gautam further said, " This has taken the country into further chaos when rays of democracy were just starting to shine." Gautam has completely described the situation when the UN, Deputy General Secretary of which he was, had acted in such an unethical way.
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When it is written by a person like Gautam, the book is not just a thought, but also a treatise to solve the existing problems. It would have been better if he had embraced the international affairs in his text. The book would have been much better while if he had properly interpreted the problems of Nepalese residing in USA. Person like Gautam should be able to provide solutions to the existing problems. The book would have greater influence if he had mentioned how Nepalese engaged in business and education field could help themselves. Individuals like Gautam are torches to find solutions to our problems. Only few books have been written on the solutions while most of the books mention only existent problems. He has contributed greatly by writing this book.
In one of Chicago's most violent times in recent years due to gun violence, Chance the Rapper's recently released mixtape, Coloring Book, gives many Chicagoans a mix of familiarity, inspiration, somberness, pride and reflection--an experience transcending boundaries, grabbing the ears of a nation.
Like an upbeat praise and worship song, "All We Got" lights a torch of hopeful melodies, beginning a journey through the complexities of Chicago pride. "No Problem", a song destined to become a popular anthem, addresses Chance the Rapper's strength in being an independent artist. He directs bombastic statements at the recording industry.
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If one more label try to stop me
It's gon' be some dreadhead niggas in ya lobby
"No Problem" is a song that not only speaks to the record industry, but it also welcomes listeners with a unique cultural experience rooted in Chicago. "Summer Friends" mixes sadness with nostalgia, a feeling that is too often felt in Chicago's inner cities due to "bloody summers" filled with bullets, tragic loss of life, and fun memories spent with friends on hot Chicago days. The hook contains a plea and hope for loved ones not to fall victim during a season that can claim so many in Chicago.
Summer friends don't stay
Summer friends don't stay around
Summer friends, summer friends
Summer Friends, don't stay,
Summer friends don't stay, hey
Stay around here
Following "Summer Friends", "D.R.A.M Sings Special" uplifts the listener with a brief but heartfelt, soothing message. And if any black kid in Chicago or across the nation has sat in wooden church pews on Sundays, they grew up listening to the choir sing Jimmy Hick's "Praises Go Up". Chance the Rapper's "Blessings" easily weaves in gospel melodies with secular, expressing a culture rooted in church through familiar ancestral messages. Gospel lyrics and melodies can be heard on other tracks on the album as well: "How Great" and "Finish Line/Drown", which features boundary breaking gospel artist Kirk Franklin.
Chance the Rapper's "Juke Jam" invokes the feelings of Chicago neighborhood skating and juking and neighborhood block parties where footwork battles were birthed in inner-city black communities in Chicago.
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Chance the Rapper's color pallet is diverse on the mixtape, bringing head bopping tracks like "Mixtape" and "Angels" while delivering contemplative songs like "Same Drugs". And as an independent artist, his featuring artists are impressive: Kanye West, 2 Chainz, Jeremiah, Young Thug, Jay Electronica, Future, Justin Bieber, and T-Pain are a few of the well-known artists featured on Coloring Book.
Coloring Book displays authentic Chicago experiences while not dwelling on the problems. Instead, it seems that Coloring Book is an expression of triumph, a coming to age story of a young black Chicagoan, and a celebration that tells a story of Chicago living that is all too often left out of the headlines.
Last week, my children were held in lockdown at their schools because there was an active shooter in the area. That scenario, once unthinkable for most Americans, is now endlessly played out in cities across the nation, sometimes with the most horrific results.
It desensitizes us to the maddening reality of Congressional inaction. Since Aurora and Sandy Hook, Congress keeps on failing the families of those lost to the scourge of gun violence.
Congress has failed to require universal background checks or ban assault weapons. And while blaming much of America's gun violence on mental illness, Congress has yet to pass meaningful reform broadening access to care and making it more difficult for the seriously mentally ill to obtain weapons. Congress refuses to support federal research into how we can lessen gun violence. The notion that Congress is content to have moments of silence on the House floor, but no moments of action, is all too accurate.
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But not completely so. In fact, the one time Congress truly acted was a major step back - to protect the gun industry.
In 2005, Congress passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) -- a law that the National Rifle Association described as "the most significant piece of pro-gun legislation in twenty years." This is not an exaggeration. This new video by Brave New Films tells you everything you need to know.
This law provides unique immunity in state and federal court from civil liability for licensed manufacturers, distributors, and dealers of firearms, as well as their trade associations, in most negligence and product liability actions.
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When Congress was debating PLCAA over a decade ago, the bill's sponsor, Senator Larry Craig, stated "This bill will not prevent a single victim from obtaining relief for wrongs done to them by anyone in the gun industry." This statement has been proven to be patently false.
In reality, since 2005, PLCAA has shut the courthouse doors to victims of gun violence and their families and enabled the gun industry to negligently sell deadly weapons with near impunity.
In my hometown of Burbank, California, a rookie police officer, Matthew Pavelka, was shot and killed by a gang member in 2003. Pavelka's family brought a suit because the dealer that had sold the gun used by the gang member had a history of repeatedly selling guns to straw purchasers who sold to gang members, as was the case with the gun used in this crime. This dealer did not use reasonable care to ensure that the guns it was selling were, in fact, for the purchaser, and not merely bought by a straw purchaser as a conduit to criminal gangs. Yet because of PLCAA, the family did not even have the opportunity to present the evidence of carelessness and negligence in court.
Had PLCAA not been law, the family may or may not have been able to prove negligence on the gun dealer's part. But there is no doubt that his family would have had their day in court to try.
This story of denial of access to justice is all too common. Far too many suits have been thrown out before evidence was even presented, and even more were not even filed because of PLCAA's deterrence.
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Not only has PLCAA denied victims equal access to justice, it has allowed the gun industry to continue acting with little regard for the consequences. In all other aspects of society, civil liability is how we hold companies and individuals responsible for acting with reasonable care towards others. If gun dealers know they are immune from liability, there is little incentive to secure supply chains, take advantage of safety devices, and ensure responsible conduct.
For these reasons, I introduced the Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act, which would repeal the unique immunity that Congress gifted the gun industry in 2005. We must hold the gun industry to the same standard as we do all other industries to exercise reasonable care towards the public.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally, Friday, May 6, 2016, in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Despite several flirtations over the years, Donald Trump did not burst onto the political scene until 2011, when he began viciously questioning the birthplace and academic record of our nation's first black president. He has blasted his way to presumptive nominee by leveling irresponsible attacks against his opponents, nativist attacks against immigrants, cowardly attacks against American prisoners of war, sexist attacks against women, bigoted attacks against Muslims, and chilling attacks against the free press. Republican voters seem to be responding to this ruinous recklessness.
Trump has defended his shameful rhetoric by decrying "political correctness," insisting ludicrously that the very offensiveness of his rants is proof of their validity. The so-called Republican establishment shouldn't be surprised. Trump's ascendance is a predictable consequence of the reckless course the Republican Party has been on for a long time.
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The base of today's Republican Party was formed in large measure by voters who left the Democratic Party in droves in response to President Harry Truman's "Fair Deal" policies, and the national Democratic Party's embrace of civil rights. They aligned themselves with Barry Goldwater's candidacy and opposition to the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and Richard Nixon's "Southern Strategy" in 1968.
Many of these voters flocked to Ronald Reagan in 1980. They became known as Reagan Democrats, in part because of their Reagan's derision of "welfare queens" and "strapping young bucks." Reagan's first speech after his nomination in 1980 was delivered in Philadelphia, Mississippi, a place that became internationally known because of the brutal murders of three civil rights workers just 16 years earlier. There, the newly-minted nominee recklessly declared, "I believe in states' rights."
The right-wing Republican coalition that prevailed in seven of the 10 presidential elections between 1968 and 2004 was fragile. The party's policies did not benefit their working class voters. To keep these voters in the fold, they stoked their fears with reckless speeches insulting to Blacks, Hispanics and other minorities.
In 1988, Lee Atwater, on behalf of George H.W. Bush, recklessly exploited racial fears with the Willie Horton ad. Newt Gingrich and Frank Luntz recklessly exploited fears over gun safety in 1994, and Karl Rove, on behalf of George W. Bush, recklessly exploited fears of marriage equality in 2004.
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From the Reagan Administration through the second Bush Administration, incomes and wealth increased dramatically for those at the top of the economic spectrum, but flattened for everyone else. And in September 2008, the economy crashed, jettisoning 800,000 jobs a month.
The night before President Obama's inauguration in January 2009, Republican officials and operatives met over dinner and doubled down on their feckless trickle-down fantasy, and recklessly plotted to block the new president at every turn, regardless of the merit of his proposals or the consequences to our nation's welfare.
Republican obstructionism reached the peak of its recklessness on the issue of the Affordable Care Act, an act modeled after the state of Massachusetts' health plan, a plan proposed by their 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney. It included an individual mandate, which originated with the conservative Heritage Foundation and was supported in the 1990s by Republicans, including Newt Gingrich. But if Barack Obama supported something, Republicans had to oppose it, and have done so in recklessly apocalyptic terms.
When Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in 2011, they failed to offer anything but more feckless trickle-down doggerel and reckless demonization of President Obama. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell frankly admitted that Republicans' main goal was to make President Obama a one-term president. And when that failed, they recklessly shut down the government.
Donald Trump's Republican primary campaign was successful for several reasons, most attributable to his feckless proposals and reckless rhetoric. First, Trump more effectively unleashed the rage that Republicans before him ignited and inflamed, although several of his 16 primary opponents tried. For example, Jeb Bush advocated religious discrimination against Syrian refugees, Ben Carson compared the Affordable Care Act to slavery, Marco Rubio accused President Obama of intentionally trying to weaken the United States, and Ted Cruz ostracized transgender Americans.
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Trump's success also came in part because he aggressively acknowledged the failure of the Republican establishment to improve the lives of their lower-income voters. None of his opponents who were also elected officials could make this case because they bore responsibility for those failures. Although Trump was able to identify and benefit from the problem, he has not offered any substantive solutions. The proposals he has put forth are substantively feckless and dangerously reckless.
Deputy National Security Adviser For Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes speaks to the media during the daily briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016. White House announced that President Barack Obama and the First Lady will travel to Cuba on March 21st, and he will be the first U.S. President since Calvin Coolidge in 1928 to visit Cuba. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
David Samuels in his May 5 New York Times Magazine article, paints a picture of the scene leading up to the successful implementation of the landmark agreement with Iran to end its quest for a nuclear weapon that left me shaking my head in wonder. I lived that period in an intimate way as one of the chief "whips" in the House encouraging my Democratic colleagues to vote for it. I found Samuels' storyline that portrays Ben Rhodes, the President's Deputy National Security Advisor, as the Manipulator in Chief to be a work of fiction and extremely condescending to members of Congress and all others who supported it.
In July of last year, anticipating a vote after the August recess, there were near daily meetings in Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi's office to plan the campaign to approve the deal. The team that gathered was led by members who had lobbied our colleagues for a NO vote on the Iraq War plus about a dozen newer members.
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Leader Pelosi, a brilliant strategist who didn't need Ben Rhodes or anyone else to tell her what to do or say, had a simple plan: provide members with all the information that they wanted and needed to make a fact-based decision that they felt comfortable enough to take to their constituents. "The only question I asked when calling people was 'do you have the information you need'." To that end, we made sure that they had access to the individuals most informed about the intricacies of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA.
Energy Secretary Ernie Moniz, a nuclear scientist and one of the negotiators made himself available to groups and individual members. Secretary of State John Kerry and President Obama spoke to our caucus and called members who wanted to discuss particulars. Hillary Clinton gave us background on the multi-year build-up to the agreement which she had led. One of the most compelling briefings came from the Ambassadors of the P5+1 countries, our European allies plus Russia and China who all said unequivocally that, if the United States walked away from the deal, it would be dead. They were adamant in saying there was not a better deal to be had, and that Iran had no intention, nor did they, of returning to the negotiating table if Congress voted to disapprove it and ultimately killed it.
Ben Rhodes played an important role as well, answering sophisticated questions from skeptical House members in the White House situation room -- detailed questions about types of centrifuges, duration of each part of the agreement, facilities at Parchin and Arak, "snap-back" provisions for reinstating sanctions of Iran cheated, and every aspect of the inspection regime. Some were satisfied and a few were not, but Rhodes was always respectful and informative. The tough questioning actually helped shape the plan for the better, we were told. Republicans meanwhile were just saying "No."
And yes, members listened to experts -- prestigious individuals who Samuels suggests were all Rhodes recruits, "used" to tell a "story" to "actively mislead" the public about the Iran deal. Apparently this included Israeli security, intelligence and military officials, scientists and nuclear arms experts including Nobel Prize winners and one of the inventors of the H-bomb, hundreds of Rabbis and other faith community leaders, bi-partisan members of the U.S. military, security and intelligence establishment, former U.S. Ambassadors to many countries including Israel, and diplomats from around the world -- all of whom explained why they supported the agreement.
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August 2015, the period when members are home in their districts, was anticipated to be dominated by the well-funded, well-organized opponents of the Iran deal. Tens of millions of dollars were, in fact, spent on highly negative ads. Scores of face-to-face meetings with constituents adamantly opposed to the deal, were held.
But at the end of the day when members returned from their recess, 162 out of 188 Democrats voted to support the JCPOA, and 151 wrote thoughtful public statements giving their reasons for doing so.
So what happened? For one, members read and studied the entire agreement. Secondly, they heard from tens of thousands of constituents who supported the deal and saw the polls indicating the wide support from the American people who wanted to give peace a chance.
Samuels spun quite a tale, and his narrative reflected his own, but never revealed in the article, history of outspoken opposition to the Iran deal. Samuels is quoted by Eric Lewis in his May 10 article in the New York Magazine as saying the Iran deal would lead to "the greatest surge in nuclear proliferation that we've seen since the Second World War." His bias showed through enough to ignite House and Senate Republicans to demand the appearance of Rhodes at a hearing and even call for his dismissal.
Samuels accuses the Obama Administration with using the Iran deal to "effectively begin the process of a large-scale disengagement from the Middle East." What the American people saw was the truth of the message that Ben Rhodes and an entire community of experts articulated, a "choice between peace and war" and an opportunity to "disengage" from the real possibility of yet another in the region, this time, nuclear war.
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We're still trying to eradicate diseases that have plagued humans for centuries. References to malaria, for instance, have been found in recorded history in 2700 BC China. Riaan Rifkin, a prehistoric archaeologist, together with geneticists at the University of Pretoria, South Africa gets down to the root of origins of human disease pathogens in sub-Saharan Africa, the cradle of mankind. He and his team are trying to pin down the origins of human disease and establish a sub-Saharan African disease baseline that precedes the exodus of Homo sapiens from Africa 65000 years ago and, perhaps, to also assist in the discovery of novel cures to old diseases that still plague us today.
Read our interview with Rifkin and follow the group's work in this project on ResearchGate.
ResearchGate: What drew you to this particular question of the disease baseline?
Riaan Rifkin: As an anthropologist and prehistoric archaeologist I am fascinated by the origins of human disease pathogens in Africa. During my PhD research I had the opportunity to perform several experimental studies and clinical trials aimed to explore the efficacy of red ochre as a sunscreen, insect repellent and as an animal skin preservative. Learning about the adverse effects of excessive sunlight and disease-bearing mosquitoes on prehistoric human health was captivating. I soon realised, however, that current models and published literature concerning Pleistocene disease prevalence provide inadequate information concerning the diseases that infected our prehistoric African ancestors. So of course I had to further investigate this topic!
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RG: Where did people suspect the origin of most human diseases up until now?
Riaan Rifkin: A prevailing view of the origins of modern human diseases is that most arose after the advent of animal domestication and urbanisation during the Neolithic Period some 12 000 years ago. As a result, the search for the origins of diseases has focussed largely on domestic animals and environments outside Africa. More recently, several scholars have provided increasing evidence for the existence of many current pathogens in prehistoric Africa. We now believe that many of these tropical infections are likely to have played a significant role in the human evolutionary process much earlier than thought.
RG: Where do you think human diseases originated?
Rifkin: Recent reviews concerning the origins of modern human disease pathogens highlight the enormous gaps in our understanding of the influence of disease on human evolution in Africa. Besides being the cradle of modern Homo sapiens, sub-Saharan Africa is a very rich biogeographic disease region. It is likely that we can find the key to the original state of human disease susceptibility in prehistoric populations who inhabited the region for the past 150 000 years. These small, hunter-gatherer groups could probably did not hold a broad range of epidemic pathogens agents such as measles and influenza. Nevertheless, most modern vector-borne pathogens come from this pre-65 000 year "Pleistocene disease baseline."
"80 percent of living hunter-gatherers succumbed to disease before reaching reproductive age."
RG: How did you come to believe this?
Rifkin: This project has just begun and we have many unanswered questions. But we know that up to 80 percent of living hunter-gatherers succumbed to disease before reaching reproductive age. And from an evolutionary anthropological perspective, it is noteworthy that high levels of pathogen-stress often gives rise to in-group sociality and avoidance strategies which, in turn, present efficient infection-prevention mechanisms. Disease pathogens therefore acted as selective forces that, besides shaping the human biological immune system, also incited the evolution of a "behavioral immune system."
RG: What's on your agenda?
Rifkin: Current assessments of evidence for prehistoric pathogens are providing increasingly informed perspectives on the taxonomic range and geographic origins of diseases. What's missing is the analysis of insect vectors, intestinal parasites and ancient pathogenic DNA (apDNA) from prehistoric African contexts. I recently instigated this 'origins initiative' aimed at ascertaining the origins, in sub-Saharan Africa, of human disease vectors and pathogens. I focus on two essential but largely unanswered questions regarding the evolutionary history of our species in southern Africa: First, what is the so-called "Pleistocene disease baseline?" And, second, in which ways did diseases and non-pathogenic microbes impact human evolutionary processes?
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RG: How are you going to do research this? Where do you find samples of disease vectors from thousands of years ago?
Rifkin: We analyze archaeological soils associated with human activities or occupation in caves and also human coprolites, preserved excrement, from several Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age archaeological sites dating from 150 000 to 1500 years ago. These sites are representative of fully modern human behaviour: Southern African archaeologists have found the very first examples of abstract and figurative art here, have shown that our ancestors made use of fire to manufacture stone tools and produced some of the oldest known personal ornaments and red pigment-based cosmetics!
I focus on three main sources of archaeological information. I look at insect disease vectors (fleas, lice and ticks), intestinal parasites and microbial pathogens from a macroscopic, microscopic and molecular perspective. For this, we're collecting soil samples from these archaeological sites adhering to a strict anti-contamination protocol. We wear biologically-impervious hooded coveralls, latex gloves, perspex goggles and surgical masks. Our sampling equipment is regularly decontaminated and samples are immediately sealed in sterile centrifuge tubes and frozen.
RG: What happens in the lab?
Rifkin: In the lab, following the extraction of vectors and parasitic eggs, we use a biomolecular approach to detect ancient pathogens. The Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics (CMEG) has considerable experience in studying extreme environments and has mastered the extraction of DNA from soils from the Namib Desert and Antarctica. And the application of these techniques to prehistoric sediments has already provided highly encouraging results. I then use DNA sequencing methods to detect pathogenic viruses, bacteria and other eukaryotic microbes in the samples.
"Essentially, it might help us answer the following questions: Which pathogens originated in Africa?"
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RG: You're work is ongoing. What are you hoping for?
Rifkin: We hope that the recovery of arthropod vectors, helminths and ancient microbial DNA from prehistoric southern African contexts will revolutionize current views on the origins of human pathogens. Essentially, it might help us answer the following questions: Which pathogens originated in Africa? How did they disperse? Is there evidence for machanisms that countered contagion from coexistent archaeological contexts? I'm hoping that our research will establish a new paradigm for understanding the serious epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa by providing novel data on the evolution of vectors and pathogens.
RG: What will you do with these results? What's next?
Rifkin: I see the sequencing of disease vector and pathogen genomes as a first step to understanding the origins, lifecycles and transmission rates of prehistoric diseases that infected our African ancestors. It is conceivable that this type of research can also contribute to the improvement of novel and specific medical treatments to eradicate diseases. As a next step, I hope to do a genome-wide comparison of ancient and modern pathogen DNA. Prehistoric pathogens can then be screened for new vaccine targets, and our results could further be used to identify close relatives of modern pathogens and provide clues that may aid in the management of modern-day disease threats.
RG: How can we follow your research project and read about your results?
By Zainab Karim
This post originally appeared on Revelist.
I was eight the first time I saw Pam Grier naked.
My father -- battling his usual bout of insomnia -- was up late watching television while I feigned sleep on the love seat. For over an hour, he shuffled through our collection of VHS movies looking for something to watch. He settled on "Coffy," a Blaxploitation film starring actress Pam Grier.
Grier's unapologetic afro and undeniable sex appeal blazed the screen -- and her willingness to be totally nude without objection held my attention. Nudity, outside of bathing, was a concept not spoken of or allowed in our Islamic household. We were to be draped in the proper garb daily: scarf over our hair, backside covered, and skirts well past our knees.
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Yet, that memory of Grier -- loose breasts, brown skin and ample backside -- played in my mind often as I grew into puberty and my own womanhood. I had not seen Grier's dominion in any woman I came across in real life. Her character served as the antithesis of what it meant to be a Muslim woman in the 90s, and I knew I wanted that for myself.
The awkward trampling of puberty led me into a shell, though. I was about 12 when my breasts began to grow and show more visibly through my clothes. I was blessed with my mother's body, so that meant my backside was high and round as well. My body was now transformed from tomboyish to beautifully feminine, but no one gave me any indication of what it meant to have this new body.
The only message I continued to receive had to do with the importance of covering up. I was becoming housed within myself unable to understand the growing sensations that bubbled endlessly.
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As a young Muslim girl, I had to disengage from the personal pursuits of pleasure -- self or otherwise. I could only be engaged in servitude and acceptance. My duties revolved around being quiet and obedient. My fulfillment would come from being conjoined with one man who chose me; but I knew I wanted to be the one to do the choosing.
It wasn't until I turned 16 and came across the prolific works of Black Feminist theorist Audre Lorde that I began to understand my sexuality and why Grier's on-screen freedom immediately drew me in.
Lorde, like Grier, was unapologetic in her many works on Black female identity. She delved into the forceful essence of Black women, and even called herself the "Black woman feminist lesbian mother poet." In her book "Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches" Lorde wrote on the power and uses of the erotic. Lorde introduces the erotic as more than just sexual arousal. It involves the entire scope of emotion:
"The erotic is a measure between our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings," Lorde wrote. "It is an internal sense of satisfaction to which, once we have experienced it, we know we can aspire. For having experienced the fullness of this depth of feeling and recognizing its power, in honor and self-respect we can require no less of ourselves."
"Sister Outsider" sparked my eroticism. Her words gave me permission to love the parts of me that society often deems unacceptable, like my sexuality -- the part of me that I see as more than a tool for procreation. She let me know I deserve to be seen as both powerful and dangerous all at once.
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Eroticism became my power to dance despite the suggestiveness of my movements. It was the opening that connected me with my body for which I could and would do whatever I pleased.
Eroticism wasn't just about sexual liberation, though.
I was unhinged from numbness and thrown into a pool of raw feeling. Eroticism was my first kiss. It was the first hands that I allowed to touch my breast. It was the first time I said no with conviction. Eroticism was me coming alive. This knowing was uplifting and prudent.
This power was present when I dared to strip down to just my bra and laid under the scorching California sun one afternoon. I was beside myself with confidence, so I removed all the layers that I'd become accustomed to. It was all that I ever wanted: freedom, but this power also came with many consequences.
Those consequences are wrapped in the language used to describe women who are not afraid of delving into their power of eroticism: ho, bulldagger, tramp, slut, pro and so forth. There is a rare combination of power and positivity for the woman who dares to step out on her own against the status quo.
She has to clamor above the fray of noise from men and other women who consider her unworthy.
This rhetoric has been shown with the growing presence of Cardi B, the newly-minted "Love & Hip-Hop" star and Instagram comedian. People often try to diminish Cardi B by calling her the "ex-stripper with the booty shots," as if she is not due honor or proper recognition.
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What I have come to see in Cardi B. is the exposure needed for women to quickly understand who we are -- or were -- cannot be left for others to define. Cardi B's presence is the epitome of Audre Lorde's quote on defining oneself: "If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive."
I do not have the same background as Cardi B, but she represents the courage I wish I had garnered early on. I wish I had the grit to stand firm in my existence as a woman who, without provocation, loves sex and myself enough to be liberated by it.
Cardi B. exists outside the norm of what a woman should be.
She is loud, outwardly expressive about her sexuality, she reveals her flaws with pride, and she can check a dude with the quickness. Society demands women be demur, and to be seen and not heard.
These demands have stripped us of our wild nature, which is the most positive part of us.
Cardi B.'s advice to women is precise: stop allowing those, especially men, who have no true knowledge of your journey to have a say in the way you finesse it. Her rhetoric pays homage to Audre Lorde, especially when Lorde wrote, "who I am is what fulfills me and what fulfills the vision I have of a world."
I have come to stand firm in those words. I speak for, and stand with, every woman whose voice and body has been silenced by rules they had no part in creating. My intensity is a way forward for the little girl in me who was forced into covering the greatest parts of her.
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On a sunny spring day last month, 30 of the nation's brightest and most promising young minds gathered in Washington, D.C., for the sixth annual White House Science Fair. These future scientists, engineers, designers, mathematicians, and innovators brought with them robots, rockets, solar-powered cars, and other discoveries to showcase and celebrate their ingenuity and entrepreneurship.
Among those gathered, Olivia Thomas, a high school senior from Boise, Idaho, stood out. One of the few video game designers to ever attend the annual fair, Olivia presented Colorless, a puzzle and platform game inspired by her love of literature. Players guide an avatar across an expansive world, thinking critically, keeping careful observation of their surroundings, and reacting quickly to new challenges.
Journalists, policymakers, and representatives from some of the country's top game developers, including Disney Interactive, lined up to play Colorless. Among the most captivated players were the "Supergirls," a group of Girls Scouts dressed up as superheroes and alumnae of the 2015 science fair.
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Following the presentations, President Obama spoke about the importance of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, remarking that "some of the best moments that I've had as president have involved science and our annual science fair."
From Boise to the Washington, D.C.
Olivia began designing games as a creative outlet when she was nine. "I've found that video games are a great way to express myself and tell stories, and the coolest part is that they allow me to do so through a medium that people can actually interact with."
Those stories first took her to last year's National STEM Video Game Challenge, an annual competition to promote interest in STEM education by tapping into students' natural passions for playing and making video games, where she won first place with Colorless.
Olivia's boundless enthusiasm for storytelling has led her to create more than 60 games, mainly Nancy Drew-style mysteries. Although she was initially unsure how people would receive Colorless, she is happy she stuck with it. "The main thing that I learned from creating Colorless was that it's worth it to throw ideas out there even if you are not sure if they will work."
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"It was definitely worth it to try out an idea that I was unsure about!"
Fresh off her STEM Video Game Challenge victory, Olivia received an invitation to present Colorless to President Obama at the science fair, and represent the intersection of art and the STEM fields.
Next year, she will take her stories and design skills to Boise State University, where she plans to double major in computer science and gaming, interactive media, and mobile technology. She hopes to develop instructional games.
"It has long been a dream of mine to design educational games. I've made a few already, and I would really like to pursue this more in the future. In a world where education can sometimes seem like a chore, I think educational games have the ability to recapture everything about learning that is so much fun."
"An Experience that I Will Never Forget"
While her brief stint at the White House was just the latest accomplishment in her promising video game career, Olivia's experience underscores how video games can help today's students foster an interest in design, programming, critical thinking, communication, and other in-demand skills. Game design has been proven to impart computational thinking and computer programming, promote learner independence, and teach scientific concepts and scientific thinking.
For Olivia, however, standing under pictures of the Founding Fathers and learning how many of them were scientists and innovators was prize enough.
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Coauthor Michael Solomon
There is a new trend emerging in the VC community, that's been a long time coming. As the fulltime technology talent dearth continues to expand, these funders of startups have finally been forced to make a choice. As their portfolio companies continue to compete for talent, they are increasingly weighing the pros and cons of finding the W2 people that they want for their companies versus using high-level freelance technologists to build out their MVPs. Or in some cases, they're using a hybrid model that mixes a little of each concept.
It's true that there is a real shortage of great full-time tech talent but that's not really the case when you look at the tech freelance marketplace. There has been a growing dependence on freelancers in the tech world for several years now. At 10x Management, we believe it's crucial that all segments of the private and public sectors adapt to take advantage of these market force changes in order to remain competitive. Though slower to adopt to these changes, venture-capital firms have visibly acknowledged the growing dependence on gaining access to tech freelancers in a few different ways; through direct investment into the space and greater leniency in allowing their portfolio companies to utilize this kind of talent.
Significant trends and further evidence of shifts in thinking
Several VCs have invested in "freelancer platforms" (modeled after O-desk and Elance who merged and are now called Upwork). These sites make freelancers available as part of a global marketplace. However, these platforms don't really help companies find the "right" talent, they just give them broad access to freelancers that they themselves must vet. It's a "buyer beware" environment, but if you're a savvy consumer you may find some good deals on these platforms. Not to toot our own horn, but this is one of the essential values 10x brings to the freelance sourcing world. We select the right highly qualified developer whom we deem the best fit for the project and happily the companies that we work with accept our first offering more than 95 percent of the time. This process helps speed up the time it takes to move to contract, takes the guess work off their plate and ensures a great fit from the outset.
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The more significant trend and further evidence of a shift in thinking, is that some VCs are now encouraging their portfolio companies to use freelancers when full-time employees are not available. There are essentially two schools of thought a VC can take with one of their companies as it relates to product development; I'm sure you can guess which avenue we endorse!
The first and traditional option has been to have their portfolio companies wait to build, while doing extensive searches for permanent W2 talent (which often takes between three and nine months - if you can find someone at all). The problem here is that this can cause a startup to burn through capital while not building product. With competition for talent growing by leaps and bounds, this first option has become harder and harder to strictly adhere to. This has forced the hands of many VCs to embrace option two.
The second option, which is increasingly being utilized, is to begin building a product with high level and readily available freelance tech talent whilst you keep looking for some form of longer term solutions. Many of these freelancers are trained and versed in building and documenting products for smooth hand-offs. Some of these firms like many of our clients, end up staying with the freelance talent because they like the results while others use them as a stopgap measure until they can find the right permanent two members.
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Victoria Liang of Cota Capital states, "With the market for talent being so competitive, we encourage our portfolio companies to look into all alternatives, including consultants. Well-vetted candidates can usually hit the ground running and get us moving toward a key product or commercial milestone while we look into longer-term solutions."
What's the best solution?
While we would never advocate that every job be outsourced to a freelancer, what we are seeing with increasing regularity is that both public and private sector companies are learning to integrate strategic freelancers into their product development cycle. It's a good sign that VCs are seeing the benefits of following this evolution. Startups are one of the most logical places to utilize this kind of talent since they need to be nimble, get to market quickly and often need to iterate and pivot. All of these elements require easy access to capabilities that are becoming harder and harder to find within the full-time employee W2 realm.
If you like this article please recommend and/or share it. I appreciate your comments and feedback.
This is an interview with Josefin Wikstrom, who has been practicing yoga for the past 24 years. She has been dancing since she was a teenager, and teaching yoga the past 10 years in Sweden and internationally. She is studying dance and creative movement therapy with Tripura Kashyap in India, and has been a part of the Swedish Prison Yoga Team since 2010. Currently, she is developing a collaboration between the Swedish Prison Yoga Project and the one established in San Quentin State Prison in CA by James Fox. She has spent part of the each past nine years supporting dance and yoga programs in Mumbai for underprivileged children, youth, and women, where she works with Indian dance therapists and yoga teachers.
Last year Sweden took in over 160,000 asylum seekers, the most per capita in Europe. Josefin is also working with some of the refugees fleeing increasing conflict and deprivation in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Rob: What originally motivated you to do this work, and what continues to motivate you? How, if at all, has that motivation changed over time?
My motivation comes from my own experiences. I went through a childhood trauma being sexually abused and threatened by a person I looked up to. My whole world was turned upside down. I was not able to trust others; I had anxiety attacks and generally chaotic behavior. Finding a yoga practice and dance was my way to freedom from these feelings and memories. The yoga healed me from the inside out and the dance from the outside and in. I felt if I could experience relief, this needs to be shared with others.
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Now my motivation has changed in the way that I am sharing these moments with both the refugees and the women; experiencing stillness together, I feel a strong connection with them. My inspiration is being a part of this process, and also in being present for them.
Is there a standout moment from your work with these groups?
Every time I see the women dance, encouraging each other not to give up, and see women who normally fight with each other laugh and have fun together, these are big moments. Also moments in meditation where the women are completely still, closing their eyes breathing together, that always brings tears to my eyes, as it is so rare in this chaotic environment.
With the refugees, a stand-out moment is a man opening his eyes after relaxation saying,
"For the first time in my life I am truly in the moment, I have found peace here inside myself, and it was here all the time while I was running away from my self. Now I might be a refugee in the eyes of the government, but for myself I have reached home." This man is now a great inspiration to the other refugees.
What did you know about these groups before you began teaching? What were some of the assumptions you had about them, and how have those assumptions changed?
Before entering the prison for the first time I was prepared to enter the storm, I expected it to be a huge challenge. I was expecting the women to be tough, and some were! I already knew about some of the women from headlines in the news. It was a challenge having 20 hyperactive women in front of me in a situation that is anything but positive.
But as we started to move together it all fell away, and the tough masks melted. The practice allowed us to meet on neutral ground.
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My assumptions have changed as I hear their life stories and understand even more where they are coming from. The yoga and the dance makes me forget about the past when I am with them.
With the refugees I was approached by them asking if they could join my classes. I was happy for their interest. Before getting to know them I felt that maybe I was in over my head as I am not a therapist, and they all suffer from severe traumatic experiences. The gratefulness in the group is healing on its own; for them just entering a room filled with stillness and connection with other Swedish people, without communicating with words, is a big experience.
In Sweden, 8-12 refugees can sometimes live in one room far out in the countryside. They are isolated from society, but they never have private quiet space. This, combined with their traumatic experiences, is a recipe for anxiety and chaos.
What are some of the things your students have taught you?
To keep it real! To teach only what I have felt and experienced myself. I feel that they have made me more humble. Working with them has given me some insight into peoples' ability to adapt, no matter how hard the situation might be. They teach me so much, and I feel that, thanks to them, I am growing as a human.
In what ways do you think yoga addresses some of the societal factors at play in the institution or population you work with? In what ways does it not?
Yoga includes ethical guides for life called Yamas and Niyamas. I believe that these principles, especially notions of self-respect and how to treat others, are relevant to the women in prison. Also, simple things, like being able to take a few extra breaths before reacting, make a huge difference in their social interaction.
In the Swedish Prison Yoga Project we also educate the guards and prisoners to become yoga instructors, which has created a more friendly atmosphere.
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The refugee program especially benefits from the concepts of Prathyahara and Dharana, that is to be able to be at peace and to keep focus. This creates a more peaceful atmosphere in a place where many different ethnic groups are living together. And acceptance of each other is creating better communication.
We have a small group of both Christian and Muslim extremists in the area I live and teach, so in that way the yoga practice can sometimes be controversial.
What advice would you give to anyone who is going to teach women in prisons and refugees?
Be honest with who you are and the knowledge that you have, and if you feel nervous or insecure, just tell them. Keep it simple and real. When teaching these classes both for refugees and the women, I am following trauma-sensitive guidelines. This means giving freedom, using simple instructions, and inviting language.
I am careful not to call anything therapy. I just teach open yoga classes but with this understanding. If you feel that a person in class is disturbing the others or showing signs of panic attacks or other major issues, advise them to seek professional help. Make sure to inform the students that the yoga practice can release strong emotions.
There are great books by David Emmerson, Bessel Van Der Kolk, and also resources on James Fox's Prison Yoga Project web site regarding trauma-sensitive yoga.
What are some of your ideas about, or hopes for, the future of service yoga in Sweden in the next decade?
Sweden is the one country in Europe that has welcomed the most refugees per capita; the need for yoga service is greater than ever before. We need to open our yoga studio doors and welcome these people. My hope is that more people will find the interest to study the benefits of a trauma-sensitive approach, and offer classes at least once a week to these groups.
Editor: Alice Trembour
Image: Courtesy of Linda Stenmark
Stay connected with Give Back Yoga Foundation as we share the gift of yoga with the world, one person at a time, by following us on Facebook and Twitter, and by subscribing to our newsletter.
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Early Wednesday morning, House Leadership along with individuals in long-term recovery, held a press conference on the Opioid Crisis plaguing a majority of the United States. While media expected the conference to be on issues such as the presumptive nominee Donald Trump, GOP leaders surprised many by instead talking about the need for comprehensive solutions towards substance use disorders and accidental drug poisoning deaths.
Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), in a rare dose of authenticity spoke directly to the issues his constituents face on a daily basis, "Nearly every 12 minutes, someone in the U.S. dies of a drug overdose. People in communities across America are abusing both prescription pain killers and heroin. It is an epidemic. No one is immune; it is a sad reality that is playing out across the country, including in my own district in Southwest Michigan."
The press conference comes on the tails of a recent break through in the House, as companion legislation to the Senate's Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, had recovery support services and funding reinserted into the proposed legislation. Speaker Paul Ryan spoke to the differences in the legislation, stating that "we will soon be in conference with the Senate, and we will have a bill on the President's desk fast".
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"Nearly every 12 minutes, someone in the U.S. dies of a drug overdose. People in communities across America are abusing both prescription pain killers and heroin. It is an epidemic. No one is immune; it is a sad reality that is playing out across the country, including in my own district in Southwest Michigan."
While the media skewed the Q&A portion of the press conference towards inquiring about the House GOP leadership's views on Donald Trump, it could not detract form the importance of today's event. In a time of turmoil for our political system, the ability for the two-party system to find common ground and work towards comprehensive bi-partisan solutions is paramount. Regardless of the election cycle being in full swing, thousands of individuals and just as many families are being torn apart by substance use disorders.
The Hill will be partaking in deliberations and conferences over the next two days on legislation that is geared towards tackling the opioid epidemic in this country, and the press conference this morning is but the kick-off of what is sure to come. If the messaging used this morning is any indication, the country might just get what it needs out of our elected officials in D.C; and that is how government should work - responding the wills and needs of the individuals around the country.
Neighborhoods that "feel warmer and more communal than those in many other nations." An artistic community that "is consistently dazzling." That's how New York Times columnist David Brooks described his April trip to Cuba with the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.
Brooks writes about seeing "a radiating joy" emanating from the souls of Cuban musicians. I saw something else during my own recent trip to Cuba. I saw the faces of those musicians. And those faces were, in almost all cases, the faces of Cuban elders.
An Aging CubaWhen you visit Cuba you notice one thing right away: Older people are everywhere you look. That's understandable. Cuba is an aging country by global standards.
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According to the United Nations' World Population Ageing 2015 report, 19 percent of the Cuban population was over age 60 in 2015. That figure is expected to reach 32 percent in 2030. That's pretty significant, no doubt about it. But what I witnessed in Cuba had little to do with longevity statistics.
Older people seem to be everywhere in Cuba because they are welcomed everywhere. Unlike citizens in other Western countries, Cubans make it very clear that their elders are an integral part of, and valued participants in, their country's cultural and social life. It's not unusual, for example, to see three generations of Cubans living together under one roof.
The country's socialized medical system places a strong emphasis on providing holistic primary care to all older adults through community-based clinics that serve elders in the neighborhoods where they live. Of course, older people are the face of Cuba's vibrant cultural life.
Older Cubans are the stars of the popular music scene. Visitors to this island nation will find 60-, 70-, and 80-year-old musicians headlining most of the performances they enjoy while traveling throughout this very musical country. That's a jarring -- and welcome -- sight to an American like me who grew up in a culture that believes successful musicians are young musicians.
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A reverence for older Cubans is also a focus for the visual arts, which are experiencing a renaissance throughout the country. This reverence was powerfully evident during our meeting with a young Cienfuegos artist who carved the expressions and emotions of mountain-dwelling elders into wood for his series of moving portraits.
The Gift of Old AgeI left Cuba convinced of one indisputable truth: Cubans revere their older citizens.
They welcome elders into the life of their communities, and they are glad for their participation in that life. They make sure elders receive the services and supports they need to remain in their homes and communities. Most important, they appreciate the gifts and talents that older citizens have to offer.
Being in Cuba made me feel more comfortable about being an older adult. That's a gift I'd like to receive more often from my own country.
Earlier on Huff/Post50:
Are you checking the corporate volunteering box?
I hope not. Because if you're treating this aspect of corporate philanthropy like an obligatory chore, you're missing the point and probably not running a successful program either.
These days, employees expect companies to offer a corporate volunteer program. A study by America's Charities revealed that 68% of employers report that their employees expect them to support volunteerism and 50% of employers are moving to year-round engagement with their workplace giving programs. The study further showed that employees expect their employees to provide an effective, contemporary workplace giving program; the ability to use work time to volunteer; opportunities to engage in skills-based volunteer activities; and matching gifts for employee contributions to nonprofits.
That adds up to some heavy expectations for companies, and plenty of program leaders seem to crack under the pressure by worrying themselves silly about employee participation in their volunteer programs. But they're forgetting something: high participation rates are not an end goal.
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"I've learned since working in this industry that companies may be focusing on one particular area as a measurement that doesn't necessarily relate to impact," Charisse Browner, Business Development Director of America's Charities, recently told me. "Impact is not necessarily the participation rate. So many companies want to focus on participation rates, but that's not what I advise clients to look at. And even then, what defines participation? Some companies feel that participation is defined as the employee visiting the online volunteer platform. Employees are measured as participants not by volunteering or giving but just by clicking on the platform. Obviously, this has nothing to do with creating impact in the community. You want to know that what you're offering your employees is actually translating in the real world."
Why does impact matter? It's the difference between making a difference and just making noise. Everyone around you - your employees, your customers, your community - knows whether your brand image is one of a talker or doer, so how you prioritize impact affects your position in the marketplace and within your own culture.
Management consultant guru Peter Drucker once said that "culture eats strategy for breakfast." Companies that set a tone of giving back tend to see those values reflected back in employees who think differently about their work and purpose. When employees know that their company leaders care about doing good in the world - and are looking to employees to be the brand ambassadors of this goodwill - workers have a stronger sense that those leaders also care about them. Feeling valued and purpose-fueled is a liberating perspective that helps employees bring new energy and imagination to their work. And this positive feeling - if shared by enough employees - profoundly changes a company's culture.
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Causecast client New Relic understands how impact helps create a strong corporate culture, and as such the company's Data Nerds for Good program has always been focused on impact, not just participation rates. Through their Causecast platform, company leaders encourage employees to share stories of volunteerism and community impact. Whether launching a new campaign or getting feedback from volunteer engagements, New Relic program admins encourage employees to share how and where they're making a difference.
Employees share the volunteer stories that matter to them - whether it's working with youth in local schools, helping encourage diversity in technology, or feeding their neighbors. New Relic then highlights these stories over the basic stats as part of their internal impact sharing.
And truly, the stats that matter above all else are precisely these kind of impact stories. It's why Causecast makes it easy for companies to elicit employee volunteer experiences through a function called StoryCapture, which helps employees document and share the volunteer experiences that have moved them in some way.
Administrators of successful volunteer and giving programs understand that storytelling makes a big difference in how their corporate philanthropy efforts impact their chosen causes as well as their employees and business community. How, what and to whom you communicate information about your volunteer and giving program all play a critical role in whether or not your volunteer program soars on the wings of inspiration. Impact is the key to a corporate culture of meaning that builds upon itself.
A culture of service is not a cactus that can live without water. But what's rewarding is that companies that cultivate this sort of culture can see it spread quickly.
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One of the ways to emphasize stats around impact is by linking performance reviews to volunteering, allowing employees to demonstrate skills and strengths that management might not have otherwise been able to see in action. Conversely, managers are able to use volunteering opportunities to provide employees with new leadership and job skills that are tough (and expensive) to train for. Connecting these efforts to measurable outcomes in the community is a way to highlight impact as a paramount value at one's company.
For those who want to learn more, I'll be talking about this topic further at a webinar on Thursday, May 19th, presented by VolunteerMatch and Causecast. In the effort to help companies focus on impact over stats, we'll discuss how company leaders can listen to the needs of the community; shape corporate volunteer and giving programs around these community needs; move past the number of volunteers and start tracking the stats that matter; and transform these stats into powerful storytelling that shows real impact. (Click here to sign up.)
How you talk about your corporate responsibility program, both to your employees and your customers, is critical. The best way to communicate about your efforts is by focusing your program around real community impact - not just numbers.
Heartbeat Make Heart
The circle of life is always moving; at times, it can bring feelings of unbridled joy and moments later it can make you feel like you're ripping apart. It's in these moments of highs and lows - along with the periods in between - individuals learn their coping mechanisms. The way individuals learn to process information and life situations will either help, hurt, or impact their ability to deal with a crisis once it happens --- and sometimes long afterwards.
For a couple of weeks earlier this year, my mom complained about a stomach pain. At first, I thought it was indigestion or that she pulled a muscle. However, she continued to complain about the pain and it also became more severe. At this point, after consulting with her physician, I took her to an emergency room (ER). After a few hours of testing, my mom was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection. Initially I was relieved because it wasn't anything more serious, but with my mom's age any serious diagnosis could be life impacting or threatening.
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The doctor provided a couple of treatment options. The first option was to admit my mom for observation, but the doctor quickly dismissed this approach. The second option was to treat her at home, which the doctor considered to be the best choice since my mom had a support system. Therefore, I took my mom home to rest and recover.
Less than 7 hours after my mom arrived home, she stopped breathing and was unresponsive. While lifting my mom's head from a bent position to open her airway, her head bobbled and could be easily manipulated without any effort. As I attempted to keep her head back, I reached for the phone to call 911. Fortunately, it didn't take long for the paramedics to arrive. During the midst of this seemingly out-of-body experience, I maintained my composure until my mom was placed inside of the ambulance. It wasn't until that moment that I started to become overwhelmed with emotions --- as this was the first time that I was directly confronted with the possibility that my mom could or would possibly die.
After my mom was readmitted to the ER, the medical team ran a battery of tests. Based on the doctor's cursory examinations, there wasn't a reason for my mom to have been unresponsive. As the second ER doctor continued her evaluation, she was very methodical in her approach. This doctor wanted to identify the issue's source before diagnosing my mother's condition. Then, about 5 hours later, the doctor in a very compassionate manner said, "I'm sorry, but there are early indicators that your mom's heart is failing." The doctor's next question I never imagined that I would be asked. The ER doctor said, "If your mother's heart fails, what do you want us to do?" The reality quickly overcame me as I realized that this doctor was asking me about the actions they should take if my mom started to die. The essential question for me was, "Should the medical team save my mother's life or should they allow her to die?"
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What?!?! A few hours earlier my mom was diagnosed with a respiratory infection. This time I'm told that she could be starting to die. This news was something I didn't consider as a possibility, but it was now my reality.
After processing this unexpected message, I took a few moments to let out my emotions (reference my article "Why Shouldn't Men Cry?"). For a couple of minutes, I had to leave my mother's bedside to grieve. Later, after regaining my composure, I began to make some difficult phone calls to my siblings. Each call conveyed a message about the risk of our mother's heart failing, and information about the treatment plan. Then, the last part of each conversation was the toughest, I told them that if they wanted to tell our mother anything then they should do it now.
It was surreal to be in an emergency room with my mom while also thinking that these could be our final hours together. It was an absolutely horrible, painful, and heart-wrenching feeling. Nevertheless, I had an amazing sense of calm; it was almost too much --- if that makes sense.
In these very difficult and trying moments, the burdens of worrying about making the best decision can be overwhelming. This wasn't an issue for me because my direction to the doctor was made a lot easier because of my mom's proactive actions. Many years earlier, she communicated her medical treatment directions to our family. Our mom told us that she didn't want to be kept alive artificially. Notwithstanding, she authorized water and nutrients to be administered to supplement her body, but she doesn't want any extraordinary lifesaving measures performed. My mom said, "If I'm already gone, let me go; don't try to bring me back." As hard as this is to process, it's her decision and direction.
As a result of this guidance, a few years ago due to my mom's age and health, a couple of legal documents were executed; the first is an "Advance Healthcare Directive" and the second is a "Do Not Resuscitate (DNR)" order. Both of these documents are posted in a visible location near the front door of her residence, along with copies included with her hospital records.
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Nothing can properly prepare anyone for the moment that a "live or die" decision must be made or someone dies. However, everyone can be ready for our inescapable and inevitable death by periodically letting those closest to you know that you love them. Moreover, everyone should ensure that family members understand their advance medical directions in the event a life-saving decision must be made on their behalf. Notwithstanding, the best thing to do is to legally document medical directives so that no one will have to decide someone's fate under considerable stress and later wonder if the right choice was made at that moment.
Thankfully my mom is doing okay; I'm very happy, blessed, and grateful that my mother didn't die that day!
Pope Francis waves as he leaves at the end of the Jubilee audience in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican May 14, 2016. REUTERS/Alessaandro Bianchi
Guillaume Goubert and Sebastien Maillard of La Croix recently interviewed Pope Francis at the Vatican. Maillard writes The WorldPost's monthly column, "Following Francis." The following interview appeared in La Croix on May 17.
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Pope Francis sat down with "La Croix" for an interview of over an hour at the Vatican, at the Santa Marta residence, on Monday, May 9. A number of themes were discussed, including: the Christian roots of Europe, migration, Islam, secularism, his idea of France and the pedophilia scandals.
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In your speeches in Europe, you refer to the "roots" of the continent without ever describing them as Christian. Rather, you define "European identity" as "dynamic and multicultural." In your view, is the expression "Christian roots" inappropriate for Europe ?
We need to speak of roots in the plural because there are so many. In this sense, when I hear talk of the Christian roots of Europe, I sometimes dread the tone, which can seem triumphalist or even vengeful. It then takes on colonialist overtones. John Paul II, however, spoke about it in a tranquil manner.
'Europe has Christian roots and it is Christianity's responsibility to water those roots.'
Yes, Europe has Christian roots and it is Christianity's responsibility to water those roots. But this must be done in a spirit of service as in the washing of the feet. Christianity's duty to Europe is one of service. As Erich Przywara, the great master of Romano Guardini and Hans Urs von Balthasar, teaches us, Christianity's contribution to a culture is that of Christ in the washing of the feet. In other words, service and the gift of life. It must not become a colonial enterprise.
On April 16, you made a powerful gesture by bringing back the refugees from Lesbos to Rome. However, does Europe have the capacity to accept so many migrants ?
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That is a fair and responsible question because one cannot open the gates wide unreasonably. However, the deeper question is why there are so many migrants now. When I went to Lampedusa three years ago, this phenomenon had already started.
The initial problems are the wars in the Middle East and in Africa as well as the underdevelopment of the African continent, which causes hunger. If there are wars, it is because there exist arms manufacturers -- which can be justified for defensive purposes -- and above all arms traffickers. If there is so much unemployment, it is because of a lack of investment capable of providing employment, of which Africa has such a great need.
Pope Francis, during a visit at the Moria refugee camp on the island of Lesbos, Greece. (Andrea Bonetti/Greek Prime Minister's Office via AP)
More generally, this raises the question of a world economic system that has descended into the idolatry of money. The great majority of humanity's wealth has fallen into the hands of a minority of the population.
A completely free market does not work. Markets in themselves are good but they also require a fulcrum, a third party, or a state to monitor and balance them. In other words, [what is needed is] a social market economy.
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Coming back to the migrant issue, the worst form of welcome is to 'ghettoize' them. On the contrary, it's necessary to integrate them. In Brussels, the terrorists were Belgians, children of migrants, but they grew up in a ghetto. In London, the new mayor (Editor: Sadiq Khan, the son of Muslim Pakistanis) took his oath of office in a cathedral and will undoubtedly meet the queen. This illustrates the need for Europe to rediscover its capacity to integrate.
I am thinking here of Pope Gregory the Great (Editor: Pope from 590 - 604), who negotiated with the people known as barbarians, who were subsequently integrated. This integration is all the more necessary today since, as a result of a selfish search for well-being, Europe is experiencing the grave problem of a declining birth rate. A demographic emptiness is developing. In France, at least, this trend is less marked because of family-oriented policies.
'The great majority of humanity's wealth has fallen into the hands of a minority of the population.'
The fear of accepting migrants is partly based on a fear of Islam. In your view, is the fear that this religion sparks in Europe justified?
Today, I don't think that there is a fear of Islam as such but of ISIS and its war of conquest, which is partly drawn from Islam. It is true that the idea of conquest is inherent in the soul of Islam. However, it is also possible to interpret the objective in Matthew's Gospel, where Jesus sends his disciples to all nations, in terms of the same idea of conquest.
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In the face of Islamic terrorism, it would therefore be better to question ourselves about the way in [which] an overly Western model of democracy has been exported to countries such as Iraq, where a strong government previously existed. Or in Libya, where a tribal structure exists. We cannot advance without taking these cultures into account. As a Libyan said recently, "We used to have one Gaddafi, now we have fifty."
Ultimately, co-existence between Christians and Muslims is still possible. I come from a country where they co-habit on good terms. Muslims come to venerate the Virgin Mary and St George. Similarly, they tell me that for the Jubilee Year Muslims in one African country formed a long queue at the cathedral to enter through the holy door and pray to the Virgin Mary. In Central Africa, before the war, Christians and Muslims used to live together and must learn to do so again. Lebanon also shows that this is possible.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan attends his swearing-in ceremony at Southwark Cathedral in central London on May 7, 2016. (YUI MOK/AFP/Getty Images)
The significance of Islam in France today, like the nation's Christian historical foundation, raises recurring questions concerning the place of religion in the public arena. How would you characterize a positive form of laicity (Editor: 'laicity' refers to the French system of separation of Church and state)?
States must be secular. Confessional states end badly. That goes against the grain of history. I believe that a version of laicity accompanied by a solid law guaranteeing religious freedom offers a framework for going forward. We are all equal as sons (and daughters) of God and with our personal dignity. However, everyone must have the freedom to externalize his or her own faith. If a Muslim woman wishes to wear a veil, she must be able to do so. Similarly, if a Catholic wishes to wear a cross. People must be free to profess their faith at the heart of their own culture not merely at its margins.
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The modest critique that I would address to France in this regard is that it exaggerates laicity. This arises from a way of considering religions as sub-cultures rather than as fully-fledged cultures in their own right. I fear that this approach, which is understandable as part of the heritage of the Enlightenment, continues to exist. France needs to take a step forward on this issue in order to accept that openness to transcendence is a right for everyone.
In a secular setting, how should Catholics defend their concerns on societal issues such as euthanasia or same-sex marriage?
It is up to Parliament to discuss, argue, explain, reason [these issues]. That is how a society grows.
'The right to conscientious objection must be recognized within each legal structure because it is a human right.'
However, once a law has been adopted, the state must also respect [people's] consciences. The right to conscientious objection must be recognized within each legal structure because it is a human right. Including for a government official, who is a human person. The state must also take criticism into account. That would be a genuine form of laicity.
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You cannot sweep aside the arguments of Catholics by simply telling them that they "speak like a priest." No, they base themselves on the kind of Christian thinking that France has so remarkably developed.
What does France mean to you?
It is the eldest daughter of the Church, but not the most faithful! (Laughs) However, during the 1950s, they also spoke of "France, the mission country." In that sense, it remains a periphery to be evangelized. However, to be fair to France, the Church there does have a real creative capacity.
View of Saint Therese mosaic by artist Pierre Gaudin in the crypt of St Therese basilic in Lisieux, northwestern France. (MYCHELE DANIAU/AFP/Getty Images)
France is also a land of great saints, great thinkers such as [Jean] Guitton, [Maurice] Blondel, [Emmanuel] Levinas, who was not Catholic, and [Jacques] Maritain. I am also thinking of the depth of its literature.
I also appreciate how French culture is impregnated with Jesuit spirituality compared to the more ascetic Spanish current. The French current, which began with Pierre Favre, gave it another flavor, while continuing to emphasize discernment of spirits.
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There have also been great French spiritual figures such as (Louis) Lallemant, or (Jean-Pierre) de Caussade. And the great French theologians who helped the Society of Jesus so much, namely Henri de Lubac and Michel de Certeau. I really like the last two. Two Jesuits who are creative.
Overall, that's what fascinates me about France. On one hand, that exaggerated laicity, the heritage of the French Revolution, and on the other hand, so many great saints.
'In the face of Islamic terrorism, it would be better to question ourselves about the way in [which] an overly Western model of democracy has been exported to countries such as Iraq.'
Who is your favorite?
Saint Therese of Lisieux.
You have promised to come to France. When might such a trip be possible?
I recently received an invitation from President Francois Hollande. The episcopal conference has also invited me. But I don't know when the trip will take place because next year is an election year in France, and in general, the policy of the Holy See is not to organize such trips during these periods.
Last year a few hypotheses emerged regarding such a trip, including a visit to Paris and its suburbs, to Lourdes and to a city that no pope has yet visited, such as Marseille, which represents an open door to the world.
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Two women posing during a demonstration in Paris backing the government project to legalize same-sex marriage in Paris. (AP Photo/Benjamin Girette, File)
As elsewhere, the Church in France is experiencing a serious crisis of priestly vocations. How is it possible to manage today with so few priests?
Korea provides a historical example. That country was evangelized by missionaries from China who later left. Then, for two hundred years, Korea was evangelized by lay people. It is a land of saints and martyrs that now has a strong Church.
So there is not necessarily a need for priests in order to evangelize. Baptism provides the strength to evangelize. And the Holy Spirit, received at baptism, prompts one to go out, to take the Christian message with courage and patience. The Holy Spirit is the protagonist of whatever happens in the Church, its motor. Too many Christians are ignorant of this.
On the other hand, the opposite danger for the Church is clericalism. This is a sin committed by two parties, like the tango! The priest wants to clericalize lay people and lay people request to be clericalized because it's easier.
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In Buenos Aires, I knew many good priests who, whenever they saw a capable lay person, immediately exclaimed "let's make him a deacon!" No, let him remain a lay person.
'People must be free to profess their faith at the heart of their own culture not merely at its margins.'
Clericalism is particularly significant in Latin America. If popular piety is strong, it is precisely because it is the only lay initiative that has not been clericalized. This is not understood by the clergy.
The Church in France, particularly in Lyon, has been shattered recently by historical pedophilia scandals. What should be done about this situation?
It is true that it is not easy to judge the facts decades later in a different context. Reality is not always so clear. Nevertheless, there can be no statute of limitations for the Church in this field. As a result of these abuses, a priest, whose vocation is to lead a child to God, destroys him. He disseminates evil, resentment, distress. As Benedict XVI said, there must be zero tolerance.
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Based on the information that I have, I believe that Cardinal Barbarin in Lyon took the necessary measures and that he has matters under control. He is courageous, creative, a missionary. We now need to await the outcome of the civil judicial proceedings (Editor: As opposed to canon law proceedings).
Roman Catholic Cardinal, Archbishop of Lyon, Philippe Barbarin leads a mass, on April 3, 2016. (JEFF PACHOUD/AFP/Getty Images)
So Cardinal Barbarin does not need to resign?
No, that would be a contradiction, imprudent. We will see after the conclusion of the case. At the moment, however, that would amount to an admission of guilt.
On April 1, you received Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior-general of the Priestly Fraternity of St Pius X. Is the re-integration of the Lefebvrists into the Church again under consideration?
In Buenos Aires, I often spoke with them. They greeted me, asked me on their knees for a blessing. They say they are Catholic. They love the Church.
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Bishop Fellay is a man with whom one can dialogue. That is not the case for other elements who are a little strange, such as Bishop Williamson or others who have been radicalized. Leaving this aside, I believe, as I said in Argentina, that they are Catholics on the way to full communion.
During this year of mercy, I felt that I needed to authorize their confessors to pardon the sin of abortion. They thanked me for this gesture. Previously, Benedict XVI, whom they greatly respect, had liberalized the use of the Tridentine rite mass. So good dialogue and good work are taking place.
'As a result of these abuses, a priest, whose vocation is to lead a child to God, destroys him.'
Would you be ready to grant them the status of a personal prelature?
That would be a possible solution but beforehand it will be necessary to establish a fundamental agreement with them. The Second Vatican Council has its value. We will advance slowly and patiently.
You have already convoked two synods on the family. In your view, has this long process changed the Church?
This process was started by the consistory (Editor: The consistory of February 2014) where it was introduced by Cardinal Kasper, prior to an Extraordinary Synod in October the same year which was followed by a year of reflection and an Ordinary Synod.
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I think that we all came out of the various processes different from the way that we entered. Including me.
Pope Francis leads a mass for the opening of the Synod on the themes of family at St. Peter's Basilica on October 4, 2015 in Vatican City, Vatican. (Franco Origlia/Getty Images)
In the post-synodal exhortation (Editor:Amoris Laetitia, April 2016), I sought to respect the Synod to the maximum. You won't find canonical prescriptions there about what one may or may not do.
It is a serene, peaceful reflection on the beauty of love, how to educate the children, to prepare for marriage... It emphasizes responsibilities that could be developed by the Pontifical Council for the Laity in the form of guidelines.
Beyond this process, we need to think about genuine synodality, or at least the meaning of Catholic synodality. The bishops are cum Petro, sub Petro (Editor: with Peter and under Peter). This differs from Orthodox synodality or that of the Greek Catholic Churches, where the Patriarch only counts as a single voice.
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The Second Vatican Council set out an ideal of synodal and episcopal communion. This still needs to be developed, including at parish level, with respect to what is required. There are parishes that still do not have a pastoral council, nor a council for economic affairs, even though these are obligations under canon law. Synodality is also relevant at this level.
Earlier on WorldPost:
Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign rally in Salem, Oregon, U.S., May 10, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
In 2008, Hillary Clinton -- on her way to losing the Democratic nomination -- won nine of the final 25 nominating contests. In 2016, she may well -- despite being treated as the likely winner of this year's Democratic primary by the mainstream media -- win only seven or eight of the final 25 state primaries and caucuses.
If you're wondering how Clinton could perform worse in the second half of the election cycle in 2016 than she did in 2008 and still be in a position to win, there's a good explanation for it that goes beyond the fact that the neck-and-neck Democratic primary race we've had for over two months started with a brief but solid run for Clinton. In 2008, both Democratic candidates were sanctioned by Party elders, so super-delegates were free to pick whoever they thought was the stronger candidate without fear of reprisal. In 2016, super-delegates are expected to go with Clinton even if the insurgent Sanders has clearly shown himself, by mid-June, to be the stronger general-election candidate in terms of both head-to-head match-ups with Trump, favorability ratings among independent voters, and performance in the second half of the nominating season.
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Super-delegates will fall into line -- the thinking goes -- not because Clinton is a strong general-election bet, or liked by many people, or a real spokeswoman for the ideology of the Party base, or able to win independents, or nearly the same candidate in May that she was in February, or capable of winning over her current Democratic opposition the way Obama did after the primary in 2008, but because Democrats in Washington have made clear that any super-delegates who back the now-stronger horse in Philadelphia this July -- Sanders -- will be ostracized from the Party. Fear, then, is what could make Clinton the Democratic nominee even if (a) super-delegates are officially charged with voting for the strongest general-election candidate, and (b) Clinton goes on a historic losing streak in the back half of the primary season election calendar.
But all that's horse-race nonsense, and won't matter very much to political historians looking back at this period in American history from the vantage point of, say, 2116.
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They won't care that in 2008 Hillary Clinton won Kentucky by 36 points over then-Senator Obama, but in 2016 only managed to beat a 74-year-old independent socialist with no super-PAC and exponentially less name recognition by 0.4 percent -- despite her making 11 trips to the state, having a much larger advertising budget, and daily receiving on-the-stump aid from a popular former President who won Kentucky twice.
We used to say that Hillary Clinton, for all her flaws, handily wins closed Democratic primaries.
Well, we can't say that anymore.
But it doesn't really matter in the long run.
And it won't matter in 2116 that Democratic Party elders and particularly former Goldwater-Girl Clinton are so enamored by the idea of a Nixonian strongman that they fundamentally misunderstand the relation of Bernie Sanders to Sandersism. They believe he can direct the movement he lent his name to in the same way Clinton believes progressive Democrats will fall into line no matter how much she disrespects them, but they're wrong. And Clinton is wrong to think she doesn't owe Sanders and his political allies the same visibility and authority in her prospective Administration that she had in Barack Obama's; she's also wrong to think that the benefit of rules-fixing at the state Democratic convention in Nevada is worth the November votes it's going to cost her -- especially given her huge delegate lead, which allows her to be a magnanimous rule-follower.
But all that's only relevant to the Clinton-Sanders and Clinton-Trump horse-races.
Is it a "horse-race" issue that the DNC is publicly representing itself as a "neutral" arbiter in the Democratic primary, and publicly stating that super-delegates don't vote until July, but according to NBC is in fact "colluding" with the Clinton campaign "behind the scenes" to begin -- with millions of votes yet to be cast -- the transition of the DNC from an independent operation to one run by Hillary Clinton? No, for the fact that there's "nothing neutral" about the DNC right now (as David Chalian of CNN put it last night) merely tells you something about the ethics of the Democratic Party in 2016.
After all, this is a Party that has, in 2016, given Debbie Wasserman Schultz a job.
But not only isn't this an article about horse races, it's also not about 2016. It's certainly not about the fact that Hillary Clinton is doing everything she needs to be doing right now to lose the fall general campaign -- even as she sets up Bernie Sanders to be the eventual fall-guy for her own failures.
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No -- this article is about the future.
Conservative Republicans have largely been successful in pulling their party to the right since 1996; the GOP as it is today is almost unrecognizable from the days of George H.W. Bush, who in 2016 terms would be a Democrat. While conservatives suffered some setbacks over the last few years -- owing to their leaders choosing, over and over, to ignore them or even slap them in the face publicly -- the 2016 GOP primary has shown us that a party's "base", apropos of its name, always get the last laugh. Why? Because it's what any political party is ultimately founded upon.
Since 1996, progressive Democrats have had their butts handed to them repeatedly by their leaders. The Democratic Party as it is today is almost unrecognizable from the days of Michael Dukakis. Bill Clinton turned out to be a "New Democrat," in other words a triangulating neoliberal corporatist. Al Gore waited until far too late in his 2000 campaign to unveil his "progressive warrior" persona. Howard Dean was cut off at the knees by the media in 2004, when somehow everyone who reported on "The Scream" neglected to mention that it was only the media's turning off of all off-stage mics that made Dean's speech seem out-of-place in-context. Barack Obama has been a terrific President whose administration has been, nevertheless, not nearly as progressive as the two campaigns he waged to get into the White House led progressives to expect. When the Democrats did everything in their power to anoint Hillary Clinton before a single American had voted -- giving her a 350-superdelegate lead, more than $100 million in super-PAC money, a laughably disingenuous "debate schedule," and much more -- it was presumed that progressives would take a right cross to the chin with the same good grace they always had.
Keeping progressives complacent has been particularly easy for the "New Democrat" philosophy Bill and Hillary Clinton used to take over the Democratic Party because it has, too, the complicity of the corporate media -- in much the same way Republican conservatives succeeded because of their absolute dominance of American radio.
Despite being told not to do so by the DNC itself, the mainstream media began tallying superdelegates back in 2015, which ensured that Clinton would not face a real challenger from within the Democratic Party. Until it realized there was real money to be made in cable-sponsored "town halls", the mainstream media remained largely silent on the laughably sparse debate schedule the DNC had created as a sort of "red carpet" for Clinton. The media gave Sanders only a fraction of the coverage enjoyed by Clinton. It stacked its permanent on-air "panels" with Clinton supporters, while relegating Sanders surrogates to, at most, brief interviews. And it perpetuated a single master narrative to the point it became a self-fulfilling prophecy: the idea that if a 74-year-old independent socialist from an all-white state couldn't immediately, even instantaneously, win a majority of the black and Latino vote nationwide, it meant his "appeal" was limited to well-to-do Caucasian hipsters. That Sanders has doubled his support among blacks and Latinos over the last three months is, in this day-to-day "horse-race" perspective the media and the media alone promulgates, meaningless.
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The problem is, "-isms" don't operate at the level of a year; they unfold over decades.
Sandersism isn't about 2016; it's about 2024, 2044, and even -- in terms of what it means for the future of this country -- 2116.
The point being this: the ideological revolution within the Democratic Party has already happened, and Sandersism won. The only question now is how long Democrats and the country will have to wait to see its gains in real-time. A Clinton presidency would forestall those gains somewhat less than a Trump presidency would, but the fact remains that either a Clinton or a Trump administration would merely delay the inevitable "New New Deal" America has richly earned and will ultimately receive.
It's not just me saying this, nor is it merely Sanders supporters. No less a staunch Clinton ally than David Axelrod said on CNN two weeks ago that not only is the "debate over" regarding the ideological future of the Democratic Party, it was actually over a long time ago.
And Bernie Sanders won it.
It was over when a 74-year-old independent socialist with no super-PAC or name recognition went from 4 percent in the polls at the beginning of 2015 to -- within 13 months -- a statistical dead heat with the most powerful political machine in the history of American democracy. Let's be clear: the Clintons aren't merely the most politically successful husband-and-wife team in American history; they're not merely the scions of a family that has, for a quarter-century, been the most politically influential in the Democratic Party; they literally remade the party into their own image more than two decades ago. The Democratic Party today is Clintonism. And when Bernie Sanders declared what was ostensibly a fringe candidacy last spring, he was in no uncertain terms -- not even the Clintons doubted it -- declaring war on the Democratic Party as the Clintons had made it. He was, in short, declaring a return to the politics of FDR and the Democratic Party of the New Deal.
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Contemporary journalists are tasked with seeing beyond the ends of their noses, but rarely do; they're encouraged in this dereliction of duty by politicians like the Clintons for whom a perpetual focus on the day-to-day horse-race is good for business -- specifically, the business of keeping one of the two major American political parties exactly as it already is. (Which, as noted, is exactly how they made it.) As long as reporters focus exclusively on the horse-race, it's easy to count delegates properly -- though actually, the media struggles to do even this -- and see that Sanders remains unlikely to be the lead horse after the current lap is run. It's equally easy to see that saying Clinton has "won" obscures not just how bad a politician she is; not just how poor a campaign she has run; not just how disliked she is by the general-election electorate; not just how needlessly close a general-election race her nomination would ensure; but also, and more importantly, how irrelevant her political persona -- which she has shed by degrees this election cycle anyway -- will be to the future of her Party and the nation.
An obsession with the horse-race -- with what happens in 2016, irrespective of what will happen in 2020, 2024, and for decades after that -- is the only thing that allows Hillary Clinton to declare victory in the Democratic nominating process. Any longer view, particularly one that considers that Clintonism and Sandersism didn't start 2015 at the same starting line -- indeed, didn't even start in the same stadium -- will acknowledge that Sanders finishing the 2016 election season with between 46 percent and 48 percent of the pledged delegates means Sandersism has defeated Clintonism.
The Democrats ignore this at their peril.
But make no mistake, they will ignore it -- they already are, and with a particularly unpalatable smugness -- and so they must therefore, going forward, be considered as existentially imperiled as the Republican Party is right now.
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The Democratic Party's perverse obsession with closed primaries has left them with a likely nominee distinctly unpopular with the independent voters who decide national elections. The Party's reliance on superdelegates ensured a noncompetitive field of Democratic competitors (Chafee, Webb, and O'Malley) and stacked the deck against a legitimate "movement" insurgent from the ranks of the nation's progressive-but-independent politicians -- an insurgent with the sort of excitement behind him that could drive turnout in a GOTV-oriented "base" election. Clinton's continued refusal to release her Wall Street transcripts, and the Party's broader recalcitrance in the face of working-class suffering, isn't an instance of Clinton or the Party standing up for itself in the face of unreasonable expectations -- rather, it's a failure to honor the generation coming up, which needs to believe that its politicians mean what they say and really do care about the things they say they do. Clinton didn't owe Sanders supporters transcripts of all her prepared remarks on substantive economic and foreign policy, she owed that transparency to her Party and to the nation whose votes she seeks. But the Party's esoteric fundraising schemes and infrastructure made it impossible for it to stand up to one of its best rainmakers -- ironically, in part because the Party has done nothing to get money out of politics via meaningful campaign finance reform. Finally, the Party's reliance on a set rather than variable primary schedule means that certain states and votes are every four years privileged over others; concerns about the undue influence of Southern voters on this year's primary had nothing to do with racial demographics and everything to do with the signal sent when a Party lets its most moderate voters (white and black alike) have the biggest say in its nominating process.
Clintonism supports all of the above structural flaws only because they, in turn, support the election of Clintons to national office.
And that, in a nutshell, is Clintonism: a feedback loop whose motive engine is money and influence and the continued political success of Clintons. In the 90s it was geared toward Bill; in the aughts and tens, Hillary; and we can expect that the same forces will soon be brought to bear for Chelsea, if she desires it. Meanwhile, life has gotten worse for those Americans who don't attend Clinton Thanksgiving in Chappaqua or help pay for the house in which it is held.
As a broader, more abstract philosophy, however, Clintonism is by no means restricted to the Clintons. All of its most cynical, Nixonian manifestations are iterable, meaning they can be used by any two-bit local, state, or national politician willing to put politics in the way of people -- and vanity in the place of principle.
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In Sandersism, universal healthcare is a human right that cannot be subjected to the realpolitik of incremental legislation. In this view, Obamacare must of course be maintained until the very moment we switch to a single-payer system, but it is the obligation of every person concerned with human rights to militate for such a system to the exclusion of others. In Sandersism, a college education is a public good all Americans are entitled to, meaning that whatever funding priorities must be rearranged to make this possible must be rearranged. "We can't do it" is no more a reply to the Sandersist view of higher education than would be a similar statement with respect to other basic American rights. In Sandersism, climate change supplants terrorism as the top threat to national security, without degrading any of the current anti-terrorism efforts that respect human rights and appropriately assess the scope (and primary drivers) of our terror risk. In Sandersism, a living wage for all Americans is a human right, not something for politicians to log-roll endlessly about. A Sandersist's first offer to her negotiating partner on the subject of a living wage is $15, and her second offer is $15, and her third offer is $15, and every offer thereafter is $15 -- for saying $10 or $12 is akin to saying that minorities can sometimes be discriminated against without the immediate and utter disapproval of American law.
In Sandersism you negotiate with any and all parties of good faith up until the moment doing so requires sacrificing a principle. If, under those conditions, not enough parties of good faith remain, you spend all your time and resources writing executive orders and working for an end to gerrymandering and the defeat of all bad-faith politicians in local, state, and national primaries and generals. In Sandersism politics is an arena where ideas, not bank accounts or special interests, are contested; every American is given every possible opportunity to vote; corporate practices that maim or kill living humans are outlawed; those few economic practices that can terminally endanger basic economic justice are adequately regulated; and we spend as much money making sure our criminal justice system and law enforcement apparatuses are actually just as we do ensuring our military is capable and appropriately fearsome. Sandersism is a "we" and an "us" movement that transcends the artificial divisions of the party era and the atomization of persons and communities. A Sandersist spends the minimum amount of time running for office and the maximum amount of time doing the difficult work of governing -- and in both roles places transparency ahead of political exigency ten times out of ten.
Sandersism is already the philosophy of a majority of Democrats under 45, which means by 2024 it will almost certainly be the philosophy of a majority of Democrats under 55.
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And any movement with those demographic internals is already a current and future cultural dominant for the purposes of political planning and action.
That Sanders defeats Trump by more than Clinton in every battleground state and nationally only underscores that Clintonism no longer is a winning formula for a national election. That Sanders likely won't get to carry the flag for Sandersism this fall -- and Clinton will lose unless she carries that flag clearly and proudly -- is merely another irony in what has been a veritable landslide of ironies this election season. Clinton saying "I don't know if he is a Democrat" will certainly be at the top of that irony-pile, now that it's clear that the Party's platform will largely be Sandersist.
The Democrats under Hillary Clinton are now a "zombie party"; everyone but their leaders can see that they have the same thing coming to them in (say) 2024 that the Republicans had coming to them in 2016 because of the many slaps in the face they gave their own base in the aughts. Any presidency Clinton has now can be no more than the end of something very old and tired, not the beginning of anything new.
And the best part is, Clinton is telegraphing her own defeat to the media every single day -- they're just not picking up the signal.
Sanders has pulled Clinton to the left on every issue of consequence. Now Clinton opposes all or nearly all of the recent international trade deals; supports a $15 minimum wage; wants a single-payer healthcare option for all Americans over 50; is willing to ban fracking as part of the Democratic Party platform (per reports); opposes the death penalty in all but vanishingly rare circumstances; is committed to breaking up too-big-to-fail banks; and so on. What's even more astonishing is that not only has Clinton stolen most of Sanders' campaign agenda, she's also stolen many of his best lines. Reporters frequently note that Clinton's best-received speeches easily could have been delivered (and, indeed, previously had been, to much larger crowds) by Sanders.
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It doesn't even matter that Clinton's embrace of Sanders' progressivism is obviously entirely fake, and will disappear into thin air should she ever get into the White House. Sandersists know this, and nothing that happens at the Democratic National Convention will convince them otherwise. Clinton aides smugly telling reporters that Clinton will concede almost everything to Sanders with respect to the Party's platform because "the platform doesn't matter" and "voters don't care about the platform" are, finally, speaking only to themselves -- taking a victory lap during which their zombie appendages fall off one by one.
For the fact remains that, should Clinton win the nomination, she will have done so using Sandersism as her chief philosophical mainstay and bulwark. The fact remains that any support she now has with voters under 45 -- which is to say, barely any -- was gained on the explicit presumption that she could deliver on a Sandersist legislative agenda in Washington. Should she do as she definitely plans to do -- drop everything she's adopted from Sanders should she get into the White House -- she'll face another legitimate progressive challenger in 2020, and should she defeat that challenger by again remaking herself as someone totally other than who she is, if indeed she is anyone at all, in 2024 progressives will finally seal the deal and take their party back.
In other words, every action Clintonism takes in the next eight years will be part of a retreating action in the face of Sandersism. The Democratic Party as the Clintons remade it in the 1990s is dead, and the most Clinton can do is steer her little ghost-ship a few more miles until it finally wrecks itself on an offshore sandbar.
Clinton may win the battle in 2016, but only political neophytes -- and a few Washington Post columnists, I suppose -- fail to see that she's already lost the war.
Seth Abramson is the Series Editor for Best American Experimental Writing (Wesleyan University) and the author, most recently, of DATA (BlazeVOX, 2016).
All photographs by Shawn Russell Johnson
If you were to poll ten people on the street about whether or not they'd enjoy a genre of music described as "vomitstep," I am willing to guarantee that all ten of them would give you a disgusted look and turn away, probably somewhat offended. The crowds of people who swarmed Webster Hall on Friday night for Snails' special brand of filth, however, would utter something more along the lines of "yes, please." This was my first time getting Snailed, and I can say it was most definitely a slimy, yet satisfying experience.
Snails is a French-Canadian producer from Montreal who earned his stripes with Kannibalen Records in 2012. Since then, his rise has been meteoric (to say the least). Bending and twisting sounds to near organic frequencies, Snails' brand of bass music has left dubstep fans in awe. His unique sound has garnered him attention from some of the biggest names in the electronic music world, and earned him a spot on Skrillex's heavy-hitting label OWSLA. When I saw he was playing the EDC pre-party at Webster Hall, I knew it was my duty to attend and try to describe my experience to the outside world.
I arrived a bit later than I usually do, and for the first time in a long time I arrived alone. It's been quite some time since I'd attended a show by myself, but considering that I was going into this show with minimal expectations, flying solo seemed like the best way possible for me to truly absorb the sonic slime and gunk that engulfs Snails' set. As I made my way to the stage and set up my camera gear, Callie Reiff was mixing in some awesome dubstep tracks and stirring the crowd into a frenzy before the main event.
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When Snails took the stage that frenzy turned into a swell to get close to the front. There are very few times I've seen that many people, that ready to rage at Webster Hall -- save for maybe the Never Say Die showcase the week prior. That involved a completely different breed of basshead. There was no hesitation from the Montreal native. He opened strong and didn't slow down for even one second. There were no breaks, no down-tempo moments, just pedal-to-the-metal savagery for close to two hours.
There are very few live shows that compare with what I saw onstage at Snails. I'm not simply talking about the crowd, or the way that he presented himself behind the CDJs, but more the grotesque nature of the music, as well as the visuals put on screen (you don't earn the descriptor "vomitstep" without good reason). Oozing visuals that depicted maniacal snails with cartoonish grins and pointy teeth, an oversized slug spewing neon green sludge from its mouth as it overlooked a broken city skyline. These are just a few of the pieces of imagery that accompany the liquid-bass and organic-sounding synths that make up Snails' special blend of dubstep.
The crowd was a sea of bass fans decked out in Snails attire and holding signs reading "Hoping to get SNAILED for my birthday," "F*ck Salt," "Snailed it," and much more. When the evening came to an end, it was clear that an event like this was absolutely the best kind of lead-in to an event like the Electric Daisy Carnival. When the last remnants of bass echoed through the Grand Ballroom, and the deep god-like voice that came through the sound system declared "Snailed it," I was in absolute concurrence. I had indeed, been Snailed. And by golly, I liked it.
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By Scott Colvin, member of the St. Gallen Symposium's global Leaders of Tomorrow community
[T]he increase of wealth is not boundless.
The stationary state of capital and wealth would
be a very considerable improvement on our present condition
- John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy
The world is living in a fantasy.
Like all good collective delusions, this one bleeds the lust from living reality; replacing it with, instead, a more palatable - a more easily consumed - version of the truth.
That fantasy is this: societal strength depends upon economic growth.
For decades, the idea that the success of the economy, as measured in GDP increase, was inherently connected to improvements in society was true - and useful. The machinations of western post-industrial capitalism produced miracles unimagined by those who came before: the possibility of land ownership for common labourers, increases in life expectancy and accessible higher education; the stable fact of a middle class. Growth and prosperity have become so correlated that many feel one cannot be had without the other.
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But what if this were not the case? Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence - certainly. But what if that evidence isn't as remarkable as it is ordinary and in plain sight? In that case, would you be prepared to accept that long-term societal prosperity required an abandonment of growth as a leading pursuit?
I generally find that there are three facts that are, with some exceptions, accepted. The first is that we live on a warming planet soon to be too hot to support our reckless selves. The second is that developing countries endure shameful conditions of famine, poverty, and health and technological stagnation, on which western countries feed. The third point is that countering of the first two must be indefinite: climate change must be halted permanently, and no country should again be left so far behind the others.
Given that there is general support for those three propositions, it follows that there should also be support for their more aphoristic version: safe, happy, healthy - forever. And that's exactly what we're all after in the end, is it not? Any discussion of global society and our future must begin with this simple aim: safe, happy, healthy - forever.
Growth is Incompatible with Prosperity
The 2015 Paris Climate Conference affirmed what has become both bellwether and casus belli of climate change: limiting global temperatures to an increase of 2o above pre-industrial levels. Calculations of the amount of carbon that may be 'spent' over the next century in order to reach this target suggest that developed nations must decrease their emissions by 8%-10% per annum. However, a reduction above 3%-4% has been shown to be incompatible with economic growth, and even a 1% reduction has only been associated with recession (ibid page 204). Halting climate change is incompatible with growing economies.
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But that is only the first piece of the puzzle. The second is that developing countries will need to increase their carbon emissions if they are to 'accelerate' their economies to achieve a higher standard of living - at least initially (Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-first Century). If global warming is to be combatted equitably, it is fair that developing nations be allowed to expend more resources improving their lot first (Copenhagen Accord. (2009) FCCC/CP/2009/L.7). Were the world's current population to consume at the same scale as an average American, at least four planet Earths would be required to sustain that consumption. Bringing emerging countries to a standard of living similar to western nations places an even greater burden on the carbon reduction of developed countries.
Increasing technological and production efficiencies is not enough. There exist a well-known number of paradoxes that suggest gains to efficiency lead to increases, and not decreases, in total consumption (Such as Jevon's paradox. See, The Jevons Paradox and the Myth of Resource Efficiency Improvements, John Polimeni, Kozo Mayumi, Mario Giampietro & Blake Alcott (Earthscan, 2007)). To borrow the vernacular of logic, the only alternative to growth is not-growth. This has become known in a more striking use of language as decroissance, or degrowth. To circle our discussion back to the opening, where once growth was a measure of prosperity, prosperity must now be associated with degrowth. Long-term societal prosperity is the logical and philosophical alternative to economic growth, and degrowth is its most essential aspect.
A Planned Obsolescence of Growth
As ever, the difficulty is in finding solutions. The imperative of pragmatism is that our efforts be shaped by what can be realistically achieved. To that extent, it is worthwhile to disregard solutions that, while noble, are means too overborne to achieve their ends. In that spirit, we should confine ourselves to micro-solutions: small nudges that, together, produce meaningful results.
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Companies and corporations are tortured by endless hunger for growth; it is an almost biological imperative for them, in which natural selection favours employees and executives capable of ensuring that growth. Our prevailing corporate structure is built on growth and profit-maximisation: shareholders provide capital for businesses and, in return, the law ensures that the 'best interests' of the company, to which the company's directors are bound, are their financial best interests (This is the formulation in the law of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth jurisdictions.). QED, businesses, under current law, are unlikely to offer proactive contributions to degrowth. Governments, too, have little imperative to facilitate degrowth. And not just for the tired reason that they have secretly eloped with big business: people have come to associate growth with greater employment prospects, lower taxes and better healthcare, leading to governments winning elections.
There are three key fulcrums of reliance that must be leveraged in order to facilitate degrowth: people, business, government - and in that order. Though these seem to be discrete areas of action, given the reticence of business and government, we ought to acknowledge that the primary drivers of action must be ordinary constituents lobbying both community and government. There is a tremendous potential for regular citizens to have their representatives make important changes; but hence the need for pragmatism - only slight changes have a chance of making it through the labyrinth of bureaucracy and legislature.
> People
The most common expression of people's reliance on growth is consumerism. It is difficult to tell to what extent growth leads consumerism and consumerism leads growth, but the result of that dance is undoubtedly many products that offer little to society. To halt consumerism is, of course, a daunting task, but it is made easier by the simple fact that studies show consumerism doesn't make people happy. This alone suggests that if successful steps are taken, there shouldn't be too much of an impulse to revert back; the medication won't be rejected by the system.
In searching for a solution to a problem, it is often useful to attempt to reverse-engineer the cause of the problem. To weaken advertising's grip on people would strike a humbling body blow to consumerism. Already Millennials seem to be spending more on experiences than goods. Why not go further and restrict advertising? The metrics of this are simple: for example, setting a minute-per-hour limit on television advertising or banning billboards in certain areas of a city (It should be noted that under American law, legislation prohibiting such commercial speech may run afoul of the Constitution, something undoubtedly paralleled in other jurisdictions: see, Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Service Commission, 447 U.S. 557. This may be avoided, however, by legal drafting that emphasises the strong public need for the regulations - a need that is best served by the prohibition.). And the impact may be less severe then imagined, with a supposed decrease in revenue from a shorter supply of advertising somewhat offset by an increase in demand (and therefore price) of the advertising that is available. The sell of this approach, as it were, isn't difficult: as mentioned, the number of studies stating that consumption doesn't beget happiness is only increasing, and if it is pitched as something that needs to be done for the next generation - and most parents intuitively seek to protect their children from the vice of materialism - there should be less grumbling than may be expected.
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Lawmakers should also be concerned with encouraging the shared economy, too. Though the concept is definitely au courant, its potential to reduce consumerism should be explored further. Simply put: by turning producers into providers, and owners into users, the quantity of production is greatly decreased. Think of all of the plastic that has been saved by users streaming movies instead of purchasing DVDs. Regulatory involvement should be focussed on encouraging this type of business model by providing tax concessions as well as working with foreign jurisdictions to build a system where digital goods can flow freely across borders with fewer distribution and copyright issues. The involvement can be more humble too: local councils should develop micro-communities that allow people to pay for access to, say, a workshop full of tools for carpentry, or a garage full of musical equipment for playing. Limitation is only set by people's considerable wants.
> Business
Though previous mention was made of business's inability to halt growth, that fact could change radically with a slight legislative intervention. The corporation has become the predominant legal form of incorporation, in which shareholders hold primacy. But there is much scope for encouraging alternative forms of incorporation. For instance: cooperatives - entities that expend fewer resources than corporations and better weather economic volatility, and without so directly relying on growth for survival. Other forms have been proposed, including low-profit limited liability companies (Known in the United Kingdom as 'Community Interested Companies' and in Germany as gemeinnutzige GmbH), which have a stated charitable aim to work towards, and who enjoy lower taxes (And no corporate tax at all in Germany).
While these suggestions are useful, there is a solution even closer to the tip of the legislative pen: removing shareholders as the primary concern of the corporation. This could be achieved simply by amending existing corporations law to state that the 'best interests of the company' are the shareholders' financials, or whatever interest is specified in the corporation's constitution (The United Kingdom Companies Act 2006 has attempted to expand the definition of 'best interests' by allowing company directors to take into account a broader array of factors - including, in theory, environmental and other social issues. However, and this is a discussion for another time, it may be argued that this is merely to enshrine the established, conservative, position). This would allow companies to pursue low- or no-growth agendas without risking indictment.
> Government
Provided that the above strategies succeeded in degrowing the economy, obvious consequences loom: there will be a greatly diminished need for resources, products and services - a greatly diminished need for workers; for people.
The government will need to respond, and here are three starting points: firstly, establishing a basic income for all citizens to ensure decreased earnings don't result in destitution; establish a four-day workweek by implementing penalty rates for any more than four days worked per week to encourage job-sharing; and develop training schemes designed to transition workers in industries hardest hit (say, manufacturing) to more sustainable vocations (say, IT). People will have, on the whole, less money; but to evoke Henry Thoreau, superfluous wealth can buy superfluities only.
We've shown ourselves to be a resilient people, capable of overcoming the adversities presented by radical changes to previously common industries. Solutions come most readily in the darkest moments, and we should not be so pessimistic to think that a less consumeristic society will result in underemployment and poverty.
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Conclusion
I hope if you've come this far with me, you've been brave enough to consider the possibility that economic growth is a danger to us all. We can no longer say so readily that economic growth is good in and of itself, and must begin to honestly asses its incompatibility with our long term survival.
Some will dismiss degrowth as simply too difficult to achieve in our current system, but its importance is hard to rebut. And it is worth remembering two things: growth can still be qualitative even if it is not quantitative, and it need not be forever, ultimately transitioning to a steady state economy.
By Eric Boodman
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The idea was born over beer in a hotel bar.
It would spark a revolutionary approach to treating cancers, attract tens of millions in investments, and set rival companies on a scientific race. At the center of it all? A tiny garbage truck.
It's called the proteasome, and its job is to chew up and get rid of your cells' obsolete and broken proteins. When biochemists Craig Crews and Raymond Deshaies discussed it over brews at a conference in 1998, the proteasome had been described but not domesticated.
They knew that it naturally destroys proteins the cell no longer needs. But could they hijack that machinery to treat diseases?
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Crews has built a career on that question. A 51-year-old professor at Yale, he has spent the last 20 years fiddling with cellular garbage trucks. "I was always a tinkerer," he said -- but "tinkering" doesn't exactly capture the complexity of his work.
He has already taken one molecule given up on by a pharma giant, and with help from colleagues, turned it into a successful cancer drug. Now, using the proteasome, he aims to revisit hordes of other drug discovery projects that have stalled or failed. And he's founded a company, called Arvinas, built around the premise that harnessing the proteasome will open the door to new treatments for diseases that are currently considered "undruggable."
He isn't the only one. "Every big pharmaceutical company in the world is thinking about this area," said Andrew Phillips, the chief scientific officer of C4 Therapeutics, a biotech startup in Cambridge, Mass., that's working on the same question. "There is a lot of excitement."
Stumbling on a garbage truck
Crews was a new professor at Yale, sniffing around for projects, when he read about a strange molecule produced by certain soil-dwelling bacteria.
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Scientists at the pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb had found that it was startlingly good at killing melanoma cells. But they couldn't figure out why. In 1992, they broke their secretive habits, publishing a detailed report on everything they knew about the substance.
"This had a particular appeal to me, because it had such potency, but there was this mystery about it," said Crews. "They didn't know how it worked. All they knew was that it would kill tumor cells. And that to me is this wonderful invitation. I was curious."
Even as a kid, he'd been drawn to problems that seemed unsolvable. His father was a NASA engineer who researched lightweight materials for aircraft wings. He would bring home valves and levers that his lab could no longer use. Crews kept them in a box in the garage along with old car parts, as raw materials for robot building. It went with his loose-leaf notebook of inventions -- including a design for a perpetual motion machine.
He'd had glimpses inside his father's lab, and there was never a moment when he didn't want to be a scientist. "NASA in the '60s and '70s was the most exciting place to be a researcher, and I would argue that the biotech arena today is the equivalent," he said.
Unable to access the mysterious molecule described by Bristol-Myers Squibb, Crews had his team make their own version in the lab.
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Then, they took a string of minuscule plastic beads, each about the size of a grain of sand, coated them with the molecule they were interested in -- and went fishing. They poured the contents of a cell over the molecule-slathered beads. Only one thing stuck: a cylinder of proteins called the proteasome.
It turned out that the mystery molecule blocked the proteasome from doing its job, namely disposing of junk proteins in the cell. "By gumming it, by blocking the action of the proteasome, you get buildup of toxic proteins that should have been removed," explained Crews.
This affected all cells. But it affected cancer cells more than healthy cells, because cancer cells proliferate uncontrollably, constantly making and discarding proteins. So with the proteasome jammed, toxic levels of old proteins built up quicker in the cancer cells. And then the cells died.
"It's coming in from a totally different direction that no one else has come in from before." - Derek Lowe, drug discovery researcher.
To Crews, that sounded like more than basic science. It sounded like a drug.
So he and Deshaies started a company called Proteolix. With a few tweaks, that molecule was turned into a drug for multiple myeloma, approved by the FDA in 2012.
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And if money is any measure, that drug -- called Kyprolis -- was a success. Proteolix was sold to Onyx Pharmaceuticals in a deal worth $850 million in 2009, and then Onyx was sold to Amgen for around $10 billion in 2013.
A seek-and-destroy mission
Stopping the garbage truck from working was one promising path to treatment.
Crews, however, had already been wondering about the opposite. He wanted to hijack the proteasome so it gobbled up the proteins that help cause disease.
With genomic analysis, there has been an explosion in our knowledge of the proteins that are involved in diseases. They do their damaging work by docking to various structures in the cell, causing chemical reactions.
Many, many drugs -- what Crews calls "traditional" drugs -- try to stop these rogue proteins by blocking up their docking ports.
That approach has saved a lot of lives. But it can also have some serious problems. The molecules that block the docking sites fall off after a while, so you need to keep flooding the cell with drug molecules to keep the docking sites plugged. And if the drug is toxic, as many cancer drugs are, that means patients need to have a whole lot of toxic molecules floating around in their cells.
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What Crews and Deshaies first discussed in 1998 was a different tack completely. They wanted to tag the nasty proteins that cause disease, the way a city puts pink ribbons around trees that need cutting down.
"You can imagine a small molecule, a drug, that works under this new paradigm, will truly be one that can seek and destroy rogue, disease-causing proteins." - Craig Crews, biochemist at Yale.
The proteasome would notice the tags, and do what it does best: "taking the protein that's been tagged, unwinding it, threading it in, and chewing it up," said Crews.
The niftiest part of the idea: The chain of molecules that tags harmful proteins, and feeds them to the cellular garbage disposal, does not get chewed up. Instead, it's freed to go off and hunt for more proteins.
"You can imagine a small molecule, a drug, that works under this new paradigm, will truly be one that can seek and destroy rogue, disease-causing proteins, rather than simply binding and falling off, binding and falling off," said Crews. "So you don't need as much drug. It gets the job done, first time around."
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It also could mean that disease-causing proteins without active docking sites -- such as those involved in Alzheimer's -- could potentially be "druggable" for the first time.
They called this chain of molecules PROTACs.
A race to develop drugs
Even getting these large molecule-chains across the greasy, slippery cell membrane was a challenge; at first, a postdoctoral scientist in Deshaies' lab at the California Institute of Technology was microinjecting them inside cells by hand.
But in 2009, Crews decided to use smaller molecules as one link in the chain, rather than larger sequences of amino acids called peptides. And his lab has continued to tweak these tiny molecules so that they are better at nabbing harmful proteins and flagging down the garbage truck.
"As far as tagging the protein itself and dragging it off to the shredder, no one has ever tried to treat disease like that," said Derek Lowe, a longtime drug discovery researcher for pharmaceutical companies. "It's coming in from a totally different direction that no one else has come in from before."
Lowe still isn't sure if it will work in humans, but he said "it really has a lot of promise."
That promise was reinforced in 2010, when a Japanese team published a paper showing that an old drug, in use since 1957 but never fully understood, worked by tagging proteins so that they'd be destroyed by the proteasome. That drug was thalidomide, and it was widely prescribed to pregnant women to prevent nausea, until it was found to cause birth defects.
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Crews found the news exciting: It proved the approach could work. In 2012, he founded Arvinas, to try to capitalize on the promise of the proteasome. It's now racing against competitor C4, which was unveiled earlier this year, to develop possible cancer treatments. C4 calls its molecular chains "degronomids," but the idea is the same.
Both companies emerged from basic science labs, and both have big-name partnerships: Arvinas with Merck and Genentech, and C4 with Roche.
Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to supporters in Charleston, West Virginia, U.S. May 5, 2016. REUTERS/Chris Tilley
Historians like me owe a debt of gratitude to Donald Trump. He is the spectacularly-coifed embodiment the Republican Party's id, the avatar of the party's dark forces which have been swirling since the late 1960s, and with the volume turned up to 11. As such, he makes my job of explaining the GOP's transformation from the Age of Eisenhower to the Age of the Tea Party so much easier.
The through-lines are pretty familiar by now: Nixon began the process of turning the GOP into the Party of Angry White People with what became known as the "Southern Strategy." Stoke the racial animosities of white voters angry at the civil rights movement, and the once solidly Democratic South can become solidly Republican.
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What Nixon started in 1968, Ronald Reagan continued in 1980 with his speech in Philadelphia, Mississippi. George H. W. Bush followed that up with his scurrilous Willie Horton TV spots in 1988, and in 2000 his son countenanced the vile rumors about John McCain's inter-racial family spread by his campaign staff that helped Bush the Younger win the GOP nomination.
Trump, however, has recognized that Nixon's version of the Southern Strategy may have run its course. After nearly 40 years of race-baiting, there may simply be no more black voters to alienate nor too many more white bigots to win over. As we know, a sizable majority of Americans have voted for a black president. Twice. This despite the fact that he is a Kenyan-born Muslim extremist.
So Trump fashioned his South of the Border Strategy by vilifying Mexicans and expanded that even further to a Global Southern Strategy when he denounced Muslims, the Chinese, and virtually everyone else in the developing world. The voting math here is probably on his side. There are far more Islamophobes in the United States than there are Muslim voters.
Trump's Southern Strategy 2016 Edition is mere nibbling around the electoral edges, however, compared to what will be the centerpiece of his campaign: his unrelenting attack on Hilary Clinton as a woman because she is a woman. Call it Trump's Southern Regions Strategy.
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Lazy commentators (did someone say "David Brooks"?) continue to talk about Trump's appeal to "white working-class" voters who feel betrayed by free trade and by the tax cuts to the wealthy that never trickled down to them, though Nate Silver has demonstrated that Trump's supporters are better off than the average American (see his Myth of Trump's Working Class Support). No, these guys aren't worried about their wallets. They're feeling insecure about the other thing in their pants. It isn't the middle-class American dream, but their vision of John Wayne masculinity they see slipping away from them. When Trump all but grabbed his crotch during that GOP "debate," he spoke directly to those guys.
Look around, after all! Women are doing better than men educationally and at all levels. The only way we can forestall their continued economic advancement is to penalize them for having children by making it extremely difficult to get paid leave or day care. (Before we penalize them for having children, of course, we can also make it as difficult as possible to get contraception or an abortion).
Most men don't have manly jobs anymore, and besides women can do those jobs just as well. Even the military, what used to be the ultimate proving ground for masculinity, is no longer a boys club. If women can now serve in combat roles, what can a guy do to prove himself?!
Well. . .you puff up your chest and fake it. Like Trump. In his campaign ramblings, Trump's second favorite word is "tough" (his first fav is "deal"), as if saying it over and over makes it true. Cosseted and pampered his entire life, Trump is tough like one of the steaks he peddles. But the hypocrisy of this is the point.
All that tough talk reveals the extent to which Trump and his supporters feel deeply, existentially threatened by women. And that feeling transcends race and class. Shirley Chisholm, the nation's first black Congresswoman, always believed that "being female put many more obstacles in my path than being black."
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The GOP has indeed been waging a war on women since the Reagan years. Campaigning against Hilary Clinton, Trump will amplify that contempt and make the GOP's misogyny cruder and more vile than any of us can imagine right now. Hell hath no fury like those who secretly feel that their manhood is inadequate.
You might think that there is an electoral risk here. Driving away Hispanic voters is one thing, but women make up roughly 50 percent of all voters, right? Here Trump's math might prove smart as well. After all, unlike, say, union members or African Americans or Fundamentalists, women have rarely in the 96 years since they finally got the vote used it as a block to advance women's issues. To this point, the GOP has not paid a significant price at the polls for its anti-woman agenda.
Put another way, sadly or paradoxically, plenty of women are threatened by feminist achievements too. They could well vote for Trump along with their anxious husbands.
Sri Lanka's civil war ended on May 18, 2009 -- seven years ago. The country's government forces defeated the Tamil Tigers, a group that had been fighting for a separate Tamil state in the nation's northern and eastern provinces. Credible allegations of abuses committed by Sri Lankan military personnel and the Tigers have persisted since the conclusion of war.
In the post-war era, longtime president Mahinda Rajapaksa took the country in an increasingly authoritarian direction. Due to widespread corruption, nepotism and the erosion of the rule of law, he was unexpectedly defeated during a presidential election in January 2015.
In October of last year, the country's coalition government co-sponsored a U.N. Human Rights Council resolution pertaining to reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka. Though crafted in diplomatic language, the resolution contains a multitude of positive prescriptions. Sri Lanka's unforeseen "democratic transition" meant that there was a legitimate opening for Colombo to move on transitional justice, or at least that's what many had hoped. Unfortunately, Colombo has yet to really turn towards implementation of the resolution.
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On a positive note, the Sri Lankan government announced that there would not be military parade to commemorate the war victory this year, a commendable move and one that should not go unnoticed. Nevertheless, Colombo's Sinhala-dominated government remains extremely reluctant to reach out to the Tamil community. Perhaps the political leadership simply doesn't want to do so. Maybe they're worried about the domestic political ramifications of making such gestures. Regardless, the sense of disillusionment that's set in with many Tamils is palpable and, absent genuine progress, skepticism about the government's plans will only become more profound.
I visited the country a few months ago. In the capital, some people I spoke with were fairly upbeat about how things had been going. Sure, the current administration's performance leaves plenty to be desired, although at least there was now a lot more space to criticize the government.
The time I spent in the Tamil-dominated north and east was very different. Across the board, people with whom I visited were frustrated and disappointed. To be clear, there's more space to criticize the government in these parts of the country too. The administration has given some land back to Tamil civilians as well. However, these positive changes pale in comparison to the longstanding problems that permeate daily life in these locations: unresolved disappearances, the military's continued occupation of civilian land, the government's refusal to release Tamil political prisoners, sexual violence, sustained militarization, widespread surveillance, livelihood issues. In what many believe was an effort to intimidate Tamils in the run up to war-related commemorative events, a recent spate of arrests across the north and east is also very worrisome. Acts of military intimidation have been widely reported this week too. In short, this is not what a reconciliation roadmap looks like -- not even close.
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Co-authored by Fiona Walsh, the Executive Managing Director of Last Mile Health.
This is a pivotal year for global health. After the United Nations (UN) wrapped its ambitious 15-year effort to realize its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), those focused on global health are rightly encouraged by its headline wins: both child and maternal mortality rates approximately halved, the number of new HIV infections down about 40 percent since the turn of the century, the goal of halving the proportion of global citizens living without access to clean water realized five years ahead of schedule. Meanwhile, the environmental community should likewise be lauded for the historic agreement coming out of the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21), convened in Paris last year.
With 2016 well underway, attention turns to both the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and achieving the targets set in Paris. The shared question is how to proceed, and unfortunately the international community runs the risk of foiling its own best efforts: without swift action, climate change stands to wipe out some of the biggest gains made in global health.
Experts have long forecast that the most vulnerable will experience the effects of climate change first. Now that the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is resettling its pioneer "climate refugees" via a first-of-its-kind "climate resilience" grant, it is clear that the families on Louisiana's Isle de Jean Charles are feeling that future today. From the disappearing Solomon Islands to severe drought in southern Africa and beyond, they are not alone.
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Not only will extreme weather increase, but warmer climates will intensify the spread of mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and dengue fever. Drier conditions and high temperatures will stress crops, the very livelihoods of rural families. Reductions in food production and overfishing will lead to higher prices and worsen nutritional outcomes, especially in marginalized or remote communities.
At the same time, these are the very individuals who are often far from the reach of their cash-strapped governments. Of the 1.4 billion poor in developing countries in 2014, 78 percent live in areas where access to basic health care is toughest. People living in the last mile travel for hours, and sometimes days, by foot or motorcycle, along bumpy dirt roads and across rivers to reach the nearest health facility.
The world has now witnessed the results of an unexpected shock to under-resourced health systems. In 2014, the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history struck West Africa, spreading to six countries and claiming nearly 12,000 lives. Liberia was among the hardest hit nations, suffering nearly 10,100 cases and 5,000 deaths.
The Ebola crisis struck at the heart of Liberia's healthcare system, taking the lives of hundreds of health workers and crippling health infrastructure. Organizations such as Last Mile Health worked hand-in-hand with community members, local government officials, global policy-makers, and other aid agencies at the frontlines to meet the needs of the hardest-to-reach communities.
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As the Zika crisis captures the world's attention, already disrupting travel plans and raising concerns for expectant families, public health experts are faced with eerily familiar challenges. Executive Director of the American Public Health Association Dr. Georges Benjamin recently reminded health officials convened at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "Zika Summit" that in contrast with Ebola, and West Nile virus 15 years prior, that today there is "an opportunity to get ahead of the curve."
As the world celebrates the Paris agreement, countries now have an opportunity to act on their financial pledges to invest in adapting the world's health systems for climate change--starting with a focus on stretching primary health systems to cover the most remote and most vulnerable. While it is encouraging that funding is allocated for health systems, there remains a lack of clarity for what precisely that means moving forward.
Building resilient health systems requires long-term, sustained investments. Such efforts may not look "sexy" as headlines on the evening news or on Twitter feeds, but they are precisely what is called for to address not only the latest disease but to identify and respond to health crises well into the future.
At the 2008 World Health Assembly, health ministers passed a critical resolution, committing to action to protect human health from climate change. Later this month, Member States will meet again to discuss health threats affected by the environment, such as pandemic influenza preparedness and responding to the adverse effects of air pollution.
The upcoming World Health Assembly presents a prime opportunity for leaders to set the World Health Organization's priorities and corresponding budget. Decision-makers are discussing "resilient health systems" but must now articulate how to quantify what is needed to bolster the existing systems and allocate funds accordingly.
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With significant funding available, those assembling in Geneva must be get down to brass tacks: what use is surveillance without an integrated referral network into a reliable, quality, affordable health system? What are the innovative financing mechanisms that will allow resource-limited governments to close the national funding gaps that must be covered in order to achieve universal primary health care? How do we invest in the future, understanding the economic, environmental, and medical realities of today and tomorrow?
International dialogues rarely trickle down to influence national-level health budgets, let alone to the city or village level - but they must. Whether Stateside or far further afield, our work requires us to toggle between 30,000-foot strategies and the muddy realities on the ground. We recognize that this is never easy, but it is both urgent and important.
The United States is putting out a call to international whistleblowers, seeking help in the battle against fraud - and for good reason. In many cases, whistleblowers located outside of the United States are best positioned to uncover schemes involving fraudulent bills submitted to the U.S. government, tax evasion, and/or securities fraud involving U.S. companies. This effort is producing results.
On April 18, 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") announced that the California division of Winds Enterprises, Ltd., a Hong Kong corporation, had agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle claims that it illegally evaded import duties on sportswear imported from China and Madagascar by lying about the value of the goods. The recovery was made possible by information provided to the DOJ by a Hong Kong-based former employee of the company, who will receive $300,000 for the essential role he played in uncovering the fraud.
Last October, the U.S. Government criminally prosecuted and recovered more than $1 million from British defense contractor ECL Solutions Limited, Inc. ("ECL") thanks to the help of whistleblower Todd Mihajlovic from the United Kingdom. Mr. Mihajlovic, a former employee of ECL, reported that ECL hid the fact that the steel racking systems it sold to the U.S. military were made in China. This deception enabled ECL to pass off its shelving product as compliant with the Buy American Act and Trade Agreements Act when, in fact, it was using prohibited Chinese steel.
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Similarly, last summer, American expat whistleblowers in Nicaragua uncovered a $25 million dollar fraud. The scheme involved a Florida health insurance company that illegally billed Medicare, a U.S. government-funded healthcare system, for services performed in Nicaragua on former U.S. residents. The scheme was uncovered when the defendants' brazen marketing practices in Nicaragua aroused the suspicions of the expat whistleblowers and they informed U.S. Embassy officials.
International whistleblowers like these, including foreign citizens, can sometimes receive monetary awards under U.S. anti-fraud statutes. One of the most notable international whistleblowers is Dinesh Thakur, a chemical engineer at Indian pharmaceutical company Ranbaxy. Thakur uncovered a massive internal scheme to falsify critical information about the safety and efficacy of Ranbaxy's drugs and reported his findings the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Based on Thakur's report, Ranbaxy pled guilty to seven criminal felony charges and paid more than $500 million in fines and settlements.
Thakur received $48.6 million for stepping forward through a U.S. law known as the False Claims Act (FCA), the oldest and best known of America's whistleblower rewards programs. The law allows individuals to bring lawsuits on behalf of the United States against companies or individuals who fraudulently seek money from the government in a wide range of arenas including healthcare, defense, infrastructure construction, customs duties, education, mortgage guarantees, and research grants. Often referred to as "Lincoln's Law," named for U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, the statute was enacted in 1863 to fight widespread fraud by companies selling rotten food, sickly mules, and defective weapons to the Union Army during the Civil War. The law allows private citizens, known as relators, to bring a lawsuit on the government's behalf, rewarding them with a significant portion of the government's recovery (between 15% and 30%).
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But the idea of allowing private citizens to sue on behalf of the Government, and receive a reward for doing so, is much older than America. According to the U.S. Congressional Research Service: "The earliest cited example of a qui tam provision is the 695 declaration of King Wihtred of Kent [England] which stated that 'If a freeman works during the forbidden time [i.e., the Sabbath], he shall forfeit his healsfang, and the man who informs against him shall have half the fine, and [the profits arising] from the labour.' By the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth century, qui tam statutes had become a common feature of English law."
In keeping with their international roots, and because all good information is valuable, under the U.S. whistleblower rewards programs, whistleblowers need not be U.S. citizens or even residents. Anyone with knowledge of fraudulent conduct can file a claim under the FCA, or under the whistleblower programs of the Internal Revenue Service (for tax fraud), the Securities and Exchange Commission (for securities fraud), or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (for commodities fraud).
In 2014, a whistleblower living abroad received over $30 million for providing a tip about a massive securities manipulation fraud to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the whistleblower program created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law. The Dodd-Frank Act program applies to violations of U.S. securities laws such as Ponzi schemes, insider trading, accounting fraud, unauthorized trading, market manipulation and bribery in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. As with the False Claims Act, whistleblowers under the SEC program are eligible for rewards of up to 30% of the amount recovered. Since the inception of the program, the agency has paid awards to more than 26 whistleblowers.
Additionally, this significant award was the SEC's fourth to a whistleblower living outside the U.S. Because of the SEC's policy of strictly guarding the confidentiality of whistleblowers, we know little about this whistleblower other than the fact that s/he lived in a foreign country and the approximate amount of money the SEC paid him/her. The SEC is so dedicated to protecting the identity of whistleblowers that it permits anonymous reporting, so long as the whistleblower has the assistance of an American lawyer to make the required filings.
The IRS whistleblower program also offers the promise of substantial rewards to whistleblowers who report fraudulent avoidance of U.S. taxes. Although the IRS program has been less prominent, reports indicate that the IRS has a particular interest in hearing about: "US taxpayers with illegal offshore accounts around the world - especially Hong Kong, Singapore and Central America."
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The government has downplayed the climate impacts of oil drilling, but a new study shows that keeping oil in the ground will help fight climate change.
The Brutus TLP of Green Canyon Block 158 in the Gulf of Mexico. Vessels continue skimming operations nearby in an attempt to clean up 88,200 gallons of oil that leaked from a flow line at one of Shell's drilling sites about 90 miles off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico.
Over his two terms in office, President Obama has enacted strong climate policies, but his proposal to expand offshore oil drilling threatens to undermine these advances.
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Policies such as the Clean Power Plan and stronger fuel economy standards will help the United States make progress towards the climate goals Obama agreed to in Paris -- but by themselves they won't be enough to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius. Obama seems to understand this. He has listened to the demands of climate justice activists by rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline and imposing a moratorium on federal coal leasing. He even said that "we're going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground" unless we want large parts of the planet to become uninhabitable.
President Obama must act today to cement his legacy as a climate leader by ending offshore oil and gas leasing in the Arctic and the Gulf of Mexico.
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)'s draft Five-Year Program, put forth a couple of months ago, creates a new round of lease sales starting in 2017 and continuing into 2022.
The plan proposes to expand oil and gas production in the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, a region that's been called a "sacrifice zone" due to the effects of decades of pollution on local communities and the environment. Just last week, the Gulf was hit again with a spill of nearly 90,000 gallons of oil from a pipeline owned by Shell.
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A recent study by the Stockholm Environmental Institute (SEI) found that the United States can significantly reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by phasing out fossil fuel extraction on public lands. Specifically, if the president were to remove the Arctic and the Gulf of Mexico from the Five-Year Program and reject all renewals of existing offshore leases, he could reduce global emissions by 26 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2030 alone.
That's equivalent to taking 5.5 million cars off the road for one year.
Because offshore oil production has very long lead times and high upfront costs, decisions made by President Obama today will resonate for decades to come. Phasing out offshore oil leasing will lead to even larger emissions reductions after 2030, but a decision to expand drilling will "lock in" oil and gas infrastructure and make it harder for the world to transition away from fossil fuels.
Asking the Wrong Questions
The connection between increased oil drilling and higher greenhouse gas emissions may seem obvious, but BOEM has fought for years to avoid fully measuring emissions that result from its policies. All federal agencies are required to conduct Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) to assess the potential environmental harms of their decisions, and climate change is routinely considered in these reviews. However, BOEM only estimates the emissions arising directly from oil production activities themselves. It has consistently refused to quantify "downstream" emissions that arise from actually burning the oil and gas extracted from the offshore region.
BOEM's economic analysis attempts to show that if we do not drill offshore, then that oil and gas would be substituted by oil and gas extracted from somewhere else. Oddly, despite conducting this market analysis, BOEM refuses to take the next step and calculate the emissions from these substitutes. The agency argues both that a full emissions analysis would be "highly uncertain" and that downstream emissions are "assumed to be roughly equivalent" no matter if offshore oil drilling is expanded or halted.
Phasing out federal oil production will lead to a net reduction of 31 Mt CO2 in 2030, of which 85 percent comes from offshore. Any reduction in federal oil production is partially, but not fully, replaced by other oil sources, natural gas, electricity and biofuels, leaving a net reduction in emissions (yellow bar). (Source: Stockholm Environmental Institute)
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Thankfully, the SEI analysis provides answers to the questions that BOEM doesn't want to ask. The figure above illustrates what would happen if we left federal oil in the ground. Yes, some of the oil would be replaced by oil imported from other regions, some would be replaced by biofuels, natural gas, or electric vehicles. However those substitutions would not make up all of the gap and the difference would translate into reduced overall emissions (that's the yellow bar).
What's more, BOEM seems to have left out a major factor from its analysis. In a separate blog post, SEI notes that BOEM's economic report only looks at the domestic costs and benefits of offshore oil. But oil is a globally traded commodity, and ending U.S. offshore drilling will also cause emissions reductions around the world. Factoring in these global effects shows that the full emissions reduction is about ten times larger than the domestic reduction alone.
BOEM officials seem to see the writing on the wall. BOEM's chief environmental officer recently told reporters that the agency is "seriously discussing" whether to analyze downstream emissions. BOEM's plan may only last for five years, but the carbon emissions that result from this decision will stay in the atmosphere for up to a century, and we will be paying for the costs of those emissions for years to come.
Obama's Last Chance to Reduce Emissions
The report from SEI shows that there is still more that Obama can do before he leaves office -- and still much more to be done.
For each barrel of federal oil that Obama leaves in the ground, he can lower global greenhouse emissions and make it easier for the U.S. to meet and surpass the climate goals agreed to in Paris. Taken together, a moratorium on federal coal and oil extraction would lead to emissions reductions that are similar in size to policies President Obama has already adopted.
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U.S. domestic fossil fuel production assuming implementation of the Clean Power Plan from 1990 to 2040. Red curves show the U.S. share of a global 2 degree C carbon budget. Dark grey region shows the portion of U.S. production from federal lands and waters. (Source: Stockholm Environmental Institute)
However, even taken together, the Clean Power Plan and a federal leasing moratorium would not be enough to put us on a pathway consistent with 2 degrees Celsius -- much less the more ambitious target of 1.5 degrees Celsius that scientists are now realizing we need to hit. More ambitious policies are needed and the window for putting them in place is short.
Before he leaves office, President Obama should end federal offshore leasing and begin a formal review of onshore oil and gas drilling to determine whether those policies are consistent with our climate commitments (hint: they're not). Bold leadership on keeping fossil fuels in the ground would likely make it easier for other countries to adopt similar policies and would add momentum to the climate movement. Similarly, such moves would make Wall Street take notice that investing in risky fossil fuel infrastructure is a bad play.
The fact that Bernie has given the youth of America an idea to stand behind means that Bernie's vision is THE future of Politics in America, and that fact alone gives me more hope than I could have ever imagined.
I became a delegate to the National Convention to show the DNC that the youth of America are paying attention and we DO care what happens in this country. This is a fact that the establishment Politicians have a very easy time forgetting, but we need to show them, that this is a Paradigm shift.
We are not going to sit down and shut up like we were taught in the curriculum that they designed, to keep us submissive, unquestioning, and obedient.
Bernie's message is stronger than that, and we are inspired to STAND UP and question the status quo and demand something better.
We are given hope, and they try to keep us silent with fear, but they don't realize is that hope is stronger than fear.
Watching the House of Representatives debate Pentagon policy and budgeting isn't everyone's cup of tea, to put it mildly. But for those who have time and access to C-SPAN or the House's own streaming service, watching these deliberations can be instructive. It's democracy in action, and it's a sight to behold - but not always in a good way.
I was watching the proceedings late Tuesday afternoon and my ears perked up during the discussion of a number of amendments with implications for how the Pentagon spends money on weapons. These debates often have more to do with protecting parochial interests than they do with high-minded discussions of how best to defend the country. Pork barrel politics - the practice of supporting programs that help one's home district or state whether they are needed or not - often rules the day. And so it went yesterday afternoon.
The first amendment to catch my attention was a proposal by Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR) to add $82.4 million in spending for the PAC-3 missile defense system at the expense of programs aimed at "minimizing, and, when possible, eliminating weapons-usable nuclear material around the world." This is a terrible tradeoff - more money for an amply funded missile defense program at the expense of an effective program that works to keep bomb-making materials out of the hands of terrorists.
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My instincts told me that there must be more to this bad idea than met the eye. And indeed, a little quick googling revealed that the PAC-3 is built in part by Aerojet General in Camden, Arkansas, located in the 4th District of Arkansas, which is represented by - you guessed it! - Rep. Bruce Westerman. Westerman's amendment won the day, in a victory for pork barrel politics over sound policy.
Next up was an amendment brought by Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) to take $17.9 million from the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) - a new long range nuclear missile -- to pay for more investment in an Air Force program designed to protect U.S. military transport planes from the threat posed by shoulder-fired missiles. One could argue about how effective these aircraft protection measures might be, or how much to spend for them overall. But taking a tiny fraction of the billions spent on nuclear weapons to look into how to defend U.S. aircraft seems reasonable.
Garamendi's amendment went down to defeat, in part due to the strenuous objections of Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL). The unofficial world capital of missile defense development - Huntsville, Alabama - is based in Rep. Rogers' home state. And contractors from in and around Huntsville are clamoring for a piece of the new long-range nuclear missile -- a recent meeting there drew 200 companies to meet with Boeing to talk about what it would take for them to become a subcontractor on Boeing's bid for the GBSD. Rep. Rogers may well be a true believer in missile defense and the nuclear weapons buildup, but it's hard to ignore the fact that his state is a huge beneficiary of missile defense and nuclear weapons spending when one hears him debate the issue.
So if we were keeping score at home based on the amendments discussed so far, it would be pork two, policy zero.
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The third amendment I heard discussion on was brought by Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) and was described as follows:
"Requires the Secretary of Defense to ensure that every tactical missile program of the Department of Defense that uses solid propellant as the primary propulsion system shall have at least two fully certified rocket motor suppliers in the event that one of the rocket motor suppliers is outside the national technology and industrial base."
You may rightly ask, what the hell does that mean?
Well, to start with motivations, at this point it may not surprise you to know that a company named Orbital ATK, based in Rocket Center, West Virginia, makes motors for tactical missile systems. The second supplier rule would give Orbital ATK a shot at more missile contracts, and could possibly bring more money into Rep. McKinley's home state.
It should be noted that Orbital ATK lost the contract for engines for the AMRAAM in 2010 because it was providing engines that were so unreliable in testing that the entire AMRAAM production process had to be delayed by two years. So a Norwegian company filled in the gap and provided working engines that allowed the AMRAAM program to get moving again. Basically Rep. McKinley was trying to get his home state company an inside track towards getting back business it had lost because of its own past failures.
Unfortunately for Mr. McKinley, his amendment drew a formidable adversary, Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ). As a former fighter pilot and 26-year Air Force veteran, McSally knows a bit about tactical missiles. And she has her own local interest in the issue. On March 22nd of this year, a Raytheon unit based in Tucson, Arizona - in Rep. McSally's district -- received a $573 million contract for work on the AMRAAM. One of the things Rep. McSally noted in her remarks was that requiring second engine makers to be certified could once again slow production of tactical missiles, including the AMRAAM.
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So at first glance the rocket motor fracas appears to be a case of pork-versus-pork. But upon closer inspection, the rocket motor debate is a win for policy. Rep. McKinley's amendment failed (by one vote!), meaning that his parochial attempt to change Pentagon regulations to help a hometown firm was turned back. And Rep. McSally's contention that adding a new requirement in this area was unnecessary and counterproductive makes sense. So perhaps this is a win for policy over pork (with an asterisk). Sometimes a member can argue the right policy even though they have a company in their state with a stake in the outcome. But unfortunately, parochial concerns trump good policy more often than not.
It's also important to note that the arms lobby - or the military-industrial complex, to borrow Eisenhower's phrase - doesn't always get its way. When Lockheed Martin tried to extend the production run for its immensely expensive F-22 combat aircraft, a coalition of peace and good government groups joined hands with President Obama to stop them. When General Electric tried to get itself a piece of the action on the F-35 program by arguing for the wasteful step of having a second engine supplier, a right-left coalition in the House stopped them. And when the arms lobby poured big money into an effort to lift the caps on Pentagon spending by falsely claiming that keeping the caps would cost the economy a million jobs, they were unsuccessful. And the arms makers also lost credibility for their repeated claim that Pentagon spending is an essential job creator, when research conducted at the University of Massachusetts in fact suggests that almost any other use of the same money creates more jobs than Pentagon spending.
As a young girl, I remember my grandfather saying to me, "You're black, you're black, you're black. It doesn't matter how much white blood you have, you'll always be, and always be seen as black." My black grandfather said the words but my white relatives reinforced the message with their actions.
Growing up with a black mom and a white dad has been central to my life experience. I struggled to fully fit into one identity as each side of my family imposed its views on my identity. The black side of my family said it directly: I could never completely fit into the white community. My white grandfather, aunts and cousins were never comfortable enough to directly confront the strain that race placed on our relationships. Yet the tension of race always slipped into our encounters.
When we were young, my father would regularly take my sister and me to visit his family in upstate New York. Looking back, these memories are tinged by recollections of strange behaviors. One day, after my sister and I took one of our many swims down to the lighthouse, my aunt looked at our hair and said, "your hair is too wild, it's so difficult!" I cringed -- her words filled me with disgust and frustration. The behaviors of my father's family continually pointed to this singular difference of race -- when they gave us skin colored band-aids (which were actually too dark for our skin tone), volumes and volumes of Temptations CDs, and the strangest gift of all, eleven black dolls dressed in different animal costumes. With each visit upstate, my feelings of discomfort became stronger. My sister and I were always included in the family, but there was a growing sense of awkwardness that seemed to justify the words of my black grandfather. No matter how hard my white relatives tried to make it appear that they were comfortable with our racial differences, their behavior ultimately helped push me to choose an identity, black.
The choice proved to be complicated. I began to identify as black internally, and at the same time, externally, I was still seeking acceptance from the white community. Early on, I used my hair as a way to conform to white expectations. I tamed my wild curly locks by straightening them, changing an aspect of myself so that I would blend in with my friends at school. Gradually, I realized that more of my friends were people of color, and I experienced a level of comfort I had never felt before. By the end of 9th grade, after years of conforming to the expectations of others, I let my hair go natural, freeing both my hair and myself. Feeling liberated, I felt a new sense of confidence and pride in my multiracial identity as I embraced my black heritage more than my white roots. I made this choice under pressure from both my black and white sides. They made it seem that one culture had to dominate.
Looking back, having to make a choice at all is unsettling. In making one side dominant, I abandoned a piece of myself. People shouldn't feel that it is necessary to abandon a part of their identity in order to be accepted.
Now, identifying as multiracial, I am learning to get beyond the pressures that were placed upon me as a young girl. While my connection and sense of affinity with the African-American community grows increasingly stronger, I continue to lean into my multiracial identity, although I sometimes feel a lingering sense of unease. I work through these vulnerabilities by reaching out and supporting others who seem to be experiencing similar struggles. Every now and then, I feel the urge to safely lock away my curls, but I do not give in to this temptation.
JOSH EDELSON via Getty Images Apple CEO Tim Cook gestures during a media event at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California on March 21, 2016.Apple on Monday unveiled a new iPhone with a four-inch screen, aiming to reach consumers looking for a handset that is more affordable and compact than its flagship models. / AFP / Josh Edelson (Photo credit should read JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images)
Mumbai: Apple's CEO Tim Cook has commenced his India visit today with a visit to the Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai. This is Cook's first visit to the country after taking the CEO job at the tech giant in 2011, succeeding its legendary founder Steve Jobs. He is expected to visit Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi this week. Meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry and others are reportedly on the cards.
The visit kicked off with the news that the company, which has started taking India seriously only very recently, will open an iOS app development accelerator in Bangalore.
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Cook arrived here from China, where Apple has just invested $1 billion in the taxi company Didi Chuxing. The cab hailing company owns equity in Indian taxi-aggregator Ola, which is Uber's main rival here.
After arriving yesterday at night, Tim Cook has camped at Taj Hotel in Mumbai. He was seen chatting with Mukesh Ambani's son Akash Ambani, who is also chief strategy officer at Reliance Industries' telecom venture Jio. Cook is expected to meet Vodafone CEO Sunil Sood and executives from India's startup community to discuss the expansion of Apple and iOS. Cook will also meet Maharashtra's Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Apple CEO's next stop will be Hyderabad, where he will visit the location of Apple's new development center. This will be the company's first development center outside the US. Apple executives will also meet Telangana CM K. Chandrashekhar Rao and IT minister K. Rama Rao. Apple also plans to launch an accelerator program for startups.
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In Gurugram, the Apple team will visit company's corporate center in One Horizon Centre. Later, they will take a tour of iZen Apple reseller store in Green Park and iWorld Store in Ambience mall. Cook will also have a meeting with Bharti Airtel's chairman Sunil Mittal. Cook thinks that the development of smartphone market in India is not fast enough because of the slow 4G network rollout. He has said that the country is almost 7 years behind China in the evolution of the smartphone market.
Last year, when Modi visited the US, Cook had met with him in Silicon Valley. In the last meeting, Modi invited Apple to start manufacturing in India under the 'Make In India' Program. Cook also discussed the possibility of getting Apple Pay to India. Foxxconn, a major Chinese manufacturer that builds the iPhone and other Apple products, already has some plans to open manufacturing units in India. According to a report they have found a place to set up a factory in Maharashtra.
As sales growth has stagnated in mature markets, Apple has increasingly given more attention to India. In January, Apple had applied to open their own stores in the country. And now the company has confirmed that it will open the stores in India by 2017-end.
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Cook has often expressed the importance of India for Apple. Even amidst company's first quarter of setback in years, India has shown a year-on-year growth of 56 percent.
Recently, Apple faced a setback in the Indian market as telecom ministry of India rejected their application to import and sell refurbished phones in the country. This was Apple's bid to gain some market share by selling used phones at a discounted rate as most of the phones sold in India are under 25,000 and most Apple models are priced much higher.
ASSOCIATED PRESS The Apple logo is seen atop the Apple Store Thursday, March 31, 2016, in Palo Alto, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Apple has announced today that it is going to open an iOS app design and development center in Bengaluru. This initiative is taken by Apple to support the development community in India who are making apps for the devices such as iPhone and iPad.
This app development center is the first of its kind in Asia. The purpose of this centre is to help the developers make better apps with the help of the experts from the company and outside. Apple will work with them to provide guidance on various aspects such as design, quality, and function of the apps. The center will be opened in early 2017.
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India is home to one of the most vibrant and entrepreneurial iOS development communities in the world. With the opening of this new facility in Bengaluru, were giving developers access to tools which will help them create innovative apps for customers around the world, said Tim Cook, Apples CEO in a press statement.
The company plans to schedule expert sessions every week. And the app developers will get one-on-one review sessions with the Apple team for the improvement of the app. The Cupertino-based company is pushing their own programming language Swift, which was first announced in 2014.
India's startup community applauded the announcement. "Apples support will help drive growth and accelerate progress among the countrys vast talent pool," said Zomato's CEO Deepinder Goyal.
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We have worked closely with Apple to transform the Snapdeal app and offer our users the best possible experience, said Snapdeal co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl. NASSCOM President R Chandrashekhar said that the center will help in the growth of the talented developer community present in India.
Apple is going to open their stores in India by the end of 2017 in four cities as per a report in Factordaily. Earlier this year, Apple had announced their first app development center for Europe in Italy.
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Ramesh Lalwani via Getty Images Apex court in India
A Muslim woman has approached the Supreme Court seeking a ban on the triple talaq system after she was divorced over speed post. Afreen Rehman got married two years ago and had been living with her in-laws.
The 25-year old Jaipur resident said she was harassed by her in-laws over dowry and was kicked out of their home.
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They started to beat me and in September my in-laws asked me to leave their place. Thereafter, I came to my maternal home and after some time received a speed post from my husband announcing divorce, Rehman told Zee News.
According to Muslim Personal Law, a man can divorce his wife by saying talaq three times, a custom that has already been challenged in the Supreme Court.
In February, the Supreme Court, upon receiving a complaint from a divorced Muslim woman, had sought the centres response on the validity of such a law.
Last year, the Muslim Personal Law Board had said there was no scope of change in the triple talaq system and rejected the suggestion by some community outfits for building a consensus on making a three-month period mandatory before finalisation of divorce.
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Though as per Quran and Hadith, "triple talaq" is a crime, but once said the process would be considered complete and cannot be changed, Muslim Personal Law Board spokesman Maulana Abdul Raheem Qureshi had then said.
(With PTI Inputs)
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STRDEL via Getty Images Indian Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor gestures during the trailer launch of the forthcoming Hindi film All Is Well directed by Umesh Shukla in Mumbai late July 1, 2015. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images)
Offended by Rishi Kapoors comments against the Gandhi family, Congress workers on Wednesday staged a protest outside the actor's Bandra house.
The workers pelted stones and shouted slogans protesting against the actors tweets questioning naming of national assets after the Gandhi family.
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Late last night Kapoor lashed out at the Congress party, particularly at the Gandhi family, for naming national assets after its family members.
'Baap ka maal samajh rakha tha kya?' Kapoor had tweeted.
Change Gandhi family assets named by Congress.Bandra/Worli Sea Link to Lata Mangeshkar or JRD Tata link road. Baap ka maal samjh rakha tha ? Rishi Kapoor (@chintskap) May 17, 2016
Kapoor insisted that Gandhi family assets named by Congress should be changed.
If roads in Delhi can be changed why not Congress assets/property ke naam? Was in Chandigarh wahan bhi Rajeev Gandhi assets? Socho? Why? Rishi Kapoor (@chintskap) May 17, 2016
"He seems to have forgotten his legendary father Raj Kapoor's association with former PM Indira Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi, Indira and Rajiv Gandhi have laid down their lives for the nation so there is nothing wrong is naming assets after them," NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said, according to PTI.
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We must name important assets of the country who have contributed to society. Har cheez Gandhi ke naam? I don't agree. Sochna log! Rishi Kapoor (@chintskap) May 17, 2016
The NCP too took strong objection to Kapoor's tweets on naming major assets after the Gandhi family.
"The Kapoor brothers have amassed large fortune over the years and if Rishi Kapoor wants an asset in his father's name, the family should spend some money for the welfare of people," he added.
(With PTI Inputs)
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The trailers and songs for Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Randeep Hooda-starrer Sarabjit may be getting a lot of media attention, but there's one person who wants more: the film's co-producer Bhushan Kumar.
Speaking at a promotional event, Kumar of T-Series, was of the opinion that the number of foreign films released in India should be limited.
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"English movies releasing in India should be confined to a certain number. With X-Men: Apocalypse releasing on the same day we may have a tough competition. But each of these two movies have their own niche audience, so there's not much to worry about," he said, according to The Indian Express.
This year, highly-anticipated Hollywood films like Kung Fu Panda 3, The Jungle Book, Captain America: Civil War and Deadpool, among others, have earned more money than many big-budget Hindi movies. The Jungle Book is this year's highest-grossing movie so far, having pulled in nearly Rs 180 crore, while the biggest success from Bollywood, Airlift, grossed Rs 127.80 crore, according to Koimoi.com.
Sarbjit, which is set to hit the theatres on 20 May, was recently screened at the at the 69th Cannes International Film Festival.
The film is based on the real-life-story of Indian farmer Sarabjit Singh, who strayed into Pakistan. He was convicted of terrorism and spying in Pakistan and sentenced to death. But he died following a brutal attack by fellow prisoners in Lahore jail.
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ISHARA S.KODIKARA via Getty Images Sri Lankan residents travel by boat through the floodwaters in Pugoda, about 35 kms from capital Colombo on May 17, 2016.Heavy rains claimed three more lives in Sri Lanka on May 17, raising weather-related deaths to 11 as more than 50,000 families were driven out of their flooded homes, officials said / AFP / ISHARA S.KODIKARA (Photo credit should read ISHARA S.KODIKARA/AFP/Getty Images)
Forty have been feared dead and hundreds buried in landslides in Sri Lanka after torrential rains and flash floods lashed the island country over the last two days.
With the disaster forcing people out of their homes, around 2,00,000 people have found refuge in welfare centres while estimates are as many as 3,46,000 people have been affected by the disaster, according a CNN news report.
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Rains lashed the country throughout Tuesday, flooding a major part of Colombo. Sri Lanka Red Cross said its employees have been placed on alert to assist anyone who may be affected by the bad weather.
Relief operations are continuing and the military has been deployed in several areas, according to news reports.
The armed forces have also been put on alert. As many as eight districts have been issued landslide warnings, PTI reported.
According to the weather department, Katunayake, just outside Colombo, recorded the highest rain fall of more than 260 millimeters over the past two days.
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However, the situation seems to be getting better with rains easing on Wednesday.
"The low pressure area is moving away from Sri Lanka so the rainy conditions over the island will be reduced to some extent, but strong wind conditions will continue for a few more days," PTI reported, quoting Malinda Millagoda, a meteorologist.
Yesterday, three international flights were diverted to Kochi in India due to bad weather conditions prevailing in Sri Lanka, Airport officials said.
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Hindustan Times via Getty Images NEW DELHI, INDIA - JANUARY 9: BJP leader Subramanian Swamy during a seminar on the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya where he asserted that nothing will be done forcibly or against the law, at Delhi Universityas North Campus, on January 9, 2016 in New Delhi, India. Swamy also claimed that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had supported the temple and asked the Congress to do the same. (Photo by Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
He wants to be a one-man show called Swamy and No Friends.
Dr. Subramanian Swamy has legions of followers in social media but he seems hell-bent on making sure he has far more influential enemies.
The Gandhis were not enough. So now hes trained his guns on RBI governor Raghuram Rajan.
Swamy who had ambitions of being Indias finance minister understands economics. But he knows that going after Rajan for the Wholesale Price Index or short term lending rates will make people's eyes glaze over. But his patriotism? That's a different story.
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In his letter to the Prime Minister, Swamy accuses Rajan of being mentally not fully Indian because he has renewed his green card while being the governor of the Reserve Bank of India.
Rajan is on leave from his job as professor of finance at the University of Chicago. And that makes him not shuddh desi enough. This sounds ludicrous and would be funny if Swamy, the newly minted Rajya Sabha MP, did not also write in his letter to the PM that the actions of Dr Rajan lead me to believe that he is acting more as a disrupter of the Indian economy than the person who wants the Indian economy to improve.
Now we come to a stage where someone like Raghuram Rajan has to do nothing. He does not have to shout slogans. He does not have to refuse to shout slogans. He does not have to not tear posters off walls. He can be adjudged mentally not fully Indian merely because he is a green card holder...
While many analysts including those supportive of the BJP have disputed Swamys characterization of Rajans economic decisions, whats more dangerous is drawing a direct line connecting Dr. Rajans green card to doubting, not his judgement but his motivation. Raghuram Rajan is being made a Trojan horse from Chicago and Swamy wants the Prime Minister to send him packing.
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Swamy has effectively lobbed a new definition of anti-national at us.
The BJP has been obsessed lately with wanting to define anti-national on its own terms. The Kanhaiya Kumar fracas at JNU was a major foray into that arena. Sloganeering became the litmus test of anti-nationalism. Did they shout, or not shout, slogans calling for the break-up of India? Did they shout slogans supporting Afzal Guru, convicted by Indian courts and hanged? The Supreme Court had ruled in 1995 that even slogans like Khalistan Zindabad are not seditious. But that was roundly ignored in the rush to brand dissenters de facto anti-national. Then some in the BJP decided to make shouting Bharat Mata ki Jai the pro-active litmus test of nationalism. And those who refused, for whatever reason, were dubbed anti-national.
Anupam Kher took that anti-national definition a step further. When Kher was told that outsiders raised those Afzal Guru slogans at JNU, he had his retort ready. Aah, he said, but did you tear those anti-national posters down? You didnt? Gotcha, anti-national.
Soon after that the National Council for Promotion of Urdu got into some hot water for a declaration it required from its authors that The contents of the book, periodical, manuscript, magazine and project do not have any material which is against the national interest or which may create any sort of hatred amongst the different sections of the society."
Thus the definition of patriotism and nationalism gets more and more rigid. Salil Tripathi writes in Mint Patriotism is being redefined now, measured by the decibel level at which you can shout a particular slogan, and your nationalism is identified by what you shouldnt eat, mustnt read, cant watch, and certainly not share or like on social media.
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Now we come to a stage where someone like Raghuram Rajan has to do nothing. He does not have to shout slogans. He does not have to refuse to shout slogans. He does not have to not tear posters off walls. He can be adjudged mentally not fully Indian merely because he is a green card holder teaching at an American university and doing his job but not the way Swamy wants him to. In the world according to Swamy, the green card is clinching proof of the fact that he cannot have Indias best interests at heart. Those things are rendered mutually incompatible. He is a permanent resident alien in American law and equally suspect alien in Swamys eyes.
One would like to think this does not matter. Swamy is the master of fulminations. He is the closest thing we have to a Donald Trump, writes Manu Joseph. In the likes of Trump and Swamy, writes Joseph, people find an outlet from despotic and stifling political correctness. But thats doing Swamy a disservice. Trump is tapping into an American anger with both major parties, a man prone to gaffes, who seems often unable to complete a sentence coherently, a true interloper in politics.
One cannot help but suspect that the brandishing of Raghuram Rajans American green card will be a red flag to many in the RSS.
Swamy is the designated MP of the ruling party. He is far more calculating in his broadsides. His attacks are far more deliberate and planned. He knows his law inside out. He is a gadfly but he does his homework. He played the green card deliberately because he likes to set the cat among the pigeons.
In his latest avatar, the man who once warned us about the creeping fascism of the RSS, now leads the information campaign on the Shri Ram Mandir for the RSS. Delhis RSS media liaison Rajiv Tuli said BJP leader Subramanian Swamy will provide the right perspective and put forth facts over Ram temple construction in Ayodhya to RSS volunteers and sympathisers, who in turn, will help stop the disinformation campaign on the issue on social media.
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One cannot help but suspect that the brandishing of Raghuram Rajans American green card will be a red flag to many in the RSS. The RSS and its sister organizations have been at loggerheads with many aspects of the Modi governments economic policies. The Swadeshi Jagran Manch went after FDI with as much zeal at the CPM. The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh went on strike against privatization. These might not have much to do with Rajan per se. But as Swamy goes to battle against Rajan for his own reasons, it would be very handy to have the RSS on his side. And casting aspersion on Rajans Indian-ness can be the easiest way to rally the troops.
In the process millions of Indians who live and work abroad for many different reasons will also find their credentials questioned. But Swamy has always been happy to pursue a scorched earth policy to achieve his objectives.
Mentally not full Indian sounds like a joke, crying out for a meme. But its really a new low. The economic allegations can be debated and debunked as Mint does in five short reasons here but that green card aspersion will hang around like a bad smell, setting a dangerous precedent to go after a class of people.
Swamy might have just created the latest iteration in the evolving project of the new anti-national. He has given us the (green) card-carrying anti-national.
Also See On HuffPost:
Hindustan Times via Getty Images NEW DELHI, INDIA - MAY 10: Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi at Parliament House, on May 10, 2016 in New Delhi, India. The Lok Sabha, where the BJP has a majority has cleared it, but not in Rajya Sabha, where the party has weak strength. The NDA-government has already missed the April 1 deadline set for GST and with no progress in the budget session too, the country will have to wait more for this to happen. (Photo by Arvind Yadav/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
The Women and Child Development Ministry unveiled the draft of the National Policy for Women, 2016 today. The draft, which was prepared by the Vajpayee government in 2001, had been lying in the cold storage since then. Consequently, it didn't make for a consummate plan to battle the economic discrimination, physical violence and social prejudices that women face on this day and time. It was also drafted at a time when internet and social media wasn't entrenched in socio-political narratives.
Thus, the old bill was updated and now the government believes that it has been able to successfully 'articulate' a 'vision for women's empowerment' which will also help in the 'elimination of all forms of violence against women'.
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News articles and social media rang with jubilation since the bill decided to take into account the abuse women face on social media platforms and treat it as a form of violence punishable by law.
Dripping with confidence, the bill uses the word 'eliminate' to describe its approach to various forms of violence and discrimination against women. Now, elimination is a powerful word, one that indicates that the government is resolutely going to weed out biases and prejudices that encourage, nurture and endorse violence and discrimination against women.
So, after reading what the bill promises right at the beginning, I searched for the word 'marital rape' in the document. And it yielded zero results.
After reading what the bill promises right at the beginning, I searched for the word 'marital rape' in the document. And it yielded zero results.
Perhaps, the bill has addressed the issue somewhere later in the various sections in it? After all, it lists 'violence' under 'priority areas' that needs focus and work. So, I jump to the section that explains the measures that the government intends to take to 'eliminate' violence against women.
Yet again, I run into a bunch of re-assuring catch-words - 'holistic perspective', 'combat' and the promise of battling violence and abuse through 'a combination of laws, programs of services with the support of various stakeholders'.
And just to heighten the irony, the same paragraph also valiantly declares that the government looks forward to help battle 'violence faced by women in the private sphere of home, public spaces and at workplace'. Yet, no mention of marital rape.
The bill then proceeds to promise initiatives to curb trafficking, increase participation of women in the judiciary, enable sensitisation by holding dialogues with boys and girls, empower various government agencies to work together to solve gender-related issues, fast track courts... and still, NO MENTION OF MARITAL RAPE.
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It's as if, it doesn't exist. Oh wait... it indeed doesn't. In this government, and many other governments' understanding of the duties and privileges that come with being a part of the great Indian family, marital rape exists only in a prickly feminist's imagination. In fact, many, including some in the government, believe 'marital rape' is what feminists and women's right activists like to call legitimate conjugal rights of a man. And that marriage means irrevocable and perpetual consent.
In fact, many, including some in the government, believe 'marital rape' is what feminists and women's right activists like to call legitimate conjugal rights of a man. And that marriage means irrevocable and perpetual consent.
We stumbled upon this video of women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi explaining... sorry, rationalising, the fact that the government has not made an effort to criminalise marital rape.
During an interview conducted by NDTV, a young girl, during the Q&A session asks Gandhi how is it fair that a man forces himself on his wife and he is not punished for it?
So Gandhi quips, "Let me ask you a question. You're married. Your husband comes home drunk one day. Or he comes home in bad temper. He has been dismissed... somebody... or a woman in his office, a superior has ticked him off, and he wants to take revenge against somebody. And the only person he can find is you, so he forces himself on you. What would you do? Would you go to the police the next morning?"
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By this time, you may be looking at the computer screen and screaming. "Hell, yes!", Gandhi answers the question for you. She says, with a hint of a smile, "You would not."
She comes tantalisingly close to rationalising rape--almost saying that a man's ego bruised, god forbid by a woman, usually recuperates by inflicting violence on his wife.
She uses the word 'marital rape'--thereby acknowledging that it exists--and also admits that it occurs more often that we would like to believe, but says the government can do nothing about it. She adds that there has been no complaints of marital rape and says that 'it is included' in the law against sexual violence (it isn't, as a matter of fact) and women don't complain as long as they are married. Is that why there should be no law?
She uses the word 'marital rape'--thereby acknowledging that it exists--and also admits that it occurs more often that we would like to believe, but says the government can do nothing about it.
In fact, this article points out that the Domestic Violence Act 2005 comes close to offering a remedy but falls short. "It condones sexual abuse in a domestic relationship of marriage or a live-in, only if it is life threatening or grievously hurtful. It is not about the freedom of decision of a womans wants," the article points out.
And Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code IPC, which deals with rape, says, "Sexual intercourse by man with his own wife, the wife not being under 15 years of age, is not rape.
The Indian Law Journal article points out: "This section in dealing with sexual assault, in a very narrow purview lays down that, an offence of rape within marital bonds stands only if the wife be less than 12 years of age, if she be between 12 to 16 years, an offence is committed, however, less serious, attracting milder punishment. Once, the age crosses 16, there is no legal protection accorded to the wife, in direct contravention of human rights regulations."
Maneka Gandhi seems to believe that since marital rape is something the country is not ready to discuss, the government should also turn a blind eye to it.
She seems to believe that since marital rape is something the country is not ready to discuss, the government should also turn a blind eye to it. Somehow, she makes framing a law sound like opening a restaurant--unprofitable if no one ever uses it. She further argues that countries in the West which have laws against marital rape, hardly get complaints. So perhaps, in her opinion, it's no use having the bureaucracy and legislature funded by our taxes, come up with a law that she suspects will be sparingly used.
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The irony here is, she gets what marital rape is, unlike many others who don't. She talks about 'bruises in places you don't want to show anyone', she talks about 'crying all night, she talks about 'screaming'. In fact, she verbally reconstructs an incident of marital rape in the most chaffing, compelling language. And then she throws her hands up and declares, the government has no help to offer. None.
Carlo Allegri / Reuters Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook laughs as he speaks during a event for students to learn to write computer code at the Apple store in the Manhattan borough of New York, December 9, 2015. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
Apple Inc is set to announce plans to expand its Indian software development centre and build an accelerator programme for local start-ups, two sources aware of the investment said on Tuesday, hours before Chief Executive Tim Cook's maiden visit.
Cook, who arrives in India late on Tuesday, is making his Indian debut just as the country emerges as one of the last large growth markets in the smartphone world, while sales in the United States and China begin to taper off.
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Among other officials, he is due to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi later in the week.
Over 100 million smartphones were sold in India last year, a number that is expected to grow by 25 percent this year. Sales of Apple's iPhones - which have a two percent market share in the country - grew 56 percent in the first three months of 2016.
Earlier this year, Apple opened a development centre in Hyderabad, also home to Microsoft's first India office, where engineers are working on Apple Maps.
The sources did not detail the size of the fresh investment.
The company is also expected to announce plans for a startup accelerator in India to work more closely with the Indian developer community that works on Apple's iOS and OS X software platforms, one of the sources said.
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An Apple spokesman declined to comment.
"Cook's visit shows how important India has become for Apple and will likely set the stage for the expansion of Apple ecosystem in India," said Vishal Tripathi, research director at Gartner.
Indian government sources said Modi is likely to press Cook to set up production facilities in India, as part of the government's plan to find jobs for millions of Indians joining the workforce every year.
Apple is in separate talks to open its first official retail store in the world's third-largest smartphone market.
Cook's India visit, which one of the sources said could run into the weekend, also includes meetings with industry partners.
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There has been a lot of speculation around the alleged relationship between Nargis Fakhri and Uday Chopra. While neither of them has publicly acknowledged each other as their romantic partner, news outlets continue to report the many happenings in their supposed love life.
A recent report inDNA suggested that Chopra broke-up with Fakhri over a WhatsApp message, texting her 'It's Over.' So heartbroken was Fakhri after this unceremonious break-up that she decided to take off to New York for a one-month break, the report suggested. A Bollywood Life story also said that Fakhri is 'quitting' Bollywood as Chopra had called off their marriage plans.
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Responding to these claims, Fakhri's spokesperson released a comment, saying, "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, who's exhausted. She has no plans to leave B-Town and will be back to sets to complete the pending patchwork for her film Banjo June 2nd week onwards with Riteish Deshmukh. 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 to her being here for good"
This added more fuel to the already raging firestorm.
While usually the one to Tweet instead of giving out a statement to the press, Chopra felt, this time, the press had gone a bit too far and released a statement this afternoon.
"I normally dont respond to gossip, but the press has been reporting a lot of fiction disguised as fact. I would just like to clarify that Nargis and I have been and still are very close friends. The press has done a wonderful job of creating stories out of thin air and I applaud their creativity. However these are all untrue."
Chopra has never shied away from indulging in virtual PDA and routinely sends out flirtatious Tweets to Fakhri. The two also took off for a vacation in Maldives, triggering more speculations of a hush-hush romance.
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Nargis Fakhri and Uday Chopra snapped in Maldives
But that of course, cannot be conclusive proof of their relationship. Close friends go to places like Maldives all the time for holidays, don't they now.
5X Grammy Winner Calls YouTube Criminal Racketeers In Open Letter To Pushers Of Piracy
In an "Open Letter to YouTube, 'Pushers' of Piracy" composer, bandleader and five-time Grammy winner Maria Schneider leaves no stone unthrown as she goes after Google and its YouTube subsidiary: " for the vast majority of the artistic community, including me, and every musician I know (and I know thousands), YouTube is a resounding disaster."
Here is the full text of the open letter first published on Chris Castle's Music Technology Policy:
Open Letter to YouTube, Pushers of Piracy
by Maria Schneider
Hank Greens recent open letter in support of YouTube (that was in response to Irving Azoffs open and scathing letter against YouTube) deserves a strong response from musicians and other creators. I appreciate YouTubes illegal business model might yield a few anecdotal success stories like Mr. Greens and his videos of opening beer bottles with antlers, but for the vast majority of the artistic community, including me, and every musician I know (and I know thousands), YouTube is a resounding disaster.
Theres no use in beating around the bush, so Im going to cut to the chase Im of the firm opinion that YouTube should immediately lose its DMCA safe harbor status. And Im of the further opinion that YouTube is guilty of racketeering. Let me explain:
YouTube is Not Entitled to Safe Harbor Status
YouTube and its parent Alphabet have obliterated the original meaning of the safe harbor law with their bullying and coercive schemes to get their users to disrespect and ignore copyright.
YouTube squeaked past its litigation with Viacom by settling their case after a four-year mutual war of attrition. But what came out of that litigation was the best measuring stick for whether YouTube is still entitled to the protections of the safe harbor. The most important directive from the court in those Viacom decisions goes something like this: If YouTube is substantially influencing their user behavior toward infringing, then YouTube is not entitled to the safe harbor. Its that straightforward.
And without doubt, since 2014, YouTube has substantially influenced the behavior of hundreds of millions of its users toward infringement, fermenting a veritable pirate orgy. YouTube goes way beyond turning a blind eye to the marauding masses; it actively seduces its users into illegal behavior, and has even managed to make its users believe pirate behavior is beneficial to creators. Hank Greens latest letter illustrates that perfectly, by explaining how YouTubes Content ID scheme has been building and morphing since its inception, further contributing to making YouTube and Google a global empire, causing a seismic, cataclysmic shift in creative culture in our country and the world at large.
The vast majority of music on YouTube is uploaded by people with no legal right to do so users whom YouTube has carefully molded and brainwashed. And Im meeting more and more young musicians who feel a growing resentment at being duped into being a part of cannibalistic behavior that is destroying their own financial future to the benefit of a corporate giant.
Here are a few things that the Viacom judges never got to hear things that in my opinion should immediately kick YouTube out of the safe harbor.
Ways in Which YouTube Substantially Influences User Behavior
A. YouTube allows infringers to monetize illegally uploaded work, encouraging a culture of piracy. And even after a takedown, YouTube and the infringers keep their past illegal profits for themselves.
B. YouTube has created technologies that allow lightning fast uploads of full tracks and albums, with no questions asked of the uploader, with no checkpoints of any kind. YouTube knows full well there is almost never fair use for full tracks and albums. So, to encourage this type of uploading can only be seen as blatant encouragement of out and out infringement.
C. YouTube is using Content ID to make users feel good about themselves as they upload work that they dont own. YouTube baits users to upload to their hearts content and feel helpful to copyright owners. But for those of us who werent accepted into YouTubes Content ID protection program, or didnt agree to drink the purple Kool-Aid of licensing our entire catalogue to YouTube for monetization, tough luck youre left with an anemic takedown remedy. YouTube should proactively direct users to a library of licensed music before they upload, rather than perpetuate the notion that one can upload anything, without inquiry and responsibility. As it stands, YouTube emboldens users to assume its OK to upload indiscriminately.
D. YouTube has publicly offered to pay attorneys fees up to a million dollars of some users who feel theyve wrongly received takedown notices. This publicity stunt emboldens all users to feel that YouTube has their back. What a way to intimidate the creator and stir up the infringer.
E. YouTube consistently demonizes and intimidates musicians in the takedown process, publicly posting our names and making public apologies for our takedowns accompanied by a sad face. And inversely, they protect the identity of the user who has infringed the creators work. This public demonization of creators, contrasted by protection of the user, is unbalanced, and empowers the user to feel they are in the right. The public apology should be from YouTube itself.
F. YouTube turns a blind eye to beyond-obvious-infringement, and users know that YouTube purposely looks the other way. Go to YouTube and search no infringement intended, I dont own this, but, I just want to share this music, and millions of examples instantly appear where users openly admit to not owning the music or having the rights, but simply want to share it. Google, the indisputable king of data certainly has the analytics to search this stuff and inform those that are breaking the law.
G. YouTube intentionally confuses and misleads users about the importance of copyright rights, offering utterly inane educational videos. Watch Copyright Basics or Copyright School to see how YouTube completely downplays creators rights, and overplays the impact of fair use without clarification. And YouTubes legal eagle, Fred von Lohmann, even lectures creators about censoring negative commentary in Copyright Basics, so his hypocrisy at having disabled the publics comments on these pathetic videos was not lost on me. Any judge would be repulsed by YouTubes hubris and arrogance displayed in these ghastly videos. Considering that music is the most popular category of content on YouTube, it stands to follow that any educational video should at very least say to all users, full tracks and albums almost never qualify as fair use.
For years, YouTube has been a pusher of pirate activity on its unsuspecting users. The sweeping influence of their scam has succeeded in dismantling copyright from the inside, like a flesh-eating virus, influencing citizens to destroy themselves. Any company influencing behavior like this, especially for the purposes of eroding Constitutional rights, should lose their safe harbor.
Withholding Content ID from Creators is Outrageous.
There are other grounds for kicking YouTube out of the safe harbor. To be in it, the law (section 512(i) which is written in terms even a non-lawyer like me can read) requires that YouTube make available to any person on reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms standard technical measures to identify or protect copyrighted works. Well guess what: YouTube has completely ignored that requirement, and struts around like a banty rooster while doing it.
Content ID is pretty standard fingerprinting stuff, and there are other companies that have similarly effective fingerprinting technologies like Audible Magic. Fingerprinting has become standard, and YouTube certainly uses it very effectively when it comes to monetizing mountains of licensed works. The DMCA makes it very clear YouTube needs to make that technology available to ANY (the word any is in the law) musician, not just the big powerful companies. And certainly the technology shouldnt be able to be used to instead coerce copyright holders into monetizing their catalogues instead of protecting them. The scheme is clear: wear copyright owners down, and then theyll be on their knees for any scraps at all. Im so sorry that so many big companies caved in to that pressure. YouTube has brought nearly everyone in our business to our knees.
You wont see me drinking YouTubes purple Kool-Aid. They refused me Content ID without any real explanation, but it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out the truth. This truth about fingerprinting is exposed in Hank Greens own letter. The truth even more came to light in Zoe Keatings Billboard article.
Clearly, after training their unsuspecting users to be pirates, the next tactic is to muscle the weak copyright holders into an all-or-nothing chokehold. They never wanted creators protecting their work with Content ID at all they want them monetizing their work, for YouTubes benefit. (And by the way, YouTube keeps about 2/3rds of the gross ad revenue read East Bay Rays helpful explanation.) Clearly, the only companies that get some protection from the Content ID service are ones licensing huge amounts of music, and then they probably get to offset a certain amount of work to be protected from upload at all. Im guessing a few big artists get to use Content ID as intended the ones that YouTube would want to keep quiet. Its hard to know the whole ugly truth that YouTube hides from us behind the NDAs Keating spoke about.
The Emperor (or Data Lord) Has No Clothes
So if we take away YouTubes safe harbor, what do we have left? Its standing there naked, exposed for what it is a huge pirate schemer, manipulating and using a lot of vulnerable people in order to feed their own greed, while intimidating and controlling the rest of the people that dont feed their needs the people that need to be kept out of YouTubes way. In my opinion this scheme is an old-fashioned racket.
YouTube is Guilty of Criminal Racketeering
YouTube has thoroughly twisted, contorted, and abused the original meaning of the outdated DMCA safe harbor to create a massive income redistribution scheme, where income is continually transferred from the pockets of musicians and creators of all types, and siphoned directly into their own pockets. Congress seems to be too hypnotized by Alphabet lobbyists, swarming like locusts, for the lawmakers to stand up straight with a firm sense of right and wrong, and defend the Constitution and the citizens of this country.
When we analyze the bullying behavior of YouTube, in my opinion YouTube has created an illegal business through intimidation the classic Websters Dictionary definition of racketeering.
Racketeer: a person who makes money through illegal activities; one who obtains money by an illegal enterprise, usually involving intimidation.
So lets look at just a few examples of intimidating behavior YouTube shoves at us in the back alleys of its monstrous empire.
A. YouTubes first intimidation is that you cant join Content ID, unless you fit its special secret criteria, which we dont know what it really is, but which appears to be that you must offer up your whole catalogue for monetization, in order to get the benefit of the technology. And it must be a big catalogue, clearly bigger than mine.
B. YouTubes second intimidation is making the musician sign on YouTubes/Googles terms in order to do a takedown. (See Stephen Carlisles article) It is abusive of the law, self-serving, and intimidating, as there are limits of liability, place of jurisdiction and various legalese that one shouldnt have to agree to in order to do a take-down. None of that is in the DMCA. Thats YouTubes own special sauce.
C. YouTubes third intimidation is to reveal to the whole world, the identity of the person exercising their Constitutional right, while protecting the uploaders identity. Thats not in the DMCA. Its YouTubes special spin.
D. YouTubes fourth intimidation is to offer a permanent public apology for me and a sad face (or frownie face as YouTube general counsel, Katherine Oyama, corrected me at the Section 512 Hearings before Congress in 2014. (YouTube and Google love cute words, Alphabet, Google, YouTube, Frownie it creates an illusion of being harmless.) Many rights-holders have told of bullying and threats that have resulted from exposure of their identity. This demonization and intimidation makes many creators reticent to assert their Constitutional right. Thats not in the DMCA. That was YouTubes grand idea.
E. YouTubes fifth intimidation is to throw a whole lot of questions at the copyright holder, and even a threat about attorneys fees, whereas none are posed to the user at the point of upload. Thats not in the DMCA. Only YouTube could be so cunning.
F. The sixth YouTube intimidation is the publicity stunt of offering a million dollars to defend a user against a wrongful takedown. Thats scary. What if I make a mistake? And why arent they offering a million dollars to me against the endless infringements on my work on their site? That confusing dynamic of YouTube throwing around their power to embolden their well-trained users is beyond intimidating. It makes creators just give up, while it inversely cranks infringers up. Sure, there are wrong takedowns, but theres no comparison to the incalculable volume of infringement. This scheme isnt in the DMCA. That must have come from YouTubes goons.
G. The seventh intimidation is that though they have whats now a standard finger-printing technology to keep content down, they force musicians like me into an endless whack-a-mole game that eventually wears out even the fiercest of us. I personally know the feeling of giving up, and the resentment that builds when you feel manipulated into helplessness by corporate manipulation.
H. And just because theyre a different head of the same ugly monster, the eighth intimidation is specifically Googles Google and their special 46-step path to a takedown (cited by Stephen Carlisle) that again, ends in having to sign on to those nasty terms and condition just like YouTube. What an abuse of the DMCA.
Its almost impossible to believe that any group of human beings could have been so bold as to dream up and implement such a sick plan as all of this. Even Google itself initially expressed that YouTube was dirty. As we know, they eventually bought YouTube, so I guess Google finally decided that its inspired motto of do no evil was just too high of a bar to live by. The following statements/admissions by Google employees were taken from the Viacom/YouTube case, and were made before Google acquired YouTube:
A large part of their traffic is pirated content.
YouTube is a rogue enabler of content theft.
YouTubes business model is completely sustained by pirated content.
Its a video Grokster.
I cant believe youre recommending buying YouTube . . . theyre 80% illegal pirated content.
it crosses the threshold of Dont Be Evil to facilitate distribution of other peoples intellectual property.
Google thoroughly recognized this was criminal activity. But when Google bought YouTube in 2006 for 1.65 billion, their tune suddenly changed.
Copyright Infringement + Intimidation = Racketeering
Since Google bought YouTube, the Alphabet empire folded their new piracy factory into the worlds most powerful company, the worlds richest company, and the worlds most secretive company. Alphabet encourages, for their own gain, a free and open society, where all content is free and accessible, as though that is some sort of measure of a free society. But when it comes to their own content in the form of its database and algorithms, they choose to guard it like Fort Knox.
The recent dustup at Facebook, with the political influence wielded behind their wizards green curtain, is just a small example of the sort of power data lords can have over us ordinary folks. Alphabets influence, control, and domination will only grow exponentially as the value of its trade secret database continues to balloon to unimaginable proportions. Thank God the EU is holding companies like Alphabet responsible, as we in this country all seem to be asleep at the switch, so long as YouTube is there to serve us up some edifying viral videos of somebody lighting their crotch on fire.
What is especially scary about this corporate power is that YouTube is now starting to inject itself into the very manner in which art is created. Do we really want YouTube controlling the funding of music? How terrifying they destroy our creative culture, and now they want to save it by helping to create it themselves? Oh my God! That brings me to my final revelation:
YouTube Suffers from Munchausens Syndrome By Proxy
I was thinking about this whole convoluted scheme YouTube has cooked up with its Content ID program, when something popped in my mind, Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. Thats that disease you hear about sometimes on the local news where some sicko caregiver induces an illness to their own patients, so they can then turn around and quick save them and be the hero.
I suddenly realized, oh my God, thats YouTube! YouTube has Munchausen by proxy! I see now theyre not only evil, theyre sick. Too bad its the most powerful company in the world that has the Munchausen affliction, and the entire world of music, film, and creative arts are the unsuspecting victims. We, like the unsuspecting patient, can all feel grateful that YouTube, our savior, has come up with the life-saving solution of helping us monetize our pirated work, and theyll further save us by letting some of us be the chosen YouTube artists theyll produce.
Common Sense Solutions
I asked YouTube nicely to reform its ways when I testified before Congress, offering several key ways to even the playing field and stop destroying musicians and other creators. But theyve not only ignored me (and many others like me), theyve since turned up the heat and made an even greater mockery of the safe harbor rules.
Recently I had the opportunity to participate in four of the seven roundtables held by the U.S. Copyright Office on the DMCAs Section 512. I offered the following common-sense solutions:
A. Takedown should mean stay-down.
B. There should be mandatory checkpoints and education on the upload, with language created by the U.S. Office of Copyright, as well as a required signed perjury statement on the upload. Parity between upload and takedown is only logical and only fair.
C. All sites with uploaded content should have to use the latest fingerprinting technology where creators can enter their work for the purpose of protecting it, not for the purpose of being muscled into monetizing it to the benefit of the hosting company.
D. Stop the public display of the copyright holders identity when they do a takedown.
For starters, YouTube, would you please consider these four steps as a first, good-faith step in the right direction?
Perspective is Everything
I appreciate that YouTube might work for a select few folks including Mr. Hank Green, but it is not in any way representative of the breadth of the arts in America musicians, authors, filmmakers, photographers, poets, artists and more. Alphabet is systematically leeching away our diverse and rich culture in order to become the most powerful and wealthy corporate empire the world has ever known. And its just getting started.
The Internet has brought the world together in many wonderful ways. I appreciate that as much as anyone, having been the first Internet-only, fan-funded GRAMMY-winner. But the arts have connected people far more, and for far longer, than the Internet. The arts have connected us in times of war, brought healing through times of suppression, brought inspiration in times of need, and expression when weak voices needed to be heard.
The Internet and the arts could be powerful if they worked to help one another, but as it stands, the Internet is being used by corporate giants to gut the arts for their own gain and they are destroying our culture.
I heard an extremely powerful quote yesterday from the great American author, T.J. Stiles, (where he paraphrased Professor Jane Ginsburg from Columbia University) saying: the worst form of censorship is poverty. YouTube/Google, and other data lord companies are absolutely silencing and thereby censoring the arts just ask the 80% of Nashville songwriters who have had to leave the profession in the last decade.
Jaron Lanier, who wrote Who Owns the Future, describes musicians as the canary in the coal mine. While YouTube has the canarys feathers sticking out of its mouth, were not dead yet. Temporarily dazed by YouTubes cunning bite, and drowning in its greedy drool, we are slowly coming to our senses. Musicians and artists of all types, as well as record companies, publishers and agents (who only exist because of music creators), need to unite and stand up for our Constitutional right to own our copyrights, and to force data lords like YouTube out of the lucrative safe harbor that it has used to exploit us.
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Business Manager Accused Of Stealing $4.7M From Alanis Morissette
Another day, another story about the music industry screwing an artist. This time, the plot involves Alanis Morissette, a business manager and a missing $4.7 million.
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Superstar firm GSO Business Management is claiming that Jonathan Schwartz, one of its business managers, stole $4.7 million from client Alanis Morissette. Other GSO/Schwartz clients include Beyonce and Mariah Carey.
Schwartz claimed that he withdrew the cash so that Alanis could invest in a marijuana growing business. GSO says the story didn't check out, according to TMZ. For her part, Morissette denies that she ever asked Schwartz to invest in growing pot.
The suit says Schwartz stole the money to support his lifestyle, including a $50,000 vacation to Bora Bora and a $75,000 gambling debt at a casino in the Bahamas.
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Whats Working in Indie Music Today: Lessons in Success from New Artist Model Member Justin Ratowsky
One of the best ways to get new strategies and ideas for your music career is to look at what other musicians are doing. So Dave Kusek and Lindsay McGrath of the New Artist Model put together a series of case studies from musicians pushing the envelope in indie music. The third installment is musician Justin Ratowsky of Cali Conscious.
By Dave Kusek and Lindsay McGrath of the New Artist Model: Turn your passion for music into a rewarding career.
Cali Conscious is all about good vibrations. The reggae band that got its start playing under the pier in Huntington Beach, California combines a talent for creating great music with a commitment to organizing beach cleanups and helping the homeless. In addition to Justin, the group includes Anthony Haas on bass, Jason Sandoval on trumpet, Chad Stanner on keyboards, Chuy Vidales on drums, Dig Gbye on percussion, and Stephen Wood on sax.
The group recently launched a new social media campaign to attract fans to its message of peace, love and environmental preservation. And so far, its working.
Weve gotten over 1200 email subscribers and more than 10,000 Instagram followers in the past 12 months, according to Justin Ratowsky, the bands guitarist. We are implementing the strategy of giving away our music in exchange for email addresses that we learned in Dave Kuseks New Artist Model to successfully create our own fan base.
Growing Your Email List with NoiseTrade
The group is making the website Noise Trade a centerpiece of its current social media campaign, Justin says. The music distribution platform lets the group trade their music to anyone who shares their email and zipcode on the Cali Conscious website. ( http://caliconscious.com/ ) Currently, the group gives followers a download of High Times as well as an EP featuring acoustic versions of four songs from the new album.
With Noise Trade, we get email and zip codes and fans get to download and share on Twitter and Facebook. It lets you encourage your fan base to become part of your marketing team, he says, adding that the service also allows fans to tip musicians. Noise Trade charges 20 percent of the money that comes in but we are still getting revenue from that every month.
You should use your social media platforms and the real estate on your website, to give away songs and build that relationship with your fans to gain trust and turn them into superfans, says Justin, adding that superfans to him, are people who share news about the band with their followers.
Justin believes that developing 1000 superfans will enable Cali Conscious to have a sustainable music career one that includes adequate support for crowdfunding, merchandise sales, touring and live shows.
Combining Music and Activism
Cali Conscious puts almost as much work into activism as it does into music. The band has organized monthly community beach clean ups in Huntington Beach and funded construction of a clean water well in Ethiopia by donating live performance tips to Charity:Water.org. Cali Conscious doesnt sell plastic CDs at its shows and created a plantable paper download card embedded with carrot, lettuce, and tomato seeds to celebrate the release of its first album High Times.
On May 21, the group will play the Concert for the Coast in Santa Barbara where they will feature One Love For You, a song about homelessness written by percussionist Dig Gbye and the first single from the new album. The band will make a music video for the song that includes an informal jam session with local homeless men and women.
During their visit to the city, the band will also provide blankets, clothing, food, water and socks to people in need with the help of online sock retailer Bombas ( http://www.bombas.com )
Water, the second single from the new album, will also get its own video. All proceeds will benefit Gravity Water, a nonprofit dedicated to providing filtration and storage systems to poor communities around the globe. ( http://www.gravitywater.org/ ) Both of the videos for the singles will be included in a pre-purchase crowdfunding campaign, Justin says.
The most important part of our music is the message we have in our lyrics, thats how we want to connect with our fans. We strongly feel we have this musical ability and we are purposefully using a positive message to help bring the world together through our lyrics, Justin says. We want to be a catalyst for our fans to inspire change. If we can create an easy avenue for them to be able to support our music but also support causes we believe in like getting water to the world and making sure that people on the streets have warm feet thats where we want to be.
Read Justin's full story on New Artist Model
To learn more about Cali Conscious visit http://caliconscious.com/
New Artist Model is an online music business school developed by Dave Kusek, founder of Berklee Online. The online school is a platform for learning practical strategies and techniques for making a living in music. Learn how to carve a unique path for your own career with strategies that are working for indie artists around the world. Learn to think like an entrepreneur, create your own plan and live the life in music you want to live. New Artist Model provides practical college-level music business training at a mere fraction of the cost of a college degree. Programs start at just $29/mo. For more info on the New Artist Model visit http://newartistmodel.com
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Insurer Highmark Inc. filed a suit against the federal government, alleging that it is owed almost $223 million under the Affordable Care Acts (ACAs) risk corridor, reported MarketWatch.com.Highmark, the insurance division of nonprofit Highmark Health in Pittsburgh, filed the suit Tuesday in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.The risk corridor program was designed to assist insurers that end up with larger costs than usualparticularly those insurers that choose to take in more high-risk consumers. The idea was that if an insurers actual claims are a percentage higher than its projected claims, then the federal government must reimburse up to half of the excess amount.Highmarks suit claimed that there were violations of the mandatory risk corridor payment obligations prescribed in the ACA.Last fall, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that insurers participating in the risk corridor would initially receive only 12.6% of the money they claimed under the program for 2014the first year the program was implemented.The department has declined to comment on Highmarks suit.Previously, another insurer (Health Republic Insurance Co.) filed a similar suit in February seeking class-action status.
A leading national insurer stands accused of violating local and federal housing laws by allegedly refusing to insure buildings in which tenants pay rent with public vouchers, the Boston Globe reported Tuesday.The National Fair Housing Alliance filed suit against Travelers Indemnity Co. this week, saying the company has consistently denied commercial building owners habitational insurance. Its refusal has made the lack of affordable housing in Washington, D.C. worse, and particularly affects African Americans, the suit argues.We are concerned about the pushing out of lower-income families from the city and the loss of affordable housing, Shanna Smith, president of the National Fair Housing Alliance, told the Globe.The suit comes following a 10-month investigation by the group in 2015 and 2016, in which the National Fair Housing Alliance sought to determine whether insurers were contributing to growing racial segregation in certain cities.Staff with the group contacted six Travelers insurance brokers in order to obtain coverage for what it says were well-maintained buildings in poor, minority neighborhoods in which tenants use public housing vouchers. Coverage was denied, with brokers citing the vouchers as a problem, the suit says.Without proper insurance, the plaintiffs argue that property owners are less likely to rent to voucher holders who are disproportionately black. Those residents may find themselves faced with the choice of moving into low-quality buildings in other neighborhoods or leaving the city altogether.The National Fair Housing Alliance said it has investigated four other insurance providers for similar behavior and is likely to file more lawsuits, though it declined to identify the other companies.Even in instances in which coverage is extended, rates are much higher, the organization said, and come with fewer benefits.Travelers criteria have a disproportionate harm on neighborhoods statistically more likely to have rental buildings with tenants participating in the Housing Choice Voucher program, as landlords must go without property insurance, pay higher premiums for second market policies and receive fewer benefits and protections from those non-standard policies, Smith explained.The National Fair Housing Alliance says that these actions violate the federal Fair Housing Act as well as Washingtons Human Rights Act. Under the federal law, policies cannot impact some groups more than others and because housing subsidies are used predominately by African Americans, the organization says Travelers approach violates the Act.The D.C. law, meanwhile, says a person cannot be discriminated against based on their source of income.Travelers told the Globe that it does not comment on ongoing legal action, but the newspaper noted a similar complaint lodged against the company in 2013, in which plaintiffs alleged it did not renew insurance coverage after it found out some tenants in North Carolina buildings received housing subsidies. That case was eventually settled.For now, the National Fair Housing Alliance says it will continue to investigate other insurance companies in other cities for similar violations.
At least one of the proposed rate increases by auto insurance companies nationwide will go forward at least for now.
Allstate Insurance's plan to increase personal auto rates in the state of Georgia will take effect May 22. Premiums could increase as much as 58.3%, with an average increase of around 25%.
Though Georgia insurance regulators have launched a review of Allstate's filing, a 2008 state law allows companies to file and implement rates without explicit, formal approval. Because the review will not be completed by the date stipulated by Allstate, the carrier will move forward with its plans.
"At this time, it does not appear that the results of the examination will be determined before the effective date," said state Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens.
That doesn't mean the increases will be permanent, however. In a conversation with Insurance Business America, Hudgens' spokesperson Glenn Allen explained if the regulatory review, currently being conducted by an actuarial firm, indicates that Allstate's rate hikes are "excessive or discriminatory," the commissioner will roll back the filing.
Hudgens himself iterated this point.
"If the filing is proven to be excessive, then I will do everything allowed by law to reverse Allstate's actions," he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In an earlier interview with local station WRBL, Hudgens said that he was ". . . not there to protect the insurance company. [Hes] there to protect the Georgia citizens."
According to a spokesperson for Allstate, the recent surge in the number of miles driven, traffic fatalities, and auto repair costs have led to a corollary increase in claims and costs to settle such expenses. This increase in automobile usage could be attributed to currently low gas prices.
The insurer has promised to cooperate with the state regulator in order to work out a compromise.
"Should the department's review raise any questions with our filing, we will work cooperatively to reach agreement on these questions and take whatever steps are necessary to comply with that agreement," said Allstate spokesman Adam Polak.
Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Mayor Linda Tyer, and state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier at the Community Compact signing at Pittsfiedl City Hall. Jason Hoch, town manager of Williamstown, signs a contract for working on 'complete streets.' Laurel Scialabba of Hinsdale said her town wants to create a master plan. Carol Francesconi of Cheshire said her town is also working on a master plan. Tyer and Polito at the signing at City Hall. PreviousNext
Polito Signs Community Compacts With Pittsfield, Hinsdale, Cheshire, Williamstown
Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said the administration wants to be partners with local municipalities. PITTSFIELD, Mass. The city is facing some significant financial challenges in the next few years and the state is helping to overcome the hurdles.
On Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito signed a community compact agreement with the city that will give it $25,000 to work with the Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management to develop long-range financial planning.
"First we will create customized financial forecasting models that will include a review of historical data and an assessment of assumptions. This model, once created, can be monitored year after year and help us develop long-range financial planning priorities," Mayor Linda Tyer said.
"Our second best practice is to improve budget transparency. Budgets are policy documents and fund priorities and expectations of the community."
The city's levy ceiling has just crossed with the debt limit , a rarity that will limit the amount of taxation possible without an override. The city can raise taxes about $6 million more before hitting that ceiling, but that ceiling is expected to rise without a significant boost in taxable value.
With rising costs in nearly all sectors of the city budget, that puts the administration in a situation of find ways to make the numbers work.
"The timing of this partnership couldn't have come at a better time. We are grappling with emerging and significant financial constraints and I am confident that the work that is completed through the community compact will position us for better decision making," Tyer said.
Pittsfield is just the latest to sign compacts with the state in fact, the city is the 195th to sign. Every city and town in the commonwealth has the opportunity to pick from a large list of "best practices" to implement. The state will fund the consulting or technology needs with the agreement that the practices will be implemented.
"It's funded. This is not an unfunded mandate, which is not something we support in state government either. Both the governor and I were selectmen in our hometowns so we knew this had to be a voluntary program and it had to be funded," Polito said. "We provide the resources for you to be able to engage the Collins Center for technical assistance."
While Pittsfield has its own challenges and opportunities for other state resources, smaller towns don't have the professional staff to take on major projects. In Hinsdale, the town has never had a master plan developed.
"Hinsdale is a very small town and we just brought on a town administrator. So we are actually coming into the 21st century almost. With this best practice, we are working on master planning and open space protection. We are working on budgeting and capital transportation," Selectwoman Laurel Scialabba said.
Scialabba signed a contract of Hinsdale's own in the City Council chambers on Tuesday that will provide the resources to guide a working group through the process while also helping financial staff create a new "comprehensive budget system."
"The Community Compact Program is an initiative that we put together and it is intended to reach all cities and towns," Polito said.
Cheshire is another small town with limited access to state grant programs. Selectwoman Carol Francesconi said her town also doesn't have a master plan to help guide decision making. But that will change after she, too, signed an agreement with Polito.
"Cheshire has grown so much that we have wanted, for a long time, a master plan so we can contain our growth so it is done in a proper way and to the best advantage to the town of Cheshire," Francesconi said.
Williamstown Town Manager Jason Hoch, Hinsdale Selectwoman Laurel Scialabba, and Cheshire Selectwoman Carol Francesconi. Williamstown Town Manager Jason Hoch was the last of four to sign agreements Tuesday, and the 198th statewide. For his town the "best practice" being adopted is for complete streets. He said there is a big push in the community with residential areas and Williams College to be more friendly to all modes of transportation and the complete streets program develops plans for roads ensuring there are sidewalks and bike lanes for all modes.
"We're thrilled to be joining with a focus on complete streets. There is a strong interest in our community for this over time. We've already had some good partnerships and teamwork on projects where we've gotten close and this will let us get to the next level of doing that work," Hoch said.
Polito is a former selectman so she has seen firsthand how some of those issues impact each town. But, she also knows that not every town in Massachusetts faces the same things.
The Community Compact Program was crafted by Gov. Charlie Baker, also a former selectman, and Polito as a way to improve the partnership between state and local officials. She said the administration has also vowed to increase its support for funding programs such as Chapter 90 for roads and Chapter 70 for schools.
"The best practices is one part of it. The resource sharing is another part. We just need to give you all of the tools as possible," Polito said.
State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier said the Berkshires are a place where groups of people work together to solve problems. That partnership extends to the legislature and the rest of state government. The community compact program, which is funded by the Legislature, is one of the ways to improve that teamwork, she said.
"We get it. We have to work as a team to get things done because we are geographically isolated," Farley-Bouvier said.
While both Farley-Bouvier and Tyer mentioned that the Berkshires are a ways from Boston, Polito said the administration wants all corners of the state to be as vibrant as the state's capital.
"Our administration cares about the whole state. There is a lot of activity in eastern Massachusetts. We know our capital city is really booming with activity. We want to see every part of our state have that spark, that excitement," Polito said.
"It is not the state telling the cities and towns that they know what is best for you. It is you deciding what you want to focus on," Polito said.
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: IMF Staff Concludes Review Mission to Ukraine
Press Release No. 16/227
May 18, 2016
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission visited Kyiv during May 1018, to continue discussions on the second review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement (see Press Release No. 15/107).
At the conclusion of the visit, Ron van Rooden, mission chief for Ukraine, issued the following statement today:
The mission reached staff level agreement with the authorities on policies needed to complete the second review under the EFF, subject to approval by IMF management and the Executive Board. Ukraine has made considerable progress in restoring macroeconomic stability over the past year under difficult circumstances. Steadfast implementation of structural and institutional reforms is now critical to turn the recent recovery into strong and sustainable growth, with unwavering determination in the fight against corruption emerging as a litmus test for the governments ability to retain broad domestic and international support for its policies. It is therefore important that the authorities boost their efforts to entrench fiscal and financial stability, decisively enhance transparency and the rule of law, and reform the large and inefficient state-owned enterprise sector. The implementation of strong measures in these areas will pave the way for the IMF Executive Boards consideration of the review, expected in July 2016.
Imperial Valley News Center
Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Announces Indictment of Plains All-American Pipeline on Criminal Charges Resulting From May 2015 Santa Barbara County Oil Spill
Santa Barbara, California - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris and Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce E. Dudley today announced that Plains All-American Pipeline has been indicted by a grand jury on 46 criminal charges related to the May 2015 oil spill in Santa Barbara County. A Plains All-American Pipeline employee was also indicted on 3 criminal charges.
On May 19, 2015, a pipeline operated by Plains All-American Pipeline ruptured, releasing into the environment approximately 140,000 gallons of heavy crude oil onto land, beaches, and the Pacific Ocean near Refugio State Beach. Federal, state and local governments have spent millions of dollars to clean up the spill, which resulted in substantial damage to natural habitats and wildlife over a large area.
Attorney General Harris partnered with local and state law enforcement agencies to conduct a criminal investigation and jointly prosecute the criminal case with Santa Barbara County District Attorney Dudley.
Crimes against our environment must be met with swift action and accountability, said Attorney General Harris. The carelessness of Plains All-American harmed hundreds of species and marine life off Refugio Beach. This conduct is criminal and todays charges serve as a powerful reminder of the consequences that flow from jeopardizing the well-being of our ecosystems and public health.
On May 16, 2016, a grand jury indicted Plains All-American Pipeline on 46 charges, including 4 felony charges and 42 misdemeanor charges. The company was charged with felony violations of state laws regarding the spilling of oil and hazardous substances into state water. Both the company and James Buchanan, an employee, were charged with misdemeanor violations for failing to provide timely notice of the oil spill to the Office of Emergency Services. In addition, the company was indicted on three dozen misdemeanor charges linked to the spills impact on birds and mammals.
This indictment came as a result of many local and state agencies working together to present both inculpatory and exculpatory evidence to a hard-working Santa Barbara Grand Jury, said District Attorney Dudley. The indictment is a response to the evidence presented and speaks to the alleged criminal culpability of both the corporation and an individual who are alleged to have caused harm to Santa Barbara Countys magnificent natural surroundings and death to some of its majestic wildlife.
Plains All-American Pipeline faces up to $2.8 million in fines plus additional costs and penalties.
Attorney General Harris and District Attorney Dudley launched a joint criminal investigation 72 hours after the spill was discovered and in June, Attorney General Harris traveled to the site of the spill and met with command staff leading the cleanup and investigation. More information is available here: https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/photo-release-attorney-general-kamala-d-harris-tours-oil-spill-clean-refugio.
In 2011, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris joined federal, state, and local officials in securing a comprehensive settlement with the owners and operators of the M/V Cosco Busan over the major 2007 oil spill in the San Francisco Bay.
United States Joins International Conference on Cybersecurity in Gaborone, Botswana
Gaborone, Botswana - The U.S. Department of State, supported by the U.S. Department of Justice, will contribute to the First International Conference on the Internet, Cyber Security and Information Systems convened by the University of Gaborone and the University of Johannesburg.
U.S. Deputy Coordinator for Cyber Issues Thomas Dukes will provide a keynote speech to open the conference, and will be joined by Professor Bhekisipho Twala, University of Johannesburg, Dr. George Patrick Ah-Thew, SADC Secretariat Directorate of Infrastructure and Services, and Professor Linda Ott, Michigan Technological University, as well as other Government of Botswana and relevant university officials.
Conference attendees will include government officials from Botswana, Mauritius, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia, and others. Regional organizations, such as the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have been invited to share their ideas on cybersecurity and cybercrime. Distinguished guests from universities across the continent and the globe, and officials from the U.S. Departments of State, Justice, and Homeland Security will also share perspectives on cyber issues.
As use of the Internet and mobile phones expands throughout sub-Saharan Africa, nations are grappling with how to respond to multiplying cyber threats, while promoting new and innovative technologies that contribute to stronger democratic institutions, economic growth through trade and investment, advancing peace and prosperity, and promoting opportunity and development. Strong cybersecurity practices enable everyone to enjoy the full benefits of information and communication technology while staying safe online.
The U.S. Department of State works with a variety of stakeholders across a range of interconnected cyber policy issues to promote a cyberspace that is open, interoperable, reliable, and secure for all users. We achieve this vision through diplomatic and developmental engagement around the world.
This conference builds on previous engagement with the Government of Botswana and other key African stakeholders in support of our mutual goals of promoting cybersecurity, combatting cybercrime, and advocating for an Internet that continues to allow people of every nation and background to communicate, cooperate, and prosper like never before.
National Park Service Awards $2.8 Million in Grants to Preserve and Interpret World War II Japanese American Confinement Sites
Washington, DC - National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis announced $2.8 million in Japanese American Confinement Sites grants to fund educational programs, preservation projects, memorials, and exhibits. The 15 projects in five U.S. states will tell the story of the more than 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens, who were imprisoned by the U.S. government following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Jarvis announced the grants at a reception for the All Camps Consortium hosted by the Embassy of Japan in Washington, DC on May 12.
"The National Park Service is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II," Jarvis said. "The inclusion of sites like Honouliuli, Manzanar, Minidoka, and Tule Lake in the National Park System and the support for the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program reflect our nation's commitment to remember and learn from this shameful episode in our past."
President Obama designated Honouliuli Internment Camp as Honouliuli National Monument in February 2015 to share the stories of those who were unjustly held there during World War II.
The grants announcement comes as the National Park Service pays tribute to the generations of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have enriched America's history as part of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month throughout May. The National Park Service is also preparing a theme study to inspire Americans to discover the story of America's Asian and Pacific Island heritage and to help those seeking National Historic Landmark or National Register of Historic Places designation for historic places linked to the Asian American and Pacific Islanders experience in the United States. The theme study's introductory chapter will be published soon.
Congress established the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program in 2006, authorizing a total of $38 million in funding for the life of the program. Yesterday's announcement of $2.8 million brings the current award total to more than $21 million.
The grants will be used for projects that include a memorial to honor the 8,000 Japanese Americans who were imprisoned at the Tanforan Assembly Center, built on a former horse racing track in California;exhibitions about the Rohwer and Jerome camps in Arkansas;and the development of high school curriculum to teach students about the lesser-known Department of Justice camps, such as Fort Lincoln in North Dakota and Fort Stanton in New Mexico.
Japanese American Confinement Sites grants may be awarded to projects associated with the 10 War Relocation Authority centers established in 1942 and the more than 40 additional confinement sites.The program's mission is to teach future generations about the injustice of the World War II confinement of Japanese Americans and to inspire commitment to equal justice under the law.Successful proposals are chosen through a competitive process that requires applicants to match the grant award with $1 in non-federal funds or "in-kind" contributions for every $2 they receive in federal money.
A list of the projects receiving awards is below. For further project details, visit:www.nps.gov/JACS/.
Grantee Project Title Project Site Grant Award Amount Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, San Francisco, Calif. "Developing Permanent Exhibits about Japanese Internment on Angel Island for its Pacific Coast Immigration Center" Angel Island, North Garrison of Fort McDowell (INS and U.S. Army), Marin County, Calif. $22,800 Central Arkansas Library System, Little Rock, Ark. "Exhibitions and Educational Outreach on the Confinement Camps at Rohwer and Jerome, Arkansas" Jerome Relocation Center, Chicot and Drew Counties, Ark.;Rohwer Relocation Center, Desha County, Ark. $153,699 Densho, Seattle, Wash. "Names Registry and Thesaurus of the Japanese American Experience" Multiple Sites $421,941 Densho, Seattle, Wash. "Saving and Preserving Confinement Sites Materials from Personal Collections" Multiple Sites $344,204 Friends of Minidoka, Twin Falls, Idaho "Minidoka Legacy Memorial Interpretive Exhibit Project" Minidoka Relocation Center, Jerome County, Idaho $78,000 Go For Broke National Education Center, Los Angeles, Calif. "Communities of Compassion and Courage" Multiple Sites $378,937 Heart Mountain, Wyoming Foundation, Powell, Wyo. "The History of the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee and Resister Movement Project" Heart Mountain Relocation Center, Park County, Wyo. $116,038 Japanese American Citizens League, Pacific Southwest District, Los Angeles, Calif. "Bridging Communities Fellowship Program" Manzanar Relocation Center, Inyo County, Calif.;Tuna Canyon Detention Station (INS), Los Angeles County, Calif. $41,340 Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, Calif. "The Eaton Collection Project, Phase I" Multiple Sites $41,485 Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, Calif. "Meet the Yamashitas:An Interactive Website" Multiple Sites, including Rohwer Relocation Center, Desha County, Ark.;Fort Missoula Internment Camp (INS), Missoula County, Mont.;Santa Fe Internment Camp (INS), Santa Fe County, N.M.;and Camp Livingston(U.S. Army), Rapides Parish and Grand Parish, La. $74,275 Midpeninsula Community Media Center, Inc., Palo Alto, Calif. "50 Objects/50 Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration" Multiple Sites $143,482 National Japanese American Historical Society, Inc., San Francisco, Calif. "The Untold Stories: The Department of Justice Internment Teacher Education Project" Multiple Sites, including Crystal City Internment Camp (INS), Zavala County, Texas;FortLincoln Internment Camp (INS), Burleigh County, N.D.;Kooskia Internment Camp (INS), Idaho County, Idaho;and Santa Fe Internment Camp (INS), Santa Fe County, N.M. $139,605 Tanforan Assembly Center Memorial Committee, Richmond, Calif. "Tanforan Assembly Center Memorial" Tanforan WCCA Assembly Center, San Mateo County, Calif. $363,839 Valley Public Television, Inc. dba Valley PBS, Fresno, Calif. "Silent Sacrifice: The Story of Japanese American Incarceration and Beyond in California's San Joaquin Valley" Merced WCCA Assembly Center, Merced County, Calif.;Fresno WCCA Assembly Center, Fresno County, Calif.;Pinedale WCCA Assembly Center, Fresno County, Calif.;and Tulare WCCA Assembly Center, Tulare County, Calif. $373,716 Wing Luke Memorial Foundation dba Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, Seattle, Wash. "Inspiring Future Generations: Challengingthe Forced Incarceration through Acts of Resistance" Multiple Sites $151,639 Total $2,845,000
www.nps.gov
Missing Tablecloth With Doodles by The Beatles Returned to its Owners after 55 Years
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What entertains the wealthiest person in the world? Do they go to the cinema? Do they watch Game of Thrones? Do they ironically play Playstation?
While Bill Gates may or may not do all of the above, we do know that, like most people, he enjoys reading a leisurely book in the sunshine. (Of course, leisurely for Bill Gates is less Harry Potter and more the history of Japans technological advances.)
This summer, the Microsoft founder has unveiled the five books he recommends you read while relaxing on holiday via a wonderfully animated video.
Firstly, theres Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson, the only science fiction novel on the list. The story follows a catastrophic event after which the moon blows up. Humanity realises it has two years before all life is wiped out on Earth, so the world gets together to send as many people as possible into space.
The world's top 20 wealthiest people Show all 20 1 /20 The world's top 20 wealthiest people The world's top 20 wealthiest people 1. Bill Gates: $76bn - Microsoft (self-made) Getty The world's top 20 wealthiest people 2. Carlos Slim Helu and family: $72bn - Telecom (self-made) Getty The world's top 20 wealthiest people 3. Amancio Ortega: $64bn - Zara (self-made) Getty The world's top 20 wealthiest people 4. Warren Buffett: $58.2 - Berkshire Hathaway (self-made) Reuters The world's top 20 wealthiest people 5. Larry Ellison: $48bn - Oracle (self-made) Getty The world's top 20 wealthiest people 6. Charles Koch: $40bn - Diversified (inherited and growing) The world's top 20 wealthiest people 7. David Koch: $40bn - Diversified (inherited and growing) Getty The world's top 20 wealthiest people 8. Sheldon Adelson: $38bn - Casinos (self-made) Getty The world's top 20 wealthiest people 9. Christy Walton & family: $36.7bn - Wal-mart (inherited) The world's top 20 wealthiest people 10. Jim Walton: $34.7bn - Wal-Mart (inherited) Walmart Corporate/Creative Commons The world's top 20 wealthiest people 11. Liliane Bettencourt and family: $34.5bn - L'Oreal (inherited) Getty The world's top 20 wealthiest people 12. Stefan Persson: $34.4bn - H&M (inherited and growing) Reuters The world's top 20 wealthiest people 13. Alice Walton: $34.3bn - Wal-Mart (inherited) Corbis The world's top 20 wealthiest people S. Robson Walton, $34.8 billion. Source: Wal-Mart Getty The world's top 20 wealthiest people 15. Bernard Arnault and family: $33.5bn - LVMH (inherited and growing) AFP The world's top 20 wealthiest people 16. Michael Bloomberg: $33bn - Bloomberg LP (self-made) Getty The world's top 20 wealthiest people 17. Larry Page: $32.3bn - Google (self-made) Getty Images The world's top 20 wealthiest people 18. Jeff Bezos $32bn - Amazon.com (self-made) GETTY IMAGES The world's top 20 wealthiest people 19. Sergey Brin: $31.8bn - Google (self-made) Getty The world's top 20 wealthiest people 20. Li Ka-shing: $31bn - Diversified (self-made) AP
Next up, theres How Not to be Wrong, by Jordan Ellenberg. The author, a mathematician, explains how math plays into everyones daily lives, from electoral politics to the lottery. According to Gates, some of the maths is quite complicated but Eilenberg wraps things up well. What that means for us inferior mathematicians is anyones guess.
The Vital Question, by Nick Lane, falls in third. [Lane] argues that we can only understand how life began, and how living things got so complex, by understanding how energy works, writes Gates of the book, concluding that Even if the details of Nicks work turn out to be wrong, I suspect his focus on energy will be seen as an important contribution to our understanding of where we come from. Thats some very high praise.
Recommended Read more The worst things Bill Gates ever said
The Power to Compete, by Ryoichi Mikitani and Hiroshi Mikitani, focuses on the aforementioned history of Japans technology. By telling Japans history since the 80s, the authors attempt to explain why Japan - once at the forefront of technological advances - has fallen behind competitors in China and Korea.
Lastly, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, by Noah Yuval Harari. Apparently both Bill and Melinda read this book, sparking conversation at their probably lavish dinner table. In just under 400 pages, Harari attempts to explain the entire history of the human race while also discussing how Artificial Intelligence and other technological advances will change our future. Gates concurs that he disagrees with many of the points in the novel, but the history aspect is very interesting.
There you have it, the five books Bill Gates recommends you to read this summer. Sure, some of them sound like pretty daunting reads, but at least he didnt recommend 50 Shades of Grey.
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Marvel Comics Black Panther No 1 is the years best selling comic.
Written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantics national correspondent, and drawn by Bryan Steelfreeze, Black Panthers first issue has sold 253,259 copies during its first month on sale. Trailing in the second spot is Star Wars: Poe Dameron with 175,000 copies sold.
Sales figures are comparable to fan favorites Invincible Iron Man No 1 which sold 279,000 copies, and Spider-Gwen No 1 which sold 254,000 copies. The Hollywood Report notes that its outpaced popular titles such as Spider-Man and X-Men, which generally sell 75,000-100,000 copies a month.
The book re-imagines the story of TChalla, the prince and warrior hailing from the fictional African nation of Wakanda, is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2016. The character recently made his film debut, played by Chadwick Boseman, in the recent Marvel blockbuster Captain America: Civil War.
Since Black Panthers first issue debuted, its received rave reviews from critics. The Black Panther has faced down threats to his rule on multiple fronts before, The Guardians Isaac Butler writes. In Coates and Stelfreezes hands, the comic suggests that this time, maybe he deserves it.
Marvels Black Panther standalone film will hit theaters July 2018.
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Every year, a movie will get ferociously booed at Cannes.
And what does it teach us? Pretty much nothing, outside of the fact the human race is capable of being quite rude sometimes. Occasionally, the booing does seem to at least strike a vaguely appropriate target; Gus Van Sant's critically maligned Sea of Trees was the target of last year's most vicious jeers.
Read more of our Cannes 2016 coverage
Yet, mostly, the booing seems to hone in on any film with a sense of bravura or innovation to it; Lars von Trier's Antichrist, Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, and Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver were all booed at their first Cannes screenings. Films, indeed, which have subsequently all gone on to be hailed for their vision and creative daring. So, really, the fact Olivier Assayas' Personal Shopper, starring Kristen Stewart, was booed at its press screening is only a good sign.
Especially considering the film has since received positive reviews, and following reports (via The Hollywood Reporter) that its official premiere, held the next day, saw a four-and-a-half minute standing ovation. Though it's standard for films with the cast in attendance to receive some sort of standing ovation, Personal Shopper's reaction was notably enthusiastic here, and marked a far better reflection of the larger critical reception of the film.
The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Show all 14 1 /14 The films to know about at Cannes 2016 The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Julieta Director: Pedro Almodovar
Starring: Adriana Ugarte, Emma Suarez
What's it about? The Spanish filmmaker's 20th film is based on three short stories from Alice Munro's 2004 book, Runaway which tracks a woman's search for her missing daughter. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 American Honey Director: Andrea Arnold
Starring: Sasha Lane, Kate Mara, Shia LaBeouf
What's it about? In British filmmaker Andrea Arnold's (Red Road) American road movie - her first film set and filmed outside the UK - a teenage girl who gets caught up in a whirlwind of hard partying as she crosses the Midwest with a band of misfits. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Personal Shopper Director: Olivier Assayas
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Lars Eidinger, Nora von Waldstatten
What's it about? Stewart reteams with French filmmaker Assayas following Clouds of Sils Maria for this ghost story set in the fashion underworld of Paris. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 It's Only the End of the World Director: Xavier Dolan
Starring: Lea Seydoux, Marion Cotillard, Vincent Cassel
What's it about? Xavier Dolan (Mommy) returns with this film based on the play Juste la fin du monde which tells the story of a terminally ill writer who returns home after 12 years to announce his impending death. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Paterson Director: Jim Jarmusch,
Starring: Adam Driver, Golshifteh Farahani
What's it about? An original film from Amazon Studios that follows Paterson, a bus driver in the city of Paterson, New Jersey who lives an inhibited life compared to that of his wife, Laura. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 I, Daniel Blake Director: Ken Loach
Starring: Dave Johns, Hayley Squires, Micky McGregor
What's it about? Written by Paul Laverty (the man behind Loach's Palme d'Or winner The Wind That Shakes the Barley, the film follows the titular protagonist, a joiner who seeks financial felp from the state following an illness. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Loving Director: Jeff Nichols
Starring: Joel Edgerton, Michael Shannon, Marton Csokas
What's it about? Jeff Nichols' Midnight Special follow-up tracks an interracial couple based in Virginia sentenced to prison in 1958 for getting married. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 The Handmaid Director: Park Chan-wook
Starring: Kim Min-hee, Ha Jung-woo, Kim Tae-ri
What's it about? The Oldboy director's latest South Korean film follows an heiress who falls in love with a petty thief. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 The Neon Demon Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Starring: Elle Fanning, Jena Malone, Keanu Reeves, Christina Hendricks
What's it about? Winding Refn's third consecutive film to compete for the Palme d'Or, this horror thriller follows an aspiring model who moves to Los Angeles where 'her vitality and youth are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means to get what she has.' The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Cafe Society Director: Woody Allen
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Blake Lively
What's it about? Woody Allen's latest will open the Festival. It is a New York romantic comedy set in the 1930s with a cast including Steve Carell, Parker Posey, Corey Stoll and Judy Davis. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 The BFG Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Mark Rylance, Rebecca Hall, Bill Hader
What's it about? Based on the Roald Dahl classic, the story follows a young girl named Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) who befriends a friendly giant. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Money Monster Director: Jodie Foster
Starring: George Clooney, Jack O'Connell, Julia Roberts
What's it about? A money-oriented live TV show is interrupted when the presenter is taken hostage by a blue-collar worker compelled to turn to violence following his recent financial losses. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 The Nice Guys Director: Shane Black
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Russell Crowe
Reason to see: Shane Black (Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) and his razor sharp wit return in a comedy set in 70s LA. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Captain Fantastic Director: Matt Ross
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Frank Langella, Kathryn Hahn
What's it about? In the forests of the Pacific Northwest, a father who devoted his life to raising his six kids with an irreverent education is forced to leave his paradise and enter the 'real' world.
In particular, a lot of focus fell on star Kristen Stewart herself, with many already declaring her a frontrunner for the Best Actress award at the festival's closing ceremony. Reuniting with Assayas after his magnetic 2014 Cannes entry Clouds of Sils Maria, Stewart here plays an American living in Paris who comes to believe she's received contact from her deceased twin brother.
Kristen Stewart back with Assayas for Personal Shopper'
With Nicolas Winding Refn's fabulously depraved-looking, vampire flick Neon Demon yet to premiere; it wouldn't be entirely surprising if the booers resurface again before the festival ends, to award the Drive director with that strange honour indicative of someone making a genuinely interesting piece of cinema.
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Dean Wareham, formerly of eighties slow rock band Galaxie 500 and the dream pop act Luna, still gets nervous on concert days even after performing his soundtracks to Andy Warhol films almost 100 times in the last decade.
I worry about having to introduce people, he said from the dress rehearsal of Exposed: Songs for Unseen Warhol Films, a recent Barbican concert accompanying a screening of 15 such films.
The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh approached Wareham after they found a trove of forgotten films in a Pennsylvania warehouse.
Wareham had been touring 13 Most Beautiful Songs, his scores for Warhol screen tests, for five years and 85 concerts and was looking for a new project. As the technicians worked to digitize the tape, Wareham worked with the museum curators to whittle down a selection of 15 short films and excerpts to set to music.
He enlisted help from his favourite guitar player, Tom Verlaine of Television, and Martin Rev, maverick synth player from the rock band Suicide.
After chance meetings with Eleanor Friedberger, former frontwoman of The Fiery Furnaces, and Bradford Cox, the brilliant mind behind Deerhoof and Atlas Sound, on buses in and out of the Spanish rock festival Primavera, they too got invites. Everyone said yes. Its hard to say no to Warhol, Wareham said.
Andy Warhol posing for selfies that have been sold at a Southeby's eBay auction
On the night, Wareham introduced Eleanor Friedberger with a faint quiver in his voice.
I said I wanted Donovan, Friedberger told the audience before her first song. And Dean said I could have him.
Donovans baby face flickered to life on the giant screen behind her, forever gap toothed and smooth-skinned on a visit to The Factory while he was promoting Sunshine Superman in New York, 1966.
It took him several seconds to look at the camera. While he fidgeted and picked his teeth, Friedberger sang a poem by the English eccentric Helen Adam, a predecessor to the Beat Generation, about escaping New York by taking the train to Coney Island. Donovan looked like he would take that train.
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Marisol, a stop-motion film of the sculptor Marisol Escobar, was transformed by Friedbergers announcement that the artist died just a few weeks earlier.
Friedberger chose words from a 1965 New York Times interview with her, set to a simple four-minute rock song.
We watched as Marisol, known for her reticence, paced her studio and posed beside her work. Friedberger sang of her growing confidence and how she felt responsible for her own success. For a moment that vibrant, silent woman was revived.
Each of the musicians took a different approach to scoring. Tom Verlaine used pastoral melodies and twinkling harmonics on an electric guitar for a black and white shot of Jill Johnston, dancing in a forest with a rifle, on the day that John F. Kennedy was shot.
Martin Rev, dressed in lime green shades and shiny leather trousers, assaulted a keyboard at ear-splitting volume in a noise-rock accompaniment to Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and pals trying to squeeze onto a sofa.
Dean Warehams trio of compositions were by far the most reverential. He composed questing Americana for roaming shots up and down the body of Susan Bottomly, clad in sequins, in a promotional video for a 1966 fashion launch.
What is it about Warhol? Show all 10 1 /10 What is it about Warhol? What is it about Warhol? 10086.bin WWW.CHRISTIES.COM What is it about Warhol? 10087.bin WWW.CHRISTIES.COM What is it about Warhol? 10088.bin WWW.CHRISTIES.COM What is it about Warhol? 10089.bin WWW.CHRISTIES.COM What is it about Warhol? 10090.bin WWW.CHRISTIES.COM What is it about Warhol? 10091.bin WWW.CHRISTIES.COM What is it about Warhol? 10092.bin WWW.CHRISTIES.COM What is it about Warhol? 10093.bin WWW.CHRISTIES.COM What is it about Warhol? 10094.bin WWW.CHRISTIES.COM What is it about Warhol? 10095.bin WWW.CHRISTIES.COM
Bradford Cox wasnt at the show because of a family bereavement, but his recorded compositions vibrated with white noise, slipping in and out of a Velvet Underground chug.
Cox got the one film in which Warhol himself appears. He set a tooting whistle to shots of the actor Taylor Mead aping around with hats, cigarette boxes and his own shadow. The whistle dropped out and twinkling guitar sounds warmed the audience from all sides. Suddenly Warhol appeared, face obscured by shadows, smiling bashfully.
Wareham said when he gets nervous onstage, he only needs to turn around and look at the films. Theyre a real treat, he said. I stop worrying. I think this is a once in a lifetime chance to see the films - theyre not going to be on YouTube. If Warhol was alive, hed probably approve of YouTubes bottomless pit of rehashed and ripped content. But he might be surprised to learn that his early film sketches could inspire such violently different musical responses, fifty years after they were made.
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Revered as one of the UKs most intrepid and idiosyncratic bands, Rolo Tomassi have collated their BBC Sessions and are set to release them on vinyl, CD and digitally on 27th May through Holy Roar records. But if you cant wait that long, the sessions are available to stream below exclusively with The Independent.
Recorded and mixed at the eminent BBC Maida Vale studios, the release presents two separate sessions, with the songs arranged in reverse chronological order. Tracks 1- 4 were originally aired 5th February 2013 on Daniel P Carters Radio 1 Rock Show, showcasing three songs from the bands third album Astraea, plus the addition of standalone single Old Mystics. Tracks 5 9 were originally recorded for Huw Stephens and aired 4 months prior to the release of their debut album Hysterics 8th May 2008.
Rolo Tomassi have been pushing boundaries and subverting expectations since forming near Sheffield in early 2005. These two distinct sessions showcase the irrefutable progression the band made between 2008 - 13, evolving from the schizophrenic polyrhythmic chaos of their earlier days (I Love Turbulence, Film Noir) to the beautifully evocative sprawling haunted masterpieces (Illuminare, Empiresk) that litter their later work. James Spence (vocals / keyboards) provided us with an exclusive insight into the two sessions that make up the record ...
(Derek Bremner (Derek Bremner)
HUW STEPHENS SESSION
I Love Turbulence
Digital History
F**k the Pleasantries, Lets Rock
Beatrotter
Film Noir
I think the first thing you feel going into Maida Vale is the history. As you enter the studios, the photos on the walls remind you of that history and I'd spent plenty of time listening to live sessions bands had recorded for Steve Lamacq, so I could visualise all these bands I'd loved being in that room which was very exciting. It didn't feel like we should have been allowed in!
If I remember correctly, there was a load of graffiti on the walls as you entered MV4, the studio we were in, which The Mars Volta had done (specifically, their drummer at the time Thomas Pridgen) and gotten into a lot of trouble for. As young, impressionable fans of the band, we thought it was amazing. Maybe more due to the fact they'd been there recently, not the graffiti element of it...
We were told we could only record X amount of songs and at that point, a lot of our material was around the 1 minute mark, so we asked if we could do more songs if we played them faster and back to back. I hadn't listened to this for a while before Alex (Fitzpatrick, head of Holy Roar Records) re-started the conversation about releasing it and I can't get over how fast we play some of those songs. I genuinely can't remember how to play most of them now.
ROCK SHOW SESSION
Howl
Old Mystics
Empiresk
Illuminare
This happened a few months after we'd released and started touring our third album Astraea. I still have a pass for the building you get given on entry as part of a framed collage of Rolo souvenirs I've kept over the years.
My standout memory from this trip was nervously asking one of the engineers if we could use the piano for our track Empiresk. I was glad I did in the end as that track came out as the best one we've done there (in my opinion) and it was a treat to get to play a piano live with the band, something I'd never been able to do before.
We've incredibly grateful of the support we've had from the BBC and numerous DJ's there over the years. Its a real honour to have had the opportunity to do these sessions and we're pleased to be able to make them available for people to listen to again.
The BBC Sessions is released on Vinyl, CD and Digital on 27th May through Holy Roar Records. Rolo Tomassi are playing a select few dates around the UK including HRX, an all-dayer celebrating 10 years of Holy Roar Records
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Invisible jackets, dissolvable jeans, colour-changing shirts and digital skins. These may sound like concepts from the pages of a science-fiction novel, but technologies that could create these inventions are being explored right now.
This years Met Gala saw socialites and celebrities take over the red carpet donned in bold metallics and futuristic robotic-style accessories. Born from the Spring Costume Institutes Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology exhibition at The Met Fifth Avenue Museum in New York, the fundraising gala saw fashion powerhouse Vogue and multinational tech company Apple combine forces in order to melt the boundaries between fashion and technology.
Dutch designer Iris Van Herpen is famous for her pioneering use of 3D printing in creating wearable tech garments (Getty)
The event called on people to see Manus (Latin for hand) and machina (machine) not as polarities but hybrids, working in tandem to solve design problems, enhance traditional crafts and widen the discussion about the increasingly pivotal role tech plays in fashion.
Since the early 20th century, machines and fashion have continually collided, changing our perception of what clothes are and how they function. Sewing machines and mass production changed the fashion landscape in the early 1900s and now modern tech is being explored in the fashion space.
Highlights from the Met Gala 2016 included Claire Danes extravagant blue ball gown designed by Zac Posen, which, crafted from organza and fibre optics, glowed illustriously in the dark.
Model Karolina Kurkovas floral frock peppered with flashing LED lights created by Marchesa, designers Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig in partnership with IBM Watson was a compassionate dress able to interpret peoples emotions. As the audience tweeted their thoughts about the dress on social media, it lit up in various colours depending on each Tweeters mood.
Other designers are also exploring the otherworldly possibilities of wearable tech.
CuteCircuit pushed the boundaries with its HugShirt, a blouse with Bluetooth sensors allowing loved ones to send the wearer hugs through an app, with sensors in the shirt imitating the warmth and strength of a physical hug on cue.
Dutch designer Pauline van Dongens solar shirt uses embedded cells able to charge phones and USB devices, while fellow Dutch designer Iris Van Herpen is a renegade in the field of technological fashion. Famous for her pioneering use of 3D printing she has created wearable tech garments with alien textures by sculpting rubber and metal powder mixtures with magnets.
At the London College of Fashion, Digital Anthropology Lab (DAL) researchers are looking at fashion through a broad lens of technologies, pushing the boundaries of what wearable tech can do. DAL director Lynne Murray explains: We effectively look at the clothes you wear as a vehicle to create technology solutions. Our garments will become increasingly able to do much more things intelligently. Theyll be able to shape shift, theyll be able to become invisible, theyll be able to colour change. Theyll be able to do a whole host of things that we havent even imagined yet.
The DAL have worked on senors that tell wearers when their clothes are polluted and need washing (DAL)
Technology will act as an enabler for fashion trends in the future. We will see garments that literally change form that can be invisible or dissolvable or colour change. The way in which you design for these types of technologies and we think of worn objects will completely change. We are also looking at digital skins, working with spaces where skin could be the next interface.
What we must question, Murray says, is How do we embed technology in to our garments in a way that is subtle, human, meaningful, purposeful and genuine? How do we make them deliver something we cant already do?
The DAL is already undertaking pioneering experiments with embedded sensors. A student project recently used sensors that tracked peoples daily commutes, sending signals to their washing machines which evaluated how polluted their clothes were and whether they needed washing.
The effect of virtual and augmented reality is also being probed. We are looking at virtual reality experiences that will allow you not just to passively consume visual experiences, says Murray, but to really embody those visual experiences and put you into a garment in a virtual space.
These ideas may seem entirely alien, but they are becoming increasingly ubiquitous with even high street brands, such as ASOS and Topshop, looking to accelerate companies developing wearable tech products.
Fiona Dowling, the founder of the Laser House, an art and design brand that uses laser cutting technology as its key tool, explains how technology is an efficient and easily accessible way to design.
I just fell in love with laser cutting because of the precision and the speed of creating things, she says. Not only do you gain more control over what you can make its also very accessible and allows you to make precise and beautiful things without specific training in traditional skills. In terms of production, it opens up possibilities that just werent there before.
As designers and innovators continue to push the boundaries of what is feasible, it seems the possibilities of wearable tech are almost limitless.
Many things are possible, says Murray. In the future I hope we will find ways to allow our garments to do things in a manner that we almost cant see; so that our garments are seamlessly doing useful stuff in the background; so that we are almost dissolving the fabric of our phones into our clothes.
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A new facial recognition app which allows users to find anyone's social media profile using only a picture of their face has rocketed to success in Russia.
FindFace only launched two months ago, but as The Guardian reports, it's already got 500,000 users, who have made almost 3 million searches.
Users put a picture of anyone's face into the app, and it compares the images to millions of profile pictures on VK, the so-called 'Facebook of Russia' which has around 280 million users.
Although FindFace doesn't always match the image to the correct VK profile, its creators claim it works 70 per cent of the time. To make things easier for the searcher, it provides the profiles of 10 people who look similar, as well as the most likely match.
The genius behind FindFace is the algorithm it uses to match pictures to people. To make a succssful search, the app needs to comb through around 1 billion profile pictures almost instantly, a tall order for a relatively small company.
Alexander Kabakov, FindFace's 29-year-old co-founder, told The Guardian the app could change how we find dates. His description of the app's romantic applications, however, is a little dystopian.
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. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. 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. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty
"If you see someone you like, you can photograph them, find their identity, and then send them a friend request," he said.
And if you've got a crush on a famous film star, you can upload an image of them and find 10 doppelgangers instantly.
Budding entrepreneurs looking to emulate FindFace's success in the rest of Europe or the US might have a hard time. Facebook profile pictures are not stored in the same way as they are on VK, making them harder to search through, and EU data regulators have taken a dim view of facial recognition apps in the past, banning certain tools which seem benign in comparison to FindFace.
However, the underlying technology behind the app could reach you one day, even if you're not a member of any Russian social networks.
FindFace's creators are working with Moscow police to integrate their software into the city's CCTV camera network, so authorities will be able to detect wanted suspects as they walk down the street.
Facial recognition is already being used at major events like music festivals to spot criminals in a crowd, so if the technology proves successful, it may spread worldwide.
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The Government is going to force everyone to register to use porn sites.
All sites that contain pornographic material will be forced to verify that their users are over 18, forcing them to register their age and potentially even their credit card details.
The Government has previously said that sites that dont comply with the ruling could be banned from advertising or even shut down entirely.
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. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. 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. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty
The laws were re-stated in the Queen's speech, as part of the Government's "digital economy" plans.
Authorities have previously said that the blocks wont apply just to sites that exist to distribute pornography, but to any that include pornographic material and would get an 18 rating if they were classified formally.
The age verification could be done by requiring customers to sign up with credit cards, so that the sites can check their age. That is how the checks are carried out on gambling sites, which are subject to similar legislation.
We need to talk about porn
Recommended Read more Why watching lots of porn can make you more religious
Free speech campaigners and civil liberties experts have repeatedly criticised the Governments plans. Law lecturer Paul Bernal has said that pornography is usually the first freedom to die, since it is one of the more controversial ways of introducing restrictive measures that are then broadened out across society.
The Government has repeatedly cited research about the availability of porn to children and the damage that it can do in making the case for its verification laws. A study last year found, for instance, that one in five children between 11 and 17 had seen adult images that had shocked or upset them.
The announcement came as part of a set of new laws that the Government claimed were intended on making the UK a world leader in the digital economy.
Those measures also included a legal right to high-speed broadband for each home and new rules to let people complain about their broadband and change away more easily.
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Microsoft said the UK should remain in the European Union, becoming one of the largest companies to come out against a June referendum to exit the bloc.
Microsoft, which opened its first international office in the UK in 1982 and has more than 5,000 employees in the region, said in a statement Tuesday that being part of the EU was a key reason the company has been expanding in the country, noting its first overseas research and development laboratory is located in Cambridge, England.
As a business that is very committed to this country, our view is that the U.K. should remain in the EU, Microsofts U.K. Chief Executive Officer Michel Van der Bel said. Historically, the UK being part of the EU has been one of several important criteria that make it one of the most attractive places in Europe for the range of investments we have made.
Microsofts comments about Brexit echo those of Prime Minister David Cameron and business leaders who argue leaving the EU will crimp immigration and trade. This flexibility of doing business attracts the best people, and the investment that follows them, to the UK, Van der Bel said.
The company said it remains committed to doing business in the UK, but we also believe the U.K. remaining in the EU supports important criteria for continued and future investment by Microsoft and others.
Hewlett Packard
In a memo to Hewlett Packard Enterprise staff attributed to the companys UK Managing Director Andy Isherwood, HPE also supports the U.K. remaining in the EU.
What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Show all 5 1 /5 What's the European Parliament ever done for us? What's the European Parliament ever done for us? A cap on the amount of hours an employer can make you work The Working Time directive provides legal standards to ensure the health and safety of employees in Europe. Among the many rules are a working week of a maximum 48 hours, including overtime, a daily rest period of 11 hours in every 24, a break if a person works for six hours or more, and one day off in every seven. It also includes provisions for paid annual leave of at least four weeks every year Getty Images What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping the people of Britain to avoid smoking In 2014 MEPs passed the Tobacco Products Directive strengthening existing rules on the manufacture, production and presentation of tobacco products. This includes things like reduced branding, restrictions on products containing flavoured tobacco, health warnings on cigarette packets and provisions for e-cigarettes to ensure they are safe What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping you to make the right choices with your food Thanks to the European Parliament, UK consumers have access to more information than ever about their food and drink. This includes amount of fat, and how much of it is saturated, carbohydrates, sugars, protein and so on. It also includes portion sizes and guideline daily amount information so people can make informed choices about their diet. All facts must be clear and easy to understand What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Two year guarantees and 14-day returns policy for all products Consumers across the EU have access to a number of rights, from things which are potentially very useful, to things which used to be annoying. For example, shoppers in the UK receive a two-year guarantee on all products, and a 14-day period to change their minds and return a purchase, these things are useful www.PeopleImages.com-licence restrictions apply What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Keeping your air nice and fresh (and safe) Believe it or not, although the situation is improving, some areas of the UK have appalling air quality. A report by the Royal College of Physicians released on 23 February says 40,000 deaths are caused by outdoor air pollution in the UK every year. Air pollution is linked to a number of illnesses and conditions, from Asthma to diabetes and dementia. The report estimates the costs to British business and the health service add up to 20 billion every year
We believe that if the U.K. were to leave the EU it would be likely to have a detrimental impact on the long-term prospects for employment, research, investment and innovation in this country, Isherwood wrote to staff. Combined with its particular capabilities as a global financial and legal center and the strength of the UKs academic institutions, these benefits have made the U.K. an attractive investment location for multinational companies like HPE.
The UK referendum is slated for June 23.
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Mitsubishi Motors President Tetsuro Aikawa will step down as the Japanese automaker looks to regroup from its widening fuel economy testing scandal with the backing of Nissan Motor.
Aikawa, 62, and Executive Vice President Ryugo Nakao will leave their positions effective June 24, according to a statement Wednesday. Mitsubishi Motors said its management created an environment for fraud, adding to disclosures that the company tested nine vehicles improperly and overstated the ratings of four minicars by as much as 15 per cent.
Mitsubishi Motors is seeking refuge under the protection of Nissan, which plans to buy a $2.2 billion stake and surpass Mitsubishi group companies to become the carmakers largest shareholder. Aikawa said hell ask Nissan to deploy a top executive to take charge of the development department at Mitsubishi Motors, after management exerted pressure to meet fuel economy targets.
The automaker used desktop calculations to determine the fuel economy of models including the Outlander plug-in hybrid and didnt conduct test on the RVR sport utility vehicle, according to the statement. The company chose to continue using illegal methods because they led to results that deviated by about 2.3 per cent or less.
Turnaround Struggle
Chairman Osamu Masuko told reporters hell give up compensation he earns from now until the company forms a new management team. Aikawa and Masuko, 67, have struggled with the task of turning around Mitsubishi Motors reputation in Japan following the cover-up of defects including faulty axles that led wheels to detach in fatal accidents. That scandal prompted multiple bailouts from Mitsubishi group companies more than a decade ago.
Nissan Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn is betting Mitsubishi Motors can contain the damage of its scandal to Japan and boost the larger automakers standing in emerging Southeast Asian markets, including Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Mitsubishi Motors has said its vehicles sold in the US are accurate and compliant.
Biggest business scandals in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Biggest business scandals in pictures Biggest business scandals in pictures Volkswagen emissions scandal VW admitted to rigging its US emission tests so that diesel-powered cars would looks like they were emitting less nitrous oxide, which can damage the ozone layer and contribute to respiratory diseases. Around 11 million cars worldwide were affected. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Martin Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals Martin Shkreli became known as the most hated man in the world after his drug company, Turing, increased the price of a 62-year-old drug that treated HIV patients by 5,000% to $750 a pill. He was charged with illegally taking stock from Retrophin, a biotechnology firm he started in 2011, and using it pay off debts from unrelated business dealings. Shkreli, who maintains he is innocent, and says there is little evidence of fraud because his investors didn't lose money. Biggest business scandals in pictures Panama Papers: Millions of leaked documents expose how worlds rich and powerful hid money - April 2016 Millions of confidential documents have been leaked from one of the worlds most secretive law firms, exposing how the rich and powerful have hidden their money. Dictators and other heads of state have been accused of laundering money, avoiding sanctions and evading tax, according to the unprecedented cache of papers that show the inner workings of the law firm Mossack Fonseca, which is based in Panama. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Google's tax avoidance Google reached a deal with the HM Revenue and Customs to pay back 130 million in so-called back-taxes that have been due since 2005. George Osborne championed the deal as a major success. But European MEPs have since called for the Chancellor to appear in front of the committee on tax rulings to explain the tax deal. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Rogue trader A French court cut the damages owed by rogue trader Jerome Kerviel from 4.9bn (4.2bn) to just 1m (860,000). The court ruled on that Kerviel was partly responsible for massive losses suffered in 2008 by his former employer Societe Generale through his reckless trades. Kerviel has consistently maintained that bosses at the French bank knew what he was doing all along. AP Biggest business scandals in pictures Barclays CEO under investigation for trying to identify whistleblower - Monday Paril 10 Authorities have launched an investigation into Barclays chief executive officer Jes Staley for trying to identify a whistleblower, the bank said on Monday. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) are both investigating Mr Staley after the bank notified them that Mr Staley had tried to identify the author of two anonymous letters, which were sent to the board and a senior executive in June 2016. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures UK to crack down on bank money laundering after reports of 65bn Russian scam, City minister says - March 2017 The Economic Secretary to the Treasury has vowed that the Government will crack down on money laundering practices, after several of the UK's biggest banks were accused of processing money from a Russian scam, believed to involve up to $80bn (65bn). Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Former HBOS bankers convicted of bribery and fraud over 245m loan scam - February 2017 Two former HBOS bankers were among six people found guilty of bribery and fraud that cost customers and shareholders hundreds of millions of pounds, the BBC reports. Lynden Scourfield, 54, a manager at HBOS, forced struggling clients to use the services of his friends David Mills, 60, and Michael Bancroft, 73. In return, the two businessmen arranged sex parties, cash and lavish gifts. 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Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Christine Lagarde faces court over 340m Bernard Tapie payment - July 2016 The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, must stand trial in France over a payment of 403 million (now 340m, then 290m) to tycoon Bernard Tapie, a France's highest appeals court has ruled. The court rejected Ms Lagarde's appeal against a judge's order in December for her to stand trial over allegations of negligence in her handling of the affair. Ms Lagarde could risk a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros if convicted. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures HSBC senior manager arrested in FX rigging investigation at JFK airport in New York - July 2016 A senior executive at HSBC has been arrested at New York's JFK airport for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to rig currency benchmarks, according to reports. Mark Johnson, global head of foreign exchange cash trading in London, was reportedly arrested on Tuesday. He will appear before a federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, Bloomberg said. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Former PwC employees found guilty in 'Luxleaks' tax scandal - June 2016 Two ex- PricewaterhouseCoopers staffers were found guilty in Luxembourg of stealing confidential tax files that helped unleash a global scandal over generous fiscal deals for hundreds of international companies. Antoine Deltour and Raphael Halet face suspended sentences of 12 months and 9 months and were ordered to pay fines of 1,500 (1,230) and 1,000 (822) for their role in the so-called LuxLeaks scandal. Despite the minimal sentences, the ruling was described by Deltours lawyer as shocking and a terrible anomaly. The ruling puts on guard future whistle-blowers, Deltour told reporters.The LuxLeaks revelations sped beyond Luxembourg, causing European Union regulators to expand a tax-subsidy probe and propose new laws to fight corporate tax dodging, while EU lawmakers created a special committee to probe fiscal deals across the 28-nation bloc. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Goldman Sachs dealmakers lavished Libyan officials with prostitutes to win contract - June 2016 A former Goldman Sachs dealmaker trying to persuade Gadaffi-era Libya to invest $1 billion with the investment bank procured prostitutes and invited Libyan officials to lavish parties in the hope of winning the business, the High Court heard on Monday June 13.The Libyan Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund is suing Goldman Sachs for inappropriately coercing its naive staff into giving its sovereign wealth fund cash to the bank to invest in products they did not understand. The products were designed to generate big profits for Goldman, the LIA claims.Goldman denies wrongdoing and says the LIA was treated as an arms-length customer Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Former boss of BHS said his life was threatened - June 2016 Darren Topp, the former boss of BHS, has said former owner Dominic Chappell threatened to kill him when he challenged him over a 1.5 million transfer out of the business. MPs on the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee asked Mr Topp about a 1.5 million transfer Mr Chappell made from BHS to a company called BHS Sweden. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley admits paying workers below the minimum wage - June 2016 Mike Ashley admitted paying Sports Direct employees below the minimum wage at a hearing in front of MPs. The company founder said that workers were paid less than the statutory minimum because of bottlenecks at security in an admission that could result in sanctions from HMRC. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Mitsubishi admits improper fuel tests - April 2016 Mitsubishi has admitted to using false fuel methods dating back to 1991. The scale of the scandal is only just coming to light after it was revealed in April that data was falsified in the testing of four types of cars, including two Nissan cars. AP Biggest business scandals in pictures Quindell, the scandal-ridden insurance firm Quindell was once a darling of AIM but its share price fell in April 2014 when its accounting practices were attacked in a stinging research note by US short seller Gotham City. In August the group was forced to disclose that the 107 million pre-tax profit it had reported for 2013 was incorrect, and it had in fact suffered a 64million loss. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Toshiba Accounting Scandal The boss of Toshiba, the Japanese technology giant, resigned in disgrace in the wake of one of the countrys biggest ever accounting scandals. His exit came two months after the company revealed that it was investigating accounting irregularities. An independent investigatory panel said that Toshibas management had inflated its reported profits by up to 152 billion yen (780m) between 2008 and 2014. Biggest business scandals in pictures FIFA Corruption Scandal Fifa, football's world governing body, has been engulfed by claims of widespread corruption since the summer of 2015, when the US Department of Justice indicted several top executives. It has now claimed the careers of two of the most powerful men in football, Fifa President Sepp Blatter and Uefa President Michel Platini, after they were banned for eight years from all football-related activities by Fifa's ethics committee. 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Providing a lifeline to Mitsubishi Motors also preserves Nissans supply of the minicar models produced by a joint venture the two companies set up in late 2010. After suspending sales of the cars when Mitsubishi Motors first disclosed wrongdoing on April 20, Nissan reported that its Japan sales plunged 51 per cent in the minicar segment and 22 per cent overall for the full month.
A panel of three former prosecutors is investigating the improper testing that Mitsubishi Motors has said goes back as far back as 1991, as well as the mileage data manipulation. The investigators are due to report their findings around late July.
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Despite David Camerons vow last summer to end the gender pay gap in a generation, the UK is still lagging behind the European average when it comes to gender equality at work, according to a Glassdoor study.
The UK comes 11th out of 18 European countries behind the Nordics, France and Spain, the research found.
Sweden, Norway and Finland had the highest gender equality in the workplace. Italy, Greece and Ireland had the lowest scores.
http://www.statista.com/ (Statista)
Glassdoor Economic Research, conducted by Llewyn Consulting, compared 18 European countries and the US on 12 key measures. These included the gap between female and male employment rates, female representation on corporate boards and top management as well as the cost of motherhood in term of lower wages for mothers.
British mothers are significantly worse off than those in Italy, the study found. The cost of motherhood, or the difference between what men get paid compared to women with at least one child, is 14 per cent in the UK.
(Glassdoor)
It is highest by far in Ireland at 31 per cent but stands at only 3 per cent or lower in Spain, Belgium and Italy.
Joeli Brearley, founder of the online project Pregnant Then Screwed, which aims to raise awareness of pregnancy discrimination in the UK, said it is a nuanced issue and many factors can contribute to the increase in the gender pay gap when a women becomes a mother.
It is telling that the country which has the worst score, Ireland, offers no legal rights to any leave for fathers after the birth of a child, she told The Independent.
Italy, the country that fares best, has a culture of family which means that grandparents will often look after the children while the parents work, alleviating problems with childcare costs, according to Brearley.
The cost of childcare in the UK is one of the highest in Western nations. Of all the other countries in Europe, only Ireland charges rates equally as high as the UK for two and three-year-olds in full-time day care.
The data shows a really interesting picture of how flexible working, childcare costs, culture, maternity and paternity-leave time and pay can have a positive or negative affect on women in the workplace, Brearley said.
There are fewer women than men in the workplace in the UK but the gap considerably narrows for those with a university education, the study showed. In contrast, Sweden, Norway and Finland all have an almost equal balance of men and women in the labour market and can be a lesson for the UK, according to Dr Andrew Chamberlain, chief economist at Glassdoor.
The world's 15 most powerful women in 2015 Show all 15 1 /15 The world's 15 most powerful women in 2015 The world's 15 most powerful women in 2015 Angela Merkel - German Chancellor German Chancellor Angela Merkel has retained her number one ranking for topping this years Forbes list for the fifth consecutive year and ten times in total. The world's 15 most powerful women in 2015 Hillary Clinton - Presidential candidate, United States Clinton, who could become the worlds most powerful leader in 2016, has been featured on the list every year since it launched in 2014. The world's 15 most powerful women in 2015 Melinda Gates - Cochair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Melinda Gates has cemented her dominance in philanthropy and global development to the tune of $3.9 billion in giving in 2014 and more than $33 billion in grant payments since she founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with her husband in 2000. The world's 15 most powerful women in 2015 Janet Yellen - Chair, Federal Reserve, Washington, United States Janet Yellen made history in 2014 when she became the first female head of the Federal Reserve. The world's 15 most powerful women in 2015 Marry Barra - CEO of General Motors Mary Barra made history by becoming the first female CEO of General Motors. The world's 15 most powerful women in 2015 Christina Lagarde - Managing director, International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde is entering the last year of her first term heading the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the organisation which serves as economic advisor and backstop for 188 countries. Under Lagarde the IMF has supported efforts to increase female labor force participation as way to reduce poverty and inequality. The UK, Germany, China, France and Korea have endorsed Christine Lagarde for another term as the head of the IMF. The world's 15 most powerful women in 2015 Dilma Rousseff - President, Brazil Dilma Rousseff, who has been elected in 2010, is Brazil's first female president. The world's 15 most powerful women in 2015 Sheryl Sandberg - COO of Facebook Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO and author of bestseller Lean In, joined the company in 2008 and became the first woman on its board four years later. Sandberg helped the social network go public and expand digital revenue. The world's 15 most powerful women in 2015 Susan Wojcicki - CEO of Youtube Susan Wojcicki is CEO of YouTube, the worlds most popular digital video platform used by over a billion people across the globe. She oversees YouTube's content and business operations, engineering, and product development. The world's 15 most powerful women in 2015 Michelle Obama - First lady, United States Michelle Obama, the 44th first lady of the United States has focused her attention on issues such as the support of military families, helping working women balance career and family and encouraging national service. The world's 15 most powerful women in 2015 Park Geun-hye - President, South Korea Park Geun-hye is the first female leader of a country that has the highest level of gender inequality in the developed world. In her inauguration speech, she promised to prioritise both national security and economic revitalisation. The world's 15 most powerful women in 2015 Oprah Winfrey - Actress, Director/Producer, Entrepreneur, Personality, Philanthropist Oprah Winfrey, a former queen of daytime TV has proven she can thrive without a talkshow. Her 'The Life You Want' tour sold out stadiums from Newark to Seattle in 2014. The world's 15 most powerful women in 2015 Ginni Rometty - CEO of IBM Ginni Rometty joined IBM in 1981 and later became the first woman to lead the company. The world's 15 most powerful women in 2015 Meg Whitman - CEO of Hewlett-Packard Meg Whitman is the only woman to have headed two large U.S. public companies: eBay and Hewlett-Packard.Until Marissa Mayer's arrival at Yahoo, she was the only female head of a leading Internet-based company. The world's 15 most powerful women in 2015 Indra Nooyi - CEO of PepsiCo Indra Nooyi is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo. Mrs. Nooyi leads one of the worlds largest convenient food and beverage companies, with 2008 annual revenues of more than $43 billion.
The UK also scored high for having one of the biggest proportion of female managers, ranking third, just behind Sweden and Norway.
A report last year from Lord Mervyn Davies, who has been championing gender equality in the boardroom, has shown that FTSE 100 companies have exceeded the target of having 25 per cent women on their boards more than doubling the number in 2011 when the target was set. However, the figure of 26% in the UK is still 10% lower than in Norway
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Students at the University of East Anglia have been told not to throw their mortarboards in the air upon graduating but for a price they could mime and have their hats digitally added in afterwards.
The instructions were sent to students after the institution reportedly said that a number of injuries had been recorded following the graduate hat throwing tradition in previous years.
An email from Penguin Photograph, who are commissioned for the Norwich institutions upcoming graduation ceremonies, said: We will be asking everyone to mime the throwing of their hats in the air and we will then Photoshop them in above the group before printing.
As well as being safer, this will have the added advantage that even more of the students faces will be seen in this photograph.
The company said their offer to add in fake hats post-production was "a bargain" at an extra 8, and provided an example of a similarly doctored image from a recent ceremony at the University of Warwick.
Louisa Baldwin, Law Society President at UEA, told student newspaper The Tab: If Ive paid 45 to hire a bit of cloth and card for the day, I should be able to chuck my hat in the air! Its nothing worse than the weekly ritual of dodging VKs as theyre lobbed across the LCR [lower common room] dance floor.
An increasing number of universities have warned graduating students against the much-loved tradition in recent years, citing fears over health and safety and the possibility of being held responsible for accidents as a motive.
Recommended Read more University bans student couples from holding hands in canteen
Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge has also attempted to put a stop to mortarboard throwing on the basis that the caps could be damaged as well as graduands, and last year the University of Birmingham killed off the tradition in order to ensure everyone has an enjoyable time.
Describing the throwing of hats as an unacceptable risk, the University of East Anglia said: The decision to not have the traditional hat throwing photo opportunity for all students this year follows a number of injuries over recent years to graduates hurt by falling mortarboards.
We want to ensure no students graduation day is ruined by the potential for avoidable injury, a spokesperson added.
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Dennis Skinner is known for his firebrand politics, steadfast beliefs, annual heckles, being chucked out of Parliament and antagonising the Tories, especially David Cameron.
But what few people know about the Beast of Bolsover is the work he does outside of politics to help the community. Mr Skinner has revealed he visits care facilities to sing to patients with dementia in a bid to help them retain some of their rapidly fading memories.
Mr Skinners late mother Lucy was diagnosed with dementia in the 1980s. He told BBC presenter Jeremy Vine she would often sing while doing household tasks, so when her memory began to falter, he started singing to her. The veteran Labour MP says that after a few seconds of serenading her with Gracie Fields and Vera Lynn, she would show a glimmer of recognition and join in. When his sister was then diagnosed with dementia, he had the same experience with her.
Mr Skinner, 84, says he sang in the school choir and would sing in clubs and pubs while working as a coal miner, developing a passion for music.
He now visits the Shirevale Resource Centre facility in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, and sings classic songs to elderly people with dementia, often leading group renditions of his mothers favourite, Getting to know you.
It does go back about 50 or 60 years which is important for classes like this to help with your memory and the rhythm of singing, he said. I discovered this when my mother had dementia, and the result was I became enamoured by this place here.
Mr Skinner said he has been visiting Shirebrook and other homes off and on for eight years, when Parliament is not in session or when Ive been kicked out. Shirevale holds regular classes for people suffering from the disease which he joins in with.
If there is something, a little bit, that we can do to enhance their lives... I know that they had a happier time as a result of all of the singing and the use of brain co-ordination with their feet and hands and all the rest of it. I know that those two and a half hours helped those people, those 20 odd people in that room."
People news in pictures Show all 18 1 /18 People news in pictures People news in pictures 7 October 2015 Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in an ice hockey match between former NHL stars and officials at the Shayba Arena in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Vladimir Putin spent his 63rd birthday on the ice, playing hockey with NHL stars against Russian officials and tycoons EPA People news in pictures 6 October 2015 German designer Karl Lagerfeld (R) and model Cara Delevingne (C) appear at the end of his Spring/Summer 2016 women's ready-to-wear collection for fashion house Chanel at the Grand Palais which is transformed into a Chanel airport during the Fashion Week in Paris, France Reuters People news in pictures 5 October 2015 Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne addresses the Conservative party conference in Manchester. The Chancellor argued that reducing the payments to people in low paid jobs would give them economic security by reducing the Governments spending deficit Getty Images People news in pictures 4 October 2015 Cowboys captain Johnathan Thurston takes a moment in the centre of the field with his daughter Frankie Thurston, holding dark-skinned doll, after winning the 2015 NRL Grand Final match between the Brisbane Broncos and the North Queensland Cowboys at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. The image quickly became the talking point of Australias National Rugby League Final and provoked a strong reaction on social media, with many praising Thurston for giving his child a toy that promotes inclusiveness and diversity Getty Images People news in pictures 3 October 2015 Pope Francis gives a thumbs-up as he greets people at the end of an audience to the participants of a meeting organized by the "Food Bank" at the Paul VI audience hall in Vatican Getty Images People news in pictures 2 October 2015 Britain's Finance Minister George Osborne (L) throws an American football as he meets with former American football players Dan Marino (2nd R) and Curtis Martin (not pictured) at 11 Downing Street in London, ahead of the New York Jets playing against the Miami Dolphins at London's Wembley Stadium on 4 October Getty Images People news in pictures 1 October 2015 An honor guard opens the door as Russian President Vladimir Putin enters a hall to attend a meeting with members of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia People news in pictures 30 September 2015 Former Mrs America Lisa Christie, who alleges misconduct by Bill Cosby, holds up photos of her younger self during a news conference at the law office of attorney Gloria Allred in Los Angeles People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Matt Damon has defended himself against claims that he instructed gay actors to remain in the closet. He had said I think youre a better actor the less people know about you and sexuality is a huge part of that. Whether youre straight or gay, people shouldnt know anything about your sexuality but an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show said, I was just trying to say actors are more effective when theyre a mystery. Right? Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Marion Cotillard has said that there is no place for feminism in Hollywood. Speaking to Porter magazine, she saidFilm-making is not about gender/ You cannot ask a president in a festival like Cannes to have, like, five movies directed by women and five by men. For me it doesnt create equality, it creates separation. I mean, I dont qualify myself as a feminist." Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Paul Walkers daughter, Meadow, is suing Porsche over her fathers death in a lawsuit that claims he was trapped in the burning car because of design flaws and the seat belt. The Fast and Furious star was killed when the Porsche Carrera GT he was a passenger in hit a pole in California in 2013. The driver, his friend Roger Rodas, also died when the vehicle burst into flames. AP People news in pictures 28 September 2015 Robert Mugabe waits to address the United Nations General Assembly. The leader of Zimbabwe reportedly exclaimed 'We are not gay!' as he criticised Western nation's "double standards and attempts to prescribe new rights that are contrary to our values, norms, traditions and beliefs. In 2013 he described homosexuals as worse than pigs, goats and birds. Reuters People news in pictures 28 September 2015 South African comedian Trevor Noah hosts the first 'Daily Show' since taking over from Jon Stewart as host. Stewart had presented the US satirical news show since 1999 and was described by Noah during the show as a 'Political father' 2015 Getty Images People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Sir Elton John may have received a phone call from the real Vladimir Putin. Mr Putin's spokesman announced he had made contact weeks after the singer was duped by pranksters pretending to be the Russian President. Getty People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Actor Leonardo DiCaprio was mistakenly declared as the artist who produced the Mona Lisa by Fox News anchor Shepard Smith. It was in fact Leonardo da Vinci. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 A new biography claims Donald Trump expected to be dead by 40 and never marry. The Guardian says the a new book also claims that in 1980, Mr Trump manufactured a fake vice-president of his real estate conglomerate, whom he called John Baron. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 The Dalai Lama has said that Britain's policy towards China is just about 'Money, money, money.' And asked 'Where is morality?' People news in pictures 24 September 2015 Puff Daddy secured the number-one spot on the Forbes Hip Hop Cash Kings list, with the publication calculating he made an estimated $60million (39m) between June 2014 and June 2015.
Mr Skinner said he often wonders whether he could have ended up in a very different career from politics had he been born into other circumstances. I never had any [singing] training. I often think now Im a lot older, what would have happened if I was born in the middle of the city, where there was a drama class. Would it have been different?
Despite being one of Westminister's sharpest and most active MPs, he fears that he too could develop dementia and now has a daily routine in place to ensure his mind stays active.
Dr Ian Le Guillou, a research officer at Alzheimers Society, said the organisation is funding a centre for PhD students to study how arts and music can benefit people with dementia.
Dr Le Guilou told the Independent: Singing is not only an enjoyable activity, but an excellent way to bring people with dementia and their carers together to express themselves and socialise with others. At Alzheimers Society, we often hear of people at our Singing for the Brain support groups, not only having fun, but positively relating to music - even when many other memories are hard to recall."
Susan Drayton, a clinical lead for Admiral Nursing Direct at Dementia UK, agreed that singing is an inclusive activity for dementia patients that can prove calming and enjoyable. Ms Drayton told the Independent it can also have an effect on recall. Music can stimulate the brain and help reconnect someone with a past memory or experience, which can aid communication and improve relationships.
Mr Skinner's story, Dennis Skinner vs Dementia, can be heard on BBC iPlayer Radio.
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A woman who has accused Bill Cosby of sexually abusing her at the Playboy mansion is suing Hugh Hefner.
Chloe Goins has accused Cosby of spiking her drink and sexually abusing her at the famed mansion in 2008. She claims she awoke to find the American comedian licking her toes and pulling up his trousers. Cosby has previously denied the claims.
Ms Goins cannot recall the exact date of the incident and it is unknown if the 26-year-old was a minor at the time. Her lawyer said on Tuesday he now hopes to discover the exact date of the alleged incident now Hefner is named as a defendant, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Ms Goins claims in the lawsuit filed in the Los Angeles Supreme Court that Hefner, 90, should have known Cosby over the years had a propensity for intoxicating or drugging young women and taking advantage of them sexually and against their will or while they were unconscious.
Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Winner of his first Emmy for 'I Spy' is Bill Cosby being congratulated by his wife Camille held at Americana Hotel, 1966 Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby in 'I Spy', 1960s Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby in July 1973 in Perth Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor in 'California Suite', 1978 Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby and Elmo in Sesame Street, 1989 Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby poses for a picture with Florence Griffith-Joyner in June 1989 Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Comedian Bill Cosby back in 1992 Rex Features Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby A scene from a 1992 episode of 'The Cosby Show' AP Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby US Monica Seles breaks into laughter as she jokes with comedian Bill Cosby during a celebrity match in the stadium at the US Open for the Arthur Ashe AIDS Challenge on 27 August 1995 Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby meets Toronto Blue Jays' All-Star Joe Carter after the Stars played the Stripes in the Celebrity All-Star game which preceded workouts for the 67th All-Star Game at Veterans Stadium on 8 July 1996 in Philadephia Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Co-hosts Oprah Winfrey and Bill Cosby joke with each other during the opening of the 2000 Essence Awards 14 April 2000 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby jokes with baseball great Hank Aaron after they both received the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award from U.S. President George W. Bush during a ceremony on 9 July 2002 at the White House in Washington Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby poses backstage after winning the 'Bob Hope Humanitarian Award' during the 55th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium on 21 September 2003 in Los Angeles Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby 'Tonight Show' host Jay Leno and comedian Bill Cosby laugh during a surprise visit by Cosby to sign a Harley-Davidson motorcycle that Leno is using to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina at NBC studios on 9 September 2005 in Burbank, California Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby speaks during a taping of 'Meet the Press' at the NBC studios on 14 October 2007 in Washington Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby at the 12th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the John F. Kennedy Center on 26 October 2009 in Washington Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby speaks at the National Action Network's 20th annual Keepers of the Dream Awards gala in New York on 6 April 2011 Reuters Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby during the 100th anniversary celebration of the Beverly Hills Hotel & Bungalows supporting the Motion Picture & Television Fund and the American Comedy Fund, 2012 Getty Images Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby speaks onstage at the Thurgood Marshall College Fund 25th Awards Gala on 11 November 2013 in Washington Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby performs at the Treasure Island Hotel & Casino on 26 September 2014 in Las Vegas
She has claimed Hefner was liable because he hosted the party at his mansion and allegedly suggested she and a friend have a drink with Cosby, Reuters reports. She has accused Hefner of negligent infliction of emotional distress and conspiracy to commit sexual battery.
She is suing Cosby for battery, gender violence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. In February, she dropped an earlier lawsuit against the actor. Her lawyer has now said this was so Hefner could be added as a defendant.
In January, Los Angeles prosecutors declined to file criminal charges against Cosby in connection with the alleged incident, saying there was insufficient evidence and citing the statute of limitations.
Ms Goins is one of over 50 women who have made sexual abuse claims against Cosby. He has denied all the claims and countersued several women for defamation. Several of those women have countersued him for defamation.
Cosby has only been charged with one criminal offence in Pennsylvania for allegedly sexually assaulting a former Temple University employee in 2004. He has not yet entered a plea and is on bail.
Hefner has previously spoken of the claims made against his good friend Cosby after another woman, Judy Huth, accused the 78-year-old of sexually assaulting her in the Playboy mansion in 1975 when she was 15-years-old.
In response to that allegation made in June, 2014, Hefner released a statement and said: Bill Cosby has been a good friend for many years and the mere thought of these allegations is truly saddening.
I would never tolerate this kind of behaviour, regardless of who was involved."
In March, Ms Huths lawyer said she wanted to depose Hefner in her clients case against Cosby.
A representative for Hefner did not immediately respond to a request for comment, a representative for Cosby declined to comment.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press.
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An Italian paramedic has gone on trial for allegedly stealing James Gandolfinis Rolex watch from his wrist while he lay dying in June 2013.
The Sopranos star, who is known for playing Mafia boss Tony, died from a heart attack during a family trip to Rome. The New Jersey-born actor collapsed in the Boscolo Exedra Hotel.
Paramedic Claudio Bevilacqua, 43, has been accused of taking the 2,000 Submariner Rolex while Gandolfini was fighting for his life. Prosecutors claim Mr Bevilacqua stole the watch amid the chaos of rushing him to a hospital in Rome.
Arrivederci Tony! Tributes pour in for Sopranos star James Gandolfini after heart attack death aged 51 Show all 17 1 /17 Arrivederci Tony! Tributes pour in for Sopranos star James Gandolfini after heart attack death aged 51 Arrivederci Tony! Tributes pour in for Sopranos star James Gandolfini after heart attack death aged 51 gandolfini.jpg AP Arrivederci Tony! Tributes pour in for Sopranos star James Gandolfini after heart attack death aged 51 James-Gandolfini-sopranos.jpg Getty Images Arrivederci Tony! Tributes pour in for Sopranos star James Gandolfini after heart attack death aged 51 James-Gandolfini-emmys-2003.jpg Getty Images Arrivederci Tony! Tributes pour in for Sopranos star James Gandolfini after heart attack death aged 51 James-Gandolfini-Sopranos-Edie-Falco.jpg Getty Images Arrivederci Tony! Tributes pour in for Sopranos star James Gandolfini after heart attack death aged 51 gandolfini1.jpg AP Arrivederci Tony! Tributes pour in for Sopranos star James Gandolfini after heart attack death aged 51 James-Gandolfini-Emmy.jpg Getty Images Arrivederci Tony! Tributes pour in for Sopranos star James Gandolfini after heart attack death aged 51 gandolfini2.jpg AP Arrivederci Tony! Tributes pour in for Sopranos star James Gandolfini after heart attack death aged 51 gandolfini3.jpg AP Arrivederci Tony! Tributes pour in for Sopranos star James Gandolfini after heart attack death aged 51 James-Gandolfini-The-Mexican.jpg Getty Images Arrivederci Tony! Tributes pour in for Sopranos star James Gandolfini after heart attack death aged 51 gandolfini4.jpg AP Arrivederci Tony! Tributes pour in for Sopranos star James Gandolfini after heart attack death aged 51 James-Gandolfini_1.jpg EPA Arrivederci Tony! Tributes pour in for Sopranos star James Gandolfini after heart attack death aged 51 James-Gandolfini-autographs.jpg Getty Images Arrivederci Tony! Tributes pour in for Sopranos star James Gandolfini after heart attack death aged 51 James-Gandolfini-Susan-Sarandon.jpg Getty Images Arrivederci Tony! Tributes pour in for Sopranos star James Gandolfini after heart attack death aged 51 James-Gandolfini-Screen-Actors-Guild-2008.jpg Arrivederci Tony! Tributes pour in for Sopranos star James Gandolfini after heart attack death aged 51 James-Gandolfini-sopranos-still.jpg Getty Images Arrivederci Tony! Tributes pour in for Sopranos star James Gandolfini after heart attack death aged 51 AN23164112FILE - In this un.jpg AP Arrivederci Tony! Tributes pour in for Sopranos star James Gandolfini after heart attack death aged 51 James-Gandolfini-Nicky-Deuce.jpg Getty Images
Gandolfini was discovered unconscious on the bathroom floor of his hotel by his 13-year-old son. He was then taken to hospital where paramedics unsuccessfully attempted to revive him. He had been due to attend the Taormina film festival in Sicily to receive an award a few days later.
Recommended Read more Sopranos star James Gandolfini to be remembered with US tribute show
Mr Bevilacqua did not attend the start of the trial on Monday in Rome and has yet to enter a plea. According to reports in The Telegraph, the trial has been delayed until November.
It was first reported that his watch had been filed as stolen on an insurance form submitted by Gandolfinis people in July of 2013.
The iconic actor had his first debut in True Romance in 1993 and then went on to play the lead role in HBO drama The Sopranos. He gained three Emmy awards in his illustrious career and a posthumous Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.
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Melania Trump has suggested a journalist who received antisemitic abuse provoked readers with the profile she wrote about her in GQ.
Julia Ioffe, a respected journalist who has written for publications such as The New York Times and Politico Magazine, produced a wide-ranging feature on Donald Trumps wife for GQ in April ahead of Mr Trump becoming the presumptive Republican nominee.
Melania, who was interviewed for the profile, denounced the profile as dishonest on Facebook shortly after. Ms Ioffe, who is Jewish, said she received a barrage of antisemitic abuse and attacks after the article was published and she defended herself against Ms Trumps claims. This is not a heavily critical article, she said in response. There is nothing in it that is untrue.
In an extensive interview with DuJour magazine, the former model was asked about the GQ profile and the reaction it sparked.
I have thick skin, Melania responded. It doesnt bother me if they write about me because I know who I am. But what right does the reporter have to go and dig in court in Slovenia in 1960 about my parents? Theyre private citizens. If they go after me, its different. But to do that, its a little bit nasty, its a little bit mean.
The interviewer then asked: So if people put a swastika on my face once this article comes out, will she denounce them?
I dont control my fans, she replied, but I dont agree with what theyre doing. I understand what you mean, but there are people out there who maybe went too far. She provoked them.
Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Show all 14 1 /14 Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Isis: "Some of the candidates, they went in and didnt know the air conditioner didnt work and sweated like dogs, and they didnt know the room was too big because they didnt have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS?" Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On immigration: "I will build a great wall and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me and Ill build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Free Trade: "Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people." PAUL J. RICHARDS | AFP | Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Mexicans: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists." Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On China: "I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?... I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On work: "If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable." AP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On success: "What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate." Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On life: "Everything in life is luck." AFP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On ambition: "You have to think anyway, so why not think big?" Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On his opponents: "Bush is totally in favour of Common Core. I don't see how he can possibly get the nomination. He's weak on immigration. He's in favour of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy? You just can't do it." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Obamacare: "You have to be hit by a tractor, literally, a tractor, to use it, because the deductibles are so high. It's virtually useless. And remember the $5 billion web site?... I have so many web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a web site. It costs me $3." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Barack Obama: "Obama is going to be out playing golf. He might be on one of my courses. I would invite him. I have the best courses in the world. I have one right next to the White House." PA Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On himself: "Love him or hate him, Trump is a man who is certain about what he wants and sets out to get it, no holds barred. Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On America: "The American Dream is dead. But if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again." GETTY
The profile included an interview with a half-brother Melania has never met and friends from her native Slovenia, as well as an account of her parents and their life. The existence of Melania's half-brother had never been reported on prior to the GQ piece. It also included a suggestion her caviar-infused anti-ageing creams did not sell well. In an angry response on her Facebook page, Melania branded the interview an example of the dishonest media and their disingenuous reporting and dismissed Ms Ioffes claim about her skin cream as completely false.
There are numerous inaccuracies in this article including certain statements about my family and claims on personal matters, it went on. My parents are private citizens and should not be subject to Ms Ioffes unfair scrutiny.
In the same interview with DuJour, Melania also responded to comparisons between her husband and Hitler, where she insisted Mr Trump's proposed ban on Muslims entering the US would only be a short-term measure. We know the truth. Hes not Hitler. He wants to help America. He wants to unite people. They think he doesnt but he does. Even with the Muslims, its temporary.
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The wife of Ed Miliband has defended Sophie Gregoire Trudeaus request for additional support to help her manage her public duties.
Ms Gregoire Trudeau, a 41-year-old former television presenter who is married to the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, sparked a fierce international debate after admitting she was struggling with just one member of staff.
Id love to be everywhere but I cant, she told Quebec newspaper Le Soleil last week. I have three children and a husband who is Prime Minister. I need help. I need a team to help me serve the people.
Justine Thornton, a lawyer who has been married to Mr Miliband since 2011, has come to the defence of Ms Gregoire Trudeau, arguing that it is not possible for political wives to participate in public life without sufficient support.
If we expect spouses to participate in public life, in the way Michelle Obama has done, carving out a role that combines being the US first lady (an unofficial position, by the way) with her various projects, then they will need some help, she wrote in a Guardian comment piece.
The Milibands: Man of steel, man of clay Show all 4 1 /4 The Milibands: Man of steel, man of clay The Milibands: Man of steel, man of clay 453082.bin GETTY IMAGES The Milibands: Man of steel, man of clay 463625.bin EPA The Milibands: Man of steel, man of clay 462925.bin The Milibands: Man of steel, man of clay 460987.bin GETTY IMAGES
Political leaders seem to have an ever-growing entourage, but their spouses are thrust into the political world often without ever choosing it, and sometimes without any support at all, she added. Yet they are constantly under scrutiny and expected not to screw up.
Recommended Read more Sophie Gregoire Trudeau prompts debate after asking for more help
Ms Thornton drew attention to the fact that fellow political wives, Cherie Blair, Sarah Brown and Samantha Cameron, had help with their official duties. It was Norma Major who, rightly, set the precedent by asking for help".
She warned Ms Gregoire Trudeau not to be discouraged or unnerved by the criticism she has received in the last week, explaining that it is part and parcel of the job. She also urged Ms Gregoire Trudeau to use this as an opportunity to spark a public debate about what exactly it is which is expected of both male and female political spouses.
Ms Gregoire Trudeau's request prompted an onslaught of criticism from Canadian opposition MPs and the issue has been widely debated on social media, with the hashtag #jesuissophie and #prayforsophie trending.
Ms Thornton also relayed her own experiences of being a political wife to the former Labour leader, discussing the two-fold pressure of maintaining her job and being in the public eye and thus under the scrutiny of the media.
She explained it was difficult to juggle work commitments and official duties. I carried on working at my own job for the most part, she wrote. But then I discovered that I was being defined by my absence. I realised that all most Labour members knew about me was the make of the dress I wore when I showed up for Eds speech to the annual party conference. I started to make a few speeches myself, so people would see me as more than a dress.
Nevertheless, Ms Thorton remained adamant that political wives should not be part of a compulsory package on offer to voters.
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A weather presenter whose live broadcast was interrupted by a colleague handing her a cardigan says she has received a number of emails body-shaming her.
On Saturday, Liberte Chans weather broadcast on Los Angeles-based local news station KTLA was interrupted by a colleague passing her a cardigan to put on over her black dress. An off-camera male voice then explained that they were getting a lot of emails complaining about her choice of clothing.
Since the incident went viral, Ms Chan says she has been on the receiving end of inappropriate comments about her appearance and body size.
Ive gotten emails that say, She has fatty arms. She has this. She has that, Ms Chan told Time.
As a meteorologist, youre in a very vulnerable situation. Youre showing your entire body. It became much more about my body than my brain. This has turned into a much bigger issue than just a sweater."
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
Ms Chan said she would not change her choice of clothing in the future. Ill just be me and being me has not caused me any issues until Saturday morning. It is what it is. Im not crying over it.
Although Ms Chan has received a number of negative body shaming emails in the aftermath of the incident, she explained there had also been a supportive response from other viewers.
Ive gotten emails saying, We fought for equality.' And the older generation is thinking, Why is she being told what she should wear or what she shouldnt wear? Weve lived through a generation, a time when men told us what we should wear,. Are we going backwards? Its 2016.
In Ms Chans initial response to the furore posted on her Facebook page, she said she did not think the incident was sexist and she instead found it funny.
I really wasnt offended, people are kind of spinning it and saying that it was sexist [] Theyre calling it sweater-gate, she said I personally was not offended at all, I found it funny [] I dont think it was sexist but thats just my opinion.
She also wrote a blog post where she defended KTLA, the television station who came under heavy criticism for their treatment of Ms Chan. For the record, there is no controversy at KTLA, she wrote. My bosses did not order me to put on the cardigan, it was a spontaneous moment. I truly love my job, I like my bosses and enjoy working with my co-workers. Since talking to my team, I want our viewers to know it was never our intention to offend anyone.
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Recommended Read more Dinosaurs fled from Europe for no apparent reason
An amateur Montana fossil hunter stumbled across a major discovery more than a decade ago when bones he found turned out to be a new species of dinosaur, researchers announced.
Retired nuclear physicist Bill Shipp discovered the leg bone for Judith, known to scientists as Spiclypeus shipporum, after he hired an amateur paleontologists to teach him how to search for fossils, The Associated Press reports.
(AP (AP)
Judith, named for the Judith River rock formation near where it was found, is believed to be a close family member of the more well known horned dinosaur, the triceratops, researchers said in a report published in the PLUS ONE scientific journal. It lived in what would become Montana nearly 7million years ago.
Scientists unearth 'supercroc' that dined on dinosaurs Show all 2 1 /2 Scientists unearth 'supercroc' that dined on dinosaurs Scientists unearth 'supercroc' that dined on dinosaurs 264538.bin Mike Hettwer/National Geographic Scientists unearth 'supercroc' that dined on dinosaurs 264539.bin Todd Marshall/National Geographic
I found it accidentally on purpose, Mr Shipp told the AP. I was actually looking for dinosaur bones, but with no expectation of actually finding any.
Researchers found evidence of infection in the 15-foot, four ton plant-eaters leg, that research Jordan Mallon said would have left the animal vulnerable to predators.
Its an exciting story, because its a new species, and yet we have this sort of pathetic individual that suffered throughout its lifetime, Mr Mallon, a paleontologist at the Canadian Museum of Nature, said.
If youre hobbling along on three limbs, youre probably not going to be able to keep up with the herd.
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A woman who said she wanted to marry the terrorist known as Jihadi John has been jailed for four and a half years for spreading Isis propaganda.
Zafreen Khadam was jailed at Sheffield Crown Court after being found guilty of 10 terror offences.
The North East Counter Terrorism Unit (NECTU) said the 32-year-old had openly supported Isis and had told friends she wanted to marry Mohammed Emwazi, the British militant labeled Jihadi John after he appered in several videos beheading Western hostages.
The head of NECTU, Detective Chief Superintendent Clive Wain, said his officers had reviewed hundreds of hours of video and thousands of social media posts where Khadam openly expressed her admiration for Isis's extremist ideology and said she was planning to go to Syria.
He said: "It is clear from the evidence presented that Khadam openly demonstrated support for Daesh [Isis] and their ideology, using multiple social media accounts to further spread the propaganda of this terrorist organisation.
"Khadam has not disputed posting the information, claiming she did so out of curiosity and the belief that she did not consider it to be terrorist material. Yet this material glorified terrorism and delivered powerful messages, encouraging terrorist acts and calling upon others to kill."
He added: "Khadam was prolific in her use of social media and showed little regard for the consequences of openly sharing deeply disturbing images and material across a number of digital platforms. Much of this material encouraged violent action and was very extreme in the violence it portrayed."
Mohammed Emwazi, or 'Jihadi John' (AFP)
He said they had received an anonymous tip off that Khadam had been using 15 social media profiles for posting extreme material.
One of her accounts, using the Twitter handle Jihadi Princess, favourited videos including ones that depicted prisoners kneeling in cages preparing for execution and which went on to show one person being burnt alive in a cage and another having his throat cut.
Another portrayed the use of children by Isis, including weapons training and youngsters threatening to kill non-Muslims.
Recommended Read more The link between supporting an Islamic state and joining Isis
NECTU said analysis of Khadam's activity on WhatsApp showed she sent a number of Isis-produced videos and documents to numerous contacts.
One video by Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdad which justified terrorism was sent as a data link, advising contacts to watch it before it was taken down.
Another video was of the murder of a Jordanian pilot who was burned to death.
Mr Wain said his team feared that if Khadam had not been arrested she might have attempted to travel to Syria.
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
He said: "The reach and influence of social media is vast. Daesh and other groups are increasingly using the internet to encourage support for their objectives and to provoke individuals to carry out attacks in the UK. Therefore, tackling extremist material is important to protect the public and prevent offences that incite or encourage acts of terrorism.
"Today's verdict, I hope, sends out a strong message that actions such as those carried out by Khadam will not be tolerated and ourselves, together with policing colleagues and other partner agencies, will bring those who are breaking the law to justice.
"It is also important to reiterate that our priority is the safety of our communities. We will bring those who have committed a criminal offence before the courts, however we would much prefer to stop people from crossing into a path of criminality."
Additional reporting by PA
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Labour frontbencher Andy Burnham has confirmed his intention to run for the mayor of Greater Manchester.
Mr Burnham, a former Labour leadership contender and Shadow Home Secretary, has been MP for Leigh in Greater Manchester since 2001 and the role would give him the chance for one of the biggest jobs in local government in England.
Confirming his intention to run for the position, he said he would leave the Commons if elected.
Recommended Read more Andy Burnham delivers extraordinary Hillsborough speech
In an interview with the Guardian he added: For me this is a cabinet-level job which needs cabinet-level experience. And it needs somebody who is going to devote themselves to it and grab it with both hands.
The biggest mistake would be to underplay [English devolution] and to carry on and say: Westminsters where its at, thats where everything happens and youre not really a serious politician unless youre in Westminster.
Im making a break with this thinking by announcing my candidacy for the mayor of Greater Manchester. I think I can do more for the people I care about, here, by being here rather than there, given this change. I am thinking that the time has come Westminster has become a bit of an irrelevance for some people and we really need to change the way politics works.
According to the newspaper he had hoped to announce his candidacy at the Lowry Centre in Salford Quays later this week though his team accidently changed Mr Burnhams 2015 Labour leadership Twitter handle from @andy4leader to @andy4manchester.
Andy Burnham: 'I vowed to find out the truth about that day' Show all 3 1 /3 Andy Burnham: 'I vowed to find out the truth about that day' Andy Burnham: 'I vowed to find out the truth about that day' Andy Burnham: 'I vowed to find out the truth about that day' 20-ivowedtofindtruth1-pa.jpg PA Andy Burnham: 'I vowed to find out the truth about that day' 20-ivowedtofindtruth3.jpg
The Twitter profile adds: The official account of Andy Burnham's campaign to be Labour's candidate for Mayor of Greater Manchester.
Former Labour MP Tony Lloyd is serving as the interim mayor of the combined authority until the first election for the role in 2017. Mr Burnham's move comes after it emerged shadow cabinet minister Luciana Berger is considering running for the new "metro mayor" role in Liverpool.
The two roles are among the most powerful local government posts in England. Labour's Sadiq Khan secured the London mayoralty for the party earlier this month.
When rumours emerged that Mr Burnham was considering running for the position in Greater Manchester, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said he wanted his colleague to stay on.
I can see why people in the North are approaching him because hes such a good advocate for the North and hes been such a tremendous MP in Parliament and a good frontbencher, he told Sky News.
Andy Burnham's tribute to Hillsborough victims
If he goes, it would be a real loss to parliament, it would be a loss to the Labour party as we go into government in 2020, but I can see why people are approaching him: they want a strong voice and well be devolving more powers to the regions...
"Id want him to stay on and be the Home Secretary when we go back into power because I think hes such a tremendous asset for the Labour party but I know how dedicated he is, not just to his constituency but how hes been a dedicated advocate for the North as well... I can see how hes tempted by that and why others are saying why not think about it?.
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Labour MP Dennis Skinner has used his customary joke at the State Opening of Parliament to draw attention to perceived attacks on the BBC.
The veteran left-winger shouted hands off the BBC! at the Queens representative marched through the House of Commons.
Mr Speaker, the Queen commands this honorable House to attend Her Majesty at once in the House of Peers, Black Rod said, as he is scripted to.
Mr Skinner replied in his customary fashion: Hands off the BBC!
His comments were met with cheering and even some applause from other MPs.
The Labour MPs heckles have become a constitutional tradition during the State Opening of Parliament.
Previous gags have included Royal expenses are on the way in 2009 during the MPs expenses scandal and has she got Helen Mirren on standby in 2006, after the release of the film, The Queen.
He first made a comment during the state opening in 1987.
In pictures: The Queen's speech Show all 23 1 /23 In pictures: The Queen's speech In pictures: The Queen's speech queen-12.jpg PA In pictures: The Queen's speech queen-11.jpg AP In pictures: The Queen's speech Queen-1.jpg Reuters In pictures: The Queen's speech queen-9.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The Queen's speech queen-15.jpg PA In pictures: The Queen's speech queen-8.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The Queen's speech queen-2.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The Queen's speech queen-4.jpg AP In pictures: The Queen's speech queen-6.jpg AP In pictures: The Queen's speech queen-26.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The Queen's speech queen-25.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The Queen's speech queen-24.jpg Reuters In pictures: The Queen's speech queen-23.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The Queen's speech queen-21.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The Queen's speech queen-20.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The Queen's speech queen-19.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The Queen's speech Queen-18.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The Queen's speech queen-17.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The Queen's speech queen-16.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The Queen's speech queen-30.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The Queen's speech queen-29.jpg AP In pictures: The Queen's speech queen-28.jpg EPA In pictures: The Queen's speech queen-27.jpg Getty Images
Mr Skinners microphone appeared to be switched on for his contribution, judging by the volume it was broadcast on television coverage.
His comment comes after the BBC yesterday announced it would be mothballing its recipes website after a Government White Paper said it should restrict its role to core services.
Other areas set to be closed include the Magazine section of the corporations news website and some Newsbeat services for young people, including its app and separate website
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Boris Johnson has made preposterous, obscene remarks during the EU referendum campaign, which call into question his judgement and suitability for the job of Prime Minister, senior Tory Lord Heseltine has said.
In a strongly worded attack, the former deputy Prime Minister said he feared Mr Johnson's judgement is going after he drew parallels between the EU project and the Nazis.
Lord Heseltine, who is one of the most respected figures within the party, said he would not be very surprised if Mr Johnson were to lead the Conservatives.
The former mayor of London, who has become the leading figurehead of the Brexit campaign, is touted as a successor to David Cameron should Britain vote to leave.
Lord Heseltine told the BBC: I think that every time he makes one of these extraordinary utterances people in the Conservative Party will question whether he now has the judgement for that role.
Mr Johnson said last week that throughout history, attempts to unify Europe under a single power had failed, citing Napoleon and Hitler. He said the EU was an attempt to do this by different methods.
Boris Johnson talks with Labour MP Gisela Stuart and Ukip's Douglas Carswell aboard the Vote Leave Battle Bus yesterday (Getty)
"When he (Boris Johnson) starts invoking the memories of Hitler, that has crossed the bounds of domestic debate," Lord Heseltine said.
"It was about the most manic nationalist aggressive destruction on a scale unprecedented in human history. It was about the persecution of the Jews. A calculated decision to persecute the Jews on a massive scale - that was what he wanted to do. He believed in it.
What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Show all 5 1 /5 What's the European Parliament ever done for us? What's the European Parliament ever done for us? A cap on the amount of hours an employer can make you work The Working Time directive provides legal standards to ensure the health and safety of employees in Europe. Among the many rules are a working week of a maximum 48 hours, including overtime, a daily rest period of 11 hours in every 24, a break if a person works for six hours or more, and one day off in every seven. It also includes provisions for paid annual leave of at least four weeks every year Getty Images What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping the people of Britain to avoid smoking In 2014 MEPs passed the Tobacco Products Directive strengthening existing rules on the manufacture, production and presentation of tobacco products. This includes things like reduced branding, restrictions on products containing flavoured tobacco, health warnings on cigarette packets and provisions for e-cigarettes to ensure they are safe What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping you to make the right choices with your food Thanks to the European Parliament, UK consumers have access to more information than ever about their food and drink. This includes amount of fat, and how much of it is saturated, carbohydrates, sugars, protein and so on. It also includes portion sizes and guideline daily amount information so people can make informed choices about their diet. All facts must be clear and easy to understand What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Two year guarantees and 14-day returns policy for all products Consumers across the EU have access to a number of rights, from things which are potentially very useful, to things which used to be annoying. For example, shoppers in the UK receive a two-year guarantee on all products, and a 14-day period to change their minds and return a purchase, these things are useful www.PeopleImages.com-licence restrictions apply What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Keeping your air nice and fresh (and safe) Believe it or not, although the situation is improving, some areas of the UK have appalling air quality. A report by the Royal College of Physicians released on 23 February says 40,000 deaths are caused by outdoor air pollution in the UK every year. Air pollution is linked to a number of illnesses and conditions, from Asthma to diabetes and dementia. The report estimates the costs to British business and the health service add up to 20 billion every year
"The idea that a serious British politician can in any way invoke that memory, I find, frankly, I had better contain my language."
He also criticised what he called Mr Johnson's "near-racist remark" about President Barack Obama, referring to a newspaper column in which the former Mayor of London suggested Mr Obama's "part-Kenyan" background had inspired an "ancestral dislike" for Britain.
In response, a spokesman for Mr Johnson said: "What matters here are the arguments. The British people want to hear debate - they aren't interested in personality politics or personal attacks. Let's get on and discuss the issues."
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The Prime Minister has cranked the EU hysteria up to eleven in a speech in which he inferred that Isis would be supportive of Brexit. Sadly this is not the only occasion on which hyperbole has been harnessed by MPs in support of both camps. Here is a list of the best (spoilers Boris Johnson features heavily).
22 May 2015
In his regular column in The Express Nigel Farage utilised the concerns over Putin and the EU to deliver a tongue in cheek conclusion.
With friends like these, who needs enemies?
13 November 2015
Ukip MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire Mike Hookem, was one of several political figures who took no time to harness the toxic atmosphere just moments after Paris attacks to push an agenda.
19 April 2016
In an article written for The Guardian, Michael Gove attempts to bolster his argument with a highly charged metaphor in which he likens UK remaining in the EU to a hostage situation.
Were voting to be hostages locked in the back of the car and driven headlong towards deeper EU integration.
26 April 2016
In a move that is hard to decipher, let alone understand, Mike Hookem stuck it to Obama re-tweeting a Ukip advertisement that utilises a quote from the film: Love Actually to dishonour the US stance on the EU.
10 May 2016
During a speech in London former work and pensions secretary Ian Duncan Smith said that EU migration would cause an increasing divide between people who benefit from immigration and people who couldnt not find work because of uncontrolled migration.
The European Union is a force for social injustice which backs the haves rather than the have-nots.
15 May 2016
Cartoon character Boris Johnson made the news again over controversial comments that the EU had the same goal as Hitler in trying to create a political super state.
Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically. The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods.
16 May 2016
During a tour of the womens clothing manufacturer David Nieper, Boris had ample time to cook up a new metaphor, arguably eclipsing Goves in which he compares the EU to badly designed undergarments.
So I just say to all those who prophecy doom and gloom for the British Business, I say their pants are on fire. Lets say knickers to the pessimists, knickers to all those who talk Britain down.
In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, the Chancellor said: The next thing we know, the Leave camp will be accusing us of faking the moon landings, kidnapping Shergar and covering up the existence of the Loch Ness monster. But with the quotes over the past few months bordering on fantastical, it may not be too long before Osbornes prediction comes true.
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The Government is going backwards in meeting its own main target for improving disabled peoples lives, new official figures suggest.
Ministers say they want to halve the so-called disability employment gap by 2020 the difference between the number of people in work with disabilities work and the number of people without them.
This would mean getting 63 per cent of disabled people into work by the end of the Parliament.
Recommended Read more Crabb plans to cut disability benefit spending with reform
However new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show it is making reverse progress on the metric.
While the number of disabled people in work is up 121,000 since last year, non-disabled people are the main beneficiaries of employment growth and moving into work faster than their disabled counterparts.
The employment rate for people who are not disabled increased by 0.9 per cent compared to 2015, while disabled peoples employment only increased by 0.6 per cent.
As a result, rather than closing, the gap is widening up by 0.3 per cent to 33 per cent.
Mark Atkinson, chief executive of disability charity Scope, said the overall increase in employment was positive, but that the Government clearly needed to change strategy to reach its goal.
An increase in the number of disabled people in work is clearly positive news, he said.
Disabled protestors demonstrate past the Houses of Parliament, in central London (Getty Images) (Getty)
However, a closer look shows the gap between the employment rate of disabled people and the rest of the population has widened.
The Government has made a bold pledge to halve this disability employment gap by 2020.
The new Secretary of State has committed to consulting with disabled people and disability organisations on employment support.
7 ways the Tories have helped disabled people Show all 7 1 /7 7 ways the Tories have helped disabled people 7 ways the Tories have helped disabled people Closing Remploy factories The Work and Pensions Secretary called time on Britains system of Remploy factories, which provided subsidised and sheltered employment to disabled people. People employed at the factories protested against their closure and said they provided gainful work. Is it a kindness to stick people in some factory where they are not doing any work at all? Just making cups of coffee? Mr Duncan Smith said at the time, defending the decision. I promise you this is better. The Remploy organisation was privatised and sold to American workfare provider Maximus, with the majority of the organisations factories closed. The future of the remaining sites is unclear 7 ways the Tories have helped disabled people Scrapping the Independent Living Fund The 320m Independent Living Fund was established in 1988 to give financial support to people with disabilities. It was scrapped on July 1 2015, with 18,000 often severely disabled people losing out by an average of 300 a week. The money was generally used to help pay for carers so people could live in communities rather than institutions. Councils will get a boost in funding to compensate but it will not cover the whole cost of the fund. This new cash also doesnt have to be spent on the disabled 7 ways the Tories have helped disabled people Cut payments for the disabled Access To Work scheme Iain Duncan Smith is bringing forward a policy that will reduce payments to some disabled people from a scheme designed to help them into work. The 108m scheme, which helps 35,540 people, will be capped on a per-used basis, potentially hitting those with the more serious disabilities who currently receive the most help. The single biggest users of the fund are people who have difficulty seeing and hearing. The cut will come in from October 2015. The charity Disability UK says the scheme actually makes the Government money because the people who gain access to work tend pay tax that more than covers its cost. The DWP does not describe the reduction as a cut and says it will be able to spread the money more thinly and cover more people 7 ways the Tories have helped disabled people Cut Employment and Support Allowance The latest Budget included a 30 a week cut in disability benefits for some new claimants of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). The Government says it is equalising the rate of disability benefits with Jobseekers Allowance because giving disabled people more help is a perverse incentive. The people affected by this cut are those assessed as having a limited capability for work but as being capable of some work-related activity. A group of prominent Catholics wrote to Mr Duncan Smith to say there was no justification for this cut. Mental health charity Mind, said the cut was insulting and misguided 7 ways the Tories have helped disabled people Risk homelessness with a sharp increase disability benefit sanctions Official figures in the first quarter of 2014 found a huge increase in sanctions against people reliant on ESA sickness benefit. The 15,955 sanctions were handed out in that period compared to 3,574 in the same period the year before, 2013 a 4.5 times increase. The homelessness charity Crisis warned at the time that the sharp rise in temporary benefit cuts was cruel and can leave people utterly destitute without money even for food and at severe risk of homelessness. It is difficult to see how they are meant to help people prepare for work, Matt Downie, director of policy at the charity added 7 ways the Tories have helped disabled people Sending sick people to work because of broken fitness to work tests In 2012 a government advisor appointed to review the Governments Work Capability Assessment said the tests causing suffering by sending sick people back to work inappropriately. There are certainly areas where it's still not working and I am sorry there are people going through a system which I think still needs improvement, Professor Malcolm Harrington concluded. The tests are said to have improved since then, but as recently as this summer they are still coming in for criticism. In June the British Psychological Society said there was now significant body of evidence that the WCA is failing to assess peoples fitness for work accurately and appropriately. It called for a full overhaul of the way the tests are carried out. The WCA appeals system has also been fraught with controversy with a very high rate of overturns and delays lasting months and blamed for hardship 7 ways the Tories have helped disabled people The bedroom tax The Governments benefit cut for people who it says are under-occupying their homes disproportionately affects disabled people. Statistics released last year show that around two-thirds of those affected by the under-occupancy penalty, widely known as the bedroom tax, are disabled. There have been a number of high profile cases of disabled people being moved out of specially adapted homes by the policy. In one case publicised by the Sunday People last week, a 48 year old man with cerebral palsy was forced to bathe in a paddling pool after the tax moved him out of his home with a walk-in shower. The Government says it has provided councils with a discretionary fund to help reduce the policys impact on disabled people, but cases continue to arise
This is a welcome move. Current measures to support disabled people into employment arent working.
If the Government is to achieve its ambitious target, it must overhaul the system.
Disability charities warned that previous government policies including a 30-a-week cut to some new claimants on the Employment and Support Allowance benefit - would make it harder for disabled people to get into work.
Ministers were earlier this year pushed into ditching a plan to cut support for disabled people in need of specially adapted appliances and who claimed the Personal Independence Payment after sustained criticism from charities.
Iain Duncan Smith, the former work and pensions secretary, resigned over the cut, arguing that the Government was balancing the books on the back on the back of the most vulnerable in society.
However other cuts including the abolition of the Independent Living Fund and caps on payment to Access To Work support were voted through by Conservative MPs.
In a report today the Trades Union Congress welcomed the Governments targets, but said funding for Access To Work needed to be increased.
It also proposed changes to the Work Programme, the reversal of ESA cuts, an extension of the Work Choice scheme, and a more collaborative approach involving trade unions.
The new Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb has said he will try to work more cooperatively with disability charities in the coming months, with the Government set to unveil concrete proposals later this year.
A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions told the Independent: Supporting disabled people into work and halving the disability employment gap are two of our key priorities. We continue to support Disability Confident and Access to Work to help disabled people into work and our green paper on health and work will help improve support for disabled people and people with health conditions. Our latest figures show that 365,000 more disabled people are in work compared to 2014.
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Neil Hamilton has sparked a sexism row after describing two senior female Welsh AMs as political concubines in his maiden speech at in Welsh Assembly.
In his first speech to a legislative body since he left the House of Commons in 1997, he referred to Lib Dem AM Kirsty Williams and Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood as members of Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones hareem.
It came after Mr Jones was able to form a minority Labour government in the Senedd after an agreement with the second biggest party Plaid Cymru and the sole Lib Dem to solve an unprecedented deadlock.
Labour won 29 out of 60 seats in the election on 5 May and had initially assumed it would be able to form a minority government without challenge.
But a coalition of several parties, including Ukip which won its first seven seats in the assembly, put Leanne Wood forward as First Minister instead.
An agreement was finally reached on Tuesday.
During his speech, Mr Hamilton - who was elected Ukip group leader in the Assembly - attacked Plaid Cymru for agreeing to the new government and accused Ms Williams of propping up this tottering administration.
The Ukip group leader accused Leanne Wood of being a 'very cheap date indeed' by agreeing to end the deadlock (Reuters)
He said: "So I'm afraid that these two ladies have just made themselves political concubines in Carwyn's hareem. What a gruesome prospect that must be."
He asked what they had been promised in exchange for the sacrifice of their political virtue.
Later on, he also accused Ms Wood of being a very cheap date indeed.
In pictures: Local elections 2016 Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Local elections 2016 In pictures: Local elections 2016 Mayor of London Boris Johnson and wife Marina leave after casting their votes at a polling station in Islington, north London PA In pictures: Local elections 2016 Northern Ireland First Minister, Arlene Foster (C), Rhonna McMahon (R) and Paul Robinson leave after casting their vote for the Assembly Election, at Brookeborough Primary School in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland Reuters In pictures: Local elections 2016 Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives to cast his vote at a polling station in Islington, north London PA In pictures: Local elections 2016 David Cameron and Samantha Cameron cast their votes in the London Mayoral Election in London Getty Images In pictures: Local elections 2016 Labour Party Mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan and his wife Saadiya pose outside The Richardson Hall St Alban's Church Centre in Streatham after casting their votes in London's Mayoral and Assembly elections Getty Images In pictures: Local elections 2016 Britain's Conservative party candidate for Mayor of London Zac Goldsmith and his wife Alice leave after voting at a polling station in the Barnes suburb of south west London AP In pictures: Local elections 2016 George Osborne casts his vote in the London Mayoral Election in London Getty Images In pictures: Local elections 2016 SNP supporter Trish Traynor outside a polling station at St Ninian & Triduana RC Church in Glasgow as the polls open in the Scottish Parliament election PA In pictures: Local elections 2016 Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale (right) with partner Louise Riddell outside a polling station in Edinburgh after casting her vote in the Scottish Parliament election PA In pictures: Local elections 2016 SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon with her husband Peter Murrell after casting her vote at Broomhouse Community Hall polling station in Glasgow as Scotland goes to the polls in the Scottish Parliament election PA
Firing back Ms Williams accused the former Tory MP of using blatant sexist language.
Ms Wood added: "This sexist language has no place in the National Assembly for Wales, or in society, and we will not stand for sexism, homophobia or racism."
But Mr Hamilton was unrepentant following the furore and told BBC Wales: Je ne regrette rien.
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David Cameron is set to announce the biggest shakeup of Britains prison system in more than 100 years as he lays out a post referendum legislative agenda dominated by social reform.
Under the plan individual prisons will be given unprecedented freedoms to set their own rules, budgets and rehabilitation programmes under a system modelled on academy schools.
Follow the latest live updates here
Mr Cameron will announce the names of the first wave of the new so-called reform prisons which will include HMP Wandsworth one of Europes largest jails.
He will also announce an overhaul of prison education and training in an attempt to cut reoffending rates.
The Prime Minister is hoping that the Queens Speech agenda will provide a focal point around which to unite his fractious party in aftermath of the 23 June EU referendum.
It will also include bill to speed up adoption and provide more support to children leaving care as well as a further shake-up of higher education to encourage private companies to set up universities.
Mr Cameron will claim it sets out a clear programme of social reform, so we break down the barriers to opportunity and extend life chances to all.
Under the Governments plans for prisons, governors will give freedom to decide how prison budgets are spent as well and operational freedom over education, the prison regime, family visits, and partnerships to provide prison work and rehabilitation services.
The Prime Minister will announce an overhaul of prison education and training in an attempt to cut reoffending rates (Reuters)
Comparable statistics will be published for each prison on reoffending, employment rates on release, as well as violence and self-harm.
The plan will be rolled out across the prison estate with six the first six sites being at HMP Holme House, Kirklevington Grange, Coldingley, High Down, Ranby and Wandsworth.
The Government intends to use legislation to extend the freedoms further in the future enabling prisons to be established as independent legal entities with the power to enter into contracts; generate and retain income; and establish their own boards with external expertise.
It is also announcing that eight police forces have been chosen to pilot the use of satellite tracking that tags that track offenders movements using GPS technology.
It is expected that these schemes will pave the way for the roll-out of the equipment across the country, and lead to new options for the management of offenders and the reduction of reoffending.
Announcing the plans Mr Cameron said that Governments had, for too long, ignored prison reform as a political priority.
We have left our prisons to fester, he said.
Not only does that re-inforce the cycle of crime, increasing the bills of social failure that taxpayers must pick up. It writes off thousands of people.
Today we start the long-overdue, long-needed change that our prisons need. No longer will they be warehouses for criminals; they will now be places where lives are changed.
Prisoners film rap video in Birmingham jail
Michael Gove, the Justice Secretary, said that it was vital for prisons to do more to rehabilitate offenders.
By trusting governors to get on with the job, we can make sure prisons are places of education, work and purposeful activity. These reforms will reduce re-offending, cut crime and improve public safety," he said.
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David Cameron has been accused of jettisoning and diluting new laws to change Britain in the helter skelter pursuit of winning next months EU referendum.
The former Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith made the claim after the Government unveiled its legislative programme for the next year.
Mr Duncan Smith was particularly angry at the omission of a Sovereignty Bill - promised after the EU renegotiation deal as a way of bringing power back to the UK.
Mr Cameron said back in February that the measures - designed to tackle European Court of Justice powers - would "put beyond doubt" the UK parliament's sovereignty.
Plans for a new British Bill of Rights were also left deliberately vague while the new Counter Extremism Bill expected to be one of the most controversial pieces of legislation in the next session of Parliament also had key details missing.
Tories in favour of Brexit believe that the Government is intent on shelving any kinds of controversial legislation in the run up to next months referendum for fear of alienating support for the remain campaign.
But equally it reflects the Governments narrow majority in the House of Commons which limits its room for manoeuvre.
What has the EU ever done for us? Show all 7 1 /7 What has the EU ever done for us? What has the EU ever done for us? 1. It gives you freedom to live, work and retire anywhere in Europe As a member of the EU, UK citizens benefit from freedom of movement across the continent. Considered one of the so-called four pillars of the European Union, this freedom allows all EU citizens to live, work and travel in other member states. What has the EU ever done for us? 2. It sustains millions of jobs A report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, released in October 2015, suggested 3.1 million British jobs were linked to the UKs exports to the EU. What has the EU ever done for us? 3. Your holiday is much easier - and safer Freedom to travel is one of the most exercised benefits of EU membership, with Britons having made 31 million visits to the EU in 2014 alone. But a lot of the benefits of being an EU citizen are either taken for granted or go unnoticed. What has the EU ever done for us? 4. It means you're less likely to get ripped off Consumer protection is a key benefit of the EUs single market, and ensures members of the British public receive equal consumer rights when shopping anywhere in Europe. What has the EU ever done for us? 5. It offers greater protection from terrorists, paedophiles, people traffickers and cyber-crime Another example of a lesser-known advantage of EU membership is the benefit of cross-country coordination and cooperation in the fight against crime. What has the EU ever done for us? 6. Our businesses depend on it According to 71% of all members of the Confederation of British Influence (CBI), and 67 per cent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the EU has had an overall positive impact on their business. What has the EU ever done for us? 7. We have greater influence Robin Niblett, Director of think-tank Chatham House, stated in a report published last year: For a mid-sized country like the UK, which will never again be economically dominant either globally or regionally, and whose diplomatic and military resources are declining in relative terms, being a major player in a strong regional institution can offer a critical lever for international influence.
"Many Conservatives have become increasingly concerned that in the Government's helter-skelter pursuit of the referendum, they have been jettisoning or watering down key elements of their legislative programme," he said.
Mr Duncan Smith cited recent Government climb downs on Trade Union reform and changes to the BBC as evidence of Government caution first approach.
Whether it is the Trade Union Bill or the BBC Charter proposals, it seems nothing must stand in the way of winning the referendum, he said.
"Yet to compound that, now it appears the much-vaunted Sovereignty Bill, key to the argument that the PM had secured a reform of the EU, has been tossed aside as well."
Queen's Speech in 90 seconds
The Essex MP added: The fear in Government must be that, as no-one in Britain buys the idea that the EU has been reformed, the Sovereignty Bill would draw the public's attention back to that failure. After all if the EU Court of Justice is supreme and can strike down our laws, the British people would have just laughed at the idea Britain can be sovereign unless we leave the EU.
But the current Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb denied that plans for a Sovereignty Bill had been "tossed aside".
What we don't want to be doing is rushing forward and bringing forward proposals that are unworkable, he said.
We have had our fingers burnt before when we have done that.
The Liberal Democrat Leader Tim Farron said the speech was simply evidence that one year into Government the Conservatives were running out of steam.
"30 announcements, but 28 have been made before, he said.
"The Queens Speech is a stop-gap to give the warring factions of the Tory party a couple of days respite from the referendum. It does nothing to address the key issues at stake.
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The Government has revealed its plans for a range of new laws in the Queen's Speech. Here are the three most controversial.
Bill of Rights
There were no details given today of the Tory plan to scrap the Human Rights Act and replace it with a new Bill of Rights apart from the fact that it will happen. And that very fact makes it controversial.
Interesting the bill is likely to be attacked both from the right and the left. One of the few things we do know about the Bill is that the Government has backed down on plans to pull out of European Convention on Human Rights.
That will infuriate the Tory right. But equally many on the left will be deeply concerned at any attempt to water down Labours Human Rights Act.
This is a bill that is likely to have few friends and given the Government has such a small majority its chances of passing into law in any meaningful sense is likely to be slim.
Queen's Speech in 90 seconds
Counter-Extremism Bill
Again we have few details of what will be in the bill but it will include new civil powers to allow authorities to ban so-called extremist preachers and intervene in Madrassas and other places where children are taught.
It will also include undisclosed new powers to come out of Louise Caseys review of Muslim integration in British society. One thing is certain though - the Bill will be controversial because it will have to involve the curtailment of liberty in the name of cracking down on extremism.
Planning Bill
One of the Governments top priorities is house building and this is yet another effort to speed up the planning process to help this along.
But while most people are in favour of more house building they just dont want it done in their local area. And the measures in the bill designed to make it more difficult for local residents to prevent planning permission for developments they object to could prove very controversial in the Tory shires.
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Sadiq Khan has ruled himself out as a potential challenger for the Labour leadership in the forseeable future.
The newly elected Mayor of London said his new post was his dream job and that he did not want to give it up to lead the opposition party.
Although Mr Khan did not say he would never stand to lead his party, he appeared to indicate he would stay on until at least the end of his term.
Recommended Read more Jeremy Corbyn would easily win a second Labour leadership contest
There are many listeners who love their job, Jeremy [Corbyn] loves his job, Ive got the best job in the world, Mr Khan told a phone-in on LBC Radio.
Forget the best job in politics, the best job in the world. For me it is the dream job.
I literally am living the dream. The idea of giving up this job to be the leader of the Labour Party does not appeal to me one bit at all.
Mr Khan himself nominated Mr Corbyn for the Labour leadership, but has recently warned that the party needs to do more to win in 2020.
The next Mayor of London election will be in May 2020, the same time as the next UK-wide general election is scheduled.
There have been rumblings of the possibility of a coup against Jeremy Corbyns leadership of the party over the past few months by MPs unhappy with his political approach.
Sadiq Khan's 5 most significant policies Show all 5 1 /5 Sadiq Khan's 5 most significant policies Sadiq Khan's 5 most significant policies Tackle the housing crisis Khans key policy is an ambitious target to make 50 per cent of all new homes being genuinely affordable, and improving conditions for people renting Getty Images Sadiq Khan's 5 most significant policies Freeze transport fares Khan says he will freeze London transport fares for four years and introduce a one-hour bus Hopper ticket, paid for by making TfL more efficient and exploring new revenue-raising opportunities. He claims Londoners wont pay a penny more for their travel in 2020 than they do today Getty Images Sadiq Khan's 5 most significant policies Make London safer Resore neighbourhood policing, tackle gangs and knife crime, and a new plan to tackle the spread of extremism, and a review of the resourcing of our fire service Getty Images Sadiq Khan's 5 most significant policies Restore London's air quality Pedestrianise Oxford Street and prioritise measures to improve Londons air quality Getty Images Sadiq Khan's 5 most significant policies Make cycling and walking safer More segregated cycle routes with a promise to spend money improving dangerous junctions Getty Images
No single candidate appears to have gained traction as an alternative against him, however.
The plotters were dealt a blow yesterday after a YouGov poll of the partys members showed that support for Mr Corbyn was still overwhelmingly high amongst members.
Far from internal criticism and spats having damaged the leader, most members overwhelmingly blamed hostile MPs for party divisions.
Additionally, a higher proportion of member said they would vote for Mr Corbyn again were another leadership contest held today.
Mr Khan served as MP for Tooting before becoming Mayor of London. He was elected earlier this month with a record number of votes, defeating Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith.
The Mayor has attracted unusually high levels interest in the international media for being the first observant Muslim mayor of a major Western capital city.
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Two weeks ago, the Lord High Chancellor, who ordinarily goes under the name of Michael Gove, described the European Union as a mock parliament.
Its a fair point. For democracy to work, people need to understand how their parliament works.
And its a point that was clearly weighing heavily upon his mind as, having offset his usual black-rimmed glasses with a silk ruff, gold brocade frock coat and breeches so as to affect the appearance of sixteenth century Austin Powers, he handed a wadge of goatskin parchment to a nonagenarian hereditary Head of State sitting on a throne and wearing a crown, before stepping back and exchanging a gracious smile with the Rouge Croix Pursuivant and the Maltravers Herald Extraordinary.
This is the normal order of things, and it is a matter of national urgency that sovereignty be returned from those faceless bureaucrats in Brussels and restored under the noble care of the Gold Stick In Waiting, the Master of the Horse and the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod.
You may argue it doesnt actually matter whether the people who pay for all this have even the vaguest clue whats going on. Arguably, its nice that the Windsor Herald, the Richmond Herald, the Lancaster Herald and all the other absurd holders of antiquated offices get a nice day out. Ancient custom dictates their jobs only come with a 13.95 annual salary after all. And their taxpayer-funded tabards cost forty-five grand to replace, so theyre not even allowed to do a bit of casual weekend work at their local Mr Wimpy.
Whats wrong with a bit of pageantry after all? Certainly, its fun for those involved. There, seated on the red leather sofas drinking it all in was Baroness Uddin, who has graciously been allowed to return to the House of Lords after repaying 125,000 worth of expenses. There, opposite her, in his spotless ermine was Baron Taylor of Warwick. He got sentenced to twelve months imprisonment for false accounting in 2011, but that was a long time ago. How was a former judge and barrister meant to know that you should only claim a daily allowance for days when youve actually come to parliament?
There on the back row was Baron Truscott of St Jamess, his goatee now a little greyer than when, in 2009, he was suspended from the House having been filmed by undercover reporters discussing his possible use of parliamentary influence in return for cash.
Just along from him was Quentin Davies, now known as Baron Davies of Stamford, once the MP for Grantham, who defected from the Conservatives to Labour the night before Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, and who, having lost his seat at the 2010 election, was elevated to the peerage at the very first opportunity, a sequence of events long interpreted by many in Westminster as having been part of the deal.
Its not so much a case even of it being who you know not what you know. Getting in here is simply about what youre not prepared not to do.
You can dress it all up in antique titles, you can cover it in brocade and roll it in glinting diamonds purloined from every corner of the Empire, but its very hard indeed to hide the stench.
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Activists in Nigeria say they have rescued one of the Chibok girls, the first since a group of 276 schoolgirls was captured by the Boko Haram militant group in 2014.
The girl has been named as Amina Ali, and a relative said she had been found pregnant in the Sambisa Forest, the area where militants took the girls into hiding on 15 April two years ago.
Local media in northern Nigeria said the girl had been found by the Civilian Joint Task Force, a vigilante group set up independently of the Nigerian army to assist in tackling the jihadist group.
The news was first reported by activists and confirmed by the chairman of the Chibokgirls Parents community group.
Activists said the girl was recognised by a militia member near the border with Cameroon.
The capture of the Chibok girls sparked an international reaction, with people around the world uniting behind the #BringBackOurGirls cause.
Militants raided a school in the middle of the night, loading 276 girls into trucks and driving away into the forest.
Al Jazeera speaks to former female captives of Boko Haram
Dozens managed to escape in the first few hours after their kidnap, some by jumping off the moving lorries, leaving 219 girls confirmed missing.
As time passed, focus drifted away from #BringBackOurGirls. What started as a call to action soon turned to recriminations against the Nigerian government, accused of not doing enough to tackle Boko Haram in its heartlands.
At the end of last year, the Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari sparked controversy by claiming the militant group was "technically defeated", though the Chibok girls were still missing.
Terror attacks claimed by the jihadists continued, however, and Mr Buhari was forced to defend his statement. In February, he claimed he had meant Boko Haram "can no longer mobilise enough forces to attack police and army barracks and destroy aircraft like they used to".
The rise of Boko Haram Show all 20 1 /20 The rise of Boko Haram The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram The leader of the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau delivers a message. Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the mass killings in the north-east Nigerian town of Baga in a video where he warned the massacre was just the tip of the iceberg. As many as 2,000 civilians were killed and 3,700 homes and business were destroyed in the 3 January 2015 attack on the town near Nigeria's border with Cameroon AFP The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram People displaced as a result of Boko Haram attacks in the northeast region of Nigeria, are seen near their tents at a faith-based camp for internally displaced people (IDP) in Yola, Adamawa State. Boko Haram says it is building an Islamic state that will revive the glory days of northern Nigeria's medieval Muslim empires, but for those in its territory life is a litany of killings, kidnappings, hunger and economic collapse The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Nitsch Eberhard Robert, a German citizen abducted and held hostage by suspected Boko Haram militants, is seen as he arrives at the Yaounde Nsimalen International airport after his release in Yaounde, Cameroon on 21 January 2015 The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Officials of the Nigerian National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) visit victims of a bomb blast in Gombe at the Specialist Hospital in Gombe. According to local reports at least six people were killed and 11 wounded after a bomb blast in a marketplace in Nigeria's northeastern state of Gombe on 16 January 2015. Islamist militant group Boko Haram has been blamed for a string of recent attacks in the North East of Nigeria The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram People gather at the site of a bomb explosion in a area know to be targeted by the militant group Boko Haram in Kano on 28 November 2014 The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram People gather to look at a burnt vehicle following a bomb explosion that rocked the busiest roundabout near the crowded Market in Maiduguri, Borno State on 1 July 2014. A truck exploded in a huge fireball killing at least 15 people in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the city repeatedly hit by Boko Haram Islamists The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram President Goodluck Jonathan visits Nigerian Army soldiers fighting Boko Haram Getty Images The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Displaced people from Baga listen to Goodluck Jonathan after the Boko Haram killings AFP/Getty The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan speaking to troops during a visit to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State; most of the region has been overrun by Boko Haram AFP/Getty The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Members of the Nigerian military patrolling in Maiduguri, North East Nigeria, close to the scene of attacks by Boko Haram EPA The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Boko Harams leader, Abubakar Shekau, appears in a video in which he warns Cameroon it faces the same fate as Nigeria AFP The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Nana Shettima, the wife of Borno Governor, Kashim Shettima (C) weeps as she speaks with school girls from the government secondary school Chibok that were kidnapped by the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, and later escaped in Chibok The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram South Africans protest in solidarity against the abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls in Nigeria by the Muslim extremist group Boko Haram and what protesters said was the failure of the Nigerian government and international community to rescue them, during a march to the Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Boko Haram militants have seized the town in north-eastern Nigeria that nearly 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped from in April 2014 AFP The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram A soldier stands guard in front of burnt buses after an attack in Abuja. Twin blasts at a bus station packed with morning commuters on the outskirts of Nigeria's capital killed dozens of people, in what appeared to be the latest attack by Boko Haram Islamists, April 2014 The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram The aftermath of the attack, when Boko Haram fighters in trucks painted in military colours killed 51 people in Konduga in February 2014 AFP/Getty Images The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau (with papers) in a video grab taken in July 2014 AFP/Getty The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Ruins of burnt out houses in the north-eastern settlement of Baga, pictured after Boko Haram attacks in 2013 AP The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram A Boko Haram attack in Nigeria, 2013 AFP/Getty Images The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau, Boko Harams leader AP
Earlier this month, CNN broadcast a video which appeared to show a group of the schoolgirls still alive. Reportedly shot by militants on Christmas Day 2015, its veracity was confirmed by a number of the 15 girls' parents.
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Isis has executed civilians for sorcery and insulting God in its newest stronghold in Libya as it gathers power in the vacuum left by the countrys civil war.
The so-called Islamic State controls more than 120 miles of Mediterranean coastline, mostly around the city of Sirte, where militants seized power last year.
The hometown of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has been transformed into a theatre of the oppression and brutality practiced in Syria and Iraq, with regular public executions and corpses left hanging or crucified in the streets.
ISIL advance affects thousands in Libya
A report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) found that at least 49 people have been executed since February 2015, including political opponents, civilians and captives decapitated or shot.
A 30-year-old woman interviewed by the group wept as she explained her family was trapped under Isis rule.
Life in Sirte is unbearable, Ahlam said. Everyone is living in fear. They are killing innocent people.
There are no groceries, the hospital has no doctors or nurses, there is no medicine.
There are spies on every street. Most people have left but we are trapped. We dont have enough money to leave.
The city is Isis biggest stronghold outside Iraq and Syria, with militants in control of its port, air base, main power station and radio station, along with all local government offices and finances.
Their advance started in October 2014 and jihadists have since taken control of swathes of northern Libya, prompting US air strikes and the deployment of British special forces as chaos continues following the Nato-backed overthrow of Gaddafi in 2011.
More than 40 residents interviewed in the area described public beheadings, corpses in orange jumpsuits hanging from scaffolding and masked fighters kidnapping people from their beds in the night.
Timeline: The emergence of Isis Show all 40 1 /40 Timeline: The emergence of Isis Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2000 Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (pictured here) forms an al-Qaeda splinter group in Iraq, al-Qaeda in Iraq. Its brutality from the beginning alienates Iraqis and many al-Qaeda leaders. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2006 Al-Zarqawi is killed in a U.S. strike. Al-Zarqawis successor, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, announces the creation of the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI). Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2009 Still al-Qaeda-linked ISI claims responsibility for suicide bombings that killed 155 in Baghdad, as well as attacks in August and October killing 240, as President Obama announces troop withdrawal from Iraq in March. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2010 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi becomes head of ISI, at lowest ebb of Islamist militancy in Iraq, which sees last U.S. combat brigade depart. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2012 In Syria, protests (pictured here starting in Daree) have morphed into what president Assad labelled a real war with emergence of a coalition of forces opposed to Assads regime. Syria group Jabhat al-Nusra are among rebel groups who refuse to join, denouncing it as a conspiracy. Bombings targeting Shia areas, killing more than 500 people, spark fears of new sectarian conflict. Sunni Muslims stage protests across country against what they see as increasingly marginalisation by Shia-led government. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2013 Al-Baghdadi renames ISI as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or Isis, as the group absorbs Syrian al-Nusra, gaining a foothold in Syria. In response, al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri (Bin Ladens successor) concerned about Isis expansion orders that Isis be dissolved and ISI operations should be confined to Iraq. This order is rejected by al-Baghdadi. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - January Isis fighters capture the Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, giving them base to launch slew of attacks further south. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis declares itself the Caliphate, calling itself Islamic State (IS). The group captures Mosul, Iraqs second largest city; Tal Afar, just 93 miles from Syrian border; and the central Iraqi city of Tikrit. These advances sent shockwaves around the world. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Around the same time Isis releases a video calling for western Muslims to join the Caliphate and fight, prompting new evaluations of extremists groups social media understanding. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis take Baiji oil fields in Iraq - giving them access to huge amounts of possible revenue. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August James Foley is executed by the group as concerns grow for second American prisoner, fellow reporter Steven Sotloff. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August Obama authorises U.S. airstrikes in Iraq, helping to stall Isis along with action by Kurdish forces following the deaths of hundreds of Yazidi people on Mount Sinjar. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release video showing Steven Sotloffs murder prompting Western speculation his executioner is same man who killed Mr Foley. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Obama tells us that America will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release a video appearing to show David Haines, who was captured by militants in Syria in 2013, wearing an orange jumpsuit and kneeling in the desert while he reads a pre-prepared script. It later shows what appears to be the aid worker's body. Rex Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Peshmerga fighters scrabble to hold positions in the Diyala province (a gateway to Baghdad) as Isis fighters continue to advance on Iraqi capital. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Aid worker Alan Henning is killed. Self-imposed media blackout refuses to show images of him in final moments, instead focuses upon humanitarian care. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Isis raise their flag in Kobani, which had been strongly defended by Kurdish troops. The victory goes against hopeful western analysis Isis had overextended itself, while alienating much of the Muslim population through the murder of Henning. Victory causes fresh waves of Kurdish refugees arriving in Turkey. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - November American hostage, who embarced values of Islam, Peter Kassig and 14 Syrian soldiers are shown meeting the same fate as other captives. But intelligence agencies will be poring over the apparently significant discrepancies between this and previous films. Seramedig.org.uk Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis has released a video revealing the murder by burning to death of a Jordanian pilot held by the group since the end of December 2014. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have released videos which appear to show the beheading of Japanese hostages Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February American aid worker, Kayla Mueller was the last American hostage known to be held by Isis. She died, according to her captors, in an airstrike by the Jordanian air force on the city of Raqqa in Syria, though US authorities disputed this. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have posted a gruesome video online in which they force 21 Egyptian Coptic Christian hostages to kneel on a beach in Libya before beheading them. Egypt vowed to avenge the beheading and launched air strikes on Isis positions. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February The British Isis militant suspected of appearing in videos showing the beheading of Western hostages has been named in reports as Mohammed Emwazi from London. Rex Features Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - March Isis triple suicide attack has killed more than 100 worshippers and hundreds of others were injured after the group members targeted two mosques in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Iraqi forces have claimed victory over Isis in battle for Tikrit and raised the flag in the city. EPA/STR Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis has claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan that killed at least 35 people queuing to collect their wages and injured 100 more. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis media arm released a 29-minute video purporting to show militants executing Ethiopian Christians captives. The footage bore the extremist groups al-Furqan media logo and showed the destruction of churches and desecration of religious symbols. A masked fighter made a statement threatening Christians who did not convert to Islam or pay a special tax. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Isis has been "incapacitated" by a spinal injuries sustained in a US air strike in Iraq. He is being treated in a hideout by two doctors from Isis stronghold of Mosul who are said to be "strong ideological supporters of the group". Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis has also claimed responsibility for killing 300 of Yazidi captives, including women, children and elderly people in Iraq AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis attack on Prophet Mohamed cartoon contest in Texas was its first action on US soil. Two gunmen were shot and killed after launching the attack at the exhibition. Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi have been named as the attackers at the Curtis Culwell Centre arena in Garland. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isiss deputy leader, Abu Alaa Afri, a former physics teacher who was thought to have taken charge of the deadly terrorist group, has been killed in a US-led coalition airstrike. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May US special forces have killed a senior Isis leader named as Abu Sayyaf in an operation aiming to capture him and his wife in Syria. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Iran-backed militias are sent to Ramadi by the Iraqi government to fight Isis militants who completed their capture of the city. Government soldiers and civilians were reportedly massacred by extremists as they took control and the army fled. Charred bodies were left littering the city streets as troops clung on to trucks speeding away from the city. Ramadi is the latest government stronghold to fall to the so-called Islamic State, despite air strikes by a US-led international coalition aiming to stop its advance in Iraq and Syria. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis rounded up civilians trapped in Palmyra and forced them to watch 20 people being executed in the historic citys ancient amphitheatre. The Unesco World Heritage site was overrun by militants, threatening the future of 2,000 year-old monuments and ruins. Thousands of Palmyras residents fled but many are still living within the city walls, while the UN human rights office in Geneva said it had received reports of Syrian government forces preventing people from leaving until they retreated from the city. Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May A group of Isis-affiliated fighters have captured a key airport in central Libya. The militants took control of the al-Qardabiya airbase in Sirte after a local militia tasked with defending the facility withdrew from their positions. Affiliates of Isis, already control large parts of Sirte, the birthplace of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and a former stronghold of his supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June The US Air Force has destroyed an Isis stronghold after an extremist let slip their location on social media. According the Air Force Times, General Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, commander of Air Combat Command, said that Airmen at Hulburt Field, Florida, used images shared by jihadists to track the location of their headquarters before destroying it in an airstrike. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Kurdish forces captured a key military base in a significant victory in Raqqa as well as town of Tell Abyad. YPG fighters, backed by US-led airstrikes and other rebels, consolidated their gains, when they seized the key town on the Syria-Turkey border. They are now just 30 miles to the north of Raqqa and have cut off a major supply route deep inside Isis-held territory. Ahmet Silk/Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has released gruesome footage claiming to show the murder of more than a dozen men by drowning, decapitation and using a rocket-propelled grenade as it seeks to boost morale among its fanatical supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has begun carrying out its threat to destroy structures in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, blowing up at least two monuments at the Unesco-protected site as Syrian government troops made advances on the Islamists positions. AFP
Isis has also installed morality police who patrol the streets, aided by informants, to threaten, fine and flog anyone deemed to be flouting the groups interpretation of Sharia law.
Men have been punished for smoking and listening to music, as well as failing to ensure female relatives are wearing the loose black coverings made compulsory by militants.
Jihadists summon residents to watch executions in a central square using loudspeakers, HRW reported, either beheading prisoners with a sword or shooting them in the head.
Some bodies have been hung from scaffolding on a nearby roundabout wearing orange jumpsuits, in a pose likened to crucifixions by witnesses.
Among those killed was 23-year-old Amjad bin Sasi, who was sentenced to death for insulting God while swearing during a dispute with a neighbour although relatives said he was persecuted for his previous loyalty to a local group of anti-Isis fighters aligned with Libya Dawn.
The judge wanted Amjad to repent for opposing Daesh (Isis), but Amjad insulted the judge and spat at him, one of his relatives. Two days later, Isis militants publicly executed him.
Anyone perceived to support resistance against the terrorist group is also killed, including a local Imam assassinated in March 2015, sparking an uprising that was brutally quashed.
An Isis lecture on Sharia at the Ouagadougou complex in Sirte, Libya, in 2016. (HRW/social media)
At least two men were beheaded on accusations of sorcery in October, while alleged spies, local officials and political opponents were also among those killed.
Another punishment inflicted by jihadists is the looting and destruction of homes, with property and possessions handed to Isis fighters, while Isis has also made the attendance at all five daily prayer sessions compulsory.
The Ouagadougou Conference Complex, built to host Gaddafis pan-African summits, is now used as the location for Sharia lectures and young men and boys are reportedly being forced to attend religious training.
Younger children are questioned by Isis militants on their Islamic knowledge, while girls as young as 10 are forced to wear full length black abayas and follow rules stipulating they cannot leave the house without a male relative.
Jamal, who witnessed school quizzes before leaving Sirte in March, told HRW: Students are asked such questions as, What is the correct way to perform the fajr [Muslim dawn prayer]? What is the importance of the hijab (headscarf) in Islam? Who is the current caliph of all Muslims?
Women recounted being ordered to follow a seven-point decree stipulating their clothing and being stopped by regular inspections by Isis morality police, who impose fines or floggings for violations.
A photo of a billboard in Sirte, Libya, listing seven rules for women's clothing, saying they must be loose-fitting and undecorated (HRW/social media)
The terrorist group has imposes heavy taxes on merchants and farmers and has tightened control on banks and communications, with lines running through Isis-run call centres.
Meanwhile, Sirtes main hospital and public has been left largely devoid of staff after doctors fled, with remaining medics confiscated for Isis fighters as medicine shortages worsen.
HRW researchers said Isis was failing to provide basic necessities to the local population and diverting food, medicine, fuel, and cash to around 1,800 of its fighters, police and functionaries.
The organisation said militants war crimes and human rights abuses in its Libyan territories could amount to crimes against humanity.
As if beheading and shooting perceived enemies isnt enough, Isis is causing terrible suffering in Sirte even for Muslims who follow its rules, said Letta Tayler, a senior counterterrorism researcher.
While the worlds attention is focused on atrocities in Syria and Iraq, Isis is also getting away with murder in Libya.
HRW is calling on all parties in Libya to protect civilians and prosecute Isis and other groups responsible for atrocities, urging the International Criminal Court, UN Human Rights Council and Security Council to investigate.
Amid reports that the UK, US, Italy and France are considering an air strikes campaign against Isis in Libya, activists warned of the consequences of failure to act.
More than two-thirds of Sirtes 80,000 residents have already fled, HRW said, but face an uncertain future as an internationally-backed unity government struggles to gain control of Libya from an array of competing militias.
Ali, a man who fled Isis in Sirte, said the optimism after the city fell to rebels with the killing of Gaddafi in October 2011 had been crushed in the ensuing chaos.
We were filled with hope, he said. Then step by step, Daesh (Isis) took over. Now we feel we are cursed.
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The CIA inspector generals office has said it mistakenly destroyed its only copy of a comprehensive Senate torture report, despite lawyers for the Justice Department assuring a federal judge that copies of the documents were being preserved.
The erasure of the document by the spy agencys internal watchdog was deemed an inadvertent foul-up by the inspector general, according to Yahoo News.
One intelligence community source told Yahoo News, which first reported the development, that last summer CIA inspector general officials deleted an uploaded computer file with the report and then accidentally destroyed a disk that also contained the document.
Richard Burr, chairman of the Senate (Select) Intelligence Committee. (Gabriella Demczuk/Getty Images)
The 6,700-page report contains thousands of secret files about the CIAs use of enhanced interrogation methods, including waterboarding, sleep deprivation and other aggressive interrogation techniques at black site prisons overseas.
The full version of the report remains classified, but a 500-page executive summary was released to the public in 2014.
Cheney: CIA Torture Report Is Full of Crap
Christoper R. Sharpley, the CIAs acting inspector general (CIA IG), alerted the Senate intelligence panel that his offices copy of the report had vanished in August.
And Senator Dianne Feinstein, the driving force behind the 2014 report, sent letters to the CIA and Justice Department confirming the spy agencys inspector general has misplaced and/or accidentally destroyed its copy of the report.
Douglas Cox, a City University of New York School of Law professor who specialises in tracking the preservation of federal records told Yahoo News: Its breathtaking that this could have happened, especially in the inspector generals office - theyre the ones that are supposed to be providing accountability within the agency itself.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (Getty Images)
It makes you wonder what was going on over there?
Another copy of the report exists elsewhere within the CIA, which is waiting for the conclusion of a years-long legal battle over the document.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr opposed the publication of the report in 2014. Since taking power he has attempted to recover copies of the report that were distributed throughout the Obama administration.
Last week, a federal appeals court panel blocked an effort to reveal the full version of the controversial report under the open records law, claiming the document was not subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) because the document is officially controlled by Congress.
Congressional documents are exempt from the open records law.
Feinstein is now calling for the CIA inspector general to obtain a new copy of the report to replace the one that disappeared, according to The Hill.
In a letter to John Brennan, Director of the CIA, she wrote: Your prompt response will allay my concern that this was more than an accident.
World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty
She added: The CIA IG should have a copy of the full Study because the report includes extensive information directly related to the IGs ongoing oversight of the CIA.
Cori Crider, a director at international human rights organisation Reprieve said in a statement: Clearly the CIA would rather we all forgot about torture. But its stunning that even the CIAs own watchdog couldnt manage to hang onto its copy of the Senates landmark report about CIA black sites. One worries that no one is minding the store.
A spokesperson with the CIA indicated that it will wait for the litigation over the document to play out before deciding how to proceed, according to The Hill.
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Florida senator Marco Rubio has repeatedly hit out at the media for claiming that the former presidential candidate is undecided about his future.
In a series of tweets, the ex-rival to Donald Trump accused various media outlets of using unnamed sources to dish details on his career plans, while he claimed he did not know what they were talking about.
He said the only announcement he has made "like 1000 times" is that he will be a "private citizen".
He pointed to a Washington Post article by Chris Cillizza, which named Mr Rubio as one of five people who would not be Mr Trumps vice presidential nominee and that claimed he was "betwixt and between" about his future in politics.
Funny to read about unnamed people close to me who claim to know my thinking on future plans. They just make it up, he said.
Another source in an article claimed Mr Rubio was a bit at sea in terms of his next step politically.
Mr Cizzilla then spoke to veteran Florida political reporter Marc Caputo, who said Mr Rubio has not had much opportunity to go sailing recently so he will be headed to the Atlantic Ocean soon.
Mr Caputo said Mr Rubio will end up working in the private sector in Miami to add to his round out resume.
The paid speaking circuit is almost a guarantee. And so is stumping for other candidates, he added.
Mr Rubio has become noticeably more free in his posts on social media since he quit the presidential race, taking a break from tweeting altogether and then complaining about the types of reclining seats on airplanes.
It is yet to be seen whether Mr Rubio will run for the position of Florida governor in 2018, or whether he would run again for president in 2020 if Mr Trump loses the election.
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Theres no disguising election season in Burns, where the roads are lined with lawn signs and the pick-up trucks resound with conservative talk radio. But in eastern Oregon, where many distrust the federal government, locals are disappointed and dispassionate about their remaining presidential options. Instead, its down-ballot races that have captured their interest.
This year, there are more local primary candidates than at any election in recent Harney County history. Seven people are running for a vacant county commissioners seat, four for the open post of county judge. Another is challenging the incumbent county sheriff for his job. And most of these rookie political hopefuls appear to have been inspired by exactly the same thing.
Lawn signs in support of local 2016 candidates in Burns, Oregon
In January, Burns achieved sudden notoriety when a group of armed anti-government activists, led by Nevada rancher Ammon Bundy, seized the headquarters of the nearby Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, part of the long-running conflict between ranchers and the US government over the expansion and management of protected federal lands in the West.
The occupation arose from a protest in support of Dwight Hammond and his son Stephen, Burns ranchers whose property abuts the Malheur refuge, and whose antagonistic relationship with the government had culminated in a conviction for arson, after they set fires that spread onto the federally managed wilderness.
Law enforcement agencies, far-right militias and the media all descended on the small, remote town. Mr Bundy and his fellow occupiers, none of whom were from Harney County, called on fellow patriots from across the US to join them at their frigid redoubt, and vowed to return the refuge to the local community, to do with the land as they saw fit.
The 41-day occupation ended with one protester, Robert LaVoy Finicum, shot dead by the FBI, and with Mr Bundy and more than a dozen of his compatriots behind bars. But while their actions proved unsuccessful, their cause appears to have resonated. I liked their message, just not their method, said Butch Delange, whose son is the police chief in neighbouring Hines.
Locals resented the occupiers and the circus they brought with them, explained Mr Delange, but they also resented the ineffectual response of their own officials. People dont think the sheriff or the judge or the county commissioners did everything that they could have done during the occupation, he said.
Judge Steve Grasty, one of the loudest critics of the occupation, plans to retire at the end of 2016. Last week, his own opponents filed a recall petition in hopes of forcing him out before his term ends. Sheriff Dave Ward, who became the public face of law enforcement during the occupation, is being challenged for his job by Alan Johnson, a retired state police officer.
I have nothing against our sheriff, said Steve Riley, proprietor of the Moonrise bookstore in Burns, who is backing Mr Johnson. But he was overwhelmed by the occupation. He just folded to the powers that be. I dont think he had the gumption to stand up to them. The sheriff ought to be the supreme law enforcement official in the county.
Harney County residents have never been formally polled on their opinions of the occupation, but it is clear that some candidates and voters share several views with the occupiers. Tom Schaefer, who is running for Mr Grastys position, regularly references the US Constitution in his speeches, and appears to support a roll-back of federal influence in local affairs.
I think we need to push back with every opportunity and every bit of leverage that we have against these federal agencies that are strangling us, Mr Schaefer recently told Oregon Public Broadcasting. He is one of multiple 2016 candidates across Oregon who appear sympathetic to the anti-government patriot movement.
One of the consensus beliefs of that movement, which is made up of radical groups including the Oath Keepers militia, is county supremacy: the idea that county sheriffs should have the power to choose which federal laws to enforce, and that public lands should be controlled by local, not federal government.
Kirby Letham, a Burns real estate agent who regularly works with ranchers, said the occupation had at least forced such issues into the open. Those things are now being talked about more clearly and freely, he said. Theres still some underlying tension in the community. Politics is always emotional. But for the most part, the people running for office have been very polite.
Which is more than can be said for the presidential candidates.
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Pennsylvania authorities did not see double when they arrested twin brothers after they allegedly set off a series of explosions that destroyed multiple buildings across two counties.
The Chester County District Attorneys Office announced the arrest of Daniel and Caleb Tate, 22, who used improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in five different locations between 20 December and 31 December.
We live in a world where the thought of bombs exploding around us is a very real fear, District Attorney Tom Hogan said in a press release. These defendants brought that fear to our region during a two-week crime spree where they detonated multiple IEDs.
The twins face charges of arson by explosion, arson by possession of explosive devices, conspiracy, theft, among others.
Chester County District Attorney's Office
Pennsylvania State Police investigated the explosions alongside the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), and found video evidence of the suspects allegedly shoplifting materials to make the IEDs. Investigators found materials charged to one of the brothers bank cards.
The DA said the bombs were constructed from using materials like metal pipes, fueld containers, propane canisters, and propane torch tips. Although the explosions could have been deadly, no injuries were reported, as the IEDs were set off during early morning hours according to the statement.
Boston Marathon bombing: The initial theories Show all 2 1 /2 Boston Marathon bombing: The initial theories Boston Marathon bombing: The initial theories table.jpg Getty Images Boston Marathon bombing: The initial theories Boston-Medical-workers-a_1.jpg
Among the destroyed property a mailbox, a phone shed used by Amish families, an Amish produce shed, and a well pump shed.
Improvised explosive devices are not harmless firecrackers, said ATF Special Agent in Charge Sam Rabadi. They are dangerous, destructive, and can be very deadly.
The twins were reportedly home from college for the holidays. Daniel Tate attends Pepperdine University in California; Caleb Tate is a student at Belmont University in Tennessee.
Pennsylvania State Police and the ATF are still investigating the incidents.
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The South Carolina legislature passed a bill on Tuesday banning abortions after 19 weeks of pregnancy.
As it reaches her desk, Republican Governor Nikki Haley is now expected to sign the bill, after previously indicating that she favors the legislation. I cant imagine any scenario in which I wouldnt sign it, Haley said back in March after the Senate approved it 39-9 in March.
I believe that life begins at conception and every step we can take to get back to that point is important, Republican Representative Wendy Nanney told Reuters. In my view and many others its inhumane to subject that baby to pain at 20 weeks.
The South Carolina House approved the compromise 79-29. The only exceptions made under the ban, would be if the mothers life is at risk or the doctor says the fetus cannot survive outside the womb. Otherwise, it would be illegal to abort a fetus with a disability if the child is able to survive, according to the Associated Press, such anomalies are detected near the 20 week mark.
Twelve states currently have similar laws in effect. The South Carolina bill makes no exceptions for cases involving rape or incest.
This is a dangerous bill for South Carolina women, Alyssa Miller, South Carolina public affairs director for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, told Reuters. The reality is that abortion later in pregnancy is extremely rare and often takes place in complex and difficult situations where a woman and her doctor need every medical option available.
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The government is preparing for a possible visit from presidential hopeful Donald Trump to the UK, it has emerged.
Presidential candidates will usually go abroad during their campaign and diplomats expect Mr Trump to visit after his formal nomination as the Republican candidate in July, the Guardian reports.
It is understood that no request or offer has yet been made, but nominees traditionally use international visits to showcase their political credentials.
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Rumours of a visit also raise the prospect of Mr Trump meeting the Prime Minister as a presidential candidate at Downing Street.
Relations between the UK government and Mr Trump remain icy following discord between the David Cameron and the business tycoon.
Mr Cameron said he still believes Mr Trumps comments on immigration and Muslims are "divisive, stupid and wrong" - a criticism he made in December when Mr Trump was the front-runner in the Republican presidential race, but not the presumptive candidate.
The hostile relations were asserted by Mr Trump in an interview with ITVs Good Morning Britain, in which he dismissed Mr Cameron's comments but said it looks like were not going to have a very good relationship.
I hope to have a good relationship with him but it sounds like hes not willing to address the problem either, he said.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan invited Mr Trump to visit his family in London and learn more about Islam, telling ITVs Good Morning Britain: If I can educate the presumptive Republican presidential nominee about Islam, Im happy to do so.
Mr Khan had previously declined Mr Trumps offer of an exception from the proposed ban on Muslims entering America, calling his views on Islam ignorant.
Responding Mr Trump said he would remember those statements, they are nasty statements.
People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Show all 8 1 /8 People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Miley Cyrus 'God he thinks he is the f***ing chosen one or some shit! Honestly f*** this sh*t I am moving if this is my president! I dont say things I dont mean!' Jemal Countess/Getty Images People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Whoopi Goldberg 'I dont think thats America. I dont want it to be America. Maybe its time for me to move you know' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Samuel L. Jackson 'If that mother**er becomes president, Im moving my black ass to South Africa' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Raven Symone 'My confession for this election is, if any Republican gets nominated, Im gonna move to Canada with my entire family. Is that bad? I already have my ticket. I literally bought my ticket, I swear' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Cher 'If he were to be elected, I'm moving to Jupiter' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Neve Campbell 'Im terrified. Its really scary. My biggest fear is that Trump will triumph. I cannot believe that he is still in the game ... [I'll] move back to Canada' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Jon Stewart 'I would consider getting in a rocket and going to another planet, because clearly this planets gone bonkers' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Randy Blythe 'He could just be a clown. If he is the president, though, I am leaving America 'till he's gone'
According to the BBC, Government sources say they have attempted for months to convince parts of Whitehall to take Mr Trump more seriously as diplomats in the US and UK discuss the possibility of a Trump visit in the next few months now it is almost certain Mr Trump will be the Republican candidate for the White House.
An Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokeswoman said: The US and UK will continue to be the closest of partners whomever the American people elect as President.
"Nominees from both the Republican and Democrat parties have previously visited London ahead of US elections. We have always welcomed such visits.
Past visits by former Republican nominees have not always been a success. In 2012, Mitt Romney visited the US and caused offence by suggesting Britain was not ready for the Olympic Games.
A petition calling for a ban on Mr Trump entering the UK after his call to temporarily ban Muslims entering the US in December amassed 574,000 signatures and the motion was debated by MPs in January.
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Donald Trump has released a list of 11 potential nominees to the US supreme court to fill the seat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
His roster of six federal circuit judges and five state supreme court judges includes individuals who have acted to restrict abortions, the availability of birth control and who have upheld strict voter ID laws.
In a statement the presumptive Republican party nominee said the 11 people are "representative of the kind of constitutional principles I value".
The presidential candidates recommendations would only come into play if he is elected president on 8 November and if the senate backs his choices.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said that it was unlikely any of those on the list would be seen as "consensus nominees" and receive Democrat backing.
Mr Trump has picked Steven Colloton of Iowa, Allison Eid of Colorado and Raymond Gruender of Missouri, as reported by the Associated Press.
Also on the list are: Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, Joan Larsen of Michigan, Thomas Lee of Utah, William Pryor of Alabama, David Stras of Minnesota, Diane Sykes of Wisconsin and Don Willett of Texas.
Think Progress reported that Judge William Pryor labelled Roe V Wade, a landmark lawsuit which guaranteed women the right to an abortion, as one of the "worst examples of judicial activism".
Judge Diane Sykes has argued that anti-gay groups should still receive federal funding even if they engage in discrimination, and she has upheld strong voter ID laws and has tried to limit the accessibility of birth control.
Ms Sykes is the ex-wife of Charles Sykes, a radio host in Wisconsin who helped to lead the anti-Trump rally ahead of the state primary. Mr Sykes told Mr Trump he was "acting like a 12-year-old boy on the playground".
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
Last December, Mr Trump said his favourite member of the supreme court was Justice Clarence Thomas, suggesting his nominees could be ultra-conservative.
Mr Thomas has reportedly embraced an interpretation of the US constitution which led past justices to strike down child labour laws.
Absent from the list are his former rival, Texas senator Ted Cruz, and Utah governor Mike Lee, two names Mr Trump hinted at before.
Thomas Lee, the Utah governor's brother, does feature on the list, however.
Mr Trump said in March he would release the list to ease concerns from fellow Republicans about his conservative credentials.
Not everyone on the short list is an advocate of Mr Trump. Texas supreme court judge Don Willett posted several disparaging tweets about the Republican, second-guessing how he would make up his list.
President Barack Obama selected the current supreme court nominee, Merrick Garland, who has served on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Colombia Circuit since 1997.
Many Republicans have claimed the US is better off waiting until the new president is elected before deciding on the nominee.
In an interview with Buzzfeed, president Obama said: "Now what we have is a situation where having made that promise, Republicans are looking at a Republican nominee who many of them say isnt qualified to be president, much less appoint somebody. And it seems to me they'd be better off going ahead and giving an hearing and a vote to someone who they themselves have said is well qualified.
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Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, has said that he is willing to talk with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in an effort to try and stop Pyongyang's nuclear programme.
In a proposal that would make a major shift in the US stance towards the isolated nation, Mr Trump declined to share details of his plans to deal with North Korea, but said he was open to a face-to-face meeting with its leader.
I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him, Mr Trump told Reuters.
Kim Jong Un during the Workers' Party Congress in Pyongyang (Reuters)
The 69-year-old tycoon has struggled to answer questions about his apparent lack of knowledge and expertise on foreign affairs and doubts have been raised about some of those he has sought advice from.
In a wide-ranging interview with the news agency, Mr Trump also said he disapproved of Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in eastern Ukraine, called for a renegotiation of the Paris climate accord, and said he would dismantle most of the Dodd-Frank financial regulations if he was elected president.
Which countries have nuclear weapons? Show all 14 1 /14 Which countries have nuclear weapons? Which countries have nuclear weapons? USA Have nuclear weapons Getty Which countries have nuclear weapons? Russia Have nuclear weapons Getty Which countries have nuclear weapons? UK Have nuclear weapons Getty Which countries have nuclear weapons? France Have nuclear weapons Getty Which countries have nuclear weapons? China Have nuclear weapons Getty Which countries have nuclear weapons? India Say they have nuclear weapons Getty Which countries have nuclear weapons? Pakistan Say they have nuclear weapons Getty Which countries have nuclear weapons? North Korea Say they have nuclear weapons EPA/Rodong Sinmun Which countries have nuclear weapons? Israel Believed to have nuclear weapons Getty Which countries have nuclear weapons? Belgium Nations hosting nuclear weapons Getty Which countries have nuclear weapons? Germany Nations hosting nuclear weapons Getty Which countries have nuclear weapons? Italy Nations hosting nuclear weapons Getty Which countries have nuclear weapons? Netherlands Nations hosting nuclear weapons Getty Which countries have nuclear weapons? Turkey Nations hosting nuclear weapons Getty
Mr Trump said he would also push China, North Koreas only major diplomatic and economic supporter, to help find a solution.
I would put a lot of pressure on China because economically we have tremendous power over China, he said.
Senior Republicans are fearful of the potential damage Donald Trump could cause in failing to become president (Reuters)
Mr Trump's preparedness to meet the North Korean leader contrasts with President Barack Obamas policy of relying on senior U.S. officials to talk to senior North Korean officials. Mr Obama has not engaged personally with Kim.
The New York billionaire said he is not a big fan of the Paris climate accord, which prescribes reductions in carbon emissions by more than 170 countries, and would want to renegotiate it because it gives favourable treatment to countries like China.
A renegotiation of the pact would be a major setback for what was hailed as the first truly global climate accord, committing both rich and poor nations to reining in the rise in greenhouse gas emissions blamed for warming the planet.
On Russia, Mr Trump tempered past praise of Mr Putin, saying the nice comments the Russian leader has made about him in the past would only go so far.
The fact that he said good things about me doesnt mean that its going to help him in a negotiation. It wont help him at all, he said.
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Fears are growing in some quarters of the Democratic Party that angry Bernie Sanders supporters could disrupt the national convention in Philadelphia in July and spur violence.
The risk of trouble in Philadelphia has been brought to the fore amidst widespread recriminations after a state convention in Nevada at the weekend ended in chaos with Sanders supporters furiously asserting that party officials had skewed the rules against their candidate.
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Senator Sanders, who now has almost no chance of snatching the nomination from his rival, Hillary Clinton, has so far only issued a vague statement condemning violence but has failed directly to disown those of his supporters who triggered the ruckus in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Enraged at the large number of delegates awarded by the state party to Ms Clinton at the convention, Sanders supporters began booing, attempting to storm the stage and throwing chairs. The state party chairwoman, Roberta Lange, said even on Wednesday that she was still receiving death threats from Sanders supporters on her telephone.
In the fall-out from those events, the Sanders campaign has found itself engaged in a series of tart exchanges with the partys most senior official, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, who is also the national party chairwoman.
The rift that the Clinton-Sanders competition has opened in the party will only have been deepened by results of Tuesday nights primaries when Mr Sanders extended a long streak of wins by taking Oregon while Ms Clinton appeared to have eked out a victory in Kentucky.
Mr Sanders again vowed on Tuesday night that he will stay in the race against the former first lady until the last vote is cast, which technically means 14 June, when the primary contests come to an end with voting in Washington DC. Thereafter, if it is clear he is the loser, he will come under intense pressure to seek to unify the party and throw his support behind Ms Clinton.
The reluctance of Mr Sanders to disassociate himself from what happened in Nevada is rattling nerves in the party. Among those chastising him is Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, who has long been seen as a likely vice presidential pick for Ms Clinton. That deflection of responsibility is not leadership, he said of Mr Sanders response so far.
Mr Sanders and his top aides have in fact fanned suspicions among his grassroots supporters that the party hierarchy has sought from the start of the race to deliver whatever advantages it can to the Clinton campaign. But state party officials in Nevada said it was simply a matter of the Clinton camp being far better organised that the Sanders team in gathering delegates
California Senator Barbara Boxer, who was at the Nevada convention and has called what happened there terrible, insisted it was time the Sanders campaign took responsibility, for fear the national convention turns ugly.
We just cant have a repeat of that in Philadelphia because its distressing, she said. I have a message to the Bernie people who are planning to be disobedient because the system is rigged. Here is the thing: They should support the Democratic candidate who got the most votes. They should support the Democratic candidate who got the most delegates. There is nothing to protest.
For most of the spring, worries about the potential for convention violence was focused on the Republicans who will be gathering one week ahead of the Democrats in Cleveland. But the risk of trouble in Ohio seems to have diminished now that Donald Trump has established himself as the presumptive Republican nominee and the prospect of a floor-fight has mostly gone away.
The Nevada state party has filed a formal complaint to the Democratic National Committee about the failure of the Sanders campaign to control its own supporters. It spoke of a very dangerous atmosphere that ended in chaos and physical threats to fellow Democrats that could be indicative of what could happen in Philadelphia in July.
Ms Wasserman Schultz said that the half-apology issued by Mr Sanders on Tuesday had been anything but acceptable. That in turn drew a sharp rebuke from top Sanders strategist, Jeff Weaver. Debbie Wasserman Schultz has really been the divider and not really provided the kind of leadership that the Democratic Party needs, he said.
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The daughter of Donald Trump has found herself defending his record on dealing with women, insisting hes not a groper and has a record of nurturing women in the workplace.
In a first substantive interview about her fathers run for the White House, Ivanka Trump, 34, pushed back against a front-page New York Times article published at the weekend that was a harsh take-down of Mr Trumps interactions with women over the years.
Her father had total respect for women, Ms Trump told CBS on Wednesday, conceding that she had read the Times piece and had been bothered by it.
The article included references to a former female employee of Trump interests in Atlantic City who told the paper of a very traumatic incident that allegedly involved her ultimate boss attempting to grope her under a dinner table.
Look, Im not in every interaction my father has, but hes not a groper, Ms Trump, who works as an executive vice president for her fathers business empire, commented. Its not who he is. And Ive known my father obviously my whole life and he has total respect for women.
Parting with convention, Mr Trump did not ignore the article but rather spent the first days of this week lambasting it and its authors, a reaction that helped propel it to become the most read piece in the newspaper for a year.
He was helped when one of the key figures in the piece, a former model and one-time girlfriend of the tycoon, Rowanne Brewer Lane, asserted that her remarks to the reporters had been taken out of context and were misleading.
It is libelous, because it was factually inaccurate, Corey Lewandowski, the Trump campaign spokesman, told CNN They had the opportunity to get it right, they chose not to get it right. Mr Trump in a Twitter message on Tuesday evening said it was time for one of the reporters who wrote it, Michael Barbaro, to resign.
But the newspaper has not backed off from the report. We really stand by our story, we believe we quoted her fairly and accurately and that the story really speaks for itself, Mr Barbaro said on CNN.
I was bothered by it, but its largely been discredited since, Ms Trump, who is married to Jared Kushner, a prominent New York property developer, said of the piece.
Most of the time when stories are inaccurate theyre not discredited, and I will be frustrated by that, but in this case I think they went so far, she continued. They had such a strong thesis and created facts to reinforce it and, you know, I think that narrative has been playing out now and theres backlash in that regard.
Her contention that her father had blazed a trail even back in the 1980s by promoting women to top positions his organisation was in fact acknowledged by the reports authors. Notably, they highlighted the rise of Barbara Res to become head of construction of Trump Tower.
Ms Res, however, has spoken publicly of times when he was sexist towards female employees, including comments made to her about her gain in weight.
As Mr Trump transitions from the primary races to the general election, he faces a stiff task winning over women voters. The most recent polls suggested that more than two thirds of women nationally disapprove of him. Unless he can soften those numbers - women tend to vote in bigger numbers than men in the US - his path to the White House will be very narrow.
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All the remaining candidates for president in the United States are being spied on by foreign hackers with a variety of motivations, the countrys top intelligence officer has revealed.
The warning was issued by National Intelligence Director James Clapper at a conference organised by the Bipartisan Policy Center, in Washington DC. It came as federal cyber-security experts are working with all the campaigns to help them bolster their web site defences.
Whats more, the acts of espionage against the campaigns may only just be getting started. As the campaigns intensify we'll probably have more of it, Mr Clapper noted.
Those trying to crash the candidates networks could include foreign governments seeking early pointers on policy thinking or hackers with sabotage in mind. Mr Clappers office recently revealed how it tracked intrusions by foreign intelligence services into the campaigns for president back in 2008.
The risk to the campaigns was further outlined by Mr Clappers office. We're aware that campaigns and related organizations and individuals are targeted by actors with a variety of motivations - from philosophical differences to espionage - and capabilities - from defacements to intrusions, Mr Clapper's spokesman Brian Hale said in a statement.
While officials would offer no specifics of incidents uncovered so far, it is known that the international cyber-anarchist group that calls itself Anonymous has specifically urged its supporters to attack the web operations of Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.
The group said it was preparing to launch total war against the New York billionaire. Additionally, a masked figure appeared on YouTube, saying, Dear Donald Trump, we have been watching you for a long time and what we see is deeply disturbing.
While the online operations of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are limited more or less to their campaigns and policy platforms, Mr Trump has a whole array of web sites related to his business empire and therefore may have more at risk in the event hackers target him.
Mr Sanders has his own experience with cyber-misdeeds; he was reprimanded last year after his staff improperly accessed a trove of voter data at the Democratic National Committee.
As for Ms Clinton, she is still being investigated by the FBI for using a private email server at home while she was Secretary of State, potentially making it far easier for foreign intruders to hack into her messages, some of which may or may not have contained classified information.
The National Intelligence Agency acknowledged recently its activities in helping the two nominees in 2008 - now President Barack Obama and Senator John McCain - track and contend with serial cyber-intrusions during their campaigns for president. A document describing the extent of those operations was issued by Mr Clappers officer earlier this month.
Eight years ago, foreign intelligence services met with campaign contacts and staff, used human source networks for policy insights, exploited technology to get otherwise sensitive data, engaged in perception management to influence policy, the document said. This exceeded traditional lobbying and public diplomacy.
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The contentious Democratic presidential race remained unresolved on Tuesday night as frontrunner Hillary Clinton edged past her dogged challenger, Bernie Sanders, in the Kentucky primary, while the progressive Vermont Senator secured a more comfortable victory in Oregon.
Mr Sanders has now claimed 19 states to Ms Clinton's 24. But Democratic delegates are distributed proportionately in every primary, and Ms Clintons wins in big states such as New York, Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania have helped her to maintain a commanding lead in the increasingly divisive contest. The former Secretary of State also holds significant poll advantages in the two largest remaining states, New Jersey and California, which both go to the polls on 7 June, the last day of primary season.
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Kentucky is worth 61 delegates overall, and Oregon 73. Mr Sanders appeared to have a seven-point triumph on his hands in Oregon, compared to Ms Clinton's wafer-thin win in the Bluegrass State, which means the Vermont Senator will likely come away from last night's contests with the heavier delegate haul. But Ms Clinton is edging ever closer to the 2,383 delegate majority she needs to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination.
Despite the adverse arithmetic, Mr Sanders, who became a Democrat last year after a lengthy career as an independent, has vowed to fight on at least as far as the final primaries next month and even to contest the partys convention in Philadelphia in July. Speaking at a campaign rally in Carson, California yesterday, he said: "Before we will have the opportunity to defeat Donald Trump, we're going to have to defeat Secretary Clinton."
With Mr Trump having run unopposed in Oregon, the only GOP primary of the night, Republicans are resigned if not uniformly agreeable to the billionaire real estate mogul being their nominee. Over the weekend, it was instead the Democrats turn to tackle dissent in their ranks. The partys Nevada convention was disrupted by Sanders supporters, who threw chairs and threatened the states party chairwoman, angry at the process of awarding delegates, which they saw as biased towards Ms Clinton.
Nevada Senator Harry Reid, a Democrat and the Senate minority leader, urged Mr Sanders to condemn his supporters actions, while Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said there was no excuse for what happened. Mr Sanders subsequently condemned the unrest, but declined to apologise, saying claims that his campaign had a penchant for violence were nonsense. In a statement, he also suggested the Nevada Democratic leadership had "used its power to prevent a fair and transparent process."
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Last week, North Korea took a step that surprised some outside analysts. It released a giant, high-resolution portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Remarkably, the photograph appeared not to have been digitally edited. This was the real Kim, flaws and all.
It was a seemingly out-of-character move for a country with a long history of digitally altering photographs for propaganda purposes. Some analysts even reasoned that the North Korean state might be trying to send a message with the image, perhaps even portraying North Korea as a normal country whose leader, while treated like a god by North Korean citizens, wasnt vain at all.
Whatever the intention, if any, behind the release of the image, the response was inevitable: a race to digitally edit Kim.
At least three battles are taking place, the Huffington Post reports, on the websites Bored Panda, Twitter and Reddit. You can see a small selection of those images below.
Theres plenty more out there.
This is, of course, far from the first time that Kim has found himself a target of mockery online. He has become a regular guest in Reddits PhotoshopBattles take a look here, here, here and here. Whatever the horrors of the North Korean regime, the desire not to take Kim seriously is certainly persistent.
Copyright: Washington Post
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At the heart of the ancient Silk Road, on the edge of the Gobi Desert, lies a centuries-old place of pilgrimage: hundreds of caves hewn from a sandstone cliff containing some of the most exquisite Buddhist frescoes and figures in the world.
Abandoned for centuries, the Mogao Grottoes somehow survived everything that nature and man could throw at them, including earthquakes, floods and sandstorms. Marauding Muslim rebels, plundering European explorers and White Russian soldiers all left their mark. Rampaging Red Guards were turned away at the height of Chinas Cultural Revolution.
Today, the caves outside Dunhuang, in western China, enjoy a new stature at the heart of Communist Chinas efforts to revitalise and rebuild the Silk Road as a testament to its growing power in Asia. They also stand as a symbol of Sino-American cooperation in Chinas cultural preservation, thanks to pioneering work by the Getty Conservation Institute.
A crumbling, 1,000-year-old Buddhist fresco from inside in the Mogao Grottoes (PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images)
But the fragile wall paintings, some of which date to the 4th century and show stories from Buddhas life and visions of the afterlife, face another threat from a new army of tourists and the lure of profit.
In the past 100 years, most of the damage has been done by nature, but visits by more tourists will break the original balance inside the caves, said Wang Xudong, president of Dunhuang Academy, which runs, preserves and restores the site. Constant entrance and exit changes the temperature and humidity inside the caves. Human bodies also carry microorganisms, and if they start to grow inside the caves, it would be very scary.
More than 1.1 million tourists visited the caves in 2015, a rise of 40 per cent in just a year and a roughly 20-fold jump in the past two decades.
The vast majority are Chinese, as the countrys growing wealth fuels a huge boom in domestic tourism and as interest is renewed in Chinas Buddhist past.
With advice from Gettys experts, the Dunhuang Academy initially tried to cap the number of tourists at 3,000 a day but later realised that limit just would not stop people from coming, Wang said. The limit was then raised to 6,000 a day, but demand regularly exceeds that in the peak July-to-October season.
Experts fear an increase in tourism 'will break the original balance inside the caves' (ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images)
To relieve the pressure, tourists are asked to register in advance and, before visiting the site, watch two 20-minute movies in a sweeping new visitor center on the history of Dunhuang and the caves themselves.
Later, they are guided through a selection of the 40 caves that are open to the public, forbidden to take photographs in case their camera flash damages the frescoes.
Register too late, above the 6,000 cutoff, and youll miss the movies and get to see only four caves. By giving these latecomers a very bad experience, Wang said he hopes to encourage more people to come during the low season, when ticket prices are halved.
The question is whether Wang can stem the tide. Beside the visitor center, nine miles from the caves, construction workers are building a privately funded tourist complex, including a theater and hotels.
Visitors view replicas of artwork form the Mogao Grottoes at the Dunhuang Art Exhibition (China Photos/Getty Images)
In the city of Dunhuang, a $250 million conference center and a bigger, 2,000-seat theater are being built to house an annual Silk Road Cultural Expo. The large modern airport is being expanded, with a $150 million upgrade.
There is enormous commercial pressure, said Neville Agnew, who has been visiting and working in the caves for 28 years for the Getty Conservation Institute. The growth of the city of Dunhuang depends ultimately on the Mogao Grottoes. They are going to have their work cut out to control visitation, and, of course, I think youd find many people who are interested in development of the region want more visitors.
Yet there is also state-of-the-art restoration work going on here, thanks to a long-standing collaboration between the Dunhuang Academy, Getty and other foreign experts.
Painstakingly, the restorers start in each cave by taking hundreds of high-resolution photographs, in color and black and white. Then the frescoes are examined to see what materials were used and the causes of deterioration diagnosed before experts decide on the best materials and methods to restore them.
Experts are documenting the stunning frescoes on the walls of the Mogao Grottoes (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)
Some of the paintings, rendered on a base of mud and grass, are partly detached from the rock face, and enormously vulnerable to humidity or earthquakes. Different kinds of grout were extensively tested before one was chosen to fill the gaps.
The project has produced guidelines that have been applied to other grottoes across China as well as principles that have helped the country better manage its heritage sites. It has also spawned a major new exhibition at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles that runs from May until September and includes full-size replicas of three of the caves.
It is a much happier example of Sino-Western collaboration than the caves experienced a century ago. In 1907, Hungarian British archaeologist Aurel Stein persuaded a local monk to sell him 24 trunks packed with ancient Buddhist scriptures and five trunks of paintings, embroideries and other artworks that had only recently been discovered in a small walled-up cave. He paid the equivalent of 130 pounds.
French, Japanese and Russian explorers took thousands more priceless documents in subsequent years before American Langdon Warner showed up in 1923 to find the portable treasures gone. Determined not to leave empty-handed, he took some of the sculptures and used adhesive glue to rip a dozen paintings off the walls.
The official history calls them the despicable treasure hunters.
Others who werent seeking relics inflicted their own sorts of damage. In 1870, Muslim rebels turned up at the caves, burning down many of the wooden ladders that gave access. They may also have been responsible for scratching the faces off some of the paintings.
In 1921, White Russian soldiers who had retreated into China during the war against the Bolsheviks were detained by the Chinese government and temporarily jailed in the caves. The damage from their fires, and their graffiti, is still visible in several caves.
But history was kinder during Chinas Cultural Revolution, when, on orders from Premier Zhou Enlai, Peoples Liberation Army soldiers and police were dispatched to protect the caves from gangs of Red Guards intent on destroying them.
Technicians restore Buddhist art in the Mogao Grottoes (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)
Today, 735 caves remain, hewn from the cliff over a period of 1,000 years. Nearly 500 have paintings on the walls undecorated caves were for meditation while more than 2,000 sculptures have survived.
With partners all over the world, the Dunhuang Academy is working on a major digital archiving project, photographing the caves and everything that was once contained within them. Wang said that more than 40,000 artworks or scriptures are scattered around the world but that this is a way to unite them and preserve them forever.
Of course, we hope that when the world truly becomes a big family, they can come back to Mogao caves and unite with the other relics here, he said. But reality is quite cruel sometimes. If we can get them back to the Internet family through digitalization, that is a target we can achieve for now.
The Washington Post
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Gay rights campaigners are calling on authorities to reassess one of Australias most antiquated and controversial laws the so-called gay panic defence law.
Dating back to the early 20th Century, gay panic is a law whereby if a gay person comes onto someone who resultantly kills them, the shock of their advances can render the perpetrator temporarily insane.
Under the homosexual advancement defence, still applicable in South Australia and Queensland, individuals can use the law to downgrade their charges from murder to manslaughter, claiming they were provoked to kill by the unwanted advance.
On Tuesday, International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, rights campaigners and public figures have rallied behind a four-year campaign to abolish the law.
Speaking in a video uploaded by Change.org this week, Australian comedian and presenter, Tom Ballard, said: According to the law in Queensland and South Australia you can get away with murder, if you argue that a gay man came onto you.
According to our law in those two states the murder of a gay man is a lesser crime.
Im a gay man and Ive had some awkward interactions with straight men myself over the years, but theyre awkward and they make people feel uncomfortable and you laugh about it and move on.
But if any of those straight men were so offended by my advances they proceeded to stab me multiple times Id like to think the justice system would prosecute them to the full extent."
The petition backed by Ballard was begun by the Catholic Priest, Father Paul Kelly, after two men, named Jason Pearce and Richard Meerdink, bashed Wayne Ruks to death in his church ground in Maryborough, Queensland in 2008. Both men were found guilty of manslaughter, rather than murder, after Pearce claimed Ruks made a sexual advance towards him.
Father Kelley told ABC: In the trial for murder it was raised that the victim, Wayne Ruks, allegedly made a homosexual advance against one of them and they lost control and bashed him.
"But it shocked me that that was even raised, or that that might even be some kind of mitigating circumstance."
The petition has been running for four years and has amassed nearly 250,000 signatures.
The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe Show all 15 1 /15 The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 15. Italy Getty Images The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 14. Macedonia The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 13. Poland Getty Images The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 12. Liechtenstein The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 11. Lithuania The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 10. Latvia This content is subject to copyright. The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 9. San Marino The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 8. Moldova The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 7. Belarus Getty Images The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 6. Ukraine Getty Images The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 5. Monaco The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 4. Turkey Getty Images The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 3. Armenia The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 2. Russia Getty Images The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 1. Azerbaijan Getty/AFP
Tasmania abolished provocation defence in 2003 followed by Victoria and Western Australia. The Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory have also made amendments to the defence.
New South Wales passed a bill in 2014 amending the law of provocation.
In 2015, South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill asked the South Australian Law Reform Institute to review all state laws and regulations and remove discrimination against LGBTIQ communities.
Last week, the Queensland government announced they have begun procedures to amend section 304 of the Criminal Code. Legislation is expected to be introduced to Parliament later this year.
However, Father Kelly said the leisurely pace of authorities to abolish the law was concerning.
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Barcelona will ban tourist traffic from 60 per cent of its roads in a bid to tackle pollution and accidents.
Plans announced by Barcelona City Council will begin creating citizen spaces where only local residents car will be able to travel from 2017 in order to reclaim public space for the people.
The new scheme will be trialled in the Eixample neighbourhood in the city centre before being expanded northwards in the neighbourhoods of Santi Marti and Gracia.
It will be based on the grid pattern design dreamed up by Catalan engineer Ildefons Cerda who was tasked with expanding the city outside its medieval walls in 1850s after it went through a population explosion during the industrial revolution.
The Eixample district was originally arranged in superilles (superblocks) - mini neighbourhoods of houses with green spaces in the middle - to improve public health and ensure that the population expanded evenly.
But with the arrival of private cars, the grid pattern meant vehicles criss-crossed the city and have contributed to a public health crisis they were designed to solve.
According to several scientific studies, air pollution causes an estimated 3,500 premature deaths a year in the city of 3.2m people.
Barcelona and its 35 surrounding areas regularly breach of EU-mandated levels for nitrogen dioxide (NO2).
The 'citizen space' scheme will be designed around the 19th century grid pattern parts of the city were designed around (Rex Features)
The local Environment Epidemiology Agency found that if the citys NO2 levels were brought down to the level permitted by the EU an estimated 1,200 deaths could be reduced.
Around one if five of its children are estimated to be overweight or at risk of becoming so due to a sedentary lifestyle, the Guardian reports.
The city only has 6.6sq ft of green space per resident - compared with 27 sq ft per resident in London which has nearly three times the population.
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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. 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A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty
The new citizen spaces will consist of nine existing superblocks on the grid.
All vehicular traffic will then be restricted to the outer perimeter of the grid and local residents will be able to apply for permits to travel in between at a reduced speed limit.
In the details of the plans, published on the councils website, it said: The City Council advocates a more sustainable city model that allows us to face the challenge of improving the quality of life of people as well as making the city more livable and more healthy.
The City Council has said they aim to reduce road traffic by 21 per cent in two years (Getty Images)
Within this framework, the Municipal Government will set as priorities combat levels of air pollution, noise produced by traffic, road accident rates and lack of green spaces.
Today travel in private vehicles account for 20 per cent of all journeys in the city but the space dedicated to this means of transport is around 60 per cent.
The council says it will provide an initial 10m (7.7m) investment in the project which they hope will reduce road traffic by 21 per cent within two years.
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A German comedian has been banned from repeating parts of a controversial poem he wrote about the Turkish President.
Jan Bohmermanns poem about Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already threatened a diplomatic row between Ankara and Berlin and resulted in calls for him to be prosecuted.
On Tuesday, the Hamburg state court granted Mr Erdogan an injunction allowing excerpts of the satirical poem not to be repeated.
German comedian faces criminal inquiry over Erdogan
Judges ruled that the Turkish President does not have to accept Mr Bohmermann reading out his work due to its abusive and libellous content particularly parts making sexual references.
The court found it crossed the line between satirical criticism and pure abuse, but that six lines, including those on freedom of speech, were within the bounds of what is legally admissible.
Through the poem's reference to racial prejudice and religious slander as well as sexual habits, the verses in question go beyond what the petitioner can be expected to tolerate, the ruling said, although the decision can be appealed.
Mr Bohmermann's lawyer, Christian Schertz, said the ruling went against artistic freedom and was wrong to split what it acknowledged as a satirical work into parts.
The comedian responded by sharing a link to the Beastie Boys song (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party) on Twitter, with heart, raised fist and winking face emojis.
President Erdogan and Chancellor Merkel are trying to maintain working diplomatic relations (Rex Features)
His poem was originally aired on the Neo Magazin Royale programme on 31 March as a response to another satirical German song (Erdowie, Erdowo, Erdogan) that provoked outrage in Ankara earlier in the month.
Introducing it on television, Mr Bohmermann said he was conducting an experiment to illustrate the boundary between legitimate criticism and illegal abusive criticism (Schmahkritik) under German law.
The poem has since been read out in full by a German MP, during a parliamentary debate over 103 of the criminal code, which bans insulting the representatives of international governments.
Chancellor Angela Merkel was heavily criticised last month for granting a request from Turkey for Mr Bohmermann to be investigated over the poem.
His work has previously featured Yanis Varoufakis, the former Greek finance minister, the anti-immigration Alternative fur Deutschland party and pro-refugee activists.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes Show all 8 1 /8 Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes The Turkish President's craziest quotes Just a week before he was elected President, he called Erdogan Amberin Zaman, the Turkey correspondent for 'The Economist', a "shameless militant woman disguised under the name of a journalist" after she had asked an opposition leader whether "Muslim society is able to question" the authorities. "Know your place," Erdogan said. "They gave you a pen and you are writing a column in a newspaper. "And then they invite you to a TV channel owned by Dogan media group and you insult at a society of 99 per cent Muslims," he said he said according to Today's Zaman newspaper. Sascha Schuermann/Getty Images Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes The Turkish President's craziest quotes Turkish people are pictured chanting slogans during an anti-government protest on Taksim square in Istanbul, on 29 June, 2013. The protests were sparked by brutal police action against a local conservation battle to save Istanbul's Gezi Park, and soon turned into nationwide demonstrations against the government. Amid the protests - the worst in Turkey for years - Erdogan accused demonstrators of being "arm-in-arm with terrorism," according to Reuters. "This is a protest organized by extremist elements. We will not give away anything to those who live arm-in-arm with terrorism," he said. GURCAN OZTURK/AFP/Getty Images Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes The Turkish President's craziest quotes During last years protests, activists used social media to organise and disseminate information. Several dozen tweeters were arrested following the protests, according to local media reports. Erdogan responded by calling the technology a "menace". "There is now a menace which is called Twitter," Erdogan said. "The best examples of lies can be found there. To me, social media is the worst menace to society," BBC New reported. Vladimir Astapkovich/RIA Novosti via Getty Images Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes The Turkish President's craziest quotes Not helping to allay accusations of authoritarianism, after Turkish police detained 49 people, including well-known business people and those close to the ruling party, Erdeogan ominously told reporter that Turkey "is not a banana republic" that can be affected by unnamed "operations", according to Today's Zaman newspaper. People who are backed by the media and certain funders cannot change this country," he said. "People backed by certain dark gangs both inside and outside Turkey cannot mess with the country's path. They cannot change conditions in Turkey. Turkey is not a country that anyone can launch an operation into. The [Turkish] nation will not allow that. The AK Party, which is governing this nation, will not allow this." Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes The Turkish President's craziest quotes Friends and relatives of the miners who died in an explosion at the Soma mine are pictured praying following the burial in Soma cemetery of the last body to be recovered from the mine in May 2014. At the time, the then-Prime Minister badly misjudged the Soma mining disaster, in which 301 workers died. He told the relatives of dead and dying miners that "these types of incidents are ordinary things", following allegations that the government had ignored safety concerns about the privately owned mine, the Guardian reported. In his defence, Erdogan recounted in a separate speech a list of mining disasters which occurred abroad, including a British disaster in 1862, and one in America "which has every kind of technology". Oli Scarff/Getty Images Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes The Turkish President's craziest quotes Palestinians pictured attending Friday noon prayers in a destroyed mosque that was hit by Israeli strikes, in Gaza City. As Prime Minister, Erdogan has condemned Israel, accusing it of deliberately killing Palestinian mothers and warned that the it would "drown in the blood it sheds." Speaking to thousands of supporters during a rally in Istanbul ahead of the 10 August election, Reuters reported him as saying: "Just like Hitler, who sought to establish a race free of all faults, Israel is chasing after the same target." "They kill women so that they will not give birth to Palestinians; they kill babies so that they won't grow up; they kill men so they can't defend their country ... They will drown in the blood they shed," he said. AP Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes The Turkish President's craziest quotes Amid the worst protests in Turkey for years which had spread across dozens of cities last June, Erdogan accused demonstrators of being "arm-in-arm with terrorism," according to Reuters. A demonstration to halt construction in a park in an Istanbul square grew into mass protests against a heavy-handed police crackdown and what opponents called Erdogan's authoritarian policies. "This is a protest organized by extremist elements," Erdogan said before departing on a trip to North Africa. "We will not give away anything to those who live arm-in-arm with terrorism," he said. Sascha Schuermann/Getty Images Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes The Turkish President's craziest quotes In March 2014, Erdogan accused a 15-year-old boy who died from injuries sustained in last year's anti-government protests of being linked to terrorism. Berkin Elvan, who became a symbol of anti-government protests, had gone to pick up bread when he was hit with a teargas canister - sending him into a nine-month coma before he passed away. In a speech broadcast on state TV, Erdogan said of Berkin: "This kid with steel marbles in his pockets, with a slingshot in his hand, his face covered with a scarf, who had been taken up into terror organisations, was unfortunately subjected to pepper gas. How could the police determine how old that person was who had a scarf on his face and was hurling steel marbles with a slingshot in his hand? ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images
Prosecutors haven't yet decided whether to file charges under a little-used German law forbidding insult to foreign heads of state, which could be scrapped by 2018.
The case has caused outcry from groups advocating freedom of speech, who are calling for the law to be scrapped.
Hugh Williamson, Human Rights Watchs Europe director, said: The poem is certainly highly offensive, but it is in situations such as this when we need to stand up for protection of free speech.
Germany bears responsibility for having such a bad law on the books and the sooner it is repealed, the better.
The scandal came shortly after the EU made a controversial deal with Turkey aiming to slow the flow of refugees across the Aegean Sea to Greece.
Mr Erdogan is known for his sensitivity to criticism, with prosecutors opening more than 1,800 cases against people for alleged insults since he took office in 2014.
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General Sir Richard Shirreffs book deals in specifics. The West, it says, would be at war with Russia within the year. The Kremlin will invade the Baltic States through Latvia and threaten to go nuclear if Nato attempts a military response. A hesitant Nato will face catastrophe; the day of reckoning for its failure to match strong political statements with strong military forces finally arrives.
It is these specifics that are seen as the selling points in 2017 War with Russia written by Gen Shirreff, a former deputy commander of Nato. The war will begin in May next year, which happens to be 12 months from the launch of the book this week. Vladimir Putin, who is aggressive and opportunistic, will take advantage of weak political leadership in the West to make Russia a great power again.
Gen Shirreff points towards the short war between Russia and Georgia in 2008, the annexation of the Crimea two years ago and the separatist strife in eastern Ukraine as part of a grand plan of Russian expansion. But a lot of what happened in these conflicts each of which I covered was due to changing dynamics on the ground rather than a grandmaster Putin sitting with a chessboard in the Kremlin.
Furthermore, these are now frozen conflicts, something that suits the Russians who have what they wanted. Indeed, in my trip to the Donbass last autumn, I found that the Kremlin was removing hotheads among the separatist leadership who wanted to continue the fighting and replace them with more pragmatic figures. Why should the President risk all the gains with a risky hot war with an invasion of the Baltic States which, unlike Ukraine and Georgia, are members of Nato and can invoke Nato assistance?
What happens if Sir Richards doomsday scenario fails to take place? Well, there is a get-out clause. Speaking at the launch of the book at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) at Whitehall, in London, he said that war can be avoided if the West began to position personnel and weapons in the Baltic States and eastern Europe. Nato is, in fact, in the process of doing just that to the chagrin of the Kremlin which holds this breaches the pledge made by the Alliance to Boris Yeltsins government in 1997 that it will not have permanent troop presence in any of the former Warsaw Pact states.
There is concern among Nato commanders that their governments are not fully aware of advances in Kremlins military capabilities. However, Western military leaders have themselves been in the practice of sneering at Russian forces. Their armys equipment was said to be outmoded, their air forces bombs and missiles were more dumb than smart, their navy was more rust than ready.
What they have seen in Ukraine has come as something of a shock. Russian military jets have carried out more sorties in a day in Syria than the US-led coalition has done in a month. The Russian navy has launched ballistic missiles from the Caspian Sea 900 miles way. The air defences installed by the Russians in Syria and eastern Ukraine would make it extremely hazardous for the West to carry out strikes against the Assad regime or Ukrainian separatists.
Pro-Russian rebel tanks in Chervonoe, Ukraine (Getty Images) (Getty)
Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, the commander of the US army in Europe, has described Russian advances in electronic warfare a field in which they were typically supposed to be backward as eye-watering. The chief of US Air Force operations in Europe and Africa, Lieutenant General Frank Gorenc, has said that Russian anti-aircraft systems installed in Crimea and Kaliningrad, an enclave between Lithuania and Poland, makes very, very difficult for Nato planes to gain access safely to areas including parts of Poland.
But Russian advances in military technology does not mean that Kremlin is about to launch an attack, although it may add to the argument for increased defence spending.
Putin celebrates his 63rd birthday playing hockey Show all 5 1 /5 Putin celebrates his 63rd birthday playing hockey Putin celebrates his 63rd birthday playing hockey Russian President Vladimir Putin spent his 63rd birthday on the ice, playing hockey with NHL stars against Russian officials and tycoons Putin celebrates his 63rd birthday playing hockey Vladimir Putin takes part in a gala game opening match of the Night Hockey League new season in Sochi EPA Putin celebrates his 63rd birthday playing hockey Vladimir Putin takes part in a gala game, opening a new season of the Night Ice Hockey League in Sochi, Russia EPA Putin celebrates his 63rd birthday playing hockey Vladimir Putin (C) shows off his hockey skills during the match of the Night Hockey League new season in Sochi EPA Putin celebrates his 63rd birthday playing hockey Vladimir Putin and Night Hockey League President Alexander Yakushev attend a gala opening match of the Night Hockey League new season in Sochi EPA
It is the case that Western politicians have talked up military action while failing to invest in the military. David Cameron, brushing aside advice of caution from commanders during the Libyan intervention declared Ill tell you what, you do the fighting and Ill do the talking. We all know now, of course, the outcome of the Prime Ministers Libyan adventure.
Gen Shirreff has been severely critical of Mr Cameron saying that he has made himself increasingly irrelevant on the international stage. He has also revealed a clash with then Defence Secretary Philip Hammond about a newspaper article he had written criticising military cuts.
An infuriated Mr Hammond apparently wanted to take formal action against Gen Shirreff. However, formal action would have involved a court martial and, fortunately for the latters political reputation it also seems he had not appreciated that I reported to Nato and not to him wiser counsel prevailed, said Sir Richard.
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Nato risks a nuclear war with Russia within a year if it does not increase its defence capabilities in the Baltic states, one of the alliance's most senior retired generals has said.
General Sir Richard Shirreff, who served as Natos Deputy Supreme Allied Commander in Europe between 2011 and 2014, said that an attack on Estonia, Lithuania or Latvia all Nato members was a serious possibility and that the West should act now to avert potential catastrophe.
He has written a fictional book 2017 War with Russia, but told BBC Radio 4s Today programme the events it describes were entirely plausible.
General Shirreff said: The chilling fact is that because Russia hardwires nuclear thinking and capability to every aspect of their defence capability, this would be nuclear war.
Tensions between Russia and the Western world Show all 8 1 /8 Tensions between Russia and the Western world Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Vladimir Putin leaves G20 early after criticism from world leaders over Ukraine. David Cameron warned Vladimir Putin, face to face, that Russias whole post-Cold War relationship with the West is at a fork in the road over Ukraine Getty Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia A mysterious Russian object is being tracked by space agencies, giving new life to fears about the increase of space weapons. The satellite, dubbed Object 2014-28E, has grabbed the interest of official and amateur satellite-watchers because it is taking a confusing path and its purpose has not been identified Getty Images Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Russian warplanes are risking the security of civilian passengers as they play a dangerous game designed to test Western air defences, according to Natos secretary general FRA Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Russia has warned Ukraine that a resumption of hostilities against pro-Russian separatists in the east would be catastrophic for Ukraine Reuters Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia A Swedish minesweeper searches for suspected "foreign underwater activity" near Stockholm. A Russian sub in Swedish waters has slipped away into the sea...leaving recriminations in its wake Reuters Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Sberbank, Russia's largest lender, is taking the European Union to court in an attempt to loosen Western sanctions imposed over the Ukraine crisis GETTY IMAGES Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Russian government agencies have been accused of editing a Wikipedia article to suggest the Ukrainian military was responsible for shooting down the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, a Twitter account monitoring state IP addresses has claimed AFP Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Australias prime minister Tony Abbott has promised he will shirtfront Vladimir Putin over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which killed 38 Australian citizens AP
We need to judge President Putin by his deeds not his words, he added. He has invaded Georgia, he has invaded the Crimea, he has invaded Ukraine. He has used force and got away with it.
In a period of tension, an attack on the Baltic states is entirely plausible.
Nato members would be obliged under Article 5 of its founding treaty to come to the defence of another member if it came under attack.
General Shirreff said that Mr Putin could be persuaded into an intervention in the Baltic by a perception of weakness in Nato, and predicted that, as in Crimea, the Russian president would present his actions as an act of defence to protect the large Russian-speaking minorities in those countries.
Nato has already stepped up defences in the Baltic states, but General Shirreff said that it needed to raise the bar sufficiently high for any aggressor to say it is not worth the risk."
Russin jet's practise attack
I would argue the bar is not high enough at the moment, he added.
In the preface to his book, General Shirreff is critical of recent defence cuts in the UK, writing: A country famous for once walking softly and carrying a big stick now had a leadership that shouted loudly but, thanks to ongoing defence cuts, carried an increasingly tiny and impotent stick.
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A hobby-historian from eastern Germany claims to have found Hitlers nuclear bombs in an underground bunker.
Peter Lohr, 70, used a ground penetrating radar in the Jonas Valley in Thuringia where he says he came across large caverns underground.
Mr Lohr, who is a trained mechanical engineer, says the shape of the objects are the same as nuclear weapons. He used 3D image technology to identify five large objects, of which two he claims are atomic bombs.
Recommended Read more Why exactly North Korea having a hydrogen bomb is so worrying
The metals been lying there for 71 years. At some point it will decay and then we will have a second Chernobly on our hands, he told local paper Bild.
Mr Lohr has been told by authorities he cannot carry on his research.
In pictures: Nazi bunkers across Europe Show all 7 1 /7 In pictures: Nazi bunkers across Europe In pictures: Nazi bunkers across Europe Nazi bunkers A bunker is pictured at the Festungsfront Oder-Warthe-Bogen (Fortified Front Oder-Warthe-Bogen) or Ostwall (East Wall) fortification, the former Nazi German defence line near the city of Miedzyrzecz in western Poland In pictures: Nazi bunkers across Europe Nazi bunkers An entrance to a bunker is visible next to the former Waldhof am Bogensee, the former weekend house of Nazi propaganda minister and close Adolf Hitler associate Joseph Goebbels, at Bogensee Lake, north of Berlin, Germany In pictures: Nazi bunkers across Europe Nazi bunkers German bunkers at Longues-sur-Mer in France In pictures: Nazi bunkers across Europe Nazi bunkers Dutch bunker at Loodsmansduin, near Den Hoorn, on the island Texel. The bunker was built in 1938-1939 and was used by the German occupational forces during the WWII In pictures: Nazi bunkers across Europe Nazi bunkers German bunker at Sndervig in Denmark In pictures: Nazi bunkers across Europe Nazi bunkers Bunker in Alderney, Channel Islands In pictures: Nazi bunkers across Europe Nazi bunkers Bunker for submarines built by nazi Germany during the WWII, France
Towards the end of the Second World War, prisoners of war were forced to dig 25 tunnels under the mountain in the Jonas Valley, but it was abandoned before the end of the war and the purpose for them remains unknown.
Ohrdruf labour camp and the Jonas Valley were captured by American troops on April 4, 1945 and was the first to be liberated by US troops.
American authorities removed technical equipment before dynamiting surface entrances to the tunnels and classified all 1945 documents relating to Ohrdruf for at least 100 years.
Nazi gold hoard uncovered
In 2015, two amateur historians claimed they found a train hidden tunnel in Poland, full of Nazi gold. But, following searches on the site, expert researchers were unable to find anything.
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A police car was set alight in the heart of Paris today after protesters were pushed away from a police demonstration against anti-police hatred and violence.
The police vehicle was struck by a molotov cocktail on the Quai Valmy in the 10th arrondissement, close to the scene of the jihadist attacks in Paris last November.
The fire was rapidly brought under control. Two police officers were hauled from the car by the protestors and escaped unhurt.
Protesters set a police car on fire during clashes as part as a demonstration, that had been banned, against police violence (EPA)
Police officers stand guard next to a burned-out police car (AFP)
The attack happened after a group of young, hooded protesters was pushed by riot police off the nearby Place de la Republique as other police officers gathered to complain about violent attacks by demonstrators over the last two months.
The demonstration unprecedented in France was called by police unions. Several right-wing and hard-right members of parliament, including Marion Marechal Le Pen, niece of the Front National president Marine Le Pen, joined the demonstrating officers.
Police unions estimate that 350 of their colleagues have been injured, some seriously, in attacks with stones, bottles and molotov cocktails since street protests against reform of labour laws began two months ago. Some demonstrators accuse the police especially the CRS riot police of behaving with disproportionate violence themselves.
A group called Urgence, notre police assassin Emergency, our police murder people defied a government ban and assembled close to the police demonstration in the Place de la Republique just before mid-day.
Riot police and gendarmerie units brought in from the provinces pushed them off the square. Shortly afterwards the police car was set alight.
A burned-out police car near to a protest by police officers against "anti-police hatred" (AFP)
Gilbert Collard, one of two Front National members of the National Assembly, described the attack on the police car as a declaration of war.
Left wing demontrators had earlier accused the police union Alliance of deliberate provocation by holding their demonstration on the Place de la Republique. The large square in eastern Paris has become the home of nightly protests against the labour law reform and against capitalism in general by the amorphously left-wing Nuit Debout (night uprising) movement since late March.
Police officers at the demonstration and similar gatherings in other French cities said that they and their colleagues are exhausted by extra work generated by the state of emergency following the November terrorist attacks in which 130 people died.
One officer admitted that fatigue had sometimes led to overreactions by his colleagues. These were just isolated actions, he said, compared to systematic assaults on police line by a fringe of young radical protesters, armed with stone, iron, bars, bottles and molotov cocktails.
A protester hits a policeman with a bar after attacking a police car during a demonstration (EPA)
Look at the figures (for police and demonstrator injuries), he said. There is no comparison.
President Francois Hollande issued a statement saying that he was squarely on the side of the police.
Rail services throughout France were disrupted yesterday by the first day of a two day strike by some rail unions against the proposed changes in labour law and against plans to privatise some rail services in France. Truck drivers also continued blockages of fuel depots and refineries which have caused petrol shortages in Normandy and some other regions.
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Finland has declared tighter restrictions on asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, saying they will no longer be granted residency on grounds of humanitarian protection a response to the improved security situation in the three countries.
According to new guidelines issued by the Finnish Immigration Service, the security situation has improved to such an extent it is possible for asylum seekers to return to their countries of origin, despite the on-going armed conflicts.
Official statistics from the immigration service show Iraq and Afghanistan have been the main countries of origin for those seeking asylum in Finland so far this year, although the number of asylum seekers from Afghanistan has reduced considerably in the last two months.
In 2015, there were 20,485 applicants from Iraq, 5,214 from Afghanistan and 1,981 from Somalia, making up the majority of the 32,476 asylum requests in Finland. These figures represented a huge increase on the 3,651 applicants from the previous year.
Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Show all 11 1 /11 Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkey's two million Syrian refugees There are already over 2.5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, but their current camps can only hold 200,000 people ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkish citizens protest a new deal, also criticised by human rights activists, which will see refugees who arrived in Greece after March 20 be sent back to Turkey AP Photo/Emre Tazegu Turkey's two million Syrian refugees An estimated 80% of Syrian refugee children already in Turkey are unable to attend school BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Refugee children beg for water near the Turkey-Syria border. Turkey has been accused of illegally deporting asylum-seekers back to Syria BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees In Turkey, no-one from outside Europe is legally recognised as a refugee, meaning the 2016 deportations may not meet international legal standards for protecting vulnerable people BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees A refugee child cries as she is searched by police at the Syria-Turkey border, where 16 refugees (including three children) have been shot dead in the last four months BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Many refugees are living rough on the streets of cities such as Istanbul or Ankara (pictured) ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkish soldiers use water cannon on Syrian refugees BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Syrian refugees shelter from rain in the streets of Istanbul BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees A derelict building housing Syrian refugees in Istanbul Carl Court/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkey houses around half of all the refugees who have currently fled Syria Carl Court/Getty Images
In May 2015 the anti-immigration Finns Party previously known as True Finns joined Finlands coalition government for the first time after finishing second in the national elections, ushering a move away from pro-immigration and pro-EU policy.
The tightening of government immigration policies also follows a rise in anti-immigration sentiment and protests across the country, and the emergence of vigilante groups such as the self-declared Soldiers of Odin who claim to protect locals from immigrants.
The countrys immigration service says they have granted hundreds of residence permits annually, despite the dramatic increase in the number of applicants, most of which were for applicants from Iraq and Somalia. And although the tightened restrictions will not affect those who have already received residence permits on the grounds of humanitarian protection, it will prevent them from being extended on the same grounds.
Residence permits can still be issued for those working, studying or on the basis of family ties, and individual grounds for asylum will continue to be assessed for each applicant, the service said.
The Finnish Immigration Service may have declared the three countries of origin to be safe enough for asylum seekers to return to, but they do continue to have their troubles. The Islamic State maintains a firm grip on areas of Iraq, the Taliban are prevalent once again in parts of Afghanistan, and the militant group al Shabaab remains present in Somalia.
Nonetheless, the immigration service has said it will continue to regularly monitor the security situation in the main countries of origin of asylum seekers.
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A man who joked on Twitter about killing the king of Spain has been jailed for 18 months.
Vicente Egurcegui Ortiz was sentenced on Wednesday for charges of inciting terrorism after publishing a series of tweets about the monarch, Felipe VI.
The maximum time he could have served was up to two years in jail. He has also been disqualified from using social media for seven years.
Ortiz had tweeted the only Mercedes I want to see the King in is this one, along with a picture of a hearse in May 2014.
He also posted a video on Twitter of American president John F Kennedys assassination, where he wrote: Letizia could be the new Jacqueline Kennedy, referring to the King Felipe VIs wife, Queen Letizia.
World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty
Prior to the hearing Carmen Monfort, the public prosecutor, said Ortiz had incited terrorism in a continuous and habitual manner and suggested Ortiz should receive the maximum punishment.
Ortiz also published images and videos praising members from Basque terror group, Eta, as well as mocking some of the groups victims, including Luis Carrere Blanco who was murdered by the group in 1973.
The terror group formed in 1959 and have been held responsible for killing more than 800 people.
King Felipe has been on the throne since June 2014, following the abdication of his father, King Juan Carlos 1.
Ortizs tweets have since been deleted from Twitter.
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This month marks the centennial of a secret pact.
On May 16, 1916, two mid-level diplomats, a Briton and a Frenchman, concluded an agreement that essentially divided up the lands of much of the Middle East between the European powers.
A map, seen above, initialed by Sir Mark Sykes and Francois Georges-Picot, shows a broad sweep of the then-crumbling Ottoman Empire carved between French and British spheres of influence.
Britain claimed control over a vast belt of land, including most of what is now Iraq, Jordan and sections of what is now Israel. France envisioned dominion over most of the Levantine coast, a chunk of southern Turkey and the populous Ottoman districts of Aleppo (now in Syria) and Mosul (now in Iraq).
Under this same set of clandestine agreements, other World War I allies, including Italy and Russia, exerted their own claims on parts of what is now Turkey; the Russians long sought to rule over Istanbul and restore the primacy of the Orthodox Church in what was once the great capital of the Byzantines.
Ultimately, though, the specific Sykes-Picot blueprint never turned into reality. Its existence became public information only after it was revealed by Soviet sources following the Bolshevik revolution. And the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, subsequent treaties and shifting colonial interests all led to a map of a region with borders very different from what the diplomatic duo first agreed to in 1916, as a graphic published by the Economist shows.
But the template for a century of crises and dysfunction was, in a sense, set.
The great desire for an independent Arab nation was first encouraged, then betrayed. The British eventually installed kings to govern the new, fledgling countries of Iraq and Jordan; they also sped the advent of a Zionist state, much to the ire of the Palestinians living in its midst. French colonial planners baked in sectarian divisions when they established modern Syria and Lebanon. And the Kurds, a stateless ethnic minority, went ignored.
Even if its lines didn't correspond to the region's political borders after World War II, the Sykes-Picot agreement, hatched in the corridors of colonial power, came to represent something far larger in the minds of many in the Arab world.
"'Sykes-Picot' became shorthand not only for the sense of betrayal created by the post-war settlement, but also for the region's vulnerability to foreign interference," writes James Barr, author of A Line in the Sand: Britain, France and the Struggle That Shaped the Middle East."
Arab demagogues steeped their nationalism, justifiably, in grievance against the West, which had for decades controlled and meddled in the region's affairs. And to this day, those who want to reshape the Middle East point to the seeming artificiality of the pact as grounds for creating a new status quo.
Hundreds of thousands have been killed because of Sykes-Picot and all the problems it created, Nawzad Hadi Mawlood, an ethnic Kurd and governor of Iraqs Irbil province, recently told the New Yorker's Robin Wright. It changed the course of history and nature.
Another top official in Iraq's Kurdistan regional government echoed this line in a tweet that hinted at growing calls for greater Kurdish autonomy and statehood.
Yet the supposed legacy of Sykes-Picot was also fertile propaganda for the extremists of the Islamic State, who have been locked in deadly battles with Kurdish militias in Iraq and Syria over the past two years. In 2014, the group posted a propaganda video online showing its members bulldozing a dusty rampart along Syria and Iraq's desert border. They declared that they were demolishing the history of Sykes-Picot.
But casting a century-old colonial agreement as the original sin of the Middle East is both convenient and somewhat naive. It ignores both the history of pluralist societies that existed before the division of Ottoman lands, as well as the many decades of Arab misrule that came thereafter, which stoked the sectarian divisions now roiling countries such as Syria and Iraq.
What is said about Western mistakes seems true enough, but it lacks a certain self-reflection on the states own failures, Anthony Shadid, an acclaimed Washington Post and New York Times journalist, wrote in an article for the Times in 2011 as pro-democracy uprisings rocked the Arab world.
At the time, the old order of Arab nation-states, built largely on authoritarian rule and cynical politics, seemed to finally be imploding.
"The states have failed to foster pluralism and a universal sense of citizenship. Miserable governance fosters narrower identities as Sunnis, Shiites, Christians and so on, Shadid wrote. He pointed to the source of unrest, which had little to do with colonial history: More tangibly, the many educated young remain frustrated. They might have the basics a state provides, but no future, that bygone notion that tomorrow will be better than yesterday."
Moreover, as Middle East scholars Steven Cook and Amr Leheta write in Foreign Policy, the borders of the Middle East are not whimsical lines drawn on a blank map. Rather they reflected earlier Ottoman administrative units and were the consequence of various political agreements and negotiations a process that has defined numerous borders outside the Middle East, as well. And the countries that emerged after the negotiations of Sykes and Picot can't simply be erased off the map, as the scholars explain:
These borders have become institutionalized in the last hundred years. In some cases such as Egypt, Iran, or even Iraq they have come to define lands that have long been home to largely coherent cultural identities in a way that makes sense for the modern age. Other, newer entities Saudi Arabia and Jordan, for instance have come into their own in the last century. While no one would have talked of a Jordanian identity centuries ago, a nation now exists, and its territorial integrity means a great deal to the Jordanian people.
"The conflicts unfolding in the Middle East today, then, are not really about the legitimacy of borders or the validity of places called Syria, Iraq, or Libya, Cook and Leheta conclude. Instead, the origin of the struggles within these countries is over who has the right to rule them."
Copyright: Washington Post
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The Iraqi government has been periodically shutting down the entire countrys internet in what is believed to be an effort to stop students from cheating in exams.
Iraq has now seen three complete internet outages in three days, each lasting three hours.
It is the second year in a row the government has reportedly ordered Iraqi telecom companies to shut down the internet, with the timing coinciding with final exams for the countrys sixth grade students.
Read more
Internet analytics firm Dyn Research, which tracked the internet blackouts, said the outages included complete national blackouts between 5am and 8am from 14 16 May, and mirror those recorded last year.
Doug Madory, Dyns internet analysis director, told tech website Vocativ: There was certainly a lot of scepticism about this explanation last summer, but the outages did coincide with exams, and nothing emerged to dispute the explanation.
A leaked email obtained by SMEX, a Lebanon-based tech and human-rights group, gave some warning of the planned outages and indicated the decision had come from the Iraqi government.
The leaked memo reads: As per the Ministry of Communications and ITPC [Iraqi Telecommunications and Post Company] instructions, please be informed that all the Circuits will be shut down tomorrow 15-5-2016 by the ITPC in the period from 5:00AM to 8:00AM. During this time all the Internet connectivity will be turned off in all regions of Iraq.
Digital-rights groups who campaigned for the Iraqi government to lift the internet block last year have expressed frustration at the latest round of blackouts.
Now, unfortunately, its the same story all over again, said Deji Olukotun, the senior global advocacy manager at Access Now, one of the groups that petitioned the government to lift the internet blackout last year.
Given the security situation in Iraq, its quite an extreme measure, Olukotun told The Atlantic. We see this as really disproportionate to what theyre trying to achieve.
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The wife of jailed Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi has described the torture of being unable to help her husband as he was publicly flogged.
Ensaf Haidar had fled her home country to seek refuge with their three children when the first part of the brutal sentence of 1,000 lashes was carried out.
In her book, Raif Badawi, The Voice of Freedom: My Husband, Our Story, she described turning on the television to see her husbands punishment on the news, before finding a video circulating on the internet.
Jailed Saudi blogger's wife's tearful plea
Ms Haidar described her horror as she saw him being lashed in front of a mosque in Jeddah, watched by a crowd of people applauding and shouting Allahu Akbar.
It was too much for me. Its indescribable, watching something like that being done to the person you love, she wrote in an excerpt published by the Guardian.
I felt the pain they were inflicting on Raif as if it was my own. The men I had seen in the video might as well have put me in a square and flogged me.
But worst of all was the feeling of helplessness. I sat on my sofa, wrapped my arms around my legs and wept. I dont know how long I sat there forif only I could have done something for him!
An Amnesty protest outside the Saudi embassy in London (EPA)
Mr Badawi received 50 lashes in front of hundreds of spectators on 9 January 2015 in what was supposed to be the first of 1,000 carried out over 20 weeks.
In the wake of international condemnation and concern for his health, including pleas from prominent politicians and religious figures, the subsequent floggings have been repeatedly postponed.
Mr Badawi had been in prison since 2012 on charges of insulting Islam through electronic channels with his blog and was sentenced to the flogging and 10 years in prison in 2014.
The sentence was upheld by Saudi Arabias Supreme Court last year, leaving 19 rounds of lashes pending.
In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Show all 15 1 /15 In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests People take part in a protest by Amnesty International, for the immediate release of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi in Helvetiaplatz, Berne, Switzerland In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests People take part in a protest by Amnesty International, for the immediate release of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi in London, UK In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests Ensaf Haider speaks during a protest by Amnesty International, for the immediate release of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi in Ottawa, Canada In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests People take part in a protest by Amnesty International, for the immediate release of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi in Warsaw, Poland In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests A poster depicting Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, asking for his immediate release, hangs on a gate of a building in Italy In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests People take part in a protest by Amnesty International, for the immediate release of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi in Paris, France In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests People take part in a protest by Amnesty International, for the immediate release of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi in Brussels, Belgium In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests People take part in a protest by Amnesty International, for the immediate release of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi AFP In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests Ensaf Haidar, centre, wife of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, holds a vigil in Montreal, Quebec, urging Saudi Arabia to free her husband Getty In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests Participant of the Amnesty International protest holds a banner which reads: 'Je suis Raif!' in front of the Saudi Embassy, The Hague, The Netherlands In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests People take part in a protest by Amnesty International, for the immediate release of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, in front of the Saudi Embassy in The Hague In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests A participant attends the Amnesty International protest demanding the immediate release of Saudi blogger, Raif Badawi, in front of the Saudi Embassy, The Hague, The Netherlands In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests Amnesty International stages a protest demanding the immediate release of Saudi blogger, Raif Badawi, in front of the Saudi Embassy, The Hague, The Netherlands In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests Protesters simulate a flogging in front of the Saudi embassy in Washington, during a demonstration against the 10-year prison sentence and 1,000 lashes of Saudi activist Raef Badawi for 'insulting Islam' in a blogpost In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests Protesters simulate a flogging in front of the Saudi embassy in Washington, during a demonstration against the 10-year prison sentence and 1,000 lashes of Saudi activist Raef Badawi for 'insulting Islam' in a blogpost
In a previous blog for Amnesty International, which is campaigning for his release, Ms Haidar said her husband received an unspeakably cruel sentence just because he expressed his ideas.
The harsh and inhumane sentence issued against Raif was meant to send a clear message to all those who might dare stand up against Saudi Arabias religious hard-liners, she said.
It came as a shock that I still cannot recover from it has become a sheer inferno of unbearable torture.
Ms Haidar, who is also the president and co-founder of the Raif Badawi Foundation for Freedom, said her family will continue to fight for Mr Badawis release, issuing pleas for a pardon to King Salman of Saudi Arabia.
She added: I will continue pleading until the last moment.
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The Syrian army claims to have killed more than 200 Isis militants in a three-day assault on the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor.
A spokesperson for the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) said Isis is thought to have suffered the heavy casualties as it struggled to maintain control over the western district of the provincial capital.
The number was reported by the Al-Masdar news agency, though it cannot be independently verified and Isis releases no information on casualties.
Deir ez-Zor has been under Isis control since the beginning of 2015. In January, the SAA supported by Russian jets led a counter attack to recapture some occupied areas.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the number of Isis militants killed in clashes rose to 50.
Photos were released by the Syrian Arab Armys 104th Airbourne Brigade, which they claim show Isis fighters lying dead across the desert of Deir ez-Zor the seventh largest city in Syria.
Palmyra recaptured by Syrian government forces Show all 10 1 /10 Palmyra recaptured by Syrian government forces Palmyra recaptured by Syrian government forces Palmyra recaptured by Syrian pro-government forces Graffiti on the ancient stones reads in Arabic Shooting without the permission of the chief is prohibited Getty Palmyra recaptured by Syrian government forces Palmyra recaptured by Syrian pro-government forces Damaged artefacts lay inside the museum of the historic city of Palmyra Reuters Palmyra recaptured by Syrian government forces Palmyra recaptured by Syrian pro-government forces Syrian pro-government forces rest by Palmyra Citadel as they take control of the city from the hands of Isis Getty Palmyra recaptured by Syrian government forces Palmyra recaptured by Syrian pro-government forces The UNESCO world heritage site appears surprisingly intact after its recapture from the militant group Getty Palmyra recaptured by Syrian government forces Palmyra recaptured by Syrian pro-government forces Many had feared the ancient city would be destroyed following its capture by Isis in May Getty Palmyra recaptured by Syrian government forces Palmyra recaptured by Syrian pro-government forces Smoke billows from the Palmyra Citadel as Assads forces drive the Jihadist group from the city Getty Palmyra recaptured by Syrian government forces Palmyra recaptured by Syrian pro-government forces Palmyra is one of the most important cultural centers of the world Unesco says Getty Palmyra recaptured by Syrian government forces Palmyra recaptured by Syrian pro-government forces Pro-government forces play football in the streets following the recapture of the city Getty Palmyra recaptured by Syrian government forces Palmyra recaptured by Syrian pro-government forces The extent of the destruction caused by Isis 10 month occupation of the city has yet to be fully realised Getty Palmyra recaptured by Syrian government forces Palmyra recaptured by Syrian pro-government forces The City Council of Palmyra building in ruins Reuters
The SAA also posted a graphic video of what they described as the aftermath of Isis attack in Dair al-Zoor on their Facebook page.
Isis are thought to have lost several field commanders during the battle, reports AhluBayt news agency.
The state news agency Sana reported that regime forces took back a hospital in Deir ez-Zor where Isis had allegedly taken doctors, patients and civilians hostage.
The SAA reported to have suffered 41 casualties during the three days of fighting. Isis previously launched an offensive on the Deir ez-Zor military air-base in December.
In January around 300 civilians were massacred by Isis in Deier ez-Zor, according to local media.
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A group of 51 Muslim states has blocked 11 gay and transgender organisations from attending a high-level meeting at the United Nations next month on ending AIDS, sparking a protest by the United States, Canada and the European Union.
Egypt wrote to the president of the 193-member General Assembly on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to object to the participation of the 11 groups. It did not give a reason in the letter, which Reuters saw.
Samantha Power, US ambassador to the United Nations, wrote to General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft and said the groups appeared to have been blocked for involvement in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy.
The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe Show all 15 1 /15 The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 15. Italy Getty Images The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 14. Macedonia The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 13. Poland Getty Images The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 12. Liechtenstein The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 11. Lithuania The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 10. Latvia This content is subject to copyright. The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 9. San Marino The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 8. Moldova The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 7. Belarus Getty Images The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 6. Ukraine Getty Images The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 5. Monaco The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 4. Turkey Getty Images The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 3. Armenia The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 2. Russia Getty Images The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 1. Azerbaijan Getty/AFP
"Given that transgender people are 49 times more likely to be living with HIV than the general population, their exclusion from the high-level meeting will only impede global progress in combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic," Ms Power wrote.
UN officials said the European Union and Canada also wrote to Lykketoft to protest the objections by the OIC group, whose members include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Indonesia, Sudan and Uganda.
The issues of LGBT rights and participation in events at the United Nations have long been contentious. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has advocated for LGBT equality but faced opposition from African, Arab and Muslim states as well as Russia and China.
Two gay-rights activists hacked to death in Bangladesh
"We are deeply concerned that at every negotiation on a new General Assembly gathering, the matter of NGO (non-governmental organisation) participation is questioned and scrutinised," Ms Power wrote.
"The movement to block the participation of NGOs on spurious or hidden grounds is becoming epidemic and severely damages the credibility of the UN," she said.
In 2014, Mr Ki-moon said the UN would recognise all same-sex marriages of its staff, allowing them to receive its benefits. Russia, with the support of 43 states including Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, India, Egypt, Pakistan, and Syria, unsuccessfully tried to overturn the move last year.
In February, the 54-member African Group, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the 25-member Group of Friends of the Family led by Belarus, Egypt and Qatar protested six new UN stamps promoting LGBT equality.
The Group of Friends of the Family promotes the traditional family. It launched a photo exhibit, "Uniting Nations for a Family Friendly World," at the UN on Tuesday, which is the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.
Reuters
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A student has reignited the topic of sexual assault on university campuses by turning to Twitter to share her harrowing story which has since gone viral.
The anonymous student - who says she is a first-year at Spelman College, part of the Atlanta University Centre (AUC) in the US - began the account under the handle @RapedAtSpelman, claiming the university failed to act when she raised the issue.
Recommended Read more Warwick student draws criticism for opposing sex consent lessons
Describing how AUC students blame and bash victims, the woman wrote: Its sad I have to create a page to express myself rather than tweeting from my real account.
This is my freshmen [sic] year at Spelman and my last year because I decided to leave after what happened to me.
In a series of tweets, the student described how she was at a party with students from nearby Morehouse College, had too much alcohol, and went to the bathroom. She added: When I opened the door, I was surrounded by 4 Morehouse students who took me to another room and took turns raping me.
I was in shock about what had happened. I was drunk but that doesnt mean I forgot about what happened.
Since the account began to attract attention, Spelman Colleges president, Mary Schmidt Campbell, reached out to the student on the social media site, urging her to reveal her identity to the president so she could offer her full support and assistance.
Issuing a statement to the student body, the president called the account disturbing, and added: I know members of our Spelman community join me in expressing heartbreak and outrage over the incidents and experiences recounted on Twitter.
We continue to follow leads to identify the victim to offer our help and services.
Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Show all 19 1 /19 Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Afghanistan Recommendation: I urge the Government of Afghanistan to adopt legislative reforms to ensure that sexual violence offences are not conflated with adultery or morality crimes and to establish infrastructure for the delivery of protection, health and le gal services to survivors. I call on the Ministry of the Interior to accelerate efforts to integrate women into the Afghan National Police, thereby enhancing its outreach and its capacity to address sexual and gender-based violence Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Central African Republic Recommendation: I urge the authorities of the Central African Republic to ensure that efforts to restore security and the rule of law take into account the prevention of sexual violence and that monitoring of the ceasefire and peace agreement explicitly reflects this consideration, in line with the joint communique of the Government and the United Nations on the prevention of and response to conflict-related sexual violence signed in December 2012. I further encourage the authorities to make the rapid response unit to combat sexual violence operational and to establish a special criminal court Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Colombia Recommendation: I commend the Government of Colombia for the progress made to date and its collaboration with the United Nations, including through the visit of my Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict in March 2015. I encourage the authorities to implement Law 1719 and continue to prosecute cases of sexual violence committed during the conflict to ensure that survivors receive justice and receive reparations. Conflict-related sexual violence should continue to be addressed in the Havana peace talks, as well as in the resulting accords and transitional justice mechanisms. Particular attention should be paid to groups that face additional barriers to justice such as ethnic minorities, women in rural areas, children, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex individuals and women abused within the ranks of armed groups. I encourage the Government to scale up its protection measures and share its good practices with other conflict-affected countries Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Congo Recommendation: I urge the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to ensure full implementation of the armed forces action plan against sexual violence, to systematically bring perpetrators to justice and to deliver reparations to victims, including payment of outstanding compensation awards. I call on donors and the United Nations system to support the Government in its efforts and to pay increased attention to neglected areas, including unregulated mining regions Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Iraq Recommendation: I commend the Government of Iraq for its national action plan for the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) and urge its swift implementation, including by training its security forces to ensur e respect for womens rights. Programmes to support the social reintegration of women and girls released from captivity by ISIL are urgently needed, as is community-based medical and psychological care. The capacity of the United Nations system should be enhanced through the deployment of Womens Protection Advisers or equivalent specialists Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Libya Recommendation: I urge the national authorities in Libya to implement Decree No. 119 and Resolution 904 of 2014 to ensure redress for all victims, including those affected by the current conflict, through the establishment of multisectoral services and the adoption of legislation to categorically prohibit sexual violence Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Mali Recommendation: I urge the Government of Mali, with support from United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict, to develop a comprehensive national strategy to combat sexual and gender-based violence and to ensure the safety of humanitarian workers so that services can reach remote areas. I further call on all parties to ensure that conflict-related sexual violence is addressed in the inter-Malian dialogue and that perpetrators of sexual violence do not benefit from amnesty or early release Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Myanmar Recommendation: I urge the Government of Myanmar to continue with its reform agenda and, in the process, take practical and timely actions to protect and support survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and to ensure that security personnel accused of such crimes are prosecuted. Sexual violence should be an element in all ceasefire and peace negotiations, excluded from the scope of amnesty provisions and addressed in transitional justice processes. It is critical that women be able to participate consistently in and influence these processes Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Somalia Recommendation: I reiterate my call to the Federal Government of Somalia to implement the commitments made under the joint communique of 7 May 2013 and its national action plan to combat sexual violence in conflict, including specific plans for the army and the police. I encourage the adoption of a sexual offences bill as a matter of priority Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life South Sudan Recommendation: I urge the parties to the conflict in South Sudan to adopt action plans to implement the commitments made under their respective communiques. I call upon the Government of South Sudan to address the negative impact of customary law on womens rights and to reflect international human rights standards in national law. I also encourage the African Union to make public and act upon the report of its Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Sudan (Darfur) Recommendation: I call upon the Government of the Sudan to grant the United Nations and its humanitarian partners unfettered access for monitoring and the provision of assistance to people in need in Darfur. Given that there has been grave concern over sexual violence in Darfur for more than a decade, I encourage the Government to engage with my Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict to develop a framework of cooperation to address the issue comprehensively Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Syria Recommendation: I acknowledge the Governments invitation to my Special Representative to visit the Syrian Arab Republic and call upon the authorities, in the context of such a visit, to agree on specific measures to prevent sexual violence, including by members of the security forces. I condemn the use of sexual violence by ISIL and all other parties listed in the annex to the present report and call on them to cease such violations immediately and allow unfettered access for the delivery of humanitarian assistance Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Yemen Recommendation: I urge the authorities in Yemen to undertake legislative reform as a basis for addressing impunity for sexual violence, ensuring the provision of services for survivors and aligning the minimum legal age of marriage with international standards. I further call on the authorities to engage with local community and faithbased leaders to address sexual and gender-based violence and discriminatory social norms Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Bosnia and Herzegovina Recommendation: I urge the relevant authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to harmonize legislation and policies so that the rights of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence to reparations are consistently recognized and to allocate a specific budget for this purpose. I further call upon the authorities to protect and support survivors participating in judicial proceedings through, inter alia, referrals to free legal aid, psychosocial and health services, as well as economic empowerment programmes Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Ivory Coast Recommendation: I urge the Government of Cote dIvoire to ensure the effective implementation of its national strategy to combat gender-based violence and the action plan for FRCI, and call on the international community to support these efforts. It is critical to accelerate disarmament, demobilization and reintegration and strengthen law enforcement to ensure that ex-combatants who have been reintegrated into the transport sector do not pose a risk to women and girls who are reliant on those services. The Government and the international community must provide monitoring and awareness-raising to mitigate the possibility of a recurrence of sexual violence in the context of the presidential elections to be held in October 2015 Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Liberia Recommendation: I call on the Government of Liberia to continue its critical efforts to combat sexual and gender-based violence including through the United Nations-Government of Liberia Joint Programme, and in the context of recovery from the Ebola virus epidemic Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Nepal Recommendation: I encourage the Government to ensure that survivors of conflict-related sexual violence are recognized under the law as conflict victims, which will enable them to access services, judicial remedies and reparations. I further call on all parties involved in the transitional justice process to ensure that the rights and needs o f survivors of sexual violence are addressed in institutional reforms and that these crimes are excluded from amnesties and statutes of limitations Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Sri Lanka Recommendation: I call upon the newly elected Government of Sri Lanka to investigate allegations of sexual violence, including against national armed and security forces, and to provide multisectoral services for survivors, including reparations and economic empowerment programmes for women at risk, including war widows and female heads of household Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Nigeria Recommendation: I encourage the Government to implement its national action plan on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) to ensure that womens protection concerns are mainstreamed throughout its security operations. I also call upon the authorities to guarantee security in and around internally displaced persons camps and to extend medical and psychosocial services to high-risk areas
The president then went on to highlight a series of measures, called Title IX, the college has in place to help victims of sexual violence. However, in a statement of her own, the anonymous student claimed both Spelman and Morehouse do not take cases as seriously as they say they do.
She said: All the survivors at the AUC, if asked, would tell you there has been little to no progress on their Title IX cases.
Morehouse president, John Silvanus Wilson, said in a statement the tweets were the colleges very first indication of the incident. He added: At Morehouse, we take seriously all allegations of sexual assault and we are redoubling our efforts to ensure our students and students throughout AUC are encouraged to report any such incident.
Now that we are aware of these allegations, we are determined to pursue the investigation to the fullest extent possible.
Inside Higher Ed has reported how the Spelman College case isnt the only one gathering momentum, as victims from other institutions from across the country take to social media sites to highlight their own experiences following dissatisfaction over how universities are handling incidents.
Universities across the US have come under intense fire amid allegations institution leaders are covering up sexual violence cases in order to protect their reputations and commercial interests.
The issue was explored recently in an award-winning documentary-film, The Hunting Ground, in which victims and experts provided their own insights into on-campus rape culture, with one telling the film: They [universities] protect perpetrators because they have a financial incentive to do so.
Others claimed sexual assault on campuses is enormous and that universities cover such crimes up because they are protecting a brand.
Closer to home, in the UK, the distributor of the film told the Independent in September last year there was a similar and worrying trend of sexual assault on UK campuses and, referring to two NUS reports, added how one in seven (14 per cent) British women students is affected, compared with one in five (23 per cent) in the US.
Sexual violence in schools
Drinkaware also recently interviewed just over 2,000 UK students to find 54 per cent of females had received inappropriate sexual comments, abuse, or inappropriate sexual touching on a night out over a 12-month period.
Drinkawares CEO, Elaine Hindal, said: Universities are well placed to support students who have experienced unwanted sexual attention and to campaign against it, but students are still more likely to tell a friend than anyone in authority.
We encourage universities and young adults to reinforce the message that if a behaviour isnt acceptable sober, it isnt acceptable drunk.
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George Osborne once called university tuition fees a tax on learning and very unfair - before the Tories trebled them to 9,000 a year.
The revelation has come to light after recent Manchester music graduate, Rosy Williams, posted a letter onto Facebook that she received from the politician in 2003 in which he sought to address concerns surrounding a fee increase.
Mr Osborne - then just MP for Tatton - wrote: When I was at university 10 years ago, my education was free.
Since then, the Government has imposed fees which mean that most students today pay more than 1,000 a year to go to university. Now they want to go further and introduce so-called top-up fees, which will mean students paying 3,000 a year for their education. To my mind, this is a tax on learning and is very unfair.
He continued: Given that grants have been abolished too, students face leaving college with debts of around 18,000. There is lots of evidence that it is fear of going into debt that most puts people from poorer background off going to university.
Ms Williams described in the post how she came across the 13-year-old document from a young, up-and-coming MP by the name of George Osborne after rooting through a box of old letters.
She wrote: He talks about the *shocking* 1,000 a year students pay, the tax on learning, and promised free university education if the Conservatives were to get in. So glad he made sure our voices were heard in parliament.
Graduation photos show harsh reality of student debt Show all 7 1 /7 Graduation photos show harsh reality of student debt Graduation photos show harsh reality of student debt Students graduation day pictures capture the harsh reality of debt after university Maigan Kennedy, 27, from North Carolina in the US has been gathering attention online for her unique - yet somewhat accurate - vision of life after university by capturing the harsh reality of debt that students are leaving the American education system with. Ms Kennedys images have come as activists in the US mark April 2016 as being four years since the total outstanding student loan debt amount hit $1 trillion. Areon Multimedia Graduation photos show harsh reality of student debt Students graduation day pictures capture the harsh reality of debt after university 'We got artsy' Areon Multimedia Graduation photos show harsh reality of student debt Students graduation day pictures capture the harsh reality of debt after university 'I got a prize!' Areon Multimedia Graduation photos show harsh reality of student debt Students graduation day pictures capture the harsh reality of debt after university 'But I don't want it!' Areon Multimedia Graduation photos show harsh reality of student debt Students graduation day pictures capture the harsh reality of debt after university 'Sorry about the BA in Theatre, Mom and Dad' Areon Multimedia Graduation photos show harsh reality of student debt Students graduation day pictures capture the harsh reality of debt after university 'Debt is sexy' Areon Multimedia Graduation photos show harsh reality of student debt Students graduation day pictures capture the harsh reality of debt after university 'Sallie Mae centrefold' Areon Multimedia
According to the Mirror, Labours shadow business secretary, Angela Eagle, described how the letter exposes Mr Osbornes rank hypocrisy.
As Chancellor, Mr Osborne seems to have gone back on his word as his partys repeated attacks on higher education have continually hit the poorest students the most, with the abolition of maintenance grants, replacing student nurses bursaries with loans, and betraying a generation of students after backtracking on a 2012 student loan promise.
Student protest turns violent
Just last month, ministers were seen to be questioning whether 9,000 tuition fees at some of the UKs top universities could be justified given the quality and intensity of teaching after images surfaced of a leaked Government memo.
And on Monday, the Tories sparked outrage after its latest higher education White Paper highlighted how institutions that score highly in terms of teaching quality will be able to raise their annual tuition fees above the maximum 9,000.
Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
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Each week we approach three companies to ask for their best offer on a specific trip. This week, a Greek beach break: one budget, one luxury and one for a family. Prices are per person, based on two sharing, apart from the family package, which is based on two adults and two children. All include flights from Gatwick and seven nights accommodation.
Budget
589
Red Sea Holidays
Includes easyJet flights to Corfu on 8 June and seven nights all-inclusive in a bungalow at Aeolos Beach Resort. Located on the edge of a nature reserve on the islands east coast, the hotel has views over the Ionian sea, a private beach and an infinity pool. redseaholidays.co.uk
Aeolos Beach Resort, Corfu
Luxury
1,767
Simpson Travel
Includes easyJet flights to Chania, Crete, on 7 June. Plus car hire and self-catering accommodation at the Summer House, a villa on Rapaniana Beach, a short drive from the fishing village of Kolymbari. Set in a cluster of four villas, the property has sea views and direct access to the sand and shingle beach. simpsontravel.com
Family
665
Sunvil
Includes Germania flights to Corfu on 25 July and self-catering in a two-bedroom apartment at Villa Bridge on the west coast of the island. Aghios Gordiss Blue Flag sandy beach and a taverna are a short stroll from the apartment. Resort transfers are also included. sunvil.co.uk
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Hundreds of flights to, from and over France have been cancelled ahead of another strike by air-traffic controllers, affecting thousands of British passengers flying to, from or over French airspace. The stoppage is part of a nationwide strike in protest at new labour laws that reduce workers rights.
France has the busiest skies in Europe. Around 60 per cent of easyJets entire flight programme normally crosses French airspace.
The airline says: We are doing everything possible to minimise the impact of the strike on our customers, and have taken the decision to proactively cancel a number of flights, allowing customers to reorganise their journeys.
Recommended Read more Ryanair cancels 100 flights as French air traffic controllers strike
Ryanair has cancelled 70 flights on Thursday, including East Midlands to Alicante, Stansted to Perpignan and Luton to Nimes - as well as the corresponding inbound flights. The airline has launched an online petition to demand European limitations on the disruption that involves relatively small groups of air-traffic workers closing skies.
Ryanairs marketing director, Kenny Jacobs warned that more skies can be expected: As we approach the peak holiday season, European travellers should prepare for a summer of discontent as there is absolutely nothing preventing these selfish unions from staging even more strikes in the coming weeks and months. How many more flights and customers will be disrupted before the Commission finally takes action?
The top 10 most scenic airport approaches Show all 10 1 /10 The top 10 most scenic airport approaches The top 10 most scenic airport approaches Malta International Airport, Malta Kurt Arrigo The top 10 most scenic airport approaches Nice Cote d'Azur International Airport, France The top 10 most scenic airport approaches Queenstown Airport, New Zealand Vaughan Brookfield The top 10 most scenic airport approaches Barra Airport, UK The top 10 most scenic airport approaches SABA (Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport), Caribbean The landing strip on the Dutch Caribbean island of Saba The top 10 most scenic airport approaches Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Canada The top 10 most scenic airport approaches Donegal Airport, Ireland The top 10 most scenic airport approaches St Maarten Airport, Caribbean The top 10 most scenic airport approaches Los Angeles International Airport, USA The top 10 most scenic airport approaches London City Airport, UK
British Airways has cancelled six flights between London and Paris, a further six to and from Madrid, four flights to and from Nice and Barcelona, and 10 more to and from French and Swiss airports. It has offered passengers booked to travel on Thursday to French destinations, as well as Madrid and Barcelona, the opportunity to switch to another day. The airline said: We will be using larger aircraft, where possible, to help affected customers and are doing all we can to reduce the levels of disruption.
Air France said it would operate all its flights to and from its main hub, Paris Charles de Gaulle, but will cancel 15 per cent of domestic flights serving the French capitals second airport, Orly.
French government stands firm amid labour protests
Passengers whose flights are operating have been warned to expect disruption on roads and public transport to and from airports.
Airlines are responsible for providing meals and, if necessary, accommodation to passengers whose flights are cancelled or significantly delayed.
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Six years David Cameron has been our Prime Minister. Eleven years he has been the leader of the Conservative Party. But, what do we really know about his vision for Britain? We have seen two general elections come and go, and have seen a staggering number of vacuous manifesto promises made and subsequently broken.
I have spent a long time pondering what Cameron actually stands for, or against, and it is extremely difficult to ascertain. Is he a one nation Disraeli, a compassionate conservative, a small state Thatcherite? A mixture of all three? As he remodels Britain into a hangover of the worst of the 1980s, what is Dave striving for, aside from a seat in the House of Lords?
He appears to stand for nothing; to be prepared to say, literally, whatever it takes to maintain the affections of the millions of silent Tories who put, and keep him, in Number 10. You can see it in his eyes when asked a question: frantically running answers through a focus group of middle England. If he cant think of the perfect sound bite, he just says nothing. It is no surprise that the one job he had outside politics was in PR. Saying this, has he really managed to maintain his position through nothing more than plastic politics?
David Cameron refuses to answer Tim Farron's question on London mayoral campaign
Cameron is an extraordinary reflection of what politicians are capable of getting away with when avenues of accountability are failing. Even when questioned and pressed at PMQs, Cameron still has no qualms about not answering the question. He doesnt even bother with his famous prep ring binder anymore.
We can, certainly, deduct from the last decade of Camerons political life is that he knows how to take advantage of a photo opportunity. Its like theres a voice inside his head which screams look like a normal person, David, and he springs into action. His pollsters told him before the general election that he didnt look passionate enough, so he suddenly appeared later that day in a car park with his sleeves rolled up, exclaiming he was pumped up. The only thing I have seen him get pumped up about is Jeremy Corbyns clothing.
If you havent seen him in action, have a search on YouTube of him awkwardly perfecting his pout before a TV interview, or walking off immediately after making a statement to avoid questions. Or, enjoy the clip of him at a hospital, effortlessly ensuring the camera picks up his England supporter wristband. All of this pre-election pandering would be funny, if he wasnt now the Prime Minister. Now he does it with our economy, our politics and our future. Now its about truth, integrity and principle.
One day Cameron is hugging a huskie, and then blaming increased energy prices on all the green crap. Next, he is accidently claiming to be a West Ham fan, then blaming it on flying over the their stadium in a helicopter and getting confused. His latest slip-up: getting caught laughing about how fantastically corrupt Nigeria and Afghanistan are. You cant help but wonder what on earth he actually thinks about, well, everything.
His cringe worthy conversations of last week show just how slippery Cameron has become. He has presented himself as a Teflon-Tory; nothing sticks, but he is a highly intelligent, shrewd, political schemer. His attacks on the public sector, on disabled people, and young people are entirely ideologically driven. He has just been exceptional at hiding that reality.
David Cameron's biggest controversies Show all 8 1 /8 David Cameron's biggest controversies David Cameron's biggest controversies Pig-gate A book released by Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft alleged that an MP and Oxford contemporary of David Cameron had allegedly seen a photograph of Mr Cameron performing a sex act on a pig while at university. Downing Street did not comment on the allegations and the peer said they could have been a case of mistaken identity David Hartley/REX Shutterstock David Cameron's biggest controversies Swarm of migrants In July 2015 David Cameron referred to refugees coming into Europe from the Middle East and North Africa as a swarm. He was criticised for using the language, which critics said was dehumanising Getty David Cameron's biggest controversies Child tax credits In April 2015 David Cameron was asked whether hed cut child tax credits. No, I dont want to do that, he said, saying that he rejected reports that he would. Shortly after the election the Government unveiled cuts to child tax credits EPA David Cameron's biggest controversies Cycling to work As leader of the opposition David Cameron was regularly photographed cycling to work. In early 2006 he was photographed cycling but with a driver in a car carrying his belongings. It was suggested at the time the cycling was just for show and that having two vehicles on the road instead of one was wasteful Rex David Cameron's biggest controversies Andy Coulson David Cameron employed former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as government communications director from 2010. After stepping down from the post due to coverage of the phone hacking affairs, Mr Coulson was later found guilty of conspiracy to intercept voicemails. He served a short prison sentence AFP David Cameron's biggest controversies His personal windmill Early in his leadership of the Conservative David Cameron made an effort to change the partys image by making eco-friendly gesures. As one of these gestures, the future PM put a wind turbine on his house. However, the turbine later had to be removed after neighbours condemned it as an eyesore and the councils planning committee said it had been put in the wrong place Getty David Cameron's biggest controversies Funeral selfie David Cameron was pictured posing for a selfie with Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt and Barack Obama at Nelson Mandelas funeral. Some in the press criticised the prime minister for showing in an inappropriately low level of respect for the gravity of the occasion AFP/Getty Images David Cameron's biggest controversies Eating a hotdog with a knife and fork The Prime Minister was pictured eating a hotdog with a knife and fork in the run up to the 2015 general election. He was accused of being posh. I had a very privileged upbringing... I've never tried to hide that, he said Reuters
The electorate have been taken in by his image of a modern Conservative, but he has never made it clear what on earth that means. His slogans have all worked: all in it together, fixing the roof whilst the sun is shining, long-term economic plan. They are all utter nonsense, and yet are working a treat. Just because someone with a posh accent and a nice tie is saying it, it doesn't make it true.
By 2020, avoiding a major political shift, Cameron will have been Prime Minister for as long as Tony Blair, and Margaret Thatcher, and longer than Sir Winston Churchill, and Clement Atlee. You might not agree with all those figures politics, but at least you knew what they stood for. They seemed to have understood a political maxim Cameron could learn from: tell the electorate what you believe in and they will vote for you, or not. Then you dont need a spin-doctor; the electorate know what they are getting.
One day I hope, we will laugh at Britains staggering reliance on Eton and Oxford for our pool of entirely detached Cabinet. But, whilst people like squeaky clean Cameron continue to play PR with our politics, we have no chance of seeing the wood through the trees.
News / Health
by Agencies
The Avenues Clinic on Tuesday handed over to the United Methodist Church 60 hospital beds, which will be used for waiting mother homes at church missions in Manicaland.The waiting mother homes, one of which is at Anoldine Clinic in Makoni district, while the other is at Old Mutare Mission, accommodate expectant mothers who are waiting to give birth.Handing over the beds to the United Methodist Church, The Avenues Clinic chairman, Mr Pearson Chitando, said the beds were surplus to requirements, following the clinic's purchase of new beds."The old beds are strong and serviceable and can fit in any medical facility that will have need of them," he said.He told church officials that the clinic was aware of the excellent work the church was doing in providing health facilities throughout the country, serving rural communities in particular.He said he was glad that the efforts of The Avenues Clinic in upgrading its facilities were contributing to the upgrading of some of the church's facilities."I am told that you are upgrading your waiting mother homes to bring them up to Ministry of Health and Child Care standards and in the hope that providing expanded facilities that can accommodate more pregnant mothers awaiting delivery will contribute to a reduction in the country's maternal mortality rate, which, as we all know, is unacceptably high," Mr Chitando said."There are a number of reasons why some women die in childbirth. One of the contributory factors is the difficulty that pregnant women living a long way from a clinic or hospital have in reaching a health facility in time when they go into labour and there are complications."Making it possible for mothers to stay in a waiting mother home prior to giving birth should help overcome this problem," he said.Fifteen of the donated bedswill go to the church's new upgraded waiting mother home at Anoldine Clinic, which has been designed to accommodate 15 expectant mothers but currently has no beds.The remaining 45 beds will go to a waiting mother home at Old Mutare Hospital, which the church plans to upgrade to accommodate 60 mothers. There are 12 mothers in the existing waiting mother home, although it was only designed to take eight women.Thanking the Avenues Clinic for the donation, United Methodist Church Episcopal Health Board Coordinator Hannah Mafunda said the church's health board depended on local and international partners to carry out its work.She said the church valued partners such as The Avenues Clinic. She expressed the hope that the donation marked the beginning of a strong partnership between the two."This will go a long, long way in helping with our upgrading of facilities. We appreciate the gift that it is. To us these beds are new," she said.The Avenues Clinic managing director, Mrs Merissa Kambani, assured Mrs Mafunda that management also hoped that the donation marked the beginning of an on-going partnership with United Methodist Church."We are pleased to have been able to assist you. You can be assured that if we have other opportunities to help you, we will," she said.
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Prison reform is one of the great moral duties of government.
The penal systems in Britain and in developed countries around the world have changed greatly since Dostoyevsky wrote that the level of civilisation in a society can be gauged by entering its prisons. But the maxim holds true today, and much still needs to be done.
David Cameron and Justice Secretary Michael Goves decision to place a new Prison Reform Bill at the heart of yesterdays Queens Speech is therefore welcome.
Much credit is due to Mr Gove for bringing a reforming zeal back to a Government that lost its way under former Justice Secretary Chris Grayling (the outrageous attempt to limit access to books to prisoners stands out in the memory).
Mr Goves vision of prisons as places of education, work and purposeful activity chimes with the expert view that rehabilitation, not brutalisation, is the means by which individuals who have strayed into criminality become law-abiding citizens again. It meets the moral imperative to improve their lives, and the practical imperative of cutting re-offending rates.
But havent we been here before? The coalition government promised a rehabilitation revolution in 2010 that never materialised. Since then, the Ministry of Justice has seen deep cuts to its budget and prison standards have deteriorated drastically.
The Chief Inspector of Prisons said last year that overcrowding and staff shortages had contributed to prisons becoming places of violence, squalor and idleness. If this is to change, investment in facilities and above all, in staff will be needed.
Mr Cameron and Mr Gove have to put their money where their mouth is. Our prisons may not cope with another six years of broken promises.
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David Cameron hopes to be remembered as a social reformer, a Prime Minister who took the difficult path of austerity in the face of economic troubles, but who nonetheless made peoples lives better. Some will never be convinced. And should the country vote to leave the EU in next months referendum, he will carry a very different legacy with him.
Indeed, it is clear that Europe is the unspoken word at the heart of the latest Queens Speech, in which Her Majestys Government sought desperately to present a united face.
How else to explain a programme of legislation that endeavours so hard to avoid controversy? On prison reform, the PM and his EU foe, Justice Secretary Michael Gove, made a point of issuing a joint statement.
Perhaps to make us forget the possibility of Brexit, the government presented ambitious plans for the development of spaceplanes and commercial spaceports why worry about Europe when you can pop to the moon? And who wouldnt approve of proposals to better protect pension savings.
Sure enough, analysis of the Queens Speech has focussed on these efforts to restore party unity, however briefly, and to reinvigorate the PMs vision of himself as social do-gooder. Yet it is vital to remember that among the bills outlined by the monarch is one that has no place in a 21st century liberal democracy: the Investigatory Powers Bill.
The proposed legislation has already caused considerable controversy, and this is the second time it has been carried over from the preceding parliamentary session.
The government is determined to press ahead, arguing that Britains security services need to be better able to access the digital communications of potential terrorists and other neer-do-wells. It contends that revisions to the bill last year took account of concerns raised in the past about its potential to undermine civil liberties.
Yet those assurances are flimsy. While it is true that some of the more striking powers which the bill would grant to our security agencies (data intercepts, for instance) can only be utilised with judicial oversight, at its core the legislation requires broadband providers to retain the internet browsing history of every citizen of the UK.
That is a deeply worrying prospect not only because throws a pall of suspicion over the activities of all law-abiding people, but also because it assumes the vast stores of data which communications firms will be required to maintain are immune to illicit hacking. Bearing in mind recent corporate failures to keep hackers away from sensitive customer data, that is hardly a given.
Naturally the government wishes to present the Investigatory Powers Bill in the context of the fight against global terrorism and the maintenance of security on Britains streets.
Indeed, the Queens Speech also laid out plans for a new Counter-extremism Bill, which would empower the authorities to ban so-called extremist preachers. That bill, too, is likely to face opposition for its potential to diminish freedom of speech.
Ministers and their supporters regularly repeat the mantra that these proposed laws have a clear focus and that people who do no wrong have nothing to fear. It is a tediously facile line, which is intended to pooh-pooh the legitimate concerns of those who would resist the drift towards ever greater governmental interference in our private, digital lives.
At its second reading in March, Labour and the SNP allowed the bills passage through the Commons by abstaining, although Andy Burnham, the Shadow Home Secretary, highlighted several areas of concern. All thoughts may currently be on the EU referendum but that should not distract opposition parties from giving this bad bill further, rigorous examination.
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I must write in support of Zoe in her Voices letter of resignation.
My wife is a teacher. I am a Chair of Governors at a secondary school.
The havoc that is being visited on our education system is a real and present damage. We are beyond danger. We are being cut for funding despite claims by central Government that education is ring fenced.
They are simply lying . Our Sixth Form funding has been cut by a massive percentage. The upshot after two years holding out hoping that common sense would prevail, is that we now have to make redundancies even though recognised by Ofsted as Good across the board.
I am sick to the stomach of hearing that we are not being affected by cuts as I know it's simply not true. I am having to deal with the real damage to my daughter's life chances and those of her peers. I am governing the redundancies of staff who do not deserve this when part and parcel of a Good school.
Put simply. If we cant make this work for our children , parents and community. Then who can?
No excuses and no justification as our Children and their Teaching staff are sacrificed on the altar of political dogma. And that is all of you Parties. You have made politics of our education system instead of working collectively to improve their lot. Shame on you and your houses.
John Sinclair
Pocklington
The Brexit hokey cokey
In a few weeks the population of this country will be asked to vote on whether or not to remain a part of the European Community.
In out, in out, the decision on which way to vote becomes increasingly difficult with each day as the arguments put forward by both sides become more extreme and bewildering.
In out, in out, shake it all about, is probably the best solution for the ordinary citizen on how to make his, or her, choice.
From threats that an exit from the community will lead to World War Three to a vast drop in the standard of living and unemployment, make it an impossible decision for most people to choose where to place their cross on the ballot paper.
The big names of either side blast each other like Dreadnoughts in a mighty sea battle in world war one.
As people died in order for us to be free and have a democratic vote it is imperative that we do make our mark on the ballot paper.
How to vote and how to come to the right decision is probably one of the hardest decisions we may ever have to make in our lifetime as the result will have repercussions for years to come.
Good luck and may the Force be with you!
Colin Bower
Nottingham
So, younger voters are in favour of Remain will be most affected by the result, but are least likely to vote. The solution is simple. Votes should have a points system based on life expectancy. Me? Oh I'm in favour of Remain but probably score nul points.
Robert Davies
London
Politicians and police should be accountable for Orgreave
The definition of Constable includes the words 'a citizen locally appointed' thus implying the nature of their task would be to maintain law and order in their neighbourhood, town or city. During the miner's strike in which the Orgreave incident occurred officers from all over the country were deployed in Police Support Units across the coalfields. Whilst I was not involved at Orgreave I was deployed, as a Uniformed Sergeant, on several occasions elsewhere. The period, for me, was a defining moment in the relations between Police and public. Undoubtedly we were seen as an occupying army. At one pit we faced each other out across the road awaiting the arrival of flying pickets who would confront those willing to work. This was foreign to me so I crossed over and engaged in conversation with one of the local pickets. We had so much in common, the same love of family, likes and dislikes, the same love of rugby. At an unseen signal he told me the mobile pickets were imminent and it would be best if I went back to my own side. An unpleasant violent confrontation ensued. No arrests were made and as quickly as it had erupted an uneasy peace was restored. I leave it to others to hold forth on the politics of the dispute but I find it a bit rich for one of Thatchers prodigy to challenge the police officers who were carrying out their bidding. Perhaps the politicians who engineered this class confrontation ought to be similarly vilified.
Graham Barlow
Wirral
Mount Everest
I sometimes despair at what passes for fact among those who aspire to be our opinion formers. Andrew Griffins piece on Everest is riddled with errors and false assumptions. It has been known for decades, if not longer, that the summit of Chimborazo is further from the centre of the Earth than is that of Everest but that is the least of his mistakes. Everest (8848m) is not 1000s of metres higher than any of its closest rivals. Just 237m (less than 1000 feet) higher than K2 and while I dont expect most people to know the precise details without a quick Google how on earth can the widely reported 14 peaks over 8000m have escaped Griffins notice? And since Chimborazo is only a relatively modest 6263m above sea level with a correspondingly higher atmospheric pressure how can that summit possibly be closest to space on any rational measure?
The role of nurses is under attack
The idea that Registered Nurses take on some of the roles of Junior Doctors sets a dangerous precedent. Nurses are not Doctors and, though many can take, easily and efficiently, responsibility for minor problems, it then sets the next precedent that minor Nursing duties can then be done by HCAs, who are definitely not trained to do this. We have seen the terrible consequences of this already when even basic Nursing care is not being delivered by people who are only supposed to work under the supervision of an RN and not independently. Nurses are already impeded by the increasing paperwork of recent decades, since the so - called Nursing Process, for example, imported from America, where Nursing is completely different in many ways to what it is here.
T Maunder
Kirkstall
Sudoku
Something I sorely miss with the online paper is the chance to do the sudoku with a pencil. How can I put more than one number into a square temporarily while I whittle down the options to find the right answer?
Helen Watson
Reading
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The government has announced plans to curtail political speech so that ideas it does not like can be banned in order to protect little children from brainwashing. It followed this up with an announcement of new surveillance powers that would make the countrys ministries world leaders in spying on their own people. The highlight of the speech was a plan to water down the Human Rights Act, which is to be replaced, after consultation, by common sense. Of course, I am paraphrasing the Queens Speech, but only just. This speech by a government on the ropes was the most illiberal for a generation.
The speech had the whiff of desperation about it: gone is the youthful David Cameron who promised hed govern from the centre in his place a Prime Minister torpedoed by a rash promise to hold a referendum on Europe, a rash promise to expand the surveillance powers of the state over ordinary citizens and an even more rash promise to repeal the Human Rights Act. Rather than leading the Tories, the Prime Minister has become a prisoner of its more extreme demands. In British politics, civil liberties have become the hand you play when you have no other cards in the deck.
The Queens Speech made clear the government would continue to rush The Investigatory Powers Bill through the House of Commons. This Snoopers' Charter will give the British government powers of surveillance that go far beyond anything seen in any democracy anywhere on earth. Many of the powers in this bill have been rejected or curtailed by other democracies including the US Government as too sweeping and authoritarian. Any UK tech firm with over 30,000 customers can be given a secret order to spy on its customers. ISPs will be forced to hack their customers and the police will be given powers to access your internet browsing history. Appalled by the Hillsborough tragedy? Just think what the police could have done if they had access to the smartphones of the victims on that tragic day.
How many times do we need to have evidence that extensive state surveillance powers are misused? Does anyone think it was legitimate for the Metropolitan Police to place comedian Mark Thomas under surveillance? He was watched by the anti-extremism unit, the same officers that are meant to protect us from neo-fascists and jihadis. After her son was murdered on the streets of south London, the police put Baroness Doreen Lawrence under surveillance. They both join a list of prominent Britons that the police have spied on, from politicians, to lawyers and environmental activists. Our last hope in defeating this draconian legislation is that decent Tory backbenchers wake up to the threat this poses to public trust in the police. One can also hope that the Labour Party works with the SNP to secure crucial amendments to remove the bulk data capture powers in the Bill.
Queen's Speech: The traditions
The proposals on extremism are dystopian. Britains leading free speech groups say the governments plans to tackle extremism through a new civil order regime could undermine the very values the government says it is aiming to defend. As English PEN notes, extremism banning orders could mean political activists could be outlawed in the future. Unpleasant extremist groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir, who dislike democracy, but step back from directly advocating violence, would be banned. We could see the return of the absurd situation that prevented the voice of leading Irish Republicans such as Gerry Adams from appearing on television. Silencing ideas never works, winning the battle of ideas, although tougher, is the only way to tackle extremism. The government isnt even trying.
The Prime Minister made his intentions clear when he announced the new law stating: for too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens: as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone.
One of the greatest achievements of our common law is our presumption of innocence. Britons can obey the law and be left alone by the state. Cameron wishes to remove this presumption, one of our ancient liberties. Much of these anti-extremism and surveillance measures are likely to be illegal under the Human Rights Act, which is perhaps why David Cameron wishes to abolish it.
An argument could be made for the replacement of the Human Rights Act if the government wished to give the people of Britain a written constitution that stated our rights, limited the power of the executive, and re-emphasised our ancient liberties secured from despotic kings. It doesnt. The government wants to water down our commitment to the European Convention on Human Rights so laws they rush through parliament to appease unruly backbenchers cant be challenged. It is perhaps too late in his career for David Cameron to realise that he needs to stand up for the centrist values, including a respect for liberty that helped him become Prime Minister. In the meantime, the fight for liberty in the UK is going to become a tougher battle.
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When David Cameron decided to press ahead with the Queens Speech, rather than wait until after the EU referendum at the end of June, his allies hoped it would provide a brief ceasefire in the Conservative civil war over Europe.
Unfortunately for Cameron, the new parliamentary year coincided with the most explosive episode in the Tory saga, as Michael Heseltine warned Boris Johnson his successor as MP for Henley that his preposterous, obscene remarks in the referendum are damaging his prospects of becoming prime minister.
Lord Heseltines wounding attack cannot be dismissed as just another salvo from the pro-EU brigade. It reflects a belief which extends even to some Boris allies: that Johnson should have played the statesman, arguing that Brexit was better on balance, rather than go all guns blazing for an Out vote and failing to look a serious figure.
Heseltines spectacular move eclipsed Downing Streets advance spinning of the Queens Speech. Ministers fielded for media interviews on it found themselves quizzed about the much sexier Hezza-Boris spat. The row blunted Camerons attempt to show he has another, non-EU agenda that, after sorting out the economy, his progressive, One Nation Conservative Government will now boost the life chances of the most disadvantaged through ambitious social reforms.
With hindsight, it would have been better to stick to Plan A and delay the Queens Speech until after the referendum. If the public votes to leave the EU, then this legislative programme would be washed away by fraught negotiations on Britains exit terms.
Queen's Speech in 90 seconds
So, too, would Cameron sooner rather later. If he wins the referendum, he would swiftly reshuffle his Cabinet. The ministers who take through the Bills announced on Wednesday might well change, and so the Cabinets priorities might too.
This rather limp legislative package feels like one for the tail end of a Government rather than its second year, when it would normally be firing on all cylinders. Again, all roads lead to the Treaty of Rome.
Cameron could not afford to provoke his Europhobic backbenchers with controversial measures. Plenty of his MPs are already plotting to make parliamentary life hell for him if he wins the referendum, and his narrow majority could see him suffer the same fate as John Major in the 1990s one he is desperate to avoid, after living through it as a political adviser.
A long-awaited Bill of Rights, promised in the Tories first 100 days if they won power last year, is still not cooked after 379 days because it mentions the E-word. Ministers appear in retreat over ditching the European Convention on Human Rights, but dont want to admit that before the referendum.
The Prime Minister needs the support of non-Tory voters in the referendum, and so the Queens Speech focused on soft, cuddly stuff such as more help for children leaving care, reforming prisons and ensuring more children from poor families go to university.
If Cameron survives his self-made scare next month, his list of Bills provides the bare bones of a Tory strategy to occupy the political centre ground. But it will require a lot more flesh and money to turn the One Nation rhetoric into reality.
Giving prison governors more autonomy is sensible but the budget squeeze means that drug use, assaults and suicides will not ease unless fewer people are sent to prison. Both Labour and Tory governments have brought in sentencing guidelines that result in more people being sent to prison. Reoffending rates will remain high unless there is more investment in helping prisoners on their release.
The Higher Education and Research Bill will force universities to publish application and offer rates by gender, ethnicity and social background and compel Ucas to share anonymised data with researchers. These are welcome measures. However, the Government has dropped plans for the new Office for Students to ensure targets to widen access are hit. This will limit the pressure on institutions to meet Camerons goal to double admissions of students from poor families and to raise the number of black and ethnic minority students by 20 per cent.
A real push for greater social mobility would have included measures to encourage part-time and mature students, whose numbers are falling sharply. Maintenance grants will soon be replaced by even more loans, so some people will leave university with debts of more than 50,000, deterring some from disadvantaged families from going.
Plans to ensure that more children leaving care are adopted and to improve social work are all very well but will social services departments be given the resources when local authorities bear the biggest burden in the decade of austerity?
The Queens Speech wills the ends but not the means. Cameron hopes it will be part of his legacy when he departs in 2019. But the referendum cloud hanging over him is a reminder that the only thing he might be remembered for is accidentally leading us out of the EU.
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David Camerons apology to a London imam who he had wrongly described in the House of Commons as supporting Isis has been celebrated in some quarters. Less attention, however, was given to the fact that the Prime Minister clarified that Suliman Gani was actually reported to be in support of an Islamic state, rather than the Islamic State, or Isis.
The shrill accusations of extremism that were thrown around in the run up to the London mayoral elections were a step backwards in our efforts to understand the dangerous global ideology behind groups like Isis. More useful is to try and understand why Gani shares the main objective of creating an Islamic state, but differs with Isis and others on how to achieve it.
There is no suggestion that there is a direct progression from political Islamist aspirations of an Islamic state to jihadi violence like that of Isis. However, both derive their direction from a common ideology and hold aspirations of establishing a state in which Islam is the dominant legislation. There is overlap that we cannot shy away from.
Robert Fisk: Syria's road from jihad to prison Show all 2 1 /2 Robert Fisk: Syria's road from jihad to prison Robert Fisk: Syria's road from jihad to prison Pg-33-syria-reu.jpg Reuters Robert Fisk: Syria's road from jihad to prison Pg-34-syria3-getty.jpg Getty Images
That doesnt mean saying there is a problem with the Muslim community as a whole. Lets not forget, they are the prime targets and first victims of Isis and their fellow jihadis.
The answer lies in combatting the politicisation of Islam. Only then can we distinguish religion from politics and faith from fanaticism.
The truth is that while Islamist groups may differ vastly on the particulars of their respective visions of Islamic governance and the means by which to achieve them, there are some shared ideas.
Some jihadi groups came into being due to the development of an existing non-violent Islamist group, or its members, resorting to violence in order to further its cause. Examples of which have been seen in the Islamic Salvation Army in Algeria, Boko Haram in Nigeria, and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
My research at the Centre on Religion & Geopolitics has looked at the backgrounds of 100 prominent jihadis the leaders and ideologues driving the movement. We found that 51 per cent had documented links to non-violent Islamist organisations prior to their involvement in violent extremism.
We cannot therefore dismiss the possibility that the two are linked. Of course we found that not all jihadis were Islamists, nor that all Islamists inevitably go on to become jihadis. But the research suggests that there may be a stronger link between the two than many of us previously thought.
Half of those jihadis documented as having non-violent Islamist links prior to engaging in jihad were traced back to the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates, a group that has already faced scrutiny over its activities and was subject to a UK government review last year.
Research by Raffaelo Pantucci linked half of all terror attacks carried out in the UK back to Al-Muhajiroun, a group that despite being outlawed, continues to operate under various guises. The group calls for the reinstatement of the caliphate and the application of Sharia law in Britain, but does not actively encourage acts of terrorism. That said, the 7/7 attacks and the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby were carried out by individuals with links to this seemingly non-violent Islamist group.
Islamic societies that operate on campuses up and down the country have often courted controversy for hosting extreme speakers, shutting down atheist events, and even promoting anti-Semitic and homophobic views.
The Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS), which was founded by activists from the Muslim Brotherhood and Jamaat-e-Islami movements, claims to represent almost 100,000 Muslim university students has in the past been criticised by the Government for its failure to adequately challenge terrorist and extremist ideology.
Mohammed Emwazi, more commonly known as Jihadi John, was a student at Westminster University, where an investigation found that the student Islamic society had been running a Facebook page circulating violent jihadi videos and whose former president was jailed on terrorism charges in 2007.
Isis rape victim 'kidnapped by new Jihadi John suspect Siddhartha Dhar'
Concerns about links between non-violent Islamist groups and violent jihadi groups are not as farfetched as some would like to believe.
Inevitably, there are some difficult conversations to have. Addressing matters of free speech and political engagement will indeed form part of the dialogue, but when a train of thought is being associated with abhorrent ideas, society and our political leaders must speak up. Criminalising ordinary practicing Muslims from going about their business is not the solution, but we must rescue Islam from the warped political ideologies that thrive on its manipulation.
The Prime Minister, along with other world leaders, must not shy away from having these difficult conversations. Our leadership must show courage and unity if we are to effectively challenge and defeat extreme ideas.
Mubaraz Ahmed is a Middle East Analyst at the Centre on Religion and Geopolitics
Independent TD Clare Daly has demanded an apology from the Garda Commissioner over the leaking of her arrest on suspicion of drink-driving.
A Garda Ombudsman inquiry found the release of information about her detention likely came from the gardai in an "unauthorised manner".
Ms Daly was arrested shortly after midnight on January 29 2013 on Dublin's South Circular Road, but was cleared of any wrongdoing after tests proved she was driving within the legal limits.
"I do expect an apology. The apology should be from the Garda Commissioner," the TD said.
"The Commissioner personifies the force.
"As an absolute minimum this was done in a way to damage me, to distract from the work we were doing at the time on the penalty points controversy, to intimidate me.
"And it did infringe my right to privacy, that's pretty serious stuff."
The Garda watchdog found Ms Daly's right to privacy and a presumption of innocence appear to have been infringed by the leaking of the story within hours of her arrest.
She is suing Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan over the leak.
Following widespread media coverage of the incident in day after her arrest, the Dublin North TD alleged gardai unlawfully briefed the media.
She also claimed a request, while briefly in custody at Kilmainham Garda station, that fellow TD Mick Wallace be contacted about her arrest was also leaked to journalists.
Twenty-four people accessed a report on Ms Daly's arrest on the Garda's Pulse computer system in the 12 hours after it happened.
The Garda Ombudsman also found four officers in Kilmainham accessed her Pulse ID, another in Pearse Street station and one in Coolock and one in Newbridge, where the officer claimed an interest in traffic incidents.
After a lengthy investigation, the watchdog said there is insufficient evidence of any criminal offence by any individual to warrant sending a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Ms Daly said there appeared to be a huge level of interest in the force in her arrest and it was a "talking point" and "unhealthy".
"It's obviously very worrying," she said.
"We have to see this in the context of the climate at the time. The controversy around the penalty points issue.
"The unhealthy level of interest would be a concern."
The Garda Ombudsman found it was "more likely than not" that details of the arrest were leaked by someone from within the force and that the information subsequently ended up in the hands of the media.
It was impossible to prove who divulged the information in the absence of a co-operating witness, a confession or other evidence, it said in a 15-page report on the allegations.
"The Ombudsman Commission is of the view that Deputy Daly was entitled to the presumption of innocence and that she had a right to privacy," a spokeswoman said.
"These rights appear to have been infringed by the release of such information."
Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan is coming under pressure to explain her role in reported orders to lawyers to undermine the credibility of Sergeant Maurice McCabe
Garda chief Noirin O'Sullivan will "clarify as much as possible" whether she ordered lawyers to attack the good name of a whistleblower within her ranks, Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald has said.
But the Justice Minister said the Garda Commissioner was entitled to confidentiality in dealing with her legal team and warned that forcing her to reveal instructions was "going down a dangerous path".
Ms O'Sullivan is coming under intense pressure to explain her role in reported orders to lawyers to undermine the credibility of Sergeant Maurice McCabe in the latest State inquiry into allegations of Garda wrongdoing.
The vast majority of his claims of negligence and malpractice were proven in the O'Higgins report, which also found him to be a man of integrity who should be thanked for his whistle-blowing.
Leaked documents have suggested the Garda Commissioner's lawyers were under orders to attack his integrity, motivation and credibility.
Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin told the Dail the revelations were "fairly damaging".
Questioning Ms Fitzgerald - who is responsible for holding the Garda chief to account - he said the controversy had escalated to a point where a "significant intervention is needed".
"There are some really stark realities emanating from this because it goes to the core of how whistleblowers are treated," he said.
Mr Martin said it appeared that Garda lawyers were ordered on an "all out right through attack on the credibility and motivation of Sgt McCabe".
Ms Fitzgerald pointed out the O'Higgins commission findings that Sgt McCabe had genuine and legitimate concerns and was due the gratitude of both the public and the Garda for his role.
She said Ms O'Sullivan accepted fully the commission's findings, adding: "I have no doubt she will seek to clarify as much as possible. . . in her own interventions."
The Justice Minister added that the leaking of transcripts from the inquiry "robs the Garda Commissioner of an opportunity to defend her good name".
She said she could not respond to "partial transcripts".
The O'Higgins report has been handed to the independent Policing Authority, which is charged with oversight of the force.
Ms Fitzgerald said the authority's public questioning of Garda top brass would be an appropriate forum to deal with the ongoing fall-out.
She said she had no doubt Ms O'Sullivan would "say as much as possible when she is questioned in the future in relation to this issue" within legal constraints.
"If it is feasible and legal for the Garda Commissioner to put forth information into the public arena I have no doubt she will do that," she added.
The 200m project at AIB Bankcentre will include the construction of two, six-storey office blocks. Four existing office blocks on the site will be demolished.
Developer Johnny Ronan has received the green light for his 200m six storey office block development at Ballsbridge in Dublin that will have the capacity to accommodate 2,200 workers.
Dublin City Council gave the Ronan plan, located opposite the RDS on Merrion Rd, the go-ahead in spite of over 20 separate objections against the ambition proposal.
AIB and An Taisce are just two of those to have lodged objections along with local residents and due to the number of objections, it will come as no surprise if an appeal is lodged to An Bord Pleanala against the decision.
Illustrating the scale of the proposal, Dublin City Council has made permission conditional on Ronans firm, RGRE Ballsbridge Development Ltd paying 2.9m in development contributions.
The plan - codenamed Project Pegasus - will be 52,247 sq m. - more than five times the 9,789 sq m in gross floor area of the existing four office blocks that are going to be demolished.
The City Council gave the plan the go-ahead after the planner in the case concluded that it complies with the City Development in terms of promoting and facilitating commercial office space by allowing for a high quality redevelopment of obsolete office stock in this location.
The planner also stated that the proposal is unlikely to have a significant negative impact on the amenities of residential properties in the vicinity in terms of over-bearance impact and overshadowing and is unlikely to give rise to a traffic hazard.
AIB objected on a number of grounds including traffic safety implications; impact on the public realm; flood risk implications and construction management and impacts.
An Taisce claimed that the intensity of office use of the site would be excessive; the proposed development would be over-scaled and would seriously detract from the residential amenities of the area.
Last year, Mr Ronan acquired the four vacant office blocks and surrounding land in front of AIBs Bankcentre building, opposite the RDS grounds, on Merrion Road, for 67.5m.
The Bankcentre purchase was Ronan's third major development since exiting Nama last year.
The near four-acre site was sold by a receiver on behalf of Nama and Ulster Bank. It had been acquired in 2006 by Carlow property developer, Sean Dunne for a reported 200m.
A 2009 Mountbrook planning application for the site made up of six office blocks ranging from seven to nine storeys was refused by An Bord Pleanala in 2011 after facing widespread opposition from local resident groups.
The granting of the 'Pegasus' plans comes against the background of a continuing acute shortage of prime office space in Dublin that is continuing drive rents up.
Last year, HWBCs office market review stated that the shortage will continue to drive rents up to the end of 2017, while property investment firm, Green REIT has stated that there is a risk that there will be an over-supply in the office market from 2018.
News / Local
by Nqobile Bhebhe
United Bulawayo Hospitals and the Health Services Board are at odds over the vacant Director of Operations post. The health facility has been operating without a substantive head since December.The Health Services Board is understood to have queried the recruitment procedure employed by the hospital.Former director of operations Elliot Mashingaidze retired in December.This writer understands the health institution advertised for the post in October and conducted interviews in January.Three people where short-listed.However, the HSB took issue with the fact that UBH only placed the advert with Bulawayo based publications- Chronicle and Sunday News.The board insinuated the two publications are regional hence robbing other prospective candidates from other parts of the country of an opportunity to apply.On March 18, HSB executive Director, a Ms RR Kaseke wrote to UBH chief executive office Nonhlanhla Ndlovu instructing her to re-advertise the post in 'national papers'."The Health Services Board is in receipt of the interview minutes of the post of Director of Operations for United Bulawayo Hospitals and results thereof" she wrote in a memo seen by this publication."It is noted that the post was only advertised in the Chronicle and Sunday News resulting in applicants being sourced only from Southern region of the country, while it would have been preferable if the advertising had attracted responses from the whole country".She continued "Furthermore, one of the recommended candidates completed a bachelor's degree in 2015 and has not served at a senior management level as stipulated in the advertisement."Having noted the above, the Health Services Board resolved that the post be re-advertised in the national papers, that is, The Chronicle and or The Sunday News, The Herald and or the Sunday Mail" she added.The post has since been advertised.The Operations Director oversees Hospital Food Service, Central Stores, Human Resources, Health Information and Mortuary units.However, informed sources say the fight is on control of tenders in the departments"This is total madness. We have never heard of a post at a Mutare hospitals re-advertised simple because it appears in the Manica Post depriving people in Lupane from applying since it (Manica Post) mainly circulates in Matare?."Why are Bulawayo posts conveniently nationalised?."The whole issue centres on control of tenders, which most people are eying".
Time and time again horses with large percentages of thoroughbred blood have proven to shine the best in top-class eventing.
While warmbloods will often have the smart step for dressage and ability to jump, at the end of the day it is a combination of these attributes and sheer stamina that will always win out over three phases when it comes to a four-star competition.
At the recent Badminton Horse Trials, this was displayed once again as all but one of the top-10 on the final day boasted no less than 50pc of thoroughbred blood. In addition three Irish thoroughbreds impressively went on to finish in the top-15.
The best of the trio emerged as Gemma Tattersall in third riding Arctic Soul, an Irish export whose life began here with trainer Colin Murphy.
Bred by Michael Whitty, he is by the 1995 Italian Derby winner Luso out of a mare by Roi Danzig and from the family of Grade 1 winner Arctic Copper. He was unsuccessful in all four starts under National Hunt rules as a five-year-old in 2008 before being sold on. Having briefly passed through the hands of Tomas and Marti Rudd, he was then purchased by Sally and Shaun Parkyn. "We always thought he would be a real star but it took some time to get him jumping," Ms Parkyn said of the bay which was sold on after a few months to Nicky Rincoroni for then-owner Philip Kerr.
Now owned by the Soul Syndicate, the 13-year-old also jumped a superb clear on the final day and is now a promising candidate for the Olympic Games. Interestingly no less than 60pc of thoroughbred blood was to be found in the breeding of the top 12 after the four-mile cross-country phase.
Of the 77 starters in dressage, just 48 remained in competition after cross-country which resulted in 17 eliminations and a further 10 retired on course.
It later emerged that only 11 combinations had escaped both jumping and time penalties. The best of these was British rider Kristina Cook on another Irish thoroughbred, Star Witness.
Lying 42nd after a 49.7 dressage test, the pair made little of the cross-country and the 11-year-old clocked the fastest round of the day with some 18 seconds to spare. This moved them into 14th overnight, eventual finishing seventh.
By the Grade 3 winner Witness Box who stood in Tallow with James Hannon, Star Witness was picked up at Doncaster as an unbroken three-year-old for 9,500 (12,000). Bred by Andy Leahy, his dam Drive On Rosie, by Glacial Storm, was unplaced on the track but came from a family of multiple winners under National Hunt rules.
The only horse inside the final top-10 to not boast more than 50pc thoroughbred blood was the Irish representative Portersize Just A Jiff, who more than made up for it in bravery.
A half Connemara by Crosskeys Rebel and standing just 153cms he carries some 37.5pc of thoroughbred blood through his dam Mizen Talent - enough to see the combination finish a mere two seconds outside the time allowed of 11mins 58secs. With Irish rider Camilla Speirs, they went on to place a most creditable ninth on the final afternoon.
Just three places behind in 12th was Ben Way on the former Charlie Swan-bred and trained Galley Light.
By Turtle Island out of the Be My Native mare Coola Cross, the 13-year-old had little success on the track here in his seven starts. He is a half-brother to the UK-based chaser I Need Gold, by Gold Well.
Galley Light was originally sold to the UK as hunter in 2010 but showed much promise in eventing and a career switch soon beckoned.
On just their second attempt at Badminton they were just two seconds outside the time allowed on the cross-country and jumped clear on the final day to finish overall 12th.
The last full Irish thoroughbred to win Badminton was Moonfleet in 2006.
Owned by Susan Magnier of Coolmore Stud and ridden by Australian Andrew Hoy, he was by Strong Gale and bred in Co Meath by Basil Brindley out his top racing broodmare Blue Suede Shoes.
After four days of competition it was Michael Jung who emerged best of the remaining group at Badminton this year, with a clear round in the final day's show jumping with La Biosthetique-Sam FBW securing his first ever title of this prestigious event.
In addition he also won the much-coveted Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing for winning Burghley, the Rolex and Badminton consecutively.
The combination now holds the record as one of the most successful of all time in the sport having won World, European and Olympic medals as well as four-star events at Luhmuhlen, Burghley and Badminton.
Registered as a German Warmblood but boasting 76pc of actual thoroughbred blood, Sam's sire is the Irish thoroughbred Stan The Man who also sired such four-star horses as Shear L'Eau and his full-brother Shear H20 while standing here at Lake View Stud in Askeaton, Co Limerick.
The dam sire Heraldik also needs little introduction as one of the leading thoroughbred sires of eventers in recent years.
Speaking on this subject of breeding recently, Michael Jung said: "In a three-star event a horse needs to gallop for seven minutes - a well-trained warmblood can cope with that. But a four-star event requires a horse to gallop for 10 minutes - then you really need a thoroughbred."With the FEI currently reviewing the format for the 2020 Olympics and beyond, with a view to reducing the level to CIC, only time will tell if the demands on eventers at that stage will change. However for now, the influx of thoroughbreds on horses at the highest level of four-star eventing will remain paramount.
Before the recent improvement in growth, the reluctance of grass to grow in any meaningful manner certainly posed major challenges for anyone involved in cattle farming.
The only saving factor was that cattle appeared to remain content on fields which had become very bare during the fine spell of weather in the latter half of April.
Because of the shortage of grass, it was May before the last of my cattle left the shed. Unfortunately, the delay in letting out cattle and the restricted supply of grass for cattle already out means that I have missed out on what is probably the most important part of the grazing season. Previous experience has taught me that it is very difficult to make up this loss of condition and weight gain later in the year.
The benefits of spring grass cannot be underestimated; I recently had the privilege of witnessing a very interesting example of how well cattle thrive on good spring grass. Two cattle bought by a friend increased in weight by 65kg from the time they were bought in mid February to being resold in mid April. They had spent the intervening period on a field of fresh young grass with just a small daily supplement of hay.
Even though the increase in weight was quite spectacular, unfortunately it did not result in any appreciable monetary gain because of the dampening effect poor growth had on the cattle trade. Another good example of the vagaries of the cattle business!
I continue to have difficulties with slats breaking and I had to replace another one recently; luckily I again escaped without any animals being injured. It does, however, reinforce the necessity for all my slats to be replaced.
I normally leave spreading the slurry remaining in the tanks after late winter until the following autumn, but as I need to have the tanks fully empty when putting in the new slats, I hope to empty the tanks after my first-cut of silage and get the replacement work done then.
Another concern which is weighing on everyone's mind at the moment is what will beef be making when it comes to sell our cattle?
Predicting the price of cattle can be a very futile exercise but the omens are not very encouraging. Reports emanating from Brussels of the draft offer of 78,000t of beef to South American had sent a chill wind down many farmers' spines. Now it would appear that they have rowed back on sacrificing beef. However, that they were considering it to facilitate the interests of large powerful transnational corporations doesn't bode well.
This type of behaviour by the bureaucrats in Brussels would tend to support the contention expressed by many that the powerful EU "core" of Berlin, Paris and London has completely lost touch with "peripheral" areas like rural Ireland.
Something which is really bugging me at the moment is that no matter what farming media we turn on, we are subjected to an avalanche of advice coming from various "experts" on how to make more money.
Considering that income research indicates that the average Irish cattle farm will continue to run at a loss, I find it difficult to understand the ease with which some of these experts predict large increases in already non-existing profits if we follow their particular advice.
Claims of dramatic improvements in gross margin figures if certain actions and practices are carried out also appear less than useless. Try presenting gross margin figures to your bank manager and see what sort of a reaction he or she will give you.
Perhaps it's just me, but I find much of this "advice" extremely patronising and sometimes bordering on the offensive. Most Irish farmers have not alone accumulated vast amounts of knowledge and experience, but have also inherited generations of invaluable expertise.
Obviously, there is always room for improvement and cattle farming is no exception. A great deal of very useful and valuable research has been undertaken, the results of which are readily available.
However, sometimes you could be forgiven for feeling the experts think we are little more than a bunch of imbeciles.
To me, it seems that much of the advice coming from these experts falls into the 're-inventing the wheel' category and empirical evidence would also suggest that other proposals such as erecting large intensive feeding units involving huge financial investments, more often than not lead to little more than financial ruin.
With rapidly decreasing Basic Payments, there has never been a greater need to address the problems being experienced on our numerous loss-making cattle farms. Ask any business person and they will tell you that the real advice that is needed in situations such as these is not how to spend more money but how to save it.
Like any loss-making enterprise, this will involve the ruthless control of costs, which may often necessitate a reduction in output, but then output for output sake makes no business sense at all. These rationalisation measures will not result in the winning of any awards or accolades but they will go a long way to ensuring that your farm survives in what is becoming a very difficult and volatile farming climate.
When a farm has returned to profit, then is the time for drawing up plans for expansion and increased output but only if to do so makes sound economic sense.
John Heney is a beef farmer from Kilfeacle, Co Tipperary
Ireland has a real challenge if it is to meet its forestry targets by the middle of the century, according to a report published by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI), in association with Teagasc.
The land market report found the average price of stocked forestry land in 2015 was estimated at 3,813/ac with prices fluctuating between a low of 2,500/ac up to 5,000/ac. However, this represented a 17pc increase on the 2014 price.
Yet, the report states that in order to meet this challenge by 2050, the country would want to practically treble the amount of new land being planted from 7,000ha annually to 17,000ha.
At present 11pc of Ireland's land area is in forestry and it is intended to raise this to 18pc by 2050. There are 750,000ha currently under forestry and bringing this up to the 18pc target will take an additional 450,000ha. According to Teagasc research, there are about 0.43 million hectares of marginal land with significant potential for forestry. Planting all this land would bring the national forestry coverage to 17pc.
The report is not very optimistic that farmers will rise to this challenge believing that many farmers will want to stay in mainstream agriculture.
Trim auctioneer Thomas Potterton agreed, stating: "It is difficult for farmers to let land go out of what they regard as mainstream production."
He said forestry is such a long-term investment it is less attractive from a financial perspective and landowners with land rented may see forestry as a poor alternative to rental income.
The replanting requirement that land must stay in forestry in perpetuity is a clear disincentive. "However, I believe all this is changing," he said.
Looking ahead
The surveyors are optimistic about the overall land market for 2016 and expect tillage farmers to be among the key players with 53pc of those interviewed expecting crop men to be among the principal type of farmers looking to rent agricultural land. The SCSI/Teagasc Agri Land Market Review and Outlook 2016 report was compiled from Teagasc resources and in conjunction with 67 chartered surveyors nationwide.
Despite poor prices, tillage farmers are also expected to be the most active in land purchase with dairy farmers anticipated to be the next most active group. Dry stock farmers are expected to be least active in the land market. Tillage farmers and dairy farmers are also expected to be the main takers for vendors looking to sell land and landlords looking to lease out land. Given the crisis in tillage and the reality that prices are back at what they were 35 years ago, Mr Potterton says that cereal farmers and crop farmers are the eternal optimists.
"They are most certainly among the top activists in the rental market and when the land and location is right, they will make every attempt to buy."
Carlow auctioneer John Dawson said "scarcity" was driving the prices in both land sales and renting.
"With long-term rental agreements in place there is less land coming on the market," he said, adding, "2015 was a great year with lots of land sold in Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford and Wicklow. It is not happening this year so far." He said it may be to do with uncertainty in the agri-sector.
Residential versus non-residential
The report also digs down into land sales in terms of the price difference between the size of holdings and their residential or non-residential status. The dearest non-residential land is in Leinster where plots of less than 50ac make an average of 10,608/ac.
The equivalent in Munster is 9,970/ac and in Connacht/Ulster it is 6,163/ac.
Comparing 2014 and 2015, the report identifies a 15pc increase in the per acre price for residential holdings of less than 50ac in Leinster.
According to Mr Potterton this is reflective of the fact that people living within commuting distance of Dublin are still major customers for "the house and the few acres".
"I recently sold a house and 43ac outside Trim to a businessman based in Dublin and it made 700,000 under the hammer."
In contrast, the fact that there is little difference between the per acre price for residential and non residential property of between 50 and 100ac would indicate that this type of holding is farmer territory where the house is often seen as a liability.
This is reflected in Munster where residential holdings of less that 50ac in Munster commanded almost 2,000/ac more than holdings without a house while residential holdings of between 50ac and 100ac cost a mere 200/ac more than their non-residential counterparts.
In Connacht/Ulster the per acre price for residential holdings of less than 50ac decreased by 6pc between 2014 and 2015 while the cost of similar sized holdings without a residence went up by 10pc.
One of the clear findings of the survey is the continued disparity between land prices in Connacht and Ulster compared with the rest of the country. At 5,748, the average price for an acre of ground in Connacht/Ulster is just over half what it is in Munster at 9,764 or in Leinster at 10,089.
Jason Loughrey of Teagasc described 2015 as a mixed year overall with a slight decline in interest from dairy farmers and fewer cash buyers.
He said the decline in milk prices led to less interest in purchases in the second half of the year.
"The lack of good quality farms coming on the market and widespread flooding in the midlands also had an impact on supply," he added.
Land letting
The survey finds that letting prices across the regions and the sectors have remained stable but the availability of land is tightening with many opting for longer leases to avail of the tax benefits and incentives outlined in Budget 2015.
The dearest rental prices for land are paid in Munster where grazing ground commands 177/ac and cereal ground commands an average of 220/ac. In Leinster the prices range from 162/ac for grazing to 216/ac for cereals.
In Connacht/Ulster grazing ground makes 146/ac, cereal ground 138/ac, with potato ground making 190/ac.
Mr Dawson said prices varied widely and were competitive due to the scarcity, with prices from 200 to 370/ac secured depending on the type of land. He said the prices paid in 2016 were on a par with 2015.
Brexit and the Irish Land Market
The SCSI/Teagasc report believes that Brexit will have a negative impact of agri-food exports and consequently an adverse impact on land prices and rental prices.
Fillet of farm would suit any enterprise
Some bigger farms coming on the market include a 172ac holding at Ballynameagh, Coole in Co Westmeath. It will be sold at auction today at the Navan salesrooms of Raymond Potterton and guided at 7,000/ac.
The Ballynameagh holding for auction today is 4km from Castlepollard and 15km from the N4 at Rathowen. It is described by Stephen Barry of Pottertons as a highly fertile farm under permanent pasture.
The place is an unbelievably good farm. A 250ac portion of the original holding was sold a number of years ago and this is the fillet of the farm, Mr Barry said. The place is laid out in well-sheltered fields with the minimum of waste. The yard on the property includes a two storey derelict farmhouse.
According to Mr Barry the farm would suit any enterprise including dairying. It will be offered in lots today at the Navan auction rooms of Raymond Potterton at 3pm.
Kildare
Meanwhile, a 114ac farm at Rosetown and Greenhills, Athgarvan, Co Kildare is set in horse country between Athgarvan and Two Mile House in the heart of Kildare. The lands are all in grass and divided into six manageable divisions with mature hedging along all boundaries. According to Will Coonan of REA Coonans, the ground is of excellent quality and suitable for all agricultural enterprises.
A substantial yard set back off the road has livestock handling facilities, haybarns and outhouses. There is almost 900m of river frontage on to the Liffey and decent road frontage. The property will be sold at auction at Lawlors Hotel, Naas at 3pm on Thursday, May 26.
Michael Creed will celebrate his 53rd birthday next month. But he has been in politics since he was coopted to Cork County Council in 1987 and was first elected a TD in 1989.
A mixture of Fine Gaels failures to win elections, and his decision to join the failed rebel heave against Enda Kenny in June 2010, delayed ministerial office until now. But his knowledge of farming and commitment to Irish farmers welfare are beyond question.
Prior to 2010, he was the main opposition spokesman and his 2009 draft Food Bill aimed to stamp out supermarkets requiring suppliers to pay them hello money to get their products into prime shelf space.
Speaking to the Farming Independent this week he conceded that he comes to the job at a difficult time with incomes down in most key sectors, a period of uncertainty in a post milk quota world and a host of external pressures on the entire farm and food sector.
Objectively, we know from a host of indicators that there is economic recovery. But I also appreciate that many farmers believe that it has yet to come to their farm gate. It is our job to address that and spread the benefits of recovery all across the country, he says frankly.
Today, just 10 days after learning of his appointment, he is in Brussels for his first EU Council of Agriculture Ministers. As part of his preparation he had a lengthy discussion with EU Agriculture Commissioner, Phil Hogan, last Thursday in Dublin.
The ministers immediate concern is an attempt to have the tariffs on fertilisers lifted. It is estimated that this could save dairy and beef farmers up to 16 per tonne.
That would be a welcome ease to their cost base. Ill know better after that meeting and Im especially keen to discuss this with the French Minister for Agriculture, he says.
The minister insists that there are a host of other things which can be done to support farm incomes. But he is brutally frank about the prospects for this hybrid minority coalition Government lasting any length of time.
I honestly dont know how long this Government can last. Everything depends on how all the parties and Independents behave. If they are reasonable and work with the Government, as I want to do with them, then we will have a chance, he argues.
He says that he contacted Sinn Fein TD for Sligo-Leitrim, Martin Kenny, after he was appointed that partys agriculture spokesman last week and sought a meeting. He believes the 25m aid scheme for sheep farmers, expected to be worth 10 per ewe per year, will be a big early test.
This national scheme, listed in the new government programme, will have to be drafted and then cleared by Brussels. The minister points out that time is short if they are to get everything in place for payments in 2017. The big fear is that the other parties could try to unpick things after the scheme gets EU clearance and cause further delays and complications.
It will in essence be a test of whether new politics really has come to Dail Eireann, he argues. The scheme is not a blank cheque we will be looking for something back from the sector in improved standards, he insists.
The EU talks on a major trade deal with the US, the so-called TTIP, continue and Irish farmers interests remain focused on ensuring the same stringent standards apply to US farm produce as they do EU farmers.
I want to say that I am pro-trade. But trade must work in the national interest. We could get a TTIP dividend on beef sales but any beef coming the other way has to be up to EU standards, he sums up.
For the moment the trade talks with the Mercosur group of South American states are mercifully stalled.
He agrees that would have been a very bad deal for Irish beef producers and also concedes, that while the battle is won for now, this issue will return.
Apart from the impact on farmers, the new minister becomes positively incensed when talking about the prospect of beef being transported all the way from South America to Europe at a time when there is huge emphasis on cutting carbon footprint.
Imagine all the implications for carbon emissions in the case of beef shipped or even flown in from South America.
This is at a time when we struggle to establish the reality that we in Ireland, with our grass-based production, have the lowest carbon footprint.
He is equally adamant that whatever concessions the USA might squeeze out of any EU-US trade deal there can be no yielding on the principle of a ban on hormone beef.
Like many within the EU, he is concerned that the TTIP talks are not more open.
While the EU stance is publicly stated the US tries to maintain secrecy.
It is most unfortunate as secrecy breeds fear and misinformation, he sums up.
The new Government programme pledges support for efforts to re-open sugar beet processing after the expiry of the EU sugar regime in 2017.
With the old Mallow factory abutting his own constituency, the small farmers of his own Cork North West derived welcome extra income from the beet campaign each winter.
But the new minister strikes a note of caution.
A lot of mistakes were made in the way the sugar industry was shut down. But the State is not going to re-open the sugar factories.
We will do all we can to facilitate people who do want to revive the sector, he stresses.
For now, he will not be revisiting his 2009 draft legislation on supermarket sharp practices in dealing with farmers and food producers.
Legislation was implemented by the previous government and he wants to see how that will work and also await EU initiatives on the problem.
Neither does he envisage linking farm safety to EU payments.
The issue of deaths on farms sends shivers down my spine. Well continue to work on safety but I prefer the carrot and bringing people with you.
At this time of year, with silage-making, there are extra hazards especially involving young children.
Its always a potential heart-break.
Absolutely everybody wants to improve farm safety. But farmers too often work in isolation and either do not know or forget to take the risks on board, he says.
We have 6pc of the workforce involved in agriculture. But the death toll on farms is many multiples of this.
One death is too many but compared with some years ago this year is somewhat better.
We continue to issue safety advisory leaflets and we include farm safety in our discussion groups which involve our 25,000 younger farmers, he adds.
The big news in the market this week has been the dramatic drop in international wholesale nitrogen prices, which comes at a time when crops are really beginning to take off in the fields.
Grass growth rates of over 100kgDM/ha have been recorded over the last week as temperatures move into the high teens and low twenties. For the most part, crop sowings are complete after a difficult spring.
The silage season has got off to a late start. However, good growing conditions should see some catch up over the coming days and weeks.
The big drop in nitrogen prices is due to a 35-40/t fall in bulk CAN from Germany and Belgium leave prices off the boat at 157/t to 162/t, said the IFA's Fintan Conway.
Mr Conway said farmers should be vigilant over the coming weeks when purchasing fertiliser as the trade will try to wash out existing stocks at higher prices. However, Irish farm gate prices for buyer groups and volume buyers should drop to close to 200/t over the coming weeks.
European nitrogen manufacturers had resisted lowering prices for much of the early part of the year but eventually caved in as European fertiliser demand for the current season, which is moving to a close, is expected to be down by a minimum of 10pc in response to the collapse in commodity prices.
Irish demand is also expected to fall, but to a lesser extent, to somewhere between 4-7pc. Growing conditions over the coming weeks and months will be the big determining factor. One of the main objectives of the IFA new president, Joe Healy, is to galvanise EU farm lobby groups to pressurise the EU to lower tariffs on fertiliser.
A report commissioned by the IFA claims that protection afforded to EU manufacturers in the form of anti-dumping duties of up to 47.07/t and customs tariffs of 6.5pc is costing farmers close on 1bn per annum.
The report said that the abolition of duties would deliver a minimum of 17,245 jobs, and possibly 100,000 in the best-case scenario.
Last Thursday saw thousands of farmers and contractors head to Gurteen Agricultural College in Ballingarry, Co Tipperary, for the FTMTA Grass & Muck 2016 show. The weather came good just in time, and around 10,000 visitors made their way onsite over the day to see the shiny new machines being put through their paces.
Despite the healthy attendance numbers, it is not turning out to be a good year for sales of grass and muck machinery. The perfect storm of poor milk, beef and tillage prices is starting to effect confidence when it comes to making machinery purchases. Dealers and manufacturers are hoping that a spell of good weather will improve buyer sentiment as we head into the summer.
Tractor sales are the exception, with 1,036 new tractors sold for the first four months of 2016; a 6.5pc increase on the same period last year.
Where this FTMTA event excels is at demonstrating working machinery in realistic Irish conditions. Visitors will have seen a huge range of equipment in action. I walked the show in its entirety and I needed the full day to have a good look at everything. For those who couldn't make it, here are some highlights.
McHale mower conditioner: McHale always put on a good show at these events, so the chance to see the Mayo firm's new ProGlide butterfly combination working in the flesh for the first time proved a great attraction for lots of punters.
Designed to respond to undulating and uneven ground conditions typical of Ireland, the ProGlide adds another bow to McHale's string and sees the firm enhance its already strong line-up of grass machinery.
Kuhn triple mower: Kuhn Centre Ireland showed off their triple gang set up including the all new FC 3125 front mower.
Ideal for high-powered tractors, the front mower is 3.1m wide and is at home as part of a high-powered gang mower set up where the working width can be pushed to 9.5m. The design of the front mower improves operator visibility and offers close ground contour following.
New Holland FR Forager: New Holland demonstrated their new FR Forage Cruiser self-propelled harvester. Engine options, all of which meet Tier 4B emissions standards, range from 476hp up to the flagship massive 824hp 20.1 litre power plant. The five model line-up offers improved operator comfort and one of the largest cutter heads in the industry.
Massey Ferguson 7700 series tractor: Bigger engines, lower maintenance costs and a host of new design features make the Massey Ferguson 7700 series an impressive successor to its 7600 predecessor. Aimed at contractors, there are two transmission options available whichever model you pick - the Dyna-6 with four ranges and six power shifts, and the step less Dyna-VT.
Strautmann Zelon wagon 2901: IAM Machinery demonstrated the new Strautmann Zelon forage wagon suitable for smaller tractors but still boasting many of the features of its larger capacity counterparts.
Nicholas Dunne of IAM said Strautmann wagons use a unique continuous flow rotor system that helps disperse the crop over the entire rotor and knife width. This wagon has been doing well with smaller contractors and farmers.
Samasz silage mower: New at FTMTA Grass and Muck was this butterfly mower arrangement from Samasz.
Giving a total cutting width of over 8.6m, the set up features two KDD 861S mowers on the rear and a KDF 300F mower out front. In total the tractor power demand is about 160hp. Distributed in Ireland by Collins Farm Machinery, the mowers feature heavy-duty frames with Hardox steel beds.
SlurryKat silage trailer: Northern Ireland based firm SlurryKat demonstrated their Proline range of silage trailers. The range features a unique body formation that utilises laser-cut body panels for an accurate fit.
The shape and fit of the side panels helps redistribute the forces exerted on the body of the trailer, sending them downward into the chassis for better stability during transport. The trailer features a single-tipping cylinder for faster emptying.
John Deere 8800i harvester: One of the most impressive machines at the show was this mammoth 845hp top-of-the-range 8800i self-propelled forage harvester from John Deere.
The company claims these harvesters will provide up to 15pc more productivity. A key feature is the active fill control system that allows for automated filling of silage trailers. Each model in the 8800i series can be equipped with Deere's crop analysis system, HarvestLab.
Case Optum 300 tractor: Case IH took the opportunity to show off their new Optum series, thereby filling the size gap between the firm's Puma and Magnum ranges.
There are two models in the line-up, the Optum 270 and 300, both powered by an FPT Industrial 6.7-litre engine. The Optum is only available with a CVX transmission and with the option of either a 40kph or 50kph transmission.
Tanco VariWrap: Carlow firm Tanco worked their new VariWrap3 wrapper at the show.
Aimed at the farmer and contractor market, this is a 900kg three-point linkage mounted machine that can be fitted with either two or three wrapping arms for high output wrapping. It is fitted with the latest easy to use interactive controller with improved graphics display.
Hi-Spec AutoCut trailed mower: Staying with Carlow manufacturers, Hi-Spec surprised the whole industry with the launch of their new trailed mower, the AutoCut RH1050.
Mounted on a chassis that eliminates the weight on the tractor and cuts fuel consumption, the AutoCut also reduces the size of the tractor needed. John Kennedy of Hi-Spec estimates that a 180hp tractor will drive the non-conditioner version of the 10m-wide mower, while 250hp is required for the conditioner model.
Krone ZX 470GL triple-axle wagon: Krone don't do things by halves, and that was evident again at Grass & Muck as distributors Farmhand showed off the huge new ZX 470GL triple-axle silage wagon. With a 400hp rated driveline, Farmhand's David Borland thinks this wagon could be revolutionary in the market.
"We have sold a number of these wagons already, including this one which has been bought by a contractor in Co Meath," he revealed.
Paddy Irish Whiskey sells around 200,000 nine-litre cases across 28 countries every year
US-based whiskey distiller Sazerac has closed a deal to buy Paddy, the fourth most popular Irish whiskey by sales, for a price understood to be 90m.
Pernod Ricard's affiliate Irish Distillers confirmed on May 3 that it had entered into exclusive talks with New Orleans-based Sazerac to sell Paddy.
Paddy will continue to be produced at Irish Distillers' Midleton Distillery following the sale, alongside the group's other big brands including Jameson and Powers.
Pernod Ricard said the sale fits with its strategy to simplify its portfolio.
Sazerac, on the other hand, has been on the acquisition trail.
Earlier this year it bought assets including flavoured whiskey drink Southern Comfort and Tuaca, an Italian liqueur, in a $544m deal from Brown-Forman Corp, the maker of Jack Daniels.
Paddy Irish Whiskey sells around 200,000 nine-litre cases across 28 countries every year.
Its popularity is expected to grow in line with the Irish whiskey industry, which is expected to expand by 100pc by 2020.
Last night Irish Distillers said the sale of Paddy Irish Whiskey had been signed and completed.
The value of the transaction was not disclosed, but papers filed with the Companies Office earlier this year indicate that Irish Distillers had placed a 90m valuation on Paddy as a standalone asset.
Little known here, Sazerac produces a huge range of American bourbon, whiskey-based drinks and cocktails.
The sale follows John Teeling's sale of Cooley to Jim Beam for $95m in 2011, C&C's sale of Tullamore Dew to William Grant as part of a 300m deal and Bushmills' sale by Diageo to tequila-maker Jose Cuervo.
It's "inevitable" that Irish distribution giant DCC will eventually make an acquisition outside Europe, but chief executive Tommy Breen said he won't commit to a timeline or any particular geography.
"Energy is the most obvious area that you'd say there'd be opportunity for us to expand outside of Europe, but there may be other businesses as well where that will happen," he said.
"It's not a strategic priority that we say we want to be operating outside of Europe by the end of this year or next year - that would be a mistake.
"We've already started seeing opportunities elsewhere and we'll wait until we think the time is right," said Mr Breen.
Last year, DCC paid 464m to buy French gas firm Butagaz from Shell, and 106m to buy Esso's unmanned petrol stations in France.
Mr Breen was speaking as DCC - whose activities stretch from the distribution of fuel, healthcare and technology to the operation of service stations across Europe, as well as waste management - reported record profits for its financial year ended in March.
Operating profit soared just under 36pc to 300.5m (383m), while revenue was unchanged at 10.6bn (13.5bn). Excluding its energy division, revenue was 3.5pc higher at 3.08bn (3.9bn).
DCC is the largest supplier of home heating oil in the UK, and also owns unmanned petrol stations in countries such as France and Sweden. It also operates about 40 motorway service stations in France.
DCC has also agreed to buy 139 forecourts in Denmark, where it already has a presence.
Operating profit at the energy unit rose 72pc last year to 205.2m.
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Mr Breen said that the company has examined how a potential Brexit could impact the firm, but doesn't believe it will have much of an effect.
"We think there'll be very limited direct impact," he said. "We operate in a number of European countries, but we don't physically trade across borders."
He pointed out that in its energy division, for instance, DCC buys product in each country in which it operates, to sell in each country.
On the technology side, mostly it buys product "in-country" to sell on in each jurisdiction.
"The bit that's more difficult is how much uncertainty and how much volatility it would bring," said Mr Breen.
"If that transpired, we're going to see some impact from that, but there's not a lot we can do about it."
News / Local
by Stephen Jakes
Matabalelenad South Senator Bheki Sibanda has accused the government of always considering the universities and schools development programmes for Gwanda lastly after other areas have been prioritized.Speaking in parliament, Sibanda said if they were to do a second round of universities, can we start with Gwanda because people were not happy to be always the last."Secondly, I believe that we must prepare fertile ground work in order to ensure that the engineering you have been talking about is realised in Matabeleland South," he said. "The reason I am saying this is because I recently did a survey to establish the number of schools that have science facilities in one constituency and realised that there are only two schools out of about 15 schools that have adequate science facilities."Sibanda said what that means is that they were establishing an Engineering Faculty in an area where science education is non-existent."So I am urging you as the Minister of Secondary and Tertiary Education to ensure that we have secondary schools with science facilities," he said.
States like Britain and Germany have been calling for EU rules to be made more "proportionate" for smaller banks. Photo: PA
The European Union has yet to find a way of tailoring capital rules to smaller banks without making them less able to withstand market shocks, a top banking regulator said.
States like Britain and Germany have been calling for EU rules to be made more "proportionate" for smaller banks to help them grow and lend more to the economy.
While work on this has already begun at the European Banking Authority (EBA), which writes and co-ordinates banking rules across the 28-country bloc, it has yet to finalise its approach. "I would say there are some obvious areas where this can be easily conceived, such as in reporting," Adam Farkas, EBA's executive director, told the Reuters Regulation Summit yesterday.
"But my sense of the mood of the general policymaker community is that the appetite for differentials in prudential requirements is not very strong," Farkas added.
The challenge for regulators is how to fashion simpler rules to different parts of the banking system, with size not always the obvious yardstick, he said.
"I am deliberately not using the notion of size as the only measure because we did have major issues in the European banking system with small banks," Farkas said.
In Spain, problems at relatively small lenders ended up crippling the system and requiring an EU bailout.
"What we are trying to think of is how would you design proportionate rules to different types of banks in Europe without undermining the prudential standards," he added.
Regulators are struggling to balance regulation rushed through since the financial crisis with the current need to encourage more lending. (Reuters)
Ireland, owed $264bn, is just behind the Cayman Islands, which is owed $265bn
Ireland has emerged as America's fourth-largest creditor behind China, Japan and the Cayman Islands after the US government revised the way it reports the figures.
Funds registered here, mainly it's thought in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), were owed $264.3bn (233.14bn) in so-called Treasuries, US government bonds, at the end of March.
That figure is down slightly since December.
China is the biggest holder of the US bonds with a $1.24 trillion stake.
Japan is next with $1.14 trillion, followed by the Cayman Islands with $265bn and then Ireland.
Ireland's total holding is bigger than the size of the economy.
But that is explained by the large number of fund managers and other companies based here.
"It's all just foreign banks, funds and corporates based here," said Owen Callan, a fixed-income analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald in Dublin. "It's probably linked to offshore mutual funds administered here or offshore-retained earnings of US multinationals."
More than 700 US companies are domiciled in Ireland, employing 140,000 people, according to the American Chamber of Commerce. And of the $1.62 trillion held by global funds administered in the nation, $337bn is in government bonds including Treasuries, data from Bank of Ireland shows.
The US Treasury Department released details of the bond holdings among the countries in OPEC and the Caribbean, dropping its practice of grouping them together, in response to a Freedom-of-Information Act request submitted by Bloomberg News.
Analysts track overseas demand for Treasuries because investors from outside the US own 47pc of the $13.4 trillion debt market, the biggest in the world. (Bloomberg)
The Supermac's snack box and curry chip could be on their way to China, Abu Dhabi and the streets of Tokyo.
However, before the Galway firm expands to Asia and the Middle East it has to win a Europe-wide brand war with fast food giant, McDonald's.
Earlier this year, McDonald's successfully opposed Supermac's plans to sell its snack box in the UK and Europe by blocking the firm securing a European trademark for its fast food products.
The decision allowed the firm to use its brand but not to use it to sell its products.
Supermac's had already confirmed its intention to appeal the decision and yesterday was the deadline for Supermac's to lodge its appeal documents.
However, instead of lodging the appeal Supermac's has withdrawn the appeal and lodged a fresh trademark application with the EU Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM)
Yesterday, Supermac's boss Pat McDonagh said: "I am very confident that this application will be successful. There is no reason why it shouldn't be.
"The ruling earlier this year wasn't logical in that allowed us to use the Supermac's brand but not allow us to use the brand to sell what we make."
He added: "We learned a lot from the last application and in order to put that into effect, we thought it better to reapply and discard the appeal."
Mr McDonagh said that the new application will have more focus on the products for which that Supermac's wants the trademark.
Mr McDonagh admitted that there may not be a decision from the OHIM for one year.
This means that McDonald's has blocked Supermac's overseas expansion plans for at least two years.
Mr McDonagh said that he has received six requests from people looking to set up Supermac's franchise operations in the UK, Eastern Europe, Abu Dhabi, China and Tokyo in the last couple of months.
He said that before he proceeds with the international franchisee operations, he wants to obtain the trademark for Supermac's fast food products in Europe.
He said: "Our plans are to open in Europe first and then further afield."
In January, the OHIM upheld the arguments by McDonald's that the use of the Supermac's brand when selling fast food would create confusion among the public across the EU outside Ireland between the firm's fast food products.
In opposing the Supermac's application, the American fast food giant was seeking to protect its registered trademarks around 'McDonald's', 'McFish', 'McMuffin', its 'McNuggets', 'McWrap' and other McDonald's products.
More than 300 workers are facing job losses at major pharmaceuticals plants in Clare and Tipperary, many of them highly-skilled and long-serving.
All 240 jobs are set to go in Clarecastle, Co Clare, as a result of the phased closure of the Roche pharmaceutical manufacturing plant after efforts to sell the plant were unsuccessful.
The facility, located close to Ennis and Limerick city, has been in operation since the early 1970s and has been a significant employer in the region.
Swiss drugs giant Roche announced that the facility could shut last November, following a review of its global operations, but had sought to sell the operations in a move that might have minimised the job losses.
That effort was unsuccessful however, and the staff were told of the planned closure yesterday.
The Clarecastle site is cancer specialist Roche's only manufacturing plant here.
It is used to manufacture pharmaceutical ingredients used in medicines made at Roche facilities elsewhere.
Shocked workers heard how a deal to sell the plant to a major pharmaceutical company, understood to be Panther, could not be finalised and that, as previously announced on November 12 last, the company will exit the Clarecastle plant.
"Following a rigorous examination, negotiations for the transfer of the Clarecastle manufacturing site to a global pharma services company have ended without an agreement," a company spokesman said.
Production at Clarecastle will cease on a phased basis, which is estimated to be completed between 2018 and 2019, when Roche will exit the site, they said.
Local Fine Gael TD Joe Carey said: "The workforce is shocked, as are management, because there had been negotiations ongoing with Panther for some time and all the vibes in recent weeks were very positive."
Clare Fianna Fail TD Timmy Dooley (below) has expressed shock at the announcement.
"I'm deeply shocked at the news. I had met with senior management over the past few months and the expectation was there would be a positive outcome to negotiations.
"Indications were pointing in that direction which is why I'm very, very surprised."
Meanwhile, in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, 130 jobs are at risk following the appointment by the High Court of a provisional liquidator to Suir Pharma Ireland Ltd.
It has been making generic medicines for approximately 40 years in the town, but is insolvent and is to be wound up.
At the High Court on Tuesday, the company cited sustained and irreversible losses of 4.9m during the 15 months before March 2015, and a large drop in sales in the US market late last year, for its difficulties.
It projects further losses in 2016 and 2017.
The court heard its parent company, Saneca Pharmaceuticals, which bought the business last year, was not willing to fund the company, leaving no other option but to apply to the court for the appointment of a provisional liquidator.
Mr Justice Michael Twomey appointed Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton as provisional liquidator of the company.
At yesterday's launch, INM Chief Executive Robert Pitt told marketing executives that their clients need to have their brands advertised in print.
Print ads have driven a quarter of all sales delivered by media, according to new research.
And every 1 spent in print advertising returns up to 39 for the retail sector, according to the research commissioned by Independent News & Media in conjunction with Ignite Research.
To establish how important the print channel was in the overall marketing mix, INM commissioned an Econometrics study which spanned three years of research across 20 million data points.
The data, launched at a breakfast briefing for executives and agencies yesterday, shows that the print channel continues to be a pivotal element in the marketing mix, despite the rise of digital, delivering a significant return on investment across all key sectors.
At yesterday's launch, INM Chief Executive Robert Pitt told marketing executives that their clients need to have their brands advertised in print.
"If you're not in print, and you're not in print with a strategy that goes across digital media as well, and other channels, you're letting your customer down," Mr Pitt said.
Key findings from the research include:
Print advertising drives 25pc of all sales delivered by media.
Print advertising also acts as an influential conduit driving customers to other channels.
On average, 10pc of landing page visits are delivered by print advertising.
Print advertising returns up to 39 for every 1 spent for the retail category.
In the retail sector, print advertising is up to 1.5 times more effective than radio advertising in delivering return on investment.
Print advertising is up to twice as effective as TV advertising in delivering return on investment in the automotive sector.
38pc of test drives in the motoring industry are as a direct result of print advertising.
Print advertising returns up to 35 for every 1 spent in the travel sector.
Every 1 spent in print advertising returns up to 8.10 for the finance industry.
About a fifth of travel sales are achieved through print advertising.
INM also yesterday launched its new Customer Research Strategy, carried out in association with Amarach Research, based on more than 13,000 face-to-face interviews with newspaper buyers, at the point of purchase, over the past 12 months.
It's thought to be the most comprehensive research project that has been carried out to date into the media industry in Ireland.
In terms of the INM titles, the research found that readers spend 70 minutes reading the Irish Independent and 101 minutes reading the 'Sunday Independent' against an industry average of 66 minutes.
And 83pc of Irish Independent newspaper readers said they buy the paper as often as they ever did.
The research also found that readers score INM's magazines and supplements between 70pc and 90pc for relevancy.
Karen Preston, Group Advertising Director, said deeper customer insights enable INM to produce better products for its readers.
"In recent years much of the conversation around print has been about its decline, however this extensive research demonstrates that the print channel plays a significant role in the marketing mix and cannot be underestimated in any manner," Ms Preston said.
A lifelong Rolling Stones fan got more satisfaction than expected when he was surprised by the rockers at an exhibition about the band.
Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts met tourist Alex Emanuel as he was visiting Exhibitionism at the Saatchi Gallery in London.
Mr Emanuel, who was visiting from New York, exchanged handshakes and hand slaps with the band after he received a tap on the arm in the show's Recording Gallery.
Afterwards, he said: "It's going to sound silly but for a moment I thought I was a member of the Rolling Stones. It's not every day you get to meet your idols."
He added: "I said to Keith, 'I'm a bass player - let's jam?' And Keith said in his rasping voice, 'Well all right, let's jam'. I really think Keith was ready to play!"
The committed fan, who was taken on trip to the capital by visitlondon.com, visited other Rolling Stones landmarks during his visit, including Edith Grove, Chelsea where the band lived together, Regents Sounds in Denmark Street where they cut their first albums, the 100 Club where they played an impromptu gig in 1982 and Olympic Studios where Sympathy For The Devil was recorded.
Mr Emanuel said: "Liverpool has The Beatles, Memphis has Elvis, The Rolling Stones are London.
"The Stones have been with me all my life so to visit Exhibitionism in London was fantastic. The show has given me a unique glimpse of the city through the eyes of The Rolling Stones."
Exhibitionism includes original stage costumes, rare instruments and lyric books, backstage and touring paraphernalia, album art, photography, stage designs, personal diaries and never before released audio and behind-the-scenes footage.
It is open until September 4.
As EastEnders fans bid a sad farewell to soaps ultimate matriarch, Peggy Mitchell, Tanya Sweeney looks at other strong women who commanded our attention on the small screen over the years...
Was there ever as bold, bleached and brassy a landlady in the East End as Peggy Mitchell? She may have been about 5ft tall, but if you incurred the wrath of the EastEnders matriarch, there was always hell to pay. Lots of it.
Last night, millions of soap fans bade an emotionally-charged farewell to the indomitable East End institution, amid rather teary scenes. And rightly so, for as characters go, the soap matriarch is the centre point of any good soap.
Scratch the surface and youll find that, much like bad boys, shock pregnancies and forbidden affairs, soap history is positively littered with brilliant alpha females who wont let any disaster, from helicopter crashes to wayward husbands, get them down
1. Peggy Mitchell Eastenders, played by Barbara Windsor
Expand Close Peggy Mitchell (played by Barbara Windsor) as the beloved former Queen Vic landlady said goodbye to Albert Square for the final time, taking her own life in a heartbreaking scene. / Facebook
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Barbara Windsor as Peggy Mitchell
As soon as she shimmied on screen in 1994, EastEnders viewers knew that an icon was being born in front of their very eyes. Though Peggy was played briefly by Jo Warne back in 1991, Barbara Windsor took up the reins and was a Queen Vic fixture for decades. As the only woman who could keep her sons, the notorious Mitchell brothers, in check, she needed an iron will (and a serious pair of lungs).
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2. Ena Sharples Coronation Street, played by Violet Carson
Expand Close File photo dated 02/12/87 of Victoria Wood (centre) playing the role of Ena Sharples in a Coronation Street sketch for a special edition of Victoria Wood - As Seen on TV, alongside Julie Walters (left) and Lill Roughley.PA/PA Wire / Facebook
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Whatsapp File photo dated 02/12/87 of Victoria Wood (centre) playing the role of Ena Sharples in a Coronation Street sketch for a special edition of Victoria Wood - As Seen on TV, alongside Julie Walters (left) and Lill Roughley.PA/PA Wire
Ena Sharples (centre)
With her ubiquitous hairnet, Ena was to the Rovers what Peggy was to the Queen Vic a hardy, mouthy part of the furniture. Ena could be relied on to provide piercing commentary on Corries other residents. Alas, her departure was not at all dramatic; Ena merely went to stay with a friend while her flat was being renovated in 1980. The rest of her storylines had to be scrapped as Violet Carson was too ill to reappear.
3. Carla Connor Coronation Street, played by Alison King
Where some soap matriarchs shouldered their familys myriad woes with nary a groan, sultry Carla gave as good as she got. Whether she was Carla Connor, Donovan, Gordon or Barlow, Carla was referred to as the new Elsie Tanner and as such was afforded a slew of juicy storylines. Among them: marriage breakdowns, being held hostage in her own factory, drink driving, a suicide attempt, a gambling addiction, a crash, fires and finding out the identity of her real father. After all that action, Carla is about to depart the cobbles, hopefully for a quieter life. Its been emotionally draining, King is quoted as saying. You dont say.
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4. Deirdre Barlow Coronation Street, played by Anne Kirkbride
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Deirdre Barlow (or Hunt, Langton or Rachid) is herself no stranger to an outlandish storyline (who can forget the Free Deirdre Rachid campaign that went viral back in the day?). And much like Peggy Mitchell, Deirdre had to contend with her firebrand daughter Tracy down the years.
Tributes poured in for Anne Kirkbride when she died in 2015 after battling cancer. Suitably, Deirdre was played out of the soap in grand style with her own farewell storyline and emotional funeral.
5. Anna Windass Coronation Street, played by Debbie Rush
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From 2008, Anna has picked up the matriarch mantle and also had a wayward son, Gary, to deal with. Poor Anna has run the emotional gamut already: there has been the adoption of Faye, the rocky relationship with her husband, bankruptcy, an ongoing, weapons-grade feud with the Platts, and being blackmailed into sex by Pat Phelan. Someone get that woman a cuppa.
6. Pippa Fletcher Home and Away, played by Vanessa Downing and Debra Lawrance
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Debra Lawrence as Pippa
So good they cast her twice: Vanessa Downing played the loving foster mum from Home and Aways opening episode in 1988, until viewers tuned in to see that Pippa had changed entirely in 1990 (Downing suddenly quit the show).
Lawrance had played the Summer Bay staple on and off since then, until 2009. And in those two decades, Pippa provided a shoulder to cry on for dozens of wayward teens in Summer Bay. Every town should have one.
7. Irene Roberts Home and Away, played by Lynne McGranger
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While Irenes introduction into the soap was less than positive (she was an alcoholic who was violent towards her three children), Irene soon turned a corner, and became the soaps classic Aussie battler. The character underwent a massive transformation, from the towns antagonist to a wryly humorous woman with a heart of gold. One of soaps true diamonds in the rough.
8. Madge Bishop Neighbours, played by Anne Charleson
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Ramsay Street was divided into two factions: the Robinsons and the Ramsays. Heading the charge against Jim Robinsons clan was the indefatigable Madge Ramsay, later Bishop. Madge died in 2001 from pancreatic cancer, while Anne Charleson gained Irish citizenship status and went on to star in a number of productions on the Irish stage, including, in 2012, Steel Magnolias.
9. Rita Doyle Fair City, played by Jean Costello
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Weve all known Irish mammies who can handle anything and anyone, but Rita Doyle has put them all in the Hapenny Place. Bellas wife (and mum to Suzanne, Yvonne and Darren) died in a nursing home in 2010 after her daughter Yvonne granted her do not resuscitate wish. Like her character, Jean has also suffered from ill-health, bouncing back from two strokes of her own and a battle with cancer.
On leaving the soap in 2010, Jean said: Ill try other things. Id love to do theatre again. Ill miss the money from Fair City, though. It was 23 years on a good weeks wages.
10. Patricia Hennessy Red Rock, played by Cathy Belton
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Soapland has been crying out for a new matriarch for ages, and Red Rocks Patricia Hennessy does not disappoint. Giving new meaning to the term Machiavellian, Patricia runs a number of local businesses and properties in the Red Rock area now that her husband has died. Her rivalry with Bridget Kiely (played by Denise McCormack), and her fierce devotion to her troubled children Claire, Michael and David are the things that keep her going. Cross her, in other words, at your peril.
11. Biddy Byrne Glenroe, played by Mary McEvoy
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Biddy Byrne was a formidable woman who knew her way around a farm and spoke her mind, and she and husband Miley were the poster people for rural Ireland well, until Mileys roll in the hay with Fidelma.
Popular as Biddy and Miley were, things werent quite as they seemed off-screen for McEvoy, who admitted later on that she used to cry every morning before going into work on the RTE soap, thanks to ongoing battled with anxiety and depression. Her character was killed in a road accident in 2000, a year before Glenroe went off-air.
Before joining the sop, Mary had worked at the Department of Agriculture, as well as on her fathers farm in Westmeath. Who said art doesnt imitated life?
12. Pauline Fowler Eastenders, played by Wendy Richard
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Across Albert Square, Pauline Fowler was a sort of foil to bubbly Peggy. Pauline endured more money worries, bereavements and family troubles than any soap character rightfully should. The moment when Pauline found out that Dirty Den was the father of her daughter Michelles baby was watched by over 30 million viewers. Pauline, alas, met a grisly end in 2006 as part of an incendiary murder storyline.
Wendy Richard died of breast cancer in February 2009.
Peggy Mitchell (played by Barbara Windsor) (right) as the beloved former Queen Vic landlady said goodbye to Albert Square for the final time, taking her own life in a heartbreaking scene. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo.
Peggy Mitchell (played by Barbara Windsor) as the beloved former Queen Vic landlady said goodbye to Albert Square for the final time, taking her own life in a heartbreaking scene. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo.
Peggy Mitchell (left) (played by Barbara Windsor) and Pat Evans (Pam St. Clement), as beloved EastEnders' character Peggy said goodbye to Albert Square for the final time, taking her own life in a heartbreaking scene. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo
Beloved EastEnders' character Peggy Mitchell said goodbye to Albert Square for the final time as she took her own life in a heartbreaking scene.
The former Queen Vic landlady, played by Dame Barbara Windsor, took an overdose after breaking the news to son Grant (Ross Kemp) that her cancer had returned and taken a "proper grip" on her.
In a poignant final scene, after smelling cigarette smoke throughout the episode, Peggy hallucinated the return of her former love rival-turned-friend Pat Butcher (Pam St Clement), puffing away in thick pink lipstick and with "earrings rattling like Marley's bleeding chains".
Speaking to her friend, who passed away in the soap from cancer in 2012, Peggy said: "I'm being eaten alive and it hurts and I can't wait.
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"I don't want that to be me, I don't want to be that little old lady in the bed, with people saying, 'Remember her? Peggy Mitchell? She's all skin and bones'."
She continued: "I will go as I have lived: straight back, head high, like a queen."
The ghost Pat remained with Peggy as she took a handful of pills alone, with the camera panning over letters left to her children before a clock stopped to indicate the end of the Square's most vivacious, loved and enduring residents.
Earlier in the episode, viewers had watched Peggy take one final trip to her former pub where sons Grant and Phil (Steve McFadden) tried to convince her to not go through with her suicide.
Pat Butcher you absolute legend ... I hope I look as good as her when I'm dead! #EastEnders LiloDoraAngieBerlioz (@LiloDoraBerlioz) May 17, 2016
Peggy reasoned with them, saying: "It's in my bones and it's in my brain and I'm not going to get any better. I hurt. I'm not able to hold onto myself. I'm losing myself. All my thoughts, they slip through my brain like water."
Phil replied: "You making out it's romantic and easy and simple. It's not just slipping off to sleep. It's horrible. it's terrible and it's cruel.
Lovely Peggy & Pat scene. Reminds me how much I miss Pam St Clement in #EastEnders can we have a heaven spin off please?! @bbceastenders Naomi Rettig (@NaomiRettig) May 17, 2016
"It's our turn to look after you."
Grant was seen leaving the Square to return to Portugal after a heart-to-heart with Phil about his liver cirrhosis, both sons wrongly convinced they had stopped their mother in time.
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Dame Barbara, 78, made her debut in the soap in 1994 and it became the defining role of her career.
She played Peggy full-time until 2010, and subsequently revived the Walford stalwart for occasional appearances.
PAT AND HER EARRINGS OMG #EastEnders Sophie (@sophiehudson_x) May 17, 2016
As the landlady of the Queen Vic, Peggy was much loved for her feisty temperament and her "Get outta mah pub!" catchphrase, although she happily handed over the pub's reins to Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) in her final episode.
Peggy's funeral will see another EastEnders favourite return in the form of Danniella Westbrook, who played her daughter Sam Mitchell, as the family gather along with the soap's fans for a final farewell.
Aw Pat and Peggy im gonna cry #eastenders pamii (@pamii) May 17, 2016
Samaritans can be contacted on Freecall 116 123, by texting 087-2609090 or by emailing jo@samaritans.org
News / Local
by Staff Reporter
A project goal to improve livelihoods diversity and resilience for targeted vulnerable women, men, boys and girls has been initiated in Wards 12 and 22 of Bikita District.Masvingo Mirror reported that the project is under implementation in ward 12 and 22 of Bikita. It targets 500 households with a total of 2 649 direct beneficiaries and 7 511 indirect beneficiaries.The paper said the main objectives cover three main components that cover sustainable access and management of water for livelihoods interventions, food security and income security for targeted households."The main activities for the water provision component is that of dam construction. Two dams were planned for construction and the construction of the first dam, Musvanhi was completed in 2015 and commissioned on 15 April 2016.Construction of the second dam commenced in 2016. The dam is in Nhamo Village of Bikita's Ward 22. Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) were carried out for both dams and Environmental Management Agency (EMA) issued certificates for the projects," reported the Mirror."The programme would like to promote organic farming. As part of its effort, 100 farmers (57 in ward 12 and 43 in ward 22) were invited and attended farmer to farmer crop management trainings. The trainings were on sustainable utilisation of natural resources and organic farming. Use of organic manure was practiced by 80% of the beneficiary households during the 2015/2016 agricultural season.For income security, the project has two main components: Livestock production and Internal Savings and Lending (ISAL). A total of 181 households received 5 she-goats each for breeding and pass on to the other households. An additional 30 he-goats were also distributed to ensure enough she to he-goat ratio is maintained."The project now has a total of 546 individuals (62 men and 475 women) who are participating in Internal Savings and Lending (ISAL). Savings in different groups differ and ranges between 5 and 15 dollars per month. The group that had the highest portfolio by March 2016, inspite of the prevailing food challenges had $780."The goal of the programme is Increased economic and social participation of male and female youth in Zimbabwe. It is under implementation in Bikita, Chivi, Masvingo and Zaka Districts in Masvingo Province and Beitbridge District in Matabeleland South Province. The target group are youths, both females and males 18 to 35 years," the Mirror reported."The programme has three main result areas premised on three main pillars: Improving human conditions; Improving social positions and Creating a sound enabling environment. To address the three, a number of components are covered and these include trainings in business management and technical skills; Social Analysis and Action (SAA); linking the youths with financial institutions."By 31 March 2016, the programme had trained a total of 4 817 youths had been trained in technical skills. Most trainings were in Poultry production, Brick and block Laying, Hair Dressing, Carpentry, Welding and Dress Making. Training is provided by tutors from the Livestock Production Department (LPD), VET, tutors from Mushagashe Training Centre, Masvingo Vocational Training Centre and some trainers from target communities.Practical Training in Brick and Block Laying at Chikofa Primary School in ward 19 0f Chivi District.Another 3 651 youths were trained in Entrepreneurship Development. The training was provided by Empretec, a partner in the programme specifically for business management training.A total of 3 568 youths attended SAA sessions during the same period. A number of issues were covered during the sessions and these include socio-cultural norms that militate against participation of youths, especially female youths, in economic activities. 434 youth and adult peer facilitators were trained to roll out the SAA sessions in the different districts and wards. Community engagement has been seen as key in appreciating the capacity of youths in participation in economic activities.Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ) has been engaged to assist youths with potential with funding for their projects. CBZ covers four Districts: Beitbridge, Chivi, Masvingo and Zaka while Virl Micro Finance covers youths in Bikita. This is an area that is yet to take off with assessments underway in all the districts.The programme has had tremendous support from various line ministries and departments, local authorities and communities that view the programme as a sure way of assisting youths.
Ciara Sheehan in hospital following her shooting last Sunday morning
Church and political leaders have pleaded for illegal firearms to be surrendered in the wake of the shooting of an innocent woman in Cork.
The Bishop of Cork and Ross, Dr John Buckley, and the Lord Mayor of Cork, Councillor Chris O'Leary, appealed for weapons to be surrendered amid outrage over the shooting of Ciara Sheehan (21) early last Sunday morning.
Both issued the appeal amid concern that Cork, traditionally one of Ireland's safest cities, could witness an escalation in the violent crime that has scarred other communities.
Ms Sheehan was shot as she sat in a friend's home in Knocknaheeny watching TV at 12.30am on Sunday.
Gardai acknowledged she was not the intended target of the reckless attack which is linked to a grudge against a family in the area.
She was shot in the neck and throat - and friends revealed that, had the bullet been just one centimetre to the side, she could have been killed or left paralysed.
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Ciara's heartbroken mother, Susan O'Mahony, asked for public prayers for her daughter's recovery in Cork University Hospital (CUH).
The young woman remains in a serious but stable condition after emergency surgery.
"Please pray for her - I'm sorry if this is upsetting," Ms O'Mahony said after posting a picture of her daughter online. "I know it is shocking but this is the reality of it."
Dr Buckley joined with Ms O'Mahony in asking for prayers for Ciara's safe recovery.
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But he also appealed for illegally-held firearms in Ireland to be surrendered.
"I would be very worried," he said. "We don't want the violence that is endemic in other cities to spread to Cork, which has been such a very peaceful city.
"Only in a few isolated instances over the past few years [has there been violent crime]. Gun crime is a most serious development in Irish society.
"I want them to hand over the guns. There is no place in our society for these illegal weapons.
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"We have seen the destruction, sorrow, tragedy and trouble they have created in other cities. We don't want it here."
Cllr O'Leary also pleaded for restraint.
"I would urge them to calm down and take the time to start discussions to sort out whatever issues are involved here peacefully and respectfully."
Gardai have made three arrests over the shooting incident.
A 29-year-old man remains in garda custody having been arrested one hour after Sunday's gun attack under the Offences Against the State Act.
A 21-year-old woman, also arrested on Sunday, has since been released without charge.
Yesterday, detectives arrested a man in his 60s for questioning.
On Monday, gardai recovered an automatic handgun they suspect was used in the attack.
The jury in the trial of four former bankers accused of conspiracy to defraud in 2008 have been sent home after deliberating for just over three hours. Deliberations will resume tomorrow.
Four former executives from Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Life & Permanent (ILP) are alleged to have conspired to mislead investors about the true health of Anglo.
The twelve jurors emerged from the jury room into at four o'clock with some looking clearly flush faced. Judge Martin Nolan assured them that an issue with overheating in the jury room would be fixed.
He told them to go home and return today/tomorrow (THURS) to resume deliberations.
Peter Fitzpatrick (63) of Convent Lane, Portmarnock, Dublin, Denis Casey (56), from Raheny, Dublin, John Bowe (52) from Glasnevin, Dublin and Willie McAteer (65) of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Co. Tipperary have all pleaded not (NOT) guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to conspiring together and with others to mislead investors by setting up a 7.2 billion circular transaction scheme between March 1st and September 30th, 2008 to bolster Anglo's balance sheet.
The prosecution case is that the four men were involved in a setting up a circular scheme of billion euro transactions where Anglo lent money to ILP and ILP sent the money back, via their assurance firm Irish Life Assurance, to Anglo.
The scheme was designed so that the deposits came from the assurance company and would be treated as customer deposits, which are considered a better measure of a bank's strength than inter-bank loans.
The 7.2 billion deposit was later accounted for in Anglo's preliminary results on December 3rd 2008 as part of Anglo's customer deposits figure. The prosecution say that the entire objective of the scheme was to mislead the public reading Anglo's accounts by artificially inflating the customer deposits number from 44bn to 51bn, a difference of 16%.
At the start of day 76 the jury received an index outlining the 545 exhibits that were opened to it during the trial. It also received a laptop, a searchable version of this index on two USB keys and multiple folders from all five legal teams providing hard copies of statements and certain transcripts of conversations.
Sinead McGrath BL, prosecuting, told the jurors that if there was something they wanted to see besides what's in their folders they can ask for it. She said that they were being quite cautious to ensure the jury only get exhibits that were opened to the trial.
The transcripts of telephone calls are also indexed on the list but the jury do not have the audio files as the only certain extracts were played during the trial. If they wish to hear these extracts they can ask and it will be played to them in open court.
On Tuesday the specially enlarged jury of 13 were reduced to the required number of twelve by a ballot which saw one juror excluded. The use of enlarged juries was introduced a number of years ago to manage particularly lengthy trials.
This trial is now the longest running criminal trial in the history of the State.
A deaf man who pleaded guilty to harassing a local doctor and his family for five years has been banned from his native county and ordered to live in Dublin after breaching his bail conditions.
John McGrotty, (65), of St Peters Tcc, Dungloe, stood naked on his front lawn beside the McEniff family, threw nails onto their driveway and made rude gestures to their children during a five year reign of terror, a court has heard
He had pleaded guilty to the offences in Dungloe last week and ordered to stay away from Dr Dara McEniff, his wife Eimear and their children.
But Falcarragh District Court sitting in Letterkenny was told today that despite a warning from the judge last week he had once again threatened Mrs McEniff just two days later.
The court family's baby-sitter Anne ODonnell also saw him naked in his front room.
Gda Dermot Gallen told Judge Paul Kelly he could not say why McGrotty, of St Peters Terrace, Chapel Road, Dungloe, was stalking the family.
In the original charges to which McGrotty pleaded guilty there were up to 35 instances of harassment.
Offences included making rude gestures to the McEniff children, aged 11 and six.
The court Dr Dara McEniff kept a log-book of incidents between July 11 and December 11, 2014 which showed that on different occasions he pointed his finger at Mrs McEniff and walked directly in front of Dr McEniff as he drove through the estate.
Judge Kelly: This family has suffered horrendously since July 2013 almost up to last October. That is way out of the type of thing you might expect.
He added: Its terrible that young children on the way to school are afraid to walk past a neighbours house. That is intolerable.
McGrotty admitted harassing and stalking Dara and Eimear McEniff and their family at Pairc Naomh Anna, Chapel Rd, Dungloe, between July 7, 2014 and December 11, 2014.
He also admitted harassing and stalking Eimear McEniff at St Peters Terrace between August 1, 2013, and July 24, 2014.
Judge Kelly said he was anxious to ensure the harassment wouldnt continue while he awaited a probation report and a victim impact statement.
Mrs McEniff told the judge today that she had been harassed by the accused yet again on Friday last.
She revealed how she was driving towards her house in Dungloe when McGrotty stood in front of her in the roadway and began to shout at her with his fist clenched as a funeral cortege was passing by.
The court heard how McGrotty had now regularly taken it upon himself to direct traffic at funerals even though the local priest had asked him to stop.
" I was really shocked to see him on that road. You had instructed him to stay off the road as it is the road the children's school is on. He got very aggressive and was waving his arms and making all sorts of gestures, she said
"I pulled the car in and put my head down. He walked towards the car and was very aggressive. I put my head down and I saw him at the side of my eye. I moved off and went home. It's about 50 metres from school playground and it was midday," she said.
She pleaded with Judge Kelly to act on the matter as her family had been through a living nightmare for the past five years.
Judge Kelly was told that a sign language interpreter could not be made available for yesterday's court sitting and McGrotty's solicitor Patsy Gallagher said he needed an interpreter for his client to give evidence.
Judge Kelly said however he had made a decision to order McGrotty to live outside of Donegal with his daughter in Glasnevin in Dublin.
He asked that a letter be written by the court service instructing McGrotty of his decision.
"I will remand him on bail for sentencing. I want it made clear to him that he is to leave Donegal and not to come back under any circumstances apart from a meeting with the mental health services. If he is Donegal he will be lifted and remanded in custody," he said.
He adjourned the case until June 14.
CAO application statistics show that the prospect of getting a good job is never far from the minds of applicants. Indeed, in recent years, the Government as well as employer organisations, such as Ibec, has strongly advocated courses in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) as essential for the smart economy of the future.
The STEM courses held little appeal for years but are now regarded as crucial skills in the country's economic recovery. As a further incentive for applicants to put STEM courses on their CAO form, a large juicy carrot was placed on the end of a big stick - 25 bonus points were made available from 2012 to each student achieving at least a D3 in higher level maths.
Bonus points were offered to encourage students to study higher maths to satisfy the needs of the so called "smart economy." The hope was that more of those studying higher maths would apply for one of the STEM courses and we have seen applicants flocking to these courses in substantial numbers.
While there is no conclusive evidence that many applicants who may not be suited to, or even like, these courses have entered them on the CAO form to enhance their job prospects, that would seem to be the case.
In doing so, applicants may not have fully considered their personal career 4AVIP profile - ability, achievement, aptitude, application, values, interests and personality - for the sake of "a good job." They may have been more persuaded by the "pick a profession rather than follow your passion," argument than the "let your heart not the job be your yardstick" perspective.
About 14,700 (27pc) Leaving Certifiate candidates sat higher level maths in 2015 compared with 8,250 (16pc) in the year before bonus points were available. The recently published State Examinations Commission's (SEC) Chief Examiner's report on students' performance in the 2015 exams confirms that many students are over-stretching themselves in higher maths - and probably because of the 25 bonus points.
Far too many students are devoting countless hours of study to a level of maths to which they are unsuited and don't need for their course choices. Many of them drop down to ordinary level at the 11th hour or achieve a below D grade in the State exam. Even if they manage a pass grade to achieve the 25 bonus points, there is strong anecdotal evidence that many candidates lose far more points, by not concentrating on their stronger subjects, than they gain from the bonus points. And, of course, the 25 bonus points only kick in if maths is one of their six best subjects, on which points are calculated.
As a life-long lover of numeracy, who has taught maths at all levels at secondary school, I could never understand the elevated status of "honours maths."
People have multiple intelligences so each and every subject on the curriculum is entitled to "equality of esteem". A candidate who achieves a higher grade in art, economics, French or any other subject should be entitled to the same points as a candidate who scores the equivalent grade in higher maths. I have always opposed bonus points in any subject in the State exams.
As an experienced career guidance counsellor, I have never felt comfortable with this unjustifiable anomaly in the "unitary" points system, which discriminates against candidates not taking higher level maths. All children are gifted and talented. What will we do without our writers, our actors, our musicians, our artists, our dancers, our historians, our philosophers if all our children are persuaded to become STEMmers?
With a new revised grading and points system coming on stream in 2017, it's time to level the playing field, to acknowledge the value and uniqueness of every exam candidate and to abolish the 25 bonus points for higher maths in the Leaving Cert.
Billy Ryle is a guidance counsellor
Darragh Gaskin, 13, from Johnstown, holding Sophie the giraffe during circle time with fellow first year students from St Marks Community School, Tallaght, Dublin. Photo: Caroline Quinn
Schools almost out and everyone involved will be looking forward to the break. The year will have had its stresses, tensions and conflicts and some teachers may well be reflecting on ways to make it all a lot easier next year.
Many schools, both primary and post-primary, now engage in what is known as restorative practice (RP), a philosophy and skillset that focusses on building a sense of community and managing conflict by modelling positive behaviour.
Restorative practice can be employed in any relationship, and in any setting, to help people empathise with others, reflect on solutions and work out routes to them. In schools, it can support pupil teacher relationships, behaviour management and conflict resolution.
Michelle Stowe, a teacher of English and Spanish, was introduced to the concept through a community initiative in which her school, St Marks Community School, Tallaght, Dublin was involved in 2010. Now she is a champion of the practice.
As part of her studies for a masters in education, at Maynooth University she did an action research project on restorative practice at St Marks. Currently, she is on a career break, lecturing part time in Maynooth as well as working as an RP trainer.
Her research project involved eight teachers in St Marks, who came together as a group, known as a Professional Learning Community, employing restorative practice and reflecting on the results.
The key message from her study is that restorative practice works.
Stowe says it is about opening up new capacities in hearts and minds and developing a culture of care and respect: RP informs how we think, engage, speak, listen and approach situations, all day, everyday.
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Teacher and trainer in restorative practice Michelle Stowe with toy giraffe Sophie
She uses a range of different approaches for different occasions. One quick and simple RP ice-breaker is checking in with students, at the start of a class, and eliciting quick responses that allow her to gauge their moods. She offers 10 pre-set options, where 10 would be having a great day, down to 1, representing head in bed, in other words: I would prefer to have stayed under the duvet.
This exercise may involve the use of what is known as a talking piece, an item passed between participants, giving the holder speaking rights. It ensures that everyone is involved and has an equal voice.
This teachers talking piece is a giraffe soft toy called Sophie,
a travel gift to her from a friend when she was going on a trip to Africa.
Subsequently, Stowe was astonished to discover that what started as a jokey nod to her own tall stature, had a resonance with her new found passion: the giraffe is known as a restorative animal, as they have the largest hearts of all animals and a long neck that RP practitioners would say enables them to see all perspectives.
I think students may unconsciously find it comforting to hold Sophie while sharing with the group, she says.
The same process can be used for a variety of classroom conversations, or indeed between teachers, to tackle issues from bullying to poor application to homework.
Restorative practice also makes much use of circle time, where participants sit around in a group, making it easier to facilitate conversation and connection.
When dealing with wrong doing, restorative practice involves a shift from blame to connection, from fear to love, she says.
She adds: It allows us to see in our young students what they may not yet see in themselves. It allows us to offer them a door to their best selves..
Stowe cites the Babemba Tribe of South Africa who, she says, live their restorative values in community, even when, and perhaps especially when, someone has caused harm. They gather around them in a circle and remind them of something good they have done; a genuine reason why they like, love or value them, reminding them of their worthiness.
Based on her findings, Stowe is satisfied that the implementation of restorative practice does improve relationships.
It promoted empathy and encouraged teachers and students to work together. It developed emotional literacy skills among the participants, who gained a sense of ownership over behaviour.
She also found a change in approach to misbehaviour and evidence that improved relationships often had a positive impact on the work ethic in a classroom.
And, she says, teachers enjoyed working as a solution-focussed community: It helped to reinvent and enhance their best practice through the sharing of ideas.
Stowes findings appeared recently in The Journal of Mediation & Applied Conflict Analysis, published by The Kennedy Institute, Maynooth University. Named after the late US Senator Edward Kennedy, who played a key role in the Northern Ireland peace process, it is a centre of expertise for building capacity for constructive approaches to conflict at all levels in society.
Among the courses it offers is a part-time post-graduate certificate in conflict resolution in education, which includes a module on restorative practice.
To learn more about Michelles methods or get in touch, visit mstowerp.wordpress.com; connectrp.ie; or email her at michellestowe@connectrp.ie
What the teachers say about RP...
Michelle Stowe used a series of quotes from teachers to illustrate her findings about the impact of participation in the project on their practices, their relationships with students and the potential for wider school change. Here is a selection of their reflections:
During the circle is the only time I see them really listen and respect one another
The jokers seem to sense importance in work. I'm starting to get through, I got 26/30 essays
We were both expressing our needs in a positive, calm manner; knowing the right RP questions allowed me to respond in this way
It certainly forces you out of autopilot
I am a dictator, I'm reflecting on the teacher I want to be, I am going to change this
I'm integrating circle idea to all my practices now
If they (teachers) have no control and no discipline problems then they may not be bothered
Some teachers are not comfortable with it. They may feel vulnerable
News / Local
by Stephen Jakes
Harare Residents Trust has claimed that the suspended Mayor of Harare Councillor Bernard Manyenyeni has not received the full support of his fellow councillors because the majority are;The trust said during the discharge of his Mayoral duties, the Councillors claim that he never valued their input, and would usually announce things during meetings, which made the majority of them feel marginalised."Like his predecessor before him, he relied too much on other people outside the council system to make important decisions. The Mayor position is ceremonial, and has been rendered powerless through the Urban Councils Act," said the trust."The HRT however believes that the suspended Mayor was far much better from the previous Mayors in terms of his availability to different stakeholders. He was very good with; engagement of stakeholders, and the HRT enjoyed good access to his office to share concerns, make suggestions, and also get updates on developments in the Council. The only shortcoming was the secretive approach to public interest issues."The trust said the Mayor managed to steer the exit of the former Town Clerk working with all parties involved."This was very necessary and timely done. Councillor Bernard Manyenyeni was very reliable when it came to attending meetings organised by residents. The decision of the Minister to suspend Mayor Manyenyeni was wrong, harsh and ill-advised," said the trust. "None of the serving Councillos must feel safe from the receiving the same treatment, and the HRT urges the Councillors to make policy decisions to raise these issues through their Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe (UCAZ) and other official processes so that they are not left vulnerable to ministerial directives."
Wendy Doherty and her son Tyler (10), from Lucan, place flowers in memory of their mother and grandmother Colette Doherty and her unborn child at the 42nd anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. Photo: Damien Eagers
The families of 33 people killed in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings are still demanding justice, more than four decades after the atrocity.
Wendy Doherty was just shy of her second birthday as she was walking home with her pregnant mother on Dublin's Talbot Street when a car bomb exploded, killing her mother Colette and her unborn sibling who was due to be born two days later.
Miraculously, Ms Doherty was left relatively unscathed when she was found afterwards wandering the streets in a daze by a fireman.
But 42 years later, she and other families of the deceased and of the 300 injured in the single worst atrocity of the Troubles are still looking for answers. No one has ever been held accountable for setting the three car bombs in Dublin, and a fourth in Monaghan town 90 minutes later, that indiscriminately killed victims ranging in age from five months to 80.
Speaking to the Irish Independent yesterday, Ms Doherty said: "I'm one of the lucky ones, thank God, I have no recollection of it."
The Government has said it is committed to pressing Britain into giving an international judge access to files on the atrocities.
Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan, who attended a wreath-laying ceremony at a memorial on Talbot Street yesterday organised by Justice for the Forgotten, said he would continue to demand the original police and security papers be opened.
"The Government will continue to actively pursue this objective, and we have made it a commitment in the new Programme for Government," the minister said.
A floral tribute on behalf of U2 was left at the memorial with the note: "Justice for the Forgotten. To all the victims and their families. In our thoughts and prayers on this day."
The Cabinet yesterday gave the go-ahead to the HSE to begin a process which could see it use its powers for the first time to enforce a cut in the price of some drugs in around three months
Drug companies are continuing to hike up the cost of several medicines in Ireland despite industry claims that prices are now at a European average.
It comes as the Cabinet yesterday gave the go-ahead to the HSE to begin a process which could see it use its powers for the first time to enforce a cut in the price of some drugs in around three months.
It follows the failure of the HSE and the Department of Health to reach agreement earlier this month on a drugs prices deal to slow the rate of increase in the cost of medicines between now and 2019.
The current drugs bill is around 1.7bn, but that threatens to spiral by nearly 10pc a year unless some rein on costs is agreed.
Talks on the deal, which began in March, ended in a stalemate earlier this month after health officials insisted the prices being set by the drugs companies could not be sustained.
Under 2013 legislation, the HSE can impose drugs cuts but the process could take around three months because it must allow the manufacturers time to respond.
The threat of unilateral cuts is expected to force the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) back to the negotiating table.
The HSE must make 110m in drugs savings this year through price reductions and other measures such as more use of generic medicines.
That target is now unlikely to be met and the HSE may have to look at other services to make the savings.
Reacting to the threat, the IPHA said it had engaged in good faith negotiations since the end of March with officials on behalf of Government.
A spokesman said: "We have not ended these negotiations. We are surprised by correspondence and Government briefings today.
"We have now asked for meetings with ministers, in the Departments of Health and Public Expenditure and Reform, to discuss the realistic proposals."
The English Ambassador to Ireland has warned that the special relationship between Ireland and the UK could be put in jeopardy if Britain votes to leave the European Union.
The British Ambassador to Ireland, Dominick Chilcott warned the relationship between the two countries had been strengthened from that of wary strangers to close allies through 40 years of working together in Brussels.
He said he feared the two countries could drift apart and issues between the two could become irritants without the steadying effect of the European Union.
As the British Ambassador here I also worry that one of the great benefits of us both being members of the European Union is that over the years we have moved from being rather wary strangers to one another in terms of our governments, our ministers and our officials, to being really quite close allies and partners in the European Union. Through a process of discovery of one another in the working groups and the councils of the European Union over 40 years, he told a public event on Britains EU Referendum at NUI, Galway.
Mr Chilcott said Britain currently had a good relationship with Norway, which is not a member of the EU, but said that relationship takes care of itself without too much attention.
But the relationship with Ireland is not like that. Its a lot more complex, much more rich, its much more multi layered and there are more areas where things might go wrong that need to be put right and putting them right requires trust and confidence and knowledge of one another.
And without the regular contact we have at the moment in Brussels I would worry that over time we would drift apart from each other and some of the things we are able to deal with well today could become issues that become irritants in our relations, he added.
He added that it would be a shame if the steadying effect of the European Union on our bilateral relations were to be withdrawn.
Mr Chilcott also warned that while opinion polls show a very close race between the two camps, No voters were more likely to use their vote.
The research that has been done suggest that people who want to vote to leave, who have been waiting for years for the opportunity to have this referendum to express their view, are probably going to vote as a higher proportion than those who wish to remain, many of whom on the day may not bother or not manage to do it.
They may be less motivated to vote. So even if the opinion polls suggest things are close, the turnout for both camps will be extremely important, he added.
Speaking at the same event, the chairman of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council Prof John McHale said the best case scenario of a Brexit vote would involve a very large shock to investment trade and income.
He warned that any negative impact on the UK was have a strong knock on effect on the Irish economy, with every 1pc decrease in British GDP resulting in a 0.3pc drop in Irish GDP.
He said while Ireland may gain a small amount of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as a result of a Brexit, the lower FDI in the UK would have a stronger negative effect here.
He added that the economic case for leaving the EU was a lot weaker than many UK voters believed.
Rescue workers are continuing their search for a high profile businessman feared to have fallen into the sea as the operation moves into its sixth day.
Search teams have continued their efforts around the Cliffs of Moher in land and at sea operations today.
The missing man's car was first spotted last Thursday evening.
A spokesperson for Irish Coast Guard said searches were "ongoing today".
Rescue workers have vowed to continue to search for the man until he's found.
It is believed that the missing man, who is aged in his 60s, is a legal professional from the Dublin area. He makes regular appearances on radio shows.
Staff raised the alarm on Friday evening after arriving for work at the Cliffs of Moher visitor centre. The man's car had been parked there the previous night and staff noticed it was parked in the same position.
Gardai were alerted and began inquiries in an effort to establish more about the car owner and his movements.
Members of the Doolin unit of the Irish Coast Guard have been carrying out water and shoreline searches, assisted by the Shannon-based helicopter Rescue 115.
Meanwhile, the body of a man has been recovered from the water in a harbour in Co Clare.
The man is believed to have fallen into the water at Liscannor Harbour last night.
Lingerie could be rendered unfit for sale by the smell of pasties, if a bakery opens next door to a high street retailer, it has been claimed.
Greggs is in the middle of a massive fit-out of its first city centre bakery on Royal Avenue in Belfast.
But next door neighbour Bravissimo is cooking up a storm after it objected to having the cafe and budget pasty chain as a neighbour, with concerns over the smell of sausage rolls and pies wafting into the lingerie shop and affecting business.
Mike Tremellen, director of Bravissimo, has written to planners to oppose Greggs' plan, and also believes the bakery should apply for 'change of use' permission to allow the sale of hot food.
The lingerie company has a 10-year lease on the building which it will share with Greggs.
Greggs has an application in for planning permission, but it has not yet been given the green light for the new store.
The pie and pasty chain is rolling out dozens of locations here in Ireland over the next couple of years.
Bravissimo said it has "appointed a planning consultant to prepare and submit our full objections and this will follow next week".
But Greggs suggested that Bravissimo shouldn't get its knickers in a twist.
A spokeswoman for the bakery told the Belfast Telegraph: "We intend to operate the store within the planning approvals already granted.
"As a responsible company we are happy to work with our neighbours to try to alleviate any concerns that they may have about our operations."
In his objection, Mr Tremellen said: "We have a shop floor and stock room directly above the proposed Greggs unit and we are extremely concerned that the cooking smells will permeate into our shop, not only making it an unpleasant environment for our customers to shop in, but making our stock unfir for sale.
"Bravissimo's operation is the retailing of lingerie and clothing made with materials that can pick up odours.
"Our operation is to one side and above the proposed Greggs operation."
He also claims Greggs needs a change of planning consent to allow it to sell hot food.
"Our consultant will contend that given the concerns we have raised that it will be necessary that the council impose a planning condition controlling the sale of goods in this shop to cold goods for consumption... failure to satisfy those policies will lead to refusal of the application," he said.
The locations of the two latest Greggs outlets were revealed by this paper earlier this month, including an outlet at Duncrue Industrial Estate and one at the Kennedy Centre in west Belfast.
Greggs has already opened an outlet at Boucher Road, with two others, as yet unconfirmed by the firm, in Belfast city centre, including the one on Royal Avenue which Bravissimo has objected to.
It opened its first store at Applegreen services on the M2 last April, with others at new service stations soon following.
A manhunt is under way for a gangland thug who is wanted by gardai investigating the brutal murder of Eddie Hutch Snr.
The feared thug, who has over 200 previous criminal convictions, also has a staggering five outstanding warrants for his arrest which have been issued at district court level this year after he failed to turn up for court appearances.
Sources say that gardai have been hunting for the volatile criminal, who is aged in his mid-20s and from north Dublin, for weeks. It is believed he has not fled the country.
The belief is that this individual is in a safe house at an offside location. The expectation is that he will be arrested sooner rather than later, a senior source said.
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Hunted
The hunted criminal is a close associate of two gangsters who were arrested and then released without charge by gardai investigating the feud-related murder of Eddie Hutch Snr.
The innocent father was shot dead at his home on Poplar Row in Dublins north inner city on the night of February 8.
The on-the-run thug is believed to have been part of the four-man hit-team who murdered the brother of Gerry The Monk Hutch in a revenge attack for the Regency Hotel bloodbath three days earlier.
Sources say he is also being investigated, along with one of the men arrested last week, for the murder of Darren Kearns in Cabra in late December.
Shot
Mr Kearns was shot dead in a car being driven by his wife after they left a restaurant on the evening of December 30 last at Blackhorse Avenue.
In both the Kearns and Hutch cases, the BMW cars used by the gangsters were not stolen but were legitimately bought on the internet.
The gangsters then registered the vehicles with false details before the cars were used for the murders.
Immediately after the Hutch murder, the four-man hit-team escaped in a silver S-series 06 BMW which was abandoned at St Patricks Parade.
It emerged that the killers ran from the BMW to a Toyota Landcruiser which had no back seats and all the suspects lay down in the back of the vehicle.
News / National
by Stephen Jakes
Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) has said it has been following with keen interest developments around the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) Bill and welcome the withdrawal of the Bill from Parliament."We hope the withdrawal will result in a better Bill that is not only in line with Constitution but also addresses all the issues raised on it to date. We acknowledge the concerns raised by the Parliamentary Legal Committee (PLC) in their adverse report of the NPRC Bill; and associate ourselves with the issues raised by citizens who participated in the public hearings," said ZPP."The PLC noted that the Bill violates the Constitution in limiting the power of the Commission and reduces it to simply producing a report for the Minister and gives the Minister power to interfere with the Commission's reception of evidence. The PLC also criticised the Bill for giving the Minister power to second persons from the civil service to the Commission's secretariat and for interfering with the Commission's financial autonomy."ZPP said the majority of the citizens who submitted their views to Parliament during the hearings raised concern with the powers given to the Minister in the Bill which they felt compromised the independence and autonomy of the NPRC."As such we commend government for withdrawing the Bill and look forward to a fresh process with an improved Bill, which takes into consideration observations made by Parliament and citizens. Government is also encouraged to take note of international best practice in particular noting the importance of the protection of victims of episodes of conflict when they give evidence," ZPP said."We call upon government to ensure that further process regarding this be consultative and all inclusive. It is imperative that public hearings of this Bill are conducted as far and wide as possible to ensure inclusivity of even those in remote and outlying areas as opposed to the last process that saw only a few areas of the country scheduled to have the public hearings. It is also of critical importance for the nation to be made aware of the objectives of the NPRC so that the public hearings can be held with minimum disturbance."
Brennans Bakeries have recalled one of their food products as there is a danger the bread may contain pieces of laminated paper.
The product at risk of containing the foreign items is the Brennans Family Pan 800g with a best before date of May 20/16 and with a Code 18
"There is no risk to consumers who may have already consumed the product," a statement from the company read this evening.
"However, given Brennans high standards of food safety, taste and quality, the company is taking the step of recalling the product."
Any potentially affected bread pans have been removed from supermarket shelves by the company - and no other products are believed to be involved in the recall.
Nationwide media advertisements will be placed in order to alert consumers to the product recall.
The company has apologised for any inconvenience caused by this recall but believes that it is "the best course of action, however slight the risk might be".
Anyone who has purchased a Brennans Family Pan 800g Best Before Date 20 May Code 18 and is still in possession of the product can return the product to their local retailer for a refund.
Consumers can also send the empty packaging with their name and address for a full refund to: Joseph Brennan Bakeries, Greenhills Industrial Estate, Walkinstown, Dublin 12.
Consumers can also contact the bakery at 01-4608400 (9am 5pm) for more information or email info@brennansbakeries.ie
Gardai have upped the ante and are warning the Government to discuss pay restoration - or face industrial action.
Despite such a move being illegal, mid-ranking have grown increasingly angry over their conditions and warned they are ready to press the nuclear button and strike.
John Jacob, general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI), said there would be no repeat of the 'blue flu' where gardai called in sick en masse in 1998.
"We know that the blue flu, the public didn't appreciate it. If it's a matter that we are withdrawing labour, we will declare we are withdrawing labour.
"We won't hide behind the blue flu, we will come out publicly and say this is a legitimate protest and this is what we are doing.
"And if there has to be consequences, unfortunately, yes, we'll accept them," he told the Irish Independent.
Mr Jacob has previously said he was willing to go to jail if prosecuted for promoting the withdrawal of labour by gardai.
He said yesterday that the exact form of any industrial action would be a matter for a special delegate conference in June. The ramping up of the dispute came as around 300 off-duty gardai marched on the Dail yesterday.
The group began at Castle Street before walking to Merrion Street Upper and delivering a letter to a representative of Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, demanding she engaged in talks.
The gardai, who marched, dressed in blue to signify their connection with law enforcement, say they have suffered pay cuts of up to 25pc since 2008.
Mr Jacob said gardai decided to march out of uniform yesterday to give members the option of escalating their protest, by marching in uniform, in future.
Further protests are planned over the next three weeks.
He said that the members didn't expect to get 25pc back "in one fell swoop", but to be able to engage in negotiations.
"What we do want, is we want them to sit down with us and to plan when they are going to give it back to us and to set out a time-frame for restoration, because that's what our members want to hear."
Antoinette Cunningham, president of the AGSI, said she would seek the views of members on whatever forms of action they want to take.
She said there was "absolutely" a mood for strike action amongst AGSI members.
"Our people are simply not going to take any more talking, or any more placing of garda pay far, far down below the Government agenda.
"They need to sit up and take notice and this will be a protracted campaign if that is what it needs to be," she said.
Meanwhile, Mr Jacob also said that gardai wanted to be able to negotiate for their own pay.
"We would not want, and we will not tolerate, somebody else negotiating our pay for us and that has been happening heretofore," he said.
A statement from the Department of Justice said the Tanaiste and the department would continue to engage actively with the AGSI and the Garda Representative Association.
It said this would happen "over the coming week" and "will consider the letter received [from the garda protesters] that context".
Government Chief Whip Regina Doherty told a Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting she was not sent an email alerting her to the deadline for submitting a candidate for the position of deputy chairman of the Dail.
Ms Doherty and Justice Minister France Fitzgerald came under fire today for seeking to extend the deadline to submit a candidate for the Leas Ceann Comhairle position.
During fiery exchanges in the Dail, Independent TD Michael Healy Rae said it was disgraceful for the Government to force through a candidate for the position which comes with the same pay and perks as a junior minister.
However, Ms Doherty told colleagues tonight she did not receive an email last week from the Ceann Comhairles office which was sent to the whips of the other political parties notifying them of a 24 deadline for submitting a candidate for the role.
She said after missing the deadline she learned it was her offices responsibility to issue the deadline notification.
Kildare North TD Bernard Durkan and Clare TD Joe Carey are being tipped for the role within Fine Gael
Fianna Fail will put forward Donegal TD Pat The Cope Gallagher and Sinn Fein nominated Dublin South West TD Sean Crowe.
At the parliamentary party meeting, Fine Gael TDs also raised concerns about Independent ministers attending events in their constituency without alerting them to the functions.
Meanwhile, Labour TDs will meet for a fouth day in a row tomorrow in effort to overcome the deadlock surrounding the leadership contest.
The party met tonight but agreement was not reached.
They seven elected members of the Dail have spent this week locked in talks over who should lead the party after the resignation of Joan Burton.
Labour deputy leader Alan Kelly publicly declared his interest in the position but is struggling to find a party member to nominate him for the leadership election.
Brendan Howlin is being urged by party members to put his name forward but is reluctant to enter an election contest.
Developer Harry Crosbie - who has been in a legal battle with Nama - is among individuals who made donations to Fine Gael politician Michael D'Arcy.
The newly elected TD Mr D'Arcy received a combined 10,000 from a number of donors. It was the highest sum received by any politician last year, accounting for almost a third of the 33,870 declared by 16 TDs and senators.
Mr Crosbie is famous for his developments in Dublin's Docklands, including the Point Village. He has a home in Mr D'Arcy's Wexford constituency. Mr D'Arcy last night confirmed Mr Crosbie attended a fundraising dinner he held while he was still a senator ahead of his election campaign. The Fine Gael TD's declaration to the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) states that the businessman was among 10 individuals who donated 1,000 each. "He's in Gorey a good bit and that's how I know him," Mr D'Arcy said of his connection to the developer.
Mr Crosbie has appealed a High Court decision granting a 77m commercial debt judgment to Nama company National Asset Loan Management Ltd (NALM). The judgment order arose from debts and guarantees of liabilities of two of his companies. Last December, Mr Crosbie argued in court that a gross injustice has been done to him, claiming that Nama failed to honour an agreement that certain personal assets would not be part of the judgment enforcement.
He said that while he is liable for the debt, NALM was not entitled to seek an order enforcing the judgment against his Hanover Quay home, along with other family assets.
Asked if he had any concern taking a donation from Mr Crosbie, given his involvement with Nama, Mr D'Arcy replied: "No. The criteria (for donations)are there. I met all the criteria."
Attempts to contact Mr Crosbie were unsuccessful last night.
Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe declared donations of a combined 5,000 to Sipo. Labour TD Alan Kelly declared 2,000, while there were also donations to his party's organisation in Tipperary. Fine Gael Senator Joe O'Reilly listed 3,870 in donations.
Social Democrats TDs Roisin Shortall, Stephen Donnelly and Catherine Murphy each got 1,000 donations from businessman Michael Chadwick, who also gave 2,500 to the party.
Labour Senator Aodhain O Riordain got a 1,000 cash donation from his parents but returned 800 to comply with the rules limiting cash donations to 200.
A FURIOUS row erupted in the Dail amid claims Fine Gael bent the rules after missing the deadline to nominate a candidate for Leas Ceann Comhairle, which has the same salary as a junior minister.
Amid angry scenes, Independent TD for Kerry Michael Healy Rae slammed his fist in fury and accused the Government of disgraceful behaviour.
This is a dirty start to the governments work, Mr Healy Rae warned.
The people of Ireland will not forgive you for this, he added.
The row over the Leas Ceann Comhairle position stems from the failure of Fine Gael to meet a deadline for nominations last Friday.
Fianna Fail nominated Pat The Cope Gallagher, Sinn Fein put forward Sean Crowe and Independent TD Mattie McGrath was also nominated.
However, after the deadline passed, it emerged Fine Gael submitted no candidate.
Raising the issue in the Order of Business, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin and Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams queried why the matter was not being dealt with this week.
A clearly confused Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald sought advice from the Government Chief Whip Regina Doherty, who was sitting directly behind her.
Ms Fitzgerald told the Dail that Ms Doherty sought an extension for the nomination process - which may allow Fine Gael to put forward their own candidate despite missing the deadline.
But Ms Fitzgeralds was forced to withdrew a claim that consent was granted to do so by the Ceann Comhairle Sean O Fearghail.
Mr O Fearghail immediately interjected and told Ms Fitzgerald this was not the case, prompting her to correct the record.
But Mr Healy Rae pursued the matter and suggested Fine Gael was trying to bend the rules to suit the party.
Kildare North TD Bernard Durkan and Clare TD Joe Carey are being linked to the post.
The Leas Ceann Comhairle serves as deputy chairperson of the Dail. The post comes with a salary of 121,500 - the same as a junior minister.
Frances Fitzgerald refused three times last night to express full confidence in Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan.
Commissioner O'Sullivan remained under pressure to explain differences in her public and private stance on whistleblower Sergeant Maurice McCabe on foot of revelations yesterday, leading to calls for a fuller explanation from the garda boss.
The Justice Minister would not give a 'yes' or 'no' answer when asked three times on RTE's 'Prime Time' last night if she had full confidence in the Garda Commissioner. However, a spokesman insisted after the programme that Ms Fitzgerald did, in fact, back Ms O'Sullivan.
Legal documents seen by the Irish Independent show that lawyers for the Garda Commissioner were instructed to challenge the "motivation and credibility" of Sgt McCabe on his allegations of corruption against five senior officers.
It is also clear that the Commissioner did not accuse Sgt McCabe of "malice" in making his allegations - which were otherwise largely upheld by a Commission of Inquiry headed by Mr Justice Kevin O'Higgins.
Ms Fitzgerald said all the evidence she had was that Commissioner O'Sullivan was trying to advance "cultural change" in the force.
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Asked whether that was "yes or no", the Minister said: "That is a 'yes' in terms of her leadership of An Garda Siochana."
Minister Fitzgerald said she could not possibly comment on new documents which came to light yesterday. She said these were partial, and it was impossible to judge their context in light of an inquiry which heard from 97 witnesses, and led to a 360-page report which made no reference to the cited documents.
Asked whether she could express confidence in the Commissioner, if the documents proved to be true and in keeping with the report, the Minister said she could not answer such a question.
Her spokesman later tried to clarify the remarks: "What she was trying to do was give a fuller context on what was happening."
The stance adopted by Commissioner O'Sullivan was heavily criticised during heated Dail exchanges on the issue. Some deputies questioned whether Commissioner O'Sullivan's stance during the investigations was consistent with her recent praise for the whistleblower and her endorsement of the report findings.
Fianna Fail last night said that Ms O'Sullivan must make a full statement clarifying the issue, while Labour said the new Policing Authority may yet have to deal with the apparent contradictions.
Fianna Fail welcomed clarification that Ms O'Sullivan's lawyers withdrew allegations of "malice" - but pointed to concerns about potential differences in public and private statements and said consideration should be given to publishing full transcripts of evidence.
Whistleblowers
Earlier, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said Sgt McCabe "felt he was the person on trial" during "adversarial exchanges" at the Commission of Inquiry.
"It's a very serious matter. It cuts to the heart of how whistleblowers are treated," the Fianna Fail leader said.
Mr Martin and Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams challenged Minister Fitzgerald to speak to Commissioner O'Sullivan (below) and have her specifically deal with this issue.
Commissioner O'Sullivan was heavily criticised by Independent TDs Clare Daly and Mick Wallace.
"She's still not rowing back on challenging his motivation or his credibility. Who in God's name would be a whistleblower?" Mr Wallace asked in the Dail.
Ms Daly said key questions were not going to go away.
"The issue is that the Garda Commissioner's legal team, allegedly on her instruction, attempted to deliberately mislead the commission by entering false information to challenge the motivation and credibility of Maurice McCabe.
"The fact that legal counsel have come out and said the idea to challenge his integrity was their idea and not the Commissioner's doesn't make it any different. It is reminiscent of former Minister Shatter throwing Oliver Connolly under the bus," she told the Dail.
"The Commission was also told that two gardai would give direct evidence that Maurice McCabe was present at a meeting and said that he operated under malice. It was only when irrefutable evidence was presented showing that was false, that allegation was withdrawn," Ms Daly added.
"There is now an immediate crisis of trust and confidence in the Garda Commissioner. Public statements of her supporting whistleblowers have been contradicted by her actions behind the scenes. It is time for this commissioner to go and unless you act, she's going to take you with her," Ms Daly said.
The whistleblower subsequently withdrew all of his corruption allegations against the officers, except against former commissioner Martin Callinan, although he was invited to do so by Mr Justice Kevin O'Higgins.
In his report published last week, Judge O'Higgins found there was no evidence to support the allegations against Mr Callinan.
Sources told the Irish Independent last night that a transcript of the exchanges between Judge O'Higgins and counsel for Ms O'Sullivan clarified the confusion over the use of the word "malice".
Ms O'Sullivan's senior counsel Colm Smyth said his instructions at all times were to "challenge the motivation and credibility" of Sgt McCabe in relation to the corruption allegations.
Integrity
Mr Smyth acknowledged that it was an error on his part when he had said earlier his instructions had been to challenge Sgt McCabe's integrity.
He told the judge that the Commissioner was challenging his motivation and credibility in relation to the corruption and malpractice allegations.
He said the Commissioner had a duty of care to all gardai.
"On the one hand she has Sgt McCabe, who she has a concern for and his welfare and on the other hand, she has a concern for the superintendents, who are under her control and she has to hold the balance," her lawyer said.
Mr Smyth told Judge O'Higgins he had never claimed Sgt McCabe was motivated by malice and "never used the words mala fides".
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has hit out at the practice of people photographing everything on iPads rather than actually enjoying the moment.
In his first major speech since being re-elected as Taoiseach Mr Kenny made an impassioned plea for people to enjoy the arts.
He said Ireland's arts and culture scene was "not as an elegant add-on to what the marketers would call our national offering.
"Rather we wish them to represent us, as the essence of who we are as a still-young Republic an ancient people."
Speaking to a packed Kennedy Centre in Washington where the audience included US Vice-President Joe Biden, Mr Kenny said we live "in a world of spectacle one of instant reaction where our response is published to the world before we have time to absorb never mind reflect".
"In any city, right here in Washington, we see visitors walking around with iPads held up in front of them.
"Instead of living the moment they have outsourced their experience to a piece of technology.
"Instead of seeing with their own eyes, instead of listening with their own ears, they are recording," Mr Kenny said.
"Their action implying that for them the moment precious as it is, already over.
"They are consigning the present to the past, making it something to be revisited at a technological remove before they have lived it in person.
"I believe the arts particularly the Irish arts with their exquisite moments, have the capacity to bring us back inside ourselves," he added.
The Taoiseach said people need to go "back into the dark where we can feel, anguish, grief and joy".
"Where we can regain that sense of self, the self that maybe through the roles we are forced to assume in life, to which we have become a stranger."
His speech at the opening night of the 'Ireland 100: Celebrating a Century f Irish Arts and Culture' was warmly received by the largely Irish-American audience.
It was followed by a 90 minute performance lead by the National Symphony Orchestra and directed by actress Fiona Shaw.
Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin has led the tributes to former TD Sean Ardagh, who has passed away following a battle with cancer.
Mr Ardagh (68) died in the early hours of yesterday morning while surrounded by family members.
He served as a TD in the Dublin South Central constituency for 14 years before retiring from politics in 2011.
Mr Ardagh's daughter Catherine was recently elected to the Seanad where she will serve as Fianna Fail group leader. She announced her father's death on her Facebook page.
"My dad Sean passed away this morning surrounded by his beloved family. We will miss him dearly," she wrote.
Mr Martin described Mr Ardagh as "one of the great gentlemen" of Irish politics.
"He was hard-working, courteous and committed. He was also enormously popular with his colleagues and, of course, his constituents," he said.
"He contested three general elections and was successful in all of them, increasing his vote in every outing and topping the poll with a surplus on his final contest in 2007."
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said he has "100pc support" for Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan.
However, Mr Kenny said that he is "quiet sure" she will clarify why her legal team were preparing to argue that Garda whistle-blower Sergeant Maurice McCabe was acting out of 'malice'.
Speaking in Washington Mr Kenny faced a series of questions over the latest controversy to engulf An Garda Siochana and his new government.
He gave his full backing to Ms O'Sullivan, saying that the only person who really knows what took place during the private hearings of the O'Higgins Commission is Mr Justice Kevin O'Higgins.
Mr Kenny said the Commissioner was "overseeing the most radical change in garda structures since the foundation of the State".
"Obviously the Dail commissioned Mr Justice O'Higgins to compile a report. He is the only person who listened to it all, who sat through it all, 97 witnesses.
"His mandate was to write up a report taking all of those issues into account and his report is very clear, both in the findings for the major personnel concerned, for the victims particularly and specifically in terms of the recommendations to be implemented. Commissioner O'Sullivan is now setting about implementing those recommendations with the Minister for Justice," he said.
The Taoiseach said it was Mr O'Higgins who decided that certain sections of his investigation should be held in private - but added: "I'm quite sure that if the opportunity presents itself the Garda Commissioner will put into the public domain what she's legally entitled to put into the public domain.
"I would make the point that it's a criminal offence to produce any documents relevant to a Commission of Investigation, which in this case were deemed appropriate to be held in private by the judge."
Asked if the current situation was similar to the one which led to the downfall of Alan Shatter as justice minister and Martin Callinan as Garda Commission, Mr Kenny said: "In this case there is a very clear set of findings. The judge is the only person who heard all the evidence, who sat through all the evidence... and produced his report. Nobody has condemned his report. It's a first class report. It's very clear. In particular it's findings in regard to different personalities in there."
Mr Kenny rejected calls for Ms O'Sullivan's resignation, saying all his dealings with her had been "first class" .
News / National
by Walter Mswazie
A TEENAGE girl (name withheld) from Nemamwa is awaiting surgery at Masvingo General Hospital following the discovery of 11 needles in her body, an official has confirmed.The needles are lodged in both her hands and legs and can easily be felt.It remains a mystery how the needles found their way into the girl's body.Masvingo General Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Julius Chirengwa said the girl was admitted to the medical institution waiting for doctors to conduct an operation on her to remove the needles.He said doctors could not tell how the needles found their way into the girl's body."We've a female patient who was admitted to the hospital on Saturday complaining of needles which were inserted into her body."An X-ray was taken on the hands and legs and a total of 11 needles were detected. Doctors are seized with the matter," said Dr Chirengwa.He said surgeons would decide on where to conduct the operation with the options being Masvingo General Hospital or facilities either in Harare or Bulawayo."No-one knows how the needles found their way into her body. It remains a mystery but it's good that the girl will be operated on."The surgeons have a final say whether she'll be operated on at the hospital or transferred but definitely she's waiting for surgery," Dr Chirengwa said.
Mr Biden is understood to be planning a family trip to Ireland at the end of June that is likely to include a visit to Mayo
US Vice-President Joe Biden has said being Irish has "shaped" his entire life.
It was confirmed last night that Mr Biden is to travel to Ireland next month for a final holiday before he leaves the White House.
He attended the opening night of 1916 Rising celebrations in Washington's Kennedy Centre, telling the audience: "I am proud to be descended from Irish immigrants, from county Mayo and county Louth. Being Irish has shaped my entire life."
The event was also attended by several members of the Kennedy family, the US Chief Justice John Roberts, Senator George Mitchell and Taoiseach Enda Kenny, who Mr Biden described as "a man I have come to consider a really good friend".
The vice-president and Mr Kenny both addressed a packed auditorium before a show entitled 'Ireland 100' which was directed by actress Fiona Shaw.
Mr Biden said: "Tonight we celebrate our shared history, in the expression found in the arts and performance. In cascading verse of Irish poets, playwrights and novelists, we see the spirits that were within the tenacious immigrants that came to these shores.
"Throughout the history of both of our great nations it is clear the Irish heart and imagination does not have any limits whatsoever.
"So tonight in celebrating Irelands contribution to the arts we celebrate everything that Ireland has become, everything she will become and everything that she has always been."
He added: "My mother Jean Finnegan said it best. She used t say it to all her children and anybody who would listen. 'You are defined by courage and you are redeemed by your worrying.
"For me, Taoiseach, that's the Irish way. George Bernard Shaw, once said, 'An Irishman's heart is nothing but his imagination'. Thank God for that imagination."
In response, Mr Kenny confirmed speculation that the Vice-President will travel to Ireland next month.
"Vice President Joe Biden, you honour us with your presence tonight and we look forward to having you with us in Ireland.
"Youll see that when we say cead mile failte, a hundred thousand welcomes, we arent kidding," Mr Kenny said.
It is understood Mr Biden plans to spend four days travelling around the country with his family before stopping in the home county of the Taoiseach and his ancestors, Mayo.
It is believed Mr Biden will also trace his family roots in Ireland and will meet with An Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
A primary school principal has told the Child and Family Agency (CFA) that she is very concerned about a transgender process that one of her students is going through, according to a senior social worker (Stock image)
A primary school principal has told the Child and Family Agency (CFA) that she is very concerned about a transgender process that one of her students is going through, according to a senior social worker.
The social worker told a family court hearing that both the boy's class teacher and school principal have expressed concerns to the CFA about the transgender process.
The boy's father has himself completed the transgender process and now goes under a female name.
In evidence at the court, the CFA senior social worker said: "The boy's teacher is very concerned about the transgender process he is going through at the moment."
He added: "He has stated that he wants to become a girl and he likes to be referred to as ***** [girl's name]."
The social worker said: "I have received a report from the class teacher and the school principal to say that they are very concerned in relation to the transgender process.
"They are very concerned as to the reasons why the boy thinks that he may or may not be transgender."
The senior social worker said: "This area needs further investigation."
However, the child's father contradicted the evidence of the senior social worker and said the school "is very supportive" of the boy as he transitions.
The boy's mother told the court that he will "come out as a girl in the next two weeks and be fully changed and fully transitioned".
No age was provided for the boy in court.
The father told the court: "As he is transgender, he has a very high pressure on his mental health, of course.
"Since he was four or five, he was asking why he was not a girl, why he is a boy and why couldn't he change."
The evidence in relation to the boy's transgender process was provided to the court as background material on the boy. The CFA secured a supervision order for three months for the boy and his siblings in respect of allegations of "horrendous" living conditions they endure at their home.
Communications manager with the Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI), Gordon Grehan, said yesterday that the network has received increased calls from primary schools or parents of primary school children.
However, he added that the number of these calls make up quite a small proportion of the contacts received by the network overall.
Mr Grehan stressed that there is no medical intervention for pre-pubescent children at all.
"There is a medical transition pathway for transgender people over 18, but for children, there isn't whatsoever.
"There is a myth that exists of children going through operations changing gender, which does not happen whatsoever," he added.
There were emotional scenes in Dublin Airport this morning as an Irish soldier met his baby daughter for the first time.
Private Thomas Grant stepped off the plane from the Irish Defence Forces' Lebanon mission to meet the latest addition to his family.
Proud mum Sinead Brennan was waiting in arrivals with 10-week-old Baby Sophia Grace, who was dressed in a patriotic white dress with green trimmings to meet her daddy for the first time.
"This is unbelievable," Pte Thomas Grant told Independent.ie, holding Sophia Grace in his arms.
Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Pte Thomas Grant meets his 10 Week old Daughter Sophia Grace for the first time with his partner Sinead Brennan in Dublin Airport after the 51th Infantry Group returned after spending 6 Months on a UNIFIL Tour in the Lebanon. Pic Kyran OBrien Pte Thomas Grant meets his 10-week-old daughter Sophia Grace for the first time with his partner Sinead Brennan in Dublin Airport after the 51th Infantry Group returned after spending 6 Months on a UNIFIL Tour in the Lebanon. Pic Kyran OBrien Pte Thomas Grant meets his 10-week-old daughter Sophia Grace for the first time with his partner Sinead Brennan in Dublin Airport after the 51th Infantry Group returned after spending 6 Months on a UNIFIL Tour in the Lebanon. Pic Kyran OBrien Pte Thomas Grant meets his 10 week old daughter Sophia Grace for the first time with his partner Sinead Brennan in Dublin Airport after the 51th Infantry Group returned after spending 6 Months on a UNIFIL Tour in the Lebanon. Pic Kyran OBrien Pte Thomas Grant meets his 10-week-old daughter Sophia Grace for the first time with his partner Sinead Brennan in Dublin Airport after the 51th Infantry Group returned after spending 6 Months on a UNIFIL Tour in the Lebanon. Pic Kyran OBrien Pte Thomas Grant meets his 10-week-old daughter Sophia Grace for the first time with his partner Sinead Brennan in Dublin Airport after the 51th Infantry Group returned after spending 6 Months on a UNIFIL Tour in the Lebanon. Pic Kyran OBrien / Facebook
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"She's fairly big now, 10 weeks old, she'll be signing up now soon," he joked.
Speaking about the 51th Infantry Group's six-month trip, he said: "It was quiet enough now, no trouble at all.
Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Private Michelle Tarpey with her daughter Grace in Dublin Airport after the 51th Infantry Group returned after spending 6 Months on a UNIFIL Tour in the Lebanon. Pic Kyran OBrien Cpl John Mc Guigan pictured with his daughter Blathnaid (3) and partner Christina in Dublin Airport after the 51th Infantry Group returned after spending 6 Months on a UNIFIL Tour in the Lebanon. Pic Kyran OBrien Private Michelle Tarpey with her daughter Grace in Dublin Airport after the 51th Infantry Group returned after spending 6 Months on a UNIFIL Tour in the Lebanon. Pic Kyran OBrien / Facebook
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"It was hard enough, going back now will be hard," he added.
Mum Sinead joked that Thomas's new mission is to get used to 'daddy duties'.
Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Minister Paul Kehoe Junior Minister for Defence pictured with 51th Infantry Group Commanding Officer Lt Col Brendan Mc Guinness and his wife Dymhna and daughters Alex and Jean and Deputy Chief of Staff Maj Gen Kieran Brennan (right) in Dublin Airport after the 51th Infantry Group returned after spending 6 Months on a UNIFIL Tour in the Lebanon. Pic Kyran OBrien Lft Richard Deegan with his son Logan and partner Louise Devereaux in Dublin Airport after the 51th Infantry Group returned after spending 6 Months on a UNIFIL Tour in the Lebanon. Pic Kyran OBrien Lft Richard Deegan with his son Logan and partner Louise Devereaux in Dublin Airport after the 51th Infantry Group returned after spending 6 Months on a UNIFIL Tour in the Lebanon. Pic Kyran OBrien / Facebook
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"We're absolutely delighted. We just need to get settled back into reality now, back to real life," she told Independent.ie.
"Little madam here hasn't a clue what is going on, she's only interested in her bottle.
"I'd say she'll sleep for the day, and no doubt her daddy will too!"
The crowd cheered as the first few arrivals stepped in through the doors at 6.30am this morning.
Many described it as a "fantastic feeling" to come home.
Lieutenant Richard Deegan was welcomed by his son Logan and partner Louise Devereaux.
Posing for a snap with family, Lt Deehan said it the support from home is appreciated.
"It's an absolutely fantastic feeling to come home," he said.
"It's emotional to see everyone. The troops are out there doing the job and doing it well.
"So it's great to come back and see the support."
Corporal John McGuigan was welcomed by his daughter Blathnaid (3) and his partner Christina, while Pte Michelle Tarpey was saving her big hug for her daughter Grace and fiance Cpl Jeremiah Loughran.
Test Your Drink will allow users to test their drinks for predatory date rape drugs such as GHB or Ketamine.
A new product has been invented that enables people to test their drinks to see if they have been spiked with date rape drugs.
Test Your Drink is a small kit that contains six sheets of test spots that you can dip into your drink to test for common date rape drugs such as Ketamine and GHB.
Both drugs are labelled as "date rape drugs" due to their effect of putting users into a deep unconscious state and disrupting memories.
"The sheets will change colour if a date rape drug is present," explained inventor Gary Bates, when speaking to Independent.ie
"Unfortunately date rape is a massive problem. I have two children in university and they have plenty of stories about fellow students who have had their drinks spiked. That's what prompted the project.
"Since I started the process, I've had so many people come forward with a horrifying story about something similar that happened to them.
"Our message is, 'don't leave your drinks unattended' but if you are worried that something might have happened, these sheets will give you peace of mind."
According to figures from Rape Crisis Network Ireland, around 80 per cent of rape cases occur when women have consumed alcohol.
The products have been successfully tested by the University of Ulster and Mr Bates has entered his company into a competition run by Richard Branson for start-ups, called VOOM.
Winners will have the chance to win a share of a 1m (1.3) investment from Richard Branson.
The Derry businessman said he hopes to win the competition to boost his company's profile and provide funds to make the kit more available to the general public.
In the meantime, he is meeting drinks company Diageo to see if Test Your Drinks can be distributed in bars across the UK and Ireland to raise awareness of drink spiking.
The products will be available to purchase from the company's website, Test Your Drinks, within the next few weeks and will be priced at approximately 1.50 per pack.
Mr Bates, whose family live in Wexford, has another product called Gum Wrap, which is widely distributed in Ireland.
It's a small cardboard pack containing 10 sheets of paper which can be used to wrap chewing gum and dispose of it responsibly to avoid the expensive task of gum removal.
He is currently working with The Gum Litter Taskforce who produce an annual gum litter awareness campaign with Wrigley's in the UK and Ireland called Bin It Your Way.
His Gum Wrap business encouraged him to develop Test Your Drink.
We are encouraging the public to get behind us as a local business and vote for Test Your Drink," he said.
"To do this, simply go to the Voom website (www.vmbvoom.com ) go to Browse Pitches and enter in the search field the name Test Your Drink."
The competition closes on May 23.
Luas operator Transdev has defended its decision to dock drivers a full day's pay if they take part in a four-hour work stoppage next month, saying it wants to avoid a "summer of discontent".
The company - which has already suspended sick pay and cancelled drivers' annual bonus for this year - said it has sought legal advice over pay for "part performance" and will dock drivers a full day's wages.
"We looked at the whole impact of this on the customer and the fact that we have been given strong indications locally that the idea was to just keep going here, to keep serving the company notice of an hour here and four hours [there] which would be a massive disruption throughout the entire summer," a company source told the Irish Independent.
"To avoid this summer of discontent, we have decided to say, 'Look, we're entitled to dock the whole shift rather than just four or six hours of it'."
According to the tram company, the work stoppages will disrupt services for around six hours because trams would not be able to start a journey and be left on the line once the stoppage comes into effect.
In a letter to trade union Siptu, the company said it will "no longer accept part performance of the duties required under employees' contracts".
Anne O'Connell, head of the employment law division at Sherwin O'Riordan Solicitors, said the company was entitled to dock wages from employees engaging in strike action.
"There is a provision in the Payment of Wages Act that allows for deduction of pay in relation to employees that are involved in industrial action," she said. However, she said the company would probably have to justify the extent of the deduction.
However, Siptu has accused the company of "pouring fuel on the fire" of the ongoing dispute.
"It's quite tragic at this stage. Instead of resolving this thing and getting into a space where we spend the next few days in a room hammering out a deal, Gerry [Madden, Transdev managing director] seems to spend more time talking and plotting and planning in relation to counteracting action and pouring fuel on the fire," Siptu organiser Owen Reidy told Newstalk.
He also said the union was willing to talk to the company at "two hours' notice" in a bid to resolve the bitter row over pay for the tram drivers.
Earlier this week, Mr Madden said the absentee rate in the company had risen three-fold this year compared to last year, prompting the decision to cut sick pay.
The rate has jumped from 4.5pc to 12pc, he said.
"The absence calculation has been calculated the same way since the start of operations in June 2004 so the figure of 12pc and the calculation has followed the same formula since the start of operations and we know it is accurate," a spokeswoman said last night.
Work stoppages lasting four hours will take place in June.
Mother and son: Michelle Doherty at home in London with her son Max. Photo: Jonathan Goldberg.
Television presenter Michelle Doherty has spoken frankly about her struggle with postnatal depression in the months following the birth of her son.
The new mum (37) opened up about the difficult months she battled through after welcoming her son Max almost two years ago.
I think I got a bit of a fright to be honest, said Michelle speaking to The Irish Sun.
In the beginning its grand because youre thinking, Im just pure exhausted. Its fine, itll pass.
But further on it went and I was crying more than he was. I thought this cant be right. Youre so sad and so low and you just cant pick yourself back up off the ground. I cant even describe it now, she said.
The Donegal presenter revealed that she put on a brave face at the beginning, for her partner Mark and baby Max.
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I always tried to put on a brave face in front of him, I never wanted him to see me unhappy. But when he would be sleeping, I would be crying. And when hed be back up again, youd put on the performance that everything is fine. I think I fought it for a long time, she said.
Michelle revealed that the stigma surrounding mental health and antidepressants made her reluctant to seek help, but she eventually sought the advice of her GP.
She said, You know youre suffering from post natal. I was in complete denial. I just thought it was baby blues, or that I was exhausted. So she recommended I talk to a counsellor because I wasnt willing to take anti-depressants. By the end of the ten sessions the counsellor was like, Please you need to do something about this.
The new mum admitted the misinformation surrounding anti-depressants made her reluctant, but she took the advice of her supportive GP.
Theres different variations of it. I was only on ten milligrams so it was just to pick me up. It takes about three or four weeks for it to kick in and then you definitely notice them. The doctor explained to me it was a chemical imbalance, so its not forever, its just to pick you back up.
If someone is giving you advice for a reason, dont fight it. Just take the tablets, if they help you. Happy days, she said.
Alan Cumming has put his New York home on the market. Photo: Douglas Elliman Real Estate
The Good Wife star Alan Cumming has put his New York apartment on the market for $2.2m.
The Scottish actor has put his home up for sale for a cool US$2.2 (1.95) million.
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It's not the sort of place we could picture the ruthless and highly-strung Eli Gold living in, Cumming's character in The Good Wife, but we can easily picture the OBE-awarded actor sitting comfortably in the serene, clean space.
The gorgeous apartment located in the super hip East Village district of Manhattan, overlooking Tompkins Square Park and is on the third floor of a redbrick row house built around 1846.
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According to real estate agents, Douglas Elliman Real Estate, the "sprawling four-bedroom, one-bathroom residence is flooded with natural light through triple exposures and enjoys serene park views through an abundance of oversized windows".
The 51-year-old purchased the apartment with his husband, Grant Shaffer, in 2005.
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While the couple implemented a few modern, upgrades, they were keen to keep the apartment's historic details.
"We like those old traditional buildings," Cumming told The Wall Street Journal. "We're not big on sliding glass doors."
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It's decorated with pieces that remind the LGBT activist of his homeland, including a tartan rug in the dining area and a tartan throw draped over the living room couch.
We assume he'll be taking those pieces with him as the units asking price doesnt include furnishings.
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According to Variety magazine, the actor is moving to another redbrick property in the East Village, an Italianate townhouse that he has has extensively renovated since purchasing in 2013.
The couple also has a home in upstate New York.
Cumming was nominated for an Emmy three times for his performance on The Good Wife.
Now, he is shooting the Billie Jean King biopic, Battle of the Sexes.
As Ireland was basking in sunshine last week, these super-sized sharks were basking off the south coast. Literally.
Photographer James McCarthy was testing out a new drone at Caliso Bay, Co. Waterford, when he spotted a group of the North Atlantic's biggest fish.
'When I arrived at the beach I could see the sharks' fins just off the shoreline," he told Independent.ie Travel. "I flew the drone out to where I saw them. Around 12 sharks were split into a couple of groups about 400 metres offshore."
"It was amazing to capture them on camera."
Basking shark were once abundant off the Irish coast, but overfishing has led to their listing by the ICUN as endangered in the Northeast Atlantic.
The sharks are thought to grow up to 10m (35 feet) in length, and can be spotted feeding off the Irish coast from April to August. Last week, several of the animals were spotted from the deck of the nearby Cliff House Hotel in Ardmore.
Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Basking sharks swimming in Caliso Bay, Co. Waterford. Photo: James McCarthy Basking sharks swimming in Caliso Bay, Co. Waterford. Photo: James McCarthy Basking sharks swimming in Caliso Bay, Co. Waterford. Photo: James McCarthy / Facebook
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Basking shark have also been spotted off Cork, Kerry and Clare in recent weeks, although bathers needn't worry. Despite being the world's second-largest fish (only whale sharks are larger), they are docile, toothless and harmless to humans.
It has since transpired that one of the Caliso Bay sharks, nicknamed 'Flowrider', has been tagged and is tracked by the Manx Basking Shark Watch non-profit.
"The drone gives that perspective that we don't normally get, and allows us to see these animals naturally without interfering with them in any way," McCarthy says.
Got any basking shark footage or photos to share?
We'd love to help get the word out on these amazing animals. Send your snaps to Independent.ie Travel via Facebook here, or email travel @ independent.ie.
See more of James McCarthy's photos and videos on Facebook here. To find our more about basking sharks, or report a sighting, see baskingshark.ie.
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by Staff reporter
VICE President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa will headline the list of key speakers scheduled to present at the 6th Buy Local Summit in Mutare.Other key presenters expected to speak at the event to be held from the 8th to 11th of June are Industry and Commerce Minister Mike Bimha and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor John Mangudya.Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa and other key Government officials, private sector leaders and the academia are also expected to participate in the 2016 event's economic discussions.The Buy Zimbabwe annual event, initially been planned for Kariba, has been moved to Mutare to link the summit with partners in Mutare.Delegates to the summit will tour Quest Motors, Cairns Foods and Tanganda Tea Company. The 2016 Buy Local summit will tackle the practical matters that affect "us as a people" and economy in general.Buy Zimbabwe economist Kipson Gundani said Minister Chinamasa, Minister Bimha and Mangudya have on several occasions reiterated the need to embrace local consumption to solve local problems."As the economy is reeling under the burden of import bill induced cash shortages, many questions are being asked in the minds of Zimbabweans on what direction is our economy taking," said Mr Gundani.The 2016 Buy Local summit, dubbed as the "mother of all summits", will see the launch of a Local Content Index, supported by the government.The local content index will be key in shaping procurement and industry policy of this country with respect to procurement regulations, contracting strategies, vendor pre-qualification, technical standards, bid documents, tender evaluation criteria and contract conditions and the government provided incentives among others.The discussions around consumption of local goods this year comes as the country continues to face serious problems regarding the competitiveness of local firms, which has seen the country continue to import.As such, the country's import bill remains unsustainable and too high around $6 billion resulting in a trade deficit of about $2,5 billion.
Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump and his wife Melania. The special relationship between Ireland and the US is becoming more and more significant, and a Trump presidency would not change this. Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Yesterday, the American Airlines flight from Dublin to Charlotte, North Carolina, was jammed. There were five flights leaving Dublin airport for the United States between 8am and 9.30am. The very friendly American immigration official at the US immigration in Dublin told me that 3,000 people travelled from Dublin to the States on average every morning. That's a huge amount of people and, obviously, it only gauges the punters going one way. There must be a similar number coming the other way. He told me that when college term is finished, that figure will go up to 5,000 leaving Ireland for the US every morning.
The majority of people on my flight were US tourists heading home after spending time in Ireland. Americans from all over the US are coming here and they are not just from the traditional heartlands of the Irish North East. In short, lots of Donald Trump supporters, who believe in the right to bear arms, are coming here too.
The special relationship between Ireland and the US is becoming more and more significant and this will not change if Trump wins the election, which looks less remote by the day.
As the US economy has recovered in recent years, we've seen a big rise in the number of Americans coming here. Last year, the US figure jumped by 14.7pc to 659,200 visitors while this contrasts with an overall figure of 11pc growth in all visitors. The renewed interest from Americans has helped drive the total record figure of 3,876,200 visits to the country last year.
Of course, visitors are only one example of the deep bonds we have with the US; the other obvious one is direct foreign investment.
US direct investment stock in Ireland totalled a record $310bn in 2014, according to data from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Ireland's share of US investment stock in Europe has soared over the past decade, with Ireland's share amounting to 11.1pc of the total in 2014 versus 6.2pc in 2004.
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US investment flows to Ireland surged to a record $58.1bn in 2014. Ireland performed strongly within Europe during 2015, accounting for nearly 20pc of total US investment flows to Europe in the January-September period. The comparable shares for France and Germany were 3pc and 2pc, respectively.
Ireland's investment stakes in the US are also significant, with Irish affiliates estimated to have generated some $90bn in sales from their US operations in 2014 and $35bn in US economic output. Whether through rising output, employment, or R&D expenditures - Ireland's local presence in the US bestows a host of benefits to that country.
We are two nations intertwined. Ireland is a significant part of the American supply chain and we have to be aware of that.
Since 2008, Ireland has been second only to the Netherlands in attracting more US investment flows to the eurozone on a cumulative basis. However, the UK remains the king of inward investment, receiving almost one euro in every three invested into Europe.
This fact undermines the notion that the euro is the reason for US and other international flows into Ireland. Obviously, if being in the euro were a significant factor, the UK with its sterling would suffer - but it doesn't.
The reason the US companies are here has little to do with the currency and is more cultural, linguistic and tax-based - and, of course, there is the obvious fact that they have been making money here for a long time and this track record speaks for itself.
And the links are getting deeper. Corporate America does not just produce in Ireland, it banks in Ireland - this is evidence of the profundity of the commercial links between both countries.
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Yesterday, Bloomberg reported that Ireland emerged as America's fourth-largest creditor, following China, Japan and the Cayman Islands, after the US government revised the way it reports the figures.
Investors in Ireland owned $264.3bn of Treasuries at the end of March, based on official data issued on Monday - less than $1bn off a record high of $265.1bn in December. China is the biggest holder of US bonds with a $1.24 trillion stake. Japan is next with $1.14 trillion, followed by the Cayman Islands with $265bn.
How could this be?
The answer is in the IFSC. Corporate America makes profits in Ireland which it doesn't want to repatriate to the US because the companies will have to pay the difference between the Irish 12.5pc corporation tax and the 30pc in the US. Therefore, they choose to keep the money in Ireland and put it on deposit in American banks in the IFSC. They "park" the money in the safest asset they know, which is US government debt. And they do this via the IFSC in Dublin.
So it's not Irish people who are financing the US government. What is happening is that US companies are financing the US State through their Treasuries in Dublin.
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The fact that this huge trade is going through Ireland is something we should note. The benefits of Ireland are small compared to the benefits to both the US companies and indeed the US government, which is being financed by these companies.
In the years ahead, our relationship with the US is going to be deeper. We are not really a European economy but part of the US world game, with a European passport.
If the Brits decide to leave the EU and this undermines the UK as a location for investment (as the official view suggests), then some of the US investment in the UK will be diverted. If this is the case, where will this investment be diverted to? Ireland is an obvious answer.
When we stand back, it is clear that our strongest strategic economic relationship is the one with the US. This will not change whoever is in the White House. Trump talks about building walls and bringing US companies home but in truth he will not be able to get this through Congress, so it will just become another "elite" target to sloganeer against.
He fully understands this, but having permanent "bogeymen" to rail against is part of the Trump strategy. This won't change if he wins office.
As for Brexit, we could win big if it's a vote to leave. But you wouldn't think that from listening to the Government's efforts to agitate for a 'Remain' vote. Not for the first time, Official Ireland has misread the situation.
On behalf of Irish expatriate emergency medicine consultants in Australia, I would like to draw to the attention of Health Minister Simon Harris the ongoing crisis in the recruitment of senior doctors to emergency departments in Ireland.
In the last 12 months, the state of Victoria in Australia, with a population of 5.5 million people, has appointed six Irish university-trained consultants in emergency medicine.
This situation exists in parallel with multiple unfilled emergency medicine consultant posts in Ireland. Recent research has shown that 92 trainee emergency medicine doctors currently working in Australia originate from Ireland.
The consensus among those of us who have worked extensively in Irish emergency departments as frontline staff prior to emigrating is that current conditions in Ireland are untenable.
It is widely accepted that Irish emergency department crowding is worsening, and staff morale is consequently low - with ongoing issues of recruitment and retention of medical and nursing grades.
The longer that Irish-trained doctors and nurses stay away, the more likely they are not to return in the future. The challenge is now before the new Minister for Health, Simon Harris, to enhance the attractiveness of emergency medicine as a fulfilling and sustainable career option in Ireland.
Dr Eoin Fogarty, FRCEM
Victoria, Australia
Relocation - to lovely Leitrim
I attended the 'Leitrim Economic Renaissance' forum organised by Leitrim County Council in the InterContinental Hotel in Dublin 4 recently, and was astonished by what I heard and saw.
Three Leitrim-based companies selling into European, Australian and US markets made presentations outlining their operations to date and plans for the future.
These firms currently employ approximately 600 people and plan to employ several hundred additional workers in the next year.
Another speaker produced figures from a report showing that employees want to work in Leitrim - where they can purchase a home, have easy access to their place of employment, become part of a local community and have their children educated in local schools.
Information was produced showing that Leitrim has affordable accommodation, broadband in the bigger towns and a large amount of top-of-the-range office space and car parking at very attractive prices.
All the speakers referred to the huge loyalty of their staff, and their very low turnover - a very important consideration if you are an employer.
Also, in just over two hours by train you can get to Connolly Station in Dublin from Carrick-on-Shannon. It takes me an hour to get from Blackrock to Dublin's Merrion Gates.
Based on what I heard, employers should consider moving to locations such as Leitrim, where they will benefit from lower employee costs, lower office costs and loyal staff.
You can imagine the benefits - increasing school numbers and the rejuvenation of our towns and communities.
With Dublin bursting at the seams, it makes sense to move jobs there. Move the jobs and the employees will follow. I would like to see a change of mindset so that companies will consider such counties a more than suitable place to set up their business.
Eamonn Duignan
Killiney, Co Dublin
Keeping out of the Brexit debate
I understand that the Irish embassy in London is proposing to hold meetings with Irish nationals living in the UK regarding the coming EU referendum, and that it will be looking to promote the 'Remain' case in these meetings.
As an Irish national living in the UK, I'm disgusted that my country should interfere in the voting of another sovereign state. They would be the first to complain if the UK were to do the same in the Republic.
This action could jeopardise Irish nationals' ability to vote in general elections here if it is deemed that they could exert influence.
I call on my country to step back from such actions - it is unseemly. And, what is more, they have enough problems forming their own government without interfering in others.
John Bergin
Oxton, Wirral, UK
Reports are inherently fallible
All these reports about the whistleblower allegations written by judges and retired judges and other so-called learned people are taken as the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth by the media and politicians alike.
Politicians, being what they are, will never question or disagree with them.
The subjects of these reports are then set upon by the media and politicians seeking clarifications, comments, responses, etc. One example of this is the Garda Commissioner.
The question is - should these reports be taken as gospel? After all, these judges are appointed by politicians.
These reports should be taken as reports presented to politicians by learned people appointed by politicians.
They were produced by people, and therefore are fallible. Politicians, seeing a populist opportunity to look intelligent, then jump on the bandwagon.
Calling for inquiries and reports is a way for politicians to shift a problem away from themselves when they don't want to deal with a situation - or haven't a clue how to deal with it.
They do this with no regard for anyone who might be affected, either rightly or wrongly.
Joe Dixon
Co Meath
A healthy democracy in action
I applaud Boris Johnson for his sincerity and straightforwardness - and at the same time I laud those who accuse him of being a hysterical farce. This is what makes a healthy democracy.
I personally found the Brexit debates to be emphatic, informative and inspiring.
Both sides in the debate are evoking history, transcending cultures and communities and using linguistics as a potent weapon to reach out to wide swathes of potential voters.
This is a genuine democracy: the country will have the opportunity to showcase its democratic credentials, and people will exercise their democratic rights in free and fair elections away from tanks, military personnel and the barrels of guns.
It's a far cry indeed from the referendum on the Crimean annexation, and other elections elsewhere that were marred with shootings, assassinations, detentions, rapes, vote-rigging and electoral fraud.
Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob
London NW2, UK
'IN MEMORY," wrote Tennessee Williams, "everything seems to happen to music." So it proved for my happy, if slightly melancholic, memories of Celia Holman Lee's 50th birthday party in Adare Manor in late November, 2000.
The star of the show was as much the incomparable Patrick Rocca as the birthday girl herself. (It was also Patrick's beautiful wife Annette's birthday that night, her 34th, so it was a joint celebration of sorts.)
I remember later that night in Ted's nightclub in Limerick city to where Celia's party, which went on all night, had relocated a twinkle-toed Patrick and Annette joining Celia and husband Ger to give it designer socks on the dance floor to Jennifer Lopez's Waiting For Tonight.
It was not long before designer Miriam Mone and husband William were doing their moves next to Celia et al on the dance floor. I next saw Celia at noon the following day, back in the bar of Adare Manor with Ger. They hadn't been to bed, and the party hadn't ended.
Nearly 14 years later, Celia Holman Lee is remembering the recent past with fondness and sadness. She becomes almost tearful as she recalls that Miriam Mone and Patrick Rocca are no longer with us they died in February, 2007 and January, 2009 respectively.
"Miriam, to me, was one of Ireland's great designers. It is a pity that her life was ended at such a young age. She would have brought design to a different level in Ireland and, I think, internationally. She was a fabulous woman and a great friend. She is desperately missed so is Patrick," says Celia.
"Jesus, it is so sad. Patrick was so wonderful. I think that's why myself and Ger and Patrick and Annette got on so well, because we just had the same ideas about life, about people, about loyalty, about friendship. I am still great pals with Annette.
"Ger and I had great times together with her and Patrick. They were one of the ultimate great couples of Irish life."
Indeed, so are Celia Holman Lee and Ger. They have been together "longer than I care to remember", says Celia with a laugh. "Despite our rows," she continues, "and you've seen us row a few times over the years, we love each other like crazy. That has never stopped and it never will. Nothing has ever come between us." Though some have tried, albeit in light-hearted jest...
I remember at the aforementioned 50th birthday party in County Limerick, Celia telling me that the proprietor of Adare Manor, Tom Kane, had rung Ger and Celia from his home in America to pass on birthday wishes. Tom then asked Ger whether he'd trade his 50-year-old model wife "for two 25-year-old models". Ger laughed but said nothing in the world would tempt him to part with the lovely Limerick lass he first spotted on the beach in Kilkee, County Clare, when she was 14. Ger Lee two years Celia's senior saw her again the following year in a disco in Limerick city.
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"What was the name of the disco, Ger?" she asks him.
"The Cavalier Club," he answers.
"There's a good girl!" Celia teases. "It was one of the first nightclubs in the city. I was wearing a red mini-skirt. I loved my minis, because it was 1966. I was 15. So I saw him and I thought, 'Wow, he's good-looking'," remembers Celia, adding that fateful night in the disco Ger was "with another girl and he saw me. He walked her home then came back to The Cavalier Club and then walked me home. And that was that."
"I think we were just soulmates from the start," she says, smiling.
"We were virtually inseparable from the beginning," agrees Ger.
I ask Celia how did Ger ask her out.
"Jesus!" harrumphs Celia, "If I could remember that I'd win the Lotto! I'm 63! I can't fecking remember!"
The son of Ann and John (a catering manager at Shannon Airport back in its heyday), Ger has two brothers, Francis and Jim, and two sisters, Nancy and Maureen. Celia, whose father Jackie worked in the CIE station in Limerick, had two older brothers, Leonard and eldest brother Donald, who died seven years ago, at the age of 59, of cancer.
Celia and Ger got married in Cratloe Church and had their reception in Bunratty Castle hotel on March 25, 1972. They went on honeymoon to Malaga "and then got a taxi to Torremolinos," she smiles before adding with a laugh: "I don't think Marbella even existed then!"
All these years on, their marriage is seemingly indestructible. "Here is the secret of our long marriage: compatibility and respect and mutual understanding. And, of course," Celia says, "you can't do all those things unless you love each other. It's as simple as that. We fight like cat and dog you've been in the middle of a few of them! We get on like a house on fire!"
And do they make love like a house on fire? "I'm a grandmother with three grandchildren!" she says, referring to Henry and Ryan, sons of their daughter, Cecile, and Erika, daughter of their son, Ivan. "And I'm going to have another grandchild in two weeks' time. Ivan and his wife are going to have another child.
"Ger and I started going out when I was 15 can you believe it?" laughs Celia, "and it grew into love after time."
"From the very beginning of our courtship, Ger was always a gentleman. He was always nice and courteous. You would never see Ger arguing with anyone."
Apart from with you, I joke.
"We kill each other!" she says, then roars with laughter. "He just listens to me when I'm telling him what's what. He's said a thousand times, 'What in the name of Jesus am I doing here?' And he stays there and I stay there and that is the way it is. He knows that even when I am wrong, I'm right!"
Over the years, Celia has become a regular on our televisions, popping up to talk fashion she has had a slot on TV3's Ireland AM for 12 years as well as being the boss of one of Ireland's longest-running modelling agencies, The Celia Holman Lee Agency. In 2002 she won a VIP Magazine Most Stylish Woman Award.
Celia attributes her nationally acclaimed fashion sense to her mother, Kathleen Meehan and her grandmother, Elizabeth Meehan. "But mainly, I'd say, I inherited it from my grandmother. She was an only girl like myself," Celia smiles. "And, like myself, she never went outside the door without her hat and gloves, bag, shoes all polished up. I used to watch her a lot. I think it is from watching people that I got my style."
Celia also gives credit to her five aunts who were all very glamourous: Betty, Ethel, Chris, Mazzy, Teresa.
"They and along with my mother were all known for their style," Celia says.
Sometimes Celia is so opinionated and hilarious with it that you could call her (though not to her face) The Mouth Of The Shannon.
I ask her are County Limerick women the most stylish in Ireland.
"Personally, I would say, as someone who is in the fashion business all her life, and looking at the whole of Ireland," Celia answers, trying to be diplomatic, "I feel Limerick women have a very, very good sense of style.
"The way Limerick women dress themselves is absolutely incredible. I will say the most beautiful looking women in Ireland are from Limerick. You have to go back to what John F Kennedy said when he visited Limerick 'Limerick is famous for its fast horses and its beautiful women'."
It hasn't been all fashion shows and bling however. "We've had ups and downs," says Celia. "We had our own recession in the 80s when things became very bad for us; that's why this recession hasn't been too bad, because we had something to compare it to.
"It was nothing to us because the last recession was so awful for us. We employed nearly 80 people in the clothing factory that Ger had and the manufacturing side of things went completely to the wall."
Celia and Ger add that until that altogether grim point, they had some savings because of the success of the factory and the manufacturing side of things coupled with the success of the boutique, Celia Lee's, in Limerick city. "We lost everything, our savings were wiped out and everything closed," Celia says. "The recession took the whole lot.
"We were broke for about five or six years. So we had to learn to fight. And we did learn to fight. And we eventually got back on our feet through my model agency, with wedding fairs around the country, etc," she says.
"So, when the boom happened in Ireland in the mid Nineties, we saw people buying property everywhere but we decided, after what we went through before, that we were just going to do up our house," Celia says of the house in County Limerick that they've lived in for nearly 40 years.
"We just watched the madness. We never got caught up in it. That's why we were able to come out the other end and that's why we are here today as successful as we are in business."
The financial troubles had serious detrimental consequences on Ger's health. So much so that he had a triple heart bypass in May 1999. "I was getting chest pains which I put down to stress and anxiety at the time," Ger explains. "I'll always remember, it was St Patrick's Day in Limerick and, for a change, it was a very sunny, warm day. I was pushing a lawnmower, cutting the grass, and I got a pain in the top of my arm and my chest tightened at the same time."
He had an angiogram in the Blackrock Clinic. He says the doctors didn't have to tell him he could see the damage to his heart arteries on the monitor.
"I was very worried," says Celia now.
"Three of the arteries were shrunken in parts," Ger recalls. He came back to the Blackrock Clinic two weeks later for his operation and has been fine ever since. "I was probably getting little warnings but I didn't know what they were."
He adds that his esteemed doctor, the late Maurice Neligan, said that "what brought it on was stress because I never smoked and I wasn't a heavy drinker and I never carried any weight. It wasn't in the genes. My father didn't die from heart problems, nor was there a history of heart problems in my family. Maurice maintained that it was to do with business stress and back to the recession and the whole lot a few years before that."
I ask Celia how she has kept her glam, even youthful, looks despite her 63 years.
"I don't play too hard these days. I used to, but I don't anymore because I am not able. I walk. I do weights. I don't over-eat. I take plenty of vitamin tablets ... "
Has she had any 'jobs' done on her body?
"I swear to you on my grandchildren, no. I don't give a sh*t what people think. I would say out if I had work done!" she says. "You'd know by me."
It's all the sex that keeps you young, Celia.
"If you believe that," she smiles, "then put it down."
Gerry and his partner Melanie Verwoerd at the opening night of Swan Lake at The Grand Canal Theatre, October 2010.
Melanie Verwoerd with her son Wian, who graduated from Trinity. Photo: Mark Doyle
Melanie Verwoerd with her son Wian, who graduated from Trinity. Photo: Mark Doyle
Diplomat and former Unicef Ireland director Melanie Verwoerd was all smiles yesterday as her son Wian collected his law degree in Trinity College.
The South African national and former partner of the late radio DJ Gerry Ryan was back in Ireland for the ceremony having returned to South Africa following his death.
Ms Verwoerd has previously spoken of how she struggled with the interest in her personal life after she wrote a controversial book about her relationship with the legendary RTE broadcaster.
She said she missed Ireland and has recently completed two new books.
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Wian has lived in Ireland since he was eight years old and beamed a broad smile as he graduated from his four-year course.
He will rejoin his mother in Cape Town, where he is doing a masters in law.
Wian hopes to follow in his mother's humanitarian footsteps by practising human rights law when he completes his studies.
Celia Holman Lee at the exclusive launch of Audrey a new exhibition at the Newbridge Silverware Museum of Style Icons
Celia Holman Lee with her husband Ger pictured at home in Limerick
Celia Holman Lee at The Marker Hotel for the VIP Style Awards 2016
Celia Holman Lee who was awarded the prize of most stylish lady of the night at the Marker Hotel at The Peter Mark VIP Style Awards. Picture: Brian McEvoy
Irish style icon Celia Holman Lee has pulled a Victoria Beckham and fallen for flats.
The model boss has taken a step down from her Louboutins, and discovered that ditching heels doesnt require sacrificing style.
While the 65-year-old may have realised the comfort and style that flat shoes have to offer, she said that she would always respect the occasion when dressing for an event and would wear heels if the event required.
As actresses go barefoot on the Cannes red carpet in protest of the film festival's archaic requirements of female footwear, Celia said she doesn't believe in dress codes.
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If someone told me what to do, Id do the opposite, she laughed. No woman should be told what to wear or what to do.
The pressure to wear heels goes beyond the red carpet, with a viral photo showing a womans bloody feet after being required to wear heels for a shift waitressing, as well as claims from a woman in England that she was sent home from work for not wearing heels.
In response to whether she would ever wear flats to an event, Celia said: If you asked me that six months ago, no way. "But now, with luxe trainers by brands such as Dior and Michael Kors available, she wouldnt cross it off the list."
The fashion scene has opened in that way, she said.
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Celia set up The Holman Lee Agency when she was just 22 and is now Irelands longest running modelling agency.
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Despite her newfound love affair with flat shoes, much like Victoria Beckham who famously said she "beyond hates" ballerina flats before embracing life without heels, the tv personality said she doesn't force her models to wear heels to go-sees.
They can go however they please, once they look fresh," She said.
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The fashion mogul won Most Stylish on the Night at this years Peter Mark VIP Style Awards, wearing a floor-length black gown designed by Marian Murphy.
The mum-of-two revealed that the sapphire blue shoes she wore on the night actually had a short cuban heel, which was hidden by the length of the gown.
That was a first for me, she said. They were one of the smallest heels Ive ever worn!
Celias devotion to heels may even channel that of Carrie Bradshaw: I love my heels. I have always loved them.
My heels are usually sky-high. I like my heels to look like heels, she added.
However, wearing a smaller heel for the awards was one of the best decisions the model boss could have made: I was delighted that I wore them when I won and had a glass of wine, because I didnt have to worry about falling over!
Celia recently announced that she plans to step down from running The Holman Lee Agency, 30 years after its founding.
Women hold a signs as other protesters gather outside Nigeria House to mark the one year anniversary since a group of Nigerian schoolgirls were abducted on April 14, 2015 in London
CNN obtained a video thought to have been made in December of a group of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram CNN
One of the teenage girls kidnapped by Boko Haram extremists over two years ago in Nigeria has been found with a baby and reunited with her mother - the first of the Chibok girls to be recovered since the mass abduction.
The 19-year-old, described by an uncle as being traumatised by her experience, was found wandering with her baby on Tuesday on the fringes of the remote Sambisa Forest, which is located near Nigeria's border with Cameroon.
The news gave hope to the families of the 218 girls who are still missing and may provide information as to their whereabouts.
But the young woman told her mother that some of the Chibok girls have died in captivity and the others are still being held, according to her family's doctor Idriss Danladi.
On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram stormed and fire-bombed the Government Girls Secondary School at Chibok and seized 276 girls preparing for science exams. Dozens managed to escape in the first hours, but 219 remained captive.
The young woman is the first of those captives to be found since the kidnapping, which grabbed worldwide attention and put a spotlight on the violence of Nigeria's home-grown Islamic extremists.
After news of the woman's return emerged, Oby Ezekwesili, one of the founders of the Bring Back Our Girls movement said on social media: "OUR #ChibokGirl ... IS BACK!!!!!!! #218ShallBeBack because #HopeEndures."
There were conflicting accounts about how the young woman was found.
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Mr Danladi said the young woman, who was 17 when abducted, was found by hunters and taken with her baby to her home village of Mbalala, near Chibok, to be reunited with her mother.
Her father died while she was in captivity, said her uncle Yakubu Nkeki. All three were then brought to a military camp and arrived under military escort on Wednesday night in Maiduguri, the biggest city in north-east Nigeria.
But Nigeria's military said it had rescued the young woman and her baby, along with a Boko Haram suspect who claimed to be her husband.
"This is to confirm that one of the abducted Chibok school girls... was among the persons rescued by our troops," said army spokesman Col Sani Kukasheka Usman.
Mr Danladi, who is from Chibok and has treated several of the parents, said the young woman's mother attempted suicide some months after her only child was seized.
The mother "suffered a huge traumatic disorder. I had to convince her that she just has to stay alive if she really wants her daughter returned home safe and sound", he said.
The Rev Enoch Mark, whose two daughters are among the missing, said the news brought renewed hope to the parents of the Chibok girls.
"I believe that, by the grace of God, our daughters, some of them, will be found if they are still alive," he said.
At least 16 of the girls' parents have died since the kidnapping, and others have ailments they blame on their ongoing trauma after the abductions.
The inability of Nigeria's government and military to rescue the girls led, in part, to last year's electoral defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan, who was seen as uncaring and not committed to freeing them.
The US, France and Britain offered help to find the girls, sending in drones, hostage negotiators, intelligence officers and others.
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A social media campaign using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls reached the White House, where first lady Michelle Obama promised her husband would do all in his power to help.
"Our prayers are with the missing Nigerian girls and their families. It's time to #BringBackOurGirls," she tweeted in May 2014.
Returning to ordinary life could be difficult for the victims, according to experts.
"Children in this situation typically require medical assistance and psycho-social support to help them cope with what they have been through while they were in captivity," said Unicef spokeswoman Helene Sandbu Ryeng.
"Our experience with children and women who were kidnapped by Boko Haram and freed by the military or escaped shows that they often face mistrust, stigma and rejection when they return to their communities."
It's not known how many thousands of girls, boys and young women have been kidnapped by Boko Haram in a near seven-year insurgency that has killed some 20,000 people, forced more than two million from their homes and spread across Nigeria's borders.
Donald Trump is skirmishing angrily with the largest independent group supporting Hillary Clinton for president which will launch two blistering attacks against him in key swing states on Wednesday.
The unusually harsh spots are being aired nearly a month earlier than originally planned by the Priorities USA super PAC which says it is eager not to make the mistake made by Republican rivals of Mr Trump for their partys nomination by waiting too late to open fire on him full-bore.
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Designed to define him early in the eyes of voters, the two ads will begin airing, at an initial cost of $6 million, in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and Nevada. One features a selection of women actors dressed in white shirts bearing the face of Mr Trump lip-synching to his own voice making disparaging remarks mostly about women.
One of those utterances is taken from a description he offered of the Fox News anchor, Megyn Kelly, after she aggressively challenged him while moderating a candidates debate last year. He recall blood coming out of her eyes and blood coming out of her ... wherever.
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The spot ends with another actress lip-synching Mr Trump declaring, And you can tell them to go [expletive deleted] themselves. Finally, it asks viewers, Does Donald Trump really speak for you? as a series of images of women parade by.
That last comment actually was embedded in remarks from Mr Trump on trade with China, a fact he pounced on in one of a series of angry Twitter messages after copies of the spots were broadcast on Monday night by some news channels.
The pathetic new hit ad against me misrepresents the final line. You can tell them to go BLANK themselves was about China, NOT WOMEN! he wrote. In another, he blurted: Crooked Hillary Clinton put out an ad where I am misquoted on women. Can't believe she would misrepresent the facts! My hit was on China.
In a Twitter message right back at the Trump campaign, the Priorities USA spokesman, Justin Baraski, replied: Yeah guys, it's presidential to tell other countries to go F themselves. In a statement, Mr Baraski added: Sorry Donald, but the ad isnt only about your overt sexism, its about your divisiveness and character being unsuitable for the office of the presidency.
The original comments about Ms Kelly, made last August after what was the first Republican debate in Cleveland, Ohio, caused a furore and went a long way to setting up the narrative that Mr Trump does not relate well with women. At the weekend, the New York Times ran a front page piece detailing what it said was a long history of inappropriate behaviour towards women.
Mr Trump has also reacted furiously to the New York Times piece, although an implied threat from one of his lawyers that a lawsuit might be forthcoming appeared to have been withdrawn. In the meantime, though, he faces a tough challenge improving his standing with female voters, of whom 69 per cent expressed their disapproval of him in a recent poll.
The area of Rastan was one of the first areas to rise up against President Bashar Assad's government in 2011
A series of airstrikes in a rebel-held Syrian town has killed at least 12 people, including 10 children and two women who were taking cover in an underground shelter, activists said.
Homs-based activist Bebars Al-Talawy said at least eight air raids struck the town of Rastan, one of them hitting a house, destroying it while its residents were taking cover in the shelter.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the raid killed a whole family, including a man, his wife, two sons and four daughters, in addition to his two sisters and their four children. The Observatory said the number may rise because rescue workers were still pulling people from the rubble.
The airstrikes came a day after a similar attack on the northern city of Aleppo, activists and rescue workers said shells and mortars continue to fall on a main road, the only lifeline for the rebel-held area of the city to the rest of the country, effectively cutting off the area from the outside world for the third straight day.
Aleppo and its surrounding suburbs has been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting in the country in months. Repeated partial ceasefires ended or collapsed there, and the violence in Aleppo also derailed UN-brokered peace talks.
Syria's state news agency SANA also said that three people were killed and four injured when rockets fired by rebels hit the residential area of Hamdaniyeh.
Donald Trump and journalist Megyn Kelly, who he clashed with when she was moderating a Republican presidential candidate television debate last year, appear to have called a truce.
The two sat down for an interview that was the culmination of the frequent sparring between the now-presumptive Republican presidential nominee and one of the biggest stars on the conservative-friendly Fox News US TV channel.
It was recorded last month and broadcast on Tuesday night.
Their fight began last August, in the first Republican debate, when Ms Kelly asked Mr Trump several tough questions, including one about how he has publicly talked about women. Mr Trump kept the feud going over Twitter for months after the debate.
But the billionaire businessman appeared sheepish in the interview when Ms Kelly asked him about some of the insults he tweeted - or retweeted - to her, frequently including the word "bimbo".
"Uh, that was a retweet. Did I say that?" Mr Trump asked.
"Many times," Ms Kelly responded.
"Ooh. OK," said Mr Trump, who insisted that he did not want his Twitter followers bombarding Ms Kelly with ugly social media posts.
Ms Kelly made a secret visit to Trump Tower in April to negotiate the interview.
Mr Trump praised her pursuing the interview, saying he had "great respect" for Ms Kelly's willingness to make the initial approach.
He also became introspective at times, saying "he could have done without" his retweet of a post that mocked the appearance of Heidi Cruz, the wife of his former rival Ted Cruz.
"The thing that gets me in trouble is the retweet," Mr Trump said. "The retweet is really more of a killer than a tweet. I seem to do pretty well with the real tweet."
But he defended most of his attacks as counter-punching and "not bullying".
"When I'm wounded, I go after people hard. I try to un-wound myself," said Mr Trump.
"I'm responding," he added. "Now, I then respond times 10, I don't know. I then respond pretty strongly."
At the conclusion of the interview, Mr Trump tweeted: "Well done Megyn - and they all lived happily ever after!" But he told Ms Kelly that he sometimes stays angry and appeared to hint that their feud could reignite.
"This could happen again with us," he said.
But the encounter lacked any of the fiery denunciations Mr Trump has been firing at Ms Kelly since the night of the first debate, beginning with a tweet that declared Ms Kelly was "not very good or professional".
Mr Trump did not participate in the second Fox News-sponsored debate because of Ms Kelly and kept up a steady stream of insults on Twitter.
He accused Ms Kelly of telling "dopey lies" and said her TV programme was better when she was on holiday. He later called her "highly overrated and crazy", and retweeted a follower who branded her a "bimbo" and called for a boycott of her show.
Ms Kelly, meanwhile, told Vanity Fair she could never be intimidated or "be wooed" by the celebrity businessman and insisted her coverage of Mr Trump was fair.
Even as the feud continued, Mr Trump enjoyed mostly warm coverage from other hosts at Fox News. Ms Kelly is in the final year of her contract with the network and has been non-committal about returning.
Mr Trump had pledged to live-tweet the taped interview on Tuesday night but instead largely engaged with followers who praised the show, all while insisting the interview "was not soft at all!" He also posted "I like Michael Douglas!" in praise of one of the other guests on Ms Kelly's hour-long TV special.
The parents of a British man who has been found after being missing for six years have been prevented from contacting him because of data protection laws.
Matthew Green, 32, was last seen leaving his home in Kent in 2010, when he told his parents he was going to London to visit friends.
Now, his parents, Jim and Pauline, have been told by police their son has been found alive in Spain - but they are not allowed to get in touch with him.
They have been informed Matthew was taken in by Spanish social services worried by him "acting oddly". Without any photo ID on him, he instead gave two aliases and the name Matthew Green.
He was found to have a 99.9 per cent fingerprint match and Kent Police have since closed his missing persons case.
Pauline, 63, said in a Facebook post: "I have asked for a photo but due to Data Protection I am not allowed!! I have asked for a photo of his tattoos so that I am 100% sure it's him, but again that thing called Data Protection gets in the way.
"We are no way nearer to seeing him, talking to him or anything else, due to his human rights and Data Protection.
"I have written him a letter which I have emailed to the Foreign Embassy / Consulate in Madrid but they will not tell me if Matt is in receipt of my letter."
Mrs Green has made a plea on Facebook for people to share information and to contact her if they can help them make positive contact with their son.
In a statement, Kent Police said: "Kent Police has provided the family with information provided to them that the missing person had been found by authorities and his safety established.
"No further details are being provided to Kent Police in regards to his whereabouts due to the fact this would require the individual's consent, considering his right to a private life.
"Liaison can now continue between the family and the European authorities to establish what further information they are able to provide the family, in line with the individual's consent as an adult."
The Foreign Office told The Independent: "Our staff continue to provide support to the family of Matthew Green.
"We remain in close contact with the Spanish authorities for updates."
A police vehicle enters Block Fen Quarry at Mepal, near Ely, in Cambridgeshire, where a severed head was discovered Monday. Photo: PA
A severed human head has been found in a quarry in Cambridgeshire in England.
Police said a worker at the site in Mepal, near Ely, made the horrifying discovery on Monday afternoon and officers from the region's major crime unit have launched an investigation.
Police are trying to establish how long the remains had been there.
A Cambridgeshire Police spokeswoman said: "Officers from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit are conducting enquiries, both locally and across the county borders."
Detective Inspector Jerry Waite, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit (MCU), said: "At this stage we do not know if the head is male or female, however we have got officers carrying out searches at a site in Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, as we believe this is where the remains may have come from."
A spokesman for Mick George Ltd, the company that runs the quarry, said: "We are working closely with the police and providing them with all the information they need."
It is understood the site in Bedfordshire being examined by police is owned by train company Network Rail and is currently at the centre of a building project. It is unclear how the head was trasported from the site to the quarry, which is more than 50km away.
A man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after beating a man unconscious and pulling him on to a road in front of a double decker bus.
Damien Pankiewicz (37) was convicted of grievous bodily arm after the unprovoked attack on another man with learning difficulties on July 22 last year.
The Polish man, who had previous convictions for rape and assault, had only been in the country two days before he attacked the 52-year-old man.
The court heard that Pankiewicz approached the victim at a bus stop on Brixton Hill at around 7pm on the evening in question and began repeatedly punching him.
After the vulnerable man fell unconscious on the ground, Pankiewicz continued to punch the victim.
Met Police have released CCTV footage of him grabbing the victim by the neck, dragging him in front of an oncoming bus.
The bus stopped just before hitting the unconscious man but he was still hospitalised for three weeks with serious injuries.
He suffered bleeding on the brain, a broken leg and broken ribs as a result of the attack.
Pankiewicz head-butted the window of a police car and smashed the window with his face when he was arrested.
He will be deported after serving his prison sentence.
Detective Constable James Bateman from Lambeth Police's CID said: "This was an unprovoked and violent attack against a vulnerable man in which the victim received serious injuries. Pankiewicz initially gave no explanation for the assault, before claiming in court that the victim had stolen his phone, a claim we were able to disprove. He has shown no remorse for his actions at any stage. The level of violence, its sustained nature and the impact on the victim has been immense and has deeply affected him.
"This sentence will hopefully help the victim to get some form of closure to an event in his life which has been so traumatic."
A police car burns during a demonstration against police violence and against French labour law reform in Paris, France, May 18, 2016. REUTERS/Charles Platiau
A police car burns during a demonstration against police violence and against French labour law reform in Paris, France, May 18, 2016. REUTERS/Charles Platiau
Protesters in Paris have attacked a police car with two officers inside with iron bars and set it alight in a dramatic unleashing of new anti-police violence, as officers across France took to the streets to denounce violence they say has been repeatedly directed at them.
Police have launched an attempted murder investigation following the car attack, which left one of the officers in hospital.
Protesters in Paris and elsewhere allege police have instigated violence during a series of demonstrations against controversial labour reforms.
"Everybody hates the police!" they chanted at the Place de la Republique in Paris, where several hundred police officers gathered on their lunch break to condemn "anti-cop hate". The protesters were dispersed with pepper spray.
Paris police chief Michel Cadot told a news conference that about 15 protesters, some masked, attacked the car and threw a Molotov cocktail at it, setting it alight.
The male driver was attacked when he got out of the car and was taken to hospital. His female partner suffered slight injuries.
Expand Expand Previous Next Close A man tries to pull off fire on a burning police car during clashes while police forces gather to denounce the almost daily violent clashes at protests against a labor reform, Wednesday, May 18, 2016 in Paris. Several hundred counter-demonstrators came by, chanting slogans like Everybody hates the police! and pushing up against the officers until eventually the police deployed pepper spray. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) A police car burns during clashes while police forces gather to denounce the almost daily violent clashes at protests against a labor reform, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Several hundred counter demonstrators came chanting slogans like "everybody hates the police" and pushing up against officers until eventually the police deployed dispersal spray. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) / Facebook
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Mr Cadot denounced a level of violence "rarely reached, extremely shocking".
But Vanina Giudicelli, one of the protesters at the Republique, said the police gathering was "a real provocation".
She said: "Since the first demonstration on March 9, we notice that they generate the violence. We have been sprayed by gas, hit with batons, arrested." She had no known connection to the attack on the police car.
Jean-Claude Delage, secretary-general of the Alliance police union, denounced an "escalation of violence" in the labour protests and said some people were harassing police officers with projectiles and Molotov cocktails and even hitting them with bars.
"Troublemakers provoke clashes in the middle of peaceful protests. So it's very complicated for police forces to isolate and arrest them," Mr Delage said.
French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday that more than 350 police officers have been injured in clashes and 60 people have been convicted amid the labour reform protests.
Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve offered his "full support" to police following the weekly cabinet meeting. He said the police have instructions to take "firm action" against those involved in violent clashes.
Jean-Marc Falcone, general director of the police, told Europe 1 radio: "Anti-cop hatred comes from a small portion of the population... but these 10% are very violent." Den Hond and Elaine Ganley contributed to the story.
Former mayor of London and Vote Leave campaigner Boris Johnson wears protective equipment as he visits Reid Steel during a campaign stop in Christchurch. Photo: Reuters
Boris Johnson, leader of the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union, showed "political amnesia" with his "absurd" comparison between the EU and Adolf Hitler's plan to rule the continent, the EU's Donald Tusk said yesterday.
The response of the European Council president to the former London mayor was among the bluntest yet from a Brussels establishment that has been anxious not to stir a backlash in Britain while urging Britons to opt to remain in the bloc.
Britain will hold a referendum on EU membership next month. The Brexit campaign took a three-point lead over the 'remain' campaign in a survey published by polling firm TNS yesterday. Two of three polls published on Monday put the 'in' camp ahead.
Mr Johnson, a potential prime minister if fellow Conservative David Cameron fails to keep Britain in the EU, told a newspaper that unifying authority in Europe could not work: "Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically.
"The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods."
Mr Tusk told reporters in Copenhagen that Mr Johnson had suffered "amnesia" and a "dangerous blackout" of memory.
"When I hear the EU being compared to the plans and projects of Adolf Hitler I cannot remain silent," the former Polish premier said.
Describing it as an "absurd" argument, he added: "Boris Johnson crossed the boundaries of a rational discourse."
Mr Tusk said the EU was "a common tool, not a superstate", a means for states to cooperate rather than a government for Europe.
"The EU may be blamed for many things, but it still remains the most effective firewall against the ever dangerous, and often tragic conflicts among the nations of Europe," Mr Tusk said.
"The only alternative... is political chaos, the return to national egoisms and in consequence the triumph of anti-democratic tendencies, which can lead to history repeating itself."
A British exit from the EU, already shaken by differences over migration and the future of the eurozone, would rip away its second-largest economy, one of its top two military powers and by far its richest financial centre. The 'remain' camp has a 15-point lead over its "leave" rivals, according to the latest poll from ORB for the 'Daily Telegraph' newspaper, published on Monday.
The poll found that among all respondents, support for remaining in the union stood at 55pc, while that for the so-called 'Brexit' option was at 40pc.
Britons will vote on June 23 on whether their country should remain in or leave the 28-member bloc.
The 'remain' camp held an eight-point lead over its 'leave' rivals in a separate ICM poll for the 'Guardian' newspaper, also published on Monday.
Yesterday, Britain's Labour Party called on its supporters to reject a "Tory Brexit", warning it would lead to a fresh wave of Conservative cuts.
Britain faces a "grim" future if voters choose to quit the European Union, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said.
Pitching the referendum as a battle between left and right, Mr McDonnell warned that the Tories would still be in power, poised for a fresh round of austerity.
"In plain English, if we have a Tory Brexit then we have the likelihood of more Tory cuts to come," he said in London.
Mr McDonnell said under chancellor George Osborne, Britain's economic recovery was "built on sand" and "was not strong enough to withstand the kind of adverse shock that Brexit could create".
He said: "To be frank, for Labour supporters and Labour voters who may be tempted to vote for Brexit ... it will be a Tory government still in power the day after the referendum, and it will be a Tory government pushing austerity, committed to cutting first and thinking later, just as they have done so far.
"And with the economy pushed into recession by Brexit, as the Bank of England predicts, the immediate future could look grim and it is not worth considering a Tory Brexit when a Labour 'remain' vote offers a truly positive economic case."
Mr McDonnell dismissed suggestions he was not wholly committed to the 'remain' campaign by joking that he was "even doing an event" with Peter Mandelson, but said he drew the line at speaking alongside Conservatives.
Armed police officers during an exercise at the Intu Trafford Centre in Trafford, Manchester, where police have joined forces with other agencies during a simulated terror attack to test the emergency response to a major incident
Terrorists are more likely to attack European countries as a result of a controversial deal to allow Turkish citizens to travel across the continent without visas, EU leaders have admitted.
Foreign terrorists and organised criminals are "expected" to seek Turkish passports to reach continental Europe "as soon as" the visa waiver programme comes into force, a European Commission report said.
The disclosure came as Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, warned that the decision to give Turkey visa-free travel is "perverse" and compared it to "storing gasoline next to the fire".
Mr Dearlove also said that the EU will face "a populist uprising" if it cannot show it can gain control of the migratory crisis.
Turkey's 75 million citizens will have the right to enter the Schengen zone for up to 90 days at a time with biometric passports from the end of June if Ankara passes key anti-corruption and terrorism reforms.
The decision was part of a hastily assembled deal brokered by Brussels to halt the flow of migrants from Turkey to Greece.
However, the European Commission report acknowledges the "increased mobility into the Schengen area of criminals and terrorists who are citizens of Turkey, or who are foreigners based in Turkey".
The European Commission has recently also proposed visa-free travel deals with Kosovo, Ukraine and Georgia, which are blighted by organised crime.
"The proposed visa liberalisation for Turkish citizens travelling to the EU could potentially have an impact on the terrorist risk in the EU in as far as the movement of terrorists of Turkish citizenship to and from the Schengen area is concerned," the report states.
The fingerprints of people entering Europe with a visa are logged on a single database that can be searched by counter-terrorism investigators, an extra level of security that is removed by the deal.
Kosovo has produced up to 300 fighters in Syria and Iraq, the highest per capita rate in Europe, a separate report warns, adding that the government is poorly equipped to intercept them.
"Visa liberalisation could also have an impact on undetected entry into the EU of persons from Kosovo who return from war zones where they had joined terrorist networks," the report says.
Kosovo is also a route for the smuggling of reactivated firearms, millions of which are left over from the Balkans wars, into Europe.
The Turkish mafia, which traffics huge volumes of drugs, sex slaves, illegal firearms and refugees into Europe, may undergo "direct territorial expansion towards the EU" as a result of the deal, the report says.
"Suspect individuals being allowed to travel to the Schengen territory without the need to go through a visa request procedure would have a greater ability to enter the EU without being noticed."
It says reforms to the Turkish police, judiciary and counter-terrorism apparatus that are a pre-condition of the visa deal will help "mitigate" the risk.
Fraud Turkey has agreed to provide training and "ethical codes on anti-corruption" for staff issuing passports and citizenship papers.
"It can be expected that, as soon as Turkish citizens will obtain visa-free entry to the EU, foreign nationals will start trying to obtain Turkish passports in order to pretend to be Turkish citizens and enter the EU visa free, or use the identities of Turkish citizens, or to obtain by fraud Turkish citizenship," the report says.
"This possibility may attract not only irregular migrants, but also criminals or terrorists." ( Daily Telegraph, London)
Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Armed tactical response officers stand ready to enter the Lindt cafe in Sydney during the siege in December 2014 (AP)
Five years before he held 18 people hostage inside a Sydney cafe, Iranian-born Man Haron Monis attracted the attention of the FBI as someone who had "the potential to incite others to violence".
A November 2009 memorandum from an FBI office in Australia to agency counter-terrorism and international operations officials said that while Monis was not believed to be a threat to national security, "his ongoing offensive and nuisance behaviour has the potential to incite others to violence".
A shotgun-wielding Monis took customers and workers captive in a December 2014 siege at the Lindt Cafe in Sydney and demanded to be delivered an Islamic State flag, an incident that fuelled anxiety about the extremist group's expanding influence across the globe.
Police stormed the cafe 16 hours later, after Monis fatally shot one of the hostages. Monis was shot dead by police and another hostage was killed in the crossfire.
Though it has been established that Australian authorities failed to detect that Monis was a threat, despite years of warnings, the memo shows how the FBI was itself concerned about his rhetoric even before the Islamic State group emerged as a prominent international force and well ahead of the siege.
The documents are heavily redacted, and it was not immediately clear what additional action, if any, was taken in Australia or how widely that assessment was shared across Australian law enforcement.
The memo, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, was drafted as the FBI was looking into whether the self-styled cleric with a long criminal history should obtain a US-based internet service provider to host his website.
The memo noted that Monis, who also went by the name of Sheikh Haron, maintained on his website "inflammatory and fundamentalist material regarding the Islamic religion, jihad, suicide bombings and terrorism". A "veiled call to jihad against President Barack Obama" had also been observed on the site, according to the note.
The siege is currently the subject of a long-running coroner's inquest being held in Sydney. The inquest is aimed at determining how the hostages and Monis died, how authorities responded, and whether the siege could have been prevented.
The inquest is also examining whether Monis was a lone wolf attempting to carry out an Islamic State group-inspired act, given that it appears he never established contact with the militant movement.
Many believe Monis was simply a disturbed individual who was lashing out against a series of perceived personal injustices. In the lead-up to the siege, Monis's life had been in a downward spiral; he had lost custody of his children, was in debt and was possibly facing time in jail on charges of sexual assault.
An Australian government review last year found no major faults with multiple agencies that failed to detect the threat Monis posed, despite his being out on bail on sexual assault and accessory to murder charges when he launched the attack.
Then-prime minister Tony Abbott did, however, acknowledge the system itself had failed, saying Monis should never have been allowed into Australia, should not have been out on bail, and should not have been able to get a gun.
Monis was on authorities' radars for years before the siege. He arrived in Australia on a business visa in 1996 and was made a citizen in 2004. Before being granted citizenship, he was interviewed by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation multiple times for security assessments required as part of the immigration process. The agency ultimately found he was not a security risk.
The security agency investigated him again between 2008 and 2009 after he had sent offensive letters to the families of dead Australian soldiers. Again, it found no threat.
Australia's National Security Hotline received 18 calls and emails from the public related to posts on Monis's Facebook page in the six days leading up to the siege.
The public's warnings, which referred to posts about making a pledge of allegiance to the "Caliph of the Muslims", were passed along to the security intelligence agency and the Australian Federal Police. The security agency determined the complaints did not indicate Monis intended to engage in terrorism.
The Macedonian parliament has voted to delay a general election which had been called for June 5 (AP)
Macedonia's parliament has voted in an urgent session to delay an early general election scheduled for June 5, after a top court temporarily suspended all electoral activities.
The Constitutional Court's ruling earlier on Wednesday followed a request by a party in the governing coalition to examine whether the decision to dissolve parliament for the vote was constitutional.
Macedonia has been in political turmoil since February 2015 following a wire-tapping scandal, and the early election was part of an internationally-brokered deal aimed at defusing the crisis.
The European Union, which Macedonia hopes one day to join, hailed the ruling, saying necessary conditions were not in place for the election to be held on the originally scheduled date.
All 96 members of the parliament present backed the delay, and no other date has yet been set.
The court is due to issue a final decision next week.
Only one party has been participating in the election campaign - the VMRO-DPMNE of former prime minister Nikola Gruevski, which heads the governing coalition. All others have boycotted proceedings, saying there are no conditions for a free and fair election.
In a joint statement, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Johannes Hahn, the bloc's top official for enlargement, said the decision provides "a renewed opportunity for (Macedonia) to address a number of serious issues at the heart of the prolonged political crisis".
The crisis in the tiny Balkan country was sparked by opposition allegations that the governing conservatives wire-tapped 20,000 people, including police, judges, journalists and diplomats. The conservatives reject the claims.
The crisis deepened after Macedonian president Gjorge Ivanov decided to grant pardons that halted criminal proceedings against dozens of politicians, including Mr Gruevski.
The pardons prompted an angry reaction from both main parties, criticism from the EU and street protests over the past month in the capital Skopje and other cities.
Wednesday's EU statement called for the swift revocation of pardons.
It also urged Macedonia's feuding political parties to "find a common agreement that serves all citizens".
The appeal to the Constitutional Court was brought by the junior coalition partner, the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration.
But political analyst Albert Musliu said the parliament's decision "opens the door for another crisis".
He added: "Nobody knows what to expect next. Many things are not clear - which government would prepare the next election, whether president Ivanov will revoke the pardons."
News / National
by Melody Baya
A MAN from Malindela suburb in Bulawayo has been sentenced to 15 months in jail for converting to his own use $2,400 acquired from selling his friend's 30 sheep.Jotham Nyathi, 61, of Phakama Township in Gwanda asked his friend Promise Moyo, 40, to sell his sheep in Bulawayo, but now regrets the decision as he never got a cent.The court heard that Moyo, having sold the sheep converted the money to his own use.Moyo pleaded guilty to a theft charge before Western Commonage magistrate Tancy Dube."I do admit to the charge. I sold the sheep and raised the expected profit which I spent on different occasions," said Moyo.Dube jailed Moyo to an effective 15 months in jail."Six months are going to be suspended on condition that you do not commit a similar offence involving theft in the next five years."Another nine months are suspended on the condition you restitute the complainant," said Dube.Moyo is supposed to restitute his friend $2,400, the amount realised from selling the sheep.Prosecuting, Kenneth Shava, said on March 18, Nyathi gave Moyo 30 sheep at his rural home in Gwanda."The complainant and the accused calculated and agreed that the sheep would raise a profit of $2,400 which accused person was supposed to hand over after selling. The accused person took the sheep to Bulawayo and he converted the money to his own use," said Shava.The prosecutor said the total value stolen is $2,400 and nothing was recovered.
A man in a wheelchair sits beside one of Isil's victims. who is not shown in this photo
Islamic State has employed a wheelchair-bound executioner to terrorise residents in its new stronghold in Libya, a human rights report revealed.
The executioner, who appears in propaganda photos showing the shooting of an alleged spy, may have been chosen by Isis as part of a crude attempt to show it is an "equal opportunities" organisation.
An account of how he executed a man in a public square in the Libyan city of Sirte is given in a new report by Human Rights Watch, which says the group has executed up to 49 people since seizing control of Sirte in February 2015.
The executions are part of a brutal regime imposed by the group that has also included public floggings and crucifixions, carried out on the orders of Isil's religious courts.
One former resident of Sirte, identified only as "Ali" for his own safety, told Human Rights Watch how how a relative named Milad Ahmed Abourgheba was killed by the disabled executioner in January. He had been found guilty by an Isil court of spying.
"Milad disappeared for three months, then on January 16, they shot him dead," Ali said. "The man who shot him was Tunisian and was in a wheelchair. They shot him in public and then they crucified him for three days in Zaafran Square."
Photos of the execution show the wheelchair-bound man sporting military fatigues and a black balaclava, with a black Isil flag in the background.
He is positioned right next to Mr Abourgheba, who is clad in an orange Guantanamo Bay-style jumpsuit and trussed with a rope.
The other end of the rope is attached to a gantry from which he is later crucified, along with a handwritten sign branding him a spy.
Human Rights Watch said it was not clear why Isil had chosen to use a disabled man in the picture.
But they did not rule out the possibility of "equal opportunities" messaging.
Isil has previously issued statements claiming that it represents Muslims of all creeds and races, despite its sectarian hatred of Muslims of the Shia faith.
It is possible the man could have been pursuing a personal grudge for an injury sustained in battle, or could even have been put there under duress.
Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Eight women have been arrested in Iran as part of a crackdown on women posting photographs online without wearing the compulsory headscarf.
Among them was Elham Arab, a model known for her distinctive blonde hair and wedding dress portraits, who was made to issue a public apology in footage broadcast on state television.
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Questioned by Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi, the prosecutor general of Tehran, she was accused of promoting western promiscuity on Monday.
All people love beauty and fame, Ms Arab said, wearing a black headscarf with her hair dyed brown.
They would like to be seen, but it is important to know what price they will pay to be seena model will certainly lose her hijab and honour.
Her Instagram page has been shut down, along with those belonging to the seven other arrested women, along with Facebook pages and business websites.
Melikaa Zamani, Niloofar Behboudi, Donya Moghadam, Dana Nik, Shabnam Molavi, Elnaz Golrokh and Hamid Fadaei were named as those detained, although authorities did not confirm the names and at least two of the women are believed to have fled Iran.
More arrests are expected as part of Operation Spider II, which Iranian authorities said aims to defend honour for Muslims, protect Islamic and national identity and exclude unhealthy online content.
Her Instagram page has been shut down, along with those belonging to the seven other arrested women, along with Facebook pages and business websites.
Instagram was singled out in particular for spreading vulgar and sometimes obscene images of professional and amateur models, a report by Fars news agency said.
Officials said 170 people had so far been identified by tracing posts, including 58 models, 59 photographers and makeup artists, accusing them of enticing young people and damaging their morals.
They equated professional modelling with promoting the normalisation of promiscuity and said women posing half-naked were attracting boys and girls to enter the trade.
Families were being urged to prevent relatives making or viewing the images, while Iranian citizens were told to report violations to authorities online.
We must fight with enemy's actions in this area, Mr Dowlatabadi was quoted by the state-owned Iran newspaper as saying. Of course our actions in this area will continue.
The arrests caused uproar following the detention of artists, poets, journalists and activists as moderate President Hassan Rouhani's administration secured a landmark nuclear deal with world powers.
The sentences handed down signal that hard-liners in the police and judiciary, who were unable to stop the accord and fear looser social norms will weaken the Islamic Republic, still hold significant power in the country.
Among the groups protesting was My Stealthy Freedom an online movement started by journalist Masih Alinejad that encourages women in Iran to post photos of themselves online without headscarves.
Hundreds of Iranian women have had images posted on the groups Facebook page, which has grown to have almost a million followers since the campaign started two years ago, and tourists are now being encouraged to do the same.
It is illegal for women to go out in public without wearing headscarf in the country, where thousands of undercover agents and morality police patrol the streets to check for violations.
Women found to have their hair or bodies inadequately covered can be publicly admonished, fined or even arrested.
Iranian women have been increasingly wearing the mandatory hijab more loosely on their heads, particularly in the capital, sparking outrage from conservatives in the Islamic Republic.
Last month, police announced the deployment of 7,000 plainclothes male and female officers in Tehran to enforce the countrys dress code.
A crackdown on freedom of expression online is also underway in Iran, where around 40 per cent of its population have access to the censored and filtered internet.
Journalists, filmmakers, writers and activists have been detained, sentenced or imprisoned, with the latest being Mahdi Boutorabi, the manager of Iranian blogging service persianblog.ir.
SYRIA has used sarin nerve gas for the first time since 2013, dropping bombs laden with the chemical agent on Isil fighters outside Damascus, according to a senior Israeli official.
This use of sarin would show that President Bashar al-Assad has retained the ability to gas his enemies, despite an agreement that supposedly disarmed Syria of its chemical arsenal. That deal was reached after the regime used sarin and VX gas to kill as many as 1,400 people in rebel-held areas of Damascus on August 21, 2013.
US President Barack Obama had declared the use of chemical weapons to be a red line that would trigger air strikes. Once Assad agreed to disarm, however, Mr Obama abandoned his plan for military action.
Since then, Assads forces are believed to have used relatively unsophisticated chlorine gas on several dozen occasions. But the regime refrained from employing sarin a far more lethal substance until the latest incident.
The Syrian air force dropped the bombs laden with sarin just over three weeks ago, said the official. The apparent aim was to prevent Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) from seizing two air bases north-east of Damascus. Israel believes that scores of Isil fighters were killed in the incident, although the exact impact is uncertain.
After the agreement to disarm Syria, John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, claimed: We got 100pc of the chemical weapons out.
But the Israeli official said that Assad had concealed a significant proportion of his chemical arsenal. In particular, he kept some of his sarin gas. ( Daily Telegraph, London)
People gather at the site of a car bomb attack in Baghdad's mainly Shi'ite district of Sadr City. Photo: Reuters
People gather at the site of a car bomb attack in Baghdad's mainly Shi'ite district of Sadr City. Photo: Reuters
Iraqis gather at the site of a suicide bombing in the Shaab area in northern Baghda.
Iraqi security forces and people gather at the site of a car bomb attack in Baghdad's mainly Shi'ite district of Sadr City. Photo: Reuters
Three bombings killed at least 63 people and wounded more than 100 in Baghdad yesterday, extending the deadliest spate of attacks in the Iraqi capital so far this year.
A suicide bombing claimed by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in a marketplace in the northern, mainly Shia Muslim district of al-Shaab killed 38 people and wounded more than 70, while a car bomb in nearby Shia Sadr City left at least 19 more dead and 17 wounded.
Another car bomb, in the mixed Shia-Sunni southern neighbourhood of al-Rasheed, killed six and wounded 21, the sources said, in what a military spokesman described as a suicide attack.
A spokesman for Baghdad Operations Command told state television the attacker in al-Shaab had set off an explosives-filled vest in co-ordination with a planted bomb. Initial investigations revealed the attacker had been a woman, he said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the other attacks. Isil has claimed bombings in and around the capital last week that killed 100 people and sparked popular anger against the government for failing to ensure security.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said a political crisis sparked by his attempt to reshuffle the cabinet in an anti-corruption bid was hampering the fight against Isil and creating space for more insurgent attacks on the civilian population. Security has improved somewhat in the capital in recent years, even as Isil fighters seized swathes of the country almost to the outskirts of Baghdad's ramparts.
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Whatsapp People gather at the site of a car bomb attack in Baghdad's mainly Shi'ite district of Sadr City. Photo: Reuters
Meanwhile, Syria's regime has used sarin nerve gas for the first time since 2013, dropping bombs laden with the chemical agent on Isil fighters outside Damascus, according to a senior Israeli official.
This use of sarin would show that Bashar al-Assad has retained the ability to gas his enemies despite an agreement that supposedly disarmed Syria of its chemical arsenal.
That deal was reached after the regime used sarin and VX gas to kill as many as 1,400 people in rebel-held areas of Damascus on August 21, 2013.
US President Barack Obama had declared the use of chemical weapons to be a "red line" that would trigger US air strikes.
Once Assad agreed to disarm, however, Mr Obama abandoned his plan for military action.
Since then, Assad's forces are believed to have used relatively unsophisticated chlorine gas on several dozen occasions. But the regime refrained from employing sarin - a far more lethal substance - until the latest incident.
The Syrian air force dropped the bombs laden with sarin just over three weeks ago, said the official.
The first of the kidnapped schoolgirls has been found, according to her uncle
Soldiers have found one of the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram from a boarding school in the Nigerian town of Chibok, her uncle has said.
Amina Ali Nkeki is the first of the 219 so-called Chibok girls to be freed since the mass abduction that attracted attention around the world more than two years ago.
Yakubu Nkeki said his 19-year-old niece is pregnant and traumatised and was found wandering in a forest. He said she was brought to Chibok on Tuesday night for her identity to be verified and reunited with her mother. Her father died while she was held captive, he said.
Mr Nkeki said the soldiers then took the young woman away to a military camp in the town of Damboa.
Community leader Pogu Bitrus says other Chibok girls may also have been rescued by soldiers hunting down Boko Haram in the remote north-eastern Sambisa Forest on Tuesday night. He said he was working with officials to establish their identity.
Boko Haram Islamic extremists stormed and fire bombed the Government Girls Secondary School at Chibok on April 14 2014 and seized 276 girls who were preparing to take science exams. Dozens escaped within hours, but 219 remained missing.
The inability of Nigeria's government and military to rescue them led, in part, to the electoral defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan last year.
It is not known how many thousands of girls, boys and young women have been kidnapped by Boko Haram in a nearly seven-year-old insurgency that has killed some 20,000 people and spread across Nigeria's borders.
Nigeria's military has reported freeing thousands this year as they have forced the extremists from towns and into strongholds in the sprawling Sambisa Forest. Boko Haram has turned to soft targets using suicide bombers.
Protesters in Paris have attacked a police car with two officers inside with iron bars and set it alight in a dramatic unleashing of new anti-police violence, as officers across France took to the streets to denounce violence they say has been repeatedly directed at them.
Police have launched an attempted murder investigation following the car attack, which left one of the officers in hospital.
Protesters in Paris and elsewhere allege police have instigated violence during a series of demonstrations against controversial labour reforms.
"Everybody hates the police!" they chanted at the Place de la Republique in Paris, where several hundred police officers gathered on their lunch break to condemn "anti-cop hate". The protesters were dispersed with pepper spray.
Paris police chief Michel Cadot told a news conference that about 15 protesters, some masked, attacked the car and threw a Molotov cocktail at it, setting it alight.
The male driver was attacked when he got out of the car and was taken to hospital. His female partner suffered slight injuries.
Mr Cadot denounced a level of violence "rarely reached, extremely shocking".
But Vanina Giudicelli, one of the protesters at the Republique, said the police gathering was "a real provocation".
She said: "Since the first demonstration on March 9, we notice that they generate the violence. We have been sprayed by gas, hit with batons, arrested." She had no known connection to the attack on the police car.
Jean-Claude Delage, secretary-general of the Alliance police union, denounced an "escalation of violence" in the labour protests and said some people were harassing police officers with projectiles and Molotov cocktails and even hitting them with bars.
"Troublemakers provoke clashes in the middle of peaceful protests. So it's very complicated for police forces to isolate and arrest them," Mr Delage said.
French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday that more than 350 police officers have been injured in clashes and 60 people have been convicted amid the labour reform protests.
Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve offered his "full support" to police following the weekly cabinet meeting. He said the police have instructions to take "firm action" against those involved in violent clashes.
Jean-Marc Falcone, general director of the police, told Europe 1 radio: "Anti-cop hatred comes from a small portion of the population... but these 10% are very violent." Den Hond and Elaine Ganley contributed to the story.
Donald Trump said he would have no problem talking to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has said he would hold talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try to halt the communist nation's nuclear programme.
"I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him," Mr Trump said.
"At the same time I would put a lot of pressure on China because economically we have tremendous power over China," he told Reuters news agency.
It was unclear whether Mr Trump was referring to bilateral talks between the US and North Korea or a face-to-face meeting. But either would mark a significant departure from the current situation.
There has been little dialogue between the US and North Korea since Pyongyang pulled out of international aid-for-disarmament negotiations with the US and other nations in 2008.
The Obama administration says it has been willing to resume those talks, but only if the North commits to the aim of giving up nuclear weapons.
Kim has instead doubled down on his nuclear programme, holding two nuclear test explosions since he took power four years ago. He has also launched long-range rockets into space, intensifying fears that the North is moving closer to have a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile that could threaten the American mainland.
In response, the US has led the international effort to step up sanctions on Pyongyang.
Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton's campaign jumped on Mr Trump's remarks.
Referring to Mr Trump's recent feud with Prime Minister David Cameron, Clinton adviser Jake Sullivan said: "Let me get this straight. Donald Trump insults the leader of our closest ally, then turns around and says he'd love to talk to Kim Jong Un?
"I suppose that makes sense for him, since he also praised Kim Jong Un for executing his uncle and seems to have a bizarre fascination with foreign strongmen like (Russian president Vladimir) Putin and Kim. But his approach to foreign policy makes no sense for the rest of us."
No sitting US president has met the leader of North Korea, although former US presidents have met Kim Jong Un's predecessors on visits to the isolated nation. Jimmy Carter met Kim Il Sung, the current leader's grandfather, in 1994 - a meeting that paved the way for a disarmament agreement negotiated by the Clinton administration that later collapsed.
Bill Clinton met Kim Jong Il, the current leader's father, in 2009, when he travelled to Pyongyang to secure the release of two detained American journalists.
As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama was criticised by both Republican and Democratic rivals for saying he would be willing to meet leaders of nations like Iran, Cuba and North Korea without pre-conditions. Mrs Clinton said at the time that Mr Obama's position was naive and irresponsible.
Mr Obama cast his position as a break from George Bush's foreign policy and the notion that the US could punish a country by not talking to its leaders.
Now in his eighth year as president, Mr Obama has never met North Korea's leaders. He has met Cuban president Raul Castro, though their first meeting came only after negotiations between their countries about normalising relations.
Mr Obama was willing to meet Iran's President Hassan Rouhani at the United Nations in 2013, but the Iranian leader turned down the meeting. The two spoke by phone days later - a call that came as the US eyed nuclear talks with its long-time foe.
In the Reuters interview, Mr Trump also called for a renegotiation of the Paris climate accord, a global effort aimed at reducing carbon emissions, and said that, if elected president, he would dismantle most of the Dodd-Frank regulations that were put in place after the financial crisis.
He also said he was planning to release a detailed policy platform on the economy in two weeks.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump and Fox News TV anchor Megyn Kelly called a truce nearly nine months after the billionaire took offence at her questioning during a Republican debate.
Mr Trump bristled at a question Ms Kelly asked and in the months that followed, repeatedly attacked her on Twitter.
But a few weeks ago the two sat down for an interview which was broadcast on Tuesday and Mr Trump appeared sheepish when pressed by Ms Kelly on how he had described her as a "bimbo".
He also said he understood that she was simply doing her job and "liked" where their relationship was now.
Mr Trump also seemed contrite over retweeting a post that mocked the looks of Heidi Cruz, the wife of former party rival Senator Ted Cruz.
The launch of an experimental rocket on trial which reached an altitude of 278 kilometres and a target speed of Mach 7.5 in the latest successful test of hypersonic technology in the Australian desert. Photo: AFP/ Australian Defence
Hypersonic travel that could propel people from London to Sydney in just two hours is one step closer to reality, following a successful test.
The project, which saw US and Australian military scientists combine resources, is on track to launch in 2018 after its latest engine trial hit the target speed of Mach 7.5 - more than seven times the speed of sound.
It could revolutionise global air travel and prove cost-effective access to space, Alex Zelinsky, the chief Australian scientist working on the project said.
For a jet or rocket to be classified as hypersonic, it must travel at five times the speed of sound, or Mach 5. The latest trial at the world's largest land testing site in Australia saw a rocket hit the target speed of Mach 7.5 (5760 miles per hour), reaching an altitude of 279 kilometres.
"We want to be able to fly with a hypersonic engine at Mach 7," Michael Smart, a hypersonic expert from the University of Queensland who is working on the test, told the AFP. "You could fly long distances over the Earth very, very quickly.
"It's also very useful as an alternative to a rocket for putting satellites into space."
The team plans to run 10 trials on the rocket, which has a supersonic combustion engine that uses oxygen for fuel, making it lighter than traditional rockets. The next test is scheduled for 2017, while the first was in 2009.
Boeing and the German space agency are also working on the project with the US and Australian militaries.
The team isn't the only group to be looking at hypersonic technology. Earlier this year a concept design for the Antipode, which could travel from London to New York in just 11 minutes at 12,427 miles per hour, was released.
Spike Aerospace, an engineering company in Boston, also unveiled plans last year to develop a 12 to 18 seater supersonic private jet that could cross the Atlantic in under four hours. Airbus also filed a patent for a jet called Concorde 2 that could make the journey in an hour.
What is hypersonic travel?
It is loosely defined as "Mach 5", or five times faster than the speed of sound, which would be 6,200km per hour at sea level
Why is it difficult to achieve?
In hypersonic travel, temperatures get so hot that the air molecules become unstable and start losing electrons. The air begins to change chemically and becomes an electrically-charged field
How close are we?
So far, most hypersonic test flights have been unmanned and experimental, and have lasted for no more than a couple of minutes
But?
The X-15, operated by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration secured the official world record for the highest speed ever reached by a manned, powered aircraft in June, 2015. Its maximum speed was 4,520 miles per hour or Mach 6.72
When was the first recorded hypersonic flight?
The V-2 rocket, first used in World War II by Nazi Germany, reached a maximum velocity of 5,150 miles per hour - more than five times the speed of sound
What's faster than hypersonic?
Hypersonic is an open-ended term. However, 'warp speed', as suggested by the Star Trek series, would be faster. Warp 9.6 is 1,909 times the speed of light
News / National
by Staff reporter
Mandiitawepi Chimene Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister has admitted that the $15 billion diamond loot in Chiadzwa exposed the Zanu PF leadership in the province, as the alleged scam was conducted under their noses.The outspoken minister said all Zanu PF politicians in the province were hanging their heads in shame after they failed to sniff out the looters.Turning to Mutare City Council, she said the local authority was now geared for fresh investments following a government-initiated clean-up campaign, which exposed massive corruption, which implicated top council officials and councillors.
Migrants throw rocks at Greek police during a scuffle at the Macedonian border (AP)
Greek riot police have fired tear gas and stun grenades at refugees and other migrants who tried to push a railway carriage through a cordon during a protest at a crowded camp on the border with Macedonia.
Police said about 200 people were involved in the violence, and the migrants also attacked officers with stones. There were no immediate reports of injuries or arrests.
The sprawling Idomeni camp is home to about 10,000 people trapped in Greece after a series of border closures further north on the Balkan migration route to Europe's prosperous heartland.
Camp residents have for weeks blocked a freight railway line that enters Macedonia at the spot.
Officials said protesters pushed an empty carriage at police stationed on the line just before the Macedonian border fence.
Meanwhile, a small tent city has formed on Serbia's border with Hungary where migrants are waiting to cross into the EU.
Dozens of migrants, including small children, have been camping in a few dozen tents on a littered field by Hungary's border fence, braving rain and cold nights determined to pursue their dream of a better future in Europe.
Aid workers say Hungarian authorities have been letting into the country small groups of about 20 people a day, mostly families with small children.
SHARE Mike Gambrell
State Rep. Mike Gambrell won a special election Tuesday for a state senate seat that covers parts of Anderson, Abbeville and Greenwood counties.
He received 1,246 votes, or about 92 percent, according to unofficial totals from the South Carolina State Election Commission. The results will not become official until certified, likely later this week.
Gambrell was the only name on the ballot.
Write-in votes accounted for the rest of the total.
The special election was to fill the remaining five months of the term of Sen. Billy O'Dell, who died in January.
Gambrell will face Williamston Town Council member Rockey Burgess in a June 14 primary for the regular senate term, which will begin in January.
Gambrell has been a state representative since 2007.
"I am truly overwhelmed by all the support I received," Gambrell wrote in a text message sent Tuesday night.
Staff report
RON BARNETT/THE GREENVILLE NEWS Artist rendering of a building to be constructed in Pickens County by era-contact.
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By Ron Barnett, rbarnett@greenvillenews.com
Project Big Apple came to fruition Wednesday with the announcement that the world's leader in high-speed railway couplings is moving its North American manufacturing headquarters to Pickens County.
The County Council gave final approval to a fee-in-lieu of taxes agreement and other incentives in a special meeting at Alliance Pickens headquarters to make way for the announcement that the German-based company, called era-contact, plans to build a $3.6 million facility in the Pickens County Commerce Park that will create 45 jobs.
The company had been referred to as Project Big Apple in county documents to shield its identity during negotiations because it will be moving its only operation in the United States from New York to Pickens County.
"This world leader could have gone anywhere, but they chose Pickens County," council Chairwoman Jennifer Willis said.
Jochen Kurz, general manager of the family-owned company, said the School District of Pickens County Career and Technology Center was one of the key selling points in the decision to locate in the park near Liberty.
"It was love at first sight," he said of his visit to the county while prospecting for a site.
The company will be needing sales people, engineers and technicians, and it expects to be recruiting students right out of the career center and training them for jobs, he said.
The 38,000-square-foot facility is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2017, he said.
The company's market in the USA is similar in size to its business in China, where it employees about 200 workers, and Kurz said he expects to eventually have that large a workforce in Pickens County.
"It's always a great day in our state when we can welcome a company like era-contact USA to the South Carolina family," Gov. Nikki Haley said in a statement released by the state Department of Commerce. "Their decision to create 45 new jobs in Pickens County is a huge win for the people of South Carolina and is a real reason to celebrate across the state."
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By Ray Chandler, Special to the Independent Mail
WESTMINSTER The Westminster city pool could reopen this summer for the first time in four years.
The Westminster City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to provide $15,000 to help a citizens committee reopen the pool through September 1. Although no exact proposed opening date was named
Westminster Mayor Brian Ramey said he was unsure whether the county codes office would approve the plan.
The council took the vote after Susan Brock, who is with an ad hoc citizens committee tasked with studying the possibility of reopening the pool, said the committee believed the pool could be reopened for $10,114.
That figure, Brock said, included the rental of the portable toilets and buildings and the pool lift for the disabled that would make the pool compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control has granted a waiver for the use of the portable buildings while work on repairs on or building of permanent structures proceeds, Brock said.
The figure to open the pool does not, however, include the $8,800 in projected operating costs needed to keep it open all summer.
The citizens committee has collected about $2,000 in donations with promises of more, Brock said.
The city closed the pool in early 2013 after then members of the city council decided the cost of many needed repairs and a lift for disabled persons needed for the pool to comply with the ADA was more than the city coffers could bear.
The net cost to the city to operate the pool over the five previous years was pegged in 2013 to be about $126,000 over and above user fee revenue.
The $15,000 disbursement Tuesday was approved pending the approval of the county building codes office of the pool reopening with temporary portable buildings for concessions, showers, changing areas and bathrooms.
Council member Yousef Mefleh said he wanted the pool opened, but also wanted assurances that it would be safe.
Council member Susan Ramey, who has helped guide the citizens committee regarding the pool, said SC DHEC would inspect the pool to ensure public safety. One upgrade the agency had already mandated, Ramey said, was an improved chlorination system.
If the effort to open the pool is successful, Ramey said, the initial plan is to open it Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from late morning until evening.
If opened, the pool will be the second municipal pool operating in Oconee County. A mostly private effort opened the Walhalla pool last year after several years of operation. Though still city-owned, the Walhalla pool now operates under the direction of the YMCA.
By Sahil Aggarwal, Manager, International Business Advisory, Dezan Shira & Associates
Indias Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) issued a press release on May 10, notifying of a new Protocol amending the 33-year-old India Mauritius Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA). The Indian government is now starting talks with Singapore to introduce similar amendments in its DTAA with the nation. The two developments address the longstanding issues of tax treaty abuse and round tripping of funds. They also bear testament to Indias commitment to the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action plan proposed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Key features of the Protocol to the India Mauritius DTAA (Protocol), as stated in the press release, are:
Capital Gains Taxation
With effect from Financial Year (FY) 2017-18 (tax year April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018), India shall have taxation rights on capital gains arising from alienation of shares of an Indian resident company, acquired on or after April 1, 2017.
For shares acquired before April 1, 2017, the exemption from tax in India as currently available would continue to apply.
For a transition period of April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2019, the tax rate will be limited to 50 percent of the domestic tax rate of India, subject to the fulfilment of the Limitation of Benefits (LOB) article as introduced by the Protocol.
Taxation in India at the full domestic tax rate will take place from FY 2019-2020 onwards.
Limitation of Benefits
A Mauritius resident (including a shell/conduit company) will not be eligible for the benefit of 50 percent reduction in tax rate during the transitory period if it fails to fulfil the main purpose test and the bonafide business test.
A resident is deemed to be a shell/conduit company if its total expenditure on operations in Mauritius is less than U.S. $40,370 (Rs 2.7 million/Mauritian Rupees 1.5 million) in the immediately preceding 12 months.
Interest Taxation
Mauritian resident banks earning interest from India will be subject to withholding tax at the rate of 7.5 percent with respect to debt claims/loans made after March 31, 2017. Interest income earned prior to that shall be exempt from tax in India.
Exchange of Information
The Protocol also provides for updating the Exchange of Information Article per international standards, provision for assistance in collection of taxes, and source-based taxation of other income, amongst other changes.
RELATED: Accounting & Reporting Services from Dezan Shira & Associates
Observations
It is clear that India is keen to plug tax loopholes that have so far led to great loss of revenue for the state, a fact underlined by the OECDs BEPS Project. In fact, Indias beneficial tax arrangement with Mauritius and Singapore is what led to the two countries becoming the top sources for foreign direct investment (FDI) into India. This in turn motivated the Indian governments plans to revamp its respective tax treaties with them, further assisted by the BEPS goals.
At the same time, the new amendments to the India Mauritius DTAA is reflective of the governments concern to ensure stability for investors. In this context, the biggest positive in the Protocol is that there will be no retroactive impact as investments made prior to April 1, 2017 will be grandfathered. Further, the Protocol will also have ramifications for investments into India from Singapore. This is because the benefits of residence-based taxation of capital gains, on sale of shares under the India Singapore Protocol/DTAA, will be linked to the India Mauritius DTAA.
However, it is interesting to note that the Protocol does not incorporate main purpose test and bona fide business test explicitly, as mentioned in the governments press release. It only says that the benefits of reduced capital gains taxation on sale of shares (available from April 2017 to March 2019) will not be available if the affairs were arranged with the primary purpose to take advantage of such benefits (or if it is a shell/conduit company). This appears to be a subjective test and no criteria have been laid down to be fulfilled.
The new Protocol to the India Mauritius DTAA is thus a significant tax development. It will have a major impact on numerous institutional funds, asset managers, and private companies that have used the Mauritius route to invest into India. Singapore, too, will become a less attractive destination for investment into India because the capital gains tax exemption under the Singapore treaty may also automatically end as negotiations are now ongoing for the same.
Finally, the impact of these developments will be felt maximally by Participatory Note (P-Note) investors, short-only funds such as hedge funds and high frequency traders, and particularly, investments from low cost borrowing nations since tax cost will now be majorly factored into the cost benefit analysis.
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.
A lot is spoken about Indias talent story and given the demographics, much has been written about the India advantage. What is your take?
What got you started on this venture?
Whats in it for the companies?
Where did the next push come from?
Did the digital push make things easy because often getting a faculty is a challenge?
What was the logic between tying up with colleges when you have a B2C model?
What is your marketing approach?
Given the PMs Digital India campaign, what is your suggestion to maximize the synergies between the Digital India and Skilled India?
What trends are you seeing in online learning especially in the tier 2/3 towns?
In terms of fees, what benefits do you see from digital? To what extent is it getting more affordable?
Comment on your financials. What is the shareholding pattern? How much have you raised so far? Any plans to sell stake?
What will be the triggers for growth?
drives overall strategy, growth, and execution at TalentSprint. From 2003-2008, Santanu worked at Virtusa Corporation as Senior Vice President for Global Delivery Operations, and Head of Indian Operations. From 1999-2003, Santanu worked in Boston as Chief Technology Officer of Viveca and Openpages, both venture-backed technology firms. He began his career in New York as a Research Scientist at the famous IBM T.J. Watson Research Center. His technical work spans more than 20 international papers and 2 United States patents. Santanu has a B.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Madras and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where his academic performance in computer science earned him the prestigious Rackham Doctoral Fellowship, IBM Canada Fellowship, and LaCroute Fellowship. He is a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), the elite global network of young CEOs, a Distinguished Fellow of IDRBT (set up by RBI) and Adjunct Professor at IIT-Hyderabad.is among India's leading Career Accelerators for Youth. Its technology-driven platform attracts youth with high aspirations and equips them for exciting careers in the knowledge sector. Funded by Nexus Venture Partners and the National Skill Development Corporation, TalentSprint aims to empower ONE MILLION young job seekers to pursue careers in Information Technology, Banking and Financial Services, and Education. TalentSprint has enabled 100,000+ Youth from 200+ colleges find their career with 650+ employers since inception.In an interaction withof, Dr. Santanu Paul says, Indias talent story is skin deep. The top 5-10% youth have a lot of opportunity. For the rest, it catastrophically drops in terms of what avenues are available to even be employed.A big lesson we learnt in our corporate life is that Indias talent story is skin deep. The top 5-10% youth have a lot of opportunity. For the rest, it catastrophically drops in terms of what avenues are available to even be employed. I headed Virtusa India and we used to interview close to a hundred candidates to make just a couple of offers. The supply-demand mismatch is massive and the skill gap is huge. There is another underlying phenomenon which we call the aspirational gap; our youth do not necessarily want the jobs that are available. For example, even though there are many lucrative and challenging sales jobs, most MBA graduates seek the comfort of a desk job, and not the thrill of winning in the field with customers.The trigger came when we realized that both our youth as well as employers need better answers to the employability question. We launched a Youth Career Platform for first time job-seekers on the supply side and started to aggregate as many jobs as possible from the corporate world on the demand side. We started with the Information Technology sector given our deep roots in it. We figured out how to monetize in this sector and carved out a sustainable business model. The secret sauce was our blended learning program, a combination of two parts of technical skills mixed with one part of soft skills, and judicious use of contact and digital learning. Another favorable factor in the early days was that the co-founders came from a blue chip corporate background and it gave us a lot of credibility among employers. Today, over 700 IT employers recruit from our platform, and to put that figure in perspective, NASSCOM has 2000 member companies.As candidates fund their own training, the companies save significant training costs by recruiting from us. Importantly, what we realized as we went along was that companies greatly appreciated the just-in-time availability of talent on our platform. 24 x 7 x 365, the platform has a ready pool with industry-ready skills. This brought us recognition and acceptance among employers and we became a potent force to reckon with.Having established our model in the IT sector, we scouted around and the banking sector was the next obvious choice, because that again is an aspirational sector for our youth. Unlike IT where an attempt to create a common assessment test has met with limited success, banking is quite uniform in terms of common assessment tests and standardized scores. This allowed us to target a job-linked test preparation model.Yes. We took a strategic call to go digital with our banking products and banished brick and mortar classrooms. We disrupted the traditional classroom with live online 'classrooms' which aspirants could access from anywhere at any time. Job seekers now come to us to enhance their employability quotient. We help them prepare for aspirational jobs in the IT and banking sectors, and link them up with exciting career opportunities. Our moment of truth came in the last one year when we realized that the success rates of our trainees seeking bank careers was over 54%. This is unprecedented in a sector where the opportunity:aspirant ratio is as low as 2%. We also found, to our major surprise, that 60% of our trainees today are learning digitally from non-urban areas. It is a testament to the fact that digital platforms can go where traditional classrooms cannot.We are a Youth Career Platform. Where do our customers from? From the colleges. We felt the need to go upstream and spread the message of employability early in the academic cycle. That project has had interesting results. What we realized is that there are different kinds of colleges. Many colleges are not willing to invest for the betterment of their students. They are just happy with their existing business model of printing degrees. Then there are progressive colleges which go the other way to underwrite high quality employability courses for their students. Moving forward, colleges will remain an important marketing channel for us. This will help students experience the TalentSprint brand in small doses.Over 60% of new enrollments come through reference. Alumni seems to be the biggest contributor in adding to our numbers. Then there is digital marketing and we are leveraging it to reach out to a much larger target audience. We enjoy high recall on critical digital and social platforms such as Google, Facebook, and YouTube.Great question. I think the two strategies are inseparable. There is no pathway to a Skilled India unless we embrace digital learning as the primary channel. Despite beliefs and efforts to the contrary, conventional classrooms and centers just won't be able to keep up with the volume and velocity of our demographic dividend. Similarly, we cannot build a Digital India unless our youth are digitally sophisticated. The two Indias need to converge.We are seeing very encouraging signs. Broadband and mobile connections are penetrating faster than most urban people realize. Rural and semi-urban India want to emulate urban India. These days, it is quite common for us to find job-seekers preparing on our platform hailing from towns we had never heard of previously. It is a remarkable transformation that is underway.First and foremost, if a young person does not have to leave his or her home to get the best quality training, that itself saves a lot of money in terms of costs not incurred in terms of travel, boarding and lodging. That apart, in a digital world, the marginal cost of delivery over time goes to zero, which means it is theoretically possible to lower costs dramatically as scale builds up. However, one must remember that digital marketing is still a very expensive proposition. However, once a digital brand is fully built out, fees will be considerably lower than that of conventional classroom programs.As a privately held company, we do not disclose our yearly financials. That said, since our inception, we have grown at a CAGR of 60% and have raised venture capital and venture debt to the tune of Rs. 30 crore. We are funded by Nexus Venture Partners and NSDC. We expect to raise additional capital in the future to expand our digital platform to reach ONE MILLION youth.We are merely scratching the surface of the IT and banking sectors today, and intend to leverage our digital platform to radically deepen the market in the coming years. Apart from that, we have a third bet in the education sector, where there is a tremendous gap in teachers and lecturers across the country. Just be reaching out to Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns, we will be on course for ONE MILLION youth by 2020. Over time, we see our platform going global as well, since unemployability is no longer just an India problem, it is a global issue.
Hyundai Motor India Ltd., the countrys largest exporter and the second largest car manufacturer today introduced special edition of Xcent, commemorating 20 years of Foundation in India.Launched two years back Xcent The Real Family Sedan has become part of over 120,000 families offering unmatched performance, fuel efficiency and safety.The Xcent Special Edition exterior features Boot lid spoiler and stylish side body graphics for enhanced sporty appeal. Front radiator grill chrome and rear chrome garnish are added to further enhance the premium looks of the car.The interiors will include 6.2 Touch Screen Audio-Video system and sporty Red & Black seats. The vehicle will be available in S Trim with both petrol and diesel variants, in pure white and sleek silver color options.said, It has been a momentous two decades for Hyundai in India. In a short span of time we have emerged as Indias most loved automobile brand. It is our continuous effort to gauge changing customer preferences and keep introducing new technology in our products to offer high value to our customers. Xcent has emerged as Indias most loved family sedan and we are confident that the Special Edition will further enhance the excitement among the customers.With safety as priority Hyundai Xcent with its strong body structure is also equipped with driver side airbags and ABS as standard from the base models.
will supply two Smart Power Generation plants to Bangladesh, each producing 30 MW of power. Both orders include three Wartsila 34SG engines running on natural gas. The equipment will be delivered in late 2016, and the plants are scheduled to be fully operational in early 2017."With the equipment from Wartsila, we can have higher availability and reliability of our power plants, and we can ensure an uninterrupted power supply for our industry,"is one of the leading business conglomerates in Bangladesh. It produces daily necessities and food products for Bangladeshi consumers in the Meghnaghat Industrial Park, on the outskirts of Dhaka.According tothe high availability of the Wartsila plants will help to keep the production running, even when the power plants are undergoing maintenance. The multi-unit configuration allows sequential maintenance of one unit at a time. Less production downtime will enable MGI to serve its end customers better by providing them more products at cheaper prices. Surplus power from these power plants will be fed to the national grid, thus benefitting the local population in the surrounding rural area.MGI is a repeat customer for Wartsila. With these two projects, the company's installed Wartsila capacity will be some 140 MW. The six new engines will replace obsolete generation capacity. MGI wanted to unify its power production under the umbrella of a single proven technology and supplier."We have a good relationship with Meghna Group of Industries and they have been satisfied with our equipment and the local service and support,"Wartsila has taken a significant stake in the power sector of Bangladesh by installing almost 2000 MW of capacity in the country during the last five years. The total Wartsila installed capacity in Bangladesh is approximately 2500 MW, which represents some 20 percent of the country's total. Globally, Wartsila's installed base is 60 GW in 176 countries.
Alok Industries Ltd stock was up by 2% at Rs. 3.99. The company is planning to separate its operations into two or three units that can be individually sold to financial investors, says report.
The scrip opened at Rs. 4 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 4.02 and Rs. 3.96 respectively. So far 73617(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 539.91 crore.
The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 8.63 on 07-Aug-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 3.76 on 18-Feb-2016. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 4.25 and Rs. 3.82 respectively.
The promoters holding in the company stood at 37.02 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 12.35 % and 50.62 % respectively.
The stock is currently trading below its 200 DMA.
As part of an immediate relief kit to the farmers and rural population suffering an oppressive drought, the government should take the load of their bank loan repayments upon itself, besides reaching food grains to the affected areas at highly subsidized rates, ASSOCHAM President, Sunil Kanoria said today.
Expressing a grave concern over a widespread rural crisis, the ASSOCHAM President said, No meaningful gains can be accrued from over seven per cent GDP growth, if a large part of our population is pushed to live on the margins of distress and poverty. We in the ASSOCHAM believe in a holistic economic development which alone can help the trade, business and the industry. No one sector is isolated from the other. So, if one sector suffers, others must chip in.
He said the chamber is not making a demand outright on the banks to take the load of loan waiver or moratorium on agriculture loans since the banks themselves are going through an unprecedented challenging times in terms of the non-performing assets.
However, the government should commit the maximum resources to the rural sector, as the fiscal burden on it has been considerably reduced thanks to ultra low prices of crude oil for about 18 months now.
Mr Kanoria said, as estimated by the ASSOCHAM, the economy has taken a jolt of Rs 6.50 lakh crore because of drought in 265 districts in 11 states affecting 33 crore people.
Though the credit growth to the agriculture has been the maximum among all the sectors, the base for the agriculture loans has been low. We are not suggesting populist measures like loan waiver as election freebie, but in case of natural distress like the drought, the affected people have to be helped. So, in the given circumstances, there is absolutely no rationale that can point towards a bad economic in providing relief to the needy. In fact, helping the poor and feeding them in times of distress should make an excellent economic proposition. It is only then, that a broad based confidence can be brought back into the economy.
The ASSOCHAM President was hopeful that situation would surely improve with regular onset of the Monsoon. Hopefully, some relief would be forthcoming from the Rain Gods in the next few weeks, helping the agriculture and the entire allied sectors like milk production, meat and live stock.
He said while the overall economy has managed to withstand the pressure of two successive droughts, specific sectors have come under severe stress requiring effective intervention.
The ASSOCHAM President also called for long-term solutions and increased spending in building rural infrastructure like village and semi urban roads, water sheds, small irrigation projects.
The Centre and the states should form joint teams for implementation of the relief measures to reach the same in days and not in weeks or months, Mr Kanoria added.
Closing bell:
The BSE Sensex ended with a loss of 69 points at 25,705. The BSE Sensex opened at 25,671 touched an intra-day high of 25,747 and low of 25,503.
The NSE Nifty closed with a loss of 21 points at 7,870. The NSE Nifty opened at 7,847 hitting a high of 7,882 and low of 7,811.
The India VIX (Volatility) index was up 0.50% at 16.4550.
Live market: The BSE Sensex ended with a loss of 69 points at 25,705. The BSE Sensex opened at 25,671 touched an intra-day high of 25,747 and low of 25,503.The NSE Nifty closed with a loss of 21 points at 7,870. The NSE Nifty opened at 7,847 hitting a high of 7,882 and low of 7,811.The India VIX (Volatility) index was up 0.50% at 16.4550.
At 3:06 PM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 25,702 down 71 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 7,867 down 24 points.The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading down 0.27% at 11,174, whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading up 0.17% at 11,163.ONGC, SBI, Adani Ports, L&T, Dr.Reddy's and Lupin are among the gainers, whereas Maruti Suzuki, BHEL, Bajaj-Auto, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Motors and Asian Paints are losing sheen on BSE.Some buying activity is seen in oil and gas and energy sectors, while auto, banking, IT, industrial, FMCG, IT and telecom sectors are showing weakness on BSE.The INDIA VIX is up 1.72% at 16.6550. Out of 1,811 stocks traded on the NSE, 788 declined, 710 advanced and 313 remained unchanged today.A total of 32 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trades today, while 24 stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.Auto stocks trading lower on BSE. The S&P BSE Auto trading lower by 1.27% or 233.53 points at 18,196 as against the previous close of 18,431. The S&P Auto opened at 18,321 and hits a high of 18,338 and a low of 18,066.10.Motherson Sumi cracked 4.7% to Rs.276. The company has posted a net profit of Rs.4137.20 mn for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 compared with Rs.3401 mn for the quarter ended March 31, 2015. The scrip opened at Rs. 289.9 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 289.95 and Rs. 274.9 respectively. So far 5167510(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 38423.02 crore.Bharat Forge Ltd is currently trading at Rs. 734.35, down by Rs. 16.15 or 2.15% from its previous closing of Rs. 750.5 on the BSE.. The company posted a net profit of Rs.1645.20 mn for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 compared with Rs.2031.80 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2015.Bosch Ltd is currently trading at Rs. 21113.5, down by Rs. 460.6 or 2.13% from its previous closing of Rs. 21574.1 on the BSE.Bajaj Auto Ltd is currently trading at Rs. 2469.35, down by Rs. 43.65 or 1.74% from its previous closing of Rs. 2513 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs. 2503.8 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 2503.8 and Rs. 2456.8 respectively. So far 228155(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 72718.68 crore.Hero MotoCorp Ltd is currently trading at Rs. 2882.95, down by Rs. 45 or 1.54% from its previous closing of Rs. 2927.95 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs. 2915.9 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 2915.9 and Rs. 2862 respectively. So far 270120(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 58468.26 crore.Maruti Suzuki India Ltd is currently trading at Rs. 3900, down by Rs. 49.15 or 1.24% from its previous closing of Rs. 3949.15 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs. 3910 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 3935.1 and Rs. 3808 respectively. So far 1839046(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 119295.92 crore. Suzuki Motor Corp is allegedly making use of improper fuel economy testing methods in Japan, as per local media reports today. Suzuki Chairman, Osamu Suzuki will present a report to Japan's transport ministry later in the day.Maruti Suzuki dropped 2.3% to Rs3,856 after its parent company Suzuki Motor Corp said it had used improper fuel economy testing methods in Japan.Ashok Leyland slipped 1.4% to Rs.101.30. The company has received patent for an invention related to lightweight composite articles suitable for making structures for use in automobile industry, aerospace industry and for domestic panels, as per media reports.Voltas trading marginally down at Rs.335 on BSE. The company reported 51.4% increase in its consolidated net profit at Rs 180.71 crore.GSK Consumer Healthcare slumped 4.4% to Rs.5819 after the company posted Rs.181 crore net profit during the quarter ended March 31, compared to Rs.197 crore during the same quarter last year.Vascon Engineers soared 2.3% to Rs.90.90. The company reported a net profit of Rs.6.67 crore in Q4 March 2016 compared with a net loss of Rs.75.62 crore in Q4 March 2015. The total income of the company stood at Rs.189.98 crore as against Rs.169.77 crore yoy.State Bank of Mysore jumped 8.3% to Rs. 462.10 on BSE. The bank has informed BSE that in-principle approval of the Board of Directors of the Bank accorded to enter into negotiation with SBI for acquisition of the business including assets and liabilities of State Bank of Mysore by State Bank of India.Punjab National Bank gained 1.4% to Rs.74.85 on BSE. The bank will announce its Q4 result today. IIFL estimates the banks net loss to widen to Rs.60 crore, at a rate of 120% yoy and 217% qoq. As per IIFLs forecast, the banks net interest income for Q4 FY16 is likely to surge to Rs.4,116 crore, at a rate of 9% yoy; however, the same is expected to remained unchanged qoq. Net Interest Margin is likely to be at 2.6%, with a yoy fall of 19 bps.Axis Bank slipped 1% to Rs. 498. The bank has kept its lending rates based on marginal cost of funds unchanged effective from 18 May 2016. The bank's Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) for overnight loans will be 8.95%, the rate for one month will be 9.05% and for three months it will be 9.25%.Tata Metaliks hit 20% upper circuit for the second consecutive session. Tata Steel has recalled its plan sent to the Bombay High Court for a merger of Tata Metaliks and Tata Metaliks DI Pipes with itself. In a notification to the stock exchanges, Tata Steel on Tuesday said that the merger scheme was not effective because the petition filed by Tata Metaliks in the Calcutta High Court for approval was pending.SBI stock was up by 1% at Rs.178. State Bank of India has announced that it is seeking "in principle sanction" of the Central Government to enter into negotiation with the subsidiary banks (State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of Travancore) and Bharatiya Mahila Bank Limited to acquire their businesses including assets and liabilities.Tata Communications jumped 3.8% to Rs.450.25 on BSE. The company will announce its Q4 numbers today. As per IIFLs forecast, the company is expected to register a net revenue of Rs.5,179 crore, growing at 1.5% qoq and 5.4% on yoy basis.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India will come up with pre-consultation paper on net neutrality this week, as per reports.
TRAI Chairman RS Sharma was quoted as saying, "We will come up with net neutrality pre-consultation paper this week."
In February, TRAI issued 'Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations, 2016' that disallow service providers to offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content being accessed by a consumer.
TRAI had issued a consultation paper on 'Differential Pricing for Data Services' in December, 2015. This consultation paper primarily sought the views of the stakeholders on whether the service providers should be allowed to charge differential tariffs based on the websites/applications/platforms being accessed on the internet.
Sharma also said that TRAI is reviewing the Supreme Court's order on call drops. "Internal discussions are underway and steps will be taken at an appropriate time," he was quoted as saying as per media reports.
The Bombay Stock Exchange has sought clarification from Tata Communications Ltd on May 18, 2016 with reference to the news flashed on CNBC TV 18 stating that "Tata Communication to sell 75% stake in Data Centre Arm for $ 680 m".
CNBC TV 18 report said, "Tata Comm is likely to sell 75% stake in data centre arm for $680 mn. The company is to seal deal with ST Telemedia to dell data centre arm."
Tata Communications Ltd is currently trading at Rs. 451.4, up by Rs. 18.55 or 4.29% from its previous closing of Rs. 432.85 on the BSE ahead of Q4 FY16 results.
The scrip opened at Rs. 432.4 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 457 and Rs. 432.4 respectively. So far 1590732(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 12336.23 crore.
The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 490.3 on 24-Jul-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 325.7 on 29-Feb-2016. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 446 and Rs. 428.5 respectively.
The promoters holding in the company stood at 74.99 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 18.01 % and 6.99 % respectively.
The stock is currently trading above its 200 DMA.
Ujjivan Financial Services Limited took another decisive step towards its proposed small finance banking operations by earmarking more than Rs. 300 crore, to be invested for implementing & integrating its Core Banking Technology over the next five years.
It has brought together an impressive ensemble of world class IT majors. The best of the breed technology solutions providers for its upcoming bank IT infrastructure include Finacle Core Banking from Infosys, CRM Solution from CRMNext, Mobile Unified Platform from i-Exceed, Sysarc Loan Origination System, ADF from Pragmatics, SAS complete suite for AML, ALM FTP and Risk & Governance, Ramco HRMS, Oracle Financials, Oracle Hyperion, IBM Cognos for DW and BI, IBM Filenet for Document Management and Workflow systems, IBM Middleware and IBM Enterprise Service Bus to integrate all systems together.
All these systems will be in addition to its existing systems which includes BR.net and mobility solutions like Artoo and Truecell.
Core Banking and all other systems will run on most secure and robust servers like Oracle Sun Super Cluster, CISCO Blade Servers and CISCO Routers and Switches.
Deepak Ayare, Chief Information Officer, Ujjivan Financial Services Ltd. said, To support the high volume business and to meet security and compliance requirements of different regulatory authorities, strong and secure systems are required at the core. We have selected all proven softwares in Banking Technology after carefully evaluating each system for the specific requirements. We are creating a strong IT backbone for the upcoming Small finance bank.
Ujjivan has appointed Wipro as the Systems Integrators to implement different Banking Technology Systems for its proposed Small Finance Banking operations.
Wipro will setup NOC (Network Operation Centre) & SOC (Security Operation Centre) for Ujjivan and will implement all systems and support to manage this technology with Ujjivan IT Team for next 5 years. More than 125 strong IT professionals will be managing the technology department for the upcoming bank. Wipro will implement Finacle core-banking system from Infosys integrated with CRM Solution and Mobility Solutions.
Ujjivan will be focusing highly on mobility solutions and will implement mobile technology using mobiles and handheld devices to reach the rural customers. Even today Ujjivan is using the latest mobile technology for customer acquisition, customer support and collection management for its current MFI business.
Speaking on the impact of this development, Mr Ittira Davis, Head of Transition, Ujjivan Financial Services Ltd. said, It is our desire that from the very first day, our customers should experience the best in class technology, security and mobility. We are endeavouring for our customers to feel comfortable banking with us from wherever they are without the constraints of time and space. We are confident our partnership with Wipro will help deliver this completely.
Keeping in mind the need for high security and top of the line disaster management, all IT infrastructure will be hosted in IBM Data Centre at Mumbai and the Disaster Recovery Data Centre will be hosted in Airtel Data Centre at Bangalore. Ujjivan will also be hosting a 3 way Data Centre DC, DR and NDR (Near Disaster Recovery).
Added, Mr. Andy Dey, Senior Vice President and Head of Sales and Delivery, Edgeverve: "Building on its successful track record of serving the economically poor, Ujjivan's Small Finance Bank initiative will become a significant brand in this sector. As the market leaders in banking technology solutions, we are committed to enabling the success of Ujjivan's small finance bank.
Ujjivans strong management team, with an equally strong Consultancy team from EY and good connection with technology partners which includes names like IBM, Oracle, Cisco, SAS, Microsoft, EMC, Craft Silicon and Artoo will support the company to setup a strong technology driven bank for the future.
Wipro Ltd has been selected by Vestas Wind Systems A/S(VWS.CO), as its strategic IT partner for Workplace Services. Headquartered in Aarhus, Denmark, Vestas is a global energy company that delivers best-in-class wind energy solutions in over 75 countries. Vestas core business comprises of the development, manufacturing, sale and maintenance of wind power plants.Wipro will deploy its proprietary LiVE Workspace solution for Vestas as part of this multi-year digital transformation engagement. The solution aims to enable a superior computing experience for users, while ensuring data security and also offers users access to applications - anywhere, anytime and on any device. This technology deployment will provide Vestas 20,000 employees, spread across 75 countries with an user-centric, collaborative and energy efficient workplace, with smart systems, which will boost business agility. The smart systems include predictive monitoring for faster service restoration, automation and preventive self-heal to minimize service disruptions, and round-the-clock resilient end-user infrastructure.Torben Heg Bonde, CIO, Vestas Wind Systems said, In order to fulfill our strategy of profitable growth, Vestas believes IT should be business-oriented. We have a vision to create an agile and future-proof workplace platform for all our 20,000 employees. With Wipro as our strategic partner, we are taking an important step to fulfil our ambition towards an Internet-centric IT architecture.Wipro has been chosen by Vestas as their strategic IT partner to transform their Workplace, as part of their digital journey. In this multi-year engagement we will leverage our strong understanding of the manufacturing domain, coupled with our workplace transformation capabilities to improve the end user experience for Vestas employees. This deal marks the beginning of a strategic relationship between Wipro and Vestas and will form the foundation of an innovative technology program that will strengthen Vestas leadership position in the industry," said N. S. Bala, President, Manufacturing & Technology SBU, Wipro Limited.Wipro is pleased to be selected as a strategic partner in Vestass transformation journey to create a next-gen work-place. Having recently being selected for several transformational engagements in the Nordic region, including Vestas in Denmark , Wipro has emerged as a clear partner of choice for Nordic companies looking to reinvent themselves in the digital age, said Carl-Henrik Hallstrom, Regional Head, Nordic, Wipro Limited.
U.S. Army Specialist Christopher Carlton is passionate about two areas of service in his life: his country and his family.
But when the soldier shipped out for a tour of duty in the Middle East in early 2010, he had no idea his toughest and most traumatic battle would play out after he returned from the war.
For the past six years, the 33-year-old veteran from Williamsport, Pennsylvania has been fighting what feels like a losing battle for a fathers rights to his biological child, who was given up for adoption without his knowledge or consent.
Today, because of adoption policies that often value the rights of birth mothers above those of unwed fathers, Carlton is left financially and emotionally exhausted, and no closer to learning any details about his daughter, let alone being a part of her life.
Its just devastating, Carlton said of the legal ordeal. Im extremely stressed, Ive probably aged myself eight to 10 years over this.
For the war vet surviving on disability benefits, the salt in the wound is the fact that it began with a painful lie: his former girlfriend told him the baby had died while she secretly arranged for the infant to be adopted in Utah. Carlton and his girlfriend were living together in Williamsport when she told him she was expecting his baby in September 2009.
He said he intended to raise the child with her.
The couple split up a few months later, but Carlton said he continued to support her with cash gifts and other help, such as shoveling snow for her.
Eight months into her pregnancy, she just up and disappeared, Carlton said. I was calling her like crazy. I thought she was missing.
She showed up at his door just six weeks later with news that sickened him: the baby had died. A full year passed before Carlton discovered, during a court hearing, that his child was alive and living with adoptive parents, following legal proceedings in Utah.
A ruling in the Utah Supreme Court case of Carlton v. Brown, filed in 2014, confirmed that Carltons then-girlfriend, unbeknownst to him, traveled to Utah and gave birth. She initially told him the baby was a boy.
She later admitted in a hearing, according to court records, that the baby boy was, in fact, a live girl, whom she had given up for adoption.
But despite the evidence that he was misled, a judge denied his petition contesting the adoption.
Utahs adoption policy is that a child is better off with an unfamiliar married couple than with a single biological parent. And a fraud immunity statute in state adoption law means that if someone is found guilty of lying during an adoption, it still cannot be overturned.
State adoption authorities say they have no position on this provision, other than to obey the law.
In Utah, mothers unilaterally can offer babies for adoption if their fathers fail to meet a series of criteria within 20 days of an adoption notice.
The Utah Supreme Court ruling confirms Carltons statement that he was not approached for his consent to the adoption because he failed to take a little-known legal step: signing a fathers registry that ensures his right to be notified of any legal proceedings involving the child.
Carlton is far from alone: many unwed fathers across America fight for their rights in states where policies are skewed against them.
Carlton was one of a group of 12 fathers who launched a 2014 class action federal lawsuit demanding $130 million in damages and challenging the constitutionality of Utahs adoption statute. All the plaintiffs, like Carlton, had said under oath that they had seen babies, whom they wanted to help raise, offered for adoption without their permission.
The suit was dismissed last fall, but the fathers individual battles continue.
Rob Manzares, a contractor with the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, also has spent six years and some $330,000 in legal costs fighting for custody of a daughter who secretly was offered for adoption.
Im not going to give up, Manzares said. If I have to go to the U.S. Supreme Court, I will.
Manzares, however, has seen some success.
After taking his fight to the Utah Supreme Court, he was awarded visitation rights to his child.
Carlton, on the other hand, knows virtually nothing about his daughter where she is, with whom, how she looks, or even what her name is.
1. Salman Khan might get married to Lulia Vantur on his 51st birthday.
According to reports, Salman's family has fixed the date of December 27th, which is also the actor's birthday, for his wedding with his Romanian girlfriend Lulia. The duo hogged headlines ever since they made their first public appearance together at Preity Zinta's wedding reception last week.
2. Priyanka Chopra paid a rocking tribute to music icon Prince at the ABC Upfront presentation.
The actress rocked the stage in a red hot number as she shook a leg to Prince's song "Kiss". She was total fire on stage as she entertained in Bollywood style, including multiple costume changes.
3. KRK targets Rishi Kapoor's Gandhi tweets with some real abusive ones.
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KRK's being KRK. This time he targeted Rishi Kapoor's tweets on former PM Indira Gandhi. Though Rishi ignored his words, the internet couldn't ignore what KRK wrote!
4. The film Jagga Jasoos is a revenge drama, well, that's what the leaked plot tells us!
Yes, the storyline of Jagga Jasoos got leaked and it is revealed that the film is everything of yesteryear revenge dramas combined. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif and is being directed by Anurag Basu.
5. Nawazuddin Siddiqui will play Urdu writer Manto in the biopic directed by Nandita Das.
Nandita Das said Nawaz has all the nuances and depth needed to play the titular role. She spoke during the 69th Cannes Film Festival and shared more about the biopic.
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Recently, Arjun Rampal shared a picture of an old post box from Kolkata, trying to highlight the "extinct nature" of the once important part of our communication system. Then he went missing in action when the Union Ministry tried to contact him seeking details about the post box!
With an abandoned postbox.Gosh,I remember so clearly when we used to post letters.Extinct today #vintageKahaani2 pic.twitter.com/iGNbqjwNo8 arjun rampal (@rampalarjun) May 11, 2016
The actor who is busy shooting for his upcoming Kahaani 2 with Vidya Balan in Kolkata is exploring it's heritage through it's cultural lanes arousing nostalgia for his fans by posting enough pictures. In the flow of events, he had last week shared the snap with an old decrepit abandoned letter box in some corner of the city, hinting much at the neglect India's postal network is facing today. We agree in this age of internet and fast communication, that the letters have completely gone extinct. But it didn't go down quite well with the Union Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad who within 24 hours, got in touch with Rampal about it's location. But Rampal hasn't replied yet!
@rampalarjun Hi Arjun! If you can share the location then @IndiaPostOffice will restore this letter box. Thanks Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) May 12, 2016
"Prasad's ministry also tried calling Arjun's phone, but it went unanswered. Arjun hasn't returned the calls either." - A Source
We wonder why Rampal is not responding to messages. We seriously thought he is trying to be a responsible citizen. But alas!
Car companies such as Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Mahindra and Renault refused to read much into Global NCAP's crash test results - that failed some of their models - and said they are producing vehicles in line with the existing safety norms.
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The cars are safe they say
The companies said that they will upgrade the cars to more stringent safety norms as the new crash test regulations kick in from 2017.
Maruti Suzuki, which saw two of its models (Celerio hatchback and Eeco van) fail the test, said that its products are safe when looked from the perspective of the present day norms. "All our products are safe. They meet the safety standards of the country and in most cases, exceed them. The tests by Global NCAP are conducted at speeds that are higher than those prescribed by the regulatory authorities not only in India but in Europe and USA. The results of Global NCAP have to be seen in that perspective," a company spokesperson said.
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The country's biggest car maker said safety is a "top priority". "... we are fully committed towards enhancing the safety of our products and making consumers aware about the same... Our objective is to make our products compliant with all future regulation, ahead of the timeline."
Hyundai, which saw the failure of its Eon mini car, said that existing norms are being met. "Hyundai vehicles are designed and built to meet all the prescribed safety standards set by Indian regulatory authorities," a statement from the Indian subsidiary of the Korean car major said. Global NCAP had given a zero star-rating to the Eon.
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Safety is paramount. Ahem
Renault India saw its Kwid small car fail test even with the version sporting air bags. The French company said that it is geared up to meet the stricter standards. "Safety is of paramount importance for Renault and all our products meet and exceed the requisite safety standards set by Indian regulatory authorities. India is gradually moving towards international safety norms by including more robust safety regulations... As a customer-focused company, Renault fully supports this initiative," the company said.
The Mahindra Scorpio SUV also failed the test, but the company said that this was because the non-airbag variant was tested. "The star rating, as released by Global NCAP in the latest crash test, was conducted on non-airbags variant of the Scorpio. Typically, in any star rating process, non-airbag variants do not perform well on safety standards," it said in a statement.
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The statement further added. "All Mahindra automotive products are developed and manufactured to meet or exceed the safety standards set in India for a safe driving experience. In fact, many models exceed the expected regulations of 2019."
Top D-Company operative Dawoodbhai Patel alias Javed Chikna has a family-owned fast-food restaurant in Karachi. It's called Cafe Equinox, according to the chargesheet recently filed by NIA in the Bharuch double murder case. The cafe, a senior NIA official told the Times of India, is run by his son.
Cafe Equinox - the menu
We could only find the particulars of one Karachi based Cafe Equinox. According to local directory site K Foods, the menu is very urban - "a wide range of delicious cuisines like BarBQ, Burgers, Fast Food, Sandwiches, Seafood, Steakhouse and many more." There's also "good quality sheesha with some exotic and fascinating flavors".
But is it really where all of Karachi parties?
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Hmm. According to Pakistani newspaper Tribune, the Karachi hangout is "a sheesha-bar doubling as a romantic tryst point" and it even had a shootout in 2011
According to an NIA officer, D-company fugitives like Javed are under growing pressure from Pakistani agencies like ISI, which have been harbouring them for long, to carry out subversive and terrorist acts in India. The officer said it was not clear whether the Karachi restaurant was a genuine income-earning venture for Javed and his family or only a front for their underworld activities.
Chikna's alleged crimes
The NIA chargesheet says Javed Chikna arranged the arms for Bharuch murders twice, first to be delivered at Mumbai and then in Surat. The first set of weapons were found defective as the magazines of the pistols were loose, following which Chikna arranged another set through Ashfaq Ansari, a Pakistani national based in Saudi Arabia. These second set of weapons were delivered in Surat.
Javed Chikna also arranged Rs 5 lakh payment through hawala route to compensate his associates in the murders. Fawad Ingariya, a Dubai-based Pakistani, told Shehzad Majeed Godil, an Indian settled in Dubai, to send Rs 5 lakh to India. He passed on instructions to his Mumbai agent, and subsequently a firm in Surat delivered Rs 5 lakh to accused Haider Ali. These proceeds were later distributed in Ajmer.
News / National
by Staff reporter
Prominent businessman Shingi Munyeza has warned the government to reduce its profligate spending and dispose underperforming State-owned enterprises in the wake of current economic challenges and worsening cash shortages.In a strategy paper dubbed the "10-Point Plan" - which he fashioned from an entrepreneur's perspective - Munyeza said government must immediately cut its expenditure and live within its means."They also need to commercialise State-owned enterprises - major retrenchment is overdue," he said.Munyeza's clarion call comes after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently urged the country to implement a comprehensive economic transformation programme, which includes a reduction of government's wage bill from the current 92 percent to less than 55 percent by 2019.President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF-led government is struggling to service its bloated civil service wage bill due todepleting revenue streams, high unemployment rate and massive company closures among other things.Munyeza, currently running the local Ocean Basket and Mugg & Bean franchises, said it was also important for government to immediately enter into an understanding with business and labour to allow for economic growth."There is need to start rand reporting so we begin to adjust correctly to regional parity then eventually move into the Rand Union, competitiveness is key," he said.Munyeza also noted that the country must effectively sweat its major assets and get maximum return on investment."The land audit, which will result in issuance of 99-year leases make our most valuable resource, land, productive and qualify as security. There is also need to handle all breaches to Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement," he said.The former African Sun chief executive also highlighted the need to incentivise exporters and revisit the country's indigenisation law, which compels all foreign-owned businesses to sell off 51 percent of their businesses to black Zimbabweans.He added that the country must conclude balance of payment support through the present processes with IMF."This will ensure working capital requirements. No bond notes!" he said.Zimbabwe, which owes $1, 8 billion in arrears to the World Bank, IMF and AfDB, has not been able to access much-needed fresh financing from the fund and last year put across an arrears clearance strategy which is considered an important step towards normalising relations with the international financial community.
A year after a young woman was murdered by a stalker in central Delhi's Anand Parbat, another one in the same locality was thrashed by six men on Sunday.
The 23-year-old had lodged an FIR against the men on Saturday for molesting her at a nearby park where she had been strolling with her sister in the morning. But all of them were released on bail the same day. That night at 11pm, the men gathered outside her house and started calling out her name. But she didn't respond on her mother's advice. They left after a while.
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On Sunday evening, when she was returning from a nearby shop, she found the men waiting for her outside her house.
"When I tried to go past them, they started passing lewd remarks and hurled abuses at me. When I told them to leave, they threatened to throw acid on me and kill my entire family if I didn't withdraw the complaint. I rushed inside and told my mother about it. After a while, the men returned with belts and rods. They dragged me out of my house and thrashed me," the woman said.
Caught on camera
Watch group of thugs harasses, pursues, assaults girl and her friend in national capital #ITVideohttps://t.co/GU198lOeMZ India Today (@IndiaToday) May 18, 2016
When her mother rushed out to her aid, she was beaten up too.
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"The men were drunk. They molested me and also grabbed my mother. They then hit us with stones,"
she said, adding that the men had been harassing her for over a month. A neighbour who came out to help the two women was also thrashed, the woman said.
But the mother of one of the men who allegedly thrashed the women claimed that it was the 23-year-old who had been forcing her son to leave his wife and marry her instead.
Police said they took immediate action on both complaints.
BCCL
"On Saturday, we arrested the six accused for stalking and threatening her. Since the charges were bailable, they were released by evening. They were neighbours so had another encounter on Sunday evening. This resulted in a scuffle after which a complaint was received from the girl and three accused were arrested for molestation and assault. We are interrogating them and more arrests will be made if required," said a senior police officer.
Read Also: Rape Horror Continues In Kerala, Now A 19-Year-Old Nursing Student Gangraped In An Autorickshaw
Tim Cook knows how important India is to Apple's future. Last year saw a 100 million smartphones sold here, a number that may grow 25% this year. Apple sales grew 56% in India during Q1 2016, even as global iPhone sales fell for the first time in the January-March quarter. India is also third-largest smartphone market - Cook said We (India) are where China was at about 7-10 years back.
Which is why his visit to India is incredibly action packed - in 72 hours, hes setting Apples new agenda for India.
The Apple has landed
Apple CEO @tim_cook arrives in Mumbai: Check out the first photos https://t.co/v4wwVcyyy7 pic.twitter.com/Z4Ij95cbb8 Express Technology (@expresstechie) May 18, 2016
Apple CEO Tim Cook's first visit to India commenced after he landed at the Mumbai airport at 11.45 pm last night. He flew to Mumbai on a private jet, and head straight to the iconic Taj Mahal Palace hotel at the southern end of the city, two sources told the media.
4G and Ambani
Tim Cook has said India's 4G rollout 'will unleash the power and capability of the iPhone in a way that an older network, a 2.5G or even some 3G networks, would not do'.
"The thing that (has) held not only us back, perhaps but some others as well, is that the LTE rollout in India just really began this year, and so we'll begin to see some really good networks coming on in India," Cook said at a conference call after Apple's second-quarter earnings announcement.
Tim Cook kickstarts his India trip with a visit to Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai. @PriyaSheth7 gets us the details. https://t.co/xEC15EHbAv CNBC-TV18 News (@CNBCTV18News) May 18, 2016
Considering that Reliance's Jio LTE network is being seen as India's pioneer into LTE territory, it's likely that a meeting with Mukesh Ambani is on the cards. He's already met Anant Ambani at a pre-dawn visit to the Shree Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai, Indian Express reported, before a morning full of business meetings.
A business centre in Hyderabad
Global tech giant Apple Inc is set to inaugurate its development centre here on May 19, a senior Telangana government official said today. Apple Executives already met state government officials, requesting their support for some of the clearances. "They have already identified space in a building owned by Tishman Speyer at Nanakramguda. We are also extending support to the company in terms of obtaining necessary approvals from various departments," he had said.
Meeting Ministers in Hyderabad
In Hyderabad, Cook is expected to meet Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao and Information Technology Minister KT Rama Rao (KTR).
Will share a Big news with you all day after tomorrow. Suspense till then KTR (@KTRTRS) May 17, 2016
Cook will also visit the location of the company's new technology development centre that will be set up in a complex called WaveRock by real estate firm Tishman Speyer. The 1 million sq ft building will be completed by the end of the year and Apple's 2.5 lakh sq ft development centre should be up and running by the beginning of 2017.
The Apple startup accelerator
Apple is also reportedly planning to set up a startup accelerator in India to work more closely with the Indian developer community that works on Apple's iOS and OS X software platforms, one of the sources said. The person said talks are at a "very initial stage". Another person said the trip will see Cook finalising plans for company-owned Apple stores, formal approval for which may be given by the government during his visit.
Where's he staying
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Tim Cook's nest in India could be Rs 87,000 a night suite in Mumbai's Taj Mahal Palace. Cook's entourage reportedly includes five top executives comprising Apple's chief operating officer Jeff Williams as well. While Cook is expected to stay at the Grand Luxury Suite in the Heritage Wing of the iconic hotel, others will stay in Taj Club Sea View Rooms and Taj Club City View Rooms. The Grand Luxury Suite at the Taj Mahal Palace costs Rs 87,000 a night and sizes of these rooms range from 700-1,300 sq ft, according to Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces.
Make in India?
The Indian government is expected to try and persuade Apple to invest in smartphone and computer manufacturing facilities in the country, in line with the government's 'Make in India' campaign.
"However, Apple's manufacturing plans in India are unlikely to be frozen during this visit since the company feels the country still does not have the critical mass to support local manufacturing right now. The project though is on the cards," a source told Economic Times.
Selling secondhand iPhones to India
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The Indian government has reportedly rejected smartphone giant Apple's request to sell refurbished iPhones in India. However, it is not clear whether Cook will still discuss importing refurbished iPhones with officials in New Delhi.
Meeting Sunil Mittal
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On Friday, Cook may meet Sunil Mittal, the billionaire founder of India's biggest mobile operator Bharti Airtel.
Vijayasarathi Jonalagadda had dreams: sleep with some of the world's most beautiful women, drive the swankiest cars, and basically live the high life.
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100 crore dreams
The 41-year-old, former ICICI bank employee, along with two others, is alleged to have embezzled over Rs 100 cr over three years from the bank to sustain his lifestyle. Police claim that Vijayasarathi spent Rs 10cr on East European and Arab escorts from Mumbai, Pune and Delhi; paying them up to Rs 5 lakh a night and then leaving them a Rs 1 lakh tip for their efforts: All this courtesy ICICI account holders.
The Vijayapura police have booked a case of cheating against two ICICI bank officials and one other person, based on a complaint lodged by the one of the bank's regional managers. The case was later handed over to the Karnataka CID. The three accused are also wanted in connection with three other criminal cases registered in Vijayapura.
Their modus operandi: cancelled cheques
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"The accused robbed account holders by encashing cancelled cheques. They cheated the Bijapur District Co-operative Bank to the tune of Rs 30 crore, the Siddeshwara co-op bank of Rs 1.65 crore, NHAI of Rs 13.45 crore, Kirana Merchants Association of Rs 2.25 crore, Vijayapura City Corporation of Rs 19.25 crores, Water Supply Board Vijayapura of Rs 4 crore and SBI of Rs 7.60 crore," a CID official said.
Vijayasarathi also purchased a house in Vijayapura, six acres of agricultural land in Dakshina Kannada, and a house worth Rs 2 crore in JP Nagar in his and his girlfriend's name; in addition to buying two acres of agricultural land in his girlfriend's brother's name.
Busted at the Nepal border
CID officials arrested Vijayasarathi at the Indo-Nepal border, but nothing prepared them for the scale of the scam. "The whole scam amounts to Rs 100 crore, which the accused and his syndicate embezzled from 2012. They took out money from current accounts using cheques. Vijayasarathi is a native of Mayanmar, but has now settled in Ballari and liked high-profile escorts a lot. He always wanted to lead a posh life and the crores he got in the scam gave him a way to do so," a CID source said.
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He used to book suites in seven-star hotels or resorts
"His statements clearly say that he spent almost Rs 10 crore on escorts. When the money started coming in, he left his wife and got a girlfriend, Renuka Shetty, and started enjoying the life he wanted. In the latter part of 2012, he started contacting pimps in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. He started attending their parties and started hiring the girls. He fancied women from Ukraine, Russia, Brazil, and Arab countries. He used to book suites in seven-star hotels or resorts. He even paid Rs 10 lakh per day on a few occasions," a senior police officer handling the case said.
"Another fancy of his was high-end cars. He had 23 high-end cars like Audi, Merc, BMW, Porsche, Jaguar, Range Rover and many more. This married man has a wife and a daughter, but left them for Renuka who was his colleague. He has been on the run from August 2015 and was arrested by the CID in February 2016. The CID has recovered 13 cars as of now and almost Rs 40 crore including properties, and LIC policies worth Rs 13 crore," the officer added.
Although the CID are attempting to recover as much of the embezzled money as possible, they fear the Rs10 crore spent on the escorts is out of their reach. "This will be shown as unrecovered now. Totally four people have been arrested in this case, Renuka is out on bail while the others are still cooling their heels in central jail," the official said.
Taking note of the rise in complaints by women about online trolling, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has said the government is proposing it be considered as violence against women.
BBC/ Representational Image
The ministry has already written to the home ministry to come up with a code for online behaviour, Mrs Gandhi said.
Women have to deal with tremendous viciousness online. Initially, the operators would not come and talk to us and cooperate about giving details. But now they have come on board," Mrs Gandhi told NDTV.
The government had on Tuesday released its revised draft policy on women, with focus on ending the social taboos around single women.
PTI
It seeks to address the challenges confronting women, including protection against cyber crime, security to surrogate mothers and bringing gender sensitivity in family planning policies. The policy provides a roadmap for dealing with womens issues for the next 15-20 years and will replace the earlier policy of 2001.
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The draft has been made in consultation with a lot of women, lawyers, journalists, bureaucrats and non-working women to see what we can do in terms of defining government action in the next 15-20 years, she said.
The proposals which include measures to fight crime against women including rape, trafficking and dowry will be made final after consultations with various stakeholders including NGOs and civil society members.
Returning from their honeymoon in the hills, newly married couple Sarvesh and Anisha (names changed) landed in Delhi on Monday on a SpiceJet flight from Bagdogra.
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The mystery of the burqa clad woman
They were preparing to board a connecting flight home to Lucknow when Anisha handed her phone and purse to her husband, saying she would be back from the washroom in a minute. That's the last Sarvesh saw of her. CCTV footage at IGI Airport shows Anisha, wearing a blue saree, enter the washroom at 6.14pm. Three minutes later, a burqa-clad woman comes out, exits the terminal and walks up to the VIP parking where a man meets her.
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Sarvesh, who was shown the footage after he reported his missing wife to the Central Industrial Security Force, told the security personnel that the burqa-clad woman's body structure and gait resembled his wife's. "But Sarvesh did not seem confident about the woman in the burqa being his wife. CISF searched the entire airport but couldn't find Anisha. After burqa woman and the man she met at the parking proceeded towards lane number three and disappeared," a CISF officer said.
Anisha wasn't in the washroom
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Earlier, after Anisha did not come out for half-an-hour, Sarvesh approached a woman with his wife's picture and asked her to check if she was alright in the washroom. The woman returned and said Anisha wasn't in the washroom. A worried Sarvesh searched the entire terminal, from the exit gates to the boarding area, before reporting the matter to the CISF. After CISF's search too drew a blank, Sarvesh was taken to the airport's CCTV monitoring room and footage of past one hour was thoroughly checked.
"At 6.10pm, the couple was seen entering the terminal and Anisha was seen going inside the washroom at 6.14pm. At 6.17pm, the burqa-clad woman came out," said a senior CISF officer. The incident has left officers puzzled. The IGI police were informed but Sarvesh did not lodge an official complaint at the police station.
A 25-year-old single mother's ambition to become a millionnaire has emerged as the key provocation behind the sensational triple murder that rocked Surat on Saturday.
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Komal Goyani, a divorcee and mother of a four-year-old boy, has revealed during interrogation that she had instigated her brother Gautam alias Golden and father Ganesh to pressurize Balu Hirani, one of the deceased, to recover Rs 50 lakh. The money was to be paid for the liaison services that she provided in a land deal.
On Tuesday, police arrested Gautam, 22, Kishan Ramesh Khokhar, 22, and Bhadresh alias Kalu Uka Patoliya, 30, near Kim when they were travelling in a bus. Gautam's father Ganesh is yet to get arrested.
Komal had developed an identity as a good liaison manager in land-related issues while working as a clerk in Kamrej mamlatdar office for around six months in 2014 . However, her contract was not renewed due to several complaints against her, sources said.
vishwagujarat
Within short time she developed good contacts and came in touch with many property businessmen. After making money through commission, she also contested Kamrej taluka panchayat election on the Congress panel in 2015 but lost.
Meanwhile, she came in touch with Hirani who had filed a complaint against a real estate businessman in his native town Bagasara of Amreli district. Hirani's mother had given the power of attorney for two plots each measuing 200 square yards to this businessman. After she died, the businessman sold off the plots for Rs 25 lakh.
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Komal told him that she had good terms with Bagasara mamlatdar and could help him in the issue. Komal reportedly got the complaint resovled in favour of Hirani. Hirani, sources said, later demanded Rs one crore from the businessman to avoid any further legal action. When Komal got to know that Hirani was paid the amount, she started demanding Rs 50 lakh from him as commmission. For the last 15 days, she had been pressurizing Hirani to make the payment.
vishwagujarat
As Hirani kept delaying, Komal felt that she may not receive the money. So, she started institagating her brother and father to recover the money by hook or crook.
"You move around in area as 'bhai' but you are not able to solve one simple problem of the family," she reportedly told Gautam. Police sources said that it was after constant provocation that Gautam attacked the trio in their office.
Investigators said she also helped the accused after the murder by giving them sim cards and new clothes to replace the blood-stained ones. She also gave them Rs 30,000 in cash to spend while on the run.
You probably know how much of a big deal yoga guru Ramdev's 'Patanjali' empire is to India's FMCG sector. It was already flirting with the 5000 crore mark exactly a year ago, and is now slated to touch 10,000 crore, with 150% growth in 2015-16.
To put that in perspective, Colgate-Palmolive announced Rs 3,981 crore revenue at the end of 2015.
With a ready-made celebrity (Baba Ramdev) , they didn't need to spend on ads as much as competitors. And the pro
The Indian market has never had a sanskari-feel good brand like Patanjali - it's a legitimiate market disruptor. Which is probably why American business magazine Fast Company ranked Baba Ramdev 27th in its 'Most Creative Business People of 2016' list. Amazon India's business head Amit Agarwal comes in at 10th, for quickly establishing the Amazon brand in India.: "In less than three years, Agarwal grew the division to become competitive with homegrown rivals Flipkart and Snapdeal, and is using the countrys underdeveloped logistics and payment infrastructure to his advantage," said the magazine.
Here's what the magazine said about India's favourite orange clad baba
"Baba Ramdev, a well-known yoga guru, has found a killer new pose as the force behind 10-year-old consumer brand Patanjali Ayurved, which makes everything from spices to soap to cosmetics. Along with co-founder, majority-owner and managing director Acharya Balkrishna, Ramdev expanded the brands product line and is making global firms like Procter & Gamble and Unilever squirm. "
"Named after an ancient yoga saint, Patanjali touts natural ingredients and is priced at 30% to 75% below its rivals. Annual sales grew 150% in 2015 to more than $750 million, despite Ramdevs insistence on minimal marketing. The brand is so popular that it commands unheard-of advance payment from retailers and premium store displays. Ramdev and Balkrishna plan to take Patanjali global within the next few years," it added.
Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday flagged off the trial run of a driverless Metro train here.
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The trial run started at the Mukundpur depot of Delhi Metro and ended at Majalis Park station on the Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar corridor of phase 3. The new train will undergo rigorous trials to ensure these are ready for smooth operations after the commissioning of the new corridors.
"Initially, train operators will run them for around a year before completely switching to unmanned train operations," a statement from the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said.
Later, Naidu and Kejriwal stressed the need to improve public transport system to reduce air pollution in Delhi. "Air pollution cannot be reduced till the time people switch to public transport and that will happen only when we have an efficient system in place," Kejriwal said.
bccl
The driverless train is manufactured at Changwon in South Korea. It arrived in India at the Mundra port in Gujarat and was brought by road to Delhi on specially-made trailers.
Frenchman Andre Brahic, who was on the team that discovered Neptune's rings, has taken his leave from the world at the age of 73. In 1894, Andre and his team had discovered Neptune's rings and subsequently named them Equality, Fraternity, Liberty, after the maxim of the French Republic.
AFP/Getty
Remembering Brahic, French President Francois Hollande said that the man had an innate ability to "easily explain the mysteries of space". Here's a look at some of his greatest achievements.
1. Brahic served as a member of the imaging team for the CassiniHuygens - an unmanned spaceship that was sent to Saturn.
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2. In 1990, Brahic was felicitated by having a minor planet named after him as '3488 Brahic'.
3. Nearly a decade after, another honour came his way when he was awarded the Carl Sagan Medal for his outstanding communication about planetary science with the general public.
Twitter
4. He was an active researcher of the solar system and worked closely with NASA and European unmanned missions.
Brahic once said that science could "make the eyes of small children light up". Now he is the one lighting up the skies.
Last week, a Vietnamese wildlife trafficker has been busted selling tiger cubs. This isn't surprising - The New York Times reported last year that Vietnam, one of the most biodiverse countries has "thousands of illegal hunters".
However, it what he was doing to them that is shocking - the cubs were reportedly "frozen to make glue for its healing qualities", Daily Mail reported, The glue uses the tiger cub's meat, skin, claws and bone, and it is believed in oriental medicine that it has "healing qualities".
He was busted by Nam Dinh province police in Vietnam, and revealed that he'd bought the cubs from a Vietnam-Laos border market for VND2 million (60). He planned to sell them for VND8 million (250) - and was looking for a buyer on Facebook. Dr Pieter Kat, a scientist at LionAid, told the Express: 'There is no doubt that Vietnam's wild tiger populations have declined to perhaps a handful now surviving...However, there is also good evidence that Vietnam, like China is breeding tigers in captivity for the purposes of unfounded 'traditional medicines'.
Vietnam is infamous for its animal smuggling gangs. Just this month, India's Special Task Force (State Forest department) began work with Interpol to nab animal trafficking gangs in Vietnam)
News / National
by Staff Reporter
A married Highfield kombi driver in Harare was humiliated on Sunday by a woman believed to be a sex worker over non-payment of services rendered.Only identified as Magobeya, the kombi driver was held by the waist, slapped and dragged by one Mai Taku demanding her US$10 for sexual services she had provided.Magobeya was reported to have had parked his vehicle for a 'quickie' on a 'play now and pay later' deal before the Mai Taku shifted goal-posts demanding part of the money for her breakfast, H-Metro moles say.Residents took turns in recording the incident and the video clips are now circulating via smart phones.The incident took place at 1768 Egypt in Highfield where Mai Taku is a tenant.She exposed her breasts threatening to undress, which forced Magobeya to hand over the US$10 after which he was released.Magobeya refused to entertain H-Metro when contacted for comment.
The US Senate unanimously backed President Barack Obama's nomination of Eric Fanning as secretary of the Army on Tuesday, making him the first openly gay leader of a US military service branch.
Fanning was previously undersecretary of the Air Force and chief of staff to Defense Secretary Ash Carter.
Fanning was confirmed by unanimous voice vote, eight months following his nomination, after Senator Pat Roberts said Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work told him that it was now too late for the administration to transfer prisoners from the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Roberts' home state, Kansas.
Work did not confirm Roberts' account of that conversation, saying that no option was off the table. "I explained to Senator Roberts that we are trying to achieve the goal of closure with the support of Congress and we recognize that there is limited time left to achieve that support, both in terms of lifting Congressional restrictions and winning approval of funds to execute closure," Work said in a statement.
While the Indian army doesn't formally condone homosexuality, it also doesn't acknowledge it
Homosexuality is considered to be a "serious offense" in the Indian armed forces. The Air Force Act, 1950, the Army Act, 1950 and the Navy Act, 1957 forbid unbecoming conduct and any disgraceful conduct of a cruel, indecent or unnatural kind - homosexual sex is considered "unnatural" in the purview of Indian law.
The US armed forces reqruits gays into the army alright but they too have a law "Don't ask, don't tell". Under the act although it is forbidden to discriminate against gays, it is also forbidden to the gays to reveal their sexuality openly. So, we cannot say that things are unfair in our country.
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The vice-chairman of the Bundestags CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group Michael Fuchs announced his intention to personally contribute to efforts at attracting more German investments to Greece, speaking during his meeting in Athens on Tuesday with the president of the Piraeus Bank group Michalis Sallas.
Anti-semitism Crisis? Labour To Open Re-education Camps? By Jonathan Cook May 18, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - The manufactured anti-semitism crisis in the British Labour party rumbles on into new realms of ideological insanity. The witch-hunt against commentary critical of Israel or Zionism has been in full flow, and now an internal party inquiry led by Jan Royall has reached its conclusions. Note that in this report by the Guardian newspaper, it appears to be a given both by Royall and the Guardian that Ken Livingstone and the others suspended from the party are guilty of anti-semitism rather than anti-Zionism. I have challenged that assumption in previous posts, such as here and here. I am therefore going to put quotation marks around the word anti-semitism, at least as used by Royall, because it is far from clear to me that most of those under investigation have said things that are anti-semitic. Royalls first conclusion is that there should be no statute of limitations on anti-semitism. Thats a green light for every right-winger and Blairite to go trawling through Labour party members back catalogue of social media posts in search of anti-Zionist or anti-Israel utterances. Heres a simple piece of advice to John Mann and the Blairite brigade: if you want to simplify your task, examine postings from winter 2008 and summer 2014, when Israel was killing hundreds of children in Gaza. I suspect youll find the anti-semitism youre looking for in those periods. Royal also suggests that there may be a need for more rigorous vetting procedures for national and local government candidates. So the Blairites will be further encouraged to trawl through candidates social media postings on Israel in the knowledge that they can thereby ensure only people like themselves get to stand for election. Another of Royalls conclusions is that a membership ban for anti-semitism should not be for life if there is demonstrable change by the offender. Re-education camps, anyone? So members may be allowed back into the Labour party if they can show that over a sustained period of time they have disavowed their criticisms of Israel. Presumably, to reassure the party that they are not likely to slip back into their former bad ways of thinking, they will need to enthusiastically embrace Zionism and support an ethnic Jewish state that oppresses Palestinians in the occupied territories and systematically discriminates against the fifth of its citizens who are Palestinian. In other words, these measures will have the practical effect of ensuring that the party is reserved for those of a Blairite persuasion. There are other disturbing conclusions reached by Royall. She is apparently recommending that an imminent external inquiry she will also sit on consider whether members should qualify for investigation simply because the victim or any other person has perceived a comment to be anti-semitic. In short, every Netanyahu-loving Zionist may soon be guaranteed the chance to force the suspension of any Labour member who offends them by criticising Israel. Royall suggests that the coming inquiry consider swifter action to deal with antisemitism, which is surprising given that the current suspensions have all been implemented summarily. And she prefers a review of how online debate is conducted to make it welcoming and productive. In other words, Labour members will be expected not to criticise Israel or Zionism in case it puts off hardcore Israel supporters. It is not hard to see where all this is leading, and was designed to lead by the Blairite faction trying to engineer a coup against leader Jeremy Corbyn. Polls show that Corbyns support has actually grown over the past year among ordinary members, despite the endless character assassination against him. So the Blairites who dominate the Labour parliamentary caucus are simply re-engineering the party more to their liking: terrify into submission a new generation of candidates who have been inspired by Corbyn to enter politics, and through a war of attrition demoralise the hundreds of thousands of new members who joined the party, in the hope they will leave. This is self-sabotage on a vast scale. The Blairites (and their cheerleaders in liberal media like the Guardian) would prefer to destroy the party than help Corbyn and his supporters mount a credible challenge to the Conservative government. And that insight tells you all you need to know about the true ideological sympathies of the Blairites, who were so ready to cosy up to the corporations and the Murdoch media. Jonathan Cook is a Nazareth- based journalist and winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism - See more at: http://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2016-05-18/labour-to-open-re-education-camps/#sthash.MGz6NjLR.dpuf Jonathan Cook is a Nazareth- based journalist and winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism - http://www.jonathan-cook.net/
The Danger of Demonization
The Collapse of the Western News Media
As the West is sucked deeper into the Syrian conflict and starts a new Cold War with Russia, the mainstream news media has collapsed as a vehicle for reliable information, creating a danger for the world.
By Robert Parry
May 18, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Consortium News " - Does any intelligent person look at a New York Times article about Russia or Vladimir Putin these days and expect to read an objective, balanced account? Or will it be laced with a predictable blend of contempt and ridicule? And is it any different at The Washington Post, NPR, MSNBC, CNN or almost any mainstream U.S. news outlet?
And its not just Russia. The same trend holds true for Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Nicaragua and other countries and movements that have fallen onto the U.S. governments enemies list. We saw the same pattern with Saddam Hussein and Iraq before the 2003 U.S. invasion; with Muammar Gaddafi and Libya before the U.S.-orchestrated bombing campaign in 2011; and with President Viktor Yanukovych and Ukraine before the U.S.-backed coup in 2014.
That is not to say that these countries and leaders dont deserve criticism; they do. But the proper role of the press corps at least as I was taught during my early years at The Associated Press was to treat all evidence objectively and all sides fairly. Just because you might not like someone doesnt mean your feelings should show through or the facts should be forced through a prism of bias.
In those old days, that sort of behavior was deemed unprofessional and you would expect a senior editor to come down hard on you. Now, however, it seems that youd only get punished if you quoted some dissident or allowed such a person onto an op-ed page or a talk show, someone who didnt share Official Washingtons group think about the enemy. Deviation from group think has become the real disqualifier.
Yet, this conformity should be shocking and unacceptable in a country that prides itself on freedom of thought and speech. Indeed, much of the criticism of enemy states is that they supposedly practice various forms of censorship and permit only regime-friendly propaganda to reach the public.
But when was the last time you heard anyone in the U.S. mainstream say anything positive or even nuanced about Russian President Putin. He can only be portrayed as some shirtless buffoon or the devil incarnate. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton got widespread praise in 2014 when she likened him to Hitler.
Or when has anyone in the U.S. media been allowed to suggest that Syrias President Bashar al-Assad and his supporters might actually have reason to fear what the U.S. press lovingly calls the moderate rebels though they often operate under the military command of Sunni extremist groups, such as Al Qaedas Nusra Front. [See Consortiumnews.coms Obamas Moderate Syrian Deception.]
For the first three years of the Syrian civil war, the only permissible U.S. narrative was how the brutal Assad was slaughtering peaceful moderates, even though Defense Intelligence Agency analysts and other insiders had long been warning about the involvement of violent jihadists in the movement from the uprisings beginning in 2011.
But that story was kept from the American people until the Islamic State started chopping off the heads of Western hostages in 2014 and since then, the mainstream U.S. media has only reported the fuller story in a half-hearted and garbled way. [See Consortiumnews.coms Hidden Origins of Syrias Civil War. ]
Reason for Conformity
The reason for this conformity among journalists is simple: If you repeat the conventional wisdom, you might find yourself with a lucrative gig as a big-shot foreign correspondent, a regular TV talking head, or a visiting scholar at a major think tank. However, if you dont say whats expected, your career prospects arent very bright.
If you somehow were to find yourself in a mainstream setting and even mildly challenged the group think, you should expect to be denounced as a fill-in-the-blank apologist or stooge. A well-paid avatar of the conventional wisdom might even accuse you of being on the payroll of the despised leader. And, you wouldnt likely get invited back.
But the Wests demonization of foreign enemies is not only an affront to free speech and meaningful democracy, it is also dangerous because it empowers unscrupulous American and European leaders to undertake violent and ill-considered actions that get lots of people killed and that spread hatred against the West.
The most obvious recent example was the Iraq War, which was justified by a barrage of false and misleading claims about Iraq which were mostly swallowed whole by a passive and complicit Western press corps.
Key to that disaster was the demonization of Saddam Hussein, who was subjected to such unrelenting propaganda that almost no one dared question the baseless charges hurled at him about hiding WMD and collaborating with Al Qaeda. To do so would have made you a Saddam apologist or worse.
The few who did dare raise their voices faced accusations of treason or were subjected to character assassination. Yet, even after their skepticism was vindicated as the pre-invasion accusations collapsed, there was very little reappraisal. Most of the skeptics remained marginalized and virtually everyone who got the WMD story wrong escaped accountability.
No Accountability
For instance, Washington Post editorial-page editor Fred Hiatt, who repeatedly reported Iraqs WMD as flat fact, suffered not a whit and remains in the same prestigious job, still enforcing one-sided group thinks about enemies.
An example of how Hiatt and the Post continue to play the same role as neocon propagandists was on display last year in an editorial condemning Putins government for shutting down Russian activities of the U.S.-funded National Endowment for Democracy and requiring foreign-funded groups seeking to influence Russian politics to register as foreign agents.
In the Posts editorial and a companion op-ed by NED President Carl Gershman, you were led to believe that Putin was delusional, paranoid and power mad in his concern that outside money funneled into non-governmental organizations was a threat to Russian sovereignty.
However, the Post and Gershman left out a few salient facts, such as the fact that NED is funded by the U.S. government and was the brainchild of Ronald Reagans CIA Director William J. Casey in 1983 to partially replace the CIAs historic role in creating propaganda and political fronts inside targeted nations.
Also missing was the fact that Gershman himself announced in another Post op-ed that he saw Ukraine, prior to the 2014 coup, as the biggest prize and a steppingstone toward achieving Putins ouster in Russia. The Post also forgot to mention that the Russian law about foreign agents was modeled after a U.S. statute entitled the Foreign Agent Registration Act. [See Consortiumnews.coms Why Russia Shut Down NED Fronts.]
All those points would have given the Posts readers a fuller and fairer understanding of why Putin and Russia acted as they did, but that would have messed up the desired propaganda narrative seeking to demonize Putin. The goal was not to inform the American people but to manipulate them into a new Cold War hostility toward Russia.
Weve seen a similar pattern with the U.S. governments information warfare around high-profile incidents. In the old days at least when I arrived in Washington in the late 1970s there was much more skepticism among journalists about the official line from the White House or State Department. Indeed, it was a point of pride among journalists not to simply accept whatever the spokesmen or officials were saying, but to check it out.
There was plenty of enough evidence from the Tonkin Gulf lies to the Watergate cover-up to justify a critical examination of government claims. But that tradition has been lost, too. Despite the costly deceptions before the Iraq War, the Times, the Post and other mainstream outlets simply accept whatever accusations the U.S. government hurls against enemies. Beyond the gullibility, there is even hostility toward those of us who insist on seeing real evidence.
Examples of this continuing pattern include the acceptance of the U.S. government line on the sarin gas attack outside Damascus, Syria, on Aug. 21, 2013, and the shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. The first was blamed on Syrias Assad and the second on Russias Putin quite convenient even though U.S. officials refused to present any solid evidence to support their claims.
Reasons for Doubt
In both cases, there were obvious reasons to doubt the Official Story. Assad had just invited United Nations inspectors in to examine what he claimed were rebel chemical attacks, so why would he pick that time to launch a sarin attack just miles from where the inspectors were staying? Putin was trying to maintain a low profile for Russian support to Ukrainians resisting the U.S.-backed coup, but provision of a large, sophisticated and powerful anti-aircraft battery lumbering around eastern Ukraine would just have invited detection.
Further, in both cases, there was dissent among U.S. intelligence analysts, some of whom objected at least to the rushes to judgment and offered different explanations for the incidents, pointing the blame in other possible directions. The dissent caused the Obama administration to resort to a new concoction called a Government Assessment essentially a propaganda document rather than a classic Intelligence Assessment, which would express the consensus views of the 16 intelligence agencies and include areas of disagreement.
So, there were plenty of reasons for Washington journalists to smell a rat or at least insist upon hard evidence to make the case against Assad and Putin. Instead, given the demonized views of Assad and Putin, mainstream journalists unanimously fell in line behind the Official Story. They even ignored or buried evidence that undermined the governments tales.
Regarding the Syrian case, there was little interest in the scientific discovery that the one sarin-laden rocket (recovered by the U.N.) had a range of only about two kilometers (destroying Washingtons claims about the Syrian government firing many rockets from eight or nine kilometers away). [See Consortiumnews.coms Was Turkey Behind Syria-Sarin Attack?]
Regarding the MH-17 case, a blind eye was turned to a Dutch intelligence report that concluded that there were several operational Buk anti-aircraft missile batteries in eastern Ukraine but they were all under the control of the Ukrainian military and that the rebels had no weapon that could reach the 33,000-foot altitude where MH-17 was flying. [See Consortiumnews.coms The Ever-Curiouser MH-17 Case.]
Though both those cases remain open and one cannot rule out new evidence emerging that bolsters the U.S. governments version of events, the fact that there are substantive reasons to doubt the Official Story should be reflected in how the mainstream Western media deals with these two sensitive issues, but the inconvenient facts are instead brushed aside or ignored (much as happened with Iraqs WMD).
In short, there has been a system-wide collapse of the Western news media as a professional entity in dealing with foreign crises. So, as the world plunges deeper into crises inside Syria and on Russias border, the Wests citizens are going in almost blind without the eyes and ears of independent journalists on the ground and with major news outlets delivering incessant propaganda from Washington and other capitals.
Instead of facts, the Wests mainstream media trafficks in demonization.
Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, Americas Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com ).
Fact Or Fiction? Europe Refugee Crisis: EU Faces 'Populist Uprising': Former MI6 Head By BBC May 18, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " BBC " - Europe faces a "populist uprising" if it is unable to show people it can control the migrant crisis, former MI6 head Sir Richard Dearlove has said. He was speaking on the BBC's World on the Move day on migration issues. Sir Richard also warned against offering visa-free travel to Turkish nationals, describing the move as like storing gasoline near a fire. Earlier, UN special envoy Angelina Jolie Pitt warned the humanitarian system for refugees was breaking down. She spoke of a "fear of migration" and a "race to the bottom" as countries competed to be the toughest to protect themselves BBC News World On The Move is a day of coverage dedicated to migration, and the effect it is having on our world. A range of speakers, including the UNHCR's special envoy Angelina Jolie Pitt, and former British secret intelligence chief Sir Richard Dearlove, have been setting out the most important new ideas shaping our thinking on economic development, security and humanitarian assistance. What's the story with migration? Live coverage as it happened Latin America's affluent capital Technology lures ex-pats back to Vietnam 'We need to defend mobility online' Women risking it all to flee Syria Uganda: "One of the best places to be a refugee" Sir Richard said the numbers of immigrants coming into Europe over the next five years could run into millions. The crisis could reshape the continent's geopolitical landscape, he said. "If Europe cannot act together to persuade a significant majority of its citizens that it can gain control of its migratory crisis then the EU will find itself at the mercy of a populist uprising, which is already stirring," he added. He described the UK referendum on leaving the EU as "the first roll of the dice in a bigger geopolitical game". Sir Richard warned against a deal with Turkey to allow visa-free travel to the EU to its citizens in exchange for controlling migration to the EU. He said it was "perverse, like storing gasoline next to the fire we're trying to extinguish". Talks between the Turkey and the EU over the deal have currently stalled over the former's refusal to amend its anti-terror laws. The former head of MI6, which gathers intelligence abroad for the UK government, said 1.8bn (1.4bn) allocated by the EU to address the root causes of migration in Africa made "much more sense" than a deal with Turkey but was not nearly enough. The only answer was a "massive response" of this kind combined with a "much more aggressive operation along the North African coast", he added. But Sir Richard cautioned against shutting the door on migration altogether. "In the real world there are no miraculous James Bond-style solutions," he said. "Human tides are irresistible unless the gravitational pull that causes them is removed." Speaking earlier in the day, Ms Jolie Pitt said that more than 60 million people - one in 122 - were displaced globally - more than at any time in the past 70 years. "This tells us something deeply worrying about the peace and security of the world," she said, adding: "The average time a person will be displaced is now nearly 20 years." Ms Jolie Pitt said the "number of conflicts and scale of displacement had grown so large" the system to protect and return refugees was not working. Save the Children is calling for greater international commitment to ensure child refugees remain in school. The charity's new report, A New Deal for Refugees, says only one in four refugee children is now enrolled in secondary school. It is calling on governments and aid agencies to adopt a new policy framework that will ensure no refugee child remains out of school for more than a month. It is an ambitious target but there is growing concern that this migration crisis is producing a lost generation of children which means conditions for even greater insecurity and poverty. Are more people on the move? Migrant crises through history A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.
Propaganda Alert Ex-general Says NATO-Russia Nuclear War Possible Within A Year By RT
May 18, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " RT " - NATOs former deputy military chief in Europe says his book, a fictional story which describes a nuclear war with Russia over the Baltic nations taking place in 2017, is based on an entirely plausible scenario. General Sir Richard Shirreff, from Britain, served at the second-highest NATO military office in Europe between 2011 and 2014. He says his experience acquired in the alliance of war-gaming future conflicts helped him model the narrative for the book. According to his scenario, starting next year Russia would first occupy Ukraine to secure a land route to Crimea and then invade the three Baltic nations, all of which are members of NATO. The move, Shirreff argued, would be driven by the perception of NATOs weakness and Russias opposition to what it sees as the alliances attempts to encircle it. We need to judge President [Vladimir] Putin by his deeds not his words, the retired general told BBC Radio 4s Today program. He has invaded Georgia, he has invaded the Crimea, he has invaded Ukraine. He has used force and got away with it. The supposed invasion of Georgia in 2008 was Russias response to a Georgian attack on its breakaway region of South Ossetia, which started with the killings of Russian peacekeepers stationed there to prevent such hostilities. Russia responded by defeating the NATO-trained Georgian Army and withdrew. Moscow later recognized South Ossetia as a sovereign state, formalizing its de facto independence from Georgia that had been in place since the 1990s. The supposed invasion of Ukraine in 2014 was Russias use of its troops, which were legally deployed in Crimea under a treaty with Ukraine, to prevent hostilities after an armed coup in Kiev. The Crimean people, who overwhelmingly opposed the new Ukrainian government and its nationalistic leanings, voted in a referendum to part ways with Ukraine and rejoin Russia. If Russia used military force against any NATO members, the entire alliance would be obliged to declare war on Russia. The US is the most powerful member of NATO and has the worlds biggest military force. According to Shirreff, Russia would use its nuclear arsenal to counter NATOs response. Be under no illusion whatsoever Russian use of nuclear weapons is hardwired into Moscows military strategy, he said, omitting the fact that NATOs nuclear nations the US, Britain and France have always kept a pre-emptive nuclear strike as a possible option. Russia dropped its pledge not to use nuclear weapons first in 1993. A scenario of conflict between Russia and NATO members over one of the Baltic states was earlier explored by the BBC in a film, which focused on decision-making at a British advisory body responding to the crisis. In the film, the stand-off escalated into a full-scale nuclear conflict and the advisers contemplating an option to destroy Russias biggest cities with Trident missiles. Propaganda alert : Nato risks a nuclear war with Russia 'within a year', senior general warns : Nato risks a nuclear war with Russia within a year if it does not increase its defence capabilities in the Baltic states, one of the alliance's most senior retired generals has said.
Regime Change in Latin America: Why Russia is Concerned?
By Dmitry Babich
May 18, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " RT " - A Russian diplomatic call to outlaw the US-sponsored policy of regime change is timelier than ever by recent events in Latin America.
The developments there are now routinely described as institutional coups detat, with popular presidents removed from power and replaced by neoliberal functionaries, enjoying almost unhidden support of the US government and American financial capital.
What we see in the world now is an attempt by the so-called historic West to preserve its dominance in international affairs, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said at a conference on Latin American development, held in Moscow. Latin America is not an exception to this global trend. We see attempts by the United States to interfere directly into the internal affairs of some countries in the region Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela are just the most recent examples.
Last week, Brazils leftist President Dilma Rousseff was removed from power by a very unpopular group of senators, despite having the votes of 54 million citizens, who expressed their will a year and a half ago. Rousseff was removed because of accusations of corruption. However, even the mainstream media in the United States did not consider these accusations to be well founded.
The New York Times , on the eve of Rousseffs ousting, called accusations against her debatable and added that Ms. Rousseff is right to question the motives and moral authority of the politicians who were seeking to oust her.
In 2014-2015, a similar campaign of personal attacks and character assassination took place in Argentina against that countrys leftist president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
In both cases, the US-preferred candidates somehow managed to get to power posing as the only viable alternatives to the ousted women leaders.
In Brazil, the former vice-president Michel Temer took the reins of power without elections. Mr. Temer, whose popularity in Brazil is in single digits, has already started what RTs expert on Latin America Juan Manuel Karg called a realignment of Brazils foreign policy. That realignment is supposed to move Brazil closer to the United States and to the EU with or without Mercosur (a bloc integrating the markets and economies of Latin American countries).
It is worth noting that the foreign policy program of Temers party PMDB from 2015 does not even mention BRICS Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa an important bloc of countries which Brazil played an important role in founding in 2009, Juan Manuel Karg writes on RTs Spanish page.
PMDB, which stands for the Party of Brazilian Democratic Movement, is a loose union of centrist and rightist forces, which never took more votes than Ms. Rousseffs Workers Party. Temer himself has a disapproval rating of 58 percent in Brazil.
New Argentinian President Mauricio Macri also did not seem to be keen on following Fernandez de Kirchners policy of discovering new horizons for Argentina in China and Russia. During her tenure between 2007 and 2015, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner several times met with Russian presidents Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, allowed RT Spanish to be included in the set of TV channels accessible for Argentinas broadest television public, and expanded trade ties with Russia. This policy so far has not been continued under Macri.
In Venezuela, the situation is even clearer: the US makes no secret of its support for the anti-chavista opposition to President Nicolas Maduro, the successor to leftist leader Hugo Chavez, who gave his name to chavizmo, an ideology combining oil sales to the US with spending the proceeds from these sales on social development.
The American media gives full support to anti-chavista opposition, despite its role in violent street protests, which have claimed the lives of several dozen people. The US policy of support for violent protests is inexcusable, since Venezuela is not a dictatorship. The country has many anti-Maduro media outlets, people have been given a chance to elect the majority of President Maduros critics into parliament, explains Andres Izarra, a cabinet minister in Mr. Maduros cabinet in 2014. The Venezuelan government suggested dialogue with the government of the United States, we wanted a compromise. But Washington simply has no policy towards Latin America except the so-called regime change.
But why is Russia concerned with US pressure on Latin American countries? Seemingly, Moscows economic interests are not focused on that region. The share of Latin American countries in Russias foreign trade, with the notable exception of Venezuela, remains relatively small; it is still dwarfed by Russias trade with the EU or with China.
But the point is that in recent years it became absolutely clear to Russian diplomats that the policy of regime change in Latin America, Syria, Ukraine and last, but not least Russia itself, is conducted by the same people in Washington D.C. and in Brussels, and the same technology is being used for the purpose. Therefore, the events in faraway Brazil may have a direct impact on the developments in Russia.
Attempts to seat out US-led color revolutions in other countries are simply not wise, says Joshua Tartakovsky, a US-based foreign policy analyst, who recently visited both Venezuela and Ukraine. Sooner or later, the American enthusiasts of regime change plan to go after all the regimes which even potentially can challenge American domination. First, they will do it in the Western hemisphere, but it wont take long before they come to Russia, China and India too. The only way to survive for BRICS is to come together and act together before it is too late.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, unlike the official representatives of India and China, openly says that he sees the Wests attempting to bring about a regime change in his country. In Latin America, only the Venezuelan foreign minister has similar courage to face the facts, while the others prefer the Tartakovsky-described tactic of seating out the storms of Washington-inspired revolutions.
I listened to the Western leaders who announced economic sanctions against Russia, Lavrov said at a meeting with foreign policy experts in autumn 2014. He referred to the aftermath of the US-sponsored Ukrainian coup in 2014, which ousted the centrist Ukrainian President Yanukovich and led to a civil war.
These Western leaders openly said that sanctions should be applied in a way that would cripple Russias economy and lead to popular protests. So, the West is sending us a message: we dont even want to change the policy of the Russian Federation; we want to change the Russian Federations regime. In fact they are not even denying that desire of theirs.
How far will Russia go in its support for independence of Latin American countries? Who and how can shield them from the policy of regime change conducted by their powerful northern neighbor? Obviously, Lavrov is not under the illusion Russian can guarantee such independence alone. At the 69th General Assembly of the United Nations in autumn 2014, the Russian foreign minister suggested making a special UN declaration on the inadmissibility of the policy of regime change and on non-recognition of coups as methods of changing state power.
At the time, the Brazilian leader Dilma Rousseff did not openly support Lavrovs suggestion, even though she was present at that UN General Assembly. Earlier, in 2013, she even made an indignant speech at the United Nations about the NSAs eavesdropping of Brazils representatives at the UN and even on the office of the president of Brazil.
Home Sign up for our FREE Daily Email Newsletter On the Misuse Anti-Semitism By Lawrence Davidson May 18, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - How do you misuse a racial prejudice? At first glance this ought to appear to be an absurd question. Racial prejudices already constitute the distortion of perception and emotion. Nevertheless, when a particular prejudice has a distinct pedigree and an age-old definition, and then is purposely exploited (particularly by those purporting to represent its victims) solely for political gain, the issue of misuse becomes anything but absurd. The racial prejudice in question is anti-Semitism, one of the most devastating of bigotries and responsible for untold misery. It has always been defined as hatred of Jews as Jews. This hatred is underpinned by a vast number of historical myths and fantastic conspiracy theories, but at its core, what we have here is close to pure racism a Jew is bad not because of what he or she has done, but because of some racial taint. Now here is the complicated part. This age-old definition has been reformulated by an ideologically driven sub-set of Jewry Zionists for political purposes. The Zionists have declared that there is no difference between the State of Israel and the worldwide community of Jews and therefore, if you are opposed to Israel you are anti-Semitic. This identification of Israel and the Jews en masse is historically, demographically, and certainly religiously false. But no matter, the Zionists shout this redefinition loudly and endlessly. And, by backing their claim with political pressure and a lot of money, they have managed to get it accepted in some Western political circles. This, then, is what constitutes the misuse for political purposes of a dangerous racial prejudice. Having laid this foundation, the Zionists are now using this bastardized concept of anti-Semitism as a weapon against those critical of not the Jews as a group, but the political state of Israel, its policies and behaviors, which are, themselves, racist and barbaric. Indeed, it is Israeli behavior, specifically toward the Palestinians, that has encouraged a revival of anti-Semitism after more than a half a century of quiescence thus the very striking irony of the Zionist insistence that opposition to Israeli racist policies is itself a racial prejudice. Part II Attack on the British Labour Party There are many examples of this Zionist perversion, but the latest one is a full-blown attack on those members of the British Labour Party who are critical of Israel yet not of Jews as such. Charley Allan, a columnist for the British paper Morning Star, has described the resulting atmosphere as a witch hunt. Below are two examples of isolated statements made by Labour Party members which have caused a purposefully exaggerated brouhaha over the issue of anti-Semitism. In late April it was revealed that Naseem Shah, the Labour MP for Bradford West, had posted on her Facebook account a map that showed Israel transferred to within the borders of the U.S. She labeled it as a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Shahs posting, which she sourced from the website of the Jewish American scholar Norman Finkelstein, was made at the height of Israels 2014 invasion of Gaza and pre-dated her election to Parliament. While the suggestion of the wholesale transference of Israel to the U.S. is but a fantasy, associating the U.S. and Israel certainly has an underlying logic. The United States is Israels major protector and financier. The U.S. Congress treats Israel as a privileged 51st state. And, most of those who emigrate from Israel go to the U.S. Accusations that Shahs post was an anti-Semitic attack on Jewry were now belatedly raised, leading to her suspension from the Labour Party pending an investigation. She subsequently, and rather abjectly, apologized. Nonetheless, the fact is that Ms Shahs display of the map was not anti-Semitic at all. It was not an attack on Jews as such, and there is no evidence that it was motivated by a hatred of Jews. What is really objectionable is the Zionist effort to perversely manipulate the post as if it really was anti-Semitism, in order to attack those opposed to their own racist political ideology. The second example concerns the veteran Labour Party leader Ken Livingstone, who is also a former mayor of London. In late April Livingston stated on a British radio program that Hitler was a Zionist whose policy was that the Jews should be moved to Israel. Now this is certainly not a true statement. What is true is that Hitler wanted the Jews out of Germany. Up until 1938 they could leave that country (albeit without any possessions) if they could find another country that would let them in (which wasnt easy). During this time Hitler did not particularly care where the German Jews went, and most who did have the foresight to leave did not go to Palestine. Though historically inaccurate, Livingstones statement was not anti-Semitic. Its principal subject was Hitler and the Zionist movement, and, again, there is no evidence that it was motivated by hatred of Jews. Nonetheless, for making his statement Livingstone has been accused of being anti-Semitic, and he too has been suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation. It would seem that the present Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, is running scared, tossing out members like Shah and Livingstone, rather than counterattacking against Zionist offensive with the truth that the charge of anti-Semitism is being improperly exploited for political purposes. Corbyn himself, who is of the left wing of the party, and has repeatedly expressed sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians, is probably among the real targets of this campaign of intimidation. It seems that the right wing of the party have joined up with the British Zionists to run Corbyn out of office using, or rather misusing, the charge of anti-Semitism. Part III Conclusion Despite what amounts to ever-present paranoia in some circles, there are no signs of a future Holocaust in the making. That does not mean that history holds no important lessons for the Jews. It certainly does. The primary lesson is that the Jews, like other minority groups, need to protect their collective interests by maintaining strong support for universal civil and human rights, as well as the rule of law both domestically and internationally. However, there is another lesson the past, and specifically the Holocaust, ought to have taught us: that it is dangerously counterproductive to engage in a defense of group interests that involves the persecution of others. To the extent that they have followed this path, the Zionists have failed to learn from history. This suggests that it is not the Jews as a people who are remiss. It is only those who have abandoned the protections of civil and human rights and now flout international law in favor of a cruel nationalist policy. The Zionist claim that they have pursued this path to protect the Jewish people is highly suspect for, since its founding, Israel has always been the most dangerous place a Jew can reside. We are led to the conclusion expressed by Professor Stephen Bronner in a deeply insightful work entitled The Bigot. Disentangling genuine prejudice from a legitimate critique of Israeli territorial ambitions should be the aim of all progressive inquiry into the problem of anti-Jewish bigotry. That critique of Israels behavior is not only legitimate, but central to future peace in the Middle East. Zionism is an ideology gone seriously astray. And the use of the charge of anti-Semitism as a weapon against its critics is a dangerous exploitation of that age-old bigotry as well as a betrayal of the lessons of history. Lawrence Davidson is a retired professor of history from West Chester University in West Chester PA. His academic research focused on the history of American foreign relations with the Middle East. He taught courses in Middle East history, the history of science and modern European intellectual history. http://www.tothepointanalyses.com Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load. What's your response? - Scroll down to add / read comments Sign up for our FREE Daily Email Newsletter For Email Marketing you can trust Donate
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The Federal Government has ordered the immediate release of funds for the mobilization exercise of the 2016 Batch A of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
The NYSC had earlier in the week complained about lack of funds to mobilize corps members to camp.
We are presently at a loss in NYSC now as there is no money for us to mobilise thousands of prospective corps members in the Batch A Stream 2 to camp this Friday, NYSC Director General Brig.-Gen. Sulyman Kazaure had told a Senate Committee on Monday.
Following Kazaures complain, the government intervened and released funds to accommodate the 2016 Batch A stream 11 orientation course.
The NYSC in a statement by its Director of Press and Public Relations, Mrs. Abosede Aderibigbe, commended the Federal Government for its prompt intervention.
Management also wishes to use this medium to inform and assure prospective corps members, parents, guardians and the general public that the 2016 Batch A stream 11 orientation course holds as scheduled from Saturday 21st May to Monday, 6th June, 2016 while the swearing in ceremony of the 2016 Batch A stream 11 corps members holds on Monday, 23rd May, 2016, the statement reads.
Prospective corps members are by this notice directed to print their call up letters online and collect from their various institutions of graduation.
New labor reforms look set to signed into as soon as next week and public opinion is well against French President, Francois Hollande. The reforms are to be debated at Frances upper house as the President asserted that the reform is going to go through because it has been debated, agreed on and amended.
The new labor reforms ensure that employers will find it easier to hire and fire workers as President Hollande insists that the new laws are for the benefit of everyone as his administration attempts to reduce its unemployment rate from 10%.
The new law has been strongly resisted by Unions and polls suggest that up to 90% of Frances work force oppose the new laws. The strike commenced on Tuesday and will again continue on Thursday as protesters took to the streets with some of the protests turning violent in the city of Rennes.
The Transport unions have planned rolling strikes on Tuesday and Thursdays every week up until July as they butt heads with a government which has refused to back down.
Hollande condemned the violence on Tuesday while acknowledging the right of citizens, Demonstrating is a right, but smashing things up is a crime, He said.
Iraqi authorities have disclosed that four bomb blasts in the capital of Baghdad has left scores dead and many others wounded as Iraq struggles with terrorist attacks.
T of the bombings n Baghdad which killed t t 70 people n wounded m tn 100 targeted Muslim Shia areas on Tuesday. A fourth bomb blast went off in t Sadr City neighbourhood and left t t 19 dead n 17 wounded.
T Islamic State f Iraq n t Levant (ISIL, knwn ISIS) group has quickly claimed responsibility f t al-Shaab attack and in a statement claimed the bombings were carried out by a certain Abu Khattab al-Iraqi.
The deadliest attack occurred at a market in Shaab before a second suicide bomber targeted those who were first at the scene helping those who were injured from the first blast. Although the Iraqi government has staged an offesinve against ISIL, it is the second attack in Iraq in just under a week as safety concerns continue.
The already epileptic power supply across Nigeria looks set to worsen as the Transmission Company of Nigeria disclosed a decline in power generation.
The TCN reports that Nigerias power generation has dropped to a dismal 1,400 Megawatts as at Tuesday 17th May, 2016.
The Assistant General Manager, Public Affairs of the TCN, Mr. Clement Ezeolisah stated that the company is experiencing several operational challenges especially in relation to gas power companies as well as the thermal plants.
He also apologized for the consequent inconvenience which will be suffered by millions of Nigerians as a result, it is noteworthy to report that all stakeholders are working assiduously to achieve improvements in the power supply deliverables. The attendant inconvenience as a result of low power generation is regretted.
Several power installations have been vandalized by a group called the Niger Delta avengers in the past month and the repairs of these pipelines are reportedly scheduled to be completed by the end of May.
Thisday
In an effort to absolve himself of allegations of bias in the trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki, the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Mr. Danladi Umar, on Tuesday revealed that he came under external pressure during the trial of former Lagos State governor, Senator Bola Tinubu.
The Sun
Food security: Poor power supply cripples Anambra rice mill In line with the resolve of Anambra state government under the leadership of Governor Wille Obiano to revolutionalize agriculture, especially rice production in commercial quantities even for export, many companies and individuals have embraced the gesture to actualize maximum food security in the state and country at large.
Punch
VP, Fayemi, Adebayo, others eulogise Adamolekun The Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, and the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, on Tuesday eulogised foremost scholar in public administration, Prof. Ladipo Adamolekun, for consistency and ethical orientation which he has stood for over the years.
Daily Times
The peace parley called by the Federal Government with labour leaders to resolve planned industrial action by the latter, on Tuesday, ended in a deadlock as the labour leaders reportedly walked out of the meeting.
Daily Trust
Some activists have predicted that the planned nationwide strike by the organised labour over fuel subsidy removal, scheduled for tomorrow, will be fruitless.
Leadership
About 5, 000 youths in Bauchi under the aegis of Bauchi State APC Youths, yesterday staged a peaceful rally to support the removal of the oil subsidy by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Tribune
A 62-year-old community leader, Chief Joseph Omasuyi, has been killed by two brothers in Ilu Titun, in Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State over a domestic quarrel.
The Nation
A 28-year-old man, Adamu Mai Bisco, on Monday night allegedly killed his parents and two sisters in Potiskum, Yobe State.
Vanguard
The Presidential candidate of the KOWA Party in the 2015 General Elections, Professor Oluemi Sonaiya took to twitter to outline her views on the Federal Governments removal of subsidy.
The hike in fuel prices to a new price regime of N145 has become a divisive issue as as a faction of the NLC commenced a nationwide strike action on Wednesday. A section of citizens have questioned why the subsidy removal was opposed during the Jonathan era and is now being accepted during the Buhari administration.
Professor Sonaiya called on the Nigeria Labor Congress to fashion new solutions in order to influence government policies and not remain dependent on just strike actions. She pointed out alternative solutions such as lobbying the legislative arms of government even before some policies are made public.
According to Remi Sonaiya, she joined Occupy Nigeria in 2012 but is not interested in the NLC protest this time around.
She detailed most of her views on Twitter.
Read from bottom up
Source: Twitter
Riots have broken out in some parts of Nigerias commercial capital of Lagos, as a faction of Nigerian Labour Congress have ahead with an indefinite nationwide strike on Wednesday.
The Trade Union Congress announced their decision to pull out of the strike after a National Industrial Court issued a restraining order against the strike on Tuesday. Many uncertain Lagosians shunned the strike action called over the hike in the pump price of fuel.
The government had last week introduced a new price band for gasoline following a partial liberalization of the oil sector.
President Muhammadu Buharis administration on May 11 increased gasoline prices by 67 percent in order to attract private importers, who will be able to recover their costs and help end fuel shortages that have persisted for months in the country.
A faction of the NLC led by Comrade Ayuba Wabba had announced that an indefinite strike commences today after its meeting with the Federal Government ended in a deadlock. The other faction led by Joe Ajaero had agreed with the Federal Government to set up a joint committee to deliberate on the issue of minimum wage, N500bn social investment and review the N145 new pump price of gasoline. The two factions of the NLC had recently asked for a new minimum wage based on the present economic realities. The committee has two weeks to report back in two weeks.
While some workers aligned with the Wabba-led faction, several others followed the directive by the Ajaero-led NLC that there would be no strike. Hoodlums were believed to have taken advantage of the confusion to create mayhem, smashing windscreens and hurling stones at passing vehicles.
Security agencies had since taken control of areas where violence was reported earlier on Wednesday.
National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Professor Biodun Ogunyemi has declared indefinite strike over the increment of fuel pump price.
The union said the government should revert the oil price to N86 per litre.
The letter sent to members of the congress nationwide was read at the University of Ibadan Chapter, where the Chairman, Dr Deji Omole mobilized members to get ready for mass resistance to what he called the obnoxious and callous policy of fuel price increment.
According to Omole, the policy of subsidy removal was the most criminal ambush from the Mohammadu Buhari-led federal government to empower the rich and cripple the poor.
The ASUU boss who said that the common denominator to all Nigerians was poverty, added that the same APC government that failed to pay civil servants for months was now celebrating budget signing with the legalization of black market.
ASUU president in the letter entitled Increase in Pump price of Premium Motor Spirit to N145 perlitre: Proposal for Joint Action with NLC stated that ASUU members are called upon to according to our Unions principles, fully respect Article 2 of the Constitution of ASUU; that our Union and members shall work for the protection and advancement of the socio-economic interests of the nation. Branch Chairpersons are to conduct emergency congress meetings on Tuesday 17 May 2016 to mobilise our members for the action commencing on Wednesday. All branches of ASUU nationwide are to comply.
Ogunyemi anchored the position on delayed, partially paid and in most cases unpaid salaries for a number of months by state, federal and local governments, disguised retrenchment of workers, especially by State Governments, in the name of verification exercise and endless hunt for ghost workers and heavy taxation.
Source:Dailypost
News / Press Release
by Agencies
A group of daring comedians have decided to take on the Government by forming an outfit called the ZNCC which stands for the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Comedians. The organisation launched the following statement from an unnamed SPOKESPERSONZimbabwe needs a regulatory authority to monitor and evaluate all of the funny things happening in Zimbabwe. The country is losing humour to foreigners such as Trevor Noah and other South African Stand Up Comedians and it is time for Zimbabwe to manage its funny resources hence the formation of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Comics. The ZNCC is in the process of electing its first president and still vetting CANDIDATES.According to an official who refused to be named (NONAMEWHY MOYO) said the Government has for decades been working tirelessly to give comedians much needed material only to find comedians abroad using the material or memes and even social media tweets without empowerment or beneficiation of the local comedians. We must preserve all our jokes!The Zimbabwe National Chamber of comics is still to elect a president and only one candidate has come out so far to declare he shall be running for PRESIDENT and that is maverick comedian Carl Joshua Ncube who said in an interview that he would be launching his FUNNYFESTO at COMEDY events across Zimbabwe on the 24th of May in Gweru, 25th of May in Kadoma, 26th of May in Harare and 27th of May in MASVINGO. His campaign will go under the banner Mr Feel good as the delusional comedian believes he has THIRD WORLD SUPER POWERS although most locals widely believe he is MUTENGESI WENYIKA (country's salesman).
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The prospect that the aviation industry will help to preserve forests by purchasing carbon offsets has left environmentalists divided.
As global deforestation continues, threatening biodiversity and spewing carbon into the atmosphere, an unlikely potential savior has emerged. Fearing that governments arent moving fast enough, environmental nonprofits and project development firms hope the aviation industry will fly to the rescue by purchasing carbon credits.
This is potentially the deal of the century, contends zoologist Andrew Mitchell, founder and director of Global Canopy Programme, an Oxford, Englandbased think tank devoted to preserving tropical forests. Not so fast, say some other environmentalists, who worry that the big polluters in air transportation will get off the hook too easily.
From Brazil to Russia to the U.S., deforestation is a serious problem. Between 1990 and 2015 the share of the worlds land under forest cover declined from 31.6 percent to 30.6 percent, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports. It may not sound like a big drop, but the total woodland lost during that period is nearly the size of South Africa.
With the help of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, the REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) program launched in 2008. Two years later the program, which reimburses countries for preserving their forests, was expanded to REDD+, whose mandate includes conservation and sustainable management as well as carbon emissions reduction. Since then a private market for REDD+ credits has arisen, with project developers selling them to finance sustainable-farming ventures and other conservation efforts.
But the REDD+ market is largely voluntary: Most purchasers are companies that use the offsets to meet self-imposed corporate social responsibility goals. As a result, its hardly awash in capital, even though REDD+ credits are the most popular voluntary carbon offset, accounting for about half of the markets volume in 2014, according to Forest Trends, a Washingtonbased nonprofit that promotes forest conservation. The broader voluntary carbon market remains tiny, with a value of just $395 million that year.
The aviation industry could provide a much-needed jolt. In October the 191-nation International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly will agree on its first set of market-based measures to address climate change, with the aim of achieving carbon-neutral growth starting in 2020.
Thats a worthy target: If the aviation industry were its own country, it would be a top-ten emitter of carbon dioxide, according to the Parisbased International Energy Agency. In 2013 fuel combustion by aircraft produced 798 million metric tons of the greenhouse gas, about 2.5 percent of the global total from combustion and slightly more than No. 6ranked Germanys output. If the industry stays on its current course, carbon emissions from aviation will grow between 300 and 400 percent by 2050, Brusselsbased Carbon Market Watch estimates.
The ICAOs emissions reduction plan will probably require individual airlines to buy offsets for each ton of carbon emitted above a certain threshold. Global Canopy Programmes Mitchell hopes that REDD+ credits will be on the menu of options. The scale of demand that could come from aviation will far exceed any other demand thats currently on the table for REDD+, he says.
Right now REDD+ demand only accounts for about 3 percent of the estimated supply that would be available in a robust forest credits market, Mitchell adds. Without a major compliance market like the European Union Emissions Trading System requiring companies to purchase the offsets, or a secondary market for selling them, REDD+ credits will go for whatever they can fetch from a voluntary buyer.
The impacts of the depressed REDD+ market arent limited to abstract offset prices, notes Edit Kiss, director of business development and operations at Althelia Ecosphere, a 100 million ($115 million), Londonbased investment firm focused on sustainable land use. Theyre also being felt in forests.
The sad reality is that today, we have so many projects that have started, communities are waiting for the money to flow, and the money is not flowing, says Kiss, whose firm finances REDD+ enterprises. There are lots of projects, and they are struggling to sell their credits on a voluntary basis. A member of the Londonbased Climate Markets and Investment Associations REDD+ working group, Kiss co-authored an April policy paper recommending that the ICAO adopt REDD+ credits.
Michael Schneider, assistant director of the Montrealheadquartered International Air Transport Associations carbon offset program, says he believes his industry should include REDD+ in its basket of acceptable offsets. But Genevabased Schneider points out that airlines have gotten pushback from environmental nonprofits that say the ICAOs goals arent ambitious enough, and that an offset scheme involving REDD+ would simply shift carbon-emitting permissions, not slash carbon emissions.
Offsetting is a distraction for aviation, argues Hannah Mowat, forests and climate campaigner with Fern, a Brusselsbased nongovernmental organization that tracks European Union involvement in forests. In Mowats view, improving the energy efficiency of jet engines and finding ways to fly less are more urgent matters.
Kiss, who says shes frustrated by environmentalists push to steer aviation away from REDD+, accuses them of missing the point. Offsetting should be viewed as a transitional tool, she asserts. Nobody thinks they should be the end objective.
The Asia ex-Japan region may be the engine of global growth these days, but that doesnt mean all stocks will benefit equally from rising investor interest. In fact, research directors at the most highly ranked firms on Institutional Investors 2016 All-Asia Research Team say selectivity is becoming increasingly important.
To find out which firms and individuals provide the most lucrative suggestions, TIM Group, a London-based operator of the worlds largest network connecting investors with institutional brokerages trading ideas, assessed some 33,800 stock recommendations that it distributed last year to hedge funds and traditional asset managers that invest in Asian equities.
The growth of ideas as a content set in Asia is remarkable, reports William Herkelrath, New Yorkbased head of business development. Total stock coverage has doubled in under four years as the buy side has become increasingly interested in moving money into markets like China. Asia now represents approximately a third of the TIM global ideas universe.
That universe also includes Australia and New Zealand, Europe, Japan and North America. Contributors are evaluated on the basis of idea performance, volume and consistency, among other factors.
With regard to the Asia ranking, we use local country benchmarks, where available, and default to MSCI Asia ex-Japan where not, explains Robert Schuessler, director of analytics. Benchmarking allows us to compare contributor performance across a diverse region without overweighting high or low performance on a specific exchange.
UBS is not only TIM Groups top bulge-bracket performer in Asia, its also the only firm to finish in the regional top three every year since this ranking was introduced, in 2013. Eligible members of its team produced 685 trade ideas, with an average outperformance of 3.79 percentage points, last year. Bank of America Merrill Lynch claims second place, with nearly 1,200 suggestions that beat the benchmark by 3.65 points, on average. Goldman Sachs (Asia) ranks third; its 256 recommendations likewise generated returns that outpaced the market by 3.65 points.
Among smaller firms, South Koreas Daishin Securities is No. 1 despite having only one eligible participant, Ester Kang a remarkable salesperson who came up with nearly 170 suggestions that bested the market by an incredible 20.95 points.
TIM Group recognizes only the top three among large firms; however, it ranks the ten best performers among the smaller brokerages. Here is the full list, with average outperformance included parenthetically.
Daishin Securities, South Korea (20.95 percent)
CIMB Securities, Malaysia (7.99 percent)
Batlivala & Karani Securities, India, (14.03 percent)
China International Capital Corp. (5.46 percent)
IndiaNivesh Securities (13.81 percent)
Nomura (4.07 percent)
Equirus Securities, India (11.85 percent)
CLSA (3.93 percent)
Macquarie Capital Securities (3.86 percent)
BGC & Mint Partners (3.76 percent)
Bank of America Merrill Lynch lays claim to four of the ten top-performing individuals among Asias biggest brokerages:
Jon Conner, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (9.50 percent)*
Colin Sim, UBS (6.20 percent)*
Raymond Chan, UBS (10.26 percent)
Maryann Tseng, Morgan Stanley (5.21 percent)*
Kevin Lai, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (7.40 percent)
Anthony Iser, UBS (5.51 percent)*
Jeanette Ip, Morgan Stanley (6.32 percent)
Joseph Mirpuri, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (5.21 percent)*
Oliver Tetlow, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (5.96 percent)
Eric Schimmel, Credit Suisse (4.07 percent)
And the winners among the midtiers and boutiques:
Ester Kang, Daishin Securities (20.95 percent)
Jongmin Kim, CLSA (11.59 percent)*
Rankie Wong, Nomura (10.55 percent)*
Daniel Raats, Macquarie Capital Securities (8.96 percent)*
Nicholas Lu, China International Capital Corp. (8.94 percent)*
Mary Beth McNamara, CIMB Securities (6.87 percent)*
Hari Srinivasan, Batlivala & Karani Securities (14.03 percent)
Tim Franks, HSBC (6.42 percent)*
Shirley Zhao, Haitong International (7.02 percent)*
Vignesh Suresh, IndiaNivesh Securities (13.81 percent)
* Outperforms salespeople ranked lower owing to having provided a higher number of profitable calls and/or those of a longer duration.
Real gross domestic product growth in South Korea rose only 0.4 percent in the first quarter, down from 0.7 percent in the final three months of 2015, the nations central bank reported in late April. Daishin Securities Ester Kang believes the downturn is only temporary.
The whole paradigm of South Koreas leading industry is changing, she observes. I think another interesting market will be back with different leading sectors.
Such an environment creates opportunities, the Seoul-based salesperson adds. The best part of this job is when you uncover a stock with much potential for growth, and the market comes to agree with you, Kang says. South Korea still has many great companies that have not been properly introduced to investors.
She credits Daishins research department for triggering her best ideas but also notes that monitoring news updates plays a big part in making decisions. For example, when word broke in mid-May that IMM Private Equity, one of South Koreas largest private equity funds, planned to invest 500 billion won ($428 million) in online marketplace operator SK Planet, she decided to take a closer look at parent company SK Telecom as well as its proposed acquisition CJ HelloVision, the nations leading provider of Internet TV content.
Kang has taken a circuitous route to equity research sales. She earned a degree in clothing and textiles at Seouls Yonsei University, then worked for 11 years in the investor relations department of Korean Air Lines Co. before joining Daishin in 2012. I guess we never know what life holds out there for us, she says of her varied career. I was supposed to become a fashion designer!
Jongmin Kim, who celebrates his third appearance in four years as one of TIM Groups top performers in the region, followed a more traditional path to his current position. I joined CLSA in 2004 initially as a research assistant after a three-month internship at HSBC, says Kim, who earned a bachelors degree in economics at the U.K.s University of Bristol.
When I was first moved onto the sales desk, the person who hired me left for a bigger role within the firm shortly thereafter, he recalls. I was clueless as to what I was supposed to be doing, but my mentor had simple words of advice: Learn from your clients not from other brokers. So I just called my clients all day. I must have been very irritating and useless in the beginning, but then a few used me as the young, locally based assistant to gather data by visiting companies, and visiting all these companies enabled me to form an independent view to complement that of the research analysts.
Frequent meetings with management teams and animated discussions with analysts and investors remain Kims greatest sources of inspiration, he adds.
As for independent views, the Seoul-based head of country sales for South Korea was largely on his own in late 2014 when he began urging clients to buy shares of Kolon Corp., a holding company whose chemicals subsidiary had lost a very high-profile intellectual property lawsuit brought by U.S.-based E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.
Everybody hated that group, Kim recalls. Its largest operating affiliate, Kolon Industries, had been ordered to pay $920 million to DuPont on infringement accusations, and two thirds of its market cap was lost.
That was in 2011. Three years later a U.S. federal appeals court overturned the ruling, and in late December the parent company announced that it was buying an additional 594,000 shares of Kolon Industries upping its stake to roughly 30 percent so that it could exert greater control over the unit.
The core operations of Kolon Industries have high market share and would be a likely beneficiary of low oil prices, Kim explains. So I recommended both entities on the notion that too heavy a discount was placed on the entire group.
Kolon Corp.s stock advanced 261.5 percent last year, while shares of Kolon Industries gained 29.9 percent. During the same period, South Koreas benchmark Kospi Index inched up 2.4 percent.
Last month the holding company agreed to pay DuPont $275 million to settle the case.
In mid-May 2015 he told clients to short Leaders Cosmetics Co. (then known as Sansung Life & Science Co.). The stock had risen sixfold since the beginning of the year, but its a one-product wonder, and too many people were suggesting ambitious mathematics on how its face masks were going to sell in China, Kim reports. My Chinese colleagues were telling me how its products were increasingly losing shelf space market euphoria was typical of what you see quite frequently in Korea on all things China consumerrelated, and thus the decision to short it. The stock eventually ended the year where it began.
These days he is recommending other ostracized stocks such as Hanjin Transportation Co., which is overly depressed and heavily discounted due to problems within Hanjin Shipping Co. that are more perceived than real it owns a significant amount of property and terminal assets that have not been marked to market, and its core logistics business has always shown great volume growth.
The subsidiary, South Koreas largest container carrier as measured by capacity, reported a first-quarter net loss of 261 billion won, largely owing to low rates and weak demand, but Kim believes a turnaround is in the offing.
The best part of being an equity salesman is the exposure to the analysis and opinions of people far smarter and superior to your intellectual capacity, both within and outside your firm, he says. Salespeople can essentially piggyback off others without putting in the hours of analytical work sorry guys! and have the luxury of connecting the dots others strived to provide. In an era that is increasingly dominated by machines and quant strategies, the back-to-basics approach of focusing on the very human element of getting out there to kick the tires and basically extracting discovery value is still what I get out of bed for!
Follow Thomas W. Johnson on Twitter at @tjohnson_nyc.
The U.S. dollar advanced against other major currencies in early trading this morning as markets adjusted to an increased likelihood of a rate-hike announcement by the Federal Reserve during the June meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. With hawkish Fed leaders discussing multiple benchmark increases in 2016 and underlying fundamentals that remain resilient despite problems abroad, the flattening Treasury yield curve has begun to suggest that portfolio managers are bracing for a change, with yields rising significantly over the past week on the short end. Given this shift in sentiment, the release of the notes from the last FOMC meeting today at 2 P.M. will be carefully parsed by investors seeking to stay ahead of the pack.
Japan avoids recession. Preliminary gross-domestic-product data for Japan released today by the cabinet office surprised to the upside at an annualized 1.7 percent growth rate versus expectation for 0.2 percent. This growth follows a contraction in the final three months of 2015 that was revised down to -1.7 percent in the same report. Despite the promising signals, sustained deflationary pressure and anemic business-investment levels suggest that the unprecedented easing measures put into play by the Bank of Japan have yet to achieve the desired affect on the real economy.
Burberry stock price slides on warnings. For the second time in four weeks, executives at Burberry Group guided profit expectations lower while laying out a plan to revive the venerable brands fortunes by concentrating on fewer products with higher margins. The fashion house, which traces its origins to 1856, has experienced declining revenues as demand in Asia has cooled. Shares of the company declined by more than 2 percent in trading in London.
LendingClub warns of more pain. On Tuesday, shares of LendingClub Corp. sold off sharply following a regulatory filing which revealed a subpoena from the Department of Justice and an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into internal-control measures. The filing also indicated that the company would likely seek to raise capital through a secondary offering. Once the model for the online lending industry, LendingClub has lost more than half of its market capitalization following the announcement that CEO Renaud Laplanche was stepping down following an internal audit.
More fallout from testing scandals for Japans auto industry. On Wednesday Mitsubishi Motors Corp. announced that the automakers president, Tetsuro Aikawa, will leave as the investigation into fraudulent fuel-efficiency testing continues. Separately, Suzuki Motor Corp. announced that the fuel-efficiency testing methods used for more than 2 million cars were deficient, after completing an internal investigation requested by the Transport Ministry of all automotive manufacturers in Japan.
Senate bill opens path to 9/11 suits. On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate passed a bill that clears the way for Americans to bring civil action against countries that played a role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. President Obama opposes the legislation, suggesting that a veto is likely. Media outlets have reported that the Saudi Arabian government has threatened economic retribution if the legislation is enacted.
Eurozone inflation remains muted. Consumer price inflation data for April released by Eurostat for the common-currency zone on Wednesday registered in line with consensus forecasts as deflationary pressures persist. The headline index contracted by 0.2 percent year-over-year while core prices rose by 0.7 percent versus the same month in 2015. The biggest fall in prices were recorded in Eastern peripheral economies, including a -2.6 year-over-year reading for Romania.
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The Hawaiian Islands have always been at the top of many vacationers must-see lists and are a traditional destination for honeymooners. But when it comes to a career in finance, the 50th state to join the union is not usually considered a top location. It took the 200809 global financial crisis to bring Vijoy Chattergy back to his home state and shortly thereafter into a new role as a public pension fund officer.
Chattergy, who had been working in Hong Kong at SPARX International, a hedge fund firm based in Tokyo, was thrust into transition when the fund of hedge funds where he was working folded. He headed to Hawaii to regroup, then in August 2009 enrolled in the Asia Pacific Leadership Program for midcareer professionals at the East-West Center in Honolulu, by which he did field study in China. In 2011 Chattergy met Rodney June, then the CIO of the State of Hawaii Employees Retirement System (ERS). He was trying to manage $10 billion by himself, explains Chattergy.
At that point, he says, I knew I could stay in Hawaii.
Chattergy was hired as an investment specialist in 2011, enough time for the new recruit to learn the ropes before June left the following year for the CIO position at the Los Angeles City Employees Retirement System. After a brief stint as interim CIO, Chattergy was given a permanent role in November 2012.
The Honolulu native who graduated from Oahus prestigious Punahou School in 1986, seven years after President Barack Obama was determined to change the formerly one-person pension office into an investment-and-analyst culture with common values, vision and objectives. To do that, the Investment Division needs to approach their role the way any investment group approaches their portfolio of assets, explains Chattergy, who today has five investment staffers overseeing $14 billion in defined benefit assets. A member of the charter group of Teach for America from 1990 to 1992, he taught English as a second language in Los Angeles during the South Central riots. Chattergy now oversees assets for plan participants that include his retiree parents and brother all teachers.
Aside from developing an investment mind-set at HIERS, Chattergy has to reach for an 8 percent pension discount rate that is being lowered in steps to 7.5 percent over the next two to three years. Its a challenge, says the CIO, who has an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Cornell University. You dont have fixed income providing a reasonable coupon to help meet return requirements.
Chattergy is also facing a severely underfunded pension: The retirement systems assets cover just 61.4 percent of its future liabilities. The solution? Youre forced to find opportunities that have a higher risk profile but generate higher returns, he says.
With the boards approval, Chattergy is gradually increasing the funds exposure to nontraditional asset classes real estate, private equity and options-based strategies in private markets from 9.5 percent to 18 percent. The board has always resisted hedge funds because of their fee structure and possible headline risk.
Chattergy is building a functional risk framework populated by options strategies, trend-following and factor-based strategies. We wont pay the traditional 2-and-20 fee structure, but we get exposure to underlying strategies and factors utilized by hedge fund managers, he explains. Factor-based strategies attempt to identify drivers of return based on elements not explicitly described in the classic capital asset pricing model (CAPM). Examples of factors might include risk premiums derived from a securitys size and value, momentum and emerging markets.
Its more than just CAPM, where everything you need to know is in the price, says Chattergy, who is also targeting a wide cluster of risks spanning everything from economic growth and principal protection to real return and crisis mitigation.
Long before he ever imagined returning home to manage retirement assets, Chattergys career began when, straight out of Compton with Teach for America, he moved to New York in 1993 to work at the Federal Reserve Banks markets group. The CIO is happy to be back in the Aloha State. Im helping my parents and my brothers generations with their retirement, he explains. I can see how having that pension check means having dignity and independence, he says about his parents. They dont live an extravagant life, he adds, but they arent wanting for anything.
Follow Frances Denmark on Twitter at @francesdenmark.
Get more on pensions.
This article is the third of a three-part series of profiles of heads of state retirement system investment offices. See also Sam Masoudi Gets Wyoming Pension Plans on Balanced Footing and Michael Walden-Newman Grows a Diversified Pension Crop.
Tentative signs of progress on debt relief and reform are keeping recovery hopes alive, but the country needs to get its banks lending again.
Since Greeces debt woes burst into the open at the end of 2009, the crisis has seemed to spike each spring as predictably as the return of tourists to the Aegean Islands.
Last year the Syriza government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras played brinkmanship with the so-called troika the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund whose credit keeps the country afloat. His hardball tactics included a brief default on loans from the IMF before the European Union agreed to a fresh 86 billion ($97 billion) bailout. The economy, which had begun a tentative recovery in 2014, fell back into recession.
This year bailout funds have been on hold for months because of Athenss failure to deliver promised economic reforms, putting the government at risk of defaulting on 3.5 billion in payments due in July to the IMF and the ECB. A standoff between the IMF, which believes Greece needs debt relief and less austerity in the short term to recover, and Germany, which has taken a harder line, hasnt helped matters. Yet there are hints of progress. On May 9, Tsipras and his minister of Finance, Euclid Tsakalotos, persuaded parliament to enact pension cutbacks and an increase in the solidarity tax to boost the primary budget surplus (before interest payments) to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product, a target set by the Eurogroup of Finance ministers. That same day Finance minister Wolfgang Schauble gave the first indication that Germany would support debt relief.
Some economists and investors see a path to recovery if everyone can find a way to get along and get behind the bottomed-out economy.
One place to start rehabilitation is with the banks. The banks have been uninvestable as banks, says Mike Reynal, a Des Moines, Iowabased portfolio manager of $245 million in emerging-markets funds at RS Investments. At the end of March, private sector loans were down 5 percent year-over-year, and loans to nonfinancial corporations were down 7.5 percent. Reynal is watching closely to see if the majors Alpha Bank, Eurobank, National Bank of Greece and Piraeus Bank start extending more credit. Loans are the oil that makes the economy move, he says.
Fabio Balboni, European economist at HSBC Holdings in London, agrees that banks hold the key to growth. If you can get the banks in a position again to lend to the economy, you could be in a better place six months from now, he says. Balboni doesnt expect a dramatic turnaround, but even modest quarterly growth rates would reduce unemployment and encourage spending.
The economy shrank by 0.4 percent in the first quarter, slightly better than expected, which may portend a return to growth in the second half. Unemployment has been declining, approaching 24 percent the lowest level since 2012 but that rate is still more than double the EU average.
In addition to pleasing the troika, Greece could benefit from imitating some of the EU countries that have managed strong recoveries, such as Ireland and Spain. Essential to their turnarounds has been their ability to attract foreign direct investment, something Greece has largely failed to do.
Greece has assets that with privatization could actually speed up the rate of growth significantly, says Balboni. For this to work, though, the government has to be truly invested in reform.
Greeces advantage is going to be linked to tourism and services, predicts Reynal. Tourism accounts for approximately 18 percent of GDP, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. The government hasnt taken sufficient advantage of the tourism potential, Reynal says, but he expects it to focus on this sector once it reaches an agreement on the next tranche of bailout funds.
The troika and the Greeks may quarrel on terms, but all parties agree that another bailout should be coming soon. The fact that you dont have one voice to impose itself means its difficult to have a single solution, says Reynal. Ultimately, Greece is going to have to figure out a way to move forward on its own, one step at a time.
News / Regional
by Staff reporter
SKYZ Metro FM chief executive officer Qhubani Moyo has attributed the Bulawayo-based radio station's delayed launch to a pullout by funders.The radio station, which was licensed in March last year along with seven other radio stations, failed to launch operations at the beginning of the year due to funding challenges.Moyo told the Daily News yesterday that they were currently lining up new funders to enable them to go operational before the September 15 deadline."When we applied (for the licence) one of the prerequisites was that we have to provide the sources of funding for the projects. That was in 2013. We did provide them and the licence was awarded in March 2015, and we had banks that promised to fund us."When the time came for them to provide the funding, they had changed their priorities. That then left us in the cold, looking for other sources of funding, we did manage to get some, but it is still not enough," said Moyo.The Skyz Metro FM boss added that the country's worsening economic situation was complicating matters."We are still putting our systems in place and we are also victims of the current economic situation. We have not managed to secure the equipment on time but we are getting there. Our systems are in place and we are training our staff."The environment under which we are operating has not been friendly to new players, especially in the media and this is also a reflection of how the economy is affecting various industries. We are trying to ensure that by September 15 - the deadline - we will be on air," he said.According to Broadcasting Association of Zimbabwe, regulations, radio stations must launch before the expiry of 18 months.Of the eight radio stations licensed last year, only YA FM (Zvishavane) and Diamond FM (Mutare) have commenced operations.Efforts to get a comment from AB Communications - who were granted licences for Gogogoi FM (Masvingo) and FAYA FM (Gweru), were fruitless yesterday.In a previous interview with the Daily News Susan Makore, whose company also runs ZiFM, insisted that they would meet the September 15 deadline."I cannot tell you much on our preparations but the official comment is that we will definitely start operations before the 18 months lapse. We have already started to acquire equipment for the Gweru and Masvingo stations," she said then.Funding challenges being faced by Skyz Metro FM, based at Amakhosi Arts Centre in Bulawayo, follow a recent admission by Broadcasting Services minister Christopher Mushohwe that they licensed players with no capacity to set up viable radio stations."My ministry has been approached by many who were turned down who are saying those you gave licences have not done anything and if you had given us we would have operationalised them by now.we will not allow people to hold on to licences for speculative purposes," he said while officiating at the launch of Diamond FM in Mutare recently.
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With several of its existing funds solidly in the black this year, the quant giant has raised money for a new macro fund.
"It's forced us to open up our digital kimono"
A recently launched underwriting agency has found its gap in the market as it looks to continue its growth thanks to the support of brokers. TK Specialty Risks (TKSR) was officially launched in February 2016 and founder and lead underwriter Tom Kent told Insurance Business that the business spotted a gap in the regional market which led to the foundation of the business.South Australia simply didnt have a dedicated financial lines underwriting agency, Kent said.There are a number of excellent general insurance underwriting agencies operating within South Australia, but PI has always been an area which the larger insurers have typically serviced very well.I think it is fair to say that markets such as CGU and Vero really led the way in the late nineties and built immensely profitable portfolios over the past few decades, which has traditionally probably ensured decent service levels for markets regional markets such as Adelaide and Hobart.However, unfortunately with the commoditisation of professional indemnity and the strong move we are seeing towards non-advice based sales models, markets in SA, TAS, NT and even WA to a certain extent, have been sorely neglected.So, over the course of a number of months, our plan was put together to establish an underwriting agency which offered local security & local claims service for the bulk of its product set.TKSR offers a wide range of products such as cyber liability, engineering and construction consultants PI, D&O liability and medical malpractice, amongst others.Kent noted that that the business also saw rate increases across entire portfolios from major insurers as a key reason for launch.The key reason I launched TKSR was primarily because I noticed over the past few years that insurers have a habit of building up good books of business and then imposing rate increases across entire portfolios, often to the detriment of their sub-portfolios which exist in pockets throughout Australia, Kent continued.This issue always seems to be near the top of any agenda at broker meetings, and as such I felt it was time to do something about it.Kent noted that the response to the business has been excellent, thus far as brokers have taken to the business.It has been particularly pleasing to see that insurance brokers are very supportive of a new offering with a strong focus on ensuring the ongoing viability of underwriting in regional markets around Australia, Kent continued.As a new business in a smaller Australian city, Kent spoke of the great value of having boots on the ground as these cities continue their development.There is an immensely impressive amount of entrepreneurialism in smaller cities around Australia which is exhibited by companies both new and old, Kent said.For example, in Adelaide we have world leading companies such as FCT International designing flame cauldrons for the Olympic Games, or Ellex Medical Lasers, who have developed market leading ophthalmological devices.From an underwriting (and broking) perspective, there is a lot of value in being on the ground and on hand to assist in some small way in the endeavours of our ground breaking Australian companies.
Matt Price and his wife, Carla, of Babylon, New York, 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 on May 11 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.
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. Not to say that I dont think it would happen again. I think its going to be a very rare occurrence if it ever did. The goal is to make it as resistant or stormproof as possible so thats not an issue.
Last 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 Governors 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 the May 11 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 Islands 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.
Were flippers, he said as he waited to sign a contract sealing the sale. Were investors, and we think its a good deal. If you dont 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.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Topics Flood New York Homeowners
The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) has filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against Travelers Indemnity Company and Travelers Casualty Insurance Company of America, accusing the insurers of engaging in actions that violated local and federal housing laws.
Travelers has allegedly failed to provide habitational insurance to apartment owners in Washington, D.C., who rent to tenants participating in the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia.
In response, Travelers provided the following statement to Insurance Journal: We typically dont comment about ongoing litigation. But it should be noted that we provide fair access to our insurance products. The level or source of income of a buildings tenants does not factor into our underwriting decisions for commercial building owners.
NFHA said denying insurance coverage because tenants subsidize their rental payments with public vouchers is a violation of the federal Fair Housing Act as well as the local District of Columbia Human Rights Act because it has a disproportionate adverse impact on African Americans and female-headed households in Washington, D.C.
NFHA said Travelers alleged business practices were discovered by NFHAs investigators, who contacted five independent insurance agencies that sell Travelers policies in the D.C. area.
NFHA investigators sought insurance coverage for multi-family apartment buildings located in Southeast Washington, D.C.
According to court documents, when investigators mentioned that their tenants participate in the public voucher program often referred to as Section 8 every investigator was told that Travelers does not provide habitational insurance to apartment owners who rent to tenants using Section 8. NFHA said investigators were told to seek coverage from other insurers.
NFHA said when investigators mentioned the presence of tenants participating in the public voucher program, agencies comments included:
Wait a minute. Stop right there. Subsidized housing is a problem.
Travelers [sic] wont write subsidized housing policies.
any Section 8 would be a problem and Travelers doesnt want any part of it.
if all four have subsidized housing, doubting theyll want to do it, quite honestly.
NFHA alleged that evidence gathered over a 10-month period in 2015-2016 documented this ongoing pattern and practice.
The lawsuit said Travelers alleged practices and underwriting guidelines have a discriminatory impact on the Districts most vulnerable households. Such practices disproportionately harm African Americans and women and deter apartment owners who want to help house low-income families in D.C., the suit alleged.
NFHA said African American households make up 92 percent of Housing Choice Voucher participants in D.C., although they are just 45.2 percent of all households in the District. Female-headed households make up 82 percent of Housing Choice Voucher participants in D.C., but only 47 percent of all households in the District.
NFHA said its mission is to combat housing discrimination and promote residential integration is frustrated when an insurer imposes additional, discriminatory impediments that make it more difficult and more expensive for landlords to accept Housing Choice Vouchers.
Travelers refusal to write property and casualty insurance for landlords with tenants participating in the Housing Choice Voucher program is the equivalent of, and has the same effect as, a refusal to write insurance for landlords because they rent to a higher proportion of households that are African-American/Black or female-headed households, NFHA said in the lawsuit.
NFHA also argued Travelers alleged underwriting criteria disproportionately harm neighborhoods in D.C. where African-American/Black households are statistically more likely to live.
In the lawsuit, NFHA requests that the court prohibit Travelers from refusing to insure, or canceling the insurance of, or charging higher rates to, landlords on the basis that they rent to tenants who participate in the Housing Choice Voucher program.
The lawsuit seeks to require Travelers to develop and implement practices and procedures that do not discriminate against persons protected by D.C. and federal fair housing laws. The suit also requests awarding all available damages, including compensatory damages as well as punitive damages.
The case is National Fair Housing Alliance v. Travelers Indemnity Company and Travelers Casualty Insurance Company of America, U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, Case No. 16-cv-928.
Topics Lawsuits Washington
As New Hampshire considers mandatory drug prevention education in all grades, the states opioid crisis has heightened the sense of urgency for existing programs that largely target teens.
A proposal to require at least two hours of age-appropriate drug and alcohol education yearly for students in kindergarten through fourth grade, and a minimum of four hours a year for older students, was among the package of bills lawmakers took up this session in response to a sharp increase in drug overdoses across the state. Theyre now working out differences between the Senate version which removed the minimum hours of instruction and the House version, which encourages, but wouldnt require, schools to provide such instruction.
Given that 94 percent of people who end up addicted to drugs or alcohol start using between the ages of 12 and 25, prevention efforts should go well beyond a Drugs Are Bad class in eighth grade, said Thomas McLellan, chairman of the Treatment Research Institute in Philadelphia and former deputy director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
The way to do prevention is with prevention-prepared communities communities that get together and give evidence-based prevention messages from the schools, from the police, from the church, everywhere, he said at the Governors Summit on Substance Misuse last week.
Twenty-eight of the states middle and high schools currently have programs based on a model called Project SUCCESS, which stands for Schools Using Coordinated Community Efforts to Strengthen Students. In addition to a curriculum typically taught in seventh- or ninth-grade health classes, the program includes individual and group counseling for at-risk students and those who are using drugs or alcohol. Some are using to cover up or deal with anger and anxiety, said Erika Miller, a student assistance professional in Concord, so she tries to help them with problem-solving and conflict management.
One of the first things Ill do is ask them, what are your beliefs about this drug? she said. Well talk about that, and I can try to introduce them to other information about what really are the harms.
Further north, the North Country Health Consortium coordinates a program called Youth Leadership Through Adventure. Students who have bonded and gained leadership skills through camping and other trips take the lead in planning awareness campaigns and activities aimed at changing the culture of their schools and encourage peers to seek alternatives to drugs.
Lynn Tilden, who graduated from Lin-Wood High School in Lincoln in 2011, participated in the program as a student and now oversees it at two schools. She said the states current drug crisis has made her view her job with a greater sense of importance.
When I was in high school, it was more about marijuana and drinking, she said. Now, being on the other side, I see a lot more of the harder drugs I wouldnt have imagined having in my hands at age 16.
The program started with a few schools and expanded to the entire region in 2012. Since then, the percentage of students using alcohol, marijuana or prescription drugs has dropped in the participating schools, according to youth risk behavior surveys.
I feel its more important than ever to let people know about this program, Tilden said. It really shows students there are more things out there.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Topics Training Development New Hampshire Drugs
Bermuda-based Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd. has appointed new leaders for its insurance and reinsurance segments, in response to the announced retirement of CEO Mario Vitale.
Stephen Postlewhite, previously chief executive officer of Aspen Reinsurance, has been appointed chief executive officer, Aspen Insurance, with immediate effect. Succeeding him as CEO of Aspen Re is Thomas Lillelund, who previously was Aspen Res managing director, Asia Pacific.
Vitale has been CEO of Aspen Insurance since 2012, and he will remain with Aspen until June 30 to ensure a smooth transition, Aspen said in a statement.
The leadership changes announced today reflect our strategy of continuing to build strong, diversified insurance and reinsurance platforms for the benefit of our clients, business partners and investors, said Aspens CEO Chris OKane.
Since taking over as CEO of Aspen Re in 2014, Stephen has guided the business through a challenging market, executing on our strategy and increasing profitability. Stephen is a proven leader and we look forward to benefiting from his strategic and operational skills as we continue to align our insurance business globally and leverage our increased scale to generate growth and enhanced profitability, OKane said.
Thomas is an extremely gifted leader who established our Singapore office in 2008 and he has built a highly successful and profitable business across the Asia-Pacific region, OKane continued.
I believe Thomas is the right person to build on Stephens strong track record, working closely alongside Brian Boornazian, chairman of Aspen Re, and Emil Issavi, president and chief underwriting officer of Aspen Re. We are well positioned to sustain the success of our reinsurance business under Thomas leadership.
Thanking Vitale for his service to Aspen, OKane said that under Vitales leadership, the company has significantly grown its U.S. platform and enhanced its international position. With his passion, energy, commitment and sharp focus on execution, Mario has built Aspen Insurance into a leading specialty insurer with close to $2 billion in annual premiums.
In addition, Robert Rheel, president, Aspen U.S. Insurance, has announced his intention to retire from Aspen after 35 years in the industry. The company is conducting a search for his successor and Rheel will remain with Aspen until the end of June to assist with the transition.
OKane commented: Bob has played a pivotal role in the successful build-out of our U.S. Insurance brand over the last five years. I would like to thank him for his considerable contribution to the business during this time and to wish him well for the future.
Biographies of Postlewhite and Lillelund
Stephen Postlewhite was appointed CEO of Aspen Re in September 2014. He was previously the group chief risk officer in February 2013. He joined Aspen as deputy chief actuary in 2003 and became the head of Risk Capital six years later.
Before joining Aspen, he spent a year at the UK Financial Services Authority working on the development of the Individual Capital Assessment process for non-life insurers. Previously, Postlewhite had spent nine years with KPMG in London and Sydney, working as a senior general insurance actuarial consultant predominantly on the London market, Lloyds and reinsurance clients. He started his career as a management consultant at Andersen Consulting and has been a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries since 2001.
Thomas Lillelund joined Aspen in 2008 and has been Aspen Res managing director for Asia Pacific since 2012. He began his career in underwriting and management in 1995 and previously worked at General Re, Swiss Re and AIG.
Lillelund is originally from Denmark and has lived and worked in Latin America, North America, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia. He has a BA in Economics from the College of William & Mary, an MBA from the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario. He is an Associate in Reinsurance (ARe).
Source: Aspen Insurance Holdings
Topics USA Reinsurance
Opinion / Blogs
ANSWERS
HOWEVER PART
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QN Compare and Contrast the roles of Israel prophets with Zimbabwean prophets? (25)COMMENTSIn order for one to execute the above question ,it is prudent at this stage to understand the KEY words or answer different fundamental questions. For instance~What is a prophet?~What is a role?~What's the difference between role and character?Israel prophets this include the following~Moses~Samuel~Ahijah of Shiloah, Gad,Nathan,Ben Imlah.~Amos the country prophet~Hosea~Isaiah the prophet of Jerusalem~Jeremiah the prophet of JudahThe Zimbabwean prophets include the following~Magaya "the man of cloth".~Fodric Fodric "the apple prophet".~Johane Masowe.~Blessing Chiza of Eagle ministries.~Madzibaba Godfrey Nzira.~Samuel Mutendi of ZCC .Israel prophets fought for social justice ,For instance Moses fought for justice when he confronted King Pharaoh so as to free the Israelites which were being oppressed by Pharaoh, this evidenced in Exodus 5:1.Elijah fought for justice when he confronted King Ahab over Naboth's vineyard ,this is recorded in 1 Kings 21:17.Amos condemned the women of Samaria who were oppressing the poor, this is recorded in Amos 4:1.Amos advocated for fairness as well in Amos 5:24.In Zimbabwean context, it is recorded that Zimbabwean prophets have fought social justice, Samuel Mutendi is believed to have criticized the oppression of blacks by the whites during the colonization of Southern Rhodesia .(note that so many examples can be added )Basing on the above text it is clear that there are similarities between Israel and Zimbabwean prophets when fighting for social justice is concerned.Israel prophets fought for worshipping of one God.Moses for worshiping of one God when he destroyed the golden calf which had been made by the Israelites, this is recorded in Exodus. 32:20.Elijah butchered the baal prophets during the Mt Carmel Contest, this is recorded in 1 Kings 18:36-42.In Zimbabwean context, it is documented by number of authors that Zimbabwean prophets fights for worshipping of one God, Isabel Mukonyora citing Dillon, says Masowe during his days had tendency of destroying "mishonga" and burning the fetishes.Makandiwa recorded by Christ Tv undated, discouraged his church to partake in evil practices. Magaya recorded by Newsday newspaper and Bulawayo24.com in 14 February 2015 , he condemned the use of water as a way of exorcism by the white church garment which is led by Johannes Ndanga as evilness and encouraging them to change, this is further supported by his book entitled "The marine spirit"(the point in this case is that Magaya fights for worshipping of one God).Similarities can be noticed, hence, one will be making violence on a plain text if one totally ignore the view there are similarities between Israel and Zimbabwean prophets when fighting for worshiping of one God is concerned.Israel prophets predicted the future events. Samuel predicted the dangers of having a King ,this is recorded in 1 Samuel 8:6-17.Elijah predicted the death of King Ahab "the dogs will lick your blood". This is recorded in 1 Kings 21:17-22.Ahijah of Shiloh predicted the death of the son of Jeroboam, this is recorded in 1Kings 14:12.In Zimbabwean context, it is documented that Zimbabwean prophets predicted the future events. For instance, Bulawayo well known prophet predicted about the status of Zimbabwe in his 2016 prophecies (prophecy number 2 of Chiza says Zimbabwean dollar will be re-introduced ).Makandiwa in his article Volume 11 undated prophesied about the next coming big prophet, he says ("..I see another man of God coming in Zimbabwebut the time he comes I will be an old man.". He went on to say "I see another city coming"). Daily News newspaper on 28 April 2016 published that Makandiwa had predicted the Zambia Xenophobia attacks.All this indicates that Zimbabwean prophets predict the future just like Israel prophets, hence,similarities can be noticed.Israel prophets had schools of prophecy, Samuel is recorded to be the father of prophetic guilds (1 Sam 19:20) and his followers were regarded as "sons of prophets",Bishau page 41,Chapter 6 ,says these prophets were normally taught how to perform prophetic duties for instance prophesying ecstatically. In Zimbabwean context it is also recorded that the professional prophets leaders teach their followers how to prophesy ,this is supported by Bishau and Mazodze page 43,line 1 ,it is said that the white church garment go to "Mativi reMana" where they will be taught how to prophesy. The point in this case is teaching each other how to prophesy.Basing on this it is clear that there are some similarities between Israel an Zimbabwean prophets.NB So many prophetic duties which the writer ignored ,can be added.This include~performing miraclesAs much as there are similarities between Israel and Zimbabwean prophets, one will be short cited if the writer ignores the other side of the coin which proves to us that there are minor differences which can be noticed between Israel and Zimbabwean prophets. For instance. Israel prophets anointed kings, Samuel anointed Saul and David .This is recorded in 1 Samuel 10:1 & 1 Samuel 16:13-23.Elijah was suppose to anoint Jehu and Hazel, This is recorded in 1 Kings 19:15-16.In Zimbabwean context, it is not documented that Zimbabwean prophets anoint Kings and the reason being that Zimbabwe is a Republican Gvt but not monarchy. As such this indicate that there are some differences between Israel and Zimbabwean prophets when anointing Kings is concerned.There are so many differences which can be added, this include the following~advising Kings~anointing judges~championing holy wars.-Compare and contrastUsing writers angle ,one will understand that there are moresimilarities than differences.+263777896159 (Whatsapp)Witness Dingani (Facebook page)"Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world" Malala Yousafzai"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style" Maya Angelou
ITS, a Dallas-based insurance technology consulting and services firm, has added Marti Daniels as vice president of business development for the Midwest.
Daniels brings significant industry experience to ITS, with more than 23 years in insurance at companies such as Blue Cod Technologies, Stillwater Insurance (formerly Fidelity National Property & Casualty Insurance Co.) and Insurance Technologies Corp.
Daniels initial focus was on helping with ITS comprehensive rebranding initiative, which included new collateral highlighting the companys platforms for automated functional testing and data migration, as well as a new website, www.insurancetechnologyservices.com.
Going forward, Daniels business development responsibilities will include selling ITSs advisory consulting, system implementation, project staffing and training services to property and casualty (P/C) insurance companies across all lines of business.
Source: ITS
Topics Property Casualty
Proponents of a proposed $2.1 billion Fargo-Moorhead flood diversion project in North Dakota will have to do a better job of addressing concerns about how it would affect farmers and other residents upstream before Minnesota will issue the permits the project needs, the states Department of Natural Resources commissioner said.
DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr stressed during a conference call with reporters that the final environmental impact statement, which was released May 16, doesnt mean the project has been approved or rejected. The document is a detailed technical analysis of the project and ways to mitigate its negative impacts, such as the costs to farmers whose lands would temporarily flood from time to time to help protect the two cities.
We think there are still some serious unanswered questions about mitigation, Landwehr said, citing the impact on land that would go under water but not very deeply during serious flooding years, and on areas that historically havent flooded before. He said Minnesota will need to see more detailed plans for addressing such problems. We dont believe the project proponents have adequately identified all the mitigation required to deal with those temporary impacts.
While North Dakota leaders support the project, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton has been a critic, saying people living upstream along the northward-flowing river are being treated unfairly.
I think its fair to say that as we get into permitting, the governors concerns, which are my concerns, frankly, are going to be big considerations, Landwehr said.
The project is designed to reduce the costly chronic flooding risks in the Fargo-Moorhead area, which dealt with three straight years of high water beginning in 2009, when a record crest led to a huge sandbagging effort. Fargo last experienced significant flooding in 2013.
But the project would achieve that protection by transferring risks upstream. It would include a dam to create an upstream storage area for floodwaters and a portion of the flow would be diverted into a 36-mile channel west of Fargo on the North Dakota side that would reconnect with the river to the north.
In a section added since a draft was released for public comment in September, the document notes that the project would shift the risk of flooding to some areas that currently dont face it.
Several commenters expressed concerns that this transfer of flood risk is unfair and unethical, the document states.
The document also points out that North Dakota would get most of the protection from the project, as only about 14 percent of the protected acres would be in Minnesota. It says Minnesota would see a net increase of 2,088 acres that would be subject to flooding, while North Dakota would enjoy a net reduction of 54,549 at-risk acres. The justification is that the Fargo-Moorhead area is an important regional center with more buildings and more people.
The DNR will take public comments on the review through May 31. Landwehr will then decide whether the document is adequate, meaning that it meets the legal requirements. Landwehr declined to predict how long that might take, but his decision is expected to come sometime this summer. If he signs off, the DNR would then begin considering the permits it must issue for the project to be built, a process that usually takes several months.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Topics Flood Minnesota
House and Senate Republicans cant get on the same page when it comes to fighting the Zika virus and Democrats are pouncing.
The Senate, on a 68-29 vote, advanced $1.1 billion of the administrations $1.9 billion emergency request Tuesday, with Republicans trying to get past the politically charged issue before mosquito season begins in earnest in the continental U.S.
House Republicans, however, facing pressure from conservatives, arent going along with a plan to bypass spending caps for Zika.
House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers of Kentucky instead unveiled a $622 million package of his own, paid for by cutting other health spending, including to combat the deadly Ebola virus. His plan immediately had Democrats and some Republicans crying foul.
We can quite frankly do much better than what the House is proposing, Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida said Tuesday on the Senate floor.
The Obama administration threatened a veto of Rogers measure, saying in a statement the amount was woefully inadequate and that funds for Ebola shouldnt be cut to pay for it.
The National Institutes of Health is close to running out of the money it needs to develop a Zika vaccine and may not be able to begin testing early next year without more funding, the head of its infectious disease program told Bloomberg BNA in an interview Tuesday.
Were really running out of time, Anthony Fauci said. If we dont get the money soon, then were really going to have to start modifying our plans.
Battleground Florida
Even if House and Senate Republicans were on the same page it could take months to get the broader spending package to the presidents desk. The amount of money at stake could be dwarfed by the political blowback should the virus take hold in key election battleground states like Florida later this year.
Why take the chance that youre going to have to go home in August and September and explain to millions of people across this country why are so many Americans being infected by this and you were low-balling our approach to it a few months ago? Rubio asked his colleagues.
The Florida Republican is backing the full $1.9 billion Obama administration request and has repeatedly taken his colleagues to task for slow-walking the matter.
This is a public health emergency that cannot wait for this extended debate on this issue, Rubio said.
Totally Inadequate
Democrats also torched the House plan.
Totally inadequate, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the heir apparent to Minority Leader Harry Reid, said in an interview in the Capitol. It doesnt have enough to fight Zika and it robs Peter to pay Paul.
Thats not acceptable, said Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the Democrat who negotiated the $1.1 billion compromise package with Republican Roy Blunt of Missouri and also pushed unsuccessfully for the full $1.9 billion request in a separate vote. That doesnt get us to what we need. Its irresponsible, she said of the House bill, adding that the money should be treated as emergency spending that doesnt require offsetting cuts.
But Rogers said the House plan would give the administration about $1.2 billion to spend on Zika through Sept. 30, counting money the administration already transferred from Ebola accounts at Republicans request, with potentially more on the way in next years spending bills.
Thats just for the next five months, he said. The White House request was for several years. The Senate proposal would provide funds through Sept. 30, 2017.
Ebola Cuts
Rogerss package takes even more from the Ebola account money the administration says will help prevent another outbreak in the coming years, as well as from other administration accounts rather than provide new funding.
He disputed whether the administration really needs the money for Ebola, saying they have about $2 billion in that account thats just laying there.
The broader philosophical debate has Democrats and some Republicans contending that spending for emergencies like Zika shouldnt count against the spending caps set in last years bipartisan budget deal. Congress has traditionally approved emergency spending above the caps, ranging from responses to viral outbreaks to hurricane relief. But its a practice fiscal conservatives have repeatedly chafed at because it adds to the deficit.
The spending offsets, Rogers said, are necessary for House Republicans.
Three Amendments
Senate Republicans held three votes Tuesday on amendments to a package of spending bills that fund transportation, housing and veterans programs, H.R. 2577. Senators blocked the full $1.9 billion emergency request sponsored by Floridas two senators, Rubio and Democrat Bill Nelson, as well as an amendment that would offset the $1.1 billion package with cuts to an Obamacare account.
The second vote was intended to give Republicans enough political cover to back the deficit-raising emergency package crafted by Blunt and Murray, because they could blame Democrats for not supporting the Obamacare cuts.
The final 68-29 vote exposed deep splits within the GOP. Most vulnerable Republicans up for re-election backed the $1.1 billion in emergency Zika spending, along with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. But most Republicans voted no, including No. 2 Republican John Cornyn of Texas, and two facing tough re-election fights, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.
Toomey, a former president of the conservative Club for Growth, stood at the well of the Senate for several minutes before finally voting no.
The spending bill package would still need to be approved by the Senate and the House, which is likely to further delay the enactment of any Zika funding.
Blunt, who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that funds health programs, told reporters he hopes for a deal with the House on Zika funding in a few weeks. He said he wants funding to last through September 2017, when a vaccine may be available.
Rogers said Tuesday he would try to get the Zika bill on the House floor Wednesday, although theres a lot of competition this week for floor time. He described the Senates much bigger bill as a bridge too far.
Related:
Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Florida Politics
Louisiana Commissioner of Insurance Jim Donelon says St. Landry Parish homeowners in Fire District 4, which covers the Cankton area, can expect significant rate reductions in their fire insurance premiums, effective June 6.
KATC-TV reports Donelon recognized firefighters and local officials for the improvement of their fire protection grading from Class 9 and 10 to Class 6.
Fire insurance for a home valued at $150,000 was costing residents with Class 9 rates about $2,138 a year. That cost is likely to drop to about $1,498 under the new grading, saving them about $640 in annual premiums.
Residents with a similar home with Class 10 rates were paying about $2,596 a year. Their cost is likely to drop to about $1,498, saving them about $1,098 in annual premiums.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Topics Louisiana
An effort to speed up and expand the dispensing of medical marijuana in Louisiana has won final legislative passage, spurred by personal stories of people with seizures and severe pain that bill advocates say would be eased with medicinal-grade pot.
Lawmakers created the framework for a medical marijuana program in Louisiana last year, but regulatory hurdles built into the law have slowed its start.
The bill by Republican Sen. Fred Mills, a St. Martin Parish pharmacist, will broaden the program to cover more diseases and make regulatory changes aimed at getting marijuana in an oil form that cant be smoked into patients hands more quickly.
Senators agreed to House changes made to Mills bill with a 22-14 vote and no debate. The measure heads next to Gov. John Bel Edwards, who has said he will sign it into law.
In sending the bill to the governors desk, lawmakers spurned opposition from local sheriffs and district attorneys who described the bill as a step toward unfettered, recreational use of marijuana.
Those arguments failed to gain traction against stories from parents who described children struggling with uncontrollable seizures, who talked of moving to Colorado to lessen their childrens suffering and who launched billboards and social media campaigns for the bill.
During debates, lawmakers told personal stories of their own family members with cancer, epilepsy and other medical conditions that could be treated with medical marijuana.
The law passed last year will eventually get medicinal-grade pot to people suffering from cancer and a severe form of cerebral palsy. Mills proposal will add seizure disorders, HIV, epilepsy, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis and other diseases to the list.
Senate Bill 271 also sets 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 reworks some of the regulatory language to address doctors concerns about running afoul of federal drug regulations, allowing a physician to recommend use of therapeutic marijuana, rather than prescribe the drug.
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
Gov. Nikki Haley vetoed a bill Monday that would send $40 million in aid to South Carolina farmers, saying farmers may complain loudly, but dont need a bailout that isnt being offered to all small businesses.
The veto sets up an override showdown with the House and Senate, which each passed the bill by wide margins. It also angers farmers who said the governor promised she had their backs during much less damaging flooding three years ago.
Haley said last week her heart breaks for farmers wiped out when up to 2 feet of rain fell in 12 hours in October over wide parts of South Carolina.
But the governor said farmers have plenty of options to pay for most of their losses, including crop insurance and a number of other federal programs that can pay for lost yields or to prepare damaged fields for the next planting.
By any measure the current financial support we give to farmers is extraordinary, but a vocal industry has asked for more taxpayer dollars to bail them out, Haley wrote in her veto message.
The farmers have rallied at the Statehouse saying federal aid was not enough after Octobers catastrophic floods. The deluge came after several months of drought wiped out another round of crops.
The $40 million proposal would allow farmers in disaster-declared counties to apply for grants of up to $100,000 each, covering no more than 20 percent of their total loss. A board will award the grants.
South Carolina Farm Bureau President Harry Ott bristled at Haley using the word bailout, saying it is often associated with criminals and corrupt hedge fund managers.
This is not a bailout. This is not picking winners and losers. This is about helping our farmers stay in business and avoid personal bankruptcy, Ott said in a statement Monday.
South Carolinas elected Agriculture Commissioner agreed, with Hugh Weathers calling for lawmakers to overturn the veto, saying the aid was a desperately needed lifeline and not a bailout.
The governor said tens of thousands of other people in South Carolina have already started recovering with aid from public and private sources and urged the Legislature to not overturn her veto.
The original bill passed the House 95-6 and the Senate 33-3 majorities well over the two-thirds needed to make the bill law over her objections.
Haleys veto threat was especially painful for farmers like John Pendarvis of Dorchester County. He has had a string of bad luck with the weather, starting back in 2013 when a wet summer left him with little from his corn, cotton and soybeans crops.
Haley came to Pendarvis farm in August 2013. You are seeing a farming community in crisis, Haley said back then. What we are here to do is show we have the backs of our famers.
The October flood wiped out just about everything Pendarvis was growing. Farmers reported nearly $400 million in losses in 2015, compared to $61 million paid in federal crop insurance payments in 2013.
When she was running for re-election, she promised to help. Now shes backpedaling on me, Pendarvis said.
And Haleys reasoning that farmers shouldnt get help not offered to other small businesses after the flood also didnt sit well with the leader of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce.
Our small businesses want our farmers, who contribute to the economic health of our state, to recover. They dont begrudge farmers from receiving funds available to them, chamber president Frank Knapp Jr. said.
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Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Topics Flood Agribusiness South Carolina
The Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Insurance Fraud, which operates under the direction of CFO Jeff Atwater, announced the conviction and sentencing of former Orlando insurance agent Mario Ferreri. Earlier this year, Ferreri faced trial on fraud charges after being accused of stealing more than $1 million in insurance premium payments from his clients. Ferreri was convicted, sentenced to serve seven years in prison and ordered to pay back nearly $1.3 million in restitution.
DFSs investigation into Ferreris activities dates back to 2013 when the Division of Insurance Agent and Agency Services, which licenses and regulates insurance agents and agencies in Florida, received a complaint from Lincoln Life Insurance Co.
The company suspected at the time that Ferreri had stolen premium payments from two clients and used the money for personal gain. The Division of Insurance Fraud was alerted of the criminal nature of the case, and Ferreri was arrested on fraud charges in late 2014.
Following that arrest, Ferreri found himself again facing charges when, in January 2016, another victim came forward suspecting that a $95,000 check intended for an annuity payment may have also been stolen by the insurance agent. A subsequent investigation confirmed the clients suspicions and additional charges were filed against Ferreri.
Following his prison sentence, Ferreri will complete three years of supervised probation. He has been permanently barred from working within the insurance industry. This case was prosecuted by the Office of State Attorney Jeffrey L. Ashton of the 9th Judicial Circuit.
Source: Florida Division of Insurance Fraud
Topics Florida Agencies Fraud
An analysis by catastrophe risk management firm RMS of economic risk to San Franciscos property from future sea level rise found billions of dollars worth of property at risk.
The analysis was used to inform the citys recently released Sea Level Rise Action Plan, commissioned by Mayor Edwin Lee and based on the National Research Councils upper-end projection of a 66-inch sea level rise by the year 2100.
RMS found that $55 billion of private and public sector property in the low-lying coastal areas around San Francisco would be permanently inundated by the end of the century. The calculation assumes that no measures are put in place to increase the citys resilience and reflects present day costs to rebuild the affected buildings and infrastructure, rather than the market values 84 years from now.
RMS also calculated the property loss estimates for a 1-in-100-year extreme storm surge temporarily pushing up sea levels further to 108 inches. In this scenario an additional $22 billion of property assets would be at risk, bringing the total exposure to $77 billion.
Since publishing the Sea Level Rise Action Plan San Franciscos mayor has announced an $8 million investment over the next two years to begin strengthening the citys seawall, which provides flood protection to the downtown district.
At RMS annual Exceedance conference in Miami this week, an international workshop will be convened to help public sector leaders understand the application of resilience analytics. It will explore the value of science-based catastrophe modeling tools to help government and its agencies plan for risks such as floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, pandemics, wildfire, drought, terrorism and cyber-attacks.
Topics Trends Property
Alliant Insurance Services Inc. has named Jennifer Umbright to its Sacramento, Calif. office of as a workers compensation claims advocate within the companys Alliant Americas division.
Umbright will advise a portfolio of middle market clients throughout Northern California.
Umbrights claims experience includes self-insured claims, captives and guaranteed cost policies. Umbright was a claims management consultant with ESM Solutions Inc. prior to joining Alliant. She also worked with Travelers Insurance on AOE/COE investigation, subrogation and litigation management.
Newport Beach, Calif.-based Alliant provides property/casualty, workers compensation, employee benefits, surety, and financial products and services.
Topics California Claims Workers' Compensation Alliant
Atlanta, GA, May 18, 2016 Breckenridge Insurance Group announced the hiring of insurance industry executive Angel Cruz as vice president of finance in their Atlanta-area offices. Cruz last held the position of director of financial reporting at Swett & Crawford where he spent nearly 14 years. In his new role, he assumes responsibility for financial best practices and analyses and provides strategic fiscal guidance as a member of the senior management team working closely with the leaders of all Breckenridge divisions.
Angels experienced perspective is a welcome asset to our team as we expand our distribution model and specialty insurance and risk management capabilities, commented Scott Severson, executive vice president of finance. As we grow, we will continue to invest in leading talent who can thrive in an entrepreneurial and collaborative culture. Angel fits right in, he added.
Cruz has an additional 11 years of accounting experience in insurance and other industries from investments to manufacturing to banking. Prior to Swett & Crawford, he held senior accounting positions for varied divisions of American Financial Group including Infinity Insurance and Atlanta Casualty and Windsor Group (now Infinity). Early in his career, Cruz worked for National Service Industries and began his career at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He can be reached at acruz@breckgrp.com or 678-460-3213.
About Breckenridge Insurance Group
Breckenridge Insurance Group, headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., is an international specialty wholesale insurance broker, program manager, managing general agent (MGA) and insurance services provider. The company offers access to diverse range of commercial insurance and financial services products to businesses and professional services firms in a variety of industries by way of Blue River Underwriters, OSC, Breckenridge Insurance Services, Breckenridge Elevation Authorities contract binding group and InSpecialty. For more information, please visit www.breckgrp.com or call 630.945.3878. CA Insurance License #0G13592
Un ottobre da sogno per Antonio Conte: lex ct della Nazionale italiana, attualmente alla guida del Chelsea, nelle ultime quattro gare di Premier League ha collezionato solo successi, conditi da 11 reti segnate e addirittura nessuna incassata. Numeri da record che non sono certo passati inosservati alla Federazione inglese, la quale ha conferito al tecnico leccese lambito premio di Manager del mese.
Unavventura oltremanica iniziata in sordina, quella di Conte, pur a fronte di tre vittorie nelle prime tre gare di campionato. A far vacillare, anche se solo per un momento, le certezze del patron del club londinese, Roman Abramovich, i risultati conseguiti tra la 4a e la 6a giornata, coincisi con un pareggio sul campo dello Swansea City e, soprattutto, con le due pesanti sconfitte subite dal Liverpool, sul terreno casalingo di Stamford Bridge, e dallArsenal. In particolare, la debacle interna coi Reds, aveva irritato non poco il numero uno russo, poiche occorsa proprio nel giorno della sua 250esima partita da presidente della societa.
Come detto, solo un momento. Dopo lincontro dellEmirates, il tecnico salentino cambia modulo, adottando un piu equilibrato 3-4-3 e inserendo elementi di corsa come lo spagnolo Pedro. Una svolta totale perche, di li in poi, il Chelsea inanellera solo e soltanto vittorie: 2 gol allHull City e al Southampton in trasferta, 3 ai campioni dInghilterra del Leicester e 4 allo United in casa, con un meraviglioso numero zero nella casella delle reti subite. Un fantastico poker, ottenuto tra l1 e il 29 ottobre. Un cambio di marcia sbalorditivo, confermato dal 5 a 0 rifilato ai toffees dellEverton nel primo match di novembre, e una scalata che, man mano, ha portato i blues al secondo posto in classifica, a soli 2 punti dal Liverpool capolista.
E allora, non poteva mancare il riconoscimento di migliore allenatore del mese, ottenuto surclassando tecnici del calibro di Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool), Arsene Wenger (Arsenal) e Mark Hughes (Southampton). Tanta, ovviamente, la soddisfazione: E un grande onore e voglio condividerlo con i giocatori e con la societa ha dichiarato Conte sul sito ufficiale della Premier League -. E la prima volta che lavoro in un altro Paese, con una cultura diversa, e portare la propria filosofia non e facile, ma ora sono contento di questa scelta.
A completare la festa, la premiazione del fantasista belga, Eden Hazard, come miglior giocatore di ottobre. Due risultati importanti per il club, ottimo incentivo per la rincorsa al trono dei campioni, occupato dal Leicester di Ranieri. Il prossimo appuntamento per l11 di Conte sara al Riverside Stadium, tana del Middlesborough neopromosso. Il tempo di festeggiare e gia finito.
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China has approximately 10 times the steelmaking capacity of the United States. It has been accused of dumping cheap steel on the global market to beat out competitors, and the Trump administration has encouraged Chinese leaders to cut production in order to improve the profitability of U.S. steelmakers. In 2017, China cut overcapacity in the steel sector by shutting down about 50 million tons for domestic environmental and economic reasons.
The country was the largest exporter of steel in the world in 2015, and its steel exports represented approximately 24 percent of all steel exported globally in 2015.
In 2015, the Chinese economy was slowing down, and the demand for steel, iron ore and other ferrous metals declined significantly. The policies, subsidies and dumping margins imposed by the Chinese government impacted stock prices of many global steel companies, with major metal companies like Anglo American and Rio Tinto taking a hit. Here's a look at the state of the global steel industry more recently and the impact of the Chinese economy.
Anatomy of the Global Steel Industry
Steel is one of the most innovative and flexible alloys, which can be customized for many requirements. Variants of steel are used in housing, transportation, industrial, automobile, infrastructure and utilities sectors, making it one of the world's most versatile materials, one that's easily reused and recycled. (For more, read: Strength in Steel.)
China, Japan, India, the United States and Russia were the top five steel-producing nations in 2016, in that order, with China the leader by far. In 2017, China produced 831 million metric tons of crude steel, Japan produced 104.7 tons, the United States produced 116 tons, India produced 101.4 tons and Russia produced 71.3 tons, all far below the leader. While China and Japan are the top exporters of steel, the United States and Germany are the leaders for imports because of their economies' high consumption rates.
China is the world's largest producer of steel, and it is also the world's largest consumer of the material. Given such a dominant market share, along with the large amounts of steel used across different sectors of its economy, any slowdown in the Chinese economy will have a major impact on the global steel industry. The graph below shows what happened to the VanEck Vectors Steel ETF (SLX) in 2015 when the Chinese economy slowed down.
Image by Sabrina Jiang Investopedia 2020
Recent Developments
More recently, global steel output has been increasing, investors fear a slow down in the Chinese economy and the prospect of trade wars initiated by the Trump administration. However, steel prices are on the increase.
The World Steel Association reported that in July 2018, global steel output rose by 5.8% in a month, an increase that follows growth of almost 13% in the same quarter one year ago.
Although China has attempted to cut steel production to mitigate pollution, some plants are ramping up capacity, and Chinas steel output is on the rise. This increase in output has also maintained the demand for high-grade iron ore, a raw material for steel and a determinant of the cost of steel, and has propped up prices.
In the United States, encouraged by robust domestic demand, domestic steel producers are increasing their steel prices because of increasing input costs and a depreciation in the rupee. Thus, because steel output is growing and prices are increasing, steel companies should see increased earnings and higher share prices.
However, if the demand for steel drops, China will export surplus steel and lower international prices. If output falls, the demand for raw materials will slow down and further affect prices. Thus, China is the biggest influencer on global steel.
Taxable income over Up to Marginal rate $0 $9,525 10% $9,526 $38,700 12% $38,701 $82,500 22% $82,501 $157,500 24% $157,501 $200,000 32% $200,001 $300,000 35% $300,001 and up 37%
Source: Joint Committee on Taxation
The IRS released new withholding brackets reflecting changes to the personal income tax schedule, which employers began using on Feb. 15, 2018.
Standard Deduction
The law raised the standard deduction to $24,000 for married couples filing jointly in 2018 (from $12,700), $12,000 for single filers (from $6,350), and to $18,000 for heads of household (from $9,350). These changes expire after 2025. The additional standard deduction, which the House bill would have repealed, has not been affected. In 2019, the inflation gauge used to index the standard deduction changed in a way that is likely to accelerate bracket creep (see below).
Personal Exemption and Healthcare Mandate
The law suspended the personal exemption, which was $4,150, through 2025. The law also ended the individual mandate, a provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or "Obamacare" that provided tax penalties for individuals who did not obtain health insurance coverage, in 2019. (While the mandate technically remains in place, the penalty falls to $0 for tax years 2019 and beyond. If a taxpayer files a prior year tax return (i.e., 2018 or 2017) the taxpayer will still be exposed to a penalty for not being covered by health insurance all year.)
According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), repealing the measure is likely to reduce federal deficits by around $338 billion from 2018 to 2027, but lead 13 million more people to live without insurance at the end of that period, pushing premiums up by an average of around 10%. Unlike other individual tax changes, the repeal will not be reversed in 2025.
Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) proposed a bill, the Bipartisan Health Care Stabilization Act, on Mar. 19, 2018, to mitigate the effects of repealing the individual mandate. The CBO estimated that this legislation would still leave 13 million more people uninsured after a decade. The bill failed to make it into the $1.3 trillion spending bill that was passed on Mar. 23, 2018. As such, the burden of providing affordable health insurance will be on states and health insurers.
Inflation Gauge
The law changed the measure of inflation used for tax indexing. The IRS' use of the consumer price index for all urban consumers (CPI-U), was replaced with the chain-weighted CPI-U. The latter takes account of changes consumers make to their spending habits in response to price shifts, so it is considered to be more rigorous than standard CPI. It also tends to rise more slowly than standard CPI, so substituting it will likely accelerate bracket creep. The value of the standard deduction and other inflation-linked elements of the tax code will also erode over time, gradually pushing up tax burdens. The change is not set to expire.
Family Credits and Deductions
The law temporarily raised the child tax credit to $2,000, with the first $1,400 refundable, and creates a non-refundable $500 credit for non-child dependents. The child tax credit can only be claimed if the taxpayer provides the child's Social Security number. (This requirement does not apply to the $500 credit.) Qualifying children must be younger than 17 years of age. The child credit begins to phase out when adjusted gross income (AGI) exceeds $400,000 (for married couples filing jointly, not indexed to inflation). These changes expire in 2025.
Head of Household
Trump's revised campaign plan, released in 2016, would have scrapped the head of household filing status, potentially raising taxes on millions of single-parent households, according to an estimate by the Tax Policy Center (TPC). The law left the head of household filing status in place.
Itemized Deductions
Mortgage Interest Deduction
The law limited the application of the mortgage interest deduction for married couples filing jointly to $750,000 worth of debt, down from $1,000,000 under the old law, but up from $500,000 under the House bill. Mortgages that are taken out before Dec. 15, 2017, are still subject to the current cap. The change expires after 2025.
State and Local Tax Deduction
The new law capped the deduction for state and local taxes at $10,000 through 2025. A number of Republican members of Congress representing high-tax states opposed attempts to eliminate the deduction, as the Senate bill would have done.
2021 State and local tax burdens
The Senate bill was amended on Dec. 1, 2017, apparently to win Susan Collins' (R-Maine) support:
The Senate tax bill will include my SALT amendment to allow taxpayers to deduct up to $10,000 for state and local property taxes.
Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) Dec. 1, 2017
Other Itemized Deductions
The law left the charitable contributions deduction intact, with minor alterations. So, for example, if a donation is made in exchange for seats at college athletic events, it cannot be deducted. The student loan interest deduction was not affected (see "Student Loans and Tuition" below).
Medical expenses in excess of 7.5% of adjusted gross income were deductible for all taxpayersnot just those aged 65 or older.
The law did, however, suspend a number of miscellaneous itemized deductions through 2025, including:
deductions for moving expenses, except for active-duty military personnel
home office expenses
laboratory breakage fees
licensing and regulatory fees
union dues; professional society dues
business bad debts
work clothes that are not suitable for everyday use
Alimony payments will no longer be deductible after 2019a permanent change.
Alternative Minimum Tax
The law temporarily raised the exemption amount and exemption phase-out threshold for the alternative minimum tax (AMT), a device intended to curb tax avoidance among high earners by making them estimate their liability twice and pay the higher amount. For married couples filing jointly, the exemption rose to $109,400 and phaseout increases to $1,000,000both amounts are indexed to inflation. The provision expires after 2025.
Retirement Plans and HSAs
Health savings accounts (HSAs) were not affected by the law, and the traditional 401(k) plan contribution limit in 2019 increased to $19,000 and $25,000 (a $6,000 catch-up) for those aged 50 and older. The law left these limits unchanged but repealed the ability to recharacterize one kind of contribution as the other, that is, to retroactively designate a Roth contribution as a traditional one, or vice-versa. Since the passing of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act in Dec. 2019, though, people can now contribute to their individual retirement accounts (IRAs) past the age of 70.
Student Loans and Tuition
The House bill would have repealed the deduction for student loan interest expenses and the exclusion from gross income and wages of qualified tuition reductions. The new law left these breaks intact and allowed 529 plans to be used to fund K to 12 private school tuitionup to $10,000 per year, per child. Under the SECURE Act of 2019, the benefits of 529 plans were expanded, allowing plan holders to also withdraw a maximum lifetime amount of $10,000 per beneficiary penalty-free to pay down qualified student debt.
Pease Limitation
The law repeals the Pease limitation on itemized deductions. This provision did not cap itemized deductions but gradually reduced their value when adjusted gross income exceeds a certain threshold$266,700 for single filers in 2018. The reduction was limited to 80% of the deductions' combined value.
Estate Tax
The law temporarily raised the estate tax exemption for single filers to $11.2 million from $5.6 million in 2018, indexed for inflation. This change will be reversed after 2025.
Business Tax
Corporate Tax Rate
The law created a single corporate tax rate of 21% and repealed the corporate alternative minimum tax. Unlike tax breaks for individuals, these provisions do not expire. Combined with state and local taxes, the statutory rate under the new law is 26.5%. That puts the U.S. just below the weighted average for EU countries (26.9%).
U.S. companies' effective tax rate defined as the tax paid on investments earning the market rate of return after taxeswas 18.6% in 2012, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). That was the fourth-highest rate in the G20.
Supporters of cutting the corporate tax rate argue that it will reduce incentives for corporate inversions, in which companies shift their tax base to low- or no-tax jurisdictions, often through mergers with foreign firms.
Immediate Expensing
The law allowed full expensing of short-lived capital investments rather than requiring them to be depreciated over timefor five yearsbut phase the change out by 20 percentage points per year thereafter. The section 179 deduction cap doubles to $1 million, and phaseout begins after $2.5 million of equipment spending, up from $2 million.
Pass-Through Income
Owners of pass-through businesseswhich include sole proprietorships, partnerships, and S-corporationsgained a 20% deduction for pass-through income. Certain industries, including health, law, and financial services, were excluded from the preferential rate unless taxable income is below $157,500 for single filers. To discourage high earners from recharacterizing regular wages as pass-through income, the deduction is capped at 50% of wage income or 25% of wage income plus 2.5% of the cost of qualifying property.
Interest
The net interest deduction was limited to 30% of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA). After four years, it will be capped at 30% of earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT).
Cash Accounting
Businesses with up to $25 million in average annual gross receipts over the preceding three years are eligible to use cash accountingup from $5 million from the old tax code.
Net Operating Losses
The law scrapped net operating loss (NOL) carrybacks and caps carryforwards at 90% of taxable income, falling to 80% after 2022.
The 2020 CARES Act, in response to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, temporarily reinstated a carryback period for all net operating losses generated in years beginning after Dec. 31, 2017, and before Jan. 1, 2021 (i.e., for tax years 2018, 2019, and 2020). The carryback period for those tax years is five years under the CARES Act (including for farming and non-life insurance losses). Therefore, a NOL generated in the 2018 tax year can still be carried back to the 2013 tax year, assuming there was taxable income in 2013. Because the top corporate tax rate was 35% prior to its reduction by the TCJA to 21% for tax years after 2017, carrying back an NOL from 2018, 2019, or 2020 could result in a greater benefit than carrying the NOL forward
Section 199
The law eliminated the section 199 (domestic production activities) deduction for businesses that engage in domestic manufacturing and certain other production work. This is also known as the domestic manufacturing deduction, U.S. production activities deduction, and domestic production deduction.
Foreign Earnings
The law enacted a deemed repatriation of overseas profits at a rate of 15.5% for cash and equivalents and 8% for reinvested earnings.
The law introduced a territorial tax system, under which only domestic earnings are subject to tax. Companies with over $500 million in annual gross receipts are subject to the base erosion anti-abuse tax (BEAT), which is designed to counteract base erosion and profit shifting, a tax-planning strategy that involves moving taxable profits made in one country to another with low or no taxes. BEAT is calculated by subtracting a company's regular corporate tax liability from 10% of its taxable income, ignoring base-eroding payments. Tax credits can offset up to 80% of BEAT liabilities.
The law altered the treatment of an intangible property that is held abroad. It did not define "intangibles," but it probably refers to intellectual property such as patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Nike (NKE), for example, houses its Swoosh trademark in an untaxed Dutch subsidiary. When the foreign tax rate on foreign earnings in excess of a 10% standard rate of return is below 13.125%, the law taxes these excess returns at 21%, after a 50% deduction and a deduction worth 37.5% of FDII (see below). This excess income, which the law assumes to be derived from intangible assets, is called global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI). Credits can offset up to 80% of GILTI liability.
Foreign-derived intangible income (FDII) refers to income from the export of intangibles held domestically, which will be taxed at a 13.125% effective rate, rising to 16.406% after 2025. The European Union has accused the U.S. of subsidizing exports through this preferential rate, a violation of World Trade Organization rules.
Potential Loophole
According to Harvard Law School senior lecturer Stephen Shaya former Treasury official in the Obama and Reagan administrations who helped develop the 1986 tax reformthe deemed repatriation left open a loophole for multinational corporations with fiscal years beginning before Jan. 1. These include Apple, which Shay estimates could save $4 billion by taking advantage of the oversight.
By shifting cash from foreign subsidiaries, Shay stated, multinationals with offset fiscal years have the chance to shift cash to the U.S. through tax-free dividends, paying the 8% rate on remaining overseas assetsas opposed to the 15.5% cash rate.
Growth and Budget Impacts
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin claimed that the Republican tax plan would spur sufficient economic growth to pay for itself and more, saying of the "Unified Framework" released by Senate, House and Trump administration negotiators in Sept. 2017:
"On a static basis our plan will increase the deficit by a trillion and a half. Having said that, you have to look at the economic impact. There's 500 billion that's the difference between policy and baseline that takes it down to a trillion dollars, and there's two trillion dollars of growth. So with our plan we actually pay down the deficit by a trillion dollars and we think that's very fiscally responsible."
The idea that cutting taxes boosts growth to the extent that government revenue actually increases is almost universally rejected by economists, and for a long time, the Treasury did not release the analysis Mnuchin bases his predictions on. The New York Times reported on Nov. 30, 2017, that a Treasury employee, speaking anonymously, said no such analysis exists, prompting a request from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) that the Treasury's inspector general investigate.
On Dec. 11, 2017, the Treasury released a one-page analysis claiming that the law will increase revenues by $1.8 trillion over 10 years, more than paying for itself, based on high growth projections:
2.5% real GDP growth in 2018
2.8% in 2019
3.0% for the following eight years
By contrast, the Federal Reserve projected growth of 2.5% in 2018, 2.1% in 2019, 2.0% in 2020, and 1.8% over the longer run.
Scott Greenberg, an analyst at the think tank, told The New York Times that the Treasury's one-page analysis "does not appear to be a projection of the economic effects of a tax bill," but rather, "a thought experiment on how federal revenues would vary under different economic effects of overall government policies. Which is, needless to say, an odd way to analyze a tax bill."
National Debt
In 2017, the Tax Foundation forecast a 1.7% increase in long-run GDP, clarifying that most of this extra growth is likely to be front-loaded: "Economic growth is borrowed from the future, but the plan, in aggregate, still increases economic growth over the long run."
Baseline versus expected growth under GOP tax bill
The $2 Trillion Scenario
The most pessimistic estimate of the legislation's budget effects came from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), which argued on Dec. 18, 2017, that Congress is using a flawed baseline to measure the law's budget effects (their baseline assumes, for example, that current policies with set expiration dates would continue indefinitely).
These "gimmicks," the think tank argues, obscure $570 billion to $725 billion in extra costs over 10 years, bringing the price of the law to $2 to $2.2 trillion. Factoring in expected economic growth (the CRFB uses the JCT's feedback estimates for the Senate bill), the cost falls to $1.5 trillion to $1.7 trilliontriple the Tax Foundation's dynamic estimate. That does not count additional debt service costs, though. With interest, the law could cost $1.9 trillion to $2 trillion.
The Oil Addendum
The continuing resolution that authorized the use of reconciliation to reform the tax code permitted the Senate Finance Committee to pass legislation increasing the federal budget by up to $1.5 trillion over 10 years.
That same budget resolution tasked the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee with achieving at least $1 trillion in savings over 10 years. The law achieves that by allowing oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which is located in committee chair Sen. Lisa Murkowski's (R-Alaska) home state. Murkowski voted against multiple Obamacare repeal bills over the summer, making it important for Republicans to secure her support for tax reform.
Automatic Spending Cuts
The idea of a fiscal "trigger," a mechanism to enact automatic tax hikes or spending cuts that some senators pushed for in case optimistic growth forecasts did not come to fruition, was rejected on procedural grounds. The law could potentially lead to automatic spending cuts anyway. However, as a result of the 2010 Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act, that law requires cuts to federal programs if Congress passes legislation increasing the deficit.
The Office of Management and Budget, an executive agency, is in charge of determining these budget effects. Medicare cuts are limited to 4% of the program's budget, and some programs such as Social Security are protected entirely, but others could see deep cuts.
On Dec. 1, 2017, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) promised that across-the-board cuts "will not happen," but waiving "Paygo" would require Democratic support, meaning that was a tough assertion for GOP congressional leaders to make.
Whose Tax Cuts?
According to an analysis released by the Tax Policy Center (TPC) on Dec. 18, 2017, the law was expected to raise the after-tax income of 80.4% of households in 2018, but that cut was not distributed evenly or progressively. The analysis revealed that the tax break would hit 93.7% of taxpayers in the highest-earning quintile, and only 53.9% of those in the lowest quintile. Even so, on average, every quintile was expected to receive a tax break.
That is no longer expected to be true once individual tax cuts expire after 2025. At that point, the TPC estimates that the majority of taxpayers53.4%will face a tax increase: 69.7% of those in the middle quintile (40th to 60th percentile) will pay more, compared to just 8% of the highest-earning 0.1%.
With the exception of that top 0.1%, higher earners will enjoy larger tax breaks as a proportion of their income:
Change in after-tax income by income percentile
The Joint Committee on Taxation echoes this conclusion, estimating that the 22,000 households making $20,000 to $30,000 will collectively pay 26.6% more in 2027 than they would under the previous statute in that year. The 629 households making over $1,000,000 will pay 1% less.
Conference bill: change in taxes by income group (thousands), compared to projections under current law
Those Who Benefit
These were not the results Republican backers of the tax overhaul promised. Speaking at a rally in 2018 in Indiana shortly after the release of a preliminary tax reform framework in September, President Trump repeatedly stressed that the "largest tax cut in our country's history" will "protect low-income and middle-income households, not the wealthy and well-connected."
In its finalized form, however, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cut the corporate tax rate, benefiting shareholderswho tend to be higher earners. It only cuts individuals' taxes for a limited period of time. It scales back the alternative minimum tax and estate tax, as well as reducing the taxes levied on pass-through income (70% of which goes to the highest-earning 1%). It does not close the carried interest loophole, which benefits professional investors. It scraps the individual mandate, likely driving up premiums and making health insurance unaffordable for millions.
These provisions taken together are likely to benefit high earners disproportionately andparticularly as a result of scrapping the individual mandatehurt some working- and middle-class taxpayers.
Nor was Trump the only one to promise a tax break for ordinary households. McConnell said on Nov. 4, 2017, that no one in the middle class will experience a tax hike:
McCONNELL: At the end of the day, nobody in the middle class is going to get a tax increase.
A bold promise the House bill doesnt keep.
Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) November 4, 2017
Less than a week later, he told The New York Times he "misspoke": "You can't guarantee that absolutely no one sees a tax increase, but what we are doing is targeting levels of income and looking at the average in those levels and the average will be tax relief for the average taxpayer in each of those segments."
The Estate Tax
The law doubles the estate tax exemption. Speaking in Indiana in Sept. 2018, Trump attacked "the crushing, the horrible, the unfair estate tax," describing scenarios in which families are forced to sell farms and small businesses to cover estate tax liabilities: the 40% tax only applies to estates worth at least $5.49 million under the old law.
Carried Interest
The law does not eliminate the carried interest loophole, though Trump promised as far back as 2015 to close it, calling the hedge fund managers who benefit from it "pencil pushers" who "are getting away with murder."
Hedge fund managers typically charge a 20% fee on profits above a certain hurdle rate, most commonly 8%. Those fees are treated as capital gains rather than regular income, meaning thatas long as the securities sold have been held for a certain minimum periodthey are taxed at a top rate of 20% rather than at 39.6%. (An additional 3.8% tax on investment income, which is associated with Obamacare, also applies to high earners.)
Corporate Taxes
In his Indiana speech of 2018, Trump said that cutting the top corporate tax rate from 35% to 20% (the rate proposed at the time) will cause jobs to "start pouring into our country, as companies start competing for American labor and as wages start going up at levels that you haven't seen in many years." The "biggest winners will be the everyday American workers," he added.
The next day, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Treasury Department deleted a paper saying the exact opposite from its site. Written by non-political Treasury staff during the Obama administration, the paper estimates that workers pay 18% of corporate tax through depressed wages, while shareholders pay 82%. Those findings have been corroborated by other research done by the government and think tanks. Mnuchin sold the Big Six proposal in part through the assertion that "over 80% of business taxes is borne by the worker," as he put it in Louisville in August.
A Treasury spokeswoman told the Journal, "The paper was a dated staff analysis from the previous administration. It does not represent our current thinking and analysis," adding, "studies show that 70% of the tax burden falls on American workers." The Treasury did not respond to Investopedia's request to identify the studies in question. The department's website continues to host other papers dating back to the 1970s.
The White House continued to press the point, however, releasing an analysis in Oct. 2017 predicting that lowering the top corporate tax rate to 20% will "increase average household income in the United States by, very conservatively, $4,000 annually." The executives who were supposed to be giving these raises, however, signaled some hesitation at the Wall Street Journal CEO Conference in Nov. 2017, when the paper's associate editor John Bussey asked the audience to raise their hands if they planned to increase capital investment due to a corporate tax cut. Few hands went up, prompting National Economic Council director Gary Cohn (who was on stage) to ask, "Why aren't the other hands up?"
What's Wrong With the Status Quo?
People on both sides of the political spectrum agree that the tax code should be simpler. Since 1986, the last time a major tax overhaul became law, the body of federal tax lawbroadly definedhas swollen from 26,000 to 70,000 pages, according to the House GOP's 2016 reform proposal. American households and firms spent $409 billion and 8.9 billion hours completing their taxes in 2016, the Tax Foundation estimates. Nearly three-quarters of respondents told Pew four years ago, that they were bothered "some" or "a lot" by the complexity of the tax system.
An even greater proportion was troubled by the feeling that some corporations and some wealthy people pay too little: 82% said so about corporations, while 79% said so about the wealthy. While the new tax law cuts a number of itemized deductions, most of the loopholes and giveaways that were slated for repeal in earlier bills have been retained in some form.
The individual tax rate schedule, which Trump would have cut to three brackets, remains at seven. In other words, this legislation may do relatively little to simplify the tax code. The other issues that the Pew survey indicates that bother people the mosttaxes for wealthy individuals and corporationsare likely to be exacerbated by the law.
The Bottom Line
Did the new tax code provide what it promised Americans? It depends on who you ask. According to the Tax Policy Center, 65% of Americans did receive a tax cut thanks to the new code. H&R Block reports that the average tax cut was approximately $1,200 based on the returns the company processed. But, according to some reports, the tax bill has not lived up to all of the hype surrounding it.
Opinion / Columnist
The events of some few days ago where reports in the media that one of the ZANU PF youth leaders in Nemanwa business centre in Masvingo was assaulted by his counterparts over disagreements with others on the slogan used during a provincial meeting called for the mobilisation of the ZANU PF`s one-million man match scheduled to take place in Harare on 25 May 2016, showed that some youths in the country still need guidance in tackling political issues. That behaviour showed immaturity in those who thought violence is an answer to disagreements.Some of those youths forget that one cannot solve disagreements through the use of violence as that is counterproductive to development. They need to be advised and informed that violence has no room in the peace loving country like Zimbabwe hence those indulging in such acts should be restrained as soon as possible. Actually ZANU PF youths should realise indulging in violent activities puts the country in the international spotlight thereby creating bad publicity for both the country and the ruling party. So ZANU PF youths need to guard against such misbehaviours as they alien to the ruling partyIt should also be known by these upcoming political individuals that violence coming from any quarter is abomination on its own, hence, it should not be allowed to take place anywhere in the country. Some ZANU PF youths should know that problems cannot be solved by using violence as the country is preparing for the 2018 harmonized elections which the party need to win overwhelmingly. The one-million man match mobilisation is a ZANU PF issue meant for every patriotic youth who really cherishes the leadership of President Robert Gabriel Mugabe to take part in. As such those youths who are trying to destabilise that good initiative by those mobilising such a good move need to be restrained and be encouraged to join others peacefully.The youths from all political divide, should not forget that President Mugabe has been on record denouncing violence in the country coming from any quarter either from the ruling party ZANU PF or opposition political parties hence it prudent for them to embrace the President`s call for a violent free country. It is not proper for some youths to fight each other just because there was a misunderstanding on the slogan of the day yet the main objective of that meeting was to mobilise for the one-million man match meant to cherish the leadership of President Mugabe and his family. Actually cherishing the President Mugabe`s iconic leadership should be adored by any youth in the country and failure to pull up on the same direction on that cause is unfortunate to those bent on always rejecting good things.For those on the dark over this issue, it was reported in various newspapers that the ZANU PF Masvingo provincial youth secretary for legal affairs Henry Chinovava was allegedly assaulted by Ward 7 chairperson Paul Zimharo for chanting a slogan in support of the First Lady Dr Amai Grace Mugabe in Masvingo recently. It was further said that Zimharo who was not happy over that slogan by Chinovava started throwing fists to him as a sign that he has erred their inviting the intervention of the Masvingo ZANU PF Provincial Acting Chairman Cde Amasa Nhenjana to intervene in the fracas as to calm the situation.Such an alleged behaviour by Zimharo should not be allowed to happen again because violence could create divisions within the ruling party at the time when preparations for the coming 2018 harmonized elections are beginning to take a gear up. Actually those ZANU PF youths should be aware that the revolutionary party has come a long way and it should not have its good reputation destroyed by selfish individuals who think that everyone should embrace what they want to be embraced. The ZANU PF leadership should urgently act against such individuals who are bent on creating disharmony in the party through their unbecoming behaviours.As if the Masvingo incident was not enough, some other unruly ZANU PF youths in Midlands were also restrained by riot police when they wanted to violently interrupt the Midlands provincial meeting meant to mobilise the one million man match some few days ago. Such misbehaviours by those youths in Midlands and the same with what happened in Masvingo call for the revolutionary party leadership to take stern action against those few individuals who were bent on tarnishing the image of the party.Those youths need to be informed that ZANU PF is for peace and those who want to remain members of this revolutionary party should embrace that ideology of peace and tranquillity. It should be known and appreciated that a peacefully environment breeds economic development hence those youths should always talk and eat peace. Violence is just a thuggish act only done buy misguided elements of society who have no ideas of settling disputes. Violence is also a weapon for weak minds who always think that with violence one can achieve what her/she wants. So ZANU PF should never ever allow such few individuals to destroy this revolutionary party.The misbehaviours of such ZANU PF youths have also led the leadership to think that having a senior member representing them in the highest decision making board of the party, the Politburo is the best move. The Politburo has realised that some youths cannot do it alone as they still need political guidance. Having senior members representing the youths in the Politburo send a clear message to youths that they cannot be in that highest decision making board as they would become overwhelmed with very important discussions in the Politburo ending up using them for their selfish ends.Recently the deputy national youth secretary in ZANU PF Cde Kudzai Chipanga was quoted in various media houses as demanding the youths to have direct link to President Mugabe saying that their issues were not presented well by those senior members representing them in the Politburo. Such a demand by Mr Chipanga was a good move as it is also good for them to have the direct link with the President but some unruly behaviours by some of them need in second thought from those advocating for that direct link with the President.Cde Chipanga should first read a riot act on the youths to behave themselves well so that they create unity in their youth's wing. It should be known by Cde Chipanga that President Mugabe is for peace and he is against any forms of violence hence the youth in their endeavour to have direct link to the President should well behaved for that. It should also be known by Cde Chipanga that unity is very important among the youths as it is the youths who have the larger vote base for the party. For that reason the President would be glad to see that all the youths speak with one voice so that they can be accommodated in the highest decision making board of the party.So if that unity is not achieved among the youths that would mean the youth leadership would have failed to stamp their authority hence, they would always have those seniors representing them in the Politburo. Political maturity sometimes come with age and experience hence if the youths still believe that they can solve problems using violence they still need guidance and proper leadership upbringing from their senior members in the party so that they do not go astray on the ideology and principles of ZANU PF. So Cde Chipanga should be aware that the youths` demand to have close links with the President could only be possible if the youths have shown that they have politically matured to the extent that they act and guard against violence.
What Is the SWIFT Banking System?
Need to transfer money overseas? Today, it is easy to walk into a bank and transfer money anywhere around the globe, but how does this happen? Behind most international money and security transfers is the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) system. SWIFT is a vast messaging network banks and other financial institutions use to quickly, accurately, and securely send and receive information, such as money transfer instructions.
More than 11,000 global SWIFT member institutions sent an average of 42 million messages per day through the network in 2021, marking an increase of 11.4% over 2020.
In this article, we explore what SWIFT does, how it works, and how it makes money.
Key Takeaways Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) is a member-owned cooperative that provides safe and secure financial transactions for its members.
This payment network allows individuals and businesses to take electronic or card payments even if the customer or vendor uses a different bank than the payee.
SWIFT, today, is the largest and most streamlined method for international payments and settlements.
SWIFT works by assigning each member institution a unique ID code (a BIC number) that identifies not only the bank name but the country, city, and branch.
SWIFT has been used to impose economic sanctions, such as on bad actors like Iran and Russia.
Inside a SWIFT Transaction
SWIFT is a messaging network that financial institutions use to securely transmit information and instructions through a standardized system of codes. Although SWIFT has become a crucial part of global financial infrastructure, it is not a financial institution itself: SWIFT does not hold or transfer assets. Rather, its utility lies in its power to facilitate secure, efficient communication between member institutions.
SWIFT assigns each financial organization a unique code that has either eight characters or 11 characters, known as a bank identifier code, or BIC. The BIC may also go by the terms SWIFT code, SWIFT ID, or ISO 9362 code. To understand how the code is assigned, lets look at the Italian bank UniCredit Banca, headquartered in Milan. It has the eight-character SWIFT code UNCRITMM.
First four character s: the institute code (UNCR for UniCredit Banca)
s: the institute code (UNCR for UniCredit Banca) Next two characters : the country code (IT for the country Italy)
: the country code (IT for the country Italy) Next two characters: the location/city code (MM for Milan)
the location/city code (MM for Milan) Last three characters: optional, but organizations use them to assign codes to individual branches.
Let's assume a Bank of America Corp. branch customer in New York wants to send money to their friend who banks at the UniCredit Banca branch in Venice. The New York customer can walk into their Bank of America branch with their friends account number and UniCredit Bancas unique SWIFT code for its Venice branch.
Bank of America will send a payment transfer SWIFT message to the UniCredit Banca branch over the secure SWIFT network. When Unicredit Banca receives the SWIFT message about the incoming payment, it will clear and credit the money to the Italian friends account.
As powerful as SWIFT is, keep in mind that it is only a messaging system. SWIFT does not hold any funds or securities, nor does it manage client accounts.
When making an international money transfer, the SWIFT/BIC code is used to identify your particular bank. Your IBAN identifies your individual bank account used at that bank.
The World Before SWIFT
Prior to SWIFT, telex was the only available means of message confirmation for international funds transfer. Telex was hampered by low speed, security concerns, and a free message format. In other words, Telex did not have a unified system of codes like SWIFT to name banks and describe transactions. Telex senders had to describe every transaction in sentences that were then interpreted and executed by the receiver. This led to many human errors, as well as slower processing times.
To circumvent these problems, the SWIFT system was formed in 1973. Six major international banks formed a cooperative society to operate a global network that would transfer financial messages in a secure and timely manner.
Why Is SWIFT Dominant?
According to the London School of Economics, "Support for a shared network...began to achieve institutional form...in the late 1960s, when the Societe Financiere Europeenne (SFE, a consortium of six major banks based in Luxembourg and Paris), initiated a 'message-switching project.'"
SWIFT was then founded in 1973 with 239 banks in 15 countries. By 1977, it expanded to 518 institutions in 22 countries. In 2022, there were more than 11,000 institutional members hailing from more than 200 countries and territories.
Although there are other message services like Fedwire, Ripple, and Clearing House Interbank Payments System (CHIPS), SWIFT continues to retain its dominant position in the market. Its success may be attributed to how it continually adds new message codes to transmit different financial transactions and to the security of its platform.
Though SWIFT primarily started for simple payment instructions, it now sends messages for a wide variety of actions, including security transactions, treasury transactions, trade transactions, and system transactions. In Swift's latest report, from January 2022, data showed 44.5% of SWIFT traffic is still for payment-based messages, while 50.6% represents security transactions, and the remaining traffic flows to Treasury, trade, and system transactions.
Who Uses SWIFT?
In the beginning, SWIFT founders designed the network to facilitate communication about Treasury and correspondent transactions only. The robustness of the message format design allowed for the huge scalability through which SWIFT gradually expanded to provide services to the following:
Banks
Brokerage institutes and trading houses
Securities dealers
Asset management companies
Clearinghouses
Depositories
Exchanges
Corporate business houses
Treasury market participants and service providers
Individuals or businesses making international wires or money transfers
Foreign exchange and money brokers
SWIFT Services
The SWIFT system offers many services that assist businesses and individuals to complete seamless and accurate business transactions. Some of the services offered are listed below.
Applications
SWIFT connections enable access to a variety of applications, which include real-time instruction matching for treasury and forex transactions, banking market infrastructure for processing payment instructions between banks, and securities market infrastructure for processing clearing and settlement instructions for payments, securities, forex, and derivatives transactions.
Business Intelligence
SWIFT has recently introduced dashboards and reporting utilities that enable its clients to get a dynamic, real-time view of monitoring the messages, activity, trade flow, and reporting. The reports enable filtering based on region, country, message types, and related parameters.
Compliance Services
Aimed at services around financial crime compliance, SWIFT offers reporting and utilities for Know Your Customer (KYC), sanctions, and anti-money laundering (AML).
Messaging, Connectivity, and Software Solutions
The core of the SWIFT business resides in providing a secure, reliable, and scalable network for the smooth movement of messages. Through its various messaging hubs, software, and network connections, SWIFT offers multiple products and services that enable its end clients to send and receive transactional messages.
How Does SWIFT Make Money?
SWIFT is a cooperative organization owned by its members. Members are categorized into classes based on share ownership. All members pay a one-time joining fee plus annual support charges that vary by member classes.
SWIFT also charges users for each message based on message type and length. These charges also vary depending upon the banks usage volume; different charge tiers exist for banks that generate different volumes of messages.
In addition, SWIFT has launched additional services as described above. These are backed by the long history of data maintained by SWIFT. These include business intelligence, reference data, and compliance services and offer SWIFT other income streams.
Challenges for SWIFT
The majority of SWIFT clients process huge transactional volumes for which manual entry of instructions is not practical. The need for the automation of SWIFT message creation, processing, and transmission is growing. However, this comes at a cost and increased operational overhead.
Although SWIFT has been successful in providing software for automation, that too comes at a cost. SWIFT may need to tap into these problem areas for the majority of its client base. Automated solutions within this space may bring in a new stream of income for SWIFT and keep clients engaged in the long run.
SWIFT and Economic Sanctions
Because of their reliance on SWIFT to conduct fast, seamless, secure communication, countries around the world have an incentive to remain in good standing with the organization. SWIFT is overseen by central banks from Group of Ten (G10) countries, but it is a neutral organization operating for the benefit of all of its members.
In recent years, the possible use of SWIFT membership as a potential economic sanction against members has emerged multiple times. In 2012, for example, the European Union passed a sanction against Iran that compelled SWIFT to disconnect sanctioned Iranian banks. And in 2022, leaders from the U.K., EU, U.S., and Canada announced that selected banks in Russia would be disconnected from SWIFT over its invasion of Ukraine.
As of Feb. 28, 2022, the United States, EU, U.K., and Canada have agreed to levy economic sanctions against Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine by removing select Russian banks from the SWIFT messaging system. Japan has announced it will do the same.
What is SWIFT in simple terms? Behind most international money and security transfers is the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, known as the SWIFT system. SWIFT is a vast messaging network banks and other financial institutions use to quickly, accurately, and securely send and receive information, such as money transfer instructions.
How important is SWIFT to global finance? SWIFT has become a crucial part of the global financial infrastructure. More than 11,000 global SWIFT member institutions sent an average of 42 million messages per day through the network in 2021, marking an increase of 11.4% over 2020.
Who owns the SWIFT system? SWIFT is a cooperative company that is owned and controlled by its shareholders (certain member financial institutions), representing some 3,500 such firms from across the world. SWIFT is overseen by the G-10 central banks.
Do all banks use SWIFT? No. In fact, many smaller banks in the U.S. and most credit unions are not members of the SWIFT network.
Can banks transfer money without SWIFT? Yes, but doing so relies on slower, legacy systems to process the payments (often relying, in part, on manual settlement). This makes international payments more difficult, slower costlier, and uncertain.
The Bottom Line
SWIFT has retained its dominant position in the global processing of transactional messages. It has recently forayed into other areas, such as offering reporting utilities and data for business intelligence, which indicates its willingness to remain innovative. In the short- to midterm, SWIFT seems poised to continue dominating the market.
A new book has reveal that Spike Island, located in Cork Harbour, was the largest prison in the whole of Ireland and British Isles, during the Victorian era.
The book, entitled Too Beautiful for Thieves and Pickpockets: A History of the Victorian Convict Prison on Spike Island, looks at the prison that was home to Irelands most notorious criminals during the mid to late 1800s. The Cork institution dwarfed institution such as Dartmoor, Pentonville, Mountjoy, and Kilmainham. According to their research Spike Island was a beacon of penal reform, influencing modern correctional systems in countries as far apart as the United States and Germany.
Years of research by Cal McCarthy and Dr Barra O Donnabhain constitute a major addition to the body of knowledge about the institution and the prevailing social, political, and economic conditions of the period. The new book, Too Beautiful for Thieves and Pickpockets, was compiled through official historic records and on-site archaeological excavations. It provides a comprehensive overview of the lives and times inside the famous penal institution.
The island was inhabited shortly after Christianity was introduced to Ireland when Saint Mochuda started a church on the 104-acre plot. He left 30 clerics on the island as he continued his mission around the country.
The island also became known as Fort Mitchell, Spike Island as a major staging point to transport Irish prisoners to the West Indies and Australia after the Cromwellian Wars in the 17th century. By the 18th century the coast of the rugged island had become a favorite hiding place for smugglers.
In 1779 the island was purchased by the British government from a local landowner. Then in 1790 the construction of the fortress, Fort Westmoreland began. It was named after the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Westmoreland. The first regular garrison moved on to the island in 1806.
It was in 1847 that the island became a depot for convicts. By 1850 there were over 2,000 detained there. The new book details the high death rates at the prison during the formative years due to malnourishment of the inmates.
The book tells not only the tales of those inmates in the prison but those who were sent around the world, to Australia and other destinations ended, and how most prisoners were encouraged to emigrate to the United States upon release.
Back in 2013 University College Corks Dr Barra O Donnabhain, leading the Spike Island Archaeological Project, identified the full extent of the convict mass graves on the site of the concentration camp-style prison in Cork harbor. The team identified 250 unmarked burial plots dating from Irelands Great Hunger. The mass grave is located inside the walled cemetery on Spike Island in Cork.
O Donnabhain told the Irish Examiner, We have always known that this area contained graves but we never knew how many.
There were about 11 headstones in this area, all dating from 1862, but which are not now in their original locations.
Following geophysical analysis, we identified four or five rows with about 50 individual graves in each.
He continued, We now know that there are between 200 and 250 individual burials plots in this area all were in a regimented, regular layout.
At the time O Donnabhain said Our findings begs the bigger question what happened to the others who died on Spike?
During its 36 years it is believed that 1,000 convicts died on the island, according to records and an estimated 900 convicts are buried on the island. These burial areas are seen on historic maps but the areas are now overgrown.
The doctor continued, This project aims to give a voice to the men and boys who were incarcerated and died in the prison during the Victorian era, broadening our understanding of the role of the convict prison as one of the mechanisms by which the empire was established and maintained.
I have no doubt that our work here will be of interest internationally and will attract many more international research projects and visitors to the region.
The aim of this project is to be able to give these men a fitting memorial before Spike Island is developed as a tourist attraction.
Conditions under which the men were confined were very poor, however, O Donnabhain told the Examiner that though the conditions were harsh they were not designed to kill the men. Nonetheless a man would die almost every day.
In 1853 the numbers at the prison were lowered to 1,000 which lowered the death rate significantly but by 1883 1,000 convicts had died and were buried in mass graves.
Nowadays the Island is a tourist attraction. In 2011 the Cork County Council took over management of Spike Island to develop the historic sight as a tourism and heritage attraction, which can be accessed via ferry from Cobh.
For more visit www.spikeislandcork.ie.
The body of a man has been recovered from the water in a harbour in Co Clare, writes Patrick Flynn.
The man, understood to be in his 60's, is believed to have fallen into the water at Liscannor Harbour late last night.
The Sun's Editor in Chief has insisted the newspaper did not make an error over its "Queen backs Brexit" headline despite a ruling by the press watchdog that it was inaccurate.
Tony Gallagher said the paper respected the UK Independent Press Standards Organisation but insisted the story justified the headline.
The complaint, about a story alleging the Queen expressed her anger with Brussels to then UK deputy prime minister Nick Clegg during a lunch at Windsor Castle, was the first by a reigning monarch to the press watchdog.
In its ruling Ipso found that the newspaper's front-page headline on March 9 had breached Clause 1 (accuracy) of the Editors' Code of Practice.
Mr Gallagher told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I don't accept that we made an error at all. We made a judgment that the headline was right and that it was backed up by the story."
He added: "I don't think were I doing this again tomorrow I would act in any way differently whatsoever. Given what I know about the detail of the sourcing and given what I know about the detail of the conversation, frankly, we would be better packing up and going home as journalists if we didn't actually put these things in the public domain."
Ipso said that while the article itself did not breach the code, the headline did as it was "a factual assertion that the Queen had expressed a position in the referendum debate, and there was nothing in the headline, or the manner in which it was presented on the newspaper's front page, to suggest that this was conjecture, hyperbole, or was not to be read literally".
The original Sun article said two unnamed sources had claimed that the Queen made critical comments about the EU at two private functions - first with Mr Clegg at a lunch for Privy Counsellors at Windsor Castle in 2011, and at a reception for MPs at Buckingham Palace.
At the time the report was published, former UK Liberal Democrat leader Mr Clegg dismissed it as ''nonsense'', while Buckingham Palace said: "The Queen remains politically neutral, as she has for 63 years.
''We will not comment on spurious, anonymously sourced claims. The referendum is a matter for the British people to decide.''
UK justice secretary Michael Gove refused to rule out being the source of the leak and The Sun said it stood by its story and planned to defend against the complaint "vigorously".
The Sun carried an article in Wednesday's paper which details the ruling - ordered by Ipso as a remedy for the inaccuracy.
The article states: "Ipso acknowledged the importance of headlines in tabloid newspapers.
"However, it did not follow from the comments the article reported that the Queen wanted the UK to leave the EU as a result of the referendum: that suggestion was conjecture and the committee noted that none of those quoted in the story were reported as making such a claim.
"The headline was not supported by the text. It was significantly misleading - given that it suggested a fundamental breach of the Queen's constitutional obligations."
The decision is the first time Ipso has ruled on the newly-revised Clause 1 of the Editors' Code of Practice, which makes specific reference to "headlines not supported by the text" as an example of inaccurate, misleading or distorted information.
Commenting on the adjudication, Ipso chief executive Matt Tee said: "Clause 1 of the Editors' Code was amended in January 2016 with specific reference to 'headlines not supported by the text'.
"The Editors' Code Committee clearly wanted Ipso to pay close attention to the use of headlines, something we have done in the period since the new code was issued.
"The Sun's headline was significantly misleading and represented a failure to take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information"
He added: "Ipso will continue to carry out our work without fear or favour and will continue to support those who feel wronged by the press, whoever they are."
Suir Pharma Ireland, is located at Waterford Road in Clonmel. It has been making generic medicines for about 40 years in the town but is insolvent and is to be wound up.
At the High Court yesterday the company cited sustained and irreversible losses of 4.9m during the 15 months before March 2015, and a large drop in sales in the US market late last year, for its difficulties.
It projects further losses in 2016 and 2017.
The court heard its parent company, Saneca Pharmaceuticals, was not willing to fund the company and it was left with no other option than to apply to the court for the appointment of a provisional liquidator.
Mr Justice Michael Twomey said he was satisfied to appoint insolvency practitioner Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton as provisional liquidator of the company.
The court also granted Mr McAteer a number of powers, including the ability to allow the company continue to trade, and to take steps to secure the companys assets.
Barrister Declan Murphy for the company, said in the face of losses sustained, the companys main shareholders, on the advice of Suir Pharmas directors, had decided to wind up the company.
The appointment of Mr McAteer would secure and help realise the best value of the companys assets, including its stock. Counsel said there is a lot of work currently being done on pharmaceutical products at the plant.
The provisional liquidator would be in a position to turn this work in progress into a saleable product. The level of employment at the company during any process of finishing off products currently being manufactured would be a matter for the provisional liquidator, counsel added.
Mr McAteer would also accelerate the process of locating potential buyers for the companys site and manufacturing facility in Clonmel, counsel added.
It was in the best interests of the company and its creditors that a liquidator be appointed.
Counsel said that as well as the drop in sales to the US the company also encountered a quality issue with an ingredient sourced from China used in one of its products.
This had prevented the company from making the product for some months, resulting in a loss of revenue.
The company, which has 134 employees, has had several owners during its existence. Last year, it was sold to Slovakian group Saneca Pharmaceuticals by Munich restructuring company Mutares for an undisclosed amount.
After approving Mr McAteers appointment the judge adjourned the matter to June 13.
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It also, once again, underlines the critical importance of decisions taken domestically to enhance and improve the economys ability to perform.
Unlike large economies such as the US, where international trade is a small part of the economic engine, Irelands destiny is largely dependent on trade winds.
If you imagine a large self reliant economy as a super tanker in a big economic ocean then Ireland is a small dinghy bobbing around among the waves.
When conditions are benign our little boat is a joy.
When a storm brews it is all hands on deck.
Right now a nasty Easterly is developing on the near horizon as Britain prepares to vote in late June on Brexit.
If the UK population votes to leave the EU the inevitable consequence is that trade barriers of one sort or another will emerge between the UK and various parts of Europe.
Ireland is not designed for a world defined by impediments to trading.
Instead, we are able to perform best when part of a liberalised market system that allows unfettered access to large markets. Of course, that means businesses abroad can freely enter the Irish market too.
In order to survive, Irish companies have to run a platform that can both defend its home patch and advance into others.
Brexit would change that fundamentally, particularly in an economy that is currently our largest trading partner.
The US presidential election is another weather system we need to keep an eye on.
Some of the rhetoric in the primary campaign has suggested US multinational expansion abroad will be curtailed and pressured to stay within America.
That may sound barmy in the board room of companies that have global reach but it nonetheless could hinder FDI from 2017 onwards depending on how the election unfolds.
Ireland is the standout winner of FDI activity on a relative basis so we need to monitor US policy closely.
These big international stories put a focus on how Ireland manages itself in these changing circumstances. Using the nautical analogy even a small boat needs to have its hull clean and engine well maintained to ensure steady and safe navigation.
So, are we in ship shape? Id argue that despite the elongated and tortuous process leading up to a Government formation the integrity of the good ship Eire is reasonably sound.
Despite repeated attempts to undermine Irelands commitment to a 12.5% corporate tax rate that policy has been defended to the hilt.
Moreover, as the pressure grows on true off shore tax centres companies are increasingly committing to countries that are deemed legitimate by the worlds leading economies and Ireland is on that list.
There are, nevertheless, pinch points that threaten to chip away at Irelands attractiveness to investors.
Affordable accommodation looks like a very big issue here and now.
If young people cannot access accommodation as a reasonable price, either via ownership or renting, it makes it more difficult for employers to attract workers from home or abroad.
An emergency plan is needed to get shovel-ready projects in place for completion from 2017 onwards.
Debt levels are another issue. Note that despite personal borrowing rates falling modestly our national debt remains enormous. The Germans have a word for debt Schuld which also means guilt in their language.
Its an interesting insight to their psyche which treats debt like nitroglycerine and helps explain why managed rents are a critical part of German spending and housing patterns.
Some radical thinking that helps alleviate accommodation pressures without imposing gigantic debt burdens on young people should be considered when planning our next ship of state.
Without it we risk turning a nifty jib into a leaky submarine.
Speaking yesterday, on the back of a strong set of interim results, Greencore chief executive Patrick Coveney gave an emphatic no in relation to the idea.
Greencore formerly Irish Sugar still has land in Carlow and Mallow where it used to produce sugar, but sold out of its joint venture which made the Siucra and McKinneys sugar brands to partner Nordzucker in 2009.
Greencore is now the largest sandwich maker in the world with the food-to-go element of the convenience food market in the UK and US its main driver of growth.
UK-based sales for that section of the business grew by over 13%, year-on-year, in the six months to the end of March; the first half of Greencores financial year.
The British food-to-go sector represents more than 40% of the groups annual sales. Convenience food sales incorporating food-to-go and prepared/ready meals grew by nearly 9%.
Underlying revenue grew by over 17% in the US convenience foods division.
Overall, Greencores first half group revenue was up 8.1%, year-on-year, at 691.6m (881m), while operating profit grew by 8.5% to 43.5m.
The half-year dividend per share rose by 6.25% to 2.55p, adjusted earnings per share were up by nearly 8% at 8.2p and adjusted pre-tax profits were ahead by 9.3% to 36.5m.
A near 6% drop revenue in the non-core ingredients and property division was noted, while operating profits dropped by 25%.
Mr Coveney said management is confident of meeting full-year targets despite a challenging UK market.
The UK backdrop is expected to remain uncertain given the changing nature of the grocery industry and other potential economic headwinds, he said before adding we remain confident in our ability to deliver performance in line with market expectations.
Mr Coveney reiterated his desire for the UK to remain part of the EU, saying the British food industry would be better served by being in Europe as Brexit would result in rising raw materials and labour costs for industry players.
He said the group shouldnt have to cut jobs in the event of a Brexit and will continue to prosper whatever the outcome of the June 23 vote.
Meanwhile, initial production from Greencores new Seattle manufacturing facility is due to begin next month, while the third phase of a major expansion of its production capabilities at its Northampton facilities in England is on track and will eventually boost UK revenues from 150m to 225m.
In the US, Greencores underlying growth was good but product rationalisation after the closure of two facilities coupled with start-up costs at the new Rhode Island facility meant the American operations made a modest loss in the period.
It is anticipated that the US division will be profitable in the second half of the year. Greencores share price was down by just under 1%, yesterday, at 3.83.
Management also yesterday noted a strong pipeline of future growth opportunities, likely to take the form of broadening output to existing clients. Expansion into catering for travel firms is planned.
The group currently produces for the likes of Starbucks, Marks and Spencer and 7-Eleven.
Ibec, in favour of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), branded its omission as a missed opportunity.
In its analysis of the Programme for Government, the group outlines a number of positives for business in the area of trade and international affairs, including the commitment for Minister-led trade missions to continue and the development of cross-sectoral trade strategies.
Earlier this year, McDonalds successfully opposed Supermacs plans to sell its famous snack box in the UK and Europe by blocking its bid to secure a European trademark for its products.
Supermacs had intended to appeal the decision. Yesterday was the deadline for it to lodge its appeal documents.
However, instead of doing so, Supermacs has withdrawn the appeal and lodged a fresh trademark application with the EU Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market.
Yesterday, Supermacs boss, Pat McDonagh said: I am very confident that this application will be successful. There is no reason why it shouldnt be.
The ruling earlier this year wasnt logical in that allowed us to use the Supermacs brand but not allow us to use the brand to sell what we make.
"We learned a lot from the last application and in order to put that into effect, we thought it better to re-apply and discard the appeal, he said.
Mr McDonagh said the new application will have more focus on the products for which Supermacs wants the trademark and admitted that there may not be a decision from the harmonisation office for a year.
This means McDonalds has effectively blocked Supermacs overseas plans for at least two years. Mr McDonagh said he has had six requests from people looking to set up Supermacs franchise operations in the UK, eastern Europe, Abu Dhabi, China and Tokyo in the last couple of months.
He said that before he proceeds with the international franchisee operations, he wants to obtain the trademark for Supermacs fast food products in Europe.
Our plans are to open in Europe first and then further afield, he said.
Joseph Grech was born in Malta in September 1968 to Carmen Borg and an Irish man who, his mother told him, was in the Royal Anglian Regiment of the British Army.
His father was stationed in St. Patrick's Barracks in Malta at the time, and he believes he is originally from either Cork or Waterford.
"That time he used to date my mum, Carmen Borg," Joseph says. His father was moved from Malta by the army before Joseph was born and he has had no contact with Carmen since.
As an unmarried mother, Carmen felt societal pressure to put Joseph up for adoption when he was born.
Joseph's mother, Carmen, in 1968
Joseph, who is a building engineer in Malta, is seeking any information about his father and would like to make contact with him. He has made contact with his birth mother in recent years and would also like to know his father.
"At the age of nine I discovered that I was adopted," Joseph says. He began looking for his mother when he turned 18, but says his search ended in vain. "All the info I had was just a name," he says.
"To obtain the confidential info I had to open a juridical recourse order. This took years. Time passed and as always I had this issue running in my head."
Joseph made contact with his mother some years later, when she and her husband began to look for him.
Carmen with Joseph's wife in recent years
"In 2009 my mums husband, who was a secretary in the Ministry of Defence, was retiring and decided to buy a place in Malta. In 2011 mums husband started the same process that I had started to locate me. They had only a name and a date of birth. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2013, the same year my adopted mother died," Joseph says.
"Recently me and my natural mum made contact, ending up to have lost one mum and discovered the natural mum which I am very proud of.
While Joseph's mother has given him a name for his father, we have chosen not to publish it. So if you think you know who Joseph's father might be, or if you believe you may be his father, please contact Joseph directly at joe_ grch@yahoo.com
LOS ANGELESThe high-end pleasure product brand Jopen has been nominated in this years StorErotica Awards. The adult novelty industry award show is being held in conjunction with the upcoming ANME Show, July 17-19 at the Marriott Burbank Airport in Burbank.
Jopen is nominated for Boutique Brand of the Year. "Jopen offers an experience like no other, with exceptional design and unrelenting power. This alone makes Jopen the ideal boutique brand," said Susan Colvin, founder and CEO of Jopen.
Jopen has expanded this year to include two all-new collectionsCallie and Opaland has added the Vs series to the Vanity line. Callie is a collection that offers modern, fluid shapes with designer accents. Opal is a vibrating glass massager offers visual and tactile stimulation. The Vanity Vs vibrators boast new functions designed for intense pleasure.
Jopen Brand Manager Robin Stewart said, "Thank you to StorErotica and our customers for this nomination. It is an honor to be nominated for such a prestigious award and I hope we can take this baby home!"
To cast a vote, visit StorEroticaAwards.com. To learn more about the company, visit Jopen.com.
The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland / Teagasc Agri Land Market Review and Outlook 2016 report shows Leinster with the strongest price performance, rising 15% in some categories during 2015.
Munster is showing more modest single digit growth, while land prices in Connacht/ Ulster are in decline for the second year running.
The categorised prices per acre range from 12,700 in Leinster down to 5,800 in Connacht/Ulster.
Milk prices fell 9c per litre in 2015, with output up 13% on the average farm. Profit margins in beef and sheep were stable for the year, and profit margin declines in dairy were moderate despite the global milk price collapse.
Report co-author Jason Loughrey of Teagasc said 2015 showed a slight decline in dairy farmer interest in land and fewer cash buyers.
Land sales were stronger at the start of 2015, slowing in the second half of the year.
The lack of good quality farms coming on the market and widespread flooding in the Midlands also had an impact on supply.
In fact poor weather conditions in winter and spring have led to increased feed costs for farmers and this could impact upon land prices also in 2016, said Mr Loughrey.
The report estimates that the price of an acre on a holding under 50 acres in Leinster, with a residence, is now 12,700, up 15% on 2014.
The price of an acre without a residence, rose 9% to 10,600. For larger land holdings, the increases were around 4% or lower.
The price of an acre on a smaller holding in Munster increased by 3% to 11K with a residence and 10K without.
The most notable increase was in larger holdings over 100 acres with a residence, which saw a price increase of 11% to 11,400.
In Connacht/Ulster the price per acre fell in five of the six price categories. The price per acre on a small holding with a residence fell by 6% to 5,800 while prices in medium and larger sized holdings fell by 5% to 10%.
However, the price of an acre on a small holding without a residence rose 10% to 6,200.
Thomas Potterton, of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, said: Leinster was the best performer in 2015, with prices for farm holdings 31% to 38% higher than 2010.
"Overall, price growth in Munster moderated in 2015 with prices for land holdings of 50 to 100 acres experiencing the weakest growth in values since 2010, he said.
Prices in Connacht/Ulster are now well below 2010, the exception being lands up to 50 acres without a residence, where prices are similar to 2010.
Since the collapse of the economy, land prices have remained steady for the past two years, but as the farmer along with lifestyle buyers and investors return to the market, the outlook seems positive and we could experience a 5% increase in values in 2016.
"However, much will depend on the supply of land coming onto the market, said Mr Potterton.
They said the 200,000 loan, approved at a special council meeting on Monday, is good news for filmmakers in the region and will ensure t the festival can continue to showcase the finest cinema from Ireland and the world.
This support means that Cork Film Festival can continue to deliver a high quality programme of challenging and exciting cinema to its local, national, and international audiences, and continue in its role as Irelands premier film talent development event, they said.
The board and executive yesterday expressed deep gratitude to the council for approving the loan.
The interest-free loan to Cork Film Festival Limited will be repaid over the next eight years.
The company has agreed to stage a scaled-back event this year running over two weekends, and to a raft of other changes, including improved governance, tighter budgetary and financial controls, and more oversight.
Council officials have also insisted that the extension of the loan facility will not impact on their ability to deliver services.
The board of the festival said with support from the Arts Council, which is being discussed this week, and the city council, it will seek to enhance the cultural experience of its audiences.
This support for the Cork Film Festival is good news for Cork and Munster filmmakers, they said. Their films are included in the Cork Shorts award, and are eligible for the Grand Prix Irish short award, presented by RTE Cork.
The winner of this prize is then long-listed for Academy Awards consideration.
Significantly, Cork Citys and countys business communities will welcome this very positive development.
It is understood that up to 100,000 is owed by the film festival to local creditors.
The board also acknowledged the generous support of RTE, the Gate Cinemas, the River Lee Hotel/Doyle Collection, Failte Ireland, University College Cork, Cork Institute of Technology, the Irish Film Board, Culture Ireland, the Broadcast Authority of Ireland, and the very many others the festival engages with.
Councillors voted 18-8 to approve the loan on Monday.
They have also sought the appointment of up to three councillors to the festival board to enhance council involvement in the event.
Front-seat passenger Dayne Cody, from Barnville Park, Ballyfermot, Dublin 10, was pronounced dead at the scene. The transition year student was one of five young males travelling in the 2.5l Kia Magentis which spun out of control and hit a tree on Station Rd, Clondalkin, on December 20, 2014.
Dublin Coroners Court heard the car was advertised for 500 and the registered owner had given a real name but a false address and engaged a seller who was paid 50 to sell it.
The owner got 350, Det Insp Richard McDonnell told Dublin Coroners Court, adding that the unregulated sale of cars on websites such as Done Deal is a major, major issue.
We have had incidents where two or three cars have been made into one, it happens on a regular basis, Det Insp Mc Donnell said.
Coroner Brian Farrell said it is an area in great need of regulation.
It just seems anyone can purchase anything from this website and there is no regulation, he said.
Giving evidence, the driver told the inquest he was 16 when saw the car for sale online and travelled by bus to Swords to buy it. He got off the 41 bus at the last stop and paid the seller 400 for the car. Later, with friends, he was driving to get petrol when he saw a Garda van and picked up speed at Station Rd.
I thought they were coming after us, he said in his deposition. I woke up screaming for help.
The driver, who had no licence, was convicted of dangerous driving causing death following trial on November 19 2015.
There are no rules or regulations... as regards selling cars that are not roadworthy, anybody can do it, Gda David OBrien told the court. The person selling it doesnt really care about who they are selling it to.
The rear tyres on the car were well worn, one excessively, forensic collision investigator Garda Edward Davin said.
Dayne was pronounced dead at the scene. He died of multiple injuries consistence with a road traffic accident. Toxicology reports showed neither he nor the driver had taken drugs or alcohol.
The jury returned a verdict of dangerous driving causing death in accordance with the Circuit Criminal Court finding. The coroner said he would contact the Department of Transport to convey the jurys recommendations, which include measures to prevent the selling of cars without a valid NCT and to underage drivers.
Those were the first words spoken by the innocent gunshot victim, Ciara Sheehan, 21, to her mother Susan OMahony when she arrived to her hospital bedside in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Detectives stood outside the Cork University Hospital room as Ms OMahony and her partner, Alan OLeary, arrived. Ciaras father, Joe Sheehan, was also there.
It did not seem real. You are walking on to the set of a movie. It was bizarre. Seeing her there on the bed. It didnt seem real, said Ms OMahony.
There were three or four guards outside her room special branch and detectives, said Mr OLeary.
You grasp the seriousness of it. One minute we are in bed asleep, the next minute we are out in the hospital with guards.
Doctors at Cork University Hospital told them the bullet lodged in Ciaras neck was one millimetre from her main artery.
She is the luckiest and the unluckiest girl. It is like a miracle, said Ms OMahony.
Ciara was able to tell her family what happened at around 1am on Sunday.
She was upstairs in her boyfriends house chatting to her boyfriends sister and they went downstairs at around 1am to the front room.
The blinds were closed on the front window. Ciara stood up. There was a gunshot through the window and she was hit in the neck.
At the moment she stood up she got shot through the window, said Ms OMahony. She walked into the kitchen and collapsed in the kitchen.
Ciara Sheehan.
She thought she was going to die. She coughed up blood. They were holding her neck on the way to the hospital to stop the blood.
Ms OMahony gave one interview yesterday, to the Irish Examiner.
Her reason for doing so was in the hope that journalists would then respect the familys need to concentrate on getting Ciara better and not on giving interviews.
We want people to remember that she is the innocent girl, said Ms OMahony.
And we just want her home and well, safe and sound.
News: 2
The disgraced ex-Fianna Fail TD and minister of state was jailed for five months in 2014 for using false invoices to claim expenses of 4,207.45 at Leinster House, Dublin, between November 2007 and December 2009 while he was a member of the Seanad.
In an unrelated case, Mr Callely, aged 57, of St Lawrences Road, Clontarf, was supposed to appear before Judge Michael Coghlan at Dublin District Court on Tuesday. However, he did not show up resulting in a bench warrant being issued for his arrest.
This set of proceedings results from his failure to comply with terms of a 2013 district court judgement compelling him to pay a 1,755 debt to Galway-based accountants Gallagher & Company which has asked the judge to issue a committal order. Solicitor Mark Newman told the court yesterday that Mr Callely had not complied with another order made last month which required him to provide documentation outlining his income and expenditure.
Mr Callely was not present when the case was reached and it was put to second calling. After dealing with other matters, his case was called again but Judge Michael Coghlan was told Mr Callely was not present.
I had required documentation to be in court today. I had indicated there would be certain consequences if he failed to provide that documentation. Insofar as he is not here, I am simply issuing a warrant for his arrest, Judge Coghlan said.
Last month, Mr Callely, who says he needs 2,500 a month for a reasonable living, had told the court he had done his best to contact the creditor but Judge Michael Coghlan had told him he was in contempt of court orders. During that hearing, on April 19, Judge Coghlan had held off proceeding with a committal order.
However, threatening to jail him, the judge had said he was not impressed with his evidence and he wanted proof of Mr Callelys income and expenditure. He had also given the former TD and senator a formal warning that he would issue the committal order if he did not provide the court and the creditor with adequate information in advance of yesterday hearing.
The court heard 1,755 was owed by him to the accountancy firm. There was also a successful application to increase the amount outstanding by another 150, a result of expenses from hiring a private investigator to establish the whereabouts of Mr Callely, who spends time in Northern Ireland and also has an address at Howth Rd, Killester, Dublin 3.
The court had also been told he had not notified lawyers for the accountancy firm of a change of address.
The court heard he did not keep in touch with accountants Gallagher & Company after the original judgment was given in the district court in June 2013. The ruling included an instalment order stating Mr Callely had to pay 100 a month to clear his debt. Last month, he provided the court with a statement of his means which he said had been vouched by an assets management agency.
However, Gallagher & Company lawyers said they had not been furnished with Mr Callelys income and expenditure files.
The court heard he owes about 250,000 to the legal firm; he also said he owes 5m to AIB and 11m to another creditor.
Serious questions remain for the commissioner over attempts to undermine Garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe at the OHiggins Commission of Investigation into Garda malpractice, the Dail heard last night.
Last week, the Irish Examiner revealed that documents to the OHiggins inquiry showed Ms OSullivans legal team claimed Sgt McCabe was motivated by malice when he high- lighted malpractice in the force while praising his actions in public.
It was confirmed last night that the barrister representing the commissioner, Colm Smyth, told the head of the Commission of Inquiry, Judge Kevin OHiggins, that his instructions at all times were to challenge the motivation and credibility of Sgt McCabe but said this was in relation to the corruption and malpractice allegations.
However, he added it was an error on my part when he said earlier he was to challenge Sgt McCabes integrity.
Last night, Minister for Justice and Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald appeared to be under serious pressure on the matter of a disciplinary response to the admissions in the transcripts.
Speaking on RTEs Prime Time, she refused to state whether she was surprised by the stance taken by Ms OSullivans legal team and refused to say whether she had full confidence in the commissioner. Instead, the Tanaiste stated that she had full confidence in her ability to change the culture around whistleblowing in An Garda Siochana.
Today, the Irish Examiner is publishing further extracts from the transcripts to the OHiggins Commission which show the extent to which attempts were made to attack the integrity and motivation of Sgt McCabe.
Mr Smyth was asked on a number of occasions by Judge OHiggins to clarify the matter. At one point the judge surmised: In other words, that he [Sgt McCabe] made these allegations not in good faith but because he was motivated by malice or some such motive and that impinges on his integrity. If those are your instructions from the commissioner, so be it.
Mr Smyth replied: So be it, that is the position, judge.
The lawyer went on to say, I mean this isnt something I am pulling out of the sky judge, and I mean I can only act on instructions.
The transcripts clearly show that a case would be presented that Sgt McCabe was acting in bad faith when he made his complaints of Garda malpractice.
Some days after the exchange in the transcripts published today, Sgt McCabe produced a tape recording of the meeting in question, which when transcribed, showed he made no expression of malice at the meeting in question. The whole matter was not revisited by the commission thereafter and was not included in the final report.
Last night in the Dail, Independents for Change TD Mick Wallace said that, only for Sgt McCabe recording the meeting, the judge would have had to believe the two officers and Sgt McCabe would have been destroyed.
His colleague, Clare Daly, under privilege, called on Ms OSullivan to go and warned Ms Fitzgerald to abandon her or risk her own position.
It is time for this commissioner to go and unless you act, shes going to take you with her, said Ms Daly.
The issue is that the Garda commissioners legal team allegedly, on her instruction, attempted to deliberately mislead the commission by entering false information in order to challenge the motivation and credibility of Maurice McCabe.
There is now an immediate crisis of trust and confidence in the Garda commissioner.
Ms Fitzgerald said she was precluded from commenting on the media reports, and said partial leaking from the OHiggins report was unfortunate and illegal.
The Policing Authority is expected to discuss whether or not to raise the malice claims when it meets Ms OSullivan next week.
The board of the authority will meet first Thursday week, in the morning, followed by a lengthy meeting with the commissioner and her team later in the day.
LOS ANGELES, CA Sarah Vandella has been working quite a bit, and that means DVD releases. To promote her new movies and the studios who made them, she did two podcasts that are both available now online.
Vandella spoke with the Boom Boom Cast, a weekly show from Australia that features mainstream actors and other personalities, along with the top adult performers. She discussed her upcoming feature dancing dates, new movies and what its like to be Sarah Vandella. The Boom Boom Cast interview can be heard on Suncloud at , iTunes , and the official site, BoomBoomNetwork.com.
Fleshbot also interviewed Vandella for their podcast. Listen to the interview here. She discusses her early days in the industry, how she got into adult, and upcoming projects and movies. Listen to it on Suncloud or iTunes. Theres also a write-up on Fleshbot.
I really enjoyed doing both podcasts, and my fans will probably learn something about me from both of them, says Vandella.
Vandellas new movies include Penthouses How to Catch a Cougar, Lethal Hardcores Your Mom Tossed My Salad 17, and Evil Angels Horny Cuckold Bitches directed by Aiden Starr.
The HSE is considering its options, including invoking its legislative powers, after the State and the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) failed to reach an agreement on price reductions.
It did not prove possible in the negotiations to reach an agreement that would deliver on the States objectives, a Department of Health spokesman said.
He said the IPHAs final offer following talks that began in March was below that needed to cut the price of medicines significantly and allow the HSE to invest in new, innovative medicines over the next four years.
The HSE must now consider alternative options including invoking its powers under the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013.
The IPHA reacted with surprise and is seeking meetings with Mr Harris and Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donoghue, to discuss realistic proposals for a new supply agreement.
We have not ended these negotiations. We are surprised by correspondence and government briefings today, said IPHA boss Oliver OConnor yesterday.
The Department of Health spokesman said while progress had been made in recent years, the price paid for drugs in Ireland remained at the high end of the European spectrum. One government source said it would be irresponsible for the HSE not to try to contain prices.
However, the new administration hopes the threat of using legislation to force reimbursements will bring the industry back to talks.
The source added: There are new drugs coming down the tracks, such as Orkambi [for cystic fibrosis] and so on, that patients will rightly be seeking. When you take wages and staff costs out, drugs are a huge part of the health budget. About 1.7bn was spent by the Government in 2015.
Four former executives from Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Life & Permanent (ILP) are alleged to have conspired to mislead investors about the true health of Anglo.
On day 75 of what is now the longest running trial in the States legal history, Judge Martin Nolan outlined the legal issues for the jury to consider in its deliberations.
The jury consisted of 13 jurors after 15 were sworn in last January to allow for any fall off during the lengthy trial.
After the judges charge, the jurors took part in a lottery where the final name pulled out of a tin was told he had to be excluded from deliberations.
Judge Nolan told this man that he was very sorry for him if he wanted to serve but that the law was that only 12 jurors could take part in deliberations. He said he wanted to sincerely thank him and that he was most impressed by the attentiveness of all the jurors during the trial.
Its cruel for you that this new system was brought in for long trials. Youre free to go now and you must go now, he said.
Peter Fitzpatrick, aged 63, of Convent Lane, Portmarnock, Dublin; Denis Casey, aged 56, from Raheny, Dublin; John Bowe, aged 52, from Glasnevin, Dublin; and Willie McAteer, aged 65, of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Co Tipperary have all pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to conspiring together and with others to mislead investors by setting up a 7.2bn circular transaction scheme between March 1 and September 30, 2008, to bolster Anglos balance sheet.
The prosecution case is that the four men were involved in setting up a circular scheme of 1bn transactions where Anglo lent money to ILP and ILP sent the money back, via their assurance firm Irish Life Assurance, to Anglo.
The scheme was designed so that the deposits came from the assurance company and would be treated as customer deposits, which are considered a better measure of a banks strength than inter-bank loans.
The 7.2bn deposit was later accounted for in Anglos preliminary results on December 3, 2008, as part of Anglos customer deposits figure.
The prosecution say that the entire objective of the scheme was to mislead the public reading Anglos accounts by artificially inflating the customer deposits number from 44bn to 51bn, a difference of 16%.
In his charge, Judge Nolan told the jurors: Before you can convict these four men of anything you must be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the scheme and the way it was accounted for accounted for... is a dishonest scheme.
He told them that if they cannot be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that this was a dishonest scheme they have to acquit all four.
He said that, once satisfied that the scheme was dishonest, they must then be satisfied that the four defendants either authorised or were involved in the execution of the scheme and, at the time, they intended that the 7.2bn would be accounted in Anglos accounts with no explanatory note.
- Additional reporting by Elaine Loughlin
Whistleblowers John Wilson and Maurice McCabe were smeared and bullied when they raised their concerns, the Dail also heard.
Tanaiste and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald yesterday faced prolonged questioning by Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein on details surrounding the OHiggins report into garda malpractice.
During leaders questions, Mr Martin and Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams referred to the Irish Examiner story which revealed counsel acting for the commissioner claimed Sgt McCabe was driven by malice.
Speaking in the Dail, Mr Martin demanded clarity from the Tanaiste as to whether Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan sought to claim Sgt McCabe was motivated by malice.
Mr Martins tough stance in the Dail was in contrast to the stance taken by several of his partys leading TDs, who earlier in the day said they now considered the matter closed, given Ms OSullivans statement on Monday night.
Mr Adams pressed the Tanaiste to state if she had spoken to the commissioner about allegations that she directed her legal team to argue that Sgt McCabe had acted out of malice.
Mr Adams said: John Wilson and Maurice McCabe raised concerns regarding practices within the upper echelons of an Garda Siochana. It is now a matter of fact that they were smeared and bullied.
Mr Martin said the OHiggins commission, which examined the allegations raised by McCabe and also the manner in which they were handled, vindicated the Cavan-based gardas decision to speak out. He asked Ms Fitzgerald to find a forum within which Ms OSullivan can further clarify whether counsel in their dealings with the commission were acting on her instruction.
Responding to both opposition party leaders, the Tanaiste said she was precluded under law from answering in detail to the questions asked.
In this era of new politics, it is important that I respect the law and the duty that I have to it, said Ms Fitzgerald. That is what I have been doing in my responses to the Deputy on this question. The commission and Mr Justice OHiggins were in the best position to hear all of the facts and to reach conclusions on the very serious incidents that were investigated by the commission. In that regard, the commissions report is the best description that we could possibly have got of the various incidents.
She added that the Taoiseach will make a statement when the issue comes up for debate in the House. She said she was duty-bound to respect the law and said the privilege that exists between clients and their lawyers must be respected.
We must take all steps necessary to ensure these mistakes are not made again, she said. I am constrained in what I can say. All 97 witnesses to the OHiggins Commission have rights and I must respect those.
She said she found the selective leaking of the report ahead of its publication as unfortunate and illegal.
TDs, senators, and MEPs must disclose any donations of 600 or more that they receive each year.
A total of 16 public representatives disclosed donations, with a total net value of 33,870, for 2015, according to information released by the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo).
Among the individual donations, which cannot exceed 1,000, was a payment from businessman Harry Crosbie, who developed the Convention Centre and much of Dublins Docklands. Mr Crosbie, with an address at Hanover Quay, Dublin 2, donated the maximum of 1,000 to then senator Michael DArcy, who has since been elected to the Dail .
Michael Chadwick, the non-executive chairman of construction supplies firm the Grafton Group, which takes in the Chadwicks hardware chain, made donations to each of the three elected Social Democrat TDs last year. Mr Chadwick, worth an estimated 208m, made payments of 1,000 each to Roisin Shortall, Stephen Donnelly, and Catherine Murphy.
It had been previously reported that Mr Chadwick, with an address in Kilmacanogue, Co Wicklow, handed over 21,000 to the party since it was established last year. This included donations to the three elected TDs and to other candidates who ran for the Social Democrats in the general elections.
Under Sipo regulations, politicians cannot receive cash donations in excess of 200. Labour Party member and former junior minister Aodhan O Riordain received 1,000 in cash, but returned 800 to comply with rules.
Likewise, another former Labour junior minister, Ged Nash, received a donation from a company that was not registered with Sipo as a corporate donor. He returned the money.
Former environment minister Alan Kelly received a 1,000 donation from the US. Newly-appointed Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Paschal Donohoe was given four donations of 1,000 each from individuals in England. Both politicians confirmed the donors were Irish citizens.
Organisers of the Venture Cup event, launched in a blaze of publicity in Cobh last month and billed as one of most spectacular free sporting events this summer, blamed cashflow problems and the collapse of a last-ditch sponsorship deal for the late cancellation.
The race, which was to feature multimillion-euro powerboats and teams including TV survivalist Bear Grylls and male supermodel David Gandy, was also due to be broadcast to 70 countries, providing a major showcase for the Wild Atlantic Way.
But organisers confirmed yesterday that the 700-mile race involving 25 teams from around the world will not go ahead.
Delivering an event of this scale was always going to present challenges, but we felt we had the team and support to make it happen, the Venture Cup team said in a statement.
However, we began suffering acute cashflow problems at the end of March. Regardless of the funding commitment to the overall event, without positive cashflow we were being strangled.
Right across the month and into May we actively sought to source solutions.
Only a week ago we had a potential answer on the table which not only resolved the issue but secured the event into the future.
Unfortunately this, and other avenues, have failed to materialise and we have reached a point where we can no longer proceed in good faith.
We would like to both thank, and apologise to, the teams, stakeholders, authorities, communities, and individuals whove put so much faith into this plan over the past year.
We can assure you that we left no stone unturned in our attempts to resolve this issue, but we must now act prudently and that means cancelling the event when we are unable to guarantee that we can continue to operate.
Race teams who had paid entry fees will be refunded.
The race was supposed to start with in-harbour racing on a course in Cork Harbour on June 12 before embarking on a race along the south and west coast, with stop overs and shore-based festivals planned in Dingle, Galway, Killybegs, Belfast, and Dublin.
Cork County Council was working with the race organisers to showcase Cork Harbour and the countys spectacular coastline.
The Haven charity had also been lined up as the charity partner.
During his contribution to the committee, Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation chief David Hall was speaking about the lack of supply of new homes when he spoke about Mr Noonan.
Fine Gael deputies objected to the remark and the disagreement led one TD to walk out.
Mr Hall had been answering questions from AAA-PBP TD Ruth Coppinger when he criticised Mr Noonan.
Ms Coppinger referred to Mr Noonans previous comments to the committee where he said that vultures provide a very good service in the ecology through cleaning up dead animals that are littered across the landscape.
She noted that Mr Noonan has had as many as eight meetings with such funds. Responding to Ms Coppinger, Mr Hall said: Minister Noonan falls into the vulture lover category.
Fine Gael TDs Catherine Byrne and Bernard Durkan objected to the description of Mr Noonan as being favourable to the so-called vulture funds that have bought Irish properties and loan books and demanded that the record be corrected.
Chairman, a reference was made to the fact that the Minister for Finance was a vulture-fund lover. I object to that and I want it corrected, said Mr Durkan.
He argued that it was not fair to make such references to Mr Noonan when he was not there to defend himself and that the issues cant be left in the ether.
Ms Byrne, TD for Dublin South Central, weighed in, calling for Mr Hall to withdraw his comments.
I support what Deputy Durkan said. I believe it is wrong for anybody to come to the committee and make accusations about an individual, a minister or a deputy, she said.
I am disappointed that Mr Hall has decided to use this opportunity on live television to make a statement about the minister. It is wrong and it should be withdrawn.
Ms Byrne walked out of the committee room after saying she was disappointed with the remarks.
Mr Hall was addressing the committee on the problem of mortgage arrears as part of its deliberations on the housing crisis. Mr Hall said the country faces a homelessness catastrophe unless there is a radical solution to help 100,000 people living in households that are in arrears.
The committee also heard from Lorcan OConnor, the head of the States Insolvency Service. Given the scale of the crisis, Mr OConnor was pressed as to why the numbers using the service have been so low.
Mr OConnor said the ISI has helped more than 1,000 people do new personal insolvency arrangements and in excess of 3,000 people overall. He said the service has in some cases saved lives.
For those people, it has been hugely valuable, he said. Much of the feedback we have received is that it is life-changing or has even saved lives in some cases because we are dealing with such a sensitive subject.
I would, however, have expected the numbers to be higher than they are, given what we have come through in recent years. Ours is a new organisation and it takes time for people to become familiar with the solutions but we do need to work on communications.
The 68-year-old was arrested around tea-time yesterday in the Gurranabraher area and detained under the provisions of Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.
He was taken to Gurranabraher Garda Station for questioning, where a 29-year-old man, arrested shortly after Sundays shooting, was still being quizzed by detectives.
Gardai were also consulting with the DPP late last night about whether to charge or release that 29-year-old whose period of detention was due to expire around 2am.
Earlier, a 22-year-old woman, who had also been arrested after the shooting, was released from the Bridewell Garda Station without charge. A file is being prepared for the DPP.
Meanwhile, Bishop of Cork, John Buckley, said he was very concerned that Ms Sheehan, 21, a completely innocent person, had been caught up in the violence. And he called for people to surrender illegal weapons to gardai.
Gun crime is the most serious development in society today, he told TV3 News.
Weve seen the destruction, sorrow, and the trouble it has created in other cities. We dont want the violence endemic in other cities to spread to Cork.
Its a very peaceful city with just a few isolated incidents during the past few years.
Ms Sheehan remains in CUH but is expected to make a full recovery.
More than 40 gardai are working on the investigation, which is being overseen by Superintendent Con Cadogan.
The team has called to more than 200 homes and completed 600 questionnaires following extensive door-to-door inquiries in and around the Hollywood estate area of Hollyhill.
CCTV footage is also being collected.
Threatening Facebook messages posted in the hours before the shooting also form part of the extensive Garda probe.
A senior social worker with Tusla made the disclosure at a family law court about a pupil who was born male.
The childs class teacher and school principal have raised concerns.
The childs father has herself completed a transitioning process and now goes under a female name.
In evidence at the court, the social worker said: The boys teacher is very concerned about the transgender process he is going through at the moment.
He has stated he wants to become a girl and he likes to be referred to as ***** [girls name].
The witness told the court the teachers are very concerned as to the reasons why the child thinks they may be transgender.
This area needs further investigation, the witness told the court.
The father contradicted the evidence of the senior social worker in the court and said the school is very supportive of the child during the transition.
The childs mother told the court they will come out as a girl in the next two weeks and be fully changed and fully transitioned.
No age was provided for the child in court.
The father told the court: As he is transgender, he has a very high pressure on his mental health of course. Since he was four or five, he was asking why he was not a girl, why he is a boy and why couldnt he change.
The evidence in relation to the childs transitioning process was provided as background material on the child where Tusla secured a Supervision Order for three months for the child and their siblings in respect of the horrendous living conditions they endure at their home.
Communications manager with Transgender Equality Network Ireland (Teni), Gordon Grehan, said yesterday that Teni has received increased calls from primary schools or parents of primary school children.
However, he said the number of calls make up quite a small number of contacts received.
He said there is no medical intervention for pre-pubescent children at all.
There is a medical transition pathway for transgender people over 18 but, for children, there isnt whatsoever, said Mr Grehan.
There is a myth that exists of children going through operations changing gender which does not happen whatsoever.
Mr Grehan said the only kind of intervention for pre-pubescent children is if they decide to dress in the opposite gender, use pronouns of a different gender, or change their name to a name from the opposite gender.
Mr Grehan said: If a parent or a school is calling and it has got to a level of more than play or kids exploring, and if a child is consistent, persistent and insistent about their gender identity, then really we would want to listen to them.
When you talk to older trans people, they will say that they were very aware that they felt different and that their gender identity didnt match their outward appearance from a very, very young age.
We are placed 25th out of 50 slipping from 24th a year ago and 20th in 2013 in the latest ranking of national higher education systems by QS.
It takes into account the overall placement of each nations universities in the QS world university rankings, but also the ranking of the top college in every country; the number of available places in top 500 universities relative to population; and government spending and its effectiveness in higher education.
While Trinity College Dublin remains the only Irish institution in the QS Top 100, it slipped last September from 71st to 78th. However, Irelands corresponding score on the flagship ranking remains at 17th in the national systems table published today.
There were mixed fortunes for other colleges last autumn but six are in the top 700 on the QS World University Rankings, and the corresponding system measure for the national system strength places Ireland 25th.
On the access measure, Ireland moved up from 20th to 16th, possibly reflecting the move of University of Limerick into the QS top 500. It could also, however, be a result of continued increases in the numbers of students being accepted into third-level colleges in response to growing school-leaver numbers.
While such moves may improve placement in rankings like this, higher education chiefs have cautioned about their ability to cater for more students due to continued budget constraints.
On this question, Irelands system is ranked 33rd of the 50 countries compared, unchanged from the previous year but improved from 36th in the previous two years.
The question of public spending in the sector is about to come into focus shortly, with plans to have the report of the Peter Cassells-chaired expert group on higher education funding reviewed by an Oireachtas committee.
The new QS ranking is topped by the United States, followed by Britain, Germany, Australia, and Canada, all maintaining the same positions as a year ago.
And plans announced two years ago to replace the vessel have been put on hold, it has emerged.
The French ferry and holiday company confirmed last night that the Pont-Avens scheduled sailing on Friday from Rosscoff to Cork, and its Saturday sailing from Cork to Rosscoff have both been cancelled.
They are among several Pont-Aven sailings between Ireland and England to France and Spain, which have been cancelled this week after the vessel developed propeller problems.
A Brittany Ferries spokesperson said: Brittany Ferries is endeavouring to contact all affected passengers as soon as possible with advice and available options.
Passengers are being asked to be patient as there may be difficulty in contacting Brittany Ferries due to the volume of calls.
The spokesperson encouraged passengers to check the company website for sailing updates.
The company apologises to all passengers for the inconvenience this will cause to journeys, she said.
The Pont-Aven, Brittany Ferries flagship vessel, entered service in 2004.
With a capacity to carry up to 2,400 passengers and 650 cars, it is the largest vessel in its cruise ferry fleet, plying routes between Ireland and England to ports in France and Spain, regularly serving Cork, Plymouth, Roscoff, and Santander.
It was sailing between Cork and France last weekend when it developed technical problems, and was towed into Brest.
A company spokesman described it as an isolated technical problem with the the ships propeller shaft. It has now been dry-docked in France for repairs.
It is expected to be back in service by May 26.
However, the company has also confirmed that plans announced in January 2014 to order a 270m gas-powered eco-friendly low-emissions 12-deck, 2,474-passenger vessel to replace Pont-Aven on the Cork to Roscoff route from spring 2017, have been put on hold.
However, Brittany Ferries said it was forced to suspend its plans for the new vessel as for financial reasons.
As an alternative, Brittany Ferries recently completed a major 80m project to retrofit its six-strong ferry fleet, including the Pont-Aven, with exhaust gas cleaning systems, or scrubbers, she said.
SAN FRANCISCOA big contingent from TitanMen is heading to Chicago for Memorial Day weekend to celebrate the Grabby Awards, Mr. International Leather contest and the release of Titan's leather film Rough Trade. Fans can meet TitanMen Jesse Jackman, Dallas Steele, David Benjamin, Nick Prescott, Dirk Caber and Adam Ramzi along with director Jasun Mark for this long weekend of revelry.
The men of Titan will kick things off at Steamworks Baths in Chicago on Friday, May 27th at 9 p.m. for the #Jailbreak party. Jailbreak, starring Jesse Jackman, is nominated for the Steamworks Fan Favorite and Best Videography at this years Grabby Awards. The party will be followed by a live show featuring Dirk Caber and Nick Prescott at 11 p.m.
On Saturday, May 28, the men of Rough Trade will appear live at the Rough Trade Gear booth in the International Mr. Leather Mart, which is open to the public. Fans can meet these leather daddy stars in person as they officially release the Rough Trade DVD. Nick Prescott and Adam Ramzi will appear 11 a.m.-2 p.m.; Jesse Jackman and Dirk Caber will be at the booth noon-4 p.m.; and Dallas Steele and David Benjamin hold down the fort from 2-5 p.m.
Later that night, the men of Titan Media will be front and center at the 2016 Grabby Awards show. Co-hosting the show will be TitanMen exclusive and multi-nominated performer Dallas Steele. The TitanMen brand received 18 Grabby Award nominations, making it the most nominated single studio brand in the 2016 Grabby Awards. TitanMen exclusive performers received an additional 13 nominations, bringing the studios combined Grabby Award nominations to 31.
Presented by Grab magazine for more than 20 years, the Grabbys is the longest-running gay adult video awards show. This years awards ceremony will be held at the Metro Theater on May 28. For tickets, additional information and a complete list of nominations, visit Grabbys.com.
Following the awards show, Titan Media will host the official Rough Trade after-after party at Touche bar, starting at midnight. Fans will want to catch a special show at 1 a.m. featuring Dallas Steele, David Benjamin and Adam Ramzi. The Rough Trade movie will be playing live, along with other classic filthy TitanMen leather and fetish movies all night long. And there will be raffles and prizes from RoughTradeGear.com.
Those still standing on Sunday can join TitanMan David Benjamin at 11 a.m. when he co-hosts the post Grabby recovery brunch along with Honey West at the North End bar. There will be interviews with Grabby winners, giveaways and drink specials.
David Byrne, aged 33, from Raleigh Square in Crumlin, was shot and killed at the Regency Hotel on 6 February.
The two men arrested, aged 59 and 38, are being detained at Swords and Clontarf Garda Stations respectively under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2007.
IN the early hours, Taoiseach Enda Kenny met with a receptive audience who rejoice at Irelands escape from austerity and how it remains the best small country in the world to do business.
Its just a pity for him that, as with almost all his successful public appearances these days, no one in the room is eligible to vote here.
As the Fine Gael leader is lauded by Irish Americans while taking in the sights and sounds of Washington DCs 1916 commemoration events today, he will no doubt be thinking of the contradiction his position as Taoiseach now represents.
From Brussels to Berlin and in the US where he spoke late last night, Mr Kenny is coveted abroad by politicians and economists who play up the Irish recovery as proof you can work your way out of a recession.
But back home, he is criticised as a lame duck leader in a lame duck government most believe will be shot out of the sky by the time the next hunting season comes around, and who provokes outrage at the mere hint he will remain in power for a full-term.
Loved abroad not so much here. Given the all politics is local mantra, it is hardly a situation that best suits his needs.
At the Kennedy Center in Washington DC in the early hours of this morning, Mr Kenny was guest of honour at the opening night of the Ireland 100 Festival to highlight this nations cultural achievements.
Enda Kenny: I intend to serve full term as Taoiseach https://t.co/dgmmSIgIos pic.twitter.com/Pw1Rk0cqz0 Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) May 16, 2016
Sitting beside him at the black-tie event was US vice president Joe Biden, who said at the recent St Patricks Day festivities in March that Mr Kenny was doing a hell of a job and would get 80% of the vote if he ran in the US.
In front of him was an array of invited guests hanging on his every word, while today at a tree-planting ceremony on the US Capitol Grounds to mark the 1916 centenary and in the House of Representatives a similar scene will take place.
Other than the historical reasons of 100 years ago, there is a clear reason for the cead mile failte which is equally apparent when Mr Kenny travels to EU gatherings: outside of Ireland, the top-line recovery figures over the past five years are eye-catching.
The country which faced economic oblivion just a few short years ago is now the subject of 5.1% Central Bank growth projections for this year, and is among the fastest-growing economies in the EU.
Unemployment levels which stood just shy of 15% in 2010 the worst rate since the early 1990s have now been practically halved to just over 8%. And, after years of austerity, the era of savage cutbacks has at least officially ended with the departure of the Troika.
As they ham up the Irish miracle you can almost hear well-wishers from abroad whispering keep the recovery going to Mr Kenny as they take turns to pat him on the back. But that phrase, as the Fine Gael leader now knows all too well, is the entire problem.
It might look like a juggernaut of a recovery abroad, but back home problems hidden from outside eyes mean the wheels are still at risk of coming off:
Hospital waiting lists are at an all-time high, with more than 490,000 people one in nine of the entire population forced to endure excessive waiting times for outpatient, inpatient, and day services.
The housing crisis is resulting in a shocking 85 families becoming homeless every month, according to homeless services and advocacy group Focus Ireland, with 912 families and 1,881 children living in emergency accommodation at the start of March.
And thats without even mentioning the repeated concerns that rural Ireland parts of which remain ravaged by last winters devastating floods is being ignored by a two-tier recovery focussed only on Dublin.
Other than the man Mr Kenny said on Monday that he recently met who thanked me for volunteering to run our country; the infamous two pints man, or men given the Taoiseach told the tale twice; and a homeless person he said last autumn he met near the Dail; the Fine Gael leader has fewer well-wishers here.
In short, many people have yet to see any sight of an end to austerity an end that is lauded outside of Ireland.
This reason alone explains the contradiction between the Taoiseachs image abroad and the one at home, and underlines why despite the fist-thumping success of finally forming an already shaky government earlier this month, Mr Kennys approval ratings are slumping fast.
According to the latest Red C/Paddy Power poll for RTE Radio Ones Today with Sean ORourke last Friday, just 36% of people want the Taoiseach to be... well, the Taoiseach, with 6% saying they would even prefer Donald Trump to the Mayo man.
More than half the population (52%) do not have confidence in his government to run the country, including 20% of Fine Gael voters; while 25% of people said they believe Mr Kenny should step down now; with just one in four saying he should remain for a full second term in office.
Today in Washington DC the image of Mr Kenny, the saviour of the old country, will continue to be apparent, with the shiny surface level image of the Irish recovery glimmering in the summer sun. But a closer inspection of rural and urban communities decimated by the recession here, reveals the dents in that same surface caused by a near decade of crisis.
The Taoiseach is undoubtedly doing his best to bring the recovery to all households, but for many, his focus on the companies and jobs vital to doing so has so far failed to see them feel any real end of austerity in their wallets.
Loved abroad, he is at times not at all as popular at home, a fact underlined on Monday after his latest suggestion he plans to stay a full term in power.
So you might understand why Mr Kenny joked to an audience during the March St Patricks Day trip at the height of the government formation crisis: Bejaysus, its a pity I have to go back to Ireland and face what I have to face back there.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the deadliest bombing of the day, which took place in Baghdads north-eastern Shaab neighbourhood where at least 34 people were killed and 75 injured.
In that attack, a roadside bomb first exploded outside the concrete blast walls surrounding an open-air market, followed by a suicide bomber who blew himself up as people gathered to help the victims of the first explosion.
IS said in an online statement that the attack was carried out by an Iraqi who targeted members of Shiite militias.
Later, a parked car bomb struck a fruit and vegetable market in the Shiite-dominated neighbourhood of Dora, in southern Baghdad, killing eight people and injuring 22.
In Baghdads sprawling eastern Shiite district of Sadr City, a suicide car bombing hit a crowded outdoor market, killing 18 people and wounding 35.
In north-east Baghdad, a suicide bomber targeted a restaurant in the Habibiya neighbourhood, killing nine and injuring 18.
The bombings are the latest in a wave of attacks in Baghdad and surrounding areas that have left more than 200 dead over the past week.
The attacks, many claimed by IS, come as the group has lost significant chunks of territory to Iraqi ground forces over the past year.
As the IS militants are pushed back along front lines, the group is increasingly turning to insurgency-style attacks to detract from their losses, Iraqi and coalition officials say. Iraq is also in the midst of a political crisis that has gridlocked the countrys government.
While Iraqi security officials say they are concerned that political instability is distracting from the fight against IS, some analysts say the extremist group is launching the attacks at a time of political crisis in an attempt to further delegitimise the Iraqi government.
Commercial and public places in Shiite-dominated areas are among the most frequent targets for the Sunni militants seeking to undermine Iraqi government efforts to maintain security inside the capital.
Since the summer of 2014, IS has controlled significant areas in northern and western Iraq, including the countrys second-largest city of Mosul.
Francis said in an interview with French Catholic daily La Croix that a resignation of Cardinal Philippe Barbarin would be a mistake, an imprudence.
Based on the information I have, I think in Lyon, Cardinal Barbarin has taken the necessary measures and has taken things well in hand, the pope said. He is a brave and creative man, a missionary.
Francis said we must now wait for the result of the proceedings before the civil courts, but resigning now would amount to admitting guilt.
Barbarin, one of the most high-ranking officials in the French Catholic Church, has been targetted by two investigations for not reporting cases of child abuses by priests to judicial authorities.
The cardinal has denied any cover-ups, but acknowledged some mistakes in handling and appointing some priests last month. Other church officials have been also investigated.
In the interview, Francis said that regarding cases of paedophile priests in general, for the church, there can be no prescription and that tolerance must be zero.
Through these abuses, a priest, who is designed to drive a child to God, is destroying him. He spreads evil, resentment, pain, the pope said.
Francis gave the one-hour interview to two La Croixs journalists at his residence in the Vatican on May 9. The Pope was speaking in Italian.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis criticised Western powers for trying to export their own brand of democracy to countries such as Iraq and Libya without respecting indigenous political cultures.
Francis also said Europe should better integrate migrants and praised the election of the new Muslim mayor of London as an example of where this had been successful.
Faced with current Islamist terrorism, we should question the way a model of democracy that was too Western was exported to countries where there was a strong power, as in Iraq, or Libya, where there was a tribal structure, he said.
We cannot advance without taking these cultures into account, the pope said.
Francis has frequently attacked what he calls cultural colonialism, in which Western countries seek to impose their values on developing ones in return for financial aid.
The pope also that ghettoising migrants was not only wrong but misguided in the fight against terrorism.
He cited the militant attacks in Brussels in March when three suicide bombers killed 32 people, in which the terrorists were Belgians, children of migrants, but they came from a ghetto.
The continued presence in the race of Bernie Sanders who remains a long-shot to upset Clinton and win the Democratic nomination is prompting concerns among her allies that he will damage her ability to take on Trump and hurt the Democrat in the autumn.
But supporters of Sanders shrug off that worry, arguing Trump is such a flawed candidate that Clinton will easily defeat him if she faces him in the November 8 election.
The United States and Russia will help explore who is responsible for ceasefire violations, German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said, after the talks in Vienna aiming to revive the February cessation of hostilities.
The United States and Russia said they are ready to make progress on the technical level to be able to check who is (responsible) for breaking the ceasefire, the minister told reporters.
The talks also authorised air drops to improve the humanitarian situation, he added.
Officials and diplomats had said the talks, including the United States, Russia, Iran, European and Middle East powers, were unlikely to lead to decisions that could change the course of the five-year war that has killed more than 250,000 people.
A surge in bloodshed in Aleppo, Syrias largest city before the war, wrecked the partial cessation of hostilities sponsored by Washington and Moscow, which had allowed UN-brokered indirect talks that included the warring sides to take place in Geneva.
Those talks collapsed last month after the opposition walked out due to a surge in bloodshed. UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura had hoped to launch a new round of peace talks between the two sides by the end of May.
After yesterdays meetings, de Mistura said no decision had been taken yet on the next round, but we cannot wait too long.
Washington insists Assad must go but the president, backed by Moscow and Tehran, is fighting for territory and refuses to step down.
The UN said this month that Syrias government, which has been on the front foot in the war since its ally Russia intervened last year, was refusing UN demands to deliver aid to hundreds of thousands of people.
Describing the talks as serious and engaged, another Western diplomat said one of the key issues was stopping the violence in a way which successfully separated al-Nusra Front, al Qaedas wing in Syria, from other opposition fighters.
Al-Nusra, along with Islamic State, is not party to the ceasefire.
Police beat some demonstrators with batons and kicked others after firing teargas and water cannon to disperse a crowd outside the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
Some demonstrators threw stones at police.
The US deplores the excessive use of force by the Kenyan security services and the violence around the demonstrations, US ambassador Robert Godec said.
We welcome announcements by Kenyan authorities that all reports of the excessive use of force will be investigated.
Kenya does not hold its next presidential and parliamentary polls until August 2017, but politicians are already trying to galvanise their supporters.
More than 1,200 people died after an election in 2007.
A 2013 election passed peacefully, although the opposition disputed the result and said the commission mishandled the voting. It accepted a court ruling that rejected the challenge.
The commission oversees elections in Kenya, including ensuring voter lists are up to date and supervising counting.
Burma Abbot of Yay Pu Monastery Found Guilty of Forestry Offense
A court sentences U Eindaka from Mandalay Divisions Mogok to pay a 20,000 kyats fine or spend three months in prison under Burmas Forestry Law.
PYIN OO LWIN, Mandalay Division A court here has ordered U Eindaka from Mandalay Divisions Mogok Township to pay a 20,000 kyats fine (US$17) or spend three months in prison under Burmas Forestry Law, with the fine paid by his supporters following the verdict on Wednesday.
U Eindaka, the abbot of the Yay Pu Monastery in Mogok widely known as Yay Pu Sayadaw, was arrested in June of last year, charged with multiple counts in connection with his attempt to restore the monastery and rebuild an old pagoda inside the buildings compound. The court ruled Wednesday that he had run afoul of the Forestry Law by illegally possessing timber for the monastery renovation.
Although the court found Sayadaw guilty of illegally possessing the timber piled at his monastery, the court decided to give him the lightest sentence, said the judge of the Pyin Oo Lwin Township Court, at the abbots hearing on Wednesday.
Faced with the choice, U Eindaka had intended to take the prison sentence.
I will not pay a fine because Im not guilty, he told supporters outside the courthouse. I have to say, the judicial system of our country is still not reforming.
However, supporters of the abbot collected enough money to pay the fine.
We dont want our Sayadaw to be in prison anymore. Although he didnt want to pay the fine, we will provide it because we want his freedom, said Soe Htay, one such supporter.
U Eindaka was initially also charged with religious defamation and of an offense under Burmas Mining Law, the latter for digging up earth around the area where he intended to rebuild the pagoda. He was defrocked as a result of the charges.
In April, the court dropped the religious defamation charge as part of a broader presidential amnesty.
His trial for the remaining Mining Law offense will continue on Thursday at the Pyin Oo Lwin District Court.
Burma Cronies Disappointed As US Sanctions Extended
Despite high hopes for lifting sanctions, several top Burmese businessmen are disappointed after remaining on the US Specially Designated Nationals list.
RANGOON In wake of the extension of most of the US sanctions on Burma on Tuesday, several cronies have remained on the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, despite the expectation that they would be removed.
Sanctioned businessman Khin Shwe, chairman of the Zay Kabar Group of companies, told The Irrawaddy, Some people have suggested that I hire a lawyer, but this is an American policy matter, so I have decided not to pursue the issue.
He said nine of the individuals on the SDN list believed they had a good chance of being removed, and, therefore, eight of them had hired lawyers to negotiate with the US Department of the Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Ultimately, their pleas fell on deaf earsall nine of the businessmen remained on the list.
I didnt participate in the arms trade or any other illegal businesses, so I dont care what they do, said Khin Shwe. After [the sanctions], many Burmese businesses went to China because they couldnt do business with the US.
The statement from OFAC said, To incentivize further democratic reforms and maintain pressure on targeted individuals and entities and the military, certain sanctions remain in place.
As such, OFAC identified as blocked and added to the SDN List six companies that are owned 50 percent or more by Steven Law or Asia World Co. Ltd., read the statement.
In December 2015, the US temporarily eased sanctions on Asia World Company, by extending a six-month waiver for use of Rangoons Asia World Port by American companies. The owner of Asia World, Steven Law (also known as Htun Myint Naing), is linked to the illicit drug trade through his father, Lo Hsing Han, a notorious drug kingpin who died in 2013.
Another businessman, Pepsi Thein Tun, chairman of Tun Foundation Bank and MGS Distribution, told The Irrawaddy that it is significant that the US lifted the ban on seven state-owned business enterprises, but it seemed the US had not changed its policy toward certain individuals.
People in Burma were expecting US assistance when the country became democratic, Thein Tun said. The economy can develop more quickly if they lift sanctions, but now the US has shown that it doesnt support us.
He also said that there remain some private firms that tried hard to be removed from the US sanctions list, but failed.
They were deliberately trying to get the [sanctions] lifted, said Thein Tun. But now, the US is still sanctioning them.
The US sanctions prevent Burma from developing our businesses, he added.
Khin Shwe remarked that the American governments behavior in this regard has been very different from that of some of its allies.
[The US] is not like Japan, Khin Shwe said. They dont help us like Japan. They just pay lip service to the notion of helping Burma.
He also said that the US should support Aung San Suu Kyis government in order to drive economic growth.
If Daw Aung San Suu Kyi fails to deliver economic growth due to the US sanctions, she will face serious problems and the Burma Army might be back, he said. The US should take a broader view and consider long-term issues.
Another blacklisted businessman, Zaw Zaw, CEO of Max Myanmar Holding Co. Ltd., also voiced disappointment at remaining on the SDN list.
Burmese companies that run accountable businesses and are not involved in land confiscation issues should be removed from the sanction list, he said. These companies help serve the people of Burma.
I will keep working to follow [the US] rules and serve the people of Myanmar, said Zaw Zaw.
Kristine Gould, the head of PACRIM Research Associates, an American research firm that studies Burma, told The Irrawaddy that individuals on the SDN list must do more to show the OFAC they are not involved in improper business deals and that they have taken steps to correct the behavior that initially led to their inclusion on the list.
In Zaw Zaws case, he has to prove that he is no longer receiving preferential treatment from the Myanmar Army and that he isnt involved in improper business deals, land grabbing, and other human rights abuses, said Gould.
Adam Szubin, Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said in the statement that Burma had reached an historic milestone over the last year by holding competitive elections and peacefully transitioning to a democratically elected government.
Our actions today demonstrate our strong support for this political and economic progress while continuing to pressure designated persons in Burma to change their behavior, wrote Szubin.
Seven state-owned enterprises and three state-owned banks were removed from the SDN, giving the institutions the right to engage in commercial activities with US businesspeople and banking institutions.
The seven state-owned enterprises are: Myanmar Timber Enterprise, Myanmar Pearl Enterprise, Myanmar Gem Enterprise, No. 1 Mining Enterprise, No. 2 Mining Enterprise, No. 3 Mining Enterprise, and the Cooperative Export-Import Enterprise. The three state-owned banks are Myanma Economic Bank, Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank, and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank.
Burma Labor Rights Protestors Forcibly Detained Near Naypyidaw
Police detain labor rights protestors marching from Sagaing Division to Naypyidaw, three weeks into the march and just miles outside of the capital.
NAYPYIDAW Police in Tatkon Township forcibly detained labor rights protestors marching from Sagaing Division to Naypyidaw, three weeks into the march and just miles outside the capital.
About 100 workers from a plywood factory in the Sagaing Industrial Zone joined the march to the capital in late April, following a failure to negotiate with the company after the dismissal of over 100 employees in February.
Police put up barriers outside Tatkon Township, which is part of the greater Naypyidaw Union Territory, where workers agreed to talk to Myo Aung, chairman of the Naypyidaw Council. Protestors waited for an hour and a half but the chairman never showed up.
The chairman later sent a message saying he would meet with five representatives, but protestors insisted they would all meet with him, a demand township administrators denied.
Around 1 p.m., police removed the barriers and protestors continued their march. Police encircled the group and proceeded to forcibly detain protestors using police shields.
One protestor responded, It is totally unacceptable for the government we voted for to arrest us now, adding, I wish I had cut [off] my pinky, in reference to the ink that was put on peoples fingers after they voted in the landmark 2015 election.
Tatkon Township administrator Yi Mon said that legal action would be taken against protest leaders but it is likely that women, as well as elderly or sick protestors, would be released.
The higher level authorities will release them and arrange to send some of them back home, he said, adding, We will take action against the rest in line with the law. We are discussing whether or not to sue them.
A total of 76 protestors were detained and three detainees have been hospitalized, according to Yi Mon.
Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
Burma Rangoon Mayor Dismisses YCDC Members, Prepares for City Election
The Rangoon mayor has dismissed Yangon City Development Committee members after less than 18 months in office, and amended the election by-law.
RANGOON The mayor of Rangoon informed reporters on Wednesday that by-laws have been amended to allow the terms of serving members of the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) to be terminated after less than 18 months in office.
The changes will also allow members of political parties to stand as candidates in upcoming city elections.
A new committee will be soon formed to expedite the elections, Mayor Maung Maung Soe told reporters at his Rangoon office. The Rangoon Division Chief Minister and other high-ranking bureaucrats are to appoint four new executive committee members to the YCDC, who will work closely with the mayor to hold the municipal election in a manner that is neutral and cost-effective.
The mayor declined to comment on the specifics of the municipal election, and dismissed the more probing questions from reporters.
Earlier this month, the impending YCDC election had faced postponement due to the expressed intention of the Rangoon Division Chief Minister, U Phyo Min Thein, to amend the relevant electoral law to expand voting rights beyond heads-of-households. This has yet to be carried out, and the mayor did not mention the initiative, leaving it unclear whether the YCDC election will meet the critical international standard of universal adult franchise.
The mayors announcement comes after disaffection among the YCDCs membership spilled over into public statements this week. Elected members rejected an order from Rangoons mayor to alter the YCDC electoral by-law as a means of removing them from their positions before their terms had formally concluded. However, the unelected mayor has overruled their objections.
Rangoon Mayor Maung Maung Soe, who was appointed to his post last month by President Htin Kyaw, chairs the YCDC, the citys municipal authority since 1990, which is nominally independent of the divisional government and other levels of Burmas administration.
The YCDC currently has 115 elected committee members, including four individuals representing four districts of the commercial capital who serve within the YCDCs executive committee. All were voted in during 2014s citywide electionthe first in more than 60 years but which, similar to village tract and ward elections staged earlier this year, only permitted heads-of-households to vote.
The executive committee of the YCDC is made up of nine members, including and led by the mayor. Until Monday, the group included four members appointed by the previous governmentall with military backgroundsand four elected in the 2014 poll.
Three of the appointed members resigned on Tuesday; their terms had been over since March 31 when the previous government had stepped down.
A statement was issued on Tuesday with the signature of the Rangoon Division Chief Minister, declaring that the terms of both elected and appointed YCDC members had been completedin accordance with the amendment of Article 64 of the YCDC electoral by-law. The article formerly allowed serving members to work until the day prior to newly elected members taking their oaths.
The by-law has been changed. Therefore, all committee members are automatically dismissed. Its not just about him, said the mayor, referring to Khin Hlaingan executive member who publicly complained of his looming dismissal this week with other YCDC members.
I was really upset when they posted on Facebook that the three elected members [Khin Hlaing and his associates on the executive committee] should now control the municipality. Its like a coup, said the mayor.
In response to the amendment of the YCDC electoral by-law, Khin Hlaing and two other elected YCDC members held a press conference at Rangoons City Hall on Tuesday. A small confrontation with security guards took place beforehand, indicative of how tense the dispute within the YCDC had become. Khin Hlaing and his associates claimed that the mayor and chief ministers had attempted to remove all members without informing them.
The mayor told reporters that Article 64 of the YCDC electoral by-law contravened the principal law governing the YCDC. This prompted him to submit a proposal to amend the by-law to the Rangoon chief minister.
[The provisions of] the by-law should not supersede the main law, said the mayor.
Article 83, barring political party members from contesting in municipal elections, has also been changed to allow for their participation. The mayor claimed that the earlier prohibition was inappropriate for the current situation, because now many people are not non-partisan.
Soe Tun, chairman of the Myanmar Farmers Association and a serving member of the YCDC, wrote a Facebook post on Wednesday morning claiming that YCDC members had expected their terms in office to extend to five years from their 2014 election date, and were now unexpectedly being made to quit. This has caused considerable dissatisfaction, the Facebook post continued, because the elected members have worked in their posts for barely one and a half years, although the governments term is five years.
Soe Tun urged to the government to summon all elected members to explain the situation, and to set a date for the upcoming YCDC election.
Khin Maung Tint, an elected YCDC member, told The Irrawaddy that he received the letter ordering his dismissal today, and was busy clearing his documents from the office. He claimed that he and his colleagues had done their best to serve the public during the course of their short term, working honestly and attempting to root out bribery within the institution.
I dont want to say who was right or wrong, Khin Maung Tint said in reference to the recent actions of the mayor and chief minister. Decide it for yourself. We respect the law. We are leaving now.
Burma Testimony in Double Rape-Murder of Kachin Teachers Faces Obstacles
The testimony of several senior army officers implicated in the double rape-murder of two Kachin teachers has not proceeded as planned, sources say.
RANGOON The testimony of several senior army officers implicated in the double rape-murder of two Kachin teachers did not proceed as planned on Wednesday, sources say.
Three officers, including Capt. Min Twin and Maj Aung Phyo Myint, arrived at a police station in Shan States Lashio Township at around 10 a.m. to testify. But Kachin community leaders were surprised to discover that only police officers could directly question the soldiers.
The army officers had told us that we could start our questioning. But once we tried to do this, they told us that we couldnt. Only police officers could. They would only let us write our questions down on paper for the police officers to ask, said Zau Raw, a leader from the Kachin Baptist Convention, an organization investigating the case.
We [Kachin community leaders] wanted to ask our questions directlyone-by-one and to each of the three officers testifying. But the police wouldnt allow it. So we told them that we wouldnt proceed if this was how the questioning was going to be done, Zau Raw added.
The police reportedly told the community leaders that they had to apply for permission from the Ministry of Defense and from the President in order to question military officers directly.
Some 40 army officers were asked by the Kachin Baptist Convention to provide testimony in the case, but the Burma Armywhich usually prefers to seek justice through military tribunalsonly allowed three of its officers to be questioned.
The bodies of the two ethnic Kachin teachersMaran Lu Ra and Tangbau Hkawn Nan Tsin, both 20 years oldwere found dead on Jan. 20 last year in northern Shan States Kaung Kha village. According to villagers, the area had recently been occupied by government forces, leading Kachin community leaders to suspect that members of Burma Army were involved in the murders.
Burma Thilawa SEZ Claimants Look to New Land-Grab Body
Locals living on land in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone hope a new government committee on land confiscation will help freeze the projects expansion.
RANGOON Locals living on land designated for the Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) southeast of Rangoon are hoping a new government committee on land confiscation will help freeze the projects implementation until lingering disputes over compensation are resolved.
In a statement this week, three villagers expecting to be impacted by phase two of the SEZs development urged the recently created Central Review Committee on Confiscated Farmlands and Other Lands to see to it that the affected populacenumbering 300 peopleis justly compensated in accordance with the law before expansion of the SEZ moves forward.
The statement was prompted by the National League for Democracy (NLD) governments formation of the committee earlier this month, according to Mya Hlaing, a farmer from the Thilawa area and one of the three co-signatories.
We have discussed an agreement [on compensation] but we havent reached it with the Thilawa SEZ Management Committee. And we are afraid that we will have a clash between us if they force works in the project area before we get compromise, Mya Hlaing said.
Mya Hlaing said he was not opposed to the plan in principle, but wanted to see it implemented lawfully. The first phase of the project, covering some 400 hectares, was beset by complaints from locals over compensation and resettlement arrangements of displaced villagers.
The project is for development and so, due to that developments impact on people, it needs to be developed with a plan including [issues related to] confiscation, resettlement, and life-insurance for those people, Mya Hlaing told The Irrawaddy.
Mya Hlaing expressed concern that the new government might not be adequately apprised of the villagers grievances, first aired under the previous government, which initiated the SEZ. He added that this weeks statement was intended to keep the issue on peoples radarnot merely the governments, but also to remind the media and average citizens of affected landholders outstanding concerns.
Aung Than, secretary of the Thilawa SEZ Management Committee, said phase two of the project was underway. He said the 700-hectare plans for phase two could be subject to change depending on conditions on the ground, and expected about 100 hectares to be developed by the end of 2016.
He said outstanding claims were being handled according to international law, citing the involvement of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in the project.
Business US Eases Sanctions on Burma in Bid to Promote Reforms
The United States eases some sanctions on Burma to support ongoing political reforms, but maintains most of its economic restrictions.
WASHINGTON The United States eased some sanctions on Burma on Tuesday to support ongoing political reforms, but maintained most of its economic restrictions in an effort to punish those Washington sees as hampering the countrys newly elected government.
US officials said they were easing sanctions to encourage the historic progress in Burma, including the formation of the countrys first democratically elected government in more than 50 years.
The moves included removing Burmese state-owned banks from a US blacklist and the lifting of sanctions against seven key state-owned timber and mining companies.
Officials said they hope the actions will eliminate key obstacles to trade in Burma. Potential investors in Burma have long complained that the blacklisting of some of the countrys biggest banks made business in the country too risky.
Major firms including General Electric, Western Union Co., Gap Inc., and Coca-Cola have made business forays into Burma, and the moves announced on Tuesday will ease their and other companies ability to operate there.
The US Treasury Department also extended indefinitely a sanctions exemption that allows banks to finance shipments coming in through Burmese ports, even though key terminals are controlled by blacklisted businessman Steven Law. The issue had forced Western banks to cut financing of trade into the country until the US Treasury granted a six-month exemption in December.
But the United States also strengthened measures targeting Law, who was blacklisted for alleged ties to Burmas military. Six companies owned 50 percent or more by Law or the company he controls, Asia World, were added to Treasurys blacklist.
The announcement highlighted a key challenge for Washington, as it seeks to both encourage political reform while maintaining pressure on those it sees as spoilers. More than 100 individuals and groups remain on Washingtons sanctions blacklist for Burma, making them radioactive to the international community and barring US banks or companies from making deals with them.
There can be a tension here, a senior administration official said on condition of anonymity. Some of these actors are key economic players.
Tuesdays announcement reflects what will be a stilted process of bringing back trade into Burma, said Peter Harrell, a former senior State Department official who was part of the first efforts to lift sanctions on Burma in 2012.
I think this is a significant step. I dont think its a massive step, said Harrell, now a senior adjunct fellow at the Center for a New American Security. The practical reality is if you cant do business with military-owned companies, chunks of the economy are going to remain off limits.
The US moves followed a landmark November election in which the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, the countrys Nobel Peace Prize laureate, won a landslide victory. A Constitution drafted by the countrys former military rulers bars her from becoming president.
US 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.
The sanctions decision, reported by Reuters on Friday, came before a visit to the Southeast Asian nation by Secretary of State John Kerry on May 22.
President Barack Obama, in a letter to Congress, said he was extending for one year the legal underpinnings for those sanctions that remain and provided his justification for doing so.
He said Burma had made significant progress on reforms since 2011, but that concerns persist regarding continued obstacles to full civilian control of the government, the ongoing conflict and human rights abuses in the country, particularly in ethnic minority areas, and military trade with North Korea.
Despite the sanctions lifting, Washington has deep concerns about alleged human rights violations in predominantly Buddhist Burma, particularly violence against the minority Rohingya Muslims, the officials said.
Reluctant to Re-Engage
The US actions on Tuesday removed three state-owned banks from the US blacklist, and authorized transactions with two other banks that are still blacklisted. The changes mean that most transactions with all Burmese financial institutions will be allowed as of May 18.
The adjustments we are making today are to try and facilitate a broadening of the aperture so that the investment thats intended can take place, a senior US official said.
Though the United States began unwinding sanctions on Burma years ago, US banks have been reluctant to re-engage with the country because of concerns that key sectors of the economy are still controlled by businessmen linked to the military. No US bank has yet opened a correspondent banking relationship with a Burmese bank, considered an important step in accessing the global financial system.
While the moves on Tuesday help pave the way for basic transactions necessary for investment, US citizens are still barred from striking deals with individuals and companies on the blacklist.
Businesses are going to look for more, said Erin Murphy, a former State Department official who worked on Burma sanctions issues. They still have to conduct extensive due diligence, not just on reputational concerns but also whether or not who theyre dealing with is blocked.
The United States is also easing restrictions on Americans living in Burma, allowing them to conduct everyday transactions like renting apartments.
The State Department also loosened its requirement that US companies investing in Burma disclose their dealings. Previously, companies had to make those disclosures if their total investment reached $500,000 or more. That cap has now been raised to $5 million.
The requirement was intended to promote greater transparency in Burma. But it had a chilling effect on companies wanting to avoid criticism from human rights and other groups for dealing with the country, said Murphy, now a principal at Inle Advisory Group, which advises businesses investing in Burma.
The $5 million cap will likely mean major corporations will still have to disclose their business there, but will allow for modest investments without the disclosures.
Top 5 Places Your Enterprise Data Is at Risk
Im seeing a recurring theme from Satya Nadellas Microsoft that showcases why it is generally better to use a well-skilled insider rather than an outsider to run a company. The well-positioned insider knows where a lot of the frustrating problems are and will make fixing them a priority. The outsider has to spend a great deal of time figuring out what is broken and often has to make changes before the analysis is even done, which initially does more harm than good. Given how much pressure is on an outsider to show results quickly, its a wonder he or she is ever successful in the long term.
So far, Nadella has turned Microsofts IT organization into a group that more closely mirrors other enterprise customers like Linux, Open Source, and Cloud Services. He has shifted Windows back into an OEM service, and, most recently, has doubled down on security, further correcting one of the oldest Microsoft mistakes.
Microsoft yesterday announced that it is expanding the preview program of Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection to a broader group of customers interested in testing and providing feedback.
Microsoft is showing that it has begun reversing the security mistake it made a long time ago.
Microsofts Security Mistake
One of the earliest and biggest mistakes Microsoft ever made was effectively outsourcing security on its platforms to third parties. Security is kind of boring, except when it goes wrong, and Im sure the thinking was that third parties could build a nice business doing what Microsoft really wasnt interested in doing.
However, Microsoft forgot a couple of things. First, the way to sell security products is to point out the security flaws in the things youre securing. This was particularly problematic because it not only created a bigger security problem in effect, the security firms were regularly reporting on how to breach Windows platform security but it created a brand trust problem. Increasingly, in order to sell their products, large companies were marketing the platforms flaws. It was like a safety belt vendor marketing just how unsafe the cars are that the safety belts are going into.
Folks typically dont like buying products they think are unsafe, so this was having an adverse impact on sales. But since the market was growing very rapidly and there was no competing operating system that didnt also have this problem, Microsoft didnt really see this as something that needed fixing, at least up until the early part of the 1990s.
Linux
Just because you dont see something, that doesnt mean its not there. Microsofts lack of focus on security, and the resulting marketing efforts that were negative toward Windows, created a huge competitive exposure.
Linux started to cut through the server market like a hot knife through butter, based largely on a combination of issues with transparency (tied to a then-new concept called open source) and security. PC sales were slowing as well and suddenly this security problem that was seemingly invisible before started looking like a disaster, and Microsoft began to aggressively fund security acquisitions and development.
Microsoft even changed its product release cycle. Instead of releasing a brand-new version of Windows, it had to release Windows XP, which basically addressed the massive security exposures in Windows 2000 and Windows Millennium (effectively killing the massively popular Windows 9x code base).
Things started moving from concern to near panic and Windows Defender came into being as a new integral part of Windows efforts to bring security in-house and directly address the security exposure that the platform policy had created.
Wrapping Up: Reflecting a Changing Reality
Yesterdays announcement from Microsoft reflects a changing reality in which no one product can keep a firm from being breached. The announcement moves focus from just the platform to the internal network.
This is called Post Breach protection and reflects a change that has been happening for some time in the security market (that no perimeter protection tool is adequate). There are simply too many ways to bypass security, ranging from rogue network elements to users who have been tricked into loading malware to disgruntled employees who breach on purpose.
For the old Microsoft, this would have been a problem for marketing to deal with. For the new Microsoft, it is a problem to solve. In the end, we should all be safer as a result and it once again showcases the importance of having a CEO who both knows the company and knows the technology.
Rob Enderle is President and Principal Analyst of the Enderle Group, a forward-looking emerging technology advisory firm. With over 30 years experience in emerging technologies, he has provided regional and global companies with guidance in how to better target customer needs; create new business opportunities; anticipate technology changes; select vendors and products; and present their products in the best possible light. Rob covers the technology industry broadly. Before founding the Enderle Group, Rob was the Senior Research Fellow for Forrester Research and the Giga Information Group, and held senior positions at IBM and ROLM. Follow Rob on Twitter @enderle, on Facebook and on Google+.
A few hours' ago marked one of Formula One's winning moments, as Max Verstappen stepped in ahead of his competitors to take the coveted title.
The 18-year old Dutch race car driver ultimately became this year's youngest winner in the Spanish Grand Prix, besting known competitors in the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari, according to ABC Australia. Not his first F1 race, though, still Verstappen went head-on with the race and took the title as well as the youngest winner from 4-time F1 champ Sebastian Vettel.
From Toro Rosso to the Red Bull team, Max Verstappen remained calm under pressure until the last leg of the competition. News of Verstappen's first win as part of Red Bull spread like wildfire following a two-stop strategy by the team, and having senior racer Daniel Ricciardo on a 3-stop plan.
Jos Verstappen, Max's father, couldn't hide his surprise and pride after he had stepped down as the young racer's manager in an announcement last weekend. "It's unbelievable, I can't believe this," said the senior Verstappen.
In a post-Formula 1 race interview with Placido Domingo, Max Verstappen, fellow winners Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel (both from the Ferrari team) each shared their thoughts all throughout the race.
When asked about his first F1 win, Verstappen said that the race was similar to an "endurance race" for him. He couldn't believe his luck during the last ten laps when he was already leading the race, and felt they all did what was best for their team.
Second placer Kimi Raikkonen, however, had a rough start during the competition. The oldest of the bunch, Raikkonen, said that he went wheelspin after releasing the clutch. He added being able to turn it around and regained momentum during Turn 3, and still ended not far behind. On the other hand, Sebastian Vettel claimed third place during the Spanish Grand Prix and thought it was an interesting turnout of events.
Driverless car technology is what the hype is about nowadays, and car maker Audi plans to make a new breakthrough with another version of an autonomous car. It is a car that learns from humans.
The German brand is currently testing what it calls "piloted driving" on a modified A7, according to The Audi Cars magazine. The new test car, called "Jack," has an on-board computer and operates not relying on a pre-programmed set of instructions. It observes how other cars (with human drivers) navigate the highway and adjusts accordingly to learn becoming a natural driver itself.
Audi's "Jack" has been giving way to trucks and allowing enough space prior to passing them, as well as moving closer to lane markings when switching. Just like any human driver.
The car maker is not a newbie into joining the self-driving car bandwagon, considering Tesla has pioneered the onslaught of electric cars on public roads a few years already. However, Audi tested a driverless TTS previously, which in turn left its mark at Pike's Peak. Also, the company has been doing driverless tests on U.S. city roads such as Las Vegas.
The research car also has a new feature aside from being "co-operative," according to an Audi media statement. On an expressway, "Jack" exhibits a more relaxed temperament in terms of other passenger cars wanting to get on the public road at the same time. Its navigation system could also look for another route and is able to thrive with other drivers without hassle.
"Jack's" piloted driving nature is mainly due to its zFAS, or central driver assistance controller chip. The super high-tech performance of these processors allow the Audi research car to make use of real-time sensing and to create a picture of its traffic situation.
Audi also intends to use the same kind of technology on the Audi A4, apart from the A7. The company also aims to introduce Car-to-Car communication between cars, driverless or not.
Magnetic storms observed in outer space could foretell what influences the weather these days. A NASA satellite was able to capture some of the waves, which seemed to interact with the magnetic fields of our planet and the Sun.
The NASA satellite Squadron not only recorded the space interactions but also measured how these interactions related to weather events from above the Earth's surface, according to Tech Times. In a study published last May 12 in the Science magazine, the new discovery could provide a deeper look into the correlation between forecasting weather events seen in space and in minimizing its destructive effects here on Earth.
However, in the field of telecommunications, the said event could distort satellite feeds. Called magnetic reconnection, different orientations between the Earth's magnetic fields and anywhere in space could result to a clash of fields and might end in an explosive reaction of some proportions.
Last 2015, NASA launched a study called Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission or MMS, and using the satellite Squadron, it was able to record observations similar to the crescent model simulation. The observations reflected those of a magnetic reconnection event.
In a Weather magazine post, a researcher stated relevant points as to how the electrons affect these electric fields and how it converts into flashes of magnetic energy. Roy Torbert of the Space Science Center for the University of NH-Durham, and co-author of the study said that the encounter provided a clear view of what electron physics and this reconnection energy can reveal.
The Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission has already taken more than 4,000 recorded journeys through the Earth's magnetic fields, and taking descriptive accounts with the interactions between particles and magnetic forces. To date, NASA continues to use its satellite technologies to explore beyond the recesses of the Earth's atmosphere by studying space environment in the hopes of finding newer and humanly useful discoveries.
Google is reportedly using autonomous technology in another way -- with the help of an AI and getting results that leave a lot to the imagination.
In a recent study paper, Google presented how it has been feeding the AI some ebooks, fiction mostly, says The Verge. Aside from these content being fiction, what better way to test its abilities than training it to analyze a bulk of romance-themed novels.
Guided by a neural network scheme, Google says the AI's ability to seemingly grasp conversational know-how in its scientifically unique way has offered a degree of success for the program. The downside, though, is that critics feel the results are unnatural and dramatic in nature.
Most of the lines mentioned in the Google paper that were fed to the AI were just simple sentences. When it was the AI's turn to provide appropriate responses, it went like these: "it was time to move on/he had to do it again/they were the only ones who mattered" and so forth. Sounds familiar? Right.
In a previous post by The Wall Street Journal, Google had announced that it was putting the AI's code out in public for free to use or do tweaks.
The computer program aptly dubbed Parsey McParseface has been designed to let machines understand English syntax. Alphabet Inc. and SyntaxNet (the software part of Parsey) collaborated on the project and now makes it available for free.
SyntaxNet product manager Dave Orr hopes that users would come to use the program instead of "reinventing the wheel." The company is also one of the latest AI software systems offered by known tech firms via open-source licensing, meaning no copyright infringement or patent rights risk whatsoever.
Almost named Boaty McBoatface, Google says Parsey is reportedly its most accurately successful program to date, even surpassing human linguists and indicates the software program nears "human-level performance."
In advance of its I/O conference starting today, Google has announced an update to YouTube for iOS that provides Cardboard VR support to any video.
According to Tech Crunch, since November, YouTube's Android app already had full Cardboard support, but iPhone users still could not enjoy the VR Cardboard experience on iOS. With this new Google release, iOS users can finally have access to this feature by tapping the icon in the top-right of any YouTube video.
YouTube essentially just became the largest iOS virtual reality content library, which is great news for mobile VR. Now anything on YouTube, even if it is not a 360 or VR video, can be viewed in VR mode.
With this new functionality viewers are basically watching any video on YouTube for iOS in theater mode. The Cardboard VR feature does not magically turn regular YouTube videos into 360-degree content, but 360 content gives an immersive experience and looks awesome in Cardboard mode.
On YouTube's 360 Videos channel, users can find a large collection of clips. There viewers can really take advantage of the Cardboard mode feature. The reason for this is the fact that the videos there were shot in 360 degrees, therefore providing a better VR experience.
This is just the latest step in Google's strategy of increasing the support for iPhone VR feature. Back in March, the company has introduced a Carboard-oriented SDK, aimed to help software developers to easily integrate 360-degree video.
Rumors about the Android VR headset that Google is expected to launch this week prove that the Cardboard platform is likely to remain an important part of the company's mobile VR strategy. However, the new Google VR headset will be made of a more expensive and, will be made of, a more rigid material than cardboard, according to CNet.
The new smartphone-based headset will feature improved lenses and sensors, housed in a solid plastic casing. Google's move would fit the trend among big tech companies toward the maturation of virtual reality technology.
New developments in China's increased security measures seem to involve putting special focus on American gadgets including those made by Apple. China explains that the move was to assess the threat levels that such devices could pose to the country. As a result, tensions between the U.S. and China increased even more.
According to an article in The New York Times, the targeted features in the devices that are up for review include encryption technology as well as the data storage aspects. During the review, representatives of Apple, as well as other foreign companies whose devices are under scrutiny, are required to answer questions about the devices. These representatives can even be executives of said companies and will need to answer the questions in person.
The reviews are supposedly conducted by a Chinese government branch that deals with cyber security and military threat assessment. China has not been forthright about the details involved in the reviews.
As for the potential effects, the reviews could have on the companies selling the products under review, concerns include potentially being pressured to reveal more about the products than the companies intend; including trade secrets. Understandably, this has put Apple and other foreign companies on edge. Bruce Sewell, the general counsel who represents Apple, has even revealed that China wanted access to the tech giant's source code; a request which Apple rejected.
The US and other countries do conduct their own reviews of foreign products that enter or pass through their territories. However, the reviews mostly focus on products that have potential or specific military applications.
Civilian products are hardly ever subjected to the same level of scrutiny that China is placing on Apple and another foreign gadget. Finally, there is also the fear that if Apple were to give in to the demands of China, other countries might follow suit.
This week, at Google I/O 2016 event, the high-tech giant company may focus on virtual reality, artificial intelligence, digital assistants and autonomous cars, besides the Android.
According to Google's page, on the event, there are scheduled many conferences on the topics such as artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR). These are among the main trends in Google's focus on development and research.
Computerworld reports that usually, Google I/O conference was used to advance Chrome and Android. But at this week's event, the audiences are expecting to hear more about artificial intelligence and virtual reality.
The same publication cites Jeff Kagan, an independent industry analyst who said that in his opinion, this year Google's focus will be on virtual reality. The company aims to become a leader in the field and conquer a big share of a marketplace where there are no big competitors yet.
Kagan added that Google may even try to launch its own early- generation virtual reality device at the company's annual developer conference. The Google I/O event is attended by more than 6,000 participants.
This year, the conference is being held in the city where Google is headquartered, in Mountain View, California. The event is scheduled at the Shoreline Amphitheatre, from Wednesday through Friday.
Usually, the conference was taking place at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. A change in its location is among the differences for this year. However, a bigger and more profound change consists in a shift in Google's strategies.
Tech analysts expect that the company will use the outdoor fairplex to showcase advances in its drones, robotics and autonomous cars. Jack Gold, an analyst with J.Gold Associates, said that in his opinion Google will show its skills at powering autonomous vehicles, from self-driving garbage tracks to autonomous wheelchairs for people with disabilities, systems that find an open parking space for one's car and drones.
Gold added that this can be seen as the same kind of race companies went through in powering smartphones. Back then, Google won big against the competition. Now the high-tech giant is aiming to position itself as the power behind the next wave of robotic gadgets and autonomous vehicles.
Scott Strawn, an analyst with IDC, also said that he thinks Google will display at the event some of its driverless cars. After the former head of Google's robotics division Andy Rubin left, it is not clear yet how much progress the company has made with its robotics program. However, lately Google's autonomous cars have been often in the media and this may suggest that some kind of unveiling will happen this week.
Following the stupendous success of the Gear S2, Samsung Electronics is now gearing up to launch the company's next-gen smartwatch, the Gear S3, later this year. Leaked images of the purported Gear S3 suggest that the South Korean tech titan has already commenced production of the upcoming wearable device.
Samsung has already submitted a patent application for a vein scanner in the upcoming Gear S3. According to reports, the vein scanner, which is akin to the fingerprint reader in mobile phones, is a new revolution in smartwaches.
According to reports, the vein scanner will recognize the user using a vein structure, which includes a camera sensor and two light sources. In fact, the smartwatch will only login when the vein structure matches with the user's data already stored in the device, The BitBag reported.
Speculations are rife that Samsung will launch the Gear S3 at the IFA 2016, which is slated from Sep. 2 to Sep. 7. Latest rumors suggest that the upcoming Gear S3 is likely to sport a 1.84-inch AMOLED display. In addition, the device is expected to come with a 4GB memory support and a GPS. The device will also be water-resistant.
Meanwhile, Samsung and Swiss luxury jeweler de Grisogono has entered into an agreement to jointly launch a supposed "super-luxury" limited edition of the Samsung Gear S3, Korean website Korea Herald reported. "We are currently collaborating with Samsung to develop its next-generation smartwatch," an official of de Grisogono told the Korean publication during the Conde Nast International Luxury Conference held in Seoul last month.
This is the second time that the Swiss jeweler is working with Samsung. Their first joint venture was the limited edition Samsung Gear S2, which released last month. The de Grisogono official claimed that since its launch, the limited edition luxury Gear S2 has been immensely popular despite its $15,000 price tag. According to the official, about 100 units of the watch are handcrafted and built every month.
Industry watchers are of the view that the limited edition luxury Gear S3 smartwatch version will be launched at Baselworld 2017. It will carry a price tag of around $15,000.
Watch the rumored features of Samsung Gear S3 below:
Sony had been very careful not to leak more information regarding its latest PlayStation 4.5; however, speculations surface that it will be unveiled in the month of September. A game distributor in France unintendedly spilled the news regarding its PlayStation Neo 4K.
Unlike Microsoft that is seemingly relaxing its back and waiting things to unroll, Sony's PlayStation NEO has been spilling tidbits of information gradually. First, it was regarding Sony's preparation launching of its improved PlayStation 4. Next, the speculations that its PlayStation NEO 4K or the PlayStation 4.5 will come out in September, Yibada reported. The source also added that a French video game distributor leaked the said information.
When it comes to the specs, the said updated device would have extra RAM, which has the capacity to adjust on 4K resolution on screen setup. It is also said that it would somewhat have much good GPU and CPU, or APU.
The PlayStation 4.5 NEO became silent throughout the recent months and many have been wondering how it is doing right now. In terms of making newer version on its console forms, Sony has not done this for the first time; however, it is certainly the first that it is it is making considerable change, Slash Gear reports.
Beginning October, latest games that will come out in the said month will run on "Neo Mode," or in other words, it would be able to run games at 4K resolution. Thus, Neo Mode requires to support with similar 60 frame rate.
The rumored September launching will send a great amount of pressure on many game developers as well as publishers. This would also mean that the PlayStation 4.5 would be set to be unveiled before the set release of the PS VR. Many game fans are also dying to know if VR headset from Sony will work on it as well.
There are any number of business buzzwords used these days agile, digital disruption, digital transformation, software defined, Anything as a Service, public/private/hybrid cloud but a new Australian study says IT pros should focus on management of information, not infrastructure.
Veritas Technologies a leader in information management, has released The State of the Hybrid Cloud report, (Executive Brief here). It surveyed more than 1800 organisations globally, including 135 Australian companies employing more than 500 staff and with at least 75TB of data, to better understand local businesses cloud adoption behaviours from the perspective of information management.
The research revealed that both business-critical and non-critical workloads in the public cloud are set to double in the next two years. This will increase pressure on IT departments to ensure their business services, not just infrastructure, are available and secure. The study also examined both the rate at which organisations are moving data to the cloud and using both private and public cloud services, and the reasoning behind their decisions.
We are seeing increasing trust when moving data to the cloud. However, this also translates to additional pressure for service providers to ensure high availability and the need to avoid any unplanned downtime. This opens up new challenges for the IT department in selecting the right information protection strategies for their infrastructure, both on and off-premise, to ensure that there is no compromise to their information integrity," said Louis Tague, Veritas managing director for Australia and New Zealand.
The survey revealed (cloud may mean public or private or hybrid):
A total of 66% use cloud [this reinforces other recent independent surveys]
Public cloud will grow by 18% and private cloud by 7% over the next 12 months
Around 34% use legacy on-premise hardware, a figure that will decrease to 26% over the next 12 months
Fast forward 24 months and on average 75% of the critical and non-critical workloads will be in the cloud
A total of 74% of enterprises are using two or more cloud infrastructure vendors to support their workload requirements. A total of 23% are using four or more cloud vendors. The burden of protecting, managing and utilising the data across these heterogeneous environments is largely borne by IT departments.
A total of 50% more workloads are moving to the public cloud in Japan, Brazil and Australia than in the US, Canada, France and Germany.
While 50% cite security concerns with the public cloud, that leaves 50% who are satisfied with security. The cloud avoidance excuse for data sovereignty is now 36%
Most noted that certain workloads would always remain on-premise, rather than the cloud. In Australia, 19% say disaster recovery and relational or OLTP databases will remain on-premise and 18% will continue to keep archive workloads on-premise.
A total of 48% cite cost and agility benefits over security when it comes to hybrid cloud
Legacy on-premise workloads are set to decrease from 33% to 26% over the next 12 months.
The full report is here.
Comments
Veritas has confirmed what we have been seeing over the past 24 months: a headlong rush to public and private hybrid clouds. Private cloud simply means overlaying cloud "technology/methodology" on a private data centre. The benefits are more agility, lots of software-defined functionality, and better use of resources.
Private clouds are mainly used for storing personally identifiable information and mission-critical business information, yet an increasing number are trusting public clouds like Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure.
Regardless of where data is stored (the term data means everything not just databases) the storage, back-up and retrieval of this tsunami of data is a major issue. Data should be on the balance sheet as an asset and protected accordingly.
It seems the future is multi-vendor hybrid cloud and that is "messy" as it can create blind spots for security, back-up and data governance.
If your business relies on SAP enterprise applications, the journey to SAP HANA and the cloud will be top of mind. Microsoft has made its Azure cloud a leader for SAP HANA hosting in terms of price/performance, compliancy, availability, scalability, operational agility and ability to innovate.
At the 28th annual SAPPHIRE NOW conference, SAP SE and Microsoft announced joint plans to deliver broad support for the SAP HANA platform deployed on Microsoft Azure, simplify work through new integrations between Microsoft Office 365 and cloud solutions from SAP, and provide enhanced management and security for custom SAP Fiori apps.
Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella and his SAP counterpart Bill McDermott took the stage together at SAPPHIRE NOW today to discuss the expanded partnership that will help organisations use the cloud to drive innovation, agility and enable new ways to work.
At Microsoft, we are focused on empowering organisations to advance their digital transformations, Nadella said. "Together with SAP, we are bringing new levels of integration between our products that provide businesses with enhanced collaboration tools, new insights from data and a hyper-scale cloud to grow and seize new opportunities ahead."
We believe the IT industry will be shaped by breakthrough partnerships that unlock new productivity for customers beyond the boundaries of traditional platforms and applications, said McDermott. SAP and Microsoft are working together to create an end-user experience built on unprecedented insight, convenience and agility. The certification of Microsoft Azure infrastructure services for SAP HANA along with the new integration between Microsoft Office 365 and cloud solutions from SAP are emblematic of this major paradigm shift for the enterprise.
New Deployment Option: SAP HANA on the Microsoft Azure cloud
With SAP HANA on Azure, organisations across all industries will be able to deliver mission-critical applications and data analytics on a global scale with enterprise-grade security and compliance. Working together, the companies are certifying SAP HANA to run development, test and production workloads on Microsoft Azure, including SAP S/4HANA. These new offerings for SAP HANA are built to handle the largest and most demanding workloads.
Early adopters of this new offering, like Coats, Rockwell Automation, and Nortek, have already experienced the benefits of deploying SAP HANA on Azure. According to Sujeet Chand, senior vice-president and chief technology officer from Rockwell Automation, The Microsoft Azure platform provides us the scalability, security, and level of services needed to confidently run our most demanding SAP HANA and big data applications. We are excited to be an early adopter of running SAP HANA on Microsoft Azure since it is an important capability in helping us realise our vision for the connected enterprise and advanced data analytics.
Cloud Services Integrations: Public Cloud Solutions from SAP and Office 365
Every day, millions of business users work in Microsoft and SAP solutions, creating documents, reading emails, filing expense reports, invoicing vendors and more. New integrations between the companies will combine Office 365 communications, collaboration, calendar, documents and other data with cloud solutions from SAP, including Concur, SAP Fieldglass, SAP SuccessFactors, and SAP Ariba solutions, helping employees improve overall productivity.
Flexibility in the Cloud: Management and Security of Custom SAP Fiori Apps
SAP will enable customers to build and deploy custom mobile hybrid SAP Fiori apps on SAP HANA Cloud Platform with the open standards plug-in framework. As part of this framework, customers can build apps that can be managed, deployed and better protected with Microsoft Intune. Using the cloud build process as part of SAP Fiori, cloud edition, app publishers will be able to embed Microsoft Intune management capabilities in their apps, leveraging the same capabilities used by Office 365 mobile apps. The integration is expected to be available in the third quarter of 2016.
You can read more at Microsofts Blog.
Data centre vendor NextDC is to establish a second data centre in Brisbane on a new site it has just acquired in the citys Fortitude Valley area on the fringe of the CBD.
NextDC CEO Craig Scroggie says the new centre will have a target capacity of approximately 6MW at full fit-out and deliver "much-needed colocation space and connectivity" to Brisbanes thriving business market.
Scroggie says the new centre represents an investment of about $75 million in Queenslands digital economy over the next 12 months.
As we mentioned in February in conjunction with our half-year results, market support for NextDC has allowed us to pursue the development of additional facilities for our nationwide network of world-class data centres," he said.
"Our new Fortitude Valley location is within close proximity to Brisbanes commercial centres, and will allow us to address robust demand for a secure, powerful facility to host critical IT infrastructure and support a diverse ecosystem of carriers and cloud service providers.
Were excited to be giving the opportunity for Australian and locally-based companies to deliver a majority of the project, including the data centre's pre-fabricated elements. We expect the initial construction phase will support up to 200 jobs on and off-site, with another 100 supported deeper in the supply chain during the data centre's life-time.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk welcomed the investment. The NextDC B2 investment complements the governments agenda to drive growth, jobs and the better delivery of services through innovation and next-generation IT services.
Scroggie says NextDC conducted extensive due diligence on a number of potential sites for B2, which included analysis of diverse access to power, water and telecommunications infrastructure, as well as resilience to potential security and environmental risks.
The new site is close to a major electricity substation and significant telecommunications and public transport infrastructure.
NextDC expects the new centre will be completed towards the end of the second half of 2017, which includes development of the land, base building and associated infrastructure required to support the initial 1.5MW of IT load at launch.
iTWire, along with a small collection of other Australian and New Zealand journalists, me Zach Nelson in the Presidential Suite of the San Jose Hilton, next door to the San Jose Convention Centre where SuiteWorld 2016 is running. The following questions were posed to Nelson, and Australian and New Zealand NetSuite executives, and are a close paraphrasing of answers provided.
What types and sizes of companies are adopting NetSuite? Is there room for Australian and New Zealand small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as large business?
Most of the next generation companies are starting with a flexible business model approach. They're building cool things and figuring out how to price it and deliver it to customers in flexible ways. These companies don't know if they are going to be a services or a products company so they need flexible software and this leads them to NetSuite.
Larger, established, companies are feeling market pressure from smaller companies and trying to respond. This in turn also leads them to NetSuite.
Larger companies feeling market pressure from smaller companies and trying to respond and this also leads them to cloud-based systems like NetSuite.
If you're a pure time-based services company, you'll probably be one of the last to move to this multi-product model.
Product companies will move into the services industry. For example, John Deere has its equipment in farms and gets data back from the field which it can then sell back to farmers how to do things well. Another example is with servicing equipment, such as mines operating large Caterpillar trucks which can cost the organisation millions of dollars of lost revenue if it fails.
What pathways do you see customers coming to NetSuite, and does NetSuite assist them in transitioning?
Typically NetSuite is not the first system people use, high-tech companies aside. So nearly everyone who comes to NetSuite is coming from something. Often the pathway is smaller companies increasing in size and moving away from Xero, Saasu etc. who need a larger system.
What's different when migrating to NetSuite, vs. migrating to SAP, is reflected in business process problems. Usually, these show up in a business as an accounting challenge but really they are business challenges, like multiple business models. Large customers are moving to NetSuite to try and become less complex.
So, you have small customers becoming more complex, and large companies wanting to become less complex.
I look at my dashboard and can see exactly what I sold today. You can't do that in SAP.
People come to NetSuite for many reasons.
SAP implementers typically charge even up to four to five times the SAP licensing costs in their implementation fees. Is this a problem for partners implementing NetSuite?
NetSuite needed to craft a different reseller / partner model for this very reason. The traditional model with ERP systems is to charge for upgrades and shock the system back into life. NetSuite doesn't work that way, as a cloud-based system we shock it into life as soon as we make a change.
NetSuite gives its resellers at least 30% of the recurring revenue for the life of the customer. This is opposed to the traditional model of the initial sale then nothing except for upgrades. It's in our interest to make sure our partners are successful.
The demand curve has changed also. People don't want to spend four to five times the license on implementation. Customers are no longer tolerating it. They don't want it. They use cloud systems like SalesForce and see it works without such implementation costs.
Customers say they want things like NetSuite, not like SAP. For customers coming from Xero, for example, why would they want to go on-premises?
Channel partners also come to NetSuite because they've tried to sell SAP or Great Plains and have been beaten by NetSuite on price so they realise they need to add NetSuite to their product list.
With NetSuite, channel partners can focus on domain expertise or unique twists. Instead of screwing servers in they can make vertical additions to the platform. This turns their IP into "Service as Software" essentially. The economics are better for them with reusable IP, and getting out of the people business into the software business.
Do you see a trend in Enterprises towards hybrid models?
Enterprises still have legacy systems even if they want to shift to the cloud. They're not going to give away their EMC servers or other things, but their next set of investment will be on cloud technologies. They will instead be asking EMC to run their servers.
The shift is not towards hybrid but to more NetSuite [-like technologies].
Is security an issue for the cloud?
NetSuite has one system in five data centres. Some enterprises have so many data centres and products it becomes an IT process problem to implement security.
The NetSuite approach is much easier to secure than "Everybody, here's a disc, find the server and patch it."
You can see from news articles SAP has security patches it released years ago which are still unapplied.
What's the change in your average customer size from five years ago to now?
Companies are becoming much larger, aided by increasing facilities in the NetSuite product solving more and more complex problems for them.
Some companies have hundreds of users across 120 companies on a single NetSuite deployment, replacing many individual legacy systems.
How is the responsiveness and usability of NetSuite given there is no data centre in this region?
There are 2000 entities using NetSuite in A/NZ.
The actual speed of delivery is not an issue despite not having a local data centre. There was a data centre in Australia some years ago but it was removed, and no degradation of performance has occurred.
The product was architected in 1998 for dial-up so it has a lot of things built-in about how to move data from a performance standpoint.
Australian data is hosted in Sunnyvale, California. Sovereignty rules prevent us from working with certain customers, like Government, but not telcos or other large enterprises.
Where is the biggest growth being seen?
The most immediate opportunities for growth is in product verticals. We're seeing a rebirth of manufacturing and products because of cloud-based technologies.
Billing is one of the biggest challenges for manufacturing. It's the biggest challenge for CRM systems - "did they get my bill right?"
This problem is on steroids when you have multiple types of services to deliver.
NetSuite solves these problems for the products industries.
How do you feel the pressure of being a public company impacts on things like product roadmap and R&D spend? Would you do anything differently if NetSuite was still a private company?
NetSuite has been very fortunate growing to the scale where we can invest where we need to invest, and shareholders appreciate investment can be prioritised over growth.
Even with ready cash in the bank we still have complaints we're not investing as much as everyone wants. This is the only company on the planet where department budgets go up 30% but even when you have the ability to invest it is still perpetually not enough.
In terms of managing a public company, I see it as an important discipline. SOX is good common sense. You want to have control of your business. Running a public company is a great discipline and gives an advantage over those running a private company who don't have to make good decisions over where they are going to invest.
David M. Williams is attending SuiteWorld 2016 as a guest of NetSuite.
HP has released details at RAPID, the worlds largest 3D additive manufacturing conference, of what it claims is the first production-ready 3D printing system, scheduled for commercial delivery in late 2017.
Still the HP 3D Jet Fusion models 3200 and 4200 look impressive and appear to offer huge flexibility from prototyping to additive manufacturing. If you are keen, you can read Stephen Nigros blog here where he calls 3D printing the next industrial revolution. He says that by 2022, 3D printing will shift from prototyping and short-run manufacturing to a full-scale, production-ready technology. Companies that adopt 3D prototyping today will lead in production tomorrow.
Because this technology is so new and complex, iTWire has extracted relevant parts of a longer press release call that subtractive printing below.
The HP Jet Fusion 3D Printing Solution revolutionises design, prototyping and manufacturing, and for the first time, delivers superior quality physical parts up to 10 times faster and at half the cost of current 3D print systems. By printing functional parts at the individual voxel level (a voxel is the 3D equivalent of a 2D pixel in traditional printing), HP offers customers an unprecedented ability to transform part properties and deliver mass customisation.
HPs new 3D system is looking to reinvent the $100+ billion manufacturing industry in Australia and ignite the next industrial revolution by producing superior quality physical parts up to 10 times faster and at half the cost of current 3D print systems, said Robert Mesaros, managing director, HP South Pacific.
We see a massive untapped opportunity in the industrial 3D printing market and anticipate strong adoption to reinvent industrial design and manufacturing. We have already deployed an end-to-end solution and are working with a wide range of leading manufacturers and co-development partners, such as Nike, BMW, Johnson & Johnson to optimise the technology.
R&D to lead the industry
The new HP Jet Fusion 3D Printing Solution leverages HPs decades of research and expertise in precision mechanics, microfluidics and materials sciences. But no one company, not even one with HPs expertise, scale or assets, can transform the global manufacturing industry. HP is proud to have the input and support of leading manufacturers, co-development partners and strategic partners, including Nike, BMW, Autodesk, Jabil, Johnson & Johnson, Materialise, Proto Labs, Shapeways and Siemens.
"At Nike, we innovate for the worlds best athletes. Weve been using 3D printing to create new performance innovations for footwear for the past several years. Now we are excited to partner with HP to accelerate and scale our existing capabilities as we continue to explore new ways to manufacture performance products to help athletes reach their full potential, said Tom Clarke, president of innovation at Nike.
BMW is a pioneer and early adopter of innovative technologies in the field of additive manufacturing, especially for prototyping in concept cars and series-like approval builds. For our future roadmap toward serial part production and personal customisation, we see major potential in our partnership with HP to investigate this new kind of 3D printing technology at an early stage. As one of the first partners, we had the chance to see the constant evolution of the machines over time from the first prototype approximately five years ago to the market ready product that is available now, said Jens Ertel, head of BMW Group Additive Manufacturing Centre.
End-to-End Solution
HP is offering two new 3D printers, designed for rapid prototyping and production.
The HP Jet Fusion 3D 3200 printer is ideal for prototyping, offering improved productivity and the capacity to grow usage at a lower cost per part.
The HP Jet Fusion 3D 4200 printer is designed for prototyping and short-run manufacturing needs, with high productivity to meet same-day demands at the lowest cost per part.
A synchronised set of tools includes intuitive software, an innovative HP Jet Fusion 3D Processing Station with Fast Cooling, and high-quality materials.
Materials and Software Open Platform to Unleash 3D Printing
HP and certified partners will collaborate to enable materials innovation and new applications for its HP Multi Jet Fusion Solution, leading to reduced 3D printing costs and faster industry adoption of 3D printing. HP is creating a 3D material app store and is already collaborating with certified partners including Arkema, BASF, Evonik and Lehmann & Voss, with plans to expand the open platform ecosystem over time.
HP has also collaborated with industry-leading software partners to make the design-to-print process easier and more intuitive. Partners include Siemens, Autodesk Netfabb and Materialise. Through its integration with key manufacturing software solution providers, HP is enabling deeper integration of 3D printing into manufacturing processes. HP is a founding member of the industry consortium that developed 3MF, an improved 3D printing file format. The HP Jet Fusion 3D Printing Solution is the first 3D printer to be fully compliant with this industry-leading standard.
Look to the Future
As HP expands its palette of materials and colours, customers will benefit from the ability to transform part properties at voxel level, giving unprecedented control and allowing limitless combinations of applications, colours, and materials with unique and as-yet-unimagined properties including:
The ability to print with embedded intelligence, like sensors in parts, is key to the Internet of Things.
The printing of parts with embedded information, like invisible traces or codes, will deliver a future of increased security and tracking for reinventing supply chains.
In the future, up to 50% of the custom plastic parts for the HP Jet Fusion 3D Printers are expected to be printed and produced with HP Multi Jet Fusion technology versus traditional manufacturing methods.
Paired with innovation like Sprout by HP, complete digitisation of design through production will fundamentally disrupt traditional manufacturing. Digitisation and 3D printing can help revitalise regions across the globe that are balancing sustainability with industrial growth. Digitisation and 3D printing will reinvent traditional supply chains and create a just in time delivery model.
Oracle has lost a great deal of licensing revenue due to the emergence of Google's Android mobile operating system, the database company's chief executive Safra Catz told a trial in California on Tuesday.
Catz, on the stand for a second day in a trial which is attempting to put a dollar figure on the damages that Google should pay Oracle for use of 37 Java APIs in Android, said the decision by Google to allow Android to be used free had dramatically affected Oracle.
The trial is the second between Google and Oracle. An earlier trial, that ran from 2010 to 2012, went overwhelmingly in favour of Google but one ruling that APIs could not be copyrighted was overturned on appeal by Oracle.
The only defence that Google has is that its use of a little more than 11,000 lines of is covered under "fair use".
In her testimony, Catz pointed to Samsung which, due to the free availability of Android, was able to negotiate its licence fee for Java down from US$40 million to just US$1 million.
She also pointed to Amazon which had used Java to develop its Kindle reader; for the next iteration, Fire, it used Android. And in order to get Amazon to use Java for a new reader, the Paperwhite, Oracle had to cut its prices by 97.5%.
Catz accused Google of making it impossible for software to be used across the spectrum. With Java one could write once and run it anywhere, she said, while software written for Android would run only on Android.
As she approached the end of her time on the stand, Catz cited a chance meeting with Google's general counsel Kent Walker at a bat mitzvah. She said Walker had approached her and claimed that what he characterised as the "old rules" did not apply to Google as it was a special company.
Catz said she responded with a one-liner: "Thou shalt not steal."
Oracle will continue to make its case this week. Google did so last week. Closing arguments are scheduled to begin next week.
iiNet has been hit by an outage to its email and voice services across the country, according to information available at the ISP's service status page.
The company said some customers would be unable to log in to their email, using an email client.
"Customers will receive an error when attempting to authenticate. Customers will also experience a delay in receiving email," an advisory said.
Webmail services are also affected. "Some customers will be unable to log in to email via webmail or experience poor performance after logging in," the advisory said.
"Customers will also experience a delay in receiving email."
A third problem area is voice services. "Customers will be unable to check voicemail messages on netphone services," the advisory said.
And finally, the iiNet contact centre has been out of operation for the last five hours. The company says they expect that this problem will be rectified in another four hours.
There is no expected time of resolution for the other issues.
iiNet became Australia's second largest ISP after Telstra when it was acquired by TPG last year.
Microsoft is showcasing the versatility of its pressure-sensitive Surface "pen" and the raft of design and illustration software for Windows 10.
Microsofts Surface is the official computing device sponsor to Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia (MBFWA). Its Flagship Store, Sydney, has collaborated with the esteemed Whitehouse Institute of Design to showcase the beauty of fashion design through the lens of technology.
Four of the Whitehouse Institutes talented fashion designers were told to create an original illustration on a Surface Pro 4, in a bid to win a trip to New York Fashion Week in September.
These students will showcase their works of art at the dedicated Fashion Week space within the Microsoft Store at Pitt St Mall this week, where customers can experience the following:
On Thursday, May 19 (12-2pm)
Follow the runway action at MBFWA and watch the four Whitehouse Institute students create beautiful live illustrations. They will also share their inspirations and reveal special techniques for customers to master the art of illustration.
Follow the runway action at MBFWA and watch the four Whitehouse Institute students create beautiful live illustrations. They will also share their inspirations and reveal special techniques for customers to master the art of illustration. On Friday, May 20 to Saturday, May 21 (12-4pm) and Sunday, May 22 (1-4pm)
Watch the four Whitehouse Institute students create beautiful live illustrations, and hear all about their design journey and stories behind their special creations. They will also demonstrate insider tips and tricks behind creating stunning works of art digitally, using the Surface Pen and Surface Pro 4.
Fashion lovers can win a ticket to New York Fashion Week, the holy grail for style inspiration across the world. Simply go to the Microsoft Stores Facebook page, vote for your favourite illustration and say why you selected it. The fan with the most creative response will fly to the Big Apple in September, with the highest-voted Whitehouse designer in tow.
Tribune Publishing Co., a major newspaper chain, is laying off as many as 200 IT employees as it shifts work overseas.
The firm, which owns the Los Angeles Times, The Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, Hartford Courant and many other media properties, told IT employees in early April that it's moving work to India-based Tata Consultancy Services.
Interestingly, the Tribune IT employees were notified within weeks of a similar announcement involving IT employees at the McClatchy Company, another major newspaper chain.
McClatchy, which owns the Miami Herald, The Sacramento Bee and many other newspapers, is laying off between 120 and 150 IT employees. That company hired Wipro, an IT service provider also based in India.
The impact of these IT outsourcing decision may go beyond the job losses. It could affect coverage of this controversial issue.
The Los Angeles Times, in particular, in columns and editorials, was critical of Southern California Edison's offshore outsourcing of IT jobs. The utility hired India-based vendors, including Tata Consultancy Services, and then cut some 500 IT jobs.
"Information technology workers at Southern California Edison have found themselves in the unhappy position of training their own replacements, thanks to a plan by the utility to outsource their jobs to two India-based staffing companies," the Times wrote in an editorial last year; the editorial focused on the use of H-1B visa workers in offshore outsourcing. Along with Tata, Southern California Edison also hired Infosys.
The editorial noted that the H-1B visa "was designed to help American businesses fill specialized positions, not to displace American workers."
For Tribune and McClatchy reporters and editorial writers, the actions of their parent companies to offshore jobs may complicate coverage. Businesses turning to offshore outsourcing may now be able to throw any criticism back in the faces of these publications: "But you are doing it, too."
Tribune Publishing employed 7,165 full- and part-time employes at the end of 2015.
IT employees at Tribune Publishing say they received warning of the outsourcing late last year. In April, they were told that over an 18-month period, Tribune would be moving to information technology outsourcing across its business, according to employees contacted.
Some employees were offered a "transition bonus" to help with the transfer of work to the contractors. The layoffs are expected to occur over the summer and into the fall. Some employees will be offered jobs with Tata.
It was not clear whether Tata is using H-1B workers on site. In-person training is just beginning, but it has been standard practice in this industry to use some visa workers. Employees reported training replacements via Web sessions with India-based staff.
In response to a query from Computerworld, a Tribune Publishing spokesperson emailed this statement about the outsourcing: "We have made the strategic decision to outsource key functions of our legacy information technology department to create a more agile operating environment and to drive our overall business transformation. This decision will allow us to better serve our customers, improve our systems and capabilities and create more opportunity for innovation. We thank all of our dedicated employees for their commitment to a seamless transition."
This Week in Review
A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more.
The ripple effect that Verizon has sparked is causing much unrest and even other tech companies have been noted to face similar scenarios as well. It appears that IBM and its recent actions are linking the tech firm to troubles.
The speculations started when IBM has decided to close some of its site operations. According to Patch, "IBM plans to close its operations in Somers and move everyone and everything into the Armonk campus, and the company's plan is to consolidate in North Castle and sell the huge campus on Route 100."
Although the Company officials told employees about the move on Monday and how the North Castle campus will be renovated and the Somers site will be sold, according to the same post, the move has created worry and anxiety for the affected stakeholders
In addition, IBM's call to shift and close its operations has affected not only the employees but even the Somer region as well. The closure would mark the second large company that Somers has lost, and the recent one was that of Pepsico which vacated its massive facility within close proximity with IBM.
On a different note, although the closure is not on the same league as Verizon and even though there are no union workers voicing their dismay, it still spells out trouble for IBM just like it did for Verizon. Jobs & Hire formerly mentioned of the ripple effect and that not just Verizon but other segments such as the US Foods facility in Severn that dealt with the strike as well.
As for the notion that IBM faces the same fate as Verizon and encountering union workers fury in Somer, it remains uncertain and unsettled even today.
The Verizon strike 2016 has entered its second month and it shows no sign of wavering. Over 40,000 Verizon workers have walked off in the middle of their job to protest their contract conditions. Now, the Obama administration is stepping in to help negotiate. Obama wants to end the Verizon strike 2016 now before May ends.
The United States Labor Secretary, Thomas Perez, said that the union leaders that walked off on the job back in Apr. 13, 2016 have agreed to come back and continue the negotiation discussions with Verizon executives, according to CNN.
As of today, there is no clear settlement regarding the workers' status. Many are still claiming unemployment and the number continues to rise.
This is the biggest strike since 2011 in the United States history, when 45,000 Verizon workers walked off the job for about two weeks.
This is a sensitive time for the union leaders and workers. Perez sat down with Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam, Communications Workers of America president Chris Shelton, and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers president Lonnie Stephenson.
The bargaining table of concerns consist of a concrete contract with Verizon plus their concern of off-shoring thousands of jobs to the Philippines, Mexico and the Dominican Republic where labor cost is cheaper. In addition, workers want the capping of pension funds after 30 years of service to the company. The NY Daily News has it that Labor Secretary Thomas Perez says Verizon and the striking unions will continue their negotiations.
Verizon spokesman Raymond McConville expressed that Verizon would drop the requirement if the workers could come to an agreement. He noted that 1,000 of the striking workers had gone back to work, though the union has disputed that number. The union leaders claimed that McConville downplayed the issue.
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Kohl's Corp., which routinely promotes its discounts off regular prices, has agreed to a $6.15 million settlement with California shoppers who alleged those discounts were false.
A federal judge has preliminarily approved the settlement.
Under its terms, Kohl's will offer gift cards to people who, beginning in June 2011, bought goods advertised at discounts of 30% or more in its California stores.
Kohl's also agreed to enhance its pricing compliance systems and regularly train certain employees on pricing.
While agreeing to settle the case, the company denies that it has engaged in false advertising or done anything wrong, court documents show. Both sides agreed to the settlement to avoid further dispute and litigation and the inconvenience and expense it entails, a document describing the deal says. A Kohl's spokeswoman declined to comment Tuesday, noting that the case still is pending.
The action is among a number brought against Kohl's since the early 2000s over the way it promotes its pricing. The Menomonee Falls-based firm is one of the leading practitioners of so-called high low pricing, a common strategy in which retailers tout their merchandise as being heavily discounted from "original" or "regular" prices.
Plaintiffs suing Kohl's and other retailers have said such discounts are phony. The retailers don't really charge, for any meaningful length of time, the "original" or "regular" prices on which the discounts are based, the accusers have said.
Until now, the cases against Kohl's typically were dismissed on unknown terms. But the California plaintiffs won preliminary approval of class-action status, opening the door to a public multimillion-dollar settlement.
In November, J.C. Penney Co. agreed to a $50 million settlement in a similar case, also in California.
California law is specific
The West Coast state is an attractive forum for pressing such claims, because California law is more specific than most in defining what an "original" price is: It has to have been the prevailing market price within the three months just before the sale.
On its website, Kohl's gives a broad definition of the "regular" or "original" prices that are the basis for its discounts. According to the definition, the regular/original prices need not necessarily have been used in the past, nor do they necessarily have to be prices for Kohl's merchandise.
"The 'Regular' or 'Original' price of an item is the former or future offered price for the item or a comparable item by Kohl's or another retailer," the website says. "Actual sales may not have been made at the 'Regular' or 'Original' prices, and intermediate markdowns may have been taken."
Of the $6.15 million that Kohl's is to pay under the settlement, customers will get an estimated $3.6 million in gift cards. Up to 25% of the settlement, or roughly $1.5 million, will go to the lawyers who represented the lead plaintiffs.
Another $1 million is reserved for administering the settlement and notifying individual consumers.
Millions of people shopped Kohl's in California since June 2011, but only qualified consumers who file claims will participate in the settlement. In a court document, a Kohl's attorney estimated each person will get a gift card worth $20 or more.
Bringing the lawsuit in California were a Riverside County man, Steven Russell, and an Orange County woman, Donna Caffey.
Russell claimed he was deceived by the price of a pair of Bostonian shoes advertised at more than 50% off. Caffey alleged she was tricked on the prices of several items, including a pair of Sonoma bottoms advertised at nearly 40% off.
Kohl's denies wrongdoing
As it did generally, Kohl's denied any wrongdoing in the advertising of the merchandise.
Among other litigation brought against the department store chain was an action that a California man filed in federal court in Milwaukee in September. That case was dismissed last month.
A rendering depicts the future Oak Creek Ikea store along Interstate 94. Credit: Mike De Sisti
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The Oak Creek Common Council has approved a proposal for $13 million in city financing help for Wisconsin's first Ikea store.
The council voted 5-1 Tuesday night to approve the development agreement.
The only opponent was Ald. Mark Verhalen, who said the expense "was a little bit more than the city can handle at this time."
Supporters said the financing proposal was helping to draw a world-renowned retailer, generating both property tax revenue and jobs. They also said the plan minimized the risk to the city by reducing its upfront costs.
Ikea will obtain the city cash through annual refunds of the $50 million store's property taxes for up to 20 years, said Doug Seymour, community development director, and Gerald Peterson, city administrator.
The first $5.2 million of the $13 million in new property tax revenue will repay the city's costs for road, sewer and water improvements at the project site.
Those improvements include an extension of S. 20th St. into the development site, about 30 acres north of W. Drexel Ave. and west of Interstate 94. S. 20th St. will be renamed Ikea Way, Peterson told council members.
The road improvements also will create better access to nearby Falk Park, Seymour said Wednesday.
The city plans to create a tax incremental financing district for the 30-acre Ikea site, which the Swedish furniture and home goods retailer is buying from Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.
That financing district will include about 20 acres for additional retail or mixed-use development, according to a city report.
Once the Ikea financing agreement ends in 2036, the store's property taxes will go to the city, the Oak Creek-Franklin Joint School District and other local governments.
Ikea announced this month it would build a 295,000-square-foot store that will draw customers from Wisconsin and northern Illinois.
The Ikea, expected to open in summer of 2018, will employ about 250 people.
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A blues-themed restaurant, banquet room and performance venue are proposed on Port Washingtons lakefront. Credit: Kubala Washatko Architects Inc.
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A blues-themed restaurant, tavern and performance venue proposed for Port Washington's lakefront is taking a big step forward, with city officials agreeing to sell the development site.
The Port Washington Common Council voted unanimously to accept The Blues Factory Inc.'s $250,000 purchase offer for the municipal parking lot at its Tuesday night meeting.
The Blues Factory plans to open its $4.75 million development by summer 2017. It will mark the centennial celebration of the famed Paramount Records label, which featured African-American blues and jazz artists who created the roots for rock music.
The 17,224 square-foot parcel, south of E. Washington St. and east of Harbor View Lane, is the former site of Wisconsin Chair Co., which owned the Paramount label.
The land sale is tied to council approval of a development agreement that includes $1 million in city financing help. That agreement is to be reviewed by the council on June 7, with those city funds to be repaid through the new development's property taxes.
The council gave preliminary approval to the property sale in September, which led to the negotiated sale price accepted Tuesday.
The proposed two-story Blues Factory building would feature: Paramount Hall, an independently operated nonprofit cultural preservation and education center showcasing the story of Paramount Records; the Ozaukee Theatre, a live performance space; and The Blues Factory banquet and event space overlooking the harbor, and its restaurant and bar.
Paramount Records pressed tens of thousands of 78-rpm records from 1917 to 1932 at its Grafton studio.
Paramount's artists included Ma Rainey, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton and others. A two-volume boxed set, "The Rise & Fall of Paramount Records," was co-released in 2014 by Grammy-winning rock star Jack White's Third Man Records and Revenant Records.
Some Port Washington residents have opposed The Blues Factory, saying the development would remove badly needed parking spaces and block views of the harbor. The city-owned lot has 42 parking spaces.
Supporters, citing a study funded by the downtown business improvement district, say the lakefront area has adequate parking. They also say the building is designed to minimize its effect on views of the harbor.
A groundbreaking is planned for September, with the building to open in June 2017. The Blues Factory is organizing the Paramount Centennial Festival for August 2017 around the 100th anniversary of Paramount's founding.
"We're thrilled to be working together with the community to create a permanent home for this great American story on the very spot where the Paramount label was born," said Christopher Long, The Blues Factory president, in a statement released Wednesday.
The Blues Factory is among other lakefront projects, including the 14-unit Harbour Lights condos being built at the southeast corner of N. Franklin and E. Main streets.
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A bus shelter in Cathedral Square has been temporarily transformed into a replica of The Basilica of St. Josaphat, to draw attention to a campaign raising funds for the basilicas restoration and repair. Credit: Mary Louise Schumacher
Mary Louise Schumacher Art City An online journal about visual art, the urban landscape and design. Mary Louise Schumacher, the Journal Sentinel's art and architecture critic, leads the discussion and a community of writers contribute to the dialogue. SHARE A bus shelter in Cathedral Square has been temporarily transformed into a replica of the Basilica of St. Josaphat, to draw attention to a campaign raising funds for the basilicas restoration and repair. Mary Louise Schumacher Members of the choir from St. Josaphat Basilica sing at a Wednesday morning rally to raise money for church restoration. Mary Louise Schumacher Settling into a church pew together in a special bus shelter are Mayor Tom Barrett (center); the Rev. Michael Glastetter (right), pastor of St. Josaphat Basilica; and Claude Krawczyk, a member of the basilica foundation board of directors. Mary Louise Schumacher Related Coverage Basilica of St. Josaphat begins urgent repairs, $7.5 million campaign
It's not every day that the mayor of our city promises "sanctifying grace" to all who ride the bus, with a wink, of course.
But it was a special occasion, the unveiling of a bus stop in Cathedral Square that has been temporarily transformed into a replica of the Basilica of St. Josaphat on the south side.
The bus shelter, painted gold and complete with a church pew, is meant to draw attention to the plight of the south side basilica, one of the most architecturally significant churches in Wisconsin. More than a century old, parts of the basilica are crumbling and in need of $7.5 million in preservation and restoration work.
People waiting for a bus at the shelter, across the street from the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, 812 N. Jackson St., can look up and see recreations of the basilica's great dome and painted murals. They will also be surrounded by images of stained-glass windows, including one depicting the Annunciation, the moment when the angel Gabriel announces the incarnation of Christ to Mary.
Beside a "Save Our Sanctuary" plea and an image of the basilica itself, there is a high-tech twist to the bus shelter, too. At a station for smart phones enabled with "near field communication," or NFC, or with a QR code app, visitors can connect directly to the St. Josaphat Basilica Foundation website to make a donation.
The bus shelter was designed by Clear Channel and Zizzo Group, which is working with the foundation on the fund-raising effort. The campaign extends over several of Clear Channel's digital billboards as well.
"This is an amazing little artifact here," said Barrett at a Wednesday rally where members of the basilica choir sang. "Just so you know how this works, you get a ride on the bus and you get sanctifying grace just for being at this bus stop."
State Rep. Dale Kooyenga (center) and Milwaukee teachers union executive director Lauren Baker (right) participate in a forum Tuesday at the Marquette University Law School. Alan Borsuk (left), senior fellow in law and public policy at the school, moderated the session. Credit: Mark Hoffman
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State Rep. Dale Kooyenga on Tuesday called the dismal performance of some Milwaukee Public Schools "a humanitarian issue" and defended the turnaround district he helped to create as one way to address their shortcomings.
"We cannot accept the status quo; we need to be open to change," the Brookfield Republican told Milwaukee teachers union Executive Director Lauren Baker in a wide-ranging debate at the Marquette University Law School. "I know you disagree, but I believe this will help MPS do better."
Baker said the "takeover district," as she called it, could divert as much as $41 million from MPS over the next five years. In addition, she said, all of the reforms Kooyenga envisions, including intensive wrap-around services for students, could take place without usurping control from Milwaukee's democratically elected school board.
"You're telling me you're going to take $41 million out of the public schools and that's going to help?" asked Baker, who leads the 4,500-member Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association.
"There's a model that works, and it has nothing to do with governance," she said. "You don't have to take (the schools) from their elected board and hand them to private operators to make that happen."
Kooyenga and Baker went toe-to-toe before a capacity crowd on a host of local education issues Tuesday, including school funding, state vouchers for private schools and the turnaround district, known as the Opportunity Schools and Partnership Program, that was adopted as part of the 2015-17 state budget.
The statute, co-authored by Kooyenga and state Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), allows Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele to appoint a special commissioner with authority to take control of up to five poorly performing schools a year and turn those over to an outside operator.
Tuesday's debate came as MPS is weighing a proposal from district Commissioner Demond Means, superintendent of the Mequon-Thiensville School District, that would would allow Means to run the schools as a consultant to MPS.
Kooyenga and Baker found a few areas of common ground. They agreed, for example, that Milwaukee students face injustices, that reforms need to be "student focused" and that schools should be held accountable though they differed on the details.
One of the more heated exchanges centered on school funding and the accountability of voucher schools.
Baker said the per-pupil funding formula values MPS students in some cases thousands of dollars less than their suburban counterparts.
Kooyenga called it "a little disingenuous" to push for more funding for MPS students unless she also supports equal funding for voucher and charter schools, which receive about two-thirds the amount of public schools.
"Would you support raising the choice and voucher amount?" he asked Baker.
Baker said she would have that conversation "when you tell me that all of those schools will follow the open meetings and open records laws in Wisconsin so I can see how that money is being spent and I know the accountability standards are the same as they are for public schools."
Both lauded the reform efforts of MPS Superintendent Darienne Driver, who adopted several innovative programs and has been working to expand the number of seats in high-performing schools.
"She's great. But she can't focus on 155 schools," Kooyenga said.
Baker questioned why Kooyenga would value the leadership of Abele and Means over Driver.
"Here we have a Harvard-educated PhD who has taught and worked in urban systems in a variety of different cities," she said. "Somehow we don't believe her expertise is as good as a county executive who I don't believe has a college degree... who brought in a commissioner... who has spent none of his professional career working with children in poverty."
Milwaukee Superintendent Darienne Driver announced her 2016-17 budget proposal last week calling for about $1.17 billion in spending, down about $1.3 million from the current year. Credit: Rick Wood
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The decision by Milwaukee Public Schools to reallocate nearly $40 million next year has the potential to boost academic achievement and stem enrollment losses, but it may also exacerbate future challenges, the Public Policy Forum said Wednesday in its annual assessment of the MPS budget proposal.
Rob Henken, president of the nonprofit public policy research organization, said he could not fault the district's strategy, given its projected drops in enrollment and revenue, and intense competition from charter and voucher schools.
"But this approach does create a potential hole for 2018 and beyond," he said.
MPS spokesman Tony Tagliavia acknowledged that the district will have to look harder for funding in 2017-'18. But he said the forum essentially vindicated its choices when it posted on its website: "The most striking element of the proposed budget is its ability to maintain and expand investments in several strategic priorities, despite its typical challenge of flat state aids and frozen per-pupil revenue limits."
"The report concludes that given the options and resources the district has that we've made good decisions in the 2016-'17 budget," he said.
Milwaukee Superintendent Darienne Driver announced her 2016-'17 budget proposal last week. It calls for about $1.17 billion in spending, down about $1.3 million from the current year.
Despite a $1.3 million drop in revenue, the budget increases direct spending in classrooms by about $26.6 million, including additional staffing and $12 million for salary increases.
The additions are funded in part with the transfer of $8.5 million in property tax revenue from the construction fund and the reduction of MPS' contribution to its retiree health care liability reserves by $31.2 million.
The district said it was able to cut its payment next year because it had made higher than needed payments earlier.
Other highlights from the forum analysis:
Fringe benefit spending is projected to increase by $3.3 million next year, in what "appears to signify the end" of several years of health care savings.
Enrollment is projected to decline by 5%, or 700 students, to 82,615. That, coupled with a freeze in the per-pupil revenue limit, will cut revenue by $11.2million.
So-called categorical aid, including federal funding for low-income students, is projected to decline slightly, bringing the drop from 2013 to 14.5%.
The district will hold a public hearing on the budget at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at its central offices, 5225 W. Vliet St. The board is scheduled to vote on the budget May 26.
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Sumner Slichter, who was a top aide to former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold for more than 30 years, died Monday at his home in Alexandria, Va.
Slichter was 62 and had been battling brain cancer for three years, his family said.
"What I will miss most is Sumner's laughter, but every day he was an invaluable mentor for everyone around him," Feingold said in a statement. "Sumner was at my side for every vote I took as a legislator, and I didn't vote until I sought his wise counsel."
Slichter started his political career as a teen in Ed Muskie's 1972 presidential campaign. He was with Feingold at nearly every step, including a 1982 run for state Senate as well as the long-shot 1992 campaign for the U.S. Senate.
"The two of them, worlds collided," recalled Slichter's wife, Pam Russell.
At the state level, Russell said Slichter was proud of helping shape Feingold's policy initiatives, especially in the area of serving older adults.
"They really took on that issue when no one else was paying a lot of attention to it," she said. "They did a lot of wonderful things with keeping people in their homes, getting community-based care."
During Feingold's 18 years in the Senate, Slichter was the Democrat's chief policy adviser. Russell said two areas her husband worked hardest on were helping Feingold on the Senate budget committee and in crafting the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill.
Russell said her husband served as a mentor to many, especially young Wisconsinites who came to work in Washington, D.C.
"He would show them the ropes, be kind to them, and help them write," she said.
Sumner Pence Slichter was born Aug. 31, 1953, in Champaign, Ill. He came to Madison to attend the University of Wisconsin, where he graduated in 1980 with a degree in mathematics. He also played viola in the UW orchestra. Slichter Hall at UW was named after his great-grandfather, Charles Sumner Slichter, who was a renowned mathematics professor at the university.
The family plans to hold a memorial event in Madison in the summer.
In addition to his wife, survivors include his daughter, Sarah of Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; mother, Nini Almy of Mitchellville, Md.; father, Charles P. Slichter, and stepmother, Anne Slichter of Champaign, Ill. He is also survived by two brothers, Bill and Jacob, a sister, Ann, and half brothers, Daniel and David.
President Obama was in Milwaukee in March to celebrate the citys victory in the Healthy Communities Challenge, a competition among 20 cities to increase the number of Americans with health insurance during the latest Health Insurance Marketplace open enrollment period. Credit: Rick Wood
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As a successful businessman, I have spent the last 20 years in the commercial roofing industry working to hire and train the best workers and give the highest quality efforts to my customers. If there is a problem, we fix it by working together.
In a recent commentary for the Journal Sentinel, U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, the incumbent congressman for Wisconsin's 5th District, offered extensive criticism of the Affordable Care Act but not one single solution to the issues he raised. I believe that a discussion of health care deserves more than partisan talking points: voters want serious public policy discussions.
I have seen firsthand the advantages of health care reform, in that my daughter, who will be leaving for college soon, will share our insurance coverage until age 26, as will her brother and sister. The ACA also has eliminated the pre-existing conditions restriction, so families with cancer or other chronic illnesses can always get lifesaving insurance. Health care policies have marketplace standards for better coverage.
Also, a major failure to apply common sense to health care has been addressed: the omission of our citizens who most need it from the insurance market. Respected economist Jared Bernstein reported in The Washington Post that both income categories people above and people below $50,000 per year have seen significant reductions in the uninsured rate because of the Affordable Care Act.
The most dramatic was for those with incomes below $50,000, with their uninsured rate falling from about 20% to about 15% in a single year. In Wisconsin's 5th Congressional District, the median income is $58,594. Small business owners, farmers, and other working people have been able to finally get affordable health insurance.
What about the impact on small businesses? Instead of partisan opinions, let's look at independent analysis to find out the answers. In December 2015, the Kaufman Foundation, which tracks entrepreneurs and small business activity in the United States, released its annual Main Street Entrepreneurship Index. It found that the density of small businesses in the country has risen to an all-time high with 1,006.6 companies per 100,000 people or 3.16 million businesses, which is higher than pre-recession levels. The Affordable Care Act has allowed flexibility for entrepreneurs to pursue life-changing opportunities.
The next Congress needs to work with the next president to continue reforming health care. For example, copays have increased dramatically in the last five years. As a Bloomberg commentary pointed out early last year, the average price to see a primary care doctor has risen 20%; 29% for a specialist, and a whopping 43% for outpatient surgery. Increased out-of-pocket costs in co-payments and deductibles have caused almost one in four people to put off treatment for major medical problems.
Our national incumbents need to continue to fight for affordable health care, for ways to make the system work for their constituents, or they need to step down and let someone who wants to work do the job for them.
Khary Penebaker is the Democratic candidate for Wisconsin's 5th Congressional District.
Credit: Donna Grethen / Tribune Content Agency
I have an announcement: I am white. But I'm not any run-of-the-mill white guy I am literally tied with several millions of other Caucasians as the whitest human on the planet. I am a walking human flashlight. Polar bears ask me what my secret is. Off-duty mimes throw money at me on the street. I could sue dry-erase boards for copyright infringement.
This information was recently delivered to me by the world of science. A few months ago, I took a DNA test to determine my ancestors' country of origin, and as it turns out, I am 100% European. The most eclectic my family lineage gets is my 0.6% Italian heritage, which is ironic, as 90% of the food I consume involves either pizza or pasta. That one Italian that sneaked into my bloodline must have been a pretty persuasive guy.
Here's how it works: You pay $200, a kit is sent to your house, and you spit into a tube until it fills up to a line then you mail it back in. True story in order to get enough saliva to fill the spit tube, I held a Big Mac in front of my face to get my mouth to water. I thought the test was going to show I had descended from McDonaldland, and Grimace was my third great-grandfather.
For weeks, I waited to see my results. And when they finally arrived, I experienced a completely unexpected sensation: I was really bummed out.
I admit, I was provoked to take the DNA test by the variety of ancestry shows that have cropped up over the past few years. On a show like "Finding Your Roots," a celebrity will typically take a DNA test, then find out their lineage is far more diverse than they expected, spanning multiple continents and ethnicities.
The lesson I've taken from these shows is that despite our racial differences, we are all genetically interconnected. We all share DNA with others we wouldn't expect to share DNA with, making us a complicated community of relatives. According to a 2014 study, the average African-American carries 24% European DNA; the average American Latino carries 18% Native American ancestry, 65.1% European ancestry (mostly from the Iberian Peninsula), and 6.2% African ancestry.
Granted, it is far less likely for self-described European Americans to share African DNA. Only about 4% of European Americans carry African DNA. But self-described European Americans also can find DNA from Asia, the Caucasus (Iran, Turkey, Armenia, etc.), from Native Americans, Hispanics and from Ashkenazi Jewish populations.
I got none of this. It's like America is holding a genetic party, and I'm standing outside while the bouncer taps his foot and glares.
I will concede that American minorities may have little sympathy for my plight. They would point out that being white in America is a pretty good gig. (Comedian Louis C.K. has a bit about how when time machines are invented, they will be solely a white privilege, as no African-American would choose to visit any time before 1980.)
On top of that, behind the genetic mixing I find admirable are some horrifying realities. African-Americans often carry a heavy load of European DNA because they were forced to procreate against their will. In Louisiana and South Carolina, heavy slave-trading states, more than 12% of European Americans have more than 1% African DNA, far higher than the rest of the nation. Further, of European Americans with at least 1% African ancestry, the African DNA is 15% more likely to be on the X chromosome, suggesting African female-European male relationships were far more common.
But among the disgraces of the past also live inspirational tales of strength and survival. And I want to be connected with the stories of those who endured such struggles. Whether it's those who survived slavery or fought against European settlers in the West or risked their lives on a makeshift raft to float here and experience the American dream, these are all strands in the American fabric
But I'm stuck holding one thread.
That's not to say my relatives always had it easy. Many of them came from Germany and Sweden on crowded boats in the 19th century, risking everything to make it here. My ninth great-grandmother is Mary Towne Esty, who was hanged in Salem for allegedly being a witch. (The evidence against her was that she had a wart, which was used as a "nipple" to "suckle the devil.")
But it does suggest that, historically, my relatives have lived segregated lives, away from anyone who didn't look like them. Maybe this was just a product of geography; maybe it was intentional.
This, naturally, leads any white person to ponder the awkward question of what his or her family thought about race relations. And it smacks a modern European American in the face with perhaps the most uncomfortable question of all: If it was you in that situation, what would your attitude about blacks have been?
And perhaps this is why I so wanted to be more genetically diverse; in a small way, maybe I thought it could inoculate me against such a segregated lineage. (Then again, if I did have African DNA, there is a chance a direct relative was a slaveholder and a rapist.)
Maybe the DNA test is wrong. I've always been skeptical. But if this report is right, in the future when genetic lines are even blurrier, I will be the "Caucasian" statue in the Smithsonian. Maybe the test was unnecessary; I did, after all just pay $200 for a ticket to see Radiohead.
Christian Schneider is a Journal Sentinel columnist and blogger. Email cschneider@jrn.com. Twitter: @Schneider_CM
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton waits to speak at a get out the vote event at La Gala in Bowling Green, Ky., on Monday. Credit: Associated Press
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You could say that it all depends on how you define "lie." Or, perhaps, that it's hell to have a public record.
Either way, Hillary Clinton's vast resume of, shall we say, inconsistencies, is the dog that caught the car and won't let go. A viral video collection of her comments on various subjects through the years is bestirring Republican hearts.
To those who'd rather vote for a reality show host than a Clinton, the video merely confirms what they've believed all along. For independents and even Democrats, it's a reminder of how often Clinton has morphed into a fresh incarnation as required by the political moment.
Most of the highlights would be familiar to anyone who follows politics her varying takes on Bosnia, health care, Wall Street, NAFTA but the juxtaposition of these ever-shifting views is more jarring than one might expect. Politicians count on Americans' short attention spans (and memories) as much as they do their own policies and/or charms.
This video, inartfully titled "Hillary Clinton lying for 13 minutes straight," clarifies blurred recollections and recasts them in an order that, among other things, reminds us how long the Clintons have been around.
Presumptive nominees Clinton and Trump are equally egregious in their misstatements, if in substantively different ways. Clinton is measured, poised, concentrated and studied when she revises her personal history. Trump just says whatever tiny thought penetrates his prefrontal cortex where inhibitory functioning is obviously kaput, blurting absurdities and bromides the way pirates toss plastic beads from papier-m che ships at Mardi Gras.
Lacking a policy record to defend or reverse, Trump gets to gloat and sneer at his female foe. He did reverse himself on his irrelevant position regarding the Iraq war, but the number of real estate developers whose opinions entered into the nation's military calculus in 2003 was exactly zero. Otherwise, his evil-clown act toward women, minorities, the disabled and others is apparently acceptable to the Republican Party.
Clinton's record is something else. The woman who would become president promises a continuation of President Barack Obama's policies, even though she rejected many of them in 2008. The candidate who hates NAFTA almost as much as she now despises Wall Street is captured in several clips praising NAFTA.
A review of her bizarre accounting of landing in Bosnia under sniper fire in 1996 is almost entertaining. Audacious, really. Rather than ducking and dodging across the tarmac where no welcoming committee was present, film footage reminds us that she and daughter Chelsea Clinton calmly walked from the plane, posed for photographs with students there to greet them and shook hands with a little girl.
No news here, just a rehash of history. One web author who posted the video sent to me by several readers insists that it would be impossible to vote for Clinton after viewing the 13-minute montage. This may or may not be true given the alternative, but a refreshed memory does invite fresh consideration of Clinton's character.
Clinton has been in public life long enough to have made some honest mistakes and even changed her mind a few times, which aren't sins. But trustworthiness requires honesty, which often begets forgiveness.
After all these decades, Clinton still wants everything every which way, just never straightforward. Her lengthy tenure as a public figure has become her greatest obstacle. This isn't only because of her lack of forthrightness, but also because, having lived under such intense scrutiny for so long, she seems incapable of allowing herself the ultimate dodge: She's merely human.
A person who can admit to mistakes, express genuine remorse, apologize for errors of judgment or failures to act, and who revises history only in the service of truth that person could become president of the United States.
If only.
Kathleen Parker is a columnist for The Washington Post. Email kathleenparker@washpost.com Twitter: @KathleenParker
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This amoral night?
In response to "Schools must allow transgender bathrooms," I ask: When did we go so quietly into this amoral night (May 14)?
Did abortion not stir us and did homosexual marriage not awaken us? The legal precedent set by President Barack Obama's illegitimate executive action is concerning; yet, there is a more sinister quandary. One must wonder the motivation for the Obama regime's actions.
Americans have been motivated by moral principles. We are the heirs to patriots who stared down the British Empire because we believed that liberty was granted by God; we freed our land from slavery because we believed that men are created equal; and we defeated the Third Reich and Imperial Japan because we believed in Christian civilization. God has made it self-evident that he created humans "male and female."
There is no dogma, there is no academic, and there is no ruler who will ever challenge the authority of God's word. Furthermore, it is not loving, compassionate or noble to affirm the tragic belief a child may hold that he or she is the "wrong" gender. It is evil to mislead innocent children and to advance such a cause God will not be mocked.
Caleb R. Bernhardt
Allouez
Saddened by Walker
I was saddened and yet not surprised to read Gov. Scott Walker's response to the Departments of Justice and Education's guidelines allowing transgender individuals to use public school restrooms consistent with their identified gender ("Schools must allow transgender bathrooms," May 14).
Perhaps he also feels that it is federal overreach to require local schools to allow African-Americans and other individuals who fall outside the majority to share classrooms and restrooms with white children? And, please explain, Gov. Walker, if motivated by local control, how you and the Republican-dominated Legislature can justify dictating how Milwaukee Public Schools choose to educate students?
There are so many issues tied to this topic and the governor's response, and yet it is also very simple, as reflected by a transgender student from Kenosha interviewed by a local media outlet: He has been using the boy's bathroom all year and not a single student has voiced concern.
Kenneth Grizzle
Menomonee Falls
Students' delicate psyches
I read "Lessons in serious stress" and was amazed that one-third of students in the University of Wisconsin System have not been taught that stress and anxiety are part of life (May 13).
The university is now becoming a psychiatrist's couch. Parents, perhaps, have coddled these delicate beings, telling them life will be all butterflies and puppies. They would be showered with love and adoration upon entering college, no one ever uttering an unkind word to them.
The university itself shares responsibility for the delicate psyche of its students. The professors have fostered the notion that not one student (unless conservative) should ever be offended about anything. Students are taught what situations, what words, what looks need to be reported to the thought police. Feelings are all that matter. Coping skills have gone by the wayside, as well as common sense.
I suggest if university life becomes too difficult, one might drop out and pursue a different goal. It might be best, as schools of higher learning have changed. Free thinking, debate or questioning what a professor spouts without fear of reprisal apparently are forbidden.
Students who do venture out of these little bubbles might learn that not everyone shares a like viewpoint. Laws can change but cannot force an alteration in personal beliefs.
Pat Mills
Hales Corners
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 on May 10. Credit: Associated Press
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What's Donald Trump hiding by refusing to release his tax returns, the way every major party nominee has done for the past four decades?
That the presumed Republican nominee is not as wealthy as he claims? That he uses aggressive tax-avoidance schemes? That he doesn't give much cash to charity?
Whatever the reasons, Trump's constantly changing positions about his returns gonna release them, can't release them, want to release them, might release them raise suspicions that he's concealing something. On Friday, he went so far as to tell ABC's Good Morning America that his tax rates are "none of your business."
Well, actually, they are because Americans have the right to know whether someone who wants to lead the nation pays what he owes, is free of financial conflicts of interest and gives generously to worthy causes.
Remember, four years ago, Trump was all for candor, insisting that GOP candidate Mitt Romney had been hurt "very badly" by hiding his tax returns and calling on the candidate to "release them now." Romney finally released two years of returns that showed nothing scandalous but revealed he had paid a relatively low rate on his substantial income because of a tax loophole available to investment managers.
Trump is all about transparency, it seems, for everyone but him.
Romney, now a leader of the effort to stop Trump from getting the GOP nomination, says there's nothing to stop the businessman from releasing his tax returns, except for the likelihood they contain a "bombshell" precisely the same charge Romney himself battled four years ago.
No candidate is required by law to release tax returns, but all the major candidates do. Hillary Clinton has put 15 years of her returns online.
Trump's excuses for refusing are of the dog-ate-my-homework variety. Earlier this year, he said he couldn't do it because he was being audited by the IRS.
This is bogus; the IRS says a taxpayer can make returns public whether he's being audited or not. And, as Trump's tax attorneys pointed out, the audits apply only to returns after 2008, so Trump could release all the earlier ones. He has not.
Trump repeated the audit dodge in an interview with The Associated Press last week, adding that he saw no reason to make his returns public because voters don't care about the issue, and that "there's nothing to learn from them."
Really? Voters are just supposed to take Trump's word for that?
Maybe this is all an elaborate setup, and there's nothing there. Maybe there really is a bombshell. Either way, voters deserve better than Trump's haughty contempt.
This editorial first ran in USA TODAY. USA TODAY's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff.
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By of the
Washington The Senate took a modest step Wednesday toward filling the oldest vacancy of its kind in the country by holding a hearing on the nomination of Wisconsin lawyer Donald Schott for the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The hearing puts Schott on track to win approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee.
But the biggest hurdle he faces is getting a floor vote in the GOP-controlled Senate, which has been slow to act on President Barack Obama's judicial nominees in his final year in office.
"I wish I could tell today's nominees that you'll get a confirmation vote," Senate Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois told Schott and three other nominees who appeared at Wednesday's hearing, but he complained that pending nominations are languishing for months before the full Senate.
"At this pace...we'll be lucky to see a handful approved before the Congress ends," said Durbin.
Schott is up for a Wisconsin seat on the three-state 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. The seat has been vacant since 2010.
The long-standing vacancy has been the subject of bitter feuding between Wisconsin's two senators, Republican Ron Johnson and Democrat Tammy Baldwin. Baldwin blames Johnson for the yearslong delay in getting a judge confirmed. Johnson blames Baldwin for violating the terms of an agreement the two had negotiated over how to vet nominees.
While Baldwin is a vocal supporter of the Schott nomination, Johnson has sent mixed signals.
It was within his power as a senator from the nominee's home state to block Wednesday's hearing from happening, but he declined to do so, giving the committee the green light to consider Schott. At the same time, Johnson has made critical remarks about the nomination and stopped short of explicitly supporting Schott's confirmation.
Baldwin spoke on Schott's behalf before the nominee's testimony Wednesday. Johnson did not appear at the hearing, but aides pointed to a previously scheduled hearing of the homeland security committee he was chairing during the same time slot. Johnson declined to comment Wednesday on the status of the nomination.
"Today marks the 2,323rd day of this vacancy," Baldwin said at the judiciary hearing. "The people of Wisconsin and the entire 7th Circuit deserve a fully functioning court."
Schott answered questions from a handful of senators in both parties about his record as an attorney and litigator in Wisconsin.
The Madison lawyer is the first appellate court nominee this year to get a judiciary committee hearing, said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor who follows the confirmation process.
"If an appellate nominee gets a (floor) vote, he ought to get the first one" this year, Tobias said. But he said it was an open question as to whether that happens.
By of the
Diane Sykes of Wisconsin is on Donald Trump's list of potential U.S. Supreme Court justices.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, released the names of 11 judges he plans to vet if he gets the chance to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
President Barack Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, has been blocked by Senate Republicans.
Trump mentioned Sykes as a potential Supreme Court nominee earlier. On Wednesday, he released a formal list of conservative state and federal judges, saying they were "representative of the kind of constitutional principles I value."
Sykes, 58, is a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice who in 2004 was nominated by President George W. Bush to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. She won confirmation with the backing of Wisconsin's two Democratic senators at the time, Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl. She has long been a favorite of conservative court watchers.
She said she would have no comment.
"It gives us hope," said Glenn Grothman, a conservative GOP congressman from Wisconsin who has been tepid in his support of Trump. "She would be a good justice, and that's what we're looking for from Donald Trump."
Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, the Menomonee Falls Republican and former House judiciary chair, had recommended Sykes to Bush as a Supreme Court pick for the 2005 vacancy that first went to Harriet Miers and then ultimately to Samuel Alito when the Miers pick was withdrawn.
Democrats were not impressed by Trump's list.
"It's incredibly presumptuous and premature for anybody who's not even officially nominated to be releasing a Supreme Court list," said U.S. Rep. Ron Kind of La Crosse.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), who will be voting on the next justice, is "focused on the Supreme Court nominee we have, Judge Merrick Garland, and believes the Senate Republicans should do their job and give him a fair hearing and up or down vote," said spokesman John Kraus.
GOP Rep. Reid Ribble, a Trump critic who refuses to support his candidacy, said he was glad Trump included Sykes on the list but thought it was odd to publish such a list so far in advance when the list of possible choices could change many months from now.
"I'm not sure it's the right strategy," said Ribble, who added the act of publicizing his possible court picks did little to reassure him about Trump, given his own deep qualms about the candidate's behavior and rhetoric.
Sykes got her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University in 1980. She was a reporter for The Milwaukee Journal before entering and graduating from Marquette University Law School in 1984. She was a law clerk to federal District Judge Terence Evans before going to work for the Whyte & Hirschboeck law firm in Milwaukee from 1985 to 1992. Sykes served as a Milwaukee County circuit judge from 1992 until 1999, when she was appointed to the state Supreme Court by former Gov. Tommy G. Thompson.
She won a full 10-year term in 2000, handily defeating Louis Butler.
Sykes' former husband, WTMJ-AM (620) broadcaster Charlie Sykes, offered his support in a tweet. Charlie Sykes is an outspoken Trump opponent who clashed with Trump on his radio show before the April 5 Wisconsin primary. Charlie Sykes wrote on Twitter Wednesday, "Diane would be an outstanding choice. Would make a great justice. But I simply don't believe Trump."
A spokesman for GOP Sen. Ron Johnson said Johnson thinks it would be good "if both parties' nominees tell the voters who they will consider." Johnson's Democratic opponent, Feingold, backed Diane Sykes as an appellate judge in 2004, but Feingold also said at the time his support for appellate nominees such as Diane Sykes did not guarantee he would support the same people for the U.S. Supreme Court.
The other judges on Trump's list are: Steven Colloton of Iowa; Allison Eid of Colorado; Raymond Gruender of Missouri; Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania; Raymond Kethledge of Michigan; Joan Larsen of Michigan; Thomas Lee of Utah; William H. Pryor Jr. of Alabama; David Stras of Minnesota; and Don Willett of Texas.
The DNR issued violation notices in 2014 against the operators of a Dane County manure digester linked to significant manure spills Fines assessed by the state for such offenses are down drastically. Credit: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
By of the
Financial penalties for violations of Wisconsin environmental laws fell sharply in 2015 to their lowest level in at least a decade.
Data released by a conservation organization show forfeitures paid by individuals and companies for violating state law totaled $306,834 last year.
That's down 78% from nearly $1.4 million paid out in 2014. It's also the lowest amount paid out for violations dating back to at least 2006, according to data.
The figures are the most recent showing Department of Natural Resources enforcement activity has dropped off under the administration of Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican who took office in 2011 with a pro-business agenda and a vow to make the DNR more friendly to the private sector.
The statistics show forfeitures collected between 2006 and 2010 under the administration of Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, totaled $15.2 million.
During Walker's 2011-'15 tenure, it dropped more than half to $6.4 million.
The data were released by the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation on Wednesday from public records the organization says it received from an employee in state government. It declined to identify the source.
The DNR said it could not corroborate the figures. Spokesman Andrew Savagian said in an email that "enforcement staff can't tell from the format if this is our data." The Department of Justice, which prosecutes cases referred by the DNR, also said it could not immediately vouch for the accuracy of the data.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in February on a drop in enforcement activity in 2015 in several categories. The paper reported the number of cases the agency accepted; the number of notices of violation; and the number of referrals to the Department of Justice all fell in 2015 compared to the average between 2010 and 2014.
The paper has previously reported enforcement drops in other years of the Walker administration.
Earlier this year, Walker said declining enforcement was a good sign because it showed the DNR has been working upfront with the public to avoid problems.
"My goal is to have no citations, because when an agency issues a citation, that means something went wrong," Walker told reporters.
According to data from the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, there were no financial penalties in 2015 that involved confined animal feeding operations, which are large-scale farms also known as CAFOs that have come under fire from environmentalists.
There were also no forfeitures in categories covering hazardous waste and public water supplies, according to the group.
Financial penalties for wastewater management, which involve permits to municipalities and factories that treat water before releasing it to public waterways, fell from a 10-year average of $455,407 to $12,057 last year.
"I don't have the answer to why it has fallen, but it's too dramatic," George Meyer, executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, said of the forfeiture totals.
Meyer headed up the DNR under former Govs. Tommy Thompson and Scott McCallum, both Republicans, and previously served as enforcement administrator at the agency.
In Meyer's view, the possible explanations are: fewer on-site inspections by the DNR; a drop in the number of prosecutable cases referred to the Justice Department; or a reduced number of prosecutions by the Justice Department.
Meyer said a trend of fewer sanctions makes it unfair for the majority of people and businesses that follow the law.
"Ninety-five to 99% of the companies out there are doing an outstanding job with compliance," Meyer said. "These are the 5% who are not complying with the law. They're cutting corners.
"It's good business to have an effective deterrent."
The DNR said in an email that the goal of the agency is to "increase compliance and reduce the need for enforcement actions. DNR and DOJ continue to take environmental enforcement seriously and are committed to addressing violations."
The agency says it has used a "stepped enforcement" for decades to resolve cases at the lowest level of penalty for the circumstance.
Justice Department spokesman Johnny Koremenos said in a statement:
"Attorney General Schimel takes his prosecutorial role seriously and ensures all referrals received by the Wisconsin Department of Justice from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources are thoroughly reviewed and DOJ attorneys work diligently to do what's best for Wisconsin."
The DNR is nearing completion on a major reorganization aimed at streamlining its regulatory work because officials say with fewer employees, the DNR must be retooled to carry out its duties.
But environmentalists say they are worried the agency will further de-emphasize environmental protection.
Earlier this year, the agency said employment had dropped 15% since 1995. The DNR's head count stood at 2,641, including vacancies. There were then 365 vacant positions and 90 were in the process of being filled.
The DNR's Savagian said in a statement all environmental enforcement positions in the agency have been filled, and an additional enforcement position and seven investigators are in the process of being hired.
Hartland fire incident found to be shooting, murder-suicide
The two adults and four children were all found to have gunshot wounds.
In its application for a Lake Michigan water supply, the City of Waukesha has proposed returning water to the lake by discharging treated wastewater to the Root River. Credit: Don Behm
By of the
The City of Waukesha would receive Lake Michigan water, and turn off its deep wells drawing radium-contaminated water from a sandstone aquifer, under a recommendation approved Wednesday by representatives of Great Lakes states and provinces.
The group on a 9-0 vote affirmed that the city's application for a Lake Michigan water supply would comply with terms of a Great Lakes protection compact if numerous conditions the representatives recommended were imposed on the plan.
Minnesota representative Julie Ekman abstained from voting. She did not vote because the state's top officials were continuing to review the regional group's conditional declaration of support and it was not an indication of opposition to the city's request, Ekman said.
Representatives of the eight states and two provinces voted on the declaration during a Wednesday morning conference call.
Two of the conditions recommended by the group include a lower volume of lake water and a smaller distribution area than requested by Waukesha.
Governors of the eight states, or their designated representatives, will meet in Chicago in late June to consider the regional group's conditional approval and vote on the city's request.
The Conference of Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers had not confirmed a meeting date as of Wednesday morning.
The Great Lakes compact requires a unanimous vote of approval by the eight states. The premiers of Ontario and Quebec do not vote at that time, though their representatives on the regional group recommended approval of the request with conditions.
Although the compact requires review of a water diversion request by representatives of the eight states and two provinces, the regional group's recommendation of support does not guarantee final approval by the states.
If Waukesha's request is granted, however, the city would become the first U.S. community located entirely outside the Great Lakes drainage basin to receive a diversion of lake water since the compact became federal law in 2008.
In December 2015, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources concluded a five-year review of the city's request with a finding that the continued pumping of water from the deep sandstone aquifer was not sustainable since it is 350 feet below predevelopment levels.
The DNR said the city does not have an adequate supply of water fit to drink, because of radium contamination of deep groundwater supplies, and that all the city's options outside the Great Lakes basin including drilling additional wells would have adverse effects on wetlands, streams and inland lakes.
"This all started with the city's proposal to address a public health problem," Eric Ebersberger, deputy administrator of environmental management for the DNR, said at the conclusion of the regional group's vote.
Waukesha residents "need the healthy and sustainable water supply that only borrowing and returning Lake Michigan water can reasonably provide," Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly said in a statement.
The city's $207 million plan includes building pipelines and pumping stations to carry lake water over the subcontinental divide and return the water as treated wastewater to the lake. Waukesha is planning to buy lake water from Oak Creek, pump it to Waukesha for distribution, and to discharge treated wastewater to the Root River, a tributary of the lake.
Apart from that general description of the project, the states will be taking action next month on a request significantly altered with conditions recommended by the regional group.
In their declaration of finding the request met compact requirements for a diversion of water out of the basin, the regional group recommended that portions of four communities be removed from Waukesha's original future water service area proposal as a condition of approval.
They approved a much smaller area that could be served with lake water. It would include only the city's existing service area, plus several town islands small pieces of the town completely surrounded by the city.
One other condition would set a daily average of 8.2 million gallons of lake water as the maximum volume that could be piped to Waukesha for the smaller service area by midcentury.
In a revised application submitted in 2013, the city requested up to an average of 10.1 million gallons a day of lake water by midcentury to serve the larger area.
Another of the conditions recommended by the regional group would require Waukesha to monitor water quality in the Root River for a minimum of 10 years.
Clean Wisconsin, Midwest Environmental Advocates and a few other state environmental groups said in a joint statement that the city's diversion proposal should have been rejected by the regional representatives rather than modified with conditions.
"We need to carefully examine the conditions that the regional body has recommended to determine if they uphold the letter and spirit of the Great Lakes compact." the groups said.
Cheryl Nenn, a riverkeeper for the Milwaukee Riverkeeper environmental group, criticized the regional officials for not carefully considering impacts of Waukesha wastewater discharges on the Root River and the downstream City of Racine.
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By of the
A Wisconsin law school graduate who was denied a license to practice here over academic misconduct and honesty issues won conditional admission to the bar Wednesday from a divided Supreme Court.
In a 4-3 decision, the court reversed the decision of the Board of Bar Examiners to deny Joshua E. Jarrett admission for failing to meet the character and fitness requirements that apply even to applicants under the state's unique "diploma privilege." The privilege allows graduates of the state's two law schools at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Marquette University to practice without passing a bar exam.
Jarrett was a police officer in Georgia when he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin Law School. After his first year, while applying for a 2013 summer clerkship in the New York City Law Department, he inflated his GPA on an unofficial transcript and falsely claimed to be a member of school's law review.
He was caught and placed on two semesters of academic probation. He did not get the New York job internship, but he instead got an unpaid internship with the Wisconsin Department of Revenue for that summer.
Jarrett disclosed the academic probation incident in his application to the state bar, but not three speeding tickets. The board found his explanation that he had just forgotten about them not credible.
"Taken as a whole, Mr. Jarrett's conduct suggests a pattern of behavior that is both dishonest and deceptive," the board wrote in April 2015 after a December 2014 hearing on Jarrett's application.
The court majority seemed to go out of its way to respect all the factual findings by the Board of Bar Examiners and acknowledges the seriousness of some of Jarrett's actions. "Still, a majority of this court has determined that denying Mr. Jarrett admission to the bar is simply too harsh a penalty under the circumstances presented," it said.
Writing for the dissent, Chief Justice Patience Roggensack, citing the resume issue, as well as Jarrett's failure to disclose speeding tickets that he had in three states, concluded "that there are simply too many incidents in which Mr. Jarrett considered the truth optional when it was not to his advantage."
Justices Annette Ziegler and Michael Gableman joined the dissent.
The unsigned majority opinion noted that Jarrett, now working as an analyst for the Federal Aviation Administration, had done many good things as a law student. "In the nearly four years since his academic misconduct, Mr. Jarrett has completed unpaid legal internships and meaningful legal volunteer work serving economically challenged clients, has mentored students and currently works in a public trust position in Washington, D.C.," it said.
The court did require that the Office of Lawyer Regulation find a Wisconsin bar member to monitor and supervise Jarrett's practice of law for two years and make quarterly reports. Jarrett will hold inactive status in the Wisconsin bar until the monitor is in place.
"There may be risks in our decision," Justice David Prosser wrote in a concurring opinion. "But intelligent risk-taking often yields spectacular rewards. I believe Mr. Jarrett has the ability to be a superb attorney, and he has demonstrated the desire to serve others."
Justices Ann Walsh Bradley and Rebecca Bradley joined Prosser's opinion.
Milwaukee Police Officers Alejandro Arce (left) and Jose Lopez allege that owners of Badger Guns negligently sold the gun used to wound them while on duty in 2007. Credit: Brady Center
SHARE Wiped Clean The Journal Sentinel for two years has investigated how Congress has created special rules for gun stores that protect even the biggest sellers of guns to criminals. Read the series
By of the
The civil trial pitting two wounded Milwaukee police officers against a local gun shop was temporarily derailed Wednesday, as the judge in the case dismissed prospective jurors just before a final jury was expected to be picked.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge John DiMotto told the jurors there was nothing they did to lead to their dismissal and attributed the unusual move to "issues beyond our control."
The case brought by Officer Jose Lopez and former Officer Alejandro Arce against Badger Guns and its owners is now set to begin jury selection anew on Monday.
An unusually large pool of 100 jurors was called for the case and questioning had been going on since Monday. Asked after the dismissal why jurors were released, DiMotto declined to disclose what happened.
In their lawsuit, Lopez and Arce allege that owners of Badger Guns negligently sold the gun used to wound them while on duty in 2007.
The trial comes just months after two different wounded Milwaukee police officers won a landmark liability case against the former West Milwaukee gun dealer.
Lopez and Arce were shot by Victor Veloz, then 15, in November 2007. Veloz was using a gun purchased and provided to him by 24-year-old Jose Fernandez. That gun and another were purchased by Fernandez just weeks earlier.
On Oct. 16, 2007, Fernandez bought a Masterpiece Arms 9mm assault-style gun with a flash suppressor and two 30-round clips. Eight days later, Fernandez returned to the store and bought a Taurus 9mm handgun.
Fernandez had been convicted of drug possession. It is against the law to sell a gun to a drug user. The complaint alleges that Badger Guns employees should have known that. It also says the sales just days apart should have been a red flag that it was a straw purchase.
Last October, a Milwaukee jury ruled in favor of Officer Bryan Norberg and former Officer Graham Kunisch, awarding them nearly $6 million in health care costs and lost wages, pain and suffering and punitive damages.
In a first-of-its-kind verdict that was watched nationwide, the jury found that Badger Guns and its owner broke federal laws and negligently sold the gun used to injure the officers to a straw buyer a man buying the weapon for someone who could not legally purchase it.
Shortly after the verdict, Kunisch and Norberg settled the case for $1 million.
Wiped Clean series
The Journal Sentinel for two years investigated how Congress has created special rules for gun stores that protect even the biggest sellers of guns to criminals. See jsonline.com/wipedclean.
By of the
Todd Dyer, a Lake Geneva felon known for challenging prosecutors to "bring it on," cannot travel to Palm Springs, Calif., while he awaits trial on two federal indictments charging him with more than 30 felony-related fraud counts, a federal judge ruled.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Joseph rejected Dyer's request to travel so he could work on a business called Income Stream Exchange. The judge noted that as a condition of his personal recognizance bond, Dyer is banned from directly or indirectly "accepting new clients and from handling investments on behalf of others." Dyer sold the trading platform business last year for $2 million.
Dyer was convicted in 1999 and again in 2004 on charges filed in federal court in Milwaukee and Illinois state court related to a Ponzi scheme he ran in the 1990s. He was indicted in federal court again last year on charges that he helped run a $1.5 million investment scheme that conned investors into pouring money into firms created to buy farmland.
While he was under investigation he practically dared prosecutors to indict him, telling them to "Bring it on. Bring. It. On."
Dyer has denied the new charges and blamed Robert LeBell, his court-appointed attorney, for failing to persuade Joseph to allow him to travel. On Wednesday, LeBell filed a motion asking to withdraw from the case saying Dyer asked him to do so. Dyer's previous lawyer, Troy Owens, dropped Dyer as a client.
Dyer, 52, said Wednesday that he plans to represent himself.
Joseph's order did not deal with a allegations voiced by prosecutors that Dyer has defrauded an Illinois family out of $937,000 and that he has threatened to sue victims in the farmland investment.
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |
Iranian members of parliament have approved the details of a bill that insists US compensate Iran for its crimes against that country.
The bill comes as a result of a $2 billion judgment against Iran entered by a US court and backed by an act of the US Congress, on behalf of the families of Marines killed in a Beirut bombing in 1983. Iran was allegedly behind the attack, though responsibility for it was attributed to a fundamentalist Lebanese Shiite splinter group that was a predecessor of Hizbullah.
BBC Monitoring translated from the website of the Islamic Consultative Assembly News Agency (ICANA) in Persian 0622 gmt 17 May 16:
The bill is entitled Requiring the government to pursue compensation for damages incurred as a result of US actions and crimes against Iran and Iranian nationals. It was unveiled following a controversial US Supreme Court ruling that allows the use of nearly two billion dollars from Irans frozen assets as compensation for US victims of terrorist acts sponsored by Iran. Of the 203 MPs present at the open session, 131 voted Yes, 10 No, and nine abstained. Details of the bill Article 1 of the bill, which was passed on 17 May, lists the following nine events as instances of US crimes: 1) Financial and non-financial damages incurred as a consequence of the 1953 coup detat [that removed popular democratic leader Mohammad Mossaddeq from power]; 2) Financial and non-financial damages incurred as a consequence of the Nozheh [Nojeh] coup detat [a foiled attempt in 1980 by a group of armed forces personnel that sought to topple the newly formed Islamic Republic]; 3) Financial and non-financial damages incurred as a consequence of the Imposed War [Irans name for the 1980s war with Iraq]; 4) Financial and non-financial damages incurred as a consequence of the martyrdom of over 223,000, and the self-sacrifices of another 600,000 (war prisoners and war disabled) [still referring to the Iran-Iraq war]; 5) Financial and non-financial damages incurred as a consequence of the martyrdom of 17,0000 assassinated martyrs [no elaborations provided]; 6) Financial and non-financial damages incurred as a consequence of the attacks on oil rigs [during the Iran-Iraq war]; 7) Financial and non-financial damages incurred as a consequence of anti-Iran espionage conducted, sponsored or supported by the United Sates; 8) Financial and non-financial damages incurred as a consequence of blocking, seizing or interfering with the Islamic Republic of Irans assets and finances including those of government and public organisations and institutions, as well as Iranian officials; 9) Financial and non-financial damages incurred as a consequence of the actions undertaken, as well those which will be undertaken in the future, by the usurping Zionist regime which have been carried out with the support or partial role of the US;
The differences are not moral or legal high ground, but practical. Iran just doesnt have possession of US assets that it can sequester. In contrast, the US froze billions in Iranian accounts in the US after the 1979 revolution. (This is Irans money and the US has no legal right to it, contrary to what Donald Trump keeps alleging).
It is not in fact clear that Iran was responsible for the 1983 bombing, though allies of Iran were.
But it certainly is the case that the US overthrew the elected government of Iran in 1953 and imposed a brutal dictatorship on the country, so as, in part, to dictate to Iran the terms on which it could export petroleum. And, it certainly did trillions of dollars of harm to Iran as a result.
It is also the case that the Reagan administration sided with Saddam Husseins Iraq in its war of aggression on Iran, supplying Iraq with weaponry and intel and even precursers for biological and chemical weapons. The chemical weapons were used on Iranian troops at the front. When Iran sought to have Iraq condemned for chemical weapons use at the UN Security Council, the Reagan administration ran interference for Saddam Hussein and prevented a UNSC condemnation of Baghdad.
Just to show that hypocrisy never goes out of style, Iraqs use of chemical weapons was cited as a casus belli by the George W. Bush administration for its war of aggression in 2003.
So, yes, I think the harm the US did Iran during the Iran-Iraq War could well also be worth trillions. The blocking of a UNSC condemnation of Iraqi chemical weapons use alone would be worth that.
Iran wont see a dime.
But it is the case that in a world where courts are making claims for universal jurisdiction, the US should be careful about litigating past political and military conflicts. Washingtons list of crimes is so long that sooner or later it will boomerang on the US elites.
Related video:
PressTV: Iran MPs want US to pay for damage inflicted since 1953
Joya Mia Italiano and Elliot Hill | (TheLipTV2 Video Report) |
Iranian officials have reportedly accused Kim Kardashian West of working for Instagram as a secret agent. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp accused Kardashian West, during a news program Sunday night, of working with the social networks CEO as part of a secret plot to target young people and women by corrupting them with sexy selfies that depict an un-Islamic lifestyle, according to a report from Iran Wire. Is Kim Kardashian a spy? We look at Irans crackdown on Instagram models on the Lip News with Joya Mia Italiano and Elliot Hill.
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By Efe Kerem Sozer | (GlobalVoices.org) |
Ahmet Davutoglu was disliked by many in Turkey. [Even after] he step[pped] down as Turkey's Prime Minister amid an apparent confrontation with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he will fail to distance himself from the grave human cost of the government military operation in Eastern Turkey and a crackdown on media and the opposition.
But it is what happens next, with President Erdogan likely to be even less restrained than he was prior to Davutoglu's exit, which is of most concern.
On Davutoglu's watch?
Under the pretext of the fight against terror and the outlawed militant organisation PKK, PM Davutoglu's cabinet ordered month-long curfews and heavily armed assaults on Kurdish towns in the country's southeast, which cost at least 338 civilian lives and forced at least 355,000 people to flee their homes in the last eight months, according to a report by the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey.
Also under Davutoglu's government formed in August 2014 four newspapers and a national news agency were appointed with government trustees before being shut down, while about 20 TV channels were removed from satellite and digital platforms following terror propaganda accusations.
Dozens of websites and news articles from mainly Kurdish news agencies, dailies and other media outlets, along with hundreds of Twitter accounts belonging to reporters and dissidents were blocked by the government on national security grounds.
A Judge in Turkey blocked access to 130 Twitter accounts with a decision lacking any justification. Pure censorship. pic.twitter.com/sOIq2h3oz1 Yaman Akdeniz (@cyberrights) January 18, 2016
93% of world's court-ordered Twitter censorship requests come from Turkey (Jul-Dec 2015) https://t.co/d18aNoq1DL pic.twitter.com/YFdCL2dtVx Conrad Hackett (@conradhackett) April 23, 2016
Also during this time, more than 1,845 people, including journalists, were sued for defamation of the president, some of whom have already received jail sentences.
As of this writing, there are 33 journalists in Turkish jails, most of whom are Kurdish reporters in pre-trial detention for terrorism propaganda charges.
On May 6, the daily Cumhuriyet's editor-in-chief and Ankara bureau chief was sentenced to more than five years in jail for revealing state secrets in their news reports covering evidence of Turkey's intelligence agency shipping arms illegally to Northern Syria.
Several freelance reporters have been jailed and deported since the last summer, and now growing number of foreign correspondents and reporters are being denied entry into Turkey.
Giorgos Moutafis deported from TR back to Athens! Authorities said he's on no-entry list!@GiorgosKosmop @CarmenDpnt https://t.co/OusPncGlfD Begum Basdas (@BegumBasdas) April 24, 2016
Der Spiegel's correspondent was last year pulled out of the country after receiving death threats and having his press card not renewed, Sputnik's Turkey bureau chief meanwhile was deported to Moscow and had his press card seized.
Access to Sputnik a Russian news website whose propaganda has increasingly come to focus on Turkey since Ankara downed a Russian military jet used in operations over Syria last November is predictably blocked in Turkey.
Another quartet of reporters were denied entry into the country in the last week of April.
Foreign journos denied entry to Turkey in past week
1.Volker Schwenck
2.Tural Kerimov
3.Giorgos Moutafis
4.D.Lepeska
(Ebru Umar can't leave) Howard Eissenstat (@heissenstat) April 25, 2016
Both the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Index on Censorship has published detailed timelines of Turkey's press freedom violations, which provided the pretext for a significant drop in Turkey's Reporters Without Borders ranking.
On this World Press Freedom Day 2016, Turkey could be the fastest deteriorating environment. #WPFD2016 https://t.co/APzumI8XZl Marina Petrillo (@alaskaHQ) May 3, 2016
The Prime Minister is gone, long live the President
But, while Davutoglu was constitutionally more empowered than ally-turned-rival Erdogan, few believe that he was the driving force behind the crackdown on media and political opposition.
Erdogan, who came into power as a reformist Prime MInister in 2003, initially promised to direct the country towards full EU-membership and the rule of law.
In 2009 he initiated a courageous peace policy, the Democratic Initiative, that involved negotiations with the PKK leadership to end Turkey's decades-long Kurdish rights problems and forge a political solution that PKK leaders were also ready to accept.
But when the EU membership talks stalled around 2010, Erdogan began an autocratic turn, with the Kurdish political movement hit hardest.
By 2012, there were as many as 100 critical journalists in jail, while a leading TV channel and its sister newspaper were seized by the government and sold to a company controlled by Erdogan's son-in-law Berat Albayrak in a bid to bring media ownership into the hands of a few government-friendly business partners.
(Albayrak is now Turkey's Energy Minister and one of several potential candidates for prime minister.)
Following the 2013 Gezi protests Erdogan and the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party) asserted ever more control over Turkish society.
The December 2013 graft probe that touched the Erdogan family as well as several of his ministers ended with a purge of police chiefs and prosecutors involved in the investigation.
Today's sweeping online censorship and disproportionate police violence against mass protests can be traced back to legislative amendments that followed these political developments.
Throughout this time, Davutoglu was Erdogan's foreign policy advisor and later his Minister of Foreign Affairs. Then, when Erdogan was elected as President in August 2014 vacating the office of Prime Minister Davutoglu was his loyal successor.
But Davutoglu reportedly grew uneasy over some of Erdogan's more extreme authoritarian tendencies, with one outlet reporting the pair had as many as 20 significant disagreements roughly one disagreement per month during his premiership.
Changes on the horizon
But the controversies which will define Turkey's immediate future will now exclusively be associated with the unassailable Erdogan.
The president is currently demanding more powers for his office through a new constitution, and an even broader definition of terrorism as he seeks to suppress political dissent.
And as the opposition talks of a palace coup, pro-Erdogan columnists are already sounding the death knell for the parliamentary system in Turkey.
Erdogan loyalist Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag is the favourite to replace Davutoglu, at least until an expected referendum on lifting parliamentary immunities a move that AKP MPs literally fought over which will allow the government to jail opposition MPs.
And as the EU and Turkey haggle over the lives of millions of refugees a deal that may be harder to implement without Davutoglu around Turkey's own people appear increasingly like boat-bound captives, too.
But Turkey's boat does have a captain, and no-one doubts his name.
Via GlobalVoices.org
-
Related video added by Juan Cole:
Turkey to vote on abolishing MP immunity | DW News
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - May 18, 2016) -
Highlights:
Callinex has agreed to acquire 100% ownership in the Superjack and Nash Creek deposits located in the Bathurst Mining Camp of New Brunswick, Canada;
The Superjack Project 'A Zone' hosts a near-surface Inferred resource of 2.9 Mt grading 3.2% Zn, 0.8% Pb, 0.23% Cu and 30.6 g/t Ag;
The Nash Creek Project includes a near-surface Indicated resource of 7.8 Mt grading 2.7% Zn, 0.6% Pb and 18.3 g/t Ag and an Inferred resource of 1.2 Mt 2.7% Zn, 0.5% Pb and 18.0 g/t Ag; and
These acquisitions further strengthen Callinex's strategic portfolio of zinc-rich assets within Canada.
Callinex Mines Inc. (the "Company" or "Callinex") (TSX VENTURE:CNX)(OTCQX:CLLXF) is pleased to announce that a binding Purchase Agreement has been signed with Slam Exploration Ltd. ("Slam Exploration") (TSX VENTURE:SXL) to acquire the Superjack and Nash Creek Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide ("VMS") Projects located in the prolific Bathurst Mining Camp of New Brunswick, Canada. The Superjack and Nash Creek Projects each host significant zinc-rich resources that are near-surface and within close proximity to operating processing facilities. These projects, along with the recently acquired Point Leamington Project, represent a strategic portfolio of zinc assets within established Canadian mining jurisdictions.
The Bathurst Mining Camp is one of the largest and most economically significant VMS districts in the world, similar to the Flin Flon Mining District. The Bathurst district hosts several world-class deposits, most notably the 'supergiant' Brunswick #12 deposit; which contained well over 200 million tonnes of high-grade VMS mineralization and was one of the largest underground zinc mines in the world. The closure of the Brunswick #12 mine in 2013 has been a major contributor to the current zinc supply-demand deficit, which is expected to increase even further within the next two years.
Max Porterfield, President and CEO, stated, "Superjack and Nash Creek greatly contribute to the formation of a leading zinc-rich portfolio of projects located in Canadian mining jurisdictions. Combined with the Point Leamington deposit, we have acquired 100% ownership of three VMS assets that have well defined mineral resources at attractive prices."
Superjack Project
The Superjack Project, which has excellent infrastructure, is located approximately 50km by road to an operating processing facility. The project is interpreted to be underlain by the same felsic volcanic package (i.e., the Nepisiguit Falls Formation) that hosts the 'supergiant' Brunswick #12 mine located 15km to the northeast and the large Heath Steele Mine located 10km due south of Superjack (See Figure 1). The Superjack deposit consists of three mineralized zones that all start at surface, the largest of which is called the 'A Zone'. A Technical Report titled "Technical Report and Resource Estimate on the Nepisiguit Project, New Brunswick, Canada" effective May 31, 2012 was prepared by Tetra Tech Inc. / Wardrop ("Tetra Tech") for Slam Resources Ltd. and estimated an Inferred mineral resource in the 'A Zone' totaling 2.9 Mt grading 3.16% Zn, 0.82% Pb, 0.23% Cu and 30.6 g/t Ag and an Inferred mineral resource in the 'C Zone' totaling 0.3 Mt grading 1.41% Zn, 0.32% Pb, 0.27% Cu and 16.6 g/t Ag (See Table 1).
The most prospective areas of the Superjack Project appear to be the down-plunge expressions of both the known 'A' and 'C' mineralized zones where very little drilling has been completed. Of particular interest are two deep drill holes on the 'A Zone' that essentially leave the zone wide open to be explored at depth below 440 meters. Drill hole NP11-39 intersected 2.55m of 14.97% Zn, 1.38% Pb, 0.27% Cu and 32.53 g/t Ag and drill hole NP11-54 that intersected 5.88m of 5.48% Zn, 2.34% Pb, 0.41% Cu and 73.74 g/t Ag (See Figure 2).
Nash Creek VMS Project
The Nash Creek VMS Project is located approximately 90km from an operating processing facility and, as noted in the Technical Report entitled "Nash Creek Project - New Brunswick NI 43-101 Compliant Technical Report" completed on March 27, 2009 by Wardrop Engineering Inc. ("Wardrop") for Slam Resources Ltd., the Nash Creek property hosts an Indicated mineral resource totaling 7.8 Mt grading 2.72% Zn, 0.55% Pb, and 18.26 g/t Ag and an Inferred resource of 1.21 Mt grading 2.66% Zn, 0.52% Pb, and 18.00 g/t Ag (See Figure 1 and Table 2). Previous exploration work conducted by Slam Exploration has already resulted in a sizeable mineral deposit and preliminary metallurgical testing has indicated amenability to enrichment by Dense Media Separation ("DMS"). DMS is a well-known technology that is designed to significantly increase the grade by reducing waste rock, which could allow for efficient toll milling. Additional studies are necessary to determine the potential economic viability of the Nash Project based on long-term zinc prices. The larger and higher grade Southern Hayes Zone appears to remain open along a flat southerly plunge.
Transaction Terms
As consideration for 100% ownership of the Superjack and Nash Projects along with exploration data, Callinex has agreed to pay to $750,000 as follows: (i) $100,000 due in cash upon closing, (ii) $525,000 due within three years which can be paid in cash or shares with a deemed value of $0.50 per share, and (iii) $125,000, due in cash or shares with a deemed value of $0.50 per share, based on the completion of a Preliminary Economic Assessment on the Nash Project.
Callinex has agreed to provide a 1% NSR on the Superjack and Nash Projects (the "Royalties"), of which half of the Royalties can be repurchased at any time for $500,000. In the event zinc prices exceed US $1.25 per pound and US $1.50 per pound an additional 0.25% royalty for each price increment will be payable on any mineral production from the Superjack and Nash Projects.
The acquisition of the Superjack and Nash Projects is subject to the acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange.
The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by James Pickell, P.Geo, a Consultant to the Callinex, and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Pickell has also reviewed the Superjack and Nash Creek Technical Reports and Resource Estimates prepared by Tetra Tech and Wardrop.
Table 1: 2012 Inferred Mineral Resource for the Superjack 'A' and 'C' Zones using a 1.5% ZnEq cut-off
Tonnes Zn (%) Pb (%) Cu (%) Ag (g/t) Zn (t) Pb (t) Cu (t) Ag (oz) 2,938,613
('A' Zone) 3.162 0.822 0.226 30.644 92,928 24,164 6,633 2,895,222 272,402
('C' Zone) 1.408 0.320 0.272 16.599 3,836 873 742 145,370 3,211,015
('A' + 'C'
Combined) 3.013 0.779 0.230 29.452 96,764 25,037 7,375 3,040,592
Table 2: 2009 Indicated and Inferred Resource Summary for the Nash Creek Deposits using a 2.0% ZnEq cut-off
Resource Type Tonnes Zinc Equivalency (%) Zn (%) Pb (%) Ag (g/t) Northern Hickey Zone Indicated 3,044,300 3.00 2.50 0.56 17.83 Inferred 198,100 2.67 2.19 0.55 16.78 Southern Hayes Zone Indicated 4,763,000 3.36 2.86 0.55 18.53 Inferred 1,013,600 3.23 2.75 0.52 18.25 Total Indicated 7,807,900 3.22 2.72 0.55 18.26 Inferred 1,211,700 3.14 2.66 0.52 18.00
Notes:
CIM definition standards were followed for the resource estimate. Densities varied by rock type Numbers may not add exactly due to rounding. Mineral Resources that are not mineral reserves do not have economic viability. Estimation of the Nash Creek resources included the interpolation methods of nearest neighbour (NN), inverse distance squared (ID2) and ordinary kriging (OK). The resource estimate was prepared by Tetra Tech using Datamine Studio 3 (v.3.20.6420.0) software. The methods were validated by a comparison of global statistics and a visual review of coded block grades. The Nash Creek resource estimate was completed using a 2.0% zinc equivalent (ZNEQ) cut-off grade for both the Northern Hickey Zone and the Southern Hayes Zone. The metal prices were based on four-year moving averages (September 2004 to September 2008) taken from a database maintained by Wardrop. The quantity and grade of reported inferred resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these inferred resources as an indicated or measured mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an indicated or measured mineral resource category.
To the best of Callinex's knowledge, information and belief, there is no new scientific or technical information that would make the disclosure of the mineral resources inaccurate or misleading. Pursuant to section 4.2(7)(c) of National Instrument 43-101, Callinex will file technical reports supporting its disclosure of mineral resources on the Superjack and Nash Creek Properties within 180 days after the date of this news release.
To view Figure 1: Location Map showing the Superjack and Nash Creek VMS Properties, New Brunswick, Canada, please visit: http://www.callinex.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/CNX-SXL-Figure-1.png.
To view Figure 2: Superjack VMS Property, NB - Longitudinal View showing 'A' Zone, please visit: http://www.callinex.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/CNX-SXL-Figure-2.jpg.
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.
About Slam Exploration Inc.
SLAM is a resource company focused on the Menneval gold project where SLAM's advance scouting team discovered the Maisie gold deposit in 2012. The Company also owns the Reserve Creek and Miminiska gold projects in Ontario and holds a royalty on two base metal properties in New Brunswick.
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 and the timing and amount of expenditures. Callinex does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement.
May 17, 2016 / TheNewswire / Vancouver, British Columbia- Nevada Energy Metals Inc., TSX-V: BFF (OTC: SSMLF) (Frankfurt: A2AFBV) is pleased to announce that it has agreed to grant 1074654 Nevada Ltd an Option to acquire a seventy (70%) percent interest in the BFF-1 Clayton Valley Property by making certain Cash Payments, issuing Shares upon completion of a "Going Public Transaction", and completing Exploration Expenditures on its property at Silver Peak, Clayton Valley, Nevada.
Cash Payments: US$300,000 to the Optionor as follows: (i) US$100,000 on the Closing Date; (ii) US$100,000 on or before the one (1) year anniversary of the Closing Date; and (iii) US$100,000 on or before the two (2) year anniversary of the Closing Date.
Expenditures: US$1,000,000 on the exploration and development of the Property as follows: (i) US$100,000 on or before the one (1) year anniversary of the Closing Date; (ii) US$300,000 on or before the two (2) year anniversary of the Closing Date; and (iii) US$600,000 on or before the three (3) year anniversary of the Closing Date.
Share Payments: Following completion of a Going Public Transaction, the issuance of 1,200,000 common shares of the Resulting Issuer to the Optionor (the "Consideration Shares") as follows: (i) 400,000 common shares on the Closing Date; (ii) 400,000 common shares on or before the one (1) year anniversary of the Closing Date; and (iii) 400,000 common shares on or before the two (2) year anniversary of the Closing Date. All Consideration Shares will be subject to a four-month statutory hold period.
Following exercise of the Option, the Optionee shall have a seventy (70%) interest in and to the Property, with the Optionor retaining the balance. Thereafter, the parties will work diligently and in good faith to negotiate the terms of a joint venture to advance development of the Property. The joint venture will provide that expenditures on the Property will be funded on a pro rata basis, based upon the respective parties proportionate interest in the Property. In the event any one party declines to fund the expenditures in proportion to their interest, their respective interest in the joint venture shall be reduced accordingly, provided that no party shall be diluted below a fifteen (15%) interest in the Property.
Closing of the transaction, and the grant of the Option, will occur on the date which is five (5) business days following completion of a Going Public Transaction (the "Closing Date"). The Closing Date must occur within sixty (60) days of the execution of this term sheet, unless otherwise agreed by the parties, provided that if the Closing Date does not occur within thirty (30) days of the execution of this term sheet, the Optionee shall make a payment of US$25,000 to the Optionor (the "Deposit Payment"). The Deposit Payment shall be credited against the Cash Payments owing pursuant to the Option, and shall not be refundable by the Optionor in the event closing does not occur for whatever reason. The parties agree to work diligently and in good faith to negotiate the terms of a definitive agreement to reflect the transaction described herein (the "Definitive Agreement"), and will use their best efforts to execute the Definitive Agreement on or before May 31, 2016.
Rick Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of Nevada Energy Metals, commented: "We are excited about having a partner with which to advance our Clayton Valley property. This agreement is a first step in fulfilling our promise as an asset builder and project generator. The BFF-1 Project covers an area similar to the structural and geologic settings at Albemarle's Silver Peak lithium-brine operation and lies only two hundred meters to the north west side of their property. We look forward to an exciting exploration program being carried out in the months ahead."
About the Clayton Valley BFF-1 Project:
The Clayton Valley BFF-1 Project is an early-stage lithium brine prospect in Esmeralda County, Nevada. A total of 77 placer claims cover an area about 623 ha (1,540 acres) on the north-western side of the original Clayton Valley playa. The property position covers an inferred graben bounded by the Silver Peak Range front on the west and an outlier of Paleozoic rocks known as Goat Island on the east. The exploration concept is the graben is a sub-basin of the larger Clayton Valley basin and may represent a secondary trap for lithium brines within the greater system.
The Clayton Valley BFF-1 NI 43-101 Technical Report by Alan Morris, CPG, QP, states "The property has strong potential to host Lithium brine deposits in favorable geologic horizons within the basin fill. Another possible target is lithium enriched clay within the fill package and potentially in previous high stands of the playa." (April, 2016)
Geologic and geophysical mapping conducted for geothermal exploration and documented by Hulen (2008) indicates previously unrecognized, deep graben lying between the Silver Peak range front and outcrops of Paleozoic rocks at Goat Island and Alcatraz Island. This area was their target zone for a deep circulating geothermal system they hoped to exploit for geothermal power. This graben is the main target for lithium brine as it may represent a separate sub-basin in Clayton Valley that holds brines not subject to pumping by production wells on the east side of the main valley. Exposed mineralization is confined to salt crust on the playa surface and other locations in the valley.
Western Geothermal Partners drilled a 120 meter (400 foot) geothermal gradient test well in 2006 on what is now the Clayton Valley BFF-1 project. Bottom hole temperature was 50?C (122?F) which showed moderate potential for geothermal power. Of significance, the well encountered a 25-foot-thick zone of volcanic ash reportedly similar to the Main Ash Aquifer in the Clayton Valley lithium operation. The presence of any felsic ash in this hole is significant in light of that it is the presumed source for at least some of the lithium in the brines (Price et al, 2000).
Qualified Person: The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Alan Morris CPG, Elko, Nevada
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. The Company's most recent acquisition is 128 placer claims (2,560 acres/ 1,036 hectares) located in southwest Black Rock Desert, Washoe County, Nevada.
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
Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA / May 18, 2016 / MGX Minerals Inc. (MGX or the Company) (CSE: XMG / FKT: 1MG)) is pleased to announce it now controls 14 of the top 25 historical high grade lithium properties (>=90mg/L, up to 140mg/L) as reported by the Alberta Geological Service ("AGS", 2013).
The dataset comprises lithium geochemical data from ground and formation water in Alberta and near the Alberta border. The data was captured from several databases, including the Alberta Geological Survey (oil and gas wells database, AERI and Beaver River Basin projects), and the Alberta Research Council. In total there are 1,511 records, of which 48 records have >75 mg/L lithium. Nineteen analyses have >100 mg/L lithium (up to 140 mg/L) and occur within the Middle to Upper Devonian Beaverhill Lake Formation and Woodbend and Winterburn groups of west-central to northwestern Alberta.
The Company is also pleased to report it has engaged APEX Geoscience to complete a National Instrument (N.I.) 43-101 compliant technical report on MGXs Alberta lithium properties (the Properties).
Mr. Roy Eccles (P. Geo.) will author the technical report. Mr. Eccles is considered one of the foremost experts on Alberta lithium brine, having spent 25 years of his career at the Alberta and Manitoba Geological Surveys. While at the Alberta Geologic Survey, Mr. Eccles oversaw the above mentioned Province-wide sampling program responsible for compiling lithium values from oil and gas wells in Alberta.
Mr. Eccles obtained his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from the universities of Manitoba and Alberta. He completed his thesis on The Petrogenesis of the Northern Alberta Kimberlite Province. Mr. Eccles is a practicing professional geologist with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta. He has over 26 years of mineral exploration experience encompassing a wide range of geological processes and commodities. Mr. Eccles has published over 70 manuscripts and 75 oral presentations. He is internationally recognized for his research and knowledge of the geology and economic mineral potential of the Canadian Shield and the Western Sedimentary Basin.
The Company believes that completion of a N.I. 43-101 compliant technical report is an important first step towards potentially developing future mineral resources for the Properties. The technical report will include detailed geological and historical information on the Properties and is expected to be completed in one month.
Contact Information
Jared Lazerson
Chief Executive Officer
MGX Minerals Inc.
Telephone: 604.681.7735
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking information or forward-looking statements (collectively "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "postulate" and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking information as a result of various factors. The reader is referred to the Company's public filings for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects which may be accessed through the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com
VANCOUVER, BC --(Marketwired - May 17, 2016) - GoldQuest Mining Corp. (TSX VENTURE: GQC) (FRANKFURT: M1W) (BERLIN: M1W) ("GoldQuest" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that their geological field crews have identified surface high grade gold during detailed mapping and sampling of a mineralized trend in the recently re-granted 100%-owned Loma El Cachimbo license area, in the Dominican Republic. Highlights include a sample returning 167 g/t gold, 2.2% copper and >300 g/t silver, the highest grade surface sample ever recovered from the Company's Tireo Belt concessions.
The trend is within the Company's 50 kilometre long Tireo Formation land package, where the Tireo represents the collision of the Atlantic and Caribbean geological plates, geological settings which commonly display gold deposits, such as GoldQuest's Romero gold/copper discovery, which is located 20 kilometres to the north of this trend. The Cachimbo area is directly adjacent to Precipitate Gold's Ginger Ridge discovery which highlights the potential for the Tireo to host additional gold deposits.
The new high grade samples are located in the south western portion of Loma El Cachimbo an area within 3 kilometres of a paved road and the national power grid. Further detailed mapping and trenching work is on-going to determine the extent of the mineralization.
"Over the last year, the Company has extended the favorable trend to host mineral deposits to well over 20 kilometres, which has identified argillic alteration, anomalous gold and copper and includes the multi-million ounces of gold at the Romero deposits," commented Bill Fisher, GoldQuest's Chairman. "The ongoing IP program is scheduled to cover the new trend in the next few weeks, coupled with further rock and trench sampling, which will lead to drill site selection, targeted to be carried out in Q3 and Q4 2016. GoldQuest considers that the Tireo Formation surrounding Romero is an emerging mining district, capable of hosting multiple deposits. We're gratified to see the number of compelling and undrilled new targets expand as we enlarge our geophysical and mapping program."
Mapping has described the mineralization as highly silicified barite with relatively low sulphide minerals, which appears to occur along the upper contact of the same volcanic package which host Romero (andesite/dacites). In contrast to the Romero gold/copper deposit is an intermediate sulphidation, epithermal system, thus opening up the potential for multiple deposit types along gold/copper bearing volcanic formations along this major plate boundary.
Of 478 rock samples taken within this trend, which was first noted in 2007, 33 returned over 1 g/t gold; 162 samples have over 0.1 g/t gold. Historical sampling and drilling in the area did not identify the high silica-barite horizon mentioned above.
The information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Jeremy Niemi, P. Geo., Vice President, Exploration of GoldQuest and a Qualified Person for the technical information in this press release under NI 43-101 standards.
Rock samples are selective in nature and may not be representative. All samples were bagged, sealed and delivered directly to Acme Labs preparation facility in Maimon Dominican Republic where they were dried, crushed and pulped. Sample pulps were then delivered to Acme labs facilities in Vancouver BC (an ISO 9001 accredited facility) for analyses. Samples were crushed to with up to 80% passing 2mm and split using a riffle splitter. An approximately 250 gram sub-sample split was pulverized to minus 200 mesh (74). A 30 gram sample was subjected to fire assay and rock results with gold greater than 10 ppm were subjected to fire gravitational finish. In addition, multi-element ICP-MS was performed on all samples.
About GoldQuest
GoldQuest is a Canadian based mineral exploration company with projects in the Dominican Republic and trades on the TSX-V under the symbol GQC and in Frankfurt/Berlin with symbol M1W.
Additional information can be viewed at the Company's website www.goldquestcorp.com.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors of GoldQuest Mining Corp.,
"Bill Fisher"
Chairman
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.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this news release are "forward-looking" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward looking information. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to exploration on the Tireo Project, exploration results, the Company's future plans and exploration programs, including the timing of such plans and programs, and the merits of the Company's mineral properties. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "indicate" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon the current belief, opinions and expectations of management that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and other contingencies. Many factors could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. These factors include, among others, the timeliness and success of regulatory approvals, market prices, metal prices, availability of capital and financing, general economic, market or business conditions, as well as other risk factors set out under the heading "Risk and Uncertainties" in the Management's Discussion and Analysis dated September 30, 2015, which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.
TORONTO, May 18, 2016 /CNW/ - Treasury Metals Inc. ("Treasury Metals" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it is completing its previously announced brokered private placement financing, including the exercise of the over-allotment option, prior to the opening of the market this morning, for aggregate gross proceeds of $3.0 million (the "Offering") with Haywood Securities Inc. acting as agent (the "Agent"). The Offering consists of 6,258,000 units of the Company ("Units") at a price of C$0.48 per Unit.
In addition, the Company is selling, on a non-brokered basis, an additional 2,083,333 Units to a strategic financial investor (the "Non-Brokered Offering") for additional gross proceeds to the Company of $1 million, resulting in total gross proceeds raised under the Brokered Offering and the Non-Brokered Offering (collectively, the "Combined Offering") of $4.0 million.
Each Unit sold under the Combined Offering consists of one common share of the Company and one half of one common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant shall be exercisable into one common share of the Company at an exercise price of $0.70 for a period of 24 months from the date of issuance.
The net proceeds of the Combined Offering will be used to fund technical programs and mine permitting of the Company's Goliath Gold Project and for working capital and general corporate purposes.
The Company is paying a cash commission of $170,150 and issuing an aggregate of 351,480 compensation options (the "Compensation Options") to the Agent in connection with the Brokered Offering. The Compensation Options are exercisable for 24 months following the closing date at an exercise of $0.70 per common share.
The common shares and Warrants comprising the Units, the Compensation Options, and any shares issued upon due exercise of the Warrants and Compensation Options, will be subject to a four-month hold period under applicable securities laws in Canada.
In addition to relying upon other available prospectus exemptions to effect the private placement, a portion of the Brokered Offering is being completed in accordance with the exemption set out in BC Instrument 45-536 (Exemption from prospectus requirement for certain distributions through an investment dealer) (the "Investment Dealer Exemption"). In accordance with the requirements of the Investment Dealer Exemption, the Company confirms there is no material fact or material change related to the Company which has not been generally disclosed. The Company is issuing this press release announcing its intention to complete the Brokered Offering in accordance with the requirements of the Investment Dealer Exemption.
This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the securities described herein in the United States. The securities described herein have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to the account or benefit of a U.S. person absent an exemption from the registration requirements of such Act.
To view further details about the Goliath Gold Project or Treasury Metals, please visit the Company's website at www.treasurymetals.com.
Forward-looking Statements This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that management of the Company expect, are forward-looking statements. Actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Treasury Metals disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, save and except as may be required by applicable securities laws.
SOURCE Treasury Metals Inc.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 18, 2016) - CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. (TSXV: CVV) (OTCQB: CVVUF) (FSE: DH7N) "CanAlaska" and "Company" is pleased to report that it has entered into an Option-Participation Agreement with De Beers Canada Inc. "De Beers" for expenditures up to $20.4 million on kimberlite-style targets staked by CanAlaska in the Northwestern Athabasca basin, Saskatchewan.
The claims staked by CanAlaska and optioned to De Beers cover 75 kimberlite-style targets developed from a recent high resolution airborne geophysical survey carried out on behalf of the Saskatchewan Geological Survey. The 2011 airborne magnetic survey, flown at 400 metre line spacing, reveals a series of discrete magnetic anomalies northeast of the Carswell structure and close to the large crustal suture related to the Grease River Fault zone. The Saskatchewan Government's Kimberlite Indicator Minerals (KIM) sampling programs reached close to the Carswell structure, but the northern most samples are southeast of the down-ice trend from these magnetic anomalies.
There is little exploration work in this area of the Athabasca basin. In the Fort McMurray area of Alberta, the sampling for KIM shows a grouping of KIM dominated by chromite, with some pyrope and eclogitic garnets. These appear to be down-ice from the kimberlite-style targets identified within the Athabasca Sandstone in the northwestern Athabasca. Basement rocks below the Athabasca Sandstone form part of the Rae Province, with a projected lithospheric thickness in excess of 150 kilometres, thereby within the diamond stability field. The Rae Province, north of the Athabasca in the Nunavut, hosts diamondiferous kimberlites which have been briefly investigated in the past.
Please visit http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2864/20675_a1463577444419_59.jpg to view this image.
The multi-stage C$20.4 million option agreement allows De Beers to carry out a series of work programs to earn-in to the Project as follows:.
Phase Duration Funding Interest acquired 1 One year C$1.4 million 51% 2 Two years C$2.0 million 70% 3 One year C$3.0 million 80% 4 Three years C$14.0 million 90%
De Beers is required to progress through the options within the time periods or return the property to CanAlaska, however the sequential options are subject to CanAlaska's right to participate in the exploration as a Joint Venture partner. CanAlaska's participation rights (to prevent further dilution of its interest) start once De Beers has earned its 70 per cent interest. The work programs will be operated by De Beers, but with assistance from CanAlaska. The priority work will include a detailed airborne survey, diamond indicator sampling in the vicinity of the targets, followed by drill testing prioritized targets.
Peter Dasler, President, CanAlaska, said: "These 75 circular targets fit all the geological and geophysical criteria of kimberlites. The location of the targets within a thick sequence of crustal rocks and their clustering around major structural features, provides a compelling target for CanAlaska and De Beers. We are very pleased to have joined forces with the world's premier diamond explorer to evaluate this 17,400 hectare (43,000 acre) claim package, which hosts numerous targets. Our alliance with De Beers will allow rapid first pass evaluation, and we look forward to the ability to participate with De Beers as a partner as the project grows."
For more information about CanAlaska's Athabasca kimberlite project visit http://www.canalaska.com/s/AthabascaKimberliteProject.asp?ReportID=740492
The qualified technical person for this news release is Dr Karl Schimann, P. Geo, VP Exploration, for CanAlaska.
About De Beers Canada Inc.
De Beers Canada Inc. is part of the De Beers Group of Companies, a member of the Anglo American Group. Established in 1888, De Beers is the world's leading diamond company with expertise in the exploration and development, mining, and marketing of diamonds. Together with its joint venture partners, De Beers employs more than 20,000 people (directly and as contractors) across the diamond pipeline, and is the world's largest diamond producer by value, with mining operations in Botswana, Canada, Namibia and South Africa. As part of the company's operating philosophy, the people of De Beers are committed to Living up to Diamonds by making a lasting contribution to the communities in which they live and work, and transforming natural resources into shared national wealth.
For information about De Beers Canada Inc. visit www.debeersgroup.com/canada. For further information about the De Beers Group of Companies visit www.debeersgroup.com.
About CanAlaska Uranium
CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. (TSX-V: CVV; OTCQB: CVVUF; Frankfurt: DH7N) holds interests in approximately 700,000 hectares (1.7 million acres), one of the largest land positions in Canada's Athabasca Basin region the "Saudi Arabia of Uranium". CanAlaska's strategic holdings has attracted major international mining companies Cameco, Denison, KORES and KEPCO as partners at its core projects. CanAlaska is a project generator and is positioned for discovery success in the world's richest uranium district. For further information visit www.canalaska.com.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
"Peter Dasler"
Peter Dasler, M.Sc., P.Geo.
President & CEO
CanAlaska Uranium Ltd.
Contacts:
Peter Dasler, President
Tel: +1.604.688.3211 x 138
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
John Gomez, Corporate Development
Tel: +1.604.484.7118
Email : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tom Ormsby,
Head of External & Corporate Affairs
De Beers Canada Inc.
Tel: +1.403.930.0991 x 2703
The TSX-V has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release: CUSIP# 13708P 10 2.
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Kansas [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Tuesday that Kansas cannot require voters to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] had challenged the law [JURIST report] in February on behalf of six individuals. The ACLU argued that the law violates the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) [text], which requires voters to provide only the minimum amount of information necessary to determine their eligibility to vote. In her ruling, Judge Julie Robinson granted the ACLUs motion for preliminary injunction [JURIST report] of the law and ordered Secretary of State Kris Kobach to re-register about 18,000 voters:
Under the heightened preliminary injunction standard, Plaintiffs have sustained their burden of making a strong showing that they are likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that the Kansas DPOC law violates the NVRA provision that a motor voter registration application can require only the minimum amount of information necessary to enable state officials to assess an applicants eligibility to vote, and that they will suffer irreparable harm without an injunction. Without the injunction, approximately 18,000 Kansas motor voter registration applicants will be precluded from registering to vote solely based on their failure to provide DPOC. The record in this case suggests that there is a less burdensome way for the State to assess whether applicants meet the citizenship eligibility requirement; namely, by asking applicants to complete an attestation of citizenship under penalty of perjury.
Robinson stayed her ruling until May 31 to give the state time to appeal.
Voting rights remain a controversial legal issue in the US. Last month the US Supreme Court refused to block [JURIST report] Texas from enforcing its controversial voter ID law. Earlier in April a federal judge upheld [JURIST report] North Carolinas voter ID law. Also last month a federal appeals court held that a Wisconsin voter ID law needs to be re-examined [JURIST report]. Last year the Supreme Court denied certiorari [JURIST report] in Frank v. Walker [docket], allowing Wisconsins voter ID law to stand.
A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction [opinion, PDF] on Tuesday that halted the enforcement of a provision of Washington, DCs strict gun laws. Judge Richard Leon of the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] stated that the enshrinement of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the table and that the districts attempt to limit the right to carry a firearm is the type of policy that the Supreme Court [official website] had in mind in its landmark decision in District of Columbia v. Heller [opinion, PDF], where it struck down [JURIST report] DCs gun ban. Leon found [WP report] that the law violates the core right to self-defense granted within the Second Amendment. City officials claim the provision and law are necessary to limit crime and violence within the District. This ruling is at odds with an earlier ruling [WP report] from Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who sided with the city. Opponents of the law have objected to the provision that requires people who wish to carry within the district to show a good reason to fear injury or another proper reason to carry. The decision means that the District can no longer deny concealed-carry permits to residents who fail to show a good reason for needing a gun but otherwise qualify.
Gun control [JURIST backgrounder] and the Second Amendment continue to be controversial topics across the US. Earlier this month Missouri legislators passed a bill [JURIST report] allowing all state citizens to carry concealed guns without permits or completed gun training. In March Idahos governor signed a bill [JURIST report] making it legal for Idaho residents to carry a concealed firearm without a permit. In February the US Supreme Court heard arguments [JURIST report] in a case addressing firearm possession for people convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors. In January US President Barack Obama announced executive actions on gun control [JURIST report].
A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California [official website] on Tuesday rejected an attempt to block a San Francisco law that requires health warning labels on ads for sugary drinks. The law, approved by City Council last year, requires health warning labels reading, WARNING: Drinking beverages with added sugar(s) contributes to obesity, diabetes and tooth decay, to cover at least 20 percent of advertisements that appear on billboards, buses, transit shelters, posters and stadiums. Representatives of the beverage industry challenged the law on First Amendment grounds, arguing that it unconstitutionally compels speech. Judge Edward Chen disagreed, denying plaintiffs motion for preliminary injunction:
Plaintiffs are not likely to succeed on the merits of their First Amendment claim, and it is unlikely that they would suffer irreparable harm if the ordinance were to go into effect. Even if Plaintiffs had established serious questions going to the merits, balancing of hardships does not tip sharply in their favor.
The ruling allows the law to take effect in July.
San Francisco is not the first city to attempt to improve public health by taking on sugary drinks. In 2014 New Yorks highest court ruled that the New York City Board of Health exceeded its powers as a regulatory authority by banning the serving of large portions of sugary drinks [JURIST report]. The Portion Cap Rule banned the sale of sugary drinks over 16 ounces.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto [official website, in Spanish] on Tuesday signed an initiative that would amend the countrys constitution to legalize same-sex marriage [press release, in Spanish] nationwide. Marking the national day against homophobia, Pena Nieto tweeted I signed reform initiatives to promote marriage equality and its addition to the Constitution and the Federal Civil Code. The proposal still requires congressional approval. The move follows a June ruling by the Supreme Court of Mexico [official website, in Spanish], which declared it unconstitutional [JURIST report] for Mexican states to ban same-sex marriages but did not invalidate any state laws. Same-sex marriage is currently legal only in Mexico City and the states of Campeche, Jalisco, Coahuila, Quintana Roo, Colima, Nayarit and Chihuahua.
Firme iniciativas de reforma para impulsar que el #MatrimonioIgualitario quede plasmado en la Constitucion y en el Codigo Civil Federal. Enrique Pena Nieto (@EPN) May 17, 2016
If approved, Pena Nietos proposal would make Mexico the fifth Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage. Argentina became the first in 2010, followed by Uruguay and Brazil [JURIST reports] in 2013. Colombias Constitutional Court legalized same-sex marriage last month.
A Swedish court sentenced [press release] a man to life in prison on Monday for taking part in the 1994 Rwandan genocide [BBC backgrounder]. The Stockholm District Court [official website, in Swedish] determined that Claver Berinkindi was guilty of genocide and gross crime under international law consisting of murder, kidnapping and attempted murder. More than 800,000 people were killed by Hutus over three months in 1994. Berinkindi was charged [Reuters report] in Sweden last year after a Rwandan Gacaca community court convicted him of genocide-related crimes in absentia. This trial is part of a global effort to try those who have committed crimes against humanity no matter where those crimes occurred. Berinkindi was a Rwandan who obtained Swedish citizenship in 2012. He was found [NYT report] to have participated in five different massacres in 1994. He was found not only to have rallied people to participate in various killings but also to have killed countless people himself. The court also awarded 15 people damages who had witnessed the loss of a relative at the hands of Berinkindi, ranging from $3,900 to $13,000 and to be taken from Berinkindis property. Berinkindi has three weeks to appeal the decision.
Earlier this month two Rwandan mayors went on trial [JURIST report] in France on charges of war crimes ad crimes against humanity committed during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. In January the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website] formally closed [JURIST report] after issuing 45 judgments. In September a court in Toulouse, France, refused extradition requests [JURIST report] for Joseph Habyarimana, a Rwandan man, facing charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. In January of last year two Rwandan police officers were sentenced [JURIST report] to 20 years in jail for the murder of a Transparency International anti-corruption activist. In July 2014 the ICTR unanimously affirmed [JURIST report] a 30-year jail sentence for former army chief Augustin Bizimungu for the role he played in the genocide. In December 2012 the ICTR convicted [JURIST report] former Rwandan minister Augustin Ngirabatware, sentencing him to 35 years in prison on charges of genocide, incitement to commit genocide and rape as a crime against humanity.
In the past, General Motors never seemed able to have all its divisions acting in sync. Costs skyrocketed as platforms were re-engineered for different regions and brands were saddled with superfluous models. Now, a leaner GM plans to use ten core architectures, many of which will have shared modules, for all future vehicles.
Free Report What's next for the Automotive industry? The theory of the peak car particularly in the triad markets of the US, West Europe and Japan and the need for sustainable transportation have driven the pivot to mobility in the automotive industry. Both of these drivers are motivating OEMs to change, while society at large is interested in sustainable transport. GlobalDatas forward-looking report provides you with insights into the direction that the automotive industry is heading in the next few years. It covers: The forces transitioning automotive to mobility services
CASE megatrends, and their relationship with COVID-19
The way forward for autonomous vehicles
Sustainability issues in automotive Examine the factors contributing to the future growth of different segments of the automotive industry. Download the full report to align your strategies for success and get ahead of the competition. by GlobalData Enter your details here to receive your free Report. Please enter a work/business email address Country United Kingdom United States Afghanistan Aland Islands Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, The Democratic Republic of The Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote D"ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and Mcdonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People"s Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People"s Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and The Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Timor-leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Viet Nam Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Download free Report By clicking the Download Free Report button, you accept the terms and conditions and acknowledge that your data will be used as described in the GlobalData privacy policy By downloading this Report, you acknowledge that we may share your information with our white paper partners/sponsors who may contact you directly with information on their products and services.
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GM-SAIC Small
The first vehicle to use Small will be the replacement for the third generation Chevrolet Sail with that car due in 2018. The new range of models will be built and sold in China, India, Brazil and Mexico and exported to modest income/high growth markets. GM believes it will eventually be building up to two million vehicles a year based on this new architecture. Successors for the S4200 series cars will also be based on Small: models such as the Chevrolet Corsa Classic, Prisma and Celta. There should an SUV for Brazil, India and China.
Gamma 2
Lots of vehicles will use Gamma 2, with many of them being engineered and sold in Europe. That includes the next Opel/Vauxhall Corsa (project code: G2J0) due in 2018 and to be manufactured at Figueralas and Eisenach.
There will also be a follow up to the Karl/Adam (G2DO). The current model was not developed with US emissions and crash test regulations in mind but the successor is reportedly being engineered for potential sales in North America. Todays oil price would seem to suggest a variant wearing Buick badges might be a flop in that region, but it could well be a hit in China. And who knows what a gallon of gasoline will cost at the pumps in the US by the time the car is ready for launch in 2018?
In answer to where in Europe will Opel build the next Adam/Karl be made, it could be at one of two plants. German unions voiced concerns in November 2014 over the future of Eisanach. This is where the Adam and three-door versions of the Corsa are built. The factory has been guaranteed to remain open until 2018 but Opel has said nothing about what happens after that. Should Eisenach be closed, the next Adam would be made at Zaragoza/Figuerelas.
Gamma 2 is already in existence as the basis for vehicles such as the G2SC Chevrolet Spark. Other models to come include the next Aveo/Sonic (G2SC), the imminent Bolt EV, Opel/Vauxhall Mokka X successor (G2UO), next Buick Encore (G2UB) and future Chevy Trax (G2UC).
Compact 2
C2XX is to be the basis of many compact-mid sized crossovers and SUVs, with the first of these being the C1UL Cadillac XT5, soon to be followed by the next GMC Acadia (C1UG).
Next year we will see some more models based on this architecture. This includes a crossover to replace Opel and Vauxhalls Zafira people carrier, while in North America, the successors for the Buick Enclave (C1YB) and Chevrolet Traverse (C1YC) are also scheduled to appear.
Some are calling another model for GM Europe (C1YO) Monza X. This vehicle would logically be a version of the Buick Enclave to challenge the VW Touareg replacement, as well as the Ford Edge, Hyundai Santa Fe and Renault Espace. A concept version should have its debut on 29 September at the Paris motor show, with the production model to follow next March at Geneva. Production will be at Russelsheim.
Delta 2
The new (D2JH) Opel/Vauxhall Astra, D2JB Buick Verano and North Americas new Chevy Cruze are the big volume model for GMs Delta 2 platform. It is also EV and PHEV compatible, as the D2JC Volt proves.
In addition to being for compact cars, this platform will serve as the base for a couple of Cadillac crossovers, the XT2 (D2JL) and XT4 (D2UX), each of which will be on sale in North America and China from 2018. Coming sooner than that is the long delayed next generation Chevrolet Captiva (D2UC) to be followed in 2017 by a Holden Captiva (D2UH). The latter two will be manufactured by GM Korea at Bupyeong.
Epsilon 2
Opel and Vauxhalls next Insignia is out in Europe late next year, codenamed E2JO. Ruesselsheim will build four variants: sedan, hatchback, wagon and Country Tourer. The same plant is also expected to build the next generation E2SB Buick Regal. This should be nearly identical to the Insignia sedan, while a version of the Country Tourer is expected to be called Regal TourX. It also seems likely that the next Holden Commodore sedan and wagon will be sourced from Opels main German plant.
SAIC GM will use Epsilon 2 for the follow up to the Roewe 950. This big sedan was likely previewed by the Roewe Vision R, a concept which premiered at November 2015s Guangzhou motor show. This gold-painted design study was similar in stance to the BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe. The new model should be based upon the latest (E2LB) Buick LaCrosse.
Those presuming that the next generation Cadillac XTS will use Epsilon 2 should note that this car will not be replaced. Cadillac president Johan de Nysschen stated this fact in an interview at the New York auto show in April 2015. That also means that the brand may eventually withdraw from the funeral car and stretched limousine/livery market. The XTS should remain in production until eventually being phased out in 2019. The CT6 can be thought of as its effective replacement.
Alpha
Having started life as the basis for the compact sized Cadillac ATS, the Alpha platform has since been updated and used for the A1BC Chevrolet Camaro. Both these cars are made in Michigan at Lansing Grand River with a long-wheelbase ATS also built in China. This is by the SAIC GM joint venture. Production is at the South Plant of the Pudong complex in Shanghai.
The larger CTS also uses Alpha but this car will not be replaced, production being due to end in 2020. This will be a year after the ATS sedan becomes obsolete, and there will not be a successor for this one either. The problem with both these models is their size, so GM will probably create one, possibly two vehicles which are closer in dimensions to the Mercedes C- and/or E-Class sedan(s). This might seem strange at first but Cadillac will be gaining additional SUVs as well as a smaller car with which to attack the success of the Mercedes CLA-Class four-door.
Will there be an Alpha 2 architecture? Yes there will be, this being the basis for the seventh generation Chevy Camaro which should enter production in 2022.
Omega
Cadillacs O1SL CT6 sedan, which is larger than many of its logical competitors, such as the Lexus GS, was the introductory vehicle for Omega, a RWD matrix which has AWD and PHEV capability. North American production is at Detroit-Hamtramck, with cars for China made by SAIC GM at Pudong South.
Next for Omega will be a larger model which Cadillac will aim at the high-margin long-wheelbase versions of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and BMW 7 Series. Due to appear at the end of the decade, this will be called either CT8 or CT9.
Mid-size pick-up platform
The seventh of the ten platforms is used for the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon twins, as well as the Isuzu D-MAX, plus the TrailBlazer, Holden Colorado 7 (soon to be facelifted and renamed TrailBlazer) and Isuzu mu-X SUVs. This ladder frame chassis was introduced in 2011 and will be updated in 2018/2019 for the next generation Colorado and Canyon.
T1XX
T1CX (Chevrolet Silverado/Cheyenne 1500) and T1XG (GMC Sierra 1500) should be the debut models for an aluminium-intensive architecture. Due in 2018, this means a short, five-year lifecycle for the current big pick-ups. Alcoa and Novelis are believed to have signed contracts with GM for the supply of aluminium sheets for these vehicles. The metal will be used for body panels but the frame should be steel. The 1500 Crew Cab should be manufactured in Silao, Mexico and Flint, Michigan, with the Regular Cab & Double Cab to be built at Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Two of GMs most aged models, the Chevy Express and GMC Savana should also be based on T1XX with production likely to remain at what will be a retooled Wentzille plant. New versions of these big vans and their passenger carrying variants, all due in late 2018, cannot come soon enough with the Ford Transit having taken control of this segment of the North American market. Unlike the Silverado/Sierra, the Express/Savana will have steel body panels.
K2XX
Technically speaking, K2XX should be the second generation of a K architecture. However, this platform, which is for large pick-ups and SUVs, has been around since 2013. The K2YC Chevrolet Suburban and K2UC Tahoe, as well as the K2UG GMC Yukon and K2YUG Yukon XL were the launch models, as were the K2XC Chevy Silverado/Cheyenne 1500 and K2XG GMC Sierra1500. These were followed by the Heavy Duty versions and the Cadillac Escalade.
In 2020, well see the follow-up to the Tahoe SUV. The next Escalade is scheduled to enter production in the third quarter of 2021. It will retain its name in defiance of the XT convention which is the first part of the three-character denomination for all other future Cadillac crossovers and SUVs. There will again be a long-wheelbase ESV too. GM is reported to be planning to make the next models more expensive, aiming them at the next generation (development code: L460) Range Rover and Range Rover L.
Details of a full list of worldwide GM vehicles can be found within PLDB, just-autos current and future vehicle database.
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Back Alley Productions invites the public to their premiere show at the renovated Mars Theater: Death of a Salesman. Showtimes are Fridays and Saturdays, May 13, 14, 20 and 21 at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees on May 15 and 22 at 2:30 p.m.
Visit www.backalleyproductions.org to purchase tickets. General admission is $15 per person, $12 for seniors age 55 and up and $10 for students with a valid school ID. The Mars Theater is located at 117 N. Chattanooga St.
in LaFayette, GA.We are delighted to open our doors for the first time since renovating the historic Mars Theater, Executive Director Kaylee Smith said of Back Alley moving into the venue. Weve converted the entire space into a black box setting ideal for Death of a Salesman. Finding a permanent theater home for Back Alley is exhilarating and we cant wait to show it off to the community.Arthur Millers American classic Death of a Salesman tells the poignant story of Willy Loman, a traveling salesman trying to secure the elusive American Dream. But as Willy grows older and times get tougher, he is forced to face the reality that he may have lost himself while seeking prosperity for his family. Deemed one of the greatest plays of the 20th Century, Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman explores American concepts of competition, failure and the struggle between career and family that resonates more today than ever before.Now more than ever we are told our self-worth is based in the success of our careers, Ms. Smith added. This story explores the consequences of putting our whole identities into our profession, as well as the sacrifices, both moral and spiritual, we must make to meet societys definition of success. Though set in the 1940s, Death of a Salesman cautions the modern man, and woman, about the dangers of losing yourself to the wrong dreams.The show runs approximately 2 hours, with a 15 minute intermission. The diverse cast comes from Lafayette, Chattanooga, Hixson, Ringgold, Dalton and Calhoun. It stars Zack Jordan, Madison Smith, Michael Lynn, Christopher Smith, Michael Tate, Keegan Westra, Trey Henderson, Kelsea Rambin, Rachel Templeton and Alyssa Whitesell. The production is directed by Ms. Smith and Kelsea Rambin.Parking will be free, and is offered in either parking area to the left or right of the Mars District theatre strip, as well as parking in the fenced lot directly behind the theatre (please enter through Henderson St). Tickets can be purchased online at www.backalleyproductions.org or at the theater beginning May 10.For more information, call 706-621-2870 or 706-996-8350.
A planned new apartment/retail complex across from Erlanger Hospital will be eight stories tall.
Developer Ken Defoor went before the City Council on Tuesday night to get a six-story height restriction changed to eight.
He said Erlanger and UTC had no problems with the request.
City Council Chairman Moses Freeman said he knew of no opposition from neighborhood associations other than some traffic concerns.
The site owned by Jimmy and Molly Seal is at the southeast corner of Third Street and Central Avenue.
Belle Investment initially said it planned 220 apartment units as well as ground floor commercial and parking.
The site is 2.62 acres.
Cooks and chefs in the HCA TriStar hospital division from Nashville to Atlanta will converge at First Baptist Church in Chattanooga on Thursday, May 26, for a Whats Cooking seminar. The chefs will share best practices and gain hands-on experience preparing more flavorful and nutritious patient foods as well as help feed the homeless.
Attendees from 40 health care facilities will be instructed in techniques for a variety of proteins, including poultry and fish, stocks and sauces. The methods learned can then be taken back to the respective hospital for use in patient food preparation. Following the seminar, the food prepared will be donated and served hot to over 200 homeless individuals in Chattanooga. The chefs in attendance will serve the meals.
From Chattanooga, food preparation representatives from each of Parkridge Health Systems five facilities, Parkridge Medical Center, Parkridge East Hospital, Parkridge West hospital, and both Parkridge Valley adult and child campuses will participate.
This will be a great learning experience benefitting everyone involved, including our own cooks and chefs, our patients and those we help provide meals for that day, said April Maynard, Food Service director for Parkridge Medical Center.
Tour buses take loads of visitors around Beverly Hills, a city synonymous with the lifestyles of the rich and famous, to gawk at mega-mansions where stars allegedly live or once did.Far more interesting and far less visible to the naked eye is the landscape master plan for the most fabulous six square miles on earth, which attracted celebrities the long 10 miles from downtown Los Angeles, where the movie palaces were in the 1920s. Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks were the first movie stars to move there and help promote it.Each major residential avenue was planted with one type of tree and given a long curve, so the foliage was always in view. The most striking in spring are the lavender-flowered jacarandas, while giant sycamores, magnolias, palms, bottle- brush or ficus trees give each street a distinctive look.That was one of the many revelations on a recent tour of this gilded corner of L.A., as well as the next door arts, design, and nightlife town of West Hollywood, conducted by Laura Massino of Architecture Tours L.A. www.ArchitectureToursLA.com (323/464-7868). She has a mini-book for sale for each of her many local tours for those who dont want to rely on their own camera skills and note-taking for the memories and education.For those who want the design analysis of actual stars homes, Borislav Stanics Los Angeles Attractions is the best laymans self-driving guide. We focused instead on architectural details of other houses and buildings. The beautiful Beverly Hills City Hall, for example, was designed in Spanish Renaissance style in 1932. As Massino noted, because of its earthquake faults, California has the strictest construction codes in the nation, but when it comes to what a building looks like, almost anything goes.The most unusual example of how set designers have influenced the areas architecture is Spadena House aka The Witchs House, which was built as the colorful office for a movie studio in 1921 (it appeared in the 1965 classic, The Loved One). One of the best example of the regions appreciation of humor in design is the ONeill House, an Art Nouveau classic, with curving walls bearing mosaic tiles and extravagant details.BevHills most famous street is, of course, Rodeo Drive, and a stroll is mandatory to peek at the lavish details of the stores. Particularly innovative is the use of translucent walls at Prada.Astoundingly, Beverly Hills didnt even have historic preservation standards until 2012, so many homes and buildings have been torn down to make way for larger and more glamorous quarters. But some are too iconic to change, such as the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, with its Italian Renaissance look. The pink facade of the Beverly Hills Hotel, which has appeared in movies from The Way We Were to Shampoo, is another, despite remodeling that took several years.West HollywoodWest Hollywood is known worldwide for its hot restaurants and legendary rock palaces like Whiskey a Go Go, Viper Room, and The Roxy (not to mention its flamboyant Halloween street parade, the largest in the world, with half a million participants).WHs Pacific Design Center has massive, multiple, and distinctive buildings which house every manner of interior decorating manufacturer or service. One has to have a resale license to buy, but civilians are welcome to look. The surrounding area is filled with boutique design storefronts that would take days to thoroughly browse for furnishing shopaholics.Every neighborhood in the citys packed two square miles seems to have a different eclectic assortment of homes, apartment buildings, and townhouses. Among the most interesting is Havenhurst Dr. which has La Ronda and Andalusia, two buildings done in Spanish Colonial Revival style by Arthur and Nina Zwebell, who were not even formally trained as architects. The neighboring Colonial House is where Katy Perry currently resides when in town and whose prior tenants have included Bette Davis, Clark Gable, Tim Burton, and Sandra Bullock.Nearby in the Hollywood Hills, we looked at Storer House, formerly owned by movie producer Joel Silver, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1923 with concrete blocks imprinted to appear like woven textile. A similar home by his son, Lloyd Wright, is down the street.Most fascinating was our visit to Gemini G.E.L., designed by Frank Gehry, where very limited editions have been crafted by old-school printing presses for artists like David Hockney, Willem De Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, and Ed Ruscha. Artist-in-residence right now is Richard Serra, one of whose silica-and-black-ink pieces fills a wall (one of 12 for $175,000).For architecture buffs, the L.A. area is an endless feast.
The disease that has killed more than six million bats in North America hasnt spared Georgia.
Since white-nose syndrome was first found here in 2013, the number of bats has plummeted by about 90 percent in caves and mines the Georgia Department of Natural Resources surveys each winter.
Theyre just gone, said Katrina Morris, lead bat researcher for DNRs Nongame Conservation Section.
The surveys help gauge the impact of white-nose, or WNS, in the state. Nongame Conservation checked 20 hibernacula or refuges this winter, all but two of them in north Georgia. Morris report notes that:
- Sixteen either tested positive for the fungus that causes white-nose, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, or showed signs of being infected.
- In 10 caves checked annually since at least 2014, bat counts are down overall by 92 percent.
- Except for gray bats, no other Myotis bats were seen. While counts of bats in this genus are always low in north Georgia caves, this was the first time researchers found none, Morris said.
First documented in North America in New York in 2007, white-nose has spread through the eastern U.S. and into Canada. The disease took a 1,300-mile leap from Minnesota to Washington in March, when a sick bat near Seattle tested positive. In Georgia, white-nose is confirmed or suspected in 11 counties. White-nose poses no known risk to humans.
The fungus Pd thrives in the cold and humid conditions characteristic in caves and mines used by hibernating bats. The disease Pd causes is named for the white fungus often found growing on the muzzle and skin of affected bats. The fungus results in bats being awakened too often from hibernation or less intense torpor, and using fat reserves needed for hibernation long before winter is over.
Death rates of 90-100 percent have been seen at some hibernacula. Causes of death vary from starvation to stressed immune systems.
One of the first sites in Georgia documented with white-nose is also one of the most telling examples of the fallout. Counts at Sittons Cave, a popular grotto at Cloudland Canyon State Park in northwest Georgia, have shrunk from more than 1,700 bats in 2013 to 62 this year, a 96 percent decline.
Morris said that unlike at some affected hibernacula in the North, where dead or dying bats are found in the snow near entrances, in Georgia we dont usually see piles of dead bats. We see missing bats.
While DNR biologists can only survey a small number of caves, those checked likely represent the larger picture of whats happening to bats in the northern part of the state, according to Morris. Preliminary data from sampling with mist nets in summer also show that fewer bats are being caught, she said.
There is good news. Some bats are surviving for years at affected sites, and some species, including the federally endangered gray bat, dont appear to be developing white-nose, though they carry the fungus.
Also, scientists are working to combat white-nose, including an effort involving the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Georgia State University researchers testing a bacterium aimed at inhibiting growth of the fungus.
DNR is following a response plan that outlines steps for raising awareness of the disease, combating its spread, reporting and analyzing bats, and managing related natural resources. DNR has increased surveys to better assess bat populations and worked with cavers to spread the word about white-nose, reduce trips in Georgia caves and follow disinfectant protocols for clothes and gear. Only about 15 percent of Georgias caves are on state-managed lands. Learn more at www.georgiawildlife.com/WNS.
DNRs Nongame Conservation Section works daily to conserve Georgias endangered and other wildlife not legally fished for or hunted, as well as rare plants and natural habitats. The agency depends primarily on fundraisers, grants and contributions for this vital work.
Georgians can provide help conserve native bats and other wildlife species and rare plants through buying or renewing a DNR eagle or hummingbird license plate. These tags cost only $25 more than a standard plate, and most of the fee from sales and renewals is dedicated to nongame conservation.
Upgrade to a wild tag for only $25! Details at www.georgiawildlife.com/ conservation/support and www.georgiawildlife.com/ conservation/annualreport .
Why Bats Matter
The loss of bats can contribute to widespread ecological effects. Bats help:
Control insects : A little brown bat can eat its weight in insects in a night; one million bats can consume nearly 700 tons a year. Bats save corn farmers worldwide an estimated $1 billion per year in crop damages. This natural pest control also reduces pesticide use.
Enrich cave ecosystems : Nutrient-packed guano from cave-roosting bats qualify them as keystone species in these habitats.
Feed other animals : Wildlife varying from owls to raccoons prey on bats.
Pollinate plants and disperse seeds : More than 300 species of fruit, including mangoes, depend on bats for pollination. Bats are critical to seed dispersal in tropical forests.
Benefit science : Research on bats has led to developments in sonar, vaccines and other areas.
Serve as indicator species : Population changes can indicate broader ecological issues such as the loss of forest habitat.
Sources include: Bat Conservation International, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service
Starting In August, It Will Take Weeks To Get A New Driver's License
By Mae Rice in News on May 18, 2016 3:07PM
Still via YouTube
Illinois driver's licenses are getting a makeover. Soon, a shadowy Abraham Lincoln will lurk in the background of all new licensesand, more importantly, licenses will no longer be issued by individual Secretary of State facilities (known in most other states as DMVs), but instead by one central facility that more rigorously verifies driver identities, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White announced Tuesday. The change to the system began Tuesday, and will be fully rolled out across the state by the end of July.
The new driver's license system will put Illinois in compliance, at long last, with the federal Real ID Act. As we noted back in December, current Illinois driver's licenses don't comply with the act, and the state has put off compliance for more than a decade now. (The Real ID Act passed in 2005.) The Department of Homeland Security rejected Illinois' most recent request to put compliance off further, thoughhence this change.
What the change means on the ground, as White explains on his website, is that Secretary of State facilities will no longer give out official licenses. Instead, at the end of the driver's license application process, drivers will receive a temporary paper license, valid for 45 days, along with their previous license, hole-punched to indicate that a new license is on the way.
While drivers use the temporary licensewhich is valid at airports, in conjunction with the hole-punched old licensethe central driver's licensing facility will run security checks designed to prevent identity theft. Checks will include running driver photos through a facial recognition database, the Tribune reports. The facility will send applicants their official licenses within 15 business days.
The new ID process began rolling out for drivers renewing their licenses through the Safe Driver Renewal program on Tuesday. In June, the new licensing process will start rolling out to Secretary of State facilities, and by the end of July, it will be in effect at every Illinois Secretary of State facility.
Correction, May 19: A previous version of this post called Secretary of State facilities "DMVs." That's not the terminology used in Illinois.
Photos: Hundreds Blocked The 606 Trail To Protest Gentrification And Displacement
By Rachel Cromidas in News on May 18, 2016 3:44PM
With the threat of displacement bearing down on longtime working-class residents of Chicago's gentrifying Northwest Side neighborhoods, hundreds of activists brought traffic on The 606 trail to a standstill Tuesday evening in protest.
The activists, lead by the Logan Square Neighborhood Association, used caution tape to block off a stretch of the elevated trail, re-routing eastbound joggers and cyclists. Our photographer Tyler LaRiviere watched the group, which included many parents and students from nearby Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School, drop banners calling for more affordable housing over North Kedzie Avenue and North Humboldt Drive. One woman carried a large sign that asked, "Now that the neighborhood is nice, why do I have to move?"
Affordable housing is becoming a more pressing issue for Logan Square, Humboldt Park and surrounding areas as rents, property values and property taxes soarparticularly around the tony Bloomingdale Trail, which was overhauled last year and re-opened as The 606.
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West Side Man Found With $1 Million In Heroin In Connecticut
By Stephen Gossett in News on May 18, 2016 4:56PM
Jose Adorno/courtesy Connecticut state police
A West Humboldt Park man was arrested Tuesday afternoon when Connecticut State Police allegedly recovered over 25 pounds of heroin from the suspects vehicle, according to a statement from the department.
Troopers stopped Jose Adorno at approximately 1:30 p.m. in a Toyota Camry for a moving violation. While speaking with Adorno, police were alerted of possible narcotics, according to authorities. The subsequent investigation, which included a drug-sniffing canine team, uncovered 11 packages of suspected heroin.
Adorno is currently being held on $1 million bond and is expected in court Wednesday. He faces charges of possession of over one kilogram of heroin and possession with intent to sell. Trooper First Class Kelly Grant of the CSP Public Information Office did not comment about Adornos possible involvement in a larger criminal enterprise, and stated his destination was unknown.
Neighborhoods on Chicagos West Side have been grappling with drug markets and narcotics dealing for several years.
The Michelin Guide is scheduled to launch its Shanghai edition this autumn, unveiling its first-ever selection of the best restaurants in the city. [File photo]
The Michelin Guide is scheduled to launch its Shanghai edition this autumn, unveiling its first-ever selection of the best restaurants in the city, the publisher announced yesterday.
Shanghai's fine dining scene will be inspected and reviewed as part of the first official selection of Michelin hotels and restaurants in China's mainland, according to a statement by Michelin.
"The city is an economic and cultural crossroad, and its gastronomy is the result of a strong culinary heritage which makes the dining scene very exciting," said Michelin Guides' international director Michael Ellis.
"Shanghai's culinary scene ranges from popular to fine dining restaurants, and we are eager to discover the high quality of Shanghai's gastronomy and starting the selection," he said.
The selections of all restaurants in the guide are made by Michelin's famously anonymous inspectors, who are trained to scrupulously apply the same time-tested methods used by Michelin inspectors for many decades throughout the world.
The quality of ingredients, the chef's personality as revealed through cuisine, the preparation and combination of flavors, value for money and the ability to produce excellent cooking with consistency over time and across the entire menu are mentioned as the five criteria applied by inspectors as defined by Michelin.
"The launch of the Shanghai edition will reshuffle the industry and cause pressure on fine dining restaurants in the city," said food critic Xiao Gao. "The guide will provide an authoritative reference to diners."
China sold 58,125 units of new energy cars in the first quarter (Q1) this year, more than doubling the 27,271 units sold in the same period last year, according to data from China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
If we break down the numbers, sales of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles stood at 15,994 units, up 43 percent year on year. Sales of all-electric cars came to 42,131 units, 1.4 times than the same period last year.
Let's take a look at the best-selling Chinese new energy cars in the first quarter.
No 5 BYD Qin
Sales: 2,723 units
A model of BYD Qin. [Photo/bydauto.com.cn]
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The behavioral aspects of poor health are even more important than we may have thought. Thats according to a new study finding adults who engage in even one unhealthy behavior double their risk for fair-to-poor health. And the risk increases meaningfully with each added unhealthy behavior.
Spotlight: Impact of Unhealthy Behaviors, a publication from United Health Foundations Americas Health Rankings released in partnership with Family Medicine for Americas Health, sponsor of the Health is Primary campaign, underscores the importance of taking action to address unhealthy behaviors and lower the risk of poor health, illness and chronic disease. Primary care physicians are well-positioned to help Americans take the steps needed to lower their risk or prevent unhealthy behaviors before they start.
The report looked at adults in the United States with one or more of five behaviors: smoking, excessive drinking, obesity, insufficient sleep, and physical inactivity. It found that adults who engage in one of the behaviors were twice as likely to have fair or poor health, compared to adults with no unhealthy behaviors, but the odds increase to more than 3.5 times for those with two unhealthy behaviors and up to 8.7 times for those with all five.
An estimated 25 million Americans, 12 percent of adults, have three or more of the behaviors. These activities are associated with some of the most challenging chronic diseases affecting Americans, such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, illustrating the interplay between behavior and health.
The impact of chronic disease on quality of life is significant, and the cost of managing these illnesses is staggering. National spending for medical care is concentrated among a small proportion of people, particularly those with chronic health conditions, according to the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation. About 93 percent of Medicare spending and 71 percent of total health care spending in the U.S. goes to care for people with multiple chronic diseases.
Thats where a strong, informed and value-driven primary care system comes in, where primary care physicians work with multi-disciplinary care teams to not only engage with patients one-on-one, but to enable better health management of populations and drive better health outcomes. This approach can go a long way to earlier identification of unhealthy behaviors and interventions to help patients make necessary behavior modifications to prevent disease or reduce its impact. But as the U.S. population grows and ages, the ranks of primary care physicians are being stretched, and we are not training enough additional physicians. More will be needed to build and sustain a system for better health, better health care and lower costs to patients and communities.
We know theres no easy fix. As the spotlight points out, factors such as education, race/ethnicity, income, and geography are all associated with a persons likelihood of having unhealthy behaviors. However, we can begin to use the findings of this analysis and others as a roadmap for action to help reduce the prevalence of unhealthy behaviors and empower individuals to better manage their health. Starting with primary care, focusing health resources and interventions on the 12 percent of adults who engage in three or more unhealthy behaviors may have a substantial impact on health risks, outcomes, and costs.
Improved health and efficient use of health care dollars is a goal we can all agree on. To move in that direction, we need to think not just about how to diagnose and treat disease, but how to diagnose and intervene to address the behaviors that lead to disease. As these data make clear, any one of these behaviors is a serious problem and several are a crisis. The trend toward treating the whole patient, not just the disease, is at the center of our primary care movement and, we believe, holds the greatest promise to achieve what we are all seeking: better health for all Americans.
Glen R. Stream is president and board chair, Family Medicine for Americas Health.
Image credit: Shutterstock.com
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Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba Group, speaks at a session during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2016 in Boao, south China's Hainan Province, March 23, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]
Jack Ma, the billionaire chairman and founder of China's e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba Group, paid a secret visit to the White House on Tuesday, The Washington Post reported.
The newspaper said reporters had spotted Ma leaving the White House grounds with several aides and at least two security guards.
Ma declined to comment other than to simply say his meeting with US President Barack Obama was "very good".
A White House spokesperson confirmed that Obama had lunch with Ma but offered no other details of their meeting. The lunch meeting was not listed on the US president's public schedule.
The newspaper cited White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest as saying Obama and Ma have shared a stage in Malaysia last November during the Asia-Pacific Economic Summit, where the US president interviewed Ma, then China's second-richest man, in front of a crowd of business executives.
Ma overtook China's property giant Dalian Wanda's Wang Jianlin to become Asia's richest man in April after his company's affiliate Ant Financial raised a new financing round of $4.5 billion.
That added $4.3 billion to Ma's fortune, bumping his wealth to $33.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionares Index.
Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, visits the headquarters of the government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) in Hong Kong, south China, May 17, 2016. Zhang was briefed by the SAR chief executive and government officials on their work. [Photo/Xinhua]
China's top legislator commended on Tuesday the efforts by Hong Kong's chief executive and its government in faithfully implementing the "One Country, Two Systems" principle and Basic Law, and in successfully promoting the city's economic and livelihood development on multiple fronts.
Foreseeing a bright future for the city and the "One Country, Two Systems" principle, Zhang Dejiang encouraged the special administration region's government to continue to focus on economic development and on improving people's quality of living, to make greater contributions to the city's stability and prosperity.
Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, made the remarks after being briefed on Tuesday afternoon on the SAR government's work, as part of his inspection tour of the city from Tuesday to Thursday.
Zhang acknowledged that the SAR government had introduced many new measures to address social issues, including land, housing, elderly care and poverty alleviation, with some success already.
He said the central government found the work of the SAR government satisfactory, as President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang did in December when the chief executive went to Beijing to give the annual SAR government work report to the central authorities.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying thanked Zhang for visiting, saying that the SAR government's achievements are dependent on the central government's support.
Zhang is the first State leader to visit the SAR since 2012.
"I'm here to observe, listen and speak," he said.
The visit has drawn attention at home and abroad as Hong Kong has faced economic and social fluctuations in recent years.
Zhang, who was met by Leung at Hong Kong International Airport, conveyed regards from President Xi and the central government to the people of Hong Kong.
The top legislator, who also oversees Hong Kong and Macao affairs, said he wanted to see for himself the changes that have taken place in the city and in people's daily lives, and to meet "old and new friends" from different sectors.
Zhang said he hoped to hear officials' and the local community's views and suggestions on the implementation of Basic Law, "One Country, Two Systems" and "a high degree of autonomy".
He said he was interested in hearing advice on the SAR's economic development.
Zhang will speak at the Belt and Road Summit on Wednesday morning and at an official banquet in the evening.
Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung, of the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong, is among the few lawmakers and Executive Council members invited to attend a reception with Zhang before the banquet.
Lam said he plans to ask Zhang for the central government's continuous support of the local economy amid the gloomy global economic outlook.
He said he will also propose that Hong Kong be made the treasury center of the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
Amid growing threats of global terrorism and radical "localism", Hong Kong police raised the security level for the visit.
Various protests have been held in recent years, some even escalating into mass incidents, such as the illegal "Occupy Central" movement in 2014 and the Mong Kok riot this year.
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Hyundai launches Xcent spl.edition @ 6.22Lac
Hyundai has launched a special edition of its sedan, the Xcent, at a price of Rs. 6.22 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi). The diesel is priced at Rs 7.15 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi). This comes at a time when the company is celebrating twenty years of operations in India.
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Chances of the Zika virus spreading in Beijing is quite low, according to the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Aedes aegypti mosquito, a tiny insect thought to transmit this virus, has not been found in the capital city, Beijing Times reported.
Mosquito surveillance near Beijing's Ditan Park on May 15 revealed those in residence were not Aedes aegypti.
Beijing has confirmed its first imported case of Zika virus infection. The patient, a 29-year-old female from eastern Shandong Province, developed a rash and fever in Venezuela on May 11 and returned to China on May 13.
(Kitco News) - Has gold rallied too far or will the trend in Federal Reserve (Fed) tightening expectations continue towards reduction, potentially shifting back to easing? Hawkish Fed governor rhetoric has resurfaced as the stock market has recovered and some economic measures have shown improvement. This week, prior to the release of the Fed minutes from the April meeting, the 12th Fed funds futures contract has declined about 10 basis points (bps) indicating an sharp increase in Fed tightening expectations in only a few days. The indication is that the effective Fed Funds rate will average near 0.70% a year from now, compared to 0.37% currently.
At the beginning of the year, Fed Funds Futures indicated the rate to average 0.83%, a year from now. So, about a 13bps decline in Fed funds hike expectations a year from now, has been good for about a $200/oz. rally in gold in 2016 to date. US Fed tightening, while most of the rest of the worlds central banks are easing, is the primary pressure factor on the US dollar gold price. The gold market is not alone in thumbing its nose at hawkish Fed rhetoric. It has significant company in declining US Treasury bond yields and the flattening yield curve. US 10yr yields have declined from 2.27% at the end of 2015 to 1.77% currently.
Time will tell who wins, but most investors are well aware that the primary factor that would shift Fed tightening expectations towards easing is a resumption of the stock market volatility experienced earlier in the year. So what ultimately is the primary driver of the US dollar gold price? It is likely the US stock market.
Special Contributor to Kitco News
Mike McGlone
Newsfeedback@kitco.com
The fisher, a forest mammal about the size of a cat, narrowly avoided listing under the Endangered Species Act thanks, in part, to recovery efforts on the Olympic Peninsula.
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By Tristan Baurick of the Kitsap Sun
Efforts to revive the Olympic Peninsula's fisher population have helped the furry mammal narrowly avoid listing under the Endangered Species Act.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently determined that the distinct population of West Coast fisher is not at risk for extinction and does not require ESA protections.
The service praised the "proactive fisher conservation efforts" led by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, which began a fisher reintroduction program on the peninsula in 2008 and is now expanding it to the Cascade Range.
"In the Olympics, (fishers) are widening their territory and they're reproducing," Fish and Wildlife's Jeff Lewis said. "There are some really positive things we're learned from Olympics, and we have high hopes for the Cascades."
Fish and Wildlife released 90 fishers from British Columbia into Olympic National Park between 2008 and 2010.
Lewis has documented three generations of descendants from the first 90. Their current population is unclear, but recent surveys indicate the fishers are expanding geographically.
"I'm not ready to say it's a great success, but we're certainly seeing positive signs," he said.
Last year, Fish and Wildlife expanded its reintroduction program to the south Cascades, releasing 23 fishers near Mount Rainier. Another 137 fishers are expected to be released in the Cascades by 2018.
Related to weasels and otters and about the size of a house cat, fishers had vanished from the peninsula and much of the state due to trapping and loss of forest habitat. Restrictions on trapping in the 1930s came too late. By the '50s, fishers had disappeared from the peninsula.
The state listed the fisher as an endangered species in 1998, making it illegal to harm or harass them. Two years ago, the process began to list West Coast fishers under the ESA, which would have brought far greater protections, including possible timber harvest restrictions.
In deciding not to list the species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service commended the state's use of a voluntary program that encourages timber companies and other forest landowners to assist with fisher recovery efforts. Forest managers who adopted conservation measures were assured that they would not be subject to additional land-use restrictions if fishers were ever listed under the ESA. The program now covers almost 2 million acres surrounding Olympic National Park.
"The (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) did not list the fisher this time, but that doesn't rule out the possibility of a federal listing in the future," said Gary Bell, a Fish and Wildlife biologist who runs the program. "We're hearing from a lot of landowners who want to make sure they don't miss out on enrolling in this program."
Fishers still face threats and the biggest appears to be speeding vehicles. About a dozen fishers on the peninsula have been killed by vehicles since 2008. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, that's a higher rate than many other fisher study areas on the West Coast.
"That probably says the recovery area is surrounded by a highway and it is: Highway 101," Lewis said. "That does put the animals at risk."
Oilers Joey Mullan (left) and Jordan Gallauher chat while working Tuesday on ferry Hiyu's deck at the Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility.
SHARE The ferry Hiyu sits Tuesday at the Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility dock. Chief engineer Jim Nicks exits the pilot house during a media tour of the ferry Hiyu on Tuesday at the Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility. Chief engineer John Rossart is reflected in a mirror as he leads a tour of the engine room Tuesday aboard the ferry Hiyu. Rusty letters adorn the Hiyu on Tuesday at the Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility.
By Ed Friedrich of the Kitsap Sun
BAINBRIDGE ISLAND Washington State Ferries outgrew the Hiyu years ago but kept the little vessel around for emergencies. There were several. Now the 34-car ferry finally is headed for retirement.
The Hiyu was built in 1967 in Portland, Oregon, to serve on the Point Defiance-Tahlequah route. It was replaced in the late 1980s when it couldn't keep up with increased traffic. The same thing happened on the San Juan Islands interisland route the system's smallest in the late 1990s.
The Hiyu was mothballed for more than 10 years but returned in 2007 as an emergency replacement because the state didn't have a decent backup. It last sailed July 23, 2015, providing supplemental service on the Southworth-Vashon Island-Fauntleroy route that was otherwise running on a two-boat schedule because of vessel moves associated with emergency repairs to the Puyallup and Elwha.
Now, with five new boats built in the past few years and two on the way, the Hiyu is being readied for auction.
"It's out-served its usefulness," said one of its former chief engineers, Jim Nicks, during a media tour Tuesday at Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility. "It's slow, it's small and it's old."
Two older ferries 58-year-old Klahowya and 57-year-old Tillikum continue to operate because their 87-car capacity and 15.5-knot speed are borderline sufficient. They'll be the next to go. Their sister ship, Evergreen State, already has been retired and will be auctioned with the Hiyu, which crawls at 10 knots.
"We hope the Hiyu has a second life and continues to stay in action as a vessel," WSF spokeswoman Broch Bender said. The Coast Guard requires a crew of five, which would likely discourage its continued use as a passenger vessel.
The Rhododendron was sold for $275,000 in 2013 to a British Columbia scallop-growing company, which uses it as an operations support vessel.
Despite all the boats recently added to the fleet, WSF has no backup vessel. Four to five ferries will be undergoing maintenance the next five weeks. In mid-June, the 124-car Kitsap becomes available for standby for the rest of the summer. The Tillikum also will be free for five weeks.
The Hiyu is one of a kind, with a stubby hull, tall truck tunnel down the center, passenger compartments along each side above parking lanes, and a bridge across the top. With about 24 bench seats and chairs sprinkled around, there's space for a maximum of 200 passengers.
Nostalgia is limited. Regular riders who might have become attached haven't been aboard in 20 years. Seascape photos decorating the walls have faded into a blur. Beside them hang plaques to the crew for service reliability.
Crews from other ferries are putting dibs on Hiyu tools and equipment, said another chief engineer, John Rossart, who is overseeing the decommissioning. He just finished the same job on the Evergreen State and got approval from the port engineer to put it up for auction. He hopes to have the Hiyu in a similar state next week.
The state hasn't determined a minimum bid price for either.
After an erroneous report Tuesday afternoon of a handgun aboard a North Kitsap school bus, one student was detained and turned over to a guardian. The bus was stopped about 3 p.m. near the Viking Way-Finn Hill Road intersection.
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By Christina Henry of the Kitsap Sun
POULSBO Poulsbo police officers and other law enforcement officials responded Tuesday afternoon to what turned out to be an erroneous report of a gun on a North Kitsap school bus.
The bus driver alerted authorities shortly before 3 p.m. of the possibility that a student on the bus had a .45-caliber handgun, said Andy Pate, Poulsbo's deputy police chief. The bus, serving Route 16, was on Viking Way.
Police officers and Kitsap County sheriff's deputies stopped the bus on the 20000 block of Viking, near the corner with Finn Hill Road. They removed students from the bus and detained one student, Pate said.
The bus also was searched.
Police said the bus driver had heard one of the students on the bus say they had a handgun. Interviews of the students indicated they were only discussing handguns, Pate said.
"No weapons were found on the bus or in the possession of any of the students," he said.
The students were reloaded, and the bus continued on its route.
The involved student was turned over to a guardian.
Parents were notified of the incident in an email from the district.
The Herald reports:
Few beneficiaries had benefits cut for taking drugs last year. Beneficiaries with work obligations are now required to take and pass a drug test when asked to as part of a job application, with sanctions applied to their benefits for failing the tests. Last year, there were 31,791 referrals for drug testable positions nationwide and just 55 sanctions for failing a drug test, according to Ministry of Social Development (MSD) figures. Whangarei Citizens Advice Bureau co-ordinator Moea Armstrong said the low number of beneficiaries failing drug tests proved most people were really desperately keen for a job and not doing drugs.
Thats good.
He said workplace drug tests should be up to employers and he didnt see why the Government needed to be involved in the process. Mr Reid said beneficiaries were under enough pressure without the threat of having their benefits cuts for failing drug tests.
It is up to employers. They decide if they ask a job seeker for one. What the Government has said though is if you are on a benefit and turn jobs down because you wont take a drug test well the taxpayer wont keep funding you.
Bay of Plenty-based Te Tuinga Whanau support service executive director Tommy Wilson said he believed the drug testing policy was working. I know first hand that its working because we have a lot of people within our organisation that come from past drug use and are doing better because they have that put on them, he said. I am encouraged that people are being more responsible, realising how important work is and what it can do for the mana of a family to have a parent working.
It would be good to have some before and after data ie how many job seekers on a benefit refused drug tests before there were sanctions for doing so, compared to the failure rate now?
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The Herald reports:
The Ports of Auckland must be moved for the growth and prosperity of the city, say three mayoral candidates. Their comments came after a survey of 328 small business representatives by MYOB revealed 39 per cent would vote for a mayoral candidate who proposed to move the port. The survey also found 31 per cent opposed a move while 32 per cent said it would not affect their vote. During a mayoral debate yesterday on Newstalk ZB, Phil Goff, John Palino and Victoria Crone said moving the port was important.
Good to have three candidates in favour. What matters though is how explicit theyll be in taking steps to make it happen. Platitudes are easy, policy is harder.
Speaking to Leighton Smith, Mr Goff said the port would reach capacity for bulk cargo probably within the next three to 10 years and for container traffic within the next 24 to 40. At a certain point Auckland port will not be able to take any further traffic and I am not in favour of the port expanding into the harbour. The second reason is that there is 75ha of prime central business district land there that I think would produce a better return than a port. He said moving the port would also reduce congestion on Aucklands motorways.
Great, so what is your plan? Where would the money come from to pay for a move?
Victoria Crone said the port couldnt grow with the city and was therefore obsolete. We have moved on and our economy is no longer driven by [the port]. It is an important part of it but it is not the main driver. She said it was important to take a 50 to 100-year view of the port, which would enable people to see the port would not have the capacity to serve the city. Our focus has to be on how do we move it, how do we move it cost-effectively, how do we keep the business communities in Auckland as little affected as possible when we go through the move and then we have an incredible piece of land with significant infrastructure opportunity that we can then open up to all of Auckland. Ms Crone suggested the land could then be used for a combination of economic and social living, vibrant night life, we need a ferry terminal, people have said we need a stadium, we could look at a Sydney opera house.
Would be amazing to have that land available for other use.
John Palino argued the business part of the port should be sold. If we sell the business part of the port, the value in the port is really the real estate so we could look at Tauranga and Whangarei and possibly create a deal with them where we sell them the port or we sell someone else the port. We [then] give them the ability to run that port for up to 10 years but the deal would be that in 10 years the port has to be removed.
A specific idea as to how it could be done.
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A 2-year old girl has been rescued in central Chinas Henan Province 32 hours after she was abducted, thanks to a new online platform.
The girl from southwest Chinas Sichuan Province went missing around 4pm last Friday afternoon while she and her family were changing trains in Hengshui, a city in north Chinas Hebei Province.
Police identified a man suspected of snatching the girl on the railway stations CCTV and broadcast his description via both traditional media and the new Ministry of Public Security platform Tuanyuan reunion in Chinese based on Alibabas mobile app DingDing.
More than 5,000 police officers can provide updates on missing children via the platform, which was developed with the help of Alibaba.
Police everywhere can now share information and work together via the platform, said Liu Zhenfen, chief risk officer of Alibaba. Tuanyuan went live on May 11 and already has more than 150,000 followers.
Users near to where a child disappears receive push notifications, including photos and descriptions. The scope of these push notifications will be expanded over time, depending on the success of the system.
If the child has been missing for one hour, the push notifications are sent within a radius of 100km; after two hours, 200km; three hours, 300km; and thereafter, 500km, said Meng Qingtian of the MPS anti-trafficking squad.
Many people passed on information about the missing toddler to the police via the platform, said Meng, which helped officers find the missing girl within two days.
The suspect, a native of Anyang City, Henan Province, was arrested in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou. An investigation is under way.
A thunderous crack broke the tranquility of Xinmin Village, Huangshapu Town, Hubei Province, on May 9 when a house collapsed, claiming the life of a 73-year-old man.
A 73-year-old man living alone in a dilapidated house built more than 100 years ago died when the building collapsed on May 9.[Photo/Beijing Times]
About 200 meters away from the collapsed house stands a big new house belonging to the man's son.
Ruan Jiaguo, the old man, who was buried alive by the falling ceiling and walls, was found lying alone on his bed, the only furniture besides a stove in the roughly 40-square-meter house, which was built more than 100 years ago.
Villagers rushed to the house after the collapse and found Ruan in his bed, covered beneath dust and debris and with a deep cut in his forehead.
"It is so pathetic for a man with daughters and sons to die in this way," said an anonymous villager.
Although Ruan spent his entire life in the village, he wasn't well known by the villagers, who knew little besides the fact that he'd became disabled after working in a cement factory and had married a blind woman who left him when their children had grown up.
Living alone in the old house, Ruan sometimes received food from his two daughters when they stopped by his house. But the condition of the dilapidated house never changed until it fell.
Plans for renovating the village's old houses had begun last year; however, they were proceeding with limited quotas and could only serve five houses a year. Ruan's house was not on the list.
Officials in the village once tried to persuade the old man to move out of the house and live with his son, but the old man refused, saying he wouldn't move out until his son was married.
Meng, the director of the Civil Affairs Office of Huangshapu Town, said that a nursery house has been built for the elderly in need of special care. So far about 20 elder people have moved in.
But, he continued, the problems of elderly people living alone cannot be solved simply by the hand of government; they require the help of younger generations to take care of their aging parents.
Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation.
Kim Delozier, a retired wildlife biologist at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with a tranquilized black bear in the 1980s. He will discuss his Smokies adventures on May 27.
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WILDFLOWER HIKE
Smoky Mountains Hiking Club heads to Frozen Head State Park Sunday, May 22, for an easy hike to see the wildflowers along Judge Branch Trail. Distance: about 3 miles. Meet at the Oak Ridge Books-a-Million, 310 South Illinois Avenue, at 1 p.m.
Leader: Don Dunning, dedz1@aol.com
BEARS AND BOOKS
On Friday, May 27, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., retired GSMNP wildlife ranger Kim Delozier will discuss his books "Bear in the Back Seat I & II." It is one of several upcoming Meet the Author events planned at the Great Smokies' Sugarlands Visitors Center. Delozier will discuss his books and how the park impacts his writing.
UPCOMING AT IJAMS
Ijams Nature Center will host a Big Kids Coloring Club at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 19. They will provide coloring pages, coloring tools, appetizers and a fun atmosphere. Cost is $5 per person.
At 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 20, a fitness workshop will be held at Ijams. The one-hour yoga class will take place outdoors. Cost is $10 per person. Bring your yoga mat, water and a towel (if needed).
HISTORY CONFERENCE
The history, agriculture and legacy surrounding Appalachia will be the subject of a conference at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay St., Sunday through Tuesday, May 22-24.
All sessions are open to the public. Cost is $10 for students and $40 for scholars and community members.
The three-day conference brings together scholars of Appalachian history who will share their latest research about the region's history. Topics include backcountry veterans and the legacy of the American Revolution, sexuality and gender in Appalachia, pre- and post-Civil War' agricultural transition in the region, and discipline and punishment in coal mining and religious circles.
The conference will include a walking tour of downtown Knoxville and a peek into the East Tennessee History Center's archives.
Info: www.etsu.edu/cas/sahconference/annual_meeting/program.php
FLEA MARKET
The Knoxville Flea Market will be held at the Knoxville Expo Center from 3-7 p.m. Friday, May 20, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, May 21, and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, May 22. Free admission and parking. The flea market features 400 booths of jewelry, crafts, overstock, collectibles, furniture and more.
SHARE Danielle Lowe and Isaiah Rich, fifth-graders at South Knoxville Elementary, work a puzzle using the Osmo educational game system for iPad in the renovated library. Lowe and Rich are among the Student Council members who contributed ideas to the renovation. South Knoxville Elementary fifth-graders Kaylee Galyon, left, and Rory Daulton spell out their principal's name, Dr. Nicely, on the renovated school library's Lego wall. Both girls are members of Student Council. South Knoxville Elementary on Sevier Avenue celebrated its renovated school library with a ribbon-cutting and open house May 11. Among those present for the ceremony was Knox County Schools Superintendent Dr. Jim McIntyre, center with scissors. Photo by Lesli Bales-Sherrod/Special to the News Sentinel Photos by Lesli Bales-Sherrod/Special to the News Sentinel South Knoxville Elementary librarian Viktoria Henderson, third from left, enjoys books in the renovated school library's new reading nook with fifth-graders Chloe McMillan, left, Matthew Fields and Natalie Washam, all of whom serve on Student Council.
When Viktoria Henderson was hired as librarian for South Knoxville Elementary last year, she was given the opportunity of a lifetime. Dr. Tanna Nicely, principal of the small school on Sevier Avenue, told Henderson she could renovate the school's library however she wanted.
"She said, 'Dream the dream,' and if I wanted it, I could get it," explained the librarian, a former English teacher. "She completely trusted my vision."
The library renovation started the last day of school, when Henderson came over to start weeding out books.
"They didn't even know we had a sink in here," she said, noting that part of the library had been blocked off for storage by tall bookshelves.
Although the school has used the renovated space since October continuing to add things here and there, the principal noted South Knoxville Elementary celebrated its new and improved library on Wednesday, May 11 with a ribbon-cutting and open house.
"It started with sweat and a lot of partnerships, from Home Depot to the superintendent's office," Nicely said at the ceremony. "We chose the library because this room touches every single child in this school, from pre-K through fifth grade, as well as adults in the community."
A bulk of the funding came from Comcast, which named the school a Comcast Cares recipient in April 2015. The designation included a day of work by volunteers as well as a $25,000 check.
While that gift helped get the renovations started, Ben Epperson from the Knox County Health Department helped secure extra funding via tobacco money, Nicely said. South Knoxville Elementary is a smoke-free school, and the stretch of Sevier Avenue in front of the school also has been designated a smoke-free boulevard, she added.
"It's unusual for librarians to see that much money," Henderson said of the various funds earmarked for the renovation. "I got everything I wanted."
What Henderson wanted, she said, was a flexible learning space that could be "changed up at any time for any event." Hence special touches such as tables that fit together like puzzle pieces.
It also was important to Henderson that the library be kid-friendly, with everything accessible on lower shelves so children can reach them. The school's Student Council, comprised of fifth-graders, helped contribute other ideas.
"I wanted the library to be inviting, not intimidating," Henderson said. "I wanted the kids to feel like this was their space. On rainy days, I am hoping we can use the library for indoor recess."
Every class visits the library on Mondays, the librarian explained, while teachers sign up Tuesdays-Fridays to use the space for other lessons.
"This week we are talking about cowboys with the second-graders," Henderson used as an example. "We had a science week, too. We are always doing experiments in here."
Meanwhile, adults use the library for community meetings.
"We are looking to see what else we can do here," Henderson said.
It's hard for the librarian to pick her favorite part of the renovation.
"I love all of it," she said. "I love that it's a flexible space, but I particularly love the reading nook area so that kids can sit and relax with a book in a beanbag chair."
It's those touches, Henderson noted, that are helping her combat stereotypes of libraries as strict and stuffy places.
"Please come in and play," Henderson encouraged those gathered at the ribbon-cutting. "We are not a very quiet place. Come in: tinker, read and research."
Other educators throughout the building said they appreciate Henderson's approach.
"I think environments need to be bright for children and educators," said Jeannie Ensign, a retired teacher who now helps with tutoring at South Knoxville Elementary. "Color makes a much more conducive environment for learning."
The principal also is happy with how it turned out.
"I love it," Nicely said. "I wanted an imagination lab, to think outside the walls of a library."
Speaking of walls, Nicely noted she is particularly tickled with the Lego wall.
"Even adults have come by and created things!" she laughed.
South Knoxville Elementary extends a special thank you to the following folks who volunteered their time, resources, materials, labor or funding: Brad Nicely, president of Sycamore Sign Service; Ben Epperson of the Knox County Health Department; Smoke-Free Knoxville; Cope Associates; Doug Dillingham of Knox County Schools; Leslie Fawaz; Perry Childress; Home Depot, North; Lowe's, South; Dewayne Charles; and Russell Byrd of Comcast.
Transgender bathroom policies in schools are sparking community debate across Tennessee.
By MJ Slaby of the Knoxville News Sentinel
Policies at Knox County Schools are unlikely to change following a federal directive that allows transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity, district leaders said Tuesday.
And some went further to say the directive itself was an "overreach" and "micromanagement" by Washington, D.C.
"I don't think citizens of Knox County want to mainstream transgender behavior," said Doug Harris, chairman of the school board.
On Friday, the U.S. departments of education and justice released a joint guidance on how the U.S. Department of Education will enforce Title IX the federal law banning discrimination in education when it comes to accommodations and treatment of transgender students.
Schools receiving federal funds must comply with Title IX to receive the money, so even though the guidance isn't law, the directive shows schools what will be considered within the law.
Currently the "common practice is that (Knox County) schools deal with these issues on a case-by-case basis, and appropriate accommodations are made that are acceptable to all those who may be affected," schools spokeswoman Melissa Tindell said.
She said the district doesn't track that number or the number of schools that have made adjustments for transgender students, but if it did the number of students would be protected by federal student privacy laws.
Multiple school system leaders pointed to current adjustments being "acceptable to all" as the reason policy won't change.
School board member Terry Hill said she thinks the accommodations Knox County makes are already within the suggestions accompanied by directives. She said she's heard from people who are upset, but they said they haven't heard of a problem.
"It hasn't been an issue, and I'm very hopeful it stays that way," Hill said, adding she doesn't anticipate a policy change.
Buzz Thomas, incoming interim superintendent for the district, said he hasn't heard of an issue in Knox County either. He said he's very confident in teachers' and principals' abilities to make adjustments for transgender students if needed. The guidance is a strong signal that LGBT students need to be treated fairly, but seems it like micromanagement and "a solution in search of a problem," Thomas added.
Tindell said the school system is reviewing the guidance to make sure the district is following state and federal laws and regulations. And board members said they are waiting to hear more from the county law director.
But Harris said he doesn't need to wait for legal guidance to decide the directive was "illegal" to do and something he doesn't "plan on abiding by." He also said he doesn't plan for the board to address the directive.
Harris and board member Patti Bounds said they wished Gov. Bill Haslam had taken a stronger stance against the federal government and said they've heard people who are upset about what the directive allows.
However, Bounds said she expects the school board to address it in some way because of the large number of unanswered questions and the ties to Title IX and federal funds.
Elsewhere, Maryville City Schools are also reviewing to ensure compliance with laws and regulations, said Sharon Anglim, director of communications. She added that similar to Knox County, the district addresses "individual student needs and special requests on a case-by-case basis has served our student body in the past and will remain our policy for the foreseeable future."
SHARE The last inmates were moved out of Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex Thursday and into their new location in Morgan County. The historical prison, which once housed James Earl Ray, was built in 1896 but has been replaced with a new facility - the Morgan County Correctional Complex. Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex Warden Jim Worthington points to the back corner of the prison where James Earl Ray, convicted killer of civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., and five other inmates escaped for four days in 1977.
By Lindsey Ziliak
James Earl Ray, convicted killer of civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., was housed in Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex. He and six other inmates escaped for four days in 1977. They used a ladder made from 20 pieces of conduit pipe to scale a wall surrounding the prison.
Brushy Mountain was in the Guinness Book of World Records as being the only prison in the United States that has a natural bluff as part of its prison wall.
The prison was designed in the shape of a Greek cross. The belief at that time was that the penitentiary's purpose was to convert inmates to Christianity.
The only person from Morgan County to be executed was an inmate from Brushy Mountain who killed a guard while trying to escape. The inmate was sentenced to death in the electric chair. The sentence was carried out in 1939.
The enclosure wall and some of the buildings at Brushy Mountain are constructed entirely from hand-carved stone, which was collected by inmates from the rock quarry near the prison.
Brushy Mountain is the only institution in Tennessee with an employee labor organization.
An official Brushy Mountain closing ceremony will be held at the prison 1-3 p.m. Thursday. The last tours of the facility will be given at that time.
WARTBURG, Tenn. - The cell gates at Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex stood open for the first time in 113 years as the last inmates boarded the bus to leave.
And with that, Tennessee's oldest operating penitentiary closed its doors forever.
"When the last group was going out, it was emotional. We never thought (the prison) would close," said Warden Jim Worthington.
The final 59 inmates left Brushy Mountain on Thursday, though, and were moved to a new prison in Morgan County.
Brushy Mountain prison was opened in 1896, but for several years prior to that, convicts worked in the area through a convict lease system. They served as miners in the area.
This is part of Jerry Beene's family history. Beene's great-grandfather came to the area as a mining foreman working with the convicts. He worked the job until he died.
Beene himself works at the prison. He represents the fifth generation of Beenes to work for Brushy Mountain.
"I've been a correctional officer here for 23 years," he said. "It's a good place to work."
He admitted that it takes a special type of person to work at a maximum-security prison like Brushy Mountain.
"I've seen inmates after they've been stabbed," Beene said. "The hardest thing I've had to deal with while I was there was when Officer Morgan was killed."
Correction Officer Wayne "Cotton" Morgan was shot by an inmate's wife while escorting the inmate from the Roane County Courthouse in 2005.
"It was one of the saddest times at Brushy Mountain," Beene said. "He was special to everybody, even the inmates."
For a while, Brushy Mountain held some of the most violent inmates in the state, said Department of Correction Commissioner George Little - and that included death-row inmates for a period.
"It was known as the end of the line for some inmates," Little said.
Prisoners would come to Brushy Mountain and never leave.
And up until 50 years ago, Little said, the prison used corporal punishment on its inmates. A room referred to as "the hole" also was used as a means of punishment.
"The hole was an empty room with a mattress and two buckets in it, one for water and one to use the bathroom," Little said. "It wasn't heated or cooled, and there was no light."
Inmates would be confined in this room for days at a time. The prison stopped using this room in the 1960s, however.
Despite this history, Worthington said he often got letters from inmates requesting to be moved into the Brushy Mountain prison. Those letters now will go unanswered, though. No more inmates will stay within Brushy Mountain's walls.
"No one really wants to see it close," Worthington said.
Little said the facility was outdated, inefficient and costly. It would have cost $25 million to bring the prison up to date.
The question of what will happen to the empty building remains unanswered for now. Worthington said numerous suggestions have been made - including the idea of turning it into a bed and breakfast or a museum.
Morgan County Commissioner Nick Bishop had his own idea of what to do with the building. He suggested that the federal government and the state of Tennessee use the building as a possible location to house Guantanamo Bay inmates.
"I figure it is a long shot, but I wanted to start the conversation," Bishop said in an e-mail.
He said in a statement Saturday that he will withdraw his proposal, saying he lacked public support.
Lindsey Ziliak may be reached at 865-342-6336.
Brig. Gen. Mark Hart, Director of the Joint Staff, Tennessee National Guard, shakes the hand of Army Vietnam veteran Glen "Steve" Dison after presenting him with the Purple Heart in a ceremony at the Blount County courthouse on Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Dison served in the 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry, 1st Air Cavalry Division in Vietnam and was seriously wounded in action in June of 1968. In the background are members of the American Legion Ridders of Post 13. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)
SHARE Army Vietnam veteran Glen "Steve" Dison was presented with the Purple Heart by Brig. Gen. Mark Hart, Director of the Joint Staff of the Tennessee National Guard during a ceremony at the Blount County Courthouse on Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Dison served in the 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry, 1st Air Cavalry Division in Vietnam and was seriously wounded in action in June 1968. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)
By Lauren Kittrell, Special to the News Sentinel
MARYVILLE Some 48 years after being seriously wounded in action, Vietnam Army veteran Glen "Steve" Dison was awarded the Purple Heart in a ceremony in the Blount County Courthouse Wednesday.
Brig. Gen. Mark Hart, Director of the Joint Staff, Tennessee National Guard, presented the medal to Dison at approximately 2 p.m. Wednesday.
Hart said it was heartwarming to have the opportunity to give someone recognition for their service to their country.
"God bless you on behalf of the President of the United States, a proud nation, and community and fellow veterans," Hart said to Dison. "Thank you for your service."
Dison, who grew up in Sevier County and now lives in Louisville, Tenn., was 20 years old when he was injured in action after an explosion while serving in the 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry, 1st Air Cavalry Division in Vietnam.
Dison said he had bad burns and muscle damage, including a broken neck, injuries to his arms, legs and chest and shrapnel in his neck and eyes.
He was transferred to the 22nd Surgical Hospital in Vietnam to recover for several weeks. During his time there, a Purple Heart was handed to him, but official documents stating the award's presentation were left out of his official records.
Dison said the lack of documentation never bothered him, at least not until he was older. He applied for the medal for the sake of his wife, Alice, and their three sons.
"It's never bothered me that much. But when I turned 65, I was like, 'Whoa, wait a minute now,' " Dison said. "My kids don't have anything to show from this. They have my stories, but they don't have anything concrete."
That's when Dison turned to Nathan Weinbaum, director of the Department of Veterans Services in Blount County.
"He approached me and told me about it and I could see it in the paperwork," Weinbaum said. "I felt that it was my job to do everything I could."
Two years and one declined attempt later, Dison finally received word from the Department of the Army that his application for a Purple Heart Medal was approved.
Dison said he is proud of the medal, but he is more proud of those who helped him get it.
"I was proud of the people who were here. I was proud to see them," Dison said. "I was proud that Nathan (Weinbaum) was able to be here and be recognized. I was appreciative of the local mayor and, of course, the general. He didn't have to do this. I don't know that man, but I know the uniform, and I respect that."
The Purple Heart, the oldest military award still given to U.S. military members, is awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after April 5, 1917.
Public Building Authority Safety Officer Jay Barnt enforces parking regulations Tuesday on Gay Street. City officials are hosting a public meeting May 26 on new plans for downtown parking, including a strategy for fair and consistent enforcement and a standardization of meter rates and hours. The pending installation of new parking meters, combined with growing demand for parking, has created the need for a comprehensive look at the management of public parking on streets and in garages. (CAITIE MCMEKIN/NEWS SENTINEL)
SHARE A Market Square parking garage patron grabs a ticket on Tuesday. The pending installation of new parking meters across downtown, combined with growing demand for parking, has created the need for a comprehensive look at the management of public parking on streets and in garages. (CAITIE MCMEKIN/NEWS SENTINEL)
By Megan Boehnke of the Knoxville News Sentinel
As more than 1,000 solar-powered parking meters begin popping up across downtown this summer, Knoxville officials will update the city's rate structure, enforcement and overall parking plan.
"We're going to be looking at the overall policy for charging for meters, where they go, how we charge relative to garages," said Bill Lyons, the city's chief policy officer. "It's really explaining the overall strategy and the implementation with the new meters and making sense of it all. Also, what the rate structure will be and the rationale for that."
Lyons would not go into detail about the changes before he makes a presentation next week at a public meeting. That meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. on May 26 at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 Gay St.
Lyons said the city would be structuring its rates to encourage turnover at the metered parking spaces.
"Obviously you want longer term in the garages and shorter term on the street for turnover in front of retail, and you want to encourage turnover," Lyons said. "It all blends together in terms of the rationale for what's charged when or how."
He also said it would be "unlikely" that the city would change the policy of free parking on nights and weekends at city-owned lots and garages.
The updates come as the city spends $1 million on the new meters across downtown, the Old City and Fort Sanders. The City Council approved the contract with IPS Group in March.
The new solar-powered meters will accept credit car payments and track actual use. The city eventually will roll out technology that will allow drivers to see in real time which meters are in use and which are free. Doing the same for garages is also a possibility down the road, said Rick Emmett, the city's downtown coordinator.
The new meters are replacing existing ones that are more than 20 years old and well past the expected lifespan, city officials have said. The new meters will also replace the parking kiosks in the 100 block of Gay Street.
City Finance Director Jim York told council members in March the meters generate about $300,000 annually in revenue. It's not clear what impact the new rate structure would have on the annual revenue.
"Some replacement costs in the future is what we're having to evaluate, so it's not a revenue increase for garages or anything," Emmett said. "It's really just about maintaining the programs we have and for enforcement, because we're likely to get (the Public Building Authority) on contract to do enforcement and there is a cost associated with that, so we'll need to recoup those costs."
Emmett said the updates would standardize the variety of public parking currently available.
"We have such a hodgepodge of parking down there right now," he said. "We have some meters, we have some spaces. We have some two-hour, some 10-hour, some 30-minute. We're just trying to get a comprehensive look at it to make some sense of it so folks will know when they come downtown, they will know what to expect."
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By News Sentinel Staff
Members of the public will get a chance to hear legislators' ideas about improving health-care access in Tennessee, and voice their own concerns, when the 3-Star Healthy Project Task Force of state House representatives holds two hearings in East Tennessee tomorrow.
The task force, created in April by Speaker Beth Harwell after the Legislature declined to approve Gov. Bill Haslam's Insure Tennessee Plan to expand coverage to the uninsured, is holding meetings across the state to get input from health-care providers, business owners, community leaders and others. It will take that input, members say, and use it to develop a "conservative" plan to expand health-care access one that the General Assembly has a good chance of supporting. Advocates for Medicaid expansion have criticized the task force, calling it a "farce," but legislators have said they are serious about trying to find a workable plan.
In Knoxville, the hearing will be 4-6 p.m. Thursday at Pellissippi State Technical College's Hardin Valley campus, 10815 Hardin Valley Road, in the Goins Auditorium.
A Tri-Cities meeting will be 10 a.m.-noon Thursday at East Tennessee State University's Quillen College of Medicine in Mountain Home. The meeting has been moved to the small auditorium in Stanton-Gerber Hall, 178 Maple Ave., to accommodate a larger crowd.
Knoxville Police Department officer Keith Lyon, left, and his wife Amy are presented a rose in memory of St. Rick Lyon during the Knoxville - Knox County Peace Officers Memorial Service at the Civic Coliseum Wednesday, May 18, 2016. The service honored the service of 28 officers across different agencies that passed away in the previous year. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL)
SHARE Roses were placed in a wreath as part of the ceremony during the Knoxville - Knox County Peace Officers Memorial Service at the Civic Coliseum Wednesday, May 18, 2016. The service honored the service of 28 officers across different agencies that passed away in the previous year. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL) Deputies with the Knox County Sheriff's Office stand for the Honor Guard salute during the Knoxville - Knox County Peace Officers Memorial Service at the Civic Coliseum Wednesday, May 18, 2016. The service honored the service of 28 officers across different agencies that passed away in the previous year. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL) Related Photos PHOTOS: Peace Officers Memorial Service
By Hayes Hickman of the Knoxville News Sentinel
Knoxville area law enforcement officers gathered Wednesday to remember 28 fellow officers who died during the past year, marking the longest list of names in the three decades since the annual service began.
The ceremony at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium, held in conjunction with National Police Week, honored members of the Knoxville Police Department and the Knox County Sheriff's Office, as well as a retired FBI agent, two Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers, a former chief of the University of Tennessee Medical Center's police force and a police dog.
Among the surviving family members seated for the service, some wore the uniform themselves.
"He's the major reason I got into this job," said KPD Officer Keith Lyon, the son of retired KPD Sgt. Richard Lee Lyon.
His father, a 30-year veteran of the department, died in October after a battle with lymphoma.
As each name was read aloud, officers escorted the family members forward one by one to place a rose in a wreath.
The ceremony also offered a chance to reflect on the dangers and sacrifices inherent to police work.
"Rarely do we get through a shift without some tragic crisis occurring," said Roane County Sheriff Jack Stockton, the memorial's keynote speaker.
Today's officers "are expected to be perfect" while making split-second decisions, often drawing criticism after the fact from supervisors and the public alike, the sheriff said.
"But knowing this they keep going," Stockton said. "Because it's more than a job, it's a calling.
"It has to be a calling, to know at any second you may be called on to give your life for those you don't even know."
The annual service also marks National Peace Officers Memorial Day, officially designated as May 15.
KPD Chaplain Pam Neal noted although this year's list of East Tennessee officers is the longest in any single year yet, the community was fortunate that none had been killed in the line of duty.
Regardless, said Neal, "The people we honor today have given their lives serving the community."
Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with visiting Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah in Beijing, capital of China, May 17, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo)
These days, of all the other world leaders, Xi Jinping is the one who receives the most invitations to play a part in various international issues. China's low-profile diplomacy has been the subject of much debate within the past few years. Some critiques have blamed China for getting free rides, while others, especially those from the developing world, have insisted on China's ever increasing proactive international involvement.
It seems as if Xi Jinping has been, more so than ever before, demonstrating his willingness to respond positively to such invitations. Since the time he took office, Chinese involvement in international relations has clearly been expanding. One of these arenas, within which China has been playing a part, is the Afghan conflict. This begs the question: Which elements can be determinants in the success of China's latest partaking in Afghanistan?
The first contributing factor would be complexity of the crisis in Afghanistan. This crisis is at very crossroads of conflicting interests for many transnational groups and regional and global powers. Unsuccessful attempts by various actors at producing solutions and closure in the past couple of decades are due to this factor. Therefore, this crisis is known for bringing fresh sets of innuendos to any actor who dares to wander deep inside it. The crisis in Afghanistan deeply differs from other international conflicts, which are often ephemeral and quickly resolved. As a result, this is a crisis that needs to be placed next to the Palestinian crisis, which also has a history of being irresoluble. Considering such factors, one can say that China is going up against one of the most complex international crises.
The second contributing factor goes back to the unsuccessful attempts made by world powers in this crisis. Both the Soviet Union and the United States, as the two emerging superpowers in the post-Second World War world, have, within a certain period, spent much of their strategic will on obtaining their own desired forms of peace in this country and have both failed. Therefore, it is safe to consider Afghanistan a crisis for which the largest amount of international power resources, within the past few decades, has been spent towards resolve and resolution. It is interesting to note that both superpowers, at the beginning of their role implementation, sincerely believed they would return stability and peace to this country. China is the third great power to try its luck at resolving the crisis.
The Third contributing factor depends on Chinese interaction with America on the crisis. It is clear that strategic competition between China and America has escalated over the past few years. It won't be easy to give shape to a win-win game between the two countries in the complex crisis of Afghanistan. However, both countries do have a history of playing such games in other international crises, the last and most recent of which was their close cooperation on and implementation of a strategy to resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis. If these two actors can repeat the same successful model in advancing the peace process in Afghanistan, they can take an important step towards solving this crisis.
The forth contributing factor goes back to China's ability to influence Pakistan's role in the crisis. In recent months, many arguments have been raised over the issue of China's capability to alter Pakistan's strategic behavior. Fundamentally, one of the reasons behind the enthusiasm of Ashraf Ghani's government towards the ever expanding role of China in this crisis is the belief that China has the power to affect Pakistan's foreign behavior. In the new period, which resulted in the ever-increasing roles of regional players in the Afghan crisis, Pakistan has, once again, turned into the most important player in the crisis. For this reason, China's ability to have an impact on Pakistan's behavior towards the crisis in Afghanistan can be considered as the most influential factor for the success or failure of China's Afghan strategy.
Finally, the fifth contributing factor can be the way that other players like Russia, Iran, and India see the Chinese-centered peace plan in Afghanistan. Despite the fact that these countries have, more or less, been involved in the shaping of political process in Afghanistan, they have appeared unwilling to play a part in the new peace process. What these countries think about this procurement and the role China plays in it can have an impact on the outcome of negotiations.
Mohsen Shariatinia is an assistant professor of international relations at the Institute for Regional Studies, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran.
Ehsan Razani is member of the School of Law and Politics, Islamic Azad University, Shahrood, Iran.
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
Y-12 maintenance crews members, from left, Ed Ragsdale, David Orr, and Randy Martin change the sign at the entrance to the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant on Monday, June 30, 2014 as Consolidated Nuclear Security transitions into the management of the plant from Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services Y-12. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)
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By Frank Munger of the Knoxville News Sentinel
OAK RIDGE The government's belated release of a 2015 performance review shows why Consolidated Nuclear Security the managing contractor at the Y-12 and Pantex nuclear weapons plants received such a low score (57 out of 100) on its first report card.
Among the problems cited was the contractor's accidental shipment of too much weapons-grade uranium to a New York lab last summer. The National Nuclear Security Administration said the mix-up, which violated federal transportation rules and resulted in fines against CNS, was a prime example of the contractor's operational flaws.
The Y-12 incident "highlighted the overall lack of success" the contractor had experienced in trying to improve conduct of operations, according to the report.
PDF for Fiscal Year 2015 Performance Report for Consolidated Nuclear Security.
"A shipment from Y-12 to an off-site laboratory exemplifies this culture and performance problem," the NNSA review stated.
"Areas of concern include supervisory engagement and control, procedural compliance, manual manipulation of data, lack of questioning attitude, and confidence in material control and accountability."
Other areas also drew tough criticism, ranging from leadership issues to late deliveries and other problems with the contractor's management of the nuclear weapons mission at the two plants.
CNS, however, says it had made numerous improvements over the past five months and worked to address the government's concerns.
In a statement, the contractor emphasized the ratings period included an "unprecedented transition" of two NNSA sites.
As part of contractor reform efforts, the National Nuclear Security Administration combined the management of two nuclear weapons plants 1,000 miles apart in different states in order to increase efficiency and save taxpayer dollars.
CNS said the contractor, which took over management of Y-12 and Pantex on July 1, 2014, encountered "several unexpected challenges as we sought to implement the requirements of the new contract."
"We carefully considered feedback in the NNSA's evaluation and sought to maximize our understanding of their view of our performance," the Bechtel-led contractor team said in a statement.
In the five months since receiving its performance score, CNS said it had realigned the contractor's organization to better align with federal overseers in the NNSA's Production Office.
The contractor cited improvements in conduct of operations at the high-security nuclear facilities and other changes.
"These changes have already paid dividends in enhancing our performance in support of our mission to safely and securely help maintain the nation's nuclear deterrent," CNS stated.
The National Nuclear Security Administration completed its evaluation report in mid-November 2015, but did not release it publicly until last week. Various organizations, including the News Sentinel, submitted formal requests for the 45-page report via the Freedom of Information Act.
While the detailed report on the contractor's performance wasn't available until recently, a letter that included the performance score (57 out of 100) and total fee ($42.6 million out of a maximum possible $51.2 million) was circulated in December.
The fee appeared to be high considering the low score, but that was because the contractor received a fixed fee for its first 12 months on the job. That included the final three months of fiscal year 2014 (July-September) and the first nine months of fiscal year 2015 (October-June).
Only in the final three months of fiscal year 2015 was the fee award based on performance, and that includes the incident last July in which the Y-12 contractor shipped 1,000 grams of highly enriched uranium 10 times the correct amount to a commercial lab. CNS was fined $33,600 by the U.S. Department of Transportation, according to records received by the News Sentinel under the Freedom of Information Act.
The performance report indicated some problems in achieving goals related to dismantlement of nuclear weapons, although it appeared Y-12 succeeded in meeting more than 100 percent of its goal for dismantling secondaries the second stage of nuclear warheads, a specialty of the Oak Ridge plant.
CNS drew praise for some activities that took advantage of the two-plant management contract. The report indicated the contractor loaned some of Y-12's engineering resources to Pantex to help complete an important project.
The contract also received praise for Y-12's development work on the B61-12 bomb, a refurbished weapon system that consolidated aspects of earlier versions of the bomb.
"CNS at Y-12 was able to re-establish key B61 processes, unused in over a decade, to support early development hardware deliverables," the report stated.
The small sign, "Lesser Civil Magistrate," on the door of the chief of staff to Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank has caused a courthouse uproar and prompted county commissioners to approve a motion removing signs from doors. (BOB FOWLER/NEWS SENTINEL)
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By Bob Fowler of the Knoxville News Sentinel
CLINTON A tiny sign affixed to the office door of County Mayor Terry Frank's chief of staff has sparked a big uproar in the latest bizarre twist in Anderson County politics.
The sign, "Lesser Civil Magistrate," on Richard Burroughs' door is linked to the sovereign citizens movement, County Commissioner Steve Mead contends. Mead says the FBI lists that subculture as a "domestic terrorist group."
The sign means Burroughs "advocates overthrow/obstruction of the existing government because it is illegal/unjust/immoral," Mead wrote in an email to his fellow commissioners Monday before the County Commission meeting. "His (Burroughs') position on this is well known and exhibited almost daily, but his having it posted in the courthouse hallway is at least questionable."
Adherents of the sovereign citizens movement subscribe to a variety of conspiracy theories, most of which deny the authority of the U.S. government and often state and local governments as well as illegal and illegitimate. Believers thus see themselves as exempt from most laws and not subject to taxes, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist groups.
"I don't believe having that posted on his door in the courthouse hallway is proper and that it clearly exhibits the adversarial relationship he and the mayor (who allows this posting) have with the entire county government," Mead's email states.
The size of the sign doesn't matter, he wrote.
"It's not very big," Mead said of the sign, "but it has a big meaning."
After a closed-door, executive session with the county law director Monday night, commissioners passed a motion that any signs on the outside of courthouse doors that open onto hallways other than those required by the Americans with Disabilities Act or designating an office are to be removed.
Burroughs, meanwhile, is declining to comment and has referred questions to his attorney, Hugh B. Ward Jr.
"We have been directed to review any and all legal options that private citizen Mr. Burroughs may have regarding this incident and certain members of the Anderson County Commission," Ward wrote in an email.
The sign remained posted Wednesday, just below Burroughs' business card, tacked to his office door.
Frank lambasted Mead's email.
"Calling Richard a domestic terrorist is ridiculous and if not so seriously slanderous, it would be humorous," the mayor wrote in an email.
She called Burroughs "a law-abiding citizen" with a high security clearance, "and certainly Mr. Mead has no insight into what Richard thinks or believes."
"How unhinged do you have to be to call my chief of staff a domestic terrorist?" Frank asked. "People like me who work to right wrongs are making these good ole boys nervous. Well, I'm not backing down."
Mead says it's Frank's job to tell Burroughs to take the sign down but that the County Commission ultimately has control over the courthouse. Burroughs is going to be required to take down the questionable sign and his business card, Mead said.
Conservatives often complain about the U.S. Congress passing laws then letting executive branch bureaucrats promulgate rules, design enforcement and set fees. So the actual effect of new laws is to allow unelected bureaucrats regulate the lives of citizens and businesses. So it shouldn't be surprising that the Republican supermajority in our state Legislature has decided to not follow Washington's lead.
During the long years of Democratic rule, the Government Operations committees in the Legislature were boring exercises in routine housekeeping legislation. They were often stacked with some of the party's less than stellar members, because you have to put them somewhere, and they rubber-stamped whatever the leadership wanted.
"Government Ops" under Republican rule has morphed into a very powerful operation, rivaling even the Rules Committee or Finance. The power to regulate state bureaucrats has always been there; it's just not been exercised until now.
There has been a major revolution in the operation of state government that has occurred while everyone has been preoccupied with Bible bills, bathroom bills and other idiocy. State bureaucrats are no longer free to impose draconian regulations, increase fees or make rule changes without first getting a sign-off from the Legislature.
The House committee on Government Ops is led by state Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Newport. Faison is a rising star in the House, and he has had his committee reviewing with a view to eliminating or keeping 182 boards and commissions. He has also led the effort to get control of unelected bureaucrats imposing regulations at will. He is working in tandem with state Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville. New rules and regulations must now come to their committees for approval before they can be implemented. It turns the usual practice on its head. This has been met with horror by special interest groups that benefit from the status quo.
One of the first bills to require legislative oversight of state regulations was sponsored by state Rep. Martin Daniel, R-Knoxville, along with Bell. Daniel has been trying to prevent state government regulations blocking poor people from making a living. One example: An unskilled inner-city single mother can't get a job braiding hair or operating a shampoo stall in a salon without hours of training and fees that put an entry-level job out of reach. (For more on this, see the oped piece by Glenn Jacobs, aka Kane, in last Sunday's Perspective section.)
A subtext in all this is that over the years of Democratic rule the executive branch senior-level bureaucrats were all Democrats, of course. Even under Republican governors, the Democrats still ran the bureaucracy from the deputy commissioners on down. When the Republicans were a pitiful minority, members who raised questions in committee were often treated with contempt by bureaucrats. Times have changed.
Tax cuts, eliminating regulations, promoting business development. The next time members of the Krazy Kaucus come up with stupid, unnecessary bills, which rightly deserve ridicule, remember that most of the members, like Faison and Bell, are passing meaningful legislation that helps people.
The Obama administration sparked a firestorm on Friday by sending guidance to school systems and higher education institutions across the country on how to accommodate transgender students. Impassioned advocates weighed in from all points of the political compass.
Americans collectively need to take a deep breath, tone down the rhetoric and discuss the ramifications in a civil manner befitting our democracy. Parents expressing sincere concerns about how the guidelines might affect their children are not bigots. Transgender students are not looking to prey on their peers; they just want to be treated like other students.
The guidance from the Departments of Justice and Education does not mandate any action. Instead, it simply explains to school systems that the agencies interpret Title IX, which bans sex discrimination at schools that accept federal funds, to cover transgender students. The document also serves as a reminder that the penalty for violating Title IX is the loss of federal funding a part of Title IX enforcement since its passage in 1972.
The federal agencies sent the guidance after the Justice Department and the state of North Carolina filed lawsuits against one another over the Tar Heel State's new law that, among other things, makes it illegal to use a bathroom not designated for the gender listed on a person's birth certificate.
The guidance states that schools must allow transgender students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. They cannot compel transgender students to use private restrooms, such as those in teachers' lounges, though they can offer more private accommodations to any student transgender or not. They also sent a compilation of best practices of school systems that have passed federal muster.
The courts already are sorting through the issue. A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last month that a Virginia school system had to allow a 16-year-old transgender male student the use of the boys' room at his school. The panel also affirmed the deference courts give to federal agencies interpreting the regulations they enforce.
A majority of Tennessee lawmakers have called on Attorney General Herbert Slatery III to join North Carolina in its battle with the federal government. That would be an overreaction. If anything, the state should do no more than file amicus briefs in the existing lawsuits. Such "friend of the court" briefs outline a state's position without incurring the considerable costs of a lawsuit that could go to the U.S. Supreme Court. Brandon D. Harper wrote in the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law that his analysis shows the Supreme Court places great weight on amicus briefs filed by states, especially in cases involving federalism.
While the courts resolve the legal questions, school systems would be wise to make plans for accommodating transgender students should the need arise. They also should communicate with parents to address concerns to the extent allowed by federal privacy laws. Common sense, compassion and respect would constitute a positive lesson to teach all Tennessee children.
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The media and the Obama administration have ignored the experts in the transgender debate. They listen only to the most powerful lobby in the Democratic Party, the LGBT lobby.
Transgender expert Dr. Paul McHugh, the former psychiatrist-in-chief for Johns Hopkins Hospital, said, "Transgenderism is a mental disorder that merits treatment, and sex change is biologically impossible." McHugh reported that the suicide rate among transgendered people who had gender-reassignment surgery is 20 times higher than the suicide rate among non-transgendered people. McHugh said people who encourage gender-reassignment surgery are promoting a mental disorder. A sex change is biologically impossible because having XX or XY chromosomes in every cell of one's body is a biological fact that can't be changed.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch said that states can't "insist" a man is a man and a woman is a woman if a person feels otherwise. This is an issue for states to decide. I don't like the bullying tactics used by the Obama administration on the transgender issue and the way he is forcing the issue onto children who don't need to be involved in this adult debate. McHugh said studies show good news for children. McHugh said studies from Vanderbilt University and London's Poutman Clinic of Children found that of children who had expressed transgender feelings, over time 70 to 80 percent spontaneously lost those feelings. When anorexics say that they're fat when they're objectively not, they're called mentally ill and are given needed therapy. Transgenders say they're male or female when they're objectively not, are called a protected class by President Barack Obama, and those disagreeing are given therapy. The Alliance Defending Freedom, www.adflegal.org, said no law requires public schools to have gender-neutral restrooms, and federal law authorizes schools to have single-sex restrooms and locker rooms.
D.D. Nave, Elizabethton, Tenn.
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A tourist takes pictures while visiting a Turkish city. The Turkish tourism sector is eager to host Chinese tourists and aims to attract over 1 million Chinese this year. Photo provided to China Daily
Turkey's beleaguered tourism sector aims to attract over 1 million Chinese this year to compensate for the dwindling foreign arrivals from Europe and Russia, tourism professionals say.
"Turkey should urgently expand its target market to China as the country faces one of its worst years when it comes to tourism," says Cetin Gurcun, secretary general of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies.
Repeated terror attacks in Istanbul, Ankara and other Turkish cities amid a deteriorating security situation, coupled with poor relations with Russia, have brought down the number of foreign travelers and revenues to an extent that is being felt by all in the industry.
Serdar Ibis, member of the board of the travel company Dorak Tour, which focuses on Asian tourists, says: "Turkey should target at least 1 million Chinese tourists this year."
Turkey's tourism professionals say that it is possible to meet the 1 million Chinese target as the country's unique cultural tourism, which combines the modern with the ancient, appeals to Chinese visitors.
"Turkey has everything that a Chinese tourist would like. It is home to many civilizationsSeljuk, Hittite, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman," says Ibis.
Gurcun also says that TURSAB, or the association of Turkey's travel agencies, is determined to provide all the support needed to tourism agencies to attract more Chinese visitors in the short term.
The number of Chinese visiting Turkey in 2015 was 314,000, according to TURSAB data.
In the first quarter of 2016, Turkey saw a drop of 17 percent in foreign arrivals.
Turkey's Mediterranean resort of Antalya, a big draw for Russians, saw their arrivals fall by 90 percent in the first three months of this year.
Moscow imposed punitive measures, including a travel ban on Ankara, soon after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane in November last year, a move that has had a major impact as Russians used to constitute Turkey's second largest source of tourists after Germany.
The bombings that have hit Turkey this year and claimed more than 80 lives, among them 12 German tourists in Istanbul, have also hit tourism.
Meanwhile, the threat of more attacks has prompted a wave of cancellations.
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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and discussed bilateral cooperation on Monday.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang(R) meets with French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault in Beijing, capital of China, May 16, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]
Li said the Chinese government attaches great importance to relations with France and is ready to expand bilateral nuclear energy cooperation, increase two-way investment, jointly explore markets in third countries, and strengthen communication and coordination on regional and international affairs.
Li also briefed Ayrault on China's economic and financial situation as requested. He said China has seen stable economic and financial performance this year, with good momentum in structural adjustment and transformation, as well as controllable debt levels.
He said China's development is still facing multiple difficulties and challenges as the world economy experiences a sluggish recovery. However, China is capable, through comprehensive reform and opening up, of keeping economic performance within a reasonable range, maintaining sound economic fundamentals, preventing systemic financial risks and maintaining financial stability.
Ayrault expressed optimism about China's economic development prospects and confidence about future development of France-China relations and cooperation.
He said France is willing to strengthen high-level, people-to-people and cultural exchanges with China and promote cooperation in areas including nuclear energy and electricity.
An employee of Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) passes by the shipper's main office in downtown Seoul, Wednesday. HMM failed to reach a deal with foreign containership owners to cut their charter fees. / Yonhap
By Kim Jae-won
Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) failed to reach a deal with four key containership owners that troubled shipper chartered vessels from over cutting their fees, raising the possibility that the company will be put under court receivership, creditors said Wednesday.
The Korea Development Bank (KDB), which leads a group of creditors of HMM, said that it is seriously considering receivership as Navios Maritime, Danaos Corp., Container Carriers Corp. (CCC) and Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) refused to reduce their fees for the debt-ridden shipper.
Navios, Danaos and CCC are from Greece while EPS is a Singapore-based firm. Representatives of KDB, HMM and the ship owners had a meeting in downtown Seoul. A vice president of KDB took part in the meeting.
"The negotiations are over now. We have no options but to file for court receivership if the ship owners do not cut their fees," said Park Chan-ho, a KDB spokesman. "We will resume the talks only when we think we really need it."
Creditors asked the ship owners to cut the fees by 30 percent, arguing this was crucial to keep the cash-strapped company afloat.
"We believe that the ship owners should cut the fees by 30 percent for creditor banks to proceed with debt restructuring of the shipper," said a director at KDB, asking not to be named.
Instead, HMM made a proposal to the ship owners that half of the lowered charter rates would be compensated for through a stock swap.
The Financial Services Commission said that HMM is paying charter fees four to five times higher than current market rates due to contracts signed a few years ago when demand was high. Charter fees have fallen more than 25 percent from the end of last year, further hurting the bottom lines of shipping companies.
HMM has been struggling with falling freight rates amid a protracted slump in the world economy. HMM and Hanjin Shipping, Korea's two largest container carriers, posted massive losses in the first quarter.
Hanjin, the bigger shipper by revenue, had a net loss of 261 billion won ($221 million) in the first quarter. Its revenue plunged 25.1 percent year-on-year to 1.59 trillion won, and it suffered an operating loss of 115.7 billion won.
HMM also recorded a net loss of 276.1 billion won during the January-to-March period, with sales declining 18 percent to 1.2 trillion won. The company also suffered an operating loss of 163 billion won.
Financially-ailing Hyundai Merchant Marine and the owners of ships that it leases are set to be in final talks here over a cut in charter rates, as creditors of the country's No. 2 shipper increasingly threaten to put it under court receivership without "meaningful" results from the negotiations, industry sources said Wednesday.
Hyundai Merchant and high-ranking officials from five major shipowners will discuss the charter rate cut in downtown Seoul later in the day, which is crucial to the South Korean shipper's fate.
Since February, Hyundai Merchant has been in talks with shipowners to cut the rates.
Last month, the creditors gave the nod to the financially troubled Hyundai Merchant's self-rescue plans, including asset sales, on the condition that it should complete renegotiations with the owners of chartered ships to lower their charter rates by 28 percent on average by the middle of May to stay afloat and implement far stronger self-rehabilitation measures.
Hyundai Merchant reportedly made a proposal to the shipowners that half of the lowered charter rates will be compensated through a swap with the shipper's stocks.
"It is unclear if we will strike a deal today, and we still have an even chance," said a company official.
Financial authorities and the government believe that Hyundai Merchant and its bigger local rival Hanjin Shipping are under contract to pay charter fees four to five times higher than the current rates by 2026.
In the shipping industry, freight charges have dropped more than 25 percent from the end of last year, further hurting the bottom line of shipping lines.
Hyundai Merchant and other smaller shippers have been struggling with falling freight rates amid a protracted slump in the world's economy.
South Korea's two largest container carriers posted massive losses in the first quarter, hard hit by plummeting freight rates.
Hanjin, the bigger shipper by revenue, swung to a net loss of 261 billion won ($221 million) on a consolidated basis in the first three months of this year from a year earlier.
Its revenue fell 25.1 percent on-year to 1.59 trillion won, and it suffered an operating loss of 115.7 billion won.
Hyundai Merchant also recorded 276.1 billion won in net loss during the January-March period, with sales declining 18 percent to 1.2 trillion won. The company also suffered an operating loss of 163 billion won. (Yonhap)
Workers at the troubled Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering are crying foul over heightened pressure from the government and its creditors to further cut jobs and sell more assets, industry sources said Wednesday.
Daewoo Shipbuilding has been implementing large-scale self-restructuring measures since last year, including layoffs of 2,300 workers and asset sales, in return for financial assistance from its creditors led by state-run Korea Development Bank.
But its creditors and the financial authorities are pressing the shipbuilder to draw up a set of additional schemes by the end of the month to stay afloat.
The additional self-rescue plans may include a further cut in the number of executives and workers in its business divisions and a temporary shutdown of its shipbuilding docks.
"We make it clear that the government-led restructuring move should be stopped... we will fight against any moves to sacrifice our members," said the labor union at the shipbuilder.
Workers at other local shipyards such as Hyundai Heavy Industries are also voicing opposition against massive layoff plans as the financial health of their companies are not bad compared to Daewoo Shipbuilding.
Hyundai Heavy is moving to cut 10 percent of its workforce and sell non-core assets, and Samsung Heavy Industries is set to submit its self-rescue plan to its creditors this week.
The country's top three shipyards suffered a combined operating loss of 8.5 trillion won ($7.21 billion) last year, due largely to increased costs stemming from a delay in the construction of offshore facilities and an industrywide slump.
But a huge chunk of the loss, some 5.5 trillion won, came from Daewoo Shipbuilding.
Also, Hyundai Heavy and Samsung Heavy swung to an operating income during the first quarter of the year, while Daewoo Shipbuilding suffered an operating loss of 26.3 billion won. (Yonhap)
Hyundai Motor, South Korea's top automaker, said Wednesday that its luxury brand Genesis will launch the G80 next month, ushering in a new era for its G series.
Last November, the carmaker turned Genesis into a separate brand that does not carry the Hyundai emblem to better compete with Mercedes and other foreign rivals on the global stage.
Hyundai is set to unveil the G80, which will be renamed from the Genesis DH, at an international motor show to be held in South Korea's second-largest city of Busan next month.
The G80 appears to be equipped with a highway driving assist system designed to help autonomous driving on highways, a technology that is currently adopted by Hyundai's EQ900 flagship sedan.
The carmaker said it expects the upcoming launch of the G80 could help enhance people's awareness of Genesis and boost its sales.
Hyundai Motor unveiled the EQ900, the top-of-the-line model under the brand, late last year in Korea. It will be sold in overseas markets as the G90, which was showcased at a motor show in the United States in January.
Hyundai has so far sold 11,700 units of the EQ900. (Yonhap)
By Nam Hyun-woo
John Coustas
Danaos CEO
Ship owners who have leased their ships to Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) are drawing attention amid ongoing discussions about cutting their the charter fees for the vessels, a key task for the debt-riddled liner's efforts to restructure its debt.
On Wednesday, two days before the creditor-set deadline for the negotiations, a meeting took place between HMM, its creditors and five ship owners in Seoul.
Since February, HMM has been negotiating with 22 ship owners including those from Danaos Corporation, Zodiac Maritime, Navios Maritime Partners, Container Carriers Corporation and Eastern Pacific Shipping -- to get a cut in the charter rates, for which HMM paid some 1.87 trillion won last year.
Among the ship leasing companies, Greek giant Danaos is said to have the loudest say in the matter.
According to Danaos, it charters 13 container ships to HMM, which are the most for both of them. They include five 2012-built, 13,100 TEU vessels, three 1998-built 2,200 TEU vessels and five 1997-built 2,200 TEU vessels. TEU refers to twenty-foot equivalent unit which is the volume of a 6.1 meter modular container.
Danaos has 59 container vessels ranging from 2,200 TEU to 13,100 TEU.
According to its financial report, Danaos posted total operating revenues of $567.9 million in 2015. Among them, payments from HMM accounted for 28 percent of its revenue, followed by France's CMA CGM with 26 percent and HMM's Korean peer Hanjin Shipping with 17 percent. HMM's payment to Danaos is expected to reach some $159 million.
Danaos was established by the late Dimitris Coustas in 1972 and saw an immense growth after Coustas' son John took the helm of the company in 1987. After being listed on the New York stock exchange in 2006, the company grew to be one of the giants in the shipping world.
"Several companies, including HMM and Hanjin Shipping, two of our largest customers, have publicly announced their intentions to restructure their balance sheets and seek concessions from charter owners in efforts to reduce their operating costs," said John Coustas in Danaos' annual report. "These events are still unfolding and have not come to any resolution and we cannot speculate now how they will conclude. We are focused on approaching these discussions with the goal of maintaining the value of our charter contracts."
London-based Zodiac Maritime has the second largest number of ships chartered by HMM. They include two 6,300 TEU vessels and two 8,500 TEU vessels the charters of which will expire beginning in 2019 to 2021. Also, there are six 10,000 TEU container ships built or being built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering that will be operational this year. One was delivered in January and the others are set to be delivered beginning in July.
Incorporated in 1976, Zodiac is chaired by Eyal Ofer, a Monaco-based Israeli real estate and shipping mogul. The company has 39 container vessels in its fleet of well over 130 various vessels.
Navios Maritime Partners is another Greek ship owner which has leased five 6,800 TEU container vessels to HMM with charters expiring in 2023. Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping also chartered five vessels to HMM.
By Bahk Eun-ji
Police will question comedian Yoo Sang-moo over the alleged rape of his girlfriend, reports said Wednesday.
The woman, whose identity was withheld, told police the comedian raped her at 3 a.m. Wednesday, at a motel in Gangnam, Seoul. The woman called police five hours later to withdraw her statement, but a public defender was assigned to her.
Police said the two were drunk and Yoo denied the allegation at the scene, saying his girlfriend refused to have sex.
Koen Stars, Yoo's agency, said: "Yoo's girlfriend reported it to police as a joke while they were drunk."
But police said they had to examine the case once it was reported.
A Seoul court ordered local media outlets to compensate a North Korean defector for filing reports claiming he was a spy even though the court acquitted him of espionage charges.
The Seoul Central District Court ordered the Donga Ilbo, one of the country's largest dailies, to give 10 million won (US$8,500) to Yoo Woo-seong and issue a correction report. The Digital Chosun Ilbo, an affiliate of the leading South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo, was also ordered to pay 7 million won to Yoo and file a correction report.
Still, the court said two other local dailies do not have to compensate the plaintiff.
Yoo was indicted in February 2013 over allegations that he collected detailed information on defectors in the South while working in the Seoul city government and relayed the information to the North in breach of the country's National Security Law. The law prohibits South Koreans from engaging in activities benefiting the North.
Yoo said he filed the suit because he was hurt by news reports that continued even after the court found him not guilty. In October, the Supreme Court confirmed the lower court's ruling.
The nation's top court, however, convicted Yoo of other charges including fraud and passport law violations and sentenced him to a year in prison, suspended for two years.
Under South Korean law, Yoo, who held Chinese citizenship while living in North Korea, cannot be acknowledged as a North Korean.
After a Seoul district court acquitted Yoo in August 2013, prosecutors appealed the ruling and submitted Chinese immigration records regarding Yoo's visit to the North. This information was later found out to have been fabricated by the country's spy agency. (Yonhap)
The eldest son of ex-President Chun Doo-hwan was ordered to pay some 2.4 billion won ($2 million) to the South Korean government, part of the money his father was ordered to return to state coffers, legal sources said Wednesday.
The former chief executive, who seized power in a military coup in 1979, was ordered by the Supreme Court in 1997 to return to state coffers 220.5 billion won he had accumulated illegally while in office from 1981 to 1988.
He had refused to make most of the payment, claiming he was almost penniless.
Prosecutors had filed a suit in November to collect part of the fines from Chun Jae-kook's company.
Based on the two sides' agreement, the Seoul Central District Court ordered the company to pay 2.46 billion won in the next seven years. The younger Chun owns nearly 40 percent of the firm's shares.
According to the ruling, he has to pay some 360 million won every year until 2022. If he fails to meet the date of payment, 5 to 15 percent of interest will be added, according to the sources.
Earlier in January, the court also ordered local publisher Sigongsa Co., owned by the son, to pay 5.49 billion won over the next six years.
As of April, the family still has not paid about 100 billion won, about half of the original amount levied. (Yonhap)
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Italian Senate Speaker Pietro Grasso said here on Tuesday that Italy attaches great importance to the Sino-Italian ties, and is ready to promote bilateral exchanges and cooperation.
Grasso's words came when he met with He Ping, editor-in-chief of China's Xinhua News Agency.
The Italian top lawmaker said that China, with ancient civilization, has registered remarkable achievement in the recent decades and made planning for future development. It has proved the effective governance capability of the Chinese leadership.
Grasso believed that the Italy-China comprehensive strategic partnership will see further development.
On his part, He said that as China's state news agency and a global news and information network, Xinhua has laid stress on the reports about the Sino-Italian relations.
Xinhua is willing to serve as bridge to enhance the understanding and friendship between the people of the two countries, He said.
The editor-in-chief has met with Giuseppe Cerbone, CEO and general manager of Italy's ANSA news agency. The two sides signed a cooperation agreement.
He has also visited the AGI news agency, Italy's newspaper Corriere della Sera, and Class Editori.
He also met with Ertharin Cousin, the executive director of the World Food Programme, on Tuesday afternoon. They exchanged views about how to intensify the cooperation between the two sides.
/Courtesy of Twitter
By Lee Han-soo
Seoul Metro and Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corp. will sign contracts with companies and colleges for subway station naming rights.
The contracts, which will be signed this month, will take effect at year's end.
The move will add "Hyundai Department Store" to the name of Apgujeong Station on line No.3, "Industrial Bank of Korea" to Euljiro 1-ga Station on line No.2 and "Shingu University" to Dandaeogeori Station on line No.8.
Myeongdong Station on line No.4 will add "Jeongwha Arts College" to its name, while Seodaemun Station on line No.5 will add "Kangbuk Samsung Hospital" and Bangbae Station on line No.2 "Baekseok University."
The Seoul Metropolitan Government released the notice of sale and base prices for the subway station names. The Seodaemun Station naming was the least expensive at 180 million won ($152,000) while Euljiro 1-ga Station was most expensive at 340 million won.
Express Bus Terminal Station on lines No.3 and 7, Chungmuro Station on lines No.3 and 4, and Yeoksam Station on line No.2 are still up for bids.
By Kim Bo-eun
The government's decision to gradually abolish alternatives to serving mandatory military service has triggered a backlash from science and engineering institutions and students majoring in those fields.
All able-bodied Korean men are required to complete two years of military service, but the current system allows some conscripts to substitute their duties in various ways including serving as researchers, policemen, firemen or medical practitioners in public health. About 28,000 serve in such alternative fields every year.
Students undertaking doctoral programs in the sciences and engineering are acknowledged to have completed their military duties if they continue their studies at designated colleges or institutions for three years. They constitute 1,000 of 2,500 of conscripts substituting their duty by serving as researchers.
The Defense Ministry said Tuesday that it will halt the alternative service for doctoral students as early as 2019, as part of its countermeasures against decreasing military manpower due to Korea's fallen birth rate.
After the announcement, an association of universities concentrating in science and technology issued a statement strongly denouncing the move.
"The association, which represents 5 million people in the field of science and technology, expresses concern over the ministry's decision to abolish the system and strongly opposes the move," it said.
The association said the system had enabled master's and doctoral students to continue their studies and thus contribute to the nation's scientific development.
"The system has aided Korea in attaining global competitiveness in science and technology," the association said, adding that abolishing it would limit progress.
Student bodies of science and engineering institutions across the nation also plan to deliver their concerns about the issue at the National Assembly, Thursday, according to Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), the top science university in the nation.
These include Gwangju, Daegu Gyeongguk and Ulsan National institutes of science and technology.
"Abolishing the system in order to strengthen the nation's defense capabilities is a mistaken plan, which overlooks the fact that it would weaken the competitiveness in science and technology," a member of KAIST's student body said.
"Undergraduate as well as graduate-level institutions, in cooperation with lawmakers, will prepare various counter-plans."
He said they plan to collect signatures of people against the plan.
The Ministry of Education is also considering urging the defense ministry to reconsider the plan.
The defense ministry said it would abolish alternative mandatory service by 2023.
"The population of men aged 20 currently stands at 350,000, but will fall drastically to 250,000 in 2020," the ministry said. "This means there will be a manpower shortage of 20,000 to 30,000 every year."
The defense ministry said it will gradually reduce the number of alternative service conscripts beginning in 2020 and stop the program altogether in 2023.
By Kim Se-jeong
A group of experts of environmental health and toxicology has called for the government to support for victims of harmful humidifier disinfectants, and introduce tighter chemical regulation to prevent a similar catastrophe from happening again.
Issuing a statement after a forum at the National Assembly, Wednesday, members of the Korean Society of Environmental Health and Toxicology and the Korean Society of Environmental Health made seven proposals, including the establishment of a toxic substance control center.
"The center will help improve the management of chemicals," they said in the statement.
The statement said Korea needs a separate law on biocides and chemicals for registration, approval and monitoring.
They also pressured lawmakers to move faster to address the victims' needs.
Professor Hong Soo-jong from the Asan Medical Center, who has examined people who have applied for government recognition as victims, said they have a variety of symptoms while the government has recognized only lung disease so far.
The scholars called for the government to swiftly recognize other victims.
The nation's worst biocide incident killed at least 146, and left hundreds with lung and other diseases, and concerns are growing about other chemicals used in household products.
Last week, the Ministry of Environment said it will inspect all biocide products on the market. This week, it announced a ban on seven products for failing to comply with related regulations.
As fears over biocides grow, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education instructed all schools in its jurisdiction to inspect all biocides used on school campuses. The office told them to minimize biocide and chemical use including cleaning detergent for school dishes, and algicide for swimming pools.
In the meantime, the prosecution summoned officials of Home plus, to question them on allegations that they knew the products they sold contained toxic chemicals.
Earlier, it questioned officials from Oxy Reckitt Benckiser Korea, which is blamed for 103 deaths with its product. Three officials of the company, including former CEO Shin Hyun-woo, were arrested. The company is planning a meeting with victims in Daejeon, Friday, to listen to their demands.
By Kang Seung-woo
Ethiopian Korean War veterans are seeking to create a square near the nation's capital to mark ties between Korea and Ethiopia and remember the sacrifices of Ethiopian soldiers during the war.
According to the Ethiopian Korean War Veterans Association (EKWVA), Tuesday (local time), it plans to establish the "Kagnew-Korea Square" in Gullele, Addis Ababa, laying turf and erecting a monument on a 144-square-meter site. Gullele is one of the 10 sub-districts of Addis Ababa.
Kagnew is the name of a battalion that participated in the Korean War in 1951 and stayed in South Korea until 1965.
"The square will lead people who pass the place to look back on the nation's history of participating in the war and think about the special relations between Korea and Ethiopia," said President Melesse Tessema of the EKWVA.
Ethiopia is the only African country that dispatched ground troops to Korea in the 1950-53 conflict. Out of its 6,037 soldiers, 122 were killed and 536 were wounded.
Given that soldiers of the Kagnew Battalion were trained in Gullele before joining the Korean War, the city's government approved the construction plan earlier this month.
However, the establishment of the square may fall through as it is facing financial problem.
Building the square is going to cost about 10 million won ($8,460), so the veterans association contacted some Korean companies operating in Ethiopia, but to no avail.
The Gullele city government, which hoped for a better environment behind the construction of the square, is poised to cancel its site approval should the construction not kick off this month.
The plan was unveiled a week ahead of President Park Geun-hye's visit to the country from May 25 to 28 as part of her trip to three African nations which also includes Uganda and Kenya. She will also travel to France.
While in Africa, President Park will attend ceremonies for the beginning of Korea Aid, a new official development assistance program that will operate in African nations.
Korea and Ethiopia established diplomatic ties in 1963.
By Jun Ji-hye
North Korea discharged water from a dam near the border earlier this week without notifying South Korea, officials said Wednesday.
The Ministry of Unification expressed regret over the discharge, saying the North ignored an inter-Korean agreement.
According to the Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water), water flowing from the North's Hwanggang Dam on the Imjin River to the South's Gunnam Dam drastically increased from the average of 96 tons a second to 428 tons from 7 p.m. Monday to 4 a.m. Tuesday.
The Imjin River flows out to South Korea's west coast.
Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, second from left in the front row, remains silent while other participants sing along "Imeul Wihan Haengjingok" (March for the Beloved), a song for the 1980 pro-democracy movement, during a memorial service for the victims at the May 18th National Cemetery in Gwangju, Wednesday.
/ Korea Times photos by Seo Jae-hoon
Minister barred from ceremony; PM refuses to sing memorial song
By Jun Ji-hye
Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Park Sung-choon was barred from taking part in a ceremony marking the 1980 pro-democracy movement in Gwangju, Wednesday, by the relatives of those killed by soldiers.
Angered by the ministry's decision not to designate a symbolic song as an official one for the annual ceremony, the families cursed Park and blocked him from entering the site. He eventually had to leave without attending.
Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn as well as the leaders of the ruling and opposition parties participated to pay their respect to the victims. President Park Geun-hye, once again, did not attend the ceremony. Cheong Wa Dae said the President had to meet with Iranian Environment Minister Masoumeh Ebtekar.
Minister Park had arrived at the May 18th National Cemetery in Gwangju with Hwang before the ceremony began at 10 a.m., but the families blocked him from taking his seat.
Some members of the bereaved families even swore at Park, others shouted, "You are not qualified to come here."
Residents also joined hands with the families, breaking into chants of "Out!"
Patriots and Veterans Affairs Minister Park Sung-choon, left, is blocked by relatives of citizens killed during the 1980 pro-democracy movement in Gwangju from accessing a commemorative ceremony held at the May 18th National Cemetery in the southwestern city, Wednesday. / Korea Times photos by Seo Jae-hoon
The protest came after the ministry, the organizer of the ceremony, announced Monday, that it would continue its program of inviting a choir to sing "Nimeul Wihan Haengjingok" (March for the Beloved) and allow those who wanted to, to join in with it
From 1997 until 2008, the uprising's signature song had been officially sung by all attendees of the national ceremony every year to cherish the memory of those killed by the military in 1980.
But in 2009, the President Lee Myung-bak administration decided to have a choir perform the song instead.
The bereaved families believe that the ministry once again sided with the ultra-rightist view that the song was sung by North Korean sympathizers and that the "beloved" in the lyrics of the song refers to North Korea founder Kim Il-sung.
They say the stance and decision of the conservative administrations of Presidents Lee and Park have damaged the spirit of the democratic uprising.
One family member told reporters: "Thirty-six years have elapsed, but the government still doesn't want attendees to sing this song in unison. We should not let Minister Park in."
When the protest song was sung by the choir, the bereaved family members and officials from the rival parties stood up and sang along.
Prime Minister Hwang stood up with them, but did not sing.
After his forced exit from the event, Minister Park told reporters: "Whether all attendees should sing in unison cannot be judged individually. There are the various people who agree and disagree with it. A common consensus among the public is necessary."
Park, however, indicated his intention not to reverse his decision, saying, "Veterans' groups were strongly against singing along. It was hard for the veterans affairs ministry to accept a song disapproved of by those groups."
But the political parties said the spirit of the democracy movement should contribute to national unity, claiming that it was the ministry's decision that caused division.
Rep. Chung Jin-suk, floor leader of the ruling Saenuri Party, held the Korean flag and sang along with the choir.
''We hope that the democracy movement can lead to a spirit of forgiveness, harmony and unity of the people,'' he said.
For his part, Rep. Park Jie-won, floor leader of the minority opposition People's Party, apologized to the public for failing to have the song designated as the official one for the event.
He added that the party will continue its efforts to have the song sung by all participants at the commemorative events and that it will also join hands with other parties to force Minister Park out of office.
On May 18, 1980, more than 200,000 Gwangju citizens rose up against then military junta leader Gen. Chun Doo-hwan.
The nine-day revolt was ruthlessly suppressed by tank-led paratroopers, who killed a large number of residents and leaving thousands of others wounded. For years after, the movement was falsely described as a communist insurrection by the government.
The day is commemorated by a state ceremony as the civil uprising is widely regarded as a milestone in the nation's turbulent evolution from dictatorship to democracy.
By Lee Kyung-min
The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries is under fire for publishing a guidebook containing content that is highly offensive about foreign crew members.
Titled "A guidebook for Korean fishermen to better understand their foreign counterparts," released Tuesday by the Korea Maritime Safety Tribunal under the ministry, the booklet described nationals from Indonesia, Vietnam, China, and the Philippines in degrading terms.
In a chapter dealing with traits and customs of people from the four countries, it said Chinese require extra scrutiny, because they usually fail to maintain a high level of personal hygiene.
"In general, their bedrooms tend to be unorganized and dirty, so constant monitoring of and education on hygiene is highly recommended," it read.
Furthermore, it said they are not proactive in doing work voluntarily.
"They, like most people from communist countries, lack the ability to decide which work requires more immediate attention, and care only about the assignments given to them," it states. "They like alcohol and gambling in general."
The book said that workers from the Philippines lack patience and tend to procrastinate.
"They lose interest in their work fast, and do not do what they were not told to do," it said. "They are proud, and reluctant to admit their mistakes. They rarely show empathy toward others, and have a lower standard of morals."
While Indonesians are naive in general, the book added, caution is still required because they are irascible and short-tempered.
Regarding Vietnamese, the guidebook said they often make excuses and refuse to admit their faults.
It said that in general, foreign laborers tend to have an inferiority complex, and the level of their work-related satisfaction and sense of responsibility fall short of Korean peers.
According to the ministry, the number of foreign sailors is rising steadily: from 10,005 in 2010 to 13,141 in 2014.
Such content in the guidebook is beyond biased, an official at the Korea Human Rights Policy Institute said.
"The descriptions are not only negative but also lack grounds to make such sweeping generalizations," he said. "They would definitely cause discriminatory views against foreign crewmen."
The booklet was initially available online for local employers, but the ministry took it down Wednesday shortly after the criticism emerged.
An official said the ministry is currently revising the passages in question, adding that the revised version will be distributed in three to four weeks.
"We recognize that the materials could cause diplomatic problems with the involved countries," the official said. "The new version will be available soon."
By Kim Hyo-jin
A group of ruling Saenuri Party lawmakers loyal to President Park Geun-hye urged floor leader Chung Jin-suk to step down, Wednesday, throwing the party into deeper turmoil with no signs of a truce between the loyalists and other factions.
Chung vowed an all-out struggle against the pro-Park group, saying it was resisting his reform plans in order to safeguard its own political interests.
Lawmakers not affiliated with the President harshly criticized the loyalists as well, arguing that Chung should be given more power to push through reform. One party official said the rival factions will not be able to "go together," indicating that the party could split if the feud deepens further.
With the internal conflict escalating, some lawmakers insisted that the national convention scheduled for August to elect a new party chairman be brought forward to July as a way to overcome the leadership crisis.
"Chung should apologize for causing the in-house feud and start afresh, or he should resign from the post," Rep. Kim Tae-heum, a Park follower, said during a radio interview.
The remark came a day after Park loyalists boycotted a party meeting, convened by Chung to get endorsement of his plan to launch emergency planning and reform committees.
These were expected to serve as the party's interim leadership until the party convention. But Chung's plan was dashed as the meeting failed to reach a quorum and was cancelled.
Pro-Park lawmakers criticized Chung's list of emergency committee members as biased against them and are also opposed to his appointment of Kim Yong-tae, a notable anti-Park Assemblyman, as head of the reform committee.
Kim stepped down following the boycott but Park followers pressured Chung further to make a new list of committee members, and limit the role of the interim leadership in preparation for the upcoming convention.
"The fundamental cause of the conflict is that Chung appointed inappropriate figures in the state of a party crisis," said Rep. Lee Jang-woo, a Park loyalist.
Lee insisted that the new leadership selected through the party convention take over Chung's role as soon as possible.
"Whatever committee is launched, it won't be able to do its job during such a short period of time," he said. "We should advance the date for the convention and during the run-up to the chairmanship race, the party will naturally shift to pursue reform while candidates lay out pledges and ideas."
Lawmakers not affiliated with Park struck back, saying the priority is to end the pro-Park faction's hegemony. They argued Chung should seek to reform the party while leading the emergency committee.
"What is truly dragging us down is pro-Park lawmakers' seeking their own interest," Rep. Kim Young-woo said. "I'm really worried about our party which doesn't seem to fear the public. We need to convey cohesiveness and cooperation by giving more power to Chung's leadership."
Meanwhile, Chung headed to his constituency, Gongju, saying he will take time there to consider countermeasures against the failed endorsement.
"It was an unimaginable thing for a ruling party," Chung told reporters, referring to the botched meeting. "It was such a big shock. I can't even fathom the meaning of their boycott."
Chung also demonstrated a widened chasm with Cheong Wa Dae.
Earlier that day, he encountered Hyun Ki-hwan, the senior presidential secretary for political affairs, on the train to Gwangju to attend a commemoration ceremony for the 1980 pro-democracy movement, but did not talk with him.
South Korean builders have signed a series of memorandums of understanding to build hospitals in Iran amid widening bilateral cooperation in the health care sector, the health ministry here said Wednesday.
Samsung C&T, Hyundai Engineering & Construction and four other companies signed seven MOUs with Iranian medical schools to build seven medical centers with a combined 6,000 beds in Tehran during a business fair held in the Iranian capital on Saturday and Sunday, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The ministry said the deals are expected to be worth $2 billion in total.
Although an MOU does not guarantee a final contract, the companies will be given priority in further negotiations, it added.
The MOUs came after a series of business deals signed earlier in the month during South Korean President Park Geun-hye's visit to the Islamic Republic.
In a summit with Park, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also expressed his hope to more than quadruple the countries' bilateral trade from $6.1 billion in 2015 to over $30 billion in five years. (Yonhap)
/Courtesy of the Ministry of Justice
By Lee Jin-a
Ten foreign residents will receive awards from the Seoul Metropolitan Government at a "Together Day" ceremony on Saturday to recognize their community contributions.
The city will hold the event at 2 p.m. at the Seoul Global Center in Jongno-gu, central Seoul, to celebrate the national anniversary of multiculturalism in Korea.
The recipients include Kim Yong-un, a Chinese man who has volunteered at the Garibong Patrol Division in Guro-gu, Seoul, since 2009, and Lee Jin-hee, a Vietnamese woman who voluntarily served in the Multicultural Family Support Center.
Michelle Morrison, a member of the Seoul International Women's Association, will get an award for helping expatriates settle in Korea.
After the ceremony, about 200 foreign residents will march along the Dulle-gil in Namsan, starting from the National Theater of Korea, to Baekbeom Square.
By Hannah Byun
North Korean defectors have become a global issue whether their lives in South Korea are stable or not. Whereas many countries in the world are interested in and concerned about the defectors and their lives, South Koreans, in fact, are indifferent or even biased toward them.
According to the Korea Hana Foundation's statistics about the living conditions of North Korean defectors in the South, 67.6 percent of them expressed their dissatisfaction with life here in 2014, and 41.9 percent of them felt discomfort due to prejudice and discrimination remaining in South Korea in many uncountable ways.
In South Korean society, many North Korean defectors are still within and without; although they live in the South after fleeing from the North, they are still isolated and treated as strangers in their new home.
Furthermore, South Koreans should be concerned about this disparate situation; they should make the effort to respect the defectors' distinctive culture and guarantee lifelong education for them. Awareness of the defectors' insecure lives not only retains the spirit of Koreans but also guides the Korean Peninsula to peaceful unification in the years to come.
I am interested in the lives of the North Korean defectors, and one of my major interests is the education of their children. The Korea Hana Foundation's statistics show that 67.8 percent of teenage defectors are satisfied with their education here.
Considering this level, I developed a profound interest in and passion for the education of North Korean defectors here.
When I participated in a conference on the education of North Korean defectors, I learned that the Settlement Support Center for North Korean Refugees, better known as Hanawon, helps defectors with educational adjustment and volunteer programs to tutor their children.
I participated in one of the volunteer programs and met one girl whose inquiring mind astonished me. It has been almost three years since I started tutoring her, and she is always diligent and responsible.
Through this valuable experience, I realized that lifelong education is definitely necessary for defectors, especially those who come here at a younger age. Many teen defectors are passionate to learn and adapt to South Korean culture. And the government and many organizations support them educationally, helping to fulfill their eagerness to learn.
Moreover, the right to lifelong education is defined by the Constitution of South Korea. Chapter 2 Article 31 of the Constitution stipulates that "all citizens shall have an equal right to receive an education corresponding to their abilities, and the state shall promote lifelong learning."
Moreover, education for the defectors not only ameliorates South Korean society but also harmonizes the Korean Peninsula by joining two different cultures.
Although many North Korean defectors still live within and without society due to the two cacophonic cultures, lifelong education for the defectors will result in peace and prosperity on the peninsula.
The two Koreas have very different cultures due to their contrastive political systems. North Korea is led by the Kim dynasty whereas South Korea promotes a democratic system. Since North Korean defectors are used to dictatorship which deprives people of their freedom, defectors have trouble compromising their ideas with South Koreans.
Furthermore, South Koreans also have a hard time understanding North Korean culture because they have not been exposed to it. Different customs separate the countries; thus, both Koreans should accept and respect their different traditions.
The church I attend welcomes North Korean defectors. Indeed, the minister also came from North Korea. Beginning a few years ago, I started teaching at the Sunday school of the church; most children are used to North Korean culture due to the influence of their parents.
At first, I certainly felt cultural differences. Their tough reactions and behaviors often perplexed me, so I spent much time finding ways to narrow the differences. At last, when I accepted their customs, I found more affinity than incompatibility. Thus, accepting and respecting their traditions is the only way to ease conflicts arising from cultural differences and for all of us to better understand each other.
If South Koreans are more concerned about North Korean defectors' lives and culture, we can better embrace them and help them become integrated members of our society. Caring for the defectors' traditions is certainly a first step toward Korean unification.
Hannah Byun is a junior at Centennial Christian School in South Korea. She is interested in many global issues such as the environment, economics, public affairs and gender equality. She is also awakened by issues about North Korean defectors.
South Korea on Wednesday expressed displeasure at North Korea for discharging water into the Imjin River that roughly follows the boundary of the two Koreas, demanding that Pyongyang not repeat such a "unilateral" action that could put South Korean people and their property in jeopardy.
Earlier, media reports said that the water level in the southern and lower areas of the river spiked for hours from late Monday, raising speculations that the North might have opened the floodgates of its upriver Hwanggang Dam.
"Given this is a grave matter that could threaten not just the property of our people but also their lives and safety, it should not happen ever again," Unification Ministry spokesperson Jeong Joon-hee said in a regular press briefing.
"South and North Korea held working-level talks on water damage protection in regards to the Imjin River in October 2009, under which both agreed to let the other know in advance of any water release," he added.
The official stopped short of elaborating on speculation that the water discharge from the North might be a form of attack against the South Korean people, saying that it is "hard to come up with a clear-cut answer" at this moment.
"That is something that requires more confirmation," he said. "We need to increase our efforts to urge the North not to engage in such unannounced water discharge."
Meanwhile, the spokesperson did not confirm a media report that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered "retaliatory" action against the South in connection with last month's defection of 13 North Korean people. Pyongyang suspects the South is behind the en masse defection.
He, however, said the likelihood is high that the North would take the step, given the current situation, and that it is for this reason that the foreign ministry and other relevant government agencies are asking South Koreans not to travel to regions near the Sino-North Korean border. (Yonhap)
By Yi Whan-woo
North Korea may switch to a charm offensive toward the United States after it reportedly made Ri Yong-ho, a career diplomat, its new foreign minister this week, analysts said Wednesday.
They speculated Ri will try to resume dialogue with the U.S. to seek a breakthrough in deadlocked relations, citing that he is familiar with American and South Korean diplomats as North Korea's former chief nuclear negotiator.
However, the Kim Jong-un regime could carry out its fifth nuclear test at anytime if its dialogue with the Barack Obama administration makes little progress, they said.
North Korea reportedly promoted Ri Yong-ho, who had been serving as vice foreign minister, to succeed Ri Su-yong, who became a member of the powerful Politburo of the ruling Workers' Party during its seventh congress.
North Korea has been ratcheting up peace overtures toward South Korea in recent weeks, but the latter has rejected such calls, doubting their sincerity.
"Chances are still slim for North Korea to open a dialogue with the U.S. but Ri Yong-ho's promotion to foreign minister means things could change," said An Chan-il, head of the World Institute for North Korea Studies in Seoul.
Former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Donald Gregg also remained optimistic.
"He is flexible and has a great sense of humor and wants better relations with the U.S," he said in an interview with the Voice of America (VOA). It said Gregg met Ri twice: in New York (2012) and in Pyongyang (2014).
Joel Wit, a senior fellow at Johns Hopkins University's U.S.-Korea Institute, assessed Ri Yong-ho as "a very capable person who knows the issues very well."
According to the VOA, Wit has known Ri Yong-ho for over 20 years after meeting him in the 1990s as the U.S Department of State's coordinator for the U.S.-North Korea weapons program and also as coordinator for the U.S.-North Korea Agreed Framework. This was established in 1994 aimed at freezing Pyongyang's nuclear development and replacing related facilities with light water reactors.
Park Young-ho, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, speculated Ri Yong-ho may try to talk with his American counterparts only if Pyongyang considers Washington's conditions for dialogue "acceptable."
Pyongyang's denuclearization has been Washington's precondition for talks. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un announced that his country is a nuclear state during the Workers' Party Congress.
"North Korea apparently wants the U.S. to recognize it as a nuclear power and treat it accordingly in their possible negotiations," Park said.
"It will pursue its own style of negotiations and we cannot rule out the possibility that North Korea will conduct its fifth nuclear test.
"I'd say it was coincidental, not intentional, for North Korea to appoint him as the new foreign minister given that someone had to fill in Ri Su-yong's post. And we should not be too optimistic about Ri Yong-ho's role."
The analysts said North Korea will ratchet up its peace offensive toward South Korea, although as part of a strategy to open dialogue with the U.S.
In a statement released by state-controlled Korean Central News Agency, Monday, North Korea said it is willing to jointly pursue a "grand unity of the Korean people" if South Korea agrees.
"North Korea has been putting priority on the U.S. over South Korea in its foreign relations and it will try to capitalize on inter-Korean ties as a bridge for the Pyongyang-Washington dialogue," An said.
By Kim Mi-kyoung
U.S. President Barack Obama is going to visit the city of Hiroshima on May 27. He will be the first incumbent American President who will visit Hiroshima. President Obama is expected to deliver anti-nuclear speech, a sequel version to his Prague remarks which helped him to land on the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.
The city of Hiroshima stands as living testimony to the modern tragedy that science and technology can lead to our own annihilation. The atomic energy can be converted into lethal weapon which can indiscriminately kill and maim. When considering the gap between the city's anti-nuclear pacifism and Japan's nuclear reality, it often feels as if Hiroshima is not an integral part of the Japanese nation. This is particular so since the arrival of the second Abe administration which has been forcefully pushing forward with Japan's rearmament and Constitutional amendment.
The massive death toll from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a major impetus behind Japan's unconditional surrender in 1945. The two bombs claimed about 700,000 lives, mostly civilians. What the city of Hiroshima witnessed and experienced, often described as "burning hell," was quickly forgotten in Japanese memory primarily due to the U.S. interim government's information control and post-war reconstruction boom. A sudden awakening happened with a Japanese fishing boat's radiation exposure to a hydrogen bomb within U.S. territory in 1954. Since that time, Hiroshima has become the authoritative symbol of anti-nuclear pacifism both in global as well as domestic terrains.
The city of Hiroshima has been wooing President Obama's visit since his inauguration as a Nobel laureate. "Obamajority" campaign combined U.S. President's name with visions of a global majority in favor of total abolition of nuclear weapons. This pitch, however, was causing discomfort among the national leaders in Japan, primarily because of the country's complicated security relations with the U.S.
The Abe administration has made it clear that Japan favors the U.S. nuclear umbrella as protection against its hypothetical enemies of China and North Korea. This stance will continue as the popular support for the current Abe leadership is not likely to dissipate anytime soon.
On other hand, the city of Hiroshima has capitalized on a different aspect of American politics. Obama's pledge to promote non-nuclear proliferation, enunciated in Prague in April 2009, was well received by the international community, and especially so here in Hiroshima. Indeed, nobody could disagree with the idea that a world free of nuclear stockpiles would be a far better place to live. When the city of Hiroshima seized on the idea, however, the perspective shifted, at least in domestic turf.
For the past 60 years, Japan has been under the U.S. security umbrella. The nuclear facilities housed on U.S. military bases in Japan are a powerful reminder of the binding bilateral security treaty. Interestingly, recent declassified documents indicate that the Japanese administration under Prime Minister Eisaku Sato, Abe's great uncle, asked U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara to use nuclear weapons against China in 1965 if a war breaks out between China and Japan. Sato ironically later won the Nobel Peace Prize for introducing Japan's three non-nuclear principles in 1974.
This stark contrast between Sato's public behavior and private desire displays the moral cacophony still rampant in Japan's politics. Sato's message revealed a sadistic sense of entitlements forged by its own victimhood with nuclear atrocity - namely, "you have done this to me, and you can do it again to our common enemy." The true pacifist spirit of "No More Hiroshima, No More War" was virtually absent in Sato's actions and that continues to pervade Japan's political paradigm. This persistent double standard is apparent in the "Obamajority" appeal of a nuclear-free world and Japan's dependence on the U.S. for nuclear protection.
With or without "Obamajority," Japan has the capacity to become a nuclear power. The amount of enriched plutonium processed at its nuclear power plants can be easily assembled into hundreds of warheads. Additionally, the private sector has an advanced level of nuclear dual technology which became most obvious with Abe's recent nuclear power plant sales pitch in the Middle East. These examples contradict the anti-nuclear Japan of Peace Constitution.
Hiroshima's tragedy lies with its divorce from the Japanese nuclear reality. Its anti-nuclear and anti-war advocacy would have a true sense of universal appeal when the city and the Japanese government take more proactive stance towards non-Japanese a-bomb victims including 70,000 Koreans. Without many and belated rectifying measures, piecing together Hiroshima's spirit, Obama's non-nuclear pledge, and a quasi-nuclear Japan can be a big challenge. The two stories of Japan and Hiroshima are a sure sign that the road to a nuclear-free world is going to be very bumpy. Across the shore, Trump is shouting out loud that Korea and Japan should arm themselves with nuclear weapons.
Obama is coming to the town of Hiroshima. Is he going to be a Santa Clause? Or is he going to be one of those politician preoccupied with leaving unrealizable legacies behind as his time is ending?
Kim Mi-kyoung is associate professor at Hiroshima City University-Hiroshima Peace Institute. She can be reached at mkkim_33@hotmail.com.
By Hedrick Smith
The political earthquake now shaking the pillars of the Republican Party throws into stark relief what is unique about campaign 2016 that the fault-line is not the typical polar clash of left vs. right, but a far more fundamental up-down cleavage between rank-and-file Americans and the power elite.
In both major parties, the primary campaign has unearthed a mass mutiny against the powers that be, reflecting a profound rift in American society with ramifications far beyond this year's election.
For a moment, think of this year's campaign as an MRI on America. Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are exposing what Arnold Toynbee, the great British historian, called "schisms in the soul" of society.
House Speaker Paul Ryan and establishment Republicans like Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush and his family seek to cast the battle for the soul of the Republican Party as an urgent rescue of true conservativism, the ideology of the right. The Democratic establishment fears that Sanders will drag their party too far left. But at its core, the power struggle in both parties is over control, over who will determine America's policy agenda the party establishment or a disenchanted and now rebellious middle class.
The old paradigm of conservatives vs. liberals has been overturned by a rampant populism inherited from Occupy Wall Street and the populist roots of the tea party. In both parties, the central clash is Middle America vs. the power brokers, small donors vs. super PACs, the 99 percent vs. the 1 percent, agents of change vs. defenders of the status quo, shared prosperity vs. trickle down economics, a neglected majority vs. an entrenched elite.
The gut issue is inequality not just inequality of incomes but inequality of power, inequality of outcomes from America's international trade agreements, inequality of who sets the nation's policy agenda, inequalities of economic security and opportunity in an era of globalization, and inequalities of political voice and influence in an era of Citizens United and dark money.
True, since the Occupy movement put inequality on the map, it has been massively dissected. But for the first time, it now has real political consequences. We are a deeply divided country, perhaps less fundamentally by party ID than by money, power and certainly by whom we trust and distrust.
Trump, for example, could not have succeeded without the popular backlash against the GOP establishment, the loss of credibility among a string of veteran Republican governors and senators. Sanders would not still be winning primaries but for Hillary Clinton's skidding favorability ratings because of mistrust about her elitism and her links to Wall Street.
Millions of Americans are disillusioned by what they see as a rigged political system, a popular suspicion documented by Princeton political scientist professor Martin Gilens and his colleagues in their multiyear study of 2,000 votes in the U.S. Senate. They proved what average Americans have long suspected: When it comes to making policy and passing laws, members of Congress are moved by the influence of the highly affluent and unmoved by majorities of middle class opinion.
To a degree unknown in decades, the corporate elite and billionaire mega-donors who are used to managing the selection of the GOP nominee to their own advantage, find themselves shut out, and their backlash is about trying to get back in control.
For it is not merely Trump's barnyard rhetoric and racist, sexist bullying that causes tremors for Speaker Ryan and Republican thinkers and power-brokers. What powerfully animates their anger is his rejection of pro-business Republican orthodoxy on free trade, immigration, Social Security and the minimum wage.
On the Democratic side, the party establishment and Clinton loyalists decry what they call the bogus lure of Sanders' impractical idealism. But what many find so unnerving is the prairie fire of rebellion that Sanders has lit with his sallies against Wall Street, corporate trade deals, a lopsided tax system and politics dominated by mega-money.
Indeed, what has made Trump and Sanders so hard to deflate, defeat or derail is that both candidates, whatever their downsides, have given voice to what's churning in the belly of America this year: A volcanic anger among middle-class Americans over being cut out of their fair share of America's economic growth and being denied a serious voice in government.
Ten million-plus votes cast for Trump and 9 million-plus for Sanders reflect far more than opposition to other candidates. They represent populist antagonism to corporate America, and an erosion in public faith in American democracy and in the current version of American capitalism.
Time and again, pollsters report that 80 percent to 90 percent say our political system is broken, that corporations and special interests have too much power, and that Washington does not listen to average Americans. Most Americans voice a parallel loss of faith in the major institutions of our capitalist economy.
A Pew Research Center poll last November reported that 56 percent of the public said large corporations have a negative impact on the U.S. and only 41 percent of Republicans thought big business had a positive impact. Among 18-to-29-year-olds, a recent poll by Harvard's Institute of Politics found that only 42 percent said they "supported" capitalism and just 19 percent identified themselves as "capitalists."
In short, this campaign has identified the fault-line in America today as wedge economics the wedge between the nation's economic growth and the middle class standard of living. That wedge emerged in the late 1970s and has widened ever since. Growth and productivity have risen dramatically over the past 30 years, but hourly wages of the average worker have been stagnant. Over that time, corporate profits have taken an ever larger share of the nation's income, and while the incomes of the 1 percent have soared, median household income is lower today than in 1999.
Not only economic progressives, but even some business leaders now see that this wide economic divide poses long-term peril for our country. Several years ago, before the economic collapse of 2008, the late John Gardner, the Republican founder of Common Cause, framed our predicament powerfully.
"We are treading the edge of a precipice here," Gardner warned. "Civilizations die of disenchantment. If enough people doubt their society, the whole venture falls apart."
An earthquake of disenchantment is now shaking the foundations of our political system tremors that we need to heed.
Hedrick Smith is author of "Who Stole the American Dream?" and executive editor of the website reclaimtheamericandream.org. Readers may send him email at hsmithprod@gmail.com. He wrote this for The Sacramento Bee. It was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
South Korea announced plans Wednesday to ease regulations on the information, communication and technology (ICT) sector as part of the government's aggressive deregulation drive.
The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning reported a set of deregulation measures to President Park Geun-hye in an interagency meeting held at her office Cheong Wa Dae.
It focuses on lowering the barrier for companies to launch businesses in the Internet of Things (IoT) industry and prompting an early establishment of IoT-only networks nationwide.
The IoT is a network of physical objects, including vehicles, buildings and electronic devices, connected to the Internet to exchange data. It allows such objects to be sensed and controlled remotely.
The government plans to raise transmit power for 900 megahertz, the commonly used bandwidth for IoT, from the current 10 megawatts up to 200 MWh, which would help cut network costs by a third, according to the ministry.
It will also push for the supply of additional frequencies for IoT. Additionally, the launch of new businesses on location-related information services will be changed to a report-based system from the current permission-based one.
The ministry surveyed 754 firms and other organizations from February-March before making its decision.
"Through this reform on regulations, South Korea is expected to better exert its potential power to lead the fourth industrial revolution," ICT Minister Choi Yang-hee said.
The government will continue efforts for the deregulation of the promising ICT field that's crucial to developing the nation's new growth engine, he added. (Yonhap)
This Oct. 20, 2015, file photo, shows a sign outside Google headquarters in Mountain View in Calif. Google has been at odds with the Korean government over exporting map data sensitive to the country's national security to the company's overseas data centers. / AP-Yonhap
By Yoon Sung-won
Google has been unable to get its mapping service Google Maps running properly in Korea for the last six years.
It has blamed the country's outdated National Security Act for restricting its access to certain map information, which is essential for features such as navigation, high-resolution satellite images and public transportation information, which it needs to store in its overseas data centers.
The company has requested nationwide geographic data from the government, not agreeing to blur locations such as military facilities and Cheong Wa Dae, which the government considers critical for national security not only in Korea but also for its global services.
However, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) made it clear that it is not refusing to provide the geographic information to Google.
"We do not intend to refuse to provide the map data. It is not true that we are adopting a closed-door policy," said Koh Young-jin, an official at the ministry, Wednesday. "Google has asked for geographic data at a scale of 1:5,000 and 50-centimeter-class video map data, and the government is in discussions with the company to fulfill their request."
The official said providing accurate maps of sites related to national security may expose coordinate information of such locations.
"Through our efforts for deregulation, we can provide the data once the company agrees with the blurring process as a security measure. But it refused to accept this," he said. "We are in a tense situation with North Korea and thus security is very important. Our situation is different from the United States or Japan."
Koh also pointed out that Google has blurred out location information of security facilities in Israel. The Israeli government has established diplomatic agreements to prohibit its security facilities from being exposed in commercial satellite photography.
Google has refused this request, saying such a move would cause issues in displaying disputed territories.
Unlike in many other countries, the Google Maps service provides outdated, 2D geographic information on Korea. This is because Korea's laws strictly prohibit export of the nation's geographic data overseas without permission from the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
Because Google does not have a data center to store the data on Korean soil, it has had to provide limited map information, provided by SK Planet. The SK Group affiliate used to provide the nation's most-sought-after mobile navigation service T Map and has transferred the service to SK Telecom in April.
Unlike Google, Korean mapping service providers such as SK Telecom, Naver and Kakao have their data centers here, where they are regularly inspected by the government for security. The government has provided geographic data to these companies after blurring locations that it considers critical for national security.
"The government restricts us only from providing information, location and photographs of important security facilities like military bases," a Kakao spokesman said.
Without a data center here, Google has tried several times to collect geographical data on Korea and bring it to its data centers established globally over the last six years but its efforts ended up disapproved by the government.
For businesses that are unable to store map data in Korea, the National Geographic Information Institute has produced an English-language electronic map with a scale of 1:25,000 and allowed them to export the information overseas for commercial use since early 2014.
But Google has asked for more accurate map data with a scale of 1:5,000, saying that the 1:25,000 scale is not detailed enough for commercial use.
Instead of the land minister's approval, the government has organized a committee of officials from the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Unification, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the National Intelligence Service to make a decision on allowing export of the data. The committee has agreed that Google can have accurate map data once it accepts the request to apply the blurring process globally.
An official at Google Korea said, "We have continued to apply for data export approval, even in the face of a tough government regulation barrier."
By Lee Min-hyung
LG Chem and Samsung SDI are bracing for a toughened battery regulation in China, dispelling concerns that the measure is a "discriminative policy" against foreign companies.
Late last month, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology unveiled the stricter regulatory measure that only electric vehicles (EVs) equipped with batteries from ministry-authorized manufacturers would be qualified to receive subsidies.
This has sparked controversy here, as critics argued the move is aimed at protecting Chinese battery makers.
In January, China excluded electric buses with batteries made by LG Chem, Samsung SDI and Chinese makers from the subsidy program, citing safety concerns. The Chinese regulator plans to announce a list of qualified battery makers in July.
Both companies said they would "fully comply" with the strict regulatory measure, pledging to meet the qualifications to be subsidy beneficiaries.
As of now, a total of 25 Chinese battery manufacturers are registered as subsidy beneficiaries from Beijing.
"We do not see the Chinese government's decision as a protectionist measure, given there are hundreds of battery manufacturers in the country," said an LG Chem spokesman. "The regulation will be part of its efforts to improve the competitiveness of the local battery manufacturers."
Expectations are that the toughened measure is aimed at filtering out some unqualified local manufacturers, helping the government tell which companies have enough production capacity and research manpower, according to the spokesman.
"We are making up for any insufficient parts in our documents to qualify for the subsidy authorized by the Chinese government," he said.
Samsung SDI, the battery-making affiliate of Samsung Group, was also in line with LG Chem's stance.
A Samsung SDI spokesperson said, "The Chinese government may have made the decision to forge competitiveness in the local battery industry, not to discriminate against foreign battery makers."
"Korean firms operating in China will continue to follow any measures pushed by the government there," he said. "We will also do our best to comply with local regulations."
China is one of the world's fastest-growing EV markets, backed by the government-led subsidy drive to reduce the country's severe air pollution.
Forty-seven percent of global EV sales came from China last year, up 27 percent from the previous year, according to the market research division of HSBC. Some 330,000 EVs were sold in the country last year, up 240 percent from a year earlier.
Last year, LG Chem and Samsung SDI built battery manufacturing facilities in China to tap deeper into the profitable EV market.
SK Innovation, Korea's third-largest battery manufacture, is not subject to the regulation, as the company does not have a plant in China.
The three-member arbitration body's chief mediator Kim Ji-hyung, second from left, smiles with chief Samsung Electronics negotiator Baek Soo-hyun, left, family committee representative Song Chang-ho, third from left, and Banolim Founder Hwang Sang-ki after the three parties agreed to establish an independent ombudsman committee to randomly check workplace safety at Samsung plants, in this January file photo. / Korea Times file
Former leukemia-tainted Samsung worker says issue has been resolved
By Kim Yoo-chul
The latest agreement between Samsung and sickened workers and their families at Samsung plants over a settlement of an eight-year dispute appears destined to be nullified.
On Tuesday, Banolim, an activist group representing the interests of some of the deceased Samsung factory workers, held a press conference near Seocho Samsung Tower, southern Seoul.
During the conference, Banolim asked Samsung Electronics to issue what it calls a "sincere apology," to introduce preventive measures about the safety of the workplace and to compensate former Samsung factory workers who've allegedly developed workplace-related diseases.
Representatives of the activist group claimed that Samsung has been refusing to hold discussions about leukemia-related issues and insisted that Samsung Electronics should take responsibility for 76 deaths of its factory workers.
Banolim's requests, however, are receiving a lukewarm response from the public and even from former Samsung workers who contracted incurable diseases during their working years at Samsung plants.
Early this year, Banolim agreed with Samsung Electronics about workplace safety with the sickened workers and their families. A family committee which was separated from the civic group also signed an agreement.
The tripartite agreement is calling for Samsung to have the authority to order its health management team not to use hazardous substances if they are discovered during random checks.
Also, Samsung Electronics also agreed to give workers access to information related to their health and safety when they apply for government insurance covering occupational diseases, a major policy change after the company was blamed for blocking its workers from access to key information about health and safety citing confidentiality.
About the issue for compensation, more than 100 former workers voluntarily submitted their requests to the compensation body, which was established in September last year, and Samsung paid them, although the body has failed to prove causation between the health impact on people of the hazardous substances to which they have been exposed.
Samsung included workers of its subcontractors on the list to be compensated.
The agreement also included initiating an ombudsman committee for the safety of workers at Samsung plants. A former Seoul National University professor Lee Cheol-soo will lead the body and the three parties were excluded from participating on the committee to help gain greater management transparency.
"Despite the agreement, Banolim has been continuing their on-street demonstrations near Seocho Tower by reiterating the group's earlier conditions. Such actions have gone too far and more importantly, the agreement is fated to be nullified," a former Samsung executive who had become ill during his work at the firm's semiconductor line in Korea, said by telephone.
Losing ground
On Wednesday, a former Samsung female worker who suffers from leukemia she got while working at Samsung's semiconductor line in Korea, said she was satisfied with the speedy resolution about the issue.
In a contribution to Samsung's internal media Media Samsung Kim Eun-kyung praised Samsung's efforts to settle the issue.
"I worked at the Samsung plant in Onyang from 1991 to 1996. Representatives from the family committee met Samsung Electronics co-CEO Kwon Oh-hyun at Seocho Tower on January 14 with the CEO delivering the apology letter. It was so touching," Kim said in the contribution, a copy of which was obtained by The Korea Times.
Kim said she was a member of the Banolim group but joined with the family committee as she was disappointed about Banolim's "my way" to force group members to follow their directions without concrete plans to settle the disputes.
"Banolim activists asked members who wanted an early settlement to leave the group. It's a pity to see that Banolim was losing ground," the contribution said, adding that the activist group is facing an "identity crisis" as a resolution about the issue will put Banolim's role in danger.
The family group is composed of six former Samsung workers.
"Nine years after leaving, I was told that I have leukemia. At that time, my oldest son was a first-grader in elementary school. My second daughter was four years old. What I believe is a turning point about this issue was Kwon's 2014 apology. This helped the committee propose a plan to set up a mediation body," Kim said in the contribution.
"One hundred-and-ten workers out of 150 who've filed for compensation have been compensated. I think the issue of compensation is over. I asked Banolim activists to submit plans to resolve the dispute; however, their answer was we will fight'," Kim said.
Flash
The U.S. economic sanctions against Cuba still impeded the development of bilateral ties despite normalization of relations, a Cuban official said on Monday, urging the United States to lift them.
Cuba's President Raul Castro (R) and U.S. President Barack Obama (L) attend a press conference at the Revolution Palace in Havana, capital of Cuba, on March 21, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]
"Despite the steps that have been taken there are still significant restrictions that limit U.S. exports; very few Cuban products can be imported into the United States and there are no normal banking relations between both countries," said Josefina Vidal, the Cuban Foreign Ministry's chief of U.S. affairs.
She made the remark here after senior Cuban and U.S. officials held a new round of talks, in which both sides agreed to continue deepening cooperation in areas like health, agriculture, law enforcement and meteorology.
Vidal said the U.S. trade embargo, which was imposed more than half a century ago, still affect Havana's relations with the United States and other countries.
She said Havana reiterated its political will to advance towards a respectful and constructive relationship with Washington and demanded the United States lift its economic blockade as a condition for fully normalizing ties.
Vidal called on the next U.S. president to "listen and pay attention" to a large segment of that country's public opinion which calls for normal relations with Cuba and the lifting of the embargo.
Vidal reaffirmed Cuba's demand to retrieve the territory occupied by the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo.
The Cuban official also said that both Cuba and the United States have agreed to continue to explore areas of cooperation.
"The agenda for the coming months is ambitious as we seek to begin new paths of exchanges, agreements, high-level visits and talks that we want to establish and contribute to this ongoing process of normalizing relations between both countries," Vidal said.
The two countries restored diplomatic relations in July 2015.
"There have been advances with important high-level visits to each nation, technical meetings by experts on different issues as well as agreements to reestablish regular commercial flights and postal services," she added.
She said both sides agreed to start talks on intellectual property and follow up on areas like climate change as well as economic and commercial regulations.
Both countries agreed to meet again in September in Washington to continue talks on the normalization of ties.
The U.S. delegation was headed by Kristie Kenney, counselor of the State Department.
Flash
Invited by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee will pay a state visit to China from May 24 to 27.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang made the announcement on Wednesday.
Later in the day, another spokesman Hong Lei told a routine press briefing that during the visit, Chinese leaders will hold talks and meetings with Mukherjee to make in-depth exchange of views on bilateral ties and issues of shared interest.
It will be Mukherjee's first state visit to China since he took office in 2012, Hong said, adding it is one of the most important high-level interactions between the neighboring countries this year.
Besides Beijing, the Indian president will also visit south China's metropolis Guangzhou.
The China-India relationship has maintained a good momentum of healthy and stable development in recent years, Hong said, noting the ties entered a new era of rapid growth since President Xi visited India in 2014 and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China in 2015.
An attorney argued before the Missouri Court of Appeals that taxpayers should have legal standing to challenge the state's procedures for obtaining drugs for lethal injections.
Justin Gelfand, representing two former state lawmakers and two other citizens, argued a lawsuit appeal on Wednesday. The lawsuit alleges the state violates federal and state laws by using an illegal prescription to obtain pentobarbital from a compounding pharmacy for the executions. The lawsuit does not challenge the death penalty, only practices used to obtain the drugs.
A Cole County judge dismissed the lawsuit in July 2015. Part of the judge's ruling says taxpayers do not have standing to challenge Department of Corrections operations and the Missouri Supreme Court has jurisdiction in death penalty-related lawsuits.
Appeals court panels never say how long they will take to issue a ruling.
After an ocean trip from New Orleans via the Panama Canal, the external space shuttle fuel tank known as ET-94 arrived this morning at Marina dey Rey. Officials of the California Science Center, some early-rising onlookers and photographer Gary Leonard observed the arrival. The tank was towed around the breakwater and up the marina channel, then offloaded to a truck. There will be a press conference and media op with the mayor and others at 11 a.m. at Fisherman's Village in the marina. They will discuss the plan for wheeling the tank through the city to the museum, ala the space shuttle itself a few years ago.
Details of the last leg through the streets, and the museum's report on the journey to Los Angeles, are below.
Photos by Gary Leonard. Click on any image to see bigger.
EAU CLAIRE Wisconsin cannot afford putting more people in prison because of their addiction to prescription pain medication, Attorney General Brad Schimel said Tuesday.
Schimel hopes an education campaign called Dose of Reality, the cooperation of employers and a better use of drug treatment courts will cut into what he calls a drug epidemic.
It will save lives, Schimel said of the education campaign during a news conference at Ken Vance Hyundai in Eau Claire, which was attended by State Rep. Kathy Bernier (R-Lake Hallie).
The power of this addiction is stronger than the fear of death, Schimel said.
He called for more treatment of people addicted to opioids, or painkillers.
Treatment is very expensive, Schimel said. Its also an expense some insurance companies are unwilling to cover.
A local treatment center, L.E. Phillips Libertas Center in Chippewa Falls, will accept people trying to shake their opioid addiction. About half of its patients are addicted to opioids and the other half are treated for alcoholism.
Brenda Goettl, AODA manager at L.E. Phillips Libertas, said she doesnt know of any other treatment center in Wisconsin that accepts patients with opioid addiction.
The reason: Insurance companies wont pay for someones detoxification from opioids. That means sometimes L.E. Phillips doesnt get paid for its treatment.
Goettl said that insurance companies take the position no one will die going through withdrawal from opioids, so they will not pay.
They consider it not medically necessary, Goettl said.
But people addicted to opioids feel like they are dying when they go through withdrawal, so they will not stop taking the drugs, she said.
L.E. Phillips Libertas has had good results, according to Goettl, using an opioid blocker with the brand name of Vivitrol, the drug naltrexone. Vivitrol is injected once a month, and Goettl said the cost is covered by insurance companies and Medicare.
There is some good news in the fight against opioid addiction. There are people who are finding good solid recoveries, she said.
Schimel would like to see more of that, and more of early intervention, which would make treatment easier. He urges employees to test prospective employees for prescription drugs, and to educate employees about the danger of prescription drug abuse.
Were hoping employers will have an employee assistance program, he said.
And despite the expense of addiction treatment, it is cheaper than putting a person in prison, he said.
The Dose of Reality website, www.doseofreality.gov, offers information on and tips about preventing opioid addiction.
The power of this addiction is stronger than the fear of death. Brad Schimel, Wisconsin attorney general
On Thursday, staff and parents of students at Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District received a letter from Jeffrey Holmes, Superintendent about active shooter swatting calls taking place at multiple school districts across the state. Swatting calls are hoax reports of threats made to police which insight panic.
Police say similar types of false threats have occurred at multiple schools across the state Thursday. These threats included 911 calls to police across the state claiming that schools had an active shooter.
The adversarial relationship between the University of Wisconsin and Gov. Scott Walker is perilous, UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank told faculty Tuesday.
It makes me really worried going into this budget round how we maintain a civil and useful conversation, Blank said at a session of the campus Faculty Senate. Beyond that, a strained relationship with the governor jeopardizes the long-term prospects for investment in and future strategic growth of the university, she said.
And the kind of war of words in the media that emerged recently between the governor and UW faculty is dangerous, should it continue, Blank said.
Blank compared Walkers relationship with the university to that of former Gov. Tommy Thompson, who praised UW-Madison faculty in a speech at a commencement ceremony over the weekend where he received an honorary degree for his dedication to UW and the Wisconsin Idea.
Thompsons praise a departure from how state Republicans typically refer to the university and its faculty so impressed Blank that she enthusiastically encouraged faculty to watch a video of the speech online.
Blank referred to a recent Isthmus article that described ways the state and the university worked together in partnership during Thompsons time as governor, from 1987 to 2001.
I know there was tension in those years, I know Thompson wasnt everyones favorite governor including a lot of people around here. But there really was consultation and conversation back and forth on budget and a whole lot of other issues, she said.
That kind of positive and healthy relationship is incredibly important; it is important to the university and it is very important to the state, Blank said. The current relationship is not as healthy in my opinion.
Blank spoke after a week in which Walker ridiculed groaning UW faculty for a stack of no-confidence votes in UW System President Ray Cross and the Board of Regents. His press release prompted a rebuttal from the American Association of University Professors and a rating of pants on fire from the fact-checking website Politifact.
Then UW-Madison English department chair Caroline Levine declared in an op-ed piece in the Cap Times that she had had enough and would leave the university and Walkers crazy-making double speak that on one hand demands that higher education deliver value like a business, and on the other hand, methodically prevents it from doing so.
The no confidences votes have obviously raised the ire of some legislators, Blank remarked. The response by the governor in his recent press release, I think, was neither healthy nor productive.
"But with dueling press releases, dueling op-eds, we are engaged in precisely the wrong conversation, Blank said. This is dangerous, should this continue.
Walker said on radio Monday that he would consider extending a tuition freeze into the next budget and if he does, were going to have to fight for additional funding, Blank said.
There is a very strong belief that the system cannot take another budget cut next year. I hear this from regents, from business friends and from some in the Legislature as well, she said.
Faculty on Tuesday broke out in a round of vigorous applause when Blank praised their excellence.
Let me say clearly that we are a world-class university with world-class faculty. You are among the most important employees this state has, regardless what anyone else might say, she assured them.
Blank pointed out some of UW-Madisons contributions to the state, including a $15 billion annual impact on the economy, including the infusion of $1 billion in grant funding.
The university also is awarding more degrees than at any other time in its history and six-year graduate rate of 85 percent, she said.
Blank encouraged faculty to consider taking on a role spreading the word about the accomplishments and future vision of the university, with Wisconsin natives perhaps talking to Rotary Clubs back home or writing op-eds in local papers.
We need to change the conversation to one is about the future of the state," she said.
PRESS RELEASE
Closing In on the Saudi-9/11 Connection
May 17, 2016 (EIRNS)The U.S. Senate defied the Obama White House today, and passed by unanimous voice vote the JASTA (Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism) bill, which will permit the families of the victims of 9/11 to sue the Saudi government (or any other government) for providing material support for terrorism in the United States. Obama has threatened to veto the bill, but chief Democratic sponsor Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) believes he has the votes to override such action.
First, however, the House equivalent of JASTA must be passed by the House of Representatives where HR 3815 (the sister legislation) has only 22 co-sponsors as yet. Obama's press spokesman Josh Earnest, when asked about JASTA's passage at today's press briefing, declared that the White House still 'strongly' opposed the bill, and would be working with House members to try to change or kill it.
Meanwhile momentum continues to grow in the House of Representatives for action on H. Res. 14, Rep. Walter Jones's bill calling on the President to release the suppressed 28 pages of the 9/11 Congressional Inquiry, believed to deal with Saudi financing. The Hill reported on May 14 that there have been 72 requests by members of Congress to read the pages since the new session of Congress began in 2015, according to the House Intelligence Committee, which approves the requests. All the requests were approved.
According to www.thomas.gov, Jones's bill currently has 58 cosponsors, broadly representative of both parties, and the support is growing almost daily.
PRESS RELEASE
Vienna Meeting Agrees To Strengthen Syria Cessation of Hostilities into a Ceasefire
May 17, 2016 (EIRNS)U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the co-chairmen of the International Syria Support Group, and UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura, came out of a meeting of the ISSG in Vienna today, saying there was an agreement to continue the political process in Syria as laid out in UN Security Council Resolution 2254. According to the State Department transcript of their joint press conference, Kerry said there were seven points to the agreement:
the transformation of the cessation into a comprehensive ceasefire; a mechanism by which, if a party that claims to be part of the ceasefire but consistently violates it, its behavior can be referred to the ISSG foreign ministers for appropriate action; a commitment to intensify efforts to get the parties to stop all indiscriminate use of force; "we call on all parties to the cessation of hostilities to disassociate themselves physically and politically from Daesh and al-Nusrah and to endorse the intensified efforts by the United States and Russia to develop shared understandings of the threat posed and the delineation of the territory that is controlled by Daesh and al-Nusrah and to consider ways to deal decisively with terrorist groups;" the resumption of the delivery of humanitarian relief, or in some cases, the beginning of delivery; acilitating the release of detainees; and "we underscored the need for substantive discussions on the objective of meeting the target date established by the UN Secretary by the UN Council Resolution 2254 of August 1st to reach agreement on a framework for a genuine political transition to a transitional governing body."
Lavrov endorsed the seven points as reported by Kerry and added a few of his own. Number one, he said,
"it is very important that our joint position in the UN Security Council supposes an inclusive charter of the Syrian talks, and we dont have to exclude any parties, including Kurdish parties."
Number two, he said, the Syrian government must comply, but also,
"the United States must work closely with the opposition, with regional actors, and to [stop] with the ongoing flows of militants from outside the Syrian border."
What is most relevant, Lavrov went on, is the problem of terrorism, particularly Jabhat al Nusra, which sometimes allies with and sometimes opposes groups that are part of the truce arrangement.
De Mistura, for his part, refused to say when the next round of intra-Syrian talks in Geneva might begin. "The exact date, Im not at the moment revealing it, because it will depend also on other facts," he said, though he stressed that "we cannot wait too long." He also emphasized that the Geneva process will be credible when the cessation of hostilities is credible.
Its not a ratings downgrade, but Moodys Investor Service on Tuesday called reopening the financial details of the San Onofre nuclear plant shutdown a credit negative for the plants operator, Southern California Edison.
The California Public Utilities Commission recently decided to take a second look at the $4.7-billion settlement. The move was prompted by disclosures that secret meetings were held before the deal was approved 18 months ago and by complaints that ratepayers are shouldering too much of the financial load.
We dont expect much to come out of it, said Toby Shea, vice president and senior credit officer at Moodys. However, whenever a large sum of money is being re-evaluated theres a chance something could go wrong.
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The Moodys report also cited the regulatory climate for utilities in California that it said leads to more scrutiny than elsewhere in the U.S. and can become contentious and litigious. Southern California Edison, a subsidiary of Edison International, carries an A2 rating, the third-highest on Moodys scale.
This is a negative event for the company from a credit perspective but we did not change the rating or the official outlook of the company based on this event, Shea said. They have a good credit rating overall because they have low financial risk.
An Edison representative declined comment.
The San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station closed in 2013 following the failure of replacement steam generators, which caused a small leak of radiation.
Under the original agreement, Edison ratepayers will pay $3.3 billion to help fund the costs of shutting down San Onofre, which has drawn criticism from consumer groups. The volume of complaints intensified after the San Diego Union-Tribune reported in 2015 that a cost-splitting agreement was discussed during an undisclosed 2013 meeting between Michael Peevey, who was commission president at the time, and an Edison executive.
rob.nikolewski@sduniontribune.com
A record 231.1 million passengers are expected to travel on U.S.-based airlines this summer, a 4% increase over last summer.
That was the forecast Wednesday from Airlines for America, the trade group for the nations air carriers. The prediction is good news for the airline industry but it could mean major headaches for summer travelers who can expect even more gridlock at airport security checkpoint lines.
Based on booking demand, the travel site Orbitz predicts that Los Angeles International Airport will be the nations busiest airport for the Memorial Day weekend.
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Wait times at airport screening checkpoints have been growing recently for several reasons, including a shortage of Transportation Security Administration officers and the growth in passenger traffic over the last few years.
It has been a challenging spring with fliers waiting in lines that take more than 60 to 90 minutes to get through security, said Sharon Pinkerton, vice president of legislative and regulatory affairs for the trade group. We encourage TSA to quickly hire and train new staff to help alleviate this problem.
Congress authorized the Department of Homeland Security to transfer $34 million to pay for additional officers to reduce the delays. TSA officials said they plan to use that money to hire 768 new airport screeners and put more funding toward part-time workers and overtime pay.
But the union that represents TSA officer has called for the addition of 6,000 screeners to address the surge in air travelers. From June 1 to Aug. 31, the nations airports are expected to serve an average of 2.51 million passengers a day, a 95,000 passenger-a-day increase over last summer, according to Airlines for America.
See the most-read stories this hour >>
The airline trade group attributed the growth in air travel primarily to lower fares.
We saw airfares fall throughout 2015, and that trend continued in the first three months of 2016, said John Heimlich, vice president and chief economist for the trade group.
The nations airlines have kept fares low while increasing their earnings margin to 13.2% in the first quarter of 2016, up from 11.2% in the same quarter of 2015 because jet fuel prices in North America have dropped 32.5% over the last year.
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The manager of the states electric grid expects current power supplies to meet summer needs for keeping the lights and air conditioning running, except in Southern California, where power plants might lack the needed natural gas.
Steve Berberich, chief executive of the California Independent System Operator, urged Southern Californians to heed calls to conserve energy during periods of high demand because power companies will not be able to rely on the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility to fuel their plants.
Aliso Canyon, operated by Southern California Gas Co., was taken offline after one of the companys 115 wells leaked, forcing thousands of residents in the nearby Porter Ranch community from their homes. The utility sealed the leak and closed the well in February, but it cant replenish natural gas supply in the storage facility until it is deemed safe.
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Without Aliso Canyon, Berberichs agency and state regulators worry that high electric demand could require more natural gas for the power plants than Southern California Gas can supply.
The natural gas issues facing Southern California this summer will require deft management, particularly during hot days when power plants fueled by natural gas are needed to meet peak demand, Berberich said. The ISO has moved quickly to put into place new mechanisms to reduce the impact of gas curtailments on electric reliability. We are also asking consumers to respond to calls for energy conservation on days we call a Flex Alert.
The states ability to generate electricity increased almost 4% over last summer, with 54,459 megawatts available statewide, the agency said. The all-time highest summer peak demand was in July 2006, when electricity consumption reached 50,270 megawatts.
Other than the potential impact on Southern Californians because of the troubled Aliso Canyon facility, the agency called the statewide outlook positive for the summer.
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The Refugee exhibition at the Annenberg Space for Photography features work from five artists who have captured the plight of displaced communities across the world.
What must it take to put your children on an inflatable boat and cross a sea, especially when you know how many people are dying? asks photographer Tom Stoddart, who is part of the exhibit running through Aug. 21.
The show also features photographs from Graciela Iturbide, Lynsey Addario, Martin Schoeller and Martin Victor Diop.
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The photographs were taken in various parts of the world, including Bangladesh, Colombia, Germany, Myanmar, Slovenia and the United States, with assistance from the U.N.'s refugee agency.
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Annenberg Space for Photography, 2000 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles. Open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, closed Monday and Tuesday.
Since 1983, director Hugh Davies has steered the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego through exhibitions, expansions and off-site programming that has regularly engaged the city of San Diego and the communities that straddle the U.S.-Mexico border. But after more than three decades, he is preparing to hand the reins to MCASD deputy director Kathryn Kanjo, who will become the museums director and CEO in October.
The shift in leadership comes at a time when the museum is in the early planning stages of a major renovation and expansion of its La Jolla location. (It also operates another pair of galleries in downtown San Diego.) The project, which is still in the quiet fundraising phase, will be designed by New York architect Annabelle Selldorf (who most recently was the consulting architect for downtown Los Angeles mega gallery Hauser Wirth & Schimmel) and add 30,000 square feet of gallery space to better display the museums nearly 5,000-object collection in a more permanent fashion.
I am coming in at a time in which we are planning for growth, so I think the continuity will be to my advantage, says Kanjo, who joined MCASD from the University Art Museum at UC Santa Barbara, where she served as director until 2010. I want to continue our commitment to living artists even as we ready ourselves to showcase our historical holdings. So, one foot in art history and the other in the future.
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Davies, a Francis Bacon scholar, will remain with MCASD until his contract expires in 2018. Hell oversee the capital campaign and building expansion.
It focuses my purview and gives Kathryn the benefit of running the museum without having to worry about the capital campaign, he says. It will give her time to get comfortable with the museum. Ill be reporting to the board and working closely with the building committee and the campaign committee.
Kanjo has served as MCASDs deputy director since 2010 her second stint at the museum over the course of her career. In the 1990s, she worked as an assistant curator (1992-94) and associate curator (1994-95), helping produce La Frontera, an exhibition related to the border, as well as shows by artists such as Leonardo Drew, Rita McBride and Jorge Pardo.
In the mid-1990s, she move to Oregon, to work as contemporary art curator at the Portland Art Museum. This was followed by a six-year stint as director of the esteemed Artpace in San Antonio. She returned to California in 2006, when she was hired by UC Santa Barbara.
Half a dozen years ago, Davies persuaded her to return to MCASD, where she joined as chief curator, before being promoted to deputy director. Kanjo says she was intrigued by the proposition of returning to San Diego especially once the institution began to explore the idea of expanding.
We have this collection that wants to see the light of day and has no physical space, she says. We show it regularly but we dont show it steadily.
The museum, originally founded in 1941 as the Art Center in La Jolla, has a strong collection of post-World War II art that includes key pieces by color field painter Ellsworth Kelly, minimalist sculptor Donald Judd and renowned California installation artist Robert Irwin.
The institution drew critical raves for its ethereal show of California Light and Space artists (Irwin among them) during the first iteration of the Getty-funded Pacific Standard Time series in 2011. Times critic Christopher Knight described the show, which was titled Phenomenal, as beautiful and provocative.
MCASD has also regularly engaged artist communities across the border, organizing studio tours, staging solo and group exhibitions and adding key works by Tijuana artists to the permanent collection.
Were 15 miles from Mexico, says Kanjo. There are no collecting institutions of contemporary art in Tijuana, so we want to be mindful of collecting those artists and showing them.
Kanjo assumes command of the institution Oct. 18 which is not only the 75th anniversary of the museum, it marks the birthday of Ellen Browning Scripps, whose Irving Gill-designed home serves as the heart of the institutions La Jolla compound.
Davies says the capital campaign for MCASDs renovation will be formally launched at that time, too. Right now were in the permitting stages, he says. We have to pick a contractor. We have to get this approved by the Coastal Commission. There is a lot to do.
And while he is thrilled to see the renovation through its early stages, he says he is also looking forward to retirement and to getting back to his work on Bacon, the Irish-born 20th century painter, whom he got to know personally as part of his research early on in his career. (Bacon died in 1992.)
I want to get back to Bacon scholarship, he says. I have a bunch of notebooks from my meetings with him that Ive been wanting to pore over. I havent done anything substantial, other than a couple of articles, over the last 40 years. Its time.
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Find me on Twitter @cmonstah.
black-ish creator Kenya Barris is surprisingly modest for a writer who has almost single-handedly raised the bar for serious-minded sitcom writers everywhere. Were not preaching, he told a recent PaleyFest crowd. Were not teaching. Were just sharing. And yet the ABC shows second season has tackled some of the most complex and troubling issues around race, all within the context of a black family living in suburban Sherman Oaks.
Backstage at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Barris and his two stars Anthony Anderson, whos also an executive producer, and Tracee Ellis Ross took turns explaining how they made the awkwardness of the N-word funny and why Andersons own encounter with police brutality and last years Ferguson, Mo., unrest inspired the moving episode titled Hope, in which the familys children are confused by the tensions surrounding the case of a white police officer who shot a black teen and the familys adults are confused by their reactions do they expect an unfair outcome or do they keep their faith in the judicial system?
Its not a show about race. Its not a black show. But its absolutely about a black family. Black-ish showrunner Kenya Barris
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You wrote the Hope episode over Christmas. Can you explain what inspired you?
Kenya Barris: It happened from my life. I think it was the Ferguson [unrest shown on TV]. My son turned around and literally said, Why are these people so mad? And I came into the room and I said, I have to tell this moment [on black-ish]. ... But I felt like [writing this] was going to be the end of my career.
Anthony Anderson: You feel like that after every episode.
Tracee Ellis Ross: Its part of his process.
Barris: It wasnt fun to do.
Ross: But you felt that way about the N-word [episode].
Barris: I felt that more because of obvious reasons. You can hide behind jokes. Theres so much you can hide behind humor. But this wasnt a lot of jokes. And honestly, I had a movie to turn in and a pilot to turn in at the same time. So I literally had very little time. But it kind of just flowed out. [Looking at Ross] I talked to you about it at the time.
What were your conversations like?
Ross: All I do in our friendship is remind him to just keep telling the truth. This show is so specifically Kenyas voice. And the more that Kenya is honest, the more that he has the courage to tell his truth.
Barris: This episode was particularly difficult because its so far from [Ross] particular point of view. We had a lot of conversations about it. She understood it and embraced it.
Ross: And I was scared.
Barris: She was like, I dont want to be the white person or the person who doesnt understand what this world is [in standing up for the judicial system]. But I was like, We need that voice.
Ross: This happened to be a subject matter that I had a lot of passionate, nuanced opinions about that arent necessarily meant for the episode. In hindsight, watching it, I really did see how important all the pieces were. That we needed each of these points of view. And the way they wrote it, it not only hinged on the context, it hinged on the kind of mother and parent that Bow was.
Thats how this show often transcends race.
Barris: Its not a show about race. Its not a black show. But its absolutely about a black family. Thats the difference. People try to put us in brackets. ... Together as intellectuals and creatives Id like to feel were trying to start a conversation. We offer a different point of view and hopefully that starts a conversation. Thats better than knowing what to feel. It leads you to question.
Anthony, you had your own experience with police brutality.
Anderson: It was a simple thing, just walking down the street, 8:30 at night going to my buddys house to watch something on television. We were in his yard, walking up the back stairs to his kitchen and the police pulled up [and] demanded that we come to them. Officer literally pushed the gate open and down. Smacked me across the face. Grabbed my boy by the collar and dragged him to the car. And another officer came and dragged me to the car and threw us on the hood, [which] is like 90 degrees. Were burning off our fingertips and singeing our skin. The second time I was at a Ku Klux Klan rally in D.C. as part of Howard University protesting their march on D.C. I popped off from the mouth to the police. But I didnt deserve to be beaten by nine police officers. But, yet again, lesson learned.
The Word episode also grappled with complex ideas and emotion, but with more humor.
Barris: Anthony and I both grew up when it was a term of endearment. We were that Autobiography of Malcolm X-reading, Public Enemy [generation]. Our kids are growing up in a very mixed population. Theyre one of the only chocolate drops in their class. It was: How do we tell this story?
Ross: One of the amazing things about that episode was that the younger generation does not know the historical context of the word [but] so many young white boys come up to me and say they love the show. Between the ages of 8 and 12. Families are watching this show. The conversation has started.
Barris: Were talking about things now that hit people in a different way, in a very sensitive place. So these words weigh a little heavier.
Yara Shahidi, who plays teenage Zoey on the ABC sitcom black-ish, talks with the L.A. Times about the show, her character and dreaming about calculus -- yes, math.
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As it reached a boiling point earlier this year, the #OscarsSoWhite movement and its proponents raised strong doubts about Hollywoods willingness to address issues of equality. Serious, topical films about race were lacking, they said, and consequently so were black nominees.
At the Cannes Film Festival on Monday, those critics were given an answer. Premiering at the worlds most prestigious cinema gathering was Loving, a fact-based drama, from the Arkansas-raised auteur Jeff Nichols, about an interracial romance deemed illicit in Virginia circa 1958.
Impeccably made and drawn closely from historical research, the film tells the relatively little-known story of Mildred and Richard Loving, a couple whose case, which eventually went to the Supreme Court, both exposed the racial divides of the time and helped bridge them.
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FULL COVERAGE: 2016 Cannes Film Festival
But as with so many films that touch on diversity, the movie has also just as quickly drawn skepticism, in this case for not being sufficiently hard-hitting about the racism of the era.
Nichols has sought to keep a distance from the fray, saying he was simply looking to tell an intimate tale of a couple that overcame obstacles, not a larger social history.
You look at this film from a distance and there are so many pitfalls for melodrama or histrionics, the writer-director said in an interview with The Times. But then you start to look at these people and theyre not melodramatic.
He added, The big decision wasnt Let me move away from any cliche. It was Let me confine myself to these people and see where that takes us. And where it takes us is a very restrained film.
Loving follows the decade-long period in which the white Richard (the Australian actor-filmmaker Joel Edgerton) and black Mildred (the Ethiopian Irish actress Ruth Negga) first cultivate a romance, then marry, before they are arrested and prosecuted under a Virginia miscegenation statute. A judge sentences them to five years in prison, but agrees to suspend the sentence if they plead guilty and agree to leave the state for 25 years, which they do.
The couple then spends years in Washington, D.C., away from their families, before moving home (now with three young children) and eventually seeking validation via a legal case that reached the Supreme Court.
Loving maintains a cool tone. Pain is carved on the couples faces, but there are few violent outbursts from either character, and the ache of exile, while clearly great, is played with restraint. The lack of emotional fireworks is accompanied by a lack of legal fireworks. The case, a cause celebre for a surging ACLU, is glimpsed only sporadically, during the times they come in direct contact with it. (The couple did not attend the Supreme Court hearing, for instance.)
Financed by the U.S. production entity Big Beach and distributed by Focus Features, Loving will arrive in theaters in November, when it will almost certainly attract interest across all awards categories, including for Neggas simmering performance.
Nichols, who in the past has mostly developed his own fictional material, was motivated to make this tale because of the 2011 HBO documentary The Loving Story. At his representatives suggestion he watched the TV film and found himself moved, especially by a moment in which Richards intense desire to take care of Mildred was described. He said it made him decide to eschew a courtroom or social drama in favor of a love story.
Nichols also received a gentle ultimatum from his wife: I really love you, but if you dont make this movie Im going to divorce you, is how he recalled how she put it to him. The director had the blessing, he said, of the Lovings sole surviving child. (They and two other children are no longer alive.)
Nichols was on on the restaurant patio of a hotel here on Tuesday morning, just hours after Loving premiered at a tuxedoed gala given to the festivals elite 20 or so competition films. Loving was already a triumph by production standards Nichols and his crew had re-created a distant time and rural place, and right after finishing Midnight Special, the directors very differently oriented sci-fi film that arrived in theaters just eight weeks ago.
And while at 37 he now has five films on his resume (which also includes 2011s Take Shelter and 2012s Mud), Nichols maintains a youthful enthusiasm, which comes in handy when weathering the storms of debate that can surround Cannes premieres. And there has been no shortage of it with this film.
Around the restaurant tables and in the screening rooms of the festival over the last two days, Loving has become a major talking point. On one side are the movies critics, who say that Loving does not sufficiently represent the ambient hatred an interracial couple would experience at the time in the South. On the other side are the movies champions, who say the movie world is long overdue a film free of ginned-up melodrama.
I saw that disconnect coming, Nichols said. People saying This isnt violent enough or This isnt aggressive enough.
But the Lovings threat, he continued, is a psychological one. Its people having to live in that state of tension. Nothing comes out of the woods and no crosses are burned here because nothing like that happened to them in real life.
Nichols added, in his characteristic mix of thoughtfulness and candor, My patience for this particular critique is limited.
Loving is likely to further attract scrutiny because it chooses as its vehicle a story in which the effects on racism are felt heavily by a white person and is also told by same. The point may be underscored because the movie will come out in the same season as the Nat Turner tale The Birth of a Nation, another race-themed movie hailed as an awards contender.
Even critics of the movie will admit that the film addresses topical issues, whether its institutional forms of racism, the quiet pain of otherness or issues far removed from skin color, such as the transgender bathroom controversy, a modern echo of the same cultural argument.
And even skeptics might cheer Nichols decision to avoid schmaltzy Hollywood moments. Victory, for instance, comes not with courtroom high-fives but in more subtle ways, such as the repeating motif of Richards job as a bricklayer, suggesting the laying of groundwork for future generations.
This resonance is partly because of the performances. Edgerton, stretching himself as the director and creepy star of last summers sleeper hit The Gift, shapeshifts into a stoic mid-century male of a certain type in this film. Negga, in her early 30s, will be a revelation to U.S. audiences (at least before she appears, later this year, in the high-profile genre pieces Preacher on AMC and the Warcraft film adaptation).
Negga lauded Nichols minimalism when speaking to reporters Monday. Jeffs screenplay is so lean there was nothing to add or take away, she said. The great thing about Jeff is you feel very free when you act for him because you know he will finely calibrate everything so you dont need to do any of that.
Those who ask what happened to the emotional pyrotechnics probably have not seen Nichols earlier work. The director has developed a reputation as one of the shining lights of a new U.S. cinema precisely because hes taken low-key approaches where others wouldnt. (Ironically, his Mud created a Cannes stir with film critics who said the movies ending was too explosive and melodramatic.)
I hope this is the quiet film of the year, he said Monday when speaking to reporters. I hope it makes people think about whats at the heart of these issues. I hope it makes people remember there are people at the center of these debates. Because you can sit in your armchair at home and espouse all these opinions but they actually affect people. That is all we want to do.
@ZeitchikLAT
Inside the restricted press enclosure at the chic Majestic Beach restaurant, organized chaos is the rule as reporters, photographers, publicists, makeup artists and assistants, and supernumeraries without number hover like satellites around the blazing sun of celebrity.
In one corner sits Jeff Nichols, director of Loving, talking with a series of journalists. In another, Kristen Stewart, the actress of the moment at this years festival with very different but equally impressive roles in both Woody Allens Cafe Society and Olivier Assayas Personal Shopper, is posing for a series of photographers, looking languid and removed.
In conversation, however, the 26-year-old Stewart is nothing of the sort. Animated, ardent and involved when she warms to her subject, she is a cinematic true believer, passionate about the art of film and the ways she hopes to contribute to it.
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Its a lucky turn for me. Im definitely reaping the benefits, Stewart says of her double play. Its really fantastic; Im forcing myself to be present, to feel it, to really revel in it.
Because Cafe Society opened the festival a week ago, its the more recent Personal Shopper thats on everyones lips, an unclassifiable film thats been getting both hisses and standing ovations at successive screenings. (Asked about the response at the films news conference, Stewart was unconcerned, saying, Hey, everybody did not boo.)
The story of a young American woman in Paris who works as a personal shopper for a wealthy celebrity while trying to make spiritual contact with her recently deceased twin brother, its an atmospheric, unexpectedly involving film -- part spooky ghost story, part thriller, part coming-of-age drama -- with everything joined and enlarged by Stewarts bravura performance.
Personal Shopper is her second film with top French director Assayas; the first, Clouds of Sils Maria, won Stewart a Cesar, the French Oscar, for supporting actress. She was the first American actor to win the French award, and that reality still bowls her over.
It blew my head off, I couldnt believe it, Stewart remembers. The fact that Im not from here, its a fish-out-of-water story, for sure. And it speaks to whats important here.
In the States, we provide accolades for much more extreme performances: cancer movies, shaved heads, people who lose a whole bunch of weight or gain a whole bunch of weight. Whats felt more than cinematic culture is [the] movie industry.
Here, she continues about French filmmaking, theyve stayed in touch with what we used to do in the 1970s: movies that provoke thought. Though shes definitely not averse to doing another Hollywood blockbuster, she emphasizes that it has to be with the right people. It has to be worth it.
What is definitely worth it for Stewart is working with Assayas, a director she has formed an especially close creative bond with. Theres no label for it, she says, its hard to nail down with wordsI feel visible when Im around him. I feel understood, which is a really necessary feeling between an actor and a director. We always agree on everything, even if we dont articulate it. We know when weve nailed a feeling in a scene. I know when hes going to move on. Its the goal, its the ideal version of what I want, but its not an ideal anymore, its real.
Working with Allen, the actress says, was a different but also involving experience. His ability to instill that very unique tone he has was surprising to me, because he doesnt direct a lot, its a lot more free form than I anticipated, Stewart says. He reveals himself so naturally, without overt direction. He has a kind of trust in initial reactions.
The actress, who is in just about every scene of Personal Shopper, says the day-to-day filming was exhausting, really relentless.
On other films, there are moments when you can breathe, days off when you can recharge, replenish the well, but not here, she adds.
Making things a bit more complicated is that in real life, Stewart loathes shopping. I love clothes, but shopping for them feels indulgent and weird. I dont like to ask for help in stores, and I dont want to be the person who just takes everything. I have to really love something to buy it.
To help stay fresh with the complicated Personal Shopper experience, Stewart read the script only once and followed her policy of learning her lines only on the day they were shot. I want to have to reach for them, she says. I dont want to feel them on the tip of my tongue.
Stewarts parents are both in the business (her mothers a script supervisor, her father a stage manager) and that upbringing, she says, endowed me with the right motivations that still guide her movie work, though not without occasional problems.
My field of vision is very narrow when it comes to career, she says. My motivation is to follow my creative impulse rather than trying to achieve some kind of status, some level of accomplishment.
At times, its made it difficult to adapt to such an occasionally stupid world. But I learned I can float above that, not feel moored to it. I used to think, This is all B.S., its all about money, money, money. But its not all that way, everyone is not that way, and we can find each other.
kenneth.turan@latimes.com
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The great feminist movie of Cannes? A 1930s-set Korean thriller from the director of Oldboy
Master Sgt. Juan Valdez was the last Marine to climb off the roof at the U.S. Embassy and into a helicopter that skirted the horizon as North Vietnamese fighters surged toward Saigon. The images from that day in 1975 were visceral and cinematic, marking Americas defeat and the unsettled legacy of the Vietnam veteran.
Documentaries and feature films have since given perspective to that war and its soldiers. But it is hard, said Valdez, who traveled to the Mojave Desert last week to speak at the first ever 29 Palms Military Film Festival, to authentically capture the scents, visions and surreal moments that grind through bloodshed and battle.
The one movie that got really close to the Vietnam war was Platoon, Valdez said of Oliver Stones brutal homage to the infantryman. Apocalypse Now was OK but they threw some ... in there for humor. And whats that Italian guys name? He paused and lifted a hand to his white mustache. Robert De Niro in Deer Hunter was good. I read a lot about it. Vietnam is the war that wont go away. Even 41 years later Im still getting calls to talk about it.
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Hollywood through the decades has cast the American soldier as an Everyman turned into hero, troubled soul, glory seeker, alcoholic and existentialist. Both on the battlefield and back home, soldiers embody our anxieties, fears and justifications; they are the front lines of shifting politics and changing times.
To understand the moral and strategic complexities not to mention the failures of military ventures one need only fast-forward from Saigon to Baghdad: U.S. forces withdrew from Iraq in 2011 but the rise of Islamic State prompted President Obama to reverse course and send back more than 4,000 troops. The films at the festival, some of which played under the stars at Smiths Ranch Drive-In, evoked the isolation and the wonder mixed with horror soldiers encounter in distant lands.
That sense of wanderlust and adventure shaped Chase Millsaps childhood. He grew up watching John Wayne in The Green Berets and was inspired to enroll in the U.S. Naval Academy by films such as Top Gun and The Hunt for Red October. After graduating from the academy in 2005, he went into the Marine Corps and served three tours in Iraq. He made a short film The Captains Story about an Iraqi officer he befriended who is now a refugee in Turkey.
The idea that the war doesnt leave you, thats what the filmmakers of Vietnam-era movies got right. I thought Deer Hunter, Platoon and Rambo did a decent job of showing the social repercussions of war, he said, adding that todays directors should focus on post-traumatic stress but also that middle story of the day-to-day realities of coming back home to your community. Id love to see a sitcom like MASH come out and speak to todays soldier. It doesnt all have to be drama. There can be comedy.
Twentynine Palms was a resonant setting for such discussions and for a festival program that included Full Metal Jacket, Black Hawk Down and Flags of Our Fathers. Home to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, which gleams in the Morongo Basin, the city is a glimpse of tattoo parlors, fast-food restaurants, pick-up trucks, young brides, cases of Budweiser and signs advertising military haircuts $9. Marines trained here have done tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and older residents reminisce about arriving decades ago as children in tow of their fathers latest orders.
1 / 5 The Afghan war movie Restrepo is played under the stars during the Military Film Festival at Smiths Ranch Drive-In in Twentynine Palms, Calif. The festival screens movies for veterans and active duty soldiers. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 5 Army veteran John King of Twentynine Palms watches the Afghan war movie Restrepo from inside his pickup truck during the Military Film Festival at Smiths Ranch Drive-In in Twentynine Palms, Calif. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times ) 3 / 5 A beam of light from the movie projector cuts through the darkness as the Afghan war movie Restrepo is played during the Military Film Festival. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 5 Moviegoers sit in beach chairs to watch the Afghan war movie Restrepo during the Military Film Festival at Smiths Ranch Drive-In. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 5 Army veteran John King of Twentynine Palms watches the Afghan war movie Restrepo from inside his pickup truck during the Military Film Festival. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Frank Sinatras voice drifted through the palms at the festivals cocktail party. Vets from World War II, Vietnam, Iraq and other conflicts sipped wine amid canes, knee braces and stories of guns fired and ancient deeds done. Valdez recalled putting blown-up men into body bags and how all those images come back. The men mentioned war films they considered close to accurate and others they criticized for jingoism and caricature.
The older veterans came from generations that included the draft and produced filmmakers such as Samuel Fuller, whose World War II drama The Big Red One played at the festival, who had seen war. Many of todays directors, although skilled in technology and craft, never served in combat and their films at times sacrifice understatement for hyper-reality.
Audience turnout at the festival was sparse, just shy of 500 admissions for 24 films. Festival co-director Patrick Zuchowicki said, We had less active military personnel from the base than veterans and retired military personnel. Among the most popular screenings were two Russian films: Battalion, set during World War I, and Battle for Sevastopol, the story of a female sniper in World War II.
Zuchowicki said the intent of the festival, one of the few in the country dedicated to combat movies, was to honor the courage that has long intrigued filmmakers. The festival urged veterans to share their war stories -- and scripts -- with screenwriters and directors. Organizers said the mix of films, including classics like Casablanca and foreign and cult favorites such as How I Won the War starring John Lennon, were chosen to represent diverse interpretations of war. One of the festival panels was called Revisiting Hollywoods Relationship with Vietnam.
Vietnam was a turning point in how the soldier was depicted in both film and national consciousness. The flawed characters in Vietnam movies made in the 1970s and 80s were a prism of the psychological damage done to warrior and country. The home fronts recoiling at the war, which killed more than 58,000 U.S. soldiers, did not celebrate so much as abandon returning troops. That sentiment shifted dramatically during the American invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, leading to the glorification of soldiers in films such as Lone Survivor and American Sniper.
Army veteran John King of Twentynine Palms watches the Afghan war movie Restrepo from inside his pickup truck during the Military Film Festival at Smiths Ranch Drive-In in Twentynine Palms, Calif. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times )
The American soldier has been depicted unfairly in films, said director Oden Roberts, whose feature A Fighting Season, an unvarnished look at military recruiters, was shown at the festival. Not every soldier is quote-unquote a hero as we define him in film. Theyre not John Rambo or Captain America. Theyre ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. To turn them into heroes ostracizes them in some ways.
Kathryn Bigelows 2008 film The Hurt Locker, which won the best picture Academy Award, received praise and criticism from veterans. Some said the protagonist, bomb demolition expert William James (Jeremy Renner), was too full of swagger and recklessness to be believed. But Millsap said the scene in which James, just returned from Iraq, stands bewildered in a supermarket aisle captured the disorientation soldiers experience upon returning home.
That was me to a T, said Millsap, who was once stationed at Twentynine Palms.
Soldiers have been less reliant these days on Hollywoods rendering of war. Multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan have turned them into auteurs. Phone cameras and social media have depicted unflinching battlefield realism and the boredom-breaking games and tediousness that fill the hours between patrols. This hand-held cinema verite has influenced feature films and documentaries, such as Sebastian Jungers Restrepo, about a platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
Films are getting more raw and realistic, said Eric Hofmans, who served nine months with the Seabees in Afghanistans Helmand Province. Soldiers with their iPhones can document war themselves. Theyre capturing explosions and gunfire crack.
He added: You can really feel these guys in Restrepo and you can see how ugly war is but you can also see the brotherhood thats there. It used to be Hollywood reproductions like Apocalypse Now or Hamburger Hill. They were entertaining but not quite real. Its getting more gritty.
But it is the soldier and his unadorned story whether ingrained in film or not that carry the greatest power. Valdez, who appeared in Rory Kennedys documentary Last Days in Vietnam, speaks like a man you stumble upon at a car wash or a diner. He served 30 years in the Marines. He doesnt make more of things than what they are I was involved in quite a bit of fighting and he doesnt glance away from truths.
We lost, he said of Americas involvement in Vietnam. We had to get out of there like a dog with its tail between its legs. . .The last 41 years Ive been very bitter about what happened in Saigon.
jeffrey.fleishman@latimes.com
Twitter:@JeffreyLAT
The unifying power of music is rewardingly demonstrated in Song of Lahore, a classy portrait of Pakistans Sachal Jazz Ensemble, which despite considerable odds gained worldwide recognition with a little Internet assist.
Once the musical hub of its countrys thriving film-scoring industry, the ancient city of Lahore had been effectively silenced since the late 70s by the Islamic regime of Gen. Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, relegating its once-revered musicians to the shunned lower caste.
With the oppressive climate beginning to loosen up in the 1990s, businessman Izzat Majeed gathered a group of master musicians in a soundproof studio and came up with the idea of fusing their traditional Eastern sound to Western jazz, specifically Dave Brubecks seminal Take Five.
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That mesmerizing performance became a YouTube sensation (it has more than 1 million views), leading to an invitation by jazz great Wynton Marsalis to appear with his orchestra at Lincoln Center in New York.
The technical and cultural challenges related to those two 2013 evenings of musical fusion have been chronicled with evident artistry on the other side of the camera by co-directors Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Andy Schocken, as well as cinematographer Asad Faruqis gorgeous, intimate lens work.
Music aside, this Pakistani Buena Vista Social Club is a testament to the enduring potency of creative expression.
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Song of Lahore
MPAA rating: PG: for thematic elements, violent images, smoking
Running time: 1 hour, 22 minutes
Playing: Laemmle Music Hall, Beverly Hills. Originally reviewed Nov. 13, 2015.
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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
All the Way, the story of 1President Lyndon Johnsons battle to enact the Civil Rights Act of 1964 -- and keep his desk in the White House -- was one of Broadways biggest hits of 2014. If you missed the show in New York, you will get a chance to see a filmed version on HBO, starting on May 21, with Bryan Cranston reprising his Tony Award-winning role as LBJ.
We caught up with Cranston at the shows premiere at Paramount Studios last week, where co-executive producer Steven Spielberg and costars Anthony Mackie, Melissa Leo and Bradley Whitford were among those in attendance.
Whats the difference between performing this character on film, compared with the stage?
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In New York, there were 1,450 seats, and we had to raise our heads because the rake of the balcony was so steep, that if we dared speak intimately or lowly, they would just see the tops of our heads. So we were told to keep our faces up, and our voices had to be up.
So in film, you get an opportunity to drop it, and play it real. You can look away. You can look down. You can whisper. And that gives you an opportunity to connect with a real sensibility.
And yet, in the theater, there is an ebb and flow of a relationship with an audience that you dont have in film. Theyll laugh at something, or theyll gasp, and theyre sending messages back, and youre sending it back, and its alive and it breathes. And sometimes it gets stuck, and youre thinking, Its a strange audience tonight. And youre trying to find a way to communicate with them. Theres no do-overs. Once it starts, it doesnt stop.
In film, not having a live audience, how do you know when something is working -- or not?
You feel it. I talk to actors all the time. You leave an audition, you dont need to call your agent to see how you did. You know how you did. You celebrate if it goes well, or if not, you say, What can I do next time to make an improvement? You can work on your own as long as you want, but its not until you get on the set and feel the energy and feel the other actors, that it comes clear to you. Sometimes it takes a while to get it right. The more pre-preproduction you do -- the more you read through the script, the more you talk about it before the cameras start to roll, the less times you have where you really face a stumbling block.
What dont people know about LBJ?
Hopefully, this movie will expose that. Hes largely known for his failed policy in Vietnam. And now weve reached and surpassed the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and its important to take the time and revisit the history in its entirety. What he was able to achieve hadnt been done since FDR. Its an amazing achievement Head Start, Medicare, Medicaid ... the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was under him. And of course the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. Legislation that changed the face of our country.
MORE:
HBOs All the Way portrays LBJ in all his complex glory
Bryan Cranston talks about bringing LBJ to life in HBOs All the Way
The battle to close the Hollywood wage gap got a new champion when Robin Wright, star of Netflixs House of Cards, shared that she used tough-as-nails tactics when it came to negotiating her salary with the streaming content provider.
According to the Huffington Post, Wright told the story during an event Tuesday night hosted by the Rockefeller Foundation in New York as part of its new series, Insight Dialogues, which focuses on conversations with activists. Wright spoke with foundation President Judith Rodin about equal pay and human rights, in conjunction with the new documentary When Elephants Fight, which she narrated and which debuted on U.S. television in March.
I was like, I want to be paid the same as Kevin, said Wright, in reference to House of Cards costar Kevin Spacey. Spacey and Wright play Frank and Claire Underwood, a longtime married couple that feeds on conniving and power plays as they game the political system.
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It was actually from Claire that Wright took the most inspiration upon learning that she and Spacey were receiving different salaries.
I was like, You better pay me or Im going to go public, Wright recounted for the audience, And they did.
Both Wright and Spacey have earned Golden Globe awards for their performances on the series, which debuted its fourth season in March, and both serve as producers on the show.
The conversation surrounding inequality in Hollywood has been picking up traction as of late.
As reported by the Los Angeles Times last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has begun interviewing subjects other than just female directors in its investigation of alleged gender bias in the hiring of film and television directors.
In October, Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Californias Fair Pay Act, aimed at reducing the pay gap that separates the genders, a move that held particular resonance in Hollywood. In fact, Patricia Arquettes 2015 Oscar acceptance speech championing the end of pay inequality was credited by State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson as increasing the measures momentum.
As an example of Hollywoods penchant for underpaying women, Arquette pointed to Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence, who earned less than her male costars in the 2013 film American Hustle.
Though exact salary numbers for Wright and Spacey for House of Cards are unavailable, TV Guide reported in 2014 that Spacey was making $500,000 per episode, including his earnings as producer, or $6.5 million per 13-episode season. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Spacey received a salary bump from around $5 million to $9 million for the third season of the series.
By comparison, Forbes reported in 2015 that Wright had made $5.5 million from June 2014 to June 2015, a span that included the third season of House of Cards.
Netflix declined to comment on the matter and representatives of Wright did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning.
MORE:
With new equal-pay act, will Jennifer Lawrence get paid like Bradley Cooper?
Gender bias in Hollywood? U.S. digs deeper to investigate the industrys hiring practices
Kevin Spacey enters Race for the White House at CNN
Follow me on Twitter @midwestspitfire
More than six decades after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that separate but equal has no place in the nations public school system, a federal court has ordered the schools in a small Mississippi town to finally integrate.
Cleveland, a city halfway between Memphis and New Orleans in the Mississippi Delta, has long been divided by a railroad track that separates east from west and black from white. More than two-thirds of the local school districts 3,700 students are African American. Half of its schools are all black or nearly so.
Children who grow up on the east side attend the predominantly black D.M Smith Middle School and East Side High School. To the west, white children have historically attended Margaret Green Junior High School and Cleveland High School.
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This amounts to a dual system, in violation of the Constitution, according to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. In a 96-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Debra M. Brown concluded that Cleveland School District had failed to meet its obligation to desegregate and ordered it to merge its middle and high schools. She rejected as unconstitutional the districts alternative proposals of open enrollment or a combined middle school with two racially balanced high schools.
The delay in desegregation has deprived generations of students of the constitutionally-guaranteed right of an integrated education, she wrote in her opinion released late Friday. Although no court order can right these wrongs, it is the duty of the District to ensure that not one more student suffers under this burden.
On Tuesday, the Cleveland School District issued a statement saying its board believes its alternative proposals were not only constitutional but in the best interest of students, parents and the community. Its board is reviewing the court opinion and considering options for appeal.
Cleveland schools have been the subject of litigation for more than half a century. In 1965, more than a decade after Brown vs. Board of Education struck down state laws establishing racially separate public schools, 131 children, acting through their parents or guardians, filed an action seeking the desegregation of their school system. They alleged that officials were operating the public schools of Bolivar County, Mississippi, on a racially segregated basis.
Four years later, the chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi ordered the school district to be permanently enjoined from discriminating on the basis of race or color and directed it to take affirmative action to disestablish all school segregation and to eliminate the effects of the dual school system.
Black students were allowed to enroll in the all-white Cleveland High. Yet the school district went on to adopt an informal dual residence practice, allowing students to attend schools in zones outside of their residence if the student established a second residence during the week. According to the federal government, this tactic in effect served to maintain segregated schools.
In 1985, the U.S. intervened, asserting that the school district had frustrated the implementation of the court order and impeded the elimination of the vestiges of the dual system of public education.
After another decade of legal sparring, the dispute died down for 16 years until 2011, when the federal government filed a motion asking the court to order Cleveland to implement a desegregation plan that will immediately dismantle its one-race schools.
In court, parents of many backgrounds black and white spoke of their hope that future generations would learn in a diverse environment.
We can break down this wall of racism that divides us and keeps us separated, testified the Rev. Edward Duvall, a black parent with two children in Cleveland schools. We could create a new culture in our school system thats going to unite us and unite our whole city.
In her opinion, Judge Brown concluded that the school district had failed to meet its obligation to desegregate. Under the U.S. Justice Departments plan approved by the court, the district will merge the towns middle and high schools. The school system has three weeks to set out a timeline for desegregation.
The Justice Department welcomed the ruling.
This victory creates new opportunities for the children of Cleveland to learn, play and thrive together, Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division, said in a statement released Monday. The courts ruling will result in the immediate and effective desegregation of the districts middle school and high school program for the first time in the districts more than century-long history.
Cleveland is not the only district in the nation with racially segregated public schools.
A report released Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office found that schools across the country are becoming increasingly segregated by race and income. The number of public schools that were both poor and racially segregated has more than doubled from 7,009 in the 2000-01 school year to 15,089 in 2013-14.
This research reflects a sad reality: the color of your skin is more likely to determine whether you have access to a high-quality, well-resourced and diverse public school, Judith Browne Dianis, executive director of Advancement Project, said in a statement.
If we continue to allow broad swaths of our nations students of color to attend schools with less experienced teachers, disproportionate rates of suspension and expulsion, and fewer advanced classes and support services, we will further perpetuate the second class citizenship we have fought so hard to overcome.
South Carolina has become the latest state to restrict womens access to abortion, with legislators passing a bill that bans women from obtaining an abortion at 20 weeks or later, even if she has been raped or is a victim of incest.
The South Carolina Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act was approved by House lawmakers late Tuesday in a 79-29 vote. The only exceptions to the 20-week ban are if a doctor determines the mothers life is at risk or the fetus cannot sustain life outside the womb.
Doctors who violate the law could face up to $10,000 in fines and three years in jail.
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The bill, which Republican Gov. Nikki Haley is expected to sign into law, represents yet another state-level win for abortion opponents. They argued for the 20-week limit on the basis that a fetus can feel pain by that timea claim that is not supported by a preponderance of scientific evidence.
Ultimately, I would love to get rid of abortion completely. State Rep. Wendy Nanney, sponsor of South Carolinas bill restricting abortion
Sixteen other states, including Alabama and Wisconsin, have passed legislation similar to South Carolinas. Most have applied the limit at 20 weeks post-fertilization (22 weeks after the womans last menstrual period), but two states Arizona and Mississippi have banned abortions after 18 weeks.
State Rep. Wendy Nanney, the South Carolina bills Republican sponsor, said she was thrilled that the bill had passed, calling it a great step forward for the state.
I hope it will save lives and, as medical science moves along and we can see more and more into the womb, I hope that we can continue to push these weeks back, said Nanney, who believes life begins at conception.
Ultimately, I would love to get rid of abortion completely, she said.
Abortion restrictions have been enacted by states ever since the Supreme Court issued its landmark 1973 decision in Roe vs. Wade to legalize abortion.
Yet momentum has reached an unprecedented level in the last six years, as conservative legislators, predominantly in the Southeast and the Midwest, have drawn up an unprecedented number of laws that limit womens abortion access from tightening clinic regulations, introducing mandatory waiting periods, and placing limits on minors access to abortion.
Since 2011, states have enacted 320 abortion restrictions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research and policy group that monitors reproductive health laws.
The cumulative effect of all these laws, critics say, is to make it harder for women to obtain abortions.
Abortion rights supporters rally. (Mykal McEldowney/Indianapolis Star )
If you look at the Southeast, the entire landscape on abortion has shifted, said Elizabeth Nash, senior state issues associate at Guttmacher. Weve seen so many restrictions in so many states that providers are struggling to keep their doors open and women are struggling to access services.
I see these restrictions as a mountain that women have to climb, Nash said. This mountain keeps getting bigger and the burden keeps growing.
In Texas, where legislators in 2013 passed a law that required doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic where they practice, about half of the states abortion clinics have closed. The U.S. Supreme Court is now hearing arguments about whether that states law places an undue burden on the constitutional right to an abortion.
Time restrictions similar to South Carolinas are already in effect in 12 states, but South Dakotas new law does not go into effect until July and enforcement has been blocked in Arizona, Georgia, and Idaho by court challenges. The U.S. Supreme Court has yet to rule on whether such limits are constitutional.
In South Carolina, opponents of the newly passed bill argue that it undermines womens autonomy.
The reality is that abortion later in pregnancy is extremely rare and often takes place in complex and difficult situations where a woman and her doctor need every medical option available, said Alyssa Miller, South Carolina director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, in a statement.
Abortion is a deeply personal, often complex decision that is best left to a woman and her doctornot politicians.
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A supervisors vote on establishing the first legal dog beach on Orange County land has been halted indefinitely over concerns that having unleashed canines in the area could harm two at-risk bird species.
The Board of Supervisors recently delayed voting on the second reading of an ordinance that would change county law to permit off-leash dogs along a stretch of sand straddling the Newport Beach and Huntington Beach border at the Santa Ana River mouth.
The delay came about two weeks after county leaders unanimously approved the first reading of the ordinance, which would designate the land as the first official parcel for off-leash dogs in unincorporated Orange County since leash restrictions were first enacted in 1975.
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Though there is no official designation, the beach has long been a popular spot for owners to let their dogs run free.
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Following the boards first vote in late April, the Irvine-based Sea & Sage Audubon Society and the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy sent letters to the county calling for the supervisors to reconsider because the land is a nesting site for the endangered California least tern and a winter roosting spot for the threatened western snowy plover.
We are not opposed to changing dog access laws in more appropriate locations and, in fact, are in support of the dog beach currently operating in Huntington Beach, wrote Victor Leipzig, president of the Sea & Sage Audubon Society. Public access and enjoyment of the beach is very important to us; however, some of the most critical beach habitat for birds that remain in Southern California exists at river mouths.
Michelle Cook, communications director for Supervisor Michelle Steel, said that county staff was looking into the groups concerns and had not made a determination about the possible environmental effects of allowing dogs in the area.
Cook said staff eventually would meet with the groups to discuss the issue. It is unclear when county supervisors will again consider the ordinance.
The issue of leash laws at the Santa Ana River mouth came to the forefront late last year after Newport Beach Mayor Diane Dixon said she was fielding complaints from nearby homeowners about unleashed dogs and dog waste.
In response, the city conducted an online survey to determine whether Newport residents would favor the city enforcing county leash laws at that beach. Hundreds of people responded, with the majority asking the city to leave the area alone.
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The river mouth isnt regularly patrolled, so its difficult for county sheriffs deputies to cite dog owners who arent following the rules, city staff said.
In March, after two hours of passionate testimony from dog owners who frequent the spot, Newports Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission voted unanimously to reject a proposal to have city animal-control officers enforce leash restrictions there. The commission instead suggested the county look into designating the area as an official dog beach.
Dixon, city staff, dog beach advocates and Steel, who represents Newport Beach on the Board of Supervisors, began working on a proposal to that effect. In the meantime, dogs can be found frolicking on the sand and in the water.
Leipzig said the population of California least terns has increased by a few thousand since it was placed on the federal endangered species list in 1970. But the increase isnt enough to remove it from the list, he said.
A fenced preserve on the Huntington Beach side of the Santa Ana River provides a place for the birds to nest without disturbance from terrestrial predators, Leipzig said. They also use the beach and river mouth to court, bathe, teach their young to fly and forage for fish, he said.
The western snowy plover, which at one point nested in the area, now uses the river mouth for foraging and resting, Leipzig said. The bird is on the federal list of threatened species.
An endangered species is considered at risk of extinction. A threatened species is considered at risk of becoming endangered.
The Newport Beach City Council is expected to consider Tuesday whether to move forward with discussions about the city changing the fencing and adding pathways, more dog waste bags and trash cans in the area to accommodate dog owners.
Newport council candidate and dog beach advocate Mike Glenn said hes confident the county will move forward with changing the law, despite the delay.
I dont anticipate well get anything in the next round except for a unanimous vote, he said. The dogs are already in the area. Its not like were talking about introducing dogs when they had never been there before.
hannah.fry@latimes.com
Fry writes for Times Community News.
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Police departments in the East Bay and the California Highway Patrol have teamed up to try and stop a wave of suspected gang shootings on Bay Area freeways that have left four dead and nearly a dozen wounded since November, authorities said.
The latest shooting occurred Sunday afternoon, when authorities say gunmen in separate cars began firing at each other in Antioch and took the gunfight onto California 4, according to KGO. No one was reportedly injured, and the suspects were arrested.
In response to the string of shootings, the Pittsburg City Council on Monday unanimously approved spending $100,000 to install security cameras at street intersections in order to record activity on the highway.
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On April 19, a fatal shooting on the highway occurred in Pittsburg city limits, the chief of police noted in requesting the funds.
Since November, there have been at least 19 shootings that have killed four people and injured 11 others, the CHPs Golden Gate office announced on its Facebook page.
There have been three shootings on California 4, two each on U.S. 101, Interstate 580 and Interstate 880 and 10 shootings on Interstate 80, officials said.
Evidence suggests these shootings appear to be gang-related, with different gangs involved, the CHP said. We have no information to indicate that the public is being targeted at random.
In several of the shootings, the shooters followed their targets onto the freeway and opened fire on them there, Pittsburgs police chief said.
The CHP said it was working with Contra Costa County officials, the FBI and the Richmond Police Department, among other agencies, to investigate the incidents. Authorities have also increased patrols on Interstate 80, the CHP said.
For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna.
A Glendale police lieutenant is suing the city, alleging that she was denied a promotion to captain because of her gender, Armenian heritage and for threatening to blow the whistle on what she called an unlawful interview process, court records show.
Ludmilla Abrahamian claimed that she was the most qualified of six applicants who interviewed for the position in December. She discovered later that month that the panel of experts responsible for evaluating the candidates was handpicked by Glendale Police Chief Robert Castro and instructed how to rank the candidates, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Under Glendales civil service rules, Castro would ultimately select the candidate for promotion but is required to choose from among the professional panels top-three list. Once certified, that list is valid for two years or until its exhausted.
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Castro, the lawsuit alleged, made clear to the interviewers that he did not want a female or minority to be ranked in the top three positions.
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City Atty. Mike Garcia declined to comment via email Tuesday, noting that the city had not been served with or analyzed the lawsuit.
Abrahamians attorney Gregory Smith also declined to comment.
Castro could not immediately be reached Tuesday, but he has said in the past that his intention with his first captain promotion was to find a peacemaker who could communicate with and be respected by the entire organization.
Before he took the helm of the department more than two years ago, he said, allegations of favoritism were widespread.
I needed a captain that could bridge that gap among all the different people in the organization and make them have confidence that they were going to get opportunities to be successful regardless of what their past history may have been, Castro said, adding that this perspective was important for panelists to know.
In March, the Glendale Coalition for Better Government published a series of emails, obtained using state open records laws, between Castro and the panelists. The coalitions report is currently under review by the state attorney generals office.
Castro, who is Latino, indicated in one email that many past promotions were done for political and racial favor. He continued, I do not play that game so that is why I asked you to help me.
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The hiring panel scheduled a conference call for Nov. 23 and the following day Castro emailed the group again, indicating that one applicant had withdrawn, but he named three who were still in the process. Abrahamian was not one of them.
The panels top-three list, which the lawsuit alleged included the three candidates named in the email, was ultimately thrown out after human resource officials determined the communications were inappropriate.
The test was subsequently readministered by a second panel of experts.
Abrahamian alleged that the second time around, Castro chose panelists who he knew would appoint only males and disregard minorities, according to the lawsuit.
One of the panelists was Tom Angel, who at the time served as chief of staff to Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell. He recently resigned that post over emails he forwarded while he was Burbanks No. 2 police official, mocking Muslims, blacks, Latinos and women. Another unnamed panelist, the lawsuit alleged, had close ties to Castro.
In the lawsuit, Abrahamian, who has served as a lieutenant since 2010, also said she was denied the promotion in retaliation for notifying the city in December that she intended to sue.
In a letter sent to Abrahamians attorney on Jan. 4, City Atty. Mike Garcia confirmed that he received the request to preserve evidence. Two months later, a city spokesman denied to the Glendale News-Press that the city received such a request.
Tchekmedyian writes for Times Community News.
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Los Angeles County supervisors voted Tuesday to pursue state legislation that would allow them to impose a millionaires tax to pay for housing and services for the homeless.
The vote signaled resolution of a rift that opened between members of the county boards liberal majority on the issue last week.
The supervisors also approved a separate proposal to look at the nearly $1 billion a year the county is spending on homeless single adults in programs not directly related to reducing homelessness -- such as emergency medical care, mental health treatment, cash assistance and incarceration -- to see how the most chronic users of the system could be more effectively addressed.
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Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Sheila Kuehl proposed lobbying the state for legislation that would give the county authority to impose a new tax on personal income over $1 million a year to fund efforts on homelessness.
The question would still need to go to voters and receive two-thirds approval before it could take effect, but because the county does not have authority to increase income taxes, it would first require a change in state law.
A recent county-commissioned poll that looked at various possible funding measures for the November ballot found that likely voters were most supportive of the millionaires tax option, which would raise an estimated $243 million a year, with 76% of those surveyed being supportive.
The city and county of Los Angeles passed plans earlier this year aimed at reducing the regions growing problem of homelessness, and the county has approved $150 million in initial funding, but the source of ongoing funding to build housing and provide services remains in question. County analysts say almost $500 million a year would be needed to make significant reductions in the countywide homeless population, which currently stands at nearly 47,000.
But Supervisor Hilda Solis last week put the brakes on the proposal to move toward a millionaires tax, raising questions about the methodology of the polling and of the most recent homeless count conducted by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.
She said Tuesday that the majority of her concerns had been addressed and joined Ridley-Thomas and Kuehl in voting to pursue authority for counties to impose a millionaires tax for homeless services, probably through a budget trailer bill that would take effect in July.
We all share a common goal here, Solis said. We know that we need to find sustainable funding to address the homeless crisis.
The state is also considering a proposal to issue $2 billion in bonds to build 10,000 to 14,000 units of housing for mentally ill homeless people statewide. The money would be repaid over 20 to 30 years with money provided under Proposition 63, another millionaires tax that was approved by voters in 2004 to fund mental health programs. But the bond money would pay only for construction, not services or housing subsidies.
Kuehl asked that the county staff look into what effect a county tax measure might have on that state effort, but called the potential for a new local revenue stream dedicated to homeless services a historic opportunity.
The county has already stepped up in a big way on homelessness, she said. But we already know that given the magnitude of the homeless population in L.A. County, its still insufficient.
The boards two Republicans, Don Knabe and Michael D. Antonovich, voted against the proposal.
Antonovich said the proposed new tax would not address the problem and that laws should be changed to allow for more mandated mental health treatment of people who are homeless because of mental health issues.
It is not a simple resolution that we will provide a house and therefore there will be no more homeless on our streets, he said.
The board voted unanimously to approve the proposal by Solis and Knabe to examine existing spending on services to the homeless.
Dozens of advocates and services providers urged the board to pass both proposals.
Marsha Temple, who runs the nonprofit Integrated Recovery Network, said the homeless crisis represents the breakdown of society stretched out before our very eyes.
We must do everything within our power to end this crisis, she said. The cost of doing nothing is too high.
Lola Smallwood Cuevas, director of the Los Angeles Black Worker Center, told the story of one of the centers members, a construction worker who spent seven months living in his van down the street from a job site.
This is not a one-time fix, this is not a one-vote fix, she said. These problems werent made yesterday.
If the county does receive state approval to pursue a millionaires tax, the board would need to vote again to place it on Novembers ballot.
abby.sewell@latimes.com
Twitter: @sewella
A federal judge said Tuesday that a group of homeless people can continue to fight Los Angeles County in court over jail release policies that they claim perpetuate the cycle of inmates with untreated mental illness bouncing from incarceration to skid row.
The ruling came in a court battle over a settlement reached earlier this year between the Sheriffs Department and federal authorities as part of an effort to end deputy abuse of inmates and to improve chronically poor treatment of mentally ill inmates.
The homeless people former inmates with mental illness stemming from a personality disorder, developmental disability, dementia or substance abuse had asked to intervene in the settlement to receive better jail discharge services, including prescriptions for medication and referrals to community mental health treatment providers.
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Los Angeles County had reserved these special discharge efforts for inmates with more serious mental illness. The county asked that the homeless peoples claims be dismissed because it was uncertain whether they would land in jail again.
U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson in Los Angeles said the homeless people had demonstrated they had been jailed dozens, and in some cases hundreds, of times, in part because of their mental health conditions.
In some cases, it appears that [the former inmates] have entered the jail system largely as a result of their mental health conditions, and that those conditions have then been aggravated by incarceration and, in some cases, the denial of medication, Pregerson wrote in his order.
Mark Rosenbaum, director of Public Counsel Opportunity Under Law, which represented the former inmates, said the jail-to-skid-row cycle was a major cause of homelessness in Los Angeles, and called the ruling a first step in bringing it to an end.
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Sheriffs spokewoman Nicole Nishida said the department was reviewing the courts ruling.
Mentally ill jail inmates and homelessness are highly complex issues that require a multi-faceted response in order to adequately address, she said in an email. The sheriff is committed to working with his local, state, federal and private sector partners in order to develop long-term solutions to the mentally ill and homeless issues facing our county.
gale.holland@latimes.com
Twitter: @geholland
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UPDATES:
12 p.m.: This article was updated to include a response from the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department.
This article was originally published May 17, 2016, at 6:47 p.m.
A National Guard helicopter and Nordic skiers are searching for a hiker and his dog who disappeared near Donner Summit after he texted a photo to his family saying he would return Monday.
Searchers were looking for Cody Michael, 23, of Rocklin, Calif., and his German shepherd dog after the pair were last seen hiking on Sunday or Monday in the Loch Leven Lakes Trail area in Tahoe National Forest, according to the Placer County Sheriffs Office.
Were energized and have high hopes that well find Cody and his dog today, the sheriffs office said Wednesday on Facebook.
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On Monday, Michael texted a photo of himself and his dog to his family and told them he planned to leave the area by noon. But Michael and his dog never returned home and he hasnt been heard from since.
His vehicle was found at the trail head, sheriffs officials said.
Aided by search dogs and a snowmobile team, rescue teams looked for Michael and his dog along the snow-laden trail on Tuesday. High winds prevented an aerial search.
More than 30 volunteers returned to the area Wednesday to continue their search. The National Guard helicopter shuttled searchers to higher elevations of about 6,800 feet. Members of the Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue team and the El Dorado County Sheriffs Office were assisting.
Search dogs have begun sniffing items in Michaels car and will follow the scents along the trail.
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The rocky, moderately steep trail extends from South Yuba River canyon to a series of lakes.
Michael is 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighs 175 pounds and has brown hair and green eyes. He was carrying a backpack and his German shepherd was wearing dog boots.
Anyone with details about Michaels whereabouts is urged to call the sheriffs office at (530) 886-5375.
veronica.rocha@latimes.com
For breaking news in California, follow VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter.
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A babysitter fought off a man who tried to kidnap a 4-month-old baby girl from a stroller in a San Bernardino neighborhood on Tuesday, police said.
Edgar Valdez, 35, was arrested on suspicion of attempted kidnapping and child endangerment, said Lt. Rich Lawhead, spokesman for the San Bernardino Police Department.
The kidnapping attempt occurred about 9:37 a.m. in the 1400 block of North D Street, according to police.
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Carmen Perez had just removed the baby from a vehicle and placed her in the stroller near a Catholic Charities building when she saw Valdez quickly approaching her, police said.
Perez started screaming and ran toward the business while pushing the stroller. But Valdez grabbed the stroller, blocking her from entering the building, police said.
I thought he was going to take it or do something to us, Perez told KCBS-TV.
Perez was determined to protect the child and refused to let go of the stroller despite the attack, police said.
Valdez and Perez were involved in short struggle, according to police. He then pushed her to the ground as she maintained a tight grip on the stroller, police said.
After seeing Perezs refusal to give up the stroller, Valdez fled to the back of the business and changed clothes in attempt to disguise his identity, police said.
But a group of bystanders followed Valdez and detained him until police arrived, according to officials.
Perez and the baby girl were taken to an area hospital where they were treated for minor cuts and bruises.
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For breaking news in California, follow VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter.
A Los Angeles man has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting several women, including two in their 80s, in nursing homes and private residences during a yearlong crime spree, police said.
Danilo Arturo Gonzalez, 32, was taken into custody at his North Hollywood home Saturday and is being held on $2.15-million bail, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
The attacks began on March 27, 2015, when police allege Gonzalez saw a 66-year-old woman walking to her Northridge home, knocked her unconscious and sexually abused her.
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During the summer, Gonzalez walked through an open sliding glass door at a Northridge assisted-living facility and sexually assaulted an 81-year-old woman, police said. He also is accused of sexually assaulting a 71-year-old in Northridge on Sept. 30, police said.
The most recent attack at a Northridge elder care facility helped investigators identify Gonzalez, police said.
On May 13, Gonzalez again walked into the assisted-living facility through a sliding glass door and sexually assaulted an 81-year-old woman, police said. He also tried to sexually assault an 87-year-old woman before fleeing.
Its unclear whether Gonzalez was being represented by an attorney.
For more California news, follow me @MattHjourno. E-mail me at matt.hamilton@latimes.com.
A young girl had to get stitches after being mauled by a pit bull in San Bernardino last week, in an attack caught on surveillance video.
Eight-year-old Gabby Jones was on her way to school May 11, near L and Congress streets, when the attack happened, her mother told KTLA.
I thought I was going to die, the second-grader told KTLA, in an interview in which she showed the injuries on her hand, leg and face.
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Surveillance video from a neighbors home showed the dog pulling Jones to the ground. A man quickly steps in, kicking the dog away.
Everybody was just standing around with their cameras and hes the only one that had the guts and the courage to go help her, her mother, Rebecca Hernandez Patino, said.
Im just grateful that my baby is here, she said.
NBCLA reported that the dogs owner apologized to the family and said he euthanized the dog.
brittny.mejia@latimes.com
Follow me @brittny_mejia on Twitter
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Faced with growing questions from consumers about where their food comes from, the nations largest produce industry groups say they are joining forces to promote responsible farm labor practices the latest and possibly most significant attempt by the industry to rid its supply chains of abusive treatment of workers.
The move by the Produce Marketing Assn. and the United Fresh Produce Assn., still at an early stage, would be the industrys first attempt to unite thousands of growers, distributors and retailers behind a global approach to raising worker standards.
It was prompted in part by a Los Angeles Times investigation, published in late 2014, that exposed widespread labor abuses at Mexican export farms. That series led to reform pledges by Wal-Mart and the Mexican government, and raised consumer awareness of tainted supply chains.
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Were at a point in society where theres just a tremendous amount of interest in where food is grown and how its grown, said Tom Stenzel, chief executive of United Fresh. Its an evolution. Ten years ago we werent getting those questions from consumers.
Stenzel said the initiative may be partly modeled on the audit-based approach adopted by the apparel and electronics industries after they came under scrutiny for harsh labor conditions.
Were at a point in society where theres just a tremendous amount of interest in where food is grown and how its grown. Tom Stenzel, chief executive of the United Fresh Produce Assn.
The joint committee established by the associations is co-chaired by the chairman of Sams Club, and Stenzel said all players in the supply chain, including labor groups, will be permitted to participate.
If were going to do this right we have to listen to everybody and have an open and transparent process, Stenzel said this week.
The effort, like other industry-led initiatives, is getting a mixed reception. Considered an important and symbolic step to address the issue, the efforts credibility will hinge on various factors, labor groups and industry experts say, including its willingness to include certification and labor groups in the process.
When the two major produce trade organizations come together to recognize that more needs to be done on labor issues, we applaud those efforts, said Erik Nicholson, vice president of the United Farm Workers. They havent reached out to us, which leaves us feeling a little skeptical. But we hope that happens in the near future so we can work together.
NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>
The move comes at a time when boycott campaigns, media scrutiny and shifting consumer behavior have kept the industry under constant pressure. Supermarket shelves feature fresh produce from all over the world, creating supply chain challenges that span borders.
Boycott campaigns and other public pressure have helped the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a Florida-based labor movement, force Taco Bell, Wal-Mart, Burger King and other companies to join its Fair Food Program, which among other things provides bonus pay for workers.
Farm laborers in Baja California are pushing a boycott campaign against Driscolls, the worlds largest berry distributor, despite the companys suppliers in the region paying some of the highest farm worker wages in Mexico.
The Times Product of Mexico series exposed the harsh living and working conditions experienced by laborers at Mexican farms that supply Wal-Mart and other U.S. retailers. Many lived essentially trapped in squalid labor camps, often without beds or reliable water supplies, and had their pay illegally withheld.
The series, along with media coverage of a labor strike of pickers in Baja California, has contributed to reforms in Mexico. They include a historic agreement to raise wages in Baja California and the formation of a social responsibility trade group to improve the lives of more than 1 million laborers.
But progress has been mixed, and much resistance remains.
The industrys challenges, experts say, are similar to the ones it faced a decade ago, when it was forced to raise food safety standards to satisfy consumers. That effort proved largely successful after growers quickly began adopting minimum standards pushed by U.S. retailers.
Tackling labor issues will be more complicated. The approaches favored in the past by the industry, which include creating globally recognized worker standards, are criticized by some for lacking enforcement mechanisms. And proposals raised by labor groups have been rejected as too costly.
See the most-read stories this hour >>
On the positive side, motivation should not be lacking. Theres a desire for companies to get ahead of this game ... because consumers are concerned about these issues and retailers want to be able to present to their consumers that theyre protecting their supply chain from abuse, said Jim Prevor, a leading produce industry analyst.
Among the groups most eager to get involved are the many that conduct workplace audits and other certification services that retailers increasingly use as a way to assure consumers that their food is ethically produced.
Peter ODriscoll, executive director of the Equitable Food Initiative, a certification program that includes laborers in workplace issues and counts Costco among its partners, said the industrys effort sends a clear signal on responsible labor practices.
These two organizations are making an important statement that this issue needs to be dealt with, he said. It puts it on the map and now we can start focusing on specifics.
richard.marosi@latimes.com
Twitter: @ricardin24
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A Riverside County billboard that advertises breast augmentation surgery by declaring that bigger is better has raised the ire of a Murrieta High School student, who says the message should come down.
The sign, which sits along Interstate 15 in Murrieta, shows the words size matters between a B-sized coffee cup and the much larger D-sized coffee cup.
The sign was put up by Dr. Brian Eichenberg of Renuance Cosmetic Surgery Center in January to promote what he said was his most popular procedure, according to KABC-TV.
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But Murrieta High School sophomore Anna Gorski said she was offended by the ad and started an online petition to have it taken down.
This billboard is demeaning, objectifying, and inappropriate as it attacks womens bodies and promotes low self-esteem, the 15-year-old wrote on Change.org. I do not need a billboard to compare my breasts to coffee cups and tell me that their proportional sizes matter.
Eichenberg sees it differently.
He told the Riverside Press-Enterprise that plastic surgery is a positive thing because it makes women feel better about themselves, he said.
He told the paper that the majority of his clients are women who have had kids and want to restore their bodies to how they looked before having children. He said his office has 50 patients a day and that, typically, 48 of them are female.
Were very pro women, he said. We do surgery on them all day long.
He also said the ad was meant to poke fun at societal values. He said that some people were offended by the ad but that he had hundreds of people who had said they liked it.
Gorski said she understands that the doctor has a right to advertise but feels its wrong to put the sign in a public spot where families, women and young girls can see it.
By forcing us to view your advertising, you have shown a lack of respect to the citizens of this city who are not part of your target audience, she wrote.
So far, her petition has gathered more than 700 signatures.
The surgeon told the newspaper that he probably wouldnt take the sign down and that it was paid for until July.
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The space shuttle external tank known as ET-94 never flew, but it finished a decidedly different journey, by sea, early Wednesday when it docked in Marina del Rey atop a seagoing barge.
The 15-story tank left NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility, where it was built, last month. It was pulled by a tugboat called the Shannon Dann for 4,000 nautical miles en route to its new home at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.
It was an eventful ride for the orange giant. ET-94 rode out a storm in the Cayman Islands. It traversed the Panama Canal. And last week, the Shannon Dann rescued four people off the coast of Baja California after their fishing boat sank.
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Once part of a fleet of 136 external fuel tanks that flew during the shuttle program, ET-94 is the last remaining flight-ready tank in existence. The tanks detached from the shuttle and broke apart upon reentry.
ET-94 was the so-called sister to ET-93, the tank of the space shuttle Columbia which burned up on reentry in 2003, killing the seven astronauts on board. ET-94 was examined extensively in the investigation into what went wrong and was never used in a launch.
ET-94 will remain in Marina del Rey until early Saturday morning, when it will begin a 16.5-mile ride through Inglewood and Los Angeles city streets, like the shuttle Endeavour before it, on its way to the California Science Center in Exposition Park.
It will be displayed with the Endeavour, positioned vertically, as if ready for launch.
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Twitter: @haileybranson
A Huntington Beach man from a storied surfing family will face trial on charges that he tried to arrange the murder of his former sister-in-law for $12,000, an Orange County judge ruled Tuesday.
Joseph Jordan Taylor, 30, could face life in prison if convicted on charges of attempted murder and solicitation to commit murder.
Testifying at a preliminary hearing Tuesday at the Westminster courthouse, Huntington Beach Police Det. Trent Tunstall said that one of Taylors friends approached authorities in May 2015 to report that Taylor had given him $5,000 to arrange the murder of his former sister-in-law.
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As police surreptitiously recorded their conversation, Tunstall said, two undercover Huntington Beach detectives posing as potential hit men met with Taylor in the parking lot at the Westminster Mall soon after.
Taylor said the target was his brothers ex, and that she should be killed at her home after she dropped her kids off at school, Tunstall testified.
Taylor specified that it should be done before an upcoming custody hearing about the kids, according to Tunstall, and that it should look like a robbery gone bad.
He said he never wanted to see her again, Tunstall told the court. He suggested he wanted her hurt really bad.
Taylor agreed to pay $12,000 for the hit and was arrested later that day after he gave the undercover officers a $2,000 cash down payment, according to Tunstall.
Orange County Superior Court Judge William Monroe ruled that there was enough evidence for Taylor to stand trial on both counts.
Defense attorney Doug Myers asked the judge to reduce Taylors bail from $3 million to $1 million. Deputy Dist. Atty. Jess Rodriguez argued Taylor is a flight risk who had previously fled to Mexico to avoid the law and had access to a family boat.
The judge kept the bail at $3 million.
According to the Orange County district attorneys office, Taylor has five prior strike convictions for kidnapping, carjacking, making criminal threats, hit and run, and causing injury while driving under the influence.
Along with Taylor, three other men were originally arrested in connection with the alleged scheme, though charges were quickly dropped for lack of evidence.
They were Taylors younger brother, Matthew Austin Taylor, a well-known surfer; their father, John Reid Taylor, a surf-shop proprietor who was part of the Hole in the Wall Gang surf team, which gained prominence in the 1960s and 1970s; and Travis Sprague of Long Beach.
Only Joseph Taylor still faces charges.
christopher.goffard@latimes.com
Twitter: @LATchrisgoffard
For months, Ive been hearing the same question over and over from readers following the ongoing festival of the absurd at the California Coastal Commission.
Where in the name of the father, son and holy coast is Gov. Jerry Brown, and why doesnt he say or do something?
Good question.
Browns Coastal Commission is thrashing about, and lawmakers have rushed to the rescue with several reform bills.
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But the governor is quieter than a California field mouse.
Lets go back to February, when Browns four appointees to the commission voted along with others to guillotine Executive Director Charles Lester, despite objections from hundreds of public officials and environmental stewards.
It was a shocking, confidence-shaking moment for one of the nations most powerful regulatory agencies, whose simple and sacred duty is to protect 1,100 miles of coastal treasures.
But Brown had nothing to say.
I reached out to him again this week to talk about any one of umpteen swirling controversies involving the commission, but his staff, again, wasnt able to squeeze me in.
You know what I think?
Im just guessing, but Brown must be fine with a trend in which several commissioners, including his appointees, often seem as if theyre placing development lobby interests over the public interest, even if that means aggressively challenging the recommendations of their own expert staff.
I assume that he knows whats going on, and that hes OK with it, said Commissioner Mary Shallenberger, one of eight commissioners who do not serve at Browns pleasure. Otherwise he would weigh in.
Brown, who many years ago referred to coastal commissioners as bureaucratic thugs, may believe that too much interference awaits those who want to slap another hotel on the coast or add a cabana onto a beach compound, or build five humongous mansions on a Malibu hillside (like U2 guitarist David the Edge Evans).
And I think that his appointees to the commission and his top administrative deputies are doing exactly what they think the boss wants them to do.
Well, if youre going to err on the side of development, thats one thing. Id have thought Brown would have insisted on higher standards of decorum and integrity.
My Sunday column focused on Commissioner Martha McClure, a Brown appointee. I called to ask if it was true that she stayed at the Tuscan-style Malibu villa of a heavyweight coastal development consultant.
Sure, she said, and she saw nothing wrong with it. But she took issue with me, and let loose an impressive stream of unprintables -- explaining in a Northern California newspaper Tuesday that if she cussed me out like a sailor, it was because she was raised by a logger. (I think Im starting to like her.)
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McClure also told me about a call she got from someone in the governors office asking if she was OK amid the storm of criticism that followed her vote to dump Lester. That was considerate, though to my knowledge no one on the governors staff called to console commissioners who wanted Lester to continue his fierce defense of the Coastal Act.
Actually, I like the idea of the governor or his staff asking the commissioners questions, and I can think of a few.
Ask Commissioner Greg Cox about that $3,000 conflict-of-interest fine he paid for voting on a Sea World permit when his wife owned stock in the company.
Ask Commissioners McClure and Erik Howell (another Brown appointee) about the ethics investigations into their receipt of campaign donations from the domestic and business partner of the states most influential coastal development lobbyist.
And speaking of potty-mouthed commissioners, the governor might ask Mark Vargas why he recently F-bombed attendees at a hearing.
Vargas, by the way, is the guy who hobnobbed at an Ireland concert last year with U2s Evans just before voting on the musicians cluster of habitat-crushing Malibu monstrosities.
Commissioner Wendy Mitchell, who owns a consulting business, was recommended to the commission by her buddy Susan McCabe, the most prolific consultant in the coastal application business.
Anybody in the governors office see anything wrong with that?
Or with the fact that Mitchell voted last year on a Santa Barbara project that involved one of her clients, or that she posted a photo of herself and the U2 guitarist on Facebook, along with an apology for how long it took the commission to let him massacre the mountain.
Finally, maybe the governor could ask commission Chairman Steve Kinsey why he failed to report, as required, two visits in the last several months with developers at the site of the controversial Newport Banning Ranch development, a project for which Kinsey challenged the staffs science on the anticipated damage to an environmentally sensitive habitat.
Its no wonder that state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson has introduced a bill banning so-called ex-parte communications, the private sessions between commissioners and interested parties.
To be fair, on any given day, maybe half the commissioners do a difficult job extremely well.
But its no wonder readers keep writing me to ask what they can do about the others.
You can go to the monthly Coastal Commission meetings and speak your mind. But be forewarned. Some commissioners have been known to privately trash environmentalists and others who dare to hold them accountable.
You can also Tweet about this fiasco using #Saveyourcoast -- and make sure to include @JerryBrownGov and let him know the commission needs a house cleaning.
And maybe throw in @Rendon63rd, for state Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, and @kdeleon, for Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, each of whom controls four commission appointments. They dont have the authority, as does Brown, to fire commissioners, but they can certainly light fires if they so choose.
Or you can call the governors office at (916) 445-2841, and remind him that the Coastal Act took effect during his first term as governor, in 1976.
Our coastal zone, says the elegantly conceived document, is a distinct and valuable natural resource of vital and enduring interest to all the people and exists as a delicately balanced ecosystem.
It states that the permanent protection of the states natural and scenic resources is a paramount concern to present and future residents of the state and nation.
See the most-read stories this hour >>
And the world.
Seriously.
Have you had a sunset stroll along the beach in San Clemente lately?
Have you rumbled past Rincon on the Surfliner or hiked the cliff-hanging trails of Bodega Head?
Youre going to hear German and Farsi and Swahili.
The world has its eyes on our coast.
Does our governor?
Steve.lopez@latimes.com
@LATstevelopez
MORE FROM STEVE LOPEZ
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The space shuttle external tank known as ET-94 never flew, but it finished a decidedly different journey, by sea, early Wednesday when it docked in Marina del Rey atop a sea barge.
The 15-story tank began its journey last month from NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana, where it was built, pulled by a tugboat called the Shannon Dann for 4,000 nautical miles en route to its new home at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.
The tank cleared the breakwater of the marina at 5:57 a.m. beneath a gray sky.
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Rick Oefinger, president of Marina del Rey Sportfishing, standing near his dock just before 6 a.m., said he was planning for big crowds to pour into Fishermans Village over the next few days to see the tank.
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Its exciting, every time you see a piece of solid, all-American equipment, he said. You feel kind of patriotic. You feel good.
It was an eventful ride for the orange giant. ET-94 rode out a storm in the Cayman Islands. It traversed the Panama Canal. And, last week, the Shannon Dann rescued four people off the coast of Baja California after their fishing boat sank.
Once part of a fleet of 136 external fuel tanks that flew during the shuttle program, ET-94 is the last remaining flight-ready tank in existence. The tanks detach from the shuttle and break up in the atmosphere.
ET-94 was the so-called sister to ET-93, the tank of the space shuttle Columbia, which broke apart and burned up on reentry in 2003, killing the seven astronauts on board. ET-94 was examined extensively in the investigation into what went wrong and was never sent into space.
ET-94 will remain in Marina del Rey until early Saturday morning, when it begins a16.5-mile ride through Inglewood and Los Angeles city streets, similar to the shuttle Endeavour before it, on its way to the California Science Center in Exposition Park.
It will be displayed with the Endeavour, positioned vertically, as if ready for launch.
The space shuttle external tank known as ET-94 never flew, but it finished a decidedly different journey, by sea, early Wednesday when it docked in Marina del Rey atop a sea barge.
Oefinger had been tracking the progress of the tank on a marine tracking mobile app, which reported it nearing the Marina moving at 4.3 knots.
Spectators lined the docks at Fishermans Village as the big orange tank pulled in, snapping photos and waving small American flags that said, Marina del Rey welcomes ET-94.
Kayakers and paddleboarders watched and a few sea lions popped their heads out of the water nearby as the tank neared.
When it became visible, Susan Glasheen, 61, of Playa Vista, gasped. Camera time! She said, whipping out her iPhone.
She and her neighbor, Kyla McDaniel, 48, watched from chairs by the water, clutching cups of coffee. They got there around 5:30 a.m., in the dark.
Glasheen had witnessed part of Endeavours journey through the streets of Los Angeles in 2012, meeting it near Los Angeles International Airport before 3 in the morning. Shell never forget the image of the nose of the shuttle appearing suddenly in the dark.
She said she couldnt miss the tanks arrival.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, she said. As the tank slowly pulled in, she put her camera down and just watched, soaking it in.
It took nearly two hours for the tank to cross the marina.
Tracey Herold and her 12-year-old daughter, Magbee, of Marina del Rey, watched excitedly as it passed.
Its big! Magbee said as it pulled closer. The sixth-grader said she would tell her friends and science teacher about it at school later.
Nobodys going to believe me, though, she said, grinning. Im going to tell them I saw a giant orange jelly bean.
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One woman said ET-94 looked like a hot dog. A man said it reminded him of the big doughnut atop Randys Donuts, huge and out of proportion to everything around it.
One boat in the harbor had a big blue banner reading, Marina del Rey welcomes ET-94.
In the crowd along the water, one woman said softly, its a sight to see, isnt it?
Someone else laughed at the seagulls swooping in: These birds couldnt care less.
Dave Morse, 80, rode his bike from his home in Venice to see the arrival.
Its like watching paint dry, he said as the tank moved very slowly through the water. You can tell theyre being careful with it.
Gary Sherman, 63, a retiree from Marina del Rey, watched with his pug, Max.
NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>
Sherman said his father worked on the space shuttle program years ago as a quality control engineer. Sherman said he saw one of the last shuttle launches in Florida and saw the Endeavour when it was at LAX in 2012.
Seeing the tank reach Los Angeles was a capstone, he said.
Its like the end of an era, the end of a chapter, he said. My dads been gone some 20 years now, but its like a piece of his work and a part of his life.
Nine-year-old Clash Bushwell, a third-grader from El Segundo who came with his pajama-clad family, said he was also going to tell his friends and science teacher at school about the experience.
Looking at the tank in the water and drinking hot chocolate, he said, It looks kind of old.
He said he was ready to answer classmates questions about what the tank did on the shuttle.
Im going to tell them I had to wake up really early and that there was a space shuttle fuel rocket. I think some of them will believe me.
He likes space stuff, he said, grinning, but Im not a geek about it.
This, though, was pretty cool, he said.
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UPDATES:
8:46 a.m.: This post was updated with more details from ET-94s arrival.
8:13 a.m.: This post was updated with details from the tanks arrival.
This story was originally published at 6:49 a.m.
Drinking in the sweeping view from the Locks Cafe, mayor and riverboat captain Tom Cramblett had to laugh at the thought of his little Oregon town being caught up in an eight-year fight over sharing its water.
Out the windows, the mighty Columbia River rolled past at 265,000 cubic feet per second on its serpentine journey from the Canadian Rockies to the Pacific Ocean. To the mayors back was the snow-capped peak of Mt. Hood, whose melt helps feed tributaries, creeks and falls that collect in the Columbia Gorge.
And it rains here almost 80 inches a year, said Cramblett, 65, a beefy, gray-bearded man decked out in riverboat fashion including suspenders and shoulder epaulets.
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Cafe worker Brian High, 26, a recent San Diego transplant, said hes here for the water too. The gorge, the river -- I got tired of just visiting.
What has the mayor grousing about water this afternoon is a lengthy fight between environmentalists and civic leaders over a small spring that feeds into the 1,243-mile Columbia. Compared with the river, Oxbow Springs is a drop in the bucket. But its pristine mountain water is coveted by Nestle, the worlds largest food producer, which wants to bottle 140 million gallons of it annually and sell it under the Arrowhead brand.
Cascade Locks gets almost 80 inches of rain a year. (Don Ryan / Associated Press )
Despite the Swiss conglomerates promise of wages for water, thats not going to happen soon. On Tuesday, Hood River County voters approved a ballot measure to block the companys plans. Oregon Measure 14-55, which holds any bottler to a daily production of 1,000 gallons (about 10 times less than Nestle hoped for), was passed by a 69% favorable vote, with an impressive turnout of 66%.
Aurora del Val, leader of the ballot campaign for the Local Water Alliance in Hood River, said Wednesday that her group celebrated the incredible landslide victory the night before at a local winery.
Im pretty psyched, and sleep-deprived, she said. But other communities around the nation, who are also under the threat of losing water rights, have already been contacting us. As far as we know, this is the first county to ban large-scale industrial water bottling.
Nestle was obviously disappointed with the outcome of an effort that began in 2008 with a proposal to draw from the springs, trucking the water in tankers to a proposed $50-million bottling works in town.
Nestle spokesman David Palais said in a statement: While we firmly believe this decision on a county primary ballot is not in the best interest of Cascade Locks, we respect the democratic process.
The Scenic Winds Motel in Cascade Locks, Ore. (Don Ryan / Associated Press )
Cascade Locks city leaders had backed Nestles bid, citing the benefits of an expanded local taxing source and the 50 jobs it was supposed to bring. That would be a big boost to the economically depressed, tourist-dependent town of just over 1,000 residents, 40 miles east of Portland. In return, Nestle would obtain a valuable resource to help slake Americas thirst for plastic-bottled water.
Environmentalists argued that besides the energy costs of producing and disposing of more plastic bottles, and a bottling plant that would add 200 truck trips daily, Nestles water grab could aggravate the regions risk of shortages due to climate change and drought.
Nestle had seemingly been closing in on a deal with Cascade Locks -- one of the oldest settlements on the Columbia and once home to locks that lifted marine traffic past the rivers Cascade Rapids (the locks were replaced in 1938 by a similar lift downriver at the Bonneville hydroelectric dam).
NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>
But opposition grew, and Oregons Democratic Gov. Kate Brown stepped in to slow the process last year, saying it required more public involvement. The water alliance filed its ballot measure last fall and began to question the motives of a corporate giant with $10 billion in annual revenue.
Financial reports showed each side had spent about $40,000 on mailers, radio pitches and campaign videos -- although Nestle was not directly involved. Or so it seemed. A filing made just days before the vote revealed the corporation had actually contributed $105,000 to a political action committee, the Coalition for a Strong Gorge Economy, to oppose the measure. In a last-minute response, the environmentalists denounced that as corporate evildoing.
Nestle gave no indication after the vote what it might do next, if anything. But theres widespread belief the fight is far from over.
The Columbia River, which runs between Oregon and Washington state. (Don Ryan / Associated Press )
This is about our town, not Hood River or anyplace else, said Cramblett, taking a break from the wheelhouse on the 147-foot sternwheeler as passengers boarded for a dinner cruise.
The opposition was centered out of town and they had no say in Cascade Locks politics, Cramblett said -- although Del Val says shes a resident and lives just four houses from the mayor.
Jobs are badly needed around here, says Cramblett, who has three of them. When hes not behind the pilots wheel or presiding as mayor, he works as a groundskeeper in surrounding Marine Park, beneath the old steel toll bridge to Washington.
Our tourist season lasts from July through August, the mayor says. I have to work 60 hours a week to make a living wage most of the time.
We have no industry here. Weve lost some population. We had to cut some services. The one thing we have to sell -- water -- we cant.
Cramblett said the vote would probably be challenged in court.
We may just be getting started.
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Hoping to reassure Republicans worried that he might be too liberal, Donald Trump on Wednesday named 11 conservative judges from outside the Washington Beltway as his likely choices for a Supreme Court justice should he be elected president.
For a presidential candidate to release such a list before the election or, in Trumps case, even before formally winning the nomination is highly unusual.
The move comes as Trump is seeking to unify Republicans. Presenting a list of judges well known on the right could help him with a significant constituency: social conservatives who have been skeptical of his past support for liberal stands on issues such as abortion.
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But as with many other moves by Trump, the announcement raised questions not least of which was how committed the New York businessman was to the list or even how familiar he is with those on it.
Several of the names have appeared on published lists by conservative groups such as the Heritage Foundation, and at least one, Texas Supreme Court Justice Don R. Willett, has publicly mocked Trump in Twitter messages in recent weeks.
Most of the judges on Trumps list come from the South and Midwest. Conspicuously absent are any currently working on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which is the conventional breeding ground for high court nominees. That seems to fit in well with Trumps narrative as a Washington outsider.
Five are Republican appointees to state supreme courts: Willett, Allison Eid of Colorado, Joan Larsen of Michigan, Thomas Lee of Utah and David Stras of Minnesota.
The six others are George W. Bush appointees to federal appellate courts around the country: Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania on the 3rd Circuit; Raymond Kethledge of Michigan on the 6th; Diane Sykes of Wisconsin on the 7th; Steven Colloton of Iowa and Raymond Gruender of Missouri on the 8th; and William Pryor of Alabama on the 11th.
Larsen was once a clerk for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, whose seat has yet to be filled.Three others were once clerks for Justice Clarence Thomas, Scalias conservative partner at the high court.
Missing from the list are prominent conservatives from Washington, D.C., including Judge Brett Kavanaugh, a Bush appointee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, and former U.S. Solicitor Gen. Paul Clement, both of whom have been seen as strong candidates for the high court in the next Republican administration.
Trumps list won plaudits from conservative activists as well as Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), the Judiciary Committee chairman who has refused to hold a confirmation hearing for Judge Merrick Garland, President Obamas nominee to replace Scalia.
Mr. Trump has laid out an impressive list of highly qualified jurists, Grassley said, citing Colloton as an example. Understanding the types of judges a presidential nominee would select for the Supreme Court is an important step in this debate so the American people can have voice in the direction of the Supreme Court for the next generation.
Carrie Severino, a former Thomas clerk and lawyer for the Judicial Crisis Network, a conservative group, said it was heartening to see so many Midwesterners and state court judges on the list. They would bring a valuable perspective to the bench.
The current Supreme Court has been faulted by some because all of its justices were educated at the Harvard or Yale law schools, and most spent their working careers in Washington, New York or Boston.
Josh Blackman, a professor at the South Texas College of Law, praised Trump for naming five judges who serve on state high courts.
------------
FOR THE RECORD
6:03 a.m.: An earlier version of this article identified a South Texas College of Law professor as Josh Blackmun. His name is Josh Blackman.
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We have not had a justice appointed from a state court since Ronald Reagan plucked Sandra Day OConnor from the Arizona [state] Court of Appeals, he said. Doing so would reinforce the importance of federalism and that federal Constitution is not the end-all, be-all of laws.... I still harbor serious doubts about Mr. Trumps views on constitutional law, but his advisers have served him well here.
Nan Aron, president of the liberal Alliance for Justice, said Trumps list demonstrates the enormous stakes in the coming election for the future of the court. Taken together, the records of these potential Trump nominees reflect a radical-right ideology that threatens fundamental rights and that favors the powerful over everyone else.
See the most-read stories this hour >>
Some conservatives expressed doubts about whether Trump was truly committed to his list. Charles Sykes, an influential conservative radio host in Wisconsin, who has strongly criticized Trump, is the former husband of Diane Sykes. In a Twitter message, he praised his ex-wife, saying she would be an outstanding choice.
But, he said, I simply dont believe Trump.
The most outspoken conservative on the list is Pryor, an Alabama native and protege of the states Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions. Pryor has called the Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion the worst abomination in the history of constitutional law. In 2005, the advocacy group Lambda Legal called him the most demonstrably anti-gay judicial nominee in recent memory and noted that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper described him as a right-wing zealot.
In an early campaign debate, Trump cited Pryor and Sykes as potential Supreme Court nominees to replace Scalia.
Willett made Trumps list even though he has repeatedly used Twitter to mock the candidate.
In February, when Trump referred to Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. signing a bill, Willett tweeted, Im 100% certain than in my 10+ years as a Supreme Court Justice, Ive never once signed a bill.
In another tweet, Willet wrote, Who would the Donald Name to #SCOTUS? The mind reels weeps cant finish tweet. Another time he suggested Trump may be liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in disguise. Cant wait till Trump rips off his face Mission Impossible-style and reveals a laughing Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Lee, the Utah justice, is the son of former Reagan-era Solicitor Gen. Rex Lee and the brother of Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah.
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MORE POLITICAL COVERAGE
Times staff writer Michael Finnegan in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
On Twitter: DavidGSavage
A year ago, Yvonne Spike Reeves rushed off the interstate and pulled into the rainy parking lot of Twin Peaks restaurant, desperately searching for two bikers.
Instead, Reeves found a gunfight raging, a chaotic mix of police and bikers. Some belonged to the Bandidos, others to the rival Cossacks, the club her husband, Owen Big O Reeves, and son, Richard Chain Jordan II, rode with.
As bullets flew, a stranger pulled Reeves, 46, to safety under the awning of a nearby business. Her cellphone rang, and she heard her husbands voice: Police had stopped him, he said. She asked about Chain, 31, his stepson.
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A coward shot him in the back of the head. Thats all I know, Reeves, 43, said before he was arrested.
Theyre not even finished with the investigation, says Houston-based attorney Abigail Anastasio, who is representing one of the bikers. She said shed been told that authorities are still processing evidence.
On Tuesday, the one-year anniversary of a shootout at Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas, Yvonne Reeves, 47, and Matthew Barnes, 53, came to mourn -- she for her son, he for a friend -- at a makeshift shrine outside the now-shuttered restaurant.
Nine bikers were killed that Sunday and two dozen were injured. The shootout and the ensuing investigation cast a national spotlight on motorcycle clubs, but has yet to reveal who was responsible for the violence in Waco.
This much is known: A regional biker club confederation had scheduled a lunch meeting at Twin Peaks that day, and after the Cossacks arrived, shooting started.
Its not clear who fired the first shot. Police and security cameras show the restaurant parking lot and patio devolving into chaos, with bikers running for cover and attacking each other. Hundreds of weapons were confiscated after the shooting, police said, including more than 150 guns, some found stashed in a toilet.
Seven members of the Cossacks were killed, as well as one Bandido and an unaffiliated biker. Investigators arrested 177 people on suspicion of organized criminal activity, so many that the suspects had to be restrained with zip ties in the parking lot and shuttled to the citys convention center for processing. All were initially held on $1-million bail.
Attorneys for the bikers and their clubs condemned the mass arrests as profiling, a civil rights violation, although most of the bikers arrested were white and some had criminal records.
Steve Cochran, Waco-based director of the Texas legislative committee for the national motorcycle group U.S. Defenders, said the shooting damaged bikers credibility and hurt their families.
They put 177 people in jail because of association and thats against the Constitution Steve Cochran
Were trying to raise money so they can pay their electric bills and feed those kids, he said, faulting investigators.
They put 177 people in jail because of association and thats against the Constitution, Cochran said. I would like for them to determine who they know for a fact was involved in the shooting and let everyone else go.
Many, including Owen Reeves, were eventually released on bond, weeks after the shootout. By this spring, 154 had been indicted, including Reeves. They have yet to stand trial or receive trial dates. Some attorneys said they could not discuss the case, citing a gag order issued by a local judge.
Waco Police Sgt. Patrick Swanton confirmed the investigation was ongoing, but declined further comment. A spokeswoman for McLennan County Dist. Atty. Abelino Reyna also declined to comment about the cases or the motion.
More than a dozen Waco police officers, including members of a SWAT team, had staked out Twin Peaks before the shooting, but police have yet to identify those involved. Three officers fired a dozen shots with .223-caliber patrol rifles, police have said, and four of the bikers killed were shot with the same caliber rifle, according to evidence reviewed by the Associated Press.
Reeves, a home health aide in Waco, phones detectives regularly.
They tell me they cant tell me anything, she said.
She said she doesnt understand why officers camped outside the restaurant that day didnt do more to prevent the shooting.
The police could have circled the place. I dont know why they just sat there and let it erupt, she said.
She knew all of the Cossacks killed in the shooting -- the Waco 7, friends and family call them. Their families and many of those injured or arrested in connection with the shooting lost jobs and are struggling to get by, she said. Reeves husband lost his -- at a local mattress factory where her son had also worked -- and hasnt found a new one.
Reeves has been riding her sons black Harley-Davidson, which she plans to give to his eldest son, his namesake. But on Tuesday morning she was loaded down with balloons and had to catch a ride instead in a relatives yellow and black truck to a memorial outside Twin Peaks.
She tied her blond hair back in a yellow bandanna, slipped on Cossack scimitar earrings, a 7 necklace and motorcycle boots, tattoos just visible at the edge of her black t-shirt. After her sons death, Reeves had three of his images etched on her left arm.
She said her son was no hardcore biker. He had been riding with her husband for half a dozen years, didnt have a criminal record and wasnt armed the day of the shooting.
He was forgetful. As a boy, he used to lose his wallet. So he got one with a chain that attached to his pants, and still managed to lose it. Over the years, the chains grew heavier, earning him his nickname.
He left behind a wife and three children, ages 10, 9 and 6. Sometimes, like today, his widow accompanies Reeves to a small tree outside Twin Peaks.
It was by the tree that her sons body was found.
Reeves comes to the tree at least three times a week, sometimes more.
On Tuesday, Reeves found police parked beside the tree, worried about retaliation. Twin Peaks closed its doors after the shooting. Its signs are now gone and the parking lots is marked with No trespassing signs. Reeves and a dozen friends and family were be allowed to visit, but only briefly.
They released a chain of helium balloons at the hour the shooting had erupted before noticing some men in what looked like red and gold -- Bandidos colors -- snapping pictures with their phones. Reeves daughter-in-law was so worried about her safety, she wore a mask and hooded cloak. Others pulled yellow bandannas over their faces.
Across the lot, Matthew Barnes, 53, a Waco contractor, arrived on a red motorcycle wearing a pistol and assault-style rifle at his waist, but said he wasnt a Bandido. He came to mourn unaffiliated biker Jesus Mohawk Rodriguez, 65, a Vietnam veteran.
Nine people needlessly lost their lives, Barnes said as he stared at the tree.
Reeves warily returned to her familys truck, unsure when she would return.
I figured I would go until I could go without crying, she said.
That hasnt happened yet.
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molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com
@mollyhf
As Californias crime rate bottomed out last year and began to rise again, some law enforcement leaders and elected officials complained that they had been misled. All those programs they had been promised that were supposed to help addicts and former inmates re-enter society safely, without committing new crimes, had failed to materialize.
Consider, for example, this assertion by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti in his State of the City speech in April:
The safety net that was supposed to come with criminal justice reform? Its simply not there.
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The implication is that someone, somewhere, had failed to follow through on a commitment. Local leaders point increasingly to Proposition 47, the 2014 ballot measure that reclassifies drug possession for personal use and several property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors and requires the savings recouped by the state prison system, by no longer having to house so many felons, to be reallocated to anti-recidivism, education and victim services programs.
In fact, Proposition 47 is right on schedule, and local leaders know it. The state calculates prison savings on an annual basis, and the first full year under the ballot measure does not end until June 30. Counties and cities will then submit their requests, and funds will begin flowing later this year.
The problem is not that the money is late its not but rather that Gov. Jerry Brown may be lowballing the actual savings figure. Instead of the $150 million that the state legislative analyst projected, the governor identified only a small fraction of that in his January spending plan. In the revised budget he released last week, he upped the figure but only to $40 million, well short of the mark.
There are many ways to crunch numbers. Democratic Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer of Los Angeles, for example, used to be an L.A. City Hall bureaucrat and learned to cover up savings in order to keep it on hand for other projects.
I know how to hide money, he told a gathering of residents and activists at the Community Coalition in South Los Angeles recently. I know how to block budgets.
He promised to use that savvy to press the governors bureaucrats for a larger, more realistic savings figure to be distributed under Proposition 47.
We take him at his word and hold him to it. The same goes for other members of the Legislature, whose home counties and cities need the funding guaranteed under the ballot measure. It falls to them, in the few weeks before the budget is finalized, to go to bat for California voters who have demanded a fundamental shift in criminal justice spending from prison expansion to locally based crime prevention and anti-recidivism programs.
The Los Angeles City Council and the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, along with other local governments, have adopted resolutions urging the governor to use the formula employed by the Legislative Analysts Office, which calculates the savings at more than three times the governors current number.
Meanwhile, they and other local governments should be preparing their proposals for wisely spending the first allocations of funding this summer. L.A. city and county representatives have been conducting a series of workshops around the county to assess the needs, and solicit ideas in order to squeeze as much as possible in reentry services, drug treatment, mental health treatment, victim assistance and anything else to deter crime and prevent its recurrence from each dollar that Proposition 47 saves.
Garcetti wisely created an Office of Reentry to coordinate such services from City Hall, so although he may lose a point for suggesting a promise was broken, he gains it back by helping ensure that the safe and responsible return of inmates to their communities.
L.A. County until recently fell behind the rest of the state in targeting recidivism. Now its at the head of the class, acknowledging that it, like the state, has saved money because of Proposition 47 due to reduced caseloads. Its now trying to quantify those savings so that they can be put to work and making sure that county bureaucrats dont lowball the figure the same way the governor has done.
When nearly 200 countries agreed in Paris late last year to work together to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, one crucial detail was left hanging: verification.
Under the accord, the nations backed a set of principles and goals designed to stop global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the point beyond which many scientists believe catastrophic climate change will occur. Some experts questioned whether even the pacts aspirational target of 1.5 degrees Celsius would be low enough to avoid the worst effects.
Now it turns out that the world is warming even faster than previously anticipated. NASA announced over the weekend that last month was the warmest April on record and said it marked the seventh month in a row of global temperature records and the third straight month that the old record was smashed by the largest margin ever. Climate experts say that 2016 will likely be the hottest year on record, by the widest margin on record. Those changes reinforce the broad scientific agreement that drastic reductions in carbon production are crucial.
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The Paris accord was supposed to start us down that path, and it was an important, if tardy and insufficient, step forward. Yet it is an agreement based on little more than good intentions. The pact is voluntary, with international shaming of transgressors the only truncheon available. Each country is responsible for measuring and attesting to its own emissions. It is, in effect, an honor system for saving the planet.
That is a significant weakness. Beyond the obvious problem that nations can simply lie about their emissions, theres the secondary problem of false reporting by private actors think Volkswagen, which rigged its emissions tests for diesel engines. And theres the possibility of simple error. Under the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, industrial nations are supposed to issue annual reports on emissions, with developing countries issuing reports less frequently. But the reporting varies in reliability from country to country.
A plan by a coalition of national space agencies, including NASA, could offer the kind of monitoring and verification needed to ensure that the signatory countries are living up to their word. The agencies are putting together a network of six to eight satellites that will, among other things, be able to map carbon dioxide emissions, the biggest contributor to global warming, and methane, which has more significant but shorter-term effects, from individual nations. The monitoring idea grew out of an effort to understand climate feedback, such as how changes in ocean temperatures influence air temperatures, which in turn affect ocean temperatures. But scientists realized the collected data also could be mined to verify emissions.
NASA already has one satellite, called Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2, in place, and it will be joined in two years by a second. Japan also has put up a satellite and others are planned by France, China and the European Space Agency. A NASA official said it was difficult to estimate what the total cost would be, but others suggest it could be in the billions of dollars.
And the science is still being developed. One trick is figuring out how to separate readings of human-caused carbon dioxide emissions from naturally occurring, uncontrollable emissions forest fires, volcanoes and rotting vegetation, for instance. But the scientists are confident they can make it work.
And they should. Of course, such a system is contingent on government funding. Here in the United States, with climate-denying politicians both in Congress and running for president, continued support is not guaranteed. Which is yet another indicator of how crucial this falls election will be.
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As Californias crime rate bottomed out last year and began to rise again, some law enforcement leaders and elected officials complained that they had been misled. All those programs they had been promised that were supposed to help addicts and former inmates reenter society safely, without committing new crimes, had failed to materialize.
Consider, for example, this assertion by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti in his State of the City speech in April:
The safety net that was supposed to come with criminal justice reform? Its simply not there.
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The implication is that someone, somewhere, had failed to follow through on a commitment. Local leaders point increasingly to Proposition 47, the 2014 ballot measure that reclassified certain drug possession crimes and several property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors and required the savings recouped by the state prison system, by no longer having to house so many felons, to be reallocated to anti-recidivism, education and victim services programs.
The problem is not that the money is late its not but rather that Gov. Jerry Brown may be lowballing the actual savings figure.
In fact, Proposition 47 is right on schedule, and local leaders know it. The state calculates prison savings on an annual basis, and the first full year under the ballot measure does not end until June 30. Counties and cities will then submit their requests, and funds will begin flowing later this year.
The problem is not that the money is late its not but rather that Gov. Jerry Brown may be lowballing the actual savings figure. Instead of the $150 million that the state legislative analyst projected would be saved, the governor identified only a small fraction of that in his January spending plan. In the revised budget he released last week, he upped the figure but only to $40 million, well short of the mark.
There are many ways to crunch numbers. Democratic Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer of Los Angeles, for example, used to be an L.A. City Hall bureaucrat and learned to cover up savings in order to keep it on hand for other projects.
I know how to hide money, he told a gathering of residents and activists at the Community Coalition in South Los Angeles recently. I know how to block budgets.
Jones-Sawyer promised to use that savvy to press the governors bureaucrats for a larger, more realistic savings figure to be distributed under Proposition 47.
We take him at his word and hold him to it. The same goes for other members of the Legislature, whose home counties and cities need the funding guaranteed under the ballot measure. It falls to them, in the few weeks before the budget is finalized, to go to bat for California voters who have demanded a fundamental shift in criminal justice spending from prison expansions to locally based crime prevention and anti-recidivism programs.
The Los Angeles City Council and the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, along with other local governments, have adopted resolutions urging the governor to use the formula employed by the Legislative Analysts Office, which calculates the savings at more than three times the governors current number.
Meanwhile, they and other local governments should be preparing their proposals for wisely spending the first allocations of funding this summer. L.A. city and county representatives have been conducting a series of workshops around the county to assess needs and solicit ideas, in order to squeeze as much as possible in reentry services, drug treatment, mental health treatment, victim assistance and anything else to deter crime and prevent its recurrence from each dollar that Proposition 47 saves.
At last weeks workshop in Van Nuys, service providers who have been trying for years to help crime victims and former inmates back on their feet spoke of the good they could do, the services they could expand, the people they could help, if only they had some funding. The need is great. Even $150 million, spread across the state, will be a small slice of what is needed. But it is more, and better, than $40 million, and it better reflects what voters demanded.
The workshop was led in part by City Halls Office of Reentry. Garcetti wisely created that office to coordinate such services from City Hall, so although he may lose a point for suggesting a promise was broken, he gains it back by working to ensure the safe and responsible return of inmates to their communities.
Until recently, Garcettis counterparts in L.A. County government had lagged behind the rest of the state in targeting recidivism. Now the county is at the head of the class, acknowledging that it, like the state, has saved money because of Proposition 47 because of reduced caseloads. Its now trying to quantify those savings so they can be put to work and its making sure that county bureaucrats dont lowball the figure the same way the governor has done.
Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
When it comes to enacting bans on plastic bags, the reasoning sometimes sounds remote. Youve probably heard of the vast soup of plastic known as the Pacific Gyre, an ocean vortex twice as big as Texas filled with bits of plastic. You may or may not know that there are similar plastic patches in oceans around the world.
As horrible as those garbage patches sound, however, in the minds of many, the convenience of plastic bags may outweigh those faraway concerns.
But reasons to support banning of plastic bags are sometimes closer to home than you might think.
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Thousands, probably tens of thousands, of marine animals in the world die each year from ingesting plastic bags, which cant be passed through their digestive systems and thus end up filling their stomachs. The endangered green sea turtle, a resident of mostly the tropics, is especially vulnerable. To its eyes, the bags look like jellyfish, its favorite delicacy.
As it happens, a colony of these sea turtles lives in the lower San Gabriel River, the northernmost year-round group known to exist. You can often see them between the 2nd and 7th street bridge crossings; most often, theyre hanging around the warm-water effluent from the power plant there, which is believed to be the reason theyve taken up residence. They can be behemoths, up to 500 pounds and 5 feet in diameter, but finding them usually requires a little patience, gazing at the areas of the river where the effluent roils the waters. After a while, theres a good chance of seeing a lazily waving flipper, or a head or carapace.
Their existence was confirmed by scientists in 2008, thought people had reported occasional sightings as early as the 1980s and werent believed.
But their existence in this urban, channelized river also means that plastic bags that find their way into the San Gabriel River from any of the dozens of communities upstream can easily be washed down to the turtles hangout and become a dangerous meal.
The city and county of Los Angeles have bans on plastic bags in most large stores, as does Long Beach, which lies adjacent to that part of the river. But thats not true of most of the cities in the southeastern part of the county or San Gabriel Valley those lining the river or just beyond its banks.
The issue is a regional one as well. Bags find their way into the coastal waters off Los Angeles from many sources streams, channelized rivers, storm drains. The turtles also venture into the ocean, largely to look for food, according to Rick Nye, biologist at the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge a little south of the river. He spoke to a group of visitors during one of the refuges monthly tours. Both turtles and plastic bags make their way into the refuge, Nye said which means that any plastic along the coast, from whatever source, can make its way into turtle habitat.
Its not known whether plastic bags have killed or injured the local population of turtles, simply because not much is known about them in general. There could only be a few or they might number in the dozens. But at least one already had to be rescued after it became entangled in fishing line that had been cut free.
California lawmakers passed a statewide ban on plastic bags in 2014, but the ban is on hold pending a referendum in November seeking to overturn it. We shouldnt let the plastic bag industry, which is behind the referendum, get away with this. The environmental damage we cause is thousands of miles away and right here in our backyard.
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Nearly two months after President Obama tapped Judge Merrick Garland to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, the Senate has failed to schedule so much as a hearing on his nomination.
The Senate taking a long time to get something done is hardly noteworthy. What is shocking, however, is how boldly and unapologetically Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other Republican lawmakers have declared their intention to put politics before the functioning of the Supreme Court.
Senators and representatives of both parties have lauded Garland as a dedicated public servant, an outstanding legal mind and a worthy nominee. Neither McConnell, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), nor any other Republican lawmaker has flagged as disqualifying any element of Garlands 19-year record on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
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The anti-Garland blockade has exposed the lengths to which Republican leaders will go to avoid holding politically inconvenient votes, abdicating their basic responsibility.
In fact, they have stated that the only reason they will not consider his nomination is that a presidential election is underway. The day Garland was nominated, Grassley issued a statement declaring that he and a majority of his Senate colleagues would be withholding support for the nomination during a presidential election year, with millions of votes having been cast in highly charged contests. Garlands name didnt appear anywhere in the four-paragraph statement.
As a result of these senators nakedly political decision, some of the more important legal questions of our generation questions, for example, affecting access to reproductive healthcare and determining the fate of immigrant families protected under the presidents executive actions will go unresolved.
Already the court is signaling that it will postpone hearing some controversial cases until at least 2017. And for many cases heard this year, legal experts expect 4-4 rulings. These will create legal uncertainty, as deadlocked Supreme Court decisions leave in place the often conflicting rulings of the Circuit Courts. In fact, in many instances, the Supreme Court agrees to hear cases precisely to resolve such conflicts.
The impact of the Senates inaction goes beyond hobbling the Supreme Court. The anti-Garland blockade has exposed the lengths to which Republican leaders will go to avoid holding politically inconvenient votes, abdicating their basic responsibility.
Congress has yet to send President Obama meaningful legislation to address the water crisis in Flint, Mich., the debt crisis in Puerto Rico, or the threat posed by the Zika virus let alone measures to reform our immigration system, prevent gun violence or fix a broken campaign finance system that has angered Americans on both sides of the aisle and across the country.
When did it become predictable, much less acceptable, for Congress to stop doing its job during election years? How can we expect Congress to act on complex issues when the election season seems to lengthen every cycle? If the Senate follows through on its plan to ignore Garlands nomination, it would set a new and appalling precedent for inaction.
Frustrated by the status quo, a group of six of us the two authors of this piece along with Reps. Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.), Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Jared Polis (D-Colo.) are introducing legislation to provide Congress with an incentive to get to work.Under our proposal, titled Senates Court Obligations Trump
Unconstitutional Stalling, or SCOTUS Act, if the Senate does not take action on Garlands nomination within 125 days of the date he was nominated, neither chamber will be permitted to adjourn. Instead of leaving town to participate in the July party conventions and campaign this fall, the Senate must remain in Washington to fulfill its constitutional responsibility. Never in history has it taken longer than 125 days for any Supreme Court nominee (who has not withdrawn from consideration) to receive a Senate hearing, so we believe this timetable is more than reasonable.
We recognize that McConnell and his colleagues in leadership are highly unlikely to take up our measure, which would require them to do a job they have spent the last two months adamantly refusing to do. What the SCOTUS Act offers is the opportunity for members of both parties to go on the record about what they believe is more important: A totally imaginary right of a new president to fill Supreme Court seats vacated late in the last presidents term, or fulfilling our duty as legislators.
To our House colleagues who might question why they should have to wait around D.C. for the Senate to do its job, we simply respond that the House also has a long list of unaddressed problems that need solving. We should have no trouble finding a productive use of the time. When congressional leaders decide they dont have to do their job during an election year, there should be consequences.
Elizabeth Esty is the U.S. representative for Connecticuts Fifth Congressional District. Chris Van Hollen is the U.S. representative for Marylands Eighth Congressional District.
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As one father told me the story of his daughters radicalization, his every word was heavy with regret. He should have intervened earlier, he said, when he first noticed she was hiding her online conversations from him. When his daughter disappeared, he frantically tried to call her. But it was too late; shed gone to Syria to join the Islamic State.
Now she is among the 250 individuals who have attempted to or succeeded in traveling to Syria or Iraq to join terrorist organizations such as Islamic State. Parents like the father I spoke to are desperate to halt their childrens descent into violent extremism, but they get little help and support from the government or anyone else. Left to struggle on their own, parental interventions often fail.At George Washington Universitys Program on Extremism, we spent six months looking for clues to explain the recent surge in American recruits to jihadism. We reviewed nearly 8,000 pages of court documents stemming from Islamic State-related criminal charges against 85 individuals. We also interviewed some family members and combed through online communications.
If red flags exist, it is family members who might spot them. Such early suspicions are best described as simply parents intuition.
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In the end, we found no clear profile. The path to radicalization wasnt linear or predictable. Islamic State recruits were old and young, rich and poor, college graduates and high school dropouts. Some had deep knowledge of Islam, while others had only a superficial understanding of the faith. While they shared an affinity for jihadist ideology, they manifested that support in a variety of ways from joining the so-called caliphate to raising money to send to Syria or Iraq.
If red flags exist, it is family members who might spot them. Such early suspicions are best described as simply parents intuition. These feelings and observations could never be quantified into a checklist, but some families sense that something is awry.
Our interviews and court records reveal how parents, siblings, even aunts and uncles try urgently to intervene, but often fail. In at least four cases we studied, families hid their loved ones passports. Minnesota resident Hanad Mohallims mother followed him to Turkey in a futile attempt to bring him home. He later died in Syria.
When Sal Shafi, a father in California, realized his son Adam was flirting with the Al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, he sent him on a scared straight-style visit with a jailed Islamic State sympathizer. His efforts, too, were in vain: The FBI arrested his son for providing material support to a terrorist group.
Simply enlisting the help of law enforcement doesnt appear to increase the odds of success either. Police officers and FBI agents met with convert and Colorado native Shannon Conley at least eight times to dissuade her from traveling to Syria. They provided guidance to Conleys parents, brought in a Muslim FBI agent to debate verses from the Koran and tried to redirect her energies to charities that help Syrians. Despite all those efforts, Conley was arrested at the airport on her way to Syria.
It is easy to criticize these families haphazard attempts to save their loved ones, but what options do they have? There isnt a guidebook for American parents in these scenarios. There is no catalogue of intervention experts to call upon. U.S. government officials and community groups offer little practical help. Indeed, there are no comprehensive U.S. deradicalization or disengagement programs.
Other countries have programs that provide an avenue for interventions. In Germany and Austria, there are hotlines for concerned parents. In Canada, the government-funded Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence gives guidance and support to families. The Danish city of Aarhus has developed a mentorship program to help radicalized individuals. Social workers from Hayat, a German nongovernmental organization, counsel and advise families. Just last week, the French government announced a new plan to create deradicalization centers around the country.
The FBI, however, has only haltingly introduced any alternative to arrest. It recently hatched a program called Shared Responsibility Committees that would, in theory, enlist local mental health professionals, religious leaders, teachers, local law enforcement and social workers to develop strategies to counter violent extremism. The concept quickly attracted the ire of civil rights advocates, however, for its lack of transparency and potential 1st Amendment issues.
I share their concerns. Still, an estimated 250 people have left the United States to join Islamic State, or tried to. The U.S. knows it has a problem with radicalization but offers few solutions. Without a formalized approach to intervention, parents are resorting to hiding their childs passport, and hoping for the best.
Seamus Hughes is the deputy director of George Washington Universitys Program on Extremism. He is the co-author of the Programs report, ISIS in America: From Retweets to Raqqa.
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All politicians bend the truth. All politicians spin the facts. But Donald Trump is mounting an audacious experiment in mendacity: How brazenly can a candidate lie and get away with it?
Consider the bizarre (and, in any other context, comical) events of last week.
The Washington Post published a 1991 audiotape with the voice of a man who sounded uncannily like Trump but he identified himself as John Miller, a Trump spokesman. In the recording, Miller told People magazine that Trump, newly divorced, was fending off a surfeit of girlfriends (not counting Madonna, in whom Miller said Trump had zero interest).
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When the 2016 candidate was asked about the 1991 tape, his denial was absolute.
It was not me on the phone, he told NBC. Not only that, I dont know anything about it. Youre telling me about it for the first time.
Yet, back in 1991, Trump admitted it was him on the phone. People printed his apology back then for what he called a joke that went awry. And that wasnt Trumps first brush with pseudonymity. In a 1990 court case, he testified under oath that he also made phone calls under the name of John Barron, the Post reported.
A trivial controversy? Not really, because it fits into a rich pattern of whoppers and falsehoods often followed by equally bogus denials.
Trump fibs so often that the fact-checking website Politifact awarded him its 2015 Lie of the Year award for his entire body of work, a lifetime achievement award for prevarication.
Hes lied about small things and large.
Hes lied so many times that some of his falsehoods are famous in their own right: His assertion that he watched Muslims cheer as the World Trade Center collapsed, his charge that the Mexican government deliberately sends criminals across the U.S. border.
Bizarrely, he has lied about statements that are easy to check. In January, he denied a report that he had called for a 45% tariff on imports from China. Its The New York Times; theyre always wrong, he said. The Times published the tape; Forty-five percent, Trump said.
In March, when asked if he would reject the support of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, Trump said: I just dont know anything about him. That was nonsense; in 2000, Trump publicly denounced Duke as a racist.
On foreign policy, Trump says hed be a better president than Hillary Clinton because he opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the 2011 war in Libya. But thats not true: Trump publicly supported those wars before they started.
Even when hes not exactly lying, Trump often shows little regard for consistency. His claims about his economic proposals the heart of his bid for the presidency make no sense at all.
If there are undecided voters out there, fact-checking could help them decide not to vote for Trump (although it wouldnt guarantee that theyd vote for Clinton).
Trump has called for a gigantic tax cut that would reduce federal revenue by an estimated $10 trillion over 10 years. His campaign says the tax cut would produce an economic boom, generate $7 trillion in new revenue, and wipe out the federal deficit.
He doesnt seem to have noticed that $7 trillion (the new revenue) is smaller than $10 trillion (the added deficit, piled atop the existing deficit).
Will any of this matter?
Its true that Trumps likely Democratic opponent has had problems with credibility too. Some polls suggest that voters consider Trump the least honest candidate in the race, but others give that honor to Hillary Clinton.
Still, say what you like about Clinton, she plays by traditional rules. She doesnt deny her past statements when theyre on tape.
Its also true that media fact-checking exposes (like this one) dont always work. Political scientists have long noted that partisan voters are hard to shake from their allegiances, no matter what the facts. They call it motivated reasoning, the tendency of people to disbelieve arguments that challenge their beliefs (Democrats practice it as well as Republicans).
Brendan Nyhan of Dartmouth College has even found that fact-checking makes some voters more committed to their candidate, not less a phenomenon he calls the backfire effect.
But Trumps cost-free dissembling may be coming to an end, Nyhan told me via email. It didnt hurt him in the Republican primary race, but hes heading into the general election with the worst favorable/unfavorable ratings ever.
If there are undecided voters out there, he said, fact-checking could help them decide not to vote for Trump (although it wouldnt guarantee that theyd vote for Clinton).
The question, he added, is how much fact-checking the media will do from here on out.
Its unclear how much critical news coverage Trumps falsehoods will attract. To what extent is it even considered news when he says something inaccurate at this point?
This campaign will be a test of Trumps own advice from his 1987 bestseller and it really was a bestseller, no lie The Art of the Deal:
You cant con people, at least not for long. You can create excitement, you can do wonderful promotion and get all kinds of press, and you can throw in a little hyperbole. But if you dont deliver the goods, people will eventually catch on.
doyle.mcmanus@latimes.com
Twitter: @DoyleMcManus
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Jorge Ramos has sat in an anchormans chair longer than Walter Cronkite about 30 years at Univisions flagship nightly news program. And even in todays fractured media market, the journalist commands a TV audience of more than 2 million. Considerable though his resume is a weekly public affairs show and radio shows, a column and an English-language program for young adults his name is even bigger than his roles. Ramos renown surpasses that of some of the public figures hes interviewed, and his influence among Latino audiences is vast. His latest book is Take a Stand, Lessons From Rebels and the stand he took asking Donald Trump about immigrants rights broadened both the issue itself, and Ramos journalistic profile.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THIS INTERVIEW ON THE PATT MORRISON ASKS PODCAST>>
If there are American audiences that didnt know who you were before, they know you by now, after that renowned press conference where Donald Trump had you thrown out.
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Well, you know, Ive been a journalist in the United States for more than 30 years and Ive never been ejected before from a press conference for trying to ask a question. The only other time in which a bodyguard prevented me from asking a question was with Fidel Castro in 1991 in Mexico. So there you have it Fidel Castro and Donald Trump have something in common.
And you know, I tried to talk to Donald Trump, I asked for an interview, I sent him a handwritten note, and instead of answering me or simply just ignoring me, he published on the Internet that letter with my cell phone number on it.
After that, I decided I was going to try to get my answers, so I went all the way to Dubuque, Iowa for press conference. And of course I was ejected.
When Donald Trump ejected me from the press conference, he told me, Go back to Univision. And those are code words. Basically he was saying, get out of here, go back to Mexico. A few seconds after that, outside the press conference, there was a man, a follower of Donald Trump because he was wearing a Trump pin, and he told me, Get out of my country. And I looked at him and said, What are you talking about? Im also a U.S. citizen.
I have a very active presence on Twitter and Facebook and just take a look at my accounts, and youll see numerous messages of hate every single day. I have been in this country 33 years and Ive never seen anything like it before anything.
Did that surprise you?
Yes, it surprised me because I thought we were we were in another stage not precisely a post-racial society as many thought was going to happen with President Barack Obama in power. Were talking about a candidate who is saying that Mexican immigrants are criminals, drug traffickers and rapists. And just a few years ago that would have disqualified any other candidate. Now, not only was he not disqualified, but he got the nomination for the Republican Party.
As we approach the primary, we know that California is a majority-minority state; talk a little bit about the demographic changes in California and in the country.
I call it the Latino wave, and its changing absolutely everything. 2055 is going to be a great year for me, because if Im still alive Ill be 97, and in 2055, the country will look like California. In 2055, non-Hispanic whites will be another minority. In 2055, every single group in this country Latinos, African Americans and non-Hispanic whites -- will be a minority. Thats the trend.
Now, having said that, I would assume that values like tolerance, like the acceptance of immigrants, generosity and solidarity, would be relevant and important nowadays. And what Im hearing in the presidential election is exactly the opposite. But that change, that enormous demographic change is well underway, and we Latinos, I think, we are changing everything. For instance, the new rule in politics is that no one can make it to the White House without the Latino vote. And thats new.
How would you explain this, or reassure non-Hispanic white Americans who cant get their heads around this and who are a little worried?
They shouldnt be worried. This country was built by immigrants. Immigration didnt start 20 years ago or 30 years ago. It started more than 200 years ago. We are as American as they are. The only difference is that sometimes, as I do, we have an accent. Sometimes, we were born in Mexico instead of Ireland, or in El Salvador instead of Italy or in Honduras instead of Eastern Europe. And we have exactly the same values that you do. This is also our country.
I think Donald Trump -- his rhetoric has been incredibly dangerous because hes suggesting that the changes that we are seeing right now, that the immigrants coming to this country, are not the right ones, and hes absolutely wrong.
I read that you became a United States citizen after you interviewed George W. Bush. Is that right?
I became a citizen in the year 2000. I wanted to fully participate in this country. I had interviewed President Bush on a couple of occasions; I was very worried, as many people were after the Iraq war in 2003, and I wanted to make sure that I was going to be able to vote in the next election. So that was the perfect time for me to decide to be an American. And you know, I find that incredibly beautiful -- not only that you decide to be part of a country, but also that country very generously says, We want you to be part of this nation.
For 30 years now you have hosted as Spanish-language program, and within the last few years, you also began hosting an English-language program on Fusion. Whats the difference in your audiences? Big generational differences now?
Its the first time in which Ive been hosting a show in English in the United States. And so my audience for Univision is obviously Spanish-speakers, mostly Latinos, mainly people from Mexico. And then my show called America on Fusion, its for millennials, which is completely, completely different. And we are covering issues like student debt, we are obviously covering the presidential election, but how would that affect people under 30, and anything that has to do with equality.
On Fusion, we are producing television for people who dont even own a TV set. We are realizing for instance that our broadcasts on Facebook live have more followers than our audience on TV. And thats a huge change that were seeing in our industry.
Does the younger generation of Latinos living in the United States think differently about issues than their parents and grandparents?
I saw a poll recently from Latino Decisions and even though we do know that immigration is not the most important issue for Latinos -- we feel exactly the same as the rest of the population; the most important issues for us are the economy, jobs, shelter, education and then immigration even though thats a fact, also it is true that immigration still is very close to our heart. It is an emotional issue. So in that sense, when it comes to important issues like immigration, what Im seeing is that young Latinos are thinking exactly as their parents.
And they are as liberal as their parents when it comes to immigration and even probably even more. The dreamers, those young students who came here very early, when they were kids or babies who were brought to this country illegally by their parents -- I think they are much more active politically than their parents. Their parents, undocumented parents, thought it was important to hide and not to be socially present, in order to be safe in this country. The dreamers changed that strategy completely.
What do the major parties not understand about the Latino population?
This has been a historic presidential campaign already for the Latino community. For the first time in history, weve had two presidential candidates who are Latino, both Cuban Americans, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz , so in that sense, we are changing as fast as the rest of the United States.
There are more Latinos than African Americans. African Americans already have the first president, President Barack Obama, and Im sure well have a Latino president very soon.
Still waiting for a woman president more than 200 years later
Well yes, absolutely. For instance we have Susana Martinez, also a Republican, whos governor of New Mexico, who could have a chance.
Now, answering your question -- I think some politicians simply do not get the fact that Latinos are not monolithic on one hand. And they might make a lot of mistakes if they dont understand that Cuban Americans, for instance, most of them are already citizens or have a green card to be here legally, while Central Americans and Mexicans, theyre obviously much more concerned about immigration.
And the other thing that many politicians dont get is that immigration is something personal to us. When somebody criticizes immigrants, when somebody offends immigrants, theyre not talking about an abstract. Theyre talking about me, or theyre talking about my co-workers, or about my neighbors. And this goes specifically for the Republicans: if they do not understand that immigration is personal to us, and unless they can find a solution for the 11 million here, Latinos will not be able to see them with fresh eyes.
And yet you hear from and I know I hear from people of goodwill who say the United States has every right to regulate its borders, to make the distinction between legal immigration and illegal immigration, who would say to you, you came on a student visa -- you did it the right way.
I understand that perfectly, but also I think we have to understand that we are partly responsible for all those immigrants coming here illegally. Why? Because millions of Americans, including you and me, we benefit from their work. The food that we ate this morning was harvested by immigrants. Most likely the building or the house where you live and where I live was built by immigrants. Immigrants, undocumented immigrants, take care of our children and they pay taxes and their contributions are enormous. They contribute much more to this country than what they take away from it.
In other words, they did not come here to go to Disneyland. They came here to work.
Your interview with President Obama was a little tense because of immigration questions.
Even though President Obama supports immigration reform, there are two criticisms of President Barack Obama:
The first one is that when he was a candidate in 2008, he promised me on camera that he was going to present immigration reform to Congress during his first year in office, and he just didnt keep that promise. And partly because of that promise, many Latinos voted for him in 2008.
The second main major problem with President Barack Obama is that he has deported more immigrants than any other president in the history of this country -- 2.5 million immigrants have been deported by President Barack Obama, and can you imagine the thousands of families that he has destroyed? Can you imagine what has happened to many U.S. citizens, children born in the United States, whose parents were deported? And were not talking about criminals and were not talking about rapists. Were talking simply about people who came here illegally and who got arrested and deported. So thats not what President Obama said he was going to be doing as president.
You have a long and distinguished television career; you know how important political images are. On one hand, we have Donald Trump eating a taco bowl on Cinco de Mayo; on the other, sometimes at demonstrations about immigration, people turn out waving Mexican flags, and theres evidence of a voter backlash because of it.
First on the Trump issue, and the taco bowl a taco bowl is not Mexican food. Believe me, thats not Mexican food! He also said, I love Hispanics. Well, let me tell you something: Many Latinos dont love him back. 87% of Latinos, according to Latino Decisions, have a negative opinion of Donald Trump. And if even 13% of Latinos were to vote for him, he would lose the White House. Mitt Romney got 27% of the Hispanic vote and he lost the election. John McCain got 31% of the Hispanic vote and he lost the election. So eating taco bowls is not going to get him the Latino vote.
I do understand that many Latino immigrants are very upset and they feel offended by Donald Trump and they are reacting to that. Thats the only way I can understand why they are protesting the way they are protesting. There might be a backlash but I think the backlash right now is on Donald Trump.
Have you been asked to be on a panel for the upcoming general-election debates?
Donald Trump doesnt want to give me an interview, so I doubt that he would allow me to be one of the moderators for the presidential debates. And unless we can resolve that little problem, Im not sure if Im going to be able to moderate any of the presidential debates.
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Donald Trumps loyal voters share something with the jurors in the O.J. Simpson trial: a predisposition to ignore disturbing, hard facts while buying into a narrative that absolves their celebrity hero, acknowledges their own grievances and reinforces their perception of how the world works.
With lifetimes of negative experiences that made them suspicious of the Los Angeles Police Department, the African American jurors who formed the majority on the Simpson trial jury were inclined from the start to distrust cops and look kindly on the defendant who was such a shining example of success in their community. O.J.s high-powered lawyers a dream team that only a rich man could buy knew the only path to an acquittal for their client would be to cast doubt, however preposterous, on every piece of damning evidence and spin for the jurors an alternative narrative they would eagerly choose to believe because of the predispositions they brought into the courtroom.
The concocted story that racist cops had planted evidence to frame a black superstar for the double homicide urged the jurors to strike a blow on behalf of all the African Americans who had suffered unfairly from racism and police brutality. The not guilty verdict was a stunning example of how human beings find a way to believe what they want to believe, despite compelling facts to the contrary in this case, DNA evidence that left no reasonable doubt about who did the killings and a timeline that left no conceivable opportunity for the police to pull together a conspiracy.
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O.J.s trial of the century was so filled with outlandish personalities, bizarre events, weird twists and burning issues racism, sexism, celebrity culture, media frenzy that it took over television back in 1995. The presidential election campaign of 2016 has all those elements too. Unsurprisingly, it has also become a TV news obsession.
The two topics came together Tuesday night when Fox News personality Megyn Kelly talked with both Trump and Simpsons attorney, Robert Shapiro, on her new interview show. Shapiro declined to tell Kelly whether moral justice was achieved by the jurys verdict while Kellys much-hyped chat with Trump turned into a cozy counseling session aimed at ending the spat between the host and the candidate that began with Kellys tough questioning of Trump during the first Republican debate last summer. Meanwhile, over on MSNBC, veteran Republican operative Mike Murphy was explaining why he can never bring himself to vote for his partys new standard bearer. Murphy called Trump an ignoramus with a chimpanzees understanding of foreign policy.
The judgments of media stars such as Kelly or political pros such as Murphy are just background noise to Trump loyalists though. Like the O.J. jury, Trump fans perceive the world through their own set of grievances. In the case of the O.J. jurors, it was the racist cop Mark Fuhrman, the LAPD and a pernicious history of discrimination that drove their decision. In the case of the Trump voters, it is dislike of Hillary Clinton, disdain of Barack Obama, mistrust of political elites, antipathy to illegal immigrants, fear of Muslims, disgust with political correctness and unease about an economy that has left working-class families out in the cold.
Those concerns override any experts assertion that Trump is disturbingly unsuited for the presidency. Their steadfastness does not really hinge on the facts about Trump. He is the avatar of their fears and resentments and that is all that matters.
home World Kenya to close refugee camps; 600,000 refugees could be displaced
The Kenyan government has decided to close its refugee camps, which could displace an estimated 600,000 refugees who came from war-torn countries.
In a refugee camp in Dadaab, which sits near the Somalian border, about half of the refugees a 330,000 a can be found. The Interior Ministry of Kenya announced it would send these refugees to neighboring Somalia.
The government claimed that terrorists are hiding in refugee camps, which is why it has decided to close down the camps. However, a nonprofit organization called World Help warns that the move could endanger a lot of people, many of whom experienced very adverse conditions in their own countries.
"It was with great surprise and concern that we learned of Kenya's decision to close its refugee camps, and in turn, to provide an unsure future to over 600,000 refugees, many of which are from war torn countries, like Somalia," Vernon Brewer, founding president of World Help, said. "People who already live on the edge of death will most certainly die if the world doesn't respond immediately to this pending crisis."
This is not the first time that the Kenyan government has announced to close down the refugee camps. Authorities have previously given a similar announcement, mostly to use it for political purposes during election season.
This time, however, the government has actually shut down the Department of Refugee Affairs.
Gerry Simpson, Human Rights Watch senior refugee, said the government's claim that members of the terrorist group al Shabbab who were responsible for a mall bombing in September 2013 are hiding in the camps is not true. Simpson said there is no evidence that the refugees are behind the mall bombing.
"In the case of the attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, and the Garissa attack in northeast Kenya last year, Somali nationals have been charged with those offenses, but they are known to have come in directly from Somalia, and were not registered refugees," Simpson explained. He said no registered refugee in Somalia has ever been implicated in such offenses.
Brewer wondered if the Kenyan government would change its mind if it received more support from the international community.
"The world has to awaken to the fact that we now have more refugees than any time in history, and that these vulnerable people, especially women and children, are the responsibility of us all," he said.
President Obama is considering broadly expanding weapons sales to Vietnam in a move aimed at strengthening ties with Hanoi and boosting regional defenses against Chinas growing clout.
As Obama prepares to visit Vietnam this weekend, U.S. officials say he is leaning toward a partial lift - but has not ruled out a full suspension - of the ban on arms sales begun during the U.S. war in Vietnam and eased slightly in 2014.
At the same time, the Vietnamese government is examining a request to grant the U.S. Navy greater access to Cam Ranh Bay, a major supply point for the U.S. military during the Vietnam conflict, and a port with direct access to the increasingly contested islands in the South China Sea.
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Obama has not made a final decision, administration officials say. But the changes, if approved, would mark a dramatic upgrade in U.S. relations with an authoritarian Communist government that the State Department considers a routine abuser of human rights.
White House concerns about Vietnams lack of progress on civil liberties and political freedoms have held up a decision to end the ban on arms sales -- first imposed on North Vietnam in 1964 and later extended it to cover the entire country after the U.S.-backed South Vietnamese government fell in 1975.
In the 1990s, President Clinton lifted the trade embargo with an executive directive to his agencies but left in place restrictions imposed by Congress to prohibit sales of weapons and certain high-technology material. The two countries restored diplomatic relations in 1995.
In 2014, Obama eased restrictions on sales of maritime surveillance and security systems to Vietnam
That change has allowed the sale of U.S. patrol boats with mounted machine guns, search-and-rescue vessels and naval reconnaissance aircraft.
Last June, the U.S. pledged $18 million to help Vietnam buy American-made Metal Shark patrol boats, a deal that came through after a Chinese navy ship rammed a Vietnamese patrol boat in the South China Sea.
U.S. officials say Vietnam is expected to use about $12 million in U.S. foreign military financing this year to buy small patrol boats, communications equipment and English-language training.
Obama now is looking at wiping out other parts of the ban, according to senior defense officials and others briefed on the deliberations.
Closer military ties between the two former enemies dovetail with Obamas steady push since 2011 for a strategic U.S. rebalance toward Asia and the Pacific.
In recent months, the administration has refreshed its defense treaty with Japan and has sought congressional support for a 12-nation free trade agreement known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a priority for the White House.
It also has urged China to settle territorial disputes with Vietnam and other countries in the resource-rich South China Sea. The Pentagon has sent U.S. warships and surveillance planes close to several contested islands and reefs where China has built airstrips and other facilities.
National security experts say China is unlikely to look favorably on expanded U.S. weapons sales to neighboring Vietnam, or warmer ties between Hanoi and Washington.
Its safe to say the Chinese will react negatively, said Michael J. Green, senior vice president for Asia and Japan chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, who visited Vietnam last June, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last month that he would support lifting restrictions on the sale of weapons.
The committees draft of the annual defense authorization bill includes language that encourages lifting the ban as well. It would create a process to review Vietnams progress on human rights and to ensure the weapons arent used against Vietnamese civilians.
Vietnam now buys most of its military equipment from Russia, its longtime ally. Lifting the embargo could be a boon to U.S. arms makers as Hanoi looks to modernize its Soviet-era aircraft.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a Vietnam veteran and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he expects Obama to lift the embargo and that Hanoi will grant the U.S. Navy greater access to Cam Ranh Bay.
McCain, who spent five years as a POW in Hanoi during the war, said its time for Washington to fully lift its ban on arms sales.
Given the Chinese aggressive behavior in the region, it should not be inappropriate to allow [Vietnam] to have weapons with which to defend themselves particularly in the maritime area ... where the potential for confrontation exists, McCain said in an interview.
Obama administration officials have pushed Vietnam to improve its treatment of political opponents and stop other human rights abuses before Obama departs Saturday on a week long trip to Vietnam and Japan.
The State Departments annual report on human rights for 2015 said Vietnam had continued to enforce severe government restrictions of citizens political rights, particularly their right to change their government through free and fair elections, among other abuses.
We continue to stress to Vietnam that continued progress on human rights will be important to progress in the overall relationship, including on the lethal weapons ban, said David McKeeby, spokesman for the State Departments bureau of political-military affairs.
On Capitol Hill. Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Santa Ana) offered an amendment to a defense bill being considered by the House this week that would urge the White House to make any expansion of arms sales to Vietnam contingent on human rights progress.
Im just a little bit worried about weapons deals that might be made given that the human rights conditions continue to be terrible in Vietnam, Sanchez said.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who has expressed concern about lifting the embargo, said doing so would send a not-too-subtle message to China at a time when it is threatening regional stability in the South China Sea.
But it should not open the floodgates for sales of lethal equipment, Leahy said. Those decisions are made on a case-by-case basis ... [and] should reflect an assessment of the relevant factors including progress by the Vietnamese government in protecting human rights.
Human Rights groups argue that its too soon to fully lift the ban.
They have done very little to deserve the reward, said John Sifton, the Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. They have been asked over the last three to five years to demonstrate progress in legal reforms, to repeal laws criminalizing criticism of the government, to release political prisoners. In response, they have done almost nothing.
Among other concessions, advocates want Vietnam to release Montagnard Christians, a persecuted ethnic minority, plus bloggers and dissidents held by the government. There are 102 known political prisoners from those groups.
Twitter: @wjhenn, @cparsons, @mikememoli
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2:55 p.m.: This story has been updated with new details.
This story was originally published at 9:28 a.m.
No malarkey: Vice President Joe Biden is finally making a long-sought extended visit to Ireland.
The veteran politician, who regularly invokes his Irish roots and is fond of quoting Irish poets (not because hes Irish, but because theyre the best poets, he says), will make an official visit to the Emerald Isle in late June.
Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny made the announcement Tuesday night as he joined Biden for an event at the Kennedy Center in Washington marking 100 years since the uprising against British rule that Ireland marks as the beginning of its independence movement.
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Bidens frequent international travels on behalf of the Obama administration often require Air Force Two to refuel at Shannon Airport, on Irelands western coast. Biden, his staff and traveling press corps have made a habit of frequenting its duty free shop -- the worlds first -- during the brief stopovers.
His next visit will be more extensive, scheduled from June 21 to 26 and will include formal bilateral meetings with Kenny as well as the Irish president, according to the vice presidents office.
Biden will use his visit to speak about the need for diversity, tolerance and inclusiveness across the globe, and how thats informed by the shared Irish-American experience, an administration official said.
Biden will also likely have family in tow for the trip, which will include stops in the ancestral home counties of the Biden and Finnegan clans, Mayo and Louth. Hell also travel to Ballina, the sister city of his home town of Scranton, Pa.
When Biden hosted Kenny at his official residence in March for a St. Patricks Day breakfast, the prime minister noted how long Biden has hoped to make a longer trip to the country as vice president. He had especially hoped to make the visit with his eldest son, Beau, who died one year ago this month.
I know you wanted to go with Beau, Kenny said. Im sure his spirit will walk with you.
Kenny said Tuesday night that Biden would be coming home.
Youll see what your mother and grandmother said, that the cead mile failte really means that - 100,000 welcomes - so be ready, Kenny said, according to the Irish Times.
michael.memoli@latimes.com
For more 2016 campaign coverage, follow @mikememoli on Twitter
A stolen copy of a letter written by Christopher Columbus detailing his voyage in 1492 to the New World is being returned to the Old World.
The letter was penned by Columbus as he returned to Spain after his historic trip to the Americas. Though it was printed and widely distributed throughout Europe, helping spread word of Columbus journey, there are no more than 80 surviving copies of the various revisions of the letter, published between 1493 and 1497.
In 2012, agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement got a tip that one of the rare copies printed in Rome by Stephan Plannek in 1493 had been stolen from the Riccardiana Library in Florence, Italy, and replaced with a forgery.
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The tipster, who was not identified, had been conducting research when he came across the letter and strongly suspected it was a fake, agent Mark W. Olexa of ICEs Homeland Security Investigations wrote in court filings.
Olexa wrote that ICE agents, Italian law enforcement officials and experts examined the copy, which was bound in a volume of other works, and concluded it was indeed a fake.
A few months later, ICE agents got another tip that the original was actually located in the U.S. Library of Congress. An examination of the letter there revealed it was the original.
In an attempt to disguise its provenance, someone had even bleached away a Riccardiana Library stamp on one of its pages.
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A bit of detective work revealed the Library of Congress had obtained the letter in 2004 from a donor, who had purchased it from a New York auction house for $300,000 in 1992, Olexa wrote. It had been consigned to auction by a rare books dealer who had purchased the letter, now bound in the form of a small red book, from an unknown entity two years earlier.
Agents seized the letter, flew with it across the Atlantic and are expected to return it to Italian officials.
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Twitter: @delwilber
At Bernie Sanders first mention of the leadership of the Democratic Party, boos cascaded through the arena. He upbraided Democrats for several minutes, each line widening the gap between Sanders, with his loyal followers, and the rest of the party whose presidential nomination he seeks.
The caustic late-season battle between Sanders and Hillary Clinton has broadened into a war between Sanders and the Democratic establishment, one amplified by a collision of circumstances.
Unlike most runners-up, Sanders, a lifelong independent, has little desire to preserve his standing in the Democratic Party for future presidential bids. That reduces the ability of party leaders to pressure him to tone down his antagonism as the Democratic contest closes. It makes him more apt to paint Clinton and the party as his targets.
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And as the boos of thousands underscored Tuesday night in Carson, many of his followers are loyal to Sanders alone, not the Democratic Party.
Many of them appear to have bought the notion forwarded by Sanders that only he is working for the sort of economic and social advances that many in the party have long sought. Many seem wedded to the questionable math Sanders pushes to persuade them that theirs is a winning campaign and that any other outcome would prove that the Vermont senator -- and they -- had been robbed by an underhanded system.
All that suggests Democrats may face more difficulty this year than they have in the past in binding the primarys wounds en route to the November election.
Party regulars look to the past for comfort, citing the tense 2008 contest between Clinton and Barack Obama that ended in a unified effort that shepherded Obama into the White House. But Clinton faces a tougher task -- an opponent who appears less willing to cooperate, leading a band of supporters who, in many cases, consider Clinton and the Democratic Party abhorrent.
The clash between the Sanders forces and those he considers his opponents surfaced angrily last weekend at the Nevada state party convention, where the final disposition of delegates took place for a February contest that Clinton won by more than 5 points.
A feud over two delegates, out of three dozen from the state, and 4,765 nationwide, exploded into epithet-flinging rage by some of Sanders backers.
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California Sen. Barbara Boxer, who has spent more than three decades in Washington fighting for the sort of liberal proposals backed by Sanders, was shouted down with vulgarities as she delivered remarks supporting Clinton. The head of the Nevada party received death threats against her and her family via text and voicemail.
Three days went by before Sanders, on Tuesday, issued any comment about the drama, and then he blamed the party for not being fair to his campaign. He mentioned his opposition to violence as an aside.
On Tuesday night, at the StubHub Center in Carson, he again blamed Democrats for not fully embracing his supporters and spent more time criticizing party leaders than he did aiming fire at presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Let me also say a word to the leadership of the Democratic Party, he said, drawing the first of a series of boos aimed at party officials.
The Democratic Party is going to have to make a very, very profound and important decision. It can do the right thing and open its doors and welcome into the party people who are prepared to fight for real economic and social change, he said.
Or, he warned, the other option for the Democratic Party, which I see as a very sad and tragic option, is to choose to retain its status quo structure, remain dependent on big money campaign contributions and be a party with limited participation and limited energy and a party which incredibly is allowing a right-wing extremist Republican Party to capture the votes of a majority of working people in this country.
Now I come from the working class of this country and I will be damned, I will be damned if we will allow the Republican Party whos chosen to represent the rich and the powerful to win the votes of working-class Americans.
At the first of two events in Northern California on Wednesday, Sanders portrayed the establishment as his enemy in milder terms.
We have had to take on the political establishment in every state, in every state that we have run in, he said in San Jose. We have had to take on Democratic governors and senators and members of Congress and mayors, literally almost the entire Democratic establishment, and in state after state the people have stood up and helped defeat the establishment.
The White House on Wednesday made a concerted effort to paper over Democratic difficulties.
Im confident that Bernie will be supportive if Hillary wins, which the numbers indicate will happen, Vice President Joe Biden said during an Ohio visit. So Im not worried. Theres no fundamental split in the Democratic Party.
Sanders and his campaign have long bridled at what they see as favoritism toward Clinton by the Democratic National Committee. He also has done little to mask his view that Clinton, and by extension the Democratic establishment, deserve at least part of the blame for the rigged economic system and corrupt political environment he castigates in every speech.
But his insinuations that only he and his followers are prepared to fight for change make him few friends among Democrats who have fought inside the party for similar goals. And his demands that independent voters be allowed into every party primary and that other long-settled rules be changed to his campaigns benefit also rankle.
There is another more basic reason his criticisms ring hollow to many Democrats: Even as he lectures about the superiority of his campaign, hes losing.
Clinton leads by 279 among pledged delegates. Her lead expands to more than 760 when all delegates are counted. The results Tuesday, in two states, changed almost nothing. Sanders picked up a net of just a handful of additional delegates.
To overcome Clintons lead in pledged delegates, which he told his Carson crowd was a real possibility, Sanders would have to win about 70% of those remaining, a level of support that would exceed anything seen this year.
At this point, despite Sanders insistence Tuesday night that only his campaign has the energy, the enthusiasm and the grass-roots capacity to defeat Trump, it is Clinton who has drawn millions more voters to the polls.
Sanders gibes against party leaders on Tuesday night marked a new thrust in his stump speech which, with its insistence that he would take his fight all the way to the July convention, suggested that Democratic hopes for a neat finish to the primary season could be dashed.
After months in which Trumps candidacy divided Republicans in a civil war, it now appears that they are further along in their efforts at unity than the Democrats.
That is, in part, because the Democratic Party is convulsing demographically and ideologically, a development masked during the partys eight years in the White House.
During Obamas tenure, Democrats have grown far more liberal. That has meant that some of its voters have left behind the more conventionally liberal Clinton and the party hierarchy that supports her, in favor of Sanders, a democratic socialist.
Young voters, who are more liberal than older Democrats, have flocked to Sanders. He also has the backing of another key group: independent voters who shrug off party alliances.
California, whose Democratic primary allows nonpartisan voters, illustrates the emerging electorate. A USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll found in March that among those planning to vote in the Democratic primary, Clinton held a 7-point lead. Division lay underneath: Among Democrats, she led by 14 points. Among independents planning to cast Democratic primary ballots, Sanders led by 9 points.
Among voters under 30, the poll found, 41% had registered as nonpartisans, and 37% as Democrats. Among those 50 and over, 44% registered as Democrats and only 15% as nonpartisan.
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Not surprisingly, given their affection for Sanders, the supporters who show up at his rallies seem unwilling to question his odds of success as they embrace his predictions of victory.
Thousands gathered for Tuesday nights StubHub Center rally cheered lustily when he said that hed basically tied Clinton in delegates in Kentuckys primary, even though that result did not advance his cause. They cheered again when he said his campaign had won 45% of the pledged delegates overall this year. If they noticed that the figure he cited meant that someone else had won the majority, they did not show it.
What wasnt lost on the crowd was Sanders casting of Democrats in general and Clinton in particular as complicit in the problems he rails against. Asked if they would vote for Clinton if she wins the nomination, several voters physically recoiled. If that attitude prevails in November, particularly in states less overwhelmingly Democratic than California, her odds of election would grow dramatically weaker.
The Tapia brothersChristopher, a 23-year-old student, and Jorge, a 27-year-old pharmacy techniciandrove to the Carson rally from their home in faraway Fontana. They are dedicated Sanders supporters who have persuaded their parents and a sibling to vote for him as well.
Both wore T-shirts bearing Sanders face and the logo: Not For Sale.
Hes not bought for by billionaires, and hes not a war hawk, said Christopher, encapsulating in one sentence two persistent Sanders criticisms of Clinton.
His record speaks for itself, said Jorge, pointing to Sanders decades-old support for civil rights and his antiwar stance.
Neither brother could imagine voting for Clinton unless she capitulated and adopted all of Sanders proposals. And both were confident that Sanders could win the nomination. They were not so keen, however, on the Democratic Party.
Jorge said he had already switched his registration; once a Democrat, he is now a nonpartisan voter. Christopher said he would follow suit after the June 7 primary to send a message to the Democratic Party.
If the Democratic Party doesnt choose Berniehow are you going to get a sense of what the American people want? asked Christopher. Thats non-democratic.
cathleen.decker@latimes.com
Twitter: @cathleendecker. For more on politics, go to latimes.com/decker and subscribe to the free daily newsletter.
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UPDATES:
3:15 p.m. This story has been updated to add comments from Vice President Joe Biden.
2:15 p.m.: Information from Sanders Wednesday event in San Jose was added.
This article was originally published at 12:23 p.m.
Sanders pledges hell win Californias primary
Sanders takes the stage pic.twitter.com/33fd9WwBDJ Seema (@LATSeema) May 18, 2016
Bernie Sanders said Tuesday that he would win Californias June 7 primary and continue to fight for the Democratic nomination through the partys national convention.
This is, in a sense, the beginning of the final push to win California, he told about 10,000 people in a stadium in Carson. There are a lot of people out there, many pundits and politicians, they say Bernie Sanders should drop out, the people of California should not have the right to determine who the next president will be. Well, let me be as clear as I can be. We are in till the last ballot is cast!
Sanders celebrated his win in Oregon on Tuesday and his showing in Kentucky, which he narrowly lost to Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
Sanders did not mention the chaos some of his supporters caused this weekend at Nevadas Democratic convention after about 60 of his potential delegates were not seated. Chairs were thrown and death threats were made against the state party chairwoman, acts that were denounced by top party leaders.
He did issue a sharp challenge to the partys establishment.
The Democratic Party is going to have to make a very, very profound and important decision. It can do the right thing and open its doors and welcome into the party people who are prepared to fight for real economic and social change, he said. That is the Democratic Party I want to see bringing in people who are willing to take on Wall Street, to take on corporate greed and to take on the fossil fuel industry.
I say to the leadership of the Democratic Party, open the doors, let the people in, Sanders said, adding that the alternative was a very sad and tragic option to maintain the status quo and remain reliant on major campaign donors.
Sanders cast Clinton as the prototype of the status quo, dependent on billionaires and super PACs, supporting trade agreements that decimated American workers, aligning with President George W. Bush on the Iraq war, and supporting fracking.
He pointed out that his message of economic, social and economic justice was resonating with young people, something no one expected when he launched his campaign about a year ago with little money, no organization and low name recognition.
Well, a lot has changed in the last year, Sanders said, noting he had won 19 primaries and caucuses, more than 9 million votes and more than 45% of the pledged delegates.
He said he believed that if he has major victories in the upcoming contests, he could go into the Democratic National Convention with the support of a majority of the pledged delegates, though he acknowledged such a scenario was a steep climb.
We just won Oregon. And were going to win California, Sanders said, adding that he previously won Washington state. I am getting to like the West Coast.
More than 4 million Americans could get pay hikes under new federal regulations that will double the salary level under which workers must be paid overtime, the White House said Tuesday.
The Labor Departments final rule, to be finalized Wednesday, establishes a new overtime pay threshold of $47,476 a year for those working more than 40 hours a week.
Thats below the $50,400 that the administration announced in its proposal last June, but twice the current level of $23,660 a year, which has been unchanged for more than a decade.
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In addition, the rules will allow for future increases every three years.
Announcing the decision Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden called it a consequential move for middle-class workers who have been getting clobbered for decades. He noted that 62% of salaried workers benefited from overtime pay protections four decades ago, while just 7% do today.
But critics, including many retail and fast-food businesses, warned the move would backfire by spurring employers to slash workers hours or take other steps in response.
The overtime action represents President Obamas best and last opportunity before leaving office to boost wages without congressional action, acting under the authority of the Fair Labor Standards Act, first passed in 1938.
It could also be a boon for Democrats hoping to make stagnant American wages a major campaign issue in the 2016 election. Democrats in several states, including California and New York, have separately moved in recent months to raise minimum wages for low-income workers and to expand paid family leave.
The American people want to work. They want a fair shot, said Biden, who is expected to promote the new rule Wednesday in the key battleground state of Ohio. No handouts, no guarantees. Just a good job at a fair wage.
Labor Department officials estimated the new overtime rule will help a total of 4.2 million salaried, non-manufacturing workers nationwide, including 146,000 in California who are not currently protected by the state overtime threshold.
Congressional Democrats and labor groups had lobbied for the change, saying it could stimulate the economy by increasing workers salaries. Many employees may see their pay raised to be slightly above the new exemption threshold.
It could also spur businesses to make new hires to avoid paying overtime, and give existing workers more free time or the ability to further their education or retrain for new employment.
Rep. Mark Takano (D-Riverside), who had pushed the White House to revise the overtime rule, called it a bold step by the president that will offer voters a clear choice as both parties have been forced to address income inequality.
You see candidates capitalizing on anger in the electorate. And what is that anger? Its all about a feeling that the economy is rigged, and that the government is complicit, Takano said in an interview. The president has taken a serious step to un-rig that unfairness.
But critics said the new rules will hurt the very workers the administration says it is seeking to help. House Republicans had introduced legislation in March to nullify the new regulation before it was finalized.
Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) said at the time that overtime rules needed to be updated, but in a responsible way that doesnt stifle opportunities for working families to get ahead.
A study commissioned by the National Retail Foundation -- based on the administrations previous, higher threshold -- said 32% of affected workers would be converted from salaried positions to hourly ones, and that 5% of workers would see any salary increase offset by a reduction in bonuses and benefits.
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The study predicted that a portion of the 21% of workers newly eligible for overtime pay could see their base wage reduced, resulting in no overall income gain.
Labor Secretary Tom Perez disputed such findings, arguing businesses would be acting against their own interest to retain the best workers. The final rule incorporated concerns from business groups raised during the rule-making process, he said.
Were confident that this salary level will work across a broad range of regions, industries and business sizes, Perez told reporters.
Female workers stand to benefit the most, making up 56% of newly eligible workers, according to the Labor Department.
California already requires overtime compensation for people who make under $41,600 per year, which is double the $10-per-hour statewide minimum wage. The state also allows workers to claim overtime if they work more than eight hours on any given work day, whereas the new federal rules only apply to people on the job for more than 40 hours a week.
The measure could spur companies to increase pay for people who make more than the states minimum of $41,600, but less than the new federal threshold, said Tim McCaffrey, a Los Angeles employment lawyer who represents workers and employers in wage and hour cases.
The employer has to think about how much the manager works, [and whether] the cost benefit will be there to raise their salary instead of paying them overtime, said McCaffrey. I see it as a mechanism to increase wages across the board for mid-level managers.
McCaffery said the rule will probably have an outsize impact on managers in retail, who supervise employees but only earn slightly more than the states threshold.
The final rule made no change to the so-called white-collar exemption, which denies overtime protection to workers classified as executive, administrative or professional employees.
Worker advocates say the exemption has often been abused, but the Obama administration said employers raised concerns during its review period about how any new regulations would be implemented.
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Staff writer Natalie Kitroeff in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
michael.memoli@latimes.com
For more White House coverage, follow @mikememoli on Twitter
Bernie Sanders rages against the Democratic machine
I've seen a lot of Bernie Sanders swag on the campaign trail, but these are the first socks I've spotted. pic.twitter.com/D77aOTruEU Chris Megerian (@ChrisMegerian) May 18, 2016
Bernie Sanders usually runs through something of a political enemies list during his stump speeches -- Donald Trump, deep-pocketed campaign donors on Wall Street, the family that owns Wal-Mart.
During his rally in San Jose on Wednesday, he also left no doubt that he considers the leadership of the Democratic Party -- the party whose presidential nomination he chose to seek -- as his opponent as well.
In every state where we are running, we have had to take on Democratic governors and senators and members of Congress and mayors, Sanders told a crowd of thousands at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds. Literally almost the entire Democratic establishment.
He added, And in state after state, the people have stood up and helped defeat the establishment.
Although Sanders is running for the Democratic nomination, the Vermont senator often kept the party at arms length throughout his career, identifying as an independent but caucusing with Democrats on Capitol Hill.
The remarks from Sanders came days after chaos at the Nevada state convention, where his supporters accused Democratic leaders of unfairly awarding Hillary Clinton more delegates. Clinton, the front-runner in the battle for the nomination, had won the states caucuses earlier this year, but the disputes over the weekend fed lingering resentment that the party establishment has treated Sanders unfairly throughout the primary.
Its unlikely Sanders will be able to win the nomination -- he trails by a significant number of delegates, and Clinton has won 3 million more votes than him. But if schisms from the primary persist, it could make it more difficult for Democrats in a general-election battle with Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.
Donald Trump and his Fox News nemesis Megyn Kelly made peace Tuesday in a prime-time interview that strengthened his ties with the conservative television network whose star anchor has drawn attention to his derogatory remarks about women.
In a rare display of contrition, the Republican presidential candidate expressed regret for nasty comments about Kelly that he spread to millions of followers on Twitter. Kelly asked Trump about calling her a bimbo.
Uhh, well, that was a retweet, yeah did I say that? Trump asked.
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Many times, Kelly said.
Ooooh, OK excuse me, Trump said.
The interview in Trumps Manhattan office captured the 2016 elections extraordinary merging of politics and celebrity branding.
For Trump, the former reality TV star of The Apprentice, it was a chance to try to improve his dismal image among women as he prepares to face Democrat Hillary Clinton in November. A Washington Post-ABC News poll last month found 75% of women viewed Trump unfavorably.
For Kelly, whose feud with Trump has made her more famous than she was when the campaign started, the interview was a ratings magnet for the debut of Megyn Kelly Presents, a Barbara Walters-style show on the Fox broadcasting network.
For 11 months, Fox News has often served as a megaphone for Trumps candidacy. Sean Hannity, Greta Van Susteren, the hosts of Fox & Friends and other personalities on the network have given Trump a friendly forum to reach an audience of millions, boosting network ratings along the way.
But Kelly infuriated Trump when she asked him in a debate last August about his history of calling women fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals, along with his remark to a contestant on his game show that it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees.
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Amazing that Crooked Hillary can do a hit ad on me concerning women when her husband was the WORST abuser of woman in U.S. political history Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 17, 2016
Trump told Kelly on Tuesday the question was unfair.
Im saying to myself, I dont really blame you, because youre doing your thing, but from my standpoint, I dont have to like it, said Trump, who has called Kelly a biased, overrated lightweight and third-rate reporter.
Asked if he had any regrets about the campaign, Trump said he did, but declined to say what they were. I could have maybe used different language in a couple of instances, but overall I have to be very happy with the outcome, he told Kelly.
Theres nothing wrong with being presidential, he added, but if I would not have fought back the way I fought back, I dont think I would have been successful.
The day after Kelly challenged him in the August debate, Trump told CNN: I have no respect for her...You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.
That remark, widely taken as referring to menstruation despite Trumps denials, resurfaced in two TV ads that a pro-Clinton super PAC started airing this week in the battleground states of Ohio, Florida, Nevada and Virginia.
One of the ads features a woman mouthing Trumps words as he says, in his own voice, that Kelly had blood coming out of her wherever. Another woman, also mouthing words to Trumps voice, says that a person that is flat-chested is very hard to be a 10. A third embodies Trump saying you can tell them to go [silence] themselves, a remark he once made about China.
Trump reacted angrily on Twitter, writing: The pathetic new hit ad against me misrepresents the final line. You can tell them to go BLANK themselves was about China, NOT WOMEN!
Trump has been trying to undercut Clintons lopsided advantage among women by accusing her of maligning women with whom her husband, former President Bill Clinton, was accused of having extramarital affairs.
After asking Kelly to excuse him for calling her a bimbo, Trump tried to make light of the moment.
Over your life, Megyn, youve been called a lot worse, is that right? Wouldnt you say?
Its not about me, Kelly replied. Its about the messaging to young girls and other women.
Trump described the insults in his tweets as a modern-day form of fighting back. Asked whether hed stop that as president, he told Kelly: Im going to stop it about you now, because I think I like our relationship right now.
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Californias next governor: Whos running, whos on the fence?
John Chiang jumps into Californias 2018 governors race
Sanders wins Oregon primary while Clinton claims victory in Kentucky
michael.finnegan@latimes.com
Twitter: @finneganLAT
Welcome to your guide to the 2018 California governors race. The election may be several months away, but listening tours are already underway, political consultants are doling out advice and pundits are handicapping favorites and wild cards.
Here are the players to keep an eye on:
Gavin Newsom
(Frazer Harrison, Getty Images) (Frazer Harrison / Getty Images )
Top jobs: Californias lieutenant governor since 2011. Mayor of San Francisco for two terms, from 2004 to 2011.
Biggest splash: Newsom, a Democrat, created a national firestorm as San Francisco mayor in 2004 when he ordered the city to issue same-sex marriage licenses.
Baggage: While mayor, he had an affair with his campaign manager's wife.
Particulars: Newsom, 48, lives in Marin County with his wife and four children. He is a graduate of Santa Clara University.
He launched his campaign for governor in February 2015.
Since announcing his bid, Newsom proposed a statewide initiative to toughen California gun laws and threw his support behind another measure to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Both initiatives could go before state voters in November.
Newsom ran for governor in the 2010 election but dropped out of the race after the entry of Democratic rival Jerry Brown, who went on to win. He ran for the lower profile lieutenant governor's office instead and is now serving his second term.
Newsom gained national attention as mayor of San Francisco for directing the city to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2004. That was a catalyst for a nationwide political wrangle over the issue that ended when the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the right of gays to marry in 2015.
As mayor, Newsom also launched the country's first universal healthcare initiative.
Status: He's running.
John Chiang
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) (Irfan Kahn / Los Angeles Times )
Top jobs: Elected state treasurer in 2014 after two terms as state controller.
Biggest splash: Docked state legislators' pay for failing to pass a balanced budget on time.
Family tragedy: Chiangs sister, Joyce, a government lawyer in Washington, D.C., was murdered in 1999.
Particulars: Chiang, 53, lives in Torrance. He graduated from the University of South Florida and Georgetown University Law Center. He is in the midst of a divorce.
Chiang has been elected to statewide office three times: twice as controller and once as treasurer in 2014.
The eldest son of Taiwanese immigrants, Chiang grew up in Chicago and New York and moved west after earning his law degree. He worked for then-Controller Gray Davis and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer. In 1998, he won a seat on the state Board of Equalization, which oversees the collection of tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue. It was his first time in elected office.
As controller, Chiang made headlines in 2011 when he decided to withhold state lawmakers' pay after they failed to produce a balanced spending plan by the June 15 deadline.
Two years earlier, Chiang also made news by refusing an order by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to furlough state workers three days a month amid the state budget crisis. The courts ultimately overruled Chiang, but his action made him a hero to organized labor.
Status: He's running.
Antonio Villaraigosa
(Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images) (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images )
Top jobs: Los Angeles mayor for two terms, from 2005 to 2013. Speaker of the state Assembly from 1998 to 2000.
Making history: Elected as L.A.s first Latino mayor since 1872.
Baggage: While mayor, he had an extramarital affair with a local television reporter.
Particulars: Villaraigosa, 63, lives in Los Angeles, has four children and is a UCLA graduate.
Villaraigosa, a Democrat, has dropped hints that he plans to run and has spent the last few months on a listening tour up and down California. When asked about his plans, the former mayor told The Times in February that he would be honored to serve again. He provided a glimpse of potential areas of focus for his gubernatorial campaign education, poverty and Californians left behind in the new economy.
Villaraigosa served as mayor of Los Angeles for eight years. During his tenure, the city struggled to cope with plummeting revenues amid the nations economic downturn. He wrestled for concessions from public employee unions that were necessary, in part, because of raises that Villaraigosa approved before the recession.
Villaraigosa successfully led the campaign for Measure R, a $35-billion transportation package passed by voters in 2008 that imposed a countywide half-cent sales tax. The measure is credited with reshaping the region's notoriously inefficient transit system. Under his watch, the city also hired hundreds of new police officers and violent crime plummeted.
He considered a run for governor in 2010, as well as a U.S. Senate bid after Barbara Boxer announced her retirement. He eventually decided against both.
Status: Expected to run.
Kevin Faulconer
(Stephen Dunn / Getty Images)
Top jobs: Elected mayor of San Diego in 2014. Formerly a San Diego City Council member and public relations executive at Porter Novelli.
Biggest splash: A Republican elected mayor in a heavily Democratic big city.
Political roadblocks: He is not well known outside San Diego and has a reputation for playing it safe.
Particulars: Faulconer, 48, lives in Point Loma with his wife and two children. He is a graduate of San Diego State University.
Faulconer rose to power in San Diego after his predecessor, Democrat Bob Filner, was forced to resign midterm in 2013 amid accusations of sexual harassment.
Faulconer is currently running for reelection, a race he is expected to win. He said he will not run for governor if he is reelected as mayor. But one never knows, and 2018 is far, far away.
The very fact that a Republican was elected in the Democratic-leaning city elevated his stature within the California GOP, a party in desperate need of strong, top-shelf candidates. No Republican has won an election for statewide office in California since 2006.
Faulconer has bucked the national Republican line on two key issues. He was a strong supporter of the citys climate action plan to cut carbon emissions by relying exclusively on renewable energy within 20 years. He also advocates for a so-called pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million immigrants in the country illegally.
However, the San Diego mayor toed his party's line when he vetoed the San Diego City Councils effort to raise the minimum wage.
Status: Unlikely to run.
Eric Garcetti
(Cliff Owen / Associated Pres)
Top jobs: Elected mayor of Los Angeles in 2013. Served as president of the Los Angeles City Council.
All in the family: Son of former Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti.
Hot seat: Criticized for taking a trip to Washington, D.C., last year amid demonstrations over a police shooting of Ezell Ford, a mentally ill black man.
Particulars: Garcetti, 45, is married and lives in Los Angeles. He was a Rhodes Scholar and earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Columbia University. Garcetti, a Democrat, served in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
Garcetti is busy raising money for his 2017 mayoral reelection campaign, but he is widely believed to have aspirations for higher office possibly California governor or the U.S. Senate, if Sen. Dianne Feinstein retires.
A big hitch for Garcetti is timing. The governors race will be well underway while Garcetti seeks a second term as L.A.s mayor.
The most ambitious policy initiative of Garcettis term as mayor was his successful push to raise L.A.'s minimum wage, which after some adjustments by the City Council will increase to $15 an hour by 2020. Garcetti also scored political victories with expanded earthquake safety regulations for apartment buildings and plans to restore the Los Angeles River.
Still, the mayor has faced criticism for failing to respond adequately to the citys growing homeless population and to the controversial police shooting of Ford. Violent crime in the city also rose by 20% in 2015.
Status: May run.
Tom Steyer
(Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
Top jobs: Steyer formerly ran the hedge fund Farallon Capital Management and is president of environmental advocacy organization NextGen Climate.
Wallet size: He has a net worth of $1.6 billion, according to Forbes.
Baggage: Farallon Capital Management pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into companies running coal mines and coal-fired power plants overseas.
Particulars: Steyer, 58, is married with four children and lives in San Francisco. A Democrat, he is a graduate of Yale University and earned his MBA at Stanford University.
Steyer transformed himself from a billionaire hedge fund titan to one of the most aggressive environmental activists in the U.S.
He was the nation's biggest individual donor in the 2014 elections, spending more than $74 million on congressional and gubernatorial contests across the country and pledging to make climate change a top issue in hotly contested races.
Steyer left Farallon Capital in 2012, saying he wanted to focus on promoting alternative energy. His NextGen Climate Action organization is touting an effort to boost the use of renewable energy nationwide to 50% by 2030.
Steyer contributed $1 million to a proposed statewide ballot initiative to add a $2-per-pack cigarette tax to help fund research and healthcare and smoker cessation programs. He recently joined the board of Latino Victory Fund, a political action committee that supports Latino candidates.
Steyer was considering a run for U.S. Senate after Barbara Boxer announced her retirement, but he opted not to run after Democratic state Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris jumped into the race.
Status: May run.
Ashley Swearengin
(Los Angeles Times)
Top job: Republican mayor of Fresno first elected in 2008 and now serving her second term.
GOP star: In the 2014 state controller's race, she received the most votes in the June primary election, but lost in the general election.
Backed Brown: Supported Democratic Gov. Jerry Browns push for a high-speed rail network.
Particulars: Swearengin, 43, lives in Fresno and is married with two children. She has a bachelor's degree and an MBA from Cal State Fresno.
Swearengin was Fresno mayor at the height of the nations financial meltdown, and is credited with steering the city away from bankruptcy, a fate Stockton and San Bernardino could not avoid. During that time, Swearengin cut back the city payroll and persuaded unionized city employees to contribute more for their pensions.
Because of those accomplishments, she remains one of the state Republican Party's brightest prospects for statewide office. As a teen she moved with her family to Fresno, where she attended high school and Cal State Fresno, then worked on a series of efforts to help area businesses and improve the region's chronic unemployment. In 2005, she joined the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley, a public-private working group created by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In her 2014 bid for state controller, Swearengin received the most votes of any candidate in the primary election besting the top two Democrats in the race, Board of Equalization member Betty Yee and former Assembly Speaker John A. Perez.
That provided a glimmer of hope for the Republican Party, but it was short-lived. In the November election, Yee won handily.
Status: May run.
Steve Westly
(Carlos Avila Gonzalez / Associated Press)
Top jobs: Former state controller and EBay executive who is now a Silicon Valley venture capitalist.
Prior run: Spent $35 million of his own money in a failed 2006 gubernatorial bid.
Baggage: Sought to help advertising start-up executive Gurbaksh Chahal during Chahal's domestic violence case.
Particulars: Westly, 59, is married and lives in Atherton. He earned bachelor's and MBA degrees from Stanford.
Westly, a Democrat who runs a venture capital firm in Menlo Park, has been eager to return to public office since he lost the 2006 Democratic primary for governor.
San Jose Inside, a politics blog, reported in April 2015 that Westly told a few dozen technology executives and others at a private gathering in Atherton that hed made up his mind to run.
Westly is a longtime Democratic Party activist who made a fortune as an early executive at EBay Inc. He was elected state controller in 2002.
Westly has not run for public office since 2006, so reintroducing himself to the California electorate could be a difficult, expensive task.
In November, Ms. magazine cofounder Gloria Steinem and other womens rights activists cautioned Westly against running for governor. They alleged Westly sought leniency for Chahal, who was accused of hitting his girlfriend 100 times. Westly was a board member at the company Chahal led.
Westly said he supported Chahals eventual dismissal, and said he has been a strong supporter of programs to help victims of domestic violence.
Status: May run.
Long shots
California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, Democrat
California Controller Betty Yee, Democrat
California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, (D-Los Angeles)
Former California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, Republican
Former California Treasurer Phil Angelides, Democrat
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, Democrat
Moonshots
U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield)
Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Republican
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John Chiang jumps into race
The campaign before the campaign: Gubernatorial hopeful Gavin Newsom launches gun-control push
Villaraigosa leaves a legacy of thinking big
phil.willon@latimes.com
Follow @philwillon on Twitter for the latest news on California politics
State Treasurer John Chiangs Tuesday entry into Californias 2018 governors race kicks off what is expected to be a fierce and crowded contest for the states premiere political prize.
Chiang announced his run on Facebook and Twitter, forgoing the traditional electioneering theatrics of a formal press conference.
The Democrat from Torrance was elected state treasurer in November 2014 after serving for eight years as state controller, and said he would use his record protecting the fiscal health of California as the cornerstone of his gubernatorial campaign.
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What I bring is a strong financial expertise, Chiang said in an interview Tuesday. When you talk about the dream of California, you dont want a state that almost couldnt pay its bills a few years ago.
Chiang said that for California to remain an economic powerhouse, the state must work to improve its schools, fix crumbling infrastructure and rebuild the middle class.
His political consultant, Parke Skelton, said the treasurer has opened an official campaign account and soon will start raising money.
Its a statewide governors race, so its going to be expensive, he said.
Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom long ago declared himself a candidate for the governors race and has been aggressively raising money. He already has $5.4 million in cash on hand.
Skelton said Chiang has $3.2 million left over from his 2014 bid for treasurer and can transfer that money to his new gubernatorial campaign account.
Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa also has expressed an interest in running for governor, but the Democrat isnt expected to make a decision until the summer or fall. Other possible contenders could include San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, former state Controller Steve Westly, billionaire activist Tom Steyer, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin.
Its obviously going to be a really competitive race. You have some really well-known names out there, like Gavin Newsom and Villaraigosa, said Democratic pollster Ruth Bernstein of EMC Research. Chiang is less known, but its still very early.
Chiang said he expects the 2018 contest to be a challenge, but that his financial expertise should give him an edge in these still-uncertain economic times. He pointed to his role as controller during the states budget crisis in 2009, and making the difficult decision to issue IOUs so that the state would avoid insolvency.
We cant have a brilliant future with an empty wallet, Chiang said.
Chiang also made headlines in 2011 when, as controller, he decided to dock state lawmakers pay after they failed to produce a balanced spending plan by the June 15 deadline. Two years earlier, Chiang refused an order by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to furlough state workers three days a month amid the state budget crisis. The courts ultimately overruled him.
The eldest son of Taiwanese immigrants, Chiang grew up in Chicago and New York and moved west after earning his law degree. He worked for then-Controller Gray Davis and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer. In 1998, he won his first contest for elected office: a seat on the Board of Equalization, which oversees the collection of tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue.
Chiang is aware that the governors race may attract some better-known candidates, but said hes been defying the odds throughout his entire political career.
I grew up in a family where we faced bigotry and discrimination. Ive always been an underdog, Chiang said. This will be tough. But were going to appeal to the best instincts in people.
Gov. Jerry Browns fourth term in office ends in 2019. He is barred by term limit laws from running for reelection.
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FOR THE RECORD
7:27 p.m.: A previous version of this story said that Gov. Jerry Browns term ends in 2018. It ends in 2019.
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phil.willon@latimes.com
Follow @philwillon for the latest on California politics.
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Political tension ramps up at legislative hearing on Newsoms gun control initiative
Backers of a gun control initiative proposed for the November ballot argued during a legislative forum Tuesday that it is needed to make California safer, while opponents said it will unfairly harm law-abiding gun owners and is primarily aimed at getting Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom elected governor.
Newsom turned in 600,000 signatures last week for an initiative that would require background checks for ammunition purchasers, ban large-capacity magazines, make gun thefts a felony and require those convicted of serious crimes to give up their firearms within 14 days.
The Assembly and Senate Public Safety committees held a joint hearing on the proposal Tuesday in anticipation of the measure qualifying.
Craig DeLuz, head of the Firearms Policy Coalition, told lawmakers that most of the provisions in the initiative have been rejected by the Legislature or the governor as too extreme or unworkable.
He said the real purpose of the initiative is to get Newsom elected as governor in 2018.
Its for one individual to get his name in the paper so he can run for higher office, DeLuz told the lawmakers.
That drew a rubuke from state Sen. Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley), chair of the Senate panel.
I do take offense at the personal attacks on the proponents of the intiative, Hancock said during the hearing.
Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore) responded, saying the initiative is unnecessary.
I am equally offended that the person who came up with this initiative isnt here today to address this body, she said. Thats incredibly disrespectful.
Newsom, who has fueded with legislative leaders who are pursuing their own gun control bills, did not attend the hearing, instead participating in a memorial service held for California Highway Patrol officers, a representative said.
Attorneys for the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which co-wrote the initiative, told lawmakers it will plug serious loopholes in Californias tough gun laws.
We believe reasonably that more can and should be done to protect California families and keep lethal weapons out of dangerous hands, added Ari Freilich, a staff attorney at the center.
The initiative was criticized by Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Michele Hanisee, president of the Assn. of Deputy District Attorneys of Los Angeles, who predicted many people will not obey the new laws requiring them to get rid of high-capacity magazines.
The initiative places additional burdens on an already overburdened court system, she added.
None of the lawmakers at the hearing commited to endorsing the initiative.
Lawmakers raised questions about the cost of enforcing the initiative, but the Legislative Analysts Office said the bulk of costs may be recovered by fees authorized by the measure.
Hancock said she is interested in alternative approaches to addressing gun violence, including a look at improving mental health services.
After the College Republicans at UC Irvine and a chapter of the Young Americans for Liberty put up event posters on campus containing controversial language, the universitys Office of Inclusive Excellence encouraged students, staff members and faculty to attend Safe Zone workshops intended to guide people on how to support the LGBT community.
Posters promoting an event featuring Breitbart.com technology editor Milo Yiannopoulos contained statements the gay conservative has made, including Make America gay again and the name of his current college tour, The Dangerous F-----, which includes a pejorative term for homosexuals.
The event, promoted in the posters for May 24, has been rescheduled to June 2.
College Republicans President Ariana Rowlands said Yiannopoulos is known for being humorous and provocative.
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Members of the club made the posters, and Young Americans for Liberty helped put them on campus bridges and other areas May 4, Rowlands said.
The posters were gone the next day, according to Rowlands, who said she suspects other students took them down.
We invited [Yiannopoulos] because political correctness runs rampant here, said Rowlands, a business information management student. The universitys primary purpose is to educate and enrich the mind, but instead its become a day-care center for overly sensitive students.
At the upcoming event, the College Republicans plan to have Yiannopoulos provide a critique of topics such as free speech, the gender wage gap and micro aggressions, or everyday language and actions that some may consider insulting or dismissive.
Douglas Haynes, vice provost of academic equity, diversity and inclusion at UCI, said several students and faculty members informed him of the language on the posters.
On May 9, Haynes issued a campuswide communication through the Office of Inclusive Excellence stating that bigotry has no place here or anywhere and that utilizing Safe Zone training offered by the universitys LGBT Resource Center is one way to strengthen the school community.
No one from my office was attempting to stop students from exercising free speech, Haynes said. We merely pointed out that the use of free speech [in the posters] did not reflect the values that are important to this campus.
Rowlands said the purpose of the College Republicans club is to educate young people about the Republican Party through weekly meetings and events with guest speakers.
Conservative values are often misrepresented by the media, but a lot of people who come out to our meetings end up being surprised that they agree on a certain economic policy or they realize [the party] is not what it seems, Rowlands said.
Safe Zone training is free to UCI students, staff and faculty. The workshops, which the LGBT Resource Center has provided for more than 10 years, consist of two two-hour sessions where people learn the definitions of terms such as transgender and the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity. They also listen to a panel of individuals who identify as LGBT and learn how to be their ally.
The favorite part is the panel for the majority of people, because it helps them understand the experience, center director Davidian Bishop said.
Bishop said the Yiannopoulos event posters could make those who might be on the cusp of coming out or gathering the courage to be out and visible on campus ... reconsider after seeing the subtext of threat in a sentence that uses the pejoratives.
According to Rowland, the College Republicans club plans to put the posters on campus again this week. Some will have the same language as the previous posters.
We respect that people have different ideas, Rowland said. But instead of tearing the posters down, we encourage them to debate with us and have a discussion.
alexandra.chan@latimes.com
Twitter: @AlexandraChan10
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If theres one thing that every American should agree with, its this: Voting is the fundamental right in our democracy, the one that makes all others possible.
The right to choose our representatives is why patriots dumped tea into Boston Harbor, why women marched for the 19th Amendment and why, 51 years ago, people of all races joined together to win the passage of the Voting Rights Act.
But one of the most insidious ideas in the 2016 election is that voting rights are negotiable. More than 20 states have enacted voting restrictions that could prevent many Americans from exercising their fundamental right to vote this November.
We saw the logical outcome of these laws last month in Arizona, when local election officials closed 70% of polling locations in Maricopa County. We will never know how many people didnt vote that day, frustrated by five-hour lines and overwhelmed poll workers.
The reason given in Arizona was cost-cutting, but it wouldnt have happened if the Supreme Court hadnt done some cutting if its ownin a 2013 decision that shredded the protections in the Voting Rights Act.
Before that decision, a place like Maricopa County with a history of disenfranchising people of color would have had to petition the U.S. Department of Justice before closing polling locations.
But today states with a long history of racial discrimination are free to change voting rules to deprive people of their most sacred right in our democracy.
If Arizona is a story of when voting rights go wrong, California wants to be an example of when voting rights go right.
Our voter registration has surged leading up to the June 7 primary, driven by hotly contested presidential races for both Democrats and Republicans. As the states top elections official I asked the Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown for emergency funding to ensure local elections officials could hire and staff polling locations and process additional ballots.
Unusual in this fractured political climate, Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature voted unanimously to approve the funding, and Gov. Brown signed Assembly Bill 120.
The law provides an additional $16 million to all 58 California counties to help cover costs for the June 7 presidential primary as well as the verification of ballot initiative signatures for the November general election.
The money will allow the Secretary of States office to hire more phone interpreters for the voter hotline and conducting polling place observations in all 58 California counties. Access to information about voting is now available in 10 languages.
California Democrats and Republicans are working together to expand access to voting. Theres no excuse for the partisan divide in our country around voting rights.
But the Supreme Courts decision to gut the Voting Rights Act has given free rein to those who want to try to cling to power by suppressing voter turnout. Former Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina recently admitted that voter I.D. laws help elect more conservative candidates.
History shows that voter suppression is doomed to fail. We want as many people of all kinds to vote, regardless of their political persuasion. Thats the path to true democracy, and California is leading the way.
If you live in California, make sure your registration is up to date by visiting RegisterToVote.Ca.Gov before the May 23 registration deadline.
ALEX PADILLA is Californias Secretary of State.
A Glendale police lieutenant is suing the city, alleging that she was denied a promotion to captain because of her gender, Armenian heritage and for threatening to blow the whistle on what she called an unlawful interview process, court records show.
Ludmilla Abrahamian claimed that she was the most qualified of six applicants who interviewed for the position in December. She discovered later that month that the panel of experts responsible for evaluating the candidates was handpicked by Glendale Police Chief Robert Castro and instructed how to rank the candidates, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Under Glendales civil service rules, Castro would ultimately select the candidate for promotion but is required to choose from among the professional panels top-three list. Once certified, that list is valid for two years or until its exhausted.
Castro, the lawsuit alleged, made clear to the interviewers that he did not want a female or minority to be ranked in the top three positions.
City Atty. Mike Garcia declined to comment via email Tuesday, noting that the city had not been served with or analyzed the lawsuit.
Abrahamians attorney Gregory Smith also declined to comment.
While Castro could not immediately be reached Tuesday, in the past he has said that his intention with his first captain promotion was to find a peacemaker who could communicate with and be respected by the entire organization.
Before he took the helm of the department more than two years ago, he said, allegations of favoritism were widespread.
I needed a captain that could bridge that gap among all the different people in the organization and make them have confidence that they were going to get opportunities to be successful regardless of what their past history may have been, Castro said, adding that this perspective was important for panelists to know.
In March, the Glendale Coalition for Better Government published a series of emails, which were obtained using state open records laws, between Castro and the panelists. The coalitions report is currently under review by the state attorney generals office.
Castro, who is Latino, indicated in one email that many past promotions were done for political and racial favor. He continued, I do not play that game so that is why I asked you to help me.
The hiring panel scheduled a conference call for Nov. 23 and the following day Castro emailed the group again, indicating that one applicant withdrew, but he named three who were still in the process. Abrahamian was not one of them.
The panels top-three list, which the lawsuit alleged included the three candidates named in the email, was ultimately thrown out after human resources officials determined the communications were inappropriate.
The test was subsequently readministered by a second panel of experts.
Abrahamian alleged that the second time around, Castro chose panelists who he knew would appoint only males and disregard minorities, according to the lawsuit.
One of the panelists was Tom Angel, who at the time served as chief of staff to Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell, though he recently resigned over emails he forwarded while he was the No. 2 police official in Burbank, which mocked Muslims, blacks, Latinos and women. Another unnamed panelist, the lawsuit alleged, had close ties to Castro.
In the lawsuit, Abrahamian, who has served as a lieutenant since 2010, also claimed she was denied the promotion in retaliation for notifying the city in December that she intended to sue.
In a letter sent to Abrahamians attorney on Jan. 4, City Atty. Mike Garcia confirmed that he received the request to preserve evidence.
Two months later, a city spokesman denied to the News-Press that the city received such a request.
--
Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com
Twitter: @atchek
If youre planning to stay at your favorite budget hotel on your next road trip, expect to see changes. Four budget or midscale hotels and motels Super 8, Sleep Inn, Motel 6 and Red Roof Inn Plus+, are out to redefine what budget means by adding cool new furniture, inspirational photos, pillow-top beds, flat-screen TVs and other amenities that kick it up a notch.
Super 8: This Wyndham chain started off its redo with a crazy idea: Rip all the old art off the walls of its rooms and give it away to anyone who wants it.
It worked. It went a lot faster than we thought, Michael Mueller, senior vice president, says of the art fair held May 4. Theres quite an appetite for old hotel art in New York City.
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Super 8 is out to de-clutter its guest rooms there was no purpose to this art other than to fill wall space and create a sleeker, newer space.
New headboards reflect black-and-white photos that evokes a place near the hotel. Mueller calls it hyperlocal imaging that he hopes will inspire travelers to want to see the pictured scenes during their Super 8 stay.
The brand also is adding oversized vintage postcards in the lobby for the sense-of-place feel.
Changes estimated to cost $100 million when completed are being implemented at the chains 1,800 North America hotels. So far about 60% have already incorporated the new look; Super 8 is hoping for the shift to be complete by years end.
What were trying to do is get out of the perception that all economy hotels have to be cheap, Mueller says.
For Super 8, that means rooms with more modern and modular furniture no sharp-angled pieces; a tan-and-olive color palette and an accent wall behind the headboard.
Room prices vary widely according to location, but an average cost would be $65 a night. That includes free breakfast (theyre known for the cinnamon rolls) and free Internet access. Info: Super 8
Sleep Inn: This chain, which mostly has properties in the Midwest, Southeast and Northeast, in May rolled out a new prototype for its midscale hotels.
Its all about newly built sites about 500 are planned or in development that will feature a new exterior and interior.
The signature tower will have a warm, gray exterior with a slimmed-down arrival area.
Rooms will accent simplicity, with decorations like black-and-white photos that are inspired by nature and reflect the local area, an accent wall, an open-closet redesign (so you dont leave anything behind) and a white triple-sheet cover instead of heavy quilts or bed scarves.
Free breakfast and free high-speed Internet come with the room too.
The idea is to woo budget-conscious millennials ... but also keep the appeal of the baby boomers, says Anne Smith, vice president of brand strategy for parent company Choice Hotels International.
The new prototype is an extension of a redesign that began in 2010; no time line on when new builds will be completed.
Rooms on average cost $85 to $95 a night. Info: Sleep Inn
Motel 6: The brand that promises to leave the light on for you also has been in the midst of spiffing up its guest rooms.
Last year the company announced a massive renovation of its motel rooms. About 75% of its 1,330 properties in the U.S. and Canada have made the switch. By the end of 2017, all rooms should be updated with the new, hipper colors and amenities.
On the final stop of his weeklong Asian tour, President Obama on Monday answered the question that has dogged him all along the way: Has he gone too far in reducing Americas historical role in global security?
The president, who rode into office on a wave of antiwar sentiment, responded with a challenge of his own: Havent people heard of Iraq and Afghanistan?
Why is it that everybody is so eager to use military force after weve just gone through a decade of war at enormous costs? Obama said at a news conference. And what is it exactly that these critics think would have been accomplished?
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Policy problems in many parts of the globe made headlines throughout the trip, which ends Tuesday.
In Syria, much of the country is a shambles after three years of war and President Bashar Assad, who Obama has said must go, is tightening his grip. Russia has annexed Crimea from Ukraine and massed tens of thousands of troops along Ukraines eastern border. And as Obama has attended state dinners, given speeches and held meetings in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines in the last week, North Korea has threatened another nuclear test.
Asian allies have tried to gauge the Obama administrations willingness to protect them from Chinas growing economic and military might.
The presidents aides have scrambled to put things in simpler terms. Dont do stupid stuff is the polite-company version of a phrase they use to describe the presidents foreign policy. The mantra, meant to contrast with the policies of George W. Bush, helps explain Obamas measured approach, one that critics say is passive and ineffective.
Obama has been willing to launch clandestine operations against suspected terrorists in Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia and elsewhere. He took a chance on the raid in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden. His opening to Iran may eventually end decades of hostility, but still faces daunting odds and could lead nowhere.
However, he has resisted embarking on grand projects or laying out a single, sweeping doctrine. His aides tend to evaluate conflicts one by one, in most cases settling for small steps.
Increasingly, Obama argues that his foreign policy record will have to be judged historically. At a news conference Friday in Seoul, he repeatedly appealed for people to take the long view.
That caution has unnerved some of Americas closest allies, as well as domestic critics.
Japanese officials openly wondered, before Obama arrived in Tokyo last week, whether the White House would intervene on their behalf if China seized disputed islands in the East China Sea, just as Russian forces had seized Crimea.
Obama said the U.S. would absolutely honor its defense treaty with Japan.
Similarly, Obamas decision in September not to follow through on his threat to bomb Syria for using chemical weapons made allies in Europe and Asia wonder whether war weariness was devaluing U.S. security promises.
The White House responds that the threat worked: Assads government has surrendered more than 90% of its chemical weapons arsenal and infrastructure to international monitors.
But the Syrian civil war continues, Islamic extremists are a strengthening part of the rebel movement, and instead of leaving the scene, Assad announced Monday that he would run for reelection.
Saudi Arabia, a staunch U.S. ally for decades, has questioned whether Washington would protect it from Iran, Syria and their proxies. The Saudis suggested they might turn to other great powers for support if the U.S. hedged on its commitments.
Polls indicate Obamas approach is broadly shared by the American public, which believes that the United States has gained little from its long military commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Those who want him to act more forcefully include not only Republicans but also liberal internationalists and some members of his staff.
Although Obama views the conflict over Ukraine as a second-tier issue, some administration officials consider it a grave threat to the post-Cold War order. The White House on Monday announced another round of modest sanctions, against two dozen Russian officials and companies, to try to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to stand down on Ukraine.
Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Bob Corker of Tennessee have warned about what they say is a growing perception of U.S. weakness. McCain has called Obamas foreign policy feckless. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) calls the president weak and indecisive and says his approach invites aggression.
Obama is right to resist reacting to each short-term crisis with threats of force, said Bruce Jones, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of Still Ours to Lead, a book about U.S. leadership in a world with many new, rising powers.
I think hes wise to do it, but hes not managed to communicate an effective narrative, Jones said. At one level hes right, and at another level hes unsatisfying.
The Syrian civil war is perhaps the most hotly debated foreign policy problem.
On Monday in Manila, Obama argued his case, mimicking and answering his Republican critics.
I would note that those who criticize our foreign policy with respect to Syria, they themselves say, No, no, no, we dont mean sending in troops, Obama said. Well, what do you mean? Well, you should be assisting the opposition. Well, were assisting the opposition. What else do you mean? Well, perhaps you should have taken a strike in Syria to get chemical weapons out of Syria. Well, it turns out were getting chemical weapons out of Syria without having initiated a strike. So what else are you talking about? And at that point it kind of trails off.
Obama similarly maintained that he had few real options to stop Russia from moving on Ukraine.
Do people actually think that somehow us sending some additional arms into Ukraine could potentially deter the Russian army? he asked. Or are we more likely to deter them by applying the sort of international pressure, diplomatic pressure and economic pressure that were applying?
Still, as Obama has toured Asia, foreign leaders and audiences have pressed him for assurances that the U.S. has their backs. His promise that it does came with calls for peaceful resolution of conflicts.
In Manila, Obama applauded the Philippine governments decision to pursue international arbitration concerning its dispute with China over a scattering of rocks and reefs, the Spratly Islands. Together they form less than 1.5 square miles of land spread over 164,000 square miles of sea.
Whatever actions the U.S. takes, Obama said, it shouldnt be because somebody sitting in an office in Washington or New York thinks it would look strong.
Strong alliances and partnerships may not always be sexy, he said. That may not always attract a lot of attention, and it doesnt make for good argument on Sunday morning shows.
But, he said, it avoids errors.
christi.parsons@latimes.com
kathleen.hennessey@latimes.com
paul.richter@latimes.com
Parsons reported from Manila and Hennessey and Richter from Washington.
Alarmed that an outbreak of yellow fever in southwest Africa could spread if not quickly contained, medical experts will convene this week to consider whether to declare an international health emergency.
Though the panel convened by the World Health Organization may not make the declaration -- a move taken with Ebola and Zika outbreaks -- the session to be held in Geneva on Thursday speaks to the seriousness of the diseases spread in Angola. Yellow fever infections tied to Angola already have been reported in China.
In my view calling an emergency committee for yellow fever is clearly the right thing to do, Lawrence Gostin, faculty director of Georgetown Universitys ONeill Institute for National and Global Health Law, said in an email.
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First, there is the potential for rapid spread to other countries and regions, threatening the health of large populations in Africa, Asia and elsewhere, Gostin said. Second, as the crisis escalates, global supplies of the yellow fever vaccine are dwindling and we could easily face a critical shortage. What this new emergency committee demonstrates is that mosquito-borne diseases Zika and now yellow fever pose major threats. This requires a war against mosquito vectors with resources and a full range of technologies, as well as health education.
The looming fear is a yellow fever outbreak in Asia. Daniel Lucey, immunologist
In a paper published this month in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., Gostin and his colleague Daniel Lucey, an immunologist at the ONeill Institute, called for WHO to urgently convene an emergency committee to mobilize funds, coordinate an international response, and spearhead a surge in vaccine production.
The disease emerged last December in Angola, which had not had an outbreak in almost 30 years. Since then, 2,267 suspected infections have been reported and 293 people have died from the virus, according to WHO.
Meanwhile, the disease has been imported by travelers from Angola to Kenya, China and the Democratic Republic of Congo, raising the alarm in other nations, including Namibia and Zambia that share a long border with Angola. An unrelated bout of yellow fever has also taken hold in Uganda.
The risks for other countries really depend on how fast the cases are detected and the density of mosquitoes, Sylvie Briand, WHOs director of the pandemic and epidemic diseases department, told reporters at a briefing in Geneva last week. We are concerned for other countries that may have high density of mosquitoes.
Yellow fever is transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which also carry Zika, the virus linked to severe birth defects that have swept South America in recent months.
Patients with severe infection from yellow fever experience high temperatures, jaundice, bleeding and eventually shock and failure of multiple organs. Between 20% to 50% of those who become jaundiced, entering what is known as the yellow phase of the disease, die from the virus, WHO officials said.
The outbreak in Angola is particularly worrisome because it is happening in urban areas, such as the capital city Luanda, where the first cases in the country were detected, health officials said.
You have trillions of mosquitoes and millions of people, so the capacity of transmission of the virus is multiplied enormously, said Briand. The virus is far easier to fight in sparsely populated rural areas, she said.
While there is no treatment for yellow fever, the vaccination used to prevent the disease is highly effective. But the global supply of the vaccine is limited, according to information published WHO. The agency said that because of the current outbreak, shipments of the vaccine that would ordinarily be used in routine immunization programs in other countries where yellow fever is endemic were being used in Angola and other affected countries.
Even before the yellow fever outbreak, the emergence of other infectious diseases, such as Zika, has prompted some health specialists to call for overhauling how to respond to potential global health threats.
Gostin and Lucey are among health specialists and academics who are calling for the creation of a permanent committee that would devise a quick and effective plan of action and respond as soon as new threats emerge.
Prior delays in convening such committees for the Ebola virus, and possibly the ongoing Zika epidemic, cost lives and should not be repeated, the academics wrote in their recent paper.
An explosion of yellow fever is not farfetched given the challenges of controlling the spread of the virus. While more than 105 million Africans have been vaccinated since 2006 when WHO launched a yellow fever initiative, several African nations still are not completely protected against the disease.
Combating yellow fever is made more challenging because victims dont show definitive symptoms until the disease has progressed, making early detection difficult.
Such was the case in Angola where an infected person was initially thought to have died of food poisoning after eating at an open-air marketplace restaurant. Two or three days later, a few more people, friends of the first victim, also died. They had all eaten at the same restaurants, so food poisoning was again suspected. Subsequent tests done at a lab outside Angola revealed yellow fever, Briand said. The owner of the restaurant, which reportedly had many mosquitoes, also died.
Llanos Ortiz, deputy desk manager for the emergency unit of the medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders, said she was particularly concerned about the infection spreading in places such as Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, with its teeming population, high number of mosquitoes and access to travel to other regions and countries.
Those urban settings are very well connected with the rest of the world, said Briand of WHO. Unfortunately, many people dont take seriously enough the issue of vaccinations for travelers. This is why we have had many cases exported.
The looming fear is a yellow fever outbreak in Asia, where the disease is not currently endemic, said Lucey, the Georgetown immunologist.
China has reported 11 yellow fever cases of individuals infected in Angola, according to WHO.
Ray Arthur, director of the Global Disease Detection Operations Center at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in emailed comments that there had been no local transmission of yellow fever in the U.S. since the early 1900s. And while many areas in the country have mosquitoes that can become infected and transmit yellow fever virus, the agency was not expecting local transmission of yellow fever in the continental United States, Arthur said.
However, the CDC is concerned about travelers going to Africa and South America, where yellow fever is endemic, Arthur said. Travelers can return to the United States with a yellow fever virus infection.
The agency is advising travelers to countries with yellow fever to review the vaccine recommendations and requirements to determine their need for vaccinations.
Soldiers have found one of the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram from a boarding school in Chibok town, her uncle said Wednesday, describing her as pregnant and traumatized but otherwise fine.
Amina Ali Nkeki is the first of the 219 so-called Chibok girls to be freed since the mass abduction that grabbed attention around the world more than two years ago.
Community leader Pogu Bitrus said other Chibok girls may also have been rescued by soldiers hunting down Boko Haram in the remote northeastern Sambisa Forest on Tuesday night. He said he was working with officials to establish their identities.
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Boko Haram Islamic extremists stormed and firebombed the Government Girls Secondary School at Chibok on April 14, 2014, and seized 276 girls who were preparing to write science exams. Dozens escaped within hours, but 219 remained missing.
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The inability of Nigerias government and military to rescue them led, in part, to the electoral defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan last year.
Yakubu Nkeki said his niece was found wandering in the forest. He said the 19-year-old she was 17 when she was abducted was brought to Chibok on Tuesday night so that her identity could be verified and that she could be reunited with her mother. Her father died while she was held captive, he said.
He said the soldiers then took the young woman away, apparently to a military camp in the town of Damboa.
Its not known how many thousands of girls, boys and young women have been kidnapped by Boko Haram in a nearly 7-year-old insurgency that has killed approximately 20,000 people and spread across Nigerias borders.
Nigerias military has reported freeing thousands this year as they have forced the extremists from towns and into strongholds in the sprawling Sambisa Forest.
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The overthrow of Libyan strongman Moammar Kadafi five years ago by NATO-backed rebels left a political vacuum in the oil-rich North African nation, with rival governments and armed militias battling ever since for control.
A new Obama administration plan to funnel international support to an untested government in Tripoli is intended to give Libya -- and U.S. policy -- another chance.
The effort, which would require the United Nations to ease a weapons embargo, aims to train and arm local partners to fight Islamic State -- a strategy that has yet to succeed in Syria or Iraq.
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It also involves a major dose of nation building, an open-ended policy that President Obama long has sought to avoid.
The challenge is immense. The United States and its allies will have to vet the Libyan militias and security forces amid the ongoing conflict, while shoring up a fragile government that barely exists on the ground.
Secretary of State John F. Kerry, who announced the plan Monday in Vienna, acknowledged the long road to restoring security and economic stability in Libya.
It means helping to ensure that such key institutions as the central bank and the national oil company receive the oversight and the direction they need, he said.
It means doing more to address urgent humanitarian requirements, he added. It means laying the groundwork for sustained support in the fields of security, finance, counter-terrorism and overall governance.
The Obama administration and its allies have little choice, he argued.
Libya has an opportunity to be a safe country for its citizens, or it could be a safe haven for terrorists, trapped in division and chaos, and beset by personal, international and tribal rivalries, he warned.
The U.N. has awarded legitimacy to the new Government of National Accord, headed by Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj.
But Sarraj has yet to make peace with the two rival governments that control substantial parts of Libya.
The most powerful force since 2014 has been the General National Congress, which includes numerous militias. It opposes the harsh ideology of Islamic State, but also opposes Sarrajs efforts to unite Libya under his authority.
Another powerful group, the self-declared National Salvation Government, is based in Tobruk and includes members of the Libyan House of Representatives.
Gen. Khalifa Haftar, who controls that faction, has, through proxies, condemned the international plan as meddling in Libyan affairs.
Adding to the challenge, Egypt and Russia have indicated that they will not support arming new government forces until the parliament in Tobruk is brought back to Tripoli as the national legislative body.
Divisions within the international community are likely to postpone the lifting of the arms embargo, Riccardo Fabiani, senior analyst for the Middle East and North Africa at the Eurasia Group, said Tuesday.
With the new government on such shaky ground, one danger is that any weapons could quickly fall into the wrong hands -- the reason the U.N. imposed the arms embargo in the first place.
In a recent article in the Atlantic, Obama said that watching Libya descend into political chaos after a North Atlantic Treaty Organization air war helped topple Kadafi in 2011 was one of his main foreign policy regrets.
We actually executed this plan as well as I could have expected, he said. We got a U.N. mandate, we built a coalition.... We averted large-scale civilian casualties, we prevented what almost surely would have been a prolonged and bloody civil conflict.
And despite all that, Libya is a mess.
Whether the latest White House strategy will bring stability to Libya, or block Islamic States growth there, is far from clear.
Arming and training rebels depends on do you find the right faction, how stable are they and can you carry out training in ways that are effective?, said Anthony Cordesman, a security expert at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
But the risks of not acting are probably greater than doing the best you can, he said, as treacherous as that path might be.
Its the right thing to do, agreed Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a harsh critic of Obama administration policy in Libya.
None of this would have been necessary if we hadnt just walked away from Libya after Kadafi had been eliminated, which we did, he added. We completely walked away from Libya. And the results were predictable.
Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), top Democrat on the House Intelligence committee, noted the enormously difficult challenge of training and equipping Libyan forces given that the Sarraj government is still in its infancy.
But the threat from Islamic State is just too proximate to delay any further, he said. If the group is allowed to expand, weve seen in Syria and Iraq how hard it is to uproot.
Based in Surt on the northern coast, the militants are hemmed in by rival militias. But they have attracted thousands of recruits from elsewhere in Africa, raising fears that they will use Libya to launch terrorist attacks in Europe and Africa.
Except for Kurdish militias, who have proved formidable fighters against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, the U.S. military has not found great success in backing local military forces in the post Sept. 11 world.
U.S. advisors spent nearly a decade training and equipping the Iraqi army before the U.S. withdrawal in 2011, for example.
But only about half Iraqs 50 brigades stood and fought Islamic State when their convoys roared in from Syria in 2014. The rest fled or were found to be tainted by sectarianism and corruption.
In Afghanistan, U.S. advisors have worked with Afghan security forces for 15 years, which has cost $4.1 billion in annual U.S. military aid and training.
Yet in September, Taliban insurgents captured Kunduz, the first major city they controlled since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. Afghan forces, backed by U.S. special operations and gunships, later recaptured the northern city.
In Syria, a Pentagon plan to provide arms, equipment and six weeks of training to pro-Western rebels to fight Islamic State last year proved an embarrassing failure.
After the training, most of the recruits quickly surrendered their U.S.-issued weapons, ammunition and trucks to an Al Qaeda affiliate in northern Syria. The program was closed, and the Pentagon now funnels weapons to other Syrian groups.
Times staff writer Michael A. Memoli contributed to this report.
For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter
The news from Pakistan is often bad. Suicide bombers killing civilians. Islamist radicals gaining influence. Hunger and disease stalking teeming cities and tumbledown slums. Endless government corruption and mismanagement.
Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy has not shied away from telling stories about Pakistans myriad challenges and has drawn the ire of some Pakistanis who accuse her of perpetuating a negative image of their country.
In 2012, she won the Academy Award for Saving Face, a documentary about women who had survived acid attacks. She followed that up in February with another Oscar win, for A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, a short documentary about a young woman who survived an attempted honor killing one of hundreds that occur every year in Pakistan after marrying a man her father didnt approve of.
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Obaid-Chinoys latest film, codirected with Andy Schocken, tells the happier story of a group of Pakistani classical musicians who taught themselves to play jazz, found fame on the Internet and performed at Lincoln Center in New York with jazz great Wynton Marsalis.
But even the inspiring Song of Lahore buoyed by sprightly jazz tunes has a sad underside. A declining audience and decades of opposition by religious extremists have all but killed off the artists craft. Young Pakistanis these days struggle to find jobs, and making classical music is not seen as a viable way to make a living.
One violinist, Saleem Khan, says in the film that he wanted his grandchildren to learn to play so the tradition didnt die with him. In an interview from New York, Obaid-Chinoy said she hoped the film would serve in part to preserve a fading piece of Pakistani heritage.
Why did you want to tell a story about Pakistani jazz musicians?
I grew up listening to my grandfathers stories of a very different Pakistan, where music was played on the streets and you had large orchestras and public performances. When I stumbled upon this group of musicians, I thought, through them we can tell the story of our musical past but also the potential that musicians have to transcend language, culture and let this music speak for itself.
Do you think this art form has died in Pakistan, or is there still an audience for it?
The instrumental musicians find it very hard, because we dont have any formal music schools in Pakistan. Music is passed from father to son, in classical music especially. The musicians who are featured in the film, they have all learned their music from their fathers or their uncles. There is a real danger that they are not going to pass their musical abilities on to the next generation because theres just not enough money to be made in the business. And with that, our instruments will become silent, and there will come a time where you will not have anybody who knows how to play a sarangi [classical string instrument], who knows how to play a violin.
We often think about traditional music dying out because of modern influences, but in this case it was the Internet that helped save these artists. Did that paradox attract you to the story?
What attracted me was the story of these musicians and the fact that it needed to be told. There are so many in Pakistan who dont realize our rich musical history. Its not that music has died in Pakistan we have flourishing pop musicians. But our heritage, our grandparents music, the music of the subcontinent that music seems to be dying.
What was the most surprising thing about traveling with these musicians to the U.S.?
The personalities of the musicians really come alive when they touch down in New York. You see them feeling much more relaxed, you see them in Times Square interacting with people. One of the things people who watch this film tell me is the musicians have personalities they make you laugh, their observations are quirky. People connect with them. But throughout the rehearsal period, the tensions that were there, the fact that these musicians cant read music, they dont speak the same language as Wynton Marsaliss band all of that came to a head. There was a time in the rehearsal when we didnt know how the concert was going to turn out.
Last week it came to light that a Pakistani journalist, Zeenat Shahzadi, disappeared in Lahore after she began investigating the story of a missing Indian citizen. Is it getting more dangerous to tell controversial stories in Pakistan?
The Indian subcontinent as a whole is very dangerous for journalists... who want to push the status quo. The statistics across the board show that the kind of intimidation that is used is very similar in many of the countries.
What do you say to people who accuse you of spreading only bad news about Pakistan?
Journalists and documentary filmmakers hold up a mirror to society. That reflection is not always pretty, but its important to do so, because there is introspection, there is reflection, theres a conversation that takes place to find a remedy. My films are not just about the victims and the survivors, but theyre also about the heroes the doctors, the lawyers, the police officers who go beyond the call of duty to aid them. I think my films have started an important discourse in whichever country where Ive made them.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pledged to strengthen laws against honor killings after watching Girl in the River. Have you seen any signs of change?
A standing committee has been set up in parliament, and many of the political parties are on board to change the law. There has been pushback from the religious political parties. It may be a while before the law is passed. But in Pakistan, every time an honor killing is reported, it is now headline news, there are news shows dedicated to it, editorials. The discourse has begun, and I am hopeful the law will get passed. But as we all know, in politics, laws that pertain to women are always left until the end.
Song of Lahore opens Friday at Laemmles Music Hall in Beverly Hills.
shashank.bengali@latimes.com
Follow @SBengali on Twitter for more news from South Asia
President Enrique Pena Nieto proposed Tuesday that Mexico legalize same-sex marriage on a nationwide basis, moving the country closer to joining a growing number of nations that recognize the practice.
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FOR THE RECORD
8:28 p.m.: An earlier version of this article stated that President Enrique Pena Nieto made his proposal Monday. He announced his proposal Tuesday.
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This way marriage equality will be explicit in our constitution, the president declared at an event marking the International Day against Homophobia.
If the proposal wins approval, Mexico would join several Latin American nations that have legalized same-sex marriage, despite opposition from the Roman Catholic Church. Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay have already legalized the practice.
NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>
Currently, same-sex marriage is legal in Mexico City and several other jurisdictions, but is not lawfully recognized in much of the nation. The president proposed constitutional changes backing a consistent standard nationwide.
We cannot have in our country a situation where people have certain rights in some states and not the same [rights] in other states, the Mexican president said, outlining proposed revisions to Article 4 of the constitution and to the national legal code.
As the announcement was made, colors of the rainbow tinted the presidents Twitter page and other government Twitter accounts.
The modifications, Pena Nieto said, would acknowledge as a human right peoples ability to marry without discrimination for reasons of ethnic or national origins, disabilities, social or health conditions, gender, religion or sexual preferences.
The move would in effect enshrine in law a decision last year by Mexicos Supreme Court, which held that state laws banning same-sex marriage were unconstitutional. The court decision, while a major step toward legalizing same-sex marriage, did not explicitly void state statutes hostile to the practice.
The presidents proposal drew immediate support from gay, lesbian and human rights groups that have long pushed for the change.
The announcement from President Pena Nieto is of course good news, said Paulina Martinez Peredo, who heads a group fighting for lesbian rights in Mexico. It appears that there is a disposition on the part of the government to work for the rights of homosexual persons.
In a Twitter message, Lol Kin Castaneda, a longtime activist for same-sex marriage, lauded the presidents move as sending a message of respect, equality and liberty to Mexico.
There was no immediate reaction from Roman Catholic officials in Mexico.
The presidents proposal must still pass in the National Congress and in the nations state legislatures. However, the backing of Pena Nieto, standard-bearer of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, probably ensures broad support among lawmakers nationwide.
Same-sex marriage was already legal in Mexico City and several states, including the northern state of Coahuila and the Caribbean state of Quintana Roo.
Worldwide, almost two dozen countries, mostly in the Americas and Europe, have laws allowing gays and lesbians to marry, according to a report last year by the Pew Research Center, a Washington-based organization.
Special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez in the Mexico City bureau contributed to this report.
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UPDATES:
5:02 p.m. :This article has been updated throughout with staff reporting.
1:05 p.m.: This article has been updated throughout with additional information about the proposal.
This article was originally published at 12:24 p.m.
Residents in Venezuelas capital, Caracas, are on tenterhooks ahead of planned opposition-led marches in the city scheduled for today (18 May) in demand of a recall referendum against President Nicolas Maduro.
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Silicon Valley continues to struggle with its lack of diversity, but many firms are now funding initiatives, adjusting policy, and actively seeking solutions. Now, two years after Google began the trend, the federal agency responsible for equal employment opportunity in the U.S. is getting involved, as well.
The federal government continues to become more involved in solving the diversity problem, and this week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is finally joining the conversation in an active way.
EEOC Diversity Hearing
The EEOC, the federal agency that investigates discrimination and enforces civil rights laws in the workplace, will hold a public meeting on diversity in the technology industry on Wednesday, May 18, at the agency's Washington D.C. headquarters.
Titled "Innovation Opportunity: Examining Strategies to Promote Diverse and Inclusive Workplaces in the Tech Industry," the meeting will feature six panelists to address and discuss trends in employment opportunity for minorities in Silicon Valley, along with how to fix the dearth of diversity that currently exists in tech workforces. The meeting will start at 1 p.m.
Included among the panelists are Camilla Velasquez, VP of Product and Marketing for JustWorks, who formerly worked in upper management at both American Express and Etsy, and Kapor Capital partner Benjamin Jealous. As Latin Post previously reported, Kapor Capital is the venture capital wing of diversity-backing organization Kapor Center, which recently launched its VC arm in order to foster diverse workforces from the earliest stages of tech startups.
In addition to the panel discussion, EEOC staff will present preliminary findings from the agency's upcoming report analyzing demographics and trends in the technology industry.
Late to the Party
Judging from the agenda and title, this meeting will be mostly preliminary work and discussion on solutions, which at this stage is a little overdue for the agency.
Through all of the media coverage and public discussion of diversity in Silicon Valley -- ever since the Rev. Jesse Jackson kicked off the push for tech companies to be transparent with their workforce diversity data at HP's shareholders meeting two years ago -- the only way the public may have been aware of EEOC involvement is through the workforce data that they collect annually, by law.
Indeed in the early days of the diversity fight (when few tech firms were volunteering diversity data), advocates' threats to submit freedom of information act (FOIA) requests to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission -- in order to review tech companies' annual EEO-1 workplace demographics reports, themselves -- was one way to gain traction in Silicon Valley. For example, after Google voluntarily released its first, groundbreaking diversity transparency report in 2014, the Rev. Jesse Jackson used EEO-1 FOIA threats to get Amazon and others to join the transparency trend. But as CNN reported in 2013, their journalists had had quite a hard time coaxing the EEOC to release EEO-1 data for Silicon Valley companies, starting back in 2011.
Other parts of the federal government, particularly the White House, have already gotten behind many initiatives to boost alternative technology training, STEM education, hiring of underrepresented workers, and spur more diversity in entrepreneurship and tech.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's first meeting to discuss ideas on the same subject is a welcome step beyond simply collecting data that showed what a problem diversity for Silicon Valley in the first place.
Congressional Hispanic, Asian Pacific American and Black Caucus groups issued a joint letter Monday urging the House Appropriations Committee to remove "illegal aliens" from their lexicon.
A day later, House Republicans narrowly approved use of the term, ensuring future legislation could use the phrase, saying when referring to undocumented immigrants.
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, had issued a statement asked the committee to heed the Library of Congress' earlier decision, if only because it dehumanizes individuals.
"In the past, as society has come to understand the pain certain words can cause communities, we've done the right thing and eliminated those terms from our acceptable vocabulary," Castro said in a statement. "The Appropriations Committee should continue that process now, not move our nation backwards and unnecessarily perpetuate a negative stigma."
Castro suggested less offensive terms like "foreign nationals" or "undocumented foreign nationals" along with legislations banning the "alien" from federal law.
The library's March 22 letter to the committee said "the phrase illegal aliens has taken on a pejorative tone in recent years." Library members instead suggested using "noncitizens" and "unauthorized immigration," given that the word "alien" has numerous definitions and only applies to beings from another planet.
Republicans Challenge the Library
GOP lawmakers opposed the change, arguing the LOC overstepped its authority and politicized the issue.
Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ga., said it was simply an issue of matching immigration terminology to the U.S. legal code. Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., took it a step further, introducing legislation requiring the library to use "illegal alien."
"Hopefully this bill will give Washington the push needed to stop thinking up the most politically correct ways to describe illegal immigrants and start thinking about solutions to address it," Black said in a statement last month.
"Illegal Alien" Approved as Part of Spending Bill
House appropriations members voted on 12 bills Tuesday as part of a $3.5 billion 2017 fiscal year budget proposal. One boosted the HAC budget by 1.5 percent; another allocates $517.1 billion in discretionary funding to the Defense Department.
The bill eliminating "illegal alien," as the LOC and American Library Association requested, lost by a 25-24 vote.
"To the extent practicable, the Committee instructs the Library to maintain certain subject headings that reflect terminology used in title 8, United States Code," read the committee's spending report.
Title 8 of the U.S. Code defines "alien" as undocumented immigrants who are "not a citizen or national of the United States."
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials recently arrested at least 87 immigrants in Nevada that agents classified as threats to public safety.
More than one-fourth of the collars were made in Reno, including one that involved a 33-year-old Mexican national with a history of drug trafficking, DUI and domestic violence arrests and another 19-year-old with prior robbery and resting arrest convictions.
Many of Suspects Facing Possible Deportation
Currently, 16 of the suspects taken into custody in Reno remain behind bars at the Washoe County Jail. Each of them is expected to soon be transferred to Las Vegas for immigration hearings that could end in their deportations.
ICE agents insist at least 85 percent of those arrested identify as priority 1 and 2 targets, meaning they have previously been convicted of a felony, are considered a terrorism threat, have committed a series of misdemeanors or recently entered the U.S. illegally.
"I honestly believe all of these arrests will increase public safety," said Daniel Bible, field office director for Salt Lake City office that also oversees Nevada.
Despite his insinuation that many of those taken into custody posed an active threat of some sort, Bible acknowledged that 15 percent of those arrested were only priority 3 targets, or the "lowest priority for apprehension and removal."
ICE officials added not all those nabbed had committed additional crimes since arriving here in the U.S. illegally. In addition, other suspects are acknowledged to be lawful residents, but accused of having committed crimes that would justify their deportation.
Some priority 3 targets may also be serial visa abusers, making them automatic priority targets because of their recent illegal entry into the U.S.
Immigration Among Top Issues of 2016 Election
The issue of immigration has become one of the most hotly debated topics of the 2016 presidential election season, with presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump vowing to deport millions of immigrants and build a wall along the Mexican border to further keep them away.
By contrast, democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders have both pledged support to a path of immigration reform.
Fianna Fail TD for Sligo-Leitrim Marc MacSharry has called for a full independent investigation into the leaking of information from NAMA.
It follows concerns that information about assets was leaked and may have been accessed by individuals or companies who were involved in the bidding and purchase process.
Deputy MacSharry commented, As I understand it, information in relation to approximately 800 NAMA clients, including the identity of property assets, valuations of those assets and loan values, were leaked and may have been received by entities who ultimately bid and purchased those assets. For this reason it is essential in the public interest that the Government establishes a full independent investigation in to the NAMA leaks and their relationship, if any, to property sales.
It is extremely important that all of the transactions involving any of the assets which were the subject of leaks be examined to see whether those who bought these assets had access to any information which may have given them an unfair advantage in the purchasing of these properties from NAMA.
This is a very serious matter and could have huge implications for the exchequer and for NAMA itself. Huge sacrifices have been made by the Irish people over the last 8 years and they need to know that the State has been able to ensure that the best price has been secured for NAMA assets, and that the process has not been undermined by these leaks.
I am calling for an independent investigation to be set up to establish the facts of the matter so that the taxpayers can have faith in NAMA and the sales process.
Funnily enough, Liberal Democrats arent that impressed with the Queens Speech. There certainly is a lot to worry people of a liberal disposition. Three immediately come to mind:
The Queen might as well have said: My Government will indulge all its prejudices regardless of the evidence. For upholding the sovereignty of Parliament and the primacy of the House of Commons read My Government will do all it can to avoid being held to account despite only having the support of a third of the electorate.
The counter-extremism stuff is pretty sinister, as Alistair Carmichael said the other day:
Rumours about what the upcoming extremism bill will include paint a dark picture. The government seems to think that the answer to every problem is to ban it. The last thing we should be doing is driving extremists into the shadows and underground. The government is not only threatening our safety with this bill but the very fabric of our multicultural society by alienating certain communities.
Im slightly worried about the adoption measures. If the state is going to remove children and allow them to be adopted by other people, there does need to be proper safeguards. That could and should take time before permanent ties are broken, especially if the parents do not have the support in place to help them overcome their problems.
If you were thinking that you might have heard some of the measures before, youre right. Tim Farron said:
Only one year in and this Conservative majority is running out of steam. 30 announcements, but 28 have been made before. Weekend prisoners, announced by a weakened Government. The Queens Speech is a stop-gap to give the warring factions of the Tory party a couple of days respite from the referendum. It does nothing to address the key issues at stake. This countrys challenges on education, housing, investment, skills, and the environment are either ignored, or offered nothing more than empty rhetoric. The Conservatives are continuing their dogmatic assault on civil liberties with the ongoing threat of the snoopers charter and an obsession to tear up the Human Rights Act. We will fight them every step of the way. There are enough re-runs on BBC without having to get the Queen to do her own.
Theres a familiar phrase creeping into our pronouncements. Alistair Carmichael said it on the BBC just after the speech.
.@acarmichaelmp says Tories have taken their eye off the ball as they manage their on internal strife over EU #queensspeech Caron Lindsay (@caronmlindsay) May 18, 2016
Tom Brake tweeted it:
1st time since 2010 there was no mention of the deficit. Without @LibDems the @conservatives are taking their eye off the ball #QueensSpeech Tom Brake MP (@thomasbrake) May 18, 2016
Its a phrase Scottish Liberal Democrats used a lot during the Scottish Independence Referendum. Given the decline in our health services, schools, police service and the like, its certainly true. The SNP did distract us with a 3.5 year referendum campaign and forgot about what they were there to do. The only problem is that those who wanted the referendum didnt quite see it like that and it wasnt saying anything new to people who didnt want the referendum. It was kind of stating the obvious. It might work better in a UK context, especially if Remain manages to build a big enough lead. We shall see.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
Here is Tim Farrons speech in full from the Queens Speech debate. He cracks some pretty decent jokes, maybe a couple that arent quite as funny, and sets out what we would have done differently.
He also took time to pay tribute to David Rendel.
The text follows.
Mr Speaker, may I first start by commending the Honourable Member for Meriden and the Honourable Member for Bracknell for the grace and humour with which they moved and seconded the humble address.
These occasions often show the House at its best and its worst and I think we would all agree that their speeches were examples of the former.
And as the Prime Minister did, may I pay tribute to Harry Harpham and Michael Meacher whose contributions here will be missed.
Can I also take this opportunity to remember my former colleague, David Rendel, who died just this week, and whose by-election victory was transformational to the fortunes of our party.
Those of us who knew him will remember his phenomenal hard work and absolute commitment to the people of Newbury that continued long after he ceased to be the Member of Parliament. He will be sadly missed by many of us.
Spaceport
Mr Speaker, may I start by saying I was most excited to learn that the Modern Transport Bill will enable the development of the UKs first commercial spaceports, just like Mos Eisley, the spaceport in Star Wars.
I dont know what inspired the Prime Minister to invest in something that Obi Wan Kenobi said was no greater hive of scum and villainy But Im sure it was definitely probably nothing to do with the emergence of the Leave Campaign whatsoever.
Or maybe he is just trying to facilitate an easier intergalactic commute for the honourable member for Wokingham (Editors Note: Thats John Redwood to you and me)?
[Or maybe he is just trying to help the honourable member for Uxbridge (Editors Note: Thats Boris to you and me) get home from time to time]
Economy
Mr Speaker, despite the opening line of todays speech, there is no strengthening economy.
Economic growth has slowed, construction output has fallen, the CBI has downgraded its forecast, sterling has plummeted, and foreign investment is collapsing.
This is the first time in six years when the Queens Speech has not mentioned the deficit.
Where has this Governments credibility gone? Where is the long term plan?
The Liberal Democrats helped the Chancellor balance the books, but, the backward steps are entirely of this Governments making a budget with a 7.5 billion black hole; colossal constraints on public spending, and a referendum born out of Tory self-harm, is threatening our country with economic instability.
Instead of looking at the politically difficult situation immediately in front of them, Ministers should be looking to the future.
What couldve been
Now there were some futuristic ideas in todays speech.
But while driverless cars point to the future, a driverless Government does not.
It could have been a speech for the next generation, but it was, sadly, a speech void of vision.
So let me offer the party opposite a vision a vision for an ambitious, modern, liberal Britain; one that celebrates all of Britains communities, one that fights for equality of opportunity, and one that delivers future prosperity through world class education, creativity and innovation.
For it is through education that we can give the biggest boost to life chances.
Education sits right at the heart of what Liberal Democrats stand for. It is the key to freedom and opportunity.
We are concerned that the curriculum focusses too much on meeting targets and passing exams, rather than giving children the practical skills, confidence and creativity to meet the challenges of a future economy.
This Governments policies are only making things worse. Teachers are demoralised and school budgets are stretched to breaking point. Children are missing out as subjects like art, music and sport are cut.
Lets use our opportunity here to make a difference, and leave a lasting legacy for future generations.
An Education system, where everyone can aspire to be the best they can be,
An innovative economy, powering us through the 21st century;
A properly funded NHS; social care, and mental health services;
A commitment to desperate people around the world who are begging for our help;
Radical plans to make our country carbon neutral by 2050;
Investment in skills;
An ambitious plan for housing that actually builds homes;
And rather than tinkering with Parliament, lets replace the other place with a fully elected second chamber.
Government on repeat
Governments do tire from time to time. But its usually takes 12 years, not 12 months.
This programme is positively Blairite, which is probably why the Honourable Member for Islington North dislikes it so much.
I hear that the Leader of the Oppositions response went on for 30 seconds more that the entire length of the Beatles Sergeant Pepper album. Without any interventions, was he afraid of a little help from his friends?
It seems as if this Government is running out of steam, even before weve had chance to fill the kettle.
Of the 30 announcements in this Governments legislative agenda, weve heard 28 of them before.
Im especially delighted this Government has announced the Cultural Property (Armed Conflict) Bill, which has been waiting to get on the statue books since December 1954.
It would be easy for opposition politicians to stand up and say everything is terrible.
But its not, so I wont.
I welcome the Better Markets Bill for example, just as I did when Ed Davey announced it two years ago.
And the Criminal Finances Bill, announced by Danny Alexander in February last year.
National Citizens Service, piloted by the Coalition in 2011.
The Pensions Bill announced by Steve Webb in 2014.
The soft drinks levy from the budget.
And the commitment to build 1 million homes as featured in Last years Queens speech.
Just in case we didnt hear it the first time, they needed to be said twice.
Its like a greatest hits album.
And the Prime Minister has my support on much of what he says on boosting education in prisons, adoption, and transparency on mobile phone and broadband speeds.
But sometimes, repeats are tiresome.
The Higher Education Bill was in Novembers Green Paper, the Education bill has already been a white paper, Broadband was announced last November, and the NHS charges are already happening.
Civil Liberties
And like my own music career, some things should be consigned to history.
The obsession with scrapping the Human Rights Act has now made its third appearance in the Queens Speech.
The Human Rights Act enshrines fundamental liberties like the right to free speech, protest and assembly and the right to live a life free of torture.
Which of these freedoms do the Conservatives oppose?
The devolved settlements in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have the European convention and the Human Rights act hard-wired into them.
This Tory government seems hell bent on unravelling the Union by their actions all for the sake of appeasing their backbenches.
The Government should ditch these ill thought out plans or risk them falling flat on their face when they are introduced in Parliament.
And the Snoopers Charter refuses to go away.
This should be its final outing, and dropped once and for all.
We all want a Bill that keeps us safe, and keeps the government in check.
But trying to fight terrorism by gathering more and more information is a losing battle.
Access to Facebook messages, medical records or even your childs baby monitor is completely the wrong approach and the Government must reconsider.
Mr Speaker, the Liberal Democrats will take no lessons in Liberalism from a Prime Minister who has tried to bring forward the most intrusive snooping legislation in the western world.
He is no liberal.
And to accuse those who recognise that you cannot legislate away ideas as somehow being complacent or complicit in the challenges we face is outrageous.
The solution to extremism, to radicalisation, is not to be found in more pages of ill considered, ill-informed legislation.
It is found by supporting communities to challenge the agendas which threaten the Liberal freedoms we all value.
Liberal Britain
Mr Speaker, while all front benches in this place can unite on Europe, this Queens Speech was nothing but a stop-gap to give the warring factions of the Tory party a couple of days respite from civil war.
My party see June 23rd as an opportunity to cement Britains position in Europe, as a leader on the world stage; because by remaining in together Britain can thrive.
But it is clear this Prime Minister sees it as a moment hell be lucky to survive.
This speech did nothing to address the key issues at stake, just re-runs and repeats.
An opportunity to put forward a radical, new, invigorating, innovative, creative and ambitious programme for Government has been missed.
This video clip sums up the whole EU referendum debate. It hits the nail on the head. It is virtually all you need to see, to make your mind up on the matter.
Its from a Daily Mirror debate, chaired by Mark Austin. The Guardian summarises the clip thus:
Ukips Nigel Farage accuses Labour and Peter Mandelson of encouraging immigration to rub our noses in diversity, during the Daily Mirrors panel discussion on the EU referendum on Tuesday. The comment sparked a furious row between Farage and other members of the panel, with novelist Dreda Say Mitchell saying many from ethnic minorities refrain from supporting the Leave campaign due to the intolerant rhetoric.
At the height of the spat, Nigel Farage blasts out:
This is about control!
That word control has struck me as being at the heart of this debate for a long time. We want to take back control say the Brexiteers.
It reminds me of a tipsy man propping up the bar at his local boring everyone to death with his boozy rants at closing time. We need to take back control he says. Control!
Its a very male thing. Machismo. We need to be in control! We need to have our hands on the steering wheel!
The problem is that you can be in control and also be completely messed up.
A man marooned on a desert island is completely in control. But he is also completely snafued.
And this is the EU Referendum debate in a nutshell.
If we leave the EU we will be completely in control but completely messed up.
The boozy, boring men propping up the Brexit bar offer no facts, just blithe sweeping boasts. And yet, we have piles and piles of businesses and experts saying over and over again, with hosts of facts: well be worse off.
So we actually seem to have a coalesced debate now. The Brexiteers seem resigned to the fact that well be worse off if we leave they have offered no real facts to support the contention that we wont be.
So all they are left with is:
Ah, but well be in control!
Yes, indeed. In control of our own mess.
Great!
* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
On BBC Radio Berkshires Andrew Peach show this morning there was a great tribute to David Rendel. Andrew Peach said some touching words about the many times he interviewed David. He then played a superb clip of David in full fighting form defending the Newbury by-pass at its 20th anniversary in January. Then Tim and Paddy came on the line and paid superb, eloquent tributes to David.
It really is a great 15 minutes of radio. You can listen to it here on BBC iPlayer at 1 17.
* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
What has Europe ever done for me? Its a question that the impending referendum has caused me to ask myself. I had always been supportive, but throwing myself into the campaign to remain meant I needed to be clear in my mind why I was supportive and what the benefits were. And having helped so far at street stalls in Truro, Plymouth, Taunton, Yeovil, Bristol and Stroud, it has proved a useful exercise as voters have rightly demanded to know what good the EU has done.
And the way I thought about it was to think about the generations of my own family. How have their lives been different because the EU exists and because were in?
Take my father, for example. He was a Royal Marine in the Sixties and Seventies. My brother too served in the armed forces, in the Eighties and Nineties, and his daughter my niece too. And my brother-in-law is a serviceman today and has been so for about 20 years. All of them have seen active service, but none of them thankfully were thrown into a conflict on the European mainland. Indeed, in the case of my father and brother, they once stood ready to defend our country from communist dictatorships in eastern Europe that are today our democratic friends and allies.
It is true that Nato helped prevent war between the West and the East during the Cold War, and stands ready to defend us today should Putin get a bit too trigger-happy. But there is a difference between an absence of war and a culture of peace. And it has been the European Union that has made it the boring, day-to-day norm that European countries talk with each other and work with each other on the big issues facing our continent. And it was the pull of EU membership, not the defensive military alliance of Nato, that helped embed democratic government and civil liberties in those eastern Europe countries that joined the EU a decade or so ago.
Ever since my fathers generation, the EU has been improving our national security. Its easy to take it all for granted, as many Brexiteers do, but it has worked.
During the lifetime of my generation, Europe has been transformed. As a child, eastern Europe was closed off, as an adult it is open. For me this has meant a whole host of holiday destinations, stretching right into the former Soviet Union. And thanks to the freedoms that come with membership of the European Union, my partner and I are free to travel where we please across a dozen or so countries that were pretty much off limits to my parents generation. Thanks to the EU we can use our mobiles whilst were there at reasonable cost, and the European Health Insurance Card gives us extra peace of mind should we need medical care.
For the next generation, I think of my nephew. Hes just finishing his first year studying biomedical sciences in Bristol. Our membership of the EU means he will be free to work in the pharmaceutical industry in any of the 27 other EU Member States. Indeed, he can spend part of his studies in Germany in a process made simple thanks to the EU.
Plus, my mum and sister and nieces have benefited thanks to EU guarantees on things like equal pay for women as well as steps like guaranteed paid leave for antenatal appointments.
Finally I think of my niece still at primary school here in Devon. She has the rest of the century to look forward to. For her sake I dearly hope we stay in and that the EU continues to build the peace, prosperity and opportunity that it has been working on now for several decades.
By thinking about my family its easier to think about how the EU has helped each generation. The job of building peace has been going on since the foundation of what is now the EU back in the Fifties, and continues to this day. In my own lifetime, Europe has opened up in a process greatly helped by the EU of western Europe embracing the new democracies of eastern Europe. And today I can see in through nephews experience the very real opportunities for British people to work across our continent.
* Stuart Bonar was the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate in Plymouth Moor View.
When the Government sets out its agenda for the next year in the Queens Speech, it gives the other parties a chance to do the same. What can we learn from the frenzy of Liberal Democrat activity in the press in the past few days about where we might be going.
Well, Tim had a piece in the Huffington Post the other day that put education at the heart of our thinking. This is far from being a new concept. Its one of our core principles that weve always talked about. Tim had developed a 5-point education charter with the aim of giving young people and the economy the skills they need for the modern world.
The future is full of exciting opportunities, as technology changes the way we work and live. However, there are also massive challenges, from giving people the skills they need to adapt to our changing economy, to tackling climate change. Education is key to meeting these challenges. That is why the Liberal Democrat vision is for a country which enshrines the rights of every child to a decent education. We believe this should be the number one priority of the Government when they set out their agenda. We are calling for a Charter for Education which guarantees every child is taught a curriculum which includes creative arts subjects, sports, languages, technical and vocational courses and practical life skills. Over the years education has become more about passing tests and getting a good Ofsted rating than making sure children get the skills they need and grow into healthy, happy and confident adults. This is harmful for young people, and my fear is that it will leave them ill-equipped to deal with the challenges and opportunities of the future.
Its a bit more satisfying than the Tories battle with teachers and local authorities for the sake of it. It also looks at wellbeing and happiness which are crucially important.
The nuts and bolts of the Charter are:
The Liberal Democrats proposed Charter for Education would include: 1. Guarantee every teacher in state funded schools are qualified, or working towards qualification 2. Guarantee every child is taught the sort of broad and balanced curriculum which includes creative arts subjects, sports, technical and vocational courses and practical life skills. 3. Work with teachers to devise new ways of carrying out inspections and assessments, to reduce the bureaucratic pressures placed on teachers and pupils. 4. Extend free school meals to all primary school students 5. Prevent schools from being forced to academise.
Willie Rennies success in Scotland, highlighting education as one of the key factors in making Scotland the best again may have influenced this thinking. It is very schools focused at the moment whereas the Scottish ideas incorporated nursery and college education.
The focus on the wellbeing and health of individuals continues with a proposal for healthcare which includes improving mental health care setting up the cross-party, independent commission on the future of healthcare that Norman Lamb has been talking about.
With the Government set on undermining our human rights protections coupled with some very worrying counter-extremism measures, senior Liberal Democrats have been talking about how important human rights laws are and how they influence our daily lives. In yesterdays Scotsman, Jim Wallace said:
And lets be clear, when I say that the Human Rights Act gives us the ability to challenge the state, I do not mean in some arcane philosophical debate. I mean on ordinary, day-to-day issues people often take for granted. The right to life isnt just about life being protected by the state. This right has ensured justice for the families of victims of domestic violence, and families of hospital patients who were not properly supervised who then, tragically, took their own lives. The prohibition of torture has ensured that the use of restraint on an older woman in hospital was able to be challenged, and ensured that the authorities are accountable for failing to protect children who are being abused. The right to liberty and security has ensured that people with mental health problems are not unlawfully detained. The right to respect for private and family life has often been lamented in the press as a block to deporting foreign criminals. But this right helped a couple who had been married for 59 years to live in the same nursing home when their local authority threatened to move one of them to a nursing home too far away for the other to visit. It also secured proper support from a local authority for a child with Downs syndrome.
Well be hearing a lot more from Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael on these issues in coming months.
Theres a similar theme running through a Global Responsibilities Bill. This will involve things like not selling arms to regimes with dubious human rights records and strengthening international humanitarian law. Tom Brake has been raising those issues pretty consistently in the past year.
There is a theme of optimism, of embracing new technologies, new ways of living, in the partys thinking. Its all about making the most of the opportunities available to us.
Our alternative Queens Speech will include a Future of the Economy Bill which would set out measures on broadband, housing, transport infrastructure, developing new ways of working, developing new technology and an industrial strategy (as championed by Vince as Business Secretary and which now seems to have been misfiled in some archive at the Business, Innovation and Skills Department.
A Social Justice and Equality Bill is also planned, although its measures, including tackling the BAME pay gap, ending discrimination, same sex civil partnerships, introducing a gender neutral marker for official documents for those who need it. We perhaps need to do more of the social justice and show a real commitment to tackling inequality.
As you would expect, the future of the planet features heavily in our thinking. A Zero Carbon Britain Bill will set a legally binding target of zero carbon emissions by 2050.
And, of course, political reform is on the agenda with electoral reform, votes at 16, and Lords reform. The interesting thing is that there will be a requirement to assess laws for intergenerational fairnesss to make sure that our young people arent being short-changed as so often happens.
Theres a lot thats good in here. I would like to see more focus on the core values from which these policies emanate. We are a planet-saving, freedom-loving, internationalist, establishment-busting, forward-thinking, optimistic party and we need to think about getting that across more effectively.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
AN ASPIRING young boxer who grabbed a womans breasts while she was changing in the toilets of Limerick city hotel has been jailed for 18 months.
Shane Byrnes, aged 26, of Hyde Road, Prospect admitted sexually assaulting the woman during an incident on April 18, 2014.
During a sentencing hearing, Garda Colum OShea said the woman was changing having used the leisure facilities at the hotel when the defendant emerged from one of the cubicles.
Byrnes initially apologised, saying he believed he was in the lads room but later grabbed the womans arm and asked to see her breasts saying: Theyre nice, let me see them, let me touch them.
Garda OShea told John OSullivan BL, prosecuting, the defendant then stood and stared at the womans chest before grabbing one of her breasts. Gardai were alerted by hotel management a short time later and the defendant was identified as a suspect from CCTV footage at the hotel.
When arrested and questioned a number of months later, Byrnes made full admissions.
The defendant, who has conviction for a similar offences dating back to 2009, told gardai he had entered the toilet area in the hope of finding money to pay for alcohol.
I was in there to get a fix for drink, he said, insisting it was a spur of the moment thing which I seriously regret.
Laurence Goucher BL said his client had entered the hotel with the intention of stealing money and he submitted the offence was opportunistic.
In a victim impact statement, the woman said she attended counselling following the incident and still has nightmares.
Imposing sentence, Judge Tom ODonnell said that the incident had been extremely upsetting for the victim but he noted there was no suggestion of violence.
He said Byrnes previous conviction for a similar offence was a considerable worry and he noted that while he intends taking part in a rehabilitation course for sexual offenders, there is no absolute guarantee that it will stop him from offending again in future.
He imposed a two-year prison sentence, suspending the final six months.
He also ordered that the defendants details be placed on the register of sexual offenders.
Byrnes is to remain under the supervision of the Probation Service when released.
IRELANDS Consul General to New York, University of Limerick graduate Barbara Jones, has officially launched the New York UL Alumni Chapter in Manhattan.
The chapter will serve over 300 UL alumni who call New York home, connecting them and former international students who studied at UL and supporting the strategic goals of the university.
The chapter will host cultural, social, community service, and educational events to engage the UL alumni community in New York.
Ms Jones, a graduate from the Computer Science programme in 1983, took up duty as Consul General of Ireland to New York in September 2014 having previously been Joint Secretary at the British-Irish Intergovernmental Secretariat in Belfast.
Building from today, the chapter will connect former students and friends of UL in a powerful way, she said.
UL Vice-President Academic & Registrar, Professor Paul McCutcheon acknowledged the over 80,000-strong alumni community that embodies the spirit of excellence and achievement that has become central to ULs ethos.
Professor McCutcheon said their strategic plan, Broadening Horizons, challenges us to continue to raise our international profile and thereby enhance the economic and cultural profile of Limerick and the local region.
Over the next five years, the Alumni Association will be expanding its network of alumni chapters overseas.
UL already has chapters in London, the first to be established in 1997, as well as in Boston, East Asia and Silicon Valley.
LIMERICK-raised actress Ruth Negga is being tipped for possible Oscar glory, as her latest role has witnessed rave reviews at the Cannes Film Festival.
The former Love/Hate star, 34, who also played Shirley Bassey in an acclaimed BBC drama, has been tipped as one of next year's Best Actress Oscar nominees for her performance in the new American film Loving, which received its world premiere in Cannes on Monday.
Loving tells the true story of an illegal inter-racial marriage in 1950s Virginia and stars Joel Edgerton as Richard Loving with Negga who went to school for a time at Scoil Carmel on OConnell Avenue playing his wife, Mildred.
The couple battled before the Supreme Court in 1967 for their right to live together as husband and wife, at a time when interracial marriage was illegal.
Few films at this year's festival have been greeted with such warmth, wrote The Irish Times film critic Donald Clarke. What lingers most is the vista of Ruth Neggas strong, furrowed, defiant face. The Irish actor now has the world at her feet.
The Daily Telegraph said that Negga, an Ethiopian-Irish actress best known for a handful of TV roles, is place-your-Oscar-bets-now tremendous in the role of a black woman quietly fighting her way to the centre of her own life story.
The Hollywood Reporter also described the actress this week as the definition of a decade-long overnight success.
This is the most important film Ive ever made, said Negga. It's one of the most important films in history, I think. I'm kind of overwhelmed by everything.
Mildred shied away from the spotlight completely, but she changed the course of American legal history. All she wanted to do was marry the man she loved. It took nine years. Can you imagine taking on the might of the American legal system? They were poor and fairly uneducated, but they just wanted to be with one another.
Born in Ethiopia and raised in Limerick, where her mothers family are from, she was educated at Trinity and has lived in London for the past decade, she has spoken previously about never feeling like she fitted in anywhere.
My feelings of difference were partly down to having parents of different races. I had quite a scattered childhood. I never really fitted anywhere.
I didn't feel it was a negative thing and I was never made to feel different, I just knew I was.
Her breakout role was in Neil Jordans 2004 film Breakfast on Pluto, followed by Ophelia at the National Theatre, the Misfits TV series, and Shirley Bassey in a BBC2 biopic, amongst others. An Irish release date for Loving has yet to be announced.
Great to see my old neighbour doing so well. Her mum Ann is so proud. https://t.co/rOlZHoghsg Cllr Daniel Butler (@DanielButlerFG) May 18, 2016
CHAMPAGNE corks were popping as Limerick woman Natalie Owens scooped a welcome 500,000 prize in a National Lottery scratch card.
Natalie and husband James collected the prize this week after winning big on a 20 All Cash Extravaganza scratch card, which the Limerick woman purchased at The Ambassador Shop in Dooradoyle.
The Limerick prize winner said she was a regular scratch card player and wasnt too surprised by the win.
I usually buy two All Cash scratch cards every week, a 10 one and another 20 one, she said.
I almost always win something on them every week. I have won three 1,000 amounts before and two 500 prizes so to hit the top prize of a half-million euro is not really a surprise to me, she laughed.
Outlining her plans for the winnings, she said the half million euro prize would be very useful.
We are in the process of building a house extension at the moment so the money will come in very useful, she explained.
I always promised myself a new car if I ever won a large amount on a scratch card so on the way to Dublin today, I stopped off at the Toyota garage and I ordered the new Toyota Rav 4.
Meanwhile, a winning couple from Co. Clare are also celebrating their own 500,000 win after hitting the jackpot in the EuroMillions Plus draw on Friday 13.
The winning Normal Play ticket was sold at Seans Shop, Drumgeely, Shannon, on the day of the draw. The winning couple wish to remain private, but said they were lifetime players" of the Lotto and EuroMillions draws.
Its an amazing feeling to have the comfort of knowing that we have half a million euro in the bank, said the woman who collected the prize.
We have been playing the same numbers, week-in, week-out for nearly twenty years. We won smaller amounts in the Lotto draws a long time ago with the same numbers and recently, I even suggested we change them because I felt they were unlucky, she added.
THE family of Adare man Damien Houlihan, 40, who has been missing since last Friday, have appealed for information as to his whereabouts.
Mr Houlihan left Ireland for Britain a fortnight ago. He had no phone but brought some cash and bank cards with him.
He is known to have purchased a train ticket for the Southern Railway to Brighton at 7.15am last Friday with his laser card, but his family have had no trace of him since.
The Adare native, who has been living in Cork for the past few years, is described as being about six foot in height and of medium build.
His brother Tony said the family were "extremely concerned" about him.
"He left his apartment in Cork two weeks ago. We do know that he travelled to London and that last Friday morning he bought a train ticket to Brighton, Tony said.
He didnt bring his phone with him. He had some cash and his bank cards.
We have some friends in London and theyre putting up Facebook alerts and tweets for us, he said.
A CALL has been made on people opposed to the construction of a footbridge on the Shannon in Limerick city to attend a public meeting in Dooradoyle on Monday.
Limerick council chief executive Conn Murray has previously said he would give a presentation on the controversial walkway at the May meeting.
This falls on Monday, but it is as yet unclear as to whether the item will appear on the agenda, with this not being released until Thursday by the local authority.
Multiple have sources have however indicated it will not be, with one councillor saying he is 90% sure this is the case.
Nevertheless, the Footbridge Folly action group wants people to attend the meeting as a show of public opposition.
Following all the discussion and the information in the public domain, it becomes increasingly clear that this 18m plan represents a solo run by the executive, said Dr Catherine Swift, a spokesperson for the group.
It is absolutely clear that there is no public plan available explaining the proposed role or function of this bridge although public money has been being spent on it since June 2014. What is not at all clear is who or what gave the executive responsibility for deciding to spend that money, she added.
Dr Swift dismissed a feasibility study from Aecom personnel, saying: Rational people dont schedule feasibility studies until they decide what they want to achieve and they certainly talk to public representatives before they do so.
Mondays full council meeting kicks off at 3pm at the council offices in Dooradoyle Road.
PROPOSALS to deliver a major makeover and expansion at the Crescent Shopping Centre have been given the green light by Limerick City and County Council this week.
Plans to deliver new retail units, cafe and restaurant space, pedestrian walkways and a public plaza were first lodged on March 24.
According to the planning files, proposals also include the raising of ceiling space in various malls; the reconfiguration of seven external units and one unit, which will provide six internal units; the creation of five new external units, and three of which will accommodate restaurant, cafe and deli-bar uses.
There will be a new, landscaped public plaza at the north of the complex, which will be accompanied by stronger pedestrian links between St Nessans Road and the shopping centre.
According to the proposed development, which received no official submissions from the public, will see an overall increase of 1,743 square metres in retail space, with an overall increase of 3,384 square metres on the complex.
The council also approved of the relocation of 41 car parking spaces, the provision of 24 bicycle parking spaces and an upgrade to the junction at the County Library
According to planning files, the HSEs environmental department had no objections to the Dooradoyle shopping centres application. However, the HSE stated that the preparation for all food units shall be discussed with the HSE before construction commences.
See the Limerick Leader weekend broadsheet editions for reaction.
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Ambitious plans for 106 homes on the site of an old psychiatric hospital have been rejected after councillors said did not want to destroy the site's history.
Barratt Homes submitted an application to North Kesteven District council to build the homes on the former Rauceby Hospital site in Grantham Road and the plans also included a retail development and community area.
The housing company had planned to retain the administration building, two former nurses homes and a conservator but despite this councillors felt the application still did not retain enough history.
Chair of the planning sub committee, Pat Woodman, said it would be a pity to lose all the history at the site.
She said: "The decision was to preserve some of the heritage of the asylum - we haven't got much heritage in North Kesteven and it was quite an important building. Quite a lot of it has been demolished but we were quite keen to see more preserved than the developers wanted.
"The main reason they gave is that it would be too expensive to keep the buildings and convert them, so it made the site unviable.
"I am very keen on keeping the heritage - it was a state of the art building for agricultural paupers in the 1900s and it must have been quite a sight to see."
A planning meeting was held in April this year about the site but the decision was deferred so councillors could make a site visit.
The redevelopment has been a long term project which was first discussed 15 years ago.
Another district councillor, Mike Gallagher, added that he had sympathy with the people living on the Greylees Estate.
He said: "Before Barratt Homes got involved someone bought the chapel on the site. It's been restored adjacent to the site and it's marvellous and I can't see why they can't restore the other buildings.
"I do sympathise with residents but we need to make a stand as a council because of the historic part of North Kesteven."
In 1986 Rauceby Hospital was the base for the District Psychiatric Service.The South Lincolnshire Community and Mental Health Services NHS Trust closed the main hospital building in 1997, but kept on Orchard House as the Trust's headquarters.
David Wilson Homes began redevelopment work on the site in 2004.
Ward councillor for the area Mark Suffield said he felt for residents living in Greylees as the decision has not put an end to the saga.
He said: "We felt it was the missing piece that Greylees needed to put a heart back into the community by not having a derelict sight overshadowing.
"It's a shame as we don't know what will happen now."I have spoken to a few residents and they feel they could be left for another 10 or 15 years without having anything done."
Danny Hunt, who works at the convenience store in Greylees, said many people think something should be done with the site.
He said: "Any cordoned off building like that is an eyesore. It needs something doing with it if they are not going to redevelop it.
"But I am not that fussed that the application has been rejected."
Roy Diggins, who works at Focus Signs Greylees, added: "The site doesn't really have any affect on - we were here when it was a hospital.
"But we would rather it stay as it is, we oppose the development."
Heather Lorimer, who lived on the estate as a child, said she was also glad the plans had been rejected.
She said: "I think it's a good decision because it's a listed building and you have got to respect that.
"But what is going to happen to it?
"I would like to see it retained as much as possible and have the ballroom inside retained."
What do you think about councillors rejecting the plans? Should the site be redeveloped? Was the scheme by Barratt Homes suitable or not? Email elaine.davies@targetseries.co.uk, leave a comment on our Facebook page, or comment below.
Jan 19, 2021, 3 AM
The single missing perforation between these two stamps from the 1918 Inverted Jenny sheet of 100 acts as a clue that might unravel the mystery of how the famous airmail error was created. Image courtesy of Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries/www.InvertedJ
By Michael Baadke
Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries has developed a terrific new online reference site devoted to the Inverted Jenny: the rare 1918 24 carmine and blue airmail error stamp that shows the Curtiss Jenny airplane in the central vignette flying upside down.
The information published at www.invertedjenny.com provides detailed background about the 100 error stamps discovered in a single sheet by collector William T. Robey on May 14, 1918.
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Its a significant resource for the philatelic researcher, potential Inverted Jenny owner, or inquisitive collector.
The new website offers five main sections for collectors to explore: History, Production, Discovery, Sale records and Biographies. All are illustrated with historical photos and pictures of the stamps involved.
Siegel president Scott R. Trepel told Linns Stamp News that he expects to add more information to the site to encourage visitors to return again and again. He wants to include a section about the upright variety of the $2 Jenny Invert stamp issued in 2013, and has plans for a downloadable curriculum about airmail and the original Jenny stamp that teachers can use in the classroom.
The sites current History section presents a lengthy but well-written history of early airmails, starting with the 1859 mail-carrying balloon Jupiter and continuing through the airmail service sanctioned by Congress that began in 1918.
The Production section zeroes in on the development of the 24 Jenny stamp, created in 1918 specifically for the new airmail service.
There has always been speculation about how the invert error was created, but as the site explains, its not possible to know with certainty exactly what happened that resulted in the inverted airplane vignette. Trepel believes, however, that it wasnt just a matter of one stamp sheet positioned incorrectly on the press.
In the past Id avoided the issue of how did it happen? Trepel told Linns. The more I studied and analyzed it, I decided the plate was turned around.
How he came to that conclusion is convincingly described on the website. Photographs make it all easier to understand, including one that documents the absence of a single perforation hole between two of the stamps from the sheet.
The Production section also includes information about the designer and engravers who worked on the stamp, the process of manufacturing the printing plate, and even the debate about the true day of issue for Americas first airmail stamp.
This all leads quite naturally into the story of Robeys purchase of the sheet of 100 inverts, in the section titled Discovery. A collector eager to obtain the new bicolor airmail stamp, Robey wrote to a friend days before the stamps were placed on sale that it would be a good idea to watch for inverts, considering that two different plates were used to print the stamp. The website tells the story of his lucky find, and follows his efforts to find a buyer for his sheet at what he considered to be a fair price.
The interactive page of sale records opens up to a reconstructed sheet showing 98 of the 100 stamps, each pictured in the most recent photograph known. Photographs have not been found for two stamps, from positions 49 and 79, and their whereabouts since being sold to Col. Edward H.R. Green in 1918 are also unknown.
Position 49 that should be a beautiful stamp, Trepel said. Its from a section of the sheet that includes invert stamps with terrific centering, such as the position 58 stamp that Siegel is offering during its May 31 auction at World Stamp Show-NY 2016. That stamp has been nicknamed Jenny 95 in reference to the XF-Superb grade of 95 it received on its 2005 Professional Stamp Experts certificate, the only Jenny Invert to obtain that lofty grade.
By clicking on any of the stamp pictures youll get an enlarged image and the stamps entire known history, including extra photos, condition details, a historical summary, a list of owners, a list of certificates issued, sales transactions with current catalog values and prices realized, and a graph of realizations for this position in relation to catalogue value.
The Biographies section identifies the many past and present owners of the 100 Jenny Invert stamps, where known, an illustrated list that includes more than 180 names. Some are quite well known, including William H. Gross, Robert E. Zoellner, and Donald Sundman. For a few, little more than their names are known.
The Inverted Jenny website continues the Siegel companys commitment to research and record-keeping that includes The Siegel Encyclopedia, stamp census data, a power search, and more that can be found on the firms home site at siegelauctions.com.
Along with the launch of the new Inverted Jenny website, Siegel recently posted two new YouTube videos with information related to the famous error. The first was published May 12. Its less than five minutes long, but gives an entertaining history of the famous error stamp and the inauguration of airmail service in Washington, D.C.
The second video is even shorter.
It features Trepel in a small plane flying alongside the actual Jenny airplane that will be displayed during World Stamp Show-NY 2016 in New York City.
Related stories on Jenny Invert error:
Vintage Curtiss Jenny biplane to be displayed at World Stamp Show
Siegel to offer finest graded Jenny Invert in its WSS-NY 2016 sales
Exciting opportunities await visitors to World Stamp Show-NY 2016
May 2, 2021, 2 AM
The Scott Publications booth at the Fifth International Philatelic Exhibition (Fipex), in New York City in 1956. Harmer, Rooke and Company shared the booth. The company was also located at 3 E. 57th St. when Scott left New York in 1984.
The L.P. Hollander Building at 3 E. 57th St. was the last building Scott Publishing Co. called home during its long stay in New York City. The Scott offices were on the top three floors.
Another picture from 1951 shows James B. Hatcher (left), then the editor of the Scott Monthly Journal, and his secretary Lilly B. Freed. Hatcher would later become editor-in-chief of the Scott catalogs, and Mrs. Freed would later become the new-issues edi
By Martin J. Frankevicz
Thinking about World Stamp Show-NY 2016, I hear the strains of that old Billy Joel song, New York State of Mind. Thats because I used to work for Scott Publishing Co. in New York before it was purchased in late 1984 by Amos Press (now Amos Media), and moved to Sidney, Ohio.
I got a position with Scott in September 1981, after working for a few months at another publishing company in midtown Manhattan. I got both jobs from dropping my resume off the previous year at places that I thought I might like to work because of my hobby interests, though I did drop off my resume at dozens of places, even the marketing firm that was peddling Slim Whitman records through television commercials.
When I first started working for Scott, I was still living with my parents on Long Island and commuting by train and subway. It was rather expensive and exhausting, and by November I decided to try to find an inexpensive place to live somewhere in the city. I answered a Roommate Wanted ad in the Village Voice. I did indeed find cheap.
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I ended up living in Queens with two guys who now might best be described as Harold and Kumar types. My girlfriend (now wife) dubbed them the Mudworms for their utter lack of 1) couth, 2) ambition, and 3) knowledge of the purpose of cleaning supplies. Oscar Madison was a clean freak compared to these guys. Though living with them was less than ideal, it was a short walk and a 45-minute subway ride to work.
In 1981, New York was just beginning to rebound from the fiscal crisis of the 1970s. That Ford to City: Drop Dead headline from the Daily News was still fresh in everyones mind. At that time, the subways were filthy with graffiti everywhere, and the train cars were constantly breaking down system-wide because maintenance was put off for years.
Because so many cars were in the shop, trains would arrive in stations with each car sporting a different route sign. It was obvious that just attaching eight working cars in a row was a struggle in the yards. I recall one subway ride in a car without air conditioning on an extremely hot day. By sticking a subway token in the turnstiles slot you could pass through the gates of hell. Nonetheless, new subway cars with air conditioning were on the way for some lines.
The Times Square area was seedy, and even in the area around the Scott offices, one would find homeless people sitting on the sidewalk grates. Yet, the Trump Tower, at Fifth Avenue and 56th Street, and the nearby AT&T Building, on Madison Avenue, were under construction.
The Scott offices were at 3 E. 57th St., across the street from Tiffanys. Plenty of other fancy stores were a short walk away. Not that I could afford to shop in any of them. At lunch hour, I could partake of the limited fare offered by numerous nearby hot dog vendors standing beside their carts. If I wanted to go to an actual restaurant, the nearest ones were not that close to the office.
The 3 E. 57th St. building is known as the L.P. Hollander Building, though I never saw any sign noting the buildings name when I worked there. Hollander was a womens clothing retailer back in the 1930s, and it occupied the ground floor.
In 1981, the ground floor of the building also housed a designer label clothing store for rich young women who wore dress sizes that apparently ranged from 0 to just slightly above 0, with those slightly above 0 sizes being in the back of the store, far from the front window. The corporate offices for this line of clothing were in the three floors above the store. No woman who boarded the elevator and pressed the buttons for the designers offices could in any way be considered zaftig. For some reason, every time I see Robert Palmers 1986 Addicted to Love video, I think of that elevator.
Stampazine, a retail stamp store, took up the fifth floor of the building. Stampazines owners were also in Scotts ownership group, and they assisted in providing values for the catalogs in the time I worked for Scott.
Bert Taub, the principal of the firm, was a jovial, happy-go-lucky guy who was fun to be around. The floor of his office was a bit strewn with litter, however. I could imagine him pushing aside some of that litter and accidentally uncovering a set of Zeppelins that had been in the piles of detritus for years.
Irving Koslow, who handled the United States valuing for the Scott catalog, also worked with Bert, along with other clerks. Bert and Irving were always pretty good about sharing their knowledge with me, on the few times that I had the occasion to ask them questions.
The Harmer Rooke Galleries, which sold high-end collectibles, occupied the sixth floor. One day, on the way back to the office from lunch, a short woman wearing large sunglasses got off at the sixth floor. This was my first brush with a famous person, because I learned later that it was Yoko Ono.
The Scott Auction Galleries were on the seventh floor. In 1981, the British Commonwealth values in the Scott catalog were handled by Richard Gordon, the auctioneer. Gordon was another member of the Scott ownership group.
The elevator only went to the eighth floor, and upon exiting you saw the receptionists desk. The Scott management, marketing and advertising, and customer service staffers occupied the eighth floor. I had to walk up a flight of stairs to get to my desk on the ninth floor, where the editorial and art departments were located.
During my years working for Scott in New York, I created the album supplements, answered mail, and assisted with various writing and editorial projects.
The catalog had an editor emeritus, James B. Hatcher. He worked for Scott for decades, starting just after World War II. Before working for Scott, he spent a number of years before the war in Japan as a newspaper reporter. Hatcher reviewed my initial writing assignments and red-penciled them rather severely, but I learned so much from him. He was an incredibly witty fellow who knew how to cut someone down without them even realizing it, but he was always pleasant and polite to those he worked with on a daily basis.
Every so often, the catalog editor, Bill Cummings, would send me to the FDR branch post office or the United Nations post office, to pick up the newest stamps. Working with the album supplements meant that I worked rather closely with the new-issues editor, Barbara Weinfield. Id occasionally run down to the Minkus stamp shop in Gimbels Department Store on 34th Street to pick up stamps for her. At Gimbels, the stamp shop was essentially a display case containing new issues on stock cards. Id occasionally see stamps I had not seen listed before and bring them back.
In 1981, Scott was just beginning to put its catalog data on computer, and that was only the catalog numbers, design numbers, denomination, descriptions, catalog values, and set totals. The computer handling the data wasnt even in New York. All changes had to be written on greenbars, and in catalog production season, stacks were sent to the computer company by express mail.
We used this less-than-perfect computer system until a new one was installed for the 1989 editions. To put the computer world of 1981 into perspective, one of my roommates purchased a Commodore 64 shortly after it was introduced in 1982. Only a few summers before, I worked at a place where there was a large computer and all of the data was stored on reels upon reels of magnetic tape. It was a time that todays computer tech people would call the stone age.
The catalog was produced with type that was put together in plates by typesetters not that many years before 1981. Sometime in the 1970s, this was replaced by photographic reproductions of the last pages created in that manner. This, however, made changing information on those pages a bit more difficult.
Value changes, listings for new stamps, and even the page numbers were typeset onto photographic paper, which was then waxed and placed onto cardboard template pages. We always hoped that the waxed-on pieces stayed put. A similar process was used to create album and supplement pages. But the wax was never a great solution because eventually it would dry out and the attached pieces would fall off the page.
When you consider that when John Walter Scott started up his little price list of stamps in 1868 and created a rather small tome that lacked catalog numbers, and his pages were typeset in much the same way the catalogs were created until the early 1970s, it makes it clear how much things changed in 40 years.
For a few years in the early 1970s, Scott was owned by William Wylie. Under his ownership, some parts of the Scott operation moved out to Omaha, Nebraska, but from 1868 to 1984, the Scott editors were based somewhere in New York City. At that time, New York was still the most important place in the country for philately, and the editors were not willing to move to the Great Plains.
Over the years, the Scott offices moved from building to building in Manhattan. Starting in lower Manhattan at 34 Liberty St., which is just on the other side of the West Side Highway from the site of the World Trade Center, John Walter Scott moved the firm to 146 Fulton St. and then to 163 Fulton St. The Fulton Street addresses are just off of Nassau Street, which for years was the place where most New York stamp dealers had their businesses.
Scott then moved to 721 Broadway, a block north of West Fourth Street. The next move was to 18 E. 23rd St., near Madison Square Park. It then moved to 127 Madison Avenue, north of East 30th Street. The offices then moved to 33 W. 44th St., and then to 1 W. 47th St., which is now in the Diamond District. From there, the offices headed to 580 Fifth Ave., which is essentially next door. The next Scott address is 461 Eighth Ave., a block north of the main New York post office, and across the street from the New Yorker Hotel.
From there, Scott moved to 488 Madison Ave., just north of East 51st Street. The offices then went to 604 Fifth Ave., just south of West 49th Street and Rockefeller Center, before going to 530 Fifth Ave., not far from its earlier location on West 44th Street. Scott ended up at 3 E. 57th St., its final New York address.
More history about stamps and stamp shows:
John Lennon's childhood stamp album on display
Vivid memories of the 1956 New York international
London 1980: my first international stamp show
Feb 9, 2021, 9 AM
International shows offer chances for unique souvenirs, such as this signed photograph of engraver Czeslaw Slania from Pacific 97, with a postmarked example of one of his stamps.
The Javits Center is now more easily accessible by public transportation, thanks to the new Hudson Yards subway station, only a block away at 34th Street.
This special souvenir of Pacific 97 has first- and last-day cancels of the U.S. stamps issued in honor of the show.
Another of the authors treasured show souvenirs is this Washington 2006 official cacheted cover franked with the new Samuel de Champlain stamp (joint issue with Canada) and signed by the stamp designers.
By Wayne Chen
Each year only a few mega-scale international philatelic exhibitions take place around the world, held under the auspices of the International Federation of Philately (FIP), the international philatelic organization based in Zurich, Switzerland. The only two exhibitions for 2016 under FIP patronage are World Stamp Show-NY 2016 in May/June and Philataipei in Taiwan in October.
In common with many other collectors, I am very excited that this once-in-a-decade United States event is happening this year, but also that it is in my hometown of New York City.
World Stamp Show-NY 2016 will be held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, located on 11th Avenue between 34th and 40th streets, in the Clinton neighborhood near the new Hudson Yards development. The Javits Center covers six city blocks and includes multiple huge exhibition spaces with very tall ceilings supported by space-framing trusses. Each year the facility hosts dozens of widely varied exhibitions and trade shows and other events.
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The original building was designed by the world-famous architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, and a five-year, $460-million renovation and expansion was recently completed. My personal memories of the Javits Center begin with attending several Mega-Event stamp shows sponsored by the American Stamp Dealers Association during the 1990s and early 2000s, before the semi-annual events moved to other venues.
In the past, the Javits Center was not so easy to get to by public transportation. The closest subway stations were Times Square and 34th Street. However, with the new development at Hudson Yards and the recent opening of the Hudson Yards Station for the seven-train extension, the Javits Center is only a block away from a new subway station and now very accessible by both subway and bus.
I attended two of the once-a-decade U.S. international stamp shows in the past Pacific 97 in San Francisco, and Washington 2006 in Washington, D.C. so WSS-NY 2016 will be my third such show, and counting. Compared to many senior stamp enthusiasts, my record of attendance isnt that impressive. Steven J. Rod, the vice president of WSS-NY 2016, has attended U.S. international stamp shows in 1956, 1976 and 1986, in addition to the two that I have been to. (It would be interesting to find out who has attended the most international stamp shows and hear some of their stories!)
Some of my most memorable show recollections involve meeting stamp designers at new-issue ceremonies or postal administration booths. At Pacific 97, I was honored to meet the world-renowned stamp engraver Czeslaw Slania, at the Swedish postal services booth. The engraver was actually working at the show on the engraving of a Swedish stamp (Scott 2265a, issued Jan. 15, 1998) for the new Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm. With the translation help of one of the Swedish postal representatives, I asked for a photo of me with Slania, and he was happy to comply. I expressed my admiration for his engraving work and said how honored I was to meet him.
To my surprise, the Sweden Post representative gave me a thematic stamp album titled Naturupplevelser (nature experiences) as a souvenir gift. It included mint examples of nature and wildlife stamps, three of which had been engraved by Slania. The postal representative then asked if I would like Slania to autograph the stamps for me, and I was thrilled. He turned to the corresponding pages and had the engraver sign next to each of his stamps. (Most of his stamps have CZ.SLANIA in the lower-right corner, making identification easy.)
Slania passed away in 2005, and his astounding body of work (more than 1,000 stamps) continues to attract collectors, with specialist clubs and literature, including a catalog. Meeting him was truly an unforgettable experience.
It was very enjoyable to visit the multitude of booths on the show floor representing postal administrations from around the world. Besides being able to buy other nations new issues in person, in U.S. dollars, and produce my own special souvenirs, talking to each countrys postal spokespeople was especially rewarding.
I remember speaking to the Hong Kong postal representative at the Pacific 97 show about the phenomenon of philatelists eagerly acquiring stamps of Hong Kong, then still under British rule, just before the handover to China on July 1, 1997. Many people were in line to buy stamps depicting Queen Elizabeth II on Hong Kong issues.
Nine years later, when I attended Washington 2006 in the nations capital, many of my highly anticipated wishes were fulfilled. Growing older and developing an appreciation for rare stamps, I attended the show with a game plan to seek out and relish the world-class philatelic material on view. I brought six friends with me, most of them living in the D.C. area at the time, and none of them collected stamps. The show was eye-opening for my friends, and they purchased some souvenirs for themselves.
In common with other international shows and with the Big Apple, WSS-NY 2016 will offer something special for everyone, and that includes young and old, beginners and longtime collectors, or even those who have never thought of stamps as sources of enjoyment.
Admittedly, attending a stamp show on this scale may be overwhelming for first-timers (or even for those who have been at other internationals), so allow me to share some tips and suggestions from my own experience. Making a plan for your visit will help you to better enjoy the U.S. philatelic event of the decade:
1. Go on the World Stamp Show-NY 2016 website, which has all the vital data, constantly updated, about the show: hours, lists of events and exhibits, dealers and postal administrations who will be there, and so on. The site even has discounts for booking air travel and hotel reservations; its the best and most reliable resource about the show.
2. Admission is free throughout all eight days of the show, so bring your loved ones, family members and friends so they can have fun, or just watch your bags (and your kids) while you run around the show. Many of the recommended activities also are free of charge, or will cost just the price of a stamp (to make a souvenir with a show postmark).
3. Make a point of attending as many first-day stamp ceremonies as you can. The U.S. Postal Service will be issuing two World Stamp Show-2016 forever stamps on the first day of the show, and the United Nations and other postal administrations also will hold first-day ceremonies during the course of the show. These ceremonies offer a unique opportunity to meet stamp designers, obtain autographs and create one-of-a-kind philatelic souvenirs.
4. Mail a postcard or cover at the show to yourself and your friends. Special pictorial show cancels will be available, with mailboxes set up to receive your items. Put your correctly stamped cards or covers in the mailbox for the date whose cancel you want, and they will be canceled and mailed accordingly. An example of the pictorial postmark will be displayed at the mailbox.
5. View the thousands of frames of world-class exhibits in competition for awards at the show, and the display of unparalleled philatelic rarities of the world in the court of honor. If you are considering putting together your collection for an exhibition, or you simply want to see exhibits of the highest level, this will be a great learning experience, and deeply rewarding for your collecting knowledge. Certainly, one of the must-see exhibits is the worlds most famous stamp, the British Guiana 1856 1 Magenta, whose auction price of almost $9.5 million set a world record in 2014.
6. Attend seminars, stamp auctions, and stamp-society meetings of your interest. Dozens of collector groups will be attending the show, with information booths and events. All are listed on the WSS-NY website.
7. You will be able to literally shop around the world and easily obtain recent stamp issues from countries represented on the show floor. You can expect to purchase most of the items at face value converted or equivalent to post office prices in U.S. dollars. This is one of my favorite activities when attending international stamp shows.
8. Creating a philatelic passport is another fun activity at international stamp shows. A show passport booklet will be offered by the WSS-NY 2016 show committee and Linns Stamp News. Affix mint stamps on the appropriate pages (all the attending postal administrations should be featured) and then acquire a special show postmark at each countrys booth. The official show website lists all the postal agencies scheduled to be present.
9. Endless hours of fun can be had by visiting the hundreds of dealer booths to build your own collections. Consult the WSS-NY 2016 website for the list of participating dealers, and be sure to bring your want list with you to the show.
Above all, make the most of your enjoyment of World Stamp Show-NY 2016. There will not be a similar U.S. event until the international show in Boston in 2026.
Related Articles:
Come explore World Stamp Show-NY 2016
Some tips for enjoying your stay in New York City during World Stamp Show-NY 2016
Fond memories of past internationals and looking forward to WSS-NY 2016: Editors Insights
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Gordon Chaplin is a research associate at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. A former journalist who has written for the Baltimore Sun, Newsweek and The Washington Post, Chaplin now writes novels and works on the conservation of nature with the nonprofit Niparaja. Chaplin contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
The spectacular Sierra de la Giganta coast along the Sea of Cortez in southern Baja California, Mexico, is one of North America's last frontiers. It's as if the Grand Canyon had been divided at the bottom and one half moved to the sea. There are no roads, and almost no sign of humanity other than a couple of tiny fishing villages just 100 miles (160 kilometers) or so of heart-stopping variegated cliffs, abutments, mesas, canyons and spires, revealing different hues of red, green and brown, depending on the time of day. There are very likely more big-horned sheep and mountain lions in this area than there are people.
But that could change quickly.
I recently sailed up this coast on a catamaran with a man who arguably knows it better than anyone alive, a 72-year-old Grizzly Adams look-alike named Tim Means. (Grizzly Adams was a famous trainer of grizzly bears and mountain man.) Means, a transplanted Arizonian who arrived in the '70s to run nature trips and never left, hopes to preserve the Sierra de la Giganta. He's been a Mexican citizen for longer than he's been an American, speaks perfect colloquial Spanish, and has raised two children there. [Nature's Arches: Photos of Stunning Sandstone in the American Southwest]
Tim Means and some naturalist friends formed the conservation nonprofit Niparaja, which aims to preserve the biodiversity of Baja California Sur.
Twenty-five years ago, Means and some naturalist friends formed the conservation nonprofit Niparaja, named after the Pericu god of creation. So far, Niparaja has been instrumental in saving from developers at least two natural wonders of southern Baja: Espiritu Santo island and Balandra Bay. And they are hard at work saving the Sierra de la Giganta coast. But the developers are gaining strength as visitors from the United States and Canada flood the area in ever-increasing numbers.
In Mexico, developers usually get what they want, Means has found. In southern Baja, they've turned Los Cabos,thirty years ago just two small villages along one of the worlds most spectacular coasts into a sort of Miami Beach, with a line of high-rise hotels blocking access to the water,. Loreto, a couple hundred miles north on the Sea of Cortez, features the 6,000-unit Loreto Bay complex, billed as the largest sustainable urban development project in North America. The little farming and fishing village of Todos Santos, on the Pacific coast, 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Cabo, has been fighting off a huge project that would double its size, take much of its water, and commandeer a beach traditionally used by the fishermen. That project, Tres Santos, has been advertised as a community for "mindful living" that focuses on the tradition of sustainability. Construction continues, in spite of vigorous local opposition, because in Mexico, from my perspective, it's who you know that counts, and the developers have powerful friends.
For the past five years, Means, backed by Niparaja, has been lobbying hard for the federal creation of a biosphere reserve in the Sierra de la Giganta, and amazingly enough, Mexico's ultraconservative pro-business and development President Enrique Pena Nieto has indicated he will issue a decree later this year to do just that. He won't be the first president to make such a promise, though. In other words, this comes under the heading of "pie in the sky." And it might give you an idea of the constraints Means faces.
In the meantime, one of Niparaja's more successful approaches has been to buy up land, using funds from a wide assortment of foundations, and place conservation easements on it. They are now putting together an 80-mile-long (130 km) protected corridor along the Sierra de la Giganta coast, south of Loreto. The protections, if enacted, would make commercial development there almost impossible.
But the Sierra de la Giganta is like the Wild West: Whoever gets there first with the most money tends to win the prize. Much of the land is owned by collectives called ejidos, set up in the 1930s after the Mexican Revolution to redistribute large holdings to the peasants. However, the use of these ejidos can be controversial and heavily influenced by politics. At this moment, anti-conservation political agents have infiltrated their meetings and are doing their best to discredit Niparaja, saying the nonprofit is out to curtail ranching, fishing, development and almost any other productive activity.
Titles are vague and ambiguous, and can be disputed easily. A buyer has to be constantly vigilant; some have been known to use force to stake their claims, ripping up competitors' private property signs and posting their own, or bodily ejecting other claimants.
This has been the case with one of the few privately held lands on the coast, now claimed by an arch-enemy of Means a man I'll refer to as Pancho Prieto. He has staked out almost 2,000 acres (8 square kilometers) of choice property with good wells, appropriating the water for his own use and forcing out many longtime residents. Prieto is extremely unpopular in his hometown on the Pacific coast of Baja because his fortune comes from shortchanging ejido members for their land and selling it at large profits to foreigners. This could be happening on his property here very soon.
But the title to his land on the Sierra de la Giganta coast is as vague as all the rest. Niparaja is hoping to acquire it, or at least to establish a conservation easement. that would prohibit subdivision and development. The fight is on.
After a two-day trip from La Paz, the capital city of Baja California, we dropped anchor off a long, red crescent beach backed by a grove of date palms that guarded a wide valley ringed by a 2,000-foot (600 m) escarpment. Means thought he had bought this 5,000-acre ranch about 20 years ago from an American; there, he had built a palapa and a strong house, and had spent good times there with his family, guests and nature tour clients.
The ranch would have made an important part of the coastal conservation corridor envisioned by Means and Niparaja, so he resigned from its board to avoid a conflict of interest and arranged to sell it the land. But the ensuing title search revealed that Means' actual property was about 10 miles (16 km) up the coast, and much smaller. He sold this to Niparaja instead and turned his attention to securing the ranch that he thought had been his all along.
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He found that the ranch was actually "national land" owned by the federal government, and got an "act of possession" allowing him to use it for several years. To actually buy it, he must request an appraisal, which would be followed by an auction.
In the unlikely event that a biosphere reserve is actually created, Means could still be granted title under the biosphere regulations, but more likely, private ownership would be limited. In Mexico, a biosphere is basically a loosely regulated national park, but unlike U.S. parks, it includes support for sustainable livelihoods. Critics have called the amorphous concept "simply another line on the map." Supporters point out that, within a biosphere, it's easier to get funding for conservation projects.
Means has more pressing problems. From the deck of our catamaran, he pointed to a tiny, almost invisible structure high on the rim of the escarpment surrounding the valley. "That's where the road ends," Means said. "A developer from Constitution (the nearest large town) built that palapa so he can spy on us. He's been trying to get this place for years." A few weeks earlier, in fact, this same developer was seen on the property in the company of financiers, possibly tied to the sale of drugs, from Mexico City "narco money," as Means put it.
The fight is indeed on, the stakes are high and I'll put my money on Means. In the past, he's outmaneuvered the best (or worst) of them. He likes to joke that his work as a repo man to put himself through college has come in very handy. I'll go so far as to propose my old friend is nothing less than the Pancho Villa of conservation in Baja Sur.
Gordon Chaplin is the author of the novel "Joyride" and several works of nonfiction. (Image credit: George Billard)
Gordon Chaplin is the author of the novel Joyride and several works of nonfiction, including "Dark Wind: A Survivors Tale of Love and Loss" and "Full Fathom Five: Ocean Warming and a Fathers Legacy." A former journalist for Newsweek, the Baltimore Sun, and the Washington Post, he has worked on sea conservation with the group Niparaja, and since 2003 has been a research associate at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. He lives with his wife and daughter in New York City and Hebron, New York. Gordon's latest, "Paraiso," a genre-bending novel about love, sibling relationships, and the dark side of paradise, is out this July from Skyhorse Press. He lives with his wife and daughter in New York City and Hebron, New York. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates and become part of the discussion on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This version of the article was originally published on Live Science .
About 77 million years ago in prehistoric Utah, a bizarre, big-horned dinosaur with two curved spikes sticking out of the top of its head plodded across the countryside, say researchers who found specimens of the paleo-beast.
Each curved head spike measured about 4 feet (1.2 meters) long, and though their function isn't clear, they may have been used to attract mates, said study lead author Eric Lund, a graduate student of biological sciences at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine.
The "horny" finding fills in an important gap in the fossil record of southern Laramidia, an area that included Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Mexico during the Late Cretaceous period, Lund said. [Photos: Oldest Known Horned Dinosaur in North America]
Researchers first unearthed pieces of the dinosaur's skull in 2006, and returned to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, in southern Utah, for a total of three field seasons to look for more of the remains. But they couldn't locate the rest of the body, and instead concentrated on studying what they could find: pieces of its curved head spikes, cheeks, head frill, braincase and the two almost 8-inch-long (20 centimeters) horns it had over its eyes.
Despite its impressive head spikes and horns, the dinosaur wasn't a giant compared with other dinosaurs, reaching about 20 to 26 feet (6 to 8 m) in length. At 1 to 2 tons (0.9 to 1.8 metric tons), the herbivorous beast weighed less than an African elephant. (Male African elephants can weigh up to 7.5 tons (6.8 metric tons), according to the San Diego Zoo.) It was also lighter than its relative Triceratops, which weighed between 3 and 4 tons (2.7 to 3.6 metric tons) and lived about 10 million years after it, Lund told Live Science.
Researchers uncovered only a few pieces of the dinosaur's skull, but it was enough evidence to show that it was a newfound species. (Image credit: Lund, EK. et al. PLOS ONE. 2016.)
The researchers named the new species Machairoceratops cronusi. The genus name comes from "machairis," the Greek word for "bent sword," in reference to the dinosaur's two curved head spikes, and "ceratops" is Latinized Greek for "horned face." The species name is a reference to the Greek god Cronus, who, in mythology, used a sickle or scythe that is, a curved blade, much like the dinosaur's head spikes to oust his father Uranus, the researchers wrote in the study.
M. cronusi is a centrosaurine, a subfamily of the horned dinosaur group called ceratopsid. These dinosaurs had parrot-like beaks, large noses, facial horns and ornamental frills (neck shields). Researchers have unearthed many centrosaurine fossils in northern Laramidia, an area that includes Alaska, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Montana, but far fewer have been found in southern Laramidia, Lund said.
The remains of Diabloceratops eatoni, another horned dinosaur that lived about 80 million years ago, were found in 1998 in the same rock formation as M. cronusi. Another horned dinosaur found from southern Laramidia, Nasutoceratops titusi lived about 76 million years ago.
"The discovery of Machairoceratops not only increases the known diversity of ceratopsians from southern Laramidia, it also narrows an evolutionary information gap that spans nearly 4 million years between Diabloceratops eatoni from the lower middle Wahweap Formation and Nasutoceratops titusi from the overlying Kaiparowits Formation," Lund said in a statement.
The finding also underscores the importance of looking for new fossils in North America.
"There are still new horned dinosaurs to be found, especially from the southern portion of Laramidia," Lund told Live Science. "We're getting at filling in that information gap and seeing that the evolutionary pressures that acted upon the southern part of Laramidia are different than in the north."
The study was published online today (May 18) in the journal PLOS ONE. Also reported today in PLOS ONE is another newfound horned dinosaur species, Spiclypeus shipporum, which scientists uncovered in Montana and dated to about 76 million years ago.
Follow Laura Geggel on Twitter @LauraGeggel. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
Google's Art Camera captures works of art in gigapixel images that contain more than 1 billion pixels, which can reveal details otherwise invisible to the naked eye.
The beauty of the world's greatest works of art can be found in the tiniest details, from brush strokes to hidden signatures like the miniscule dabs of paint that create the impression of light reflected on turbulent water in "The Port of Rotterdam" by Paul Signac.
The Google Cultural Institute recognized this and developed the Art Camera, a custom-built robotic camera that can produce ultra-high-resolution images. Capturing works of art in gigapixel images that contain more than 1 billion pixels can reveal details otherwise invisible to the naked eye.
Google announced yesterday (May 17) that, in celebration of International Museum Day, the company will be donating these Art Cameras to museums around the world. [Faux Real: A Gallery of Forgeries]
"Many of the works of our greatest artists are fragile and sensitive to light and humidity," Google representatives said in a blog post announcing the project. "With the Art Camera, museums can share these priceless works with the global public while ensuring they're preserved for future generations."
Steered via a robotic system, the camera moves from one small detail to the next. Laser and sonar help the camera focus on each brushstroke by measuring the artwork's distance using high-frequency sound. By taking hundreds of close-up, high-resolution images, Google's software pieces the images together to create a digital copy of the art.
Google's Art Camera allows you to see tiny details in works of art, such as "The Port of Rotterdam" by Paul Signac. (Image credit: Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen/Google)
The Google Cultural Institute an initiative of the tech company that focuses on preserving and promoting culture online scanned and archived 200 works of art in its first five years. With the introduction of the Art Camera, another 1,000 works have been added to the collection in just a few months, according to Google.
"The capture time has been reduced drastically," Marzia Niccolai, technical program manager at the Cultural Institute, told The Verge. "Previously, it could take almost a day to capture an image. To give you an idea, now if you have a 1 meter by 1 meter painting, it would take 30 minutes."
Currently available on the Cultural Institute's website are digital recreations of paintings by Monet, Rembrandt, Van Gogh and many other well-known artists. As the Art Camera makes its way around the world, museums can add new works to the digital archive, Google reps said.
Follow Kacey Deamer @KaceyDeamer. Follow Live Science @livescience, on Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
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Longford County Council has submitted a report to An Bord Pleanala which refutes the arguments made against the Center Parcs development at Newcastle Wood made in three appeals which have been lodged with the national planning board.
In the report the local authority's Planning Officer, Donall Mac An Bheatha, wrote: The first two appeals from Mr Robbie Hannifin and Mr B Power are identical and therefore I will address them as one.
Countering arguments that the development would be unsustainable, Mr Mac An Bheatha said, the smaller available market has been taken into consideration in the design of the proposed development, which comprises 500 accommodation units, compared to approximatley 800 units in each of the existing five sites in the United Kingdom. The size of the development is considered appropriate to the Irish Market and the central location of the site makes it easily accessible to the entire Island including Northern Ireland. Also, it is not expected that all visitors will be from Ireland but that the establishment of such a facility will also attract visitors from overseas.
He also responded to criticism of the design, saying: I visited Center Parcs Woburn Forest and the quality and design of the buildings was notable there. Furthermore, it is clearly stated in the Design Statement submitted with the planning application that the rationale of the design approach is visually discreet buildings that blend with the landscape and with the landscaping remaining the dominant feature.
Messrs Hannifin and Power also queried points relating to the Planner's Report, Wastewater Treatment, and Traffic all of which were countered.
Referring to claims the development didn't comply with guidelines laid out in the County Development Plan because it is to be constructed in a protected area, he added: The current proposal does not propose to develop the protected perimeter area of the forest, with the exception of the access roadway, which is designed to avoid any important trees.
He also clarified that, the site in question does not comprise a protected bog or peatland, as contended in the appeal submission.
Addressing a separate appeal made by Ms Teresa Kiernan concerning road traffic, the Planning Officer stated that, it is the contention of the Planning Authority that all traffic issues were fully considered and assessed as part of the planning application process, including assessment of the traffic studies carried out by the applicant's engineers.
He added: it is clear from the evidence submitted as part of the planning application and as set out in detail above that the R392 has sufficient capacity to cater for all traffic generated as a result of the current proposal. Traffic will also be distributed throughout the wider road network, not only via the R392 to the east.
Regarding a separate observation relating to wild deer present on the proposed site, Mr Mac An Bheatha said: the site does not contain native deer species but there are non-native wild deer on the site, before going on to explain how any displacement of deer from the construction element of the site will be accommodated within the wider forest in the immediate area. Once operational, deer are welcomed onto the site and form part of the biodiversity for which Center Parcs developments are known...
The estate agent handling the sale of the former Annaly Hotel premises in Longford town is reporting a high level of interest in the property.
Fintan McGill of Sherry Fitzgerald McGill told the Longford Leader that the building has been the subject of at least 27 viewings since it was advertised for sale.
There is huge interest from hoteliers to developers and all in between, he said. There have been 27 viewings since it went on the market and that has caused the asking price to double from 150,000 to 300,000.
Last month this paper confirmed an offer of 150,000 had been placed on the premises and that a French consortium was planning to view it.
The hotel has 38 bedrooms, a large dance hall, and an extensive bar, as well as an adjoining quarter-acre site. The hotel was refurbished in the 2000s but has been out of use for the past decade.
Region Amount Capital Region $1,396,292.00 Central $1,107,404.00 Finger Lakes $1,588,884.00 Long Island $2,792,584.00 Mid-Hudson $2,551,844.00 Mohawk Valley $674,072.00 NYC $7,125,904.00 North Country $433,332.00 Southern Tier $818,516.00 Western $1,781,476.00 *Amount of funding subject to change based on regional needs
Senator Charles E. Schumer said, "This is a smart investment that will help thousands of unemployed New Yorkers secure a job and simultaneously boost our local economy. Governor Cuomo deserves much credit for prioritizing and continuing this successful initiative, and I pledge to continue fighting hard in Congress for resources that will help protect and create jobs in our great state."
Congressman Charles B. Rangel said, "Many thanks to Governor Cuomo and the U.S. Department of Labor for helping put New Yorkers back to work. My priority has always been jobs, jobs, jobs for our constituents. Whether they are looking to improve their job qualifications, explore a different profession or find a new career, I hope this grant will provide job seekers adequate resources and practical skills to gain employment and advance their career."
Congressman Eliot Engel said, "Our economy continues to gain strength, but far too many New Yorkers are still not feeling the recovery. We can do more to make sure that working men and women have the tools they need to find the jobs that were creating in the 21st century economy. I applaud Governor Cuomo for using these federal funds to do just that, and offer career guidance for more than 100,000 job seekers."
Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey said, "A well-trained workforce is essential for New Yorkers to compete in the global economy. That's why I fight every year to strengthen programs like this one to ensure hardworking men and women can secure good jobs to support their families."
Congressman Jerrold Nadler said, "I'm pleased federal funding is helping get New Yorkers back to work. Working directly with the unemployed, offering them guidance, and helping them find job opportunities that match their skills is the best way to connect job seekers to currently available jobs. I want thank Governor Cuomo for working so hard to help more than 298,745 unemployed New Yorkers start over."
Congressman Gregory W. Meeks said, "When our fellow New Yorkers need a little help, we should not turn our backs on them, but we should offer a helping hand. This grant will do exactly that; it will help New Yorkers return to work and ensure those that are actively seeking it are not deprived of their much-needed assistance. I thank the Department of Labor and Governor Cuomo and I look forward to continuing to work with them to reduce unemployment in every community in our state."
Congressman Paul Tonko said, "As our economy continues to recover, there are still too many in our communities who struggle to find quality, long-term employment that helps them to support a family. I thank Governor Cuomo for recognizing this challenge and using these funds to help so many throughout our state to get back to work. I look forward to continuing to work with his office on the federal level to ensure every hardworking New Yorker has the opportunity and ability for employment that they deserve."
Congressman Hakeem Jeffries said, "This $20 million federal grant will play a critical role in helping New Yorkers get back to work. Though our national economy is much stronger today than in recent history, we have more work to do in the fight to ensure that every New Yorker who wants a job can find one. Governor Cuomo and all involved should be commended for their work in this effort."
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik said, "This important funding will go a long way to help those struggling to find work in our community. This critical funding will provide career counseling to help those struggling find gainful employment."
Congressman Dan Donovan said, "Changes in how our economy works have left some folks jobless, particularly in the manufacturing industry. Getting them retrained and back to work is in everybody's interest. Thank you to the U.S. Department of Labor and Governor Cuomo for dedicating resources to our communities across the state."
Hundreds of Volunteers Positively Impacted the Valley Stream Community on "I Love My Park Day"
Nature & Weather, Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases, Seasonal & Current Events
By Long Island News & PR Published: May 18 2016
Assembly Member Solages (Elmont-D) partnered with Parks & Trails New York and Valley Stream State Park to host I Love My Park Day: A Day To Volunteer.
Applebee's of Valley Stream provided a free BBQ lunch for all guests during I Love My Park DAy at Valley Stream State Park.
Valley Stream, NY - May 17, 2016 - Assembly Member Solages (Elmont-D) partnered with Parks & Trails New York and Valley Stream State Park to host I Love My Park Day: A Day To Volunteer.
Over 130 volunteers worked on a wide-array of projects such as painting benches, planting flowers, cleaning the stream, and building park tables. Several scouting groups including, Girl Scout Troop 2266, Cub Scout Pack 109, and Cub Scout Pack 294 used this experience to earn badges.
Sponsors included Applebees of Valley Stream. Home Depot, Lowes, and Health First.
If you would like more information about Assembly Member Michaelle Solages upcoming events, please contact the district office at 516-599-2972 or via email.
Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases
By Long Island News & PR Published: May 18 2016
The Suffolk County Police Department has issued a Silver Alert for a missing elderly man from Middle Island.
Charles Klinkenberg, 78, of Middle Island, is a missing vulnerable adult with dementia and may be in need of medical attention. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call 631-852-6410 or call 911.
Update - May 18, 2016 - The New York State Missing Vulnerable Adult Alert on behalf of the Suffolk County Police Department 6th Precinct for Charles Klinkenberg is now cancelled as of 10:51 am on May 18, 2016.
The original Silver Alert is below.
Middle Island, NY - May 18, 2016 - The Suffolk County Police Department has issued a Silver Alert for a missing elderly man from Middle Island.
Charles Klinkenberg, 78, was last seen at home on Robin Drive in Middle Island on Tuesday, May 17 at approximately 6:00 p.m. He left his residence for an unknown destination and is driving a white 2013 Chevy Cruz with a New York license plate DYJ7158.
Charles Klinkenberg is a 78-year-old missing vulnerable adult with dementia and heart disease and may be in need of medical attention.
Klinkenberg is described as a white male, 5 feet 10 inches tall, approximately 175 pounds. He has brown eyes, and short white hair. He was last seen wearing a black leather jacket with black jeans, a red shirt and white sneakers. He was also wearing eyeglasses.
DOB: 01/30/1938
Sex: Male
HGT: 5'10"
WGT: 175 lbs.
Hair: Gray
Eyes: Brown
Race: White
Anyone with information on Charles Klinkenbergs whereabouts is asked to call the Suffolk County Police Communications Duty Officer at 631-852-6410 or call 911.
As a reminder, Silver Alert is a program implemented in Suffolk County that allows local law enforcement to share information with media outlets about individuals with special needs who have been reported missing.
Looking to stay up to date about all of the news stories and local headlines that are important to Long Islanders? We've rounded up the top coverage for all of the important topics from multiple sources around Long Island, so you can be sure you've got the most recent update on the top stories for Long Island. Have an idea for a news story? Email us at news@longisland.com
Columnists Press Releases
The Iraqi military has claimed that it, along with tribal forces, have recaptured the western city of Rutbah. Rutbah sits within the desert and has long been an Islamic State stronghold.
After officially launching the operation yesterday, the military has reported its forces have entered the city and liberated the citys northern entrance. Reuters has also reported that the military was able to penetrate the city from the south and take control of a district. The wire news service also quoteed an Iraqi military official as saying, We expect we will be able to reach the center of Rutbah tomorrow morning. The official says that the military faced little resistance in the town, but the Islamic State has claimed otherwise.
The Islamic State, via its Amaq News Agency, claims to have utilized two suicide bombers in recent days on Iraqi troops near Rutbah.
The Iraqi military said that Sunni tribal fighters have assisted in the effort to recapture the town. According to Ahl al Bayt News Agency, a Shia news site, the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMUs) are also involved. However, as of publishing, it is unclear if the PMU forces taking part are Sunni units or the larger Shia militias which dominate the force.
In the last four days, the US has launched at least six airstrikes against Islamic State positions in or near Rutbah. On May 14, US CENTCOM reported that four strikes struck an ISIL [an acronym for the Islamic State] tactical unit, an ISIL headquarters, an ISIL vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED or suicide car bomb) facility, and an ISIL staging facility. In the last two days, two airstrikes hit 10 fighting positions and another VBIED.
Rutbah is an important staging location for the Islamic State, as it allows the jihadist group to support operations throughout Anbar province. This includes operations towards the important centers of Ramadi and Fallujah and even the Al Waleed border crossing with Syria and the Trebil border crossing with Jordan. The jihadist group also maintained the Sheikh Abu Ibrahim training camp in Rutbah, which was popularized by the now infamous photo of Islamic State commander Abu Wahib.
Abu Wahib, who was the leader of the Islamic States forces in Rutbah and the wider Anbar province, was recently killed in a US airstrike. Abu Wahib, whose full name is Shakir Wahib al Fahdawi al Dulaimi, waged jihad in Iraq for more than a decade. He was detained by US forces in Ramadi in 2006 during the height of al Qaeda in Iraqs insurgency. Wahib was sentenced to death and transferred to Tikrit Central Prison. In November 2012, he escaped along with 110 inmates after the Islamic State of Iraq assaulted the prison. By 2013, Abu Wahib emerged as the Islamic State in Iraqs military commander for Anbar province. [See LWJ report, US kills Islamic States military emir for Anbar province.]
Rutbah was the scene of an Islamic State decapitation strike against the Iraqi militarys 7th Division in December 2013, when the group was still part of al Qaedas network. The Islamic State killed the commander of the Iraqi Armys 7th Division, the commander of the 28th Brigade, and 16 officers and soldiers in a well-planned suicide attack. The decapitation strike put the Iraqi military in Anbar in disarray, and helped the Islamic State take over territory in the province.
The loss of Rutbah would severely hinder the Islamic States operations in Iraqs Anbar province. The Islamic State has suffered major setbacks in Anbar over the past several months, losing Ramadi, the provincial capital as well as the nearby town of Hit. The Islamic State still controls Fallujah in the East as well as all of the towns west of Anah along the Euphrates River in addition to contiguous territory across the border in Syria.
Photos and videos from ISF in Rutbah:
Iraqi police reportedly in Rutbah:
A restaurant in a recaptured area of Rutbah:
Al Jazeera report showing Iraqi forces moving into Rutbah:
News report showing ISF near Rutbah:
Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of The Long War Journal. 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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Madelyn Postman Madelyn Postman
Though Madelyn Postman no longer produces designs of her own, she has maintained links to the creative industries, working with clients in luxury, jewellery and fashion. Postman recently attended a Westminster Media Forum Keynote Seminar on digital strategies, IP and competition in the fashion industry. Speaking on the seminar which included talks from thought-leaders in the creative industries, education, government and trade, Postman said: It was really interesting to hear about protecting designs and the fact that the costs are coming down so they are easier to protect. There is a lot of copying in the fashion world. Where do you draw the line between being inspired by someone elses design and copying something?
The answer to this question continues to elude members of the creative industry and legal practitioners alike.
After working as a freelancer, Postman moved on to Gucci in Italy, where she worked as a senior designer and art director. Since 2002, she has focused on developing visual materials and corporate identity for brands from a range of sectors including education and property. Recent clients include Tesco and Kenwood.
Building a strong brand
Postman notes: When you start in design, there is a bit of a divide between above-the-line and below-the-line advertising and they are two quite different worlds. We work on the identity side and branding. Its always exciting to work with new companies and brands - there is always something new going on or a product going through a change and that is part of the attraction. Its quite dynamic.
While her background is founded in the visual arts, Postman has developed experience in creative direction, account handling, business management and an appreciation for intellectual property: a place where unimpeded creativity meets intricate planning. The team at Grain Creative comprises design, web and branding experts who work alongside external linguists, who ensure that proposed names align with the intended brand message.
Grain outsources all IP searches and protection work to lawyers and trade mark attorneys. Postman says: Whether were using in-house lawyers or the trade mark lawyers, we often comes across different points of view. In-house lawyers are a bit more cautious. It really depends on the person. One lawyer might say you can go ahead with a particular name and another lawyer might go against it.
Postman and her colleagues employ a traffic light system for risk assessment, presenting potential names only after searches have been completed. Ultimately, in pursuit of ingenuity, Postman says it is not uncommon for clients to take a gamble: We present a top five of green names and some amber ones. It may be that the client decides that they like amber names more than the green ones. Thats always really interesting.
Corporate identity and IP protection
According to Postman, establishing a comprehensive strategy is the first and most important step to take towards creating a durable brand: Some people think of branding as being about logos and its just one part of it. Its really crucial to get the strategy right, then everything follows from that, so thats where we always start.
Expanding on naming strategy, Postman says: First we look at competitors, the geographies that need to be covered and the Nice classes which are really important. We also assess what clients might be willing to compromise on and whether they are any classes they cannot have. It is difficult to obtain a name that you can protect across a lot of classes and in a lot of geographies, so these are some of the functional criteria of the naming process.
Typically, Postman says that laying down a strategy can take anything from two to three weeks. This precedes the start of the creative process, during which the team spends about one month in brainstorming sessions and research before presenting their findings to the client. Postman says: We generate up 50,000 to 100,000 of what we call raw names. From those, we narrow it down to about 50 to 100 names that we do identical searches on. We then narrow it down to just one name which is then fully searched and registered.
As an advocate for IP protection, Postman says that even as owner of a brand and design agency, she finds herself at the receiving end of trade mark infringement: We have people infringing on our name all the time, because they just dont realise that its protected. We have to write to design agencies and say: you cant use the name Grain in the UK and Europe! Postman holds the view that such occurrences are largely attributable to ignorance of trade mark law in brand creation.
While Postmans role is concerned with creating visual identity and not IP law, she shares her observations on the biggest challenges facing emerging and existing brands: I think its the aspect of time not the time it takes to make a brand, but that more and more names have been claimed over time. It feels like names are being taken out and this makes naming harder for brands.
On whether the naming and branding industries are affected by digital advances, Postman says: It does have an impact for image rights in particular, because people are unaware of image rights and how they work. In the past, there were fewer professional images as it was harder to create high quality images without a professional camera.
With the emergence of 3D printing and unconventional marks, industry members have become increasingly concerned about how to adequately protect such marks and issues of true distinctiveness. Postman says: People using names that are unregistered are not protected. We let our clients know this when they come to us.
Having experience as both a designer and creative agent, Postman is sympathetic to her clients concerns but places greater value in education. She stresses: To clients who come with a name and really do not want to apply for trade mark protection because of costs, we say: its a risk, everything you are investing in the company can be taken away from you.
Holly McWhorter, co-founder of PLANT Apothecary: So is this where we talk about how we met?
Amelia Diamond: Yup. Tell me the story.
Bjarke Ballisager, co-founder of PLANT Apothecary: I was finishing my masters and was here in New York from Denmark for four months. I was doing an internship at an architecture company. At night, I would go out with a Danish friend of mine a lot.
Holly: They had been hanging out at Max Fish quite a bit and met some friends of mine there, who started bringing them out with us. I was in a big summer of partying. Ive always been a bit of a homebody, but I was single and all my friends were coupled up and I was like, Okay, if I stay home and read and watch TV, Im never going to meet anybody, so Im just going to go out like a crazy woman. Every chance I get.
If someone said, Hey, were having drinks, come meet us, I went.
Amelia: This was your summer of Yes.
Holly: This was my summer of Yes. So these friends ended up hanging out and going out all the time so I just started joining them.
Bjarke: I kind of had to stay out late as well because I was living in a kitchen up by Spanish Harlem.
Holly: Yeah, it was one of those crazy situations you hear about where someone arrives new to New York and they dont know what a bad apartment arrangement is yet. He was sleeping in a bunk bed overlooking the stove in a kitchen.
We met at this really strange, sort of avant-garde evening of performance and film that a friend of ours an old, old friend of mine who became a friend of Bjarkes, too had put together. He was doing these evening bazaars, he called them, where he would rent out the Anthology Film Archives and get all of these creative people he knew to do something.
We were all sitting in this theater in this long line; Bjarke was at one end and I was at the other. A friend introduced us, and we were both like, Hmmm.
The friend who made the introduction liked Bjarke, and I knew this. I tried not to talk to him that much because of her, but every time we saw each other, we just couldnt stop.
Bjarke: Theres one more thing that complicated the matter. I lived with a girl back in Denmark.
Amelia: Okay, well, this happens. Was she your girlfriend? Not fiance? Had you given her a ring?
Bjarke: The whole ring concept is different in Denmark. Its not a tradition we do.
Holly: A lot of people dont get married in Denmark. They live together without intending to be married. Its also different there in that people dont date in the same way that we date here. When people like each other in Denmark, theres a tendency to get together because you like one another, and then youre together.
Bjarke: Holly made us go on a date after our first kiss.
Holly: Well, okay. Fast-forward six weeks after the first time we met: we had been hanging out with this group of people, trying not to talk to each other or I was trying not to talk to him but we ending up talking all the time. Eventually, I learned about his girlfriend, which was kind of funny because at that point I had been so worried about not talking to him because of my friend. Once I found out he had a girlfriend, I was like, Cool, we can just go back to being friends. Hes not interested in me, anyway!
Amelia: Right, that just took it off the table.
Holly: Yeah! And so we started talking more. Bjarke wasnt planning to end up with me, either; we just really liked each other. But then
I play the violin, and used to play professionally. One evening when I was out on a gig, Bjarke called to see if I wanted to join him and some other friends for a late drink when I was finished. I went to meet them right after the job, still with my violin, and it turned out that Id never mentioned to him that I played it.
He revealed that he had apprenticed with a violinmaker for years; he thought he wanted to be one.
I mentioned that I had another violin at home that was from the 1700s and had a gorgeous tone, and of course, he wanted to see it. He came up to my apartment once we all left the bar. We ended up sitting and talking all night literally until broad daylight but we didnt lay a hand on each other; it was just talking. And it was after that night that I really couldnt stop thinking about him, which is what led me to ask if he wanted to meet up at Central Park.
I was like, okay, Im thinking about this guy all of the time and hes not available, and hes going to go back to Denmark. I just need to put myself out of my misery.
So I called him and asked him if he wanted to go to the park to talk.
I was totally expecting Bjarke to tell me, I have a girlfriend, Im going back to Denmark, thats it. I figured that once I heard him say it, I could get my head on straight and stop thinking about him all the time.
I had a date lined up with someone the same evening of the afternoon that I called Bjarke to get together for this talk.
Amelia: Very strategic from your end. Like, Okay, Im going to get rejected and then have a date.
Holly: Well, thats just when the other guy was available. It wasnt even like a date-date, it was a slice of pizza. Get a slice and whatever. So anyway, we went to the park and I was like, Okay, so whats the deal?
Amelia: Thats very brave! No one ever does that.
Bjarke: She does.
Holly: Yeah, I do. I was nervous, but I really like to just get things out there. Ill just spit it out and thats how I deal with it.
Bjarke: Thats how you live life!
Amelia: Do you remember what you said?
Holly: I think I said, I really, really like you but I know you have a girlfriend. Are you happy with her? And it turned out that he was not, which had nothing to do with me it was just the way things were between them. And I dont know, somehow over the course of the afternoon we ended up kissing and realized we wanted to be together
Bjarke: It started pouring down.
Holly: It was like something out of a movie. We were on that bridge overlooking Bethesda Fountain in Central Park.
Amelia: Are you insane?
Holly: It was kind of ridiculous.
Bjarke: It seemed a little staged.
And then she went on her date.
Holly: I did! I had the slice of pizza. But I already knew I really liked Bjarke. I didnt know what was going to happen, you know? I knew that I really, really, really liked him and now knew that he liked me, too, but I also was thinking, He is going back to Denmark, and he does have this girlfriend, and who knows if its going to pick up again.
I guess thats why I didnt just call up the date and say, Hey, I cant meet you for pizza. I was in awe that this wonderful thing happened, but like, let me just get that pizza anyway. Just in case. But Bjarke did break up with her.
Amelia: Bjarke, what were you thinking the whole time that you had a girlfriend? Were you just trying to be loyal to her?
Bjarke: Yeah. It was tricky with her being on the other side of the water. It wouldve been easier for me to just say earlier, This needs to end.
I did fly back for a weekend to tell her. I was more sure that the relationship definitely wasnt for me than I was about what would happen with Holly.
Holly: It was kind of weird. All of my friends were like, You need to delete his number from your phone.
Even the friend who had the bazaar not the one who introduced us was like, Come on. Hes younger than you, he lives in Denmark, hes got a girlfriend. You know how this is going to go. You know this is not going to work!
My actual brother was like, What are you doing!? Hes going to go back to Denmark! And he has a life there!
And then my friends were like, So wait a minute, hes got a girlfriend back home and youre busting up that relationship? How would you feel if you were the girlfriend? I tried to explain that they were going to break up anyway, that it would work with us
I dont know. Somehow I just felt like it was going to work. It made no sense.
Bjarke: When I came back from breaking up with my girlfriend, Holly and I dated for a few weeks, but then I had to go back to Denmark at the end of my internship and continue school.
Amelia: So you had to do long distance. How did that work?
Bjarke: It was hard.
Holly: This was nine years ago; we had Skype. We talked on Skype almost every day. Which is weird because neither of us are phone people. Ive never had anything to say to anybody on the phone every single day except in junior high when you call your friends and talk about nothing.
Bjarke: We missed each other a lot but saw each other every few months.
Holly: Yeah. And somehow it just kind of worked. What helped, I think, is that I decided to go back to school for interior architecture. It was a two-year program. It kept me focused. When that finished, we decided to try starting out in Denmark. He was finishing up his final project. That was in January, which is not a good time to be in Denmark. The sun comes up at a quarter to nine in the morning and goes down at 3:30 p.m.
Amelia: Oh my god.
Holly: And its cloudy and/or raining literally every day.
Bjarke: Yeah, people kind of hunker down.
Holly: It was so hard. He was busy finishing his project; I was learning Danish but I had just started so I didnt really speak any and couldnt understand anything anybody was saying. I was lonely.
Amelia: Were you like, What the hell did I do?
Holly: No, it was more like, I dont think I can do this. His English was fine and he liked New York so we ended up moving here.
Amelia: When did you guys say, I love you?
Bjarke: I really dont remember!
Holly: I do. And I think youll remember when I tell you. That last weekend of the summer we first met, when you had to go back to Denmark for school. Neither of us had any money but we wanted to get out of town so we found this bed & breakfast in Liberty, New York. Its this small town with nothing going on but you can take a bus right to the middle of town, so you didnt need a car
Bjarke: OH!
Holly: So we went up to this town that had a park with a small mountain called Walnut Mountain and we went for a hike and it was the end of summer. You know, flowers, treesand we ended up on this hillside full of wild flowers. A beautiful, beautiful place, and there were monarch butterflies.
Bjarke: Nooo way. You are adding to the story!
Holly: Yes there were, there were monarchs.
Bjarke: They were cabbage butterflies.
Amelia: What are cabbage butterflies?!
Holly: The little white ones that are tiny and fly all over the place.
Amelia: Okay, so there was a mixture.
Holly: Yes!
Amelia: For the record there was a mixture of cabbage and monarch butterflies.
Holly: And there were a lot of them! And its why we were standing there because we were like, Oh my god, there are monarch butterflies all around this is crazy! So we are standing in the middle of these butterflies and we were kissing and I was like, I know its soon and I dont want to put the pressure on and you dont have to say it back, but I love you. And he said, Well, as it happens, I love you, too.
Bjarke: Thats true!
Amelia: You concur?
Bjarke: Yeah! I mean, Im not sure about the monarchs
Holly: They were there!
Bjarke: The rest is history.
Holly: Want to know something crazy about butterflies? And this is probably the reason I know they were monarch butterflies. The word for butterfly in danish is sommerfugl, which means summer bird, and Ive always liked that. And one day during the time we were in a long distance relationship, I got up and had to do laundry. It was early and I wasnt really awake and for some reason I had the word summerfugl in my head. I dont know if that ever happens to you, where a word gets stuck in your head
Amelia: Allll the time.
Holly: So I had that word on repeat in my head as I was on the way to the laundromat. I put my laundry in the machine and I look down on the floor and what do I see but a little plastic monarch butterfly. I totally thought, Okay, this is a sign that this is right and we are supposed to be together.
Bjarke: Okay, if thats how the monarch came in, then I see.
Amelia: Maybe you were distracted on that mountain by her beauty.
Bjarke: That is true. That is true.
Amelia: So now youre living together in New York and
Holly: Well, I wanted be married to Bjarke! For me, it was about the idea of standing up in front of all these people who we love and who are a part of world and saying, Hey, we love each other and intend to be together. Saying that in front of them, that was the magic for me. And even though marriage hadnt been something he originally thought about, this was ultimately something Bjarke could get on board with.
Bjarke: Yeah.
Bjarke: I sort of prefer to not be the center of attention, at any party, so that was hard. But it was a good party.
Holly: It was a good party.
Amelia: So where in all of this did your company, PLANT, come about?
Bjarke: Well, Holly was working on her spice company at the time and I started jumping in to help.
At the same time, she was doing the apothecary stuff for us and friends on the side.
Holly: I have sensitive skin and was experimenting with natural products. PLANT was eventually born from there. The products are all-botanical and USDA organic, 100% free of petroleum, parabens, PABA, sodium lauryl sulfate, silicones We design and formulate all the products either together or independently.
Amelia: Whats the hardest part of working together?
Hooly: The constant togetherness. Also the sharing the responsibility for the same things. We are both interested and good at a lot of the same aspects of the business, and we are two different people: of course we are not always going to agree.
Holly: It can be difficult to separate work issues from relationship issues, but we are working on it. Its hard, but at least from the perspective of the business, its working, which is good. We are thankful for that, definitely.
Amelia: How do you navigate working together and then leaving for the day and disconnecting? Is it very hard to separate work from your regular lives?
Bjarke: For me it is. At the end of the day, I keep thinking about things that should have been done.
Holly: I try to give it more of a cut-off time. Like, okay, its 6:30, its time to go home, I am not going to work on this anymore. And of course when its your own business you end up doing more work anyway, but I have it in my mind that I am going to make a division between work and personal life, even though that doesnt always feel natural. We dont always agree about to what extent that should happen, but somehow we keep muddling through.
Amelia: At this point we always ask what do you like, or love, the most about one another?
Bjarke: Well, Holly, I think your directness is one of them. You are very honest in everything you do. You are not afraid. Your courage is very admirable.
Amelia: Thats a nice thing to say about someone.
Holly: It is. Thats really nice. I had a really bad car accident when I was 19 and I made it out alive just by a hair. And I can honestly say a lot of who I am today goes back to that. When I came out of that, I realized there was a lot I hadnt said to people. There were people who I loved who Id never told, I really care about you. I decided that nothing was worth not letting someone know how I felt about him or her. Id rather be embarrassed or feel awkward.
Amelia: I dont think many people would have done what you did at Central Park, Holly, and say, I feel this way even though you may not. Bjarke, do you think that you would have said something if she hadnt?
Bjarke: Its a good question. I dont know
Holly: Well, Im glad I did!
Bjarke: Me too.
Holly: I would say one of my favorite things about you, Bjarke, is your compassion. You have the biggest heart. You have the biggest heart, the biggest soft spot for animals and peopleand beings. I am impressed by it.
Amelia: Whats the best part of working together?
Bjarke: Thats a good question. When it really works, its fantastic. Its a good feeling. Its like, Wow, we do make a great team. Its a great feeling. Creating something from idea to execution feels good. And when you get to spend time together, then its fun. And its not always possible, but having the freedom to decide when to do what at certain times.
Holly: I agree with all of that. Its gratifying to create things together. When we have come up with a product and launched it and its going well or gets good press, there is a sense of, look what we did together!
Bjarke: Its gratifying.
Holly: It is gratifying! And its not the same, but Id imagine its similar in a much, much, much smaller way to how parents feel when they have their first kid together. Thats obviously a huge thing and this is a bottle of soap.
Amelia: I mean, you are making something together.
Holly: Yeah! We did this together. This is the product of our efforts.
Amelia: Do you guys have anything else to add?
Bjarke: Well, Holly was surprised when I gave her a wedding ring.
Holly: Oh yeah! I wasnt expecting that at all! He surprised me with that, too! When we got married, he didnt want to wear a ring.
Bjarke: I caved in. I ended up liking her ring so much that I had the guy make another one to match mine.
Holly: I didnt think you were going to wear one, Bjarke, so I certainly didnt expect you to give me a ring during the ceremony. And we had been saying the whole time that where the ring exchange would traditionally happen, wed use wire stand-ins.
Bjarke actually made two rings out of some wire on the day of the wedding. I saw them and thought, Oh, okay, so thats what were going to exchange. So were standing up there, saying how excited we were to be getting married and he reached in his pocket and brought out an actual ring! Apparently he had finagled this whole exchange with his sister in Copenhagen who bought there rings and Fed-Exd them to somebody else in America who would bring them so to the ceremony so that I wouldnt see them come in the mail.
Amelia: Oh my god, Bjarke, youre a secret romantic.
Bjarke: Well, yes!
Holly: Yes. I like that about you.
Check out Holly and Bjarkes website Plant Apothecary and follow the duo on Instagram @plant.apothecary, Twitter @PLANTapothecary, and Facebook; photographed by Krista Anna Lewis.
Caribbean maritime leaders meet to discuss industry trends, challenges and opportunities
Representatives from all aspects of the maritime shipping industry met in Cocoa Beach, Fla., May 16-18 for the Caribbean Shipping Associations (CSA) Shipping Executives Conference.
Attendees include shippers, ship owners, port authorities and terminal operators, and non-vessel owners, such as brokers.
A major theme of the conference was the close relationship between Florida ports and the Caribbean markets.
Florida ports have had a long relationship of trade with the Caribbean nations, and are proud to count them as some of our most valuable partners, said Doug Wheeler, president and CEO of the Florida Ports Council.
The CSA conference focused on the emerging market opportunities represented by the opening of Cuba to commerce, as well as the widening of the Panama Canal. Other issues discussed included big data, the current state of the financial markets and the impact on shipping, and the importance of correct container weights for proper loading and safe ship operation.
The program underscored the Caribbeans dependence on maritime commerce. Eduardo Pagan, Tote Maritimes vice president and general manager for the Caribbean, said his company is very much engaged with the regional shipping community. Were a U.S. company, but we operate in the Caribbean, and we want to support the maritime business in the region.
Although volume is much less than a decade ago, Puerto Rico is still very much dependent on the sea for imports and exports, Pagan says. We also transship cargo to the U.S. Virgin Islands, with scheduled service.
The conference also focused on resilience of Caribbean nations and the maritime entities that serve the region, and the requirement to be able to respond promptly and appropriately when natural disasters or man-made crises occur. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, volcanoes, wildfires, pandemics, terrorist activity and cyber-attacks can have a devastating impact, especially on smaller nations such as those in the Caribbean region, which is already prone to hurricanes and tsunamis.
Rick Murrell, president and CEO of Tropical Shipping, discussed the importance of industry leaders to be prepared to help their companies and their families to help the Caribbean mitigate any kind of suffering as a result of a major disaster, and ensure the continuity of government, services and commerce. Murrell says a companys most important resource is the families of employees. They must have from-the-heart trust that their company will take care of them and their families.
The shipping executives conference was hosted by Port Canaveral, a Florida port with important cruise and cargo service to the Caribbean.
Established in 1971, CSA represents private and public sector interests across the entire Caribbean area, including South, Central and North American ports to facilitate development of an efficient, viable Caribbean shipping industry.
Since then, CSA has become the voice of the region's shipping industry, and has represented its membership in relevant regional hemispheric groupings, associations and organizations - governmental, multilateral and private sector; and maintains observer status with leading Caribbean multilateral bodies CARICOM and the Association of Caribbean States.
CSA membership includes 12 national shipping associations and over 100 individual member entities, including port authorities, terminal operators, shipping agents, shipping lines, tug and salvage companies, consultants, freight forwarders, leasing companies and others.
CSAs General Manager Fernando Rivera says the Caribbean nations all share a common maritime connection and have a shared interest in safe and secure commerce.
According to Rivera, the exchange of information and ideas is essential to development. Helping members to improve efficiency, production and output, is the associations function. For this reason, CSA provides training, mentoring, and opportunities to visit other ports in the region to learn best practices to develop the people involved in the Caribbean shipping industry.
Weve been doing this for 46 years, says Rivera. As in the past, there is a great deal of valuable networking going on here for our members.
CSA will hold their 2016 annual general meeting in Trinidad and Tobago Oct. 17-19.
The Caribbean Shipping Association's membership is divided into the following four groups:
1. Ships Agents and Private Stevedore Contractors Group (Group A)
Membership of this group consist of National Associations or individual agents who perform an agency function for any or all classes of ships and private Stevedore Contractors.
2. The Port Wharf and/or Terminal Operators Group (Group B)
Membership of this group include those members who are port, wharf and terminal operators and Port Authorities.
3. The Ship Owners/Operators Group (Group C)
Group C consists of those members who are owners and operators of public passenger or cargo vessels.
4. The Ocean Transportation Intermediaries Group (Group D)
Group D is comprised of those members who are either an Ocean Freight Forwarder or a Non-vessel Operating common carrier (NVOCC).
With ultra-low container rates, multiple operators teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and adversarial relationships developing between those shipping goods and the carriers, Xeneta believes the entire container industry must evolve. The Oslo-based benchmarking and market intelligence platform for containerized ocean freight is proposing a solution it says would benefit both shippers and carriers the introduction of commodity status.
Container rates have collapsed over the course of the last 18 months. According to Xeneta, which tracks data across 60,000 global trade routes, short-term market average rates for the Shanghai to Rotterdam trade are typical. Here, the market average price for transporting a 40-foot container has fallen by 51 percent since July 1, 2014, currently standing at $1,294. Some Qingdao Rotterdam boxes have been obtained for as little as $100 during the last year.
This is unsustainable, says Xeneta CEO, Patrik Berglund.
These rates are obviously positive for hard-nosed negotiators wanting to ship freight, but not for the industry, and not for anyone in the long-term, he states. Only a handful of carriers managed to make a profit last year and some of the biggest players, like HMM and Hanjin, are close to bankruptcy, while UASC lost a reported $500 million in 2015.
The low rates that are causing this will, naturally enough, skyrocket if the industry loses a few significant players, or sees widespread consolidation of power into fewer hands. This will hit not only shippers hard, but also consumers, as all those Asian-sourced retail and wholesale items on which the western world, Africa, and Latin America relies will become significantly more expensive.
So, regaining a sense of stability wouldnt just be a good thing for the containership vessel operators, but for all stakeholders, right through the entire chain.
Berglund, and the team working on the Xeneta platform, see the commoditization of containerized freight as a solution. Commodities are traded on highly regulated exchanges with transparent pricing. Importantly, traded items can be hedged, buying or selling forward to manage exposure to risk. For example, in the case of aluminum, traded on the London Metal Exchange (LME), it is possible to buy or sell forwards by up to 123 months.
At the moment shippers and carriers are at loggerheads, fighting to get the best prices in an unstable market, Berglund explains. However, by trading the transport as a commodity, at a transparent price, both parties achieve security and get the option of buying or selling forward when they feel the price is favorable to their interests.
For example, imagine how healthy a carrier would be if theyd sold forward three, five or seven years when China-Europe rates were in the $1,500-2,000 range. On the other hand, imagine a shipper who bought freight contracts now for two, three or five years ahead, protecting themselves against future rate hikes when carriers go bankrupt, or when the Chinese economy recovers even by just 1 or 2 percent.
Berglund says that big shippers, such as Walmart or Carrefour, could forward buy the appropriate number of TEUs for their needs and lock in product pricing and profit. Meanwhile, carriers, such as Maersk, could sell forward capacity on newbuilds at the point of ordering to ensure their future profitability, rather than risking making huge investments in uncertain markets.
He concedes that there are risks involved, however, explaining that, for example, shippers who locked in the aforementioned rates of $1,500-2,000 two years ago would be hurting now.
But that element of risk is the price to pay for both parties to gain predictability and transparency, Berglund states. There are many things to consider, but with the transparent data that is now available its easier to make truly informed decisions. It has the power to transform this industry.
The Xeneta CEO says he understands that his suggestion may seem radical, but points out, Carriers and airlines already hedge fuel; so whats the difference?
He concludes, We track more than 60,000 shipping lanes with real-time, actual rates, while our indexes are comprised of over 12 million contracted rates. We know the market inside out, giving shippers and freight forwarders the data they need to get the right price for their cargoes. That same data could be used to set prices on an exchange, providing transparency, fair agreements and stability for a sector that is undergoing huge upheaval.
This industry needs to change. Both the carriers and the shippers need each other to succeed, so its time they start working together in a way where they both can. An exchange would be the perfect platform for that.
Containerized freight is a commodity that the world cant do without.
Cuba's chronic goods trade deficit widened by $1.5 billion in 2015 as exports fell 24 percent and imports rose 3 percent, the government said on Wednesday, in the first data showing a commodity crash has hurt the economy.
The information, released on the National Statistics Office web page did not cover Cuba's large service exports.
Prices for key Cuban exports such as sugar, nickel and refined oil products all tumbled last year.
The Communist-run country began cutting back on its 2016 import orders last year and has been slow in making some payments to creditors and suppliers. Cuba orders much of its imports a year in advance.
Cuban President Raul Castro told a year-end session of the National Assembly in December that economic growth would slow from 4 percent in 2015 to 2 percent in 2016 due to falling export revenues.
Cuba's trade deficit in goods has traditionally been compensated by the export of medical and other professionals, tourism and telecommunications, amounting to $12.7 billion in 2014, the latest figure available.
The report said goods exports were valued at $3.9 billion, compared with $5.1 billion in 2014, and imports were $13.5 billion, compared with $13.1 billion the previous year.
While no statistics are available, revenues from the sale of professional services to oil producing nations such as Venezuela and Angola, are also thought to have suffered.
Castro said in December that lower oil prices had reduced the cost of a number of imports such as food but also hurt "mutually advantageous cooperation relations with various (oil-producing) countries, in particular the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela."
The collapse of oil prices punishes Cuba under the terms of its oil deal with Venezuela. Cuba receives 90,000 barrels of oil per day as part of an exchange that sends Cuban professionals to Venezuela. Some 30,000 doctors and nurses, plus another 10,000 professionals, are posted in Venezuela.
Cuba also receives cash for the workers. Economists and oil market experts believe the amount is tied to oil prices, meaning Venezuela would pay less to Cuba when prices are down.
Cuba refines and resells some of the oil in a joint venture with its socialist ally. Prices for refined products were down in tandem with crude. The new trade date did not give a breakdown of the value of oil products or other exports.
(Reporting by Marc Frank; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Meredith Mazzilli)
CMA CGM announced changes to come on its shipping services connecting North Europe with Asia.
New rotation on FAL 1: Starting in Hamburg on May 26, 2016 with m/v CMA CGM VASCO DE GAMA voy. 087 FLE, FAL 1 will include a new call at Jebel Ali on its rotation, now becoming the only service to offer connections with Middle East Gulf ports as follows:
Southampton - Dunkerque - Hamburg - Rotterdam - Zeebrugge - Le Havre - Malta - Khor Fakkan - Jebel Ali - Shanghai - Tianjin Xingang - Dalian - Busan - Qingdao - Shanghai - Ningbo - Yantian - Port Kelang - Algeciras - Southampton.
New rotation on FAL 23: Starting in Hamburg on May 25, 2016 with m/v SALAHUDDIN voy. 056FFE, FAL 23 will add a new call at Hong Kong and sail directly via the Cape of Good Hope on its way back to Asia, as follows:
Antwerp - Hamburg - Felixstowe - Rotterdam - Le Havre - Port Kelang - Chiwan - Hong Kong - Shanghai - Ningbo - Yantian - Vung Tau - Port Kelang - Le Havre - Rotterdam - Antwerp.
New FAL 7 service: Starting in Rotterdam on June 8, 2016 with m/v APL SENTOSA voy. 002PFE, FAL 7 will offer a service between China and North Europe, including calls at Gdansk (Poland) and Gothenburg (Sweden), and will have the following rotation:
Qingdao - Shanghai - Ningbo - Hong Kong - Yantian - Singapore - Rotterdam - Hamburg - Gdansk - Gothenburg - Antwerp - Southampton - Singapore - Yantian - Qingdao.
New rotation on EPIC: EPIC will stop calling at Beirut and Port Said and add a new Eastbound call at Jeddah on its rotation. Last voyage with the old rotation pattern will be performed by m/v CMA CGM TOSCA voy. 093EPE, in Southampton on May 14, 2016. New rotation will start in Southampton on May 21st, 2016 with m/v UASC AL KHOR voy. 095EPE, as follows:
Southampton - Rotterdam - Hamburg - Antwerp - Dunkerque - Le Havre - Jeddah - Djibouti - Khor Fakkan - Jebel Ali - Port Qasim - Nhava Sheva - Mundra - Jeddah - Malta -Tanger - Southampton.
The latest five-year BIMCO/ICS Manpower Report forecasts a serious future shortage in the supply of seafarers. The report identifies:
A current shortfall of about 16,500 officers (2.1%), but
A need for an additional 147,500 officers by 2025 to service the world merchant fleet.
The global supply of officers is forecast to increase steadily, but this is predicted to be outpaced by increasing demand.
Some officer categories are in especially short supply, including engineer officers at management level and officers needed for specialised ships such as chemical, LNG and LPG carriers.
The report suggests that in the past five years the industry has made good progress with increasing recruitment and training levels and reducing officer wastage (i.e. retaining qualified seafarers and increasing the number of years which they serve at sea).
But the report indicates that, unless training levels are increased significantly, the growth in demand for seafarers could generate a serious shortage in the total supply of officers.
However, the report estimates there is a current surplus of about 119,000 ratings (15.8%), with demand only having increased by about 1% since 2010.
Significantly, China is thought to have overtaken the Philippines as the largest single source of seafarers qualified for international trade (although the Philippines is still the largest source of ratings).
However, data from international shipping companies suggests that the extent to which Chinese seafarers are available for international service may be more limited, with the Philippines and Russia seen as equally important sources of officers, followed closely by Ukraine and India.
BIMCO CEO, Angus Frew, said: BIMCO and ICS have once again collaborated closely to produce valuable in-depth analysis of maritime manpower trends. The industry can put this report to good use by ensuring we can continue to operate the world merchant fleet with sufficient numbers of qualified and competent seafarers.
ICS Secretary General, Peter Hinchliffe commented: Without continuing efforts to promote careers at sea and improve levels of recruitment and retention, the report suggests it cannot be guaranteed that there will be an abundant supply of seafarers in the future.
A summary of the key figures in the report can be downloaded free of charge from home pages of the BIMCO and ICS websites.
German state-backed lender NordLB now expects to report a loss in 2016 after non-performing loans in shipping, where it is one of the world's top lenders, helped push it into the red in the first quarter.
The results at NordLB, which previously said it expected an earnings decline this year but did not point to a loss, bode ill for German peers HSH, Commerzbank, DVB and KFW, who have also been forced to take writedowns and boost capital buffers against shipping loan portfolios turning bad.
"We are expecting NORDLB to close the current year with a negative result," Chief Executive Gunter Dunkel said in a statement on Wednesday. That would be its first full year loss since 2009.
The bank did not expect any improvement in the shipping markets in the coming quarters, while there would be a further significant increase in risk provisioning, he said.
NordLB plans to trim its ship finance portfolio from close to 19 billion euros to 12 to 14 billion euros, which would hit profits ahead, Dunkel said.
The bank posted a pretax loss of 98 million euros in the first quarter, compared with a profit of 229 million in the year earlier quarter, it said on Wednesday.
Reporting by Jonathan Gould and Andreas Kroener
1775 - Col. Benedict Arnold captures a British sloop at St. Johns in Quebec, Canada and renames her Enterprise, the first of many famous ships with that name.
1898 - During the Spanish-American War, boat parties from USS St. Louis and USS Wompatuck, under Capt. Caspar F. Goodrich, cut communication cables at Santiago, Cuba.
1902 - Marines and Sailors from the iron-hulled screw steamer, Ranger go ashore at Panama City, Colombia, to protect US citizen lives and property during an insurrection that results in Panamas eventual independence from Colombia on Nov. 3, 1903.
1944 - USS Wilkes (DD 441) and USS Roe (DD 418), carrying the 1st Battalion 163rd Infantry, land on Wakde, off Dutch New Guinea, securing the island and setting up airstrip for the Southwest Pacific offensive.
1951 - USS Duncan (DDR 874), Brinkley Bass (DD 887), and Leonard F. Mason (DD 852) expend 1,100 rounds of 5-inch ammunition at Wonsan, Korea, on interdiction and counter-battery fire. The ships receive heavy fire from shore batteries on Kalma Gak but are not damaged.
1969 - Apollo 10 is launched with Cmdr. John W. Young as command module pilot and Cmdr. Eugene Cernan as the lunar module pilot. The mission is a dress rehearsal for the first lunar landing.
(Source: Naval History and Heritage Command, Communication and Outreach Division)
It is common practice to inspect marine propellers to ensure the manufactured product meets the thickness and pitch specified by the design. PropCad Premium now introduces a tool for propeller builders and manufacturers - Inspection Maps, which allows users to create customized layout templates for measuring blade coordinates, blade thickness and local pitch.
HydroComps Inspection Maps is a tool to aid in the measurement and inspection of marine propellers during the manufacturing process. These maps provide guidance for propeller craftsman and foundry workers, allowing them to quickly identify the inspection points on the blade and ensure appropriate thickness and local pitch values.
PropCad includes four inspection maps for determining inspection point location and inspection values for thickness and local pitch. These maps produce a template of the developed blade outline, which can often be directly laid on top of constant pitch propellers to approximate the inspection point position. Alternatively, the location maps can provide the exact location in 3D space. The inspection maps that are now featured in PropCad Premium are:
AzerNews says that Turkmenistan publicized its plans on creating international transit transport corridors within the framework of the 96th meeting of the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) Maritime Safety Committee, ongoing from May 11 to 20, 2016.
The heads of the railway and maritime agencies of Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran and Georgia recently held a five-sided meeting at the National Tourist Zone "Avaza" on the Caspian Sea coast. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan.
Turkmenistan set a plan on developing projects on organization of inter-regional transport and transit corridors along the lines of East-West and South-North, which is aimed at accessing the Asian, European and Middle Eastern markets.
Representatives of Turkmenistan presented to participants at the meeting with the ongoing projects on the creation of multimodal transit transport corridors and corridors in the East-West and North-South directions, and with the Turkmenbashi international sea port's significance and capacity.
Turkmenistan is currently taking bids on its way to becoming an international center in transportation. Formation of the modern transport and communication infrastructure is one of the priority areas of the state policy.
The country gives an important role to foreign economic relations of the country on maritime freight transport. In accordance with the instructions of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, new terminals with multi-functional berths capable to accept ships of any types and any load-carrying ability is being built on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
Turkmenistans new Turkmenbashi Seaport on the Caspian Sea is being developed to become one of the rare ports of the world and the biggest one of the region.
A new lifeboat station has been opened on the Greek island of Chios with the cooperation of International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF) members to help support the rescue of migrants in the Aegean.
The Lifeboat station was made possible through a partnership between Koninklijke Nederlandse Redding Maatschappij (KNRM), the maritime search and rescue service from the Netherlands, and the Hellenic Rescue Team (HRT), and with the support of the Maria Tsakos Foundation along with community leaders and local volunteers.
At an event to celebrate the opening of the centre which was completed in only three months two lifeboat vessels donated by the KNRM, Athena and Arina to be deployed on the surrounding waters, were also christened.
The opening of the Lifeboat Station on Chios is a milestone for the project. Through the donation of rescue boats and equipment, plus three months of intensive training, the KNRM have managed to bring the station to a standard that will provide Chios with a 24/7 service on the water within 30 minutes.
Speaking at the event, IMRF CEO Bruce Reid said, What we see here is what happens when there is a willingness within a community to stop the unnecessary loss of life and provides us with a model of cooperation, collaboration and action locally, nationally and internationally. Across borders, across diverse organizations, government and non-government, communities working together to save lives. action not words.
He explained that IMRF exists to help prevent loss of life in the worlds waters, so when the member organization, the Hellenic Rescue Team, came to last years World Maritime Rescue Congress and tabled a request for help, their call was answered by IMRF members.
They explained the pressures on the maritime rescue services and the coastal communities in Greece trying to cope with the thousands of people risking their lives to cross the waters of the Aegean. He said.
The HRT highlighted the risk of many lives being lost if there was no action to develop rescue services. They also pointed out that volunteers were being pushed to the limit to cope and asked if the international maritime community could help.
Eleven months on we are here to celebrate one of the milestones of this cooperation and support. I find it personally humbling to have watched the time effort and commitment put in by all the parties involved in making this station a reality. I also feel very proud to see the work and support being provided by IMRF members the KNRM to our Greek colleagues the HRT, Reid said.
It is, in many ways, fitting that this project has come together on Chios, an island community with a long and proud maritime history a community with a maritime DNA, he added.
KNRM Director Jos Stierhout said, This is a festive day for Chios. Not one, but two lifeboats will be added to the Chios fleet with a traditional ceremony. Two lifeboats that would not have been here if it had not been for the dramatic events here on the Aegean Sea.
He said the KNRM had been set up by volunteers as a result of maritime tragedies and added: Today, too, a tragedy is the cause of the formation of new rescue stations. For us, rescue at sea is not a political debate. It is not optional. Rescuing people is a duty.
International rescue institutions from Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands have made a joint effort to come to the rescue.
More than 200 people attended the opening ceremony including Christos Fragkias, Commander of the Hellenic Coast Guard; Captain Mr Pavlos Kalegerakis, Director of the Maria Tsakos foundation; IMRF patron Thimeo Metropolis; the Mayor of Chios, the Dutch Ambassador, the head of all of the Greek military and the President and Board of HRT.
The event was also attended by other IMRF members working in the project. The German search and rescue service (DGzRS) rescue cruiser MINDEN and her crew who are based in Lesvos, the two Swedish Sea Rescue Society (SSRS) Yellow Boats and Crew based in Samos and volunteers from Spains Humanitarian Maritime Rescue (SMH).
CMA CGM has increased the capacity on its West Coast Feeder service via Liverpool to 2200 TEU from 900 TEU. M.V. Nicolas Delmas began calling at the port in April. The service begins in Antwerp and also calls at Greenock, Belfast, Dublin and Le Havre.
Patrick Walters, Group Commercial Director at Peel Ports, said: This is yet another encouraging step as we build up to the opening of Liverpool2 in the summer. The message about the cost, congestion and carbon emission benefits to cargo owners of shipping via Liverpool is really taking hold and the lines are responding to the market opportunity. While we are still having positive discussions about deep-sea services calling at Liverpool2 with a number of carriers, it is really helpful to see increases in feeder services and vessel capacity as a means of underlining the case for getting closer to market via Liverpool.
Rob Waterman, Chief Executive of CMA CGM UK, said: This is further evidence of our commitment to providing shippers with an attractive range of services to meet their supply chain needs. This increase is a response to clear demand from our customers and we see the potential for significant growth via Liverpool. This additional capacity, along with our fast transit times and frequent sailing schedules, will help them get their goods closer to market more efficiently.
It is the latest in a series of positive developments for the Port of Liverpool operators Peel Ports, with several other major lines announcing new or expanded services in 2016.
The companys new Liverpool2 container terminal is to have a phased opening, with marine trials beginning in May and other elements of the semi-automated terminal coming online in the next few months, building to the first phase of the new terminal being fully operational in the autumn.
SUNY Maritime Colleges Department of Professional Education and Training (PET) is offering a five-day engine room resource management course, with the first round of sessions starting June 6. The class, which costs $1,050 and satisfies the 2010 gap closing requirements, will be offered through August.
To sign up or receive more information, call the colleges professional education department at (718) 409-5988.
The Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives) of the 13th Parliament of Malaysia has passed the Merchant Shipping Ordinance (Amendment) Bill 2016 aimed at standardizing national maritime law with the international maritime community, reports Bernama.
Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Ab Aziz Kaprawi, when winding up the debate on the bill, gave assurance that the government would ensure that all merchant shipping companies would adhere to the national maritime law in ensuring the wellbeing of seafarers.
"The Marine Department will carry out annual audit on these merchant shipping companies to ensure compliance of the maritime law," he said.
The amendments to the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952 were made in line with the ratification of the Maritime Labor Convention 2006 by Malaysia, which was adopted since July 31, 2013.
Among others, the amendment on Section 90 provides every seafarer on board a Malaysian ship to a minimum ten hours of rest in any twenty-four hour period and 77 hours in any seven-day period.
The amendment on Section 103, on the other hand, compels owner of every Malaysian ship and any foreign ship within Malaysian waters to provide adequate health protection and medical care for seafarers employed on board the ship and that the medicine chest, equipment and medical guide carried on board is properly maintained and inspected by a responsible officer.
Ardmore Shipping has expanded its global network with the opening of an office in Houston, to be led by Holly Cummings, who joins Ardmore Shipping as Chartering Manager (Americas).
The new Houston office will be responsible for expanding Ardmores commercial activities in the Americas and will work with Ardmores chartering teams in Europe and Singapore.
Cummings joins Ardmore with 11 years of experience in the maritime sector, most recently in MR Chartering for Stena Weco and prior to that in operations for StenaBulk/StenaSonangol Suezmax Pool and for Morgan Stanley as Commercial Operator. A Kings Point graduate, Hollys career began sailing as Third Officer for OSG. She holds a B.S. in Logistics and Intermodal Transportation and is a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
Commenting on the decision to open a Houston office, Gernot Ruppelt, Ardmore Shippings Senior Vice President of Chartering and Business Development, said, Building on the success of our Singapore office which opened last year, our Houston office will strengthen Ardmore's presence in the Americas. As a business focused on working in close proximity to our customers and offering the highest level of service, our presence on the ground provides us with a great platform to build closer relationships with customers in the region.
Holly Cummings, Chartering Manager (Americas), Ardmore Shipping, commented, Our new office offers us the opportunity to build upon our existing relationships and strengthen our profile, both in Houston and across the Americas. Although it has always been an important player as a shipping and energy center, Houston is emerging as an increasingly dynamic and fast-growing hub for chartering business and a great strategic location, with more and more shipping companies choosing to locate and do business from here. The American markets have always been essential for Ardmore and we look forward to working even closer with our customers and partners.
Cai Mep, Vietnam - With five new services calls added to Cai Mep International Terminal (CMIT) since May of 2015, container volume has surged by 130% to 277,303 TEUs for the first three months of 2016, as compared with the same period a year ago. This growth follows an 80% expansion in container traffic at CMIT in 2015 over the year prior, to 724,768 TEUs. CMIT, part of the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network, is a deep-water facility located in the Ba RiaVung Tau Province, southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, and is capable of accommodating larger deep-draft vessels of up to 15,000 TEU capacity, now cascading into Vietnamese trade routes.
One of the factors that has supported the increase in new service calls has been the consistent improvement in local transportation infrastructure, which has reduced the time necessary for trucking containers from the port area through to Ho Chi Minh City to approximately 90 minutes, as opposed to three hours just two years ago, noted CMIT Managing Director, Robert Hambleton.
The new services now calling CMIT include the Ocean 3 Alliance of CMA CGM, China Shipping Container Lines and the United Arab Shipping Company services linking Vietnam with the US East Coast, US West Coast and Northern Europe, and the CKYHE Alliance, comprised, at present, of COSCO, K-Line, Yang Ming, Hanjin Shipping and Evergreen Line, with service to North Europe. A new intra-Asia service has also been added by the MCC division of Maersk Line.
Vietnams economy is one of the fastest-growing in Asia, with the International Monetary Funds April Regional Survey projecting the Vietnamese economy to expand by 6.3% in 2016 and 6.2% in 2017, compared with forecasted growth rates of 6.5% and 6.2% respectively, for China. In August of 2015, the European Union and Vietnam signed the principles of a Free Trade Agreement which will eliminate tariffs, and open Vietnamese markets to EU food products, as well as reduce non-tariff barriers to EU exports, and open Vietnam to European service providers, including maritime transportation. Vietnam is also a party to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which includes the USA, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, and Peru as signatories.
Vietnamese ports handled a combined 10.6 million TEUs in 2015, representing an annual growth rate of 16% over 2014. Of this volume, 7.2 million TEUs were handled by Saigon area facilities, accounting for more than two thirds (68%) of the countrys total container throughput.
We will continue to work closely with the Vietnamese Ministries of Transport, Finance and Planning and Investment to ensure dredging and other port-associated infrastructure requirements are in place, as well as with the shipping lines seeking the productivity and efficiency that we can provide, as Vietnam continues to become an increasingly important global trading partner, said Mr. Hambleton.
Hundreds of troops from five different NATO nations came together May 9-13, 2016 and operating as a single Allied force at the Novo Selo Training Area in Bulgaria.
The exercise is known as Platinum Lion and involves service members from Bulgaria, Romania, the United Kingdom, France and the United States. The allies trained side-by-side using tanks, artillery and aircraft to rapidly respond to a crisis scenario set in Europe.
It was great to see all the nations participate together and have Marines learn tactics from partner NATO Allies, said Capt. Kirk Steinhorst, combined arms company commander, Black Sea Rotational Force.
Altogether, the nations had more than 30 mechanized vehicles participating in the exercise. MV-22 Ospreysthe Marine Corps expeditionary assault support, raid operations, cargo lift and special warfare aircraftflew from Moron, Spain to demonstrate NATOs ability to rapidly respond to any mission, no matter the distance.
The more exercises we can participate in together, the more it strengthens that partnership, said Steinhorst. We can count on each other when we receive that call to defend each other.
Platinum Lion is an annually-scheduled exercise where Marines and sailors from Black Sea Rotational Force and the Combined Arms Company train with partner nations to promote regional stability through combined arms in Eastern Europe.
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Dumb Debt's Of America , Gold And Silver
A Solution to this big problem .
Assuming everything is manipulated - Stock markets , Gold and Silver paper contracts , treasuries
Assuming anyhow this debt cannot be ever repaid by conventional means
Assuming everything is in control by the FedsAssuming we are all not so Dumb !!!!!!!Assuming Gold and Silver are of same value , which actually it has been in India for ages , it was never 1:80 or 1:40 or 1:9 it was always , always been 1:1.2 , ask any Elder's in India they would say the same thing Gold and Silver are priced the same with very little differance in price .So,Assuming the debt of country is $19,212,833,500,000 and countingand price of Silver per ounce is $17.00 or so.Assuming the paper contracts in silver at comex, etc are leveraged to 500:1As we always Assume everything lets make the price of silver $10,000 per ounce overnight as we manipulate everything lets make this term "naked manipulation " , so we need$19,212,833,500,000 / $10,000 =$19,212,83350 ounces =$19,212,83350 / 32000 tonnes =60,040 tonnesIf they don't have 60,040 tonnes suffix the price of Silver by another zero .Game over, why the headache , just do " naked manipulation " for the very last time .
Vimal Patel
Pharmcist and Trader
Florida
Vimaljan29@gmail.com.
Copyright 2016 Vimal Patel - 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.
The Tide has turned NEGATIVE For STOCKS!!!
Currently, a sharp fall is now anticipated within the equity markets! This decline will be accompanied with new volatility. There is a great deal of uncertainty within the U.S. markets. Currently, we are viewing a textbook head and shoulders pattern in the SPX and is going to be a big inflection point we look back on months from now.
There are less and less stocks that are participating in the recent move upwards which suggest a technical breakdown is likely to happen.
The cycles of the SPX have recently confirmed that we have now witnessed the highs. The top is currently in place and I expect that the negative trend will continue to persist.
See my live analysis charts and forecast click here
The smart money has been exiting the equity markets during the last few weeks with strong waves of selling volume taking place on a consistent basis.
Yesterday morning, Monday, May 16th, 2016, I alerted my subscribers to two new positions to enter into so as to take advantage of during this next significant market move and change in volatility.
Consequently, consumers have already started to slow down in their spending. They will change their past behavior, and, as a result, will begin to save (whatever funds that they may still have) as stocks start to fall in value along with the average investors retirement accounts. The present day spending behavior will come to a grinding halt in due time!
Before The Great Credit Crisis of 2007 -2008, the smart money exited the equity markets in November of 2006. And it appears that the NDX-100 and the Russel 2000 are leading the charge downward once again for the pending market correction.
We are, once again, repeating this same technical pattern, now!
Concluding Thoughts:
In short, the first chart I showed in this article paints a very clear picture of where stock prices are headed Lower.
Large cap stocks over the past year have been making lower lows and lower highs. The most novice of traders knows what that means It means, we are in a down trend.
There are many ways to take advantage of what is about to unfold next and subscribes and I are already in position for the first big and quick trade, but there are many more just around the corner!
I share a few ways I am taking advantage of this with followers of my newsletter at: www.TheGoldAndOilGuy.com
Chris Vermeulen
Join my email list FREE and get my next article which I will show you about a major opportunity in bonds and a rate spike www.GoldAndOilGuy.com
Chris Vermeulen is Founder of the popular trading site TheGoldAndOilGuy.com. There he shares his highly successful, low-risk trading method. For 7 years Chris has been a leader in teaching others to skillfully trade in gold, oil, and silver in both bull and bear markets. Subscribers to his service depend on Chris' uniquely consistent investment opportunities that carry exceptionally low risk and high return.
Disclaimer: Nothing in this report should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any securities mentioned. Technical Traders Ltd., its owners and the author of this report are not registered broker-dealers or financial advisors. Before investing in any securities, you should consult with your financial advisor and a registered broker-dealer. Never make an investment based solely on what you read in an online or printed report, including this report, especially if the investment involves a small, thinly-traded company that isnt well known. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report has been paid by Cardiff Energy Corp. In addition, the author owns shares of Cardiff Energy Corp. and would also benefit from volume and price appreciation of its stock. The information provided here within should not be construed as a financial analysis but rather as an advertisement. The authors views and opinions regarding the companies featured in reports are his own views and are based on information that he has researched independently and has received, which the author assumes to be reliable. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any content of this report, nor its fitness for any particular purpose. Lastly, the author does not guarantee that any of the companies mentioned in the reports will perform as expected, and any comparisons made to other companies may not be valid or come into effect.
Chris Vermeulen Archive
2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.
Martinsvilles population is forecast to grow a total of about 17.8 percent over 25 years; Henry Countys, about 6.7 percent; and Patrick Countys, about 2.4 percent, according to data by demographers at the University of Virginias Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service.
Martinsvilles population is projected to grow from an estimated 13,474 in 2015, to 14,217 in 2020, to 15,052 in 2030, and to 15,878 in 2040 (a total increase of 2,404, or 17.8 percent, over 25 years).
Henry Countys population is projected to grow from an estimated 52,822 in 2015, to 54,182 in 2020, to 55,233 in 2030, and to 56,387 in 2040 (a total increase of 3,565, or 6.7 percent, over 25 years).
Patrick Countys population is projected to grow from an estimated 18,450 in 2015, to 18,488 in 2020, to 18,682 in 2030, and to 18,902 in 2040 (a total increase of 452, or 2.4 percent, over 25 years).
Martinsville Mayor Danny Turner said he thinks population growth would be positive for the area. For example, he believes it would increase demand for housing, pushing up prices. He also thinks by having more people, the area would be more attractive to businesses considering locating here.
Martinsville City Manager Leon Towarnicki said: "My reaction to the projections for Martinsville no real surprise. As has been pointed out in other surveys, the Martinsville-Henry County community offers affordable living, good amenities, and a close proximity to major urban/metro hubs and vacation destinations (DC metro area, Charlotte, VA/Myrtle Beach, for example) that many people will find attractive. I would have to say I agree with the projections in the sense that increases in population are projected to increase, although Im unclear as to the rationale behind the specific numbers. Nonetheless, I do believe over the coming decades that population in the community will increase."
Towarnicki added: "As far as impact on Martinsville, I would have to say no negative impact. The city has a more than adequate housing stock, utilities that have ample service capacity to serve an increased population, development potential, school system capacity, etc. that all complement an increase in resident population. It would be good to see growth quicker than projected but Im certain the numbers will be changing every few years as projection updates are completed."
Henry County Administrator Tim Hall said: "Certainly these are just projections, but the people at the Weldon Cooper Center are good at what they do. I think these projections support what weve seen for the past few months our local economy is trending upward and good things are happening. Economic growth generates opportunities for our current residents and makes us attractive for outsiders who may look at relocating. Im optimistic about our future."
Kim Adkins, executive director of United Way of Henry County & Martinsville, said based on her experience, population growth means more job opportunities, and for agencies like the United Way, population growth means more resources to help those in need and more volunteers to be engaged in the community. She said when she hears of population growth in this area, "its a good sign that our economic development efforts are working well."
Jim Bove, public relations and marketing manager for Patrick Henry Community College, said: "Its difficult to predict exactly how a growing population will impact our campus because there are so many variables to consider. Things like the specifics of that population, the economy, and job trends are just a few that might dictate how it will impact PHCC. The law of averages might lead us to believe that if there are more residents, then there would be more students, but that is not always an indicator."
Bove added: " The great thing is that the more people who live in the area, the more audience we have to build support for PHCC either as a student, staff, or community supporter."
Brad Kinkema, chief executive officer/executive director of the Martinsville-Henry County Family YMCA, said: "Growth and population density as well as income level are all very important to the Y. The YMCA is supported in large part by membership fees, so the more members we have the stronger of a non-profit we are. When people look at areas like Salem and Roanoke that have large Ys with all the newest bells and whistles, they ask me, How come they have such a nice, fancy Y? I always reply, Population density and average income level."
Tracy Hinchcliff, executive director of Grace Network, said: "Since we have just celebrated our 10th anniversary this past April, we are proud to serve our community for those in need. (Based on the calculations) it is apparent that Martinsville has the most potential for growth in the next few decades, much higher than the county. Its hard to determine what impact that will have for Grace Network because it doesnt matter if the population grows, there will always be those that fall into a financial crisis at some time in their lives, whether from a job loss or a medical event or an untimely expense."
Hinchcliff added: "If the growth affects the community by bringing in new businesses and industries, that will be great for those needing better job opportunities. And with the continued development of NCI, Patrick Henry Community College and the potential for a medical school, that will also impact our community in a positive way for those seeking education opportunities, which would allow our community to become strong and vibrant moving forward. We can always hope that with growth of the community, will also come stability, however, the truth is that any community whether large or small will always have those that are unable to move forward because of physical or mental disabilities or will get kicked backward due to a temporary crisis."
Monica Hatchett, coordinator for family and community engagement for Henry County Public Schools, said: "While our current enrollment trends dont quite equate to a 6.7% increase, we have seen a slight increase in enrollment in the past few years, which we attribute to the businesses in our area (their expansions and the introduction of new businesses as well). The potential increase in population is an exciting possibility in that it would likely denote additional expansion of businesses in our community, which HCPS would welcome both in cooperative partnerships and in student enrollment as well."
Sarah Byrd, director of communications and community outreach for Martinsville City Public Schools, said: "If the projections for the population growth hold true, (MCPS) will be able to grow and serve the growing population. MCPS should be able to add teaching positions back if necessary that were cut due to declining enrollment to meet the needs of our students."
Kathy Rogers, executive director of Piedmont Arts, said that having not seen and studied the report, she would think population growth would present opportunities and challenges for Piedmont Arts opportunities to hopefully cultivate more patrons for the arts, and challenges to find ways to serve a larger and presumably more diverse population.
A Peace Officers Memorial Service was held Tuesday morning to remember 10 law enforcement officers who were killed in the line of duty during the last 96 years.
An estimated 60-75 people attended the event, which was at the Henry County Administration Building.
The program listed the 10 officers as:
HENRY COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE
"Paul Edward Grubb employed: April 1, 1980; killed: July 2, 1989;
"George Melvin Brown employed: July 1, 1967; killed: June 26, 1984;
"Willis Herman Ferguson employed: June 1, 1974; killed: March 18, 1975;
"John Hughes Mitchell employed: May 1921; killed: May 4, 1922.
BASSETT POLICE DEPARTMENT
"George S. Frame killed: March 18, 1923;
FIELDALE POLICE DEPARTMENT
"John J. Johnston employed: 1941; killed: Jan. 27, 1945
(The Bassett and Fieldale police departments no longer exist.)
MARTINSVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT
"Jonathan W. Bowling employed: Dec, 15, 2002; killed Jan. 26, 2005;
(Bowling, a Martinsville police officer and a Marine Corps reservist, was killed when his units convoy was ambushed in Iraq, according to a previous Bulletin article.)
"George F. Carter killed: June 14, 1919.
VIRGINIA STATE POLICE
"Charles Eugene Morris killed: 1962;
"James Michael Phillippi employed: May 1, 1971; killed: Jan. 11, 2014."
The program included prayer by Chaplain Eric Kieselbach; welcome by Henry County Sheriff Lane Perry; reading of a proclamation from Henry County by supervisors Chairman Jim Adams; reading of a proclamation by the city of Martinsville by Mayor Danny Turner and Vice Mayor Jennifer Bowles.
Other items on the program were: color guard enters; pledge of allegiance; posting of the colors by honor guards from Martinsville Sheriffs Office, Henry County Sheriffs Office, Martinsville Police Department and Virginia State Police; reading of the names of officers killed in the line of duty by Sgt. Brad Lane of the Virginia State Police; bell ringer David Cameron; taps Mark Gilbert; "Amazing Grace" Bob Norris; recognition of family members by Martinsville Police Chief Sean Dunn and a moment of silent prayer; closing prayer by Sheriff Perry; and light refreshments.
Perry said in an interview that it is important to remember the officers who were killed in the line of duty and to acknowledge their family members, who have a void.
The officers gave their lives in service to the public, trying to maintain peace and security for citizens, he added.
The event is part of National Police Week, Perry said.
Martinsville Sheriff Steve Draper said in an interview that these officers "put their lives on the line for all of us." He added that the annual memorial service is "one of the few things we can do" to help keep officers who were killed in the line of duty from being forgotten by the public.
Draper said he served a number of years under longtime Martinsville Sheriff James Carter, who was the son of George Carter. George Carter, working for the Martinsville Police Department, was fatally shot in 1919 during his police work in connection with a gambling ring, according to Draper and the program for the memorial service. James Carters interest in law enforcement "was always there because of what was ingrained in him by his father," Draper said.
Chief Dunn said in an email: "The Memorial Ceremony was an opportunity for us to honor our fallen officers from Martinsville, Henry County and VSP (Virginia State Police). We honor the men and women as well as their families for making the ultimate sacrifice for our community. We promised to never forget them or their families. This is our opportunity every year to publically recognize our heroes for their sacrifices."
Dunn added: "Law enforcement is a noble profession. It is also a dangerous profession. Our men and women risk their lives for citizens they have never met. We appreciate the community very much for taking the time to remember the sacrifices that were made."
Grace Terrys calculation of the potential economic costs for her family of the Mountain Valley Pipeline requires no sophisticated formula for estimating the value of an ecosystem.
For Terry, a sixth-generation landowner on Poor Mountain and Bent Mountain in Roanoke County, the calculation is visceral.
She said the 42-inch-diameter natural gas pipeline and related access roads would bespoil wildlife habitat, including forest, pasture and complex wetlands, springs and trout streams.
The pipeline would devalue and destroy ours and our neighbors agricultural and livestock operations, homes, barns and studios the interdependent fabric of our small community, Terry said.
A pipeline rupture likely would kill or severely injure her family, she said.
On Wednesday, eight county-based groups in Virginia and West Virginia and an alliance of organizations opposing the pipeline released a report that suggests it would have significant negative economic repercussions for the region.
The study, prepared by Charlottesville-based Key-Log Economics and commissioned by pipeline opponents, examines the potential for adverse economic impacts of the proposed pipeline and its right-of-way on forests, croplands, streams, drinking water, scenic views, property values, tourism, economic development and more.
The report suggests that although the pipelines economic benefits have been touted in support of the project, no systematic consideration of the potential negative economic effects economic costs of the MVP has been completed.
The analysis notes that some residents would live within the pipelines potential impact radius or a larger evacuation zone in the event of a rupture and fire. The pipelines impact radius would be about 1,115 feet, according to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
Living with the 24/7/365 possibility of having to evacuate ones home or business at a moments notice, if notice is even possible, diminishes the value of the property to the owner, the report suggests.
The report also includes calculations designed to assign values to such factors as the aesthetic quality of natural landscapes.
Spencer Phillips, the reports lead author, said the review of interstate pipeline proposals by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is really a rigged game for the industry and suggested that FERC needs to consider the kinds of economic impacts described in the study.
The report, titled The Economic Costs of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, examines potential impacts of the project on five of six Virginia counties on the route and three of 11 West Virginia counties impacted by the pipelines currently proposed path.
Each of the eight counties highlighted in the study has an organized group of pipeline opponents. Those groups are, in turn, members of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights Coalition, which funded the research along with regional environmental and conservation organizations.
The 50-page study is accompanied by eight separate reports estimating the projected economic costs for those counties.
The study suggests that the costs of lost property value, reduced tax revenues, dampened economic development and ecosystem productivity in the study area would total between $119.1 million and $130.8 million per year and persist for as long as the MVP right-of-way exists.
The study notes that economists refer to these costs as external costs, which are borne by the public instead of the pipeline company.
According to study estimates, the total loss of property value for Roanoke County parcels touched by the pipelines right-of-way would range from about $779,400 to $2.4 million.
Mountain Valley, FERC and a pipeline industry trade group have suggested there is no significant impact of transmission pipeline easements on property values. But individual accounts in the region already have reported drops in value reflecting the prospect of a property including a pipeline easement.
Pipeline debate typically pits proponents who say the $3.5 billion, 301-mile project would yield numerous economic benefits against those who say its potential consequences for the environment, personal property and safety outweigh the benefits.
Mountain Valleys buried pipeline would transport natural gas at high pressure from Wetzel County, West Virginia, to the Transco transmission pipeline in Pittsylvania County.
As currently routed, the pipeline would travel through the Virginia counties of Giles, Montgomery, Craig, Roanoke and Franklin before terminating near Chatham.
On Dec. 11, 2014, Mountain Valley released a report by FTI Consulting that described a host of potential economic benefits associated with the pipelines construction and operation.
The FTI analysis suggested the project would create nearly 4,300 jobs at the peak of construction in 2018, the year the company hopes to begin operating the pipeline.
The report estimated that the period between 2015 and 2018 would yield about $396 million in construction spending and $35 million in tax revenue in Virginia. And it suggested that once the pipeline was in operation it would continue to contribute millions of dollars in annual tax revenues to the state and localities along the route.
Mountain Valley has acknowledged that many construction-related jobs would be filled by people from outside the region.
On Wednesday, Natalie Cox, a spokeswoman for Mountain Valley, said a study funded by pipeline opponents would be expected to focus on negative impacts.
We remain confident that the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline project will bring significant and meaningful benefits to counties along its route in both Virginia and West Virginia, Cox said.
A broad, bipartisan coalition of public officials, residents, companies and pro-business groups support the Mountain Valley Pipeline because of its significant economic benefits, she said.
When Mountain Valley released the FTI report, it declined to disclose what it paid for the study. On Wednesday, the coalition funding the Key-Log Economics report also declined to disclose what it paid for the analysis.
As an interstate pipeline, the Mountain Valley project needs a green light from FERC. The company has applied to the agency, and FERC staff and a consultant are working on a draft environmental impact statement.
FERC has said its policy for reviewing major new pipeline facilities balances the public benefits against the potential adverse consequences.
The pipeline project has stirred fierce opposition in many communities along its proposed route. But Gov. Terry McAuliffe, the Roanoke Regional Chamber and others have expressed support for the project, touting its potential to boost economic development.
Beth Doughty, executive director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership, said 90 percent to 95 percent of manufacturers considering the region as a site for doing business include access to natural gas as a requirement.
If the pipeline project proceeds, its construction right-of-way would be at least 125 feet wide and require the clearing of trees and other vegetation. The pipeline trench would be 7 feet to 8 feet deep in most places, according to Mountain Valley.
The permanent right-of-way would be about 50 feet wide and, as proposed, would remain free of trees as long as the pipeline operates.
Roberta Bondurant, a resident of Bent Mountain, has helped rally opposition there to the project.
Bondurant said the prolonged, expensive effort that yielded the Livable Roanoke Valley plan described building a healthy economy through education, workforce development, promotion of wellness and preserving our natural assets and showcasing our outdoor amenities.
The plan encouraged the embrace of renewable energy, Bondurant said.
Gov. McAuliffe and our state and federal leaders have a choice: They can work with us fiercely toward a legacy of clean energy, or they can continue to try to ram the MVP across our treasured landscape at the behest of the natural gas industry, leaving generations of our rural citizens, and so many others who rely on our land and water, as a new class of economic, cultural and environmental refugees, she said.
That would not be good for business, Bondurant said.
A Virginia Tech graduate student on Tuesday shed light on the colleges involvement in hauling the Flint, Michigan, water crisis to the surface.
Anurag Mantha, a graduate research assistant pursuing his PhD in Civil Engineering at Virginia Tech, spoke Tuesday at the Reynolds Homestead as part of the Homesteads "Lunch n Learn" series. He was joined by Virginia Tech Communications Coordinator Cassandra Hockman.
Manthas presentation covered the history and causes of the Flint water crisis, which made national headlines last year, along with Virginia Techs involvement and Flints path moving forward.
According to Mantha, in April 2014, the city of Flint switched from using water from the Detroit Water and Sewage Department to using water from the Flint River. The move, Mantha said, was a cost-saving one, designed to save the city of Flint just $100 per day.
While the Detroit water had been treated to prevent corrosion, the Flint River water was not treated, Mantha said.
The lead contamination did not come from the Flint River, he said. The problem is that 30,000 Flint homes like millions of homes across the nation are older homes with lead plumbing, or may have lead service lines connecting them to the city water mains.
While that didnt present a problem with the treated Detroit water, the water from the Flint River was corrosive enough to leach the lead from those pipes, contaminating the tap water of countless homes in the city.
Lead, Mantha said, affects every part of the body, but especially the brain and nervous system. Children and elderly people are the most susceptible due to their weaker immune systems.
The problem was brought to the attention of Virginia Tech by Flint resident Lee Anne Walters, who learned that one of her children had lead poisoning.
At Walters insistence, the city sent an employee to test her water, only to discover that it had wildly elevated levels of lead contamination. The city didnt offer a useful solution, so Walters contacted Miguel Del Toral, a manager at the Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) Midwest division.
Del Toral took Walters problem seriously and put her in touch with Dr. Marc Edwards, an environmental engineer with Virginia Tech who has a long history of investigating lead contamination cases.
Edwards, Mantha said, is also his advisor. Edwards assembled a Flint Water Study team, which Mantha is a part of, and sent 300 lead testing kits to Flint residents.
Between August and September of last year, Mantha said, the team analyzed the results of those test kits. The results were startling.
The EPA considers more than 15 ppb (parts per billion) of lead in water to be a health concern. The first draw samples tested (a one-liter sample of tap water that has stood motionless in the plumbing pipes for at least six hours) averaged out to 26.8 ppb. The highest first draw hit 158 ppb, while the highest overall sample was a whopping 1,051 ppb.
"At about 15 parts per billion, the World Health Organization says that it denotes substantial and imminent danger from lead in drinking water," Mantha said.
Edwards presented the testing results at a town hall meeting in Flint in late September, Mantha said. While the team expected state officials to acknowledge the problem in light of the evidence, it did not go that way.
Brad Wurfel, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), issued a statement saying that "This group (the Virginia Tech team) specializes in looking for high lead problems. They pull the rabbit out of that hat everywhere they go. Nobody should be surprised when the rabbit comes out of the hat, even if they cant figure out how it is done."
MDEQ went so far as to allege that Flint residents were adding lead to their water just to gain national attention, Mantha said.
In response, members of the Virginia Tech team traveled to Flint to conduct further water testing on-site. They also conducted an experiment on Flint River water versus the previously used Detroit water, and discovered that if pieces of lead solder were placed in both samples, the corrosive Flint River water would develop lead levels 19 times higher than the Detroit water.
In response to those tests, Mantha said, the MDEQ said that the tests the Virginia Tech team had conducted were time-consuming and difficult to do outside of a lab.
To refute that point, Mantha said, Edwards team sent supplies to an elementary school in Grand Blanc, Mich. that would allow the young students to replicate the Tech experiment. The students did so, and their results lined up with the Virginia Tech results.
Later in September, Mantha said, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha of Hurley Medical Center in Flint released a study confirming that the proportion of children with elevated levels of lead in their blood had nearly doubled since the city switched water supplies.
The MDEQ initially rejected that study, Mantha said, but Edwards filed a Freedom of Information Act request and learned that the city of Flint with help from MDEQ had falsified results on post-switch water tests, turning an F grade into an A grade.
Once that information became public, Mantha said, the city and state finally acknowledged the problem and switched the city back to Detroit water, but not before 100,000 residents 9,000 of them children were exposed to elevated lead levels.
Since the switch back to Detroit water, Mantha said, the EPA has hired Virginia Tech to re-sample the water at many of the homes they initially had tested. The results are promising so far, he said, but it will take time for the lead levels to return to a safe range.
The team will be returning to Flint in July for further water testing, he added.
The Virginia Tech team has partnered with the organization Healthy Babies, Bright Futures to provide lead testing kits for those in need. To donate, visit hbbf.org.
An antique portrait of Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart has found a new home on the Wall of Honor in the Patrick County Administration Building, according to a previous Bulletin article.
Now the portrait, along with a plaque, will take its rightful place on the Wall of Honor alongside our other heroic Patrick County veterans that gave all for the freedom and rights we enjoy today, according to Patrick County Board of Supervisors Chairman Roger Hayden.
I find Mr. Haydens comment that men like Stuart gave all for the freedoms and rights we enjoy today to be misleading. J.E.B. Stuart was a slave owner who had long stated his loyalty to his home state over the Union. In other words, Stuart fought to preserve slavery. He isnt a hero to most black people. I am sure you will find a few black people he was a hero to, but not many.
Wayne Jones, a Stuart re-enactor, quoted a column written The Clarion-Ledger in Mississippi by guest columnist Preston Cantner: When I see a Confederate battle flag, I dont think of the politicians or the planter elite that directed us into that human catastrophe of the 1860s. I think of the men on the front line, on whose shoulders rested the ordeal of killing and dying. I dont see a symbol of hate. I see courage and sacrifice.
Ninth District Republican Del. Charles Poindexter said. We are living in an era of political correctness where government can come after citizens for speaking their minds. Were living in an era in which people, including most or many of our students in high school and college, have not learned what America is about. Thats sad.
I dont understand for the life of me why men who today know the actions of their ancestors were wrong as stated above by Jones celebrate their actions.
Below are two quotes as to why the civil war was fought. To Hayden, Jones and Poindexter I say: Why do you celebrate those who fought to preserve slavery and white supremacy?
Alexander Stephens, vice president of the Confederacy, said the Southern states would fight to keep the negro in his place on the day the Civil War began. Stephens stated that many governments had been founded on the principle of the subordination and serfdom of certain races and to do otherwise was in violation of the laws of nature. Our system commits no such violation of natures laws, Stephens said. All of the white race, he said, is equal in the eye of the law. Not so with the negro. Subordination is his place.
William T. Thompson, who was one of the creators of a version of the Confederate flag, stated on April 23, 1863: As a people, we are fighting to maintain the Heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race.
Its true we cant change history but men who fought to preserve slavery and white supremacy shouldnt be on display in a taxpayer-supported building.
Shame on you, Patrick County, for subjecting your black citizens to men who fought to keep their ancestors in bondage at their financial expense. Move those relics to a museum where they belong.
Michael Elder
Charlottesville, formerly of Martinsville
The hypocrisy of the rich has never been more glaring since the release of the Panama Papers. While the rest of the world is reeling about the scandal, we cannot forget Canada's own tax haven. Canada is not immune to the scandalous use of tax havens among the rich and famous. At least 350 wealthy Canadians listed in the documents have been implicated in the shadowy practices of tax dodging. This has proven what many Canadians already knew: that there is one set of rules for the rich, and another more punishing set of rules for everyone else.
This is not the first time in recent memory that corporate tax evasion has made the news in Canada. In March of this year, leaked information from the CBC revealed that the private accounting firm KPMG worked out a secret deal with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to help 25 of their clients escape the law for using offshore tax havens on the Isle of Man. This amounted to $130 million in taxes going unpaid. Having uncovered the offshore scheme, the CRA promised KPMG clients impunity from penalties or criminal investigations. This demonstrated that the CRA, while remaining a neutral watchdog on paper, is little more than a corporate lapdog in practice.
The KPMG scandal, far from being an anomaly, is only one symptom of a much larger problem in Canada. Canadians for Tax Fairness reported that in 2014 Canadian corporations had stashed away nearly $200 billion in just ten tax havens across the globe. This is likely an underestimation, as these numbers do not include individual accounts of wealthy individuals. Billions more are parked on the sunny beaches of Barbados ($71 billion), Cayman Islands ($36 billion) and Bermuda ($17.8 billion) to avoid paying taxes.
Although tax havens are used to shield transactions and investments from domestic tax authorities, many manage to avoid prosecution for this illegal behaviour. Millionaire Dragons Den television star and prospective Conservative leadership candidate, Kevin O'Leary, recently defended the schemes of the rich, saying These [tax] structures are legal, so what? Thats the bottom line. While this may be true, we have to ask: who wrote those laws? And in whose interests do they ultimately serve? Multinationals and associated lobby groups act like puppeteers while politicians dance on a string of their making. If tax evasion by the rich and powerful is legal while the workers are told there is no money for social services, there is something deeply wrong with the system.
The fight to shut down tax havens and keep Canadian money within its own borders is an empty gesture when political and corporate interests are in bed together. During confidential talks between KPMG and the CRA in 2014 and 2015, in the midst of the tax evasion investigation, CRA senior enforcement officials enjoyed martinis at private receptions in exclusive clubs hosted by the accounting firm. This is the equivalent of the police going for a quiet drink with the mafia to reach a gentleman's agreement. It has subsequently been revealed that there is a regular career path for senior tax investigators into corporate accountancy firms such as KPMG. Those who are meant to keep the rich accountable do not want to alienate their future bosses and when they are there, they know all the best places to hide their unbegotten gains and scam the system!
Internationally, the situation has been a political nightmare for the rich tax cheaters. British Prime Minister David Cameron has been in the hot seat for not disclosing inheritance money that was offshored in a tax haven by his father. Cameron acquired the moniker of Dodgy Dave, referring to the fact that he previously swore that he never used tax havens and would fight against them. Soon after, thousands marched in the streets demanding his resignation. Canadas own version of Dodgy Dave is Paul Martin. Before Martin became the federal Liberal Finance Minister, he bought and administered Canada Steamship Lines (CSL), a global shipping company based in Montreal. To avoid paying Canadian taxes, accountants for CSL crafted a complex offshore tax structure. Millions of unpaid taxes were parked in a subsidiary in Barbados. Canadas tax treaty with Barbados made it all the more easy for the rich to abuse Caribbean tax havens. As soon as Martin was in office, he sanctioned the use of tax havens while benefiting from them. Working class Canadians do not need to be reminded of the horrendous austerity policies he implemented as finance minister. Martin cut federal health transfers by 40 per cent as finance minister and as prime minister, refused to enforce the Canada Health Act and ban private care. Martin and Cameron are poster boys for the pedigreed rich that preach high mountain sermons on what is just and fair, while forcing working people to swallow the bitter pill of austerity.
Tax havens cost the federal and provincial governments up to $7.8 billion each year. The financial and banking industry accounts for more than half of offshored billions labelled as investments. In 2008, it was confirmed that Canadas five largest banks had subsidiaries in tax havens to avoid paying over $16 billion in taxes between 1993 and 2007. These banks include Royal Bank, TD, Scotiabank and HSBC. These are some of the very banks that received billions in bailouts in the 2008 crisis and have confirmed CEO bank bonuses of $12.5 billion just last year. This is at the same time that many are laying off workers! The Canadian state has lent a hand in enabling tax loopholes and tax havens to legally function. Large multinational tax firms like KPMG and tax lawyers then determine where exactly these holes are to make tax evasion seem like tax planning.
Canada, a corporate playground
While the rhetoric of tightening up tax laws and regulations around tax havens has been the order of the day, Canada has become a tax haven itself. In fact, leaked documents from Mossack Fonseca also considered Canada a potential tax haven, marketing the country as a place to incorporate anonymous companies. Based on the idea of being a competitive market for investors, Canada has literally become a corporate playground.
The 2014 KPMG Competitive Alternatives Special Tax Report listed Canada as the most competitive business environment with the lowest corporate tax rate among the G7 countries. Corporate taxation is so low that Canada is competing with notorious tax havens like Switzerland and Luxembourg. Our corporate tax rate is lower than the United Kingdom, Mexico and the United States. In fact, even the infamous merger of Tim Hortons and Burger King was solely carried out to save money on corporate taxes!
Between 2007 and 2011, a majority of the major 60 firms that trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange paid very little in taxation. In 2014, 15 of the largest corporations in Canada were listed as using creative accounting to pay unbelievably low taxes. These firms include Canadian Pacific Railway, Manitoba Telecom and Gildan Activewear.
The largest Canadian and foreign owned companies pay little to no tax, and the stated argument by the right wing is that a low tax environment will attract corporate investment that will stimulate job growth. Yet Statistics Canada reports that corporate cash reserves reached nearly $700 billion in 2015. The idea that low corporate tax rates translate into job growth is false. Businesses are hoarding cash and not investing because of the stagnant growth of the economy. The ruling elite are not a charitable lot. They do not invest in the economy to stimulate growth, but rather to make fast profits. Currently, Canada sits on a historically large cash reserve known as dead money which is larger than Canadas national debt. According to a 2014 report by the IMF, the size of corporate Canadas dead money is the fastest growing among any of the G7 countries.
Under capitalism we hear the same old story: if there is even the hint of any poor person, or refugee, getting anything beyond their miserly allowance, then the full weight of the law comes down on their heads in the most punitive fashion. We are repeatedly told that there is no money and workers must endless cuts. But these scandals only confirm what workers already know, that the rich have no problem dining and dashing on their obligations, and it is the workers who get footed with the bill. These scandals are a clear indication that the state allows the ruling elite to cheat with impunity. The Canadian state is not a neutral body standing above society, but reflects the interest of the ruling class who use political lackeys as a way to protect their assets. It is a government of the rich, by the rich and for the rich. Capitalism needs a state and its legal system, courts, judges and armed bodies of men, in order to protect its profit system.
Expropriate the 1%
While Marxists are not against a system of progressive taxation, the slogan of taxing the rich does not go far enough. The question must be raised: who controls the economy? Will the revenue from a one or two percentage point increase in corporate tax be enough to fund initiatives such as universal child care, free education, affordable housing, expanded free transit and full employment? Increasing taxes to a level sufficient to provide these essential services merely results in capital flight. In addition, we have seen how the rich and powerful can easily scam the system so they do not pay these increased rates. This is not just a theoretical assertion; this has been proven time and time again through experience.
Taxing the rich still allows them to direct production and the machinery of the state. Can a state administered by and for the corporate elite be trusted to solve the problems of average working people? Will the capitalist state ever prosecute the capitalists? No. Merely taxing the rich will still allow the accumulation of private wealth for a minority at the expense of the majority. Limiting ourselves to this demand would be like asking a crook to give back only a small portion of what he stole from someone. We say that the wealth of society should be in the hands of the people who actually work to create that wealth: the working class. The billions of evaded tax dollars, bailouts, corporate welfare, the preferential tax code, lax environmental regulations, lax employment standards and workplace safety, plus simple cheating and stealing, more than compensates for the value of these corporations. We say expropriate the 1% that have ruined the economy. If the rich do not want to invest in new jobs, create free schools and housing units for all and pay their fair share, then let the real wealth creators do so. The ruling elite can take what they can in a suitcase and leave the industries for the workers to democratically manage. The bosses need us more than we need them!
Demonstrations across the world have shaken institutions and governments to their core. Tens of thousands marched in the capital of Iceland and demanded the resignation of the prime minister, who then did so. Promises of reforming the tax system cannot be carried out by political parties that are heavily tied to the banking and financial sector. We cannot control how the social wealth of society is being directed if we do not collectively own it. As long as the economy is controlled by a tiny elite minority, no amount of laws will fix the problem of tax havens and tax evasion. We cannot expect corporate thugs and political puppets to fight against taxation reforms when it is not in their class interest to do so. If the rich write the laws, then the system will always be rigged.
We need an economy in which production is not based on profit, but rather on the collective needs of society through democratic workers control and management. Under capitalism, banking and financial accounting secrecy will continue make headlines in the media whenever an email is leaked or a whistleblower comes forward. We require a democratically planned economy where production is rationally planned based on the needs of the majority. By nationalizing the major banks, corporations and industries, and administering them through the democratic control of workers, all of the socially produced wealth will return to building society, and not into a virtual office in the Cayman Islands or the Isle of Man. Billions of dollars siphoned off the labour of the working class and sitting idle can ensure every single working mother has adequate day care and housing; that youth have free education and job training; that the elderly are provided for in quality public facilities; and workers have decent wages and conditions. We say enough is enough! This is our wealth and we want to direct where it goes!
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Boston Skyline
A couple walks through Boston Common past the Boston skyline at dusk. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole)
(Lisa Poole)
Looking for a new job? Boston and Hartford are among the top 25 best cities for hiring opportunity, cost of living, job satisfaction and work-life balance, according to Glassdoor.
Most people think of the Silicon Valley as the hot spot for jobs, but with 121,498 job openings, Boston comes in fourth. Hartford just barely squeezed in at number 25, with 24,590 job openings in Connecticut's capital.
Ohio had the most cities listed. Allison Berry, Glassdoor community expert, told Time that it's due to their large number of open positions and a much lower cost of living than the coasts.
"Ohio stands out for offering some of the greatest job prospects along with a lower cost of living that allows more employees to live comfortably," she said.
Boston was listed at number 15 in 2015. It ranked as having a 3.4 job satisfaction rating, the same as this year. There are 34,933 more job openings this year, with the median-base salary increasing $11,500.
For the full list, click here.
LONGMEADOW - Rabbi Devorah Jacobson, JGS Lifecare director of spiritual life, has been named to the Jewish Daily Forward's 2016 list of "America's Most Inspiring Rabbis." The annual award honors rabbis who inspire by their profound spiritual leadership. Rabbi Jacobson was nominated by Marian Broder, a past chair of the Board of the Jewish Nursing Home and chair of the Assisted Living Residence Committee which led to the development and construction of Ruth's House Assisted Living Residence at JGS Lifecare. Broder is inspired by Rabbi Jacobson because "she radiates empathy and compassion and provides strength and hope."
Rabbi Jacobson became the rabbi of JGS Lifecare in 2001. She leads Jewish programming, interfaith programming and the chaplaincy program for a wide range of lifecare services that includes nursing home care, home health and hospice care, assisted living, adult day health care, long- and short-term rehabilitation and palliative care. She is trained as a multi-faith chaplain, certified by the National Association of Jewish Chaplains (NAJC), which requires that the individual demonstrate outstanding abilities in the area of multi-faith pastoral care and meet the standards of professional competence as established by the NAJC. Rabbi Jacobson has also been part of the faculty for the Florence Melton School in both Springfield and Northampton teaching adult learners various classes in Jewish studies for over 10 years.
"It's wonderful that Rabbi Jacobson has been recognized on a national level for her spiritual leadership. We are fortunate to have a rabbi of her caliber at JGS Lifecare," said Martin Baicker, JGS Lifecare president and CEO. "Our residents, staff, volunteers and clergy community know her well, and we thank Marian Broder and the Forward for their roles in elevating the achievements of our trusted teacher, counselor, and confidante."
"I am truly touched and honored by this recognition," said Jacobson. "To be recognized for doing what you have a passion for and doing what gives you such joy and meaning is both humbling and heartening."
Before coming to JGS Lifecare, Rabbi Jacobson was the Jewish chaplain and Hillel Director at several colleges nationally, including Williams, Mt. Holyoke, and the Claremont Colleges in California. She began her Hillel career in 1982 at Washington University in St. Louis upon her ordination from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.
Rabbi Jacobson lives in Amherst with her wife, Margaret Mastrangelo. They are proud parents of their son Jacob who is currently living and working on Kibbutz Sde Boker in southern Israel.
Media giant iHeartMedia Inc. is in the midst of a week-long trial that pits the nation's largest radio station chain against some of its biggest investors.
Texas District Court Judge Cathleen Stryker is weighing whether the San Antonio-based radio and billboard conglomerate, saddled with $20.8 billion in debt, violated its credit agreement with bondholders, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
If the judge rules against iHeartMedia, it could trigger technical default on as much as $15 billion of its bonds and put the company at risk of bankruptcy, company executives warned in court.
The business was bought by Bain Capital Partners and Thomas H. Lee Partner in July 2008 in one of the last mega leveraged buyouts before the credit crisis, according to Bloomberg. The firms paid $24 billion for the radio and billboard company that spawned IHeart - formerly known as Clear Channel Communications Inc. - and has been battling ever since under the debt taken on for that deal.
The case revolves around a Dec. 3 intercompany transfer of stock from one subsidiary, Clear Channel Outdoor, to another subsidiary. Bond investors argue the transaction violated their agreement with the company, placing it in technical default on its bonds even though iHeartMedia is current on all its debt payments.
iHeartMedia owns 90 percent of billboard giant Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. The company employs roughly 19,500 workers and owns more than 850 radio stations in 150 U.S. markets.
It has a dozen radio stations in Massachusetts, including WXKS-FM and AM, WBWL-FM, WJMN-FM and WKOX-FM in Boston; WSCIB-FM, WCOD-FM, WEII-FM and WXTK-FM in Cape Cod; WSRS-FM and WTAG-AM in Worcester; and WRNX-FM and WHYN-FM and AM in Springfield. There are also eight iHeartMedia-owned stations in neighboring Connecticut, including WHCN-FM and WKSS-FM in Hartford.
beer week
( )
There's no place like home, especially when it comes to craft beer if you live in Western Massachusetts.
The craft beer scene here has grown exponentially over the past decade and some folks figured it was finally time to acknowledge that officially. So during the
week of June 11-18, a group of businesses across Western Massachusetts will participate in the inaugural Western Mass Beer Week by hosting special events celebrating the breweries in all four of the regions counties: Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden and Hampshire.
Beer weeks have been successful across the country in strengthening a particular region as a beer destination. Philadelphia, San Francisco, Portland, Oregon, and Portland, Maine all have beer weeks held in their honors. Western Mass Beer Week was conceived of by friends and industry colleagues who share a deep and abiding appreciation for the region's breweries and who wish to help foster a beer community that centers around local grassroots efforts.
Melissa Jeanne Breor, a beer aficionado and the communications director for the Hampshire County Regional Tourism Council, was part of the brain trust behind the week, along with her friend Sally Noble, co-owner of The Foundry in Northampton.
"Since the day Sally and I met, we've bonded over our love of beer and Western Mass. Unofficially, Western Mass Beer Week has been in our think tank for a few years," Breor said. "We've long thought Western Massachusetts had the potential to show up on the map as a burgeoning beer destination."
Once the idea was hatched, a planning committee then took shape with Breor and Noble, assisted by Jeff Goulet, the beer buyer for Smith's Billiards, and Scott Bergeron, a Sunderland selectman and avid supporter of the local beer scene. Another local beer fan, Jordana Starr, came on board recently to help with marketing and graphic design.
The mission of the week is to call attention to Western Massachusetts as a beer destination and to develop a synergy that stitches together the breweries, beer venues and all of the events that occur in the region's beer scene, Breor said.
"It's surprising still how many people in other parts of the state don't know what's happening out here," she said. "We think there's even a lot of regional discovery that's going to happen."
The dates were selected based on the overlap of two already existing beer events in Western Massachusetts on Saturday, June 18: Pedals2Pints, a touring and sampling at breweries in the region and The Worthy Craft Beer Showcase, a Springfield-based festival of the area's finest local brews.
Western Mass Beer Week events will be held at breweries across western Massachusetts as well as other venues that feature craft beer. There are currently more than 30 breweries across Western Massachusetts.
Events scheduled so far include a tasting at Europa in Ludlow showcasing its forthcoming brewery, Vanished Valley Brewing, daily beer releases at Amherst Brewing and the return of The Foundry's infamous Firkin Faceoff. The Sierra Grille and Dirty Truth in Northampton will both be celebrating their tenth anniversaries the same week, as well. For more information, visit the event website.
cancri.jpg
NASA illustration of possible scenario for the hot exoplanet called 55 Cancri e.
(NASA)
By AMANDA JERMYN
Special to The Republican
Welcome to the weird and wondrous world of 55 Cancri e, an exoplanet 40 light years from Earth in our Milky Way galaxy.
Discovered in 2004, it was initially thought to be a water world. Later, as I reported back in 2013, it was proclaimed a "diamond planet," composed mainly of carbon, which under extreme pressure forms diamonds.
New discoveries by an international team of researchers led by Brice-Olivier Demory, of Cambridge University and published in the journal Nature, reveal an even stranger world.
The planet, now also called Janssen, in honor of Dutch telescope pioneer Zacharias Janssen, is the closest of five planets orbiting a sun-like star. With a radius twice that of Earth and a mass eight times greater, it is considered a super-Earth, a term used to describe extra-solar planets with masses between one and ten times that of Earth.
The planet orbits extraordinarily fast, with its year lasting only 18 hours. Because it is so close to its star, about 26 times closer than Mercury is to our sun, it is tidally locked by gravity, just as our moon is to the Earth. This means that the same side of the planet is always facing its star. And because of its proximity to its star, it is scorchingly hot.
How hot has recently been discovered by Demory and his team, using infrared sensors on NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to create a temperature map of the planet. What they found was a world of extremes, with hot nights and even much hotter days.
The day side, always facing the star, is about 4,400 degrees Fahrenheit and the night side is about 2,060 degrees Fahrenheit, a whopping difference of 2,340 degrees. This indicates that heat is not being distributed around the planet very well.
One explanation is that the planet lacks a large atmosphere and winds to transport heat. This would make sense, as the planet is so close to its star that you would expect any of its early atmosphere to have vaporized.
Another possibility is that it has molten lava on the day side but hardened lava on the night side, with the latter being unable to transport heat. A further enigma is that the Spitzer data shows the hottest spot not at the point closest to the star where one would expect it to be but rather half way between this point and the night side, suggesting flowing lava may be responsible.
While poor heat distribution around the planet and its proximity to its star suggest that 55 Cancri e should not have much of an atmosphere, a recent study appearing in the Astrophysical Journal reports that the planet does indeed have an atmosphere. Using data from the Hubble Space Telescope, Angelos Tsiaras, of University College, London, and his team found an atmosphere rich in hydrogen and helium, and potentially containing hydrogen cyanide. If further research confirms the presence of hydrogen cyanide, this would indicate a carbon-rich atmosphere and support the idea of a diamond planet, as previously suspected.
With so many anomalies still to be resolved, astronomers are now pinning their hopes on the James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in October 2018, to help unravel some of the mysteries of this exotic world.
Join the Springfield Stars Club on May 24 at 7 p.m. at the Springfield Science Museum for a talk by Jason Young on "Low Surface Brightness Galaxies: The Life Story of the Milky Way's Dark Counterparts." He is a visiting professor of astronomy at Amherst College.
His research focuses on star formation in galaxies similar to our own Milky Way but which produce stars at a much slower rate. For reasons not fully understood, these faint galaxies have retained up to 90 percent of their original gas instead of producing stars.
Young and his team use space and ground based telescopes to discover why these galaxies produce stars so slowly, and through comparison, why galaxies like our own Milky Way have been so successful at producing stars.
Refreshments will be served, and the public is welcome. The meeting is free of charge for members, with a suggested donation of $2 per non-member.
Amanda Jermyn, of Longmeadow, is vice president of the Springfield Stars Club. For more information, visit the club's website, reflector.org, like them on Facebook or call (800) 336-9054.
15 Ways to Celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Cincinnati-Style Chili
Cincinnati-style chili is celebrating its 100th birthday on Oct. 24.
By Danny Cross, Maija Zummo and CityBeat Staff Oct 24, 2022
Certain cities are in part defined by their native cuisines. Although at times stereotypical, one cannot debate the value of partaking in a hot slice of New York-style pizza in the Big Apple, a hunk of deep dish in Chicago or a greasy cheesesteak topped with Cheez Whiz in Philadelphia...
An examination of computers at Hellgate High School determined it was "user error" that led to Decembers release of sensitive student information.
On Friday, Missoula County Public Schools attorney Elizabeth Kaleva released to the Missoulian a copy of LMG Securitys report on Hellgates December student data breach.
CHELSEA DAVIS For the Independent Record
Full Story: http://helenair.com/news/education/user-error-caused-hellgate-high-data-breach-lmg-security-analysis/article_b3d4397b-a957-513b-8c39-667ea9553b1c.html
Merck Foundation Health Media Training will be chaired by Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation (Merck-Foundation.com); Merck Foundation, to announce a call for applications for 6 different awards for Media, Film, Fashion and Music fraternity in Mauritius, Mauritius, Madagascar, and Seychelles to break Infertility stigma and raise awareness about coronavirus.
Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany, in partnership with Media Trust Board, Mauritius to conduct Merck Foundation Health Media Training, particularly for Mauritius, Madagascar, and Seychelles media fraternities. The objective of the training is to emphasize the significant role that media plays to break the stigma around infertility, in addressing sensitive social and health issues such as breaking Infertility stigma, empowering girls and women through education. Moreover, in the given unprecedented times, raising awareness about coronavirus and the best health prevention practices during this global pandemic.
Inviting media to participate for the training, Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation and President of Merck Foundation More Than a Mother said I am happy to initiate this important training session as I strongly believe that media plays a significant role in influencing our society to create a cultural shift. Media has the capacity and ability to break the stigma around infertility in the community and has played a critical role during the global pandemic. Merck Foundation, in partnership with Media Trust Board, Mauritius would like to invite media representatives from Mauritius, Madagascar, and Seychelles to this important online training that focuses on the international standards and media ethics for reporting sensitive social and health issues and aims to be the voice of the voiceless in their communities.
We are also providing scholarships of one year diploma and two year master degree for doctors in respiratory medicines, intensive care, and other specialities to improve healthcare for coronavirus patients and risk groups. I look forward to meeting the enthusiastic journalists from these 3 countries and partner with them as Merck Foundation advocates to empower infertile women and couples and support girl education in their communities, added Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej.
Mr. Chayman Surajbali, Chairperson of the Media Trust Board, Mauritius emphasized,
We are proud of our partnership with Merck Foundation and happy to launch Merck Foundation Health Media Training where the training will equip our media with sharp and specific media skills so as to write and deliver impacting stories about health and social issues. This initiative will help media representatives of our country to report on sensitive and social issues with a greater knowledge and encourage them to be the voice of the voiceless in raising awareness about infertility and breaking the stigma around it. We look forward to making it a great success with Merck Foundation.
The Merck Foundation Health Media Training is a part of Merck Foundation More than a Mother Community Awareness Program and will be addressed by top fertility experts and media stalwarts from Africa and Mauritius. The Health Media training invites journalists from Print, TV, Radio, and Online media. So far, Merck Foundation has trained 1700 media representatives from more than 30 countries across Africa and Latin America.
The training will also mark the announcement of two media recognition awards for the media fraternity from Mauritius, Madagascar, and Seychelles, Merck Foundation Media Recognition Awards More Than a Mother 2021 and Merck Foundation Mask Up With Care Media Recognition Awards 2021; two awards for fashion fraternity of these countries, Merck Foundation Fashion Awards More Than a Mother 2021 and Merck Foundation Make Your Own Mask Fashion Awards 2021; in addition to Merck Foundation Film Awards More Than a Mother 2021 and Merck Foundation Song Awards More Than a Mother 2021.
Moreover, Merck Foundation in collaboration with The Ministry of Health and Wellness, Mauritius, has underscored their commitment to build healthcare capacity in Mauritius. Till today, 71 healthcare providers have been provided or will be provided with scholarships of one-year diploma and two-years master degree in many critical and underserved specialties. Out of which, 32 Medical graduates have been enrolled in the fields of Oncology, Diabetes, Endocrinology, Acute Medicine, Respiratory Medicine, Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, and Sexual & Reproductive Medicine. Another 39 medical graduates have been already selected to be enrolled in PG Diploma courses in many new underserved specialties including Emergency and Resuscitation Medicine, Gastroenterology, Laparoscopic Surgical Skills, Mental Health: Psychological Therapies, Orthopedic Trauma Science, Paediatric, Emergency Medicine, Advanced Surgical Practice, Dermatology, Neonatal Medicine, Pain Management, Psychiatry, Clinical Microbiology & infectious diseases, Ophthalmology, Internal Medicine, Neuroimaging for research, Urology, Orthopedics, Rheumatology, Cancer and Clinical Oncology, Critical Care, General Surgery, and Orthopedic & Trauma.
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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 Thom Forbes @tforbes, May 18, 2016
All the evidence shows that genetically engineered foods are safe to eat, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine decreed yesterday in a long-anticipated report that nonetheless provided critics with talking points to keep swirling the controversy over their widespread adoption. For one thing, the claim that they significantly increase crop yield and are therefore critical to ending the global hunger crises is apparently overblown.
Conflicting claims and research have created a confusing landscape for the public and for policy makers, the 20-person committee chaired by GMO critic Fred Gould, a professor of entomology at North Carolina State University, states in the introduction to the 420-page free download. This study is intended to provide an independent, objective examination of what has been learned since the introduction of GE crops, based on current evidence.
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The findings come as the federal government is reviewing how it regulates biotech crops and as big packaged-food companies like Campbell Soup and General Mills are starting to label products as being made with genetically engineered ingredients to comply with a new Vermont law, points out Andrew Pollack for the New York Times.
On the issue of whether the government should require that products sold at grocery stores be labeled if they contain genetically modified organisms the panel declined to take a firm position. It instead detailed pro and con arguments, Joel Achenbach writes for the Washington Post.
Michael Hansen, a senior scientist with Consumers Union, praised that element of the report: When it comes to GMO labels, the NAS report points out that there are value choices that consumers want to make when they shop for food. We're pleased to see that the report cites the wealth of polling data showing consumers want GMO labeling, Achenbach reports.
The report also says that new techniques, like a way to make small genetic changes in plants using genome-editing, are blurring the distinction between genetic engineering and conventional plant breeding, making the existing regulatory system untenable. It calls for a new system that pays more attention to the attributes of the crop, as opposed to the way in which it was created, the NYTs Pollack continues.
In a statement sent to reporters, Portland State Universitys David Ervin, who was not involved in the work, said this was a major contribution of the committees report, writes Tracy Vence for The Scientist.
The move to product characteristics would avert potential problems of not reviewing new crops made with new genome editing and synthetic biology techniques that may not trigger regulatory review under current procedures, Ervin said. (See The Unregulation of Biotech Crops, The Scientist, November 25, 2015.)
Even before this report came out, an anti-GMO group called Food & Water Watch attacked it. The group accused some members of the committee that prepared the report of receiving research funding from biotech companies, or having other ties to the industry, reports NPRs Dan Charles.
The preemptive attack frustrates [Gould], Charles continues. Gould has been known in the past as a GMO critic. He has pushed for restrictions on the planting of some GMO crops. I have not been a darling of the industry. As a matter of fact, they denied me seeds and plants to do my experiments, he says.
While referring to the report as thorough and comprehensive, the Center for Science in the Public Interests,biotechnology director Gregory Jaffe, says in a statement that it is disappointing that the report does not recommend that FDAs oversight of GE crops change from a voluntary to a mandatory process. That would have been consistent with the reports acknowledgement that federal oversight is important to ensure both safety and public confidence.
The report specifically addressed a commonly cited link between GE crops and falling populations of monarch butterflies, Elizabeth Weise reports for USA Today. As of March 2016, there was no evidence that the suppression of milkweed (the only food of the insect in its caterpillar state) by the use of herbicides caused declines in the monarch population, the committee found. In fact, the monarch population has seen a moderate increase in the past two years.
As definitive as some of the findings may appear, well no doubt still be writing about issue years from now.
There was a little something for everyone in the report, which likely will fuel more debate even while guiding policymakers on future policy and regulation, as Greg Trotter puts it in the Chicago Tribune.
by Sarah Mahoney @mahoney_sarah, May 18, 2016
Target says both sales and traffic gained in the latest quarter, but revenues werent quite as strong as expected. And the company says it sees signs that consumers may be slowing their spending.
Still, the Minneapolis-based retailer proved its turnaround strategy is solidly working, notching its sixth straight quarter of improvements. And in the signature categories it has given its highest priority style, baby, kids and wellness sales advanced three times more than the company as a whole. Amid some key hires, the retailer also says its sharpening its digital approach, as well as focusing on improving in-store experiences, including adding a Chobani cafe in New York City.
For its first quarter, comparable-store sales climbed 1.5%, and digital sales jumped 23%. Net income fell 0.4% to $632 million.
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We are pleased with our first-quarter financial results, which demonstrate the effectiveness of our strategy in an increasingly volatile consumer environment, says CEO Brian Cornell, in its release. We plan to successfully implement our long-term strategy, even in the face of a challenging short-term consumer landscape.
While acknowledging that the slowdown was causing it to temper its outlook, Target says it still believes it can achieve forecasts made earlier this year. The retailer expects sales next quarter to come in flat to down 2%.
The company also announced recently that after a year-long search, it hired Mark Tritton as EVP/chief merchandising officer, a role that includes product design and development, sourcing, visual merchandising strategy, and operations. (Tritton comes from Nordstrom and has also worked at Timberland and Nike.) And it promoted Jason Goldberger, president, Target.com, to chief digital officer, a new role.
The company is also continuing to tinker with its store formats, and says its adding a new Chobani Cafe to the Tribeca store in New York City, scheduled to open in October. (The SoHo store has had one since opening in 2012.)
In a statement, Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., NYTs publisher, called Spayd a digital pioneer. He said he expects she will continue to extend the reach and influence of the role of public editor by engaging in a continuing conversation about Times journalism with all interested parties, wherever we might find them.
The public editors role is to represent readers and analyze the newspapers limitations and controversies, as well as explain how the newsroom operates.
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Spayd will be the newspapers sixth public editor, succeeding Margaret Sullivan. Sullivan held the position since 2012, before she left last month to become the media columnist for The Washington Post.
Phil Corbett, the standards editor at NYT, led the search committee for the new public editor.
The New York Times created the public editor position in 2003, after a plagiarism scandal involving the reporter Jayson Blair. Since then, the position is crucial to ensuring fair standards and practices at the newspaper.
Sullivan tweeted her congratulations to Spayd, wishing her the best of luck.
Hang tough and bring your body armor, Sullivan added.
by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, May 18, 2016
Hey, want to guess where the worlds biggest Earth Day celebration takes place? San Francisco? Nah. Berlin? Try again. Sydney? Nope, not even close.
Would you believe Dallas? Yes, you read that right: since 2010 Earth Day Texas has hosted what is generally recognized as the worlds biggest Earth Day celebration in Dallas, a festival including exhibitions, interactive displays, panel discussions and lectures by experts, family events, music, food and beer.
And this years event, which took place from April 22-24 (okay, thats three days), set the record for the largest Earth Day Texas celebration yet, attracting over 125,000 visitors. Thats up from 29,000 attendees last year, and more than double the previous record of 58,000 set in 2014 and it turns out social media is responsible for much of this increase.
The social media push for to promote this years celebration was led by Commerce House, as part of a cross-channel campaign also including print, TV, and billboard ads. Together these helped revamp the events image by positioning it as a movement rather than a simple once-a-year event, based on insights about environmental attitudes (many people now view environmental awareness as a given). By the same token the new approach also presented the Earth Day celebration as just that a celebration, where attendees can also learn about practical things they can do to help the planet rather than an exercise in communal guilt and anxiety.
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Beginning a month before the event, Commerce House segmented potential attendees and targeted them with tailored messages on social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. For example, moms might see messages about the environment and healthy households, while businesspeople received messages about sustainability and savings; tailoring extended to multiple versions of ads about popular exhibits. Commerce House also made sure that event sponsors were able to communicate and promote themselves via the events social media tie-ins. Overall the Earth Day Texas social media efforts reached 862,000 people on Facebook alone, up more than 3,500% from the previous year, and generated around 63,000 Facebook actions including likes, comments, and shares.
During the event itself, Commerce House created a newsroom of six people who curated and monitored social media during the event, including an Instagram journalist. According to Lauren McClure, Commerce Houses director of content and social media, some of the best evidence of the campaigns impact was the success of the Tiny House Village exhibit, which proved the most popular attraction (with 1,900 attendees waiting in line for admission at one point) despite only being promoted on social media.
Meanwhile Commerce House CEO Mark Denesuk acknowledged the apparent incongruity of Dallas hosting the worlds biggest Earth Day celebration, but pointed out: Texans are actually on the forefront of environmental consciousness. Were one of biggest alternative energy users and we have a lot of people who care here. We certainly proved there are at least 125,000 of them in Dallas.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, May 18, 2016
Tech companies headquartered in Silicon Valley could find it harder to fight class action lawsuits on their home turf than elsewhere in the country, unless the Supreme Court agrees to review a recent decision in a lawsuit against Google.
That's according to Google, which this week made a final pitch for a Supreme Court hearing in a lawsuit brought by a group of pay-per-click marketers.
"Without this Courts review, class actions will be easier to certify in the Ninth Circuit than anywhere else in the nation," Google says in papers filed with the Supreme Court this week.
The company adds that the marketers' class-action would have been "doomed" if they had brought the case in courts outside of the 9th Circuit's jurisdiction, like Philadelphia, Richmond, Chicago, or Miami. The 9th Circuit covers nine states, including tech hotbeds California and Washington.
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The company wants the Supreme Court to review a decision that granted pay-per-click marketers class-action status in a long-running lawsuit. The marketers -- including law firm Pulaski & Middleman and retailer RK West -- allege that Google placed their ads on "low quality" sites.
Google says the companies shouldn't be able to proceed as a class because any damages need to be calculated on a company-by-company basis. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled against Google on that point, prompting the company to ask the Supreme Court to hear the matter.
Among other arguments, Google says that the 9th Circuit's decision conflicts with decisions made by other appeals courts.
The marketers have asked the Supreme Court to reject the case. They said in a brief filed last month that they proposed a "reliable, classwide method" of calculating the amount of money they believe they are owed.
The battle dates to 2009, when the marketers alleged that ads on Google's AdSense for Domains and AdSense for Errors programs result in fewer purchases than ads on Google's search results pages. Google has since revised its ad policies.
More than half of the family and friends making decisions for critically ill patients have significantly different estimates for the patient's survival than their doctor - but that's not only because of a misunderstanding, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The majority of those differences also were due to the decision maker holding fundamentally different and overly optimistic beliefs about the patient's prognosis. The research team anticipates that this finding will help in training physicians to better communicate with the family and friends of patients so they can make the best decisions for their loved one.
"It isn't a bad thing for a patient's family and friends to have hope that they will recover," said lead author Douglas B. White, M.D., M.A.S., professor in the Pitt School of Medicine's Department of Critical Care Medicine, and director of the department's Program on Ethics and Decision Making. "However, it is problematic when those overly optimistic expectations result in more invasive treatments in dying patients and delayed integration of palliative care that can alleviate suffering."
Between 2005 and 2009, Dr. White and his colleagues surveyed 229 people who had agreed to be the "surrogate decision maker" for hospitalized patients in four intensive care units at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, where Dr. White previously was a faculty member. These surrogates were typically family members or friends of the patient. They also surveyed the physicians caring for the patients for which the surrogates were making decisions.
The researchers asked both the surrogates and the doctors to estimate the chances that the patient would survive hospitalization on a scale of 0 (no chance of survival) to 100 (definite survival). They did not know each other's answers.
In 53 percent of cases, the answers differed by more than 20 percent. The surrogates were usually more optimistic than the doctors, however the doctors' estimates of the patient prognosis were ultimately far more accurate.
The researchers then asked the surrogates to guess what they thought the patient's doctor answered. Generally, the surrogates would guess somewhere in between their estimate and the doctor's real estimate. That revealed that the surrogates understood they were being more optimistic than what the doctor had been communicating to them.
The surrogates explained this in many ways, the most common being that they believed if they maintained hope, then the patient would do better than expected, or that they knew the patient better than the doctor and believed the patient had strengths the doctor didn't know about. They also often had an optimism grounded in religious beliefs.
"As doctors, we want to provide the best possible care for our patients. In critically ill patients, that means we must do a better job communicating with the people who are making decisions for our patients," said Dr. White, who also holds the UPMC Endowed Chair for Ethics in Critical Care Medicine. "Given the results of this study, we're working to develop and test interventions both to improve the comprehensibility of the prognosis doctors give to surrogates, and to better attend to the emotional and psychological factors that may influence the surrogate's expectations for their loved one's outcome."
This research was supported by National Institutes of Health grants KL2 RR024130 and R01 HL094553; and by the Greenwall Foundation.
Wound healing is not a one-size-fits-all process. MDI Biological Laboratory Assistant Professor, Vicki P. Losick, Ph.D, has recently discovered a new healing mechanism, which she has called wound-induced polyploidy (WIP).
The typical response of organisms to healing is to grow more cells through cell division to compensate for the cell loss that occurs as a result of injury, disease or aging. But the cells in many higher organisms, including humans, have a limited capacity to divide. WIP maintains the size and functional capacity of injured or diseased tissue by enlarging existing cells, rather than by making more of them.
The fact that some cells grow in size -- a phenomenon called cellular hypertrophy - in response to injury has been known for some time. But what wasn't previously known is that these cells are a mechanism to respond to injury, and that their size is due to polyploidization, or an increase in the amount of DNA: instead of the usual two sets of chromosomes, polyploid cells have three or more.
Losick collaborated with Albert S. Jun, M.D., a professor at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, on her research. Jun is the co-author of Losick's recent paper, which was published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE.
"The MDI Biological Laboratory is committed to the discovery of new therapies to repair and regenerate tissue," said President Kevin Strange, Ph.D. "Rather than taking a disease-by-disease approach, however, we are focused on the common mechanisms underlying these processes. Dr. Losick's discovery of a new mechanism for healing is a significant contribution to the field that has wide-ranging therapeutic potential."
The MDI Biological Laboratory is an independent, non-profit biomedical research institution focused on increasing healthy lifespan and increasing our natural ability to repair and regenerate tissues damaged by injury or disease. The institution develops solutions to complex human health problems through research, education and ventures that transform discoveries into cures.
Losick originally identified the mechanism regulating WIP in the fruit fly. With Jun's help, she has now shown that WIP occurs in mammals. Using a mouse model of a human eye disease, Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy, she discovered that cells enlarge by polyploidization to precisely compensate for cells that are lost, indicating that the extra-large cells are likely playing a beneficial role, not pathological one as previously thought.
"Our findings suggest that the cellular damage caused by cell loss or wounding leads to different mechanisms of tissue repair - cell proliferation or cell growth -- depending on context," said Losick. "Now that we have discovered that WIP is a widely used part of the body's healing arsenal, we can look for genes or drugs that promote healing by boosting the body's ability to generate these extra-large cells."
Since joining the MDI Biological Laboratory faculty, Losick has continued her studies of WIP in the fruit fly at the Kathryn W. Davis Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine. The goal of her research is to further characterize the molecular mechanisms underlying WIP with the aim of developing therapeutic agents that can promote healing through the manipulation of these pathways.
Losick's work with fruit flies reflects the MDI Biological Laboratory's goal of studying the processes of aging and regeneration in simple organisms with which humans share many of their genes. Unlikely as it may seem, about 75 percent of known human disease genes have recognizable matches in the fruit fly. Fruit flies also deliver fast results because of their short lifespans and are easy and inexpensive to work with.
A study by researchers at New Zealand's University of Otago, Wellington shows that smokers who used a nicotine inhaler were twice as likely to quit smoking as smokers using a placebo inhaler.
The researchers developed and tested a novel nicotine inhaler to see whether it helps smokers to quit smoking. Participants in the study were randomly assigned to receive either a nicotine inhaler plus a nicotine patch, or a placebo inhaler plus a nicotine patch.
The results of the New Zealand study funded by the Health Research Council appear in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research.
Study team leader Professor Julian Crane from the University of Otago, Wellington, says the findings are the first evidence that inhaled nicotine from a simple standard inhaler is highly effective and substantially increases a smoker's chances of quitting compared to the best current nicotine replacement treatment.
"Currently most smokers use nicotine patches to help them stop smoking. This study shows that if you add a nicotine inhaler to a nicotine patch, it doubles the chances of quitting over a nicotine patch alone," says Professor Crane.
Although there is considerable interest in the use of e-cigarettes to help smokers give up tobacco, many countries, including New Zealand, are hesitant to introduce these to the market especially as they are largely unregulated and untested.
"There is considerable debate about whether inhaled nicotine is helpful for people who wish to stop smoking," says Professor Crane.
"This is the first study to show that inhaled nicotine from a metered dose inhaler in the context of a smoker wanting to stop doubles their chances of quitting."
The nicotine inhaler gives a metered dose of nicotine and offers an alternative therapeutic option for inhaled nicotine using a standard device that has been used for many decades for treatment of asthma.
"But unlike electronic cigarettes, the inhaler has no physical associations to smoking itself," he says.
"It also has benefits in that it is much less likely to be used inappropriately to administer other drugs given that it is a completely sealed unit," notes Professor Crane.
"New Zealand has been a world leader in tobacco control public policy and this new home-grown development offers a world-first opportunity to help the 80 per cent or more of smokers who want to quit achieve their aims," he says.
The researchers are currently looking at how to make the inhaler available to all smokers who would like to use it.
Combination Nicotine Metered Dose Inhaler and Nicotine Patch for Smoking Cessation: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Nicotine and Tobacco Research. DOI:10.1093/ntr/ntw093. Published online May 16, 2016.
Khaled Khoja, who served as president of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces until March 2016, gave an interview to the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat on April 17, 2016, in which he harshly attacked the international community and particularly the U.S. Khoja argued that the U.S. never desired regime change in Syria and therefore did not take a decisive stand against Bashar Al-Assad despite his many crimes, and did not significantly support the Syrian opposition. According to him, the Americans showed apathy regarding the crisis, enabling Russia to fill the vacuum that they had created in a way that suited Russian interests. He added that the purpose of American military aid to the Kurds was to create a Kurdish canton, which would effectively lead to the splintering of Syria. Khoja stressed that the Syrian High Negotiations Committee remains insistent that the first step is to establish a transitional governing body, and only then can a new constitution, elections, and other topics be addressed.
It should be mentioned that the interview was given prior to the April 19 announcement by the head of the Syrian High Negotiations Committee, Riyad Hijab, that its delegation was suspending its participation in the Geneva talks.
Following are excerpts from the interview:[1]
Khaled Khoja (image: Zamanalwsl.net)
We Insist On A Serious Transition Of Power And All Authority
Khoja started by mentioning the Syrian High Negotiations Committee's expectations from the current round of the Geneva talks: "We are here to focus on forming the governing body for the transitional phase. U.S. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura is continuing his relentless efforts to begin discussing the political transitional phase, which will be based on establishing the 'governing body,' as stated in the Geneva announcement, UN Security Council Resolution 2218, and other resolutions. We have been empowered by opposition forces to discuss realizing these goals and we cannot deviate from them. Negotiations today should pick up where Geneva II left off [in February 2014] under the supervision of [former UN Special Envoy to Syria] Lakhdar Brahimi. We must start by forming this [governing] body and then proceeding to discuss the issues of the constitution, the elections, and other matters that fall under the governing body's authority. Naturally, we have clear views on all these issues, which we will reveal at the appropriate time. I wish to say that we reject the verbal slips replacing the phrase 'transitional governing body' with 'transitional regime' or 'transitional government' and adhere to 'transitional phase governing body' and all it implies - meaning a serious transition of power and all authority."
International And American Support For The Opposition Is Feeble
According to Khoja, "the position of international, and especially American, support for the Syrian opposition is feeble. The sad thing is that the true positions [of the U.S. and international community] regarding Assad is still feeble and vague despite all the evidence marking Bashar Al-Assad as a 'war criminal,' and despite the many official American statements that hold him responsible for ongoing killing and acts of slaughter. The lack of international political desire to push for the start of the transitional political phase in Syria has provided Assad and the parties supporting him, whether Iranians or Russians, with room to maneuver, enabling him [Assad] to continue heading the regime and to remain a chaos-creating factor in the region, [a factor] which exacerbates the refugee crisis and uses it as a card for pressuring neighboring countries and Europe, and which exports ISIS and terrorism..."
U.S. Apathy Is A Main Factor In Russia Becoming The Main Player In The Crisis
Khoja said further: "There is clearly American apathy regarding the Middle East, which opens the door for Russia to fill the vacuum left by the Americans... When we speak of the mass extermination of the Syrian people, their expulsion, the use of chemical weapons against them, the documentation of regime crimes in detention centers, forced disappearances, preplanned acts of murder, and red lines that have become green lights - all this causes observers to lose faith in the American position... Had the Americans not created this vacuum, we would not have been in the state we are in today, and Russia would not have become the main player in the crisis, holding the reins of initiative... Politically speaking, I believe the American position has not changed much since the onset of the Syrian revolution... [From the start] there was no real American support for change... The military aid we received [from the U.S.] is no match for the [American] military aid received by the Kurdish [Democratic] Union Party and the Kurdish People's Defense Unit militias [YPG]. We believe that this aid for the Kurds was meant to create a new Kurdish 'canton' and to enforce a new reality as a foregone conclusion. American apathy has turned Syria into a series of 'cantons'. The 'Southern Canton,' which is apart from the 'Northern Canton,' the 'Kurdish Canton,' and the 'Alawi Canton.' We cannot discount the possibility that as part of the political process, we will see a strengthening of [the phenomenon] of these cantons, but we will absolutely not agree to this..."
Syria Cannot Remain A Group Of Cantons In The Medium And Long Term
Khoja said that during the second round of negotiations there was talk of a federal solution that was "marketed by the Americans, the Russians, and UN Special Envoy de Mistura, who spoke openly and explicitly in one press conference on the topic of federation. Except that he did not discuss this issue with us, but rather only with other parties. The Russians did not hide their support for the federal solution and in my opinion, there is a serious attempt to create facts on the ground in Syria in order to strengthen the 'canton' situation.
"Any international solution, regardless of which parties promote it, cannot impose a situation that the Syrian people do not agree to. It is possible that the current situation will continue in the near future, but not in the medium and long term. The proof of this is that in the 1920s, the French tried to establish four statelets in Syria, but they only lasted a few years."
Endnotes:
In an article in the Bahraini daily Al-Watan, columnist Farid Ahmad Hassan condemned stabbing attacks perpetrated by Arabs and Muslims against civilians - such as the Palestinian stabbings of unarmed Israelis and similar stabbings carried out in the West. He wrote that such attacks do not bring victory but only spark hatred against Arabs and Muslims.
The following are excerpts from his article:[1]
Farid Ahmad Hassan (image: watanepaper.com)
"In only two days the world heard about three cases of stabbing. The first was in Thailand, where a young man from the Gulf was stabbed to death in a nightclub, in a fight with two Thai citizens. The second was in Germany, where a young man stabbed several people in a train station, killing one and wounding three. The third was in the occupied territories [in Israel], where two Palestinian youths stabbed two Israeli women, who according to reports were elderly, in their backs.
"The first incident can be classified as [an example of] 'hot-headed youth.' This can be expected in places like that, because when people are under the influence of alcohol, fights break out very easily over a girl, a word or a joke, and sometimes for no reason at all. The circumstances of the second incident are still unclear, but according to the media, eye-witnesses claim to have heard the attacker, a 27-year-old German, cry out 'Allah Akbar' as he carried out the stabbing. In other words, it may have been a premeditated terror attack. The third incident [stemmed from] despair, because what young Palestinian men and women have been doing in Palestine in the recent period can only result from their despair of anything changing and their sense that there is no future and no [chance for a better] life worth suffering for.
"From a moral point of view, the use of cold weapons is seen as cowardly because the person attacked has no way to defend himself. Even if [the victim] is not attacked from the back, and no matter what the justifications [for the act], it is a despicable act that should be opposed. In the case of the first incident [in Thailand], it is easy to say that it was the result of a fight between two people or more, who were drunk, and that the outcome would have been identical had they used any other means they had found on the scene, even a drinking glass. The second incident can easily be defined as terror. If the man who stabbed those people at the train station did it for political reasons, he clearly harmed the group to which he belongs and the cause he champions. This, because the victims... were not the people who should have been targeted, but people who are uninvolved [in the matter]. In fact, it is even possible that some of them shared the attacker's perceptions and principles.
"As for the third incident, even if the motivation was theoretically justified, some people do not accept it from a practical point of view... Some people contend that, in the second and third cases, the victims were people whose killing only increases the hatred for and the persecution of Arabs and Muslims. Nobody should be proud of [these attacks], for they are crimes...
"Hence, some people believe that this method [i.e., stabbing civilians] will not lead to victory, and that those who carry out various attacks of this sort only supply the enemies of the Arabs and of Islam with an excuse to intensify their hatred of all Arabs and Muslims. [Moreover,] they expose the Arabs and Muslims, especially those living in occupied Palestine and in the West, to various dangers, [especially the danger of] being attacked at any time and for no reason.
"The hatred for the Arabs and Muslims intensified when people who do not understand the consequences of their actions began attacking people who have no direct involvement in the events."
Endnotes:
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PM comments on chances of meeting between Georgian-Russian foreign ministers
By Messenger Staff
Georgias Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has stated that a meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister should be based on decisions focused on Georgias territorial integrity and sovereignty.The PM said that Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidzes statement was not unreasonable when Janelidze did not exclude the possibility of a meeting with the Russian official.According to the PM, if the above-mentioned decisions are prepared, the Georgian government will be ready to meet with the Russian side. Mikheil Janelidzes statement expressed this point of view. There was no reason to be surprised by it, Kvirikashvili said.Kvirikashvili stressed that Georgia needs to normalize relations with Russia but not by making compromises in terms of territorial integrity issues.Unfortunately, our relations are in a deadlock, and though we should come out of it, it must not be at the expense of compromise in territorial integrity issues, he added.If the Georgian and Russian officials eventually meet, the key issue must be Georgias de-occupation as Russia currently occupies 20% of Georgia's land.Russia also recognizes the occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali as independent republics and provides financial support for them.At the same time, Russia is categorically against Georgias NATO integration, and Russia actively uses the de-facto regions as levers against Georgias Euro-Atlantic integration.It will be hard for NATO to fully accept Georgia with its ongoing territorial conflicts and difficulties with such a powerful country as Russia.However it is also a fact that Georgia needs development and advancement and such advancement will be unimaginable under renewed Russian rule.Such issues reveal that Georgia is significant part of world policy and many of the key issues related to Georgia can only be settled in a wider context.
Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias will attend the Meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs that is taking place in Brussels on 19 and 20 May. The Ministerial is in preparation for the Warsaw Summit Meeting, which is scheduled for 8 and 9 June.
The Meeting will open with the signing of Montenegros accession protocol to the North Atlantic Alliance.
The agenda for the Foreign Ministers meeting includes an assessment of NATO activities in the Aegean and the future of these activities.
Mr. Kotzias will participate in a working dinner, during which there will be a consideration of the Alliances relations with the countries of Eastern Europe and with Russia.
On Friday, 20 May, the NATO Foreign Minister will discuss cooperation between the European Union and NATO. The Vice-President of the European Commission and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, will participate in the discussion.
It is an honor for me to address the 126th Session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.
Greece remains inspired by the ideals and principles of the Council of Europe, especially in view of the multifaceted challenges humanity is experiencing. We remain fully committed to our common vision to ensure peace, prosperity and human rights for all.
This is exactly why we believe that it is now, more than ever before, a challenge for all of us, for the Council of Europe, to contribute effectively, as a significant and responsible international actor, to the global efforts to address and overcome the uncertainties that our peoples are currently experiencing.
In this spirit, we would like to express our profound appreciation to Secretary General Jagland for his leadership and assure him of Greeces continued support, particularly regarding his efforts to further enhance the Council of Europes efficiency in the exercise of preventive diplomacy, as well as its agility in responding to the emerging complex threats to peace and social progress, of unprecedented intensity that are testing the resilience of the international system.
Greece welcomes, in particular, the important contribution, which the Secretary General is making with his third Report on the state of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. What I see in this Report is the intent to open and maintain a dialogue with governments of the member-states of the Council of Europe, on issues that are crucial to us and on the basis of the values that we share. You will allow me to characterize it as a brave initiative.
It not only adds value to the already existing monitoring procedures, and the various reports that they produce, in all the fields of interest of the Council of Europe, but it also strengthens the intrinsic logic of the reporting system, and that is to our benefit, dear colleagues, the common benefit of member-states.
We share your concerns, Secretary General, that in these troubled times, and as you mention in your Report, the politics of solidarity, generosity and tolerance appear to be giving way to chauvinism, division and fear.
Allow me now to move on to the issue of the migration and refugee crisis currently affecting Europe.
Mr. Secretary-General,
The ongoing refugee/migration crisis surpasses the capacities of individual countries and needs to be dealt with collectively and in a coordinated way. Migration remains the major issue that has put to a test our unity and ability to respond to an international problem in a way that is compatible to our fundamental principles and values and does not challenge relevant provisions of international law.
The continuing involvement of the Council of Europe, and of you personally, in this crisis, provides us with further safeguards regarding the respect of the fundamental human rights of all migrants and refugees, as guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights and in line with our shared commitment to human dignity. It also raises awareness that this constitutes a major issue of European, even global proportions.
Greece is facing particularly strong migratory pressure, due to its geographical position. Let me assure you that Greece fully respects its commitments as a member of the Council of Europe, especially in what concerns the particular needs of vulnerable groups, which are being duly taken into account at all times. In this regard, particular attention has been placed on unaccompanied minors and families.
As you know, a few weeks ago we welcomed in Greece your Special Representative on Refugees and Migration, Ambassador Tomas Bocek. He had the opportunity to see at first hand the huge effort made by the Greek authorities, in cooperation with specialized international organizations and civil society and ordinary citizens, in order to safeguard the fundamental rights of refugees and migrants in our country. It has been a fruitful and meaningful visit, at a critical juncture, and we consider it as a first step towards enhancing our bilateral cooperation on migration and refugees issues.
In particular, we look forward to productive cooperation with the Council of Europe, both on know-how, and finance and infrastructure issues. We note here the funding from the Council of Europe Development Bank of extensions in a reception center in Lesvos and the hospitality center in Eleonas and look forward to further strengthening synergies.
Our common goal remains to respond to the refugee and migration crisis, with respect to our obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. Greece, despite the difficult budgetary situation, considers any discounts on human rights as completely unimaginable.
We should not overlook however, the broader picture. The only realistic way to mitigate the influx of refugees and its tragic consequences is to put an end, as a matter of urgency, to the conflict in Syria. Greece supports all efforts aiming at stopping the bloodshed by promoting a viable political solution to the conflict.
Mr. Secretary General,
The recent deadly terrorists attacks in Europe and elsewhere underline the fact that the Council of Europe needs to focus further on tackling the violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism.
The Council of Europes relevant Action Plan adopted in May 2015 offers the necessary tools to tackle the root causes of Violent Extremism and Radicalization. However, it is important to underline the importance of co-operation with our strategic partners on these matters.
Youth must definitely be among the main beneficiaries of our policies against violent extremism. Additionally, campaigns should be promoted and supported aiming to counter intolerance and discrimination, and raise awareness among young people. In this context, we consider it to be equally important that the Organization work on fighting Violent Extremism and Radicalization by providing alternatives to young people.
The Council of Europes focus on the media is indispensable in encouraging pluralistic debate, with a view to fostering tolerance of ethnic, religious, linguistic and cultural diversity and countering violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism.
Moreover, countering violent extremism and radicalization could and should also be included in the Organizations neighborhood cooperation dialogue and promoted in the context of the neighborhood partnerships with various countries.
Greece supports interfaith dialogue as a tool for preventing social tensions and crisis, in order to ensure the peaceful coexistence of people with different cultural and religious background through the promotion of mutual understanding, tolerance and respect for human rights.
In this spirit, the Greek authorities cooperate with leaders of the Muslim communities in the country for the prevention of radicalization. Moreover, Greece organized and hosted in Athens, last October an International Conference on Religious and Cultural Pluralism and Peaceful Coexistence in the Middle East.
Mr. Secretary General,
Democracy, human rights and the rule of law constitute the foundation upon which humanity attempts to build a peaceful and auspicious future for all people, in every corner of the earth. All individuals are entitled to the protection of their human rights and fundamental freedoms. Human Rights are not just privileges, they allow us to exist, create and prosper.
We support Council of Europes initiatives and cooperation activities in sensitive conflict areas that contribute to the prevalence of peace, stability and democracy; activities that contribute towards the prevailing of peace, stability and democracy. The values and principles of the Council of Europe should guide our efforts in troubled areas to find solutions to current political, social and security challenges faced.
We believe that the Organization has an important role in preserving stability, through the promotion of unity on the basis of respect for democracy and human rights, as well as by supporting constitutional and judicial reform in those countries.
Mr. Secretary General,
Before closing my remarks, please allow me to commend Bulgaria on its fruitful and constructive Chairmanship, as well as on hosting so successfully this Session of the Committee of Ministers. I also avail myself of this opportunity to congratulate Estonia on its incoming Chairmanship and reiterate our full support to its priorities.
Thank you for your attention.
A power line crew found the small pine box with a rusted lock in grass along the road about four weeks ago. News of the find was published last week.
At least four people have inquired about the box, including a Tennessee man who said his father's remains and a flag were stolen from his truck a few months ago, Florala Police Chief Sonny Bedsole said in a phone interview Tuesday.
Bedsole said he emailed photos of the box and flag folded military-style to those who inquired and is waiting to hear back. The flag is displayed in a framed case, much like a shadow box.
"We took it out of the case to see if there was a name or business card or anything to go by, and of course there was nothing in it," the chief said.
Florala, a town of about 2,000 people, is just north of the Alabama-Florida line.
The remains were found not far from U.S. 331, a popular route for motorists heading to and from the Florida Panhandle, Bedsole said. That means whoever left the items might be from out of state.
"We get a lot of traffic headed to the beach that comes through here," Bedsole said.
One theory is that the remains belong to a military veteran, since the flag was found nearby and it was folded in the customary way for servicemen and women.
"Somebody somewhere knows this box that contains these ashes, what it looks like," Bedsole said.
BAD AXE Six months back, county commissioners gave $40,000 to Huron Behavioral Health to help stunt drug abuse and suicide, both of which officials said were on the rise.
HBH says it no longer needs that chunk of cash and on Tuesday offered to return it to the county.
The agency got a boost from its Prepaid Inpatient Health Plan, Mid-State Health Network. The PIHP gives HBH monies from Medicaid and the Healthy Michigan Plan, Suzanne Prich, HBHs CEO, told county commissioners.
Theyve given us some additional funding to assure 24/7 access for people with substance abuse disorders, Prich said. The PIHP is covering all of the substance abuse disorder activities that weve done up to this point and all of the suicide prevention activities as well.
Prich offered to return the $40,000, then looked around the table at blank faces in silence.
Youre really quiet. I was expecting a different kind of response, Prich said to commissioners, laughing.
No one ever had this happen before; we dont know how to react, Commissioner Ron Wruble said.
Im thinking of ways to spend it right now, Commissioner Sami Khoury said.
Prich said she could always find ways to apply the money, but she feels dishonest allocating it elsewhere without discussing ideas with commissioners.
In October, HBH asked county commissioners for the $40,000.
Commissioners approved the spending in November, with strings attached: HBH was strongly encouraged to use the additional money (the agency gets $193,250 each year from county coffers) to leverage more through grants and work with other groups and organizations; the money was to be used for suicide and drug use prevention and treatment, and HBH was to set up a fund separate of its general fund; and commissioners required the agency to give a brief status report in May 2016 and full report in November 2016.
The direction from the commissioners back in the fall was that we use the $40,000 to leverage additional funds, Prich said. So I think weve accomplished that goal.
Commissioner John Nugent said HBH is highly commendable because most departments would have spent the extra or leftover money.
Tracey Dore, clinical director at HBH, says the agency has all the funding it needs for education, outreach and prevention services.
Dore says HBH is close to being able to get Narcan kits into the hands of every first responder. The kits contain naloxone hydrocholoride to reverse opioid overdoses. EMS staff are required to have the kits, but sheriffs deputies do not have them in their cars, Dore said.
Commissioner Clark Elftman says drug use is skyrocketing, and that there were three drug overdoses on Monday before noon in Huron County.
If thats not screaming for help, I dont know what is, Elftman said.
An exploration of music you may not have heard before, including live sessions and documentaries on under-appreciated musicians, genres and movements!
Hosted by: Kevin O'Meara
This program is not currently airing on CKCU.
Expect a theme focusing on particular years, movements and bands that have gone under-appreciated. The music is primarily from my record collection, local releases, or from forgotten pits of the internet, with genres spanning from indie, progressive rock, folk, garage punk, art-pop, electronica, jazz, soul, metal, alt-country and lo-fi.
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.
The U.S. Navy funded research on the development of a fast-swimming "robot lifeguard" that saved Syrian refugees from drowning but has no immediate plans to acquire the EMILY system for the military.
"That's my mission in life, to win them over," Tony Mulligan, the inventor of the system and CEO and president of Arizona-based Hydronalix Inc., said Tuesday of his hopes to see EMILYs aboard U.S. Navy ships. "Other navies and coast guards around the world are using it."
The four-foot, 25-pound EMILYs, for Emergency Integrated Lifesaving Lanyard, were on display at the Navy booth this week at the Navy League's Sea Air Space exposition at National Harbor, and several of them were also zipping about in the Potomac outside the exhibition halls.
Fernando Boiteux, an assistant chief and 30-year veteran of the Los Angeles Fire Department, described EMILY as a "self-propelled life jacket" as he guided two of the maritime robots across a river inlet Monday with a hand-held remote.
Related Video:
Sea-Air-Space: USV E.M.I.L.Y
Boiteux said his department began experimenting with EMILYs in 2012 and now has four of them that they use off the beach for rescues. He said they were especially useful when rip tides take a group of swimmers away from shore, since the robots can get to them much quicker than a human swimmer.
Boiteux had no estimate for how many people may have been saved by EMILYs operating off the Los Angeles-area beaches, but guessed that it was "quite a few." The same systems used by a Texas A&M research team in coordination with the Greek coast guard also recently helped save an estimated 300 refugees who were in the water off the Greek island of Lesbos.
The Navy's Office of Naval Research, and the Navy's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs began working with Mulligan in 2001 on the concept for a self-propelled flotation device and funded research on its development.
Mulligan said the finished product was 98% made in the U.S., including the composite hull made on the Tohono O'odham Indian reservation in Arizona. He said the EMILY goes for about $10,000 in the U.S. but the costs can balloon for overseas sales because of taxes.
The bright orange and yellow cylindrical devices are powered by an electric motor that shoots out a water jet stream for propulsion, operating much like a mini-jet ski. EMILYs are made of Kevlar and aircraft-grade composites and "can be thrown off a helicopter or bridge and then driven by remote control to whoever needs to be rescued," Mulligan said in a phone interview.
The latest versions of the devices are equipped with two-way communication radios, a video camera with live feed to smart phones and lighting for night rescues. The motors have also been upgraded to push through strong currents.
About eight people can grab on to EMILY at a time, and they can be reeled back to shore or a rescue boat by a 200-foot line that EMILY can carry to the rescue area.
Hydronalix has sold EMILYs to navies, coast guards and search-and-rescue units in South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Britain, France, Mongolia, Brazil, Mexico, Greece and the Hong Kong harbor police.
-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
COLUMBUS A 19-year-old Columbus man accused of sexually assaulting two teenage girls in separate incidents last fall pleaded no contest to reduced assault and child abuse charges in Platte County District Court.
Francisco Valenzuela-Ochoa entered his pleas to attempted child abuse and third-degree sexual assault in connection with incidents involving two girls, ages 15 and 16, during a two-week period in October.
District Judge Robert Steinke scheduled sentencing for June 17. Valenzuela-Ochoa has been in custody at the county jail for 180 days since his Nov. 20 arrest.
Attempted child abuse is a Class IV felony, punishable by up to two years in prison, 12 months of post-release supervision and a $10,000 fine. Third-degree sexual assault is a Class I misdemeanor carrying a maximum of one year in prison and a $1,000 fine.
In exchange for Valenzuela-Ochoas pleas, the Platte County Attorneys Office dismissed five counts of first-degree sexual assault. Those charges each carried maximum penalties of up to 50 years behind bars.
Valenzuela-Ochoa had been scheduled for separate jury trials July 11 and Aug. 1 on the more serious assault charges.
Court documents in the case detail a Platte County Sheriffs Office investigation that got underway after a grandparent guardian of the 15-year-old victim reported reading a text message conversation between the teen and a friend.
The text messages described multiple acts of sexual assault committed on five occasions during a two-week period in mid-October at the defendants residence in a mobile home park located on the east side of Columbus.
U.S. commanders talked the Iraqi government out of pulling troops from the field to defend Baghdad against suicide attacks coming from ISIS-held Fallujah and other militant strong points in Anbar province, a U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday.
"As of today, we have not seen the Iraqi government redeploying troops to Baghdad," Army Col. Steve Warren said. "There was some discussion of it but they changed their minds," he said in a possible reflection of growing friction between the U.S. and Iraqi military and political officials on the U.S. plan to focus resources on retaking northwestern Mosul.
Army Gen. Joseph Votel, head of U.S. Central Command, also said the Baghdad attacks posed a threat to the overall U.S. strategy.
"If this is not addressed quickly, it could cause [the Baghdad government] to have to take action to divert forces and divert their political focus on that, as opposed to things like Mosul or finishing up their activities out in Anbar," Votel told CNN.
Currently, about half of the Iraqi security forces are committed to the defense and policing of Baghdad, Warren said, but Iraqi officials told U.S. advisers in a recent meeting that they needed more troops in the capital to stop ISIS truck and car bomb attacks that have centered on Shia neighborhoods.
A pullback to Baghdad would go against the U.S. plan to "accelerate" offensives in the Tigris and Euphrates River valleys with the ultimate goal of retaking Mosul, the main ISIS stronghold in Iraq.
In the meeting with the Iraqi officials, "we recommended to them that the forces they had earmarked to fighting ISIL in the field remain in the field," Warren said, using another acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
"That was the recommendation we made to them. They took it," he, a spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, said in a video briefing from Baghdad to the Pentagon.
Warren said the Iraqis had argued for repositioning forces but "we said, 'Hey, we think you ought to keep the forces out in the field.' That's what they ended up doing." Although the Iraqis appeared to be having second thoughts about the strategy, "we are undeterred," Warren said.
The already struggling Baghdad government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has been challenged again by the wave of suicide attacks claimed by ISIS in the past week that have killed at least 200 in Baghdad, according to the Associated Press.
A suicide bombing on Tuesday in a marketplace in the northern, mainly Shia district of al-Shaab killed 38 people and wounded over 70, while a car bomb in the nearby Sadr City neighborhood left at least 19 more dead and 17 wounded, Reuters reported.
On April 30, followers of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stormed Parliament in Baghdad's "Green Zone" to protest the lack of security in Baghdad and the failure of the Abadi government to root out corruption.
Despite the turmoil, Warren said there were no immediate plans to boost security for the U.S. Embassy located in the Green Zone. "As of now, we don't believe we need any additional security," he said.
Mainly-Sunni Fallujah, which has not been a priority for the U.S. or the Shia-dominated Baghdad government backed by Iran, was believed to serve as the main base for suicide bombers 40 miles from Baghdad, Warren said.
"Certainly, finishing the clearance of Anbar will contribute to the security of Baghdad, there's no question about it," he said. "Fallujah remains in ISIL control and, therefore, remains a safe haven for this enemy where they can construct their bombs and plan their operations in relatively close proximity to Baghdad."
However, he added, "Our advice to the Iraqi government is to keep the pressure up" on ISIS in the field rather than falling back on Baghdad. "The way to win is to expel ISIL completely from Iraq, to wipe them out."
To bolster the Iraqi forces, Warren said the U.S. recently delivered equipment including 800 sets of body armor, soldiers' kits to outfit a brigade, 154 trucks, two bulldozers and 100 AT-4 shoulder-fired rocket launchers. The AT-4s have proven to be an effective weapon for the Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters against suicide truck and car bombers, often used by ISIS to spearhead ground attacks.
The effort to expel ISIS was competing against a growing humanitarian crisis in Iraq, including reports of starvation in Fallujah, that the Abadi government has been hard pressed to meet with an economy in freefall because of slumping oil prices.
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported Wednesday that "more than 3 million Iraqis have been displaced across the country since the start of 2014 and nearly 220,000 are refugees in other countries.
"Mass executions, systematic rape and horrendous acts of violence are widespread, and human rights and rule of law are under constant attack. By the end of 2016, it is estimated that over 11 million Iraqis may be in need of humanitarian assistance," UNHCR said. "Communities, authorities and infrastructure are at breaking point."
Warren and other U.S. officials, including special envoy to the coalition against ISIS Brett McGurk, have characterized the suicide attack onslaught against Baghdad as a desperation move by a terrorist group battered by U.S. airstrikes and gradually losing territory and sources of funding.
The U.S. now estimated that ISIS had lost 45 percent of the territory it once controlled in Iraq and about 20 percent in Syria, where Russian troops remained a potent force in support of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's pledges of a withdrawal, Warren said.
"Their capabilities are largely the same" since the Russians entered Syria in force last September, Warren said, and their statements about pulling out were a "false claim."
The Russian forces in Syria now included elite Spetznaz troops from the Russian GRU military intelligence service, and the Russians have also set up what appeared to be a permanent base outside the historic Syrian city of Palmyra in eastern Syria, Warren said.
"They have established an operating base outside of Palmyra. They're building it up," he said.
-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
When Terri Barnes married into the Air Force 31 years ago, she was joining the "family business."
An Air Force brat, Barnes and her husband, a chaplain, recently retired from the service to a home in Summerville, South Carolina. But during her lifetime, she lived at 16 military duty stations, including four overseas assignments and Alaska, and dealt with five deployments with her husband as well as two with her father.
All of that means that when it comes to military life, Barnes has been around the block. But what about military transition? Transitioning from life as a military kid directly into life as a military bride means that you have been a part of the military for your entire life -- until, that is, you retire.
Barnes' husband retired in 2015 after 30 years in the military, and Barnes transitioned from a military life writer and columnist to a special projects editor for Elva Resa Publishing, which specializes in books for military families. They also have three adult children spread throughout the U.S.
So how is transitioning to civilian life after a lifetime in the military? Here's what Barnes told us:
Military.com: Think back to before you got out. What did you think transition would be like?
Barnes: Having never actually lived a civilian life, I tried not to have too many preconceived ideas. I expected to feel some sadness and loss. At the same time, we were moving into our first home (as owners) and looking forward to life in our little town, where we have other military friends nearby.
So far, we have loved it and the transition has been smooth. However, I don't think we will ever truly be civilians. Military life has shaped us and the way we think. We are still a military family in a new season and new chapter.
Q: How did what actually happened compare to what you imagined?
A: Our transition has been very smooth. It felt much like a PCS. We moved to a military town, although we are not connected to the base. That felt strange at first, to go to the commissary and know that we didn't "belong" in the sense that we weren't attached to the base.
Q: What do you wish you could go back and tell yourself about military transition?
A: Save more money! However, I could tell myself that all day and not be able to change the circumstances. Our retirement happened at a time of transition for our entire family. Two graduations in two different states, our son's wedding in another state, and two separate moves to two new states -- ours to South Carolina and our daughter's to California for her first post-college job. Also, our youngest was starting college.
All of these things involved travel for the whole family to be together for these important events. Being together was wonderful, and was worth the expense. If I could have changed the timing, it would have been nice to plan to retire in a year that wasn't so transitional in so many other ways. On the other hand, all those times that we had all our family together made the year very special and bonded us together during the transition.
Q: What was your smartest military transition decision?
A: To retire in a military town where we have military friends. These factors definitely smoothed the transition for us and made integration into a new place much easier.
Q: What about transition worked better than you thought it would?
A: Leaving the way of life I had always known was not as painful as I thought. I think having military friends and being in a military town were instrumental.
Q: What has been the best thing to come out of getting out of the military?
A: Stability -- we were ready to put down roots for our whole family, after a lifetime of moves. Our children are adults now, and we wanted them to (finally) have a home base. So, the best thing for us right now is the stability.
Q: What transition resource did you love?
A: [My husband] got a lot of good information from the Air Force Transition Assistance Program. I mostly talked to friends who had just retired or were preparing to retire, and we exchanged information. Military spouse friends have always been my best resource.
Q: What transition tool do you wish you had?
A: Something to predict the unknown expenses. I know that's impossible, but we tried to estimate what life would cost after retirement, and it's difficult.
You can plan out a budget, but there are always unexpected costs, and expenses that are more than expected. You have to think about replacing insurance (health, dental and life), covering your living expenses, home owners expenses, which is also new to us. So expect more expenses than you think you will have, because you will probably have them.
Q: How did the transition out of the military affect your own job or career choices?
A: My job, as the military family columnist for Stars and Stripes, was so closely tied to my own life as the spouse of an active duty member that I felt it would be difficult to continue it in retirement. As a reporter, I could have continued. I loved my job, but it would have required me to spend a lot of time looking back at a chapter of my life that was finished, rather than looking forward to the chapter that was beginning. I was ready to look forward.
Q: Did you plan for your own career transition?
A: As my husband's retirement neared, I had been seeking the next step for me as well. I wanted to use my experience in writing and editing, my years in military life, and all I had learned as a columnist for eight years. Elva Resa Publishing, which specializes in books for military families, published a collection of my Spouse Calls columns in 2014.
The company also offered me an opportunity to edit an anthology of military family writers, Stories Around the Table. It turned out to be an excellent career segue, and a new way to serve military families. I'm still working for Elva Resa as the special projects editor, as well as doing freelance editing and writing. It turned out that my previous work had prepared me for and connected me with the opportunities for the next one. This new chapter has stretched me and challenged my abilities. I'm learning new skills and putting my old ones to use in different ways. It has made the end of active duty life feel like a new beginning.
Q: Tell us about your new civilian community. What advice do you have for spouses trying to find non-military community friends?
A: Having military friends still in our lives is so important to us. We need people who know our history, friends to whom we don't have to explain the way we have lived and our choices. They get us. We get them, and we have been the best support network for each other during this transition. We have friends here who are already retired, and friends who are preparing to retire and stay here in the area. So we are all looking out for each other and sharing advice, support and information.
At the same time, each of us is integrating into the community in different ways -- through work, volunteering. Our neighbors have been very friendly, and we've gone out of our way to connect in our neighborhood, having gatherings at our house, taking cookies and the rest. In other words, we do what we've done with every move, and the response has been positive. We've joined a local church, and are getting involved there. We are not limiting ourselves to just our military circle of friends, but they are our core network.
Q: How do you wish you had prepared yourself better?
A: Overall, I think we did pretty well, although we chose differently than many retirees. Most people find a job, and then decide where to live. We chose the place we wanted to live and then looked for work. After following the job for 30 years, we were ready to choose for ourselves where we wanted to be. That has been an excellent choice for us, though the tradeoff has been a few financial challenges.
-- Do you have a military transition story to share? Email amy.bushatz@monster.com to be considered for this series.
2016 GMC Acadia SLT
2016 GMC Acadia SLT 3/4 Front in red
DETROIT - A Florida man has filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court in Detroit against General Motors over the automaker's error on EPA-estimated fuel economy labels for about 60,000 model-year-2016 SUVs.
The Detroit automaker sent a memo to dealers last week disclosing mistakes on window stickers that listed fuel economy at one to two miles per gallon too high on 2016 Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave SUVs.
The memo told dealers to immediately stop selling the SUVs.
In the lawsuit filed Tuesday, Ocoee, Fla. resident Sean Tolmasoff says he bought a 2016 Chevrolet Traverse on April 23 from David Maus Chevrolet in Sanford, Fla.
He is claiming he and others who bought affected SUVs suffered losses in vehicle value because of the discrepancy.
"Had Plaintiff and other Class members known the true fuel-economy ratings of the Class Vehicles at the time of purchase or lease, they would not have bought or leased the Class Vehicles, or would have paid substantially less for them," the lawsuit states.
Tolmasoff's lawsuit also claims GM violated the Michigan Consumer Protection Act as well as the Florida Deceptive And Unfair Trade Practices Act because the labels were misleading. He's demanding a jury trial.
A message seeking comment from his attorneys was left Wednesday afternoon.
GM has insisted the mislabeling was an accident.
The label, also known as a Monroney sticker, inaccurately showed fuel economy ratings of 17 miles per gallon-city, 24-highway and 19 combined. The fuel economy for all-wheel-drive models should be 15-city, 22-highway and 17 combined. For front-wheel-drive models: 15-city, 22-highway and 18 combined.
GM said it checked all other vehicle for similar discrepancies but found no issues. The company has printed correct stickers, which are supposed to start arriving at dealerships this week.
The automaker said the overstated fuel economy was due to an inadvertent "data transmission" for the issue, Automotive News reported.
The company declined to comment on Tolmasoff's lawsuit.
But on the sticker issue, a spokesman said GM has been "very clear and transparent that we made a mistake on the fuel economy label for the 2016 vehicles."
"We informed the EPA right away and we've been in conversation with them about the corrective action we're taking," said GM spokesman Jim Cain.
David Muller is the automotive and business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com, follow him on Twitter or find him on Facebook.
Detention Center
The inmate count at the Platte County Detention Facility on Monday was 72, with 52 from Platte County and 20 from out of county.
Police
May 16
8:34 a.m. - Theft from a vehicle at 2009 15th St., no loss amount.
2:52 p.m. - Theft at Sock Pond, 1062 48th Ave., poles stolen, no loss amount.
Sheriff
May 13
11:47 p.m. Traffic violation at the intersection of Highway 30 and East 32nd Avenue, Clyde Bronson III cited for speeding.
11:49 p.m. Traffic violation on Highway 22 three miles west of Monroe, Jose Rivera-Santos cited for speeding.
May 14
4:42 p.m. Traffic violation at the intersection of U.S. Highway 81 and 325th Street, Tammy Zwingman of Columbus cited for speeding.
May 15
1:20 a.m. Traffic violation at the intersection of East 29th Avenue and Highway 30, Joshua Bruton of Columbus cited for speeding.
10:14 a.m. Criminal mischief at the intersection of 14th Avenue and 23rd Street, reflector spray painted, $50 loss.
11:53 a.m. Traffic violation on Highway 30 eastbound at Silver Creek, Justin Erick of Sioux City, Iowa, cited for speeding.
12:12 p.m. Traffic violation at the intersection of Highway 81 and 370th Street, Kristin Williams of Columbus cited for speeding.
4:42 p.m. Dispute at the Platte County Detention Facility, 1125 E. 17th St., Patrick Wolfe and Garrett Spence each cited for second-degree assault on a confined person.
11:17 p.m. Traffic violation on Highway 81 north of Highway 22, Emmanuel Hernandez-Ramos of Norfolk cited for speeding.
May 16
6:20 p.m. - Wanted person at the county jail, Martin Castorena of Columbus turned self in on a Platte County warrant.
Fire
May 13
7:56 a.m. In the 1300 block of Eight Street, medical.
8:03 a.m. In the 5200 block of Highway 81, medical.
11:10 a.m. In the 2000 block of 37th Avenue, medical.
May 14
6:03 a.m. In the 90 block of Lakeshore Drive, medical.
6:51 a.m. In the 1100 block of 15th Street, medical.
7:58 a.m. In the 3500 block of Linden Drive, medical.
May 15
6:05 p.m. - In the 2800 block of 40th Avenue, medical.
7:19 p.m. - In the 2800 block of 40th Avenue, medical.
May 17
5:33 a.m. - Alarm activated at Pizza Ranch.
Jordan Shimmell has suffered his second professional loss, this one in a devastating manner.
At 2:54 of the first round, Shimmell was caught with a left hook by Russian Murat Gassiev and buckled under his own weight at Big Bear Casino in Minnesota.
He appeared to be knocked out before his head hit the mat.
Ringside doctors were to Shimmell's side shortly after he fell and administered oxygen to him as his father, Dennis, knelt nearby.
The ringside doctor could be heard saying "he's in good shape here guys, no need to panic."
Gassiev, who improves to 23-0, 17 KOs, stood in a neutral corner while Shimmell was being helped.
Within a few minutes Shimmell took his oxygen mask off and was helped to his feet. He then crossed the ring to hug Gassiev and congratulate his corner.
It's the first time Shimmell (20-2) has been knocked out.
"Just disappointed obviously," Shimmell said after the fight. "It's part of the sport. I got caught and I can admit that. I usually can take a pretty good shot but that one connected right on the chin and that was it."
Shimmell controlled the pace throughout the round and reddened the face of the Russian with his near-constant jabs and combinations.
Gassiev threw a few huge power shots that just missed midway through the round and connected on one nice left hook to the body of Shimmell before the punch that ended the fight.
"Everything was going according to plan and I was happy with my performance up until that point," Shimmell said. "I was hoping to get him to later rounds and possibly take him out then.
"He was just probably waiting for an opening to land a big shot. It's what he does in all his fights. I was just trying to keep a fist in his face, keep him at bay and slip some shots but unfortunately I got caught."
Gassiev now will become the mandatory challenger for the winner of Saturday's title unification bout in Moscow between 200-pound champions Denis Lebedev and Victor Emilio Ramirez.
Follow Cory Olsen on Twitter or email him at colsen@mlive.com
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Ann Arbor SPARK CEO Paul Krutko.
(File photo | The Ann Arbor News)
Millions of dollars in planned investments along with job creation and retention were once again touted during Ann Arbor SPARK's annual meeting on Monday May 16, 2016 at The Eagle Crest Hotel in Ypsilanti Township.
Now in its 11th year of existence, SPARK released its 2015 annual report in which the company says $130 million in new investments were announced last year, on top of 891 announced jobs and 5,010 jobs retained in the region.
"Our economy has really involved in tandem with the startups that have chooses to call this region home," said SPARK board chair Cynthia Wilbanks. "The keys to that success are the abilities to attract talent and capital."
Wilbanks also acknowledged the commitments of larger companies such as Google and Toyota as signs that the region is continuing to grow and will continue to attract the talent needed to bring more businesses to the area.
Among the key items mentioned in the future is the American Center for Mobility, the connected vehicle research facility planned for the former Willow Run Bomber plant site.
"When we look at the bigger economic picture, the signs of our progress are undeniable," said Paul Krutko, president and chief executive officer of Ann Arbor SPARK. "The creation of jobs and investment are clear indicators of growth, but the truly exciting story lies in our future potential. Collaboration around the American Center for Mobility puts us on the leading edge of automotive technology research and development.
"Regional business leaders have come together to imagine Ann Arbor in 2030 and are committed to making that vision a reality. Startups and established businesses alike have established roots here and are growing in Ann Arbor, and SPARK will continue support their growth."
On top of the announced investments and job growth numbers, SPARK also pointed out a handful of other successes in 2015, including providing assistance to 266 startups and incubation of 77 startup companies
University of Michigan president Mark Schlissel was on hand to deliver a speech during the luncheon. Schlissel spoke about the importance of the partnerships between SPARK, the area businesses and the educational institutions including U-M, Eastern Michigan University and Washtenaw Community College.
"The University of Michigan will strive to achieve new successes in the ways we foster innovation and provide the human capital that will power Michigan's future," Schlissel said.
Schlissel went on to say that he was impressed with how SPARK and the people that work with the company have partnered to create a culture of innovation.
"You all represent the very best in our region of working together for the long-term prosperity of our communities," Schlissel said.
In the report, SPARK revealed it has a budget of $5.28 million in 2015, $1.65 million of which was the operating budget and an additional $2.25 million that was used for the business accelerator.
SPARK also announced the winners of its annual chair awards. Entrepreneurial Services Company of the Year was awarded to Sakti3, the Volunteer Leader of the Year was awarded toTim Marshall, president and CEO of Bank of Ann Arbor.
The Project of the Year was given to First Martin, Google Ann Arbor, LLamasoft, McKinley and TD Ameritrade for the series of events involving all five companies. When Google announced it was moving to a First Martin property on Traverwood Drive in the city's north side, it opened several thousand square feet of space in McKinley Towne Centre.
In turn, McKinley was able to offer the space to LLamasoft and TD Ameritrade, who quickly snatched up the vacancies in the office complex.
Matt Durr is a business reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Email him at mattdurr@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter.
KENTWOOD, MI - Bosch Emissions Systems US announced 150 workers at its factory in Kentwood will lose their jobs by Sept. 30, 2107.
Most of the jobs will be eliminated in August and September of 2017, according to a WARN notice filed with the city and state on Tuesday, May 18. The layoffs will occur at Bosch's facility at 4700 Broadmoor Ave. SE, one of two Bosch manufacturing operations in Kentwood.
"All full-time salaried exempt and non-exempt associates will receive severance under the company's standard severance policy," according to the notice. "Some associates may be re-assigned or qualify for open positions within other Bosch locations."
"Each individual will receive at least one week advance notice outlining their final working day," the notice said.
"As a city we know that business happens... contracts are won and contracts are lost," said Kentwood Mayor Stephen Kepley in a statement on Wednesday, May 18.
"We are saddened when the market changes and jobs are lost but we are optimistic at the growth we have seen in Kentwood and jobs available for those who are looking for a new opportunity."
"There is no impact to our second site in Kentwood, Robert Bosch Fuel Systems LLC, which specializes in fuel system remanufacturing and employs 140 associates," according to a company spokeswoman.
Bosch became one of Kentwood's largest employers in 1992 after it purchased General Motors Corp.'s Detroit Diesel injection business in a 50-50 deal with Penske Corp. Six years later, Bosch increased its holdings to 85 percent and, in 2002, bought the business outright.
Much of that presence disappeared in 2004, when Bosch closed its diesel injector plant and moved production to Germany, Brazil and South Carolina.
According to the company website, the Kentwood operation is one of nine diesel tech centers Bosch Diesel Systems operates in Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Brazil, Japan, Korea and China.
Jim Harger covers business for Mlive Media Group. Email him at jharger@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook or Google+.
HOLLAND, MI - Grey Poupon, the iconic French-style mustard made by Kraft Heinz Co., will be produced at the firm's Holland food processing plant after a $17 million expansion is completed, the company announced Wednesday, May 18.
The expansion will create 50 new jobs for the 431 W. 16th St. plant, which is Holland's oldest continuously operating employer, dating back to 1897.
"Back in 1897, Henry John Heinz had the vision to expand his operations into Holland, driven by the area's rich agriculture and eager workforce," Kraft Heinz Factory Manager Brian Baculik said in a news release.
"Through generations of hard-working employees, we've seen product lines evolve in Holland from pickles and vinegar to barbeque sauce and now Grey Poupon, yet another iconic brand in the Kraft Heinz portfolio."
The Holland plant currently produces yellow mustard, barbeque sauce and pickles.
With the new investment, the company will increase its yellow mustard production capacity in Holland and consolidate 100 percent of the company's Grey Poupon brand mustard production.
"The community embraced the opportunity. Nearly 120 years later, the Heinz facility remains Holland's oldest employer," Baculik said.
The $17 million investment will add production lines and upgrade the onsite wastewater treatment facility at the Holland plant, located on the southern shore of Lake Macatawa.
The expansion was announced Wednesday after the Michigan Strategic Fund approved a $500,000 Michigan Business Development Program performance-based grant for the project. The Holland facility was competing with a plant in Illinois for the expansion project, according to state officials.
The announcement follows the 2015 merger of Heinz and Kraft Foods Group, creating the world's fifth-largest food and beverage firm. Grey Poupon had been part of the Kraft brand.
"Kraft Heinz Food Company's decision to expand here is a testament to our community's strong food processing employee skillset, along with many other factors that add up to a solid location for world-class businesses," Lakeshore Advantage President Jennifer Owens said in a statement.
"Our ongoing relationship with Heinz enabled us to really understand their needs and mobilize the resources needed for this anchor company to expand."
The city of Holland also has offered support to the project in the form of property tax abatement.
"With hard work, flexibility, and loyalty, the Holland workforce catches the attention of the nation, and the company is able to expand within their current location in the city," Holland Mayor Nancy DeBoer said in a statement. "We have much to celebrate!"
The Kraft Heinz plant, which employs more than 300 full-time workers and about 100 seasonal workers, came to Holland in 1897 after a group of West Michigan cucumber growers passed the hat and raised about $800 for 2 acres, rail access and a dock on Lake Macatawa.
Although the Holland plant is known for its pickle production, it also produces other sauces. In 2011, Heinz announced plans to invest more than $2.95 million into expanding production of specialty sauces, vinegar and mustard at the plant.
Jim Harger covers business for Mlive Media Group. Email him at jharger@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook or Google+.
ROCKFORD, MI -- Wolverine Worldwide is celebrating the 70th anniversary of its Sebago shoe with a pop-up store in New York City.
The iconic boat shoe, launched in Maine in 1946, is named after the state's deepest lake. The New England brand, known for hand-sewn quality shoes often worn by preppies, was acquired by Michigan-based Wolverine Worldwide in 2003.
In recent years, the shoe has been favored Duchess of Cambridge, who recently wore Sebagos during a visit to India, reports Footwear News. Prince William and his wife, the former Kate Middleton, made a weeklong visit to India in April.
The Sebago storefront, at 254 Elizabeth St. in the trendy NoLita district in Manhattan, opened earlier this month and will stick around through summer. Located in the Wolverine Co. store, the pop-up shop is filled with limited-edition Sebago products, from pastel-colored boat shoes and signature penny loafers to apparel and bags for men and women.
The shop is a perfect way to showcase how far Sebago has come in the last seven decades, said Dani Zizak, chief marketing officer for Sebago.
"The importance and reverence for craft has been with us from the beginning and continues to inspire us to deliver the finest products for a life well-crafted," Zizak said.
Shandra Martinez covers business and other topics for MLive. Email her or follow her on Twitter @shandramartinez.
ANN ARBOR, MI -- For a while Tuesday night, it was uncertain whether a new apartment building proposed for South Main Street had enough votes to get the Ann Arbor Planning Commission's blessing.
"It's a tossup right now," Commissioner Ken Clein said more than an hour into the discussion on the The Residences at 615 South Main, a 229-unit, six-story project proposed by the Collegiate Development Group in downtown Ann Arbor.
A little while later, after the developer agreed to redesign an eastern drive to eliminate vehicle access and make it a pedestrian amenity, the commission voted 8-0 to forward the project to the City Council for approval.
Wendy Woods was absent.
The 286,079-square-foot building is proposed across Main Street from the new 618 South Main luxury apartment building, a project similar in scope.
The proposed building would take the place of the South Main Market and a neighboring car wash, while incorporating the old Ann Arbor Buggy Company building -- a brick structure at the corner of Main and Mosley.
The apartment mix includes 32 micro studios (350-370 square feet), 48 studios (485-585 square feet), 4 one-bedroom apartments, 9 two-bedroom apartments, 9 two-bedroom townhomes, 50 three-bedroom apartments, 67 four-bedroom apartments, and 10 five bedroom apartments.
Commissioners heard from residents who expressed concerns about the size of the development and the property's potential to flood.
The developer is proposing what's known as a planned project modification of the height requirement, seeking special approval for a 75-foot tall building that would be 15 feet taller than what's permitted in the D2 zoning district.
According to a city planning staff report, the project modifications are consistent with those granted to the 618 South Main project.
Before Tuesday's meeting, the amount of proposed automobile parking spaces was reduced from 188 to 174. The elimination of another 11 spaces along the east drive now brings that down to 163.
There are a total of 229 bicycle parking spaces proposed.
The only vehicles that were proposed to use the east access drive were those parking along the drive. Per the commission's request, that is now proposed as a pedestrian walkway, and the controlled access gates that were proposed for the drive are being eliminated from the plans.
The developer proposes a six-foot-wide colored and stamped concrete surface to delineate a pedestrian path through the nearby gas station property.
Among the 229 apartments, there would be 588 bedrooms. The target population is young professionals, empty nesters and graduate students.
Commissioner Sarah Mills noted she had a lot of traffic questions the last time the project was before the commission, but she didn't Tuesday night because a lot of her questions were answered in a new traffic report.
Mills said she expects many people who would live in the apartments would be associated with the University of Michigan, and it doesn't make sense for them to drive to the university since it's so close.
Commissioner Sabra Briere still had concerns about traffic. She voiced concerns about drivers leaving Mosley Street having to cross heavy traffic during peak hours to turn left onto southbound Main Street.
It was noted Tuesday night that the developer is now proposing to provide two Zipcar parking spaces in a 23-space parking area in the Mosley right-of-way for public use, as well as two Zipcar spaces for exclusive use by tenants.
"Over the past several months, we've been working diligently with staff to help shape this into a project that's going to be great for Ann Arbor," said Brandt Stiles, a representative of Collegiate Development Group.
Stiles said there also will be a public bike share program "pretty much right at our front door."
"We're increasing the sustainable design requirements on the construction, providing a public easement through the east side of the property for the future Allen Creek Greenway if it occurs," he added.
The new development would include 6,200 square feet of ground-floor retail space, so there would be no loss of neighborhood retail, Stiles said.
He said the development team is working with one of the tenants of the existing South Main Market to fill a 1,300-square-foot space that's proposed.
At a recent meeting, he indicated the development team was working with bulk food store By the Pound.
Stiles said the development team is talking to other local retailers about filling the remaining retail spaces.
As another offering of public benefit, the development team has agreed to take responsibility for plowing snow along Mosley Street.
The building is designed to be "solar ready" and energy efficient, with a goal of meeting LEED Silver specifications.
About 28.6 percent of the site is designated as open space, including a private interior courtyard with a pool.
Commissioner Sofia Franciscus said she thinks what's proposed is a great improvement and she thinks a lot of thought has gone into it.
Some other commissioners were more critical of the plans, though they ultimately voted in favor of the project.
Commissioner Bonnie Bona said she was having a hard time agreeing that enough public benefit was offered.
She said the courtyard couldn't be considered an added open space benefit because it was necessary given the site configuration and the fact that apartments need windows. She also questioned whether the developer was doing anything for stormwater management beyond what's required.
Commissioner Sabra Briere said the part about the building that most bothers her is that it feels fortress-like. She's worried people who live in the apartments won't be integrated with the surrounding neighborhood.
She also expressed concerns that the lack of variation in height creates a monolithic look and fee.
There was some discussion among commissioners of once again delaying the vote on the project, but members of the development team said due to contractual obligations they couldn't afford another delay.
That's when the deal was reached regarding the eastern access drive to add another public benefit to the project. Stiles said the development team will make it a very attractive pedestrian thoroughfare with enhanced landscaping and lighting to make it feel safe, warm and comfortable.
Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com.
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The news media tour the holding cell area of the 14A-1 District Court wing of the new Intake, Transfer and Release center at the Washtenaw County Jail in August 2010. Angela J. Cesere | AnnArbor.com
(Angela J. Cesere)
ANN ARBOR, MI - A male nurse will head to court next week after prosecutors allege he sexually assaulted a Washtenaw County Jail inmate.
Percival Roy Kuizon, 33, of Canton is charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a county prisoner. Police accuse him of having sexual contact with a 21-year-old woman inmate from Ypsilanti Township.
Police believe that Kuizon called the inmate to the medical unit and had sexual contact with her on Dec. 17, 2015. Kuizon was an employee for Correct Care Solutions, which is contracted by the jail to provide medical care for inmates, Jackson said.
A fellow inmate alerted the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office to the alleged incident on Jan. 14, according to spokesman Derrick Jackson.
"Although the victim in this case was not the original reporter of the incident, she has been cooperative the entire time," Jackson said.
Kuizon was arraigned on March 2 and given a $5,000 personal bond, according to court records. He waived a preliminary examination in 14A-1 District Court and is scheduled for a pretrial hearing in Washtenaw County Trial Court on May 23.
A person is guilty of second-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a county prisoner if they are an employee or contractual employee with the county and has sexual contact with an individual they know to be under the county's jurisdiction, according to Michigan law. The crime is a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
The Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office declined to answer further questions about the incident.
The Ann Arbor News reached out to Correct Care Solutions for comment and requested Kuizon's booking photo.
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.
COLUMBUS Police continue to search for the driver who crashed a vehicle Tuesday morning and fled on foot, later stealing another vehicle in the city and eventually becoming involved in a pursuit with the Nebraska State Patrol in Grand Island.
Columbus Police Capt. Todd Thalken said the State Patrol terminated the Tuesday afternoon pursuit for safety reasons and later found the 2008 Chevrolet Silverado stolen from Ernst Body Shop in Columbus abandoned in Grand Island.
A short time later, Grand Island authorities received a report of a stolen vehicle, Thalken said.
A 31-year-old woman who was a passenger in the Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS that crashed Tuesday morning into a sign and pole at the intersection of 26th Avenue and 27th Street was taken into custody by police.
The woman, who was not charged with any offenses, helped identify the suspect, Thalken said. The police captain did not release any other information on the suspect.
According to police, Tuesdays series of events began with an 11:36 a.m. report of a driver loudly revving a car in the 2500 block of 47th Avenue.
The neighbors got sick of it and when an officer went to talk to the driver, he zipped off and set in motion events that eventually led to the crash just west of Columbus High School, Thalken said.
Police mounted a manhunt in the area of the crash, but were unable to find the suspect, who was wanted by authorities for probation violations.
COLUMBUS As part of Respect for Law Week proclaimed by Mayor Mike Moser, the Columbus Optimist Club hosted a Respect for Law Luncheon on May 6.
Four officers, one from each branch of law enforcement in the Columbus area, were awarded certificates from Optimist vice president Bob Stachura.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission nominated Randy Pomplum, with Steve Oberg accepting the award for Pomplum. The Nebraska State Patrol nominated Investigator Ron Kosiba. The Platte County Sheriff's Office nominated Deputy Daniel Rubeck. Columbus Police Department nominated Officer Troy Urkoski.
Sen. Ben Sasse said Tuesday he understands that "a lot of Nebraskans are frustrated with me" over his refusal to support presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, but he said most Nebraskans agree with the concerns that drove him to that decision.
"What I experience at grocery stores, gas stations, at church is that a vast majority of people have the same position I hold" on the need for limited government and separation of powers accompanied by concern for the danger of executive overreach, Sasse said.
"The lesser of two evils is not the conversation we need," Nebraska's freshman Republican senator said during a telephone interview from Washington.
Sasse said he cannot vote for either Trump or the likely Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, in November and he will not back away from that position despite continuing pressure to do so.
"I don't trust either of them," Sasse said.
"The oath I have taken is to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution," he said, and neither of the likely party nominees believes in executive restraint or separation of powers.
"I know that people active in party politics want to circle the wagons and get to unity and so they are frustrated with me," Sasse acknowledged.
Last weekend, delegates to the Republican state convention in Omaha approved a resolution aimed at Sasse that opposed any effort by a Republican officeholder or party official to encourage a third-party presidential candidate or alternative choice.
Directly prior to Sasse's address to the convention, Sen. Deb Fischer urged Republicans to rally around Trump, declaring that the people are fed up with "the wise men of Washington telling them who to vote for."
Asked about those convention events, Sasse said: "I don't spend much time focusing on one resolution on one weekend."
Sasse said he has not been actively seeking a third candidate after calling for a presidential alternative -- "I posted two open letters on Facebook" -- and he believes it's probably not possible now for an alternative Republican candidate to mount a successful challenge to Trump at the GOP national convention.
Although he won't talk about it, some notable Republicans -- including 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney -- reportedly have approached Sasse about being a third alternative.
"I've had some outreach," Sasse acknowledged, "but I'm not the right guy. I have only two callings now: three little kids to help raise and Nebraskans to serve in the Senate."
"I am not doing this because of any one election," he said. "It's about what we are trying to build in the future, and I think Nebraskans are overwhelmingly with me in that conversation."
"We live in a bumpy time," Sasse said, "and neither party is very effective. Trump tapped into that, but he's not the solution."
Sasse said he'll continue to do what he promised during his 2014 Senate campaign: "Always vote my conscience, promote limited government and separation of powers, check executive overreach.
"None of this now is anything different than the promises I made."
Government departments need to negotiate to solve logistics problems at Yangon Port as soon as possible, while a Trade Facilitation Committee set up under the previous government will be fully implemented as part of an effort to boost exports, minister for Commerce U Than Myint told The Myanmar Times.
The number of shipping containers arriving at Yangon Port has risen sharply in recent years, leading to delays in container delivery, port clearance and a shortage of container space, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
A more recent spike has seen the number of containers arriving at the port has increased by around 36pc since Myanmars New Year festival last month, while the number leaving the port has fallen by around 3pc according to the Ministry of Commerce.
Myanmar imports far more goods than it exports, which results in a trade deficit and a surfeit of empty containers that can be bought second-hand in Yangon for very little money.
Sources in the auto, leasing and logistics industries which depend on vehicles imported through Yangon Port complain about customs opening hours, onerous administrative procedures and general delays.
This is a logistics problem, said U Than Myint. There are too many containers. By discussing this problem with representatives from respective ministries and our trade promotion committee, local authorities, port authorities, port owners and container agencies, we will find out a quick solution to fix this problem.
A quick solution could prove elusive, however. Leasing and logistics industry figures have said a proper fix would require deep-water ports with more container space. There is often a long queue of ships waiting outside Yangon Port unable to dock and unload, said one.
During the Thingyan holidays in April, cargo was stuck for more than 10 days at the mouth of Yangon River because local container transports were unable to handle the inflow, leading to overdue payment of port fees and shipping costs for container shipping companies, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
But the port is also beset by administrative issues. These include delays during the customs inspection process, partly caused by port authorities who are often unable to issue the required documents to incoming containers on time, the ministry said. This in turn causes payment issues for export and import firms.
Trader U Nay Lin Zin said exporters and importers have to contact multiple government departments for permit documents, and some have to seek signatures from the Nay Pyi Taw Commercial Department.
Foreign currency payments for exports, which are often done through state-owned lenders Myanma Foreign Trade Bank and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank, can be subjected to days-long delays, he added.
So far the government has failed to make life easier for Myanmars traders, said U Nay Lin Zin. But the Ministry of Commerce is moving forward with a Trade Facilitation Committee (TFC) as part of an effort to boost exports and battle Myanmars persistent trade deficit.
U Than Myint told The Myanmar Times the priority was to increase export products, and that a TFC would help with this.
As part of the revamp the ministry will avoid creating a series of unhelpful sub-committees, and focus on making sure the TFC can implement its trade policies, he said.
The committee will look to amend policies and laws to avoid unnecessary costs for traders during the loading, unloading and cargo storage processes at the port, he said. Improving market opportunities and the documentation requirements was also a priority, he added.
Traders have said we have to change some procedures, he said. Our traders face higher costs [than those in other countries] and so face problems. To get longterm export growth we need to improve things.
Bell Helicopter is taking its 412 EPI model on a five-month demonstration tour across Asia-Pacific starting in Myanmar, where private sector firms have begun to show an interest in helicopters, according to the companys local dealer.
Last year, we told government associations and private companies that they can easily buy Bell helicopters from Singapore without any problems with sanctions but there was no demand, said Ko Linn Htet, managing director of LT Resources, Bell Helicopters Myanmar dealer. This year about five private companies have expressed interest.
Bell Helicopter showcased its Bell 429 WLG in Myanmar in 2015.
The firm started its regional display of the 412 EIP, which finds use in the corporate, energy and emergency services sectors, in Yangon yesterday. The company is showcasing the aircraft Nay Pyi Taw today and tomorrow, it said.
The Bell 412 EPI comes with a price-tag of approximately US$12 million, he said.
Most of Myanmars helicopters are owned by the government, with few in operating in the private sector. But there is strong potential demand in various business sectors, including police, search-and-rescue, and tourism, said U Htun Tint Aye, chair of the Myanmar Helicopter Association.
Myanmars armed forces are currently responsible for supply helicopters for search-and-rescue operations.
If private sector companies do starting using helicopters for business purposes they need to follow the aircraft rules and regulations whether operating charter or scheduled flights, said Department of Civil Aviation director general U Win Swe Tun.
As we dont have enough airstrips there would also be infrastructure needed, he said.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation will lower the fees it charges for providing farming services as part of its action plan for the first 100 days under the new government.
The ministrys mechanisation department provides services such as harrowing, ploughing, harvesting and threshing using state-owned machines and state-paid drivers.
While it used to cost K7500 per acre to harrow land, the mechanisation department has reduced that rate to K6500 per acre. Fees for plowing are likewise lower, down from K15,000 per acre to K13,000 per acre, while the service costs for harvesting and threshing have come down from K40,000 per acre to K35,000 per acre.
The new price regime applies not only to current paddy crops but to future monsoon paddy crop, according to ministry information officer U Aung Moe.
The mechanisation department has supported machine services for agriculture every season across Myanmars states and regions.
Our field in Pyinmana really needs it, said Pyinmana township farmer Ko Myo Lin Aung, adding farmers dont own enough machines to work their fields at harvesting time. It is really convenient that prices are reduced, he said.
The department owns over 10,000 vehicle machines for agriculture.
Translation by Khant Lin Oo
Limbo hoteliers in Bagan want justice, they say. They are complaining that shifts in the application of the law are preventing them from making a living. At a forum for justice convened at Gracious Bagan Hotel on May 14, representatives of the 42 hotels caught in the legal crossfire demanded the right to take in guests.
The guesthouses, mostly modest establishments of 10-12 rooms run by local residents, are deemed to be too close to Bagans famed temples, a factor that could put at risk the citys bid to be included on the UNESCO World Heritage listing.
As a result, the Ministry of Culture reinstated a zoning ban put in place in 1998 but rarely enforced since then. Earlier this year, 129 properties deemed to be operating too close to the ancient site were given a 10-year edict to move to a special hotel zone, including the 42 mom-and-pop guesthouses.
Last March, the Bagan Heritage Management Committee said that at least the 25 hotels still under construction would be allowed to complete building work, but could not take in guests. However, 16 hotels hold operating licences issued by Nyaung-U City Development Committee.
We cant accept that an out-of-date law has had such an impact on local businesses. The purpose of our organisation is to promote regional business expansion while preserving our cultural heritage, said U Khin Maung Myint, chair of the hoteliers newly formed organisation, the Regional Business Development Association (Bagan-Nyaung -U).
Our forum wants the authorities to establish an urban zone alongside the ancient archaeological zone, the monument zone and the protective zone, he said.
Mandalay Region MP U Win Myint Khaing told participants, The problems of the 42 hotels were caused by a lack of justice under the law.
A former deputy director general of the Department of Archaeology, National Museum and Library, U Aung Kyaing, said only three of the 42 hotels were too close to the pagodas. The others might be allowed to operate with some limitations.
According to the results of research on the ground, most hotels can be allowed to continue construction. I told the last government that only about three hotels were encroaching on the ancient archaeological zone, he said.
To unravel Myanmar's drug trade and end the decades-long civil war, Tatmadaw-backed militias will need to be involved in the dialogue, experts say.
Tatmadaw-backed militias have long been permitted to indulge freely in the narcotics trade in return for their help fighting ethnic armed groups. These militias have thus far been excluded from ceasefire talks, casting doubt over how lingering problems in Myanmars border areas, including the drug trade, will be settled.
The nationwide ceasefire accord signed between the government and eight ethnic armed groups in October last year mentions consultation on the eradication of illicit drugs. But experts say the agreement is likely to have little impact on poppy cultivation.
First of all, most opium farmers grow poppies due to poverty, and their needs have not been addressed yet. Second, a lot of opium and heroin production is now in areas controlled by Tatmadaw-backed militias, who are not included in the peace process, said Tom Kramer, a researcher with the Drugs and Democracy program of the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute.
Several negotiators at the now-defunct Myanmar Peace Center recognised the importance of including the militias which possibly number in the hundreds in the peace process.
Last December, U Min Zaw Oo, then a director at the MPC, said, In informal discussions, some political representatives thought it would be better if [the militias] were included.
We all recognise they should take part, he said.
He attended the May 8 meeting between State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and prospective members of the new governments peace negotiating team. But when asked about the new governments opinion on the inclusion of militias, he said no one had been authorised to speak to the media.
The new government remains tight-lipped about the peace process, which it called a priority in its election campaign. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has called for a second Panglong Conference to mirror the one held by her father Bogyoke Aung San in 1947. She said that ethnic armed groups who did not sign the nationwide ceasefire would also be invited, but made no mention of the Tatmadaw-backed militias.
The Tatmadaws right to raise peoples militias is enshrined in the constitution. Article 340 stipulates that the Defence Services has the authority to administer the participation of the entire people in the Security and Defence of the Union.
Peoples Militia Forces are not part of the military budget. Instead, weapons and ammunition, as well as rations for soldiers, are often financed through illicit trade. This has fuelled the underground economy of drugs and natural resources, while enriching militia leaders and ensuring their central position in the political field.
Several militias wield great influence over the legislature. In last Novembers elections, leaders or people connected to several Tatmadaw-sponsored militias were elected to parliament, including some heavily implicated in the drug trade.
Peoples Militia Forces are different from Border Guard Forces, though both are Tatmadaw-backed militias. The latter are part of a government scheme introduced in 2009 and are ethnic armed groups that signed a ceasefire with the military government. Unlike the Peoples Militia Forces, the BGFs are on the Tatmadaws payroll and army officers are stationed within their troops. The border guards have also been linked to the trade of illicit narcotics.
The New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) an ethnic armed group that became a Border Guard Force in 2009 allegedly controls opium production in parts of Kachin State, according to the Christian anti-drug group Pat Ja San. One of the NDA-Ks leaders, U Zakhung Ting Ying, is an elected Amyotha Hluttaw representative.
Locals are often exploited by militia commanders who levy illegal taxes, grab land or force opium cultivation.
During a meeting of advocacy groups in Yangon last month, U Min Thein, an opium farmer from Kayah State, said that armed groups were partly responsible for his decision to start growing opium, instead of maize.
We are living in the forest because they come looking for us to work as a porter. Thats why we are sneaking around growing opium, U Min Thein said. I feel sad the law considers us as criminals. But all armed groups benefit. They should also be considered criminals, those tax collectors.
A recent statement released by the Myanmar Opium Farmers Forum said now is a golden era for militias.
They have the mandate from the Myanmar army to trade and produce drugs, the statement said.
Though militias are constitutionally under the Tatmadaw, it is unlikely that the governments military could command them to put down their weapons and give up their lucrative trade.
If they are forced to disarm without proper procedures there will be big problems, said U Min Zaw Oo.
When an early predecessor of peoples militias the Ka Kwe Ye home guards were abolished in 1973, some refused to hand in their weapons and instead went underground, exacerbating conflict and opium production.
Instead of counter-insurgency, most of these militias became heavily involved in the opium trade and the general lawlessness and chaos in Shan State increased, said a 2009 report by the Transnational Institute.
Most infamous were the home guards of Khun Sa and Lo Hsing Han, both notorious drug lords. Since their deaths, many other militias continue to indulge in the trade of opium and, increasingly, amphetamines.
If there is a nationwide ceasefire in which the militias are included, the drug problem could be stopped, said Lieutenant Joe Mung of the Shan State Army-South, one of the signatories to the nationwide ceasefire agreement.
Most militias operate in Shan State, where about 90 percent of the countrys raw opium is produced. Poppy is also grown, to a lesser degree, in Kachin, Kayah and Chin states.
But the militias are not the only ones involved in the drug trade.
After decades of military rule, war and ethnic conflict, few of the parties fighting in Shan State, including the Myanmar army, can claim to have clean hands when it comes to the drug trade, said Mr Kramer from the TI.
In 1999, the government committed to a 15-year plan to eliminate illicit crop production, but the deadline has since been extended to 2019. Myanmar remains the second-largest producer of raw opium in the world and amphetamine production is steeply on the rise.
Troels Vester, country manager of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, said dealing with the drug issue would be pivotal for ending Myanmars decades-long civil war.
One could ask if could there be peace with all these illicit drugs; I dont think so, he said.
LINCOLN A retired district court judge and two state senators who supported the repeal of the death penalty pushed the point at a news conference Wednesday that a mandatory life sentence would mean a person would not be allowed out of prison.
The Legislature examined life imprisonment extensively for years, and we are crystal clear that we have a strong life sentence that guarantees those with that sentence die in prison, said Lincoln Sen. Colby Coash, who helped lead the effort to repeal the death penalty last year.
Lincoln Sen. Adam Morfeld, a member of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee, said those who want to bring back the death penalty are attempting to confuse voters by suggesting those sentenced to life will be able to get out.
You will hear those who want to keep the death penalty say that if we get rid of it, people are going to get out. This is simply untrue," Morfeld said. "With a sentence of life imprisonment, a person cannot be released."
A person can request from the Pardons Board, made up of the governor, secretary of state and state attorney general, that his or her sentence be commuted, that is, set for a certain number of years so parole could be considered.
The possibility that those three elected officials would commute a life sentence for first-degree murder to a term of years is just as remote as the possibility it would commute a death sentence to one of life or term of years, Morfeld said.
If voters are concerned, they should ask the governor or attorney general which of the 10 men currently on death row he is going to commute to a sentence less than life, he said.
With the death penalty gone, we can be 100 percent confident those sentenced to life imprisonment will die in prison, Morfeld said.
Coash, a member of the Legislatures Judiciary Committee, said the bill passed last year with 16 Republican votes, 13 Democratic votes and one independent vote.
Coash said that a year ago, Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson affirmed Nebraska law by issuing a legal opinion on the issue, saying: Under current Nebraska law, a sentence of life imprisonment is effectively life imprisonment without parole."
District Court Judge Ronald Reagan, who served on the bench for more than 32 years and sentenced John Joubert to death, said he has no doubt about Nebraskas life imprisonment law.
I want to make sure there is no legal confusion that life imprisonment means life in prison, no chance of parole," Reagan said. "Anything else is political posturing and has no grounding in the legal realities."
Reagan said he has seen the worst of the worst cases in Nebraska and has studied the laws carefully.
When someone is sentenced to life, they die in prison, he said.
Reagan said the Nebraska Supreme Court also has affirmed this.
In 2014, in the Castaneda case, the states highest court said a life sentence in Nebraska is no different than a sentence of life without parole, he said.
I am confident if Nebraskans are able to have the same conversation that the Unicameral has been having over the last several years, they will come to the same conclusion that we did," Coash said, "that our death penalty is broken and life imprisonment is a better alternative. It exists, and it works."
Nebraskans will get an opportunity in November to vote on whether to reinstate the death penalty that was repealed in 2015.
The heat looks set to break and Myanmar is about to get doused, according to the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology.
The department announced yesterday that a low pressure area near Sri Lanka has intensified into a depression, which will produce cloudy, rainy and windy weather around the region.
The depression does not look to be heading to Myanmar, but the country is on yellow alert for storm risk.
U Kyaw Lwin Oo, director of the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology, said that rain is possible throughout the whole country, but especially in the delta as a result of the nearby depression.
Rain is certainly expected in lower Myanmar, the delta area and coastal area. Strong winds [are also expected] from 30 to 35 miles per hour [48-56 kilometres] in the coastal areas, he said.
He said the forecast of the depressions track will change day by day as the situation progresses.
U Kyaw Lwin Oo cautioned that different parts of the country could be hit with strong wind, hail and thunderstorms as the pre-monsoon season advances and produces unstable conditions.
Rough seas are also expected along Myanmar coastal areas.
U Kyaw Lwin Oo said the department will continue to use colour codes if the depression gets closer and that the public needs to pay attention to its announcements.
Orange means the track of the storm is heading to the Myanmar coast. Red signals the storm will cross the Myanmar coastline within 12 hours and brown indicates the storm is crossing.
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center, which is based in Hawaii, forecast on May 16 that the risk of the storm developing into a significant tropical cyclone within the next 24 hours remained medium.
The monsoon period has been forecast to start the first week of June and last until September with the lower regions of Myanmar Ayeyarwady, Bago, Tanintharyi and Yangon regions, as well as Kayin and Mon states expected to receive fewer inches of rain than season averages. Upper Sagaing Region and Kachin State are expected to buck the trend and get more than usual precipitation, especially in July and August.
Defence lawyers for two Myanmar men sentenced to death for the murder of two British tourists in Thailand have finished their appeal, and will file it by the May 23 deadline.
The appeal is completed and ready to file, said U Sein Htay, chair of the Migrant Worker Rights Network, which is assisting the defendants.
The 200-page appeal report was compiled over the past five months by Thai lawyers with input from international forensics experts, and contributions from Myanmar, Australian and British translators, according to the MWRN. The defence requested four separate extensions to complete the document.
Last February, advisers working on the appeal said the guilty verdict was based on circumstantial evidence and represented an extreme miscarriage of justice that should be overturned.
The controversial case largely rests on DNA evidence, which has drawn criticism for impartial testing and botched handling.
The Myanmar defendants, Ko Wai Phyo and Ko Zaw Lin, also testified in court that they had been tortured into confessions, including being stripped naked and beaten by police.
The defence worked with Australian DNA expert Jane Taupin to question the prosecutors claim that forensic samples led to a 100 percent match with the defendants.
We want to do the best for the defendants, she said.
Ms Taupin, who was called as a witness in the case, said there was no international standard that she was aware of which governed DNA results with such certainty. She said DNA results were typically an estimate of the minimum number of contributors, a statistical analysis of the significance of any match and statistical analysis of contributors to a mixture of DNA.
They insisted that the Thai police laboratory met international standards for DNA analysis. What has been reported in the judgement gives rise to concern, she said, describing Thai police forensics as incompetent at best.
The team wants defence lawyers to demand that Thailands Ministry of Public Healths Bureau of Laboratory Quality Standards investigate the conduct of the Royal Thai Police Forensics Laboratory during the murder investigation. They say they fear the appeal may simply be whitewashed to allow the Thai criminal justice system to save face.
I think it is preferable that an independent outside body carry out a review of the methods and procedures and reporting of DNA profiles, said Ms Taupin.
We believe we will win the appeal if the court and the Thai justice system want justice, said U Sein Htay.
Ko Zaw Lin and Ko Wai Phyo were convicted in December 2015 of the murder of David Miller and the rape and murder of Hannah Witheridge.
European ambassadors have travelled to the conflict zone in northern Shan State on a fact-finding mission, meeting villagers displaced by fighting and holding discussions on the dangers of landmines and narcotics.
Diplomats from 11 countries took part in the visit, which took in meetings with people who have fled to temporary IDP camps in Hsipaw township.
"It was the highest level visit ever to Shan State by EU member states. We came here to inform ourselves about northern Shan. We were particularly trying to look into the reasons and root causes of the conflict in recent months, and the drugs problem in Shan," EU ambassador Roland Kobia told The Myanmar Times in Hsipaw on May 16.
The diplomatic delegation also met officials of the General Administrative Department and the military.
Fighting in northern Shan State since the signing of the so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement last October has become increasingly complex, with several thousand people displaced from their homes across various townships.
The Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA), which was excluded from the ceasefire pact, has been fighting ethnic Shan forces of the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) which did sign the ceasefire agreement, as well as the Tatmadaw.
"Recent fighting was between two ethnic armed groups. The Tatmadaw say they were not involved. We hope that reconciliation takes place. Above all we hope that people stop fighting. They need to have a ceasefire first and to discuss peace, commented German ambassador Christian-Ludwig Weber-Lortsch.
Highlighting the dangers posed to civilians in the conflict, two 24-year-old German tourists and their Shan guide were injured in a landmine explosion in northern Shan last month.
Mr Webet-Lortsch said the two Germans were safely back home and he urged people to follow local rules and advice and stick to safe routes.
European governments are supporting demining projects but established demining organisations have not been able to start work in Myanmar, despite the signing of last years ceasefire agreement.
"For demining we need permissions. We have not had that chance so far, Mr Kobia said.
Polish ambassador Miroslaw Zapata said it was time to stop the fighting and that he hoped the new government would come up with concepts to achieve that.
Meeting officials and displaced members of Pankhar village taking refuge in a Hsipaw IDP camp, the diplomats asked questions about the conflict. Elderly women in traditional dress sat at the edges of the hall listening to proceedings.
Sixteen-year-old Cherry Pyone, who fled Pankhar, said they had been looked after by donors and various aid groups in the camps. I have no needs but I feel sad when I think about future. Our tea harvest has gone because we could not pick the leaves. The corn season will soon be over too. So most of us have money problems. I can find a job in town but what about mothers with children and the elderly? she told The Myanmar Times.
U Aung Gyi, 46, one of the village elders, said he did not know why the fighting was happening.
We are just ordinary people and so we don't know what the problem is, he said.
Tatmadaw aircraft were said to have bombed positions of the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP) this afternoon as the new government stepped up preparations to hold a national peace conference.
Aircraft twice attacked a military outpost of the ethnic Shan armed group about 20 miles east of Lashio in northern Shan State, according to SSPP spokesperson Captain Sai Hpone Han. He said Tatmadaw forces had started advancing on their unit last night and fighting broke out this morning. He had no information on casualties.
The SSPP liaison office had informed military officials in Lashio about the attack and asked for an explanation, he said.
We have no idea why they are always attacking us whenever there is a peace conference ahead, he added.
State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi this week told her government to speed up preparations for what she calls a 21st century Panglong conference to be held by late June.
As part of those plans, her aides are due to meet tomorrow in Yangon with representatives of the eight ethnic armed groups that signed the so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement last October.
However the SSPP is among the majority of larger ethnic armed groups within the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) that refused to join the accord.
Government forces launched offensives against the SSPP in central Shan State last October shortly before the ceasefire signing ceremony. Several thousand civilians fled the conflict and the November 8 parliamentary elections were cancelled in two townships. Talks with the government in early December resulted in a partial withdrawal of SSPP forces.
The talks due to begin in Yangon tomorrow are to be held at the premises of the former Myanmar Peace Centre which was dissolved by the former government. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is creating her own peace secretariat which is to be headquartered in Nay Pyi Taw but will take over some of the assets and personnel of the MPC.
U Hla Maung Shwe, a former MPC advisor involved in the new peace process, said U Tin Myo Win, who has served for years as Daw Aung San Suu Kyis doctor, would lead the government team at the meeting. He said discussions would focus on preparing the Panglong conference.
The state counsellor is setting up two preparatory committees to meet separately with the eight signatories of the ceasefire pact and the non-signatory groups.
Meanwhile there are reports that the nine-member UNFC alliance of the non-signatory groups may split.
The Taang National Liberation Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army an ethnic Chinese group based in the Kokang border area have expressed their intention to leave the UNFC.
According to Radio Free Asia, a TNLA official said the reason was to give freedom to the rest of the UNFC to negotiate peace.
The two armed groups, along with the allied Arakan Army, were shut out of the ceasefire talks last year by the government and the Tatmadaw. Commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing reiterated last week that the three groups had to first give up their weapons before they could enter the peace process.
UNFC deputy leader U Naing Han Thar said the two groups should not make hasty decisions. Even if they truly want to move out of the bloc, then we can still be friends and can cooperate in some aspects, he told The Myanmar Times.
The two groups made a similar proposal to leave the UNFC last year while nationwide ceasefire talks were continuing, but were prevailed upon to remain part of the alliance. Myanmar officials at the time suspected that China, which maintains close ties with the ethnic armed groups along its border, played a role in the joint decision not to sign up to the ceasefire pact.
Civil society activists in northwest Myanmar are reaching out to their Indian counterparts in a bid to tackle the narcotics crisis along the border.
The Upper Chindwin Youth Network says it wants to form a watchdog group with civil society organisations in Sagaing Regions border town of Tamu, a well-known drug smuggling hub linked to the Indian market town of Moreh in the state of Manipur.
The two towns, linked by a bridge, are a major transit route for trade between India, China and Thailand.
To complete our committee we will cooperate with civil societies in India to work out these problems, Ko Kyaw Thet Win, youth network chair, told The Myanmar Times.
He said he had received a good response in terms of pledges of cooperation from U Kyaw Thet Naing, the military-appointed Sagaing Region minister for border affairs and security.
Illustrating the lack of security in the area, U Myint Zaw, the National League for Democracy chair in Tamu, said there had been two recent bomb blasts near the bridge, one on May 16 and another yesterday. There were no injuries. He also said the other side meaning India was blocking attempts to investigate.
Tamu is having a tough time with narcotics, Police Major Soe Naing of Unit 7 admitted. He blamed insecurity in Moreh, where he said locals sell drugs from their homes to Tamu drug-users.
Police have records of 145 drug addicts in Tamu but the real number is unknown. Police recorded 84 drug cases there in 2015, involving heroin, raw opium, amphetamines and other drugs, and arrested 117 alleged traffickers.
The numbers represent a decline on 2014 but police say this was mostly due to widespread flooding in Sagaing last year that disrupted trade and smuggling. However Pol Maj Soe Naing said public drug awareness campaigns were having a positive impact.
If the CSOs will cooperate, we will work more effectively, he added.
On a national level the NLD has raised the Tamu drugs issue in the lower house of parliament.
Ko Kan Chun, chair of Tamus Supervisory Committee for Motor Vehicles, said there were many problems with cross-border trade.
He complained that Indian vehicles entered Myanmar to work without restrictions while Myanmar traders were hardly able to cross the border with their vehicles. Locals were suffering from this unequal trade access, he said.
The Presidents Office has agreed to return to farmers land that had been confiscated to build Yadanarpon Bridge.
The farming families have spent nearly eight years fighting for the restitution of surplus land no longer required for the completed bridge project.
Yadanarpon Bridge, which stretches over Ayeyarwady River and connects Sagaing and Mandalay regions, was completed in 2008. Its construction required re-housing residents from three villages in Amarapura township to the Shwe Lay area. However, those relocated say the area has no water, no electricity, is subject to flooding for much of the year and lacks economic opportunities.
Three farmers from Takeltaw and Khawah Taw villages submitted a case to the Presidents Office on April 5 asking that the 6 acres of unused land around the bridge be returned to the original owners.
The families had previously been told by the construction ministry that of the remaining property, another 4.18 acres was necessary for safety reasons around the bridge, which would leave only 2.05 acres. The farmers were offered compensation at K8 million per acre, but the amount was refused.
The farmers said that unlike in the construction ministrys account, the acreage around the bridge is being used by day labourers who stuck around after the project was completed.
Yet we, original owners, are living without land now, said U Moe Naung from Khawah Taw village.
We received a reply letter with director U Han Min Aungs signature from the Presidents Office on May 12, said U Moe Naung. The letter said a request has been sent to the Ministry of Construction ordering the return of the surplus land. But the families are still awaiting confirmation from the ministrys local officials.
That land is our ancestors land. I want to stay there again peacefully, said resident Ma Myint Kyu.
Translation by Khant Lin Oo
Although relations between the military and the government appear tense on the surface, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi are said to be developing a working relationship that the National League for Democracy hopes will deliver results, particularly for the peace process.
Both sides speak of a pragmatic approach in dealing with this new power-sharing arrangement. The commander-in-chiefs declaration at a May 13 press conference that he intends to remain in office for a full five-year term means the NLD has little choice.
Sources close to the Tatmadaw said informal channels have been developed between the two leaders. Although they rarely hold formal meetings they do communicate by telephone.
Military representatives involved in the peace process are working closely with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and then report to senior generals. Although some issues still need to be solved on the table, both sides [senior general and state counsellor] are aware how to handle problems peacefully to avoid unstable situations, a military source, who asked not to be named, told The Myanmar Times.
The Tatmadaws unelected contingent in parliament strongly opposed the law establishing Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in the newly created post of state counsellor last month. However the military MPs did not oppose setting up the new ministry for her office.
People should understand the military are not against everything the NLD does. The Tatmadaw also respects democratic criteria, the source said.
NLD senior official U Win Htein says MPs do face difficulties in dealing with military representatives but the party does pay attention to not creating problems with the Tatmadaw on every issue it tackles.
We have been trying to build trust with the military based on national reconciliation although they reject some issues in parliament, he told The Myanmar Times.
The [state counsellors ministry] is aimed at working more effectively for the state and the people. The NLD guarantees no one will have [negative] effects because of this post, he added.
We [the military and the NLD] may have disagreements on other issues, but we have tried to find the best answer for the sake of the people. I hope we can build better relations with the military in the future.
Although Senior General Min Aung Hlaing spoke at his press conference of the Tatmadaws cooperation with the government over the peace process and its commitment to walking the democratic path, the sense in parliament is not so positive.
Daw Khin San Hlaing, a senior NLD MP, said she had not seen any cooperation from the military bloc.
The stance of military representatives has not changed, especially if I compare with the last parliament. There has not been a level of military cooperation so far in the current parliament, she said.
Analysts differ over the degree of tensions between the two sides, with so much playing out behind the scenes following the NLDs landslide victory last November over the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party.
Its very difficult to say that current relations between the military and government are good or bad. Military chiefs say they will work with the government for peace, but on the other hand the military stance on the peace process is very tough. I think the military plays politics with a carrot-and-stick approach. It might conflict with Daw Aung San Suu Kyis ideas for dealing with peace issues, said political analyst U Yan Myo Thein.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyia proposal for a 21st-Century Panglong conference that would bring in all ethnic armed groups stands in contrast to the senior generals refusal to countenance talks with three specific non-state groups unless they first give up their weapons.
I have explained our attitude to her, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing told reporters last week. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi also understands it.
Political commentator U Sithu Aung Myint says he is concerned.
As far as I know relations between the military and NLD are not very good. Although Daw Suu speaks of reconciliation with the military, we have seen she does what she wants with her majority power in parliament, for example the state counsellor law. If she keeps on this path, the countrys situation will not be improved, he said.
He advised Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to lead the country with specific policies that would avoid confrontation with the military, saying the NLD could accomplish nothing without cooperation with the Tatmadaw. The most important goal was economic development, but that depended on resolving conflict issues, U Sithu Aung Myint added.
Resolving the peace process and changes to the 2008 constitution are the biggest challenges for the NLD government, he said.
Resolving these issues successfully mainly depends on how the NLD can negotiate with the military. The senior general has made his position on politics clear. The skills of the NLD government are paramount. We will have to wait and see, U Sithu Aung Myint said.
A protest column that has marched from Sagaing to Nay Pyi Taw in 40 degree Celsius heat has reached within 5 miles (8 kilometres) of the destination, but has been forbidden from entering the capital.
The 87 workers from a Sagaing wood factory are marching to call attention to their demands for better rights, including an increase in salary according to service years and the reinstatement of their colleagues who had been fired for participating in the protest. The march yesterday reached mile-post 289 of the Yangon-Mandalay highway on the outskirts of Nay Pyi Taw.
We will proceed to march to our destination tomorrow, said U Hnin Aung, a march organiser.
The march started in Sagaing city on April 29 with a group 120. Some workers were left behind due to health problems in the heat, U Hnin Aung said. But 87 workers, all of whom have been laid off for their involvement in the protest, have made it to the fringes of the capital.
Local authorities said yesterday that the protest column will not be allowed to enter Nay Pyi Taw proper. Instead, they will informed about official channels through which to lobby for their rights, said U Aye Thaung, administrator for Nay Pyi Taws Ottarathiri township. At milepost 284, on the border of Nay Pyi Taw precinct, district administrators, police officers, union representatives, immigration and population officials, and legal experts will wait to meet with the marching workers tomorrow, he added.
What we have to explain to them is that Myanmar is a democratic country and we are adopting a market-oriented system, U Aye Thaung said. Their factory will have to resolve their problems. The workers are from a private company The legal route is the best way to solve their problems.
He added that MPs have already met with the workers and promised to submit an urgent proposal to parliament about their requests.
But, please dont come and enter Nay Pyi Taw, said U Aye Thaung. We believe in the workers. We see they are honest. But if chaos occurs in Nay Pyi Taw it will hurt the reputation of the capital.
The Myanmar Police Force has threatened to arrest the workers if they insist on disobeying orders and attempt to bring the protest column into Nay Pyi Taw.
Translation by Thiri Min Htun
Police have arrested 86 factory workers who marched over 185 miles (299 kilometres) from Sagaing Region to Nay Pyi Taw.
Over 100 police swarmed the protesters, who said they were marching to demonstrate dissatisfaction at being wrongly fired from a wood factory.
After three weeks of walking in over 40 degree heat, the marchers reached the outskirts of the capital yesterday where they had hoped to speak with representatives of the government about their request for better working conditions.
Instead, they were told to come no further, or face police action.
Ignoring the warning, today the workers moved onward. Before they could reach Nay Pyi Taws Tatkon township they were blocked by a police column around 8am. After a standoff that stretched into the afternoon, the officers began the arrests at around 1pm.
In the recent arrest we tried not to use force, Police Colonel Ko Ko Aung, head of the Nay Pyi Taw Region force, told media.
As they were driven away, the protesters could be heard shouting from the police vehicle, We will topple this government! We will cut off the little finger that we voted for it with!
As a party of many former political prisoners, the National League for Democracy has vowed not to create anymore prisoners of conscience.
Translation by Thiri Min Htun
Yangon City Development Committee was thrown into chaos yesterday after the newly appointed mayor announced plans to reorganise the local administrations hierarchy and curb the term of four serving members.
The mayors announcement said that four unelected, government-appointed members of the committee must step down, as their posts should have expired with the previous governments term.
Elected YCDC member U Khin Hlaing called an emergency press conference at City Hall yesterday in response to the mayors statement. When reporters arrived, a plain-clothed official barred anyone from entering.
At the press conference, YCDC members attempted to wrest back control of the committee. Members were alarmed by Mayor U Maung Maung Soes demand that YCDC by-laws be altered so that the appointed members do not serve out the same term as the elected members which run until the next elections. The mayor also announcement yesterday that committee members must now report all activities to the YCDC chair.
The mayors edict isnt sitting well with members elected in 2014 either. YCDC representative U Khin Hlaing announced at City Hall that the currently serving members will continue to control the municipal body until the next elections are held.
We will control the committee until the next election takes place. We are elected policymakers so all our committee members will continue serving our duty, he said.
He added that if the National League for Democracy-backed government wants to change the structure or laws governing YCDC, they must do so through official, pre-existing channels.
Those who come to YCDC have to abide by the laws of YCDC, whether they are NLD or USDP members, he said.
Changes and approval of activities cannot be done by a chairman. That would be breaching the law and is not legitimate, he added.
A letter about sticking to the rules and regulations was signed by 115 YCDC members and sent to Yangon Region Hluttaw yesterday.
We achieved our positions through a dignified election. We will leave here by election, said U Min Min Tun Myat, a member from Lanmadaw township.
The first YCDC election in 50 years was held in 2014. The municipal poll was widely criticised for curtailing participation by allowing only one vote per household. Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein is demanding the election law be changed to grant voting rights to everyone over 18 years old.
Translation by Zar Zar Soe and Thiri Min Htun
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Remarks
John Kerry Secretary of State
Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj
Vienna, Austria
May 16, 2016
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good evening, everybody. Thank you for your patience. For my part, let me just say that I'm very pleased to be able to be back in Vienna. I'm very grateful we all are very grateful to the Government of Austria for its continued hospitality and for hosting this latest round of talks.
I'm very grateful as well to Foreign Minister Gentiloni and UN Special Representative Martin Kobler for their deep engagement and leadership on this issue. Italy has long had a special relationship and interest in what happens in Libya and obviously is on the front lines in many ways in this effort. I want to thank Prime Minister Sarraj for taking the time to be here and to make his entire team available to us from yesterday through today as our team has been working together, and I thank the Libyan representatives who made this journey. And particularly, I want to express - we all want to express - our gratitude to the many other foreign ministers and senior officials who came from many different countries, which is a strong statement about the international commitment to this current effort. We have senior officials or foreign ministers from Algeria, Chad, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Jordan, Italy, Malta, Morocco, Niger, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sudan, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United Nations, the League of Arab States, and the African Union, and every single one of them participated in this meeting. Their presence is a powerful statement about the international community's commitment to the GNA, to Prime Minister Sarraj, and to the effort to bring unity to Libya and the long-term goal of a stable Libya that is at peace with itself, which is unified and secure.
That goal is important, but it is also urgent - and I think no one understands this better than the Libyan leaders who are here with us in Vienna - the urgency of resolving certain issues quickly. They know the unacceptable price that personal rivalry and/or internal strife are inflicting on the Libyan people, on the Libyan economy, on its security; and the rise of extremism which has taken advantage of this. And so they are here, all of us, concerned about the social cohesion of the country and the importance of taking steps rapidly to address those concerns. Everyone has seen the hardships that are being felt by the Libyan citizens in all regions and by members of every clan and every tribe in Libya, and they have witnessed the emergence of a new threat to their country's future in the form of the terrorists who are affiliated with Daesh.
As the communique that we produced earlier makes clear, it is imperative to put the international community's full weight behind the Government of National Accord. And the GNA is the only entity that can unify the country and address the economic crisis and humanitarian suffering. Libyan people want a government; the government is here, supported by the international community and ready to go to work. It is the only way to ensure that vital institutions, such as the central bank and the national oil company that they fall under representative and acknowledged authority and that they receive the supervision and the direction that they need. And it is the only way to generate the unity and the cohesion that is required to defeat Daesh and other violent extremists who want to pull Libya backward into thuggery and violence and a battle over ambitions of individuals who are not serving the broad interests of Libya itself, but serving their own interests.
To that end, the international community spoke today with a single voice on several key points.
First, the House of Representatives must take a vote on the GNA and honor the Skhirat agreement, and the international community can help that by being present when that takes place.
Second, the unified Libyan Government must move forward to counter Daesh and other terrorist groups through the joint command under civilian authority.
Three, the international community must support the Presidency Council decision on GNA entry into the ministries so that the government can begin to provide Libyans with essential services.
Fourth, humanitarian aid to the Libyan people must be accelerated.
Fifth, the international community will support the Presidency Council as it seeks exemption from the UN arms embargo to acquire those weapons and bullets needed to fight Daesh and other terrorist groups.
And finally, the international community will stand behind the Skhirat agreement and its principles of Libyan sovereignty, stability, security, and unity.
Now, given the stakes, I want to be absolutely clear: Those who engage in acts that threaten Libya's peace and security or who obstruct or undermine a successful political transition will face the prospect of sanctions outlined by various UN Security Council resolutions.
And to those like Prime Minister Sarraj who are ready to choose reconciliation and who are focused on solving problems rather than on sowing discord, our message is just as clear: The United States and the international community represented here today and beyond will back you every step of the way.
That means working hard through the UN to prepare security arrangements so the new government can further establish itself in Tripoli. It means helping to ensure that such key institutions as the central bank and the national oil company receive the oversight and the direction that they need. It means doing more to address urgent humanitarian requirements. It means laying the groundwork for sustained support in the fields of security, finance, counterterrorism, and overall governance. And it means a true partnership between the people of Libya and the international friends of Libya to see that the future of that country is one of unity, prosperity and peace.
Nearly five years ago, Libya overthrew a dictator. The question mark that we have to ask ourselves even still today is: What is Libya going to look like five years from now? That's what motivated us to come here today and build the consensus that we have produced. Libya has an opportunity to be a safe country for its citizens or could be a safe haven for terrorists, trapped in division and chaos and beset by personal, international, and tribal rivalries. Or Libya could be a country with a functioning government, with an entrepreneurial economy, and a population that is both diverse and unified at the same time. The choices required to shape Libya's future are in the hands of its leaders, and they were here today. But they're going to need our support, and if they do their part, we are here today to say that we're willing to do ours. For the sake of Libya's future, we need to seize this moment.
Now I turn the floor over to my friend and colleague, Paolo Gentiloni.
FOREIGN MINISTER GENTILONI: Well, thank you very much, John, especially for your extraordinary commitment on this Libyan crisis which was absolutely decisive to reach the first results that we are reaching since a few months. Thank you to Martin Kobler for your efforts and for the results that the UN activity produced on the Libyan dialogue. And thank you very much to Prime Minister Sarraj. I think that your courage on March the 30th to go to establish the Libyan Presidential Council on Tripoli will be remembered as a turning point in the crisis, and it is something we can invest in now.
I think that the meeting today of a so large number of foreign ministers is very clear in itself. There is a large support to the Presidential Council and to the Government of National Accord a large support because we all know, as John just said a minute ago, that the stabilization of Libya is the key answer to the risk that we have. And to stabilize Libya, we need a government. And we have a government with the support of such a large number of member states and international and regional organization.
So stabilization is the key. With stabilization, we can fight terrorism; we can assure development to a country with rich potentialities but with a strong humanitarian crisis now. We can tackle the migration issue; we can develop the resources of Libya. Without stabilization, we risk tensions, divisions, and intra-Libyans fights.
So this is, I think, the message of our meeting. It is a political message because we are supporting the recent decision of the GNA, first of all, the constitution of a presidential guard that we will support; second, the constitution of a joint command to fight Daesh; and third, the decision to give a transitory legitimacy to the ministers until the formal swearing will be accomplished.
With this support, I think that we have the possibility to reach several goals. The most urgent one and Italy and several other countries are working on this the most urgent one is to give humanitarian aid to hospitals and cities not only in the west, but also in the east of country, through the Government of National Accord. Then we have to begin our cooperation for development of Libya.
And finally, we have to cooperate on security to make possible a Libyan ownership of the anti-terrorism fight. We all know that to make this possible, the Libyan process should be you should have new steps. We will look for a validation for the Libyan parliament. We will look for inclusiveness of all the subject that are on the field fighting Daesh, including the general after. But this will be something based on the authority of the Government of National Accord and on the support, the international support, to GNA. This is, I think, the reason why we can be satisfied with what we have done today, but we know that we will have further steps to work on.
And now, John, maybe we give the floor to Prime Minister Sarraj again, thanking him for being here.
PRIME MINISTER AL-SARRAJ: (Via interpreter) First of all salute Secretary Kerry and the Italian minister for organizing this and Austria for hosting this meeting. The presence of the ministers today will (inaudible) message of support for the National Accord Government and (inaudible) is interested in Libya. It was a fruitful, frank, and transparent meeting. We talked about the political, economic, and social aspects.
Regarding the political situation or the political track internally, we authorized ministers to take over their ministries. We called upon the House of Representatives to assume its responsibility in playing its role. We can overcome this political impasse. We call upon all countries and parties active in Libya to cooperate with us positively. The situation in Libya is extremely bad I'll be very frank economically, financially, and security-wise. It requires the collaboration of all parties. We need the collaboration of the active parties in Libya in a positive manner. The situation cannot afford any political maneuvers by any party internal or external. The situation in Libya involves humanitarian suffering, misplaced people or displaced people, forces of terrorism that are lying in wait for Libya. The international community and the neighbors will not be spared this danger if terrorism were to grow outside Libya.
We've called for lifting the embargo on arms to support the joint command and the military establishment. We've called for equipping and arming (interruption) the (inaudible) presidential guard, which will have a clear role in fighting extremism and securing key institutions, and it's not a substitute to police or the army. We've also talked about securing our borders to enforce or to prevent illegal immigration so that it can play its role effectively. We call upon all neighbors or friendly countries to coordinate with the Presidency Council in any initiative they put forward toward a national reconciliation based on the Libyan political agreement. We continue to expand the basis of participation and accord among all Libyans to ensure to that we reach our goal of reconciliation and accord in general.
We have a major challenge ahead of us terrorism, fighting ISIS. We've established operations room, special operations room. We hope that there will be a joint operations room that will lead the fight against terrorism. We urge the international community to assist us. We're not talking about international intervention; we're talking about international assistance and training, equipping our troops and training our youth.
Once again, we thank the international community for their interest in Libya, and we hope for the best. Thank you.
MR TONER: We have time for just two questions. The first goes to Dave Clark from AFP.
QUESTION: Thank you very much, Prime Minister, Minister, Secretary. Mr. Prime Minister, were you able today to present a detailed breakdown of the kinds of equipment and training your forces will require? And Minister and Mr. Secretary, when do you think the international community will be able to begin meeting these needs? And when do you think you'll be able to get waivers from the UN arms embargo?
PRIME MINISTER AL-SARRAJ: (Via interpreter) With respect to our call for the embargo to be lifted, all the authorized authorities in power to lift this embargo will be provided with a list as soon as possible.
SECRETARY KERRY: The we have now had a request come to us. Now, this obviously has to be discussed and go through the process with respect to the UN. The arms embargo does allow for the Government of National Accord to request weapons if it needs them specifically to secure the country and to combat Daesh. So that is the consideration, and we will measure whatever requests there are for their legitimate arms requests with our call to all states to improve the enforcement of the arms embargo itself in order to prevent arms transfers from taking place to people outside of the GNA's authority. So it's a delicate balance, but we are, all of us here today, supportive of the fact that if you have a legitimate government and the legitimate government is struggling against terrorism, that legitimate government should not be made the prisoner or it should not be victimized by virtue of the UN action that has been taken that has always awaited a legitimate government. So we believe it makes sense, but obviously, carefully sculpted. And that's what we will make sure we do.
FOREIGN MINISTER GENTILONI: We are ready to answer to requests from the Libyan Government. The prime minister said the request will be about training and assisting, and we will consider them with absolutely rapidly and with great interest. And as Secretary of State Kerry said, and we are not discussing of eliminating the embargo. But the embargo in itself allows exemptions given certain circumstances. And these are circumstances that we all are appreciating. So we will face the list that will be asked not to eliminate the embargo, but to authorize exemptions to the embargo for certain kind of arms.
MR TONER: Second question goes to Lucia Goracci from Rai TV.
QUESTION: Thank you. For months we have talked about some international military intervention against Daesh in Libya. And now it does not seem imminent anymore. And today we read an open letter written by Prime Minister Sarraj, who says we don't need foreign soldiers. I would like to ask both Mr. Kerry and Mr. Gentiloni what are their comments.
SECRETARY KERRY: What we recommend?
QUESTION: Yeah. Comments, comments about the -
SECRETARY KERRY: Oh, to comment about that. Go ahead.
FOREIGN MINISTER GENTILONI: Well, I don't think we have to comment, but we have to take note of the position of the Libyan Government and we are to be ready to cooperate. I think that the Libyan Government said not only today but in several occasions that they will not ask in this moment for, as we say, boots on the ground or such kind of intervention but they will ask for support in several security dimensions, and I think that we will respond to these requests. And I think they are legitimate in having these requests because they are stressing the Libyan ownership of the stabilization process.
SECRETARY KERRY: So let me confirm that, first of all, we made it clear today and we've made it clear from our last meetings in January and then in December we support a Government of National Accord in Libya and we are supporting this government, and we are working with them to help them to be able to respond to the terrorist threat that is posed by ISIL, by Daesh. And we're also working with them to try to de-escalate the level of conflict in the country. So there's a lot of political component of this also. But the United States stands ready and the international community stands ready to provide humanitarian, economic, and security support to the new Libyan Government on their request. And right now, the government is requesting assistance in certain ways, but as Paolo said, we're not talking about troops and boots and that kind of intervention.
We continue right now to assess the ISIL activity that's taking place, and we're working with our partners to determine the best way forward to help Libya to be able to deal with that threat and but also let me make clear, President Obama has already acted and will act whenever he deems it necessary to defend United States national security interests. And since Daesh plots against us and others, those interests are real. But there's been no request otherwise at this point in time for some other kind of intervention. We're simply in a mode of trying to help and assist and develop a Libyan capacity to be able to respond to the challenge of security within Libya.
MODERATOR: Thank you. I don't think we have any more time. So thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you all.
The Federal Foreign Office has pledged 4.5million euros to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to foster peace and stability in Libya.The target groups of the project, which will start this month, are internally displaced persons, refugees, migrants and host communities.
The project will be carried out in two main areas, Sabha and Qatrun in southern Libya, close to the border to the Niger and Chad. The focus will be on restoring basic infrastructure, building community centres for families, organising leisure, educational and guidance activities, providing support for professional training courses, helping people to set up their own companies, and promoting the peace process by fostering dialogue between local civil society stakeholders, NGOs and communities.
From June2016, the Federal Foreign Office will also provide one million euros in funding to afurther IOMproject aimed at supporting internally displaced persons and migrants in need of protection in eastern, western and southern Libya.
Last week in London Prime Minister David Cameron hosted a landmark international Anti-Corruption Summit. The Summit agreed the first ever Global Declaration against Corruption, with representatives from over forty countries stating their commitment to work together to expose, punish and drive out corruption.
The UK Government applauds the strong anti-corruption drive by the 5th Phase Government and was delighted that Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa represented Tanzania at the Summit.
The Summit Communique states that no country is immune from corruption and governments need to work together, and with partners from business and civil society to tackle it successfully. It recognises that corruption is a challenge for us all: a global problem that requires global solutions. The Communique includes concrete actions aimed at: 1) exposing corruption; 2) punishing the corrupt and supporting those who have suffered from corruption; 3) driving out corruption. In addition to the Communique, countries made specific commitments in their country statements.
The UK announced a public central register of company beneficial ownership information. This means that, for the first time, it will be clear who really owns every British company making it much harder to escape detection and prosecution. The UK will work with others to establish an International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre and a Global Forum for Asset Recovery. We know how important this issue is for Tanzania. The UK has recently transferred to the Tanzanian Government the $7m fine that Standard Bank paid as a result of its failure to prevent bribery. The UK is launching an Anti-Corruption Innovation Hub with other countries to encourage collaboration between social innovators, technology experts, data scientists and law enforcement and civil society organisations.
We welcome Tanzania's country commitments and Prime Minister Majaliwa's remarks showcasing the Government's actions to tackle corruption. He stressed that political will is critically important, alongside strong legislative and administrative measures. According to the Prime Minister, the forthcoming third phase of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan will focus on involving all stakeholders (schools, civil society, grassroots organisations, the media and private sector) in creating an anti-corruption culture.
The UK and Tanzania are close partners working together to tackle corruption, financial and organised crime. A new partnership between Tanzania and the UK's National Crime Agency was launched at the Summit to share expertise in audit, financial regulation and anti-corruption investigation. The UK Crown Prosecution Service is assisting work to establish Tanzania's Special Anti-Corruption Division of the High Court. The UK Department for International Development supports Tanzania's institutions of accountability, including the PCCB and the National Audit Office. It also supports grassroots and civil society organisations that assist local communities across the country in taking action to counter corruption, such as demands for bribes by medical staff or those involved in illegal deforestation.
In the words of Prime Minister David Cameron, if we want to beat povertywe have to tackle corruption. The summit was the biggest demonstration of political will to address corruption. But it can't be a single one-off moment. We need a sustained effort at changing cultures of corruption.
Dianna Melrose
British High Commissioner to Tanzania
Whilst many non-nationals are known to have been registered by the use of that card, there may be several other persons who may also have innocently used the card to register. The Court, therefore, ordered the Commission to take steps to provide an opportunity for the persons whose names would be deleted to re-register, if they so chose, with lawful identification. The nation now awaits how the EC will give effect to this important ruling.
These were the words of the 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in reaction to the recent ruling by the Supreme Court, on May 5,which ordered the EC to clean the register of some 600,000 dead people and some estimated millions of people who found their names on the voters' register by use of the NHIS card, which, in 2014, was ruled to be unconstitutional by the Court.
Nana Akufo-Addo was addressing participants at the 6thEdition of the E-Lection Bridge Africa Conference, organised by The Konrad Adenauer Foundation, on Monday, May 16, 2016, in Accra, when he made this known.
According to him, the strength of any democracy is very much determined by the credibility of its electoral process, and, therefore, it is in everybody's interest that all key stakeholders develop an instinctive respect for the rules and regulations set out for our elections.
Recounting the presidential election petition of 2013, in the aftermath of the disputed 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections borne out of electoral irregularities and malpractices, Nana Akufo-Addo stated that even though we lost our case, the victory was in the fact that the televised proceedings in court exposed to the entire nation that all was not well with our much vaunted electoral system.
The 5/4 Supreme Court split verdict at the time, according to the NPP leader, recommended reforms, adding that the recent May 5 ruling by the Supreme Court also stressed the need to deepen the reforms, specifically in the area of getting an accurate voters' register.
If the Electoral Commission is, indeed, sincere about giving the nation an accurate register, there are obvious steps that it has to take and we will continue to make the case. Nigerians did it by way of getting all registered voters to be biometrically verified and that validated register was what was used for the 2015 elections, which delivered the historic change in their country in conditions of peace and stability, he said.
With Ghana often cited as a shining example of the country on the continent where the electoral process works, Nana Akufo-Addo stressed the importance of not overlooking the fact that instability has followed disputed elections in many other parts of the African continent.
It is to help engender confidence in the electoral process that we, in the NPP, continue to call for an accurate voters' register to spare our country any such fate. All stakeholders must work to ensure that there are no lingering questions about the legitimacy of an election and the winning candidate at the end of the process should receive the unalloyed support of all, he said.
He continued, There will always be winners and losers in an election; that is the system of governance we have chosen. It is painful enough to lose an election, I can testify to that; but the pain should not come with a suspicion of having been cheated. The winner should be warmly congratulated and support extended to enable our many problems to be tackled. The winner will then have the peace of mind for the serious business of governance.
-Myjoyonline
On May 17th 1990, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a revised version of the International Classification of Diseases Manual, in which homosexuality was not considered a mental disease any longer. Therefore sexual and gender diversity is celebrated worldwide and annually on May 17th since 2004 as the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOT).
In a statement, the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) strongly condemned any attempt to conflate the diversity of sexual orientations and gender identities within the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex (LGBTI) community with a mental disorder.
Despite all these and other declarations and statements, Dr. Akwasi Osei (Chief Psychiatrist of Ghana and the Chief Executive of the Ghana Mental Health Authority) has described homosexuals as persons suffering from, a psychological illness requiring treatment. In his view homosexuality is not natural and should not qualify for Human Rights, which are natural rights. In its true nature, it is a disorder.
While there has been recognition that sexual and gender diversity is not a mental health issue, there is as well increased recognition on the effects of such negative remarks by public figures and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Joining the world to celebrate this years International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, it is the wish of CEPEHRG that the Ghanaian LGBTI community will live a happy and healthy life just as any other Ghanaian deserves.
We join the world in condemning all forms of abuses, violence and discrimination that at the end will affect the mental health and well-being of LGBTI people. We are therefore calling on all well-meaning Ghanaians to desist from hate speech that in effect raises violence and aggression towards the LGBTI community.
On this day of celebration, CEPEHRG appreciates the efforts of all agencies and individuals helping to improve the lives of the LGBTI community in diverse ways.
We urge them to do more to ensure that offenders are prosecuted to act as a deterrent to others. CEPEHRG will continue to advocate that LGBTI Rights are Human Rights and support the community to reduce the risk of health and mental health issues, while reducing discrimination on LGBTI-led groups working for their wellbeing during research and documentation regarding their communities.
At a time when, tragically, we are seeing increased efforts to criminalize or oppress LGBTI
persons, we call on partners everywhere to join us in defending the equal rights of our LGBTI
brothers and sisters, mothers, fathers, uncles, aunties etc. and in ensuring they are treated with the
dignity and respect.
Long Live Ghana! Long Live Human Rights!!
CEPEHRG
[email protected]
The Writer
18.05.2016 LISTEN
In my final year at OKESS, I used to lead Church services by introducing preachers. Since then, I have had an enduring faith in the power of the word of God to guide our individual lives and that of institutions. Today, let me respectfully direct your attention the book of proverbs.
In proverbs 15:22, it says, using KJV, " Without counsel, purposes are disappointed; but in the multitude of counselors they are established ". Then in 24:6, it is even more explicit. It states, " For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war; and in the multitude of counselors there is safety".
Clearly, divine guidance encourages us to be tolerant and to listen to others. Look at our political parties. Listen to and watch Koku Anyidoho address Hannah Tetteh ' s transgressions and it makes your skin crawl. As for the NPP, these days, it is a good day when disagreements are settled with words and not blows, sticks, cutlasses, guns or acid.
This internal attitude is reflected on the national scene. Bipartisanship is a dirty word in our politics.
The only thing our MP'S of different parties agree on, perhaps, is voting themselves pay increases. But bipartisanship is an indispensable part of successful democracies. America has been at its best in periods of bipartisanship.
The victories in world wars, great legislations on immigration and education and in many areas have come in periods of genuine bipartisanship. Intolerance, within or between parties, is incompatible with genuine democracy. Let us within our parties and between them, have a multitude of councils.
God bless you all.
Arthur K
Accra, Ghana, May 17, 2016The World Bank Group, in partnership with Ashesi University, the governments of Denmark and the Netherlands, andGhanas Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), inaugurated today the Ghana Climate Innovation Center (GCIC), a technology hub designed to help over 100 local clean technology businessesdevelop and commercialize innovative solutions to climate change.
First of its kind in the country, over the next ten years the center will support Ghanas National Climate Change Policy by contributing to the production of clean energy and the mitigation of up to 660,000 tons of CO2, the equivalent of the emissions of almost 140,000 cars for one year. Ultimately, the GCIC is expected to help more than 300,000 Ghanaians increase their resilience to climate change.
The Ghana CIC solidifies the role of the private sector in helping Ghana manage the effects of climate change, said Henry Kerali, World Bank Country Director for Ghana. By enabling entrepreneurs and green innovators to test and scale new clean technologies, homegrown business solutions can help the country build climate resilience, while also contributing to job creation and economic development.
Climate change could have a significant impact on Ghanas economy. According to the World Bank report Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change, without a proper green growth strategy, Ghanas agricultural GDP is projected to decline by 3 to 8% by the middle of the century. Coastal erosion from rising sea levels could result in significant loss of land and forced migration, while extreme weather events could further strain the countrys infrastructure.
To reduce the long-term costs of climate change and create opportunities for sustainable growth, the GCIC will provide local companies with the knowledge and resources they need to prototype, develop, and market innovative clean technologies in sectors like climate-smart agriculture, waste water treatment, and off-grid renewable energy. The services offered by the center will include seed financing, policy interventions, and market connections, as well as technical and business training.
Supported by the governments of Denmark and the Netherlands, the center will be managed by a consortium led by the Ashesi University College with Ernst & Young, SNV Netherlands Development Organization, and the United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa.
The GCIC is part of the World Banks Climate Technology Program and its global network of Climate Innovation Centers. Other centers have been established in the Caribbean, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, South Africa, and Vietnam.
For more information on the center, please visit www.infodev.org/climate or www.ghanacic.org
How to Fight Climate Change and Create Jobs
Climate Innovation Center Accelerates Ghana's Green Growth
Ganesh Rasagam, Practice Manager Trade And Competitiveness Global Practice, World Bank
Earlier this month (on 3rd May 2016), Ambassador Selby Pillay presented to H.E. Mr Borut Pahor, President of the Republic of Slovenia his Letter of Credence as Ambassador of Seychelles to Slovenia, with residence in Brussels. The ceremony was held at the Presidential Palace in Ljubljana.
The meeting that followed the presentation enabled Ambassador Pillay and President Pahor to discuss bilateral relations. In reciprocating President James Michel's warm greetings, the Slovenian President expressed the wish to meet his counterpart in the near future, possibly on the margins of the next UNGA, where they could further explore avenues for closer cooperation.
Also present in the President's retinue were the Chief of the State Protocol, Chief of Staff of the President, Secretary General, and Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"Slovenia and Seychelles are connected by many attributes - as small states, we understand each other's efforts and we would be pleased to share and exchanges experiences in the fields of environment and nature conservation; and tourism", the Ambassador emphasized and expressed Seychelles' readiness to further enhance cooperation in these areas.
Slovenia, the 2016 European Green Capital is very keen to collaborate with our Department of Environment and ready to look into the possibility of assisting and sharing their vast experience with us, in areas such as water management.
In the fields of trade and tourism, efforts are ongoing to conclude a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement, and a Bilateral Air Services Agreement in the future. Ljubljana is host to the annual Alpe Adria Tourism and Leisure Show tourism trade fair that could be of interest to our Regional Tourism Office, to which an invitation is being extended.
During meetings with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ambassador also evoked the possibility of collaboration between the UNISEY and Slovenia's oldest, largest and internationally best ranked educational institution, the University of Ljubljana. Slovenian government scholarships are also to be offered in future, both at Bachelors and Masters degree levels, albeit the former is conducted solely in the Slovenian language.
Discussions also focused on economic and European issues, noting that both countries have a lot in common in the international field, and belong to a group of countries which demand fervently the reduction of the green house gases. The Slovenian authorities commended Seychelles' environment conservation efforts; and for being among the first 16 countries to have already signed and ratified the Paris Agreement last month.
Slovenia, the most developed state of the former SFR Yugoslavia, joined the EU in May 2004, and in 2007 became the first Middle- and Eastern European country to join the Eurozone.
Omar Alghabra, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Consular Affairs), today met with the leaders of the member organizations of the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet, recipient of the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize, in Ottawa.
Parliamentary Secretary Alghabra and the representatives of the Quartet discussed Tunisia's democratic transition and the significant progress made, particularly in terms of civil and political rights, in building a democratic and pluralistic society.
The Quartet was awarded the Nobel Prize in honour of its vital role in Tunisia's 2013 crisis, which threatened the democratic transition the country had undertaken in 2011. This is the first Nobel Prize awarded to a Tunisian organization.
During their visit to Ottawa, the representatives of the Quartet also met with the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada. In addition, they attended question period in the House of Commons and met with the Honourable Geoff Regan, Speaker of the House.
Quotes
The key role the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet played during the 2013 crisis shows clearly the importance of civil society in Tunisia's new democracy. Canada unequivocally supports Tunisians' determination to move their country forward on a foundation of social and political consensus. This peaceful model also contributes to the progress of democracy and stability in the Middle Eastern and North African region.
- Omar Alghabra, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Consular Affairs)
In Nigers eastern region of Diffa in the south of the Tenere Desert a vast sandy area across Niger and Chad up in the Sahara desert are the ruins of a century-old colonial fort. The area around it, an oasis called Agadem, is one of the sunniest spots on earth, behind only a patch in the middle of the Pacific Ocean around Hawaii and Kiribati Island, according to the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
From 1983 to 2005, data from NASA researchers showed that Agadem received sun radiation averaging a sweltering 6.78 kilowatt hours per square metre per day, enough energy then to produce electricity to heat water each day in a typical American home.
Niger, and by extension the Sahara desert, is like a giant solar panel, and now experts say the discovery will be a bonanza for the regions energy prospects. Harvesting solar energy, including through the use of large-scale photovoltaic panel installations, could help power much of Africa.
However, except for the Ouarzazate Solar Power Station in Morocco, no other major projects have emerged to exploit the huge energy potential in the Sahara. To some extent the Nigerien case illustrates the paradox of a continent where relatively little is harvested although sun radiation abounds.
Africa has 7 of the 10 sunniest countries on earth: Chad, Egypt, Kenya, Madagascar, Niger, South Africa and Sudan. A few solar projects have sprung up in the last few years on other parts of the continent, and interest in building new projects has been growing steadily. But solar power development in Africa remains modest.
Desperately short of electricity
According to HIS Technology, a US-based economic and energy market research company, Africas total solar powergenerating capacity, estimated at 312 megawatts in 2013, grew to 1,315 megawatts in 2015, and is projected to reach 3,380 megawatts by 2017a tenfold increase over a period of four years.
The big jump occurred in 2014, Josefin Berg, the IHS Technology senior solar power analyst, told Africa Renewal. Around 900 megawatts additional capacities were added in that year alone.
Power shortages remain common throughout Africa mainly in the main urban centres, while vast swaths of rural areas have no electric power at all.
Sub-Saharan Africa is desperately short of electricity, the Africa Progress Report 2015, an annual publication of the Africa Progress Panel chaired by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, reported in June 2015. The regions grid has a power generation capacity of 90 gigawatts (GW) and half of it is located in one country, South Africa, the report added. That is less than the capacity in South Korea, where the population is only 5% that of sub-Saharan Africa.
Across sub-Saharan Africa, only a couple of countries, such as Togo, provide uninterrupted electricity supply all year round. As a consequence, the region is losing 24% of its annual gross domestic product. And while South Africa has half of all sub-Saharan electricity, residents have not been spared load shedding. The power blackouts negatively affect economic productivity, and the situation is expected to last through 2017, with the South Africa Reserve Bank anticipating a loss of 0.6% in economic growth in 2015 and 2016.
Droughts that affect hydroelectric dams, higher fuel costs that make it more expensive to run thermal generators, poor maintenance of existing infrastructure and lack of investments are some of the causes of the poor state of Africas power sector.
Tapping the potential
More than other countries, South Africa is looking at solar energy as part of the response to its power crisis. Installed capacity is expected to reach 8,400 megawatts of solar power by 2030, and an additional 8,400 megawatts of wind power. Several solar photovoltaics have been commissioned, including the 96-megawatt Jasper Solar Energy Project, one of Africas largest photovoltaic power stations, which aims at providing enough solar power for 30,000 homes. The country has ramped up production capacities in the last two years, and the growth accounts for about 90% of the jump in continent-wide solar capacity from 312 megawatts in 2013 to 1,315 megawatts in 2015.
Morocco is building one of the worlds largest solar energy projects, having launched its first phase in February 2016. At the same time, the country embarked on the second phase of the project, which, once completed by 2018, would provide electricity to 1.1 million people and cover 14% of the countrys energy needs by 2020.
With its Nzema project, Ghana was supposed to lead the solar revolution in the region. An ambitious solar farm about 270 kms from the capital, Accra, it was to go online in 2015 and generate 155 megawatts enough to power 100,000 homes. It was designed to be connected to the national grid and to strengthen Ghanas energy exports to its neighbours. Its promoters touted it as a game changer for Africa. However, four years after the project was announced, Nzema has yet to materialize. According to reports, construction of the plant will commence soon, with a possible completion date in 2017.
Delays continue to affect most of Africas solar projects. In West Africa it takes five to six years on average for a solar project to be completed, Doug Coleman, the project director for the Nzema solar plant, told Africa Renewal. In contrast, the average turnover in South Africa is 9 to 24 months. Both Mr. Berg of IHS Technology and Mr. Coleman point out that this is because the South African market is more developed and mature. Elsewhere, policies and regulations are still being developed, said Mr. Coleman.
According to the World Bank, market fragmentation, high transaction costs, perceived risks and the cost of capital are some of the obstacles holding back private investors.
Earlier last year the World Bank launched the Scaling Solar initiative to reduce the development time and uncertainty for bidders and investors, while lowering tariffs for utilities. The programme, managed by the International Finance Corporation, an arm of the bank, will offer tendering and financing expertise and help make privately financed projects operational within two years. As the price of photovoltaic panels continues to decline on the international market and as solar projects start generating profits, new renewable energy markets will have a greater appeal for private investors, says the Bank.
In August the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) reckoned that the country saved the equivalent of $584 million a tenfold increase over last year from wind and solar energy just in the first six months of 2015. The CISR expects the savings to grow as more projects come online.
Fortunately, as Africas solar prospects continue to improve, several companies have shown interest in developing solutions. Last August, SkyPower, an American solar company, entered into an agreement with Kenya to build a gigawatt plant over the next five years.
Such big announcements are very common, Mr. Berg of HIS Technology says, however, they take time to materialize, if they ever do.
With other sub-Saharan African countries embarking on the solar journey, both the World Bank initiative and the South African experience show that renewable energy, despite todays constraints, could have a bright future on the continent.
Africa Renewal
18.05.2016 LISTEN
I hope by now you have made up your mind to listen to the language of the Ghanaian politician, as we are in an election year. This year, November 7th, 2016, Ghanaians will be going to the polls to elect a President and Members of Parliament who will serve the country for the next four years. Every Ghanaian is fervently praying for peace before, during and after the elections. Thus, all the political parties have been made aware of the consequences they will face if they resort to violence before, during and after the polls. But on a more serious note, these politicians will go to every nook and cranny of the country to campaign for the votes of the people. They have a certain language they speak and clean your ears as you will be bombarded with several promises and activities just to win your vote.
Ghanaian politicians will tell the electorate, If you vote for me to win power, I will make sure the roads from your farms to the market centers are constructed, I will build a new school for your community, I will make sure the SHS level of education is free, I will make sure you dont pay too much taxes, My opponent says that he will do this and that, dont listen to him, he cant do it, but vote for me, I am capable of helping you, Poverty will be reduced to the barest minimum, Everyone will get access to quality healthcare, I will provide affordable housing for all workers, Corruption will be a thing of the past, I will provide all school children with free chicken, egg, etc etc, I will make sure no government official steals the states money, Corrupt government officials will be dealt with, I will extend electricity to your community, I will provide you with good drinking water. These are just a few of the many promises the politicians will give to you. As for the insults, I cant write them here but stay tuned to your favorite radio stations and tv stations, you will hear a lot. Your comments are kindly welcome on this post.
18.05.2016 LISTEN
We were all baffled and surprised to hear an off the record statement made by the British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron in a conversation with the Queen, described Nigeria and Afghanistan as the two most fantastically corrupt countries in the world. Little did he know that he was being recorded. The Nigerian Government swiftly responded and told the world media that it was embarrassed by that statement made by the British PM. The Afghan Government also responded. But, the British PM ironically had invited several leaders, including the Nigerian leader, President Buhari to an anti-corruption summit in London. I kept on asking myself, what at all were they going to talk about corruption that we dont already know? We all accept the fact that Nigeria has been bedeviled with the issue of corruption and the current President was trying his best to curb the menace. President Buhari told the British PM that Nigeria does not need an apology from him but the British Government should make sure to return all assets and monies stolen by Nigerians which are being kept in Britain. This statement by the Nigerian President made my day. In the first place the British PM is behaving like the proverbial pot calling the kettle black. He is indirectly fantastically corrupt.
His father owns an offshore account in one of the tax havens, according to the #PanamaPapers and he benefited from it. What is the British Government doing about that? When Libya was invaded and their president was murdered, this same British PM told his fellow countrymen to move into Libya and secure all the oil contracts. Definitely some percentage will trickle down to and his close associates will get their cut from the numerous oil deals. Are they not the same people who come down to Africa, bribe our public officials to loot our natural resources, dodge taxes, repatriate their income back to their countries leaving their host countries in an economic quagmire? Have they returned all the artifacts they forcibly took away from Africa? Someone who is fantastically corrupt is able to identify others who are fantastically corrupt.
18.05.2016 LISTEN
Certain things in life beat my imagination to the extreme. I mean the hypocrisy of life. I sit sometimes and wonder as I ponder, as to why some individuals will behave so odd just to impress their fellow human beings, friends and the institutions they belong.
Kojo is the calm type but very controversial and has little fire in his belly.
He lives harmoniously with the girlfriend until pregnancy came up. That was the breakthrough problems had waited for to trickle their relationship. Kojo never rejected the pregnancy but accepted responsibility.
Initially, he has informed the parents to connect with his ladys family for the necessary rites to be accomplished before proceeding to marriage proper.
Now, Kojo suggests they do the engagement cum outdooring simultaneously after delivery. But on the contrast, the ladies family opposes the idea fervently.
They vehemently resisted the idea all in the name of the embarrassment it will cause them at church.
Per their church rules, one must properly be married before pregnancy. They believe the authorities of the church detest promiscuous life in the church.
Considering the above, the lady then suggests to Kojo, her Agape lover that they better abort the pregnancy. This sounds disgusting. Isnt it?
She gave several excuses as to why she wants the pregnancy to be murdered. Firstly, she will be suspended from church activities and cannot stand the mockery.
Secondly, her Aunt overseas, is expecting to attend her extravagant wedding and not a mere common engagement.
Thirdly, her family looks up to her for nothing than the best, that she cannot compromise.
So then,WHICH IS MORE SINFUL OR EVIL ?
Aborting the pregnancy or the fear of being suspended from church.
Many today lives life trying to impress people to earn in return, their respect, applauds or praises. Stop it! for MAN will never be appeased and get satisfied by your Samaritan deeds.
Life is best led being YOU always and not THEM. The opposite is slavery.
Know this that, a beffitting old shirt is better than an oversized gold coated tuxedo.
Writer : G/C Felix Kwaku-Dua / www.felixkwakudua. com
Reg Hqrs, Accra
Mauritius, 18 May 2016 The opening plenary of SWIFTs 23rd African Regional Conference today brought together industry leaders from across Africa to discuss the most important issues facing the continent. Recurring themes from the panel discussion included the need for a united African approach to common problems, policy maker support to encourage entrepreneurship and harmonisation across rules, regulation and infrastructure.
Sido Bestani, Head of Middle East, Turkey and Africa, SWIFT, set the scene by outlining some of the trends that will be shaping Africa in the years to come. Africa is still in a good economic position and is an attractive destination for investment but it faces some major challenges, such as a large unbanked population and low levels of intra-African trade. At the same time, it has a young and growing population, an expanding middle class and is leading the way in mobile technology innovation.
Technological leap
Eric Osiakwan, Founding Director of Chanzo Capital, said Africas continued development is directly linked to the technological revolution. Many expected Africa to industrialise during the last twenty years. In fact, Africa leap-frogged this stage and had a tech revolution that no one predicted. In 1998 there were more landlines in the US than in the whole of Africa. Ten years later there were more mobiles in Africa than in the US. And when broadband came to Africa, it came on mobile phones, not on desktops. We live in a mobile world.
Across Africa, he said startups are providing weather reports for farmers, access to solar energy and access to healthcare advice all through mobile devices. Mobile is transforming the way we collect and use data, taking it from a top down to a bottom up approach, said Mr Osiakwan. This is driving profound change. Citizens can now consult doctors through their mobile phones. The way the healthcare is delivered is being disrupted entirely.
David Lubinski, Senior Policy Advisor for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said that health and poverty are closely related in Africa. When African families fall back into extreme poverty, more than 60 percent of the time it is due to health-related incidents. However, we increasingly see synergy between innovations in low cost digital financial services and the ability for individuals to build cushions against the financial shocks that would otherwise pull them back into poverty.
Similarly, mobile money is transforming peoples lives in other ways. The lives of the 2 billion unbanked can be transformed with access to mobile technology and formal financial services, continued Mr. Lubinski. Life without a bank account is expensive, but digital financial services play a key role in helping the unbanked manage their expenses, build resiliency and set a path to stay out of poverty for good.
Technology is helping to drive social change across the continent but several panel members noted that it can sometimes be held back by policy frameworks.
Alain Raes, Chief Executive, EMEA and Apac, SWIFT, Its clear that technology is making huge advances. However, technology can only reach its full potential if the right rules, frameworks and interoperability are in place. Often, it is this lack of harmonization which is the obstacle to development rather than the technology itself.
Demographics: challenge or opportunity?
Demographics will also influence the continents development. The worlds population is predicted to increase by 1 billion by 2050, with 50% of that growth expected to come from Africa. This demographic dividend is creating a young and vibrant labour force ready to be accessed and utilised, but will also create challenges in terms of resource stress and meaningful employment.
Mr Osiakwan sees Africas youthful population as an asset. Millennials see that they can use technology to make change and progress. They are identifying challenges and using tech to solve them. Governments need to recognise this paradigm shift and ensure that they support it with the right policies.
Terence McNamee, Deputy Director of the Brenthurst Foundation, has a different perspective on and says Africa cannot be compared to China. African growth levels are nowhere near high enough to support the population expansion. Not enough was done during Africas boom times in terms of economic diversification and improving governance to support growth. Now that many economies are suffering from loss of commodity income, this creates a challenge in dealing with a booming population.
Government support for entrepreneurship
Mr Osiakwan argued that governments need to better support and enable the private sector. Policy making is not as moving as fast as innovation. Governments need to be more flexible; they need to look at what the private sector is doing, learn from it and support it. Policy makers need to see the private sector as partners and set a clear focus and agenda. There is still an us versus them mentality and this needs to change. There needs to be more collaboration.
The need for governments to work together more effectively was also identified as an issue by Mr McNamee. He highlighted the need for a united African approach to address the continent's challenges and maximise the opportunities. While the Africa Rising narrative still rings true, the continent is still at the margins of global politics. It needs to better leverage regional integration and confront change more collectively than in the past.
He pointed to the barriers to trade that are still present across the continent. If a company in South Africa wants to transport a truckload of goods to Zambia, for example, it needs 1600 documents to get there. If an African businessman were to do business in every country across the continent, he would need at least 30 visas to do so. Often being an African firm is not an advantage. There are real issues with the ease of doing business, with labour and mobility, and it stems from a certain mindset, says Mr McNamee.
That said, there are clear examples of Africas political will to cooperate. These include various regional harmonisation projects such as the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community. Projects like Siress, the SADC regional payment system, are helping to make intra-regional payments and therefore intra-regional trade quicker, easier and cheaper, says Alain Raes, Chief Executive, EMEA and Apac, SWIFT. Volumes on the system have risen dramatically since it was launched. This shows what can be achieved through collaboration.
File Photo
18.05.2016 LISTEN
Introduction
To qualify for an EEA family Permit you must show among others that you are the family member of an EEA national in accordance with the EEA Regulations.
Proof that you are a family member of an EEA national.
Under the Regulations the ECO must issue an EEA Family Permit to a person who applies for one if he is satisfied that the person is a family member of an EEA national and the EEA national is residing in the UK in accordance with the Regulations. To prove that you are related to the EEA national, you may submit documents like birth certificate or adoption certificate, marriage certificate, phone records, emails, letters, and photographs. However, the submission of these documents does not necessarily guarantee that the ECO will be satisfied that you are related to the EEA national as claimed.
If you are a child of an EEA national, your primary evidence of the relationship to your EEA national father will usually be your birth certificate. However, the officer may be less likely to accept your birth certificate as sufficient evidence of your relationship if it discloses that your birth was registered significantly later after your birth. For example, if your birth certificate discloses that you were born on 10th January, 2000, and the registration column on the birth certificate shows that your birth was registered on 20th January, 2010, this will mean that your birth was registered 10 years after your birth. In the absence of further evidence, the ECO may likely determine that since you birth was registered late, he only accepts the entry as merely a record of what the person who registered your birth told the Registrar of Births and not necessarily that you were born on that date.
If the consular officer disputes the entry on your birth certificate he is in fact disputing that you are the child of your claimed EEA national parent and hence do not qualify as a family member of an EEA national under the Regulations.
Primary evidence
To prove that the entry on your birth certificate is a true and accurate reflection of your birth record, you must submit in addition to your birth certificate such primary and/or secondary evidence to support your claims. Primary evidence may be in the form of original baptismal certificates, hospital records including weighing cards, immunization certificates, etc., school records especially ones from kindergarten or elementary school. Letters obtained from your health or educational institution must specify your dates of admission and exit, your date and place of birth, your parents names, and such other relevant information as may be disclosed by the institutions records. To give weight to the letters issued by the institution, they must be supported by copies of any document, record, or other entry upon which the contents are based.
Secondary evidence
Secondary evidence is generally not documentary evidence and is relevant in cases where documentary evidence is clearly lacking. They are usually statements from persons who can attest to certain facts or events contemporaneous to the time of your birth. This may usually be in the form of witness statements, affidavits, or declarations affirming that they either witnessed your birth, naming or baptismal ceremony or such other event immediately on or about the time of your birth or early childhood.
In preparing affidavits or declarations, it must be noted that legal jargons, fancy language and resort to existing precedents may hold little weight before the consular officer. Where there are no documents to support your statements, you must include names, dates, events, occurrences or other situations that are contemporaneous with the event you are attesting to in order to convince the officer that your statements are indeed a true and accurate representation of the event for which reason they must be accepted.
Disclaimer: This article only provides general information and guidance on UK immigration law. The specific facts that apply to your matter may make the outcome different than would be anticipated by you. The writer will not accept any liability for any claims or inconvenience as a result of the use of this information. The writer is an Immigration law advisor and a practicing law attorney in Ghana. He advises on U.S., UK, and Schengen immigration law. He works part-time for Acheampong & Associates Ltd, an immigration law firm in Accra. He may be contacted on [email protected]
18.05.2016 LISTEN
The latter part of the just ended trimester in the University for Development Studies saw a series of important occurrences that never received the attention of the nation's media houses. This is not uncommon to us in our part of the country as most media men and women have been known to turn a blind eye to matters of our university; something I feel is a great deal of disrespect shown to the university.
Elections were held during these couple of weeks on our various campuses with various degrees of misfortunes happening. The court bruhaha on Wa campus, tear gas incident on Tamale and series of other happenings.
The so called big Media houses and other acclaimed names in the media profession claim to have representatives and correspondents in these parts of the country yet little or no activities in these parts are aired on their platforms - a behaviour I find disheartening and disrespectful to the entire country as a whole.
Other universities, both public and private have had a great share of media reportage which has to a large extent, helped solve most of their problems thus from infrastructure to welfare to academics.
University of Ghana once had an issue of Tolls and levies, an issue which received massive media coverage. Even hall weeks and association celebrations in the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and University of Cape coast do get a significant amount of coverage. University for Development Studies would celebrate her SRC week, run elections and go for their almighty Third Trimester Field Practical Programme(TTFPP), with all its relevance to the nation and yet receive very insignificant coverage if any. Why does the media make us feel inferior? Is it because of our location? Are the three Northern Regions not part of Ghana?
The country's major political parties cannot be left out of this unfortunate ordeal. We find them loitering around seeking avenues to promote their selfish popularity rather than helping solve problems of our institutions even though their attention are drawn to our problems. I call them blood sucking vampires always seeking fresh blood and ignoring the ill ones.
I however use this platform to applaud our campus radio (Ultimate Radio) for the wonderful work they do with respect to the publicity of our University in the Wa municipality. The likes of Tetteh Pac, DJ slim, Opanin and Emmanuel Kwabena Domfeh affectionately known as Sir Noble are commended as they do not only inform us of the happenings on our various campuses but also expose us to happenings in other institutions.
It would be unfair not to mention the hard work of our DJ's in entertaining us. However, more work would be very much appreciated. Work that should have our cries channeled to the national level of media and its related activities so as to attract the necessary attention deemed fit, and ensure adequate remedies in the same light.
To our national media men and women, I say wake up from your long slumber. UDS is also a public university in Ghana that is helping massively in the development of our nation as our mandate speculates and therefore needs as much coverage as you give others. At least, our lecturers can be called too to speak on issues you discuss. Do not wait for President Obama to mention our name somewhere or for Queen Elizabeth's son to pay a courtesy visit or for blood to flow in times of crisis before we see you with your cameras because by then, you might get stoned out of our campuses and be prevented from covering our events.
And as a friend of mine would say, "partner with us, lets put UDS in the limelight"
Okeibuno David
Social Science Education
Level 300
0543452696
United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O'Brien, completed today a two-day mission to Niger. He called for greater world attention on the massive humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Diffa region, where violence at the hands of Boko Haram has forced over 240,000 people out of their homes on both sides of the border with Nigeria.
In the Diffa region, USG O'Brien visited the Assaga site, hosting over 15,000 people including refugees, returnees and internally displaced people who had been recently forced out of their homes due to Boko Haram attacks. He called for armed groups to respect their obligations to protect civilians under International Humanitarian Law. I am appalled by reports of killing of civilians, looting of villages, and other abuses perpetrated by Boko Haram in the countries around the Lake Chad Basin, including Niger, he said. Adherence to international humanitarian law and norms is fundamental in conflict and it applies to all parties, without exception. In the Diffa region, two out of three people have experienced displacement.
This morning I met a family in Diffa hosting 30 people who had fled violence caused by Boko Haram both in Nigeria and in Niger. As the first to respond, the solidarity and generosity of families in Diffa who have shared their scarce resources with those in need are an example and inspiration to us all, noted the Emergency Relief Coordinator.
USG O'Brien met with the President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, Prime Minister Brigi Rafini, Minister of the Interior, Mohamed Bazoum, Niger's first Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Laouan Magagi, and several other senior Government officials. They discussed ways to step up the humanitarian response for people affected by Boko Haram as well as the chronic challenges faced year after year by Nigeriens despite the Government's clear strategic commitment to build people's resilience to recurrent food insecurity and malnutrition crises. This deserves our support.
In 2016, humanitarian partners (donors, non-governmental organisations, and others humanitarian and development actors) and the Nigerien Government planned to assist two million food insecure people and 1.5 million people threatened by malnutrition: 1.2 million of them are children. Displacement or malnutrition alone causes great human suffering. A combination of the two is too much for people to bear. Together, we must help them now with urgent supplies and services, stressed USG O'Brien.
The humanitarian community has launched a Humanitarian Response Plan for 2016 targeting 1.5 million people with a budget requirement of US$316 million. So far only 25 per cent has been received, which is clearly insufficient to meet the immediate needs.
USG O'Brien will go from the Lake Chad Basin region to Istanbul to participate in the first ever World Humanitarian Summit being held 23-24 May. The Summit will be a critical opportunity for me to tell the stories of the people I met, who have been affected by the Boko Haram violence, explained USG O'Brien. An event on the Lake Chad Basin region will help us draw global attention to the increasing vulnerability of the communities of the region, who are facing the converging events of climate change, high poverty levels, violent extremism and population growth.
Mr. O'Brien noted that a comprehensive approach is urgently needed, to ensure greater collaboration between the political, security, development, environmental, and humanitarian efforts to maximize scarce resources and to ensure no one is left behind. A big compounded crisis needs a big compounded response, he added.
Dr Mahamudu Bawumia
18.05.2016 LISTEN
Deputy Finance minister Cassiel Ato Forson has urged the Vice Presidential candidate of the NPP, Dr Mahamadu Bawumia to stop making comments and allegations intended to sabotage efforts to improve the economy.
The former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana has been accused of deliberately releasing very alarming statements to create unnecessary panic within the business and investment community.
The deputy minister is therefore calling him to seek clarification on issues before misinforming students or running to the Press. Mr. Forson who was reacting to Dr. Bawumias recent allegation that government had diverted 250m of the one billion dollar Eurobond into a private account for the 2016 campaign said the NPP vice Presidential candidate timed it to coincide with the arrival of the IMF assessment team.
Most often, Dr Bawumia and the NPP activists do these things deliberately to throw dust in the eyes of the public. But they must realize the larger implication because investors listening to their comments and the subsequent debate about the economy react accordingly. I urge them to seek clarification first.
First I heard many of them referring to the 2015 Eurobond. But that is false. The amount was taken from the one billion dollars raised on the market in 2014. The prospectus was clear on $250 million to be set aside for the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund. The law that established the GIIF is clear. The managers have the mandate to invest and I can say on authority that it was the cedi equivalent that was lodged at the UBA account, he told host of Accra-based Okay FMs morning show, Kwame Nkrumah Tikese.
Mr. Forson expressed disappointment in Dr Bawumia who he said ought to know better.
The Bank of Ghana does not pay interest on government money. In other countries, the Central Banks pay interest and we intend to review the existing law.
If the money is at the Central Bank for almost two years and is not yielding any profit, is it wrong to GIIF to plough it to yield fruit under the regulations establishing it, he asked.
He added: They are mixing two issues. There is difference between Public Fund and Central Government Fund. Public Funds which include monies earmarked for State owned Enterprises while the Central Government Fund are basically budget revenues paid into the consolidated fund for payment of salaries and projects. The two cannot be co-mingled.
He challenged the NPP vice Presidential candidate to read the laws establishing the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund. He argued that it is an independent body and will be operating on many projects.
Dr Bawumia, he said has in the past, spell doom for the local currency, the Cedi and his comments led to speculative buying further weakening the currency. The economist has been heavily criticized by government after his lectures on the economy was found to "contain inaccuracies" on the total national debt and other policy interventions by government.
The minister also clarified the opportunities that come with the latest IMF positive rating after the third review of its Extended Credit Facility.
He emphasized that Ghanas credit curve has rallied notably over the last few days benefitting from a more conducive market backdrop.
While all the African bonds have rallied in recent days by one percentage point, Ghana has outperformed them by rallying three percentage points since the announcement of the IMFs review, reflecting investors positive response to the review he added.
On Monday, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Abdul Nashir Issahaku dismissed Dr Bawumias allegations that the Ministry of Finance contravened section (53) of the BoG Act 612 when it transferred 250 million dollars of the 1 billion dollar Eurobond proceeds to a private account.
Dr. Issahaku maintained that the Finance Ministry did not flout the rules, I think from our stand point here, all government foreign exchange has to be in the custody of the Central Bank and when government need their money, they take the equivalent in cedis.
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Following the declaration of a drought situation in the region of the Greater South of Madagascar, the vulnerability of the rural population has reached an alarming level.
A project for emergency agricultural rehabilitation of farming households and vulnerable producers has been implemented to allow them to recover quickly from the loss of their crops as a result of the drought that hit the area.
As part of this project on Integrated Actions for Nutrition and Food (AINA), currently being implemented in five regions in Madagascar and funded by the European Union, farmers were encouraged to use improved, adapted and drought-tolerant seeds.Through the implementation of the approach of Climate-Smart Agriculture, over 35,000 households have benefited from these seeds, noted Patrice TallaTatoukam, FAO Representative in Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius, and Seychelles , while visiting Ambovombein the region a week ago.
"In the interest of a sustainable and inclusive development, it is important to become acquainted with the daily realities and increase contacts with beneficiaries, in order to better target needed responses,said Mr. Talla. His visit also served to recognize the efforts made by the technical team of the SouthernFAO Office in implementing projects aimed at improving the food and nutrition security of the most vulnerable populations in this region particularly affected by the effects of El Nino.
Challenge of adaptation to climate change
Climate change impacts on agriculture and food security through increased frequency of extreme meteorological events (cyclones, floods, and drought, as in the case of Southern Madagascar) and increased unpredictability of weather patterns.
As a result, this has caused decreases in production and income in vulnerable areas. Many smallholder producers are already facing the degradation of natural resources. They often lack knowledge on how to adapt their production systems and have limited resources and risk-taking capacity to access technology and financial services.
Improving food security while contribute to mitigating the impact of climate change and to the protection of natural resources requires a transition to more productive agricultural production systems witha more efficient use of inputs and a less variable and more stable production that is more resilient to risks, shocks and long-term climate variability.
A more productive and resilient agriculture requires a major change in land, water, soil nutrients and genetic resourcesmanagement practices, to ensure that these resources are managed more effectively. The Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA), as defined and presented by FAO at the Hague Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change in 2010, contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Nutrition At the heart ofaactions
After the presentation of the Report on the Cost of Hunger by the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, during his visit to Madagascar on 10 and 11 May, a particular attention is now being given by the Government to nutrition. FAO has participated in the preparation of this document, and has already issued the recommendation to update the nutrition policy of the country by taking into account the multidisciplinary aspect of nutrition during the evaluation of the results of implementation of the National Action Plan on Nutrition Phase II in February 2016. For its part, FAO Madagascar is intensifying crop diversification and nutrition education activities among farming and rural populations.
This week, US Ambassador to the UN Agencies in Rome (FAO, IFAD and WFP), David Lane, is visiting Madagascar with a team of international and Malagasy journalists.
Useful links:
U.S. Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome
US Ambassador Lane's visit is on theFacebookandTwitteraccounts of the U.S. Mission to the UN Agencies. Also follow theFacebookandTwitteraccounts of the U.S. Embassy of Madagascar for Their reports on the turn.
El Nino Website (FAO)
18.05.2016 LISTEN
MoneyGram continues to expand in Equatorial Guinea with the launch of money transfer services at Banco Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial (BANGE) locations.
MoneyGram customers in Equatorial Guinea now have fifteen new convenient locations where they can send and receive money between family and friends. BANGE is one of the leading commercial banks in the country. The bank provides financial services to thousands of customers in seven major cities.
Equatorial Guinea is one of the smallest African countries inhabited by 800,000 people. A member of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), it's one of the African's largest oil producers.
Equatorial Guinea is also among the largest recipients of foreign investments in Africa. The key sending countries to Equatorial Guinea are Spain, U.S., and Cameroon; most of the outbound transfers are sent to Spain. Africa is a critical market for MoneyGram. The company has more than 30,000 locations in 50 countries on the continent.
Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of MoneyGram International, Inc. About MoneyGram International, Inc. MoneyGram (http://www.Moneygram.com) is a global provider of innovative money transfer and payment services and is recognized worldwide as a financial connection to friends and family.
Whether online, or through a mobile device, at a kiosk or in a local store, we connect consumers any way that is convenient for them. We also provide bill payment services, issue money orders and process official checks in select markets. More information about MoneyGram International, Inc. is available at moneygram.com.
About Banco Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial (Bange)
Bange is the only bank in Equatorial Guinea with a government as a main shareholder. Its enjoys a position of a leading bank in its country, providing financial services within the network of branches located in the 7 major cities and serving more than 80,000 customers.
Banco Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial is also one of the biggest national employers contributing to Equatorial Guinea's economic growth by providing support to small and medium-size companies. It aims to gain a position of the leading bank in Central Africa.
Buhari
18.05.2016 LISTEN
Since the swearing in of President Buhari on May 29, 2015, there has not been shortage in the blaming of the previous administration by the president and his officials. We have heard in not less than many cases where the President always shifting the blame and his administrations incompetency of on the previous administration.
Some members of his kitchen cabinet, themselves failures in their several job tasks have used his victory during the 2015 election as a vendetta against persons like Okonjo-Iweala, the immediate past minister of finance. How long will we continue like this?
Before we proceed, let us be quick to admit that this present writer was a volunteer for the Buharis campaign in 2015 and has no regret whatsoever on his decision.
Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), campaigned largely on the platform of Change. Many Nigerians had thought that the Change Mantra simply meant improvements in standards of living translating in upgraded socio-economic infrastructure, but soon found out that it is not necessarily so.
Instead of the Buhari administration to continue to lament like Jeremiah, he simply should have set up a Change Management System (CMS) to reduce the shock that the sudden Change may have on public service and the political system. These would also have in a long way covered up the seeming unpreparedness of the General!
Buharis unpreparedness manifests the most in the constitution of his Cabinet. An eagle view of those appointed shows the long wait for these people were just unnecessary. Some ministers are yet to justify the confidence imposed on them. Or put differently, some of them have not had their results speak for them. Kemi Adeosun in Finance; Fashola in Power and Works; Kayode Fayemi in Solid Minerals; or Lai Muhammed as Information Minister reveal a lot to rational minds of the potency of President Buharis first eleven. The results speak for themselves!
Bad enough for the economy that, for political reasons, you bypass the glittering credentials of giants like Dr. (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former World Bank MD. One will expect Buhari to have looked for better qualified Nigerians with proven track records but no, he had to settle for the lesser qualifies Kemi Adeosun. This kind of decisions explains why we are called a Third World country. There was a reason President Bill Clinton reappointed Allan Greenspan again in 1996 as Federal Reserve Board chair who himself was a Republican to serve in a Democrat. Can you now see that we still have a long way to go?
What Buhari great should know leaders dont criticize their predecessors; they call for patience and understanding to salvage the situation. The task of transforming the nooks and crannies of 774 Local Governments wont be achieved by press releases of Jonathan did this; Jonathan did that, it can only be achieved with concrete plans that will meet reality. A government elected for four years by 15 millions Nigerians cant blame an individual for the duration, rather than trade blames, committees should be set up to assess the progress made by the previous administrations in order to build a better nation. Governance is beyond propaganda, good policies tackle corruption, and to fight corruption shouldnt be the singular goal of a government.
Bade Adebolu is an accountant based in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti state. He can be reached on [email protected]
18.05.2016 LISTEN
By Maame Agyeiwaa Agyei & Ethel Mensah
Lawyers for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have accused the embattled National Chairman, Paul Afoko, of flouting a requirement of the party's constitution.
According to the Lead Counsel, Godfred Yeboah Odame, it was a requirement in the party's constitution to have at least two women on the Disciplinary Committee (DC). However, Afoko, in his capacity as the then National Chairman, submitted names of only men and one woman to the National Council (NC) for the DC, which was contrary to the constitutional requirement.
Mr. Odame revealed this during the cross-examination of Mr. Afoko. He argued that the suspended Chairman intentionally submitted to the National Council a list of members for the party's Disciplinary Committee, with only one woman, contrary to the constitutional requirement of two women. But, Mr. Afoko vehemently denied the accusation that the list of names submitted to the NC was his, but it was a list that was approved by the NC, so he considered it as duly constituted National Disciplinary Committee.
The suspended Chairman added that the NC did not adhere strictly to the constitution, which was flawed in respect of the presence of two women on the DC, therefore, if there has to be any correction it was to be done by the NC.
Excerpts of cross-examination
Counsel: Please look at the New Patriotic Party Constitution, and you will find that the appointment proceedings for all standing committees of the National Committee are set out at page 38-41.
Afoko: That's correct.
Counsel: You will see that in respect of all standing committees, with the exception of the disciplinary committee, the appointment is directly by National Council.
Afoko: My Lord, the appointment of all members of the National Council standing committee is by the National Council.
Counsel: Mr. Afoko, at page 39-41 of the constitution, you see that the Finance Committee, Organisation Committee and the Research Committee, you will see the words, the members shall be appointed by the National Council.
Afoko: Yes that's correct, but in the instance of the Disciplinary Committee, that committee uniquely has members coming in from various bodies of the party. The other committee members are not representing any institutions or bodies of the party. That does not remove the National Council's authority to accept, reject and appoint.
Counsel: You see, at page 41, the National Disciplinary Committee, its procedures are not specified there.
You will be referred to Article 4.
Afoko: Yes, that is correct My Lord!
Counsel: Mr. Afoko, look at Article 4 and tell me where it is stated that the National Council shall appoint members in the disciplinary committee?
Afoko: My Lord, it is stated that explicitly, but referring to my earlier answer, I stated uniquely, the Disciplinary Committee is the one that has its membership coming from various bodies within the party, and as I stated before, there are two (2) forms of appointment to the National Disciplinary Committee.
One of those, that can be appointed directly, and the constitution states it and representatives whose names are brought to the council to be appointed. My Lord, I will hasten to add, if you look at the same constitution, page 12 , on the term of the committee, it states that the term of the Disciplinary Committee shall be 4 years, but may be re-appointed. The term, as described in the constitution, does not prescribed time limit for other standing committees of the National Council, yet they get reconstituted or re-appointed every four years.
Counsel: Does the term of the appointment of members have to do with how long you can serve?
Afoko: That is correct, but it also states that they may be reappointed.
Counsel: The term has nothing to do with the procedures by which members get to serve on the committee is that not correct?
Afoko: No, it has nothing to do with the procedure, but it does say within the same to Act 4 clause 2, that members they may be re-appointed. The procedure is such that the National Council continues at all times to guide its authority jealously, therefore, names brought before the National Council, in this particular instance, were questioned, and some from other committees were actually dropped and replaced by names brought to the council meetings by council members.
Counsel: Act 4 Clause 2, which you rely on. Did you see any statement to the effect that the National Committee shall appoint members of the Disciplinary Committee?
Afoko: No, My Lord. My reliance on Act 4 clause 2 is also meant to illustrate the point that just as it does not state explicitly that members of the DC shall be appointed by the NC, so is it in the case other standing committees that the absence of the term description does not make them members forever. I need to also add that we are talking about standing committees of the NC, therefore, it is only the NC that confers authority on them by appointing them.
Counsel: I'm putting it to you that your claim that the NC is the appointing authority for the members of the DC is just your own conjecture, it is not backed by any provision in the constitution
Afoko: My Lord the constitution is the whole document, and if you look at its entirety, you will find that it stands to reason that the NC is the appointing authority. I will refer to how the constituency and regional DCs are appointed.
Counsel: The same provision in act 4 gives you, as the national Chairman, the power to appoint three persons onto the DC, even though you are not at the NC.
Afoko: It doesbut my appointees and that of the NEC still have to go through the NC for approval. On my part, one of my appointees was nearly rejected by the council.
Counsel: Please, look at Act Four and tell the court where it is stated that appointees by yourself or any other body specified must be subjected to prior of the NC.
Afoko: My Lord, my previous response still stands. I will also want to add that under my tenure, I insisted on sticking strictly to my understanding of the constitution, hence the current NC is now an elected body, as stipulated in the constitution. This was part of my reforms that I brought.
Counsel: Mr. Afoko, you cannot point to any specific provision in Act 4 which requires the approval by the NC.
Afoko: I cannot, but since we are talking about Gifty Kusi, or for that matter, the representation of parliamentary group, the constitution does not also say that the person must necessarily be a Member of Parliament.
Counsel: As part of the disputed minutes that you attached to were in respect of the meeting allegedly held to approve the National Disciplinary Committee members, is a list of the names of the members of the Disciplinary Committee.
Afoko: That is correct.
Counsel: This list, according to you, represented duly, the Disciplinary Committee.
Afoko: Yes, as appointed by the NC.
Counsel: Look at Act 4 (1), paragraph C, sub paragraph VI deals with the persons, you as the National Chairman had the power to appoint onto the committee.
Afoko: Yes my Lord, subject to the approval of the NC.
Counsel: As you have just stated, As approved by the DC. Do you see it in the provision?
Afoko: No my Lord. My earlier answers still hold that the NC has the authority to reject, accept and, therefore, appoint all names put before it.
Counsel: You see a requirement in the provision that you just read, act 4 (12), for at least two women to be on the DC is that not correct?
Afoko: Yes, my Lord.
Counsel: Your list, which you claimed satisfied the constitutional provision, is actually contrary to the requirement for two women to be on the DC is that not correct?
Afoko: It is correct that the NC did not adhere strictly to that requirements, therefore, if it was to be rectified, then it was with the NC to do so.
Counsel: Nonetheless, we consider your list as being a duly constituted DC, is that not it?
Afoko: My Lord, the list is not my list, it is the list that was approved by the NC, so I consider it as a duly constituted National Disciplinary Committee, even though the list was flawed, regarding the presence of two women on the DC.
Counsel: Indeed, the appointment of Gifty Kusi ensured that two women served on the DC. Indeed, the replacement of WO Boafo as the parliamentary representative with Gifty Kusi ensures that two women served on the DC.
Afoko: The nomination of WO Boafo came from the parliamentary group, so that really had nothing to do with me, but then, the replacement of WO Boafo by Gifty Kusi was because the NDC was to quorate. The lack of quorum was because Lawyer Nana Yaw Osei recused himself. Honourable Ayikoi Otu withdrew, because he said the matter had not been properly laid before the committee; Alhaji Rahman went to Mecca. WO Buaffo was not attending meetings, so there was a lack of quorum, since they need 5 members to sit, therefore, the introduction of Gifty Kusi was intended to rectify the female (gender) provisions.
Counsel: The quorum, for the DC is five?
Afoko: Yes, my Lord.
Counsel: Now take a look at the report of the DC, how many persons signed as having taken part during the proceedings?
Afoko: I have seen it, and it is signed by six persons, which is revealed that the purported letter put in by WO Boafo, where he stated that he wished to be replaced so that the committee will quorate.
This goes to show that the introduction of Gifty Kusi was to have the quorum required.
Counsel: The number six which sat on your petition was in excess of the minimum of the quorum.
Afoko: My Lord, the number six is in excess, but as we contended earlier, Alhaji Rahman was not around, he was in Mecca. Alhaji Rahman's petition before the committee was the preliminary legal proceeding.
Hearing continues on June 1 and 3, 2016.
Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - The first schoolgirl abducted by Boko Haram in Chibok, northeast Nigeria, more than two years ago has been found, the military and activists said Wednesday, raising hopes for the release of 218 others still being held.
Amina Ali was discovered on Tuesday in the Sambisa Forest area of Borno state by civilian vigilantes assisting the military and brought back to her home town of Mbalala, near Chibok.
"She met her parents, who recognised their daughter before she was taken to the military base in Damboa," Ayuba Alamson Chibok, a community leader in Chibok, told AFP.
"Her father's name is Ali and the girl's name is Amina. I know the family very well because I have worked with them, being a spokesman for the families of the Chibok girls."
Yakubu Nkeki, head of the Abducted Chibok Girls Parents' group, also confirmed her name and said she was 17 when she was abducted.
He added: "She's the daughter of my neighbour... They brought her to my house."
- Forest enclave -
Tsambido Hosea Abana, a Chibok community leader in the capital, Abuja, from the BringBackOurGirls pressure group, also gave an identical account.
All three men said the teenager appeared to have given birth while in captivity while Abana said she had told family there were other kidnapped girls in the forest, but "six were already dead."
The Sambisa Forest has long been known to contain Boko Haram camps. Other abducted women rescued from the former game reserve over the last year have reported seeing some of the Chibok girls.
Army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman confirmed the girl's rescue, although he gave a different name -- Falmata Mbalala -- and said she was found by troops in Baale, near Damboa.
Manaseh Allan, a Chibok youth leader, said it was not uncommon for children in the town to use different names at home and at school.
The leader of the BringBackOurGirls group in Abuja, former education minister Oby Ezekwesili, tweeted: "It is OFFICIAL. OUR #ChibokGirlAminaAli of Mbalala village is BACK!!!!!!!
"#218ShallBeBack because #HopeEndures... Thanks #CivilianJTF and @HQNigerianArmy."
The group has mounted daily vigils in the capital since the abduction calling for the release of the schoolgirls and hundreds of other hostages.
Boko Haram seized 276 students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok on the night of April 14, 2014. Fifty-seven managed to escape in the immediate aftermath.
- Previous sightings -
The abduction sparked outrage worldwide and brought global attention to the Boko Haram insurgency, which has killed at least 20,000 people and made more than 2.6 million homeless since 2009.
Nothing had been heard from the 219 still held captive since a video published by the Islamists in May 2014, until an apparent "proof of life" message was sent to the Nigerian government earlier this year.
Fifteen of the girls, wearing black hijabs, were seen in the video, which was purportedly shot on December 25, Christmas Day, last year.
But despite the identities of the girls being confirmed by mothers and a classmate, the government said it was cautious about raising hopes of their release.
- Prisoner swap -
There have been previous claims of talks with Boko Haram, whose leader Abubakar Shekau has said he would release the hostages if Islamist fighters held in Nigerian custody were released.
But the talks appear to have been with factions of the group, without the approval of the high command.
The video gave weight to theories the girls were split up after the abduction and were being held in separate locations, complicating any possible talks or a rescue bid.
The girls were taken as Boko Haram captured swathes of territory in northeastern states in 2014. But the insurgents have been pushed out by a military fight-back in the last 15 months.
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, who has said Boko Haram is "technically" defeated, has said success in the campaign would be measured on the return of the Chibok girls and other abductees.
Things begin falling apart as NASA announces 2016 is hottest year in recorded history. So the threat of climate change proves soaring enough to move countries to break the ice. Here begins a story of men and women standing erect through manmade pains facing the changing planet. Thousands of whom have emptied sorrows to the streets or coal quarries or oil terminals in May 2016 sampling a united will to get rid of dirty energy once and for all.
History may just be rewritten. But the half thrilling and half intimidating side of the truth will forever echo the curse of dirty energy lobby as among the most impossible dystopian illusion of this generation. When the globe finally cools, the battle is successful. When extinction approaches, will the oil industry have planet B?
Whether or not climate activism is the cup of tea here, the dark past of climate denial, by all standards have bred about 0.04% (400 parts per million) carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, many times higher than 400,000 years ago.
Fossil fuel companies bigger than monsters have bankrolled anti-climate change philosophies; climate activists as meek as lambs of God are being arrestedthe list is endless, but the most recent illogical treatment is the arrests of nearly 60 advocates protesting Keystone pipeline in the US. So confirms the saying: change is painful but inevitable.
Equally, it might hurt world governments to give up oil wells for the public wellbeing. But the pains and wretchedness resulting from extreme weather conditions such as ill-health, including those caused by droughts, floods, food insecurity and inundation from rising seas is even much long bottled in communities around the world.
Even oil industry knew of 'serious' climate concerns more than 45 years ago. In fact, researchers warned American Petroleum Institute in 1968 how the release of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels could eventually lead to worldwide environmental changes.
Despite this good faith, they chose to pay a deaf ear, thats why things had to fall apart. Some did the opposite trying to challenge climate change science with illicit documentations. Further evidence unveils that American Petroleum Institute, the peak body for the oil industry in the US, knew about the dangers of climate change at least 20 years before the issue was brought into mainstream public discourse via the former Nasa scientist James Hansen.
The then influential world leaders like the US president Lyndon Johnson also received an early cautioning about climate change, with scientists explaining the mechanism of the greenhouse effect as early as 1965.
For how long could any such delicate matter be hidden? Not too long! With the final blow being the latest Nasas thermometers reading global average temperatures as soaring at 1.28C as of March above the average from 1951-1980, while February was 1.34C higher, dangerous tipping points, an irreversible benchmark could be crossed.
Climate change is usually crosschecked over years and decades, but even scientists have been struck by the recent unprecedented temperatures. Furthermore, annual heat records have been also breaking records, with 2015 demolishing the record set in 2014 for the hottest year seen, in data stretching back to 1850.
Prof Michael Mann, a climate scientist who spends most of his time between shelves and laboratories of Penn State University also became agile-tonged about March data by saying: Wow. I continue to be shocked by what we are seeing. He said the world had now been hovering close to the threshold of dangerous warming for two months, something not seen before.
The [new data] is a reminder of how perilously close we now are to permanently crossing into dangerous territory, Mann said. It underscores the urgency of reducing global carbon emissions.
As such terrifying facts unfold; the fossil fuel business seems dragging towards hell, with sharp losses resulting from steep price drops. Alternatively, exemplary investors like Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is divesting its heavily invested holding in BP.
The weights breaking dangerous fossil fuels is the most courageous wave of actions challenging business as usual across the world. Motivated by an ever strengthening, ever stretching effort to achieve 100% renewable energy, breakfree campaign resounds the knell that spelled fossil fuels at the close of COP21.
In the UK, the campaign had the countrys largest open-cast coal mine shut over 12 hours. While in the Philippines, over 10,000 people marched in Batangas city demanding the cancellation of the proposed 600 megawatt coal powered plant in Barangay Pinamucan.
All signals indicate greener earth and a brighter future will lean on the raptures of renewable energy miracles that must shatter the bondage of carbon dioxide emissions nuclear energy price competitions built from the cradles civilization to the present moment.
To harness the moment, activists and concerned citizens committed to addressing climate changefrom international groups to local communities to individual citizens are united to maintain grips to force energy providers, as well as local and national governments, to steer towards a renewable future through investing in wind and solar energy.
This enviable cause justifies the discharge of thousands of men and women showing the world a glimpse into wrecking resistance through solidarity hard for politicians foster. Each action was unique: from the coal fields of UK, to the oil wells of Nigeria, to defiant actions against new coal power plant in Indonesia and the Philippines -- and many places beyond but all echoes one sound: stop polluting our ecosystem! End fossil fuels. And now.
In order to address the present-day climate crisis, fossil fuel projects need to be shelved and existing infrastructure needs to be replaced now that renewable energy is more affordable and widespread than ever before. The only way to achieve this is by keeping coal, oil and gas in the ground and accelerating the just transition to 100 percent renewable energy.
By Boaz Opio
Environmental Writer, Kampala Uganda.
Email: [email protected]/ +256784947523
If you are not using Windows 10, you must do it now as the free upgrade will come to end on July 29th. Afterwards, you have to pay through your nose to upgrade your Windows from 7, 8, or 8.1. Meanwhile, for those who have been using Windows 10, they must notice some very annoying and frustrating things about the Operating System. Jovago.com, Africa's No 1 hotel booking portal identify some of these annoyances and help find solutions to some of them.
Cortana is not supported in your region
Cortana is an exciting feature of the Windows 10. According to Microsoft, it is your clever new personal assistant. It will help you find things on your PC, manage calendar, track packages, find files, chat with you, and tell jokes. To get started, type a question in the search box on the taskbar. Or select the microphone icon and talk to Cortana. Unfortunately, this feature is yet to be available in different parts the world. The countries where Cortana is available include Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, The United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Forced or automatic updates
The only time you can escape Windows 10 automatic update is when you are not connected to either a wireless network or LAN. But, you are, the periodic update will be forced you. You cannot update at your own convenience. Even if you suspend the update because you dont have data, your system will update until your computer is connected. You are choiceless as when it comes to avoiding updates.
Compatible drivers
Windows 10 is all about compulsion. Like you are forced in updating automatic, it is the same with driver installation. You can download the drivers without any fuss. However, you will discover that some of these driver Softwares may not work. Since the driver software is not working, there is no need to update your drivers. The best you can do is to download a tool from Microsoft that will block the updates.
Default App Choices Have Changed
Upgrading to Windows 10 means that your system will be automatically controlled by the new Operating System. Your default apps will now that related to Microsoft. In summary, it disrupts your system. For example, if your normal browser is Chrome, it changes to Microsoft edge. If this is not the case, whenever you open you your browser, a notification will keep popping up asking you whether you want to make Microsoft edge your default app. To pick your default apps yourself, just search for default app.
Rome (AFP) - Italy says it is making headway in its bid to persuade African countries to help close migrant routes to Europe and take back some of those arriving via Libya in exchange for increased aid and investment.
Ministers from more than 40 African states attending talks in Rome Wednesday voiced strong backing for one of the central elements of the Italian plan -- the stabilisation of Libya. But long-standing concerns about the creation of a "fortress Europe" were also aired.
Italy is on the frontline of a wave of migrant arrivals from north Africa, with more than 350,000 people having reached its shores since the start of 2014, spurring efforts to find a long-term solution.
Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Rome's "migration compact" proposals had been given a "very favourable" reception at the first of what is to become a regular, bi-annual Italy-Africa summit.
Senegal's Foreign Minister Mankeur N'Diaye however warned that the EU could not simply slam the door shut without doing huge damage to economies dependent on the remittances of migrant workers.
"We have many young people who head to Libya, from Niger, and are ready to try their chance on people smugglers' boats," N'Diaye told AFP.
"We have to fight illegal immigration but we also have to create new avenues for regular, legal migration. The support that migrants bring to our development is extraordinary."
Chad, which currently holds the African Union's rotating presidency, welcomed moves this week to arm Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj's fledgling administration.
"The situation in Libya deserves to have our full attention. This country is on its way to becoming a haven for terrorism," Foreign Minister Moussa Faki Mahamat said.
The minister praised the "courageous decisions" taken earlier this week in Vienna, where a 25-nation coalition assembled by the US and Italy agreed to exempt the Government of National Accord from a UN arms embargo on Libya to enable it to combat Islamic State militants.
The embargo was imposed to stem fighting in a country that has been rife with conflict since the 2011 uprising which led to the overthrow and killing of Moamer Kadhafi.
- Billions more needed -
Gentiloni said Rome wanted its migration plan approved at a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels next month and the first pilot projects launched "without delay".
Under the plan the EU would offer African countries substantially increased aid and investment in return for them improving border controls to make it harder for migrants to reach the southern shores of the Mediterranean, and to accept the repatriation of those who make it to Europe but are judged to have no right to stay.
The pact also envisages an increase in legal migration opportunities for Africans wanting to start new lives in Europe and incentives for African states to establish their own reception centres and absorption procedures for asylum seekers from elsewhere in the region.
At a summit last year in the Maltese capital Valletta, EU leaders agreed with their African counterparts to set up a 1.8-billion-euro trust fund to help finance some of these objectives.
But the amount was attacked by aid agencies and African governments as a drop in the ocean when set against what needs to be done to address the root causes of migration from Africa.
Italy agrees with that view, Gentiloni's deputy, Mario Giro, told AFP. "The Valletta money was far too little. We have to talk about big investment and in exchange for that, we (the EU and Africa) work together to manage migration flows and the security aspect."
Giro said Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had recently discussed creating a 10-billion-euro investment fund for Africa.
Germany has made it clear however that it will not go along with one of the elements of Italy's plan: the issuing of EU-Africa bonds to finance it. Proposals to increase legal migration from Africa are also likely to encounter opposition within the EU.
Gentiloni said two million Africans had arrived in Europe between 2010 and 2015 and the vast majority of people landing at Italy's southern ports this year have been from sub-Saharan Africa.
"Italy has chosen to bet on the future of Africa through long-term investment in sustainable development, security and peace and in managing migrant flows," he said.
Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Binta Ali hadn't seen her daughter Amina since she was abducted with more than 200 classmates from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, northeast Nigeria, more than two years ago.
Amina and her brother Mai were Binta's only living children. The other 11 had died.
And while Amina was being held by Boko Haram Islamists, Binta, in her sixties, also lost her husband Ali, one of 18 parents of the 219 kidnapped girls to die since the abduction on April 14, 2014.
"He died of high blood pressure," said Yakubu Nkeki, head of the Abducted Chibok Parents' group.
Those parents have been hanging on to hope for their daughters' return. On Tuesday, Binta's prayers were answered when Amina was found by soldiers and civilian vigilantes.
"They (the vigilantes) took her to her village and parked the vehicle outside her house," said Ayuba Alamson Chibok, a Chibok community leader.
"They sent for the mother and told her to go to the vehicle and see if the girl inside is her daughter.
"When the mother approached the car the girl stepped out and her mother exclaimed, 'Amina! Is that you?' They ran towards each other and hugged. The mother burst in tears.
"Relatives and neighbours quickly gathered around the duo and began to celebrate and singing praises to God for rescuing the girl."
- Joint operations -
News of the reunion spread like wildfire through the ramshackle market town of Mbalala and to Chibok, a short drive away along a dusty, unpaved road.
Mbalala, like Chibok, has only a patchy mobile phone signal, making communication further afield difficult; troops on the look-out for militants patrol the roads.
The Nigerian Army said troops from 25 Brigade stationed in Damboa, nearly 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Chibok, were deployed on Tuesday with civilian vigilantes in Baale.
"Vigilantes from Chibok and Damboa regularly team up and raid Boko Haram camps in and around nearby Sambisa Forest where ongoing military operations are forcing Boko Haram out," said Alamson.
They saw about a dozen people near Kilakesa village at the edge of the former game reserve where Boko Haram is known to have camps and they appeared to be fleeing.
Among them was a young girl in a hijab resembling those worn by the Chibok girls in previous Boko Haram video messages. She was carrying a baby.
The vigilantes, most of whom are volunteers and equipped only with rudimentary weapons including single-shot muskets, slingshots and sticks, caught the group and began to question them.
Alamson said the girl told them her name was Amina Ali and that she was one of the Chibok girls.
She then pointed to a man whom she identified as her husband, Mohammed Hayatu, from Mubi in Adamawa state. The military described him as "a suspected Boko Haram terrorist".
- 'Very deep joy' -
Binta and Amina's brief reunion outside the family home -- a single-storey mud-brick dwelling with a corrugated iron roof -- came after one of the vigilantes recognised Amina.
"He asked her if she was the daughter of the late Ali, from Mbalala, and she answered, 'Yes'," said Chibok.
Amina, Hayatu and a four-month-old baby girl named Safiya were taken to 25 Brigade headquarters in Damboa at about 2:30 pm (1330 GMT) on Wednesday.
They were then transferred to the Borno state capital, Maiduguri for "further medical attention and screening", said army spokesman Sani Usman.
Nkeki said Amina's release had brought "very deep joy" to a place that has suffered so much and which has become a symbol of the conflict.
Amina was 17 when she was kidnapped. She is now 19 and, according to the military, a mother. Few can imagine what she has endured in captivity.
But Nkeki said both Amina and her daughter would be accepted back into the community.
"We will accept her into the family as one of our own daughters." he said.
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business Defiant Maruti says co not in violation of crash tests in India Reacting to the GNCAP report that cast a doubt on the crash tests of various car models in India, RC Bhargava, Chariman, Maruti Suzuki India said the GNCAP is a voluntary standard and no country requires you to pass their standards.
business Enough is enough as far as GST proceedings go: Arun Jaitley In a free-wheeling chat with CNBC-TV18's Shereen Bhan, the Finance Minister said that even if Congress doesn't support GST Bill, he will allow Parliament to do its job. Among other topics, he spoke on the need for consolidation among public sector banks.
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business Tata Comm to seal deal with ST Telemedia to sell Data Centre arm Tata Communications is likely to sell 75 percent stake in its data centre arm for USD 680 million to ST Telecom.
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current-affairs-trends Tim Cook hobnobs with corporates, app developers, Bollywood Apple CEO Tim Cook, who is on his maiden five-day visit to the country, on May 18 met the honchos of India Inc, leading bankers and the Bollywood royalty, and will inaugurate a development centre in Hyderabad on May 19 as the tech giant seeks to expand its India presence
business Everything has gone up in price; asset deflation likely: Faber Marc Faber, the investment guru based out of Thailand, is positive about the Indian stock market, which had peaked last year. There was a dip to 23000 in January and now the market has rebounded to over 25000.
business US market feels fairly heavy, needs to break down: James Dalton For the past 18 months there has been no indication of a new longer term money either on the buy or sell side, said James Dalton in an interview to CNBC-TV18.
business Co on the verge of becoming net debt-free: Bharat Forge The company is expected to have a strong double digit-growth in FY18 as many incubating contracts in the space of aerospace, Make in India, mining and PSUs are expected to move into full-fledged execution in FY18, says Amit Kalyani, the Executive Director of Bharat Forge.